Page 1 of Pioneer DV444 sound "issues"

I have a Pioneer DV444 (obviously) connected to my ageing Sony TV (via RGB SCART). I`m impressed with the picture quality of the DV444, but I have one two problems with sound:

(i) Sound output from the DVD player is very low (I know this problem has been aired before on this forum)
(ii) When I switch the DVD TruSurround feature on, speech volume drops even lower on most (but not all) scenes
(iii) I get sound distortion on some DVDs (e.g. the amphitheatre scene in Ronin). The best way I can describe this is that it`s similar to recording on audio tape (remember that?) with the recording level set too high.

Am I missing something in the audio setup? I`ve tried playing with most of the settings, but none seem to make any noticeable difference. Do I just need a TV that`s more up-to-date?

I don`t have the answers to your problems, but hopefully I can give some pointers.
I actually noticed improved sound performance switching to the 444 from the Toshiba SD210 I had before it. The volume level required on my TV is around 10-15% lower for the same loudness.
The 444`s manual is awful when it comes to sound set-up. Really confusing. You should have it said to ` Dolby-digital `. Not any of the other options like Dolby digital>PCM etc.. I`ve never tried the ` trusurround ` so I can`t comment on that, but the machine does have a speech boost system. I forget what they call it. They describe it as being for low volume listening. It boosts speech without boosting explosions etc.
Try that ?