Can anyone help explain this to me...

[ONE_DAY_AS_A_LION]

Ok, I have a Panasonic 42" 1080p plasma, with a Panasonic DMP-BD60 bluray player

Now, for my surround sound, I only have a 5.1 Panasonic HT, that does NOT support HD audio

When I watch bluray movies, I have to crank the sound up, and during some scenes in movies, where the characters talking softly, I can barely hear them, but as soon as action is involved, it gets really loud

Why is this? Because my HT doesn't support all the audio HD content?

Could someone please explain?

[BIslander]

How are you connected between player and sound system? What audio settings are you using on each of them?

[Petra_Kalbrain]

This sounds like either a DRC (Dynamic Range Control) issue or a Linear PCM signal being sent via optical cable issue.

Question #1: Are you using an optical cable for your audio feed from BD player to your receiver?

Question #2: Have you checked to see if there is a DRC option in your player settings? Make certain that any such option is set to OFF.

[curse]

what movie(s) have done this? Some movies, like public enemies are known like this.

[ONE_DAY_AS_A_LION]

I have 2 HDMI cables: 1 goes from blu ray player to tv, and the other goes from the cable box to the tv

My home theater, which is a Panasonic SA-PT950, does NOT have an HDMI slot, so I have audio cables, red & one, running from the back of the receiver to the reciever input on the back of the tv

[tilallr1]

Most of the time I have noticed that people who complain most about this problem have a very small inadequate center speaker. They also usually have a home theater in a box setup. Not sure if this is the case for you or not. If it is, my suggestion is to purchase a better center speaker. This will make a whole ton of difference.

I too had a Home Theater in a Box setup and nothing I did could properly fix this problem, because the center speaker was ultimately crap. Once I upgraded to decent speakers, this problem completely vanished.

Some people say the Center speaker is the MOST important speaker in your setup, other than the Sub of course.

[ONE_DAY_AS_A_LION]

yes i do have a HT-in a box as well

so the issue could be the center speaker?

so when i click on "movie" mode in the prologic tab, the characters' voices come out of the center speaker, and the background/fx noise comes out of the floor-standing speakers?

btw - i have a 5.1 surround, if that means anything

[tilallr1]

Originally Posted by ONE_DAY_AS_A_LION

yes i do have a HT-in a box as well

so the issue could be the center speaker?

so when i click on "movie" mode in the prologic tab, the characters' voices come out of the center speaker, and the background/fx noise comes out of the floor-standing speakers?

btw - i have a 5.1 surround, if that means anything

Most of the time ... unfortunately ... you get what you pay for. Home Theater in a Box products are usually a pretty cheap solution to get into surround sound. But most of the time, the speakers included, are pretty mediocre to crap build quality. Which results in mediocre to crap sound, unfortunately.

I would suggest going to any home theater stores which carry good quality speakers and listen to the difference yourself. Most of the time you can bring your favorite film (Which have dialogue scenes you have been having trouble hearing) and listen to the difference. You will not have any trouble making our the dialogue ... trust me.

Of course, I assume your setup is properly calibrated for the primary listening positions ... right? If not you might want to research what you can do to setup your existing speakers and receiver properly. Usually described in detail in your receiver manual.

[crackinhedz]

Originally Posted by ONE_DAY_AS_A_LION

so I have audio cables, red & one, running from the back of the receiver to the reciever input on the back of the tv

TV's don't have "receiver" inputs?

Im assuming you mean you have red/white audio cables from the TV "output" to the receiver?

...without confusing the issue any more, red/white cable means 2.0 Stereo.

Meaning, there is no dedicated center channel...meaning, no dedicated channel for dialogue and which is why you cannot hear most of the time.

You will never truly have 5.1 surround from your Bluray player.

[jomari]

aside from peter kalbrains great suggestions, i also have to point out it may have to be the media itself. considering some dvds/blu-rays are mixed differently, some spectacular, some, well, couldve been improved on.

as also mentioned, it might the the center itself. is it 'pointed' towards the listening position properly? is it on a ledge? the reflectiveness of certain materials can also be in play here.

all in all, a number of variables, from the media, to the placement, to the speaker itself.

[ONE_DAY_AS_A_LION]

thanks everyone for the suggestions

what it means to me is this - i need to upgrade my surround sound system and not get a HT-in a box next time

[bdfanatic]

Originally Posted by ONE_DAY_AS_A_LION

I have 2 HDMI cables: 1 goes from blu ray player to tv, and the other goes from the cable box to the tv

My home theater, which is a Panasonic SA-PT950, does NOT have an HDMI slot, so I have audio cables, red & one, running from the back of the receiver to the reciever input on the back of the tv

If you only have a red and white RCA cable that's connecting your receiver to your blu-ray player (via your player connecting to the TV HDMI port), then you're not getting your 5.1 audio to play correctly. It's probably playing as 2.0 surround - so instead of dialogue only coming out of the Center Channel - it's probably coming out of the Left, Right and Surround Channels. So that's probably messing up your sound levels.

If that's the case, you should definitely replace your receiver since you're not getting 5.1. Get a DTS-HD Master Audio capable receiver. And make sure to get a receiver that allows audio to pass through HDMI cable - they're known as HDMI 1.1 and above receivers. Other receivers that can't do this aren't compatible with PCM Uncompressed audio (an audio format used on some blu-ray movies).

[D1-2005]

Most htib's at least have an optical input, and in the mean time while you save for something better you can have at the least lossy 5.1. I recomend you check for an optical connecton and go buy one if it has one.

[BIslander]

Most Panasonic HTIBs have a single optical input and they can only decode DD 5.1, not DTS.

The OP can get perfectly fine 5.1 audio from Dolby sources by using an optical connection from his player to the HTIB. Set the BD60 Dolby Digital Audio output on the player to bitstream.

Since the AVR can't decode DTS, you will need to have the player do the decoding of that codec and output stereo PCM. Set the BD60 DTS Digital Audio output to PCM. But, you can still get reasonable surround with a genuine center channel from DTS sources with this combination of player and receiver settings:

On the player, set Downmix to Surround Encoded and use ProLogic processing in the AVR. The player will fold a center channel into the stereo mix and ProLogic will extract it.

Since you have two digital sources (BDP and cable box), you will need an optical switch to share the HTIB's one optical input. Try monoproice.com. You can get one for $10-15.

[crackinhedz]

Guys, the Panasonic SA-PT950 does not have any optical or digital coaxial inputs.

[crackinhedz]

If the OP is interested in better audio, then a new receiver is needed.

If the OP wants to make do with what he has, I would simply connect the red/white audio cables directly from the Bluray player to the HTiB. (I would not go from TV to HTiB as other variables as far as TV's capabilites, can give you problems)

[ONE_DAY_AS_A_LION]

thanks again everyone for your input

i'll try and do what you said crackin and plug in the red/white cables from the HTinB to the blu ray player

that should get me by for the meantime

i'm convincing my wife to allow me to upgrade our sound system