[Z9X] local playback DTS 5.1 volume low

Discussion in 'HDD Media player(RTD 1619DR)' started by pcteck19, Dec 11, 2021.

  1. pcteck19

    pcteck19 New Member

    Hi, any experiance the same problem as me?
    For local playback from HDD, the volume of DTS 5.1 video is extremely low.
    Dolby Digital 5.1 is fine.

    Firmware ver: v6.3.41
     
  2. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Beta test group Contributor

    Dolby and DTS audio is bitstreamed so the box has absolutely no control over volume unless it's downmixed to PCM.
     
  3. pcteck19

    pcteck19 New Member

    Hi, i set auto on Z9x
     
  4. Nicholas Hewitt

    Nicholas Hewitt Active Member

    The Volume has an issue where it keeps going back to half volume. You have to use the volume on the remote to turn it back up all the time. It has had this issue for a long time, but keeps getting ignored by the devs.
     
  5. mytich

    mytich Member

    I have problems with low dialogue volume on my older 2.0 stereo hifi setup especially on all DTS movies... can Zidoo get some kind of center channel enhancer like "night mode" while downmixing to 2.0 stereo in the future please? I would appreciate it very much.
     
  6. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Beta test group Contributor

    I've never had that issue, but the volume control continues to cause problems when users don't realise it only affects decoded audio and not bitstreamed audio.

    It's something I've been banging on about since the very early days.

    Good news though - "Volume Direct" mode will be added soon :)
     
  7. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Beta test group Contributor

    What is the Z9X connected to?
     
  8. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Beta test group Contributor

    I doubt this is possible - That's a function for a processor (whether standalone or built into an amp) where the audio waveform is normalised - a very crude version was the old "Loudess" control you used to get back in the day - I doubt the SOC supports it.
     
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  9. mytich

    mytich Member

    But why is there a "night mode' option buried deep in android Realtek developer settings on Zidoo that unfortunately does nothing when turned on?

    So what would be the best option for me other than getting new equipment entirely? (which is not possible at the moment)

    Thank you for help Mark :)
     
  10. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Beta test group Contributor

    That would be Android Night Mode which doesn't work because the Z9X isn't a phone ;)

    I just tried a few DTS files with Audio set to "LPCM 2 Channel" and the dialogue levels were fine, so I'm not sure where this issue is coming in..
     
    Last edited: Dec 12, 2021
    mytich likes this.
  11. mytich

    mytich Member

    Ohh okay thanks for clarification.

    Maybe because some movies and shows surround sound are decoded that way and some aren't? What is the function if I select only lpcm 2.0 channel output at optical, and downmix off and with downmix on? Whats the purpose of downmix in zidoo? I tried everything and it did not made any difference..
     
  12. mytich

    mytich Member

    @Markswift2003 if you have any fast and furious movies with DTS, I watched the first two movies and both have very quiet dialogue volume.
     
  13. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Beta test group Contributor

    Because your amp is stereo, you should set Audio to "LPCM 2 Channel" so the Z9X will always spit out decoded stereo.

    Downmix in the truest sense is not an option with Zidoo (or any other media player) because they don't have a licence to decode Dolby & DTS streams. In an ideal world this would be an option so all channels would be downmixed correctly to stereo but the returns don't warrant licencing.

    I guess you're using older firmware since the downmix option was removed because of the confusion it caused so the first thing I'd do is update to the latest firmware.

    I'm not 100% sure where LPCM 2 Channel derives the audio - on the face of it you'd expect just the front stereo pair, but then that would not allow dialogue since that is generally on the center channel and only ambiance is mixed to the LR pair.

    So it must incorporate the front LCR signals since dialogue is included so my guess is that LCR downmixing doesn't require a licence.

    I just tried The Fast and the Furious which I have from a standard BluRay rip in DTS and in LPCM 2 Channel it played fine - I tried this from HDMI and optical outputs. Ok it sounds thin compared to the DTS mix with rears and sub, but dialogue was there and not quiet.
     
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  14. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Beta test group Contributor

    You have got the volume on the Zidoo turned up to full haven't you??
     
  15. mytich

    mytich Member

    Thank you very much for explaining.. I am on firmware 6.3.50 at the moment.. Just checked volume, it is set on max.. I guess I will have to get used to it for now.. at least DD5.1 sounds okay. Thank you again. Have a nice day.
     
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  16. Nicholas Hewitt

    Nicholas Hewitt Active Member

    What's volume direct? cause a lot of people have a problem with volume slider resetting to halfway all the time. happens to me all the time and all I do is turn on the box, turn the volume up cause it's almost always at half volume when I turn it on, play a movie, stop the movie, turn off the box, then repeat. It's almost always reset to halfway when I turn on the box.
     
  17. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Beta test group Contributor

    Exactly what it says - the volume control can be bypassed.

    I have no idea why your volume control would change to 50% - I've never seen that behaviour. I seem to remember one firmware release a while ago that reset the volume to zero but can't remember if it was public one or not..
     
  18. Nicholas Hewitt

    Nicholas Hewitt Active Member

    Me and a few others have reported this for the last year. It's not a huge issue but if you look it up on the forum there is quite a few people having this issue. It's been going on since I got the box last year.
     
  19. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Beta test group Contributor

    No idea what triggers it, but Volume Direct should fix it.

    The reason I suggested this was that so many people post about low trailer volume etc and invariably they've turned the volume down at some point - it's very easy to do!

    If I had a pound for every post that says "Doh!", or words to that effect, every time I suggest checking the volume, I'd probably have about £37....
     
  20. muha

    muha Active Member

    If you set volume control on cec
    If volume control is turned on in CEC it disables volume control of Zidoo device. Try it.
     

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