I want Blue Ridge! Hell with Adelphia. I'm sure Adelphia will screw things up when they roll out their HD channels this year. I'm so close to some of the counties Blue Ridge serves that I feel like moving.

I have one BIG question which applies to Adelphia too. Are the ABC, CBS, and NBC feeds the national HD feeds or the local HD feeds? It's not a big issue for ABC, but it is for CBS and NBC. Can someone clarify the matter for me.

Thanks,
Jeff

Originally posted by Jeff Williams


Can someone clarify the matter for me.




I will just as soon as Blue Ridge Opens this am!

Again I dont think its WBRE, WYOU, WNEP. I dont see how it could be!

But we Shall See!

Here is the confirmation from Blue ridge about HD services, as I suspected they are using Philly HD networks.

I hope this wakes up WBRE and WYOU maybe WNEP as well, but WNEP for power reasons.

I tried to post this PRESS release on WNEP' Discussion board but was once again censored, more than likely because WNEP wasn't chosen, or used as part of the package.

Even though Mark S. was posting Blue ridge would be one of the first cable systems in our area to carry their Digital signal..........NOT!

Here is the response........................
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for your email. Within the next couple of days our web site
will be updated to include our new level of HD service which includes our
new channel additions. Please check www.brctv.com in a couple of days for
the upgrade. The network affiliates are as follows

ABC- WPVI 6 PHILADELPHIA
NBC- WCAU 10 PHILADELPHIA
CBS- KYW 3 PHILADELPHIA

Desiree
Customer Service
Blue Ridge Communications
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There ya go!

Thanks for the update on the locals. I hope that Adelphia makes a similar move when they launch. I would rather have NY locals, but Philly's good.

Did anyone ever receive a good explanation for why Mark edits out posts on the WNEP board? I know personally I do not bother posting much their now because it will more than likely get taken off. It's a shame.

Jeff

Originally posted by Jeff Williams


Did anyone ever receive a good explanation for why Mark edits out posts on the WNEP board?

Jeff

I think he changes his mind everyday on whats acceptable to post and whats not.
I sent him the blue ridge info and he refused to post it!
Yet he lets misinformation about D* and DTV be posted all the time!

I will never understand I guess. Other than maybe he is uninformed about certain issues as well.

For instance Adelphia and HD, he wont post any of it, so I post it here when I get it.

By the way a quick call to Adelphia might be helpful, I have been hearing June might be a possibility for upgraded areas to get HD!

BTW here is a E-mail I sent to WYOU just Today......................

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thought you might like to read this, I would surmise that absolutely no one with a digital TV on Blue ridge CableTV will ever again be watching WYOU until you Go HD!!!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Immediate Release CONTACT: Megan Krause
610/ 826-9283

BLUE RIDGE COMMUNICATIONS BECOMES
LARGEST PROVIDER OF HDTV PROGRAMMING IN AREA

(Palmerton, PA - May 7, 2003) Blue Ridge Communications customers in Monroe, Carbon, Lehigh, Wayne, Pike, Lehigh, Berks and Northern Lancaster counties have found themselves on the forefront of the high definition revolution. In one swift move, Blue Ridge added four new high definition TV (HDTV) channels to their Blue Ridge HDTV service today, giving the local cable TV company the distinction of becoming one of the largest providers of HDTV programming in the world.

The four new channels, ESPN HD, Discovery HD Theater, HD Net and HD Movies, are offered as part of Blue Ridge’s new HDTV Plus package, bringing the total number of high definition channels available on the service to 10 networks.

Blue Ridge customers can access high definition programming on their HDTV-ready television sets by subscribing to Blue Ridge Digital Cable and leasing an advanced HDTV set top. The HDTV Basic package includes the HD set-top lease and high definition programming from ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, HBO and Showtime. A subscription to HBO or Showtime is required to receive HBO HDTV and Showtime HDTV, respectively.


Blue Ridge’s HDTV Plus package offers 10 channels of HDTV programming, including the four new HD channels as well as those featured in the HDTV Basic package. Current Blue Ridge HDTV customers will receive a free trial of the new HD channels now through May 31, 2003.

In addition, Blue Ridge plans to add Comcast Sports Net HD, featuring select Philadelphia Flyers, Sixers and Phillies games in high definition format, this fall.

“This is a monumental move for high definition TV and the cable industry. We are elated to be one of the first cable TV providers to offer such a substantial package of HD programming,” said Mark Masenheimer, General Manager of Blue Ridge Communications.

High definition programming offers greater picture quality by using substantially more lines of resolution than standard TV programming. HDTV programming typically has about 1,080 active lines of resolution, as compared to approximately 486 lines in analog TV programming. Select HD programming also features Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound audio.

Digital cable and HDTV services are subject to availability. Customers should contact their local Blue Ridge Communications office for details.

Blue Ridge Communications is the nation’s 21st largest cable TV provider and a wholly owned subsidiary of Pencor Services, Inc. Pencor is a leader in the development and introduction of media and communications technology throughout Northeast Pennsylvania. Pencor companies provide new media content and advertising services via cable TV, newspapers and the Internet.

The network affiliates are as follows

ABC- WPVI 6 PHILADELPHIA
NBC- WCAU 10 PHILADELPHIA
CBS- KYW 3 PHILADELPHIA


-------------------------------------------------

Hopefully this will spur WYOU and MISSION or NEXSTAR or whatever you are now to change their opinion of HD.
Now while all of CBS primetime, and sporting events viewers are watching another affiliate for HD, you can explain to advertisers whats going on!

While I don't relish handing this to you, I have no way of sending an E-mail to Nexstar directly, if you would care to send me some Info on that I will be glad to communicate with them also.
However I suspect that with 24, or 25 stations across the country, Nexstar isn't looking to be E-mailed on the subject, Hence the lame website with no way to contact anyone at their office, without calling Long distance, Or Writing a letter,(Wow technology wake up call here!).

Thank you Again for you time.
Sincerely


Thats all for now!

Here's an update on Adelphia. I spoke to one of their reps this morning and I was told that he has asked their general manager about HD being rolled out and he was told it should happen in June. Let's keep our fingers crossed!!!!

I know this doesn't have much to do with HDTV but i think it goes a long way in showing the attitude of NEXTSTAR and why we don't have CBS, and NBC in HD in this area now.

Not only do they think there are no HDTV viewers, apparently the think there are no satellite viewers willing to pay D* or E* for local services without them!

Read this link........WBRE & WYOU ARROGANCE! (http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=8104977&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=422128&rfi=6)

Well what do we think of them Now! Time to start calling again as I know a few of Us here have satellites!

Thanks to Mark for sending me the Link!

Just for the record here is and E-mail from WBRE...

The e-mail I sent was about HDTV and how ridiculous it was that they couldn't even do the D* thing the right way, here is the response I got back!


In response to your e-mail inquiry, you are correct in stating that we have not struck an agreement with the DISH network for them to carry our signal on their satellite service. Negotiations for a fair per subscriber fee have broken off with our corporate offices. There’s a very simple reason why WNEP has struck a deal with DISH: the electronic equipment necessary to enable DISH to insert local signals into the satellite service is located at WNEP’s building and a retransmission deal was, very likely, wrapped around the right to place and operate their equipment at WNEP’s location.



We are hopeful that, at some point in the future, a mutually agreeable agreement will be achieved between WBRE and DISH Network to allow our signal to be carried on their satellite service.



Thanks!



Larry Herbster


Wow WBRE's official response is a whine that WNEP had it easy in this!
Now that was to me, but read the article above and you will see its all about the MIGHTY DOLLAR LARRY, NICE TRY!

Well, since the big announcement came today about HD on Directv I hope Adelphia gets their butts in gear and does something with HD already. If you are an Adelphia customer and still waiting please call and advise them of what Directv is offering. I called today and questioned when HD would be rolled out and the rep said that they don't have any info on this yet. It's funny because when I called just two weeks ago I was told to call back in June becuase it should have been released and ready to go. COme July I may be taking my money elsewhere!

Just got off the phone with a rep from Adelphia. According to her and another rep, their target date is 2006!! Adelphia can piss off if they think I am going to wait that long! My anger level has just risen.

Jeff

2006???? If that's the case they are going to lose a lot of customers. This time the dish might totally wipe them out. I went back once because they made huge improvements and caught up to the dish and in my area at the time passed the dish with what they offered. If they don't offer HD soon I will be leaving cable again and will not return.

The biggest problem is that you could get 10 different stories from 10 different reps when you call there. It seems like nobody knows anything.

Well as we all know by now the preverbial "cat is out of the bag" today as it relates to D*, that being said here is my new plan!

I will pay directv and adelphia until September 1ST!

On Sept 1st whom ever has the better deal will get my buisness,...period, end of story!

I will also take great pleasure in informing adelphia they are about to lose the 1250 dollars I pay them a year if they dont get their HD A** out of the dirt!!!!

I suggest we all do the same!

June 3rd a Great day In HD history!

ok, here's the latest on Adelphia....

When I got home from work today there was a message on my machine from the rep that I had spoken to earlier. It looks like informing them of my intentions to leave for satellite if Adelphia doesn't get HD actually caused someone to look into things a bit further. Anyway he spoke to the General Manager who told him that HD is definitely going to be offered and that the boxes have been ordered. He also said that the launch will be in the 3rd quarter of this year. He said that there were no definite channel lineups or pricing available at this time, but they will have it. I guess we'll see.....that is if there are any cable customers who want hd left by then!!!

I think I may call again tomorrow and harass them some more. I figure it can't hurt and maybe, just maybe we'll speed up the process of getting HD here and sometime this decade.

Jeff

I think the only way we'll get it is to keep calling them and telling them we want it and if we don't get and get it soon we will take our money and give it to Directv instead. If enough people call they will get the message!

9:04 PM..................

Sadly we seem to have lost our only HD station in the area!
WNEP is off the air during Game 1 Of the NBA finals!

I called and they said they were sending someone out to the tower!

That can't be good, we shall see!

Fixed By 10:00.........

Good Job Guys!

Any new updates? I haven't heard anything other than all the local are now on DirecTV. It's not an HDTV update, but it is a step forward for the area.

Jeff

Only update is, besides no one in NEPA reads this section of the board is, I am told WYOU is currently in the orcess of running a fiber optic line to the tower, this i am told will allow both WBRE, and WYOU to start sending an HD signal.
When I asked about the Superbowl being able to be shown in HD, i was told Ohhh it will be done by then!

Take it for what its worth!

Spoke with a high level source at FOX 56 today and he informed me that when they go digital they will be in 720P! this is good news because it puts them in line with the recent Fox network HD announcement.

He also said the plan was to be on the air September 1st, unless they are granted another waiver. Although they are asking for it FOX 56 source did state they all "Would like to go on anyway to remain competitive".

Thats all for now.

Sorry for the long delay in responding, but I have been on vacation. I have to ask, where do you get this information? I love to be part of wherever it comes from. I think that it is all great news of course. 5 locals in HD and free to all sure sounds good to me. I just wish there was a time frame on the WYOU/WBRE upgrade.

Jeff

good news on wyou and wbre, lets just hope its for real!!!

Are they currently broadcasting in HDTV?
I get PBS and Wnep with no problem here in Tunkhannock.
WHat is the story with WBRE and WYOU?

only WNEP and WVIA are currently broadcasting any HD
wyou and wbre are both owned by the same company and IMHO are not in a hurry to broadcast in HD

review this thread for a better summary/history

dm

(edited to fix brain cramp)

Originally posted by Chezbrgr2
I am told WYOU is currently in the orcess of running a fiber optic line to the tower, this i am told will allow both WBRE, and WYOU to start sending an HD signal.

I hope they are going to increase their output power then too!

-John

John,

I doubt the power increase will happen. Nexstar is cheap and the idea of HD seems even seems far fetched. I wish Stu was still around so he could left us know if they were doing work up at the tower.

Jeff

If I am interpreting the data on the FCC database correctly, WYOU and WBRE applied for 30KW on their construction permits but are currently running with only 1.45KW output. My other HD CBS option would be WBNG out of Binghamton (I receive ch 12 analog great), but they are currently only at 1.2KW, not their 20KW max.

Hopefully someone will turn up the juice soon!

I do agree that Nextar is cheap. I get local channels on DirecTV, and WBRE and WYOU look terrible. The color is washed out, and WYOU has very visible ghosting. (I usually choose to watch CBS on WBNG because their OTA picture is better than WYOU's DirecTV picture). The other locals look fine, so one must assume that they are too cheap to provide a decent source for the uplink.

-John

Any info on FOX 56? It is only a few short weeks to September 1st. I assume they received another extension or we would have heard or seen something by now.

And of course I must ask, any word on the WYOU/WBRE upgrade? Football season is drawing near and I would like to see some in HD other than on Monday night.

Jeff

The word is FOX56 does not know as of this writing if they got an extension or not! Most people there are on vacation so I will check back in a week or so.

The WYOU, WBRE situation is no to expect them before and I say Possibly not on for the SUPERBOWL! This is a direct quote "we would like to be on for these events but equipment seems to be the issue."

As for the ghosting problem on WYOU they know what the problem is and are in process of fixing it.

This to me is a shame with the amount of programming CBS has committed to and have a local station not willing to broadcast it to its consumers demands a stand by us until they get the message!
So it goes like this Call 570-823-2828 and speak to everyone you can about this!

Let the General managers know that we want HD and we are prepared not only to not watch their channel but to also not support any of the advertisers that the station Carry's either!

Call everyday, lodge a complaint , we are getting nowhere here, this is a good info source but it isn't the way to handle these people, we need to let them know we are out there and we will make a difference.

Happy calling, I enjoy it so will you!

HAPPY DAYS!

I spoke with a programming director at FOX 56 about when they would be on with a Digital signal, and before I even finished my sentence she said
"We will be on the air in 2 Weeks!"

This is great news for Football fans, because as of my last conversation
with one of their engineers the would be doing 720p as FOX as a network will be doing 720p next year anyway, so for now it will be 480p up converted, I assume, Any one from Fox 56 feel free to correct me if I am wrong and your reading this.

Don't forget although the nascar Season is over on Fox now, Technically we are only 5 months away from the Daytona 500.

Please contact the viewer feedback line for FOX 56 and let them know how pleased you are that they have stepped into the digital era and that you are watching and supporting them.

Remember 2 weeks, today is 9-04-03 so I assume they should be testing
check channel 45.1, 45.2, 45.3 and see if you catch anything!

Take care!

Chez,

That is truly amazing news. I feel safe saying that we may have one of the first 720p FOX stations in the country.

Do you know what other channels they will be multicasting? I would hope only one additional channel at the most would be multicast since the 720p channel would start to noticeably degrade. Right now it isn't any issue, but it would be next year.

Of course, I must ask about the WYOU/WBRE upgrade. Any news?

Jeff

this is good news about Fox56, i'll be interested to catch the testing!!

Let's hope its not long until Faux is broadcasting in 720p. I'll have to review the Faux thread in programming. I will contact them and give them a way to go.

I'm just disgusted with WYOU/WBRE and their lack of HD broadcasts. I won't be holding my breath for them. It stinks that for our area that NBC and CBS are owned by the same company so we lose out on both!!

Any comments on WNEP's MNF game last night? I think they need to be able to do weather alert's with the HD broadcast, which is why i'm guess they didn't go HD until ~9:53. It looked great once they did flip the switch and the DD 5.1 was very nice. I still get audio and video dropout though anyone else??

