Is MNF broadcasting in HDTV this year? What about dish network, is ketv sending them hd signals? Can Warren tells us the plans for dtv locals in respect to hd or just digital feed and timing? I wonder if we can get waivers for the east west local feeds since our reception right now is unacceptable? I may follow up on that.

Daryl

Daryl Monday night football is in glorious Hdtv, and will only be available on cable ketv-hd in Omaha, No OTA!!!! Dish only has digital locals no hdtv, I have waited for years for hdtv and our market was lucky all stations were broadcasting in Hdtv, unlike many cites where stations are meeting minimum requirements,now Omaha's ota viewers our SOL for ABC,NBC-Hd, I wish KLKN out of Lincoln would step and go full strengths and send a Hdtv signal.

Well, this Thursday we will have the pre-season game in glorious High Definition, if you get ESPN-HD. At least it seems like they will be doing their Sunday night games in HD, also. At least it's something. I believe we may get at least one college game a week in HD...maybe two.

:D

Mike

Where are you going to verify that the signal is in HD? I was looking at the program guide and a bunch of the stuff on hd channels do not show the little hd signal on it, so I am assuming that they are in standard def.

I'm really bummed about the loss of KETV-DT considering the upcoming football season. Can anyone tell me if Lincoln's ABC affiliate is broadcasting digital yet?

Originally posted by Expensive Hobby
I'm really bummed about the loss of KETV-DT considering the upcoming football season. Can anyone tell me if Lincoln's ABC affiliate is broadcasting digital yet?

They are sending out 480i digital... everything. :mad:

gpflepsen, Thanks for the response.

My next question is, does anyone currently recieve KLKN-DT (ABC) in Omaha or on the outskirts of the city? I live near Springfield, south of Omaha, and could rotate my directional UHF anntanna toward Lincoln if there's a prayer of receiving it. To many college and pro football games on ABC to not at least try.

I would seriously doubt you could pull them in. People at the edge of Lincoln have problems. I have had one occasion of not getting them and I live less than 2 miles from the tower. Sorry.

Man, I hated the fact that I was paying Cox for their digital tier and the decoder box, etc. Now, I am so glad. Assuming MNF is in HD tonight, I will be watching it.

Question for anyone that knows specifics about ESPN HD. It seems that most programming is upconverted 480i. Where can I find out what ESPN plans to broadcast in true HD?

Cox - GET NBC

I sent it an exception request to see if I can get locals. I am assuming that there will be hd options for the standard feed east west locals. Has anyone had any success get an exception for the local channels? The big question remains, when does ketv hope to have a temporary HD signal again? Is anyone getting fox, wb? I am holding off from buying my omnidirectional preamped antenna until I have a good test invironment.

Oh yeah, I am also going to include links to each website of all the hd channels as well. I will post it as it get populated.

I checked ABC and it does not say anything about HD tonight.

Daryl

Who would be interested in joining a hdtv omaha email list if I set one up on yahoo groups? hdtvomaha@yahoogroups.com would then be the email address to send to and it would distribute out to the remaining members? More effiecent way to communicate on the subject. Thoughts?

So is Furniture Mart selling any of the new HDTV boxes?? I checked a few weeks ago and they didn't even have any of the old HDTV sidecars. Any word if Cox will just rent the box???

Originally posted by darylrue
Who would be interested in joining a hdtv omaha email list if I set one up on yahoo groups? hdtvomaha@yahoogroups.com would then be the email address to send to and it would distribute out to the remaining members? More effiecent way to communicate on the subject. Thoughts?

Why not, as long as it doesn't take away from this site and hurt it's content.

Local hdtv viewers, Nfm has the new motorola-hd cox receivers 499.00, no rental, Glen in Lincoln, when is KLKN going to step up and go full power and hdtv, (they have been low power digital for about a year) Its time for Omaha to get something from Lincoln, its really frustrating when Lincoln gets all of Omaha radio and tv and Omaha basically get nothing from Lincoln, step up to the plate Klkn!!!! Monday night football starts in 2hours but not in Omaha ota hdtv. Anyone know who owns the other tower on 72nd street? maybe Ketv could rent space on the tower for digital and hdtv short term help for ota hdtv viewers.

yep, I called nfm and they are out of them until middle of August. Anybody know anywhere else you can the motorola 5100?

Originally posted by Video
Man, I hated the fact that I was paying Cox for their digital tier and the decoder box, etc. Now, I am so glad. Assuming MNF is in HD tonight, I will be watching it.

Question for anyone that knows specifics about ESPN HD. It seems that most programming is upconverted 480i. Where can I find out what ESPN plans to broadcast in true HD?

Cox - GET NBC

try the following link. good info..

http://espn.go.com/espnhd/schedule.html
:D

I was wondering what the best guess is on get KETV and WOWT back up and running HDtv over the air? I know both stations are having problems.
Question for Warren, I know it will be a year before a new tower is available. What are the chances of hooking up the add on HD antenna that you were originally running? I talked with you back then and we where able to receive your signal in Glenwood. If you could get that back up that would be better than nothing. Is that possible? Please let us know.
THANKS! Keep up the good work

That would be better than better than nothing. That would be mammoth. KETV has all the essential sports for Nebraskans.

All the bent members have been replaced, more steel is scheduled to arrive in early to mid October. 6 Guy wires need to be replaced and that is scheduled for mid October as well. We will not install our HDTV antenna until all repairs are final. With that, I am in the starting the process of ordering a new higer gain-higher power antenna. Date for delivery yet to be determined.

No word on 6HD on Cox, but expect it to be very close (even closer since that is our only delivery method)

Jay

Thanks for the report Jay, looks like end of year at best for ota hdtv?

Well, I think I am going to bite the bullet and subscribe to Cox. Has anyone done a comparison of the old Cox HDTV box (HDD200/201) vs the new box (DCT5100)?? The HDD200/201 is available for $300 online, but the DCT5100 is 499. Is the DVI port enabled on the DCT5100???, also is there a firewire out??? I hate to buy a 500 box if I will not be able to use it to record HDTV when more recording equipment becomes available. Also, does anyone know what the warranty on the DCT5100 box is??? As many problems as I have read about the DCT5100, I would hate to buy it if it craps out in 6 mos with a 90 day warranty.

I use the old HDD200 and it works fine. I think I paid $299 during a promotion at NFM. ABC used to have some problems, but they seem to have gone away. Not sure if that was an ABC issue or a Cox issue. I've had it for 3 years without a problem. I figure if it craps out, I can yell loud enough at the store that they will replace it.

I have not seen the DCT5100 yet but have heard that it is a digital box and HDD tuner in one. If that is the case, you will save a few buck a month on cable box rental (I think my bill says $6). The good news is if you keep your box for 33 months it is a wash between the two. Probably worth it since you will get ABC, CBS, PBS and hopefully NBC for free. HBO, Showtime, ESPN and Discovery for a fee. I think my total cable bill is $50 a month.

Let me know how that 5100 works and where you bought it.

Thanks

Let me know how it works.

I currently have the HD200 box, works fine just takes a few seconds to kick in when switching channels. I have played with the new Mot 5100 at NFM and it switches between channels and HD very quickly without delay. Not sure on the specs or quality of product yet though. Be nice if they would roll out the HD DVR with the built in decoder etc...

Here's the product specs on the DCT5100

http://www.gi.com/hdtv/01FeaturesBenefits.pdf

I've seen a product guide for the 5100 and it shows a firewire port on the back, but from what I've heard on these message boards is that the firewire and DVI ports are both inactive with the present firmware for the unit. Hmmm... Anyone know for sure if the Samsung T351 won't work for ESPN/HBO/SHO with COX?


*Edit: Well, I guess the T351 doesn't have firewire either... so I guess the DCT5100 may be as good as it gets for those of us looking to switch to Cox.

Sorry for all the updates, but I just found some detailed info on the upcoming digital cable/HDTV decoders from Motorola. The DCT6200 series is due out before the end of the year, and it sounds like it is what most of us are looking for.

http://broadband.motorola.com/catalog/product_documents/6200data_060403.pdf

The 6200 is the standard decoder box and it has a 1394 connection. There is also a 6208 model with a built-in PVR and it also has 1394 support in case you want to add more storage later.

The group is setup now. The address is hdtvomaha@yahoogroups.com . I aready have one station engineer that is not on this thread that I am going to sign up. Please send your email address to daryl.rue@cox.net and I will add you to the group. After that, simply send emails to hdtvomaha@yahoogroups.com to send and receive without going to a web site.

Anyone know where you can purchase the 5100 other than NFM? I called and they are out of stock.

Does anyone know when our local Iowa PBS affiliate may come online in HD?

That new Motorola 6208 looks interesting but based upon my past experience with recording HD MPEG2 datastreams you probably won't be able to record much over 8.5 hours of HD content on the internal 80GB drive. I wonder if it'll be upgradeable in size by the consumer.

John

Has anyone upgraded to the Motorola 5100 from the HDD 200 "sidecar" for Cox cable HDTV? If so, how do you like it? Has the upgrade been worth it?

I'm having trouble with PBS and ESPN HD with my HDD 200. First a little history, however. I bought the HDD 200 last spring and immediately had trouble with dropouts on KMTV and SHO (HBO and KETV were OK). After multiple tech calls and visits, the cure was to eliminate a splitter in my system and connect the HDTV line thru an amplifier. All has been well until upgrading to ESPN HD two weeks ago. I get discovery HD just fine, no dropouts or anything. ESPN HD has occasional audio drop outs and the picture has a "stutter" in it every few seconds (this is most visible with scrolling scores along the bottom of the screen). Last night I noticed that the Lyle Lovitt concert on PBS was intermittent with audio dropouts and video pixelization. I had a Cox tech out this past week to look at the ESPN problem. He said my signal coming to the house from the neighborhood node was "a little low, however, acceptable." He changed some connectors and wires, and we even ran a dedicated line directly from the outside node to the decoder but were unable to eliminate the ESPN stutter problem. BTW, we were unable to get reliable HDTV thru the decoder without amplifying the signal thru the amplifier. He thought it was a "system problem" and said he'd have to have other Cox tech's check it out. Incidently I'm in the 132nd and Blondo neighborhood.

