said by chewch99:HD is possible through Coax, but only through analog, hence why only the local channels can be viewed in HD without a box, Comcast still broadcasts locals in Analog.
Comcast does not broadcast HD analog anywhere, at any time. Comcast has not one time, not in one system, broadcast a 720+ 16x9 video without it being within an MPEG.ts container over it's HFC to residences.
The RF Out output on STB's and DVR's is for compatibility for very old TV's, thus it is 480i 60hz mono output. There is no reason to output QAM MPEG (digital video) from the box, this is what splitters are for.
said by chewch99:Also the whole reason HDMI was invented and adopted was because electronic manufactures made deals with network/studios to try and stem copyright infringement. HDMI usually has security in place making it much harder to watch anything that wasn't "official" or a legit copy or viewing of something you didn't personally buy or subscribe to.
Believe it or not, HDMI was developed to add sound to DVI while utilizing a smaller connector with lessons learned through the advent of USB.
DVI-HDCP (thank you Intel) predates HDMI. HDMI was not solely for content protection, for the content protection used predates it (the chicken came WAY before the egg, birth certificates, witness, and other proof is undeniably in existence).
said by chewch99:The only difference between HDMI and Component in regards to Comcast would be with HDMI your tv will upscale Standard Def TV channels up to 1080i. With component cables the SD channels will only upscale to a max of 480p.
I don't understand. Both my DCH Moto DVR and STB output 1080i and 720P when I set "4:3 override" to "OFF" or "STRETCH". Setting the 4:3 override to either of these will upscale the 480 vertical lines to the number of lines placed under the "HDMI/YPbPr Output" setting. 1080i here will upscale to 1080i and output both the HDMI/DVI port and component port simultaneously. 720p here will upscale to 720p and output both the HDMI/DVI port and component port simultaneously. The difference between "OFF" and "STRETCH" is that "OFF" will be pillarboxed and unmolested, while "STRETCH" will obviously, be stretched. Personally, I don't like either of these and use 480P and allow my TV to upscale and fill the screen with more advanced algorithms. My newer "bedroom" TV is much cheaper, and I use the "OFF" over component just fine (although cheap, it thankfully allows me to "stretch" 1080 input, so I can get rid of the pillarboxes... but sending 480 anything to this TV was horrid, nasty scalars... really nasty.)