Chez thanks for the info on Fox!!

dave
:D

OK a quick review of the FOX HD thread here at AVS gave me this info:

FOX HD thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=273720&perpage=20&pagenumber=1)

and these interesting points:


Ken H from 7/28/03:

No, the info in the article is incorrect.

Fox does not have network transmission capability for 480p at this time.

Live Fox Widescreen events are acquired via 480i 16:9 cameras, and digitally (601) sent to stations for broadcast, where it's upconverted to 480p, 720p, or 1080i.


Ken H again 7/28/03:

Here's one that get's it right, and from no less an authority than Jim DeFilippis, vice president, television engineering for Fox Television.

How will Fox broadcast the game in both NTSC and EDTV formats? Fox's Jim DeFilippis told Craig Birkmaier, moderator of the OpenDTV newsgroup, "The production of the game, pre-game, and halftime show will be 480i60 widescreen (16:9). All cameras will be set for widescreen and the show will be produced in the shoot wide/protect 4 X 3 mode. All graphics will be centered and kept within the safe 4 X 3 area. Any legacy or 4 X 3 elements will be converted to a 16 X 9 frame with a backplate (instead of black). The 16 X 9 is the full production mix, with the 4 X 3 derived; thus for the first time the DTV viewer will have everything the NTSC viewer sees and more.

"The output of the truck(s) will go to LA as a full 16 X 9. In LA, an ARC (aspect ratio converter) will cut out a 4 X 3. There will be individual net rooms: one for 4 X 3, the other for the 16 X 9. We will deliver a 4 X 3 to all stations and for the DTV stations they'll get a digital 16 X 9 480i60 feed. Our stations will then convert this to a 480p60 signal for broadcast." In short, Superbowl cameras will operate in 480i, and the stations will do the line-doubling, not unlike what happens when a DVD player's output is fed to an upconverting video processor. The result will probably look very good, but won't be true high-def.

Dave,

I recorded the game last night and watched it later on. It was annoying that I had to fast forward so far just to see some HD. I think that getting the equipment to generate the graphics over the HD material would be rather expensive. I don't think we'll see that on the local level for a while.

I didn't notice only audio or video dropouts that were occurring regularly. Now and then a little glitch, but nothing to bad. Mainly it was some small pixelation.

Chez,

Two more things. Do you know what power FOX will be using? Please let it be more than WYOU/WBRE. And can you please relay the message to WYOU/WBRE to fix their clocks on the digital channels. They are ahead an hour so recording them with my Samsung T165 and JVC 40k combo isn't always an easy thing to do. It's not that bad now since there is a lack of HD, but I would rather get it fixed before the HD roll out. And again, thanks for all the info.

Jeff

Wow alot of questions!

Well here goes, one I know definitely is FOX will be broadcasting at LOW POWER!, I was not told what the actual power is but I assume by the comment it wont be where WNEP is but somewhere in the range of WBRE,WYOU.

On the WNEP weather alert thing while I agree these updates and warnings are important, in this instance they did not apply to me so here goes. This is what multicasting is for, if the storm was a concern for me I could have easily switched to WNEP analog for updates! Lets remember they are still on the air. In the event the analog was not on, as in the future any updates on weather should easily be able to be run on 16.2, or 16.3, thus not interfering with the normal ABC HD broadcast! Stations across the country really need to start seeing the possibility's of their Sub channels, and flexibility of them rather than just blindly sending a duplicate signal of their original signal. For instance your sitting at home tonight watching MNF in HD, you hear some thunder, maybe heavy rain off in the distance, CLICK! you switch to 16.3 Radar to see what the situation is and there on the screen you have accurate radar with scrolling text or voiceover from Tom telling you what the situation is! WOW!
If it applies to you you continue to watch, if it doesn't you switch back to MNF on 16.1 undisturbed by updates that dont apply to you at 9:09, 9:11,9:21, 9:27, you get the picture! Tell me all us HD viewers haven't checked 16.3 when we have heard bad weather coming, I know I have!

On FOX56 it was my understanding months ago that when they started it was going to be a 720P upocnvert from the get go so we will see how this plays out.

On WYOU, WBRE I cannot stress enough the importance of calling them and letting them know DTV is unacceptable in the face of all the networks HD offerings. Call and lodge a complaint with Randy Williams at 823-2828, let him know you ware not happy and will not be supporting their Broadcasts, or the advertisers that pay the bills.

Pressure is the key, Look at DirecTV, HD now available after ,months of customer pressure. Also remember these 2 stations refused to go on Sat. until they got more money Right? Well they didn't get the money and were forced by owners to start sending D* a signal for fear of business lost in this area.

Keep it up guys were gettin there!

Here is a E-mail I received regarding FOX 56 and WB 38

Here is the information that you requested regarding the digital sign-on
for WOLF-TV and WSWB:



DTV-45 (FOX 56 ) will be on the air by September 25, 2003.
DTV-31 ( WB 38 ) is expected to be on by July 2004.

If you have any questions or need further information, please do not
hesitate to contact me.

Linda Greenwald
Program Director
WOLF-TV / WSWB

Hopefully all goes well with the equipment for transmission, remember WNEP had problems in the beginning so lets Hope with testing all the bugs will crawl out before the 25th.

The 25th is a Thursday so we should count on Football for weekend of the 28th, and also don't forget Baseball is a big part of FOX fall lineup so hopefully we can look forward to some digital widescreen playoffs.

I had an opportunity to see FOX's 480p football coverage courtesy of D*
this past weekend and I can tell you although it isn't 1080i you will be impressed with it.

Happy viewing!

Chez,

Thanks for the update.
It's definitely a step in the right direction!!!

Do you have any contacts with the station that we "viewers" can help them when they are going through their startup. As we've had with Stu at WNEP?

Dave

Dave

The chief engineer at FOX 56 is Rich Choffey, (hope I spelled that right)
he can be contacted at 1-800-221-9653, follow the prompts to his phone/voicemail.

The person who sent me the email and has been most helpful is Linda Greenwald, she is the programming director for the station and usually has good info, and if she doesn't she will find out and let you know.

all in all I have found the people at FOX56 to be very helpful with questions and have even spoken directly with the General Manager on occasion. I try to keep it brief when speaking with them, but they are one of the more viewer friendly outfits in the area IMHO.

They also have a viewer feedback line at that same number which I'm sure would be great for just leaving messages when they get on they air that we see them and appreciate the effort.

Now on to these other Two jokers, time to put some pressure on.

Chez,

Thanks for all the info. I will definitely be thanking FOX 56 and letting them how things are going. It's nice to hear that they are so personable on the phone. It seems to be a rear thing anymore.

OK, that's one down and two to go. We're slowly getting closer.

Jeff

Chez,

Thanks for the information.

Could you check with Fox 56 to make sure they will be able to pass-through the Fox Network widescreen 480p signal, or will they be doing an upconvert of their analog signal as WYOU and WBRE are doing?

Thanks

Dave

Bad news guys! We now have one less HD channel to watch. I was watching the PBS loop for fun as usual, need a little HD kick now and then, and at about 3 p.m., it went SD. I thought it was maybe a switching problem, but it doesn't seem to be. We now have 4!!!! SD PBS channels. Just when we thought things were getting better with FOX 56.

I am almost positive that this will stay as it is. Last year I spoke with the head of the engineering department at WVIA and he had mentioned that they wanted to switch to four SD feeds to provide more content to their viewers. If it wasn't for PBS's announcement about doing some actual HD programming next year, I wouldn't mind so much. Now, I am aggravated.

On the plus side, the SD looks damn good.

Jeff

I stand corrected. The HD is now back on. I assume things are in the testing phase since it did not stay on. If it happens again, I'll have to start making some calls.

Chez, I called WBRE today. I spoke with some Bob guy who had no idea what I was talking about. Is Randy the best person to talk to? Isn't he producer and something similar?

Jeff

Thats interesting with WVIA because I was under the impression that when they did make the change their main feed would remain 720p with the sub channels being 480p.

As for WBRE Bob seems to me like one of the engineers, and sometimes you will get three different stories on three different days with them.
Randy however is a programming director and should have better info, at least in line with company lines anyway.
I think the next step is to find out how to get in contact with someone representing Nexstar directly, I am personally sick of the local disinformation. I know that Barry reads these boards and I wish he would give us some info, Maybe he has been told not too, I could swear he has posted here earlier in this thread.

As for FOX, my impression was that for now they will be 720p up converted until such time that FOX main starts sending a 720p signal, therefore negating the need to transition later next year when FOX goes 720p.
That info was from engineering months ago though, I will try to confirm this this week.

All in all it will be a great weekend for football in HD, Do either one of you guys have DirecTV. If not I would highly recommend getting it!
Heres the breakdown for this weekend!
College football Saturday night on ESPNHD
3 Games (2 FOX widescreen 1 CBS 1080) on NFL Sunday Ticket
ESPN Sunday Night In HD
Monday Night for all here to see!
NOT BAD!

Hopefully some info this week, see ya!

There's no turning back now for FOX 56. They have added the WOLF DT-45 to their local promo commercials. I noticed it during the games this afternoon. One step closer to the launch!!

Jeff

Chez,

It was a great weekend for HD football!!
It's actually been a great season so far for HD football.

I find myself watching the HD football games just because of how nice it looks. If i turn back to an SD game, its really hard to watch!!!

Dave
(yes i have the sunday ticket and the cbs 1080i games look great, i'm surprised at the quality of the 480p games as well!!

Dave

I have been given an email address for you to send your thoughts and complaints about WBRE, and WYOU here it is...

rstolpe@nexstar.tv

here is what I sent a few days ago, so far no response..........

To Whom it may concern,

Let me start by saying I am glad to see that our two local stations are on the air with a digital signal as it does provide a clearer picture than conventional analog, however they will be sadly the last ones in my area to pass along their networks High Definition broadcasts with no set date in sight as to when they will do this. This to me is unacceptable.

The whole point of going digital, even though the FCC has set digital as a standard, is for these stations to pass along their networks HD programming at some point. This sadly seems to be not a focus or concern for your affiliates here, and also across the country from what information I can find.

CBS as a network has made a huge commitment to HD as illustrated by their Prime-time lineup, and rather large array of Sporting events carried in HD this year alone, I however have seen none of them. NBC has several shows in HD with a broad assortment slated for the fall lineup, including the Tonight show which has been in HD for several Years, again I am able to see none of them.

I write this e-mail in hopes of a response from someone within your organization to tell me what the status of HD in my programming area is in regard to these two stations. I have been talking with program directors, engineers, and receptionist concerning this matter, and have been told several different stories regarding the stations status and plans for HD programming. I know this seems early but I don't want to miss out on the Superbowl in HD this year simply because a station isn't ready for it, That would be a shame.

In closing I would just like to point out to you that I am a big viewer of CBS as a network, and Also NBC, however with the quality of the digital signal these two stations are sending you are slowly losing me as a local viewer. The signal on WYOU has had a terrible ghosting problem since the day they came on the air last December and no one has fixed as of this writing. WBRE's signals color is so overdriven that it is almost unwatchable, and again nothing is done about it. The station EPG has not functioned since its inception and often has the wrong time on it completely! These problems in my eyes are unacceptable. Sadly I have made several calls to these stations regarding these problems and each call has gone by the wayside with no Fix in sight!

I thank you for your time and look forward to hearing from you in regard to this matter. I would love to continue to support your stations, and it's advertisers however under the current circumstance I am finding it hard to continue to do that.

Sincerely,

Again I have had no response yet to this email, If I do receive one I will post it here. Good luck if you decide to send one, I think everybody should as I am told all mail like this will be forwarded to the proper people.

See Ya

It's the two week mark for FOX 56 this week. I haven't seen any testing as of this afternoon. Any update on the launch date?

Jeff

Well its 8:30a on 9-25-03 and at least I am not getting any Digital signal on 45.1 FOX DT. Guess its time to call and see whats going on!

Still no response to the above email to nexstar so maybe I'll send it to a few more people and see if I get any response from someone else.

Is anyone else receiving FOX?

See Ya!

As of 12:08p today I am receiving FOX 56 at a signal strength of 77 on My ProScan PSHD105!

Looks very good so far will update as the day goes on!

And a Big WHOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOO!

I have the Sony sathd200 receiver and you have to punch in the station to lock it in ie. I had to type in channel 13 for 22.1 to lock in, and 49 for channels 16.1 16.2 and 16.3 to lock in. For Fox 56 do I punch in 45 to get Fox? Thanks

You should be able to punch in 45.1 to get the station on that unit, but it may be easier to just do a channel search now that they are on and lock in all stations.

Ex: I still get 44's digital on 80.3 with my proscan while I believe you would get it on 41.1 or 44.1.

Hope this helps.

Also at this time I believe they are sending 480p, I realize that whats on right now isn't true FOX programming but we will have to see what happens later tonight.

You should be able to confirm this with the hd200 where as I can only assume since I am able to manipulate the Picture size under component out indicating 480p to me.

Well as of Friday Night there was no pass thru of FOX Digital WIdescreen programming from FOX 56.

This sucks! If we have another station on our hands thats just gonna upconvert their signal I'm gonna hit the roof!

I really hope this is just beginning stages and not what is to become normal, we already have 2 other half-assed stations on our hands here doing the bare minimum! I mean whats the point, you cant see the damn digital signal without an HD RECEIVER anyway. Talk about a waste of money, these stations are putting out a straight digital signal and were all using HD boxes to get them, they have no clue!

Time for some calls already!

We definitely need to get things fixed. I can't even receive the signal. When I do a auto scan, it passes on channel 45 for a few seconds. It eventually skips over it though. Any idea on the power of their signal? Could it be lower since they are just testing right now? I am frustrated.

Jeff

i've been too lazy to search for it yet, but you guys are scaring me.

I completely agree, if we have another case of low power, no pass through, i'm going to go ballistic!!!

I guess just another reason we can be thankful for WNEP!!!
dm

Hey all,

Just to let you know I am in contact with people at FOX 56 today to see if I can get some concrete answers to these questions, I will post as I get them, Hang in there!

The signal is back on this morning so do a search and tell me your results so I may pass them on to FOX 56.

More to come,.......

See Ya

FOX 56 UPDATE!

Well its not good news people,

FOX 56 will be transmitting an upconverted signal probably until sometime next year at the earliest. This means no FOX Digital Widescreen until that time.:mad:

They are currently working on the interference issues and may be cleared up as early as today. They will also be conducting test on the signal from different areas so reports from here will be helpful.

I have spoken with the chief ENG, directly and he gave me a lot of specifics as to why no pass thru of FOX, one of the main reasons is they are building a new digital studio and when thats completed FOX 720p will begin, again some time next year.

Once again all at FOX 56 have been extremely helpful, Nothing like WBRE, and WYOU, They called me! ( if that helps.)

I guess all we can do is continue to email our displeasure and call the viewer feedback line to let them know we want HD (1-800-221-9653).

I think this is an example of a station who wants our input, as compared to the other 2 who it seems sadly could care less. So lets help as we can.

Any other specifics ask away, And no i'm not happy either but at least I have answers from them.

STILL NOTHING FROM THE OTHER 2 AND I KNOW YOU READ THIS BOARD BY THE WAY!

See YA

Chez,

Your work is appreciated. I agree, even if its not the answers we're looking for, at least they want our input! It's alot better then our "friends" at WYOU and WBRE!!!

When i check out 10000watts website i see that

WNEP-DT (ch 49) is broadcasting @ 100kw
WBRE-DT (ch 11) is @ 30kw
WYOU-DT (ch 13) is @ 30kw

whats WOLF-DT (ch 45) power going to be???

its a real shame that wyou and wbre are 30% of WNEP!!!
It makes me mad just typing it. I guess I wouldn't be happy away if they broadcast at a higher power because they won't pass through a HDTV signal anyway!!!

