From my house WPECDT (12-1) continues to be the least stable HD channel with pixelization every 30 - 60 seconds. The other WPB HD stations are considerably more stable although WPTVDT (5-1) continues to have audio sync issues.

Yup, WPEC was flipping out for me today as well, but I think it was just bad multipath today. I never completly lost it but it was blocking every 30 secs and they never switched to DD5.1 for the football game, so I quit watching them.

I'm having the same problems with WPEC on my HD TiVo but my HD200 is rock solid.

Guys, for what it's worth, I've found that rotating my antenna to a less than ideal point fixes most of the WPEC regular picture problems. Long, long ago, I identified the ideal direction for my antenna and locked it in. Now that point yields the pixelation patterns. However, by rotating it about 35 degrees west of target, almost all of the pixelation seems to cease. Weird, but it works.

but does it throw off the rest of the stations?

Either way I'll give the 35 deg west trick a try next time there's mp a' brewin'

No, I don't think so. I've got a rotor setup and an MX700 remote programmed to rotate the antenna to the ideal and then tune the channel in one button click. Sometimes I direct dial the local channels though from my new 12-1 antenna angle and I don't think I get much problem.

Originally posted by HobeSoundDarryl
Guys, for what it's worth, I've found that rotating my antenna to a less than ideal point fixes most of the WPEC regular picture problems. Long, long ago, I identified the ideal direction for my antenna and locked it in. Now that point yields the pixelation patterns. However, by rotating it about 35 degrees west of target, almost all of the pixelation seems to cease. Weird, but it works.

Interesting. I will just continue to tune WFOR instead. It seems like every time I try to give WPEC a chance to be my primary CBS station I am let down. No sweat of my back. WFOR has better picture quality.

Talking about picture quality, has there been an update on WPEC shutting off the substation during HD broadcast?

I wish I could go that way myself Ansek. I can tune and lock WFOR some of the time from Hobe Sound. I think I can see a visible quality difference between the two. I like having local weather radar, but not enough to trade picture quality.

Hey Guys,

I'm in Lehigh Acres and am looking for the advice of you who might currently receive UPN programming on WTVX. We have a real problem with our UPN affiliates in my area and I'm a big Enterprise fan.

First some simple questions for you.

1. Is WTVX broadcasting Enterprise or any other prime time programming in HD.

2. WTVX's digital channel frequency assignment is 50, correct?

3. My HDTivo should remap it to 34-1, correct?


Now for those of you more technically inclined, what will it take to get this channel? If I've done the math right, it looks like I'm a little over 100 miles from WTVX's transmitter, their tower's height is about 1500 feet, my house's elevation is about 20 feet, and my compass orientation is about 54 degrees. I already have a large directional antenna in the attic pointing the other way picking up the locals from my area, but I'd like to get WTVX as well.

I've looked at the FCC's website and if I'm reading this correctly, it looks like their analog channel has an ERP of 5000 kw, and the digital channel has an ERP of 704 kw.

4. Is the above ERP info current?

5. Given the wattage and distance I am from the tower, is this even possible? Is there any other option besides a large roof mounted directional antenna?

6. How does one go about using two separate antennas on a reciever like my HDTivo? Do I need a combiner / splitter? Will I need an amp too?

7. I've heard signals are easier to pick up at night. Is that correct and why?


Thanks in advance for the help.

Peace,

DM

At 100 miles you are really pushing your luck, even with a large directional antenna mounted outdoors. I live closer to their antenna by at least 60 miles than you and I have trouble getting a stable signal from them as it is, even with an outdoor amplified antenna. I am sure more experienced people than myself will ring in on this. And yes, 34-1 is correct.

Jeff,

Is Enterprise broadcast in HD? If not, then it is a moot point.

Thanks for the help.

Peace,

DM

I dunno, I have never watched it. I'll check it out for you if you don't get an answer sooner.

DavoM, doesn't Ft. Myers UPN 4 (or is it 8 now) carry Enterprise? They're only about 13 miles from you. I'm guessing that they are not yet broadcasting digital. According to antennaweb, the next nearest UPN station is WTOG 44 out of St. Petersburg, but that is apparently about 90 miles away. Antennaweb doesn't show them broadcasting DTV either. Jeff Bowser is right in saying 100 miles is tough- I'm in Hobe Sound and I sometimes want to tune some channels about 100 miles away (in Miami). While I can sometimes do this, other times I cannot. And I have a very large highly directional antenna, rotor (for precise pointing) and a strong amp.

To give you some hope, I do have some luck pulling your 20-1 (NBC) and 46-1, which are both apparently 100 miles away from me. This is usually later evening on cool nights or cloud cover nights.

Atmospheric effects can give you temporary access to more distant signals some of the time. There is a phenomenon called "tropospheric ducting" (do a google search to learn all about it) which apparently creates a bouncing effect for the signals (as if there is a ceiling in space that bounces signals back to earth). There are times when I can pick up everything out of Orlando (about 90 miles away) and some stations from Daytona and Ft. Myers. The sites that discuss the effect talk about the ability to pick up stations hundreds and even thousands of miles away- though I've never seen anything beyond about 150 miles). Unfortunately, this ducting effect is not regular or permanent and thus, you lose the distant stations just about the time you start fully enjoying them.

If you are going to try to reach so far, I'd suggest a very potent outdoor directional antenna, mounted as high as possible (think tower) on a rotor and with a powerful amp. Good luck

Originally posted by DavoM
Jeff,

Is Enterprise broadcast in HD? If not, then it is a moot point.

Thanks for the help.

Peace,

DM During the Friday night 8 pm broadcast Enterprise is in HD. Any encore presentations on 34-1 is in SD since they do not the ability to record and rebroadcast HD programming.

doesn't Ft. Myers UPN 4 (or is it 8 now) carry Enterprise?

Yes. I've done some research on the local UPN affiliates and discovered a mess. Feel free to get all the details here in our local thread. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=4615660#post4615660)

The short version is WNFM-UPN8 in Naples is a Comcast owned "cable only" station. They are not currently broadcasting in HD on cable, nor are they broadcasting at all over the air.

The other UPN station is WEVU in Ft Myers and right now they are only rebroadcasting the prime time UPN programming feed from WTOG in Tampa over the air and on DirectTV. The picture for D* is terrible on that channel and I do know that WTOG broadcasts in HD because the picture that WEVU uses is their digital feed w/ the sides CROPPED OFF to make it a 4:3 picture. How stupid is that!

As a result, I'm looking for another station.

HobeSoundDarryl - Thanks for the info on tropospheric ducting. Fascinating stuff.

dragonbait - Thanks for the info on WTVX's broadcast of Enterprise. Now I'm even more frustrated. :mad:

Anybody know why WTVX's ERP is so low for the digital channel?

Peace,

DM

Question about adelphia dvr. Anyone know how much they are charging for the 8300hd dvr box? and what local channels are being offered for the wpb area?

thanks

Well the local channel is simple. A whopping 2: ABC & NBC.

I understand if Adelphia is being forced on you by a HOA. But if you want the good stuff just get an OTA receiver or add on DirecTV/Dish/ or Voom.

My parents recently moved to Lake Worth and just made an appointment with Adelphia to get their cable installed w/ the HD package. They were told by two different customer service reps during two different phone calls that FOX was included as part of the HD package. Can anyone else confirm this or is this just yet another example of Adelphia proving why they're considered the worst cable company in America?

Nope. No Fox or CBS. Sorry.... Recommended Scientific Atlanta boxes:

3250HD or
8300HD (DVR)

Finally I was able to watch an OTA HD broadcast on CBS via WPECDT (12-1) that was very stable yesterday. The SEC Championship game had very few pixelization problems throughout the broadcast yesterday. I hope this means the source of the frequent pixelization problems has been resolved.

Speaking of NBC-HD and Adelphia DVR, what is the story about audio sync being off? Last week I was watching West Wing and the audio was so far out of sync that the video of one person talking had the voice of the other person; so I would guess that the lag was more then two or three seconds. My DVR is the SA8000HD.

Is this the station, Adelphia or the DVR?

Originally posted by abramsky
Speaking of NBC-HD and Adelphia DVR, what is the story about audio sync being off? Last week I was watching West Wing and the audio was so far out of sync that the video of one person talking had to voice of the other person so I would guess that the lag was more then two or three seconds. My DVR is the SA8000HD.

Is this the station, Adelphia or the DVR?

It's WPTV's problem and has been happening since they started. Apparently they don't really care about their Digital Television viewers or they would have fixed this by now. I predict that they will be forced to fix it by about 2010.

West Wing sync on Miami's NBC was WAY off this week -- maybe 3 seconds or more. It was very bad this week, much worse than any other time I've seen.

Hey guys, this is my first post and just asking for a little help as I am very new to this. I did Antennaweb.org and this is the readout I got.

DTV Antenna
Type Call Sign Channel Network City State Live
Date Compass
Orientation Miles
From Frequency
Assignment
* red - uhf WPPB-DT 44 IND BOCA RATON FL Awaiting FCC Permit 193° 40.9 44
* red - uhf WPTV-DT 5.1 NBC WEST PALM BEACH FL 280° 7.6 55
* red - uhf WPXP-DT 36.1 PAX LAKE WORTH FL 279° 7.4 36
* red - uhf WPBF-DT 25.1 ABC WEST PALM BEACH FL 339° 41.8 16
* red - uhf WTVJ-DT 6.1 NBC MIAMI FL 196° 43.1 31
* red - uhf WTVX-DT 34.1 UPN FORT PIERCE FL 339° 41.7 50
* red - uhf WHDT-DT 59.1 IND STUART FL 8° 10.1 59
* red - uhf WXEL-DT 42.1 PBS WEST PALM BEACH FL 274° 9.4 27
* red - uhf WFGC-DT 49 CTN PALM BEACH FL FCC Ext 279° 7.4 49
* red - uhf WFLX-DT 29.1 FOX WEST PALM BEACH FL 274° 9.4 28
* red - vhf WPEC-DT 12.1 CBS WEST PALM BEACH FL 279° 7.4 13
* red - uhf WTCE-DT 38 TBN FORT PIERCE FL TBD 355° 31.2 38
* red - uhf WFOR-DT 4.1 CBS MIAMI FL 196° 43.1 22
* red - uhf WAMI-DT 69.1 TFA HOLLYWOOD FL 194° 41.6 47
* blue - uhf WBZL-DT 39.1 WB MIAMI FL 196° 43.1 19
* blue - uhf WBFS-DT 33.1 UPN MIAMI FL 195° 43.0 32
* blue - uhf WLRN-DT 17.1 PBS MIAMI FL 194° 42.1 20
* blue - uhf WLTV-DT 23.1 UNI MIAMI FL 196° 43.1 24
* blue - uhf WPBT-DT 2.1 PBS MIAMI FL 195° 43.7 18
* blue - uhf WSCV-DT 51.1 TEL FORT LAUDERDALE FL 194° 41.6 52
* violet - vhf WSVN-DT 7.1 FOX MIAMI FL 195° 43.3 8
* violet - uhf WPXM-DT 35.1 PAX MIAMI FL 194° 41.6 26
* violet - vhf WPLG-DT 10.1 ABC MIAMI FL 195° 43.1 9


It says medium directional antenna to receive the "red" stations, now I don't really care so much about the blue and violet since red has the channels I am looking for. Here is a question, this antenna they reccomend, is it and inside or outside one? I would prefer to mount it in the attic if at all possible. Is there one antenna I could use to get them all in one spot without a rotator? And, would one antenna pick up all the ones listed above (red, blue, violet)?

Thanks in advance for the replies.

You should be able to use a silver sensor just fine in the attic.

My results come out as red and it's working just fine.

You can pick one up at sears, try it, and if it doesn't work take it back.

Adelphia 8300 HD DVR, is 7.95 per month, just fyi

Is WTVJ having problems or is it just me?

God, watching Las Vegas on WPTV in HD tonight is the worst I've ever seen it at. It's unwatchable, like a 6 sec delay.

I, like Ryjam, are very new to this. I went to antennaweb.org and it recommended a yellow antenna for all of the stations I want (I live in Greenacres). My HOA has adelphia, so for about $21 a month I can pick up their HD service. I have to have ESPN HD, so it's worth it. I have a couple of questions, though:

1) Is ESPN HD a carry over of ESPN, just in HD (do they show all of the ESPN shows in HD? Sporting events, shows, etc.?)

