Jump to content

Volume leveling across movies and tv shows


darkassassin07

Recommended Posts

darkassassin07

Id like to request the ability to have a library or collection volume leveled both so there arent wild swings in volume between different videos as well as smoothing out the volume changes within a single video.

 

I have quite a few movies/epps that are really quiet compared to the rest of the content and would like to fix this.

 

Most of my users have requested this of me at some point or another.

  • Like 10
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

mastrmind11

ffmpeg supports this.  I think it'd still have to be a 2 pass process (demux, remux), but since it's only the audio portion of the container I'd imagine it would be pretty fast and not crush the CPU.  However, since this would be happening at the top level, it'd have to be a scheduled task or run as part of the library scan (where the normalization level is persisted and applied to all new media added).

Edited by mastrmind11
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jdiesel

Isn't dynamic range compression something that is typically done at the display/avr end of things? Or at the least the client end. What client are you using that experience this?

 

As for the different files with different volumes, do you have more information? # of channels, codec, direct play or transcode? 

 

If it is multichannel audio that is being downmixed you may wish start by changing "Audio boost when downmixing:" to "preserve original volume value" in the transcoding settings as it may not be that some files are too quite but that some files are too loud.

Edited by Jdiesel
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, please!  :rolleyes:  First I'd like to apologize, darkassassin07, in advance if I'm stepping on toes as I don't mean to hijack your discussion. It seems to me that this request is intertwined with the August 15th request I submitted to have a "user-definable" volume setting (see: Windows Emby Theater Movie/ Music Player User-definable Audio Volume Setting). Let me explain further..

 

In our Windows Theater environment, the we have access to a variety of audio capabilities starting with sound bars, and mostly through high-end receivers and component systems. On the emby windows theater desktops, at least, the internal emby playback program always launches at 100% volume. Very annoying as you have to dial volume down or up manually every time... This may not matter too much on an iPhone, Android phone, tablet or TV speaker, but it does when you are running sound through a system that has a lot more audio power..

 

In addition to movie videos, the request covers controlling backdrops and specials files audio volume. Today, when you launch a detailed movie page which has and plays a background video, there is NO volume control capability AT ALL for the internal emby player.  This forces the users to manually dial up or down the systems' audio level before they can begin to read the movie plot or review the actors and ratings, etc..

 

Does anyone see normalization and user-definable levels as a useful option/ requirement for music playback as well?

 

I'm my mind, like movie file management, the goal would be for emby to proactively develop an audio management capability so that users don't have to do scramble for the audio volume control (emby player or audio equipment). Also, to have reasonable expectation as to what the audio's volume level would be before launching and during playing. Finally, ultimately, allow us users to put the audio remote controllers down or (gulp) away.

 

I propose that, maybe we should combine both requests to ultimately achieve audio management? One to normalize volume and the other to set acceptable user-definable, pre-set volume levels, and maybe across each media type folder in the library?

 

As an additional thought.. I suspect that not all Emby users may not even be technical enough to know what ffmpeg is nor want to deal with it manually and that some of us don't do transcoding at all.. but a user-selectable automated option that runs like scans for normalization could be acceptable while avoiding repetitive steps and unintentional user errors..

 

I don't pretend to know what level-of-effort is involved to make volume-leveling possible but I feel that we could use both. Would a user-definable audio playback level option for emby's internal player be a feasible interim, first step towards enabling an audio normalization capability for audio volume management?

 

I'd like to thank ebr, Luke and the team for envisioning and turning emby into a fantastic multimedia product. It has come a long way since the 2.xx MediaBrowser / Chocolate days!

 

Okay, I'm off my soapbox.. Sorry for being so long winded..  ;)   Any thoughts...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

mastrmind11

@@Rodiefs, I don't see how this could possibly work.  Emby has no knowledge of the dB setting you find acceptable on your receiver (or any device, for that matter).  The clients simply play the media and it's up to you to adjust the volume to your liking.  Every high end TV/AVR/Preamp I've ever dealth with in the last 5-10 years auto corrects volume, but it takes more than 1 audio track to normalize... which makes sense since you can't normalize a sample size of 1.

