This is my first post ... I live in Windcrest, on Midcrown Drive. I set my antenna (standard outdoor VHF-UHF TV antenna about 20 feet up pointed a little bit East of North, where I had gotten good reception on standard TV.

... I get KLRN-TV and 2 extra, KENS, KABB, 3 Spanish channels, don't get ABC nor CBS. I set the reception for 720I at 16.9 - however, I don't get the full wide range on some channels, others I seem to...

I'm suprised that I don't get the full screen from KABB...though I can adjust the Spanish channels. Also, the sharpness is better than normal TV, but not to the sharpness I have seen in stores... Are we yet not broadcasting over the air the full dimension HDTV signal - and would I better get sattilite or cable TV than On-the-air?

Welcome to the growing world of HDTV viewers! First of all, I'm not so sure what your situation is, but you should orient your antenna so it is pointing a little east of south. Nearly all the DTV transmitters are a couple of miles east of Calaveras lake, just north of U. S. 181.

Depending on how we have encoded our SDTV upconversion, there may be side panels or "wings" that inhibit expanding the width beyond the transmitted limit. CBS HDTV programs on KENS-DT are 16x9 in format, at 1080i, so when you receive those they will be full width and correct aspect. Our upconverted SDTV content has black side panels that force correct aspect on the 4x3 upconversion. KABB's side panels are grey.

As Kwill pointed out, not all programming is in HDTV just yet. There is more HD content available from satellite or cable - but none of the local DTV stations are available via satellite in HDTV. Time-Warner cable does offer local HD stations as well as other HD fare, for a price, of course.

And I'm sure this has been anwsered a thousand times but is is the compression algorithm on cable as good or better than OTA? Or is OTA the best? I don't have cable so I can't compare. But I can compare my OTA from Mt. Wilson (Orange Cty Ca.) to he same program in HDTV off DirecTV and the satellite picture has less crispness and resolution.

I'll be trying OTA from 5 mi. south of Kerrville in a year or two. Say a 50' pole????? :<))

Jerry,

Any word on when you will go back to full power?

Also, is KENS planning to upgrade their studio to HD? Watching the news in HD might be fun. :)

Anyone else having an unusually bad time with KENS digital this evening. Lots of breakups on Wheel of Fortune.

Anyone else having an unusually bad time with KENS digital this evening. Lots of breakups on Wheel of Fortune.


I have....I've lost 4-1,2 and 5-1,2. Seem to have lost it since it started raining (for the first time in 1.5 months) about a week ago. I have remapped and rebooted with negative results......4-1,2 dont come in at all and 5-1,2 come in and seem to freeze up. Using hughes E-86 OTA with 10 ' outdoor antenna and have been running smooth for a long time...

I haven't had KENS for quite a while. I've had no trouble picking WOAI. I readjusted my antenna and picked up KENS for the evening two nights ago but it's gone again. I live about 85 miles east of San Antonio but I use an outdoor directional antenna with an antenna booster. I'm a Dish Network subscriber using their 811 HD receiver. I pick up KSAT and KABB no problem. Don't really care if I don't pick up KENS because I pick up KEYE from Austin pretty strong. As long as I get all the major networks from either San Antonio or Austin, I'm good.

Guess everything is back to normal, go the channels back a couple of days ago...

This is a great thread. I live off the 46 in Boerne about half way between the 10 and 281. Antennaweb says I'm about 45 miles from the SA antenna farm. I'm on D* since there is no cable here, and I'd like to try OTA HD since the D* are pathetic, but D*installer says I'll never get it up here. Has anyone up here been sucessful in getting a good OTA signal. Could you share you antenna/amp choice?Thanks.

From what I've read its very hit and miss depending on your LOS. And you will certainly need a good size mast, high gain antenna (Channel Master, etc) and a good quality pre amp.

You must have moved here from California! ;)


This is a great thread. I live off the 46 in Boerne about half way between the 10 and 281. Antennaweb says I'm about 45 miles from the SA antenna farm. I'm on D* since there is no cable here, and I'd like to try OTA HD since the D* are pathetic, but D*installer says I'll never get it up here. Has anyone up here been sucessful in getting a good OTA signal. Could you share you antenna/amp choice?Thanks.

From what I've read its very hit and miss depending on your LOS. And you will certainly need a good size mast, high gain antenna (Channel Master, etc) and a good quality pre amp.

You must have here moved from California! ;)
Yup. Good Guess

I keep getting an intermittent signal from Fox 29. My signal goes from 62% to 74% and back and forth. Has anyone else had this problem?

Can anyone tell me if the Cowboys are shown in HD on Fox 29 when the regular season starts?

Can anyone tell me if the Cowboys are shown in HD on Fox 29 when the regular season starts?


Yes, OTA only no cable

Can anyone tell me which stations have upped their power in the last year here in Knoxville?

I've lived here for almost a year (on the West side off of Ball Camp rd - bearing 076 for 7.7 miles to WVLT) and I had a heck of a time trying to get reception when I first moved in. I live on the back side of a ridgeline with mature trees in the way and reception is not great. After several tries, I settled on a CM 4 bay bowtie in the attic. It was okay last fall and reception improved as the leaves fell off of the trees (which I expected). I had to adjust the antenna position / aiming after the leaves fell, but finally got a solid signal.

Now that the leaves are back (have been for a while!), my reception remains okay with the exception of WVLT/WKOP. I realize that these two stations share an antenna. Has that always been true?

I'm thinking about trying to adjust my antenna position / aiming to try to get all of the stations but I don't want to even bother if there has been no change. I'm just curious as to why my reception seems so much better in the last few months on the other as compared to when I first moved in...

Do you think it's worth trying?

Every station that I am aware of went full power on or just before July 1st of this year.

That might explain the better reception.

Is there a reason they all waited so long and did it simultaneously (almost)?


Thanks for the response.

They were observing the FCC deadline!

Every station that I am aware of went full power on or just before July 1st of this year.

Are you sure about WKOP? Their deadline isn't until July '06.

What's it matter? WKOPs crappy audio makes them practiclly unwatchable (er.. unlistenable) anyway.

I keep getting an intermittent signal from Fox 29. My signal goes from 62% to 74% and back and forth. Has anyone else had this problem?
yep. In fact, I can no longer get the signal. Just a few days ago, it was strong.

I would like a reference to a good company that would come to my house and recommend and install an antenna for my OTA recpetion and stand behind their work. Any suggestions? I'm in the Halls (North) area of Knoxville.

yep. In fact, I can no longer get the signal. Just a few days ago, it was strong.

If you live on the north side of S.A. and have a decent antenna, try picking up KTBC-DT Austin (FOX). It just went full power (1,000kw) on ch. 56. Box will PSIP/map this as 7-1.

I would like a reference to a good company that would come to my house and recommend and install an antenna for my OTA recpetion and stand behind their work. Any suggestions? I'm in the Halls (North) area of Knoxville.

I'd go by East Tennessee Satelite on Broadway. They put mine up.

I'd go by East Tennessee Satelite on Broadway. They put mine up.

They have another name? Is this the one on Black Oak Ridge with the big dish out front?

I'd go by East Tennessee Satelite on Broadway. They put mine up.

I'll have to say I had a really bad experience with ETS.

They put in my DirecTV and sent a teenager who was on his first install alone. He drilled needless holes in my brick when he realized the dish couldn't point to the sats, broke one drill bit in the process (it's still sticking out of the side of my house), and to make his job easy he spliced into Comcast's existing coax (RG-59, not RG-6 that digital sat requires). And he took all day in the process. Then, his manager rudely called to complain to me as to why his installer was taking so long, and to inform me that since this was a two-room install they were going to charge me double the agreed upon price. :eek: The "second room"was the 30 seconds he took to cut into Comcast's existing cable because I set up the receivers, but his reply was "that's the price we charge, sorry." :rolleyes:

Sorry for venting and it wasn't directed at Rachael... I just wanted to warn that East Tennessee satellite was probably the worst business I've ever had to deal with.

They have another name? Is this the one on Black Oak Ridge with the big dish out front?

That's the one. I'm not aware if they've changed names since I used them well over a year ago. I just checked the phone book. They're in it as ETS Communications, 577-4989.

I am having problems with Fox 29 also. My upstairs STB receives the signal, but downstairs (with an indoor antenna), I have lost the signal. Something must have happened in July, as I consistantly received a strong signal from this station before on my downstairs setup.

Any Fox 29 engineers reading this post?

That's the one. I'm not aware if they've changed names since I used them well over a year ago. I just checked the phone book. They're in it as ETS Communications, 577-4989.

Did they do your D* as well or just your OTA install?

Daver, I called them in to finish my botched installation by some outfit supplied by Busted Buy (MMI, maybe?). Later I had ETS back to put up the antenna. For me, they did everything right. On the antenna they told me $75 to come out and see if it worked and $150 total if it worked. It did. It's a Square Shooter. They did two job for my mom and did good too. It sounds like somebody's wrath for a bad day was directed at you.

I went to them because MMI (?) was horrible. The installer claimed my brand new, built in, RG-6 Quad was no good! Apparently, his bleeding barrel connector to facilitate tapping into my lines was no good. I put a VCR on the line in question and proved that, NOT! He didn't seem impressed and continued to say there was something wrong with my wires. Maybe he only had that one barrel connector...? He was an obviously ill-skilled installer with no problem solving ability.

Then, things got worse. I live in a planned community and several men showed up questioning my right to put the dish up, telling the installer hide the dish here-there-wherever...ugh! I can't get these dudes to go away and the installer got spooked and called his boss and left without finishing.

I ended up paying an extra $75 to get them to finish a few days later. They sent somebody else. However, the RCA Dish from my original install failed, in warranty after just a few months, and RCA sent me the wrong LMB. Then they refused to send me the correct LMB's. I told hem I would iniate a complaint. I did. Then, the correct LMB's eventually showed up with no explanation about a month later. However, I'd long since decided I wanted another brand of dish anyway, and that's when I first hired ETS to put up a better dish. A not RCA dish!

That's my Direc Saga. Funny, I came to wish I'd hired ETS from the start since they did good for me. I imagine alot of folks have had problems with installations. Busted Buy wasn't very helpful either butI didn't really want to return the equipment that was a good deal. I almost did. Then, I thought about how much I disliked Crumcast and decided not to....

Anybody have good luck receiving Fox 43.1 ?? I live in Norris and get great reception on all digital available to me except 43.1 ( it's very spotty). I've tweaked and rotated my antenna to no avail.

Thanks go out to KENS for the HD high-power transmission during the PGA Championship over the weekend. Our family loved it over here near Seaworld!! IS that big daddy back for good?

I am having problems with Fox 29 also. My upstairs STB receives the signal, but downstairs (with an indoor antenna), I have lost the signal. Something must have happened in July, as I consistantly received a strong signal from this station before on my downstairs setup.

Any Fox 29 engineers reading this post?
Signal came back good and srong on Friday evening...seems to be back to normal.

I have not seen it in this thread but I thought I'd ask.

Conan went hd a few months ago and I have yet to see a single episode in HD. Do we just have a cheap NBC broadcaster or what? Even the tonight show is in HD one minute and off the next. I think someone at the controls needs to be fired.

I have not seen it in this thread but I thought I'd ask.

Conan went hd a few months ago and I have yet to see a single episode in HD. Do we just have a cheap NBC broadcaster or what? Even the tonight show is in HD one minute and off the next. I think someone at the controls needs to be fired.

I don't know what the reason is but maybe it has something to do with the timing. KXAN from Austin shows Conan right after Jay Leno at 11:35pm and it's in HD. WOAI shows EXTRA at 11:35 and Conan at 12:05am.

New to the area (Maryville) and wondered about other members experiences with Charter-positive or negative.
Thanks.

I live in Maryville and get all the channels over the air with a Radio Shack indoor amplified antenna. I even get fox in Johnson city.

New to the area (Maryville) and wondered about other members experiences with Charter-positive or negative.
Thanks.

I'm a DirecTV person, but my friends with Charter don't have any complaints.

Comcast, on that other hand.... :rolleyes:

Welcome to East Tennessee and AVS Forums!

Another locals questions for a Newbie. I will be constructing a Home Theatre in an upstairs unfinished room. I wondered if anyone has some contacts that do a nice job with this type of construction. The room I have envisioned will be 13X18 with 8' ceiling. I will need electrical (probably 2 new circuits) as well as the cables run to a home run location.
Right now I am in the beginning stages of planning. I will most probably be using a PJ with an Elite Pioneer Receiver. I have already purchased the speakers thru - Paradigm CC 470, Studio 40's, ADP 370's as well as a Servo 15 V.2.
I literally need help with advice from installing a floating floor to staggering the drywall as well as insulation or soundproofing. I really wondered if there are contacts I can make that are reliable in the Knoxville area. I have already spoke with the West Group and wondered if others have advice on doing this room on a budget. Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks.

I cant belive Im going to do this...but I will defend Comcast...

for 59.00 a month I am getting

Digital Cable with HD Feeds of

INHD 1 &2
ESPNHD
TNTHD
Discovery HD
PBS HD
ABCHD
NBC HD
CBS HD
Fox HD
HBO HD
Showtime HD (not suppose to get, but it has been on for 5 months)

AND my Internet service included in that same 59 bucks (im on a retention plan of some time for 12 months) 4 MB down stream...that never goes below 3mb even at 6:00 at night...so no slow downs for me...no security issues either if you have a decent router/firewall.....I love love love the speed...

And for 20 more bucks I get 2 HD DVRS

Not a bad deal for 79 total...

Cipro...

You are getting a heck of a deal. I'm looking to try out Comcast for Cable Internet only (my Bellsouth DSL disconnects too often), and JUST for internet it's going to cost me $58 a month.

If I were you, I would defend Comcast... but I don't think many others are getting the deal you are.

I'm on Comcast for internet only(DirecTV for TV).FWIW,It actually is cheaper to get Comcast internet + basic cable(only a few crappy,non-digital channels.....but has locals-not HD of course)...than to get cable internet service by itself!So I have comcast locals as a backup if DirecTV goes out during a storm.

aVOLanche....

GREAT idea. I just signed up for Comcast Internet and am getting 6 months for $19.95 a month, but if I want to stay with it I'll keep your idea of getting the least amount of cable channels in mind.

Thanks for the tip!!! :cool:

I'm new to OTA and should have my Voom receiver and antenna set up by this Friday. So, how can I look at the TV listings and know what is being sent in HD? I can't wait to see a true 1080i picture on my projector.

I'm new to OTA and should have my Voom receiver and antenna set up by this Friday. So, how can I look at the TV listings and know what is being sent in HD? I can't wait to see a true 1080i picture on my projector.

Voom? Didn't they switch over to Dish Network?

Anyway, you might want to set up a free account over at TitanTV.com (http://www.titantv.com/quickguide/quickguide.aspx) . There's a button at the top that says "HD only". :cool:

Thanks for the link to TitanTV. I'm just using the Voom receiver as a cheap way to get OTA. They are significantly less expensive than other STBs for this purpose.

I bet they don't have the ability to timeshift their HD programming so if they put something on in its place, they have to go with the SD version

I asked Bill at WOAI about Conan and here is what he said:

Now as for Conan. Currently we time delay Conan. We have a new server on order that will time delay Conan in HD, ( record in HD fro later play back in HD), That will give you Conan in HD. I will let you know the ETA when I have it.

So, yes, you're exactly correct, destrada and ibglowin.

I guess I should have asked him if he wanted to borrow my SA8300HD DVR until the server came in. :)

I've heard the Voom box is one of the better OTA boxes.

