Home audio & video forum: 'auto volume leveling' LCD TV question...need advice!!!

I have a Samsung 52 inch 65f series which also has auto volume leveling. Its ads and specs spell out that this function will level out volume between stations and advertisement increases and the menu has an on and off for this function. However, I have found little to no leveling for either annoyances. I asked Samsung tech support about this feature and was told that the problem was signal strength coming from the supplier and their tv's are not capable of changing the signal strength coming from the station whether that be cable or over the air (I'm on cable). I again asked what this feature does and was given the same response. I was left with mis advertisement and selling features that do little or nothing for the product yet one pays extra money for. I also have found there are many functions that are available for the analogue tuner but are not available for the digital tuner. I know I haven't answered your question and hoping a technical person will come along and provide a more feasible response to both our inquiries.

i'm gonna have to chalk this up to 'oh well' i suppose. it's strange that i never noticed a difference with my 3yr old analog tv. seems like these new lcd tv's tout there great benefits, and then conveniently leave out the disadvantages. love the better picture my philips provides but this volume difference is just annoying!!! anyway, thanks again for the input!!!

Late post, but...
My understanding, if I remember right, is that there was a law saying that commercials may not be louder than the loudest part of the programming it accompanies... and my impression is that this just gets violated because who's checking up on them? And if they were caught in violation, how severe would the penalty be anyway.

If iTunes can do volume leveling on songs, I don't see why TV's can't be equipped with auto-volume controls. Supposedly Dolby has a system, announced in 2007, but where is it?

This is more than just for late night viewing to avoid waking others... too often now, either the sound-editing of films is just poor and dialog is hard to hear over the booms and bangs, or the dialog is oh-so-soft-and-dramatic followed by a boisterous upswell of music to shock the audience out of their dramatic tension, thanks to the directors or whoever... this just doesn't play well at home. Television should be equipped with volume leveling, period.
Somebody could make some money selling an external audio-leveling device anyway... plug the TV audio-out into the device and then back into whatever sound system you like. What's so difficult about boosting soft sounds and minimizing loud ones? Yes, I want flat volume... sick and tired of straining to hear dialog and jumping to turn down explosions, etc... explosions of sound. Sick of sitting with the remote in my hand to be ready to do so... some of us live in communal settings like condominiums.
Then there's apparently a way to detect a change to commercials, and back again... another feature of an external device would be to flat out mute the commercials to zero volume, and back up for return to programming. No legal way to stop a device for simple sound control, if it's not built in to televisions, etc... but if it's not built-in, then perhaps commercial detection is not as easy, who knows. Then marketers could work more on the visual ad, and try not to be obnoxious with that either... probably fat chance.

IF THE COMPANY ADVERTIZES "AUTO VOLUME LEVELING" IT SHOULD WORK !! THE STATIONS SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO SCREW WITH THE VOLUME IN MY HOUSE !! IF SO , IT IS JUST B.S.

I have an "older 32" Phillips TV that I am using in a similar way- off air with a digital converter box. On it you have to set the audio control to Personal as well as go to the menu {where you personally control & equalize treble & bass}and there set Auto Level to on, as well. If you use any of the other audio options such as Music or Voice, etc., the sound does not level out for commercials. They may have taken a similar approach in syntax with your TV. You might look this up in your manual or an online manual.
I'm here on CNET researching this because I've become so addicted to audio level, my 46" Magnavox HDTV died a couple of months ago & commercial scream bugs me so much that I may need to buy another leveled HDTV to maintain my sanity. I hope this helps