I think the title says "HD Des Moines!!!"

Just kidding guys, good to see others from Iowa are getting Hd, hey wait a minute, neither of you guys are from Iowa, what are you doing watching our stations :)

Does anyone think it is possible to pull in Sioux City ABC, possibly doing a DX thing, tower with Great antenna?

Mark

Mark
Yes we are hitchiking on your thread but I noticed there was some talk of the Mason City station so I thought it would be OK to broaden the scope of the thread. I think pulling in the ABC digital signal will be tough because the digital transmitter is not on the main tower. It is located on a small tower in downtown Sioux City. I don't think the coverage is that great. I think the bluffs will block the signal.

Bill,

Thanks for posting to the thread, it is nice to hear about the other Iowa stations and their progress. Please keep us posted about your ABC-HD, the superbowl, etc...we wont have ABC in HD until hopefully May. As long as we get it before MNF goes on.

Also thanks for the info on the tower situation in Sioux City!

Happy New Year to All!!!

Mark

Need some antenna help in Des Moines. I'm on the south side, rather hign up as to south side city location, but can not get all the locals to come in. I used a terk 55 to start with. I could get one or two stations when aimed in one direction, but none of the others. If I re-aimed the terk, I got the others but lost those I had before. So I took the terk back and got a big radio shack uhf for the attic. Same thing, some come in in one direction, but not all. Then I went to even a bigger attic antenna, and its still very direction-picky. I can get WHO and FOX, not CBS. If I re-aim it, I get CBS but no longer WHO or FOX. There must be an antenna to pull in all the locals??? Do I need to mount one of those tall monsters outside, maybe with a rotor??? (dont want to go to that extreme) It would be nice if Mediacom cable put the local HD's on cable. I called and ask them, once, and they sounded like it was something they wanted to do (wanted to)...? ANyway, what is a good antenna that will pull in a wide area (prefer something from radioshack)?

I live in Norwalk and put a Radioshack VU120-XR in my attic. I get great reception on 5 through 23 along with 93-100% for 8, 13 and 17's digital broadcasts. I pointed the antenna slightly east of straight north and am having no problems.

I share your pain (to a degree). I'm in West Des Moines, and have a big Winegard in the attic. I have climbed up there enough by now to have reached the equivelent of scaling Everest by now. I am near the west mixmaster, and if I set the antenna just right I can get great analog signals on CBS, NBC, WB, PBS, and FOX. The signal is average on ABC, and poor on PAX. For HD I get strong signals on CBS and NBC, but a lot of drop-outs (multi-path issues, I think). Fox HD is weaker, but the picture is more stable. I got aiming help at www.titantv.com and www.antennaweb.org
I have come to the reluctant conclusion that I will need to put an antenna on the roof (with a rotor) if I am ever to get the signal I need to enjoy the HD capability. I have no confidence in the local cable company, and would not ever become their customer again. (When I put my DSS up, they were supposed to disconnect my service. Instead, they cut the coax an inch from where it enters the house, making the DSS hook-up impossible. They came out and repaired it only when I threatened to call the local TV media and show them how the cable company reacts to DSS.) Hope this helps you, I am resigned to the need for a roof antenna. Therefore, I will get the biggest and best. If I'm gonna have one, it might as well be a landmark too.

I'm on the southside (near the airport). I use an old Ratshack antenna on the roof (part of is even missing), and my reception is great. The Zenith 520 STB helps a great deal with the reception also.

Chucko

I might put an antenna way back in the yard. My back yard is very deep and very hilly. From the back, I can see downtown buildings and such, so maybe planting an antenna there would do it? My question now is, should you (can you) burry antenna cable underground? That is, does it pass the signals ok? I may need to go 150 feet. I'm thinking of getting 250' of RG6 wire and using that, underground, to the house. 250' of RG6 is $29 at Menards (the best place to get wire!)

Not too sure why you guys are having problems. It might be worth your time to stop at Radio Shack and get a UHF/VHF booster before you spend a lot of time and trouble putting up new antenna.

I am between Knoxville and Pella and getting good signal for everyone except WOI with a crappy RCA VHF/UHF aerial in the attic of my garage (no rotor) hanging from bungee cords from the rafters. I added a 10db booster and that 1. pumped up the digitals to great levels. 2. made WOI (ABC) watchable.

BTW, if you are going to bury wire make sure it RG6U (U is for Underground). Menard's probably is already, but just make sure. I would suspect that 90% of your problem is the Terk antenna, I have never had great success with them. I think they are kind of like Bose, great marketing but the product doesn't always live up to the hype.

Good to see so many new faces on the boards.

Justin

Jtuck, Why did you suspend the antenna from bungee cords? Mine just lays on the insulation. I did install a preamp and amp, but have a lot of ghosting on channel 13. The multi-path thing is driving me nuts..lol

Bungee cords were mostly just laziness of not wanting to mount a post to hang it off of.

My (probably flawed) thinking was that it hangs in the air outside and works pretty well. If it is going to work in an attic, it also needs to be suspended in the air as well. That meant mounting or hanging a post and the antenna was much larger than I initially thought making it hard to even work up there with the antenna unfolded. I ended up using the bungees in lieu of that mounting post. Always ask a lazy man the easiest way to do something LOL.

I could see how the ghosting could be a problem with your setup. WHO is by far my strongest station and with a booster as close as you are, it would be bad indeed. Not a long term solution, but can you just turn your amp/preamp off to watch WHO and back on for everything else?

It might be worth your time to post somewhere else asking about problems with the length of wire you are talking about. That sounds like a lot of load, when combined with your house wiring to try and pull decent signals across the spectrum. A rotor at the antenna would probably negate any inherent problems though. I am definitely NOT an expert, so take my random musings with a grain of salt please. You might try poking around the "HDTV hardware" section for answers on antenna questions.

Enjoy,

Justin

bbdotsd
hey Bill i sent you a PM

AFC PLAYOFFS

Channel 8 will be televising The AFC Divisional Playoffs and AFC Championship that they will be playing in HD. They are Saturday and Sunday Jan. 11th and 12th and the Championship on Sunday, January 19th. What a plus for CBS and another example of ABC failing by not having it ready for the Super Bowl.

Jap

Can't wait to see my Steelers in HD, assuming they can actually make it to next weekend. I do agree, CBS really has it together. Heck, CSI alone has made it worthwhile to own my HD set. NFL in HD was beyond my wildest dreams for this year.

Might be nice if we all fired off a nastygram to mporter@woitv.com (just to let him know he isn't off the hook). Mr. Porter is Senior VP/General Manager of our local ABC embarassment. Thet actually have the digital antenna and feedline on site, but can't seem to get the thing in the air. Even when they do, we won't necessarily get HD signals from them. They sure can't blame the weather on their lack of progress! On a side note, I wonder if KCCI would be interested in this story? They always seem to be having a war of words with WHO, maybe they need a new whipping boy.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Justin

A nasty-gram might be our only option! I tried calling Mr. Porter three times to ask about HDTV, and left a voice mail twice with him and once with Engineering. I asked for a response....no calls back!

I could see resistance from a lot of the general public, afraid they will be forced to buy converter boxes or new tv's, but resistance from broadcasters??? Thats weird! I think they need some new blood. Management that can see into the future, not holding on to the past.

RandyM,

If you are going to bury that long of a cable, you will probably need an amplifier. Also, I hope you aren't doing this for the Terk tv55, I have the Tv50 (just older) and it is junk. If you are using a different antenna, please post what you are using. You may also run the RG6 through pvc, I did this for my Sat that is installed on my shed, not to protect from weather, but from shovels.

Is anyone in Des Moines thinking of ordering the Televeves Dat75, I believe that's the model. If so maybe we could get together on this to save on shipping (their from England). 2 units ship for the price of 1. Maybe a group order?

Mark

Tell me more about the Televes? Is it superior to Channelmaster or Winegard? And, any ideas on shipping cost?

C5Cyrus,

Do a search on this website, by far the most talked about antenna!!!

(Got this from WOI)


The latest deadline for WOI-TV to go digital (standard definition digital, channel 59) is sometime in the spring of 2003. Equipment has been purchased and awaits installation. We are waiting on the signing of the contract for the tower space on the digital tower at Alleman, Ia.

Dennis Poffenberger
Chief Engineer
WOI-TV

interesting,

titantv.com says today, woi will be broadcasting jan 26th, when is the superbowl?

January 26th...lol! Impeccable timing..if it happens! BTW where is Alleman? Anyone know?

Just a couple miles north of Ankeny

BTW, how do you ground an outside antenna? Can you stick a grounding rod in the ground to do it?

Wouldn't you just use a grounding block on the coax, with a good wire leading to a rod into the ground? That is what I did for my DSS setup.

Sounds good to me. Thats what I was asking, but thought a ground to a water pipe was necessary. I'll use the grounding rod and block. "Back to the future" t o get HDtv.

Well I'd be shocked if WOI does the Super Bowl in HD, but it would be great. I am picking up a 51" Hitachi on the 17th, so the timing would be excellent.

Here is what I got from WOI today.

We are scheduled to be on the air this spring (2003), with a digital signal (standard definition digital, channel 59). The equipment has been purchased and is ready to be installed as soon as the lawyers check over the tower lease contract for the antenna and transmitter space at the digital tower at Alleman (the same one that 11, 13 and 17 transmit from).

Dennis Poffenberger
Chief Engineer
WOI-TV

I did ask him specifically about the Jan 26th date, but as you can see, no committment yet.

A bit more info than I got from them. Maybe if we all send an inquiry email, they will see theres hign interest out here.

It seems that the January 26th date might be legit. One of my co-workers at American TV said that a guy that works at WOI was in the store a couple of days ago. He said that WOI will be up and going for the Super Bowl in HD. Apparently they were overwhelmed by people complaining that ABC was offering it but they weren't, so they made the move to do it. It's not an official announcement but it's a positive sign. I won't bank on it til I see it though, lol.

Robert,

Or fireshoes, that would be nice to see!!! Has anyone noticed that Titantv.com is showing IPTV with actual shows showing in DTV? I haven't been able to pick it up here in Grimes. Anybody getting IPTV DTV?

Mark

I doubt if they can toss up a tower that fast. BTW, Directv announced they will offer des moines locals within the next 6 months.

Mark, no IPTV whatsoever, I checked last night just for fun.

I agree with Randy, even if the weather were perfect, I don't think there is any way they can get the antenna up that fast, even on an existing tower. And even if they somehow get digital before then, they have no HD equipment to pick up the ABC feed with. It is nice to have dreams though.

At least KCCI has their act together. Both AFC football games this weekend will be in HD. Go Steelers!!

So much for optimism...

Dear Bob,
We will not be able to offer the Super Bowl in HD on Jan. 31(sic). We have the equipment purchased and standing by for installation but no tower lease agreement signed for the digital tower at Alleman, Ia. As soon as the lawyers get through the paperwork we'll get rollin'. We will be signing on with a standard definition signal on channel 59 (I'm trying to come up with the money to purchase a HD satellite receiver for the ABC network feed) sometime this spring.

