I've just ordered the Pioneer 5080 and wanted to know which setup would give me the best PQ. I currently have a cable box from Optimum/Cablevision hooked up through HDMI to a Sammy 4254. Should I get a cablecard for the Pio or another box? I don't really care about In Demand and ordering movies. Thanx in advanced for any advice.

Can't speak scientifically, but whichever has the best scaling abilities will provide best pic. My wild guess would be the Pio. If the box allows a "pass through" and let's the tv scale, then it becomes mute.

i dont know about that, but i know that the picture from my cable box on local digital channels via HDMI looks better than when tuned in using my antenna and the pioneer tuner in my 5070. I think pioneers tuners are crap.

Purcased 1st Pioneer 5080 about 45 days ago. Cable card was important factor in purchase. Picture is great but 1st cablecard install by cablevision effectively descrabled channels, but all channels had minor freezing and pixilation in portions of screen. Cablevision tried 4 other cards... no improvement. At same time cablevision installed cablecard in Sony plasma in another room and that works perfectly.

I returned the 5080 and exchanged for another 5080. Got it home and had the identical problem. Had cablevision back in and they spent hours conditioning all the cable runs so signal was perfect and tried 4 more new cablecards. Still no change. Now waiting for Pio engineers to get back to me.

I am very interested to hear how you make out. If anyone else has additional info please post.

Great website!

Maybe that's why some companies gave up having cable card option on their sets. Their seems to be issues with handshaking between the cable and the cable card.

I had pretty much the exact same deal with my 930 about a year ago with Comcast... gave up on the cable card. Been working great ever since. I think the PQ was slightly better in HD with the card (could be wrong though). There must be people out there happy with their card?

This cable card stuff has me waiting for the 9g pioneer.

I am currently using a Niveus Media Center and their Cable Card tuner boxes. I have 2 Cable Cards hooked up to the PC and I'm running the Cable Company's HD-DVR boxes as well (Cablevision New Jersey). The HD-DVR looks pretty good ... so does the CableCARD but I have been having pixellation and A/V sync issues with the CableCARD while the HD-DVR from the Cable Co. has been pretty smooth. I WANT to love CableCARD but it definitely takes some extra work to get it working correctly. Having said that I have no idea how the CableCARD implementation and setup will be without using a Media Center PC and just plugging it straight into a regular tuner box or a TV. I would assume less hassle than I'm seeing...

i havent tried a cable card in my 5070, but the cable card works perfectly in my 26 inch sony LCD XBR1 in my bedroom...but then ive heard that sony seems to work best with cable cards.

I've seen threads saying Pio 5070 works well with Cablecard/Cablevision (North Jersey), but Pio 5080 has new tuner section and I have not seen any posts indicating a succesfull Cablecard/Cablevision install with new tuner/5080.

HD picture on 5080 is fantastic. Darker blacks definately make a difference compared to old plasma (NEC) and 2yr old sony plasma.

I have nothing but praise for the Time Warner cable card in my Elite 950. Works and looks like a charm.

I've just ordered the Pioneer 5080 and wanted to know which setup would give me the best PQ. I currently have a cable box from Optimum/Cablevision hooked up through HDMI to a Sammy 4254. Should I get a cablecard for the Pio or another box? I don't really care about In Demand and ordering movies. Thanx in advanced for any advice.After using a 50PX50U w/CableCARD for two years my expeience has been it renders a slightly better HD picture w/CableCARD versus STB but SD images @480i appear to be substantially worse then with 480p w/STB. I assume, but have not verified, this will be the same for my PRO-1150HD. However, this may not be the case for 1080p PDPs (e.g. PDP-5010FD).

I just got my 5010 home and I currently don't have either a cablecard or a stb capable of HD. To my disappointment, the 5010 is unable to tune in channels above 135 with the cable (comcast) directly from the wall to the TV (no cablecard) that i could with my old stb. I can tune in the HD braodcast channels (ABC, CBS, etc.). If i get a cablecard installed, will I be able to tune in the HD channels higher than 135 or would i need to get an HD stb? I'm primarily interested in the HD channels around. Thanks.

I just got my 5010 home and I currently don't have either a cablecard or a stb capable of HD. To my disappointment, the 5010 is unable to tune in channels above 135 with the cable (comcast) directly from the wall to the TV (no cablecard) that i could with my old stb. I can tune in the HD braodcast channels (ABC, CBS, etc.). If i get a cablecard installed, will I be able to tune in the HD channels higher than 135 or would i need to get an HD stb? I'm primarily interested in the HD channels around. Thanks.

Those channels are encrypted. A cablecard should be able to tune them, but as you can see in this thread, they are extremely problematic. A cable box would likely work better.

Most cable companies use boxes from Motorola or Scientific Atlanta. The motorola boxes that I've used don't have a "passthrough" setting for HD, so there will be some scaling or either 720p or 1080i channels. The Scientific Atlanta boxes do allow full passthrough, which lets your TV do the scaling. If your cable co. does use Scientific Atlanta boxes, I recommend the HD DVR -- the picture quality is better and the box is far more responsive.

Those channels are encrypted. A cablecard should be able to tune them, but as you can see in this thread, they are extremely problematic. A cable box would likely work better.

Most cable companies use boxes from Motorola or Scientific Atlanta. The motorola boxes that I've used don't have a "passthrough" setting for HD, so there will be some scaling or either 720p or 1080i channels. The Scientific Atlanta boxes do allow full passthrough, which lets your TV do the scaling. If your cable co. does use Scientific Atlanta boxes, I recommend the HD DVR -- the picture quality is better and the box is far more responsive.

Thanks for the info. I'm just being a cheapskate and trying to avoid paying a $7 a month rental fee for the hardware. According to the comcast website, the first cable card per outlet is supplied free of additional charges. So, maybe i'll try having a cablecard installed first and if there's problems, i'll just opt for the stb.