2) If I get a yellow antenna, how much can I expect to pay in order to pick up FOX and CBS, and will the antenna work in my attic or will I have to install it on the outside of my house (which will involve going through the HOA for approval)?

3) I am getting a Mitsubishi WD52725, so I am getting a CableCard. Is their any advantage as far as reception to the set top box (other than the PPV, Indemand, etc.)?

4) I've noticed many on here complaining about delays in the broadcast sound compared to video. Is this with Adelphia, or just the OTA signals?

Thanks for your help.

1) Is ESPN HD a carry over of ESPN, just in HD (do they show all of the ESPN shows in HD? Sporting events, shows, etc.?)
ESPN-HD is a simulcast of ESPN. No not all games are HD. They're schedule is located here: 4) I've noticed many on here complaining about delays in the broadcast sound compared to video. Is this with Adelphia, or just the OTA signals?

2) If I get a yellow antenna, how much can I expect to pay in order to pick up FOX and CBS, and will the antenna work in my attic or will I have to install it on the outside of my house (which will involve going through the HOA for approval)?
You can pick up a silver sensor from a place like Sears for 39.99, but you should be able to get at least $10 bucks off. And if it doesn't work you can simply take it back.

3) I am getting a Mitsubishi WD52725, so I am getting a CableCard. Is their any advantage as far as reception to the set top box (other than the PPV, Indemand, etc.)?
Nope the picture should be the same.

4) I've noticed many on here complaining about delays in the broadcast sound compared to video. Is this with Adelphia, or just the OTA signals?
The audio delay we are experincing with WPTV is with the station, so it will appear on both adelphia and OTA. One of the problems is that they are using the analog audio and feeding it to the digital signal. They were able to use the digital audio during the olympics, so I don't know why they have switched to this.

WPECDT (12-1) is back to it's abysmal operating mode tonight with frequent pixelization and audio dropouts. It's hard to believe the CBS NCAA SEC Championship game was televised on this station with minimal problems just last Saturday.

WPTVDT (5-1) and/or NBC continues its trek to mediocrity with continued massive audio sync problems.

These two WPB OTA HD stations should be ashamed of their performance. They both continue to tout HD telecasts, but neither deliver stable performance. Evidently they don't care about current HD receiver customers.

Anyone receiving Dicovery HD Theater on Adelphia in West Palm?

They finally finshed converting the former Comcast Motorola system here in Boca Raton to the SA platform and I just picked up a couple SA 8300HD/DVRs. CSR on the phone said the system in West Palm (channel 766) has Discovery HD but it's not in all areas yet.

Wanted to see if this was true or not.

update:
Reply to an email I sent WFLX regarding getting the HD signal on Adelphia


Our company is in negotations with Adelphia but things are going slow. Call or email Adelphia and put some heat on them.
Call me with any questions.
Good Luck

Angelo "Butch" Figurella
Chief Engineer
WFLX Fox29
4119 West Blue Heron Blvd.
West Palm Beach, Fl. 33404
561-282-4146

Originally posted by bgall
You should be able to use a silver sensor just fine in the attic.

My results come out as red and it's working just fine.

You can pick one up at sears, try it, and if it doesn't work take it back.


How good is yours working? Do you get all the channels with no problems? I borrowed a friends lsilver sensor ast week for my new Directv HD Tivo box and I just have the antenna sitting on my TV for now and the stations are coming in OK but during Monday Night Football last night I started getting some pixelization during the halftime and 3rd quarters. So, I have another question.....If I put it up in the attic, will it make that much of a difference? I really would like to get the channels to all come in with some sort of regularity without having to worry about moving the antenna a whole lot. Please let me know when you can, thanks.

Putting it in the attic for me enabled me to get VHF WPEC, where as above the TV it didn't so it does impove things.

I am 20 miles north of the WPB towers and receiver all signals in the 80-90 range with no amp and 25 ft of RG-6

Originally posted by av8torfl

Angelo "Butch" Figurella
Chief Engineer
WFLX Fox29
4119 West Blue Heron Blvd.
West Palm Beach, Fl. 33404
561-282-4146

Cool glad to see another engineer on board, I see you've been here since June '03, but I just found out, thanks for the updates.

FOX/WFLX has been awesome since they've switched to HD :)

That was just a reply to an email I sent to WFLX...

I am far from an engineer.:confused:


original message edited

Lol, well ok then either way :)

Originally posted by bgall
Putting it in the attic for me enabled me to get VHF WPEC, where as above the TV it didn't so it does impove things.

I am 20 miles north of the WPB towers and receiver all signals in the 80-90 range with no amp and 25 ft of RG-6


So, you don't have to ever fidget with it? The signals are pretty much locked in solid for you?

I got my ATI HDTV Wonder installed today (most of the time was spent reading the 60 page thread here) and it works and it doesn't. I get all the locals but only the 720p will display on my system. No NBC or CBS, get good signal and audio but no video. I run my display at 1280x720 because it won't run right at 1920x1080 (Sony Plasma - ALis screen). I'll keep tweaking, probably by the time I get it working Adelphia will have fox and cbs.

By the way.. someone mentioned that the 8300 was only $7.95. My first bill I got charged for:

$7.95 Box Charge
$9.99 PVR Function Charge
---------
$18.00 + Programming

Is everyone else paying the same or are they double charging me??

**EDIT: So I installed all the possible versions of ATI software and still had the same problem. So I thought, I wonder if it is the drivers for my NVIDIA FX5200 (I had the latest and greatest installed). I had seen someone mention he liked the 61.77 with the ATI HDTV Wonder so I installed them and now I have all my locals working. **

No, the charges are correct:

7.95 for the first box
9.95 for the DVR functioned (on mine its waived because I subscribe to the "Ultimate Advantage" pack)

9.95 for each additional box.

So, I'm paying 7.95+9.95+programming for two 8300HD's

-Mike

bump

If you are, or ever plan on using Adelphia HD please fire them off a note at this link asking for them to include all local HD broadcast stations at soon as possible.



Thanks


adelphia contact (http://www.adelphia.com/contact_us/response_reporting_form.cfm)

Originally posted by avmike
No, the charges are correct:

7.95 for the first box
9.95 for the DVR functioned

-Mike

$9.95 DVR fee?!?!?!? OMG that's pathetic. Here I thought the satellite's $5 charge dvr fee for nothing the recevier you buy doesn't provide was riduclus, and then another $7.95 box fee, sheesh!!! Adelphia burn in H3ll

Or you could pay $1k for an HD DirecTivo plus $4/mo. At that rate it would take 71 months to break even with Adelphia's deal... Hmm... I think technology will change in 71 months...

Originally posted by bgall
Putting it in the attic for me enabled me to get VHF WPEC, where as above the TV it didn't so it does impove things.

I am 20 miles north of the WPB towers and receiver all signals in the 80-90 range with no amp and 25 ft of RG-6


OK, Bgall, I put the antenna in my attic and I am getting pretty much all of the stations. I am not however, getting ABC. I have tried moving it around and I can find the signal but it is a very faint one. Any suggestions? Where in the attic is a good place to put it? Close to the side of the house? Near the middle of the attic and up high or what? Please help, thanks a lot.

Ryan

Ryan_Withey@ncci.com

Originally posted by av8torfl
If you are, or ever plan on using Adelphia HD please fire them off a note at this link asking for them to include all local HD broadcast stations at soon as possible.

adelphia contact (http://www.adelphia.com/contact_us/response_reporting_form.cfm)

Excellent idea. I have previously written but not through this page. If you do write, be sure to indicate "Programming" and then "HDTV". This should get the emails to the correct folks.

My ABC (Adelphia HD) is down right now, channel 25. They say it's not on their end, can anyone tell me if it is working.

Wed 7:45pm

Yep. It's dead here too. :( 8:49pm

For Channel 25 they are transmitting in 25-1, 16-1 is not there anymore. I just finished watching LOST in my HDTV Wonder OTA.

Really?!!

Are you saying they finally have fixed their mapping!!!

i will have to check this later

I called WPBF this afternoon and asked them why they did not remap to
25-1. They said they were planning to do it soon and that they will also be increasing their power this coming spring. I guess I must have jangled the right chain.

Awesome! Heh it's been like that since they started and all it took was a simple call. Amazing :)

Im not sure why they need more power. They're already pumping out the most juice in the market. I guess they're doing it cause they're in Martin Co.

Can anyone confirm this? 16.1 is gone and 25.1 is now the one to use? I am not home to check. Anyone confirm this????

Originally posted by ryjam282
Can anyone confirm this? 16.1 is gone and 25.1 is now the one to use? I am not home to check. Anyone confirm this???? The re-mapping problem must be tuner dependant, I have always received WPBF-DT on 25.1. Don't recall ever having a problem. I do have re-mapping errors on WXEL.

I have had in the past, a DISH6000, a DISH 811 and now a DISH 921. I could never get WPBF to remap on the 6000 and the 811, but I could receive it on 16-1 even though it is very weak in my area (Margate). When I recently got the 921, I could get only a very weak signal on WPBF and I only got it once and it seemed to be coming in on 16-2 (very strange). Yesterday afternoon, I called WPBF and asked them about remapping. They said they intended to put it in soon, and later last night I saw the web post that they had done it. Immediately, I tried 025-1 on the 921 and lo and behold I got it. Apparently there are a lot of inconsistencies and incompatibilities between stations and receivers. I have always been able to remap WXEL ok. Who knows??

I can't wait to get home and give this a try. Since moving my antenna to my attic yesterday I have been without 16.1 and I sure hope I can get the signal on 25.1....Keep your fingers crossed.

It's not the receviers it's the station. Dish and OTA tuners use true mapping

DirecTV and Voom do their own remapping and don't use the station's data. So that's why those users would have never notice that WPBF didn't remap

I want to put a silver sensor antenna in my attic. The towers I need to reach are all less than 7 miles away and are within the 264-268 degree range.

Again, I am very new to this, but I want to know how I install this in my attic (2-story home)? Do I need to run additional cable down the inside of my walls, or can I use the existing coax? The home is new construction and does not have an existing antenna.

Thanks for the help.

There's no sound on enterprise, I wonder if WTVX is doing something

Friday night WTVX Enterprise is not in HDTV but there is sound with an OTA Receiver.
WTVX is the only one that sends the information about the show that is playing and its description, for OTA receiver.

It started as HD, but they must've switched to SD because of the lack of sound thing...

Enterprise is on again tomorrow at 5 on 34.1, in SD though. This is off topic but maybe it will help someone on here. I bought a 1 meter DVI cable from better cables .com and the improvement it made on my Sony 50" LCD was pretty significant. It really helped the SD picture and HD is better also.

Happy Holidays Dolphan

Originally posted by bgall
It started as HD, but they must've switched to SD because of the lack of sound thing...

The HD feed from UPN had no audio so we had to switch to the up-converted SD feed for both WTVX and WBFS. (And I was looking forward to watching it in HD).

But on a positive note, "CSI Miami" will be in Dolby Digital starting Monday.

Wow cool. Thanx for the info from CBS. Their dolby surround isn't bad, but dobly digital is even better.

Also is there any chance WTVX can get the WB HD feed of wizard of Oz next sunday, since it isn't being taped delayed.

Also maybe one day HD timeshifting could work :)

To other Adelphia customers:

Do you have the new SA8300HD set top boxes or the SA8000HD box. I have the 8000 but want the 8300 since it has the "passthrough" capability as well as a reported better picture quality.

I called customer service a few times and they said that box was not down here but I think I saw a few of you post that you had it.

Thanks for the help.

By the way is your ABC and NBC HD down?

Originally posted by av8torfl


If you are, or ever plan on using Adelphia HD please fire them off a note at this link asking for them to include all local HD broadcast stations at soon as possible.



Thanks


adelphia contact (http://www.adelphia.com/contact_us/response_reporting_form.cfm)

Originally posted by clfnole
To other Adelphia customers:

Do you have the new SA8300HD set top boxes or the SA8000HD box. I have the 8000 but want the 8300 since it has the "passthrough" capability as well as a reported better picture quality.

I called customer service a few times and they said that box was not down here but I think I saw a few of you post that you had it.

Thanks for the help.

By the way is your ABC and NBC HD down?
I picked up two SA8300Hd/DVR's last week when I swapped my old boxes and they work great.

Yes NBC and ABC were out for me when I last checked earlier today.

Panth1:

Thanks for the reply. Did you go to the Delray Beach office? I was planning to go on Monday. If so should I jusy bring my box and the remote and exchange them?

