ATSC Agrees – No More Loud Commercials

[Landy]

http://sportsvideo.org/main/blog/200...-loudness-woes

[Mr. Cinema]

Great news and it's about time.

[TheAnalogKid]

Stupid.

There are already market solutions to this problem, and the fact that government is involved in this at all is very, very telling.

[vancouver]

I think its great news...unless they make valume changes by adding compression. I mean how can they control volume levels or make then flat when there are dynamics to sound tracks. to me it makes sense that a cr commercial is lauder then the quite scene in a movie.

[skycracksopen]

-24 dB for ALL programming? what is the level at currently?

although i'd love quieter commercials, i'd rather not have to crank my receiver any louder than i currently do for all the regular material.

[FLTWS]

Long overdue. I try to remember and avoid purchasing any of those products if possible. I know my buying habits don't mean a dam to those companies and is of no consequence what-so-ever, but I do find it very satisfying when I get an opportunity to not buy those product(s).

I also note that commercials with music seem to be the worst offenders. Sometimes the music is so loud and bass heavy I can't make out the dialogue extolling the non-existant virtues of these products and why I shouldn't be without them. I think the idea is they want to irritate you so you'll glance and the screen and see an image of their product. You'll remember an image far easier and longer than the words of wisdom their spewing.

[ack_bak]

The NFL Network (I use Dish) is one of the worst offenders for me. I almost always have to turn that channel down 10db or so. And as loud as their programming is, their commercials are even louder.

[FLTWS]

Your right, sports events advertising hits pretty hard.

I've also noticed in general (but not all cases) consistent offenders by type include:

1. Ads for TV programs other than the one your currently watching.
2. Trailers for upcoming movie releases.
3. Local Auto dealerships.
4. New car commercials, although it seems that as the sticker price of the respective vehicles push into the "luxury" class they become less in your face and I think that's by design and in conjunction with the advertizers perception of their target audience. (Cadillac has gotten louder with their background music as they try, I guess, to appeal to a younger buying audience and to imply that older people who buy Cadillacs are actually younger than they themselves think they are, or some such drivel. But, they do use very attractive women with sultry voices, so I give Caddy a pass).
5. Comcast, dialogue levels seem noticably higher than other advertisers and all programs.

[PeterTHX]

With Dolby Digital being the mandatory format for ATSC this is where the DialNorm function comes into play.

I've already noticed on NBC where relatively "quiet" programming like The Office plays and then the commercials are so much louder than the show. This past Thursday it wasn't like that. Nice!

[Hastor]

So is this a totally optional, and just a good thing for stations to adopt, or mandatory in some sense? Also, is it only affecting over-the-air broadcast networks, or would TNT, Comedy Central, etc. abide by this as well? So far most regulations only apply to FCC regulated networks that use the airwaves, not subscription based services.

[AmishFury]

around here it's the commercials for the damn cable company (who's service we are using) that are considerably louder...

[abbazappaplant]

Stupid.

There are already market solutions to this problem, and the fact that government is involved in this at all is very, very telling.

The reason the government is involved in this at all is because A.) broadcasters should have standardized this decades ago and... B.) They actually get a very large number of complaints about this, believe it or not. If you get enough complaints by constituents, it is time to act. This isn't the government saying something is right or wrong, it's the government saying that a certain amount of decorum should be adhered to, and simplifying for the masses is the best way of doing it. I'll very happily have the government interfere so i don't have to hit the 1/2 mute button on my remote each time a commercial comes on.

[Zuma00]

I'll very happily have the government interfere so i don't have to hit the 1/2 mute button on my remote each time a commercial comes on.

Please tell me you're being sarcastic. Are we that helpless that we really need a government agency to control the volume for us. And no that is not how the government was designed to work, read your history about the founders. The government was formed to mainly protect and enforce basic ten commandment type laws. It's not supposed to be there to do every little whim the people decide is bothering them that week.

[rise2it]

"and the fact that government is involved in this at all is very, very telling."

What's telling is the fact they (both parties of Congress) have been dragging their feet for years instead of getting involved and putting pressure on this thing a few years ago...instead, they let things get worse and worse before even making an ATTEMPT to act.

[redfirebird2008]

The reason the government is involved in this at all is because A.) broadcasters should have standardized this decades ago and... B.) They actually get a very large number of complaints about this, believe it or not. If you get enough complaints by constituents, it is time to act. This isn't the government saying something is right or wrong, it's the government saying that a certain amount of decorum should be adhered to, and simplifying for the masses is the best way of doing it. I'll very happily have the government interfere so i don't have to hit the 1/2 mute button on my remote each time a commercial comes on.

No kidding. I noticed this yesterday while watching the NFL on Fox and then the World Series. Seemed like the volume levels were ridiculous during the commercials compared to the actual events themselves.