OT - F1 & digital cable

Hi Folks, 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.scottsviews.com/digital_cable_review.htm and 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."

I don't have digital cable myself, but a friend of mine does. Unfortunately, he lives 400 miles away, so I haven't seen this for myself. But, according to him, there is a significant improvement in picture quality. Regarding your 2nd question, I can't be sure, but I do know that he has at least 3 TV's in his house. Since he's a bit of an audio-videophile, I would think that the picture on those TV's is more than acceptable. David Karr wrote:

Quoted text (33 lines)

> Hi Folks, > > 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.scottsviews.com/digital_cable_review.htm and > 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."

-- Bert

> 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. 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. > 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 willbe > 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? 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.

"David Karr" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:990a8u$le5$[email hidden]... > > 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. > 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.

I have digital cable in KC thru Time Warner. I have a 53" Sony, so i can really notice the video noise on the higher band channels. Also, you will need a decoder box for each tv. I am not impressed w/ the video quality. My tv displays dvd'd perfectly, yet the cable signal does not have near the resolution as i think it should. i have had techs out but they say thats the way it will look. now i am just waiting for hdtv. -- Brian Grrrr baby, very grrrrr "David Karr" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:990a8u$le5$[email hidden]... > Hi Folks, > > 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.scottsviews.com/digital_cable_review.htm and > 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." > > >

I haven't tried yet, but my understanding from the guy that did the hookup was that you will still get the analog signal, which you can use with a cable-ready TV or VCR without the digital decoder. -Pete "David Karr" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:990a8u$le5$[email hidden]... > > 2) Currently, I share a house with two other fellows. Each of themhave > 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 willbe > 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?

Thanks Pete--that's exactly right- and exactly what happened. best, David "Pete" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:bABu6.54830$[email hidden]... > I haven't tried yet, but my understanding from the guy that did the hookup > was > that you will still get the analog signal, [snip] > -Pete