Hard time hearing

[mjm_hbk]

I have a hard time hearing the dialogue when I'm watching a movie through my surround sound. I've got the room set to medium, the center channel is turned all the way up (10.0), the fronts are at 6.5, and the rears are at 8.0.

I've currently got it set on Pro-Logic, but I've also tried Advanced Movie, Movie, Theater, TV Surround and none of them seem to fix the problem.

Any ideas?

[Blu-Beard]

Did you try turning the volume up?

[SDon1969]

Check for "Dynamic Range" settings?

[iNCREDiPiNOY]

Clean your ear wax!

[PS3 Blu-Ray]

First,
do you live in an apartment and are trying to keep the volume low for neighbors, but when action scenes hit, it sounds to loud, forcing you to keep it at a lower volume?

[arush5268d]

Originally Posted by Blu-Beard

Did you try turning the volume up?

This seems way too obvious...but sadly enough - there are those out there that never would have thought of it...

[Blu-Beard]

Originally Posted by arush5268d

This seems way too obvious...but sadly enough - there are those out there that never would have thought of it...

That's the only reason why I even suggested it. I wasn't tryin' to be a smart a**

[JohnGalt]

Originally Posted by mjm_hbk

I have a hard time hearing the dialogue when I'm watching a movie through my surround sound. I've got the room set to medium, the center channel is turned all the way up (10.0), the fronts are at 6.5, and the rears are at 8.0.

I've currently got it set on Pro-Logic, but I've also tried Advanced Movie, Movie, Theater, TV Surround and none of them seem to fix the problem.

Any ideas?

Back the volume of the fronts and surrounds off until the center channel is clearly audible then crank the master volume to taste.

[Sylin]

Does your receiver have a nighttime mode, where it narrows the range so that you can watch movies at reasonable volumes at night? Make sure this is NOT on.

[mjm_hbk]

Thank you for the responses.

Yes...the volume is turned up.

There is an option called "Midnight." Is this the same as Nighttime?

A little more information...I'm using a PS3 hooked up with an Optical Cable. Should I change the audio setting on the PS3 or will that not make a difference?

[Sylin]

Originally Posted by mjm_hbk

There is an option called "Midnight." Is this the same as Nighttime?

Possibly. Post which receiver model you have and I'm sure someone (most likely Crackin'--the man is a genius) will be able to tell you for certain.

Originally Posted by mjm_hbk

A little more information...I'm using a PS3 hooked up with an Optical Cable. Should I change the audio setting on the PS3 or will that not make a difference?

If your receiver supports it, try HDMI. If not, optical is probably the way to go. You might also want to check which audio track you're playing during the movie. If it's a lossless track, and you have it hooked up through optical, this might be the source of your problem. But I'll defer to the audio gurus... I'm just throwing out suggestions from experience.

[mjm_hbk]

It's a Pioneer VSX-D812.

And thanks, I'll check the audio options on the BD.

[Beta Man]

If you don't want to invest in an SPL meter (my best advice to you)


then I'd consider turning all of the other speakers to ZERO, or "standard", and do not turn them up, and turn the center channel up only......

Putting the Center at +6 is better than putting it at +10 if you set the left/right to +7 they're cancelling each other out in a way.......

You're probably using too much background noise drowning out the dialog. Generally people crank up the rear surrounds because they want to hear stuff happen behind them, but during normal dialog scenes, you'll notice that mostly "static/hiss" or other "wind" type sounds are coming from the surrounds when you have them too loud.......

[MacDaddyOJack]

Originally Posted by mjm_hbk

I have a hard time hearing the dialogue when I'm watching a movie through my surround sound. I've got the room set to medium, the center channel is turned all the way up (10.0), the fronts are at 6.5, and the rears are at 8.0.

I've currently got it set on Pro-Logic, but I've also tried Advanced Movie, Movie, Theater, TV Surround and none of them seem to fix the problem.

Any ideas?

Is your PS3 set to bitstream or LPCM? If it is set to LPCM and you are using the optical, then you will only get two channel which makes the dialogue very hard to hear as the center channel will not be on. Set your PS3 to bitstream, and then adjust your speakers, you shouldnt have them set at +7 and such. Try zero for everything and adjust the center accordingly, then use the master volume for playback.

[WickyWoo]

Midnight mode trys to keep volume even so you don't have sudden loud bangs. It distorts the audio, definately recommend turning it off, and bumping up the center channel audio level instead to +4 or so

[mjm_hbk]

Thanks again guys. I really appreciate the help.