Thanks

I went to an office on NW 20th St. they had listed on a letter they sent us. It was to swap our boxes but that was only for people who were on the former Comcast system. The main office/headend is at 1830 NW Boca Raton Blvd.

They were handing out SA 3000's or SA8300's but this might have been an exception since they are turning off the Motorola system in about a week and want to get everyone switched.

I'm not sure about their box policy for the rest of the county systems. I would just go to an office and see instead of getting 20 different answers on the phone.

If you're out west, your local office is 11435 W. Palmetto Park, Ste. D
Boca Raton, FL 33428

Delray office serves Delray and Boynton Beach.

I believe they closed down the Palmetto office recently so I need to go to Delray, which is no big deal.

Another question I had for you is does the "passthrough" feature work or did you hook up the DVI/HDMI?

Thanks.

I'm using component but the box does have HDMI as well.

I do use the pass through feature but sometimes going from the HD channels to analog doesn't switch back to 480i. Mostly when going from ESPN HD (765) and up to channel 2.

I have also managed to crash the box about 10 times so far. :P I guess I change channels to fast for the hard drive to keep up.

Originally posted by HobeSoundDarryl
Guys, for what it's worth, I've found that rotating my antenna to a less than ideal point fixes most of the WPEC regular picture problems. Long, long ago, I identified the ideal direction for my antenna and locked it in. Now that point yields the pixelation patterns. However, by rotating it about 35 degrees west of target, almost all of the pixelation seems to cease. Weird, but it works.

I tried that trick tonight, since I think the cold weather is causing some MP problems. I turned it 35 deg west and was still able to receive all the other channels, but WPTV cut in and out

Panth1,
Can you tell a difference in PQ on HD sources with the 8300? The 8000 seems great to me, but if it can be even better, I will get one. The pass through is less of an issue for me since I just switch to the direct cable input rather than the STB and the pq on SD is a lot better.

Originally posted by MVPinBoynton
Panth1,
Can you tell a difference in PQ on HD sources with the 8300? The 8000 seems great to me, but if it can be even better, I will get one. The pass through is less of an issue for me since I just switch to the direct cable input rather than the STB and the pq on SD is a lot better. Difference in picture quality compared to what? The 8000HD? I never had one so I couldn't tell you but the HD picture looks about the same compared to my ATSC box for the broadcast stations.

As for the SD quality using the cable box or the tv tuner, it's pretty close but I'm sure it depends how good your analog feed from the cable company is, your eye, and the tv.

Adlephia HD 701 (ABC) and 704 (NBC) are still down. Called Adelphia and they told me that it was a "network" problem. Sounds like their feed is not working. These channels have been down since Friday. All the other HD channels are working ok.

Has anyone heard any other stories or when this well be fixed?

No. But thanks for saving me a phone call. When will HD channels get treated like regular TV? Could you imagine if their SD analog "feed" was down!

I signed up a month ago for adelphia and they gave me an 8300 box. I'm in Lantana and probably get served out of the west palm office. If you want, you can have my box cause it's not worth it for me to pay for two locals and 5 extra hd when I have directv all over the house. Plus I just put a ATI HDTV Wonder in and I'm still tweaking that.

Turns out I had a little party on Sunday with a few neighbors over and we were looking at the plasma and talking hdtv and my next door neighbor is also into hdtv and reads these boards. Small world.

*EDIT - Just turned on the box to setup NYPD Blue to record and found that I have DiscoveryHD on 766. Heads up to all the local adelphia HD users.

One more for tonight... Did anyone watch Rebel Billionaire on local fox 29 HD? I watched the beginning on my HD Wonder and it was choppy but NCIS in HD was perfect so I am curious how it was on a STB.

Thanks

Both Rebel and NCIS were just fine for me

Originally posted by pohnl
*EDIT - Just turned on the box to setup NYPD Blue to record and found that I have DiscoveryHD on 766. Heads up to all the local adelphia HD users. Awesome. I just saw this as well.

Adelphia actually did something they said they would do. I think my brain just melted.

Oh yea so how much is the price increase on the HD tier. :p

Originally posted by Panth1
Awesome. I just saw this as well.

Adelphia actually did something they said they would do. I think my brain just melted.

Oh yea so how much is the price increase on the HD tier. :p

I am in South Palm and have it also.

The only problem I have with my ATI HDTV Wonder is on WPTV, the sound is always out of sync when in HD, but not when in SD.

Originally posted by digital_uno
The only problem I have with my ATI HDTV Wonder is on WPTV, the sound is always out of sync when in HD, but not when in SD.

It is not your ATI HDTV Wonder, it is WPTV. Their audio has been out of sync on HD for over a year.

Pohnl,
Thank you so much for sharing the info on Discovery HD. That is one of the channels I was really wanting and was thinking of changing services to get. Now if Adelphia could only get CBS and FOX I would be very content.

If you haven't written Adelphia yet, and ever plan on being a HD subscriber, I have been told that they are reading responses to our emails and it does influence them in plans to add additional HD channels to their lineups.

Click here to Contact Adelphia (http://www.adelphia.com/contact_us/response_reporting_form.cfm)


Use Subject Programming, Description HDTV

Ok I can't take it anymore.

I'm putting my foot down and I hope others will join me.

We have got to get something done about the audio delay on WPTV-DT.

I am going to go crazy!

Dave is there any progress being made on this at all???

I agree.

There is such a thing as professional standards for broadcasters. The audio issue for WPTV-DT is an abomination and the management of the station should be embarrassed to allow that condition to fester as long as it has.

Watching and listening to WPTV's broadcasts is both uncomfortable and disconcerting.

It is a condition that should be fixed without excuses.

I cannot fathom how WPTVDT can justify putting HD content on the air with these incessant audio delays. NBC, Scripps Broadcasting, and WPTV management must be insane to allow this kind of embarrassing broadcast to air for so long. They can't honestly believe anyone in their right mind would watch such a broadcast for more than the time it takes to recognize how amateur it is. They would be much better served by simply shutting down the HD broadcast until they can do it correctly.

If anyone knows who to contact at WPTV. I will call and send emails on a regular basis. WPTV ought to be embarrassed. It sure makes me watch ABC rather than the NBC news we used to watch.

WPECDT from my perspective is also demonstrating embarrassingly poor judgment by allowing their HD content to continue with the constant pixelization and audio dropout problems. The problems may be due to the VHF band their operating with, but clearly much of the time this station is also unwatchable from my location.

The only problem I get with WPEC-DT is football games that breakup like crazy and often times the sunday crew has forgot to switch to DD5.1 so the sound is all wacky.

Originally posted by MVPinBoynton
If anyone knows who to contact at WPTV. I will call and send emails on a regular basis. WPTV ought to be embarrassed. It sure makes me watch ABC rather than the NBC news we used to watch.

Dave Mckinley runs the show at WPTV and he has replied to this thread when he sees his name mentioned, but we need to stay polite and professional or else we won't get anywhere

dmmckinley@wptv.com (mailto:dmmckinley@wptv.com)

Originally posted by bgall
The only problem I get with WPRC is football games that breakup like crazy and often times the sunday crew has forgot to switch to DD5.1 so the sound is all wacky.

Perhaps the distance from the transmitting tower is an additional factor together with the VHF band. Before the hurricanes last summer I was getting WPECDT pretty solidly on a regular basis. Since then the broadcasts have been hard to watch most of the time, although at times the problem seems to go away and allow me to watch an NFL game in HD.

Well multipath does affect WPEC pretty bad for me. I have took Joel's suggestion and moved my antenna 35 degress west of my dead on target and I get signals in the 85-90 range now.

Originally posted by bgall
Dave Mckinley runs the show at WPTV and he has replied to this thread when he sees his name mentioned, but we need to stay polite and professional or else we won't get anywhere

dmmckinley@wptv.com (mailto:dmmckinley@wptv.com)

The state of HD television in the WPB area continues to be badly executed. Many of us have complained long and hard on this forum to no avail. So I'm not optimistic that WPTVDT will respond to any 'pressure' this forum can exert.

I continue to believe that until the satellite providers pickup and start broadcasting WPB HD content, we'll continue to get sub-standard HD transmissions OTA.

Originally posted by bgall
Well multipath does affect WPEC pretty bad for me. I have took Joel's suggestion and moved my antenna 35 degress west of my dead on target and I get signals in the 85-90 range now.

I guess I'll give that approach a try with regard to WPECDT. Another trek into the attic - at least it's cool now!

My 2 cents worth. Last Thursday while watching the Apprentice with audio sync about 3 seconds off I decided to call WPTV's "News Hotline" since that's the only phone number that has a live person answer at night. I POLITELY asked the woman that answered if she could get in touch with the engineers and tell them to “sync the audio on the digital channel”? She said “you mean the high definition channel?” “Yes please”, I replied. At the next set of commercials, during an NBC promo, the NBC peacock appeared – the audio stuttered a few times, and shazam – we have audio sync for the rest of the program. :rolleyes:

I know what the problem is, but if you have to call them each time to fix it's then that's sad.

The problem is that for whatever reason they have to switch both the audio and the video. If for some reason they only switch the video, then the analog audio will be piped through and will be out of sync. I guess the primetime crew is able to do this, but the Leno crew does not do this. They also did not do this for the seinfeld special. So could you call for us again tonight and teach the Leno crew how to switch the audio correctly?

Thanks for the info Bgall. I believe that the only hope we have is to have enough people politely express their disappointment to WPTV. This will hopefully show that there are lots of customers in the WPB area that have HD sets that are unhappy with WPTV's performance.

Time to pick up the phone....

I have just about given up on them as well. I picked up the remote and changed to 6-1. :o

If only my antenna had a tad more gain. I tried to get 31 but couldn't get past 49%

Originally posted by lwhitefl
WPECDT from my perspective is also demonstrating embarrassingly poor judgment by allowing their HD content to continue with the constant pixelization and audio dropout problems. The problems may be due to the VHF band their operating with, but clearly much of the time this station is also unwatchable from my location. LEN, I am not experiencing your WPEC problems. Joel

Originally posted by Panth1
I have just about given up on them as well. I picked up the remote and changed to 6-1. :o

I wish I could pick up 6-1, but Adelphia doesn't offer it. :( Maybe they should until WPTV gets their HD working like it should0. It isn't worth buying a tuner to get Miami's NBC.

This is an automated response from Adelphia’s Customer Care Department. We received your request on 12/7/2004 2:12:53 PM.

Thank you for taking the time to make us aware of your viewing preferences. Please be assured that we will take your request into consideration along with those of other Adelphia customers in your area.



Keep sending those emails to adelphia about additional HD feeds!!!

Guys, is it finally time to simply reach higher? Yes their engineer- Dave- does hit this thread from time to time. He usually leaves a message about something getting done soon to fix the problems. But maybe that "soon" tmeline is different than what many of us would define as "soon".

We email and we may get a similar "soon" reply.

We call and we:
1. get an immediate fix by someone throwing some manual switch for the current program (only to lose it later the same day or tomorrow), or,
2. we get the same "soon" reply.

I have to suspect we are still the "fanatics". I think that if they count up the number of calls they get from the HD crowd, it is probably miniscule and so the problem does not get much priority.

I also suspect that the ultimate solution is going to be some spending that 5-1 keeps stalling. If you ask me, it is totally insane that some manual switch(es) have to be thrown by a human in 2004. Are you kidding me?

My oldest computer from 1988 can answer my phone, determine if it is a fax or live person, receive the fax or record a message (and offer automated fax-back services to that person). 1988!!! Certainly, hardware/software can read a broadcast stream, recognize an HD signal from an SD signal and throw 2 boolean switches (that apparently now require an alert human touch).

5-1 has been trying to get it right for well over 1 year (is it 2 years yet?). Maybe we should try to identify someone much higher than the chief engineer. Corporate? Perhaps if we can get the boss, or the bosses boss, or the bosses bosses boss, etc. to make the call asking for the problem to be fixed, it will get done far sooner than the occassional "fanatic" calling or emailing the station.

A few ideas:
1. Tape some HD programming (on a VHS VCR of course so that that bosses bossses boss might actually be able to view the tape) and send a letter with the tape. Seeing the problem so clearly may get some action. The bosses bosses boss probably doesn't live in range of 5-1, so they may not be experiencing it first hand.

2. Excerpt the years of complaints in this forum into one document and get it to the higher level manager. The number of complaints will speak loudly and show that it is not just one or two "fanatics".

