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In Reply to: RE: Need advice, please! posted by author@escapeclause.net on August 24, 2007 at 07:16:17
I had this problem a couple of years ago while I was still running a 2 channel HT system. Simple solution: don't use a virtual surround sound option. Just use an unprocessed stereo downmix.
The virtual surround options try to replicate some of the effect of genuine surround systems by playing with the phase of parts of the signal in order to make it appear that some of the sounds are coming from the sides or rear of the room. That usually makes speech harder to understand in my experience.
In your case, what you want is the NORMAL setting on your player. That should be a straight stereo downmix without the added processing of a virtual surround option.
There are 2 other hints:
1- Check the soundtrack options on the disc itself for a 2 channel soundtrack. Playing a dedicated 2 channel track usually sounds better than playing a surround soundtrack and downmixing it to stereo.
2- There are occasional discs with the option of a 2 channel virtual surround soundtrack. The 4 disc director's cut versions of the Lord of the Rings films include such tracks. These can actually work quite well because the sound engineer can ensure that the virtual suround effects don't interfere with the dialogue so definitely try those tracks.
Provided you choose the right output option for the DVD player, choosing a stereo soundtrack where there is one or a simple stereo downmix when there is no stereo track, it won't matter whether you use a digital or analog connection to your amp. If you use a digital connection, set it to PCM which is the same kind of signal that a CD player outputs. That means the DAC in the amp will be able to convert the digital signal to analog. Don't output a bitstream signal unless the amp/receiver has decoders for Dolby or DTS as well as a DAC. Dolby and DTS signals are bitstreams which have to be decoded to PCM first, and then processed by a DAC.
Just don't introduce any further processing in the amp/receiver if it has any such options. Just leave it decoding and playing the simple stereo signal it receives from your player.
David Aiken
Follow Ups:
Thanks for the quick reply -- I've noticed that I even have problems hearing soft-spoken dialogue with no 'virtual surround,' especially if the movie doesn't have any 2.0 track (Layer Cake, for example, only has a 2.0 track if you want to listen to the commentary.) Now, I did find one of the various settings had a big impact: the "DRC" setting, when toggled from "NORMAL" to "TV-MODE" causes the light stuff to be much more audible, but my concern is that this is adding a lot of compression and distortion to the bigger sounds, too. Any thoughts?
Don't know what your "DRC" is, it may be something like "Night" mode on my Denon receiver which is a compression setting that reduces the range between the softest and loudest sounds.
Compression doesn't usually introduce distortion to an undistorted sound unless you also turn the volume up to the point where the amp or speakers distort noticeably but the cause of the distortion there is the volume level rather than the compression. On the other hand compression doesn't remove distortion either. If you compress a distorted sound, it will still be distorted after compression. Compression will result in you listening to softer sounds at a louder level if you maintain either average or peak volume levels as they were before applying the compression. That MAY make speech more audible and legible in some cases. On the other hand, if the background sounds/music are of a sufficient level and in a similar frequency bandwidth to the speech so that they were masking the speech to some degree before compression, compression won't help there and it's always possible that it may make things a little worse. I suspect what's going to happen in any given case is going to depend on the soundtrack and the respective levels of speech and sounds/music within the track to some degree.
Part of your problem may have to do with room acoustics, especially if your room gives a bit of a boost to high and low frequencies relative to the mids. You may want to play around with tone controls a little, and also any EQ options available on your player. Some Dolby/DTS decoders offer a 'Cinema EQ' option which rolls the high frequencies off slightly and that may help. Alternatively, introducing a little high and/or low frequency cut with tone controls may make the voice range a little more prominent and help with speech intelligibility.
David Aiken
Dynamic Range Compression?
It stands for "Dynamic Range Control", so you were close. The manual (which homeless shelter are they trolling to find the people who write these things?) says the following:
"Makes the sound clear when the volume is turned down when playing a DVD that conforms to 'AUDIO DRC'. This function affects output from the line out, digital out, and HDMI output jacks, but only affects output from the HDMI jack when DOLBY DIGITAL is set to D-PCM (see page 66).
STANDARD: Normally select this position.
TV MODE: Makes low sound clear even if you turn the volume down.
WIDE RANGE: Gives the feeling of a live performance."
(Pg 65.)
...Okay, so never mind the eighteen ways this language is either muddled, incomplete, or references jargon that isn't defined -- never mind that -- the real concern I have is that it sounds like a sonically non-neutral band-aid for what, in my case, is an actual setup problem.
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