HDTV and Cable

[Alec]

Hi folks-
I'm getting conflicting info about buying a big set with my digital cable. Right now I have a Sony 36in XBR. Nice enough set, but I'm looking at a Toshiba 57in. My problem the guy that came out to hook up direcTV says I have too many trees for the dish. No clear line of sight to the southern sky. So, I'm stuck with cable. Can my cable signal display a decent image on such a large set? Does anyone here use a PRTV and cable?

Thanks,
-Alec

[lonestar]

I have a 51" Panasonic and a digital cable box. I use the s-video on the cable box and the picture looks pretty good. The picture with coaxial cable was pretty fuzzy. It's still a noticeable improvement over analog (aka crappy) television. heh

[lonestar]

I have a 51" Panasonic and a digital cable box. I use the s-video on the cable box and the picture looks pretty good. The picture with coaxial cable was pretty fuzzy. It's still a noticeable improvement over analog (aka crappy) television. heh

[ZeroDegreeK]

I have a 65" Mitsubishi, with both digital cable and satellite. Some channels look better on cable, and some look better on satellite. The premium channels (HBO, Shotime....) look about the same on both. The local channels look much better on digital cable, but satellite is getting better.

If I had to choose between the two based only on picture quality, I would go for the digital cable. More of the channels that I watch are less compressed on cable than they are on satellite.(if that makes any sense).

Either way, the picture is not fantastic. The bigger the set, the more imperfections you can see.

[sts3001]

An analog cable tv source is only as good as the signal strength going into your house and using the least amount of connections.

Digital cable is analog cable digital compressed to add more channels.

Most cable programming originates from the analog/digital C-Band satellite feeds.
Cable TV and Directv / Dish Network receive those feeds, process it and digital compress to fit their limited bandwidth.

So if you receive the C-Band master broadcasts feeds yourself with a 4Dtv satellite tv system, the picture will far exceed what you are seeing now.

I know, I had them all. Went back to the "BUD" Big Useful Dish because of picture quality and programming choices. It is the best. Just need a location for the dish .

There are also 5 HD channels available....

[digitalhomecanada]

I have a Scientific Atlanta 3100HD set top box, an Expressvu 6000 (same as Dish 6000) satellite receiver and a Direct TV receiver hooked up to a 50 inch Toshiba.

On HDTV channels, I'd give a slight edge to the Cable box. On standard def digital channels it's a toss up. I prefer satellite to the analog cable channels.

Interestingly the PQ difference is far different between the two satellite systems than the cable.

[steveo]

I have a 65 mitsubishi. the picture with my at&t digital cable was absolutely horrible. sports were unwatchable. i was really nervous that i had just crapped away several grand. I expect this was probably because AT&T doesnt even offer a box with an s-video connection in may area. so it was coaxial connection only.
But then my life changed. When i went to directv, the picture quality improved tremendously--even on the regular old satellite channels and local channels. still not perfect--like the HD channels, but a noticeable improvement. also, the digital OTA picture from the antenna is pretty good also.
so, i think it depends in part on your cable company. mine stunk.
I'm a huge satellite convert.

[digitalhomecanada]

I could certainly see that coax would not be ideal. The 3100HD outputs on component or SVHS.

Obviously component for HD. INterestingly the SVHS output is far superior to component on many of the digital channels which would run contrary to what you would think. Presumably because the box is doing a lousy job of upconverting the standard def signal.