Is there any chance that TV Execs could balance out the volume between adverts and programmes?

countdown to someone appearing and saying they technically are the same volume, but the ads are more compressed and seem louder 5-4-3...

What kind of fool doesn't mute the adverts anyway

Agreed. I know someone who has a normalizer hooked up to his TV etc. He mostly uses it so he can watch movies late at night without waking the neighbors (Because movies on DVD have a tendency to multiply ten-fold in volume whenever there's an explosion. Guess that's high fidelity for ya) but it would work just as well for this ad-break problem.

God, but it pisses me off when I try to watch a relatively low-key on TV, and suddenly my speakers explode in promotional delight. (I do mute ads, but some channels here have a very loud, sudden segue between show & ads)

lol I was going to post that the adverts are allegedly compressed rather than louder. I channel hop when they're on anyway. It's pretty impressive how dozens of channels manage to run ad breaks at the same time.

Whatever time I come home and switch the TV on, it's always just before an ad break.

It's pretty impressive how dozens of channels manage to run ad breaks at the same time.

OMG OTM

i'm intrigued by this 'normaliser', i want one. Are they easy to acquire and install?

i solved this problem by not really watching anything on ITV or Five except European football sometimes, and any good C4 stuff can be had on demand. lol Sky, Paramount etc.

i watch Dave tho

What kind of fool doesn't mute the adverts anyway

-- ledge, Wednesday, January 9, 2008 11:15 AM (33 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

the kind of fool who wants to catch the show coming back on? i get easily distracted. i turn the volume down. bastards, all of them.

southall to thread obviously.

"i'm intrigued by this 'normaliser', i want one. Are they easy to acquire and install?"

Not unless you run your TV sound to an external amp.

The only chance this will ever happen is if TV execs start to see the shows as moneymakers and the ads as regrettably necessary expenses.

Good luck with that.

Memo to Stuart Maconie/DFS (it IS him doing the voiceover, isn't it?): Let's NOT go through that again, not in this lifetime!

The Tom Baker/TV's Bradley Walsh Land Of Leather mash-up was also ill-advised.

The only chance this will ever happen is if TV execs start to see the shows as moneymakers and the ads as regrettably necessary expenses.

Good luck with that.

-- Oilyrags, Wednesday, January 9, 2008 1:16 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

i dunno the government wants to ban certain kinds of advertising, so could they not banhammer this too?

The Government can start by banning DFS from advertising more than once a decade for a start.

wouldn't a real-time normalizer be, in effect, a compressor? so you'd be adding an extra level of compression onto something that's probably alreayd compressed for broadcast anyway? i mean, not like it really matters for the simpsons or whatever but i assume somebody with a hifi setup etc would care

I guess that theoretically it could be regulated, but considering the trends we've been seeing in media (de)regulation, I don't see it happening. Not in the US anyway - I ain't know shit about UK trends.

Probably. I don't know what exactly the setup is for the fellow I mentioned has, but I know he only uses it for late-night viewing when he doesn't want any volume-spikes that can wake his neighbors. For all I know it won't really help at all with the ad-problem. (And I would be kinda amazed if someone went through all that trouble just because of loud ads)

what's all this compressed talk about? The adverts *are* louder, so why can't they just compensate for this? This is what i mean by 'technology today', pretty difficult to believe something can't be sorted out i don't see how anyone is going to lose any money over it.

they are intentionally louder because htey are selling you something. it's not like a technical glitch.

rubbish. I'm more likely to watch the commercials when they're not pounding my eardrums, just because something is louder doesn't make it more interesting to watch.

they know you don't want to buy their crap cars/beers/alcopops/frozen foods/nappies so it's just revenge trolling

I feel sorry for the first advert that comes on in the break - as people are spending the next thirty seconds reaching for the control to turn the volume down rather than paying any attention to the ads.

actually i don't feel sorry for any them.

they can eat a bag of dicks!

rubbish. I'm more likely to watch the commercials when they're not pounding my eardrums, just because something is louder doesn't make it more interesting to watch.

in fairness, i'm not sure ste-the-ilx0r is really representative of -- say -- iceland's target demographic ;)

Why is it that TV stations are permitted to raise the volume during the commercials? I find it very aggravating.
— Bob K.

Ask any TV station this question and you’ll get the same answer, “the commercials are no louder than any of the other programming we broadcast — they just sound louder.”
Story continues below ↓advertisement

It’s true, the station isn’t turning up the volume when the commercials run, but that’s not the complete answer. Otherwise, you wouldn’t need to reach for the remote to turn down the volume during the commercial break. So what’s really going on here? This gets a little complicated, so stick with me on this.

The Federal Communications Commission does not specifically regulate the volume of TV programs or TV commercials. However, broadcasters are required to have equipment that limits the peak power they can use to send out their audio and video signals. That means the loudest TV commercial will never be any louder than the loudest part of any TV program.

A TV program has a mix of audio levels. There are loud parts and soft parts. Nuance is used to build the dramatic effect.

Most advertisers don’t want nuance. They want to grab your attention. To do that, the audio track is electronically processed to make every part of it as loud as possible within legal limits. “Nothing is allowed to be subtle,” says Brian Dooley, Editor-At-Large for CNET.com. “Everything is loud – the voices, the music and the sound effects.”

