WolfGate,
I've considered the satellite options, but you just don't get much more than you have already with TWC, maybe 2 channels HD, plus you're going to pay $600-$800 for a receiver that you'll need to upgrade in a year or so. I thought about it in the fall just to get football on ESPN, but when I looked at it, the price/benefit ratio was astronomical.

I just left DirecTV for TWC about 5 months ago. The main reason was convenience. My wife was tired of my running up to the attic every hour or so to adjust the antenna, and the fact that I upgraded to a second HDTV setup, so adding another $700 box wasn't an option at the time.

I have been very happy with TWC so far, and I love my Pace boxes!

I don't know if anybody else has noticed but as of right now 45-2 is broadcasting the color bars test screen (I forget the proper name) and it is in widescreen format. I remember foxeng saying at one point that WXLV had set up 45-2 to be ready to accept 720p. 48-2 isn't broadcasting anything.

Originally posted by uncrules
I don't know if anybody else has noticed but as of right now 45-2 is broadcasting the color bars test screen (I forget the proper name) and it is in widescreen format. I remember foxeng saying at one point that WXLV had set up 45-2 to be ready to accept 720p. 48-2 isn't broadcasting anything.

They have that up for almost 2 years now. That stream isn't configured correctly so it doesn't always display.

I just thought something might have been up because I've been able to see 45-2 for about six months and I've never seen anything on it but now tonight the color bar test screen is there.

In case any of you aren't aware, TWC is offering a 30-day free trial of the new HD Pack (INHD, INHD2, HDNet and HDNet Movies). Check it out here: http://www.triadtwcable.com/cableserv/hdpackoffer.htm

Hey, jacksonian-

The ball is quickly rolling on the theater room. My wife is sick of freezing her butt off in the basement. I have both coats of the base color on as of about half an hour ago. I have an electrician coming Thursday to install track lighting and the outlet for the 8700. As soon as my "dealer" gets my sixth channel speaker and mounting brackets, they'll be in to run video and speaker cables.

I was originally hoping to have it finished by football season, but at this rate, it'll be done (except all the NC State memorabilia) before baseball!!!!!

That's awesome! You've got to be getting excited. Nothing like a cold basement to get your wife motivated. I bet it feels like Christmas coming!

Have they fixed the SA HDTV box with the recorder? I'd really like to use it if it doesn't degrade the HTDV picture...

Thanks.:p

I second that! Also how is the HDNET programming? Looks like they have a free month to try it promo going, this along with the box would be nice :)

One day they'll have perfect images--as many pixels as reality--on demand anywhere and at any time you want to see them. Places, movies, realtime cameras, the entire oeuvre of Mama Tazi (and every other actor who ever put face to film). It's just a matter of time, is my view.

Originally posted by era
One day they'll have perfect images--as many pixels as reality--on demand anywhere and at any time you want to see them. Places, movies, realtime cameras, the entire oeuvre of Mama Tazi (and every other actor who ever put face to film). It's just a matter of time, is my view.

I take it from this that TWC is having trouble with the picture on their DT channels? How much pixelization are you seeing? (I have DirecTV and pixelization is kinda rare.) I figured they have that fixed by now.

Nope, picture quality is great on their digital channels. But I tried the SA8000 HD DVR for a week and it was having some software problem because the pq wasn't HD. I haven't heard back from them since I've tried to follow up. I hear conflicting reports from others in the area. Some people say TWC has told them to wait while they fix the glitches, others say they have it and they think it looks good. I'll keep emailing and keep you posted. For now, the Pace box is providing superior pq. Even the SD on the digitals looks fabulous.

Originally posted by jacksonian
For now, the Pace box is providing superior pq. Even the SD on the digitals looks fabulous.

I don't know if you have tried to record off the Pace box, but Van Denton has one and he was not able to record off of the Pace box (he doesn't have TWC DVR, but a computer card he bought to record programming) and it wouldn't let him record off the Pace box. Monday, TWC called him and said they found the software switch that would allow that and they turned it on. Has anyone else had that problem? If so, give the tech folks at TWC a call (the CSR's will have NO clue what you are talking about. You have been forewarned! Ask to speak to the "head end in Greensboro" that is where everything is coming from these days as they start to shut down the local headends. Greensboro feeds the whole Piedmont area now with Winston-Salem as the backup) so they can turn it on.

foxeng-

I have tried to record on to my VCR from my Pace box and could never get it to work. Could this be the same thing that you are referring to? When I tried to record I got a "macrovision" type effect.

Originally posted by catdaddy
foxeng-

I have tried to record on to my VCR from my Pace box and could never get it to work. Could this be the same thing that you are referring to? When I tried to record I got a "macrovision" type effect.

Sounds like it.

I received a postcard from TWC announcing their 30-day free trial of the new HD Pack (INHD, INHD2, HDNet and HDNet Movies) a few days ago. This morning I called and had it added to my service.

For some strange reason, the person taking the order must have been in a good mood because they took my order, added the service, credited the account for the first month free and then said: "I think I can save you some money by bundling your premium services with your roadrunner service."

The end result was about a $10 reduction for this next month and a $3 reduction next month when the $6.99 HDPACK charges start.

So, it will cost me negative $3 to get the new HD Pack!.

If you also subscribe to other TWC premium services, or to roadrunner, you might call and ask if they can offer a reduced bundled rate. I know I was happy with the result.

Just don't ask about my total cable bill. If somebody ever told me I would some day pay as much for several hundred channels of "nothing to watch," I would have told them they were crazy. Oh well, at least these 4 new channels will be in HD!

Joe L.

Yea, I think they knock off 5 bucks on RR when you get one of the premium packs.
I just signed up for the 30 day promotion as well.

New guy here. I can not seem to get a answer as to wether the ABC affliate in Greensboro broadcasts in HD? IE the Oscars's on Sunday did any one recieve that in HD from Time Warner? Thanks

It wasn't HD on Time Warner.

Thanks AK! Any idea when ABC going HD in Triad?

Originally posted by wcperk
Thanks AK! Any idea when ABC going HD in Triad?

WXLV and WUPN both are owned by Sinclair Broadcasting out of Baltimore and they are not very big on HD right now. The own or operate about 60 stations and very few are HD capable. WXLV and WUPN are a part of just a handful of their stations that are more than just low power stations. It had been rumored at the start of last season that WXLV was going HD for MNF, but that never happened.

I personally watch ABC HD OTA off of WTVD-DT 52 out of Raleigh.

Welcome to HD TV Land!

Thanks for the info! I look forward to the discussion on this board.

Is there any way that we, the good HD viewers of the triad could put presure on WXLV or it's parent Sinclair to upgrade to HD. Make up some boycott sign and ask to major electronic stores in the triad to display them. What does everyone think??????

I know that I've emailed them several times about HD, and they have been up front in saying they aren't going HD for a while. I myself haven't watched this ABC affiliate in quite a while (with the lone exception of seeing Billy Crystal do his thing at the Oscars). With so many other choices, it's easy to skip Sinclair.

PS - It's nice to be back here - I've been so busy lately with plays I haven't had time to check out AVS!

Originally posted by runcoman
Is there any way that we, the good HD viewers of the triad could put presure on WXLV or it's parent Sinclair to upgrade to HD. Make up some boycott sign and ask to major electronic stores in the triad to display them. What does everyone think??????

Short of getting all your friends and all their friends to NOT watch analog WXLV, not much I am afraid. Of course, WXLV's ratings are so low now, it would appear that not that many people watch it on a regular basis anyway to make a financial difference to them.

On a slightly different subject, FYI, in the Triad market there are 640,000 households with TV. Of those it is estimated that around 10,000 are "digital active" meaning they can actually watch something more than 480i (not just have an HD TV and watch analog TV and progressive scan DVD's.) This is based on cable numbers and OTA numbers that are known. Cable has the most numbers with close to 7,000. There are currently only two cable systems in the Triad market who offer HD cable at this time and that is TWC and LexCom in Davidson County. Those two systems make up about 65% of all viewers in the market. Last year TWC told me they had 3500 HD subscribers. They recently told me that number has almost doubled and LexCom is shoving HD boxes out the door pretty quickly as well. LexCom just came on line with HD in January.

Funny sidebar. WGHP-DT is on channel 510 on BOTH systems! It wasn't planned that way, but it just happened. Trust me, those two systems DO NOT talk to each other. It sounds like there is some nasty blood between the two. If you live where you have access to both, sounds like you might be able to get them into a bidding war to your advantage! (Of course I would always suggest DirecTV since it is now a part of FOX. Sorry, company loyalty! :D )

foxeng.

Again, many thanks for your market and technical insights. It really gives us regular consumers a better perspective. By the way, have you had any more thoughts on a get-together? From this thread, it appears that our group and interest is growing.

Jim

Originally posted by Jim Hewett
By the way, have you had any more thoughts on a get-together? From this thread, it appears that our group and interest is growing.

I am always for that! I just don't have the time to put it together. Anyone on here what to set it up? I am in.

foxeng,

Interesting statistics about the Triad TV viewing population. Thanks. I guess that we HDTV viewers don't have much collective clout at this point in time. On the other hand,we probably are a great demographic group to target for a station's advertisers. Perhaps the advertisers are the ones we need to rally to our cause and apply pressure to Sinclair stations to put an HDTV signal on the air.

I can just see the letter writing campaign.... "Dear advertiser, my family always used your brand and enjoyed your commercials on ABC, but since getting a new HDTV, We find ourselves constantly watching HDTV programs we wouldn't have otherwise just to see the great HDTV images.

Hate to tell you this, but since we go out of our way to watch HDTV, the commercials you are showing on ABC in standard definition TV are not anywhere near as effective as the commercials by your competitors we are watching on the FOX, NBC, and CBS HDTV channels. Seems a shame that you cannot get ABC to provide HDTV in our Triad area. Seems odd that you would allow them to fall so far behind the other networks in their technology. Do they really want to lose us as viewers to their competition?

Sincerely,
Triad HDTV viewer..."

Who knows? Couldn't hurt... Sinclair management can't ignore us forever...

Joe L.

Oooh...
Joe, you are good!

How can we go about doing this?

Originally posted by J. L.

I can just see the letter writing campaign....

Who knows? Couldn't hurt... Sinclair management can't ignore us forever...

Joe L.

It just might help more than you know. Besides, you have always been a trouble maker for as long as I have known you! ;)

Anything we can do to make both Sinclair and WXLV management uncomfortable
would help our cause. Large corporations do not like bad press.

Triad TWC CSR's response to my 3rd email in 2 weeks harrassing her about any software updates for the HD DVR pq issue:

"The next scheduled upgrade for the Scientific Atlanta HD DVR is scheduled to take
place in April. As more information is available, I will let you know.

Thank you for your patience."

Not much help. I can't get her to tell me if they're even aware that there IS/WAS a pq problem.

So, any reports of any new HD stations coming to TWC?
Is my list correct?

HBO E and W
SHO E and W
PBS
all local channels cept for ABC
DiscHD theater
INHD
INHD2
HDnet
HDnet2

Whats the deal with ESPN?

Is there a problem with WUPN DT 48 OTA signal?
When I tune to it my receiver will act as though it's locked on with good signal strength, but I get no picture and no sound.
All other digital channels come in fine.

r/ wow

Does anyone know if those Scientific Atlanta HDTV recorder boxes are yet working? It seems as if it's been months since the problems with the picture were reported and there was going to be a "fix" soon...?:D :eek:

Originally posted by wiloliwad
Is there a problem with WUPN DT 48 OTA signal?
When I tune to it my receiver will act as though it's locked on with good signal strength, but I get no picture and no sound.
All other digital channels come in fine.

r/ wow

Yes. Their PSIP is more screwed up than Michael Jackson. I can't decode them most of the time with my Zenith HDV-420. Plenty have complained but they're too lazy to get off their butts and fix it. We know that they know what's wrong and exactly how to fix it, since ABC45 had been doing the same thing--until they wanted it carried on Comcast.

It seems stupid to be running 700 kW (full power) just so people w/o Samsung tuners can't decode it.

- Trip

My TWC CSR told me the next update would be in April, so I'm waiting for that. But I think they're still sending them out.

