The game looked pretty damn good with my new DVR...let me rephrase that...the picture quality is better than expected, the game was MUCH WORSE than expected.

Yeah, that game wasn't one you'll want to save for long. But it would be great to be able to pause and record HD. I'm going to hold out for DirecTV's HD-Tivo which is supposed to be out in the next 3 months.

KKTV picture quality was great except for sideline shots as always. Even the sideline shots that aren't fast moving are so blurry they're almost like SD instead of HD. I thought the fast motion was the cause of maxing out the MPEG encoding rate which therefore lost resolution due to the compression. Well now there's a long time until the next Broncos game, but I guess we'll deal with it for the Superbowl.

CBS ran a nice promo spot with HD clips from every prime time HD show they have, and they all looked amazing. PQ looked better to me than when I have come across the actual shows in prime time.

Time for the next station to come online in HD. Wonder how PBS is doing.

hehe... not too much to say about the game. Seemed about the same to me as the other Bronco games in HD on CBS.

PBS is now at the "several weeks" they talked about... so they should be testing very soon if they stuck to plan.

I tried tuning into KRDO-DT last night around 10:30 pm and was not able to get a lock on the station using my 921, tried on a second TV with my 6000 and saw 0 signal strength. Can anyone else confirm whether KRDO-DT is on the air for me?

It was in and out for me last night. So was KKTV-DT, and it was also having trouble with the audio. It seemed like both stations were sending a weak signal, but I'm not sure. Normally I can pick up all 3 digital stations with my antenna behind my TV, last night I had to put it on top of the TV and it was still cutting out. Man that sure looks tacky to have a big ugly antenna on top of a nice TV.

Is anyone else annoyed that we have to use an antenna after all this time without one? Local HD via satellite would be so nice. Free OTA HD is nice, but antennas are a pain.

I had the same problem with KRDO-DT at around 10:30. They musta shut down early.

I noticed the same problem with KRDO the night before you guys did, but wasn't sure if it was my antenna or the station. My new 80-inch Radio Shack antenna usually receives it, where the previous little antenna didn't.

Tonight KRDO was back to its normal 36% signal (normal for me up north here, but it does hold a picture). At whatever point in time down the road when they send a digital or HD picture, hopefully they can crank the signal strength up because it seems to be weak in many areas of town right now.

Yeah I tried it yesterday evening and got zip.

If any of you folks have been considering purchasing anything from The Sound Shop I think you might want to read this first.
http://clubpolk.polkaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15101

I can guarantee you that I won't be spending anymore money there!!

Bummer, Frank... I've never shopped there, but thanks for the heads up.

Wow, that's quite a situation you've got there. At least you've got the internet to vent, 10 years ago you might have exploded. :) My already low productivity here at work just fell off the charts as I read through that post. :) It sounds like Anthem is as much if not more to blame for your crappy experience. I just can't fathom spending that much on a pre/pro in the first place, but I'm sure I will get there as my age and income grow. ;)

I have always been happy with them, although I haven't spent anywhere near $3k with them. I'm thinking about getting some Paradigm speakers from them sometime soon, I guess maybe I should reconsider. I think they are the only Paradigm dealer in town though, so that might be a problem.

Good luck getting that resolved.

Wow Frank... that's terrible. Who's your sales guy? Definently won't be dealing with him at all.

Also.. if you hadn't gotten it back by now, if you paid by credit card I was going to say a chargeback is in order. Even if you don't go through with a chargeback, if that's a possability, they will be a lot faster about what they do to help you because they know they could lose the whole $3000.

Also.. ever hear about the Trouble shoot Tom Martino?
http://troubleshooter.com/
If you had called him, it might have got on and he would have talked to someone who could tell you why you were waiting 53 days for something that nothing was fixed on.

Here's an example:
"John electric wheelchair broke down. He took the chair to the warranty company to have it repaired. John says when he brings his chair in for repairs they take an average of 30 days to fix it. John says he doesn’t want that to happen this time.

The warranty company had the wheelchair functioning and returned it to John the day after we called! John thanked Tom for his help!"

Hello all,
I may be moving to the CO Springs area soon from the Jacksonville FL area and was wondering without reading 39 pages of posts what the HD scene is like up that way? Believe it or not, HDTV is playing a large role in my moving plans! If you don't want to post here please feel free to PM me.
Thanks
Jamie

Haha... I could see how HD would play a role in moving. I know it would for me unless satellite HD really picks up.

I could understand why you wouldn't want to read 39 pages... so pretty soon I will setup a Colorado Springs DTV website :)

Here's the basic overview:
Our Fox(KXRM): Is digital and is good about showing all widescreen shows appropriately. But they send out a widescreen with balck bars 480i picture which isn't too much better then the analog version except for the colors. (for regular broadcasts)
Our CBS(KKTV): They are a widescreen stretched 1080i all the time. They have been up for awhile now and are running pretty smoothly. Some poepl sitll have a bit of pixelation, but it's not bad, and they claim to be sending out a full signal. We have one guy from CBS who posts here occasionally.
Our ABC(KRDO): Sending a very poor digital signal. Some here don't receive it well, and it's only a analog 480i signal picked up OTA and then sent out digitally. No HD from them yet.
Our NBC(KOAA): No digital yet, they are the worst around here. We don't expect too much from them anytime soon.
Our PBS: Their antenna should be up right about now, and they should be broadcasting anytime now. They say they will be HD.

Thanks!!

Frank, your situation is rough. Anthem should have treated you better too. It still seems like you should get a new unit instead of the lemon.

For balance, I've had good experiences overall with about $10K of purchases and wiring/install work by The Sound Shop. They've never tried to push me to buy anything beyond my needs or budget, and the instances of loaner equipment and repair on my Integra DVD have gone well.

Tallguy,
I'm glad that your experiences were good and I hope they continue to be so if you choose to do more business with them. I won't be going back.


KRDO info
I sent an Email to Charlie Upton at KRDO regarding the signal problems some of us have been experiencing. Here's the Email and his response.

There have been no changes here at KRDO. We are on with digital from 6:30am
till approx. 10:40pm C Upton KRDO-TV

-----Original Message-----
From: Frank Zimkas [mailto:Zimkas@xxxxx.xxx]
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2004 7:47 AM
To: c.upton@krdotv.com
Subject: Digital signal lost


I haven't been able to lock on to KRDO's digital signal lately. Is it still
on the air?

Mind relpying to him asking him why they pick those hours? They cut off the Jimmy Kimmel show with that timing.

Vaggeto,
I sent a "Reply" and will post the response when I get it.

I emailed Charlie Upton too to see if they're going to boost the signal power later and to see if they now have a time frame for HD. You would think they could estimate it down to the quarter or the year by now. But if you thought that, you would be wrong:

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 8:21 AM
To: c.upton@krdotv.com
Subject: Viewer question - digital signal

Mr. Upton-

I just upgraded my antenna and am now barely able to pull in your digital signal on 13-1 at 36% signal strength. I'm on the north end of town with a pretty good look at the mountains. My question is, will KRDO increase its signal strength later when you start broadcasting HD/720p? Also, when do you think the HD signal will actually begin, based on the station's current plans? You're probably aware that the current 480i digital signal looks about the same to us HDTV owners as the regular analog signal.

I really appreciate your attention to these 2 questions. Alias and Monday Night Football would look incredible if we could get them in HD! Thanks.


From: "Charlie Upton" <c.upton@krdotv.com>
Subject: RE: Viewer question - digital signal
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2004 08:53:08 -0700

You are correct 480i is the NTSC analog quality. The only improvment is the lack of artifacts produced by the analog transmission system. HDTV will be some time yet. It requires and upgrade of our entire system. We will probably increase power at the same time. No target date has been set yet. C Upton

Super weak with extra weak sauce. I wonder why KKTV has the money to broadcast in HD, but KRDO makes it sound like it would take an act of God? Heck, even PBS is going to start, I can't imagine they have a ton of money. I guess for now all we can do is write an occasional email to them letting them know we're waiting.

Screw it, I'm moving. :)

hmm.. I read from another member here that they talked their local newspaper into having an article about stations not in HD or digital, and he said results were very good. Maybe we can get The Gazette to write an article about how HD on CBS is so great, and then mention how NBC and ABC are so terrible :-)

Vaggeto, my thoughts exactly -- I was thinking today that it's time to write an email to Warren Epstein, the TV guy at the Gazette. Seems to me like HD would be a great subject for his TV column. And if he would write the current state of all the local stations, maybe even with some "regular people" quotes from HD junkies like us, that might embarrass KRDO and KOAA into keeping up with the Joneses (KKTV, KXRM).

If you guys want to do it too, I'm pretty sure his email address is wepstein@gazette.com. Let's post any responses we may get from him.

Alright... I'm all for it. I was also thinking the Hausted guy, who does the weekly tech article.

I think that's Bill Husted's syndicated column from the San Jose Mercury News, but we should double-check.

Warren Epstein is no longer the TV guy. He did too good a job. He was promoted to being the editor in charge of the Friday magazine GO. He is a good guy who still might respond to an e-mail. I think that the current TV reporter is a woman but I don't remember her name.

Roy

Originally posted by Frank Zimkas
Vaggeto,
I sent a "Reply" and will post the response when I get it.
And here it is...

Frank: The DTV system is new and still being tested. As with many
companies, much of our operation is either run or monitored by a computer
and we have only limited staff on duty during the late night hours and on
weekends. We want to have a real person watching the DTV equipment for the
first few months. C Upton

-----Original Message-----
From: Frank Zimkas [mailto:Zimkas@worldnet.att.net]
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 5:56 AM
To: Charlie Upton
Subject: RE: Digital signal lost


Mr. Upton,
Thanks for quick response!! Mind If ask why you don't have the DT signal on
24 hours a day?

Makes sense to me.

Yep... o-well, at least we have a reason.

I just wonder what happened to their we won't be HD, but we will be doing just what KKTV is doing and upconverting 24/7.

