Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
jakdedert wrote:
That's the same problem we have and it drives us crazy! Does anyone
have a newer TV with the built-in AVL feature, and how well does it
work?

You can call your provider. So far, I haven't gotten that far, but
IIRC, there are regulations about relative volume...might not apply for
cable, but over the air....

The big snag is there's no way of measuring loudness accurately. It's the
holy grail to develop a device which does so to all's satisfaction.
Conventional metering systems can read peak or average levels but don't
take into account the perceived loudness to the ear - or rather brain. And
the other big snag is that what is too loud to one isn't to another - just
think about the music your kids listen to. ;-)

The issue is with the (less than) technical help the cable company (in
my case ComCast) employs to drop in the commercials.

Again it depends on the programme preceding the ads. If a brash game show
etc chances are the ads won't sound louder. If some drama with a poignant
end chances are they will.

Huh uh. We're talking about levels, like you said, varying by 30 dB. I
haven't measured it here, but it could be that much. It's about local
cable companies charging $55/month for 'basic' cable, but not hiring
somebody to simply *listen* to the feed when they dump in commercials
which are wildly different in level. It's NOT a matter of opinion when
you turn the volume to a point where it's barely background level, and
then get jolted out of your sleep by a literally blaring commercial.

It's mostly about money and an unwillingness to pay for technical
competency. The over the air stations, when I listen to/watch them,
don't have this problem to nearly this degree.

jak

jak