Have you tried the silver sensor antenna and amplifier dharding? It might just do the trick for ya.

Tim

Thanks Tim for the sugestion. I have a silver sensor but I found the RS double bow tie worked better for me. I am not using a amp. I really do not want to mess with it because my reception is perfect on every other channel and the fact that I get WFLX DT 28 with a signal of 5 bars which is very high I do not think the antenna is the problem. I think the reality is I am in a dead spot but WTVJ will be here in a month.

Just for information last night after finally getting 55-1 on my RCA DTC 100 I tried checking 31-1 to see if they were testing and instead I lock into PBS digital channel 30 from Ft Myers, which I guess it went on the air recently.

I too started receiving 55-1 last night in Stuart, FL.

55% Signal - just enough to get a picture on a Toshiba DST-3000.

James, im getting 100% even further north than you. Check your antenna

Dharding,

You received 55-1 before while others did not, so you should still be able to get it now. I think since the digital signal format may have changed, your STB might need to be rebooted and let it re-scan again. Good luck..

Mark_T

Yes, things are much better with 55-1. The highly directional antenna pointing issue is crushed. I can lock in across a broad range of angles (generally anything to the south, somewhat southeast (and I'm almost on the ocean) and the entire soutwest. The "within one degree" stuff is gone. Whatever the problem was- they appear to have fixed the big bug. After all we have been through, I almost hate to ask for more. But if I could ask for 2 more things:

1. Actual Program info in the Diretv Guide
2. HD signals for HD programs

Very glad to see stability though.

Dave McKinley responded to an email I sent him yesterday on WPTV-DT's signal suddenly being fine.

He's still in Pittsburgh and said that he had learned that the station had been down yesterday afternoon due to a blown circuit breaker at the transmitter site in west Lantana, and that some streaming gear had to be reset at the studio in West Palm Beach.

Could reseting gear at the studio have been all it took to get everything working? Amazing...and scary, too, if true!

Anyway, Dave said he's getting a lot of pointers that should get them in "tip top shape" (his words) shortly after he returns.

So let me get this straight - a bunch of engineers were working trying to get the WPTV-DT signal working for us who are using "older" receivers (e86, etc.) to no avail. Then, they leave town and the situation gets fixed by a fluke?? Dave - you are right - this is scary.

I don't really know. But, based on my very limited knowledge of the situation it sort of looks like that. We'll learn more when Dave gets back.

Wow!!! My expectations have dropped even lower after that story.

I don't want to come across as bashing my worthy competitors here...just reporting circumstances and speculating out loud. Worse things could have happened (like the status quo prior to last night.)

Anyway, DTV remains a learning process for us all.

Thanks Mark_T for your suggestion. Yes when they first went on the air I was receiving them perfectly. Then after a couple of days I could no longer receive them. I will try doing a reset and channel scan tonight and see if that fixes the problem. I will post the results.:)

Someone threw a switch and wallah--- 5.1 coming in fine in Delray Beach (signal = 98-100) on a Sony HD-100 for the first time ever!

No HD, on Leno last night but a good quality digital video signal.

Getting a nice steady 79 on 55-1 in Southwest Miami-Dade at the moment... is there any way we can keep the WPTV engineers out of town just a bit longer?

No kiddin. Something tells me i might just lose the signal again when they get back and start messin with it.

Okay, guys, knock it off!;)

WPTV DT The Real story UPDATE
Nice bashing, even when I am out of town. Well from what we have learned at transmitter school so far is that our transmitter and all was set up properly. It just so happens that the electrical power that feeds the HD transmitter goes thru a Voltage Regulator. It was installed by local electrical contractor. It blew up yesterday on the regulated side, so I had my guys put it into bypass to get the HD back on the air. It turns out the contactor is now crisply burnt and so are the wires feeding from it. This means when it was installed the wire lugs were not tightened properly, so it was arcing over, thus feeding various voltages across the 3 phase power to the transmitter, the transmitter was in a constant calibrate mode evidently and the older recievers had a harder or impossible time locking to a changing clock pulse coming from the stream. The newer boxes, will lock to a pulse, then sample it for an update, the older boxes are less forgiving. So that appears to be the root of this issue. We will of course have to fix the regulator, and will let you know when that happens to see if it brings back the fatal "no lock" issue, but at least we now know which needle in the haystack is at fault...and we can focus on it for the cure. We are still having an issue with the automation software that will handle the switch to HD passthru, and hope to have that solved soon. I have talked with most of the operators to make sure they pass anything in HD, but it appears some are better than others or sometimes we do have a sync problem with the card so they must stick with the SD feed. We had checked the power readings on the transmitter, and they had shown us a pretty stable signal for power. What we learned in school is that this is not a REAL TIME readout, it just takes a sample and posts it to the display. SO had we known about this before, we probably would have checked the output of the regulator before it blew up and led us to the cause. Sometimes you are good, sometimes lucky. Dave

Thanx for the update Dave!

Took Mark_T's suggestion and did a rescan of all the channels. Now I receive WPTV perfectly with a signal level of 5 bars! I watched the NBC evening news and it did not drop out or pixilate once! I hope Jay Leno is in HD tonight. I have been wanting to see it since 1999. I read the update and I am glad to see we finally know what the problem was. I now get all HDTV channels perfectly!:D

Dave WPTV DT DOE,

Hey Dave... no bashing was really intended... Congrats on getting to the root of the problem. We are very excited about it. Maybe I should have suggested that we get the engineers over at WTVJ to take a vacation. It's all in jest. We know you guys over there have been busting your rears to get this thing going. Thanks for the update, and I can't wait to see Leno in HD. Hope it gets passed tonight, otherwise, we'll be patient... Keep up the great work!

I thought ER was supposed to be in HD. It says it is on the NBC website.

Tim Huey

It's coming through in HD now... at least for me it is.... Are you on 55-1 or 55-2?

Got ER in HD here as well on 5-1.

bah... it just went ape-poop on me... signal dropped to 37 and now I get no picture.....

Edit: and back again about 2 minutes later... Do they have to test during primetime?

Okay I've got widescreen now, and Im on 55-2

Tim Huey

It's not perfect right now... lots of dropouts and pixelation, but it is definitely a step in the right direction... hell, this is the first NBC HD I have ever seen.

Well just 20 minutes to go. I did have a minor heart attack when WPTV went down at 11pm but they are back up now and the picture looks great! I have been waiting since April 1999 to see Leno in HD. :D

I think the arcing is back. My signal strenght lost about 50% since last night. Maybe it's a trop thing, seems pretty severe and sudden.

Tim Huey

I am never going to see Leno in HD am I?:rolleyes:

e.r. was definitely not real HD. That was zoomed letterboxed 480i.
But I think that is a network issue, not WPTV.

yeah it was fuzzy

Tim

ER was fuzzy as poop... the 3 seconds I got of Leno looked ok, but still not as good as CBS primetime (CSI, Gone w/o a Trace)

Come on...Leno looked much better than those (I only got about 1.5 mins of it too)

You think it looked better? Man... CSI comes through great for me on WFOR 4-1. Maybe all the pixelation threw me off, but CSI is really the standard that all my other HD viewing is compared to at the moment... With exception to a couple of things shown on HDnet.

We may never know the REAL reason.
If it was technical, we will be told.
If it was human error, then it will be technical.

By the way, what do you have to do to get the guide to show 5-1 schedule?

The program guide for WPTV is located in their website at "www.tcpalm.com"

Tony

I know that.
But, WPTV follows NBC.
But on my Mits HD5, all I get is local 5-1.
Does WPTV put their schedule on DirecTV guide?
and if so, then what is the zip code that I need to enter?

Don't know, I don't do DIRECTV
Tony

First five minutes signal problems again then it locked and was great for the rest of the show. The HD looked great! Could see some stains on the couch. Thanks WPTV! Finally NBC HD.:D

Crossing Jordan looks amazing! Plus, I got my Zenith HDR230 today, so I'm pausing live HDTV and rewinding! Better, steadier signal today than the last two days. If only it were TV season! I'll be recording Leno in HD tonight.

Finally I am getting WPTV-HD in SW Dade County, close to the Tamiami Trail by FIU. 95% signal on my HD100, which is one of the old generation receivers. Watching Crossing Jordan very nicely, no drop outs so far from airport traffic.

Jose
W2JD

PS- I hope it's not because of tropo tonight.

Signal just dropped to 15 for me... anyone else having trouble? I was in the 70s yesterday?