Welcome to the club. :D

Well, I'm a D*TV customer and I'm sick of the 8 channel HD we get. I can not get OTA and have applied for a waiver. I have had 4 people here trying to get it to work with no success including ETS which tried a square shooter which would not work either. Paid them $100 for their efforts. I got that back as a credit from D* on my account so it was worth it IF I GET MY WAIVER! Don't get me wrong, I love my HD I get now, but HD is a HUGE scam. No channels really and by the time they do get the channel numbers I would like to see my TV will be old and out of date (DLP Samsung 50"). I thought about the D* HD Tivo deal going around but whats to record and then what to put it on if I want to keep it? Oh well, just my rant.
BTW, anyone get NFL Gameday? Do you realize you need to get Super Fan to get any HD NFL games through that?

mwwilliams,what antennas have you tried?Are you getting any signal when they try?You are in Knoxville?I thought I had the worst possible situation,but persevered and got the locals OTA.That's where we watch the most HD.

I bet they don't have the ability to timeshift their HD programming so if they put something on in its place, they have to go with the SD version
Nevermind. You were right. But I'd love to know why the scheduling is different here.

Does anyone even know why Extra is aired at 11:30 here when it isn't anywhere else? Is that a popular time for it in San Antonio? Would seem that most people are asleep by that time.

I thought about the D* HD Tivo deal going around but whats to record and then what to put it on if I want to keep it?

I have the HD DirecTivo and love it. But if you can't get your local channels, I don't recommend it. But I record all the HD programming off locals and HBO-HD.

As for what to put it on if you want to keep it... there is no HD archiving method yet. You can have the DirecTivo hooked up to a DVD-R and if it's HD will downconvert it to DVD, or VHS for that matter. But it's not DirecTV's fault there's no storage method for HD.

I'm still not sure why you can't get locals... are you NOT in Knoxville or are you just in a bad position?

mwwilliams,what antennas have you tried?Are you getting any signal when they try?You are in Knoxville?I thought I had the worst possible situation,but persevered and got the locals OTA.That's where we watch the most HD.

I have tried the Square Shooter, and the standard one D* gave me in multiple places with no improvement.

I am in Halls right behind a ridge with trees. When the trees had no leaves I could get 43 FOX, after April or so I get nothing. I am not putting a HUGE antenna on my roof, that's not an option, my neighbors would hang me. If and when my waiver goes through that will satisfy me for now. :)

One thing you might try is a Silver Sensor(by Zenith).I think you can get one at Sears or Circuit City for $30(returnable).It hooks up in 2 minutes.It's a very good directional antenna and very small.The reason to try it would be to see if there is any possibility that a proper antenna might work in your attic.I got a Winegard 9032 and it works well in my attic.It is 10 ft long,but not wide or tall at all and lightweight.So it's easy to maneuver between rafters.It's one of the strongest UHF antennas you can get.I'm at the bottom of a huge hill with trees and 2 story houses,but have been able to get a good signal(I'm in the Lovell Rd area).
If you get a Silver Sensor and a long piece of RG-6 coax(25-100'),you should be able to cover a lot of area.I found one "hotspot" that allowed me to get all the locals.That was after Sharps sent out a "tech" who put up an expensive antenna that didn't work for crap.

As for what to put it on if you want to keep it... there is no HD archiving method yet. You can have the DirecTivo hooked up to a DVD-R and if it's HD will downconvert it to DVD, or VHS for that matter. But it's not DirecTV's fault there's no storage method for HD.

Stop the press! People are using computers and D-VHS decks to archive HD content. I have 1080i OTA recording ability with 5.1 DD if provided. Rupert M., Direc-dude, has contributed to enough politicos to avoid getting a mandate to provide a firewire out so far, as Cable was mandated to provide. Furthermore, there are folks who are filling and archiving Direc's Tivo hard-drives, switching them in and out. Plus, 16 x 9 Time has equipment to get around Direc's lack of firewire. You can read about all this stuff in other forum sections. I've never bought into 16 x 9 Time. I used to be tempted but with M-PEG 4 comin', I've backed off. The 480i D-VHS dubs I've made off of Direc from HD material come out better looking than commercial DVD's...they don't sound as good though. HD recording is certainly here. I like my Direc HD Tivo but it would truly be the cat's meow if it had a firewire out.

Folks with HD cable ought to take a serious look at getting a D-VHS deck, if they wanna record. The only caveat to D-VHS recording is keeping the heads ex-tree clean. You have to keep on top of that! ...every 8-10 hours. It blows people's minds but D-VHS is twice as good as DVD...

Its all got to do with advertising dollars. If WOAI feels they can sell more ads putting Extra on at that time and pushing Conan back and airing it in SD guess who wins out.

Seems like a weird time slot still. I think Extra airs around 4:30PM out this way.

Its all got to do with advertising dollars. If WOAI feels they can sell more ads putting Extra on at that time and pushing Conan back and airing it in SD guess who wins out.

Seems like a weird time slot still. I think Extra airs around 4:30PM out this way.

Even more weird is that just about everything they talk about on EXTRA is for that evening, so when you see something about an upcoming show, more than likely you've already missed it.

Does anyone even know why Extra is aired at 11:30 here when it isn't anywhere else? Is that a popular time for it in San Antonio? Would seem that most people are asleep by that time.

It is about the money, Alex. Two motives come into play here, and don't think for a minute the interest of the viewer is considered.

1. A station can make more money selling time in a barter show like Extra, at any hour, than they can with just a few available local slots in a show like Conan.

2. A station will sometimes buy rights to a show and deliberately bury it in the middle of the night. You won't get many program directors or sales managers to admit this, but sometimes it is to prevent a competitor from buying that show and counterprogramming it against your similar but less-well-performing offering. You own the rights to it for the term of your contract, so no one can use it against you in your market.

Incidentally, KENS will begin airing Extra in September - and the first week's episodes will air at 12:05 am...just after midnight. KENS will continue to air the Viacom/Paramount/CBS mag "Insider," at 4 pm.

Wow, that last part is very interesting Realthogue.

Has there been a problem with KENS-DT over cable? I was picking it up on my tuner the other night but it seems to have disappeared.

we have a newer sony that has the tuner built in and receives woai-dt, ksat-dt, and klrn-hd, but not KENS-dt. this is on extended cable on Time Warner, no cable boxes or anything.

thanks.

The Vols game next Saturday is on CBS at 12:30. TitanTV does not list it as HD. Does anyone know if it really will be HD?

It's the Jefferson Pilot game of the week, so almost certainly it won't be in HD.

The Vols game next Saturday is on CBS at 12:30. TitanTV does not list it as HD. Does anyone know if it really will be HD?

Very few college sports are in HD. In fact, many pro sports aren't HD yet, but it's coming.

What sort of tuner/tv do you have to pick up the cable HD programs? I thought the HD programs were encrypted and not available even with a QUAM tuner

What sort of tuner/tv do you have to pick up the cable HD programs? I thought the HD programs were encrypted and not available even with a QUAM tuner

its a sony 50a10. regular cable into the back of the tv.

Not familiar with that set. I i use TWC thru a splitter that feeds my XBR 800 and the other half goes into TWC set top (TWC's Explorer 3250HD) that then feeds the HD signal to the Sony. Sort of a mediocre box and SD signals from TWC look much better without going thru the 3250. What I planned on doing was to buy a HD tuner like the LG 4200A and use it to get HD over the air and /or use their signal for ABC , PBS etc with the LG's cable tuner. But, TWC cable states that all their HD channels are encrypted and I can only use the OTA signals to get HD OR USE THEIR box!! I was under the impression that the FCC required cable providers to the HD versions (of the SD programs that I paid for) free of added charges

ok, i hooked up an antenna to it and received a bunch of digital broadcasts, including kens-dt. (i'm near Seguin) i'm also pleasantly surprised to be able to pick up several austin stations: keye-dt, kvue-dt, and actually ktbc dt.

i guess its just an issue with time warner.

Swiff, are you picking these up as cable channels or as OTA? Is KENS on 5.1 (over the air) or on 155 (TWC)?

Swiff, are you picking these up as cable channels or as OTA? Is KENS on 5.1 (over the air) or on 155 (TWC)?
I'd love to know too. He wasn't clear on that statement.

well, before i hooked up the antenna i was getting woai-dt (4.1), klrn-hd (9.2), and ksat-dt (12.1). these were all displaying HD. now i wouldnt have thought i could pick these up without an antenna so i just assumed i was receiving them over cable.

Yes those are the OTA signals. You must be on a hilltop with an unobstructed line of sight to their towers at Brauning Lake...who knows? You could have fun in that location and see how many stations you can capture. That used to be called DX ing!?? Good Luck

pretty cool then, i'm still amazed i picked them up. and better yet, like i said, with my little indoor amplified antenna i get austin stations including ktbc which i could barely get when i lived in Austin.

pretty cool then, i'm still amazed i picked them up. and better yet, like i said, with my little indoor amplified antenna i get austin stations including ktbc which i could barely get when i lived in Austin.

KTBC just went full power about a month ago.

It appears that the folks on this forum might be able to help me puzzle though this situation.

Like swiff, I brought home a new HDTV with built in tuner(s). Also like swiff, right out of the box I was able to tune in 4-1 (WOAI local NBC DT/HD), 9-2 (KLRN local PBS DT/HD) and 12-2 (KSAT local CBS DT/HD). Good, clear signals, although I understand that DT/HD signals are either clear or they simply aren't at all. However, I can tune in no other DT/HD signals from any other local network affiliates. No ABC, WB, FOX, UPN etc. DT/HD signals.

Like swiff, I am connected only to cable without a digital set top box. No OTA antenna at all.

(1) My first question is, am I picking up these three DT/HD signals OTA through the receiver/tuner alone, or is the cable acting as an antenna?

(2) My second question is, am I picking up only these three DT/HD signals and not others OTA because their broadcast towers are better situated than the other stations relative to where I live in North Central SA, near downtown? (It is interesting that swiff, who may be in another part of town altogether, could also pick up only these same three DT/HD signals OTA without an antenna.)

(3) My third question is, are the broadcast powers of these three DT/HD signals significantly stronger than the others? (I believe there was some information on this forum earlier that the KENS DT/HD signal might have been relatively low-powered.)

(4) My fourth question is, why can I only pick up only the DT/HD signals of these three local network affiliates and not their SD signals OTA without an antenna? Are these DT/HD signals more high powered than the SD signals from the same stations?


I am fairly certain (as has been suggested earlier on this forum) that these three DT/HD signals are not unscrambled digital cable signals that I am somehow picking up off the cable. These three DT/HD signals are tuned in the VHF band where I believe OTA DT/HD signals should be, that is at 4-1, 9-2 and 12-2. These three DT/HD signals are not located above 78 where I believe they would be as digital cable signals.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Those are supposed to be UHF signals not VHF signals. PBS may be a mix since they appear in several locations in the cable lineups.. Sometime in the future they are all supposed to migrate to VHF so Uncle Sam can auction the uhf spectrum to the highest bidders. Reynold.. since you have two tuners, can you pick up any of the cable channels...I am asuming that the second tuner is a QUAM type like the upper end Sonys are equiped with. Best call some of the station engineers. I'm just a duffer with very little TV experience.

Take a look at the map below (from antennaweb.org using zip 78209 as the location). Two of the three stations you get are in the same location:

4-1 is actually broadcast at 58.
12-2 is actually broadcast at 48.

Both of these are broadcast at high power (note that 12 is ABC, not CBS -- also 12-1 is the main DT broadcast, not 12-2). The other station you get is slightly off angle from these (9-2 is actually broadcast at 8). I believe it also has a strong signal. FOX, which is KABB channel 29 and broadcast at 30, also has a strong signal, so I'm surprised you're not picking that up if you are in fact getting these stations OTA. CBS (KENS) is 5-1 and broadcast at 55. It is in the same location as ABC, NBC, and FOX. They went full power recently, but then had to go back to limited power. I'm not sure if they are back full. KENS' engineer is a frequent and helpful poster on this thread under the id Realthogue.

I'm not positive why you can't get these stations normal analog broadcasts, but I suspect your TV doesn't have the tuner to do so.

Hope this helps, a little at least.

http://i.pbase.com/v3/79/436279/1/48473101.sa.jpg

Joealtus, you are correct it is 12-1 and it is ABC.

paulbehnke, I (think) I understand that the DT/HD broadcasts are UHF, but I can't figure out why they are being received in what I think is the VHF band of the tuner, that is 4-1 through 12-1.

Also I forgot to mention that I tuned in these three DT/HD signals using the auto scan on the cable input of the new more or less state of the art HDTV, not the autoscan of the antenna input. This seems inconsistent (in my admitted ingnorance) with the signals' being OTA.

Thanks to you both for taking the time to reply.

paulbehnke, I (think) I understand that the DT/HD broadcasts are UHF, but I can't figure out why they are being received in what I think is the VHF band of the tuner, that is 4-1 through 12-1.

The signals contain metadata that tuners use to remap to the right channel, so when your tuner finds 48, it calls it 12-1.

Newbie question here. I've read most of this discussion but I'm still a little confused.

I bought a tv with the built in tuner to receive hd signals. I can recieve all major channels (nbc, abc, fox) but cannot get kens at all. Now I've read that they went down to "low power". What does that mean? Is that the reason why I can't see that channel at all? I figure if I can get the ones above among other channels that I should be able to get CBS. Thanks in advance.

eon, this might be a case of the blind leading the blind, but a first step in addressing your question might be to establish what your signal source is: antenna, cable or nothing. As near as I can tell:

If you have an antenna as a signal source, which DT/HD broadcast stations you pick up in this area seems to be largely a matter of your geographic position and signal strength. There seem to be persistent problems with KENS (CBS), however, everywhere.

If you have digital cable as a source and digital set top box or cablecard, you should be getting all the local DT/HD channels as digital cable stations, except apparently FOX as the owners of the local FOX affiliate have not reached an agreement with Time Warner.

If you have standard or basic cable, in other words is no apparent DT/HD signal source, you are in the same boat with reynolds and swiff in trying to figure out why and how you are getting some DT/HD signals and not others.

Any light on this last question from anyone knowledgable would be greatly appreciated.

(2) My second question is, am I picking up only these three DT/HD signals and not others OTA because their broadcast towers are better situated than the other stations relative to where I live in North Central SA, near downtown? (It is interesting that swiff, who may be in another part of town altogether, could also pick up only these same three DT/HD signals OTA without an antenna.)


not only am i in another part of town, i am just outside of Seguin, which is 30+ miles from San Antonio.

not only am i in another part of town, i am just outside of Seguin, which is 30+ miles from San Antonio.

siff

Did you tune the the three Dt/HD signals in initially using the automatic channel scanning on the "cable" setting or on the "antenna" setting?

cable auto program

Just an FYI to newcomers having difficulty receiving KENS-DT, we are still on reduced power, awaiting clearance from the FCC to return to our normal 980Kw. Soon, I hope, but the FCC isn't talking yet.

And in anticipation of many more questions about KENS not airing Letterman in HD, we are in procurement for the hardware to do this properly - but I expect to have a workaround pretty soon. With everything else going on I don't think it can be ready this week, but maybe we can broadcast Letterman in HD at 1105 on KENS-DT by the end of next week.

Stay tuned.

I am looking to get an indoor antenna to get Fox for the upcoming Dallas Games. I live around 410/I10 interchange on the northwest part of town. What are the chances that I will get a descent signal with an indoor antenna to get this channel, and which is a good antenna that I can pick up at a local store? I live in an apartment, so an outdoor antenna is not possible.

Thanks
Steve.

WETP (PBS) DT-41 is at full power if any one wants to give it a shot.