3. Date those excerpts to show that the same problems have been experienced from more than a year ago, and still they exist.

4. Pick someone at the network and send the tapes to them, explaining how you are going to stop watching NBC if this doesn't get fixed. I would think a Network call to 5-1 might get the job done too.

I'm sure you guys will come up with more. I really believe in the VHS tape concept. VHS tape is cheap and you could box and ship a number of them for a few bucks. In my head, more tapes are better than just one because it won't make it so easy to claim "isolated incidents". Even a few seconds of video tells the story much better than anything we write or post here, or send in an email or letter alone.

What do you think?

Here is a note I sent to Adelphia:

"I've noticed that in your current advertising for HDTV you imply that Adelphia is providing all local channels in HD. You know that is not the truth, no CBS, Fox, PBS or UPN. When I've contacted Adelphia I am always told that the issue is with local station management. When I contact the local stations, its always Adelphia's fault.

I don't understand why you folks JUST CAN'T GET ALONG!!!!

So here we are just a month a way from the Super Bowl and no HD.

I recently replaced my TIVO with your HD DVR. Even though it is operationally inferior to my TIVO, it did solve several problems and it is HD.

I suppose I could go out an purchase an OTA HD receiver, a DVI cable and an antenna and drop $400 to $500 just to receive the four local HD stations that I don't get. However, that would greatly complicate watching TV and I would not be able to use the DVR to watch those stations. Gosh, the thought gives me a big headache.

What a choice, money out of pocket and more complications.

Of course, I could go to the dish and get their HD DVR. I would be out some money but the system would be less complicated to watch.

What can you do to help me solve this dilemma?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And here is Adelphia Customer Care Response:

This is an automated response from Adelphia’s Customer Care Department. We received your request on 12/8/2004 5:55:10 AM.

Thank you for taking the time to make us aware of your viewing preferences. Please be assured that we will take your request into consideration along with those of other Adelphia customers in your area.

If you have any questions about a particular channel or the line-up in your area, channel information can be found on our website at www.adelphia.com by clicking on the "Learn More" button under Cable Entertainment.

Thank you for contacting Adelphia's Customer Care Department.

Sure gives you that warm and fuzzy feeling, doesn't it? I have gotten the same personal letter in the past, but I feel good about Adelphia right now since they added Discovery HD. One would think the local channels would be easy to put on. I am sure it is not as easy as I would think it is or it would have been done by now.

I haven't received a response back from Adelphia in a while. They must be ingoring me because I bother them too much. hehe

I also sent an email to corpcomm@scripps.com to complain about WPTV's problems with their digital channel. I bet it goes right to the trash bin. :)

You might want to give that a try as well.

We watched the Apprentice finale last night on WPTV-DT 5-1. They managed to get the audio sync almost right, it was watchable, but the other problem still persists. That is the annoying "crackling" sound that I hear every few seconds. It sounds like there is a loose audio cable somewhere. Does anyone else hear it?

Based on what some of these posts say about Adelphia's HD DVR, it may not have some of the same functionality as my DirecTV equipment. Can someone tell me:

1. How does the Adelphia DVR differ from my DirecTV Tivo? An earlier post mentioned it is "operationally inferior". What does that mean?
2. Does the Adelphia HD DVR not have the ability to receive OTA signals like my my Samsung DirecTV HD receiver? (The Samsung integrates OTA and satelite onto the same "guide".)
3. Does anyone know if you can use the Samsung HD OTA functionality (and if the program guide still works for OTA stations) if I cancel my DirecTV subscription, or can I subscribe only to the HD package but nothing else with DirecTV and keep the guide active?

2. Does the Adelphia HD DVR not have the ability to receive OTA signals like my my Samsung DirecTV HD receiver?

No, neither the SA8300HD nor the SA8000HD have the ability to receive OTA signals. I have never seen a Cable DVR or HD box that did.

Peace,

DM

Originally posted by baylorgator
3. Does anyone know if you can use the Samsung HD OTA functionality (and if the program guide still works for OTA stations) if I cancel my DirecTV subscription, or can I subscribe only to the HD package but nothing else with DirecTV and keep the guide active? With my Samsung SIR-TS160 I can use the OTA functionality without DirecTV. In the setup you just need to change the box from "Oval-3" to "No Dish". You will not have the full guide info like you get with DirecTV. Also some channels may move to a different number if the station is not sending PSIP to map to the normal channel number (DirecTV was doing this for you if PSIP was missing).

In fact, going into "No Dish" mode can be helpful for finding DTV channels that auto-scan doesn't find. In "No Dish" mode you enter the station's broadcast channel directly and then adjust your antenna to get a lock. In "Oval-3" mode you cannot do this.

I don't know if you can subscribe to the HD package only.

Originally posted by baylorgator
Based on what some of these posts say about Adelphia's HD DVR, it may not have some of the same functionality as my DirecTV equipment. Can someone tell me:

1. How does the Adelphia DVR differ from my DirecTV Tivo? An earlier post mentioned it is "operationally inferior". What does that mean?
2. Does the Adelphia HD DVR not have the ability to receive OTA signals like my my Samsung DirecTV HD receiver? (The Samsung integrates OTA and satelite onto the same "guide".)
3. Does anyone know if you can use the Samsung HD OTA functionality (and if the program guide still works for OTA stations) if I cancel my DirecTV subscription, or can I subscribe only to the HD package but nothing else with DirecTV and keep the guide active?

I think you will find the biggest complaint people have with Cable HD DVRs is the lack of OTA support. This severely limits their usefulness when the local cable operator does not provide all desired local HD feeds.

When you downgrade from TIVO to the Adelphia (SA) DVR you will immediately become depressed. There are other threads on this board that thoroughly discuss the issues with the DVR but in a nutshell:
1. No season pass
2. Uses the Adelphia Cable guide and the guides search function so no search by title, search by actor, search by subject, etc
3. If you are recording a program and start watching it while it is still recording, you will have to manually "rewind" it back to the beginning and if the program ends while you are watching the delayed recording, you will be kicked out of the program, then you will have to start it over and fast forward back to where you get kicked out. What a pain, especially if the program is longer than 1 hour.
4. There is no skip function.
5. The DVR sometimes deletes requests to record programs. This is a very strange phenomenon because it seems to happen on the same programs throughout the country. Read some of the other threads on this subject.

For more information, just do a search on SA8000 or just 8000.

If you really want to read about the true capabilties of these various DVR models used by Adelphia follow this link, then download the pdfs. I always have loved my TIVO but was very unhappy with the picture quality from DirecTV. I was told they are limited by signal bandwidth, and thus take a low megapixel image, and then compress it further. When it is uncompressed and displayed on a large screen TV, the pic is terrible. Think of it as taking a picture from your low quality picture cell phone, then displaying it on a large screen. Anyway here is the link for the HD DVR's

http://sciatl.com/explorerclub/default.asp

I haven't had an HD signal from Ch. 25 in over a week. Not even a peep. Is this me or are they having problems? All the other OTA HD stations are fine. Thanks

I used to get 25, but lost them totally after the hurricanes. I think, but have nothing to prove this with, that they both moved the transmitter and decreased their signal.

I get WPBF all the way in Margate. Somes during the day, I can't quite get enough signal, but at night it usually comes in just fine. The big difference is that they are now remapping to channel 25, so if you are trying to get it on 16, your receiver may not be able to handle it until you rescan it in.

Tony

Margate ?!?! Do you have a large directional antenna ? 25's transmitter is somewhere in extreme NW PBC...... My parents get it better in Sebastian than I do in Boca....

I'm receiving about a 36% signal on WPBF tonight. My antenna is in the attic and pointed at the Lantana Antennas so I only get channel 25 a few nights a week depending on the weather. I think I have picked up WTVX once or twice.

I mostly watched channel 10 when using the HD tuner but I can always catch channel 25 off of Adelphia's HD service. That's if it's working. :p

I use a Radio Shack broadband (80" Boom) pointed north and a Channel master Stealthtenna pointed south and a coax switch going into my receiver. I tried using an antenna combiner, but it did not work. Like I said, I usually can't get it during the day, but I nearly always get it at night with about a 70 signal into a DISH 921.

Tony

Originally posted by JeffBowser
Margate ?!?! Do you have a large directional antenna ? 25's transmitter is somewhere in extreme NW PBC...... My parents get it better in Sebastian than I do in Boca.... The WPBF transmitter is in Martin County West of Stuart near I-95. The WTVX transmitter is also there.

I get it here in Coral Springs. I use a Radio Shack HD Wing antenna with a rotator. WPBF and WTVX both come in. its about 50 miles away (as the crow flys) . If your having problems in Boca either try using a rotator or look at a different antenna it should come in fine.

We installed a DB4 at my parents' home in Boca today replacing a Radio Shack antenna which had been damaged during the hurricanes. Prior to the summer, they were able to get 5.1, 12.1, 25.1, 29.1 almost perfectly. Now, the installer is unable to pull in ABC from either West Palm or Ft. Lauderdale. He also cannot get 12.1 and substituted the CBS station from Ft. Lauderdale. Both 5.1 and 29.1 are having some sort of interference. (I am trying to diagnose this long-distance which is very difficult.)

Should we switch to the stronger DB8 and try to pull in ABC from Miami? I know that 12.1 had hurricane damage but has that been fully rectified?

Many thanks in advance for any help.

Originally posted by LisaM
We installed a DB4 at my parents' home in Boca today replacing a Radio Shack antenna which had been damaged during the hurricanes. Prior to the summer, they were able to get 5.1, 12.1, 25.1, 29.1 almost perfectly. Now, the installer is unable to pull in ABC from either West Palm or Ft. Lauderdale. He also cannot get 12.1 and substituted the CBS station from Ft. Lauderdale. Both 5.1 and 29.1 are having some sort of interference. (I am trying to diagnose this long-distance which is very difficult.)

Should we switch to the stronger DB8 and try to pull in ABC from Miami? I know that 12.1 had hurricane damage but has that been fully rectified?

Many thanks in advance for any help.

You will not get ABC or FOX out of Ft Lauderdale because they are low frequency VHF stations, 9 and 8 respectfully. The DB4 just isn't designed for low frequency VHF. Given Boca's distance from the Lake Worth antenna farmer where 12.1 (13), 29.1 (28), 5.1 (55) are located I am not surprised 12.1 is flaky. It is a high frequency VHF station and if you where half the distance you would have a better chance. I would recommend a VHF-UHF combo antenna or just adding a VHF antenna to the current configuration.

Depending on how far west in Boca your parents live they should orient the antenna between 340 and 360 degrees. This should allow them to pickup 5.1(55), 29.1(28), 42.1(27) out of WPB and 2.1(18), 4.1(22), 6.1(31) out of Miami - Ft Lauderdale. ABC in WPB 25.1(16) is broadcast out of Fort Pierce about 60 miles away from Boca Raton. You will need an amp or some luck for that station.

I recommend your parents watch NBC on 6.1 because of the audio sync issue on 5.1. If they want to watch WPB CBS 12.1 they are going to need a VHF antenna.

People in our area are having success with the CM4221 (similar to the DB4), the Winegard Square Shooter and all outside Radio Shack antennas. I built an antenna array using 3 antennas to pickup all stations in Ft Lauderdale and WPB without a rotator.

Ansek: Thanks very much for your comments. My parents are in West Boca. We previously used the smaller of the Radio Shack outdoor antennas. I think we will switch and get the taller one. They originally had good success even getting ABC out of WPB. After the hurricane, part of the antenna broke and they have been SOL ever since. I had hoped that the DB4 would work because I didn't know that some of the stations were VHF.

I will definitely let them know about 6.1.

Originally posted by LisaM
We installed a DB4 at my parents' home in Boca today replacing a Radio Shack antenna which had been damaged during the hurricanes. Prior to the summer, they were able to get 5.1, 12.1, 25.1, 29.1 almost perfectly. Now, the installer is unable to pull in ABC from either West Palm or Ft. Lauderdale. He also cannot get 12.1 and substituted the CBS station from Ft. Lauderdale. Both 5.1 and 29.1 are having some sort of interference. (I am trying to diagnose this long-distance which is very difficult.)

Should we switch to the stronger DB8 and try to pull in ABC from Miami? I know that 12.1 had hurricane damage but has that been fully rectified?