Hopefully they are still testing the "new" system, and will eventually get to that before all HD locals are available on satellite.

From what I read in the DirecTV threads, HD locals aren't planned for very soon. It's going to take many years and several more enormous-bandwidth satellites before either Dish or DirecTV can put the hundreds of HD locals across the U.S. up there.

Hehe... I know :-)
But at their current rate D* might have time for another satellite after the current two new ones they plan to start using.

I guess I was stretching it... but it seems that they have no hope to improve. From what C Upton says, it seems that they are happy where they are at.

I'll bet dollars to donuts that KRDO's stance is $$$ driven my the owner(s) more than anything else. Just a guess mind you. i think it's safe to say that it's a given that the conversion to DTV from analog is expensive, but doing half the job and broadcasting an HD signal may bite them in butt. I for one, would rather watch an HD broadcast on CBS or FOX than a Standard Def. progam on ABC. It's too bad because ABC does have a few programs that I'd love to watch in HD, not just MNF.

It's the same for me. I find myself watching a lot more CBS then NBC/ABC because of the quality. Even on SD broadcasts.

Yep, exactly the point that I hope would wake them up if they read it in the paper.

Originally posted by Vaggeto
Haha... I could see how HD would play a role in moving. I know it would for me unless satellite HD really picks up.

Here's the basic overview:
Our Fox(KXRM): Is digital and is good about showing all widescreen shows appropriately. But they send out a widescreen with balck bars 480i picture which isn't too much better then the analog version except for the colors. (for regular broadcasts)
Our CBS(KKTV): They are a widescreen stretched 1080i all the time. They have been up for awhile now and are running pretty smoothly. Some poepl sitll have a bit of pixelation, but it's not bad, and they claim to be sending out a full signal. We have one guy from CBS who posts here occasionally.
<<snipped>>

Thanks for the straight forward info, Vaggeto! I'm not the original poster, but like him.... I'll be moving to The Springs soon and was wondering what the 'real' HD situation is locally. :) It's a little disappoining that the area affiliates are slower than other cities in the HD signal change over. I currently live in Las Vegas, and the big 3 (plus PBS) are HD OTA. Before that, I lived in Orange County CA, where everything was available in HD.... even UPN and WB!! :D

Anyway.... I'll be buying a home in the Powers & Constitution area this summer. Is anyone having trouble receiving HD OTA in that area?

Thanks!

Anyone have contact info at KOAA? (NBC) I'm trying to remember what, if any, response we have heard from them. Something about the tower rights? Maybe it's time we start busting their chops too. Something along the lines of "It's too bad you can't keep up with a first-rate station like KKTV." :) At least KRDO is fully aware that we're impatiently waiting.

These stations need to realize that HD viewers in general have more disposable income and should therefore equate to higher advertising dollars. These are kind of people who would drop $3k on a pre/pro or $10k+ on a home theater. ;)

I posted on their forum a few times.
http://www.koaa.com/community/listens/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=12

"We have seen some movement in the DIGITAL TV for COS, we should see our construction permit (CP) in 1-6 months. After the CP is issued construction can begin, 6-9 months at best after construction beginis, weather permitting, KOAA-DT 5 should be on the air. SUMMERY: KOAA DIGITAL 5 on-air 7-15 months (AUG04-MAR05). ALL of this "INFOrmation" has been posted on or "INFORMATION" page at http://www.koaa.com/info/ since October."

I guess that's the latest on KOAA.
The website says they hope to have the contruction permit by Feb-April.
I wonder why the FCC would take so long to approve this if they are the ones requiring it be done?

I was looking around that sparsely populated forum and found:

KOAA and HDTV - Updated 10-21-03
KOAA currently does not have a construction permit (CP) from the FCC to begin construction of KOAA-DT (KOAA's HDTV).
The FCC has shown some movement in the area so it is possible that with in 4 to 6 months KOAA will have our CP for KOAA-DT. Construction will begin immediately after the CP is received and we should be on the air in less than a year after that date.

I guess this is the same thing we talked about months ago. Another big helping of Super Weak with extra Weak Sauce.

EDIT: Damn, you beat me to the punch! :D

lol :-)

I really don't see any reason why they would be forced to wait 4-6 months for a permit though. Anything that takes that long nowadays shows it's an old system where people expected to wait. Now everything is done quickly. I really hope it doesn't take 4-6 months to pass a few papers back and forth and for someone to look at the site. Although I have no idea what it really includes, so I'm only guessing. I would think something like this should take 2-3 weeks.

If memory serves, the original permit was yanked by the FCC because there was a signal overlap problem with a western slope channel. I can see from a dollars and cents stand point why this was a boon to KOAA, it gave them more time to upgrade and they didn't have to shellout the cash to go Digital. the down side is that we HD early adopters are out in the cold with regards to NBC-HD programming. To bad we can't get an expemption to the SHIVA act and get NBC-HD via satelite/cable.

you have to wonder if KOAA could push their permit request through quicker?

I'm new to the forum (just got my MIT65869 hooked up with a Moto 5100). I notice you folks discuss mostly OTA issues. Is there another area to discuss questions I have about how my set is working with Adelphia? Don't want to sidetrack the thread.

Your in the right place!

It's welcome, and is actually the perfect place for it. There are a few here with the adelphia HD service already.

Last I heard, the Adelphia boxes from Motorola didn't support Firewire. (Although they may be on the newer boxes but are not activated or something...) If anyone using Adelphia HD finds out [down the road] that there's a cable box out there with Firewire enabled, that would interest me because of having a Mitsubishi RPTV with Firewire in but no DVI in :(

Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 08:45:47 -0700
Subject: Re: A reader's idea for an article on HDTV in Colorado Springs
From: "Warren Epstein" <wepstein@gazette.com>

We've written small articles about HD at KKTV, etc. But you're right --
the time is right for a big Life cover on the subject. Thanks for the idea.

Warren Epstein
Gazette A&E Editor


You the man, Warren!

I'm actually encouraged by the KOAA info. Yeah, it's not soon enough (it never is), but at least they're moving on it and publicizing what's they're planning. Hopefully they've built a lot of cushion into their time schedule just so they can beat it rather than risk missing it.

Either way, it will eventually put some pressure on KRDO, unless they don't mind being in last place to all of their competitors. I don't know if they are just being tight-lipped about their plans, or are they going to hold onto every nickel for as many years as they can.

Well done tallguy!! Now you need to turn Warren on to this thread!!

I did give him the link in my original email to him. Hopefully he'll use our brilliant comments as research!

Wow... much more then I expected. This is great :-)

Way to go, TallGuy!

I was just thinking, drvais would be proud of us for contacting KRDO and the Gazette. How's the HD scene in Belgium?

We need a volunteer to contact the PBS affiliate and see when their testing is REALLY going to start. Anyone? I can't remember the call letters right now...

PBS is KTSC. HDTV is non-existent here in Belgium (thank the good Lord for D-VHS). In fact, I think I'm the only one with an actual HDTV in this entire region of the country. I keep hearing about euro1080 satellite HDTV, but I'm at a loss to find any electronics stores that knows anything about it, let alone know what HDTV is. They are practically in the stone age around here when its comes to cutting edge technology. Heck, I freak people out when I bring my Palm into a grocery store with my grocery list. As you can read in this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=300176&perpage=20&pagenumber=2,/), I found a military store selling D-VHS decks, but the store clerk told me that no one has ever bought or inquired about one.

The best of luck, Colorado Springs!

Originally posted by TallGuy
Last I heard, the Adelphia boxes from Motorola didn't support Firewire. (Although they may be on the newer boxes but are not activated or something...) If anyone using Adelphia HD finds out [down the road] that there's a cable box out there with Firewire enabled, that would interest me because of having a Mitsubishi RPTV with Firewire in but no DVI in :(


Tallguy/Vaggeto,
Thanks for the reply. Here's my experience with Adelphia so far.
1. Poor, really poor knowledge and training of the technician. I had to tell him how to hook it up. After 5 telecons to Adelphia and CBS as to why I wasn't getting a HD picture, I finally happened upon this forum to discover that there was a set up menu for the 5100 that allowed you to set the output (MIT required 1080i). Problem solved.
2. CBS--all primetime looks very good, film like. However, sports are superb! Watchedthe AFC playoff games and was really amazed--wife said the players looked like Playstation 2 charactors they looked so different. ONly complaint is that during the KC game all the red in the stadium and in the uniforms really maxed out the 5100 processor (too much red push?)
3. PBS. Adelphia says the are up and running but they don't show up on in my DTV channels--don't know the story here.
4. NBC. Not available but Adelphia says by 1 Feb. Doesn't make sense if they haven't even got a permit for an antenna--maybe the will simulcast the network feed to cable before the can do OTA?
5. I split the cable before the STB to make use of the tuner in the MIT, results in better analog performance. Downside is it often causes a hard lock up of the TV when I switch between ANT and DTV inputs. I remember reading about this somehwere here but can't find the posts now that its happening to me. Any ideas?
6. DVI and Firewire. I have firmware version 5.02 believe you have to have 6.XX to make it work. Don't know status on this but expect its far away.
7. DOn't subscribe to any Premium so cant comment on their HD peformance.

Thanks!

Very nice, TallGuy..

As far as Adelphia goes, I am convinced they know nothing - they're the main reason I switched to D*. And despite their satellite bashing commercials, I've had MUCH fewer problems with dropouts now that I have D*.

If they ramped up their HD offerings to include ESPN-HD, Discovery HD, HDNet, HDNet Movies, I would go back to them. HD is the whole reason I went to D* in the first place. I'm already paying too much for my cable internet by itself.

http://www.rmpbs.org/status/messages/168.html

STATUS REPORT: The KTSC digital transmitter was tested late in 2003 and is awaiting installation of the new digital transmit antenna. To make space for this antenna, three other FM antennas on the Cheyenne Mountain tower had to be moved to make way. The tower rigging crew worked on that project over the holidays on days when the weather permitted climbing. They may finish on Friday, January 9. If so, installation of the KTSC-DT antenna will start, weather permitting, the week of January 12.

