DVDs - Can't Hear Speech, Only Background Sound

[Zoom7000]

We have a range of HP Ultra Slim Desktop PCs (DC7900 and DC7800) and they all suffer a similar problem when anyone tries to play DVDs. You can hear all the background music/sound, but the speech is completely drowned out. I have looked high and low in the sound settings in control panel but can't make any sense of it. I'm sure its not a codec problem, because we have the same setup on other normal form factor PCs and don't have any issues.

Any ideas what could be causing the issue?

[AIT]

Re install audio drivers? had a very similar issue on some dells the other day

[LeMarchand]

I've seen this recently on a few machines, and think it may be something to do with the processing of the Dolby surround - the centre channel (where the bulk of the dialogue will be) doesn't seem to be coming through properly. What I ended up doing was to install KMPLayer (easy to miss d/l link near top of page) and set the audio to stereo downmix. I suspect you could do something similar in WMP/other programs, but knew where it was in KMP!

(Check your sound panel speaker set up is appropriate first - it may be that you have it set up as 5.1 rather than stereo speakers)

[mac_shinobi]

I've seen this recently on a few machines, and think it may be something to do with the processing of the Dolby surround - the centre channel (where the bulk of the dialogue will be) doesn't seem to be coming through properly. What I ended up doing was to install KMPLayer (easy to miss d/l link near top of page) and set the audio to stereo downmix. I suspect you could do something similar in WMP/other programs, but knew where it was in KMP!

(Check your sound panel speaker set up is appropriate first - it may be that you have it set up as 5.1 rather than stereo speakers)

In the dvd settings menu see if you can alter it from surround sound whether dolby 5.1 or AC3 or w/e to stereo or something along those lines - if using power dvd or something where there are audio settings, again ensure stereo setting if possible and also on sound card settings again ensure stereo not surround sound type setting.

[Zoom7000]

(Check your sound panel speaker set up is appropriate first - it may be that you have it set up as 5.1 rather than stereo speakers)

Already checked that, set it to No Speakers or Built In. Still doesn't budge.

I'm using Windows Media Player or Media Player Classic with the K-Lite Codec Pack to play DVDs.

[mac_shinobi]

try video lan ( VLC media player - Open Source Multimedia Framework and Player )

[TheLibrarian]

I've seen this happen lots of times, everytime I've fixed it by using Media Player Classic and using the settings I've shown in the screenshot.

[Andy_Corrin]

Defo sounds like Dolby Digital Downmixing to me... Do the soundcards support dolby digital? Also, check the audio on the DVD isn't a DTS sound track?

What i would try, most DVD's have some kind of audio commentary from director etc.... thats noramlly always just 2 channel stereo. I'd try swapping the soundtrack to that and see if it comes through right. Should tell you wether its a downmixing prob or something underlaying

[maniac]

We've had this issue on most of our workstations. Tracked it down to a dodgey codec in the end, and installing the latest version of the K-Lite Codec pack fixed it for us.

Mike.

[sidewinder]

Its almost certainly what TheLibrarian says
I have a script that runs and sets the speaker layouts and centre speaker volume as they should be when teachers logon (since its user specific rather than machine for some reason)

[DMcCoy]

I assume the speaker settings on windows itself it set as stereo and not 5.1?

[Zoom7000]

I can get the audio working fine on some of the PCs using Media Player Classic (with the K-Lite Codec Pack) however, they will not play in WMP11. I have tried multiple settings for the speaker setup in Windows. Tried:

No Speakers
Stereo Speaker
Desktop Speakers
Laptop Stereo Speakers

Still no luck...

[LeMarchand]

I'm still pretty sure that it's the player's speaker setup rather than the PC speaker setup that causes the problem. I did take a look around WMP but couldn't see a way to downmix the audio. (There may well be one I missed).

That's another reason I used KMP: set it to as the default DVD player (with the audio tweak) and it looks enough like WMP that most teacher's won't notice the difference!

[maniac]

I can get the audio working fine on some of the PCs using Media Player Classic (with the K-Lite Codec Pack) however, they will not play in WMP11. I have tried multiple settings for the speaker setup in Windows. Tried:

No Speakers
Stereo Speaker
Desktop Speakers
Laptop Stereo Speakers

Still no luck...

Yes, ours was exactly the same, WMP was affected the most. I'm sure the Version 4.9 of the K-lite codec pack had a dodgey codec in it, because when we upgraded to 5.50 the problem disappeared for us.

[box_l]

I have had this problem too, I fixed it by running:

C:\Program Files\K-Lite Codec Pack\Tools\CodecTweakTool.exe

and resetting the video codecs. see attached

I Hope this works for you.

Regards

BoX