Anyone else have HUGE volume variances while watching HDTV?

[aphex]

Today's bucs game seems to be 10x worse than normal, which makes it REALLY annoying. Watching via cable on an SA 8300HD.

The volume differences between HD content and SD content are HUGE. For instance. my receiver is on -27db while watching the football game, comfortable volume, could even be a bit louder. But as soon as the commercials come on, its SO FREAKING LOUD, i have to turn it down to around -50db or less, then as soon as its back in HD, i can't hear a thing and have to turn it up.

Is this common everywhere else? Does my cable company just suck?

 

[yllus]

Happens here too. Going from an HDTV source to a commercial blasts the hell out of my sound system.

 

[darkswordsman17]

See the thread about dynamic range to understand why this is happening.

Simple answer? Certain channels (*cough* BET *cough*) and especially commercials like to compress the dynamic range to make it sound like they're louder (which the average joe seems to correlate with better sound).

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

Damn, that's a pretty wide variance. Do other channels do it or just the one you're watching?

Also... does your receiver have a "loudness" function, or a "dialogue" function? sometimes these two things, while generally useful, can mess the sound up in some cases. But primarily...I would be suspicious of your broadcast signal.

 

[aphex]

When i called the cable co about it, they said i needed to set the cable box audio range to 'Narrow', but it makes no diff, still crazy variances.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Happensz to me too. You're not alone.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: darkswordsman17
See the thread about dynamic range to understand why this is happening.

Yeah, not to mention your listening to dolby digital which has much greater dynamic range.

We should be applauding the broadcasters taking care of this added extra range, not complaining about it.

I LOVE watching football in DD, the sound of the crowd is awesome and you hear claps, talking, voices from the surrounds. Just like you're sitting in the stadium.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: spidey07
We should be applauding the broadcasters taking care of this added extra range, not complaining about it.

I'd be complaining too if I had to turn the volume down every time there is a commercial break.

 

[aphex]

Well is there anyway to fix this? My ears are either bleeding, or can't hear a thing...

Its a Harman Kardon AVR240 - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000BOC05I/ref=nosim/kaufenundbest-20
w/ Athena Micra speakers.

 

[spidey07]

It might be the setup of your cable box. Or just call the cable company. I certainly don't get this symptom at all. Now if I switch to a SD channel from a HD channel then the SD channel "hotter".

it shouldn't switch back to SD output when fed a HD signal.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: spidey07
It might be the setup of your cable box. Or just call the cable company. I certainly don't get this symptom at all. Now if I switch to a SD channel from a HD channel then the SD channel "hotter".

it shouldn't switch back to SD output when fed a HD signal.

Its the commercials, they arent broadcast in HD.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: spidey07
It might be the setup of your cable box. Or just call the cable company. I certainly don't get this symptom at all. Now if I switch to a SD channel from a HD channel then the SD channel "hotter".

it shouldn't switch back to SD output when fed a HD signal.

Its the commercials, they arent broadcast in HD.

no, but they are fed over a HD channel. Does this happen with HD commercials? Cable company doesn't have much choice - they use the national feeds and sometimes use their local feeds for local commercials. That could be where the discrepancy is.

eitherway, call your cable company because that isn't normal. If anything the commercials aren't boosted in HD as much as they are in SD.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: aphex
When i called the cable co about it, they said i needed to set the cable box audio range to 'Narrow', but it makes no diff, still crazy variances.

DON'T DO THAT. It compresses the dynamic range of EVERYTHING.

It's only because of the commercials. 99% of the time the audio from the commercials is fed into the DD compressor the station is running, squashed dynamic range and all. The result? Loud as fvck commercials. There's nothing wrong with your setup, it's just a side effect of the loudness war.

Thread mentioned earlier about dynamic range:
Text

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: spidey07
eitherway, call your cable company because that isn't normal.

Wrong, it is normal. Commercials are always louder, you just notice it more on an HD channel because of the change from awesome dynamic range (TV show's DD track) to compressed to kingdom come.

 

[aphex]

well, some national commercials actually arent too bad right now, im noticing the local elections ones are PAINFUL. I have Charlie Christ ringing in my ears right now.

 

[Oblivionaire]

I remember seeing an automatic volume control for sale once that is supposed to fix that but it was expensive, I'll see if I can find it again.

Found it:

http://www.smarthome.com/77964.html

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: aphex
well, some national commercials actually arent too bad right now, im noticing the local elections ones are PAINFUL. I have Charlie Christ ringing in my ears right now.

