They are not supposed to be. There are rules about levels (for the main national stations anyway) but there are ways and means! All the 'mastering to a gnat's bllx to 0dBFS tricks' used on records are employed to make ads subjectively louder but not in fact measurably so.
Yes, most TV sound systems have some form of volume limiting/compression but that might not help the OP? I take a feed from an optical digital output of my TCL to a 20quid DAC and thence to a mixer and on to Tannoy 5A monitors. I am pretty sure any sound modification is POST the digital feed and so post USB?
Dave.
ACT 3.0 in the US is trying to limit recording. Not sure how they are going to do it, but it could be they allow a digital recording and defeat the "fast forward" button on the unit. And for those who say, "they can't do it", once it is digital, they can do a lot of stuff through post hardware processing.There is a clear divide here whether we are talking about UK TV and the USA (or the ROTW) ! Things here for the 'regular' stations are not nearly as bad as they were say ten years ago. For my part I almost always record the show I want to watch (crime thriller **** and such) and so can just zap* through the ads. Very conveniently they often have the same ad at the end of the break, often a car ad and so I can hit the tit just at the right time to get back to "Professor T".
More on the signal path inside the TV and compressors and such? AFAICT the signal is extracted from the digital carrier and passed out as a "S/PDIF like" signal. In my case from an optical port, some TVs might have RCA. The OP seems to have a USB digital output? The problem here then is that any sound modification, EQ or dynamics will be don AFTER the digital converter? Maybe use the headphone feed?
*More than ten years ago I had an Hitachi VHS recorder with an 'ads cheat' function. The machine sensed the start of an ad and went into very fast search mode then started the programme again bob on the button! Have we had progress?
Dave.
I hardly ever watch "live" tv. I DVR anything I want to watch. When a favorite show or game comes on, I'll wait 20 or 30 minutes and at each time out/commercial break, I zip right though. It also makes it easy to take that break when nature calls, or more often, when I start watching, only to doze off and wake up with the menu of the DVR staring at me. (sorry TruThugly, that's something we old folks do... } The best part is that you can watch a 1 hour program in about 45 minutes.There is a clear divide here whether we are talking about UK TV and the USA (or the ROTW) ! Things here for the 'regular' stations are not nearly as bad as they were say ten years ago. For my part I almost always record the show I want to watch (crime thriller **** and such) and so can just zap* through the ads. Very conveniently they often have the same ad at the end of the break, often a car ad and so I can hit the tit just at the right time to get back to "Professor T".
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Dave.
I can try to find it for you but are you in the UK?well screw act 3.0 than...
ecc83-- I figured a fader would pretty well cover the problem, for all practical purposes. To put a finer point on what I am trying to stop; I live with a 71 year old who enjoys falling asleep in front of the TV; which I don't exactly condone but who am I to 'condone' anothers behavior. Said person seems to fall asleep and is awakened and perturbed that it is commercials or perhaps slightly more likely has went to an infomercial. (They really jack the sound on that, or whatever trick they use).. But I was thinking the same thing; if it can be ran into a mixer than surely a compressor can be added somehow. (the way you explained should work!!)
Thank you guys, I have asked this question at many audio forums in many ways and this is the first one to fully engage and address the issue.. Kudos.
*Edit Ecc83 - do you know the brand name and model on that TV? I would look into it as a new TV is on my items to get in near future list anyways. I would be really thrilled to hear and do not see why "smart tv's'' would be unable to do such a thing. Unless it flat wasn't allowed or it goes against their own interest.
The ACT 3.0 standard is still being fully developed, but I know they are trying to control recordings, the whole DRM thing. Plus, and get this, they are figuring out a way to track what you are watching.Do you mean they want to stop people at home recording DM60? Various factions have been doing that since the dawn of the tape recorder!
I have a wee box that converts HDMI to video and sound and I can record that on one of my hard drive/DVD Freeview recorders but I rarely bother these days.
The other day I got an email ad from a retailer about a 50" smart TV that had a USB port which (seemed) to allow you to dump proggs onto any external hard drive. TV was about 300 quid and since I am not happy with my 6 months old TCL I am sorely tempted!
Dave.