Quote Originally Posted by This Guy
like Hershon said, check your tv for a function called "volume leveling" or something similar. Receivers can fix this only with DD or DTS movies, it's usually called night mode or something simillar which tones down the loud passages. It can't be done on analog signals, atleast not to my knowledge. So if you have your cable tv connected using analog audio, a new receiver will not help.
To check that night mode is effective only with digital signals I switched my receiver to FM tuner in 2 channel "direct" mode and hit the "midnight" button. The receiver automatically switched to "stereo" mode from "direct" mode. The receiver amplifies pure analog signal in direct mode. In "stereo" mode it converts the analog signal to digital and does tone processing. The receiver can't do the night mode in analog "direct" mode. It has to switch to the digital "stereo" (or ProLogic, or whatever) mode to do the "night" mode processing.
So what you have said is quite right. It can't be done on analog signals.
I remember there was once an dynamic range expander/compressor device by "Dbx"...