Dennis Poffenberger
Chief Engineer
WOI-TV
dpoffen@woitv.com
515-457-9645 ex. 130

----- Original Message -----
From: Bob Taylor
To: dpoffen@woitv.com
Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 9:47 AM
Subject: Super Bowl?


Hello,

I had been under the impression that WOI would not carry ABC's high definition broadcast of the Super Bowl on January 26th, but recently rumors have been circulating that you will in fact offer the Super Bowl in HD. Can you confirm whether it will be a true HD broadcast, a digital up-convert, or a simple analog feed?

Thank you,
Robert Taylor

From DirecTV's website ... not a rumor any more. (I wonder if WOI will be available with DirecTV?, they still haven't reached an agreement with Dish as far as I know. Sounds like they better hire another lawyer between these deals and their digital tower mess.)

DIRECTV to Launch up to 50 New Local Channels Markets in 2003
Approximately 100 Markets to be Served by Local Channels Following DIRECTV 7S Satellite Launch Later This Year


Las Vegas Jan 9, 2003 Strengthening its competitive position as a complete alternative to cable service to more consumers, DIRECTV, Inc., provider of the nations leading digital satellite television service, announced today it will launch local broadcast channel service in up to 50 additional markets by the end of this year. Ten of these new markets will be served by the end of June.

DIRECTV currently offers local broadcast channels in 51 markets. With the successful launch of the DIRECTV 7S spot beam satellite in the fourth quarter, and using advanced digital compression technology, DIRECTV will provide local broadcast channel service in approximately 100 markets by year-end, representing roughly 84 percent of U.S. television households. As with all existing local channels markets, DIRECTV will deliver all local broadcast channels in the new markets to a single, small satellite dish.

The first 10 of these new markets will launch throughout the first half of this year, beginning with Richmond, Va., on Jan. 16. The next nine markets are Colorado Springs, Colo., Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Roanoke, Va., Green Bay, Wis., Tucson, Ariz., Shreveport, La., Jackson, Miss., Louisville, Ky., and Des Moines, Iowa.

Additional market launches will be announced later this spring. To receive local channels from DIRECTV, customers in most of these new markets will require the use of a DIRECTV® Multi-Satellite System, which includes a single multi-satellite dish.

"Offering local channels via satellite provides DIRECTV with its best opportunity to win over those remaining cable customers who have been patiently waiting for a complete alternative to their current pay TV service," said Roxanne Austin, president and COO of DIRECTV, Inc. "More local channels to more customers, while adding more value to our programming service, has proven to be a winning formula that we intend to exploit aggressively this year."

DIRECTV is planning extensive marketing campaigns in each of the new local channels markets using a variety of tactics including print and radio ads, and direct marketing that will emphasize the price/value proposition of DIRECTV® programming. DIRECTV will also work with its extensive distribution network to promote aggressive offers on multi-room DIRECTV solutions to prospective customers.

Hi,
Are the Des Moines stations broadcasting HDTV at full power? I am receiving WOWT channel 6-1 from Omaha in high definition with a signal level of 93-100 on my Hughes E86. I have an antenna with a rotor on a 50' tower. I am about 70 miles(by the way the crow flies from Omaha) and approxiamately the same distance from Des Moines. I get the Des Moines stations broadcasting analog, but not digital.

It's 3:15pm and I can not get a lock on KCCI-DT for more than a few seconds. Anybody else having problems this afternoon?

Very embarrassing as I am having several friends over to watch the game.

I'm having more dropouts than usual, but I do have a decent pic and sound most of the time.

I brought home my new Hitachi 51" yesterday. I haven't got a stb yet, but will in the next month or so. Hopefully I will be able to pull in adequate signal from my apartment with rabbit ears, as I don't believe I'm allowed to mount an outdoor antenna here. Or Mediacom offering HD would be nice haha.

what was the deal with IPTV yesterday they were on for like 5hrs. then shut off, are they getting ready to turn on full time or what?

I was talking to guy from mediacom today and he said that they had a meeting about HDTV and what was going on. seems like they have no idea he said that right now they were providing hdtv signals through the feed, local, HBO and SHOWTIME. But the guy really didn't know what he was talking about because he didn't even have the slightest idea about how much it was going to be or if you had to get the mediacom hd box's

WHO-DT seems to be having problems the last week or so. The transmitter has come on late for some shows, not at all for others. Some shows have had dropouts lasting several minutes. I don't think WHO-DT was on at all for Leno on Thursday or Friday. Anybody know what's going on?

oOOkool,

I wish I could have caught IPTV in HD. I have been in Madison WI the last week. They have 2 channels of PBS, 1 in sd, the other in HD like the channel IPTV runs at state fair time, HD demo loops, smart travels and such.

Cyclone,

I had no trouble last night picking up HD Jay Leno, signal strength of 89 on my Dtc-100. I am having BIG problems with KCCI, signal strength of 28 and many drop outs!!!

It is GREAT to see the post still going, we receive more views that many BIG cities!!! Keep it up!!!

Mark

Cyclone, I noticed the same thing with WHO. Drop outs of several minutes, missing show starts, etc.

Enjoy the HD football on KCCI this evening. It will be our last until next year. I was hoping WOI would surprise us with the SuperBowl, but I wasn't betting the house on it.

Goin' to Vegas next week for the Home Builder's show, Wed. is tech home expo, so I will be dreaming the next renovation up then.

Mediacom, please, please please carry those local hd sigs over that cable. I have such an antenna mess setup, and still cant get good hd locals 100% of the time (or 50% for that matter). However, I am getting strange transmissions from some planet in a far away solar system, asking for help in fighting against takeover by the "Heirsnakiens"??? Too bad these transmissions arent in HD at least... :)

I think the C.I.A. is wondering about my antennas too...?

Hey Gang ... I have been watching HDTV in the Des Moines area since Feb 2002 during the Winter Olympics. I just stumbled upon this thread. I too have been bugging Marshall Porter at WOI about their reluctance to get DT 59 on the air, or 720p HD Satellite equipment, or sign a retrans contract with DISH Network (or DirecTV). I am as disappointed as you about missing the SuperBowl in 720p splendor. I have planned a party for the 26th to show off the now defunct HD game ... thanks WOI! Anyway, I have posted a lot of information over at www.hdtvoice.com where there is also a DES MOINES (and IOWA) REGIONAL HDTV thread going. You might want to check it out.

Hello Eyedox,

Wecome to our forum!!! I visited www.hdtvoice.com and it looks like you have like a dozen or so topics that you have started yourself.

It is nice to have someone so active join us!!!

Did anybody watch the Raider game? I am still having drop out with KCCI (28-29) WHO has a signal of (88-89). Aren't they on the same tower?

Mark

I am also new to the forum. I am following eyedox over from hdtvoice.com. I just got done watching the AFC game on KCCI. I get great signal from KCCI. 89 steady. I get between 76 and 82 on WHO however. It is a big bummer that ABC will not be DTV in time for SuperBowl. I too was planning a nice big party.

I have also been following both HDTVoice forum as well as this one for local updates and appreciate the Eyedox posts there.

I've been had HDTV direct view set for a year now with DirecTV and dual dish. So my first real inhome HD was HDNet. Last summer I added a Channel Master antenna to get OTA broadcasts once I knew KCCI was close to putting out a signal. Didn't seem to make much sense just for WHO given NBC support for HD in the previous year.

My system is a Toshiba 34" direct view HDTV with Mitsubishi DirecTV STB, Toshiba DVD and Onkyo Receiver supporting the surround sound in my living room.

I watched most of both of the play off games on KCCI and had great reception. I have heard that the HD receiver can cause problems and mine seems to scramble the signal or drop it at times, so I don't know if the problem is my equipment or their signal.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who shares.

CBS and NBC are 100% for me since I took back a bad receiver. I live in Polk City so the signal is very strong. The games were great and only pixeled once or twice.

I was wondering if anyone has a clue which NCAA Basketball games on CBS are in High Definition?

What is the deal with the local stations are the going to stay on 24hrs or not WHO signal was off and on all day today from 7am-2pm, anyone know if they will be running 24hrs soon. I would rather see CBS 24hrs because I could watch my Young and the restless in HD.

Andrew

WHO (NBC) going to increase their OTA time from the current primetime only ... and increase it noon --> midnight by May 2003 according to Brad Olk, Chief Engineer.

good just in time for conan in HD

Conan has HD cameras already like Letterman .... but Letterman isn't starting until September in HD ... do you know when Conan starts HD broadcasts?? Has their been an official announcement that I missed?

Conan is said to be going by the end of February

There are so many of us in the Des Moines market that are so incredibly disappointed in WOI-TV (ABC) for not making the SuperBowl deadline as previously scheduled. They've had their equipment for months and have had plenty of time to get it up on the tower. I guess unlike some markets and stations, WOI doesn't consider their HD viewers an important priority. The FCC deadline was almost a YEAR ago for commercial stations. WOI is also planning on being 480i only for awhile (no 720p HD). I am just so tired of chronic excuse-makers and people that do the bare minimum. If the FCC weren't requiring digital signals, some of these stations would NEVER switch on their own. I know there are costs, but we had to spend thousands on our TV's too.

There is a way to put pressure on WOI if we're so inclined. They are clearly dragging their feet because they don't want the operating costs of running two transmitters at the same time. Unless we make it economic for them to get in gear, they won't.

We can compile a list of advertisers and send them letters stating we are boycotting WOI advertisers until they are broadcasting in HD. We can include a little bit of history so they'll understand why we're upset.

Anyone interested?

I'm for putting WOI's feet to the fire. If you get a list together, let us know Dave. This is absolutely insane, between the whole digital fiasco and their refusal to come to an agreement with Dish over locals.

I wonder whether a candid letter to ABC would help anything? At least in my house, ABC loses out on my programming simply because my analog WOI is unwatchable. Why would I watch a crappy static filled mess, when I can pick up CSI and ER in HD on the digital channels. I don't even check WOI for programming unless it is Monday Night Football or similar.

Let me know who to send a letter to.

Originally posted by AbbeyRoad
There is a way to put pressure on WOI if we're so inclined. They are clearly dragging their feet because they don't want the operating costs of running two transmitters at the same time. Unless we make it economic for them to get in gear, they won't.

We can compile a list of advertisers and send them letters stating we are boycotting WOI advertisers until they are broadcasting in HD. We can include a little bit of history so they'll understand why we're upset.

Anyone interested? If we combine the HDTV issue with the lack of carry on Dish Network, I think we will have a stronger case. They could consider HDTV a fringe issue right now with limited viewership. However, Dish Network said their take rate in Des Moines was higher than expected, so this means real loss of viewers. I would combine both issues in any correspondance. Yes - I will contribute. Also, send all of your comments to mporter@woitv.com, the station manager. Apparently, on advice of their attorney, he is no longer responding to emails, but he will likely read them. If you read their excuse on their website about the Dish Network issue, they think they are 100% right in this whole deal.

Thinking about this contacting advertisers idea, I think we need to be specific to target LOCAL (Des Moines) advertisers. It is worthless to target someone like GM who is advertising on ABC. We need to target the local companies that are choosing WOI. We should also copy our letters to the advertising staff at WOI (email at their website). They work hard to pull in advertisers and if they know there are people who are trying to change that, there may be some internal dissension at WOI that could help them make a deal.

