I just got off the phone with the engineer at WXEL, who explained the problem. Basically, they had a catastrophic failure in some of the microwave equipment that connects the studio and the transmitter. They have backup equipment (i.e. redundancy), which also failed at the same time. They also had some sort of power problem originating from FPL that may or not be related, but caused some further problems that are being corrected as we speak. The engineer expected that WXEL will be up and broadcasting in HD in the next few days. For whatever it's worth, it sounds like a pretty unusual situation and they appear to be working very hard to get their problems solved.

I had to do a rescan and didn't pickup 25-1. I got 16-1 but no picture. I'm sure someone will watch lost or alias and let me know if 25-1 is up. Luckily I get 10-1 (hope my signal stays strong enough).

WPBF was screwed up when I was trying to watch this weekend, but no one else commented on my post. I guess no one else was watching.

Yes they've lost their mapping and are back on 16-1. But when I was watching they were showing a zoomed 14x9 picture, but now there is no pic at all.

Originally posted by pohnl
I had to do a rescan and didn't pickup 25-1. I got 16-1 but no picture. I'm sure someone will watch lost or alias and let me know if 25-1 is up. Luckily I get 10-1 (hope my signal stays strong enough).
I need to get an amp so I can hopefully pick up ABC. I wanna see Lost and Alias in HD so bad. How is it watching them in HD? I love watching 24 in HD. I'm really hoping with the amp, it'll give me the boost I need.

Lost is just amazing in HD with all the scenery and action. Alias is good too although Im not too excited about this season so its probably taking some of the enjoyment away from me.

Originally posted by yanksno1
I need to get an amp so I can hopefully pick up ABC. Hopefully an amp will solve your problem. However, you should know that normally, the type of antenna, antenna height, and where it is pointed are far more important factors for good reception than amplification. An amplifier only compensates for distribution losses between the antenna and your receiver.

From NE Boca, I cannot get 25 unless I turn my antenna so much I lose all Miami stations, and some WPB stations start to get flaky. I gave up on 25, and concentrated on 10-1 out of Miami. Lost in HD is just beautiful (as are some of the characters.....)!

Honestly, It is so nice not having to depend on my antenna anymore.
I have had nothing but good strong HD signals since adding the
8300 HDDVR. Once CBS is added to the lineup I will be more than satisfied.

In addition, The DVR has been flawless in recordings.

I fired Adelphia (and Comcast) a long time ago. Terrible customer service, they did not care, more expensive than satellite, lousy signals, just plain lousy companies in general. Maybe they are better now, but they cooked their goose with me years ago. Not only that, but after the hurricane, I had TV as soon as the wind abated and I slapped my dish back up. My neighbors with cable were out for 2 weeks.

Originally posted by JeffBowser
I fired Adelphia (and Comcast) a long time ago. Terrible customer service, they did not care, more expensive than satellite, lousy signals, just plain lousy companies in general. Maybe they are better now, but they cooked their goose with me years ago. Not only that, but after the hurricane, I had TV as soon as the wind abated and I slapped my dish back up. My neigbors with cable were out for 2 weeks.

Did your Sat dish go down from one of the hurricanes? I've heard very few went down (in the 70-95 mph winds)...we had gusts to around 90+ mph here in Lake Worth and mine never moved; I think I actually got a better signal after the last hurricane blew by! :D

BTW - I agree with your assessment of Adelphia! They're just horrible and who knows what the future holds for them anyhow due to their "for sale" and financial situations. We have Adelphia basic analog cable through our HOA, but after years of dealing with them, we decided on D*TV as our main HD and SD viewing (for our HT/family room) and have loved it for almost 5 years now.

:D I left the mounting pole and clip on antenna up, but took off the dish part only. Two people in my neighborhood who left it all up - one had it blown away completely, and the other had it twisted around so bad we couldn't regain the signal without calling in an installer with his equipment.

So far I have very few complaints with Adelphia HD, particularly since they added Discovery HD and Fox. Once they get CBS, I will be quite content. I was expecting to have a lot more problems with them; but I have been pleasantly surprised.

I had adelphia for about 17 years, never had any problems with them because I never needed anything from them. I only left them last year because I switched to HD and they had nothing. Once they get complete with CBS,UPN,PBS,TNT, as those are what I'm getting now that adelphia doesn't have, I'd probably come back. The antenna works alright, but as well all know it's nice to have something more reliable.

Originally posted by bgall
I had adelphia for about 17 years, never had any problems with them because I never needed anything from them. I only left them last year because I switched to HD and they had nothing. Once they get complete with CBS,UPN,PBS,TNT, as those are what I'm getting now that adelphia doesn't have, I'd probably come back. The antenna works alright, but as well all know it's nice to have something more reliable.

A few things to consider...

1. If you use or want an HD DVR, the HD D*TIVO is known to currently be the best out there with at least 30 hrs. of HD recording (vs. 15 hrs. I believe from the cable HD DVR's) / 200 hrs. of SD recording, and of course the TIVO s/w. If you're not currently using an HD DVR, you probably will be or will want to in the next couple years! :D

2. When D*TV switches to their new MPEG-4 system over the next 2 years, they should offer many more HD broadcast channels (aside from all the HD locals for our area when the new bird goes up in '07; 12 U.S. markets will get the HD locals available on D*TV this spring when the first sat goes up; I think Tampa may be one of them, but not WPB).

3. After their MPEG-4 system is up and running, they will be offering their newly announced HD DVR (non-TIVO) and HD Home Media Center with 4 tuners and a master/slave setup. This is something that the cable companies, including Adelphia will be way behind D*TV's curve on, just like they are with HD broadcasts and a competitive HD DVR.

4. I've heard numerous reports of the cable co.'s HD DVR's (made by Motorola or Scientific Atlanta., I think) to be very buggy with many problems. In addition, it's HDD isn't larger enough with 1/2 the recording capacity of the 250GB HDD of the HD D*TIVO, and it does not have the expanded functionality of the HD D*TIVO (and D*TV's upcoming new HD DVR and HD HMC).

We love our new HD D*TIVO, and I'm sure we'll be happy when D*TV swaps us out with the new equipment (provided their new HD DVR will be as good or better as the HD D*TIVO as it's been reported of course. :) )

...just some thoughts on the subject. :)

I'm not a DVR user and probably wont be. The upfront costs of D* are just something that I can't see paying now, that's why I got the free junk with E*. I have used cable DVRs and I don't like their interface at all, very screwy. I think dish has the fastest and simplest boxes that are very easy to work.

Dave,

Thanks for the update, and for at least a few weeks now WPTV has been near perfect, 100 signal hardly any problems for me. I mostly have been checking it during Leno at night, but am going to start watching the rest of my nbc favorites again. My main problem always was the lip sync issue, much better now that is has been resolved. Your picture looks much better than your miami counter part.


John

And don't forget, with the HD Tivo you only pay $5.00/month for the box plus a small one time fee of $1000.00.

The cable company rips you off every month with a box fee ($8) + a DVR fee ($13) + Programming. So after a year you've paid nearly $240 for that cable dvr versus the $1060.00 for the hd tivo.

Why would you not get a HD tivo??

---------------------------
yes, I'm exaggerating, but bsgoren's post was so pro-directv I had to throw in my 2 cents. I have directv and 3 sd-tivos and love them. I just think their hd-tivo is too expensive especially when they have new technology on the horizon (who knows what that means).

I found Adelphia to be very nice and helpful when I had their HD package. Quick phone support, next day appointments. The only reason I left was the lack of CBS and FOX. I would go back to them if they get CBS up, the 8300 while not as nice as the tivo is still a very easy dvr to use.

I know at least one other person here had an ATI HDTV Wonder.

If you have one and have not been following the HUGE thread, take a look. The head of Multimedia design for ATI is over there and he says new MMC in a matter of weeks.

Originally posted by pohnl
And don't forget, with the HD Tivo you only pay $5.00/month for the box plus a small one time fee of $1000.00.

The cable company rips you off every month with a box fee ($8) + a DVR fee ($13) + Programming. So after a year you've paid nearly $240 for that cable dvr versus the $1060.00 for the hd tivo.

Why would you not get a HD tivo??

---------------------------
yes, I'm exaggerating, but bsgoren's post was so pro-directv I had to throw in my 2 cents. I have directv and 3 sd-tivos and love them. I just think their hd-tivo is too expensive especially when they have new technology on the horizon (who knows what that means).

I found Adelphia to be very nice and helpful when I had their HD package. Quick phone support, next day appointments. The only reason I left was the lack of CBS and FOX. I would go back to them if they get CBS up, the 8300 while not as nice as the tivo is still a very easy dvr to use.

Actually, I paid $850 including shipping for my HD D*TIVO (Value Electronics w/ the $150 AVS/TIVO Community member discount :D ) - $250 credit from D*TV upon activating my HD D*TIVO (everybody's getting it now...if you ask for the credit from D*TV Customer Retention) - $60 off programming ($10 off HBO for 6 mo.) - $150 I got when I sold my Sony HD-200 HD Sat/OTA receiver, so the net cost of the HD D*TIVO unit for me was $390...not bad, huh? :D

We love the HD D*TIVO and now understand why these DVR's are so great; we can watch tv on "our time" + we can record in HD (which is what we watch mostly now)...the extra $5/mo is absolutely worth it (and much better than paying TIVO's $12.95/mo. or $250 for SD TIVO recording)!!! :D

As far as the "new technology" goes (D*TV's new MPEG-4 system with 2 new sats going up in '05 and '07)...D*TV has said that they will swap those of us who have spent $$ on the HR10-250 (HD D*TIVO) for their new HD DVR (or possibly their HD Home Media Ctr.) for little or no cost; they have built these costs of "taking care" of their HD subscribers into the deployment of their new system. They've done a similar "swap" or "upgrade" in the past, and so they will do it again in the future to hold on to their subscribers. I am not worried; just wondering how good their new "non-TIVO" HD DVR will be, but those who reported from the CES Conference a month ago said the new system is as good, if not better than the HD D*TIVO. :) I won't worry about it until they offer me the swap, which all reports are probably in 1-2 years.

BTW - if you're running SD D*TIVO's now, then you too will have to switch over to their new system eventually. Speculation is that D*TV will run the current MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 system simultaneously for some period, but eventually, only the new MPEG-4 system will work and all old MPEG-2 equipment (including current Sat dishes) will not work and D*TV will be swapping everyone out. If you have SD TIVO's directly from TIVO, then that's a different story; but again, there's nothing better than recording and time-shifting HD!! :D

Originally posted by WPTV DT DOE
WPTV DT update: Waiting on final travel plans for tech to be here in the next week, mid-February as promised. For all the signal complaints, we have been fairly stable on air the past month. I had an interesting email from a tech in Wellington the other day...same issue of "pixelization, dropouts and black flashes". He also had readings in the 90's for signal strength. He padded down the signal from his antenna, it helped, but caused lock out on Miami stations, then he installed a "A/B" switch to a small in the house antenna and padded it down, WPTV DT issues all went away. Seems like a lot of you are suffering from multipath issues with our signal being so strong and hard to discern with all the trouble we had.

Ironically, it appears that WPTV-DT's HD/DT broadcasts have somehow stabilized for the moment...I haven't seen the pixelization dropouts or black flashes today. I did notice those horizontal black thin static lines this morning on the Today Show and News Ch. 5 News, but this evening broadcasts of Joey (HD), Will & Grace (HD), The Apprentice (SD), and now ER (HD) have all been just about flawless. :) Also, I noticed that somehow, out of nowhere, my signal of WPTV-DT has also stabilized at around 88; it's not jumping all around from 72-88 like it's been for the past few days (when I've seen all the problems).

And, guess what? I never moved my Zenith SS antenna. So, does that mean that suddenly, my multipath issue just disappeared like that? Or, did someone do something at WPTV-DT that fixed something? Let's see if it lasts...:D

I am thinking of dumping DirecTV and going with the Adelphia HD service. My only concern is this - since they only offer a few networks in HD, will I be able to hook up an OTA antenna to the box to get the OTA stations in my area that Adelphia is not broadcasting? My e86 does a great job at combining satellite and off-the-air channels. Would hate to give up the OTA options.

Thanks for any input!

nope.

It appears WXEL 42-1 is back on.

Originally posted by hdtvis4me
I am thinking of dumping DirecTV and going with the Adelphia HD service. My only concern is this - since they only offer a few networks in HD, will I be able to hook up an OTA antenna to the box to get the OTA stations in my area that Adelphia is not broadcasting? My e86 does a great job at combining satellite and off-the-air channels. Would hate to give up the OTA options.

Thanks for any input!

Why not just keep your E86 for OTA? (Or, just wait until Adelphia carries more local DTV channels.)

bsgoren - I check 5-1 last night around 6:30-7pm, and it was blacking out on me. I haven't looked at that channel since then though, my wife rented some nr-rated DVD, and that pretty much summed up the rest of my night......

Originally posted by JeffBowser
bsgoren - I check 5-1 last night around 6:30-7pm, and it was blacking out on me. I haven't looked at that channel since then though ...
Watched ER last night on 5-1 with no problems whatsoever. Had to reposition my antenna to get a better signal strength, but that was it.

Originally posted by hdtvis4me
I am thinking of dumping DirecTV and going with the Adelphia HD service. My only concern is this - since they only offer a few networks in HD, will I be able to hook up an OTA antenna to the box to get the OTA stations in my area that Adelphia is not broadcasting? My e86 does a great job at combining satellite and off-the-air channels. Would hate to give up the OTA options.

Thanks for any input!

You don't need DirecTV to receive local OTA broadcasts through your E86. You'll lose the programming menu, but a local scan will pickup the local OTA stations. I'm currently subscribing to Adelphia HD and I'm using my E86 to pickup the local WPB OTA stations that Adelphia doesn't have yet.

I was thinking of doing that. Only problem is that I don't think I have 2 HD inputs on my TV :(

Originally posted by yanksno1
Watched ER last night on 5-1 with no problems whatsoever. Had to reposition my antenna to get a better signal strength, but that was it.

