DIRECTV Receiver Technical Support & Troubleshooting

It's very annoying when I have the volume set to a comfortable listening setting only to have the volume get ridiculously loud during certain commercials.

It's even more of a pain trying not to disturb the baby sleeping in the next room. I've decided not to watch Directv anymore when the baby is sleeping. It's actually gotten to the point where I hardly ever turn the satellite on at all.

Will you please help me figure out how to minimize the difference in volume levels between programs and commercials?  

Major city near you: Phoenix ZIP Code: 85335 Receiver Manufacturer: DIRECTV

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All of us have this problem. It's the broadcasters and networks that are to blame. The only solution I've found is to ride the volume control when commericials start, or simply hit the MUTE button.  

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Yep - M U T E , that is how I spell relief.

Carl  

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Are commercials those noisy things that I fast forward through to get to the program again? If so FF or Skip also turns off the sound. DVR, don't stay home without it.  

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FYI- The FCC has requlations banning TV stations from running audio in advertising at a higher level than the programming. This is often ignored and cable companies are some of the worst; I remember watching Bulls games back in the 80's and when the switched to commercial the audio went up and when it was a local commercial it went up even higher. Here are a couple of things you can do, some may depend on what kind of equipment you have-
1. May audio recievers\amps have a -20db drop feature, this would be manual but would not totally mute the sound.
2. If you have any kind of artifical enhancement turned on your audio reciever or TV, turn it off. You should be running "clean" for best sound quality (treble and bass flat, no dynamic expander or other surround modes than dolby pro\dolby digital)

Keep in mind that if you get a device that compresses the audio to keep all sources at an even level you will loose the dynamic range that makes watching movies and shows so enjoyable. Dolby digital I belive has a 90db dynamic range, so compressing that will leave less room between low (someone wispering) and high (car explosion) sounds.  

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I have this problem too. I always noticed it most on HDTV stations, when I can tell my receiver is switching from digital sound from the show to the commercials that follow. I don't think there is an easy fix. I know my receiver has a "night mode" that will regular the sound for you. This is basically for when people are talking in a movie and you think, I better turn this up, and then things are exploding and your walls are coming down. It does actually work pretty well so if your receiver has it you could try it.  

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AMEN !!!!! I HAVE THE DAME PROBLEM AND SO FAR ALL OF THE SUGGESTIONS TO STOP IT DO NOT WORK !!! VERY, VERY IRRITATING !!
HELP !! HELP !!! HELP !!!!  

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Service providers, whether it is directv or cable or whoever, don't enhance the volume of commercials in any way. The programming is sent to you exactly the way it gets sent to them. On the other hand, the stations that send the signal to directv probably do enhance the volume of commercials. After all, they want you to go out and buy the product they are selling. Without sponsors to back the stations, they would be in dire straits. Have you ever noticed that some babies never look at a TV until the commercial comes on? The sponsors want to get your attention. Some of the newer TV's have a setting in them that will help that situation. Check your menus on your TV, in the audio section. See if you have the capability to make the commercials audio lower there.  

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I believe what difference in audio level between programming is DirectTv problem. As Ex CNN employee i know what audio level between channels can be adjust in Direct TV engineering room only if engineer from DIrectvTV want it. I have huge problem not in just audio level different from channel to channel but also quality of the pictures from Direct TV. I got quality on all American channel about 250 line resolution (similar to the VCR quality and international channel about 200 line resolution or less some time. This is what we call "digital" qualities of pictures.
Some of those problem in engineering room because nobody pay attention to a vectroscope show matchong Color in Video what Direct Broadcast, and some problem whithin quality in sattelite receiver.
I belive what Direct TV must do something or stop arvertise of good quality of pictures.  

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Directv is the worst offender when advertising the movie channels. I can't
hit the mute button fast enough. Advertisers should realize you can't sell the listeners anything when the mute button is the most used thing on the remote other than the on and off button.
The odd thing is, I have only noticed how bad this has become in the last few months.  

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I find that the problem is exacerbated when watching HD programming. Volume changes are also pronounced in transitions between introductions and the programs themselves, although this may be a function of my amplifier.  

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I purchased a product called the TV sound regulator (TVSR):

http://tvsoundregulator.com/

The TVSR does seem to work in terms of reducing the problem. I would say even though it's not perfect, there is an improvement while using it. It not only works with commercials, but even loud events such as gun shots etc during regular shows. For example, I used to watch CSI with remote in hand to constantly change the volume, and I no longer need to do that.

It only works through the RCA audio jacks however, so if you're using only digital sound output then forget it. The majority of the time I'm listening to sound through my TV's speakers, so I do use the RCA jacks. Only if I'm watching movies do I listen to digital (5.1) through my stereo receiver, so for me for the majority of my time it's fine.

To my surprise the TVSR also has a composite video input & output on it. When I asked them why they said it needs the video signal to keep the sound synced to the video. But I use component video to my TV, so what I did is just run a composite cable from the Directv receiver to the TVSR so it can get the video signal and just kept my component hook-ups going to the TV and that seems to do the trick.

