Got 100% WPTV-DT tonight from 6pm to present. Picture quality is great (when it comes in). Did notice some sound test pings earlier. In order to receive the signal, I have to point my antenna the opposite direction of where it aims for all my other DTV stations. I am using a Hughes e86 with Radio Shack 15-1862 antenna. I do notice some pixelation every minute or so that lasts for about 2 seconds. Quite annoying, but they are testing, so I guess this is expected for now.

Well, it looks like WPTV-DT is doing something right tonite. I'm getting 86-93 solid with very few pixelations in Miami. Hopefully others besides myself are getting a good picture and signal now too!

Dave, WPEC-DT at 29kW is actually one of the highest VHF signals allowed in S. Fla. 8-1 and 9-1 are both less than 15kW. You guys are almost double their ERP. By the way, I don't have any complaints on your solid 80-90 signal down here either. George just might need to get a better antenna or get a little more elevation to get the signal.

FWIW, tonight I'm getting very good reception on both the Dish 6k and the Hughes E-86. Strong signal level indications on both, however, still get the ocassional pixellation/drop-outs/black screen. Yesterday I was getting good reception on the Dish 6k and absolutely nothing on the Hughes E-86. Check out a photo of my antenna setup on page 60 of this thread.

Excerpt from South Florida thread:

Q:Are you testing a full power, partial power, low power? Is there a percentage level of power you could share?

A: We are at full power, we are having some issues with 1 of the amplifiers and continue to work on it.

My speculation about root cause follows...

Perhaps the aformentioned amplifier issue was/is excessive non-linearity causing excessive distortion of the 8VSB modulation, which maybe some STB's are better able to deal with than others. Excessive distortion -> high bit error rate -> pixellation/drop-outs/black screen and/or no signal level indication even if ERP is 1 MW! :-0 I find it hard to believe that a non-standard bit-stream would be transmitted at this point in the DTV rollout. (Unless they're testing a weird new conditional access system ;-)

--acesk8er.

After reading all these posts and fighting with my vintage DTC-100, (which has served me well and will continue to be connected to my AVX-1 169time/JVC30000 deck; I broke down and purchased an open box specieal at BestBuy - Samsung SIR-TS160. Wow, you certainly cannot beat "new". Recieved 55-1 right off the bat, 12-1, 29-1, 25-1, all signals in the 90's; it even found 59-1! 25-1 and 34-1 in the 70's. No remappping problems on 25-1 that the DTC100 had, no 90 second channel acuisition time for 12-1. PUFF - works great. My antenna's are: 2 silver sensors glued to the roof, and one radio shack beast in the attic for VHF. All connected with various combiners etc.
I am happy.
(for now)

You are able to get 59-1?

Dave & Mark
I stand corrected.
I do make mistakes, and I was wrong.
I forgot ch 13 was VHF.
I got caught up in the moment.

I do get ch 13 signals, and I get the re-mapping and it shows up on my STB.
What I don't get is the video, so that is why all the questions.

hdtvis4me,
No pic or sound, 0% signal this am, however, when i did my initial scan last night, it caught it. I didnt check signal strength on it last nite.
dan

Dave - I have a RS ant called The Stick (no longer sold) vhf/uhv with 20 db gain in the attic over the garage aimed NNW. Don't get any of the Miami stations this way but even 25-1 comes in great, so with 55-1 I have no complaints. I'm at Congress and Hypoluxo and like everyone else 55-1 is full of dropouts and pixilation. Just hope they figure it all out by Derby Day!

I am happy I got 55-1 last night.
Can't get 15-1 anymore, must not be skip weather for me, so 55-1 will be the replacement.

no 55-1 today
they must be taking the weekend off

Originally posted by danny7981
no 55-1 today
they must be taking the weekend off


I thought it was just me.

I clicked over during a commercial on the District to 55 to see if they were on. They are on and the picture is perfect! I am getting seven bars on the Samsung signal meter here in Coral Gables. I am watching the news now. Now that they have the bugs out I hope they get the HD equipment up for the Kentucky Derby next Saturday. :D

dharding,

I'm a little NE of you in N. Miami about your same height (150') and am only getting 55-1 at 0-6 tonite. I'm getting 12-1, 25-1 and 34-1 at 100 and 27-1 out of Orlando at 40. Looks like you've got a better angle at the tower than me. That amplifier they are having problems with must be out again?

Mark_T you may be right. The slight difference in our locations may be the reason. I cannot receive any Orlando stations and the only Palm Beach stations I can receive are WPTV and FOX 29.

55.1 was strong this morning. They are testing 55.2 currently. No dropouts.

Just read your posts this morning and tuned in...ZIP on 55-1 and 55-2. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by David McRoy
Just read your posts this morning and tuned in...ZIP on 55-1 and 55-2. :rolleyes:

It's strange thing that happened to 12 and 55. When the testing started on 55 I Had a marginal sig on 12. My antenna points south. The day they started testing I adjusted my antenna to see if I could get 55 a little better. In the being it was 0-15% after the adjustment I got 40% but noticed 12 was down below a lock. Oh well I said I will wait till every one is finished testing and then re adjust.

Yesterday 55 was off. 12 came back up to 80% and this morning 55 was back up with a lot of improvements and 12 was back to 80%.

How close are your transmitters to each other? Will an out of standard transmission effect your transmission ? The two channels are very far apart.

Or is this an issue with my Sony SAT HD200. I have a modest antenna pointed south, but it's at 65'

This is a lot to ponder for a Sunday.

From Coral Springs you should aim your antenna north for WPB stations.

Our towers are probably less than one mile from each other.

Originally posted by David McRoy
From Coral Springs you should aim your antenna north for WPB stations.

Our towers are probably less than one mile from each other.

Currently I don't have the antenna on a rotor. I do need the antenna to be south to get all the Miami stations and at 65' i have been able to get CBS great with this arrangement.

Channel 55.1 is back down to 0-30% on my sony hd-100 today . Friday was much better. I was actually locking in a picture then. I assume that all dct-100 users are also not receiving. I hope their engineers monitor these posts and are making adjustments accordingly.

I don't think they care about our posts.
They are testing, and we will get weird results until all is well.
I don't think they are "on the air" officially.
I hope they will test High Def by next Sat.

I'm posting 2 more answers from the NBC 55-1 engineer on the South Florida thread this morning. For those intested, please check it out. The questions clarify "omnidirectional" as well as the "bugs in the datastream" issue (vs. upgrading early generation equipment).

If there are other questions, please post them. This contact seems to reply within one business day.

Darryl

Originally posted by HobeSoundDarryl
I'm posting 2 more answers from the NBC 55-1 engineer on the South Florida thread this morning. For those intested, please check it out. The questions clarify "omnidirectional" as well as the "bugs in the datastream" issue (vs. upgrading early generation equipment).

If there are other questions, please post them. This contact seems to reply within one business day.

Darryl

Did anyone on the board say that they were having success getting 55.1 on a Hughes e86? I'm not (just 10 miles south of antenna) and I hardly consider that "early generation equipment".

I had the e86 down as one of 2 receivers not getting it. But then acesk8er on this thread claims to have recieved it (see post 1253). acesker was not getting it on the e86 previously while having success with a second (Dish) box.

One thing I've noticed. They are testing back and forth between 55-1 and 55-2. Sometimes, only one or the other is available at a given time. For several days, I have been trying to catch both active with a manual channel scan, but only one or the other locks. If you haven't been doing channel scans regularly, this could be the issue.

Also, while I can see measurable improvement in (not needing such extreme) directional sensitivity (antenna pointing), there are still a lot of angles that register null as I turn the antenna. Since at least one e-86 user has it, you may want to start playing with the direction of your antenna. You may want to ask acesk8er for other suggestions and/or details on getting NBC-DT on an e86.

My SAT520 locked 55-1 and 55-2, with signal strength around 90% on both channels.

Since they've started testing, my 520 has done real well too, locking 55-1 and 55-2 in easy at a very high signal strength, and I'm all the way sw in weston.

I tried three different antennas today with my Mitsubishi HD4 (E86) receiver and the best I could do was get a blip of 100 percent when pointing the RS double-bowtie in the direction of the top of their transmission tower. I am about 2 miles from the transmitter. I normally get about 5 to 10 percent and no lock on the meter. It seems the closer you are to the tower the less reception you get. They need to fix this.

I am still getting blips up to 40% and an occasional blip to the top of the scale but not enough signal to get a lock. This is the same situation I had last week. My stb is a sony hd-100 which performs well on every other wpb and ft laud station

No WPTV on the Hughes E-86 today, but the Dish 6k works with the usual (for now) pixellation/drop-outs/black screen. Same behavior as described in my post from last Thursday night, 4/24/03 (#1228).

--acesk8er

Edit 4/29/03: No WPTV reception on the Hughes E-86 on Thursday, 4/24; got reception with some issues on Friday, 4/25; no WPTV reception on E-86 since then.

I was still getting 0 to 6 on a Mitsubishi SR-HD 5 last night...no pix, no sound.

Here's the latest from the engineer at NBC 5...


We are working hard this week to get pass thru working for the HD version of the Kentucky Derby...even if we have to come in and do some patching to make it available...keep your fingers crossed. We are also beginning to get some feed back from the encoder folks, so we may make some headway on the dropping signal problem.


That team is really trying. Maybe HD by the weekend!

Darryl

I'm still at 0 to 6 on a Toshiba DST3000 (E86 clone) since Saturday. Nada for me although last Friday night was 93 with a solid lock?

0-15% here since Saturday as well on a Toshiba DST-3000. I had a 100% signal most of the time friday night with the same drop outs everyone else was seeing.

