My video files, which come from a pretty wide range of sources, vary a great deal in their overall sound levels and since I can't know the ideal amp setting before playing them I find that many tend to blast away uncomfortably until I can rush to turn down the amp's volume. Is there a way within the Zidoo software to normalise all the files' audio, or perhaps set a maximum playback level? Many thanks.
In a word, no. The vast majority of content is bitstreamed compressed or uncompressed multichannel Dolby and DTS delivery and as such there is no way to adjust levels - this is done in the mix and metadata tells the decoder (amp/soundbar etc) how to deal with it. For PCM and compressed content that is decompressed to PCM, the Zidoo can adjust the volume but not normalise it. However, it shouldn't need to - my suggestion is to switch Volume Direct Mode on which sets PCM volume to max and means you can't adjust it and then pretty much everything should be correctly balanced. I have to be honest, I've been in the media player game for over 20 years and levels have never been a real issue in any of my many and varied setups over the years..
That's great, thanks. I found it strange: I've never noticed such extreme variation when playing stuff back on my PC or during my experiments with Kodi, though I have added a good few new files since then (and Kodi might have had a similar mode to the one you mentioned switched on without my realising it). I appreciate your speedy reply.
Some content can be mixed badly and sometimes because that's the standard - ask any creative dubbing mixer what they think of R128 and they'll probably poke you in the eye - but generally, although small tweaks in volume might be needed here and there, on the whole it's not usually a problem. In my cinema I startup at -15db but I usually end up racking it up to -10db which is still 10 db short of "reference" but that usually means furniture moves.
Markswift2003, I think perhaps you're talking mainly about movies and TV shows: mainstream material; I have a lot of stuff from other sources where the same standards weren't necessarily applied, and I appreciate that the Zidoo boxes aren't primarily designed to accommodate that sort of thing. But checking a selection, your tip has made a considerable difference: it doesn't, as you said, act as a normaliser but it does impose an upper limit on the most extreme audio tracks, which is the end of the range which was troubling me. My ears thank you.
Yes, there are several ways to normalize audio levels of different movies. One common approach is to use audio editing software to adjust the levels of the audio tracks in each movie file. This can be a time-consuming process, but it can be very effective in ensuring consistent audio levels across all of your video files. Another approach is to use media player software that includes audio normalization features. Some media players, such as VLC or MPC-HC, offer audio normalization options that can automatically adjust the audio levels of each movie file as it is played back. This can be a more convenient option than editing each file individually, but the results may not be as precise. Within the Zidoo software, you can try adjusting the audio settings to see if there is an option to normalize audio levels or set a maximum playback level. The exact steps to do this may vary depending on the version of Zidoo software you are using, but it is worth exploring the settings to see if there is an option available.
I've used Audacity to normalise existing MP3 and WAV audio tracks, but I don't know how to extract and then resync the audio from a movie file. And you're right: applying the process to an entire film library would surely be a prohibitively lengthy process. Also, and this applies to using the media player itself to adjust levels, I'm a tad wary about applying overall correction and possibly affecting the quality. But thanks for the thought, and I shall take a look at the Z9X audio options.
