Quiet Blu-Ray

[The Lloyd]

Recently got a new system for the purpose of upscaling DVD's and watching Blu-Ray's and getting all that quality i missed out on since i first bought my home cinema setup back in 1999. Today i got my first Blu-Ray disc through the post (Transformers) and couldnt wait to see for myself in the comfort of my own home what the fuss was all about.

The picture was so beautiful on my yet uncalibrated LG that i wanted to weep .
Really fantastic levels of detail on the robots that left my with my jaw wide open, i love it, just as i hoped it would be (cant wait to get the TV calibrated)

However (there is always a however ).........Im not sure if ive done something wrong because it is somewhat lacking in sound, something i didnt expect the Blu-Ray to be. When turned up 25 "notches" higher on my AV processor, the volume just doesnt cut it compared to Armageddon, a film i watched recently on my crappy old setup so was the first thing i put on my new kit. Anything after 35 on the volume meter is getting close to annoying my neighbours, the surround is also very loud (my old setup you could barely hear the rear speakers at all). Then i put Jurrasic park on to see how it would cope with 15 year old CGI and again it performed amazing picture and sound wise, really really loud.

Is it just transformers or do you have to do something different with your player to get it to sound good with a blu-ray. Even 20 notches higher it still lacks punch, action scenes are just very dull and blunted. Everything except the sub that is which when turned up a little louder shakes hell out of the room.

The only other way i can describe it is to imagine a room with the 5.1 set up, now cut a very large hole in the wall through to your kitchen or whatever and stand in there with the volume on loud. Just lacks power compared to the DVD's i have played on it so far.

Sorry for the wall of txt, can anyone help.

 

[Todd Tomorrow]

Sounds like there is something wrong with your set up. Dodgy cable ?

 

[Greg Hook]

Have you made sure you haven't got any night modes on the amp or player turned on? Also have you made sure the amp is getting the correct signal from the blu-ray player?

 

[The Lloyd]

Ive had a look at my connections and so far can see nothing wrong (being that its a simple set up with a few cables thats all the better to spot any mistakes).
Intrestingly enough my other blu-rays have come through and this is something i have to mention.
Just seen Independence Day and my god that was loud, back up to the volume standards of the DVD version of Armageddon. So down the volume went to a more acceptable 35 (and even this was still quite loud for the time of night it was.)
However i noticed lots a juttering and stalling on the picture, and bits where it sped up slightly as if it was trynig to catch up on itself, car movement seems un-natural as it does in other dvds i have played and although the sound was loud the quality was sometimes very odd.
Some louder parts of the movie the explosions slightly crackle as if distorting the speakers (which they shouldnt be as i know the speakers can handle much more volume.). And the music was weird. Its as if it was on its own seperate volume channel and someone in the background was sliding it up and down for fun. So a dramatic scene would come on and the volume of the effects would remain constant but the music would be up and down, literally like a kid playing with the volume button. Insane stuff i tell you.

I will watch the other Blu-Rays that i have and hope i have a better time with them, but so far my experience has been somewhat tarished and not as good as i hoped in some respects, and im not a hard man to please at all.

Oh and i dont know where the night mode is (or if it has one) on my amp but if it was on i would expect ID-4 to be as quiet as Transformers and if it was it would explain why Armageddon was a nice volume. so im not sure thats the case. What am i doing wrong.

 

[Maxamus]

Is Dynamic Range set to OFF ?

 

[brian s]

A possible handshake issue? I used to have all sorts of problems because I would load my BDs and HD DVDs in the machines before I switched the amp over to the HD DVD or BD input. I didn't get the same problem as The Lloyd but that maybe down to different gear. I used to get picture without sound, sound without picture and the rear speaker sound on the front speakers.

I cured the problem by switching over to the input before loading the disc. I have had a few more problems recently even doing this but it did cure all my problems for several months.

To The Lloyd try swiching over to Blu-Ray before loading the disc if you're not already doing this.

Best of luck
Bri

 

[ScottW75]

Was this not one of the discs with the bug that turns night mode on when using some amplifiers?

I've watched transformers and the audio is superb. I would be unaffected by this bug as mt Sony BDP-S550 does the decoding before passing it to the amp.

 

[nwgarratt]

There are a a few discs where the audio is quiter than normal but there is a annoying bug on Transformers and Iron Man. It turns Dynamic compression on. This will only affect amps with a hdmi connection as it needs the hdmi to do it. Dynamic compression needs to be turned off on the amp when those two discs start playing the film.

If you don't have a hdmi amp then something else is wrong.

 

[The Lloyd]

Well folks i finally worked it out and cant believe i didnt spot it before (smacks head). There is a setting on my LG called auto volume which was on. Since switching it off i have noticed considerable mind blowing improvements so this setting obviously tries to compensate sound somehow therefore giving it the weird volume hopping effect on some channels. Dont know how, dont really care though now as i just watched transformers at about 50 volume (and the sub half up) on the "Transformer jumping over woman using his gun" scene and wept. It was fantastic and nearly damaged the house which was lovely .

Other blu-rays such as Dark Knight which i watched last night seemed perfect also so i think thats cracked it.

Many thanks for your suggestions and help folks. Much appreciated.

Just out of interest though if i do get a bug that swtches dynamic compression on, how do i switch it off. I cant seem to find the setting on my player or the onkyo.

 

[nwgarratt]

Sounds like that thing on the LG is its own form of dynamic compression. So far the only two discs affected are Iron Man and Transformers.

On the Onkyo amp it is something called late night mode and is supposed to be off.

There is a thread about it -

http://www.avforums.com/forums/onkyo-owners-forum/826874-onkyo-amps-truehd-transformers-blu-ray-others-heads-up.html

 

[The Lloyd]

That made for some interesting reading. I have no idea how to access the late night mode on my 606, some guy mentions that he did it via the audio menu but i couldnt see it. It seems to mainly reference higher up onkyo's.

I wouldnt mind acutally being able to find it and use it as it would be a good first reference if i find a blu-ray too quiet and more importnantly i would like to use the feature when i do watch something late at night.

Does anyone have a definitive step by step guide to accessing this on the 606 because i honestly just spent 40 mins looking for it. It is not on the remote or in the setup menu.