I meant just local advertisers and I agree we should keep the WOI sales force informed. They can become our allies. Every time I attempt to contact ABC it just gets forwarded to WOI.

If it wasn't for football, I wouldn't ever watch WOI. Thier analog signal is so poor I refuse to watch movies or anything else on it.

This may have been answered already, but has anyone heard anymore about Mediacom going HDTV yet??

I called a couple weeks ago and the person I spoke with didn't really know anything except that it is coming.

Phil

Tonight, I noticed 3 local advertisers in about 90 minutes of programming: Bedroom Expressions Furniture (Des Moines), Redekers Furniture (Boone) and Hy-Vee (West Des Moines).

I will certainly be on board with any pressure we could put on WOI to get their act together with DISH, DirecTV (June 2003), and HDTV. I guarantee you they will not allow retrans on DirecTV when they are asked. My advice is to continue to watch for LOCAL commercials on WOI. Then send an email that you have prewritten to the (advertising) company's email address regarding boycotting due to their tactics and practices. Keeping pressure on Marshall Porter at WOI also doesn't hurt even though he wont respond. I guarantee he reads them. JeffCarp has posted 3 local companies already. Any more?

Here is my thoughts on an email to advertisers.
"As television viewers in Des Moines, we understand that your company advertises on WOI-TV Channel 5. We would like you to be aware, if you are not already, that there are a significant number of viewers in the Des Moines market that can no longer view WOI-TV. Thus, your target audience has been limited. In November, Dish Network began serving the Des Moines market and all major local stations with the exception of WOI have reached a carriage agreement with Dish Network. As more and more viewers switch from Mediacom to Dish Network, your WOI-TV advertising is reaching a smaller audience. We hope that you will join us in expressing your concern about this situation to WOI-TV and encourage them to reach an agreement with Dish Network."

I think that we should somehow mention the problems with the digital station (or lack thereof) and also throw in the future potential of problems with DirecTV's local carry agreement

I disagree that we should talk about Directv. We have no idea what will happen with the Directv. As soon as we resort to speculating we lose credibility and also open up the possibility of slandering WOI. You have to remember there are lawyers involved in this. Stick only to the facts that exist today.

Why don't we just ask why The Iowa city affiliate that is 1/2 the market share is broadcasting In HDTV and that most DTV watchers are now watching KCRG instead of WOI

Check out there Web site on HDTV

http://www.kcrg.com/feature_list.aspx?cat_id=196

Andrew

Jeff, you are right. Speculation will probably do little to advance the cause. My bad. I would like to see the digital channel issue highlighted a little more though. I have serious doubts that I will pick up locals when they do become available on DirecTV, so I have little passion for the carry agreement issue anyway. If they were going to broadcast the HD feeds I would, but if the digitals are running then it comes down to picture quality and the digital can pass HD, Dish and DirecTV won't.

I will try to watch some WOI tonight to expand our list a little.

has anyone herd anything about mediacom and HDTV the fcc says mediacom would be offering HDTV signals free of charge by January 2003

http://www.ncta.com/press/press.cfm?PRid=260&showArticles=ok

Is anyone in the Des Moines area successfully picking up any distant digital signals (ie: KCRG in Iowa City)?

If so, what is your antenna arrangement and what is the signal quality? What channels are they?

My projector had to go in the shop, so no CSI tonight. Bummer. Lots of weird red ghosts around skin tones next to a dark background. At least Sanyo has a Quick Repair Program, they even paid for the overnight shipping as part of the warranty. We will see how long it actually takes them to get it fixed now. Supposedly a 24-48 hour turn around time.

kool, no idea about mediacom. Sorry.

I just got this email from channel 11, KDIN:

KDIN, an Iowa Public Television station located in Alleman, will be testing its digital signal Friday, January 31, 2003 on channel 50 from 8:00AM to about 4:00PM. Please let me know what you think by e-mailing me at karen.schaeffer@iptv.org.

I haven't seen their HD yet; anxious for more besides CBS & NBC...

Oookool,

I haven't heard anything about mediacom either.

Jtuck2,

Assuming that the UHF signal travels about the same distance as an FM radio signal. I listen to radio stations from cedar rapids on my way back from the Quad Cities and lose them right around Newton. Best of luck with your projector.

Clones83,

IPTV has the best programming available!!! Visually stunning outdoor scenes. It will probably be the same loop that most of the PBS stations are running. I have about 15 hours of this recorded and I look foward to recording more!!! Some of the stuff they show, you have to pay $29.95 at www.hdnet.com. I hope to get the travel show that shows Chicago!!!

Thank you for the news!!!

Mark

Originally posted by o00kool
has anyone heard anything about mediacom and HDTV? the fcc says mediacom would be offering HDTV signals free of charge by January 2003.
I know the deadline was this month, and have not heard anything. Mediacom NEVER updates their news on the website either. VOD is also listed as coming very soon with Mediacom. I don't know if any of you noticed, but a WHOLE BUNCH of channels were moved around today on the cable network. Maybe this is in preparation to begin HD & VOD service? I could call them and ask, but I don't feel like sitting on hold for 90 minutes only to get some putz that doesn't even know what the hell HD is.

Originally posted by jtuck2
Is anyone in the Des Moines area successfully picking up any distant digital signals? If so, what is your antenna arrangement and what is the signal quality? What channels are they?
I have not had any luck, and have tried. But then again, I only have a powered attic antenna. I have been waiting to spend the cash and put an ugly large rooftop antenna up until I heard from others in the Des Moines area being able to pick up OMAHA, IOWA CITY, CEDAR RAPIDS, WATERLOO, QUAD CITIES, etc. If anyone else is having luck getting these stations, let us know so I can go buy one. God knows that WOI will NEVER get their act together and get ABC on the air, let alone in High Def. They aren't even returning anyones phone calls or email messages anymore. Slackers ... and don't even get me started on KPWB.

I saw that the channels got renumbered for Mediacom today. There is a VOD section in the menu also. I saw it yesterday, but it wasn't active then. Haven't tried yet today. I also saw a VOD commercial that said coming soon. Some HD on cable would rock since I can't get satellite due to southern view obstruction.

I have had some luck getting the Des Moines Stations, WHO-DT, KCCI-DT and IPTV, but mostly during the summer and fall months. Not too much luck lately. I am in Cedar Rapids, two story house with an attic antenna, Channel Master double (8) bow tie type and a Radio Shack mast mount amp. If you want to try, the 2000 foot tower is midway between Waterloo and Cedar Rapids, at Walker, IA. KCRG is still installing studio equipment but has been airing all of the HDTV programing from ABC with a full power signal on channel 52-1. They are only on the air when there is HDTV material from ABC to transmitt.

Jim

Originally posted by j lehner
I have had some luck getting the Des Moines Stations, WHO-DT, KCCI-DT and IPTV, but mostly during the summer and fall months. Not too much luck lately. I am in Cedar Rapids, two story house with an attic antenna, Channel Master double (8) bow tie type and a Radio Shack mast mount amp. If you want to try, the 2000 foot tower is midway between Waterloo and Cedar Rapids, at Walker, IA. KCRG is still installing studio equipment but has been airing all of the HDTV programing from ABC with a full power signal on channel 52-1. They are only on the air when there is HDTV material from ABC to transmit.
Thanks for the info ... have you tried moving your UHF antenna to the rooftop to get a sronger signal from Des Moines (at least just to test the possibility)?? Maybe the stations would come in the wintertime as well?

I have thought about moving it outside, but 2 story house roofs don't agree with me, so I would have to have someone do it. I might in the spring if the CBS station in Cedar Rapids, doesn't start passing HD when they move to the KCRG tower. Right now, they are at low power, 500 watts from what I have heard, and only 480I. Many nights I get a mid 20's signal from Des Moines on a DTC100, so it would more then likely get me a usable signal outside.

Thanks for the info Jim, I will give it a try tonight if KCRG has some HD material on. I assume their website announces when they will be transmitting?

Clones, how did you come to receive this update from IPTV? Is this simply the mailing list for testers on their website? I sure would like to get on this list if it is publicly available.

Thanks.

jtuck,

I went to KDIN's dtv web site and signed up for email notification of thier schedule. Here's the link: http://www.iptv.org/digital/ Just click on the left sidebar for DTV testers.

Steve

jtuck2,

Nothing in HD from ABC tonight, Friday. KCRG should be on for the Sat. Movie and Alias and Dragnet on Sunday. Their website us usually current with the HD schedule.

Jim

I appreciate your interest in our advanced service offering. Mediacom is now beginning our first company wide test of HD programming in our Moline, IL system. Mediacom is currently looking at other areas to begin the HD offering. I can not provide much specifics as to what systems will be chosen. Due to the high costs for the equipment to offer HD, additional roll
outs of the service will be slow over the next 2 years. This may change as costs come down. I hope this helps.

Stephen Miles
Video Services Manager
Mediacom Southern Division

Did anyone see the KDIN HD broadcast Friday? It was supposed to have run from 8am to 5pm. I turned it on about 2:30 and got a black screen. I checked the signal strength on my Hughes E86 for channel 50 and it showed 100%. My Hughes remaps it to 11-1, but I didn't get any picture. I'd like to know if I tuned in too late and KDIN was not broadcasting a picture of if I have some setting incorrect.

Thanks

Clones83,

Yes, Friday morning I did a search and found it. The strange thing is, it was remapped on my Mits integrated to channel 1.0?!? I had several audio drop outs, but I think this is due to my cheap antenna.

Mark

My Mits mapped a whole bunch of stuff when IPTV went on the air that day. It was on at 8:45am before I left for work and it was off when I got home at 5:30pm.

Originally posted by jtuck2
Is anyone in the Des Moines area successfully picking up any distant digital signals (ie: KCRG in Iowa City)?

If so, what is your antenna arrangement and what is the signal quality? What channels are they?



I live 70 miles from Des Moines and Omaha. I can receive WHO-DT, channel 13-1 from Des Moines and WOW-DT, channel 6-1 from Omaha on my Hughes E86 with a signal level of 93-100. I have an outside aerial mounted about 40 feet high with a rotor. The antenna is a Channel Master.

anyone know if KCCI will be 5.1 for the grammys, or what we should do to get them there.

ookool,

haven't heard about the grammys.

What's up with woi, and the game plan? anybody?

Mark

Hello fellow Iowans!

Just thought I would drop in to this thread and say hello. Just got a HD OTA card a couple days ago. I am in Ames and unfortunetly limited to an indoor antenna (in an apartment). Anyway, I'm getting reasonable reception of the Des Moines affiliates with a Silver Sensor right now. Probably start messing around with amps and whatnot to minmize the dropouts.

I've been particularly impressed with KCCI's broadcasts. It seems to be a little less prone to interference than WHO from my location.

Hey Adam-

Good to see more central Iowans interested in HD. As you can probably tell from my member name, I'm somewhat partial to your town. Too bad the teams aren't doing a little better-As I write this, the clones are getting beat by Colorado.