Working fine for me. Leno was in SD for a little while but was in full HD just before this last break and looked great. Good job guys.

Dropped down to 0 soon after Leno started. Was really looking forward to recording it, too.

Working perfect right now for me, too! Beautiful...

was able to watch leno in HD on e86 but had to reposition antenna (weird).

Ahhhh, The thread quiets down as we all watch channel 55. Life is so good.:p

Dave, maybe you can help me....I have an apt in Wellington, and though I pick up WPEC on 12-1 and 12-2 at about a 60-70 signal strenght on my dtc-100, there's no picture or sound. I get the call letters on the dtc header but nothing else. As for WPTV, haven't gotten anything yet. The ABC and FOX DTV channels come in just fine but is there anything I can do to get your signal. (a 40 or 50 strength will pull a picture from the channels I'm getting, does PEC's signal need greater than 70 on my meter?)

I have found that 5-1 is still narrow, and I had to adjust my antenna to get a solid signal.
But, it is stable and solid and in HD in the evenings.
Great picture.

Definitly not an older STB problem!

i agree George - I have to turn my antenna to get WPTV (therefore, losing all my Miami stations). I would assume it should be pointing same direction as WFLX, but it is not - oh well - hopefully they will fix that too :)

That is strange with me too.
I had to point mine directly north, even though it should be 25 degrees according to the direction materal I got.
All other stations seem to be where they belong.

This is only with 5-1, and I have to loose 10-1.
Oh well, at least we can get all the HD stations.
I am now starting to watch the re-runs in HD, of the programs that I did not watch. I take HD over non-HD.
So, now that NBC can be gotten in HD, I find I am watching more of it.

Now that WPTV is finally settling down, sorta, what can be done to get
the attention of WTVX-DT <UPN>? Their programming that should be in HIGH Def seems to appear in SD only, most of the time. They have no widescreen formatted programming and when they do attempt a 4:3
high def broadcast it is uncentered on the screen. <Look closely> Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon when watching a show such as Smallville or Enterprise? I have tried to write them, with no response to these issues whatsoever, but feel that possibly with the input of some of the tech monsters on this forum, something can be done to get some notice to the powers that be on these issues.

WTVX programming originates from the WFOR studio in Miami.

WPTV-DT was pixelating pretty bad this morning on my e86 - anyone else seeing this?

Did anyone have any reception problems with WFLX-DT during the Winston Cup race yesterday?

dbuchler,
Yes, I did have reception problems with WFLX-DT during the Winston Cup race Sunday. Would come in fine for a while, and then pixelaziation (sp?), and dropouts. All other channels where fine.

i have noticed that wptv is still a bit picky on antenna position - is this still due to the power issue? is this something that will get fixed? just wondering because i do not want to move the antenna for just 1 station and lose all the miami stations. i guess i could just wait a week for channel 6 in miami to go live so i don't have to change my antenna.

To hdtvis4me
You may want to try a slight move in the antenna. The power problem we had should not play into the reception now. If you are getting Miami strong, a slight shift should not cause you to lose them altogether.
Dave

Welcome back, Dave.

Yep, my antenna position on WPTV-DT is now about the same as WFLX-DT.

Is the news supposed to be aired in HD ?

David, I receive WPEC's signal at a perfect 100 signal strength on my MitsHd4 receiver and yet I still get pixel breakups from time to time. Do you know why this is so? I get the same signal strengths on all the other West Palm stations but not experiencing the breakups.

As of Monday, WPTV was great here. Since then I've been getting very poor and spotty reception. WTVJ is now 100 for me, though....

WPTV Dave,
I am about 3-4 miles East of your tower off Lantana road and I noticed that if I adjusted my antenna ever so slightly to the right (now pointing South) that I can get WPTV at 100% now along with all the Miami stations (including 33-1 which now shows a test pattern). Thanks for your help!

WPTV is back to a good signal now for me.

Originally posted by Carlb7
David, I receive WPEC's signal at a perfect 100 signal strength on my MitsHd4 receiver and yet I still get pixel breakups from time to time. Do you know why this is so? I get the same signal strengths on all the other West Palm stations but not experiencing the breakups.

Yes, I experience the same thing with a Mitsubishi SR-HD5. No problems with other receivers though. We are supposed to look into why this seems to be a problem with the Hughes E86 receivers and it's clones, the Mitsubishi SR-HD4, SR-HD5, SR-HD400 and SR-HD500, plus the Toshiba DST3000...but no others that we are aware of.

Just wondering - is there a reason 4-1 is sharper than 12-1? For example, I was comparing letterman last night and the picture on 4-1 was a lot sharper/clearer than 12-1. Is anyone else seeing this or is it just my receiver?

4-1 and 12-1 are equally sharp on CBS-HD passthrough but 4-1 is cleaner and more detailed on upconverted SD programing (like Letterman, local news, etc.) because they have digital component video in house while 12-1 is still analog composite for in house SD.

Same thing ar 5-1. Their in house SD video is digital component and looks better than ours.

Gotcha - thanks for the info - i don't suppose 12-1 will be getting digital component video soon? ;)

I'd guess within 5 years, maybe a little less, in conjunction with going HD for local news, etc. It's something we're just planning for as far as long-range budgets.

Just rescanned, and for the 1st time ever I am picking up WPTV on my DST-3000. I've had it on for about 20 minutes, and not a single incidence of pixelization or drop outs. The audio is a little out of sync though.

I have a mid sized ratshack outdoor antenna, and had adjusted it a while back to get a good signal from FOX 29. But being much to lazy to get out the ladder again and adjust it to try to get WPTV, I have left it and just tried scanning every now and then. Whatever they did recently, it seems to be working...

David. WPEC-DT's pixelation and audio dropout problem is making it unwatchable for me. I'm selling my HD-5 as soon as the next generation of STB's comes out. I will chalk it up to being on the "bleeding" edge of technology - - again.

The signal strenght fluxuations and of course pixalization and dropouts is back with ch 5.1 on my Sony HD-100. Anyone else getting the same results?

Same at this end. It was fine this AM sig 100% with 5.1 showing but the audio was LF and C. Later I have some Pixelation and audio breakups but the sig is still 100%

Sony hd200 out door antenna at 65'

Anyone know whether our local Fox stations WSVN/WFLX will be able to pass the HD that Fox has stated they are going to roll out starting later this year??

Reception of WPTV was perfect last night during Jay Leno here in Coral Gables. Not one drop out.

:D

Me too. Very happy with WPTV so far. You have to tweak the antenna for max signal, but it works.

Originally posted by HTnut
Anyone know whether our local Fox stations WSVN/WFLX will be able to pass the HD that Fox has stated they are going to roll out starting later this year??

Only if they somehow find a new source of funding at WSVN. They're infamous for doing things cheap and tacky, so don't expect any miracles.

WFLX, on the other hand, shouldn't have a problem since they're already upconverting everything to 1080i.

Per information I received from their general manager late yesterday, they still have engineers at the transmitters, cycling them of and on. This results in a drop in power, causing signal loss, etc. They're working out the bugs and ask that we be patient over the next couple of weeks. I already got them to reset the encoder to eastern time (it was an hour behind), so this is a good start.

Well done Rudy. Now I can go to bed an hour earlier. <g>

Your next task <g> is to get them to turn off the DD 5.1 indicator and to correct the speaker pattern from the current LF and Center speakers only. They might not be monitoring the audio via surround speakers.

I remember reading last year that NBC sends out their whole primetime lineup via the HD Satellite channel on AMC-1. Even the non-HD stuff is send upconverted from network control. This means that affiliates don't have to worry about "flipping the switch", as they can just always take the feed from the HD satellite channel. Has that changed? If not, I'm confused about the earlier statement that the switch to Leno HD might not work because it was automated. It should be no different than going from affiliate programming to network at 8pm. Keep in mind, I'm not complaining that it isn't working yet---I know we're still testing, but I'm into this kind of stuff and want to understand how it works!

On WTVJ in HD and looking good!:)

I watched WPTV DT tonight here in Coral Gables for three hours and the picture was perfect! Not so for WTVJ. Every time I switched to WTVJ they looked like a bad jigsaw puzzle. I think they are having the same problems that WPTV started out with.

I also like the NBC screensaver during the local breaks on WPTV. :D

I'm a DirecTV subscriber. Suddenly most West Palm Beach DTV stations don't show up when channel surfing. I have to punch in the channels directly to receive them.

Anyone else seeing this?