Channel 55-1 Problem with Hughes E86, live in Lake Worth. I am able to receive all the Miami digital stations clearly. I receive the West palm Beach Stations 29-1 (100%), 12-1(80%), 25-1(80%). I am using a Terk 35 antenna mounted in the attic. I have two of them, one facing south and one facing North. I use a IR remote A/B switch with a Pronto Pro remote. It has worked flawlessly for over a year. On channel 55-1 using antenna A or B the signal fluctuates from 0-100% continually back and fourth. Will not lock long enough to receive clear picture. It must be problem on their end.

Last night I told the wife I wanted to see if we could finally watch *the* show that introduced me to the term high definition television, in high def.

Almost. As we watched Jay Leno in superb DTV quality resolution and color, I told her "not yet" and she asked "how can you tell?" I pointed out the sidebars (which normally would have already elicited the question "why are there bars?") and then chastised myself for being so greedy.

I now get NBC (well sometimes), two CBS(s), sometimes two ABCs (antenna is still aimed south), two Fox(es), UPN, WB, two PBS(es), (and a bunch of Spanish channels), and I'm disappointed that Jay isn't in high-def yet... how ungrateful can I be?

Interestingly, with all of these sources available, I got a thrill watching a DVD this weekend, when I selected DTS audio for the movie "The Red Violin", and suddenly heard all my speakers come alive with the DTS sound byte.

The reason I mention this is that watching "The Tonight Show" many years ago was the first time that I experienced a stereo effect "wider than the speakers." Somehow there was a person laughing, way off to my right, well beyond the right speaker. Even these days, and with 5 channel sound, this doesn't seem to happen very often.

With Hi-Def and 5.1 sound in the works from more and more sources every month, it really is something this technology has evolved to...I'm almost content, ... well, good sound and an excellent picture seem to "hide" a lot of the poor con'-tent of "free" television. There I go...complaining again.

The bad news is that it is not WPEC; and is very snowy with Spanish dialogue. It also appears on Ch 55. It appeared for the first time last night and continues as of now.

Research revealed that it is Key West Spanish Ch 22 (possibly aimed at Cuba), which is included in the Miami locals on Ch 22.

The WPEC-DT signal is still at zero, although it did blip to 6 on a couple of occasions.

???????

WEYS TV and its oddball network of repeaters in the lower and middle keys (many of which have higher ERP than the main "full power" station) has recently changed hands. The new callsign is WGEN TV, but I'm told that it still shows up as WEYS on satellite and that the palm tree logo on the upper right-hand corner is still says "WEYS / WEYS-DT Key West, W55BV Homestead, W21BD Pompano Beach".

I'm surprised that WPTV hasn't arranged for the repeater/translator in Miami to be shut down.

--acesk8er.

P.S. The main channel 22 station is only 11 kW ERP @ about 200' - reception in Havana is probably not very good... ;-)

Thanks for the information. I must be receiving it on Ch 55 from Homestead via the back end of the antenna. But why is it also coming in on 55-1?

Beats me, Bill. The E-86's software must be confused by the simultaneous presence of an analog and a digital signal on the same channel.

Girard Westerberg's DXing web site,

http://www.dxfm.com

has before and after screen shots of the effect of co-channel interference from a digital TV signal on analog reception. (Click on the "DTV INFORMATION" link on the left and then scroll down.) Maybe what you're seeing at your location is the analog 55 station being a lot worse off than it would be without WPTV trying to blast it away... ;-) If you can rotate your antenna you might be able to pull in WPTV by first nulling out the analog station. YMMV...

--acesk8er.

I too have noticed that when 55's signal is stronger on my signal meter that my other channels become erratic at times. I have repositioned my antenna numerous times thinking it was on my end. Now I am positioned back at its original postion and getting 100 signal readings on all my channels when at a 0 reading on 55. I think this is not a coincidence. I have been getting excellent readings for months. I'm in Palm City with Radio Shacks largest VHF,UHF combo on top of a two story building facing South. I occasionally pull in Miami stations now and then. WPB has been excellent, I just have a feeling WPTV is having some kind of a negative effect on me and I hope it gets worked out.

I’m having a problem with dropouts on my OTA digital channels. I am near Jog and Southern in central West Palm Beach, and get signal strength in the 90 – 100 range. However, I am getting dropouts randomly on all of my digital channels. Sometimes these dropouts do not appear for hours, and sometimes they are every 30 seconds. I am using a CM 3010 “Stealthtenna” in my attic (about 15-18 feet from the ground). The CM 3010 in connected to a CM 3042 amp, which then runs about 100 feet to my Mitsu SR-HD5. The dropouts seem to occur at random times, and on random channels. The signal strength drops from 100 to 0, then back up again. I have the CM 3010 pointed west, so the booms face southwest (12-1, 12-2, 29-1) and northwest (25-1). This direction seems to give me the best signal strength, but I still get the dropouts. To resolve this problem I am considering getting the CM 7777 pre-amp. Will this help my situation? I need to keep the antenna in the attic, so I can not go much bigger. However, I may be able to fit the CM 3016. Would this help?
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.

Originally posted by wjbjr
The bad news is that it is not WPEC; and is very snowy with Spanish dialogue. It also appears on Ch 55. It appeared for the first time last night and continues as of now.

Research revealed that it is Key West Spanish Ch 22 (possibly aimed at Cuba), which is included in the Miami locals on Ch 22.

The WPEC-DT signal is still at zero, although it did blip to 6 on a couple of occasions.

???????

You must be refering to WPTV-DT, not WPEC-DT. We are on 12-1 and 12-2. WPTV-DT is on 55-1.

7:15am
WPTV-DT FINALLY pegged at 100% on my Hughes e86 without having to point my antenna opposite of the direction I use for WFLX. This is the first time it has not been sensitive to antenna position. I am guessing that the engineers are getting closer to resolving the problems on THEIR end (ie. - for those with older boxes - DO NOT upgrade your firmware in order to just receive WPTV - not worth the hassle as they will eventually fix this).

7:25am
Signal started to bounce from 0 - 100% quite a bit - the guys must be working on it again (darn). At least from what I saw at 7:15am - I know it is not my equipment, but their transmission - just more wait and see I guess.

Same identical situation on my DST3000 down here in Miami this morning.

Wow, I just saw the same thing here . That is the first time I got signal above 21%. I didn't get any picture or sound but I sure got signal !

Getting a reading of 100 now on WPTV-DT with A Mitsubishi SR-HD5 but I get frequent dropouts. (It's pretty much unwatchable as a result.) But antenna-aiming tolerance to get 100 has improved dramatically from +/- 2-degrees to +/- 80-degrees.

Originally posted by David McRoy
You must be refering to WPTV-DT, not WPEC-DT. We are on 12-1 and 12-2. WPTV-DT is on 55-1.

You are, of course, correct. Sorry about that.

Why am I getting a 100 % signal but no video or audio ?:confused:

For Carlb7.
If you are referring to 55-1, read some of the previous posts and you will see that they are testing their transmitter. If it is for another station, you might mention the station.

Sorry, I was referring to 55-1. I thought other people on this thread were getting video and audio on it but I must have been mistaken.

WPTV-DT engineers have stated that they're working with the manufacturer of their encoder (Tandberg...same as WPEC-DT) and I suspect that as they "massage" the data stream that they are sending we'll see further improvements. (That happened in WPEC-DT's earliest days on the air.)

The discrepancy that exists between the way the various receivers that we all are using in regard to how they react to a non-compliant data stream reveals that some receivers are more forgiving of corrupted data than others. Additionally, the latest (so-called "third generation") receivers such as the Zenith DTV 420 and DTV 520, some newer Sonys and Samsungs feature advanced ways of dealing with severe multipath reception. Our Chief Engineer, George Danner believes that forthcoming fourth generation receivers will improve further in this regard. And the Nxtenna and NxtWave chipset-equipped antenna/receiver combo to come later, featuring diversity reception will really put the kabosh on severe static and dynamic multipath reception problems. (I've decided to resist falling into a receiver du jour purchasing syndrome until the NxtWave gear becomes available at a popular price.)

In the meantime it falls upon the DTV stations to make sure their data is 100% uncorrupted to minimize, if not completely eliminate, reception problems in existing receivers, including first and second generation units. It can be done: as was noted earlier this week by another Forum member, it wouldn't be a bad idea for area DTV stations to compare notes with those stations that never seem to pose reception problems arising from corrupt data. WFOR-DT comes to mind.

Ron Garrison with Hughes stated today that Direct TV will be sending out the long over due software update May 7th for the E86s and clones.

Pulling 55-1 with a signal of 100 on my Tosh DST-3000 tonight. Occasional drop outs which occur after the signal suddenly drops to 0, but its the best it has been yet. They seem to be on the right track now.

To Greenlif and To Anyone In the Know,

Are the Mitsubishi SR-HD 4/SR-HD5s clones of the Hughes E86? I seem to recall that one or both of them may be.

The Toshiba DST-3000 and Mitsubishi SR-HD5 are both based off the Hughes E86.

Thanks. What's the software update supposed to do?

Hopefully, the software update is for the OTA guide data. My DST3000 hasn't been able to acquire WPBT-DT 18-1 under scan since late last year due to a software glitch.

Looks like 55-1 is dead again down here again this morning.

I'm told that there is an article announcing
-the "launch" of NBC in HD,
-that NBC will start passing HD tomorrow,
-that PAX will go Digital in July,
etc, in today's (THU) Palm Beach Post. I don't have a copy here and this story is not showing up on their website. Anyone with a copy see anything interesting/new to report?

Re: The Palm Beach Post article:

I have a hard copy here...

WPTV-DT: On the air now and will pass-through NBC-HD Friday. Their new 1325 ft. tower cost $8 million, plus the cost of the DTV antenna, transmitter and the $25 million studio that includes a lot of HD gear and is all digital.

WPBF-DT: It cost them $2 million to be able to pass-through ABC-HD and upconvert all other programming, which they've been doing since May 1, 2002.

