DVD Shrink - does it axe dolby compression?

[mrtunes]

i'm wondering if the process dvd shrink goes through to rip a dvd... does it remove the sound compression in the dolby standard on the disc? i find that the volume of my rips are insanely inconsistent and my finger is on the volume control the whole movie.

[jdizzy40]

You have other problems besides Shrink.

[mrtunes]

hey. can you elaborate on that a little?i use one program to rip and one to burn. i assume that i'm losing my dolby when i rip

[adam]

DVD Shrink doesn't do anything to your audio short of removing tracks you don't want.

Let me guess, you don't have a surround sound system, you are just listening through you tv speakers right? 5.1 audio has a very wide dynamic range and its just too wide for stero playback. The result is that low parts like dialogue are way too quiet compared to loud parts like explosions. So you have to keep adjusting volume for one or the other.

This is why 2.0 tracks are included on DVDs, so you get audio properly mixed for stereo. Otherwise about all you can do is use dialogue normalization when playing the 5.1 track. Check and see if your DVD player has that. It will decrease the dynamic range for you.

But...you should be having these same problems with the original DVDs too.

[mrtunes]

thanks adam! yeah i know a bit about 5.1, i've done some mixes in this format and am still learning about how it plays back.

i usually check to see if i'm playing the stereo track back. some dvds dont give you the option really. my dvd player is cheap.

i think the final straw for me was when i took over my rip of a recent documentary on a famous heavy metal band ( wink wink) and we had some serious issues with it and he's never had this problem playing dvds on his tv like that before.

[Kurt S]

Don't you mean rockumentary?

[mrtunes]

Don't you mean rockumentary?

Yes! and not Spinal Tap

[MACCA350]

adam wrote:

Otherwise about all you can do is use dialogue normalization when playing the 5.1 track. Check and see if your DVD player has that. It will decrease the dynamic range for you.

You are refering to 'Dynamic Compression' not 'Dialogue Normalization'.

Dialogue normalization is a feature that Dolby uses to normalise various forms of Dolby. This is done automatically and cannot be modified.

Dynamic compression on the otherhand allows you to compress the dynamic range of Dolby tracks. Depending on the equipment this can engaged at varing degrees of compression. I use this feature late at night when people are sleeping and I dont want to disturd the neighbours.

A friend of mine had a similar problem with his tv when watching dvd's (he kept changing the volume in quiet and loud scenes). Turning the dynamic compression up in his dvd players settings made him happy.

cheers

[mrtunes]

Dynamic compression on the otherhand allows you to compress the dynamic range of Dolby tracks. Depending on the equipment this can engaged at varing degrees of compression. I use this feature late at night when people are sleeping and I dont want to disturd the neighbours.

A friend of mine had a similar problem with his tv when watching dvd's (he kept changing the volume in quiet and loud scenes). Turning the dynamic compression up in his dvd players settings made him happy.

cheers

Right, I think Dolby even specifies this as Nighttime mode or something. Do you think programs like DVD Shrink destroy this information?

[greymalkin]

DVD Shrink doesn't do anything to your audio short of removing tracks you don't want.

your question has been answered already.

[mrtunes]

DVD Shrink doesn't do anything to your audio short of removing tracks you don't want.

your question has been answered already.

right, adam gave me an answer but i was asking this question to a different person to see if he had a different opinion.

[manono]

It's not an opinion. adam was stating a fact. DVD Shrink doesn't alter the audio in any way.

[mrtunes]

haha ok i mean no trouble! this forum has always been a big help for me figuring this elusive film sound. thanks!

[MOVIEGEEK]

It's not an opinion. adam was stating a fact. DVD Shrink doesn't alter the audio in any way.

That's not entirely true,I (and others) have noticed the volume is lowered on AC3 by as much as 6dB after using DVDShrink.I can't find the threads regarding this phenomenom but there's one on this forum and one at www.dvdshrink.info

[MACCA350]

Programs like DVDShrink cannot effect the Dynamic Compression, or the Dialogue Normalization on DD tracks because those programs dont have the ability within their programing to alter AC3, DTS or PCM tracks they can only remove them.

I have about 500 original and backup DVD's and have never heard any difference with the audio tracks between original and backup. I just checked a couple of them and, as expected, the Dialogue Normalization offset is exactly the same on the backups as it is on the original.

And as for the Dynamic Compression, this is more a feature controlled by the hardware device(dvd player, receiver, etc), if you dont set it, it wont compress the signal.

As MOVIEGEEK put it, its a phenomenom that these programs alter the AC3 coding. Its more likley some problem elseware, otherwise everyone would have the same issue. And if there was a 6db difference I would notice it.

cheers