DVD's audio wearing out??

[garhkal]

Over the past year or so, some of the older films i have on dvd, seem to be 'wearing out', in that the volumn when folk talk, is a lot lower than it used to be, to where i have to pump the TV's volumn up to around 50 (when 12 is normally ok to hear).

Anyone else had that problem? Did you fix it, by getting a new copy of the disk?? Or via some other method?

Has anyone else noticed it, with some of their older DVD's? 

[Ruger]

I have several dvd’s, such as from the first seasons of Babylon 5 and Batman TAS, that do not play at all, but also have some that seem similar to what you’re saying. I figure I just need to get replacements.

I think my first dvd of the first season of Andromeda got water damaged. The back has some bad discoloration and it hardly plays and not for long when it does.

Ruger

[MadCapellan]

Considering how DVD audio is stored, I find it hard to imagine the audio would uniformly become quieter rather than simply sporadically corrupt. Are you using different equipment for playback than previous? I play most of my DVDs on a Blu-Ray player now & I find the default volume output is much lower.

[jimdigris]

DVDs have a limited lifespan.  Store-bought tend to last longer than ones that are burned.

[monbvol]

DVDs have a limited lifespan.  Store-bought tend to last longer than ones that are burned.

Somewhere around 20-30 years if I remember right.

Part of the reason I haven't had much trouble convincing myself to go in on streaming, especially vudu, for long term solutions.

[Major Headcase]

I used to work for Sony Disc Manufacturing here in Oregon (in 97 through 99) I was in quality control and finished product inspection. While physically the discs do not deteriorate over time as such, they CAN fail with age for a few reasons. First is the type of disc used. Not all recording sandwich substrates are the same quality; the information is burned into a dye layer and the thickness and chemical purity of this layer (which is reflected in cost) can have an impact on resilience. UV light can over time destroy the dye, as can heat, especially if a "budget" disc was used. Water isn't an issue unless its during manufacturing before the layers are sealed. Also, older discs might have been formatted in a way that translates differently in a modern playback device, but that's a software issue and I wasn't that guy.  :)
After that I worked for Hitachi Magnetic Technologies doing the same job but for hard drive discs. That was fun too!

Edit: ...well, that's how we did it 20 years ago at least...  ;D
For all I know it's all Alien technology involving time travel and live performances now...  :o

[garhkal]

Considering how DVD audio is stored, I find it hard to imagine the audio would uniformly become quieter rather than simply sporadically corrupt. Are you using different equipment for playback than previous? I play most of my DVDs on a Blu-Ray player now & I find the default volume output is much lower.

Its a new blue-ray player, vice dvd i used to have that burned up on me, after a power spike came through the wall (forgot to re-plug the bugger into the surge strip, after moving everything around for my flooring update).  BUT even then, only a FEW dvds seem to do that 'volumn disappearing', and only on the voices, when they are talking.  NOT on sound effects..

Heck one film, i can hear most of the sound effects just turned to a 13 for the tv's volumn setting, but to hear most of the dialog, we had to jack it up to almost 30..
Then others, both are easily heard at 18 or so..

I used to work for Sony Disc Manufacturing here in Oregon (in 97 through 99) I was in quality control and finished product inspection. While physically the discs do not deteriorate over time as such, they CAN fail with age for a few reasons. First is the type of disc used. Not all recording sandwich substrates are the same quality; the information is burned into a dye layer and the thickness and chemical purity of this layer (which is reflected in cost) can have an impact on resilience. UV light can over time destroy the dye, as can heat, especially if a "budget" disc was used. Water isn't an issue unless its during manufacturing before the layers are sealed. Also, older discs might have been formatted in a way that translates differently in a modern playback device, but that's a software issue and I wasn't that guy.  :)
After that I worked for Hitachi Magnetic Technologies doing the same job but for hard drive discs. That was fun too!

Edit: ...well, that's how we did it 20 years ago at least...  ;D
For all I know it's all Alien technology involving time travel and live performances now...  :o

So sounds like i need a new copy..  Got it.

Thanks! :thumbsup:

[dgorsman]

There's a lot more dynamic audio management in newer devices, and some discs use a very flat audio recording while others were more nuanced with regards to different frequencies.  Check to see if the devices in the audio chain have some kind of audio profiling in use e.g. sports vs. theatre vs. newscast, to see if the system is trying to make things "better".

[Nightlord01]

Its a new blue-ray player, vice dvd i used to have that burned up on me, after a power spike came through the wall (forgot to re-plug the bugger into the surge strip, after moving everything around for my flooring update).  BUT even then, only a FEW dvds seem to do that 'volumn disappearing', and only on the voices, when they are talking.  NOT on sound effects..

Heck one film, i can hear most of the sound effects just turned to a 13 for the tv's volumn setting, but to hear most of the dialog, we had to jack it up to almost 30..
Then others, both are easily heard at 18 or so..

So sounds like i need a new copy..  Got it.

Thanks! :thumbsup:

Yep, that's an audio encoding issue. Not all DVDs use the same CODEC, I'd say your new player has different settings than the old one when decoding audio.

Sounds like you need new BRD copies, or to switch to non-physical media. :-)

[cavingjan]

That sounds like the issue I've been having with my wife's shows on netflix. Quiet for the talking but obnoxiously loud for everything else. It is problematic when the kids are in bed on the other side of the wall.

[monbvol]

That sounds like the issue I've been having with my wife's shows on netflix. Quiet for the talking but obnoxiously loud for everything else. It is problematic when the kids are in bed on the other side of the wall.

I solve that particular problem with my roku box.  I linked my smartphone to it and I can plug a pair of headphones in and I'm the only one hearing what I am watching.

I don't know if multiple smartphones or the remote on a roku device capable of private listening can split the audio the way you would need but it might be worth looking into.

[Nightlord01]

That sounds like the issue I've been having with my wife's shows on netflix. Quiet for the talking but obnoxiously loud for everything else. It is problematic when the kids are in bed on the other side of the wall.

How is she watching it? If it's through a web browser, try changing to another one.

If it's over the Netflix app, have a look at the audio settings.

If it's neither of those, check what settings the TV is selecting when the Netflix app is launched. Surround sound can cause this because it's expecting most of the speech to come out through a centre front speaker only.

[MadCapellan]

Its a new blue-ray player, vice dvd i used to have that burned up on me, after a power spike came through the wall (forgot to re-plug the bugger into the surge strip, after moving everything around for my flooring update).  BUT even then, only a FEW dvds seem to do that 'volumn disappearing', and only on the voices, when they are talking.  NOT on sound effects..

I gotta agree with Nightlord, that sounds like a problem with how the player is processing the audio-balance, such as mismatched surround-sound, rather than the disk being damaged. If it were on a PC you could just change codecs or adjust your audio settings, but for a standalone player you'll either need a new player or new media.