Lenogris posted a question in forum about low volume when playing DVD movies at his sister’s computer. The low volume only happens when he plays DVD movies. MP3 music and Windows sound is loud. He tried using headphones but the volume is still very low. When played the DVD on his and his dad’s computer, the volume is fine.
At first I didn’t know what can cause the low volume problem when playing DVD because I never watch DVD movies at my laptop or desktop. For Lenogris case, there’s only 2 possibility. It’s either the sound card is faulty, or the codec problem. Out of curiosity, I took some DVDs from my store room and played it on my laptop. At the DVD menu, the sound is loud enough. Now I start the movie, the volume is also low! Looks like I also have the same problem as Lenogris!
I search in Google on low DVD volume and found that many people are actually having this problem especially on laptops. Laptop’s volume can never be louder than desktop speakers even if you cranked it to the maximum volume. I’ve managed to find a solution to boost the volume for DVD movies.
Before I show you how I boost the volume when watching DVD movies, here are some basic settings you should check to make sure that it’s not your codec problem.
1. Windows Volume
- See a small speaker icon at the bottom right hand side tray bar? Double click on the speaker icon and you’ll get Volume Control. Make sure that you’ve tried bringing up the slider to the max for Volume Control and Wave. If you can’t see Volume Control or Wave, go to Options -> Properties and check Volume Control and WAVE. You can also try increasing the rest EXCEPT microphone.
2. DVD Player Software Volume
- Different DVD player software works differently. For example, if you increase PowerDVD’s volume, it actually increases the volume on your Windows Control Volume. As for Windows Media Player, even if you increase the volume there, the Windows Control Volume stays where it is. Just double check the DVD software that you’re using to play the DVD movie and make sure that the volume is raised.
3. Hardware Rotary Volume Control
- Some laptops has a manual rotary volume control where you can use it to easily increase or decrease volume. It is usually at the front or side of the laptop. If you have that dial, try increasing that.
4. DVD Sound Options
- Try all Sound Options in your DVD menu. Usually there’ll be Dolby Digital and DTS. Maybe one of it will give you a louder DVD movie volume.
5. Codec (AC3Filter)
- If you’ve gone through all 4 methods above and the DVD movie volume is still low, you might be able to increase DVD volume by installing AC3Filter codec and boost the GAIN. Download AC3Filter from the link below. After installation, go to Start Menu -> Programs -> AC3Filter and run AC3Filter Confiig. Increase the Master at Gain, click Apply and OK. You will notice that the DVD movie volume has been increased.
[ Download AC3Filter ]
Thanks a ton! AC3 filter solved my problem! :)
Problem solved. I have the ffdshow decoder installed and fire up every time I reproduce a CD. I selected the “mixer” codec and voila!. That´s it.
My problem is with windows media player11 and windows XP. Some DVD movies the soundtrack and special effect sound well but the audio for dialogues is very low, almost inaudible. I´m installed the AC3filter and didn´t help. Btw whe reproducing DVD the ffdshow decoder activates auto matically.
Thank you. It increased the audio as you said. I had it installed, I just needed to increase that “Master” thing.
Thank you so much. I fix my problem with AC3 filter as you said above.
In my movie there was lot of music & I can not hear people speak, but now problem solved.
Thanks lot.
Thanks m8 Trying to fix that for smoe time…saved my life
If you are using windows media player, try playing with the graphic equalizer settings. It made a big difference on my toshiba.
Thanks a lot..
That’s really works for me , the last part !
Thank you.
Wow,After installing the AC3 filter the problem was solved.Excellent!, is Great! Thank you very very much I love you Raymond you are THE BEST.(excuse me for my bad english,my language is spanish)
use VLC player and increase vol to 200%
hi
i have tried to fix the volume of the dvd-movie by installing ac3 filter but it was still the same. there was a minor increment in the volume. after that i installed xp codec pack which is on the same page from where u can download ac3 filter.
xp codec pack is in the category codec packs, u download and install it
it will also install a media player like win 98
now open dvd movie with this player. and it will boost the sound
try it.
1. open media player
2. click on file
3. now click on open dvd
snd u r done
Great Help, Thanx dude.
