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  1. I have a lot of Videos where the Volume is Low in the Talking Parts & Very Loud when the Action Scenes Begin. I use an HD Cord to plug my Laptop to the TV & play the Videos like that.

    Is there anyway that I can Normalize the Volume while Playing the Videos? OR is there a Really Good Free Software that you Can Recommend that I can Normalize the Audio for my Video Files without having to Re-Encode them altogether? I have mostly MP4 with a few MKV & AVI Videos with all 128 kbps - 192 kbps MP3 Audio.

    Just let me know what my Easiest or Best Option is. Thanks so much. I really appreciate any help at all.
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    Any decent video player should have normalization, I wouldn't bother with one that didn't. I use SMplayer as a default and have it set to do this automatically.
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  3. Edit: This will make sense after reading the rest of the post.... but I almost forgot.... if you use Potplayer I'm pretty sure it borrowed audio filters from ffdshow so it has the ability to load Winamp plugins itself, and maybe other types of plugins, so you wouldn't need to install ffdshow, and I think it has some reasonable methods for compressing the audio built-in, although I prefer my RockSteady configuration. I don't use Potplayer myself, but that's what I remember. I wrote most of the stuff below before remembering about Potplayer, but it'll help explain using RockSteady if you'd like to try it anyway.

    The easiest option might be to check your TVs audio settings to see if it has a night mode. That'll compress the audio and there'll be less difference between the soft and loud parts.

    Some players have a setting called "normalisation" that drops the volume when it gets loud and then slowly increases it again until there's another loud part, but I hate the sort of normalisation.... listening to the volume go up and down.... it's worse than night mode for a TV. That's how the normalisation built into MPC-HC and ffdshow works. I'm pretty sure Potplayer also has that sort of normalisation built in, and the normalisation included with SMPlayer looks suspiciously like it works that way (I haven't tried it).

    I do it with ffdshow and a Winamp plugin, but the Winamp plugin only supports stereo (miltucjannel audio will pass through uncompressed), so you have to downmix it with ffdshow first if it's multichannel (Potplayer no doubt has downmixing options too), and it has to be decoded by the PC. You can't send DTS or AC3 directly for decoding by the receiver/TV as it can't be compressed. It also requires a DirectShow player such as MPC-HC.
    FFDShow doesn't need to be decoding the audio. You can enable RAW audio in the list of codecs and it'll process the decoded audio. It works fine for XP but I couldn't tell you if it gets uglier to use on newer Windows.

    If you want to try the ffdshow method, here's some screenshots and a link to the RockSteady plugin. You don't need to install WinAmp. Just put the plugin somewhere and tell ffdshow's audio decoder where to find it, which you can only change by opening the audio decoder configuration via it's shortcut while no video is playing. You can drag the ffdshow audio filters with your mouse to change their order, as the Mixer filter needs to be before the Winamp filter.
    There's a screenshot of how I've configured RockSteady, whether you want to try it with Potplayer or via ffdshow. It works by increasing the volume of the quiet parts rather than decreasing the louder parts, so don't be alarmed if the volume gets louder, just turn the TV's volume down.

    There's no way to compress the audio without re-encoding it. You can only change the over-all volume for MP3 or AAC that way, which isn't what you need to achieve, but now you have a few different options for compressing the audio on playback you can try.

    https://winampheritage.com/plugin/rocksteady-2-1/1099
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    Last edited by hello_hello; 31st Jan 2020 at 10:22.
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  4. Thanks so so much hello_hello for all the Great Info. I will definitely try the Options that you Suggested to me. PotPlayer is the only Player that I use these days. It seems to have the Most Options of any Free Player in my Opinion.

    When I plug my Laptop to my TV I use the TV Sound. Using any Players Normalization Feature Don't Work when using the TV Volume. I have Windows 8 on my System.

    So PotPlayer would work with RockSteady & would change the Volume of the Quieter Parts even if using the TV's Audio & not the Laptop Audio?

