How does UNC's OTA signal look this morning? Has the configuration changed yet?

- Trip

It's changed - but I can't hardly watch it this morning with the northeaster off the coast today.:mad:

They have the HD on .1, kids on .2, and NC on .3

Also there is still ED on .4 and NC on .5 but those are blank. No reception problems down east at all. I must have the right set-up! :) You may need to do a rescan to see this. I did.

How does UNC's OTA signal look this morning? Has the configuration changed yet?

I am home with a sick toddler, and we watched part of Sesame Street in (apparently up-converted) HD around 10:30am or so OTA. My guide data, via SageTV, which comes via Zap2It, still has not caught up to the change, so I'm sure I'll have some recording problems until I get time to remap the channels.

The cable configuration via QAM has not changed and still has all 5 channels. Do you know if they plan to change it? Will they keep the cable WUNC-HD in sync with the "main" WUNC during primetime? Or will it still be immune from pledge drives? If so, it might be worth going back to recording WUNC via QAM.. (we generally give them a few hundred dollars a year, but I still hate to watch the pledge drives..)

Drew

...Also there is still ED on .4 and NC on .5 but those are blank.

No, UNC-ED and UNC-HD are cable-only services now.

Read this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14737849#post14737849) for more info.

BIG TEN HD IS WHACK.

I'm so tired of TWC.

BIG TEN HD IS WHACK.

I'm so tired of TWC.

I agree 100% the fact we still haven't got a new HD channel in 6 months has me really steamed. And the one the offered up toay you have to pay extra for. Its getting ridiculous.

Does it suck to have to pay $3.50? Yes. But consider the alternative...If they didn't put it on the Sports Tier you wouldn't be getting it at all. MASN and the NFL Network refuse to let TW put them on the sports tier. As a result we have gotten neither of those channels. Less than a month ago, The Big Ten Network and Time Warner come to an agreement that lets them add it to the sports tier and less than a month later it is added here. Do I think this is clearly a way for TW to make more money by making folks pay for the Sports Tier? Yes. Do I think it's crazy what we pay TW already for the limited number of channels we get? Without a doubt. Would I rather pay $3.50 than not have it at all? Absolutely.
Considering that Big Ten will probably only have 2 or 3 more OSU games the rest of this season, which is only 2 or 3 days out of the year, no I'd rather not pay for it. The sports tier is a joke. Have you looked at the channels?

No, UNC-ED and UNC-HD are cable-only services now.

Read this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14737849#post14737849) for more info.

BTW, the loss of WUNC-ED is extraordinarily irritating. It has a few public affairs programs which I'm really going to miss (Now, McLaughlin Group, etc). I had assumed these were also on WUNC, but apparently not. If anybody else has problems with this, give WUNC a call and complain like I did.. (549-7000)

BTW, Sesame Street this morning on 4-1 was listed in my guide as being available in HD. However, it was shown with bars. Eg, the program itself was 16:9, and it looks like they added top and bottom bars to convert it to 4:3. Then they aired the 4:3 SD conversion in a 16:9 format, which added bars on the side. How irritating.

Drew

BTW, the loss of WUNC-ED is extraordinarily irritating. It has a few public affairs programs which I'm really going to miss (Now, McLaughlin Group, etc). I had assumed these were also on WUNC, but apparently not. If anybody else has problems with this, give WUNC a call and complain like I did.. (549-7000)

BTW, Sesame Street this morning on 4-1 was listed in my guide as being available in HD. However, it was shown with bars. Eg, the program itself was 16:9, and it looks like they added top and bottom bars to convert it to 4:3. Then they aired the 4:3 SD conversion in a 16:9 format, which added bars on the side. How irritating.

Drew

Two comments:

1) All five of the UNC feeds are alive and well on TWC.
2) I wouldn't complain about too much unless you're a "member".

1) All five of the UNC feeds are alive and well on TWC.
2) I wouldn't complain about too much unless you're a "member".

1) I prefer to use OTA. ( I don't like to support monopolies, I hate their crappy DVRs, and with the switch to SDV, I'm too afraid of them moving the channels around to use QAM)
2) My wife and I are members. Last year, we gave over $1000 to them.

