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Archive for the 'SRS Labs' Tag

SRS Labs gadget to soften TV commercials now available

January 7th, 2010, 9:10 am by

Just in time for the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, SRS Labs in Santa Ana begins selling that handy little gadget that plugs into a TV to soften the volume of TV commercials.

This is a technology I’ve covered in the past (see “SRS Labs’ gadget could end annoyingly loud TV commercials“).

SRS Labs’ TruVolume takes all audible signals, ignores the extreme lows and highs and focuses on the middle range volumes. Loud bursts in this middle range are typically TV commercials. Its technology can distinguish between talking levels of the announcer to the sudden crowd cheers in the game to the obnoxiously loud TV commercial. SRS offers a more detailed explanation about what’s really happening in its “Leveling the Volume” white paper, a PDF file.

There are two available directly from the company’s Web site: The RCA version for older TVs is $49.99 while the HDMI version is $99.99. The HDMI version won a CES Innovations award. Here is the new HDMI version, complete with the new “My Volume” logo:

SRS Labs MyVolume levels the sound of loud TV commercials
Consumer Electronics Show 2010 with The GadgetressFor more CES 2010 coverage, visit the Gadgetress CES page at gadgetress.freedomblogging.com/ces2010.
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Posted in: Gadgets • Video & TV • • • • • • • • | 6 Comments »

SRS Labs heads to D.C. to tell politicos sound legislation unnecessary

November 17th, 2009, 5:26 am by

SRS Labs giving away HDTVs, speakers.The folks at Santa Ana’s sound-technology company SRS Labs have discovered a way to soften loud commercials and plan to offer a device to consumers in upcoming months.  It works — I’ve experienced it at the company’s offices.

Now they’re hoping to have a chat with Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo, D-Atherton, who is behind legislation to prevent loud TV ads.  The Commercial Advertisment Loudness Mitigation Act, or CALM, was approved by another subcommittee last month.

“We hope to effectively communicate that audio fluctuation issues are better handled at the end of the chain (i.e. TV sets and/or Set-Top boxes, AV receivers and similar devices) where all variables can be taken into account,” said SRS spokesman Michael Bingham, who heads to Washington with company chief technology officer Alan Kraemer to talk to Eshoo.

SRS’s TruVolume technology is built into some TVs. They somehow have figured out the difference between TV commercial audio and audio from movies and TV shows. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • | 33 Comments »

Contest: Win an HDTV, speakers that soften loud TV commercials

October 22nd, 2009, 4:47 pm by

SRS Labs giving away HDTVs, speakers.If you’ve been wanting to get your hands on a gadget that softens overly loud commercials, now’s your chance to get one for free — just tell your annoyingly loud TV commercial story in 500 words or less.

The contest is sponsored by Santa Ana-based SRS Labs, which I wrote about earlier this month. Its TruVolume technology has popped up in a few TVs and sound systems. It automatically lowers the volume of TV commercials. Read about my experience and watch the video at “SRS Labs’ gadget could end annoyingly loud TV commercials.”

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For long-time readers, you may remember that I used to offer a round-up of contests that awarded geeky prizes. This is definitely one of them. Plus, since it takes some effort, there could be few entries. Hmm… should I bring this feature back?

Ian Hamilton, who writes for the Irvine Business blog has the  contest scoop in his recent post, “Hate loud commercials? Write a story about it and win.” The prize is Vizio’s new sound bar, a $199 $350 speaker with TruVolume built in. SRS has three of them up for grabs.

For even less time and effort, you could win a Samsung HDTV with TruVolume. Just watch a silly commercial and vote at www.srslabs.com/truvolume. SRS is giving away a 22-inch, 32-inch and 40-inch Samsung HDTV to the lucky voters.

Good luck!

Posted in: Audio • Video & TV • • • • • • • | 2 Comments »

SRS Labs’ gadget could end annoyingly loud TV commercials

October 5th, 2009, 4:26 pm by

UPDATE 10/23: Added TVs/speaker systems that include TruVolume. See below in bold.
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Santa Ana-based SRS Labs wants to make some noise about its latest gadget: A device that steadies the volume of annoyingly loud TV commercials. (See lots of pictures below.)

The company, which has quietly licensed its sound technologies for years to electronics makers,  plans to launch a half-million dollar marketing campaign for TruVolume, a technology that knows when an overly loud TV commercial is about to air and lowers its volume to match the show being watched.

Coincidentally, legislation working its way into Congress this week would force advertisers to keep volume to a minimum. The Commercial Advertising Loudness Mitigation Act, or CALM, would prevent commercials from being broadcast louder than their accompanying TV program. SRS believes its technology could fix this.

TruVolume prototype from SRS Labs with HDMI input to help HDTVs add the volume-leveling technology..During a visit to its Santa Ana office last week, I heard what it was all about. Steve Roney Jr., product marketing manager for SRS Home Entertainment Division, played a TV clip from the recent U.S. Open with an IBM commercial. He played it on a Vizio TV, which has TruVolume built in.

With TruVolume off, the volume of the TV commercial was significantly louder. With TruVolume on, I barely noticed the volume change.

I recorded the experience with my point-and-shoot camera and put it on video for readers to judge. (SRS also offers a demo on its site.) Since SRS didn’t have sound meter, I added one from my video-editing program to show the volume changes during the commercial. You can see an obvious jump in volume when the loud TV commercial plays:

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Yes, yes, you’ve probably heard about volume levelers before. There’s Dolby Volume in Toshiba TVs, Sony TVs offer “SteadySound,” to name a few.