[They seem to be updating their website pretty frequently, whenever something happens.]

Cool... I checked today and am getting no signal.

Thanks for the link and update on KTSC, PlayDoh.

Soon I'll have to figure out if I'm mature enough to actually watch PBS instead of the less intellectual stuff on other channels...

I live on the north side (about Voyager and interquest). I was planning on getting a good directional antenna (all stations are at 180degrees from my house) and putting it in the attic. What have others done and what success have you achieved?

--Ron

Hey TallGuy, I saw where you pre-ordered the HD-TiVo. Same here! Now to wait and wait....

HI everyone,

Just an update for Adelphia HD box users. Although Adelphia is listing ABC in their HD line up you will notice the PQ is no better than SD. I called the engineer at ABC local affiliate and he told me they were not broadcasting in HD at all. So why is Adelphia saying it's HD? Fox is pillarboxed at 480P except for a few things that get fed at 720P like the playoffs, and PBS, also in their lineup, is non-existant, but it's supposed to be on 708. CBS is picture perfect and so is HBO HD.

Does anyone have any info on ABC's ETA on HD? They are not saying much on their website. I know PBS is working on it and NBC is awaiting a permit?
Thanks for any extra info.

You should threaten Adelphia with a false-advertising lawsuit. 10 Euro says you'll win, or at least get some free service for a while in order to shut you up.

10 Euro :-)

Are you sure Fox is sending out 480p on Adelphia? or is it just a pillarboxed widescreen 480i? I notice the quality goes up on their commercials when something 480p comes on. So I was pretty convinced that they are only sending a 480i unless it's an EDTV program on. Have you tried calling Adelphia and ask them why ABC it's not HD when they say it is? It bothers me that they list ABC in their HD lineup, when you already get an ABC of the same quality on basic cable.

I have the exact same Adelphia experience--no PBS, ABC is SD and off the air much of the time, I can't tell what the &(*&(*& FOX is doing, and CBS is as advertised and superb. The difference between watching the AFC and NFC games was huge--I didn't realize how much more interesting the game is in HD. Sometimes the FOX broadcast seemed decent, but when they went to a full field view, it looked worse than the analog FOX feed. I have called Adelphia and don't expect alot of help--they said PBS was up and promised to "pint my box" again to make sure it showed up as 708. That's when I went the Joanr route and started calling the engineers at the affiliates-at least you know what's coming out of their pipe.

All that said, I don't have any update, but definitely find myself watching alot of CBS and waiting for DVI/Firewire technology to make it to the front range.

Originally posted by drvais
You should threaten Adelphia with a false-advertising lawsuit. 10 Euro says you'll win, or at least get some free service for a while in order to shut you up.

I'd love to have a 10 euro note to show my 7 year old, but I don't want any free service from Adelphia--what I pay for is painfull enough.

Is Adelphia promising HDTV or DTV? There's not a whole lot they can do if the local affiliate is just broadcasting a converted SDTV signal to meet the station's DTV broadcast requirements. HDTV is just one of the DTV options.

And I'm still sitting here, only able to scan two digital signals. I wonder if PBS will broadcast DTV with any power?

Originally posted by rvaniwaa
I live on the north side (about Voyager and interquest). I was planning on getting a good directional antenna (all stations are at 180degrees from my house) and putting it in the attic. What have others done and what success have you achieved?
I live in the middle of Gleneagle with a decent but not perfect look toward Cheyenne Mountain. I've tried several antennas in the attic and outside and had the best overall luck with an 80" Radio Shack mast antenna. Finally got all 3 stations consistently, even the wimpy KRDO (480i) at 36% signal strength. I thought the concrete roof tiles and stucco/mesh would mean a poorer signal in the attic than outside, but it turned out height and direction were the most important things (and I couldn't put the big ugly antenna high outside with the covenants around here).

Remember that in COS you need VHF and UHF. And avoid the Terk TV-55 antenna. Horrid.

Originally posted by chanceG
Hey TallGuy, I saw where you pre-ordered the HD-TiVo. Same here! Now to wait and wait....
Yeah, the only thing better than HD is watching HD when I want to, with no commercials, and never missing a great HD show because I'm busy or not home... I might be able to watch HD for the majority of my TV-watching. Hopefully the D* HD-TiVo is truly as bug-free compared to the new E* 921PVR as the rumors say.

Adelphia is ignorant to put out misinformation like KRDO/ABC is in HD. Even saying it's DTV would be misleading since it's just an upconvert. I'm going to ignore Adelphia's HD attempts completely until they at least get ESPN-HD and Discovery-HD. Of course, I don't have much choice now that I've spent the bucks on the DirecTV HD box.

Adelphia raised my bill (for PowerLink and basic cable) by $12/month this month, when their rate letter had said an increase of $3/month. I called in and they almost didn't believe I had a letter from them for the $3 increase. They wouldn't even honor it, but gave me a 10% discount just to go away. They told me to take their letter in to one of their offices, as if I should have to take an hour and do that. Incompetent. :rolleyes:

lol

Well... if Adelphia says they now have PBS in HD, (which really only means digital to Adelphia) maybe they started their signal?


I just checked and no luck. I am getting CBS and Fox at 100 though, and ABC just recently went off.

Something I noticed on Sunday: My CBS signal sometimes drops to 53-68, but I have never seen any breakups on it. The ABC signal has never budged from 100, and Fox also drops down sometimes like CBS.
Since I am pretty close, and have a good line of sight, is it possible that my CBS/FOX signals are too strong?It seems that when there is snow/rain/wind that my signal is 100, and when it is nice out, it is lower. This is why I'm wondering if it can be too strong? I've tried to check when the signal is low based on weather conditions, but haven't had any luck finding predictable results.

On another note: I wonder how that article is coming along? I didn't write him since it seems that your single mention of it had him wanting to do it, but I wonder when it will be printed? Also, does anyone have any contact information for KXRM? I'd like to see if they are capable of going to HD when it happens, and see if they have any plans on upconverting anytime soon. I would really like at least a 480p signal all the time since I know they are capable of that, and it does look a lot better.

And more good news from PBS/KTSC:
http://rmpbs.org/status/messages/196.html

"Posted by KTSC Engineering on January 19, 2004 at 18:51:54:

STATUS REPORT: Riggers completed installation of the new KTSC Channel 26 digital transmit antenna on Friday, January 16, 2004 (see photo). Located at 140 ft above ground on the KTSC tower atop Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado Springs, the new antenna is the final component of the KTSC digital television (DTV) system to be installed.

KTSC's DTV transmitter was installed and tested in December, 2003.
...
Testing of the complete DTV plant should be complete within two to three weeks. Barring complications, Rocky Mountain PBS will begin DTV transmission in Colorado Springs and Pueblo in February."

That's cool, I heard PBS has some nice looking demo loops. Someone should forward that link to the non-HD station guys and say, "Look, Sesame Street is passing you up." :)

I also heard that... but then I also read "those loops are long gone"
So I'm not sure if they are playing them anymore. Supposedly some of the best HDTV around though, so I hope we get a chance to see them. Even if they replaying them so much we hate them.

Good job, KTSC. So it can be done, even at a station without an enormous budget.

Hopefully the Gazette is working on an HDTV feature, and I would think it would take several weeks to get it all together. I don't think I should write Warren Epstein back until 1-2 months have passed.

Interesting that KTSC keeps saying "DTV" and not "HDTV". Hope that doesn't mean no HD.

I hear ya TallGuy, Adelphia is keeping their tech support people in the dark. I called the 888 number last week and the guy was baffled as to why he was getting so many calls from the CS market re: HDTV problems. I told him about my ABC/engineer converstation and the guy went numb. I really feel bad for those employees who want to help but are just not informed of what the company is doing regionally. One gal told me to take the box back because of no PBS HD. I told her they weren't broadcasting HD locally yet and she was dumbfounded. It's a joke. She went on to say how this was such a new technology and it would take awhile to work the bugs out. Yeh, on our dime.

Anyhow, re: FOX, it is a mixture of 480i and 480P depending on the programming. Once in a great while you'll even get something in 16:9 at what appears to be 720P but Fox in general is not broadcasting HD yet, only in a few markets.

And yes, Adelphia is advertising HD, not just DTV, that's why they are charging more bucks for the HD MOT box. They are claiming to have Fox HD, ABC HD (not), CBS HD (yep) and PBS HD (not), and then the premium HD like HBO and Showtime HD which are just fine. They do admit that all shows will not be in HD even on their HD channels, (which we know of course), but they have no excuse for the false advertising of PBS and ABC. N'uff said, it just gets me a little irked. I'm sure they'll get it together sometime this year or next, as soon as the affiliates start HD transmissions. And no, they are not piping network sat feeds from ABC, there is just NO HD on their ABC channel. LOL!!!

Originally posted by TallGuy
Hopefully the D* HD-TiVo is truly as bug-free compared to the new E* 921PVR as the rumors say.

I hope so too. In regards to the 921, check out http://www.vssll.com/921issues.html

Originally posted by TallGuy
Interesting that KTSC keeps saying "DTV" and not "HDTV". Hope that doesn't mean no HD.
I think they actually know what they're talking about, from the update site and past posts I've seen from/about them..
From the Dec 3 post there:

Initially the station will transmit a simulcast of programs appearing on KTSC analog Channel 8. However, work is underway to get Rocky Mountain PBS HDTV signals to the transmitter early in 2004
So they seem to know what's up.

It was just anounced that the State of the Union address will be
broadcast in high definition on CBS / KKTV-DT tonight 7:00 PM.

Tim T

Thanks for the heads up, Tim!

