Music drowning out dialogue on DVDs

[Gipper]

I watch two or three movies on DVD each week. I find that on some the music plays so high that it drowns out the dialogue. Is there some way to adjust my equipment to correct this? I'm using a Panasonic F87 DVD/CD player, and a Toshiba CF2662B television. I have had my hearing tested, and told that I have some high-frequency hearing loss, which happens at a certain age.

[MrBoylan]

I watch two or three movies on DVD each week. I find that on some the music plays so high that it drowns out the dialogue. Is there some way to adjust my equipment to correct this? I'm using a Panasonic F87 DVD/CD player, and a Toshiba CF2662B television. I have had my hearing tested, and told that I have some high-frequency hearing loss, which happens at a certain age.

There are receivers (and some very new televisions) which include smart volume controls that may help. Dolby offers something called "Dolby Volume" and SRS offers something called TruVolume, each of which works to equalize perceived volume levels across multiple sources, multiple channels and within a specific source. These are just starting to arrive in products now.

Many home theater receivers include a "night mode" as well as dialog enhancement controls which can boost the dialog channel (the center channel) during playback. But this would require you purchase and install a receiver and speakers.

I would say the quickest/cheapest fix might be to look at the products from ZVox Audio. These are powered speakers that replace your TV's built-in speakers, and can really help to make dialog sound more intelligible without losing detail from the music and surround effects.

Check them out on the web at:

http://www.zvoxaudio.com