Voice volume very low in audio in HD

[easygoer]

Hello, I am a newbie and this may have been answered elsewhere already but I have noticed this problem couple of times now. First noticed about a week ago when Polar Express was broadcast on ABC in HD. I could hear all the special effects sounds just fine but could not hear any speech. It was the weirdest experience. Seemed like somebody had turned on the mute function but I could still hear all the other sounds. Just the spoken words were very faint.
Again happened last night during broadcast of Shark (don't remember what network).
Somebody please help! Thanks.

[ke6guj]

HD content is AC3 audio and that is lower than analog MP3 audio.

If you install AC3filter, and set Sage to use it as the audio decoder, you can go into the AC3filter config and increase the gain on the voice channel to better hear the speech.

[sam99]

a related question, i always forget to turn the volume back down after watching an HD broadcast before switching back to a non-hd channel and end up making everyone jump from the much louder volume output. Can I standardize the volume output somehow using the AC3filter? I will take a look but hate to just start making changes to something like that which i know very little about without some guidance.

[easygoer]

Thanks for that tip. Makes sense. I will try that on the next movie broadcast. But the funny thing is that not all movies or programs have the low speech quality in HD. I just noticed the two I mentioned in my original post. Isn't all HD broadcast in AC3?

Also, another thing I noticed was that there was no such problem in Vista Ultimate. I have dual boot and went into Vista and the sound came in loud and clear during the movie. What explains that? Thanks.

Originally Posted by ke6guj

HD content is AC3 audio and that is lower than analog MP3 audio.

If you install AC3filter, and set Sage to use it as the audio decoder, you can go into the AC3filter config and increase the gain on the voice channel to better hear the speech.

[easygoer]

Actually, what I meant was that the sound was loud and clear on Vista Media Center. I don't have SageTV installed in Vista.

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by sam99

a related question, i always forget to turn the volume back down after watching an HD broadcast before switching back to a non-hd channel and end up making everyone jump from the much louder volume output. Can I standardize the volume output somehow using the AC3filter? I will take a look but hate to just start making changes to something like that which i know very little about without some guidance.

If you play around with AC3Filter, you can sorta standardize the different volumes. Any adjustmetn I make in AC3filter affects both the AC3 and MP3 audio, but seems to affect the AC3 more. So, by increasing the gain settings, I was able to get AC3 much louder and only increase the MP3 audio a little bit.

For example, on my TV, I used to watch analog recordings around 25-30, but AC3 could be up near 50. Now, with AC3filter settings adjusted, my analog stuff is around 20-25, and digital stuff can be around 25-30 sometimes. Not a big difference, and not gonna blast me out if I forget to lower the volume.




Nyle posted a good setup in another thread.

Originally Posted by nyle

Just to try and clarrify for anyone else that's new to using sage or external decoders. I'll try and do a quick summary of what they are saying here.

1.) Download the latest AC3Filter from the official site.
2.) Install the AC3filter(The current version 111 will open a tray icon when it's in use for adjustments or you can use the offline configuration utility which is placed in a folder on the start menu under AC3filter.)
3.) Under Setup->Detailed Setup->Video/Adio select the Audio decoder for MPEG2 to be AC3filter.
4.) Now you would modify the AC3filters settings using the tray icon when something is playing or with the offline config.

5.)
a.)If you have 2 speakers turn off the Normalize Matrix option under Equalizer which may be enough. If not boost the gain a little as well.
b.)If you have multiple speakers, If you look under the different options there is a Master Gain - try raising this to your liking during playback.

[sam99]

Originally Posted by ke6guj

If you play around with AC3Filter, you can sorta standardize the different volumes. Any adjustmetn I make in AC3filter affects both the AC3 and MP3 audio, but seems to affect the AC3 more. So, by increasing the gain settings, I was able to get AC3 much louder and only increase the MP3 audio a little bit.

For example, on my TV, I used to watch analog recordings around 25-30, but AC3 could be up near 50. Now, with AC3filter settings adjusted, my analog stuff is around 20-25, and digital stuff can be around 25-30 sometimes. Not a big difference, and not gonna blast me out if I forget to lower the volume.

thanks for that. Currently, my tuner volume sets at -25/30 for SD and sometimes as high as -5 for AC3, so when i change back after the kids have gone to bed, it can easily wake them on the second floor

[waynedunham]

For me, it depends on the network the HD show is broadcast on. ABC is LOUD, NBC just a bit softer than SD and CBS is about the same.

[HawgGuy]

Try this.

Stop SageTV. Go to your Sage home directory and run the program ac3config.exe. Bump up the master gain. Also disable the prefer AC3Filter option and MPEG playback option so that Sage will use something other than AC3filter for MPEG (SD TV) playback.

