Is There a Solution for Loud TV Commercials?

That is one of my pet peeves as well. I have heard rumors that just such a device was developed in the late '70's, but that the patent was purchased by one of the major TV advertisers and buried. I've never been able to verify the story. I have to say that my cable box DVR that allows me to fast-forward through commercials is just about the best thing to happen to TV since color.

Agreed, and here in the good ol USA, the worst offenders are the screaming
auto commercials, and medical garbage commercials.
For those of us who run a seperate satilite or cable tuner, with audio outputs
for connection to an externnal amplifier system, a simple dual channel AGC
amplifier does the job, and all audio comes out basically the same level.
This brings low level audio up to the desired level, and clips or clamps any
audio above the desired level, down to the desired level.
I built the one I am using a long time ago for use with a stereo system,
but the good ol dual op amps just keep on trucking, and this connects between
the audio source and the amplifier.

We now have a seperate HD satillite tuner, feeding a DVD/VCR recorder, and the
audio is fed seperatly to either the Flat panel TV speakers, or to the Stereo sound
system, for surround sound. We found that the audio section in the LG DVD/VCR
has a good AGC system, and we no longer have the screaming commercials, or
the very low sound output from some parts of a movie, but it all stays the
same level, without the use of the added AGC amplifier.

There are a number of commercial AGC signal amplifiers available, but the sound
quality may vary greatly, as most of these are designed for narrow frequency
ranges for industrial use. research and experimentation would be required.

Hello Johnjohn

The original device sold around 35 years ago, and did the job well, too well in fact.

The problem for the advertisers was it was so good, they tried legislating against it, when that didn't work they bought the Patent and Company, shelving the idea.

Because the Audio Modulation Level increases markedly at the start of an Advertisement period, then drops back to TV Programme level at the end of the Advertisement period, it was an easy job to make a small cheap unit to mute the sound during advertisements.

I have here found it quite effective in writing a letter to the TV Station, also the Product makers, advising them because of the "higher Audio levels during the advertisement, you and your family and friends are going to boycott the station and advertisers".

Encourage your friends to do the same.

Before you write the letter, ensure you address it to the "Attention CEO" by his/her name, phone the Company or TV Station to find that name out, add it into the letter.

Do not send emails for this, they are always discarded, but a written letter, sent via postal service, asking for a reply does the job.

Better if you send the letter/s Registered Post, Signature required, that way you know they got it, and they know you know.

A FAX may be used, but set up your sending machine to make a printout of the other machine's ID and "Received OK Receipt" - that's your evidence it was received.

It works well here, requires no batteries.

I do appreciate that NZ is a much smaller market, but have a go, the results may surprise you.

After all, if a TV station and Company CEO gets a dozen letters or more, they normally take notice.

You could also purchase a single share in the Company, attend the annual shareholder's Meeting, and have your say, best to have several others do the same, and attend the Meeting, if you try this method.

Kind Regards....

would like to know if you folks in other countries have the same problem with advertisers

This is true here in the Philippines as well.

My former boss, who was an american (U.S.), explained that TV stations do that on purpose (increase the volume during commercials). It's a subliminal effect thing. The louder something is, the easier it is to become imprinted in the mind. However, as you've experienced, some stations overdo it. It's worse if you happen to live close to the station's transmitter.

My boss also explained the basic workings of the Smart Sound (his family owns a service center). Essentially, it monitored the overall volume of the sound. If that volume suddenly increases, the audio is muted or reduced to a more comfortable level. When the volume goes back to normal, the volume is restored to the same level as before. It's more of a limit switch than a constant volume circuit.

You're also right about the regulations. There isn't any.

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies.

Vulcan, you said "It's worse if you happen to live close to the station's transmitter." This doesn't apply in my case since I'm using a sattelite dish to receive programming.

