We can go down and sign it. ;)

My mom works for Verizon and she told me that since it was being built on Elmwood the TV CO we (Town of Tonawanda) would receive TV before Hamburg since it was closer. Still no FIOS in my half of Tonawanda but the lines are up. Hopefully we can get TV by the 1st quarter next year.

I saw a sign in front of a house near the Ashley furniture store in Amherst reading "Verizon FIOS installed here." It was on a street that runs between Maple and Sheridan. It was close to Sheridan at the 4 way stop to turn into the back entrance to the old Hills plaza.

TV's first going to come to whatever town first agrees to let them, which TW will see as a violation of their franchise agreement. Maybe Hamburg will be easier than Tonawanda. Plus you also have to think that Verizon's going to take the fight to the towns that they think will be the most profitable to them.

You can bet that TW is going to put up a strong fight against them anywhere.

Verizon's already tried to get NYS as a whole to allow them but have, so far, failed at that.

My mom works for Verizon and she told me that since it was being built on Elmwood the TV CO we (Town of Tonawanda) would receive TV before Hamburg since it was closer. Elmwood Ave. doesn't serve Tonawanda. Hertel Ave. does (the southern half).
That doesn't have anything to do with when your area gets FiOS as all they have to do is either microwave the service (television that is) to the other COs' or use their own fiber feeds between COs' if there is the bandwidth available. in Amherst reading "Verizon FIOS installed here." It was on a street that runs between Maple and SheridanThat is from the Main St. CO.
No one will get any TV service untill their 'head end' is up and running.

Anyone else still having trouble with WKBW 707 on TWC? I'm getting stuttering video, but OTA looks fine on 7.1

Yeah, I'm having the same problem. It's to the point where I would rather watch the shows on my computer. I really hope it's fixed by the time LOST starts.

That's STILL happening on WKBW? It's been flawless for weeks on OTA.

Lost? With the writers strike they may skip the whole season, FYI. Nothing been decided yet, tho.

Lost? With the writers strike they may skip the whole season, FYI. Nothing been decided yet, tho.
I read online last week that 8 episodes have scripts and 6 have already been shot, so minimum there should be 8. This was an interview with one of the producers.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=39069

I'm still hopeful but skeptical about this part.

"The telecommunications company will need to sign franchise agreements with local governments here before it can start selling TV signals over its fiber network."

Just wait until Verizon gets into the Tv game. Have ya looked at your phone bills latley? FCC surcharge this Nys tax that Fedreal tax this BLAh BLAh Blah. So ya know that verizon freedom value phone plan.......... Only 39.00 a month. they dont tell you its really 54.00 a month after all that. Stick with Directv for your HD ! At least ya dont get all the surcharges and taxes that the franchised cable or phone companies lay on ya.
P.S. Those of you getting snow on your dish. Spray some pam on it over the winter or get a cover .
We use these methods here all the time with great results. Another good trick paint the reflector of the dish with non metallic black paint. Melts the snow alot faster.
If your new slimeline dish is dopping out alot. Chances are the installer did not use a meter tp peak it. Be carefull for installs done by HALSTEAD :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

NEW UHF HD ANTENNA AVAILABLE:
those of you in really fringe areas that want a really fringe antenna should consider he new u-8000 or u-16000 . We are carrying them now and have done some tests. Although the 8000 is very similar to the 4228 C.M. we have found it to have a slight edge on channels above 50. It has a reflector simialr to the 8800 winegard but the bow design is like the CM. Much lighter weight and less ice load problems. The u-16000 is a 16 bay antenna system. This thing really kicks. With a preamp its a monster. the whole unit only weighs about 9.5 lbs. anyone wanna know more e;mail me at rwantsat@verizon .net. I will try to post more specs and some photos shortly.
Take care
Rich Lockport

Would these be them?;
http://www.antennacraft.net/4&8Bay.htm
I see no 16000 listed, only a 1000, 4000 & a 8000.

Looks as another 4228 clone. Just how different can the same basic design be? Their specs of the three claim only 2db greater gain over one another.

Anyone else having OTA issues with WKBW this morning? I have solid 70% signal (that's normal) and it's COMPLETELY pixelated and broken up. It was fine last night from 9-11p.

Anyone else having OTA issues with WKBW this morning? I have solid 70% signal (that's normal) and it's COMPLETELY pixelated and broken up. It was fine last night from 9-11p.

No picture or sound 7:40 AM ... 99% signal strength

Murray

The commericals are comming in ok at 825a. :D

6:10 AM WKBW 7.1 OTA was just a green blob. Signal strength was 0.

You weren't watching it on a Sony were you?? :D

Spoke too soon, Linda is stuttering............ (at least the commericals were ok)

I read online last week that 8 episodes have scripts and 6 have already been shot, so minimum there should be 8. This was an interview with one of the producers.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=39069


Correct. But the producers or the network may choose to hold those 8 episodes so they can run uninterrupted with the other 9 for this season whenever those are ready.

I don't think anyone wants a big gap between episode 8 and 9. However, by Feb the network may want the ad revenues that new original episodes of Lost will bring.

It may be later in the spring or it may by in the fall or spring of 09.

24 has some episodes shot already but they've already decided to reschedule the premiere to a yet to be determined time, so the season can run uninterrupted like usual.

You weren't watching it on a Sony were you?? :D
???

Correct. But the producers or the network may choose to hold those 8 episodes so they can run uninterrupted with the other 9 for this season whenever those are ready.
I was reading online that some insiders/critics think this could be great for Lost since it may be the only top show to have new episodes to air in early 08 and the strike could in fact help it regain it's top ratings. If they do start airing in January as scheduled, the 8 they will have done will get them through February. I think that would give them until the end of the year for the strike to be settled so episodes 9-16 can air without interruption. I think they're looking good... for now.

Those of you hooked up with Time Warner and have HD --- how do the home Sabres games look and sound?

They're not looking very good regardless of your TV source. :(

Those of you hooked up with Time Warner and have HD --- how do the home Sabres games look and sound?

The difference in picture quality is staggering...watching with QAM.

Murray

lots of inversion tonight.

Ch66 Suntv (a first, normally just blinks the light on my Samsung OTA box) booming in here

did u check for the omni 1 and 2 digital channels, they are currently broadcasting on 64-1 and 44-1 respectively.

I was getting 10, 13 and 21 from rochester too! I couldnt get the omni's though.

are omni 44-1 and 64-1 up and running or still testing?

[QUOTE=pmb1010;12209033]lots of inversion tonight.
Talk inversion. I had Lansing Mi /Flint Mi /all the Erie Pa chs / youngstown Akron Oh Cleveland and Sandusky oh Toledo Oh/ Ft Wayne Ind/ and Chi town In HD and Sd. I have so much new stuff on the tv now its bizzare. Of course all the tropo enhancement left and so did the stations.
Amazing what a real antenna system can do in the right conditions!;););)

[QUOTE=pmb1010;12209033]lots of inversion tonight.

Talk inversion. I had Lansing Mi /Flint Mi /all the Erie Pa chs / youngstown Akron Oh Cleveland and Sandusky oh Toledo Oh/ Ft Wayne Ind/ and Chi town In HD and Sd. I have so much new stuff on the tv now its bizzare. Of course all the tropo enhancement left and so did the stations.
Amazing what a real antenna system can do in the right conditions!;););)

[QUOTE=videobruce;12191638]Would these be them?;
http://www.antennacraft.net/4&8Bay.htm
I see no 16000 listed, only a 1000, 4000 & a 8000. The 16000 U is a design we have had Antennacraft produce exclusivley for us. It comes with a 300 ohm stacking kit Not a lossy coupler as the antennas direct line uses. The other advantage is the wind loading problem and icing problem typical on the Cm 4228s. These virtually eliminate that issue. The u-16000 is available by us only and I hope to be posting some photos soon . I will also post some FSM readings as well on side by side comparisons. The shipping issues with the 4228a are also better as we can break these down so they dont ship UPS OS rate3.
Rich

Hey Rich. It appears you aren't hitting the 'quote' button a 2nd time since your quotes aren't "quotes".

Regarding your 16000, it's just a "stacked" 8000, correct?

I think he is hitting "quote", but deleteing the bottom bracketed EndQuote.

These must be kept in pairs, Rich if you delete any text it's easy to remove the end quote.

Example: -- and I used ( ) rather than the real thing so it doesnt think its a quote...

(quote=whoitwas) The old text is here blah blah
blah blah blah
blah blah blah blah (endquote) <<< watch out to not delete this one!

Yes, you are right since hitting the "quote" icon automatically adds both beginning and ending brackets.

Ok my little brother just got a Olevia 232V and he gets Fox in HD on channels 29.2. I think it could be my tuner, or the crappy cables that comes in my room. He also has less options when selecting channels. I have HRC, IRC, Standard and Auto, while he was just Auto. I contacted Olevia and I am waiting for a response. Until then I will try to connect my TV to his cable connection and see what will happen.

anyone hear anything new on sabres hd broadcasts on directv??

he gets Fox in HD on channels 29.2 WUTV uses two sub channels, one for HD the other for SD. It's the same feed. 29.2 should be the SD feed.

anyone hear anything new on sabres hd broadcasts on directv??
A D* insider has been posting a lot at dbstalk.com in the NHL threads. MSG HD comes up a lot. He has said both sides are still working on it. Once the main MSG HD gets added, the Sabres home games may be an entirely different animal. Keeping fingers crossed. (Though the way things are going, I'm may not bother watching to much more.)

Did anyone else have serious PQ issues for the first quarter of the game last night on NBC? Mine was a big green/pink blob via D*. Then a message came up saying "This station is experiencing problems and they are working to get it back on the air." How about people with TWC or OTA - did you have any problems with the 1st quarter? I wonder if it was only on the digital feed?

It was a Directv issue, I had the same problem, but OTA was fine on my HR20.

same here my directv blacked out so i used the ota antenna on theroof and watched the game crystal clear

Thank god for this! Why pay for tv when it's FREE via OTA?

OK. I tried getting it OTA but couldn't get 2.1 to come in (as is the case about 50% of the time.) As the game turned out, no big loss. (I mean no big loss to me since the game itself was a BIG loss.)

I have a TIVO series three. For my zip code to gives me data on Rochester and buffalo stations.

I get a 5.1 with frequency of 5. On rescan I get a 5.1 with frequency of 20. Also have gotten 9.1/40.1, 44.1,64.1 and 25.1/24 on and off.

My problem is that I get no program data for the above. Is there a zip code I can enter on restart to get So Ontario and WNY data correctly?

Not sure. But you can experiment with zips on www.zap2it.com Those listings are identical to what you'll see on your TiVo. (TiVo's data is provided by them)

well my Time Warner Bill is going up $12 in January...haha amazing...

One question to all the Direct TV Guys in Buffalo...

Do you get CBS in HD? or do you have to use an external antenna

I switched to directv this summer and love it. Just the customising of the hr20 box is amazing. Anyway u will need a off air antenna to get cbs. I now have a external cm4221 but previous i had the silver sensor indoor one. I get 100% signal on both of these. IF u are in south buffalo u will have no problem getting cbs at a min of 90% and have no problems.

Hi Everyone! kinda new here, been imersing myself in the world of OTA HDTV. getting a hdtv in 2 weeks also a tivohd (i am a tivo junkie). I live in Newfane, and am hoping to get all buffalo channels w/o probs, considering a DB4 mounted about 22' up. However, if i can also get Toronto stations (CBLT) w/o a rotor, that would seal the deal w/the wife to cancel ties with directv. Any ideas on how to tune buffalo and toronto in w/o a rotor? i appreciate all your help!

well my Time Warner Bill is going up $12 in January...haha amazing...

