Is it my ears are does every dvd movie have like low sound if you don't have an expensive audio system?

Am I using the wrong codecs? any one have any advice?

It's not a question of being low, it's more a question of having more dynamic range than the typical overly compressed audio on a CD. At its loudest, a movie sound mix transferred to DVD can be as loud (at least in terms of voltage or bit use) as a typical CD. It's just not as often as loud.

Note that some DVDs feature sound mix for home viewing (ie David Fincher's Seven) that usually will have less dynamic range than the theatre sound mix.

- Daniel

Also, not sure if you are using a DVD player connected to a TV, but mine (a Sony), has a option in its audio settings for "TV mode" which limits the dynamic range.