2014-12-15, 16:59
Hey there,
although there is not much talk about it, the simple "Volume Amplification" (DRC) feature in KODI works really great to reduce the insane volume difference between dialogues and explosions in most movie HD audio soundtracks. (Even for big home cinema setups, the difference is just too big in many cases.)
Over time, i got to love the following setup:
Hardware is an AVR with larger 5.1 Surround cinema speakers. KODI is running on a i5 4-core Intel NUC.
KODI Setup:
Number of channels: 2.0 (Which does NOT mean you only got 2.0 audio for Multichannel audio. You still get your 5.1!)
Resample Quality: High (It may not be relevant for transcoding (KODI Team members maybe can answer that?) - but since the hardware can handle it, i preffered High.)
_CHECK_ Enable passthrough
_CHECK_ Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver
_CHECK_ - Enable Dolby Digital transcoding (So every other (HD) audio format gets transcoded back to simple and nice 5.1 Dolby Digital after Volume Amplification (DRC) has been done)
_ DISABLED_ Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC3) capable receiver
_ DISABLED_ DTS capable receiver
_ DISABLED_ TrueHD capable receiver
_ DISABLED_ DTS-HD capable receiver
KODI Audio Main Volume: -10.2db
KODI Audio Volume Amplification: +10db
Result:
Almost every movie audio gets decoded, Volume Amplification +10db is applied, Main Volume -10.2db gets the volume back to a normal state and with transcoding back to simple Dolby Digital AC3 you wind up with a nice DD 5.1 Signal without insane volume differences between dialouges and explosions.
It works very very well and gets the job done for almost all situations!
Only if the source audio is DD AC3, it doesn't work, because this audio gets passed through untouched and therefore no Volume Amplification (DRC) is applied.
Feature request would be an (really optional) option, that allows you to force decoding and transcoding even if the source audio i already simple DD 5.1 AC3.
So this could be done:
- The new option "- Allow/Force Dolby Digital transcoding even if source is already simple Dolby Digital AC3" is _CHECKED_
- Movie audio is "old" simple Dolby Digital AC3, but still gets decoded
- Volume Amplification is applied
- Transcoding back to Dolby Digital AC3
- Larger volume differences between dialouges and explosions are reduced for simple DD AC3, which was not possible before in that way
Thanks for reading!
although there is not much talk about it, the simple "Volume Amplification" (DRC) feature in KODI works really great to reduce the insane volume difference between dialogues and explosions in most movie HD audio soundtracks. (Even for big home cinema setups, the difference is just too big in many cases.)
Over time, i got to love the following setup:
Hardware is an AVR with larger 5.1 Surround cinema speakers. KODI is running on a i5 4-core Intel NUC.
KODI Setup:
Number of channels: 2.0 (Which does NOT mean you only got 2.0 audio for Multichannel audio. You still get your 5.1!)
Resample Quality: High (It may not be relevant for transcoding (KODI Team members maybe can answer that?) - but since the hardware can handle it, i preffered High.)
_CHECK_ Enable passthrough
_CHECK_ Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver
_CHECK_ - Enable Dolby Digital transcoding (So every other (HD) audio format gets transcoded back to simple and nice 5.1 Dolby Digital after Volume Amplification (DRC) has been done)
_ DISABLED_ Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC3) capable receiver
_ DISABLED_ DTS capable receiver
_ DISABLED_ TrueHD capable receiver
_ DISABLED_ DTS-HD capable receiver
KODI Audio Main Volume: -10.2db
KODI Audio Volume Amplification: +10db
Result:
Almost every movie audio gets decoded, Volume Amplification +10db is applied, Main Volume -10.2db gets the volume back to a normal state and with transcoding back to simple Dolby Digital AC3 you wind up with a nice DD 5.1 Signal without insane volume differences between dialouges and explosions.
It works very very well and gets the job done for almost all situations!
Only if the source audio is DD AC3, it doesn't work, because this audio gets passed through untouched and therefore no Volume Amplification (DRC) is applied.
Feature request would be an (really optional) option, that allows you to force decoding and transcoding even if the source audio i already simple DD 5.1 AC3.
So this could be done:
- The new option "- Allow/Force Dolby Digital transcoding even if source is already simple Dolby Digital AC3" is _CHECKED_
- Movie audio is "old" simple Dolby Digital AC3, but still gets decoded
- Volume Amplification is applied
- Transcoding back to Dolby Digital AC3
- Larger volume differences between dialouges and explosions are reduced for simple DD AC3, which was not possible before in that way
Thanks for reading!