One question to all the Direct TV Guys in Buffalo...

Do you get CBS in HD? or do you have to use an external antenna
FUCCO is correct, you will not get WIVB in HD on D* due to WIVB's owner, LIN TV, playing hardball with D* over their station's HD signals. There are about 8-9 cities that LIN will not let D* have their HD signals. You will get 2, 7 and 29 in HD from D* and they look just as good as OTA in my opinion. I have the indoor silver sensor antenna and get WIVB HD OTA great here in Wheatfield.

Also, if you go with D*, please be aware they now offer 2 versions of their HD DVR: the HR20 which does have an OTA input, and the HR21 which does not have an OTA input. From what I'm hearing, they will not guarantee you which version you will get when ordering. The only way I know of currently to assure you get the HR20 is to buy one at a store. D* has said they will offer an OTA solution for the HR21, but I don't know when that will be.

Yep TW raising rates again...I called to see if they would offer anything to keep me...nothing...just saying that D* doesn't really have 70 HD channels....some of them are regional sports stations...wow what a compelling argument! Geesh. Making my move to D* sooner than I thought! ;)

WHen i dumped twc in the summer after 10 yrs they gave me the same crap, se ya later. You figure they would offer u something to stay, i got nothing from them.

A D* insider has been posting a lot at dbstalk.com in the NHL threads. MSG HD comes up a lot. He has said both sides are still working on it. Once the main MSG HD gets added, the Sabres home games may be an entirely different animal. Keeping fingers crossed. (Though the way things are going, I'm may not bother watching to much more.)
much different animal.
the sabres home games on msg-hd in buffalo is fed via fiber to time warner subs only from the hsbc arena. the rest of msg programming in buffalo is sd, delivered from suburban new york city.
much different than the msg-hd situation in new york ... rumors in other forums on this website say msg-hd and fox sports ny-hd [devils and islanders] are only days away from being lit up on d* ... but of course that's restricted to the nyc metro area.

the way i look at it i dont even care anymore if directv turns on msg hd. The only time i watch msg is for the sabres games. Since the HD feed is sent only through fiber and not through satillete i will not get the home games in hd anyway. The whole msg "hd" issue on directv is ridiculous already. They have been promising that channel for 3 months and no one know what is going on. I would bet money it will not be on wednesday.

Anyone that is using TVGOS, have you ever tried to use a Canadian Postal Code instead of a US Zip Code to aquire more Canadian listings??

Anyone that is using TVGOS, have you ever tried to use a Canadian Postal Code instead of a US Zip Code to aquire more Canadian listings??
TVGOS works fine with a Toronto postal code ( M5V 2T6 is the code for the CN Tower). I don't know if you can set up a set with a zip code and then add stations using a postal code. I would think it would be one or the other but I defer to your expertise in this area. In Toronto I get all the local HD stations as well as all Buffalo stations (in winter). In the summer reception of 2.1 and 43.1 are blocked by a deciduous tree. (This is using a postal code).

Which station supplies the data??
I have a choice in the menu of US or Canada.

Did anyone that watched the Sabers game on TWC channel 771 VS HD in Buffalo notice what looked like compression artifacts? Mostly but not limited to orange and red blockiness with motion on the screen. Just a bad picture overall, none of the other HD channels affected.

I called TW "tech support".. to report this- after a long 25 minute hold period the girl on the phone said she could not see it there on her TV. She recommended a service call.

Which station supplies the data??
I have a choice in the menu of US or Canada.
I'm not sure what you mean by which station. I entered the Canadian postal code and the regional settings defaulted to Canada. I provided the postal code for the CN tower so should be enabled to pick up anything being broadcast from there. Canadian signal strengths sure suck though,

The data has to come from somewhere. In the US, it is ususlly a PBS affiliate, which in our case is WNED. Next year it will be a BCS affiliate (hopefully).
What station is it in Toronto? Canadian signal strengths sure suck though, Only does the digital. Analog is fine for the most part.

Did anyone that watched the Sabers game on TWC channel 771 VS HD in Buffalo notice what looked like compression artifacts? Mostly but not limited to orange and red blockiness with motion on the screen. Just a bad picture overall, none of the other HD channels affected.

I called TW "tech support".. to report this- after a long 25 minute hold period the girl on the phone said she could not see it there on her TV. She recommended a service call.
I saw the same thing on VS HD on Directv. The game itself looked terrible, but the studio shots during pregame and intermission looked fine. None of my other D* HD channels had any PQ problems. I chalked it up to a localized problem at the Washington arena.

I saw the same thing on VS HD 771 (TWC) on Grand Island. Some parts were absolutely horrible, primarily with the reds. I tried adjusting my set but nothing helped. Other channels seemed fine.

any problems now? I'm not receiving it via OTA on my DirecTV HR20-700

Same problem here in nt- Their tower must have been damaged from the weather- little windy out there!

4.1 not coming in via my antenna either. Bet they're having weather problems.

4.1 back now.

has anybody noticed an instability in 2.1 signal. It seems that I am getting 90-95 %, then it drops ot of the sky for a few seconds.

Also, i noticed ION media networks is moving to HD. I guess the paid programming will look great. I wonder if this will affect WPJX-DT one way or the other.

I haven't been able to get 9.1 or 25.1 let alone 44.1 or 64.1 in a while, btw, analog canadian is coming in better than ever for me. Go figure

I briefly read through the last couple pages of posts but did not find my answer.

I am in Fort Erie right along the lake. I can get the majority of Buffalo digital stations with Rabbit Ears in my basement. This obviously is not always reliable and I get drop outs from time to time.

I am looking a purchasing a better antenna for outside. I don't want to spend a lot of money, but I would love to get CBC in addition to the Buffalo stations. I would like to avoid using a rotar if at all possible.

Any recommendations on an antenna that could accomplish what I am looking for?

Antennas direct DB8
Channel master 4228
Winegard HD 8800
AntennaCraft u-8000

Thanks for the feedback on the Sabres game. It confirms my gut instinct that the girl at TWC tech support was just wrong, very unobservant, or just plain lying. Hopefully just unobservant.

The data has to come from somewhere. In the US, it is ususlly a PBS affiliate, which in our case is WNED. Next year it will be a BCS affiliate (hopefully).
What station is it in Toronto? Only does the digital. Analog is fine for the most part.
I can't say definitely but an educated guess would be CBC as it provides national coverage and it would make sense to piggyback on their service area.

I haven't seen too much about FIOS in the last few weeks, but I just noticed 3 signs on Clearfield Drive off of Maple Rd, saying that FIOS was "installed here."

Is this old news?????

well my Time Warner Bill is going up $12 in January...haha amazing...

One question to all the Direct TV Guys in Buffalo...

Do you get CBS in HD? or do you have to use an external antenna

A Few tidbits of info for you with Directv
Re: Buffalo Cbs in Hd. LIN broadcasting and Directv are battling it out for carriage. Lin is wanting mucho bucks for Directv to carry them. Stupid money grubbers. You would think that LIN would want people watching them. Very easy for slime warner to do it compared to Directv. Hopefully this will be solveed soon. Acording to my regional manager its ongoing.
Buffalo Sabres in Hd. This appears to be an issue with Fox Sports and MSG .Right now the buffalo market appears as one of the only hockey markets left to go HD with Directv. Again they realize the frustration and are diligintly trying to work this out.
I will let you all know when i hear more.
As always buy an antenna even if you have cable or Directv.

P.S. as of today Directv has 121 HD chs including the ppv. They have surpassed they're goal of 100 b4 years end. We are busier than a bunch of 1 armed paper hangers with all the new Directv HD installs , not to mention the smoking Holiday Blitz campaign. Why would anyone want cable if they are serious about HD. $9.99 buys over 100 HD's
Rich

I called TW "tech support".. to report this- after a long 25 minute hold period the girl on the phone said she could not see it there on her TV.Would you expect her to 'see' it?? :rolleyes: I haven't been able to get 9.1 or 25.1 let alone 44.1 or 64.1 The only 'easy' one is 20.1 (CBC). I can't say definitely but an educated guess would be CBC It's CTV, 40.1
I saw that mentioned in a Toshiba DVD thread in the Canadian forum that has this feature. Though they were talking about other parts of Canada, I had a feeling it would be the same here. Funny, there are listings for the 'big 3' affilates analog channel, but no listings will come up if I try for the 'HD' or digital channel. $9.99 buys over 100 HD's .......in HD Lite. Lets not forget about that. ;)

A Few tidbits of info for you with Directv
Re: Buffalo Sabres in Hd. This appears to be an issue with Fox Sports and MSG. Right now the buffalo market appears as one of the only hockey markets left to go HD with Directv. Again they realize the frustration and are diligintly trying to work this out.
Just posted at another site by a Directv insider (very trustworthy) that MSG HD and FSNY HD will be lit up next Wednesday the 5th. He says not 100% but "very likely."

As for the Sabres home games in HD, he says:

"However, the Sabres games in HD are received on a seperate feed so the Sabres games will NOT be in HD when these two channels are launched until that feed can be brought in via fiber in a few weeks...but that is coming as well (stay patient Sabres fans...soon)"

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=110988

Quote: $9.99 buys over 100 HD's

.......in HD Lite. Lets not forget about that. ;)

My wife subscribes to Cooking Lite, but I'm not totally sure what HD Lite is!!?? :confused:

.......in HD Lite. Lets not forget about that. ;)
You obviously haven't seen the new MPEG4 HD channels. Heads and shoulders above D* original MPEG2 HD channels in PQ. The Packers/Cowboys game looked great last night in HD. How did it look on TWC?

No more HD Lite from D* (except for the 10 original MPEG2 HD channels that will eventually be switched to MPEG4).

Hey Gang, newer to the forms here and found this great Bflo. thread. Lots of great reading specific to our area and the various options out there. As a previous Dish Network, DirectTV and now TWC subscriber, I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of FIOS in T of T.

I am the proud owner of a new HDTV LCD and I am blown away by the spectacular HD programming. My neighbor is a Verizon FIOS tech and the info you are posting here is accurate. They are installing video hubs, but have yet to open discussion with the towns to get FIOS into our neigborhoods. I for one cannot wait to shed TWC and will head back to DirectTV if I have to.... The HD offering on Direct is certainly very temping.

Anyhow, nice to read all your feedback.

Paul

Problems with the WGRZ transmitter, apparently. Tonight the signal has been less than 50; usually it never falls below 80. Luckily, there isn't anything of interest to me on NBC for over a week... WIVB and WKBW are measuring 100% on the same antenna.

That's OTA; how are you satellite/cable folks doing?

I have to agree with Indiana627. The GB/Dal game on NFL network was very impressive on D*. MPEG4 does make a difference. My only complaint is the lack of HD programming on all these new HD channels. Although that being said, DirecTV is the HD leader!