    Thanks so much!
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  5. Popular Vlc, mphc both have volume leveling, too.
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  6. Originally Posted by MadMaxnightRider View Post
    So PotPlayer would work with RockSteady & would change the Volume of the Quieter Parts even if using the TV's Audio & not the Laptop Audio?
    Does Potplayer normalise the volume when you use laptop speakers instead of sending the audio to the TV? Maybe check it's definitely working that way first, because if it's decoding the audio before it's sent to the TV I can't imagine why it shouldn't work. Any of it's normalising methods should work that way, and it has a couple of decent normalising options, if I remember correctly, similar to RockSteady.

    I was watching a video at my ex's place the other day. One I've seen numerous times. I couldn't get over how stupidly dynamic the audio was. I really notice RockSteady now when it's not there.

    Edit: By the way, there's some samples in the zip file below if you want to hear RockSteady in action before you mess aorund (using my settings).
    There's a RockSteady sample along with LoudMax (another Winamp DSP) and R128Gain, which is a foobar2000 DSP. I made them for a thread a long time ago. The uncompressed audio is included (tagged as MeGUI downmix). They were all adjusted to the same average volume using ReplayGain after compression, so if you listen to each at the same volume, the difference should mainly be the dynamic range. I think LoudMax is better than it was back then (plus I don't think I had it compressing enough), it's easy to use and I think it also supports multichannel audio so it's worth a look. There's a VST version too. https://loudmax.blogspot.com The R128Gain DSP probably compresses too much, while sometimes missing quick volume changes or even amplifying them (compare the volume of the very first gunshot), and it's not something you can use the way you need to anyway.
    The volume of the gunshots etc in the second half should be roughly the same for each sample, so it's effectively the volume of the speech in the first half that's adjusted.

    Compression Samples.zip
    9.6 MB

    I don't use the TV's speakers because they sound a bit ordinary, so for my setup the video is decoded and sent to the TV and the audio is decoded and sent to speakers via the soundcard's analogue output, and it works fine that way. It's possible to output AC3 and maybe DTS without it being decoded, in which case the TV would decode it and the player couldn't normalise it. What sort of connection is it?

    I don't have Potplayer installed, but check it's not doing some sort of audio pass-through if it's a digital connection. It possibly has similar options for that as ffdshow. That's the only explanation I can think of if you're using a digital connection. For ffdshow, it looks like this:
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    Last edited by hello_hello; 31st Jan 2020 at 17:40.
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  7. It just came back to me. One of Potplayer's volume normalisation/compression options is TomSteady, and if I recall correctly it has options similar to TomSteady so I'd guess that's where it came from. I can't remember how it compares to RockSteady, but I'm sure Potplayer has it as an option "out of the box"
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  8. When I plug my Laptop to my TV I can't Adjust any kind of Audio with my Laptop because it's using the TV's Audio. I can only Adjust Audio with the TV. So Sounds like I would have to Redo the Videos with Normalizing Software & that would be a Real Pain.

    Thanks So Much for all of your Help hello_hello! You've been such a Big Help.

    The Only Way I could Adjust the Audio would be to use my Laptop Speakers & they Suck.

    I have Speakers set up to my TV but when I play Movies the Action Scenes are 3 times as Loud as the Talking Scenes. When I try to use any Multi Media Player & try to Adjust the Volume or use Normalizing in the Player it doesn't do Anything while using the TV's Sound. It only works when I am using my Laptop Speakers.
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  9. Are there any Settings that I can go to that I can be able to make changes to the Audio like normalize it from my Laptop while pushing it to my TV?
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  10. I have no idea why it wouldn't work, as I normalise the audio on the PC and send it as analogue to an external amplifier and speakers, so if you're decoding the audio and sending it to the TV I don't know why that'd make any difference. Do you have some PC speakers you can plug into the laptop for testing? They'd probably sound better than the TV speakers anyway.

    Are you saying when the laptop is connected to the TV you can't even use the player's volume control? I still don't know how it's connected but maybe someone with a similar setup to yours will know what's happening.
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  11. OK I don't use my TV Speakers but I use External Speakers that are Plugged into a Receiver that is Plugged into the TV.

