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Posted by def456 on 04/23/07 10:10
"Geena Phillips" <gbeenie@comcast.netrosexual> wrote in message
news:9aednVJ8Tq0I1brbnZ2dnUVZ_qbinZ2d@comcast.com...
> Oldus Fartus wrote:
>> def456 wrote:
>>> It looks like most DVD movies these days come with DolbyD 5.1 as the
>>> only kind of audio sound, but it doesn't work very well with my system.
>>> DolbyD 2 channels (48K) is OK, but not 5.1 channels. It's too weak. I
>>> have to turn up the volume very high on my TV til I hear a background
>>> hum then the movie is somewhat audible, but with very poor quality
>>> sound.
>>>
>>> For example I can generally hear things OK when watching cable or
>>> satellite TV with a level of 15 on my volume control, or with a DolbyD 2
>>> channels DVD, but I must turn the volume up to 30-40 or more to hear a
>>> DVD movie that has DolbyD 5.1 sound.
>>>
>>> I tried cleaning all of my audio cable contacts and it helped a little,
>>> but not much.
>>>
>>> I've looked around on the internet but couldn't find any cheap
>>> stereo/hi-fi systems to use in place of my TV's audio system. They all
>>> want at least $200, which is too expensive.
>>>
>>> I have the red and white RCA cables for hi-fi (2 channel) sound. So a
>>> new sound system must be able to accept those connectors. A lot of small
>>> portable stereo players use a different kind of connector (just 1 plug,
>>> divided somehow, like is used on computer speaker systems), but I need
>>> something that accepts the RCA cables with the 2 plugins for the
>>> left/right speakers.
>>>
>>> I don't know or understand many of the details. I'm not an audiophile. I
>>> just want decent sound, something like when I watch the news on cable or
>>> satellite TV. It doesn't have to be great sound, but I have to be able
>>> to hear it! Why does DolbyD 5.1 give such weak (low volume) sound?
>>>
>>> Any suggestions?
>>>
>>
>> Get into the setup menu for your DVD player, and somewhere in there will
>> be a setting to downmix the output to stereo.
>
> What he said. The problem is, you can't get 5.1 surround to your system
> via standard 2-channel RCA connections.
-----------
Thanks a lot! That required me to get out the DVD manual. The player is 3
years old, an Emerson EWD7003.
It doesn't talk about "mixing" nor "Dolby Digital 5.1" (or 2.0, or whatever
number of channels) but has several "Audio Settings" which I've never
understood...
The relevant one is probably "Dolby Digital" which can be set to ON or OFF.
ON is if I have a Dolby Digital Decoder, which I apparently don't have. OFF
converts the Dolby Digital to PCM. They don't explain. What's "PCM"?
It also has a setting called DRC (Dynamic Range Control) which can be turned
ON or OFF, to compress the range of sound volume. The default is OFF, but
they don't explain what this does. I don't understand.
It also has a "Down Sampling" setting of ON or OFF. It says to set to ON
when outputting in 48kHz. If you select OFF, copyright protection will be
activated and sound will be down sampled at 48kHz. Quite frankly I don't
understand any of this either, but generally leave it set to the default ON.
I turned OFF the Dolby Digital setting, first thing, and couldn't tell any
difference with the DVD I was using to test it. Then I tried a couple of
other DVDs and still couldn't notice much of a differential when turning it
ON/OFF with a particular DVD. Mysteriously, however, the sound level came up
somewhat overall, so I can now play DVD movies without having to crank the
TV volume control way up to 30-40 or more. After trying quite a few DVD
movies, I can now hear them generally OK. The volume is not as strong as
ordinary broadcast TV which is generally audible at a level of 15 on my TV's
volume control. The DVD movies now require a volume setting of 20-25 to hear
them OK, which is acceptable. I don't have noticable background hum at that
volume level.
It's strange that I can't tell much difference when turning the Dolby
Digital setting ON/OFF with a particular DVD. There is sometimes a noticable
difference, sometimes not, but the overall volume of sound is now up to an
audible level in general. It's as if the DVD player was "stuck" in some kind
of non-standard mode, and has now returned to normal audio operation. When I
first got the DVD player it had good strong sound with all DVD movies I
tried.
It has been set on Dolby Digital = ON for a long time, several months at
least, unawares. I found a mention in the manual that says this could damage
the speakers, so I guess that might have happened, although my TV plays OK
on ordinary broadcast TV stations.
The above is about the DVD player.
The following is about my TV, a 25" Curtis Mathes CM25020S built in April
2002. It has quite a few sound settings too, and I've never figured out
exactly which is best. Some of the settings seem to be required for good
strong audio with certain DVD movies, but not with others. The biggest
problem is speech recognition. With certain settings I can't understand what
people are saying in the movie, at least not very clearly. Sometimes the
music in the background is too loud. Sometimes their speech is just not very
clear.
MTS Stereo ON/OFF is one of those settings on my TV. Speech is definitely
much easier to understand with Stereo=OFF. However turning it OFF decreases
the sound volume and quality significantly in many cases.
Another TV audio setting that has a big effect is "Turbo Sound" ON/OFF.
Turning it OFF may decrease the volume level greatly with certain DVD
movies, but has little effect with others. In some cases the audio is almost
too weak to hear unless it's turned ON. Speech recognition is sometimes best
with it turned ON, but in other cases best if it's turned OFF. I generally
leave it turned ON, then try turning if off if I'm having trouble
understanding speech in the movie.
Another TV setting is "Surround" ON/OFF. Turning this ON gives a sort-of
'tinny' quality to the sound, like it's coming out of a tin can. I don't
think it improves anything so I usually leave it OFF. In some cases however
turning it ON may improve the speech recognition slightly.
Now, to summarize...
I am plagued recently by what I call "Mumble Movies". The actors can't speak
with
projection from their diaphrams. They sound like they're just mumbling, like
James Dean, and/or intentionally talking in whispers. This seems to happen
more and more with current movies. The actors aren't trying to talk in order
to be understood, they don't care, they just mumble and grunt and whisper
their way through it. So this factor enters into the overall audio problems
too. Frequently I can't tell whether I have a genuine Mumble Movie on my
hands, or an improper setting on my DVD Player or TV! It's often a mystery.
I just wish they would teach actors how to talk nowadays, how to project
from the diaphram, and enunciate so they can be understood in good plain
English with a minimum of slang. I don't think mumbling and grunting and
whispering and low-class slang is any way to act! :)
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