Originally posted by David McRoy
I'm a DirecTV subscriber. Suddenly most West Palm Beach DTV stations don't show up when channel surfing. I have to punch in the channels directly to receive them.

Anyone else seeing this?

David --
Do the recalcitrant channels appear in your guide? If so, they should surf. If not, try a soft reboot to download guide information.

[I'm sure that you have already looked at the OTA channel list to see if they might have become unchecked. It happens.]

Note: This is an uneducated guess. No guarantee.

Hi, Bill,

No, they disappeared from the guide, too.

Just spent way too much time with a DirecTV tech support guy learning that I needed to go into "Channel List" and "check" every channel option across all lists. (I went ahead and did it on every DirecTV channel that I was interested in...omitting things like "WP12" (WPEC via Directv LIL, which I don't subscribe to anyway) and that fixed the problem.

What brought this on in the first place? (I have no idea!)

Oh, well. Yet more proof that DTV is not "grandma proof." Not even baby boomer TV technician proof!:rolleyes:

Boy - things are quiet around here lately :)

Well - I have officially set WTVJ as my official NBC-DT station as WPTV is still pixelating on my e86.

Yeah, I thought people would be jumping for joy since WTVJ is up and running.

It is really strange. Now that I get WPTV perfectly I have problems with WTVJ pixilating all the time. I watched For love or money last night on WTVJ and halfway through it started pixilating real bad and I had to switch to WPTV. I know WTVJ will eventually iron out the problems but at least I have WPTV.:D

Originally posted by Kwikdraw
Yeah, I thought people would be jumping for joy since WTVJ is up and running.

I jumped for joy. I'm really impressed with the speed at which WTVJ got up and running. That may sound strange since they missed the FCC deadline by more than a year, but considering their fight for frequency allocation and when it got solved, they were very quick. I really don't recall the details of how the channel 4 and channel 6 swap happened, but they certainly got the short end of the stick in that. Hopefully this will even things out.

Originally posted by aviators99
I jumped for joy. I'm really impressed with the speed at which WTVJ got up and running. That may sound strange since they missed the FCC deadline by more than a year, but considering their fight for frequency allocation and when it got solved, they were very quick. I really don't recall the details of how the channel 4 and channel 6 swap happened, but they certainly got the short end of the stick in that. Hopefully this will even things out.

CBS, then on channel 6 swapped channels and transmission towers with NBC, then on channel 4. In return, CBS gave NBC a prime Philadelphia VHF channel.

We are jumping here in Delray Beach.... Chan 6.1 coming in with signal strength 98-100 no dropouts! They have done a super job unlike Ch 5.1 which still drops out and does not work with a Sony HD-100.

OK - why won't NBC show the NASCAR race in widescreen like FOX did? This bites!!

And why not show the fireworks in HD?
I mean your in NY and they have the cameras.
Even CBS did not do fireworks in HD in Boston!

Not getting WFLX or WPBF right now. Anyone else ?

WFLX is offline. Fiance is watching ID4 via DirecTV feed even though we have it on DVD so I cant check on WPBF.

Great ! WFLX is offline on the 4th of July when the feature movie is Independence Day ! WPBF seems to be blinking on and off when the movie Dinosaur is showing ( sorry children, daddy says go to bed now). Don't even start with me about lip sync problems. I'm getting ready to go back to the movie theaters.

Not getting either here in PSL... Its not you Carlb7. I feel better now too.

Heads Up:

WPEC-DT will be off the air in the early morning hours tomorrow and likely Thursday morning as well for some tower work.

Originally posted by David McRoy
Heads Up:

WPEC-DT will be off the air in the early morning hours tomorrow and likely Thursday morning as well for some tower work.
Thanks for the "heads-up". Does this have anything to do with your E-86 problem?

Unfortunately, no!

I am not getting WPBF any more. Is there a problem or is it just me.

There hasn't been much discussion about the WPTV problem lately. Does this mean that my Sony HD100 is the only receiver not working? Nothing has changed for me, I still receive all WPB stations OK except WPTV. Oddly I even get WTVJ from Miami fairly well.

Ansek,

I am getting WPBF again now.

SORAPP,

I am pretty sure some people with the HD-1000 were able to get WPTV. Check the South Florida thread.

I get 5.1 on my Sony HT 100 but I usually view 6.1 since they always seem to switch on to HD which is something that our West Palm Beach affiliate seems to forget.

Yes Wptv is still bad. But it is quiet because you can get all your NBC HD programming from Miami 6.1!

Signal bangs in at 98-100 from channel 6.1 in Delray Beach with NONE of the problems that 5.1 still has. I don't see where they (WPTV) are trying to fix them since they said the problems were cause by electrical arcing and they had it repaired (Did not fix the problems)

Originally posted by Bighitter
Ansek,

I am getting WPBF again now.

SORAPP,

I am pretty sure some people with the HD-1000 were able to get WPTV. Check the South Florida thread.

I get it now. I guess they were down for a while.

Well, tonight WPTV-DT did Law & Order in upconverted SD while WTVJ-DT sent it in HD. It looked soft on both stations.

HD movie info

"Murphy's Law" will air in HD on WBFS-DT on Sunday, July 13th, at 1 PM and on WTVX-DT on Sunday at 2 PM.

Ken

Ken

Even though WTVX is a WB secondary affiliate are there any plans to do the WB HD on WTVX?

The weather info that WPEC transmits on 12.2 is a great idea, thanks WPEC.

The channel would be more useful if a higher percentage of time was utilized showing the radar rather then the weekly forecast, which is boringly the same for the entire rainy season.

Thanks, Joel, I'll pass this along.

I have been watching NBC-DT on 6.1 and almost forgot about WPTV. I decided to check in with them last night to see if their problems had been fixed. I was AMAZED to see that reception was still horrible. I had to turn my antenna completely in the opposite direction as all my other West Palm and Miami stations in order to get a steady signal (if you can call it that). Once I had a picture on my screen, I noticed that Jay Leno was in 4:3 SD on WPTV while 6.1 was showing it in 16x9 HD. I guess I haven't missed much :(

Pity though - I would like to watch the local NBC channel since their news is more relevant than 6.1 to me.

Sounds like they say the right things, and explain the right things but the actions fall short.
What they miss is Actions speaks louder than words.

Maybe thay should shut down and re-boot the system.

Sorry for the shouting but could you please wake up your techs in Master Control and tell them to please throw the switch for HD. Leno was in SD last night.
I also noticed tonights movie was in SD.

Thanks!:D

Originally posted by satpro
Ken

Even though WTVX is a WB secondary affiliate are there any plans to do the WB HD on WTVX?

satpro,

We would like to be doing the WB HD programming but it's not going to happen right away. I'll let you know when we get closer to passing the HD shows.

Regards, Ken

What is this magical swithch that the station is suppose to switch?
I think the units automatically switch when they receive a HD source.
Is it the feed switch?

Just called wflx, 29-1, since faux 480i-to-480p widescreen passed at 1080i is better than nothing (i.e., 4x3), re the all star game. (I did this more to prod that anything else, since they too often forget to throw the switch). They said yes, the all star game will be in widescreen on 29-1. Of course, after watching the home run contest and the celeb softball game in beautiful 720p on my native 720p display via espnhd last night, it'll be a bummer, but hey, it's better than 4x3 at 480i (WSVN - BOO!). bye.

Mark,

I watched the first part of the game, and compared it several times to the signal from WSVN. Aside from being "widescreen", they were remarkably similar. I have seen much better PQ from Fox's "widescreen" shows as upconverted to 1080i by WFLX in the past.

--Rudy

I agree. The PQ from Fox Widescreen was comparable to WSVN's. The shot from the center field cameras looked especially grainy.

By the way - anyone still having trouble with WPTV? Antenna direction seems to be quite touchy still.

Also - 39-1 stopped broadcasting Smallville in HD - anyone know why?

I agree that the pq last night, even by faux standards, was lousy.

Originally posted by hdtvis4me
By the way - anyone still having trouble with WPTV? Antenna direction seems to be quite touchy still.

Also - 39-1 stopped broadcasting Smallville in HD - anyone know why?

Were all of the "Smallville" episodes shot in HD? They may be airing reruns of the first few SD episodes. I haven't watched it in a couple of weeks, but the last episode I saw was in HD.

Chan 5.1 has never worked properly for those of us who have certain model receivers. They did claim a fix (some electrical arcing) but they either don't care if some receivers do not work or they are technically unable to fix their signal. My Sony HD-100 cannot pick up their signal w/o dropouts. For NBC digital/HD tune to Miami 6.1 (signal in Delray is 100). Our only problem is the local Ch 5 news, which we used to watch daily, has now become Chan 12.1.

