Chuck
I'm quite happy , if watching off air, to zap to another channel for a few
minutes.
But I would like an auto insert "PIP" of the otherwise viewed channel so as
not to miss the after-ad return.
--
Diverse Devices, Southampton, England
electronic hints and repair briefs , schematics/manuals list on
http://home.graffiti.net/diverse:graffiti.net/
Have you heard the results of these built in ones? Ok, I suppose, if your
standards stop at AM radio quality.
The snag with this sort of device is it has to have a fast attack time to
work and a fairly slow recovery. And will work on any programme peak - not
just commercials. Make it fast attack and fast recovery and background
sounds will pump up and down - most unpleasant.
The *only* way you can get smooth transitions between the vast variety of
programme material - and the variety of commercials - is buy having a
human rehearse that transition and adjust things accordingly. (Advertisers
- who fund the programmes - would not be happy if their product was
quieter than the progs). But playout systems are largely automated these
days to save on labour costs.
--
*Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?
Dave Plowman da...@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.
> In article <zaQaj.261484$Fc.202074@attbi_s21>,
> Chuck <!csch...@mchsi.com!> wrote:
>
>>It's nearly too late now since the new TV's have AVL built-in to adjust
>>volume increases during commercials, but I am very surprised nobody ever
>>built a "good" add-on aftermarket volume-leveler all these years. Why
>>would it be so hard to build a good yet inexpensive one?
>
>
> Have you heard the results of these built in ones? Ok, I suppose, if your
> standards stop at AM radio quality.
>
> The snag with this sort of device is it has to have a fast attack time to
> work and a fairly slow recovery. And will work on any programme peak - not
> just commercials. Make it fast attack and fast recovery and background
> sounds will pump up and down - most unpleasant.
>
I am replying without first searching the web, but I do remember seeing
adverts over the years for a variety of ALC devices for TVs; the good ones
IIRC used to inspect the vertical interval for clues to program changes,
and also used timing heuristics to predict commercial placement. I
believe that such a device using learning algorithms with human training
input would have been _very_ effective, after all, at least in the U.S.
on major networks, a human can very easily predict when commercials occur
and when the level is excessive.
Regards,
Michael
There is special commercially available equipment made to reduce/
compress the spacing between words without changing the pitch of the
voice, so that the density of the sound is higher. The actual volume
is the same, but the increased density of the sound makes it seem
louder. This of course only works on prerecorded commercials, as a 35
second commercial can be reduced to 28-32 seconds using the
compression technique. At one time I worked at a radio station and
this feature was an added-cost item for advertisers.
H. R. (Bob) Hofmann
Here, the audio levels on these local options commercials is all over
the place; usually WAY too loud, but sometimes (blessedly) barely
audible. You can tell they're local option because either the subject
is a local business, or sometimes you see just a 'blip' of another
commercial before they cut to the replacement.
Very annoying when you're listening to a movie with the volume up, or
you have the TV on as background to fall asleep by....
jak
That's the same problem we have and it drives us crazy! Does anyone have a
newer TV with the built-in AVL feature, and how well does it work?
The issue is with the (less than) technical help the cable company (in
my case ComCast) employs to drop in the commercials.
jak
TV is advertisements! They don't make money from their viewers by you
watching movies. They know you'll turn up the volume to
listen to the movie and get blasted from the commercials which places a
subliminal impact on your brain in hopes that when you are in the store,
you'll have some interest in that product and have no idea why!
You must remember, shock and fear are the best methods for programming
the brain! That is, if you got one!
It's all about the big green! or what ever color it is! :)
--
"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy"
"Daily Thought:
SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES. NOT REALLY GOOD FOR ANYTHING BUT
THEY BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN PUSHED DOWN THE STAIRS.
http://webpages.charter.net/jamie_5"
Except when they make it so obvious that you have no doubt as to what
they're doing. Annoying your clientele is not a formula for increased
sales.
jak
You mean "to play with all the shiny buttons."
--
Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Government officials and activists flying to Bali,
Indonesia, for the United Nations meeting on climate change will cause
as much pollution as 20,000 cars in a year.
Mine has it but it sounds horrible, so it's never used. To be fair I'm an
audio type working in TV production so may be more critical than some.
--
*I'm already visualizing the duct tape over your mouth
> Here, the audio levels on these local options commercials is all over
> the place; usually WAY too loud, but sometimes (blessedly) barely
> audible. You can tell they're local option because either the subject
> is a local business, or sometimes you see just a 'blip' of another
> commercial before they cut to the replacement.
