Ever since a heads-up reader over on the AVS Forum posted his findings last week, the HD world has been buzzing with the revelation that Comcast in some instances is degrading its high-def picture quality by compressing three HD networks into a single 6 Mz channel, up from the standard two HD channels. The pictures have gotten press from a number of outlets, the most recent of which was the NY Times today.
It's easy to see the differences between the Verizon FiOS HD picture snapshots and the more compressed Comcast HD pics, so easy in fact that Comcast execs should be embarrassed to even call some of these grainy, fuzzy signals high-def. Other cable companies engage in this practice although Comcast is taking the most heat since it is in many ways the face of the cable industry.
The irony of course is that when DIRECTV initially began its HD channel blitz last fall, many of the largest cable companies blasted the satcaster for compressing its high-def signals too much, with Comcast even touting a study showing viewers preferred the quality of its cable HD picture to that of DIRECTV. I think it's safe to say that the results of that study would be a little different if it were taken again today in the markets where Comcast engages in this over-compression.
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