I would also like to congratulate WPEC-DT for their coverage of the storm. I was flipping between the weather channel and 12-2's radar and WINK simul-cast. Great, great job.

WPTV-DT 5-1. NBC needs to fire the people that were responsible for the HD non-coverage of the Olympics opening ceremonies last night. Horrible! That was a perfect example of how NOT to do High Definition programming. The entire time that we were watching it in SD we kept saying, "man, this would sure look good in HD". It could have been spectacular, instead it was boring.

GOOD NEWS...For those who have D*TV and want to watch the Olympics in HD, tune to channel 84...it's working!!! I guess they decided that if Dish Network would broadcast the NBC HD feed in the W. Palm Beach market, then D*TV would have to as well. Yahoo! At least we shouldn't see those horrible black flashes from the D*TV NBC HD broadcast (like we would on the WPTV-DT broadcasts). So long WPTV-DT :p. I'll be watching the Olympics in HD on D*TV channel 84! :D

Thanks for the Channel 84 info Mr. Goren. See, they do listen after all.

Originally posted by ElectricPickle
Thanks for the Channel 84 info Mr. Goren. See, they do listen after all.

Yes, but it's now Sat. @ 1:21PM and while analog WPTV, NBC is showing the Olympic Games in action (in SD), both WPTV-DT and D*TV channel 84 are still showing the Olympic Opening Ceremony in HD!!! :mad: How many times can we watch the same opening ceremony???? :confused: Why won't NBC show the same broadcast in HD exactly when the SD analog broadcast is being shown? Does anyone know when the real action begins in HD?????? :confused: This is all turning out to be extremely confusing and frustrating. :mad: :mad: :mad:

Who ever is in charge of NBC HD should hear "you're fired".

Can you imagine what would happen if they did a football game this way?

Opening ceremonies looked good on wtvj hd but why is it being repeated over and over again.... no events in hd as yet on either wptv or wtvj.....

As for the announcers no problem here, I absolutely hate bob costas and worse katie curack. They can stay on the sd feed or better yet just go away all together.

Has nbc posted an HD schedule ?

Maybe you should've done a little more reading...

The 24 Hour Delayed HD Highlight channel was planned all along. There will be 8 hours of pre recorded content on the HD channel starting everyday at 4AM and repeated at 12PM and 8PM.

There's a huge topic in the HD Programming section here in the forum and nbcolympics.com clearly shows what the schedule for HDTV will be

Originally posted by bgall
Maybe you should've done a little more reading...

The 24 Hour Delayed HD Highlight channel was planned all along. There will be 8 hours of pre recorded content on the HD channel starting everyday at 4AM and repeated at 12PM and 8PM.

There's a huge topic in the HD Programming section here in the forum and nbcolympics.com clearly shows what the schedule for HDTV will be

Thanks, bgall. I just looked at the pitiful NBC HD Olympics schedule; they're replaying events in HD at least 1-2 DAYS later than the SD broadcasts on NBC and affiliate stations. We won't see any of today's events in HD until tomorrow...they're replaying the Opening Ceremony ALL DAY & ALL NIGHT today...what's that about? :confused: I really think NBC could have done better this time around. This sucks! :mad:

So, if you want to see the HD broadcasts (and don't want to know which teams win the medals, don't watch the prime events in analog SD (and don't watch the news, look online, or read the newspapers :mad: ); I guess you just have to wait until they're broadcast in HD. But of course, most events are not broadcast in HD anyhow, just the more popular events...swimming, diving, gymnastics, volleyball, track & field, etc. As I mentioned before, I think NBC really could have done better this year, IMHO. :mad:

Well I guess the good news to all this would be by the next summer olympics it will be 100% HD
Maybe by then wptv will have audio sync figured out.... and wtvj will hire engineers that know how to work the hd switch (leno is 1/2 hd 1/2 sd EVERY night!)

Originally posted by jhillestad
Well I guess the good news to all this would be by the next summer olympics it will be 100% HD
Maybe by then wptv will have audio sync figured out.... and wtvj will hire engineers that know how to work the hd switch (leno is 1/2 hd 1/2 sd EVERY night!)

Don't hold your breath. :mad:

I hope in the next 4 years the digital transition will be in full swing , and I'll be picking up my 60" LCD HDTV at Best Buy for $799 (hehehehehe) .... Just think one day you can tell your grand kids I remember when a new hdtv flat screen was $7000. Hopefully by that day they'll be giving them away like directv with a 2 year commitment to service... hahahahaha , it was only 10 years ago I paid $800 for my directv rca dish and receiver. and it was about 5 years ago I paid $800 for a 14 hour tivo !
It truly costs more to be ahead of the curve!

Anyone having signal issues with WFLX-DT tonight, I'm trying to watch the football game and the best I get is around 60% with a lot of drop outs, meanwhile WXEL-DT which is on the same tower has a strong 90%

No WFLX looks good from here. I'm not seeing the problems you're seeing

Seemed okay here in Coral Springs..... sounds like you might have got a little multipath thrown at you.....

I did watch the game for about an hour on wflx....

Originally posted by bgall
Anyone having signal issues with WFLX-DT tonight, I'm trying to watch the football game and the best I get is around 60% with a lot of drop outs, meanwhile WXEL-DT which is on the same tower has a strong 90% Antennas for these stations are in the same vicinity, but do not share the same tower. I didn't watch much of the game, but had no problems.

Report from Boca Raton:

WPBT Excellent
WFOR (CBS MIAMI) Excellent
WTVJ

I'll try this again.....

I seem to get much better reception from Miami stations that WPB ones.

I cannot get ABC from either WPB or Miami.

Other than that, WPBT has been awesome and I'm glad to see WXEK is now broadcasting HD as well.

Any suggestions on the ABC stations?

lumberman, you're basically right in the middle of the towers. I suggest a powered rotor and outdoor antenna install. The rotor can rotate the antenna to the ideal direction for each channel. I have the 9521A from channel master and it is great. It lets you rotate a full 360 degrees. Use the channel strength guage in your reciever until you find the optimal degree for a station. Then, it lets you punch in the channel number for that station. For example, once I have the antenna ideally pointing at ABC 25, I punch in 25 for the rotor box (which shows the numbers). Now anytime I want to watch ABC, I just hit 25 and the antenna goes to the ideal position.

In your situation, you're going to have a lot of north south rotation. One tip if you go with this idea: even though the instructions tell you to mount the rotor so that 0 degrees is due north, I found it worked much better for the east coast of Florida to rotate this target 90 degrees. In other words, I've made due north on the rotor due east in actuality. Why do this? There is a stop point at 0 degrees. So if you want to point to stations a little NW of N, the antenna must rotate all the way around to 360. By setting it up so that "due north" is actually "due east", I never have to do a full rotation (because there is not TV signal reception to optimize from over the option). This is not a big deal but it does allow the antenna to get to the ideal direction faster (no full sweep from 0 degrees to 360 degrees).

One other tip: if you go this way, get a good universal remotes with macro capabilities. I strongly endorse the MX-700 from Universal Remotes. It allows you to program multi-step macros for individual buttons. Combined with the chaannel number memory of the 9521A, you can easily set the MX-700 up so that one button rotates the antenna to the optimal spot and tunes the channel on your reciever. I've got it programmed to also set the audio reciever to the right mode and put the TV in the right mode too. So basically, no matter what I'm watching or listening to, one button can set up all of the equipment, rotate the antenna, and tune that channel.

If you are having problems tuning these channels from your location, I suspect the rotor would definately help. A good outdoor antenna is key too. And something like the MX-700 would just sweeten the arrangement. I hope this is helpful.

lumberman, I'm in Coral Springs and I am picking up wpbf abc 25 and wplg 10 . since your north of me you should pickup abc25... Use an outdoor antenna on a rotar (Radio shack has one if you dont want to mail order a channel master) I also use the Radio Shack HD Omni "wing" antenna. I set it so its kinda pointing north east, in this way I pick up North and south stations.

If your using a simple indoor antenna, scrap it and at least use an attic mount. But if you must use an indoor get a Zenith silver sensor at Sears and point it north... Abc 10 in miami is VHF and will not come in on a uhf only antenna....

Hobesounddaryl, I like the sound of the rotator and channel macro setup, just curious though how would you implement that in a HD-Tivo or Voom scenario for recording over the air ?
Also, did you mail order the channel master gear or is there a local place that sells channel master ?

I'm hoping to get a hd tivo soon and want to record locals over the air but a moving antenna would be a problem ....

Originally posted by jhillestad
I'm hoping to get a hd tivo soon and want to record locals over the air but a moving antenna would be a problem ....

You are correct. TiVo will not aim the antenna when it changes to the channel that is to be recorded. You would have to leave the antenna pointed in the direction of the DT station that you can't get via DirecTV or Voom.

Does anyone have Adelphia's HD service who can compare the PQ on both HD and SD to DirecTV? My D* looks great in HD, but SD is almost unwatchable on some channels on a 50" screen. (I'm guessing it's mpeg compression, but who knows). Is Adelphia digital service any better on SD, and are they providing decent HD service?

I'd rather sleep inside my house than set up an outside mount antenna.


JHILL/DARYL: Thanks for the replies.

I've got the SS and interestingly enough I've got it at the highest point in my living room pointing S/SE. If I remember correctly, from the north (WPB)I'm getting 29.1 (FOX), 42.1 (WXEL), and just last night we were watching 5.1 (WPTV)...no 7.1, no 12.1, etc...maybe a couple independent channels but those were the big ones. I'm content with what I'm getting right now, so major changes to my setup don't get me excited. However, with football season coming up I'd really like to pull in one of the ABC stations.

How about bringing a tag-along uhv/vhf and running a selector at the STB? Keeping the SS where it is and finding optimum location and placement for the additional antenna? I see that TERK now has an SS-type UHF/VHF antenna..any thoughts on that?..definitely needs to be indoor/attic.

Those of you familiar with the ABC stations, is it worth it? Is MNF in HD the real deal? If it s**ks I won't waste my time.

Thanks to all....this forum is incredible.
brad

jhillestad, I am using Voom as my receiver. The over-the-air signals feed into the Voom box, so there is no seperate functions. The rotor comes with a little box that sits on my equipment stack. What I've done is programmed all my favorite channels into the MX-700 macro buttons (it lets you enter up to 50 favorites). For the locals though, I've put in the extra instructions to rotate the antenna first, then tune the channel. That way it's all "one click".

