Members of the ATSC agree on measure to curb loud commercials
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted Oct 29th 2009 5:24PM
posted Oct 29th 2009 5:24PM
And here it was not even a few weeks ago when we thought our only hope to address crazy loud commercials was a new law and now Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) has agreed on a measure that'll solve it with out Congress. The new Loudness Recommended Practice will be called ATSC A/85 and specifies that all content be submitted with the audio set at -24 dB (±2 dB). NBC Universal has already gotten started by deploying new software that will ensure all the content stored on file servers is at the correct level, otherwise the encoder will correct it. In addition, new dB meters have been installed to ensure technicians have the necessary tools to make sure this happens. Among others, CBS, Starz, HBO, ABC, and PBS are also involved, but everyone is going to have to get on board to ensure the end of commercials that are louder than the content. Of course this still doesn't mean we'll watch them, but on the rare occasion that our Media Center doesn't automatically skip 'em we won't get blown out of our seats.
lol, I actually realized this when I got my surround system and thought it was just me. It's pretty annoying to have to turn it down when a commercial comes on.
I don't usually watch live TV anymore so it hasn't been an issue as of late.
Marty: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?
Nigel: These go to eleven
This is fantastic!! I hate having to hear 'turn it down' when a crazy commercial comes on or being startled when the program switches from content to commercial.
Very excellent news. This has really bothered me the last few years. I have to turn the volume a little louder than most because I lost hearing in one of my ears three years ago. That's not too big of a problem for my roommates, but when the commercials come on, it's insane.
What? Can you repeat that?
Place me firmly in the "I will belive it when I hear it" camp. Every 6 months someone promises to fix it, no I mean really fix it, no really we are gonna fix it....... it never gets fixed. Or they find a way around it and they get loud again.
dynamic compression.
Ander: This IS a measure against compression.
Compression does not make anything louder, it just makes the waveform smaller ("compresses" it), leaving you with a new headroom. What you do with the new headroom is up to you. Normally they use the headroom to further turn up the volume, but this new measure will prevent them from doing exactly that, so if this is strictly applied, the only thing they will achieve with compression is to make their ad sound like shit.
Hell just froze over and pigs are f***ing flying.
Bra-fucking-vo!
It's not the networks - it's the podunk local stations spewing out Good Ole' Boy Used Cars and Mattress Emporatorium ads turned up to 11. I suspect ATSC has no control over these fly-by-night sociopaths.
God Bless America ! So I guess this pretty much means that the email response I recently received from Time Warner Cable (Central New York) regarding my concerns for the excessively loud audio levels of their local commercial inserts was complete BS. TWC's response was essentially, the audio levels of TWC's local commercial inserts are well within the parameters set by the FCC... Like I was an idiot to have suggested such a thing.
This is great news for those four or five networks that are doing this on their own, but what about the other couple hundred that will not?
A law needs to be passed so that I can send the FCC complaints for them to smack down channels like History Channel International that goes from quiet TO REALLY REALLY LOUD OBNOXIOUS COMMERCIALS at 1am when I'm trying to watch Pharaohs build pyramids quietly while my wife is sleeping next to me.
Nothing will happen on its own, government needs to do its job and start governing.
That can't be the full recommendation of the ATSC. There are already FCC requirements regarding peak audio values, and peak isn't the problem, it's average sound levels. There is a broadcast recommended standard (dialnorm) regarding average sound levels which would resolve the issue if enforced, but it isn't.
***involved***
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=envolve
Wow! Thank you so much, WHAT??? I can't hear you... Oh, you said you are welcome?
:)
My vote for the worst offender: SpeedTV when I'm watching F1.
this is a highly aggravating problem that has been allowed to continue for far too long...