    I am using the TV's HD Digital Audio as the Default Audio Device when plugged into my Laptop.

    I can Change the Audio back to my Laptop Speakers but it won't sound as good as the Sound coming from the Speakers Plugged into the Receiver plugged into the TV.

    I can use all the Settings on any Multi-Media Player except any of the Audio Settings because it's Using the TV's Audio as the Default Device.

    So I can only Change the Audio Settings by Using The TV's Audio Settings & not by using my Laptops Settings because it's not using my Laptop Speakers but the TV's Audio.

    There is no way that I can Change any Settings to the TV's Audio from my Laptop. I can only use the TV's Audio.

    Kinda Hard to Explain.

    Maybe somebody can Figure this out One Day. HA

    Thanks for all the Help!
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  12. Originally Posted by hello_hello View Post
    I have no idea why it wouldn't work, as I normalise the audio on the PC and send it as analogue to an external amplifier and speakers, so if you're decoding the audio and sending it to the TV I don't know why that'd make any difference. Do you have some PC speakers you can plug into the laptop for testing? They'd probably sound better than the TV speakers anyway.

    Are you saying when the laptop is connected to the TV you can't even use the player's volume control? I still don't know how it's connected but maybe someone with a similar setup to yours will know what's happening.

    Yes That's Completely True. I can only control the Volume by Volume Control with a Picture of a TV on it when using only my Laptop which means I have set my TV Speakers as the Default Device. I can only Control any Audio Settings when I have my Laptop Speakers set to Default Device. Weird or What?
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  13. I just Downloaded & tried out MP4 GAIN Software to Normalize the Volume for one of my videos. I Played the Video once it Normalized all the Sound & It seems like it raised all the Audio to the Loudest Sound in the Movie. So all the Audio will be set at that Volume. I will try it out when I plug Laptop to my TV & will let you know how it did.
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  14. MP4 Works Perfectly & Normalizes all the Action Scenes & Talking Scenes to the Same Volume in my Videos but Now I can't seem to get it to work anymore. I am looking at using BS FAG 3.0 with MP3Gain & ffmpeg.
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  15. Originally Posted by MadMaxnightRider View Post
    MP4 Works Perfectly & Normalizes all the Action Scenes & Talking Scenes to the Same Volume in my Videos but Now I can't seem to get it to work anymore. I am looking at using BS FAG 3.0 with MP3Gain & ffmpeg.
    There's no way to compress any type of audio without re-encoding it, as far as I know.
    For MP3 and AAC you can only adjust the over-all volume losslessly.

    MP3Gain can adjust MP3 and AAC losslessly (over-all volume), and ffmpeg can compress while re-encoding, and luckily the best method I've found for compressing so far is included with ffmpeg. It's possibly even a tad better than RockSteady.

    foobar2000 can scan the audio and adjust the volume of mp3 and AAC losslessly as Mp3Gain does, only it uses the EBU R128 scanning method because it's a little more accurate than the old ReplayGain scanning method, and it'll adjust the volume while it's still inside most containers (MKV, AVI, MP4 etc). No need to extract it first. It's scanner is also roughly (infinity minus 1) times faster then MP3Gain's scanner, and it'll scan multiple files simultaneously.
    Foobar2000 can compress while converting the audio using a DSP or ffmpeg, but you'll have to replace the audio stream in the source file yourself and make sure if there's a container audio delay, you apply it to the compressed audio when muxing.

    Having compressed roughly infinity minus one number of audio files (every file copied to the hard drive connected to the TV in the living room has compressed audio) I've found settings that work for virtually everything.

    Configuring foobar2000 can be an adventure, although I might upload my configuration files sometime soon, because I use it to convert audio more than for playing it. Here's the highlights....

