[mythtv-users] High Volume during commercials

[Pamela J. Ashworth (webmail)]

----Original Message-----
>From: Brad DerManouelian <myth at dermanouelian.com>
>Sent: Oct 16, 2007 7:43 PM
>To: Discussion about mythtv <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
>Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] High Volume during commercials
>
>On Oct 16, 2007, at 4:29 PM, Michael Wisniewski wrote:
>
>> Hi!
>>
>> I tried looking around the list, but couldn't find much about this.
>> It seems like the volume for the commercials is raised to a point
>> where I have to turn it down.  But when the show starts back up, it
>> gets really quiet so I have to turn it back up.  This is getting kind
>> of annoying...
>>
>> I was wondering, if there is a filter that I can use to 'normalize'
>> the sound volume for live tv.  I noticed something being said on the
>> list requesting the sound be mute or quieter.  While this would work,
>> I would be happy with just normalization.  :-)
>
>You probably haven't seen anything like this on the list because most  
>people just record the programs they want to watch and let the  
>commercial flagging handle the issue of loud commercials. :)
>In all seriousness, you are not likely to see any dev activity on  
>something like this because devs prefer to cut the commercials out of  
>their lives than to just turn them down. I have seen this feature on  
>televisions, but not in Myth or on receivers.

after cutting all the commercials, I still get loud promos over the closing credits - which I do keep. 

This is a problem because I fall asleep at night to a random playlist of Grey's Anatomy episodes (yup, I fall asleep to Grey's and wake up to Scott Bakula singing - shoot me: I'm female) and invariably at some point when i'm nearly asleep, that infuriating announcer will come on and THANK me really loudly for watching ABC tonight. (I really hate that guy!)

Since I don't want to delete the credits, I just put in a cut mark before them and then they don't play. (I don't transcode Grey's anyway, but if I did, you can still put a cut in a transcoded program - just don't transcode it again - and then if you actually want to see the credits at some point, you can remove  (or invert) the cut.)
Low to medium tech solutions r us.

Obviously this won't help if you are watching almost live... may I recommend the fast forward button? (I still remember my mother's first experience with our VCR's remote contol. She asked "how do you turn it down?" and I had to strongly resist saying "you get up, walk across the room..." (but really, we used to change channels during the commercials cause we didn't have a remote for the TV and couldn't turn down the volume. ah, the bad old days...)

--
Pam from Boston
"You're going to have to explain it. Bear with the rest of us mortals as we stumble blindly along in your shadow." -- Stacy, in Sy's House fanfic  "Of a Thursday"
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2399047/7/