> Very annoying when you're listening to a movie with the volume up, or
> you have the TV on as background to fall asleep by....
It's a world wide thing. I recently got a satellite receiver with dish
rotator and can receive some 5000 programmes. If you can call them that.
;-) And most attempt to get the picture levels near right but seem to let
the audio look after itself. Peak levels vary by over 30dB, some stereo
ones are out of phase or only transmit one leg and high levels of
distortion tend to be the norm with the smaller channels.
--
*Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?
The big snag is there's no way of measuring loudness accurately. It's the
holy grail to develop a device which does so to all's satisfaction.
Conventional metering systems can read peak or average levels but don't
take into account the perceived loudness to the ear - or rather brain. And
the other big snag is that what is too loud to one isn't to another - just
think about the music your kids listen to. ;-)
> The issue is with the (less than) technical help the cable company (in
> my case ComCast) employs to drop in the commercials.
Again it depends on the programme preceding the ads. If a brash game show
etc chances are the ads won't sound louder. If some drama with a poignant
end chances are they will.
--
*Frankly, scallop, I don't give a clam
It's mostly about money and an unwillingness to pay for technical
competency. The over the air stations, when I listen to/watch them,
don't have this problem to nearly this degree.
jak
jak
I don't think it is very easy to design what you are looking for - at
least not so it is affordable.
As to why do the ads seem louder? - read this
http://www.abc.net.au/canberra/stories/s1264909.htm
In fact the maximum level of the ads is not greater than the normal
program material, its just that the ad level is more constant per unit
time, thus the average level is greater than that of the program
material. Advertisers are aware of this trick so they ensure that the
dialogue is constant throughout the ads.
That's probably true of national network shows broadcast over the air.
I was referring to 'local option' commercials dubbed in by a cable
company. As I said earlier in the thread, often the difference in level
is *downward*, not louder.
I've been a sound engineer for over 30 years. I know what loud is, and
I know what compression sounds like.
jak
> I haven't measured it here, but it could be that much. It's about
> local cable companies charging $55/month for 'basic' cable, but not
> hiring somebody to simply *listen* to the feed when they dump in
> commercials which are wildly different in level.
Think you'll find even the major channels don't do that either these days.
Trouble is it wouldn't be one person but a team to cover 24/7 - and an
expensive team of skilled personnel to work effectively. Then there'd be
the problem of an advertiser claiming his ad didn't sound loud enough if
it were altered. And they are the paymasters - not you. Unless legislated
for.
They rely on the material being transcribed into their server at the
correct level - or being supplied as such on whatever material they
transmit from. And as I said thereby is the problem as relative loudness
depends on programme content.
> It's NOT a matter of opinion when you turn the volume to a point where
> it's barely background level, and then get jolted out of your sleep by a
> literally blaring commercial.
I'd rather not watch TV that sends me to sleep. ;-)
> It's mostly about money and an unwillingness to pay for technical
> competency. The over the air stations, when I listen to/watch them,
> don't have this problem to nearly this degree.
Indeed - but plenty still complain about the major channels where more
care is taken. And have done (in the UK) since commercial TV started. ITV
in the UK do have a maximum peak level for commercials some 4dB lower than
progs. Which mostly works - but not always.
--
*Laugh alone and the world thinks you're an idiot.
It's a bit out of date.
> In fact the maximum level of the ads is not greater than the normal
> program material, its just that the ad level is more constant per unit
> time, thus the average level is greater than that of the program
> material. Advertisers are aware of this trick so they ensure that the
> dialogue is constant throughout the ads.
There's no reason why you can't do the same thing with prog material. As
indeed is done with things like game shows and sit coms. But it is rather
inappropriate for serious drama, etc.
--
*If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried *
> That's probably true of national network shows broadcast over the air.
> I was referring to 'local option' commercials dubbed in by a cable
> company. As I said earlier in the thread, often the difference in level
> is *downward*, not louder.
Sounds like those ads are being made on a low budget without the use of a
decent sound engineer.
> I've been a sound engineer for over 30 years. I know what loud is, and
> I know what compression sounds like.
Then you'll understand the problem. We're one of the first skills to go
when the bean counters get control. They can't see the results of our work
on a spreadsheet. Obviously not enough members of the public complain
about poor sound.
--
*How much deeper would the oceans be without sponges? *
>Ross Herbert wrote:
>>
>> I don't think it is very easy to design what you are looking for -
at
>> least not so it is affordable.
