[fust]

Hi guys, I ran out of posts the day I started this thread, then, sorry, was on hiatus there for a minute trying to deal with this virus and my aging parents, who want to act like they're on Spring Break...

Anyway, so I did some troubleshooting, and used MediaInfo to see what the audio codec was for several of the .mkv and .mp4 container videos in my collection.  Next I picked about 10 to be sure I had a good mix of audio/video formats in the containers, and then tested them to see if the issue happened with each video.  It did in all videos.  So that eliminates audio codec types within video file containers as an issue.

I also noticed this during my testing:  the first video I play after starting Kodi, I get the low volume/vol amp setting not applied issue.  I open the audio settings, and the slider is at 24.  I adjust the vol amp slider from 24 to 23.9.  The video volume jumps to normal levels.  I stop the video.  Next, I play another video file.  Again, volume is too low, but when I open the audio settings page, I see that the vol amp slider is still at the 23.9 I just set, not back at 24 again (per the "default for all media" setting).  I move it to, say 24.4, the volume jumps back to normal again.  Stop the video.  Play another, it's still at 24.4... etc.  If I restart Kodi, the first video I play the slider is back at 24 regardless of where it was for the last video before I closed it.

I expected that each time I play a new video, the slider and setting should go back to 24, since that's the default I set it at "for all media."  I tested that setting out on another install of Kodi elsewhere, and the setting does act as I expected:  each time I play a video on the other install, the vol amp slider is reset to 24.  Every time.  So something is hosed in my Kodi install.

I'm going to uninstall Kodi and manually remove any remnants from the registry and file system, and reinstall a fresh copy (I already reinstalled when this happened, but it didn't fix it).  I'll report back if that fixes it, although even if it does, I'd really like to actually know why it happened so it doesn't happen again in the future. 

In fact, this might be a true bug maybe?  Considering that, do I want to do anything before I reinstall that might help identify this as a bug, like post some log files or something for the devs to look at?

Thanks again for everyone's help!

[fust]

I'm not suggesting that the issue lies with the AVR.  I'm suggesting that the AVR settings can be used to compensate for different reference volumes between various inputs.

Yeah, sorry, I jumped to conclusions there.
 

Dynamic range is about increasing low level volume and decreasing high level volume to give a 'flatter' overall volume.  This works regardless of if you have 2 speakers, 4 speakers or a 5.1 setup.  It also has nothing to do with mimicking missing speakers.  Still, you know best, it's your amp after all.  I only mention it because the settings in Kodi that you mention have worked the way you describe for at least the past 5 years.  So, you either need to get the other kit to output in line with Kodi (not always possible) or try and get your AVR to level it's output across different inputs.

We agree here completely, I'm just not very clear at explaining, so apologies!  I know what dynamic range compression is, and compression is a form of DSP, digital signal processing, but none of the DSP settings for this ol' yammie do anything but emulate a jazz club or large movie theater or something stupid, and they all only work in either 5.1 mode (theater emulation-type settings) or stereo mode (presence/music hall emulation with EQ-type settings).  

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm going to do a clean reinstall and see if this is resolved.

[black_eagle]

I expected that each time I play a new video, the slider and setting should go back to 24, since that's the default I set it at "for all media."  I tested that setting out on another install of Kodi elsewhere, and the setting does act as I expected:  each time I play a video on the other install, the vol amp slider is reset to 24.  Every time.  So something is hosed in my Kodi install.

Considering that, do I want to do anything before I reinstall that might help identify this as a bug, like post some log files or something for the devs to look at?

I'd say, get a debug log of the install not working correctly, and follow it up with a debug log from the install that does work.  I mean, there's no guarantee that a dev will see it, or want to fix it, but at least you have supplied the right information to aid them if they do.  In the meantime, I hope your wipe and re-install of Kodi solves your issues and everyone gets to enjoy level volume in these crazy times.

Stay safe.

[Repro54]

I've searched but not found anything relevant because the search for my issue is too overwhelmingly "polluted" to find relevant threads.

Here's the scenario:

I have an A/V system that includes a satellite TV receiver, a DVD player, my Yamaha tuner, and my HTPC that runs Kodi.

I am not the only user of the system, and my age 70s parents who use the system are not tech savvy and "just want it to work" without having to learn something new, i.e. they don't want to become Kodi experts, they just want to press play on a selected movie and have it work. There's a universal Harmony remote that works pretty well, and learning that was enough of a challenge for them... but I digress...

