Up-mixing 5.1 to 7.1 and surround speaker volume levels

[Reorx]

Question 1: When it comes to up-mixing 5.1 content to 7.1, do all receivers up-mix the same way? Do some manufactures/receivers perform this task better than others?

I am on my 2nd Yamaha receiver. the 1st one was 11yrs old, the 2nd one is 3-4yrs old.
HTR-5760, and RX-V671. Both are 7.1, and both do a suck ass job on up-mixing 5.1 content. via optical, HDMI, or analog.

Question 2: I play movies from a PS3, HTPC, and Netflix. In each of these platforms, when playing movies, the surround speaker volume levels always appear to be different, and I want to bump up or down the levels on the 4 surround speakers. For example. if I play Thor on Netflix, and then play a different movie on Netflix, both 5.1. The levels are off. Is there a way to correct this? or do the newer better receivers just handle it better?

I am guessing that what I could be hearing are different Audio Engineer's mixing the movies to different speaker volume levels. And that some do a better job than others.

Thanks.

Reorx

 

[herbu]

when playing movies, the surround speaker volume levels always appear to be different... if I play Thor on Netflix, and then play a different movie on Netflix, both 5.1. The levels are off...I am guessing that what I could be hearing are different Audio Engineer's mixing the movies to different speaker volume levels.

I think we all get the same thing. Some movies have very strong surround, some do not.
I let Audyssey set the initial speaker volumes, then tweaked to our average preference. Changing surround speaker volume for each movie/show would be a PITA, and I don't worry about it. You'll notice in the movie thread that surround strength is one thing people praise in certain movies.

 

[Nestor]

Question 1: When it comes to up-mixing 5.1 content to 7.1, do all receivers up-mix the same way? Do some manufactures/receivers perform this task better than others?

I am on my 2nd Yamaha receiver. the 1st one was 11yrs old, the 2nd one is 3-4yrs old.
HTR-5760, and RX-V671. Both are 7.1, and both do a suck ass job on up-mixing 5.1 content. via optical, HDMI, or analog.

Question 2: I play movies from a PS3, HTPC, and Netflix. In each of these platforms, when playing movies, the surround speaker volume levels always appear to be different, and I want to bump up or down the levels on the 4 surround speakers. For example. if I play Thor on Netflix, and then play a different movie on Netflix, both 5.1. The levels are off. Is there a way to correct this? or do the newer better receivers just handle it better?

I am guessing that what I could be hearing are different Audio Engineer's mixing the movies to different speaker volume levels. And that some do a better job than others.

Thanks.

Reorx

Have you tried the same movie on different platforms? This would rule out different audio mixing.

Are you sitting close to your surrounds? You may be localizing them during movies with strong surround content.

 

[j_garcia]

I presume you mean matrix decoding by "up mixing". If you were to use PLII-Z for example, on two different receivers, it should decode the same way without altering levels. Different receivers have different DACs and internal components (preamp and amp sections, amp types, etc...) that can influence the sound to some extent, but the decoding of the stream itself should not be dramatically different though two receivers might still sound slightly different with the same speakers.

Different movies are mastered differently. If you play the SAME movie and the levels are different, then there's a problem. For what you're talking about, there is something called "night mode" (varies from model to model) that levels out audio peaks, though the sound is now being limited as well to do this. Newer receivers have something called Dolby Volume also.

 

[Reorx]

Thank you for the responses.
Yes. Matrix decoding. I leave the receiver on PLIIx. It appears to use my surround back speakers with 5.1 content better than Neo6.

I sit ~8-12 feet away from all the surround speakers. The sides are bi-pole, backs are direct radiating.

I have not tried the same movie in different delivery formats. I would assume the mix would be the same.
A better example:
movie1 - audio engineer Bob, Universal
movie2 - audio engineer Joe, Pixar
movie3 - audio engineer Bill, Sony

Both 7.1 true HD. Movie 1, the surrounds sound great. Movie 2 I can barely hear them, so I increase their level. Movie 3 I decrease the level. So on and so forth.

 

[j_garcia]

I'd have to say that's fairly typical and may be more dramatic depending on which movies they are. Yes it varies movie to movie and engineer to engineer, just like if you gave the same masters of music to 5 engineers, you'd get 5 different things from each of them. That to me would account more for the variance you are hearing than anything the receiver was doing, but that's where something like night mode should help if it really bugs you.