Many thanks in advance for any help. It's too bad that you didn't get a more knowledgable antenna installer, perhaps there is no such animal. You shouldn't have any problems with 12.1 from BOCA with the appropriate antenna pointed in the correct direction. I get an excellent signal from this station with a 5 element channel 13 yagi in my attic ( 40 miles away from the station).

I'm trying to resolve a problem I'm having with WFLX and am curious if it is just me or everyone/others. First the problem, I get a very strong signal (91-94%) but get choppiness in the picture (picture a line left to right and scrolling bottom to top). I spent a good portion of this afternoon up and down the ladder moving my antenna to different degrees and still get it. WPEC which I believe is the same location comes in perfect for me but at 66-71% signal. My specifics:

Boynton Beach (Hypluxo between congress and I-95)
ATI HDTV Wonder
Included antenna mounted to mast on directv dish on roof (20' in air), run over a 100' RG6 with a radio shack amplifier (doesn't matter what amplification it is at)
WPEC plays, records fine, and .ts files play back perfect with 10% cpu so I don't think it is htpc related

I've also noticed the problem on WBTV when I had my antenna pointed north and picked it up with a decent signal. The lowest I can get WFLX signal is 88% no matter which way I point the antenna. I get ABC and NBC from Adelphia so if I can get FOX to come in I will be completely set.

Thanks.

WPBF-DT 25-1 is pixelating so bad tonight that it's unwatchable. Will have to watch Desperate Housewives in SD tonight. Anyone know what's up?

Same here. I was thinking it was multipath. I have a signal of 85 but get drop outs. I will watch the meter at the same time and see if it's the signal dropping of WPBF themselves.

Ok this is definitely WPBF. Dang!!!

I had a solid 85% signal when the breakups where happening, definitely something going on with WPBF

WPBFDT is also unwatchable tonight here in Palm City with constant pixelization. It was fine last weekend. I certainly hope it's not like this tomorrow night for the Patriots vs. Dolphins game!

Anyone out there getting WPBFDT via Adelphia cable? It would be interesting to see if this is a problem related only to OTA, or if it is really a station problem. Did the ABC Miami HD station exhibit the same problem tonight or was it just WPBFDT?

I think Adelphia pulls both WPTV and WPBF via OTA so it would be the same result.

It must be something with the encoder. At first I thought maybe they were having a satellite drop out but it's on all progamming.

I'm not able to pull in Miami's ABC

Sent the following via email to WPBFDT:

There are a considerable number of people in the WPB television viewing area that are early adopters of high definition television. Many of us particularly enjoy sporting events presented in HD because of the clearer picture and wider aspect ratio. Some of us who post on the AVS Forum were very disappointed Sunday evening while trying to watch the excellent ABC primetime lineup because the WPBFDT channel was unwatchable due to constant pixelization. There will be a great many more people very upset with WPBF if we’re unable to watch tonight’s MNF game between the Dolphins vs. Patriots in high definition.

WPB stations have been broadcasting network HD content for a considerable period of time yet high definition is still largely an unreliable medium due to erratic OTA HD. It’s hard to imagine why many people would purchase expensive HD equipment if they discover how undependable HD content can be in this area. I very much hope WPBFDT and the other WPB network broadcasters will stabilize the HD broadcasts quickly and that they will remain stable for prospective new HD viewers and those early adopters that purchased HD consumer electronics.

Can anybody getting WPBT-2.1, I got a signal of 91% but the screen is black. ???

Receiving channel 2 fine here.

I believe they fixed WPTV (ABC) as it seems to be working correctly now. At least on Adelphia. We were having the same problems the OTA people were talking about so I would think the station fixed the problem. Monday Night Football should be ok.

Adeplhia is perfect for me too on MNF so far. My ota wonder is choppy so I guess I can rule out the station unless someone else is having ota prblems.

That's weird, I just installed a Channel Master 3021 UHF outdoor and I get every other Miami station except WPBT Channel 2-1, 2-3, 2-4, and 2-5.
I get a signal of 91% but the video and audio is out.
Could it be that is getting some type of interference, I'm in Lake Worth and I-95.
I'm using ATI HDTV Wonder.

Nope it's a problem with their station then.

Well it does indeed appear that WPBFDT corrected the problem that was causing the Sunday night constant pixelization. MNF looks very sharp and at half time, the fish are still in the game. I sure hope the Dolphins get the number one draft choice next year. Whoever the new coach is will certainly need all the help he can get to turn this ship around!

I'm still getting frequent pixelization on WPECDT since the hurricanes. Someone on this board mentioned repositioning the antenna away from the direct location of the WPECDT transmitter. I have a dedicated VHF antenna for 12-1 and I have it pointed at 185 degrees which is about 5 degrees west of the published location of the transmitter at my location. That seemed to have helped over the weekend, but tonight the pixelization is frequent again. Can anyone tell me how much they've redirected their antenna away from the 12-1 transmitter to get a stable picture in terms of degrees?

Digital_uno,

Where did you buy that antenna?

I'm at Hypo and I-85 and have the ATI Wonder and would like to pickup some miami's. I've got the ati included on the roof with an amplified run right now and I get the locals strong.

For all the complaining about the install on the ati, I've got mine running great except for some reception issues. Any issues with yours? Are you running 9.03?

35 degrees west is what I did. Getting a solid 83% with no flux, so I'm out of the MP.

Originally posted by pohnl
Digital_uno,

Where did you buy that antenna?

I'm at Hypo and I-85 and have the ATI Wonder and would like to pickup some miami's. I've got the ati included on the roof with an amplified run right now and I get the locals strong.

For all the complaining about the install on the ati, I've got mine running great except for some reception issues. Any issues with yours? Are you running 9.03?

I'm actually a little further from you in 10th and Congress and I get all Miami stations except WSVN-7 and WPLG-10 they are too far south, even with a Radio Shack Pre amplifier.

I ordered the Channel Master 3021 4-Bay Bowtie UHF Antenna (CM3021) from solid signal when they had free shipping. Currently I'm running Catalyst 4.12 official and MMC 9.03. Most of my signals from Miami and WPB peak at 88% to 91%. Sometimes MMC does freeze when I change channels and also it has some other quirks.

I have an ATI Radeon 9800 SE , A7N8X-E Motherboard with an Athlon XP 2500+ overclocked to 3200+, 1 Gig of RAM, 4 Maxtors running in Raid-0 for Video Capture. Windows XP SP2.

Check RAGE3D's Forum for info on MMC, I always post there under Digital_One.

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?p=1333401947&highlight=hdtv#post1333401947

When is WPBF-DT going to go full power ... or is this as good as it gets? Trying to watch MNF is spotty at best in Lake Worth ... while WTVX-DT located along the same path (and roughly the same distance) comes in easily with a 90% signal.

Has anyone been able to get a good response from the guys at WPBF?


AgilScot

WPBF is currently the highest powered DT station in our market. They run at 1000kw which is the efficent power needed to reach the region with a DT signal. They did tell a member that they do plan on increasing power and that surprised me, but I guess you can wait for that.

I'm equidistant to the Lake Worth towers and Martin County WTVX and WPBF and I get a 85-90 signal on all stations except WTVX has dropouts on me, so I guess I have opposite results.

bgall, what antenna are you using?

pre-amp or no?

I'm using the silver sensor with no amp

and getting all the stations with no problem? I moved my Silver Sensor in my attic and am getting pretty much everything except ABC. I am going to get another one and point it directly to ABC's tower so that I can get them. I hope I am able to cause I hate not having MNF and Lost. You think I will have some luck in doing so?

I am located on Cogress between Hypoluxo and Lantana in Lake Worth

Yeah you'd probably need another one pointed at WPBF.

You're farther south than I'm so you're close to the lake worth tower and far from the martin's. For me I'm in the middle, that's why we have different results.

Alright, thanks for the input. I appreciate it.

Originally posted by bgall
35 degrees west is what I did. Getting a solid 83% with no flux, so I'm out of the MP.
I redirected my WPECDT (12-1) VHF antenna at 145 degrees which from my location is just about 35 degrees west of due south (180 degrees) which is where I originally had pointed it. I see how this works out over the next few days. Thanks for the input.

I have an antenna attached to my chimney pointed south to get all the Miami stations. I also have a silver senser pointed directly at WPBF ... and no dice. I'm located between Jog and Haverhill on 6th Ave (Melaleuca). Since the line to WPBF and WTVX is identical (according to antennaweb) .. why does WTVX come in at 90% signal strength and the best WPBF gets is 65 spiked ... typically I get nothing!

AgilScot

The silver sensor has more gain at channel 50 (which is WTVX) and less at 16 (which is WPBF). But it's not that much of a difference. Perhaps you should try aiming the antenna a little of target to the left or right.

Originally posted by AgilScot
When is WPBF-DT going to go full power ... or is this as good as it gets? Trying to watch MNF is spotty at best in Lake Worth ... while WTVX-DT located along the same path (and roughly the same distance) comes in easily with a 90% signal.

Has anyone been able to get a good response from the guys at WPBF?


AgilScot

I have the opposite problem. WTVX is much weaker than WPBF for me.

Yup, same for me.

Looking at the fcc website, http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=51988, it shows that WPBF has a STA at 670kW and a CP for 1000kW.

WTVX is at 704kW http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=35575

Oh I didn't realize that before. So I guess they are currently operating at 670 but the plan to increase to 1000

:( :( :(

I think I'm going to cry. WPTV keeps on getting more and more depressing. :(

Yesterday I asked for them to look into the audio sync on Leno and their solution was to just turn off the HD :(

Now, Father of the Pride is back and they didn't not flip the switch :(

It's on HDTV on Miami 6-1

I can't get 6-1 (31) I'm stuck at 49% If only I had a little more gain :(

Hopefully the reason they are not using the HD feed is because they're working on something. I don't know why I hope so much, I guess I'm too nice of a guy...

Originally posted by digital_uno
I'm actually a little further from you in 10th and Congress and I get all Miami stations except WSVN-7 and WPLG-10 they are too far south, even with a Radio Shack Pre amplifier.

I ordered the Channel Master 3021 4-Bay Bowtie UHF Antenna (CM3021) from solid signal when they had free shipping.
It is not that WSVN-DT (7) and WPLG-DT (10) are to far south. They broadcast from the same location as many other Miami stations (which you say you are getting). The reason you are not getting WSVN-DT and WPLG-DT is that you are using a UHF only antenna and they broadcast on VHF channels 8 and 9 respectively. I get both stations fine most of the time with a VHF/UHF antenna in the attic with a preamp and I am much farther away than you. Get yourself something to pick up the VHF signals.

Which antenna and preamp are u using Dragonbait?

Originally posted by ryjam282
Which antenna and preamp are u using Dragonbait?

I have a setup which receives WPLG and WSVN. Here is a link to the details of my setup in another post.

My Setup Info (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=4476677#post4476677)

Originally posted by Panth1
Looking at the fcc website, http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=51988, it shows that WPBF has a STA at 670kW and a CP for 1000kW.

WTVX is at 704kW http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=35575

Thanks for the info Panth1 ... now that at least makes sense as to why I'm seeing what I'm seeing.

AgilScot

I'm currently not able to pickup the new UHD (74) on DirecTV even though I subscribe to the HD package and have no problem receiving any of the other DirecTV HD package channels.

I'm using a 1st generation Hughes E86 receiver. I know at least one other DirecTV subscriber in my area is receiving a solid picture from the UHD channel. I have another E86 in another room which also isn't able to pickup this channel. So the only logical explanation maybe a problem with the E86.

Is anyone else using the E86, subscribing to the DirecTV HD package, and receiving the UHD channel with no problems?

My problem with Miami WPBT 2-1,2-2,2-3,2-4 is strange I do get signal of 91% but no video or audio when a channel scan is done.

I have an ATI HDTV Wonder, but if I add manually channel 18-1 to MMC 9.03 then I get FKN which is Florida Knowlegde Network 2-3. Is this a mapping problem with WPBT-2?

Originally posted by ryjam282
Which antenna and preamp are u using Dragonbait? I am using an RCA ANT3036X with a Channel Master 7777. This gets me everything out of Miami area except UPN33. I use a Silver Sensor to get UPN34 from the north.

I just put up a Channel Master 3018 (last one at lowes boynton) and I'm getting cbs, pbs, upn, wb, nbc from miami. Unfortunately no fox since I was having issues with 29-1. The weird part is 12-1 was my only rock solid station with my old antenna and now it doesn't come in ?!?

I got kicked out of the family room for testing for 30 mins so I'll take a look tommorow night and see how reception is on all the channels.

