[opelap]

i am encoding my videos using ac3 audio with autogk and when i play them on xbmc the volume is very low. i have turned up the volume all the way in xbmc and it is still low. all the auto gk forums say is to up the gain in ac3filter. is there an option like that in xbmc? or is there a better way to encode the sound?

[mc gusto]

hi all,
i recently installed xbmc and am totally loving it!
there are so many things u can do if you have the xbox networked to your pc.
i especially enjoy streaming movies/pics, no more burning cds and watching on a dvd player.
what i've noticed is that all divx files ive played so far, have really low volume. i gotta really crank the tv just to get descent sound.
*bin/*cue files sound great, tho.
i've gone through the menus and cant find anything usefull...
the xbox is connected directly to the tv with r/y/w cable, no sound system attached.
the wierd thing is, these same divx files, if burnt to cd and played on a standalone player sound fine.

any ideas?

thanks in advance!

ps: where is the faq?

[mc gusto]

after doing some research, i found the ac3 filter to make divx files louder. this only applies to the pc, tho.
is there something similiar for the xbmc?

[tetracobra]

sorry for my ignorance, im new to the whole xbmc thing. does divx come standard with the xbmc?

[mc gusto]

divx is one of the file formats the xbox recognizes.
i love this because i got rid of my standalone divx player and didnt have to invest in one of those network media devices as the xbox does it all and more!

[jmarshall]

use dynamic range compression from the video osd.

ac3 has 24 bit resolution, coupled with movie soundtracks that tend to have a lot of dynamic range, this is why it seems quiet on average.

[mc gusto]

jmarshall,
sorry, i dont understand, is this option you mentioned in xbmc?

[CyberDrac]

Rather than start a new thread, I thought that I'd add my problem here since it appears to be related if not exactly the same.

I have recently chipped my XBox and installed XBMC as my main Dashboard and am ecstatic at the quality of the product. However I am having a problem with DVDs and volume. It's not quite the same as the problems listed previously, but similar.

I am playing an original DVD from the DVD drive of the XBox, I have connected through the advanced AV cable XBox to SCART and with the Optical to my Cambridge Soundworks DTT3500. The overall low volume isn't an issue, I can just whack up the volume on the sound system, I can live without the dynamic volume changes to enhance the quiet sections of a film, but I have NO manual control over my volume.

My right thumb stick appears to operate the volume control on the OSD, I can see it reacting to me operating it, but it doesn't alter the volume until it hits the point at -60dB at which it mutes. Is this normal when using Digital through Optical or am I missing something? Also in a related point, why does my hard drive 'wake up' at the point I go to mute? It is set to power down during DVDs which it does, dramatically reducing the noise, but the hard drive comes out of sleep when I mute the sound with this method.

Thanking everyone in advance for their help and consideration.

CD

[Gamester17]

I have NO manual control over my volume

that is correct, because XBMC doesn't do any audio processing on AC3 or DTS streams if you select digital-out for audio (like optical SP/DIF or coaxial audio-output), instead it just pass it along 'as is' to your external AC3and DTS capable receiver/decoder.

...there is a flowchart in the online-manual WIKI (or maybe it was in the old WACKO WIKI) which shows this in detail, but I can't seem find it right now, sorry, hope my explaination is enough for you to understand

why does my hard drive 'wake up' at the point I go to mute? It is set to power down during DVDs which it does, dramatically reducing the noise, but the hard drive comes out of sleep when I mute the sound with this method.

That is not related at all to this topic thread. I think the reason it does that is that XBMC writes to the log on the harddrive when you do a change like that.
Anyway, spin-down is a function that is not recommented at XBMC have to wite to the harddrives from time to time, ...and the function will probebely be removed completly soon as we implement memory swapping, but will not discuss that futher here as it is off-topic.

[CyberDrac]

OK, that clarifies the issue just fine, I'm sorry you thought the hard drive issue was unrelated, I was just trying to post all symptoms observed to make sure that everyone had all the information related to what I was experiencing. I had searched the Wiki, but I didn't stumble across the article you describe, now that I know it's there somewhere I'll go back and have a hunt for it.

Thanks ... now .. back to my DVD

CD