Spencer Critchley, writing in Digital Audio last month, explained it this way: “The peak levels of commercials are no higher than the peak levels of program content. But the average level is way, way higher, and that’s the level your ears care about. If someone sets off a camera flash every now and then it’s one thing; if they aim a steady spot light into your eyes it’s another, even if the peak brightness is no higher.”

There’s also what Brian Dooley of CNET.com calls “perceived loudness.” If you’re watching a drama with soft music and quiet dialogue and the station slams into a commercial for the July 4th Blow Out Sale, it’s going to be jarring. If you happen to go from the program into a commercial for a sleeping pill, one with a subtle soundtrack, it probably won’t bother you.

Help is on the way! Last month Dolby Laboratories announced it has developed technology to level out the sound differences that take place during shows and between TV programs and commercials. You pick the volume you like and the Dolby software will make the adjustments in real time automatically.

Dolby Volume could show up in some TV sets by the end of this year or early next year.

ooh i like the camera flash analogy

yeah, that's a good un

still this "Dolby Volume" thing just sounds like a compressor

> I'm more likely to watch the commercials when they're not pounding my eardrums

ditto obnoxious flashing web adverts. but what do i know.

ultimately WE are paying for these adverts. that's the fucked up thing.

you mean like... society?

I suppose it is a bit silly to insist that it's not louder just because the peaks are the same. On average, it's louder, there is more sound energy being pumped out. It is louder.

but the point is that so long as the ads are compliant w/ the legislation (which specifies peak maximums) then no exec will want to consciously prevent their ad being less noticeable than the competition. the legislation needs to be changed to limit RMS levels.

sometimes it is fun to watch the ad breaks and compile a spreadsheet on how many use CGI anthropomorphosis of animals you might see down on the farm as the big 'now that we have your attention' gimmick.

lol:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,2238112,00.html

"Nicolas Sarkozy was accused yesterday of lining the pockets of his media tycoon friends and exerting a Berlusconi-style grip on the airwaves, after he announced a plan to ban advertising from public television and revolutionise French state TV along the lines of the BBC."

i did, for an unemployed month, keep a note of all advertising i saw on tv. i wasn't in the target market for ~= 95% of it.

Am I right in thinking they've relaxed the rules regarding TV advertising recently? So now adverts can be shown more regularly and for longer?

xpost what????? what a transparent ploy, i can't believe he has the chutzpah to say that a transfer of half a billion euros directly into the pockets of private stations is "remaking french tv along the lines of the bbc". you don't have a bbc without the license fee, douche! also, eliminating the arabic news channel! GREAT IDEA!

god that makes me furious, those changes will last for generations if carried out

this high-minded "no advertising" wheeze is exactly how the National Association of Broadcasters kneecapped nonprofit broadcasting in the united states in the 1920s -- just take away their revenue! peasy!

to register your disapproval of sarkozy txt A now (network charges may vary)

I'm taking my Carla Bruni CDs to MVE for a start.

re: more adverts

i looked that up last time it was mentioned (a year ago) in the broadcasting standards documentation and there were guidelines then about duration (minutes per hour) and frequency (so many breaks per hour) but the spacing was never defined. have recently started seeing more early breaks (after title sequence in deep space nine for instance, barely 6 minutes in), which feels odd, but am pretty sure that the total duration of ads and number per hour (4?) are actually the same as they were.

the other odd thing is the rule that, in england, they can't come at moments that are too suspenseful. which is exactly where american shows put them. so you see a lot of 'fade to black', 'fade up again', minute's worth of tv, ad break in dull bit...

btw, just found this:

http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/focus/background_briefings/TV+Ad+Sound+Levels.htm

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/tv/ifi/codes/advertising/rules/

I suspect thinking there are more adverts than they're used to be is a sign of getting old... that and having to turn down your hearing aid when they come on

i like channel 4 news cos it never has any real ads in the breaks.

They have loosened the rules on placement of ads tho I think. Ad break times are less predictable than they used to be.

i think that's tv companies playing fast and loose with the definition rather than a loosening of the definition. are my interests served better by taking a break after the titles of deep space nine even though that's only 6 minutes in? it could be argued. (6 minutes not 'slightly shorter' though, in anyone's book). and an early break means longer sections for the rest of the hour...

"5.4 Period Between Breaks

In the case of programmes other than those referred to in 5.2 and 5.3 above, a period of at least 20 minutes should normally elapse between each successive internal break. A slightly shorter interval is acceptable only where the interests of viewers would be better served by taking a break earlier (for example to fit in with a particularly suitable interruption of continuity). However, in such cases the programme must not contain more internal breaks than would be permissible by strict application of the 20-minute minimum separation principle."

ha, i timed this last night. and then left the piece of paper at home. but it went a little something like this (deep space 9, virgin 1)*

8:00 start
8:06 - 8:11 first ad break
8:24 - 8:28 second ad break
8:45 - 8:49 third ad break
8:58 end

each ad break started and ended with promo material for other virgin1 (or in one case bravo or trouble) shows. what was odd was the length of the break between end of DS9 and start of the next show which was only a couple of minutes and approx 50/50 ads and promos.

lots of cosmetics and cleaning product ads as well (which i also noticed during the month i mentioned above). odd during DS9 which, i'd've said, was a largely male audience. it seems to be high profit margin stuff that advertises most.

* forfar 5, fife 4