I have no HD-TIVO. I'm giving Voom some time to deliver their DVR. As soon as Voom & their DVR is one box, my setup should be that much sweeter. For now, when I do want to record something, I have a S-VHS VCR in the mix. I've got that set up as "one click" as well in the MX-700. I would expect to simply reprogram those functions for the Voom version of DVR or perhaps a standalone HD-DVR when they come out.

If you're question is about automating the rotations for automatic recording of TIVO, things would be a bit more complicated. It could be done, but it would take some time macros. What I have done is found some "sweet spots" where most channels will tune without rotating the antenna. So, anything I auto record can pretty much be caught. But I'm way up north so almost all of the towers are in one general direction for me anyway.

I ordered the rotor online- I think it was Stark Electronics. But just do a search for 9521A (lots of places carry them).

Originally posted by baylorgator
Does anyone have Adelphia's HD service who can compare the PQ on both HD and SD to DirecTV? My D* looks great in HD, but SD is almost unwatchable on some channels on a 50" screen. (I'm guessing it's mpeg compression, but who knows). Is Adelphia digital service any better on SD, and are they providing decent HD service?

I don't know about Aldelphia's HD and SD service, but I believe any SD signal stretched out to fit an 16x9 HD widescreen tv will look worse than when in the non-stretched SD 4x3 format. My D*TV SD channels look just ok b/c I always have my Sony HD-200 receiver set to 1080i and it stretches the picture out to fit my 60" 16x9 tv. I've noticed that when I'm watching the news on News Channel 5 (WPTV-DT), it stays as SD 4x3 aspect ratio with the black bars to the left and right (it cannot be stretched since the receiver sees it as an "HD" DTV signal), and the PQ looks amazing. True HD broadcasts always look great on both D*TV and local OTA DT stations (aside from when a WPB HD broadcast is not stable of course). :rolleyes:

Actually, the PQ problem with D* is constant no matter what mode or what aspect ratio I use. Some channels are decent some are horrible. That's why I think it's mpeg compression. I'm just wondering if anyone has been able to do a direct comparison between Adelphia and D* on PQ.

lumber , you will not get ch 7 , 10 , 12 with the SS its a uhf antenna and those stations are vhf. Sometimes they pull in but they are vhf. wpbf abc 25 is uhf ch 16 you can try to retune just that station point towards jupitor/tequesta ... if you watch MNF then yes its worth it! football in HD is awesome. More field of view , crisp display.....

You might want to try the radio shack indoor HD amplified antenna for $49 , I have read good reviews here and have used one. Its both uhf and vhf and very tunable.... Just return it if you dont like it....

Do you live in a house or condo ? Because if your in a house you should at least roll with an attic mount, condo and apartment owners dont have this luxary....

But definitely try the radio shack 15-1880 , its on sale right now for $39. You could also try pairing the SS with the vhf dipoles with a sig combiner to bring in ch 7,10,12 .

checkout:
http://www.radioshack.com/category.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F003%5F001%5F001%5F000&Page=1

lumber, if I lived where you lived (and it was my own house), I'd dump that outside mount rule and put one up. You're in prime territory to pull all of Miami and WPB. I've got a friend who lives a little north of you who can tune some Ft. Myers stations too. If you have much of a yard (is there such a thing in Florida?) you could use one of those mini-towers (that stand alone) to put some distance between your antenna and your house. The law is with you (don't let HOA rules make you think you can't have one if you want one).

I don't exactly love the looks of the antenna hovering up above my house, but having it up there does maximize the DTV signal reception in my area (I can even tune Orlando stations sometimes). Though I don't believe it is scientific, the general rule of thumb thrown around is that an inside mount costs you 50% of potential signal quality. Whether that's accurate or not, it goes without saying that some signal quality tradeoff is made for an indoor mount.

If you can do it, I encourage you to put it up outside. With a quality antenna, a rotor (and maybe an amp), you have the potential to tune 2-3 different city's signals.

Of course, the other dominant reason why outside antennas are not allowed is driven by the significant other. If that's the case, we can't help you much. If you really want to do it, you might try the old bribery scheme (jewelry, trip, etc. tend to work well).

Which do you think will get a better signal, a SS in the attic or a terk-44 "clip on dish style" antenna on the roof ? (I know these are not the best setups but lets just say these are your only choices) ;)

The outdoor clip-on, by far. That was exactly my choice, I tried both, and the outdoor antenna blew away anything I put indoors or in the attic. I can get most Miami and all WPB stations.

Originally posted by JeffBowser
The outdoor clip-on, by far. That was exactly my choice, I tried both, and the outdoor antenna blew away anything I put indoors or in the attic. I can get most Miami and all WPB stations.

Thanks for the reply Jeff....Did you have to adjust it once it was clipped on the dish ?

Vinny

I'm building a house in Stuart, west of I95 and the turnpike off of Kanner Highway.

Can anyone who's reliably pulling in OA locals tell me about their configuration? I'm looking for recommendations for the OA antenna.

I currently live in Jupiter and have been using a mast-mounted Terk TV55 reliably pulling in all locals without any trouble but hesitate to mount this system in the new house we're building if I can, simply to avoid "The Kravitz's factor" (neighbor/HOA issues or even just voiced concerns).

My hope was to use the new amplified wineguard sharpshooter at my dish which will be on a 2nd story balcony facia well below rooftop and therefore more or less out of general view minimizing any neighbor/HOA issue or even voiced concerns.

The house will have home run structured wiring with more lines than I could possibly imagine needing, but I went overboard just in case. The view off the back of the house where the dish and antenna will be is completely unhindered looking over a lake (ie no obstructions at all).

My main system will be the Directv HR10-250 but other rooms will start with standard Directv Tivos eventually leading to HD there as well.

Hope I provided enough info to have some of you Martin County folks chime in with worthwhile input.

thanks very much in advance

Originally posted by crsanders
Can anyone who's reliably pulling in OA locals tell me about their configuration? I'm looking for recommendations for the OA antenna.
If your house is not steel, you should get good reception with hi-gain attic antennas. I use a UHF yagi and a channel 13 yagi and get good results in palm city. You may want to take a look at my previous posts on this forum.

The only problem here is that the second floor game room is on the southern pointing back of the house with no attic above it. The only Attic space available would then be on the front of the house with clear access to the north, but with the entire game room which is wood construction on the second floor with stucco and barrel tile roof exterior, blocking it's "line of site".

I'll check out your previous posts to learn more. Thanks Joel.

I have Adelphia HD-DVR and SD channels are terrible. All channels <99 come in as analog and look terrible. Channels above 99 look great since they are digital. HD-DVR is the bomb and lookas great.

If anyone is looking for a Zenith HDV420, 2 years old, PM me and we can talk. I also have a SS and a TERK 55. I am in Lake Worth.

Originally posted by crsanders
The only problem here is that the second floor game room is on the southern pointing back of the house with no attic above it. I would still try an attic antenna, it might work and won't blow away.

Vinny - no I did not have to adjust. I don't even believe the clip-ons have any adjustment.

Tried to watch Monday Night Football in HD last night. Last year I had my choice between 10 and 25, with 10 being more reliable. This year, neither station comes in via digital, although I can grab their analog signal just fine. I sure hope this isn't how it will be all season.

Does anyone know if Adelphia in the Lake Worth area is going to carry the CBS or FOX HD signal this fall?

jeff, I watched MNF-hd in Coral Springs with no probs from either wplg or wpbf ... If your in Boca you should pickup either station.... What antenna are you using and what hd receiver ?

I started picking it up about 15 mins into the broadcast, on 25, but the signal strength was at only 30%, so it was in and out too much to watch. This is the exact same setup that netted me 80-90% last season (clip on antenna on my dish). I forget the HD receiver, some gaudy silver thing I bought last year when there was only one choice at BestBuy.

All Marlins games are in HD on Voom. Watched it last night and it looked mighty good. FSN Florida is the first regional sports network to be added to Voom. I've never heard of FSN Florida HD. Are there any cable companies that are providing a HD version? Anyway, Voom continues to impress.

Supossedly Comcast has a contract with FSN FL for it to be added to their systems but I don't think it's on them yet

crsanders - is the TV55 mounted indoors or outdoors? I'm also in Jupiter and I am using the RS 15-1880 with moderate success. I had no luck with the Silver Sensor.

Also, surprisingly, when I got my D* dish installed, the installer temporarily installed a Winegard GS2000A on my dish which is above the roof of my 2 story townhouse. It was WORSE than my 15-1880 sitting on the top of my entertainment center on the first floor. I get everything from the Martin county antennas fine, but I am unable to get a solid signal on WPTV (5-1)or WPEC (12-1) now.

The installer mentioned it being tough to get those stations in our area and given the reputation of the Terk products compared to Winegard, I'm surprised you had good luck where I didn't.

I'm at my wits end. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Originally posted by GatorEye
I'm at my wits end. Does anyone have any suggestions? Are you trying to find an antenna that will work on your roof?

Originally posted by GatorEye
I'm at my wits end. Does anyone have any suggestions?

What receiver are you using? Generally, I have found that sometimes "cold booting" the receiver will occasionally clear up reception problems. If that means unplugging it over night then try it. It won't hurt anything.

In Jupiter you should have no problem getting 5-1 & 12-1. You should point the antenna South, getting 25-1 on the back side should not be a problem from your location. Again, after changing antennas it's a good idea to reboot/rescan the receiver.

I have had good luck with the RS antenna in my attic. Once I got it tweaked it get's all of the PB County stations.

Hope this helps.

Anyone know if there has been a change in WFLX's power recently. The other day i started where I couldnt get a strong enuff signal for a picture. I have had no problem before and the antenna position hasnt changed. I still get all other channels fine. BTW.. im in PSL.

I have started getting signal dropouts on it now and then (I guess there's some kind of multipath going on with only that station?) Sometime the signal is fine and some times i get fringe reception

Originally posted by ARFF
Anyone know if there has been a change in WFLX's power recently. The other day i started where I couldnt get a strong enuff signal for a picture. I have had no problem before and the antenna position hasnt changed. I still get all other channels fine. BTW.. im in PSL.

I think they must be having major problems. My signal in Margate for them is usually in the 80's. Now it is about 60-65. Usually anything over about 50-55 signal gives okay reception, but with 60-65, the picture from WFLX is totally broken up and the sound garbled.

Tony

Well tis really sucks. Just as football season approaches... I lose signal. Doesnt seem fair. WHo can I call at WFLX to see whats going on?