Originally posted by Trip in VA
Yes. Their PSIP is more screwed up than Michael Jackson. I can't decode them most of the time with my Zenith HDV-420. Plenty have complained but they're too lazy to get off their butts and fix it. We know that they know what's wrong and exactly how to fix it, since ABC45 had been doing the same thing--until they wanted it carried on Comcast.

It seems stupid to be running 700 kW (full power) just so people w/o Samsung tuners can't decode it.

- Trip

Their Chief Engineer recently left. I am not sure who is doing what over there now at WXLV/WUPN.

Don Moore, who is the Chief Engineer at WTWB, WB20 posted on the Triad-HDTV.com list that he talked to one of the remaining engineers at WXLV and they have finally ordered the ABC HD receivers. The expected completion date is roughly June 1.

foxeng,
Are you playing an early April Fool's on us poor Greensboro saps?

Originally posted by jacksonian
foxeng,
Are you playing an early April Fool's on us poor Greensboro saps?

That is all I know. Don is pretty good about his info.

Let's keep our fingers crossed - sounds too good to be true!

That's great news , but I'm not going to hold my breath for 6/1.

On another note; is anyone else having DVI problems from Triad TWC? I had it working on my Pace 5500 a few months ago, and quit using it when I moved my projector. Now I have a 35' Monster DVI running to a different pj, and I had it for about half an hour, then I tested all the other inputs, then no DVI. I got a guy out yesterday to bring me a SA HDDVR and after he installs it, the DVI doesn't work. His supervisor says the SA boxes don't have the DVI turned on, so I say put the Pace box back up then, I'll upgrade in a few months then. Hook up the Pace box....BAM! I have DVI for about an hour. I turn it back on this morning, no DVI. I have a new Pace box coming Tuesday. ANyone else using DVI and having problems?

Should I just go ahead and get the DVR anyway and hope they activate the DVI soon? Is there still an issue with the PQ compared to the Pace?

So today I get home from work and there are TWO TWC vans in the driveway. I get out, talk to the guys, and one asked if I had a problem w/ my DVR. I say no, I can only get a signal through my DVI once in a blue moon, and only until I switch inputs or power off. He tells me that all the DVI ports are off, and "they're working on it". So two guys wasted an hour of their day to tell me something a CSR should have told me on the phone. How typical is that?!?!?!

Many of the newer DVD players are boasting 3:2 pulldown. Is this feature a meaningful improvement over earlier DVD sets' capabilities? I understand progressive scan and its benefits. But is this pulldown capability a significant advantage?

FYI for everyone in the group that Roger Goodwin of Audio/Video Installations, he did OTA installs for HD, has gotten out of the business and Michael Kearney, his assistant has taken over Roger's clients.

I just had Mike install a custom separate VHF and UHF antennas on my roof yesterday and he did a real good job with it. I guess you can say this is a recommendation for him.

He can be reached at 336-545-1002 or cell number 336-362-7972.

If you get him to do work, please tell him you heard it from me so he knows I am not lying about spreading the word about him!

I might be moving from Denver, CO to Burlington, NC (or surrounding) What's my probability of getting all of the stations? In Denver I'm getting ABC, NBC, CBS, WB, PBS without issue with a chimney mounted UHV only antenna and DirecTV Zenith SAT520 receiver.
Would I Point my antenna to Greensobro or Raleigh, or both.

Originally posted by Greg T
I might be moving from Denver, CO to Burlington, NC (or surrounding) What's my probability of getting all of the stations? In Denver I'm getting ABC, NBC, CBS, WB, PBS without issue with a chimney mounted UHV only antenna and DirecTV Zenith SAT520 receiver.
Would I Point my antenna to Greensobro or Raleigh, or both.

Welcome to the Triad of North Carolina! From Burlington you will be technically be in the Greensboro/High Point/ Winston-Salem market for DirecTV local in local (which means that with FOX owning a station in this market you should have FOX HD national feed when it starts up soon), but with an OTA you will be getting stations from the Triad market (Greensboro/High Point/ Winston-Salem) and the Triangle (Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill/Fayetteville) and Roanoke/Lynchburg, VA market. None of the stations in the three markets do HD on UPN or WB, but you will be able to pcik from several stations of each of the others. You can get HD from NBC, CBS and FOX from several stations and currently ABC from Raleigh. The Sinclair ABC is supposedly converting from SD to HD now, but I get my ABC from Raleigh.

That is it in a nutshell. If you need further info, let us know or you can check out http://www.nchdtv.com for more specifics.

For those who haven't heard yet, FOX Sports announced yesterday that they plan on showing up to 6 NFL games a week in HD starting with the Sept 12th opening weekend. The complete FOX press release is on http://www.nchdtv.com.

As far as I know we will be ready to go by then, if FOX knows what they are talking about. We have yet to get a date on when we will have our HD equipment installed, so until FOX arrives with it, I can't say for sure when we will be ready, but I do know that the installs have begun so we are just waiting our turn. I heard that WCCB in Charlotte was to get theirs in a couple of weeks, but again, we haven't been told when we will get ours yet.

Excellent! This is going to be great of ABC and Fox are ready with HD for football season! I can't wait.

MMMMmmmmmmm................HD football.......

Keep us apprised, foxeng! Sounds great!

FYI, off topic here, but if any of you like to see live theatre, I'll be performing in "42nd Street" at the Carolina Theatre April 30 - May 9th.
We'll be doing a remote with WFMY's morning show April 26th. So get out your tap shoes and tap on down to 42nd Street!

Pam,
Will the showing at the Carolina Theatre be in HD?

;)

More like 3 D!
:D

FYI, off topic here, but if any of you like to see live theatre, I'll be performing in "42nd Street" at the Carolina Theatre April 30 - May 9th.


Cool! We saw it on Broadway a couple of years ago. I had no idea the theater was doing it here. My wife and I will definitely make it!

Originally posted by WolfGate
Cool! We saw it on Broadway a couple of years ago. I had no idea the theater was doing it here. My wife and I will definitely make it!
Great!

What was up with Fox8 on TWC this Sunday? Trying to watch the race, I had a 16:9 aspect ratio picture, but it was much smaller than my screen. In other words, there was a black picture frame around the picture with the x-axis being the same width as if the picture were standard TV.

Wasn't like that on any of the other HD stations.

Originally posted by WolfGate
What was up with Fox8 on TWC this Sunday? Trying to watch the race, I had a 16:9 aspect ratio picture, but it was much smaller than my screen. In other words, there was a black picture frame around the picture with the x-axis being the same width as if the picture were standard TV.

Wasn't like that on any of the other HD stations.

Good question. I will have to give them a call today and find out! It wasn't transmitted like that. I was watching OTA and it was fine.

Originally posted by WolfGate
What was up with Fox8 on TWC this Sunday? Trying to watch the race, I had a 16:9 aspect ratio picture, but it was much smaller than my screen. In other words, there was a black picture frame around the picture with the x-axis being the same width as if the picture were standard TV.

Wasn't like that on any of the other HD stations.

Just got off the phone with TWC and they say they are not having a problem and after checking on their monitor. everything looks fine. They suggest it may be a setting either in your cable box or your TV is wrong.

I watched parts of the race myself yesterday (NASCAR is not my cup of tea, but I will do periodic checks when a big ratings programming event is on and I am not interested in watching it myself) and the 16:9 pictured filled the screen as it should. So I know we transmitted it correctly.

TWC says the only thing they do is convert it from 8VSB to QAM and that is all. Nothing to manipulate the picture and they just pass along whatever bit rate the station is passing.

Hope that helps.

I think it was a prob on your ende, WolfGate. I watched most of it on the crappy little 36" WEGA :( , and had no video problems. Somebody must have hit your # key on the remote and changed the cable box.

Originally posted by roland6465
I think it was a prob on your ende, WolfGate. I watched most of it on the crappy little 36" WEGA :( , and had no video problems. Somebody must have hit your # key on the remote and changed the cable box.

HEY! I have a crappy 34" 16:9 WEGA! ;) (And damn proud too!)

It's really wierd. The issue is still there, but only for Fox. I haven't changed anything in my system since, oh, November or so. I did reset the box, and no change.

I'll call TWC today, but I admit it's not intuitive to me why I might have a problem with only one station...

Unless, Roland, your comment about the # key could lend me a clue. I admit ignorance there. Any additional thoughts you can provide?

P.S. Roland - Hodge's announcement last week was excellent news. I thought he's eventually stay, but not before testing the waters. Loved his press conference comments also!

Originally posted by WolfGate
It's really wierd. The issue is still there, but only for Fox. I haven't changed anything in my system since, oh, November or so. I did reset the box, and no change.

I'll call TWC today, but I admit it's not intuitive to me why I might have a problem with only one station...

Unless, Roland, your comment about the # key could lend me a clue. I admit ignorance there. Any additional thoughts you can provide?

OK, time to pull stuff out of the "it can't be that" bag.

Check your cable box and TV to see if they are in 16:9 mode. If either one is in 4:3, that might cause it. I don't think that is the problem, but let's take this one step at a time and go for the obvious, then move to the esoteric.

Gate......much relief about JH as well, but back to the task at hand....

The # key on the remote will do 2 things: 1) single presses cycle through the box's three aspect settings;normal, zoom, and stretch.
2) press & hold brings up the output menu, in which you can set up the screen size and output resolution.

-hope this helps!

foxeng-

On a 4x3 36" WEGA, the actual widescreen image is only about 28". WAY too small since I got the 106" front projection setup. I'm in the middle of switching to another brand of PJ right now, but hopefully I'll be back in the theater room by Sunday's race.

As far as WGHP gos, I have noticed that on my WEGA, I have in the past had to manually switch the cable box to output 1080i from the "pass" option, since the older WEGAS don't pass 720p. As of this week, I no longer have to switch, as long as I want a line of garbage along the top of the screen. Did you switch back to 480p?

Originally posted by roland6465
Did you switch back to 480p?

Yeah. I am trying something and waiting for our HD gear. We are still waiting to hear when we get it.

Originally posted by foxeng
Yeah. I am trying something and waiting for our HD gear. We are still waiting to hear when we get it.

...and we're right there with you! :D

FOX has said that HD prgramming will start Sept 12.

I'll start the countdown....4 1/2 months and counting.....

Can't wait!

That is sooooo sad that I noticed the rez change. I guess I'm a fully fledged geek!

Originally posted by roland6465
That is sooooo sad that I noticed the rez change. I guess I'm a fully fledged geek!

Welcome to the club!:D

I know am late on posting this to the local thread. I assumed that everyone knew but since there hasn't been any chatter here, you may not so here it is.

FOX has announced a tentative list of shows that will be offered in HD starting Sept 12th. It appears that the HD link wll go live for station testing on August 2 so if we have the gear installed by then, you may see some shows in HD before, but if so, we will not know it until we air it. Rumor has it the installers are to be in North Carolina next month. We shall see.

The following list are the HD shows only and not the full SD/HD schedule. Dates and times have not been released.

24
Arrested Development
The Bernie Mac Show
The Casino
Malcolm in the Middle
Method and Red
The North Shore
The Jury
The O.C.
Tru Calling

6 NFL games per week

Originally posted by foxeng
FOX has announced a tentative list of shows that will be offered in HD starting Sept 12th.

Now if they would only relent and bring back "Wonderfalls" in HD... :mad:

Originally posted by jeffshoaf
Now if they would only relent and bring back "Wonderfalls" in HD... :mad:

I think it's dead, but then they brought back "the PJ's" twice and "The Fall Guy" three times, so you never know. There are a total 13 "Wonderfall" shows in the can and FOX only showed 4, so there are 9 more never seen. I think the actors are under contract until the end of the season and if no one has picked it up, there only be 13 episodes with 9 never seen.

Originally posted by foxeng
I think it's dead, but then they brought back "the PJ's" twice and "The Fall Guy" three times, so you never know. There are a total 13 "Wonderfall" shows in the can and FOX only showed 4, so there are 9 more never seen. I think the actors are under contract until the end of the season and if no one has picked it up, there only be 13 episodes with 9 never seen.

This is leaning towards off-topic, but I can't help it...