Originally posted by Joanr
Anyhow, re: FOX, it is a mixture of 480i and 480P depending on the programming. Once in a great while you'll even get something in 16:9 at what appears to be 720P but Fox in general is not broadcasting HD yet, only in a few markets.

And yes, Adelphia is advertising HD, not just DTV, that's why they are charging more bucks for the HD MOT box. They are claiming to have Fox HD, ABC HD (not), CBS HD (yep) and PBS HD (not),
Fox is never 720p or HD, so that one's overstated too.

Adelphia has signed a deal to distribute HDNet and HDNet Movies.

Hmmm... Just need ESPN-HD and Discovery-HD now and they get my subscription back.

Will the HDnet stuff be free or premium with the HD box account? Dare we hope to get anything without yet another additional charge? What would be great is to bring us all the HD stuff including HBO HD and other premium HD for one monthly rate instead of forcing us to take all the HBO just to get HBO HD. I'd rather pay a little more for the HD box and get a deal like that. But what they will probably do is charge for HD "anything" that isn't available OTA. If I had the money I'd get Vroom or whatever it's called.

BTW, Fox does broadcast in 720P to a very few markets right now. If the local is capable of passing this through, you will see 720p 16:9, but only occasionally. How did you get the playoffs? I could not use the aspect zoom function on the TV during the playoff last weekend, it's always disabled on that component input when it detects a HD signal, so that tells me it was coming through as some variety of HD. It was 16:9, not pillerboxed 4:3 and didn't look half bad. I'd jhave to say it was in 720P.
Anyone?

All of the Fox football I've seen here this year on 21-1 was 16:9 480p, I'm pretty sure. It didn't have the detail or sharpness of an HD picture. I kept checking http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=300612 throughout the football season and they always showed CBS and Monday Night Football as HD, and Fox as "EDTV".

On my TV and Samsung HD tuner, I can't change the aspect ratio of HD signals and regular digital signals, such as DVDs which are 480p or Fox when it's 480p.

You're right, Adelphia and DirecTV both would make us happier throwing in HBO-HD or Showtime-HD with their HD packages and not make customers buy the expensive HBO packages, but they must be making more money that way. So I haven't gotten HBO at all.

Originally posted by Joanr
BTW, Fox does broadcast in 720P to a very few markets right now. If the local is capable of passing this through, you will see 720p 16:9, but only occasionally.

You're partially correct. Some local broadcasters are capable of sending a 720p and 1080i signal, and do. But they upconvert all the time. There has only been One test of HD for Fox, and that was Independence Day(the movie) a very long time ago. They don't have the technology to send these shows out in HD yet, so no one is seeing them in HD.

The new season of Sopranos is coming up in March, Tallguy. No redblooded American should miss it, especially in HD. :) That will be worth the subscription alone.

I can't bring myself to jack the satellite bill from $64 a month to what, $100? Of course, as always, you can justify it by saying it's a drop in the bucket compared to what you've already invested in the home theater. "Go on, self, you deserve it..."

Might as well "git er done." I think mine is something like $65 with HBO and HD. Tony is gonna send out his goons if you don't... ;)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=355365

I don't think I would be to quick to jump on the Adelphia bandwagon right now.

Good point.

So will the "rate shaping" equipment they are placing in the Cleveland market affect us all nationally or will it be an area wide thing. I guess if they implement this and degrade the PQ further with compression I will be looking into a sat setup instead of cable.

The aspect ratio TV zoom thing with Fox must be tied into using the Motorola 5100 box. When I'm viewing a DVD at 480P component I can change the aspect zoom on the TV. Anything greater on those component inputs and the zoom function is disabled, like when I'm viewing CBS. When Fox is broadcasting it's pillarboxed upcoverted stuff I can't budge the TV zoom. That's what led me to believe it was something better than 480P. Anyone care to explain why this happens if Fox is only piping 480P? Thanks.

Hi-

I live in Manitou just below (north of) Red Mountain and have a good view of downtown, but no line of sight to Cheyenne Mtn. Before I invest in an OTA HD tuner, I was wondering what sort of reception I might expect. Is there a signal/tower map that someone can point me to?

Thanks,
Sean

Try www.antennaweb.org

Nice anti-Anthem sign on the web page, Frank.

Can I assume that your situation hasn't gotten any better?

Frank... a question on your problem with The Sound Shop... I didn't really read anything that they had done wrong? It seemed to me like they sent the product to Anthem, gave you a loaner, and they along with you got yanked around by Anthem. Based on comments I've seen, I'm sure they did something wrong, mind summarizing it? The only things I can see is they didn't give you a replacement, and they said Anthem was a fantastic company to deal with.

Also, on the copyrighted email... I've never heard of anyone not being allowed to post an email they got unless a non-disclosure is signed. Are you sure someone can copyright their email and not let you post it elsewhere, or are you just being nice about his request/copyright?

Thanks for asking, but I'd rather tackle these questions elsewhere in order to keep this thread on track. I started a thread in the Receivers/Amps Forum (click here) (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=348468) a while ago about this mess.

Vaggeto,
Sent ya a PM

Originally posted by Frank Zimkas
Try www.antennaweb.org

Thanks Frank. I forgot to mention I'd already poked around antennaweb.org. Given that Manitou and the surrounding area is relatively hilly, I'm not sure how accurate the antennaweb database is going to be. I was hoping to get some real-world feedback from those that live in Manitou and pick up HD signal - whereabouts are you in Manitou, how big an antenna did you have to go with, and what channels do you pick up, etc. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Sean

I see. Hopefully someone in Manitou will be able to give you some good info.

I live in manitou. I agree with you that the terrain in Manitou makes comparisons difficult.

I live north of highway 24 on a south facing hilside near the Garden of the Gods. I have an unobstructed view of Cheyenne Mountain, Therefore I have close to an ideal location to get digital (and analog) signals.

I get excellent reception of the local channels. I also just got the HD Dish Network package.

I have a C Band big dish. I can get some HD with that also. I was getting HDNet that way unltil they encripted their signal at the begining of the month. That is what motivated me to get Dish Network.

So, my experience is not likely to be of help to you. If you would like to see my set up let me know.

Roy

I've been consistently receiving KRDO-DT's weak signal on 13-1 (via UHF channel 24) for a month now, until today. As always, I have to know whether the problem is my equipment, my antenna or the station. Can someone confirm for me whether they're on or off air right now? I'd appreciate it.

I checked yesterday and today, couldn't get ABC or FOX.

Hmmm. I'm getting Fox (and CBS) OK right now.

Last time I looked was this morning around 10 AM. I think KRDO is M-F only at this time.

For those interested, I got a reply to an email sent last week asking about HD/DT status for KTSC:

Michael,

Glad to hear there's interest in HDTV in the Colorado Springs area. You're quite correct about the use of the term DT in our status report. Initially, we will transmitting a simulcast of the KTSC analog signal on KTSC-DT. That's because we're still in the process of upgrading the microwave links that bring PBS and local HD content from Denver to Colorado Springs. However, that upgrade is progressing nicely and should only take another 1-2 months to complete. You can be assured we're looking forward to bringing true HDTV to your area.

Jim Schoedler
Director of Network Engineering
Rocky Mountain PBS

Thats great! Now if they would just quit interupting the programs every 5 minutes with fundraisers!!;)

Originally posted by Jeremy Tebo
I heard PBS has some nice looking demo loops. :)
Bad news: PBS loops are indeed discontinued.
Good news: All PBS digital programming, ED or HD, is good to great.


Originally posted by Frank Zimkas
Now if they would just quit interupting the programs every 5 minutes with fundraisers!!
Bad news: PBS fundraisers will never go away.
Good news: The PBS digital feed is free of fund drives. Just one program after another.

Originally posted by TommyK

Good news: All PBS digital programming, ED or HD, is good to great.


I look forward to seeing what they have to offer. I can hardly wait to see Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch in HD. Maybe even the Bloodhound Gang and Mr. Roger's neighborhood. (Yes, I am joking)

Would I be correct assuming that they have shows similar to Discovery HD theater?

"Wherever there's trouble, we're there on the double, we're the Bloodhound Gang.
If you've got the crime, we've got the time, we're the Bloodhound Gang."

Now that WOULD be cool :)

Originally posted by Jeremy Tebo
Would I be correct assuming that they have shows similar to Discovery HD theater?
See http://www.rmpbs.org/dtv/schedule.html#HDTV for PBS' DTV schedule. Unfortunately, the link from there to their HD programming is a dead link.

Nicely done, Playdoh! Ahhh the memories.

How about 3... 2... 1... Contact!? Now that show probably really would look nice in HD. They probably don't even show any of those programs anymore though, it's pretty obvious I haven't watched PBS in about 15 years. :)

Great HD broadcast of the Super Bowl today! Kudos to KKTV!!

Most of the time it looked great here. Seemed like they had a few non-HD cameras or else they weren't in focus. The DD 5.1 sound was good but the volume varied a lot between the game and commercials, and between different commercials especially. The CBS NFL theme music was louder than the announcers on my system, but that may have had something to do with my system and whether the front L/R speakers were set to large or small or whatever.

What a game!

I kept thinking we were so fortunate that CBS had the rights this year, since we would be screwed otherwise in Colorado Springs. Wonder if next year is Fox (after they go to 720p??) or ABC (KRDO's motto: "last century's technology is good enough for now").

By the way, the Oscars are coming up soon in HD on ABC.*

* that is, in most of the country except Colorado Springs

Were you being sarcastic? I don't know if it was KKTV or CBS, but I've never seen so many problems in an HD football game. Great PQ, but lots of messups.

I was refering to the PQ.

Hmm... I didn't notice too many messups. I think I noticed them leave in in SD stretch for a few seconds, but that's about the only KKTV screw-ups I saw. THe half time audio glitches were not KKTVs fault.

Oscars are coming up, but not in HD for us as you pointed out.
We will get the Grammys in HD next weekend though.

BTW: There were only 5-8 commercials that were in HD. All the other 4x3 fuzzy ones were SD. The sound level issue also wasn't a KKTV problem.