I'm just wondering if the Motorola 5100 is more sensitive and might work better in my system. I'm also a little peeved that Cox can't get me a better signal from their neighborhood box. Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

mooneycj

Originally posted by darylrue
The group is setup now. The address is hdtvomaha@yahoogroups.com . I aready have one station engineer that is not on this thread that I am going to sign up. Please send your email address to daryl.rue@cox.net and I will add you to the group. After that, simply send emails to hdtvomaha@yahoogroups.com to send and receive without going to a web site.

No thanks, but why don't you set up a forum on hdtvomaha.com? .. You /do/ own that, right?

He doesn't, but I have a pretty good idea who does :)

Ok, I definitely noticed stutter in the football game tonight on ESPN..

Anyone else? ..

Now that I'm paying extra for these channels, I might be a little more vocal.

earlier somebody asked about some features on the 5100 vs. the hdd200?
one big difference is the speed of the processor, the new 5100 changes channels and navigates through the menu faster than it's predecessor. another convenient feature is the capable of passing a stereo signal through the digital coax or optical. on my hdd200 i have to switch via my dig box between the two. the new model will hook up to receivers with one dig input. NICE! NFM is currently(from what the staff like myself have been told) the only store in the area carrying the 5100. this will likely change just before or after Christmas.

oh and by the way the hdd200 is no longer available through NFM.

Good afternoon, Anyone in Omaha, Lincoln pulling in any digital/hdtv stations in the area Sioux city,Des Moines,Sioux falls, Topeka, St Joseph, Kansas City? I have heard with large uhf antenna, rotor, pre amp some of these stations are available, just wanting some info before I spend the money on rotor and pre-amp, looking for abc and nbc since Omaha is without these digital stations.

My personal experience has been limited, but I'm on a shorter tower. (roughly 30 feet in the air, from ground...as opposed to roof mounted), plus I live in a valley.

I was able to pull in Sioux Falls, at night, a few weeks ago. The atmosphere has much to do with this.

I'd be skeptical of pulling in distant stations on a regular basis. Like boardman says, it depends on the right weather conditions. Right now, not many stations aren't even at full power let alone hi definition. From what I've heard, in Nebr, KOLN, KGIN, KMTV & the educational stations are the only ones with a full or close to full power highest resolution high definition signal. KMTV is at 70% from 11 am to 11:30 pm. I'm not sure what the Sioux Falls and Sioux City stations are doing.

However, here in Kearney, I've been pulling in KOLN-DT's full power signal quite regularly and mainly at night. Keep in mind I'm just west of their KGIN signal. I've also been pulling in KMTV-DT Omaha's 70% power signal a few times a week. When WOWT had their DT signal going, I pulled them in a few times. I have pulled in the Lincoln PBS station some, also. Definitely looking forward to when all Omaha stations are broadcasting full power all the time for additional choices.

I'm upgrading to satellite TV. I have a Motorola HDD 200 HDTV decoder that is < 6 mos old, purchased at NFM for $499. Hook this up to your Cox digital cable box and get free high definition TV on KMTV, KETV and PBS. For a fee you can get HBO HD, SHO HD, ESPN HD and DISCOVERY HD too. I have original box, packing, instructions and warranty card (never filled in). Yours for only $300. Give me a PM thru AVS forum if interested. Thanks.

Originally posted by dimer0
Ok, I definitely noticed stutter in the football game tonight on ESPN..

Anyone else? ..

Now that I'm paying extra for these channels, I might be a little more vocal.

I also noticed the stutter on monday nights game.

Also,
when i called to order the ESPN HD from cox they said they would bundle it with Discovery Theater HD and give them free for a year.

What is the minimum $$ to spend to get to get abc in hd on cox? Is fox in hd or just sd on cox? Has anyone heard from warren on the interim plan for abc?

Originally posted by darylrue
What is the minimum $$ to spend to get to get abc in hd on cox? Is fox in hd or just sd on cox? Has anyone heard from warren on the interim plan for abc?

Fox currently is not on Cox HD. If you have digital cable you will get CBS, ABC, NETV for free.
Premium channels are HBO HD, SHOW HD, ESPN HD, DISCOVERY THEATER HD.

Right now I think they are running a promotion that will give you DISCOVERY HD/ESPN HD free for year. (otherwise it is $4.95 per channel.)

--You will need the HDD-200 or new MOT 5100 to decode.--

I just called Cox to ask about the Discovery / ESPN promotion, and they claimed no knowledge of such a thing. ajungjo, do you have any more details on the promo, or who you spoke to at Cox? If I don't have to pay the extra $10 per month for a year, that would be cool!

Jeff

I can't remember who I spoke with..
I called COX at (933-3000) on Monday and told the guy I wanted ESPN HD only.. I was willing to pay the 5 bucks a month for it.. I took him about 15 minutes because he said that he could not find the HD channel code, then told me it was bundled for a year free on it.

Wish I could be more help.

I took the plunge this week and am pretty much all set up.

Zenith SAT-HD520 DirecTV/HDTV receiver. Triple-LNB dish. Toshiba HDTV. CM4248 UHF antenna w/rotor on the roof. Toshiba SD-4800 progressive scan DVD player. I installed all of this yesterday and Tuesday.

The only fly in the ointment is I can't seem to pull in KXVO. I think KPTM is a lost cause from what I've read but I've seen others say they can get KXVO (digital channel 38.) KMTV, KOLN, KLKN, KUON are all no problem. Of course analog KXVO and KPTM are no problem either but I was hoping to get KXVO digitally.

I'm in northeast Lincoln. I bought the Zenith specifically because I'd read that it had a better tuner and didn't have the heating issues that the Hughes receiver has. (But, for the record, I removed it from my video cabinet and let it sit in the open as it got pretty hot inside the cabinet.)

Is KXVO reception out of the question for now or do you think a pre-amp would help (and if so, any recommendations)?

TIA,

Dennis

That's odd, the NETV/PBS stations on Cox - those are the only HD channels I //don't// receive - they say they're subscription services.

And, I got a "deal" with ESPN and Discovery -- but only a dollar off, so I'm paying $8.95 a month.

Time to call in again!!!

Originally posted by dimer0
That's odd, the NETV/PBS stations on Cox - those are the only HD channels I //don't// receive - they say they're subscription services.

And, I got a "deal" with ESPN and Discovery -- but only a dollar off, so I'm paying $8.95 a month.

Time to call in again!!!

It's not surprising that they don't even know what is going on. You could call and talk to 3 different people and come up with at least three diff answers.

Let us know what you find out.

If you're in Lincoln, forget about getting digital KPTM & KXVO. They are sending out the bare minimum for a signal. From what I've heard, you can barely receive their digital signal in Omaha within line of sight of the tower. They probably won't up their power until they are forced to by the government mandate.

Originally posted by PAULSTORM
If you're in Lincoln, forget about getting digital KPTM & KXVO. They are sending out the bare minimum for a signal. From what I've heard, you can barely receive their digital signal in Omaha within line of sight of the tower. They probably won't up their power until they are forced to by the government mandate.

Plus they ae using directional antennas pointed away from Lincoln.

Thanks for the replies about KXVO/KPTM.

Kind of off-topic but... the football game looked great on 42 last night. The colors and clarity were really good. Is it because the HD monitor has more lines of resolution or other (or just my imagination?)

Time Warner Cable Update.

FYI for those that have an HD cable box in Lincoln, KOLN-DT (CBS) was added today. The Converter Ch. is 111, the QAM in the Clear Channel is 79.11 PBS has been on for awhile its Converter Ch. is 112, and QAM in the Clear Channel is 104.70 For those of you with QAM Digital tuners you can tune without a Box. Its my understanding that Channel 6 will be added as soon as they get back on line over the air. ABC KLKN will be added as soon as they get their HD equipment, but that could be awhile.

Anyway FYI

Steve, I am wondering why it may be awhile for klkn-dt to broadcast in Hdtv, they have been digital since last August, they have had a year!!!! Klkn should be full power and hdtv!!!Omaha really needs a ota abc hdtv afflilate, I believe Klkn is owned by management that is just sending out a very low power digital signal. Also lets start calling kptm and asking for a upgrade in power for there digital signal and remind them they have 1 year from now till fox goes Hdtv. Hdtv fan in Omaha without Nbc and Abc hdtv.

I know of no one who has 43 or 38 in digital. But the engineers say it is working. I do not believe them and I will get to the bottom of it. See hdtvomaha@yahoogroups.com email list for further details. I have an antenna in sw omaha that receives every available digital channel except 38 and 43 of course. To sign up, email daryl.rue@cox.net. If you can prove me wrong i dare you.

What direction are the 42 and 38 antennas pointed? I am in NW Omaha and get nothing. My antenna is pointed directly at the crown point antenna array. Of course, this was fine when there was a digital signal coming from there but is pretty worthless now.

Kxvo and Kptm are southwest of Omaha, I can receive Kxvo but not Kptm. I have a suggestion for Omaha area hdtv fans, turn your outdoor antenna to the southwest, I can recieve Koln-dt CBS, Kxvo-dt WB, Lincoln's PBS channels,like I said earlier Klkn should be full power and passing a Hdtv signal when available.

Ronald,

Where are you located? It sounds like klkn may be an option for some of us.

What receiver are you using for kxvo? I am beginning to think it is a receiver issue and not antenna for me on that station.

Daryl
...

In the early morning hours of August 31, 2002, KLKN-DT, Lincoln, NE became the first television station in Nebraska to broadcast in Digital Television. KLKN-DT is located on UHF Channel 31 and can be received via antenna through an integrated Digital Television set or through a DTV converter box hook up to an existing Television set. The coverage area is north to Wahoo and south to Cortland, NE, east to Ashland and west to Seward.(See the coverage map to the left)

KLKN-DT simulcasts with KLKN-TV, which means that you can use the TV listings for KLKN-TV to determine what will be on KLKN-DT. The switch to digital means a better picture and CD quality sound, if you have the right equipment. At present, KLKN-DT is not offered via cable TV and can only be received over the air via an antenna. Depending upon the distance from Lincoln, an outdoor antenna may be required to receive a signal.

KLKN-DT is owned and operated by Citadel Communications LLC.

Hi Daryl, I live in west central Omaha, I have a Sony hd100 Directv/Ota reciever,currently I cannot recieve Klkn, I'm adding a pre-amp to my antenna today, and will see if this helps.

