I have the new Pioneer 5080 plasma display that has a CableCARD slot. I am also getting the Onkyo 875 receiver that is coming out in July and is equipped with the Reon chip for scaling/deinterlacing purposes. Comcast (in Philadelphia) is coming to install a basic digital cable package with the hdtv tier added on. I don't care about On Demand, PPV etc.

So now the question is, should I request a CableCARD installation from Comcast? Or should I stick with the STB and have it output to the receiver for processing? Also, what STB is Comcast typically using these days? That would make a difference in my decision making process as well; if I can get a STB that can just pass the signal forward to a receiver untouched, I would be more likely to go that route than if I was stuck with a STB that either scaled or deinterlaced the picture before sending it to my receiver.

Any thoughts?

CableCard, less you have to go through to get the video to the display and one less external box to deal with. Let the TV's scaler handle SD channels vs passing the signal through an AV receiver.

I'll second the CableCard. I had an STB from them (Motorola 6412 III) and find CableCard more to my liking. I moved the STB upstairs to the other HDTV so I can still use on demand and what not, but I am more satisfied with the picture, especially on SD channels using CableCard and my DLP's scalers. One less thing to plug in to an outlet and less cables too. I would recommend running an optical (if your TV has it) cable to your receiver so you can get surround sound on HD programming that has it.

The Motorola STBs do not have a pass through mode. With a cablecard, you can not send the signal to an external box for processing, unless the cable card is installed in receiver, the TV will do its own deinterlacing and scaling.

If you don't care about an interactive menu and VOD/PPV, I would go with a cablecard.