Loud Commercials

Just mute the tv and go with CC , closed captioning...or you can record your programs first, then skip ads in replay....after that it gets more complicated...

https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/smart-tv-ad-blocker/

Some programs will not allow fast forward through commercials, or CC,so I just change programs.

Even some recorded programs are like that,not worth the effort.

There are not enough interesting programs to be worth suffering through the commercials.

Why should I have to pay to see an advertisement in which I have no interest?

They are using my connection,which I pay for, to try try to sell me something I do not want?

If a salesman came to your door,and you told him you were not interested,and he sent you a bill for his time,it would be the same thing.

When I use CC,it takes the focus away from the program when the actors are talking,and is very irritating.

I may attempt to build a modulator detector to turn off video and audio during commercials.

I think it would sell.

I just get everything on DVD's...The rest I watch on Youtube...with adblock..anything else I need is on apps...

YouTube videos have commercials in the middle, and some of them are much louder than the video - very irritating. Some you can skip after few seconds and some you can't.

As Solar Eagle says just get a good ad blocker and configure it to remove all the you tube commercials, works perfectly on my computer, never see a commercial in the video.

I didn't even know they had commercials on YouT until I saw somebody complaining about it...Now they are starting to have the youtuber's themselves talking about some product or service in the video, but you can just skip that easy enough...

"There use to be a device that detected this over modulation,and would block the commercial when it occurred,in effect,shutting out commercials on the old analog tv sets."

What device would that be? I'm baffled.

We use to have a volume control circuit. On could turn the set on, set volume, and never have to interact with the TV 'cept to change channels. Maybe tilt a rabbit ear.

But with DSP, it is impossible to control the power in the audio......unless you know exactly how it was compressed......and there are no standards and no keys sent....to restore the audio levels. DSP makes it impossible to control the level of audio. They have background sound effects now that are many times the normal level......and as far as hearing audio speech....forget it. All the men actors have to whisper now. The voice of a mouse. I haven't heard a male's voice on tv for years. AND the women are the ones that beat up the bad guy. It's amazing how those little women can throw those large thugs around. Real science. Will a women with a rifle save us? It use to be call in the marines......now it's call in the women.

That's why I watch re-runs.......when we had competent audio engineers. And one could enjoyably watch a tv program. Today all media is rock concert style. And they call it hi-tek. I call it un-natural noise. Un-natural levels. A glass breaking 10 ft away is much louder than a conversation. It's a cartoon. Everything has the quality of a cartoon today.

Acting use to be a imitation of reality so that all could relate. Today it's all fantasy. For the juvenile mind. Old folks require medication to get thru it. Where's that joint? And what's the next cartoon?

I am extremely sore when it comes to today's audio. Pardon my disdain. DSP should be banned from all audio. We need to get back to natural sound, not this synthesized, un-natural crap.

Constantly having to adjust the audio for a recent production.........is not entertainment.

OR............let us set background music level, sound effects level and level for EACH actor. The professionals are terrible at it.

And don't try and tell me it's my old hearing. The reruns are perfect. As are my records and tube amp. Today's youth does not know what good audio is. They have never heard it. Unless on a playground.....are any there? A screen is the new playground. A screen and a tin speaker. The real world for them.

You are right,modern programs suck.Series are only abut 7 episodes per season,when they used to be 20 or for some programs,Writers on strike?Bah!HumBug!

Seems to me they have been on an unannounced slowdown for a long time.

The really good writers are now writing commercial scrips instead of shows,but I do not like commercials.A lot of shows have turned into infomercials.

I remember a sci fi move where a section of Earth was cut out and removed into outer space,and no one knew it,except for a few,who were quickly disposed of.When one persistent individual finally penetrated the security,he was told the truth.The aliens running the show said that after a few generations,everything would seem normal.You cant miss what you never had.

Same as today.Kids will never know real privacy,real creativity,real acting, or real friends;Especially when AI gets further developed,no one will know if they are talking to a human or machine.

1000 friends on face book,but who will get up at 3 in the morning and help you in a snowstorm?

Even the cartoons now are junk.I watch the old ones.What a difference!

Some of the old cartoons even had classical music in the background,like bugs bunny cartoons.

It was an article or an advert in Popular Electronics, circa 1960's or '70s.

Back in the days of analog tv,manual tuners and vertical,horizontal and tint controls knobs.

Yeah, I turned up the brightness knob, but the shows were still just as dumb as ever.

Back in the 90’s, I had a Phillips TV, that controlled the commercials volume. It was great…

Samsung has an auto-volume option. I set mine up and it seemed to work at first, but now it seems there are still commercials that crank up the volume to make sure you can hear the sponsors message in the bathroom.

Maybe they have come up with a way to defeat it.

https://www.samsung.com/in/support/tv-audio-video/what-is-auto-volume-feature-in-samsung-smart-tv/#:~:text=The%20Auto%20Volume%20feature%20keeps,sound%20modulation%20signal%20is%20low.