Ronald, I'd be very surprised if you were to receive KLKN, they barely reach Ashland. I'm sure there are some exceptions, but their signal is about 1 Kwatt, designed for Lancaster County. When they started their signal last August 31'st they did it from their station which is located down by the state pen in Lincoln on a really low tower. They will eventually be moving their digital tranmitter to their Analog tower west of Lincoln near Seward when they go full power, but that time frame is yet to be determined. They had always planned on getting HD equipment in their Head End prior to moving to the Seward Tower, but that hasn't happened yet either. I wouldn't plan on KLKN being your solution, and for what its worth, the picture at this time isn't going to be much better than what you could receive from Analog Ch. 7. Believe me, I feel your pain not having ABC in HD this fall season. If I lived in the Omaha area, I would have Cox in a minute, and either buy a Set-Top with a QAM tuner, or buy their Box from the Mart. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you probably don't have to be a digital subscriber to get the QAM in the clear channels from COX, if you own your own equipment. At least that is how it is in Lincoln.

S.K.

In Fact, if you or anyone needs a solution for switching Component Video as well as Digital/Analog Audio automatically, we sell a 4-1 Auto Switcher that switches based on priority that you set. So if you want to connect a couple set-top boxes, and only have 1 HD capapble input on your TV, this works great. It retails for $199.

It even excepts either Coax or Optical Digital audio, and cross converts both to dual outputs of Coax and Optical, so you can feed your A/V receiver on 1 input for simplicity.

S.K.

I called Cox yesterday, talked to a person in sales because the 'Change Existing Service' people had no clue.

The Discovery/ESPN bundle-for-a-year promotion is not being offered by Cox, it's part of a promotion currently being run at Nebraska Furniture Mart. They didn't have exact details, but this explains a lot.

Cox /does/ have a promotion where if you purchase both ESPN and Discovery, you can get a dollar off - so you only pay $8.95 or so for both.

Also, the reason my NETV1/NETV2 channels are showing 'this is a subscription service' is due to the fact that the channels aren't ready and on the air yet. Once they're ready, they'll be included as part of the digitial tier.

Ronald, I think my reciever may be the problem for ota 38. I would love to bring it over to see if it works with your antenna.

I also called cox and you can use just the digital box and get ota non scrambled channels 1-27 and it might work with out the motorola for 22.97 month. I am going to tray that as well.

Daryl

896-5411

darylrue,

Just keep in mind your digital box has to have a QAM tuner in it. Most boxes don't have this tuner yet.

S.K.

Has CBS been broadcasting their preseason NFL games in HD on KMTV and 10/11? Should be enjoyable watching the NFL games in hi-def this season.

Originally posted by PAULSTORM
Has CBS been broadcasting their preseason NFL games in HD on KMTV and 10/11? Should be enjoyable watching the NFL games in hi-def this season.

Yes. I've gotten spoiled already between these games and the ones on ESPN-HD (DirecTV).

The BestBuy in Omaha at 74th and Dodge has several Motorola DCT-5100's available for $499.

Aren't some of the cox base stations sent over outside of qam? the sirs-ts160 supports 18 formats plus 8-vsb. If they are qam, i am stuck, if the are not i think I have a shot.

ETA on ABC temp setup is mid december btw.

Daryl

Your tuner would tune NTSC basic Cox stations, but not the Hi Def stuff, that is sent over using QAM which is the type of modulation scheme used my most all cable companies. 8-VSB is for over the air broadcasts, they both will carry any of the 18 formats, QAM is just more efficient over a cable system than 8-VSB, and most cable systems digital cable systems are already set up to use QAM.

Steve K.-----------

Would one of these boxes with QAM do anything here in Lincoln?

Did you say earlier that some of the channels were free?

Do you think there's much chance Ch. 31 will go HD this year?

Thanks
Steve

Stevehex,

I've included a link to our website that I keep updated as stations come on line, etc. They also include a section on Satellite / Time Warner Cable stations.

http://www.schaeferstv.com/Updates/Digital_TV_Stations/Digital_Stations.htm

But to answer your question, KOLN-DT is QAM in the clear ch. 79.11, and PBS is ch. 104.7, but only TV's with QAM tuners will decode these channel numbers. Mits / Hitachi / New Sony Models / New Scenium/RCA models. Are all going to ship w/ QAM tuners this year. Toshiba and Panasonic will later this fall.

I don't expect that Ch. 31 will make it this fall, but maybe they are keeping it under raps.

Cable plans to put them on as soon as they go HD, but not until then.

Mitsubishi TV's w/ Tuners built in work fine, we're still in the testing stages on the Samsung SIRT351 Box.

Steve -- does TW have any of the local channels (KMTV, KOLN, etc) available in HD? I'm assuming some day if I got the urge I could subscribe to cable and plug their line into the "cable" input of my Zenith SAT-HD520?

Refer to my post above, I doubt the Zenith tuner has a QAM tuner in it.
The Cable input on your Zenith is most likely just an NTSC cable input for Cable Channel 2-125 on Analog cable.

Thanks Steve. I looked at your page (Schaefers) and see that TW appears to be offering PBS-HD on channel 112. You have KOLN-HD (CBS) listed as channel 111 but don't note that it's on TW. TW's page also doesn't show a channel 111 (but do show channel 112.)

So -- is channel 111 a placeholder for when TW adds it to their lineup and have you heard any rumors concerning a timeframe?

Thanks.

111 is on TW and I'll update our web page.

I'm sure their website isn't updated, because they just turned it on last Friday.

Keep in mind these are the HD Cable Box Channel number, and the QAM channel is also listed on the chart on our Site.

S.K.

Our site is updated:

http://www.schaeferstv.com/Updates/Digital_TV_Stations/Digital_Stations.htm

S.K.

Is NETV transmitting any HDTV programming on it's digital channels in Omaha or Lincoln?
Maybe I'm just hitting them at the wrong times or perhaps my ATSC decoder (Zenith 420) is improperly set up. HDTV programming on KMTV comes in just fine and before July 4 6 & 7 were good too but everything on 26 appears to be upconverted standard def material.
Am I missing something?

http://www.ptvdigital.org/dt2a_aug.html

http://www.pbs.org/digitaltv/dtvsched.htm

Look at these two sites to decipher if a program is HD or ED.

Then look here

http://mynptv.org/nptv/

to see when they are actually aired on NPTV.

Note that up to now NPTV has been cutting off the HD 12-05 around 10:00pm, just in time to not show Soundstage, an HD program. Here's to hoping they see the light.

REPOST
I'm upgrading to satellite TV. I have a Motorola HDD 200 HDTV decoder that is < 6 mos old, purchased at NFM for $499. Hook this up to your Cox digital cable box and get free high definition TV on KMTV, KETV and PBS. For a fee you can get HBO HD, SHO HD, ESPN HD and DISCOVERY HD too. I have original box, packing, instructions and warranty card (never filled in). Yours for only $300. Give me a PM thru AVS forum if interested. Thanks.

Originally posted by darylrue
I know of no one who has 43 or 38 in digital. But the engineers say it is working. I do not believe them and I will get to the bottom of it. See hdtvomaha@yahoogroups.com email list for further details. I have an antenna in sw omaha that receives every available digital channel except 38 and 43 of course. To sign up, email daryl.rue@cox.net. If you can prove me wrong i dare you.

I currently get both of those from the towers, the cache is that I live in gretna, so I am extremely close. Also on days, am able to pick up Lincoln too.

Hi Omaha,Lincoln hdtv fans. Only two weeks till Monday night football, its really going to be difficult to watch in analog, Its really a bummer that Klkn is not full power hdtv, they have been digital for a year, they should be full power hdtv now, but they are owned by Sinclair, not hdtv friendly, they say maybe in a Year? what bullsh** I wish Ketv and wowt could send a low power hdtv siginal from there studios. I wish the fcc would allow Directv/Dish to carry hdtv signals of the big 3 networks and be available to customers in cities that were not hdtv, that would really hurry the locals into upgrading to hdtv. htdv fan in Omaha.

I just had Cox installed today. I bought the new Motorola box from Furniture Mart as well. All of the channels come in great except ESPN HD ( I know its not actually HD this morning), and Showtime HD. Both channels pixelate every 4 or 5 seconds. HBO and Discovery come in great as well as CBS and ABC. Any ideas???? I have tried switching the output from 1080i to 720 p and that doesn't help. Is this a known issue with ESPN and Showtime or do I have a bad connection/box/??????

Reset your bax and call Cox to reset it from their end.

I have not had the pixelization on ESPN. Happened a few times during MNF last week though.

I was able to fix the problem by trying a few different coax cables. Now it works great. The ONLY problem i see now is that ESPN is significantly louder than the other channels. I am using an optical connection to my receiver and ESPN is about 2/3 louder than the other channels. I can live with that though.

Also, just an FYI for all of the potential buyers out there. Motorola does sell an extended service plan on the unit for a decent price ( I believe 59 for 3 years total). The plan offers replacement, not repair. I already bought the plan from NFM. Best Buy was asking 150 for a 4 year plan. So if you have to get the box at Best Buy, the Motorola plan seems like a good deal.

Thanks

Mike

Steve K,

How are those Samsung T351's working? Seems like the 151 is a little fickle from time to time. Are you getting good solid reception OTA?
I'm wondering if it's worth upgrading to the 351 so I can get the "in the clear" stuff.
Are the 351's on sale yet? I'd love to look at one.

The OTA seems solid. We use one on an entire line of TV's that gets watched everyday, so if it wasn't working well, I'd know about it. We are still working on the QAM portion. It seems that we may have been shipped some units that didn't have the QAM chip in them by mistake or something along those lines. We are working with Samsung to get these resolved. As soon as I get one working on the Cable system I'll post. I wonder if anyone in the Omaha area has tried this box on the Cox system?

Dave you can call me on monday at the store.

S.K.

On August 12th I emailed Mark Cuban about the possibility of having HDNet come to town and broadcast the Nebraska vs. Troy State game on October 4th. This seemed like the most logical game for them to do since there's a chance any of the other games have been or could be picked up by ABC, ESPN or Fox Sports. I received a reply stating that he would pursue it. He also encouraged me to tell everyone who's interested to contact the athletic department and tell them you want it on HDNet. Last week I finally got around to calling the athletic department and asked to speak to Steve Pederson but was only able to speak with Director of Athletic Administration Pat Logsdon. She had no idea what I was talking about so I did my best to explain what HDNet was and how they came to town last year and did the McNeese State game. I also told her that HDNet allowed HuskerVision to use the video feed for their HuskerNside internet broadcast (I was a subscriber) and in return HDNet used Kevin Kugler and Larry Punteney as play-by-play and color. If you're interested in this happening I would recommend contacting the athletic department at 402 472 3011. I also emailed Steve Pederson at steve@huskers.com but have heard nothing back.

