We all know the modern complaint: movie sound sucks now unless you have a high-end sound system. Frantically turning down the volume after turning it up to hear the dialogue only to need to turn it up again can be frustrating. Now, this doesn’t solve the underlying problem, but why not have a “Volume A” and “Volume B” you can easily set and toggle between with the simple press of a button?
Its
20042026. They could quite literally have dynamic volume control that would adjust the volume based on a set limit. You could easily have lead-in curves based on the abruptness for smooth transitions.That already exists. Any half decent A/V receiver can do this.
Does a high end sound system actually solve the problem? Or does having a high end sound system just mean you no longer give a shit about annoying other people. Like the people who rev their engine so all their neighbours know how much they spend on their car.
other than the compressor the other comment mentioned, having a proper AV with multiple channels can also help with a lot of media, at least stuff that was mastered properly. Usually the center speaker carries mostly the dialogue and not much else, so I boost it like 7-8dB, this works pretty well for most things on Netflix and co, but Stereo (no center channel to boost) and shitty mastering (too much noise in center channel) still have the same issues
There is a hardware device, called a compressor that would solve the problem. Basically it reduces the loudest parts of audio on a gradual curve, which allows you turn up the overall volume.
Affordable ones range $100-$250, which should get the job done. Personally, I wouldn’t go either direction out of that range, more expensive ones will be overkill and cheap ones could sound bad or lack the controls to set it up right)
If you can get analog audio out of the TV in to a speaker/sound bar, it’s easy to setup.
So with a cheaper sound bar and a compressor, you could accomplish this for about $250-$400 depending on how much money you can to throw at the problem,
I run a software compressor on my sff PC that I use as a media player. No expensive sound system required.
I have a 7.2 stereo plugged into my computer. Sound levels are entirely dependent on what service the sound is coming from and what format(mono/stereo/surround). Netflix tends to be quieter than the others. I should say netflix dialog tends to be too quiet and explosions and other loud noises are too fucking loud.
They do?
It’s cslled mute and it toggles between 0 and whatever you had it set to last. 😌
I’ve had a few tv/stereos in the past that had a half mute as well. Press mute the first time and it cuts the volume in half, second press mutes completely, then third press restores full volume.
The old kenwood car cd players had an “att” button that instantly dropped the volume to background noise. It was fucking awesome and I used it all the time. I want that button on everything that makes noise.
I came in here to comment this! Back in the day it was perfect for when I was bumping my subs hard and had to turn into a neighborhood, or if a cop pulled up to a light you were bumping at.
It was a lifesaver for sure!
Here is my preferred solution that will never happen:
Divide all media audio into separate tracks for dialogue, music, sfx, etc., and let the users control the volume of each separately. To avoid having an easily ripped pure music track, perhaps premix the other tracks in at 10% or so (in a logarithmic scale) and make that the minimum volume of any track other than music.
Many shows broadcast in surround sound. This includes a center channel where most voices are. Unfortunately if you don’t have a system to support this, audio is “down mixed” to stereo, and the center channel gets merged into left and right. When this merge happens, you lose definition between the streams.
It would be nice if you could boost the center channel, like you would in a home theater, but before the down mix occurs.
Yep. Dialogue should be loud enough that you can comfortably follow the plot without making your ears bleed. Gunfire and music makes that a bit tricky though. Those should be toned down, but I can see why they’re so loud all the time. Most likely many directors want to make the movie feel more impactful and intense, so they just do it by cranking up the volume those other things.
My Peloton can do this, how come my TV can’t? This technology exists and would not be that difficult to implement for digital media.
My problem with that is how far can you go? Will artist integrity shatter? Will people mod Thomas the train on movies? Will we get those god awfull billion page settings?
I guess I’m not understanding your concerns. People with artistic skill can already do anything they want to any audio they want. (Note: that was Way before all this AI junk existed) And I don’t really see how this affects that much.
As for settings, I’m thinking three/four sliders. Much less than a graphic equalizer. It’s just volume control.
How loud specific things are in comparison to other sounds is one of the things that a director dictates to set the mood for their movie. We all agree that it’s gone a bit far with most things nowadays, but having something be piercingly loud or eerily quiet can be used really well, and if everyone from Tommy Teenager to Granny Gertrude can alter these settings with a TV remote and zero knowledge on maybe what they’re even doing (“I thought I was changing the volume and now the people don’t talk anymore!”) it would greatly diminish the director’s ability to control that.
I wouldn’t give full control, maybe 3 faders that allow for a 10% reduction in dialogue, music and SFX. Will if affect artist integrity, absolutely, but so does listening on our consumer speakers and watching the content on our consumer grade displays that aren’t perfectly color balanced in a pitch black room.
This would be possible to DIY if ‘smart’ TVs weren’t DRM’d pieces of shit.
You could actually do this with some of them. I know Vizio TVs can’t, but iirc LG and Samsung can be controlled via Home Assistant. Google TV as well, and anything with Apple Homekit.
There’s also the option of sticking an IR or RF transmitter on an esp32 and using that without connecting the TV to the Internet. There are some off the shelf devices that can do it and can also be flashed with Tasmota or ESPHOME.