Drew

The yellow/white vertical line on the extreme left hand side of NBC17 when viewed in full-pixel mode that I've been whining about for the last year seems to finally be gone! I noticed it was gone during SNF and hoped that was a trend, but SVU, and Earl are clean too! Hurray!

Drew

I wonder if they could scale down KD, NC, and ED to 352x480i and then pack all three in. It'd chew up less bandwidth than the current two streams at 704x480i.

- Trip

I wonder if they could scale down KD, NC, and ED to 352x480i and then pack all three in. It'd chew up less bandwidth than the current two streams at 704x480i.

I actually think what they were doing before was the best use of their bandwidth. There is just no point in showing cartoons and kids shows in 1080i HD. My toddler watches them, and could care less how sharp the image is. He just wants to see Elmo. It is especially irritating that they finally "got it right" (in terms of adding both video and audio trickle streams to the unused channels so as not to confuse buggy receivers) just in the last month or so, and then they killed it.

What bugs me is the duplication of the content between WUNC-DT and KD. They seem to be showing the same shows, offset by a few hours or days, on -KD and -DT, which was always a waste of bandwidth. But now it is much worse, since -DT is in HD.

It is also interesting that -DT is *not* in HD via TWC. Only -HD is in HD.

Does anybody know if an unencrypted PBS satellite feed exists, and what kind of dish it would take to receive it in our area?

Thanks,

Drew

Does anybody know if an unencrypted PBS satellite feed exists, and what kind of dish it would take to receive it in our area?

Thanks,

Drew

A dish somewhat larger than a D*/E* dish, with an HD FTA satellite receiver, aimed at AMC3 will get you PBS-HD, Create, and World from what I hear. However, those feeds are moving to the new AMC21 satellite later this year. The 24-hour PBS-HD feed goes away in favor of a 24-hour PBS-X HD feed on 02/17/09.

- Trip

A dish somewhat larger than a D*/E* dish, with an HD FTA satellite

Wow, you're amazingly knowledgeable, thanks for the pointer..

Drew

1) I prefer to use OTA. ( I don't like to support monopolies, I hate their crappy DVRs, and with the switch to SDV, I'm too afraid of them moving the channels around to use QAM)
2) My wife and I are members. Last year, we gave over $1000 to them.

Drew

If you can afford to donate $1000 a year to UNC, then you can surely afford $12/month for TWC lifeline service as a supplement to your OTA, and get your $1000/worth......;););)

Wow, you're amazingly knowledgeable, thanks for the pointer..

Drew

Glad to help. I only know that much about FTA satellite because I've been investigating it myself, in case my local low-VHF digital PBS doesn't get their act together by next year. I'm considering buying a dish (with motor) and a receiver and seeing what I can get with it. It looks like there is a lot of useful stuff up there aside from PBS, including MHz WorldView which is carried on PBS in Richmond and Charlottesville, but I'd like to watch it at home, plus every RTN affil and other odds and ends. Here's a link I've been using:

http://www.lyngsat.com/freetv/United-States.html

- Trip

If you can afford to donate $1000 a year to UNC, then you can surely afford $12/month for TWC lifeline service as a supplement to your OTA, and get your $1000/worth......;););)

Not that he needs defending... but he shouldn't have to do that.

I've complained to PBS myself about them providing a signal to Time Warner that requires payment and money PBS doesn't see while their loyal OTA viewers can't get that even when contributing directly to PBS.

Obviously they heard some of that, by the recent changeover in subchannel configuration.

I fully understand the OTA bandwidth limitations, but do not like "exclusives" to cable or satellite companies that require purchase to receive. I'm a paying Dish customer, for example, so I would have to pay Dish, contribute to PBS via donation, AND pay for lifeline cable just to get 1 channel of PBS. That seems wrong.

If you can afford to donate $1000 a year to UNC, then you can surely afford $12/month for TWC lifeline service as a supplement to your OTA, and get your $1000/worth......;););)

So does TWC now make guaranties about QAM reception for their lifeline service? As I said before, I'm terrified of them moving channels around or messing up the metadata on QAM. I got hosed by this a year or two ago. Do you remember when many QAM'ers could not get C113 which is shared by FOX/ABC? TWC messed up the CVCT on 113, and this freaked out my DVR software, causing recordings to fail. I think it took them a large number of months before it was fixed.

