Why do several shows have such a loud fucking theme song. One off the top of my head is The Office. So fucking loud. Also why do a lot of movies/shows seem to have whispering dialogue and then roaring explosions or shoot outs? Like I have to turn the TV volume up so high to hear a conversation and then get my ear drums blown out because someone is firing a machine gun into a house.
Originally Posted by DeepPurple:
Funny you chose the Office, I actually have every episode on my DVR and watch a episode or two every night. I guess I'm addicted to the show. Probably have been through the entire series a dozen times. I watch almost no other sitcoms or network shows at all, mostly just sports, news and reality TV.
Originally Posted by rabblerouser:
Watch Parks & Recreation next.
Promise.
Seconded!
I finally watched it last Spring and while the first season was a bit of struggle to watch (at least for me), seasons 2-4 are, IMO, up there with the greatest Network sitcoms of all time.
Everyone raves about Ron Swanson and deservedly so, Rob Lowe is simply sublime and again for me, it's his best role, ever (and I LOVED The Grinder).
The other cast members are great and Jean-Ralphio Saperstein is just ridiculous. Just typing his name makes me giggle and smile. [Reply]
Originally Posted by rabblerouser:
Watch Parks & Recreation next.
Promise.
I thought about that since the The Office Facebook Group talks about the show. The only other series I ever binged was Six Feet Under on HBO which aired from 2001 to 2005. It was an hour long show, kind of far-fetched in that it was a mortuary in Los Angeles run by a family that were all odd characters. Five seasons 63 episodes and I've been through five times over a couple of years and then my wife said no more. Just about about every actor has gone on to become popular. It's still available on HBO like most of their past series, on-demand.
It had an opening sequence just like The Office. Whoever that episode was about, you would see how they died. It started with the very first episode when the father Richard Jenkins was killed, so the remaining 62 episodes he appeared as ghost. Here are some of the death scenes with the father Richard Jenkins first.
Originally Posted by srvy:
OK but doesn't move the needle for me. Not even as much as a chuckle.
No problem, I feel the same about all so called popular sitcoms the last few years, Big Bang Theory and the rest of them. I tried to watched that one and had to turn it off after five minutes. Here's a typical scene, someone walks into a room and makes a comment, 'oh look, my shirt isn't blue in here', and then laugh track goes wild with laughter. At least the Office didn't have a laugh track. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DeepPurple:
No problem, I feel the same about all so called popular sitcoms the last few years, Big Bang Theory and the rest of them. I tried to watched that one and had to turn it off after five minutes. Here's a typical scene, someone walks into a room and makes a comment, 'oh look, my shirt isn't blue in here', and then laugh track goes wild with laughter. At least the Office didn't have a laugh track.
I can still watch Seinfeld episodes I have seen dozens of times and laugh. I just don't find The Office funny. King of Queens or It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia funny to me Office is a snore. [Reply]
Originally Posted by srvy:
I can still watch Seinfeld episodes I have seen dozens of times and laugh. I just don't find The Office funny. King of Queens or It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia funny to me Office is a snore.
Seinfeld I didn't start watching until it went off, that was in 1998 so really I've been watching reruns for 20 years. I don't have them recorded but when they're on, I'll watch. Really haven't seen that many repeats.
The shows I've gotten into were The Office, Seinfeld, Six Feet Under and Moonlighting. I've actually have the DVDs for Moonlighting because they don't show reruns. I use to love the way David Addison (Bruce Willis) and Maddie Hayes (Sybil Shepherd) had such interplay, it was uncanny. Reminded me of some old movies. Oddly, I can't really stand Bruce Willis now, since he's shaved his head it's like he's not even the same person. Here's a short clip that is a perfect example.
Originally Posted by notorious:
Sharp TVs back in the 90s had tech built in to automatically level off the loudness.
I believe the FCC made a rule stopping commercials from overusing gain when recording. For a while some commercials would be loud as fuck compared to others.
It doesn't apply to streaming services. Commercials on Hulu are a good 25% louder than the actual content. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud:
Even though the FCC has a decibel limit for all broadcasts, there are numerous reasons why sound levels vary from program to program and especially broadcast channel to broadcast channel.
Just like in movie theaters, local TV stations rarely calibrate their signal levels to meet FCC guidelines, which also includes Multiband and Single band compression. If the compression ratio isn't set properly, music that's been Mastered in the last 20 years is noticeably louder than Masters that haven't been Re-Mastered at all, or in recent years.