WPEC-DT: On the air and passing-through CBS-HD, upconverting everything else, since December, 2002. (Article refers to an "undisclosed amount to get the new signal on the air" but I can tell you it was upwards of $2 million.)

WTVX-DT: On the air since November.

WPXP-DT: Will be "...up in the third quarter." 30 of PAX-TV's 63 stations will go digital by July 1.

Adelphia Cable: Will have HD capability by this Fall. (I think this is the most significant news in the article.)

There was a quote from the General Manager of WFLX but no mention that WFLX-DT has been on the air since last Summer and was, in fact this market's first DTV station.

And there was no mention of the low-power stations like WHDT-DT nor of public stations like WXEL.

I have to tell you thast an upgrade on the E86 and its clones scres the crap outta me. Lat time it messed up a lot of people with local digital channel probs. Ill be crossing my fingers.

As of about 6:30 p.m. 5/1/03:

Dish 6k: Perfect reception for the first time! Remaps correctly to 5-01 when you do a manual "Add DTV". Signal level indicator hovers between 80 and 90%.

Hughes E-86: Absolutely nothing. Not even a blip on its signal level indicator.

They're getting there.

Time to watch Survivor...

L8er,

--acesk8er

They seem to be off the air at the moment..at least via my Mitsubishi SR-HD5.

The update for the E86s is to fix the problem with acquiring 2-1 and 2-2. Apparently in December Direct TV started sending guide data from two satellites instead of one. And the E86s as many have noticed didn't respond well to the change.

By accident I did find a temporary fix to receive the channels.

1st- tune to anything other than 2-1 or 2-2.

2nd- remove signal from the tuner (I have an AB switch A for southern stations B for northern, I simply switch to B).

3rd- tune to 2-1.

4th- add signal back to tuner (I switch back to A).

And by some great miracle 2-1 appears, but only for about a minute, however you will notice you now have 18-1 in your guide and it works perfectly.
You have to repeat the process for 2-2.

The things we do for HD.

Great post greenlif!!

This is the first time I have ever actually seen a picture on 2-1. It was always black cause I got the update to the latest firmware right after getting my DST-3000.

Works great thanks again.

Getting nothing again on 55-1 tonight.

The article is available here:

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/auto/epaper/editions/thursday/business_e30bd96283fa414a0048.html

Well, I've never had a problem tuning 2-1 or 2-2 but I haven't seen 2-3 for a long time.:rolleyes: And once I can get the thing to remap channels I get two versions: the remapped, so-called "virtual channel" and the original ones for all the stations. If I go into "Local Area" in the menu and delete the original channels or any unwanted analog channels they pop back up in the rundown anyway! I hope the update fixes this, too.

All week long WPTV 55 reception has been bad in Coral Gables. It looks like a jigsaw puzzel. I go from 6 bars on my Samsung SIT-T150 and 165 to 0 then 6 then 0. It must be an encoder problem. I still hope it is fixed in time for the Kentucky Derby tomorrow. :(

My completely uneducated guess is that most if not all of the odd reception situations encountered in the past few days may have been crazy weather related.

Nope...the weather has nothing to do with it. It's weird code they're sending that screws up most yet not all receivers.

I thought WPTV (55-1) was going live today. So far I'm getting no signal at all here in Palm City on my Hughes E86.

Hi, Len,

They're still in Program Test mode for now, meaning that they are free to experiment, but they were supposed to start trying to pass NBC-HD tonight. They're hopeful to be able to pass NBC's HD coverage of the Kentucky Derby Saturday.

Now, if I could only get a watchable signal. :rolleyes: Good luck to our worthy competitors. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Thanks Dave,

I hope you're right about the Kentucky Derby HD feed.

Originally posted by David McRoy
Nope...the weather has nothing to do with it. It's weird code they're sending that screws up most yet not all receivers.

I was not referring only to WPTV.

In addition to the weird across the board reception patterns reported by others during the past few bad weather days:

WPEC, which normally registers in the teens, periodically held at levels between 40 and 100.

WFLX, almost always steadily in the 70s, was anywhere from the 30s to a solid 100.

Even WPTV participated, at least once briefly blipping from a constant 0 all the way up to 6.

I just watched about 10 minutes of WPTV and had no dropouts or pixilation at all. Maybe the light at the end of the tunnel is here! Come on Derby.

Back to the same lousy dropouts this am. Boo.

WPTV is still not passing the NBC HD feed yet. Law and Order:SVU is not in HD.

Must be the weather, no 55-1 for me last night.

George,

I was able to tune 55-1 last night, but as ANSEK indicated they did not pass through the network's HD feed.

Rudy

What's going on with WFLX-DT (29-1)? Getting no signal (signal strength is 0). The analog channel is fine, but nothing on digital 29-1.
Was getting signal strength of 100 two days ago, and today it is zero. I have not changed anything on the Antenna or stb. Anyone else getting this?
Using CM 3010 with amp & Mitsu SR-HD5.

Thanks for your help.

WFLX maintains a limited DTV schedule, typically noon to midnight, to save on their electric bill. Right now it's 12:25 on Saturday afternoon and they're running this weight-loss-for-fat-chicks infomercial.

Is anyone getting any signal at all at the present time from WPTV (55-1)?

Len, 55-1 is fine on my HD200. It shows up as 5-1.

Crap, no HD on NBC 5-1.

Len,

I've been getting 0 signal on my DST3000 (E86 clone) for the past few days now on 55-1. I think the E86's are having problems decoding the signal.

I just called their newsline to find out why they're not passing the HD feed, and the lady who answered was quite shocked that anyone can receive their signal in Broward and Dade. She said there was no one there at the moment, but she would pass on the info to engineering.

No go on the Mitsubishi SR-HD5 (Hughes E86 clone) either.

just tried the DTC-100, no cigar on 55-1; Back to the shiny new samsung!

So it would appear the Palm Beach Post article describing WPTV-DT's operational status was premature. Perhaps they should print a follow-up story describing WPTV's missed opportunity to show one of sports biggest annual events in high definition. Last year I had the opportunity to watch the Kentucky Derby on HDNet - a digital station that knows how to present high definition properly.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/auto/epaper/editions/thursday/business_e30bd96283fa414a0048.html

I think they just ran out of time with getting the bugs out of the system. Channel 5-1 was operational but the dropouts, even if it had been 16:9 HD would have been unwatchable.

I am watching Law and Order it should be in HD. WPTV is not passing the HD feed. Maybe they have not intention of ever broadcasting HD. I am starting to get depressed.

Am I the only person noticing the audio is out of sync on WPEC? It is almost as bad as WPBF. WFOR has perfect audio sync.

I watched the entire derby on 5-1. Although it wasn't in HD, the video was great and I didn't experience the audio dropouts you mentioned.

Maybe I'm too close to the antenna farm and am getting too much signal. Is that possible?

no signal on my e86 in lake worth for days

Still nothing at either 55-1 or 5-1 on Mits HD5 last night

Originally posted by greenlif
The update for the E86s is to fix the problem with acquiring 2-1 and 2-2. Apparently in December Direct TV started sending guide data from two satellites instead of one. And the E86s as many have noticed didn't respond well to the change.

By accident I did find a temporary fix to receive the channels.

1st- tune to anything other than 2-1 or 2-2.

2nd- remove signal from the tuner (I have an AB switch A for southern stations B for northern, I simply switch to B).

3rd- tune to 2-1.

4th- add signal back to tuner (I switch back to A).

And by some great miracle 2-1 appears, but only for about a minute, however you will notice you now have 18-1 in your guide and it works perfectly.
You have to repeat the process for 2-2.

The things we do for HD.

I think that I may have found another workaround to get 2-1, 2-2, and 18-1. I tried the above, and as the above says, it worked for about 10 seconds.

I tried tinkering with a few other unrelated things, like hooking up my cable TV, and magically, I started getting 2-1, 2-2 and 18-1 full time!! It has been almost 2 hours now, and it's still coming in.

Still nothing on 55-1 or 5-1, except now, the guide has detected the presence of 5-1.

I am starting to loose faith in my e86. I am going to wait for the rumored 5/7 upgrade to see if anything happens with WPTV on 5-1 / 55-1, or if WPTV can figure out the deal with their signal. If not, I think I am going to the SAT-HD200...

If tour E86 woes don't get fixed, I have the Panny OTA unit that is for sale - free delivery, too!

Well it looks like another night of no HD on WPTV. There is always WTVJ.

Just wanted to let you guys know that WPTV engineering is trying to get this reception problem fix before they start transmitting any HD content.

Here is an Email I received on Friday from WPTV:

We made some changes to the way PSIP is going out, and moved the signal to
Virtual channel 5 for HD. Please post this to the forum, as I did not have
any luck doing so. I am very interested to see if the complaints of pulling
in our digital signal now seems improved. We want to solve the reception
issues before we move forward with content issues. Thanks much,
Dave

Dave McKinley
Director Of Engineering
WPTV Television
dmmckinley@scripps.com

They are working at trying to solve the problem.

Thanks,

Dr Guava

no signal on my e86 as of today on 55-1 :(

I still cannot get a lock on WPTV DT. My signal level is 5 bars on my Samsung SIR-T150. But it keeps going from 5 to 0 to 5 to 0 and the box cannot lock on it. My SIR-T165 does the same thing but after 5 seconds goes analog to channel 55 in homestead. The strange thing is the channel has remaped on the SIR-T150 and now is 5-1. The fact that I get 5 bars means I am getting a strong signal. It just won't lock. I still think the data stream is corrupt.

I think you are right.
When you can't lock, you can't get any signal level.
If the data stream is corrupt or problematic, all is lost.
I think that is why I get zero!

I sent the WPTV-DT Director of Engineering (Dave McKinley) dmmckinley@scripps.com an email regarding the inability of my Hughes E86 to detect 55-1 or 5-1 during the scan process.