Hard for me to judge different signals from the stations; I get 100% signal strength on my Hughes E86on all digital stations, but get fairly frequent interference on KCCI and WHO. I live just south of the airport and I'd guess that if you drew a straight line between me and the TV towers in Alleman, the airport would be on the line. That's the only thing I can think of for the sporadic interference.

Originally posted by mtmdesmoines
What's up with woi, and the game plan? anybody?
They are being jerks, thanks in part to their lawyers. They are not talking to anyone about their plans, not even TITANTV. I guess WOI realized that they've pissed off the public so much by falling thru on their HD SuperBowl plans, that not saying anything will buy some chance minimize the flaming hate mail coming in. They won't respond to email, phone, or fax. They now are not required to be on the air until May 1st. (How the hell they ever got that passed by the FCC when they've HAD their equipment for months is beyond me.) Even then, rumor is that it will be a cheapass copout 480i signal for awhile. I hate bare minimum half-assed stations. ABC ought to demand and require 720p passthru or yank their network affiliation. WOI has had their new equipment since NOVEMBER, but still nothing but dead air. As if that weren't bad enough .......
Also pissing everyone off is WOI's stubborn refusal to let DISH NETWORK carry their station on satellite. They insist that they are being treated unfairly, but most people think its just greed on the stations part. WOI lets Mediacom carry their signal, so WTF?!?! If I were WOI, I would be less worried about manhandling a few extra bucks out of DISH Network, and more worried about what few viewers they actually have left. They are actually losing in the ratings to KPWB now on some nights here in Des Moines. That's just sad considering WB doesn't even have local newscasts.

If it weren't for a very few programs, WOI would be irrelevant in my opinion. The arrogance over there is amazing. You'd think that a station that has been losing in this market for years would jump at the chance to increase their viewership. Instead, what do they do? They write that ridiculous letter on their Internet site talking about all the great things they have on their station, as a reason why Dish should treat them "fairly." If they had that damn much going for them, they wouldn't be losing in this market.

I heard that they think Directv will carry them, so I would imagine they will just wait for that to happen, thinking that will pressure Dish. I wouldn't look for WOI on Dish until summer. I could be wrong. By that time, we will all be so used to not watching them that it will be a non-event.

They really amaze me.

Eyedox,

I AGREE 100% about all the above about WOI!!!

But, when I say "what's up with WOI, and the game plan?"

I mean, are we e-mailing their advertisers and boycotting them?

Are we just e-mailing WOI individually and complaining?

Or, are we all going to meet on Westtown parkway and EGG their building and break pumkins in their parking lot, next Saturday night :)

I think the WHOLE idea should be focussed on HDTV broadcasts, not the Dish thing.

Just a thought

Mark

WOI lets Mediacom carry their signal, so WTF?!?!


You hit it right on the head! Politic's. Either Mediacom or WOI is up the others A**!

But really, isnt the whole city of des moines ran this way? (most corrupt city i've ever lived in)

From Karen Schaeffer ...
Unfortunately, I am the last one to know when we are testing the
signal. As with this instance, I received notice the day before the
test. I promise anytime I have advance notice I will notify everyone on
the list with the information. Your are correct in your assumption
that we will be on May '03. I haven't heard if we will only be transmitting
digitally during prime time or if we will be transmitting 24/7. Please
keep watching; I enjoy hearing from the list participants!

Does anyone know when ESPN will have their High Def channel going? I also would like to know where the lease expensive place is to buy the oval dish that is needed for Directv's High Definition programming.

The latest from Echostar is that they are no where near an agreement with WOI. I heard that the station manager at WOI has Directv service and thinks that they will be able to reach an agreement, forcing Dish's hand. Isn't it great to be pawns in his little game?

Jap50226,

ESPN is to air in HD this April, but who will carry it? Hopefully Directv!!! You also need a Directv HD receiver.

Mark

From Karen Schaeffer ...
KDIN, an Iowa Public Television station located in Alleman, will be testing its digital signal Wednesday, February 19, 2003 on channel 50 from 5:00AM to about 12:30AM. Please let me know what you think by e-mailing me at karen.schaeffer@iptv.org.

woohoo! IPTV test!

Bummer I will be out of town

The 19th is a work day, but I'll probably tune in before work if for no other reason than making sure my box recognizes the station.

Well, did anyone chatch the IPTV test? Looked very nice. This was my first time seeing PBS HD.

Did they show anything except state fair footage? I can only watch that for so long!

Didn't see anything but state fair stuff, but I only had it on occasionally during prime time.

I do agree, there is only so much state fair parade highlights with pretty poor commentation that I can take.

Still it did look nice, I just wondered why they didn't upconvert their normal schedule. I was looking forward to seeing at least an upconverted THIS OLD HOUSE. Oh well.

Enjoy the CSI tonight.

Spoke with the WOI-TV Chief Engineer today. He said that WOI-DT will NOT be up until MAY at the earliest. HD 720p will NOT be up until FALL. DISH Network Local carriage will NOT be up until at least SUMMER. They are holding out for when DirecTV starts covering Des Moines locals, thinking that they will have more leverage.

F' WOI. I'm not watching them til MNF starts up again.

Big http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/images/icons/icon13.gif to WOI. They will be loosing my viewing until they get thier act together.

Adam_H, send an email to mporter@woitv.com, the station manager and let him know how you feel.

Grammys were pretty awesome last night. At least some TV stations in Des Moines have their act together. Does anyone know if KCCI was passing the 5.1 Dolby Digital sound too? Or was it 2.0?

eyedox,

Thanks for the info, I missed it.

everybody,

lets just hope for WOI in HD by this fall!!!

lets keep the thread going!!!

Thanks

Mark

did any watch the IPTV test? I was getting 11-1 thru 11-5 in the morning and afternoon but nothing on 11-1 thru 11-4 for the whole day?
andrew

I saw a bit of the IPTV test ... although they had PSIP'd multiple sub-channels, only one of them ever had programming coming thru that I ever saw. I hope that the Des Moines HD stations as a whole really take advantage of multicasting to give us more choices in what to watch. (network shows on one, local sporting events on another, weather and news on a third, local & syndicated shows on a fourth ... etc.) ... Except of course when HD network shows are on.
Also, you can forget about PAX and KPWB making it on the air by the May 1st, 2003 deadline here. As far as I have seen, neither station has even been assigned a DT channel yet.
It would also be nice to have our own separate UPN network affiliate here in Des Moines rather than get some of the UPN programming off KPWB off hours. Even though Buffy and Roswell are all but done there, they may have some future shows worth watching. Twilight Zone is good too.

The other day I hooked up my DTV antenna to the Mediacom Cable feed and it mapped a whole bunch of channels from the 80's, 90's, and 100's. Of course nothing was displaying on the screen, as I am sure it is scrambled or no feed is being sent thru yet, but I wonder if they are getting ready to switch over to the new digital cable standard (plug-and-play) QAM-256? It might mean that they are ready to start passing HD over Mediacom also? Hopefully the local HD stations, as well as the plethora of new HD cable channels! When I last talked to Mediacom, they said that VOD is here now, but HD was scheduled for late spring. They need to hurry up, Cox in Omaha has had HD over cable for months now!

HD by Cable would be the only way I'd go back to cable. But I don't see much happening with DirecTV. No speculation about the extra HDNet channels or ESPN or Discovery HD. I could end up back on cable if Mediacom gets its act together.

I'm stuck with DirecTV, unless someone has heard of any smoking good deals on a Dish HD setup for a first time customer? Checked with Sears, etc. who would sell me one for around $700. That's too high considering I have that much in my DirecTV receiver already. Have a hard time selling that one to the other half.

No cable out in the middle of nowhere.

God I hope Mediacom goes HD soon. I can't get satellite here because of an obstructed view.

I e-mailed KCCI asking about 5.1 sound and when they will go 24/7 this is what i got

Andrew,

Here is the broadcast schedule mandated by FCC
April 1,2003 50%
April 1,2004 75%
April 1, 2005 100%

We have plans to install the 5.1 Dolby Digital sound, but no date set yet.
CBS must change out their IRD's first before we install the decoder. If
you have any other questions please call me at 515-247-8838 or email.

Thanks


Steve

I had to stop in Mediacom Monday to swap a modem, and I ask about any HD info they had. The counter lady said "we just had a meeting last week on that". She said they would be going HD in about 6 months. It would require a different digital box, and customers could swap the old box for the HD box with everything ingrated into one HD box. Looks like its a deal, but six months is a long time to wait! I'll just hope its by years end 2003...

DISH actually made a sales call at home last night (phone). She wouldn't budge from $699 for HD receiver. She could give me all kinds of standard def boxes and even a PVR.

Oh well, guess I will have to wait for DirecTV to get their act together.

Kool, how would you interpret that 50% from KCCI - 50% of ALL programming, 50% of prime time? something else?

Originally posted by jtuck2
How would you interpret that 50% from KCCI - 50% of ALL programming, 50% of prime time? something else?
The precentage is referring to simulcasting NTSC signal and amout of time on the air with the DT channel compared to the analog one.
50% means if the NTSC channel is on 24 hours a day, the ATSC channel must be one 12 hours a day and simulcasting. 75% would mean 18 hours per day, etc ... Now if a station is only on from 6 am to midnight for instance ... then 50% is 9 hours per day and so on.
Great info on MediacomHD and KCCI - thanks!

Got a e-mail today from KCCI

KCCI will begin transmitting our digital signal 12 hours a day effective
Monday, March 17th. We plan to be on the air weekdays at 11am to coincide
with the high definition broadcast of "The Young and the Restless," and
will probably sign on at 11am on the weekends as well. While most sporting
events are not available in high definition, CBS will broadcast certain
NCAA regional tournament games in HDTV, in addition to the NCAA Final Four
on April 5th and the Championship game on April 7th.

At the present time, we cannot give you a definite date regarding the
availability of Dolby 5.1 surround sound, since we are waiting for the
necessary equipment from CBS.

Thank you for writing and for watching digital channel 31.

Sincerely,

Sue Knudson
KCCI Programming


Good news now I get to watch my Y&TR

Andrew

Eyedox,

WoW!!! I just checked cox's website for omaha, ABC, CBS, HBO & Showtime in HD!!!

Omaha started HD on cable over 2 years ago, although it was only 1 station then.

I assume their NBC must not be broadcasting HD?

I hope we can get all the above in HD plus HDnet on Mediacom!!!

Am I asking too much? :)

Mark

Anyone else having trouble with KCCI tonight? I just lost the after the signal after the first 5 minutes of CSI and I can't reaquire it.

Originally posted by Adam_H
Anyone else having trouble with KCCI tonight? I just lost the after the signal after the first 5 minutes of CSI and I can't reaquire it.

huh, its back now. anyone else loose it for about 10 minutes?

I talked to a beta tester for mediacom today and he said Mediacom is about 45 to 60 days away from offering HDTV right now the channels he said they were providing was HBO and Showtime and are really close to getting KCCI, and are in talks with HDNET, ESPN, & DISCOVERY. He didn't know prices but said the Motorola 5100 box would cost 6 or so bucks extra per month.

