The Dark Knight What is up with TDK sound levels?!?

[escobar2248]

The DVD is fine on my 5.1 system. The bass and music is quite high at points but it's nothing big ti b honest. However today i went to my cousins place as he's got the Blu-Ray and hasn't hoocked up his 5.1 to the PS3 yet but the sound was quite bad. The voice's were going high and low, the music was too low at points then suddenly to high.

I'm going to go again to see how it works with his 5.1 system once connected (should be the end of this week) to see how well it does.

I think it's just that you need an actual 5.1 system. It can't be anything else really. I think the Blu-Ray tracks can;t play fully through the TV's default stereo speakers.

Also i think the movie uses very high and low sound frequencies (bass especially on low frequency) so you need 5.1 to hear that.

That is all it is. People are listening to it on just regular stereo tv sets and not on surround sound. It's not like that, at least for me on my home theater set. However, when I watched the movie with the home theater off, the sound is very up and down through out the film.

 

[KalMart]

I noticed that the music was mixed pretty loud (too much so, in my opinion) when I watched it in theaters, so I was expecting the same on the Blu-Ray. That said, the rest of the mix was decent enough, but just quite boomy on the big effects. I simply turned my subwoofer down a few dBs.

A lot of WB DVDs, like the Matrix ones, are referenced kinda' low with a bit weaker dialogue tracks. But I also think it depends on what kind of sound system you're playing through. A lot of those cheaper home-theater-in-a-box systems, or really anything with the tiny satellite speakers send most lows and low-mids through the sub, and you get that hyped boomy/boxy thing going on. Some people like that as it feels loud, but with some mixes it over-hypes the big impact and explosion sounds, and then you get room resonant peaks and stuff. My speakers are a little more full-range, and I've done some tuning to the room to tame some of those peaks, so it's not as bad, but with TDK, they do push the levels with some of those big booms/bangs.

But even just going regular Dolby Digital off the Blu-Ray, I didn't find anything hard to hear...all the dialogue and subtle effects were plenty clear, it's just thatthe big impacts nearly blow the windows out. But then...that's how they're supposed to be. t: But again, I think they overdid it with the music...both mix volume wise and composition...in parts of this film to begin with, not so much a screw-up on the DVD/Blu-Ray release.

 

[namtaB]

I noticed the sound thing again last night with my apartment neighbor. I kept hearing these blasts of sound through the walls and I'm thinking WTF. I turn down my tv and stick my ear to the wall and I can hear he was watching Dark Knight.

 

[Sonic1002]

I noticed this too....Alot
Try watching this movie at night when everyone else in your house is asleep, and you've cut up the volume to hear Garcia and Dent speak and you forget about the SHRILL NOISE and SLAM that accompanies the fake batman slamming in the window.


Good times.

 

[RakuMon]

That is all it is. People are listening to it on just regular stereo tv sets and not on surround sound. It's not like that, at least for me on my home theater set. However, when I watched the movie with the home theater off, the sound is very up and down through out the film.

Even on my 5.1 surround system, there are audio issues. The biggest problem is that the center channel is way too low. The music and effects in the surround and woofers are excellent. The problem is that you have to turn your system up everytime there are dialog-heavy scenes, and you have to keep your finger on the remote so you can turn it down before an explosion or gunshot, less you wake up your sleeping 18-month old.

 

[The Joker]

Yup, that happened too to me. Also, when the why so serious theme shows up with the wide shot before the convoy action scene, it's one of my favorite little moments in the film. It's just chilling, but it's barely there.

Oh yeah, forgot about that scene, too.

Also the build up music when Loeb and Judge Sorillo are being murdered needs more power in it. Especially when we see Joker in elevator and he says "We made it".

 

[Figs]

Just got my copy of the DVD in the mail yesterday. Was watching it last night and noticed that my sound levels keep fluxuating.