My wife subscribes to Cooking Lite, but I'm not totally sure what HD Lite is!!?? :confused: Take a look here;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_Lite In 2004, DirectTV subscribers reported that DirectTV broadcasts some HDTV-programming at a reduced resolution of 1280 x 1080i. Since these reports, DirectTV has removed the resolution-indicator from the user-interface of customer equipment. A class-action lawsuit against DirectTV has been filed that questions the legitimacy of DirectTV's "astonishing quality" marketing-claim.[citation needed]
There is some debate about whether HD Lite channels can be considered HDTV or not. Some people think that the various programming providers have been misinforming their customers by providing less-than-HDTV signals while calling them HDTV. Many people believe that this is a form of false advertisement. and feel free to sign here;
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/STOP_HD_Lite/ You obviously haven't seen the new MPEG4 HD channels. Admittly, I haven't and I will believe it when I see it.

Admittly, I haven't and I will believe it when I see it.

Perhaps until you see it, you could stop expressing such a strong opinion? Many agree that the picture quality can be some of the best being broadcast. Some of the movies on PPV and Starz approach HD-DVD/B-RAY quality IMO.

The links aren't "my opinion".

The links aren't "my opinion".

Sorry, I must have read into your posts. Linking to information about HD Lite from as old as 2001 about MPEG-2 channels to support your comments about DirecTV's current 100 channels being HD Lite might have thrown me off.

Quote: $9.99 buys over 100 HD's

.......in HD Lite. Lets not forget about that.
. ;)

Admittly, I haven't and I will believe it when I see it.
I have not seen FIOS HD, but have read many reports on other sites from people who said they've done side by side comparisons between it and D* new MPEG4 HD and they said there is no difference. I've even read reports from die hard E* lovers/D* haters who have admitted D* new HD PQ is impressive.

From what I've seen (and I've watched a lot of the new HD), I don't know how it could get any better.

I have not seen FIOS HD, but have read many reports on other sites from people who said they've done side by side comparisons between it and D* new MPEG4 HD and they said there is no difference.

From what I've seen (and I've watched a lot of the new HD), I don't know how it could get any better.

Do they have screenshots? That's the only real way to tell. Regarding pic quality, it'll only be a matter of time when E* gets 'caught up'. When I quit D*, they had vastly less programming and really weak bandwidth, on MPG2. When E* was connected up, the picture quality was much nicer. Anyway.

Given that prick Dolan's insistence on forcing me to watch the the Sabres in SD, I'd jump to FIOS for that alone, but never again will I go to TWC.

Linking to information about HD Lite from as old as 2001 about MPEG-2 channels to support your comments about DirecTV's current 100 channels being HD Lite might have thrown me off. Better read a little closer. That 2001 was reference to a FCC rule, not the date of the link. Actually, 2004 and 2007 were mentioned in the wikipedia article.

I personally asked four different forum members regarding an issue with a specific TV they owned with instructions on how to check to see if the issue was resolved (nothing to do with this subject). All four claimed there was no problem. Wrong, the issue was never resolved. I could see it right off the bat.
Call me a doubting thomas, but I'll believe it when I see it. It still doesn't change the fact it was a fact that Direct TV tried to lie about it.

Better read a little closer. That 2001 was reference to a FCC rule, not the date of the link. Actually, 2004 and 2007 were mentioned in the wikipedia article.

I personally asked four different forum members regarding an issue with a specific TV they owned with instructions on how to check to see if the issue was resolved (nothing to do with this subject). All four claimed there was no problem. Wrong, the issue was never resolved. I could see it right off the bat.
Call me a doubting thomas, but I'll believe it when I see it. It still doesn't change the fact it was a fact that Direct TV tried to lie about it.


I never said the link date was from 2001. Anyway, this is a bit silly. Good day. :)

Not crazy about TW's pricing, but not sure which way to go with the FIOS wild card down the road.

I don't want to start any wars, but I was wondering whether someone would like to take a stab at a simple, factual comparison of non-OTA options in our area.

TW has the pluses of zero commitment, Sabres in HD, & you don't have to buy any equipment, with the negatives of cost & limited HD choices.

Any takers???

What is your biggest priority? Amount of HD? Cost? Contracts? Sabres in HD?

What is your biggest priority? Amount of HD? Cost? Contracts? Sabres in HD?

I'd say that TW's relentless price increases have finally encouraged me to see what's available.

I'd rank my priorities as:

1) Amount of HD (at high quality*)
2) No contracts past 12 month (24 at the most)
3) Price
4) Sabres in HD

*The HD-Lite confuses me....is that prevelent in our area????

I'd say that TW's relentless price increases have finally encouraged me to see what's available.

I'd rank my priorities as:

1) Amount of HD (at high quality*)
2) No contracts past 12 month (24 at the most)
3) Price
4) Sabres in HD

*The HD-Lite confuses me....is that prevelent in our area????
Well, I think Directv (D*) would be a great choice for your priorities. I've been with them since January 03 and have no complaints. All the new HD we've gotten in the past 2 months is amazing.

HD Lite: D* old HD channels used to be this. They compressed the heck out of them to get as many as they could on the satellite. They launched a new satellite this summer and all the new HD channels are broadcast from it and the PQ between them and their older HD channels is night and day. The original HD channels (about 10 of them) are still over compressed in HD lite, but they will be switched to match the PQ of the newer channels once D* launches it's next new satellite in early 08. This will also allow them to offer even more HD channels too.

1) D* currently have the most national HD channels, and you'd also get local 2, 7 and 29 in HD from them. For 4, 17, 23 and 49 in HD you'd need an antenna. You'd get all the locals in SD from them.
2) Depending on the equipment you chose, the contract is 12 or 24 months I think. Any HD receivers require 24 month I think. I haven't kept up to date on that since I have no plans of leaving.
3) I pay about $70 a month and get all our locals in SD, 3 of them in HD, and get about 40-50 HD national channels (TLC, CNN, NFL, NHL, HGTV, SciFi, USA, FX, VS, etc). I also have a DVR, so I pay $5.99/mo for that (included in the $70/mo).
4) D* insiders have posted that a deal has been finalized for D* to have the Sabres home games in HD soon. Supposedly the main MSG HD will be lit up on D* on 12/5. For the Sabres games, they have to run a fiber optic line from the arena to the D* uplink center. The insiders have said this will only take a couple of weeks.

I'd be happy to answer any more questions about D* you have.

I also have a DVR, so I pay $5.99/mo for that (included in the $70/mo).

How is your D* Dvr? I wont go back to D* because of all the problems I had w/ my r15- Tivo Rocks!

I love my HR20 from D*. I too was scared about giving up Tivo but it was a seamless transition for me. Plus I get all the new HD too!

I never had the R15 so I can't comment on it.

Can you download .99 movies over your home network with D*? Amazon unbox is a definite plus for me using Tivo.

They are just starting their on demand service. My HR20 is networked and I have downloaded some stuff, but am waiting to use it more once they have HD stuff available. I think a lot of the stuff you can download is free but will expire at a pre-set date (this date is visible when you download it and in the playlist so you know ahead of time when it will expire). Some stuff will have a fee.

Can you download .99 movies over your home network with D*? Amazon unbox is a definite plus for me using Tivo.

Agreed!

Those weekend .99 specials on Amazon are nice. I wish the quality was a little better, but for a buck, it's still a deal.

Now if only I can get the video transfers from my Series3 to my new Mac to work all would be good...

I think a lot of the stuff you can download is free but will expire at a pre-set date (this date is visible when you download it and in the playlist so you know ahead of time when it will expire). Some stuff will have a fee.

Yes - Most titles are good for at least 24hours from the first play or 30 days from the initial download. But- as another user stated "the weekend deals are great for less than a buck! I've downloaded many titles - because I'm cheap on fridays. And you can download from anywhere to your own tv- like at work!

4) D* insiders have posted that a deal has been finalized for D* to have the Sabres home games in HD soon. Supposedly the main MSG HD will be lit up on D* on 12/5. For the Sabres games, they have to run a fiber optic line from the arena to the D* uplink center. The insiders have said this will only take a couple of weeks.
As of this morning, both MSG HD and FSNY HD are now live on D*. So the first part of the D* insider's post I referred to was true. Now we just need to wait for them to get the fiber run from the HSBC arena for the Sabres HD games. I have not heard anymore concrete time frame other than "a couple of weeks."

i got this today from directv:

hanks for writing and thank you for choosing DIRECTV. I will be happy to address your question about being able to view the Buffalo Sabres games in HD. I have exciting news, you will be able to view available Buffalo Sabres games in HD on Madeson Square Garden(channel 627-1). As a reminder, The games are based on availability. Please check your guide for game times and dates.

I hope you find this information helpful and thank you again for writing.

Sincerely,

I REPLIED BACK WONDERING ABOUT THIS "627-1" CHANNEL BECAUSE I DO NOT HAVE IT YET

I don't think the rep who answers you doesn't know the difference between home games and away games. Did you specify "home" games in your question?

I assumed once they got the fiber run all installed that we'd get a 627-1 channel for the Sabres home HD games. I guess they are getting closer. And I'm surprised how well informed the CSR is to know about channel 627-1. The Sabres next home game on MSG is Wed 12/12 against the Islanders. Let's hope they get the HD channel up in time for it!

here was my question:

Details: I see directv launched msg hd today. I live in buffalo ny and watch all the sabres hockey games. The sabres home games are broadcasted in hd and are on time warner cable all season long. When will directv launch the sabres games in hd? They are currently broadcasted on channel 627 which is sd 480. thanks

Sabres HD on Directv is coming soon. Be patient and you'll get an extra Christmas present. :D

Antennas direct DB8
Channel master 4228
Winegard HD 8800
AntennaCraft u-8000

I think the DB8 is exactly what I need. I looked at ordering from a couple of different websites but they want to charge large amounts to ship to Canada. Is anyone aware of a local dealer in Western NY that I could purchase from? The shipping price to Canada is more then the antenna.

Perhaps until you see it, you could stop expressing such a strong opinion? Many agree that the picture quality can be some of the best being broadcast. Some of the movies on PPV and Starz approach HD-DVD/B-RAY quality IMO.

Many people on this forum have very biased opinions! Being in the satellite and Antenna business 25 years has not made me that way. Quite frankly i make peanuts installing Directv or Dish ntwk. Thats why we do an awful lot of Commercial work. No money in doing residental anymore. That being said my beliefs from what i have seen are this: The best looking Hd comes from over air antennas. The best i have seen is CBC toronto in HD. THe best content of HD is comming from Directv. Lite Hd? no longer exists unless your still viewing it with an old mpeg 2 receiver and 3 lnb dish.Their still are a few of the lite hds running from ch 70-99 However most of them have allready transfered to the new sats with a crisper clearer picture. You cannot discount the fact that Dtv is blowing everyone elses doors off right now. In the last 6 weeks we have done more HD installs /More Slime Warner converts to Directv and More Dish Net Conversins to Dtv than we can even handle. We have almost had to refuse work. We are installing 7 days a week 12 hour days. We're not sure we can get everyone in by 12/31/07 (day when Holiday Blitz promo we are running exclusivley! inconjunction w DTv ends) All I know is that when we have done these conversions/swaps/upgrades peoples mouths are dropping to the ground ! If they have a new Hd set and we give em over 100 Hd channels to choose from, they are like kids in candy stores! The ones that had Slime Warner are blown away by the nuber of channels and by the quality, which was horrible with TWC. They complained about constant pixelation, freeze framming etc etc. The new 5 lnb DTv Slimline dish has unsurpassed signal quality. We are putting our alignment meters on attenuation to align em we have so much signal. Those of you sitting on the fence about satellite because your friends said "oh we loose signal in the heavy rain" Need worry no longer. I havent seen anything take our signal out at the shop since we put the new dishes in. Dish network is falling behind the 8 ball when it comes to HD. First of all they have all those crappy channels picked up from the old VOOM ntwk that no body wants. Im a dish dealer as well ,but the only people buying dish are ones that want the lowest possible price for tv and dont care about quality. Our Directv numbers have quadruppled in the last 6 weeks. We continualey run out of equip because we arent ready for this influx. Im hoping that Directv continues to keep the $ figure on the hD package where it is now. Its an awesome figure compared to what the others want. The overall quality of the new HD lineup is decent. Admitantly the content needs to also be increased on some channels. Lets face it showing 1980's show in Hd doesnt work. Alot of networks tho are really dishing out HD content on they're new HD channel. Like Discovery,Foodntwk, HGTV and more. Say what ya want but i see it in the peoples faces when the job is done. The best buy's are now all feeding Dtv Hd into they're Hd sets. Until Verizon gets a better lightbulb Im sorry but Dtv takes home the prize. Plus If verizon gets Fios going as fast as they repair people down from the Oct storm I wouldnt hold your breath!!!!
Rich

i sell the cm 4228 and the antennacraft u-8000 and u-16000 and you can drive over and pick em up !! Im in lockport.
716-434-9216
Rich

Sabres HD on Directv is coming soon. Be patient and you'll get an extra Christmas present. :D

Should be here and running by Mid week 12/10/07
Per Dtv regional manager for W.N.Y.
Rich:):):):)

Should be here and running by Mid week 12/10/07
Per Dtv regional manager for W.N.Y.
Rich:):):):)
Similar to what I heard. I also heard that they are going to test the first 1-2 home games before making it available to everyone. Time will tell I guess.

