Why?

[Sniper82]

Even on my Altec ACS56's MP3 are loud crainked up. But when I play a DVD movies the sound(loudness) drops in half. Anyone have any idea why? I checked the volume control in windvd and turned it all the way up but the sound and voices are low. I have to turn my speakers almost max before I can get the sound I want. Where with MP3's and on desktop half way is plenty loud.

Can this be fixed?

 

[Derango]

Due to the increased dynamic range of the DVD's soundtrack, they are usualy recorded at a lower volume. This preserves the quality of the louder parts of the soundtrack. Just turn your speakers up.

 

[Mavrick007]

I've noticed this as well. I have WinDVD and it produces a really lower sound than other applications.. but I also do hardware DVD playback on my Hollywood Magic + DVD decoder and when I have sound coming out from the DVD to my SB Live it is very loud, as loud as any other application would be, plus it usually can go even higher in the HW player and not just by turning up the speakers. I can use the same dvd and play it in either and the hardware solution will always be louder.

I think it's just a limitation to the software player and the fact that it has to use the cpu to do most of the work so there are less resources available.

 

[Derango]

From the DVD Review FAQ. right above section 3.6.3 ( Link )

"Many people complain that the audio level from DVD players is too low. In truth the audio level is too high on everything else. Movie soundtracks are extremely dynamic, ranging from near silence to intense explosions. In order to support an increased dynamic range and hit peaks (near the 2V RMS limit) without distortion, the average sound volume must be lower. This is why the line level from DVD players is lower than from almost all other sources. So far, unlike on CDs and LDs, the level is much more consistent between discs. If the change in volume when switching between DVD and other audio sources is annoying, you can adjust the output signal level on some players, or the input signal level on some receivers, but other than that, there's not much you can do."

It's got nothing to do with it being a software player.