rec.autos.simulators

Well, the F1situation in the USA has finally convinced me to find a way to
get Speedvision.  My questions is this (and I know it's off-topic, but the
internet doesn't seem to be able to tell anything):

1)  How does the picture quality of digital cable compare to regular cable
TV?  I've read that because of the compression, picture quality can suffer
significantly.

2)  Currently, I share a house with two other fellows.  Each of them have
televisions in their rooms; as well, we have a common TV in the den.
Currently, we have split the cable signal to run to each TV and that works
fine.  But if digital cable is installed, this means a decoding box will be
hooked to the living room set.  Does that mean that their two sets will no
longer be receiving any sort of analogue cable signal, or will they likely
still receive the analogue stuff, and just not get the digital additions?

I apologize for sending this to a racing sim group--you guys are trustworthy
as a rule, and like I said, the internet isn't returning the information I
need.

best,
David

PS  This I found at http://www.racesimcentral.net/
seemed to be encouraging:

"Now it should be noted that if you get Digital Cable no special cable
hookup is required. Digital cable works using your existing cable wiring.
Because you are using the same cable you will still receive the analog
channels which you currently receive plus the additional digital channels
now available to you."

The picture quality of digital cable is better than regular cable from my
experience.  The only minor downside is if there is something wrong with
cable, you don't get the old "snow" look, but pixelated blocks.  The upside
is better quality picture, especially for Pay TV.   I've had digital cable
for about 3 years, and it was worth getting in my opinion.

You can split digital cable, however I did occasionally have problems with
the decoding box, from my landlord splitting from my cable.  The problems
were pixelated picture, and blacking out once in a while.  It wasn't that
serious of a problem.  All the normal channels worked on the non-decoding
box tv, just the paytv/specialty channels didn't work.

Digital pictures can be much clearer than analog signals.  However, a lot
depends on the source encoding and signal... some digital channels are
poorly or over-compressed and when the signal goes bad you're left with
random blocks or a blank screen.

Some digital channels have really odd picture artifacts... TNN has this
thing where objects sometimes look like they're floating, independant of the
rest of the picture (really noticable during Miami Vice).  One of the
"superstations" that broadcasts ST:TNG shows an effect where small rapid
movements (like a head turn) occur at a really low frame rate.

With my service (Shaw, Canada) I'd say that the PPV digital movie channels
have great picture but all the others are only adequate.

My biggest complaint is the slow switching time between digital channels...
it can take up to a second for the decoding to begin and if you're flipping
before the decoding gets underway it can take almost two seconds for the
image to settle down.  This is with the General Instrument (now Motorola)
DCT 2000 cable box.

Dale.

--
Brian
Grrrr baby, very grrrrr

-Pete

best,
David