# Any other guys driven crazy by wives/GFs turning TV volume up and down? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 24, 2015, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-guys-driven-crazy-by-wives-gfs-turning-tv-volume-up-and-down/723379 "2015-06-24T18:21:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-guys-driven-crazy-by-wives-gfs-turning-tv-volume-up-and-down/723379/21 "2015-06-24T22:59:49Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > I keep my volume level at about 10 when I’m watching TV by myself. My husband, who is losing his hearing, keeps his at about 30. > > And he watches a lot of racing. > > I hate being in the same room when it’s his turn to watch his shows. Are you me? ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-guys-driven-crazy-by-wives-gfs-turning-tv-volume-up-and-down/723379/22 "2015-06-25T01:57:17Z")
Ha, common problem! ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-guys-driven-crazy-by-wives-gfs-turning-tv-volume-up-and-down/723379/23 "2015-06-25T14:37:43Z")
Captions. Always. Sometimes I see a commercial on “his” TV with the sound on and say “So THAT’S what that sounds like.” Yeti Noise, indeed, Farmers Insurance. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-guys-driven-crazy-by-wives-gfs-turning-tv-volume-up-and-down/723379/24 "2015-06-25T14:53:49Z")
I am the one driving my husband crazy. He needs it up pretty loudish. I need it lowered to talk, way lowered to answer a phone, and off completely to read! It’s not a terribly huge issue as we don’t watch that much tv together due to differing tastes, plus he’s a pretty easy going guy. Most nights he can happily come up to bed and watch the tv, end of movie, late night tv, etc, with me either already asleep or dangerously close to it, without the slightest issue. But about one time in fifty, I’m awakened, then annoyed and can’t get back to sleep. I rag on him in the morning but he just smiles and shakes his head. We have very different styles, he wants it set loud enough to hear it when it’s whispers, and just abides that it’s brutally loud for explosions and gun fights etc. I am happy to ride the volume control, turning it up for the whispers and down for the explosions, muting for commercials. But I routinely come into the room he’s watching tv in and turn it down a little to talk with him. I’m sure it makes him crazy. Of course frequently when I’m done speaking to him he’ll ask, “Do me a favour before you go and pass me the remote it’s just there!” Out of his reach, from the lounge chair!!! ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-guys-driven-crazy-by-wives-gfs-turning-tv-volume-up-and-down/723379/25 "2015-06-25T15:56:13Z")
Here is my favorite scene to demonstrate why subtitles are important. Remember the great scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade\*? When Indy is talking about Marcus Brody, and how he’s a master of infiltration and can speak a dozen languages and how the bad guys will never find him? Then you cut to Marcus, looking terribly lost and alone in the middle of a desert market. He is muttering and talking to people, but you can’t understand it because of the noise of the crowd. UNLESS YOU PUT THE SUBTITLES ON. Then you understand that someone has offered him water, and Marcus has responded, “No thank you. Fish make love in it.” Funny line! And one I’d never caught before subtitles. In fact, I am looking forward to owning Fury Road for many reasons but also to put the subtitles on and figure out what Max says in the beginning when he is harnessed up with the mask on his face. The noise of everything going on makes you not understand him, and I’m dying to know! ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-guys-driven-crazy-by-wives-gfs-turning-tv-volume-up-and-down/723379/26 "2015-06-25T17:03:39Z")
The first time I noticed extreme dynamic range was when Lord of the Rings was made. Even in the movie theater I thought that the quiet parts were too quiet and the loud parts much too loud. “Aragorn always whispers. Can’t he just…talk?” Ever since I’ve noticed a lot of movies have this same problem. Doesn’t matter if it’s being experienced in the theater or not. I can’t stand having volume sliders pop up on the screen constantly so I don’t often adjust and just deal with it. And since I’m in an apartment I limit my movie watching to mostly weekends and ending before 11 pm. Thankfully my TV has dynamic range compression but it’s annoying in its own way, as shows and games that aren’t off the charts in both directions are left lacking if I forget to turn it back off after an excessively loud/soft movie. I use subtitles over dubbing for all non-english-language films/tv, but for english-speaking movies I just don’t want to do it. What was that quote from Interstellar, on the extreme loudness of the score? “Hans Zimmer is a monster who needs to be stopped”. And there’s parts where I couldn’t make out the whispered words and not because they were being intentionally obscured by music. In short, moviemakers should cut it out already. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-guys-driven-crazy-by-wives-gfs-turning-tv-volume-up-and-down/723379/27 "2015-06-25T17:10:44Z")
