Infomercials-Inserted commercial volume OUTRAGEOUS!

[AriesGodofWar]

I always thought the idea of pausing live tv was kinda silly.

Can I assume you are not yet married or have children???

My wife is notorious for this. She has nothing to say, until I sit down to watch something and as soon as she hits the Sofa and she sees whatever it is I wanted to watch (insert sporting event of choice), and automatically begins to talk uncontrollably. I found that just turning the volume up to compensate got me in trouble, however, the Pause works wonders. Same for children.........now if only they both came with a mute button.

 

[catnap1972]

Direct Buy is the worst offender!!

You mean you don't want to hear how to save $65,000 on cabinets?

 

[Swoop]

Direct Buy is the worst offender!!

QFT

 

[wetz73]

You mean you don't want to hear how to save $65,000 on cabinets?

Don't you mean,

You mean you don't want to hear how to save $65,000 on cabinets?

 

[Sammy033]

Can I assume you are not yet married or have children???

My wife is notorious for this. She has nothing to say, until I sit down to watch something and as soon as she hits the Sofa and she sees whatever it is I wanted to watch (insert sporting event of choice), and automatically begins to talk uncontrollably. I found that just turning the volume up to compensate got me in trouble, however, the Pause works wonders. Same for children.........now if only they both came with a mute button.

You assume right... but I do not live alone. And yes what you describe is another reason I like pausing live tv.

 

[Hermitman]

Do you have an Auto Volume feature on your TV? I have an RCA set with this feature (selected thru the settings menu) and it does a pretty good job at keep a constant volume level even when the commercials come on blasting. Good luck.

 

[Mark0]

I think 1/2 the problem is I don't use my tv volume, but my AV receiver. It's an ONKYO SR605 so not sure if it has that feature or not? If it does, I'll try.

 

[david_jr]

Don't you mean,

You mean you don't want to hear how to save $65,000 on cabinets?

NO I DON"T!!!!!! If they save you so much how can they afford to run so many adds? And why does that lady keep looking down right when she says the amount she saved? "It amounts to about a (looks down) 30 to 40 thousand dollar savings (looks back up)."

 

[ERSanders]

What commercials....I have a DVR.

 

[Sammy033]

What commercials....I have a DVR.

Oh they are the prime cause for the 30-second button on the remote to eventually wear out. But just you wait. Somehow they are going to finally figure out how to get away with voiding that button that nobody can do anything about. You will then rediscover commercials in all their loud glory. But hey, after watching them you might see how you can sleep better at nights with that fancy thing to put in your mouth.

 

[wetz73]

I put that fancy thing in my mouth, was sleeping like a baby, and then the damn commercial for the fancy thing in my mouth knocked me out of bed!!!!!!!!

 

[TNGTony]

you might see how you can sleep better at nights with that fancy thing to put in your mouth.

Oh.. are you talking about Pure-Sleep DOT COM?

 

[david_jr]

What commercials....I have a DVR.

Saddest sight when watching Dish TV.... "Live TV", followed closely by signal lost error.

 

[GaryPen]

The biggest problem is with the DISH NETWORK inserted commercials (Local Avails). The problem is cause by Dish not leveling out their volume levels on the commercials THEY insert so it is absolutely something they can fix if they had a mind to, but they don't. And that is the real issue at hand.

I understand better than most the technical issues involved in fixing this issue, but it is a problem that can be fixed.

See ya
Tony

Wouldn't surprise me if they did it on purpose, and charged the sponsors a little extra for it. Or, maybe they plan on charging customers an extra $5/mo volume leveling fee. (per receiver, of course.) Dish's Exec VP of Nickel and Diming is probably looking into it right now.

On a related note, why does Billy Mays have to yell at me about everything he sells? And, why does he always say his name at the beginning of each ad, as if it has some sort of celebrity status?

 

[GaryPen]

But hey, after watching them you might see how you can sleep better at nights with that fancy thing to put in your mouth.

I sleep better when my wife puts that fancy thing in her mouth.

Or, are you talking about something else?

 

[kwindrem]

Why can't Dish network do something about this?
Since they won't do anything, is there an option on my receiver?

As others have said, compression is part of the problem. There are many compressor/limiters available that can easily raise average program levels 10-15 dB with minimal artifacts.

But Dolby Digital is also partially to blame. More accurately, it's application in program origination for the consumer. Dolby Digital (and DTS for that matter) have a loudness compensation mechanism controlled by "dialnorm" metadata. This metadata adjusts levels at the point the signal is decoded. Properly authored dialnorm will balance casual dialog levels between programs (and hopefully commercials too). This works great in concept but fails for a couple of reasons:

1) Not all programming contains dialnorm metadata. For example 2-channel analog or PCM audio has no place for it. Unfortunately, the absence of dialnorm is not covered in the standards and probably sets levels to maximum during the decoding process.

2) Dialnorm could be authored incorrectly. For content creators wanting to catch a viewer's attention, dialnorm falsification can be much more effective than huge amounts of compression.

The result of either of these situations has the effect of raising dialog to jet engine levels!

Automatic loudness adjusters are not just expensive. They need time to analyze a program in order to determine the appropriate loudness. So by the time they react a loud commercial is already half over.

What's needed is a mechanism to set the level for any program in which dialnorm is not present. This won't correct for incorrect dialnorm values but could go a long way to compensate for programs with analog or PCM audio tracks. This could be what Echostar has in mind, but the A/V receiver really should take on this reponsibility.

 

[smoeke]

seriously?

are you telling me all these tvs out there dont have smart sound?

i have a cheap Jvc 30"Hdtv tube set i got a few years ago after replacing a 15 year old Zenith,it has BBE smart sound and it works like a dream,it was almost worth the price of the TV alone just to never hear a loud commercial again.
i just assumed any tv made in the last 8-10 years other than a cheap small bedroom type tv would have this feature,especially hdtvs.

wow,i feel lucky now,

i remember the days of my daughter watching cartoons and then some toy commercial blasting her out of the livingroom.

 

[Mark0]

seriously?

are you telling me all these tvs out there dont have smart sound?

i have a cheap Jvc 30"Hdtv tube set i got a few years ago after replacing a 15 year old Zenith,it has BBE smart sound and it works like a dream,it was almost worth the price of the TV alone just to never hear a loud commercial again.
i just assumed any tv made in the last 8-10 years other than a cheap small bedroom type tv would have this feature,especially hdtvs.

wow,i feel lucky now,

i remember the days of my daughter watching cartoons and then some toy commercial blasting her out of the livingroom.

I don't use my tv for sound. Instead it comes out of my audio receiver and unfortunately my receiver does not have automatic dynamic audio (or whatever it's called).

 

[smoeke]

I don't use my tv for sound. Instead it comes out of my audio receiver and unfortunately my receiver does not have automatic dynamic audio (or whatever it's called).

i use the optical audio out on my tv to my receiver,so the tv handles the smart sound control even though my receiver produces the sounds i hear
.is this an option for you?

 

[theflavor]

I just hooked up a sound bar and I am noticing this issue much more now. The display switches to 2.0 when the commercials get really loud then 5.1 when it switches back to the program.

My old setup had fiber optic running to the receiver, re-arrangment of the room required that I ditch the speakers and get a sound bar (per wife's bickering). Not sure if this is a difference with the speakers (lower wattage) or the connection (fiber vs hdmi)