Also, loved your post about how D* leading the way in HD. I have it and can't believe how good the PQ is. Even my wife has to admit how good it is.

WGRZ's HD (or digital if you prefer) feed to DirecTv is HORRIBLE!!!! I thought the issue was my alignment of my dish, but I have a perfect picture on every other channel, local and otherwise. I have now seen a couple of threads on forums with people complaining about the WGRZ-HD picture quality on D* including 2 of my relatives who experience the same issues I do.

Their OTA signal is fine.

I sent an email to them 2 weeks ago and received no response. Is anyone else experiencing this? Does anyone have an "engineering" email address or contact at WGRZ?

Question- if I've a TV that can decode an HD signal, will I get Sabres games in HD w/the bottom-tier package?

I am debating on getting CATV run to the antenna/cable input on my Vip622; if I can get Sabres games in HD, I'll do this.

Thoughts?

WGRZ's HD (or digital if you prefer) feed to DirecTv is HORRIBLE!!!! I thought the issue was my alignment of my dish, but I have a perfect picture on every other channel, local and otherwise. I have now seen a couple of threads on forums with people complaining about the WGRZ-HD picture quality on D* including 2 of my relatives who experience the same issues I do.

Their OTA signal is fine.

I sent an email to them 2 weeks ago and received no response. Is anyone else experiencing this? Does anyone have an "engineering" email address or contact at WGRZ?
This issue has only started in the last 1-2 weeks. Since their OTA is fine (I have checked too), I really don't think contacting WGRZ will help since the issue is not with them. I agree the issue is with D*, but since both 7 and 29 look fine in HD, it's perplexing what the issue could be since I assume all three HD feeds are uplinked at the same location. I've emailed D* but that was useless. I'm not sure calling them will help either. Not really sure what to do to get it fixed.

This issue has only started in the last 1-2 weeks. Since their OTA is fine (I have checked too), I really don't think contacting WGRZ will help since the issue is not with them. I agree the issue is with D*, but since both 7 and 29 look fine in HD, it's perplexing what the issue could be since I assume all three HD feeds are uplinked at the same location. I've emailed D* but that was useless. I'm not sure calling them will help either. Not really sure what to do to get it fixed.

There may be something wrong with the signal that they are providing to D* for uplink.
I will try sending another email to them today.

The Colts game sun night looked awful on D* wgrz. All the other channels were fine. I had to watch off my antenna which looked waaay better. This happened last sunday night too. This needs to be fixed. Guys, keep posting updates about this on here. Thanks

Should be here and running by Mid week 12/10/07
Per Dtv regional manager for W.N.Y.
Rich:):):):)
Have you heard anymore updates? The next MSG home game is tomorrow (12/12). Keeping fingers crossed we'll be able to see it in HD on Directv.

I've gotten an update from someone at WGRZ (he asked I not use his name but I've emailed over the past few years about other issues so I know he's legit). Here's what he wrote me today:

"Direct TV has been experiencing problems recently with WGRZ HD local into local. They do receive our analog and digital (HD) channels over the air and then uplink them to their facility in Castle Rock, Colorado. The signal is then re-transmitted to all subscribers. Direct uses a similar setup for every local station so that is why you could view a problem on one local station but not on any other local station.

The WGRZ problem first surfaced during the Sunday night football game between the Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots. Direct had a failure of both their primary and backup HD encoders which was temporarily repaired that evening but we have received reports from viewers of continuing problems since that date. I have heard that Direct TV added more HD channels recently which may have changed the compression level on all HD feeds which could affect picture quality.

I will be speaking with a Direct TV representative today to check on the video issue and will contact you again once a resolution is found. Thanks again for the heads up and feel free to contact me again if any issue arises with your reception of WGRZ."

So WGRZ is aware of the problem and are taking action with D* to get it fixed. I'll post an update when I hear more.

Any time it snows in Buffalo, WGRZ wrecks the "Today Show" HD program on channel 702 TWC. They transmit an SD feed to NBCHD when closing central is on, but beyond that they reduce the actual resolution of the show even further by enclosing it by graphics on the left, right and bottom.. I called WGRZ last year about this (early 2007) and they said that in 2 WEEKS they would have the equipment to do it in HD. After that it quit snowing , so no more problem until now- Here it is many months later, and they are still wrecking the Today Show in HD every time it snows in Buffalo.

Is anyone else complaining about this? If it bugs you, please call TWC and WGRZ and complain so they will limit the closing central to the SD channel. Anyone who wants to see that info will be able to get on the SD channel anyway, they do not need to completely wreck the HD version of the Today Show- or at least the first 2 hours of it as they have been doing.

Nothing on 94-1 for Sabres HD except usual ppv adds and such

Anyone with an STB getting the game in HD on channel 700 or wherever it usually shows up?

Any other QAM users getting it? Did the channel move?

EDIT: 7:38 and it just came on QAM 94-1

Nothing on 94-1 for Sabres HD except usual ppv adds and such

Anyone with an STB getting the game in HD on channel 700 or wherever it usually shows up?

Any other QAM users getting it? Did the channel move?


No it's NOT ON on channel 700. Just stupid TW advertisements.. I guess I am DVR'ing nothing and missed the first part of the game. Oh wait.. it JUST came on while typing this at 7:33PM.. WTF TIME WARNER!?!?!?

WKBW seems to be showing a new channel on 7-3. WCSN, an all sports channel. Not sure what the intention is behind this, but ok. pq is awful.

About that hockey game... I had no complaints about image quality before, but it seems tonight's game looked especially good on TWC ch 700 in Amherst. It looked sharper, had more contrast, better color w/o being washed out, and less grainy than before. Are they using new equipment or something? It looks great anyway.

Any time it snows in Buffalo, WGRZ wrecks the "Today Show" HD program on channel 702 TWC. They transmit an SD feed to NBCHD when closing central is on, but beyond that they reduce the actual resolution of the show even further by enclosing it by graphics on the left, right and bottom.. I called WGRZ last year about this (early 2007) and they said that in 2 WEEKS they would have the equipment to do it in HD. After that it quit snowing , so no more problem until now- Here it is many months later, and they are still wrecking the Today Show in HD every time it snows in Buffalo.

Is anyone else complaining about this? If it bugs you, please call TWC and WGRZ and complain so they will limit the closing central to the SD channel. Anyone who wants to see that info will be able to get on the SD channel anyway, they do not need to completely wreck the HD version of the Today Show- or at least the first 2 hours of it as they have been doing.

Good luck getting ANY local station to stop showing ANY sort of school closings or weather alerts... on HD or anywhere else.

This stuff is their bread and butter (or so they think)... they don't care about anything else.

The LOVE to run that **** and don't care about picture quality, HD viewers or anything else during that time.

I have heard that Direct TV added more HD channels recently which may have changed the compression level on all HD feeds which could affect picture quality. Now, where have I heard that before?? :rolleyes: WKBW seems to be showing a new channel on 7-3. WCSN, an all sports channel. Not sure what the intention is behind this, but ok. pq is awful. Intention is $$$$
Now we have two SD lites............. ;)
(43-3 is the other)

Good luck getting ANY local station to stop showing ANY sort of school closings or weather alerts... on HD or anywhere else.

This stuff is their bread and butter (or so they think)... they don't care about anything else.

The LOVE to run that **** and don't care about picture quality, HD viewers or anything else during that time.

It seems like since the customers pay for extra HD rental equipment (the HD box), extra HD service, and a large investment in an HDTV, that the local yokel TV stations should not be able to wreck your HD signal for an arguably redundant reason.. (it is on the SD channel as well, etc).

I called TWC about it last week and they said they would work on it, and as I said last year WGRZ admitted it was messed up and said in 2 weeks they were going to fix it. They have a scroller that they use on the HD broadcast on the Today Show, so they could just use that. It seems like they don't have the right screw up the HD signal like that for basically no reason. I just cannot believe more people don't call and at least let them know it is messing up their HD show. I guess it makes sense, I have only called them twice in a year.. and it happens a lot more than that (today again for example).

Now, where have I heard that before?? :rolleyes:
All the new HD locals they've been adding (which hasn't been a lot) are all spot beams so they won't affect HD locals in other cities on other spot beams. D* HD PQ is amazing now (except for the few old MPEG2 channels).

It seems like since the customers pay for extra HD rental equipment (the HD box), extra HD service, and a large investment in an HDTV, that the local yokel TV stations should not be able to wreck your HD signal for an arguably redundant reason.. (it is on the SD channel as well, etc).

I called TWC about it last week and they said they would work on it, and as I said last year WGRZ admitted it was messed up and said in 2 weeks they were going to fix it. They have a scroller that they use on the HD broadcast on the Today Show, so they could just use that. It seems like they don't have the right screw up the HD signal like that for basically no reason. I just cannot believe more people don't call and at least let them know it is messing up their HD show. I guess it makes sense, I have only called them twice in a year.. and it happens a lot more than that (today again for example).

First off, they are not "screwing up" the HD signal. They are - in their minds - providing pretty much the identical show (could you not see Matt Lauer?) and providing additional, important information to their viewer.

And they do have the right to interrupt any national broadcast with whatever they want locally.

The lack of some scan lines and some additional views of the left and right side of the anchors is a small trade-off to provide local and highly valuable (in their mind) information to their viewers.

What do you expect TWC to do? Demand what WGRZ broadcasts? TWC has no say whatsoever.

I used to email the stations about this stuff during prime time. They don't care. They see the information they're providing as extremely important (don't you need to know that St. Mary's of the Heavenly Ascention Bingo in Lackawana is cancelled?! what if you drove there during a blizzard and the doors were locked?! oh, the horror! but I digress...) and see cutting off the left and right sides of the picture a small price to pay for informing their viewers.

They're local news stations first. Network entertainment providers second.


