tawill Thanks for the reply. When I scan the 811 it shows nothing at 43 but the others come in great. Is KPTM on all the time or what. Do you think the antenna needs turned. At one time it picked up the signal but nothing is ever there. Any thoughts? Thanks again!!! The chiefs looked better then they played. But HD is great anyway.

danwetzel,

AFAIK, KPTM has been on since it came up sometime mid-day Friday. At least, it has been working anytime that I have checked it. If your antenna is on a rotor so that you can move it easily, then I would definately try that. I did not have to move mine any from where I had it for the other Omaha stations.

I don't have any more advice for you about the 811, I have only had mine for about a week. It found 42-1(43) when I scanned so I didn't have to try to add it manually. I have had 2 computer based decoders for over a year and actually prefer them, but that may be just because I'm still getting used to the 811.

Now that KPTM DT is on the air there may be a question of where to point an antenna to receive all these digital signals. I made this map to help anyone having trouble. Channels 3, 6 & 7 are all located in the same area as are 15 & 42. I'm sure I'm forgetting some but most of the important ones are included.

Samsung T-151's don't appear to remap 42 from 43-1. In fact, I get a No Signal indicator, then a couple of seconds later it comes on just fine. Could be something in their PSIP driving certain OTA boxes nuts.

anyone know why kmtv stopped broadcasting ota in hd as soon as the football game was over today (sunday)? i know "60 minutes" doesn't normally air in hd, but both "cold case" and "vampire bats" should have been broadcast in hd, according to the cbs network site, yet both were in standard.

Hey everyone!!! Thanks for the help. The map did the trick. Cornhustler!!! I had to point the antenna a little more to the west. The other channels actually got a little better too. Most of them in the 90's. The best I can get is about 65% for KPTM. But it seems to work o.k. THanks again

My Sammy T-165 has the same behavior for KPTM. It acts as though there is no signal for like 5 seconds, then it comes up just fine.

anyone know why kmtv stopped broadcasting ota in hd as soon as the football game was over today (sunday)? i know "60 minutes" doesn't normally air in hd, but both "cold case" and "vampire bats" should have been broadcast in hd, according to the cbs network site, yet both were in standard.


Seems like KMTV has been having problems on Sunday night - week before Digital signal was completely black screen and then joined Cold Case and showed in standard for a while.....

Again, watching Law & Order:SVU on WOWT-DT OTA, lots of dropouts...along with the audio jumping between Dolby Digital and Pro Logic. When it jumped to Pro Logic, there was no audio. I dropped an email to WOWT a week or so ago about this, but no response. I trust others are experiencing the same thing???

Gee, and things were going so well....

Again, watching Law & Order:SVU on WOWT-DT OTA, lots of dropouts...along with the audio jumping between Dolby Digital and Pro Logic. When it jumped to Pro Logic, there was no audio. I dropped an email to WOWT a week or so ago about this, but no response. I trust others are experiencing the same thing???

Gee, and things were going so well....

At the risk of going off-topic, I haven't watched WOWT-DT OTA this week, but my wife was trying to let some guests watch WOWT on DirecTV yesterday afternoon and there was no sound at all on WOWT. I only found out it was just WOWT after about 1/2 an hour of trouble shooting connections when I accidentally changed the channel and other channels had sound :rolleyes:

Seems like KMTV has been having problems on Sunday night - week before Digital signal was completely black screen and then joined Cold Case and showed in standard for a while.....
they better have it up and running for "category 7" sunday! :p

Last weekend the "Bat" movie was carried in SD because of football running over on time.

CBS had all of their HD transponders tied up with region specific games. When games run long, they are limited as to which region will get the primetime HD programming. There was an HD feed of the movie available but it started 30 minutes before our game was over.

Hopefully we will be able to show "Cat. 7" in HD this weekend, but all depends on whether our preceeding game ends somewhere close on time.

Hi Everyone,

ABC cannot feed the central & mountain time zone the HD program due to they do not have the necessary equipment to delay the program, and do not have the space segment on satellite to uplink the HD signal. ABC told KETV the central & mountain time zone affiliates will receive the HD signal starting spring of 2006, they did not give a date to us.

Warren thanks for the info, I think ABC really dropped the ball on this one, They should have waited until all time zones had equipment in place to show GMA in Hd.Warren why can't you show the east coast hd feed of GMA? Thanks Warren.

Warren why can't you show the east coast hd feed of GMA?

We could, the problem then is, since the Central / Mountain feed is delayed by 1 hour (except for special reports) the 8am - 9am feed of GMA would be a repeat of what aired from 7am - 8am.

Basically the east coast feed is what the Central / Mountain region airs, ABC delays it one hour, then puts it up on satellite. If we were to delay it locally, we would then be the network and we do not have permission to do this.

Warren

There's an indianapolis station that has a nice HD recorder to delay network programming when they aren't participating in the same time zone as the rest of the country. Perhaps they'll loan it to you until everybody springs forward?
:)

Hi folks-
I'm sick of paying over $70 per month for the digital cable package from TWC in Lincoln when all I really care about are the HD channels....so I'm considering all my options. OTA probably isn't a great solution becasue I live in an apartment and probably won't get all the networks. So here is my question:

My TV has a QAM tuner so it can decode the HD signals without my cable box (I've done it, it works). Does anyone know if I downgrade to Basic Service ($46.80 per month) that I'll still be able to get the HD channels via QAM? What about if I downgrade all the way to Limited Basic ($14.75 per month)?

Thanks...

MT

I doubt limited basic would work as they have to install filters so you don't get any of the channels you aren't supposed to.
You should be fine on basic cable as all they do is give you a box to decode the digital channels.
Do you know somebody with just basic cable?? You could take your box over there and try it.

I'd suggest calling TW, but you might have to insist on asking to a tech, instead of a CSR. They don't always know the more unique scenarios.

If your apartment looks out of a North or east window, you might have a chance at getting a signal OTA from the Omaha stations.

MTKSU -

Although I have no experience with Time Warner and QAM, according to the Schaefer's TV website you have to subscribe to channels 2-80 to get the networks via clear QAM.

Have you tried to get OTA using an indoor antenna? I live in an apartment in South Lincoln and use a Silver Sensor antenna. I can get WOWT, KETV, KMTV, NETV, and KPTM just fine. YMMV, but it's worth a shot if you haven't tried it.

Thanks for the info bman and Matt-- i think I'll try a Silver Sensor. I see them on the web, anyone know of a place who carries them in Lincoln so i can try and easily return if needed?

MT

MT: I bought a Silver Sensor at Sears about 6 months ago. Hopefully they still carry them.

Edit: and I live in north lincoln (north 27th near I-80) and get all the stations that are broadcasting at or near full power quite well.

Anyone here try one of the new Fusion USB HDTV tuners? If so care to share comments and or criticisms? Software problems with respect to cable QAM reception isn't a major concern to me (I know that the current version of Fusion software reportedly has problems with QAM,) but I'd be interested in your experiences picking up HD OTA with this new tuner.

Regards, John

Thanks for the info bman and Matt-- i think I'll try a Silver Sensor. I see them on the web, anyone know of a place who carries them in Lincoln so i can try and easily return if needed?

MT
i can't speak for lincoln, but no one in the omaha metro area has them. i would recommend just buying it via amazon. i did a couple weeks ago. only $20, and you get free shipping if you can find something worth spending another $5 on. i'm not normally one to throw away money, but i think $20 or $25 is a small enough amount that it isn't hard to eat even if the silver sensor doesn't work. i highly recommend it, though. i got much better reception on it than even the powered antennas i tried from both best buy (rca) and radioshack (terk).

I bought a Silver Sensor at Sears at the Crossroads in Omaha a couple years ago. Don't use it anymore, gave it to my daughter. But it worked quite well.

Mike

The Silver Sensor is the best HDTV ant ever made. Even over those big anntennas. I got mine in the Atci with a Channel master 7777 amp.

I get Lincolns CBS and UPN 24x7 from Papillion.

Last weekend the "Bat" movie was carried in SD because of football running over on time.

CBS had all of their HD transponders tied up with region specific games. When games run long, they are limited as to which region will get the primetime HD programming. There was an HD feed of the movie available but it started 30 minutes before our game was over.

Hopefully we will be able to show "Cat. 7" in HD this weekend, but all depends on whether our preceeding game ends somewhere close on time.

Can't you just cut the games off at the time they "should" end and show the normal primetime lineup at the correct times? :cool:

I believe you need to talk to somebody at the network named Heidi about that. :)

Let me see!! HD sports or HD sitcom? Hmmmmmmm? Let me think about that one.

I've got a Radio Shack amplified HD non-directional antenna 15-2185 (the Stealth antenna) in an attic installation and I am in Stromsburg, Ne. I am wondering what stations I should actually get? I am receiving CBS 10.1, UPN 10.2, PBS 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.6(with No A/V signal on 29.6). I am 30 miles from CBS and 35 from PBS and up to 83 miles away from other stations from what I can see on AntennaWeb. Would a different antenna help me get more stations in or should I be happy with what I've got?

I've got a Radio Shack amplified HD non-directional antenna 15-2185 (the Stealth antenna) in an attic installation and I am in Stromsburg, Ne. I am wondering what stations I should actually get? I am receiving CBS 10.1, UPN 10.2, PBS 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.6(with No A/V signal on 29.6). I am 30 miles from CBS and 35 from PBS and up to 83 miles away from other stations from what I can see on AntennaWeb. Would a different antenna help me get more stations in or should I be happy with what I've got?

I would go with a different high gain antenna and then possibly add an amplifier.

Models to consider would be Antennacraft's MXU59 and Channelmaster's 4228. Omaha would be a possibility given good conditions, such as having the antenna high and unobstructed. You may need to go with two antennas pointed in two different directions, or use a rotor..

I'm sorry but Off topic-

I have HD through Cox and the volume level for HD shows are always so low, so I have to turn the volume up.

When the show breaks to commercial I have to have the remote handy or I'm going to annoy the neighbors when the volume blares.

Why is this, and is there a way around it?

I'm sorry but Off topic-

I have HD through Cox and the volume level for HD shows are always so low, so I have to turn the volume up.

When the show breaks to commercial I have to have the remote handy or I'm going to annoy the neighbors when the volume blares.

Why is this, and is there a way around it?

Eventually, stations should install a piece of equipment that regulates all of this. I don't know why they don't now. Perhaps it's cost, or anticipation of new technology.
I've seen similar discussions on other boards, and some stations have already installed audio processors to handle the levels. Every analog channel has one, but digital audio is handled differently.
I have yet to hear a direct answer to this inquiry though, so the above speculation is the best I can do for now. It's very annoying to have to adjust the volume all the time.

This article is interesting
http://televisionbroadcast.com/articles/article_843.shtml

I'm sorry but Off topic-

I have HD through Cox and the volume level for HD shows are always so low, so I have to turn the volume up.

When the show breaks to commercial I have to have the remote handy or I'm going to annoy the neighbors when the volume blares.

Why is this, and is there a way around it?
are you listening via your tv or a dedicated receiver/stereo? i've found that when listening through just the tv, the volume is actually much louder for hd programming, while listening through my receiver (in 5.1), the hd channels are indeed lower in volume until they go to commercials, which are typically in stereo and blare. this is just a trait of 5.1 sound, i believe. for example, listen/watch a dvd in 5.1, then pop in a two-channel cd and notice how much louder it plays even when you don't adjust the volume.

Eventually, stations should install a piece of equipment that regulates all of this.
Fascinating. Radio has had audio processing for -- what? -- 50 years. I agree with the article cited: it appears that TV is treating audio like a step-child. Perhaps it'll just take time until operators get the hang of the new-fangled digital doodads! :p

are you listening via your tv or a dedicated receiver/stereo? i've found that when listening through just the tv, the volume is actually much louder for hd programming, while listening through my receiver (in 5.1), the hd channels are indeed lower in volume until they go to commercials, which are typically in stereo and blare. this is just a trait of 5.1 sound, i believe. for example, listen/watch a dvd in 5.1, then pop in a two-channel cd and notice how much louder it plays even when you don't adjust the volume.
It's not the television signal, it's the amplifiers in the receiver. When you are listening to 5.1 your are distributing the volume over 6 channels, when the commercials come on in stereo the sound is distributed to just 2 channels. It takes more power (higher volume) to power 6 channels vs 2.