Heh, I love the Republican commercials, a lot of them actually get a laugh out of me and make me consider voting Republican. Then I remember I can't vote yet.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Oblivionaire
I remember seeing an automatic volume control for sale once that is supposed to fix that but it was expensive, I'll see if I can find it again.

Found it:

http://www.smarthome.com/77964.html

Neat idea, but this is all digital, not analog.

 

[brxndxn]

I bet some linux guru is probby working on a 'MythTV' add-on or other piece of software that allows for 'real time' audio normalization for TV watching..

If not, someone should start working on one..

I don't understand why receivers don't just come with a 'TV normalization' setting which makes sure that nothing can be over 'x' in loudness or that sound averaged over time cannot be less than 'y'..

I fvcking hate commercials. I hate them so much. They're loud, obnoxious, a waste of time.. I don't care if they 'pay' for all the shows I would ever watch. I'd much rather just pay with money than pay by making myself stupider by watching them.

And yes.. HDTV has made 'loud' commercials much FVCKING LOUDER OMG THOSE MOTHERFVCKERS GOD I HATE MY FVCKING CABLE COMPNAY WHY THE FVCK CAN'T THEY JUST MAKE THEM QUIETER THOSE STUPID FVCKS ARGH FVCK *SMASHES BEER BOTTLE AT WALL BY TV*

 

[Oblivionaire]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: Oblivionaire
I remember seeing an automatic volume control for sale once that is supposed to fix that but it was expensive, I'll see if I can find it again.

Found it:

http://www.smarthome.com/77964.html

Neat idea, but this is all digital, not analog.

Oh well. That can be done too. Looks like Motorola has patented it already in '92:

Digital AGC patent

I wonder if there is a standalone unit to connect between HT components with this implemented..

 

[doze]

Yep I have to adjust the volume a lot between HD and non-hd channels.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: brxndxn
I bet some linux guru is probby working on a 'MythTV' add-on or other piece of software that allows for 'real time' audio normalization for TV watching..

If not, someone should start working on one..

I don't understand why receivers don't just come with a 'TV normalization' setting which makes sure that nothing can be over 'x' in loudness or that sound averaged over time cannot be less than 'y'..

I fvcking hate commercials. I hate them so much. They're loud, obnoxious, a waste of time.. I don't care if they 'pay' for all the shows I would ever watch. I'd much rather just pay with money than pay by making myself stupider by watching them.

And yes.. HDTV has made 'loud' commercials much FVCKING LOUDER OMG THOSE MOTHERFVCKERS GOD I HATE MY FVCKING CABLE COMPNAY WHY THE FVCK CAN'T THEY JUST MAKE THEM QUIETER THOSE STUPID FVCKS ARGH FVCK *SMASHES BEER BOTTLE AT WALL BY TV*

Normalizing will do nothing to the loud commercials, they're loud because they have little or no dynamic range.

 

[Special K]

Originally posted by: mrSHEiK124

Originally posted by: brxndxn
I bet some linux guru is probby working on a 'MythTV' add-on or other piece of software that allows for 'real time' audio normalization for TV watching..

If not, someone should start working on one..

I don't understand why receivers don't just come with a 'TV normalization' setting which makes sure that nothing can be over 'x' in loudness or that sound averaged over time cannot be less than 'y'..

I fvcking hate commercials. I hate them so much. They're loud, obnoxious, a waste of time.. I don't care if they 'pay' for all the shows I would ever watch. I'd much rather just pay with money than pay by making myself stupider by watching them.

And yes.. HDTV has made 'loud' commercials much FVCKING LOUDER OMG THOSE MOTHERFVCKERS GOD I HATE MY FVCKING CABLE COMPNAY WHY THE FVCK CAN'T THEY JUST MAKE THEM QUIETER THOSE STUPID FVCKS ARGH FVCK *SMASHES BEER BOTTLE AT WALL BY TV*

Normalizing will do nothing to the loud commercials, they're loud because they have little or no dynamic range.

Isn't it a two step process though?

First you apply the compression to remove all of the dynamic range of the audio, then you just boost the entire thing up by some fixed amount? It's the boosting that makes it extra loud, right? They could just compress it and not boost the entire volume if they wanted to.

I thought the only reason the compression was necessary was to remove the dynamic peaks before boosting - otherwise the peaks would be boosted to the point of clipping.

 

[Oblivionaire]

Yay for dialnorm?

Well the technology exists to correct the situation, if only the broadcasters would implement it!

dolby dp600