We are having audio issues. They were getting volume blasted from time to time switching between DVD or TV or Kodi.  I'd look into the setup, and it was always that they had turned the receiver up really really loud for some reason, and when they switched to the satellite BLAAAMMOOO super loud audio!  So I set Kodi's average audio level output during video playback to match the DVD player audio level output by playing the same movie on both and adjusting both the volume and volume amplification (for explosion-proofing the audio) in Kodi until I was satisfied they were about equal.  Then I checked the "default for all media" box in Kodi. 

The problem persisted.  What I found out was that a good percentage of the time (can't say it's 100%, but can't say it isn't), when we play a video in Kodi, it plays really quiet.  But if I go into the audio settings and just barely adjust the volume amplification level, suddenly the movie is perfectly loud enough.  I mean, I adjust it, and even if I put it back exactly where it was, it stays loud.  So it's like something isn't staying switched on when I choose a new movie, but it gets switched on when I fiddle with the settings.

Any ideas to stop this annoying (likely unintended) Kodi behaviour and save my parents from ripping their hair out and killing me??

When playing a movie or tv show use mouse to scroll to volume icon, set volume to 0.0 db and set volume amplification to 60.0 db remember to save as default.

[fust]

I've searched but not found anything relevant because the search for my issue is too overwhelmingly "polluted" to find relevant threads.

Here's the scenario:

I have an A/V system that includes a satellite TV receiver, a DVD player, my Yamaha tuner, and my HTPC that runs Kodi.

I am not the only user of the system, and my age 70s parents who use the system are not tech savvy and "just want it to work" without having to learn something new, i.e. they don't want to become Kodi experts, they just want to press play on a selected movie and have it work. There's a universal Harmony remote that works pretty well, and learning that was enough of a challenge for them... but I digress...

We are having audio issues. They were getting volume blasted from time to time switching between DVD or TV or Kodi.  I'd look into the setup, and it was always that they had turned the receiver up really really loud for some reason, and when they switched to the satellite BLAAAMMOOO super loud audio!  So I set Kodi's average audio level output during video playback to match the DVD player audio level output by playing the same movie on both and adjusting both the volume and volume amplification (for explosion-proofing the audio) in Kodi until I was satisfied they were about equal.  Then I checked the "default for all media" box in Kodi. 

The problem persisted.  What I found out was that a good percentage of the time (can't say it's 100%, but can't say it isn't), when we play a video in Kodi, it plays really quiet.  But if I go into the audio settings and just barely adjust the volume amplification level, suddenly the movie is perfectly loud enough.  I mean, I adjust it, and even if I put it back exactly where it was, it stays loud.  So it's like something isn't staying switched on when I choose a new movie, but it gets switched on when I fiddle with the settings.

Any ideas to stop this annoying (likely unintended) Kodi behaviour and save my parents from ripping their hair out and killing me??

When playing a movie or tv show use mouse to scroll to volume icon, set volume to 0.0 db and set volume amplification to 60.0 db remember to save as default.

Thanks for the reply.  Thing is, if I do that, I don't get volume amplification by default, which is the behaviour I want, and besides, an arbitrary value of 60 doesn't take into account that the volume level of Kodi has to match the level of my other A/V devices so when I switch from one to the other, I don't get blasted if it's been turned up on the quieter device.

[fust]

Update:  Since I first posted all this, I got a new HTPC, clean install of Windows, clean install of fresh download of Kodi. 

Same problem.  I'm for sure posting this as a bug report now.

Any new suggestions in the meantime?

[biner]

Update:  Since I first posted all this, I got a new HTPC, clean install of Windows, clean install of fresh download of Kodi. 

Same problem.  I'm for sure posting this as a bug report now.

Any new suggestions in the meantime

I've been struggling with this exact issue for a few years, and no amount of updates/versions have fixed it, it is definitely a bug. Running Windows 10 and latest Leia, though I have verified that the bug is still there in Matrix.

I'm guessing, like you suggested, that Kodi somehow is not applying the volume amplification after you set it as default. If you open the Audio settings window while a movie is playing/paused, and move the volume amplification slider even one notch, it somehow reapplies it then. Very annoying bug, since this results in Kodi being much quieter than other sources on the receiver.

The other challenge in trying to debug/duplicate is that it doesn't happen every time Kodi is restarted, only sometimes. I have submitted a bug report on github. I am also very tech savvy, and would love to help troubleshoot with any devs if they would like to reach out.

The bug report is here: 17564 (GH issue)