HD cable has ruined me (1 Viewer)

[Dalton]

Eric,
Is your box hooked up through componet video connections or DVI? My set only has componet so i am wondering if i will be able to get HD cable when it hits my area later this year.

Thanks,
Dalton

 

[Eric F]

Dalton, I recommend you checkout that thread I mentioned. Comcast [mostly] uses the Motorola 5100 box for HD, and mine has both DVI and component. I use component.

As for the pricing issue, it's fair. I only pay $6/mo for Basic Cable, the box rental ($8/mo) and for HBO and SHO "a la carte'" for $13.99 and $12.99 respectively. That's ~$41 all told. For that price I get all the HD channels (including 2 OTA and PBS national feed) and all HBO and SHO digital channels including Flix (like 10), and all the Music Choice channels.

This is a price scheme they only seem to offer with HD users. Without the HD box the only way to get "a la carte" HBO and SHO were to either rent an analog box, or get the Digial package that started at $45, not including the price of HBO and SHO.

Right now it's more than I could have asked for at a reasonable price. What happens when they start rolling out more pay channels and HD becomes the norm is a bit worrysome, as I can't really afford the "normal" pricing schemes. Hopefully by then some prerecorded HD format will be firmly established, so I wouldn't have to rely solely on cable for my HD movie viewing.

 

[JeremyFr]

I work for Comcast here in Washington State and I can tell you here by the end of the year we'll have close to 20 if not more HD channels on line these are to include HBO/Showtime (which is already available here) and adding to that Discovery HD, ESPN HD, 7 channels provided by HD net. all Locals which is around 6 channels, (abc,nbc,cbs,pbs,upn,& fox affiliate all broadcast HD up here) and a few locally produced HD channels as well. As for the box we do not charge anything additional over what you would pay for a regular digital box, no extra install charge, and typically free installation, or 9.99 for install. The box runs normal HD component outputs, as well as optical/coax digital audio connections. I watched oceans 11 on one and it looked absolutely fantastic IMHO. obviously channel lineup offerings will differ from area to area with Comcast, were just lucky up here to have all locals already broadcasting and a decent economy from all the Boeing/Microsoft people up here

 

[Jerry Gracia]

John,

Honestly,

And I believe this wholeheartedly...you will look at your posts above differently once you have HD in your set-up, trust me.

It's one thing to see HD at a store or at a friends house and have time to somewhat shake it off and be at peace with 480p DVD resolution and quite another to have HD full time and be able to constantly see the difference in image quality. There simply is no contest. It's clear as day. Not just apples to oranges...its 480 vs 1080! LOL!! Wake up Jon!!

You mention VHS and how its below a certain viewable threshold...OK, I can agree with this. VHS is crappy. Lets consider this though...DVD has 240 more lines of resolution than VHS (thats double the amount) plus DVD is a component video format which makes it look even better. HD, on the other hand (compared to DVD), has 600 more lines of resolution (in 1080i) which is a bigger gap than what DVD has over VHS, thats three times more! That's not comparing apples and oranges bud.

DVD is fuzy when it comes to fine detail which results in a soft image...this is the first thing I notice about DVD now. That's the nature of DVDs low resoluton.

I can still sit down and enjoy DVD, but it has lost much of the "wow factor" it once had...for me, anyway.

John, you sound like you're in a bit of denial, friend.

 

[Brent Hutto]

Post deleted because it was unhelpful and unfriendly

 

[Jerry Gracia]

Brent,

Thats all fine and dandy.

I'm happy for you.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Jerry my friend, i'm not in denial, honestly. right back at ya.

I'm fully aware of the advantages and disadvantages between DVD and HD and have accepted them, my assesment doesn't come from a place that's half cocked or unthought out.

HD is 1080i and that's truly outstanding, DVD is 480p, however I still find this amount of resolution to be very acceptable for accurately displaying a film on my monitor in comparison to it's theatrical exhibition.

For example, take a look at the DVD of 'SW EP II' and tell me that that DVD isn't a very close representation of what we saw at the theater. Close enough to provide a very satisfying DVD experience am I right? The same can be said for countless other DVD titles.

The drop in resolution from HD to DVD while dramatic, and it is very dramatic I agree, doesn't really do anything to hurt DVD's good name in terms of image quality for me, at least not to such a degree that I would consider to be extreme.