EdL

did anyone else notice that kptm was off the air last night (thursday)? i really enjoy not having any notice that it wasn't going to be broadcasting in hd, then having to quickly shuffle my dvr around so that i can somehow manage to record the three shows i like that come on at 7 p.m. i also enjoy hearing my girlfriend complain about how we can't watch "the o.c." live. thanks, kptm, i love you so much. :mad:

It's not the television signal, it's the amplifiers in the receiver. When you are listening to 5.1 your are distributing the volume over 6 channels, when the commercials come on in stereo the sound is distributed to just 2 channels. It takes more power (higher volume) to power 6 channels vs 2.

EdL
I have to disagree with your theory for a number of reasons:

1) I was rewiring my theater and replacing speakers, had only my two fronts running so I had my receiver downgrading the 5.1 to 2 channel, same problem.

2) This problem is only present on some channels, not all.

3) I've found this problem is most prevalent when watching WOWT, specifically when the commercials are local vs. the national broadcast or national commercials. Though at various points in the HD transition all the locals have had this problem... The Tonight Show is one of the best times to experience this problem...

Lastly...
4) The vast majority of home theater receivers have independent amps for each channel, so you're not drawing power away from one channel to power the other 1 to 6 speakers. (Grab you decibel meter and your home theater calibration DVD and play the test sounds then disconnect your rears and center speakers you'll find minimal change in the reading, if you find any change it will be that the volume goes down as you DISCONNECT speakers because there are fewer sources of the sound...)

TV's often have built in level control for their internal speakers.
I've heard TV's though with the volume issue, so it's a little more complicated that the above. In time it will all get ironed out for the masses.
That's why they call us "early adopters". Pay 10 times as much for 1/10th the final quality
:)

But we had it FIRST!

The wind blew my OTA antenna off of the roof, going up there tomorrow to see what happend but my reception is now crap. Its a squarshooter and its been working great, does anyone know if D* has a warrenty on their installs?

Ok so my antenna looks ok (from what I can tell), are kptm or wowt having any problems? I can now get KMTV at 80% (wow thats new) and KETV at my regular 70%, is anyone else seeing lower signal strength?

Ok so my antenna looks ok (from what I can tell), are kptm or wowt having any problems? I can now get KMTV at 80% (wow thats new) and KETV at my regular 70%, is anyone else seeing lower signal strength?
i was having problems getting any ota channels yesterday (sunday) due to incredibly strong wind. but i just watched "prison break" on kptm and was getting a solid 90% or more signal, despite the slight wind. i had a little bit of trouble getting wowt during "surface," but that's the channel i typically get the weakest signal from even in perfect conditions.

I am looking at changing the way I think about TV. I live in Omaha and my setup includea a SDTV upstairs, with a cable box, downstairs I have a big HDTV with a coxDVR and surround sound.

I am thinking about getting an antennae for my house, so I could potetially get rid of cable. From what I understand I will be able to (for free after hardware purchase) receive over-the-air channels, in HD. That would be the majority of my TV watching. Only leaving G4, NFL Netowork and HBO-HD, left for me to figure out.

Currently my thought process is this, I buy a media center 2005 computer, and put it upstiars hookedup to the SDTV and then through networking cables in my house, use an Xbox360 as a media extender (when its released next week). ...

What sorts of equiptment will I need in order to obtain HDTV signals and be able to watch and record them from the media center pc. from my understanding it has multiple tuners, or can accept multiple tuners. so I could watch and record show at the same time. Also, does anyone know of a cheap solution to get any or all of the TV channels I listed...in the Omaha area?

Thank you

You will need Digital cable to get NFL Network,G4 andAn HD reciever to get HBO in HD.

Andrew Wees













I am looking at changing the way I think about TV. I live in Omaha and my setup includea a SDTV upstairs, with a cable box, downstairs I have a big HDTV with a coxDVR and surround sound.

I am thinking about getting an antennae for my house, so I could potetially get rid of cable. From what I understand I will be able to (for free after hardware purchase) receive over-the-air channels, in HD. That would be the majority of my TV watching. Only leaving G4, NFL Netowork and HBO-HD, left for me to figure out.

Currently my thought process is this, I buy a media center 2005 computer, and put it upstiars hookedup to the SDTV and then through networking cables in my house, use an Xbox360 as a media extender (when its released next week). ...

What sorts of equiptment will I need in order to obtain HDTV signals and be able to watch and record them from the media center pc. from my understanding it has multiple tuners, or can accept multiple tuners. so I could watch and record show at the same time. Also, does anyone know of a cheap solution to get any or all of the TV channels I listed...in the Omaha area?

Thank you

Does anyone localey have a Windows Media Center PC and if so do they run it with an HD antenna? I know its a longshot, but hearing others opinions about the setup and what they use would be great.

What sort of antenna do you use?
Which WMC PC did you purchase, what would you change/ upgrade?

I don't run HD with my MCE pc so I can't answer that but I installed MCE OEM on my Windows 2000 PC a year ago and that was it. I did add a TV tuner card after the fact. It works great. I really did it to serve music up originally. But there are a lot of things about it that are better than my Showstopper and my Replay. It is so much faster than the Replay. I plan on adding a HD tuner when I get an XBOX360 to serve the videos to the HD TV. The PC HD video cards are just to expensive for me, I can get the Xbox360 cheaper and use it for more. MCE really needs a HD tuner with cablecard, that would really round it out.

I have a HDTV card with my MCE PC

Its is the AverTVHD, a low end one, there are better ones. $70 from amazon.com

You must have a very fast PC like 3 GIz or faster and it must be the 2nd Tuner. I have an other analog turner.

Other more expensive HDTV turners can be the single turner.

Works good, but not as good as my DIsh 942 HDTV DVR.

Lets face it, channels 1-70 are still analog on cox. They dont look so good on my big screen. DBS is all digital.

Plus I liked the 942 better becuase it can record 3 HDTV things at once, two from Dish and one OTA.

I dont use MCE as my main DVR, in fact I hardly use. it as it seems to miss recordings sometimes.


Just my feedback, good luck.

rmalbers,

Are you saying you can plug a hd pvr card into the xbox 360? Are you meaning the xbox360pc? I have been holding out for the xbox360 pc myself for the same reasons. I want the hd pvr but do not want to spend so much money on a powerful system just for that purpose.

If this is the case, I hope my son can play the xbox with a different routed output while we watch tv / record... hmmmm. What do you think?

The Xbox360 is only an extender, not an actual storage/recorder...just extends your current WMC pc.

Extender to what, what is the point?

The XBOX360 can be used as a media center extender. What that means is that you can put a HD TV Tuner card in a Windows MCE PC and record HD shows. Then you can have the XBOX360 hooked up to your HD TV in a room at the other end of the house. You connect the XBOX360 to the MCE PC via ethernet. Then you can watch the HD movie via the XBOX360 that's streaming it from the PC over cheap ethernet wiring. The advantange is that you don't have to buy an expensive HD capable video display card for a PC (some can cost as much as the XBOX360) and you don't have to have a PC with an expensive display card sitting right beside the HD TV. Also you can use the XBOX360 for displaying your digital pictures and you can even play video games with it (if you want). It also leaves the MCE PC available for general use by someone else well you are watching all the HD stuff you recorded in the other room.

Since the Tonight Show isn't 5.1 but "Stereo" I'm wondering if you notice the same thing on other NBC shows...what happens when they switch from Leno on the West Coast to Conan from New York?

Thanks for the clarification. It must do a pretty good job at buffering. Is is 1ghz lan? I definitely see the advantage. If the tv is close enough, you could just split component out to the other tv's too. If you have a video card that does component. Seems a waste of hardware in that you can't put a pvr card in it.

Anyone else experience snow related OTA reception anomolies earlier this week? For a couple of days after the snow fall I had to turn my attic mounted rotor/antenna almost due west to receive KETV-DT. KMTV-DT and WOWT-DT both worked as usual pointed due north. Only ABC seemed to be affected by the snow on my roof, interesting.

John

Anyone else experience snow related OTA reception anomolies earlier this week? For a couple of days after the snow fall I had to turn my attic mounted rotor/antenna almost due west to receive KETV-DT. KMTV-DT and WOWT-DT both worked as usual pointed due north. Only ABC seemed to be affected by the snow on my roof, interesting.

John
i haven't noticed much change other than with kmtv. since the snow, i've had to rotate it from northeast to straight north to get a good signal.

QUESTION-

Is the Nebraska vrs CO game on Channel 7 ABC going to be in HD on Friday?

QUESTION-

Is the Nebraska vrs CO game on Channel 7 ABC going to be in HD on Friday?
http://www.hdsportsguide.com/ (The answer is NOPE)

Our only hope is a bowl game in HD.

Huskers will not be in Hd vs Colorado, ABC sports coverage of College football in Hd is horrible, I realize they do alot of regional games,but they should show big national games in Hd. The Huskers bowl game will be in Hd on Espn or Espn2.

yeah, abc has really dropped the ball (no pun intended) when it comes to college football in hd. the only ones i've even noticed broadcast in hd were the prime-time saturday games such as osu-texas and a couple others. espn, however, has been awesome with hd coverage. all three of their games yesterday were in hd. now if only cox would pick up espn2 hd. anyone know if they're planning to do so? i've been meaning to call/e-mail and ask.

Anyone else experience snow related OTA reception anomolies earlier this week?

I didn't see any problems with the snow, but for the last couple weeks (since it first got cold), I've had a terrible time receiving KOLN (channel 10) here in Lincoln. I'm located near 48th & Normal, with a 36" grid-style antenna in the attic of my 2-story house on a hill. I used to get KOLN just great. Then, almost overnight, the reception dropped to about 50% most of the time. There are still spurts when I get good reception, but those are rare. I've taken to switching back to analog to watch the local news every night.

Anybody else seeing this?

How well would a Silver Sensor work in my attic? I'm thinking of getting a second antenna and pointing it due west to get channels 8 & 10.

Have you by chance looked at your picture on 25 analog?
You might be able to spot some spurious transmission or something.
I've noticed that I'ce bene able to pick up 26 analog (Omaha's PBS) really well.
Also, TBN just moved from 58 to 29 recently. Last I knew they were on one of those towers out at 84th & hiway 2. I don't know if 29 can send any sort of spike out at 25. I would think not, since that sort of thing has to be protected.

Why no HD on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on WOWT? Their intro said "in HD where available." Is that only for the east coast where it was live, due to the problems with retransmitting live HD broadcasts? It really would have been a cool parade to see in high def, so I was kind of disappointed.

i haven't noticed much change other than with kmtv. since the snow, i've had to rotate it from northeast to straight north to get a good signal.

Could there be something else going on? Snow seems like coincidence. I am also having problems with channel 3-1 and some with 6-1, which both were working perfectly for several months.

I have not attempted to rotate my antenna (yet).

At my local I'm convinced our problems were snow related. Two days after the storm, the roof melted off, and we were back to normal reception.

Hi Folks-
Thanks to those of you who recommended I try to pick up HD signals here in Lincoln OTA- I bought a silver sensor and it works quite well, I recommend it to any apartment or dorm room dwellers. I have to rotate it a bit sometimes, but usually all the networks come in perfectly. I may get another one or get an amplifier at some point though. I've completely ditched TWC, so I'm happy! :)

2 questions:
1) KPTM-DT (Fox) comes in wonderfully all the way down here in south Lincoln. But, no sign of KXVO-DT (WB). Is that on the way or is the signal too weak for me? :(

2) Anyone on here have the Sony DHG-HDD250 HD Tuner and DVR? The only thing I really miss from TWC is the High Def DVR and on screen program guide, so I went out to Best Buy tonight and purchased this Sony unit. It has great features, and has recently come down in price significantly. But, what I'm wondering is if the TV-Guide On Screen works for folks here locally??
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7276075&type=product&id=1117178795627

Thanks all.....
-Mike

KXVO is not on at full power yet. Once they are, you should get them as good as KPTM since they are on the same tower.
Your PISP (Program Guide) data should come through as long as the station is sending it.
Seems some stations are still working out the bugs.

