# Digital Cable: Is the picture always this bad? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 8, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-cable-is-the-picture-always-this-bad/212076 "2003-11-08T15:09:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cheddarsnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cheddarsnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheddarsnax)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-cable-is-the-picture-always-this-bad/212076/1 "2003-11-08T15:09:25Z")
I was watching the game show network on a friend’s digital cable last night, and there were often very obvious compression artifacts. During fadeouts at the end of commercials, I was reminded of watching RealVideo streams on my old 28.8 modem. Less obvious artifacts were visible pretty much throughout the entire program. Is this just a problem with GSN, or does digital cable really have horrible picture quality? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-cable-is-the-picture-always-this-bad/212076/2 "2003-11-08T15:12:02Z")
Did you check the other channels? If it’s only GSN, then it may be their problem and not the cable company. ---
**Author:** ![cheddarsnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cheddarsnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheddarsnax)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-cable-is-the-picture-always-this-bad/212076/3 "2003-11-08T15:14:35Z")
Nope. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-cable-is-the-picture-always-this-bad/212076/4 "2003-11-08T16:04:25Z")
Is that from the digital compression? I’d call my cable company, Im sure they would have the answer. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-cable-is-the-picture-always-this-bad/212076/5 "2003-11-08T16:48:02Z")
Mine has some graphical oddness now and then, but the picture is as clear as can be 99% of the time. ---
**Author:** ![ski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@ski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ski)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-cable-is-the-picture-always-this-bad/212076/6 "2003-11-08T17:15:21Z")
When I had satellite TV (DirecTV), I noticed this all the time. It’s what made me decide to cancel my service when I moved. Sometimes it got really bad, especially in “dark” scenes like at night, where contrast was low. ---
**Author:** ![Flymaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c4cdca/32.png) [@Flymaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flymaster)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-cable-is-the-picture-always-this-bad/212076/7 "2003-11-08T17:22:50Z")
I used to get sattelite feeds in my dorm room (it was directTV that they then analogized and fed out to everyone on campus. Some sort of deal with the sattelite people), and it had very obvious compression artifacts. It’s just a fact of life with digital TV, as far as I know. It happens on my friend’s DirecTV, too. ---
**Author:** ![Apex\_Rogers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@Apex\_Rogers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apex_Rogers)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-cable-is-the-picture-always-this-bad/212076/8 "2003-11-08T17:37:27Z")
You should only notice the compression artifaction rarely, say once or twice for every hour of television. Anything more common and it’s time to call the cable company. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/digital-cable-is-the-picture-always-this-bad/212076/9 "2003-11-09T02:56:58Z")
If you’re getting stuttering images, with the picture broken up into little cubes, it’s probably a weak signal thing. I got that when my cable company first went to digital. They installed a new cable, and everything was fine. Call 'em.