 

In other words, you'll never be able to get rid of the volume button unless you normalize every single piece of media you store and continue to do so for as long as you use the software.  And that will take a batch job that analyzes your existing libraries, normalizes everything to the peak dB level of the loudest media at the time of the scan, then remuxes everything.  And if you find a piece of media that peaks louder than the the last normalization routine, it has to do it all over again, and then all your volumes are f'd, and you have to find the volume button again.

 

TL;DR.  You'll never be able to lose the volume button.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

darkassassin07

I agree the initial media scan would have to normalize across all media, but why would it have to remix everything for new media? Why not just remix the new media to match the existing media levels (which would be known/stored from the last full remix)

And possibly have a scheduled task for remixing the whole library.

 

 

Personally im not to worried about maintaining the exact db level even when adding new media, I just want volume to be consistent across my media, and prevent wild volume swings within media (movies where you cant hear anyone talking, then you're made deff from the music)

Edited by darkassassin07
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
Jdiesel

Sometimes volume and dynamic range in the audio mix is by design. Christopher Nolan is famous for this, especially for Interstellar. Also some formats are just louder/quieter than others, DTS tracks are almost always 5-10dbs hotter than DD tracks.

 

Like I mentioned above this should really be done either

 

1) When you are ripping/encoding your media

2) On the audio hardware end

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aussiedroid

I actually wouldn't mind this for some TV shows, but generally would want the original sound for Movies.

 

What I find really noticable though is the volume differences in the theme tunes for TV Shows & Movies. Some come through are so loud! Would really like if this feature is included to be cover the theme songs & be selectable by media library or type.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

PuffyToesToo

Yes, thank you Jdiesel, I understand and appreciate the usage of volume in movies for different affect. I'm primarily interested in this for TV Shows, across multiple files - not within the same file. I like to put on a tv playlist at night, and some shows are much louder than others, startling me just as I'm falling alseep  :lol:

Edited by PuffyToesToo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jdiesel

Yes, thank you Jdiesel, I understand and appreciate the usage of volume in movies for different affect. I'm primarily interested in this for TV Shows. I like to put on a tv playlist at night, and some shows are much louder than others, startling me just as I'm falling alseep  :lol:

 

What Emby client are you using? Are you playing directly to the TV or do you have a soundbar or receiver in your system?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 year later...
arrbee99

In connection with part of this thread, would be really nice if there was some kind of audio leveling within movies etc, particularly dts stuff I believe, so that we can actually hear people talking in movies without being blowing out of our seats when they nearly always seem to start with explosions and shooting etc. Its quite annoying at the moment with our simple TV with audio out to stereo speaker setup.


 


I think there's something available in Theater (and Kodi) but would help to have it in Android and apps in general.


 


Any progress / thoughts / comments ?


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Isn't this type of audio processing is better left to the audio processing equipment?  Many TVs and receivers do have these types of functions.

 

Movie soundtracks - especially when using true formats like DTS and DD - are inherently designed with high dynamic range and people's listening environments are not well-equipped for that.  When bitstreaming one of these audio formats, the volume is not adjustable anyway so the only solution would be to mix down the content to a different format and try to adjust in that process.  If that's what is desired then most of the apps should allow you to just set the mode to "Stereo" and that should solve most of this problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

arrbee99

Isn't this type of audio processing is better left to the audio processing equipment?  Many TVs and receivers do have these types of functions.

 

Movie soundtracks - especially when using true formats like DTS and DD - are inherently designed with high dynamic range and people's listening environments are not well-equipped for that.  When bitstreaming one of these audio formats, the volume is not adjustable anyway so the only solution would be to mix down the content to a different format and try to adjust in that process.  If that's what is desired then most of the apps should allow you to just set the mode to "Stereo" and that should solve most of this problem.

 

It probably would be if I had any audio equipment.

 

Its just Shield (or FTV) into back of TV. True, there are settings on the TV itself, but I'm using two external speakers at the moment to try to improve the sound, which takes the signal from the TVs headphone socket via a baby amp (one of these  https://www.amazon.com/SMSL-50Wx2-TDA7492-Amplifier-Adapter/dp/B00F0H8TOC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1549324746&sr=8-3&keywords=smsl+sa50 ), which has zero adjustment then to the speakers. Using the headphone out thing disables most of the TVs audio adjustments and those that are left don't do a lot, especially for stuff like DTS.

