[scrooloose]

Legislation to turn down the volume on those loud TV commercials that send couch potatoes diving for their remote controls looks like it'll soon become law. The Senate unanimously passed a bill late Wednesday to require television stations and cable companies to limit the volume of commercials and keep them at the level of the programs they interrupt.

I hope this becomes Law in Canada too!

-Mike

 

[ALSto]

Good... This bugs me so much...

However at what cost? The article indicates technical challenges that may require equipment. These will be passed onto consumers in some form or another.

Allen...

 

[roger1818]

However at what cost? The article indicates technical challenges that may require equipment.

It all depends on to what extent we want to solve the problem. A simple, though less effective way to solve the problem is to pre-set the volume of commercials to a volume that is equivalent to the average volume level of most programs. The problem with this approach is when you cut to commercial in a quiet scene the commercial will still sound loud and similarly if you cut to commercial after a particularly loud scene, the commercial will sound quiet.

The best way to solve the problem is to analyze the volume level of the program just before you cut to commercial and then dynamically adjust the commercial volume accordingly. This would require special equipment.

 

[talljak]

Hurray! This is great news. Even with a PVR I have been so annoyed by the DB jump in volume as soon as a show goes to commercial. This is long over due.
Now will we see the change this tv season...

 

[leopard]

They should put down in their legislation not to pass any extras onto the customers and to absorb the costs of purchasing new equipment in the U.S. and hopefully someday in Canada too if the CRTC has it's way.

 

[Boca Junior]

Does anyone really expect the CRTC to bring in a similar rule? That would involve doing something that viewers actually like, and we can't have any of that.

 

[DT1]

With Dish Network the difference between programs and commercials is unbelievable. Don't even think about taking a nap, as soon as the commercial comes on you will be awake looking for the remote.

 

[cmurray]

As Boca Junior says, the CRTC is not in existence to protect consumers, it's there to help big broadcasters dilute the viewing experience to the point that nobody will watch.

 

[ScaryBob]

Just because volume levels are equalized, that doesn't mean that commercials will not still sound louder. Commercial makers already use techniques to defeat broadcasting audio standards and increase sound levels for their products. Add to that 6 different compression techniques and it's no wonder there is a problem. Interrupt a quiet section of movie or TV show with wide dynamic range and the problem seems 10 times worse. I hate loud commercials as much as anyone but a law is not going to fix the problem 100%.

 

[roger1818]

ScaryBob, I agree with you that just passing a law isn't enough. Technology can be used to help solve the problem you described of interrupting a program in a quiet section as I describe in post #3, but this will cost the stations money.

 

[cmurray]

Broadcasters know exactly what they are doing with intrusive sound levels. It probably cost them money to make sure commercials blare out at us while they can claim that the net volume stays the same. If it costs them money to fix the problem that they created, too bad. It's a dishonest practice anyway.

 

[HDTV101]

I believe the senate nick named this law after the late Billy Mays who was well known for his loud shouting at the viewers... you always knew when he was on TV.

" I'M BILLY MAY'S FOR OXY-DIRT!"

 

[i6s1]

If iTunes can normalize the volume of your music, I'd imagine that broadcasters can do the same thing. Loud commercials are responsible for the fact that I don't really watch movietime anymore.

 

[Dougofthenorth]

A recent Lexus commercial boosted volume by 12DBs !!

Called CRCT - no solution possible CRTC site has artcles on what is legal in Canada we are SOL - commercials can broadcast entire commercial up to the max level allowed for dynamic portions of broadcasts reserved for effects such as explosions & etc

This is auditory spam & assault on viewers.

I make a point of NOT BUYING products that have rude blarring commercials

Also I did NOT like CRTC deregulating commercial time amount per hour

A 1 hour program is for all intents & purposes ~30 mins now for sure on the ones that play the waste time game "previously on..."

I PVR all my shows now & use the skip button - advertisers are wasting their $ now due to their auditory assaults & lack of respect.

I bet soon they will activate the "flags" that prevent fast forward & skip

 

[Danster]

We have it activated here in NB. We can't skip ahead 30 seconds anymore.

As for loud commercials, it is like playing seesaw with the volume button. Nothing worse than being awaken by a commercial during a power snooze....

 

[krys2010]

great but...

This is awesome to see, but the only time i've ever had any issues with loud ads, they were on bell (and sasktel max, which i think is just rebroadcasted bell signals) for bell products/services