Originally posted by darylrue
I know of no one who has 43 or 38 in digital. But the engineers say it is working. I do not believe them and I will get to the bottom of it. See hdtvomaha@yahoogroups.com email list for further details. I have an antenna in sw omaha that receives every available digital channel except 38 and 43 of course. To sign up, email daryl.rue@cox.net. If you can prove me wrong i dare you.

I sent an e-mail to KPTM last week and got a nice response from Rick Graham, engineer. He basically said what's been repeated here -- that the KXVO/KPTM -DT antennas are halfway between Omaha and Lincoln; on the same towers as the analog transmitters.

Due to that location, they have to focus all transmit power towards Omaha to meet FCC requirements (City of License.)

The -DT antennas put no signal over Lincoln. Any reception anyone in Lincoln may be lucky enough to receive is the result of reflections off buildings or terrain.

Quote: "As we build our full-power DTV transmitters, we will be placing digital signals over Lincoln, replicating our analog coverage area. At this time, I am unable to project when that will take place."

So it sounds like I'll just have to be patient. I appreciated the response "straight from the horse's mouth," so to speak. This info allowed me to finish up my antenna configuration knowing that I was getting the best reception/options for the time being.

Any one in Omaha receiving Kptm-dt? I can receive Kxvo no problem but not Kptm, are these stations on the same tower, same power? Thanks Hdtv fan in Omaha without Abc-dt,Nbc-dt :(

Hello,
I sent Steve Pederson an email asking about HDNet doing a Nebraska game or Two.
Just to let you know that I can get your cbs station when tropo ducting is good to me and if it is really good I can get Lincoln station and to let you know I live in Dakota City NE. I can get Sioux falls CBS, ABC and Sioux City NBC all in HD

Those of you with Samsung boxes might be interested to know that if you encounter two stations on the same channel re-mapping, both will still be available.
Last week I picked up channel 13 in Kearney and 13 in Sioux Falls. Both I believe also share the same digital channel, so that didn't goof it up.
This morning as I was flipping through the memorized channels, I noticed that when I came across 13-1, I would get 13-1 again after hitting "up" for the next memorized channel.
So, I flipped back, checked the "info", and sure enough, one of the 13-1's was KSFY-DT and the other was KHGI-DT.
Poor planning could have created a trainwreck, but apparently somebody at samsung considered this scenario.
Also, when KGIN 32-DT (remapped to 11-1) goes off the air, I am sometimes able to get KELO 32-DT (also 11-1) from Sioux Falls. When KGIN returns to the air, the box doesn't hesistate to change it's brain, so to speak, back to the KGIN info and programming.

Digital DXing is going to require some different approaches. With analog, we're used to tuning in a channel, and finding an hint of a signal.

Does anybody know if there's a program that will do something simliar to what antennaweb.org does, when it plots out the compass points relating to tower location? It would be nice to pinpoint some of the more distant channels with my new rotor that does a pretty accurate job of locking into the number related to the compass degree.

Originally posted by boardmanDJ

Does anybody know if there's a program that will do something simliar to what antennaweb.org does, when it plots out the compass points relating to tower location? It would be nice to pinpoint some of the more distant channels with my new rotor that does a pretty accurate job of locking into the number related to the compass degree.

boardmanDJ

Go to this website http://www.dxfm.com/Content/spreadsheet_info.htm and download the US Analog and US DTV excel files he has provided. This is exactly what you are looking for.

Dave at nebraska radio,

Please explain your setup rotor. You can program the degrees in an it moves to it? Now that would be good. Do you have to rescan the channels each time you want to change the channel?

I just bought a samsung 351 so I will try it on Cox.

43 requires a 42 filter. I am checking into these. If you are interested in one, let me know or email hdtvomaha@yahoogroups.com . I will need to give the company a count after the get a configuration and a quote.

Daryl

This looks exactly like what I'm looking for!

The channel master antenna rotor I have came with the remote control unit with an LED readout (0-360). It appears that the numbers correspond with compass angles. For example, if an antenna were installed directly north, you would punch in 000, and if it were south, you would punch in 180.
I had to hit a SYNC switch when setting it all up, and made sure my antenna was pointed the correct direction.
So far, it appears I am reasonably on target, but there is much leeway with local stations, of course. For example, a station with a good signal, that is at 270 degrees may come in at any number between 250 and 310.
I wanted to try this on some distant signals, like the rare occasions I get Sioux Falls, SD or Kearney, NE. Those stations would require a much narrower number range.
With the above link, it looks like I can punch in the lattitude and longitude of my house, and get the approximate 3 digit number I need to punch in. Chances are it won't be right on, but at least I will be able to see if I'm consistently 10 degrees off.
That way if I want to try St Joseph, KC, Sioux City, I can punch in their number and adjust my number by 10 degrees.

I suspect over time and Nebraska Wind, the numbers will drift a bit.

At this point, my receiver doens't have trouble finding stations, so no rescan is necessary.

darylrue

I'd be interested to know if the 351 works on Cox. We've determined that possibly some early model 351's infact do not have a QAM tuner in them. We are working with Samsung to figure out the situation. Look in your owner's manual pertaining to the Cable/ANT input. See if the words have been taped over indicating that this tuner will ony work with 8VSB over cable systems, or if it claims that it will do QAM Clear Cable.

I'll keep everyone posted on my progess with Samsung.

Originally posted by boardmanDJ
Those of you with Samsung boxes might be interested to know that if you encounter two stations on the same channel re-mapping, both will still be available.
Last week I picked up channel 13 in Kearney and 13 in Sioux Falls. Both I believe also share the same digital channel, so that didn't goof it up.
This morning as I was flipping through the memorized channels, I noticed that when I came across 13-1, I would get 13-1 again after hitting "up" for the next memorized channel.
So, I flipped back, checked the "info", and sure enough, one of the 13-1's was KSFY-DT and the other was KHGI-DT.

Just FYI, the Zenith SAT-HD520 DirecTV/OTA receiver also has this function.

Can anybody give us the latest into on the KETV/WOWT situation? Any news about the cause of the tower accident? Any final report? Have we started planning a rebuild yet? Anything? :)

-- Robert

Robert, Wowt is waiting on made to order parts, last I heard is maybe late Oct or Nov.Ketv has made little or no comment since the accident, I heard right after the accident at least 1 year, which really is a bummer for us Omaha/Lincoln hdtv fans that have Ota digital receivers and Directv/Ota,Dish/Ota, most of us cannot spend 500.00 on a Cox Comm Hdtv receiver and then subscribe to there digital service to receive Ketv-hd Monday night footall in hd starts in a little over a week. Also I wish Directv had the big 3 networks in Hd and be available to customers in markets where there is no ota hdtv signal .

Hi everyone. I've been lurking in here for about a week. I work at NFM and I can't believe it's taken me this long to find this forum. From everything that I've read so far, this forum is more educational than any training I've had at NFM, with the exception of Mitsubishi and the Motorola engineer (in re: 5100 cable box). This is the most valuable resource I have as a salesperson. Unfortunately, we're more geared towards high voume sales than technical training, so whatever I do on my own is what I get.

Thanks a lot for everything you've posted so far, and for future posts.

Doug

P.S. I'm watching POD-HOST technical info right now, so look out for these TV's starting next year. This will be an integrated HDTV standard that will allow you to simply insert a card (like a satellite card) into your tv, and receive all HD channels (including scrambled channels)

Doug:

Any info on when NFM might carry / upgrade to the Motorola 6200 and/or the 6208 ?

Thanks

Zabo

It's not our call to upgrade the box. We only sell it for Cox. When we had our training session with Motorola, the engineer basically said don't hold your breath on this box. We've (NFM) been waiting for the 5100 since last fall, so if that tells you anything...

On another thread I'm watching, here's what a guy said...

"I spoke with a broadband rep from Motorola yesterday and asked her about the new DCT6200 & 6208 series.

On the DCT6200 series. She stated that Motorola has the model in
production, but will not release it for consumer sale until market research
is complete indicating to them that people want a DVR (digital video
recorder) built in. She also stated that they are working with every cable
company to see if this system will work with their system's prior to
release. I asked if it could be another year, she stated..."its hard to
say"


Doug

Doug:

Thanks for the reply. I realize that its not your call, but since I can never get any good information from Cox, I figured I would ask and see if you had any inside info.

I am hesitant to spend the $500 on the 5100, given all that I have read about pq problems viewing non-hd channels and given that Motorola has a new version (6200) already in production, and even available in some parts of the country (see Comcast posts). I am not looking for PVR, I just want a high-quality, trouble-free box, and I would prefer to buy the latest and greatest product if I am going to spend this much. My understanding is the 6200 has a faster processor and, possibly, improved pq on non-hd stuff.

With my luck, I would purchase the 5100 only to have Cox decide to offer the 6200 within a short time. I wish Cox would rent the box instead of making us buy them!

I would be interested to hear anyone else's comments regarding their experience with the Moto 5100 and Cox Cable here in Omaha.

Thanks,

Zabo,

Based on my experience with technology the 5100 is a good buy right now for the following reasons:

1) When a company says something will be out in 6 months that is technology gobbly goop for 1-2 years. ie: Replay TV ( I waited an extra 6 months for this)

2) Comcast customers have already been using the 5100 with good success so I think the kinks would be worked out by now.

3) There will always be the next best, greatest, awesome, cool thing on the horizon and sometimes you have to say "What the F---" (I loved that movie)

---(6200) already in production, and even available in some parts of the country (see Comcast posts).

From what I've read the 6200 isn't available anywhere yet.

So, in conclusion, you probably will get at least a year out of it until something else comes along. Is $499 worth it? I dunno. You gotta answer that question. hth
Good Luck
3 more days till the Huskers Kick A--
I just realized that I have quite a potty mouth :)

Zabo, I've been very unimpressed with Cox Cable myself, especially when I call in to get people hooked up on digital cable. Up until the last 2-3 weeks, I was lucky to find maybe 5 people in that organization who knew crap about HDTV.

For example, one of my colleagues sold a Cox executive (?) a Mitsubishi Diamond series RPTV w/ a QAM and ATSC tuner. When he had it delivered, he had some of his "boys" come and install it and set up HDTV. The installers told him to take it back because it was broken. He called back to the Mart, talked to his salesperson and had it working that night. Not trying to brag or anything, just relaying an experience.