I had this same problem with low DVD playback volume and solved it a bit differently. By going into Windows (using Windows Vista btw) sound settings in the Control Panel and enabling “Loudness Equalization” found on the Enhancements tab in the speaker properties I was able to make DVD volume much louder. Unfortunately, this seems only to work when using Windows Media player which I thoroughly despise, but it does indeed work.
Wow, finally I can hear my dvds on my computer!!!
Thanks a bunch!
Hey Raymond,
Excellent!! I have been facing this problem since years. Couldn’t fix. Now I can watch my favorite movies happily. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Warm Regards
Harsha
Ah… la dirección del AC3filter remite a un complemento que no corre en todos los sistemas. Mejor usar la versión “lite” (ac3filter.googlecode.com/files/ac3filter_1_63b_lite.exe)
Mil gracias…
hey dude!!thnX al l0t man!!it w0rks fine!!
Great fix! Thanks a million!
After installing the AC3 filter the problem was solved. I did not even have to change any settings…simply installing it with its defaults was enough. Thanks alot!
Awesome! The AC3 filter worked perfectly and the volume has been boosted! Thank you!!
What am I doing wrong??? I downloaded the program, and nothing!!! It is still quiet as can be. This is totally frustrating. PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AC3 filter worked a treat…finally LOUD DVD playback through headphones! :)
wow like magic thanks!!!
humm…… really nice article, thanks for helping me out. well i was looking for good quality headphones, but finally got the solution here. peace……..
Awesome info. AC3 filter worked well for my laptop. Thanks much.
Can’t thank you enough!!
We’re away for six months in our motorhome in Morocco and Europe – brought a pile of DVDs for he ASUS laptop -total frustration – volume so low had to switch on subtitles!
The CODEC did it.
Now looking forward to watching full boxed set of Band of Brothers and all the others.
Thanks again.
I downloaded the free version of DFX at fxsound.com and it increased my laptop volume enormously. I actually had to decrease my volume, first time ever. Love it!
Thanks ! for information.i can watching movies and have good feel.
Thank you for the fix. The low sound on my HP while playing DVDs has been making me nuts! The AC3 filter worked like magic.
Hi Ron.
I have been seaching for some time to find a cure for this problem, which, thankfully, you have just solved.
Regards, & Thanks, Dave.
I have more than enough volume now that AC3Filter worked Thanks: Ron
I was having the same problem and what I did was change the audio device from the dvd player you’re using. It was set to 5.1 and i set it to 2 front 2 back and it worked like a charm
thank you, finally i can watching movies on my laptop and enjoy it.
Any hints on how to increase sound for movies on a regular DVD player that plays on TV’s? On so many, I can’t always hear dialog adequately. Any help would be appreciated. Thank You
Thanx, hobster, for the VLC tip. We have Harmon-Kardon speakers on our Toshiba laptop and they perform excellently on Windows and most media files, except for MOST DVDs. We have one DVD that had no sound at all on our laptop (using mplayer Classic), and trying Windows Media Player got us some sound, but garbled–I mention this one DVD because it has major sound problems, whereas the other DVDs just don\’t perform adequately, soundwise, on our laptop. (All of these DVDs play perfectly, soundwise, on our DVD player.) I installed VLC and am getting \’normal\’ sound now, quite acceptable for watching movies on my laptop when the DVD player is \’tied up.\’ Very good tip, indeed!
AC3 Filter worked very fine.
Thanks so much! It worked liked a charm. So fast and easy.
SRS works fine. It even beats DFX. I installed SRS woking like a charm.
think we are missing the point here…often 5.1 NEED NORMALISING! :)
dynamic range too much for poor speakers / after encoding…..
can i get free rapidshare premium account.
Thanks
Another good way to give some digital gain to the audio is to use VLC ( videolan.org/vlc/ ), in Settings -> Extended GUI, Equalizer Tab. Mark “Enable” and move the slider up for gain. I some times also use the equalizer to have a curve that boost the middle frequencies.
Hope it helps
Thanks for the info…
If you hava flat sound you should try “srs audio sandbox” at
srs-store.com
This works great on Laptops.
This use to be given away on toshiba laptops under another name…
I thought that the low volume is normal when playing DVD on a computer, because of of the final editing of the movie. Thanks Ray for the informative article.
thx for the info ray