Without the overall Compression set properly, quieter passages will be quieter while louder passages will be much louder. The Compression is supposed to be set at a specific ratio to "even out' all of the disparities but as mentioned earlier, most local TV affiliates do not take the time to calibrate.
Additionally, most local TV stations don't broadcast at the Maximum Decibels allowed, so commercials are often much louder than the broadcast because they DO take advantage of each and every decibel in order to gain the viewer's attention.
Most TV's these days have a "volume-leveling" mode, which compresses the audio signal in order to make the dialog, music and commercials more even in volume but their effectiveness is hit or miss.
I don't really hear this issue as much as I did in past years, mainly because I bypass the local ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC affiliates in favor of either their respective apps or Ad-Free Hulu. The apps, in my experience, also provide a better picture than the local affiliate as well.
I haven't watched an episode of The Office since the finale aired years ago but I don't recall hearing the theme song as distinctly louder than the dialog, so again, it just may be your local affiliate. But I'd be interested to know if you're hearing this on Netflix or The Peacock because those apps are meeting the proper FCC guidelines.
Originally Posted by htismaqe:
Ads on Hulu are MEGA loud.
Have you noticed that Hulu and Disney+ broadcasts are 10-15 decibels lower in volume when compared to other apps such as Netflix, Starz, Sunday Ticket, etc.?
That's because neither Hulu nor Disney+ maximize their decibel output.
I have Ad-Free Hulu so I can't compare their programming to their commercial output but for example, I need to crank my TV and Soundbar to at least 90 when watching Hulu or Disney+ but when I watch the Spectrum TV App, NFL Sunday Ticket, History, Discovery, et al, the TV Volume and Soundbar are set to somewhere around 25, which is a giant PITA because I need to remember to turn down both volumes before switching to another app because otherwise, it's loud AF.
I still don't know why they're broadcasting at such a low level. Someone I know over there said it's because they don't want to broadcast too loudly for children, especially children that use headphones to watch their content, but that doesn't explain Hulu's equally low decibel output. [Reply]
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud:
Have you noticed that Hulu and Disney+ broadcasts are 10-15 decibels lower in volume when compared to other apps such as Netflix, Starz, Sunday Ticket, etc.?
That's because neither Hulu nor Disney+ maximize their decibel output.
I have Ad-Free Hulu so I can't compare their programming to their commercial output but for example, I need to crank my TV and Soundbar to at least 90 when watching Hulu or Disney+ but when I watch the Spectrum TV App, NFL Sunday Ticket, History, Discovery, et al, the TV Volume and Soundbar are set to somewhere around 25, which is a giant PITA because I need to remember to turn down both volumes before switching to another app because otherwise, it's loud AF.
I still don't know why they're broadcasting at such a low level. Someone I know over there said it's because they don't want to broadcast too loudly for children, especially children that use headphones to watch their content, but that doesn't explain Hulu's equally low decibel output.
Yep. To even hear Hulu, I need to be on about 75. OTA TV is uncomfortably loud at about 40 and Netflix at about 45. [Reply]
Originally Posted by htismaqe:
Yep. To even hear Hulu, I need to be on about 75. OTA TV is uncomfortably loud at about 40 and Netflix at about 45.
Yeah, so for whatever reason, they're not using Limiter or Compressor, so the commercials really "pop" while the programming is substantially lower.
Once we're allowed to have human contact again in Los Angeles, I'll do my best to get to the bottom of this issue because it's annoying, so say the least.
I'm so crazy about this stuff that when I first purchased my family room 75" TCL and found the overall volume output to be far too low, I contacted them directly to ask them to boost their decibel output by 10db. It took about a month but they called weekly to let me know they were working on it and actually fixed it, which was included in an update in July 2019.
Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud:
Yeah, so for whatever reason, they're not using Limiter or Compressor, so the commercials really "pop" while the programming is substantially lower.
Once we're allowed to have human contact again in Los Angeles, I'll do my best to get to the bottom of this issue because it's annoying, so say the least.
I'm so crazy about this stuff that when I first purchased my family room 75" TCL and found the overall volume output to be far too low, I contacted them directly to ask them to boost their decibel output by 10db. It took about a month but they called weekly to let me know they were working on it and actually fixed it, which was included in an update in July 2019.