I went surfing around looking for the new NBC Miami station, which I think is supposed to be on channel 31, a couple times this weekend. Both times my receiver locked onto a signal with good signal strength but no picture or sound showed. The signal indicator stayed green, indicating good lock on a signal, but eventually the receiver displayed the "hopping" [NO SIGNAL] box.

Was the station running this weekend?

I was looking forward to watching "The Restaurant" in HD last night but WPTV-DT 5-1 was A.F.U. all day (not working). My antenna situation does not allow me to pick up 6-1 so I'm stuck in Scripps-Howard ville.

Geneter, I have found that WPEC's local news is better than WPTV. What do you think?

We actually prefer the WPTV local news, primarily due to the weather radar.
However we are now watching ch 12.1 local news due to the problems with 5.1. WPTV doesn't seem to want to fix their signal problems so we watch the other stations

You must not be using a decent antenna to pick up Miami 6.1. The signal for Delray Beach is 100 (strongest Miami signal) : the same as local ch 29.1! I am picking up all the Miami & WPB stations with antennas in the attic. The only station that is marginal is WSVN Miami which drops to 70 when our garage door is open. The Miami antenna is in the attic and directly above the raised garage door and will occasionally drop out with the door raised but comes in fine with the garage door down. This may sound weird but I am a retired Elect. Engr. and I have seen some strange phenonoma particularly with the higher (UHF) frequencies.

If you are picking up 4.1, 10.1 etc you should also get 6.1

If you are picking up 4.1, 10.1 etc you should also get 6.1
I do not receive any Miami stations due to the fact that 1) I have a fixed antenna in the attic pointed North to receive WPBF 25. There is not enough room to rotate it to point South. I have a second rabbit ear antenna behind the TV for 29-1 and 5-1 because they are both overloaded on the attic antenna. 2) I have a Mitsubishi HD5 receiver (same as the E-86) that has very poor signal rejection. I plan on replacing it when the new HD recording capable DirecTV-TIVO units debut at the end of this year.

ElectricPickle you might want to look at coupling two fixed antennas.

Hi All.

I'm moving from Stuart to WPB and just switched my profile in TitanTV. Can't wait to see how many of all those DTV channels I'll be able to pick up with my silver sensor. (How do you splice a VHF antenna in so you can get the 2-13 channels?) My new apartment faces east, in a large building, so, I'm not sure I'll pick up any stations at all, but, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Anyway, anyone close to Stuart looking to step up their home theater speakers? I have a set of Klipsch 8.5's I'm looking to trade for smaller stuff (Not much room in the new place). Also, I have a Klipsch 200 watt subwoofer I'd like to trade for something smaller. Once in a lifetime chance to get a trade up for nothing! Assuming you like Klipsch speakers.

Let me know.:D

Ever since WPTV has fixed its problem I am able to receive a strong signal. The only drop outs that occur are during their newscasts. When the outside reporter goes to the video tape on a story my screen will go black from time to time. Anyone else see this happening ?

Although like you I'm getting a strong signal on 5-1, WPTV doesn't appear to be passing the NBC HD feeds. Therefore I have no reason to watch 5-1 in a 4-3 format.

Concur with Carl and Len.

With the exception of sports and news, I seldom watch network programs. I have checked Leno a few times and it has always been 4 X 3. I started watching local news on WPTV-DT because of the outstanding digital picture. Seems like I always get at least one drop-out. When I check the signal strength, it is strong and does not indicate the variation you would associate with drop-outs.

Joel

Tried to watch local 6 p. m. news on WPTV-DT last night but there was no audio.

I was getting a barely 'normal' signal from ch. 25 up to about a week ago and now I get nothing. Same antenna in place - any ideas?
Thanks

WTVX - UPN in Palm Beach sucks when it comes to their HD feed. Gray bars, non centered, non wide screen HD...

Technically speaking WTVX only does DTV not HD. Though I do agree about all the other parts.

Originally posted by greenknight
I was getting a barely 'normal' signal from ch. 25 up to about a week ago and now I get nothing. Same antenna in place - any ideas?
Thanks


I don't if something is going on but, I also am experiencing problems with ch. 25. I previously had a perfect signal with no dropout and now I am experience frequent audio dropouts not related to the lighting.

I'm still getting a strong signal on WPBFDT (25-1) although I am getting some pixelization tonight - probably because of the storm conditions. I'm enjoying the MNF telecast in HD tonight.

I to enjoyed the MNFootball. Surprised to see in HD. Titan TV had listed as non-HD and hence didn't care. But when I scrolled through the Channels it was in HD and I loved it. I wish all the NFL games were in HD.

I am getting the following channels with Zenith HDV420 with an indoor antenna (Zenith Silver Sensor) sitting on Top of Hitachi 61SWX01.

2-1
4-1
5-1
6-1
12-1
12-2
16-1
17-1
29-1
33-1
34-1
51-1
69-1

Venkat,

The Silver Sensor is helping you pull in the VHF based channels? I thought it was only a UHF antenna?

I hope your answer is yes, 'cause I'm moving to WPB in a couple of weeks, and I'm hoping my Silver Sensor will pick up all of the same stations!

Originally posted by james_h
Venkat,

The Silver Sensor is helping you pull in the VHF based channels? I thought it was only a UHF antenna?

I hope your answer is yes, 'cause I'm moving to WPB in a couple of weeks, and I'm hoping my Silver Sensor will pick up all of the same stations!

I also have a silver sensor and I get the same stations as Venkat. Even though the silver sensor is a UHF antenna WPEC-DT is so strong and so close I we are able to pick it up. My friend connected a wire to the back of his HD Receiver and the only station he can get was WPEC.

Venkat-
Which direction do you have the SS pointed? Or do you move it arround
depending on the channel? If so, directions? Thanks

I never got 7-1 and 10-1 with the Silver Sensor but always (consistently) got 2-1 and 4-1 without any issues.

I don't move the antenna around. It sits on top of my TV (6 Feet ?).
I think I am pointing my antenna at South East (I live West of Jog on a Lake).

I have had both Samsung SIRT151 and Zenith HDV420 and found that the Zenith is able to pull in a much stronger signal than the T151. I also like the fact that Zenith allows me to stretch the 4:3 picture to fill up my screen (I and my wife are used to seeing stretched pictures in the last three years and prefer it that way for 4:3 formats).

I would suggest that you try with the inddor antenna first before speding time and money on an Outdoor antenna.

2-1 and 4-1 are re-mapped UHF channels. 7-1 and 10-1 are VHF and thus the problem. I get 12-1 on my 4228 but only occasionaly get 7-1 and 10-1.

Is WPEC still broadcasting on 12-2?

My Ch 13 signal is usually in the teens, but on rare occasions, probably weather related, it soars to the 70s and 80s or even higher. Last night was such an occasion.

12-1 came in well, but 12-2,which I have previously accessed, advised "Station Unavailable". It does not currently appear on the local channel list, and manual remote entry did nothing.

12.2 coming in O.K. here in Delray.

Originally posted by wjbjr
Is WPEC still broadcasting on 12-2?

My Ch 13 signal is usually in the teens, but on rare occasions, probably weather related, it soars to the 70s and 80s or even higher. Last night was such an occasion.

12-1 came in well, but 12-2,which I have previously accessed, advised "Station Unavailable". It does not currently appear on the local channel list, and manual remote entry did nothing.


WPEC is still broadcasting 12-2 but it is a complete waste now. When WPEC first started broadcasting this substation they used to show the radar loop 90% of the time, now the radar is on the screen for 10 seconds at a time. Most of the time the station shows the 5 day forecast. I wish WPEC would go back to the radar loop 90% of the time. Until WPEC goes back to the the radar loop dominated broadcast I wouldn't waste your time.

The radar display available via this station could be a powerful tool for many users, especially during the severe weather season. Too bad that WPEC does not exploit this.

Does anyone know what's happening with WPTV (5-1)? Most of the time I can't pickup any signal. The few times I did pickup a signal and tried to watch Jay Leno, it wasn't being broadcast in HD.

Len, I've been getting WPTV on 55-2 the last couple of days. Something weird on my end or theirs.

BTW, WPXP-DT 67-1 (DTV channel 36) was on the air last night. Good signal, but poor video quality.

I have an RCA DTC 100 and for the last couple of days I have not been able to pickup 55-1.

