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Audio Level: why so low?


sonusfaber

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sonusfaber

I am sorry to disturb, I know that has been discussed in the past, but maybe... we have some news?

Do we have?

The point is that I have a movie library pointed by some players and, among others, Kodi, Plex and Emby.

Playing the vary same movie with Emby, the audio level is really very low compared all the other players. It happens always and with every movie.

Suggestions how to fix \ improve?

Thanks

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Happy2Play
47 minutes ago, sonusfaber said:

I am sorry to disturb, I know that has been discussed in the past, but maybe... we have some news?

Do we have?

The point is that I have a movie library pointed by some players and, among others, Kodi, Plex and Emby.

Playing the vary same movie with Emby, the audio level is really very low compared all the other players. It happens always and with every movie.

Suggestions how to fix \ improve?

Thanks

Can you go over a specific example to include media info and ffmpeg log if present.

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Happy2Play
23 minutes ago, sonusfaber said:

ffmpeg-remux-87e86c67-9cde-4aa0-bb36-ffbb39987ea3_1.txt 108.44 kB · 0 downloads

What do you mean with media info? is it a specific file I should attach?

 

Thanks

Have you adjusted the Downmix setting?  What is your set to "Transcoding-Audio boost when downmixing:"?

-c:a:0 libmp3lame -ab:a:0 192000 -ac:a:0 2 -metadata:s:a:0 language=ita -filter:a:0 "volume=0.5"

But you have reduced it to half of original.  "Set to 1 to preserve original volume value."

Edited by Happy2Play
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sonusfaber

You are right... since audio level is too low, I played a bit with the volume parameter of ffmpeg, from 0.5 (that seems to be the minimum) to 3.

Audio level changes, of course, but, compared with any other players is much more lower.

With some devices, such as the home theater it is not a problem since I have more room to increase the level (***), but it is problem with the TV and the projector.

Example: I have many Android TV box with both Plex, Kodi and Emby: playing a movie with Kodi I can leave the volume at the half, while with Emby and the volume to the max it is still too low. 

(***) I have just to remember decrease the volume level before exit Emby,,, otherwise I will wake up everyone in the building.

 

EDIT

Emby accepts 3.0 as max volume boost. I do not know if ffmpeg accept more than 3.0.

So I edited /var/lib/emby/config/encoding.xml and put other higher values, but the string passed to ffmpeg has always 3.0 embedded.

 

Edited by sonusfaber
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sonusfaber

To inform that I partially solved the problem.

I installed Volume Booster GOODEV on the Android box. It increase the volume level beyond what the embedded volume control can do and now even Emby plays in a normal way.

The side effect is that all the other apps now play too much loud, but I can reduce them.

I can not understand the reason why just Emby plays with such low volume level...

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rbjtech

What is the original source and how many channels does it have ?

The issue could be the 'downmixing' is not mixing the correct channels - maybe leaving out the Centre channel - thus the overall volume appears to be low. ?

For remuxing an AC3 to AAC - I've always found an ffmpeg value of 1.3 to 1.4 sufficient to keep the same volume as the original (due to downmix/encoding losses) - anymore than this and you will start 'clipping' the audio, meaning peaks will go above normal parameters and sound bad.

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sonusfaber
5 hours ago, rbjtech said:

What is the original source and how many channels does it have ?

Thanks for the reply. The problem, according to me, is not related to the source, because is happens with all the movies, regardless the audio of the source.
I have about 1 thousand movies... some are stereo MP3, some AC3, some AAC, 2ch stereo, 5.1, etc. whatever and the problem is the same.

moreover, tired of running Emby server on windows (I hate Windows), I setup another Emby on Ubuntu server (WOW... very light, perfect) and I am experincing the same audio problem.
Additionally it happens on both a Xiaomi Mi Box S and on a more expesive nVidia Shiled.

For the other Emby functions... Emby is a GREAT piece of software. i Love it because of the streaming capabilities.

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rbjtech
39 minutes ago, sonusfaber said:

I have about 1 thousand movies... some are stereo MP3, some AC3, some AAC, 2ch stereo, 5.1, etc. whatever and the problem is the same.

ok thanks - so that rules the audio channels being the problem.

I don't have any audio 'loudness' differences vs other apps on my FireTV or Shield - so I'm wondering if this is maybe something 'outside' of emby such as the HDMI Input Audio 'gain/attenuation' on the TV or something ?  But if this is the case, then why is Kodi ok .. Hmmm..

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sonusfaber
17 minutes ago, Luke said:

If you play a music file, how does that compare?

Will try ASAP and provide the feedback.

5 minutes ago, rbjtech said:

FireTV or Shield

I have some Xiaomi Mi Box S and one Shield: the audio is pulled out of the Xiaomi using the 3.5mm jack, while the TV is feed from the HDMI

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rbjtech
1 minute ago, sonusfaber said:

I have some Xiaomi Mi Box S and one Shield: the audio is pulled out of the Xiaomi using the 3.5mm jack, while the TV is feed from the HDMI

3.5mm is analogue - so presumably this is fed into an external Amp or TV Audio 'Input' somehow ?  How is Audio on the Shield connected as that doesn't have a 3.5mm jack ... ;)

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Q-Droid
52 minutes ago, rbjtech said:

3.5mm is analogue - so presumably this is fed into an external Amp or TV Audio 'Input' somehow ?  How is Audio on the Shield connected as that doesn't have a 3.5mm jack ... ;)

That depends on the cable used. On the MiBox that jack is also a mini toslink optical out. 

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rbjtech
28 minutes ago, Q-Droid said:

That depends on the cable used. On the MiBox that jack is also a mini toslink optical out. 

Ah really - good catch - thanks !

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sonusfaber

Shield is connected to the TV with HDMI cable where both audio and video are flowing

Mi Box S are connected to HT projectors with HDMI and video only, while the ANALOGUE audio is pulled with 3.5 mm jack to feed active stereo speakers.

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sonusfaber
On 12/15/2021 at 6:24 PM, Luke said:

If you play a music file, how does that compare?

OK, I did the test with music. I do not use Kodi or Emby for music, just for movies, but anyway.... playing music, the very same songs, there is no difference between Kodi and Emby. It is almost the same.

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Just now, sonusfaber said:

OK, I did the test with music. I do not use Kodi or Emby for music, just for movies, but anyway.... playing music, the very same songs, there is no difference between Kodi and Emby. It is almost the same.

And what was the result?

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sonusfaber
1 minute ago, Luke said:

And what was the result?

As I wrote, playing the same song with Emby and Kodi I have the very same sound level, there is no difference.
Watching the same movie, the sound level of Emby is really much more lower.

Was this the test you asked to me?

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sonusfaber

Well... after tested several setup (Emby Android TV, Emby std, Kodi, Plex, with movies and music only files...), I have the proof that the audio is very very low only when watching movies with Emby while listening to music with Emby is perfect.

How can I understand that it happens only during transcoding?

Thanks

EDIT: installed Emby on my Android Sony phone: same thing... audio very very low compared to Kodi.
It means that even setting the volume to the maximum allowed, it is still lot enough

 

Edited by sonusfaber
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