AC3 quieter than MPEG2 Audio (1 Viewer)

[metropolis]

Hi, I watch a lot of live UK TV, of which I usually have two audio options, Mpeg2 and AC3.
On the HD channels quite often the Mpeg2 channel is narrative, so I have to switch to the AC3 channel.
My issue is that the AC3 audio channel is loads quieter that the MPEG2 audio channel, this is not just a particular channel, this is every AC3 audio channel. So i'm watching my programme and have to turn the volume right up, then the adverts come on, and have to quickly turn the volume right down or it deafens me,programme comes back on and have to turn the vulume back up again, VERY annoying. I am using LAV codec for everything on MP 1.5, HDMI to HD TV.
Any suggestions as to what I can do to match the volumes between MPEG2 and AC3?

Kind regards.

 

[Jasmeet_181]

Have you enabled stereo downmixing? Open LAV Audio Configuration then click on the Mixing tab, tick Enable Mixing and select Stereo from the Output Speaker Configuration drop down.

 

[SimonP]

The reason for this is that AC3 has a wider dynamic range than MP2/3/etc. so the average audio level is lower, allowing for very loud bangs and explosions (which are at the top end, at the same level as the MP2 stream).

 

[mm1352000]

I agree with both Jasmeet_181 and SimonP.

In relation to to SimonP's comment: a potential solution is to apply DRC (dynamic range compression) in the LAV audio codec settings.