Sound/Volume issues between HD channels and Non-HD.

[Harve]

I've searched the forum and haven't found any solutions, but both my father and I are having the same issues. Both of use have HR units (he has a 20 and I have 2 HR21s). All are running through AV receivers. When we set the sound to a "normal" level on the HD channel, then change the channel to a non-HD channel, we get blown out by the sound. It's significantly higher. Is this a common issue? Anyone have a work around?

Thanks

Harve

[mjones73]

It's a common issue and there is no work around. HD stations tend to use DD as their sound method which has a wider dynamic range and vocals tend to be lower to allow more headroom for louder noises in the soundtrack.

[lonechicken]

This seems to be an issue for years, but I think it's just one of those things nobody bothers to do anything about because no one is vocal enough about it. Same with the commercial vs. programming "loudness" levels. Then, you get into the thing with some channels being louder than others. Like for me, going from HBO-HD to Starz-HD is like going from normal to very soft.

[Stuart Sweet]

If your receiver has a setting to control how much of the center speaker used when decoding Dolby Pro Logic from 2-channel sources, try monkeying with that. It may help you a bit.

Still, bottom line, volume levels can vary greatly and short of getting some sort of device to normalize them, you're sort of out of luck.

[Redlinetire]

This seems to be an issue for years, but I think it's just one of those things nobody bothers to do anything about because no one is vocal enough about it. Same with the commercial vs. programming "loudness" levels. Then, you get into the thing with some channels being louder than others. Like for me, going from HBO-HD to Starz-HD is like going from normal to very soft.

:confused:

What do you mean 'no one is vocal enough about it'? My ancient TV has a 'StableSound' setting that was designed to take care of that exact problem and it works great. Do TVs no longer include these? Just about every TV used to...

Now separate A/V systems are another story. If they don't have such a setting to compensate, that seems to be pretty short sighted on the part of the manufacturers.

[TigerDriver]

:confused:

Now separate A/V systems are another story. If they don't have such a setting to compensate, that seems to be pretty short sighted on the part of the manufacturers.

In multi-channel audio formats it's very difficult to adjust average volume without affecting dynamic range. And since the reason most folks have an AVR is to reproduce sound accurately, anything that compresses dynamic range is a non-starter.

[Redlinetire]

In multi-channel audio formats it's very difficult to adjust average volume without affecting dynamic range. And since the reason most folks have an AVR is to reproduce sound accurately, anything that compresses dynamic range is a non-starter.

Ah, OK. I guess it's tough to balance across multiple channels.
I guess I'll be keeping my TV until it dies then!

I don't really watch movies that need 5 channels anyway. You've heard one explosion you've heard them all. :lol:

[Harve]

Thanks for all the feedback folks.

[lonechicken]

:confused:

What do you mean 'no one is vocal enough about it'? My ancient TV has a 'StableSound' setting that was designed to take care of that exact problem and it works great. Do TVs no longer include these? Just about every TV used to...

Now separate A/V systems are another story. If they don't have such a setting to compensate, that seems to be pretty short sighted on the part of the manufacturers.

My Denon 3803 has the feature to lower and raise volume automagically when I'm switching around. Not that it seems to matter. It only really goes up and down 4 ticks or so. In reality, if I go from say Fox Non-HD to NBC-HD, I need to raise about 15 ticks (decibels?). From NBC-HD programming to commercial, I need to lower 5 ticks or so. It's all over the place for so many situations, it's madness.:nono2:

[houskamp]

I sent emails to my local stations telling them to buy the sound guys a HDTV... don't know if they followed my advice but they have been much better since..

[bhelton71]

:confused:

What do you mean 'no one is vocal enough about it'? My ancient TV has a 'StableSound' setting that was designed to take care of that exact problem and it works great. Do TVs no longer include these? Just about every TV used to...

Now separate A/V systems are another story. If they don't have such a setting to compensate, that seems to be pretty short sighted on the part of the manufacturers.

No they do - sort of. There is a Midnight mode that is part of the Dolby spec that will limit the dynamic range. Of course the caveat is: it is pretty much for 5.1 - so it doesn't do much when audio switches from DD3/2 to DD2/0.

I am pretty sure my tv also has something like that - but I don't use the tv for sound at all.