Hi,

I've been with Cablecom for years and reasonably happy, I have a fiberoptic connection and use the digicard in my TV..
However, I'm considering moving to Swisscom for the 1GBit/s up/down internet and the ability to rent Champions League matches or the additional tele club sport channels.

I am concerned about the TV image quality being significantly inferior compared to Cablecom.

Has anyone compared the two?
Any other pros/cons?

It's digital tv so the image quality shouldn't change if we ignore SD vs HD channels (I think they offer the same versions but not sure).

I have UPC at home and Swisscom in work. Image is impeccable from both (with slight quality differences due to the projector/tv).

Only pro/cons I would say is the price of Swisscom tv vs UPC.

Quality will depend on data rate / compression used for delivery.
Quality can vary hugely, depending on workflow & previous compressions in the production process.

For SwissCom TV 2.0, I think reliable bandwidth determines your quality. Some neighbourhoods are not reachable with SwissCom fiber optic. Mine is not, and the image quality sometimes stutters on the main box on the weekends. I suppose I am sharing the bandwidth with my neighbours.

I got a second SwissCom TV 2.0 box and used a Devolo range extender. It was not watchable for over 50% of the time. SwissCom shipped me their range extender, and now TV is watchable. Although at times, sound quality suffers.

I think my issues are mainly due to not having fiber available. But even with fiber, I suppose you would be sharing the bandwidth with your neighbours.

Hope that helps and addresses your question.

Thanks for your post.
I'm hoping for a Swisscom 2.0 Fibreoptic customer that has used Cablecom too

I tried to give a simple answer to a simple enough question and in the majority of cases the image quality should be similar. Personally, image quality speaks about the picture quality during normal operation. This does not take into account whether the service is over subscribed, if technicians laid faulty wiring, if the equipment has a technical fault etc etc ((which I consider quality of service issues). Just the image quality the majority of the time for the majority of people.

I'm not familiar with the technical aspects of swisscom tv 2.0 but "standard" HD data streams use around 4-5mbit per second (for 1080p) with up to 9 or 10 for 3d HD movies. Swisscom may use different compression algorithms which may up or lower this but it is (I imagine) a fairly safe guestimate. If the OP is contemplating a gigabit connection I don't think raw data rates will be his problem and therefore should have the best available image quality that Swisscom provides ( which I argue is comparable to best image quality UPC provides).

If I understand you properly your TV 2.0 box is connected wirelessly to your internet box? If so, wireless signals are subject to all kinds of interference and quality degradation. If this is the case, I'd hazard a guess that running a cable between your internet box and the tv box will sort most, if not all, of your issues (Swisscom TV 2.0 manual even recommends running a cable if possible for improved quality of service). If I have misunderstood your situation I apologise

Anecdotal evidence for the OP: My downstairs neighbour has Swisscom Tv 2.0 on a fairly modern 40" LED tv while I have UPC connected to a 9year old 50" plasma tv. The image quality (while accounting for LED vs Plasma differences) is pretty much unnoticeable to me; both are clear and crisp with impeccable sound. Quality of service differences I can't speak to however (we also get stuttering from time to time with UPC, usually during storms and then only with some channels meaning that it's possibly the source coming into UPC that's the problem rather than their diffusion network). I'll send my neighbour a message to ask if he's noticed much of a difference with image quality since switching from Swisscom tv to TV 2.0 and whether he had UPC before that.

Hope this is of some help to somebody

Is your 9 year old TV even HD, probably not 1920 x 1080..... Perhaps both you & your neighbour are watching in SD.

Oops good point , now that you mention it the plasma's not Full HD, rather HD ready (1080p but only 1380 x XXXX resolution).

Guess that weakens my case with regards to my ability to judge image quality

its more likely the reverse that you should consider. Cablecom TV hardly touches the quality of Swisscom

Have you any evidence or links to substantiate this sweeping statement??

The Horizon is anyhow to throw away



"Zur Horizon Box: Finger Weg!
Das Gerät war schon in Holland sch.. und UPC hatte die Frechheit, ein Jahr später, fast das gleiche Modell (inkl. Kinderkrankheiten) in die Schweiz auszuliefern. Die "Vorteile" der Box wären nett, aber wahrscheinlich erst in 2-3 Jahren.
Wie es mit 2. und 3. Boxen aussieht, kann ich nicht sagen."
http://www.pctipp.ch/forum/showthrea...om-vs-Cablecom


http://community.upc-cablecom.ch/t5/...ion/td-p/52235

So what you meant is someone experienced a problem with a UPC Cablecom Horizon box.

I have been with CC since they were called "Redifusion". This was before the internet was invented. I currently have an HD Mediabox Recorder Classic. I have no complaints, other then the HD channels default to 'Nar' for sound instead of English Dolby. Picture quality is faultless...

Swisscom is simply known for better quality.

I have had both and I know this from experience