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Guitar Discussions -> OT - DVDs and dynamic range
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OT - DVDs and dynamic range - Dr. Zontar - 6-:26 -0-09-20
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I was watching Dario Argento's "Suspiria" on DVD a couple nights ago.
Like most of Argento's films, it has loud, atonal, creepy music by The
Goblins on the soundtrack.
What really bothered me was that the dialog is mostly from soft-spoken
females. So I had to keep turning up the volume. Then, the music would
come in, about five times louder than everything else, and blast me
out of the room.
From a technical standpoint, I can appreciate the dynamic range. But
from a viewers perspective, it's annoying as hell. Why do they mix DVD
sound like this? I had to ride the volume buttons on the remote for
the whole movie. It distracts from the viewing experience.
I'm actually thinking about buying a compressor/limiter and putting it
in the tape monitor loop of my stereo. Maybe that'll help.
- Rich
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Re: OT - DVDs and dynamic range - Billy Brit - 6-:26 -0-09-20
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Dr. Zontar wrote:
> I was watching Dario Argento's "Suspiria" on DVD a couple nights ago.
> Like most of Argento's films, it has loud, atonal, creepy music by The
> Goblins on the soundtrack.
> What really bothered me was that the dialog is mostly from soft-spoken
> females. So I had to keep turning up the volume. Then, the music would
> come in, about five times louder than everything else, and blast me
> out of the room.
> From a technical standpoint, I can appreciate the dynamic range. But
> from a viewers perspective, it's annoying as hell. Why do they mix DVD
> sound like this? I had to ride the volume buttons on the remote for
> the whole movie. It distracts from the viewing experience.
> I'm actually thinking about buying a compressor/limiter and putting it
> in the tape monitor loop of my stereo. Maybe that'll help.
I have thought of that too. It really irritates me. It's one of the
things I always disliked about the X-Files.
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Re: OT - DVDs and dynamic range - Meat Plow - 6-:26 -0-09-20
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On Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:38:54 -0700 (PDT), "Dr. Zontar"
<drzontar@yahoo.com>wrote:
>I was watching Dario Argento's "Suspiria" on DVD a couple nights ago.
>Like most of Argento's films, it has loud, atonal, creepy music by The
>Goblins on the soundtrack.
>
>What really bothered me was that the dialog is mostly from soft-spoken
>females. So I had to keep turning up the volume. Then, the music would
>come in, about five times louder than everything else, and blast me
>out of the room.
>
>From a technical standpoint, I can appreciate the dynamic range. But
>from a viewers perspective, it's annoying as hell. Why do they mix DVD
>sound like this? I had to ride the volume buttons on the remote for
>the whole movie. It distracts from the viewing experience.
>
>I'm actually thinking about buying a compressor/limiter and putting it
>in the tape monitor loop of my stereo. Maybe that'll help.
>
>- Rich
You need a center speaker or if you have one crank the volume up on it
and lessen the volume on your surround.
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Re: OT - DVDs and dynamic range - Flasherly - 6-:26 -0-09-20
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On Jun 26, 8:38 am, "Dr. Zontar" <drzon...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I was watching Dario Argento's "Suspiria" on DVD a couple nights ago.
> Like most of Argento's films, it has loud, atonal, creepy music by The
> Goblins on the soundtrack.
>
> What really bothered me was that the dialog is mostly from soft-spoken
> females. So I had to keep turning up the volume. Then, the music would
> come in, about five times louder than everything else, and blast me
> out of the room.
>
> From a technical standpoint, I can appreciate the dynamic range. But
> from a viewers perspective, it's annoying as hell. Why do they mix DVD
> sound like this? I had to ride the volume buttons on the remote for
> the whole movie. It distracts from the viewing experience.
>
> I'm actually thinking about buying a compressor/limiter and putting it
> in the tape monitor loop of my stereo. Maybe that'll help.
