Right now I have Comcast Digital Cable, in a house that had cable first installed like 20 years ago, and the internal wires never really touched since. I'm satisfied with it, but it could be better... problem is my DVDs have spoiled me and I really wish I could have great clarity and sound in my normal TV viewing.

I have a decent and new regular tv, it's not digital or hdtv or anything like that, but it does have a great picture for a standard "old fashoned" TV. My DVDs look great, heck even VHS looks good, but my cable TV just looks bad. I can see artifacts, pixelization (even on the TV I had before so I know it's not the tv)

Now, these RCN folks have expanded to my area (Philadelpha burbs) and are offering basically the same thing I get from Comcast, only they have an all fiber optic network, whereas like I said, my old wiring is old.

So lets say I were to switch to RCN, and they came in and rewired the house and all. After all that is done, will I really see a difference? I notice some movie channels are supporting Dolby Digital now, and I guess I'd need an optical or coax connection from my box. My box now just has rca audio and video, that's it. I know DSS receivers have more modern connections for audio and video though.

So, I'm interested most in audio and video quality. They all seem to be offering the same channels in and around the same price. And what I also need is cable modem acces for my PC. I'm not too worried about getting HDTV broadcasts yet, since I don't have an HDTV and don't plan to get one for a few years...

Has anyone ever been able to compare comcast vs rcn vs DSS services? Has anyone switched from one to another before, and if so how big of a difference was there?

I think I basically wanna know if it's worth switching to RCN or not?

I had Comcast digital and liked some aspects of it, but I prefer DSS, which I have now (Dish Network). The main thing is that to get the extra features like DD support and stuff like that, you have to get a higher end receiver, which I haven't upgraded to at this point. Reason being was that I was a "cable snipe" customer. I handed over a copy of my cable bill and got all equipment and install/connect for free. All I had to pay was tax and commit to a year of programming (not a problem for me). Naturally, I got a pretty basic setup, but they offer better equipment on their site (which you have to buy, of course). Comcast did have some channels that I don't get, like HBO Zone, but overall the picture is much better, as I can use an S-video connection, which my Comcast box didn't have. The picture on that was always just rather soft, I thought. Not bad, but not as good as it could be. I don't know a thing about this rcn stuff, but DSS isn't a bad way to go at this point, mostly depends what you're willing to spend and what features are most important to you. I have never used DirecTV, but I know they have some pretty cool features and deals worked out, but I think their programming is more expensive than Dish Network, and the current models only support one satellite, whereas Dish's supports two, which means the lineup is much more expandable in the long run without having to replace the dish.

Well, I don't know about either's digital cable services, but when I lived in Boston, we had RCN regular cable and cable modem, and the service stunk. They are terrible. This is my word-of-mouth warning.