A couple of months ago, I got a Fujitsu p42 EDTV. I also have digital cable which in my area has better quality than the local satelites. As a matter of fact, the SD was surprisingly good, not DVD quality, but close. The cable box used a composite output.
Then Comcast came out with their High Definition package. For $2 a month (not a one month introductory price--the real thing) you got PBS, NBC, HBO HD and ESPN HD. No way I could pass that up! The picture quality is incredible on the HD channels, especially the live HD events. BUT. . . . I could swear the SD channels got worse. Not worse with compressions artifacts but worse in terms of softness and false contouring.
What could have happened? The cable company had come out and replaced the SD box with a HD one which does not output composite, only S video and component. Could S video and component deliver an appreciably worse picture than the composite did? Or is Comcast compressing the signal more to get the HD channels in? Or have my eyes been forever spoiled by actually viewing top notch HD?
Help! I want my good quality SD back without sacrificing the HD!
Then Comcast came out with their High Definition package. For $2 a month (not a one month introductory price--the real thing) you got PBS, NBC, HBO HD and ESPN HD. No way I could pass that up! The picture quality is incredible on the HD channels, especially the live HD events. BUT. . . . I could swear the SD channels got worse. Not worse with compressions artifacts but worse in terms of softness and false contouring.
What could have happened? The cable company had come out and replaced the SD box with a HD one which does not output composite, only S video and component. Could S video and component deliver an appreciably worse picture than the composite did? Or is Comcast compressing the signal more to get the HD channels in? Or have my eyes been forever spoiled by actually viewing top notch HD?
Help! I want my good quality SD back without sacrificing the HD!