"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
.com...
Keep in mind this is just me musing about what would be a nice feature in
digital TVs (and converter boxes), not something that actually exists, so
far as I know. The thread on how commercials are inevitably louder
reminded me of another common problem I've noticed: TV stations have
grossly different volume levels. I crank it up for channel 65, then switch
to 7 and the damn speaker nearly burns out.

A quick and dirty solution to the problem is "soft limiting" of the audio
signal so that the loudest sound tracks are only slight louder than "normal"
tracks.

The limiter circuit will detect when a sound source is pushing the limits
and insert some loss to minimize the clipping.

It should have a customer preference control to determine whether it should
"boost" very quiet tracks or not.

A good sound system will have a good range between the loudest clear
reproduction without distortion and the quietest signal that can be heard
without distortion. But folks with hearing loss might prefer that the
quiet sections be boosted.

Regardless, the "soft limit" will tone down the worse commercials.

I have no idea whether any consumer stuff has these features but the
"technology" is old hat.