A fix for low volume level in MCE 2005 LiveTV

23 05 2006

I bought a media centre a while back (they're fantastic, by the way, once you get the EPG working you can't go back). It runs Windows XP Media Center 2005. The only problem I've had with it is that the volume level while playing live tv (and recorded TV) is hopeless. On my setup, normal cable piped straight into the TV, the volume only needs to be around 12 or 13 to liseten to comfortably (with other noise going on). When played through MCE I need the volume on 35-40 just to be able to hear it! Then you also get the inevitable electrical/mechanical background noise from the sound card. But tonight I found the solution. ffdshow! ffdshow is a open-source, DirectShow decoding filter. What it lets you do it normalise and adjust the volume levels of most video/audio types including MPEG2 and given that live tv in MCE is just an MPEG2 video stream…. Voila! The good thing is it supports normalisation so it doesn't blow the volume of played DVD's (which was fine) through the roof and since it works on the MPEG2 stream and not the system volume, all the beeps and boings that MCE makes when you use the remote don't get boosted either. Fantastic! All my problems solved in one fell swoop. Thanks ffdshow guys!!!! You have my undying gratitude.

Link: http://www.free-codecs.com/download/FFDShow.htm

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Date : May 23, 2006
Categories : Home Entertainment, Media Centers

11 responses

30 07 2006: Roland (21:02:37) :

So do you have to use any specific settings, or just install and use all the default options? I just installed it, I guess I’ll go see if it works.

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30 07 2006: Brendon (23:45:22) :

I just installed it, went to the Audio Settings configuration and enabled the Volume plugin. The you can increase the volume on any of the channels you need (I just did front L & R). I also turned on Normalize on the volume settings tab. Just for kicks I also enabled the Noise Reduction plugin – it didn’t seem to make a huge difference, but I did notice a slight reduction in background hiss/hum when the volume was increased. I didn’t touch the video settings configurationat all because they weren’t needed, video was fine in my setup.

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13 08 2006: Gary (03:31:15) :

Thanks for the tip. I had contacted Sony support for help with the low volume on my new Vaio AR-190G notebook and they couldn’t solve the problem. I installed FFDShow and that solve the low volume issue.

Thanks.

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13 08 2006: Brendon (13:26:54) :

Thanks! Nice to know the tip was helpful.

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13 08 2006: mattbriancon (21:53:27) :

Great little tip. I figured it was just a problem with my cable or something. Thanks.

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21 03 2007: Neelesh (03:33:55) :

I tried ffdshow. I got the volume boost that u mentioned, but when I installed WMP11 and restarted MyTV, the voice was all garbled up.Like it was in slo-mo or something.Hope u got the idea.So i uninstalled wmp11 and ffdshow, and everything is fine now.Any body has any idea why the sound might have turned gibberish?
Thanks in advance
Neelesh

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28 03 2007: Kevin (08:05:47) :

Downloaded and used they settings you recommended, worked great. Can now use the treadmill and hear the MC TV. Using WMP10 however so I don’t have the problem Neelesh did. Danke, Brendon.

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7 08 2007: Brendon (23:59:13) :

You are most welcome. Thanks for the positive feedback.

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27 09 2008: argetni (08:54:23) :

OMG.. fix the very same issue. I was trying to fix it by reintalling my HD audio drivers and all that BS… But this software fixed it…. THANK YOU

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9 04 2009: Steven Brown (19:41:56) :

A year later, I just wanted to say thanks for this….works like a charm.

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24 05 2009: Brendon (22:40:15) :

You’re welcome. Glad it’s still useful to people.

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