Tv volume seems to be getting louder

[Sproket]

We have recently bought one of these but i can't make my mind up if there could be a fault with the TV volume, I don't seem to recall when we had the sky box fitted, the volume seeming to be going up & down by itself, more so when the adverts come on, the start of programs,
This is a brilliant bit of kit have now got BBC I player & ITV player on the tv by using this
Looks like i will have to bring the spare sky box back in from the van & try that

 

[JTQ]

We have the same issue with our unit like yours that is in our caravan and also both the recorder variants we have in the house.
Very irritating when changing channels and we find the gain range on the Hymax units is sometimes inadequate, so we have the 'handset' able to modulate both the TV and Humax. The mute is useful to quieten thing as you sort it out.
This could just be a Freesat issue? The Humax we travel with is so good a de-coder relative to our old one we live with this issue.
Will be interesting to know if there is a 'cure'.

 

[Martin24]

Sorry Sproket but got to have a rant now. Just leave the TV at home and enjoy your trips without it! Even with the children we NEVER have the telly on! Board games and outdoor games before they go to bed then us time for conversation and enjoying each others' company before we head to bed. Much the same routine at home. The children seem to prefer playing family games than watching TV.

Hope you get it sorted!

 

[xtrailman]

I am a fan of Humax.
I have two 9200T boxes, and a one year old HDR FOX T2.
The 9200's had to have a few software updates, but both surfer from reduced volume, or varying volume.
Still we love the user interface.
The HD Humax we have has had no end of problems, loss of sound completely through the HDMI , but ok on the scart, and home theatre via the fibre optic.
But you need the HDMI for HD, so i'm told.
So after a year we had a refurbished replacement for the FOX T2.
We no longer lose sound, but the sound level definitely varies, its not good enough for a modern product.
So i no longer recommend HUMAX.

We bought a sky hdplus package just before xmas, and find the sound never varies on that.

Its a shame as i think the Humax user interface is way better than sky, although i think the sky handset is better.

Be aware if you buy the basic Sky HD package, you only get a 250gb memory.

Which is totally useless, you need 1TB, minimum.

 

[David_L]

As far as sound volume is concerned it is increased on all adverts. to draw your attention to them (I worked for ITV before I retired), this also happens at the start of programms for the same reason.

 

[mullsy1]

Quite so.Adverts are deliberately processed to be right at the legal limit.This is even more prominant if the ad follows a quiet part of the program.

 

[ProfJohnL]

David L makes a very valid point.

Programme makers and advertisers have a massive array of audio processors available to them that can do all sorts wonderful (or woeful) things. One of the most used devices is called a compressor. These can alter many different aspects of an audio signal, but as a simple analogy; they can work like an automatic volume recording level controls that you used to find on audio cassette recorders they basically even out the volume of a signal by increasing the volume of quite passages, and sometimes decreasing the volume of louder passages. this flattened dynamic range can be broadcast at a higher perceived volume than uncompressed material.

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

Be aware if you buy the basic Sky HD package, you only get a 250gb memory.

Which is totally useless, you need 1TB, minimum.

Excuse me Ray but why is that??
I have the basic box so far I have on mine:-
Every episode of thinking tackle and carp crew (40hrs)
last two series of Merlin (28 Episodes)
8 films.
and 20 or so other programs recorded but not yet seen,
volume left on disc 60%
or 150hrs
or another 50 films
and 250gb isn't big enough ?????? 1TB could take the whole of the BBC archives with room to spare

 

[Dustydog]

Be aware if you buy the basic Sky HD package, you only get a 250gb memory.

Which is totally useless, you need 1TB, minimum.

Excuse me Ray but why is that??
I have the basic box so far I have on mine:-
Every episode of thinking tackle and carp crew (40hrs)
last two series of Merlin (28 Episodes)
8 films.
and 20 or so other programs recorded but not yet seen,
volume left on disc 60%
or 150hrs
or another 50 films
and 250gb isn't big enough ?????? 1TB could take the whole of the BBC archives with room to spare

Good Morning Sir Chunky
You are quite correct. I have a one year old Amstrad Sky HD box and it holds so much more than the previous one, a Thomson. However we do not record anything in HD and I suspect HD may well take loads more recording space. The 250gb is more than adequate imo.
If we had the 1tb SWMBO would be recording everything and watching nothing

 

[xtrailman]

Depends on what you want to record.
I try to record everything in HD which soon eats the memory.
The humax is a basic 500GB, 1TB is now available.
We found that this quickly filled up, so recordings we wanted but were not on the watch next list, had to be deleted.
So we were looking at another Box, but 1TB, i think theses a even larger memory available now.
But due to the sound level variation problems, we didn't want to risk buying yet again a faulty HUMAX, sound varies watching a recording, not during the adverts.
A new ITB Humax is around £330.