I recorded WPTV-DT's broadcast of E.R. on our HD D*TIVO and watched it this evening; it looked good except for several of WPTV-DT's infamous "black flashes" showed up during the broadcast. My signal is very good (80-90) and I do not believe I have multipath issues as someone alluded to earlier. Something is still not right at WPTV-DT...we'll see what happens after their expert tech shows up next week. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by hdtvis4me
I was thinking of doing that. Only problem is that I don't think I have 2 HD inputs on my TV :(

Many good quality receiver's have more than one component input. Use one component input for the E86 and the other for the Adelphia HD converter box. The receiver component output then goes to the HDTV.

Only 1 HD input on your TV?!?!? Geez... What's the POS you have?

I think what bgall meant is: "Only 1 HD input on your TV? Maybe you should double check your inputs".

I too am waiting on Adelphia to pickup CBS so I can resubscribe. My television only has one DVI but has a couple component inputs (which I used for the 8300 anyway).

A question for Adelphia users: Does the Dolby Digital audio work when using the digital coax output on an SA 8000 box? I only have one optical input on my amp and it is being used by the DVD player, so I can't use it. I have the analog and digital coax both connected to the amp, but only the analog is providing a signal. Any suggestions?

I don't know about the 8000 box, but I use an optical splitter on my amp to have 2 sources into one input on it.

I have the Mitsubishi 55819. It only has 1 HD input at 1080i. There are 2 component inputs at 480p (but that is not HD). And no component inputs on my audio receiver :(

What you need to expand the number of HD component video sources that you can feed into your Mitsubishi is an HDTV component video switcher:

http://www.audioauthority.com/aacconsumers/1154c.html

av8torfl,
Are you getting Dolby Digital through the Adelphia box? Was the optical splitter as expensive as the video splitter that Dave is mentioning. If it is, I am in the market for a new amp. It would be even better if the digital coax audio worked.

yeah how much is the splitter, I'm curious as well. I have 1 optical and 1 coaxil on my amp.

Originally posted by MVPinBoynton
A question for Adelphia users: Does the Dolby Digital audio work when using the digital coax output on an SA 8000 box? I only have one optical input on my amp and it is being used by the DVD player, so I can't use it. I have the analog and digital coax both connected to the amp, but only the analog is providing a signal. Any suggestions?

I think the coax digital output only works when there is a Dolby Digital signal present. The lower tier channels are analog. Many of the digital channels are........digital audio.

My cable box has both the left-right analog cables and the coax cable wired to the amplifier. The amp, a Sony, and is set to sense the presence of a digital signal. So, when the cable box has a digital audio signal present, the amp switches to the Dolby digital circuit. With no digital signal, the amp uses the left-right analog audio signals.

You didn't say what your amplifier is but most amps have a similar priority switching arrangements. Suggest you dig out your amp manual and read the section on receiving digital audio and be sure it is set up for digital/analog priority switching.

One more thing, on your DVR remote, push the Settings button twice and scroll the the Audio: Digital menu and be sure "Dolby Digital" is selected.

Let us know how you made out.

This is just an example of a cheap optical audio splitter,
hope it helps u out

Splitter (http://www.connectxpress.com/product.asp?cat_id=1206&sku=27027)

Abramsky,
Thanks for your recommendations. I did realize that the Dolby would only work on a dolby broadcast. I have an Onkyo system and set the input for digital coax, so there isn't any switching required. I did check the settings and tje aidop was set on Dolby Digital. I will keep playing around with it and I will find a solution. As is normally the problem with these type things, I am probably overlooking something very obvious that I assumed I have done.

av8torfl
This is a great price for a splitter. The write up indicates that it is to split a signal to 2 inputs but doesn't indicate that it will combine two outputs into a single input. It seems logical that it should, but I don't want to be accused of trying to impersonate an electrical engineer. :D

Am I the only one having trouble with channel 5-1? It was unwatchable here last night.

same here

Gee, I guess we must ALL be having "multipath" problems, huh? I mean, the problem couldn't possibly be at WPTV-DT, could it? :rolleyes:

I watched the beginning of Las Vegas and it was fine. I then left it recording and forgot to stop it after medium. It kept going and when I checked it in the morning the 7hour buffer started on Leno. The two minutes of Leno I watched looked good in HD. Someone please tell me the first scene in Las Vegas with the Pussycat Dolls was the only PD scene in LV. What I saw looked very nice, please tell me I didn't miss anything better.

Eventually Channel 5-1 just have to fix it don't they? I'm only 10 miles away and all the other stations at the antenna farm come in perfect. 34 an 25 are 40 miles away and they are perfect as well.

I'm watching L&O SVU or whatever right now on 5-1 and haven't had one problem with it. The only thing I've noticed recently is sometimes the widescreen not going to it's full 16x9 sometimes and it looks like a picture frame. I change the channel and it flips right back. Not sure if it's my TV or the station. But the audio seems to be syncing up right, not like before. I'm not sure what problems you guys are experiencing, but everything seems OK from me. :)

I've given up on WPTV-DT 5-1. I've set the Season Passes on my DirecTivo for WTVJ-DT 6-1 instead. Since I don't watch commercials the folks at 5-1 will probably have no incentive to address my reception problems.

This past weekend I purchased a RadioShack 15-2160 UHF antenna and mounted it below my existing CM 4228. I pointed the CM4228 almost due south and pointed the RS 15-2160 just west of north, following the directions on antennaweb.org. With this setup I am able to get a very good signal and solid picture from every WPB and Dade/Broward digtal station with the exception of WPLG-DT 10-1 (VHF 9).

While I haven't spent a lot of time viewing content from 6-1, I have yet to experience any problems with the signal or the image. The same can't be said for 5-1 where I experience frequent signal loss, artifacts and frozen pictures.

Does it seem strange to anyone the 5-1 transmitter is 18 times closer to my house than the 6-1 transmitter? From my back yard I can see the 5-1 tower!

I also don't buy the multi-path excuses offered up by the 5-1 folks. Assuming their transmitting outputting I would think this would be a problem 24 hours a day, not intermittently

Now that I have two antennas (probably mounted too closely together on the same mast) I now seem to be experiencing multi-path symptoms on _analog_ channel 25 (WPBF) but I can pickup digital 25-1 with no problems. This indicates that the HR10-250 is probably not as susceptible to multi-path as the 5-1 people claim.

Originally posted by siloreed
I've given up on WPTV-DT 5-1. I've set the Season Passes on my DirecTivo for WTVJ-DT 6-1 instead. Since I don't watch commercials the folks at 5-1 will probably have no incentive to address my reception problems.

This past weekend I purchased a RadioShack 15-2160 UHF antenna and mounted it below my existing CM 4228. I pointed the CM4228 almost due south and pointed the RS 15-2160 just west of north, following the directions on antennaweb.org. With this setup I am able to get a very good signal and solid picture from every WPB and Dade/Broward digtal station with the exception of WPLG-DT 10-1 (VHF 9).

While I haven't spent a lot of time viewing content from 6-1, I have yet to experience any problems with the signal or the image. The same can't be said for 5-1 where I experience frequent signal loss, artifacts and frozen pictures.

Does it seem strange to anyone the 5-1 transmitter is 18 times closer to my house than the 6-1 transmitter? From my back yard I can see the 5-1 tower!

I also don't buy the multi-path excuses offered up by the 5-1 folks. Assuming their transmitting outputting I would think this would be a problem 24 hours a day, not intermittently

Now that I have two antennas (probably mounted too closely together on the same mast) I now seem to be experiencing multi-path symptoms on _analog_ channel 25 (WPBF) but I can pickup digital 25-1 with no problems. This indicates that the HR10-250 is probably not as susceptible to multi-path as the 5-1 people claim.


I usually do not have "signal" related problems with WPTV-DT. The only issues I have experienced with WPTV-DT since Dave's last post was someone forgot to flip the switch during lasts weeks West Wing. I have the Radio Shack 15-2160 in my attic and a HR10-250.

Originally posted by siloreed
This past weekend I purchased a RadioShack 15-2160 UHF antenna and mounted it below my existing CM 4228. I pointed the CM4228 almost due south and pointed the RS 15-2160 just west of north, following the directions on antennaweb.org. With this setup I am able to get a very good signal and solid picture from every WPB and Dade/Broward digtal station with the exception of WPLG-DT 10-1 (VHF 9). Unless you are using an A/B switch or a system of UHF traps (signal filters), you are fortunate to get reliable reception using the combination of antennas you mention. Normally, you should not directly connect any two UHF antennas. Your results show that it doesn't hurt to experiment.

For some reason I was getting no picture or sound from WPTV-DT around 6 last night.

Originally posted by David McRoy
For some reason I was getting no picture or sound from WPTV-DT around 6 last night.

Dave - you watch channel 5 news? :D

(sorry - couldn't help myself)

Originally posted by Joel Graffman
Unless you are using an A/B switch or a system of UHF traps (signal filters), you are fortunate to get reliable reception using the combination of antennas you mention. Normally, you should not directly connect any two UHF antennas. Your results show that it doesn't hurt to experiment.


What do you mean? I am still a newbie. I have a Silver Sensor in my attic and get great reception from all the WPB stations except for really 5.1 which has good days and bad but I usually watch 6.1 most of the time with no problems. My question is this, if I have one Silver Sensor up there now and I am going to add a 2nd one pointed towards Miami to get the rest of the Miami stations and I was gonna put them relatively close to each other. Is this a bad idea? Please elaborate, thanks.

Ryan

How do you set up a series of UHF traps on two antennas? I'm in donwntown WPB and need 2 directional antennas to pick up ABC/UPN (NW), and all other stations (SW). Multipath prevents reception of all stations at once through a combiner, and a switch is not the best solution for me. The only two solutions I know of are 1) multidirectional antenna - since I'm underneath the airport flight path, this will likely increase my multipath issues every time a plane takes off or 2) signal filters - which I know nothing about.

Thanks.

I have two antennas. One is pointed north and one is pointed south. I have two leads into the house into a RS remote controlled coaxial switcher. I can then select which antenna I wish to used right from my arm chair. I tried using an antenna combiner, but found that I lost some of the stations that way. This switcher is only about $25 and well worth it.

Tony

Where can I get one of these coax switchers? When you said you lost some other stations with the combiner? How many? Was it considerable?

What ever happened to the "super tech guy" that was supposed to come to WPTV-DT this week to fix their problems??????? :rolleyes:

This should be available at your radio shack store Product # 15-1968. The combiner was a Winegard CC-7870. I can't remember what I lost with the combiner, but I didn't want to live with it, so went to the switcher. Some of the stations come in regardless of which antenna I use, but some require their own. It is funny that WPTV 5-1 that everyone seems to be having problems with comes in great regardless of which antenna I use. I use the Channel master Stealthtenna pointed south and a RS broadband (the one with the 80" boom) pointed south. Works great!

Tony

Keep in mind that a COAX SWITCHER is not going to allow your HD-TIVO to select the correct antenna. You would have to manually switch to the correct antenna according to what TIVO is trying to record.

For that very reason, along with other wiring issues inside the house, I can't use a switch, which brings me back to the question: How do you set up filtering or UHF traps on a two antenna setup?

Alternatively, if that doesn't work, is there a way to avoid multipath problems with a multidiractional antenna positioned under the main runway of PBI?

Originally posted by ryjam282
What do you mean? I am still a newbie. I have a Silver Sensor in my attic and get great reception from all the WPB stations except for really 5.1 which has good days and bad but I usually watch 6.1 most of the time with no problems. My question is this, if I have one Silver Sensor up there now and I am going to add a 2nd one pointed toward Miami to get the rest of the Miami stations and I was gonna put them relatively close to each other. Is this a bad idea? Please elaborate, thanks.

Ryan If you connect two similar/identical antennas with something like a splitter you in effect alter the gain and directivity characteristics of both antennas. As you may know, these characteristics are different for each channel.

Most antennas are designed to achieve a high gain and to be highly directional consistent with the physical size of the antenna. When you connect two antennas ( unless they are what is referred to as "stacked" and pointed in the same direction) The gain and directivity will be reduced which can cause multi-path problems. (ghosts for analog, flashing for digital)

In your situation, connecting two Silver Sensors may work, but probably will cause problems with WPB channels.

Normally if live only a few miles from local transmitters and want to receive these plus distant stations. An antenna rotator or two antennas connected with an A/B switch is the most reliable method for good reception.

In my situation, the WPB channels are the distant channels (40 miles ) and I point my attic Yagis directly toward them. Both Martin county channels (25 & 34) are almost directly on the beam 7 or 8 miles away and I do not have any problems which I found surprising. Apparently many people living near the transmitter have problems with 5.1 so your antenna requirements may be more demanding.

Hope this helps.

Joel

Originally posted by baylorgator
How do you set up a series of UHF traps on two antennas? I'm in donwntown WPB and need 2 directional antennas to pick up ABC/UPN (NW), and all other stations (SW). Multipath prevents reception of all stations at once through a combiner, and a switch is not the best solution for me. The only two solutions I know of are 1) multidirectional antenna - since I'm underneath the airport flight path, this will likely increase my multipath issues every time a plane takes off or 2) signal filters - which I know nothing about.

Thanks. A coax switcher (A/B switch) is probably a good choice as Tony recommended. However, if your airport multi-path problems are severe enough cable or satellite might be your only chance for consistent reception.

A UHF trap must be physically tuned to attenuate a band of frequencies. The trap I am familiar with is the Winegard UT-2700 which can attenuate two different frequencies. Multiple antennas with a trap on each antenna may work but would require a lot of tweaking and is not for the faint of heart. This would not help if you can't get either group of channel reliably from one antenna direction.

You didn't mention what antenna you are using, perhaps a different antenna, such as the R/S UHF Yagi that I use, pointed North might work for you.

To "filter" two antennas you can use the JOIN-TENNA System by Channel Master. This will allow one antenna to pick up a certain channel (or range of channels), and the other antenna to pick up another channel (or range of channels) through another filter/coupler.

Here is the link for Channel Master. Just follow the "passives" link, and take a look at the JOIN-TENNA System.

Link Click Here (http://www.channelmaster.com/home.htm)

Hope this helps,
sfin54

Originally posted by sfin54
To "filter" two antennas you can use the JOIN-TENNA System by Channel Master. This will allow one antenna to pick up a certain channel (or range of channels), and the other antenna to pick up another channel (or range of channels) through another filter/coupler. Thanks I forgot about that one it's a fairly new device, have you tried it?

Joel

Thanks I forgot about that one it's a fairly new device, have you tried it?