:mad:

dm

Great news today!!! I just called Adelphia and they will begin offering HD programming on November 1st. I had my name put on a list and supposedly they will come and install the new box and take my old digital box. The rep said that they just found out about this and they didn't have all of the details yet. I was told that we will get ABC, NBC (this I tried to get clarification on where this programming was coming from since WBRE does not carry HD, but the rep was unsure), WVIA, also if you subscribe to HBO and Showtime you can get an HBO and SHowtime in HD. I asked about ESPN HD and was told that ESPN and Discovery are on the coming soon list. The box rental will be $9 per month instead of the $3.50 that I pay now. What a great day for HD news in NEPA!!!! Thanks for the tip Chez!

My only concern with Adelphia right now is CBS or more the lack of it. CBS has the Superbowl this year so it is a MUST have be January. I was told December before we would see it here just the other day. I will have to call back tomorrow and get on the list.

Jeff

An adelphia tip,

While this is indeed great news I shudder to think at why there is such an initial lack of HD programming, for the 9.00 a month. I realize that this is only beginning but with,
ESPN-HD
Discovery
HD-net
HDnet movies
HBO (East and West)
SHOW (East and West)
Comcast Sports Net
Fox sports
MSG
INHD 1&2
Bravo
Cinemax (11-12-03)
The Movie Channel (12-01-03)
Various HD PPV services
Starz HD (11-15-03)

Why is adelphia starting with Only......
ABC- (wnep available OTA)
PBS- (available OTA)

as the only two channels in their 9.00 a month line up.

Time to be a Beta tester on this one!

One great thing may come of this, it may now spur W( who cares about) YOU, and W (beyond R capabilities) E to get and HD signal on the air for them to retransmit!

We shall see! Good luck to all you A* subscribers hopefully you wont need it!

To further things along, I am on the official "waiting" list for HD. I'll more than likely call again in two weeks and ask some more questions as to what is going on. I hope to at that time to be able to get on the beta testers list, but that's a whole other challenge.

The only question I have is if Adelphia adds CBS and NBC, will they be the local or maybe Philly digital stations? Obviously, Philly is preferred. I think more time is needed before we get an answer on that.

For a FOX update, still nothing here. The signal is not strong enough to reach me where I am. I will not spend more money for a better antenna just to receive SD 4:3.

Jeff

Jeff,

I called Adelphia again and here's what I found out. They will not have NBC or CBS HD because they are over the limit as far as the rules go with obtaining programming from out of the market. This would be comparable to how we have channel 11 from Philly but some of the programming is blacked out because one of the locals Fox and WB carry the same progtam. It looks like until the Nexstar conglomerate gets off their butts we won't have NBC and CBS in HD. I was also told that the intial startup would only be WNEP and WVIA and then for extra it would be HBO and Showtime. I believe each premium is $5. The box rental will be $7.95 as opposed to the $3.50 that we pay. I believe we were actually paying $5 for the current box until the recent price adjustments that go into effect Nov. 1st. So $2.95 more and then if you want one of the premiums another $5. Not too bad. The way I look at it is that it's better than noting. Some HD on cable is better than none and now that they are started with it all they can do is add more. I was told that they are looking at ESPNHD and DiscoveryHD. Also from what the rep told me the first time I called they should also have 1 InDemand channel in HD. That's a start and a long way from where we were in June and July.

Jeff,

One more thing.....

I just noticed on the WNEP website under the digital discussion board that Dwight Joslin from Adelphia has posted that they are looking for testers so you may want to email him. He left his email address there. I believe it was dwight.joslin@adelphia.com.

I already did about an hour after he posted the message on the board. I didn't hear back yet though. Things seem to be falling into place now.

Jeff

I got an email back this morning from Dwight. I am going to be one of the testers for Adelphia's new HD service! There is no definite date yet as to when I will begin testing, just sometime in the first two weeks of November. And of course, I will report all my findings here.

Jeff

That's great news Jeff. I also receive the email and I will be testing as well. I'll also post any updates here once I receive the new receiver.

Well It looks like it's here!!!!!! HD on Adelphia! I checked this morning and there are 2 HD channels listed on the guide. The channels are in the 700's. There is PBSHD and SHOHD. From what I've heard they are waiting for the retransmission agreements on the others. Time to call and see about getting the new box. I'm not sure if there is programming being shown on there yet or if just the banners are up for the channels. We'll see.

Great news!!!! I was the first to get the new HD box for Adelphia HD. I guess being a pain in a** is a good thing sometimes. It's a Scientific Atlanta 3250. It's all hooked up. I'm just waiting for ShoHD and PBSHD to be turned on. I've been told it will be either today or by Monday. Other than that the SD picture quality is good and the digital channels are excellent as they always were. As soon as the HD goes on I'll post another update. I've also been told that they are waiting for the retransmission agreement from WNEP and that will be on the air as soon as they get that. Same goes for HBO which may be a little longer.

I wouldn't be so happy about the 3250. From what I can find, it isn't an HD box. Can you confirm that it is written somewhere on the box or in the literature? From what I found it can only receive transmissions up to 1.544 Mbps. That is nowhere near HD. I was under the impression that the box would be a Motorola DCT5100. One last thing, how did you get the box and who did you talk to. I haven't heard anything from Dwight yet.

Jeff

OK, I stand corrected. I found more info to prove me wrong. I guess the right question is, is the DVI and firewire active or even there?

Jeff

Just got off the phone with Mark. I will be picking up my box tomorrow morning. Thank you very much for the suggestion. I will also report back, but not until tomorrow night - have to work in the day.

Jeff

Well after some slight delays, things are up and running. Showtime looks great, even the upconverts. The picture shows no signs of pixelation or motion artifacts. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it stays that way after other HD channels are added.

As for the box itself, it's damn small. I would have to say that it is half the size of my Samsung T165. The interface is the same as there standard digital cable boxes, which looks like something from the mid 80s in my opinion but it works. The biggest let down for me is that the DVI is NOT active. I believe this is more of Scientific Atlanta's fault. I read somewhere here that a firmware upgrade would be available in the next month or so to active the DVI. I guess I can wait.

Adelphia, from my own experiences, has done a 180. I am amazed now how informative and friendly they have been on the phone and in person. Before I used to get the runaround when I asked questions they didn't know the answers to. Now, they ask me hold and find someone who can answer the question and then give me a straight forward answer. We may complain about the new higher rates, but we are definitely getting more. For the $10 more a month I pay now, I get the HD box, all non-premium HD channels, faster powerlink, and much better customer service. Adelphia, you've made good in my book!

Jeff

So far so good with HD. The picture on SHOHD is incredible. Also the digital audio is great too. I haven't experienced one problem since they turned it on. Hopefully PBS will be on tomorrow too. Once they put WNEP on I guess I'll be looking to sell my Samsung OTA box as well. Adelphia is doing great with this. At least we are not ending up with problems like I'm reading they are having in SoCal. Great Job Adelphia!!

Another update..... PBSHD came on last night and again the picture was great. It looked perfect and the quality was just as good as I was receiving over the air. I just read a post on WNEP's forum that WNEP will be added by the end of the week. That's definitely good news. All we need now is ESPN and Discovery and I'll be happy for a while. Definitely a great start though. No problems at all.

12:35 p.m. - WNEP is on channel 716. It must have just come on since there is no guide data yet. Three HD channels on right now and not a single second of HD to watch. WNEP has there normal programming on, WVIA is upsampling there cable TV channel, and Showtime has a bunch of old movies on all day. Given all that, I won't say whether or not things look good. I would like to see HD on all 3 channels at the same time before deciding. Tonight should be a better testing time.

Jeff

Gald to hear Adelphia is working out for those who have it.

I can't wait until Jeff's signiture indicates

Well, I can no longer criticize Nexstar. HD has arrived

dm

I just emailed WBRE to see if they had any update on HD. I also asked them since WNEP and WVIA are both broadcast their HD programming on Adlephia cable if this would have any impact on their timetable for HD. I'll let you know if I get a response.

Hey Dave, I like that one so I am trying my best to make it come true. Today I started emailing WBRE and WYOU. Friday I'll more than likely start calling Nexstar on the phone. Time to pressure them again.

As for Adelphia, I am floored how well things are going. All three channels looked great tonight. There were no signs of compression by Adelphia. I was switching between the OTA signal and cable signal for most of the night and everything looked about the same. There were a few glitches in the transmission. I kept getting a line of pixelation now and then on WNEP and WVIA. The sound also dropped out of few times. I'm sure things will get worked out soon.

On a side note, I emailed WVIA today to see why they switched to 4 SD channels for most of day. It makes no sense to me for Adelphia to carry their HD channel if 90% of it will be SD. It is the same thing as their analog channel, just upconverted. When you are watching WVIA via OTA, at least you get four SD channels out of it. With Adelphia, you only get one. That part I don't mind, just the redundancy. The guide info indicates that it is the HD demonstration. If things stay as they are, that definitely has to change so that people aren't mislead.

Jeff

Yea because lord knows it only gives Nexstar an Excuse to have Adelphia carry their Non HD signal in the HD pak!:rolleyes:
Glad to hear things are going well for you Adelphia subscribers I however remain unimpressed, as my area is still not rebuilt, and you guys are only getting one channel more than you were before!

But I do realize this is begining.

Stay on Nexstar!

I spoke with Dan Mattern today, the chief engineer at WVIA. It seems that Adelphia has the same concerns as I do. It seems there isn't a solution just yet as to what may happen. More to come....

Jeff

More info for everyone, this time on the Adelphia side. The DVI port on the 3250 will be activated. Adelphia is now just waiting for the firmware update from Scientific Atlanta; no date on that, just soon.

By first quarter of '04, we will all be much happier. Adelphia is planning to have HBO, ESPN, Discovery, HDNET, and more all running by then. That's less than two months from now so don't get angry. Blame it on paperwork.

Adelphia is also on our side with WBRE/WYOU. If we all start pressuring, things should start to move forward.

Last but not least, the plasma TVs in the Viewmont Mall were bought by Adelphia to demo HD. Need I say more than that's awesome.

Jeff

Jeff,

That's some good news on the channels being added. Do you know what the "more" might be as far as channels?

The "more" was not specific but I guess we should assume Cinemax HD, Starz HD, and maybe Bravo HD. I was told they want to at least match or even beat what satellite has to offer. Sounds good to me.

You should have gotten the email today from Dwight. Doesn't really pertain too much to us other than the HBO part. HBO should be on this coming week to let everyone know. I also saw that one of the testers will be Stu from WNEP. At least we know one affiliate gives a damn how their signal looks.

Jeff

oops, posted that before I read my email.

Seems things have been slow lately. No additional HD channels or fixes for the current glitches.

Here are the problems I have right now:
- The guide data on PBS and ABC
- PBS in general (NO HD!!)
- Showtime audio/video sync problem (At least last night)
- HBO (Supposed to be this week)
- No DVI (Yet)
- No HD recording

I also emailed Dwight Monday with a few concerns and I haven't head back. Has Adelphia forgotten I am testing for them?

Jeff

Jeff,

I'm assuming your glitches are referring to Adelphia's HD service??

Correct?

Dave

I also emailed Dwight right after I received his email about the testing and I haven't heard back yet either. I did notice the guide problem with the PBS programming showing for ABC. I was watching Showtime last night and the audio did look like a bit off on The Distinguished Gentleman. I wasn't sure if it was just that movie though. I was hoping to find out more info on what channels they were looking at adding and what kind of timeframe. No response yet though.

Dave,

Yes I am referring to Adelphia except for the PBS part. That part applies to OTA also. Multicasting is bad for now. Maybe once HD gets more abundant I won't care as much.

It seems that everyone is in the same position. We don't know what is going on and the problems aren't getting fixed. We'll have to put a positive spin on it and hope they are getting ready to launch more HD channels and just don't have to time right now to fix little things. I may call Dwight tomorrow if I don't hear from him today.

Jeff

Hey guys,

Hope things are going well on the Adelphia side for those who can get it!

I was thinking that since none of us an get a response from the two local Nexstar affiliates, which is disgusting by the way. That I would try to initiate a petition to be presented to them, that simply states our desires for them to pass along their Networks HD feeds to us.

I will take any suggestions you guys have, as I would like to get this moving for the holidays. I work in retail and hopefully can get alot of Signatures by sometime in December, and then deliver it personally to The PD's of these two stations.

Give me your thoughts and lets get the HD ball rollin!

I like the idea. I'll sign it nice and big. I thought about trying the petition thing too since I work at Circuit City, but I'm not sure what kind of rules I would be breaking by doing so. So far, my emails to Nexstar have gone unanswered.

On the Adelphia front, great news!! HBO and Cinemax should be live this week. Yes I said Cinemax! They are now listed on the online channel guide at adelphia.com, channels 750 and 753. Still no response from Dwight or even a phone call from Adelphia. I will be calling them Wednesday.

I got a response from WVIA on the multicasting crap. Here's the meat of it:

I am sorry you are disappointed that we are multi-casting. The multicast program model is being used by most PBS stations around the country to serve multiple age groups and meet the FCC mandated 50% simulcast requirement. We will still carry the PBS HD loop from 8:00 pm until 11:00pm and PBS is adding more and more HD and Wide Screen SD prime time programming. Broadcasting after 11:00 is something we have been talking about since we are now on the cable however, we shut down now in order to save the electricity cost and are budgeted this way until July of 2004 so I am not sure what will happen at this time.

I am not sure how Adelphia handles the multi-cast feed and I too am disappointed if they can only carry one channel of the channels but I will contact them to learn more.

And the plot thickens...

Jeff

ABC and PBS HD channels have been down since last night. Adelphia is aware of it. They are in the process of adding HBO and Cinemax right now and things got a little messed up. Showtime is working fine though. Be patient.

I found a link (http://www.ptvdigital.org/dt2a_dec.html#dec7) to new HD programming coming up on PBS. December looks to be a great month to have the HD!! Damn you WVIA. I will be emailing them and pushing for them to change things back.

Jeff

Well, It's a week later and I'm still waiting for HBOHD and CinemaxHD on Adelphia. Nothing yet. I wonder what's taking so long?

Are you at least getting WNEP or WVIA? I get nothing but that I am not authorized to view them. I hope I'm not alone. I called Dwight about a half dozen times over the last week and only got his voice mail. I emailed him today to see if I can get to him that way. I went from 3 HD channels to zero since I canceled Showtime and switched to HBO. Showtime's programming just sucked in my opinion. I will try some more to see if I can get some answers.

Jeff

Jeff,

I did the same thing last Friday. I dropped Showtime and switched to HBO because, like you said, SHowtime's programming sucked. I'm still waiting for the HBO HD. But, I haven't had any other problems. I still have WVIA and WNEP HD. I'm not too sure what the deal is with Dwight. I sent him an email with questions about 2 weeks ago and haven't heard anything back from him. It's weird if we're testing this shouldn't they be calling us and asking us what we think and if there is anything that's not right, like the program guide still showing WVIA's programs for WNEP? If I were you I would forget about getting in touch with this Dwight and go right to the guy who got you the box or just call their regular customer service and have them fix it. I know when I first got the box I had those not authorized screens. They had me unplug the box and then they did something on their end and told me to plug it back in and everything was fine. Good luck.

