How do I find the max peak value?

[nBt]

I'm trying to find an easy way to find the maximum peak value of the audio track in a movie. The reason is I often record movies out on VHS and before doing this it would be useful to know at what time (i.e. 1 hour 15 minuttes 34 seconds) the max peak value is - and then adjust my output level from that.

The only way I know how to do it is too complicated to go through every time so I'm hoping that one you know some tool or method to do this.

The way I would do it is to extract the audio using VirtualDub, then open that file in an audio editor and manually try to find the max peak value.

Looking forward to hear from you.

[SaSi]

What you ideally need is a normalize filter for VirtualDUB. This would save the time to export, edit and re-multiplex.

There are however some external utilities invariable called "normalize". Thy this one http://www.divx-digest.com/software/normalize.html. It may suit you.

If using an audio editor, however,
Any program that can display the audio as a waveform will show you the max audio value. Provided there is some sort of scale to the right or left, you can measure the exact value.

If the editor shows you values in dB, and you see that the max value is, say, -5dB, you can safely add 5dB to the audio without causing any clipping. (Provided the editor can accept a gain factor in dB).

If the editor shows you values like 10%, 20%, .. , 90%, then it's easier. If the max level is, say, 35%, then you have another 65% of level to increase. So you can chose a gain factor of 1.65.
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[nBt]

Thanx - I'll try look into it.

[nBt]

Hmm... I now realize it wasn't what I looked for. But thanx for trying to help.

The thing is, I'm not trying to change/nomalize the audio of the movie, I'm just trying to locate the point in time where the audio is at it's max peak value ...

By knowing this I can play this part while configuring my audio output and it wont get clipped.

The reason I don't want to split the movie into audio/video, normalize the audio and then mux them again, is, that some movies don't open correct in VirtualDub like fx. AC3 movies. I think it's too long a process to do all this.

Any idea about the max peak value ... ?

[half-eaten]

you can get a pretty good idea by using a visual audio editor, like cool edit pro.

-Mike

[nBt]

Hmm.. yeah, I know about that. I just hoped for an application that could scan the audio of the movie without having to extract it first. But thanx anyway.

Edit: I'll figure something out or just do it the hard way