volume control finer

[Bowerbird]

volume control
How to get a finer control please?

The U4 Amplifier is very good, better than all other devices.
We are planning to purchase at least one more U4. Very Impressed!

We use other devices with our various TV's.
Therefore all our TV's are set to max (100%) volume.
With TV's set to max our other devices have reasonable control.
With the U4 control three Increments from zero up is too loud for comfort.
One Increment from zero up is too soft & Two Increments from zero varies from show to show & Adds.
For various reasons it is not practical to adjust the TV's Volume.
Normally we only have battery's in the Beyonwiz controllers & use the HDMI Switch to change input devices.
When any other device turns on the HDMI Switch automatically connects to the newest signal.
If TV Volume is low there is No Volume from the next device. So we reset TV's to max (100%) volume.
If the newest signal stops the HDMI Switch automatically connects back to the U4 Beyonwiz and blasts us out of the room.

[MrQuade]

You're controlling your volume in a way that is not generally recommended. You should be setting your individual devices to a point near their maximum volume level and using the TV volume controls to adjust the listening level.

That way you can tweak/adjust each device such that they all output a consistent volume level so that when you switch between devices, you aren't subject to wild changes in volume.

Also, with the volume ramped right to to maximum in your amplifier/tv, you are more than likely reducing the quality of the audio, as signal clipping could be occurring within the TV's amplifier, and you will be overly amplifying the noise floor.

If your aim is to reduce the amount of remote juggling that you do, then you could look into using a good universal remote control, or even resorting to HDMI-CEC to control your devices.

[Bowerbird]

All my other devices only output a small fraction of the Audio signal than that of the U4.
Without the Various TV's set to Max we can barely hear most of the older devices.
Is there another solution please?

[prl]

Exactly what kind of connection types are the various devices using for their audio signal?

[MrQuade]

All my other devices only output a small fraction of the Audio signal than that of the U4.
Without the Various TV's set to Max we can barely hear most of the older devices.
Is there another solution please?

I don't have another solution for you, sorry.

However, I would recommend looking into why the other devices are sending such a low audio level to the TV in the first place. It would seem unusual that there is such a discrepancy between your devices. For example, I have around a dozen devices connected to my AV system in total, and all of them output audio via HDMI at a more or less comparable level. Are you definitely sure that when your other source devices are set to their individual maximum volumes, that they are still significantly quieter then the U4?

The U4 isn't actually using an amplifier to send the audio signal to the TV via HDMI. The audio is just a digital signal, and the U4 simply adjusts the scaling of the digital audio values that it sends to the TV. All other HDMI devices should operate in the same fashion. Is there any analog conversion being done anywhere in your audio chain, or is it all HDMI from end-to-end?

The other issue you may encounter as well is if you ever send any raw bitstreamed Dolby Digital or DTS content to the TV. This audio will always be set to the TV's volume setting and will be unaffected by the volume setting in the source device. That would cause audio to absolutely BLAST from the TV speakers. If you have disabled any of the downmix settings in the U4, then you are at risk of sending the full volume from the FTA HD channels to your TV speakers.

[Bowerbird]

All my devices are HDMI.

After Analogue was fazed out we retired the older Composite devices (Red, White, Yellow). They did not have this problem.

Four of them are Beyonwiz DPP2.

After each Beyonwiz DPP2 purchase over a 2 year period, the Beyonwiz original Technician's told me that is normal.

Having the same problem with a Samsung Blue Ray, H. H. video Recorder a Laptop, etc., I just have accepted it.

It is not the TV's either as we have 4 different models of Samsung, 1 LG, and 1 Sanyo.

We have not disabled any of the downmix settings.

[IanSav]

Hi Bowerbird,

Check the volume levels of you other Beyonwiz units. It looks like their internal volume levels have been set too low. See Recommended Audio Settings....

Regards,
Ian.

[Paul_oz53]

Hi Bowerbird,

Setting a consistent sound level across multiple devices is not easy. Like MrQuade, I have several (6 in fact) devices plugged into an AV receiver. I use a Harmony 650 remote programmed to control each device with its normal volume buttons and the AV receiver volume with the large Up/Down rocker switch.

I set the AV receiver to operate at the comfortable listening volume with the T4/U4 when passing through HD sound from 7/9/10. I then adjust each other device using their volume control to a similar sound level, which is essentially what IanSav is suggesting you do with the DP-P2s.

This is far from perfect and I often have to tweak the AV receiver too, but I generally avoid the blast effect from running too high a default volume.

As MrQuade cautions, if you don't downmix the Dolby/AC3 sound on the U4 (I don't), you have no control over volume from the U4 with the HD sound channels.

[Bowerbird]

How to downmix the Dolby/AC3 sound on the U4 please?

[prl]

How to downmix the Dolby/AC3 sound on the U4 please?

From live TV, press AUDIO, then RED and GREEN to toggle the downmix options. You can also navigate up/down to the options and toggle them with LEFT/RIGHT.

Alternatively ,change MENU>Setup>AV setup>AV settings>AC3 downmix and DTS downmix.

But downmix is enabled by default and will only be off if you have changed the settings.

[MrQuade]

How to downmix the Dolby/AC3 sound on the U4 please?

And to follow on from prl's advice. Since it is already enabled by default, you only need to check that it is still enabled.

In your present arrangement, if you disable downmixing, then you will end up with VERY loud and uncontrollable volume.

Also note that the "down" in downmixing doesn't refer to volume in any way. It refers to the U4's ability to turn multichannel audio (5.1, 7.1 etc) into regular stereo.

[prl]

How to downmix the Dolby/AC3 sound on the U4 please?

And to follow on from prl's advice. Since it is already enabled by default, you only need to check that it is still enabled.

It wouldn't be the first time that a user reporting errors was reporting a consequence of them changing a setting whose effects they didn't understand (and a lot of settings are documented less well than they should be). A recent example is possibly Confised's inability to have FAV go straight to the channel list, though I don't think he's ever answered my questions about the setting that would prevent that.

But the fact that Bowerbird reports that the volume control on the U4 changes its audio output level points to at least one downmixing control being enabled.