Also, you said "The louder something is, the easier it is to become imprinted in the mind." That reminds me of car commercials. Someone once pointed out that you can easily determine wich audience a car commercial is aimed at. Generally (and I mean generally), you can determine the education/income level of the desired audience by the volume of the announcer. In other words, you're not likely to hear a Mercedes commercial broadcast at an obnoxious volume level, but conversely "Sam's Junkers" will invariably shake the ground by its volume level.

Sparky, you said "The original device sold around 35 years ago, and did the job well, too well in fact.The problem for the advertisers was it was so good, they tried legislating against it, when that didn't work they bought the Patent and Company, shelving the idea."

Isn't there a point in time when a patent expires, i.e., such as patents on prescription drugs, etc. I can't imagine a device as useful as this one could be completely shelved and buried forever!

I understand the value in writing to the stations with complaints. I may resort to this but it seems like it would be fairly simple to build an op amp positive feedback circuit that could be inserted between the audio output and the speaker(s). In other words not getting into the actual audio circuitry. I'm not an EE but I've been known to experiment a little here and there. This is the area I was kind of hoping for some expertise in. Something that could be constructed with parts from my local Radio Shack.

Thanks again to everyone.

-John

".....when that didn't work they bought the Patent and Company, shelving the idea."

Isn't there a point in time when a patent expires, i.e., such as patents on prescription drugs, etc. I can't imagine a device as useful as this one could be ...."

As I understand it a patent is granted as a priveledge to the inventor/ patent owner/ manufacturer to have sole rights to make the device available to the public without competition, in recognition of the inventors/owner/manufacturer's investment in developing the product.

Patents are to encourage people to develop ideas and make them available. Any patent that the owner is sitting on as a "dog in the manger" can be challenged and the patent may be granted to another person who wishes to make the product available.

In the case of the device to mute adverts, the advertiser who bought the patent could have been challenged, by a manufacturer who wanted to make the device available. It's a bit late now, the patent would be well run out.

Isn't there a point in time when a patent expires...

I believe there's a loop hole there. If you've got the money to continue the patent, you can have it for as long as you want. I think the only way out is to wait for the patent owner to die. I'm not very sure about this but I've heard of it.

...fairly simple to build an op amp positive feedback circuit...

You could try.

You need to get your feed from just before the audio power amp. Rectify and filter the audio signal sufficiently to get a voltage that varies with the volume. Then you feed it to a comparator that switches a resistor in or out of the volume control (in series) which causes the signal's voltage to drop. It doesn't cut the audio completely but reduces it to a more sensible level.

I don't have a circuit but this block diagram should give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

,,,right about the regulations. There isn't any.

I'm going to have to explain. There are regulations about the volume that TV stations broadcast at. However, advertisers want to make sure that their ads are heard. There are two ways of doing that: a) make the ad visually and audibly interesting and, b) use subliminal cues.

A) is difficult to do, usually succeeds only with kids.

B) involves using inaudible and/or non-obvious techniques to imprint the message in your mind. One of these techniques is to increase the overall volume.

Since there are regulations regarding volume levels, TV engineers (our misguided brethren), use methods to get around the regulations.

Even if you don't exceed the maximum volume stated in the regulation, by increasing the baseline volume, you can get an illusion of more loudness. This is done by manipulating how the commercial is recorded.

Another technique, already mentioned, is to lower the volume of the program and increase the volume of the commercials.

So, they stay within the boundaries of the regulations but still satisfy their customers (who don't happen to be the viewers, its the sponsors).

My former boss also explained that embedded signals in the scan lines, to signal that commercials were about to begin, were removed because advertisers didn't want them. If a TV station broadcasts such signals, advertisers didn't want to give them any commercials to run. It's counter-productive for them. So this idea, eventually died. I don't know if this has been revived though.

There was one channel that, decades ago, included a clock display along with their broadcasts. Someone noticed that this clock would disappear just before a commercial came on. Anyone who designed a circuit to take advantage of this feature soon lost out. The station decided that they'd continue displaying the clock but switched it off at odd intervals. Advertisers were still the reason for the change.

