Digital Cable Vs satelite

Good analysis Ed. I had pretty much decided to go with CATV-HD, but considering the factors you pointed out, I'm now confirmed on that decision. Another factor that entered in was the fact that my provider (Comcast) offers a $400 buy-back of your DSS box (@$25/month to be sure, but it still helps).

Eh, sadly, at this stage, on demand is SD only. I expect the DVR HD boxes relatively soon--I'm in Northern Virginia and they have launched in DC. Given the content available in HD, being able to timeshift would be nice indeed.

HRcapers, DirecTV does have HD feeds, and its true HD--720p or 1080i. There is also another satellite service being launched--Voom!--which is HD only...

Wish Comcast would have bought my DirecTV HD box. Sold it on Videogon instead, but I didn't get $400 for it...

thanks ed,i just got my digital catv hook up today and now trying to figure out how to hook it up to my receiver to get 5.1 sound..please help....anyone??

Ttrph;you should have a coax or toslinc-out, that goes to your receiver. Then you may have to go into the menu and select/activate. Just keep in mind chs 01 -to 99 are all analog;all the time. For that to go to the receiver,you need a set of analog ics to another input on the receiver. If you get local HD, that is digital all the time.
Re. Voom---No it ain't all HD all the time. They carry many SD chsnnels--But 40 HD stations ain't bad huh?

My 2 cents is that here in Miami there is so much more value associated with Satelite. The cost is a couple dollars more however you get much more. HDTV for one plus Dolby Digital too. Cable doesn't give either. Don't be fooled with that issue about the Satelite going out... it just doesn't happen much at all. Since 11/15/03 it happened once for a few minutes. And South Florida can really rain!

However... if I was really on a tight budget I'd just have a really good outside anttena coupled to a HDTV tuner and get it (t.v. reception & dolby digital on the network broadcasts) for free. I've a digital t.v. and was floored with the reception over the air from my outside antenna. Plus there are 20 or so channels I could watch. Of course, the HEAT are only on ESPN or TNT now...