Bottom line for me, give me a film in HD (when I get it that is) and i'll be very happy, in turn give me a good referrance quality DVD and no comparison will be made, i'll simply admire the beauty of the DVD image also. I'll have room for and enjoy both. My opinion, why compare when they both look great?

Well, if we can't see eye to eye on this issue, at least we both agree that Sterling Marlin sucks!

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Brent,
I saw nothing wrong with your post.

 

[Patrick Sun]

The 3 words that come to mind when I watch a show in HDTV is:

"Life is good."

 

[Eric F]

Can I just delete this whole thread?

I guess I've learned my lesson...

 

[Dave Moritz]

Just wondering where they got the bandwith to offer one or two HD channels? Especially since most of the channels on digital cable are analog. Is there a noticeble difference in the lower teer channels looking even worse than before? Or did they stop offering cable internet to pick up some bandwith? Or did they just drop some channels to make room for the HD channels? Just Asking.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Eric,

why do you want the thread deleted? Just curious cause it's a good thread IMO.

 

[Michael D. Bunting]

Jeremy,

You wouldn't happen to have a estimated ETA for those other HD channels you were mentioning a few posts back, would you?

I have Comcast and the HD package here in Puyallup (HBO HD & SHOW HD) and I really want the locals very badly....not to mention ESPN-HD!

Will all these come online at the same time? Or will they be available a few at a time?

Any info would be appreciated....

 

[JeremyFr]

Ok fist off Michael, I'm told were negoitiating all contracts now so no official date but I'm thinking probably by this summer for at least the Locals.

2nd David Cable has more bandwidth than you'll ever realize. There was no channel's dropped no loss of internet and no lowering the quality of other digital channels. even with everything that we offer on cable thats only using 5-10% of the capability of the line's. But I'm not going to get into all the technical aspects of it but leave it that we'll always have more bandwidth than will ever be available through satellite or just about any medium for that matter. Also as Cable companys start to move away from Analog service as I'm sure will eventually happen that will open up even more bandwidth on the cable. The thing also to realize that with digital cable only the channels below 100 are analog, everything over is a digital tranmission so to say most digital channels are analog is also incorrect. Anyways thats enough from me for now.

 

[JeremyFr]

BTW Michael how are you liking the HD you're getting currently?

 

[Michael D. Bunting]

Jeremy,

So far so good! I will be honest and say that I have not watched the Comcast HD all that much really...I have been waiting for the locals as those are the stations I watch the most. The day I had it "hooked up" DRIVEN was on and it looked amazing...even the installers who were here said that they hadn't seen anything look that good before....

Most of my movie viewing is done via DVD on my own schedule - as my work shifts rotate each week (military) and I'm hardly ever home when something good is on :frowning:

I did catch the 1st half of the NB All Star game and it was absolutely fantastic.

I added a Zenith OTA HD STB (to hold me over until Comcast adds the locals) this past week and I'm able to get most (if not all) of the local (Seattle, Tacoma) Digital HD feeds using an indoor UHF antenna.

I have only watched a few minutes with this so far - but I would have to say that the picture quality on the OTA is better than what I have seen on Comcast, but like i said, I have had very limited viewing so don't hold me to that statement.

Thanks for the update on the HD/LOCALS situation here in the Northwest! Please keep me updated if you can....

 

[jeff peterson]

You wouldn't happen to have a estimated ETA for those other HD channels you were mentioning a few posts back, would you?

Check out Antenna Web ,just input your zip code for a list of your local stations and their scheduled HD dates.

 

[JeremyFr]

He was asking when they'd be available on Cable, they're all broadcasting ota up here now.

 

[Jerry Gracia]

Life is very good with HD!

Life is...uh, um...OK with DVD.

John, point taken. Remember your reaction to DVD when it first came out...and where are your LaserDiscs at agian? LOL!! HAHAHAHAA

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Jerry,

LD left ME, not the other way around. Alright, so nobody had a gun to my head and made me get rid of the LD's that I did manage to accumulate, but the bigger picture was the format was dying. At the time, DVD was approaching fast and LD was quickly going away. At that point in time the only venue I had to get LD's was Suncoast or Saturday Matinee and they were dropping LD little by little.

Bottom line, the ship was sinking and I had to get off.

Also, that was 6 or 7 years ago, i'm not as anxious as I used to be about things, if that whole LD being threatened by DVD situation occured now, I probably would have approached it differently and thought about it more than I did at the time.