Not for myself, but set up a friend with the JOIN-TENNA System in downtown WPB, and seems to be working perfect for him. FWIW: we used two Silver Sensors. One pointing NW, and one S/SW.

Hope this helps,
sfin54

sfin -- thanks for the tip. I'll give the JOIN-TENNA a shot.

Joel -- As far as antenna type, I'm using a wineguard square shooter, which works best for abc and upn (NW), and a Terk55, which works best for PBS, NBC, CBS, FOX (SSW), despite the fact that it is much maligned on these boards. Although a bigger yagi-style antenna might solve all my problems, I don't have an attic, I live in a historic neighborhood, and I'm pretty confident my neighbors would stone me if I put one up. Since I have pretty good relations with them right now, I'm trying to avoid this, if at all possible.

By the way, anybody have experience with a multidirectional antenna around planes? I have a buddy in west lake worth (i.e. nowhere near the airport) who pulls in everything with a little round disk (probably 18" diameter), but I'm guessing since the directional antennas cause pixelation at my house on takeoff and landking, that a small mulitdirectional would be a disaster. If anybody has practical experience on this type of antenna I'd love to hear it.

Originally posted by baylorgator
By the way, anybody have experience with a multidirectional antenna around planes? I have a buddy in west lake worth (i.e. nowhere near the airport) who pulls in everything with a little round disk (probably 18" diameter), but I'm guessing since the directional antennas cause pixelation at my house on takeoff and landking, that a small mulitdirectional would be a disaster. If anybody has practical experience on this type of antenna I'd love to hear it.

I'm near the approach to 9-Left in Royal Palm Beach so they can get pretty close to us, especially when "scud-running". A few years ago when I was experimenting with different antennas and also when most of the local DT stations were at low power I did notice that large aircraft would cause the picture to pixellate briefly. It could be from radar, radio, or transponder, but it did happen. Now that I have the RS VHF/UHF antenna mounted, amped and tweaked in the attic it no longer happens.

One of the biggest problems that we have all experienced is the fact that when a DT station goes whack we have nowhere to check whether it's our equipment or theirs that’s at fault. If you had everything working and all of a sudden a channel starts acting up, wait a while before you start changing things. If it's 5-1 that's the problem well welcome to Palm Beach County. WPTV-DT has not worked correctly since they (were the last to) went digital.

FWIW I am using an array of 3 silver sensors with excellent results. Even though I have been told by most that I can't/should not do this / it won't work don't bother.

I use one pointed almost due south, one just about due west and one north to to ABC. I get everything rock solid with the exception of fox and abc from miami. I simply use identical cables from each SS to a monster 3 to one splitter and feed that into an a channel master amp then into my multiswitch in the attic.

I was using two SS and then added a 3rd in order to better isolate miami and WP signals since I had to point the antenna about half way between. Now I don't have to worry about the balancing act between the two areas.

I have an HR10-250 so using a rotator to move my antenna constantly is not really practical and kind of defeats the purpose of the tivo.

Just thought I'd share, it can be done pretty easily and inexpensively.

In this case it's not the station, it's the planes. I can actually tell when a plane is going to pass over my house because about 3 seconds before I hear it, the signal breaks up until the plane passes the house. When the planes are using a different runway, I'm rock solid on whatever group of channels I'm aiming at for the most part. FWIW, I understand it's a multipath caused by the direct signal from the transmitter conflicting with the reflected signal off the plane, which is why I think a multidirectional antenna might make things worse.

As for the silver sensors, I'd love to have a setup like yours, todd. Do silver sensors work outside? Everyone I've heard of uses them in an attic , and the downside of my old house is that every single wall in it it plastered on heavy metal lath, and there's no attic, so getting indoor antennas to work is a similar exercise to getting a cell phone to work in a mine shaft. (For anyone considering buying a historic old house, they're full of character, but not very HDTV compatible.)

I too use them in the attic, but I don't see any reason that they would not work outside. They are just plastic and aluminum so I'd think they would be somewhat corrosion resistant, but they are not terribly sturdy.

However, I believe that the principal is sound, I would think that you could put two identical directional antennas on a single pole and eliminate the need for having a rotor.

And frankly, the whole rotor thing is not very wife friendly. JMO your wife may vary :D

baylorgator,

In theory, Todd's setup should work for you. Just make sure to get 2/3
identical (go to ratshack/HD/lowes and get 2/3 of the same legnth cables) quad- sheild RG6 cables into a "good" spliter, and give it a try.

I'm also near the airport (Southern & Jog), and got "lucky" with a CM 3016 from Lowes (in the attic).

Hope this helps,
sfin54

Just to give another report on 5-1, watching ER right now and everything seems to be good. No problems at all, and everything's syncing up AOK. Anyone having any problems with WPTV-DT?

Originally posted by yanksno1
Anyone having any problems with WPTV-DT?

I can't get them at all anymore. I'm watching WTVJ-DT instead. I've done reboots and channel re-scans every day and nothing.

I have been having problems with 5-1 but i adjusted my antenna this afternoon and no more signal pulsing. the picture is good. My antenna was angled down just slightly since the hurricanes and that was the problem. i live just south of you in Lake Worth.

Originally posted by dolphan
I have been having problems with 5-1 but i adjusted my antenna this afternoon and no more signal pulsing. the picture is good. My antenna was angled down just slightly since the hurricanes and that was the problem. i live just south of you in Lake Worth. FWIW, I found that antenna roll and pitch angle on my UHF Yagi was very critical on nearby channels (25 & 34). When I first mounted my attic antenna using a "seaman's eye" for antenna leveling, I had multi-path problems. Re-positioning with a bubble level fixed the mult-path error.

I guess that was my problem. Thanks for the info. I'm in the opposite situation from you 5, 12, and 29 are close and 25 and 34 are far. I thought because I still got those far stations and 12 and 29 well that the antenna could not be the problem.

I spoke with Adelphia yesterday and they said that they now have CBS, ABC and NBC in HD. I thought that CBS was not yet added to their lineup. I want to sign up my parents, who are in Boca, since they are having ongoing problems with their OTA reception.

Can anyone please update me as to the status of Adelphia HD?

Thanks.....

No CBS yet, although I heard somewhere it is coming soon. They have NBC, Fox, ABC, ESPN, Discovery, HBO, Showtime, INHD & HDNet. Don't think I left anything out. Quality isn't too bad. The DVR (SA 8300HD) isn't the best. First one I had kept crashing every three or four days for no apparent reason. Wouldn't fully reboot and I had to call Adelphia each time to have them kick it. I've only had the second one for a couple days and so far no crashes. The program guide is pretty elementary. Lots of people report artifacts on playback and I see them also - some pixelization, some motion artifacts, some audio dropouts. All in all, I'd give Adelphia HD a "B" at best and could probably justify a "B-" or "C". That's based on being a former Voom subscriber who I would rate at "A-" or "B+" in comparison.

Thanks...I have the Passport version of the 8300HD dvr here in NYC so I am familiar with it. I knew that the Adelphia rep was wrong about CBS but she kept insisting that it was carried instead of Fox. Appreciate the critique of the service.

My parents currently have Directv plus an OTA antenna for HD. They have had constant problems with OTA reception, despite numerous visits from the antenna installer. While the PQ from cable is likely worse, at least it should work most of the time.

Actually I have been moderately surprised with Adelphia HD and my 8300hd dvr. I too have had many probs with Adelphia over the years
and was quite skeptical about the new service, but honestly have
had no problems in 3 weeks with the service. It sure is nice not
having to constantly tweak the house antenna anymore. The PQ
has been very good, and error free DVR recordings, lots of them so far.
Sure it's not as user friendly as TIVO, but does the job. The service
has been so consistent that I am considering adding a VOIP service soon
to my cable modem. Any sugestions, good or bad about the various
VOIP plans?

Originally posted by av8torfl
Actually I have been moderately surprised with Adelphia HD and my 8300hd dvr. I too have had many probs with Adelphia over the years
and was quite skeptical about the new service, but honestly have
had no problems in 3 weeks with the service. It sure is nice not
having to constantly tweak the house antenna anymore. The PQ
has been very good, and error free DVR recordings, lots of them so far.
Sure it's not as user friendly as TIVO, but does the job. The service
has been so consistent that I am considering adding a VOIP service soon
to my cable modem. Any sugestions, good or bad about the various
VOIP plans?

I have been using Vonage for several months. I highly recommend. It works just fine. The best part is I no longer have to deal with BellSouth especially its Slow Access Service. On the rare times Adelphia goes off I always have my cell. I would keep my land line for the 30 day trial. They will give you an alternate number. It takes several weeks to get your number transferred.

Originally posted by gazunga
I have been using Vonage for several months. I highly recommend. It works just fine. The best part is I no longer have to deal with BellSouth especially its Slow Access Service. On the rare times Adelphia goes off I always have my cell. I would keep my land line for the 30 day trial. They will give you an alternate number. It takes several weeks to get your number transferred.
I also have Adelphia cable modem and Vonage and have had a good experience with it. Love the cost, can't beat it. However I was having trouble with my Linksys RT31P2 and I was getting disconnected (had to power down and restart my Linksys and modem to get it back up) every other day (I think when my IP changed). After my orginal one crapped out on me and I got the replacement, same thing was happening again. Called Vonage and complained, haven't had one disconnect since then. I suggest buying the Linksys PAP2 in the stores, people seem to have no trouble with them. My phone # transfer took exactly 2 weeks from BS. If you or anyone sign up for Vonage, contact me or gazunga (or anyone else you know who have the service) and we'll both get a free months phone service to sign you up. Can't beat that. :)

I'm really glad you guys are enjoying your HD experience with Adelphia, I think once my DTV contract runs out I'll switch over. DTV's HD costs are just way to expensive (for my budget anyway). Do you guys have any type of cable modem/TV package with Adelphia to cut the costs down?

There is definitely a package deal with Adelphia for internet/HD cable. The rep will be able to give them to you when you call.

Does he Adelphia 8300HD box use Passport or SARA software?

SARA. Version 1.85.17.3

guzunga & yanksno1, how about the quality of VOIP? Is it there? How often do you feel you've given up some sound quality for this technology? Do the people on the other end of the line ever comment about poor quality? I'm tempted to give VOIP a try too and would like some reviews from real people as to how well it works with local equipment.

@ LisaM: I'll have to give them a call and see what packages they offer. I hope they're pretty good, I used to have digital cable (with all the premium movie channels) and a cable modem for around $120 a month (w taxes and stuff). I'm hoping they'll be better deals now since that was a few years ago. Anyone have any idea's about what the packages are before I call?

Originally posted by HobeSoundDarryl
guzunga & yanksno1, how about the quality of VOIP? Is it there? How often do you feel you've given up some sound quality for this technology? Do the people on the other end of the line ever comment about poor quality? I'm tempted to give VOIP a try too and would like some reviews from real people as to how well it works with local equipment.
I'd say the sound quality is excellent. You have 3 options to set your bandwidth (low, medium, high) and I have it set on medium now and notice some echos and stuff pretty rarely. I'd say it's about 90% at medium, but if you turn it to high it's about 97% or so, very good. But the thing is, if you notice the echo's simply call the person back and the next call it's perfect again. So I've been very happy with the sound quality, and for the price you really can't complain (compared to regular BS prices). :)

Originally posted by HobeSoundDarryl
guzunga & yanksno1, how about the quality of VOIP? Is it there? How often do you feel you've given up some sound quality for this technology? Do the people on the other end of the line ever comment about poor quality? I'm tempted to give VOIP a try too and would like some reviews from real people as to how well it works with local equipment.

The quality is better than dumbell south. I have had a few instances where people had a problem hearing me albeit very rare. As I said previously, try the 30 day trial and keep your landline. See if it works for you. For 25 bucks a month it is well worth it. All of the extras like call forwarding, caller id, *69 are included. It is especially useful to me as I travel out of the country frequently and am able to get my voicemail on the internet. I hope this helps.

Bellsouth isn't expensive. I don't think phone people have to worry about voip, they're never gonna rise up to compete. Bellsouth has been fine and it sure was nice to be able to talk to people in the middle of the hurricanes.

I don't want to turn this thread into a VOIP thread, but... I think gazunga's suggestion of testing it out and seeing how it works for you is a great idea before you take the plunge.

Originally posted by bgall
Bellsouth isn't expensive. I don't think phone people have to worry about voip, they're never gonna rise up to compete. Bellsouth has been fine and it sure was nice to be able to talk to people in the middle of the hurricanes.
Let me see, for the caller advantage plus or whatever plan I was paying about $42/month or so. Add another $10-20 for LD. I'm saving about half the price with Vonage and my phone lines went down during both hurricanes anyway so it was dead regardless. But whatever floats your boat I guess. :)

Definetly have a cell phone for backup however.

Is there anyone besides me who hasn't been able to receive WPTV-DT and WTVJ-DT lately? I get zip for signal strength.

I have been pulling both in without issue and watched them last nite when the wife tivo'd medium.

Originally posted by David McRoy
Is there anyone besides me who hasn't been able to receive WPTV-DT and WTVJ-DT lately? I get zip for signal strength.

I'm not receiving WPTVDT either via OTA, but via the Adelphia HD Converter Box I watched a part of prime time last night which looked fine.

I was receiving video this morning, but no audio on 5.1 ... Hmmmmm

I watched last night on both channels actually 5.1 and 6.1 with no real problems but I kept it on 6.1 most of the night as they are a little more reliable then the other....But, this morning, the local news on 5.1 had no sound...I thought it was a problem with the HD Tivo but I just changed to 5 and it was OK. Anyone know what the heck that was?

Well, I don't know what to do. I guess I'll futz with my antennas.

I watched part of primetime last night of 5-1 and no problems. Haven't checked it today yet, but I will later tonight when I get home. :)

5-1 had no sound at all for a couple days, so not sure how you had no problems yankno...

CBS-HD and Adelphia.

Talked to a CSR at Adelphia yesterday and he thinks we may get it by June!!!!.

He said its in negotiation. How long can a negotiation last?????

What I have never understood is why a TV station that gives away its over the air signal wants to be paid by someone that provides a service of guaranteeing distribution of their signal.

I though TV stations got their income from advertisers that pay a rate determined by the number of viewers. The more viewers, the more income.

What else is there to negotiate?