If the people inside the organization don't know enough to talk about it and install it, how do you think the (mostly uninformed or misinformed) public feels?

I have to tell people every single day that they won't get HDTV with just their 32" or 36" HD Monitor.

Doug

I just received my t351 samsung. I called samsung tech support and the guy said that you need a digital tuner in conjuction with the box to pick up the cable hdtv qam. I think he was nuts. Maybe he meant the decryped qam, perhaps a standard digital tuner does transfer the qam signal through the coax 480i output.

Another guy at samsung said that the qam support is built into all units, but they blacked out the wording because it works in some and not in others.

I have to send mine in because it is not picking up anything the way it is. I wonder if the samsung will just pick up the unscrambled locals as it sits, and then with the digital converter it can do them all (if it is compatible with the cox cable system)

All this trouble just for digital abc. Bummer.

Daryl

daryl.rue@cox.net
402-290-8846 cell.

For you tennis fans, the US Open coverage is in HD today.

Only one of the courts in today's coverage has the HD cameras. Matches covered on the other courts will be in standard def.

Mike

Will all the CBS NFL games be in hi-def? I watched a pre-season game last Fri on 10/11 and it didn't look hi def.

Thanks for the info.

I'm watching the U.S. Open right now but am experiencing picture and sound dropouts ever couple of minutes with the Cox setup. They supposedly fixed my system by boosting my signal, but on 805 I'm still experiencing problems. The other channels seem ok (except for the ESPN stutter problem).

Only a few of the NFL games will have the HD remote trucks. We will carry the HD games only if we are designated by CBS to carry that particular game. CBS schedules the game coverage by region and local interest. The station doesn't have a whole lot of say in the matter.

I checked with the master control operator, at the station, and the US Open coverage on our Cox HD feed has been steady and trouble free.

Did anybody see the SEC football game last night in HD on Ch 805? Was it in HD? How did it look?

I'm no fan of tennis, by the way, but I thought it looked really good yesterday

Doug

Doug, I believe the SEC game on Sat night night was not in Hd, Cbs has made no announcement on Hd college football this season. Nfl fans, the Chiefs are scheduled to be in Hd this Sunday on CBS. Ronald Hdtv fan in Omaha without ABC-HD,WOWT-HD:(

I need some help and/or ideas from those of you who have HDTV through Cox. For six months my HDTV was wonderful and then about a month ago it went all to heck. All the channels on HDTV would break up terribly. I called Cox and they set up an appointment. The tech who came over decided I needed an amplifier to boost my signal. This has worked great on all channels except for KMTV, 805. This channel will be fine for a few minutes and then the picture and sound will go off and come back on. I am very frustrated as 805 is the main channel we watch (my wife is a huge fan of C.S.I.). I appreciate any advice any of you can give me.

Odd, all my droupout problems have gone away recently..

(I'm at about 150th and Dodge)

Just thought I'd post something about KPTM here. I just installed an external antenna, and KXVO comes in 100%, and I can't get squat for a signal from KPTM. Supposedly, they are situated together, cranking out the same amount of power. But I sure as hell can't seem to receive them.

Mike

PS. This is at 96th and Harrison in Omaha

you need a channel 42 blocker as the signal is overpowering the lower powered 43. I am working on getting one custom made for anyone who is interested.

Daryl

How about USAs HD coverage of the US open, is Cox carrying it on another channel???? Did they do that with the Masters??

Mike

Daryl, yes, I'd be interested in one.

Thanks!

Mike

I'm really going to miss watching Monday night football in Hd tonight. :( Has anyone heard who was at fault in Ketv's tower accident?If it was the crew working on upgrades? there company should be held responsible and should pay for a temporary ota hd solution!!!!

Well, according to our in store Cox cable rep, they will start leasing the new 6200 for between $6 and $10 a month. There was no info as to the 6208. This will start in early to mid October, with an NFM in-store promotion on Oct 11th and another one on Nov 23rd. These are tentative dates, and are subject to change, as is the information about the 6200. That's the latest as of today.

We also learned that NBC has allegedly finally signed their contract, so you might start to see NBC-HD sometime soon. Good news on that front!

That's about all I can tell you right now.

Doug

Great news about the 6200 and NBC Doug, thanks!

For those of you on Cox with the Motorola 5100 HDTV converter, I have some tips if you are having reception problems. If you are having audio dropouts or intermittent pixelization on some channels, try not only boosting the signal with an amplifier (use a bi-directional amp) but also try cutting the signal a bit with a splitter. I had trouble with 805 (KMTV), 812 (NTV) and 875 (SHO) until I dropped the signal 3 dB thru a splitter. I was running my feed directly from the amplifier, but the signal must have been too hot. Now my reception is perfect on all seven channels. Can't wait for NBC to come online.

mooneycj

Hello, Omaha,Lincoln Hdtv fans, its been over two months since the Ketv tower accident and we have heard little about what caused the tower collapse, and second why is there no info on a solution? with Monday night football starting and the new fall lineup. Omaha deserves better!!!!!

Ronald, accidents do happen.

How long do you think is a reasonable time to order a complete 2,000 ft tower and have it delivered? How long should it take to build a building to house the broadcasting equipment? How long should it take to do a complete engineering study of the collapsed structure?

How long should it take?

Since the WTC collapse people in NYC haven't had HDTV. You are not alone.

As one who has been in the broadcast field delays are not surprising. Just wait until the FCC actually has to approve the new scheme!
I would imagine an investigation is taking place right now, and when that occurs there is usually a 'silent' period until an official cause can be determined. 90 days is not all that long to those involved. Those of us sitting on the sidelines...it's an eternity!
Keep in mind you are dealing with a corporation. They have more than one station to manage, and they have their own priority on this. I'm sure this is at the top, or a close second to whatever might be happening elsewhere. It's not beneficial to have a large station, which generates a nice pile of revenue for your company, to be in a 'backup/auxilary' situation. Especially since they are using an older transmitter. If that things blows up, then who knows how long it might take to return a signal.
Based on the efforts put forth prior to the disaster, I am confident that this rebuild will be done with the utmost professionalism.
They were no doubt insured for this sort of thing, to recoup a portion of the costs of rebuilding, so I think all we can do for now is bite our nails and wait for beautiful pictures.
The timeline was 9 months to a year, depending on which report you listened to. Also remember there are 3 other towers in the area that must be worked around. It's nice the engineers in Omaha seem to all be on good terms. All you need is one stick in the mud to goof things up.
Even putting up a temporary broadcast of HDTV would not be easy. With radio. you pullout a 50 watt transmitter and plug your audio in. TV is much more complicated, and chances are, the transmitting equipment had to be specially set for whatever KETV was using up on the tower. It might not be considered cost effective to the company to redesign a temporary set up.
Once it's all back up, I bet it's top notch. Brand new tower, brand new antenna, etc. Life will be good.

I'm not asking for a new tower!!!!There are existing towers to rent space from!!!!!I realize accidents to happen, but most of us have to pay for our accidents (example #1 I'm in a traffic accident, maybe I will tell my insurance agent to wait 1 year to fix the car I hit) not going to happen! I want my hdtv back!!!!If Ketv would have left things the way they were!!! we would all have abc/nbc Hdtv right now!!!!No excuses

Ronald, you do realize that the DTV transmitter was on-site in the building that was damaged, you don't just move a DTV transmitter overnight.

I'm sure when Warren gets a chance to get up and online, he'll do so, but its going to be quite some time.

There is always COX.

By the way, from what I've been reading, here are the differences between the DCT5100 and the 6200...

The 6200 will have a faster processor, for changing channels and accessing menu functions.

It will also have both a DVI connector and a firewire connector.

But of course this is all speculation, as is most of what I say. :)

Doug

Has anyone else been able to confirm that Cox is going to rent the boxes??? I purchased a 5100 , but it is so slow changing channels that I was thinking of taking it back anyway. I may just take it back and wait to rent the new box. That is exactly why I was hesitant of buying the box.

Mike

If KETV would have 'left things the way they were', they would have never had HDTV, in full power. I'm sure sitting in Omaha, it's easy to think that 17 watts is enough power. Unfortuantely, KETV is mandated by the FCC to get to full power. This was done by buying a very nice antenna to install, to give all of their coverage area a nice signal. Any upgrade would have required tower work, which would have been as equally risky.
This problem is much more detailed than a fender bender.
You must also realize that while there are backup transmitters and towers that can get a TV station back on the air in a short time, that this is not the case with digital. This is a new technology, and there aren't digital transmitters just lying around. In fact, most that are in production right now are for stations which are also upgrading their facilities.
You can't just pull an old antenna out of the closet and hook a transmitter into it.

Dave, Ketv was not required to be full power now. Living in Lincoln you should know all about Low powered, no hd signal in Klkn, if this station was proactive like Omaha's stations, we could just tune in Klkn for Abc hd programming but no, they are owned by Sinclair, which basically means no hd til the fcc makes them.

Ronald, there is more to life than HDTV. I think you are so wrapped up in the setback we have suffered your priorities are askew. Rent some DVDs, watch KMTV-DT, get COX DTV. Do something with your HDTV besides stewing over 6 and 7's misfortune. We all feel the void, but honestly ranting about the lack of HD signal is rather pointless. And it does get old.

I can see if Warren and Jay would rather not participate here. Where would be the joy for them?

And, from what I can find out, Sinclair doesn't own KLKN.

http://www.sbgi.net/business/television.shtml

KLKN is owned by citadel

The paperwork has been signed, and I am delivering a digital stream to COX. I do not have confirmation as to when they will light the pipe on their end. I don't even have the digital cable box or the HD decoder yet so I will rely on you to tell me when we are on.

I'm in the process of finalizing the order for our tower modifications. If the time frame is still on schedule, the crew should arrive in mid October. The tower falling in Huntsville Alabama last week might impact this date. SpectraSite lost 3 men in that unfortunate incident. HDTV is becoming a dangerous transition.

Jay
WOWT

With the number of tower accidents recently, I would rather see things done in a timely manner, carefully, than rushed.

Mr Gpflepsen, I stand corrected, Klkn is owned by Citidal. Secondly I have a life!!! personal attacks are really not needed on this board!!! I just call things the way I see them!!!!They are comments, not rants!!!!! Lastly I have thanked Warren and Jay many times on this board!I have invested alot of money in my hd equipment and its not compatible with Cox, and with Cox in order to get hd/locals you need to subscribe to full digital!!!!I have Directv programming, so in order to get Wowt/Ketv locals in Hd I would have to pay 500.00 for a receiver and 45 or 50 dollars for two stations, not vary cost effective.

