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Participant
December 11, 2012
Question

Volume control in flash player

  • December 11, 2012
  • 1 reply
  • 2114 views

I can't seem to find a way to control the volume of the ads that appear when watching videos.  The ads block the volume control and are much higher than the flash volume settings.  Congress passed a law, called CALM to make this unlawful, but it seems that broadcasters are not willing to comply.  The volume hurts the ears and I can't find a way to control it with some kind of master volume control.

Does anyone know of a solution?

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    1 reply

    chris.campbell
    Legend
    December 12, 2012

    Can you point me to a URL where this occurs?  As far as I know, your OS volume level set in the mixer can't be overridden.  It's possible that ad audio content can be recorded at a high level and feature content at a low level, but if you set your volume level to 25% in the OS mixer, it can't go over that.

    Participant
    December 12, 2012

    Veetle.com and Justtin.TV are two examples.  I usually have my OS volume at about 1/2 and this allows me to set the volume inside Flash at about 75%  The problem is that when the ads inside flash come up, they are at full volume.

    The law that Congress passed states that it must be at the average volume.  The ads shut off the volume control so you have no choice to lower the volume.  Before, they did have a volume control within the ad.  I think Hulu did this.

    One of the reasons the law was passed was because the volume was set very low on the base program (tv show) then the ads would come on much louder.  Congress passed a law last year that takes effect in two days stating that they must be at the average volume.

    I run serveral programs and have the OS volume set so that I can here other programs, then some ad comes on a blasts my ears with no way to control the volume within the ad.  

    If you read the law as it is written, it must be at the average volume.

    It's clear the advertisers have found a way to bypass the volume set in the Flash player

    According to the law, the volume of the ad needs to be the same volume as the program.

    "The bill passed on September 29, 2010. The bill requires the use of technology to ensure that commercials will be played at the same volume as the program."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Advertisement_Loudness_Mitigation_Act

    http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/loud-commercials

    http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20025823-503544.html

    I'm not sure how the ads are produced, but simply having a volume control on the ads would at least help.  It can be pretty painful to have someone scream in your ears.  If someone is using headphones as I sometimes do, or self powered speakers as I always do they can suffer damage to the ears.