Does anybody know if WPTV is having some problems again?

Dr Guava

i have not been monitoring this board for the past few weeks. Figured I would check in to see how WPTV was working - guess nothing has changed. I am still unable to receive WPTV 2 miles from their tower. Are they still testing?? This is crazy :(

PAX can be seen on 36-1 and 67-1 with a very strong signal but very poor video quality.

I am able to receive 5-1 (NBC) with no issues what so ever. But I am noticing that periodically 29-1 is off air. Did any one notice this?

Apparently WPTVDT (5-1) is having the same problem they had months ago when many of us were complaining we could not pickup their signal. At that time the issue was whether "older" SAT's were sufficiently capable of rejecting multipath. I believe it turned out to be a simple wiring problem at WPTVDT's facility that was found by accident that led to most of us finally being able to pickup their signal. Or perhaps HD is simply not a priority for WPTV until the fall season begins. I'm disappointed they are choosing not to communicate with this board.

Yeah I too have been having problems with WPTV signal lately. It fluctuates between 0-15 on my DST-3000 like it did when they first went on air.

Hi guys. I'm gonna get hd set #2 by adding either a sammy hln617W dlp or a lcos (philips or tosh, i guess) downstairs, to go with the panny 40lc12 I have had for a year in the bedroom. The sammy is everywhere of course and is very popular, so I've seen it a billion times, but does anyone know where I can at least see an LCOS set - even the toshibas that came out last year? Sound Advice is getting a bunch of philips lcos in sometime around the 25th. Anywhere have a set on display now? Any of you own the tosh? thanks.

What is going on with WPTV 5-1? I almost always receive the video well, but the audio is not synced. Today, when the TODAY show started at 7 am, we were hearing chatter from the announcers during the commercial breaks -- not always things they should be saying over the air! It's interesting to hear what goes on behind the scenes, but I don't think they want us to hear that. I think the chatter is from the national feed announcers. About 5 minutes before the show starts we begin hearing practice runs for the beginning of the show. When they cut to our local weather announcer, the background comments from the national announcer were heard instead.

I would think that someone at WPTV would be monitoring what they are transmitting. I left a message with Dave McKinley just now. This has happened a few times during the past few months.

Also lip-sync still remains a big problem with the other DTV stations as well. It makes the shows unwatchable. We're forced to watch the low resolution D* feeds instead. You would think that these stations would try to get this right. I'm sure they have spent a lot of money on the new DTV equipment.

Jeff

Well, here we are, back to where we were months ago. Those of us who live close to the Palm Beach County transmitters for WPTV, WPEC, and WFLX, and have a Hughes E-86HD (and its clones) receiver, still have problems with the digital broadcasts of these stations. The people that live in Broward/Dade counties now have their own NBC digital affiliate so they no longer watch WPTV – and they are happy, because their affiliates apparently know what they are doing. Why do these Palm Beach County broadcasters not care about their HDTV viewers? We do realize that it’s expensive for them to upgrade their broadcasting equipment but it’s expensive for us, the consumer – the one that their advertisers are trying to reach, to make the initial purchase and then to have to buy new equipment every few years. This is NOT cutting edge technology. The Japanese have had high definition television for 25 years.
If the problem is my receiver, like I’ve been told, then why does it only not work in Palm Beach County? I don’t see complaints from people in Broward County that live close to the transmitters. Wouldn’t they have the same problem?
I will wait to upgrade to a new receiver that will come out in late 2003 or early 2004. In the mean time I have the DirecTV HD package that will get me through. Pre-season football on ESPN-HD was the best football HD picture that I have seen so far. It was better than the college games on HD-Net.
I hear that there will soon be national media attention again on how the HDTV roll-out is progressing. I sure hope that they dig deeper than WPTV’s press releases.

I actually happened across a salesmen for WPTV while I was at CC talking to Lazaro yesterday. He was talking about the roll out and how they were still working on things. THen I asked if he could find out why I was no longer able to get thier signal. He brought up the early problems and then said they had everything fixed. I informed him this was far from the case and that there were many of us on this site unable to recieve their signal again. He asked which box I had and when I told him the Toshiba DST-3000 aka Hughes CLone he was like ohhh that dinosaur. Thats when I got very frustrated and said basically what ElectricPickle just said about HD being available for over a decade in japan and that this wasnt new technology. I then proceeded to inform him more of the situation. He took my name, number and identity on this forum to take back to Dave McKinley as I told him many people were upset and that I was just glad I could get 6-1 out of miami without problem. This really annoyed him so he said he would look into it further if he could. I then ended up helping him pick out an antenna for his house in Boca.

Edited for mistake on call signs.

You must mean WPTV - not WPEC.

The Engineer for WPTV, Dave, has never acknowledged that they even have a problem with their signal getting out. \

Hopefully you all can pick up the NBC programming from Miami, ch 6.1 where you live. Ch 6.1 has come up smooth as silk and does transmit all of the network HD programming flawlessly.

For "local" news in (South)Palm Beach county use 12.1 (WPEC), their station is on the ball!

Unfortunately I'm limited to an attic antenna with a Mitsubishi HD5 receiver which does not pick up 6-1. NBC does not have any HD programming that I like anyway.

hdtvis4me, yes I did mean WPTV thanks for catching that.

WPTV DT is still working on issues. We fixed the audio problem yesterday, so now it will follow whatever is up on that switcher. We also have automation working properly and HD pass thru shows should now be automatic. We are looking at the volage regulator that caused the signal problems a few months back as a possible cause for recent postings of no signal pickups. Dave

Thanks for the update, Dave.

WTVX - UPN
Has been down the last few days, think they may be getting their
act together for the new season? I sure hope so as watching Star Trek and Smallville with the unaligned picture and grey bars instead of true HDTV is quite annoying.

Just an FYI - while Smallville is done in HD widescreen via 39-1, I have yet to see Star Trek done in true HD widescreen (always 4:3). Does anyone know if Star Trek is actually shot in 16x9 HD widescreen? I would assume if it was, then it would be passed along to us in that format via 39-1 like Smallville.

What ever happen to this? They told me months ago they were ready to throw the switch. Anybody heard anything? I know they are putting out a 1kw signal in stuart that covers one block.

From their website "WHDT-44 sits atop a 1,000 foot tower in Hollywood, Florida and serves the Southeast cities of Miami and Fort Lauderdale"

Well I sit atop a high rise in Coral Gables 150 feet and I cannot receive anything on 44. :D

Originally posted by hdtvis4me
Just an FYI - while Smallville is done in HD widescreen via 39-1, I have yet to see Star Trek done in true HD widescreen (always 4:3). Does anyone know if Star Trek is actually shot in 16x9 HD widescreen? I would assume if it was, then it would be passed along to us in that format via 39-1 like Smallville.

Yes, Enterprise is shot in HD. Hey, av8torfl, do I know you?

Is any one getting WFLX 29-1 for the past few days? They seem to be down!!

But ya never know.

How come my Mits doesn't show Smallville in widescreen
HD up here on WTVX 34-1? wahhhhh wahhhh

I have only had the intermitent problems with 29-1 on monday nite but nothing since.

av8torfl,
WTVX still does not pass HD thus the reason you do not get widescreen HD of smallville. If I remember correctly there was a statement saying it would be atleast another year before thier system was upgraded to handle hd. Tell velet I said hi.

Once again I'm getting a strong signal on WPTVDT (5-1). Thanks to Dave McKinley for listening to my email and monitoring this board which appears to be having a positive effect.

Anyone have the FOX football game on? I was surprised it was in WS. Only the pregame so far, but man...they gotta do a better job on the make up - JJ looks like he has a streak on the left side of his face...heh heh heh. Doesn't look too bad though...better then sd. They had a problem with audio sync when they cut to the announcers, but they fixed it within a few seconds.

edited to add that the opening kickoff and return was really strange..looked like a third of the frames were missing - like some of the stylized crap you see in movies...

WPTV coming in nice and strong again, thanks for the quick info.

WPTV 5-1 good here too. Fox WS football - is one camera out of focus or is it just a bad picture?

At least FOX is doing their preseason football in widescreen which is more than CBS is doing. To give credit where credit is due, I was very impressed with ABC's first installment of MNF. I'm not a fan of the decision at FOX to use "enhanced" 480p video, but I've read some articles that indicate their about to debut 720p this coming season. It wouldn't surprise me to find FOX on the leading edge of HD once the smoke has cleared. Practically no one gave them a chance when they first went on the air against the other established networks. Watch out NBC, CBS and ABC. They already have the best NFL pregame show IMO.

