DTV broadcast audio all over the map?

[ahhaa]

Hiya-

Mebbe the control room engineers haven't fully got it together yet, but the local Michigan broadcasters audio has me thumbing the remote all the time!

British programming on PBS: the level is so low I gotta crank into the 60 of 100 range (usually more like 30).
Fox: sometimes painfully shrill, and the volume levels change dramatically between shows, and especially the cheapo come-on-down auto ads.

CBS: worst signal of the lot, thought that would change when they got higher channel frequencies...

ABC: dynamic range probs, somewhat like listening to a Dolby tape without the Dolby.

NBC: mostly seem to have it together, except again for the ads

Is it me, or are others hearing shrieky, or mumbly, or otherwise poor sound?

ps. I know there are user settings for audio, or I could get a home theatre system; but I had sound down pat for the old analog gear, and this is an entirely new can of worms.

[Epicurus8a]

Yeah, a lot of broadcast facilities are set up half-assed, especially when it comes to digital.
Given enough time, things might improve.

[jagabo]

Yeah, it's annoying. The average volume level between different channels is different and on many channels the ads are several dB louder than the shows. Many SD channels use extreme dynamic range compression so the quite parts (along with the background noise) are as loud as the load parts.

[usually_quiet]

Yes, audio volume is all over the map for digital, and analog too. The problem is widespread and not new.

Samsung, Panasonic, and LG make TVs with some form of volume leveling. My folks new Samsung TV has it (as well as voice enhancement), and they say it helps, but they tell me their old Panasonic CRT TV, purchased in 2001, did a better job at making sound levels consistant between channels and toning down the audio in commercials.