I knew Comcast had a history of cutting corners to the point of being unable to deliver the level of service they were advertising (and charging for) — but this is ugly.

They’ve recently begun imposing their own additional compression, on top of that of the content provider’s original HD signal, in order to fit more channels into the available bandwidth of their antiquated infrastructure.

I’m already sick of Comcast’s behavior with regard to things like:

But this is a kick in the teeth that even their average customers should notice.

Below, you’ll find two half-resolution screen captures from a Verizon FiOS signal — one of the Discovery Channel, and one of Music HD. The images are taken from the original post on AVS Forum, which can be found here.

You can move your mouse over either image to compare it against the corresponding Comcast screen capture. Keep in mind that before the change, the quality of Comcast’s broadcast signal was identical to what you’re seeing in the FiOS images.

One poster joked, “YouTube went widescreen?”

I had actually noticed this recently, but since I haven’t had access to high definition broadcast television for very long, I chalked it up to the novelty of HDTV wearing off, and beginning to view the signals on offer with a more critical eye. Turns out it wasn’t just me.

I hope FiOS becomes available in my area soon, because Comcast is an obnoxious monopoly. I’m seriously considering cancelling my television service, and would like nothing more than to be able to get my internet from a nice provider like Speakeasy.