Lower left channel volume in stereo downmix stream

[Peter100]

Hi

I am using Corel Video Studio Pro x4 Ultimate with SP2 and I getting significantly lower audio volume in left channel for all stereo downmix streams.
The problem is consistent regardless if I make an AVCHD video with background music, or create slide show form still images with music.

Could anyone please carry out following test and report the results, as I want to eliminate any possible PC setup or installation issues and narrow down the problem to program itself.
I have attached sample of stereo 1 KHz 0db test tone, which could be used for this test.

1. Open new project
2. Choose Settings --> Enable 5.1 Surround sound and Wide screen 16:9
3. Import to the library few pictures and 1KHz 0dB.wav
4. Place on the time line pictures (I used 5 sec duration for display and 1 sec cross-fade transition)
5. Add 1 KHz 0 dB.wav to the Music track
6. Select Share tab --> Create Video file --> Custom
7. Choose MPEG Transport Stream .m2ts
8. Select Options --> General 1920x1080 --> 29pfs --> upper field first
9 Select Compression --> Quality 100% --> Dolby Digital Audio --> 3/2 (L,C,R,SL, RL) --> 448 kbps --> OK
4. Name the file and save it.
5. Play rendered file on 2 speaker system (TV or PC)

Playing 5.1 surround sound movies on 2 speaker (i.e. stereo) system will likely force to play Stereo downmix stream only from 5.1 sound.
You then should be able to observe that the left channel volume is reduced by -14 dB. (at least this is what I get) which causes significant stereo balance shift.
The same test can be done with music files, but if you want to measure the volume drop, test tone is the best way to quantify it.


Regards,
Peter

[lata]

Hi Peter

You cannot attach a Wav file to this post, only images can be attached

The forum does not have share or download options

You will have to either e-mail or provide a download link.

[Peter100]

Hi Lata,

This would explain why my test tone attachment in not present with the post.

Anyway the above test can be done with any music file instead of test tone. I have included screen captures of my experiment which was done with video file.

IMG 2 - shows preview in X4
IMG 3 - shows rendering settings
IMG 4 - shows Stereo Down mix stream in rendered by X4 file (viewed in Vegas Pro to illustrate the volume difference)


Regards,
Peter

[Peter100]

Here is a link to a 1 KHz 0dB wav file for the above test.
http://www.4shared.com/music/jGeaD0W2/1_kHz_0_dB.html

Peter

[lata]

Hi Peter

Have completed a quick test and indeed do find a difference in volume, view images below.
Not had chance to test other render settings?

original audio file

rendered file

[Peter100]

Hi Trevor,

Thanks for doing this test, but I am afraid you are looking at wrong stream. The 5.1 stream in rendered audio is fine. It has a lower overall volume but all channels are equal (no balance shift). However the Stereo downmix in rendered file is the stream that has the problem. This is where the Left channel has much lower volume causing significant balance shift.

Regards,
Peter