Hoorah!
YES this is true in UK too.
I heard some half arsed 'explanation' by some marketing/pr twat which said there was some technical problem which stopped the m matching the sound levels...complete bollocks of course.

The only solution in our control would be if the public boycotted products advertized in this way...or complained en masse...and that will happen when hell freezes over.

Advertizing is the root of all evil, (discus in a VERY LOUD VOICE FOR 3 MINUTES)

Del

I agree that the same happens in the UK but, as the adverts are so often more interesting than the programmes, I just leave the general sound level low. I'm usually doing something else whilst the TV is on anyway.

Though the ads may be interesting, it is harrassment to see the ads again and again and again

CONCUR! And the worst ones are those that have the same ad back to back immediately, then again in another 10 minutes. If I were paying for the ad time, I think I'd want enough separation for effectiveness rather than annoyance...

Hi Del.

Do what I do, I just press the "Mute" button, then go to the fridge to get another beer, problem solved!!!

Spencer.

Its ok.

But with beer, you may miss start of good TV program again. Mute mutes all sounds, I wish I can mute only ads.

[Comment withdrawn by repsondent]

What you are looking for is an Automatic Gain Control that triggers a mute function when the gain drops below a certain level.

I became selectively deaf when I got married. It is a great tool and it does work for loud advertisements. The only problem is that I sometimes forget to "turn" it up again.

I subscribe, too, to the "public outrage". It is, indeed, annoying to have to change the audio volume at a commercial break.

I would like to say something about a chip that will sense a certain level from which to do a kind of "saturation". Now, we can assume that we can make a kind of logarithmic amplifier, which would solve, in large part, the high level case. There is a single problem. The engineer who designes such a chip has to make a complementary, much more complicated one, which would enable/disable the kindAlog amplifier one when we are listening to music or political speeches where the dynamic is, as we know, 100dB for music and 140dB for the other.

Yes. The simplest way to do this is to hit the "Mute" button on your remote. And yes, this problem exists all over the world as well.

One solution is to record the sound levels and if the ads are above the level, I think it is 50 to 65 db, that will cause serious and permanent hearing loss. At my house, my left ear is showing some hearing loss, my wife it is both ears, so she has to have the TV a little louder than normal, then the ad hits and bang, the sound jumps to the threshold of causing damage. If we can show that the level is up to the level during the ads to cause hearing loss, then sue the b*st*rds for all you can. Once they start feeling it in the pocket book, sure enough, they will come back to their senses.

For those who want to tinker; here is the requirement specification of a proposed solution. Either tap into the remote mute button of the TV remote control or reproduce a duplicate IR mute signal from a "black box" with the following characteristics: Measure the background sound level (microphone & op-amp) and feed this into a comparator with hysteresis (Schmit trigger, op-amp with + feedback). From the toggle points, derive a mute / unmute signal. In theory this should do the trick.

That's exactly what I was looking for Dragon slayer!

Thanks very much. Most helpful.

-John

I have one of these Terk units. Works great for most TV shows with ads. But you'll find you want to shut it off when watching music or action type movies...with lots of bangs and booms and such. It will kind of deaden the sound action there.

With regards to the volume change during ads, think about it....it's simple marketing. When does the average person jump up and go for the kitchen and grab snacks...or run to the head, etc.? During the commercial breaks. They crank the volume up so that you will still hear their sponsors advertisement while you are away from the TV.

You're very welcome John. Glad I could be some help. Have a great one!

Forgot to login. LOL

some ironic comfort for me, here in india, to learn this problem is worldwide. i had resigned myself to adNoise as a very indian phenomenon. it's so simple for the tv manufacturers to build in a strangler circuit that polices the decibel level. i will buy the first set that does this right

The device that you are seeking is built into many TVs already, I have a large CRT wide 16:9 Phillips with this already built in (but badly explained in the manual!) and a No-name Portable TV that has it too. The No-name works brilliantly in keeping the volume the same, the Phillips is not quite so go (Delta volume, you need to turn it all the way down for the correct effect), it reduces the change to a minimum, but does not get rid of it completely.