And I sent him an email regarding the question of whether it was technically necessary to solve that issue before passing the HD feed through - as one of the "newer" stb owners who has received 55-1/5-1 strong from the getgo, I obviously wouldn't mind if they passed through the darn HD feed now! :)

and here's what he had to say:

"Mark
Not a bother to contact me. I am appreciating the feedback. What we have a problem with is equipment arrival. We have had a Framesync on order for a while, it was promised last week, still not here. We need that to get the NBC HD feed out of the house, to the transmitter. We were working more on the signal path today. Hopefully up soon with Pass thru, will let you know asap.
Dave.

Dave McKinley
Director of Engineering
WPTV Television
dmmckinley@scripps.com "

I still get zero for ch 55.
So no 55-1 and/or 5-1

Are they working the signal quality while they are waiting on the HD equipment?

Ok, I just called Hughes HD support (954) 597-2062...

I told the rep that I was having problems receiving certain OTA signals. He told me that the upcomming upgrade WILL solve the issue. I wasn't taking notes but I recall him saying that the upgrade will resolve the following...

1. Solve problems with certain anomalies with OTA signals
2. Solve issues will miscellaneous errors that cause random pixellation
3. Sove issues regarding signal strength on OTA signals.

That's what I remember. I asked him if all of the upgrades were published anywhere on the 'net, and he said "NO".

Also... One last thing... He said that the upgrade will not be transmitted until the beginning of June. :mad:

Thanks for the update!

I was wondering why my Mitsubishi SR-HD5 (supposedly a Hughes E86 clone) was indicating "no upgrades scheduled" when the report was that the downloads were to start tomorrow (05/07/03).

I'd love to get some details on exactly what the upgrades are that are supposed to render such miraculous performance improvements.

WPTV DT here, just got logged into this site. It looks like a great place to exchange info. Some updates for you. We have been in contact with our HD Transmitter vendor, we currently have a problem with 1 of the amplifier boards, and this may be giving us a false 100% forward power reading. New board due in Thursday this week, testing will continue. We have another vendor that was to supply us with TBC cards to allow us to genlock the NBC HD IRD so we can pass thru the signal to the encoder. We tried testing the feed direct to the encoder last week, in hopes of getting the HD feed of the Kentucky Derby broadcast, but no luck. We did find issues with how the vendors set up our PSIP(Dynamic) unit, and we have rolled back to the encoder PSIP(static), and did the mapping to 5.1 channel. It seems the PSIP's were "fighting" in the stream, this helped clear up some issues. We have parts and techs coming in next week to go over the PSIP, and we hope to have NBC HD available later this week if the vendor comes thru with the cards this time. I have recieved a lot of email regarding the E86 boxes, it appears that Hughes will be doing some sort of upgrade in June. Until then, I may suggest installing an inline amp on your antenna feeds to see if that helps lock the signal better. Please feel free to continue sending emails or posts about your successes or disgusts with pulling in WPTV DT. I did have a viewer in Coral Springs contact me yesterday to say he has been getting us clean since 4/15 on 55 and 5.1 with an attic antenna. Go figure, I bet he does not have an E86 box!

Originally posted by WPTV DT DOE
WPTV DT here, just got logged into this site. It looks like a great place to exchange info. Some updates for you. We have been in contact with our HD Transmitter vendor, we currently have a problem with 1 of the amplifier boards, and this may be giving us a false 100% forward power reading. New board due in Thursday this week, testing will continue. We have another vendor that was to supply us with TBC cards to allow us to genlock the NBC HD IRD so we can pass thru the signal to the encoder. We tried testing the feed direct to the encoder last week, in hopes of getting the HD feed of the Kentucky Derby broadcast, but no luck. We did find issues with how the vendors set up our PSIP(Dynamic) unit, and we have rolled back to the encoder PSIP(static), and did the mapping to 5.1 channel. It seems the PSIP's were "fighting" in the stream, this helped clear up some issues. We have parts and techs coming in next week to go over the PSIP, and we hope to have NBC HD available later this week if the vendor comes thru with the cards this time. I have recieved a lot of email regarding the E86 boxes, it appears that Hughes will be doing some sort of upgrade in June. Until then, I may suggest installing an inline amp on your antenna feeds to see if that helps lock the signal better. Please feel free to continue sending emails or posts about your successes or disgusts with pulling in WPTV DT. I did have a viewer in Coral Springs contact me yesterday to say he has been getting us clean since 4/15 on 55 and 5.1 with an attic antenna. Go figure, I bet he does not have an E86 box! Wonderful. Welcome to the forum. It's nice to have another broadcast rep here along with David McRoy. Now we can keep each other informed on the issues and that will be beneficial to everyone.

The Mitsubishi SR-HD5 upgrade schedule will usually only be posted within 24 hours.
That is some schedule.

I did not realize that it is a significant upgrade for OTA.

Great to have you aboard. You think the guy in coral springs with an attic antenna getting wptv strong is something? I've had you at almost 100% since day one in Weston, with a set of rabbit ears hooked up to my zenith 520 stb! Welcome again.

Welcome to the chief engineer at wptv to the WPB/South Florida forum.

I have a question for all the members in the area is anybody receiving WPTV 55 with an RCA DTC 100 or Dish Network 6000.

Thanks,

Dr Guava

Well, I'm afraid I've now lost WPTV-DT permanently. The last time I was able to pick them up was during the Kentucky Derby, but I haven't been able to get a signal since no matter what I've tried. And it was so easy at first....didn't even have to reorient the antenna (a small amplified indoor TERK), and I was getting a strong signal on my Samsung tuner. Anyway, it's nice to have their chief engineer on the forum. Welcome, Dave!

WPTV 55

Welcome

What I cannot understand is why the Hughes type receivers require an upgrade to receive WPTV while not requiring it to receive all of the other Miami and WPB stations.

Could it be that the problem lies not with the receivers?

Glad to have you aboard, Dave! (Dave McKinley and I go a long way back. He was an engineer here at WPEC many years ago before moving on to WPTV. At the time there were three "Daves" at WPEC: Master Control Operator Dave Fahey was "Video Dave," I was "Audio Dave" and Dave McKinley, being an engineer, was "Dave TV"!)

Dave, I got a report just today that Hughes will, indeed be downloading a "Software Update" for all Hughes E86 receivers as well as their clones, the Toshiba DST3000 and the Mitsubishi SR-HD5 (which I have.) The patch is supposed to fix several local OTA ATSC tuning and reception issues, the most important being a patch that will (supposedly) reduce reception dropouts, pixelation, etc. and improve RF signal sensitivity. I'm dying to get the inside skinny on exactly what that entails.

From dbuckler of Boca Raton:
_________________________________________________
Just Called Hughes
Ok, I just called Hughes HD support (954) 597-2062...

I told the rep that I was having problems receiving certain OTA signals. He told me that the upcomming upgrade WILL solve the issue. I wasn't taking notes but I recall him saying that the upgrade will resolve the following...

1. Solve problems with certain anomalies with OTA signals
2. Solve issues will miscellaneous errors that cause random pixellation
3. Sove issues regarding signal strength on OTA signals.

That's what I remember. I asked him if all of the upgrades were published anywhere on the 'net, and he said "NO".

Also... One last thing... He said that the upgrade will not be transmitted until the beginning of June.

________________________________________________

I haven't heard of any planned software update downloads for the RCA DTC100 or any other receivers, but the "sometime in June" download for the E86, et. al. will occur automatically so long as your receiver is turned on and connected to a dish that can receive the DirecTV main SD service satellite at 101-degrees west longitude. The receiver doesn't have to be tuned to any DirecTV channel on 101, just turned on. I would expect that pretty soon we'll be seeing a scheduled software update notice under the menu for those in the receiver.

Dave, as our previous U. S. president used to say, "I feel your pain." ;) WPEC-DT had growing pains, too, as have many another new DTV station. I'm sure the guys here on the Forum understand that there's a learning curve here for all of us and that they join me in saying that I appreciate your participation here.

Good luck!

Originally posted by wjbjr
WPTV 55

Welcome

What I cannot understand is why the Hughes type receivers require an upgrade to receive WPTV while not requiring it to receive all of the other Miami and WPB stations.

Could it be that the problem lies not with the receivers?

Bill, you may be correct since Dave McKinley has acknowledged the WPTV-DT's signal is not yet completely copacetic. (sp.?) But at least part of our problems might be helped by the software update download. For example, even though I can't get 55-1 at all, I do get pixelation and dropouts on some (but not all) other Miami and West Palm Beach DTV stations. Will the reception on those stations improve aafter the download? We'll know more as WPTV-DT continues tweaking the signal on their end and, in June when DirecTV downloads Hughes Electronics' patch. I am very curious about what to expect after the download.

Originally posted by drguava
Welcome to the chief engineer at wptv to the WPB/South Florida forum.

I have a question for all the members in the area is anybody receiving WPTV 55 with an RCA DTC 100 or Dish Network 6000.

Thanks,

Dr Guava

As of Saturday, I was not able to get the DTC-100 to even recognize a live signal was being sent on 55-1. I get 0 on the meter.

Tim Huey

Originally posted by TimHuey
As of Saturday, I was not able to get the DTC-100 to even recognize a live signal was being sent on 55-1. I get 0 on the meter.

Tim Huey

Tim,

How do you get to look at the signal meter for a channel that has never been mapped on the DTC-100?

I have no problem at all receiving WPTV on my DISH 6000. I live in Margate and am using a RS UHF yagi type antenna in my attic pointed to the north. My signal usually runs between 80 and 90%. The only stations I cannot get from the WPB area are WPBF and WTVX.

I have a broadband RS antenna pointed to the south and select which antenna I wish to use with a co-ax switcher. Efforts in trying to use a combiner did not work.

