Low audio level in Sage

[element33]

I'm on Win7 x46, Sage 6.6, and I mostly watch OTA TV. The audio level in Sage is always much lower than any other app I use (mp3 players, video players, system sounds, etc). Sage app volume is set to max, and so is Win system volume, yet I still have to use a headphone amp when using headphones. I remember having similar problems with BeyondTV a few years ago on XP (in fact, that's what prompted me to switch to Sage). Is this some inherent issue with audio in OTA TV signal?

[element33]

I'll try to fix the problem by hacking the audio filter. I see that the audio in my OTA recordings is AC3 encoded, in most cases 5.1, some 5.1 & stereo. Does SageTV use an internal AC3 codec? If so, do I have access to its settings? If I install an external AC3 codec, will Sage use it?

[Spectrum]

Originally Posted by element33

I'll try to fix the problem by hacking the audio filter. I see that the audio in my OTA recordings is AC3 encoded, in most cases 5.1, some 5.1 & stereo. Does SageTV use an internal AC3 codec? If so, do I have access to its settings? If I install an external AC3 codec, will Sage use it?

Easiest thing to do is to install the latest version of AC3 Filter and use that to amplify AC3 audio. I don't remember the exact steps, don't have a box in front of me, but it's not too hard to do

[element33]

Thanks for the tip. I installed AC3 Filter. Had to crank up the gain to 18dB (almost the top of the scale) to match the audio output in other apps. But it worked . BTW, do other codecs in Win have a GUI like AC3 Filter? When I'm watching a vid encoded in XviD or DivX or Quicktime, can I launch a GUI of some kind to adjust the audio for that encoder?

[Spectrum]

FFDshow might give you some options for boosting audio gain, but I'm haven't used ffdshow in awhile and I don't remember exactly what the options are Beyond that there is nothing that I'm aware of.

[pawn]

I just rebuilt a client with a new machine that came with Win7 and I have the exact same issue. I have never seen this before and it only seems to be Sage that has low volume (like you say). Very strange.

[blade]

This topic and the solution has been discussed many times. I use the AC3 filter to fix the problem on the 1 PC client I have and the gain is nowhere near the max. There are other settings to adjust other than simply the gain that bring the volume closer to where it needs to be. I can't recall what exactly needs to be set, but it's easy enough to find with a search.

[element33]

If this issue has been raised before so often, then why on Earth doesn't Sage provide a built-in solution to such an obvious problem? Is every new customer of Sage expected to find this forum, research the issue, download a 3rd party codec and mess with its settings just to hear what people are saying on TV? It's complete bonkers. If you were selling TV sets and your customers had to go through such an arcane process just to properly hear dialog on TV, how long would your company stay in business? Or is this all part of some strange parlor game in which Sage employees bet on how many questions they can get about the exact same topic?

[Spectrum]

It really is not a "Sage" issue, it is a levels issue with AC3 audio. The only way Sage could change the behavior is to write an AC3 decoder but why re-invent the wheel. AC3 Filter is there, it's open source, and it does the job. A/V codecs and filters have been the bane of audio and video on computers since we progressed beyond the PC speaker and MIDI.

I don't see the Sage team working on an AC3 decoder; however, they could do a little better with documentation, even if it is just

problem: low audio -> is it AC3 audio that is low -> look into AC3 Filter

But there may be licensing issues IANAL!

[Jynxed]

Originally Posted by element33

I'm on Win7 x46, Sage 6.6, and I mostly watch OTA TV. The audio level in Sage is always much lower than any other app I use (mp3 players, video players, system sounds, etc). Sage app volume is set to max, and so is Win system volume, yet I still have to use a headphone amp when using headphones. I remember having similar problems with BeyondTV a few years ago on XP (in fact, that's what prompted me to switch to Sage). Is this some inherent issue with audio in OTA TV signal?

Installing AC3 Filter and enabling loudness equalization has solved this problem for me.

http://ryderduncan.com/rydertech/200...-equalization/

[blade]

Originally Posted by element33

If this issue has been raised before so often, then why on Earth doesn't Sage provide a built-in solution to such an obvious problem? Is every new customer of Sage expected to find this forum, research the issue, download a 3rd party codec and mess with its settings just to hear what people are saying on TV? It's complete bonkers. If you were selling TV sets and your customers had to go through such an arcane process just to properly hear dialog on TV, how long would your company stay in business? Or is this all part of some strange parlor game in which Sage employees bet on how many questions they can get about the exact same topic?

As Spectrum said it's not a Sage issue it's an AC3 issue. The same problem is present when tuning HD vs SD programming using a STB from the cable company and while I don't have a QAM tuner built into my TV I would assume the problem would likely be present with that as well unless the TV offered some sort of normalization.

It would be great if there was a way to fix it within Sage especially for those of us using extenders, but I don't blame Sage because after reading the reasons for the problem it's obvious that it isn't due to a "problem" with Sage.

[APillowOfClouds]

If you are using any type of Hauppauge capture card this can be an age old problem that the default volume on Hauppauge cards is way too low. On my old PVR250 as well as my 500MCE I had to crank up the volume. Only way to do it is to use a registry hack or the interactive "hauppauge tweak tool" which last I checked was very hard to find (it's written by a random person, not by Hauppauge). You also have to reboot after each adjustment to check the level and if you get it too high the sound gets distorted.

If you're not using a Hauppauge card, please disregard all of the above