The No-name portable calls the effect something different, I have forgotten what (its still in our Caravan!!), so I guess each manufacturer calls it something else!!!

Just be more careful in choosing the next TV and make sure that the feature is available, I am sure the TV sales person will know EXACTLY what you are looking for!!!

I was just lucky, I bought both TVs in completely different countries (Phillips Germany and the other in the UK), not even knowing that such controls even existed!!!

I did read somewhere that it is not a volume change, but they compress the sound signal or something and the human ear takes it as a volume change!!! I would be interested in finding out more exactly what it really is if anyone knows....

-----------------------------------------------------

5 minutes later:-

I just Googled "TV ad Volume change" and got a load of hits, not read them all yet, but I will post again if I find anything interesting. I did find that at least since 1997 that Panasonic have a system called:- "Artificial Intelligence sound".

Most interesting Andy.

I was under the impression that only Magnavox had this feature; "Smart Sound". I am now a little more educated. Did you see Dragon Slayer's post about the Terk VR-1? It sounds like just what I need for my Mitsubishi TV.

It's a real shame that the FCC (here in U.S.) hasn't put some kind of regulation on stations that abuse the airwaves like they do.

-John

Its difficult for the lawmakers as the ads are only louder because they have compressed the sound (cut off some low and very high frequencies, so they put the same ENERGY LEVEL out, but concentrated over a smaller bandwidth (if I understood a web page about this fully correctly!).

As you yourself point out, there are units available to add to a TV system.

But as I pointed out, several manufacturers have a feature to reduce the differences in loudness between the program and a commercial break.

The next time you buy a TV, make sure that it already has this feature!!!

Hi,

any patent is expiring latest 20 years after first date of application.

Maybe earlyer if the owner doesn't pay the fees.

So you can search at www.uspto.gov

and use commercially.

You can use any valid patent privately.

RHABE

We're fortunate in the UK to be able to see BBC which is devoid of commercial adverts and don't suffer this problem, apart from the BBC increasingly pushing their own commercials but they dont seem to mess with the volume. I watch the occasional intelligent programme on ITV channels where fortunately rubbish product adverts don't seem to sponsor the programme therefore the volume change problem doesn't seem to exist. If it does, I haven't noticed it. My wife and son are partially deaf and a change in volume appears to have a greater effect on them than it does to me with normal hearing and they will switch off for a few minutes. Anyway I'm usually doing something else when the adverts come on, after a while it's easy to 'tune out' most adverts from your mind.

I can imagine this is a big problem to you with only commercial channels. I understood, as others have mentioned, that anyone sitting on an unused patent can challenge it in court as it is against the principle for which patents are taken out - to provide a commercial advantage to the inventor/owner. Sitting on it does not do that.

I complained years ago. I was given a load of sanctimonious claptrap about the majority of viewers preferring higher volume. Also it was said that the volume is not higher because it has to be controlled by law.

So a trick they use was to lower the volume of the associated programme just before the ads start.

Electronically, it was easy to get round in the old days with valve TV's - you could knock up a little potentiometer circuit at the speaker outlet to get a signal to connect back into the amplifier input on the grid bias to give a negative feedback. Thus any increased volume at the inlet caused a reduced volume at the outlet.

I don't know how to do this with modern transistor/computer TV's

Perhaps there is no need. The way things are going at the moment, it seems as though a computer with a tuner and large screen becomes a TV - whereas a TV with a keyboard and mouse becomes a computer. They will meet in the middle somewhere.

The point is, could someone write a programme for the computer so that volume can be controlled automatically - and better still - allow swear words to be trapped and deleted.

