How do I silence the Vuvuzela?
June 17, 2010 3:01 AM   Subscribe

I'd like to watch the World Cup in peace! Using Windows Media Center 7, how do I silence the annoying Vuvuzela horn?

I dislike the sound of the Vuvuzela horn and would like to not hear it when I'm watching the football.

I asked this question on another forum and was pointed to a VST plugin DLL for Windows which will silence the annoying drone. However I have no idea how to use this on my Windows 7 Media Center. A Google search suggested installing some audio processing software but this won't work for realtime filtering of the noise.

Can anyone advise?

Alternatively, is there any other solution which will work? My TV does not have an EQ, so it'll have to be something that works on the computer. It also needs to be free and I'd like to avoid installing lots of complicated software - as the other half will not appreciate it if I kill the box.
posted by mr_silver to Computers & Internet (12 answers total)
 
This article tells you how.

You Don't Need a Computer
In fact, you don't need a computer at all. If you've got a stereo with an equalizer or even a TV with a built in equalizer, you can adjust your hardware settings to significantly filter out the noise.

posted by MuffinMan at 3:04 AM on June 17, 2010 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thanks for the link. However my TV is old so cannot be plugged into a stereo nor does it have an EQ.

In addition, the software they suggest only removes it from a recording - I want to be able to do on-the-fly removal of the horn as the football is being played.
posted by mr_silver at 3:19 AM on June 17, 2010


Why don't you switch the sound off on your TV and connect your hifi to a live sound feed through your computer?
posted by MuffinMan at 3:27 AM on June 17, 2010


Best answer: If you change the equalizer settings in windows media player, the effects also take place in windows media center, which may help tune out the vuvuzelas.
posted by QueenHawkeye at 3:29 AM on June 17, 2010


If you are playing them back on your Windows 7 computer, you can plug it into a stereo. Also, I believe Windows Media Player has an EQ, not sure if it translates to MCE or not.

Also you can check if your sound card has additional software that allows fine tuned control.
posted by wongcorgi at 3:29 AM on June 17, 2010


Response by poster: Good point about connecting it through the hifi, I stupidly hadn't thought about that.

However the stereo sits at the opposite end of the room to the TV and moving it would be a right pain in the backside. However I'm prepared to give it a go.

I didn't realise the EQ in WMP affected W7MC, that might be the solution so I'll give that a go too.
posted by mr_silver at 3:43 AM on June 17, 2010


It looks like you're in the UK - in the matches that the BBC were broadcasting yesterday, they had dramatically reduced the vuvuzela noise. There was still the occasional vuvuzela noise, but not the aggravating flat background noise that previous matches had.

So, the answer is "Watch the matches on the BBC".
posted by siskin at 3:57 AM on June 17, 2010


Watch enough of it and you won't notice anymore.
posted by DieHipsterDie at 6:49 AM on June 17, 2010


This was asked here a couple days ago. (sorry don't have time to find link)
posted by cda at 7:39 AM on June 17, 2010


Slate had this article yesterday. It sounds promising, but I don't know how long it would take the get the ear plugs it's talking about.
posted by Some1 at 8:12 AM on June 17, 2010


Best answer: Vuvuzelafilter
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:06 AM on June 17, 2010


Best answer: ffdshow includes a (DirectShow) audio decoder that has a bunch of built-in filters. Here are some instructions on using it with Media Center.
posted by unmake at 6:17 PM on June 17, 2010


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