Question about picture clarity on Samsung plasma?

[acqui]

I have a 50 inch Samsung plasma and I can't seem to get as clear a picture as other friends who have the same model. It works fine with DVD's but I am speaking primarily with certain channels through Time Warner cable. I guess it's more a question about the digital cable box. I was told the cable box I have from them is a digital one but someone mentioned today that I may need another digital decoder in addition to the digital cable box? I was told by Time Warner that the box I've got is a digital box. Am I doing something wrong in the hookup? Is there another sort of digital decoder I need to purchase? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[recoveryone]

I have a 50 inch Samsung plasma and I can't seem to get as clear a picture as other friends who have the same model. It works fine with DVD's but I am speaking primarily with certain channels through Time Warner cable. I guess it's more a question about the digital cable box. I was told the cable box I have from them is a digital one but someone mentioned today that I may need another digital decoder in addition to the digital cable box? I was told by Time Warner that the box I've got is a digital box. Am I doing something wrong in the hookup? Is there another sort of digital decoder I need to purchase? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Having a Digital box doesn't mean all channels are digitally sent. It mostly means that who have more channels which are compressed digitally through the same signal. I just (last month) became a Beta test for the San Bernardnio, Ca area HDTV through Adelphia Cable. I automaticly have all the digital channel plus 3 HDTV channels (NBC,ABC and PBS). The normal cable band channels (2-99) are the same as far as picture quality, but the high band (100-979) is a bit better, Plus the HDTV signal is awesome all coming through the same Box. The biggest boost I feel is the digital sound from the decoder (toslink) and even that is not uniformed between the channels. Also you need to make sure that the line that feeds your digital box is seperate from any other signal in the house. That is one of the main problems Cable Compaines will state is the problem with you picture. In theory the signal gets divide when shared and results in poorer picture quality.

I had to add a signal booster to my upstairs line that feeds my room and 2 other bedrooms (my girls had a fit when they could not view the Cartoon Network)

[woodman]

I have a 50 inch Samsung plasma and I can't seem to get as clear a picture as other friends who have the same model. It works fine with DVD's but I am speaking primarily with certain channels through Time Warner cable. I guess it's more a question about the digital cable box. I was told the cable box I have from them is a digital one but someone mentioned today that I may need another digital decoder in addition to the digital cable box? I was told by Time Warner that the box I've got is a digital box. Am I doing something wrong in the hookup? Is there another sort of digital decoder I need to purchase? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

You are seeing what many to their dismay have found out - that "cableTV" reception can vary all over the map. Not only from system to system, but also possible even from neighbor to neighbor! So, whatever picture quality your friends "with the same model" are getting, doesn't mean diddly when it comes to what YOU get.

As recoveryone pointed out, so-called "digital cable" is only partially so configured - at least at the present time with most cable systems. There are a slew of standard analog channels still being delivered. With some cable boxes, the component-video connection (which works great for Hi-Def and other digital signals), sometimes provides less than optimum performance when sending the standard-def analog channels. Many people have found that an S-video connection, or a composite video connection works better for those analog channels. Of course, this would entail having to switch inputs on the plasma display when changing from digital channels to analog ones - but that may be one way for you to improve the pic quality on some of those channels that don't look so good right now.

When someone told you that you might need another decoder box, they simply don't have a clue about the technologies.

Hope this helps you