I decided to call Cox and ask what minimum package is needed to get the hd locals, to my surprise all that is needed is first tier of analog channels 1-27 and first tier of digital gateway, since I already have Cox high speed Internet and the first tier of analog 1-27 my month bill only increased around 6 dollars, of course I have to buy the Motorola 5100 for 489.00 at NFM, I decided to buy the box and within 1 hour, I have the Cox Hd locals!!!they looked great.

Ronald, as previously posted, Cox may start to lease the boxes soon. This has not been confirmed yet, but that may be an even better option for you. I hope they do start renting the boxes for someone like me who never lives in the same town for more than a few years it makes more sense.

Ronald,

That's good news (cheaper than I thought), however it's still too bad you have to subscribe to the basic analog package. As a Cox.net subscriber I'd rent a box from Cox in a heart beat if the only programming requirement was the first tier digital gateway, currently I receive all my programming from Dish and OTA, I've no desire to return to Cox analog. Maybe Cox will restructure after the digital gateway starts to hit critical mass.

John

This is good news. I was about to go pick up a 5100 at NFM bu I'll wait until October now and go with the 6200. I would have been pretty irritated.

Is anyone else experiencing audio drops on KMTV? I just recently upgraded to a HD monitor and Samsung T160 box, and I have a 77% signal strength (Fremont). All D* HD channels seem fine and non-HD channels from cable, dish and antenna do not seem to have the problem -- just KMTV HD. Unfortunately, that is the only HD OTA I can pull right now.

Thanks!

What is digital gateway?

Daryl

Daryl,

My understanding of Cox's digital gateway is that it's similar to a local IP gateway in that it connects your local neighborhood LAN to the internet or in this case to the Cox digital network. In order for your digital STB to have programming enabled Cox will send out an enable key in the digital stream, it reaches your STB via your neighborhoods local digital gateway.

Like I said, "My understanding" I'm showing my ignorance here, if I'm off by a large margin I'd appreciate it if those of you in the know would please keep your flame torches on low when responding to this tripe. ;)

Regards,

John

I E-mailed Cox comm regarding Wowt-hd and I had heard they had signed a contract with Wowt and when I could expect this to be added? I received a E-mail back and they said no contract signed and have no idea when this would happen? Anyone with info?

Ronald

See Jay's post from 9/8. I would not pay much attention to Cox's customer support response - Cox is notorious for not having correct information. Jay is notorious for giving timely and correct information. Enough said.

Zab

Lincoln folks who have Time Warner can now find IN Demand HD (Pay Per View) on channel 991 using a Time Warner box. No idea what the OTA box channel might be for those who can get cable 'in the clear'.

The feed appears to be unscrambled at the moment. (TW is GREAT at teasing us to get hooked!)

Is anyone receiving WOWT-HD from Cox? I talked to Doug at NFM and he said that it wasn't working on Cox's recievers, but that other QAM receivers were getting it. Can anyone confirm this?

Originally posted by WOWT
The paperwork has been signed, and I am delivering a digital stream to COX. I do not have confirmation as to when they will light the pipe on their end. I don't even have the digital cable box or the HD decoder yet so I will rely on you to tell me when we are on.

[snip]

Jay
WOWT

Just thought I would post this link to the KETV website. It talks a little about what is happening.

http://www.theomahachannel.com/ketv7/2475818/detail.html

Thanks for the info on Ketv, I would recommend Cox Hd/locals for anyone in the Omaha area,since it sounds like Ketv is at least 1 year or so before they are broascasting ota/hd. Hopefully Cox will uplink Wowt/hd soon? and offer Hd In demand 1 & 2.

WOWT is on channel 808 on Cox right now here in sunny downtown (not really) Ralston NE. Woohoo! <sarcasm> Whoopi in HD! </sarcasm>

Seriously, thanks Cox and WOWT for getting this going! I'm happy for today.

Tomorrow, I start bugging Cox about HDNet or HDID. :)

Jeff

Yes Yes Yes Wowt/ hd is up and running on Cox!!!!!now we need In demand 1 & 2.

Has anyone else been able to confirm that Cox is going to rent the new motorola box??? I am seriously considering returning the box i bought 8/19/03. It seems slow to change channels especially the HBO and Cinemax channels. I will wait a month or so I guess and see what happens.

WOWT-DT is awesome. Caught me by surprise last night..

First time seeing Leno this way.. Ahh.. Makes the show /that/ much better.

I /did/ notice, tho, that the audio seemed a bit out of sync during that show.. Anyone else notice this?

Noww.... Almost there!!! FOX Digital would be the next one I would like... Even though they don't do HD, 16:9 football is much better than 4:3

A friend has a Mits with integrated QAM tuner. KMTV-HD is 107.01, KETV-HD is 108.01 and NETV-HD is 107.02. Does anyone know the QAM channel number for WOWT-HD?

Originally posted by omahahdlvr
Has anyone else been able to confirm that Cox is going to rent the new motorola box??? I am seriously considering returning the box i bought 8/19/03. It seems slow to change channels especially the HBO and Cinemax channels. I will wait a month or so I guess and see what happens.

I'm also curious about this one...... I'm holding off for a few weeks just to see if they get the 6200 in at NFM. The wait is killing me though!

I received a voice mail from Cox stating we were now on the system. Since they have yet to deliver the set-top box to the station, I cannot verify if this is correct. Any input from viewers would be greatly appreciated.

Jay

Jay,

Any word on a date for resumption of WOWT-DT broadcasts?

Regards,

John

According to an article in today's World Herald, WOWT's antenna will NOT need to come down for repairs! They will start repairs in October and hope to have OTA HDTV by mid-December. This is good news, fer sure!

Mike

Jay,

You are there on channel 808 on Cox, and the signal looked really good last night. There were a few slight dropouts and audio sync issues, but those might just be local to me.

It's great to have WOWT-HD back!

Jeff

P.S. Just out of curiousity, how do you deliver your HD signal to Cox? Fiber, DS3, microwave, carrier pigeon, what?

We send the signal straight out of the HD encoder directly into a dedicated fiber to the Cox headend.

Jay

Hey WOWT,

When you get your HD signal broadcasting again, at what percentage of full power will you be broadcasting? I live in Kearney and had been receiving your signal this summer on occasion when it was on. KMTV's comes in on occastion now.

We will increase our power from 2.5% to 10% of the FCC allocated level.

Jay

Just got off the phone w/ Cox because I'm just about ready to jump over that fence like many of the rest of you who are missing KETV and WOWT OTA. I don't know how much trust I should put in what I heard on the phone w/ them, but the Cox phone rep. said that "Cox has no intentions of buying any HDTV tuners that would be available for rental. You can purchase the HDTV equipment at NFM and Best Buy."

I would really like to wait for the 6200, but at the same time I have no idea how long it could be until it becomes available for our market. That leaves me still straddling the fence waiting for some more news to tip me one way or the other...

I talked to Zach at NFM today to see if they had heard anything on the 6200 and he told me it would be winter before they got them in. I wish Doug had been around. Hopefully he'll catch this and confirm a realistic date for us.

Here's the QAM channels i found on Cox:

85.03 - Starz Theater
101.07 - Sports Classics
107.01 - CBS
107.02 - NETV
108.01 - ABC
108.02 - NBC

For everyone waiting on the Motorola's 6200, I would just buy the 5100, its works great!! and you can enjoy hdtv now. also I wonder if I could send a bill to the tower company for the cost of my hd receiver? Rumor has it that one of there temporary guides failed causing the tower to collapse.

Anyone tried cox using the SIR-TS351 Samsung QAM tuner yet? Mine is still being repaired.

Daryl

pigbat, I'm waiting until early to mid October before I say anything else about the 6200. I'm almost regretting even repeating what the Cox rep told me. Based on past experience, I'll be optimistic enough to be happy if we see the 6200 by October, but I'll be pessimistic enough to say it wouldn't surprise me if it's not available until early next year.

Video, thanks for those QAM channel listings too.

Sorry for the late reply, I was on vacation all last week.

Doug

No worries doug, we appreciate any info you can give us. I'm thinking about going ahead and getting the 5100 just to enjoy the rest of the football season.

When browsing Ebay, it seems that these OTA tuners have an excellent resale value. There are enough people looking for them that you can recoup at least half of not 3/4ths of your investment of the old box, when selling it off to get a new one.
Obviously, as the market saturates they will have less value. I can now get a Samsung box for $100 less than I paid several months ago. The key would be to sell the old box right away, as soon as you upgrade, before everyone realizes the new box is available and wants it, instead of last years model.

Oh WTF.. KETV is sending a standard 4:3 signal to Cox for the monday night football game.. I just called cox, now it's on to ketv

Last Friday, Telstar4 lost it's main power buss. We had to move our backup
CBS dish to another bird.
Warren, in a conversation with me today, said that he gets his HD programming from that satellite.
When a satellite fails, it takes a while to get everything moved to other satellite transponders.

Originally posted by boardmanDJ
Lincoln folks who have Time Warner can now find IN Demand HD (Pay Per View) on channel 991 using a Time Warner box. No idea what the OTA box channel might be for those who can get cable 'in the clear'.

The feed appears to be unscrambled at the moment. (TW is GREAT at teasing us to get hooked!)

INHD2 is also available on channel 992. Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think INHD & INHD2 are going to be PPV channels. I think they will be available all of the time.

I would suspect they will eventually become part of a "HDTV Tier" along with DiscoveryHD and ESPN-HD. Right now they are getting us hooked, so we will fork over the extra $4.95 or $9.95 per month.
At this point it looks like they are just showing the flashy pictures, but nothing I'd pay extra for.

In Demand Hd also carries Major League baseball, I wish Cox in Omaha would add this service ASAP!!!

Anyone getting Frasier in Hd on Cox????I'm not ?

Is NBC have HD issues. For the last couple of nights shows that were to be broadcast in HD were not.???
Thanks

One of the big birds in the sky went kaput last Friday. Telstar 4, put up in the sky in 1995 was shut down. I know ABC and CBS had some stuff on there, along with some...specialty programming

The first day that I found out I had NBC HD I watched Leno in HD. Since that first night, I have noticed that none of the NBC prime time is shown in HD. Specifically, I checked out West Wing last week (last season's final show) and it was 4:3 and not HD. I think that it should be in HD tonight and ER should be in HD tomorrow. I will let you know if it work or not.

