HD 200 Audio Quality vs MVP Audio Quality

[davephan]

I have two MVP media extenders. I compared the audio quality of a media extender of a ripped DVD verses playing the same DVD on a DVD player. The audio quality of the DVD player was vastly superior to the MVP.

Has anyone compared the HD 2000 audio quality of a ripped DVD, compared to playing the same DVD on a DVD player to determine if the audio quality of the HD 200 is similar to a DVD player?

Dave

[stanger89]

How do you have them hooked up?

[davephan]

Both the MVP audio output and DVD audio output are hooked up to the stereo amplifier line level inputs. I switch between the inputs while SageTV plays the ripped DVD and the DVD player plays the DVD directly.

The DVD VOB files were converted to MPEG2 format with VideoReDo.

The audio quality of the MVP is much worse than the DVD player.

I would like to know if I replace the MVP with a HD 200, if the audio quality would be similar to the DVD player. In other words, is the HD 200 audio quality drastically better than a MVP?

Dave

[stanger89]

Sorry, no idea, I use S/PDIF on my HD200s and let my SSP do the decoding so all the audio is perfect.

[jphipps]

I believe it is related to the ripping of the audio. Usually the sound of the AC3 audio after ripping is much lower in volume that the original DVD playing in a DVD player. I have searched for years on how to increase the volume, but have never found any answer. When playing on a PC using AC3filter codec, you can have it boost the volume some what, but through the extenders I have found I have to increase the volume on the reciever to compensate...

Thanks,
Jeff

[valnar]

Originally Posted by davephan

I would like to know if I replace the MVP with a HD 200, if the audio quality would be similar to the DVD player. In other words, is the HD 200 audio quality drastically better than a MVP?

It may be..... it should be.... just by virtue of it being a newer, more advanced device. But I sold my MVP ages ago. The reason was because the video quality is drastically better on the HD100/HD200, even with SD material on an analog TV.

IMO, you should upgrade anyway if you have the money.

[ThePaladinTech]

Originally Posted by valnar

It may be..... it should be.... just by virtue of it being a newer, more advanced device. But I sold my MVP ages ago. The reason was because the video quality is drastically better on the HD100/HD200, even with SD material on an analog TV.

IMO, you should upgrade anyway if you have the money.

Ages ago?? the HD-100 was released 12/10/07

[valnar]

Originally Posted by enzominator

Ages ago?? the HD-100 was released 12/10/07

I sold my MVP before the HD100 was released. Perhaps I didn't phrase it correctly. I did use the regular Sage Client between the MVP and HD100.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by jphipps

I believe it is related to the ripping of the audio. Usually the sound of the AC3 audio after ripping is much lower in volume that the original DVD playing in a DVD player.

It has nothing to do with the ripping. AC3 is a bitstream, any modification to which will destroy the audio (literally, make it unusable). The issues I've seen here with low audio all seem to be with people using stereo analog output, thus the low audio issues are related to the downmixing of 5.1 AC3 into Stereo.

I have searched for years on how to increase the volume, but have never found any answer. When playing on a PC using AC3filter codec, you can have it boost the volume some what, but through the extenders I have found I have to increase the volume on the reciever to compensate...

With AC3filter just uncheck the "normalize matrix" option in the setup.

[davephan]

Maybe I should be more specific how I am ripping the DVDs. I copy all the files from the DVD to the computer. I then open up each VOB file with VideoReDo to determine which files I need to select, that composes the main program content of the DVD (less commercials, titles, etc). I then use VideoReDo "Quickfix" on each VOB file segment, converting the output to MPEG2 files. I then use VideoReDo to join the MPEG2 files together as one large MPEG2 file.

I then playback the MPEG2 file with the MVP, which is has line level out from the MVP connected to the line level input on the audio amplifier.

Meanwhile, I have the DVD player line level out hook up to another input on the audio amplifier.

I can then playback both the MPEG2 file with SageTV and the DVD player running at the same time. With a bit of tweaking, I can get both to close to the same place during playback, at the same time.

I then switch between the two audio amplifier inputs to compare the audio quality. The audio quality is better from the DVD player than from the MVP.

If the HD 200 has much better audio than the MVP, then maybe the audio quality from the HD 200 would be close to the audio quality of the DVD player. Has anyone done this type of A/B testing to make sure that audio quality isn't being lost when using SageTV, compared to using a DVD player?

Dave

[Narflex]

The analog audio outputs on the HD200 should be better than what's on the MVP. I haven't done an A/B comparison; but I'd be surprised if they weren't on par with the DVD player you have (when I used to run it over analog I thought it sounded as good as my $1200 Sony DVD player....but I always thought the MVP was lacking in that area)

[Taddeusz]

What is your quality setting for conversion to the MVP? I ask because the MVP cannot play AC3 audio directly. It can do a pass-through to a receiver for digital audio but cannot decode it. The server must transcode the AC3 audio for playback on the MVP. The normal quality setting is going to be fairly poor compared to your DVD player. Try the high setting but then any other video is going to need more horsepower from the server to transcode.