Tony

No signal from 55.1 on a Sony SAT100 located in Delray Beach. I receive all Miami and West Palm stations except ch 5. If I tune the antenna signal strenght meter to ch55 the meter jumps from 0 - 50 sometimes staying at 50 long enough for me to autotune the station however it is not watchable due to the varying strength which results in picture drop outs. If the station is saying they are on the air (re last weeks PB Post article) then I sure am not able to pick it up.

Originally posted by aviators99
Tim,

How do you get to look at the signal meter for a channel that has never been mapped on the DTC-100?

You don't get to see the 0. The only clue you have to know it is 0 is that the DTC-100 doesn't add it to the channel list when you manually type in 55-1. If you manually add a channel that is above 0 but is unable to display an image for one reason or another you can see the singal strength in the antenna info page. I've seen many channels at 80-100 but no image. Those had problems with PSIP. Far away channels like fort myers show up in the teens and 20's but no image due to strength.

If the DTC-100 senses a signal it will add it to the list otherwise it doesn't get added. Unfortunately, if you have a channel the DTC-100 has added and then you try to view that channel later and it's gone, sometimes the DTC-100 will remove it from the channel list. That is maddening.

Tim Huey

Does anyone know if the download update for the Hughes can be obtained if your not connected to Directv?? I was and discontinued due to numerous
outages due to the exterior equiptment. I went back to digital cable.
Lynne

Hi, Lynne,

The history of software update download via DirecTV for the venerable RCA DTC100 as well as other STBs has been that the new data was transmitted from DirecTV from it's 101-degree west longitude satellite. Recently, according to one account that I read, they sent the download for some STBs via two of their satellites instead of just one and it ended up screwing up some boxes.

In any event, your Hughes E86 or clone thereof does need to be hooked up to a dish and able to receive DirecTV to get the download, or the download may be installed from portable media by a qualified dealer or installer.

If you are no longer a DirecTV subscriber you still have the option of finding someone you know who is still a DirecTV subscriber to wait for their STB to receive the download then hook your STB up to their dish until it gets the download. (Once DirecTV starts sending the download they tend to continue to do so for several weeks to assure that most STBs that need it will get it.) Alternately, you might be able to find an installer or dealer who will let you use their dish on your STB for a download.

Dave - Thanks for the info.
Lynne

Download By Ex Subscriber

Might an ex subscriber with the dish still in place receive the download by tuning to channel 100?

That channel is viewable prior to DirecTV activation and is used during activation to test whether the equipment is properly set up.

This possibility is easy to test.

You know, Bill, I think that will work.

I just watched the 5-6pm newscast....three times for about 1 minute,pixilations and no dropouts. I am in Royal Palm w/ an HD200 and a RS 80" OTA at 20 feet. I have the famous super power lines and austrailian pines behind me,probably wht i cant get miami stations. I see many of you trying to get 55-1, My HD200 already has remapped to 5-1. I dont know how your STB work,maybe try manual 5-1 entry?

Still zippo on ch 55.
I had it solid for a while, now nothing.
Can't even get an intimitent signal lock.

Zippo here as well with the DTS3000. Also must be good ducting tonight cuz im picking up most of the Miami stations here in Saint Lucie tonight. If nothing on 55-1 for me then its clearly a problem with them.

Just checked today and still nothing on my DTC-100.

Tim Huey

I hope they are working (or are still waiting) to get the basic signal stream out.

High Def is nice, but is useless if you can't even get basic 55 !

I am still experiencing pixelation and audio dropouts on WPTV-DT. Is anyone experiencing this problem?

The Dolby E decoders and ancillary gear from Dolby Labs that we purchased to allow us to receive DD 5.1 surround from CBS-HD and pass it through to air has arrived. When I learn about when it will be tested and installed I'll let you all know.

I seem to be getting erratic signal readings on WPB stations here in Palm City right now. Is anyone else experiencing this?

I just checked the WPB DT stations I get CBS (12-1), ABC (25-1), FOX (29-1) and the signal strengths appear consistently strong with an attic antenna. I'm still not getting any signal from NBC (55-1).

Ok Len, it must be a problem with my equipment. I have a multi line amplifier that may be going bad, don't know if it would affect me this way but I'm going to replace it and see if the problem goes away. I too have been unable to get NBC. At one point I was able to get strong signal but no more.

It's been in and out all day.

Still no 55 ???
I assume it will be off all weekend ?

I don't know, guys. I haven't seen anything for a week. (Using a receiver other than the newest Sony/Zenith clones or the latest Samsung. They seem to be the only ones that can get 55-1.)

Why is WPTV-DT finding it so more difficult to establish a reliable HD transmission than WPEC-DT? Does every digital station have to re-invent the wheel?

Well, according to the article that appeared last week in the paper, NBC is up and running. However, station personell seem to indicate that it was a bit premature. I hope they announce when they feel they are offically up and running. I am worried that they may feel as though a few people not being able to recieve their signal isn't a big issue. The one engineer from WPEC stated he was doing some experiments with a DTC-100, I hope WPTV is doing the same.

Tim Huey

Apparently we are entering a period of significant ducting. I was receiving half a dozen or so Miami digital channels last night (Friday) here in Palm City using an attic antenna. Most of the stations were consistantly strong enough so that there were no drop-outs.

Too bad this didn't happen more often, I am looking forward to PBS HDTV.

Guys, they are on the air. I've been experimenting over the past couple of days with a Silver Sensor antenna connected to a CM 7777, and I've been able to get the Samsung SIR-T150 to lock onto the signal. However, though six bars light up on the STB's signal meter, the signal is very erratic, disappearing completely then returning. When the signal is steadiest, the PQ is excellent on the upconverted SD, but when the signal begins to fluctuate the image breaks up completely very quickly. Also, aiming the antenna to initially acquire the signal takes an inordinate amount of time, which just doesn't seem to make any sense considering how easily WFLX can be picked up.

I hope WPTV engineers are able to resolve their hardware issues. With an ominidirectional signal being broadcast (over almost perfectly FLAT terrain) at full strength everybody within the broadcast radius should be able to get some kind of signal lock. It is baffling that some people who live closest to the transmitter can't receive anything at all while some in Dade County have very little difficulty in doing so.

Hopefully, WTVJ won't have these issues.

Joel,

I had excellent skip last night here in Miami too. I was pointed north and received a lot of analog stations out of Jax and Orlando. Digital stations are much harder to lock since there is a timing issue due to propagation fluttering. Looks like as long as clear skies and high pressure dominate we should see more skip a few hours after sunset til around midnight. Still no 55-1 on the E86 screen yet.

WPTV and WTVJ

It is my guess that when (if?) WTVJ-DT goes on the air, Hughes manufactured receivers will not require an update in order to receive it.

Just as they do not require it to receive every other Miami and West Palm Beach station...with, as we have been told, the notable exception of WPTV.

Mark_T,

This probably doesn't make you feel much better, but I have had consistant excellent reception on 55-1 using an HD200. Apparently no one is getting good results with the E86 on this channel. Hope you get the problem solved.

A good guess is that there is a better error correction in the newer unit.
If this is the case, then 55 has errors or distortion which cause the majority of unit not to detect the 55 signal.

I hope ch 31 does not do the same next month.

Using my HD-200 and Silver Sensor, WPTV-D 5.1 has been locked in for quite some time at a very strong signal with very little dropouts that other people have been experiencing (from Lake Worth). My only issue is that of frustration because although WPTV is broadcasting in digital, they still are not passing though the HD signals, and I'm not interested in watching 1080i ER repeats this summer...I want my HDTV now! ;-) And, because of NBC's "pseudo" widescreen gimmick, I'd rather watch current ER shows (and other NBC shows) in analog from crappy Adelphia cable streatched out to Zoom1 to fit my widescreen tv.

Come on WPTV -- you're already months behind the others, and Jim and Laurel announced weeks ago that you were digital...it's time to broadcast in 1080i already!!!

I don't see why 55 or 55-1 or 5-1 (which ever it is now) does not fix the digital stream so that no upgrade is required for the "masses".
I have no problem getting CBS, ABC, WB in high def, and solid signals, as well with PAX, UPN, and somtimes FOX.

Which comes to another point, what happend to the signal strength of 29-1 ?

I received WPTV-DT (55-1) when it first began tranmitting. So some type of change must have corrupted the data stream during their early testing. I haven't been able to pickup the signal for the past few weeks. I'm very disappointed it's taking so long to correct the problem, but hopefully Hughes E86 type gear will eventually be able to lock on to their data stream.

Have you been noticing a lower signal level with FOX ?

Oh well, if we have to wait much longer for the fix, you west palm people won't have to hear us Fort Lauderdale and Miami complain. Our NBC is due to go online digital in June. Hope you guys don't get left out in the rain on this. Maybe you can pick up our NBC. They are working hard to put the antenna in a favorable location.

Tim Huey

Are they playing with the signal on Fox 29-1 while working on 55?

Everyone who has the Hughes E-86HD, Mitsubishi SR-HD400, Toshiba DST-3000 & Philips DSHD800 are all the same except for remote and appearance. All are made by Hughes.

I was in the Setup, Installation, Local Area menu today and I was going to do yet another "scan" for 55-1 and I noticed another option below "Scan" labeled "Download LiL (Locals in Locals)". I do not remember seeing that option there before. I selected it and I got the "Downloading Guide Data" screen for about 5 minutes. Then it went to video all by itself. It didn't appear to do anything new after going back to the "Local Area" menu and looking around. I checked to see if I had received an update and I'm still at 5099 with "no updates scheduled".

Anyone know what this is?

"Local In 1" is for selecting your antenna as you local station reception source (it says "ANT IN" at the top.)

"Local In 2" is for local station reception via DirecTV local-into-local service (it says "SAT IN" at the top.)

These selections have always been there on my SR-HD5.