I think it's dead too. I'm fully frustrated with Fox - they keep throwing on reality shows that don't interest me at all, while at the same time spending money on quirky, interesting shows that I really like (Firefly, Wonderfalls) and not giving them a reasonable chance to find an audience. They'll have 'em on one week, off for a week or two, then bounce them around and show 'em on different days.

I've got the Firefly DVD set; I get frustrated eveytime I watch an episode knowing that it was canceled. Hopefully, the Firefly movie will make it to and through production.

Oh - thanks for being such an active participant here and other areas on the topic of HD. It's really great when an "insider" takes the time to participate with their customers and consumers!

I haven't seen anyone talk about it here, but for those with OTA, have you seen WGPX-DT yet? They have been on the air for about 2 weeks now. They are running 4 subchannels, one is WGPX, the second is PAX West, the Faith.net and Worship.net. I have seen mostly informericals or religious videos on them all.

It will be interesting to see if WXII does anything with this since they are basically running the station for PAX.

Speaking of WXII, it will also be interesting to see if they will have that new NBC Weather Alert Channel that NBC and their owners, Hearst-Argyle is starting in September.

On a different subject, we got some notification this week saying we should be getting our network HD gear soon, well it said we were in the initial roll out, whatever that means. No date specified, but I hear the install guys are here in North Carolina now, so I don't know if that means they will catch us this go round, or the follow-on wave.

FOX has verified that the HD link will not go live no sooner than August 2 and the first HD program will be on Sept 12th.

Thursday, TWC had a failure in their fiber optic gear that receives WGHP-DT 35 and sends it on TWC channel 510. They got it back up Friday morning with the off air feed. I haven't heard yet what they found that caused the problem.

Foxeng, what channels are the WGPX-DT on? I set my satellite receiver to have no dish so I could tune the channels. I tried 14 which I thought was WGPX-DT but nothing came in.

Also, can I say how much WFMY-DT sucks. On Thursday, the sound on WFMY-DT was very choppy. Today, I'm trying to watch the golf and the sound is screwed up again. I'm not sure what exactly the problem is but I can hear everything except for the commentators. I know the problems today and Thursday are WFMY-DT problems because I can turn to channel 7 out of Roanoke and everything is fine.

Funny thing happened while typing this message, channel 2's sound problem got fixed.

Another reason why WDBJ-DT 7 out of Roanoke is better than WFMY-DT 2 is because 7 broadcasts Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2 only broadcast Dolby 2.0.

The only bad thing for me about WDBJ-DT 7 is that I can't always pick it up. Right now the signal strength is 30% off the front of my antenna (Radio Shack U-75R UHF). I'm getting WFMY-DT at 93% off the back. FWIW I can only get WGHP-DT at 36% off the back of the antenna. Is 8 broadcasting at full power?

Originally posted by uncrules
Foxeng, what channels are the WGPX-DT on? I set my satellite receiver to have no dish so I could tune the channels. I tried 14 which I thought was WGPX-DT but nothing came in.


Yes, WGPX-DT is on channel 14. Their tower is at Reidsville. You may have to tell your receiver that you have no dishes connected and then you can go to 14-1.

Originally posted by uncrules
FWIW I can only get WGHP-DT at 36% off the back of the antenna. Is 8 broadcasting at full power?

No, WGHP-DT is not at full power, but if you are in High Point, you should have no problem getting it. I live off Battleground at Westridge in Greensboro, and I get it with no trouble.

Foxeng, so it doesn't matter when you guys get the equipment, FOX won't show their first HD broadcast until September 12? I hope it's football!

Originally posted by jacksonian
Foxeng, so it doesn't matter when you guys get the equipment, FOX won't show their first HD broadcast until September 12? I hope it's football!

That would appear to the the case.

Amazing actually; since our first program as a FOX affiliate in 1995 was the first ever regular season Carolina Panthers game. Of course the Panthers will not be FOX's first NFL HD game on the station since that is the week that the Panthers are on MNF. We can hope that WXLV has their HD up and running by then.

Foxeng-

Did you switch it back to 720p? The line of garbage at the top of the picture is gone from Fox Widescreen material, and barely there on 4x3 material.

I'd also like to vote for "WFMY is asleep at the wheel".

Originally posted by roland6465
Foxeng-

Did you switch it back to 720p?

Yes.

I'd also like to vote for "WFMY is asleep at the wheel".

How are they asleep at the wheel?

No 5.1, audio b reakups during the Final Four AND Masters.....

For those with OTA setups,

I was playing around with some different stuff to make my OTA TV DX antenna system better and found that the supplied balun with the CM 4228 was not passing the DTV signals correctly. The 8VSB signals are digital square wave signals and if not pretty close to correct, receivers will not decode them. After running some more tests, I contacted an other engineer I know in Lexington, Ky (http://www.dxfm.com/ he has screen caps of the DTV stations he has picked up, it is really interesting to just look at the different stations he has picked up) who is a big TV and FM DXer (he holds the current DTV distance record of over 1000 miles receiving an identifiable signal) and asked him what baluns he used.

He told me he too had been through many baluns to just to find some that would faithfully pass the DTV signals. The one he found to work the best for the money was from Radio Shack! He too has a CM 4228 and the old CM 5ft mess paraflector and he said both baluns that came with the antennas were Chinese junk. I went to Radio Shack and bought a couple of the Archer outside baluns and sure enough, the digital signal was pretty square just like it was suppose to be and some of the stations I had trouble keeping locked, came in easy and stayed locked on my test system I had set up at the transmitter. I now need to change out the baluns on my UHF and VHF antennas here at the house and see how much better it works. So if you are having trouble keeping stations locked that are fairly strong, you might want to change the balun at the antenna and see if that helps.

Here is a DTV 8VSB signal as seen on a spectrum analyzer:
http://www.w4cl.net/fox/dt16horizontal.jpg

Here is an analog signal as seen on a spectrum analyzer:

http://www.w4cl.net/fox/ch9horizontal.jpg

As you can see, the above analog signal is not very linear (the large peak on the left is the visual carrier and the very small one 7/8 of way from left to right is the color burst carrier and the peak on the right is the aural carrier) where the digital signal is VERY linear across the whole channel. The digital signal needs to be fairly flat as the first picture of the digital signal shows to decode. Deform that signal and the receiver will not decode it no matter how strong the signal.

(the pix are not mine. I found them on the net at http://www.mnns.com/~ka0ywn/hdtv_tc.html)

WFMY still sucks. Somebody forgot to switch over to the HDTV feed, again. Thanks goodness for 7 in Roanoke so I'll watch that until somebody wakes up.

Somebody must've heard the alarm and woke up. They switch to the HDTV feed.

Thank you very much for the tip on the balun that ships with the CM 4228! I'll head out to Radio Shaft and grab a replacement today.

Of course, installing it will not be a simple task. I'm not looking forward to climbing back up on my roof. My mast is now 15 feet tall and, with the 4228 high up top, is so heavy that it's all I can do to disconnect it from the rotor without it yanking me off the roof.

If I survive the installation, I'll let you know it works out :D

Originally posted by MrPhred
Thank you very much for the tip on the balun that ships with the CM 4228! I'll head out to Radio Shaft and grab a replacement today.

Of course, installing it will not be a simple task. I'm not looking forward to climbing back up on my roof. My mast is now 15 feet tall and, with the 4228 high up top, is so heavy that it's all I can do to disconnect it from the rotor without it yanking me off the roof.

If I survive the installation, I'll let you know it works out :D

BE CAREFUL UP THERE! Always SAFETY FIRST! Don't be like the engineer at WTWB and fall off your roof! He broke both legs and still have trouble at times getting around. It isn't worth your life or body.

^ AMEN!

One of the main factors in my switching back to cable was the roof pitch on my 2nd story being too steep for my fat ass to crawl around on. It got expensive hiring someone every time something went out.

BE CAREFUL!!!!

I got around the roof issue by putting my antenna in my attic. I can get all the channels I want without having to risk life and limb on my roof not to mention the wrath of my neighborhood association. The only issue I have is that WGPH-DT is little weak for me and if there is a good wind, then I can lose the signal on 8. I get 8 off the back of my antenna so that doesn't help. However, whenever Fox HD from NY is available from D*, I'll be able to watch NY when I lose 8.

Foxeng, will 8 ever send their signal at full power? That would help me.

Originally posted by uncrules
Foxeng, will 8 ever send their signal at full power? That would help me.

If you turned your antenna you won't have that problem! :)

It will happen, but it may be as much as 18 to 24 months away. We have a plan in place to do it, but we haven't been given the go to start and once we start, it will take about a year to a year and a half. Every year we put it in the budget and so far every year we have been told to wait. Maybe this year will be different. We can always hope.

In trying to keep our viewers up to date on the progress of the install of the FOX HD equipment, here is the latest.

I still do not know when the installers are to arrive or when the gear is expected.

I did hear that there is some issue that is being worked on right now between the splicer and the model HD encoder we use. Last week, WCCB in Charlotte had their gear installed and there was some major issues and they had to do a software update in their HD encoder and it didn't take and they were off the air for over 24 hours while they were trying to get things back together.

I don't know if that has anything to do with why we don't have a date yet, but I have been in contact with the factory rep of the HD encoder and they are saying hold tight until they get it figured out.

So, now you know as much as we do and we really don't know how to interpret it. We are still on target for Sept 12th. That is the last word we have.

Thanks for the update, foxeng! I hope all the bugs get worked out soon.

Thanks for the update.......As long as you are a "GO" by NFL season, take all the time in between you need.

roland6465,

Did you get your balun changed out on your antenna and if so, how is it working out?

Has anyone tried out the Time Warner DVR box recently to see if they updated it yet?

Here is an interesting site that by putting in your location, it will list all the TV stations, analog, digital and low power translaters within a specified radius and will show antenna patterns on file with the FCC and will have an indicator line to your location for antenna pointing.

Enjoy!

http://www.2150.com/broadcast/default.asp

Well it looks like we HAVEN'T been forgotten!

We have received word that the installations for the FOX O & O's (but not the other affiliate stations) have halted during the month of May because of sweeps. Also, the O & O's and NFL markets have priority in installs and they are hitting those first. (we fit the O & O catagory!)

So, if all this is correct, I would hope to be seeing the HD gear and installers in June or early July sometime, but I would think we should be getting a call in the next couple of weeks to confirm that.

Keep your fingers crossed! We have ours crossed!

:D:D:D

Keep your fingers crossed! We have ours crossed!

Done.

I think I asked this above already, but I see in other parts of the country that people are saying they updated the software and or firmware on the 8000hd DVR at Time Warner. Any of you have of of these, or know someone that does, and if so, did they improve the PQ with the update if it was received?

akdude,
I just got another 8000HD after trying it first back in January. The pq is better now. I haven't had my wife look at it yet, she's the objective one, but if there's any degradation compared to the Pace box, it is very very small. And it's close enough for the time shifting abilities of the 8000HD to make it worth it. I'll have her look tonight.

I also noticed that you can no longer choose the output resolution like 480, 720, 1080 like I could on the 8000 I had in January.

Well thats good, now I have a excuse to get rid of Icontrol..

Whats the output resolution, I assume 1080i?

I'm not actually sure what it's outputting, I'll ask the projector tonight and see if it will tell me.

Originally posted by jacksonian
akdude,
I just got another 8000HD after trying it first back in January. The pq is better now. I haven't had my wife look at it yet, she's the objective one, but if there's any degradation compared to the Pace box, it is very very small. And it's close enough for the time shifting abilities of the 8000HD to make it worth it. I'll have her look tonight.

I also noticed that you can no longer choose the output resolution like 480, 720, 1080 like I could on the 8000 I had in January.

Jacksonian, can you take a peak in the service menu and let us know what version of the SARA software/firmware that box is running? As far as I know, my 8000HD is still running the same software that was on it when I got the box in January:

OS: Home Server Edition 1.3
Flash: 1.82.4.0
Apps: SARA v. 1.82.4.0

remind me how to check the service menu

Originally posted by jacksonian
remind me how to check the service menu

Just press and hold the center "select" button on the unit itself until the message light start flashing; then release and press "Info" button. To navigate, use left and right buttons, "Exit" to exit.

Any word on TNTHD on the Triad TWC yet?

