I find the cable VS OTA HDTV quality comparison very interesting. One would think that if the originating source (say CBS-HDTV) was the same, and no one inbetween you and that source is downsampling the upsampling the signal, then digital should be digital should be digital, and both sources should look the same.

But we know there is some compression involved, and that SAT or CABLE sources might be re-compressing the original signal in order to cram it down their "pipe" to you. So is the difference one sees between on CABLE HDTV similar to lossy compression flaws (like crappy WMV or MPEGs that can be found on the web), or is it more like week and strong analog stations?

That brings up another issue... Are there any STANDARDS for HDTV that include how much it can be compressed, or is the only standard the resolution?

Just curious.

DBrown