As Sky had a offer during Dec we did the sums and decided to have Sky for the first time ever.
The basic package is £20 a month, the HD pack £10.25, free install and set up.
But with a M&S £100 voucher.
The deal gave me F1 coverage for a year, and a new HDplus box, which worked out i thought cheaper, but only if i subscribe for a year.

My error was assuming a company like sky would have a basic box with 500GB.

But anyway the deal still works out about even, comparing the annual cost to a Humax 500GB, if you understand the logic.

 

[RogerL]

My Humax Foxsat-HDR is "only" 320GB but we've never gone beyond 40% usage - that's a mixture of SD and HD - if you only use the PVR for timeshifting it's quite adequate even if it's a case of record two channels from satellite and watch a 3rd from DTV on the TV's tuner.
We certainly have issues with volume fluctuations between adverts and programmes but that's nought to do with Humax, Freesat or DTV - it's bloody ITV!
I want a PVR that will automatically filter out EVERY advert - I'd pay hansomely for that!

 

[Dustydog]

Whilst I have an HD box we do not pay Sky for the privelege. The plasma tv has an indepent freesat HD decoder, plugged into one of the four LNB terminals. As hard as I've tried the difference between HD and non HD is barely discernible. Certainly not worth an extra £10 a month.
The old CRT tv never needed HD. However unlike the plasma home tv I have noticed the LCD one in the caravan can on ocassions have a "shadowy delay" especially when watching a football match.
So is HD progress or just another reason to charge more money

 

[RogerL]

So is HD progress or just another reason to charge more money

I'm not sure either - it seems you need a good quality TV screen to tell the difference between SD and HD - but SD is quite good on a good quality TV screen anyway.
I guess that if you sit too close to a giant screen then HD is very useful but you'd have to be a total anorak to tell the difference on a small screen in a caravan.

 

[xtrailman]

Adverts are why we record everything, saves lots of time, we watch 99% in playback.
Which is were Humax blows Sky away, Sky only has visual fast forward, while Humax will also allow you to jump, and enable adjustment, ours is set to 3min forward 30 sec back. Sorts out any advert very quickly.
Lots of complaints and problems with the Humax boxes, just do a google search.

 

[xtrailman]

Whilst I have an HD box we do not pay Sky for the privelege. The plasma tv has an indepent freesat HD decoder, plugged into one of the four LNB terminals. As hard as I've tried the difference between HD and non HD is barely discernible. Certainly not worth an extra £10 a month.
The old CRT tv never needed HD. However unlike the plasma home tv I have noticed the LCD one in the caravan can on occasion's have a "shadowy delay" especially when watching a football match.
So is HD progress or just another reason to charge more money

Yes it is a step forward, but only when viewing HD.
A lot of Sky brocasts arnt even in HD, and thats those on the HD channels i'm talking about.
The most noticable is watching football, compare bbc1 to bbc hd, you will soon see a difference.
If you dont, change your TV.
We actually find the picture on our samsung led hd tv, much better than our sony lcd tv, and that playing through a pvr.

 

[xtrailman]

Be aware if you buy the basic Sky HD package, you only get a 250gb memory.

Which is totally useless, you need 1TB, minimum.

Excuse me Ray but why is that??
I have the basic box so far I have on mine:-
Every episode of thinking tackle and carp crew (40hrs)
last two series of Merlin (28 Episodes)
8 films.
and 20 or so other programs recorded but not yet seen,
volume left on disc 60%
or 150hrs
or another 50 films
and 250gb isn't big enough ?????? 1TB could take the whole of the BBC archives with room to spare

Not for me, no.
Sky claim the basic box will record only 60 hours of HD.
I filled that in less than a week.