[3Dfan]

[QUOTE=SDon1969;637717]Check for "Dynamic Range" settings?[/QUOTEMo

Despite everyone saying that, DRC does NOT work on DTS soundtracks which is the ONLY soundtracks most blurays have for the English language movie audio.

Even though my surround sound amp says DTS soundtracks are also encoded to work with DRC. As do all of the people who keep telling us to use DRC on the blurays we have that problem with. Even though it doesn't work on the ONLY soundtrack that MOST blurays come with.

I own hundreds of movies on bluray. And most of then have ONLY DTS. I did NOT search out ones with only DTS. That's just how MOST blurays are.

So now say something useful to help correct the too low dialog whispering, too loud blasting music where your mother complains about the loudness and house shaking, the landlords in your apartment and the apartments across the street complain and call the cops on you and all the neighbors for miles away call the cops on you instead of saying just turn on the DRC for DTS tracks which does NOT work on DTS tracks.

So far, NO ONE has said anything useful that solves the problem.

So far, NO ONE has said anything that solves the problem.

My system connected via hdmi, to a 5.1 receiver/amp, measured decibel levels with an external meter when calibrating, measured the distance of the speakers to the listening area, all fake surround sound modes off, only the accurate soundtracks , DTS-HD MA and Dolby TRU HD, depending on the disc.

So far, NOTHING anyone has said to do has worked to solve the whispering dialog, music and sfx so loud all the neighbors for over two miles away call the cops on you.

for both the noise AND rattling (shaking) THEIR house also.

while you're at home in your own house with the movie.

[3Dfan]

Originally Posted by iNCREDiPiNOY

Clean your ear wax!

If it was because of ear wax, then my mom and the neighbors (and me) wouldn't be complaining about it being so loud it rattles and shakes the house while at the same time the dialog is a low whisper where you can't make out the dialog.

Just tried watching The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

I played the whole thing but you usually couldn't hear what anyone was saying during the first half of that movie.

But the music and sound effects were deafing loud and shook the whole house.

And I KNOW it's not my hearing or "ear wax" because I measured with an external db meter.

dialog like 3db while music and sound effects like 125 db.

[3Dfan]

Originally Posted by Blu-Beard

Did you try turning the volume up?

Why would I idiotically turn the volume up even more when me, my mom, and other people are already complaining about the music and sound effects being so deafining loud they hurt your ears for hours afterwards and shakes the whole house while the dialog is so whispering low, you can barely hear it and can't make out what they're saying at all.

Although my mom and I have watched plenty of other recent movies on the same system without any problem at all. It only happens in some movies.

And Jaws 3-D has the same dialog way too low/music and sfx way too loud problem.

And that movie is encoded on only the front left and front right channels (DTS-MA 2.0)

So turning the front up does absolutely nothing for that movie.

And turning the front left and front right up just increases the problem of the music and sfx being too deafining loud that they shake the whole house.

And turning the front left and front right down just increases the problem of not being able to hear the dialog.

From the year it was made, I'm assuming Jaws 3-D was made in "Dolby Stereo".

And watching in pro-logic mode didn't help either.

and in pro-logic mode, turning the center up or down doesn't help either as it's matrixed surround sound.

So explain how to fix the dialog way too low/music and sfx way too low on a DTS 2.0 movie like Jaws 3-D.

So that neighbors, my mom, and other people don't complain.

You can't do it, can you? Because so far, NO ONE has offered a satisfactory solution not even a solution that works at all.

Headphones aren't a solution either, because those super super super super super super super super loud blasts (and music) will make me go deaf when they come on if I'm listening with headphones where I can hear the dialog normally.

I already tried headphones with the movies on that amp.

And it's NOT my hearing either, because I already measured the decibel levels with an external meter (without headphones).

The dialog is way way too low (but only on certain movies) and the music and sound effects are way way too loud on the very same movies (but only on certain movies).

Other movies, the sound is perfectly fine.

So explain how to fix this dialog way way too low/music and sfx way way too loud problem, especially for a DTS 2.0 movie.

Along with for Dolby TruHD and DTS-MA movies.

Especially for DTS-MA as DRC did NOT work on those two either.

[3Dfan]

Originally Posted by SDon1969

Check for "Dynamic Range" settings?

Why does everyone keep saying to use DRC for Blu-ray discs???

Most bluray discs come with ONLY a DTS track for the English language movie audio.

And DRC does NOT work on DTS tracks despite my amp's instruction manual saying that do because both Dolby and DTS tracks are encoded to work with DRC.

I tried it. DRC doesn't work on either DTS tracks or Dolby TruHD tracks.

However, even the Dolby TruHD tracks are rare on bluray as most have ONLY a DTS-HD MA track.