5 ms·

I'm guessing you're using a stereo setup then, dialogue is usually mixed into the centre channel, downmixing a 5.1 or 7.1 stream to stereo will produce those re

by cvuls 5y ago

I'm guessing you're using a stereo setup then, dialogue is usually mixed into the centre channel, downmixing a 5.1 or 7.1 stream to stereo will produce those results. even worse is if you don't downmix to stereo, and all you are hearing is front left and right, which is often just the reverb effect channels for dialogue

kabes 5y ago
I've got the full klipsch THX ultra 2 system (7.2), and I also find dialogues in modern movies much harder to understand than in older releases. I think they should mix in more of the dialogue in the front left and right channels
mysterydip 5y ago
Don't many people have just a stereo setup still (myself included)? Why would a newer standard be backwards-hostile like that?
- willcipriano 5y ago
  As a counterpoint, I have both 5.1 via ARC and Dolby Atmos system hooked up via eARC and dialogue is still quiet in some modern releases. Older movies sound great though.
  - cvuls 5y ago
    this will be because more recent movies will be utilising high dynamic ranges for audio, worked around by compressing/limiting but in doing so, you lose quality. trade-offs for everything. there was a time when stereo was seen as unnecessary faff, too. edit: movies are mixed for theatres and no longer are the home releases adjusted to suit.
- RobertMiller 5y ago
  In many cases, people ostensibly using stereo sound may as well be using mono sound. Stereo speakers built into a TV that's 20 feet away, or watching a video on their smartphone without headphones; technically these people are using stereo sound but with the speakers so close to each other relative to the listener, it might as well be mono. I think if you want to make widely accessible audio content, you should be taking this into account. Make it intelligible in mono first, then worry about the rest.
birksherty 5y ago
I watch using headphones and dialogues are still difficult to hear. Now I use vlc method to make them audible. https://lifehacker.com/how-to-fix-movies-that-are-really-quiet-then-really-lo-5920290 https://lifehacker.com/how-to-fix-movies-that-are-really-qui...
- cvuls 5y ago
  that would be because headphones are stereo.
- mrslave 5y ago
  How to do this in mpv? Then we'll automate it with a short shell script!
  - RobertMiller 5y ago
    There are a few ffmpeg filters you can use with mpv to get this effect, though you may have to fiddle with their options to get what you want. acompressor or dynaudnorm might be what you're looking for. https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html#acompressor https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html#acompressor https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html#dynaudnorm https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html#dynaudnorm To use them with mpv you'd do something like `mpv --af=lavfi="[dynaudnorm=param1=value1:param2=value2:param3=value3]" ...` (make sure the first parameter is preceded by a '=', not a ':' because reasons)
micromacrofoot 5y ago
considering the vast majority of people listen to movies in stereo, why don’t they include a decent stereo mix?
loufe 5y ago
Christopher Nolan's Tenet was a prime example of horrible stereo translation. I could hardly understand the dialog. I've never changed volume so much during a movie. IIRC he refused to produce any audio mixes aside from those meant for the most premium 7.1 stream theatres. What a shame.
- rhino369 5y ago
  That mix was garbage even in 7.1. I had to add 10db to the center channel.
crtasm 5y ago
> will produce those results. If that's commonly the case then whatever is doing the downmix isn't fit for purpose. I found on Kodi you can boost the centre channel when downmixing, this helped quite a bit for me but I still watch with subtitles.

by cvuls 5y ago

kabes 5y ago

I've got the full klipsch THX ultra 2 system (7.2), and I also find dialogues in modern movies much harder to understand than in older releases. I think they should mix in more of the dialogue in the front left and right channels

mysterydip 5y ago

Don't many people have just a stereo setup still (myself included)? Why would a newer standard be backwards-hostile like that?

willcipriano 5y ago
As a counterpoint, I have both 5.1 via ARC and Dolby Atmos system hooked up via eARC and dialogue is still quiet in some modern releases. Older movies sound great though.
- cvuls 5y ago
  this will be because more recent movies will be utilising high dynamic ranges for audio, worked around by compressing/limiting but in doing so, you lose quality. trade-offs for everything. there was a time when stereo was seen as unnecessary faff, too. edit: movies are mixed for theatres and no longer are the home releases adjusted to suit.
RobertMiller 5y ago
In many cases, people ostensibly using stereo sound may as well be using mono sound. Stereo speakers built into a TV that's 20 feet away, or watching a video on their smartphone without headphones; technically these people are using stereo sound but with the speakers so close to each other relative to the listener, it might as well be mono. I think if you want to make widely accessible audio content, you should be taking this into account. Make it intelligible in mono first, then worry about the rest.

birksherty 5y ago

I watch using headphones and dialogues are still difficult to hear. Now I use vlc method to make them audible. https://lifehacker.com/how-to-fix-movies-that-are-really-quiet-then-really-lo-5920290 https://lifehacker.com/how-to-fix-movies-that-are-really-qui...

cvuls 5y ago
that would be because headphones are stereo.
mrslave 5y ago
How to do this in mpv? Then we'll automate it with a short shell script!
- RobertMiller 5y ago
  There are a few ffmpeg filters you can use with mpv to get this effect, though you may have to fiddle with their options to get what you want. acompressor or dynaudnorm might be what you're looking for. https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html#acompressor https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html#acompressor https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html#dynaudnorm https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-filters.html#dynaudnorm To use them with mpv you'd do something like `mpv --af=lavfi="[dynaudnorm=param1=value1:param2=value2:param3=value3]" ...` (make sure the first parameter is preceded by a '=', not a ':' because reasons)

micromacrofoot 5y ago

considering the vast majority of people listen to movies in stereo, why don’t they include a decent stereo mix?

loufe 5y ago

Christopher Nolan's Tenet was a prime example of horrible stereo translation. I could hardly understand the dialog. I've never changed volume so much during a movie. IIRC he refused to produce any audio mixes aside from those meant for the most premium 7.1 stream theatres. What a shame.

rhino369 5y ago
That mix was garbage even in 7.1. I had to add 10db to the center channel.

crtasm 5y ago

> will produce those results. If that's commonly the case then whatever is doing the downmix isn't fit for purpose. I found on Kodi you can boost the centre channel when downmixing, this helped quite a bit for me but I still watch with subtitles.