Originally posted by ARFF
Well tis really sucks. Just as football season approaches... I lose signal. Doesnt seem fair. WHo can I call at WFLX to see whats going on? I just checked this station, power appears normal for me.

hmmmm

I think Fox29 is testing something for the coming HD broadcasts. If I remember right, they saw the light before the parent company and are HD ready (1080i broadcasts). Anyone able to confirm this (weak) memory? I wonder if they have to do some adjustments since the parent company picked 720P as the HD standard.

I am close to the tower and have never had troubles getting this channel. Tonight though, there is lots of weird pixelation. I can't call it multipath since nothing has changed on my end. I suspect testing. Or perhaps they've been tapping the engineers at DTV5-1 to "help" improve the signal;)

I think they switched to 720p a while back. They've even have had false teasing for them broadcasting in HD (even with sponsor ship, even though nothing has started yet) If they're testing the splicer, look for a bug in the outside the 4x3 window, and that should confirm they're ready. The splicer system is supposed to begin use on 9/1 but the first broadcast wont be until the 9/12 football game

Originally posted by ElectricPickle
What receiver are you using? Generally, I have found that sometimes "cold booting" the receiver will occasionally clear up reception problems. If that means unplugging it over night then try it. It won't hurt anything.

In Jupiter you should have no problem getting 5-1 & 12-1. You should point the antenna South, getting 25-1 on the back side should not be a problem from your location. Again, after changing antennas it's a good idea to reboot/rescan the receiver.

I have had good luck with the RS antenna in my attic. Once I got it tweaked it get's all of the PB County stations.

Hope this helps.

Which RS antenna are you using in your attic?

I have 2 HD receivers. One is the internal HD receiver in my Hitachi S700. The other is the Hughes HTL-HD hooked up to the S700. I tried switching between both and don't notice any difference in one over the other.

I guess I could try the RS 1880 and the Silver Sensor up in the attic and see if that makes a difference, but I was really surprised the Winegard didn't do better - especially since it was mounted outside and the other two I tried sitting inside on top of my entertainment center.

I live in a townhouse so an outdoor antenna (except for something that looks like the winegard or a clip on antenna) is not really an option. I can do something in the attic if I know it will work.

What signal strength are you able to get on these stations? I'm now in the 50-75 range.

I'm a Redskins nut and was glad to watch the game tonight. I did have some audio dropouts and a few instances of pixelation, but overall it was a pretty good experience (except for the results of the game of course) although the picture seemed soft. :mad:

I live in Wellington 1.5 mi west of 441, just off Lake Worth Rd. I just received the D* HD Tivo. I tried a Philips brand amplied indoor antenna that I found at Lowes. It picked up 12-1, 29-1 and 5-1 just fine although sometimes the picture would freeze or pixelate. The signal strength on the HR10-250 showed 65%-80% for these channels. I was also unable to receive but 25-1 with a signal less than 40%. I think I should get a UHF antenna like the Channel Master 4228 or the DB4. I'm thinking of mounting in my attic with the Channel Master 0065 DSB pre-amp. I believe I can connect the antenna to my Terk 5x8 multi-switch then hook the CM 0065 DSB pre-amp to the output side of the multiswitch. Perhaps with this setup I can get the the Broward/Dade UHF channels without having to install the antenna on my roof.

Could anyone comment on my plan based on your own experiences in the area? Any recommendations for WPB antenna installer? I probably could do it myself (I did most of the wiring for my D* setup), but I am sick of working in my attic. :)

Thanks.

Man, I sure wish I could find an antenna installer as well. I called several dish installers, I want to put the dish on a pole with the antenna, to get it off my facia. Nobody wanted to do the job. Here I was, practically throwing money at them, and everyone said "not interested".

What's with channel 25 (WPBF?) This weekend I was getting 2-x out of Miami, but channel 25 is sitting at sub 25% signal strength and won't come in reliably. It's going to suck if I can't get the 'fins in digital this year.....

If I find an installer I'll let you know JeffBowser.

BTW, what makes you think Dolphins games will be broadcast either analog or digital? I anticipate that most games will be blacked out in South FL due to lack of sellouts. Go Bills! :)

I watched quite a few games last year in HD, and all but one Dolphins game was sold out. I believe the same will happen this year. There's no place for Bill's fans in SoFla.......

I concur. Finding a quality local installer is quite a challenge. It doesn't seem to matter how much money is involved either. I'm guessing that there is too much liability in climbing around on peoples roofs, connecting cables to expensive electronic equipment, etc. in these lawsuit-happy times. But that's just a guess. I would think a good installer could have a pretty good side business if they got the word out that they could do this.

Originally posted by siloreed
I live in Wellington 1.5 mi west of 441, just off Lake Worth Rd. I just received the D* HD Tivo. I tried a Philips brand amplied indoor antenna that I found at Lowes. It picked up 12-1, 29-1 and 5-1 just fine although sometimes the picture would freeze or pixelate. The signal strength on the HR10-250 showed 65%-80% for these channels. I was also unable to receive but 25-1 with a signal less than 40%. I think I should get a UHF antenna like the Channel Master 4228 or the DB4. I'm thinking of mounting in my attic with the Channel Master 0065 DSB pre-amp. I believe I can connect the antenna to my Terk 5x8 multi-switch then hook the CM 0065 DSB pre-amp to the output side of the multiswitch. Perhaps with this setup I can get the the Broward/Dade UHF channels without having to install the antenna on my roof.

Could anyone comment on my plan based on your own experiences in the area? Any recommendations for WPB antenna installer? I probably could do it myself (I did most of the wiring for my D* setup), but I am sick of working in my attic. :)

Thanks.

Siloreed,

I live close to Southern & Jog, and have similar setup. I have a CM 3016 in the attic pointing directly west (5,12,29 coming from the south, & 25 from the north). I am also using a CM preamp (forget which one). Everything comes in fine using a Sony HD 200, however, it did take me quite awhile to find the optimal location/angle/direction for the antenna. I would say give it a try. Also, I found a much more stable signal by angling the antenna slightly up. It eliminated the mutipath problem I was experiencing.
Hope this helps.
Good luck.

sfin54

Oh boy, looks like south florida will not be spared from hurricane season this year, I sure hope that we can survive this guy.... :(

I guess there is a slight advantage to having an attic mounted antenna :)
Remember to take your dish down too. You don't want it to become a flying saucer.

The local news media are going into full panic mode. We were watching WPTV channel 5 at prime time last night, they actually broke into Fear Factor to give a hurricane Frances update. The storm is 5 days away and they interrupt prime time. Give me a break!

Yeah, I was wondering If I'll need to take down my dish. I asked the installer if it would survive and he said it wouldn't go anywhere, and that he could hang off it, but I dunno. If I have to take it down, it's gonna suck to get it alligned again

I wouldn't get too concerned yet. It appears to be moving a bit north.
Take a look: Here (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ftp/graphics/AT06/refresh/AL0604W5+GIF/300858W5.gif)

I'd wait till Thursday to see if it makes a turn to the west before I took down my dish.

Just a thought, hope this helps.

sfin54

If you dont want to worry about re-alignment take a sharpie marker and draw lines from the dish mount to the pole , be sure to mark the azimuth too, if it gets jolted just realign to your marks and you should be set.

Originally posted by bgall
Yeah, I was wondering If I'll need to take down my dish. I asked the installer if it would survive and he said it wouldn't go anywhere, and that he could hang off it, but I dunno. If I have to take it down, it's gonna suck to get it alligned again Which part is he going to hang off of? I could probably hang of the arm of mine and it would stay. Probably would mess up the alignment. Hanging off the dish would likely bend the dish it or rip it off of the arm. I would put more faith in the manufacturer's specs than some installer. For instance, for the WNC dish I have WNC's site (http://www.wneweb.com/) states:Wind Loading:Operational at 50MPH, Survival at 100MPHWind speeds quoted for a hurricane are maximum sustained winds. Even a 95 mph Cat 1 hurricane could have wind gusts that exceed my dish's 100 mph rated limit if I took a direct hit.

If we get the storm I am taking my dish down. It is likely I won't be watching much TV anyway in that case.

db

I'm just unbolting the dish itself and leaving the mounting pole and arm. This should be good enough, I would think, should it come to that.

Originally posted by JeffBowser
I'm just unbolting the dish itself and leaving the mounting pole and arm. This should be good enough, I would think, should it come to that.

Same here. It's near the end of my "things to do before the hurricane" list.

I am planning the same thing. Remove just the dish and leave the pole. Plus secure the extra lengths of cable to the pole with zip ties so they are not flapping around.

Its only panic mode if the news is hype...I think most stations are UNDER reacting to some degree. Look at the supermarkets, gas stations and home supply stores today....4 hours to sell out of plywood that normally would take 1 month to sell. This was happening in the afternoon when the track was showing Jax as landfall. I suggest you visit SW Florida for a few hours, and then consider all the "hype". What would you have the stations do...wait until 45 minutes before landfall to alert folks? That job is already secured by the National Hurr. Center it appears. Todays track for landfall went from 200 miles offshore, to Vero, to Jacksonville, and then Melbourne...and now between Vero and Melbourne. I suggest you stay tuned.

In my 50 years of living in South Florida, my birthplace, and as someone who has been directly involved in emergency operations, I DO know about hurricanes. Let me say that all of the Palm Beach County media outlets do a great job covering the storms. I particularly like John Matthews of WPEC. He has been around here a long time and he knows how the storm will affect our area best.

The incident that I referred to apparently happened at the top of the hour, a time that you provide hourly updates when there is a hurricane “threat”. The problem is that you didn’t wait for a commercial and you announced it as “breaking news”. In the past when this happened, it always meant that there was something very important going on and that we need to stop being entertained and pay attention. This was not “Breaking News” and could have waited until a commercial break. Believe me when I say this, I have known of elderly people who have heart attacks from the stress that this gives them. There is being responsible and there is “Crying Wolf”. I think this was the latter, and eventually no one will pay attention to real breaking news.

The best time to prepare for a hurricane is when it’s not hurricane season. You can’t blame anyone but yourself if you end up in a parking lot at 2 AM waiting for plywood. Also don’t rely exclusively on television for information during and after the hurricane. Transmitters may be shut down by stations in the path of the storm. A battery powered radio will receive stations from outside the hurricane affected area where as television may not, and it uses less battery power.

