Screw HDTV—gimmee quieter commercials.

At midnight on February 17, 2009, all American TV stations will have to switch to 100% digital broadcasting. So why can’t they also require that sound levels between commercials and TV programs be the same? The printing industry does it with colors. It’s not CMYR or CMYF, is it? Don’t EVEN want to hear that peak levels are actually the same for both. So what. We’re talking end of one audio segment not matching levels of the one that follows. Peak, non-peak. E.g., i.e., etc. The volumes are way off no matter what you watch: live sporting event, movie or tv show.

More help around the corner though? Dolby was supposed to be working on the problem and now a bill proposed by Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif) would make the FCC responsible for regulation, even though they currently aren’t required to do so. (They can tell you what words you can say on TV but have no control over how loud you say them. Nice.) Still, the proposed bill would only curtail the problem, not eliminate it. Either way, if the freakin’ TVSR can do it, I think Cablevision might be able to figure something out.