Well, I went ahead and ordered a box, unfortunatly they would not let me go and pick it up, has to be brought out by a tech. I will see monday about the PQ issue.
I use a Infocus X1 as my "tv" so I hope that it will still look good on my 90" screen. Maybe the lower native resolution will mask a PQ problem if there is one.

Speaking of TNT HD, any news of ANY new HD channels coming to TWC?
Also, those of you with OTA HD receivers, do you pick up anything extra that TWC does not have>?

I can pick up 7 (CBS HD) out of Roanoke. I believe some others can get some Raleigh stations including ABC in HD.

I get WDBJ 7 (DT 18) from Roanoke; from Raleigh - WUVC 40 (DT 38), WRAZ 50 (DT49), WTVD 11 (DT 52), WRAL 5 (DT 53), WNCN 17 (DT 55), WUNC 4 (DT 59); now that the band has started to open up a little at night now, I get from Charlotte, WCNC 36 (DT 22), WBTV 3 (DT 23) , WCCB 17 (DT 27), (a friend of mine in High Point living in an apartment who has a CM 4228 on his balcony gets the Charlotte big 4 (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) all the time as well as most people in Winston-Salem.

Of course I also get the locals not on TWC, WGPX 16 (DT 14), WTWB 20 (DT 19), WUPN 48 (DT 33) and WLXI 61 (DT 43) and the ones that are, WFMY 2 (DT 51), WGHP 8 (DT 35), WXII 12 (DT 31, WUNL 26 (DT 32), WXLV 45 (DT 29).

I saw from the Roanoke thread that Sunday afternoon, WDBJ will show Star Trek II:The Wrath of Khan in HD. They showed Star Trek, The Motion Picture in HD last month. It was interesting to see that in HD, since I have the Directors Cut DVD of that movie. The transfer wasn't all that good from the standpoint the film had lots of scratches in it and in HD, you saw those pretty plan. They also had tightened up the movie quite a bite like cutting out some of the unneeded dialog and they really shortened that sequence of the Enterprise entering V'ger that in the theater ran for 20 minutes down to about 4 minutes.

WRAL is still running original HD programming during the day and CBS HD at night along with all of their newscasts, including field reports, sat shots and microwave shots in HD. During the local breaks during CBS programming, they are NOT showing local commercials, but promos dealing with HD, such as how their news is all done in HD, and just selling the idea of HD. I have yet to see a local paid commercial on WRAL DT. I have gotten in the habit of watching WRAL for my CBS network since their picture NEVER cuts out and doesn't macroblock like it does on WFMY or if for some reason WRAL isn't coming in that night, I will watch WDBJ DT.

fairtomiddlin,
Mine has the same software versions, except beside Apps it says saixod v3419, then below it has that SARA v1.82.4.0.

But the picture is definitely much better than it was when I got the box in January. If there's any picture degradation, it's so very slight.

Still no DVI output, though, right?

Can't say, haven't bought a 30' DVI cable to the projector. But I hear it won't happen til June at the earliest. I wouldn't hold my breath.

After having the SA 8000HD DVR box from Time Warner for only a couple of days, I am ready to get rid of it.

The PQ on it is fine. The color seems to be a bit more saturated than on the 3250HD box I had, but I could be wrong on that. When it works, the PQ is about the same as the 3250 I had.

However, high def stuff has almost become unwatchable, do to the constant freeze ups and drop outs of both audio and video. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. HBO is the worst, and when I got the box on Monday only the HBO high Def channels gave me problems. Now Showtime as well as INHD and HDNET do as well.

Also, other problems I have, the unit is unresponsive to the remote sometimes, having a large delay on channel changes or commands. Press a button, nothing happens, then a minute later it responds to the remote + the 10 buttons you pressed trying to get it to work. Now I have learned that when it does not respond to a command, just let it sit and "think about it" this problem is on and off. If the box is recording something, it is always slow to comands.

The box is able to record two channels at once, but both recordings will be unwatchable do to the drop outs of audio and skips in video. Almost as if it doesn't have the speed to do two channels at once though it will let you do it.

Like I said above, nothing I have recorded has come out even 90% free of problems, making the unit useless.

Also last night the box rebooted itself twice.

I am ready to swap it out, and will put a call in tonight to do so. I'll try another box, if it dosn't work i'll just give the idea up for now. After doing a bit of research, it seems some people have had to swap out the box many times before finding one that works.

akdude,
I've had some minor issues like the remote commands being delayed and a few video hiccups, but they have been small, not near as bad as you. I agree with trying a swap.

FYI:

I talked to someone at "head end" for TWC in G'boro today. He says they have the recieving equip. for TNTHD installs, and are just waiting for the word from TNT to ping them and start the link.

He says it'll be up next week sometime unknown because of the holiday. Looks like I'll get some HD NASCAR after all....

Awesome! I had started looking at Voom! because I was itching for some new HD. Maybe this can hold me over.

Will TNTHD be part of the regular HD (like DiscoveryHD) or is it part of the package you ourchase for the extra 3 channels?

tnt-hd is currently up in greensboro on time warner. theres no guide data or info for it at the moment though. channel 551

We have received word that the installers for the HD gear will be here Tuesday June 8 and Wednesday June 9.

We will be off the air for short periods of time during that time as the equipment is installed and set up.

Originally posted by skippyrulz
tnt-hd is currently up in greensboro on time warner. theres no guide data or info for it at the moment though. channel 551

I am not getting it - When I try to get it to go to 551, it gives me back ???s.

I'll try again later.:(

Originally posted by PamW
I am not getting it - When I try to get it to go to 551, it gives me back ???s.

I'll try again later.:(

sorry about that. it was on 551 when i left the house earlier. i just came back and now its on 564. and it has guide data. guess they were just testing it on 551 earlier.

Originally posted by skippyrulz
sorry about that. it was on 551 when i left the house earlier. i just came back and now its on 564. and it has guide data. guess they were just testing it on 551 earlier.
Got it!:)

anyone noticed the weird stretch they have on the Law and Order show? Stretches more on the edges then doing a over all stretch. Weird.

My boys just took over the HT for the evening - "Master and Commander" - I guess I'll just have to wait until tomorrow!

well darnit!!! now tnthd BACK on 551. i dunno what twc is doing, but its annoying!!!

Who cares, as long as they don't charge us extra for it :)

Thought I would give a update on the Time Warner SA8000HD DVR box.

I don't know what it was that first few days I had it, but I was ready to just toss it out.

Now the box works almost perfect. It's the best thing since sliced bread, all of the above mentioned problems in my other post are mostly memorys now. I do notice that this box gets really hot, so I put it at the bottom of my rack on a bigger shelf to give it some breathing room. I don't know if thats what cleared up my problems or not, but this thing does need a fan on it like a TIVO has.

Anyway, its been great, the PQ is great, and recently I have hardly watched any movies that were "live", almost all my viewing is now previously recorded stuff and it is great :)

If the box is giving off heat like a radiator, you might want to consider moving it to the top of your rack, not the bottom. ;)

It's actually cooler at the bottom, and the bottom slot is bigger so it can
"breath" better I guess.

Yes, it would be cooler at the bottom--heat rising and all--but my worry is that your new super-hot unit is wafting electronics-damaging heat up the rack to your other components. Perhaps I'm not understanding the setup.:)

The FOX HD Splicer equipment just arrived here at the station! The installers are expected here tomorrow. Those of you who might be at home during the day tomorrow or Wednesday will notice times when we will be off the air as the equipment is installed and the test loop of HD material consisting of about 2 minutes of Super Bowl 35 (Rams scoring a touchdown), about 2 minutes of ID4 (the bedroom scene with Will Smith) and about 2 minutes of some non descript part of an Ally McBeal episode, all in 720p HD.

I can't WAIT!

I'll be watching! Will this be on TWC?

Originally posted by PamW
I'll be watching! Will this be on TWC?

Yes.

Yee HA!!!!!

AK.....is the DVI output turned on yet?

Roland,

I honestly don't know, I have a X1 projector, but it only takes VGA or Component imput, no DVI.

Oh well..............wait some more, I guess.

Well everything went well today. The splicer works! The HD looked awesome and everyone at the station who saw it was amazed. (We did get tired of seeing the same plays by the Rams and Patriots in SB36!)

So tomorrow some additional testing and clean up and the system should be commisioned. Just waiting for September 12th now!

Thanks foxeng!

Foxeng-

Will you guys be passing 5.1 once FOX goes HD?

Originally posted by roland6465
Foxeng-

Will you guys be passing 5.1 once FOX goes HD?

We will not be doing 5.1 locally, but if network provides 5.1 we will be passing that along.

That's great! DPLII does a decent job seperating NFL & NASCAR game sounds, but I'm really looking forward to true 5.1 this Fall!

And on the local stuff, WXII's audio is all 5.1 all the time, whether the source is mono or whatever. It sounds HORRIBLE 90% of the time. You guys don't need to worry about that as long as network stuff will be there.

Originally posted by roland6465
That's great! DPLII does a decent job seperating NFL & NASCAR game sounds, but I'm really looking forward to true 5.1 this Fall!

And on the local stuff, WXII's audio is all 5.1 all the time, whether the source is mono or whatever. It sounds HORRIBLE 90% of the time. You guys don't need to worry about that as long as network stuff will be there.

I have the local stuff processed as Pro Logic so that should help things out when we are not in network.

Here is a link of a picture of our FOX Sat rack with splicer equipment

http://www.w4cl.net/fox/rack.jpg

The four blue boxes are the FOX receivers, from the top, A & B for analog network and backup, C that carries the 16:9 480 network, D which is a news feed receiver, below that is a phone modem FOX uses to talk to the receivers with, then the multi button box is a switch panel for the whole splicer system, then a source switch panel used for monitor the HD signal and stations ASI 720p stream, then an ASI receiver that receives all that stuff from the switcher above it, then the splicer itself, with BP-5100 on it (not much to it) and then a cage of digital amps to route the signals around.

If you look on the bottom left, that is a monitor with the FOX HD test loop and Super Bowl 36 on the screen in 720p.

Originally posted by akdude47
Is thier anyone in the Triad that does ISF that you guys recomend?

I'm getting Bill Gambrell (gambrelw on this and other forums) to calibrate my Hitachi 57S500 in July or August. Although he works on numerous makes, my research indicates he is the best available on Hitachis, in particular. Although he lives in CO, he is periodically in SC, and will be coming from there.

I would love to split the travel fee if you're still interested.

Foxeng:

I'm here to demonstrate how little I know!

1) What is ASI?
2) After reading your description 3 times, I couldn't figure out which box receives the 720p signal from FOX.

Originally posted by vstone
Foxeng:

I'm here to demonstrate how little I know!

1) What is ASI?
2) After reading your description 3 times, I couldn't figure out which box receives the 720p signal from FOX.

ASI is a type of data protocol that is becoming the broadcast and cable industry standard for moving compressed video from point to point. Instead of sending the HD to the stations in one format, then having to convert it to a different format that the stations can handle (ASI), FOX will be sending it already in ASI doing away with that format conversion and giving you a better quality picture since the station really doesn't do anything to the signal at all and that is how we will be able to have 5.1 on network programming when we don't have the 5.1 equipment at all. FOX will handle all that for the stations.

On the surface it sounds a little tough, but I will try and go more slow this time! ;)

The top blue box is the FOX network receiver called Receiver A. Receiver A and B is where we get the analog network backup analog network signals that you see on channel 8. The 3rd blue box down, called Receiver C, is where we are getting our 16:9 widescreen network signal that is seen on channel 35 now until FOX starts to send HD in September. Below the 4th blue box, known as Receiver D (and is a news feed only receiver) is where the splicer equipment is located. In all that equipment, the silver box that has BP-5100 on it, is the actual splicer that takes a second signal (the 720p signal) from Receiver A and when commanded will splice out the local 720p signal and splice in the network 720p signal during network programming. The remainder of the equipment is used for either controlling the splicer or monitoring its operation. Does that help?

For the nerds in the group, the splicer is really like a very complicated TiVo in it is a computer that runs a special version of linux (2.4 kernel) and has 1g of RAM. It takes in the local 720p stream and when commanded, deconstructs the stream and removes the local data and inserts the network data and does all this on the fly and all in 3 seconds. When we were testing it, it was strange to give it a command and then see the results 3 seconds later, but the test pictures were STUNNING. The fast motion football had no motion artifacts, or macroblocking, like you see on the CBS football sometimes. The loop wasn't in the best of shape, but even so, it looked pretty darn good!