Yep, Dave's right. Frances is projected to strike anywhere from Key West to the Georgia coast at this writing. I'm going to board everything up today because it will be windy and rainy tomorrow and I'll be locked down here at the station from Friday morning until Sunday. Taking the 4X4 to work just in case it hits here directly and leaves tree limbs in the roads.

I've been through Camille in 1969 as a kid and Frederick in 1979 back in Mobile so I'd rather be safe than sorry with these things. I hope we're lucky and dodge this bullet, though. As Chris Farrell says, "Prepare for the worst and hope for the best."

ElectricPickle wrote : "You can’t blame anyone but yourself if you end up in a parking lot at 2 AM waiting for plywood. "

I must seriously disagree with this. I live in a condo and have NO SPACE to store plywood. You may have a house and garage, but I do not. I have to wait until the we are closer to the storm with hopefully a more accurate forecasted path and then make the call. I that means I am in Lowes or HD at 2AM, so be it.

Originally posted by debsman
I live in a condo and have NO SPACE to store plywood. You may have a house and garage, but I do not. I have to wait until the we are closer to the storm with hopefully a more accurate forecasted path and then make the call. I that means I am in Lowes or HD at 2AM, so be it.

There are certainly other options to protect your condo that do not require storing plywood or panels, a more expensive option for sure though. My next door neighbor has a house with a garage and he has had 5 years to get his house prepared. Look for him out there in the parking lot at 2 AM. My other neighbor & I built our shutters together many years ago. So if you want to gamble and play the odds that's your right to do that. Just don't expect me to bail you out when you lose your house and hopefully not your life.

You could almost make a blanket statement here that if *anyone* So Flo - given the current track - stays here - it is a gamble. Whether you've put up hurricane shutters or not.

With 140 mph winds extending up to 80 miles out from the center of the storm, thats a diameter of 160 miles north and south of the storm - thats Melbourne to Miami. This storm is so huge it's truly frightening.

What does one do? Try to outrun it? with it's track going up the peninsula, where is there a safe place within a 12 hour drive? Not until Alabama, Luisiana or perhaps northern Georgia. Or fly south to the Caymans for the weekend....come to think of it...what a great idea!

Pickle is right, however. It is foolishness to not have shutters in Fl. If not for a cat 4 or 5 monster, at least for the lesser ones. If more people were responsible, insurance rates would not skyrocket so much.

Originally posted by debsman
With 140 mph winds extending up to 80 miles out from the center of the storm, thats a diameter of 160 miles north and south of the storm - thats Melbourne to Miami. This storm is so huge it's truly frightening.
We are certainly off topic and I don't want to minimize the danger of hurricanes, but you are exaggerating the area of truly dangerous winds. The following is from the NHC web site 11:00 AM 1 Sept:

EYE DIAMETER 25 NM
MAX SUSTAINED WINDS 120 KT WITH GUSTS TO 145 KT.
64 KT....... 70NE 55SE 45SW 60NW.
50 KT.......120NE 100SE 75SW 100NW.
34 KT.......160NE 130SE 100SW 150NW.

Not to change the subject as we all have other obvious priorities for the next few days. After I finished putting up our hurricane shutters today, I sat back this evening and watched a very stable, super sharp (the sharpest I've seen on WPTV-DT) HD broadcast of NBC's new show, Hawaii. Even the audio sync was dead on...not bad WPTV-DT :D ; maybe there's some hope afterall. Sorry though, I do have to admit I watched all the HD Olympics broadcasts on D*TV...didn't want to deal with any problems. I hope everyone stays safe...good luck!!!

Yeah, I think they fixed things for the olympics, WPTV has been going good since, keep it up :)

i'm still deciding whether or not my dish will survive the storm, i'll probably wait until the very very last minute, until I have to take it down...

Hello all,
It has been a crazy week, and hearing input from "techies" when a storm is approaching actually made an interesting read. Today we shaped up deals with several local radio stations to simulcast our signal(audio) and 2 or 3 TV stations will also be carrying our on air signal once we get into continous coverage. Our tower should be rated for 110mph winds, and it is the newest in the area...our hope is that all broadcasters in the area suffer only minimal damage so we can put forth official news and information as quickly as possible. I personally know all of the Chiefs at the other WP stations, and in times like this, we will all be crossing lines to help one another out. WPTV and WPEC transmitter sites and personnel will have full contact with one another, with our tower serving as back up site for WRMF, primary for WXEL FM and Pax Digital...we have a lot to cover. I am putting my analog sets on the screen porch, so I can buy new HD sets when we survive this thing...now that we have a, dare I say it, STABLE SIGNAL! Stay safe and stay tuned.

Maybe WPTV-DT DOE can shed some light as to why nbc (wptv or wtvj) can never get the hd programming straight , Jay Leno will always be 50% hd then 50 SD everytime !! Is there really a guy who has to manually switch it over ?!? Millions of dollars in equipment rendered useless because that guy is in the head taking a leak while Leno returns from commercial.... Is this really true or just a urban myth ? Does anyone have the email to wtvj or wptv to complain to about this on going never ending problem of hd shows being aired in sd especially after a commercial break....

Enlighten us please , I'm begging

Originally posted by jhillestad
Maybe WPTV-DT DOE can shed some light as to why nbc (wptv or wtvj) can never get the hd programming straight , Jay Leno will always be 50% hd then 50 SD everytime !! Is there really a guy who has to manually switch it over ?!? Millions of dollars in equipment rendered useless because that guy is in the head taking a leak while Leno returns from commercial.... Is this really true or just a urban myth ? Does anyone have the email to wtvj or wptv to complain to about this on going never ending problem of hd shows being aired in sd especially after a commercial break....

Enlighten us please , I'm begging

DMMcKinley@Scripps.com for Dave McKinley (if he's still there :rolleyes: ) and if so, he may not respond. At the beginning Dave was great for responding to our e-mails, then after so many months of WPTV-DT's inability to provide a stable HD broadcast, he stopped replying. You can try though. :)

The "switch" at our plant is part of the automation, which is programmed and checked daily for HD passthru from network. On Monday night, NBC sent Leno down in SD, then after 15 minutes corrected problem, all the while our folks were trying to track down problem in house to correct, then after it was fixed NBC sent an alert down to tell us they were having a problem. The fact that it happens to both WPTV and WTVJ is evidence the problem is in NY, and being sent down that way. We have been telling our operators to keep a close eye on every HD show, and to contact engineering as quickly as they can when a problem is present. We are striving for error free...but sometimes the problem is at the national level and not the local level. I apologize for being "absent" from the forum for a while, computer problems and little assistance from AVS in getting password straightened out. At one point during the final days of the Olympics, NBC lost their feed from Athens, and fed us tape rewinding on air a few times, and did not put up an alternate feed a few times...we try to react as quickly as possible to provide quality.

Thanks for the reply Dave, So the man behind the switch is indeed an urban myth , its a signal that switches automatically. But I can truly say that I have switched back and forth between wptv and wtvj for Leno in hd, lots of times one will have it and one will not and its usually only after a commercial break. I can also reaffirm that the audio gets out of sync a lot of wptv, not blaming you of course but if your engineers say it never happens, they'd be dreaming.

Dave and all the guys in WPB, I hope that all is OK up there. Have been watching coverage on WPEC-DT untill the xmtr. went off the air, and had to switch to the ch. 12 analog (and a bit snowy signal) here in SW Miami-Dade. I hope you guys whether the storm OK, and for the technical guys at the station, good luck, and if we can be of any help, just post it.

Best regards,

Jose
W2JD
SBE Member

Anyone in Boynton Beach have a damage report? I fled to Pembroke Pines.

Ditto, ANSEK. Wondering about flooding in the Meadows. We went to west Coral Springs where there is ac and ice! When Irene went through the Meadows area was pretty bad. We know the power is out and the freezer is lost, but if that's it, we're ok. Thanks for any info. HA - just occured to me that no one can respond if there is no power. Will post just in case.

The power is back in my neighborhood :)

The last 48 hours were pretty bad, gee what a precious commodity power is

We weathered the storm pretty good. A lot of tree limbs are down, and part of our back fence collapsed, and the pool is green. But other than that, I guess all is well. The satellite dish is still there. But I have some problems as I'm not getting any signals, I don't know whether it moved, or the LNB corroded, I will have to check it out.

Well here's my status report of OTA Stations, looks like WPB stations are suffering with the power on both analog and digital.

So the summary is all the digitals are down except WPBF, all the analogs are up except WFGC (a local religous channel) and WPXP. WFLX was down for a while, but just put up a spalsh screen at 8:00.

All the channels are back to regular programming except for WPTV...

Analog
WPTV - on
WPEC - on
WPBF - on
WFLX - (just came on as I type this but no prograaming at the moment)
WTVX - on
WXEL - on
WFGC - OFF
WPXP - OFF

Digital
WPTV - OFF
WPEC - OFF
WPBF - on
WFLX - OFF
WTVX - OFF
WPXP - OFF

Well, we're in recovery mode here. We did lose our analog and digital over-the-air signals a few times during the storm but we always managed to recover. You should have been receiving our digital signal last night as well as right now.

As far as injuries and property damage, we do have one videographer with a broken wrist from a storm-related injury and one employee's husband broke an arm installing shutters. A tree fell on our Art Director's SUV in the News 12 parking lot, damaging the roof. We lost some local OTA receive antennas from our 300 ft. tower at the studio site. I shot some video of one of them dangling from the tower by its coax during the storm on Saturday afternoon.

Those of us with studio assignments stayed here for 4 days straight. We were operating with an 800 kW generator plus a smaller backup unit at the studio, plus a huge generator powering the transmitters. We had to go to the backup a few times at the studio, meaning reduced studio lighting and turning off some computers, monitors and lights in addition to losing some air conditioning units. I managed to find the coolest part of the building to sleep in: the mail shipping/receiving room under one of the two air handlers that never had to be shut down. I slept on a mat I brought in next to the exit door. I was awakened at 2:30 a. m. Sunday...not by the alarm on my cellphone for my next 12 hour shift...but by little squirts of rainwater that were being blown-in around the door frame by the howling winds.

All in all it was pretty exciting around here. We're sorry for all those who suffered injuries, property damage, emotional distress or inconvenience due to this natural disaster. Good luck to you all.