I appreciate this might cause many of the modern movies to become 'silent' - but wouldn't it be nice.

Whilst moaning, as well as volume, there is the damned loud intrusive background beat to drown out the voice-overs in news and documentaries. The BBC are major offenders here. It is so unnecessary.

And it is worse for the hard of hearing (me) because you are straining to listen to the voice which makes the background seem louder than ever.

Comments by others about how to write and complain is all very well, but their efforts seem to have had no effect. So what do we do.

It seems that many people post without first reading what has been said by all!! How quaint!!

Let me repeat it again that many TVs are made (in Europe at least), with a special volume control (each has its own name for, see my previous post for a few of them) that nullifies out the compression during the ads that the human ear hears as an increase in volume.....

There is really no need to start programming PCs and the like!!!

Also, there appears to be units, currently available that can be placed between the TV and a HiFi system, that will even out this problem.

A Google search using " TV Ad volume change" should find everything you need!!!

I did a brief internet study on this a while back. As I recall, in the US, the level of commercials is regulated by the FCC, but the definition of loudness leaves some wiggle room for sound engineers to increase the volume over a limited frquency range and still meet specifications. I also read that a company (I believe Dolby) has developed a solution to the problem but has decided to market their product to television manufacturers instead of to the public. Look for it to be available in TVs shortly, or contact Dolby and inquire.

Yeah! Put it on mute and look the other way. They're trying to get your attenetion, when in fact they lose it.

Maybe a clever advertizing guy (or is that an oxymoron) will do a really interesting ad' with the audio _{so quiet you have to turn it up...now that would get our} attention

After reading all posts, I'm surprised that nobody suggested what I, myself, have been meaning to undertake "sooner-or-later".

Next time I see one (TV, W-Mart, wherever), I'm buying a "Clapper" {yeah; 'clap-on', 'clap-off'!} and rigging it inside the voluminous body beneath my rear-projector set so that it controls a "dual" (i.e., stereo) relay. "Speakers-on"... "Speakers-off".

Quicker and less fumbling-around that the mute button, since I always seem to carry the remote here-and-there, forgetting where I last set it!

In the 70s in the TV instrument design labs a few friends and myself designed a simple circuit that read the sgnalling lines that are not displayed on the screen of the TV and in there there used to be a signal telling that a commercial break was coming and when...

So it was easy to isolate this signal and automatically mute the audio at the start of a commercial break...

Having said that though we only had BBC1 BBC2 and ITV then and I'm sure all the UK viewers will remember the little square up in the righthand corner of the ITV screen? This was the information signal that an advert was coming...

Nowadays with cable, satellite and more terrestial channels its been done away with.

John.

a decent quality set will have volume leveling.

Stop being so cheap, buying everything at Walmart. You get what you pay for............

that and use the mute button.

I have noticed that the sound level of the program being watched begins dropping a minute or two before the commercial break. Many times I have picked up the remote and turned up the volume so I can hear the program, and then get blasted by an excessively loud commercial. I makes me furious! I used to sit through the breaks and watch the commercials, but now I make a point to mute the sound during the entire commercial break. As I read these posts, I see many of you do so as well. Conclusion: this offensive technique that the advertisers are using is counterproductive!

Bill Morrow

You wrote:-

Conclusion: this offensive technique that the advertisers are using is counterproductive!

HOW RIGHT YOU ARE!!!

I could not agree more (by the way, that was not a commercial break, that was me shouting in agreement!!

If the commercial people had a single atom of Brain power, they would not make the ads any louder, as I do personally believe (and it seems many CR4 people as well) it probably causes the following to happen in some houses, as well as offending many people:-

1) Mute switch pressed (that was us until I found the special volume control on my Phillips).

2) Volume reduced using remote.

3) Switching to another program for a few minutes and watching a bit of another less interesting program for a short time (in Europe there are still plenty of non commercial TV channels, though here in Germany, the commercial channels are mostly synced to each other at between 7 to 9 pm).

