Increasing volume for video - how?

[cleo]

I'm going through the pre-long-flight iPod prep ritual. Last time around I had trouble hearing a bunch of movies I'd loaded (that were all about the dialogue) over the white noise of the airplane environment, even turning the volume (and max volume limitation) all the way up. I want to try to avoid the same frustration this time around.

I'm ripping a bunch of DVD's using Handbrake, and I'm going to try setting the DRC to 2.0. (This is my first time using Handbrake; it's actually for my dad, who usually takes a DVD player but just got his first iPod.) Should that be enough?

And what about files that are already ripped & compressed? I recorded a couple of movies with my EyeTV, and I want to make sure they're loud enough. Is there anyway in QuickTime to increase the volume & re-save?

I'm not looking for stellar audiophile-certified sound here; just the volume & passable clarity to get me and my parents thru a 9-hour flight.

Any and all advice is welcomed.

[cleo]

Bump... anyone?

I tried running the .avi's through Handbrake, with the DRC cranked up, but it didn't make a difference (that I can tell). And I tried adjusting the track settings in QT Pro, increasing the volume all the way to +6, but still couldn't hear a difference.

[cleo]

Seriously? All of yu brilliant people, and no one knows how to amplify an audio track?

[Scarpad]

Originally Posted by cleo

Seriously? All of yu brilliant people, and no one knows how to amplify an audio track?

All you can do in Handbrake is what you are describing, bump up the DRC, I go no lower than 2.0. And it's still rather quite, HB has a Low Volume issue that needs to be adressed. If you need Higher volume try Gomencoder, it works well and really boosts the volume.

[lostless]

Its not handbrake that has the low volume, but the DVDs themselves. Movies use a lot of dynamic range to emphasize the loud from the soft. All that DC (dynamic compression) does is make all levels the same. So soft and loud parts all sound equally loud. What handbrake does not have is a normalizer which will bring levels to the loudest it can possibly be.

[coreypiko]

Why are these things so inexplicable?

I rip DVD's to play on my iPad when I am travelling. I have ripped 30 minutes tv shows and the sound is very good. But for movies I can barely hear them with my iPad turned all the way up?

Is there an alternative to handbrake that allows you to actually hear the video you are ripping?

Is this an issue that can actually be solved or does everyone out there not have proper volume on the movies they rip?

[mfram]

The very latest builds of Handbrake (built from source) contain audio amplification. I turn my audio +6dB and movies sound much better. Not sure if there's a binary of the pre-release versions available.

[kkluth]

Originally Posted by mfram

The very latest builds of Handbrake (built from source) contain audio amplification. I turn my audio +6dB and movies sound much better. Not sure if there's a binary of the pre-release versions available.

Been having the same problem with low volume. Thank you for the tip.

One can download nightly builds from https://build.handbrake.fr/

[dbrown1986]

Nice forum you guys have here! Anyways, I registered just to stop by and put in my two cents on this issue. For those of you using older versions of HB (such as myself). If you don't mind a slight cut in audio quality, here are the settings that work best for me and boost the volume overall:

Codec: MP3 (lame)
Mixdown: Stereo
Samplerate: Auto
Bitrate: 128 (or more)
DRC: 1.5 - 2.0

The sacrifice is that this will downmix DDS or any other 5.1 sound to stereo, but if your watching it on a standard TV or portable device with headphones then it wont matter because the output on those devices is stereo anyway. Those with home theater speakers and computers can still watch it as long as they switch their sound profile to stereo. The boost in volume is obvious once downmixed to stereo.

[NZed]

To go all this trouble ripping up all the movies again, i'd save my money and go buy a new headphones with noise cancellation.

[maiklohse]

Originally Posted by dbrown1986

Nice forum you guys have here! Anyways, I registered just to stop by and put in my two cents on this issue. For those of you using older versions of HB (such as myself). If you don't mind a slight cut in audio quality, here are the settings that work best for me and boost the volume overall:

Codec: MP3 (lame)
Mixdown: Stereo
Samplerate: Auto
Bitrate: 128 (or more)
DRC: 1.5 - 2.0

The sacrifice is that this will downmix DDS or any other 5.1 sound to stereo, but if your watching it on a standard TV or portable device with headphones then it wont matter because the output on those devices is stereo anyway. Those with home theater speakers and computers can still watch it as long as they switch their sound profile to stereo. The boost in volume is obvious once downmixed to stereo.

Just out of curiosity - is there a reason why you choose MP3 instead of the default AAC option?

[AdrianK]

Originally Posted by maiklohse

Just out of curiosity - is there a reason why you choose MP3 instead of the default AAC option?

I think a better question would be why someone would suggest using DRC (which does not increase the overall volume) over gain (which increases the overall volume).

[maiklohse]

Originally Posted by AdrianK

I think a better question would be why someone would suggest using DRC (which does not increase the overall volume) over gain (which increases the overall volume).

And how do you control gain in Handbrake?

[AdrianK]

Originally Posted by maiklohse

And how do you control gain in Handbrake?

Download one of the nightly builds, there's a new dial next to DRC for gain.

[luckydezl]

Originally Posted by dbrown1986

Nice forum you guys have here! Anyways, I registered just to stop by and put in my two cents on this issue. For those of you using older versions of HB (such as myself). If you don't mind a slight cut in audio quality, here are the settings that work best for me and boost the volume overall:

Codec: MP3 (lame)
Mixdown: Stereo
Samplerate: Auto
Bitrate: 128 (or more)
DRC: 1.5 - 2.0

The sacrifice is that this will downmix DDS or any other 5.1 sound to stereo, but if your watching it on a standard TV or portable device with headphones then it wont matter because the output on those devices is stereo anyway. Those with home theater speakers and computers can still watch it as long as they switch their sound profile to stereo. The boost in volume is obvious once downmixed to stereo.

From what i understand, it is only possible to adjust the DRC if the source audio is AC3. IS this right?
Because ive been trying for days to adjust the drc on an mkv file with dts audio.
Please let me know if this is true, so i can at least stop trying .