I have tried everything. Called Dwight again, voice mail. Called customer service, channels still do not work. They are sending someone out tomorrow to take a look at things. I personally think it's the box. It's been acting weird lately, especially with the audio. I confirmed that they are adding HBO and Cinemax and to no surprise, there is no time frame for it. Things seem to be getting back to normal Adelphia practices, unfortunately. I will keep on top of things as usual.

I got some more WVIA info. It is in question answer format.

I wasn't aware of the 50% simulcast requirement.
This requirement kicked in for commercial stations a year ago and PBS stations were given a blanket waiver for an additional year. The deadline for us was November 1, 2003 which we were able to meet.
Can there be a compromise? (HD/SD situation)
The ultimate program decisions are made by the stations Vice President of Broadcasting, Mark Thomas. However, our definition of simulcast is when the program schedules match (both in time and content). We tend to run a typical PBS prime time schedule and if the prime times shows are available in HD you will be able to see them. This multichannel TV world is also new to us and I suspect we will be making some changes as we learn more of what our members and viewers want but again that is a question for the VP of Broadcasting.
I see that PBS will soon be broadcasting much more HD material or at least according to PTV Digital (http://www.ptvdigital.org/dt2a_dec.html) . I would like to see some of that programming here at home. Wouldn't some of that programming count as simulcast since it is also on the analog feed?
Again, it depends on how the FCC defines "simulcast".
What about going to 720p for the HD and adding maybe 2 sub channels?
This is a solution however, to do this we would need a HD encoder or a re-encoder, neither of which we have do to the high cost (hd encoders run around $125,000.00). I believe, that as the equipment gets cheaper and the need increases we will invest in the necessary equipment to accomplish this.
I know I'm getting desperate, but myself and many other HDTV enthusiasts feel cheated.
I apologize and know the feeling... I was an early adopter of CDROM technology and for months there were only 5 CD titles available. This is a huge and costly change for our industry that will unfortunately cause some TV stations to go dark. It will take time... Please be patient. I have forwarded this response to Mr. Thomas as well.

It about spells out what we didn't want to hear. It seems that a lot of the changes are due to FCC regulations. So I am going to change my original remark of "Damn WVIA" to "Damn the FCC." At this rate, I should have negative HD service by the end of the year.

Jeff

Sounds like its time for.......

Bom Ba Baaaaaaaaaaa........ a switch to the DISH!:D

Sorry guys but in my opinion a switch to one of the satellite providers is still the best option at this point.

With only a 12 month commitment to D* you guys would have all these channels already, (I know except Cinemax!).
Receivers are down to 349.00 and when the years up, Then see what Adelphia has to offer, then sell the Dish if you must!

My crystal ball tells me Adelphia wont be able to keep up!

And if they do?.......Theres always VOOOOMMMMM!:D :D :D

See ya!

At the rate Adelphia is going and the prices we are paying at this point Chez is right! I think Adelphia may be slowly on the way out of my house.

I'll give Adelphia some more time before I pull out. It would cost me more to switch to dish by about $20 a month. Anyways, I got things working today. It seems that somehow my SD box got programmed to be my HD box and vice versa. The tech made a simple phone call, which I could have done if the reps would listen to me. Switched the HD tier from the SD box to the HD box and in 2 minutes, all was well. While the tech was here, I asked a few things of course.
- No date on HBO or Cinemax. He did mention ESPN and Discovery though.
- They just received "some" type of new recording box. He didn't know if it was HD. It could be VOD.
- He wasn't quite up on everything. I taught him the difference between DVI and firewire.
- They are aware of the PBS problems. It is confirmed that it is on their end.

In other bright news, Scientific Atlanta released their dual tuner/HD PVR box today on Time Warner in Green Bay. Now I envy more than just their cheese.

Jeff

Jeff,

How are you figuring your pricing to be 20.00 more than D*?

Don't forget your paying 8.00 bucks a month for that box, thats 96.00 a year for A* HD!

D* 39.99 a month for Basic
10.99 a month for HD PAK
4.99 a month for X-tra boxes?

Remember when they do add ESPN, Discovery, they will be in a HD tier that will cost you also!

I pay 97.99 a month to D* and that gets me EVERYTHING!

Point is I think you will see your adelphia bill rise a bit from where you are making D* a viable and possibly cost saving measure in the long run! I know individuals homes vary right now but, I think if you do the math you will see 1 Year with D* probably wont kill you, and in 1 year if A* has more, sell the HD receiver on E-bay or let A* buy it back from you for a discounted year of service!

CABLE LOVES TO BUY DISHES!!!!!!!

Oh and don't forget the days of you splitting that lonely single cable line to all your TV's is slowly coming to an end! You will need one of their digital boxes on every TV in you home!!

1,2,3, TV's KAAA CHING goes the adelphia register!!!!!!

See ya!
:)

I looked into the dish and it would actually save me $25 per month if I switched to the dish and also got rid of the cable interenet and went with Verizon DSL. Adelphia still has some time, but at this point there are many things that are getting on my nerves. 1. The customer service still leaves a lot to be desired. 2. If we are supposed to be testers why can't we even get a simple email response from the person who asked us on another board to sign up to do this. Wouldn't you think they would be interested in what we are seeing. 3. The channel guide is still after 3 weeks showing WVIA's programming on WNEP. 4. WVIA looks horrible the past few days. There are lines that continuously go through the picture every few seconds and the sound drops out. 5. Still no HBO or Cinemax HD even though I was told (not by a customer service rep) that it would be on 2 weeks ago this Friday. Adelphia still has time, but it 's limited.

Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock........

Hurry before all those Hughes Hirde86's at 349.99 are gone!:D

The new model is out so it wont be long.

Don't worry irbenaid, I'll save one for ya!!!!!!!!!!!!

Come on Jeff sing it with us,

Na na na na, na na na na, Hey Hey Hey Goodbye.........(Adelphia):)

Honestly, The cost savings and HD chanels currently on D* can't be ignored and I'll probably be making the switch after Xmas.

again, i'm sorry to hear your guys stories with Adelphia, maybe they will come around.

I've have and will continue to stay with D* until the decision to switch would be a no-brainer. Its not at this point. HDNET, HDNET Movies, DISCHD, HBOHD, SHOHD, ESPNHD, CBS HD game of the week through the Sunday Ticket

Thanks for posting the sad news from WVIA, maybe we all need to donate more to PBS and tell them to put it towards the cost of an HD encoder. On that note, maybe we need to put our donations towards WYOU/WBRE. I still can't believe we can't get local NBC or CBS HD, for the 53'rd largest market!!

I wonder if any letter's to the editors of the local papers would help. Probably not, they just don't seem to care.

dm

No I won't be switching yet. Right now, it's just not feasible. I pay $103.29 plus tax for Powerlink, digital cable, HBO and one HD box. If I move to dish, it will be $126.91 plus tax. $54.99 for Powerlink, $38.99 for DirecTV, $10.99 for HD package, $12 for HBO and $9.98 for two additional rooms. On top of that, I have to buy equipment and there is the whole rain fade issue. I know I could go to DSL, but I like the Powerlink speed. I have almost achieved the full 3Mbps download time on a few occasions. DSL won't even come close to that. Where's the savings??

I got an email response from Dwight today. It was only about my lose of my HD locals, so it didn't have any useful info in it. It did send a response back voicing my frustration with their new service. I also mentioned how they don't want to hear from their "testers" on issues they are having. And of course, I keep calling.

The WVIA situation is unfortunate, but maybe it is a step in the right direction. It may force PBS on a national level to start producing their normal programming in HD. The WYOU/WBRE is beyond terrible. Writing to the local papers won't get you anywhere. The Times controls all the big ones and they are in the Northeastern News Consortium thing with WYOU/WBRE. That will get us nowhere unfortunately. I am thinking of flooding some mail boxes at Nexstar with complaints until I get a response.

Jeff

Finally got through to Dwight and good news. HBO and Cinemax WILL be on by mid next week, guaranteed. ESPN, Discovery, HDNETs and others are all in negotiations still. They will take time. The DVI port will also be active soon. Scientific Atlanta said soon, not Adelphia. Interpret that as you may. And the best news of all, there will be an HD PVR. That will be some time in the coming months, but again no solid date.

I remind you, don't shot the messenger.
Jeff

Sorry to say it......but.... I'll believe it when I see it. I was told it was going to be on 2 weeks ago. Also your getting this from a guy who can't even answer a simple email from about 3 weeks ago about the service they are offering and on top of that this person also posted on the WNEP forum that he can't wait for the Superbowl in HD this year. Helloooooo? Talk about not knowing about what is going on. Superbowl in HD? Cetainly not here. Thanks Nexstar!

Dwight's exact explanation for the delay was that HBO would not allow for their HD channel to be broadcast unless they picked up Cinemax HD also. It makes sense. Cinemax was never mentioned until it popped up one day on their channel listing. I have a small bit of hope left in them. It's new to them without a doubt. That's the only reason why I cut them some slack. But, I don't let up either.

Jeff

Jeff,

The cost savings was based on you dropping powerlink, is 3mb a second really needed for you? or is it just nice to have.:rolleyes:

Rain fade is only an issue in the strongest storms, and most have rain fade because of an improperly aligned dish. Don't forget in a rain fade situation you can always fall back on your OTA digital, included in the box for D*.

While its great HBO, and Cinemax are coming soon, don't forget that if your going to keep those channels after your done being a tester, they will cost you extra as will the ESPN pak!

I think very soon you will see your prices going over and above D*

And as far as your other two additional receivers go, 9.98 a month for same programming on two other tv's...........or 8.00 for that digital box from A* on 2 tv's plus your main to retain same channels on all tv's (HD on one)
seems like 18.00 extra a month to me!

JMO.

Hey this is great our debate over D* or A* has caused us to forget about Nexstar for a few posts!..well until right then anyway.:D

Jeff,

You've actually come close to 3 mbps on a download???? I've done that a bandwith test site easily but when it comes to actual downloads the highest I've ever been able to get is about 400 kbps. Did you actually hit this with an actual download or was it only a bandwith test site?

Yes, I do NEED the three 3Mbps downloading. I download a lot of gig or better sized files. Every kb of speed counts. And yes, I have hit 2.8Mbps and 2.6Mbps transfers on occasions that I can remember. That was actual files I was downloading, not a bandwidth test. Most bandwidth test sites give my a 1.5Mbps to 2Mbps reading.

My free days are over. Every channel I get, I pay for now. I don't plan on getting Cinemax unless they are nice enough to through it in for a month. I already subscribe to HBO, so that's not an issue.

To clarify, I wouldn't be adding additional boxes to my other two TVs with Adelphia. Standard cable is fine for the office and bedroom. Most of my TV watching is on the big screen anyways.

Jeff

Originally posted by Jeff Williams


To clarify, I wouldn't be adding additional boxes to my other two TVs with Adelphia. Standard cable is fine for the office and bedroom. Most of my TV watching is on the big screen anyways.

Jeff

To clarify, you will eventually need one of their boxes on each one of your tv's, that was more the point I was making.

The days of splitting your single cable line to all tv's and not paying for them will be over shortly.

See ya!

Ah, Look a reply from WBRE,WYOU...here it is,


Thanks for your inquiry. As for the HDTV question, both Nexstar's Director
of Engineering and myself have answered your numerous emails over the past
year. I will leave that part to him to answer.

As for the ghost problem. This has appeared on WYOU since 1986. Having just
been made aware of this recently, we have been working to find a solution.
In the past month, WYOU went off the air overnight to tear apart the
transmission line to follow a lead from consultants to no avail. We are
continuing our work on this. Also, we are working with DirecTV to implement
a switch on their equipment that eliminates ghosting. We have seen such a
option work fine in other locations. In fact WBRE appeared with little color
on DirecTV until they (DirecTV) turned on the ghost correction option.
Adelphia cable is the only local system with the ghost since we have sent
our signal via fiber to Service Electric cable and they distribute it to
many systems, and are currently talking to Adelphi to deliver the signal
there. Some cable systems use equipment that recognizes the ghost
correction system and some TV's do which eliminate it. For instance, I had
Adelphia's Dallas cable and my TV has the ghost correction on it and I have
never seen this ghost at home. Since you have digital you can see the off
air digital signal which is ghost free.

For the guide, this is called PSIP and all that is required is there. This
is not something to be fixed; it is an implication that is part of the
bigger picture and not something in the current equipment. This again is
something more for the D.O.E. (rstolpe@nexstar.tv) than me.

Barry Erick, CE CSTE
WBRE-TV WYOU-TV


First of all I never received a response from Nexstar,
Second Once again the question goes unanswered, With the announcement that even CBS's Saturdays games will be in HD now this sucks!

Third,
WHY THE HELL DOES SOMEONE ELSE HAVE TO FIX THEIR GHOSTING PROBLEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Problem since 1986??? Great work guys!


See ya.

I sent him an email. This is ridiculous. It's a shame they control both the NBC and CBS affiliate. No HDTV and lame power output.

Before I even read the thread today I emailed WYOU to see if they are going to air the Superbow in HD. (yeah right). We'll see if I even get a response back. 1986???? That is so sad. I don't even know what else to say. Thanks Nexstar! This is why ownership of more than one tv station in a market should be illegal. Perfect example.

The ironic part is that I changed my signature before I read the lame email from Barry. Now I want to put it in font size 64, bold it, and make it flash. Nexstar and WYOU/WBRE really do have nothing but a$$holes working for them. That email response makes me want to drive to Wilkes-Barre and kick everyone of their asses!

Jeff

Jeff you crack me up!!

HDTV Rage!!!

your not the only one...
sound's like Barry is getting a little testy!!

I do like the new sig. btw

dm

This is from my email back on Jan. 3 2003....
almost a year ago. Do you guys think that over 1 year is considered the near future?????

Dear David.
This is the offfical word I am just passing on:
"We currently do not have plans to broadcast high definition in the near future"
--- Barry

Barry Erick, CE, CSTE
WBRE-TV/DT & WYOU-TV/DT
62 S. Franklin St.
Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701

(570)823.2828
(570)823.4523
----- Original Message -----
From: David Moss
To: 22jditt@wyou.com
Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 12:14 PM
Subject: HDTV Broadcasting


Dear Mr. Dittmeier,



I got your email address from the Nexstar Broadcasting website.



I would like to know who I should contact to show my wish for WYOU to broadcast HDTV signals of CBS broadcasts.

CBS is a major leader in HDTV broadcasting, and I wish that WYOU would send this signal out to its viewers.



I am currently enjoying ABC and PBS HDTV broadcasts and would like to enjoy CBS’s as well.



Please let me know who I should correspond with to let my voice be heard.



All the Best,



David W. Moss

Thornhurst, PA

ABC announced yesterday that this years Nokia Sugar Bowl will be in HD on Jan. 4th!

Thought you guys would like to know.

Tried to post it on WNEP's board yesterday, not up yet!

I guess Mark Has to check the facts before he can post it.:D

See ya!

Dave,

The worst part about HDTV rage is that there is no parting from it. Everyday you are slapped in the face when you realize that you are missing 2/3's of network programming a night. I have tried everything; email, calling, program requests; except calling Nexstar in Texas. I might actually do that very soon too. I'm just trying to figure out who I should talk to once I call.

Chez,

I think ABC/ESPN made a good move switching from the Peach Bowl to the Sugar Bowl, especially since I do not have EPSN-HD. We can easily assume who will be throwing the parties on Jan. 4th now!

Jeff

Hey Jeff,

A few weeks ago I got rid of Adelphia and switched to D*. I was wondering if Adelphia finally got HBOHD and CinemaxHD? Just curious to see what is going on with them. Thanks.