On a personal note, my old (c. 1925) house did fine except for three windows which were distorted within their frames but which will be replaced under insurance. I can report that my DirecTV triple-sat dish and two Winegard SquareShooter antennas made it through Frances unscathed. My yard, though, looks like a scene from Apocalypse Now. Lake Worth Utilities has said that they will announce on Thursday when we may expect power to be restored. I am powering my refrigerator, a microwave oven, a fan, a few lights and a small TV set as well as a neighbor's fridge on my 3 kW generator and I do have running cold water that must be boiled before consumption. (I plan to buy a small window unit air conditioner for a bedroom, as well.) We bought 40 gallons of fuel and a good amount of oil before Frances hit so we'll be good to go for several days.

I experienced hurricane Camille as a 13 year-old and Frederick as a 23 year-old public radio news director in Mobile, so Frances was my third big, bad hurricane. If you keep up your insurance payments and plan for them adequately and manage to get yourself to good shelter and stay there until things settle down you'll eventually be okay. I consider hurricanes to be "character-builders" if nothing else. But my heart goes out to anyone who has encountered personal loss due to Frances and wish you speedy recovery.

Can anyone tell me if WPBF 25 DT (16) and WTVX 34 DT (50) and WXEL DT are running ? My antenna fell down during the storm and when I put it back up I got everything back except those , at first I thought the storm brought DT transmissions down but the other post said wpbf was up... I cannot get any signal and I think wpbf and wtvx share the same tower.

Can anyone confirm whether they receive or not receive digital from these two as of 9/7/04 ?

thanks!

I have no power at home to check for you but a friend reports seeing WXEL-DT last night. He doesn't know about WTVX and WPBF.

I have all digitals except WFLX. I was actually getting updates about the storm during the middle from WPBF via the radio shack double bowtie and a LCD TV hooked to my hughes HTL-HD running off a computer UPS.

I am getting wpbf and wxel as of 9/8 , but wtvx-dt is still not seen.... anyone getting in via dt ?

I was watching wpbf during the storm as well. I live in Coral Springs and appreciated the full screen radar images with Mike Lyons talking over it, by doing that I could get a feel when the next bands were coming in. The other stations had only small radar boxes that were useless. Good job wpbf !

WFLX was out last night on HD and Cable. Does anyone know what happened. Did there generator die? I did catch Fox (That 70's Show) on channel 22 on Adelphia cable though. I think 22 is another Fox affiliate.

Could someone confirm that they are getting 25-1, 29-1, and/or 34-1 right now? All 3 of these seem dead on my system. 42-1 and 67-x were down but have returned. Everything else seems "as usual".

Originally posted by jhillestad
I am getting wpbf and wxel as of 9/8 , but wtvx-dt is still not seen.... anyone getting in via dt ?

I was watching wpbf during the storm as well. I live in Coral Springs and appreciated the full screen radar images with Mike Lyons talking over it, by doing that I could get a feel when the next bands were coming in. The other stations had only small radar boxes that were useless. Good job wpbf !

We received complaints that "squeeze-back" boxes were too hard to see on the really small screens that are typical on battery-operated TVs so we began avoiding them.

I know that many of you have more important things to do, but, for those who do not:

Due to the approach of hurricane Ivan, the Dolphin-Titan game has been moved up to 1PM SATURDAY.

Reportedly, it will be televised by the Miami and Tennessee CBS affiliates. This would be WFOR, but they might (pure speculation) pass it on to Ch 33 and stick with tennis from the network. In either case, HD is undoubtedly out.

Frankly, given the Dolphins' prospects, I might prefer tennis, which will be available in HD on Ch 80.

Hey David, I'm assuming that CBS is no longer sending an HD truck to Miami, so if that's the case, do you guys think you could show the football game on the analog and digital sub-channel, and show the HD tennis on the main digital, that way we could still see both games if we choose and still get HD tennis :) Or do you think WFOR will show the game on WTVX-34 in west palm instead?

US Open and Dolphins

The plan for Saturday as of now is: (and keep in mind that it could change before air time)
WFOR/WFOR-DT will air the US Open at Noon and switch to the Dolphins game at 1 PM, the Dolphins game will be in HD on WFOR-DT.

WBFS/WBFS-DT will air the US Open from Noon to 5 PM and from 8 to 10 PM. HD on WBFS-DT.

WTVX analog will air the US Open.
WTVX-DT is off the air to conserve fuel. If FP&L power returns to the transmitter site WTVX-DT will be back on and the US Open would be in HD.

so is wpec in west palm airing the fins game tommorow? if so, where's their transmitter location. i'm in melbourne so i was wondering if i could get the off air feed since DTV isn't showing it live

Originally posted by Ken MacKinnon
US Open and Dolphins

The plan for Saturday as of now is: (and keep in mind that it could change before air time)
WFOR/WFOR-DT will air the US Open at Noon and switch to the Dolphins game at 1 PM, the Dolphins game will be in HD on WFOR-DT.

WBFS/WBFS-DT will air the US Open from Noon to 5 PM and from 8 to 10 PM. HD on WBFS-DT.

WTVX analog will air the US Open.
WTVX-DT is off the air to conserve fuel. If FP&L power returns to the transmitter site WTVX-DT will be back on and the US Open would be in HD.

Thanks for the info, I'd love to see some more HD on WTVX besides enterpirse.

WPBF and WPBF-DT transmit from the same area as WTVX and they're running both analog and DT towers, so do they have power or are they choosing to run both towers on generators?

Also if you guys could work out a way to timeshift the HD content on WB for TVX that would be awesome... Also WB plans to show the One Tree Hill and Mountain shows on Sunday afternoon (which I think WTVX will pass through) so would those possibly be in HD?

Can anyone tell me if "Medical Investigations" on WPTV-DT is in HD right now? I'm watching through Adelphia and it's not, even though it's supposed to be.

anyone know when WFLX-DT will be back on air?

I thought wflx had water damage in their building or something...

as of 9/11 wpbf abc (25-1) is not transmitting but it was yesterday....

Also noticed wfor had tennis in hd then it would go back to sd everytime the brian norcross update was interlaced with it, and then of course it stayed sd until someone realized it and switched to hd. I wish the engineers would monitor their own signal.

Originally posted by avmike
Can anyone tell me if "Medical Investigations" on WPTV-DT is in HD right now? I'm watching through Adelphia and it's not, even though it's supposed to be.

"Medical Investigations" was not in HD on WPTV-DT last night; it was shown in 'widescreen' SD for some unknown reason. It should have been in HD. :mad: I'm not crazy about this new show. but my wife sems to like it. I think it tries too hard to be a cross of CSI, Crossing Jordan and ER, but the acting (especially from the lead actor) seems so forced, especially the dramatic dialog (which is mainly just loud arguments between the lead guy and the rest of his team)...it's no CSI, imho. :(

BTW -- doesn't the CDC (out of Atlanta, GA) handle most things like this, or do these types of major health concerns (outbreaks of unknown origin) first get the attention of the NIH, then if they can't figure it out, it goes up to the CDC???? :confused: :D Either way, the acting stinks. :p

Were you picking it up OTA or over cable? I'm just trying to figure out whose screw up it was NBC, WPTV, or Adelphia. Since it said that it was in HD "where available".

I guess im glad i have Sunday Ticket for HD football since im ot betting on WFLX being on the air tomorrow...

Can someone in the know please post which West Palm digital channels are up and which are not? Im trying to re-aim my antenna and need to know if its me or them. Thanks.

I'm not "in the know" but I am in the area and right now as of 8:15 am I am receiving 5,5.1,12,12.1,12.2,25,29,34,42.1,42.2,42.3,42.4. Channel 5.1 is coming in intermittent as according to my signal strength it it is pulsing up and down. Let me know if you have any different results and I will adjust my antenna also.

I adjusted my antenna a little more west about 300 degrees and 5.1 is now coming in perfect. All other channels are as previous post.

When you say 25,29,34 im assuming these are the analog channels.

WPBF-DT is back 25-1 (16)

yes analog, 25.1 is indeed back also!

someone give some gas to WFLX, this is fox's opening HD weekend and they got no power :( and our HD CBS game was already used yesterday

7-1 has High Def !!!

George33027 how does Fox HD look. Unfortunately, I need 29-1 to be functional to see the HD, so I'm getting nothin' today. Can you tell a difference between the old Fox "widescreen" 480P and this signal?

And on the topic of no 29-1: why should we expect our local broadcasters to have their HD signals reliably broadcasting by now? Sheesh! They've only been at it for a couple of years now. I guess the storm can be just one more reason why the HD signals can't be broadcast.

Originally posted by HobeSoundDarryl
And on the topic of no 29-1: why should we expect our local broadcasters to have their HD signals reliably broadcasting by now? Sheesh! They've only been at it for a couple of years now. I guess the storm can be just one more reason why the HD signals can't be broadcast. You may not be aware that more than 100,000 residences remain without power in the Palm Beachs and the Treasure Coast. Many services have been curtailed. Perhaps this station has also been affected by Frances.

wtvx dt (50) is back. wflx dt (28) is still down as of 9/13.

Did anyone notice on wtvj they started out in glorious hd with oakland and steelers then switched to sd for the jet game. I would have hoped they would show an hd game on the digital side, they can leave the jet game on the analog side.

Fox had hd with tampa, looked good.

Espn and 25.1 still look the best to me although Fox didn't suck on Sunday ticket. 29.1 wasn't on so I didn't get that feed. 25.1 is showing the Packer game now but it is not in surround only stereo. Has any one else noticed this?

Yes WPBF has some problems with their audio encoding and it's been like this ever since i've been watching them in February.

1st - The audio is extremely low on their HD feeds and not at all level with their analog programming (ie when a local commercial comes you'll get blown away)

2nd - Their Dolby digital system isn't encoding properly (it is being displayed as 6.1 on my av receiver, but I really only think the sound is stereo)

3rd - They have no PSIP data in their digital stream so their channel doesn't re-map or isn't labeled.

I wish they would fix the psip on wpbf , my motorola receiver sometimes throws out the channel because there is no data.

Anyone know the deal on wflx-dt ? Is it power or something else ?

WFLX 29.1 has been on since yesterdayand is on right now.

Hmm. I get nothing from 29.1 and cant get the analog on very well either these days.

I have a question. From looking at AntennaWeb it looks like the 5-1 and 29-1 are pretty much the same compass heading and distance from me. I get 5-1 just fine and strong but get nothing from 29-1. I used to get them all just fine until a few weeks ago. My antenna is set as normal and I have been trying to tweak its position with no positive results. Even analog 5 comes in WAY better then analog 29. I barely get anything from 29. ANy thoughts??

Sounds like you antennana might be better on vhf than uhf. I'm using the $23 radio shack uhf antenna. It was recommended by an antenna installer from our area as the best.