Ok...

I think I'm a nerd - I understood every word you just said!

I'm really OK with that, too!

I'm still dense!

It sounds like Receiver C now gets 480p, but will get 720p this fall.

But then you say the splicer takes a second 720p signal from Receiver A, which is an analog receiver.

Originally posted by vstone
I'm still dense!

It sounds like Receiver C now gets 480p, but will get 720p this fall.

But then you say the splicer takes a second 720p signal from Receiver A, which is an analog receiver.

RX C is the one that has the current 480p 16:9 and in the fall RX A will do BOTH 480 analog and 720p HD. The analog will be through conventional NTSC video/stereo audio and the HD will come through a port called ASI and that will connect to the splicer and the splicer will splice network in and out of the digital 720p stream. After FOX stops 480p 16:9, they haven't said what RX C will be used for.

If you have any of the following Samsung products PRL-3100, SIR-T151, SIR-T165, SIR-TS160 (without DIRECTV activation), you will need to do a software update. This fall some programming will start to have the broadcast flag turned on and these receivers are known to have problems with the broadcast flag. Please go to the Samsung Website at www.samsungusa.com/broadcastflag for the upgrade.

If you fail to upgrade your set top box and the Broadcast Flag is broadcast the Samsung set top box could turn off and cycle on-off and nothing will be displayed until the upgrade is performed. If you are a DirectTV customer the upgrade will be handled automatically by DirectTV through your Satellite connection. (mine is already done on my SIR-TS160)

How can you tell if Directv has upgraded your receiver? I have 2 SIR-TS160s, one over a year and one about 9 months and I want to make sure Directv has upgraded them.

Originally posted by uncrules
How can you tell if Directv has upgraded your receiver? I have 2 SIR-TS160s, one over a year and one about 9 months and I want to make sure Directv has upgraded them.

Go to MENU, SETUP, SYSTEM, SYSTEM UPGRADES, PAST UPGRADES. Should be version 1.0.14. Mine was upgraded June 2nd at 4:45am. If not then go to UPGRADE INFORMATION and it will tell you when it will happen.

Thanks foxeng.

Both of my receivers were updated on 6/2 at 4:46 am to version 1.0.14.

Is there anything about WXII's PSIP or ASI that would cause me not to get audio over optical cable?

I receive WXIIHD on a SA 8000HD box from Time Warner (TW) in Greensboro. I get audio over an optical connection from every available HD station EXCEPT WXII (channel 540). I get audio over optical from WXIISD, and audio from all stations over composite. I did receive WXIIHD audio over optical with the Pace box I originally got from TW.

Here's what I've done to troubleshoot:

1) Replaced the optical cable with a known good one.
2) Run composite directly to the TV inputs rather that use the component switching feature of my Onkyo HT-R520 AV receiver.
3) Had TW replace the SA 8000HD box (this morning).
4) Talked with a WXII broadcast engineer, who knew of no problem with the WXIIHD signal.
5) Tried to talk to SA tech support, but they do not talk to end users.
6) Asked the TW tech (not a contractor, but a TW employee) to escalate the issue, and to ask a TW engineer contact SA and WXII.
7) Posed the question at avsforum (http://*******.com/34qjj).
8) Verified that SAP is enabled on the SA 8000HD.

Is anyone using optical cable for audio and receiving WXIIHD properly?

Thanks

Originally posted by wsanford
Is there anything about WXII's PSIP or ASI that would cause me not to get audio over optical cable?

Nothing more than any other station that I am aware of. I get my HD locals OTA with a Samsung SIR-TS160 and I have noticed no audio problems on WXII-DT using either the digital audio out or the stereo speaker jacks.

I just tried to check it again but they must be off the air since I am not receiving them and they are usually very strong here in north Greensboro, but I am receiving other stations just fine.

I use the same box with optical and I have no problems at all. Maybe its something to do with your receiver? Have you tried switching it around from Dolby Digital to manual or some of those sorts to see if it can lock in to the signal?
What about the RCA coax digital connection? Same thing?

Thanks, Foxeng and akdude47. I think that suggests the Onkyo receiver may be the culprit. I sent a plea for technical support to SA, Onkyo, TW, maybe they can tell me something.

I run a SA 3250HD to my Onkyo TX-DS696 with no problems.

I'm moving from Denver to Burlington. I'm thinking of purchasing a home in Mebane, NC (MillCreek) which stations should I be able to pick up. I plan to mount an outside Radio Shack UHF only antennae. Maybe two (point one toward Greensboro and another to-wards Raleigh. Anyone have any luck getting any other stations? Roanoke, Lynchburg, Rock Hill, Danville, Winston Salem?

Welcome to the Triad!

Check out foxeng's signature for two websites that will help you out. The triad one has an antenna section.

FYI:

TWC must have dropped WXLV's upcon today. Not in the guide, not able to directly tune to 530.

This bodes badly for MNF and the BCS games locally.

If anyone on TWC happens to be near their HDTV right now, are your pay-HD channels there? When I fired up the theater today about 5:30, I've got channel banners, but no picture or sound on 560-563.


In typical idiot CSR form, they've got someone coming on Friday. I'm sure it will fix itself by then.

Mine go on and off constantly, not a big problem, but the INHD channels recently have been going down. Sometimes HDNET as well.

What is the deal with WXLV and TWC? Last post I saw on them said they'd ordered the HD rx and expected to be up June 1.

Now they're off TWC period.

Anyone know what's up?

Greetings all. Just found this forum. I guess from some of the posts I should have been here a long time ago. I work with WFMY as their transmitter engineer. I realize that at times our signal has been less than optimum. On my behalf I apologize for that. We try to monitor everything but it is a difficult task and I do have to sleep sometime. And maybe some explanation is in order. Concerning the intermittent sound breakup on HD: our CBS provided HD receivers and decoders are early generation. These units are dolby 2.0 only. CBS broadcasts 2.0 and 5.1 simultaneously which sometimes confuses the decoder(s). This requires a manual reset of the decoder(s). The field expedient solution (recent) was to put the decoders on a timer which interrupts the AC power briefly each morning (no HD then) thus giving a hard reset. Or quite often we can select the backup decoder which quite often doesn't glitch at the same time as the main decoder. This solution is not perfect but it helps and takes some burden off the master control operators. CBS has provided 5.1(Dolby E) receivers for their larger market stations. We are lobbying for one but it hasn't happened yet. Concerning being late on the HD switchover's: I wish we had an automatic system. I am sure this automation will come in due time(when we can afford it) Our master control operators have received numerous phone calls from me and others concerning late HD changeover. I hope this is getting better. I (and others for sure) appreciate the patience shown by the viewers in this region. Lots of things are happening behind the scenes at WFMY and we are pursuing progress regarding DTV and HDTV. I'll admit right here that I don't know all the answers and never will. The learning curve is steep for broadcasters right now. I do however have faith that the technology will continue to improve and we (broadcasters in general) will eventually catch up to a point where OTA DTV and HDTV are viable both from a viewers and a broadcasters standpoint. This to the benefit of all. Ok enough rambling. GREETINGS to my esteemed colleague Charles Lano at that other station. Charles I receive WGHP's digital broadcasts just fine here just south of Thomasville on my attic mounted 4 bay or on a 5 inch piece of wire stuck in the antenna jack! (ancient SIRT 150). And FYI Charles our CBS dishes are now back in our backyard (interference issue gone) Must go to bed now so I can function tomorrow. I'll try to monitor this forum on a regular basis from now on, and I would appreciate any feedback positive or negative . Good luck... Rickey.

Welcome aboard Rickey! Glad to have some more "company!" This is a pretty good bunch folks when you compare some of the other local threads. Our market isn't perfect, but all of us broadcasters are getting better at it and they understand and are supportive. I have found if you be upfront with them, and they will be receptive.

Tell Lee I said hi!

I had the chance to talk to TWC's headend guy yesterday and I asked him what happened to WXLV-DT. He said he was told to take them off. He didn't know why. I asked if it was because they weren't HD yet and he said he really didn't know.

Now, here is a completely speculative reason on my part. In other markets that Sinclair has turned on HD, they have asked for big money for the cableco to carry their signal and most have declined. This may be the what has happened here. WXLV-DT is about to go HD (a rumor we have been hearing for a year now) and they may be getting close. Those of us with antennas, it isn't a problem, but those on cable............

Anyway, some WAGing on my part. Time will tell if that is what has happened or not.

Rickey,

Welcome to the forum... nowhere else will you get nearly immediate feedback from early adopters of HD like you will here. Although I do not have any OTA capability, I do get your channel as one of the HD channels carried by Time Warner Cable.

I'm not sure how often your DD decoder glitches, but for the most part it has been working. I guess your daily reboot is working. It will be great when you upgrade to DD 5.1, especially for special event broadcasts that take advantage of it. Any way for us viewers to lobby for your DD 5.1 cause?

If you want to hear a poorly performing DD decoder, then take a listen to the new TNTHD channel on TWC. It is so bad that I haven't been able to sit through an entire movie. It is only moderately bearable if I use the analog output of my SA 2000HD cable box instead of the digital output. That said, untill they clean up their audio (and re-boot their decoder daily :)), they wont be taking many viewers from the other HD offerings in the Greensboro area.

Again.. welcome to the Greensboro, NC Local HDTV thread...

Joe L.
(I still have a first generation HD cable box because it provided RGBHV output I needed for my Barco CRT Projector. The newer cable boxes are all component output)

Rickey,

Welcome to the forum!

Thank you for adding your voice to our little local online cafe. I for one welcome any info (like your post above) you have any time.

Thanks for the info Rickey and welcome to the forum. I'm one who has complained about the problems at WFMY and I'm glad to see you guys have taken steps to help alleviate the problems. I will say that I haven't noticed any problems in a whill and that is an indication of the good work you guys have done.

Welcome. Rickey!

-Sucks about WXLV, though. Boy, TWC sure is pissing off a lot of customers lately in the name of "serving their best intrests".

I do hope foxeng is right about WXLV-DT getting ready to roll out HD. There isn't any thing in ABC's prime time lineup that I care about but they do broadcast a lot of sports in HD including MNF that I'm looking forward to getting in HD.

However, I do feel bad for those with TWC that apparently will miss out. Does TWC HD boxes have an antenna input like my Samsung SIR-TS160s that you could feed in a separate signal from an OTA?

You would think that the owners of a UHF station, affiliated with the fourth-place network, would want all the exposure they could get on cable systems. Then again, these people haven't exactly shown themselves to be geniuses.

I hope I'm not climbing in my attic in September to try to get MNF on an antenna!

What's the deal with TNT-HD? I've only seen ONE thing in HD, everything else was stretched SD.

Thanks Foxeng,
For your information about the Samsung OTA Firmware Update.
I got my kit in just a week, and used my lap top to install, really a very easy update which took about 6 minutes.
I had to reload all my channels which took a little time but that was fun too.
r/ wow

Last night while reloading channels into my Samsung OTA, I noticed that
WXLV - DT 45-2 channel info stated that the color bar signal was HD.
Does anyone know if they have installed their HD equipment and are testing?
I'm looking forward to the day when I'll be able to watch the four major networks and PBS with out having to move my antenna much.

r/ wow

Originally posted by wiloliwad
Thanks Foxeng,
For your information about the Samsung OTA Firmware Update.
I got my kit in just a week, and used my lap top to install, really a very easy update which took about 6 minutes.
I had to reload all my channels which took a little time but that was fun too.
r/ wow

We have a 165 at work and the mother board is just old enough the upgrade will have to be done at Samsung in New Jersey. It is all covered just have to pay for the hipping there and they will take care of everything else.

Originally posted by wiloliwad
Last night while reloading channels into my Samsung OTA, I noticed that
WXLV - DT 45-2 channel info stated that the color bar signal was HD.
Does anyone know if they have installed their HD equipment and are testing?
I'm looking forward to the day when I'll be able to watch the four major networks and PBS with out having to move my antenna much.

r/ wow

The color bars in 720p have been there since they signed on. They have the HD encoder and the digital microwave link. The hold up has been the ABC HD receivers and the HD switching equipment and upconvert equipment at the studio. Rumor has it that they have purchased the HD receivers and they should be here by now and in some on line articles I saw where Sinclair has purchased the HD switching equipment and upconverters so there may be hope they really are going HD this time.