From Sony:

"IMPORTANT: If model-specific information is required to complete any of the steps in this solution, refer to the operating instructions supplied with the TV.

Manuals are posted on your model support page.

1. If the TV has Steady Sound® volume control, set it to On. IMPORTANT: On certain model TVs, the Steady Sound feature may only works when the RF input is being used; for some models it work with composite, component or HDMI® inputs.
2. If the TV has the Advanced Auto Volume feature, set it to On.
3. If the TV has sound or audio effect options (Simulated, SRS, WOW, or TruSurround), try changing the effect option to Off.
4. If the previous options are not available on your TV, use the MUTE or MUTING button on the TV remote control."

https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/00032035

I still download a lot a season series and movies. Commercial free. My tv has wifi and can stream from my desktop. If you stream from a media device, like fire, they add commercials.

Speaking of streaming, my desktop is connected to fiber thru cat cable. It's just shy of 1000 dn and 1000 up. This new rig I built has wifi 6. When I disconnect the cat cable and connect via wifi, I get 650 dn and 800 up. That's the fastest wifi I've seen. (MBPS)

And the desktop network hardware is rated at 2.5G. I pay for a 1200 rate. But 5G is available to me.....if I have a modem. And the money.

No. The channel delivers all the programs at a lower level and when it comes to the advertisement, they output it at full allowable amplitude.

I remember those gadgets, disconnected the antenna. With new digital TVs they throw a wobbly if the antenna signal is missing so that would be a bug bear, I just love the mute button, it wears out first on controller.

Here a dilemma, my wife doesn’t like violence on TV, I could be watching by myself say,… a ‘John Wick’ movie, and it’s mellow, as soon as my wife walks in the room, all hell breaks out in the movie..

my wife thinks that all I watch is all the gun and bombs going off because that’s all she sees… what timing…

Don't watch prurient violence.

Your wife will appreciate it.

interesting seeing a members mental capabilities degrade with so much hate compounded with age.

Projection.

Insults are the norm for you. But, I'm no "expert."

prurient

adjective

pru·​ri·​ent ˈpru̇r-ē-ənt Synonyms of prurient : marked by or arousing an immoderate or unwholesome interest or desire especially : marked by, arousing, or appealing to sexual desire pruriently adverb

Have you ever tried to stop being an ass? Or is it you just can’t do anything about it.

What ever happened to that V chip? I don't mean the one that controls children access.

Didn't that billionaire in "Contact" who funded the 2nd device, get his money from his invention called a V chip, that automatically blocked tv commercials?

Or am I having a senior moment?

Back in the mid-80's, my boss and I discussed that topic and attempted to build that auto-volume limiter. We converted the audio from an AC signal to a DC signal and used it to control an audio limiter. It had an adjustable attack and decay (basically, adjustable device cut-in and cut-out) plus the commercial volume setting (meaning, what volume we wanted the commercial to drop to). It worked somewhat.

If we adjusted the attack to cut-in quickly, the volume would sometimes drop when a loud portion of the show occurred (such as an explosion). If we slowed the attack, the commercial would blare out for a second before dropping to the volume we wanted.

Similarly, with decay, the show would sometimes come on but the volume would still be low. Sometimes, if the commercial has a quiet portion, the volume would come back up before the commercial ended.

It was a pain to adjust and it cut-in and cut-out at incorrect moments, even during the show. It was an interesting exercise, however. Taught me a lot. (",)

regards,

Vulcan

In the analog tv days(NTSC Never The Same Color Twice)
it was the modulation that increased during commercials,not the actual volume.This resulted in an apparent sensible volume increase to the listener.

The device I remember used the audio modulation level for sensing commercials and killing the volume.It did require some internal wiring changes,but a TV tech could easily install it.

The company was probably bought out by big business because it threatened their revenue stream.

Anyway,it soon disappeared from the market.

It is now a moot point with digital tv.

All you can do is manually mute and skip if the particular channel allows it;some do,some don't.

Some smart DTV's have a volume level limit setting,but it is ineffective for commercials.

There are no adverts on channels originating within the BBC.

Oh Eff Eff is my preferred solution to obnoxious commercials.

Other than MeTV and AntennaTV, there isn't much on the boob tube that I want to watch anymore. Give me re-runs of Carol Burnett any day over any of the new crap that is being passed off as entertainment.

Even louder and more irritating is the elevator music they play while you are on hold on the telephone.I am hearing impaired,but it is still too loud and always an obnoxious repetitive tune.I turn the volume down,then when the hold time is over
I have to turn it back up again when I finally get an agent.

See:

https://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/105780/TV-Commercial-Blocker

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_skipping

https://hackaday.com/blog/?s=CROSS-CORRELATION+MAKES+QUICK+WORK+OF+ADS