I am thinking of changing my provider of a television signal. I
currently have directv satellite and can change to Optimum IO digital
cable service and get a special package that includes high speed
internet service ( which I already have)and phone service. So I
already have the cable wired in so there is no installation cost. The
question is " How equivelent is the quality of the digital cable to
the satellite in sound and picture?" I am also purchasing a new hdtv.
I want to get the best quality for hdtv broadcasts as well as regular
broadcasts. If the satellite was to be better would it be worth the
extra cost of hd receivers, etc.?

cosmo17-ga,

In the past I have had DirecTV, and now I have digital cable which
does support HDTV, although I didn't opt for the HDTV option. I can't
tell the difference between the picture/sound quality between DirecTV
and my digital cable, and the cable is somewhat more reliable--less
dropouts and signal interruption due to weather disturbances. Even
with digital cable, if you have a TV that supports HDTV, you still
need to purtchase a separate HDTV setup box from the cable company.

omniscientbeing-ga

Hi cosmo17,

I am tell you this much, they are basically the same technically.
Digital TV, regardless of it's delivery method (cable, satellite etc)
is the same at the broadcasters end (same playout equipment and so on)
and at your end (satellite and cable DTV decoders are much the same).

The difference will come down to providers. The quality you receive
will be determined by the bitrate at which the programming is
delivered. This will be determined by the available bandwidth they
have, and the number of channels sharing that bandwidth.

Without knowing specifics from the two providers in question, there is
no way to answer which is better. And most digital TV providers will
not disclose that information.

You could call DirectTV and Optimum and ask them what bitrates their
channels are broadcast at, but I doubt they will tell you. Also, some
channels will be higher bitrates than others.

Hope that helps, 
Sycophant-ga