Guess I'll read the miami thread tonight and catch up on what to expect.

Originally posted by lwhitefl
I'm currently not able to pickup the new UHD (74) on DirecTV even though I subscribe to the HD package and have no problem receiving any of the other DirecTV HD package channels.

Is anyone else using the E86, subscribing to the DirecTV HD package, and receiving the UHD channel with no problems?

I'm receiving UHD 74 just fine on my E-86 clone (Mitsubishi) and my HD-TiVo. I assume a re-scan didn't work?

Originally posted by ElectricPickle
I'm receiving UHD 74 just fine on my E-86 clone (Mitsubishi) and my HD-TiVo. I assume a re-scan didn't work?

I recalled DirecTV and spoke with a level 2 technician who advised me the multi-switch on my 110 satellite is not working for that particular sub-channel. He said he's familiar with other customer cases where this same thing has happened and sometimes it just continues to affect that one station, other times it gets worse and begins to affect other stations on that satellite. So I guess I'm going to have to spend $70 with DirecTV to get a service technician out here to fix the problem.

Hello ###. We hope to resume discussions with Adelphia after the holidays and anticipate having our HDTV signal carried in 1st or 2nd quarter 2005.

Donn Colee

Station Manager

WPEC NEWS 12/CBS

Originally posted by av8torfl
Hello ###. We hope to resume discussions with Adelphia after the holidays and anticipate having our HDTV signal carried in 1st or 2nd quarter 2005.

Donn Colee

Station Manager

WPEC NEWS 12/CBS

Gosh, that would sure be great news if it happened. Since I watch more CBS than NBC, this is more important than getting the lip synch issue with WPTV fixed to me.

Please keep writing

Both Adelphia and the local channels you wish them to carry. It does help and makes an impact if they get many emails from various parties requesting such service.

I'm more concerned with getting my fox working for 24 in January. I get good reception from 29-1 but get a scrolling picture on my HD Wonder.

I bought a new antenna and get Miami stations but no 7-1 or 8-1, apparently a station problem.

Digital_uno - 29-1 come in ok on your HD wonder?

Yes WFLX 29-1 is ok at 85% with the outdoor antenna and pre-amp.

As of 8:59 pm ET.

BTW Miami WSVN 7-1 and WPLG 10-1 are in VHF Frequencies, I tried to pick them up with a VHF antenna but is to far from me.

Hmm.. well it sounds like 29-1 is a wonder problem and not a reception problem then and if your wonder plays it ok then it is a driver problem.

As for 7-1 and 10-1, my antenna is RATED for 35 miles UHF and 60 miles VHF and pointed due south. All my other miami's come in strong but I can't even get 1 bar for 7-1 or 10-1. Some people (as you probably read) in the miami forum think it is a station problem, but we should probably leave the discussion in that thread. I just want a working fox for 24. I'm going to write Adelphia through that link above and tell them if they don't have Fox by the start of 24 to come get their box :)

Happy Holidays everyone.

Update: It's a driver issue. I noticed that it was only on the 720p stations (fox and abc) so I installed the latest nvidia drivers even though they won't display 1080 stations (grey screen and sound) and the 720p stations play perfect. So now I am probably going to have to setup a dual boot with one setup for 720 and one setup for 1080. I think that is easier than changing the drivers each time. I'm going to write nvidia and see if they can fix it since waiting for ati to get the drivers right could take a while.

Glad to hear that CBS-DT is being picked up by Adelphia.

Anybody hear anything about FOX-DT?

Write Adelphia, Write Fox, That is how to get these channels added as soon as possible!

Nobody noticed Fox 29-1 signal problems this morning?

My signal is way down on 29 today. Getting some freezes here and there.

All that wind overnight and my antenna turned slightly. This could be the reason for some of you losing signal strength,

My antenna is in the attic so the wind wouldn't have moved it. Anyway, I just turned the game back on since half time and the signal is back to about 95-100% for me.

fox is finally running perfect for me and now cbs is really jerky on motion. I had 4-1 coming in so I moved the antenna (fun on the roof in this wind and cold) to pickup 12-1 and it is the same. I'm going to checkout the programming section. Anyone watching new england/jets on 12-1?

29-1 is coming in perfectly for me now also. I don't think it was the wind as I have not moved my antenna and the other stations located with 29-1 were all loud and clear.

how's the game look for you on 12-1??

Looks fine to me. A little gloomy but I think that is the weather in NY. Fox and ESPN almost always look better for NFL.

ok, choppy for me. I just started to get something weird on fox. Every 30 secs or so it freezes for a second and then speeds up to get back to the proper place. Kinda like a buffering thing. I think it is my wonder, I'll keep tweaking.

*Edit: Fox cleared up on it's own, CBS stayed the same. I'll try and get a stronger cbs signal.

Thank you to CBS/WPEC for finally providing a quality football HDTV telecast .

Yesterday's Jet/Patriot game was the first football game I've seen on WPECDT that didn't have very noticeable motion artifacts. Color rendition also seemed improved and appeared to be as good as Fox, ABC, and ESPN HDTV football.

Hope this wasn't a fluke.

Hello all and Happy Holidays. Just wanted to update. I had been running a Silver Sensor in my attic with 2 10db gain amplifiers on them and for some reason I wasn't able to get ABC or anything from Miami...So, I decided to remove the amps and see what I could do, low and behold, everything came in nicely. I was able to get ABC from WPB and all the Miami stations that were listed as red in the AntennaWeb.org website. So, I am good to go, so happy to. Makes my HR10-250 so much better to me.....

I have one question though, the channels that are listed in Blue on AntennaWeb I am not able to get, is there a reason for this? Should I try my other Silver Sensor to get these in? Is it even possible? Thanks for all your help.

Originally posted by Joel Graffman
Thank you to CBS/WPEC for finally providing a quality football HDTV telecast .

Yesterday's Jet/Patriot game was the first football game I've seen on WPECDT that didn't have very noticeable motion artifacts. Color rendition also seemed improved and appeared to be as good as Fox, ABC, and ESPN HDTV football.

Hope this wasn't a fluke.

We didn't do anything differently on our end. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by ryjam282
Hello all and Happy Holidays. Just wanted to update. I had been running a Silver Sensor in my attic with 2 10db gain amplifiers on them and for some reason I wasn't able to get ABC or anything from Miami...So, I decided to remove the amps and see what I could do, low and behold, everything came in nicely. I was able to get ABC from WPB and all the Miami stations that were listed as red in the AntennaWeb.org website. So, I am good to go, so happy to. Makes my HR10-250 so much better to me.....

I have one question though, the channels that are listed in Blue on AntennaWeb I am not able to get, is there a reason for this? Should I try my other Silver Sensor to get these in? Is it even possible? Thanks for all your help.

The colors are determined by the distance of the tower from your location. That means channels in red for you may be in blue for me and vice versa. If you explicitly state the specific channels that were listed red for you the forum members can provide you with the appropriate suggestions.

Originally posted by ANSEK
The colors are determined by the distance of the tower from your location. That means channels in red for you may be in blue for me and vice versa. If you explicitly state the specific channels that were listed red for you the forum members can provide you with the appropriate suggestions.


Here is the list:

* red - uhf WPPB-DT 44 IND BOCA RATON FL Awaiting FCC Permit 194° 41.0 44
* red - uhf WPTV-DT 5.1 NBC WEST PALM BEACH FL 279° 8.5 55
* red - uhf WPXP-DT 36.1 PAX LAKE WORTH FL 279° 8.2 36
* red - uhf WPBF-DT 25.1 ABC WEST PALM BEACH FL 338° 42.3 16
* red - uhf WTVJ-DT 6.1 NBC MIAMI FL 197° 43.2 31
* red - uhf WTVX-DT 34.1 UPN FORT PIERCE FL 338° 42.1 50
* red - uhf WHDT-DT 59.1 IND STUART FL 4° 10.1 59
* red - uhf WXEL-DT 42.1 PBS WEST PALM BEACH FL 274° 10.3 27
* red - uhf WFGC-DT 49 CTN PALM BEACH FL FCC Ext 279° 8.2 49
* red - uhf WFLX-DT 29.1 FOX WEST PALM BEACH FL 274° 10.3 28
* red - vhf WPEC-DT 12.1 CBS WEST PALM BEACH FL 279° 8.2 13
* red - uhf WTCE-DT 38 TBN FORT PIERCE FL TBD 354° 31.4 38
* red - uhf WFOR-DT 4.1 CBS MIAMI FL 197° 43.2 22
* red - uhf WAMI-DT 69.1 TFA HOLLYWOOD FL 195° 41.7 47
* blue - uhf WBZL-DT 39.1 WB MIAMI FL 197° 43.2 19
* blue - uhf WBFS-DT 33.1 UPN MIAMI FL 196° 43.1 32
* blue - uhf WLRN-DT 17.1 PBS MIAMI FL 195° 42.2 20
* blue - uhf WLTV-DT 23.1 UNI MIAMI FL 197° 43.2 24
* blue - uhf WPBT-DT 2.1 PBS MIAMI FL 196° 43.8 18
* blue - uhf WSCV-DT 51.1 TEL FORT LAUDERDALE FL 195° 41.7 52
* violet - vhf WSVN-DT 7.1 FOX MIAMI FL 197° 43.4 8
* violet - uhf WPXM-DT 35.1 PAX MIAMI FL 195° 41.7 26
* violet - vhf WPLG-DT 10.1 ABC MIAMI FL 197° 43.2 9


Like I said, I am able to get all the channels in RED, in which, ABC, NBC, and UPN are all over 40 miles away and I get them fine. Mostly all of the BLUE channels are around the same distance away and I get nothing. Can you help? Should I put another antenna up for them or what? THank.

Well here's what I know...

39.1 and 33.1 come in good for me along with 6.1 and 4.1.
I haven't looked at 17.1, 23.1, or 51.1 so I can't tell you there.
2.1 and the subs I get a strong signal but nothing and apparently they only broadcast after 8pm on weekdays according to the miami thread.

I'm using a channel master vhf/uhf (can't get the vhf to work for miami) and have to point due south to get miami stations from boynton and I-95 (has a 45 mile range on uhf). A stronger UHF antenna might get it done but do you really need another UPN and a WB? (But hey if you shelled out for a HD Tivo, another antenna isn't the end of the world) :)

Originally posted by ryjam282
Here is the list:

* red - uhf WPPB-DT 44 IND BOCA RATON FL Awaiting FCC Permit 194° 41.0 44
* red - uhf WPTV-DT 5.1 NBC WEST PALM BEACH FL 279° 8.5 55
* red - uhf WPXP-DT 36.1 PAX LAKE WORTH FL 279° 8.2 36
* red - uhf WPBF-DT 25.1 ABC WEST PALM BEACH FL 338° 42.3 16
* red - uhf WTVJ-DT 6.1 NBC MIAMI FL 197° 43.2 31
* red - uhf WTVX-DT 34.1 UPN FORT PIERCE FL 338° 42.1 50
* red - uhf WHDT-DT 59.1 IND STUART FL 4° 10.1 59
* red - uhf WXEL-DT 42.1 PBS WEST PALM BEACH FL 274° 10.3 27
* red - uhf WFGC-DT 49 CTN PALM BEACH FL FCC Ext 279° 8.2 49
* red - uhf WFLX-DT 29.1 FOX WEST PALM BEACH FL 274° 10.3 28
* red - vhf WPEC-DT 12.1 CBS WEST PALM BEACH FL 279° 8.2 13
* red - uhf WTCE-DT 38 TBN FORT PIERCE FL TBD 354° 31.4 38
* red - uhf WFOR-DT 4.1 CBS MIAMI FL 197° 43.2 22
* red - uhf WAMI-DT 69.1 TFA HOLLYWOOD FL 195° 41.7 47
* blue - uhf WBZL-DT 39.1 WB MIAMI FL 197° 43.2 19
* blue - uhf WBFS-DT 33.1 UPN MIAMI FL 196° 43.1 32
* blue - uhf WLRN-DT 17.1 PBS MIAMI FL 195° 42.2 20
* blue - uhf WLTV-DT 23.1 UNI MIAMI FL 197° 43.2 24
* blue - uhf WPBT-DT 2.1 PBS MIAMI FL 196° 43.8 18
* blue - uhf WSCV-DT 51.1 TEL FORT LAUDERDALE FL 195° 41.7 52
* violet - vhf WSVN-DT 7.1 FOX MIAMI FL 197° 43.4 8
* violet - uhf WPXM-DT 35.1 PAX MIAMI FL 195° 41.7 26
* violet - vhf WPLG-DT 10.1 ABC MIAMI FL 197° 43.2 9


Like I said, I am able to get all the channels in RED, in which, ABC, NBC, and UPN are all over 40 miles away and I get them fine. Mostly all of the BLUE channels are around the same distance away and I get nothing. Can you help? Should I put another antenna up for them or what? THank.


