Adelphia Digital Cable - The Joys Of Digital Cable Overshadowed By Satellite Nirvana
Written: Aug 31 '01
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Pros: Features, no need to install dish, convenience, better picture than analog
Cons: Pricing, limited equipment choice, picture and sound quality
The Bottom Line: If you can, get DirecTV or Dish. They cost less and provide much better picture quality and a lot of features.
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| dkozin's Full Review: Adelphia |
The Sadness of Analog
I used to have Adelphia’s analog cable service, which wasn’t cool at all – noisy picture, only about 30 channels at $29 a month. But several months ago I switched to digital cable.
Satellite Nirvana
I must say that I tried satellite TV (Echostar Dish Network) for a while and it was superior to the analog cable in all respects. The picture and sound quality were superior and it was also cheaper than cable. With Dish Network I can have 100 channels (30 of them are CD quality music channels) for $29 or 40 channels for $19.99 (DirecTV has similar pricing).
With satellite TV you can also see detailed information about the shows and see the schedule for quite some time in advance. But cable companies have to support the cable system itself, which is not cheap. Satellite TV providers, on the other hand, don't need to do anything to their satellites to expand their audience. That's why they can offer such pricing.
Unfortunately, after two days of happiness, my apartment complex manager decided that she cannot allow me keep the dish, since if I have it, others might want to and it wouldn’t look good on buildings.
Digital Cable Happiness
I got Adelphia’s digital cable and must admit it would be difficult for me to return to analog cable. The setup includes Motorola digital cable box, which also responds to remote controls programmed with one of the codes for Jerrold cable boxes.
Unfortunately, the box has no S-Video out, so I have to use composite out. But let’s move to picture quality.
Picture Quality
I expected real “digital” picture quality, similar to MPEG2 quality of satellite TV. Unfortunately, it is not the case on majority of channels. Not sure where the signal gets transmitted in analog form, but apparently it happens somewhere.
Some channels have better picture quality during certain shows than others. Overall, satellite wins here.
Sound
The sound quality is good when you use analog stereo output of the cable box. It also has RF out, which produces worse picture and significantly worse sound.
Features
You get similar features with DBS – you can see information about the current show (but sometimes it is limited – you see “Videos” when they show music videos on MTV, that’s about it), see the schedule and search for your show by name. You can order Pay-Per-View (they call it Adelphia-In-Demand) by pushing buttons, set reminders and receive “mail”, which is usually advertisement.
Pricing
The digital cable is more expensive than digital satellite (DBS). There are no contracts and no equipment costs, but I pay about $40 for my digital cable ($75 total, cable Internet access included) – and I have no premium channels like HBO or Cinemax. I could either get less expensive package from DBS or get more channels for the same money. Satellite wins here too.
If you add premium channels (HBO, Cinemax), the price goes higher faster. I tend not to view “Pay-Per-View”, since you can get much better picture and sound by renting a DVD.
Digital Cable Drawbacks
1. Your VCR’s “auto clock set” doesn’t work, because the RF out of the cable box doesn’t output the channel where the time synchronization signals are.
2. You have to use “Cable Eye” controller to switch the channel on your cable box. I used to be able to use the tuner in my VCR for analog cable.
Recipe For Happiness
If you can, get DirecTV or Dish. They cost less and provide much better picture quality and a lot of features.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 40
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Epinions.com ID:
dkozin
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 in Electronics |
 - Top 10 |
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Location: California
Reviews written: 838
Trusted by: 517 members
About Me:
I love to push buttons on electronic (audio and video) equipment. It makes me happy.
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