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For a long time I was bothered by how modern TVs still struggle with stable audio levels. Commercials are louder, dialogues are quieter, and sudden spikes can w
by Bo_Amigo_910 3mo ago
For a long time I was bothered by how modern TVs still struggle with stable audio levels.
Commercials are louder, dialogues are quieter, and sudden spikes can wake up half the house.
Even with built‑in “volume leveling”, the problem persists — especially during ads and streaming.
After trying different solutions over the years, nothing worked reliably.
So I built a small offline system that listens to TV audio in real time, detects sudden loudness spikes, and sends IR volume adjustments locally.
No cloud, no APIs, no smart‑home ecosystem — just local audio analysis + a simple IR blaster.
The hardest part wasn’t the code, but figuring out when audio truly requires intervention.
That led me to design a small signal‑behavior model that looks at micro‑events, context and dynamics before deciding whether to react.
The prototype is now stable enough for daily use. Not perfect yet, but the foundation works.
- bcraven 3mo agoI'm interested as to why you have targeted Windows for this. Do you sit in your living room with a laptop open whilst watching television?
- cassianoleal 3mo ago> I was bothered by how modern TVs still struggle with stable audio levels. Commercials are louder, dialogues are quieter, and sudden spikes can wake up half the house. I don't see how that's the TV struggling. The TV is being true to the input. Blame the source. Many TVs and set-top boxes have gain control / compression in one way or another. Even some older models.
- crtasm 3mo agoIsn't that what they're referring to in the next sentence? >built‑in “volume leveling”
- cassianoleal 3mo agoProbably a variation of it, yes. My point is that TVs are not bad at dealing with it. Some have the feature built-in and generally work, some don't. My point is that this is not a problem of the TV set - it's of the broadcasters, the film makers, etc.