Sounds like good news lets see if it all pans out

Andrew

That sounds awful soon for them to get the equipment vs demand that fast. If it is offered in 45-60 days, better get in line fast as not to miss out and have to join a waiting list. All this sounds great (mediacom intrest in HD), but I still need to record. So Directv and D HD Tivo still looks like the only real hope.
A lot should be happening this year on all this. Dtv getting Des Moines locals, HD offerings by Dtv, a HD Dtivo. If Dtv can pull it together and come thru, and Mediacom too, we'll finally be on our way to some great HD choices. Keep your HD antennas crossed!

Originally posted by mtmdesmoines
WoW!!! I just checked cox's website for omaha, ABC, CBS, HBO & Showtime in HD!!! Omaha started HD on cable over 2 years ago, although it was only 1 station then. I assume their NBC must not be broadcasting HD? I hope we can get all the above in HD plus HDnet on Mediacom!!
mtmdesmoines-
Hi again ... actually, WOWT (NBC) *is* on the air with their HD station. They have been for months, but I think they are still working out a retrans agreement with Cox cable to get on the system. Omaha now has (OTA) ABC, NBC, WB, and FOX DTV stations up, with CBS ready for March 15th live date. The cool thing about the HDTV IN OMAHA thread on this AVS Forum is that the chief engineers from 3 of the Omaha HD stations are on there chatting all the time! I wish the Des Moines engineers weren't too busy to talk to their constituents. I've invited them all here. Here is the link to the Omaha thread ...
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=144464&highlight=omaha

anyone having problems with KCCI today

Bill Hayes ... Chief Engineer at IPTV in Des Moines, has an awesome journal that I've been ready for a year now. He's always got great stuff on all the local HD stations in our area. It's on TVTECHNOLOGY's website. Here's the link directly to his digital journal ...
http://www.tvtechnology.com/features/digital-journal/index.shtml

Has anyone heard if WOI has moved onto the local Dish lineup? A guy I know with a Dish hookup claims they are on now. That's the first I've heard of it.

Originally posted by o00kool
anyone having problems with KCCI today

I had some audio problems during The District. The sound kept cutting and stuttering every 5 seconds or so.

Originally posted by mossdaddy
Has anyone heard if WOI has moved onto the local Dish lineup? A guy I know with a Dish hookup claims they are on now. That's the first I've heard of it.
Hey MossDaddy - I think that your friend was probably mistaken. WOI has no intention of signing with DISH until they see how good of an offer DISH's competition gives them in June/July (DirecTV). You can always check the latest LOCALS on DISH at the following place: http://ekb.dbstalk.com

You are both right. Dish is already uplinked and operational. It just hasn't been turned "on" for customers. With the right equipment, you can see the uplink. That is how people find new markets ahead of them being announced.

I heard an interesting bit of info from a part time engineer at WOI a week ago. He said that it costs $400/hour for satellite uplink space, and that DISH Network wants WOI to pay for that cost. It could be bullsh*t, but if that is the case, it wouldn't make sense for WOI to already be uplinked if they are paying $400/hr for a signal that no one gets to watch yet. I have no idea how the uplinking works out financially for everyone. I just want WOI and KPWB to get their act together and get their ATSC HD channels on the air and get on the DISH. I am tired of excuses.

Was WHO out Tues nite 3/11? Nothing was coming in for Leno...?

Randy,

The 1st part of Jay was in HD. but, I'd say the last 20 minutes or so was just in sd. After 11:00 no one is at 282-1313. But if it happens before 11:00 you can call that number and ask them to turn the HD back on.

Mark

I wrote Mediacom yesterday and asked for any info on HD. This is the reply I got.

Mediacom appreciates your e-mail concerning HDTV
broadcasting. I researched your inquiry about the services
and found out Mediacom will start offering the HDTV
converters in the near future. The problem with the
situation is that if the local station is not sending a HDTV
signal there will be no programming to convert. Right now
KCCI channel 8 sends 6 to 7 hours of HDTV programming
weekly. You may see "HDTV where available" on some programs,
you still may not receive it due to tv station. Please
contact your local electronics store for more details on
converters for local stations. Mediacom will promote our new
converter in the future so look for the advertising and
contact us at that time. If you have anymore questions feel
free to contact me. Thank you.


Ah the $64,000 question - what is the near future?

IPTV has been doing another test of their DT channel today. It's a very short loop of new stuff.... Statehouse, Missouri River Valley History of Loess Hills, Luther College Concert, Nature Shots, etc. Now if we could just get Bill Hayes to turn it on for the national PBS HD feeds. My PSIP info remaps it to 11.5 ....

Spoke with a CSR Manager today again at Mediacom ... they are definitely on track to launch HD cable service by the end of April in the Des Moines area market. The HD programming has not been confirmed yet, and they are still working out agreements, however, it is likely that the initial HD package will include Discovery HD, ESPN HD, and local NBC (WHO), PBS (IPTV) and CBS (KCCI) HD. (Not KDSM 480i since they dont know what the hell HD even IS ... Not WOI because those copouts will only be 480i until this fall ... and KPWB is eons away from HD). HBO HD (only with HBO subscription), and SHO HD (only with SHO subscription) will also most likely be available. The boxes will be Motorola 5100 (HD) and 5200 (HD & PVR). The 5200 will be able to handle the already released VOD service here. The HD cable will be sent as QAM 256 (new), not 64 (old). No pricing has been set for the HD package/channels, HD box rental fees, or if any of the HD locals will be sent free and clear to those of us with Integrated QAM digital HD cable tuners. The new HD channels will be in the channel 800 range.

Anyone with digital cable right now can see the channel's that Mediacom has up and running on the guide 802 is KCCI so i highly doubt that locals will be sent for free but we never know?

Andrew

anyone hear dates and times for WHO to increase their DTV broadcasting?

oOOkool,

I think they have to give you the locals for free. You just have to "rent" the
box every month.

Mark

Originally posted by o00kool
anyone hear dates and times for WHO to increase their DTV broadcasting?
FCC REQUIRES WHO to broadcast at least 50% of their "NTSC signal time" on ATSC (simulcast) by APRIL 1. KDSM already broadcasts their WHOLE day on DT ... too bad its 480i. KCCI just went to 50% on St. Patrick's Day (3/17) this week.

NCAA NIT basketball tournament coverage in HDTV last night was awesome! I didn't know they were going to do some 1st round stuff in High Def! Now I have seen football, hockey and basketball in HD. Can't wait to see what baseball, golf, and co-ed naked twister are like in HD!

Baseball in HD is most excellent. HDNet has it on occasionally. MLB last year, and I've already seen some college this year.

From Karen Schaeffer at IPTV ...
KDIN, an Iowa Public Television station located in Alleman, will be testing its digital signal Thursday, April 24, 2003 on channel 50 from 6:00AM to 4:00PM. Please let me know what you think by e-mailing karen.schaeffer@iptv.org.

Great, everyone is at work while IPTV is on.

When are they going live again?

Anyone hear any good dates for locals on DirecTV? Any WOI updates? They've got until Monday Night Football, then I am screaming to anyone who will listen.

Originally posted by Eyedox
FCC REQUIRES WHO to broadcast at least 50% of their "NTSC signal time" on ATSC (simulcast) by APRIL 1. KDSM already broadcasts their WHOLE day on DT ... too bad its 480i. KCCI just went to 50% on St. Patrick's Day (3/17) this week.


Yeah i understand that. Remember I'm the one who posted the info but has anyone talked to WHO to see if they will be on longer any time soon?

Originally posted by o00kool
Yeah i understand that. Remember I'm the one who posted the info but has anyone talked to WHO to see if they will be on longer any time soon?
Ha ha ... oh yeah ... sorry! :D My guess is that WHO will wait until they are forced to be on the air longer by the FCC (read April 1st) due to budget constraints of running two transmitters. KDIN has said they also wont be on the air permanently until they are forced to (read May 1st) also due to budget constraints of running two transmitters. WOI is dragging their asses until they are forced May 1st to go on the air by the FCC, to save as much money as possible. Again they say its money. Maybe they should stop paying all of their premadonna anchors $150,000 a year salaries?

Originally posted by jtuck2
Great, everyone is at work while IPTV is on.

When are they going live again?

Anyone hear any good dates for locals on DirecTV? Any WOI updates? They've got until Monday Night Football, then I am screaming to anyone who will listen.

Everything I've seen says June 1st. It does sound like they will have WOI, and you will need the oval dish to get the locals.

Last email I got regarding Mediacom HD said late April/early May, and no price points for the box rental yet.

I can't believe anyone at WOI could be pulling down that kind of money. How can that station be profitable? I honestly haven't had it on since the Super Bowl. There is just nothing there.

May 1 is the drop dead date for KDIN? I can at least understand them being tight about dual transmission. I am sure their funding isn't the greatest. As an interesting aside, I answered phones 1 night during festival. We got a short tour, but I knew more about their digital operations that the woman giving the tour. They did have a nice display running a loop of "This Old Statehouse" and some other national HDPBS looped material.

Well today is the day for WHO-DT to be on for 12hrs a day. I wander if it will all happen or if they will just give excuses?

Andrew

From the WHO Digital Dispatch e-mail:

Hello, Justin , here's the latest on WHO DT digital television:

WHO-DT broadcasts are expanding! WHO Digital Television is now on the
air more than twelve hours every day. Tune your digital television to
13.1 anytime during the following hours for digital, HDTV versions of
some of your favorite NBC shows!

Watch WHO-DT Channel 13.1 with your digital television at these times...
Monday through Friday, Noon to 12:36am
Saturday, Noon to Midnight
Sunday, Noon to Midnight

New CSI tonight!!!!!!!

Pretty sweet! I got that email today too. I was a bit surprised at the announcement, especially considering that the Des Moines stations have a history of excuse-making rather than deadline-keeping. Kudos. Are you taking notes WOI and KPWB?

Hey, guys

also listed on kcci's website that they are running from 11:00am to 12:00pm in Dtv. Can anyone confirm this? My antenna is junk and I can only get WHO & fox consistently. Thanks!

Mark

KCCI is 11:00am - 12:00am
WHO is 12:00pm- 12:30am
KDSM is 24hrs.

--andrew

I still get very very bad HD recpt on the So. Side. Now that 13-1 is going longer, till 12:30am, is Cohan now in HD, as well as Leno?
I'm just waiting for mediacom to get HD online to its customers, so I can finally get good reception. OTA is kaka!

Might be worth a new antenna Randy. I am between Pella and Knoxville and get great WHO, KCCI, Faux and even PBS when it is on. I just have an off the shelf RCA VHF/UHF and a booster.

Used to get a lot of dropouts on WHO, I think they turned the power up a couple of months ago.

Don forget basketball on KCCI in HD!!!!

Originally posted by randym431
I still get very very bad HD recpt on the So. Side. Now that 13-1 is going longer, till 12:30am, is Cohan now in HD, as well as Leno?
I'm just waiting for mediacom to get HD online to its customers, so I can finally get good reception. OTA is kaka!

I suspect you'll be waiting a long time before mediacom provides any HD. It just takes too much of their bandwidth.

I'm on the southside (near airport) and I get great reception of all digital OTA channels with an old cheap Ratshack antenna on my roof (there's even one piece broken off).