Now AC3filter should only be used for HD TV and DVD playback (if that's how you have it configured). You can now equalize the volume levels by bumping up the gain (using ac3config.exe) to match what your mpeg playback volume is.

[simonen]

I have noticed something weird like this as well. Sometimes a show will only have background audio and no voice dialog after coming back form commercial break. If I skip ahead after the next commercial break, everything is fine again.

[technazz]

Originally Posted by HawgGuy

Try this.

Stop SageTV. Go to your Sage home directory and run the program ac3config.exe. Bump up the master gain. Also disable the prefer AC3Filter option and MPEG playback option so that Sage will use something other than AC3filter for MPEG (SD TV) playback.

Now AC3filter should only be used for HD TV and DVD playback (if that's how you have it configured). You can now equalize the volume levels by bumping up the gain (using ac3config.exe) to match what your mpeg playback volume is.

I can't get this to work. When I disable the prefer AC3Filter option and MPEG playback I can never get AC3Filter to work on any of my HD files. On my system it either uses AC3filter for everything or when disable it uses somthing else (I dont know what it is). Ive been trying to balnce the HD auiod for years an never get it right. Im using SPDIF pass thru as well. Now I just have two presets on my amp but Sometimes the WAF goes down with H.264.HD files when the cvolume is way to low.

Technazz

[toricred]

Originally Posted by ke6guj

If you play around with AC3Filter, you can sorta standardize the different volumes. Any adjustmetn I make in AC3filter affects both the AC3 and MP3 audio, but seems to affect the AC3 more. So, by increasing the gain settings, I was able to get AC3 much louder and only increase the MP3 audio a little bit.

You mean MP2 audio don't you? I don't think AC3Filter works with MP3 audio.

[technazz]

Originally Posted by toricred

You mean MP2 audio don't you? I don't think AC3Filter works with MP3 audio.

Yes you are right.!

[easygoer]

I guess, I was struggling with the very basic. I just have a two speaker + subwoofer setup on my desktop and all I had to do is select 2/0 + SW 2.1 Stereo to get pretty close to normal voice quality. Does SW stand for sub-woofer and is that a good selection for my desktop speaker setup?

Also, does it matter which PCM option I choose e.g. 16, 24, 32 bit or float?
Thanks.

[djseto]

I have it set to use the Ac3 filter (v1.46) and I dont get an icon when its working so I cant make adjustments on the fly to get the audio levels right between HD and SD. Any idea what I am doing wrong? I know that if I uncheck AC3 pass through in the offline utility (ac3config.exe), it does stop passing Ac3, so I'm pretty sure its using the right filter during playback. I just dont get the option for real-time adjustments.. help!

[ke6guj]

Originally Posted by djseto

I have it set to use the Ac3 filter (v1.46) and I dont get an icon when its working so I cant make adjustments on the fly to get the audio levels right between HD and SD.

You can turn on the Tray Icon in the AC3filter settings and then you'll be able to make on-the-fly adjustments by opening up the tray icon.

[djseto]

Got it. Thanks!

[RamonS]

After trying what is recommended in this thread I get the music and sound effects to be about the same volume for HD as for SD, but HD voice is basically not working. I also tried first the master gain, but that has an effect on both SD analog as well as HD digital broadcasts. When I set it so that HD is about equal as other audio sources on the system the analog SD channels are blasting even more and distorting horribly. I get it to be OK for SD and HD when they show commercials - great!

I got it now so that the voices are audible, but still way to low in volume. What I seem not be able to adjust at all is the background music. In general, the HD audio is unbalanced and compared to analog just a whisper. Increasing gain makes it more even, but quickly distorts.
I am running out of ideas. Is there any other filter that just makes voice and music to be the same and where I can just set the master volume for analog SD and digital HD? I don't have all this surround stuff, so I just want SD and HD to be equal in all means. Any chance to do that?

Just to make it easier, I attached screen shots of my current settings. Chances are that I set something wrong. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[gplasky]

Enable DRC and crank that up a bit. (10) (photo 1)

Gerry

[GKusnick]

Originally Posted by RamonS

I don't have all this surround stuff...

If you mean you have only two speakers (or 2.1 including subwoofer), then you need to set AC3Filter to output in that format. From your screenshots you have it outputting 5.1 channel sound, which means that you're going to be missing a lot of channels if you try to feed just two speakers with it. In particular, voices tend to be on the center channel, so that could explain why voices are almost inaudible in your setup if you don't actually have a center speaker. Setting it for 2-channel output will remix the center channel content to the left and right speakers so you can hear it.