>
> - Rich
I've a DBX, though what you're after (maybe not), is a software player
setup;- the DBX is OK, although not as well suited to a localized
rendition of both audio/video, digitally, viz software. No set table-
top DVD players since building a computer to get rid of that box of
limitations and annoyances. Software players variously mean as many
ways to control audio dynamics. Normalization being how software
authors tend to group their dynamic range control widgets, which some
programs additionally scale for boost factoring. Great stuff for the
most part, watching it get better all the time, except for occasional
CODEC associations that scramble one another into ten tons of
lamebrained accustomed settings lost from a reset condition. I
downmix, as with it all for the prior reason, KISS, though a theatre
soundstage would a little on the pompous side for my lowly 2-channel
Polk Audio Reference Series. Little of the ol' curve involved, of
course to be expected, but nothing major if computer fluency isn't
especially intimidating. VLC and GOM I'd put out in the forefront
among half-a-dozen players I keep around for various ways to approach
audio/video.
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Re: OT - DVDs and dynamic range - dvaoa - 6-:26 -0-09-20
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On Jun 26, 8:38=A0am, "Dr. Zontar" <drzon...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I was watching Dario Argento's "Suspiria" on DVD a couple nights ago.
> Like most of Argento's films, it has loud, atonal, creepy music by The
> Goblins on the soundtrack.
>
> What really bothered me was that the dialog is mostly from soft-spoken
> females. So I had to keep turning up the volume. Then, the music would
> come in, about five times louder than everything else, and blast me
> out of the room.
>
> From a technical standpoint, I can appreciate the dynamic range. But
> from a viewers perspective, it's annoying as hell. Why do they mix DVD
> sound like this? I had to ride the volume buttons on the remote for
> the whole movie. It distracts from the viewing experience.
>
> I'm actually thinking about buying a compressor/limiter and putting it
> in the tape monitor loop of my stereo. Maybe that'll help.
>
> - Rich
My old Panasonic DVD player had some sort of dynamic range
"compressor" feature for precisely that reason. Didn't squish as much
as I would've liked but it was better than none at all.
Ever try watching a movie on AMC? The feature presentations are no
better than 1/2 the volume compared to the commercials.
-d
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Re: OT - DVDs and dynamic range - Rufus - 6-:26 -0-09-20
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Dr. Zontar wrote:
> I was watching Dario Argento's "Suspiria" on DVD a couple nights ago.
> Like most of Argento's films, it has loud, atonal, creepy music by The
> Goblins on the soundtrack.
>
> What really bothered me was that the dialog is mostly from soft-spoken
> females. So I had to keep turning up the volume. Then, the music would
> come in, about five times louder than everything else, and blast me
> out of the room.
>
> From a technical standpoint, I can appreciate the dynamic range. But
> from a viewers perspective, it's annoying as hell. Why do they mix DVD
> sound like this? I had to ride the volume buttons on the remote for
> the whole movie. It distracts from the viewing experience.
>
> I'm actually thinking about buying a compressor/limiter and putting it
> in the tape monitor loop of my stereo. Maybe that'll help.
>
> - Rich
...I hate all this surround nonsense...just gimme a good stereo
soundfield, please.
Actually, two of the AV receivers I'm looking at (and my new Samsung
Series 8 LCD TV - which is why I'm looking) have settings to "lift" the
dialog and/or de-emphasize music if you're running in a surround system.
...which is still annoying, because you have to push a bunch of buttons
to get what you're after depending on the source instead of just turning
the system on...
The two I'm thinking about are the Yamaha RX-V3900 and the Denon
AVR-4310CI. The Denon also has audio leveling for commercials built in
for if your TV doesn't do that, but there's more flexibility for inputs
with the Yamaha. Neither of them have loops for a cassette deck, but do
for VCR/DVR/CD-R. The industry is limiting options through hardware, it
seems...
--
- Rufus
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Re: OT - DVDs and dynamic range - Rufus - 6-:26 -0-09-20
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Meat Plow wrote:
> On Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:38:54 -0700 (PDT), "Dr. Zontar"
> <drzontar@yahoo.com>wrote:
>
>> I was watching Dario Argento's "Suspiria" on DVD a couple nights ago.
>> Like most of Argento's films, it has loud, atonal, creepy music by The
>> Goblins on the soundtrack.
