Quote Originally Posted by cam
I could be wrong but I believe that the dialogue enhancer will only work with the analog out from your dvd player. If you were using your tv for your speakers you can engage the dialogue enhancer and it will work. What I have done to help with low dialogue volume was to keep my center channel 1 db higher then the mains and surrounds, but you mentioned you alresdy have it a few db's higher. Another possible solution that may work is put your dynamic compression on. This works only with DD. My receiver I can put it on low, mid or high. My understanding is that it will tame down the loud sounds and boost the soft sounds. I don't like it on mid or high because you lose all of the dynamics of the sound track. Low for me maybe an option but I know that if I watch it on low compression I am altering the soundtrack so for me my happy medium is just to set the center channel 1 db higher and just live with it.
I see.....I guess the Dialogue Enhancer then will not work, as the book says, with digital signals like Bistream DD and DTS, as you have suggested a confirmation of. I will play around with the compression but I dont think I will like it too much because just like you, I have a feeling this mode will simply turn down the dynamics of an aggressive Dolby Digital soundtrack.

You have mentioned that you yourself keep the center channel one dB higher than the other channels and I myself keep the center two dBs higher than the rest; still, many soundtracks are terribly weak in the center dialogue section. One film that comes to mind that I personally own on DVD is the William Malone remake of "House on Haunted Hill"....the Dolby Digital track of this film creepily recreates the noises of a haunted mansion sure enough, but when the actors are speaking, the center channel is WHISPER QUIET....I am not kidding. You can barely hear them speaking. Then, there is a sudden stinger of music, and the surrounds come to life and scare the bejesus out of you. I hate it. But reading online reviews of this Warner Bros DVD, I have noticed that other people have mentioned the horribly low dialogue channel this film has, so it must be the way it was recorded.