Why is TV3 so quiet?

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scuwp

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#67140 29-Aug-2010 08:16

Have 2 DVB-T decoders, an HT3000 and Diginet.   Noticed in last couple of weeks TV3 has become extremely quiet compared to the rest. I need to have the volume up just about full crank to hear TV3, and then we get blasted out of the house when we forget and change channels.   It is getting very annoying

Has something changed in the Freeview signal?

Both boxes have the latest firmware as far as I can tell.  The HT3000 has been nothing but trouble since I brought it, but the diginet has been sweet up until now.

Always had good signal.  I did remove the signal booster the aerial guy installed to see what difference that made, surpisingly none at all, so I wonder what it did in the first place? (but I digress)

Installed TiVo yesterday (awesome!) and all channels are about the same volume.

Any ideas how I can get the volume on TV3 up to match the rest?

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#374099 29-Aug-2010 08:19

It must be something with codecs... I have the same problem with my Windows 7 Media Center, using the standard codecs - all channels at same level, TV3 goes to about 25%... Even TV3+1 sounds ok.

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#374104 29-Aug-2010 08:42

There is a very notable volume difference with TV3 HD and the TVNZ channels using MySkyHDi

Lipex666

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#374105 29-Aug-2010 09:15

We need a petition or something to get tv3 to turn up and equal volumes like the other channels it's been a grrrr thing for ages as it's really noticeable as like most people I run the output of mysky through a amp

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sbiddle

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#374109 29-Aug-2010 09:30

I assume you're comparing TV3's AC3 feed with the AAC feed on other channels? This is a slightly "softer" sound.

TV3's AAC feed should be pretty much the same as AAC on other channels.

old3eyes

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#374110 29-Aug-2010 09:34

sbiddle: I assume you're comparing TV3's AC3 feed with the AAC feed on other channels? This is a slightly "softer" sound.

TV3's AAC feed should be pretty much the same as AAC on other channels.

Hardly "slightly softer" The volume for AAC on my TV is about 25% for normal volume level but when i turn to TV3 I have to crank it up to about 55% to get the same volume output.. Same applies to my HT Amp..

If TVNZ was also using AC3 audio we would have something to compare it with..

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scuwp

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#374125 29-Aug-2010 10:27

sbiddle: I assume you're comparing TV3's AC3 feed with the AAC feed on other channels? This is a slightly "softer" sound.

TV3's AAC feed should be pretty much the same as AAC on other channels.

Sorry but in my experience "slightly softer" is a bit of an understatement. I just about need to have one TV up to level 50 just to be able to hear, while all other channels are just dandy at around level 15 - 20

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sbiddle

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#374127 29-Aug-2010 10:36

old3eyes:
Hardly "slightly softer" The volume for AAC on my TV is about 25% for normal volume level but when i turn to TV3 I have to crank it up to about 55% to get the same volume output.. Same applies to my HT Amp..

If TVNZ was also using AC3 audio we would have something to compare it with..

If TVNZ were doing AC3 the same scenario would occur.

AC3 audio is softer than the AAC or 2ch MPEG broadcasts. The TV or STB also has to downmix a 5.1 feed to stereo and often struggles with the bass channel to ensure it doesn't overload the typical small tinny speakers on a TV.

I'd be interested to know if the issue is more noticeable to people when viewing 5.1 content on TV3 rather than non 5.1 shows such as the news.

scuwp

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#374128 29-Aug-2010 10:46

sbiddle:
old3eyes:
Hardly "slightly softer" The volume for AAC on my TV is about 25% for normal volume level but when i turn to TV3 I have to crank it up to about 55% to get the same volume output.. Same applies to my HT Amp..

If TVNZ was also using AC3 audio we would have something to compare it with..

If TVNZ were doing AC3 the same scenario would occur.

AC3 audio is softer than the AAC or 2ch MPEG broadcasts. The TV or STB also has to downmix a 5.1 feed to stereo and often struggles with the bass channel to ensure it doesn't overload the typical small tinny speakers on a TV.

I'd be interested to know if the issue is more noticeable to people when viewing 5.1 content on TV3 rather than non 5.1 shows such as the news.

Worst time for me? TV3 news. Seems to coincide with kids getting noisy (typical) which makes things worse! Don't know if thats 5.1 or 2ch, but I can never get it loud enough to hear over everything else thats going on. If it's an indemic problem then they better get it sorted or their viewer ratings might take a dive once the full changeover is complete.

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ZollyMonsta

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#374136 29-Aug-2010 11:23

It's the Dolby AC3 sound... AAC is on par with TVNZ and other channels. Picked this up this week.

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sbiddle

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#374141 29-Aug-2010 11:32

scuwp:Worst time for me? TV3 news. Seems to coincide with kids getting noisy (typical) which makes things worse! Don't know if thats 5.1 or 2ch, but I can never get it loud enough to hear over everything else thats going on. If it's an indemic problem then they better get it sorted or their viewer ratings might take a dive once the full changeover is complete.

You could just always switch the audio to AAC.

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#374167 29-Aug-2010 12:45

Is your Dolby decoder compliant with the TB-11 standard set by Freeview? Sony and Samsung IDTV's aren't downmixing correctly and this causes a lower audio level on AC3 relative to AAC.

I have perfect matching levels between different channels and between the AC3 and AAC tracks on both my new V-series Panasonic plasma IDTV and my old Zinwell DTT box.

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#374171 29-Aug-2010 12:59

All channels are too low, on the laptop I cant hear it because they only get to about 20% of the VU bar in media center on a good day. There are no peaks above that on any channels, AC3 on tv3 is about 4-5 dB down on the others by ear on non 5.1 shows. I havent watched anything 5.1 recently to compare.

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#374194 29-Aug-2010 14:57

On a slightly different note - it seems to me that the ad's are lower then the programs on 3 (A good thing in my book).

mikerussellnz

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#374197 29-Aug-2010 15:09

Tv3 is lower when in ac3 and not on a 5.1 program (including ads) because it is only 2 channels, the other 3 appear to be silent. Most receivers will only use the two front speakers as the other 3 are encoded as slence, switching to aac will give true 2 channel PCM output from the freeview box and the receiver will try to use more speakers by upmixing.

That is why when going from a 5 channel sound program to ads appears to reduce volume.

JimmyLizar

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#374210 29-Aug-2010 15:52

I noticed this a while ago on my JC Matthew DVB-TB01 freeviw box, refer this thread

For me the sound would be ok (ie same level as other channels) and then suddenly the sound level would drop.

Looked in decoders menus for options to chnage sound output but nothing that made a difference.

Surely it is aproblem with TV3 setup, as no other channels have this issue.

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