I see the issue. The Silver Sensor is a directional antenna. If you think of the antenna as an arrow, it will only pick up stations in the direction it is pointing. All of the stations you are currently receiving are in the same "general" direction. The stations in "blue" you desire to receive are in the opposite general direction of the stations you currently receive. I would suggest getting a high end "combiner" from Radio Shack or Circuit City and pair it with a second Silver Sensor. You may have to play with the orientation of the second antenna to get things just right. You might also lose some stations you currently receive due to multipathing so beware. Good luck and let us know if it works out.

Originally posted by pohnl
Well here's what I know...

39.1 and 33.1 come in good for me along with 6.1 and 4.1.
I haven't looked at 17.1, 23.1, or 51.1 so I can't tell you there.
2.1 and the subs I get a strong signal but nothing and apparently they only broadcast after 8pm on weekdays according to the miami thread.

I'm using a channel master vhf/uhf (can't get the vhf to work for miami) and have to point due south to get miami stations from boynton and I-95 (has a 45 mile range on uhf). A stronger UHF antenna might get it done but do you really need another UPN and a WB? (But hey if you shelled out for a HD Tivo, another antenna isn't the end of the world) :)


If you have an HDTV Wonder there is a problem I think with the station 2-1,2-2,2-3. You can pickup 2-1 if you add manually in the Channel Lists of MMC 9.03 the channel 18. Then you will get video and sound. It happens to me, I am getting 91% in the 2-1 and the subs but no video or audio.

2-1 transmits in the morning in SD, the channel is Florida Knowlegde Network (FNK), HDTV starts at 8:00pm and all day in the weekend even in HDTV.

Originally posted by ANSEK
I see the issue. The Silver Sensor is a directional antenna. If you think of the antenna as an arrow, it will only pick up stations in the direction it is pointing. All of the stations you are currently receiving are in the same "general" direction. The stations in "blue" you desire to receive are in the opposite general direction of the stations you currently receive. I would suggest getting a high end "combiner" from Radio Shack or Circuit City and pair it with a second Silver Sensor. You may have to play with the orientation of the second antenna to get things just right. You might also lose some stations you currently receive due to multipathing so beware. Good luck and let us know if it works out.

Thanks for the update. One question though, channel 6.1 and 4.1 have the same compass orientation (197 degrees) as pretty much all the blue and violet stations but I am getting 4 and 6.1, why not the others?

Thanks again.

Originally posted by ryjam282
Thanks for the update. One question though, channel 6.1 and 4.1 have the same compass orientation (197 degrees) as pretty much all the blue and violet stations but I am getting 4 and 6.1, why not the others?

Thanks again.


If I had to guess I would say you are most likely receiving these stations of reflected signals. I don't know the technical term but, if the station is broadcast with enough power, depending on the carrier frequency and other factors specific to your location, it is possible for you to pickup signals reflected of objects (e.g. buildings). Another possibility is that these stations are being broadcast with enough power that you are able to receive them off the back of the Silver Sensor, which has a much lower boost than the front side. That is my best guess.

That makes good sense. Thanks a lot.

I'm considering a new antenna, and looking at the small profile type, like a Winegard square shooter. I'm trying to determine if I need the amplified antenna or not. Two questions:

1. Any reasons or special requirements (electrically or otherwise) to go with the model that has the pre-amp (the 2000, I believe)?
2. Anybody in eastern WPB receiving Miami stations with this or other smaller antennas?

Originally posted by baylorgator
I'm considering a new antenna, and looking at the small profile type, like a Winegard square shooter. I'm trying to determine if I need the amplified antenna or not. Two questions:

1. Any reasons or special requirements (electrically or otherwise) to go with the model that has the pre-amp (the 2000, I believe)?
antennas?

I pre-amp is useful if you are experiencing low gain on most stations or are using long runs of cable (e.g. 100 feet). Depending on your receiver a pre-amp may result in reduced reception from too much gain. I would try your new antenna without a preamp and then add one if you are experiencing reception issues due to low gain. HiDef Dave lives in East WPB and he is using two Square Shooters to receive Miami and WPB stations.

Well I guess everyone else has found a way to get the NBC in Miami and hasn't noticed that WPTV hasn't passed a single show in HD since 12/18. I really hope that something indeed is being worked on, or I guess they have just given up, but I've tried and can't get Miami, I guess I need to go deep fringe shopping :(

Hi, haven't post for a long time.

have a question? Just get a Panasonic plasma with build in tuner, plug in adelphia basic cable boca area (no cable box) and do a channel scan i can get some extra channel like 107-1 (abc hd), 108-1...108-11 (discovery kids, espnnews etc..) and 112-11 Encore come in with picture and sound plus some others and some 50 channels of music choice (some with picture not all) but some channel like 112-1, 112-2, 112-3... and alot more like 85-1..85-50, 86-1...etc no picture and sound.

Does Aldephia scramble only certain channel? I get like extra 15 channels and one HD channel with the build in tuner. How many HD channels do Adelphia carry? I only get ABC with the build in tuner. Any one try using any of the build in tuner of a HDTV and receive some digital channel from Adelphia? Any one receive more than one HD channel without using a hd cable box?

Thanks

P.S. I get all of OTA HD from Miami and WPB station using 2 little indoor antenna (can't get 16-1 and 59-1).

Originally posted by bgall
Well I guess everyone else has found a way to get the NBC in Miami and hasn't noticed that WPTV hasn't passed a single show in HD since 12/18. I really hope that something indeed is being worked on, or I guess they have just given up, but I've tried and can't get Miami, I guess I need to go deep fringe shopping :(

Unfortunately like you, I'm too far away to pickup the Miami NBC affiliate with my attic OTA setup. It's disgraceful what WPTVDT has been doing to HDTV. We're painfully aware of the continual problems WPTVDT has exhibited with audio sync problems. Their answer appears to be just to not broadcast HD content that would continue to highlight the audio sync problems.

The Palm Beach Post entertainment section should carry regular status reports of WPB HD just as they do with content. WPTVDT may be guilty of false advertising by continuing to proudly proclaim their ability to broadcast HD content of NBC network programming.

Originally posted by lwhitefl


The Palm Beach Post entertainment section should carry regular status reports of WPB HD just as they do with content. WPTVDT may be guilty of false advertising by continuing to proudly proclaim their ability to broadcast HD content of NBC network programming.

I think you are on to something. You should send a letter to the Palm Beach Post outlining the issues WPTVDT is having and how consumers of the the latest technology are being deprived, not because the technology is new but, because some networks like WPTV choose not put any effort into making it work.

The West Palm Beach Post newspaper probably won't report anything negative about Scripts-Howard broadcasting. They have had a relationship for many years here. The Sun-Sentinel may be a better choice. They would be more inclined to compare the South Counties to Palm Beach County.

Just my opinion though.

The Post Probably cares less about HDTV than WPTV does. They never talk about HD and their stupid parade is totally biased to analog adelphia.

I don't know whether it will do any good, but I sent the following letter to the editor to the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel:

For a long time local WPB stations have been regularly advertising HD broadcasts of network programming. Yet the quality of local commercial HDTV broadcasts is often instable. WPTVDT (5-1) in particularly continues to frustrate HDTV subscribers and potential new adopters by failing to properly implement the technology. Audio sync problems have plagued WPTVDT broadcasts almost from inception. Currently WPTVDT is broadcasting an analog signal on 5-1, perhaps due in part to an apparent inability to solve an audio problem that renders their HDTV broadcasts unwatchable.

Local print media has never adequately covered the status of local HDTV commercial broadcasts. Though manufacturers and retailers continue to aggressively market HDTV, much of the commercial network HDTV broadcasts continue to be plagued with problems. The print news media could be instrumental informing the public of the current true status HDTV technology. And I believe newspapers have a public responsibility to cover this newly emerging technology as they do with all other entertainment content. So far local print news media has failed to provide its readers with objective reporting regarding the status of local HDTV.

I sent a follow up to Dave today. He's not even in town, the autoreply of his e-mail say's he'll be back on 1/4. So that means Sunday and Monday new shows probably wont be in HD. We can try to call the crew to turn it on, but they might be instructed to not use the HD feed for all we know.

For those of you who pickup Miami stations and had not been getting 7-1 and 10-1...

I gave up on them after getting 29-1 and 25-1 working well and had setup my antenna in such a way that I thought would not pick them up. Sure enough I do a new scan on my wonder and first 10-1 and then 7-1. I go back up and fine tune and they both come in strong.

My next step is go play the lotto with the objective of NOT winning and hopefully will have the same unexpected results :)

I love it when they put up the HD banners - Law and Order: CI "In HD where Available" Not for us :( Can the folks in the control room really be sitting there and go duh?

Originally posted by bgall
I love it when they put up the HD banners - Law and Order: CI "In HD where Available" Not for us :( Can the folks in the control room really be sitting there and go duh?

Feel bad for those that can not receive the WTVJ-DT. What WPTV is doing is borderline criminal. My condolences for all my friends out there.

I think we should picket. I bet we would be the first to pick an affiliate for DTV.,

Even worse is the WPTV ads that run saying "WPTV the #1 rated station in Florida" I almost was going to throw up...

BTW, watched half of CI in HD right now during lunch and it is perfect on playback from the miami NBC. I'm glad I invested in the near fringe antenna.

Well I looked up the info on WPTV and they are owned by Scripps. So I looked up there site and it turns out the VP of television stations is a gentleman named William Peterson. Seems he started his position in January of 2004. You may be asking yourself, "What did he do before that?". Well according to his bio:

"Peterson joined the Scripps corporate management team after serving two years as vice president and general manager of WPTV-TV, the company's NBC affiliated television station in West Palm Beach, Fla. "

So I typed up a nice fax detailing my experiences with WPTV and the problems others have had and I faxed it to Scripps corporate fax... 513-977-3721.

Will anything come of it, probably not........ but it might. Sure beats beating the same dead horse.

And now that I've done my good deed for those who can't pickup Miami..... who's ready for Las Vegas in HD ????

I AM !!!! :)

He was also the General Manager at WPEC as well. So he does have some times in our market.

Luckily I don't watch anything on NBC on Monday, so I'm sure it won't be in HD but I won't be watching.

Originally posted by pohnl
Well I looked up the info on WPTV and they are owned by Scripps. So I looked up there site and it turns out the VP of television stations is a gentleman named William Peterson. Seems he started his position in January of 2004. You may be asking yourself, "What did he do before that?". Well according to his bio:

"Peterson joined the Scripps corporate management team after serving two years as vice president and general manager of WPTV-TV, the company's NBC affiliated television station in West Palm Beach, Fla. "

So I typed up a nice fax detailing my experiences with WPTV and the problems others have had and I faxed it to Scripps corporate fax... 513-977-3721.

Will anything come of it, probably not........ but it might. Sure beats beating the same dead horse.

And now that I've done my good deed for those who can't pickup Miami..... who's ready for Las Vegas in HD ????

I AM !!!! :)

Good job "pohnl". I too will send them a fax. Thanks for doing the research.
Las Vegas is great in HD.

btw, I also cancelled by adelphia for now since i was getting much out of INHD1/2 and HDNet and I get all the locals through my wonder. I mentioned to Adelphia that I was cancelling because I only got 2 of 4 locals and I also had them put in a note to the local office about NBC being completely unwatchable therefore taking them to 1 local station.

Originally posted by pohnl
Well I looked up the info on WPTV and they are owned by Scripps. So I looked up there site and it turns out the VP of television stations is a gentleman named William Peterson. Seems he started his position in January of 2004. You may be asking yourself, "What did he do before that?". Well according to his bio:

"Peterson joined the Scripps corporate management team after serving two years as vice president and general manager of WPTV-TV, the company's NBC affiliated television station in West Palm Beach, Fla. "

So I typed up a nice fax detailing my experiences with WPTV and the problems others have had and I faxed it to Scripps corporate fax... 513-977-3721.

