Making Movies Sound Better With Bass EQ

It's the one with the installer, yes. It runs entirely on the Pi and downloads the catalog from the repo. No merge using BEQ Designer.
 
It's the one with the installer, yes. It runs entirely on the Pi and downloads the catalog from the repo. No merge using BEQ Designer.
So the Python scripts (minidsp-rs?) connects to the minidsp and the webpage (ezBEQ web?) directly connects to the repo database because I've not had to do any updates to receive the latest entries. Right?
 
For the Pi, you can use either a zero-w (be careful, there's a zero non-w which doesn't have wi-fi), a Pi3, or a Pi4. I got mine from the PiHut. Get an SD card that's a decent size, 8GB is more than enough.

You burn the OS using the burner available on the Raspberrypi.org website, put it in the Pi and connect the pi to a keyboard, monitor and mouse. From there you enable wifi and follow the step by step instructions to install both minidsp-rs and ezBEQ.

A couple of things to bear in mind:
  • ezBEQ works differently to BEQd, there's no merge anymore. You'll load your room eq and house curve to the output and leave the input empty. ezBEQ will manage the input only and not touch the output.
  • If you try to use multiple sources of input (minidsp plug-in, ezBEQ web, ezBEQ app) things can get confusing. A simple workflow is to load your data using the minidsp plug-in and then close that and don't touch it again. From then on just use ezBEQ web.

You can apparently set it up so that you can use both, but unless you have a need to I wouldn't.

The ezBEQ app is great but the web is pretty much just as good now.
Conrad,

Many thanks for the assistance. I will look into what you have advised and probably try and source a Pi sometime next week (while I am away) and then look a dabbling with it next weekend.

Will let you know how I get off.
 
So the Python scripts (minidsp-rs?) connects to the minidsp and the webpage (ezBEQ web?) directly connects to the repo database because I've not had to do any updates to receive the latest entries. Right?
Minidsp-rs is written in rust, not python (hence -rs), but ezBEQ is, I believe, python.

ezBEQ has a webserver in it which presents the catalogue along with a number of other options (gain, preset, etc.). These are all options that can be passed to minidsp-rs which will, in turn, pass those settings to the minidsp. I believe there's work going on to read some values back like levels but my cinema's out of action so I haven't used it for a while.

ezBEQ grabs the list of titles in the repo I believe every six hours. You can force a refresh but it's largely an unattended process.
 
Minidsp-rs is written in rust, not python (hence -rs), but ezBEQ is, I believe, python.

ezBEQ has a webserver in it which presents the catalogue along with a number of other options (gain, preset, etc.). These are all options that can be passed to minidsp-rs which will, in turn, pass those settings to the minidsp. I believe there's work going on to read some values back like levels but my cinema's out of action so I haven't used it for a while.

ezBEQ grabs the list of titles in the repo I believe every six hours. You can force a refresh but it's largely an unattended process.
Yes ezBEQ is Python. I knew the minidsp-rs executable connects with the minidsp and that ezBEQ uses minidsp-rs. Thanks for the clarification.
 
For the Pi, you can use either a zero-w (be careful, there's a zero non-w which doesn't have wi-fi), a Pi3, or a Pi4. I got mine from the PiHut. Get an SD card that's a decent size, 8GB is more than enough.

You burn the OS using the burner available on the Raspberrypi.org website, put it in the Pi and connect the pi to a keyboard, monitor and mouse. From there you enable wifi and follow the step by step instructions to install both minidsp-rs and ezBEQ.

A couple of things to bear in mind:
  • ezBEQ works differently to BEQd, there's no merge anymore. You'll load your room eq and house curve to the output and leave the input empty. ezBEQ will manage the input only and not touch the output.
  • If you try to use multiple sources of input (minidsp plug-in, ezBEQ web, ezBEQ app) things can get confusing. A simple workflow is to load your data using the minidsp plug-in and then close that and don't touch it again. From then on just use ezBEQ web.

You can apparently set it up so that you can use both, but unless you have a need to I wouldn't.

The ezBEQ app is great but the web is pretty much just as good now.
Conrad,

thanks again for the steerage. Managed to get a Pi 3 kit from fleabay for a reasonable price. Followed the instructions on ezBEQ pages etc to install and activate and I am now in and working via the web page and BEQ Browser.
 
