Sound is too dynamic?

Amped

New Member
Hi all.

Does anyone else have a problem with the sound being too dynamic? Watching a show one piece of dialogue can be almost inaudible, followed by another that is way to loud? Music is the same if not worse. It's as if the sound needs to be normalised more.

I have read a few threads here about the problems with sound between HD and SD channels, but this is over all channels, during the program.

Anyone else have a similar problem? Anyone have any suggestions for curing it, even a little?

Its a Fox T2 going into a Panasonic TV via a HDMI cable, no amps, no surround sound, just the built in TV speakers. The TV sound is just set to stereo, no enhancements etc.

After nearly six months of it I'm ready to throw it out the window, you have to watch every show with your finger on the volume button.
 
What level do you have the Humax Volume output set to? I have found that when the Humax is set to Maximum e.g. 20 that the sound occasionally distorts, because of this I reduced the Humax to 15 and increased the TV volume to suit. Although this is not exactly the same as your problem, I think reducing the Humax volume and increasing the TV volume will help
 
Have you switched to the TV tuner when you have this problem to see if it suffers from the same problem?

I only notice an increase in sound level when the adverts come on.

Martin
 
Yeah, the tuner in the TV gives me spot on normal TV audio, and I used to have a Panasonic box that gave me a normal sound too. It's just the Humax as far as I can tell.
 
I've noticed this on some of the commercial channels during adverts. Especially, channel 5 and its partners (five, fiveUSA...).

I haven't noticed it on BBC, then again no ads.

Humax volume set to 16. TV is sony with sound settings set up to level out variations in sound.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
I'm guessing that most of these replies are referring to difference in sound levels between programmes and adverts, but I think the OP is talking about sound within a programme.

This is not an issue for me as I set my amp to 'Night Mode' (Audio Normalisation) for TV broadcasts, and only allow the full dynamic range when watching a Blu-Ray.
 
Amped,

Sorry if this is teaching you to suck eggs but my panasonic TV has different settings for each input.

Are they all set the same?

Have you tried a different TV input if you have multiple HDMI sockets?

Martin
 
I too have exactly the problem that Amped is describing. My setup is HDR Fox-T2--HDMI->Samsung TV--Optical out->Samsung Soundbar amp.
It happens frequently in lots (but not all) programs (DOI on Sunday evening being a good recent example).
I previously had a 9200T connected by SCART to the TV/Soundbar and it never happened with that setup.
I'm on my second HDR Fox-T2 (due to a tuner failure) but it happened with the original T2 as well.
Soundbar is generally left at 18 (out of a possible 30) and Humax volume anywhere between 4 & 12 as required.

I had, so far, put it down to some incompatibility between the way that HDMI carries the sound and the output setup on my amp but due to the unpredictability of it occurring it's been difficult to find a solution. I intended to play with the amp settings when I get time but Amped's post suggests that the problem may be nearer the source. Guess I'll look at the TV settings first to see if I've missed something there re individual settings or dynamic compression as suggested in earlier posts. I'm no great audio buff so it's quite possible that I've misunderstood some settings along the way!
 
Honest answer is I don't know but I can give it a try when I'm at home. Generally the Humax is around 10-12 most of the time - maybe up to 15 for a music channel. Taking it down to 4-6 only happens if I'm watching something noisy after SWMBO has gone to bed. Don't think I've experienced the problem when the Humax volume is that low.
 
The standard advice is you are losing digital resolution by running the Humax at low volume (I'm not sure of the actual figures, but you could be turning a 16-bit source into a 10-bit one). It is always (theoretically) best to run the chain at maximum (non-clipping) level and only reduce the level at the last possible point in the chain.

However, if it works for you, why worry.

(My supported user, pre-Harmony, tended to use the Humax remote to turn the volume down and the TV remote to turn the volume up. The background hiss was distracting to me, but they didn't notice! I used to restore the levels whenever I visited.)
 
For what it's worth I have noticed a similar problem, though I've been blaming the broadcasters. Sound dynamics (particularly in drama and films) can be terrible (inaudible dialogue, thumping fx and music). My HDR is connected by analogue (scart) to an old Philips analogue TV so I have no other tuner to compare to, I normally leave the TV level at about 75% and control via the hummy remote.

I don't notice the same problem when I watch recordings via my laptop but then I am usually using headphones then so I don't have to worry about waking any neighbours.
 
Hi all!

Thanks for the feedback so far.

I haven't tried any other inputs at present, but I will have a play around this weekend. I'm guessing from what I have read that this is a Humax issue with how the sound is delivered through the HDMI cable.

I really don't want to go back to SD and a SCART but it's doing my nut in! On that note, can anyone recommend the next best thing to a Humax that isn't a Humax? I know the Panasonic one give me a good sound but the operating systems on them are complete plop (press a button, wait ten seconds for anything to happen etc). So I'm looking for something a little tried and tested.

Cheers
A
 
I can't understand how this can be a Humax issue, the audio stream comes from the broadcast and is passed on through the HDMI as digital data.
 
Well... the fact that the TV tuner and my old Panasonic box give me a level sound, would suggest that it's something going on in the Humax.

All boxes amplify/process the sound one way or another, I just think the output from the Humax is to dynamic. I'm guessing it has some sort of sound card in it, it just needs a few tweaks on its output.
 
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