TV Commercials are still LOUDER than the programs.

[gary350]

Effective December 13, 2012, the FCC's rules require television commercial advertisements to have the same average volume as the programs that they accompany.

https://www.fcc.gov/guides/program-background-noise-and-loud-commercials

The new law is NO different then the old law it still allows for the DB sound lever of Commercials to be louder than the programs. 10 watts of class B amplification sounds much louder than 10 watts of class A amplification.

I would like to have a circuit I can connect between the speaker wires and the speaker that will make the output DB sound level of the speaker the same for both Commercials and programs.

 

[audioguru]

Sounds on commercials are compressed so that nearly all sounds are loud. But program sounds are not compressed as much so their peak volume is the same as commercials but their average volume is lower.

An expander is the opposite of a compressor but it is difficult for it to match the threshold and amount of compression of the compressor.

 

[MrAl]

Effective December 13, 2012, the FCC's rules require television commercial advertisements to have the same average volume as the programs that they accompany.

https://www.fcc.gov/guides/program-background-noise-and-loud-commercials

The new law is NO different then the old law it still allows for the DB sound lever of Commercials to be louder than the programs. 10 watts of class B amplification sounds much louder than 10 watts of class A amplification.

I would like to have a circuit I can connect between the speaker wires and the speaker that will make the output DB sound level of the speaker the same for both Commercials and programs.

Hi Gary,


It is very interesting to me that you brought this up at this date and time. That's because over the last few weeks i have noticed that some stations seemed to have gone back to the old standard. There is no mistaking the extra loud commercials on some channels because they are so very much louder than the regular programming. Thus i plan on filing complaints in the future. If it wasnt so very much i probably would not mind, but because it is so very much louder it is very annoying.

In fact, i thought that the FCC reversed the ruling and that the stations had gone back to the old standard.

To make this a little better some cable boxes have a built in compression mode, but i have mine turned to full compression so that the audio is automatically leveled to the fullest degree that the box can attain and i still hear the commercials that are very much louder.

It's not too simple to build a compressor. That's because there are a number of variables and it will never be perfect anyway because if you compress too much the normal program material will not sound natural. What i wish for is for the FCC to force the stations to broadcast a signal that tells the receiver that the station is broadcasting a commercial rather than normal program material.

Until we get something like that built (we could do that here) you know what they say, "Keep your friends close and your mute button closer".

 

[crutschow]

You could perhaps build an AGC circuit that maintains the average (not the peak) of the sound at a relatively constant value. But it would be difficult to build one that you could put between the amp output and the speakers.

I record virtually everything I watch so I can zip through the loud commercials as well as reducing the time to watch the program by perhaps 20-30%.

 

[Mr RB]

...
It's not too simple to build a compressor. That's because there are a number of variables and it will never be perfect anyway because if you compress too much the normal program material will not sound natural. What i wish for is for the FCC to force the stations to broadcast a signal that tells the receiver that the station is broadcasting a commercial rather than normal program material.
...

Does it really need to be that hard? If you monitor the average sound level over X time, then turn the gain up or down to give the same average sound level it should work pretty well.

Obviously it needs a limit to how much it will crank up the gain during the quiet program content, but that's not hard really.

The main issue is that the normal program content averaging 0.7v needs to be cranked up to match the advertising sound at average 1.0v.

So it only needs a max gain of maybe 2:1, which should take care of the other issue?

 

[ericgibbs]

hi,

I find the remote control 'mute' button sets the sound level that suits me during the advert periods.

or if you are a SKY TV user press the 'pause' button', walk around for 4 minutes exercise, come back and press the 'fast forward'.. sweet.

E

 

[Ian Rogers]

I don't know about other TV's but Sony has a sort of "Built in" volume control for adverts.... It works quite well.

 

[audioguru]

I ENJOY watching and listening to TV commercials because they are extremely funny.
The fools who make the commercials think that all viewers are idiots (only some are). They want the idiots to buy their products.

Some car commercials are brilliant I guess because idiots do not buy cars.

 

[tvtech]

Deleted. Tried to modify my post and stuffed up.

Regards,
tvtech

 

[tvtech]

Ahem...cough, cough. This one is much better...

They want the idiots to buy their products.

Some car commercials are brilliant I guess because idiots do not buy cars.

Hi

Unlike me. These boots were made for walking...etc I sold my car because all I need is within walking distance for me. Later, when I leave this joint and everyone here is up to speed..I will buy another one.

I really, really canno't wait to drive again. Man, am I going to have fun or what

What's the smallest..but fastest car available now???

Regards,
tvtech.

 

[MrAl]

Hi there Roman and others,


Yes sometimes the commercials are funny, but i've seen some commercials come on SO MANY TIMES the same exact, dumb, dumb, dumb commercial that it almost gets sickening after a while. In fact it is just plain SICK that the company thinks that people want to see this kind of thing, over and over and over and over. The smartest companies have DIFFERENT commercials come on for the same product, especially when it is the same program (show) it is being used in.

Does it really need to be that hard? If you monitor the average sound level over X time, then turn the gain up or down to give the same average sound level it should work pretty well.

Obviously it needs a limit to how much it will crank up the gain during the quiet program content, but that's not hard really.

The main issue is that the normal program content averaging 0.7v needs to be cranked up to match the advertising sound at average 1.0v.

