A Peculiar Blog

I’ve hated this dirty trick for years.  It was bad enough when it became commonplace on television but now I have begun seeing this tactic used in web based video streams that are supported by advertising.  Hulu.com is a great example.

Here’s the scenario

You’re watching a video.  you know there’s going to be commercials because that’s how they pay for the site and the bandwidth Etc and while you don’t particularly like it you pretty much understand.

So you adjust the volume to comfortable level, click the ‘full screen’ button on the player and settle back to watch your show.

A few minutes later you’re engrossed in the program and it breaks for the commercial.  The problem is that the volume on the commercial is fifty to one hundred percent or more louder than the program and when it starts it just about blows your speakers apart.  Not to mention you eardrums and your nerves!!!

The problem here is that if you set the volume at a level where the commercials won’t jar you clean into next week, then you cannot hear the program.  Thus your days of ‘easy comfortable watching’ are over because you have to be able to reach for the volume control and adjust it fast because of how much louder it is than the program.

I’m not one to encourage yet another law because we have too many as it is but seriously, it SHOULD be illegal to have the volume of advertising ANY louder than the program itself.  Penalties for violating it should include being beaten in public by angry viewers and then having your eardrums surgically removed.

[tags]commercial, volume, louder than program, jarring, heart failure, hearing damage, abuse by broadcasters, abuse by advertisers, just plain wrong[/tags]