Additionally, I see the future of this type of thing not going away but at least improving. Instead of shoving the Today Show in a 4:3 box to fit a SD scroller on the screen what I do see them doing in the future is putting the Today show in a 4:3 box and using the sidebars to put information into. That's what some of the HD news stations are doing already. They're not showing their studio in 16:9 at all.

The crap they scroll on the bottom of the screen is just going to move to the sides, is all. It's not going to go away and it's certainly not going to get any LESS in-your-face.


That all said... if you're unhappy with what they're doing, notify them. And if you are paying for a service you don't think TWC is not providing, notify them too. But I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you...

WGRZ OTA has entire sub-channel dedicated to weather. How about they show their school closings and weather updates full screen on 2-2, and leave 2-1 the way it is. They can do whatever they want for the analog broadcast, it looks like crap regardless of whether the picture is shrunk or not.

Have you heard anymore updates? The next MSG home game is tomorrow (12/12). Keeping fingers crossed we'll be able to see it in HD on Directv.

Thhey have run into some snags on the fiber Connection so its gonna be a bit longer.

[QUOTE=Indiana627;12461487]I've gotten an update from someone at WGRZ (he asked I not use his name but I've emailed over the past few years about other issues so I know he's legit). Here's what he wrote me today:

[I]"Direct TV has been experiencing problems recently with WGRZ HD local into local. They do receive our analog and digital (HD) channels over the air and then uplink them to their facility in Castle Rock, Colorado. The signal is then re-transmitted to all subscribers. Direct uses a similar setup for every local station so that is why you could view a problem on one local station but not on any other local station.

The WGRZ problem first surfaced during the Sunday night football game between the Buffalo Bills and the New England Patriots. Direct had a failure of both their primary and backup HD encoders which was temporarily repaired that evening but we have received reports from viewers of continuing problems since that date. I have heard that Direct TV added more HD channels recently which may have changed the compression level on all HD feeds which could affect picture quality.

THIS guy hasnt a clue on Dtv delivery methods. All Buffalo and other city Locals are on spot beams off the sats. The additional nationally offerd Hd lineup has no affect on the spot beams. It was simply a problem at both ends with Dtv and WGRZ.

I actually like the NBC weather plus channel. Alot of my new Digital customers prefer it to TWC

WKBW seems to be showing a new channel on 7-3. WCSN, an all sports channel. Not sure what the intention is behind this, but ok. pq is awful.

World Cup Sports Network? Looks like crap audio sounds like crap too/ 7-3 needs some work. Could be interesting if they ever get it going correctly.
Rich:mad:

First off, they are not "screwing up" the HD signal.

I don't really disagree with any of that but the above.. They are definitely screwing up the HD signal, being that there is no HD signal when they use closing central.




The crap they scroll on the bottom of the screen is just going to move to the sides, is all. It's not going to go away and it's certainly not going to get any LESS in-your-face.

That stuff at the bottom scrolling on the HDTV Today Show broadcast is totally fine, it doesn't bother me at all. That's what I was saying, it might be a possible solution to use that scroll instead of "closing central" on the HD broadcast. Seems like a perfect solution for now at least.

BTW, yesterday there were only 3 schools and a couple other things on closing central.. They only wrecked the HD Today Show signal until 10AM,, (I think that is what they always have done though). After that it was fine, back to HDTV. They did however have it on at times during the rest of the day yesterday, I wasn't checking all day though so I don't know if they degraded any more HDTV broadcasts.


What do you expect TWC to do? Demand what WGRZ broadcasts? TWC has no say whatsoever.
Yeah I made it clear to them (TWC) that I knew it wasn't their fault, but they did agree with me that it wasn't right was WGRZ was doing. Maybe NBC itself is the only one that has any real control over a situation like this, or the Today show itself might have some say. I doubt either give a rat's ass about Western NY getting it's HD signal interrupted by some bonehead at WGRZ to show 5 closings all day long which are already being shown on the SD channel, but maybe they do- who knows.

Just for some extra data points... WGRZ did have "closing central" crap up during at least the last 1/3 or so of Days of Our Lives from 1-2. I record it off analog but I can assume it was on the digital channel too (not that that show is in HD).

From 5-6pm they also had the squashed picture on their own news on the digital channel, again, that's not in HD anyway. But they "ruined" the HD NBC Nightly News at 6:30.

I was SHOCKED that they kept their prime time programming in HD. I was sure I would be subject to learn that some outlying school 45 miles away that I've never heard of was closed during 30 Rock. But I wasn't.

LOL.. yeah- I guess "closing central" is like a box of chocolates. You never know what they are going to do..

I just compared a recording of Smallville I made on Nov. 15th to a recording I made on Dec. 13th. It looks like they decreased the video bitrate from 17 Mbps last month to less than 10 Mbps a couple of days ago.

This is not good. I hope it's not a continuing trend.

Anyone else worried that if tomorrow's storm is as big as they say, that channel 4 will run the closing list during the Bills game and kill the HD feed?

Hey everyone, just got a Panny 42" PZ77U Plasma last week and upgraded my Dish Network to HD. Unfortunately I just figured out and called about it, but Dish does not broadcast local HD channels in Buffalo. I hooked up an old antenna thats on the roof and I am only receiving 1 channel in HD and 2 other channels that are fuzzy. Also the one channel I do get, WIVB 4 seems to get pixelly often. What can I do to get more channels? I'm sure the answer is going to be buy a better antenna and switch to DTV or TWC. Unfortunately I locked into an 18 month contract. I guess I may have to buy anther antenna. I have the standard coax cable from the antenna, would it help to buy something better(if they make it) The tv has an HDV tuner built in by the way. Any info would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks

Anyone else worried that if tomorrow's storm is as big as they say, that channel 4 will run the closing list during the Bills game and kill the HD feed?

I was just coming here to post this exact same thing. I will be one bitter dude if they run the closings through out the entire game and ruin the HD coverage.

Considering its been downgraded a bit locally hopefully most of the closing will already be decided.

Considering its a 3 and a half hour block, I think people can go without finding out their girl scout meeting at <insert church name here> for that time or find another station.

The pregame show at noon will be a good test. If the closings are running during that, then we should all start calling the newsroom (probably the way to get a live person) and complain. Unless someone else has a better number to get to a live person?

Flyinacez;
1. What town are you in?
2. Exactly what antenna do you have,
3. How long is the downlead,
4. How old is the install,

Sounds as it might be very old which would warrent a complete new install; antenna, d/l, rotor and possible tripod.

BTW; welcome to the forums.

(Today might be an ideal day to do it. ;) )

Hey everyone, just got a Panny 42" PZ77U Plasma last week and upgraded my Dish Network to HD. Unfortunately I just figured out and called about it, but Dish does not broadcast local HD channels in Buffalo. I hooked up an old antenna thats on the roof and I am only receiving 1 channel in HD and 2 other channels that are fuzzy. Also the one channel I do get, WIVB 4 seems to get pixelly often. What can I do to get more channels? I'm sure the answer is going to be buy a better antenna and switch to DTV or TWC. Unfortunately I locked into an 18 month contract. I guess I may have to buy anther antenna. I have the standard coax cable from the antenna, would it help to buy something better(if they make it) The tv has an HDV tuner built in by the way. Any info would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks
Definitely consider an upgrade to improve your OTA reception. It is well worth it and it will only get better in the future.

Hey everyone, just got a Panny 42" PZ77U Plasma last week and upgraded my Dish Network to HD. Unfortunately I just figured out and called about it, but Dish does not broadcast local HD channels in Buffalo. I hooked up an old antenna thats on the roof and I am only receiving 1 channel in HD and 2 other channels that are fuzzy. Also the one channel I do get, WIVB 4 seems to get pixelly often. What can I do to get more channels? I'm sure the answer is going to be buy a better antenna and switch to DTV or TWC. Unfortunately I locked into an 18 month contract. I guess I may have to buy anther antenna. I have the standard coax cable from the antenna, would it help to buy something better(if they make it) The tv has an HDV tuner built in by the way. Any info would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks

Depending on the answer to #1 videobruce's reply - you may also get away with a $20 indoor antenna available locally or online too!

NFL pregame is in HD on 4 - no closings list! So hopefully the game will be in full HD too.

New QAM channel locations??

I previously had NBC 1.1 / CBS 1.2 and ABC 1.3...a couple of days ago ABC and CBS moved to 88.2 and I think 89.3....I cannot find NBC HD now on QAM...anyone notice this? I rescanned my stations and am using a Philips HDTV.

Thhey have run into some snags on the fiber Connection so its gonna be a bit longer.
Any update on what a "bit longer" means?

New QAM channel locations??

I previously had NBC 1.1 / CBS 1.2 and ABC 1.3...a couple of days ago ABC and CBS moved to 88.2 and I think 89.3....I cannot find NBC HD now on QAM...anyone notice this? I rescanned my stations and am using a Philips HDTV.

Try 88.1

i heard they are shooting for this friday vs the flyers

Is anyone else complaining about this? If it bugs you, please call TWC and WGRZ and complain so they will limit the closing central to the SD channel. Anyone who wants to see that info will be able to get on the SD channel anyway, they do not need to completely wreck the HD version of the Today Show- or at least the first 2 hours of it as they have been doing.


I'm glad this anoys someone other than me - I was yelling at my TV on Saturday. I happened to be home and turned on Saturday Night Live. Channel 2 decidede to run its "Closing Central" and switch the HD signal to analog. This put the black letterbox bars on the side on my 42 inch screen. Then the blue graphic shows up on 3 sidesd of the remaining picture, creating a 4:3 window. This window then has black letterbox bars on top and bottom, to show SNL in a 16:9 format (in lower resolution, of course). I measured the size of the picture of the show I was tuning in to watch - it was now reduced to 27 inches! 40% of the screen was taken up by crap I did not tun in to see!!! I didn't buy an HDTV and pay for TWC HDTV service to watch 60% of the picture at a lower resolution.

BUT THE TRULY PATHETIC PART OF THIS IS THAT THE CLOSINGS THEY WERE SHOWING TOOK LESS THAN 2 MINUTES TO CYCLE THROUGH!!!!!!

Someone decided that it was a good idea to take away the HD resolution and show a picture 60% of proper size so they could cycle through 2 minutes of closings over and over and over again.

sorry for the rant, but who do we complain to? does anyone have a number?

sorry for the rant, but who do we complain to? does anyone have a number?

http://www.wgrz.com/company/contact/2Listens/default.aspx

i heard they are shooting for this friday vs the flyers
Keeping fingers crossed!

New QAM channel locations??

I previously had NBC 1.1 / CBS 1.2 and ABC 1.3...a couple of days ago ABC and CBS moved to 88.2 and I think 89.3....I cannot find NBC HD now on QAM...anyone notice this? I rescanned my stations and am using a Philips HDTV.

They didn't move anywhere on my Series3 TiVo.

racermurray;
88.1 & 89.1 etc. are the actual channel numbers.
There hasn't been a channel one in the US for over 50 years.
Someone should tell the Asians that program these tuners there is no channel one. :mad:
(Of course, all of that would be a non issue if channel mapping could be turned off in the sets.)

J in OP;
By FCC mandate broadcasters have to provide a public service relating to the area they serve. PS spots are one way of doing so which includes weather related closings. The problem is no local station has the ability to orginate local HD programming other than CBC 20.1 and CFTO 40.1 out of Toronto. More importantly, they have no ability to interface with the network feed other than just pass it alone. One of the stations even has their Master Control in another state, the only thing locally is the news set! Commericals and all switching is done 3 or 4 states away.