Good job KKTV and thank you!

A bit after the SB, 21-1 had a 480p test pattern on. It was a good checkup for my I2C fix with my avia filters.

There were a few minor glitches and skips but overall a good job. The audio on some of the commercials was painful, in paticular the one for the Alamo.

I hope KOAA can get their act together before the olympics.

In one year I think we will be hoping KOAA will be in digital within a few months.

I believe that NBC is planning on using the new and not yet widely available Bravo HD+ cable channel for most of their HD Olympics coverage.

The Bravo HD+ web site says they will have "exclusive high stakes sports coverage including the Olympics and the Triple Crown"

Here is a link to their site: http://www.bravotv.com/HDPlus/

Roy

I have the radio shack indoor powered antenna 15-1880 teamed up with the dishnetwork 6000 8vsb module. I get about 80% signal strength for kktv digital. But the audio and video freezes for a second or so about every 5 minutes. But KRDO and KXRM never have this problem. Is it a problem with the antenna ? Does anyone else have this problem?

I don't have this problem, but haven't been watching today. What time(s) did you have this problem?

I just went to 26-1 and it remapped me to 8-1.. KTSC-DT is up. Just a 480i non stretched or pillarboxed for now. But good to see it is up and running!

Cool, a few weeks til HD?

Probably next month. (have I become pessimistic because of KRDO?)

the next update on their website saying they're up and running will probably give a good HD date.

FWIW, I'm getting 110-108 signal strength for KTSC.

I'm at my max (100). What does your system go up to on signal strength?

Also, it seems that they are currently doing the same thing that KRDO is doing. I see something in the picture that looks like NTSC/analog. One other thing I noticed: they didn't shut it off overnight

My 921 shows a signal bar that indicates signal strength from 0-120. It's the same grapghic that it used when checking satelite signal strength. How they came up with it I'll never know.

On another issue, 2 months ago I posted a question on the KOAA website, never got a response untill today. Nothing new to report, just had to chuckle seeing a 2 month old post brought back to life with no decent info added. http://www.koaa.com/community/listens/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1463

Hilarious. Let's see what the response to that is in 2 months! :P I got 2 words for 'em - Big Bird.

Anybody here using a Panasonic PT-AE500U projector? I can't sem to find anyone around here that's selling them. I'd really like to see one before selling my Mits and buying it.

Here's the official word on KTSC-DT from http://rmpbs.org/status/messages/200.html :

"Rocky Mountain PBS officially launched KTSC-DT Channel 26 serving Colorado Springs and Pueblo on Thursday, February 5, 2004. Colorado's newest DTV station was first placed on air for test at 1:18PM Tuesday afternoon.

KTSC-DT will initially carry a 24/7 simulcast of KTSC's analog program content encoded as 480i ATSC. Once installation of a new digital microwave system is complete, KTSC-DT will begin carrying PBS and Rocky Mountain PBS HDTV programs in the evening while simulcasting during the day.

The KTSC-DT transmission plant consists of a Thales Ultimate 1.5 kW air-cooled solid-state transmitter and a Dielectric directional antenna. ATSC equipment currently includes a Harmonic MV45 SD encoder and Thales multiplexer.

The transmitter is located on Cheyenne Mountain at an elevation of 9409 feet above sea level, approximately 12 miles SE of Pikes Peak and 6 miles SW of downtown Colorado Springs. The Effective Radiated Power from the KTSC-DT antenna is 39 kW which produces a City Grade signal over Colorado Springs and Pueblo and surrounding areas almost into Denver to the north.

Jim Schoedler
Director of Network Engineering
Rocky Mountain PBS"

This is depressing. Look at this long list of the ABC 720p stations all around the country, including a bunch of small towns that apparently have more interest in 21st century technology than KRDO: http://www.abc.go.com/site/hdtvlist.pdf

Doesn't anyone reading this forum know someone important in the upper levels of KRDO?

KTSC seems almost like KRDO at times. It seems like they're sending an originally analog signal over digital with some of the effects I'm seeing.
Maybe it's just the bad 480i, but I wish everyone could do what KKTV is doing with the 1080i upconvert.

I haven't even run a scan to pick it up yet. I'll wait until you guys say they're broadcasting HD before it gets added to my list. (PBS doesn't do much for me)

Tallguy, I detect a hint of bitterness in your posts... ;)

Originally posted by Jeremy Tebo
Tallguy, I detect a hint of bitterness in your posts... ;)
Hey, I give credit where credit is due, for example KKTV. It's just that KRDO doesn't deserve any... :mad:

Is anyone else having any issues with FOX (KXRM)? I noticed last night that I wasn't receiving any signal, and am still not as of tonight. The other three channels are coming in fine and with good signal strengths. Nothing (that I know of) has changed on my side, so I was thinking it might be with KXRM.

--Eric

Must be KXRM having issues, I couldn't receive them last night either. Haven't checked tonight.

Must be down, I got 0%. Was there something WS on tonight?

I'm glad that it's not another antenna problem here at my house. Wonder if KXRM had a hardware breakdown or something.

Lakers-Rockets on ESPN-HD looked amazing tonight. Their HD beats CBS' HD by a mile, in my opinion.

Good to hear I'm not the only one with the issue. I didn't want to go up on the roof and mess with the ANT given all the snow. :p

--Eric

I was just looking at Adelphia's lineup and noticed that they have Cinemax HD listed. Looks like they've actually got an advantage over D*. Does anyone here get that channel?

I see they also list KRDO and KXRM as HD, which we know is not the case. Do you think they will have to wait until KRDO sends an OTA HD signal? I don't see anything about the HDNet(s), which I heard they inked a deal with. Maybe they'll get ESPN-HD and Discovery-HD sometime this year too. I would love to ditch my satellite and antenna.

711 KKTV HD KKTV HD Broadcast HD (High Definition)
713 KRDO HD KRDO High Definition Broadcast HD (High Definition)
721 KXRM HD KXRM HD Broadcast HD (High Definition)
750 HD HBO High Definition HBO HBO HD (High Definition)
751 HD SHOWTIME High Definition Showtime Showtime HD (High Definition)
753 HD CINEMAX HD CINEMAX Cinemax HD (High Definition)

Adelphia is transmitting PBS on 708 also, though no HD yet of course. Any news or ETA on the HDNet deal?

Is anyone receiving KXRM-DT off the air? I just installed a new HD receiver and I can not pick it up during the scans.

They seem to still be off-air. I meant to email the station yesterday to see what the problem is, but I didn't get around to it.

Maybe drvais will investigate for us all the way from Belgium... :)

Speaking of KXRM-DT, if anyone has had any vertical picture jitter on that channel, please send me a PM or post here. I think I've ruled out their signal, my antenna and my HD receiver as potential causes, and I'm having my Mitsubishi RPTV looked at by SoundTrack techs who don't have a clue about it, so it's kind of baffling. (Every other HD channel whether OTA or D* is fine, DVDs are fine, etc...) It's fine with S-video, or with DVI to my PC monitor, but over component cables to the TV is where the picture makes me dizzy. :mad:

Jeremy-

Unless I'm mistaken, Fox is ONLY enhanced def., (ED), NOT HD and this is the case nationally. They only transmit at 480P.

You're right, that's why I said "I see they also list KRDO and KXRM as HD, which we know is not the case."

It gets listed as HD a lot even though it is only ED. From what I hear they will be broadcasting 720p by next football season. Until then I don't really care that their signal is down.

On a side note, I heard an interesting radio ad on KILO for Adelphia cable and they mentioned HD. They were saying something like "Are you DISH-appointed with satellite?" Pretty funny. Too bad they're still way behind in the channels they carry in HD.

I'm getting a static analog picture for 21-1. I also notice that Fox seems to shake a tiny bit, but then they go to a picture where I don't see the jitter. It reminds me of what D* had with the first few weeks of the ED games on channels 70+71. It bothered some a LOT, and didn't really bother me at all.

Seems like there's a few avalanche fans on this thread. I thought I would point you to an article that came out a few days ago regarding a new denver sports channel that will broadcast avalanche, nuggets, crush, mammoth, etc.

http://www.coloradoavalanche.com/news/currentdetails.asp?ID=123

The interesting part of the article is this paragraph:

"An agreement has been reached with Crown Media for lease of a state-of-the-art broadcast/studio facility at its Greenwood Village location for both standard and high-definition telecasts, as well as for uplink facilities, transponder space and other administrative and technical aspects of building, launching and operating a regional sports network."

Hmmmmmm. High-definition :)

-Mike

Hmmm... sounding better and better. Here's a thread on the subject: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=366328

I did a search for Crown Media. Their main business now is producing the Hallmark Channel. If you look at the press release section of their web site, there is a press release saying that the channel will start in September.

Here is a link to their site:

http://www.crownmedia.net/afl_framework.jsp?SITE=OPER

There is nothing on the web sit about HD experience or equipment but the press release says that Crown uplinks HD material. If HD is a priopity, you would think that they would contract with Colorado Studios, the company that produces HDNet. Of course, they could do a secondary contract with them for an HD production truck.

Roy

I just read the whole article... and if I'm reading that right they're not only saying that center has the ability to show HD, but the deal is for that part of it also. I wish we could get the Rockies in HD.

Originally posted by ryttingm


http://www.coloradoavalanche.com/news/currentdetails.asp?ID=123

The interesting part of the article is this paragraph:

"An agreement has been reached with Crown Media for lease of a state-of-the-art broadcast/studio facility at its Greenwood Village location for both standard and high-definition telecasts, as well as for uplink facilities, transponder space and other administrative and technical aspects of building, launching and operating a regional sports network."

Hmmmmmm. High-definition :)

-Mike

I wonder what that will mean for us down here in the Monument & CoSp area? I would love to be able to get the majority of the AVS games OTA, especially in HD. FoxSports Net is THE only reason I still have cable. If not for that, I would go completely OTA, and maybe look at VOOM. (Not sure SAT is an option for me at all given my LOS.)

