Fellow Outlaws,

I have just recently purchased the 990/7125 combination and have been using it extensively to watch HD broadcasts from my local cable provider. The HD is not over-the-air, it is a local cable provider and is decoded using a cable/set-top box connected to the receiver using and HDMI-to-DVI connection along with coax digital audio.

The question I have is regarding the volume levels when watching HD broadcasts in Dolby Digital. The volume levels between programs and commercials varies quite a bit, requiring me to constantly adjust the volume. Is this normal? I thought Dolby Digital used "Dialog Normalization" to ensure that the receiver could normalize the different programs so they played at the same volume level. Am I wrong? Is there something to be set in the receiver to handle this?

On a similar note, do you guys notice volume level differences between HD and non-HD channels. My non-HD channels are much louder than the HD channels, also requiring constant volume adjustments when switching channels.

Any help or advice would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Bryan

I've noticed exactly the same thing, icehawk21: my 990's volume control has to be set 10db higher on the HD channels to get the same listening levels as on the non-HD channels. But I can't see how the 990, or any other preamp, could be doing anything with the signal it receives that would cause this - or control it either.
I think your question should be directed to your local cable provider. I haven't yet asked mine (Cox Cable) but maybe I'll do it now. Maybe we all should if we've noticed this volume shift - let the cable providers explain this to us, or, better, change it.

psyprof1,

Thanks for the reply. I also have to set my volume up the same amount (~10-13-db higher). Do you notice, when watching a single HD channel, a difference in volumes between the program and the commercials?

The HD material is probably being mastered similarly to DVD's, which are normally significantly quieter than VHS, CD, or TV to provide a more dynamic range without distortion - it's unrelated to dialog normalization, and there's not much you can do about it unless you can control the volume separately for HD and standard channels at your cable or satellite box. To quote from Jim Taylor's DVD FAQ:

Late add to thread - I'm surprised there are not more responses...it must be a rare problem.

I've noticed that on Comcast in MN the comercials have always been louder on non-HD, and often local comercials the loudest - I just figured that the cable provider was either sloppy or was trying to get us to sit up and pay attention to the comcercials. Then I got to HD....and it is way worse. It is barely watchable on Comcast - you have turn the volume way down for comercials, or mute it, or of course watch everything from DVR and skip over them (heh heh - but even then there is the unpleasant volume jump when the comercial break starts). To add to Gonk's piont, I don't think it is a matter to be fixed by dynamic compression - besides who would want to dynamically compress otherwise perfectly-good audio in the programming content just so the comercials don't blow your ears out.

Any ideas or commiseration : ) would be appreciated.

My Panasonic VCR had the delightful feature of commercial skip - after recording a show it would rewind, then mark all recognized commercials and automatically go into fast forward during playback when it encountered the marked section. Over 90% accuracy and it never made a "false positive" error (skipping non-commercial material). So - somebody tell me again why neither cable box recorders nor the current generation of VCRs offer this capability.
The only "idea or commiseration" I can suggest is a fast finger on the mute button. And admittedly the resulting tingle of paranoia doesn't improve one's viewing pleasure. Maybe someone else here has a another idea.

Of course there is another possibility which I hesitate to suggest here:


Read books.

I have also been having this problem but in a different way; I have DISH Sat. and don't have a problem with vollume between the HD & SD channels but when I am watching a recording from my DVR, which is about all I watch now, there is a big increase in vollume when commercials come on - very annoying.