| Author | Message | ||
| Chris Brody (Cbrody)
Junior Member Username: Cbrody Post Number: 60 Registered: 3-2002 |
John, Yes most cables make a difference and lengths from dish to box and box to tv. I'm not as familiar with dish network. But from exp. directv has the best picture out there. The only downfall on satellite is that the local channels 2-11 don't look as good as the other satellite channels. And on top of that there is different picture quality on different channels. Most of it is due to the quality of the stations broadcast. | ||
| John G (Heat_seeker_ws6)
New member Username: Heat_seeker_ws6 Post Number: 3 Registered: 12-2002 |
Chris, would you agree that major reason a picture may or may not be looking as good as it should be is the type (S-Vid,BNC,DB15,RCA,etc) and quality of the wire used from the source to the monitor? Also, provided the type of cable used for satellite (RG6U vs RG59 vs RG11)is appropriate for the length of it's run from dish to box or home run location? | ||
| bruce wellington (Bws88tr)
Intermediate Member Username: Bws88tr Post Number: 1319 Registered: 4-2002 |
thanks matt  btw, im digesting the email you just sent me bw | ||
| Mr. Doody (Doody)
Member Username: Doody Post Number: 648 Registered: 11-2001 |
JD - i believe the DirecTV salesman is yanking your chain. in fact, i believe the truth is the reverse: that the terrestrial wire can carry higher bandwidth to your home than the satellite can reasonably spit at you. IME, cable tv does not contain the excessive compression rates that the satellite providers are using. in part this is because they are stuck on analog and thus can only offer what the bandwidth allows (ie: no easy way to tweak an MPEG compression setting at the "home office"). so all the channels are roughly the same quality. the satellites get all those extra channels at the expense of image quality (more compression). i have a plasma as well, and i find some of DISH's SDTV feeds to be crap. some are okay. HDTV is beyond amazing. IMO, go with the satellite. it's very unlikely you'll be disappointed. satellite is #2 - they have to try harder :-). more options. more channels. etc. doody. | ||
| Matt Lemus (Mlemus)
Intermediate Member Username: Mlemus Post Number: 1128 Registered: 8-2002 |
Becareful Bruce....there are NARC's about... | ||
| bruce wellington (Bws88tr)
Intermediate Member Username: Bws88tr Post Number: 1318 Registered: 4-2002 |
im stealing the descramled cable from my neighbors house, beggers cant be choosey.. | ||
| Chris Brody (Cbrody)
Junior Member Username: Cbrody Post Number: 59 Registered: 3-2002 |
J.D. Go with Satellite.... Major difference vs. Cable and Digital Cable on a Plasma. Plasmas are 90% of our business and we do custom installations so we have seen all signal types on the screens. Chris PlasmaTVs.com | ||
| Matt Lemus (Mlemus)
Intermediate Member Username: Mlemus Post Number: 1124 Registered: 8-2002 |
I have analog cable now. I switched to digital cable but I dropped it after I noticed no change in picture quality, unable to use PIP and very high channel numbers. | ||
| J.D. Smythe (Jeff)
Junior Member Username: Jeff Post Number: 85 Registered: 2-2001 |
Doody, I am watching analog cable(Cox)now. I have a plasma screen and feel I am not getting the best use out of it. On a trial basis, I did try Cox'x HDTV and digital cable. I was very impressed with the HDTV. But Cox provided just one channel, ABC. The Direct TV salesman is trying to convince me that their picture is better because there is less of a cable run from the dish to my tv whereas cable has miles of wiring before it reaches my house. So, I would like to believe him but I don't won't to invest hundreds of dollars in a satellite system and find that the picture is no better than cable. | ||
| Mr. Doody (Doody)
Member Username: Doody Post Number: 647 Registered: 11-2001 |
IME, satellite and digital cable compress the crap out of most SDTV channels. analog cable generally looks better than the other options for SDTV. one of the benefits/problems of MPEG is that the providers can ratchet the compression rates up or down. so they make sure the premium movie channels look good; and the HDTV stuff looks f'ing wonderful; but the more "fringe" channels get compressed like there's no tomorrow and they look like crap. it depends on your viewing device as well. on a 19" tube television you probably won't notice a lot of difference from the couch. on a 100" projection screen you'll see the artifacting. doody. | ||
| J.D. Smythe (Jeff)
Junior Member Username: Jeff Post Number: 84 Registered: 2-2001 |
I've been wanting to try satellite (directv). Is the picture really better than cable? Are you happy with your satellite service? |