CHRIS_D

Is it just me..............but when im watching a programme (any channel) i have the volume set at a comfortable level.

No sooner do the adverts come on the volume is increased tenfold without any adjustment .

Once the volume is adjusted to a comfortable level again the programme is back on, only inow cant bloody hear it

anyone else suffering with this

chris

Davie

Aye! me!

And i thought i was losing it or my telly was cuffed!

JayPSC

Yup deffo, scares the **** out of me sometimes

ProperCharlie

telly on too loud is one of my pet hates. when we lived in a flat i used to get well cheesed off with the missus watching east enders with the volume turned up. i have to put up with people shouting and going on at me all day, i don't want to have that when i come home in the evening. i also notice that adverts are louder than the normal programme, and find this annoying. i'm sure that the advertisers must perceive that they get some sort of added value by having their audio above the normal programme level. not from me though as i just press the mute button.

Suresh

They do this all the time over here in Holland. P*sses me off big time. Sometimes the commericals seem more than twice as loud as the programme they interrupt. At first they denied it saying that it was to do with the 'intensity' of the soundtrack on the commercial [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] and finally one of the channels is taking action to moderate the volume of ads.

To be honest any adverisor who plays this game is more likely to turn consumers off by associating their brand with an annoying experience...

hedgehog

There are several things that could cause this. In one instance it is possible to compress and process the audio when the advert is being produced to make it sound louder than other material, despite it peaking the same level on a meter. This is why some CDs sound lots louder than others even when they actually have the same peak levels. I would expect that many adverts would undergo this form of processing for "impact."

It is also possible that the broadcaster concerned has a policy, due to pressure from advertisers, of playing out the adverts at a higher level than the programme material.

The other, more likely, possibility is that it is just symptomatic of the general decline in the quality of TV over the last while. In the past TV stations had a person who transmitted pre-recorded shows and adverts and who would attempt to match the levels between the items using meters and also, more importantly, ears. Now that TV has gone down the tubes (can anyone actually watch digital TV without getting annoyed by the picture quality?) quality doesn't matter any more and many stations get a machine to play out their programmes. In this instance the advertisers could record their adverts at the maximum level possible on the medium and could also process them to sound as loud as possible and this would be the level they arrive at your TV at. The majority of pre-recorded programmes will not be recorded like this as they will have some dynamic range and so the vast majority of the show will be at an "average" level to allow the occasional loud bit to have impact.

Listening to processed material without dynamic range is very tiring and most find it uncomfortable, take BBC Radio 1 for example. During the day it has zero dynamic range and lots of processing and that's why most people prefer to listen to R2, it doesn't give you a sore head and a tense neck.

The best thing you could do is contact the company who make the product being advertised and inform them that you found the experience of their advert unpleasant. Contacting the TV station directly isn't likely to do much, they are only interested in keeping the cash coming in.

Anyone who has given their hard earned cash to Sky has paid for this drop in quality to happen :-)

CHRIS_D

while were on the subject of SKY, the cheeky beggers are puttin the price up again [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

from £32 - £34 a month for a load of shyte IMHO

i'm seriously thinking of binning SKY, fecking rip off merchants [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

chris

[Edited by CHRIS_D - 10/30/2003 7:45:46 PM]

In Disguise

Chris,
glad im not the only one, when i get in from work usually bout 3AM, i tip toe upstairs after setting the sky box, get under the quilt (try for a grope) nope not having any of that, so switch on the telly set volume at 4 so its just loud enough to hear then like u say the adverts come and its bloody deafning, she then turns over and "turn thast bloody telly down will ya" WTF so now i keep the remote so i can turn it town when they start

Boro

iTrader: (1)

Personally i dont mind the higher volume on the adverts, cos as soon as they finish, the TV isnt worth watching anyway

unclebuck

Yea it's crap. I hit the volume cut as soon as the breaks start.

UB[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Mice_Elf

In Disguise - get some headphones, mate.

johnfelstead

if you watch properly you will also notice something interesting. Adverts have lots of image breaks in them at the start, where the picture goes black then bright. These are put there to cause the TV Tube to go through a full load change which emits a noticable audio pitch change and visual strobe which gets your attention to watch the screen.

