[mcody]

Anyone know the resolution of Digital Cable vs. DSS?

 

[3.1415926 pi]

Hi, from what Iv'e read Digital cable comes in at around 350-400lines of res., while DSS states they are 400-425. Now I have DSS, and I can tell you that the way the signals are compressed some channels are not in the 400 res., but lower, while others seem to be higher than 425, especially the PPV channels that broadcast in DD 5.1 surround. A few of my friends have digital cable and I can tell you that there picture quality is not quite as good as DSS. Some of their channels don't look any better than a vhs tape. They're using AT&T digital cable. Maybe other digital providers are offering a better picture, but I haven't seen any that match DSS. Cheers, VB

 

[RussSchultz]

Time warner here in austin seem to do 'time compression' and cut frames to save bandwidth.


Some of the HBO channels suck arse so much and flicker when there's pans that it hurts my head to watch those channels.


As much as I cursed DSS for having minimal programming, I think its better than (my) digital cable.


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What?! Me worry?

 

[Stanton]

I think the resolution numbers quoted in an earlier post confirm my observations about digital cable: it doesn't look a whole lot better than analog cable (at least for AT&T) and definitely isn't better than (most) of the DSS stuff. While I agree that many of the "mainstream" DirecTV channels suffer from poor picture quality (too much compression), HBOHD (the one I watch the most) is outstanding; I can only hope they don't do something stupid like cut the HD bandwidth (and in fact add more HD channels). I'll never understand why AT&T digital cable didn't take advantage of their big marketing push (and system upgrade) to actually offer *higher* quality picture+sound (to compete w/DSS) instead of just more channels. I guess this just confirms that most folks don't really care about such things.

 

[dhanson]

I have digital cable (Shaw), and the quality of each channel varies tremendously. Unfortunately, I think right now that competitive pressures are moving away from picture quality and more towards absolute number of channels. So the cable companies are cranking up the compression rates in order to provide more channels.


I really notice this watching "The Sopranos" - the compression artifacts are so bad that I can see them clearly enough to be distracting on my 19" TV in my office, from 7' away.

 

[smchan]

Quote:

Originally posted by RussSchultz: Some of the HBO channels suck arse so much and flicker when there's pans that it hurts my head to watch those channels. As much as I cursed DSS for having minimal programming, I think its better than (my) digital cable.

The HBO channels on TW digital cable in Raleigh, NC are bad too. The only effective way I've found of reducing the drop outs is to eliminate splitters.


I sold my DSS equipment but am beginning to regret it. Due to RoadRunner discounts and local channel HDTV availability, I thought digital cable would be better. Now I'm not so sure (but am sticking with it for now).


Sam