AC3 dialogue normalization help!!!

Hello!
I know that in APack or Compressor, when encoding audio to ac3, the dialogue normalization should be set to -31 from the default of -27.
However, absolutely all my encodes come out way, way too loud. I tried audio from different projects, short tests etc - all come out too loud. The weird thing, when I play the ac3 already encoded file in the ac2 player of APack, it sounds fine. The minute I bring it into DVDSP, it sounds too loud. Also in the finished DVD.
Through trial and error, I find that a setting of -20 for dialogue normalization works fine and keeps the level the same as the original aiff file. Should I do this?
Am I doing something wrong?
Please gve me a hint or an advice.
Thanks so much!
All the best!

You should not need to change the DNV to -20... what other settings are you using in Compressor (or A.Pack)? Did you remember to set compression to 'none', switch off RF Overmodulation Protection, etc?
Can you email me a sample of your audio file so that I can look at it more closely? hal dot maclean at mac dot com

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