Then they start shouting at you.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Yes, it's really p1sses me off!! [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

I think what hedgehog says is pretty much bang on the nail (and yes I hate blocky digital too ) Its all about dynamic ranges and audio compression. And with dolby pro-logic you sometimes have the rear speakers on full volume too (just to make it even louder ).

I do believe there are some ITC regulations that are set out in terms of volume levelling. But I don't know how realistic the values that given actually are, and how stictly they are enforced.

Also Does anyone think Sky show way too many adverts for far too long? I think the last time I timed them they were up to 6 minutes - which really is taking the p1ss! Once again I swear there are ITC rules to govern this.

I'm afaid UK TV is turning into US TV, More adverts than programs! TBH, I hardly watch terrestrial anymore as it's either Soaps (as if real life is bad enough), news, or some ancient film (with the news in-between)

Nevetas

They know your going out the room for a cup of tea, so they shout at you...

Scooby96

B20 - "I suppose I notice it most on chat shows"

You musnt allow W69 to tell you what to watch, sky sports & mtv only when I get home from work!

astraboy

Cant say I've noticed this tbh, but I have to concur about Sky. The amount of adverts they show does take the ****, especially the way they show a set at around 10 minutes before the end of the actual programme. Every avert break contains at least one for Ocean fookin Finance as well. Like was said previously, Seriously thinking of binning Sky. The only thing I watch regularly is Takeshi's castle. Dont watch the films but pay for it,never watch the sports but pay for it.
Rupert Murdoch has had enough money from me,I think.
astraboy.

jjones

if it were down to audio compression etc then why does EVERY SINGLE advert sound the same volume wise i.e a lot louder than the programme you were watching.

this happens on all common sky channels (don;t know about the rest) and have never come accross a quiet commercial in amongst the others - would you not think that some of the adverts would not have messed about with audio compression whatsi doodah? Therefore i think that SKY increase the volume specifically for the breaks.

anyhow the ******* can whistle for the 32 to 34 price hike cos the movies and sport are getting cancelled

Dave P

I've also noticed this more on Sky than terrestrial. I'm sure I read somewhere recently that this is deliberate. Many people leave the room during adverts. Raising the volume increases the chances they may still hear the ad.

Dave

Goochie

Buy a TV with auto volume adjustment. If you've spent 15mins watching a quiet show and the ads come on loud it trims it down a little.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I Just blew £800 on a TV and it doesn't have volume compenstation

Diesel

Yep - its audio compression coupled to breaking the rules. The average level for compressed signals should be lower (by 2db IIRC) than for non compressed signals. Yeah! Right ITC! (It is nothing like video compression BTW)

Compare it to putting your finger over the end of a hosepipe - its the same amount of water but FEELS like more if you are stood in front of it...

>>(can anyone actually watch digital TV without getting annoyed by the picture quality?)<< Certainly not me & I had a letter in a trade mag whinging about it. Seems crazy when there are people investing in HD Cams and HD edit kit that are 3 times the price and have FABULOUS pictures. It's about quantity over quality i'm afraid...

D

mart360

Its bandwith compression , and they have admitted doing it!!!

bloody skys the worst with its 5 second delay in transmission...

and the bloody quality of picture is crap... as soon as theres any movement on screen it pixelates...

i know one problem they had big time was the interactive bit...

they made such a fuss about how good it was loads of sponsors signed up and it was frighteningly sloooow so all the sponsors threated to pull out unless it got quicker... and how did they achieve this.... by reducing the available data and channel width from the other channels... they / you suffer and the sponsors stay happy...


M

Diesel

Yep - it's SO good Teletext doesnt work (cos they compress the signals down to nonsense). They never tell you THAT do they...

Leslie

Good post from Hedgehog to explain what they are up to. If there is someone from the advertising business reading this, perhap's you would like to pass it on that not only does it antagonise viewers against the product, but usually people turn the volume down so much that they can't hear the advert any more anyway. Obviously some bright fellow thought it up to further his career, but the fact is that it is totally non productive as far as advertising is concerned.

Les