Those of you who may rely on an ETV signal from Channel 3/DT-26 in Atlanta may be without service for awhile.
Sunday morning around 10:30 a small plane hit the tower causing it to collapse.

Not many details at the moment, but it appears the building was damaged a little.

Do any of you have an HDTV or tuner that features the TV Guide On Screen (TVGOS) service?
see http://www.vgi.com/ if you don't know what I mean.

I just got a good deal on a sony HD DVR that uses TVGOS - see http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7276075&type=product&id=1117178795627
They have them in stock at the Lincoln Best Buy.

The TVGOS program information is supposed to get transmitted via a local analog TV station (probably PBS), but I haven't been able to receive it OTA yet here in Lincoln.

By the way, it works great if you subscribe to cable- so if anyone is looking for an HD DVR I'd recommend it. But, I'm hoping to completely get rid of cable so this is an issue for me.

-MT

Does the TVGOS DVR automaticaly switch between Cable QAM and Over the air so us in OMaha could record KM3 since they are not on Cox cable in HD due to the contract fight?

This from All Access:
"JOURNAL's purchase of FOX affiliate WFTC-TV/FORT MYERS and ABC affiliate KGUN-TV/TUCSON and "certain assets" of CBS affiliate KMTV/OMAHA for $235 million will close next week."

Might want to give Journal a call after the Holidays and encourage them to get KM3 back on cable in HD. Their GM may not know what to do about it just yet, but it wouldn't hurt to put a bug in his ear. Be nice, explain what's going on, why it's important to you.
Then call back every so often. I'm sure they will eventually get a GM for the TV division, then you can all call him :)

Does the TVGOS DVR automaticaly switch between Cable QAM and Over the air so us in OMaha could record KM3 since they are not on Cox cable in HD due to the contract fight?
I have been using an LG LST-3410A for a while, with both a Silver Sensor and Cox extended basic connected. The LG uses TV Guide On-screen and generally it works well. It does take up to a day or 2 to initially download all the program information. I assume mine is getting its data over Cox cable vs. PBS OTA.

The LG switches seamlessly between cable and OTA for both SD and HDTV. I can receive ABC, NBC, PBS, and Fox HDTV as cable QAM channels, or select the OTA signals, including KM3. The recording quality looks the same as real time for both SD and HDTV. Some on the Forum have reported problems with the LG, depending on the firmware version (later is usually better), but I have never experienced anything but an occasional lockup, which is easily fixed by turning the unit off, then on again.

Does the TVGOS DVR automaticaly switch between Cable QAM and Over the air so us in OMaha could record KM3 since they are not on Cox cable in HD due to the contract fight?


YES, it does this very nicely - it integrates all your channels together: OTA analog, OTA digital, cable analog, and cable digital.

it's the only HD DVR available to my knowledge, with the exception of cable and satellite boxes. I'm just not crazy about the TVGOS system or the fact that it only has one tuner (so you can't watch one show while recording another).

YES, it does this very nicely - it integrates all your channels together: OTA analog, OTA digital, cable analog, and cable digital.

it's the only HD DVR available to my knowledge, with the exception of cable and satellite boxes. I'm just not crazy about the TVGOS system or the fact that it only has one tuner (so you can't watch one show while recording another).

UPDATE: I've been unable to find any Lincoln OTA analog stations that broadcast the TVGOS data. Omaha is too far for me to receive the analog channels OTA. The Omaha's digitals come in good, but TVGOS data only comes from analog signals (WHICH IS REALLY LAME). If you have TWC in Lincoln, analog channel 3 (Omaha CBS) transmits the TVGOS data.

Because I want to complete get rid of cable, this box won't work at all for me. You can't even set the time manually on this DVR, it has to get the TVGOS data to function as a DVR. A real disapointment. I spoke with Sony support and they told me that the model has now been discontinued (probably why the price went down at Best Buy). So, I'm returning it to the store later today.

It's a shame that there are no other HD DVR's currently available for OTA folks, this is a major need it seems to me.

MT

OK, the Big 12 Game said "In HD where available"...

Why aren't we in HD?

I believe it is because of the snow advisory icon. They don't have the equipment to add graphics like that to the HD feed, so they drop to SD. That being said, when we were in thunderstorm watches/warnings/etc., the HD feed did not have those graphics. So we do know they have opted out of them in the past to keep the HD feed HD. Anyone have the phone number for engineering?

Looks like they just switched it on.. WooHoo.. Thanks KETV!

I e-mailed them and left a phone message on their non-news line. 2 minutes later it is in HD now. Not sure if I did anything, but great to see it in HD. Thanks, KETV!

It still isn't 5.1.

It still isn't 5.1.
it is on my cox feed. i'll have to check OTA.

I e-mailed them and left a phone message on their non-news line. 2 minutes later it is in HD now. Not sure if I did anything, but great to see it in HD. Thanks, KETV!

Apologies, ABC changed all the games today to HD, originally it was just the last game (7pm – 10:30pm). They are only doing the games in stereo today.

Warren

Apologies, ABC changed all the games today to HD, originally it was just the last game (7pm – 10:30pm). They are only doing the games in stereo today.

Warren
really? both the texas-colorado and usc-ucla games are coming in clear 5.1 on my system.

really? both the texas-colorado and usc-ucla games are coming in clear 5.1 on my system.

The Dolby Encoder is encoding 5.1, but only the left & right channels have any audio, the center, LFE, and rear channels are silent.

KETV encodes 5.1 all the time and does not switch between 2 channel (Stereo) & 5.1 anymore. I received too many complaints about receivers out there that will not switch back to 5.1 after a local commercial break. The complaint's I received were, "I receive 5.1 fine until you run a local break switching to 2 channel, then go back to 5.1 after the break, my receiver stays in 2 channel until I power it off / on." That and they would receive a "pop" in the audio when it switched modes.

Warren

The Dolby Encoder is encoding 5.1, but only the left & right channels have any audio, the center, LFE, and rear channels are silent.

KETV encodes 5.1 all the time and does not switch between 2 channel (Stereo) & 5.1 anymore. I received too many complaints about receivers out there that will not switch back to 5.1 after a local commercial break. The complaint's I received were, "I receive 5.1 fine until you run a local break switching to 2 channel, then go back to 5.1 after the break, my receiver stays in 2 channel until I power it off / on." That and they would receive a "pop" in the audio when it switched modes.

Warren
ah. well, as long as the picture is still hd, i'm a happy camper. :D

Hi, New to the forum...

I have a similar question / experience to one I read earlier but didn't find a resolution. I'm in south Lincoln and get all the Omaha DTV OTA stations great. My set finds a 43.1 (and maps it so, i.e. NOT 42.1), it has > 80% signal strength on the meter but all I ever get is a blank screen. Is it me or KPTM? If its me what can I do to get KPTM's DTV signal to display?

Thanks btw, glad to see at least some of the Engineering staff of local stations particapte here. Really cuts down on the third party guessing.

MY OTA box does something similar, except that I eventually get programming on 43-1.
It says "no signal" for a few seconds, then comes on, but never remaps to 42-1.
I have a feeling KPTM's PSIP data stream isn't set up correctly.

Some of these master control ops need to remember to switch the signal back to HD after flipping it to SD. Case in point, 10/11 yesterday during the Chiefs HD broadcast flipped to SD to crawl the Husker bowl announcement. After that they never flipped it back to HD. While I appreciate the Husker news, the loss of audio quality was horrendous not to mention a not as clear picture.

Strange about the 5.1 - encoding EVERYTHING to 5.1 though means that receivers (atleast mine) won't find the Pro-logic signal then when it should exist. Somehow KMTV and WOWT are fine switching back and forth

The switching back and forth from HD to SD is annoying, especially when they forget until several minutes after the commercial ended to go back to HD.

The thing I like the BEST about HD is the complete LACK of weather bulletins, scrolling news tickers, and other annoying items done either by the National network or the local affiliate. How long can we really expect to enjoy this though?
If I want news or weather, I can read that on the internet - why ruin the show for that distracting info?

I have DirecTV and receive HD channels over the air via an HD-Tivo. I noticed yesterday that the channel guide now lists programming for UPN on 10-2. Any idea when UPN on 6-2 will also have channel guide info?

Does anyone know for sure which network is carrying the SuperBowl? I am hoping NOT KMTV/CBS. Thanks.

Does anyone know for sure which network is carrying the SuperBowl? I am hoping NOT KMTV/CBS. Thanks.

Superbowl XL will be on ABC.

There is a lot of Talk on the DBS boards about DIsh and Direct TV switching to or already using HD Lite.

Anyone know if Cox Cable sends the whole HD Signal or are they also using HD LIte at 1280x1080i

True 1080i 1920x1080i: 1920x540x60 = 62,208,000 pixels/sec
720p 1280x720p: 1280x720x60 = 55,296,000 pixels/sec
HD-Lite 1280x1080i: 1280x540x60 = 41,472,000 pixels/sec
DVD 720x480i: 720x240x60 = 10,368,000 pixels/sec


True 1080i: 6X DVD quality
720p: 5.33X DVD quality
HD-Lite: 4X DVD quality

Hi, New to the forum...

I have a similar question / experience to one I read earlier but didn't find a resolution. I'm in south Lincoln and get all the Omaha DTV OTA stations great. My set finds a 43.1 (and maps it so, i.e. NOT 42.1), it has > 80% signal strength on the meter but all I ever get is a blank screen. Is it me or KPTM? If its me what can I do to get KPTM's DTV signal to display?

Thanks btw, glad to see at least some of the Engineering staff of local stations particapte here. Really cuts down on the third party guessing.


Jim ,
I am from north lincoln. I am planning to get antenna for OTA channels including omaha channels. I tried a RCA HD antenna {from walmart} which says 45dB gain but i cant get abc clearly and CBS very very weak. only channels i get are 42 FOX and 15 KXVO.

what antenna are you using to get the channels. do you use a amplifier?

thanks,Rajaijah

I'm in south lincoln and get all the networks very well simply by using the famous silver sensor antenna- no preamp or anything. I highly recommend it, as others on this board did for me.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006FXR9/qid=1134106983/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-1465904-5463156?n=507846&s=electronics&v=glance

I've just moved to south Lincoln from out of state and I am trying to get OTA HD signals. It looks like the silver sensor will do the trick.

Will I need two antennas, one for Lincoln and one for Omaha?

Are you putting them in the attic, or right at the set?

I've just moved to south Lincoln from out of state and I am trying to get OTA HD signals. It looks like the silver sensor will do the trick.

Will I need two antennas, one for Lincoln and one for Omaha?

Are you putting them in the attic, or right at the set?


In South Lincoln all I use is one silver sensor plugged directly into the TV, right on top of the TV set. I point it to the northeast and I get all the Omaha digital networks nicely (CBS, ABC, NBC, FOX, UPN) and also NET. If I point it to the west I get the Lincoln ABC and CBS.

Kmtv-Dt is not showing the Texas vs Duke college basketball in Hd, the game is in hd. I wish the local stations did not have to (flip the switch) for Hd programming,last Sat Ketv forgot to switch on Texas fs Colorado until midway through the 1st quarter.

Who do we need to call at CBS to get the HDTV working for the BB game?

Jim ,
I am from north lincoln. I am planning to get antenna for OTA channels including omaha channels. I tried a RCA HD antenna {from walmart} which says 45dB gain but i cant get abc clearly and CBS very very weak. only channels i get are 42 FOX and 15 KXVO.

what antenna are you using to get the channels. do you use a amplifier?

thanks,Rajaijah

Well I have an old omnidirectional all-channel VHF / UHF that I got from Radio Shack about 13 years ago up in my attic. It was produced to mount on RV units. I got it because it had a pre-amp built in and I didn't have to worry too much about orientation since Omaha vs Koln & KLKN are about 110 degrees apart from where I live. I get plenty of (DTV) signal on all the channels (KPTM included) I just can't get KPTM to sync in on my set for some reason. (I even split the antenna feed 10 ways to connect other sets. And I use(d) RG59 13 years ago instead of the current lower loss RG6)

You need to call KMTV.

