Clark Howard's Tips
Comcast's HD signal found to be too compressedApril 22, 2008
Electronics retailers love to set up Blu-ray DVD players with HDTVs to spotlight the amazingly life-like picture that you can get. But then the average consumer is crestfallen when trying to duplicate the results at home using the same equipment with a cable or satellite signal. What's going on?
Comcast is being blasted by techies who tested its HD broadcasts and found the signal was seriously compressed and degraded. The use of compression is not unique to Comcast -- they're just having a lot of trouble with it.
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CLARK'S TIP TOPICS
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Clark is not suggesting there's any conspiracy on Comcast's part; he just thinks they don't have their act together yet. They went from 2:1 compression to 3:1 compression to squeeze more HD channels through the pipeline into your home. That was a business decision they made to compete with Dish Network and DirecTV, which both offer huge numbers of HD channels. But in doing so, Comcast comprised the integrity of its HD signal.
Even under optimal settings, the best you can hope for at home is 720p, which is the minimal HD standard. Compare that to the 1080p image you see at your electronics retailer. The difference in those numbers may not sound great, but it's actually like magnitudes going up on the Richter scale!
To maximize your best picture, you'll want to buy a $30 or $40 over-the-air HD antenna. That way, at least your local broadcast channels will get the true HD representation that you can't get through cable or satellite. Don't fall for the ploy of spending hundreds extra on that new HD set to improve your picture!
