Low volume in downloaded movies

[andysmith45]

Why is it that many divx/xvid movies have very low volume? Even movies encoded in AC3 5.1 also suffer from this problem.

[Maestro120]

Do you mean when played on your pc or when converted to DVD format for an external TV ?

My experience has been that AC3 5.1 audio tends to have low volume on many computers due to their sound cards not being able to handle that format.

[IneptVagrant]

You need to set the 'gain' in the filter properties.

I use Media Player Clasic (MPC), can regain any audio on the fly with it, not just the audio being passed thur the filter(s) that allow gain to be set. From the menu Play > Audio > Options. CCCP happens to come with MPC.

Other programs will let you select the audio filter or stream filter, and adjust it there.

I've used MPC for so long, I've forgotten how to regain in WMP, sry.

Most of the time the reason the audio is so low, from AC?.? to stero is because the filter doesn't remux the streams the best way, and so 'ambiant' noise is overly-baised to the voice tracks. This is difficult to fix properly on the fly, and so useually ends up with very quiet voice - and normal volume sound fx.

[andysmith45]

Actually, I just burned the downloaded videos to a blank dvd and play it on my divx supported dvd player. And quite a few movies have very low volume.

[IneptVagrant]

When u set gain via a filter, its not permanent. If you want it to be permanent, for when you burn to DVD, you need to use something like avisynth or vdub to regain the audio stream. -- Perhaps, might even have to demux the audio track, pass it thur besweet to apply some gain, and then remux.

This isn't something I'm familer with doing, since I don't burn to watch on stand-alone players.


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Anyways to your original question, the reason some/many files, esp those using acc, or ac3 audio have low volume, is becuase the ripper didn't adjust gain properly -- left it at default.

[andysmith45]

One more thing, is there any loss in audio/surround sound quality in movies encoded in AC3 5.1 as compared to the original DVD?

[Ratt]

Bloody AC3 is always a pain.

[Maestro120]

One more thing, is there any loss in audio/surround sound quality in movies encoded in AC3 5.1 as compared to the original DVD?

There is always a slight loss of sound due to the recompression of the audio but to be honest the loss of quality is negligible at best... probably not easily detected by the human ear if encoded properly.

[IneptVagrant]

AC3 (marketed as Dolby Digital) was developed to do the same thing MP3 does, but with more channels.

MP3 can only process 2 channels or stereo, but AC3 can handle up to 6, or surround sound. The 6th or (.1) is a Low-frequency effects (LFE) channel, that is biased toward the bass frequencies. -- This also means there is no reason to use AC3 over MP3, if you only have equipment for stereo sound.

When you ask, does AC3 lose quality over the DVD-audio. The answer is the same as asking, does MP3 lose quality when ripping from a CD. It depends on what bitrate you use for encoding, your hearing, and the equipment your playing it back on.

[andysmith45]

Thx for all ur help.

I have a 5.1 setup on my comp but prefer watching movies on the bigger TV screen. When I have collected enough movies with 5.1 audio, I will connect my 5.1 speakers to my dvd player.