At any rate, I hate cable and don't want to support them in any fashion if I can possibly avoid it.

Drew

The yellow/white vertical line on the extreme left hand side of NBC17 when viewed in full-pixel mode that I've been whining about for the last year seems to finally be gone! I noticed it was gone during SNF and hoped that was a trend, but SVU, and Earl are clean too! Hurray!

Drew

I swear it was there Monday during Heroes, at least via TWC HD.

So does TWC now make guaranties about QAM reception for their lifeline service? As I said before, I'm terrified of them moving channels around or messing up the metadata on QAM. I got hosed by this a year or two ago. Do you remember when many QAM'ers could not get C113 which is shared by FOX/ABC? TWC messed up the CVCT on 113, and this freaked out my DVR software, causing recordings to fail. I think it took them a large number of months before it was fixed.

At any rate, I hate cable and don't want to support them in any fashion if I can possibly avoid it.

Drew

I made a vow never to fly US Air again, and haven't. However, they still seem to be in business......:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Hi All,

Thought I would get the word out here as well...

First off, in laymens terms...(from the web site)

"We've been talking about it for months...the digital transition is coming. But to make it happen, we're about to experience an adjustment that will have an impact on some of our viewers.

To get ready for the digital transition that happens in February 2009, WRAL-DT has to change out equipment at the top of our 2000-foot tower. During that swap, we'll have to broadcast from an auxiliary antenna. So starting Monday, some of our digital viewers - people who see us over the air, that don't have cable or satellite, MAY have trouble seeing our signal. The signal will be back to full strength by February. If we get calls from viewers who are having trouble seeing our signal, suggest that they try adjusting their antenna, move it to a different part of the room, or that they get a rooftop antenna.

Viewers can find more information on the digital transition on WRAL.com, keyword DTV."

Now the details:
Remaining on 53
We are dropping to 1438ft
We will remain at 1 MW
In February we will return to 2000ft at 500KW on Channel 49
(it will have better coverage than the 1400ft antenna)
About 2 weeks after that we will complete the channel change and hit 1MW again.

Take care all,

Pete

Pete, are you building out the omni directional 1000 kW or that directional pattern the FCC originally gave you?

- Trip

Nope, we recieved our Maximized license permit a couple of weeks ago. We will be a full 1MW omni when this is over!

This should also impact WRAZ as well, correct ?

In February we will return to 2000ft at 500KW on Channel 49

Channel 49? I thought that was FOX WRAZ?

He probably meant 48. Easy enough of a typo to make.

- Trip

Might have been typo. Easy to get them confused.

I made a vow never to fly US Air again, and haven't. However, they still seem to be in business......:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Its a personal boycott of NorthWorst for me, after spending the night sleeping on the floor in Detroit 10 years ago due to their incompetence. But at least I have a choice of air carriers for most of the routes I fly, and I can avoid NorthWorst, and favor Delta (who went above and beyond to help me get to my mother's deathbed).

But back to cable.. can you remind me what other cable providers there are in Cary?

Drew

Its a personal boycott of NorthWorst for me, after spending the night sleeping on the floor in Detroit 10 years ago due to their incompetence. But at least I have a choice of air carriers for most of the routes I fly, and I can avoid NorthWorst, and favor Delta (who went above and beyond to help me get to my mother's deathbed).

But back to cable.. can you remind me what other cable providers there are in Cary?

Drew

AT&T U-Verse is coming in the near future......

Hi All,

Thought I would get the word out here as well...

To get ready for the digital transition that happens in February 2009, WRAL-DT has to change out equipment at the top of our 2000-foot tower. During that swap, we'll have to broadcast from an auxiliary antenna.

Thanks for the info, psockett. I've passed this on to my parents who watch WRAL-DT from Kinston and will likely be impacted by this. Appreciate the "heads up"!

According the Form387 on file, they expect about 15% of the viewers who currently receive them to not be able to while on the auxilary. My guess is that will mostly impact viewers out on the fringe (45-60 miles or more) from their tower, and those that can just barely get a signal now. Eastern NC may be out of luck until Febuary, at least out towards the coast. Kinston may still be able to get them. Turn on your tuner monday and see what you get. If you can receive WNCN digital, you'll probably be ok, certainly when they turn the replacement antenna back at half power in Febuary.