Is there any reason it has to be a mini DSP? Quite expensive, so I was hoping something cheaper might be possible even if it is less compact.
 
Is there any reason it has to be a mini DSP? Quite expensive, so I was hoping something cheaper might be possible even if it is less compact.

Probably not....Well without a lot of tweaking and hassle and a lack of support on what you are doing....You can use the older 2x4 and i think some of the other models you can hack things to work with .

Realistically get a 2x4HD and a Pi3 and if you have a decent bass set-up / shakers then you really won't regret it. All in ~£300 which is a bit of a bargain in my books for a BIG increase in accurate bass output for most films.
 
You don’t have to use a minidsp, any device that supports the necessary filters will do, but you have to do things manually. You can use an HTP-1 in an automated way, but you can use JRiver, for example, to manually apply the filters.
 
Is there any reason it has to be a mini DSP? Quite expensive, so I was hoping something cheaper might be possible even if it is less compact.
You need to find something that has decent sub 20Hz resolution and supports the required filter types. I doubt you will find something cheap that fits the bill (but if you do then do share that info)
 
Probably not....Well without a lot of tweaking and hassle and a lack of support on what you are doing....You can use the older 2x4 and i think some of the other models you can hack things to work with .

Realistically get a 2x4HD and a Pi3 and if you have a decent bass set-up / shakers then you really won't regret it. All in ~£300 which is a bit of a bargain in my books for a BIG increase in accurate bass output for most films.
Shame it should be completely unnecessary and only because of the bizarre choices of film studios. I am completely new to this so probably would have to go with the HD version though.
 
Shame it should be completely unnecessary and only because of the bizarre choices of film studios. I am completely new to this so probably would have to go with the HD version though.

The movie studios tune home releases for sound bars. Alas us home cinema nuts are small beer to the studios. It's irksome, but i do understand it!
 
The movie studios tune home releases for sound bars. Alas us home cinema nuts are small beer to the studios. It's irksome, but i do understand it!
But don't a lot of soundbars come with subwoofers anyway? What I don't understand even if you just have a soundbar, what is the effect of these films not having filtered out bass?
 
But don't a lot of soundbars come with subwoofers anyway? What I don't understand even if you just have a soundbar, what is the effect of these films not having filtered out bass?

Potential damage to speakers, even the subwoofers that come with some soundbars.
 
Actually it's a widespread issue with almost all soundtracks, regardless of the release format.
Ok. I thought I saw an example of Jurassic Park (iirc) only being affected for the disc version. My last question is then why is this a recent phenomenon? Did non filtered tracks damage TV speakers and non subwoofer owners?
 
Ok. I thought I saw an example of Jurassic Park (iirc) only being affected for the disc version. My last question is then why is this a recent phenomenon? Did non filtered tracks damage TV speakers and non subwoofer owners?

We used to have a few good movies like War of the Worlds or The Incredible Hulk (2008), but even in the past movies were filtered some. Today it seems they are more aggressive with the filtering and also across more movies. I would say it was more of an increasing trend to get where we are today but occasionally a soundtrack will slip through like Edge of Tomorrow.
 
I am torn on whether to get a mini dsp and set this up. I tried a test clip of The Meg and although the subwoofer I have definitely packed a bit more punch with the unfiltered track, I didn't think the filtered one was that bad or that the difference was very significant. Apparently the filter is applied at 20Hz. I don't know if my subwoofer's spl level is very high at that frequency.

On the other hand, the bass on the Akira 4k disc was weak imo, and it is also filtered. I'm not sure if that is just the filter or the film in general.
 
Akira isn't great before or after BEQ:

What subs have you got and how low do they go? If you're limited to about 20Hz then the best next step is probably a hoveboss if you want more low end.
 
BK xls300. I'm not sure how low it goes, haven't checked.

I did see that but the bottom is average, no? There were only a few scenes (the huge explosions) where I expected more, and it seems the peak response is removed quite significantly.
 
Yes, it's average. I tend to look at the heatmaps, they show the difference over time better. For me it's easier to see what's been affected and where.
 

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