Difference in quality between cable and air?

I think I know the answer to this, but just in case...

A friend has criticized me for using an HD cable connection, claiming that
the picture quality is better using an antenna.

Your thoughts?

"Beebo" wrote in message
...
I think I know the answer to this, but just in case...

A friend has criticized me for using an HD cable connection, claiming that
the picture quality is better using an antenna.

Your thoughts?

Your friend is correct.

"Beebo" wrote in message
...
I think I know the answer to this, but just in case...

A friend has criticized me for using an HD cable connection, claiming that
the picture quality is better using an antenna.

Your thoughts?

In the rare event that I watch a local channel (HD or not), I watch it from
OTA as TWC compresses them over cable.
Its noticable, but if I didn't already have a built-in ATSC tuner -- would I
go out of my way to get one? Probably not...

"Beebo" wrote in message
...
I think I know the answer to this, but just in case...

A friend has criticized me for using an HD cable connection, claiming that
the picture quality is better using an antenna.

Your thoughts?

There's no comparison. OTA HD picture quality is far superior than what
cable service provides.

"ButlerCellars" wrote in message
...

"Beebo" wrote in message
...
I think I know the answer to this, but just in case...

A friend has criticized me for using an HD cable
connection, claiming that
the picture quality is better using an antenna.

Your thoughts?

There's no comparison. OTA HD picture quality is far
superior than what cable service provides.


Is that true for Satellite also?

On Jan 24, 11:33 pm, "Lou" wrote:
"ButlerCellars" wrote in ...



"Beebo" wrote in message
...
I think I know the answer to this, but just in case...

A friend has criticized me for using an HD cable
connection, claiming that
the picture quality is better using an antenna.

Your thoughts?

There's no comparison. OTA HD picture quality is far
superior than what cable service provides.Is that true for Satellite also?

Satellite is worse. Direct TV was recently hit with a class action
lawsuit because what they claim to be "HD" is in fact heavily
compressed signals which result in a sub-par picture. OTA signals are
uncompressed. Cable or satellite has to compress their signals to get
all of those channels to you because of their limited bandwidth.

"Lou" wrote in message
...

"ButlerCellars" wrote in message
...

"Beebo" wrote in message
...
I think I know the answer to this, but just in case...

A friend has criticized me for using an HD cable connection, claiming
that
the picture quality is better using an antenna.

Your thoughts?

There's no comparison. OTA HD picture quality is far superior than what
cable service provides.


Is that true for Satellite also?


Does any satellite service even offer local HD channels? I'd like to be
wrong, but I was under the impression that satellite subscribers had to pull
their local HD channels OTA..

As for the non-local HD channels, I've recall reading from a few folks that
had cable and went to satellite report that the overall quality of the HD
channels were better with their satellite service. Also recall a few
stating the other way around. I guess it really depends on comparing
specific services..

I have Time-Warner digital cable with just the basic HD tier. The HD
channels with TWC that really stand out, with just the basic HD tier, are
"Discovery HD Theater" and (sometimes) PBS-HD. I'm hoping we get National
Geographic HD soon...

The big-three public networks are definetly better OTA than they are through
TWC around here. Since I have a built-in ATSC tuner, I just watch them OTA.
It is rare that that I watch anything on them though. This is subjective,
but if I didn't already have a tuner, I wouldn't chase one down because:

- The source needs to be HD before it even goes out on a carrier. Not all
the programming for the public networks is recorded in HD to begin with.
Much of their programming is still being video'd in SD, so when it goes out
in HD it is just being upconverted. The exceptions are mainly just the
nationally-syndicated shows. (Although, I think our local news may be in HD
now. I haven't watched it in years, so I'm not 100% sure though.)

- I find the actual content for 99% of the big-three public network
programming to be pure garbage. I'm not going to watch their stupid talk
shows, court shows, reality show, etc in any format. About the only thing I
watch are sporting events. (Which for many folks is a good enough reason
alone to get a tuner though.)

Film to HD video transfers aren't all created equal either. Back when I had
a few premium movies channels (dropped them because they broadcast the same
movies over and over), they came with both an SD and HD channel for each
premium movie channel. Some of the movies had a really good transfer and
looked remarkable, while others had a not so good transfer and only looked
slightly better than SD. (Comparing recent movies that they broadcasted --
both of which came from film and were transfered.)

In article .com,
"Mikepier" wrote:

On Jan 24, 11:33 pm, "Lou" wrote:
"ButlerCellars" wrote in
...



"Beebo" wrote in message
...
I think I know the answer to this, but just in case...

A friend has criticized me for using an HD cable
connection, claiming that
the picture quality is better using an antenna.

Your thoughts?

There's no comparison. OTA HD picture quality is far
superior than what cable service provides.Is that true for Satellite
also?

Satellite is worse. Direct TV was recently hit with a class action
lawsuit because what they claim to be "HD" is in fact heavily
compressed signals which result in a sub-par picture. OTA signals are
uncompressed. Cable or satellite has to compress their signals to get
all of those channels to you because of their limited bandwidth.

No HDTV transmissions are uncompressed; the raw bandwidth requirement is
just too great for lossless compression. There are differing degrees of
compression and and transcoding from one compressed stream to another
introduces additional artifacts.

--
Tom Stiller

PGP fingerprint = 5108 DDB2 9761 EDE5 E7E3
7BDA 71ED 6496 99C0 C7CF

"Eric" wrote:

Does any satellite service even offer local HD channels? I'd like to be
wrong, but I was under the impression that satellite subscribers had to
pull their local HD channels OTA..

Sure Eric. Directv and Dish both offer hd locals in some markets.

Chip

--
-------------------- http://NewsReader.Com/ --------------------
Usenet Newsgroup Service $9.95/Month 30GB

wrote in message
...
"Eric" wrote:

Does any satellite service even offer local HD channels? I'd like to be
wrong, but I was under the impression that satellite subscribers had to
pull their local HD channels OTA..

Sure Eric. Directv and Dish both offer hd locals in some markets.

Chip

Glad to wrong!