I think the chances of OTA are nil and zilch - where would it be broadcast from? Adelphia will probably add it but I'm trying to quit cable TV cold turkey. (Colorado Rockies, I love ya, but your weekend games aren't worth 45 bucks a month.) We will be fortunate if they can get the new network onto satellite given bandwidth problems, rights fees, etc. and of course if there's actually HD that would be more difficult than SD. (Let's hope for the spot beams.) I saw the post from Minnesota which I think said that their new local sports network never got onto satellite at all. I hate when Adelphia has a monopoly on a channel...

If the network gets big enough, it might be added to satellite. Similar to YES etc..

Is there any one here that gets anything from the Denver area OTA? I'm in Monument, and ANTWeb says I should be able to get a few of the Denver stations with the ANT I have. I haven't tried pointing in that direction as it's almost a 180 from where I point it to get CoSp stuff. Was wondering if anyone else has tried.


--Eric

I hope that all of the sports channels are soon going to be PPV so the rest of the D* subscribers don't have to subsidize that crap.

There was a great article in the weekend Denver Post that said that sat. rates will keep rising, especially for sports channels that the majority don't watch (such as Fox Sports Net and Stan Kronke's new Denver station he is trying to start.) Why should everyone keep paying higher bills for channels that only a few watch, like shopping channels etc...?

I totally agree with the article and hope that it becomes the norm. Hopefully soon we will be able to pay "a-la-carte" for channels that we will actually want to pay for!

Originally posted by EHHoffman
Is there any one here that gets anything from the Denver area OTA? I'm in Monument, and ANTWeb says I should be able to get a few of the Denver stations with the ANT I have. I haven't tried pointing in that direction as it's almost a 180 from where I point it to get CoSp stuff. Was wondering if anyone else has tried.


--Eric

I doubt any of us can. My impression of their OTA channels is that they are low powered, and people in Denver have a hard time getting them.

You might get our Fox and WB affiliate. They are the only ones that are on lookout. The rest are low power from downtown.

I'm going to be upgrading to an HD-FP in the near future. If anyone is looking for a 55" mits 16x9 RPTV, or know someone that is, send me a pm.

Jeremy Tebo, sent you a PM.

Anyone having a problem tuning in channel 11 (DT) tonight? I can't get a lock on it.

I'm picking it up fine, same signal level as usual.

Originally posted by Frank Zimkas
Anyone having a problem tuning in channel 11 (DT) tonight? I can't get a lock on it.

I dropped signal on it at least two times between 7-9PM but other than that it was good. I live in Woodmoor.

HMMM, time to adjust the rabbit ears I guess.

Thanks guy's.

Seemed to be fine here. I wonder what happened to Fox though? They've been out for quite awhile now.
Also, I wonder how soon that article will be coming out about HDTV in our area?

In case anyone is interested I listed my TV on Ebay. Do a search for Item#3079708073.

I just moved into the C-Springs area and have a question. Where are the local HD stations being broadcast from? What antenna are most people using? and has anyone tried the SquareShooter?

They're being broadcast from Cheyenne Mountain, which is just southwest of downtown. (You can see the towers, there are a ton) I'm using a cheap-o $10 RCA antenna, haven't heard of or tried the SquareShooter.

Yep.. look at the mountains and look a bit left and you will see a group of antennas. That's Cheyenne Mountain... I think we have a great place for them to send their signal from compared to most.

I received this email response from a KXRM engineer today:

"As you have surmised, we recently experienced a failure of our DTV transmitter. Since that time, we have been working with the equipment manufacturer in order to resolve the problem.

We hope to be back on the air within a matter of days.

As for 720P, we plan to pass whatever FOX sends us—their current plans are for that to happen this fall."

So that's good news on both issues, I'd say. The fall would include the NFL on Fox and the next Superbowl is on Fox. I don't know if they have the next World Series too, so that we could see the Red Sox or the Cubs break one of their curses in 720p HD...

I suppose that the Adelphia HD folks have still been getting KXRM-DT and only us OTA folks were affected, so it was a smaller group of viewers overall.

Wow! FOX was still out? I had returned my STB a couple days after I noticed they dropped off, in favor of a HTPC solution, and haven't gotten everything built yet, so I didn't know they were still out.

Good news on the 720P too. Sure wish there was a good resource for OTA Avs Games in HD here in the springs.

--Eric

Originally posted by EHHoffman
Sure wish there was a good resource for OTA Avs Games in HD here in the springs.--Eric
Or any Avs HD at all would be nice. The only game I know of in HD is coming up on ESPN-HD on March 25, Avs-Red Wings. When the Avs do appear on HDNet hockey nights, of course they get blacked out until the repeat broadcast. Maybe in a couple of years, the upcoming Kroenke sports network will get to the level of HD for Avs and Nuggets.

I wish they would upconvert... I wish I knew about how it worked so I could know how much more work it is.
Good to see they will be 720p though, and that their signal will be back up.

I noticed that they blacked out the Avs game even when it was away from home. I guess I don't full understand the purpose of blacking out games, I was under the impression that they do it to ensure ticket sales.

That type of blackout is a bit different... if you don't sell out, they will not show it on tv at all. Forcing people to go. Or at least I'm pretty sure it's that way for football.

The reason HDNet's get blacked out is because we are able to view it in our local Fox Sports Net channel. So they want people watching their commercials instead of HDNets.

Originally posted by Vaggeto
The reason HDNet gets blacked out is because we are able to view it in our local Fox Sports Net channel. So they want people watching their commercials instead of HDNet's.
And those rules made sense in the old days, but they need to be updated to give us the freedom to get HD over SD when both are televised. Like an HD viewer's bill of rights or something. If the SD channel won't do HD, then they should have to give up a few viewers.

I think most HD viewers would agree with that :-)

I don't think the SD channels care though.
The solution to this is... HDNet piggy-backs onto the Foxs Sport Net production like they did in the past. So you basically had FSNs broadcast(including commercials) with HDNets cameras.
This year HDNet went solo, so they have to blackout where it's on locally.
I guess it allows HDNet to suffer us not being able to view it live, for letting everyone else see it with their own commercials.

Something I noticed with HDNets announcer... he called Patrick Roy: Patrick "roy" instead of "wah" the way it's pronounced.

What's even more frustrating about the blackout this last friday was the game was shown on UPN20 not FSRM. In the springs we cannot get UPN20 out of denver. Adelphia reached an agreement to pass the games on upn20 via adelphia channel 32. However, several of the games that were supposed to be broadcast on channel 32 have not been. I wasn't able to check and see if the minnesota game was broadcast on channel 32. Anyone know? The guide for adelphia did not show the avs game being broadcast.

In summary I think it's rediculous to black out the minnesota game last friday because we had NO possible way of receiving the game here in the springs. My hopes rest with Kroenke Sports Enterprises. If the do it right, we could be much better off for avs and nuggets games in the future. If the do it wrong, our selection of avs games may be reduced to exclusive nationally televised games.

-Mike

I don't think adelphia would not have the games. They would do everything to get them because it's mostly only local areas that watch their team. So if you take away the 2nd biggest local area, you're taking a hit in what advertisers pay.

Today's Gazette:

PBS launches HD

PBS has announced the Monday launch of the PBS HD Channel, making PBS the first broadcaster to provide a fully packaged 24/7 channel consisting entirely of High Definition and Widescreen content. It will air locally on digital PBS Channel 18.

The PBS HD Channel will be available from local PBS stations that have transitioned to digital broadcasting, as well as through local digital cable systems that have agreed to retransmit the digital signal of their local public television station.

The PBS HD Channel will feature a mix of new and library HD and Widescreen programs. New HD and Widescreen programs will simulcast with their analog national PBS premiere broadcast, and will repeat on the PBS HD Channel during the week after their premiere.

This applying to the Colorado Springs market doesn't add up to me. The whole thing sounds like a national press release, except for the one sentence about channel 18. According to the Rocky Mountain PBS site http://rmpbs.org/status/index.html, which is updated often, there's still no news about their HD being ready. Plus they are broadcasting digitally on channel 26 instead of 18. Guess we can re-scan on Monday just in case.

Odd... but seemingly it's the PBS HD channel which is 24x7 HD. I'm not sure, but I think the older PBS HD content was only at certain times.

If somehow the 18 applies to us, I think they saw 8-1 and figure it couldn't be 81, so it must be 18.

Originally posted by Vaggeto
If somehow the 18 applies to us, I think they saw 8-1 and figure it couldn't be 81, so it must be 18.
Maybe. Or if they were going to be clueless about it, why not 8 - 1 = 7?

Here is a link to the PBS HD Channel schedule:

http://www.pbs.org/tvschedules/tvschedules_hd.html

Most likely, once Rocky Mountain PBS completes the HD link form Denver to Cheyenne Mountain, we will get the same schedule as Denver PBS HD which is a mix of the National Feed and local programming.

Roy

Well, it's been a few days and still no KXRM-DT. They must be having more serious issues than they thought. Oh well, no huge loss anyway.

Anyone watch Rules of Engagement the other night? I noticed that a couple times they didn't get it switched back to HD after commercial breaks, must be KKTV.

Any updates from PBS? If I remember correctly they should be up any time now.

I only saw a bit of ROE, so I didn't notice that.

On KXRM: I wonder. I think things just run slow on getting things shipped out.

Brace yourself: KXRM-DT is back on the air. We are back to 2 digital stations in our little burg. (No, KRDO doesn't count with me in its current state.) At least PBS should be real HD soon.

I just noticed today... am glad to se eit's back up, even though IMO it doesn't look at better then what cable or the analog OTA channel. On the ED stuff it does though. I just wish they could upconvert all the time.

The good part is: Now I can actually watch their ED stuff at 480p because my Voom box can send that out...
The bad part: If I want to do that I will need to continue working on the 480p input on my TV. For awhile now I've only messed with 1080i since that's all that's been sent to my TV.

