Been asking this on other forums and at TV stores and my cable provider. The disagreement on what's true is staggering. So I'm hoping someone here really knows, here goes:
We get basic cable from TWC in So. CA. It has all the channels we need and it's cheap...$13/mo. To upgrade to their most basic "digital cable" package, we'd jump to $45-$55/mo. We don't watch that much TV and we don't want to spend that much. We currently have 2 Panasonic 32" tube CRTs, and the regular cable picture quality is adequate. We moved into a new bigger house, and we decided we'd love to get a big-screen LCD or Plasma, but we don't want to pay the $50 for TWC's "digital cable" package. Here's where the disagreement comes in: SOME TWC reps, TV salesmen, and forum experts say most or all of our 80 "analog" channels will look really crappy on a big LCD or Plasma, actually worse than how they currently look on our tube TVs But SOME reps, salesmen and forum experts say there is NO DIFFERENCE between TWC's "analog" and "digital" signals, it's all one signal, and, except for a small number of local stations still broadcasting in analog, all the major channels are a digital broadcast anyway. They say the digital decoder set-top box you get with TWC's digital package DOES NOT convert the incoming signal at all, 'cause it's already a digital signal, it's just there to provide you with TWC's OnScreen Guide, PPV, and limits to your subscription level. They therefore conclude that, although the LCD or Plasma won't look as great as it would if we upgraded to a full HD package, it'll certainly look fine and better, not worse, than it does on our tube TVs, if we keep the lo-end package and get a new big-screen. There has been so much conflict about this, I've just about resigned myself to going out and getting a big LCD or Plasma from any big-box store where I can get a full refund within 30 days, bringing it home and plugging it in to see the true answer with my own eyes. But that's a hassle, so if anybody out there knows the absolute TRUE DEFINITIVE answer, please jump in! Thanks