WPTV is much better, but picture drop outs make it quite annoying to watch still.

Fox did a nice job with the football game last evening. True some
of the cameras could have been better focused, but just watching
a football game in widescreen format, wow, it's incredible just how
much we were missing before!

East Boynton Beach Little League game on ESPN 7 PM tonight. I wish it was in HD.
Tomorrow (Saturday) on ESPN-HD pre-season football. Bills at Titans. Compare the HD picture with the networks HD football and post your opinion.

Question for everyone...

I haven't visited this AVS forum in a while, so sorry if I'm out of touch. I'm not sure if it's just me or has the WPEC-DT 12.1 signal just gone haywire? Have they lowered the signal power? I live very close to the antenna farm, just West of Hagen Ranch Rd., just South of Lantana Rd., with my Silver Sensor pointing West (as it's always been), and I'm finding it very difficult to get 12.1. All the other channels - 5.1, 29.1, 25.1 all come in very strong, but for the past week or so, 12.1 is either below normal (Sony HD-200), bad, or just no signal at all. I've tried moving the antenna around, but it doesn't help much, and in fact, that just decreases the signals from the other stations.

WPEC-DT always used to be my strongest Digital/HD signal...what happened? Is this a problem with WPEC-DT or just a anomaly with my setup? Thanks.

I am trying to watch Monday Night Football on WPBF 25-1 and it stopped coming in. Is anyone else experiencing this problem. It was working fine and then all of a sudden it went to no signal.

WPBF 25-1 is fine here in RPB. And it's a darn good HD picture too.

No problem so far here in Palm City. Outstanding picture. Just wish the BUCS were playing better.

Originally posted by ANSEK
I am trying to watch Monday Night Football on WPBF 25-1 and it stopped coming in. Is anyone else experiencing this problem. It was working fine and then all of a sudden it went to no signal.

It is back now put it was the wierdest thing. The lack of signal lasted for about 30 minutes. This is not the first time WPBF has done this to me. I don't know what it is.

Ok...going back to my orginal question...need Dave McRoy for some help (WPEC)??? Does anyone have a weaker signal from WPEC-DT than it used to be? As I mentioned, 12.1 used to be my strongest signal; now, I'm finding it very difficult to get in. Did something happen to their signal in the past 2 weeks? All the other channels come in great when I point my antenna West, except for 12.1, which is so strange because their tower is just West of me at the antenna farm near the 5.1 and 29.1 antennas. Does anyone have any suggestions. Thanks.

I've had consistently strong signals from this station here in Palm City. If you have an inside antenna, you might look for something that has changed in or around your house.

Originally posted by james_h
Hi All.

I'm moving from Stuart to WPB and just switched my profile in TitanTV. Can't wait to see how many of all those DTV channels I'll be able to pick up with my silver sensor. (How do you splice a VHF antenna in so you can get the 2-13 channels?) My new apartment faces east, in a large building, so, I'm not sure I'll pick up any stations at all, but, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.


Well, I'm here in WPB, and DANG! I can't pick up any stations at all. My silver sensor doesn't get enough signal here in downtown to pick up anybody.

I guess I'll try an amplified antenna as a last ditch effort, but, I think I may be hosed for the time being... :(

Any recommendations on a good amplified antenna? How's the big Terk55? Waste of money?

Thanks.

WPEC-DT has been at full power all along. (We're at 102% as of this writing.)

I have been getting 5-1,12-1, 25-1 without any issues with the Zenith Silver Sensor (Indoor) set at a height of about 6 Feet above the Floor. WFLX is the only one that seem to be on and off !

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.asp
Here is a great website for anyone looking for a full listing of South Florida HD stations and antenna help.
We are once again getting some complaints about signal problems, we are looking into a possible interference problem from a local LP station that may be causing the boxes to not lock up. We are aware of audio problem, and working on it. Dave

Dave:

Still having problems with audio on 5-1. The audio was off almost 2 seconds this a.m. on the Today show (7 a.m.) Also we still hear the studio conversations during the commercial breaks. The audio does not cut back to the local station during the local weather report. Does anyone monitor the transmissions? We're forced to watch the horrible feed from D* instead. Speaking of D*, why is their local channel broadcast so bad? It's not digital. Do they not receive the digital signals from your station to rebroadcast over the satellite?

Jeff

Suddenly, I'm not getting 5-1 anymore. Is it down? Anyone know anything?

I wasn't able to receive the WPTVDT (5-1) from mid July until mid August. I sent an email to Dave McKinley and on August 14th began getting a strong signal again. On August 19th I lost the signal again and haven't been able to receive it since. I've sent emails to Dave McKinley advising him of the problem. I believe I read something on this board from Dave indicating they're trying to locate the source of this latest problem.

WPTV-DT 5-1 is out here too. They had it fixed for a few days. It's a good thing that the little league game is on ABC tonight instead of NBC.

Learned something about Digital OTA broadcasts and indoor antennas...

I've been having difficulty getting a strong signal from WPEC-DT lately (while receiving all the other digital channels with strong signals) mentioned in my last posting. It's been a bit peculiar, and I've tried moving my Zenith Silver Sensor all around with no significant improvement. Some people asked if something had changed in my house which could have degraded my signal, but nothing that I can think of has changed in the past 3 weeks. Dave McRoy assured me that they're operating at full power, and nobody else has been having the same problem.

This evening, I noticed a lot of dust on my antenna (as it sits on top of my entertainment ctr about 6' off the floor), so naturally, I wiped away the dust, and voilla -- now I get strong signals all the way around (between 'normal' and 'good'), from all local WPB Digital channels, including 12.1. I didn't think just dusting the antenna off would help any, but apparently, a layer of dust can degrade an OTA digital signal. Does this make sense or is it just a coincidence?

BTW - my Silver Sensor is pointing N-NW (and I live just S of Lantana Rd. and just W of Hagen Ranch Rd., very close to the antenna farm).

Thanks.

I was surprised to find WPTVDT (5-1) is working again this afternoon at my location. I hope they've finally resolved the problems that have resulted in intermittent reception since they went on the air.

This is my first time posting here in the local reception forums so please go easy. :)

I just got a Hitachi 51S700 (with built in OTA receiver) and the RS 15-1880 indoor antenna. I live in Jupiter and I have been to antennaweb.org to check out the stations. I don't have D*, just basic cable and my antenna.

Right now I am able to get:

5-1
12-1
12-2
16-1
29-1
34-1 (sometimes)
67-1 (sometimes)

1) Are there any other stations I should be getting?
2) Why do my station numbers seem to be different from what I see others in the forum. For example 16-1 is WPBF but I see most people referring to it as 25-1. Also, I am unable to get 55-1, but I can get 5-1 which from what I read I think is the same thing.
3) Will any other stations be providing info on subchannel 2? The Doppler radar is great, especially with all this crappy weather we are having.


I haven't noticed anything overly exciting about the picture tonight. I'm hoping Monday night with some of the prime time shows being in HD, I'll get to see something that I can get excited about and show off to the friends and family.

Thanks!

GatorEye -

That's it for the WPB DT channels...you've got 'em all. I believe your Hitachi built-in OTA receiver is remapping all the digital channels correctly, except for 16.1, which most receivers remap to 25.1. WPTV-DT should be remapped from 55.1 to 5.1. As far as 12.2 goes, it's my understanding that's WPEC's 2nd digital channel only that's devoted to the weather forecast and doppler radar. BTW - wait til Monday Night Football on 16.1 (25.1), CSI & CSI Miami on 12.1, ER and West Wing on 5.1, and some of the other great shows in HD...they'll knock your socks off!!

You're getting all the OTA HD stations I'm currently getting. People with HD receivers living far enough south in Palm Beach County have reported picking up the Miami OTA HD stations as well.

I'm not familiar with your receiver, but a number ending with the "-1" is a virtual channel which has a corresponding physical channel number. On my receiver the physical channel number 55 (WPB/NBC) is remapped to a virtual channel 5-1. You can customize www.titantv.com to show you all the available channels in your zip code - both the physical and virtual channel numbers are listed.

ABC's Monday Night Football (physical channel 16, virtual channel 25-1) has really looked great the last couple of weeks. So if you're getting a strong signal and like NFL football, you should be in for a treat tomorrow night.