Andrew Wees

Who do we need to call at CBS to get the HDTV working for the BB game?

jim a,

Your problem is probably one of two, too weak a signal or too hot.
To check if it's too weak you can attempt to bypass the splitter and run a cable directly to your HD Tuner? You may have to replace some of that aging RG59 spiderweb. Along these same lines you may want to re-orient your antenna and see if that helps.

As far as being too hot a signal, where are you located? The reason I ask is that for me here in Papillion KPTM-DT comes in hotter than KETV-DT, KMTV-DT and WOWT-DT even though the latter are all closer to my home. I use a Rat Shack variable attenator right at the input of one of my tuners just for this purpose (keep from overdriving the AGC amp in the front end of that particular tuner, my other tuners are less sensitive and don't require the drop in RF signal level.)

Best of luck

John

I recently purchased a HP Media center PC (Z555) that has a HD tuner and two SD tuners built in. I ran a direct ant. feed from my attic mounted Radioshack. I can no longer receive NETV-D. I do receive the Iowa PT-D however, and all the other Omaha stations here in Gretna. I do not have a rotor or amp.
Would a Silver Sensor in the attic solve this?

I got the following response to the "When will KPTM-HD be available on Time Warner in Lincoln".

Thank you for your email. We do plan to carry Fox in HD as soon as
possible. As soon as KPTM provides their signal over the air, we will
carry it. Right now, Cox customers in Omaha are able to view Fox in HD
because KPTM has a direct fiber link to Cox Communications. We are not
awaiting any contract negotiations, nor anything similar as is sometimes
the case with other network launches but instead simply waiting for Fox
to offer the service over the air. When they do, we will air it.
Although I do not have any dates to share, I have heard that this should
be soon.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.





Somebody with some 'inside' contacts might need to drop some hints.

I got the following response to the "When will KPTM-HD be available on Time Warner in Lincoln".

Thank you for your email. We do plan to carry Fox in HD as soon as
possible. As soon as KPTM provides their signal over the air, we will
carry it. Right now, Cox customers in Omaha are able to view Fox in HD
because KPTM has a direct fiber link to Cox Communications. We are not
awaiting any contract negotiations, nor anything similar as is sometimes
the case with other network launches but instead simply waiting for Fox
to offer the service over the air. When they do, we will air it.
Although I do not have any dates to share, I have heard that this should
be soon.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
Somebody with some 'inside' contacts might need to drop some hints.

I received the identical response from TWC 4 weeks ago. I let them know that I could receive it via antenna here in Lincoln, and they didn't respond back again. I promptly canceled TWC the next week :-) I've been cable-free for 9 days now! Although I miss having ESPN, WGN, and even the weather channel I couldn't justify spending over $50 per month anymore for channels that I watch less than 25% of the time! Those of you who are still paying for cable you should tally up the ammount of time you watch cable channels vs. the free networks - and then think about if it's worth it. I absolutely love getting picture perfect HD channels from all the major networks FOR FREE with my little silver sensor antenna. Quite remarkable, me thinks!

jim a,

Your problem is probably one of two, too weak a signal or too hot.
To check if it's too weak you can attempt to bypass the splitter and run a cable directly to your HD Tuner? You may have to replace some of that aging RG59 spiderweb. Along these same lines you may want to re-orient your antenna and see if that helps.

As far as being too hot a signal, where are you located? The reason I ask is that for me here in Papillion KPTM-DT comes in hotter than KETV-DT, KMTV-DT and WOWT-DT even though the latter are all closer to my home. I use a Rat Shack variable attenator right at the input of one of my tuners just for this purpose (keep from overdriving the AGC amp in the front end of that particular tuner, my other tuners are less sensitive and don't require the drop in RF signal level.)

Best of luck

John

Thanks for the ideas John. As you might guess the RG59 is hidden deep in the walls and replacement not that easy. I could snake a new RG6 down from the attic to the basement distribution and tap that direct to the TV. If I was sure that would help I would consider cleaning out the closet to get attic access blah blah blah..... I don't think the problem is too much signal. I'm in south Lincoln. If KPTM is transmitting from the tower at I-80 and the platte river instead of their studio. Then I figure I should be on the same line of site from my house to the antenna farm of the other 3 Omaha stations. Given the Omaha 3 at 1,000KW each (I think) and KPTM at 500KW I should have near the same signal for all three. The power level meter (built into the tv) says KPTM (rather 43.1, it doesn't map to 42.1 for me) is at 80% while KMTV which does come in fine, shows just a little less ~ 74%. The mystery to me is a) why plenty of signal and no sound or picture and b) why it maps weird when everything else maps as expected. btw does anyone know how the mapping info is actually communicated from the station?

Ok, after writing this tome I've decide the easiest thing to do is to borrow one of those silver whatever antennas and try that direct on the TV. That seems like it would be a sure way to narrow down the problem.

Jim

Hello all,

I have just purchased a Sony KD-34xs955. It is running off COX extended basic cable. My XBOX 360 is my progressive DVD player going through the component input. That being said, I am having some issues with the PQ in HD and SD that I was wondering if anyone could explain. Let's take PBS-HD for example. For the most part, the picture is so realistic and pure I can hardly belive it...then, depending on the content that is being shown, it will get blocky or I'll see noisy pixelation around the borders of med/high contrast objects. Is this a signal strength issue? On to my DVD through component... there are always areas of the above mentioned pixelation noise around small objects in a high contrast area (ie. snowflakes, small details in the background) and a large amount of (what I would describe in my own terminology) luminance ghosting (meaning extended rings of an object's outline.) Finally, the output of my XBOX 360, which has the option of the output format (720p or 1080i) has quite a bit of aliasing or "jaggies". I would think that this set could handle the output of all these sources and my best guess would be that there are a number of "enhancing" effects running in the monitor. I've tried a different DVD player (Sony progressive), utilizing different inputs and turning off the VSM or as Sony calls it, ClearEdge enhancement in the User Menu. No avail.
Is there anyone who has/had or is familiar with this model or has some suggestions as to why an HD signal could go though so many changes on the screen? As I said, I'm completely new to this and may be expecting too much from the sources.
Thanks,

Bryan

I have a JVC HD-56G886 with a built in ATSC/QAM tuner. I am able to receive ABC, NBC, and CBS over the air (KETV-DT, WOW-DT, KMTV-DT) but not FOX (I am working on getting a better antenna). I also have Cox basic - I have read on this thread that I can get their broadcast of the network HD channels via my QAM tuner. I tried scanning for these channels on my TV and was not able to receive them - based on prior messages posted here, the channels should be 107-1, 107-2, 108-1, 108-2. I then called Cox and after talking to several people there, someone suggested it may be my cabling. I tried disconnecting the splitter (1000 mhz) and hooking the cable directly from the wall to the back of the TV, rescanned and then was able to receive ABC and NBC, but no FOX and no NET. In addition, NBC and ABC were mapped to 6-1 and 7-1, respectively. Both NBC and ABC drop out regularly giving me a weak signal (33-45%) message.

Is anyone else experiencing these problems receiving the Network HD broadcasts via Cox in the clear via unencrypted QAM ?

Why don't NBC and ABC map to the 107 and 108 channels above ?

Any one still getting 38-1 and 38-2 the low Power WB 15 from Omaha, 38-2 used to be KPTM.

I cant get it anymore.

I got the following response to the "When will KPTM-HD be available on Time Warner in Lincoln".

Thank you for your email. We do plan to carry Fox in HD as soon as
possible. As soon as KPTM provides their signal over the air, we will
carry it. Right now, Cox customers in Omaha are able to view Fox in HD
because KPTM has a direct fiber link to Cox Communications. We are not
awaiting any contract negotiations, nor anything similar as is sometimes
the case with other network launches but instead simply waiting for Fox
to offer the service over the air. When they do, we will air it.
Although I do not have any dates to share, I have heard that this should
be soon.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.



Somebody with some 'inside' contacts might need to drop some hints.

I contacted the Customer Service Manager letting her know that the OTA signal was up and got this reply:

Dear Matt,
I received your email and did some investigating. We stand corrected. The signal is up now and we will be carrying it but we do not yet have permission to carry it. That agreement is being negotiated and we hope to have this resolved soon. Thank you for your email. I will save your email address in hopes that we will offer this shortly, and I can follow-up with you.
Claudia Severin
Customer Service Manager
Time Warner Cable--Nebraska

I contacted the Customer Service Manager letting her know that the OTA signal was up and got this reply:

Dear Matt,
I received your email and did some investigating. We stand corrected. The signal is up now and we will be carrying it but we do not yet have permission to carry it. That agreement is being negotiated and we hope to have this resolved soon. Thank you for your email. I will save your email address in hopes that we will offer this shortly, and I can follow-up with you.
Claudia Severin
Customer Service Manager
Time Warner Cable--Nebraska

Thank you, this made feel much better about dumping TWC !!!!
:D :D :D :D

Thank you, this made feel much better about dumping TWC !!!!
:D :D :D :D

Some guy from TWC was on the radio (1400 or 1240) Tuesday afternoon trashing the DBS providers and outright lying about their problems (snow/rain fade, service call cost), service and cost structures. All because TWC can't provide ESPNU for the whole population base of Lincoln.

Oh, BTW both small dish companies offer ESPNU.

The replies to the above emails about carrying FOX when it's on the air is laughable and quite sad.

The ESPN-U picture sure did look good last night live on DIshnetwork. By the way I only have rain fade maybe once a year when there is big Hail in the Sky.

Cable is just jealous.

Any on know if Cable is Doing the Full HD or HD Lite? Sounds like the Dishnetwork and Voom is going back to full HD soon.

True 1080i 1920x1080i: 1920x540x60 = 62,208,000 pixels/sec
720p 1280x720p: 1280x720x60 = 55,296,000 pixels/sec
HD-Lite 1280x1080i: 1280x540x60 = 41,472,000 pixels/sec
DVD 720x480i: 720x240x60 = 10,368,000 pixels/sec


True 1080i: 6X DVD quality
720p: 5.33X DVD quality
HD-Lite: 4X DVD quality


Merry Christmas everyone if I dont message you before then.

anyone notice that "saturday night live" wasn't broadcast in hd this past saturday (dec. 17)? damn, that's annoying as hell.

I noticed it too, while watching about 1/2 hour behind live tv on Sat. I emailed the station but didn't get a reply.

I noticed it too, while watching about 1/2 hour behind live tv on Sat. I emailed the station but didn't get a reply.

Probably a weekend Master Control tech who forgot to throw the switch to HD. I think there's a mindset at these TV stations that "not that many people" are watching their digital/HD signals. That may be true to some extent but I bet it's a lot more than they think.

I contacted the Customer Service Manager letting her know that the OTA signal was up and got this reply:

Dear Matt,
I received your email and did some investigating. We stand corrected. The signal is up now and we will be carrying it but we do not yet have permission to carry it. That agreement is being negotiated and we hope to have this resolved soon. Thank you for your email. I will save your email address in hopes that we will offer this shortly, and I can follow-up with you.
Claudia Severin
Customer Service Manager
Time Warner Cable--Nebraska

This is good news...maybe they'll get their act together soon enough.

Merry Christmas


Here's wishing you a new HDTV under your tree, or beside it. :D

Hmmm.. when is the "Yule Log" video coming out in HD?? :)

(Actually, I think HDNET ran it last year)

Okay, total noob here so don't make too much fun of me.

I attached a map I received from the folks at KETV. I live on the edge (Elk Horn, IA top right of circle) of what they say is the max for signal strength. I was wondering is anyone out there in this area that are picking up any of the Omaha stations in HD?

I have an outdoor antenna on my roof that is hooked to a very old amplifier (Channel Master model 0025). My house was wired with antenna jacks throughout the house. I was wondering if I would be able to use any of this to get the Omaha HD signals or maybe this is just wishful thinking.

If this won't work what do I need or am I too far out regardless of what the KETV guy said?

Perhaps someone with more technical knowledge can explain this as I thought "skip" happened primarily in the summer months. I was scanning for channels on my receiver today and found I could get a few Kansas City channels.

I'm in south Lincoln, using a Silver Sensor antenna.

Here are a few screencaps, just thought it was interesting. If anybody's into TV DX-ing, today might be a good day to scan the channels.

Perhaps someone with more technical knowledge can explain this as I thought "skip" happened primarily in the summer months. I was scanning for channels on my receiver today and found I could get a few Kansas City channels.