A friend who has the E86 does not have the "LiL" option but he does not subscribe to "locals" from DirecTV. Could that be the difference? I just recently updated my subscription to include "locals".

That's probably it. Maybe you're seeing this because you get LIL (I don't, and so maybe that's why I don't see it.)

actually - i had posted about this a while back. LIL disappears once you press it (you can reset the unit to get it back). Hughes tech support told me never to touch it if I have DirecTV service (LIL is only for OTA customers).

I will see if I can find my post (search feature is disabled at the moment)

I guess we are all waiting to see if a rep comes and fixes ch 55 equipment.

Yes, in the case of their transmitter problems, but the encoder issues can often be corrected via a download, as was the case early on at WPEC-DT.

Dave;
Does WPEC have any intentions on going to UHF?

No, George, we like our low power bills!;)

Before I start adjusting my antenna...........

Is anyone out there getting WPBF-DT or WPLG-DT in Boca around Yamato?

Originally posted by David McRoy
No, George, we like our low power bills!;)

Weren't the broadcast stations supposed to give the VHF spectrum back to the governement in exchange for the new digital channels?

No, we're supposed to give back old spectrum that had beeen used for NTSC analog transmission, but with exceptions in acomplicated scheme.

Eventually all ATSC digital service will fall within channels 2 through 51 with a few exceptions here and there that may fall outside this so-called "core DTV spectrum."

Also note that some stations may be given the option of moving ATSC digital service back to their original NTSC spectrum at the conclusion of the analog to digital transition period if they elect to do so, so long as their old channel lies within the new DTV core spectrum and that interference criteria are met.

I was playing around to find 55 last night and I got random locks at 6 ot 24 levels.
So, the signal is there, but I can't hold on to them.
Seems nothing new, and we are all still waiting.
Any way to rush the rep ?

Also, I may have reception problems, because I have been trying to get 10-1 which is east of me and could not.
Then while trying to get 55, I got solid 10-1, now that is pointing the antenna north for a east signal ??
Got to be a bounce problem.

Getting WPTV-DT on my Hughes e86!! I did a channel scan earlier, and by golly, I am getting 5-1!! 100% SIGNAL!!!

Message to Dave McKineny..... Whatever you did... Leave it like that! KUDOS!!!

[Checking my TV 1 last time to make sure I am still getting it before I press the "Submit Reply" button]

Yep! Still getting it!

I'm also getting the WPTV-DT signal on my Hughes E86 here in Palm City - good strong signal. Now let's hope they are able to pass through NBC feed of The Preakness tomorrow.

Looking good here in Miami on my DST3000 (E86 Clone) at last! Signal is a steady 86 with no drop-outs.

"WPTV Dave", if you are reading the forum, I would really like to know what the solution was for the fix? Thanks for all the efforts to get it going again.

Mark

Best signal so far here too. Going from 100 down to 0 and back occasionally though.

Getting 55-1 at 100% here with frequent lockups. I'd say thry're about where they were the last time I could get any signal at all.

Dave,

I have not had any drop outs or lock-ups at all down here. I know you use a hi-gain antenna. Maybe your signal strength is overloading the receiver and causing the drops? I need to use a variable attenuator from RS to keep from overloading my box with the local Miami stations. They are about $8.00 and really help weed out the overload and allow me to watch the WPB stations.

Mark

running at 100% strength here with no dropouts as I had before I totally lost receptiona cpl weeks ago. Now if they could pass the HD feed we would be all set :)

Getting a perfect 100% signal here with a Toshiba DST-3000 as well. Good work guys.

Well it's 1:40 am and I just read that y'all are getting the signal on your E86's. I have the DTC-100 and I'm not getting anything.

Anyone with a DTC-100 getting a signal yet?

Tim Huey

The signal is much better but still not watchable here in Delray Beach. Frequent dropouts (signal strength goes from 100 -0) on a Sony HD100 which recieves all the other Miami & Palm Beach Digitals.

I'm getting a strong signal (100 - 91) on 5-1 this morning, but more frequent pixelization than 12-1. The Tonight Show was broadcast in SD last night so I guess that means WPTV will not broadcast The Preakness in HD today.

I have a RCA DTC 100 and still get no signal from WPTV. But on the bright side still getting 15-1, Ft Myers was able to watch LENO in HDTV.

Dr Guava

I have tried to receive the Ch.55 DT signals with my SonySAT-HD100, but all I get is flickers of signal, up to 80% and then down to zero. At the same time I get 94% on WFLX-DT, about the same distance from my home in the FIU area of Miami-Dade. My antenna is an 8 element bow-tie. I am also having problems with WLRN-DT, get no signal. When they first signed on I was getting 97% signals from them, same as from all other Miami antenna farm stations, then one day it disappeared. I believe it's software related in regards to the HD100. Is there anyone using an HD100 with similar problems? Let me know.

Best viewing,

Jose
W2JD

I have a Sony HT100 with an 8 bow antenna. Same problem as you with 55.1. It's jumping around from 97% down to 0. 17.1 is steady around 97%. All of my uhf West Palm and Ft. Lauderdale stations are in the high 90's with little if any fluctuation. I think we will be getting our NBC HD from WTVJ.
Just a thought to the enginering department over at channel 5. If I just spent a couple of million dollars on a new antenna and transmission equipment and the other stations in my market all got up and running, I would be on the phone daily with the people who sold me this equipment to make it right.

Thanks, Bob Boca for your reply. When I was living in Boca I could get all the Miami and WPB (including 16.1) with a 4 Bay bow tie. I think the problem with 17.1 could be multipath related, but the funny thing is nothing changed, overnight I lost them, while all the others are fine. I'm going to be trying a big Yagi I got, and also a Televes UHF full band Yagi that I brought back from Spain last month. Let you guys know the details. I'm pretty sure the problem with WPTV is definitely software related.

Best viewing,

Jose

Well, I finally got 55 last night.
Had to fine tune the antenna, but got a 70 level, and the ch 55 re-maped to 5-1 on my Mits HD5 (Hughes type).

Watch the news for a 1/2 hour with random freezes and break ups.

Don't know if HD was sent or not.

Went off at 11 PM.

Anyone getting it with a RCA DTC-100?

Anyone....


Bueller....?


Tim Huey

Originally posted by George33027
Well, I finally got 55 last night.
Had to fine tune the antenna, but got a 70 level, and the ch 55 re-maped to 5-1 on my Mits HD5 (Hughes type).

Watch the news for a 1/2 hour with random freezes and break ups.

Don't know if HD was sent or not.

Went off at 11 PM.

HD was not sent out. I watched Law and Order:CI and it was SD. WPTV is still waiting on a few cards they need to pass the HD signal. The cards are coming from Canada and appear to be taking sometime. I am sure Dave McKinley from WPTV will make a post as soon as they arrive.

The cards are coming from Canada........ That explains a lot. Eh?;)

55-1 signal was strong on my e86 for a bit over the weekend but then went to pot as the weekend went on. It was bouncing and unwatchable. At least I know it will work when they fix it as the picture looked very good when the signal was stable. Hope they fix this before NBC starts broadcasting the NASCAR races soon. I do wonder if they will broadcast the races in widescreen like FOX did (yeah right ;) )

Yes, picture was a good SD.
Some freezes, probably due to multipath.

Now to wait for the Canada HD cards.
Curious, why Canada ?

Blame Canada!

http://www.belsouthpark.narod.ru/4.htm

Originally posted by David McRoy
Blame Canada!

http://www.belsouthpark.narod.ru/4.htm
Wow. Even the Russians blame Canada. :D

That was the answer.
Sorry, I should have known!
It is Canada's fault that they must have the equipment and the low prices!

Apparently the Software Update download is coming tomorrow:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=261390

Cool! I will deffinately check on the test page when I get home tonight to see if it is scheduled. Would be nice to not have the pixelation I have been getting occasionaly on WPEC and a few others. Thanks for the heads up David.

That's great news...

Dave - do you know whether we will need to leave our receivers on to get the update which says it's scheduled for 1am starting 5/21?

Originally posted by lwhitefl
Dave - do you know whether we will need to leave our receivers on to get the update which says it's scheduled for 1am starting 5/21?
Your receiver is always on. When you hit the power button it just turns the picture off. As long as it's plugged in and hooked up to a dish you get the update.

I just got home and checked my Mitsubishi SR-HD5: "No Upgrade Scheduled."

VERY IMPORTANT:

DO NOT UNPLUG YOUR RECEIVER, DISCONNECT THE SATELLITE CABLE OR DO ANYTHING ELSE TO INTERFERE WITH THE DOWNLOAD WHILE IT IS TAKING PLACE. A while back some RCA DTC100s were permanently damaged when the satellite signal was interupted during a software upgrade download.

For the time zone-challenged: 1 a. m. PDT is 4 a. m. EDT.

Originally posted by ElectricPickle
Your receiver is always on. When you hit the power button it just turns the picture off. As long as it's plugged in and hooked up to a dish you get the update.

Last week, someone posted that the receiver should be turned on and tuned to a 101° channel. Not so?

Any info regarding the Sony receivers experiencing the dropouts?

Mine's on a UPS so I just leave it "turned on" all the time except during a local thunderstorm...then everything gets disconnected from the dish and terrestrial antennas as well as AC and telephone lines.

I too have mine on a UPS, to compensate for short power drops.

No update scheduled on my DST-3000 either. I have my system on a few ups units as well.

Received the Software Update 1504 download at 3:59 a. m. this morning but I had to get into the station before observing what changes resulted.

Anyone with a Hughes E86 or clone thereof see anything different?

