Hulu - Sound Effects too Loud, Dialogue not Loud Enough

Question

Whenever I watch things on Hulu, I am always adjusting the sound because the sound effects are extremely loud and the dialogue is way too quiet. At first I thought that the issue was with crappy speakers, but I later tried watching something on YouTube, and there was no problem with the sound whatsoever. I researched the issue online, and found that many other people are complaining about a similar issue on both Hulu and Netflix. Various forum posts about the issue received responses suggesting that the poster adjust the sound card's audio equalizer. I have found where the settings for my equalizer are, but I do not know how I should change them so that everything is balanced when watching Hulu, but remains as it is, if not improves, when watching YouTube. Here's a screenshot of my sound card settings screen.

Answer 1

I have found that by setting my computer volume to 70, changing the audio enhancer to movie mode, and then changing the dialogue setting from 30 to 75, the audio sounds exactly the way I want it to.

Answer 2

Link: HowToGeek

Enabling this option fixed my sound issue. I am streaming Hulu from my laptop to my TV using HDMI. I am passing audio through HDMI to my TV directly.

Below is the walk-through provided from the link above:

Windows Loudness Equalization

Windows includes a build-in Loudness Equalization feature, although some sound drivers may not support it. The loudness equalizer keeps sound output from all applications on your computer within a consistent volume range.

1. To enable the loudness equalizer, right-click the speaker icon in your system tray and select Playback devices.

2. Select the sound device you want to enable the equalizer for – for example, your speakers or headphones – and click the Properties button.

3. Click over to the Enhancements tab and enable the Loudness Equalization check box in the list. If you don’t see the Enhancements tab, your sound hardware isn’t supported.

If an application is currently playing sound, you may have to restart playback for the changes to take effect (I did not have to restart my web browser, the sound adjusted automatically after applying the above settings).

Answer 3

I have the exact same issue on both Hulu and Netflix ONLY in ANY version of Windows or Mac or Linux for that matter in ANY browser, and the only solutions I've found until they fix it is to adjust yours as compensation. Here's a good site for that:

http://www.howtogeek.com/115656/3-ways-to-normalize-sound-volume-on-your-pc/

I don't know what it's going to take for them to fix their audio, but from what I've researched, it either has to do with the way they are encoding it, and it may be that they and their affiliates are encoding it as 5.1 surround rather than allowing any format which is affecting people listening on stereo since the center channel is used for dialogue. I've watched on a desktop PC in XP and a laptop with Windows 7 and I have to crank the volume up in multiple places just to hear what people are saying. Then suddenly BOOM or WHOOSH of an explosion or music and it's way too loud.