To answer your question 5,12 and 29 are in together in west Lake Worth and 25 and 34 are in Fort Pierce. Make sure your coax from outlet to tv is good I had a bad cable before that blocked reception of 12 took me a couple weeks to figure it out. I am also using an amplifier.

Originally posted by dolphan
To answer your question 5,12 and 29 are in together in west Lake Worth and 25 and 34 are in Fort Pierce. Make sure your coax from outlet to tv is good I had a bad cable before that blocked reception of 12 took me a couple weeks to figure it out. I am also using an amplifier. 25 & 34 are in Martin County about 25 miles SSW of Ft Pierce. (27 07 N, 80 24 W).

Since 5,12, and 29 are together...why would 29 be the only one i cant get? Can i use both a regular vhf/uhf antenna and a seperate UHF only antenna? Can they be combined into one cable run? Anyone reccomend a good site for antenna help and tweaks?

Here's the model number of the radioshaq antenna I use 15-2160 for $23.99.
Don't laugh when you see it I tried the stealth antenna, square shooter, and this was much better for me. Thanks for the correction on the towers I was using info I remembered? from antenna web.

Dolphan, where are you located?

David McRoy:

What is the story with the lack of closed captions on WPEC-DT? My wife, who has hearing problems, is forced to watch WFOR-DT which does have captions, and this is fine for network shows, but a major problem for local shows (eg. news). It is especially evident this week, since Frances moved our satellite dish and we are limited to OTA reception until the dish is repositioned.

What's the deal with the stretch o vision on 29.1 do they think they have us fooled. Either give us HD or leave the picture alone! BTW I answered AARF offline. It is good to have all the digital channels up and running again though.

Umm what are you talking about. WFLX doesn't stretch programming. The picture for Bernie Mac and Method and Red are true HD shows, so I'm not sure what you're looking at...

Does Adelphia's HDTV set top box come with a working DVI port?

How about an HDMI port?

I think he's talking about that "FOX" logo on the SD programing.

Its weird because the logo is incomplete , I see the FO and part of an X.

The same is seen on wsvn ch 7 in Miami. Its a blue logo that has no reason being there.....

WFLX-DT 29-1 last night (Wednesday) started stretching the picture at 8PM at the beginning of "That 70's Show" (not a Fox Wide-screen show). It remained stretched even during commercials which leads me to believe that someone at the studio may have screwed up. The show after that announced "Fox Wide-screen" but it was still stretched and not in 480I or 720P. I stopped watching then.

My feelings about stretching is to leave that up to the viewer to stretch the picture with their equipment. The broadcaster should provide the purest HD picture that they are capable of without distorting/enhancing the picture.

Oh that stinks, I guess I should know what I'm talking about before I speak up :) I guess WFLX's spiler is broke or something...

Anyone know if the Palm Beach channels are all at normal/full power? Specifically WFLX

Well if you compare the digital powers with the analog powers, the digitals are significantly lower than the analog.

Here you go: in terms of (kw)

Station - Digital Power/Analog Power

WPEC - 29.5/316 (both vhf)
WPTV - 900/100 (diff here is that analog is VHF so less power is required)
WFLX - 630/5000
WXEL - 400/2140
WPBF - 1000/5000
WTVX - 704/5000

I just cant for the life of me figure out why i cant get WFLX DT anymore... I just ordered a CM 4221 UHF antenna and ill see what happens when i mount that.. I used to get WFLX just fine.

Have you rebooted your box? WFLX was down for some time after the hurricane, but it seems to be back and fully functional now. If you got it before, you should be getting it now.

It is stretched now also. AARF did the reset work and if not did you change ANYTHING on your setup since it last worked.

Its been rebooted a couple times. I started to lose it before the storms. Just didnt come one day when i checked and havent been able to get a good enough signal since... Baffled

Is it possible the Balun has problems? It seems even the rest of the channels signals are lower... even the analog.

I'm getting all my stations fine, the only problems I'm having getting a lock on is WPEC, this has always been the most trouble some for me, but it was working before the storm

Well i am all the way in PSL.. It is a stretch to the towers from but its obviously doable since i had the channel before.. Im gonna leave it be until the 4228 gets here..

WPTV Dave, Now that NBC is sending some programs in 5.1 are you guys going to be making any progress in setting up that 5.1?

HiDefDave or anyone else,

I live in Lake Worth at Lantana and 441 and get WPEC via Adelphia. Do you or anyone else have any idea why Adelphia does not carry WPEC-DT in Lake Worth?

According to an Adelphia CSR, WPEC-DT is on Channel 702 in some areas BUT NOT WHERE I LIVE. Can anyone confirm that?

What has to be done to get Adelphia to carry WPEC-DT in my area?

WPEC-DT is not on any adelphia system, because they can't get along and sign an agreement. Get DBS and OTA ;)

hey guys,

i live in ft lauderdale and have an ota winegard sensor antenna outside hooked up to my hr10-250 hd tivo.

ok...i get channels 29-1 fox, and 12-1 cbs just fine, but cant get anything from 5-1 nbc, and 25-1 abc.

does anyone know if nbc and abc operate at lower powers or something? i get signals strengths in the upper 80's on fox and cbs in west palm.

maybe a amplifier might fix this?

greg

ARFF, I would do a complete trace of the signal from the antenna to the box. Look at every link in the chain. I had some trouble like yours way back in the early days and could not figure out what it was. So I did the step-by-step trace (checking each connection, swapping out cables, etc.) only to find that a hole had been poked through the cover that shielded a little circuit board in the rooftop antenna. This hole allowed water to get in and rust the board. Fortunately, the manufacturer sent me a new one for free and I've had no problems since.

The FOX signal is pretty strong in Hobe Sound. A testing option might be to attach some rabbit ears and see if you can get the signal. Use an extension cable to get it outside and up high for some extra tests. That may help you confirm the problem is somewhere in the signal chain of your existing setup. Good luck.

For you guys down in or around Lake Worth...

How does 12-1 look vs. 4-1? Can you see a difference in quality?
How about 29-1 vs. 7-1?
To my eyes I can see a big difference in picture quality between 12-1 and 29-1.

Nevertheless, isn't it freakin' great to have so much free NFL HD this year?

Well you would see a difference in 12-1 and 29-1, because CBS is broadcasting football at 1080i and FOX is only at 720p. But the Fox game is smoother than the CBS game, because we have to deal with interlacing and WPEC's radar channel.

But why the heck do we have the redskins game on fox now but then don't get the Bucs :(

Hi all --

I live in WPB and I am getting an Adelphia HDTV/DVR set-top box for my new TV.

1st Question: Does anyone know if this set-top box has a DVI or HDMI input?

Also, my TV has a built-in tuner, so I'm thinking about getting an antenna for the time being, until I can get Adelphia to come out to my place to install the set-top box. Does anyone have any recommendations on a good HDTV indoor antenna?

THANKS in advance for any help!!!

baker8 - Try the silver sensor antenna. I have heard many good comments about it.

Mike4HDTV-

Thanks for the suggestion! I will give the Silver Sensor a try.

Originally posted by HobeSoundDarryl
For you guys down in or around Lake Worth...

How does 12-1 look vs. 4-1? Can you see a difference in quality?


Not in Lakeworth, more North, but in the Cleveland/Dallas NFL game I could easily tell a difference. 12-1 consistently had distortion, in the background crowd, and it seemed to have a problem when the browns helmets were shown up close, or in replays. 4-1 sometimes had the same distortion, but far less of it. Maybe the problem is the radar/weather sub channel 12-1 is broadcasting. I wish they could turn the sub-channel off during the HD sports events (at least football, because it is really obvious), then turn it back on during less "stressful" content. PBS seems to be able to run off their sub-channels at will, or during HD shows. My reception of 4-1 is not always good (usually o.k.), so I would prefer to watch on 12-1 (rock solid reception), but the distortion detracts from the HD NFL experience.

I also noticed that 4-1 seemed to pixelate less when there was a lot of motion.

Originally posted by HobeSoundDarryl
For you guys down in or around Lake Worth...

How does 12-1 look vs. 4-1? Can you see a difference in quality?
How about 29-1 vs. 7-1?
To my eyes I can see a big difference in picture quality between 12-1 and 29-1.

Nevertheless, isn't it freakin' great to have so much free NFL HD this year?

12-1 has more motion artifacts caused by the sub-channel. I stopped watching 12-1 due the reduced picture across the board. I'll start watching 12-1 when they drop the sub-channel.

I enjoy the weather sub channel, but that said during HD broadcasts they should turn it off if it affects the signal. 25.1 was running on all cylinders last night for MNF, great picture and sound. Does anyone know why 34.1 lists a lot of its content in HD on the channel guide when it appears to be SD.

Those are WB shows that TitanTV assumes are HD because WTVX is a digitial signal. But because WTVX has to timeshift the WB shows to a different time because they're really an owned UPN station, the shows aren't in HD. The only HD show on WTVX is Enterprise.

David McCoy,

Earlier in the year, after the superbowl, there were some posts on HD differences between your channel and WFOR. You said you would speak with the technical crew, to find out what might be causing the differences. Some of us have speculated it may be the radar sub-channel. Did you ever get an answer as to why WPEC HD has more motion artifacts than WFOR during live events (especially football)? Is it possible that even the small payload (bandwidth?) the sub-channel is using might be causing the difference? I don't know for sure, but maybe the 1080i NFL broadcasts, at many times, require bandwidth approaching the full allocation, and the small amount being used by the sub-channel is what is giving WPEC the added artifacts. Any chance of testing this by turning off the sub-channel during your NFL/SEC telecasts....assuming no severe weather is in the area.

WPTV DT 5.1 UPDATE
We do have plans to activate 5.1 audio on WPTV DT in the coming months. NBC is still getting over some technical hurdles of delivery of 5.1, and about the time they get settled in, we should have it available. Dave

Little help, please -

For the past couple days I've been getting a fluctuating signal strength from WPBF (ABC). It is steady for 15 or 20 minutes and then will vary enough for 5 minutes or so that I will get frequent dropouts. Then the cycle will repeat. Noticed it Monday night and again last night. Nothing has changed in my system. Anyone else having any problems with WPBF?

FYI - 2 New Shows have been added to UPN Hd offerings

Veronica Mars, Kevin Hill, and Enterprise, are the three shows that can now be seen on UPN (WTVX 34.1 (50))

Originally posted by jmck407
David McCoy,

Any chance of testing this by turning off the sub-channel during your NFL/SEC telecasts....assuming no severe weather is in the area.

