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Does Digital Cable Really Give You A Sharper Picture?

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Does Digital Cable Really Give You A Sharper Picture?

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Old 05-24-02, 06:02 PM
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Does Digital Cable Really Give You A Sharper Picture?

I think not!

I have AT&T Broadband, and find that channels 2-99 (analog) are sharper, than the digital feeds (100-999). I subscribe to MLB Extra Innings (621-629) and some of the feeds are down-right blurry. Is anyone else having a similar situation?

Two add-ons:

1. My TV is a 27" Sony Trinitron, and projects a MINT picture with any DVD or PS2 game ...

2. My entire home theater system is wired with monster cable ...

What gives???
Old 05-24-02, 06:06 PM
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I have Comcast digital cable, and the analog stations do look better. The digital part of the cable was just a way to put more stations through the cable line. I end up getting pixelation on the digital stations. It's mostly noticeable on black backgrounds or fast moving action.
Old 05-24-02, 07:26 PM
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No way. Charter Cable's digital channels are mostly horrible. The basic analog channels for the most part are a lot better. The digital channels have horrible digital pixilation most of the time.
All it is, is for the cable company to shove more channels at the expense of the picture. Your not alone.
Old 05-24-02, 07:39 PM
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Dishnetwork + HD compliant receiver + 57" WS HDTV = Not having to get up the entire weekend except for bathroom breaks.
Old 05-24-02, 07:54 PM
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Digital Cable is a joke. I have had it since it came out here.

I just came back from Circuit City with my new Direct TV Hardware!!
Old 05-24-02, 08:06 PM
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digital cable *should* be better, but of course, it depends on the quality at the source.
Old 05-24-02, 09:21 PM
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My neighbor has DirecTV and is very unhappy with it. He tells me when the contract is up he's dumping it and going back to digital cable. He says it goes out on him whenever it rains and even sometimes on clear days. But your mileage may vary I suppose.

Chris
Old 05-24-02, 10:16 PM
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Originally posted by CCPrescott
My neighbor has DirecTV and is very unhappy with it. He tells me when the contract is up he's dumping it and going back to digital cable. He says it goes out on him whenever it rains and even sometimes on clear days. But your mileage may vary I suppose.

Chris
I had exact same problem with your neighbor. I went from Direct TV -> Dish Network -> Digital cable. Quality wise both direct tv and dish network were way better than my stupid digital cable. My analog channels look terrible. Apparently, this is norm around here. But, since I am getting both cable and internet thru same company I am saving lot of money and it doesn't go out on me whenever it rains.
Old 05-25-02, 12:29 AM
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Digital Cable is a sham ! I had it for 1 week before I went back to normal cable. The basic channels are still analog which means I was paying extra for nothing since I did not have the pay channels.
Old 05-25-02, 03:57 AM
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I just switched from Cox Digital Cable to DirecTV.

[Janice Voice] Oh... My ... God... [/Janice Voice]

The difference is amazing! DirecTV is EON's better.

bubye "digital cable"
Old 05-25-02, 03:58 AM
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Oh and no problems with rain fade or anything here..

Of course it hasnt rained the two months I've had it.

AZ Rules!
Old 05-25-02, 06:08 AM
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I honestly can't tell a difference with my digital cable. I only like it because I got a good deal on cable internet access.
Old 05-25-02, 06:34 AM
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For me the clarity is good with AT&T BB. I remember when I had regular cable how some days it would be very fuzzy, and other days it would be very clear. Now that I have the Digital cable it's clear everyday all the time. It's a welcome change from the regular cable where you're not sure if you're going to get a snow job instead of the game you're wanting to see. I don't go above the main cable channels that much, but when I have they seem to be pretty ok. I also have a 27" tv (much older than the one you have though I bet) but it still looks good, just as good as the DirecTV and Dish Network we have at work on the 27" (and 65" projection and 42" Plasma) TV's we have there.
Old 05-25-02, 08:42 AM
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Digital cable is just a way that they compress the channels so they can squeeze them into your box. I had Digital Cable for about a month, then switched to DishNetwork because it was cheeper and more channels.
Old 05-25-02, 10:44 AM
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Cox cable in Phoenix looks like crap in both analog and digital. All they do for Digital Cable is convert their god-awful analog signal. I've had Dish Network for about three years now and I love it. I pay the basically the same for Dish that I did for cable, but I get way more channels (I never had premiums with Cox, I do with Dish). I'll never go back to cable.

To ravan and all others in the "dry-heat" of AZ: as far as I can remember I've only lost my signal once because of rain, and it only lasted a few minutes. Isn't the desert great!
Old 05-28-02, 12:16 PM
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The digitally transmitted portion of my Time Warner cable is superb, significantly better than the analog portion. Often the network channels (analog) are grainy--as if the signal's weak. But the premium (HBO, etc) are almost dvd-like.

Plus, on most HBO channels, I get genuine DD audio from a coax digital output on my Explorer 2000 cable box.
Old 05-31-02, 09:06 AM
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Digital cable is just as grainly as regular cable in my area.
Old 05-31-02, 03:05 PM
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I've got DishNetwork here in rainy Portland, and rarely have problems, but it rarely rains very hard here. I had AT&T Digital Cable for a while and was not impressed.
Old 05-31-02, 03:15 PM
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Joshd2012 hit the nail on the head. Digital cable is just a way for the service provider to get more channels to your house. The quality is completely reliant upon the service provider; resolution at which the signal is received by them, processed, compressed and modulated. And shame on most cable providers for trashing a certain amount of the quality.

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