I got to talk to an engineer at WXLV today while trying to get to the bottom of the TWC thing (he blamed "corporate"), anyway................he confirmed that they're really close to going HD. Nothing specific, but "definately by MNF".

Looks like I may have to go attic diving soon to try to pull 'er on in from the sky. Damn I hate being an early adopter sometimes!

Thanks all for the welcome. J.L. concerning your question about lobbying CBS to update our decoders: There is a phone# and I'll get it for you. But please don't boil the pot too vigirously, if it boils over there's no telling who'll get burned. On a more general note: Would anyone be interested in a little reception testing? What I have in mind is to test reception capability at different transmitter power levels all the way down to 50 watts or so (tpo). We would need to find a time that would be convienent for all. (Since I'm asking i'm flexable) Good evening everyone... Rickey

Originally posted by xmitterengineer
On a more general note: Would anyone be interested in a little reception testing? What I have in mind is to test reception capability at different transmitter power levels all the way down to 50 watts or so (tpo). We would need to find a time that would be convienent for all. (Since I'm asking i'm flexable) Good evening everyone... Rickey

You can base some of your testing on the fact that we are at 900 feet at 4.2kW and we get about 35 miles max with an outside antenna.

I am a newbie to the forum and have tried to read all the way through this thread. It is a great help! I live on the Forsyth/Davidson county line off of Friendship Ledford Road. I am looking at purchasing an HDTV, but will use an antenna to pick up HDTV signals.

I saw the stuff about where to buy an antenna. I feel sure I will have to buy a preamp to go on the antenna to boost the signal. If I get a medium multi-directional antenna like the medium range antenna.

Will that be enough to get me the local channels? According to the website, I average about 23 miles from all of the towers. I do have some trees in the area, but have decent elevation. I will definitely have to put the antenna on top of the house. I assume I will need a preamp and rotor to be able to move the antenna to pick up the signals from the different locations. I am going to hold off on Direct TV for right now (or TWC) as I just don't have that kind of money to put into it. It's kinda dumb to put the money into a TV I guess and then go cheap on the programming, but I feel like for what TV we watch, the networks will provide enough HD content for us. And going by the forums, it looks like more will be available this fall. (including MNF and FOX NFL Sunday games. If we can only get NASCAR there in HD!)

Thanks for any advice! I've enjoyed finding this forum and have begun my efforts to get educated. I would enjoy hearing anyone's OTA experience that is in the same general area. I really appreciate the help!

Originally posted by DaveWolf
I am a newbie to the forum and have tried to read all the way through this thread. It is a great help! I live on the Forsyth/Davidson county line off of Friendship Ledford Road. I am looking at purchasing an HDTV, but will use an antenna to pick up HDTV signals.

I saw the stuff about where to buy an antenna. I feel sure I will have to buy a preamp to go on the antenna to boost the signal. If I get a medium multi-directional antenna like the medium range antenna.

For about $60 you can get a Channel Master 4228 and that should be all the antenna you need for DTV around here. It is UHF only but all the DTV stations are UHF right now. Don't get a high gain pre-amp (20 db or more), get a medium gain (10-15 db). You will not have pre-amp overload. In the analog world you can live with it. In the digital world, it is the difference between a blank screen and HD pictures.

I personally run the 4228 and a 15 db Radio Shack pre-amp on my 1 story roof in north Greensboro and get all the local channels as well as the big four out of Raleigh and several stations out of Roanoke all the time and when the band opens up, some of the Charlotte stations. From your location, you should be able to get all the locals except channel 16's DT -14 and the Charlotte stations and maybe even the CBS from Roanoke.

Originally posted by DaveWolf
I am a newbie to the forum and have tried to read all the way through this thread. It is a great help! I live on the Forsyth/Davidson county line off of Friendship Ledford Road. I am looking at purchasing an HDTV, but will use an antenna to pick up HDTV signals.

I saw the stuff about where to buy an antenna. I feel sure I will have to buy a preamp to go on the antenna to boost the signal. If I get a medium multi-directional antenna like the medium range antenna.

Will that be enough to get me the local channels? According to the website, I average about 23 miles from all of the towers. I do have some trees in the area, but have decent elevation. I will definitely have to put the antenna on top of the house. I assume I will need a preamp and rotor to be able to move the antenna to pick up the signals from the different locations. I am going to hold off on Direct TV for right now (or TWC) as I just don't have that kind of money to put into it. It's kinda dumb to put the money into a TV I guess and then go cheap on the programming, but I feel like for what TV we watch, the networks will provide enough HD content for us. And going by the forums, it looks like more will be available this fall. (including MNF and FOX NFL Sunday games. If we can only get NASCAR there in HD!)

Thanks for any advice! I've enjoyed finding this forum and have begun my efforts to get educated. I would enjoy hearing anyone's OTA experience that is in the same general area. I really appreciate the help! Dow electronics in Greensboro has lots of antenna goodies. 4 Bay Channel Master under $20,00 ! They have CM ,Winegard and others, lots of hardware too. An antenna setup I an working on now involves 3 antennas in the attic each pointed at different stations of intrest connected with 3 coax runs to an antenna selector downstairs. Works good for locals and higher powered stations out of Raleigh and Charlotte. Prpbably needs preamp for Raleigh and Charlotte. I'm sure the roof has a negative effect also. I live just south of Thomasville with a hill to my north. Sauratown stations are weaker here (because of the hill ) than WBTV. Good advice from foxeng especially on the preamp keep that gain low unless your closest uhf is distant( 30 or more miles?) At the risk of being redundant (haven't read the whole thread): Higher is better. I personally have even in the past sacrificed antenna size in favor of height. Addition of more antenna gain or height (or both,height preferred) is allmost allways superior to addition of a preamp. Any outdoor antenna and probably attic also should be properly grounded for lightning protection. Grounding (or lack of it)shouldn't affect reception. Good luck!... Rickey.

I was debating on whether to bring this up and then I didn't hear anyone mention it, but just in case someone is having a problem, we made some changes yesterday in the data stream where our video and audio is sent within the data stream. ATSC, the standards group that develop and improve the OTA 8 VSB standard will be making some changes on January 1 that might cause some problems with new receivers so I just got it out of the way before we cranked up HD. If you had been watching us yesterday morning and when you got home the screen was blank, just a quick channel change away and back should have been enough to relock the data stream.

For those nerds in the group here is the deal. The data stream is divided into "programs," Not programs like shows or stations, but "program suites." Certain HEX values are assigned to each group and each group has a specific function within the ATSC protocol. Program 0 (hex 0000-000F/dec 0-15) mostly deals with PSIP data, Program 1 (hex 0010-001f/dec 16-31) deals with the EPG, and up and until now, Program 2 (hex 0020-002f/dec 32-47) was where the first compliant video/audio was located. For some reason, ATSC has now decided that Program 2 will be a reserved fixed data program and the video/audio data will start with Program 3 (hex 0030-003f/dec 48-63). Well we had been using Program 2 so we decided that since we will have to get the splicer changed now, before we went on air with HD, let's get it changed and out of the way, so yesterday with coordination with Time-Warner and Lexcom Cable, we made the Program/PID changes and so far, no one has called and complained! I see it here at home and on the OTA receiver at work and the guys at the head ends say they see it so I guess I didn't screw it up too bad. Some days I just get lucky, some days I can't do anything right!

We still have to get the splicer changed and that will happen on Tuesday (everyone is on holiday until Tuesday and since we aren't using it, there is no real push to get it changed before Tuesday anyway) so if the All Star Game is in HD in 2 weeks, we should be ready for that too.

Foxeng, was there also something funky going on with WGHP-DT on TWC in Greensboro last night? Around 6:00 pm I noticed that everytime I tried to tune to channel 510, my SA8000HD would re-boot. By 9:00 pm all was well.

Originally posted by fairtomiddlin
Foxeng, was there also something funky going on with WGHP-DT on TWC in Greensboro last night? Around 6:00 pm I noticed that everytime I tried to tune to channel 510, my SA8000HD would re-boot. By 9:00 pm all was well.

Yeah, TWC was having some kind of problem when we changed, but they said they would have it working by prime so I guess they made good on their promise.

FoxEng,

Thanks, thanks, thanks for the help! I apologize for showing my ignorance, but what is the difference with the medium vs. high gain pre-amp? Does the gain reference the antenna itself or the amp? What does the DB stand for?

I may try to look the Dow Electronics in Greensboro and check out the equipment. Based on the feedback so far, it sounds halfway promising to pick up a dependable signal. So this may be worth pursuing. I had talked to Roland (who also posts on this forum) and he had expressed a concern about his amp constantly blowing. Will the medium gain choice prevent this from happening?

TWC-Greensboro has finally announced that several Atlanta Braves games will be broadcast in HD on channel 561. Here is the link: http://triad.rr.com/cableserv/hdbraves.htm

Originally posted by DaveWolf
FoxEng,

Thanks, thanks, thanks for the help! I apologize for showing my ignorance, but what is the difference with the medium vs. high gain pre-amp? Does the gain reference the antenna itself or the amp? What does the DB stand for?

All receive signals are usually measured in minus numbers like -100db or -70db or some such since they are very small in strength. (+30dbm is equal to one watt of RF energy. 2 watts is +33dbm) The higher the number the more sensitive the pre-amp. DB is the unit of measurement. For every increase of 3db, the signal strength doubles. For every decrease of 3db, the signal strength halves. So if a signal is 10db and you add 3db to make it 13db, you have doubled the signal. The same is also true if you have a signal that is 10db and you add a signal splitter (which usually runs 3db loss) you get 7db and you have halved the signal. It is all VERY logarithmic.

A pre-amp that has 20db of gain or more is a pretty sensitive device and what you have to be careful is that not only do you increase the signal, you also increase the noise and if you have enough elevated noise level and signals coming into the pre-amp they will begin to mix and produce new frequencies and if these new frequencies are strong enough, they will compete with the original you were trying to improve on and in the end the new signals cancel out or distort the original to the point, that the original is not useful anymore. (this is called intermodulation). In most cases in an urban setting, 10 to 20db gain is the max you want to consider since anything higher will produce intermod products that will make the effort worthless. This is why you hear of people putting these high gain pre-amps on and they get nothing and then take the pre-amp off and get everything. You just have to be careful when you use a pre-amp in an urban setting.

I was debating on whether to bring this up and then I didn't hear anyone mention it, but just in case someone is having a problem, we made some changes yesterday in the data stream where our video and audio is sent within the data stream. ATSC, the standards group that develop and improve the OTA 8 VSB standard will be making some changes on January 1 that might cause some problems with new receivers so I just got it out of the way before we cranked up HD. If you had been watching us yesterday morning and when you got home the screen was blank, just a quick channel change away and back should have been enough to relock the data stream. I'm having trouble getting your signal. I've tried the channel change you suggested but it isn't helping. I even rebooted my receiver. I'm receiving your signal at about 30%. While that isn't great, it has always been good enough to see the picture without trouble. With the change you guys made will I now need to get the signal at a higher strength?

Edit:
Right it is going between 30% and 36%. Even on bad day when the signal is less than 30% I can get flashes of a picture. Now I'm not getting anything.

Also where is Dow Electronics located at? I might have to make me a trip.

Originally posted by uncrules
I'm having trouble getting your signal. I've tried the channel change you suggested but it isn't helping. I even rebooted my receiver. I'm receiving your signal at about 30%. While that isn't great, it has always been good enough to see the picture without trouble. With the change you guys made will I now need to get the signal at a higher strength?

Edit:
Right it is going between 30% and 36%. Even on bad day when the signal is less than 30% I can get flashes of a picture. Now I'm not getting anything.

Also where is Dow Electronics located at? I might have to make me a trip.

The power level doesn't matter, My 160 locked right up on it with no problems. It might be atmospheric.

Dow Electronics at the office park at 85 and Holden Rd.