Originally posted by bsgoren
GatorEye -

That's it for the WPB DT channels...you've got 'em all. I believe your Hitachi built-in OTA receiver is remapping all the digital channels correctly, except for 16.1, which most receivers remap to 25.1. WPTV-DT should be remapped from 55.1 to 5.1. As far as 12.2 goes, it's my understanding that's WPEC's 2nd digital channel only that's devoted to the weather forecast and doppler radar. BTW - wait til Monday Night Football on 16.1 (25.1), CSI & CSI Miami on 12.1, ER and West Wing on 5.1, and some of the other great shows in HD...they'll knock your socks off!!

I guess 16.1 is the only one that is different as it does lock in 55.1, but remaps it to 5-1. I'm assuming whatever it maps to isn't really important.

I'm really hoping that MNF and CSI tomorrow will show me something. I watched part of Code 11-14 and The Practice since TitanTV said they were HD and my wife and I were both underwelmed to say the least. The picture looked good but was certainly nothing to get excited about. I did buy this specific model because of the built-in tuner because I was hoping to see some incredible quality and I'm hoping the prime time lineup will be good.

Of course, if all I could see the difference on was MNF and SEC football, I'd still be pretty happy. :D

Gatoreye,

You should find the 1080i HD format pictures from CBS and NBC more detailed than ABC's 720p offerings.

GatorEye,

Also, you'll notice that the upconverted to 1080i/720p HD broadcasts are not quite the "3D" quality of those that are originally recorded in HD by HDNet, Discovery-HD, and ESPN-HD found on the D* HD package. Although the HD upconverts beat the pants off any cable (reg or "digital") or any other tv broadcast type, ones shot in true HD format are just like looking through a window. Dave McRoy and some others on this forum can confirm this, but I believe that none of the big networks or tv show producers are shooting their broadcasts with HD cameras, even the live NFL football games...I could be wrong, though.

We have D* with the HD package and HBO-HD and the OTA HD locals; the difference between true HD and upconverted HD is clear, but watching the shows we normally watch on network tv in HD is amazing, and will be a treat once everything is shown in HD in the next few years!

A few network shows are being shot with progressive scan HD cameras (1080p/24) but I can't recall which ones. Fox has been doing this, too (720p/24) athough they haven't yet broadcast them in HD. They should start 720p HD distribution next year.

IMO the satellite HD filmed broadcasts (e.g., HBOHD) are more detailed and three dimensional than the equivalent network filmed HD broadcasts - HDNet broadcasts some of the best HD. The live network HD sporting events such as MNF and The Masters are also very good.

I also think any HDTV set should be calibrated by a certified ISF technician to get the best picture. Most sets don't have the calibration, greyscale, tint, color, and especially the sharpness set correctly. Checkout http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/ for detailed explanations.

Originally posted by lwhitefl
IMO the satellite HD filmed broadcasts (e.g., HBOHD) are more detailed and three dimensional than the equivalent network filmed HD broadcasts - HDNet broadcasts some of the best HD. The live network HD sporting events such as MNF and The Masters are also very good.

I also think any HDTV set should be calibrated by a certified ISF technician to get the best picture. Most sets don't have the calibration, greyscale, tint, color, and especially the sharpness set correctly. Checkout http://www.keohi.com/keohihdtv/ for detailed explanations.

Len,

Who calibrated your set ? It's on my list of upgrades.

Ken

FWIW, Joel Silver of Imaging Science Foundation in Boca did the initial calibration on my set.

http://www.imagingscience.com/

Gatoreye,

For some eyepopping resolution checkout C. S. I. and C. S. I.: Miami, the latter of which is on at 10 tonight on CBS.

If you have a Mitsubishi RP TV then Craig Miller of MG Home Theater is a very good calabrator. He is based in California but travels the country most of the year.

Dave McRoy

What do you think of my antenna dust thing (a few posts back)? Does this make sense, or am I just crazy and I moved the antenna in a better position (although I tried moving it around many times before in the past 3 weeks with no better signal)? Thanks.

I don't think dust on the antenna elements would affect anything. Dirt on connectors can, though.

Have you tried an indoor VHF/UHF antenna (rabbit-ears with a loop)?

Regarding HD programming that's HD video-based (interlace or progressive) rather than being shot on film:

http://www.cableworld.com/ar/whos_making_hidef/

Originally posted by David McRoy
Regarding HD programming that's HD video-based (interlace or progressive) rather than being shot on film:

http://www.cableworld.com/ar/whos_making_hidef/
Very good information David. Thanks for sharing that with us.

Why are people using "D*" instead of "DirecTV"? This is not a hacking forum.

Dave,

I never tried a basic UHF/VHF antenna, because after a lot of online research, I came to the conclusion that the Silver Sensor was one of the best antenna solutions for OTA digital/HD, and when I plugged it in, it always worked great. I didn't think the dust would have an effect either, but nonetheless, all WPB stations come in great again after dusting it off. So, who knows what really improved the reception. Sometimes, it's better to accept it and not to question such things ;-) Thanks.

Ken - it sounds like some good calibration recommendations have already been made on this forum. I used an ISF tech from Sound Advice that does the Palm City area - he was recommended by Dennis McEwen (305-582-8798). I don't know if he was as thorough as some of the "professional" ISF guys, but the cost was less than half of what most of them charge. To my eye my RPTV looks very good.

Len -

Is that Sound Advice ISF Tech in WPB? If so, what's his name and number?

If not, does anyone have the name and number for an ISF Tech in the W. Palm Beach area? Thanks.

I know Audio Advisors have a few guys ISF trained with equipment though I dont know how qualified they are with the various manufacturers.

Thanks. Just called Audio Advisors.

Originally posted by David McRoy
FWIW, Joel Silver of Imaging Science Foundation in Boca did the initial calibration on my set.

http://www.imagingscience.com/

Gatoreye,

For some eyepopping resolution checkout C. S. I. and C. S. I.: Miami, the latter of which is on at 10 tonight on CBS.

OK, I cranked it up tonight. I watched CSI Miami. My wife came over and I said this is HD. Again we were both underwelmed. It looked good - basically sharp picture without all the fuzz of my crappy cable signal, but nothing we got excited about.

Earlier we put on MNF - wow! Now THAT was a noticeable difference. My wife was like - "Man that's incredible, it's like sitting in the stands". I'd agree - it was nice to actually be able to read the names on the back of the jerseys. The graphics looked "soft" but any live action was incredibly sharp and detailed. I mean you can see the blades of grass and the field and players were just so amazing. It really did remind me of sitting in the stands at Florida Field! :D

So basically the only thing I've seen so far that was exciting was MNF. CSI Miami didn't do anything for me. Any idea why?

Also I'd be interested in any ISF calibrators in the area that specialize in Hitachi's.

bsgoren,

The Silver Sensor is for UHF-only (it was designed for the European market where all terrestrial TV service is on UHF) whereas WPEC-DT, WSVN-DT and WPLG-DT are all on VHF channels.

Originally posted by GatorEye

So basically the only thing I've seen so far that was exciting was MNF. CSI Miami didn't do anything for me. Any idea why?



Welcome to the huge number of HDTV viewers who prefer video to film!

I caught some of Monday Night Football, too. Even though it started out as 1280 X 720p at 60 frames per second and was then format converted by my STB to 1920 X 1080i at 60 fields/30 frames per second, it looked superb. Not as detailed as native 1080i but it seemed to have fewer motion artifacts, even after conversion to interlace for display.

Personally I think the CSI/Miami image is extremely good - I tend to like the softer images of film which IMO also creae a 3D image. But I have to admit that MNF was a great HD image. I'm really looking forward to the WPB/CBS images of NFL and NCAA football this fall.

Dave McRoy,

Yes, I know that the Silver Sensor is UHF only, but it's always picked up WPEC-DT (I guess because I'm so close to the broadcast antenna and that WPEC is right on the fringe of VHF) with an excellent signal, usually in the "good" range on my Sony HD-200. This is where my 12.1 signal is again now (after I dusted it off???...ha ha ;-)

GatorEye,

CSI Miami is close to the best OTA HD quality you're going to see from network tv shows. Someone else who's more technical on this forum can probably explain why the MNF and other live sports broadcasts may look sharper, more detailed, and closer to true native hi-def (unless it's really shot with HD cameras which would explain it), but again, it goes back to what we were saying in some previous posts -- upconverted film isn't quite the same as true 1080 HD recorded video. But, either way, it still beats crappy, snowy cabletv, satellite, and DVD as well.

