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[DocLotus]

The digital cable box provided by my cable company (TV Max) only has standard & Composite output with seperate audio jacks (Red, White & Yellow).

I talked to TV Max & they said they only supply the one type box (no S Video out jack).

My question is...
* Does anyone know if there are any TV Cable boxes that have S Video out.
* Will S Video  provide any better picture?

[RemyJ]

Haven't had cable for along while so I don't know if any boxes supply S-Video.   In theory, S-Video provides a cleaner signal because is carries the chroma and luminance components on separate wires.  In practice  if you keep the cable box right next to the TV and use the shortest good quality RCA cable you can find, you'll probably never notice the difference.  

[DocLotus]

Am using Radio Shack gold audio / video cable set that is only three feet long.  But they plug into the dongle connector that came with my ATI A-I-W 7500 video card.  That cable is about five foot long.  So there is about eight feet total of cable beteen the cable box & the tv tuner.

I have noticed (and complained to TV Max) that the so-called digital channels (all those of channel 100 & above) are of no better picture quality then the analog channels 2 - 99.

Being digital, I thought they should be super clean (discounting the source of the original image).  But, live broadcasts in digital are no better then live broadcasts in analog.

Has anyone noticed any improvement in image quality with a digital cable box?

All I have noticed is better sound & more channels that provide the broadcasters more source for advertisements!  After all... TV programming is just a vehicle for advertisements.

[zevele10]

They call it digital.
But in fact it is not really digital.
Can be even less good than analog

[Bartabedian]

Yea, S-video does provide a much nicer picture...but!, it is being left behind in research and use, much like the mini-disc.

Neither saw the hey-day they were touted to have nor the mass appeal many expected to see, and are now outdated by newer technology. It's all about 1080i through component or DVI interfaces. And it's a truly mind-blowing improvement matched with 5.1 DTS. And in a few years, it's all HD baby!