I have forwarded your request to station management.

Originally posted by David McRoy
I have forwarded your request to station management.

Thank you Dave.....even if they decide to test, it looks like this weekend is out...with the new Jeanne tracks.

Update on my anetnna woes. After receiving and putting up the CM 4221 my problem was not solved. I still couldnt get a signal for WFLX. What i did discover that the only way to get WFLX was to have my antenna mounted just above the roof line. ONly problem with this was I lost NBC and CBS in that position. Luckily for me, i ordered an antenna combiner with the 4221 and now im using two antennas. One high, one low and all seems well now. Doesnt make a whole lotta sense since at one time I got them ALL with one antenna..... Thanks for any previous input guys..

Did WPBF-DT 25-1 go off air or low power?

Im not home today but it was out for me yesterday.

Originally posted by ARFF
Im not home today but it was out for me yesterday.

Thanks. I was thinking it was just me.

25.1 is out for me also. bgall thanks for the UPN update, maybe we could pitch in for an HD recorder so Smallville would be in HD, if my understanding of your explanation is correct. Good luck to everyone with the hurricane!

WPBF is working fine for me.

And UPN now has 7 shows planned for HD, yippe!

LOL, Is anyone watching WPTV, they're passing through the HD leno feed from NBC unaltered, meaning you see all the promo slates, and one time they ran funny breaking news teasers saying someone bumped into michael moore and died... The audio is from the live WPTV coverage so you can't hear leno, but still pretty funny...

Do you think DirecTV will pass through the FSU v Clemson game to Game Plan subscribers since WPBF is showing hurricane information?

Would be nice, but I doubt they will be able to coordinate that, But then again I don't think you'll be getting D* reception come 3:30...

Currently, WPLG 10-1 is showing football with hurricane updates at the beginning of the hour.

looks like 29-1 is out

I think the analog tower is gone as well, cause I have color bars on Dish Network

Is WPEC-DT broadcasting the game, I doubt it, but I don't really want to risk turning on my HT and then the power going out...

Anyone still up and going? We just got power back here and I am getting WPEC analog fine but nothing from the DT stations. Same thing with 5-1 and 29-1.

Hope all made it through well and get power again quickly.

I had power all through the storm and finally lost it when it passed :(

This sux, and our power is a small case with a single transformer connecting 12 houses, because the people across the street have power, I hope it doesn't take too long

I only got 20 minutes on this bettery hopefully will use it wisely.

Also my dish blew off the roof, I still have it but I don't know how sucessful I'll be at putting it back up, as part of it is damage, and the hooles where it was mounted are probably to stripped to hold.

As of this morning (Monday) the only Palm Beach County DT station still running is WPTV-DT 5-1. Kudos to all of the stations for their hard work keeping us informed throughout the storm.

WFLX-DT 29-1 is back on the air. Still getting 5-1.

Bighitter, are you in your new house yet?

Yes dragon thanks for asking, been in for a little over a month now and still I am not even close to being settled; even worse I haven't even started on the stage and riser construction of the theater yet.

I have 5-1 and 29-1 as well, though missing the other WPB locals, I am picking up all miami locals again perfectly though.

I did lose my gainmaster dish through this storm though I may be able to mount it back up once I get another lnb for it.

Well I had power for about 2 hours today but I blew again. I will be out of TV service until Friday, when some shows up to fix up my Dish. I probably could've done it, but it's a little more work this time and I might need some new supplies. I could've got an appointment as early as Tuesday, but the Mrs. was optimistic she'd be back to work then. So Friday it is... Still roughing it but making do...

25-1 has come back on just in time for MNF!

Yeah! Big Cowboys fan here...

Is WPEC-DT off the air? I have not been able to get their signal since Jeanne.

Also getting WPBF-DT now with a great signal. Now if I can just get back WTVX-DT and WPEC-DT I will have all West Palm and Miami stations with 1 antenna and no rotor.

Originally posted by Bighitter
.... I will have all West Palm and Miami stations with 1 antenna and no rotor.
Big, is that antenna mounted on a tower? How high up?

POLL: Which Palm Beach County Television Broadcaster Provided the Best Hurricane Coverage?
(Compare to, or include ‘The Weather Channel” if you wish)

WPTV-5_NBC http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/wptv_personalities/
WPEC-12 & 29_CBS http://www.wpecnews12.com/crew.shtml
WPBF-25_ABC http://www.wpbfnews.com/insidewpbf/280692/detail.html

Best/Worst Anchors/Reporters/Correspondents:



Best/Worst Weather/Radar Coverage:



Best/Worst Technology/Graphics:



Overall Best TV Station to Watch for Storm Coverage:



Choose One:
___I watched an A/C powered TV most of the time (running on generator or you did not lose power for very long).
___I watched a battery powered TV most of the time.
___I listened to the TV audio on a battery powered radio most of the time.
___I did not watch or listen to TV broadcasts during the storm.
___I left town.

WPEC-DT stayed up for Frances but Jeanne damaged waveguides for the digital STL (studio to transmitter miocrowave link) that we use to send the digital signal from the studio in Mangonia Park to ther transmitter west of Lantana. We are using an anslog backup STL for our analog NTSC service. Normally, the digital STL carries a digital signal for WPEC-TV 12 as well as WPEC-DT 12-1 and 12-2.

Replacement parts may arrive today. Then we will have to get a tower crew to remove and replace the damaged parts from the tower.

Thanks for the update David. Keep us posted.
My TiVo is set for the analog 12 until further notice;)

No WPEC (12) or ABC (25) here in the villages area of west palm. I do get the NBC local.

Dave,

Great job getting the HD going for most of NCIS it just wasn't the same without it, and thanks for showing the Chiefs not Dolphins during the testing we've been through enough ;!)

anyone else having problems getting 29-1?

Channel Master 4228 is mounted on a 15 foot mast which is attached to the side of my house and places the antenna about 4 feet above the roof line. I would estimate the height of the antenna is about 25-28 feet off the ground. I also have a channel master Spartan 3 pre-amp I picked up from Lowes a while ago.

I can't get 25-1 or 29-1

25-1,29-1, and 34-1 are not on yet. 25-1 popped on at the beginning of lost then went back off.

Originally posted by Bighitter
Channel Master 4228 is mounted on a 15 foot mast which is attached to the side of my house and places the antenna about 4 feet above the roof line. I would estimate the height of the antenna is about 25-28 feet off the ground. I also have a channel master Spartan 3 pre-amp I picked up from Lowes a while ago.

What kind of mast is it? Did you take it down for the hurricane(s)?

Chris Farrell tells me that Lake Worth received 94 mph wind gusts during Jeanne. For what it's worth, I left up two Winegard SquareShooter antennas and a DirecTV 18" X 20" oval triple-sat dish during Frances and Jeanne and all are still working fine. In fact, they're cleaner...all the bird crap is washed off. (The J-mount masts, if correctly attached to the structure, is rated for 110 mph.)

Well we must have gotten some prettly large gusts here in Lox as my Gainmaster was ripped out of the wall anchors and all!

I have a 10foot mast and then then the antenna is mounted on a 5 foot mast. I picked them up from home depot and will have to pick up another 10foot mast this week as Jeanne bent the mast.

I took both down during frances and then after seeing what happened with Frances decided to leave them up for Jeanne which in hindsight was not the best idea. But by the time I decided I should have taken them down it was too late. Oh well using my smaller Phase 3 dish for now until I get a new LNB for my Gainmaster.

Ft. Pierce Inlet: 126 mph @ 10:30 p. m., 9/25
Vero Beach: 122 mph @ 12:17 a. m., 9/26
Sebastian: 119 mph @ 2:15 a. m., 9/26
Jupiter: 100 mph @ 9:55 p. m., 9/25
Lake Worth: 94 mph @ 11:47 p. m., 9/25
Boynton Beach: 87 mph @ 11:13 p. m., 9/25
Belle Glade: 95 mph @ 1:10 a. m., 9/26

PBI, FPR and VRB (airport) observations failed so wind data for these sites is incomplete.

Source: AccuWeather

Thanks for the info, Dave. Quick question re: WPEC-DT...

We saw a lot of terrible pixelization and complete dropouts last night on CSI NY (although the signal remained very strong according to my sat/ota receiver) . Are you guys still having a problem from the damage sustained in Hurricane Jeanne? Any ETA of when the issues will be reesolved? Thanks.

Let's hope the only talk we hear about Hurricanes for a while refers to a favorite college football team. Looks like everyone is back on the air. Bighitter which way do you point your 4228 antenna to get Miami and West Palm stations from Loxahatchee? I believe I am due east of you so maybe it could work for me also.

Originally posted by bsgoren
Thanks for the info, Dave. Quick question re: WPEC-DT...

We saw a lot of terrible pixelization and complete dropouts last night on CSI NY (although the signal remained very strong according to my sat/ota receiver) . Are you guys still having a problem from the damage sustained in Hurricane Jeanne? Any ETA of when the issues will be reesolved? Thanks.

I'll look into this.

I am almost dead center between the towers so I have my 4228 pointed just a bit east of south. The antenna picks up the 2 northern stations off the back of the antenna. I should note that my older DST-3000 can not deal with the multipath but my Hughes HTL-HD and HD Tivo both decode the signals fine.

I messed up my DirecTV dish mount putting it back up after Jeanne. The ladder fell out from under me, and I used the J pole to break my fall. Stupid me. So, today, a day after I called DirecTV, an installer came out, and I had him put it on a pole. It is now about 6 feet higher off the ground, I was hoping that would give me better antenna reception from my Terk44. Doesn't seem to so far, but I only looked for about 10 mins at noon. I really don't want to mess with a big old fashioned antenna and fight with wiring a rotor. I looked at the SquareShooter but it seems very directional, and if I want a single antenna to get both Miami and West Palm, it would seem to me I am stuck with the Terk44 (not bad, but I am hoping to overcome some dropouts reaching 7-1 and 4-1 from Miami). Any comments on this old tired subject ?

I gotta add.... If the WPB stations weren't so, shall we say, idiosyncratic, in their HD broadcasts, I'd have no need to try to grab Miami stations. For instance - 12-x was not coming in at all this morning, and 5-1 was having periodic pixelation. Bleh. At least this Sunday I will be at the Dolphins games. The only pixelation there will be from my beer soaked goggles.