I'm in south Lincoln, using a Silver Sensor antenna.

Here are a few screencaps, just thought it was interesting. If anybody's into TV DX-ing, today might be a good day to scan the channels.

You are correct. Normally the summer months are best for skip/tropo/etc. However, sometimes conditions will present themselves that allow for some treats in the winter months. This heavy fog may very well have something to do with it, although I don't know the specifics of what conditions must be present for this phenomenon.
Seems to occur during large temperature shifts too.

While watching The Simpsons tonight on KXVO-DT, I noticed an obvious 'ghosting'! How can that be with a digital signal? I didn't think it was possible.

Mike

You were watch the KXVO-DT feed? I thought it was off the air since they upgraded FOx 42.

What Digital channel is it on. Is it now at full power?

Did they fix the picture quality?


They used to ahve Fox 42 on the sub channgel , anything on there now?

Everyone at work is asking me if KM3 will now be on COx in HD once they are sold to that other company. Something about Told And Tyler on Z92 also talking about it also.

Anyone know when they are schedualed to close on the deal so KM3 will be under new upper management? I guess the other company is always on Cable in HD for the other stations they own.

I have a customer in Missouri Valley, Iowa that receives Channel 10 in HD from Lincoln, along with the expected Omaha stations.

I have a customer a mile east of Pisgah Iowa and one 1/2 a mile west of there that recieve 3, 6, 7, and 42 in HD. Neither location seems likely as hills block line of sight completely. The east one also recieves 27 HD from Sioux City and 36 HD from Red Oak. Had either inquired about a HD TV purchase beforehand, I would have told them not to bother. They lucked out. Both have rotators, and need them.

At my house 10 miles south of Pisgah, I recieve 3, 6, and 7 no sweat as I can see the towers from my front yard (and antenna location). We also get 42 now, but 26 only shows a 10-20 on the signal meter and reception doesn't work. No sign of 10, 32 or 36 at my location, but a mile south I have a customer who recieves 3, 6, 7, 42, and 32! 32 analog at their location is unwatchable by the way.

I do not have a good feel for digital reception yet, being on top of a hill helps, but apparently there are going to be some weird exceptions too.

I have a customer in Gretna who gets all the Omaha HD and channel 10 HD with a stationary attic antenna.

Go figure?

Everyone at work is asking me if KM3 will now be on COx in HD once they are sold to that other company. Something about Told And Tyler on Z92 also talking about it also.

Anyone know when they are schedualed to close on the deal so KM3 will be under new upper management? I guess the other company is always on Cable in HD for the other stations they own.

My inside source at Journal assures me they are working on it! No details, but talking is a step in the right direction.

I've always been able to get KXVO-DT OTA. Channel 15-1. Remapped from 38-1, perhaps? Using an HD10-250 TiVo with DirecTV.

Haven't looked today to see if the ghosting is still there.

Has anyone else experienced an occasional glitch on ESPN-HD on DirecTV during todays bowl games? There will be an audio dropout lasting about a second or so, with the video hesitating during the audio dropout. It's been happening roughly every 2.5 minutes or so.

It was doing it yesterday, too. But not during the Nebraska-Michigan game.

Hello,

I'm just saying howdy from Blair, NE. I watch HDTV from there and get the HDTV equivalents of 3, 6, & 9. If I position my 10 year old $60 dollar Radio Shack antenna the right way I can even get Nebraska ETV and if I point it straight north I can get Iowa Public Television. I'm a home theatre maniac. If anyone is interested here is a link my webpage describing my humble but effective home theater.

http://www.foxpup.com/hometheater/default.htm

Enjoy.

So people are getting Fox 42 in HD. Where's the tower and channel? My antenna rotator is ready (I think :) )

This map should help you. The KPTM digital channel is 43 which remaps to 42.

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT1059134.html

This map should help you. The KPTM digital channel is 43 which remaps to 42.

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT1059134.html

WOW :D I don't see how I could have recieved a better map!! Now I need to see if I can get my rotator to turn. :)

Thanx

Cornhustler, (Is that anthing like Starhustler? - remember Jack Horkheimer? :) )

You have introduced me to the coolest site I've seen in months. Consider yourself seriously smiled at. :D :D :D :D

My neighbors already see me to much of me up on the roof fiddling with my antennas. (perhaps I should get a real fiddle. :) )

I see NETV has a small transmitter in Blair (or will some day)

Very cool government web site!! - even more cool than nist.gov (I love precision time)

Thanx

Now that KPTM has there own DTV channel what are they using 38-2 for? It used to be KPTM on the sub channel.

"
I've always been able to get KXVO-DT OTA. Channel 15-1. Remapped from 38-1, "

Anyone having problems getting sound from KMTV HD on the COX cable feed, channel 805? I get the picture but no sound. I called Cox and they said it's not their problem and for me to take it up with KMTV. Haven't had a chance to call them yet. Thanks.
kmtv hd on cox? wtf you smoking? has the station's new owners already started providing the hd feed to cox? please say it's so!

kmtv hd on cox? wtf you smoking? has the station's new owners already started providing the hd feed to cox? please say it's so!


Um, I think you're quoting a post from 09-29-02.

Ok, I asked this some time ago but no one replied so I thought I'd give it one more shot:

Do any of you have a TV that uses the "TV Guide On Screen" system?
http://www.vgi.com/

I'm trying to get mine to work but am having some difficulty. I don't seem to be able to find the "host channel" here in Lincoln that transmits the program guide. If anyone knows what the OTA host channel is please let me know, or if you are successfully using TVGOS I have some questions to ask of you!

Thanks

I got WB 15 which is 38-1 in now.

Any one know if they show anything EVER in HD? The pic quality does not look as good as the other Networks.

It is still in low power on my meter.

Still on low power in SD. They're getting KPTM up to specs, I assume.

Ok, I asked this some time ago but no one replied so I thought I'd give it one more shot:

Do any of you have a TV that uses the "TV Guide On Screen" system?
http://www.vgi.com/

I'm trying to get mine to work but am having some difficulty. I don't seem to be able to find the "host channel" here in Lincoln that transmits the program guide. If anyone knows what the OTA host channel is please let me know, or if you are successfully using TVGOS I have some questions to ask of you!

Thanks
I do not have a TV which uses TV Guide system, however my LG LST-3410 uses the system. I do not know which channel carries the information except that it is apparently transmitted in the analog spectrum, not the digital. If you are planning on using your TV for OTA reception, you might want to point your antenna in the Omaha direction. You may also check the LST-3410 thread in HDTV Recorders and Players section.

I do not have a TV which uses TV Guide system, however my LG LST-3410 uses the system. I do not know which channel carries the information except that it is apparently transmitted in the analog spectrum, not the digital. If you are planning on using your TV for OTA reception, you might want to point your antenna in the Omaha direction. You may also check the LST-3410 thread in HDTV Recorders and Players section.

Arauca---
Thanks for the reply. I have the Sony DHG-HDD250, a DVR similar to your LG product.

Do you use OTA or cable for your analog channels? In Omaha, I think the host channel is KMTV channel 3. Unfortunately, I can't recieve it OTA in Lincoln with my antenna. I haven't been able to find a Lincoln OTA host station for TVGOS.

I'd be curious if you could let me know for sure which is yoru host channel.
On my Sony, the following works to determine what the host channel is:
1. Tune to whatever channel you suspect might be the host (KMTV in Omaha, I think)
2. Press MENU on the remote
3. Press SCREEN MODE on the remote
4. Press 9012
5. Select TVGUIDE from the new on screen menu
6. Select G*Factory Test
This will run the TVGOS diagnostic program, and you'll be able to see if any VBI packets are received. If so, then you've found your host channel!

Thanks again...

Has KETV decided to discontinue their 24 hour radar on 07-2?

Folks-
I've learned some information that I'll post here just for future reference when someone searches this forum:

I learned today that:
The host channel for TVGOS in Omaha is KMTV analog channel 3
The host channel for TVGOS in Lincoln is KUON analog channel 12

I now have some questions for you all regarding KUON that I'll state in a subsequent post......

Antenna help requested:

I live in an apartment in south Lincoln and use a Silver Sensor antenna to pick up all the digital TV stations- it works nicely as I've stated previously. But, the silver sensor is a UHF only antenna, and it does a crummy job of picking up any analog stations (especially the VHF ones, not surprisingly!).

I'm now in a situation where I need to receive KUON analog channel 12 as clearly as possible (so that my TVGOS will work, as my previous posts described). I have an old RCA amplified UHF/VHF antenna, but it doesn't get KUON good enough (very snowy). Does anyone have any recommendation on an antenna? Keep in mind that I live in an apartment.

Lastly, because the silver sensor works so well I'm guessing that I'll still use it in conjunction with a good new VHF antenna. I haven't done this before so I'm not sure how you combine signals from two antennas.

Thanks for your help...
MTKSU

Anyone in Lincoln use the Radio Shack 15-1880 indoor antenna?
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103917&cp=&kw=15-1880&parentPage=search

Other forums suggest it's a good one, but I'm wondering about local experiences.

I may pick one up tonite and give it a shot.

I miss the weather on KETVs 7-2 are they planning on doing something else with the sub channel?

How about a PAX channel like WOWT is doing a UPN channel.

I miss the weather on KETVs 7-2 are they planning on doing something else with the sub channel?

How about a PAX channel like WOWT is doing a UPN channel.

Be careful what you wish for...

I don't know about anyone else, but I think we should be thankful for having a full-bandwidth HD channel.

Sadly, who knows how long that will last. Hearst-Argyle is one of the media companies that recently invested in USDTV.

I need a bit of help:

I recently purchased an RCA ATSC11 HD Reciever. I MUST say that I do love it! I have an older TV and my Parent's have an HDTV... and the quality when comparing them is much closer than I expected it to be!

But, I can't for the life of me get KPTM nor KXVO. I get 4 Channels of NETV and 4 of IPTV (when I aim my anntenna the right direction, otherwise, I can always get 2), which would be more entertaining if they each played different programs, but that would be a different post.

I have a small anntenna hooked up to the reciever. (I don't have an attic antenna, nor do I think I can install one, since I live in a co-op townhouse.) I had purchased a rather large indoor/outdoor HD Antenna, but I actaully wound up getting fewer channels with that one than I do with my 'cheap-y' $7.00 one.

I don't understand how I can get all 4 of the IPTV channels, but not KXVO nor KPTM, which seem to have a more powerful antenna. So, I'm starting to suspect that perhaps the reciever for some reason can 'read' KPTM/KXVO's signal....

Any opinions/ideas for help would be GREAT!

I know enough about this stuff to be dangerous :p BUT, not enough to figure out what is going wrong for me. (For instance, I'm pretty jealous that someone up in Blair can get these channels, but I can't!) :eek: :D

KXVO will be next to impossible to get with an indoor antenna. They are still on a very low power. KPTM has gone on the air at 50% to full power though, and you should be able to get them. Perhaps somebody can confirm if KPTM is up to full power yet or not. I know when they went on from their main antenna, they were running about 50%. Never heard an update.

Indoor Antena Recommendation:

I picked up the Terk HDTVa antenna today at Radio Shack. This thing works brillantly in south Lincoln. I get all the Omaha stations perfectly- significantly better than with my silver sensor (which did a nice job in its own right). The nice thing about this Terk is that it also has VHF rabbit ears, so I can get all the local analog stations in very nicely also.

Note that this is the amplified verison of the HDTVi.

I'm really blown away by this little antenna. It's built much more solidy than the silver sensor (won't tip over) and I'm at 90% or higher signal strength on all stations.

Of course, YMMV, but I recommend this one.

I can no longer get 38-1 (WB 15) it came in every day for a whole week now it has stopped. Are they working on it?

I'm getting it, but the audio is way low.

M

Sorry if this has been asked but now that KMTV in Omaha has been sold are they going to go back to Cox 805 anytime soon?

It has been asked, but no answer from cox or KMTV's new owner.

Andrew Wees

Sorry if this has been asked but now that KMTV in Omaha has been sold are they going to go back to Cox 805 anytime soon?

Sorry if this has been asked but now that KMTV in Omaha has been sold are they going to go back to Cox 805 anytime soon?