Here is a list of affected receivers:

HD Receiver Models:
Hughes Network Systems - HIRD-E86
Mitsubishi - SRHD500 (aka SR-HD5)
Philips - DSHD800R
Toshiba - DST-3000

Received the update at 3:58 am on my Mitsu SR-HD5. Played with it briefly, but did notice that the Local digital channels did lock in very solidly. Before the update I was having various multipath problems, with the signal strength jumping up & down erratically. Now all were steady, no pixalization or dropouts, except on 5-1 which is still dropping out occasionally (perhaps they are still working on the signal). Also, I am able to receive 34-1 now which I was unable to do before the update.
I hope this update fixed my multipath problem (attic antenna), I will check again later this afternoon to see if the greatly improved reception is still working, or if it was only because I checked it very early in the morning (less noise & interference). But so far very pleased.
However, the update did not seem to fix the problem with receiving PBS 2-1. I rescanned, and tried to manually input the channel, but still nothing on 2-1.
As far as any changes to the guide, I did not notice any.
Well experiment some more, and report.

Thanks for the report.

Re: 2-1, I don't know if WPBT-DT is on the air in the morning. Try checking this afternoon.

I also received the upgrade at 3:58am this morning. First thing I did was check the signal strength for 55-1 (which is usually 0) and it was pegged at 100%!!! I checked the picture and all looked great!!!

Then reality hit :(

After a few seconds, the picture dropped and when I went back to the signal meter, the strength was bouncing up and down, making the channel unwatchable. Ok WPTV - we got our upgrades - I think we can all agree that the problem is on your end :(

I have not had a chance to check other local channels yet to see any improvements, but will check later when I get home.

Originally posted by David McRoy
Thanks for the report.

Re: 2-1, I don't know if WPBT-DT is on the air in the morning. Try checking this afternoon.

WPBT-DT goes on the air at about noontime.

I still show a steady 0 for 55, and continue to receive on 55-1 a very snowy rear reception from the Homestead channel 55 booster of Key West channel 22.

Is the WPTV tower close to that of WFLX, from which I receive a signal in the 70s or better?

If not, I don't want to realign the antenna at the risk of losing my solid 100 signals on all of the Miami stations. Also, I don't watch much NBC in the first place, especially in repeat season. I can wait a bit(?) longer for WTVJ.

WPBT-DT is on the air.

2-1 and 2-2 have returned!

Bill,

The towers for 5, 12, 29 and 42 are all west of Lantana. 25 and 34 are on the Palm Beach/Martin county line.

Well, I got home from work and noticed 5-1 still has dropouts/pixelation.

But I've been watching 10-1 for a half-hour now without a single error...even during a direct flyover by a low-altitude helicopter. So far this kind of stability on 10-1 all the way up here in NE Lake Worth is unprecedented!

They're currently broadcasting HD on 2-1, SD on 2-2, and audio only on 2-8.

I also got the update (and last night it said no scheduled updates)

Can't get 5-1, which I got last night.

AVS is also having problems, could not log on for the last 3 hours!!!!

Word of the impending upgrade first appeared at sometime between 11PM and 1AM. Plenty of notice!

My DST-3000 still has 5099 installed though it did reboot when I turned it on today. It says it is scheduled to download the firmware tonight at 3:00 AM though. I hope I am not having the same problem where it will not download again that many previously had when going to 5099 firmware.

My DST 3000 got the 5104 upgrade last night. Other than being able to get 2-1 and 2-2 now, nothing much has changed for me. Signal strength for the WPB stations from here in Miami has stayed the same. One big exception is that 55-1 is back to no signal again with occasional bounces from 0 to 12. Here we go again!

I got the 5104 upgrade last nite. This morning I was able to lock in 10-1 with a 70s signal. I have never been able to get the VHF channels to display at all during the day before. Hopefully this will help with those Miami stations.

Still no 55, they must have added the HD and now it does not work!

Got 2-1,2,3 which I did have problems.
Looks like more stable signals except for 55

Nope. No HD on 5-1 (channel 55, wptv) as of last night. Law and Order and Leno were crisp 4x3 dtv upconverts (480i broadcast by wptv at 1080i), that's all. Guess the cards they need to route the NBC HD feed to the tower are still somewhere between Canada and wpb. I'll send an e-mail to Dave the engineer.

Here is Dave's reply:

Mark,
The cards have made it to Atlanta today. We are also having automation
software issues with our Master Control switcher, the latest update came in
today. We want to have the HD on the air as quickly, and cleanly as
possible. We also have some encoder gear back at the manufacturer, and
still waiting for it to come back. I wish I could paint a firm date for
everyone, but I am at the mercy of other folks to perform so we can perform
our jobs. A lot of folks are now saying they can pick us up, and we have
not done much of anything to adjust the signal...I still suspect older
generation boxes, but we do have the manufacturer looking at the stream...so
far all is clean.
Dave

Dave McKinley
Director Of Engineering
WPTV Television

Mr. McKinley's response

"A lot of folks are now saying they can pick us up, and we have
not done much of anything to adjust the signal..."

is troublesome considering I was able to pickup the 5-1 signal shortly after it went on the air, then lost the signal for several weeks, then began finally getting a reasonably stable 5-1 picture for the week prior to the Hughes E86 type upgrade yesterday. Now the digital signal strength I'm getting is too low to get a lock. This variability doesn't make any sense in the context that WPTV-DT hasn't "done much of anything to adjust the signal".

Most of us have been able to lock onto the 12-1 digital signal pretty much from the beginning of their transmissions. So Mr. McKinley's statement that he still suspects older generation boxes and that the 5-1 signal stream is clean is also very troublesome.

I'm not optimistic that WPTV-DT is going to have anything stable anytime soon when they obviously believe the problem is not within their control.

Len,

Those are my same exact feelings. I do not believe the update had anything to do with the signal loss again. I really believe it is on the WPTV end and they are overlooking something. Maybe there is a meter giving them false readings? You being in the north end and me down south indicate that the problem is widespread.

Mark T

absolutely!! I am actually glad we are still having trouble with 55-1 after the upgrade. That just goes to prove what we have been saying all along - the problem has NOTHING to do with our boxes (new OR old). The signal is just as bad as it has been all along. Until they get their equipment fixed, we might as well turn to the other local digital stations.

But those of us with newer boxes - e.g., the zenith hd520 or sony hd200, have always got a very strong signal from day one. Why is that?

I believe the root cause of the 5-1 problem lies in why 12-1 has beem able to gain wide spread coverage of all receivers while 5-1 has not. It would appear the 12-1 staff has access to better technical support and a superior HD knowledge.

What I don't understand is, if their omnidirectional signal is circular, and they're broadcasting at full strength, how come the receivers that are able to tune it are scattered in such a random fashion? Some who are closest to the transmitter are having problems while others who are very far away aren't. And then there's the wildly fluctuating signal levels. None of this makes any sense.

My understanding is that the newer boxes have better circuity to eliminate multipathing. I receive all of the other stations clearly, without pixilation or dropouts on my older Sony box. Because of this I suspect that channels 5's signal is faulty from the transmitter due to multipath problems, which are being compensated for by the electronics of the newer Sony and Zenith STBs. If the digital signal could be could be picked up as an analog picture it would probably be filled with ghosts. When the engineers over at channel 5 really want to address the situation they will acknowledge that there is a deficiency in their signal and not the equipment in our homes.

Well, since Dave McRoy used to work with Dave Mckinley at wpec, I assume that if need be McRoy could pick up the phone and talk to Mckinley about these issues, IF IN FACT McRoy is convinced it's a wptv issue causing the problems with older generation stbs. Mckinley did say in his e-mail to me that the manufacturer is looking at wptv's stream. Of course, my interest in this issue is academic only, as I have a zenith hd520 so I've always received wptv-dt strong since day one back in april - I just wish they'd be able to go hd already!:D

This is definitely a WPTV problem. Their signal was lousy to start with, then for a few days it was pegging my "old" MitsHD4 as well as my "new" Hughes receiver when I was getting picture although with frequent lock ups. Now back to the lousy signal again. I am even experiencing some break ups on the other digital stations that were rock solid until WPTV began testing, hmmm. WPTV, please don't think that everything is fine on your end, its not.

Both my Samsung SIR-T150 and SIR-T165 can find and lock onto the signal with just an amplified indoor antenna, but the signal fluctuates from very strong to zero so rapidly and frequently that it's impossible to watch for more than just a few minutes at a time. I just hope WTVJ isn't going to be using the same brand equipment as WPTV is. WTVJ has already stated that their compromise agreement with a couple of other digital stations (for transmitter location) means they'll have to deal with some degree of interference. What this means for viewers is anybody's guess.

Is Mark an engineer or a politician?
Or, he could be believing BS by his supplier.
You need a good RF tech to solve their problems.

I think it is time I add my 2 cents to this conversation. If WPTV-DT has already thoroughly checked their ATSC transport stream and found that to be good then maybe it is time they start checking their 8VSB modulation coming out of the transmitter. I have read almost every city thread in the local hdtv section of AVS and no other station has ever tried to claim that their DTV signal is not and will not be compatible with 1st gen boxes. This is absolutely absurd. Anyone going around claiming that older generation boxes are the problem is just trying to pass the buck because they don't have the know how or the tools to fix the real problem themself.

I recently visited south Florida, and it now seems that what WPTV is saying is being used unscrupulously by those in retail to sell new boxes. I stopped at a store in West Palm ( I won't name names ) and was discussing HD with them and they are also claiming that older boxes are incompatible with WPTV-DT. This is wrong and they are obviously trying to mislead people in order to sell new boxes. The problem is WPTV, not your boxes.

This is one of the most absurd things any station has ever tried to claim and I for one wouldn't accept it. I suggest that all of you who have already waited long enough for NBC-HD in south Florida keep questioning the ridiculous excuses they are now feeding you through WPTV.

satpro --

You are, of course, correct in your assessment.

They choose to ignore that there is no incompatibility between the older receivers and any of the other dozen or so South Florida DT stations now broadcasting.