In this day in age it works the other way around. The cable co needs the station more than the station needs to be on cable, therefore they can rightfully blackmail the cable co.

Originally posted by bgall
5-1 had no sound at all for a couple days, so not sure how you had no problems yankno...
Actually that was my bad, I wasn't really paying attention to it (was just flipping through it a few times) so I didn't notice it didn't have any sound or not. I'll definetly check it out tonight. That channel for what ever reason normally comes in pretty strong for me (when it's working right).

Did anyone have any trouble with Fox 29-1 last night? Tried watching 24 and couldn't get a strong signal so I had to resort to watching it on regular TV. :( HD certainly adds another level of enjoyment to a TV show.

Originally posted by David McRoy
Is there anyone besides me who hasn't been able to receive WPTV-DT and WTVJ-DT lately? I get zip for signal strength.

Dave,

I have two radio shack antenna's in my attic, one the big vhf/uhf and the other a smaller uhf only that I purchased to point norh to try and get UPN and abc better. Well I finally gave up on using the uhf for the 2 north stations, never could get them both strong, and wplg comes in consistent enough from mia on the vhf/uhf. Anyway , I used to get WPTV at 100 on both antenna's, but during the week wptv fixed their lip sync issue, I lost them completely from the uhf antenna...zero signal like you...don't know maybe they did something for the multipath issue... It still has not come back on this antenna. The uhf/vhf still gets wptv at 100%.

John

I sent the following email to WPEC:

Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 3:57 PM
To: programming@wpecnews12.com
Subject: HDTV

Wow, FOX-HD on Adelphia with 5.1 DD sound is fantastic. Did you catch the Daytona or the Super Bowl in HD?

I now get so much HD programming form Adlephia in Lake Worth that I have a hard time fitting in any of the CBS fare that you broadcast.

Wish you were still part of my viewing day!!!!!!

And below is the response:

We wish we were, too. We presented a specific proposal to Adelphia a couple weeks ago. They are reviewing it. The ball is in their court.

Donn Colee
Station Manager
WPEC NEWS 12

I have a question about you guys that have Adelphia HD. I called last night and got some prices for some packages and wanted to see if this seemed right to what you were paying. They said with a cable modem, the premium HD package (which would include 1 movie channel package) would come out to about $118 (I'm assuming tax will be added). I forgot to ask if that came with the HD PVR box, I'm assuming it does. Are there any better packages out there? What are you guys paying (if you don't mind me asking) for your HD packages with Adelphia?

I am paying less then that, but my HOA picks up the cost of Expanded Basic. Suggest you find a CSR, get very friendly and see if he can give you any breaks on the upper end packages. I found that your rate is somewhat dependent on how hard the CSR wants to find the best deal for you. Some of the CSR's don't interpret the promotions correctly.

Also, try to talk to a CSR that works in the West Palm Beach Office. Some of the remote offices (like Orlando or out of state) have different deals and it looks like they get easily confused.

WOW, 231 pages! I recently put up an amplified SS antenna mounted 10 above my roof. I live in Delray Beach. I can't recieve any signal on 12.1 even though I can recieve 5.1, 25.1, 29.1 and 39.1 very well. I have the antenna pointed around 325 degrees and there are no visible obstructions. (although there may be distant obstructions)

Anyone else with a similar problem with a possible solution?

SS=Winegard SquareShooter
=Winegard SharpShooter
=Zenith Silver Sensor I'm guessing you're using a Silver Sensor.;)

You might need a VHF/UHF antenna at your location since 12-1 is broadcast on VHF channel 13.

It's the winegard SS-2000. Doesn't that pick up VHF as well? Does channel 16 qualify? I get 25.1 which is on channel 16

Thanks for the response Dave. I checked the specs on the Square Shooter 2000 and it does recieve VHF. It has a 40-50 mile range on channel 13. It is really perplexing that I get no signal strength at all while all the other local market channels get above 90 on the reciever's strength meter.

Any other suggestions?

You might need to point the antenna 30 degrees off from where it's recommended you point it. That works for me

I had a cable that I purchased from Radio Shack that filtered out channel 12. No I'm not kidding. It took a week for me to figure out. It was the cable from the wall outlet to the receiver. I thought this can't be happening so I checked it a couple times swapping back and forth same result no 12. I threw it away and all is well.

Since I've been using the Adelphia HD converter box to view most HD
content lately, I hadn't really been paying much attention to my OTA hookup. Then I started reading on the AVS Forum that some people were having problems picking up WPTVDT. So yesterday I tried tuning into 5-1 using my OTA receiver - nothing! I tried rescanning and still - nothing! Zero signal strength. All the other WPB digital stations come in fine, so I don't think it's my antenna unless the WPTVDT transmission tower has changed directions.

Joel Graffman advised me he is currently picking up WPTVDT from his location which is only a few miles from my house. He uses a 2nd generation receiver so perhaps the problem is related to my 1st generation Hughes E86 receiver.

But again I don't have any problems picking up all other WPB HD OTA stations.

I wonder if the 'technical support' that was supposed to fix WPTVDT's transmission problems around mid-February has something to do with this?

I'm watching 5-1 right now and it's coming in great for me. Watched ER thursday night also. No problems whatsoever. I must be in a good spot for that channel cause (most of the time) that's a strong channel for me. 29-1 is also a very strong channel (love seeing 24 in HD).

Quick question for you guys with the Channel Master 7777. I'm getting ready to buy it and hopefully improve my HD channel selection (I want ABC sooooooo bad right now) and was wondering how easy it is to set up. How hard is it? Pretty much plug and play or more for the technical advanced? Just curious to see how peoples experiences were in terms of setting up (coming from a newbie at this stuff).

Originally posted by lwhitefl
But again I don't have any problems picking up all other WPB HD OTA stations.

I wonder if the 'technical support' that was supposed to fix WPTVDT's transmission problems around mid-February has something to do with this?

I have 2 mitsubishi sr-hd5's, and a Hughes htl-hd. The hughes and one of the hd-5's are connected to attic antennas. The week between when WPTV fixed their lip sync issue, and when they had the Tech visit, I lost WPTV's signal completely (at zero now) on the mitsubishi. I consistently received a great signal (except for the lip sync issue which was not related to signal strength/mutlipath). I figured it may have been an antenna issue, or maybe they tweeked their signal to help with many users "mutlipath" problems, but after reading your post went into the attic and swapped antennas on the receivers. Switching the antennas caused nothing to change, mitsu zero signal for WPTV, hughes 100 signal...I also tried both antennas on my 2nd mitsu receiver and no WPTV signal....all the other WPB stations are coming in fine, except for ABC which I have never been able to get. I think the mitsu hd5 is a clone of the E86, so what ever changed at WPTV in that week, it looks like it may have futzed up reception with all E86's and their clones. I know Dave McRoy said he lost WPTV around the same time, and his profile lists a hd5, so I wonder if he still can't get a signal for WPTV. Anyone else with a hd5, E86, or other clone of the hughes lose WPTV? I know WPTV had problems with the dtc-100 a true 1st gen D* HD receiver, if those issues were not fixed, then now they might not be able to be received on 1st and 2nd gen hd receivers....not a good sign...

For the people who own a Winegard Sqaure Shooter antenna, where did you purchase it from? I can't find a local store that sells it.

I bought my Square Shooter online. I still have the problem on 12.1. The interesting thing is that I can get the Miami affiliate WFOR on 4.1 but don't get any programming info which makes my TiVo useless for CBS. Is there a reason why the programming for 4.1 doesn't show up?

jmk407,

I'm still not getting any signal at all from 5.1.

mitchlampert,

I don't think WFOR-DT is sending PSIP for programming information yet, but I can't be sure since my DirecTV box (Mitsubishi SR-HD5) overides OTA PSIP with info provided by DirecTV.

Mike4HDTV,

I got two SquareShooters from www.solidsignal.com .

FYI for mitsubishi sr-hd5 and hughes E86 owners, I sent this email to Dave Mckinley about our problems with WPTV:


Hello Dave,

Since 2/15/2005, wptv's signal dropped to 0 signal strength on both of my 2nd generation directTV, mitsubishi sr-hd5 receivers. I also have a 3rd generation receiver, a hughes htl-hd, and this receiver continues to get wptv dt at a full 100%. Prior to 2/15/2005, both of the mitsu hd5's also received wptv at 100%. There are at least 2 other people I know who lost wptv on the 15th, both AVSforum users like myself. One user, Dave Mcroy also has a mitsubishi sr-hd5, and the other lwhitefl has a hughes E86, another 2nd generation receiver, which the mitsubishi's are clones of. Can you please check into this, I had been watching wptv consistently over wtvj since your staff corrected the lip sync audio problems, but now I can't get any signal in two of my viewing rooms. I will be posting this at the avs forum also, and you may find other responses/details in the West Palm Beach local info thread.

Thanks

Originally posted by mitchlampert
I bought my Square Shooter online. I still have the problem on 12.1. The interesting thing is that I can get the Miami affiliate WFOR on 4.1 but don't get any programming info which makes my TiVo useless for CBS. Is there a reason why the programming for 4.1 doesn't show up?

If you are talking HD and TiVo I assume you have a HR10-250. If that is the case, all you have to do is set Miami as a Secondary Market. This is in the Setup under OTA Channels. When you do this your programing information will appear for all the Miami and West Palm Beach OTA DTV channels. I will post the step by step when I get home tonight.

If that is all I have to do to solve my problem, great!! That is the only issue I have with reception. I will try it tonight.

THANKS!!!

Well you guys have solved my problem!! Setting Miami as the secondary market did the trick!! Now I get all the major networks in HD!! Thank you so much.

FYI...the idiots from Adelphia sent an installer with an 8000HD today. I told my parents to refuse it. It's clear that they are trying to clear out their old supply of 8000 boxes. After a telephone rant, they are coming back on Thursday with an 8300HD.

Speaking of Adelphia.......does anyone in the West Palm area get VOD. If yes, what did you have to do to get it activated?

Adelphia sent an installer with an 8000HD today.


Was it a regular Adelphia installer or one of those numbhead contractors
for Adelphia? They are about brainless. Anyway, bitch to them on the phone after the 8300 arrives and they won't charge you that initial installation fee.

Good question. I am not sure. I made the appointment myself with Adelphia over 3 weeks ago and definitely specified the 8300HD. When the guy showed up with the 8000HD, I told him to take it back and called Adelphia. The rep said that the initial rep never wrote down that I wanted the 8300HD and that, in any event, they don't have any more. I told her that I knew better and that, if they wanted my parents to switch from Directv, they had better find one. Lo and behold, another installer is coming on Thursday supposedly with the 8300HD. I can't blame this on the guy who showed up - although he said that they didn't have any more, as well. FYI, the original Adelphia rep was the one who told me that CBS is currently carried by Adelphia in HD.

Morons...

Another reason to stay with D*TV! I am not interested in dealing with Adelphia...they are morons, and I'm enjoying my HD D*TIVO too much!!! :D

Any of you folks in this thread live on the Treasure Coast? I'm in Port St. Lucie and am curious to see what kind of reception I might get. I hope to have an HDTV in a few weeks (Francis/Jeanne leftovers, you know). D* won't have my local stations in HD for quite a while, and I know Analog reception around here is spotty. I've never been able to get anything other than WPBF and WTVX (UPN) without an antenna upgrade. Will the Zenith Silver Sensor work for me?

Welcome, CaysonE!

You're definitely going to need a lot of antenna where you're located. WPBF-DT and WTVX-DT should be a piece of cake since their transmitters are just west of Stuart but all the rest are near the southwest corner of Lantana Road and U. S. 441 in east central Palm Beach County.

I would suggest a big VHF/UHF combo outdoor antenna as high up as you can practically get it. Ours is the only West Palm Beach market DTV station on VHF (channel 13) but you'll need a VHF/UHF combo to get us reliably.

Originally posted by CaysonE
Any of you folks in this thread live on the Treasure Coast? I'm in Port St. Lucie and am curious to see what kind of reception I might get. I hope to have an HDTV in a few weeks (Francis/Jeanne leftovers, you know). D* won't have my local stations in HD for quite a while, and I know Analog reception around here is spotty. I've never been able to get anything other than WPBF and WTVX (UPN) without an antenna upgrade. Will the Zenith Silver Sensor work for me? I'm a bit closer than you and get excellent reception on the six or so Martin/Palm Beach channels with a UHF Yagi and a 5 element channel 13 Yagi in my attic. Both are small antennas. I don't use a rotator. I expect in your area (unless you have a two-story house) you would need to put this type of antenna on your roof.

Originally posted by LisaM
FYI...the idiots from Adelphia sent an installer with an 8000HD today. I told my parents to refuse it. It's clear that they are trying to clear out their old supply of 8000 boxes. After a telephone rant, they are coming back on Thursday with an 8300HD.

Lisa:

Maybe you are in NY and your parents would be unable to do it themselves, but you can just go to the Adelphia office and pick up the 8300HD and install it yourself. That's what I did. There's nothing to it.

Thanks...I installed my own 8300HD here in NYC. My folks would definitely not be able to do it - by their own admission, they are technologically inept. Well, the latest is that the tech today just showed up with a 3250HD non-dvr box. The saga continues...(I thought that Time Warner was screwed up but Adelphia really takes the cake.)

Originally posted by abramsky
Speaking of Adelphia.......does anyone in the West Palm area get VOD. If yes, what did you have to do to get it activated?

I live in South Palm and it showed up a few days ago. I signed up and have been having trouble. Sometimes it works, other times it says I am not authorized and still other time it comes with a lot of pixelazation and is unwatchable. I called tonight and gave them an error code I received and will see what happens. My guess is that it has just been deployed and the kinks are being worked out. I have a 50" plasma and the picture quality is not good. Perhaps on a smaller screen it is better. The cost is $4.95 a month and applies to the services you subscribe to.

Well after diddling with antennas for 6 months, I finally broke down and went with Adelphia. Yes, I've had bad experience with them in the past, but my signal is good, the signup special they're running right now is incredibly cheap for the next 11 months, and having an HD DVR is AWESOME! (Yes, it's different from my old TIVO and may have a few minor glitches, but it's got a few features TIVO didn't, it records HD, and it costs me $7 a month, not $1000). I can also use a Terk55 antenna straight into the TV to get CBS and PBS, so I'm now fully "HD'd".