Vaggeto, you took the plunge to Voom, huh? Did you keep D* too? Is there a thread where you've posted your impressions of Voom HD programming that you could paste the link to? Or if not, I wouldn't have a problem putting some posts on it here for a few days since nearly nothing new is going on with the COS DTV front at the moment. I've seen a few Voom threads that were so long I didn't want to start reading them.

Interesting that the new D* HD-TiVo coming out in a few weeks will be able to convert anything to 480p, 720p or 1080i (chosen with the remote). I'll be interested to see if KXRM at 480p doesn't have the picture jitter that I have now when the Samsung converts it to 1080i.

ah... you notice that picture jitter too? I'll let you know if I see it at 480p? I notice it VERY slightly on 1080i, but figure it was them, and I rarely notice it (or watch it) so never bothered to even mention it.
I haven't posted all of my thoughts yet, but here's a bit from one thread:
"For SD... it's a toss up. Some channels like TWC are better, while others like BET look as good as a 5 year old Real Player videos. Either they aren't filtering enough, or not giving it nearly enough bandwidth, but it pixelates on anything. Probably more on that channel because it is probably watched less then the other channels.

For HD: Voom definently is better. If not a tiny bit crisper all the time, it doesn't pixelate. I only noticed the least bit of pixelation at a concert with tons of flashing. It was hard to even notice it. I haven't seen it on any of the other quick moving material yet at all."

Now for the software: It's not nearly as efficient as D*. I had never seen anyone mention it, so I figured it would be at least as good if not better since it was never. But they're still working out many bugs.
Here's a link to some suggestion I had within the first few hours of having V*: http://www.satelliteguys.us/showpost.php?p=64038&postcount=76

Right now I still have both... but I thought we were going to put the V* satellite where the current D* one is, so I moved the D* one, and it started snowing hard, so It's still sitting on the roof. I hope to put it up in a bit so I can have all my channels again.

And is the HD programming content worth all the money? Or is it really just HDNet-type rerun city?

Not sure yet... but I can say I haven't watched any SD since I've had it.
I wouldn't say it's HDNet type, because I after only a couple days I miss HDnet.

So far the 10 cinema channels seem OK, but nothing special, mostly movies I'm not interested in so far except for Rocky V. Most are older semi-crappy transfers. Monster HD channel is pretty good. I like the music channel Rave. Cartoon channel hasn't shown me anything interesting yet. HDnews is good, but not many updates.
Still judging though, haven't had too much time to watch it yet. I'm also still waiting for StarzHD... I'm supposed to have it up by Monday at the latest.

So I'm sit down the other night watching the late news and up pops a commercial for KOAA's fancy satellite truck. I get to thinking about how much that truck and all the uplink gear must have cost and how much use they really get out of it. A few reports here and there...."Stray Cat mauled by Mountain Lion...Live Satellite coverage from Woodland Park on your late local news!!" Or perhaps "Kitty Litter spill in Lamar..Live Satellite Cover..." well you get the picture. Sure they've had some use for it, but I see more commercials about the damn thing than I see reporting from it!

Too bad they didn't spend the money on a tower and some DTV transmission gear, they'd be getting a lot more use out of it.

lol.. that truck is also probably used for them standing in the snow reporting some story unrelated to the weather... I can never figure out what the value of sitting outside in bad weather is when reporting something.

Nice update to your home theater! How'd the selling of the TV go? How's the FP? Also, how's the subwoofer? I remember seeing it years ago in Soundtrack and thinking about what 2700 watts sounds like :-)

Vaggeto,
Thanks for noticing! The Mits is sold, I'm just waiting on a buyer from Denver to pick it up. The FP is incredible!! Watching an HD broadcast is like being right there, I can't wait for football season! The sub is extremely potent for an 11" cube, I can't turn the sub volume up to high, I'm afraid I'll shake the house off of the foundation.:)

Party at Frank's theater and we're all invited!

Looks sweet.

:D

FYI, PBS digital is up and running here locally. Hopefully we'll get some HD soon.

Does anyone know which tourney games we are going to get here? Any of the early round HD games? I looked at KKTV.com, but that wasn't much help.

Schedule as follows:
Thursday:

10:25am Texas Tech vs. Charlotte

1:00pm Syracuse vs BYU

5:20pm Texas vs Princeton

7:40pm North Carolina vs. Air Force


Friday:

10:30am Boston College vs. Utah

12:50pm Oklahoma State vs. Eastern Washington

5:10pm Wisconsin vs. Richmond from Milwaukee Ill.

7:45pm Kansas vs. Illinois-Chicago

Any games involving Kansas in HD.

Tim Timora
KKTV

Great, thanks for the update Tim. I think I speak for everyone here when I say thanks to you and KKTV for being the only local to provide OTA HD.

Go Jayhawks!

According to http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=372855 which is very reliable, the HD broadcasts are the games in Kansas City tomorrow and Sunday, then from St. Louis next weekend, and then the Final Four from San Antonio the following weekend.

Maybe Tim said Kansas but meant Kansas City. They couldn't have HD cameras just showing up for Jayhawks games.

Go AF... great game so far.

KTSCs got to be close huh?

I just read the thread that I pasted into the previous post. Many other CBS stations around the country are offering 2 different games simultaneously on their SD and HD channels. That would be nice to have options. And some are going to transmit 4 SD games on different digital subchannels at the same time, e.g. channel 6.0, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3. Now that would be awesome if KKTV could do that, but I suppose it requires some extra kickbutt equipment. Any chance Tim?

If KKTV did that I'd call Warren Epstein at the Gazette and try to persuade him to pat KKTV on the back in the paper. They would really deserve a spotlight.

4 games on 4 subchannels would be simply amazing. I think you're right about Kansas City, I bet the game tomorrow night will look great.

Quite an effort by AF so far, I'm impressed. We'll see if they hang on.

That would be amazing. I do love their upconverted signal though. They are my #1 watched local SD station because of how much better their upconvert looks even comapred to the other digitals.

And pretty soon I'll be able to HD-TiVo the upconverted or the HD KKTV and D* HD. No more commercials!

Originally posted by TallGuy
And pretty soon I'll be able to HD-TiVo the upconverted or the HD KKTV and D* HD. No more commercials!

You and me both! The waiting is killin' me.

I am not getting a picture on KKTV-DT. I get a strong signal and dolby audio. KXRM and PBS digitals are coming in fine. Anybody else having this problem?

Roy

Same here. It didn't even have a signal at 12PM. Now I have a full signal and only audio. I wonder what's going on?

I didn't get a signal earlier, now it's coming in fine. Anyone know which games we're getting tomorrow night? Might be some HD from KC.

Unfortunately, I lost my ATSC receiver. So I am missing all this BB action on OTA HD. (At least the MPEG satellite part is still working)

Does anyone offer a cheap stand-alone ATSC receiver yet? (i.e. <$100)

Jack

Jack.

If I remember correctly, you have an Integra it910s. I have one also. Did the tuner just stop working? Did you look into what it would take to get it fixed?

When HDNet encripted, I subscribed to Dishnetwork. You get a tuner that recieves Dishnet SD and HD programming and also works as an ota digital and analog tuner. It is "free" if you commit to one year of their basic SD package and their HD pack. At the end of the year you can just subscribe to the HD pack for a $5.00 access fee plus $9.99 for the HD pack. I plan to go back to C-band for SD subscriptions after the year is up.

Roy

Originally posted by royrose
Jack.

If I remember correctly, you have an Integra it910s. I have one also. Did the tuner just stop working? Did you look into what it would take to get it fixed?

When HDNet encripted, I subscribed to Dishnetwork. You get a tuner that recieves Dishnet SD and HD programming and also works as an ota digital and analog tuner. It is "free" if you commit to one year of their basic SD package and their HD pack. At the end of the year you can just subscribe to the HD pack for a $5.00 access fee plus $9.99 for the HD pack. I plan to go back to C-band for SD subscriptions after the year is up.

Roy

Roy,


Yes, the 910's terrestrial tuner just stopped working, looks like it may be heat related. I'm asking around over on Satforums to see if others have run into this.

That commitment to Dish sounds interesting. I'm not sure I could handle another satellite feed into the house, though:p I will check that since I would like to see the Olympics in HD if at all possible and NBC locally doesn't look like they will get it. If Dish carries it, that will definitely be worth looking at.

Jack

OK, PBS/KTSC is so far past their HD estimated time frame that we need someone to give the Engineering Dept. a call. Is there anyone here who's not tied up from 8-5 weekdays that could get the update from them and post here? I really can't do it from work.

I can do it.
Does anyone have the # that I should call?

Thanks, man. Just found this on their website:
KTSC Channel 8
Pueblo, CO
Phone: 719-543-8800

I just left a voice mail for Ian Hartley at KTSC Engineering. If he calls me back next week, I'll post the response here.

OK, I think this is a first. We have Nevada-Georgia tech on KKTV-DT, and Illinois-Duke on KKTV-SD. I didn't know that KKTV had the equipment to handle two different feeds and insert the commercials at different times into the two broadcasts. I've read forums about bigger cities' affiliates doing that and hoped that it was possible here. Very cool. Makes me wish I was really a college hoops fan.

And I've never seen a better HD picture from KKTV than right now. Wow. It looks like HDNet live sports or even brighter. I haven't seen any compression artifacts yet. And the DD5.1 sound is huge.

Incredible job, KKTV!

Wow... very cool. I think I saw a tiny bit of pixelation on a camrea flash though, but it was aso quick that I'm not even sure if it was. Looks great.

I didn't see that you posted the #, and I've been pretty busy. I can try and call in the day time if he doesn't answer you.

Very good work by KKTV on the tournament. I would have never noticed the multicasting games if you hadn't pointed that out.