Hi, I receive Klrn HDTV channels, the problem is, 9.1 is on 9.4 and 9.2 is on 9.3, I thought I was suppose to receive different programming on all 4 channels, this has not been the case, I am using the Voom receiver to get hd channels. WHy is it that I do not pick up the proper programming.
Thanks in advance :) :)

I am looking to get an indoor antenna to get Fox for the upcoming Dallas Games. I live around 410/I10 interchange on the northwest part of town. What are the chances that I will get a descent signal with an indoor antenna to get this channel, and which is a good antenna that I can pick up at a local store? I live in an apartment, so an outdoor antenna is not possible.

Thanks
Steve.


i think your best bet would to buy from a place with an easy return policy. maybe circuit city, ive had good luck returning stuff there. then just try one in your price range and see how it works.

Can some one in the 78209 area recommend an outdoor antenna? I'm near Northwood Elementary at VanDiver and Larkwood. I've been to AntennaWeb and Antennas Direct and wondering if the uni-directionals are good for this area. Thanks

Monday night, September 5, 2005, KENS-DT debuted The Late Show with David Letterman in High Definition. The HD playout is on server, similar to the SD playout on sister KENS-5's analog VHF service. This technology also will permit KENS-DT to rebroadcast Prime Time programming in HD when delayed due to Spurs games and other special events.

We hope to cross the final hurdle to restoring our broadcast to full power in the near future; it can't be soon enough.

Very cool. I just turned on the TV after reading that Letterman (which I never watch) was now in HD. Looks nice. Glad to see more and more broadcasts in HD.

Awesome! Thanks for letting us know Jerry. I hope full power can be restored before the new season. I will keep my fingers crossed. :)

WOAI can't do that (re-transmit Conan in HD) yet! Quite a competitive coup!

I live near the Medical Center area and Directv just installed the Winegard GS2200. Only problem is that it is set below the roofline of my neighbor's house that sits right in the way of the towers. I get occasional signals in the teens on 30 and 55 gets random jumps up to 100 and then nothing. I am guessing it gets the random bounce of signal, but nothing full since it is too low.

Anyone have a good recommendation on an installer who can relocate the antenna or raise it in its existing location above my neighbor's roof? It is a second story install and I am not great with heights. The H10-250 is great, but the wife won't be happy if her CSI is not in HD.

Thanks in advance.

Watch this Friday at 11:00pm the replay of the Anderson County vs Webb HS Football game on WMAK ch 7-1 in HD.

I have a question about Comcast. I have the limited basic package to make the high speed internat cheaper, as has already been discussed in this thread. I just got my first HDTV set which has an HD tuner in it and is digital cable ready, so when I was setting it up I hooked up the comcast feed to it and did a channel scan. In addition to my analog local channels, it found several HD channels in the digital channel range (PBS for example at 112.1) but no other local HD channels. What I'm wondering is are the HD locals being encrypted by comcast or is it my set? Anyone in the area with a similar setup?I have read on this board that in most other areas the local HD channels are automatically picked up by digital cable ready sets unencrypted, and are provided by Comcast with all levels of service. I have tried calling, and will do so again this weekend, but the first time they tried to sell me the HD package.

thanks

pretty sure you will need one of thier Set Top Boxes to get the signal so you can watch it....

that means going to digital tier to get a HD box....so it may not be worth it...

One good thing is the HD box has a 2 tuner DVR so you can record HD and time shift programming...

I have 2 of them and we use them a bunch

Cip

Watch this Friday at 11:00pm the replay of the Anderson County vs Webb HS Football game on WMAK ch 7-1 in HD.

Thanks for the tip! I turned it on and was very impressed. If they'd add a titling system that would seem the icing on the cake. One-camera coverage ain't so bad when the detail is so sharp even panned way out. Didn't it look like they needed to water their field? Brown, brown, brown.... :)

Icosby,
Question about your digital 7. I have a cut channel 7 dipole for your DT 7. Signal level on my dish 942 is running the mid 60's. Around signal level of 58 or so digitals start breaking up. I get a strong and steady signal from your DT 7 but at times I get a lot of drop outs. Then I usually turn the Winegard 7084 on the roof toward Knoxville and your signal will jump up to the mid 70's. Problem is I still get the drop outs even at the higher signal level. This happens very rarely and time of day or weather seems to make no difference. 90% of the time the dipole does the job excellent. I don't know if maybe you were having problems at times or if something maybe breaking the data stream in the VHF band?

I get all the UHF digitals from Knoxville excellent with no drops. Weakest being WKOP at 63 but rock solid. Strongest WATE signal around 80. All the rest run in the mid 70's.

The other direction tri cities strongest WJHL (CBS) Johnson City 100% / WEMT (FOX) Greeneville 98% and weakest WKPT mid 70's. I use a 4228 CM for the UHF digitals and the 7084 for VHF and tri cities UHF, exception of WJHL it comes in off the backside of the 4228 at signal level 78+.

Just wondering if at times your having problems or it's some freak atmospheric problem. I may soon be able to get a tower and a little more height as a result but signal strength doesn't appear to be the problem. Presently I'm on the east side of a small hill to my west and my antennas don't clear the crest of the hill. This is also why Knoxville signals are much weaker then the tri cities.

I wasn't getting these break ups to recently say about the last month or so.

Astronaut,

The VOOM receivers do a fairly good job with digital reception. I still have 3 units here. The only problem I had was none of them would receive WEMT DT 38 even at 90+ signal level on the receivers meter. VOOM or Motorola (what a joke Moto customer service) didn't have an answer for it so I had to live without Greeneville FOX while I had VOOM. Thankfully Dish picked them up and now I get FOX Greeneville again.

You may want to see if you can get Greeneville. Knoxville should be able to get them with a good outdoor antenna. Mine would stop scanning at 38 show a signal level in the 90's then moved on back to scan without locking it into memory. If your in Maryville a good coat hanger should do, you're practically under their transmitter all down hill. I get 98% here in Morristown.

We're moving to a new house in Shavano Heights (Lockhill-Selma between Huebner and DeZavala). It's a two story house in this subdivision.

I have three DirectTV/TIVO receivers today. I've talked my wife into a new HDTV for the new place, I'm trying to decide if I want to get the H10-250 or make the move to Cable+HDTV. I love the TIVO's like most folks. Mostly we watch the networks ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, of course the kids are hooked on Cartoon Network.

Does anyone know, assuming I can get the OK for an outdoor antenna, how good is the signal to those networks above assuming I go with the H10-250 box?

Claro

I live on Babcock and 410 and I get those channels fine with an outdoor antenna. The only problem is that there are a lot of trees at my house and neighboring houses and if I point the antenna were antennaweb tells me, it is pointed at trees and I don't get good results. Right now it is pointed 110 degrees away from where antennaweb would have me point it and I get everything. It is not facing thick trees right now and I think that is why I am able to get signals. The antenna is sitting outside along my chain linked fence. It is a Silver Sensor (good and cheap). There seems to be compromises for certain channels. 12 and 9 seem to be the worst. If you get one, you can't get the other unless you move the antenna. Right now 12 hardly makes it through. It is at 50% but the integrated tuner in my Zenith TV is able to create a picture.

I don’t think you’d have a huge problem unless you live in a wooded area. There are places with lots of trees around there. Also, my antenna is 4 feet from the ground. If you can mount yours looking out a window on the second floor, you may get a lot better results than I do.

Titans versus Pittsburg.It's 1;25PM and there is no high fef.Guide shows HDTV,but it's being broadcast in standard def.I called 450-8888 and they have no clue.Said "no one is in master control right now".Well that is pretty damn obvious.DirecTV is showing it in HD.But ,of course,Knoxville is blacked out from the DirecTV signal.

Titans versus Pittsburg.It's 1;25PM and there is no high fef.Guide shows HDTV,but it's being broadcast in standard def.I called 450-8888 and they have no clue.Said "no one is in master control right now".Well that is pretty damn obvious.DirecTV is showing it in HD.But ,of course,Knoxville is blacked out from the DirecTV signal.

It seems like there was an HD feed of the Chiefs game for a few seconds there. Someone's screwing it up locally if I had to guess. I know that the U.S. Open wasn't in HD yesterday (and should have been), so they may very well have a long term problem on their hands - I hope I'm wrong.

I've had to call CBS regularly to get them to "flip a switch" to turn on the HD(especially at night for prime-time shows in HD).If you are local,please call them at the above number.THEY(WVLT) are the problem.They don't have enough sense to do their job.
If there was a problem,they should have told me when I called(or run a banner across the screen).I keep the phone numbers of all the local stations at hand and call them too often.It's absurd.
Knoxville locals:

WATE ABC CH6 637-6666
WBIR NBC CH10 637-1010
WVLT CBS CH8 450-8888 (Doug Stallard)

So far,I have not needed to call Fox CH43.

So far,I have not needed to call Fox CH43.

I tried to get a hold of Doug but he wasn't at his desk.

I have the same experience with 43. They seem to be the only competent station in the market. ABC seemed to screw up every game of the NBA Finals this past June. They like to flip the switch on and off with each commercial break, and sometimes they just forget to flip it back on midway through the show. It's great where you're watching a game that goes to overtime and the overtime is in SD. I don't watch much on NBC, but I do know that they and CBS seem to be too cheap to implement Dolby Digital in their broadcasts.

Thanks for the list. It will come in handy.

Just sent Doug an e-mail, since I'm not too concerned about the Titans game. Hope they don't screw up the TN-Florida game this Saturday. That wouldn't be All-Vol.

I called again and they now admit a "problem,but master control can't get it fixed".Is "master control sleeping in today?
Yep,the UT/UF game would be a bad one to foul up.I'm not concerned about the titans,either.I'm concerned about the incompetence at WVLT with high def!

Looks like they got it back up at the beginning of the U.S. Open final.

I concur with the trees interference. I have just about given up on trying to pull in the HD signals due to the trees in my neighborhood. It is aggrevating to loose the signal in the middle of a show.

I wasn't getting these break ups to recently say about the last month or so.

Any chance that when the summer foliage hits it's peak that it becomes a factor...?

About channel 7, I think somebody said, many moons ago, that their broadcaster was directional and pointed south. I think it comes in as well or better than any of the stations I get but I'm in south Knoxville.


Hey anbody???? Has 20/WB uped their power? I stille can't get it fit to watch but now it freezes and comes and goes sometimes, which, unfortuneatly is an improvement.

I'm concerned about the incompetence at WVLT with high def!

What incompetence? They haven't risen to the heights of even incompetence just yet! They never improve...it just seems to get worse like cheese molding away... :rolleyes: I fully expect that Florida versus TN will be in their usual "Muck-ro-block Vision" best! I'll be damned suprised if they've solved that! It's frustrating that they never seem to make much progress! 6 isn't much better... and their weather sub is a joke!

The HD here has really been on again/off again lately! I did get some great football yesterday though. The Cowboys game came through fantastic. Any chance at all of getting the FL game next Saturday in HD?

The HD here has really been on again/off again lately! I did get some great football yesterday though. The Cowboys game came through fantastic. Any chance at all of getting the FL game next Saturday in HD?

It's a scheduled as an HD game. It being a TN game, 8 will likely be at their best. However, their best often leaves alot to be desired. Last year's HD games almost looked good, except they had huge amounts of subtle video distortions that seemed motion/change induced and alot of sloppy and late switching...with things going back and forth from HD to SD. Let's hope they've improved! If not, we'll all call them constantly till they're annoyed enough to snap into action. :)

We're moving to a new house in Shavano Heights (Lockhill-Selma between Huebner and DeZavala). It's a two story house in this subdivision.

I have three DirectTV/TIVO receivers today. I've talked my wife into a new HDTV for the new place, I'm trying to decide if I want to get the H10-250 or make the move to Cable+HDTV. I love the TIVO's like most folks. Mostly we watch the networks ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, of course the kids are hooked on Cartoon Network.

Does anyone know, assuming I can get the OK for an outdoor antenna, how good is the signal to those networks above assuming I go with the H10-250 box?

ClaroHi Clarov and congrats on the new house.

If you do get an outdoor antenna, you should do fine. I live near Culebra and Grissom and all signals are in the 90's on my HR10-250 except for KENS which is in the lower 70's. My antenna is indoors on the second story sitting on the floor in our loft area. Works just fine for us. We have no trees around in the area though since it's a new neighborhood.

I hear the cable HDTV DVR works pretty good but from what I understand, it only does timed recordings and not name based recording like the Tivo software. The price on the HR10-250 has dropped dramatically so this is a good time to buy. Be aware though that DirecTV will be replacing the HR10-250 with their own branded HDTV DVR. DirecTV said they will continue to support the HR10-250 until a forced swapout occurs. DirecTV hasn't promised anything but the latest rumors are that the swapout will be free.

OTA does not work for me. I am not putting a 40 foot pole on my roof or a huge pole in my yard to get HD. I was told by retention that I could get a waiver for my HD channels through D* and get East coast feeds. Tonight I called and I was denied by the local stations for a waiver. That is a bunch of hooey. Not everyone will be able to get HD OTA!!!!

It's obvious my only solution is ComCast which isn't bad right now. I can give them 2 receivers and cards and get Comcast Platinum with the 6MB Internet and a HD box for $64.99 a month with no comittment for one year. I can drop it anytime. I only have a payout on D* of $12.50. BIG DEAL! Only catch is I love the NFL and I want my NFL package through D*. So, I went ahead and got CC and now I am paying $4 more a month for the local HD's and faster interent access. Not too bad but leaves a bad taste in my mouth for D*!!!

For those interested, we live near Huebner and NW Military (single story home) and I just installed over the weekend the OTA HD receiver from Radio Shack (16-3499, $89.98) along with the 80" boom antenna, also from Radio Shack (15-2152, $59.99). So far, so good, even without a rotor. Be advised. though, that the programming guide on the box does load slowly (a few seconds) and refreshes frequently, apparently due to a small memory cache (assumed). Selecting the output resolution is only avaiable manually via a slide switch on the back of the unit and I just keep ours at 1080 as out Mitsu TV doesn't accept 720 and I only use the box when I want to view DT/HD. Signal strengths are anywhere from upper 70s to mid 90s for all channels after using antennaweb data and a simple compass. After trying TW cable with the HD box (actully we went through several boxes over the last two years) and running my own quad-shield RG6, I would still suffer dropouts, especially on the weekends. We've kept the cable service for programming we can't get OTA, but without any boxes (or HD).

I'm very satisfied with the new OTA setup, eventhough I fully realize the shortcomings of the limited OTA DT / HD offerings. Those interested in some basic DT / HD programming on a limited budget (about $200 for the DIYer if you add a $29.99 extended warranty) may want to look into this OTA option nevertheless.

I'm very satisfied with the new OTA setup, eventhough I fully realize the shortcomings of the limited OTA DT / HD offerings.
***************************************************
That statement is kinda scary. I have OTA and satellite. I only watch Fox news off the statellite . The rest is OTA newtork programming which is near all HD. There is so much in fact that I have over a terrabyte of disk on my HTPCs to record things to watch next summer, How can one say there is limited HD OTA? Is SA different than the rest of the country?

I ask because we're moving to Kerrville in a bit. Expect to have a high and large antenna. The wife watches the satellite stuff.

Hello. I'm a TWC customer with their HD package. I understand why we still don't have Fox in HD, but what about the WB? I see their commercials advertising certain programs in HD(I'm a Gilmore Girls fanatic), but don't have WB in HD, and I haven't seen it mentioned for those with antenna's. Is the local affiliate not broadcasting in Hi-Def? What about UPN?

Anyone have any idea when we might expect TWC to add any of these, and ESPN2 while I'm at it?