My inside source says they are working on it. That's all I know.

I live in Treynor about 15 miles from Omaha. I get channel 7 great in HD, but channel 3 is on and off as well as channel 6. I don't get channel 15 or 42 at all in digital. I have a new RCA digital antennae in the attic. Antennae web says if you move the antennae outside you will increase our signal by 30%. Anyone had any experience with that? Also, are channels 3 and 6 up and down in their power?

Also, where can you get email addresses to the tv stations to ask questions about their digital broadcasts?

There websites are a good place to start.

Andrew Wees



I live in Treynor about 15 miles from Omaha. I get channel 7 great in HD, but channel 3 is on and off as well as channel 6. I don't get channel 15 or 42 at all in digital. I have a new RCA digital antennae in the attic. Antennae web says if you move the antennae outside you will increase our signal by 30%. Anyone had any experience with that? Also, are channels 3 and 6 up and down in their power?

Also, where can you get email addresses to the tv stations to ask questions about their digital broadcasts?

I hope so; even though I don't have an HDTV using the cox dvr I recieve the local channels in hdtv for free and they seem beter quality than the non hd channels.

Andrew Wees



My inside source says they are working on it. That's all I know.

You shouldn't have any trouble that close to Omaha getting all those channels. Might try replacing your coax to the antenna if that's pretty simple. All stations except KXVO are up at full power (KPTM may not be, but they were at 50% last I heard anything and hit Lincoln just fine.

For mailing addresses, check the websites for an addy for engineering.

Its the new Year, any one know if KM3 got sold to that other company yet so they can get added back to COX in HD?

Wow....

Word is, the new owners are working on getting KM3 back on Cox.

While were on its that First of the year thing . . .

Anyone know why Iowa PBS's HD feed is not on Cox?

I know some of its the same HD PBS feed,

***BUT****

Iowas PBS HD channel is much better, becuase they do Noon to Midnight in HD, where the Nebraska PBS (HD), which is on Cox, only shows 3 Prime time hours of HD.

The Iowa HD Feed is free to everyone in Omaha on channesl 32-1 and 36-1- Yes many can get both channels.

Since there are two channels, I do not see a reason why Cox is not carrying it, unless they ran out of bandwidth, which I doubt.

Anyone got any good contacts at cox to ask. THey changed management a while ago, and I dont know the new people.

Cox didn't change management.

Try emailing them and the Iowa PBS station.


Cox at least answer thier email.

Andrew Wees



While were on its that First of the year thing . . .

Anyone know why Iowa PBS's HD feed is not on Cox?

I know some of its the same HD PBS feed,

***BUT****

Iowas PBS HD channel is much better, becuase they do Noon to Midnight in HD, where the Nebraska PBS (HD), which is on Cox, only shows 3 Prime time hours of HD.

The Iowa HD Feed is free to everyone in Omaha on channesl 32-1 and 36-1- Yes many can get both channels.

Since there are two channels, I do not see a reason why Cox is not carrying it, unless they ran out of bandwidth, which I doubt.

Anyone got any good contacts at cox to ask. THey changed management a while ago, and I dont know the new people.

reply from KMTV

Andrew:



Thanks for your e-mail. Yes, we’re very close to having this conversion completed. We hope to have an announcement soon. Thanks for your comments and your patience.



Regards,



Steve Wexler

Senior Vice-President

Television & Radio Operations

Journal Broadcast Group

10714 Mockingbird Dr.

Omaha, NE 68127

(402) 898-5337 or 593-2705

See if you can get a commitment to give us HDTV on Cox!
reply from KMTV

Andrew:



Thanks for your e-mail. Yes, we’re very close to having this conversion completed. We hope to have an announcement soon. Thanks for your comments and your patience.



Regards,



Steve Wexler

Senior Vice-President

Television & Radio Operations

Journal Broadcast Group

10714 Mockingbird Dr.

Omaha, NE 68127

(402) 898-5337 or 593-2705

They are working on it. What more do you want? It takes time.

Andrew Wees


See if you can get a commitment to give us HDTV on Cox!

On the topic of new HD channels on Cox, I saw that MHD (high def MTV) is available in many Cox regions now, and I was wondering if anyone knew when we were going to see it here. I called Cox earlier, but had to grab another call, so unfortunately I had to hang up. Sounds like a ton of HD music programming on this new channel from MTV.

They are working on it. What more do you want? It takes time.

Andrew Wees

Sorry. When they said conversion I thought they were referring to converting from one owner to the other owner and the HD part of it would be possibly coming down the road.

The ownership transfer is done. The only thing not I think is a new contract between KMTVHD and Cox.

Andrew Wees



Sorry. When they said conversion I thought they were referring to converting from one owner to the other owner and the HD part of it would be possibly coming down the road.

Does anyone know when we can expect FOX in HD on Time Warner Cable in Lincoln? I am seriously considering getting an antenna so I can watch 24 in HD, but don't want to spend the money just to see it go HD a week later. I've asked TWC several times, but all I get from them is "we are working on it."

Fox's 24 and American Idel in HD is realy good.

I would keep calling Time Warner, its a must have channel this time of year.

There should be no reason why they dont have it. The signal is real strong to the cable main office.

I have a feeling there is something going on with KPTM's digital signal. Often my box shows 43-3 other times it reverts to 42-1, usually it's 43-1 with a short 'no signal' pause upon tuning it in.
TWC does seem to have certain QC expectations. Channel 109 is unclaimed, which is probably where it will end up, since all their analog allotments line up with their HD ones.
06=106 07=107 12=112, etc

I have a feeling there is something going on with KPTM's digital signal. Often my box shows 43-3 other times it reverts to 42-1, usually it's 43-1 with a short 'no signal' pause upon tuning it in.
TWC does seem to have certain QC expectations. Channel 109 is unclaimed, which is probably where it will end up, since all their analog allotments line up with their HD ones.
06=106 07=107 12=112, etc


I've also wondered about the mapping of KPTM. Using my Sanyo TVs built-in digital tuner it comes in as 42-1, but on my external digital tuner/dvr (Sony DHG-HDD250) it comes in as 43-3. It has been like this for weeks. I don't mind as long as I can tune it in on both but I imagine they have something to work out.

I've heard we're getting CBSHD Starting Monday on Channel 805.

I've now confirmed it.

I've heard we're getting CBSHD Starting Monday on Channel 805.

I just called cox and the guy said he didn't have any information on that and then said 'Listen to Z92 monday morning'.

I don't have a clue what that means but that's what he said.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

NCAABB Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Kansas Jayhawks 3:00 PM on ESPNHD (720p)

UNO Maverick Hockey vs. Michigan State 7:00 PM on NET1 & NET-HD


Sunday, January 22, 2006

NCAABB Creighton Bluejays vs. the Evansville Purple Aces 2:00 PM on NET1 & NET-HD

I just called cox and the guy said he didn't have any information on that and then said 'Listen to Z92 monday morning'.

I don't have a clue what that means but that's what he said.

That is because nobody is supposed to know. Todd and Tyler are going to announce it. 2 people from Cox told me that.

Great news! Thanks :)

Having been in radio I can attest to the fact that everything important requires you to "Tune in Monday morning at 7:20". :)

If someone hears anything on monday please post. I will be unable to listen.

Thanks Andrew Wees

KMTV-HD is now back on Cox channel 805.

Why am I still with DirecTV? Oh wait the football.

If DirecTV ever loses exclusive right to Sunday Ticket, I'm going back to Cox.

KMTV-HD is now back on Cox channel 805.
Yes, looking great on my Sony with Cox cablecard.

Great news with Cox getting Kmtv-DT back, now Cox needs to add ESPN 2-Hd.

This is a great Day for KM3 after a long time, this is good news. Way to go KM3!!!!

We love you.

We also love Football.

QUESTION- KM3, does Cox send the whole HD feed or is it HD Lite (not the full resoultion).

I bet some might leave Direct TV due to HD Lite and there Price Increase and Dishnetwork due to HD Lite and there Price Increase (and NO Lifetime for the Wifes) if Cox could only add ESPN-2 in HD.

Oh yea could Cox please also add Iowas HD Feed, Dishnetwork and Direct TV HD Customers all get it for free, they have HD programing all day long Noon to Midnight compared to the NET- HD (NE PBS) COx feed which is only on for the 3 Prime time hours. Its like having a 2nd Discovery HD channel.


======chart=========
True 1080i 1920x1080i: 1920x540x60 = 62,208,000 pixels/sec
720p 1280x720p: 1280x720x60 = 55,296,000 pixels/sec
HD-Lite 1280x1080i: 1280x540x60 = 41,472,000 pixels/sec (Dishnet & Direct TV)
DVD 720x480i: 720x240x60 = 10,368,000 pixels/sec


True 1080i: 6X DVD quality
720p: 5.33X DVD quality
HD-Lite: 4X DVD quality

FINNALLY we get CBS in HD. Thank God.

Woohoo! Thank You :)

Damn, what a pleasant surprise to see CBS HD back on Cox! I looked at the guide at noon or so and it wasn't there, I borrowed an over the air HD receiver to watch the Broncos game. After the game I looked at the guide again and saw 805...I was like WTF? Sure enough CBS HD is back on Cox!!!

FINNALLY we get CBS in HD. Thank God.

its been what, almost two years to the month since it went bye bye

Did anyone listen to z-92 this mornin. I was wondering what they had to say.

Andrew Wees

Yeah, I was wondering too. Why would they wait to announce it on Todd and Tyler in the first place...?

I was listening at 7:50 am they said something about are those Cox Guys here?

Dont know if that meant they did not show up or if they were there earlier and I missed it.

are the hd local stations available on cox digital on qam in the clear? My hd tuner (lg lst3510a) is a piece of work (cr@p) when it comes to editing and tuning channels (especially sub channels.)(can't delete a subchannel, only an entire channel.)

Currently I am getting the local channels over the air, and my tuner is qam capable, but my lg tuner only has one antanna input, so I would have to rescan the tuner every time I switch from ota to digital cable.

Lazy me would like to know whats available for hdtv qam in the clear over digital cox cable in Omaha and the channels #s I should look for.

I get something like 130 channels when I scan the digital cable feed, however most are blank or channels of no importance. I would just like to make a short list of available hd and sports channels.

Cheap me does not want to rent a second box when I already own a stb capable of qam.

This is for the "bedroom" tv. so that means my wife will have the remote in her hands. She likes the hd and digital picture quality, but doesn't want to jump through hoops to tune in a station.

Has anyone decoded the channels for Cox omaha?....thanks in advance.

Has anyone decoded the channels for Cox omaha?....thanks in advance.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5017661#post5017661
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6973226#post6973226

thanks HiDef...

The others I picked up that might help are:

DIGITAL BOX CHANNEL LINE UP
105.1 CBS-HD
107.1 42 FOX-HD
107.2 PBS-HD
108.1 ABC-HD
108.2 NBC-HD

116.1 FSN
116.2 CMT
116.3 CNBC
116.4 NEWS ON 1
116.5 HOMEVIEW
116.6 ESPN2
116.7 CNN
116.8 TCM (INTERFERENCE)
116.9 ESPN
116.1 MTV
116.11 WHO CARES
116.12 QVC
88,89,90,91,92,ETC. PPV
75.8 NET3
94.8 PPV

Ive got a question for you guys - (I am not learned enough to know if this relates more to the QAM tuner built into my 30XS955 tv, or to how Cox provides it's cable. For the record, I do not have Cox digital, I just get the normal basic package plus HBO on channel 15. )

When I have my tv electronically scan for digital channels on the cable, it gives me three of them. One is ABC and it is on 6.1 or 7.1 or something like that. It works fine. The other is NE public HD and it is on 40.5, again works great. The other is NBC and it is on 5.1 or so, it worked fine up until a couple weeks ago and ever since it has been black and says "No Signal".

I started watching 24 on Fox and was disappointed that it was not in HD. Evilpete from work told me to manually tune my tv to 107.1 and I should pick up Fox in HD. I tried that last night and it does work. My question is why is the tv not finding this (and probably other) channel when it does the built in scan? Am I doing something wrong or is it stemming from the fact that I only have the basic cox cable package?

Is anyone else having problems with WOWT-DT OTA? I can't get a signal this afternoon for some reason.