Will anything come of it, probably not........ but it might. Sure beats beating the same dead horse.

And now that I've done my good deed for those who can't pickup Miami..... who's ready for Las Vegas in HD ????

I AM !!!! :)

Bill Peterson is a great guy. We traded about 20 emails when WPTV made their first announcement about going digital. Many of you may not know this but Bill Peterson was the GM of WRAL when they became the first US affiliate to broadcast in HD. He is very responsive and if you are not rude or overly critical he will respond. I can't stress how much of a great guy Bill Peterson is. I knew he left WPTV but I didn't know is now a VP at Scripps.

Yup, I agree and feel the same way. I don't think any of these guys are bad. I'm just trying to work with them politily and professionally to work on the problems at hand. WPTV has great technology and their new studio is amazing and they also made the investment in HD cameras so they have them, we just need to work together as a team of viewers to fix the kwirks of the broadcast...

Re: Bill Peterson,

You may be unaware that prior to being the GM at WPTV he was at HDTV pioneer WRAL-TV/DT in Raleigh. And before that he was our GM here at WPEC. And yes, he is, indeed one of the good guys.

I know that there are good people working for WPTV and Scripts. All we have wanted is for them to provide us with a decent HD transmission that we can receive on our consumer equipment. I realize that complaining on this forum does not, in the least, urge them to change or fix anything. You have to contact them directly in order to persuade them to get it done. Many of us have done that – over and over – with varied results. As I have said before in this forum, if you really want to get their attention then go after their advertisers. Specifically, send letters or email to advertisers that buy time for their local programming, i.e. news. I’m not suggesting that anyone do that. I still hope that they will “fix it” without having to resort to those tactics.

It seems that the problems with WPTV-DT 5-1 occur mostly when the engineer(s) is absent. When that person(s) is away on vacation, weekends and at night seem to be when the “switch is not flipped” to HD but you would think that with all of that technology they would be able to automate it. Could it be a personnel issue? Do they need to fire the incompetent and hire someone that knows what they are doing? Or maybe it’s just a matter of hiring more people that are competent in the ways of HD. Is the problem with their hardware? They still have “static” in their audio channel, since September after the hurricanes. They may have “state of the art” hardware but it seems that they don’t know how to use it or maybe the vender won’t support it. Whatever the case, they need to be proactive about it. At the least give us a status report on the WPTV web page so that we know it’s not our equipment that is at fault.

The first step is admitting that you have a problem. Then the cure may begin.

Hi, I'm new to this site. I am just beginning to look into getting HD in the Lake Worth area (Military and Hypoluxo). I've read through pages of this thread and a lot of stuff is meaningless to me. I get the impression that HD is either not transmitted, or is a very poor signal. Can someone explain?

Many thanks!

"I get the impression that HD is either not transmitted, or is a very poor signal. Can someone explain?"

Did you just read the first two pages and then skip to the end??

Here's the details:
NBC - Not broadcasting in HD because of problems documented in this thread.
FOX - Works fine for me, my best station at the moment. Looking foward to 24 in HD.
CBS - I'm having reception problems but it seems it is me as others are reporting good HD.
ABC - Pretty much perfect. I rate their MNF as a tie for first with ESPNHD sunday night football.
I don't watch PBS or WXEL so I can't comment.

That sums up the WPB stations, if you can get miami stations (I'm at Congress and Hypoluxo and get them) then you should check out the miami thread for details... short answer, all stations are boradcasting well in HD.

Ok, thanks, thats good news.

"Did you just read the first two pages and then skip to the end?? "

Yup, with 212 pages to go through do you blame me? :)

Hey gang, I'll probably call Adelphia tomorrow about this question but I was just checking here first to see if I could save myself the trouble.

Do you know if Adelphia will allow you to just Rent a receiver (I think 7.95) and just the HD Plus teir (which I think is 4.95)? Thanks...

When had my HD DVR (it's being picked up Friday), I paid 7.95 box + 9.99 DVR + Basic + HD = approx $43 with tax I think

Yeah All I want is

7.95 box + 4.95 Hd = 12.90 (but I doubt Adelphia will let me off that cheaply)

When you say basic, you mean just locals right? How much is that?

No... they orginally quoted me at price of like $15 a month and then when they were here setting it up told me they had to change the package and it went up to around $40. I had basic cable, digital and HD. All I watched was the 7 HD channels (reason I'm canceling).

Well primetime for WPTV was in HD tonight, but when they switched to SD for the news, they lost the sound and now Leno is still SD with no sound.

Techs are supossed to come back and fix the equipment that was never set up right, so I guess things still aren't fixed, oh well.

Re: Adelphia :(

Yeah they suck you have to have either just lifeline or classic to get any plus packs :( That sucks.

So instead of costing 7.95 + 5 = 12.95 for just the HD plus pack

I'd have to get at least lifeline for ~ 15 + 7.95 + 5 = 27.95

And you added the DVR for another 9.99 so I see where the roughly $40 comes from.

Was watching West Wing on WPTV in HD last night.

I got the impression that the audio (when it was working) seemed to be almost in sync with the video.

Did anyone else get the same impression?

Yeah It was perfect last night and I was excited to think it was fixed, but I edited my post, when I found out the HD stopped with Leno...

Lots of talk about Adelphia here, just a word of warning, check your invoices carefully, they have a habit of over charging for miscelaneous items that you don't have, their customer service staff are complete idiots and if you ever have to return something just make sure you get a receipt. I was just put in collection by them for a $5 power cord which they say I never returned when I took back a cable box. For that reason I wouldn't go anywhere near them again.

Yeah I would never be talking about Adelphia. But I want to dump dish and switch the voom, but the reason I want to add just the HD tier from adelphia is because they have INHD and HDNet and voom does not. I was hoping to add adelphia for really cheap, but I guess not. Maybe I can put some more pressure on them, stop by the office personally :)

WPTV update. We are broadcasting a DIGITAL signal on WPTV 55 as required by the FCC. We have suspended "pass thru" of NBC HD shows until we can permanetly fix the long ongoing audio sync issue that has plauged our broadcasts. I enjoy the spirit of this forum, although some of the information is offbase and opinions not well founded, never the less...we do hear you all LOUD AND CLEAR. I have answered dozens of emails in the past weeks regarding our HD problems. We have had our hands full since the flawless Olympic coverage, dealing with millions of dollars of damage from 3 hurricanes we covered, up close and personal this past year. The damage we have been working on, is our News and Broadcast operations, that we air DAILY on both channels we have on the air. We also suffered extensive damage to our Cat 4 Building, which has its own set of issues we are dealing with. Excuses? Sure, some will take that view...the one I am trying to impress is that we have had our hands full. The decision to get a clean signal on HD was a priority. We have that accomplished, we are doing some internal testing, and have contacted our vendor to have a field tech come out and help us get it right. We also have several FCC requirements we are working on as well in regard to our HD channel. We have plans to get 5.1 audio going, as soon as we can deliver quality HD, now that we have DIGITAL stable. I will try to respond on a more regular basis. I have not heard from Bill yet, but be assured, I am certain I will, when I call him tomorrow to. Bill is well aware of our hurricane issues and of the huge items we have had on our plate, but is stern about HD, and I am sure he will provide WPTV whatever more we need to get this problem solved. Upfront and honest the way it stands. Dave

Dave,
Thank you very much for the update. It is good to know that the problem is recognized, it is being worked on and that there is a sense of urgency to getting it corrected. As frustrating as these problems are for us, I am sure it is much more frustrating for everyone at WPTV. It might hurt our viewing pleasure, but since it has financial impact on you, I am sure you want it fixed as soon as possible. It would be nice to have some estimate of when the problems should be fixed. I know that once there is an estimate, it leaves you open to additional complaints if the estimate is missed; but it would certainly help us to know if we should be looking at a week, a month or longer. Thanks again for an excellent communication. It is appreciated.

Does anyone know if Adelphia will be providing ESPN2 HD?

Apparently, they have a carriage deal, but it probably comes down to individual pieces of Adelphia as to how soon they can add it. With our Adelphia, I wouldn't hold your breath.

I loved McKinley's answer to all the overblown moaning on here. That's the closest I have ever seen a professional respond in a fashion some of these complaints up here truly deserve. One would think from reading these threads that if the WPB HDTV situation does not resolve soon, there will be a rash of suicides amongst the viewing population. I enjoy HDTV, I wish WPB stations would do better, but, it's just TV, in the end, a meaningless entertainment box showing programming that gets worse every year.

I certainly recognize that not having a working WPB NBC in HD is not the most pressing issue of the day but it is nice to atleast know where the station stands and that it is being worked on. I think that most of the people on here will be pleased to here that the problem is recognized and is being worked on, especially those who may have been considering purchasing an expensive antenna to try and pickup 6-1 from miami.

Thanks for the response Dave.

One question Jeff... how can you say programming gets worse every year? Didn't you see "Who's your Daddy ??", now if that doesn't win an emmy I will kill my self.

Thank you Dave McKinley of WPTV for your update on the state of channel 5’s Digital Television.


“We are broadcasting a DIGITAL signal on WPTV 55 as required by the FCC.”
And the FCC keeps pushing back the date that you need to FULLY comply by. This quote from USA Today - “The date of the switch to digital is still being debated, with estimates ranging from one to 10 years.” “To prepare for it, the FCC has told manufacturers that half the full-size TVs sold here must be digital by the end of the year.” Let’s just assume that one year from now the FCC tells you to shut down your analog broadcasts. Will WPTV-DT be ready in January 2006?

“We have suspended "pass thru" of NBC HD shows until we can permanently fix the long ongoing audio sync issue that has plagued our broadcasts.”
Thank you. We were never sure if you knew that there was anything wrong or if you were just ignoring the DT viewership. Now we know that it’s an “ongoing issue” and that you are working on it.

Other Palm Beach County DT broadcasters also suffered damage from the hurricanes of 2004. They have already fixed their problems and have been broadcasting stable HD for weeks now. WPTV was the last for-profit Palm Beach County broadcaster to upgrade to digital and now, also the last to recover from the hurricane damage. That’s pretty amazing considering that you spent millions of dollars on your new studio building and equipment.

I have been watching channel 5 since Tony Glenn did the weather (the 60’s). They have been a leader in television for a long time here - but not with digital television. It’s not too late though. WPTV can still fix their hardware and be the first to broadcast local news in HD. Am I correct on that? That would prove to me that they truly value their DT viewership.

As for the so-called “overblown moaning” on this forum, that’s been covered before. Some have invested much time and money in DT equipment. They enjoy it immensely and want to share it with friends and family. When it doesn’t work like it’s supposed to, through no fault of there own, it’s very, very disappointing. Also it’s frustrating because some can not pick up a different NBC-DT station from their location. I call it “Healthy Criticism”. It’s good to have a forum where these things can be discussed in an adult manner, even if there is a difference of opinion.

I still have faith in WPTV and I sincerely hope they can jump these hurdles and have a successful 2005.

Who's Your Daddy ! :p :p :p Now there's a fine example of excellent programming !

Yes, I still feel the criticism up here smacks too much of woe is me for what this is (c'mon, this is television, not a cure for cancer). That being said, I am able to pick up Miami stations with ease, so the WPB mess bothers me less. As for sharing it with friends and family - well, if HD is not working, there's always your cable or satellite signal, eh ? Aren't friends and family about sharing time together, not trying to impress them with how great your TV is ? To each their own, I suppose.

I would have to disagree with you about if HD isn't working there is always cable or satellite. I have Directv in all the rooms but it's not even close. I wasn't watching the orange bowl the other night but just happened to switch over on Directv around 10pm to see what the score was. I couldn't believe how bad the picture was. I fired up the HDTV wonder to the local HD channel and it was spectacular. Most of the time the difference it's black and white but in this case (and alot of NFL games), it is a huge difference if you are used to watching HD.

As for family and friends, there is a funny discussion in the programming section about watching the superbowl alone at home in HD because the friend throwing the big superbowl party has it in SD. From the first page it seems to being going exclusively towards HD (big suprise).

The reason I came here was to say Thank you ABC and WPBF for consistently having GREAT HD football.

Watching home alone because you have HD and alternate does not ? That's seriously upside-down priorities, period. Nonetheless, I agree the difference is night and day, BUT it is not life or death. I am watching the Seahawks just now on Miami 10, very nice picture.

I agree. Great job WPBF 25-1 & ABC on the first NFL football playoff game this season. It was a beautiful HD picture throughout the entire game.