4) Go and do something in the Kitchen or Bathroom!!

or

Have a TV with some form of special volume control that stops the ads being any louder than the rest of the program, maybe even some of the ads are then actually watched!!

In numbers 1) to 4) above, none of the people watch the ads!!! They are lost to the commercial advertising completely!

We also occasionally are 1) to 4) people too, in spite of having a "Quiet" TV when the ads come on.

I also thought about the problem a little further and I do believe that the first TV company or add on unit maker that comes up with the electronics to reliably shut the volume down completely at the beginning of the commercial break and restore it at the end, will be onto a "REAL MONEYMAKER!!", do you not agree?

Andy, read my post #31.... in the design labs at Marconi we did design a circuit to read the encoded data in the 'invisible' TV lines known as containing the 'ITS' signals.

Unfortunately the TV company responded by changing the data signal and then removing it.

Presumably for monetary reasons.

John.

I had read it, but as you mentioned it had been removed, it did not appear to make sense to mention it again.....

The only thing I notice that you could use in German TV is that the station logo disappears a few seconds before the ads start, and reappears just after they are finished, but as all the logos are all different and some are in different places on the screen, there is a fair bit of technology needed to use that alone......

"will be onto a "REAL MONEYMAKER"!!"

Yup, the big ad agencies will pay millions to shelve it forever...

I have come up with a good fix that no one has mentioned, yet. The wife and I both have problems hearing speech on TV. So, we watch with the closed captioning on. Then we can understand what is being said and we can turn the volume way down or even mute the TV altogether.

Yeah, but they still crank up the volume, even in muted closed caption: THEY USE CAPITAL LETERS

Read a book.

I have an interesting effect with my television which is a standard definition analogue type, I feed this via an DVD/VCR recorder which has some form of digital tuning.

Reception in my area is not very good on a couple of channels due to surrounding hills etc, for some reason when the commercials come on the signal drops out all together and leaves me with a blue screen and no audio. I notice this happens also to some degree when a digital alert or blurb is played on top of the normal program content.

There is obviously some extra digital content in commercials which could be detected and a blocking circuit devised to obtain an audio or video shutdown.

Maybe someone can come up with a circuit for this.

Hi Garth,

"for some reason when the commercials come on the signal drops out all together and leaves me with a blue screen and no audio."

I certainly wouldn't complain about that. I'd say you were quite lucky (that is unless you're a "commercial" junkie).

-John

I did not think it was that far off topic!! some people are picky.

I don't mean you Johnjohn, It does suit me as I can fix a cup of coffee and when the audio comes back on I know the program is back on line.

I just hit the mute button on the remote to eliminate obnoxiously loud commercials.

ME TOO --- ALL I DO IS HIT DA MUTE BUTTON. WHUTS RONG WIF ALL YOUZ GUYS. DATS ALL ANYONE NEEDS TO DO. WHY EVEN DISCUSS IT.

EVERYONE WHO AGREEZ GO AHEAD AN AD YOUR OWN POST FOR THE MUTE BUTN.

If you intentionally misspell, its probably a good idea to add a "" to show you are joking, because if you don't, it just looks like badly misspelled, ignorant shouting (if that is possible!).

Just a thought, have a great day anyway.

I am so fed up with the quantity of adds, that I refuse to watch any channels with adds on them. It used to be that there was only a few 20-30 second adds, now there is more adds then programming. It is frustrating watching old reruns from half hour sit-coms that now take over an hour to watch. They actually cut parts of the program to insert more adds.

I try stick to channels such as PBS, News channels, and Movie networks that don't have adds. Since the quality of shows have diminished, Adds have gotten offensive (stupid) I have recently even considered getting rid of the cable all together!

Whatever the volume of the adds, the mere repetitiveness of it will brainwash and program your family. The most basic concept of training is repeat, repeat, repeat.