Dave McKinley did say in his last email that their encoder manufacturer, Tandberg, is still examining samples of their data stream. We have the same encoder they have and we had to do this, too. Some of you guys seem to have foggy memories of WPEC-DTs first several days on the air. They were not perfect and we had to get help fixing things. In fact, I still get dropouts on WPEC-DT...they just aren't as frequent nor as severe as WPTV-DT.

I have every confidence that both of our stations can eventually fix this. If WFOR-DT and WPBT-DT can be received on a older receiver with absolutely no dropouts (except during thunderstorms) then all of the other stations should theoretically be able to perform just as well.

David, of course you are right that eventually this will all get worked out. I think the main concern here is, however, that WPTV still believes that the issue could be the older boxes (which by the way, my e86 is brand new and still can't get them). I for one would like them to admit that the problem is not with the older boxes - it is the corrupt data stream that is being sent.

Granted we all agree that the newer boxes can correct the corrupt data stream better than older boxes, but the fact remains that the data stream should not be corrupt in the first place.

Just my 2 cents

Yes, and I'll admit it's easy for me to dismiss these delays in getting everything right...since I can just watch the Miami stations any time I want (except for WTVJ, of course since thry're not on the air yet.)

"Some of you guys seem to have foggy memories of WPEC-DTs first several days on the air."

Dave --
My memory of WPEC-DT is not foggy. It is non-existent, since I do not receive a viewable signal.

I believe you stated in the past that we in the far south are not supposed to receive WPEC-DT; so I suppose I am left with WFOR-DT. You might recall that station also having had some start-up problems.

Dave, I seem to be getting dropouts even with 100% signal strength. I noticed it last night during CSI... just oiccasional freezes and loss of audio. Is the problem you are describing or am I alone in this??

Just for curiousity, but why is Tandberg checking the data stream, why can't the station engineer check it out?

Originally posted by George33027
Just for curiousity, but why is Tandberg checking the data stream, why can't the station engineer check it out?

Probably because Tandberg manufactured the encoder.

But regardless of what the problem is, I think all of the stations should have made a formal announcement in the media, asking for HD-capable viewers to call in and report their experiences with reception of their digital signal during the station's testing phase. Instead, it seems like they all go out of their way to keep everything secret, then assume that everything is okay because it appears that way to the engineers in the studio. Since eventually all they will have is a digital signal, they've got to get this working for everybody, and not just a few with certain types of receivers. The equipment manufacturers (both on the broadcast and the receiving end) are also at fault here; everybody has their own interpretation of what constitutes compliance with the ATSC's rules, standards, and regulations. That is simply unacceptable! Fox's "high resolution widescreen" and all the issues with PSIP are clear proof of that.

Dave McKinley and his staff are probably doing the best that they can, but I still believe that there is something wrong with their signal or the manner in which it's being broadcast. Hopefully, they'll have the answers soon.

Satpro is correct. They can't say they are on the air and done with testing until they get the stream correct and all boxes can recieve it. Until then they would be stretching the truth (putting it nicely).

Are they the only channel in South Florida that went with this particular encoder? This could be very bad publicity for that manufacturer. It might be wise to get the word out that this encoder has issues so other stations don't try and use it. Can't hurt to light a fire under the manufacturer.

Tim Huey

As I said before, it is the station who should be technical enough to know if the equipment that they purchased is working.
I know Tandberg has to check it out, but if you bought a TV, and it did not work, you would want a replacement immediatly !

Simple troubleshooting methods should be used, not BS.

I know digital is now very complexed, but, the station could check if the output is being decoded by a receiver.
Then that receiver sent out into the field and it should also pick up the signal.
If it doesn't, than, by deduction you can find the problem box.

I am assuming that they are technical competent to make sure that they are not overloading the final stages of the amplfiers, and VSWR has been checked.
Just because a green light is on, does not mean all is well !

Is it a bad data stream or distortion?

I received an e-mail reply back from Dave a couple of days ago tersely saying Chan 5 is on-the-air and transmitting properly. I have a Sony HD-100 (Delray Beach) which can pick up all of the stations currently transmitting from Miami to Palm Beach. My problems with 5.1 are as many of you have described- varying signal strength w/dropouts.

I am a retired EE with a little more knowledge than the average BEAR however I certainly do not claim to be a Broadcast Engineer/expert. All logic points to some in-compatibility problem with their transmitted signal however the station engineer appears to have his head buried in some dark place. Hopefully he will get the message and see the light and find/correct the problem. After all, they just need to use one of these so called “old” receivers (I bet one of their employees has one!) and observe what their station is doing. If the station continues to say they are on-the-air while many of us cannot receive their broadcasts I suggest contacting the FCC with the problem since station licensing is issued/renewed for the benefit of the local viewing public. Enough complaints will bring the FCC in to investigate the problem. Notification to the Station owners may also help to bring action to investigate the problems we are complaining about since they probably are being told that Channel 5 is now transmitting digitally and no problems exist. The station owners would want us to view their station and not Miami when they come on the air next month!

For those of you also have the Sony receiver I have received a reply from Sony technical support suggesting I send the HD100 to a Sony repair center. Since I am convinced the receiver is not the problem I will wait a while before doing this but if I do learn anything pertaining to the Sony receivers I will post a message to this forum for you.

Gene

I sent the following email to the WPTV-DT engineer - suggest those of you with Hughes E86 type receivers do the same.

Mr. McKinley,

I don't know whether you've been monitoring the AVS Forum thread on the WPB HD stations http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=108284&perpage=20&pagenumber=75, but WPTV-DT is getting a lot of angry comments from those of us that have Hughes E86 type equipment. Many of us were able to receive a locked digital signal shortly after you first went on the air. Then the signal disappeared until about three weeks ago when again many of us were able to pickup a locked signal. This week after a Hughes E86 type equipment software download from DirecTV, once again we can't lock onto your signal.

Some posts to the AVS Forum indicate you still believe the problem is not in your transmission, but rather in the "older" type receivers in the marketplace. If this were the case, those of us continuing to be unable to lock the 5-1 digital signal would also not be able to lock the other digital stations such as WPEC-DT 12-1. I have been able to reliably receive that digital station for since well before the Masters golf tournament.

If you are indeed claiming 5-1 is fully operational (except for the NBC HD feed) and transmitting an uncorrupted digital signal stream, then I submit you're not being honest with your promotion of digital television on your analog station. Your lack of communication and insistence that the problem is not yours on this subject is hurting your stations image and indeed may ultimately result in FCC intervention.

This station is getting a lot of flack, perhaps it deserved, but maybe not. The broadcast is on a higher frequency than any other local channels ( with the exeption of 59 which apparently no one receives). This frequency is likely to be more sensitive to multi-path problems.

I would be curious to know if anyone with an older tuner can sucessfully receive this station. ( I get consistant good reception with an HD200)

I have a consistent 0 on both DTC-100 and HiPix. This problem is not limited to Hughes. There are at least 2 other receivers that can not receive it. I guess I'm not missing anything anyway, since there is no HD and the TV season is over anyway. As long as WTVJ is up before September I'll be happy.

Originally posted by aviators99
I have a consistent 0 on both DTC-100 and HiPix. This problem is not limited to Hughes. There are at least 2 other receivers that can not receive it. I guess I'm not missing anything anyway, since there is no HD and the TV season is over anyway. As long as WTVJ is up before September I'll be happy.


What are the other two receivers that can not receive WPTV-DT? I am only aware of the Hueghes HIRD-E86, the Toshiba DST3000 (E86 Clone) and the Mitisubushi SR-HD5 (E8 Clone). What are the other two.

Originally posted by Joel Graffman
This station is getting a lot of flack, perhaps it deserved, but maybe not. The broadcast is on a higher frequency than any other local channels ( with the exeption of 59 which apparently no one receives). This frequency is likely to be more sensitive to multi-path problems.


This is a very interesting theory. I do remember reading somewhere that one of the big improvements of the new units such as the Sony HD200 and the new Samsung is their ability to better deal with multi-pathing.

Originally posted by ANSEK
What are the other two receivers that can not receive WPTV-DT? I am only aware of the Hueghes HIRD-E86, the Toshiba DST3000 (E86 Clone) and the Mitisubushi SR-HD5 (E8 Clone). What are the other two.

The two I mentioned in my posting. The DTC-100 and Hipix DTV-200. Which are not related to each other in any way.

Real question is how many people CAN receive WPTV-DT ?
Then with what type of receiver?

By deduction, it appears to be a signal distortion or multipath problem.
Some of the newer receivers may be able to have a better error tolerance system that will allow the distorted signal to be received. (Would like to know if the picture is solid ?)

The CBS ch 22 freq is about 520 MHz and the ch 55 freq is about 720 MHz, so I do not believe that 200 MHz will cause a major multipath problem.

Anyway, the main problem is that WPTV is giving the impression that they don't have a problem and all the other problems will go away when Tandberg fixes the HD system.

Maybe if we do not get a good response from WPTV, an email to the local newspaper to this fact may be a good stimulus.

I don't think WPTV knows the intelligence of HDTV community.

Originally posted by Joel Graffman
This station is getting a lot of flack, perhaps it deserved, but maybe not. The broadcast is on a higher frequency than any other local channels ( with the exeption of 59 which apparently no one receives). This frequency is likely to be more sensitive to multi-path problems. <Snip>


My E86 has no problem with Miami stations at 47 and 52. Both are pegged at 100%. 55 is pegged at zero. [I receive nearby WFLX in the 70s or higher, depending on the weather.]

ANSEK,

That would be the RCA DTC-100, which I have, that is one of the 2 additional recievers that cannot recieve a 55-1 image. I get no useable signal on channel 55-1. The RCA DTC-100 doesn't even recognize the signal as anything remotely close to a digital TV station. If it did it adds it to the channel lineup so you can fine tune it in.

Tim hUEY