dvd audio very low on Thinkpad T61

Mayor

whats up guys, have a little problem.

whenever i play a dvd on my laptop, a Thinkpad T61, the sound is really freakin low on any program i play the movie through and even with all volumes turned up. even with my speakers turned all the way up its too low. is this common with laptops because they aren't as powerful as a desktop (power wise)? or something to do with my drivers?

any help is much appreciated!

Leonardo

If not already done, click on the "Audio" icon in the taskbar and adjust your "CD Volume." Also check other volumes. But then, maybe you've already done this.

Snarkasm

My Thinkpad volumes are often fairly low with movie content. I switch to headphones. It's not a perfect solution, and there may be better ones, but at least you know you're not alone.

RichD

I suspect this is quite normal. It will be nothing to do with either hardware or software. The "ambient" volume level of any DVD is very low in comparrison to CD Audio. Music is mastered to 0dB (or thereabouts) to make the most out of your audio gear. Anything above 0dB becomes distorted as a digital system will clip the signal any thing below is a waste of head room.

Music as quite low dynamic range (it is almost constant noise) where as films have a very high dynamic range. Particularly Horror and action. Your explosions etc will be mastered to 0dB where as the speech and general background have to be much lower. If everything was mastered to 0dB then the loudest explosion in the film would be at the volume as the two people talking in the bar just before it exploded. This would reduce the shock effect of the explosion. This is why whenever you put on a DVD you almost always have to turn up the TV or speakers, and why if you ever put an audio CD on the same system just after watching a film you think crap thats loud and turn it down.

Some software has a "Quiet Mode" feature which is effectivly an audio compressor designed to make the quiet bits louder and the loud bits quieter. This is only ever and good at low volume as if you turn it up and have this feature enabled you loose the dynamic range and your explosion start to sound more like wet farts!

Mayor

Rich, i figure that this was something normal since it only happens with dvd. your explanation makes a lot of sense too, thanks

Snark, i use my headphones a lot and it's still not that loud, but it works.

i guess i'll just live with it, it's not all the time that i'm playing dvds.

thanks guys!

RichD

If you are worried about bugginf the neighbors when you turn it up have a look for a "quiet mode" of something similar in whatever software you are using. I know Media Player has it under the enhancements section Im sure Power DVD will have something similar

Mayor

i'm not worried about bugging the neighbors, could care less haha. i just want to be able to turn the movie up without cranking my master volume and having everything else really loud and the movie is still low.

ardichoke

I solved the same issue by using VLC Mayor. The Volume control in VLC will let you boost the audio output pre Windows mixer which lets you bring DVD audio up to a higher level without affecting any other sound in your system.

Mayor

thanks ardichoke, i never really messed with VLC but it seems to have done the trick. my music isn't 100X louder than my movies now (just for comparison, not that i multitask like that).

annnd VLC doesn't have the nvcpl.dll problem like WMP or PowerDvD do. thanks!

ardichoke