Home Video Asylum

TVs, VCRs, DVD players, Home Theater systems and more.

Digital vs Analog Cable... Not real impressed.

OK, so I decide to *finally* get a digital Set Top Box (STB) along with digital cable service after many years of plain ole analog cable. The 'promo' includes free Showtime and The Movie Channel 'til the end of 2003. I thought all my channels would be crisp and clean especially since I'm driving the TV/Monitor via the S-Video port from the back of the Comcast supplied Motorola STB. To my surprise, most of the channels look just as bad as they did on the old analog setup except for a handful of exceptions mostly on a couple premium channels like Showtime or The Movie Channel. A few of these are crystal clear with Dolby Digital 5.1 but the rest look like the same ole analog I've been living with for well over a decade now.

Since I don't even plan to keep Showtime or The Movie Channel after the 'promo' period, I think I'm wasting the extra $10/mo for digital cable vs the old analog, AND I have to have their ugly looking STB taking up valuable space in my equipment rack.

Comcast Cable should have a new HDTV Set Top Box and a handful of HDTV channels maybe later this month (August 2003) in the Denver market but given my less than stellar performance with their 'digital cable', I'm thinking I should just make the jump to Satellite.

Any thoughts? Are most channels via Satellite crystal clear or is it similar to digtal cable in that only a handful of premium channels will be exceptionally crisp? Thanks!



This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Analog Engineering Associates  


Topic - Digital vs Analog Cable... Not real impressed. - AbeCollins 09:59:17 08/03/03 (11)


You can not post to an archived thread.