I first got Cox Digital Cable here in Chandler, Arizona a year or so ago.
They were touting - all digital quality, blah, blah, blah.
So I say great, come set me up.
They come hook it up, and every channel under 100 looks like it did before on my big screen TV - grainy, ghosting, etc. So I call them and say - what's up - I thought it was all digital. Oh sir, that's not true, only channels above 100 are digital - that is your 6 Discovery channels, and your classic movies - as well as any premium channels you have.
So I say, my ESPN is not digital? None of my other frequently watched channels are digital? Nope!
They had an AC3 output (Coax Dolby Digital), and it dropped out all of the time - they tried to blame it on my reciever. I said but it works totally fine with DVD's. Eventually THEY fixed on their end somehow, becuase it stopped dropping out.
I finally got tired of paying something like $50 a month for crappy picture quality and lies. So I went out and got myself a basic DirecTV system for $80 at Circuit City, paid $50 to have them install it and haven't looked back. The picture is far, far superior to cable on my TV. I have a Mitsubishi 60" RPTV that shows all of the flaws in cable TV. I could barely watch it! This is on ALL channels, including my local channels. No more ghosting, graininess - just crisp digital pictures and sound!
So now Cox is playing all these commercials about having to pay extra for local channels, and extra receivers if you want satellite as compared to their digital cable. They finally stopped advertising all digital - probably because they got in trouble for it!
What is funny, is that I pay less for my satellite now, and I have two receivers, local channels, and I get more channels than on cable - and it is ALL digital. When I was with Cox, I only had ONE digital cable box, and the other was analog! Also, they will tell you that you have to buy your sat equipment - but prices are cheap, and they don't tell you that you have to lease the equipment for them for like $3.00 a month for the cable box and $.20 a month for the remote - yes you have to rent the freaking remote! What a scam!
I also have Cox@Home high speed internet access and Cox digital phone - I love both of those services - which is funny becuase they were originally a cable company with a monopoly - but they had to be competitive on their new services so they are much better with them than they are in their core business of cable tv!
Thanks for letting me vent!
Bryan
P.S. Dan - you're an ass - was there something intelligent that you could add to the conversation?
