Commercial volume too loud!

[peteten]

I know there are posts dating back to 2009 but haven’t seen anything recently.  The souls lever difference between programming and many commercials is absolutely ridiculous.  I recently upgraded to the FIOS TV One hardware and the problem remains.   I tried the FIOS compression settings and they don’t seem to help.  I have the audio running through a decent receiver ( a Denon AVR-S930H) and tried the receivers compression as well.  That didn’t help either.  People recommend fast forwarding the commercials or hitting mute but that’s annoying.   I have these massive volume variations on both live and recorded content.    I wish Verizon would address this.  It seems with today’s technology it would be easy enough to detect this and address.  Are there any external sound processors to detect these commercials and automatically mute or reduce the volume.  It’s so annoying I would buy one.  Has anyone found a way to address this?  Thanks.  

[clem21]

Unfortunately that's the state of affairs when it comes to commercials these days. Most are heavily compressed to make them sound louder to get your attention, while leaving the AVERAGE volume within broadcast standard limits. So what happens is you watch programming that isn't as compressed, turn up the volume, then a commercial blasts you out of your chair. The compression is not activated on the HDMI or optical outputs of the 4100 boxes and minis, regardless of settings. Only the analog outputs respond to compression settings. I'm a little surprised the Denon can't compress the signal enough to help even on its highest setting. Another trick they use is stereo programming, with surround sound commercials that blast the rear speakers.

[clem21]

On the Denon receiver try menu, audio, Audyssey settings, dynamic volume, make sure heavy is selected. That should help some.

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[peteten]

Thanks clem53.  I will try that.  I did notice the dialog level was on and adding  3.0db.  I turned it off and that helped substantially.   However the commercials definatley still have some increase in sound level.  

[clem21]

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@Peteten wrote:

Thanks clem53.  I will try that.  I did notice the dialog level was on and adding  3.0db.  I turned it off and that helped substantially.   However the commercials definatley still have some increase in sound level.  

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Yep, nothing that an act of Congress can't fix.......

[TotallyAnnoyed]

I’m using an iPad and FiOS TV. It is unbelievably annoying that the commercials are so loud. I’m watching something and every time the commercial comes on I have to run over to the iPad and turn down the volume down after the commercials I have to turn the volume back up. I wonder if Comcast has a similar problem…??? Might be worth finding out.

[clem21 · Accepted solution]

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@TotallyAnnoyed wrote:

I’m using an iPad and FiOS TV. It is unbelievably annoying that the commercials are so loud. I’m watching something and every time the commercial comes on I have to run over to the iPad and turn down the volume down after the commercials I have to turn the volume back up. I wonder if Comcast has a similar problem…??? Might be worth finding out.

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It isn't Verizon that is responsible for that, it is the broadcasters and the advertisers that use compression legally, but irresponsibly. The commercials are over-compressed, so they still meet government standards for maximum level, but EVERYTHING in them is at that level versus programming that has loud and soft levels. Also some commercials take advantage of surround to blast sound from the surround speakers that are normally for effects. nothing Verizon can do about that. You can add your own compression to bring the two closer together, but you will be compromising the overall sound quality.