[mythtv-users] Volume is reduced during commercials

[rsh1k]

On Mon, Aug 27, 2012 at 11:10 AM, Joseph Fry <joe at thefrys.com> wrote:
>>
>> Being 100% serious, I would LOVE to have a feature where the volume is
>> halved during commercials!
>>
>> On the channels I watch, the commercial detection isn't 100%
>> reliable...  so I don't have MythTV set to auto-skip.  Instead, I have
>> it notify, and then I manually skip with the remote.   But in the mean
>> time, there are HUGE volume swings because the commercials are so
>> loud.
>>
>> If the volume could be dropped automatically by a pre-set amount
>> during the detected commercials, this would be a fantastic feature!
>>
>>
>> (Is there a formal way to suggest or request features like this?)
>
>
> Even if there were... not sure how it would solve your problem.
>
> If commercial detection works, you could auto skip... if it doesn't why
> would you want to have your show running at 50% volume for some duration.
> Inevitably you would need to crank up your volume to compensate then get
> blasted when the incorrectly detected commercial ended.
>
> Not a feature I see getting implemented anytime soon.

You are right, that is a potential downfall.

But if the volume drop during commercials was adjustable, I could set
it to something modest - say a 10-20% drop instead of a 50% drop - and
it would still keep us from being blasted, but not make it *too* quiet
if the commercial detection has a miss.


Perhaps an alternate method would be to have the volume drop any time
the user fast forwards or rewinds... and then ramps back up within 1/2
to 1 second or so after the action?   This would take some of the
"edge" off of the loud commercials when manually fast forwarding,
without leaving you stuck listening to your program at a low volume.

- rsh1k