Does anyone else have this problem? It's not the typical problem where the dialogue is too low and the action is too loud. The sound will be fine but for no reason it's almost as if the volume on my TV got turned down then a few seconds later goes back up. I haven't had this problem with any other film I own.

 

[The Joker]

Just got my copy of the DVD in the mail yesterday. Was watching it last night and noticed that my sound levels keep fluxuating.

Does anyone else have this problem? It's not the typical problem where the dialogue is too low and the action is too loud. The sound will be fine but for no reason it's almost as if the volume on my TV got turned down then a few seconds later goes back up. I haven't had this problem with any other film I own.

Yes. One really noticeable scene where it happens is the scene where Wurtz and Ramirez break the news of Gordon's death to his wife.

 

[HanaBi]

Even in theaters (regular & IMAX) I had a hard time hearing some dialogue. Ideally if you have a 5.1 system you can boost the center channel, or use the 'nighttime' (or whatever it's called) mode that compresses the range a bit.

If you have a Blu-ray player but no receiver & surround system, I would say that's the next thing you should upgrade. (I know, not cheap, but you can do it incrementally.)

 

[Hello Beautiful]

Just got my copy of the DVD in the mail yesterday. Was watching it last night and noticed that my sound levels keep fluxuating.

Does anyone else have this problem? It's not the typical problem where the dialogue is too low and the action is too loud. The sound will be fine but for no reason it's almost as if the volume on my TV got turned down then a few seconds later goes back up. I haven't had this problem with any other film I own.

FINALLY!! THAT is what I was getting at when I made this thread, not the typical action/dialogue probs that people are posting but this was what I meant:

Thing is, it's not so much the usual sound probs like many have mentioned here whereas the dialogue is difficult to hear over the music and other sounds, moreso that the film itself has problems with the sound levels.

For instance, right from where the cop car sirens soun stops after Joker leaves the bank in the bus, right through to the 'buyer beware' bit, the music wavers up and down, as does the dialogue and doesn'y knit together right. Most noticeable right before the 'more chance of winning the powerball bit'.

Anyone else know what I mean here, or are my ears screwed.

 

[Figs]

FINALLY!! THAT is what I was getting at when I made this thread, not the typical action/dialogue probs that people are posting but this was what I meant:

Like I said, out of all the movies I own on DVD(which is alot) I've never had this problem. I honestly started tripping out thinking my ears where having problems and even snapped my fingers next to them to make sure LOL.t:

I can't wait for my Batpod Blu Ray to come in. I hope the sound is better on that version.

I don't get how they could F up the transfer on a movie that was this big.

Then again...they most likely rushed it for the holidays. Five months after theatres it hits DVD...that's a bit fast even for today's standards.


It's kind of sad that the bootleg version me and my gf got from a friend(I don't fully support bootlegs by the way, I bought two versions of the film and saw the damn thing 10 times in the theatres) sounds better than the official DVD. It's not a recorded in the theatre kind of bootleg either. It's the kind the studio gets to preview, with the WB logo and run time going at the bottom. This friend of ours got rid of those and touched up the colors for us. Although the DVD obviously looks 10X better...the sound is way worse.

 

[Steyin]

I haven't had any technical problems with sound, yet I find the sound issue to be that of the film's editing itself; it just isn't loud enough when necessary.

Before the DVD, I used winamp with the Ozone plugin to watch a ripped copy, and having the sound upped/tweaked really brought out the bg music and made the film much more epic. Now if only winamp would play actual DVDs...

 

[Two-Face]

Lucky I had no problems with the sound, may be it's your disc.

 

[Figs]

Lucky I had no problems with the sound, may be it's your disc.

With this many people complaining...I doubt it's the discs.

By the way love your Avy.t:

Do you have surround sound by chance?

I just have regular stereo sound from my HD TV and that may be the problem.

Does anyone have surround sound that is also having these problems?

I'm wondering if it only is affecting the sound when watched in Stereo.