The great reception is due in part to the Zenith 520 HD receiver I have, but the antenna I have works fine, even though the signal has to travel about 100' via old coax left from my "cabletv" days, thru a splitter & 3 connectors.

Chucko

Well, I've got a grave yard of tried antennas. 250 feet of used cable used to wire them here and there. I'm in a bit of a dip on the so. side and always get bad reception. When I do get reception, I think its only glost transmissions cause there here one day, gone the next. BTW, Mediacom claims there coming online soon. They've had meetings with their employees on this, and act (act) like its just months away. WHO is suddenly HD gun-ho. So hopefully their excitement will give Mediacom a kick into the HD fast lane? After all, there not the only HD game in town. THe early bird does catch more HD viewer worms. :)

Anyone get a chance to see IPTV yesterday? I missed it I was out of town, Have they got the multichannel up and running yet?


Andrew

I guess since no one reads this forum anymore or answers questions I'll find out for myself about IPTV.[/COLOR]

--Andrew

KDIN, an Iowa Public Television station located in Alleman, will be testing its digital signal Thursday, April 24, 2003 on channel 50 from sing on to sign off. Please let me know what you think by e-mailing karen.schaeffer@iptv.org.

just kidding about the whole no help thing but we do need more talking on this thread


--Andrew

A little news about Mediacom. I was visiting my parents in Des Moines and noticed that there were some HD channels listed on the on screen guide. My dad called Mediacom and asked about HD availabilty. He was told that they are testing right now and it should be available in about one month. They said that they will have a limited number of HD boxes for the first shipment (<1000), so they took his name and reserved one for him. Just thought I might give you all a heads up if you want to reserve a box.


KCCI-DTV, HBOHD, and SHOHD are showing up on the guide. I plan on calling to get some more info when I get back up to Ames (hopefully it will be available there).

Andrew,

Thank you for posting the info on IPTV. I would agree with you that we need to talk more on this thread. I have subscribed to Iptvs digital tv e-mail service and never get any of this info. I wonder why?

Adam,

Did Who-DT show up on the guide? How much will it cost to rent the box?

Did anybody see (on Leno) the Des Moines newspaper article on the stolen sandwich? (funny!!!)

Mark

mtm,

WHO was not on the guide yet. The only info I can get about rental cost for the box is "probably a few more dollars a month".

hopefully we can get some more solid info in the coming weeks.

Right now the guide has KCCI, HBO, and Showtime.

Without DiscoveryHD, HDNet SPorts & HDNet Movies, or ESPN-HD ... there's not much worth having. Hell, KCCI you can get free OTA, and unless you subscribe to HOBO or SHOE, you are S.O.L.

I would agree with Eyedox, Mediascam, I mean Mediacom :) would have to offer ESPN-HD & the HD net channels before I would start to look at them.

I imagine they are going to start out with channels that are free to them, like the off-airs. They probably have to pay for ESPN-HD, the HDNets, or Discovery HD. So then the question becomes...how much are you and I willing to pay for them? Would you pay another $10 a month to get these channels, or would you just say the heck with it and keep using your antenna. What do you think?

remember that these channels are just the ones that are showing up right now. If launch is really about a month away, they have plently of time to end up adding some others. I would imagine they might be in contract negotiations right now or something. Lets hold off judgement on Mediacom until we really know what is going on.

Anybody have any info. on the brand,model, and connection capability of the Mediacom HD box?

I emailed them for some more info and got this from shutchinson@mediacomllc.com:

Mr Horak
Mediacom appreciates your e-mail requesting information on
our HDtv programming. Mediacom will be offering our HDtv
converters in late May for our customers with HD tv's. The
programming is already on our systems, we are currently
testing the converters to ensure quality reception. Once
fully launched we will be adding more channels for this type
of service. Only local stations with this programming is
KCCI, you will be unable to receive the HD programming for
the other local channels until the stations send the signal.
If you have anymore questions please feel free to contact
me. Thank you.

Thanks Adam, I am waiting fir mediacom because i just don't wish to spend $400.00 bucks for an OTA reciever and I have 5 tvs (only one HD) in my house and don't want to do the dishnetwork thing.

From Mediacom ...
Mediacom already has HDTV programming, however we have not begun to issue our HDTV converters. This will be accomplished in late May. The QAM256/QAM64 standards are not a issue for our programming. Our converter will process both standards and is the only way you will be able to receive the programming. At this time, HBO and Showtime have premium HD channels available, and KCCI does have a couple of hours each night of this programming. The cost of the rental of the converters is $14.00 monthly.

Ouch, now there's the scam part. $14 sucks, no wonder they make you get their box, they're making bank off of it.

I heard that the new HD ready boxes cost like $400, so while $14 a month might seem like a scam, its probably not as out of line as it seems.

I would agree with fireshoes, $168 a year and you can own one for much less over three years. mediascam wants to make money big time!!!

of course they want to make money, thats the whole point for them as it is for any other company. The price will come down in time but they need to recoup the investment they are making by offering these boxes and making the necessary upgrades to offer HD.

I think they should allow an option to buy the box for a retail price of say $349-$399.

They make good money off their services

that I would agree with mtmdesmoines

Here we go again! WHO, Fox and some PBS are in HD, but wont be available. So whats the point to even getting Mediacom HD? Looks like another waiting game. As far as HBO and SHO HD, its a let down, not that great, and Directv already offers those now. The only way I'd go Mediacom is if they added all locals, and HDnet + Discovery HD. Thats the only way for me.

I guess I dont understand the rabid hatred of Mediacom around here.

First of all, FOX is NOT available in HD, just digital. Local PBS is NOT available in HD yet except for test days.

Why can't you wait and see what Medicom will do with their HD lineup instead of bashing them before they even launch?

I think it seems pretty obvious that they will WHO soon. They have stated they will be adding more channels. Give them a chance to do that.

Damn! WHO TV13 just announced on their news today that KDIN (IPTV) will NOT make the MAY 1st Deadline for being on the air due to lack of funding and government budget cuts. They can't afford to turn on the electricity. You can thank Vilsack for that one too (and our outdated speed limits). I say run it real low power, enough to reach Des Moines metro area, and turn on the signal whenever PBS sends HD or widescreen SD stuff from the network feed. Give us something! 5kw? 10kw? Why am I bothering to send IPTV money if they don't even use it for what I want?

Also heard that KPWB-23 and PAX-39 will not be OTA with their HD channels until 2005. They are newer stations and were not around when the FCC mandated dates for the switchover. Consequently, they have not even asked for a DT channel assignment yet. So much for HD Smallville or HD Everwood ... and you wonder why the rest of the country makes fun of our state. "Hey world, we got runnin' water and indoor sh*tters now!"

2005!!?? Holy cow, thats incredibly late.

That is damned sad regarding PBS. The best HD content available OTA and we are seeing none of it. Oh well, at least WOI is live with their digital broadcasts (joking)!!

I agree Dox, we seem to be a damned joke around here lately. But, I suppose the dozen of us with HD sets aren't making enough noise.

On a side note, I can't enjoy Mediacom's programming here in the country. How many of us are planning on giving DirecTV any local channel business when they are running? I am on the fence, depends on if they will give us any pricing breaks.

I will probably sign up for DISH or Direct as soon as both release their HD-PVR boxes this fall/winter. I am tired of Mediacom ... the analog stations are getting fuzzy (especially channels 2-7 and 73-78) lately and they do nothing about it. Also, KCCI and HBO/SHO HD are not enough to make me excited about HD from Mediacom.
I wonder jtuck ... how many HD sets are actually in use in central Iowa ... that have HD tuners already?
I called WOI today and left a message to see if they would miss yet another OTA date. Those jagoffs never return calls. It's not like they've pissed off their WHOLE viewer base with their perpetual excuses and missed deadlines!?! Why bother returning phone calls?! We can afford to lose the 15 people left that are watching our station, right? $50 bucks says they miss May 1st ... again!

I can't really put a number on how many tuners are out there total, but where I work I would say tuners go out with 15-20% of hd ready sets. The users are out there...

SAME HERE WHERE I WORK WE HAD ALMOST 100 BOX'S GO OUT LAST YEAR

--ANDREW

I realize that there are not a lot of HDTV sets in Iowa. I only know one other person at work that actually has one. As for Mediacom, I got my first cable hookup about 30 years ago. My experience with several companies is that they only want to deliver the least signal that will keep the money coming. And don't even talk about customer service.

Maybe Fox Network is a bunch of old cable folks?

I still have some cable service because of my cable modem, but I do OTA for the local stations and DirecTV for everything else. The good, I hope, news is that it sounds like DirecTV is close to announcing an HD package.

Check this site: http://www.tvpredictions.com/directvhdtv.html

TVPredictions.com has learned that DIRECTV is planning to launch an HDTV channel package that would cost approximately $10 a month. The package would include ESPN HD, HDNet and HDNet Movies, and The Discovery HD Theater channel.

There's no timetable for the launch because some details still have to be worked out. But several sources tell TVPredictions.com that it's "very likely" that the package will be offered in the coming weeks.

Robert Mercer, a DIRECTV spokesman, confirmed late Thursday (April 24) that the satcaster is considering launching a monthly package of HD channels.

The monthly fee would be big news because non-premium HDTV channels -- until now -- have been available for free on DIRECTV. If DIRECTV begins offering a group of HDTV channels as a premium package, it could set a standard for both the satellite and cable TV industries. Some cable operators, such as Charter and Cox, have been testing monthly HD program fees. Charter, in fact, offers HDNet, HDNet Movies and Discovery HD Theater as a HD bundle for $9.99 a month.

Phillip Swann, president of TVPredictions.com, forecast last month that DIRECTV would soon charge for HD content to appease new owner Rupert Murdoch, who is not a fan of free HD.

Thanks Mossdaddy,

interesting website. I would pay $10/month for those 4 hd channels, if that is all I had to subscribe to, and not have to order their "basic" package.

Mark

You would be forced to subscribe to the basic package, since Mediacom has no way of blocking analog stations and just letting thru digital. Sure, there are filter traps for certain frequency ranges, however digital channels are scattered throughout their total spectrum and mixed in with the analog. That's why certain channels are missing when you cue through 2-125. Even if it were theoretically possible, why would they pass up any opportunity to make you pay more money by packaging. It works for the car business ... intrinsically linking certain options in manditory packages. "Can't get sunroof without Bose Stereo and leather seats" etc.

Just got off the phone with Dennis (engineer) at WOI (ABC). He says that they are going to miss yet another deadline (May 1st ... today). This time due to the thunderstorms and other weather anomalies we have been experiencing lately. The digital tranmitters and antennae are up, the only thing left is to move/align a dish transceiver on the tower, and phone in a test request to the FCC to flip the switch. He is hopeful that with good weather, they should be up and OTA within a week. Other disappointing news is that they will be 480i 4:3 upconvert at first. No definite date set for 720p 16:9 or DD5.1 as they are waiting for equipment from ABC to pass thru HD and surround sound. They may not get that until this fall.

They (WOI) need to get their sh*$ together before Monday Night Football regarding the HD feed from ABC. It is bad enough we missed out on the Super Bowl.