 

The Downmix to Stereo in the FTV app doesn't seem to help much with the high dynamic range.

 

Also, if I switch to Kodi, there are settings which improve things significantly more, so if its doable it would be nice to have it in Emby without having to play in Kodi and without having to reprocess quite a few DTS (at least) blurays.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with arrbee99 and others. In my Emby environment, it would make more sense to manage loudness at the source (the media player/ or DSP plugin) rather than at the stereo processor/ amplifier. I use receivers made by Sony, Pioneer, and Onkyo, etc. not to mention a Zevox soundbar. I also have other Emby multimedia systems that use professional sound components. True there are volume controls. ;)  There's a volume control in the media player, in the OS, in the receiver, or at multiple points if you use audio components.

 

The issue is that it can be a real mess trying to constantly manage loudness across a random playlist yet alone trailers, intros, specials and movie sound tracks and TV episodes. Ideally, using Volume leveling or Loudness Normalization I think that you would be able to set acceptable audio levels for your Emby environment without having to constantly change the loudness..

 

I'm definitely interested in learning more about Kodi and how they manage loudness in their environment. Why re-invent the wheel.  :rolleyes:

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
BillOatman

I'll throw my two cents in here as well.  I came on here today to post this feature request, but specifically for live (IPTV) TV.  My provider as well as others I have seen can have a very drastic difference in audio volume stream to stream.  To the point where I'm waking up sleeping family members if I forget to turn the audio down before changing channels (I channel surf a LOT :) ).  Normalizing the audio volume would be very useful in these cases.  

 

Like the OP I believe, I have my shield output right to the TV, no audio system.  I would think the server, which is already capable of transcoding streams, would be the place to do this.  But I would always defer to the people who know the code! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 8 months later...
invader

I saw this post, and raised a similar one:

 

“I really like the Dynamic range compression feature. I used to use it in Kodi all the time.

 

I notice it's in Emby theatre on my Raspberry Pi and PC however there isn't an option on the iOS app, or Samsung TV. I'd love to see that.

 

Thanks :)

 

I thought DRC and volume levelling are 2 different things. DRC seems to have already been implemented in Emby on some platforms where as a system that scans your library and shifts the audio to a baseline volume level is something that isn’t available at all. My feature request was locked presumably because it was thought to be a duplicate of this. I’m not sure it is, I’m asking for something that already exists to be available on more platforms rather than something entirely new.

Edited by invader
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw this post, and raised a similar one:

 

“I really like the Dynamic range compression feature. I used to use it in Kodi all the time.

 

I notice it's in Emby theatre on my Raspberry Pi and PC however there isn't an option on the iOS app, or Samsung TV. I'd love to see that.

 

Thanks :)

 

I thought DRC and volume levelling are 2 different things. DRC seems to have already been implemented in Emby on some platforms where as a system that scans your library and shifts the audio to a baseline volume level is something that isn’t available at all. My feature request was locked presumably because it was thought to be a duplicate of this. I’m not sure it is, I’m asking for something that already exists to be available on more platforms rather than something entirely new.

 

They are very closely related.  Perhaps not exactly the same.

 

What you are asking for is usually a function of the outboard equipment (TV or AVR).  A lot of the apps on different platforms won't really have the ability to do exactly what you are asking and, in order to even attempt it, you'd have to give up audio formats like DD and DTS direct bitstreaming.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 years later...
wordlover

It is six years after the initial request, and my request pertains to a library of thousands of music tracks, but I was directed here by Emby devs. It would be very useful to be able to be able to  level/normalize volume across multiple tracks in a Music library. Here's info on how ffmpeg can be used to do it.

Edited by wordlover
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi @ebr

I agree with wordlover "Volume leveling/normalizing for a music library" is a feature that would be great to have in Emby.

This is Not the same as this topic, it is very different than trying to do this with video. There are standard algorithms, embedded tags ...

Please Reopen @wordloverFR so the discussion can be focused 

Thanks

-vicpa 

  • Like 1
  • Agree 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...