# Oh no, really! Its cool if TV commercials are 50db too high! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 20, 2004, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-really-its-cool-if-tv-commercials-are-50db-too-high/240973 "2004-04-20T04:27:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Teelo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@Teelo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teelo)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-really-its-cool-if-tv-commercials-are-50db-too-high/240973/1 "2004-04-20T04:27:55Z")
Oh Wait…NO Its Not. You may not understand what I mean so far; Many television channels I have, feel it is a super idea for their commercials to increase the volume upon entering the commercial break. I suppose it is to get the attention and possibly gain an appreciation for their product. Well, I have grown a new adaptation to instinctively lower the volume when my sixth sence picks up on an incoming commercial. So don’t bother doing it anymore okay! I like T.V. alot, I watch alot and it just irritates me to have to lower the volume up and down like bear bating my damn television. Screw you T.V. broadcaster guys. ☹ You make Teelo cry. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-really-its-cool-if-tv-commercials-are-50db-too-high/240973/2 "2004-04-20T04:41:15Z")
TiVo, dude. TiVo. I skip 99% of the commercials anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-really-its-cool-if-tv-commercials-are-50db-too-high/240973/3 "2004-04-20T04:44:10Z")
GAH! YES!! A pit thread I can get behind. I noticed this while watching South Park on Saturday night. I was blown through the back wall when it broke for the first commercial. I had turned the television up, because the dialogue was rather quiet. The first commercial came on, and I WAS SUDDENLY UNDER THE IMPRESSION I HAD SIX SPEAKER SURROUND SOUND!! Not fun. My daughter came out of her room to ask me to turn the t.v. down. Twice. TNT? Fuck you, too, Ted Turner, same damn problem. Enough, already! I don’t want to hear your cheesy ads! In fact, hearing them at high volume makes me determined to NOT buy your damn product! So there. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-really-its-cool-if-tv-commercials-are-50db-too-high/240973/4 "2004-04-20T04:52:37Z")
> [@Maureen](#): > > I WAS SUDDENLY UNDER THE IMPRESSION I HAD SIX SPEAKER SURROUND SOUND!! Christ, I have 5.1 Surround with the powered subwoofer. Imagine how loud it gets here!!! ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-really-its-cool-if-tv-commercials-are-50db-too-high/240973/5 "2004-04-20T04:53:00Z")
The first time I ever saw a “mute” button was when I was visiting my cranky old man in the 70s. (It was a toggle-switch that he’d installed beside his TV-watchin’ chair, jerry-rigged to the speaker in the TV.) When I got home, I installed the same thing on our console TV. (Yes, my mum trusted me to open high-voltage electronics when I was eight.) I never had a TV without one, until IR remotes became commonplace. Since then, I’ve never been able to comprehend why anybody hears commercials at all. Commercials are grating and annoying. Louder commercials are _more_ grating and annoying. You’d think that they’d soft-pedal them to keep people from reflexively muting them. Wouldn’t you? FTR though, the blame for this doesn’t lie with the TV stations – commercials are typically recorded with crazy gain – as loud as it gets without distorting at any point in the 30 second spot. Programming is recorded at reasonable levels that are optimal for the quiet bits and the loud bits, over the length of the program. It doesn’t help that commercials tend to be loud and crass from conception onward. ---
**Author:** ![Kaitlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/73ab20/32.png) [@Kaitlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaitlyn)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-really-its-cool-if-tv-commercials-are-50db-too-high/240973/6 "2004-04-20T05:24:33Z")
For what it’s worth, it’s actually a violation of fcc rules to broadcast commercials louder than the regular programming. The problem is how that is defined. The peak level of the commercials cannot exceed the peak level of the regular programming. But this does not in any way limit the makers of the commercials from producing sound levels that have very little variance, and the stations broadcasting them at the peak level for their entire duration. In other words, commercials are designed so that the entire commercial plays as loud as the loudest part of the regular programming. This sometimes has the effect of casual conversations in a commercial being as loud as an explosion in the program that features it. I have no cite for this information, it’s from a Q and A in a media magazine I read years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-really-its-cool-if-tv-commercials-are-50db-too-high/240973/7 "2004-04-20T12:41:27Z")