So it only needs a max gain of maybe 2:1, which should take care of the other issue?

Yes perhaps it isnt that difficult. I was just thinking that when it is quiet for a while and then suddenly the commercial blares we have to have a time constant that is fast enough to catch that and mute that peak but slow enough not to make the regular programming sound unnatural. We could do that i guess.

The unit i am thinking of however would not go between the amplifier and the speaker. It would have to go between the output of the TV and the amplifier input. That's the low level signal that we would modify to get the effect. For a unit to go between the output and speaker we'd have to design a decent audio amplifier too and that's a different project really.

The way i would do it is take the output from the headphone jack and modify that, then run the result into a ready made set of amplified computer speakers. I already have the amplified speakers so all i would have to build would be the compressor itself.
This is one of those things that i have designed several circuits and never built any of them, yet

For the pass/limiting element i propose a home made opto coupler made from a white LED and light dependent resistor in a small light proof package.
Anyone up for trying this?

 

[gary350]

I was thinking about using a DB meter with a squelch control to monitor TV sound coming out of the speaker. Tune the squelch volume control for TV shows, then when the DB meter detects high volume commercials the squelch turns off the sound. LOL. No sound is easier do than reducing the volume. The loud volume can be used to trigger the squelch the loud sound will kill itself.

 

[tcmtech]

Just do what I do and download all your favorite shows and movies on torrentz downloads. All the commercials are already edited out!

 

[audioguru]

For a few years, my local TV station SEVERELY compressed voices from news anchors. It sounded so un-natural that it was difficult to understand what they were saying especially since they also cut all high audio frequencies. Outside reporters and commercials sounded fine.

I complained many times to them about their lack of having a sound man with good hearing then they fixed it!
I blamed the lavalier mics on their chests picking up loud vowels and the severe compression removed all the normal high audio frequencies (consonants of speech).

 

[Mr RB]

...
The way i would do it is take the output from the headphone jack and modify that, then run the result into a ready made set of amplified computer speakers. I already have the amplified speakers so all i would have to build would be the compressor itself.
...

Yeah absolutely, put the compressor on the TV audio outs R and L (so it needs stereo circuitry.

The for pass/limiting device, we don't need to go back to dark-ages slow optos, a resistive voltage divider will work fine for a 2:1 or 3:1 sound range, with a linear NFET as the bottom resistor. That is simpler and keeps the speed high.

You make a good point about the first burst of loud sound after the device has cranked up its gain for a quiet period, but all that needs is a fast response in turning the gain down, and maybe a slower resonse turning the gain up. That should do the trick without "pumping".

I'd love to build one of these. It's not just the problem with program to ads volumes, even watching movies the speech is too quiet and the action scenes too loud. I find myself riding the remote volume +/- buttons all through a movie which is annoying.

It could even be possible using a PIC to monitor the sound wave(s) using ADC, then generate a linear voltage out to control the attenuation FET(s). Even sampling at 20kHz would be plenty fast enough.

 

[dr pepper]

Ian thats most interesting, I'm totally sick of ads ruining what little tv content there is, I've wondered if anyone made tv's that would auto mute ads, I've thought a few times if the transmitter sends data that tells the tv that ads are on, if I had the info I'd look at building a box that cuts audio and video to a different non advert channel and then back when they are over.

 

[ericgibbs]

hi dr,
Have you seen this link.?

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q="...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

E.

 

[audioguru]

I've wondered if anyone made tv's that would auto mute ads.

TV stations are PAID for transmitting ads. If TVs muted ads then the Ad companies would not pay the TV stations then all TV shows will be PAY PER VIEW and you won't know anything about new products.

 

[ClydeCrashKop]

TV stations are PAID for transmitting ads. If TVs muted ads then the Ad companies would not pay the TV stations then all TV shows will be PAY PER VIEW and you won't know anything about new products.

40 years ago my father said someday we will have to pay for TV programming. My DirecTV bill is $90.00. I think that should exempt us from commercials.
The worst commercial I ever heard started with a jackhammer and a lady yelling louder than it. Then she apologized. I was sitting right by the TV! That required a few expletives.
I have an old Quasar VCR that would skip commercials when recording. It wouldn't catch all of them but about 90%. It would always record again after the commercial break was over. How did it know?
When I used to watch a lot more TV, I always muted the commercials. I wore out the mute buttons on 3 remotes and added an extra mute button to one. I got so good at it that I could hit mute before the commercials came on. I thought I was picking up on some subliminal signal. How did I know? Is there a signal that we can detect?

 

[gary350]

I see a lot of talk about audio compressors, what about an audio enbigger. LOL, is that a cool name for it. Movies an other programs use to be Class A amplification, commercials were Class B amplification, not sure they still are. Class B sounds louder than Class A. Run all the sound through a Class B amp and use a feed back circuit to monitor the output so it is automatically amplified to the same level.

My camera has a sound circuit that sets all the sound at the same level. I took video of model airplanes when the airplane throttles up and takes off the sound level sounds the same on TV. Video of stock cars does the same thing when the cars come around the track it all sounds the same when I play it back on TV. I did a test at home rev up the throttle in a 5 HP Briggs engine then play it back it sounds the same on TV you can not hear the engine throttle speed up/down over and over it all sounds the same. I can hear the RPMs change on the 5 hp engine but not the volume.