Hey guys, I just got my HD/DVR box from Adelphia, these are the channels I am getting...

ABCHD, NBCHD, HDNET, INHD1 and 2, ESPNHD, HBOHD, and some other HD movie channel.

No CBS or FOX :(

Is this what everyone else is getting? I live in the Lake Worth/Boynton Beach area (Hypoluxo Rd and between Jog and Military Rd)

Thanks!
Danny

yes that's all that's available for now, when Adelphia has it's much deserved death, maybe there will be a contract with the others.

Showtime and Cinemax HD are also available if you have their counterparts.

ABCHD, NBCHD, HBOHD, SHOHD, STZHD, HDNET, HDMVS, INDHD1, INHD2, ESPNHD

Here in Palm City, FL

Yep, still waiting for CBS.... Wouldn't mind Discovery HD too!

Thanks....I also just realized my ABCHD is just blank, no picture. Anyone have any experience like this? Do I need to call Adelphia?

Mine too... been like that since the hurricane, came back for Monday night football, then went grey again. I'm too lazy to go through the torture of calling Adelphia.

Any OTA people picking up WPBF-DT?

Well as long as I get my MNF then its ok :)

Originally posted by avmike
Any OTA people picking up WPBF-DT? They have been off the air since Jeanne.

Originally posted by bsgoren
Thanks for the info, Dave. Quick question re: WPEC-DT...

We saw a lot of terrible pixelization and complete dropouts last night on CSI NY (although the signal remained very strong according to my sat/ota receiver) . Are you guys still having a problem from the damage sustained in Hurricane Jeanne? Any ETA of when the issues will be reesolved? Thanks.



I am seeing this on 12-1 also. Anybody else? Before Jeanne WPEC was always rock solid for me. Now as bsgoren says, I get a strong signal, but severe pixelization. Also, finally purchased a radioshack UHF antenna to put in the attic pointed North to get 25-1 and 34-1. Already had a uhf/vhf radio shack pointed south, gets most everything else. Thought I would be able to buy a RF coax A/B switch, but it looks like there might not be such a thing available....many IR remote a/b switches. Anyone know of where I could find one, or maybe another solution that would not require me to go into the attic to manually switch antennas. Don't want to run another coax to each room, or mount the uhf/vhf antenna outside with a rotor.

Thanks,

John

have you checked to see if you can receive WPEC-DT on your UHF antenna, cause you might be able to. Also there are A/B RF switches just look harder :)

you can get an antenna combiner.. its about 8 bucks. I got one at Starkele
ctronics.com

Dengar and others:

I am getting my Adelphia HD/DVR box delivered next week. Does the box have a DVI or HDMI input? Or just S Video? I need to pick up cables but want to make sure they are compatible with the box.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Originally posted by jmck407
I am seeing this on 12-1 also. Anybody else? Before Jeanne WPEC was always rock solid for me. Now as bsgoren says, I get a strong signal, but severe pixelization. Also, finally purchased a radioshack UHF antenna to put in the attic pointed North to get 25-1 and 34-1. Already had a uhf/vhf radio shack pointed south, gets most everything else. Thought I would be able to buy a RF coax A/B switch, but it looks like there might not be such a thing available....many IR remote a/b switches. Anyone know of where I could find one, or maybe another solution that would not require me to go into the attic to manually switch antennas. Don't want to run another coax to each room, or mount the uhf/vhf antenna outside with a rotor.

Thanks,

John

Me too in Royal Palm. I wish I was better at providing a technical description using terminology the experts would understand. It is a weird pixelization. At times it seems to be a motion artifact. Other times it's not. Picture will be good for 5 or 10 minutes and then go through a minute or two of the distortion. It's a different kind of pixelization that I really don't know how to describe. Signal is strong and it's definitely not dropout related. Their audio wasn't the best either - volume had significant changes between football game and commercials and sometimes within the game itself. The picture problems were more disturbing, however.

You will need component video cables. DVI is not yet active on the 8000HD in Adelphia's markets...

Originally posted by bgall
Also there are A/B RF switches just look harder :)

o.k. locally I tried radio shack and the mega hardware stores, and I did a search on both google and yahoo. There were a few hits on rf a/b switch, but most were either manual switches, switches with IR remote controllers. I guess I will try to contact some electronics stores by phone next week.

anybody watching the CBS game of the week? What a sad sad joke...switching between Sd and HD for the totally inane Gametrax stats...I dont like it...totally ruins the expereince...and now it's stuck completely in SD mode...why bother advertising it's in HD??? It's NOT!!!CBS has absolutely blown this... Are any CBS execs watching this??? I cant believe they'd watch this and say "hey, this works"

Something is definitely wrong at WPEC-DT...maybe their damaged equipment from Hurricane Jeanne wasn't replaced as Dave McRoy said they had anticipated last week; maybe it was just temporarily fixed with a band-aid instead. I watched some college football in HD on WPEC-DT yesterday, and saw a lot, I mean a lot of motion artifacts and pixelization...this is absolutely not normal for WPEC-DT. These kinds of problems have never been present in WPEC-DT's HD broadcasts before Hurricane Jeanne.

Maybe Dave McRoy can tell us what's going on????

anybody have the number for PECs engineering room? Can word be sent to these guys to find out whats going on?

FLX is perfectly in HD...too bad PEC cant get their collective dung together

doubt Dave's even reading the forum now..perhaps he's busy trying fix the problem...i can hope right?

AvMike -- Thank you for answering my question! I wonder why Adelphia hasn't activated the DVI port on their set-top box. What are they waiting for?

FLX is just gorgeous...perhaps they can give PEC some pointers...is it time to go to NFL sunday ticket in HD? So much for free OTA HD being reliable...

now i'm getting audio dropouts...pixelation on the feed...still no HD feed...haven't touched my antenna or anything....ugh...now I have to go back to adelphia and it's snowy analog PEC feed.... :-(

WPECDT HD signal of Pats vs. Bills looked good until about 10 minutes left in the 2nd quarter. Since then the picture has been in SD with lots of pixelization. There was a short blackout just before the problems started.

Originally posted by bsgoren
Something is definitely wrong at WPEC-DT...maybe their damaged equipment from Hurricane Jeanne wasn't replaced as Dave McRoy said they had anticipated last week; maybe it was just temporarily fixed with a band-aid instead. I watched some college football in HD on WPEC-DT yesterday, and saw a lot, I mean a lot of motion artifacts and pixelization...this is absolutely not normal for WPEC-DT. These kinds of problems have never been present in WPEC-DT's HD broadcasts before Hurricane Jeanne.

Maybe Dave McRoy can tell us what's going on????

But...on a very good note, I did notice that WPEC-DT is now sending out the full DD 5.1. audio...yahoo! :D Although they're obviously still having technical issues today (seeing the Patriots/Bills game today switch back and forth between HD and SD), the audio is in DD 5.1!!! :) This is a very good thing we've been waiting for from WPEC-DT for a long time, and it sounds great! :D

yeah i saw the 5.1DD as well, was very surprised...but I'll tell you, my denon does a fine job with DTS:Neo 6 on 2 channel cources, I'd give up the DD 5.1 to have the HD feed back, thank you very much....

yeah!!! HD feed back on PEC...i'm so happy now!!

Due to contractural obligations WPEC switched from the Pats vs. Bills game at a crucial point. This silly NFL rule should be changed to allow the viewer to finish watching exciting games. A few minutes delay starting the local NFL franchise game isn't going to damage anything.

Now the Dolphins vs. Jets game is being shown in SD. What happened to the CBS advertised HD on the Dolphins game?

The game is in HD via WFOR (4-1) with DD2.0 audio.

Unfortunately I don't have the capability to pick that up with my current antenna setup.

Also the WPECDT SD picture is back to getting frequent pixelization as it did during the HD feed loss early in the 2nd quarter of the Pats vs. Bills game.

Also WPEC's picture is dark and audio is a lot lower compared to other stations. Especially WFOR.

On another note, I flipped to WPTV-DT for a minute and noticed that the Nascar race is not in HD, but stretched widescreen in SD (this time it fills the entire widescreen, not that NBC widescreen thing with bars above and below)...what's up with that?

It's 480 widescreen, similar to what FOX did before going HD

At a little over 6 minutes in the 2nd quarter the WPECDT Dolphins vs. Jets telecast came back in HD. But were still getting pixelization.

Ok...what's going on at WPEC-DT???? Now, the Dolphins/Jets game is in HD!! Yeah!! :) But...the DD 5.1 audio is not being passed through!! Hello? What happened to the DD 5.1. audio? And, Len is right...they still have major frequent pixelization! :confused: :mad:

The game will not have DD5.1 due to a truck/hardware availability problem.

Originally posted by Mike4HDTV
The game will not have DD5.1 due to a truck/hardware availability problem.

How is this so if they're broadcasting the game in HD, shot with HD cameras? I thought HD (1080i or 720p) and DD 5.1 audio go hand-in-hand together.

According to the AVS Moderator in the HDTV Programming thread, he said that the truck used for the Dolphins game is experiencing a hardware issue.

Here is exact quote from the moderator:
"There is no DD 5.1 for the N.Y. Jets @ Miami game today, due to a hardware issue with the truck doing that game. It will also affect 2 more CBS games, one next week and one the week after. From that point forward the issue should be resolved."

I'm not getting WTVJ-DT 6-1 nor WFLX-DT 29-1 or WPBF-DT 25-1 at home now. And there's bad pixelation and frequent dropouts on WPTV-DT 5-1 and WPEC-DT 12-1 and 12-2. I even had trouble with the normally rock-solid WFOR-DT 4-1 this weekend. Time for a trip to the roof this afternoon.

Same here David - since Jeanne, HD signals just about everywhere are just way off. Last night I was getting the picture for 5.1 when I tuned 7.1, badly pixelated, but the same picture nonetheless. I went so far as to get a new antenna, and put it up 6 feet higher, to no avail.

David McCroy,

I live about 2 miles south of you on the LW Lantana Line. What antenna do you use for Miami and approximately how high up is it. I'm using a $25 radio shaq uhf w/amplifier for the Palm Beach stations and it works great. I'm getting ready to add a 4228 channel master for the Miami's but just wanted to see what works for you. I have a 2 story so the antenna will be about 25-28 feet up.

Anyone up here using the DB8 antenna ? I was wondering, since this is advertised as multi-directional, if it might work without a rotor to get stations 120 degrees apart (Miami at 200 and WPB at 320), if I split the difference and aim the thing at, say 260 degrees.....