Movie dialogue very quiet and sound effects very loud

[kbrownell]

OK, I have the Samsung BD-P1500 BD player. I checked the manual, and my options are as follows:

PCM
Bitstream (Re-encode)
Bitstream (Audiophile)


The manual says to choose Bitstream (Re-encode) if I have a receiver with an optical input, but it's decoding primary, secondary and effect audio streams into PCM, then re-encoding them to bitstream. The Audiophile setting doesn't do this, but it says I won't hear secondary and effect audio.

Which setting do I want?

And as an aside, when would someone want to use the PCM setting?

[BIslander]

Originally Posted by kbrownell

OK, I have the Samsung BD-P1500 BD player. I checked the manual, and my options are as follows:

PCM
Bitstream (Re-encode)
Bitstream (Audiophile)


The manual says to choose Bitstream (Re-encode) if I have a receiver with an optical input, but it's decoding primary, secondary and effect audio streams into PCM, then re-encoding them to bitstream. The Audiophile setting doesn't do this, but it says I won't hear secondary and effect audio.

Which setting do I want?

I'd start with Bitstream Audiophile. That simply sends the track that is on the disc. Re-Encode decodes, mixes in secondary audio, and re-encodes as a DTS bitstream. That should also work just fine for an optical connection. But, since you are having what appears to be a problem with how the audio is mixed, I'd remove the mixer from the equation.

And as an aside, when would someone want to use the PCM setting?

This is for people who use multichannel PCM over HDMI. That's how they get TrueHD with a receiver that doesn't have a TrueHD decoder.

If your player is set to PCM, then it will have to downmix the multichannel PCM to stereo because optical is limited to two channels of PCM. And, it's quite possible that your problems are caused by a poor job of downmixing.

[kbrownell]

OK, some follow-up on this topic...

I changed the BD player's output from PCM to Bitstream (Audiophile), and turned off the receiver's sound fields. That did appear to fix the problem. Before turning off the sound fields, even when it was on basic "stereo" or "surround" fields, there was dialogue coming through the center and both front speakers, and music/effects coming through the center.

After the fix, dialogue comes through the center, and only the center -- no music or effects from the center. So, obviously, turning up the level on the center increases the dialogue volume to a comfortable level without also boosting the explosions and such.

Is this the way it's supposed to be for Blu-Ray, with dialogue (only) coming through the center channel and nowhere else?

Thanks for everyone's help with this.

[BIslander]

Originally Posted by kbrownell

I changed the BD player's output from PCM to Bitstream (Audiophile), and turned off the receiver's sound fields. That did appear to fix the problem. Before turning off the sound fields, even when it was on basic "stereo" or "surround" fields, there was dialogue coming through the center and both front speakers, and music/effects coming through the center.

After the fix, dialogue comes through the center, and only the center -- no music or effects from the center. So, obviously, turning up the level on the center increases the dialogue volume to a comfortable level without also boosting the explosions and such.

Is this the way it's supposed to be for Blu-Ray, with dialogue (only) coming through the center channel and nowhere else?

Glad that fixed it. It's not Blu-ray. It's the way 5.1 soundtracks are mixed. The center channel carries much of the dialog and not a lot else.

[neckedness]

The problem isn't with any of your equipments or mines. The problem is the sound engineer's inability to produce equal sound levels through all channels. They like to make the music, sound fx super loud just so the movie can seem exciting to the viewers. A technique used ages ago.

[BIslander]

Originally Posted by neckedness

The problem isn't with any of your equipments or mines. The problem is the sound engineer's inability to produce equal sound levels through all channels. They like to make the music, sound fx super loud just so the movie can seem exciting to the viewers. A technique used ages ago.

Some movies are poorly mixed. Even a great soundtrack like The Dark Knight has passages where the dialog is overwhelmed by the effects audio.

But, kbrownell's problem was not a bad 5.1 mix. The player was set to output a stereo downmix. Once that was fixed, the problem was solved.

Most movies are mixed quite well. If you are having difficulties with more than an occasional soundtrack, then you should take a look at how your system is configured and calibrated.

[duderino7]

I had the same problem on a PC. Dialogues were just muted, whereas the rest of the sound was there.
My problem as caused by the Realtek audio manager. The "karaoke" effect was turned on. Maybe check if there's a karaoke function turned on that might be suppressing the central channel?
Cheers...

[HAMP]

Originally Posted by duderino7

I had the same problem on a PC. Dialogues were just muted, whereas the rest of the sound was there.
My problem as caused by the Realtek audio manager. The "karaoke" effect was turned on. Maybe check if there's a karaoke function turned on that might be suppressing the central channel?
Cheers...

I love finding when people reply to old post, and I laugh pretty hard when they are really old, for instant, this one is nearly 3 years old.

[Silo5]

Originally Posted by HAMP

I love finding when people reply to old post, and I laugh pretty hard when they are really old, for instant, this one is nearly 3 years old.

...and I love finding when people reply to people who love finding when people reply to old post, and I laugh even harder when they laugh pretty hard when they are really old, for instant, this one is nearly 3 years old and a day.

[3Dfan]

Originally Posted by tilallr1

What is the speaker setup like. Does he have a good Center speaker? This alone could result in muffled dialogue. The center speaker is probably one of the most important speakers in any setup.

My center speaker is crystal clear on most bluray movies I have

However, the blurays I bought most recently have the dialog way too low/sfx way too loud problem.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do when Dolby Atmos is required for all recievers and movies as Dolby's own site specifically admits that Dolby Atmos will NOT work in our house.

For now, I will keep using my 5.1 system.