It's only worse. It's so aggravating trying to deal with them. Dwight has been helpful at least. He has always been truthful. That's why I wish he was in charge of the HD roll out. Who ever is in charge, should be fired. HBOHD, CinemaxHD, and StarzHD still are NOT added. I don't have a clue why things are being done. I spoke with Dwight, and even he criticized those in charge of it for dragging their feet. All three channels were approved to be added a couple of weeks ago. The only excuse is that it's Adelphia, what else would you expect?

Jeff

wow, that sucks. Well, keep us updated. I have the one year obligation to Directv and then I'll re-evaluate the situation and see who is offering the most content. At this point I have no regrets and the HD with DVI is incredible. Having HDNet and DIscovery HD were worth switching not to mention ESPNHD. Good luck with Adelphia. Hopefully it will work out for you. If I were you I'd be complaining to them that you want a refund for the $7.95 per month you've been paying for an HD box when the only content they have besides ShoHD is the channels you could get for free ota.

WYOU now HD???

I just arrived at my house in Lake Ariel, Pa and turned on my SonyHD200 and when I went to the guide for channel 22.1 the show the young and the restless stated it was HD. Though my signal was too weak for a picture, the indicator also said HD. I then moved the guide to this evening and the Guardian says it's HD. I hope I get the signal tonight(sometimes I do in the evening) to see if they went HD without notifying anyone. Seems too good to be true. Anyone else see HD on their sony hd200 guides?

I don't have an HD200, but a SIRT165. I don't even have 22-1 anymore. It is coming in as 22-2, no HD though. I wonder if they are up to something? 28-1 is now also 28-2.

Jeff

I have a Hughes HTL-HD and their schedule for the digital channels doesn't even show up on the guide. It still says regular schedule. I could be wrong, but I doubt they went HD even if the guide says hd. Remeber, it's Nexstar! If they are HD that would be a nice xmas present though!!! As I slap myself..........it's Nexstar!!!!

ok, I did a scan on my receiver and sure enough then channel information for WBRE and WYOU are showing as WBBRED and WYOUD instead of DT. Also programs like Jeopardy and Wheel aren't showing as HD but come 8:00 on WBRE Tracy Morgan and the rest of the shows until 11:00 are showing as HD. 13 more minutes and we'll all know if Christmas came a couple days early!!!!!!!

8:00 and no HD on WBRE. So much for that.

Hey Jeff,

Nexstar still sucks!!!

I wonder if they are planning to surprise us or if DirecTV has made a mistake. The PSIP info that WYOU/WBRE sends doesn't have any show information in it, so I don't know where the guide info comes from on your DirecTV boxes. Hmmm??? And I am still a bit confused as to why the channels are now 22-2 and 28-2. And the plot thickens....

Jeff

The PSIP info comes from them, not directv...

They have just finally started sending the info, as I complained directly to CBS, and NBC about.

But they continue to shove DTV up our collective A**es, and will probably continue to do so, until their networks threaten to pull the plug on them totally, at which point they will do HD!

By the way I hear already that their Networks aren't happy with them, and neither am I.

So for the time being I will continue to support ABC programming, Local and national, and I will continue to boycott any local advertiser that buys time on their station! Including ROCK 107.........

XM rules anyway!!!!!

See ya!

Something is DEFINITELY going on. From 5PM until 8:55 I was getting a strong signal from WYOU. It was definitely SD as the guide said so and on my remote I could change the wide mode aspect(You can't do this on 16.1 or any HD broadcast)..Then 9PM came, I lost the picture totally. However the guide said the show was hd, and more importantly the indicator on the sony hd200 stated it was an hd show AND when I pressed the wide mode button the onscreen message stated "you cannot change the aspect on this channel" That ONLY comes up with an HD broadcast. For some reason however I received no picture at all, not even pixellization. I then put the channel to 28.1 and even though the guide didn't indicate that Fraser was HD, the indicator said so and I again couldn't change the wide mode. Did anyone try to watch the guardian or the 10PM show which was indicating HD? Irbenald, I only got WYOU indicating HD on the sony guide, not WBRE.

P.S. Today only the young and restless indicates it's in hd on the guide and nothing in prime time, however tomorrow evening ALL the wyou shows indicate they are in hd. In NYC all these shows are in hd and are in fantastic quality over Time-Warner cable of nyc

STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSES MOUTH,...........

NO HD ON WYOU OR WBRE,...

And they have no idea why the guide data says so...........BRILLIANT!

maybe it's a really unusual ghosting problem in PSIP

Joe,

Like Chez said, he talked directly to WBRE and they said no HD. Trust me if WBRE doesn't have it their little whipping boy WYOU won't have it either. I can guarantee you that either WBRE will go 1st when they eventually get around to HD or they will both go together. There is no way WBRE would let them go 1st unless some big pressure is put on by CBS for WYOU to do it for the SUper Bowl.
It is rather amusing though that they have their guides working(finally) and they don't even know how that happened. So yes the shows do say on the guide that they are HD but we are still unfortunate enough to have NEXSTAR!!!!!!!

It's just so wierd! I can understand a glitch in the guide, but how does one explainthe absolute change in the signal. As I tried to explain before, on a sony hd200 you can't change the aspect of a high definition signal but you can(panarama, wide, full) on an sd signal. I was getting a good sd signal on WYOU until 9PM when The Guardian was to come on. I then lost the picture but both the guide AND the HD indicator on the hd200 said HD. More than that I couldn't change the aspect on channel 22.1 anymore. It had the same "you are unable to change aspect " message that I get with 16.1 which you all know is HD. The same thing happenned on WBRE during Fraser. HD light went on, no picture(but I NEVER get a strong enough signal for a picture) and a "can't change aspect" on the screen whwn wide is pushed. Does anyone out there have a sonyhd200? If so tonight try King of Queens and tomorrow try CSI or Cold Case. They both show HD on my info guide.

Last night I didn't get a repeat of the inability to change the aspect on the 22.1 show King of Queens, even though the sonyhd200 indicated it was hd. The guide didn't however. Tonight the guide says ALL the prime time shows Cold Case, CSI and Without a Trace are HD. I'll try again to see if the signal changes from sd to something else. I also didn't lose the picture last night as I did on Tuesday night.

In my never ending reporting on the unusual things happening on WYOU and WBRE here is the latest. On Christmas day the guide stated that ALL of wyou 's prime time shows would be in hd. When I turned them on I got a good signal, but they were clearly not HD and when I pressed wide on my sonyhd200 remote I was able to change the aspect, something you can't do on hd. This happened for all the wyou shows that were indicated hd on the guide on Friday as well. Saturday it indicated the football game was hd. It wasn't, and my signal was getting weaker as the day went on. Here is where it gets wierd again. Later that night Boomtown was on WBRE and The District was on WYOU. The guide again indicated hd. My signal was so weak I got no picture(same as last week) When I pressed wide on the remote I got the message "The aspect ratio of this program can't be changed" something stated ONLY on HD broadcasts. What was stranger was when 11PM came, I all of a sudden got the strongest signal on both stations I ever got and the picture(non-HD) was perfect. I got to believe there is some type of hd testing happening. Did anyone see either of those prime time shows last night? Were they HD? Did you have a sonyhd200 and what did it indicate? Thanks

The only thing unusual going on at either of these two stations is that there are less people there to not answer any of your questions because of the holidays!:D

Your sony HD 200 is a product made by LG not sony, I have the new hughes HTLHD and it is the exact same box as you are using, made by LG
just a different shell on it.

The way I use mine is thru DVI and the EZDVI setting, thru this setting I cannot change the aspect of these programs either, doesn't mean they are HD its just the settings I use, try changing your box settings and you will see you can change the aspect. Also even thought the guide data says HD i can assure you they AIN'T!

Try calling directly, 823-2828 and speak with any of the techs who are so tired of answering this question they are becoming rude, as is the programming director, general manager, and the receptionist, who get a weekly barrage of phone calls and emails from anyone I can get to call, I can assume I will be adding you to this list!;)

On another front has anyone seen the error problem with FOX56 lately?
Here there may be something going on, happens in prime time only it seems and my hughes keeps flicking back and forth between 720p and 480p? Although Rich is on vacation and I have not spoken with anyone directly, It makes me wonder if some new equipment is in place for the 720p changeover! Don't hold your breath its just what I see!

Back to the other two, I have said it before its time to start hitting them where it hurts! If you watch these channels digitally, which I refuse to do, only for this info, write down the name of their sponsors, I mean local spots
call them and ask for a manager, and politely tell them you will not support their product because of the stations lack of HD, and if they choose to run their sponsorship adds on WNEP, you will be glad to frequent their business again! Then thank them for their time.

If you are interested in receiving all networks in HD do a search in the HD programming Section of this board for my CBS HD thread, and read the post By Ken H. this will give you all you need to know on they grey market sats such as Bell expressVU, and how to do it. At this time this little project may be hitting my roof very soon, and bye bye to all my locals who dont do HD!

One last thing NO SOUND OF MUSIC IN HD LAST NIGHT! I hear holiday Zzzzzzz's coming from the WNEP eng. dept.!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See ya!

There were 2 feeds of that movie last night. ABC did not air the 7-11pm version of "The Sound of Music" in HD. The 8pm to midnight feed of the movie was. We ran the 7-11 feed so we could run the 11pm news on time.

- Stu -
wnep engineering
(I'll go back to sleep now - Zzzzzzzz)

I Knew that Just wanted to see if any of you guys checked this board anymore!

How are you Stu?!

Quick question, on the WNEP board I posted that ABC would be doing the Sugar bowl in HD and Mark refused to post it, any reason why?

By the way the signal looks great, good job.

I've been too busy to check the boards. I'm on vacation this week which is why you see me here now. If you guys need to get a quick answer about something in the future, send an email to hdtv@wnep.com. That goes directly to my email inbox. I'll try to frequent here and wnep.com more often.

Thanks for the compliment on the signal. I do try to keep it "tweaked" to near perfection!:)

To answer your Sugar Bowl question, here is a message from ABC:

"The two “AFC NFC Wildcard Playoff Doubleheader” games scheduled on Saturday, January 3, 2004 in the 4:00 – 11:00 PM-NYT/1:00 – 8:00 PM-PT time period will be broadcast in HDTV/5.1 audio.

“Nokia Sugar Bowl” (The National Championship Game) scheduled on Sunday, January 4, 2004 in the 8:00 – conc. aprx. 11:30 PM-NYT/5:00 – conc. aprx. 8:30 PM-PT time period will be broadcast in HDTV/stereo audio and NOT, HDTV/5.1 audio as previously."

Enjoy!!!

- Stu -
wnep engineering

Chezbrgr2-Thanks for the explanation. What is wierd to me is that for some shows I can change the aspect and then on some others, those that the guide says hd, I can't. It's also unusual that it happens on both channels 22.1 and 16.1 at the same time, when both stations have a show that the guide says hd, and then it reverts back. I'm sure they aren't broadcasting shows in hd, but is it possible they're testing for future broadcasts? Otherwise why the change in the ABILITY to alter aspect. I should either be able to for ALL shows or for none, if it's just a setting.. I'm spoiled since I get these channels in NYC and I guess I'm just hoping against all hope that this is a prelude to HD up here in time for the super bowl.

Is WNEP technically able to have run the HD feed on 16-1 at 8:00PM and the SD feed for 16-0 at 7:00PM? If so, then people watching the HD feed on 16-1 could have switched to 16-2 to watch a replay of the news at 12:00 M.

Joe,

That is a very good question. I think the only problem would be the local commercials. I like the idea though.

Stu,

Very glad to see you back. We always appreciate your contributions to our discussions. And again, thanks for setting a great example for the "other" local stations on how HD should be done. I just wish they would follow. Were you one the Adelphia HD testers? I remember seeing a Stuart Wilson on the list. I was and still have it even though I am getting very pissed with their unwillingness to add more channels that they have signed carriage agreements with.

To All,

I still don't know where the new guide information for WYOU/WBRE is coming from. I turned on my T165 today to check things out and my guide still says WYOU-DT not WYOU-HD. The info in the guide is still of the "Scranton - Event 287" type. The only thing that has changed in the channel number as I have stated before. They are now 22-2 and 28-2. Why? Who knows? The new guide info the you guys have has to be getting pulled from DirecTV some how. I know that it shouldn't be, but how else do you explain it?

Jeff

Joe,
Technically I could pull that off, however I'd need to check with the programming department to see if we could legally do it. This particular situation has never happened before. If I saw it coming I might have been able to do something.

Hi Jeff!
Yes, I am a tester but not at my home. I have the SA box at the station so that we could monitor both ota and Adelphia. I am not in the Adelphia service area and recently switched to Directv. The cable company in my area is not digital anything yet.

- Stu -

Stu,

Isn't it amazing how a mile makes such a difference. I wouldn't bet on Adams having HD for years. Also ask Mark why he let my newest post over on the WNEP board go up, but not Chez's? I mentioned the Sugar Bowl and the NFL playoffs and the post is there. I just want to know if you will remove 16-2 for the games like you did for the Superbowl last year.

I know this isn't your problem, but can you put come pressure on Adelphia to fix the guide data for WNEP-HD. I was told it would be fixed over a month ago and it is still wrong.

Jeff

Thought I'd post this here just in case it somehow doesn't make it to the WNEP DT board, what follows is exactly how I wrote it to them.............

"With all the blabbering that Ping does before he actually starts his segments, you would think he could have taken 3 seconds to mention that the NFL wild card weekend on your station would also be available in HD on digital channel 16.1!
This same logic could be applied to the fact that Penguins home games are also available on Digital 16.2, instead of just "Adelphia 63"!

Be proud, not silent".

Just a thought.

What do you guys think???

I feel they should be proud of this HD thing and scream it loudly!
After all they are the only ones (Besides the PBS LOOP), you would think if you had a leg up on the competition you'd stomp a mudhole in em'!

See ya!

Jeff,
I will check on the status of the program guide on Adelphia. Also, I will remove 16-2 on Sunday morning when I get up. I cannot do it on Saturday because there is a Penguins game that evening.

Chezbrgr2,
Send an email to generalmanager@wnep.com with your comments on the HDTV promotion or anything else related to HDTV. No one in management reads these boards.

- Stu -

Thanks Stu!! You might want to check out your channel on Adelphia. I haven't been getting it since yesterday afternoon. All I get is a grey screen on 716. Are you still getting it at the station? I had to switch to my OTA box last night to show the HD off to the family.

Jeff

Jeff,
Yesterday morning I sent Adelphia an email about the gray screen on 716 and the program guide issue. Hopefully I'll get an answer tomorrow.

- Stu -

Stu,

If you emailed it directly to Dwight, it may be longer. He seems to take quite a long time to reply to email if he does at all.

Jeff

We received a nice slap in the face today. DircTV will be adding CBS-HD to their lineup very soon. Of course for us, we need a waiver to view it and I don't see WYOU granting that anytime soon.

In Adelphia news, they added channel 800 today. It is called Digital Video Recorder. It is obvious what it is for, but why make a channel for it?

Jeff

That slap in the face as you refer to it must be only for Adelphia Users!:D

Seeing as I already have a waiver for CBS,(yes they do grant them), and seeing as how I suggested pages ago that you switch to D* for at least one year. I suggest you know re-visit your earlier statements about Adelphia,(4 or 5 pages ago), and re think your adelphia Choice.

As for me sorry to gloat, but............

I guess I'll see the superbowl after all, in HD that is.....:D

Sorry for your luck, but alas the fight goes on Now nexstar really loses!