Where did the KETV weather channel go? It was on 7.2

KETV discontinued their weather radar on 7.2 as of January 1st.

WOWT is showing 29% on my set here in Lincoln. Maybe they are on their downtown backup, doing tower work at the main site?

WB and UPN to form one channel. I wounder what Omaha's channel will be. O2UPN,Upn Nebraska, or KXVO Cox channel 11.

Andrew Wees

WOWT just spent a lot of money to start UPN OMaha 6-2 or Cox 248.

WB15 has spent no money in upgrading to DTV or HDTV.

The new network will be called CW (combined WB and UPN prime time owned by CBS Corp, and Warner bros) , it will have HDTV, which WOWT cant offer as UPN Omaha is just a sub channel.

Maybe WOWT should buy out WB15 so they can put CW on channel 15 and have HDTV on 38-1 (upgrade 38-1 to full power).

WB15 is NOT owned by our Fox station, they only contracted out the tower and studio work.

We need to get these station combined on to WB15,

WOWT can then use there free space on 6-2 for the NBC weather plus feed, in the end WOWT would own 3 station in the market if they bought out WB15, they would have NBC, CW, and NBC Weather Scan. Plus they would have News on ONE on Cox cable for a 4th station.

Think of all the AD dollars and marketing power (plus we get a Full HDTV station and Weather scan).



Hint hint, WOWT are you listening?

WOWT is showing 29% on my set here in Lincoln. Maybe they are on their downtown backup, doing tower work at the main site?

Thanks for checking, it's back up to normal today so you're probably right.

Where did the KETV weather channel go? It was on 7.2

As far as KETV's sub-channel, I got this response:

"At this point we do not have any plans to resume clearance of the weather radar. We are taking into consideration other ways we can use KETV-DT."

I think it is funny how the OWH published the KMTV on Cox thing making it out that KMTV didn't have an HD signal until this week. Boy, do they not have a clue about HD.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1458&u_sid=2104538&u_rnd=8018537

Published Tuesday
January 24, 2006

CBS joins HD bandwagon

BY DANE STICKNEY



WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Sunday's AFC championship game between the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers looked a little brighter for some Omaha-area viewers.

Journal Broadcast Group and Cox Communications have teamed up to present CBS affiliate KMTV in high-definition on channel 805. A crawl on the regular station alerted viewers to the new channel during the football game Sunday, the first day that Cox offered CBS programming in HD.

CBS is the last major network to go HD in the Omaha metropolitan area. NBC's WOWT, ABC's KETV and Fox's KPTM earlier made the conversion. Nine other channels, including ESPN, TNT and HBO, also are available in HD.

Local football fans had noticed the difference between coverage on KETV and KPTM. Some radio talk show hosts had bemoaned CBS's lack of a local HD channel.

The NCAA men's basketball tournament and the PGA's Masters Tournament will be broadcast in HD this year.

Sports broadcasts aren't the only ones affected. All CBS programming is available in HD, including TV's top-rated drama, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."

Only digital cable subscribers with HD-ready TV sets can view HD offerings.

When did KMTV HD actually go on the air? 2002??
I wonder what a flood of letters to the editor would bring.

Wow. DOUBLE wow. That reads like the OWH copied the Cox/Journal press release and did little or no fact-checking on their own. No mention of OTA HD or satellite.

As I like to point out, if we catch such significant errors in a story where we do know the facts, I fear a similar number of errors exist in other OWH stories.

There's another error. I don't have an HDTV, but I do have an HDDVR from cox and I can watch the local HD channels and they look better than the analog 5,8,9,10,12.

Andrew Wees





I think it is funny how the OWH published the KMTV on Cox thing making it out that KMTV didn't have an HD signal until this week. Boy, do they not have a clue about HD.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1458&u_sid=2104538&u_rnd=8018537

Published Tuesday
January 24, 2006

CBS joins HD bandwagon

BY DANE STICKNEY



WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Sunday's AFC championship game between the Denver Broncos and Pittsburgh Steelers looked a little brighter for some Omaha-area viewers.

Journal Broadcast Group and Cox Communications have teamed up to present CBS affiliate KMTV in high-definition on channel 805. A crawl on the regular station alerted viewers to the new channel during the football game Sunday, the first day that Cox offered CBS programming in HD.

CBS is the last major network to go HD in the Omaha metropolitan area. NBC's WOWT, ABC's KETV and Fox's KPTM earlier made the conversion. Nine other channels, including ESPN, TNT and HBO, also are available in HD.

Local football fans had noticed the difference between coverage on KETV and KPTM. Some radio talk show hosts had bemoaned CBS's lack of a local HD channel.

The NCAA men's basketball tournament and the PGA's Masters Tournament will be broadcast in HD this year.

Sports broadcasts aren't the only ones affected. All CBS programming is available in HD, including TV's top-rated drama, "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."

Only digital cable subscribers with HD-ready TV sets can view HD offerings.

"Only digital cable subscribers with HD-ready TV sets can view HD offerings. "

What a load of misinformation. No wonder the general public has little clue about HDTV.

I wonder if a public pulse letter about this would be worth writing and submitting?

Sounds like Cox Communications has the OWH in their back pocket to control the flow of information to the TV viewing peasants. Kind of funny how they ignore any mention of the big dispute between KMTV and Cox that has been going on for umpteen years. That article is a big slap in the face to KMTV since they were the first with an HD sig into the Big O. I'll up Gary's "Double Wow" to a Triple WOW!!

Cox does have the OWH in their back pocket. Another example is how long it took for the OWH to refer to the new arena as the Qwest Center. Cox lost the bid for the naming rights...

What a maroon!

I made a brief attempt to contact OWH via their website to correct Darn Stinckey's misinformation on this subject but couldn't find an email addresses listed on their site. I guess he'll just have to remain ignorant. :eek:

Try theese


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While we are writting the OWH let not forget the other error, PBS is considered by some a major network.

Iowas PBS in HD is NOT on Cox.

ALso neither is ESPN-2

"we want our HD, the more the better"

Ive got a question for you guys - (I am not learned enough to know if this relates more to the QAM tuner built into my 30XS955 tv, or to how Cox provides it's cable. For the record, I do not have Cox digital, I just get the normal basic package plus HBO on channel 15. )

When I have my tv electronically scan for digital channels on the cable, it gives me three of them. One is ABC and it is on 6.1 or 7.1 or something like that. It works fine. The other is NE public HD and it is on 40.5, again works great. The other is NBC and it is on 5.1 or so, it worked fine up until a couple weeks ago and ever since it has been black and says "No Signal".

I started watching 24 on Fox and was disappointed that it was not in HD. Evilpete from work told me to manually tune my tv to 107.1 and I should pick up Fox in HD. I tried that last night and it does work. My question is why is the tv not finding this (and probably other) channel when it does the built in scan? Am I doing something wrong or is it stemming from the fact that I only have the basic cox cable package?

nebrunner - I have the EXACT same problem as you - I posted on this back in December (I think). I have a JVC HD-56G786 with a built in ATSC/QAM tuner. I have only BASIC cable, not digital cable. I tried everything to get the QAM channels that COX supposedly sends out in unencrypted QAM (107.1, 107.2, 108.1, 108.2 at that time), but could never get them - I received a number of other channels, but not those. I called COX - it was very difficult to find someone there who knew ANYTHING about this - I finally spoke to Bob (don't know his last name) and he was very willing to try to help - he did some research, talked to other "experts" there, and even sent out a technician to check my line strength and install a new length of coax and a better splitter. I still could not get those channels. I verified with Cox that you do NOT need to subscribe to digital cable to get the locals in unencrypted QAM. I even called JVC to make sure there wasn't something I was doing wrong with the set and to verify that the tuner was indeed QAM capable. I finally gave up - I get all the locals with an antenna - I have some problems getting FOX because I have to move my antenna to another location to receive it - but other than that, I am able to receive OTA fine.

I know there are others who have been able to get this to work, but I don't know why I (or you) cannot. HiDefHusker gets these, but he said he subscribes to digital cable, so that still may be the issue.

Thats all I know - just wanted to pass it along.

Thank you for the feedback, it does indeed sound like the exact same issue.

My silver sensor antenna does not enable me to receive Fox OTA :(

I guess I am lucky that I can direct tune the tv to 107.1, 107.2, 108.1 and 108.2 to pick up these QAM channels. It is annoying that the tv will not memorize these or find them by default, but it is still better than not having them at all.

Have you tried what I have to do, and take the original tv remote and go directly to 108.1 (etc.)? It takes my tv about 10 seconds of black screen to finally lock it in, but it does work. It does make for a poor experience if you like to switch channels on commercials!

Its raining out. Wondering when it will stop.

I sure do miss the KETV Weather Radar channel on channel 7.2 (I have DIshnetwork HD).

Do they offer a live radar on Cox Cables weather scan channel. Is that updated often?

Thank you for the feedback, it does indeed sound like the exact same issue.

My silver sensor antenna does not enable me to receive Fox OTA :(

I guess I am lucky that I can direct tune the tv to 107.1, 107.2, 108.1 and 108.2 to pick up these QAM channels. It is annoying that the tv will not memorize these or find them by default, but it is still better than not having them at all.

Have you tried what I have to do, and take the original tv remote and go directly to 108.1 (etc.)? It takes my tv about 10 seconds of black screen to finally lock it in, but it does work. It does make for a poor experience if you like to switch channels on commercials!

nebrunner - I also have the silver sensor - I can receive Fox if I move the antenna to a place in the house that can look to the south and west (I live in NW Omaha) towards the KPTM tower. You may want to try that. Longer term, I am going to install an antenna on a rotor in either the attic or on the roof (if I can get away with it).

I have tried to go directly to 107.1, 108.1, and the others you mentioned - it does not seem to work with my set (JVC HD56G786), but it is interesting that you mentioned that it takes 10 seconds to "lock in". I will try it again and make sure I wait that long. One problem with the JVC tuner seems to be that it will only allow you to go to channels that it picks up on its programming scan. So if it does not see 107.1 for example, then it will not allow you to directly input the channel later, even if it IS there. I am starting to wonder if the programming scan on my set just can't find it because it isn't waiting 10 seconds to see it.

I suppose I should just give up on the OTA and go with COX HD, get their box, pay the extra charges, and be done with it.

Yes the local radar on weatherscan by the weather channel is updated as weather changes. It's local weather all the time on weatherscan channel 202.


Andrew Wees






Its raining out. Wondering when it will stop.

I sure do miss the KETV Weather Radar channel on channel 7.2 (I have DIshnetwork HD).

Do they offer a live radar on Cox Cables weather scan channel. Is that updated often?

nebrunner - I also have the silver sensor - I can receive Fox if I move the antenna to a place in the house that can look to the south and west (I live in NW Omaha) towards the KPTM tower. You may want to try that. Longer term, I am going to install an antenna on a rotor in either the attic or on the roof (if I can get away with it).

I have tried to go directly to 107.1, 108.1, and the others you mentioned - it does not seem to work with my set (JVC HD56G786), but it is interesting that you mentioned that it takes 10 seconds to "lock in". I will try it again and make sure I wait that long. One problem with the JVC tuner seems to be that it will only allow you to go to channels that it picks up on its programming scan. So if it does not see 107.1 for example, then it will not allow you to directly input the channel later, even if it IS there. I am starting to wonder if the programming scan on my set just can't find it because it isn't waiting 10 seconds to see it.

I suppose I should just give up on the OTA and go with COX HD, get their box, pay the extra charges, and be done with it.

zabo,

there are two types of frequency schemas for QAM. They are called HRC and IRC, see this link for more info IRC & HRC (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6859985).

I know Cox here in Oma is using HRC. I had some issues getting my Fusion HD3 Gold PCI tuner card to work, because it only supports IRC (although they have a register fix that makes it work with HRC, why this complication is beyond me and it took me some time to figure out).

Can you select between HRC and IRC on your JVC TV while tuning? I know the Samsung TVs support both and I have also tried an LG DVD/Tuner combo box in my house and it worked when I selected HRC.

Oh, and I forgot, if your TV supports Cable Card, it could be a cheaper alternative to the Cox Cable box.
/Anders

Can someone give me a summary of what KXVO's current status and plans are for DT?

