Posts by James Green
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Is no one doing real market research so advertisers know they're wasting their money? Or is there still a sizeable rump of passive telly imbibers who will take whatever they are given?
Perhaps the problem is that it is marketers doing market research. I sometimes wonder if they've become a little good at arranging questions to provide the desired answer, that maybe they've lost the art of attempting to write unbiased questions.
-
why TV station don't lower the master volume when the ads come on
I thought the answer to this was very clear. They don't want to. I assume that they'd implement something like replay gain or lowering the volume on the recording, rather than changing the master volume.
As to why they don't want to. I assume the advertisers believe it makes their ads more effective, and the TV stations go along with this. -
It seems actually the solution for TV3 is much easier than I'd previously thought. The replay gain solution used by MP3 players like iTunes is rather easy. It manages to assess perceived loudness, and attenuate accordingly.
Also, I have no particular evidence for this, but I wonder whether Comskip is sensitive to changes in audio compression? For a computer program to detect the start and end of ads, I can think of several heuristics. Obviously there's timing (TV3's appear to be exactly 4min, TVNZ about 3.5min), there's the splash screen graphics, and the sound changes. If the latter is included, it might persuade advertisers to reconsider compression.
-
Yes, you're right. I did notice that, and sort of ignore it. It does show actual loudness more than compression. However, if you scroll down there is a particularly gold shot of a song by ABBA. The original has a few peaks (fewer than 1% I'd guess) near peak amplitude. The later mix has probably 50% AT peak amplitude. Actually, I should quit describing. Follow the link. That's a pretty good depiction of compression.
I know the Chillis have always been compression whores, and I'm also away that I like your old stuff better than your new stuff (thanks Regurgitator), but I sometimes wonder whether this might explain why I can't stand their recent output.
Also, for those of you nerdy enough to still be hear, did you hear around the traps about the suggestion that kids prefer MP3 sizzle?. The particular version I linked to makes an alternative argument, but while he argues that familiarity and preference are being conflated, I think a lot of the time preference is about familiarity. Actually, there is plenty of evidence that familiar things become more liked.
-
Incidentally, anyone finding themselves in position of a cut-and-cover tunnel they don't want, there's an opening here. We'd like a pedestrian precinct, not a state highway. Cheers.
-
Traffic management of Great North Road will be interesting.
Don't suppose they could throw down a temporary roadway along the adjacent reserve, and regrass it once the tunnels are done ;p
<quote>the motorway is going to be higher than the surrounding area</quote.
You have to put the fill from the tunnels somewhere. Or pay to put it somewhere. Oh wait, this is the cunning cost saving option.
-
It's interesting cross referencing that with the map I found above. Does that mean the cost saving comes from using the rail designation, and then if the rail corridor is built, they'll have to buy out the houses down one side of Hendon Ave?
-
I think there are some reasonably quick and dirty software based fixes that can be used Ian, but television programmes are also not aiming to GRAB your attention all the time. Whispered bits are actually whispered, and loud noises can be used for dramatic effect. In contrast, the ads are our to grab attention. I don't think it would be necessarily desirable to compress a drama for example.
Ooh. This is interesting, and disingenuous by TV3
Also, on the so-called Loudness War in music. Check out the animated gif at the top of the page, showing the same Beatles song re-mastered 4 times in 20 years.
-
I was deliberately avoiding the technical term ;)
-
Mercifully, I'm no longer a consumer of ads for the most part (thanks GB-PVR).
The jackhammer outside isn't louder than me banging a nail in with a hammer it just hits the peaks more frequently
That's an OK analogy, but it's rather more like changing the sound of the jackhammer so that the quiet bits in between are almost as loud as the main strikes.
The ads are not objectively louder, they just have fewer quiet bits, and seem louder.
It's a bit like applying the commons dilemma to sound. Left to their own devices, the ads are not going to get quieter for fear of missing out. The television companies could step in, but choose not to.
The same issue applies to music. If you make a mix of songs from different CDs, some will sound louder than others. Programs like iTunes have a feature to equalize this, but generally over the past 20 years bands have all been trying to sound louder.