Dave McRoy shared an excellent Web site yesterday about just who's shooting in what type of film. Here it is again:

http://www.cableworld.com/ar/whos_making_hidef/

Re: an ISF calibrator - I'm having an ISF calibrator from Audio Advisors (West Palm Bch)come next week for my Sony RPTV. I'll let you know how it goes. They probably also do Hitachi tvs as well, and they come highly recommended.

BTW - Go Gators! It's good to see another Gator around (I seem to be surrounded in my neighborhood by those "other" fans). I'm FL - JM 1992. Can't wait for the FL/TN, FL/MIA and FL/FSU games on tv in HD this year!!!!!!!

Originally posted by bsgoren

GatorEye,

CSI Miami is close to the best OTA HD quality you're going to see from network tv shows. Someone else who's more technical on this forum can probably explain why the MNF and other live sports broadcasts may look sharper, more detailed, and closer to true native hi-def (unless it's really shot with HD cameras which would explain it), but again, it goes back to what we were saying in some previous posts -- upconverted film isn't quite the same as true 1080 HD recorded video. But, either way, it still beats crappy, snowy cabletv, satellite, and DVD as well.

Dave McRoy shared an excellent Web site yesterday about just who's shooting in what type of film. Here it is again:

http://www.cableworld.com/ar/whos_making_hidef/

Re: an ISF calibrator - I'm having an ISF calibrator from Audio Advisors (West Palm Bch)come next week for my Sony RPTV. I'll let you know how it goes. They probably also do Hitachi tvs as well, and they come highly recommended.

BTW - Go Gators! It's good to see another Gator around (I seem to be surrounded in my neighborhood by those "other" fans). I'm FL - JM 1992. Can't wait for the FL/TN, FL/MIA and FL/FSU games on tv in HD this year!!!!!!!

Well I watched the Tonight Show tonight and that looked as good as MNF to me - definitely a difference. Nothing on CBS so far has looked stunning to me so far. I may have some issues with my set so that could be the issue, but so far the only 2 shows that really looked noticeably different were MNF and the Tonight Show.

When you get your calibration done, please ask if they have anyone who specializes in Hitachi's. Hopefully he won't say they all work on different sets. Realistically, they are probably the largest group around so I may not have many options.

Looking forward to those games as well. It's been painful not seeing them in person after about 14 years of season tickets, but this will be pretty close. :D

Well the reason that both MNF and Leno looked so good is because they are shot with HD cameras. As David said that is the Difference between FILM and Video. CSI is transferred to HD from film where the other 2 are shot on HD Video. HD Video being native will always have a different look than film that has been transfered.

Anyone notice a change in WPBF's news broadcasts? Just back from out of town, I tuned in last night to 25-1 and saw a major improvement from the SD digital broadcast. It's now 16:9 and just seems . . . better. Still SD, but much better.

What ever happened to WPTV's much touted local HD capability? Why can't WPTV at least match WPBF's SD digital format for news, given its superior studio gear?

They started "stretching" the SD picture to fill the 16 X 9 screen. Some of the other digital broadcasters tried it but received too many complaints about it. I think most people prefer the non-stretched SD picture.

Originally posted by ElectricPickle
They started "stretching" the SD picture to fill the 16 X 9 screen. Some of the other digital broadcasters tried it but received too many complaints about it. I think most people prefer the non-stretched SD picture.

I disagree. I think that although it's not HD, any digital picture stretched to fill a 16x9 screen is better, so you can enjoy the broadcast without the annoying black side bars.

I'm not receiving the WPTVDT (5-1) signal again today - I was able to watch Jay Leno Friday night. Sadly these WPTVDT outages continue with happen with some degree of regularity. I'm certainly glad NBC isn't carrying the NFL HD games. But if this unreliability continues, eventually it's going to result in missed HD programs that many of us would want to watch.

I thought it was just me. Sometimes it seems to work fine, then I have to go and mess with my antenna to try to get a signal. That's the only station I seem to have a problem with.

What's the deal? Are they turning down the power at night to save money or something? It's really annoying.

Originally posted by ElectricPickle
They started "stretching" the SD picture to fill the 16 X 9 screen. Some of the other digital broadcasters tried it but received too many complaints about it. I think most people prefer the non-stretched SD picture.

When WFLX used to stretch the SD picture to fill the 16:9 screen, I would use the Samsung's aspect ratio control to unstretch it, leaving the 4:3 image framed by the STB's gray bars. However, I still think the best solution would be for digital stations to use 16:9 capable SD cameras for all non-HD programs. This would work perfectly for both 16:9 and 4:3 displays; anamorphic 16:9 programs viewed on 4:3 displays look perfectly normal...everyone just appears to be a bit taller, as opposed to the "short and fat" effect you get when 4:3 sources are stretched to fill a 16:9 frame.

Has anyone noticed the new sub-channels on WPBT-DT now have programing?

Ive been reading all the posts on live looks better. Fact is, it is live, and not transfered unto tape. Then the show is edited for tv. Run through a tape machine to be broadcast. Where live is hust as it is, No tape,no editing,just a truck out front of the event shooting a stream to the sateliites for us to view. Just my opinion!

i have a dtc 100 and am unable to get either 5.1 or 55.2. is this a problem with the dtc 100 ist generation receiver? i thought they had fixed the problem. what is a more sensitive receiver? appreciate the help

I have a DTC 100 and I can't get 55-1. I got it for awhile when they fixed somekind of problem but now for the last few weeks I have not been able to get it.

Originally posted by ANSEK
Has anyone noticed the new sub-channels on WPBT-DT now have programing?

What are the channel numbers? The only subchannel I can get is 12-2.

ANSEK,

I have always gotten 2-1 and 2-2 or 18-1 and 18-2 depending on STB firmware.

I just checked and I am getting PSIP info on 2-3 but no actual programming. I had noticed the demo loop quality had gotten a little worse lately and this could explain why.

Originally posted by GatorEye
What are the channel numbers? The only subchannel I can get is 12-2.


I get 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5.


Originally posted by Bighitter
ANSEK,

I have always gotten 2-1 and 2-2 or 18-1 and 18-2 depending on STB firmware.

I just checked and I am getting PSIP info on 2-3 but no actual programming. I had noticed the demo loop quality had gotten a little worse lately and this could explain why.

On Monday 2-4 was showing what appeared to be the Florida Commerce Board meeting and 2-5 was showing dance routines from old movies.

Below is a link to WPBT's website showing the programing and the hours of availability.


http://www.digital2.org/channels.html

Is any body elses 5-01 WPTV-DT image been shifted to the right the last couple days?

Yeah same here - I think it's been that way all week. I wish these guys at WPTVDT would get their act together.

Hi guys, completely new question. Leaving out discussions of HOA rules, etc., I am wondering about the legal limits of how high one might be able to put an antenna. Assume money is no real issue, if a person was willing to lay out the cash for one of those commercial "towers", just how high could he go? Are there state of Florida or county guidelines that would establish a height limit?

There is lots of info on this board about antennas and somewhere in most threads someone tends to say "the higher, the better". Is there a practical limit to height? Could one go 75ft? 100 ft? 200ft? At what level is a flashing (beacon) light necessary? Is there a level of diminishing returns, or is "the higher, the better" true at any height?

I know some of you have antennas mounted on the tops of apartment/condo towers? How high are your antennas? And relative to other people with antennas nearby you (but on top of single story homes), how much further can you reach? Stable signals from distant locations? Just curious...

At some point a tower would become an issue with the F. A. A. You'd need approval from them to put up a tower at your location and there would be rules on marker lights, etc. if the tower were tall enough. Perhaps a visit to the F. A. A. website would shed some light.

Is anyone else getting audio dropouts on MNF? My signal strength is in the 80's but the audio dropouts are happening several times a minute. It's terrible!

Same thing here - I hope it doesn't continue into the game.

I have a 100% signal and I am getting all kinds of pixelation and audio drop outs. I thought it was my reciever cause I was getting video pixelation on a few stations even though all have 100% signals.

Yeah I'm getting pixilation problems as well. This stinks!

Same audio dropouts and pixelation here. At least now I know that I'm not alone... still gotta love football season starting in HD.

Same here guys.... When trouble free the PQ is excellent tonight.

Originally posted by HDgator
Same audio dropouts and pixelation here. At least now I know that I'm not alone... still gotta love football season starting in HD.

Not when the audio dropouts are so annoying it almost makes the game unwatchable.

Since ABC is not 5.1 yet I have mine set to analog so I have more audio options. I'm using DD PL II and it sounds great.