Satellite vs. Cable HD Channels

Unless you’ve literally been living under a rock the past couple years, you’ve likely heard plenty of commercials claiming Wal-Mart®, Target® or some other department-store chain has the cheapest HD, or “high-definition,” TVs. Meanwhile, you’ve probably heard just as many ads boasting this or that TV service provider offers the most satellite or cable HD channels.

At first, you probably ignored this hype. But, now that your old cathode-ray-tube TV has at last given out, perhaps claims like “the cheapest HD TVs” and “the most cable HD channels” have begun sounding like perfectly reasonable selling points. What’s more, not seeing a single set even vaguely like your old one for sale, maybe you’re thinking you might as well finally bite the proverbial bullet.

The problem is, though, that buying an HD TV isn’t one of those “go big, or go home” situations. Yes, the picture and sound quality can be “sharper” and “clearer” on an HD TV than on a CRT TV. But, contrary to what many sales reps will tell you, a TV’s design is only part of the equation; the other part depends entirely on the format of the satellite or cable HD signals the set receives.

What Are Satellite and Cable HD Signals?

The reason for this is, HD TVs are specially made to receive the satellite or cable HD signals your cable or satellite HD provider transmits. And, likewise, satellite and cable HD channels have higher resolutions specifically formatted for an HD TV’s pixilated screen. As a result, watching standard-definition channels on an HD set is next-to-impossible; and watching cable or satellite HD channels on a CRT set is completely out-of-the-question.

Of course, explaining that satellite and cable HD signals are exclusively compatible with HD TVs is only part of the story. The other part has to do with digital technology which, we should note, is not the same as satellite and cable HD signal technology. To be sure, digital cable and digital satellite dishes made receiving satellite and cable HD signals possible. But assuming “digital” and “HD” are synonymous is like saying the space shuttle is a Saturn V rocket.

The complete history of all this is far too involved to explain in one article. But the long and short of it essentially begins with CRT TVs, whose “horizontal scanlines”—a series of multi-colored bands that combine to form a picture—were the most cost-effective TV technology for much of the 20th century.

The main reason scanlines were preferable to the earliest HD-like technologies was they could receive and display a relatively large amount of information using very little bandwidth. Pixilated screens, in contrast, used tons of bandwidth because telling a TV how to turn thousands of pixels into a picture required more information transfer than telling it how to construct one out of a few hundred colored lines.

All this changed, however, with the advent of the Internet because home computers had to compress the analog signals they received to fit their limited operating memories. Rather than reading the entirety of an analog signal’s waves, then, they would “estimate” the waves’ dimensions and cut off the peaks and troughs.

These cut-off portions normally contained very little useful information, so for the most part, omitting them didn’t affect the overall quality of the information computers received. In fact, most of the cut-off portions contained nothing but the fuzziness you’d typically find at the top and bottom of a CRT TV’s screen. Realizing this, TV service providers soon began incorporating computer chips into their broadcast systems with the goal of making CRT TV more enjoyable.

This digitization was at the heart of the digital satellite dish and digital cable boom that saw subscribers receiving more, higher quality channels. What’s more, these new digital satellite dish and digital cable providers found they still had plenty of bandwidth left over even after expanding their channel selections. It seemed perhaps they could finally utilize several technologies from earlier in the 20th century to broadcast cable and satellite HD channels. But, before they could do so, TV manufacturers had to build TVs that were more like computer monitors.

For their part, manufacturers had no problem creating TVs to digital cable and digital satellite dish providers’ specs because many of them had been producing laptop screens for years. Now, with digital satellite dish and digital cable technology creating the perfect climate for HD TV sets, all they had to do was make huge laptop monitors with different input and output ports. Not long after, liquid-crystal technology made HD TVs even less expensive and more energy-efficient, and manufacturers ceased CRT production altogether.

Now, we realize you probably weren’t looking for a history lesson when you landed on this page. But our point in relating all this is it explains the compatibility issues with running satellite and cable HD channels on some higher-end HD TVs. Many HD TVs, you see, work best with satellite and cable HD signals made for 1,280x720-pixel displays. But for some—like Panasonic’s® 150-inch show model “Dorothy”—even satellite and cable HD channels from the best HDTV service providers will appear small and out of focus.

The reason for this low quality is that the best satellite and cable HD signals for these sets are specially compressed for 3,996x2,160-pixel displays. And, with $70,000-plus price tags, 150-inch HD TVs simply aren’t affordable enough for most people to make broadcasting in such resolutions realistic for even the best HDTV service providers.

This, in turn, is the main reason why buying an HDTV is not a “go big, or go home” situation. You see, even if you can afford a 150-inch set you’ll get as much enjoyment from watching normal satellite or cable HD channels on it as you would from watching standard-definition channels on a smaller HD TV. At the end of the day, then, laying out some $70K on one of these top-of-the-line sets isn’t just dumb; it’s moronic.

The Best HDTV Service Provider: Satellite vs. Cable HD

According to Consumer Reports, it’s extremely difficult to determine who the best HDTV service provider is when comparing satellite vs. cable HD channels. The reason for this, the consumer magazine reported, is “there's no agreement on what constitutes a high-definition ‘channel.’” Even some of the best HD service providers “classify each regional sports network feed as a channel” when, to some subscribers, these offerings seem more like filler.

Perhaps the real bellwether for determining the best HD TV provider, then, has nothing to do with the number of satellite or cable HD channels providers offer; perhaps it has more to do with the entertainment value each cable or satellite HD package offers on the whole. And yet, determining the best HD TV provider based on this criterion is also unsatisfactory because no two people will agree on what constitute the best HD satellite and cable channels.

That said, what we here at InternetLion.com can offer, as far as a judgment on satellite vs. cable HD, are Consumer Reports’ overall sound- and image-quality assessments. According to these criteria, the consumer magazine said, those who get HD DIRECTV®, DISH Network® or Verizon FiOS® are the most satisfied.

Other than that, the only other criterion for judging satellite vs. cable HD or determining the best HD satellite or cable provider is probably price. And in this area those who receive DISH Network’s HD programming will likely be far happier than those who get HD DIRECTV or HD from Verizon. DISH Network, after all, currently offers the best HD satellite deal: Free HD for life with subscriptions starting as low as $24.99 per month (with 24-Mo. Agreement and AutoPay with Paperless Billing). This is the best HD satellite or cable deal on the market today with the lowest monthly TV subscription fee on the pay-TV market.

But, when it comes to money matters, we hardly expect you to take our word at face value. That’s why we’ve put together the following chart, to help you judge for yourself which company has the best HD satellite or cable deals and, based on channel offerings, which is the best HD TV provider overall. You can also call the number on your screen to speak to an agent in person with any questions you might have or click here to learn more about getting started with DISH Network.

*HD free for life with two-year Agreement; listed rate applicable for one (1) year; HD offering includes 59 On-Demand HD channels and 15 Pay-Per-View HD channels for which additional fees apply (Source: www.dishnetwork.com)
†HD free for life with two-year Agreement; listed rate applicable until 2012 (Source: www.directv.com)
‡No agreement required (Source: Comcast sales representative)
**HD included with telephone, Internet and cable service; no agreement required (Source: www22.verizon.com)
††Prices and services may vary according to region; no agreement required (Source: Time Warner sales representative, based on lowest cost for New York subscribers in Manhattan)

Disclaimer: Please note that this article was written when the satellite TV provider DISH was branded as DISH Network. As of 2/1/2012 DISH Network has changed their branding name to DISH. Article post date: 07/20/2010.