But here’s why SRS says its TruVolume is different. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • • • | Comments Off

SRS improves sound quality in cell phones

January 21st, 2009, 7:44 am by

Audio technology from Santa Ana’s SRS Labs has been popping up in big TVs everywhere, and adding that nifty feature of maintaining an steady volume level even for loud TV commercials. Now, the technology is heading to cell phones.

The company said that NEC is the first mobile phone maker to add SRS’s new TruMedia technology, a “combination of crystal clear voice communications and superior entertainment experience particularly for multimedia applications.” In other words, MP3 files, mobile TV and video with deeper base, realistic dimension and dynamic range for a 5.1 surround-sound like experience.

The first NEC phones to include SRS-patented TruMedia are the N-01A, N-02A, and N-04A. Unfortunately for us in the U.S., these phones are (so far) only available in Japan.

Says SRS, “And when the phone is used in noisy environments, SRS TruMedia will sharpen the spoken voice and enhance the overall volume gain in real-time, remarkably improving voice intelligibility with the singular objective of helping the handset user better discern what the other party is saying.”

That works for me.

Because of the significant step SRS has made with mobile phones, the company is also holding a contest. It plans to give away 3 Motorola MotoQ phonestthat feature SRS technology. Enter by February 20 at www.srslabs.com/mobilesweeps.

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    • Posted in: Cell phones • • • • | Comments Off

    Make your Facebook profile scream with free tool

    August 14th, 2008, 4:29 pm by

    SRS Labs’ PhotogramFor those trying to clutter up their MySpace or Facebook page, Santa Ana’s SRS Labs just released a free widget that adds sound to any photo.

    The SRS Photogram is pure decoration, but I got a kick out of the dozens of noises available, which include 1 scream, 4 different yells and 8 types of laughter.

    Photogram software also will send your widget straight to your Facebook or MySpace account. Unfortunately, it doesn’t provide the embed code to easily add it to a blog or Web site. (Hence, you can’t hear the morse code beeps I added to my widget.)

    But this being an SRS Labs’ product, the sound effects are “enriched with SRS audio processing,” so they’re supposed to sound better than a flat file. With my good headphones on, they did sound pretty good (but everything sounds good with the Sennheiser HD 433 headphones I use).

    Check it out yourself HERE.

    Posted in: Uncategorized • • • • • • • | Comments Off

    Big TVs, cameras, and monsters — must be Father’s Day deals day

    June 15th, 2008, 8:51 am by

    Today is Father’s Day, so it’s too late to win him something cool. But as it so happens, today’s contests are very male themed. You could enter these contests in honor of him, maybe that will bring you some luck.

    Win a Vizio TVI love my 48-inch Vizio LCD TV, which I bought soon after I reviewed a plasma TV from the Irvine company. I would love it even more if I had won it. Now Vizio has teamed up with another local, SRS Labs in Santa Ana, to give away three big HDTVs. The contest is to mark the new partnership between the companies. SRS makes technology that improves the sound-quality of audio on TV, the Web, or just about anything. You just have to answer a few questions and supply your personal email. Contest ends July 4. Enter HERE.

    Super Dad photos anyone? Send one in to Canon for the NFL SuperDad sweepstakes and you could win the ultimate photo kit, which includes EOS Rebel XSi with EF-S 18-55mm IS Digital SLR kit, EF-S 55–250mm IS Telephoto Lens,NFL and Canon’s SuperDad sweepstakes PowerShot SD1100 IS Digital Elph Compact Camera, 10×30 Image Stabilizer Binoculars, FS11 Dual Flash Memory Camcorder and a Pixma MP970 Photo All-In-One Printer. Just by entering, you’ll also get 10 percent off any NFLShop purchase so you can buy useful stuff like this Dallas Cowboys office chair. Enter HERE.

    Are you good at making monsters? This next contest takes some skill for a prize that is so-so. Unless you’re interested in breaking into the video game industry. GameRecruiter’s “Battle of the SuperModelers” is a digital art contest is looking for the best original real-time character model of a monster, creature, robot or alien for a possible fantasy, sci-fi or horror game. The grand-prize winner and three finalists will get $50,000 in digital art tools (from Alienware, Autodesk, Wacom and The Gnomon Workshop) plus a free vacay at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Tex. for the Austin Game Developers Conference on Sept. 17. Details are available HERE.Dotster eBiz contest

    More free domains from Dotster: Each week until the end of July, Doster is giving away a “eBiz in a Boz,” which includes a free domain name, free Web site creation with Dotster’s SiteBuilder tool, free e-mail and free Standard Linux Web hosting for a year (value: $100). Details on Dotster’s homepage.

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    Mac users get new, improved iWOW plug-in for iTUNES

    September 27th, 2007, 10:42 am by

    SRS Labs says Mac users can get an even better surround sound experience with its new version of iWOW for iTunes.

    In addition to better audio than the original iWOW, SRS says the iWOW 2 has new preset options and allows users to listen to and view movies and videos in surround sound over headphones on iTunes.

    iwow-mini-mode.gif

    You can create and save presets for specific songs, videos and podcasts. A new auto-present, automatically chooses the best iWOW preset based on the information in the music or video. Other presets were created for podcasts, techno and acoustic music. There are three new playback settings for videos.

    iWOW 2 requires a Mac running OS X 10.2 or better with iTunes 6 or better. The plug-in can be downloaded directly from SRS Labs and other leading download sites. The plug-in sells for an introductory price of $19.99. Users who have previously bought iWOW 1 can try the new version and upgrade for $11.99.

    For more, CLICK HERE. ~Mary Ann Milbourn

    Posted in: Apple mania • • • • | 2 Comments »

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