Terk VR1 Automatic TV Volume Controller

I originally bought a version of this called Audiovox from another vendor. Was so happy with it I looked for another one on Amazon.com, and found that Terk VR1 is the same as Audiovox, so I purchased one under that Terk VR1 title. It was identical to my Audiovox and it fact was an Audiovox as the box says. To date I have purchased 3 of these.I have not heard the poping sound when adjusting volume that others reported. It may be some other factor, and not the Audiovox Terk VR1 itself that was causing them problems.The first Audiovox I had purchased through another vendor, the Advertisement there did not identify the type of connections. This Amazon listing does mention the RCA jacks but does not mention they are the only audio connections.This Audiovox Terk VR1 uses a Left and Right RCA Audio Jacks for both Input and Output. No other audio jacks are supported. One set of paired RCA cables is supplied. If you have an HDMI cable providing the sound, you will either have to get an HDMI cable without sound and use only the RCA Jacks, or as in my case I had a normal HDMI cable providing sound to my HDTV, then my HDTV Headphone Stereo Mini Jack feeds my Sound Bar, wherein, now the HDTV Headphone Stereo Mini Jack feeds my Audiovox which then feeds my Sound Bar. My HDTV Headphone jack is a stereo mini output jack and my Sound Bar includes RCA input jacks, so I have a cable with stereo Mini Headphone Jack on one end and 2 RCA jacks on the other end. I have multiple input sources in my HDTV, so by using HDTV the Headphone output jack which is common to all the input devices, my Audiovox regulates my Sound Bar regardless of the video source (Antenna, Direct TV, HD DVD, VHS, etc.).The main thing to know is you have to be able to pipe your sound through a pair of RCA jacks for this to work. If you can not pass your sound through an RCA jack, then this device would not work for you, or you would need to get adaptors to convert to the Audiovox RCA input and from the Audiovox RCA output to your sound input connection. Should that be the case you might also wish to be shopping for the correct input and output conversion adaptors to purchase at the same time as you purchase the Audiovox device to make this work with your system.I wish I had this information before I bought mine, but as it turns out, I lucked out that I was able to make it work with my RCA jacks, not knowing they type of input and output connections. But now you know so the mystery is removed for you.There is also 1 AC power supply that provides DC to the device.This has a selector switch to On (regulate the sound) or bypass for the original sound.In On (Audio Regulation) Mode this does work great by amplifying the softer hard to hear sounds and reducing the louder sounds all to be a normal range of natural low and high sounds that you can hear without blasting you out. I have hearing problems, so with this device now I can hear the whispers along with the normal speech on TV programs.In Bypass you can watch movies with the original sounds and blasting explosions as though you not using this device.May not do the absolute best at regulating the sounds to normal range, but does a well enough job that anyone should be pleased with the results. Especially when no blasting commercials cause you to have to keep adjusting your volume down and back up again when they end. I personally am very pleased with the quality of sound regulation it performs, and believe you would be also.I thought the FCC was going to change their regulations to force reduced commercial noise. For a while they were reducing commercial volume, so I removed my Audiovox, however, later I noticed the commercials were getting too loud again. As of this date, I am again using my Audiovox because the commercials were blasting me out.I also had added an amplified Sound Bar, and while nice, the difference in sound volumes were greatly magnified so that commercials were unbearable. This device works great with my sound bar, making my hearing more enjoyable, rather than hurting my ears as without it.Therefore, I highly recommend this device. I hope you find this review useful.

The device does level out sounds, for the most part. However, after a few hours of use, I decided to return it, because:- when changing channels or resuming a program, the device has a short pop sound of the noise it's leveling, as it basically first assesses the noise input and levels it out. Pretty annoying when changing channels- as stated by other reviewers, when you pause a program or have no noise pumping through, you hear an audible hiss (electronic noise) generated by the device- as stated by other reviewers, when there noise of the program is low, you can hear the "clipping" of the noise by the device, causing you to lose some of the music, dialogue, etc.- it lacks an optical connection -- purely analog only on this puppy. Time for them to upgrade, given this is the year 2008!

I ordered the Terk VR-1 TV Volume Regulator about a year ago. It quit working after about a week so I returned it for a replacement. The replacement worked for about 2 months and then quit working also.EDITED - 2 Years later...This is the fourth Terk VR1 Automatic TV Volume Controller I have purchased. It works great - just as advertised but it could / should be a lot more durable. Nothing else on the market does the job - so each time I buy one I hope maybe this time it will last for more than a few months.The only competition to this unit I could find ("TV Volume Regulator") is a complete waste of money since it raises the background noise to the same level as bombs dropping. In other words, raindrops are as loud as gunfire.So until there is something better, I keep buying the Terk (now Audiovox) because it is the only unit I could find that really does the job.If the unit was more durable I would easily rate it 5 Stars.

I listen to Internet radio and got tired of continually adjusting the volume to compensate for volume and loudness differences. I ordered this product to connect my Grace internet radio to my M Audio powered speakers.My assessment after a week is that this product does a reasonable job of controlling volume changes on a particular 'net stream I tune in to. But, as other reviews have stated, it is not a solid 'loudness' controller---so yes, overly compressed and processed commercials still sound 'louder' than the other program material on the stream (stream = Internet radio stream). I don't know the design details of this product, so I don't know if it is correct for me to expect it to control loudness AND volume----these are different concepts. Average volume is not the same as loudness. On 'net radio there is one commercial in particular that is very annoying, due to how it is processed and compressed, and this product does not diminish the sound of this particular commercial. But, on talk shows, it does a good job of keeping the talk show (callers, host) balanced. I don't know how it would perform on a TV.The idea of 'loudness' control is one that hardly any technical company has dealt with---and those who have are broadcast equipment makers, such as Orban, and the defunct CBS labs (As in CBS TV and radio). Alas, I lack the thousands or hundreds of dollars to use these products. Given this, this Terk/Audio Vox is a darned nice product for what it can do at the small price. Maybe adding TWO of these---in series, might help, I don't know. Just be aware that volume control is not the same as loudness control. I think this product is a volume controller, not a combined volume and loudness controller. We need a product that does both.I recommend this Terk/AudioVox, just don't expect it to do a solid loudness control job for you---volume, yes!