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[dvogel1]

Hi, I am playing a DVD on my new HTPC and there is music at normal volume but voices are very low and sound like they are inside a can. The DVD is a "House of Cards" episode.

Music sources (streams, flac files) play normally.

My setup:
MC 19.0.67
Pioneer Bluray/DVD/CD player.
C-Media Oxygen (ASIO) driver for HT Omega 8 channel sound card.
Output format is 7.1 without mixing.
Multiple filters in DSP studio (speakers are 4 way).
Soundcard driver set for 8 channels.

To clarify, music sources play correctly and the DSP filters work as expected. I searched extensively for a solution with no success. It seems that past solutions were for previous versions of MC.

[spiggytopes]

Try "analyse audio" and also the settings for loudness and levelling.

Fixed it for me.

[dvogel1]

I intend to use MC for playing video discs in the optical drive only. Analyze Audio works with data stored on the PC hard drive.

Does MC have the ability to play video (with audio) correctly from an optical drive?

I'm using MC as a digital filter (DSP) to process audio through the DSP Studio/Parametric Equalizer without other "modifications" such as loudness.

Volume Leveling and Adaptive Volume don't seem to be applicable to the differences in levels of voices and music within a single video track.

One more item that I omitted from my initial setup list: In the sound card driver I am not using any processing such as Dolby, etc.

[mwillems]

I intend to use MC for playing video discs in the optical drive only. Analyze Audio works with data stored on the PC hard drive.

Does MC have the ability to play video (with audio) correctly from an optical drive?

I'm using MC as a digital filter (DSP) to process audio through the DSP Studio/Parametric Equalizer without other "modifications" such as loudness.

Volume Leveling and Adaptive Volume don't seem to be applicable to the differences in levels of voices and music within a single video track.

One more item that I omitted from my initial setup list: In the sound card driver I am not using any processing such as Dolby, etc.

What it sounds like is that the DVD is in surround, and you are missing the center channel output (which is where almost all the voices are).  If you output to 7.1 with no mixing, JRiver thinks you have a 7.1 surround system, and will not downmix the multichannel audio to stereo.  Am I right that you have four-way active stereo speakers, which are using all eight channels?  If so, with those settings you're completely losing all the center channel and surround information, and you need to downmix to stereo.

If I've understood your system correctly, the correct output settings would be "2 channel (in a 7.1 container)" and "JRSS mixing enabled."  I have bi-amped speakers and went through the same thing.

[dvogel1]

Yes, you are correct, Audio Path indicates that the DVD is 6 channel surround.

Yes, the speakers are an active 4-way stereo pair (8 channels). I was unable to make the "2 channel (in a 7.1 container)" work correctly.

I very rarely listen to DVDs through the speakers. MC zone control provides a nice alternative for my case. I added a "Video" zone and a ZoneSwitch Rule to change to the "Video" zone if [Media Type] = [Video]. I did the same for the "Player" zone (switch to "Player" if media type is not video).

I tried to play both zones with the DVD but alas that is not possible. That would be a useful feature to add to MC.

Another useful feature would be to allow multiple Audio Devices to function simultaneously.

Thanks for your feedback. MC is remarkable!

[mwillems]

Yes, the speakers are an active 4-way stereo pair (8 channels). I was unable to make the "2 channel (in a 7.1 container)" work correctly.

What was the problem with that configuration?  That really is the correct setting to use (you won't be able to get downmixing working correctly otherwise). Let me know if you want to try and get it working, I'm happy to help.

Another useful feature would be to allow multiple Audio Devices to function simultaneously.

Depending on what you mean by this, this is currently supported (I routinely output to two different audio devices at once); what happened when you tried to use multiple audio devices at once?

[dvogel1]

I ran out of steam testing the "2 channel (in a 7.1 container)". I'll get back to it.

Regarding multiple Audio Devices I am referring to more than one Audio Device (Options > Audio > Audio Device) in a single zone. Is that possible?

[Hendrik]

Regarding multiple Audio Devices I am referring to more than one Audio Device (Options > Audio > Audio Device) in a single zone. Is that possible?

You can create two zones, one for each audio device, and then link these two zones. That way both devices will play the same audio.

[glynor]

You can create two zones, one for each audio device, and then link these two zones. That way both devices will play the same audio.

I don't think it works for video playback, unfortunately.

[Hendrik]

Hm, it appears you are correct. I thought to remember that this worked.