Sound is decreased when watching Blu-rays

[Bear28]

Hi,

I have noticed lately that when watching a movie (dvd/bluray) on my PS3 the sound seems quite low compared to when Im watching tv or playing a video game.

I have HDMI hookups from my PVR (with digital) and HDMI from my PS3 to my Onkyo 576 receiver. Sound is PCM being decoded by PS3.

I usually watch tv and play games at volume of 38-42 and this produces good sound.

Watching Batman blu ray yesterday I had to crank up the volume to 50+.

Does anyone know what would cause this? I don't believe I had this issue before when watching movies.

Thanks

[jswilli1]

The PS3 has a Volume adjustment (or gain) setting, push triangle on controller to access on screen menu, there will be a volume adjustment that has green bars. The Icon is to the right upper side of the onscreen menu to make the adjustment. I usually leave mine in the Center or +1 depending on the Movie. Hope this helps.

[Bear28]

Originally Posted by jswilli1

The PS3 has a Volume adjustment (or gain) setting, push triangle on controller to access on screen menu, there will be a volume adjustment that has green bars. The Icon is to the right upper side of the onscreen menu to make the adjustment. I usually leave mine in the Center or +1 depending on the Movie. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the feedback. I know about the PS3 volume setting as I have mine set at 0.

What I am referring to is that for blu rays/dvd's the sound is very low compared to when I play games or when Im watching tv on the exact same volume setting.

This seems to be something new as I didn't need to crank the volume previously on blu rays when watching them.

Thanks again!

[progers13]

This could be the result of dialnorm (dialogue normalization). Not all blus are coded with it, and maybe the movies you've been watching recently are dialnormed.

On my receiver, I usually watch TV with volume setting at 35. Video games tend to be 30 - 35. In order for blus to reach the same decibel level, the volume setting on my receiver ranges from 45 (non-dialnorm) to 50 (dialnorm).

Many dialnorm tracks tend to have a value of -4 dbs and are set by the sound tech when mixing the audio for the discs. Different studios seem to do different things when it comes to dialnorm. Warner has used Dolby TrueHD historically and many of their titles use dialnorm. Conversely, Universal tends to use DTS-HD MA without dialnorm.

Read this sticky on understanding dialnorm.

[beefytwinkie]

Originally Posted by Bear28

Thanks for the feedback. I know about the PS3 volume setting as I have mine set at 0.

What I am referring to is that for blu rays/dvd's the sound is very low compared to when I play games or when Im watching tv on the exact same volume setting.

This seems to be something new as I didn't need to crank the volume previously on blu rays when watching them.

Thanks again!

On my Onkyo 674 I experience this but I think it's what progers13 is talking about with that Dialnorm business.

When I watch TV I usually do so at around 37. When I play games on my 360 or PS2 I have to go as low as 23 sometimes. Movies I can usually watch at about 42 - 47.

I'm fairly certain it's not something bad like a fault in your system. It's just the way some media is louder than others. But then you said it never used to happen so I guess I'm kinda unsure which makes this post completely pointless.... and yet here I am still typing.

[Bear28]

Originally Posted by progers13

This could be the result of dialnorm (dialogue normalization). Not all blus are coded with it, and maybe the movies you've been watching recently are dialnormed.

On my receiver, I usually watch TV with volume setting at 35. Video games tend to be 30 - 35. In order for blus to reach the same decibel level, the volume setting on my receiver ranges from 45 (non-dialnorm) to 50 (dialnorm).

Many dialnorm tracks tend to have a value of -4 dbs and are set by the sound tech when mixing the audio for the discs. Different studios seem to do different things when it comes to dialnorm. Warner has used Dolby TrueHD historically and many of their titles use dialnorm. Conversely, Universal tends to use DTS-HD MA without dialnorm.

Read this sticky on understanding dialnorm.

Thanks for the info, this sounds like what it was then I guess. I've posted in that thread now. Thanks!