On my TV, why shows look so dark while commercials are crystal clear?

[lunamagica]

I'm now watching NCSI on the USA network. I'm in a room with ceiling to floor windows and it is the middle of the afternoon, so the room is brightly lit. The show is looking very dark, however, the commercials all look clear and perfect.

Why is that?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Your TV is not tuned for optimal viewing under those conditions.

Commercials are pitched for mass viewing under less than optimal conditions: waiting rooms, airports, etc.

Change your conditions or tune your TV.

Brightly lit room is not best for "prime time" TV shows. "Prime time" is in the evening, after sunset during the "regular season". In particular, bright light viewing crushes video shadows. Police procedurals feature lots of shadows and darkness; they are the modern "film noir".

[vrguy]

2. Volume

They also turn up the volume for commercials..
You are not paranoid.

[Dave Starsky]

3. They DON'T turn up the volume. That's illegal.

What they do is "compress" the audio so that normally quiet parts of the audio are playing at the same level as the loud parts. You will be watching a baseball game that has loud and quiet parts (mostly quiet), then be slammed into a commercial that has everything playing back at the same volume as the loud parts of the baseball game.