See ya!

it does seem like excellent news for D* users.... (I don't want to get into a d* vs. adelphia HD battle)

i don't currently have a waiver from wyou, but i will be requesting it now that's for sure.

chez, what was the process, did you go directly through WYOU's website, or is a call necessary? or is it through NEXSTAR? i'd love to try to get it done as soon as possible of course!!! (WYOU's website has been unreachable to me this evening)

whats going on with FOX-DT, does anyone receive their DT signal currently??

Stu, thanks for the WNEP general manager email. I sent an email in questioning why they don't promote their HD leadership in the area. I received a very nice responce indicating they would try to do some more promoting. If I was the only major network passing through HD signals i'd be screaming at the top of my lungs, rubbing it in the face of my competition.

BTW, Happy New Year everyone!!!

dm

I got my waiver last year, by calling WYOU directly in scranton.
Ask to speak to someone concerning a waiver, sorry I cant remember the womans name, It may be Debbie.

Just be polite and request a waiver so you may receive the HD signal they are not providing to you, believe it or not thats all it took for me.

Hope you have luck.

By the way, its good not to get involved in the battle........
Especially when your already on the winning side!:D

Boy I'll probably eat those words in 2005!

See ya.

chez,

i do agree with you!!!!
(did I say that out loud?)

dave

Well more good news for you DirecTV subs. You now can get FOX EDTV too. If I see an announcement that they will be carrying NBC HD I will switch in a second. I'd rather wait until HD TIVO comes out so that I can get a better deal on it. That's if I have a reason to switch then too.

Adelphia finally moved forward today. They added Starz! HD and Cinemax HD, but still no HBO HD. They also no longer encrypt the local HD channels. That's good news since a lot of new TVs and HD receivers can tune into unscrambled QAM channels. You also do not need to be a digital cable subscriber to receive them. Basic cable will do.

Jeff

Originally posted by Jeff Williams


They also no longer encrypt the local HD channels. That's good news since a lot of new TVs and HD receivers can tune into unscrambled QAM channels. You also do not need to be a digital cable subscriber to receive them. Basic cable will do.

Jeff

It's about time, thats the way it was supposed to be done all along.

Glad to hear about the other two channels for you.

see ya!

I suggest we all send a letter here....

FCC (mailto:fccinfo@fcc.gov)

As well as keeping the emails going to them.

Please tell all friends and family that until such time as they send along their networks signal to please not support thier station.

See ya!

Heres mine........................


Dear sir,

I am writing this to you with concerns over my two local stations and their DTV signals.
While I realize that they do not have to broadcast an HDTV signal from their networks, and intend never to do so, so I am told. I feel they are beginning to cheat us out of just about everything else also!

First of all their digital signal is almost unwatchable, because of low power and poor antenna placement, the station refuses to correct this even after numerous phone calls and emails.
I did not buy into HDTV to watch a 480i signal from anyone, let alone these two Nexstar owned stations.

In the mornings they have decided to broadcast only one newscast, and is it simulcast on the other one! So now locally because of this decision they have left me only one alternative for morning news and info which is WNEP, a station that is doing the right thing by its viewers. Then comes 12:00 news, Again same simulcast on both stations! I would venture to say if these stations were owned by two different companies this would never happen, and should NEVER happen!

On the HD front, they are often rude in any response your get from them, and I have never been able to get a response from the parent company, Nexstar on the HD matter. It seems a shame that after the government decided that Digital television, and HD are the broadcasting standards of the present and future, that these two stations have decided to take the minimum approach to the issue and cheat the local viewers out of not one but two of our National Networks and their HD programming. Again I believe this to be a direct result of the fact that both are owned by Nexstar broadcasting, and their actions are decided by them, and not locally. I am quite sure that if they were owned independently of one another I may have at this point at least one other HD network offering to me.

In closing I would like to point out that I have done some checking into the status of other Nexstar owned stations and it seems that this seems to be a blanket policy for all of their stations, I believe 24 across the country. While I realize that HD retransmission is a costly venture, I believe that Nexstar has known this all along and should have prepared for it better. I also believe that as a result of restrictions being lifted when it comes to station ownership, that this example serves as a prime indicator that no one should be allowed to own more than one television station in the same market, I fear that at some point between the endless PAID PROGRAMMING infomercials that I have to endure from them on the weekends in the middle of the day, when NBC, or CBS doesn't have any national programming on, that except for Prime-time I will one day see the same exact broadcast on these two stations all day long, thus removing choices from my local market, this is already starting to happen.

Thank you for your time.

Depending on the market, duopolies are permissible. However, the ownership group may not control more than one station that is an affiliate of one of the top four broadcast networks. Nexstar must have gotten a waiver. The result is ridiculous. Aside from the weak digital transition efforts, local news programming is undifferentiated if it is merely simulcasted; so much for the diversity of voices.

Ok, Here's my email to the FCC. Great idea and I would encourage anyone else unhappy with this situation to take 5 minutes and do the same. Good job Chez!!!


Hello,

I'm writing with a complaint about our local NBC affiliate WBRE and CBS affiliate WYOU owned by Nexstar in the WIlkes-Barre/Scranton viewing area. First of all I find it quite disturbing that one company is able to own two stations that are affiliates for two separate and competing networks. This has caused poor service in our area. I receive their signals from DirecTv and I can tell you that there is a terrible ghosting problem on WYOU. I can also tell that there are people in this area that have received email responses stating that WYOU has known about this problem with their signal since 1986! This is totally unacceptable. I can also tell you that I have sent many emails to these stations questioning their intentions for HD transmission and I have either received no response or the response that I did receive was very ignorant. These stations are supposed to serve our interests and they aren't doing this.
Another important point that you may want to know about is that in the morning and at noon these stations simulcast WBRE's local news on both stations. On top of this they share all services so the two channels are basically identical in what we see during the other newscasts. We see the same stories just in a different order. Please look into what these stations under the ownership of Nexstar Broadcasting are being allowed to do.

ok, now for the bad news.....
(considering they aren't sending an HD signal, i still can't believe it!!)

here is my responce from WYOU for recieving a waiver to get the CBS-HD feed from DirecTV
dm


Unfortunately, at this time we are not granting waivers for the CBS HDTV feed via satellite to viewers that have a zip code within the service area and receive an over the air signal or local to local. This decision has come down from corporate per the advice of legal counsel.

Please see the attached document for further information on the digital transmission of WYOU-TV22.

THE ATTACHED DOCUMENT WAS:
Pursuant to FCC requirements, Nexstar Broadcasting is transmitting a standard definition digital broadcast signal for station WYOU-TV 22. Stations may broadcast both analog and digital signals until at least December 31, 2006, when they may be required to abandon the analog format, provided that 85% of households within the Wilkes Barre/Scranton DMA have the capability to receive a digital signal.

Digital transmissions currently may be low-power, but full-power transmission will be required by a future date to be established by the FCC. The FCC left the decision of which digital format to be transmitted up to individual broadcasters. Nexstar Broadcasting has made a decision to broadcast standard definition digital signals until such time as the FCC mandates high definition broadcasts or the viewer base supports the additional costs associated with transmitting a high definition signal.

That answer pisses me off. I think I will make it a very personal point not to support any of the local sponsors of WYOU/WBRE<--Jerks. It also makes my decision to switch a bit more clouded. It definitely comes down to recording capabilities, so I will wait.

Jeff

18619

you figure it out from there..............

my lips are sealed!

chez,

reading some of the CBS-HD thread in programming makes me wonder if there is a difference between an analog waiver and a digital waiver. You might not be free and clear. For your sake I hope you are!! Thanks for the zip btw.

My main problem is that why should WYOU prevent viewers from getting CBS-HD from satellite, if they do NOT broadcast HD??? It just doesn't make sense. Now if they were broadcasting HD I could understand them wanting/forcing viewers to watch CBS-HD OTA.

thanks for the fcc email, message has been sent.
dm

here (http://directvdnseligibility.decisionmark.com/app/AddressEntry.asp)

:D

Everytime they grant a waiver the have officially, in the records lost you as a viewer period.....

Now that CBS and FOX are going to be on D* i'm quite sure they wont be granting ANY waivers...period!

I wish it was different, but I am calling nexstar directly today to try and get some answers...will post if I get anything....

See ya!

I received a message today from someone at WYOU that basically stated the same thing that DWMoss posted. They have been advised by legal not to send any waivers. I think it's time we hit them where it hurts. We've been nice for way to long. I still haven't received any email from them about some of the questions I had with the local cable company offering hd other than a wiseguy remark from someone there that he was forwarding my email.

Chez, it looks like it's time to act on your plan from a while ago:

I think it's time we did a little bit of watching these two channels and start listing the advertisers here. Once we get a good number of local advertisers then we could split them up and start calling these advertisers and advise them that if they continue to air their ads on these stations we will not do business with them any longer. I think this is the only way the message may finally get through. If it doesn't get through the worst we can do is put them out of business. I think our local Fox will be left out of this because it sounds like they are legitimately working towards HD. If we want it we all have to get on board with this. We could call the businesses and we'll tell them that we are representing the NEPAHD group or something like that and we'll hit them over and over until our point is made. So............. Who's on board??????????

I called D* today to complain about the terrible ghosting problem on WYOU. Since those of us that have D* are paying to see WYOU's crappy signal I would encourage the rest of you in the same situation to call D* and complain. I called and the rep checked into it and I was told that if more people called in to complain about this problem they could escalate it further. I also advised them about how a little while back WYOU actually told one poster on here that D* should turn on their ghost correcting equipment. When I told the rep this she checked with their techs and they said that they didn't know what they were talking about. I tried to get the distant network feed but was unable to do that. D* advised me that I still need a waiver and since WYOU isn't giving them out I'm out of luck.

As far as yesterday's post last night I watched a little bit of WYOU's newscast. I know, I know it's really WBRE's other newscast with different talking heads there but I watched a few minutes anyway. There was one local commercial that I saw and it was for Independent Mobility. I wrote down the phone number and when we have a few more we can start our calls.

Though my primary residence is nyc I spend a great deal of time in Lake Ariel, Pa. and I'm totally frustrated with Nextstar as everyone else is, and I'ld be glad to put my name on any petition or protest!!!! I have two HD tv's in Pa. and ABC, PBS + DirecTV isn't enough for my investment.

Bel,

So if you have D* do you subscribe to the local channel package??? If you do please call D* and complain about WYOU's sever ghosting problem.

Thanks!

I don't subscribe to locals...I get most of the nationals except wcbs..I get that with an antennae as well as a digital signal that comes and goes...I also have on one tv Adams most basic cable plan as a fallback. No ghosting on cable or antenna.

I'll join the fight too, even though I don't have D*. I wonder what they would do if someone called and complained about the service and wasn't even a customer?

Adelphia Update:

They have as of this morning enabled the DVI connection on the boxes. It seems that they are starting to get things rolling again or it could just be me calling every other day reminding them that the update is available for release. It is a good example of how one person's constant inquires can make a difference. I'm sure that the fact that their technical director is an HD nut doesn't hurt either.

Jeff

On the Nexstar front.......

Have been doing some digging and came up with a few new ways to bypass local jargon and go direct to them..

Hope these still work, I am lead to believe that these are higher-ups, and a head engineer.....lets get the emails going...here they are.


nexstar2 (mailto:dlammers@nexstar.tv)
Nexstar Engineer (mailto:rstolpe@nexstar.tv)
Nexstar3 (mailto:bjones@nexstar.tv)

Lets please remember to include our desire to start boycotting their programming if changes are not made.

See ya!

And yet another..........

CBS East Coast Operations Director (rjross@cbs.com)


See ya!

Great job!! I sent an email to all of the addresses. Here it is. I'm sick of this crap already!


I'm writing with concerns over your refusal to transmit the HD programming available for the 2 major networks (NBC & CBS) that your company owns in my viewing area. After many emails and either no replies or immature insulting replies received back from people at these local stations I feel I am forced to voice my concerns directly to Nextar. Since Wilkes/Barre Scranton is the biggest market that Nexstar has ownership in and is also the 53rd largest in the nation I would think getting HD to this market would be your biggest concern. I am also writing to inform you that I have complained to the FCC and to Directv about the signal being transmitted by WYOU. There is a terrible ghosting problem when watching WYOU on Directv which I am paying to watch. I also know that the local engineers for your stations have replied to an email about this problem stating that they have been aware of this problem since 1986 and Directv should turn on their ghost correcting equipment to correct this. The techs at Directv are still perplexed as to what WYOU is talking about. My letter to the FCC also complained about the fact that one company could own 2 of the major networks in one viewing area and also combined their newsteams and just simulcast some of their newscasts and change the order of new stories around the rest of the time to make it appear that each station is doing something original. Myself and a number of other concerned viewers have started compiling a list of local advertisers for these two local channels and when the list is complete we will begin informing these advertisers of our intentions to boycott their businesses until such a time that our complaints are addressed in a professional manner or the businesses pull their advertisements from these stations.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!! I just received a reply back from Rick Stolpe and there was nothing written just an attachment that stated the standard Nexstar crap about them not doing HD until the FCC mandates it. So I sent a nice email back to him since HD wasn't my only concern......... Here's my email..............



Great,

Thanks for the canned reply. I guess nothing changes at the corporate level there either. How about addressing some of the other concerns in the email, like the serious ghosting problem on WYOU.

ok here's the reponse I just got about the ghosting problem on WYOU. At least they responded. I also included the email I sent back to them.

Concerning WYOU Ghosting Issues,
We have isolated problems on the tower with the transmission line and the
antenna. The next step is to climb the tower for a visual inspection and
repair. We had a tower crew on hand last Friday night but as you well know
the wind chills were in the -20's and probably in the -40's on the mountain
where the transmitters are located. Needless to say we were not putting
people in danger of severe frostbite over this situation. We now have to
wait until a tower crew can free time up to get back on site with some fair
weather. This doesn't mean springtime just some temperatures in the teens.
No one more than WYOU wants to resolve this ghosting issue. We don't like it
either.


Here's my response......


Thank you for that response on the ghosting problem. I do appreciate your time. As far as the HD issue goes, it is a business decision that Nexstar is choosing to make. While I believe it to be a poor decision only time will tell if this will turn out to further hurt these stations ratings in this market.

In the spirit of open communication that AVS has always provided, I today have invited WBRE's Programming Director to join in this discussion.
He has in turn forwarded it to Engineering and Corporate Execs.

Although he did not state he would join in, I felt the only fair way to give them a chance was to invite them to join us here.

If they do decide to join, let us all us our best judgment, and stay away from meaningless attacks. I know we are all upset but we can discuss this in a forum that they might respond to.

The Invitation is now open..............

See ya!

We seem to be getting somewhere now. Emails back from Nexstar, I never got one when I sent an email. WYOU also responded. That again never happened to me. You should play the lottery with the luck you are having.

Chez, good idea with the invitation to the boards. I have been contemplating the idea of inviting Dwight from Adelphia. Having people from the inside here to discuss problems is always a plus.

I started something for fun. I have made a local high definition forum on my home PC which also happens to be a web server. It is up and running if anyone would like to try it and see if things work. It called it the NEPAHDTV Forum (http://nepahdtv.homeip.net:555). Remember, it is on my home PC so the upload speed is only 25KB max so it may be slow.

Jeff

Great job!!!!

I will now proceed to send emails to all involved, at the local level to see if we cant have that become the new discussion place for us...

Hope it works!

See ya!