>>
>> What really bothered me was that the dialog is mostly from soft-spoken
>> females. So I had to keep turning up the volume. Then, the music would
>> come in, about five times louder than everything else, and blast me
>> out of the room.
>>
>>From a technical standpoint, I can appreciate the dynamic range. But
>>from a viewers perspective, it's annoying as hell. Why do they mix DVD
>> sound like this? I had to ride the volume buttons on the remote for
>> the whole movie. It distracts from the viewing experience.
>>
>> I'm actually thinking about buying a compressor/limiter and putting it
>> in the tape monitor loop of my stereo. Maybe that'll help.
>>
>> - Rich
>
> You need a center speaker or if you have one crank the volume up on it
> and lessen the volume on your surround.
...if he has surround...I'm thinking not. Just pure stereo.
--
- Rufus
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Re: OT - DVDs and dynamic range - Les Cargill - 6-:26 -0-09-20
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Meat Plow wrote:
> On Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:38:54 -0700 (PDT), "Dr. Zontar"
> <drzontar@yahoo.com>wrote:
>
>> I was watching Dario Argento's "Suspiria" on DVD a couple nights ago.
>> Like most of Argento's films, it has loud, atonal, creepy music by The
>> Goblins on the soundtrack.
>>
>> What really bothered me was that the dialog is mostly from soft-spoken
>> females. So I had to keep turning up the volume. Then, the music would
>> come in, about five times louder than everything else, and blast me
>> out of the room.
>>
>>From a technical standpoint, I can appreciate the dynamic range. But
>>from a viewers perspective, it's annoying as hell. Why do they mix DVD
>> sound like this? I had to ride the volume buttons on the remote for
>> the whole movie. It distracts from the viewing experience.
>>
>> I'm actually thinking about buying a compressor/limiter and putting it
>> in the tape monitor loop of my stereo. Maybe that'll help.
>>
>> - Rich
>
> You need a center speaker or if you have one crank the volume up on it
> and lessen the volume on your surround.
That's one possible error. You'll generally get a "hollow",
phasey thing on the front L-R speakers if that's it.
My TV has 5-speaker surround, internal to itself. I have the DVD
player configured for stereo output to a stereo. Still,
they mix the dialog way down and set the music up loud, I suppose
adapted to theater levels.
I just add a 1KHz hump to the stereo, and that helps quite a bit. But
I think some movies are just mixed by interns.
--
Les Cargill
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Re: OT - DVDs and dynamic range - Dr. Zontar - 6-:26 -0-09-20
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On Jun 26, 3:12=A0pm, Rufus <n...@home.com> wrote:
> Meat Plow wrote:
> > You need a center speaker or if you have one crank the volume up on it
> > and lessen the volume on your surround.
>
> ...if he has surround...I'm thinking not. =A0Just pure stereo.
Yep. Like you, I don't want to be bothered with surround.
- Rich
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Re: OT - DVDs and dynamic range - Mark Bedingfield - 6-:26 -0-09-20
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Dr. Zontar wrote:
> I was watching Dario Argento's "Suspiria" on DVD a couple nights ago.
> Like most of Argento's films, it has loud, atonal, creepy music by The
> Goblins on the soundtrack.
>
> What really bothered me was that the dialog is mostly from soft-spoken
> females. So I had to keep turning up the volume. Then, the music would
> come in, about five times louder than everything else, and blast me
> out of the room.
>
> From a technical standpoint, I can appreciate the dynamic range. But
> from a viewers perspective, it's annoying as hell. Why do they mix DVD
> sound like this? I had to ride the volume buttons on the remote for
> the whole movie. It distracts from the viewing experience.
>
> I'm actually thinking about buying a compressor/limiter and putting it
> in the tape monitor loop of my stereo. Maybe that'll help.
>
> - Rich
There is a function on most receiver called DRC or Dynamic Range
Control, on my Marantz its called Night mode. It compresses the audio
and reduces that effect of the volume differences. Try "Master and
Commander", that's got a huge dynamic range.
Personally I like it, Explosions are loud, whispers are quiet.
Mark
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