INTERACT FORUM
More => Old Versions => JRiver Media Center 18 for Windows => Topic started by: Nanoprobe on January 26, 2013, 03:13:16 pm
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Well, my first post/problem here and I would be glad if anyone could assist.
Audio from our HTPC is output to our Denon S-302 (=2.1 system) through SPDIF/TOSLINK.
The Denon is only a 2.1 system but copes quite well with 5.1 signals, creating the other channels virtually. It is not perfect, but a reasonable compromise.
The sound coming from it is quite amazing actually for such a system.
MC 18 runs like a gem.
DSP output format is set to 5.1 with output surround sound as Dolby Digital (SPDIF) checkmarked, mixing is set to JRSS and center speaker moved to L/R. Subclarity is on.
Output mode is WASAPI - eventstyle through the digital SPDIF.
Music sounds great, Video sound too...but center speaker sound(most dialogues) are too low in volume compared to the other sound (effects), that is to say the dynamics is too great on practically any movie. Running DVDs with Dolby 5.1 or DTS on the DENON itself pose no problem though.
Switching to ASIO or even directsound makes no difference.
Having tried all I could think of, I am running out of options to get dialogues in the "center" louder.
Anyone?
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Try it without the move center to L/R option checked. You want to mix the center channel into your L/R on the receiver (operating on the analog signal) rather than mixing it into the L/R channels (digital signal) coming out of the HTPC.
This way you'll also get a boost to your center channel signal as a result of the Dolby Digital decoding which applies "Dialogue Normalization". If you are mixing the center channel to L/R on MC18, you would have a silent center channel going into the receiver, therefore the "dialogue normalization" boost (typically around +4 db) would be wasted.
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If the method lsited above doesn't work to your liking, another alternative is to turn the "adaptive volume" setting in the JRiver options to "Medium." That applies about a 3 dB boost to the center channel volume, but also does some dynamic compression. There's been some discussion of making a "+3 dB for center channel volume" button that would not also have dynamic compression, but the feature isn't available yet.
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Both un-checking the move center to L/R AND setting adaptive volume to Medium helped me, I can now watch a movie without being blown out of my chair when something hefty happens.
It is not ideal however but will do for now. I do agree that a button to increase center volume without overall dynamic compression would be nice.
Thanks!
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DSP Studio -> Room Correction -> Center -> Volume Level
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and yes, the last remark added what was neccesary to get in full control, thank to all!