Digital cable (Videotron, in Quebec, Canada) (1 Viewer)

[Sacha_C]

I was just looking at the digital cable plans from our cable company (Videotron, in Qiebec, Canada) because I will be gtting a projector soon and I will probably want digital cable.

They list a "Standard terminal" for $199 and a "High definition terminal" for $799. Does this mean I need to buy a $799 cable box to get high definition? That's ridicoulous!

Also, is it true only a few channels are digital? Can I still watch our current regular analog cable if I want?

Thanks

 

[Michael Reuben]

I'm moving this to Audio/Video Sources, because it's not really about programming. Also, I'm editing the title to include the location and cable company. Availability of channels is entirely dependent on the provider; you want people to know up-front which provider you're asking about.

M.

 

[Philippe_L]

That's pretty much it. It's 799$ - 140$ (programming credit for "new clients").

Very few channels are HD.
Many channels are digital.
The analogue channels are "converted" to digital so you don't have to switch back and forth.

I also would like to get HD but not at that price. I got the PVR when it came out and paid a lot for it.. I'm not ready to pay that much for HD. I'll wait until there is more content and the price of the box is lower.

I suggest you have a look at the forums here for more "local" information: digitalhomecanada DOT com

 

[Sacha_C]

Michael - Thanks, I wasnt sure that was the right forum.

What does the $799 do more than the $199, is the quality on the $199 digital cable box better than analog cable? And how many more channels do you get?

Thanks

 

[Philippe_L]

The main difference between the 2 is that with the HD one (799$) you will be able to get the HD channels.. I'm not familiar with projectors but if you do go with the HD make sure it can handle it or else you're paying for nothing.

As far as picture quality differences between analog and digital : well I think it depends a lot on the quality of your analogue signal. I first went with digital when I got a 27" Wega crt a few years back. Analogue cable on it was pretty bad. I moved since and now have a 50" GWIII. The quality of analogue on it is much better than it was on the 27". That may have something to do with the tv itself, but I suspect the signal.

For the channels that are offered, you can get the list on videotron's web site.. It's probably easier this way. From what I remember programming cost is about the same.

 

[Sacha_C]

I meant whats the picture quality difference between the $199 box and $799 box. The $199 might be enough, because I only watch TV on my PC which was an ATI All in wonder card which does an unbeleivable job at upgrading the quality, many analog channels look like near DVD quality on my 19" monitor at 1280x1024.

The channel list shows 570 channels, are those all included with digital cable or are they all part of that extra $25 for these 10, extra $20 for those 5 ending up costing half a million per month?

Thanks

 

[Philippe_L]

For the non-HD channels there's no difference other than what you might get from using the component connections of the HD box vs. the svideo connection of the regular box. In other words, if you don't care for the HD content then go for the regular box.

You can probably get the programming credit even if you're not a new customer. But you might have to fight for it a little...

As far as price is concerned, you don't get all the channels unless you pay for all the channels. With the "Available packages & Rates" page on their website you can figure out how much it will cost for what you want. But like I said before, for the same channels it doesn’t really cost more to go with digital.

And careful with that 570 channels... The gaps between some of the sections are big, so it's a lot less than 570 channels.

Hope this helps,

PL.