Hello, I live in Scranton and just recently purchased an HDTV. I am an Adelphia subscriber and I am thinking of getting their HDTV package. It includes WNEP, PBS, etc. Are these channels constantly broadcast in HD or are only certain programs on these channels broadcast in HD. Also my other question is, say, there is a game on ESPN local channel 25 broadcast in HD, will I receive that signal and be able to watch that program in HD or will I have to wait until that channel is available through Adelphia like WNEP, PBS, etc. ?

Thanks.

WNEP and WVIA (PBS) HD are available over the air with an antenna. Does your tv already have a tuner in it? If it does then you are ready to go without even getting cable. The latest I've heard is that Adelphia has WNEP, WVIA, Cinemax(extra charge), SHowtime(extra charge), and I believe Starz(extra charge). You pay $7.95 for the hd receiver from Adelphia. The one down side to it is you can't receive the over the air channels with it so you wouldn't get WNEPDt 16-2 (you can see WBS Pens games on here) or the other 3 PBS channels shown on their digital over the air signal. Again if your tv already has the hd tuner you're set to go for at least some HD.
Most of WNEP's prime time ABC programming is HD. There are exceptions and those are basically the reality type shows. WVIA has hd programming usually starting around 8pm each night. No ESPNHD is a totally separate channel from the regular ESPN. If the game is in HD the only way you will see it is if you have ESPNHD. Adelphia doesn't have this channel yet. DirecTv and Dish Network do. Hope this helps and I'm sure others could add more to it.

I live in southern schuylkill county, and because of my location, I am eligible for both Distant networks of NY and LA, plus I still have access to the WB-Scranton DMA stations. I should be receiving the CBS - HD signal from D*. I used to get it from E*, but the Sunday ticket brought me over.

I don't know if everyone has tried the eligibility page. maybe you'll qualify like I did.

So if i have an HD-Ready Tv and get the HD receiver from my cable company and a program is advertised as available in HD on cable, that is all i need to watch the program in HD?

Yes, If you have an HD ready tv then you need the HD box from either the cable company, satellite company, or an over the air HD decoder. In your case since you said you have Adelphia in order to get what they offer in HD you would need their set top box. Jeff can correct me if I'm wrong, but, I believe what Adelphia is offering right now is WNEP, WVIA, Showtime, Cinemax, and Starz. Remember Sho, Cin, and Starz are all pay channels so you'll have to have a subscription to one or more of the multi channel services like Cinemax or Starz to get their HD channel. The $7.95 you pay a month for the box rental will include WNEP and WVIA HD. I don't think they've added any other channels yet. Also make sure the cable company gives you the component cables you need. I doubt they give away DVI cables but if your tv has that kind of input it is worth the investment.
Once the thrill of having a few HD channels wears off be sure to call our local Nexstar owned CBS & NBC affiliates and let them know you want to see their networks HD programming!!!!!!

One other important thing. Just because a program is advertised in HD doesn't mean you will get it in HD. Your cable provider must be carrying that stations HD channel in order for you to see the HD program. FOr example you might see hockey on ESPN one night and it also says that it's available in HD on ESPNHD. Just because it's available in HD unless your cable company is carrying ESPNHD you won't get the HD feed of the game. I know that right now Adelphia doesn't have ESPNHD. Hope all this helps.

Attention

lacdmiles21, houset, Belb64......

AVS forum is a great place and I will continue to follow this thread, however I suggest you check here NEPAHDTV (http://nepahdtv.homeip.net:555/)

So we can be more on a local level for all to see!

AVS forum can be confusing for some, but this site will be specifically for us, with a lot of local help (hopefully) coming on board with us.

See ya there.

Chezbrgr2-Thanks for the tip..I just registered. Hopefully it will be full of insight.

Thanks for everyone's participation on the new NEPA HDTV Forum. I hope that between all of our work we can get the attention of "other" local broadcasters and show them there is a market for HD locally. Let's keep up the fight!

Thanks,
Jeff - NEPA HDTV Forum Administrator

well, i figured it out...
we all have to move to Binghamton, NY!!

If WYOU was broadcasting HD I'd have no problem with them not granting waivers, but when they DON'T send out the HD signal, why prevent us from getting it by other means!!!! How about waivers that would be pulled when they start broadcasting an HD signal??

jdspencer received this letter from their local CBS affililate. He's not the only one to receive the waiver....

Station WBNG-TV hereby states that at present it does not object to your reception of satellite-delivered CBS programming at the address listed above. This statement of non-objection applies to satellite service to you at the address listed above.

(Because station coverage areas sometimes overlap, there may be another CBS station that delivers an over-the-air signal to your household. Our statement of non-objection does not waive any rights that any other station may have to object to your reception of satellite-delivered CBS programming. Your satellite carrier can tell you whether other stations have rights with respect to satellite delivery of CBS programming to your home.)

Nothing in this letter constitutes an acknowledgment that delivery of CBS programming to your home is lawful under the Copyright Act. Station WBNG-TV reserves the right to withdraw this statement on non-objection at any time in its own discretion.

Joseph P. McNamara
General Manager


and another letter


At this point we are broadcasting in only DTV Digital Channel 7
WBNG has no firm plans to go to HDTV in 2004.
I have seen the HDTV signal that CBS sends us and it is
Incredible but corporate and the powers to be have not
Given any possible dates to go to HDTV yet.

Regards
Michael Calkins
Chief Engineer WBNG TV 12
----------

Now I know why they decided to give me the waiver. I guess they feel that this area doesn't have enough potential HD viewers to make the cost worthwhile. So they just went with the minimum requirements to be broadcasting in DTV.

This is a must read article.........

WYOU, WBRE ARTICLE (http://nepahdtv.homeip.net:555/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9)

Definitely a must read!!!! I decided to email the writer of this article to thank him and let him know how this was impacting us. Sorry, it really sounds like Mission is just a front to stop the FCC from investigating further. Something just doesn't fit based on all of the contact that many of us have had with the two "separate entities." Here's my email.....


Mr Russell,

Thank you for that interseting article. I live in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA market and I could tell you first hand that this Mission-Nexstar separation is a sham. On top of this the viewers are really struggling to have a voice since these two stations also have an agreement for a "New Alliance" with some of our local papers. This leaves little room to complain. Recently I sent an email to WYOU & WBRE complaining about different issues with both stations. One issue that pertained to both stations was their refusal to pass on their networks high definition signal. Now you would think if these were in fact two separate companies I would receive two different letters back. This was not the case though. All I receive back is one letter answering for both stations. It's a letter from Nexstar and of course they only list WBRE, but in fact they are answering for both stations since they are really running the show. On top of this emails that I have sent directly to WYOU have ended up in the hands of engineers at WBRE.
Another interesting fact is that in addition to sharing their workforce we also for the past few years have the WBRE newscast simulcast on WYOU in the morning and at lunch. When the news isn't simulcast the order of the stories are just changed around for the 6pm and 11pm newscasts to make it appear that they are doing there own newscasts. Our viewing choices have been limited here amd it is really sad that the FCC would allow this to occur. WYOU really has no identity in this market. The one good thing we have going for us is that WNEP (local ABC affiliate) as always is burying the both of them in the ratings together. I wonder why??? Anyway thanks for looking out for us it's just too bad it had to be someone from out of state. It looks like you're onto something big with this story though, so keep at it.

Here is the email I sent today and those I sent it to:

Recipients:

FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell
FCC Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy
FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps
FCC Commissioner Kevin J. Martin
FCC Commissioner Jonathan S. Adelstein
PA Attorny General
WYOU/WBRE General Manager John Dittmeier
WYOU/WBRE Opertaions and Production Director Randy Williams
CBS East Coast Operations Director
Vice President, Director of Engineering at Nexstar Richard Stolpe
Executive Vice President, COO at Nexstar Duane A. Lammers
Senior Vice President, Regional Manager at Nexstar Brian Jones

The Message:

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to bring to light a situation that is becoming a problem for the residents of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Our local CBS affiliate, WYOU, and our local NBC affiliate, WBRE, are being controlled by the same entity, Nexstar Broadcasting. This is not the way it is represented on paper. According to research, WYOU is owned by Mission Broadcasting out of Wadsworth, OH. WBRE is owned my Nexstar Broadcasting out of Irving, TX. Nexstar Broadcasting runs the day-to-day operations of WYOU under what is known as a LSA, or local service agreement. The practice of using a local service agreement gives Nexstar a virtual duopoly. They are not only doing so here, but in fourteen separate markets across the nation and counting. The Northeastern Pennsylvania market they control is the largest of their local service agreements, ranking 53rd in the national by broadcasting standards. The practice has lead to many problems, a few of which are documented below.

- The most obvious problem with their current standing is the lack of unique programming. As an example, the morning news and the noon news are simulcast on by stations. This occurs to a different degree with the evening news and 11p.m. news. For those time frames, the order of the news stories is different, but the content is the same. As you can easily derive, the situation is in no way beneficial to the community.

- Second of the list of problems is the visible degradation of the image. The problem is with an issue known as ghosting. An exact copy of the current image is slightly shifted to one side. The result is very distracting and reduces the overall quality of the image. The ghosting is most evident on WYOU, but is also on WBRE. This is a prime example of why allowing on company to have control over two separate stations is not acceptable.

- The list can go on, but I will end with this last example. Beginning in 1996 with the FCC?s approval of the standards for digital television, TV stations had to begin the transition to digital television. Both WYOU and WBRE have made the transition to digital television. That fact is not part of the complaint. The problems lie in the power of their transmission and their decision not to pass the HDTV signals of their parent broadcasters. Both stations broadcast at such low power that it barely reaches outside of the county in which the tower is located. Their viewing area is roughly fifteen counties. Their decision not to pass any HDTV signals is quite inappropriate also. CBS is the leader in HDTV and NBC is right up there with them. To not supply their viewers with the opportunity to view the programming is something that is not well received by the community.

I ask of you to review that situation that Nexstar Broadcasting has become all too comfortable with. The use of local service agreements to benefit customers is can be useful. Nexstar?s use is clearly not benefiting anyone but their own budgets. Please take measures to rectify the situation before the viewer is completely forgotten about.

Thank you for your time,
Jeffrey Williams - Concerned Viewer

:D :D :D :D :D

NBC is going to have the Daytona 500 in HD this year!!! Oh wait, I almost forgot we have Nexstar here. Oh well guess we won't see that one either. Thanks Nexstar.

Anyone know if FOX 56 is broadcasting digital? With the news of FOX going 720p soon I would be interested what our local affiliates plans are.

They are broadcasting in SD right now. They run at a very low power level, so you won't be able to pick it up in Tunkhannock. Last I heard, they did have plans to go HD for the fall. Let's hope it all goes to plan.

I'm trying to update a master list of OTA HD stations. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has not yet been updated. Can somebody that knows what networks are broadcasting in HD or HD/DD5.1 go to the following link and post the info?

National List of Stations Broadcasting HD / DD5.1 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=422073)

Just need the Network, Re-mapped Channel#, and if they're DD 5.1. For any of the networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, UPN & WB) that are currently broadcasting in HD.

Thanks....

I added the available HD stations in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to the post.

I didn't have time to read this entire 23 pages, so I though I'd just ask. I am moving to South Western Morris County in North Jersey at the end of August and wonder about the HDTV climate there.

I will be in Long Valley NJ or Washington Township. Will I be able to get New York and Phili HD stations? That would be great! Also, the local cable company is Cablevision ... anyone have any thoughts on them? Do they have HDTV or not?

I am coming from ST Louis (Go Anheuser-Busch!!!) and use DirecTV for HDTV and an attic antenna for locals. My new house has lots of large trees and I doubt I can get a clear view for DirecTV, but could use an antenna + cable or something like that.

Thanks for your responses.

Off topic ... can't believe how high the realestate is in Jersey or the property taxes, had to buy a house double the price of my STL one!!!

Anyone hear if and when our local FOX is going HD?
Are they planning going HD this fall?
I do receive WNEP HD and WVIA HD with no problems.
I tried to email them but with no response.
I didn't see our local FOX listed in this thread
FOX HD - Cities that are HD/ DD 5.1 ready for Fall 2004 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=409554)

The FOX HD upgrade is underway right now. It is planned to be finished by the end of September.

any news if Fox will increase from their current candle power?
dm

Originally posted by kingofbeers
Off topic ... can't believe how high the realestate is in Jersey or the property taxes, had to buy a house double the price of my STL one!!!

Welcome to the Northeast. Long Island is worse, but so is the West Coast. LV isn't too bad.

Now, back on-topic!

If you live "On The Mountain" you will be high enough to get NY, Philly, and Lehigh Valley HDTV over-the-air.

Some exceptions:
NY: (Due mostly to 9/11)
WNBC, WPIX (WB), WNET (PBS) -- low power temp antenna.
WCBS -- possible co-channel interference from ch 56 in PA.

Philly:
WCAU (NBC) -- low power temp antenna (nobody knows why.)

If you are in the valley or can't get OTA, then cable is your answer. Local CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox, PBS are all there, plus the usual Comcast cable offerings.

Welcome to the neighborhood!

Anybody that gets Wilkes-Barre/Scranton as their locals through D* receiving Ch84 for the Olympics. Blue Ridge cable offers Philly channels in HD in the Stroudsburg area, but D* is saying I do not qualify for Ch84.

King of Beers I live on Schooley's mountain and receive OTA NY: WABC, WCBS, PBS from Montclair, FOX, WOR, PAX. I get nothing from Scranton, Philly I can pull in CBS @ > 70%, FOX is unreliable and forget about ABC and NBC. There have been rumors about signal increases for the philly stations but I've been waiting 2 years.

If you are going to live in the valley forget it you'll need the dish.

Thanks Signalseeker ... the house in the valley fell thru due to carpenter ant damage. We ended up in Mt. Olive (Flanders) and went with Cablevision. That way I don't have to worry about retrofitting the house for an in attic antenna, etc. They cover all the local HD stuff except for ABC but I still have some old equipment and may be able to hide rabbit ears behind the TV and decode hd with my old directv reciever. We'll see.

Thanks for the replies!

King,
Welcome to Jersey. Sure it's expensive, but there are many positives and Flanders is fine place to live.

I'm in the Hackettstown area and have good success with the big 3 networks from Phillly with a rooftop antenna. Scranton comes in well, too, but they have limited HD offerings.

Probably the right call to start out with cable, so you don't lose a month of good viewing while you tinker. Hopefully you'll be able to work something out with an antenna over the long term that will allow you to keep your hard-earned beer money away from the cable company.

Originally posted by PaulM9999
I'm in the Hackettstown area and have good success with the big 3 networks from Phillly with a rooftop antenna. Scranton comes in well, too, but they have limited HD offerings.



Paul,

I live in East Stroudsburg and have wondered if I would I would be able to pick up Scranton with a rooftop. I have a ChannelMaster 4228. My main desire would be ABC since I get CBS (and sometime soon NBC and FOX) HD from D*. I really just want ABC for MNF.

Just curious what your experiences have been.

tmtcox,
If you mount that on the rooftop and get it high as possible and aim it WNW you should be able to get WNEP-DT on 49 (your'e reciever may map it as 16-1,16-2,16-3). You are aiming at the antenna farm on Penobscot Mtn in Mountaintop just East of Wilkes-Barre.
If it doesn't come in. I would recommend the CHANNEL MASTER 7777 preamp. It's the most stable high gain preamp outthere @26 dB UHF Gain and a 2.5 noise figure you can get them from Moyer Electronic Supply in Hazleton. Let us know how you do.
E-burg usually has good coverage from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton stations (analog). The 4228 is a good antenna.
Henry

TC,
I think you're in luck. I get WNEP-DT out of Scranton without a problem on my ChannelMaster (+7777 amp). My antenna is UHF-only, so I can't get WBRE or WYOU. WNEP's digital signal is like a blowtorch, though. I can 90-95% signal strength without a problem- and they carry all of the ABC HD offerings.
Good luck,
Paul

Did Fox (WOLF) go HD yet?