Thanks for the news though Eyedox.

You are welcome. My insider at Mediacom called me today. She said that as of today, they are officially renting the HIGH DEF cable boxes to subscribers in the Des Moines (and surrounding area) market. It is the MOTOROLA 5100 (not the 5200 ... sorry NO HD-PVR/VOD yet).
Thusfar, only KCCI-DT (CBS), HBO-HD, and SHO-HD are on their system, but they hope to add WHO-DT (NBC) very soon. They won't add WOI-DT (ABC), KDIN-DT (IPTV), KDSM-DT (FOX), or KPWB-DT for awhile until they are on the air full-time, AND in High Definition, AND have something worth watching. Right now, KPWB-DT doesnt exist, KDIN-DT is STILL testing only (budget), KDSM has crap-o-vision (480i 4:3) only, and WOI-DT STILL is not on the air and wont be HD until fall at least.
She also said that Mediacom hopes to sign retrans agreements with ESPN-HD, Discovery HD, HDNet, and HDNet Movies by mid-summer to late summer. Future HD stations will be added as they become available ... Bravo HD, History HD, MAX-HD, etc.
The Motorola 5100 boxes are in short supply currently but I doubt there is much demand since their HD programming is so limited right now. KCCI you can get free OTA, and you need to subscribe to the HBO or SHO packages to get the HD feeds.
She couldn't remember if the HD box and digital package was $10 or $14 a month.

I think WOI-DT is just making up more excuses. They asked for, and were granted, another extension for digital transmissions until October 16, 2003. I don't think they have any intentions of starting the new transmitter until then.

The new request for extension and the FCC response is not available yet on the website. At least I couldn't find it. I just found all the old ones. I did find a status report that gave the request date as April 16 and the date granted as April 21.

I've sent e-mails to Chairman Poweel and all the commisioners asking for the extension to be reopened for a public comment period for 30 days after the application info becomes available. I'm not expecting this to happen, but by requesting a specific action I'm hoping for more than a generic response.

If anyone else wants to send an e-mail, the file number is BEPCDT-20020903ADD.

I'm about to get much more serious about a boycott of WOI advertisers.

I hope to God that they filed that CP extension knowing that they would miss their May 1st target date by a week or so due to weather, just so they wouldn't get into trouble. The enginneers at WOI swear that they are literally days away from turning on their DT signal. If they use this extension as an excuse to save electricity for 6 more months, I will be pissed and I WILL take action. I will report them and file complaints with the FCC. The people of Des Moines deserve MUCH better than this. Iowa State should have NEVER sold WOI to a greedy commercial entity.

Interesting news on the DirecTV front. I just got off the phone with DirecTV customer service. They were calling about adding a third LNB to my 24" dish to get additional HD signals from DirecTV. As usual, the customer service people had know idea what channels were being added or when. Their sales pitch was that they were calling current HD customers to get them set up because they are expecting a rush of orders once they make an HD announcement. They also made it sound like all the HD channels would be on the same satellite.

Of course there was a down side to the offer. They wanted $8 for the LNB and a commitment to 12 months of DirecTV. Which makes it also sound like a defense against switching to Dish or Mediacom.

Not surprisingly, the DirecTV site has no indication that anything is going on for future HD broadcasts.

I'm going to bite because I doubt I would be leaving DirecTV in the next 12 months anyway. I hate cable and I already have an attenna.

I used the same offer last spring from DirecTV for the 3rd LNB, only thing of note on there now is SHO-HD.

I got the same call last week regarding HDTV from DirecTV too. What did you make out of the "do you receive OTA digital signals via antenna" question?

I just got off the phone with Mediacom. I'm scheduled for installation on Monday afternoon for their HD service. There's a $13 charge for installation of a new cable outlet. The rental fee is $11 per month for the hd box; however the regular analog box was $8 per month, so it's only $3 extra each month. I currently have HBO but will be adding Showtime too so my subscription fee will be a little higher too. Hopefully they will be adding some more channels soon! :)

Interesting, I did a channel search tonight (on my Mits integrated HD tuner tv, it has been months since I have done this) and found 2 channels for 13.01's and 2 channels for 13.02's. On the first channel 13.01 & channel 13.02 they displayed (fox) even though the PSIP said it was WHO-DT & WHO-DT2, I also still received 17.02 (fox). On the second 13.01 was NBC and on 13.02 was the "weather scan of des moines".

I did a search on my DTC100 and found only the normal channels and nothing abnormal.

Does anybody with an integrated set have the same situation?

Mark

I always thought it was strange Directv said they would offer des moies locals, "soon", given that Dish beat them to it. Does/will dtv turn on the locals sometime soon (by summers end), or is it just a lip service to distract possible new Dish customers from deciding on Dish? DTV has a slew of new locals coming, they say. Is this dependent on a new DTV satellite launch?
All I have is a little pc HD card (hidtv-pro), and a silver sensor antenna. Even with mediacom offering HD boxes and Dtv's promises, I'm in hold mode until I can get something from mediacom or Dtv that will "record" in HD.

It has never been said by D* officially, but it looked to me like Des Moines is the last market going to be added that isn't dependent on the launch of the next satellite. I have heard June 1 for the day they will turn them on. I am still on the fence about picking them up. My OTA picture quality is acceptable, considering the programming, the only real advantage I see of the D* versions is the guide data. Not sure if this is worth $5? (Is it $5 for locals?)

I had seen the locals info in a release by Directv in a SkyReport email, and it concurs with everything I have heard at work. It is $5 for locals and you need the eliptical dish rather than just the old circular one.

Our local channel info (zip code related) changed on D*'s website, now we get "Locals coming soon" message

I was told by a distributor that locals on DirecTV will now be mid-June. Some kind of technical issue. However, he did say WOI was one of the first stations signed. Apparently trying to thumb their nose at DISH.

DISH is putting up a new satellite and is talking about space for as many as 100 HD channels.

I got the new LNB in the mail today. Took all of 48 hours. To bad their negotiation with ESPN and HDNet can't go so fast.

It's summer, so HDTV isn't my number one concern. But I am counting on DirecTV on coming up with a good HD package. On my system, even the current HDNet shows up as an extra cost station and has for months, so I'm sure they are moving in that direction.

If it ever quits raining, I'll get it installed.

As for local channels, I have an antenna and if 5 even gets off the ground, I'm not sure why I would go with Mediacom. Even though the rain Sunday interupted the Sat signal.

I signed up for my first cable service 30 years ago and have never had a good experience with any of the providers I've had the misfortune of being with. So I'll wait for others to test any Mediacom HD service before I bite. I'll be really surprised if they ever get it right, much less right out of the box.

As for DirecTV, I expect the latests moves are holding actions, but if they get an HD package together by fall, that will do it for me. I don't need locals from them.

So Dish is putting up a new sat and adding space for 100HD channels? Since there’s only about 5 HD anything in existence, that’s 5 down and 95 to fill. ;)
I'm in DSM and kinda cheating. I get Minn locals, and have for some time. I just gave a friends Minn address (didn’t change or mention phone #) and I got locals turned on. They come in mostly ok, except the channels below 10 fade out daily in the evenings, then come back in later. I was told its a wobble thing with the satellite??? channel 11 and up (NBC is 11) always come in fine. But I do want DSM locals and will magically move when I can get them. And its kinda fun pretending I live in Minn. (a lot more going on up there!) :)

Actually, Dish will have the ability to add 50 channels of HD. Check out the press release. The are also hoping to add 42 more local markets and 100 international channels.

http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=dish&script=400

Well, my dad just got an HD box from Mediacom installed yesterday. I am going to go visit him this weekend. I will post my impressions tomorrow night.

Please do. Let us know what you think of it and what they offer. Also the menu responce time (slow-ok-fast).

Where in the HELL is WOI-DT 59?? They have had their equipment since last fall and have been granted extension after extension. The engineer said within a week or so of May 1st. I know we have had storms but give me a break. All they had to do was reposition ONE dish on the tower. If they wait until October 16th (their new extension) just to save money, I will be pissed. I'm so close to starting an advertising boycott of the station for their crap.

OK, now I have a bitch with KCCI.

1. Where was their digital channel last night for CSI? This is the best looking show presented in HDTV today and it was only on their analog channel.

2. Last week CSI was the top rated show for all channels (Neilsen). Why, why, why would you interrupt it TWICE during key scenes for some BS weather crap that anyone with a window could see. Once it was "Well it has rained a lot, so watch for flooding". The last, and worst, was "Well, the wind is blowing, but you probably knew that"

I am frankly getting tired of KCCI and WHO trying to outdo each other with their super, double doppler stormcast crap that they pump every 10 minutes.

I agree. I called to ask them to turn the HD on. They did for a few minutes and then put the border back on, which must keep them from broadcasting in HD. The real clincher was interrupting the show for nothing at the very end when a commercial was only a minute away.

Make sure to e-mail them with your complaint.

ER's Landmark 200th Episode was last night and guess what?? It was in STANDARD DEFINITION!! So I got to watch letterboxing at the top, bottom AND Sides of the screen on 19.1! I called to complain and they said that the feed from NBC was SD too, but I think it had more to do with their stormcast scrollers and maps that can ONLY work with SD signals. I also see that KCCI FINALLY got their PSIP to remap to 8.1 on my HDTV instead of 31.1. KCCI needs to get rid of that annoying KCCI-DT logo thats permanently burned in to my screen. "No sh*t fellas, we KNOW who we are watching and we don't care." Stop with the logos! I put two calls in to WOI-TV today and they ignore them of course.

Eyedox, ER was in fact SD across the country last night. NBC is giving no explanation.

I just got a chance to take a look at my dads new mediacom HD capable box. unfortunetly i cannot get it to pass through any 1080i for some reason. I am not sure what the problem is. All three of the supposed HD channels are coming through as 4:3 480i. I am not sure if this is a problem with the box or if Mediacom is sending an improper signal at this point. I will investigate furthur.

The installer that hooked it up for him obviously had no idea what he was doing. Audio was being output through the stereo RCA jacks as opposed to toslink even though he actually hooked up a toslink cable to the unit. Component video was routed through a reciever that does not have sufficient bandwidth to switch HD signals. To top it off, the component video cables out of said reciever were hooked up to an input on the TV that was clearly marked as capable of 480i/480p ONLY. So much for HDTV huh?

Well, I fixed the connections and took a look at the box. Although the menus are still the same butt ugly ones as with the SD box, they are MUCH faster. Navigation between screens is now instantaneous. Channel tuning is also MUCH faster. Not nearly as annoying to flip through channels anymore.

Video connections on the box are component, s-video, and composite. Sorry, no firewire or DVI. Audio connections are toslink and stereo RCA. Also a couple of USB ports on the back.

I will try to figure out why I can only get 480i at this point and give a report once I have it resolved.

It's the Motorla 5100 right? There is a big faq for it over in the hdtv hardware forum. Check there for some insight. Also did you have doing the upconvert to component out for regular channels and how did it look?

Eyedox, ER was SD because of the split screen thing they had going with Carter/Pratt part of the time. I know, not worth it.