A friend of mine just got Adelphia HD, and he said they have HDNet and HDNet movies. I checked, and the website confirms that. It also still says it has KRDO-DT, can anyone confirm whether or not they are passing an HD signal? (They better not be) ;)

Now they just need ESPN-HD and Discovery HD Theater and I can take down that silly dish and antenna, and make some loot selling my Sammy 160. Anyone have any inside contacts at Adelphia to ask about more channels?

KRDO is definitely not HD yet. Adelphia just likes to misstate it (fraudulently?) in their channel lineup and HD marketing. Last time we talked to KRDO, it sounded like they were light years from getting there. Also, I wonder if there's an FCC requirement that a station has to provide the same signal OTA as through the cable company. I don't think we could get shafted by them doing HD through Adelphia only.

I have been thinking it's time to try contacting KRDO and KOAA again. Maybe after KTSC gets going, we can remind the 2 major stations bringing up the rear that we've noticed their 2 competitors are fully HD plus Fox will be in the fall. When the Olympics come around this year, I think we're SOL with KOAA.

re: Adelphia HD, DirecTV beats Adelphia at HD on channel selection (for now) and on their new TiVo's ability to time-shift. Until Adelphia gets an HD-DVR that's as user-friendly as TiVo, I don't need to consider them.

KRDO will most certainly be the last station in town to go HD, and KOAA seems to be throwing all of their capitol at rediculous projects. The satellite van and soon a 24 hour weather channel. It's not snowing again!! Watch our Live Satellite Coverage!

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing when I saw the stinkin' KOAA 24-hour weather channel. I hope they know when no one's watching it.

I think these 2 stations are in a heated race to be LAST in HD. I want to choose not to watch them, but Alias, Oscars, Olympics, Friends, etc. And at some point ABC might get the Superbowl and we'll really be screwed.

Anyone that's lived here for any length of time knows that the weather here is beyond forecasting. I just can't see the practical benefit of a 24 hour local weather channel. When we have any weather worth worrying about, all of the local stations put a crawl on the screen, every radio station broadcasts updates, and more importantly there's not a darn thing that can be done about the weather anyway! If you live here you learn to be prepared, as needed, during the applicable season.

I guess in a lot of ways it's like owning an HDTV and waiting for more programming. You never know whats comming and there are plenty of predictions...most of which are wrong the majority of the time.;)

I was wondering the same thing, if KRDO would be able to pass HD through cable but not OTA. Most likely not. Oh well, hopefully I'll be moving to Denver soon where the HD flows like wine. (OK, maybe not)

Anyone know if our local Adelphia has the DVR capability yet? I'm sure they can't record HD, but the D* HD-TiVo is about $1000 so that's out of the question too. Even being able to time-shift SD would be nice.

Frank, if I didn't know better I'd say you're a little bitter about KRDO's super-duper satellite van. :)

Naw, it's just comical.

Originally posted by TallGuy
I want to choose not to watch them...

Subscribe to the Denver locals by "moving". The local channels' news programs are such a joke, I can't imagine what they'd do with a 24-hr weather channel. It almost might be worth checking out for a good laugh!

Does anyone have HD Net/Movies from Adelphia? I just called them and the woman said they weren't appearing on her channel line up for our area. I told her the HD Net Pak is on their website line up, but of course that doesn't mean we can get this yet. OTOH she also told me that we DON'T have 708 and of course we do, so I can't take their CS dept. seriously. Adelphia is also on my list of comical. BTW, they are also advertising DVR on the website.

Joan

Yes they offer DVR, but they do not have any DVR's that can record HD content. With the financial trouble they've been having I be surprised to see it anytime soon.

As of right now the only HD-DVR is the Dishnetwork DVR921. D* is supposed to be releasing their Tivo-based HD-DVR in the next few months.

Originally posted by Frank Zimkas
D* is supposed to be releasing their Tivo-based HD-DVR in the next few months.
Actually, the first batch was supposedly produced in Mexico last week and the first 200 are supposed to be shipping on Wednesday. I am supposed to have mine this Thursday, April 1. (This is not supposed to be an April Fools joke... if it is, the joke's on me...)

Cool! I'm hooked on mine, no more tape for me!

That's good. You haven't had the problems that others have had with the 921?

Not really. I've only missed recording 1 program and the OTA bug has been resolved to my satisfaction. Trying to tune in KRDO (very weak signal)caused the unit to lock up before the software update came out, but even before that it wasn't a problem. I simply removed KRDO from my local OTA stations. The dual tuners are great. No more recording conflicts!

Got the call back from KTSC's engineer today. He was really nice about the inquiry. Said they had all intentions to get the HD going in February but obviously it didn't happen. He was up on the mountain last week working on part of that problem. They are going into freeze mode now because of the auction (??). In May they will start rotating out the microwave radios for modification, so he thinks they will move from DTV to HDTV by the end of May.

Does anyone know what the 'auction' might refer to? I might have misunderstood that word ... no clue what that would be.

They have an annual auction that they do to raise money for the station. It lasts a week and is broadcast live from their studios in Pueblo. Items for auction are donated by businesses who get an on air plug when each item is described. I assume that it is coming up some time in April.

Roy

My son has just moved to Fort Carson and is living in base housing. I am upgrading his computer and considering adding a MyHD card. According to TitanTV he should be able to receive CBS, FOX and ABC from their digital transmitters located 4.5 miles away. It seems he should be able to receive these stations using an indoor antenna.
Questions:
Is the Titan TV information on local HD stations accurate?
Does the indoor antenna sound practical?
What is the name of local cable provider and do they carry HD stations?
Thanks,

1 - Almost - Our local ABC is broadcasting digital, but not HD yet. Probably a long ways off. Fox (Enhanced WS) and CBS (HD) are up and running.

2 - Yes, an indoor antenna should be fine. I use a cheap one and it works fine

3 - Adelphia, yes. Check out adelphia.com for a channel list.

Hope that helps.

Jeremy,
Thanks for the information. Sounds like trying the antenna approach should be worthwhile.

As close as you are with such a perfect view of the towers, an indoor antenna is probably all you need. Some people complain about being too close though. How close to the mountain are you? Some don't get a signal in the "shadow" of the mountain.

On the other hand, if you're going to get Adelphia's HD then you won't need the antenna. Cable has HD locals included.

Looks like the program guide data is trying to make its first appearance in the D* guide for KRDO-DT. However, it's under channel #24 where there's no picture, and for the picture on 13-1, there's no guide data. I think a similar mapping problem happened on the first few days of guide data for KKTV-DT 11-1 a while back. Don't know which service handles this info but hopefully they'll figure it out in a few days.

Question for Tim at KKTV - Will KKTV-HD be broadcasting the Thursday and Friday afternoon HD coverage of The Masters on April 8 and 9? Apparently some CBS affiliates around the country are choosing to show it and some are choosing not to. I'm really looking forward to The Masters in HD this year. Can you let us know?

Yes. The Masters are scheduled to be aired in HD and Dolby 5.1 surround on KKTV-DT Thursday though Sunday. I believe it starts at 2:00 PM.

Tim T
KKTV

Argh! I'm going to be out of town next weekend and my parents don't have HDTV. :( Oh well, I guess CBS is doing a lot of HD golf after the Masters too.

Golf rules. HDTV rules. Golf in HDTV rules.

Thanks for the quick answer Tim! Good to see you guys are leading the way in Colo Spgs.

Excellent, Tim. Looking forward to the 3 Final Four games in HD and DD5.1 (I assume) this weekend on KKTV and the 4 days of the Masters in HD and DD5.1 on KKTV next weekend. By next weekend, I hope to be able to TiVo every minute of the golf so I won't miss anything when life gets in the way of live TV. Besides, with no commercials, when are you even supposed to go get a Coke?

This release is from CBS Sportsline. Confirms Thursday Friday coverage on the CBS HD network. 42 HD cameras. 10 SD cameras will be 16x9 (must be the on course RF cameras).

The Masters in HDTV

For the second consecutive year, the standard analog and HDTV productions of the 2004 Masters Tournament will be unified and will provide 18-hole coverage in HDTV's highest definition format.

In the largest HDTV production, CBS Sports will utilize 42 high definition cameras and 10 hand-held 16x9 standard definition cameras. The unified productions will be produced in HDTV's highest definition format, 1080i, and downconverted for the CBS Television Network's analog broadcast. This production technique also produces a better quality analog picture. Whether watching in widescreen HD or traditional 4x3 analog, viewers hear the same golf announcers and see the same camera angles, replays and graphics.

The 2000 Masters was the first golf tournament ever presented live in HDTV on network television, and it is still the only major tournament broadcast in high definition. The 2003 Masters marked the first time that the standard and HDTV productions of the Tournament were unified.

CBS Sports will broadcast the 2004 Masters on the CBS Television HD Network on Thursday, April 8 and Friday, April 9 (4:00-6:30 p.m., ET, each day) and Saturday, April 10 (3:30-6:30 p.m., ET) and Sunday, April 11 (2:30-7:00 p.m., ET) live from Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. The third and final rounds of the Masters will be broadcast simultaneously in standard definition by CBS Sports on the analog CBS Television Network.

Beginning in 1993 the Masters experimented with HDTV on a limited basis to discover how the new system could improve the presentation of the tournament to the television audience. The 2004 Masters broadcast will be presented in the highest form of HDTV with 1080 lines of resolution and over two million picture elements which makes it six times sharper than standard definition television.

One hundred and seventy-nine of CBS's owned and affiliated stations are currently broadcasting in digital, covering approximately 97% of the nation.

Too bad KKTV isn't passing HD right now for the GT/OSU game like they're supposed to be. Hopefully someone will notice that soon.

Now at 9:00, I just tuned in to UConn-Duke. I have HD but no DD5.1. Looks like DD2.0 unless I've goofed up my receiver. Do you all have 5.1 or 2.0 sound?

They switched it to HD partway through the second half of the GT/OSU game. Both games were DD2.0 the whole time.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=387277