DVD audio questions

[wisconsincraft]

We have a new Toshiba TV and a year old, Toshiba DVD player. The TV works fine and has no audio problems. I cannot say the same for the DVD player.

When playing a DVD, the "voice" audio cannot be heard over the background music. For example......To hear the voice audio, the TV sound must be adjusted almost (and sometimes) to the highest possible setting. When the background music starts, the music audio is so loud it almost breaks the windows in the house. It is almost impossible to watch a DVD without making major/ongoing sound adjustments. Hence, I need to keep the remote in hand and adjust the sound up-down as needed. Obviously this is NOT normal.

I have asked several employees of various electronic stores and they tell me "it sounds like you need a new DVD player" (Why wouldn't they try to sell me a new unit? They're in the DVD player selling business). Their responses have not satisfied my curiosity.

Can the problem be fixed without a new DVD player?
Got any good ideas on what needs to be done to resolve this?

[stereoguy]

Is the dvd sound coming through your tv speakers or a separate set of speakers? Most likey the surround options on the dvd player are set improperly, and your dvd player is expecting that you have a center "voice" speaker, and trying to send the dialog there.

Read your dvd player manual and try to set the output to "Stereo". Toshiba tech support might be a good place to ask this question as well.

[fallon12345]

Most dialouge comes out of the center channel in a standard 5.1 setup. It sounds as if your system is expecting a center channel and there is none. Does your dvd player support 5.1 out? Are you sending it through a receiver and speaker system? If not, there may be an audio setting on the dvd player to indicate you do not have a 5.1 setup (or dolby digital, thx, ac3) it can have many names.

[BobF]

Hey, guys. WC didn't say anything about a receiver.

I would double check your sound connections. I'm not familiar with the toshiba dvd player. But it does sound like you connected the left/right channles of the 6 channel out put to the tv instead of using the stereo output.

BTW - many dvds have this problem. I have a decent surround system (5.1 channel). I have the center speaker with a higher "volume" than the other speakers so I can hear the dialog.

[wisconsincraft]

Steroguy nailed it down...........Seems I needed to go to the "on screen" audio adjustment in the DVD player. Reviewing the manual :coffee: , it was difficult to find a possible soultion but after several attempts, I did locate directions on where to begin. Once I got to the proper screen, there were several options for me to choose from. After a bit of trial and error, it seems I have resolved the problem, at least for now.

I have watched two DVD movies since making the adjustment change to the sound and both were clearly ledgible. As an added feature there is a "minor sound" enhancement that allows for increasing the volume of very low level sounds within the audio track. (Great for those of us who have a bit of a hearing problem anyway).

Having gone to several electronic stores, I'm a bit taken back that someone selling DVD equipment would NOT be familiar with the opertion or adjustment features on such a device. I think I need to go back to the electronic stores (Best Buy for example) and advise them of the need for training their sales staff. :D

For now, I thank you for the guidance and hope all will remain intact.