I thought about calling COX, but when I called them for help last week, they did not even know that they had NBC on their cable system.

Let me know if anyone can get West Wing (Left Wing) in HD tonight.

Thanks
Matt

I have just started on the HDTV path. I am able to get CBS and PBS in Papillion OTA. Is that all I should expect to get at this time? There seem to be very few posts saying that they get Fox or KXVO. I understand that ABC and NBC are down for a while. Thanks for any guidence on this issue.

Video,

I believe that West Wing is shot in HDTV, but that NBC only airs the SD version. Something about NBC being unwilling to pay for the HD version. I did see the last couple of minutes of Ed, and it was in HD. I would guess that L&O was in HD as well.

Jeff

rjk9,

Before I got rid of my OTA receiver, I was only able to get CBS and PBS as well, and I'm in Ralston (90th & Harrison). I'm not sure what you need to have to get Fox or WB, but I didn't ever have any success myself. Probably an external antenna on a mast would help.

Jeff

I've been able to get KXVO in digital, but nothing HD. No go on KPTM, apparently because their digital signal is broadcast one channel away from their analog signal. The analog signal basically wipes out the digital signal, so I'm thinking some sort of a notch filter may be required to get KPTM digitally. There is a forum member who is looking into this (daryl, I believe), and not sure if any progress has been made. This is from 96th and Harrison in Omaha, using a Silver Sensor indoor antenna pointed SW from a window. I get KOLN in Lincoln great, too, but it is also CBS.

Mike

Mroot,

I found out that the 42 filter is going to be hundreds of dollars so I am giving up on it unil next year and hoping that KPTM increases power by then. Apparently there is some government target initiatives to attempt a mandate of more power and useabality of the stations digital signals. How sensitive is the silver sensor on channel 38 kxvo, does it have to be pointed exactly in the right direction? I think my reciever has to have a glitch because I have tried everything and am never able to pick up kxvo. sir-ts160 samsung is what I have now, and I have a sir=t135 coming soon.

daryl

Left Wing was in HD last night on NBC. I reset my cable box and my HD box and it came in fine. Don't watch Ed, but L&O was in HD as well. In fact, the NBC web site lists all of the shows that will be braodcast in HD.

Well holy cow. NBC must have paid for HD West Wing this year. Last season was all SD, including the reruns up to the premiere last night. This is good!

Hey, I'm in Bellevue, Nebraska and was wondering what would be a good hi-def STB to purchase for Cox cable

MotoRacer, the only choice you currently have is the Motorola DCT-5100, see all previous posts in re

On the other hand, if you don't care about scrambled channels like HBO, Showtime, Discovery, ESPN, then look into the Samsung 351 tuner.

Doug

MotoRacer,

I would guess that you can still add a HDD-200 or HDD-201 to a digital cable box as well. The cost of the HDD-201 is probably going to be lower ($300 or so) but it might pay to go with the 5100 now so that you don't have to pay extra to rent the digital cable box. For those that aren't familiar with the HDD-20X series, it's a sidecar for the digital boxes that Cox uses. It connects to the back of the cable box via a small cable, then to your HD set with component connections. If you want to go that direction, let me know and I'll dig up the Canadian source that I used to get the HDD-201.

Jeff

Motoracer I have been talking to one of my inside people at Cox and I have heard that they probably will be renting the 6200 box starting sometime next month. If I hear an actual date I will let everyone know.

sounds good to all of us here, let's hope the information from Cox is accurate this time

Sorry, but we will be shutting down the HD transmitter early tonight at 8PM.

We have to move a high voltage regulator and for safety reasons the transmitter has to be shut down.

Project SHOULD be completed tonight.

KPTM!!!!

Decided to check my signals this morning, and lo and behold, I am now getting KPTMs digital signal!!! Coming in pretty decently, right up there with KXVO...reads about 85-90% on my Hughes E86 with a Silver Sensor pointing towards my window in the south. This is the first time I've seen them digitally, so I'm not sure if they boosted power or what.

Mike

96th and Harrison in Omaha

For those of you that already have HD in omaha:

Which is better, OTA or Cox Cable?

(I realize with the current tower situation, OTA is missing some channels)

I am not neccessarily interested in HBO/etc - just want to see the networks in HD..

Is Cox generally more reliable than OTA? And how much is it gonna cost me to get setup with Cox?

I can really only speak to you about Cox costs. You must subscribe to cox basic and cox digital. The digital is an additional $14.95/month. Then to get HD through cox you'll need to go down to NFM and pick up a Motorola DCT5100 @ $489. At that point you're in for the basic HD stuff. If you want to add their expanded HD package (ESPN and Discovery HD) it's another $6.95. HBO and Showtime are $9.99 each.

One thing to to add to what pigbat describes for Cox. If your TV is an HDTV television (with the QAM tuner built in). You do not need to buy the Motorola to get ABC, CBS and NBC. Just order Cox Digital and connect your coax wire directly to your digital tuner on your TV. Rock on.

In regards to the DCT 6200, I will have more information towards the end of this week. Cox gave a press release last week, I believe it was Wednesday. It might be on their website, I haven't checked yet.

Doug

P.S. Evilpete, the HD Channels look fantastic, I don't know if you've seen any yet or not, but tonight's NFL game looks incredible.

Are you saying that Evilpete aired MNF or was that two seperate comments?

Daryl

I hope the 6200 is a solid box. I have been looking forward to HDTV for sometime.

Thanks everyone for your update on Cox, as I think we all know getting information out of their customer service reps can be difficult, probably because they just don't know. Anyway, thanks for keeping us in the loop.

Cox is now leasing the 6200 box for 9.95 a month. They just started this today.

Is this directly through Cox or do we go to NFM to rent the box ?

Thanks,

Cox has added INHD 1 and 2. I just noticed today.

This is directly through Cox.

I just called Cox and yes they have the 6200's in. Glad I waited on the 5100's. Should have plenty at front desk. All you need is the general cox cable, the 1st tier of digital gateway ($4.45) and the 6200 ($9.95) He is still stating that ESPN/Discovery cost $8.95. So once again I would take all this info with a grain of salt. I'm thinkin' they'll have some sort of introductory special to get HD going in Omaha. All I know is that I am heading over to Cox to get my HDTV!

The Motorola website lists both firewire and dvi in the specs for the 6200. Can anyone confirm this???? I am at 38 days since purchasing my 5100. I am going to try to take it back to NFM. It does make me mad that both Cox and NFM both said that Cox had no intention to rent the boxes. It had to have been known when I bought the box. Heck it took them 6 months to finally get the 5100 from when they said initially they were going to sell it. I will raise heck if they do not refund my money or at least give me store credit. I guess I can go ahead and sell my OTA, and Directv boxes now, so if anyone is interested in a less than 1 year old samsung t151 OTA tuner or a samsung t165 directv tuner send me a private message.

Well, I will be picking mine up today, hopefully hooking it up today as well. The only thing that I question is why it is 9.95, I think in Baton Rouge it is only 6.95, oh well. I am very excited to get some HD in the house!!!

Exciting news about the 6200 rentals! Unfortunately I'm working in KC today so I won't be able to pick it up until this weekend. That still makes me a very happy camper. $9.95/mth doesn't seem that bad to me when their standard digital tuner is $6.95... I will gladly pay the extra $3 to get HD.

Anyone know if they plan on selling these boxes at NFM or BestBuy? Or are the 6200s going to be rental only? I probably would choose to rent it, because there will probably be a newer box in a couple of years that I will want to have, but it would still be interesting to hear how much they are selling them for... or if they are expecting the 6208s anytime soon, as well.

mdg, if you check my post from 9-5-03, that's the day we (NFM) found out about the box being rented. We did not have any information prior to that day, at least on the sales floor.

For everyone's information, if you have already purchased the 5100, we have been told to refer you to Cox to receive free for one year, your choice of HBO, Showtime, or Cinemax. When I get back to work on Friday, I'll know more

Doug

Doug,

Is NFM going to be selling the 6200?

pigbat

I don't think we'll be selling it, we're only selling the 5100, which by the way, if you get it at NFM, you get the ESPN/Discovery package free for 1 year.

This is my day off, so I'm out of the loop until I get back to work on Friday.

When I asked the rep what the box was she made it sound like only the 6200 will be leased and the 5100 will be purchased. I may have just misunderstood, but that is what is seemed like.

dougaha, after you posted on 9/5, I went to NFM ( IU believe it was on the 9/8 after I posted a message on 9/7) and asked about them renting the boxes and I called Cox. Both denied that the boxes would be rented. If the 5100 was a comparable product I really would not have a problem, but the 5100 is poor quality relative to the 6200 based on user experiences posted elsewhere on this forum and others. The SD channel quality is greatly improved in the 6200 as well as speed changing channels. The whole situation is not NFMs fault, it is basically Cox. It is bad news to involve other businesses with the cable industry. Cox must have known well before 9/5 that they had plans to rent the boxes, things just do not happen that fast. Look at how long it took to get the 5100.

I did return my 5100 to NFM today. The customer service rep was very understanding and it was no problem. I also was able to pick up a 6200 from Cox. I haven't hooked it up yet. It DOES have DVI and firewire ports on the back. I do not know if these are active at this point or if there will be a software upgrade to activate them at a later date. Has anyone tried the DVI/firewire ports??? Also, where in omaha can I find a DVI cord?? I had tried several months back and wasn't able to find much.

If you're comfortable with it, do a search on Ebay for DVI. They are soooo much cheaper there.

I saw a DVI cord at Circuit City for 100 yesterday. It was a moster cable 2m.

I recommend getting DVI cables from pacificcable.com - MUCH cheaper than any stores locally and they are pretty nice quality. If you do want to get a DVI cable right away, I did see some at CompUSA last weekend, but I believe they were ~$50 for 3m. Pacific Cable has 3m cables for <$20 ($17 for 1m, $19 for 3m, $32 for 5m).

http://www.pacificcable.com/DVI.htm

Just picked up my box from Cox. They said I could purchase the 6200 for $395 or pay the $9.95 and I am like masteropp I chose to rent the box because the breakeven point is 39 months and new technology will probably be along then. They also told me they will be selling monster cable component cables and the prices they were telling me sounded really good. I'll let you know what it looks like as soon as I get it hooked up!

