Dish satelite vs Cable quality?

I used to have digital cable and switched to Direct TV dish, (no hi def with either) I thought the quality would be so much better with the dish from what I had heard. Personally I don't like either one. The both are a far cry from DVD. It might not matter so much if you have a TV that is 36" or smaller, but with bigger TVs it matters a lot.

If I had to say I would say that the sattelite is slightly better. The fact that most movies come not in widescreen is a big problem and the fact that there is such bad contrast in darker scenes makes viewing TV a real bummer. If it's movie viewing you're after I reccomend Netflix.

I currently have a High Definition cable box from the local cable company. The cable Hi Def broadcasts from HD NET and HD Discovery are spectacular, like looking out a window. HD Movies, and the two HBO HD channels and especially the local ABC HD seem to be a small step down in Video quality.

The excellent Cable High Def source absolutely kills DVD in quality with my Pioneer Elite PRO-530-HD.

The standard def programing including local channels, (ABC, NBC, CBS), CNN. Fox News, USA etc, etc leave a lot to be desired in video quality.

I have tried Better Cables Silver Serpent Reference component cable between the HD cable box to the tv inputs AND Monster's 8 way cable splitter to send signal to all the tv's in the house, (The cable company mesured -3db strength which they said is acceptable).

Has anyone had better luck running S-video from the HD cable box to the tv so that the tv's internal progressive scan would then be default without the component cable hooked up?

I also have a dedicated 20 amp circuit with 10 gauge wire and Hubbell Hosp grade outlets to the system.

Thanks and Peace.

a HDTV that has a built in line doubling can really improve the analog cable signal considerably. I think direct TV vs. dish network is very little quality difference at least in my experience. Both show compression artifacts. I prefer Canadian Express View System they have 19 HDTV channels currently.

For me, sat was better than digital cable. More programming and a better picture with a cheaper price. I haven't seen HDTV on cable because they didn't have it when I switch. My local Cox keep pushing the date back. I grew tired of waiting and went thei Direct TV. I love it. I had to buy a HDTV reciever but my local Cox is requiring that I buy a HDTV capable set-top box as they don't ren them so I'd have had to buy some addition anyway. My wife is the big tv person and she loves Direct Tv. No the quality isn't as good as DVD for regular broadcastl but what is? HDTV is gorgeous though. My only regret is that I didn't start enjoying HDTV sooner.

I switched from digital cable to the Dish Network about a year ago. The picture quality is about the same, maybe slightly better. I have not tried the high definition programming. With the Dish Network, you have to add a second satellite dish (and high definition receiver). One advantage of Direct TV is that you can get the high definition programming with a single satellite dish. High definition cable is not available in my area.

If you decide to go satellite, Direct TV is probably the way to go because of the single satellite dish for high definition. I will probably switch when I decided to purchase a high definition receiver (my TV is HD ready, only).

By the way, the programming is about the same between cable and satellite. It just depends on the package that you decided to purchase. Hope this helps.