I’ve found this sort of thing to be a HUGE problem with shows like Penny Dreadful. Dialog scenes are so fucking quiet I turn the volume way up, then _ **BLAM WHAM SCREAM!!!** _ ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-guys-driven-crazy-by-wives-gfs-turning-tv-volume-up-and-down/723379/28 "2015-06-25T18:31:36Z")
This can be kind of annoying, but I just hand her the remote and let her go to town. What drives me crazy is similar behavior with regard to the thermostat and her penchant for adjusting it (or, more to the point, asking me to do so) by a single degree up or down every freaking half hour. Small price to pay for being married to an amazing woman, I guess. Still. ---
**Author:** ![HeXen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@HeXen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeXen)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-guys-driven-crazy-by-wives-gfs-turning-tv-volume-up-and-down/723379/29 "2015-06-25T18:46:13Z")
I use normalizer so it’s al the same volume. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-guys-driven-crazy-by-wives-gfs-turning-tv-volume-up-and-down/723379/30 "2015-06-25T19:05:11Z")
> [@Thing\_Fish](#): > > This can be kind of annoying, but I just hand her the remote and let her go to town. What drives me crazy is similar behavior with regard to the thermostat and her penchant for adjusting it (or, more to the point, asking me to do so) by a single degree up or down every freaking half hour. Small price to pay for being married to an amazing woman, I guess. Still. Ah. Since we got the automated thermostat, we almost never touch it. I love that thing. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-guys-driven-crazy-by-wives-gfs-turning-tv-volume-up-and-down/723379/31 "2015-06-25T19:26:05Z")
Does this mean I’m a woman? I hate the high dynamic range of movies and I’m the one who fiddles with the volume to fix it. My wife is challenged when it comes to using remotes, so she doesn’t even know how to adjust the volume without getting up and turning the knob. Yes, we have a knob; our sound goes through a stereo system. There’s at least one advantage to using the stereo; there’s no display on screen to show that you’ve changed the volume. My wife might not even realize how often I do the adjustment. I wish that my system had a way to equalize the range, but none of my devices seem to offer it as a built in feature and I’ve been too lazy to find a permanent solution. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-guys-driven-crazy-by-wives-gfs-turning-tv-volume-up-and-down/723379/32 "2015-06-25T19:46:26Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Here is my favorite scene to demonstrate why subtitles are important. . . . Slightly off-topic, but I’ve learned some new English idioms by using subtitles while watching _Sherlock_. First I see the word displayed, then I Google it, finding out that: “Lie-Low” means an inflatable mattress for the floor. “His Nibs” means the boss-guy or the head teacher. I’d have never understood what they were saying (much less significance of the remark) without subtitles. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-guys-driven-crazy-by-wives-gfs-turning-tv-volume-up-and-down/723379/33 "2015-06-25T20:14:04Z")
Another guy who does the same thing. The issue for me is often less the TV show per se, but the fact that I have volume cranked for dialogue, then it switches to commercials which are suddenly LOUDLY BLARING ABOUT THE JOYS OF OWNING A SUBARU. It’s yet another reason why I am more and more DVRing everything to avoid the advertisements. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-guys-driven-crazy-by-wives-gfs-turning-tv-volume-up-and-down/723379/34 "2015-06-25T22:55:17Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > Does this mean I’m a woman? > > I hate the high dynamic range of movies and I’m the one who fiddles with the volume to fix it. Am I the only one reading the thread who really \*likes \*the dynamic range? Other than the few posters who identified their gender, are most of the people complaining about the dynamic range (or using a compresser) female, or was my sense of this way off from the get-go? ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2015, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-guys-driven-crazy-by-wives-gfs-turning-tv-volume-up-and-down/723379/35 "2015-06-25T23:52:15Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I guess I disagree that the sound balance is “horrible”. They are utilizing the same kind of dynamic range they have done for years in the movie theatre; some people are just thrown off by having that go on in their house. (Or maybe those same people don’t like seeing movies in the theatre?) I like seeing movies in the theatre, but I’d probably like them even more with (relatively unobtrusive) subtitles. Especially considering my wife is the type of person to ask: “Who’s that guy? What’d he just say? Why’s he doing that?” etc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-guys-driven-crazy-by-wives-gfs-turning-tv-volume-up-and-down/723379.md?page=1)