I am looking at new televisions with volume control. I do not appreciate advertisements with high volume. I was looking at a 52 inch Samsung , I called in and it does not have volume control without being specially wired. Any suggestions?
Television with VOLUME CONTROL
- Thread starter deaner
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Huh? I have a 52" Samsung, the 52A650 and it most definitely has a volume control. I've never seen nor heard of a TV without a volume control. Do you mean it's only on the remote, not on the TV itself?
Most, if not all, also have a mute button.
I believe that the OP is talking about a television that keeps the volume at an even level during regular programming AND commercials. This is a most annoying trend that advertisers are using to get your attention. All TV's should automatically mute when commercials start.
I do not know of a currently available TV that does this. The obvious question is how you are viewing TV signals. If you are using a sat receiver or cable box, this Terk adapter could be your solution:
Amazon.com: Terk VR1 Automatic TV Volume Controller: Electronics
You put this inline with your audio and never think about it again. I have some limited experience with it, and it seems to work.
Did a little more research. It looks like Sony, Phillips/Magnavox and Toshiba all sell models with this feature.
Toshiba markets it as StableSound, and it can be found on most Regza models.
Sony's name is SteadySound, and I see it on a lot of the WEGA sets.
Didn't bother to look up Phillips, but you get the idea.
This is showing up on generally higher end sets, so you will pay for the feature. I would go into a better store and ask about the feature. Frankly, most Best Buy employees wouldn't have a clue.
If your chosen set and/or A/V receiver has a "night mode" you might want to try that. If you're watching programming with wide audio dynamic range in the normal mode, that's where the loud content like commercials is most annoying. Night mode compresses all audio to about 20dB or so and a lower volume works for all content. Of course you lose the impact of the wide volume range that way for all content...
I have another way to avoid loud commercials. DVR everything and use the skip button.
Yeah, me too. I use the loud sound as a reminder to hit skip. However, I got the impression that the OP just wants to watch TV with minimal hassle.
I have another way to avoid loud commercials. DVR everything and use the skip button.
Yeap. I DVR everything and then watch it without commercials. I watch very little live anymore.
S~
Now I have another question. I have seen a wide range of contrast ratio. Anything from 2 or 3,000 to 1 up to 40,000-50,000 - 1. Does the higher contrast mean it has a better picture? Also, on the Samsung, I see they have a 5,6, and 8 series. Is the 8 series the newest?
A higher contrast level will show a deeper level of near black performance. A set with a low contrast ratio will have a lot of the black detail appear as black, while one with a higher ration will show more shades of gray. Same with whites. Of course 50K is starting to hit overkill, but for the most part, you look for the better contrast ration and the shortest response time to avoid motion bluring.
The different series represent price/performance levels. Look at this link for an explanation:
LCD TV - televisions SAMSUNG
It is really only a valid comparison between models of the same manufacturer since different manufacturers use different means to test, there is no standard. It is like the inflated Dish HD numbers.
Contrast ratio is just one measure. Note that most of the quotes are dynamic contrast ratio, which is the difference between a black screen and a bright screen. But not a screen with white and black at the same time. This is because most LCD sets have flourescent backlights which they just turn the brightness up and down. Some of the newer LCDs (like the coming Sony, and a Samsung line) have LEDs which they are able to dim independently so you can have bright areas of a screen and dark areas. But, there are limits since there tends to be a few hundred dimming zones compared to 2 million pixels.
The models following the Samsung A650 series have some extra features, but IMHO very little in improved PQ. The PQ on my A650 is wonderful. Wife & I still can't get over the blacks.
I have a Samsung A750 67 inch LED DLP and it has the volume control (I activated it and it works) and it's a nice television but this is my first HDTV so any HDTV will probably be nice to me coming from an SDTV.
