This is all I want.

Can I just have a TV and cable setup where the volume of the commercials matches the program I'm watching for once? JUST ONCE?! I'm tired of low volume programming necessitating a jack-up of the volume knob, then a commercial inevitably annihilating the privates of my inner ear. GODDAMMIT!!! 

Especially true when viewing Fox Sports Net.  Tom Hanneman is softly whispering and suddenly Denny Hecker is FUCKING SCREAMING AT YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You would think a someone would invent a compressor /limiter /computer program that would boost a week signal and mute down a strong signal,

I thought most newer TV's had this already built in? Unless the advertisers found a way around it.

 Any auto-volume limiter system in a receiver or on a TV is going to make the overall sound just awful. 

I'm getting into the habit of just hitting the "mute" button. 

There was a compression feature on my TV (or was it the cable box? Can't remember) but yes, what Folkerts said. Not a fan.

Those volume limiter things really don't work.  I miss having TIVO (or any recorder; whatever).  I would just wait 5-10 minutes to watch my show and then fast forward through all the commercials.

We don't watch much TV now; the shows I like to watch are on while I'm at work so we record them and I still fast forward through the commercials.

Helpful information:  You can only re-record a DVDRW about 6 times, after that, old stuff sort of bleeds through.  We'll be watching America's Next Top Model and all of a sudden - bam! - it's Stewie for 5 seconds and then back to ANTM. 

It's been a good 9 months now that I have been without DirecTV/Tivo, or any sort of cable etc. Watching TV now is almost unbearable with all of the commercials, probably why I don't watch much TV anymore.

I'm just shy of three years of no satellite/cable.  I've pretty much gotten used to it at this point, the only things I truly miss are..well, the only thing I truly miss is VH1.  I just refuse to pay to watch TV.  I figure a cheap package is gonna run be $50 a month and I can buy a lot of movies for $600 a year.

I knew that I was in the minority, not paying for TV, but I recently read a news article that said fewer than 10% of Americans do not have a pay television service.  To me, that's friggin insane. I guess we're just not a big TV household.  We have 3 TVs - 2 19 inchers and a I don't know...32".  The newest of the three is about 6 years old, the oldest is at least 15, so I'm going to have to get converters for all of them.  I've ordered the two coupons I'm allowed to get..don't forget to order yours https://www.dtv2009.gov/