What is the point of Digital Cable?

[GasX]

If you are satisfied with your current picture, that is...

 

[crab]

More channels...

 

[UberNeuman]

I think it's due to being able to receive more channels and services over the cable - but I don't think the picture is as good due to the compression they use... Nothing better than watching your picture breakup into blocks now and again...

 

[vi edit]

More channels is the biggest...but what I really liked about it was the functionality of the digital cable box. The cable company that I used at least, had a TV Guide thingy that they piped through the box that you could use to check out what was on for the day...and what was going to be on three weeks down the road.

You could look up a show and then see when it would be on again. Pretty much any info that was in the paperback version of TV guide was piped over an accessable on my digital cable box...minus the articles. It was very handy!

Outside of the more channels, and the tv guide though, it actually had worse picture quality IMHO. I had digital artifacts showing up regularly that would pixelate the picture. They would last anywhere from half a second, to half a minute :|

Cable company said they couldn't do anything about it.

 

[ManSnake]

Because being digital is cooler than being analog?

 

[Adul]

more channels that is about it.

 

[Daniel]

Near me I think they have digital radio stations though it too, I don't have it though but some friends do. I think its all commercial free so you hook your cable box up to your stereo and put in whatever channel you want by music type.. i.e. you select the rock station and it just plays all rock music through the cable with no commercials, seemed very cool when I saw it before.