 

[colin-yorkshire1]

hi Ray, AHH theres the rub I don't record many HD programs as the ones I tend to record are not transmitted in HD so theres no point,
the fishing programs are acctually recorded as a reference library and will be transfered to the HD of the computer when I get round to it.
anything else is recorded simply so I dont miss it and once watched it's deleted I dont see any point in saving programs perminantly on the hard drive
anyway the quality of HD is dependant on the equipment used and how the programs are viewed. HD comes in two forms 720p and 1080p the later being the best @ 2million pixels a 1080p TV being watched on standard broadcast will still be better than a flat screen (CRT) in HD. the quality of HD broadcasts also varies a great deal but as someone as allready said you would have to be a anorak to notice the difference,
reminds me a little of my old mate barry who decades ago bought the best HIFI money could buy to listen to his collection of opera eventhough many were on 78's he said he could hear the difference

 

[Surfer]

Having worked for Ch5 when it first arrived in the UK I am also aware of the ads increasing in volume for the same reason. Also on Sky we have noticed that on some programs the volume is quite low and even if you turn it up full blast there is not much of a differecne in volume until the ads come on. I surmise that this may be because the sound is "clipped" at transmission due to the digital transmitter not being able to translate that analogue signal correctly. We use our Sky HD digibox in our caravan and have a twin LNB so that we can watch and also record programs. Nice to relax in the evenings and watch TV.
BTW many years ago Sharp produced a VCR that cut out all the adverts. Briliant machine and reliable, but was taken off the market for some reason.

 

[Sproket]

We have the same issue with our unit like yours that is in our caravan and also both the recorder variants we have in the house.
Very irritating when changing channels and we find the gain range on the Hymax units is sometimes inadequate, so we have the 'handset' able to modulate both the TV and Humax. The mute is useful to quieten thing as you sort it out.
This could just be a Freesat issue? The Humax we travel with is so good a de-coder relative to our old one we live with this issue.
Will be interesting to know if there is a 'cure'.

Well i have managed to get it to be more manageable, the old flat screen HD tv has in its volume menu a (dynamic icon-tab,with off, low, high )
that has now been turned off & the tv's own volume put up to max, & the Humax box volume turned down, well it is still a bit loud at the start of programmes, but a lot more acceptable, it was connected via a hdmi cable, I am now trying the scart cable, i have noticed that the picture seems sharper in HD on the scart cable rather than the HDMI cable, more so on the HD channels,the TV is pre digital so it is only used on the satellite or digital freeview box, the most annoying programme that i have found for doing this is the chase on ITV 1 for the up & down of the volume
A bit more swapping about to be done

 

[xtrailman]

I need to use the HDMI with the samsung as it only has one scart input, and that used by my sony pvr.
When i spoke to the J.Lewis repair tech, he told me you don't get HD unless you use the HDMI?

 

[JeffD]

We use the Humax HD recorder all the time at home and the Humax SD box in the caravan. Guess we are lucky as we haven't had problems with either despite their extensive use. We have previously used Sky but prefer the Humax (picture/ channels and reduced costs)

 

[Sproket]

I need to use the HDMI with the samsung as it only has one scart input, and that used by my sony pvr.
When i spoke to the J.Lewis repair tech, he told me you don't get HD unless you use the HDMI?

It shows HD in the top left of the screen & it's clear as a bell picture.......
Anyway some more food for thought, I have conected both cables HDMI & Scart so that i will be able to swap about the inputs to try & find the best .............
Anybody tried it ?

 

[xtrailman]

Yes you are.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/pvrs-vcrs/1387840-humax-hdr-fox-t2-hd-pvr-master-thread-part-five.html

I'm a Humax fan, but unlike LR fans i don't deny the problems. The Hummy interface and picture is great, but the sound disappoints, i can live with it on the 9200T, but not on the HDR foxT2 model.
The replacement i have hasn't lost sound completely, unlike the first one, but the sound can noticeably get louder or quieter.

I'm not going to comment on the issue any further.

Stop cheering.

 

[xtrailman]

Yes you are.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/pvrs-vcrs/1387840-humax-hdr-fox-t2-hd-pvr-master-thread-part-five.html

I'm a Humax fan, but unlike LR fans i don't deny the problems. The Hummy interface and picture is great, but the sound disappoints, i can live with it on the 9200T, but not on the HDR foxT2 model.
The replacement i have hasn't lost sound completely, unlike the first one, but the sound can noticeably get louder or quieter.

I'm not going to comment on the issue any further.

Stop cheering.

 

[JTQ]

Well i have managed to get it to be more manageable,

Thanks for your guidance.
I have used your scheme of turning 'off' the TV's automatic volume control on the house Humax/Tv set up we use most and will see how we fare.
All our set ups are connected only via HDMI. Without spoiling the dinning room décor I cant try a 'SCART' option and I am not that brave!
Thanks again.