Anyway, if someone wants to buy a month old Winegard Square Shooter, let me know.

Any news yet on CBS showing up on Adelphia?

Probably by June.

Thanks, Dave. Much appreciated.

baylor - I PM'd you.

Dave,
I hope your estimate is like the estimate we were hearing on FOX being added to Adelphia. It seemed like it was being talked about and presto there it was. I am sure looking forward to it.

The Adelphia-WPEC negotiation is a lot like tennis, no matter who you ask, the ball is always in the other guys court.

It would really be great if they could become friends in time for the NCAA tournament and give us all a break.

This is a bit off topic, but Adelphia didn't leave me a SA8300 manual. Anybody with Adelphia know if there is a way to remove unwanted channels (like the spanish stations, etc.) from the "guide"?

I've used the same guide for many years in another cable system and was never aware of any way to change the guide (except for the colors.)

You can download a manual on the 8300 at scientificatlanta.com . The URL to the explorer club where they have them is: http://www.scientificatlanta.com/explorerclub/default.asp

I can't imagine that you can change the guide channels that are dispayed.

I guess WPTVDT (5-1) doesn't really care about a sizable number of their potential viewing audience despite the fact they regularly proclaim HDTV broadcasting. Since mid-February I've been unable to receive their digital signal on my Hughes E86 receiver. I've sent an email to the station and received no reply and I haven't seen anything on this forum from any station representative. Apparently they feel broadcasting their HD signal via Adelphia compensates for this loss of viewers. WPTVDT has consistently been the weakest link in the WPB HD transmission chain.

WPTV is working just fine for me. I think this is the best we can get it. If they make a change now, then other things will be screwed up.

Originally posted by bgall
WPTV is working just fine for me. I think this is the best we can get it. If they make a change now, then other things will be screwed up.
Then why do all the other WPB digital stations work on my E86?

Is LOST in HD tonight? Adelphia 701 is in 4x3 mode for the program.

lost is a repeat tonight. Not watching or taping so can't comment on the 4x3. Hope Alias is ok, going to check my recording.

Anyone here anything about Adelphia adding any new HD channels anytime soon. I thought we would have ESPN-HD or NFLNetwork-HD (not that it matters with the season over) by now since they signed agreements some time ago.

I would like to see them add TNT and Cinemax-HD but most of all get me CBS-HD by March Madness. I heard something about June but I am crossing my fingers.

I still can't get WPTV-DT on my Hughes E86 clone, either.

I haven't had any problems with WPTV-DT since I moved in to my new home in Stuart, Fl, in late January (Directv/Hughes HR10-250). I've been getting rock solid 80-90% signal strength consistently. And, this is with my Squareshooter 2000 (amplified) antenna pointed in the opposite direction (must be picking up a reflection)

Originally posted by clfnole
Anyone here anything about Adelphia adding any new HD channels anytime soon. I thought we would have ESPN-HD or NFLNetwork-HD (not that it matters with the season over) by now since they signed agreements some time ago.


We have had ESPN-HD on channel 765 for some time now. I would have thought that all of the local Adelphia systems would have the same HD channels.

Correction, I meant ESPN2-HD.

Sorry.

Originally posted by crsanders
I haven't had any problems with WPTV-DT since I moved in to my new home in Stuart, Fl, in late January (Directv/Hughes HR10-250). I've been getting rock solid 80-90% signal strength consistently. And, this is with my Squareshooter 2000 (amplified) antenna pointed in the opposite direction (must be picking up a reflection) Why point it in the opposite direction? Do you receive the other PB County stations off the back the antenna also?

Originally posted by lwhitefl
I guess WPTVDT (5-1) doesn't really care about a sizable number of their potential viewing audience despite the fact they regularly proclaim HDTV broadcasting. Since mid-February I've been unable to receive their digital signal on my Hughes E86 receiver. I've sent an email to the station and received no reply and I haven't seen anything on this forum from any station representative. Apparently they feel broadcasting their HD signal via Adelphia compensates for this loss of viewers. WPTVDT has consistently been the weakest link in the WPB HD transmission chain.


I contacted Dave Mckinnley of WPTV via email a few times, and he replied back once saying they were doing some radar site repairs on damage from the hurricanes, and would have someone check on their digital transmitters. I am not sure if they ever were able to check them out, or they checked out o.k. for the tests they ran. He also said the receivers at their studios were all fine, but they may not have a huges E86 or one of it's clones to check. BTW both my SR-HD5's are not getting wptv.

Joel - from my location, the southern towers are some 38 miles away almost directly south and channel 34 and 25 are only 7 miles northwest from my home.

You'd think given the distance, the antenna would want to be pointed directly at the furthest stations south and you get what you get from the closer ones, hoping their being closer would be ok.

For some reason, I found when I pointed it directly south or even half way between the two targeted tower locations, I had many stations with relatively poor reception, 50% or worse. Instead I had to turn it essentially directly north to get the strongest signal from all stations. This means the back of the squareshooter is facing toward the furthest stations and the side toward the closer stations. Not intuitive at all, but then signal strength is not just dependent on tower distance and direction ....

The back of the house is pointed close to south. Off the back of the house is a 2nd story balcony and the antenna is mounted off of the mast of the dish which is mounted to the outside half-wall of the balcony (ie not back face of the house) in such a way that it is some 5-8 feet lower, overall, when compared with the 2nd story gable and back face of the 2nd story. Next door, to the south west, is another two story house.

My theory here is that the antenna is getting a stronger signal reflected off the back of my house, maybe helped by the neighbors house, createing a stronger overall signal than it did when pointed directly toward the most distant towers to the south.

Point here is there was a lot of testing done, and I made sure I tested both what was intuitively the right answer as well as solutions that were not.

I currently am receiving 5, 29, 25, and 34 with strength of 80 to over 90 and 12 at about 70 on the HR10-250's meter.

Originally posted by crsanders
I currently am receiving 5, 29, 25, and 34 with strength of 80 to over 90 and 12 at about 70 on the HR10-250's meter. Thanks. You are the first one I know of to use a SquareShooter in this area. You have an odd setup, but it is apparently exactly what you need.

How is reception on WXEL? This my weakest PB County channel.

Joel

Joel -

Get this ... I have a friend in Ft. Pierce who has a squareshooter 2000 mounted on a mast ONLY 5 FEET OFF THE GROUND ... and he gets everything fine (5, 12, 25, 29, 34). Because of his location further north of the towers for 34 and 25, he essentially has a straight shot off the back of his house, pointing in one direction (south) to line up with all the towers, those relatively close (34, 25) and those further south (5, 12, 29). He has said 12 is sometimes a problem. So for him to be only 5 feet off the ground and only have problems with 12, and knowing that he's some 50 miles from the WBP towers .... this is a great testimony for the squareshooter 2000. Even my experience, as non-intuitive as the antenna pointing is, is a a great testimony for the antenna, IMHO.

WXEL ... is that 42 ? Initially I was having difficulty and since I don't watch it much I think I removed it from my "Channels I Receive" so I can't recall where I ended up on that.

This weekend I'll review 42 and get back with you.

Ps. To avoid any potential confusion, whenever I talk about the stations, 5, 12, 25 ,29 etc, of course I'm talking about the over the air digital signals received over 5.1, 12.1, 25.1, 29.1 etc.

OTA signals seem to have a mind of their own. For the last month or so I've had good luck with 5, 12 and 29 with a Zenith 520 and a SqS pointed SW
(I'm 6 miles east of the Lantana antenna farm). 5 and 29 come in like gangbusters but 12 just makes into the "good" range but is enough to have a stable picture. Point the SqS to the west north west and 25 and 34 are fine - but if I point directly at their antenna, then nothing. Last night 12 would not make it to "good" by just a hair and the picture was no good. Seems like every night can be a crapshoot when it comes to OTA signals. My SqS is unamplified.

I've run the squareshooter unamplified and amplified ... amplified was the trick and I wouldn't have survived without it. It made all the difference which I guess, in general, is what everyone is finding on almost all antenna types.

I had an amp on it at first a year or so ago (same time Dave got his) and
everything worked great except 25, which I could nerver get. Then, about 2 months ago, everything went whacko. I tried new cable, adjusted the tilt, etc to no avail. So I took the amp off and got what I have today. Go figure.

Well, to answer my own question. Adelphia activated VOD in the Lake Worth area. Hope the rest of you are also getting it. It also seem like they added some software to have a new front end to the PG. It gives you a chance to go right to a VOD channel. I wonder what else the changed???

No sign of CBS, yet. How about a phone, email campaign to get Adlephia to carry March Madness in HD. Please write Adelpha and WPEC.

Dave - What is WPEC doing for HD coverage of this year's MM? Are you going to be using one schedule for both the analog and HD feed, or can you guys try to show us an HD game for each timeslot. Either way I guess It's easiet to relay which games you'll be showing.

Joel - Sorry for the late reply ...

This past weekend I reactivated channel 42.1, 42.2, and 42.3 (WXEL) and had no trouble receiving the signal, and showing about 71 on the HR10-250's strength meter. The signal didn't change at all, solid at about 71, like I get for CBS 12.1

Hope this helps.

Originally posted by bgall
Dave - What is WPEC doing for HD coverage of this year's MM? Are you going to be using one schedule for both the analog and HD feed, or can you guys try to show us an HD game for each timeslot. Either way I guess It's easiet to relay which games you'll be showing.

From WPEC General Manager Donn Colee:

"We will carry the games assigned to us by CBS on both our analog and digital channels, upconverted for digital if not broadcast in HD. Last year we tried to carry the HD games on our digital, but it created a nightmare for our master control operators trying to switch between two games. It was not a pretty sight. "

Ok, well I'll just gotta rely on the 50/50 chance for each game.

Well I'm pretty sure at least on Friday the first 2 games we'll get in HD, Florida and U-Conn

If you can get the Miami CBS station, WFOR 4-1, they will show a bunch of the games on Thursday and Friday in HD.

Here's the link: http://www.cbs4.com/finfour

Wow, how the heck do you read that chart? Nevermind I think I got it.

So assuming WPEC has the same games as WFOR, we get 2 HD games on thur and 3 HD games on fri on WPEC.

WFOR is showing an HD game in addition to their analog game for the 2 times on thursday and the 1 time on friday.

Here's what wptv needs to set up so we can get the DD5.1 from basically every HD show that NBC has, time to get er done :)

http://www.dolby.com/professional/pro_audio_engineering/5_1_implementations/NAB_diagrams/NBCBlockDiagram.pdf

I found this on PBost, are these really our games :(

THURSDAY
Kentucky vs. Eastern Kentucky
(CBS, 12:20 p.m.)
Cincinnati vs. Iowa
(CBS, 2:50 p.m.)
Wake Forest vs. Chattanooga (HD)
(CBS, 7:10 p.m.)
LSU vs. Alabama-Birmingham
(CBS, 9:50 p.m.)


FRIDAY
Florida vs. Ohio (HD)
(CBS, 12:25 p.m.)
Connecticut vs. Central Florida (HD)
(CBS, 2:35 p.m.)
Duke vs. Deleware
(CBS, 7:25 p.m.)
Stanford vs. Mississippi State
(CBS, 9:45 p.m.)

Please, please please, show the BC game tomorrow and the Georgia tech game friday night. This sux :(

Oh thank god they switched to BC! now can we have it in HD please :D

Where's everyone else in WPB? I'm starting to go crazy talking to myself ;)

Well we finally got some HD :)
But the only one for today :(

Well I guess i'll continue to update even though no one is here.

Anyways, this coverage is a nightmare :(

Now WPEC has dropped the HD game that was showing perfectly and are now simulcasting their analog channel, wtf are they doing?!?!?

I guess they caught on that the HD feed wasn't in sync with what they were showing SD wise so they decided to drop it, grr.....

What's worse is the game they're now showing in SD to match the analog feed is Gonzaga!!!

I am currently watching the NCAA tourney and comparing 4-1 to 12-1. The audio level on 12-1 is usually at about 50% of what it should be. I've got the volume cranked up on my TV. Intermittantly the level jumps up to 100% but after a short period of time drops back down.

4-1 is always at 100%.

What gives?

Lucky you can get 4-1 who's actually showing an HD game for each time period.

I'm kinda upset with WPEC right now, but yes when ever they're not doing HD their audio is really soft and the video looks worse than my DBS WPEC picture

Maybe we should start a petition to get Adelphia to add 4-1 instead of WPEC :)

j/k, I'm very happy with channel 12 HD lately. I'm not a huge basketball fan but I'll probably tune in when it isn't a thousand teams.

Howdy, all. I've been away for awhile - I don't watch basketball (I'd sooner have a root canal), and re-runs are rampant this time of year, so I've not paid much attention to TV lately. I will mention, though, that channel 5 still drops out on me repeatedly. I quit on them for good, I get the Miami stations well enough, and they don't seem to have these issues. Heck, I even get the UPN and WB digital stations better than channel 5 - you'd think 5 would have more money, class, and expertise.

So far pretty good today.

The only thing I don't like is that when the CBS network does this "toruney update" thing, interupting the middle of a game, they only do it on the analog feed, and the HD feed continues to show the game, so because of this WPEC switches to the analog feed to show that stupid update, then goes back to HD when it's over, and this is not really WPEC's fault they are just trying to match their analog feed I guess.

Originally posted by JeffBowser
Howdy, all. I've been away for awhile - I don't watch basketball (I'd sooner have a root canal), and re-runs are rampant this time of year, so I've not paid much attention to TV lately. I will mention, though, that channel 5 still drops out on me repeatedly. I quit on them for good, I get the Miami stations well enough, and they don't seem to have these issues. Heck, I even get the UPN and WB digital stations better than channel 5 - you'd think 5 would have more money, class, and expertise.