A few hundred thousand dollars (or more) would probably solve the problem. ;)

A little birdie told me WUTV has HD syndication starting with Two and a Half Men. ;)

A little birdie told me the same thing!

New QAM channel locations??

I previously had NBC 1.1 / CBS 1.2 and ABC 1.3...a couple of days ago ABC and CBS moved to 88.2 and I think 89.3....I cannot find NBC HD now on QAM...anyone notice this? I rescanned my stations and am using a Philips HDTV.

Yeah, I'm in lockport and have something similar. All I get now are CBS and PBS. 88.anything gives me one and 89.anything gives me the other. A rescan didnt bring the others back. Also, they show up as "0" instead of 1. 2. 3. etc

This is on a Toshiba LCD

Another thing nice about having a outdoor antenna.
You're missing out on all the programming from Ontario that isn't on cable or satellite, especially where you are located. ;)

BTW; welcome to the forums.

A little birdie told me WUTV has HD syndication starting with Two and a Half Men. ;)

What does this mean?

What does this mean?
Fox 29 is starting air some of the syndicated reruns they have in HD. They are starting with the week night airings of Two & a Half Men at 7:30 and 10:30.

Channel 627-1 is now in the Directv guide. SatelliteRacer has posted on DBSforum that the Sabres games will commence broadcast in HD TOMORROW NIGHT!!!!:):):):):):p

I'm so switching now, Too bad they don't hve CBS in HD in the area yet on Direct TV

I'm so switching now, Too bad they don't hve CBS in HD in the area yet on Direct TV
Come on in - the water just got even better!

And hopefully we'll get CBS in HD soon too. Though with your location, you could probably get WIVB with an indoor antenna in HD (you'd just have to make sure you get a D* receiver with an OTA tuner which the new HR21 doesn't have). I'm in Wheatfield and get WIVB HD great with an indoor Silver Sensor.

I watched Wed 12/19 Journeyman last night and the PQ looked to be back to normal. I didn't see one issue during the entire show. Do others think the PQ problems have been solved? I know there's not much HD to check these days. I guess a good test will be the Sunday night football game but I will out of town so I won't be able to check it.

I have a friend in South Buffalo who gets CBS HD fine with an antenna. And by "antenna" I mean a pair of rabbit ears sticking out of the top of a recliner that's next to the TV. The rabbit ears aren't even "spread out" they're together and just pointing straight up to the sky.

What kind of antenna would I need to get the Ontario feeds Im in Tonawanda ny
Thanks

One that is very directional and mounted high.
Depending on where in Tonwanda you are, Gilligans Island WILLbe the deciding factor.

Anyone else watching the game on D* 627-1 Has a great picture but no audio. I'm watching on a HR-21

i had no audio on ch 627-1 for the first 2 minutes of the game. After that i got BOTH audio and video. everything is great on my hr20

I watched Wed 12/19 Journeyman last night and the PQ looked to be back to normal. I didn't see one issue during the entire show. Do others think the PQ problems have been solved? I know there's not much HD to check these days. I guess a good test will be the Sunday night football game but I will out of town so I won't be able to check it.

signal and picture quality are both down at my place for WGRZ for over a week now. I can't see anything wrong with the set-up and i haven't made any changes lately, but there have been enough drop outs to get my attention and make me hate Sony a little bit more.

WGRZ has been good here in Mississauga (~80 miles from the tower). The only complaint I have about them is the 2-3 vertical yellow lines on the far left side of the screen when showing HD content. I have my 1080P TV set to 1:1 and 95% of the time it's perfect. Whenever watching anything in HD on NBC, I have to enable the overscan mode to hide the lines. I wonder if someone could ask them to remove those lines. Do they serve any purpose?

I'm glad this anoys someone other than me - I was yelling at my TV on Saturday. I happened to be home and turned on Saturday Night Live. Channel 2 decidede to run its "Closing Central" and switch the HD signal to analog. This put the black letterbox bars on the side on my 42 inch screen. Then the blue graphic shows up on 3 sidesd of the remaining picture, creating a 4:3 window. This window then has black letterbox bars on top and bottom, to show SNL in a 16:9 format (in lower resolution, of course). I measured the size of the picture of the show I was tuning in to watch - it was now reduced to 27 inches! 40% of the screen was taken up by crap I did not tun in to see!!! I didn't buy an HDTV and pay for TWC HDTV service to watch 60% of the picture at a lower resolution.

BUT THE TRULY PATHETIC PART OF THIS IS THAT THE CLOSINGS THEY WERE SHOWING TOOK LESS THAN 2 MINUTES TO CYCLE THROUGH!!!!!!

Someone decided that it was a good idea to take away the HD resolution and show a picture 60% of proper size so they could cycle through 2 minutes of closings over and over and over again.

sorry for the rant, but who do we complain to? does anyone have a number?

I call the "Tip line" on WGRZ TV --849-2220-- and tell them what I think of the "closing central" on NBC HD wrecking the HD signal.. I also call Time Warner tech support, even though it is not their fault, but I let them know it is ridiculous and I want the HD signal. They agree, say they will file my complaint with the proper people in the company so that Time Warner can at least ask WGRZ to stop it.

If only one person calls nothing will happen, but if 100 people call it might make a difference.

Anyone notice the "Closing Central" on WIVB ch4 has an AT&T logo on it?

If WGRZ does something similar, don't look for them to remove it from the HD broadcast - or any other broadcast - anytime soon.


In other news... the Ice Bowl is now showing up in my TiVo's guide but it's not showing up as being in HD. Is that true?!

Come on in - the water just got even better!

And hopefully we'll get CBS in HD soon too. Though with your location, you could probably get WIVB with an indoor antenna in HD (you'd just have to make sure you get a D* receiver with an OTA tuner which the new HR21 doesn't have). I'm in Wheatfield and get WIVB HD great with an indoor Silver Sensor.

I actually have an HD antenna, a Phillips PHDTV1, it works good...

Try 88.1

Nope, the TV won't even tune to that...I will scan again and see what happens....arg. D* getting closer and closer...

I also call Time Warner tech support, even though it is not their fault, but I let them know it is ridiculous and I want the HD signal. They agree, say they will file my complaint with the proper people in the company so that Time Warner can at least ask WGRZ to stop it.

Don't count on it.

TWC staff do not find humor with calls relating to issues beyond their control, like this. Complaining to them is like beating the cat when the dog soils the carpet.

The tech guy just wanted you off the phone.

racermurray;
88.1 & 89.1 etc. are the actual channel numbers.

videobruce -are atsc tuners all different my sanyo tv from walmart shows the tw qam channels on 88-1 -2 etc. My element 19" lcd displays the same channels as channel 1008?? However if I manually enter 88 the set will tune to 1008. For some reason this set picked up over 230 digital stations with basic cable hooked up? I had to delete most of them to skip over when changing channels. I know alot are cable radio and music choice - I dont remember so many stations last time I scanned on my Sanyo.

I watched Wed 12/19 Journeyman last night and the PQ looked to be back to normal. I didn't see one issue during the entire show. Do others think the PQ problems have been solved? I know there's not much HD to check these days. I guess a good test will be the Sunday night football game but I will out of town so I won't be able to check it.

Sunday Night Football looked as bad as ever this week. So it does not look as though anything has been fixed.

Indy, if you have that email address for the engineer, it might be time for a "what the hell is going on" note to him. It is an embarrassment to their station the way it looks, and is even more embarrassing that they seem to be doing nothing about it.

are atsc tuners all different It's not so much the "tuner", but the firmware that is written for it.
Just as different browsers are different. They all allow you to get to a site, but getting there is another story. Some are bloated and don't conform to W3C standards and allow poorly written web sites to work when they actually shouldn't. :mad:

Point is, if they (the TVs' tuner firmware) would allow channel mapping to be turrned off just as many (or at least some) HD tuner cards allow, there wouldn't be this problem. ;)

I see WNYO (MyTV) is now showing up (on at least one set in Lancaster) on 1.4
I never watch it. When did this happen??

my cousin has dish network hd service. Any word when they will offr local HD channels in buffalo?

Sunday Night Football looked as bad as ever this week. So it does not look as though anything has been fixed.

Indy, if you have that email address for the engineer, it might be time for a "what the hell is going on" note to him. It is an embarrassment to their station the way it looks, and is even more embarrassing that they seem to be doing nothing about it.
I'm working on it.

my cousin has dish network hd service. Any word when they will offr local HD channels in buffalo?

Dish Network Has a capacity issue going on right now for HD service in Buffalo.
Probably wont be for another year. They still Have yet to roll it out in more Major cities.
Tell him to switch to Dtv at least they have most of em now

Channel 627-1 is now in the Directv guide. SatelliteRacer has posted on DBSforum that the Sabres games will commence broadcast in HD TOMORROW NIGHT!!!!:):):):):):p


Yes and we also just picked up WNGS on the directv local spot beam. For those w/o off air antenna this station is very similar to TV-Land programming.
Yea go sabres!!!!!!!IN HD

P.S. those of you waiting on the price drop on the New HD/DVR from Directv . It will drop for us 1s2t week of 08. by $100.00

I got an email from WGRZ:

"There is now an active trouble ticket at Direct TV regarding the issue. I have asked that they monitor for an extended period when we are broadcasting HD to see if the problem can be pinpointed. Tonight we have HD programming from 8 – 11 PM and 11:35 PM – 1:37 AM so this should be a good test of their system. The station has added a Direct TV HD receiver to the mix allowing us to monitor continuously and notify Direct if we witness a problem. We are also going to record the HD portions from our receiver. Please let me know if you witness any more problems so I can tag a specific event/s for Direct to address. Thanks again for your help and for your patience."

So they are hearing and listening to us. If you notice any PQ issues tonight, let's post them in this thread (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=111803) at dbstalk.com since this is more of a D* issue and that site is very heavy into D*. Please be specific as to the show and time you saw the issue. Since they are now going to record the HD themselves on a D* receiver, they can then refer back to that particular show/time and see it for themselves. I'm going to give them a link to this thread so they can stay up to date with it.

Dish Network Has a capacity issue going on right now for HD service in Buffalo.
Probably wont be for another year. They still Have yet to roll it out in more Major cities.
Tell him to switch to Dtv at least they have most of em now

i have diretv and love it. Unfortuneatly he just signed with dish less than amonth ago and his now stuck in a contract with them.

Has anyone in WNY with TWC been able to install their own CableCard? I picked up a TivoHD and wanted to do the install myself. Are they handing out multistream cards?

I haven't heard of anyone of any cable company in any state being able to install their own CableCARDs yet.

But I'm curious if they have M-Cards in this area yet.

well i got my channel master 4221 and rotor installed today. I get 2,4,7, 43 at 100% 49 at 90%. The cw still is at only 60% though. However the big test of getting cbc for the hockey games was a bust. I have the hr20 and u can not scan for channels. I found a bunch of zip codes using channel 20.1 to try an pick it up. The one i am currently using is kiku 20.1 from honolulu. I am still only unable to pick it up. I also tried for rochester stations which did not come in. I have the antenna mounted at the highest point of a 2 story house with no trees or lines around it. oh well looks like i will just get the center ice package and hope the HNIC is in HD on there.
User thecrave posted over at dbstalk that he put in ZIP 22203 as his secondary DMA and that gave him channel 5.1 (the NBC station in D.C.) and he can watch and record CBC on his HR20. He just has to schedule a manual recording, and the show description info would be wrong, but it would record the CBC program.

