Opposite rant: Consumer DVDs have TOO much dynamic range!

[dannyscott101]

Just as audio CDs have reached the crunch point in terms of loudness, movie DVDs are just the opposite!

I'm actually a low-tech guy at home. (other than my 'pirate broadcast' center in the dining room) I like to watch DVD movies on my old crappy 4:3 tube TV, and on a small crappy DVD player feeding the TVs inputs and speakers.

I became so annoyed after the kids were playing "Sweeney Todd" for the 47th time and blasting the chintzy speakers out, that I hooked up one of my extra Aphex Compellors in line to watch DVDs!

"Sweeney Todd" actually has such an ANNOYING amount of dynamic range, that it uses the compellor's ENTIRE 20db range, meaning that it must be adjusted so that the lowest dialogue just barely tips the G/R meters, and the loud musical numbers will reach almost maximum gain reduction of 20db!

Back in the VHS days, even the Hi-fi versions of movies had some dynamic compression added compared to the theatrical version, but now it seems that they just slap the full-dynamic digital track right on the DVD, assuming that everyone is watching it in a giant home theater rather than on a small TV.

Early DVD players used to have dynamic range control settings in the menus, but this feature seems to be gone from newer ones.

Eventually, I replaced the Aphex (which looked cluttery sitting on a chair next to the TV) with a cheap alternative... Formerly known as the "TERK TV volume regulator" and later sold under the Audiovox name, it is a multi-stage five-band digital audio processor in a small box that used to sell for about $35. I don't think they are made anymore, but can still be had on ebay. There are some audible artifacts, so don't plan on using one for a budget broadcast processor, but a great answer to my excessive dynamic issues! It has only unbalanced phono inputs and outputs, and NO controls whatsoever. When I experimented with the box in my audio system, it seems to control the audio over 30db or more of input range with no distortion or noise issues.

Now, I need an outboard tuner so I can run my cable company's inconsistent audio through it as well.

 

[Bengalsfan]

I dug up an old audimax and hung between my DVD player and TV. Worked like a charm....until I upgraded to a Blu-ray player. I do agree, the range between dialogue and music is crazy on some of these movies.

 

[Research_Weenie]

Thanks so much for posting this - i thought i was the only one who gets annoyed when I can barely hear the words being spoken by the actors, but if i turn up the volume so i can hear it, i end up waking the baby when a music crescendo suddenly blasts out at 115 db..

or worse, when the commercials seems 10 times louder than the program they're in.

 

[Eng.Mike]

A regular problem with DVD playing is from ignoring your DVD's audio set-up page before playing a DVD. You may often be playing back in 5.1 mode on a TV which only has two speakers. In 5.1 mode the dialog is usually to the center channel which you don't have so the dialog sounds much too low in level. Some DVD discs also don't even provide a stereo mix as a choice. In that case you might try the audio settings of the TV for a fold down from 5.1 to stereo. A lot of TV's have dynamic range choice settings in the TV audio set-up which helps with the wide dynamic range. The TV's audio settings also always seem to be kind of difficult to access and so they get ignored. The wide dynamic range would sound great in a big home theater room and some of the reduced range settings on my TV sound great in a small room.