[KLHJ2]

The only benefit that Cable has over DirecTV is "On Demand". Honestly, I can live without it. Since all channels are supposed be going digital this month, picture quality on the basic channels should improve. Do not expect much else.

The picture quality when it comes to cable actually varies from home to home based on your wiring system in the house. For example how many splitters, jumpers, and barrels you have on your cable system in conjunction with your house box (not to be confused with your cable box). In other words you can have the most high tech cable company out there with all the bells and whistles, but if your internal wiring and set up is a mess, then you are watching a mess.

Now I am not sure about Time Warner or Comcast, but I can tell you that COX runs what is called a Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) System from their plant. In other words, they do run Fiber Optic Cables to your neighborhood to where your Node is located. Once the Fiber reaches the Node the node transforms the Light waves into RF signal. The RF signal then travels through the Trunk and Tree system that most of you guys are familiar with. The trunk and tree system consists of the cables that run along the telephone poles and underground. They connect to a "Tap" which is the term for a very large splitter which runs through a drop cable and connects to your house box. In other words with COX cable you are getting your signal at the speed of light from the plant until it hits your your neighborhoods Node.

For all of you guys who swear by FiOS (good for you), you are not as superior over cable as you think. Here is why; yes they ran the Fiber optic to your home and in your home in some cases. The fact of the matter is that there is no such thing as a “Fiber Optic television”; so at some point in your system you have to change Light waves into RF signal so that it may be connected to your Television. Yes, FiOS signal travels on fiber closer to your home giving you a slightly better picture than those guys with a mediocre cable system. If their cable system is set up properly throughout the home as I stated in the 2nd paragraph however, then the human eye cannot tell the difference.

All in all, I still prefer DirecTV over cable, but thats because I cannot get COX and Comcast is severely inferior... plus I used to have DFS. When they come out with a Fiber optic television then I will consider FIOS.

In all honesty, if I could have a speed of light satelight signal with a fiberoptic cable back up plugged into a fiberoptic HD TV with COX's quality of customer service, then I would be a very happy man. Until then I like the rest of you guys have to pick your poison, because they all have their Pro's and Con's.