I watched Wed 12/19 Journeyman last night and the PQ looked to be back to normal. I didn't see one issue during the entire show. Do others think the PQ problems have been solved? I know there's not much HD to check these days. I guess a good test will be the Sunday night football game but I will out of town so I won't be able to check it.
I have every OTA episode of Journeyman saved as a transport stream and I would be ticked off if I was paying DirecTV and they weren't delivering it correctly!

The recordings are okay, with the exception of a crawler with letterboxing and pillarboxing stating that a storm was headed to our area. But even worse than that IMO - some of the episodes contain a bogus 3:2 pulldown where sometimes two different frames are blended in the same field! Very not good if you plan on inverse telecining (which progressive monitors must do). Also, I have a sneaky suspicion that WGRZ unnecessarily recompresses broadcasts because of that 2.2 weather channel, which I hate. I wish there was a way to broadcast with pulldown flags, similar to DVD's which contain 23.976 video that is pulled down by the DVD player, if necessary. That way, the flags could be ignored resulting in a clean, progressive video

Finally

I just signed up for Direct TV and my install is on Jan 11th (my choice)

I just hope they get Ch.4 in HD shortly, even though I don't mind watching it on my antenna...

Welcome to D* (widely used abbreviation for Directv) - you're going to love it! Let us know if you have any questions. You may also want to check out dbstalk.com as it has many D* specific forums where you can get a lot detailed answers to questions.

i heard directv is getting cbs hd on jan15th. Dont know if it is true or not. Personally doesnt matter for me i get all locals at 100 percent with my small antenna

i heard directv is getting cbs hd on jan15th. Dont know if it is true or not. Personally doesnt matter for me i get all locals at 100 percent with my small antenna
You're referring to WIVB HD? Source?

like i said just a rumor my cousin told me on xmas. He just got directv installed this month and was told by his installer. tak it for what its worth.

I live in Elma, and I have an HDTV with a built-in tuner, but no dish or cable service. Yesterday, in order to watch the Bills game in HD, I went to Radio Shack and bought one of their amplified indoor/outdoor antennas (the actual model is 15-2186) because that's all they had. I probably should have done more research, but this is what I have.

My question is, is there any chance in hell that I can get CBC HD from here with that piece of equipment if I put the antenna in the right place? I realize that it's not the best thing out there but I can't really buy one of those roof-top antennas. I go to college and still live at home, and the parents aren't too keen on the idea. They only have the TV for DVD's and an XBox, and really couldn't care less what channels I pick up. I've tried looking on previous pages and saw that people could get CBC in the Southtowns (I could get it normally on a normal TV with "rabbit ears" on certain days if the weather cooperates). Do I have any chance or am I SOL?

i say sol. I have been trying for a year to get cbc. I am in s cheektowaga and have a cm4221 outside with a rotator on my 2 stry house. It has a clear view 360degrees. I am yet to get a cbc signal. I have heard other have picked it up in the area but being it is so far away it is a stretch.

I used to be a DirecTV guy (believe me or not) and in my experience, DirecTV's answer most times to any problem was "we're working on it and it should be settled in the next two weeks," or "next month."

That's not to say they don't have some great features as a company, I just mean some people in some contracted call center (probably not too much above minimum wage) take the easy way out on customer service. Or the carrot on the stick method, as the case may be. So I would take any news of "soon to come" channels with a grain of salt and believe it when I see it.

Don't count on it.

TWC staff do not find humor with calls relating to issues beyond their control, like this. Complaining to them is like beating the cat when the dog soils the carpet.

The tech guy just wanted you off the phone.

It was a girl.. she seemed sincere. She also was pissed off by it.

I don't really ever believe anything anyone at TWC says anyway though, so no surprise to me if she just said what she thought I wanted to hear.

I used to be a DirecTV guy (believe me or not) and in my experience, DirecTV's answer most times to any problem was "we're working on it and it should be settled in the next two weeks," or "next month."

That's not to say they don't have some great features as a company, I just mean some people in some contracted call center (probably not too much above minimum wage) take the easy way out on customer service. Or the carrot on the stick method, as the case may be. So I would take any news of "soon to come" channels with a grain of salt and believe it when I see it.
They sure have delivered on a lot lately with all the new HD channels. As far as them not have WIVB in HD yet, that's because of WIVBs parent company LIN TV. They are in contract disputes all over the country with cable companies and the sat companies. D* has over 200 local channels in HD so they have proven they can play ball - as long as the other side wants to play too.

I remember when this was a LOCAL reception forum as the forum title states. There isn't anything "local" about satellite, other than what one can receive without that service. There are loads of forums that specialize with just that.
Namely here;
http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=82

My question is, is there any chance in hell that I can get CBC HD from here with that piece of equipment if I put the antenna in the right place?Maybe a snowballs chance in hell................
You have two problems;
1. You would need an outdoor antenna,
2. You will have a problem (though I don't know how bad) with what is behind the antenna (the Boston Hills).

You do have an avantage as you are far enough away from Gilligans Island so you don't have that overload issue, but referring to #2 you might have a issue with your southern neighbors.

To answer your question, I guess you could always try it. Tune in channel 41 or 47 (analog) and see how well they come in id any. Find a 'hot' spot for them and see what happens.

Here, here. I am a big believer in outdoor antennas, or real antennas as I call them. While it is possible for some people to get a good signal with an indoor antenna, houses do not generally make good TV antennas. If the store has a good return policy, you may want to try it, but beware of dropouts.

ATSC (the format for OTA HD), has error correction built in so while the picture may look great most times, you may experience scattered droupouts (glitchy sound and blocks) if your signal strength is not great. Compare this to my outdoor antennas, with which I experience zero dropouts per hour. Some people are okay with a couple glitches per hour - not me. Add to this the potential for weather to lower the signal even more. Your signal may be reported as 98 - but if a single tree swaying knocks it out - I don't think it's truly a good signal; the meter is not the whole story.

Also note that at present in our market there is no difference between an HD antenna and a UHF antenna. Calling it an "HD antenna" is a marketing gimmick IMO.

Also note that at present in our market there is no difference between an HD antenna and a UHF antenna. Calling it an "HD antenna" is a marketing gimmick IMO.
I couldn't agree more. I'm amazed at how many people get fooled by that marketing BS (I guess I should take a lesson since I'm in marketing myself!).

For the dozens of posts, here and elsewhere that report problems with one of their stations, I would bet they are on the 'cliff' and season and weather changes are putting them over (in the wrong direction).

I look at it this way;
1. It's there,
2. It's free,
3. It's the source for the best quality (most of the time, not counting HD/BlueRay DVD),
4. We are one of the few locations to have Canadian programming available (Detroit & Toledo are the other two in a major market, but not like what we have available),
5. The hardest thing is running the ground and pounding in that 8' ground rod. :mad:

I might also add;
6. Waiting another 13+ months or worse yet another 3+ years depending on which side of the border we are talking about. ;)

Let us know how you folks in WNY are getting today's HD broadcast of the Sabres outdoor game on NBC ... and the CBC if you can get it.

I will be watching it via the OTA antenna that I had installed by R.W.

gams looks good on nbc

priceless on cbc hd, particularly the 30 minute pregrame show.

I get cbc hd 100% in Orchard Park with a roof mounted DB8 antenna.

i have tried for a year to get cbc hd. I have a cm4221 in s cheektowaga and never picked it up. i grabbed a db8 antenna. Hopefully that will pull it in for me.

WGRX and CBC were fine.
I didn't compare NBC with CBC (didn't have time, had to work), but I did compare WGRZ off air and TWC and saw no real difference. Both had macroblocking durning wipes and dissolves.

As stated before, CBC is easy, CFTO isn't.

it seems to me with long coaxial cable runs and with signal loss with splitters. There may be a market for a 2-3-4 HDTV tuner appliance very close to the antenna(in the attic) and then run Cat 5 cable down to the TVs with cat5 in and component/HDMI out set top boxes.

I know there is hd home run but that is only one tuner with two inputs i believe. I am not sure if I got the logistics right, but cat 5 should take over for coax in the future.

it seems to me with long coaxial cable runs and with signal loss with splitters. There may be a market for a 2-3-4 HDTV tuner appliance very close to the antenna(in the attic) and then run Cat 5 cable down to the TVs with cat5 in and component/HDMI out set top boxes.

I know there is hd home run but that is only one tuner with two inputs i believe. I am not sure if I got the logistics right, but cat 5 should take over for coax in the future.

I don't see the problem with coax, if it's good like rg6. Do you mean an antenna in the attic connected to an in attic tuner? Because now you may have to wall fish to the TV's - a pain. If you meant an outdoor antenna connected to an in attic tuner, it would not be properly grounded and illegal. If a long cable run is a problem, preamplify. I did and the signal is 100% with a +60ft run. If you have too many splits, amplify first.

However, multiple antennas are a pain with OTA requiring more than one coax for each tuner so you do bring up some good points. I don't think a whole house tuner would be necessary in the long run as they get cheaper. For example, there used to be separate cable boxes (the old kind) until the average set came with a built in tuner.

I would love to see a whole house multiswitch (like DirecTV uses) where you run a couple antenna cords to it, and then run only one cord per TV from the switch. It would be very useful to me to program which frequencies should come from which antenna.

For the dozens of posts, here and elsewhere that report problems with one of their stations, I would bet they are on the 'cliff' and season and weather changes are putting them over (in the wrong direction).
That is the danger of an error corrected signal, I think. Lots of people think their indoor antenna "works great" judging from the picture quality when there are no errors and then wonder why they get those blocks on the screen every few minutes. But it's an education problem - not a technology problem. Gone are the days of snow and ghosting (at least in the resulting picture), but many people are used to judging a good signal by picture quality alone. It doesn't work that way anymore.

I live in Elma, and I have an HDTV with a built-in tuner, but no dish or cable service. Yesterday, in order to watch the Bills game in HD, I went to Radio Shack and bought one of their amplified indoor/outdoor antennas (the actual model is 15-2186) because that's all they had. I probably should have done more research, but this is what I have.

My question is, is there any chance in hell that I can get CBC HD from here with that piece of equipment if I put the antenna in the right place? I realize that it's not the best thing out there but I can't really buy one of those roof-top antennas. I go to college and still live at home, and the parents aren't too keen on the idea. They only have the TV for DVD's and an XBox, and really couldn't care less what channels I pick up. I've tried looking on previous pages and saw that people could get CBC in the Southtowns (I could get it normally on a normal TV with "rabbit ears" on certain days if the weather cooperates). Do I have any chance or am I SOL?

If you can't get all the local HD channels (US, not Canada) with that antenna, get this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Zenith-ZHDTV1-HDTV-UHF-Digital-Antenna/dp/B00006FXR9

Won't be disappointed. But if you're getting everything you want locally, don't change anything. The silver sensor probably won't help you get Canada stations but may be better at getting the locals for you.

I'm in Wheatfield and can't get any Canadian with my Silver Sensor.

I'm in Wheatfield and can't get any Canadian with my Silver Sensor.

