sabotage79

Following the guides are, my movies are quite, even at full volume on the Axim. I have to crank the EQ up in PocketMVP to even here it. Is that pretty normal? Games are alot louder that the movie.

Mike Walker

I assume you're talking about listening through the built-in speaker. Plug in either some headphones or an amplified speaker. I find the built-in speaker completely useless for listening to movie soundtracks, or music...both of which have greater dynamic range (the range between the loudest and softest sounds recorded) than games.

Of course if you're making your own movies, there are ways to boost the volume as you make the file. Read the documentation that comes with the software you're using (VirtualDub is completely different in this regard than TMPGEnc, for instance).

Talyn

Yes, he means "QUIET" :)

I've actually noticed the same thing, but only if I'm ripping a DVD. Other non-DVD stuff is fine. I usually crank up the volume in VirtualDub a bit when I encode DVDs now.

Mike Walker

Talyn is right, DVDs have the lowest average sound level of any commercially available source. Here's why: DVDs have the greatest potential dynamic range (actually it's the same potential dynamic range as cds, but most music is recorded with compression and limiting that deliberately sacrifices dynamic range for loudness).

Know how much you JUMP in the theater (or your home theater) when there's a sudden explosion, CRASH, or gunSHOT on a well recorded Dolby Digital or DTS movie? That's why the average level (for dialog, etc) is so low...to leave room so that these loud sounds can be MUCH LOUDER!

Of course this dynamic range is sometimes excessive for certain applications, which is why video applications often give you a chance to apply dynamic range compression while "ripping" and encoding for Pocket PC, Video CD (VCD), SVCD (Super Video CD), etc.