Bad Audio Mixing on B5 DVDs

[A_Ranger]

I don't know why I didn't notice this the first time around with the DVD sets, but this time around I've noticed how horrible the sound mix is on the DVDs. The music overpowers the dialogue way too much, to the point that sometimes the dialogue is unintelligible. I'm not an audiophile, though I'm well aware that different sound systems will affect the sound differently, but having seen these DVDs on several different systems, I really do think the mix is to blame.

Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[Jade Jaguar]

The balance sounds good on my five channel system. I use a mike that came with my Denon AVR to autobalance the channels. Most speech comes from the center channel, and most music comes from the R/L channels. So, you can turn up the center a bit, until you can hear the dialog clearly.

I have no idea of your age, but the music obscuring the dialog is a common complaint among people my age (61) and older. Since a lot of baby boomers are into nice AV systems, I am surprised that there isn't a simple switch to boost the center when one feels it is needed. It can be complicated to boost the center, then return to the norm, with fancy AV receivers, and Pre/Pros.

 

[A_Ranger]

If I wasn't almost done with this viewing, I might boost my center channel up. I already took the subwoofer way way way down (not for B5, just in general). My Sony 5.1 set also had a mic to autobalance, but I found the autobalance had the subwoofer way too powerful. I hate walls and floors shaking! B5 is one of the few things that has he dialogue problem. Almost everything else I watch is way better balanced.

It really would be nice if there were a way to temporarily boost up he center channel, cause as it is, it's a pain to navigate menus to adjust the speakers...

Oh, and I'm 26.

 

[Jade Jaguar]

Yeah, I didn't think you were old folks, then checked your profile after I posted. I strongly agree that it would be nice to have an easy way to boost the center channel, then return to original settings. On the other hand, modern AVRs are so complicated, it might be possible to do with some, but slip by the user, as the instruction manuals are usually voluminous!

 

[B5_Obsessed]

It would be nice to adjust setting on the fly, while the disks are playing. With my system, I've noticed that the mix is not the same on BluRays as it is on DVD or broadcast tv for that matter. Music and sound effects tend to completely overpower the dialogue and I'm constantly having to increase and lower the volume.

 

[dreamer]

I have a stereo amplifier and I haven't really had any problems hearing or making out the dialog. Apart from the original soundwork, I mean. There are sections where the sound team failed quite miserably - the tone of the speech changes considerably as they move to a different set and the crew hasn't bothered with checking how sound behaves there. It comes out all bouncy and echoing. There's also few instances where the music is edited so that it's just simply cut halfway through a note.

The only problem I have is that apparently my discs are breaking down. It's peculiar, since shouldn't these last like... decades? I haven't been treating these badly, quite the contrary.

Oh well, I don't mind buying the series again. I suppose I should make digital copies this time around.