A Collection of Short Letters

[seal_clubber]

Dear God,

Please make my father stop clicking on "Okay" when he doesn't fully understand what the pop-up window is telling him. That, or let him find some other IT support person than me.

Amen,
  Murray

♣     ♣     ♣
Dear Ann Boleyn,

I don't think it's going to go so well for you in this season's The Tudors. I'm just sayin

Comments

[davesbrain]

I love my mute. In addition to saving me from the usual commercial crap, which I will mute as it pleases me, it allows me to religiously tune out the 10 seconds of the 11:45 CTV news sports announcer who always says "that's sports - c'hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhummin' uuuuuuup!" Much as I hate the constant barrage of yelling that is the sports news, this guy is unbearable in his lame-assed, transparent attempt to have a signature memorable phrase. I feel like he's trying to brain-wash me into being a sports fan.

[seal_clubber]

What is it with all sports announcers, anyhow? They're all trying so very hard to be hale-fellow-well-met hearty that they just shout everything. Is this some sort of perceived requirement of anyone who "really" likes sports? "Gosh, I'm so excited about this that I simply cannot contain myself" sort of thing?

[wraithgirl]

One of the reasons we have be reluctant to "upgrade" our TV is the AI sound feature. It automatically equalizes the sound so commercials are so f*****g loud. And then the blessed mute button. Love.

I also miss Mrs. Clubber. I had to have a latte *by myself* today. So, so sad.

[seal_clubber]

Did you know that commercials aren't technically louder than the shows they accompany (and that legally they cannot be)? The maximum volume is the same for commercials and normal programming. If you watch the audio levels on a VU meter you will see that they peak at around the same level.

Ad-makers use something called "inconsistent loudness" to make the ads seem louder. Audio compression shrinks the range of sound in a commercial, boosting softer sounds to the level of louder ones. Measured on a VU meter, it means that a commercial can have a higher and louder average sound level than a program while not exceeding the show's peak loudness (and thus remaining nicely within the legislated parameters). Inconsistent loudness is typically more pronounced with local ads and when switching between cable channels, which have a wide disparity of volume levels.

Of course, saying that it is only "perceived loudness" is like ignoring windchill. Hey it's only -5 degrees... it only feels like -20, so stop shivering

[wraithgirl]

Back when we had cable, you could tell the AI sound was working. When you shut the feature off, it made a huge difference. I don't know about now though, since we haven't watched regular TV in a while.

Didn't know about the legals of it; very interesting stuff.

P.S.

[seal_clubber]

Wow, what a verbose reply I bombed you with. Sorry about that.