> [@Number Six](#): > > For what it’s worth, it’s actually a violation of fcc rules to broadcast commercials louder than the regular programming. The problem is how that is defined. The peak level of the commercials cannot exceed the peak level of the regular programming. But this does not in any way limit the makers of the commercials from producing sound levels that have very little variance, and the stations broadcasting them at the peak level for their entire duration. > > In other words, commercials are designed so that the entire commercial plays as loud as the loudest part of the regular programming. This sometimes has the effect of casual conversations in a commercial being as loud as an explosion in the program that features it. > > I have no cite for this information, it’s from a Q and A in a media magazine I read years ago. You’re right on target. The sound levels for comercials are compressed. The loudest points are lowered and the softest points of loudness are raised in a recorded sound. This makes a recording easier to hear and understand (particularly in recordings of spoken word) when broadcast. The apparent result is an overall increase in loudness, although in reality it’s bringing the overall volume to the average level of the recording (the average level in a commercial being _loud_). Analogy: Visually, think of a black and white image for which the contrast is adjusted so that the blackest points and whitest points are shifted to shades of grey. So you get a really saturated GREY that’s yucky to look at, but some of the fine details are gone so you aren’t distracted by extraneous visual clutter. This is normal to an extent in broadcast media. Radio stations run their programs through compressors because it helps to keep the broadcast uniform - especially with spoken word. It’s “easier to understand the message” and commercials are trying to cram the message down your throat – “Hey, if it’s easier to understand our message when it’s compressed a little, than hey, how about we compress it a _lot_!” Commerial are compressed to the point where I find it’s kind of like audio vomit - everything is thrown at you in one big yurp! Compressed, sound can bug the crap out of some people. Sniffs\_Markers works in film and music, her trained ears go nuts during commercials, even when the volume is turned way down. The very unnatural sound drives her absolutely batshit! She gets frazzled, it’s like fingernails on a blackboard to her. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the commercial-makers are cheating and, like **Number Six** suggested are taking the “average sound level” and playing it back nearer the peak level. I used to notice the compression, but now I swear the compressed sound is also “louder.” ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-really-its-cool-if-tv-commercials-are-50db-too-high/240973/8 "2004-04-20T21:36:34Z")
They now sell [devices](http://www.smarthome.com/8254.html) that can be used to lower the volume of the commercials. Most of what I watch on T.V. is on tape, but when it’s not, I love my mute button. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-really-its-cool-if-tv-commercials-are-50db-too-high/240973/9 "2004-04-21T00:13:38Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > They now sell [devices](http://www.smarthome.com/8254.html) that can be used to lower the volume of the commercials. > > Most of what I watch on T.V. is on tape, but when it’s not, I love my mute button. A friend of mine has a feature on her TV that drops the volume during commercials. Instead of “Mute” in the corner of the screen it says “Smart Sound”. Seems to drop the volume level down a few decibels without muting. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-really-its-cool-if-tv-commercials-are-50db-too-high/240973/10 "2004-04-21T00:37:52Z")
My problem with muting the commercials is then I have to WATCH the damn things to find out when they’re over to unmute. I’d rather turn them down, or tune them out (if they aren’t at blast levels) than have to watch them to find out when they’re over… ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-really-its-cool-if-tv-commercials-are-50db-too-high/240973/11 "2004-04-21T01:05:17Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > A friend of mine has a feature on her TV that drops the volume during commercials. Instead of “Mute” in the corner of the screen it says “Smart Sound”. Seems to drop the volume level down a few decibels without muting. My new TV has a similar feature that you can set - it’s called a sound leveler. And boy is it a nice switch from being blasted out of my seat by the commericals. ---
**Author:** ![Teelo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@Teelo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teelo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-really-its-cool-if-tv-commercials-are-50db-too-high/240973/12 "2004-04-21T03:00:21Z")
> [@Number Six](#): > > For what it’s worth, it’s actually a violation of fcc rules to broadcast commercials louder than the regular programming. Even though thats the case, I think some of my channels should be investigated by the FCC. Thanks for the suggestion **SpoilerVirgin** but I can’t shell out 230$ USD… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Teelo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@Teelo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teelo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oh-no-really-its-cool-if-tv-commercials-are-50db-too-high/240973/13 "2004-04-21T03:07:15Z")
> [@GMRyujin](#): > > TiVo, dude. TiVo. I skip 99% of the commercials anymore. Okay, let me understand, With Tivo television is broadcasted a few seconds behind, correct? So therefore you can fast forward right through them. So, what happens when you’ve reached the tip of the buffer zone? anyways, one day when I do get a PVR, it will probably be the Bell Expressvu built in one.