I don't know how much of a scam Digital Cable is, but it is definitely not worth the cost to most people. I tried it out on a trial basis while getting all the movie channels (7HBO's, 6 Showtimes, etc.) for a month. If you like ALL those channels and are willing to pay for them, then Digital Cable may be a reasonable option. But if you don't subscribe to the premium channels, then you would be extremely foolish to buy into the hype.

As for the quality, the movie channels (most of them) produced very nice pictures on my 36" direct view TV. You could actually see a difference even when connected through the cable company's coax cable. The digital receiver didn't have an s-video option (only a composite or coax/cable). And there was only composite connections for audio as well.

I cancelled the service.