Directv/HDMI/Dolby

[miggs29]

Ok,

So DTV finally brought my new HDDVR and everything is back to normal. However, I do have one question. When the sound is in DD 5.1 my sound is not as loud as when is not DD. (For example in neural surround) I have check the signal info in my yamaha receiver and I see a -3db or some other number on the audio info for that HDMI signal under manual set up. The -X db is not the same all the time, so I assume that it depends on the programing. Why is the sound louder in neural surround than DD? and also why am I seeing a -bd of some sort for each program (movie or show) that is decoded as DD 5.1? Can that be dissable on the reciever so that there is no -bd? It is a pain to adjust the volume every time that the channel is change or when the decoding is different.

Please help!

 

[Adam]

miggs,

I'll stumble all over this, but I wanted to put something down because I see no one has responded just yet. Take the following with a grain of salt, but hopefully it will help you in your web (or forum) search for this. I remember a good explanation being posted here last year sometime.

I believe that DD tracks pass a parameter that allows a decoder to set the baseline volume to some standard. To meet that standard, some with be reduced in volume (-dB), while others will be increased in volume (+dB). I noticed this when I got a new receiver about three years ago. I think that my older receiver did it, but it didn't show it on the display like my new one.

I don't know if it can be disabled. I'd look through your owners manual, but I have some yard work to do - so I'll just point you to that. Check out the manual for the Yammy and the DTV receiver and see if there are any options.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chip in here. Good luck!

Adam

 

[miggs29]

miggs,

I'll stumble all over this, but I wanted to put something down because I see no one has responded just yet. Take the following with a grain of salt, but hopefully it will help you in your web (or forum) search for this. I remember a good explanation being posted here last year sometime.

I believe that DD tracks pass a parameter that allows a decoder to set the baseline volume to some standard. To meet that standard, some with be reduced in volume (-dB), while others will be increased in volume (+dB). I noticed this when I got a new receiver about three years ago. I think that my older receiver did it, but it didn't show it on the display like my new one.

I don't know if it can be disabled. I'd look through your owners manual, but I have some yard work to do - so I'll just point you to that. Check out the manual for the Yammy and the DTV receiver and see if there are any options.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chip in here. Good luck!

Adam

Adam,

Thank you for your response. I have been looking through the manual without any luck.

 

[MDS]

The feature Adam described is called Dialog Normalization (DialNorm). I believe the 'standard' for average level of dialog in a sound track is -31 dB. If the average level actually differs from -31 dB, the DialNorm value indicates by how much and the receiver will automatically apply that offset. The goal is to keep the level relatively similar across multiple soundtracks but only applies to DD.