ffdshow audio decoder or lav audio

LAV has been conquering much of ffdshow's previous territory as well as of other codecs. Considering both LAV and ffdshow are ffmpeg-based, LAV is preferred over ffdshow for video. but ffdshow is still the default for audio. and now LAV does have channel mixing functionality. so why you chose ffdshow audio decoder compared lav audio?

Video decoding is more complex. In case of audio decoding there are no major reasons (yet) for preferring LAV. Both work good. ffdshow has some useful extra features (such as volume normalization) that quite a few people use.

LAV Audio decoder has already became default in Basic and Standard version, where ffdshow was removed. It is likely that LAV will also become default in Full and Mega at some point in the future. At least on recent versions of Windows.

The installer already has some presets where LAV is used for audio. For example "LAV for all" and "Essentials".

thank you about the explanation. I actually prefer to use lav. if i use ffdshow I would enable volume normalizer, but if I use lav I will enable MPC volume normalizer. unfortunately volume normalizer in MPC not good. I am so confused to choose the LAV or ffdshow audio, because I often watch anime and some video streaming with bad sound quality

The algorithm used by MPC was recently changed to be more similar to the one from ffdshow. I also prefer the results from ffdshow. Possible reason for the difference is that ffdshow does it before mixing, while MPC does it after mixing.

If you are using Windows Vista/7/8, then you can also find a volume normalization option in Windows itself, which works pretty good. The option is called "Loadness Equalization" and you can find it in the Control Panel > Sound Settings > Speakers device > Properties > Enhancements.

Another option is to adjust the mixing parameters in LAV Audio. You can boost the volume of the center channel a bit by changing its mixing coefficient from 0.71 to 1.0

thank you for the advice. I've tried setting the volume normalization in Windows, but it will change the whole sound in windows. Other then the LAV, but not too good.

so I tried to compare the LAV and ffdshow audio with some settings on ffdshow to match the setting in LAV. and the results from some tests that I tried was ffdshow better in producing the sound. so for a while I will probably use ffdshow until LAV make changes

I have one more question, why did you choose Haali to split. mkv? what advantages in comparison with lav. i tries to compare with lav splitter using process hacker to see the process I/O on both. lav splitter is more stable results in the I/O(read and write) and cpu usage. sorry for my stupid question. hehehe ....  

There is currently little difference between Haali and LAV for splitting MKV. It is to be expected that LAV becomes the new default in the future.

Admin wrote:It is likely that LAV will also become default in Full and Mega at some point in the future.

Vote +1.

Check out the ffdshow audio processor if you want to use other decoders without missing out on ffdshow's many features.

The installer offers an option to use ffdshow audio processor for processing PCM audio.

I recommend using it only in combination with MPC-HC, because allowing processing filters to be used in all applications can sometimes cause issues, for example with games that use DirectShow. Popular apps/games are usually blacklisted in ffdshow, but that list is never fully complete.

also now ffdshow is better for audio?

No it isn't. It is recommended to use LAV unless you have a specific need for any of the extra functionality in ffdshow.