Don't ya just hate it when.....

[TennisGirl80]

Your sitting on the couch, watching TV, and the commercials come on about 10 TIMES LOUDER than you have it programed to!?!??! I just put my girls to bed, and I'm sitting here scrambling to find the remote to turn it down so as to not wake them up!!! Why do they do that, and why are they allowed?!? So annoying!!!!

 

[chell]

That is so frustrating! If I can't fast forward through I usually mute it.

 

[Chicago262]

We have been wondering the same thing. I know commercials have been louder for some time, but it seems like they are extremely loud now. We try to mute the TV (or FF if watching something on Tivo) during commercials. I wish the marketing folks would not subject us to this.

 

[MM27]

I swear I think they do that because they know that's when we get up to go to the bathroom or get snacks and they want us to hear the commercials from the other room

Some stations are much worse than others.

 

[Lorix2]

I thought it was just MY tv as it is over 10 years old. It really is such an annoyance. Does anyone know why?

 

[DarthKTrava]

I hate that too. In addition to why do different tv stations have different volume levels than others?

 

[Ohiodislover]

From what I understand commercials are only as loud as the loudest part of the program. Problem is the show volumes go up and down, and the commercial blares it at you full force. I could be wrong, but that is what DH told me?? Lord knows he is often wrong.

 

[Ephany]

DH and I were complaining about this earlier today. I think we had TBS on in the background and the commercials were LOUD. I about jumped out of my skin every time one came on. Definitely a conspiracy to ensure that commercials can be heard when you leave the room; how dare we take a bathroom break?

 

[Jen_in_NH]

Holy cow, FX is the WORST for this. It's bad enough that I won't watch things on FX at night for fear of waking my son up.

Jen

 

[Jillpie]

I once heard it is in order to wake people up. Especially later in the evening, when they start to nod off.

 

[olena]

They want o make sure you notice them.

 

[PrincessBelle94]

Yes, so annoying! Thank goodness for DVR!

 

[Mr. Pig]

Monty Python wanted to do this on their TV show way back. They wanted to keep lowering the broadcast sound so people would keep turning the volume up. Then when people had their volume turned way down they would put the broadcast volume back to normal just like the comercials do. The BBC wouldn't let them because they thought it would break some TV sets.

 

[RNMOM]

I think it is getting worse and worse. I get so mad when DH wants the remote because he can't find the dang mute button for the commercials. Stupid man.

What is up with TNT too? When I put that channel on I have to turn the volume up to nearly full then when the commercial comes on it knocks my socks off. Really, it is only on TNT. Weird.

 

[tennvalgirl]

Your sitting on the couch, watching TV, and the commercials come on about 10 TIMES LOUDER than you have it programed to!?!??! I just put my girls to bed, and I'm sitting here scrambling to find the remote to turn it down so as to not wake them up!!! Why do they do that, and why are they allowed?!? So annoying!!!!

or...10 times louder and it's Billy Mays trying to sell you some Oxy-Clean

 

[TennisGirl80]

or...10 times louder and it's Billy Mays trying to sell you some Oxy-Clean

He is loud, but the one that sticks out most in my mind, is the Proactiv commercial with Jessica Simpson - I was at a clients house one day, first meeting, and I almost screamed when it came on.... quite embarassing!!!

 

[Diznygrl]

The worst is the DirectBuy commercials.

 

[denisem]

Too funny - DH became rabid about this a few weeks back and played with our 4-5 y.o. Hitachi LCD TV. He found an audio/sound setting ("Perfect Sound" on Hitachi) that took care of the problem (something about enabling a noise filter??).

Might be worth a try for ya'll to look into the audio settings on your TV's.

 

[ChristmasElf]

I thought it was just MY tv as it is over 10 years old. It really is such an annoyance. Does anyone know why?

In the late 70's I think it was, that commercials would purposely be louder in case the viewer had fallen asleep while watching television. The commercial would wake you up, causing you to remember it.
Then in the early 80's TV manufacturers used to advertise which of their model tv's had some kind of programming that would make it so commercials would not be louder than the regular show you were watching.
Late in the fall of 2008, the copyright on that design expired, so the advertising companies are back to raising the volume once again.

 

[luvmy3]

I'm a chronic commercial muter.
Optimum online ones are the worst ones around here, aside from Billy Mays of course