If I add an antenna, would the only benefit I'd gain at the moment be Fox? I'm not sure I want to bother for just one channel, though I would like to see 24 in HD. Are the other networks(ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS) noticably better OTA vs. cable due to compression?

I'm in the medical center area off of Babcock. Would an internal antenna work well in that location? If I got an external one, I'd probably want an installer to do it. Any suggestions?

Lastly, my TV doesn't have an internal HD decoder. Would I have any problems hooking up an antenna to the HD cable box TWC supplied me with?

I was thinking about going with Dish network and using an antenna for my local HD channels. I have a real nice older antenna in my attic I have used in the past for analog signals. My question is will this work for HD or does it have to be designed for HD? The satalite installer said he could put the wings antenna on my dish but this seems like a cheap antenna to me for 99 bucks. I live in the Schertz area on the higher part. If this won't work I am looking for good recommendations for an HD antenna. Thanks

Agentalbert: WB is broadcast in HD in San Antonio and is available with a decent external rooftop antenna. The other OTA HD channels are mostly better than D* but I don't know how they compare to TWC.

GregST: Analog antennas work fine for digital and HD OTA signals. no difference. I bought ($55) and tried a "wings antenna" for my D* dish and it was crap. Got almost nothing. I then bought a $30 Radio Shack (60mile?) external antenna and it works great. Probably your existing antenna will be fine. Try it. From your direction, though, you will not be able to get WB if you point your antenna towards ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX or vice versa.

michael

Thanks, Lovemovies. So an external antenna will net me Fox and WB in HD. Might be worth it. I know why TWC isn't carrying Fox HD yet, but why aren't they carrying the WB? Anyone know what's going on there?

What external antenna would you suggest? I'd want someone to install it. I suppose the guy who did my ISF Calibration probably does that sort of thing, so I could call him. Or if anyone can provide a recomendation, I'm all ears.

One question - does the abbreviation D* used around here mean Directv or Dish Network?

D* stands for Directv and E* stands for Dish (originally Echostar).

WB and Fox come from opposite directions (Fox here in the city and WB from Kerrville), but that seems to work OK if you point your antenna just right. I would buy an antenna that is fairly directional (can't remember the official designated letters for that long ellipse shape) but the guy in the store should know. Radio Shack sells a couple decent antennas for fair prices. I bought a vhf/uhf, but it turns out that PBS is the only digital channel that is vhf, so if you don't care about them I would buy a long range UHF only. It is probably more efficient and therefore more effective. Just make sure that its pattern extends behind as well as out front. You don't need any side capture.

michael

Thanks again, LoveMovies. Since I get PBS HD via TWC, I'll do as you suggest and get a UHF only antenna.

I'm curious, though. If I get an outdoor antenna, how will it be connected to my HD receiver? Where do I run the cable?

Lastly, my TV doesn't have an internal HD decoder. Would I have any problems hooking up an antenna to the HD cable box TWC supplied me with?

You can't hook an antenna to the cable box. It won't help you any. You have to have a separate HD receiver if you don't have one built into your TV.

Radio Shack has been clearancing one for $89 this month. Call all the stores in your area and see if they have one left.

Agent Albert wrote...I know why TWC isn't carrying Fox HD yet, but why aren't they carrying the WB? Anyone know what's going on there?

KABB-TV/DT and KRRT-TV/DT both are owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group; for that reason I don't think you'll see either WB or FOX in HD on TWC, Dish or DirecTV from these two stations any time soon.

In an earlier thread there's an explanation of the political/Financial issue between Sinclair and others. Bottom line is Sinclair wants TWC and others to pay for the right to carry their HD services. I believe it is a corporate stance. Other stations/groups are quite happy for the moment to enter agreements with TWC et. al. just to propagate their HD content over the widest possible area. Last time I checked, we broadcasters really want this HD thing to catch on.

Remember, though, that the "bottom line" will one day rear its ugly head. Where there is money to be made by carrying services or by making services available to be carried, everyone will be following the money.

"The opinions expressed in this communication are those of the author alone and do not represent a policy statement by KENS-TV/DT or the A. H. Belo Corporation."

You can't hook an antenna to the cable box. It won't help you any. You have to have a separate HD receiver if you don't have one built into your TV.

Radio Shack has been clearancing one for $89 this month. Call all the stores in your area and see if they have one left.
John,

the folks who have bought the little Radio Shack ATSC receiver have been quite pleased with it. Only complaint seems to be having to point the remote control point-blank at the receiver to get it to work. Remote IR receiver device probably located too far behind front panel.

I hope this is the right thread to ask this. I'm able to pick up CBS NBC ABC & FOX out of San Antonio fine and I also am getting a very good signal from KRRTDT WB (35-1) out of Kerrville. However, I have a terrible audio/video sync problem with WB (a few seconds video delay) that makes viewing nearly unbearable. I have two HD TiVos and it does it on both. One of the TiVos is connected to a receiver that has an audio delay feature that even at 180ms (the max it will do) it is still noticeable.

Anyway my question is if anyone else is having this problem with that channel?

D* carries FOX HD on channels 88 and 89 (east and west). Of course I don't get them here since we have them OTA. They don't carry WB HD at all, but I'll bet thats because they don't have the space. They don't carry TNT HD either.

Jerry: When will Kens go back to full power? Its till the worst channel for me, right here in SA.

michael

AllenDB....

I didn't mean to "scare" you! I guess I didn't make myself clear. Basically, I was referring to the difference in the number of DT / HD channels via cable or sat and those available OTA in our area. Sorry about the confusion (and fright!!!). :D

Realthogue...

You're right about the remote on the RS receiver. I'm trying to use the remote extenders via the NetCommand on our Mitsu, but have yet to nail the setup.

When will Kens go back to full power? Its till the worst channel for me, right here in SA.

michael

Unfortunately, we await the decision of the FCC, who await the decision of the government of Mexico. With decisions like this moving at the speed of government, I wouldn't dare speculate. We will restore full power without delay, however, once clearance is granted.

You're right about the remote on the RS receiver. I'm trying to use the remote extenders via the NetCommand on our Mitsu, but have yet to nail the setup.

We were talking about this the other day; once the receivers are out of warranty, we'll experiment with a Lucite rod or cylinder. Idea is to place it on the IR sensor in the receiver and extend it to the front panel or even through it, to give it a wider acceptance angle.

Stay tuned.

You can't hook an antenna to the cable box. It won't help you any. You have to have a separate HD receiver if you don't have one built into your TV.

Radio Shack has been clearancing one for $89 this month. Call all the stores in your area and see if they have one left.

Thanks, John. This seems like it may be too much trouble. My TV has only one DVI input(no HDMI) and two component video inputs. The components are in use by my dvd player and Gamecube, and the DVI is in use by my TWC HD box. If I need a separate HD receiver to make use of an external antenna, I don't know how I'd connect it without also getting some sort of switch box, and then this is probably more trouble than its worth to only add Fox and WB in HD.

Too bad.

As an aside, I noticed that for about two weeks TWC repaced the Fox Sports HD station that is off the air 95% of the time with Universal HD. That was a nice switch. Now its back to no Universal HD and Fox Sports is back sitting blank all day. Anyone know whats going on here? I can't imagine TWC received many complaints from people wanting the old station back, considering its almost always doing nothing.

It's a scheduled as an HD game. It being a TN game, 8 will likely be at their best. However, their best often leaves alot to be desired. Last year's HD games almost looked good, except they had huge amounts of subtle video distortions that seemed motion/change induced and alot of sloppy and late switching...with things going back and forth from HD to SD. Let's hope they've improved! If not, we'll all call them constantly till they're annoyed enough to snap into action. :)


Not checked here in quite a while, but how about that WVLT CRAP the other night during the Vol game!

I can't decide what was worse, the Tennessee offense or the pathetic far-less-than-HD over-compressed garbage on WVLT.

Heck, I thought the macro-blocking on the NBC Notre Dame game was bad till I saw what good ol channel 8 had in store.

I am getting Bell ExpressVue most definitely for my locals now. I have been threatening to do this for some time, but was hoping that by this football season VLT would have shaped up.

No such luck. Goodbye knoxville locals.

As an aside, I noticed that for about two weeks TWC repaced the Fox Sports HD station that is off the air 95% of the time with Universal HD. That was a nice switch. Now its back to no Universal HD and Fox Sports is back sitting blank all day. Anyone know whats going on here? I can't imagine TWC received many complaints from people wanting the old station back, considering its almost always doing nothing.

From what I heard TWC made a limited agreement to carry UHD only for the duration of the Tennis US Open. I enjoyed it while it was there and watched quite a few movies that I hadn't seen in HD before.

There will probably be a smattering of Spurs games on ch. 150 again this coming season.

Not checked here in quite a while, but how about that WVLT CRAP the other night during the Vol game!

I can't decide what was worse, the Tennessee offense or the pathetic far-less-than-HD over-compressed garbage on WVLT.

Heck, I thought the macro-blocking on the NBC Notre Dame game was bad till I saw what good ol channel 8 had in store.

I am getting Bell ExpressVue most definitely for my locals now. I have been threatening to do this for some time, but was hoping that by this football season VLT would have shaped up.

No such luck. Goodbye knoxville locals.

As poor as it was, it was a little better than last season by my estimation. Myself, I've come to despise CBS's football coverage, period. I'd rather see a game on just about any other network. Nobody crams more adverts in a game. You'll never see the field during even the shortest of stopages. It just disconnects me from the flow of a game. CBS + WVLT = suck squared!

As poor as it was, it was a little better than last season by my estimation. Myself, I've come to despise CBS's football coverage, period. I'd rather see a game on just about any other network. Nobody crams more adverts in a game. You'll never see the field during even the shortest of stopages. It just disconnects me from the flow of a game. CBS + WVLT = suck squared!

I had some tropo this past Sunday and was able to catch CBS HD coverage of the Green Bay game and it was absolutely stunning PQ. This was from WLKY in Louisville, no multicasting. I thought it was noticeably better than MNF or ESPN-HD SNF. Normally I have felt ABC/ESPN to be the best but I don't have regular access to a CBS which doesn't multicast either. The PQ was noticeably inferior from WKYT-CBS in Lexington which multicasts (they convert to 720p which does help some).

I agree WVLT is just poor PQ most of the time. Last night NCIS was terrible (and too orange BTW) and what was the deal with the closed captioning? I had CC disabled as far as I could tell but it still appeared (only on WVLT, not on either WKYT Lex. or WYMT Hazard).

From what I heard TWC made a limited agreement to carry UHD only for the duration of the Tennis US Open. I enjoyed it while it was there and watched quite a few movies that I hadn't seen in HD before.

There will probably be a smattering of Spurs games on ch. 150 again this coming season.

If they are on another SD channel, then will they still be on there? I've noticed that sometimes the schedule will show a ball game as being on FOXSHD(ch. 150), but there is nothing there. And this seems to occur when it is being carried on another channel. Happens with ESPN HD, too. An Astros game will be on a local affiliate, and ESPN HD will be dark.

The Spurs games they showed last year were all home games and they were on both 26 and 150. Seems like there were 8 or 9 of them total. Hoping for more this year.

Same here,WVLT had closed captioning turned on for NCIS(I could not turn it off either).
The last CSI Miami (Monday) was in HD until the last 17-18 minutes!A bunch of chimps are running this station.Call and complain(I have-often).

WATE ABC CH6 637-6666
WBIR NBC CH10 637-1010
WVLT CBS CH8 450-8888 (Doug Stallard)

!A bunch of chimps are running this station.


:D

A bunch of chimps are running this station.

If any of the chimps down at the zoo hear what you said, well, they'll be pretty insulted! :D

I have a question about Comcast. I have the limited basic package to make the high speed internat cheaper, as has already been discussed in this thread. I just got my first HDTV set which has an HD tuner in it and is digital cable ready, so when I was setting it up I hooked up the comcast feed to it and did a channel scan. In addition to my analog local channels, it found several HD channels in the digital channel range (PBS for example at 112.1) but no other local HD channels. What I'm wondering is are the HD locals being encrypted by comcast or is it my set? Anyone in the area with a similar setup?I have read on this board that in most other areas the local HD channels are automatically picked up by digital cable ready sets unencrypted, and are provided by Comcast with all levels of service. I have tried calling, and will do so again this weekend, but the first time they tried to sell me the HD package.

thanks

FowlkesC...

Can you do a follow-up to this post please?

I just had limited locals added to make High Speed Internet cheaper also. I have an HD DirecTivo so I get my premium HD channels through DirecTV and my local HD channels through an antenna. I'm very close to Sharp's Ridge - I can almost throw a rock and hit the towers - so everything comes in pretty strong EXCEPT WB which isn't on Sharp's Ridge. That's the only reason I pay for locals through DirecTV... just channel 20, and it's only in SD.

Does anyone know if I add the $5 "HDTV" package to my Comcast that I can get Channel 20 digitally using ATSC tuning (no set-top box)?

Does anyone know if I add the $5 "HDTV" package to my Comcast that I can get Channel 20 digitally using ATSC tuning (no set-top box)?

I think your set would have to suppourt Cable Card, does it?

I think your set would have to suppourt Cable Card, does it?

My set does, but I'm wanting it for the ATSC tuners in my HD DirecTivo, which doesn't have Cablecard.

Is Comcast's $5 "HDTV package" simply a Cablecard subscription? :confused:

If any of the chimps down at the zoo hear what you said, well, they'll be pretty insulted! :D

LOL......So insensitive of me!I apologize to any zoo animals I may have offended.

First, I want to take my hat off to the great posters on this forum. Just a few months ago I was happy as a clam with my SD 35" Hitiachi and E*. Well, the Hitachi passed on to the great tube factory in the sky and my lovely significant other agreed to the new 50" RPLCD.

E* wanted way too much for the 942 receiver, even though I had been with them for 4 years. TWC was a nightmare...never received all the channels, they installed the 8000 instead of the 8300 and wanted me to drive all over town to get the HDMI box I agreed to in the beginning.
D* was very nice, installed a SD Tivo and then one week later the HD Tivo. Yes, I changed from E* to TWC to D* in the span of 35 days. I even stayed married!

I posted earlier how the OTA that D* installed gets zilch, zip, nada, except for the random bounced signal that maxes at 100%(KENS 55 no less) then drops to 0% two seconds later. I am really interested in OTA HD, but need a recommendation on an installer. I noticed another poster asked for an installer recommendation and did not get an answer either.

I don't want to violate the rules of the forum, but is it possible to get an installer recommendation? I have tried the local Radio Shacks and they don't know of an installer. D* installed the "wing" OTA, but I think it needs to be raised about 10 feet higher. It is mounted on a second story, but my neighbor's house is higher and in the line of sight and I am just below the crest of a hill near Babcock and Huebner. I noticed the large apartment complex across the street has a large OTA antenna on a rather large boom so I am pretty sure I can get a signal if the antenna were properly placed.

I love the HD Tivo from D* and would really like to add local HD content. If anyone has any suggestions for installers I would be extremely grateful. Again, my apologies is this violates any rules.

SoonerSteve, try Best Buy. I don't how good they are but I think they do OTA HD installations.

My set does, but I'm wanting it for the ATSC tuners in my HD DirecTivo, which doesn't have Cablecard.

