I'm playing my VCD's on a fast PC using the media player included with Windows95 ("DirectX", I think) and a standard-issue Yamaha sound card. The sound card's software includes basic mixing and L/R balance controls. Everything works, but both the Mandarin- and Cantonese-language audio tracks play through both stereo speakers simultaneously, producing an unintelligible and disconcerting echo. What I'd heard was that this could be fixed by simply adjusting your balance all the way to the left or right - that the language tracks were split this way - but that doesn't seem to be the case. Would you happen to know if there's: A) a downloadable mpeg player for Windows that's "smart" enough to let you toggle between multiple language tracks, or B) a work-around?

-- Brian Clarke (brian-damage@worldnet.att.net), October 13, 1998

Answers

SoftPEG, from Visible Light, has a "karaoke" feature that lets you turn off one of the channels, but it costs $30. It's a little strange that you can't fix the problem just with the balance control. Have you tried the Volume Control? (Double-click on the little speaker icon in the bottom right-hand corner under Windows 95.)

-- Russil Wvong (rwvong@geocities.com), October 19, 1998.

I understand that this split-channel stereo is common on cheap HK cinema dubs, including VCR and DVD. The idea is that you just turn off the left or right channel to hear only Cantonese or Mandarin. On most sound cards, the balance won't deactivate a channel totally, but you could a)unplug one speaker or b)go to an electronics store and buy a 50c channel splitter, and a 50c mono-to-stereo convertor, then plug your speakers into only one channel that way.

-- Chris McGuire (chris_mcguire@hotmail.com), March 13, 2001.