Ironically, 5.1 WPTV-DT has been coming in just about perfect with very few issues for the past few weeks for me here in Lake Worth. I have an HD D*TIVO and I've had very little pixelization dropouts or black flashes like we saw for several weeks in Jan and Feb. Interestingly enough, when I check the signal strength of 5.1 (digital ch. 55) on my HR10-250, tuner 1's signal strength (usually at about 71 or so) is still always much below Tuner 2's signal strength (usually at about 82 or so), and this is the only WPB H/DT station in which I see this. All others show identical signal strengths on my HD D*TIVO's Tuner 1 and Tuner 2. But nonetheless, WPTV-DT has been coming in good. I've TIVO'd several NBC HD shows in the past few weeks on 5.1 with few problems...go figure! :)

There is deffinetly a transmission problem going on with WPTV. The guys on here with 1st gens cant get them all. And today I was adjusting my antenna for some MP issues and I locked all of the other stations at 90 and above and now WPTV wont come in at all. I was getting them before but even then the sigal was always bouncing around 10 degress and wouldn't stabalize. so there is deffinetly something tricky with them. However WPXP that is on the same tower as WPTV and sends out their signal from the same building (at least a believe WPTV runs this for them) comes in just fine with no problems

Bummer, you could be enjoying their smearing interlaced full of artifacts SD transmission through their HD signal.

Actually I have seen it. Kinda sad, looks like a streaming video...

Today is the first day I lost them because I adjusted my antenna for the norm of all the other stations, which lost WPTV, maybe there's a hidden message there....

After spending time tweaking my antenna again, I was able to get WPTV to come back in without losing the rest of the stations, but the overall signal level dropped maybe 5% through out.

I haven't watched anything on 5-1 in the last couple days but I've been recording several things on it and it's been good for me. Although it would be ncie to have 5.1 audio. I usually record L&O: CI on Sunday night so I will check it out.

Call WPEC. Write to them. This is nuts. They absolutely cannot remember to throw the HD switch. Happens after every timeout and commercial. They may remember to do it many minutes late, and then a commercial comes up in thirty seconds and the process starts all over again. I've tried to call them and can't get anything but a voice mail to the news room. If anyone knows a secret number, I'm game for a phone call to them. WFOR is getting it right. Unfortunately, my reception of WFOR is in and out or I'd just give up on WPEC.

Rant off.

aw crap, this is happening now in the florida game. They dropped the hd early for commercials came back from commercials and it was still HD....

I have 4 HD recievers in my house and 2 of them get WPTV fine while the other 2 don't get the channel at all. I have an outdoor antenna which allows me to get 6-1 without issue so thats what I watch more often than not on the 2 that don't get WPTV. Take a guess at what the 2 that don't get WPTV are and I am sure you wont be suprised. Yes they are an E86 and a DST-3000 which is an E86 clone. My HD-Tivo and my Hughes HTL-HD both pickup the station fine. They really should fix this problem as there are quite a few people out there with these early gen boxes unable to get thier signal at all.

I just installed a Square Shooter antenna today and with my LG 3510A STB, I am picking up 5-1 with a very strong signal (I live in Weston). I watched the news today and I saw no problems at all. I will watch some HD tonight starting at 9 PM and report back if I see any problems.

Baylorgator and Bsgoren - I PM'd both of you.

I see that 5-1 only uses DD2.0 for its audio while 6-1 has DD5.1 audio. I have been watching 5-1 for the past few days and the PQ has been perfect.

Strangely, WFLX-DT (29.1) had major pixelization dropouts during AI. I didn't get to check my signal level, but it's almost always my strongest WPB DT broadcast station with a signal typically at 92-95. So, I'm not sure if something funky was going on at WFLX-DT this evening or if it was caused by the Fox network broadcast itself. Anyone else see this tonight?

Originally posted by Mike4HDTV
I see that 5-1 only uses DD2.0 for its audio while 6-1 has DD5.1 audio. I have been watching 5-1 for the past few days and the PQ has been perfect.

I was so glad when WPTV fixed the audio sync issue because WTVJ has deciede to hose the PQ on the main channel with their weather channel. At least WPEC dedicates minimal bandwidth to their substation. WTVJ dedicate way too much bandwidth to the substation.

bsgoren-

I noticed the same exact pixelization/dropout you did during AI. There were periods where it was really bad and frequent and then other extended periods where there was no problem.

Originally posted by crsanders
bsgoren-

I noticed the same exact pixelization/dropout you did during AI. There were periods where it was really bad and frequent and then other extended periods where there was no problem.

Even worse pixelization dropouts tonight on AI (although I didn't really watch it since the show messed up last night and they had that crazy "redo" this evening; besides, with the pixelization dropouts every 30 sec. - 1 minute, it was completely unwatchable anyhow). But, I did watch it for a few minutes and I then stopped recording and checked my signal strength for WFLX-DT; it was dead on 90-92...no problems on my end, so something funky must be going on at WFLX-DT.

Unfortunately, it's not limited to just WFLX-DT either...very bad pixelization dropouts with crazy green flashes and frequent diagonal lines flashing on WPTV-DT's HD showing of The West Wing tonight. It was totally messed up, and I checked their signal strength as well; it was at 88-90 so something is definitely wrong in W. Lake Worth at the antenna farm!! I'm not sure what's going on with these two WPB DT broadcast stations, but I hope they both fix their problems ASAP!!!! :confused: :mad:

I've come to the conclusion that either the high winds have affected or damaged the transmission equipment on both WFLX-DT and WPTV-DT's towers at the antenna farm OR the Gremlins are currently attacking the two towers!!!! :D

Add WPEC to this. They were having several dropouts and green flashes during the basketball this weekend. very strange indeed....

Tonight WPTV was breaking up like crazy as well, reading the HD prog forum, others in the nation had similar problems, so sounds network related

Did have many problems with WFLX though...

Conditions are pretty favorable for tropospheric ducting right now. This causes transmissions to travel farther than normal. The issues we are seeing may be due to signals from other regions reaching our area and interfering with our local transmissions.

As you can see from this news article even Tri-Rail was impacted (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-324trirailweather,0,4420170.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines) this morning because of how strong it was this morning.


Here is a site that forecasts tropospheric ducting. (http://home.cogeco.ca/~dxinfo/tropo_car.html)

If you look at any of the forecast maps you will see U's on the map near us suggesting these areas are unstable at the moment.

The good new is you might be able to pick up some stations you normally would not :), but only for a limited time.

ah, ok. It's a totally unfamilar topic to me, but I guess it makes sense

Apparently WPTVDT (5-1) doesn't give a damn about any early HDTV adopters that have first generation receivers such as the Hughes E86. I can pickup all WPB digital OTA stations fine except for WPTVDT. Other first generation receiver owners have posted on this forum complaining they've been unable to receive WPTVDT. I've sent them emails that go unanswered which tends to comfirm they don't care. This station has clearly been the most uncaring and inept digital station in the WPB market.

Originally posted by lwhitefl
Apparently WPTVDT (5-1) doesn't give a damn about any early HDTV adopters that have first generation receivers such as the Hughes E86. I can pickup all WPB digital OTA stations fine except for WPTVDT. Other first generation receiver owners have posted on this forum complaining they've been unable to receive WPTVDT. I've sent them emails that go unanswered which tends to comfirm they don't care. This station has clearly been the most uncaring and inept digital station in the WPB market.


I hear ya....I am not sure if they don't care or just have other higher priority items on their tech staff's plate. I did get 1 quick response from Dave at WPTV, a few weeks ago, but later emails to him stating that nothing had changed with the the problem have gone unanswered. It is really frustrating because wptv has always been one of the easiest WPB stations for me to receive...and now that they have the lip sync issue resolved, their presentation is particularly strong...1080i with no substations, wish WPEC would get it (wtvj for that matter) and lose the subchannel during hd and no emergency weather conditions....responses from them on this issue has been pretty much the same as WPTV and our current problem..none. Today's NC Wisc game was horrible...the badgers red uniforms breaking up into pixelization during all fast action sequences, same as the NFL teams with red/orange uniforms....WFOR had none of the pixelization for the basketball game....BTW are the Huges E86 and clones first or second gen hdtv rcvr's? I thought the rca dtc-100 was the first gen of D* HDTV rcvrs.

Well I finally signed up for Adelphia's HD package. Have one more month left on my DTV contract so I'll just pay it outright and cancell at the end of the month. Got the service setup on Sat and got the SA 8300HD. Only bad thing about the service install was Adelphia forgot to tell me I needed $9.95 (cash or check) for the deposit on the box. I ran out of checks so I had to scrap up $10 in cash to give him. I also think they gave me a used unit cause the unit has some scratches on it and the remote had some gunk on it. Here are my impressions so far:

Definitely not as nice as a Tivo or ReplayTV (which I've tried both) with the interface. As mentioned in past threads/posts: 30 sec skip is missing, recording repeats vs new shows, and just the interface is a little quirky. But I love the dual tuner feature and the ability to record HD. Haven't missed one recording yet, so that's good news. A $1000 is just too much for my budget right now (to buy the HDTivo). Was a little bummed you had to pay $5 extra for ESPN, Discovery, etc. in HD. But oh well.

Now a question for you guys. I hooked up the digital coax cable to the receiver for 5.1 surround sound. I watched Project X which I thought I heard it working when the choppers flew overhead. When I just had my regular antenna hooked up my stereo would switch automatically to 5.1 when I watched HD programs. Haven't watched too many movies to fully test out the 5.1, but have watched a few shows in HD. So far no 5.1 for the local channels. That was the only disappointment I had in watching Lost/Alias/Eyes last night. The picture looked stunning in those shows though.

For you people with Adelphia HD have you been able to get 5.1 for the local channels yet? That's really my only problem with it so far, everything else seems to be working pretty good.

Originally posted by yanksno1
Definitely not as nice as a Tivo or ReplayTV (which I've tried both) with the interface. As mentioned in past threads/posts: 30 sec skip is missing, recording repeats vs new shows, and just the interface is a little quirky. But I love the dual tuner feature and the ability to record HD. Haven't missed one recording yet, so that's good news. A $1000 is just too much for my budget right now (to buy the HDTivo). Was a little bummed you had to pay $5 extra for ESPN, Discovery, etc. in HD. But oh well.

For those interested, don't think that if you're still considering the HD D*TIVO, you have to pay $1,000...quite the contrary if you do a little homework. It can be purchased from several retailers like Value Electronics online for $850 (with the AVS Forum/TIVO Community Forum discount); then, upon activating your new HD D*TIVO, you can get up to $250 credit from D*TV (if you call D*TV customer retention and ask for it) + a variety of programming discounts. For example, I bought my HR10-250 from VE for $850 (incl. shipping) and then received the $250 D*TV activation credit and a $10 off programming discount for 6 months ($60), and I sold my Sony HD-200 HD Sat/OTA receiver for $150. So in effect, my HD D*TIVO unit cost me a net of $390!!! :D

Then, in a couple years, as it's been said, D*TV should swap out my HD D*TIVO unit (for little or no cost) for their new HD DVR after the new MPEG-4 system is all in place. We've been loving our HR10-250 for 3 months now...it's the BEST thing that happened to our Home Theater!!! :D

Hi all,
I just relocated form Pembroke Pines to Western Lake Worth and I'm having some problems getting OTA HD channels. I was told about this message board and after reading this thread, it appears I just have the same problems as everyone else up here.

I have a Dish 921 HD receiver and a Mitsu 65". In Pembroke, I got all the OTA channels OK but I'm having trouble up here expecially with 5-1 and I can't seem to find a WB channel. One question I have is my OTA antenna is a gray flat square thing about 18"x18" and 3-4" thick. It has a large W moulded in the face. Can anyone tell me what this is? Also, how is it designed to be mounted? Omni directional, verticle, horizontal or in between. Moving it around affects the signal strength of my OTA channels a LOT and I can't figure out just where to point it. I'm out in Lake Charleston area.

Many thanks - glad I found you all.

Well, I can tell you that you have a Winegard Squareshooter. There are two variants. The SS-1000 has no pre-amp and the SS-2000 does.

As you haven't mentioned the pre-amp, I assume you don't have one. You may be able to get away with just adding one.

I would be interested to know where you bought yours as I am considering the same but would prefer to buy locally in case I have to go back.

The antenna is intended to be multi-directional, not quite omni. Beamwidth at some VHF frequencies is as much as 61 degrees. I am interested in it to try and get WPB and Miami stations which are separated by about 100 degrees.

Tony

There is no WB station in the West Palm area. You will need to recieve the Miami station on 19-1/39-1 if you want WB.

Looks like we have a new sub-channel. Music videos with motion artifacts. Hope this is a test and not how they plan on using the bandwidth.

Re: WB in West Palm Beach adi, WTCN, channel 15 in Stuart is supposed to become the WB affiliate this month.

Wow, Dave that is terrific news, we will finally have our own WB!!!

Now they just need to put up a digital antenna and start broadcasting a digital / HD station!

Originally posted by Joel Graffman
Looks like we have a new sub-channel. Music videos with motion artifacts. Hope this is a test and not how they plan on using the bandwidth.

Neat! Do you recognize the station? Is it the Tube? (which is an FTA music station)

Originally posted by bgall
Neat! Do you recognize the station? Is it the Tube? (which is an FTA music station) As I recall, it was the Tube. However, the video quality had very apparent motion artifacts and the audio quality was about the same as AM radio.

WTVX has been a WB affiliate for a number of years now but showing both UPN and WB programs screws up program times.

WTCN does carry some of WB's programs as long as it has been on Adelphia channel 15 but the FCC website shows they have a license for channel 43? I guess since they are low power, they are sticking to their cable channel number as identification. Can anyone actually get them over the air? I get a faint blip on channel 43 but nothing I can use.

Just checked out WFLX's sub channel and it is TheTube. It's like a cheesy version of VH1 Classic. Analyzed the transport stream and it shows the main channel at 16Mb and the sub channel at 4Mb but it's probably more like ~3Mb.

Would this be the same show hosted by Jools Holland and the late Paula Yates originally on BBC ? I am without antenna at the moment so can't check myself.

Originally posted by Panth1
Can anyone actually get them over the air? I get a faint blip on channel 43 but nothing I can use. I can get a snowy picture using the back end of an attic Yagi. I'm only a few miles from the transmitter. It's interesting to note that Viacom just bought this station. Stand by for big things.

Just checked out WFLX's sub channel and it is TheTube. It's like a cheesy version of VH1 Classic. Analyzed the transport stream and it shows the main channel at 16Mb and the sub channel at 4Mb but it's probably more like ~3Mb. How did you measure this?

Joel

Probably a MyHD card and TSReader

Any updates on Adelphia carrying CBS in HD? I switched my parents from Directv to Adelphia two weeks ago and they love the ease of use for HD compared to the OTA antenna, which was always screwing up. Getting CBS is the last piece of the puzzle.