Is Comcast's $5 "HDTV package" simply a Cablecard subscription? :confused:

If you ask Crumcast, they may not know either! :D Last time I was there trying to see their HDTV box, I had to hablar Espanol some to get things across to the lone employee at the front that day, errr dias, si? Vista el caja por HDTV por favor...that's proably real bad grammar and usage en Espanol, but it took that to get across what I wanted to see. My Spanish is far too poor to ask her much else, en completo, after that. Each time I asked her anything after that, she went in the back and came back with the wrong answer. It kind'a peeved me that the ninnie in the back never came out front. This went on for about ten minutes, about 5 questions. The most I could get out of 'em about the HDTV box was that it was silver, no negro, si? That was about 2 years ago though. It can't be that bad now...or can it? I gave up on them and got Direc soon thereafter.

You can go to the Tivo forum and ask if you can hack your way in to import a signal. I'm doubtin' it.... It might be a violation of that hideous law....is it Digital Millennium Copyright Act or somethin along those lines??? That's just scary to think about! It rather walks on your property rights, that law. It seems like what device is suited for what you're wantin' to do is one of those Sony HDTV tuner/DVR's. I'm pretty sure they suppout Cable Card and OTA. They're just out and pricey though. 2 sizes, $800 & $1000. I think they have 250 gig HD's and the more expensive one has 2 drives. The latest Sound & Vison has a review of one of 'em, si! I hate to put an expensive bug in your ear! It's new. You know how Sony does things, eh? In 6 or 8 months they'll drop the price. I'd have one myself maybe...if it just had Firewire out, which I don't think it does....my D-VHS VCR likes Firewire...

Call Crumcast! :)

Call Crumcast! :)

:eek: NO!!! NO!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! :eek: :eek:

:o Sorry for the outburst, but I was with Comcast through the 90s and hated them. When I switched to DirecTV, things became so much better - fair prices, clear phone support, encouraging promotions and nada technical glitches.

Now I want high speed internet and the phone lines in this house suck... I stuck with Bellsouth DSL for years but I would get dropped/reconnected about every 10 minutes. This sucks when playing Battlefield 2! :(

So I want to deal with Comcast as little as possible, but my initial impressions have been, as Rachael points out, terrible. Suprise hidden charges, unfulfilled promotions, poor phone support... :mad: I don't know how customers put up with this company! :rolleyes:

I guess I'm stuck with them. In their defense, the high speed internet works like a charm. :cool: But I hope to deal with them as little as possible.

Check your private messages SoonerSteve, I sent you an e-mail address/phone number for a guy.

I don't know how customers put up with this company! :rolleyes:

Say hay!!!! Everyday when I wake up to read the morning paper, I expect to read that last night a mob of angry Crumcast customers, with torches and pitchforks, has burned their office down. :D

For the last 12 months Comcast has done a terrific job for me....the only problems I have are with the local chans not switching the HD signal on...or the signal is just plain crappy.

As long as you dont try to get Comcast outside their normal mode of service and delivery they do a bang up job. Once you try to get the CSR to think beyond the script they have in front of them, it becomes a mess.

Im surprised you are mad because you cant use a HD Tivo that was never designed to work with comcast. Its one thing to slam comcast if the box they support does not work...its an entirely different matter if you are complaining that you cant get them to support your device.

Also the folks on asheville HWY location have been a real pleasure to deal with in my 2 or 3 times I made the trip out there. Just dont go on a friday, or u get thel ong wait.

Cip

Im surprised you are mad because you cant use a HD Tivo that was never designed to work with comcast. Its one thing to slam comcast if the box they support does not work...its an entirely different matter if you are complaining that you cant get them to support your device.


No no no, please allow me to clarify myself.

First, the Comcast product is very good... The high speed Internet rocks. And the installers have actually appeared at their scheduled time.

What I have a problem with Comcast is customer support. The people that answer the phone don't seem to have good communication skills or knowledge. Also, I signed up at Best Buy and had to make almost a half dozen calls to get someone to come out and hook up the service. Then I get the first bill and find out I'm not getting the promotional price that I signed up for at Best Buy. I had to make two calls to get someone to act on why I'm not getting the high-speed internet service at the price that made me want to try it out. And so far my account doesn't reflect any change. :mad:

So my unsatisfied comments about Comcast has nothing to do with the product, nor my DirecTivo... that was more a technical question I was asking if anyone on this board had any knowledge of. I would never dream of asking Comcast if they would support the ATSC tuners on my DirecTivo... I would just try it out.

If Comcast could have the level of phone and in-person support that DirecTV has, I would bet that they would have a lot more satisfied customers.

Anyone have any information about when we might get ESPN2HD? I guess I could send TW an email but you usually get a stock non-answer.

I have regular comcast cable. I'm now shopping for a service for HDTV- should I go with comcast digital or directv? I want to get local channels. My sister has directv (w HDTV) and I sampled it yesterday and the Florida/Kentucky game looked good but it didn't "pop" like I've seen other HDTV signals at restaurants etc. It seemed like she had only a handful of HDTV shows for me to look at- Does Comcast have more?
I mainly watch things like "Survivor", "Big Brother" a few sitcoms, college football (and the Colts).
Can anyone give me advice?
Thanks.

I have regular comcast cable. I'm now shopping for a service for HDTV- should I go with comcast digital or directv? I want to get local channels. My sister has directv (w HDTV) and I sampled it yesterday and the Florida/Kentucky game looked good but it didn't "pop" like I've seen other HDTV signals at restaurants etc. It seemed like she had only a handful of HDTV shows for me to look at- Does Comcast have more?
I mainly watch things like "Survivor", "Big Brother" a few sitcoms, college football (and the Colts).
Can anyone give me advice?
Thanks.

If you go D* your only option for HDTV locals will be OTA. Distant feeds are no longer available for new customers. It will be at least a year or two before the MPEG4 delivery of HD locals will trickle down to smaller markets like K-ville and even longer for me up here.

OTA isn't bad, it's actually the best picture quality available, but you'll need an antenna and an indoor one may or may not work depending on where you are.

I have D* as well as OTA myself.

The TN/KY game OTA from WVLT actually looked pretty good. WVLT HD pq is very inconsistent, though. I'm not sure whether it's more consistent via cable (possibly) as they get it through fiber.

Grace,
Be aware that DirecTV does not offer local channels (in High Def) in the Knoxville area.Locals are digital,but not high def.It will eventually offer HD locals.Most in Knoxville are able to get OTA(antenna) High Definition signals for ABC,CBS,NBC,FOX.These are free,but you do need a HD tuner that picks up the OTA signal.It is built into many high def "receivers" offered by DirecTV and other sources.Comcast cable has HD locals included (not OTA).
Give us more info(approx where do you live?) and you'll get a better answer.

I have regular comcast cable. I'm now shopping for a service for HDTV- should I go with comcast digital or directv? I want to get local channels. My sister has directv (w HDTV) and I sampled it yesterday and the Florida/Kentucky game looked good but it didn't "pop" like I've seen other HDTV signals at restaurants etc. It seemed like she had only a handful of HDTV shows for me to look at- Does Comcast have more?
I mainly watch things like "Survivor", "Big Brother" a few sitcoms, college football (and the Colts).
Can anyone give me advice?
Thanks.

Grace....

For the past couple years HDTV has been building up, but the reality was it was more of a novelty or a toy of the elite and/or obsessive.

Luckily, HDTV seems to be sticking and it seems all content creators (networks, show makers), content providers (TV stations, Cable and Satellite, production facilities), and hardware manufacturers are all working on updating everything to HDTV standards. So it is definitely in the future.

The problem is, current day HDTV - and for the next year or five, can be an exercise of frustration. Not everything is HDTV yet... in fact, things you would think would be HDTV aren't. For example, yesterday I was flipping through stations and on channel 7 I see a re-broadcast of a local Friday night high-school football game done as a single camera production with no graphics, but in HDTV! I thought that was very cool. Then I look at the networks which are showing big college football games and golf NOT in HDTV. :rolleyes: Then I see the Florida game in HDTV on WVLT-CBS and it looks terrible. :( I don't know who was to blame for it, but I would guess it's on WVLT's end... the broadcast picture (not cable or Satellite!) was so highly compressed every time there was movement on the screen it was a mess of big blocks.

Prime-time programming fares much better- most major filmed drama shows or studio-based sitcoms are HDTV and look excellent. If you watch programs like Lost, 24, American Idol, etc., you will be very happy with the quality of HDTV. :cool: ...That is, when the local network affiliates remember to switch the digital signal over to the HDTV feed! :rolleyes:

One the other hand, prime-time news and taped reality shows usually aren't HDTV. For some reason, Mark Burnett (Survivor, the Apprentice shows) nor Jerry Bruckheimer (Amazing Race) hasn't committed their productions to HDTV yet. One would think those guys should be setting the bar for the quality of reality TV!

I know I haven't answered your question about Comcast vs. DirecTV... but that's only one part of the problem. My quick advice would be if you can afford a HD DirecTivo like this one (http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/imagine/HDDVR.dsp), and you are in a location where you can get all the local digital stations via an antenna, go for DirecTV.

However, keep in mind that most of the programs you mentioned aren't in HDTV yet. :( :(

Here's the way I see HDTV quality in terms of shows on a scale from one to five stars:

Local origination (Knoxville local news and programming): *
Afternoon programing (soap operas, Regis, Oprah, etc.): * (CBS's Bold and Beautiful looks real good in HDTV, but it's a rare exception)
Afternoon college sports: **
Prime-time or "big game" college sports: **1/2
Professional Sports: *** (golf rarely in HD, but Nascar usually is and looks great. Baseball is a mixed bag, big game pro football usually looks very good)
Prime-time Reality TV: **1/2 (American Idol is one of the best looking HDTV shows, but why no Survivor, Apprentice, or Amazing Race????)
Prime-time News Shows: * (Don't even bother with 60 minutes, 48 hours, etc.)
Prime-time Sitcoms: **** (the studio based and filmed comedies shows look very good)
Prime-time Dramas: ***** (24, Lost, CSI, ER, West Wing and just about every popular network drama show is the real reason to own an HDTV)
Broadcast movies: **** (most movies on network are transferred to HD and look good to great, and add a star for HBO-HD... another reason to own an HDTV!)
Late-night TV: ** (Leno was one of the first HD shows and looks amazing, but Letterman, Conan and Saturday Night Live have all committed to HDTV this season but I haven't seen them yet... I would guess this will jump to three, four, or even five stars very soon!)

Here's my breakdown of Knoxville's TV stations and how I feel they are doing with HDTV:

WATE- ABC : **1/2 (when it's good, it's good... but very often is late or sometimes missing the switch from SD to HD on the digital signal)
WMAK- Independent: ** (I give props for being the first local station to really commit to HD with advertising and high school football, but with no HD programming it's just not really worth watching from an HD perspective.)
WVLT- CBS: ** (much like WATE, will often miss the HD switch on the digitial signal, or will switch to SD 15 minutes before news time. Also, WVLT's HD sports looks very compressed, and word from other markets are this isn't a CBS problem! Also, no Dolby Digital sound.)
WBIR- NBC: **1/2 (I haven't had much problems with channel 10 but I don't watch enough NBC. I haven't seen any commitment toward HDTV though, and I subtracted a 1/2 star because they have annoying grey sidebars during their local SD broadcast on digital. I guess they assume everyone has plasma? :rolleyes: )
WKOP- PBS: **** (Everything is HD and most looks real good... but what's up with the hissy non-Dolby audio?)
WTNZ- FOX: ****1/2 (No real local commitment to HD locally, but flawless network support)
WBXX- WB: ??? (The only station I can't pick up digitally- I receive the SD feed from DirecTV)

Those are all my opinions based on what I watch and have seen, so other viewer's milage may vary. Anyone have any agreements or disagreements?

Thanks for all the info-
I live in North Knoxville.
Seems like Directv is most recommended- after seeing my sister's directv, I was leaning towards Comcast. Could I buy an OTA antenna to go with comcast or is that just if you already have a satelite dish?

How are "old" theater released movies broadcast on HDTV ?

I realize that shows like Letterman and sporting events can be "live" or "saved on tape" and go out as a high defintion signal.

However, what about "old" theater movies? Are they broadcast from a "regular 480i" DVD disk media from some kind of advanced DVD player ?

Some movies that are only available on DVD in the 2:35 format appear as (16:9) full screen from the networks. But, they do not appear to have any better PQ than my DVD to HDTV.

Thanks in advance for any information.

Grace...

I'm in North Knoxville also - Fountain City to be precise. The reason to go with an antenna is for subscribers of DirecTV to get the digital channels, or if you want to forgo any sort of paid content provider. With just an antenna plugged into a HDTV that has a built-in tuner, you can get some amazing HD content FREE! :cool:

Most of Knoxville's channels are up on Sharp's Ridge and can be picked up with just about any antenna. I hear the "Silver Sensor" by Zenith mentioned as a surprising solid indoor antenna... much better than anything by Terk. I haven't tried it yet because my current antenna does a good job, but I've been tempted to give that little thing a shot. It can be found at Sears and other places on-line.

With that said, you might want to try Comcast before you commit to installing a dish. If you want to sign up for high-speed internet you get a discount if you are a cable subscriber, and the integration of local HD channels and premium HD without an antenna makes things easy. They always have specials running to get people to sign up. I can't comment on Comcast's quality of HDTV, but I will say the high-speed Internet is awesome and for me their installation guys showed up on time and did a good job. My big complaint with Comcast, as I mentioned previously in this thread, has been their billing and phone support.

...also, don't forget Knology! I haven't heard anyone comment on them, but remember that Comcast isn't he only cable game in town.

Still, my advice if you can afford it is DirecTV, an HD DirecTivo PVR with a Zenith Silver Sensor antenna. The HD DirecTivo has four tuners, 2 antenna tuners and 2 satellite tuners, so you can record two HD shows at once and still watch a third. Best of all, it's Tivo - which has become our house's best friend. :D

First post! I picked up the $89 OTA receiver from RS about 3 weeks ago for my first foray into DTV. S-Video output looks great on my 11 year-old Mitsubishi 25."

I'm in the Bitters/Blanco area, using a $12 RCA VHF/UHF rabbit ears/loop and getting good reception next to a south-facing second-floor window on all of the Bexar County signals. I have an optimal orientation for this antenna that works for all of the signals except KLRN. With a 45-degree rotation of the antenna and the "ears" fully extended, I can receive a solid signal from KLRN. (Having to manually rotate the antenna back and forth during channel scan on the receiver is a bit of a challenge, but I've made it work. :))

Realthogue, I've been enjoying the hurricane coverage from WWL and KHOU on 5.2. It's kind of a drag when I'm watching at 3:00 on weekday afternoons to see it get switched out in favor of the weather radar. I wish that your commercial competitors made more use of the digital channels for alternate programming like that. For me, the novelty has worn off for the Transguide cameras and the WeatherPlus channel.

I also think it would be interesting to see those SD channels used for time-shifting, like playing the previous night's primetime lineup, or playing the west coast feed of the same night's lineup. I could also see one of those channels being a great place to loop your station's most recent newscast. Just keep feeding it over and over, commercials and all!

Question for Realthogue and any other local affiliate folks... why don't you use all 4 of your digital channels? Are they costly to operate or is it a matter of finding product to put in that pipeline?

Pretty much all movies ever made have been converted to SD video (VHS/DVD quality), but a movie has to be specifically converted to HD video. Some have and most have not. I would assume that its up to the studios whether/when to "re-convert" their films to HD. Realize that they are probably paranoid about copies from HD. I was surprised to see "I, Robot" on HBOHD last night.

DaverJ, I already have comcast internet- I'm paying $45 for it plus regular cable. Is that too much? I feel like I'm getting ripped off.
The Zenith Silver Sensor antenna sounds like a good idea. I may try just getting that and seeing how it looks. I have an Infocus 4805- wonder how it'll look on that?

Thanks.

