Benjamin,

Did you have to have the decoder/modem for cable upgraded to a HD capable box?
And if so did you notice a difference in the quality of your Standard Definition cable feed when you added it?

I’ve noticed a weird situation when shopping prices for two HD satellite STB’s. While contacting Radio Shack, Dish, and Direct TV, I was asked by employees of each why I ‘cared’ about HD since not many channels are on line yet.

I thought that was a little strange as you think all the above would be pushing it. Even my satellite dish upgrade installer seemed to be grumpy remarking that he and other installers like him were in a ‘learn as you go situation’ as regards HD. This after he had trouble locking signal in on the new HD triple LNB dish. He wanted to bypass my panamax to ‘fix’ the problem. I told him that could be a issue for me as I was not willing to bypass the protective circuits of the panamax unless an alternative method of protection could be used on the coax line-in which would could pass through (his words…the more ‘sensitive’ HD feed). The install glitch turned out, - after much elimination - that he had tuned the main LNB to the wrong satellite.

What I have found being an early adopter of HD off satellite, is the benefit of the higher end HD capable receiver/decoders (STB).
I can only assume the Bandwidth capabilities, the resistors, the filters, general build is of much higher quality than a standard satellite box.
The HD box cleans up all my SD satellite on my 60 “ screen (and it needs it) to an extremely visible degree. At its best (less compressed signal) comparable to the difference a high-bit progressive scan DVD player makes on a large screen.
For the cleanup of my SD alone an HD box is worth the price of admission, regardless of HD hours-per-day scarcity.