Volume levels on "The Day The EarthStood Still" (1 Viewer)

[DennisP]

I picked up this title at the local Costco for $9.99. I loved this movie when I saw it as kid. I was so pleased to see it released on DVD. I watched it last night and was surprised at how high I had to crank my amp to be able to hear the sound track. I'm wondering if this normal for this title or is there something wrong with the DVD? As a matter of reference I usually listen to most of my movies with the amp volume set between -45 and -35..depending on the type of movie it is...for the Day The Earth Stood Still, I had to have the volume set to -20..and even at that setting it wasn't exceptionally loud. Just curious if others experienced the same thing..

BTW..the video quality on this title is outstanding considering it's age.

 

[David Von Pein]

I hadn't noticed TDTESS producing a particularly low volume level.

It seems normal to me (for DVDs that is).

However, as a general rule, I have noticed that nearly all DVDs are "quieter" than all my VHS tapes. The volume is always in need of a boost with DVDs it seems.

But (I think) I spied another thread someplace that explained this as normal. The audio encoding for DVD-Video is done at a deliberately lower level than VHS. Can someone confirm this is in fact the case?

 

[Scott Kriefall]

Yes, I believe DVDs are usually mastered at a lower volume level than VHS to preserve the dynamics of the soundtrack.

However, I do agree that TDTESS was mastered at an unusually low volume compared to other DVDs. I'm not sure why this occurred; the soundtrack isn't particularly dynamic, so the low volume level is a mystery.

 

[Steve_Tk]

I have quite a few movies that use different volume levels.