Foxeng,
Is there something different that I need to do to my Samsung SIRT - 151 so that it will receive FOX 8- DTV?
I get a good signal strength, but no picture or sound.
I'm able to pick up all the other stations, including some from RDU and CLT.
Do you think I need to reload the firmware update again?
Thanks for any help.
r/ wow

Originally posted by wiloliwad
Foxeng,
Is there something different that I need to do to my Samsung SIRT - 151 so that it will receive FOX 8- DTV?
I get a good signal strength, but no picture or sound.
I'm able to pick up all the other stations, including some from RDU and CLT.
Do you think I need to reload the firmware update again?
Thanks for any help.
r/ wow

Have you done a rescan? The 150 that I have access to locked up on the new PIDs with no problem after a channel rescan. Since the 151 replaced the 150 you might need to do that.

This is the exact reason I wanted to go ahead and get this done before we got into HD so those with older receivers would have a change to get caught up and not miss out if possible.

foxeng, I still can't pick up WGHP-DT at all and haven't been able to since you made your change. Neither of my 160s can get anything and both have the same firmware version that yours does (version 1.0.14 updated on 6/2 at 4:46am). I can get all other channels including WTWB-DT which I receive at the same signal strength that I get WGHP-DT.

What do you mean by rescan?

Originally posted by uncrules
foxeng, I still can't pick up WGHP-DT at all and haven't been able to since you made your change. Neither of my 160s can get anything and both have the same firmware version that yours does (version 1.0.14 updated on 6/2 at 4:46am). I can get all other channels including WTWB-DT which I receive at the same signal strength that I get WGHP-DT.

What do you mean by rescan?

Have it re-memorize the the digital OTAs. If that doesn't get it, then go into the menu and tell it that you do not have any sat dishes, make sure your OTA antenna is pulled and then do a channel rescan so it clears everything out and then reconnect and them enter 35 and see if locks and if it does then go to 8-1 and all should be ok.

Just a precaution, I have rebooted everything this morning around 9:10 for those OTA that are now having trouble picking up WGHP-DT after the program/pid change. I did notice that the Samsung 150 here needed to be power cycled after I did that, so that may have set things straight.

Let me know what happens.

The rescanning did the trick. Thanks. Concerning the switch you made, will the other broadcasters have to do the same for their digital channels? Or did you do this because of you guys converting to HD.

Originally posted by uncrules
The rescanning did the trick. Thanks. Concerning the switch you made, will the other broadcasters have to do the same for their digital channels? Or did you do this because of you guys converting to HD.

Well there is no law that says they have to, but to be ATSC compliant, they should. Each station will have to make that decision on their own and I am not going to bash them if they don't. ATSC has certain things that have to happen on certain PIDs and it does confuse the receivers if things don't go right.

WUPN is a good example. They are running their video/audio streams in Program Suite 0, PID 0x and Program Suite 1, PID 10x (which are both reserved programs). Some receivers will not lock to it. The stations Samsung SIR-T165 receiver locks up every time I go to their 48-2 stream and I have to unplug the AC and pull the antenna on the receiver before I an change the channel. The stations expensive DTV demod refuses to decode any stream from WUPN (it shows an RF signal, but it will not acknowledge there is a data stream there) because it isn't compliant. Other receivers, it doesn't bother. My Samsung SIR TS160 and the stations SIR-T150 don't seem to care. Both lock up and decode just fine, so it will depend on the receiver. Of course no one is really watching WUPN-DT, so it really doesn't matter. WXLV-DT had the same problem when they first went on TIme-Warner Cable and they made some changes in the PIDs and it helped, but the last time I looked, they weren't exactly compliant either, but better than WUPN-DT. I am not bashing them for it. It is their business how they want to run their station. I just call them like I see them and sometimes I am even right! .:eek:

The new compliance for the ATSC standard of the first 3 program suites being reserved (Program 0 PID 0x, Program Suite 1, PID 10x and now Program Suite 2, PID 20x) is to take effect on January 1st. That is when new receivers will start to use that new standard. I just wanted to get things right now before we started with HD and having all the sports stuff in HD and having problems.

Like I said, every station will do their own thing. I just had a good opportunity to make the change with the least amount of service disruption. If the other stations choose not to, then I have no problem with it just like I hope they don't have a problem with me changing mine.

FOXENG,
I would also like to thank you for the rescan tip.
WGHP-DTV locked right in after the rescan.
I've noticed lately that the channels have really opened up. I've been able to pull in stations from the Charlotte including WWWB - DTV 56 in HD. Wouldn't it be nice if we could pull them in all the time?
Do you think WGHP-DT will have the All Star Game in HD?
Thanks, WOW

Originally posted by wiloliwad
FOXENG,
I would also like to thank you for the rescan tip.
WGHP-DTV locked right in after the rescan.
I've noticed lately that the channels have really opened up. I've been able to pull in stations from the Charlotte including WWWB - DTV 56 in HD. Wouldn't it be nice if we could pull them in all the time?
Do you think WGHP-DT will have the All Star Game in HD?
Thanks, WOW

The atmosphere has been very "open" as we say the last few days. If atmospheric propagation is something that interests you, check out http://www.dxfm.com. The guy who runs that site is in Lexington, Ky. He is a radio engineer and a BIG time TV, DTV and FM DXer. He has a real time TV picture up 24/7 monitoring for band openings and the last few days he has gotten analog and digital TV in the high hundred miles, He picked up WWAY channel 3 in Wilmington and WSKY-TV channel 4 Manteo and has the screen caps to prove it. He has screen caps of a lot of the stations he has received. I check his site several times a day.

As far as the All Star Game, we are ready to put it out in HD, if FOX sends it to us in HD. I tested the splicer for a couple of seconds on Wednesday morning after some changes were made in the configuration of it and it all checked out. There is still some debate (technical issues since the game isn't scheduled to be in HD but FOX Sports wants to use it as an unannounced HD test broadcast if the network can get things on their end lashed up enough to make it happen, with the first scheduled HD broadcast until football season on Sept 12th and no we haven't received word if the NFL pre-game wil be in HD, but I would guess it would be) if we will get it in HD or 480p Widescreen.

We may not know until Tuesday sometime if the game is HD or widescreen. But if we get word it is a go for HD, and I am allowed to say prior to game time, I will post it here.

Hey, whattayaknow? ANother day that ends in "y", and my INHD-HDNMovies are out again!

Whoo-hoo, do I love TWC!

We heard that FOX will not be ready to send the All Star Game to the affiliates in HD. There are some technical issues that are being worked out and FOX didn't feel comfortable with putting an untested product on the air, even in a test but everything else is on track for the scheduled HD link launch on August 2nd and the HD launch on Sept 12th.

They did put in a special fiber feed to the Houston station so that will be the only network affiliate with HD to impress the MLB folks I guess.

For those who want to know, the game IS NOT in HD except to Houston. FOX IS NOT sending us the game in HD. It is a 720 downresed to 480 and then sent to us and then we are reconverting it back to 720.

^ yeah, looked worse on the 92" in ED than SD on the 36" By far the worst FOX Sports production to date.

OTOH, it's just pro baseball, so who gives a *&%?

Originally posted by roland6465
^ yeah, looked worse on the 92" in ED than SD on the 36" By far the worst FOX Sports production to date.

OTOH, it's just pro baseball, so who gives a *&%?

On my 34" CRT, for the most part, it didn't look too bad. It was obvious that some cameras were SD, but considering that the whole network lash up was a completely different setup than what they normally use, the widescreen looked pretty good. Now if you saw the highlights in HD on ESPNSportsCenter, AWESOME! When FOX gets everything completed, their HD should shine pretty good.

Just a heads up we will be upgrading our DTV encoder software at WFMY within the next week. This will result in several hours outage. We will schedule this at a time when no interruption of HDTV programming will occur. When we have a definite date I will pass that along. Thanks... Rickey.

Hi All,
I just moved to Mebane. What unscrambled stations are available via TWC, and what are the channel assignments? Is TNT scrambled?

Welcome Greg!

Go to www.triadtwcable.com

I don't know about Mebane, just Greensboro. We're glad to have you here!Let us know if we can be of any assistance.

I live in the north part of winston and I am only able to recieve nbc12 and pbs 26. I get zero signal from any other HD station. I keep hearing things about people in winston picking up signal from charlotte and roanoke. I have tried two different antennas(channel master and RS) in my attic and outside. Its not like I get weak signals, i get nothing. Can someone who lives in winston confirm their reception and let me know what antenna they are using?

Originally posted by fecund
I live in the north part of winston and I am only able to recieve nbc12 and pbs 26. I get zero signal from any other HD station. I keep hearing things about people in winston picking up signal from charlotte and roanoke. I have tried two different antennas(channel master and RS) in my attic and outside. Its not like I get weak signals, i get nothing. Can someone who lives in winston confirm their reception and let me know what antenna they are using?

A guy I work with, when he lived in Winston last year up around University, had a Channel Master 4228 on a rotor and a Channel Master 7778 pre-amp on his 2 story roof and he got the Charlotte CBS, NBC, ABC and FOX all the time with no problems. He also got the locals with no problem either. Attic mounted antennas are only a little better than rabbit ears because the house itself attenuates the signals up to 50%, depending on what material is used for the siding.

Originally posted by fecund
I live in the north part of winston and I am only able to recieve nbc12 and pbs 26. I get zero signal from any other HD station. I keep hearing things about people in winston picking up signal from charlotte and roanoke. I have tried two different antennas(channel master and RS) in my attic and outside. Its not like I get weak signals, i get nothing. Can someone who lives in winston confirm their reception and let me know what antenna they are using?

I live a mile from Thruway Shopping Center. In addition to 12 and 26, I get 2 (CBS), 8 (Fox), and 45 (ABC). I use the Channel Master 4228/7778 combo with a rotor, along with the VOOM receiver, which is a little more sensitive than the Dish receiver. The VOOM channels are mapped, so until the next software update, I cannot try to pick up Charlotte stations (and I actually just get color bars from 45, over what will be the HD subchannel, supposedly by the Fall). Sometimes I'm unable to 8, which is a very weak signal.

I guess I need to rent a ladder then, to get an antenna mounted. I havent found anyone in the area that can do that type of work. Thanks.

Originally posted by fecund
I guess I need to rent a ladder then, to get an antenna mounted. I havent found anyone in the area that can do that type of work. Thanks.

I had Michael Kearney do mine. He had been working with Roger Goodwin of Audio/Video installs, but Roger has gotten out of the business and Mike has picked up his business. He put mine in and he did a good job. He can be reached at 336-545-1002 or cell number 336-362-7972.

Does anyone know if when JP SPorts will ever move to an HD signal for ACC sports coverage? I see where they do a weekly SEC football game each week, but what about ACC games?

I am buying a HDTV to use OTA HD signal, but I would like to watch some ACC sports in HD if JP will move in the next season or two! Anyone have a clue?

I e-mailed them but have not heard back. Thanks.

Originally posted by DaveWolf
Does anyone know if when JP SPorts will ever move to an HD signal for ACC sports coverage? I see where they do a weekly SEC football game each week, but what about ACC games?

I am buying a HDTV to use OTA HD signal, but I would like to watch some ACC sports in HD if JP will move in the next season or two! Anyone have a clue?

I e-mailed them but have not heard back. Thanks.

They haven't said. The bigger problem would be stations having HD sat receivers to pick up a HD feed. No many have them yet.

^ Not only that, but Raycom/JP has about the most horrid production out there. It's unwatchable on my 92" FP setup, and looks grainy and bloomed out on the 36" CRT.

BTW, the SEC game of the week is a CBS network thing, and I believe they're contracted with the SEC for at least the next 4 years, so ESPN and (hopefully) this winter FXSS are our only hope of seeing the ACC in HD anytime soon.

Of course, with Time Warner in simultaneous pissing matches with ESPN and Sinclair, my HD sports choices are cut by at least 70%, so boy am I looking forward to the Ive League game of the seek on HDNet.

Speaking of Sinclair, has there been anymore information on WXLV-DT broadcasting in HD? The last I heard from the rumors here was that they were getting close. I hope they do it by the time MNF starts.

