# Why does my digital cable look terrible, and what can I do about it?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-digital-cable-look-terrible-and-what-can-i-do-about-it/472093>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 10, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-digital-cable-look-terrible-and-what-can-i-do-about-it/472093 "2008-11-10T20:12:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Freejooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba8739/32.png) [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-digital-cable-look-terrible-and-what-can-i-do-about-it/472093/1 "2008-11-10T20:12:30Z")

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I’ve noticed that my digital cable looks blocky and there’s a lot of artifacting in most programming - the result is not unlike the very first (circa '98) generation of DVD’s or, at its worst, like watching a RealVideo circa '96 - subtle, but irritating noise and blockiness on the screen for regular programming, and it’s even worse for on-demand stuff.

Is this just how it is, and most people don’t notice or care? Is there anything I can do about it?

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**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-digital-cable-look-terrible-and-what-can-i-do-about-it/472093/2 "2008-11-10T20:17:54Z")

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Sounds like your cable provider is trying to squeeze content down a small pipe, which necessitates compression. Unfortunately some will use either poor quality compression or simply too much of it in order to save bandwidth. First, make sure the problem is not one of a poor signal (you’ll likely have to have them come by to check out your setup). If it isn’t, then all you ca do is complain and maybe switch to Fios (though I heard they too sometimes use too much compression on some of their channels).

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**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-digital-cable-look-terrible-and-what-can-i-do-about-it/472093/3 "2008-11-10T20:25:30Z")

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I see that a lot on my cable system. They seem to allocate bandwidth to channels based upon how popular, or profitable, they are. HBO and ESPN look good, the local access and educational channels look terrible.