I will try compusa. I hate to buy the cord online to find out the DVI port is not active yet. I will let everyone know.

Looked great until they sent their signal then I lost all the channels. They said everybody is having problems with hd box today. They thought it would be fixed soon. Anyone else having problems?

Originally posted by mdg
I did return my 5100 to NFM today. The customer service rep was very understanding and it was no problem. I also was able to pick up a 6200 from Cox. I haven't hooked it up yet. It DOES have DVI and firewire ports on the back. I do not know if these are active at this point or if there will be a software upgrade to activate them at a later date. Has anyone tried the DVI/firewire ports??? Also, where in omaha can I find a DVI cord?? I had tried several months back and wasn't able to find much.

I have a DVI I picked up today for the 6200, thought that my Mits. had a DVI port but it didn't. I paid $99. for it if you would like it let me know. It is a Monster Cable DVI cord 6ft long, can send pic if you like or I will be returning it to Best Buy tomorrow afternoon. [oakview]

Did anyone who picked up the new 6200 get a new remote [not the standard universal] just wondering about all the other features that it is suppose to have, PVR etc... I contactdd Tech support and they said they would call back in the morning.

The 6200 does not have DVR, just a firewire connection so you can hook one up. The upcoming 6208 is the box with DVR built-in.

I did pick up a DVI cable at compusa for 70 dollars. I could not get it to work with my Toshiba tv with DVI input. I have never used the DVI port on the TV before, so I do not know for absolutely sure that it is the box, but my guess is they haven't enabled the DVI or firewire ports yet. I did have trouble initially with the box and tech support also told me they were having a system problem , but all of the HD channels are working great now.

Here is what I found on the Mot website
================================
All DCT6200 outputs (both analogue and digital) are available, which facilitate consumer interaction in multiple DTV interface configurations. The DCT6200 includes an MPEG encoder, making the set-top "PVR-capable" with the addition of an external 1394 hard disk drive. These enhancements provide an even more compelling, easy-to-use, HDTV and PVR experience for the cable customer.
==========================================
I think the 6208 has the integrated HD 80gig --

Although the manual for the 6200 lists the inputs with an asterisk and says all inputs may not be active.

true, I would hope they are active :)

I lost ESPN and Discovery last night. Called Cox and they claim that they cannot see my digital box anymore. I am currently using the digital box with HDD200 sidecar and have not had any problems before today. They are sending out a tech this afternoon but I fear they will tell me a need a new box. I hope not because I have a custom Middle Atlantic rack that is made for the two boxes, not for the 6200. Hopefully the form factor for the 6200 is the same as the old digital box.

Anyone else have problems with analog picture quality on the 6200? The HD and digital look great, but the analog channels look worse than before. I know this had been a complaint of the 5100 I was just hoping the 6200 would be better.

Other than that, I thought everything looked great, digital and HD. Although my wife was oblivious. Evern doing an A/B with the poor analog signal all I got was, it looks a little better.:rolleyes:

Originally posted by redwood
Anyone else have problems with analog picture quality on the 6200? The HD and digital look great, but the analog channels look worse than before. I know this had been a complaint of the 5100 I was just hoping the 6200 would be better.

Other than that, I thought everything looked great, digital and HD. Although my wife was oblivious. Evern doing an A/B with the poor analog signal all I got was, it looks a little better.:rolleyes:

How is yours hooked up?? the non HD channels don't look very good on the HD setting but are better I switch the TV back to Cable.

Just wondering..

Any with the 6200 going to try to hook up the Firewire hard disk?

Sorry, forgot to mention that. The PQ through component doesn't look very good. I have the line split before it gets to the converter and one connection goes directly into the TV, I did this for PIP. Anyway, the regular cable still looks OK, not going through the converter, but analog through the component does not.

Is there a way to force signal through the composite hookup? Or is it active at all times?

Well, I had the video out plugged in, incorrectly. So now it I am getting an analog picture fine, it does look much better. However, analog over composite is still poor.

<Edited because I found my answer in the manual...oops :)>

Finally, I am noticing some flickering on analog channels over both composite and component inputs, anyone else? Any ideas?

I think I am going to call Cox just to see what they say.

Well, no use going to Cox. The tech didn't know anything and to send a tech out would cost $106.50 since it is a self install and within the first 30 days.

I picked up a 6200 yesterday and took back my 5100, to the NFM, I was charged a 15% restocking fee, because the 5100 is all sales final, supposedly ?? I'm really glad I have the 6200, did anyone get a remote with there 6200? Ronald in Omaha.

Ronald, You should have gotten a remote with it. As far as I can tell, it is just your everyday cox cable remote. Nothing special.

Ronald, You should have gotten a remote with it. As far as I can tell, it is just your everyday cox cable remote. Nothing special.

I picked up a firewire HD today, and (as expected) there is nothing on the 6200 that even suggests it recognizes the drive. I spoke w/ COX and they said they would have the 6208 at some point, but they don't know when...

Bummer they charged you the fee Ronald, I suppose it all depends on who you get. Also, I have a feeling they have had a run on returns the past few days. Has anyone noticed pixelation with the new box. I get it every few minutes now with the 6200. Especially on INHD and ESPN. Did not have that problem with the 5100. Oh well the picture is great. And the box will be awesome when they activate DVI and firewire.

6200 is working great here. Only channels that I've noticed any issues are the INHDs... they seem to pixelate in small areas every now and then. My only other minor gripe is that they pass everything in 1080i... still looks amazing though.

One other note: anyone who needs component video cables, Cox is selling them CHEAP. $6.50 for a 6 ft, and ~$10 for a 10 ft. Pretty solid.

Omaha Cox users, please post here http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=302301 your impressions of the pq and content of the INHD programming. It may be helpful to the rest of us on Cox, and would help me make a decision re Cox vs. E, D or Voom. Thanks.

So is everyone's picture quality on analog stations through component inputs OK?

My picture quality is still bad on analog stations through component inputs.
I haven't messed with any connections yet as I do go through a surge supressor and a splitter before going to the box, so I may need to remove those from the loop.

Anyway, I would be interested to here your opinions on analog picture quality through the component input. I am still getting some flickering through composite inputs on analog stations, so maybe I do have a signal strength issue.

My picture looks terrible through the analog channels, but I have not fiddled with anything yet. Otherwise looks great in hd! I don't use this box for analog anyway so it is not that important to me.

Here is my 2-cents...

The analog via component does not look as good as the coax or s-video connections into my TV. Obviously the HD stuff over Component looks good (but a bit dark maybe). However, in my case the difference in quality is noticable but not huge (I also set the 480i override to 480P in the 6200 and this seems to help for my TV - Sammy DLP). I run 720P out of the 6200 for HD stuff.

The problem I have is the on-screen guide does not work for the inputs other than component when you have the output of the 6200 set to a HD (720P or 1080i).

I also can not get my JVC 30K to recognize the Firewire. My guess is it is not enabled. Has anyone verified if DVI is enabled?

Also, as others have mentioned the INHD channels have quality issues - the image breaks up too often.

Brian

I spoke with a tech from cox and he said they are going to get the Entertainment on Demand running first then add features such as the PVR with firewire etc...

Anybody know if the Oklahoma vs Texas game this weekend will be in HDTV on KETV? The titantv listing says "off air"..

I picked up the 6200 box from Cox last week, and football last night looked incredible..

The problem is, I told my wife that I would just rent the box for a month to see how it looked, and then return it.. She's a huge Texas fan -- so if I can get that game in HD, I might have half a chance of keeping the HD box..

BTW - Thanks to everyone here for all the info about HD, Cox, the 6200, etc. A week ago I would have figured HD was a distant future for me based on cost -- so thanks for getting the word out about the cox rental...

In regards to the 6200 vs 5100 analog channel output. The component output of the 6200 is better than the 5100 IMHO, but there is still some chroma delay that is present (smearing of the colors). I agree that the S-video and Composite outputs look pretty good.

I basically use the component output to watch HDTV and the digital channels, and s--video or composite to watch the analog channels. This seems to work pretty well.

I too am having intermittent breakup/pixelization of the In HD channels 822 and 823.

I also have seen a slight flicker with the composite or S-video outputs (most noticeable on the analog channels). I'm so spoiled by the HDTV, however, I rarely watch standard analog TV on my HT system - I just go in the other room and watch on the 42" RPTV where it looks fine.

mooneycj

BTW, I'm selling my Motorola 5100 if anyone's interested. Check Videogon ads or PM me a note.

mooneycj

No,ABC college football in HD during the regular season. Maybe the BCS?

On Channel 809 I only get Left and Right audio from my receiver even though I have an optical running from the 6200 to my receiver. Anyone know why?

They may only be sending a two channel digital signal. Many times this will cause the receiver to go to Dolby Pro Logic. I believe ABC does send 5.1 on Monday Night Football, but I am not sure what else.

Even during MNF the receiver was telling my it was Dolby Digital, and it's supposed to be 5.1. The output only read 2 Ch. Audio.

Just signed up for the HDTV here in Omaha. I too had been thinking it was outa reach for awhile due to high HDTV box prices at BB.

Anywho, got the box and am still at work, but saw some of you having to pay cox for cables and stuff. I got all mine free, which included component, RCA-Audio, Optical, and a RCA dual to mono adapter. Plus the remote....

Can't wait to get home on try it out on my samsung txf3275. To have your HDTV cable, phone, and cable internet all for $91 bucks a months is awesome.

does cox let you rent the 6200 now? what about the 6208? Is the 6208 even available yet?

Adam

SychoBC, that is strange, I had 5.1 on MNF. In fact it was pretty noticeable when they would put up the 5.1 logo the sound would drop for a second.

Have you set the box to output a Dolby Digital signal in the menu? I can't recall all of the menu options, but you have to go into the menu, just the normal cable setup menu, not the box menu that lets you select output resolution and stuff. Anyway, in the menu go to Audio and then I think it shows your output options. Under one of these options it is set to either Dolby Digital or PCM Bitstream. You must have it set to Dolby Digital. Hope that helps.

afenn,

Cox is offering the 6200 for 9.95 per month. No word on the 6208, but it looks like nothing will come of that until next year, spring maybe.

Picked up my 6200 yesterday and HD channels look great. I am experiencing similar problems to those who have posted here regarding pq on analog channels. I am going to try s-video and also running a splitter with one direct coax run to tv and one to the box.

afenn - I am renting the box from Cox (9.95/mo) and getting 12 months of free hd channels (Disc, ESPNHD).