From what I've been told, they will be HD by Monday Night Football, but I wouldn't believe it until I saw it, which I won't.

is anyone else using a QAM tuner? I just picked up a FusionHDTV 3 QAM PCI card for TWcable here in winston. Works as expected. I can get WFMY(CBS) on 80.1, all 5 UNC PBS stations on 82, some others on 85 (including discoveryHD on 85.4), but not ABC, NBC, FOX, WB, or UPN.

I picked up a little philips amplified antenna for under $20, and that gets me WXII OTA, along with the PBS and CBS i already get from cable. still can't get the rest though.

I'm mostly curious if anyone knows what channels TWC puts these other stations on, for those of us with our own QAM tuners.

Originally posted by Leehro
is anyone else using a QAM tuner? I just picked up a FusionHDTV 3 QAM PCI card for TWcable here in winston. Works as expected. I can get WFMY(CBS) on 80.1, all 5 UNC PBS stations on 82, some others on 85 (including discoveryHD on 85.4), but not ABC, NBC, FOX, WB, or UPN.

I picked up a little philips amplified antenna for under $20, and that gets me WXII OTA, along with the PBS and CBS i already get from cable. still can't get the rest though.

I'm mostly curious if anyone knows what channels TWC puts these other stations on, for those of us with our own QAM tuners.

WGHP is on channel 510, WFMY is 520 and WXII is 540, if I remember correctly. WXLV was on at 530, but they asked to have their digital channel removed from the TWC system.

I don't know if these channels will translate to channels you have, but I do know that QAM tuner TVs do work on the TWC system. Their headend guy has a Panny that picks up the digitals just fine.

well those numbers are remapped for the STB, though? I'm just plugging in straight from the line. my tuner only goes up to 125. WFMY is channel 80.

I'm showing digital channels for everything from 79 to 90, then 107-110. lots of subchannels on those, but i can only tune 80, 82, 85, sometimes 86, and sometimes 110. I'm not trying to get any premiums, but i would like to get WGHP and WXII. saw some primetime HD last night and want more!

Originally posted by Leehro
well those numbers are remapped for the STB, though? I'm just plugging in straight from the line. my tuner only goes up to 125. WFMY is channel 80.

I'm showing digital channels for everything from 79 to 90, then 107-110. lots of subchannels on those, but i can only tune 80, 82, 85, sometimes 86, and sometimes 110. I'm not trying to get any premiums, but i would like to get WGHP and WXII. saw some primetime HD last night and want more!

Where are you located? I have talked to the TWC people and it will depend if you get service off the Winston headend or the Greensboro headend. Worse comes to worse, I will be happy to go over to you and see what I can make happen if need be.

TWC has called me back and here is the deal. They have two stations per QAM channel so your turner has to be able to pcik between the two (subchannels). In Winston, on QAM channel 80, WFMY is on it and WXLV used to be on it and when the contract negations are complete, they will return to channel 80 with WFMY. WGHP and WXII share QAM channel 116. In Greensboro, QAM channel 113 is where WFMY and WGHP reside and QAM channel 116 is where WXII is and WXLV will return to.

From what you have posted here, it looks like your turner is looking at the actual QAM channels TWC is using to send the stations out on. They only have the bandwidth for 120 channels right now. These are then remapped to 510, 520, 530 and 540 on both Winston and Greensboro systems to the TWC STB's. You will have to figure out how your turner breaks out each station when they are multiplexed like this. You are getting WFMY since it is on a QAM channel by itself so the turner locks up on the only thing there. When WXLV returns, it will act like the other QAM channels.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for all the info! at least now i know where those channels *should* be. I'm in winston, btw.

80 is working okay I guess. WFMY is on 80-1, and nothing on 80-2.
I set it to manual tune 113 and 116, and couldn't get anything. Tried both 64QAM and 256QAM and "no signal".

So i don't know if the fusion drivers are still so buggy they can't pick these up, or if there's a filter on my line. But i am able to sometimes tune 110, so i don't know if that's the case. Guess there's not much I can do. Thanks for all the info though.

Foxeng, will we have Fox in HD for NFL kickoff?

Anyone heard how long the ABC/TWC fight might drag on? I'd sure like to watch MNF in HD this fall.

Anyone in the area taken the Voom! plunge? I'm seriously considering it, especially with the TWC/ESPN-HD war continuing.

Originally posted by jacksonian
Foxeng, will we have Fox in HD for NFL kickoff?

We are ready on our end. Just waiting on the network to finish their last minute setups on the splicer and some timing issues involved with that and of course Sept 12th!

I was in WalMart on Battleground last night and saw they had 5 different models of HD TV's, including a couple of 20" LCD panels and one of them was 1024 x768 (720p but no DTV tuner, but it did have an analog tuner) and several 26 inch and 30 inch CRT's that were monitors and had tuners in them. They were all less than $800 except the one RP Toshiba, and that one was on sale for $1150 down from $1299.

I would think when it gets out that football is in HD this fall, those sets will go flying off the shelf.

Originally posted by foxeng


I would think when it gets out that football is in HD this fall, those sets will go flying off the shelf.

Amen to that!

Just wanted to let everyone know that I spoke with WXII today regarding their HD broadcast. I live in Thomasville and cannot pick up any signal from WXII on their digital channel.

I spoke with a couple of people there and they indicated that they were currently installing a new transmiter. This new transmitter would allow them to double their broadcast strength.

The engineer that I spoke with indicated that the equipment should be up and ready to go by the Olympics but he wasn't sure if they were going to flip the switch then or not.

He also indicated that he had just installed and tested the DD5.1 equipment.

He also indicated that he had just installed and tested the DD5.1 equipment.

I've been getting 5.1 from WXIIDT since they went on the air. Even the news is 5.1 It isn't mixed at all. It's terrible!

Originally posted by sbarrier
Just wanted to let everyone know that I spoke with WXII today regarding their HD broadcast. I live in Thomasville and cannot pick up any signal from WXII on their digital channel.

I spoke with a couple of people there and they indicated that they were currently installing a new transmiter. This new transmitter would allow them to double their broadcast strength.

The engineer that I spoke with indicated that the equipment should be up and ready to go by the Olympics but he wasn't sure if they were going to flip the switch then or not.

He also indicated that he had just installed and tested the DD5.1 equipment.

So WXII is going to full power soon? Interesting...

(Double their current STA, 408 kW, is the CP they hold for full-power, 815 kW...)

- Trip

I was talking to the engineer at WXLV this morning and he was telling me that they are trying very hard to have ABC HD on by MNF. They have some of the gear in now and are waiting for the rest of it and they are pushing for MNF and they hope to be full power early next year.

Originally posted by jacksonian
Foxeng, will we have Fox in HD for NFL kickoff?

Anyone heard how long the ABC/TWC fight might drag on? I'd sure like to watch MNF in HD this fall.

Anyone in the area taken the Voom! plunge? I'm seriously considering it, especially with the TWC/ESPN-HD war continuing.

I live in Winston-Salem, and have been a VOOM customer since December. I love it. Channel 45 is a strong signal (though what will be the HD subchannel is just showing color bars now). I receive the ABC affiliate in Charlotte much of the time. The HD looks terrific, even with ABC News Now taking up some of the bandwidth, but the audio is out of sync.

OK...

Someone please spell out to me what WXII is doing about HD. Mind you, I don't watch a lot of HDTV right now, so will the Olympics be 24/7 on WXII HD or not? they say they are the first network in the Triad with HDTV - are you all telling me it isn't? I cannot get any info from their website. Sorry for the ignorance here, guys!!! Please help this tired Mommy out!

Originally posted by PamW
OK...

Someone please spell out to me what WXII is doing about HD. Mind you, I don't watch a lot of HDTV right now, so will the Olympics be 24/7 on WXII HD or not? they say they are the first network in the Triad with HDTV - are you all telling me it isn't? I cannot get any info from their website. Sorry for the ignorance here, guys!!! Please help this tired Mommy out!

WXII was the first digital station on the air in this area. As far as Olympic HD, NBC has said they will 24 hour delay the HD broadcasts. I don't think WXII has said if they will be taking the delayed HD or not.

Thanks, foxeng - I was beginning to panic. I thought I had missed out on something - My 13 year old just had a tonsillectomy 2 days ago and I must admit I haven't slept too well the last few nights - the little things are beginning to "get" to me:)

Originally posted by Trip in VA
So WXII is going to full power soon? Interesting...

(Double their current STA, 408 kW, is the CP they hold for full-power, 815 kW...)

- Trip

The engineer that I spoke with indicated that they would be going to 815 kW with this new equipment that they are currently installing.

Originally posted by sbarrier
The engineer that I spoke with indicated that they would be going to 815 kW with this new equipment that they are currently installing.

If I remember correctly, they have one tube (known as an IOT) on line now that produces half power. All they have to do is install a second IOT, which isn't as easy as it sounds since all this stuff is liquid cooled and you have to add other stuff in the outputs to bring these two IOT's together on line and it is all huge stuff.

It isn't as easy as flipping a switch. This is all specialized, made to order equipment.

i did some antenna yoga to try and get ABC earlier this week. in my failure to get any consistent signal from standard definition WXLV, I somehow managed to get 80% on charlotte's ABC affiliate, which as you've mentioned, does broadcast 720p. I also got 80% on charlotte's Fox HD station, which is remarkable since i can't get any signal whatsoever from WGHP.

oh well, these will be short lived headaches, since i never watch ABC, and i'll be in michigan when the fall season starts.

HI All,
I moved from Denver Colorado to Mebane (the back of Mill Creek) about 3 weeks ago. Being the HDTV geek that I am, I've already mounted a 40 foot mast with two Radio Shack UHF only antennas (one pointed towards Greensboro, the other towards Raleigh) being combined into a Channel Master Spartan pre-amp. I'm getting.....

14, 16.1 WGPX-DT 60%
15 hops up to 20% not sure what station it is.
29, 45.1 WXLV 45 65%
31, 12.1, WXII-DT 90%
32, 26.2 UNC-HD 88%
33, 48.1 WUPN 48 85%
36 hops to 13% not sure what station it is
38, 40.1 WTNC 71%
42, 30.1 WRAY-DT 68%
43, 61.1 WLXI-DT 76%
49, 50.1 WRAZ HD 85%
51, 2.1 WFMYHD 92%
52, 11-1, WTVD1 90%
53, 5.1 WRAL DT 91%
55, 17.1 NBC17 90%
57, 22.1 WLFL HD 47%
59, 4.2 UNC-HD 92%

WGHP has come in sparsely a few times, but generally not watch able

So, do I need to point another Antennae North to get UPN and or WB in HD? What are the local plans for UPN and WB to do HD? WLFL is doing gray bars. WXII's upconvert to 5.1 sounds horrible (doesn't use center channel). So, I'm using 17.1 as my NBC station. Too bad because it looks like WXII isn't multi casting.

Originally posted by Leehro
i did some antenna yoga to try and get ABC earlier this week. in my failure to get any consistent signal from standard definition WXLV, I somehow managed to get 80% on charlotte's ABC affiliate, which as you've mentioned, does broadcast 720p. I also got 80% on charlotte's Fox HD station, which is remarkable since i can't get any signal whatsoever from WGHP.

oh well, these will be short lived headaches, since i never watch ABC, and i'll be in michigan when the fall season starts. According to

http://www.triad-hdtv.org/pointing.html

The XLV HD transmitter is not colocated with their SD transmitter.

I just added this in case you were pointing at the sd transmitter.

Originally posted by vstone
According to

http://www.triad-hdtv.org/pointing.html

The XLV HD transmitter is not colocated with their SD transmitter.

I just added this in case you were pointing at the sd transmitter.

WXLV, WUPN, WTWB and WLXI all have their digital antennas on the same tower at Level Cross, about 5 miles due east of WFMY's tower. WGHP is about 5 miles south of those two towers at Randleman. The only local digital signals that are on Sauratown Mt is WXII and WUNL. WGPX is at Reidsville.

Originally posted by sbarrier
[B]Just wanted to let everyone know that I spoke with WXII today regarding their HD broadcast. I live in Thomasville and cannot pick up any signal from WXII on their digital channel./B]

sbarrier,

I live in Thomasville and my antenna is permanently pointed towards Charlotte. Using a roof-mounted CM 4221 antenna, I can pick up all the Charlotte stations at or near full strength.

DE