Originally posted by bgall
Probably a MyHD card and TSReader
Indeed, I saved a transport stream off my MyHD and opened it up in a program called HDTVtoMPEG2. It actually isn't very accurate and I found another program called TSReader that is more detailed.

WFLX shows the main channel video at 14.4Mb and 2.17Mb for the sub channel. WSVN is at 14.3Mb and 2.8Mb.

Lots of other PID values besides video and audio taking some bandwidth that I have no clue about.

I called Adelphia and bugged them about CBS and ESPN2 HD channels but they don't have a clue whats going on other than what their channel lineup show on their computer screen. :rolleyes:

LisaM

I've been bugging the manager of WPEC several times as have others. Adelphia customers need to continuously call and write both Adelphia and WPEC and tell them to stop playing games. Its a total outrage that a TV and cable market area as big as WPB has to but up with this kind of baloney.

I just sent the following email to Dave McKinley at WPTV:

I finally got around to hooking up a 2nd Hughes E86 to rule out the possibility of a primary defective receiver. I rescanned and picked up all WPB OTA stations with the glaring EXCEPTION of WPTVDT (5-1). WPTVDT (5-1) isn’t even listed on my local scan list and there’s no signal strength regardless of the method I use to try to select the station. I sent you an email about this situation more than a month ago and you’ve never responded.

Before last summer’s hurricanes I was picking up WPTVDT (5-1) just fine on both Hughes E86 receivers although at that time you were having serious audio sync problems. But I haven't been able to pickup WPTVDT (5-1) at all since last summer's hurricanes. The only consolation is NBC doesn't contain much HD programming anyway - especially sports, thank goodness you’re not broadcasting the NFL or MLB!

NBC didn't even bother to broadcast one of the premier golfing events of the year (The Players Championship) in HD. Both NBC and WPTV management should be ashamed of themselves for the way HD consumers (especially early adopters) continue to be mistreated.

Originally posted by lwhitefl
I just sent the following email to Dave McKinley at WPTV:

I finally got around to hooking up a 2nd Hughes E86 to rule out the possibility of a primary defective receiver. I rescanned and picked up all WPB OTA stations with the glaring EXCEPTION of WPTVDT (5-1). WPTVDT (5-1) isn’t even listed on my local scan list and there’s no signal strength regardless of the method I use to try to select the station. I sent you an email about this situation more than a month ago and you’ve never responded.

Before last summer’s hurricanes I was picking up WPTVDT (5-1) just fine on both Hughes E86 receivers although at that time you were having serious audio sync problems. But I haven't been able to pickup WPTVDT (5-1) at all since last summer's hurricanes. The only consolation is NBC doesn't contain much HD programming anyway - especially sports, thank goodness you’re not broadcasting the NFL or MLB!

NBC didn't even bother to broadcast one of the premier golfing events of the year (The Players Championship) in HD. Both NBC and WPTV management should be ashamed of themselves for the way HD consumers (especially early adopters) continue to be mistreated.

Len, I almost always agree with your comments 100% but before I do on this, I have to ask you...

Didn't you switch to Adelphia HD and if so, don't you have the HD locals aside from WPEC-DT with Adelphia HD?

If not and you're still with D*TV, then why don't you just end your frustration by selling your current 2 Hughes E46 receivers on Ebay or whatever and buy a newer D*TV HD Sat/OTA receiver or HD D*TiVo? Or, you could just wait a year or two for when D*TV completes their switch to their MPEG-4 system, and D*TV will swap out your current D*TV HD receivers for brand new ones. At that point, your current Hughes E46 "early adopter" HD receivers will not work with the new system anyhow.

Although I totally understand your point and you're correct that any and ALL H/DTV broadcasts (including WPTV-DT) should work on any and ALL HD Sat/OTA receivers including the 1st or 2nd gen. receivers, but at this point in time, you may be in the minority now with those older HD receivers (I even started out with the Sony HD-200 which when the DTV signals were good, it always worked great), now that there are so many more HD customers. I sold my HD-200 and bought my HD D*TiVo (HR10-250) a few months ago and we've been loving it since!! :D

As it appears you're not getting the response you need from WPTV-DT (and quite frankly, their signal has been coming in very good for the past 3-4 weeks for those that don't have those older receivers). It may just be time for you to buy a new HD receiver or you can wait for D*TV's new MPEG-4 system and then you'll probably get a new one (that should work fine, even for WPTV-DT) for free! FYI - my previous post a few days ago mentioned how I was able to buy an HD D*TiVo for a net cost of $390 (after buying it from VE for $850 - all the credits from D*TV and selling my Sony HD-200 Sat/OTA receiver for $150). You may be A LOT happier with a new receiver or HD DVR!! Just a thought. :)

Yes, I think you're in the minority.

We know the cycle of problems that WPTV has down to an exact science. And this is the stage where everything else is working except those older gen receivers. If they make a change then it's either the audio goes out of sync, or the black flashes. I think it's time to admit defeat and find something else.

I probably do currently represent the minority of HD users in the WPB OTA HD marketplace. I currently only use my Hughes E86 to pickup CBS and PBS which Adelphia HD doesn't yet carry - another frustration! And I may eventually return to D*TV when they go to MPEG-4.

But it's truly unfortunate we have a station so technically inept in our local HD OTA broadcast area. I certainly hope WPTVDT never gets any major sporting events that cause us to have to rely on their "expertise".

WPTV's issue is positively related to the older boxes as I have mentioned I have 4 HD recievers 2 of which are E86 based recievers and 2 newer recievers. They are all provided signal from the same antenna distributed through my multi-switch and the 2 older boxes get absolutely no signal while the 2 newer boxes work without a problem. It is a shame that more effort isn't put into getting this situation resolved as it should work for all stations, maybe WPTV should just offer to upgrade all the users of "Older" recievers to a newer generation so they can get thier viewers back. Lucky for me I can get 6-1 on the recievers that cant get 5-1.

Originally posted by bgall
Yes, I think you're in the minority.

We know the cycle of problems that WPTV has down to an exact science. And this is the stage where everything else is working except those older gen receivers. If they make a change then it's either the audio goes out of sync, or the black flashes. I think it's time to admit defeat and find something else.

Yes, let's hope that WPTV-DT keeps everything the same as their recent H/DTV broadcasts have been stable (for now). Their history has shown us that when they change or fix something, they tend to screw something else up. Whatever they're doing now seems to be working (for most of us anyhow), so I say "if it isn't broken, don't fix it!" :D

Is anybody using their Adelphia SA8300 box with a HDMI cable? My component cables look great on HD, but I was curious if I'd see any differernce through HDMI, and when I tried to hook up the box that way, I got no signal. Anybody doing it successfully?

Originally posted by baylorgator
Is anybody using their Adelphia SA8300 box with a HDMI cable? My component cables look great on HD, but I was curious if I'd see any differernce through HDMI, and when I tried to hook up the box that way, I got no signal. Anybody doing it successfully?
If it aint broke, why fit it right? ;) I agree though the componenet cables look great. Don't have a DMI output on my TV :( but have read reports of people hooking it up and then screwing the picture. Don't know about anybody's experiences here are, and a bit curious myself (though sorta moot since I can't hook it up anyway).

Slightly bit off topic again, it seems my receiver for my Onkyo LSV950 unit has broken and I'm not getting any 5.1 surround sound through it. I called the Lakes Electronic store that I had my speaker repaired, but they don't do receivers. Do you guys have any suggestions on a good place to take it? The Onkyo services centers require a $25-30 deposit and I'm a little reluctant to put that down if it costs too much to fix it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. :)

OK, everyone keeps mentioning the OLDER GEN receivers. I have a DISH 921 HD that's about a year old. Is this new or old gen?

Also, everyone talks about D*TV - is this Dish, Direct or what? Sorry, just trying to understand what everyone is talking about.

Terry

Originally posted by TLTURBO
OK, everyone keeps mentioning the OLDER GEN receivers. I have a DISH 921 HD that's about a year old. Is this new or old gen?

Also, everyone talks about D*TV - is this Dish, Direct or what? Sorry, just trying to understand what everyone is talking about.

Terry

D*, DTV, Dave = DirecTv
E*, Echo, Charlie = Dish Network

The 921 is not 1st/2nd gen.

Hope this helps,
sfin54

Originally posted by yanksno1
Slightly bit off topic again, it seems my receiver for my Onkyo LSV950 unit has broken and I'm not getting any 5.1 surround sound through it. I called the Lakes Electronic store that I had my speaker repaired, but they don't do receivers. Do you guys have any suggestions on a good place to take it? The Onkyo services centers require a $25-30 deposit and I'm a little reluctant to put that down if it costs too much to fix it. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. :) I can't answer your question, but you can be sure that it will be expensive. Have you verified that it is not a bad connection?

Originally posted by Joel Graffman
I can't answer your question, but you can be sure that it will be expensive. Have you verified that it is not a bad connection?
I didn't try the sub or center speaker yet, but I did hook up the rear speakers to the front connections and did hear the sound coming from those speakers. Bummer, I had a feeling it might be expensive and I wish these stores didn't require a $30 (I wouldn't mind $10-15, but $30 is a bit expensive) deposit just to see what was wrong and to give you an estimate. Might just say screw it and buck up and start upgrading my system now. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. :)

EDIT: I did figure out the problem. Was stuck in stereo mode, couldn't figure out how to get out of it. Was able to figure it out and working AOK now. I still think the electronic stores are a rip off though for the $25-30 deposit. :mad:

Nobody using a HDMI cable with the Adelphia box? Has anyone else tried their connection? I"m trying to determine if it's even active.

Originally posted by Joel Graffman
As I recall, it was the Tube. However, the video quality had very apparent motion artifacts and the audio quality was about the same as AM radio.

I've spent the past 4 hours watching this channel, and the video does indeed leave a lot to be desired. The audio is not great, but it's certainly NOT the same as AM radio. I've listened to it through my DLP's speakers, as well as through the optical audio feed to my Sony receiver (it's DD 2.0), and it's quite respectable. And the mix of videos is excellent.

Originally posted by ricksm3
All Marlins games are in HD on Voom. Watched it last night and it looked mighty good. FSN Florida is the first regional sports network to be added to Voom. I've never heard of FSN Florida HD. Are there any cable companies that are providing a HD version? Anyway, Voom continues to impress.


Getting tired of D* not adding any new hd, and with tnt-hd carrying all Eastern conf games in hd, am close to setting up a voom install....just wondering if voom still has the Marlins games in hd? This would probably seal it, although I am also looking at the adelphia hd/dvr/powerlink combo....does not help with the tnt problem...can't wait until the providers get it right and start carrying all the hd channels...we can only dream of that day right??

Thanks,

John

jmck:

You've got an IM.

Originally posted by baylorgator
Is anybody using their Adelphia SA8300 box with a HDMI cable? My component cables look great on HD, but I was curious if I'd see any differernce through HDMI, and when I tried to hook up the box that way, I got no signal. Anybody doing it successfully?

I'm using HDMI without any problems. I never tried component so I can't tell you how much of a difference. It's been a couple months since I set it up and I'm getting old. Can't remember if there was anything in setup you had to do. Scroll through the advance settings and see if there's a setting you missed.

Originally posted by jmck407
Getting tired of D* not adding any new hd, and with tnt-hd carrying all Eastern conf games in hd, am close to setting up a voom install....just wondering if voom still has the Marlins games in hd? This would probably seal it, although I am also looking at the adelphia hd/dvr/powerlink combo....does not help with the tnt problem...can't wait until the providers get it right and start carrying all the hd channels...we can only dream of that day right??

Thanks,

John

Be very careful of VOOM; it was almost shut down completely a month ago, and now there are current efforts to save it, however futile. VOOM is a real mess...it's future is extremely uncertain. D*TV and E* own the sat tv business and it appears as if it will stay that way for many years to come. See the article below...

BTW - D*TV should offer much more HD content with their new MPEG-4 system when it's complete in a couple years.


New effort to save Voom
Charles Dolan moves to shrink Cablevision's board and oust 3 more who ordered him to shut satellite service

BY HARRY BERKOWITZ
STAFF WRITER

April 1, 2005

Cablevision Systems chairman Charles Dolan plans to oust three more directors who had ordered him to shut the Voom satellite TV service that he is trying to rescue, the company disclosed yesterday.

The disclosure came on the same day that the board's interim agreement to extend the life of Voom expired. The satellite venture's uncertain fate has sparked an enormous feud between Dolan and his chief executive son, James, who wants to kill it.

Despite the agreement's expiration, the board did not meet yesterday to resolve the three months of turmoil. The company did not say whether the board would meet today.

On Monday, in an extraordinary action that defied the board, Dolan asked the Federal Communications Commission to block Cablevision's deal to sell Voom's sole satellite to EchoStar Communications for $200 million - a deal signed by James Dolan in January. Charles Dolan also personally pledged $400 million to resuscitate Voom.

If Voom is not immediately ordered shut, the planned further shakeup of the board could give Charles Dolan greater sway in determining the satellite service's fate, possibly enough to force Cablevision to hand Voom over to him.

But without the satellite that is being sold to EchoStar, which is not willing to alter the deal, it is not clear how Dolan could keep Voom operating, and analysts do not expect the FCC to side with Dolan.

Dolan and his son Tom, Voom's chief executive, have refused to shut the service, which has attracted only 40,000 subscribers, had $661million in losses last year and is given little chance of success by analysts and several board members.

The Cablevision disclosure included a letter written by Dolan to the board on Tuesday, informing directors that he plans to reduce from six to three the number of them who are approved by public shareholders - rather than by him - at an April 18 meeting. All six public-shareholder directors were among those who had ordered Voom shut.

Dolan said the six current public-shareholder directors would nominate three for the new board. He had indicated earlier that he would exercise his right to name 75 percent of the board.

Dolan's plan would shrink the board from 15 to 12 members - nine chosen and approved directly by him and three approved by public shareholders.

Early last month, Dolan ousted three board members who had ordered Voom shut and hand-picked five new ones: son-in-law Brian Sweeney, who is Cablevision's senior vice president for e-media; Liberty Media chairman John Malone; former Viacom chief Frank Biondi; former ITT chairman Rand Araskog; and cable pioneer Leonard Tow.