I have an Infocus 4805- wonder how it'll look on that?

I don't think that Infocus has a tuner, so you'll need some sort of box to display HD signals through your projector.

As for the high-speed internet, that's pretty much the going rate for 4meg downloads. Since you are already a Comcast customer, you might want to try their HD box and hook it up to that Infocus.

"...Realthogue, I've been enjoying the hurricane coverage from WWL and KHOU on 5.2. It's kind of a drag when I'm watching at 3:00 on weekday afternoons to see it get switched out in favor of the weather radar. I wish that your commercial competitors made more use of the digital channels for alternate programming like that. For me, the novelty has worn off for the Transguide cameras and the WeatherPlus channel.

I also think it would be interesting to see those SD channels used for time-shifting, like playing the previous night's primetime lineup, or playing the west coast feed of the same night's lineup. I could also see one of those channels being a great place to loop your station's most recent newscast. Just keep feeding it over and over, commercials and all!

Question for Realthogue and any other local affiliate folks... why don't you use all 4 of your digital channels? Are they costly to operate or is it a matter of finding product to put in that pipeline?..."

During the times we switched to our radar, WWL had switched to their direct path at their transmitter in Gretna, LA. No signal was available to us, other than a board showing the scheduled times of their broadcasts. We'd rather put up our radar just in case a rogue shower pops up instead of a board that never changes.

That's a good suggestion, to re-run prime time or other shows. We're not set up to do that, and there are some problems with a second run of certain shows not in prime time and in lesser quality than intended, but a good idea nevertheless. When DTV is all there is, there will be more of a reason to do something like that.

1. Our current hardware permits one HD channel and one multicast channel. I divert most of the available bitstream budget into the HD side, for better looking pictures. In spite of the low bitrate on the multicast channel, it looks not so bad as a source of information. We kept KHOU's broadcast on as long as possible, until they returned to regular programming.
2. It doesn't cost any more to run a second, or multicast channel. It IS a matter of acquiring the rights to broadcast material on that channel. If the sales department can't realize a return (ROI - remember those letters) on the purchase of programming, we're not likely to broadcast it. You can expect to see more public-service style programs on our 5.2 multicast, as they become available. I think you'll see more growth in the DTV evolution as more and more consumers like you continue to demand better service. Not everyone is aware of the capabilities inherent in DTV multicasting.

Help with setup!!

I added a Samsung receiver to my projector via component and s-video. I also added a zenith silver sensor antenna and all I'm getting is one channel- channel 7??? how do I get the major networks: CBS, NBC and ABC?

I assume you did a channel scan?

If so, you may need to play with antenna placement/aiming. There's no guarantee of getting them all with an indoor antenna depending on where you are.

Go to http://www.antennaweb.org for compass bearings to the towers from your location. Another site is http://www.2150.com/broadcast/default.asp for the same info.

Grace...

Interesting - digitally you are getting WMAK which is assigned the frequency of channel 7 and all the other channels are assigned the frequency of 17 through 34.

My guess is because the frequency 7 was a part of the VHF spectrum and all the other channels are in the UHF spectrum, your Silver Sensor is only acting as a VHF antenna and is missing the rest of the digital channels.

Does anyone know if this is the case, and how she can fix this?

EDIT: I just did a little research on the Zenith Silver Sensor and found out it is a UHF antenna only... which is strange because Grace should have gotten all channels EXCEPT channel 7! On Amazon and it said it was a UHF-only device, but to also get the VHF channels it said "you can install a device referred to as a "antenna combiner" which will combine the two antenna output signals into one 75 ohms for a single connection."

But this doesn't explain why Grace is only getting a VHF channel on a UHF antenna? :confused:

Grace - what is the model number of the Samsung tuner, and do you know if it has both NTSC and ATSC tuners?

It's more likely that the antenna isn't aimed properly and the wider beamwidth at channel 7 still allows for reception. The other possibility would be some intervening obstruction to the signal with channel 7's ability to "bend" more allowing reception.
Finally, the antenna could be picking up a secondary reflection and not a direct signal at all.

This assumes a channel scan has been performed.

The Silver Sensor is primarily a UHF antenna but will do fairly well with VHF high band (7-13). A combiner (diplexer) is only necessary if you are adding a second (presumably dedicated vhf) antenna. Otherwise the antenna should function fine for wideband but will have less gain for vhf hi and almost no gain for vhf lo.

It's more likely that the antenna isn't aimed properly and the wider beamwidth at channel 7 still allows for reception. The other possibility would be some intervening obstruction to the signal with channel 7's ability to "bend" more allowing reception.
Finally, the antenna could be picking up a secondary reflection and not a direct signal at all.

This assumes a channel scan has been performed.

The Silver Sensor is primarily a UHF antenna but will do fairly well with VHF high band (7-13).

That might be... Grace, make sure your antenna is aimed to the SouthWest. If you are still only picking up WMAK, keep aiming more to the West- which would probably mean rotating it to the right.

I fixed my problem- I was stupid enough to think that channel 10 was channel 10, etc- I didn't know these were different (and higher) channels. I now have everthing and it looks awesome. But now I'm mad I didn't get it sooner. American Idol, Big Brother and the UT- LSU would have been so much better:)

Thanks for all that offered assistant.

The Late Show With David Letterman in HDTV had a short introduction before CBS introduced non-HD reruns. We were quite surprised this week when on Monday night CBS rolled out - a rerun in SD. :rolleyes:

All the more surprising was that we received no calls, no emails, no posts here either, to complain that Letterman was no longer in HDTV. My speculation is that Dave took a vacation and CBS had no library of shows that had been recorded in a HDTV format, so we'll have to wait until Dave comes back for the Hi-Rez version.

Until then, KENS-DT will experiment with audio a little, mostly to improve the surround imaging of shows not produced in 5.1 Surround. Before the Dolby-E rollout, we used an AC-3 decoder that gave great results on stereo shows. I'm going to repurpose that box to enhance shows like Letterman and the daytime drama "The Young and The Restless" to improve on the surround imaging. ;)

Thanks for your patience and understanding; as soon as Letterman is available in HD we'll have him back!

Anyone have any information about when we might get ESPN2HD? I guess I could send TW an email but you usually get a stock non-answer.

I asked a cust service rep about ESPN2 HD and WB HD earlier this year and she told me they don't exist. She said she could only take requests to add HD channels available and that I already had everything available. When I tried to explain that while watching ESPN2 or WB I would see programs saying "available in HD", she tried to tell me that meant I was already seeing them in HD.

(sigh)

Send them a request, by all means. Bug them about Fox and WB HD and Universal HD while you're at it. If you get an intelligent response, please post it here.

WATE either forgot to flip the switch for MNF or had some technical problem. Looked good on WKPT though.

Hello,

I just got my HDTV here in sunny ole SA. I picked up Sony's XBR960, which has a built-in tuner. Connecting the TV to the cable (I have Roadrunner, but I hadn't bothered ordering regular cable yet).... I get some seemingly random channels.

I get 4.1 (WOAI, NBC I guess), 9.2 (KLRN HD, PBS), 12.1 (ABC I believe), 81.78 (not a clue), 108 (which says KLRN DT, not sure of the difference, but it pops out alot), 111.642 which is WOAI weather, and some traffic guide pictures, 116.91 ANOTHER pbs, no dt/hd label, and some video-on-demand channels I assume are coming through the cable.

I live in an apartment on the Northwest side (think I-10 & 1604). So I can't get these outdoor attennas that people are mentioning. Is a set-top attenna worthwhile? Am I to understand that I can't get fox HD or the WB via Time Warner? Since I have the built-in tuner, I'm guessing the attenna is all I lack...

Also, my TV did its "search" when I was first setting up my TV for available channels. I take it I'll need to tune manually to these channels I lack. Since they seem to have... decimal points & such, where can I go for a list of channels to TRY to tune to?

Hello,

I just got my HDTV here in sunny ole SA. I picked up Sony's XBR960, which has a built-in tuner. Connecting the TV to the cable (I have Roadrunner, but I hadn't bothered ordering regular cable yet).... I get some seemingly random channels.

I get 4.1 (WOAI, NBC I guess), 9.2 (KLRN HD, PBS), 12.1 (ABC I believe), 81.78 (not a clue), 108 (which says KLRN DT, not sure of the difference, but it pops out alot), 111.642 which is WOAI weather, and some traffic guide pictures, 116.91 ANOTHER pbs, no dt/hd label, and some video-on-demand channels I assume are coming through the cable.

I live in an apartment on the Northwest side (think I-10 & 1604). So I can't get these outdoor attennas that people are mentioning. Is a set-top attenna worthwhile? Am I to understand that I can't get fox HD or the WB via Time Warner? Since I have the built-in tuner, I'm guessing the attenna is all I lack...

Also, my TV did its "search" when I was first setting up my TV for available channels. I take it I'll need to tune manually to these channels I lack. Since they seem to have... decimal points & such, where can I go for a list of channels to TRY to tune to?

I live on the north side as well (Fredericksburg Road), and I have TWC. I bought a fairly inexpensive indoor antenna from radio shack to pick up Fox HD and WB and It works great. I usually leave it on fox but if i turn it in the right direction I get WB as well.

where can I go for a list of channels to TRY to tune to?
Hello Jitawa. I would recommend that your first stop in this search be http://antennaweb.org. Enter in your street address and the site will tell you the orientation and distance to the local DTV transmitters. That will tell you which stations you are most likely to receive. Antennaweb's estimates of what is receivable with a set-top antenna and what requires a rooftop antenna are on the conservative side, so YMMV.

Entering your zip code at http://checkhd.com will give you a list of the programming on the local DTV channels. That should give you some idea which ones you want to make the effort to tune in on your receiver.

Does anyone know where I can buy a good quality OTC antenna in SAT? I need a terrestrial DB4 or winnegard or channelmaster and a mast and mount.

Did you mean OTA antenna or am I missing something? Other than Radio Shack and Lowe's (two "RCA" branded vhf/uhf combi's) you will probably have to travel to Austin or Houson to find anything.

Does anyone know where I can buy a good quality OTC antenna in SAT? I need a terrestrial DB4 or winnegard or channelmaster and a mast and mount.I see 6 listings in the latest SBC Yellow Pages under "Antennas." I'd try those places.

I see 6 listings in the latest SBC Yellow Pages under "Antennas." I'd try those places.

Shoulda let my fingers do da walkin' fot ma mouth done the talking! Let us know what they have for sefl-install. Been playing with the idea of making one pick up FOX HD sine it's not avail on TWC.

During the times we switched to our radar, WWL had switched to their direct path at their transmitter in Gretna, LA. No signal was available to us, other than a board showing the scheduled times of their broadcasts. We'd rather put up our radar just in case a rogue shower pops up instead of a board that never changes.

That's a good suggestion, to re-run prime time or other shows. We're not set up to do that, and there are some problems with a second run of certain shows not in prime time and in lesser quality than intended, but a good idea nevertheless. When DTV is all there is, there will be more of a reason to do something like that.

1. Our current hardware permits one HD channel and one multicast channel. I divert most of the available bitstream budget into the HD side, for better looking pictures. In spite of the low bitrate on the multicast channel, it looks not so bad as a source of information. We kept KHOU's broadcast on as long as possible, until they returned to regular programming.
2. It doesn't cost any more to run a second, or multicast channel. It IS a matter of acquiring the rights to broadcast material on that channel. If the sales department can't realize a return (ROI - remember those letters) on the purchase of programming, we're not likely to broadcast it. You can expect to see more public-service style programs on our 5.2 multicast, as they become available. I think you'll see more growth in the DTV evolution as more and more consumers like you continue to demand better service. Not everyone is aware of the capabilities inherent in DTV multicasting.

Well... Kens is totally gone now. I don't understand the problem. Why can't you get your license? Is this a political issue? I can pick up everything except KENS. I would be embarassed if I were you. It sounds like very poor planning on KENS part. Everyone else is on except KENS. Blaming this on Mexico seems like a cop out. Somebody isn't taking this seriously. As long as SA is covered, you seem to be satisfied. I wouldn't be. I think there is some other issue that is stopping the signal from reaching Pleasanton. Either that or it isn't compatible with all HDTV gear.

Ed

Here in Live Oak I am get a good signal (60-70%) with a homemade 5 element yagi placed about 15 in from the ceiling. The yagi was cut for FOX channel 30 and not KENS Ch 55.

Well... Kens is totally gone now. I don't understand the problem. Why can't you get your license? Is this a political issue? I can pick up everything except KENS. I would be embarassed if I were you. It sounds like very poor planning on KENS part. Everyone else is on except KENS. Blaming this on Mexico seems like a cop out. Somebody isn't taking this seriously. As long as SA is covered, you seem to be satisfied. I wouldn't be. I think there is some other issue that is stopping the signal from reaching Pleasanton. Either that or it isn't compatible with all HDTV gear.

Ed
Perhaps I was too hard on Jerry. I know he is very supportive of this site. However, I still do not receive KENS. Jerry, I apologize. However, I still do not pick up KENS. But I do pick up KLRN, NBC, ABC, and FOX.

Ed

KENS lipsynch problems this mornimg on the Early Show was the worst I've ever seen! It seemed to clear up about 8 40 am.

HEY, Jerry is not to blame...he is the only one that seems to care...look at their didgital radar on sub ch 2...paiting storms to the southwest that don't exist at least I cant find them onNWS or WOA?????????

HEY, Jerry is not to blame...he is the only one that seems to care...look at their didgital radar on sub ch 2...paiting storms to the southwest that don't exist at least I cant find them onNWS or WOA?????????KENS has their own radar network in the VIPIR system that is displayed on 5-2. It's a separate system from the ones used by NWS and WOAI. It's entirely possible that any of the three would show something different from the other two.

KENS has their own radar network in the VIPIR system that is displayed on 5-2. It's a separate system from the ones used by NWS and KENS. It's entirely possible that any of the three would show something different from the other two.
My implied point was that not many at KENS appear to really care what their station puts out over the airwaves. These were big storm returns between here and Corpus Christi. I've seen this before on the weekends and fridays storms stay painted until monday. Too much trouble to complain 'cause no one at KENS responds.

Well... Kens is totally gone now. I don't understand the problem. Why can't you get your license? Is this a political issue? I can pick up everything except KENS. I would be embarassed if I were you. It sounds like very poor planning on KENS part. Everyone else is on except KENS. Blaming this on Mexico seems like a cop out. Somebody isn't taking this seriously. As long as SA is covered, you seem to be satisfied. I wouldn't be. I think there is some other issue that is stopping the signal from reaching Pleasanton. Either that or it isn't compatible with all HDTV gear.

Ed,

we ARE embarrassed. Every time I answer a post like this one, or take a telephone call, or answer an email, I convey that embarrassment to the viewer. Poor planning on KENS' part? Maybe; some of the decisions that went into the Construction Permit were made in 1997, without the knowledge of the current engineering management team, myself included. At that time KENS was not even owned by the A. H. Belo Corporation, our present parent. It doesn't matter now who erred; assigning blame does not speed resolution of the problem.

And actually, I don't believe it is about Mexico. I learned today that our very own beloved FCC has taken no action on any requests in the past quarter.

No action.

It is our government who is not taking this seriously. You want to do something constructive? Write:

Federal Communications Commission,
445 12th St. SW,
Washington DC 20554.

The FCC entertains comments and complaints at fccinfo@fcc.gov.

You can write to the Chairman at KJMWEB@fcc.gov or the individual commissioners:

Kathleen Q. Abernathy, kathleen.abernathy@fcc.gov,
Michael J. Copps, michael.copps@fcc.gov or
Jonathan Adelstein, jonathan.adelstein@fcc.gov.