As of today, still nothing. We are patiently waiting for it to be turned on. There are about 6 of us watching for it to go live. Once it does, I will be sure to update here, FOX, and national HD threads.

Thanks.

Just to keep everyone up-to-date, FOX is scheduled to be online by the end of October.

Last Night when I actually turned on the OTA I saw another Fox Channel.
This one was the Rainbow. All the Colors, and it said it was HD.
I guess this must mean they are getting ready???

Yes they are. Everything is scheduled to be done by mid November. They need to run a fiber line to the tower and FOX has to come in and finish the installation. Be patient because it will pay off very shortly.

I heard that November 14 is the scheduled day to transmit FOX hdtv. Hopefully this will push NexStar(CBS and NBC) to follow suit and broadcast in HDTV, not in the crappy low power dtv...

The plan is for the end of next week, so you are right on. I hope it's sooner so the bugs can be worked out in time for the NFL games on Sunday.

I understand they will be running at low power until summer 2005.
What is the current coverage area? I currently live in Tunkhannock and receive WNEP HD and WVIA HD with no problems.
Is it possible for me to pick up the FOX feed? Maybe my antenna has to aim in a different direction that it currently is for WNEP and WVIA?

Last week fox 56 in wilkes-barre had the test bars up and yesterday it was acutally on all day with programming. Now today I just get no signal not even the test color bars.

What is the digital assigned number??? Is there tower near PBS and WNEP??? My silver sensor picks up 22,28 but very low numbers, fades in and out...Thanks!!!

On my Hughes HDTV satelitte reciever I get it on 56-1 over the air. But like I said for a couple of weeks I had the color bar screen test in 720p and last night for the entire night programming was actually on but today not even a signal.

supertok,
the engineer from fox said it was down last night. He also had some good news and indicated:

On Monday Nov. 8 Fox will complete the final step in becoming true HD. They tell me it will be on for prime time ( 8-10P). As for last night there was trouble which we corrected this morning.

Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope they kick up the power sooner then expected!!

Here's another local website that has some good info:
NEPA HD website (http://www.nepa-hdtv.com/index.php?)

Cool!
It is on now but all we need is some programming that is actually HD all the shows so far are not.

I am unable to pull in FOX...Even the analog signal is weak...Is Fox's towers near CBS, NBC or are they by WNEP, WVIA??? I will need to move my antenna if that is the case...

Looking to pull in Fox HD. Live in Wilkes-Barre area. I have the Metro-Star GS2000 antenna installed by Direct TV. Cant pull in good signal. Any ideas on what antenna or amplifier that may work better? Get ABC and PBS with no problems.

They have been promoting The Lord of the Rings heavily on the radio 97.9 this past weekend about being in HDTV...I hope that the powers that be can up the watttage on the transmission. I can't wait any longer!!!

I have been able to get it ota on 56-1 all week. The only problem is that it is not true HD only comes in at 480p. Is this because it is not fully done yet or am I doing something wrong? Signal strength is very high but even the football game on sunday was cropped on the sides.

This article was published in the Scranton Times on Saturday. It was written by Rich Mates.

----------------------------------------------------

Longtime WYOU/WBRE-TV employee Randy Williams has been named to the newly created position of WBRE-TV station manager.

While the job is common at many stations, nobody has actually defined what WBRE's station manager will do. "It's what I want it to be. It's the same job I was doing plus a little more," said Mr. Williams, 42, of West Scranton, who was the station's operations manager.

His top priority will be improving the quality of the stations' broadcast and cable reception. There seems to be a problem at a transmitter on Penobscot Mountain that engineers are working on, he said.

"Actually WYOU's picture on Adelphia has improved. I'm not happy with the way WBRE and WYOU look on DirecTV," Mr. Williams said.

Adelphia's signal should get better in 2005. The cable company's regional manager Mark De Stefano said a fiber optic signal for the two stations will be added to Adelphia's 125,000 cable homes next year. Now only WNEP feeds its picture and sound over fiber optic cable to Adelphia's Duryea control center.

Mr. Williams is hopeful the DirecTV signal for both stations will be up to snuff, too. Station engineers are working out a fix, he said.

The new station manager also will oversee the switch to full-power High Definition Television for both stations in 2005. And he'll take on the restoration and remastering of WYOU's legendary film library.

Creating "The Tom Powell Memorial Film Library," named for the anchor and news director of WGBI/WDAU-TV (previous call letters of WYOU-TV) for 30 years, will take years.

"No one else has what we have," Mr. Williams said of the station's film.

---------------------------------------------------

This is great news for us. It's amazing what a change in management can do for a company.

i hate to say it...

but i'm afraid it's just hype....

I'll believe it when I see it!!!

Here's my guess, WBRE & WYOU go to higher power in 2005, but it won't be HD!!!

I live in Moscow and can get WVIA and WNEP HD with good results. Still cannot find the assigned digital channel for fox 56 with the antenna aimed in the same direction as VIA and NEP. What is the assigned digital channel and is it up and operating yet?

Finally found the digital frequency for the channel 38 Fox outlet here. It is channel 31 and I am getting a decent signal here in Moscow. The particular shows on last night were not in high def. By rotating the antenna I also get the Binghamton Fox outlet just as good.

FOX is now broadcasting in HD and 5.1 surround sound. That's 3 down and 2 to go, which will hopefully happen this spring.

Hello:

I am Trip Ericson, and I am running a TV website (see my signature). I have extra attention on the digital TV signals, and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre is the next market I want to complete.

Could someone provide me with a listing of the signals in the area? Any technical details I can get from the FCC site, but I need programming info. For example:

What are the subchannels? What are they mapped to? What format are they in (480i, 720p, 1080i)?

I assume that WNEP, being owned by the NY Times, is the only one in the area with HD aside from WVIA. Nexstar is HD at a whopping 0 of its stations, and Pegasus doesn't even have many of its stations on the air at all, even in SD (Fox in Tallahassee, FL and UPN and WB in Portland, ME for example). But I still need mapping info for these stations.

Thanks in advance.

- Trip

WNEP DTV-49 Mapped 16-1, 16-2, 16-3
Broadcasting 720p on 16-1, 480i on 16-2 and 16-3

WOLF, WSWB DTV-45 Mapped 56-1, 56-2
Broadcastiong 720p on 56-1, 480i on 56-2(WSWB)

WVIA DTV-41 Mapped 44-1, 44-2, 44-3, 44-4
Broadcasting 1080i on 44-1 during prime time, 480i all other times and channels

WYOU DTV-13 Mapped 22-1
Broadcasting 480i

WBRE DTV-11 Mapped 28-1
Broadcasting 480i

WQPX DTV-32 Mapped 64-1, 64-2, 64-3, 64-4
Broadcasting 480i on all

WYOU and WBRE, both Nexstar run, have announced that they are planning to go HD this spring upon budget approval. We have yet to hear the final word on that. WYOU, WBRE, and WOLF all plan to upgrade to full power this spring.

Originally posted by Jeff Williams
WNEP DTV-49 Mapped 16-1, 16-2, 16-3
Broadcasting 720p on 16-1, 480i on 16-2 and 16-3

WOLF, WSWB DTV-45 Mapped 56-1, 56-2
Broadcastiong 720p on 56-1, 480i on 56-2(WSWB)

WVIA DTV-41 Mapped 44-1, 44-2, 44-3, 44-4
Broadcasting 1080i on 44-1 during prime time, 480i all other times and channels

WYOU DTV-13 Mapped 22-1
Broadcasting 480i

WBRE DTV-11 Mapped 28-1
Broadcasting 480i

WQPX DTV-32 Mapped 64-1, 64-2, 64-3, 64-4
Broadcasting 480i on all

WYOU and WBRE, both Nexstar run, have announced that they are planning to go HD this spring upon budget approval. We have yet to hear the final word on that. WYOU, WBRE, and WOLF all plan to upgrade to full power this spring.

Sorry, somehow I had missed your response. Good thing someone was kind enough to email me about it.

Could you tell me what programming is on each of the subchannels you list? (16-2, 16-3, 56-2, 44-2, etc.)

Thank you.

- Trip

Well, despite the lack of response, I guessed at it and here's the nearly complete Scranton listings.

http://www.rabbitears.info/listings.php?id=swb

If you see any errors at all, please notify me.

Thanks!

- Trip

Still can't get a signal from Wolf on assigned channel 45. Must be on low power, because other HD signals from that antenna location are coiming in fine.

WOLF does brodcast at the lowest power of all the locals. That is set to change this spring though. A new more powerful transmitter is scheduled to be installed starting in March.

On a more positive note, Adelphia added WOLF-HD to their lineup on Wednesday. Now it is available to a lot more people and just in time for the Superbowl.

That probably explains why I can't get WOLF-HD anymore. Adelphia picked them up Wednesday??? Damn....I was getting a solid 73 an up on my Sony GWIV meter from them. Since Thursday it seems Ive been getting breaking up even though the signal still shows 70 to 76. Sometimes it will go down so low and show No Signal and then bounce back two seconds later to 73...WIERD to say the least. I know it's been kind of hazy and foggy with the sudden warm up here but still...Does the cable company have anything to do with this sudden intermittent hiccuping of the signal. I refuse to pay cable prices for a compressed signal. I remember watching the Orange Bowl OTA instead of cable because the box made it look like a SD picture. It was too soft. Nothing beats the OTA signal IF YOU CAN GET IT. I hate Adelphia Cable. Oh by the way. I tried Channel 45 also and over here wher I live in Eynon I pick up WOLF-HD on 56.1. Might want to try that. I've tried 45.1 and even though the signal meter says 73 i get no image. I use 56.1 for Wolf and 56.2 for WSWB. Ill be damned if all of a sudden because of Adelphia I wont be able to watch the Super Bowl and I kept laughing all the way to the bank being able to get all the networks digital with a Radio Shack indoor antenna!!!

Final channel elections are in! Here's the info:

WNEP-49
WYOU-13
WBRE-11
WSWB-38
WVIA-41
WILF-29
WOLF-45
WQPX-32

- Trip

after a crappy day at work, i come home today and see CBS HD finally added by service electric (bloomsburg).

too bad this wasnt 2 weeks ago for the ncaa tourney. i'll have to settle for the final four though.:)

I just wanted to let the forum know that I was able to pick up WNEP DT signal from State College. I have a Radio Shack UHF yagi with a corner reflector on a rotor and a Channel Master 7777 pre-amp. A few days ago, I turned my antenna toward Scranton and much to my surprise I was able to pick up WNEP DT. I recieved all 3 sub channels (16.1, 16.2 and 16.3). During the evening an nights I receive the signal solid with no drop outs. During the daytime there are a few drop outs.

Can anyone tell me what WNEP output power is and if it is currently operating at full power?

This is quite exciting for this neck of the woods to be able to receive a network HD broadcast, since our local ABC affiliate out of Altoona (WATM) is broadcasting with a signal of 2 kw at 480i. Our CBS affiliate is operating also at 480i with an output of 3.3 Kw and our NBC affiliate is in Johnstown broadcasting at 250 kw but impossible at present to get from State College. Only PBS (WPSX) is broadcasting in HD (1080i).

If anyone can shed some light on WNEP output power as well as the other WB/Scranton stations I would appreciate it.

I'm in Bethlehem, PA, a few of blocks up the hill from the Lehigh University main campus. Because of this hill I can't get any of the Philadelphia stations but I am on the right side of it and high enough up to get VIA and NEP with nothing more than a $25 passive indoor antenna. With some experimentation I also found WLVT-DT which is the local PBS but they're currently only broadcasting four 480i sub channels (39-1, 39-2, 39-3, 39-4) and since I get HD-PBS from VIA I don't have much reason to tune them in. Also, their signal is very weak.

I bought a 40dB amplified indoor antenna in the hopes of picking some more HD stations but only found WFMZ (69-1, 69-2, 69-3). Other than local news there is nothing worth watching on their main channel (69 -1 which is 480i and looks no better than their analog station). 69-2 is their AccuWeather channel and 69-3 is an HD channel but all I've ever seen thus far is a blank, black 1080i screen with two channel Dolby Digital pink noise. Interestingly their website says they're retransmitting HD-Net on that HD channel. I hope this is true because HD-Net does carry some decent content but so far I've seen nothing. Also, their signal must be very low power because I live maybe five miles from their tower and barely receive it.

When I moved into my house a few years ago there was a huge (6+ feet by 4 feet) antenna in the attic but it wasn't hooked up and I'm a Dish Network subscriber so I didn't need it and gave it to a friend who lives about 90 miles away when he got an HD DirecTV tuner with OTA at roughly the same time. Well, he's never used it because he is lucky enough to get all of his OTA channels with just an indoor antenna. I'll have to make a trek to his house and take it back because I'm on the verge of picking up three more digital channels. When I do a channel scan my tuner "sees" D-9 ( a Bethlehem local that I never even heard of before), D-11, and D-13 but the signals are too weak to lock onto. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up HD CBS and FOX before the 2005 NFL season starts. After seeing the wild-card playoff games in HD from NEP there's no way I can settle for SD from Dish anymore :)

Originally posted by Slosh
When I do a channel scan my tuner "sees" D-9 ( a Bethlehem local that I never even heard of before), D-11, and D-13 but the signals are too weak to lock onto.

Wait... 9? I wasn't aware that WBPH-DT (channel 60 on analog, if you want to check out the non-stop religion) was on the air yet. If you manage to receive it, could you let me know what kind of programming they have on the digital? As in, are they multicasting or just doing the one stream?

Thanks.

- Trip

Can anyone give me a status of the broadcast networks in the WB/Scranton area? Who is broadcasting in HD, who is at full power (how much) and who is on at reduced power.

I am in State College (Altoona/Johnstown market) and the state of affairs is very sad (no HD from anyone in SC for a very long time, some stations not even broadcasting digital!). I can pick up WNEP-DT from where I am located but nothing else from your market. I am curious if you have other stations at full power.

Thanks.

WNEP 16 & WVIA-44 are both currently broadcasting in HD at full power. If you get 16, you should get 44 (not sure what the power actually is, but there are no plans to increase it). Fox-56 is broadcasting in HD over the air, but in low power. Cannot get a straight answer as to when they will be at full power, could be weeks away, could be months. 28(NBC)&22(CBS) (same company owns both) do not broadcast in HD, they are targeting Mid September. They claim that when they go live they will immediately be at full power. My gut tells me theat late October will be the earliest it actually happens.

No word yet as to wheter 28&22 will be available in HD via cable or just off air. Also no word on when any of these HD stations will be available via DTV (likely to be years away IMHO).

I live in Slatington PA, approx 35 air miles due south, and over a couple of mountains from Wilkes Barre area. Antennaweb figures I should be able to get W/B channels using a "Violet"- UHF antenna. What I am looking for is to get a HDTV signal for my new home theater setup. I am totally unintelligent when it comes to antennas, could someone recomment the best combination, that might allow to pick up these signals. I assume I would want a HDTV antenna, some sort of rotar to direct the antenna either towards W/B, Allentown, or possibly Phila, and also some sort of preamp. Then I guess I would need to attach these to roof, and run the cable to my HDTV antenna input.
Correct?
If so, can u give me some model numbers, etc?
Also, once this is all done, how exactly do I get a channel like the 16.1, or 16.2 like you are talking about?
Dave