TV’s quiet ad-justment

New York Post ^ | December 4, 2011 | SUSANNAH CAHALAN

[ConservativeStatement]

They’ll still be annoying — but soon TV commercials won’t hurt your ears.

A law mandating a volume cap on ear-splitting commercials will go into effect Dec. 15, at which point broadcasters have a year to turn down the volume.

“The intent of the act is simple: to make the volume of commercials and programs uniform so that the spikes don’t affect the consumer,” said Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), who sponsored the legislation last year.

People will be uncupping their ears in joy.

[knarf]

Some talk shows could use a few lessons about treble and bass, too.

And while I'm at it ... NEVER use a police or ambulance siren ... nor a ringing phone ... for your stupid commercials.

[EmilyGeiger]

Really? Let’s just legislate every single aspect of life. This is stupid.

[Liberty Valance]

[apoliticalone]

Common sense from Congress finally. How long has this been an irritation to each of us that served no useful purpose? Why couldn’t they just mandate uniform volume levels between channels, commercials and advertisements 20 years ago?

I’ll bet each of us could list a number of common sense items such as political spam calls that need ended yesterday, but are permitted to persist because of politics or some other absurd reason.

[freekitty]

That’s good news. Funny how they some tvs sound are terrible like Panasonic; however, I can always hear the commercials really well. LOL I have always wondered if your provider has something to do with this?

[autumnraine]

This is one ‘stupid’ law that I don’t mind.

My stepfather has a heart condition and it startles him every time. Especially if he is dozing off.

So that they can make a buck doesn’t make it right.

[kevao]

Not stupid. Uniform levels mean I can finally set the volume to where I want it — and leave it there! — without having to turn it down at every commercial break, only to turn it right back up again when the show resumes. How pointless, and irritating, is that ritual?

[bigbob]

It’s called “AVC” - Automatic Volume Control. The console radios people listened to Amos & Andy on had it. This is deliberate on the part of the cable and media companies to promote their commercials over the content, and regulating this as a technical matter is within the legitimate scope of federal authority. It’s just a shame the industry doesn’t have the pride to set high standards for itself.

[savage woman]

I thought this was suppose to be done back in the 70’s..

[al baby]

My dog goes nutz with a certain ad that has a door bell sounds just like ours

[RayChuang88]

Audio engineers who've studied the problem note it's NOT the sound level, but the level of audio processing that makes commercials much more annoying to listen to. This means from now on commercials must expand the signal to noise ratio so it sounds more "natural" like the actual TV program itself.

[Paladin2]

It’s not the spikes, it’s the average and the RMS that are higher.

[TropicanaRose]

Wow, imagine what all I’ll be able to accomplish during commercials with all the time this will free up!

Now if there was just a way to turn down the “background” music but not the dialogue during the show.

[LostInBayport]

This is deliberate on the part of the cable and media companies to promote their commercials over the content, and regulating this as a technical matter is within the legitimate scope of federal authority. It’s just a shame the industry doesn’t have the pride to set high standards for itself.

True. High standards would mean offering a la carte programming instead of the current practice of network welfare. I'd rather pay $40/month for ten channels I actually watch than twice that for 300 I could not care less about. I know that will never happen --- too many liberal networks would collapse overnight if they actually had to depend on earning their own keep instead of automatically getting a share of the "bundle" paid by each subscriber to a tier of channels. Yeah, MSNBC, I'm talkin' about you.

[al baby]

Root Mean Square?

[Sunshine Sister]

I take care of that problem by muting all commercials on all TV shows I watch, which I have to admit isn’t many. I’m sick of the same old same old stuff appearing on the news EVERY night in the same order. Punt ‘em!

[Tucker39]

I don’t know if anyone at the station gives a hoot, but the nanosecond a blaring commercial comes on, I hit the MUTE button. I couldn’t care less what they are selling.

[mrsmith]

So now they’ll just lower the treble on the programs.
Amusing that TV viewers think they are customers, when they are actually the product!

Why are the shows so idiotic? Because advertisers naturally pay more for stupid customers. It’s simple.

[Inyo-Mono]

You got that right. Advertising agencies over process the audio for both TV and radio commercials before sending them to the broadcast stations.