Overall I'm happy with the TVSR and it might be worth trying if you are desperate like I was too to resolve this annoying issue. From my own research, the Terk model that some of you mentioned does not work at all, but the TVSR got some good reviews.  

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This is all B... S.... It is direct tv and cable companies who get paid to blast that comercial. If we want this to stop we must email and bug the **** out of direct tv and cable companies, together as a strong group and enough constant emails and calls we could put this to an end. Dont let them fool you and say theres nothing they can do because its a lie. They could stop it they just dont care what we think. So call, email, mail, and BUG, BUG, BUG, and maybe we can end this bull.  

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It's not that damn simple to fix and it's just plain ignorant to slam anybody for not getting it done for FREE! That's right, you are NOT willing to PAY EXTRA for the additional service of converting the volume levels of all the different contents to an unknown standard level that would have to throw out some of the clarity that exists in the better signals. If you ever tried to convert multiple programs (try your entire music collection) all to the same new format and volume level (to suite a newly aquired player) You won't even have time to watch TV this year and won't like the results in the audio. DNC (Dynamic Noise Compression or whatever was used) throws out enough of the content necessary to determin what is wispered by the unit of commandos sneaking around on my program that I can't make out what they are saying at any setting without really raising the volume. A whisper needs too much amplification and a blast needs too much compression to be done well enough to improve what I've been getting on Cable. Give me 30 days to compare DirectTV FAIRLY.
I've got some limited improvement with DNC, BBE, EZ SoundRight, and the GoldWave sound editor depending on how much effort and money you want to spend on each sound bite. I have determined that it is a waste of effort to even try to convert seperate recordings to match. I loose too much in content as each is already adjusted to suit. There is no guidelines or effort ever spent on adjusting the ads. Yes it would be so nice if the advertisers would pay extra to be forced to conform to the shows sound dynamics at the expense of their ad's content instead of affecting the show they are paying to interupt. I remember when cable claimed it was going to be cheap and commercial free. But such things will never happen when money is in control.  

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I agree. Send in a letter to DirecTV! Email them!

I plan on canceling my DirecTV service this week. When they ask why I'm canceling, I'm going to tell them the reason is the volume levels for commercials. In fact, I'll still send in a letter of complaint. I don't know if the customer service rep on the phone will bother to relay my reasons to DirecTV.  

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It wasn't that simple to shoot a signal into a receiver floating around in space and then shoot that same signal back to earth so that thousands of receivers could receive that signal and present a picture on a TV screen, but it was done...

Quality is determined by the customer. We, as customers, determined that there lies a problem between the volume levels of commercials and normal programming. When enough of us determine this problem is important to us, and voice our concerns, then a company has the option to "fix" this problem. And if a company implements that fix, then the customers that view this problem will make the jump to patronize the company that solved this problem.

Consider this, customers viewed a problem with cable TV. So, satellite TV was born. A lot of people made the transition to satellite, even though at first, the cost was higher than that of cable TV.

So, would a customer pay MORE for better service? If you're on the DirecTV site, I would have to say yes.  

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Very well said, Thank you. Ray Jr.  

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hmm well for what it is worth. Directv does not adjust the volume of any source signal, it is just sent at the same level as it is received.
Directv could start adjusting the signal levels for sound from the sources as they receive them, but that would cost a lot of extra equipment and man power and would probably triple the cost of the service.

IT is the feeds that directv gets where the problem is. IE the stations have started cranking the volume up on commercials. it is not directv that does that. the individual stations have discovered that if they crank up the volume, people that started snoozing while the program was on will wake up and hear the commercial. what a lousy thing to do.  

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Direct TV needs to take responsibility for this, and except only commercials that have been normalized. I know as well as they do that any company out there is going to normalize thier commercials to have them put on Direct TV, after all the audiance Direct TV reaches is more than suffice to satisfy their (commercial advertisers) advertising needs. Every commercial that comes on blasting away I boycott, I boycott the advertiser and any and all companies associated with that commercial. If enough people ban together on this, we as one, can put an end to theese nap breaking scoundrels. Dont forget to defend net neutrality at SaveTheInternet.com. We as one, become the strong. Ray Jr  

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ok, here is where your power comes into play, everyone needs to note what time the commercial was aired, and what channel.
then call directv (treat them nice) and ask for the contact info for the channel. call or contact the channel and raise heck.  

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This is a great idea! I,m on it, but this can really keep you busy, keep a pen and paper near you.  

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Much of this is the responsibility of DirecTV.

I mix shows for Discovery channels (Food/Travel/NatGeo) and they mke mixers adhere to rigorous specs, so all shows are at the same levels. The commercials that go through (national) Discovery are the same levels. DirecTV is responsible for regional commercials, and do not impose a level specification.
You will now notice that many HD boradcasts have commercials at a lower level than the programming.
Networks do listen!!!  

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Thanks for the info this helps in my crusade to rid us of loud commercials, I have spoken to direct tv about this and they say they are going to look into it, well see.  

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Why don't you try a TV Volume Regular. I have never personally used one, but I have heard of them before. Checking them out on-line, they're only about $30.  

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