What are the advantages of digital cable over analog cable?

Question

I mean other than being able to see a channel guide.

Digital cable is really expensive and you have to pay even more if you want channels that aren't on analog. So basically, if I am happy with my current 50 channels, why bother with digital?

Answer 1

With analog cable, any noise along the transmission line can add noise to the picture by the time you receive it.  It can also suffer from reflections which may look like a ghostly image on the picture.  Digital cable is converted from an analog signal at the cable company and then it is transmitted and then gets converted back at the cable box.  A digital cable picture is immune to noise and reflections but can suffer from dropouts if there is noise on the transmission line.  The dropouts will look like little horizontal lines on the picture.

A good analogy would be:

Case 1:  You ride outside a car in the evening when the bugs are out.  By the time you reach you destination, you are full of bugs splashes and people cannot recognize you.

Case 2: You ride inside your car.  When you arrive, you car is full of bug splashes, but you are ok and people recognize you right away.

Case 1 is analog cable, Case 2 is digital cable.

Answer 2

Analog cable is only 480i (SD)

Digital cable for standard-def is 480p and can also support HD.

If you buy an HDTV, analog cable looks REALLY bad.

In general, digital cable has better quality.

Answer 3

th quality of the picture being transmitted is superior in digital tv compared to analogue tv