    If the source is stereo I reduce the volume by 6dB before compressing. That gives the compression some wiggle room as often the peaks are at maximum.
    For 5.1ch, I down-mix to stereo first (my choice), so I let the DSP reduce the volume to prevent clipping when the channels are combined instead, as the volume reduction tends to be 6dB or more anyway.
    Never, never, never, never, include the LFE channel when down- mixing to stereo. It doesn't contain anything that's not already in the stereo channels. It's intended to boost the low frequencies, but there's often too much if you include the LFE channel, and aside from being too loud, it'll sometime mess with the compression.

    Here's some screenshots to explain my fb2k setup and the conversion presets I've created, which include downmixing. The encoder command lines I use for compression are:

    Compressing with the dynamic audio normaliser built into ffmpeg and then piping the audio to QAAC for encoding. The encoder name should be cmd.exe in the fb2k encoder configuration

    /d /c c:\progra~1\foobar2000\encoders\ffmpeg.exe -i - -ignore_length true -af dynaudnorm=f=150:b=1 -c:a pcm_f32le -f wav - | c:\progra~1\foobar2000\encoders\QAAC\qaac.exe --ignorelength -s --no-optimize --no-delay -V 64 -o %d -

    Same again, while piping to LAME, which isn't necessary as such, because ffmpeg includes it, whereas the ffmpeg AAC encoder isn't very special (apparently).

    /d /c c:\progra~1\foobar2000\encoders\ffmpeg.exe -i - -ignore_length true -af dynaudnorm=f=150:b=1 -c:a pcm_f32le -f wav - | c:\progra~1\foobar2000\encoders\lame.exe -S --noreplaygain -V 2 - %d

    To reduce the volume by 6dB before the audio gets to ffmpeg, I use a DSP called "amplify". It's a silly name because it can adjust the volume in either direction. fb2k also comes with it's own volume adjusting DSP these days. It's called "Scale".

    The down-mixing DSPs supplied with fb2k make no attempt to prevent clipping, so I use the 3rd part Matrix Mixer DSP instead.

    The first screenshot is the top part of my Converter preset list, opened by right clicking on something in a playlist and selecting the Convert menu.

    Not much to see for the next two. When compressing stereo audio, the Amplify DSP is included in the conversion chain. For the conversion presets that downmix, it's just the "Matrix Mixer" DSP.

    Screenshot four shows how I have the Matrix Mixer configured for downmixing 5.1ch to stereo.

    Aside from using fb2k's ReplayGain scanner, ou can probably do all that with ffmpeg alone and not bother with fb2k or having to mux the converted order manually, but that's of course up to you. I prefer a GUI most of the time, unless it's not practical.

    I have no idea why you can't compress or adjust the volume when the audio is coming from the TV/Soundbar. I don't recall any problems when I setup my ex's laptop to connect to her TV, and I think it was just HDMI to the TV and out from the TV to the SoundBar, or something.... but does the SoundBar have an analogue input? If so you could come out the laptop's headphone or line output and plug the audio into the soundbar directly. You'd probably need a lead with a mini stereo jack on the laptop end and a pair of RCA's on the other end.

    Check your soundcard's settings or it's Control Panel. If not there check the video card's too. Something must be taking over the audio and preventing Potplayer from adjusting it.... I can only assume.
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    Last edited by hello_hello; 4th Feb 2020 at 20:52.
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  16. I am Not Very Smart when it Comes to all of The Configuring Softwares etc. I just want a Software or Media Player that can Normalize all the Audio from the Quiet Talking Scenes to the Loud Action Scenes & make them both the Same Volume where I don't have to Keep Turning up the Volume up & Down.

    I have been using MP4 Gain & it does the Job Perfect but it Crashes half the Time & an Error Message comes up & says something about Running A Script is Slowing down my System & I click Yes & it then works. Takes about 10 Minutes for a 2 hour Movie to Normalize all the Audio.

    I will try everything that you Suggested that I can try within my Knowledge of Know-How. Thank you hello_hello for all the Very Helpful Info. You Da Man!
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  17. Copy the audio track as is with my smart FFMpeg gui.
    Then elaborate this file with MP3Gain
    Then remux the new mp3 file with my smart FFMpeg gui.

    https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/395425-New-small-GUI-for-FFmpeg
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