Recently purchase philips plasma flat screen. Connected cable(comcast) to set. I currently do not have digital cable. All HD channels come in great, however some of the regular channels look worse then others. Would going to digital cable make this better? Is it better to use a cable card or STB?
analog channels are analog quality. Viewing directly to the TV for analog gets you the best you can get PQ wise. STB degrades the PQ a little more, but shouldn't look really bad. If you connect the cable directly to your TV and they look pretty bad, call your cable company and have them come check your signal strength.
I have seen some sets that do a great job cleaning up noise from analog.
Going digital would make a HUGE difference IF your area has started ADS ( simulcasting their analogs digitally) Otherwise the only thing digital will be everything your NOT seeing now. Your analogs will stay the same. ( and be processed through the stb as well before hitting your set)
If you are going to go digital the CableCARD is a great option for wall mounted, HD sets. You will however sacrifce the interactive program guide and will not be able to utilize VOD ( video on demand)which I have come to find invaluable..
Are you sure everything on the premis is doing its job? Splitters, connectors, etc?
newmex999
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Comcast tech showed up today to install cable card. He couldn't get the 1st one to work so he tried another. He couldn't get that one to work either. Screen came up on TV that said cable card was downloading new firmware. This went on forever. I called Philips tech support and they knew right away what was wrong. Philips told Comcast tech that both cards he had need to have the software updated on them before they are installed in the set.
It does sound correct. I have never heard of this happening with Comcast or the Motorola cards. I know this was an issue with Charter and the Scientific Atlanta cards. Do you know what kind of card it was? Technically, the card should load the firmware update without much issue. I have heard of them getting hung up. In this case it is possible if your cable shop has the set up to pre load the card with the new version before they come out but there can also be an issue with the way they are loading it to begin with. Did the tech say that he sees this alot or has seen it alot lately or did it seem new to him?
newmex999
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Card was scientific atlanta. He says the warehouse is supposed to pre load them and they (the tech)have no way of knowing if it was done or done correctly. Seemed new to the tech.
The bigger problem is the CC should be able to update firmware through your TV, that's what it was designed to do. We pre-stage cards at our shop through a CCTV, if there is a firmware upgrade, if it works at the shop then it should work in your home.
newmex999
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Cable Guy just showed up with more cards. Let's see what happens
newmex999
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Cable guy put another card in and now it is working. Oh- wait a minute-now it's not. All channels just disappeared. Tech said he had this same problem at his house. He would have to unplug set in order to reset everything to get channels working. I told him to just take the card out and I'll wait until they iron out the kinks
Steve~ make doesn't matter, you should see some improvement in PQ from STB to CC.
newmex~ Hang tough man, taking the card out isn't going to help them solve the problems. If I was in your shoes I would demand Philips and Comcast get their collective heads together and work the issue out. It's really simple; it's either something Comcast is doing wrong, or something the TV is not doing properly. Both parties should be able to figure it out, if they are communicating.
newmex999
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Think it would be more productive if Comcast and Scientific Atlanta got their s**t together. Cable guy had same problem with his card on different make of tv.