The most upsetting concept is that the most valuable and limited asset in your lifetime is your "time". The add agencies are stealing your time with unsolicited garbage. They have even invaded the movie theaters!

How much of your life has been wasted by listening to something that you don't want to listen to?

"How much of your life has been wasted by listening to something that you don't want to listen to?"

Whatever the total, add 2 more minutes now...

Seriously, I agree, and I don't see how any thinking person could do otherwise. We call that 'butcher television' because they cut the shows, movies, etc. up so much, and yes, often the ad time is more than the show time. Flustrating! But the ones that get me the most are the 'infomercials' - 30, maybe 60 minutes of paid-for time of nothing BUT one long sales spiel. I keep waiting for them to get cagey and sell ad time during their 'shows' to someone else! Well, at least the ones I've happened onto don't seem to raise their volume level much... Good example there of 'damning by faint praise', eh?

Back when increasing volume during commercials was a violation of Federal regulation--yes, that's right, it was before the Congress gutted and replace the Federal Communications Act of 1934 (broadly acknowledged as one of the best pieces of legislation in U.S. history)--the problem even then existed...and people were incredulous when stations claimed (to protect their licenses) that they do not engage in the practice (which is also held to be unethical and unacceptable by N.A.B). Story then was that stations were able to "escape" the possibility of license revocation because commercial loudness was a matter of perception. The way that stations (or more precisely, the advertising programmers) got around the prohibition was to keep amplification at maximum allowable across the entire frequency range, such that advertising sound and voice did not "modulate" normally as in the speech heard during regular programming. The perception of boosted volume was a reflection, basically, of the contrast between "normal," fluctuating sound volume during regular programming and the abnormal, and abnormal, non-fluctuating volume during commercial spots. The perception during commercials then becomes as if ad copy is being spoken normally but at the volume of shouting. It has become increasingly obvious in recent years, though, that volume is actually being cranked up. Does this mean that someone is actually changing a volume control? That is very doubtful. But would a station operator be monitoring when ad tapes are run in order to turn down volume to compensate for a loudly recorded ad tape? That is equally very doubtful.

Will stations respond to complaints and threats of boycott? Also doubtful.

Hi all! I might be able help with this. question. In a Nut shell!

I have been a headend tech for many years and now I work for the AD insertion part for Charter Media. This a problem I deal with all the time. First the AD insertion equipment in analog cable system is the midde device the Sat.Rec'vr - AD Insertion - Modulator. When setting up audio deveation levels we try get 0db in the AD insertion equipment. This is done by a selection if resisters from 300 ohms to 1500 ohms on the input to the AD Insertion equipment ( Switch). On some switches and servers there are programs with AGC that will match the network Audio and Video levels. But not all switches work with this program. so the resisters work the best. We do PM maint. every 30-60 days on all the sites to make sure nothing has changed like a new Sat. Rec'ver.

But now the second part we have a number of people editing spots and we try to use standards but levels come out of calabration this why we QC all the sites to hear and see spots when they play. Also with digital MPEGs they have to be encoded to play on the AD insertion servers. The converter sometimes comes out of spec. That is why when there is a problem I encurage all comments and Info of what spot ,what channel, what time to narrow down the source. I try to do the best job I can thanks for all you help with your complaints they really help allot.

"...the AD insertion equipment in analog cable system ..."

So apparently the problem should soon resolve itself - we will have no analog TV service very shortly...

Why don't you run for an office? I would give you a GA for that, too!

Run for an office? Moi?!? Mais non! I do not have enough greed and avarice, I have far too much morals and ethics, and I do not crave abuse and abasement.

Otherwise, sure, why not? But which office...hmmm...OK, I pick "Master of Space and Time". Yes, I will run for that office. Wanna be my campaign manager? We can kick it off with the loudest TV commercial ever heard...

Will the commercial sound like your avatar?

