DTS audio downmix on sony blu-ray player

NorthstaNder

NorthstaNder

NorthstaNder

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Hi

I have a newly purchased Sony BDP-S363 Blu-Ray player. I don't have surround sound system, but have it hooked up my ageing Technics amp and speakers (still sound half decent though!)

Now, I have Body of Lies on blu-ray which has dolby digital audio and it sounds great. Nice and clear, and the speach is very clear too.

I also have Public Enemies, which is DTS and I find on that film the speach is too quiet and the actions scenes too loud, so it's a case of turning things up for the quiet bits and down for the loud bits!

As a side to all this, all DVD's I've played with Dolby or DTS sound fine.

I've gone through all the players audio options (giving priority to the analogue audio jacks, setting the downmix to normal, rather than surround) and nothing seems to make a difference.

Can anyone shed some light on this? Will all DTS films be like this on blu-ray or is it just the mix on that particular film (someone with Public Enemies might be able to confirm).

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the long post!
 
You need to enable Dynamic Range Compression.
Oddly enough, things exploding are louder than people talking, and this is reflected properly in movies nowadays. Unfortunately, most people don't have the setup or understanding neighbours to have a system cranked up for movie time. To account for this, dynamic range compression exists. Alternatively, It could be your lack of a centre speaker.
This depends really how the BR player is downmixing, if its literally just chucking out stereo from the L+R channel on the disk, all the speech (well 80%) is on the centre channel, so your getting the 20% or so that spills onto the stereo pair. But if its downmixing properly you shouldn't get this problem.

In short, find dynamic range compression or something that sounds like it and turn it on. It could be a completely different problem related to that particular player and DTS tracks, but I'm not aware of that.

EDIT: Most amps will have the option aswell, provided its a bitstream input. I guess yours isn't, RCA stereo your using? Anyway, the setup is usually pretty confusing for it....
On my Amp (Yamaha) its like this.......

High Frequency DRC : Max/Std/Min
Low Frequency DRC : Max/Std/Min

Max is actually more equal to OFF, and Min is really compressing as much as it can to try and retain volume throughout. Stupid setup if you ask me!
 
Last edited:
lo you obviously never seen "HEAT" ... thats whisper mode to loud... has many people reaching for the remote / volume control
 
Hi

Thanks for your replies.

Yes, using standard RCA stero jacks.

Had DRC set to TV mode as that seems to boost things a little. But might be a case of changing it and trying the other settings (there is auto, standard, tv and wide)
 
NorthstaNder said:
Hi

Thanks for your replies.

Yes, using standard RCA stero jacks.

Had DRC set to TV mode as that seems to boost things a little. But might be a case of changing it and trying the other settings (there is auto, standard, tv and wide)
Click to expand...

Hmmmm. would have through TV would be the same as Min, maybe Public Enemies is just a particularly bad example? Its a carp film anyway, Micheal Mann needs to realise that steady-cam has been invented now, and that digital still looks wrong :p.
 
Some movies are simply intended to have explosivly loud special effects. Most DVD and Bluray players are able to compress the soundtrack's dynamic range. a lot of DTS movies seem to push the dynamics father than the same movie's Dolby Mix, and DTS also tends to put in a 10dB lift in the bass too.

Sometimes there will be a "night mode" option, which greatly boosts vocals, while reducing the levels on special effects.
 
Well, I've tried pretty much every setting I can and have come to the conclusion that's it's just the way the audio mix is done on that film! Well, certainly the opening scenes because later in the film the sound is spot on.

I've set the audio priority to the stereo analogue outputs and set the DRC to TV mode which then performs the greatest level of compression.

Thanks for your input everyone!!
 
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