Web Hosting Talk : Other Forums : Web Hosting Lounge : digital over the air tv versus basic cable

[MACscr]

Quality question here: Do you think there is a difference between the quality of a digital over the air signal versus a coaxial basic cable (aka, not digital) tv one? Im assuming the digital over the air would be better?

[SenseiSteve]

Don't believe that's the case. You still need an antenna tied to the converter box which gives you a weak link in reception.

[Webdude]

Quality question here: Do you think there is a difference between the quality of a digital over the air signal versus a coaxial basic cable (aka, not digital) tv one? Im assuming the digital over the air would be better?
Do you have a newer type HD tv? If so, do a fine scan on your cable signal, and you will find HD channels such as NBC/ABC/CBS/etc that the cable company doesnt advertise as having.

[Mike - Limestone]

I always assumed that cable had the same HD TV cables available, plus of course the cable channels (whether HD or not).
-mike

[okihost]

Aftet years of paying $150+/mo for cable and realizing we can still never find anything on even with 800+ channels we bumped it down to $9.86/mo basic cable and just download most of our shows now that we no longer have TiVO.
I can confirm the channels cable gives me are all standard def and it looks like they are going to remain that way even though I was under the impression that as of Feb everything would be HD I guess I was wrong

[GregVernon]

I have basic cable in one room and use over the air in another. I get almost as many channels over the air as I do with Cable - just no shopping channels, WGN or Hallmark.
The signal is far superior too. It's definitely something you should consider.

[gypsy]

I use the antennas set up on the tower of my apt. building. No one uses them, they're no longer centrally distributed, so I just hooked into them, brought the wire down to my apt, and now enjoy perfect picture quality on about 20 channels (still analog, nothing ATSC-capable in my home as of yet). Basic cable is $20 or $25 for the same stuff: screw that. Any shows I want to watch, I download. No commercials, and I get to watch'em when I want =)

[rfarrell]

When it comes to HD, I can tell you over-the-air is superior to the signal your cable/satellite company provides. No compression and it's crystal clear. The cable/satellite signal is heavily compressed and there's a clear cut difference when comparing it to OTA.

[Mike - Limestone]

Aftet years of paying $150+/mo for cable and realizing we can still never find anything on even with 800+ channels we bumped it down to $9.86/mo basic cable and just download most of our shows now that we no longer have TiVO.
I can confirm the channels cable gives me are all standard def and it looks like they are going to remain that way even though I was under the impression that as of Feb everything would be HD I guess I was wrong
Talk about a nice cut in monthly expenses!
-mike

[RossMAN]

MACscr,
What type of TV?
CRT with OTA (over the air) antenna or newer LCD/Plasma/DLP with built in HD tuner?

[WirralNet Matt]

When it comes to HD, I can tell you over-the-air is superior to the signal your cable/satellite company provides. No compression and it's crystal clear. The cable/satellite signal is heavily compressed and there's a clear cut difference when comparing it to OTA.
All DVB TV uses some form of compression, hence the advantage of going digital. Do you mean analogue DTT, ie. non-digital over-the-air?
In the UK, we use MPEG2 as standard for all our DVB DSAT/DCAB/DTT services, and so far, the use of MPEG4 is still prohibited by our regulators, despite an attempt by Sky (the biggest digital Pay-TV povider over here by far) to get it in service on DTT to aid bandwidth constraints in 2008.
Analogue on the other hand, uses zeron compression, and thats why it uses so much bandwidth, and why most countries in the western world are going digital.
But it is better in the respect that you get no artifacting etc, although the end result is only as good as the source. The downside to analogue, is the signal is more suseptible to noise, and is often enhanced by adding noise, which makes the picture less clear, but in area's where DVB DTT will struggle for instance, at least Analogue DTT can still be recieved, altbeit not as high quality as it could be.