Thanks

I would imagine all their plans would be on hold, after the announcement of the WB/UPN merger.

Does anyone know whether KM3 has changed anything in regards to their digital broadcast? The reason I ask is because my Dish Network 921 receiver as of today cannot lock on to the signal any longer. Up until today KM3 was the most reliable signal to pick up with the 921. All other receivers I own are still able to lock on to signal. I have tried auto scan and manual scan with the same results. I have also re-booted the 921.

"if your TV supports Cable Card, it could be a cheaper alternative to the Cox Cable box.
"

I heard some nasty rumors about cable cards, maybe it is just the DBS SAT folks bashing it.

Is it true cox will charge liek $80 just to come out to your house to plug in the card and activate it? Anyone else got a cable card doing HD out there? What was it really like? (fees and the install).

zabo,

there are two types of frequency schemas for QAM. They are called HRC and IRC, see this link for more info IRC & HRC (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6859985).

I know Cox here in Oma is using HRC. I had some issues getting my Fusion HD3 Gold PCI tuner card to work, because it only supports IRC (although they have a register fix that makes it work with HRC, why this complication is beyond me and it took me some time to figure out).

Can you select between HRC and IRC on your JVC TV while tuning? I know the Samsung TVs support both and I have also tried an LG DVD/Tuner combo box in my house and it worked when I selected HRC.

Oh, and I forgot, if your TV supports Cable Card, it could be a cheaper alternative to the Cox Cable box.
/Anders

Andersa - thanks for the information on this. I do not know if my JVC is HRC or IRC. There is no setting that I can find on the tuner setup to set this. There is only an "Digital Cable" setting on the digital-in that you choose before doing a programming scan. I may call JVC, but based on my past experience with their tech support, I don't think they will be able to tell me.

My set does support cable card, but I have talked to both NFM (who sold me the set) and Cox - both indicated that there are some problems with cable card right now, so I am not going to try that now - maybe in the future. I also do not know if cable card does HD or not.

My set supports cable card so I asked Cox how much money to go that route - the monthly charge on the card itself was pretty low, I think it was $1.99. What killed it for me is that they wanted to charge me a $30 setup fee for someone to come out and plug it in.

First of all, I have a couple friends who are installers at Cox and these guys would know less about how to mess with the back of my TV set than I do. Second of all why will they let me put in their $500 digital decoder myself but they force me to pay their experts to install their $10 cable card?

It seems like a good time to ask this: My understanding is that, with CableCard, you get only one-way cable service. All the channels but no On Demand and no interactive guide. True or false? If there's no guide, then IMHO CableCard is not worth any savings.

About 6 months ago I bought a relatively inexpensive Samsung TX-P2775H to experiment with DTV OTA (built-in ATSC/NTSC tuner) from northeast Lincoln.

I've been very satisfied with this DTV. The quality is excellent for the price and reception has been very stable (with the exception of occasional weather effects).

I liked it so much, I recently upgraded to the larger Samsung TX-R3079WH 30" wide format DTV. I've had it about 2 weeks and I'm having trouble getting stable reception on KETV-7.

Video is Ok with some occasional tiling, but when I connect the DTV to my Samsung HT-P38 home theater with optical audio, I get constant audio drop-outs.
If I watch the strength meter, it jumps a lot between 50-80%. Other channels are fine.

If I switch the DTV audio output format from Dolby Digital to PCM, it is a lot better but the quality is less.

On the TX-P2775H it's fine - so I don't think it’s related to our recent weather.

Here are the questions,
1. What is signal strength a measure of (reception strength or data integrity)?
2. Can a tuner be faulty on just one frequency?
3. What can cause PCM audio to be fine and Dolby Digital not (isn't it the same data, perhaps the lost data is less noticable after PCM processing).
4. Anyone else experience troubles on channel 7 lately.

I'm reaching the end of the return period and I plan to exchange it but if it is reception related I don't want to unnecessarily haul it back to NFM.

I have a very large outdoor antenna; tower mounted with an external amp. Reception has generally not been a problem.

Any help would be much appreciated.


Chad

Is it true cox will charge liek $80 just to come out to your house to plug in the card and activate it? Anyone else got a cable card doing HD out there? What was it really like? (fees and the install).
Tell Cox that you're going to switch to DirecTV and they just might waive the installation fee for the CableCard (it worked for a friend of mine).

CableCard 1.0 is one-way (no PPV, VOD or channel guide)
CableCard 2.0 is supposed to be two-way

CableCard 1.0 is one-way (no PPV, VOD or channel guide)
CableCard 2.0 is supposed to be two-way
Thanks...I believe you, but the words "supposed to be" worry me. Does Cox offer 2.0 and does anyone on here have it?

I don't think the cable cards 2.0 are out yet.

Andrew Wees








Thanks...I believe you, but the words "supposed to be" worry me. Does Cox offer 2.0 and does anyone on here have it?

I got hit with a one time $30 install fee from COX in Omaha. I really like not having to screw with a cable box. (I'm waiting for 2 way cablecard for my Media Center PC and my main TV. I use a 30 sony with cablecard in the den for HD for now.)

"if your TV supports Cable Card, it could be a cheaper alternative to the Cox Cable box.
"

I heard some nasty rumors about cable cards, maybe it is just the DBS SAT folks bashing it.

Is it true cox will charge liek $80 just to come out to your house to plug in the card and activate it? Anyone else got a cable card doing HD out there? What was it really like? (fees and the install).

I wonder what would happen if you had the cable card in your tv but you did not have the upper tier of channels, just the Cox basic package.

I wonder what would happen if you had the cable card in your tv but you did not have the upper tier of channels, just the Cox basic package.

huh? then all you would get is the channels in the basic package. The purpose of the card is to authorize you to receive digital cable channels, right?

Any word on ESPN2HD? (and ESPNU) :)

Any word on ESPN2HD? (and ESPNU) :)


Yeah, DirecTV has em. Cox should have them as College Baseball and the CWS plays a big part on both.

Cox should have them as College Baseball and the CWS plays a big part on both.
Doesn't ESPN charge exorbitant rates to cable systems who carry their programming? Perhaps Cox is trying to keep its rates down a bit by not introducing even more ESPN channels? I suspect ESPN will not allow any of their channels to be added on a premium (pay) basis or that would seem to be a logical option.

But then again, I'm one of those in favor of ala carte pricing anyway. I'd love to be able to pick and choose what cable channels I get and pay for. I watch maybe a half dozen channels regularly.

Doesn't ESPN charge exorbitant rates to cable systems who carry their programming? Perhaps Cox is trying to keep its rates down a bit by not introducing even more ESPN channels? I suspect ESPN will not allow any of their channels to be added on a premium (pay) basis or that would seem to be a logical option.

But then again, I'm one of those in favor of ala carte pricing anyway. I'd love to be able to pick and choose what cable channels I get and pay for. I watch maybe a half dozen channels regularly.


Here is info I found in the 6412 Passport Echo forum

A friend of mine that works at Cox said the ESPN contract that cox has is for all ESPN station which means they can added ESPN-2 for free (no extra cost to cox).

Could it be that Cox is just out of bandwidth or do they think maybe there customers are happy with out ESPN-2.

We need to start calling them. It wont get action right away, be in there call center logs it will show up in a bar chart across the country as People want ESPN-2


Andrew Wees

johnwcookjr
It is now 2/04/05 were did you hear cox was switching to the SA 3100?

Andrew Wees

Glad to see you popped for a COX capable HD STB. I've heard rumors that COX will be switching over soon to the SA3100, I hope their future programming scheme will remain compatible with your current GI setup.

I just sent a E-mail request to Cox Comm requesting they add
ESPN2-HD
ESPNU
CSTV
TVG
HRC

When it comes to more HD Channels, we just all need to keep emailing our Service providers asking for more channels (like ESPN-2).

Many in management do not even have HDTV set and they think there is not much of a demand for more HD TV channels, hence they dont want to give up the bandwidth for it when they can add more Shopping channels or Pay per view.

Iowa IPTV on cox


Here is the response I got from IPTV


i Andrew. Thanks for contacting us about our digital programming and its availability on Cox Cable in Omaha, Nebraska. For your information, we have requested carriage of all Iowa Public Television's digital services, including high-definition, on Cox Cable in Omaha. We've asked them to let us know the anticipated carriage date, and we'll pass that information along to you.

Meanwhile, I'd like to invite you to join our Digital Advisory Group. It's a group of viewers we call upon from time to time for advice, feedback, and perspectives about our digital service. If you're interested, just send me your name, address, email, and phone number and I'll get you added to the list. (You can also register on line at www.iptv.org/digital .)

Thanks again, and we'll let you know what we find out.

Best,

Jennifer




Jennifer Glover Konfrst, APR
Manager of Communications
Iowa Public Television
6450 Corporate Drive - Johnston, Iowa 50131
515-242-3146
jennifer.konfrst@iptv.org


Andrew Wees

I'm once again searching for people interested in an ISF calibration. Doug from Clearly Resolved Image & Sound (http://www.clearlyresolved.com) is willing to travel to the Lincoln and Omaha areas if I can get three people lined up. If you've been holding off on getting one, now is the time. Drop me a PM if you are interested and we can discuss details.

Thanks...I believe you, but the words "supposed to be" worry me. Does Cox offer 2.0 and does anyone on here have it?
Read all about CableCard:
http://arstechnica.com/guides/other/cablecard.ars

Well, that made it easy for me. :) Thanks! Clearly, neither the current CableCARD nor current sets that use CableCARD fit my needs. The whole reason behind my having digital cable is their channel guide! I have no problem with the box, either. So, it's an easy decision, for me at least! :D

Ever notice that when you think you're up to date on what to buy, something new comes along? In a nutshell, the article tells me to hold off on any new updates until the technology that may replace cable card technology is deemed feasable or not.
:)

I noticed other Cox cable forums saying they added MTV in HD. Did Omaha add it yet and just not update there web site.

Its contract time again for myself and some at work (our Dish 1 year contracts are about up). Looking to leave Dish and go to Cable. Dishnetwork now wants an 18 Month new contract to upgrade to MPeg4 so you can get ESPN-2 in HD.


PS Cox HD DVR question w Analog channels 40-70

Anyone got a really Big RPTV HDTV set like 65", wondering how the Analog channesl look on Cox about channel 40 (like 40- 70) last time I tried the Sci Fi channel did not look very good. I heard they since fixed some pic issues on analog using there HD DVR.

No MTVHD in Omaha. They are removing all the PPV channels except for 1 channel and the adult PPV and sport PPV on the 16th according to a new channelup on the following website. http://www.cox.com/Omaha/Info/More_PDFs/Channel%20Linuep_0206.pdf

Andrew Wees










I noticed other Cox cable forums saying they added MTV in HD. Did Omaha add it yet and just not update there web site.

Its contract time again for myself and some at work (our Dish 1 year contracts are about up). Looking to leave Dish and go to Cable. Dishnetwork now wants an 18 Month new contract to upgrade to MPeg4 so you can get ESPN-2 in HD.


PS Cox HD DVR question w Analog channels 40-70

Anyone got a really Big RPTV HDTV set like 65", wondering how the Analog channesl look on Cox about channel 40 (like 40- 70) last time I tried the Sci Fi channel did not look very good. I heard they since fixed some pic issues on analog using there HD DVR.

I have a 65" Mits and 43" Pioneer Plasma. Surprisingly the picture for analog channels look better using the standard Composite Video connection on both monitors (as opposed to the DVI or component outputs). I switch inputs on the TV when I choose analog channel (actually my remote does it for me automatically). Even stranger is that the analog channels look better on the plasma, but the HD content looks better on the rear projection Mits. I've heard others that switch between the composite and components inputs.

new channelup on the following website. http://www.cox.com/Omaha/Info/More_PDFs/Channel%20Linuep_0206.pdf

Interesting how that new lineup, which says it doesn't take effect until next week, still doesn't list KMTV on 805. Gee, wonder if the right hand is talking to the left hand? :rolleyes:

Don't know if anyone's mentioned this yet but Universal-HD is now on TWC Lincoln channel 124...

Thanks for the tip! I see their listings as part of a mail list of HD programming, and had hoped we would get it.