Picture quality of SAT-TV compared to Cable TV

[erik1]

I just got my SAT-TV system set up, and am now happily viewing my favorite Nordic channels in Central Europe

Altho I have a good signal strength (~50%) and the picture is clear, I noticed that when there is some fast moving video (ex: car race) the picture tends to pixelize (ie: looks more like a VCD than DVD quality). Is this due to the compression used? Or is something wrong with my reciever or signal?

I see most SAT channels used MPEG-2 compression (same as DVDs) so I thought the picture quality would equal that of cable TV. Of course "over the air" transmissions are always restricted by bandwidth and usually don't have the same quality as "fixed line" systems.

What bandwith do SAT channels have, as compared to cable TV channels?

 

[rolfw]

This could be a signal quality problem Erik1, I do get the odd bit of action pixellation on weak channels from some satellites in bad weather, but on the whole the pictures are solid.

 

[mole4319]

The Kiosk channels on 1W are the worst for quality as they are so highly compressed and
pixellation on fast action scenes and jagged edges can be very annoying