Low Voices, high effects.

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saucee
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 7:35 pm

Low Voices, high effects.

Post by saucee »

Hey guys, I'm kind of new to this encoding thing....

I built a HTPC and I'm trying to build my DVD library up on it. The video quality is amazing but whenever I watch I movie I feel like the voices are crazy low and the effects are very high, so much that I have to lower and higher the volume depending on what is happening in the movie.

I'm using Handbrake to encode my library on Windows 7, then sending it over to my home group to my HTPC which is running Ubuntu 11.10. I'm using XBMC as my media center software.

I encode my video in H.264, source resolution, Quality Average BitRate 1,400, constant framerate. The only thing I touch in the Audio Settings was the DB Gain because I thought it would help, but really I feel like it just made everything a little bit louder in general.

My HTPC is connected to my 36In Vizo via HDMI, I checked my XBMC settings and it says it's outputing to 2 channels.

I'm going to rip a movie and post an activity log when I get home, because I have to head to work in literally two minutes. Hopefully someone can give me some insight on this problem while I'm at work.

Thanks so much guys.
Deleted User 11865

Re: Low Voices, high effects.

Post by Deleted User 11865 »

1) make sure your source track is AC3 and that your output is not AC3 Passthru

2) set DRC (dynamic range compression) to 1 or maybe 2

DRC should be accessible from advanced audio options.
saucee
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 7:35 pm

Re: Low Voices, high effects.

Post by saucee »

Thanks for the reply, the stock audio settings are
Source: English (AC3) (5.1 ch)
Audio Codec: AAC (faac)
Mixdown : Dolby Pro Logix II
Samplerate: Auto
Bitrate: 160
DRC: 0
Gain (dB): 0

is the source being 5.1 channel an issue and maybe why I'm getting the low voices you think?
TedJ
Veteran User
Posts: 5388
Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:25 pm

Re: Low Voices, high effects.

Post by TedJ »

My sweet spot for AC3 -> AAC audio is gain +3 dB and DRC 1.5. Any increase in gain should be matched (where available) with a corresponding increase in DRC to avoid clipping and distortion.

It's always been my understanding that DRC (both hardware and software) limits peak audio so it will make loud effects softer, bringing them closer to dialogue level.
saucee
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 7:35 pm

Re: Low Voices, high effects.

Post by saucee »

Hey! Thanks for the reply, I'll give it a test and see what I get.

Now, can I re-encode the file itself? or should I get my DVD's back together and start re-encodying the dvds?
TedJ
Veteran User
Posts: 5388
Joined: Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:25 pm

Re: Low Voices, high effects.

Post by TedJ »

You'll need to go back to DVD... DRC only works with AC3 sources and only if transcoding to AAC/MP3.
saucee
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 7:35 pm

Re: Low Voices, high effects.

Post by saucee »

Alright, I really appreciate the help. I'll get my DVD's together and start re-encoding (I've already went through about 30 DVD's -_-).
nightstrm
Veteran User
Posts: 1887
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2007 5:43 am

Re: Low Voices, high effects.

Post by nightstrm »

TedJ wrote:My sweet spot for AC3 -> AAC audio is gain +3 dB and DRC 1.5. Any increase in gain should be matched (where available) with a corresponding increase in DRC to avoid clipping and distortion.

It's always been my understanding that DRC (both hardware and software) limits peak audio so it will make loud effects softer, bringing them closer to dialogue level.
This matches the results of my testing awhile ago. I use +3dB and DRC=1.5 whenever converting AC3 to AAC.
saucee
Posts: 14
Joined: Sun Mar 25, 2012 7:35 pm

Re: Low Voices, high effects.

Post by saucee »

So do you guys really recommend 2 DRC, or 1.5 DRC
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