Hi all,
I've become involved with a community arts centre that has an auditorium equipped, amongst other things, for DVD video playback with Dolby 5.1 surround sound.
There's an Allen & Heath Audio processor in the system that has been poorly setup and I want to get into it to make adjustments. The main problem being that the stereo image is not centred and the feed to the rear speakers (in dvd palyback mode) is to high.
What I think I'm wanting is a test dvd that has ...pink noise?.... at a constant level from all channels so that I can get the balance right?
But I'm having a problem finding one.
Anyone know of a source .... or am I barking up the wrong tree here? Should I be tackling this in another way?
All replies gratefully received.

cliff

All of the DVD players I've used previously have had a setup mode that could output pink noise to each output in turn for exactly this purpose.
Alternatively, the Terminator DVD (not sure if it's 1 or 2...) has a THX setup menu that does a similar thing.

Hmmm... good thinking shez...
Didn't think to investigate the player functions. I'll have a poke around next time I'm there.
Thanks for the thought.... and thanks for the Terminator option.

burn a cd with pink on it and see if the player will simulate 5.1 mine does just by outputing L+R to the rear as well.

Pretty much any of the THX certified discs have the whole 'THX Optimizer' thing. I know the Finding Nemo DVD does. The bass sweep is always good fun...

One thing to consider though:

The "sweet spot" for most 5.1 domestic setups is fairly small. If you're in any sort of decent sized auditorium, you will always have folks sitting in such a place as to get too much level from one corner or another.

Bob

Yeah well...
That's always the problem ain't it
The speaker positions are pretty ###### and apart from pulling down the auditorium and making it bigger, there's no way out.
Guess at the end of the day I'm trying to push water uphill!!!

A tip would be to make sure your centre channel is beefy enough to keep up with the other front speakers - this should be set the loudest. If anything, I would under-do the rear channels slightly, meaning those sat near the back aren't deafened by SFX...