BTW, on KCCI's website there is the transcript of the final CSI scene that was lost because of our live super, colossal, mega, quadruple doppler first alert weather. Must have gotten a lot of calls on it........

Now if we could get them to all jump out of Chopper 13 onto WOI's digital tower, we could watch TV in peace.

I called Medicom, they dont have a clue. My rep is doing some research and is going to call me back.

Fireshoes, its supposed to do an upconvert for SD channels? Not for me. Everything is 480i. Maybe there is a problem with the software. There is no mention of HDTV, 1080i, etc, ANYWHERE in the menus. It is exactly like the SD menus.

I've had a OTA tuner on this TV before, so I know it will lock a 1080i signal fine. I'm betting its a software issue and they will have to flash the box.

Here's a link to the 5100 faq: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/miatasm/HT/5100FAQ.htm

and the 5100 thread in the hdtv hardware forum:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=194404

It's a huge thread, but I would think the answer is here somewhere.

Thanks firshoes! Found what I needed. I had to access a service menu to set the outputs correctly. Apparently they dont make that available under the standard menus. I assume the installer should have done this.

I just missed seeing any KCCI material in HD, so I will have to check that out tomorrow. HBO-HD and SHO-HD look very good. Not quite as sharp as a good OTA film transfer like CSI but very nice. I would guess its pretty dependent on the individual transfers as well. DD5.1 comes through nicely. :)

Upconverted SD looks pretty good. Certainly not DVD quality though. Much better than the crap-o-vision that I am used to. I think the fact that its over component as opposed to composite probably has more to do with the improvement than the scaling.

Certainly no surprise that the installer didn't set it up right. Sounds pretty consistent with the service people get from cable companies across the country. Ten minute training course, et al. I will do my best to educate. ;)

So whats it getting? HBO-hd, SHO-hd and cbs, nbc? Is that it?

its getting hbo-hd, sho-hd and KCCI. they are supposed to add WHO shortly.

[AdamH] ... Glad you figured out the service menu for switching the output from SD to HD. I was going to post how to do it, because another friend of mine had the exact same problem, but [fireshoes] is on the ball as always. Nice work. If the STBs (Motorola 5100's) are all coming from the factory set default at SD, that would be really stupid ... I can just see thousands of people watching 480i thinking how cool their new HD channels are. Haha.
[JTuck] ... how stupid to give up HD for a 3 minute splitscreen segment. Especially since NBC has the power to insert an SD PIP window into an HD show. (They've been doing that for sporting segments like the Triple Crown even LAST year.) If I were the networks, I would start encouraging people to shoot HD commercials that can be downrezzed to SD for NTSC with 16:9 letterboxing to 4:3.

Woohoo! I've got HDTV! Finally.

Ah, where to begin. When I talked on the phone with Mediacom they said there would be a new outlet installation, but there wasn't, which saved me $13. I was surprised that the cable guy actually took the time to feed the cables down the tubes of my audio rack. Also interesting was that he ran the component cables from the cable box to my AV receiver and from it's monitor out to the tv. I did not have anything else hooked up via component to my receiver, so I thought it was weird he didn't go directly to the tv. I went straight from the cable box to the tv with a Monster Cable after he left. The cables seem pretty nice, not just regular cheapos. He brought an optical cable as well and hooked it up to my receiver. I replaced it too. ;)

Took a little bit for him to get through to dispatch to activate the box and after he did, he said the guy on the other end didn't send the right signal and there would be a 10-minute download while they re-did it. Eventually it got done and we had picture. He called in to activate Showtime for me, and it turned out I could add Showtime, Cinemax, and Starz and my bill would be $4 less each month. Weird, but I'll take it!

Discovery (non-HD of course)was the first channel up. Looked like the same ol' cable I've always had. The red push that I had read about was very apparent though. Turned on KCCI-DT. There was only SD programming on, not bad though. Went up one to HBO and it looked good too. The cable guy hands over the remote and takes off.

Just to double check everything, I pulled up the 5100 faq to see how to do the service menu thing. Whoops. My tv type was set to 4:3 Pan & Scan and the output was set to 480p. I was surprised that the 480p looked that good. The damn cable guy was gone too. Oh well, guess I'll have to email them. Set my tv type to 16:9 and turned the 1080i on. Haven't checked the firmware version yet.

The picture on HBO and Showtime HD was very good, other than the red push. A little dark too, but the clarity is great. I'll definitely be re-calibrating with my AVIA disc. KCCI and HBO have been Dolby Digital 2.0 so far, but Showtime was in 5.1 so that's cool.

Just watching a little KCCI in high def now. It's fun and a good picture, but not really my type of programming. Can't wait for ESPN HD!

I'll try to watch a movie on one of the premiums tomorrow and come back with a better review. It's hard to critique too much when you aren't used to something. Be back tomorrow.

It appears as though Mediacom is not training their installers to properly set the outputs on the new boxes. There are going to be a LOT of people watching "HDTV" in 480i. I also find it weird that the installers seem to be routing component cables through recievers. There are a lot of recievers out there that dont have sufficient bandwidth to switch HD.

Anyone here have any luck getting WOI to talk to them about what the hell is going on over there lately? I'd love to hear this week's excuse, but they stopped returning my calls. I'm hoping for a restraining order ... hahaha!

Hi all,
What is the base cost for the HD-TV package from mediacom??? Meaning with out the HBO or Showtime HD. What is the price with Hbo and Showtime HD??

Thanks,
Ron ....to bad I have 6 more months with direct tv...

I really just don't care about WOI anymore. Maybe by this fall I will, but I very rarely watch anything on it. Over the weekend, I did watch the Anaheim-Minnesota NHL playoff game. It went into double overtime. The game was around 4 hours long. That's when WOI decided they needed to do a weather update and missed the game winning goal. How difficult would it have been to put up a little window with the game in it at the bottom? Frankly I wasn't surprised though. It's the kind of terrible service I've come to expect from them.

FireShoes - I agree completely about WOI. The ONLY reason I care is because of ALIAS and MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL. (They axed MIRACLES which was the only other great show.) I would be so happy if Disney would sell the rights to both Alias and MNF to a better network. I know WOI was granted yet ANOTHER CP extension until Oct 16th 2003 even though they have all their equipment up and ready. It's such bullsh*t.

I wouldn't sweat it Ron. I'd much rather have service through Directv but I don't have a southern exposure. Directv has HBO and Showtime, plus HDNet and the HD PPV channel and more are definitely on the way.

The HD box rental through Mediacom is $3 more per month. Not sure what the cost of adding HBO and Showtime is, as I have a package with cable modem.

I have a cable modem also, so I would save 10.00 if I went with Mediacom. Also, that way, I won't have to pay 300-400 for a hdtv directtv receiver. How much is it for you with the cable modem and the hdtv package??

I think he said it was $123 but I'm not sure.

Just spoke with Marshall Porter (GM) at WOI. He says that they expect their DT Channel 59 to be OTA within *TWO (2) WEEKS*. He also confirmed my fears that they would be 480i 4:3 ONLY and would not speculate on a time frame for equipment conversion to 720p 16:9. He did mention that since Channel 59 is temporary spectrum and the FCC plans on reallocating ALL DTV to lower UHF and VHF, he doesn't want to spend money on HD equipment until they get their permanent channel assignment. According to him, HD (720p) equipment is only good for ONE FREQUENCY and when they move to a lower channel eventually, that equipment will be rendered useless again. Take that for what its worth. Either way, it means you can forget about HD for Alias or MNF this fall, unless you plan on moving to a state that is not perpetually stuck in the 20th Century.

If that's the case I'm ready to resurrect the advertiser's boycott discussion. The only way to get WOI to move appears to be a direct attack on the revenue stream. Once their DT transmitter is running there is nothing the FCC can do because there is no requirement to transmit HD, just DT.

I sent Mr. Porter an email Monday or Tuesday basically telling him he was doing a horrible job and I never watch WOI anymore, but I will when they start getting a real signal.

I truely hope that the FCC's next step after getting all stations on DIGITAL is to require all NEW content as HD from the networks ... then require HD from the local broadcasts eventually too (local news). Otherwise, these cheapskates will NEVER get off their asses and will always do the bare minimum. Slackers.

From IPTV (KDIN) ...
At the present time, we are planning to be on the air for normal broadcasting by July 1st of this year. I am not aware of what the content will be, but I am sure that part of it will be high definition material.
John Stone
IPTV Engineering

TitanTV officially changed WOI-DT's estimated OTA date to May 31st, 2003. But I think Weird Al Yankovic's UHF-62 is better positioned to get there first.

eyedox,

I do wonder where Titantv gets their information. In the past they have been soo inaccurate, I gave up on them and just called the engineers myself.

MTMDSM - They get their information the same way you and I do ... the old fashioned way ... they call the station. Actually, I noticed in the past that they were inaccurate with our market too, so I started contacting Christie M at TitanTV every time I was aware of a ETA change. In fact, I most recently told her about my conversation with the Station Manager (Marshall Porter) regarding 2 more weeks. The next day, the TitanTV website was changed to 5/31/03.

You know ... even with funding problems, IPTV has a responsibility to the tax-paying public and to those of us that donate money year after year to at LEAST turn their DT channel 50 on during prime time (at low power) to pass HD & SD widescreen content from PBS. I don't know if I will donate ever again to them if they keep this up.

Eyedox, I agree with you regarding IPTV. We are missing out on some great national PBS feed material in HD. even a few hours a night (ie: Nature, Nova).

What are we doing about ABC? Is there any consensus here? Would a politely worded nastygram to ABC HQ help? WOI is rapidly alienating the few viewers ABC has left locally. As I have said before, the only program I care at all about is Monday Night Football, a few months out. When I watch local programming, WOI is my absolute last choice. I would probably log on the net rather than sit through their newscast.

WOI will continue to put this off until someone puts their feet to the fire.

I think the best thing you can do is to inform businesses that advertise on WOI that they will lose your business. Tell them that until WOI gets their act together regarding DTV/HDTV you will boycott any advertiser on that channel. Make sure you let WOI know you are taking this action as well.

They are far more likely to respond if advertisers lose potential customers and call and tell them to get off their asses. WOI doesnt give a crap if they dont have a DTV channel because it doesnt count in the ratings. The ONLY way to make them care is to do it through their main revenue stream (advertisers).

I agree ... you have to hit them in the ONLY place it matters to them ... their pocketbooks. I DO think that you should send multiple emails to the ABC network regarding your feelings on how poorly you feel the local affiliate is being run, and that you are no longer watching their network because of it.

I also agree that a boycott of local advertisers is the only way to get WOI's attention. However, I don't think individual letters will have as much effect as one from an organization. I suggest we form a Central Iowa Home Theater Association and get together once in a while to see each other's systems and talk about new developments. The first order of business would be the WOI advertiser boycott. I would be willing to host the first meeting. If you're interested, post here and send me an e-mail - DavidLevy@AbbeyRoadHT.com

Certainly an advertiser boycott is one way to go with WOI. Along the same line, I would like to see something similar to the Satellite rule when you can't get network over the air.

If the local network isn't transmitting an HD signal, we should have the right to get a national satellite feed in HD. That's like a boycott, but with some extra teeth.