Maybe one of them can answer the question, "...why can't (KENS) get your license?"

Ask also, "...Why have you taken no action on any DTV license requests in the past several months? We were under the impression that Congress and the FCC were eager to roll out high-power DTV stations. What's the holdup?"

Maybe they'll answer you.

Is it political? Probably. Have they singled you out in Pleasanton? I don't think so. Looking at my coverage map I am hard-pressed to understand why you do not receive KENS-DT in Pleasanton, but I can't control that. We are radiating sufficient power to reach Pleasanton and beyond. Viewers farther away than Pleasanton report that they do receive KENS - even at our low power. I have not yet heard of our signal as incompatible with all HDTV equipment. We conform to all relevant ATSC Digital Television standards.

Is KENS taking this problem seriously?

Do you seriously believe we don't care about broadcasting with the maximum power we can?

My implied point was that not many at KENS appear to really care what their station puts out over the airwaves. These were big storm returns between here and Corpus Christi. I've seen this before on the weekends and fridays storms stay painted until monday. Too much trouble to complain 'cause no one at KENS responds.

Our weather folk have commented on this in the past. What you sometimes see are false returns that look like really strong storms that don't exist. I will pass along your comment to the Weather department.

KENS lipsynch problems this mornimg on the Early Show was the worst I've ever seen! It seemed to clear up about 8 40 am.

Didn't notice this on the DTV side but CBS were having their own problems on the New York origination. Possibly the problem compounded when we upconverted the NTSC feed to ATSC? I don't know. I am working on audio enhancements right now so I'll watch Prime Time, Letterman and the Early show closely.

What's this "KENS doesn't care" stuff anyway? I think we do the best we can. Our priorities may not be yours at any given moment but in the long term, our customer service target is the viewing audience.

You are why we are here in the first place.

What's this "KENS doesn't care" stuff anyway? I think we do the best we can. Our priorities may not be yours at any given moment but in the long term, our customer service target is the viewing audience.

You are why we are here in the first place.

Jerry,

You have been very helpful and supportive in the past. I am just a very frustrated KENS viewer. We watch more KENS programs than any other. You are the only station that supports this site, which is commendable. I don't know if it is a poor receiver or all the trees (40 feet tall) that surround our home and antenna. All I know is I receive the other stations that the antenna points at except for KENS. I will send mail to those you suggested, however, they will probably not respond. Unless others do the same. I seem to be the only KENS viewer that has any problems. One email doesn't get much attention. I am pretty sure that the OTA HDTV viewer list is pretty small compared to analog and cable.

Regards
Ed

Ed,

I think the count of HD viewers of all stripes in our area is about 100,000, based on a crude rule of thumb derived from calls, letters and sales estimates of DTV receivers, set-top boxes, cable subscribers and satellite TV customers. In truth I don't know the accurate count but lately I get almost as much DTV traffic as I do analog. Analog viewers typically ask about audio issues (many do not realize the SAP feature is enabled on their receivers and they don't know how to return the set to Stereo operation) and plain old reception problems. Cable viewers never do any maintenance on their connectors or cables, so after a while they start to see ingress on channel 4 and 5 (mostly 5, for some reason) and complain to us. We advise every one to check and tighten all the cable connections in their home. If that doesn't work for the cable viewers we refer them to Time-Warner for a service call.

Where's this going? To me, the one viewer I can connect with is the viewer I keep for a long time. It's like sales, in a way. The quick sell is to get the customer to buy and move on. No thought given to repeat business. The best salespeople like to see their customers coming back again and again. Keeping even one customer (viewer!) satisfied with your service will grow your good will and eventually the customer base. One email or letter may not seem like much, but it is a sign that something is wrong, and we need to fix it. I know adding more power will absolutely eliminate your reception problem, I just can't (legally) do it yet. And you are not the only one with reception problems. Hopefully we'll get to the bottom of this soon. Thanks for your patience.

To me, the one viewer I can connect with is the viewer I keep for a long time. That's a great perspective, Jerry. I worked at a couple of TV stations in another market ~15 years ago, and I can't imagine hearing those words and most of the rest of that post come from the mouths, er, keyboards of my former colleagues in the Engineering departments there. (Most of whom had worked at the same station since Ike was in the White House.) They seemed more interested in turf wars and laying obstacles in front of anyone who wanted to purchase new equipment or have existing equipment reconfigured to provide new capabilities. Their pushback was a big reason that I got out of working in broadcasting, despite having a master's degree in the field. It really drained the fun out of it for me.

Times have probably changed, and this is a different market with different corporate owners in town. I just wanted to say that its refreshing to see a customer-centric approach from an "engineer." Folks in this forum should recognize that it's exceptional that you are willing to respond publicly, here, where your customers can read it. :)

You are right on target about your cable connections. I was having a problem with OTA signals lately. I only watch some HD programming OTA. Generally football on Sunday. I think the picture is better than TWC. (no FOXHD at all)

Finally I could not get FOX at all and the others were in and out.

Turns out I had moved my TV recently and the cable to my antenna connection was coming out of the connector. Put a new connector on and all signals are stronger than before (KENS is at 92)

I am almost downtown (near Woodlawn Lake)

Hook 'em

I didn't catch the last half of LOST. I was watching the recording from Comcast and at about 9:31 PM the picture went black and was still off at 11:15PM. I checked my OTA Box to confirm and no signal there either.

ABC has been pixilating and dropping Dolby a lot the last few days.

Knoxville
OTA and Comcast

I wonder if anyone can help me. I have read most of this forum, but cant find a real answer. I installed a Terrestrial DB4 multidirectional antenna to my roof and pointed it SW as noted on antennaweb.org. We live in Terrel Hills 78209 on Garraty Rd. There is no blockage in the SW direction or the NE (for UPN).I have pointed the antenna slightly upwards to the sky (15 degrees) due to installation issues (not by choice) to get it over the roof line.

I am only getting 41.1, 12,1, 4.1, 29.1 and 5.1 (I also get 9.1 (PBS) but it is in non HD quality. This is only 1 channel better than my rabbit ears from Target and NBC is less strong with the outdoor rooftop antenna than the rabbit ears to boot!

The tech at the place I bought the antenna said this antenna would get all the HD channels in full signal.

Does anyone know what I can do to improve the signal and get the rest of the channels I am supposed to get?

Thanks

Bigdaddyo,

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that most of the transmitters are East of downtown, so from your area, I would think you should be pointed mostly south and a little east. Also, WB is in Kerrville (Nrothwest).

good luck
michael

...I installed a Terrestrial DB4 multidirectional antenna to my roof and pointed it SW as noted on antennaweb.org. We live in Terrel Hills 78209 on Garraty Rd. There is no blockage in the SW direction or the NE (for UPN).I have pointed the antenna slightly upwards to the sky (15 degrees) due to installation issues (not by choice) to get it over the roof line...


Bigdaddyo,

you bought a good antenna but it is UHF only. That you get 9.1 at all is a good thing, but a small VHF antenna combined with your db4 will bring in the remainder of KLRN's services. From your location you should point your antenna SE, not SW. UPN 2 (KBEJ) does not broadcast in HD and the transmitter is outside Blanco, TX, about 75 miles away, so that would take an enormous VHF antenna just for acceptable analog reception. I don't think I would point the antenna upwards at all, unless you can't avoid it. There's not usually any sky wave propagation to be captured in that frequency range, and you'll be adversely affected by tropo ducting when it does occur.

Most of the DTV transmitters in San Antonio are located outside Elmendorf, TX, southeast of town. They're a few miles east of Calaveras lake. KRRT is the exception, with its transmitter in Lake Hills, near Medina Lake. KPXL has no DTV capability yet, either.

Point your antenna to the southeast. Get a small VHF antenna for KLRN if you want it, and use a combiner to join the two. If you want KRRT a small UHF directional pointed to the northwest will do the job if you don't already get a usable signal.

See also the AVS Antenna Forum for other pointers.

Sorry, it IS pointed SE, not SW ( my typo).

Thanks for your responses. Here's my real questions I guess.

1. I seem to get no real better reception with this big grill like antenna on my roof than I do from the little rabbit ear thing I bought at Target except that I get one more channel. Is there any benefit to it?

2. a) Isnt PBS supposed to be in HD? I get 4 out of 4 bars in strength on my 9.1 channel and good reception as well on my 9.2, 9.3 and 9.4 channels (I have a media center xp with a digital tuner so I have to set the channels manually)

c) Why cant I get WB if this db4 antenna is supposed to pick up multidirectional? Will a rabbit ear pick up WB or it's just not powerful enough?



Thanks so much

1. I seem to get no real better reception with this big grill like antenna on my roof than I do from the little rabbit ear thing I bought at Target except that I get one more channel. Is there any benefit to it?

2. a) Isnt PBS supposed to be in HD? I get 4 out of 4 bars in strength on my 9.1 channel and good reception as well on my 9.2, 9.3 and 9.4 channels (I have a media center xp with a digital tuner so I have to set the channels manually)

c) Why cant I get WB if this db4 antenna is supposed to pick up multidirectional? Will a rabbit ear pick up WB or it's just not powerful enough?


Good questions all...I'll give you my thoughts and I know other Forum members will probably chime in.

1. The big benefit is in better carrier to noise ratio, which will result in better picture quality overall. What sort of cable did you use to connect the db4 between the antenna and receiver?

2. PBS, like the rest of us, does not broadcast everything in HD. If you go on line to http://www.klrn.org, they'll have their DTV program schedules available and you'll be able to find their HD content. I am still surprised you get such good reception on a VHF station with a UHF array. More power to ya!

3. In spite of the "multidirectional" ability of the db4, it is still a directional array, although not so much so as the 8-bay Channelmaster 4228. I think Terrestrial means that as long as the "bowties" face the transmitting antennas in general, even though they are 50 or 60 degrees apart, the db4 will perform well. Posts in the AVS Antenna Forum and other sites appear to support their assertion. In your case, however, KRRT (WB) is essentially behind your array and off to the west. I suspect that has a lot to do with your WB reception issues. Plus, I think KRRT-DT, like KENS-DT, may not be at full licensed power just yet. I'll be talking to someone in the know about that tomorrow and I'll let you know.

Jerry
Thanks for your prompt respones.

1. I used a standard coaxial cable I had in the house. It runs into my main box that has a Home Director amplifier built into the box that routes it to the rest of the house. Do I need a different cable?

2. Is there a noticeable difference with the better quality signal if the difference on the receiver is 3 bars versus 4? I can either have these little rabbit ears next to my plasma tv or have this big grill like thing on the roof. I may try to put it in the attic to hide it.- any thoughts?

1. I used a standard coaxial cable I had in the house. It runs into my main box that has a Home Director amplifier built into the box that routes it to the rest of the house. Do I need a different cable?
No, all you need is a standard RG-6 type coaxial cable and that'll do.


2. Is there a noticeable difference with the better quality signal if the difference on the receiver is 3 bars versus 4? I can either have these little rabbit ears next to my plasma tv or have this big grill like thing on the roof. I may try to put it in the attic to hide it.- any thoughts?
In our market I don't think there will be a substantive difference between three bars versus four; if the rabbit ears work well for most cases the question really is, "...do you want to have them on display beside your plasma?" The "bars" are quite arbitrary and relative, and do not necessarily represent a calibrated signal level that would compare equitably among receivers from several different manufacturers. In the early days a few years back, the better the antenna the better your reception, since not everyone was at full power. All of us are STILL not at full power, but we're getting there. And if the rabbit ears work well for you...

I did confirm today that KRRT-DT (WB) is operating at greatly reduced power. If you point your db4 to WNW you might get them (at the risk of losing some of the ones you get now.)

TitanTV.com still has UPN 2 going digital in November. Can anyone confirm?

TitanTV.com still has UPN 2 going digital in November. Can anyone confirm?
Yes. I can confirm that UPN 2 is not "going digital" in November. To the best of my knowledge, the owners of KBEJ-TV (UPN 2) will wait for the final DTV allocation before making a decision to go to another channel or apply for a digital buildout on channel 2.

Jerry,

First, I would like to thank you for keeping us updated in this thread. I am also one of the people that is having trouble pulling in KENS-DT. Thanks to you though, I now just record everything using the SD channel until you guys go full power (whenever that will be). The nice thing is that at least we know what is going on thanks to you.

I haven't read this entire thread so excuse me if this has already been asked. Does anyone know why KRRT-HD sounds so terrible? The sound is distorted and slightly ahead of the video. It's been bugging the crap out of me and I can't understand why they haven't fixed it yet. It's be going on for months. The PQ on the WB HD programming is great but the sound is horrible!

And I have a question. Is anyone else but me having trouble getting WOAI-DT?

No problem with any locals except for WB(don't have my antenna aimed that way)

I have 90+ signal strength on NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX.

WOAI is the strongest at 98 others are around 92-95.

I was having a problem but it turned out to be a loose connector on the cable to the antenna.

And I have a question. Is anyone else but me having trouble getting WOAI-DT?No problem here. WOAI-DT has a very stong signal on my end of town (Ingram Mall Area)

Randolph area is fine!

Thanks - WOAI-DT reception problem is mine - thanks everyone!

Until about a week ago TWC was carrying several but not all (ABC, NBC, PBS, but not CBS or Fox) of the local HD/DT channels unscrambled on Tier 1 of basic cable. Now the frequencies for those HD/DT stations in basic cable Tier 1 are showing poor signal strength and will not tune in, which I believe means that TWC has stopped carrying them.

I understand that it is unclear as a matter of law and regulation how cable systems' "must carry" rules apply to local channels' HD/DT broadcasts. Some cable systems do carry them, and some do not. My questions are this:

1. has anyone recently lost the unscrambled local HD/DT channels on TWC SA basic cable?

2. is this the result of a policy change by TWC SA or is it some sort of technical issue?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Reynolds

I was watching them but gave uo and went OTA. Seems like TWC somehow blipped them at oddball intervals ranging from 5 min to more than 45 min. What would happen is that suddenly then station diappeared and the encrypted signal sign would come on but all I had to do was to channel on up or down and Id get the station right back even within seconds. These dropouts were random and not on the same channel at the same time. PBS is all messed up both OTA and via cable but their sub channels 3 & 4 seem OK. If it wee not for HBO and Discovery I drop TWC!

Right now (1050am) KLRN has a good signal but its in 480i. In fact all the San Antonio stations are coming in at better than 70%. FOX at 720 is great and one of thje reasons I went OTA...not avail on TWC

Until about a week ago TWC was carrying several...of the local HD/DT channels unscrambled on Tier 1 of basic cable. Now the frequencies for those HD/DT stations in basic cable Tier 1 are showing poor signal strength and will not tune in...
Reynolds
I wasn't aware that TW put any of the DTV stations in their Tier 1 basic cable. KENS-DT has its primary service, 5-1, on TW channel 155. Our colleagues at other stations are similarly located. The lineup, from Time Warner's site (http://www.timewarnercable.com/CustomerService/CLU/TWCCLUs.ashx?menu=Programming) is as follows:

104 WOAI-DT
108 KLRN-DT (This is their HDTV service. They also have channels 91-94.)
112 KSAT-DT
155 KENS-DT

As you know, FOX-29 (KABB-DT) does not appear on Time-Warner's DTV lineup, nor does KRRT-DT. UPN-2 also does not appear in the TW HD lineup and does not have a digital on-air date as of yet.

Are you trying to receive DTV stations on channels other than the above?

