Am I the only one that has never-ending frustration with poor sound levels on commercially produced D.V.D's and Blue-ray discs ?

YouTube content is likewise highly variable as to sound levels, and it seems that the quality of the clip is dependent on the skills of its creator.

I am currently watching series five of the series Breaking Bad. Most discs are Blue-ray, but some are D.V.D.
All the way through the sound level is a whisper and requires the the television's volume to be set near maximum and still the sound level is low. Then a loud passage comes on and one must quickly turn the volume down.

So there it is. Loud levels of sound are possible on the said discs, but little attention appears to have been paid to the recording levels I presume.
I do not remember things being this bad in the past, but in recent years it is the norm, rather than the exception.

Bad sound levels from pre-recorded video cassettes were never trouble through out their thirty year reign.

I switched to box sets to avoid the ads. In the beginning, ads interrupted the program. Now programs interrupt the ads.

Is there a magical device that can be used to boost the low sound levels without having the loud passages simulate a Boeing 747 on take off from twenty metres away?
It would need to go in line with the Blue-ray player and the television.

Wayne.

Hi Labrat,

Yes there is a device that can within limits bring the level UP and also limit the volume level. Called a Compressor/Limiter and similar things are used in the audio chain for most broadcast stations to prevent overdriving the transmitter and in the case of FM broadcasting keep the FM Deviation to the licensed limit of 75kHz.

If you want to play with one I have a unused one sitting in my junk pile a Behringer MDX 2200 which came out of a community FM station when they upgraded to a Audessence unit.

If you would like it and will pay the freight flick me your Name and Address and its all yours as I am never going to use it now.

The handbook should be available on the Internet if you wish to suss out what it can do first.

Lindsay

You can set reduced dynamic range in menu of player.

YouTube content is likewise highly variable as to sound levels

It can vary greatly. Not only that but I can't help but notice that Youtube is doing what the TV channels so when playing ads - cranking up the volume so even if you head off for a Jimmy Riddle during the break, the audio content of the ads is jammed in our ears.

It is a shame that apps like Windows Media Player and VLC don't have AGC built in.

The problem is that Blueray and DVD audio is mixed with surround sound in mind using a centre channel for dialogue.
When played on 2.1 equipment the dialogue is usually way down compared to the effects audio.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Lindsay, the DVD and the Blue-ray machines I'm currently using do not allow me to intercept the audio signals on the way to the TV.
No 1/4 inch jacks nor the professional audio jacks. My DVD- VCR combo has R.C.A. jacks for the audio, but as you would expect no XLR jacks.

Still, the suggestions of others to play with the menu settings sounds like the way to go.

Thanks everyone.

Wayne.

programs interrupt the ads.

All radio and TV sales directors have that opinion. Have met a few in my time.

Youtube is doing what the TV channels so when playing ads

I use ad blockers. I have never see any YT ads for many years now. In fact it surprises me when I see then on other people's devices.

On this laptop I don't yet block anything but on the one that blew up a couple of months ago I used to block the IP addresses of Google's ad servers in the Hosts file. This meant that I didn't have to install software. The downside is that the list of IP addresses had to be kept up to date and the bigger downside is that I didn't have a backup of that file. So I will be starting again - soonish.