>>
>> As to why do the ads seem louder? - read this
>> http://www.abc.net.au/canberra/stories/s1264909.htm
>>
>> In fact the maximum level of the ads is not greater than the normal
>> program material, its just that the ad level is more constant per
unit
>> time, thus the average level is greater than that of the program
>> material. Advertisers are aware of this trick so they ensure that
the
>> dialogue is constant throughout the ads.
>
>That's probably true of national network shows broadcast over the
air.
>I was referring to 'local option' commercials dubbed in by a cable
>company. As I said earlier in the thread, often the difference in
level
>is *downward*, not louder.
>
>I've been a sound engineer for over 30 years. I know what loud is,
and
>I know what compression sounds like.
>
>jak
I have both free-to-air channels and cable TV. When watching cable and
the ads come on my wife looks up from her crocheting and says "you
don't have to turn the volume up"......
Not to dismiss your extensive experience in sound engineering, it
seems that it doesn't matter how the broadcast gets to you, the ads
still appear to be "louder". Maybe your cable TV company does try to
reduce the apparent level of ads.
> I have both free-to-air channels and cable TV. When watching cable and
> the ads come on my wife looks up from her crocheting and says "you
> don't have to turn the volume up"......
> Not to dismiss your extensive experience in sound engineering, it
> seems that it doesn't matter how the broadcast gets to you, the ads
> still appear to be "louder". Maybe your cable TV company does try to
> reduce the apparent level of ads.
It's quite enlightening that near everyone talks about ads being 'too
loud' rather than the progs being too quiet. Shows really where they're
coming from. And that, as I said, it's very much down to the individual
how much they annoy. Which makes it near impossible to satisfy everyone.
Except the advertisers who are the paymasters.
Here in the UK we have the BBC which is licence fee funded. So doesn't
carry commercials. But it does carry adverts for its own programmes etc
and these are equally as guilty of often sounding louder than the progs
either side. Only real advantage is they don't interrupt the programme.
--
*Who is this General Failure chap anyway - and why is he reading my HD? *
One of my pet peeves is audio engineers whose way of thinking seems to go:
My equipment has 650 dB of dynamic range and I'M GOING TO USE EVERY dB
OF IT! Then there are the directors who repeatedly make sure that at least
ten really quiet, whispering, nearly-no-sound scenes are immediately and
rapidly followed by massive explosions. or jet plane takeoffs.
I'm really complaining about a specific situation here that probably
will not translate to your experience in Jolly Ol'.
jak
>In article <b5kpm3912cla6gsfc...@4ax.com>,
> Ross Herbert <rher...@bigpond.net.au> wrote:
>> >I've been a sound engineer for over 30 years. I know what loud
is, and
>> > I know what compression sounds like.
>
>> I have both free-to-air channels and cable TV. When watching cable
and
>> the ads come on my wife looks up from her crocheting and says "you
>> don't have to turn the volume up"......
>
>> Not to dismiss your extensive experience in sound engineering, it
>> seems that it doesn't matter how the broadcast gets to you, the ads
>> still appear to be "louder". Maybe your cable TV company does try
to
>> reduce the apparent level of ads.
>
>It's quite enlightening that near everyone talks about ads being 'too
>loud' rather than the progs being too quiet. Shows really where
>they're coming from.
???
You appear to be inferring that the problem lies with the viewer. If
your logic is correct then the viewer should determine the volume
setting by the loudest material being broadcast, ie. the
advertisements. That way they would have difficulty in hearing the
real program material and then be forced to complain to the
broadcaster that they wanted the program sound level cranked up....
Yeah, I'll go along with that....
Have a good Christmas.
> ???
Did you read the rest of the post where I explained this statement?
> You appear to be inferring that the problem lies with the viewer.
It does, to a certain extent. See my comment about kids and their music.
> If your logic is correct then the viewer should determine the volume
> setting by the loudest material being broadcast, ie. the advertisements.
> That way they would have difficulty in hearing the real program material
> and then be forced to complain to the broadcaster that they wanted the
> program sound level cranked up.... Yeah, I'll go along with that....
At the end of the day the result is the same.
--
*Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine*
You will have noticed that whenever ads are being run the channel logo
is not broadcast. If someone can build a device to detect absence of
logo and then mute the audio, that will fix the problem.
If you decode the data in the reserved lines at the top of the frame,
there is information about the commercials.
--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.
Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida
> Ross Herbert wrote:
>
>>On Sun, 23 Dec 2007 14:23:51 -0600, cuh...@webtv.net wrote:
>>
>>
>>>If you can invent a wireless invention gadget that will automatically
>>>kill the audio of all tv commercials,,, you might be allowed
>>
>>membership
>>
>>>into the Augusta,Georgia Country Club.
>>>Bill Gates never amounted to anything, The Augusta CC turned him
>>
>>down.
>>
>>>I Love it!
>>>cuhulin
>>
>>You will have noticed that whenever ads are being run the channel logo
>>is not broadcast. If someone can build a device to detect absence of
>>logo and then mute the audio, that will fix the problem.
>
>
>
> If you decode the data in the reserved lines at the top of the frame,
> there is information about the commercials.
>
>
I'm just curious; are a lot of you blocking posts from Supernews, or am
I plonked? I had replied about vertical interval information to the
O.P. days ago.
Regards,
Michael
So if there IS something to decode that makes commercials unique
(detectable), why has no aftermarket device been devised?? As we have all
noted, the market would be huge. As one audio engineer stated, maybe the
audio quality would suffer a bit, but I bet we could get used to that much
easier than what we all commonly seem to go through now.
Chuck
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--
"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy"
"Daily Thought:
SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES. NOT REALLY GOOD FOR ANYTHING BUT
THEY BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN PUSHED DOWN THE STAIRS.
http://webpages.charter.net/jamie_5"
Network feeds contain the information needed by their affiliates to
inset local commercials, along with a lot of other data. I have looked
at it with a video waveform monitor, but I've never found an information
on their propritary coding. I no longer work in broadcast TV, and have
no connections to the industry, these days.
Supernews is filtering some postings through Google Groups. Mostly
cross posted, and certain trolls.
Hell, I can't even find halfway complete information on XDS. I have some
old PDF of a chapter of a book, but there's a whole lot missing.
Go away, fariy troll.
That's funny, coming from the "Billy Mays" of Usenet. You should take
your own medicine, Cracker.
There has been some but they required wiring inside the TV. There isnt much
of a market for things like that.
Jimmie
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Devices have been around for years. I first started making my own when
the cable company could not control the volume of different channels.
Huge changes between channels. I also bought a couple devices over the
years. One nice one had an adjustable compression switch. You can also
route the audio through a VCR which has built in automatic level
control. I built one unit with the standard level control chip, and a
few more with led or lamps and light sensitive resistors.
greg
Can you please post a chip number for this.
Regards
Personally I'd rather have the level changes than put up with an automatic
device pumping.
> greg
--
*Heart attacks... God's revenge for eating his animal friends
Dave Plowman da...@davenoise.co.uk London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.
Normally a good unit has very little pumping. It depends on the material. Worse case
is when there is a large change in hiss or noise. I also have a DBX device that can either
increase levels changes or compress them. The best peak unlimiter type
of device is a Pioneer unit I have. I have made peak unlimiters, but the Pioneer
is the champ, but I never heard a Carver peak unlimiter. You can also put a peak unlimiter after
a AVL device, but highly dynamic music can be anoying.
Most recently I have used an automatic volume control to play unmatched MP3's
as a automatic DJ type of deal at parties. I could not have done it without
editing all the MP3's. Sounds great as most music is a continious stream without
many pauses, which can cause pumping.
greg
> Normally a good unit has very little pumping.
Absolutely bound to do so if it can react quickly enough for peaks. It
will pump any background up and down. If it has a slow recovery time to
avoid pumping then you'll be complaining about not being able to hear the
quiet parts.
> It depends on the material.
Indeed - and it shows up most on speech based progs like drama where there
is often a reasonably constant background sound effect. Least on pop
music. But most don't watch only pop music on TV. And those that do won't
notice the ads being louder, because they won't be ...
> Worse case is when there is a large change in hiss or noise. I also have
> a DBX device that can either increase levels changes or compress them.
> The best peak unlimiter type of device is a Pioneer unit I have. I have
> made peak unlimiters, but the Pioneer is the champ, but I never heard a
> Carver peak unlimiter. You can also put a peak unlimiter after a AVL
> device, but highly dynamic music can be anoying.
So you're one of those the broadcasters cater for with Optimod type
devices? I hate those things with a passion.
> Most recently I have used an automatic volume control to play unmatched
> MP3's as a automatic DJ type of deal at parties. I could not have done
> it without editing all the MP3's. Sounds great as most music is a
> continious stream without many pauses, which can cause pumping.
Glad I wasn't there. ;-)
--
*Gravity is a myth, the earth sucks *