Well I was picking them up on my 3 wk old Wallyworld Sanyo HD set. What I did was to split the signal from the cable and feed both antenna inputs, In SD I would get the reg SD lineup and with the HD tuner I got 91 -94, Some TWC "promo" channel, WOAI' weather that is on their ch 80 and the big Four. Then I assembled a small antenna and now get 4-1 (plus -2,-3). 5-1 & -2, all four of the PBS channels, 12-1 & -2, KHCE on 23 with for parasites, FOX on 29 and all the spanish stations (3) on 39-1.2 and 60-1. FOX and TELEMUNDO have the best picture quality even tho 60 is in 480. IMHO FOX at 720 is the best of the bunch, Is that because the don't have subchanels????
Now I am thinking of buying a OTA tuner to use with my main TV but I am not sure my wife would approve unless more SPURSgames are in HD!
While I write this I am "wowed" by the PQ I see on Ch 60-1!

Why would my HD-DVR (connected to at Winegaurd Squareshooter) receive strong signals from 12-DT and 29-DT but not WOAI? Especially in light of the fact that it once did! The background. I switched briefly to TWC to check out their DVR (didn't like it). So I switched back to TiVo - and once D* hooked everything back up, WOAI-DT was gone. I've checked all of the cables for tight connections. Any ideas - or leads so I resolve this?

For the third week in a row we have encountered a problem with the audio portion of the HD broadcast of E-Ring - after a commercial break about three-fourths of the way through the show most of the voices are no longer included in the audio. There's still music and sound effects, and every once in a while you might hear one person speak a line or two - and of course this is all crystal clear - but the bulk of the dialog is just not there. I wouldn't know, of course, but it seems like there may be some major tracks missing from the audio. In any case, actors' mouths are moving but no sound is coming out - Dennis Hopper would almost certainly not approve!

I am reasonably confident this is not a problem on my end, and I realize it may not even be a problem in the local WOAI machinery, but I figured I would mention it as a data point. Although I doubt anyone else will be able to say, it would be interesting to hear if this was noticed elsewhere. At this point my setup is pulling in all of the majors very well most of the time. The most recent E-Ring recording only seems to have had one dropped packet in the entire hour. I did not record the analog broadcast so I can't tell if this is just a problem with the digital broadcast, but if it's not something anyone has heard about then it probably is limited to the digital side.

Unfortunately, this has pretty much killed the show for us. The show seems like it has potential, and I might continue recording it in case the problem gets fixed, but there are only so many episodes of a show you can watch only 75% of before you are just wasting your time...

Just a possibility:
Are you receiving the audio in Dolby Digital? It sounds like the Center Channel is missing. On my system, which uses the HDTivo for a tuner, sometimes when I fast forward or rewind, the HDTivo drops some kind of signal to my audio processor and I have to toggle the audio processor off and back on to get the audio back. But for me, its all channels.

If you have a separate audio processor, try turning it off and on next time this happens.

For the third week in a row we have encountered a problem with the audio portion of the HD broadcast of E-Ring - after a commercial break about three-fourths of the way through the show most of the voices are no longer included in the audio. There's still music and sound effects, and every once in a while you might hear one person speak a line or two - and of course this is all crystal clear - but the bulk of the dialog is just not there. I wouldn't know, of course, but it seems like there may be some major tracks missing from the audio. In any case, actors' mouths are moving but no sound is coming out - Dennis Hopper would almost certainly not approve!

I am reasonably confident this is not a problem on my end, and I realize it may not even be a problem in the local WOAI machinery, but I figured I would mention it as a data point. Although I doubt anyone else will be able to say, it would be interesting to hear if this was noticed elsewhere. At this point my setup is pulling in all of the majors very well most of the time. The most recent E-Ring recording only seems to have had one dropped packet in the entire hour. I did not record the analog broadcast so I can't tell if this is just a problem with the digital broadcast, but if it's not something anyone has heard about then it probably is limited to the digital side.

Unfortunately, this has pretty much killed the show for us. The show seems like it has potential, and I might continue recording it in case the problem gets fixed, but there are only so many episodes of a show you can watch only 75% of before you are just wasting your time...

I noticed the exact same issue. First time it was during the first 5 minutes of the show, and then again a ways in - maybe halfway. Very annoying.

I got tired of waiting for KENS-DT to get to full power. I have an HD DirecTivo which has the apparently common quirk that on some channels the two tuners don't report the same signal strength. On mine, it seems to be channel 55. Depending on which tuner happened to be active at the time, I'd either get perfect reception of KENS or unwatchable freezes and breakups. So, I decided to replace my RS VU-190XR with a Channel Master 4228. Here are the results of readings taken just before and just after changing antennas (about an hour apart):

Before After
Channel T1 T2 T1 T2
8 95 95 91 91
32 65 68 71 71
48 92 92 92 92
55 90 71 92 88
58 95 95 95 95

KENS (55) now comes in perfectly on either tuner, as does KRRT (32) when the antenna is rotated. Surprisingly, KLRN (8) didn't lose much and still comes in perfectly.

What have I lost? I'm going to have to install a separate FM antenna, and I no longer get a snow-free picture on analog Ch 2 from Fredericksburg. Actually nothing on low-band VHF comes in, as you might expect. But, I get those channels on DirecTV.

Just thought this might be of general interest. By the way, I'm located near Vance Jackson and Dreamland.

Just thought this might be of general interest. By the way, I'm located near Vance Jackson and Dreamland.Actually that does help me. Thanks for posting. I also have the same problem on my HD-Tivo with KENS-DT and was thinking about upgrading the antenna so, hopefully, the problem will go away.

Where did you get your channel master?

Channel Master 4228
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Isn't the CM 4228 about the top of the line for UHF reception?
I thought it was for long, long, really far out reception, like 50 miles plus. And you are using it for less than 20 miles out? Doesn't that generate signals too strong?

I planned/hoped it would be powerful enough to generate a useable signal from Kerrville but if people need it from that close it sure seems like I'm outta luck for getting OTA from Kerrville.

http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/4228.htm
Shipping was $16. Ordered Sunday, arrived Thursday Fedex Ground.

I'm 25 miles from KENS and 22 miles from KRRT, but I'm shooting over a hill for KRRT. No overload problems here. If you're on the east side of a hill in Kerrville, it might work. An amplifier could help, too.

Jerry,

I haven't read this entire thread so excuse me if this has already been asked. Does anyone know why KRRT-HD sounds so terrible? The sound is distorted and slightly ahead of the video. It's been bugging the crap out of me and I can't understand why they haven't fixed it yet. It's be going on for months. The PQ on the WB HD programming is great but the sound is horrible!

Just wanted to let you guys know that it seems like the audio problem has been fixed. The audio is now almost perfectly in synch with the video on KRRT-DT. I don't know if it was a result of this thread but many thanks to the guys at KRRT for taking care of the problem.

Jerry,

I don't suppose Kens-5 could do some full power testing of its transmitter tonight so I can watch the Spurs in HD?

thanks
michael

Don't think it was scheduled to be in HD.

Jerry,

I don't suppose Kens-5 could do some full power testing of its transmitter tonight so I can watch the Spurs in HD?

thanks
michael

Paul's right, the Spurs game is not provided to us in HD. HD prime time programming, however, will be delayed and played out to air in HD and 5.1 surround audio, beginning at 0200 and 0300.

Is that Standard or Daylight Savings Time...I Love the SPURS but...........ZZZZZZZZ more

What A Game!!!!!!!! When your'e HOT you are hot! EXCITING GAME

Paul's right, the Spurs game is not provided to us in HD. HD prime time programming, however, will be delayed and played out to air in HD and 5.1 surround audio, beginning at 0200 and 0300.
Jerry. Can you give us the rationale behind this?

Ok, but even your sd digital broadcast is better than the D* analog feed, and I can't get it yet at partial power. I'm thinking about ordering that ChannelMaster antenna. Just want to try a couple more adjustments on my old one first.

horrible game!

"horrible?" maybe but also exciting and Spurs lost cuse the Mav's outplayed them!

Has anyone been seeing any issues with FOX recently? I guess sometime in about the last week or so the error rate I get for them has really shot up even though I still seem to be getting a pretty decent signal quality. The signal does seem slightly 'jumpy' though now, as opposed to the fairly smooth signal I see from most of the others. I don't actually watch a lot of tv, so my samples (over time) are kind of isolated, but for some time prior to this FOX has been pretty good - now it's not watchable.

This has probably been asked many times - although I don't see it anywhere - but is there a list of contacts for the major stations that might be interested in non-spurious issues on the digital side? I can certainly understand why there would be hesitation for anyone to step forward - I'm sure the S/N ratio would be absolutely terrible - but I do sometimes wonder just how much useful feedback the stations are receiving concerning what they are actually putting out on the digital side. I also often wonder if anyone connected with the stations is actually trying to watch the digital broadcasts...

LoveMovies & three55ml - Thanks for the reply. I am reasonably confident in my setup at this point, but I was actually considering the seemingly remote possibility that they might have been playing some kind of new game with the sound channels. I don't think that was it though - I checked the most recent broadcast again more closely and I didn't have to do anything for the dialog to cleanly stop or cleanly restart later on - I'm pretty sure that's just what they were sending out. Commercials were (very) loud and (fairly) clear right in the middle of these dialog drop outs. Oh well...

The Saints game in HD was fine today. Only one quick glitch noticed, which could have been an airplane.

Jerry. Can you give us the rationale behind this?
Paul,
I don't think there have been any discussions about KENS carrying the Spurs in any mode other than SD. We have limited conversion equipment and HD paths to take in any HD content. We are working on that, but the timeline is probably not fast enough for anyone. The path used for Spurs games is optical fiber from Vyvx and Time-Warner Telecom. It is an SD path. For us to broadcast a Spurs game in HD, we need to receive a HD feed of it, either via satellite or on a HD fiber path. Since most games are fiber originations, we will continue to broadcast SD games until HD terminal equipment is available for our fiber services.

sfmartin - thanks for the data point. I think I might be a little further away from the FOX tower than you - I'm 31 miles away on the far northwest side. Has anyone out in this area (Bandera & 1604-ish) had any problems with FOX recently? I wasn't watching yesterday during the game, but I just checked again this morning and FOX is still a mess (and the other stations still look ok). Something that is a little different from stuff I have seen before is that a lot of the packets that are being dropped are in runs - that is, multiple packets in a row are getting dropped - as opposed to what I've usually seen where packets that get dropped are relatively isolated. Hmm... I'm hoping there is not a new source of interference out here or something... seems like it would have to be awfully specific... Hmm... The more I watch the signal strength the more I'm starting to think that it is a little too bouncy... I guess something must be going on - here, at least...

On the brighter side, I copied WOAI on that no-dialog issue with E-Ring - and they actually responded! I didn't really ask (or expect) them to, and I don't know if they will be able to resolve the problem in future episodes or not, but I'm still impressed that they got back to me. I would have no way to know, but the nature of the issue leads me to suspect that it's originating upstream in the network somewhere anyway, in which case it isn't any of WOAI's doing. I just wanted to let them know that something might not be right... I guess I'll have to keep checking the show afterall...

More Spurs in HD will be great whenever that becomes reality - as long as we aren't just watching them lose in HD! (That Dallas game - ouch!)

OK Jerry, I understand and thanks for taking the trouble to respond. Probably explains why one NFL game was in HD and the other not...I used to think it was a shortage of cameras but there is more to than that. Used to hear that Marc Cuban personally paid it out of his own pocket s to insure the Mavs were in HD. Only thing new that I have learned recently is that OTA PQ beats TWC and the only reason I still have TWC is because they have HBO, IND, Discovery etc. Oh well I will just grin and bear it.

If it's any consolation, the Spurs-Mavericks game was in SD in Dallas, too.

[QUOTE]...is there a list of contacts for the major stations that might be interested in non-spurious issues on the digital side? I can certainly understand why there would be hesitation for anyone to step forward - I'm sure the S/N ratio would be absolutely terrible - but I do sometimes wonder just how much useful feedback the stations are receiving concerning what they are actually putting out on the digital side. I also often wonder if anyone connected with the stations is actually trying to watch the digital broadcasts...

Chips,
I looked through this entire thread and found only two of us who post on a regular basis, Greg Derkowski at WOAI and yours truly. (In truth, I thought I saw such a contact list somewhere, but I can't find it this morning to save my life.)

You can always contact KENS engineering right here on the Forum. I take this seriously and I'm the guy who usually fixes our DTV system when there's a problem. And yes, many of us at KENS DO watch our digital broadcasts OTA and on TWC.

I think all the DTV stations in San Antonio have feedback portals on their web sites; I get a lot of email through ours. If you aren't getting any answers about other stations here, email 'em or call their main switchboard during business hours and ask to speak to someone in engineering. (I get quite a few of those calls here, too.)

At our monthly Society of Broadcast Engineers meeting I will suggest that my brother engineers read posts in the Forum more often and respond, where appropriate. No one knows better than I do that the answers we have are not always what viewers want to hear, but the truth is always the right path. I don't think anyone is reluctant to step forward. I believe all of us are working hard on many projects as we race into 2006.

I am looking for a good OTA antenna. I live out a little past leon-springs on IH-10. I current have the Terk HDTVi antenna in my attic. The Recpetion is OK but but breaks up alot. And no matter what I do I can not get CBS. I can only get about 50% at best sustained on some channels. I have Directv 10-250. I also have a inline preamp from the OTA antenna to the Receiver. What is the best Antenna for my location and setup.. I don't mind putting one on the roof I just want to know that it is going to work before I go to that much trouble.

rob223...if you read backwards through this thread you will find that CBS (KENS) is operating at reduced power! There is also an antenna section elsewhere in this forum...I forgot just where. I will check it out and give you the thread name.

rob223, both this forum and the HDTV Hardware forum have long threads devoted to antennas. Check them out

Thanks for the KENS answer. As for the Antenna, I was more looking to see if there was anyone out close to where I live, and what antenna they are using.

Whats with Good Morning America??? Much ballyhooed in HD NOW!!! But all I see is a 4:3 picture with fair PQ! KSAT over the air is 720p and TWC is retransmitting at 1080i. Anyone have an idea of what's going on?

GMA is only in HD on the east and west coasts, not yet in the central and mountain time zones. That's supposed to come either in January or February, can't remember exactly.

Realthogue - I appreciate your comments. I have read several of your other posts and I knew you were not hesitant to step forward. The forums here offer a rare opportunity to attempt to conduct an "is it just me" test before going with a more direct approach... If I have any KENS questions I figure I'll be ok! My KENS reception has been pretty good since I worked out my antenna stuff a while back.

robb223 - speaking of antenna stuff - I don't live in your area, but I'm kind of wondering about your line of sight - are there hills in the way where you are? My understanding is that that can be a big deal. There is a lot to know about getting your antenna stuff right - checking out those other threads and so on may be helpful. I tried using an antenna I was using for analog and the results were not very good for digital. I did my reading and decided to try a Channel Master 3022 (aka 4308) - the immediate difference was amazing - but I think I have pretty good line of sight (even though I'm about 30 miles away). My understanding is that elevation - getting your antenna high enough in the air - can also be helpful for line of sight. Big hills and trees though - that can be tough. As one final wholely anecdotal observation, if you use a highly directional antenna like the 3022 you may find that you can actually use signals reflected from other areas - if hills are in your direct line of sight, maybe you can use a reflection coming off hills in another direction... Your mileage may vary considerably...

I'm still seeing lots of lost packets on FOX. If anyone in the Bandera & 1604 area has a recent observation on FOX - please chime in.

I don't imagine there would be a lot of people who could really pursue this, but it seems like it would be really cool (and maybe even useful) to have regularly updated maps that show where signals are coming in clearly and where they are not... Has anyone ever heard of anything like that for DTV?