In the new letter, Dolan said he believes the four outside executives would qualify under New York Stock Exchange and Securities and Exchange Commission "independence" requirements to serve on the board's audit and compensation committees.

The current members of those committees are public-shareholder directors Victor Oristano, who signed a letter early last month warning Dolan to stop soliciting new Voom subscribers; former New York State economic development director Vincent Tese; former Chase Securities managing director Thomas Reifenheiser; and Vice Adm. John Ryan. Regent Capital Management chairman Richard Hochman and law firm partner Charles Ferris are the other public-shareholder directors.

Originally posted by bsgoren
Be very careful of VOOM; it was almost shut down completely a month ago, and now there are current efforts to save it, however futile. VOOM is a real mess...it's future is extremely uncertain. D*TV and E* own the sat tv business and it appears as if it will stay that way for many years to come. See the article below...

BTW - D*TV should offer much more HD content with their new MPEG-4 system when it's complete in a couple years.


New effort to save Voom
Charles Dolan moves to shrink Cablevision's board and oust 3 more who ordered him to shut satellite service




I have been following the voom doomsday thread in the hdtv programming forum, but don't see much of a risk with the $1 install....I may end up getting the standard voom package, and the adelphia ultimate pak which discounts/combines all movie services, hddvr service and power link. I am a 10 yr+ D* sub...got it for Sunday ticket (transplanted Steeler fan), but got to say I am very disappointed that they have not added tnt-hd (or espn2hd for that matter, though not much content yet)...a big Heat/nba fan, and not seeing the tnt games in hd has been a let down. Also, catching some Marlins games in HD on Fox sports Florida, would be nice. I will keep D* for the ticket....if they don't allow me to drop down to just the ticket (doubtful), then I may look into putting the account in hold/unused status and see if ST suto renews....if not I will activate again for football season.

Originally posted by jmck407
I have been following the voom doomsday thread in the hdtv programming forum, but don't see much of a risk with the $1 install....I may end up getting the standard voom package, and the adelphia ultimate pak which discounts/combines all movie services, hddvr service and power link. I am a 10 yr+ D* sub...got it for Sunday ticket (transplanted Steeler fan), but got to say I am very disappointed that they have not added tnt-hd (or espn2hd for that matter, though not much content yet)...a big Heat/nba fan, and not seeing the tnt games in hd has been a let down. Also, catching some Marlins games in HD on Fox sports Florida, would be nice. I will keep D* for the ticket....if they don't allow me to drop down to just the ticket (doubtful), then I may look into putting the account in hold/unused status and see if ST suto renews....if not I will activate again for football season.
Man you must got some serious wiring going on inside your house. ;)

Originally posted by yanksno1
Man you must got some serious wiring going on inside your house. ;)


ya think?? :) I had 2 rg6 lines ran to the 3 rooms that were going to have my hi-def capable displays....figured I would need one for sat and another for the over the air....then discovered I could use a pair of diplexers to combine the D* signal and ota on 1 run/tv.....freed up a run to each...yes!!!2 years ago when the house was in blueprint voom was not even available, and adelphia had almost no hd. 2 runs/display should have been enough...besides I figured I would never think of moving from D*, especially when their picture on HBOhd/showhd/HDNET were all stunning...only 1 channel per transponder....and they carried all the available hd channels I wanted...those were the days. If I go with voom+adelphia+minimum D*, will get either voom or adelphia to run another rg6 to each display room (maybe both if they can do it cleanly).....lots of cables, but it should have me set to feed the dual tuners on the hdpvrs i get eventually ..

While flipping thru the channels on Thursday evening, I noticed that channel 12.1 was telecasting the Masters in HD. First time I've noticed different programming from channel 12 analog.

Perhaps it's because I don't get the Palm Beach Post, but it seems a shame that this telecast was a secret, or at least not widely publicized.

They did it last year.

You gotta know about it ;)

Big talk about it on the main forums, and on sportsline.com they had a PR

Originally posted by Joel Graffman
While flipping thru the channels on Thursday evening, I noticed that channel 12.1 was telecasting the Masters in HD. First time I've noticed different programming from channel 12 analog.

Perhaps it's because I don't get the Palm Beach Post, but it seems a shame that this telecast was a secret, or at least not widely publicized.

Thanks for the heads up Joel - I wasn't aware of this WPECDT telecast either. I watched it on USA Thursday. I agree with you it's a shame the WPECDT Masters weekday telecasts was not more widely advertised. I looked at the Titantv schedule and it did not indicate the HD telecast.

It's on again right now, If no one asks I don't tell. I knew about it for a while ;)

Originally posted by jmck407
I have been following the voom doomsday thread in the hdtv programming forum, but don't see much of a risk with the $1 install....I may end up getting the standard voom package, and the adelphia ultimate pak which discounts/combines all movie services, hddvr service and power link. I am a 10 yr+ D* sub...got it for Sunday ticket (transplanted Steeler fan), but got to say I am very disappointed that they have not added tnt-hd (or espn2hd for that matter, though not much content yet)...a big Heat/nba fan, and not seeing the tnt games in hd has been a let down. Also, catching some Marlins games in HD on Fox sports Florida, would be nice. I will keep D* for the ticket....if they don't allow me to drop down to just the ticket (doubtful), then I may look into putting the account in hold/unused status and see if ST suto renews....if not I will activate again for football season.

I told you...VOOM is out! As of 4/30/05, stick a fork in them...they're done! :eek:

http://www.voom.com/

From their Web site...


"Voom will cease to provide service to existing customers on April 30, 2005.


New customer orders are no longer being accepted, and we are unable to complete any scheduled installation or service appointments. You will be contacted regarding any scheduled appointment." Board votes unanimously to end Voom.

I think you should stick with D*TV, get an HR10-250 HD D*TiVo and wait for their new MPEG-4 system to come online; then, they'll swap you out with their new HD DVR or Home Media Ctr. when it's necessary. That's my plan, and in the meantime, we're enjoying our HD D*TiVo; it's great and it only cost us a net of $390 + an extra $5/mo. for the HD DVR service...so worth it.

Does anyone think that Comcast can swing a deal with WPEC, to get CBS in HD, now that Adelphia is going out?

Originally posted by bsgoren
I told you...VOOM is out! As of 4/30/05, stick a fork in them...they're done! :eek:




oh well...would have liked to have seen the nba playoffs on tnthd and marlins on fox sports net hd....



I think you should stick with D*TV, get an HR10-250 HD D*TiVo and wait for their new MPEG-4 system to come online; then, they'll swap you out with their new HD DVR or Home Media Ctr. when it's necessary. That's my plan, and in the meantime, we're enjoying our HD D*TiVo; it's great and it only cost us a net of $390 + an extra $5/mo. for the HD DVR service...so worth it. [/B]


I was planning on keeping a minimum, or whatever it took to autorenew ST anyway...might start looking at the HR10-250, but don't like putting all the eggs in D* basket, then depending on them to do the correct thing and upgrade the tivo for minimum, when the mpeg4 conversion goes full force...if I already paid for the hdtivo, and locked into another 1 yr contract to get the discount from customer retention, then they pretty much can name whatever terms they want on the upgrade...and I don't have any real threat to change on them...at least for the first year....I think I may give adelphia's dvr a chance, their ultimate pak combined with the $27.99/mnth powerlink for 6 months deal looks pretty attractive...plus in 6 months we will probably have a better idea of how D* is handling the mpeg4 conversion....not to mention what they are doing with the bandwidth from the spaceway sat now on launch pad.


John

Originally posted by jmck407
oh well...would have liked to have seen the nba playoffs on tnthd and marlins on fox sports net hd....




I was planning on keeping a minimum, or whatever it took to autorenew ST anyway...might start looking at the HR10-250, but don't like putting all the eggs in D* basket, then depending on them to do the correct thing and upgrade the tivo for minimum, when the mpeg4 conversion goes full force...if I already paid for the hdtivo, and locked into another 1 yr contract to get the discount from customer retention, then they pretty much can name whatever terms they want on the upgrade...and I don't have any real threat to change on them...at least for the first year....I think I may give adelphia's dvr a chance, their ultimate pak combined with the $27.99/mnth powerlink for 6 months deal looks pretty attractive...plus in 6 months we will probably have a better idea of how D* is handling the mpeg4 conversion....not to mention what they are doing with the bandwidth from the spaceway sat now on launch pad.


John

I've heard horrible things about Adelphia's Motorola or SA made DVR...very buggy, freezes, poor UI, few features, and 150GB HDD (vs. the 250GB HR10-250). I've played around with a friend's Adelphia DVR and I have to agree with what I've heard...it's no HR10-250. However, maybe with TW/Comcast taking over, Adelphia will see some positive changes in the near future.

In the meantime, when the MPEG-4 system goes online, D*TV will have to not only swap out the HR10-250's (and all D*TV sat receivers) but also all sat dishes too (our current sat dishes will not work with the new MPEG-4 system); so, it's reasonable to think that they'll swap everyone out for little or no cost just for customer retention purposes...all those costs for D*TV is figured into the new system. It's a very large undertaking which D*TV has done before and seems to be committed to doing it properly again. With D*TV's history and what appears to be an exciting time for D*TV in the near future, most HD D*TiVo users aren't so worried about how D*TV will take care of those of us who've spent the $$ for the HD D*TiVo. They know that more and more ppl want a great HD DVR service; one that's as good or better than what the HR10-250 currently offers.

In fact, many ppl and journalists who saw the new HD DVR and HMC from D*TV at CES gave detailed accounts of these new MPEG-4 HD DVR systems and they do in fact appear to be as good or better than the HD D*TiVo (although some might argue that a few TiVo-like features and ease of use may be missing). Anyhow, I'm glad there are options out there (without VOOM in the picture) and either way, the future of HD looks bright. With all that said, I still say you get what you pay for my friend. :D

Originally posted by bsgoren
I've heard horrible things about Adelphia's Motorola or SA made DVR...very buggy, freezes, poor UI, few features, and 150GB HDD (vs. the 250GB HR10-250). I've played around with a friend's Adelphia DVR and I have to agree with what I've heard...it's no HR10-250. However, maybe with TW/Comcast taking over, Adelphia will see some positive changes in the near future.
...
Quick question, has TW/Comcast officially bought Adelphia yet? Or is it just an assumption that they will?

I've owned the standard Tivo and Replay units (2 Tivo's and 1 Replay crashed on me) and have to agree the SA8300HD unit isn't nearly as nice as the Tivo (or Replay) interface. But it does the job. And I love the fact I can record HD without shelling out a good amount of cash for the unit (especially since I had 3 units die on me).

Now that I fixed my 5.1 problem, I gotta say wow. Watched 24 in HD last night and it was simply amazing. When the choppers flew overhead outside the building and you heard them in back of you (plus the gunfight), I was just blown away. I've heard 5.1 HD before, but this was another level.

Originally posted by yanksno1
Quick question, has TW/Comcast officially bought Adelphia yet? Or is it just an assumption that they will? An offer has been made, but not yet accepted or rejected. Even if accepted, it will probably take quite a while before we see any improvements.

Originally posted by Joel Graffman
An offer has been made, but not yet accepted or rejected. Even if accepted, it will probably take quite a while before we see any improvements.
Since I saw this news (http://www.tivo.com/5.3.1.1.asp?article=246), I really hope Adelphia accepts the offer and lets Comcast take total control (at least over our area). I'd love to see what Comcast and Tivo come up with for a new DVR box. You know Adelphia would never come to an agreenment with Tivo like Comcast has. :rolleyes:

Hi all...
Being in Broward I haven't visited this thread before, but was recommended to do so because WPB has Adelphia Cable subs...
WOW there is too much to read!!!

I have been a Voom sub for over a year and enjoyed it very much. PQ was for the most, outstanding and having OTA was great. My TV doesn't have an integrated tuner so either I have to buy one (if Voom takes the equipment back or disables the OTA) or subscribe to D* E* or Adelphia (only one in my neighborhood)

So at risk of being told to read all the posts or search, I post this question to Adelphia HD subs:
How is the PQ on HD locals vs. OTA?
Does the box have DVI out? Is it better than component?

Thanks in advance...

Adelphia PQ vs OTA is comparable on my Pioneer Plasma. I'm using OTA directly in the tuner on CBS and PBS with everyithing else coming from the cable box, and you'd be hard pressed to find any difference. I'm also using component cables on the box, which look great. I would also like to know about component v HDMI quality, but how different types of cables affect PQ is EXTREMELY dependant on your display type and internal decoder on your set. I've seen totally different PQ results on 3 different sets, as far as which type of cable gave the better signal. On some sets it makes no difference, on others it does. Also, I have read through other posts that HDMI connection will not allow you to turn off your TV picture but have the cable music channels play (if this is an issue to you).

All,that being said, I'd be curious to hear your results if you try it.

Originally posted by baylorgator
Adelphia PQ vs OTA is comparable on my Pioneer Plasma. I'm using OTA directly in the tuner on CBS and PBS with everyithing else coming from the cable box, and you'd be hard pressed to find any difference.
Really...? Wow I would have thought OTA would be rather better...good to know.

Originally posted by baylorgator
I'm also using component cables on the box, which look great. I would also like to know about component v HDMI quality, but how different types of cables affect PQ is EXTREMELY dependant on your display type and internal decoder on your set. I've seen totally different PQ results on 3 different sets, as far as which type of cable gave the better signal. On some sets it makes no difference, on others it does. Also, I have read through other posts that HDMI connection will not allow you to turn off your TV picture but have the cable music channels play (if this is an issue to you).

All,that being said, I'd be curious to hear your results if you try it.

So the box supplied by Adelphia does have an DVI , HDMI output as well as component? With Voom I have it via DVI, which I found to be slightly better than component.

I guess I will have to give it a shot...I only have 15 more days of Voom until it goes dark so I will have to make a decision, pronto!

Anyone else have any comments that can help me make a choice?

So you have adelphia in the Miami market?

Does that mean you have miami stations and not WPB?

Well assuming that you'll get to keep your voom box and it will still receive OTA you'll be fine, otherwise I wouldn't recommend adelphia as your only source for HD in the WPB market because they are still missing CBS,UPN,and PBS. Adelphia system wide still doesnt carry TNT or Universal, however they are supossed to be adding ESPN2