"I encurage all comments and Info of what spot ,what channel, what time to narrow down the source. "

Virtually every commercial break starts with a commercial that is annoyingly louder than the programming that immediately preceded it. As a general rule the commercials get louder as the break goes on. Some of the loudest are commercials for car dealerships, which usually come near the end of the commercial break. I used to turn down the volume little by little as the commercials got louder. Now I just hit the mute when the break begins.

(I have Brightstar.)

Bill Morrow

Yes, it is true for many countries, as I experience during visits to various countries.

What I wish to have is not only keeping the volume constant, but to mute the TV during advertisements.

Can any body suggest some SMART circuit to mute it during ads and making ON again on program you are observing?

"Can any body suggest some SMART circuit to mute it during ads and making ON again on program you are observing?"

ghusas, go back and read the earlier posts on this thread. There are numerous ideas, products and suggestions.

-John

This circuit is very simple, just detect sound level and then control auto gain part of the sound branch, or add a swither on it to mute the voice, but keep a constant volume is not very simple. because it concern many factors.

in short, if you know vu meter, you will know there are lots of kinds ot time constant meter to keep recordist hearing volume balance. music volume and voice volume has differnet level.

From man theirself, if you hear a low voice in a long time, suddenly a little loud come in you will feel very strong, but when you stay in such situation for a long time, you will feel qiet very much when the voice stop suddenly. its shield effect.

however, they west people like to go to law court, tell the adertisers, let s see in the court.

that do the trick.

Just a footnote, this article from the Telegraph suggests that the complaints are getting through.

Hello Nigh

At least our UK Members may get some relief from July 7th 2008.

Kind Regards....

Nigh-

Thanks for the article. My wife rolls her eyes every time I complain about this problem. Now I can show her that it is not just me. I hope we get similar relief here in the colonies.

Bill Morrow

Guys/gals, I believe there is an answer to all our grief! Rather than try to detect sound level there is another way.

My brother in law showed me how his TV receiver could be programmed (weeks in advance) to record specific programs using their "GCODE". He discovered that programs recorded that way had NO ADVERTISEMENTS RECORDED as their code did not match the code for the program.

We tinkered a bit and also found a "GCODE" filter on the receiver where you could program out specific codes. We simply recorded a period of time by manual "record" button and then in playback found the codes for the 10 most hated adds, put them into the filter and hey presto, those adds were not shown and there was no sound.

Normal program and the other adds played normally.

I think he later programmed "mute" for the filtered codes so the image was still on screen.

We also discovered a "set GCODE" option that could be activated at the start of each program. Everything else could be muted.

Hello Just an Engineer

Your brother-in-law must have an unusual Gcode TV/VCR etc.

Here the Gcode does not actually show anywhere, except in the printed programme guides.

The Gcode here covers the entire episode period, recording all during that period, including the adverts.

Please advise further, with

Kind Regards....

Welcome aboard, and thanks for the heads-up! I have mute buttons on all of my remotes, but if that thing does it automatically (haven't checked the website yet) I may have to invest in one... BTW, I gave you a "good answer" vote, but don't expect one for every post!

the website's statement that it automatically mutes *commercials* with a "High Degree of Accuracy" has me wishing for a real, honest-to-goodness, detailed, unbiased Review.

The Review should include testing the commercial-muting of several different channels at several different times of the day, as well as verifying that it DOESN'T mute car crashes, explosions, alarms etc. in various movie content.

I'm willing to bet that these auto-mute gizmos can frustrate as much as they alleviate...!

Gimme a "clapper" on-off switch at the speaker terminals anyday...

I too give GA.

This may be the record... to have GA for very first post.

yeah.. Australia as well... your watching a romantic or meaningful part of a movie and then out of the blue! a loud 'in ya' face' guy screaming at you about how low the prices are at his crazy rug sale! Shits me.. Just want an auto mute device for my TV that kills the adverts.