Building my own smart devices is a hobby of mine. I’m even working on a HAL9000 system for my home (with 15% less mental illness).
Eh, it’d be tricky in case of misses. Usually there’s a vol+ and a vol- not really any vol(int) api to set it to a number. You could spam vol+/vol- to get to the right number, but it’d occationally miss one and start drifting.
You’d have to zero the volume each time for sure.
True, would take a few seconds to switch each time.
Am I the only psycho that just uses the TV as a monitor and my phone as the remote to the PC? After that, you can pretty much macro or script whatever you want.
Every time I see a thread like this I feel the same way.
Sure I have to admit there are downsides to it but oh my goodness the number of benefits from running something like Kodi is huge. If you are willing to take a hit to dynamic range of your audio you can fix all but the most extreme cases of audio level problems. I’m sure there are a bunch of other ways to handle it as well.
Control from a phone app once you have Kodi open works great.
Windows or Linux at your preference.
Only ever used old free hardware too so the complaints about the cost of a PC never made sense to me either.
Are we talking about downmixing? If that is the case, Jellyfin has built in downmixing. Kodi might have something too.
Nope although it has that as an option as well. There are two options I use. The first is to boost the center channel on surround mixes since the voice is almost always on that channel.
Then more specifically in Kodi there is both a main volume option and a separate volume boot option that if you look into the documentation says that it is able to increase volume differently by moving up the middle of the audio while reducing the dynamic range. In other words reducing the difference between the lowest and highest sounds so it can increase it without clipping.
I basically change the main volume to what I want and then since both main and boost use the same numbers I reduce it by the exact same number I increase the boost level. End result is moving the bottom and middle of the audio volume closer.
In an ideal setup like a literal quiet audience in a full IMAX or with studio monitor grade headphones etc. the dynamic range is nice. Let’s you hear talking normally and then get blown away by the action right at the top of the safe listening range. Or for classical orchestra music the quiet solot small instrument then a full booming with the entire band going.
But in reality I have five kids running around. Even in stuff like Pixar I still like having a fairly aggressive setting for the boost. It lets me set a default fairly aggressive one and then only occasionally need to edit it manually from the default for particular movies.
Also a self reply to add that I don’t use the downmix because I got lucky and in addition to free old PC hardware which most people in the USA at least can also get free or cheap if you are creative with old business hardware. The addition is I got an AV Receiver just barely new enough to support HDMI so I do have the full range of channels on very cheap speakers.
Having used Kodi elsewhere the downmix seems to work just fine and a lot of current and still fairly cheap sound bars can interpret surround mixes directly.
We use our TV as monitor for a mini PC I setup to watch shows and movies via streaming and an external harddrive (connected to a router so you can watch what’s on there from any device).
We barely ever watch any TV channels.
We us a wireless keyboard with mouse pad. The TV remote is only used to turn it on, volume and to switch to a different input for the gaming console.
That’s what I do, and I installed an audio compressor to level out the audio volume. Now I don’t have to stress about disturbing the neighbours with TV explosions.
You’re probably one of the few people that has heard the dialog from Tenet then. Christopher Nolan films are some of my favorites, but wow, was that audio messed up. I had to create an equalizer profile just for that.
While watching Tenet, I quickly realized I can’t watch this movie in the normal way. Subtitles were obligatory, but the plot is such a labyrinth that you’ll get lost in no time. I ended up taking notes and referring to some videos that explain what’s actually going on. I also had to go back and forth many times. While “watching” the movie that way, I ended up spending several hours. A simple two hour movie became a two day project.
Yes, I know I’m doing it wrong. You’re supposed to just watch it the usual way, be super confused, watch it again, be a little less confused etc. After watching it about 10 times you’ll probably understand what’s going on. If you don’t use subtitles, even 20 times won’t be enough.
I just used subtitles
Subtitles are great. I almost always have them on to aid comprehension. I find that I pick up on more subtleties that way. I feel like I still want to be able to process almost all of the dialog with audio alone so that the subtitles add an extra layer of understanding.
I’ve had that thought for decades, like they do (or used to) do a button to switch between the last channel. So you’d go to each channel and flip at a commercial. Then forget to switch back so you saw two half episodes but that’s not really an issue with a volume setting.
Would work for commercials, too
This and the channel recall function would be amazing, or a macro button that ran the last set of actions so you can switch between one thing and another.
Wait, the recall button isn’t a thing anymore? Guess I never noticed because I don’t have cable
Kids these days don’t know about staying alert to change Cinemax to Nickelodeon when their parents walk into the room
I have Easy Effects with Advanced Auto Gain from https://github.com/JackHack96/EasyEffects-Presets running on my laptop. It’s been great in that regard.
I have an old tv where the mute button will set it to 1/2 volume first, then mute.
Sound should be mono, or stereo, not 5.1 surround, and it should be mixed and compressed for such.
My samsung has a nice remote
Theres to horizontal “pads” you can use, for volume up/down and the other side is channel up/down
And you can also press the volume flipper down to mute, as if it was a button
I dont recall what the channel buttons do…
That wouldn’t push people into buying external sound systems. Do you want to see the economy crash? We got to keep it going up /s
I just build this function for myself with home assistant. Thanks for the inspiration.