Have you ever tried that antenna outside from a higher location- like an upstairs window facing north? I get cbc in NT w/ my CM4228- I just wish all the canadian stations had 30+kw of power or atleast CTV!

anyone else having a problem with ch 4-1 and 7-1 via ota. I could not get a signal yesterday or today. Normally i am at 100% for both. Ch 2-1 comes in still at 100%

DISGREGARD three reboots of the off air settings fixed the problem. IT was just something on my end

Have you ever tried that antenna outside from a higher location- like an upstairs window facing north? I get cbc in NT w/ my CM4228- I just wish all the canadian stations had 30+kw of power or atleast CTV!
I tried one summer day taking the antenna upstairs, running a long coax line down to the TV and pointing the antenna out a north facing window and couldn't get CBC. At this point the Canadian channels are low on my priority list.

7:37 and nothing yet

it is on. just had the standard no audio issue for ten minutes. Both audio and video are working fine now.

it is on. just had the standard no audio issue for ten minutes. Both audio and video are working fine now.

It was a few minutes late on clear qam feed on 94-1

Indiana627; Sorry, but I find it hard to beleive you are in that much of a dead spot. That SS, while a nice small antenna is way overpriced for what it is even at $17.
Try the EagleAspen 2bay antenna that I have linked to a few times. I just saw it as low as $12.50 (plus shipping) this week from Petra.

Where in Wheatfield are you?

Indiana627; Sorry, but I find it hard to beleive you are in that much of a dead spot. That SS, while a nice small antenna is way overpriced for what it is even at $17.
Try the EagleAspen 2bay antenna that I have linked to a few times. I just saw it as low as $12.50 (plus shipping) this week from Petra.

Where in Wheatfield are you?

videobruce- What is your oppinion on what I should be able to get in NT- with a roof mounted CM4228/rotor and no pre-amp in terms of canadian ota? Should I be expecting to receive the omni's in July or CHCH- or is it a lost cause for anything below 30kw? I have considered a pre-amp but I believe I would need more equipment than I'm willing to spend $ on to filter out the hi power GI Fox, pbs etc! Any advice? Thanks

How well does analog 52, 57 & 69 come in as those are the weakest? Analog 41 & 47 are fairly strong.
I'm fairly sure a preamp would be overloaded by GI.

Usually i get stations like 9,11 19,25,36,41,47 and sometimes 69 - They are not clear however especially 25, 69. I dont get 52,57- for some reason analog cbc on 5 I cant get either but digital cbc is fairly consistent at 50%+ signal. On good dx days I've rec'd cfto and cblft. I have also rec'd omni 1 way back when they were testing initially.

Any news on ch. 2 and Directv...the HD picture is still crappy---watching the wild card game and comes in great at times then intermittent pixels or small blurs appear....I know it's been reported to ch. 2 weeks ago but anyone have anything new to report on this???

Sounds like normal NBC football. Can you compare to OTA? I thought I read the issue with DirecTV was fixed.

Any news on ch. 2 and Directv...the HD picture is still crappy---watching the wild card game and comes in great at times then intermittent pixels or small blurs appear....I know it's been reported to ch. 2 weeks ago but anyone have anything new to report on this???
The latest info from my contact at WGRZ earlier this week:

"Direct TV performed a reset on their Primary Receiver / Encoder for WGRZ in their Castle Rock facility. This reset appears to have cleared the problem. From my conversation today I gathered that they are still monitoring WGRZ-DT to ensure the problem does not reoccur."

He left the door open for me to contact him in the future if this or other problems occur.

I've been watching off and on tonight and haven't seen any problems. I'll try to watch more if I can.

I dont get 52,57- for some reasonThey are the weakest which is why I referred to them. I have used 57 as a 'benchmark' for 25+ years as an indicator of reception from Toronto. I remember when I almost couldn't receive it, as it was barely visible. Not that it is really 'watchable' now, but one can see what's going on and the audio is full quieting. Analog ch. 5 is low band so a UHF antenna is out of the question.

I can't imagine anyone in Niagara county having much of a problem with Toronto..............
13 months from now it will be even better. ;)

Any idea what Time Warner Buffalo should be charging for 2 CableCards in a TivoHD. The lady on the phone said 4.95 each, but I'm guessing that includes the "Digital outlet fee". What should the second one in the same device cost?

They are the weakest which is why I referred to them. I have used 57 as a 'benchmark' for 25+ years as an indicator of reception from Toronto. I remember when I almost couldn't receive it, as it was barely visible. Not that it is really 'watchable' now, but one can see what's going on and the audio is full quieting. Analog ch. 5 is low band so a UHF antenna is out of the question.

I can't imagine anyone in Niagara county having much of a problem with Toronto..............
13 months from now it will be even better. ;)

Can you receive these on a regular basis? I'm sure you have a more elaborate set up than I do. Do you live in the city of buffalo? How will receiving canadian stations from my location become easier in 13 months? Will the analog shut down in the US have some effect on my receiving these stations easier?

Can you receive these on a regular basis?Yes. 52, 57 & 69 aren't really watchable though. Do you live in the city of buffalo?Yes. How will receiving canadian stations from my location become easier in 13 months? Will the analog shut down in the US have some effect on my receiving these stations easier?You answered your own question. There will be three less high powered analog 'problems' on Gilligans Island to deal with. Which means three less filters/traps I will have to deal with and for the desired signals to pass through. ;)

Are you referring to their analog power? Isn't there still significant digital power that will continue to cause problems? Oh and if you listen to swanni- Phil Swan this will be delayed by atleast 6 months.

Yes, not as much & who the hell is Phil Swan??

So what will their erp be after 2/09- fox, pbs, wnlo, wned- will it be far less than 1000kw? Phil Swan is located here:

http://www.tvpredictions.com/swanni13010208.htm

I would agree.
I just hooked up my 42" Sanyo Plasma and tried two antennas. I had a RCA indoor with UHF loop , amplified with rotating dial Worked well. Then tried a two year old Radio Shack
, with UHF loop and 12 position click dial. Work a bit better. I pick up all Buffalo stations,
2,(2);4(2);7(all three of them), 29(2), 49(2), 23, 17(3). I live on the east side of Buffalo near Schiller Park near the Cheektowaga border. Antenna is located 2 ft from the monitor and about 6'2'' of the floor. Pointed generally south. The statons come in between 8-10 bars strengh wise. Anyone else doing better with an indoor. If I go outdoor I presume things should only get better. Any recommendations?

Try the Silver Sensor. I tried about half a dozen indoor antennas when I got my HD set and that one was the best, by far. It was the ONLY one I could get every station without moving the antenna.

We are getting FIOS internet on Saturday. I live in Tonawanda. My mom who works for verizon talked to the tech and they said they are building the TV HUB on Elmwood and should have TV in 6 months. Now I know that it all depends on towns and cities allowing a franchise. I was trying to get my mom to get D* but she said we will wait until FIOS Tv. I just hope she is right.

The tech would have absolutely no idea about the status of any legal franchise agreements. Yes, the Elmwood location is going to be the hub (although I believe they're still fighting with the Elmwood Association over the antenna) and that may be ready in 6 months but that's it.

Last official word was that they hadn't even BEGUN talks with ANY local town.

Tonawanda may not even be one of the markets they try for first.

I agree on not signing a long-term D* contract but I wouldn't hold your breath that you'll have FiOS TV in your house in six months.

This station on air today.Same programs as analog 36 Hamilton ON.

jimdoo; Sounds as he is just another gloom n doom fortune teller.
I just finished reading another TV broadcat publication and there was nothing regarding any additional delay. He is probably some analog CRT die hard. You have to realize, how else will the dictatorship in the WH going to pay for their folly of the past 7 years?? ;)

rob50312; Any idea of their ERP is suppose to be? Nothing here at time of my post. 36 analog is -6db down from last my measurement.

I pick up all Buffalo stations, 7(all three of them)
There's 3 channels for channel 7? I get 7.1 and 7.2. What am I missing?

Have you not seen this yet on ota?

I check for 7.3 tonight. What is on it?

2009 may really be the switch. It is a small % of people who will actually be affected. A lot of the scary stuff is a result of clever but deceptive marketing, IMO.

For example, "digital" is a buzzword that more people are equating with "excellent quality." But SD satellite is digital - heck even YouTube videos are digital and they sure look awful.

Also, the end of analogue is scaring people into thinking they must have an HDTV, when a satellite/digital cable box will continue to work on normal CRT's. The most affected group will be people with analogue cable but I don't think there are too many of them left. Anyway, I think this could really be the "big unplug" date that doesn't get pushed back.

The most affected group will be people with analogue cable

Actually those people aren't affected at all by the federal mandated OVER THE AIR analog shut-off.

The ONLY people that are affected by the mandated shut-off date are analog over the air people.

Analog cable will still continue to work just fine until your cable company DECIDES to shut it off. Here in WNY AFAIK zero of the analog cable channels (0-99) are dual-carried on a digital tier. So I really don't think customers in this area are going to be without analog cable anytime soon.

Videobruce their application states 5kw from the same antenna as their analog 36 500kw 338m CHCH tower.They are apparently testing for 3 weeks.

Actually those people aren't affected at all by the federal mandated OVER THE AIR analog shut-off.

The ONLY people that are affected by the mandated shut-off date are analog over the air people.

Analog cable will still continue to work just fine until your cable company DECIDES to shut it off. Here in WNY AFAIK zero of the analog cable channels (0-99) are dual-carried on a digital tier. So I really don't think customers in this area are going to be without analog cable anytime soon.
Wow, so it really is a small percentage of people. I know two people who get their programming from OTA analogue, and many many more who don't.

Wow, so it really is a small percentage of people. I know two people who get their programming from OTA analogue, and many many more who don't.

I know one person. And I was shocked. He's got an HDTV that he inherited from a friend that he doesn't use with any HD. He makes PLENTY of money and is already complaining about the government "making him" pay for new equipment :rolleyes:

I told him to get the F over it and/or pay for cable. :)

So I was looking into getting CBC 5.1 last night. On my Sony TV, I went to 5.1 and got the 'no signal' message. I can then go to the diagnostics screen for the channel. It showed a signal strength of 31 out of 100 (which can be strong enough for my TV's tuner), 0 errors, AGC% of 73 (not sure what this is), and SNR (dB) of 0. I assume this last measurement is why I can't get a picture even though I do have some signal.

Anything short of getting a different antenna (I have the silver sensor) I could do to get this to come in?

The most affected group will be people with analogue cable but I don't think there are too many of them left.CATV companies have to continue analog channels for another three (give or take) years starting on the OTA cut off date.

rob50312; Are they on in the AM? Two days and nothing yet. Their programming isn't another TBN 'holy roller' type is it? That is all I see in the AM.

Indiana627; Move the antenna around. Use the weakest analog channel as a reference and try to find a 'hot spot even if you have to use a longer cable.

Indiana627; Move the antenna around. Use the weakest analog channel as a reference and try to find a 'hot spot even if you have to use a longer cable.
I've done that. I even took it upstairs this summer and pointed it out a north facing window with no luck. Any other ideas?

I used videobruce's better than antennaweb instructions to find the exact angle.

Since 2150.com gives you the angle from the tower - not your location - you'll have to add/subtract 180 degrees. You can even print out a mapquest of your house and use a protractor to sketch it out. 0 degrees is north and it goes around clockwise. That should give you a really good idea of where to point (for me it's about 20 degrees west of north, which is 340 degrees-ish). But you'd really have to be a nerd to break out the protractor... not that I'd know anything about that.

Indiana627;
What does 41 & 47 look like (how noisey)?
Can you even get a hint of a signal with ch 69?
What is NW of you as far as obstructions?

I can't get any Canadian stations. NW of me is flat land with new housing.