I posted awhile back about how I was noticing a difference in volume between the menus in a DVD .iso and the movie/episode files in it. It seemed at the time that the volume of 5.1 tracks was significantly lower than the 2.0 tracks of the menus and special features. I don’t have a surround setup. I use the “Stereo” option in the Settings.
I’ve been pretty frustrated with this issue since upgrading the firmware to get DVD menu functionality. As it is, to be able to comfortably hear and understand the dialogue in a show/movie with a 5.1 audio track, I have to turn it *way* up past normal levels. Then, for example, when an episode ends and you return to the main menu - it’s loud enough to shatter your eyeballs.
I think it may have something to do with the center channel not being downmixed properly into the Stereo output. I’m not sure though. All I know for certain, is that it ain’t right.
I’ve had the WDTV Live for almost a year now, and I’ve used the factory defaults almost the whole time - never had a single audio issue. Not even sync problems that people seem to mention alot in these forums. But when I upgraded the firmware to get menu functionality, this problem began.
Any other folks out there who downmix to Stereo experiencing this issue?
In my first post here, I wrote that I thought that my WD Live did a pretty good job of downmixing from 5.1 to stereo. After upgrading to 1.0.3.49 (and admittedly playing only one 5.1 movie on it), I must say that something seems to have changed. I have the same experience as you – in order to hear the dialogue properly, I have to crank the volume way up.
The only real solution is to get a 5.1 receiver. You can always turn off the surround (and subwoofer) speakers.
I hate 5.1 – it’s a lot of nonsensical hype in some 12x12 living room with an 8-foot ceiling; 7 crappy speakers for $99.99 and cables running around everywhere and there’s nothing in the surround that you need to hear anyway if you’re not watching Star Wars at the Leicester Square Odeon.
Stereo is a beautiful thing; just listen to some of Joni Mitchell’s Dog Eat Dog …
If you’re a bit of a maniac, you can do your own downmix. Ffmpeg is yur friend.
I agree with you on the 5.1 hate. I have a couple of huge floor speakers in my den, and I’ve always just had a stereo mix. Friends of mine who have 5.1 setups come over to my house and they’re like “Dude, this sounds awesome.”…
But yeah, something changed with the firmware upgrade(s) that is causing a poor downmix from 5.1 to stereo. I’m not sure exactly when it happened since I didn’t bother upgrading firmware until the DVD Menu functionality was introduced.
It’s bad though, and it’s likely to cause me to try another brand of media player if it isn’t addressed.
If you guys were happier with a previous version of the firmware then why don’t you just downgrade to that version and wait for the next firmware release?
When I saw that DVD menu functionality was coming, I started ripping full-disc .iso’s of my DVD’s, as opposed to going in and peeling out individual episodes of TV (a tedious process). So now I have a ton of .iso’s that rely on the newer firmware. So, yes, I could roll my firmware back, but I’d either have to re-rip that stuff or go without it until (or if) this problem is ever fixed.
You never said exactly which firmware version you are using, but besides the official 1.03.49 and 1.04.10 versions there also were Betas 1.03.43 and 1.03 39. Perhaps one of those versions will not have the audio problem.
It could be that the 5.1 track has a dialog normalization flag that the WDTV is ignoring.
But, if you’re only listening to 2.0 stereo anyways, why not just use the 2.0 AC-3 track on the disc instead of the 5.1? Very very few of my discs have 5.1 English only without also a 2.0 AC-3 track.
The 2.0 mixdown included on discs is generally far superior to a generic mixdown from 5.1, since they’ve tweaked it to sound as good as possible.
Yeah, all of my DVD rips thus far have been stripped of the 2.0 mix to preserve a little hard-drive space - I figured if it was downmixing the 5.1 without issue, then all would be well… And it was until recently. Trust me, if there were an easy way around this, I’d do it
For now, I’m ripping stuff with the 2.0 track intact (as well as the 5.1). If this (whatever the **bleep** it is) is ever fixed, I’ll start removing the 2.0 tracks from my rips again. In the meantime, I guess I’ll sacrifice some disk space.
