Would using HDMI cable over coaxial improve my HDTV Image?

Question

I just got cable installed and it only came with a coaxial cable. I've noticed that the HD channels don't look as crisp and good as the ones I was over the air. Should I spend the money and HDMI cables, or would there not be that much of a difference?

Answer 1

If you are running coax from your HD antenna, straight to your tv, then the coax (which is using RF) is the best you can do for HD over the air....(tv shows, etc).  But, if you are running coax from a HD dvd player, to your tv, the the HDMI will significantly improve you quality.  

This is how you want to hook up.

RF/coax to your cable box or dish box.  From the box, go component (red, green, blue) to your tv.  HDMI from dvd to tv.  You will usually have only one HDMI input on your tv, so it is better to use it for your dvd, and component for your cable/dish box.

Answer 2

In this case, the problem is Cable, not the type of connection you have between your cable box and TV.  Improving the connection method between the box and the set will help you get the most out of the box, but that will not help the problem you are noticing.

The main reason is that cable systems severely compress the signals to make room for more channels.  Compression reduces resolution (crispness).

The Over The Air (OTA) signals from broadcasters are not nearly as compressed so, as a rule of thumb, they will always look better than cable or satellite.

I hope this helps.

Answer 3

I thought first that HDMI would be better. But only over NTSC old style signals. ATSC the new digital format, is a digital RF signal.

So as RF it has to be demodulated. Now this can be done by the cable box or your HDTV.

So it boils down to which set does a better job of demodulation, cable box or the HDTV.  The cable box doesn't do the RF signal  justice, converting it  into RF that goes to the HDTV.  The RF goes out in an NTSC format because there is still alot of old sets out there

And this is the case since your over the air pix quality is better.

Get the HDMI cables, as other devices that support HDTV will have this output.

Answer 4

The principal important difference is that HDMI delivers the signal in a digital format, much the same way that a file is delivered from one computer to another along a network, while Component Video is an analog format, delivering the signal not as a bitstream, but as a set of continuously varying voltages representing the red, green and blue components of the signal.

The answer--unsatisfying, perhaps, but true--is that it depends. It depends upon your source and display devices, and there's no good way, in principle, to say in advance whether the digital or the analog connection will render a better picture. You may even find, say, that your DVD player looks better through its HDMI output, while your satellite or cable box looks better through its component output, on the same display. In this case, there's no real substitute for simply plugging it in and giving it a try both ways.

Answer 5

Yup!  Buy either component or HDMI cables.

You can't convey a high definition signal over S-Video, Composite, or ch 3/4 antenna coax input from a set top box.

You are using the same coax cable, but the TV is using it differently.  When you plug the coax cable from the set top box to the TV there is usually only information on one channel (either 3 or 4).  When you plug the coax cable from an antenna to the TV, you get all the channels and the TV tuner can decode it.  The difference is where the tuner is and a coax cable run from the cable box to the TV isn't a full HD signal.

Get either HDMI or component.

By the way, the guy above is correct.  The signal is WAY compressed.  Cable and satellite are more compressed.  The signal off the camera in the studio is about 3,000 Megabits per second.  The signal over the air is about 20 Megabits per second.  Depending on the channel, they [the cable or satellite company] may choose to compress it further and you may only see 8-12 Megabits per second per channel from the cable company.

Good luck.