I looked at the coverage map on their aux. file, and it is directional toward the northwest. If you live past Goldsboro, Wilson, and Rocky mount eastward, it will be hard to get a signal without major antenna and amp.

Hi all,

Yes, I meant 48 (WRAZ is 49) Sorry, we take care of both Transmission systems.

Also, the only changes for WRAZ will be when we are working on the top of the tower (and then probably only dayside) we will have to put 49 into the anteanna at 1400ft to protect the workers at the top.

If you live past Goldsboro, Wilson, and Rocky mount eastward, it will be hard to get a signal without major antenna and amp.

Eastern NC may be out of luck until Febuary, at least out towards the coast. Kinston may still be able to get them. Turn on your tuner monday and see what you get. If you can receive WNCN digital, you'll probably be ok, certainly when they turn the replacement antenna back at half power in Febuary.

Thanks to you both for the 411. My parents (in Kinston) do get WNCN-DT at their home with no issues (using the amp and major antenna). In fact, he gets most, if not all, of the major Raleigh stations with a fairly decent digital signal. WLFL-DT is iffy sometimes during the daytime, though. My dad isn't computer savvy, but he makes up for it big time on the antenna, home theater and D*. In no relation, he actually made the leap to HD Radio. :eek:

In no relation, he actually made the leap to HD Radio. :eek:

The leap? How was the fall after said leap down to the bottom of the alligator pit? :p

- Trip

Just for reference, i ordered the ESPN Gameplan for the day with one of our time warner digital boxes. The Tivo with cablecards is also getting the game plan channels.

What is an acceptable signal strength for TWC cable coming into my SA 8300HDC DVR? Also, how do I check....is there a way to find out in the menus in the box? I've been having a tough time with the HD picture breaking up and freezing lately. Just want to be able to call BS if the cable guy isn't straight with me. Thanks for any replies.

So, according to antennaweb.......we have the following air channel changes for the dtv stations....

4: 59 -> 25
5: 53 -> 48
11: 52 -> 11
17: 55 -> 17
22: 57 -> 27
28: 27 -> 28
40: 38....38
50: 49....49


My question is, why on earth would ABC move back to 11 which is on VHF? For several years only a UHF antenna was requred for "HDTV Reception" in our area, and now they are gonna go make me but a VHF antenna to receive them after february?

What gives?!!

What is an acceptable signal strength for TWC cable coming into my SA 8300HDC DVR? Also, how do I check....is there a way to find out in the menus in the box? I've been having a tough time with the HD picture breaking up and freezing lately. Just want to be able to call BS if the cable guy isn't straight with me. Thanks for any replies.

Press VOL- and VOL+ simultaneously on the box (not the remote) until the mail light turns on. Then press CH+ on the box and not the remote. Then use the remote to find the signal levels of the QAM tuners and the FDC tuner. They should be between -8 dBmV and +8 dBmV, with 0 dBmV being ideal. Too little is too hard to read, while too much will blow out the receiver. Also, for the QAM tuners, you need at least 33 dB of signal to noise ratio (SNR), with more being better. For signal to noise ratios, there is no such thing as too much signal to noise ratio, so higher is always better. You also need at least 20 dB of SNR for the FDC out of band tuner, with more being better. It can tolerate much lower SNRs because it is much slower than a regular digital channel that contains either television programming or a carousel (a data channel that broadcasts frequently needed data like guide updates, firmware updates, emergency broadcast system data, and on demand data).

If they are outside this range, call TWC to have your signal level looked at. You might need to have a splitter removed.

So, according to antennaweb.......we have the following air channel changes for the dtv stations....

4: 59 -> 25
5: 53 -> 48
11: 52 -> 11
17: 55 -> 17
22: 57 -> 27
28: 27 -> 28
40: 38....38
50: 49....49


My question is, why on earth would ABC move back to 11 which is on VHF? For several years only a UHF antenna was requred for "HDTV Reception" in our area, and now they are gonna go make me but a VHF antenna to receive them after february?

What gives?!!

If you are using an outdoor style UHF, chances are it will work just fine for 11. I get CBS 10 (9.1) out of Greenville, NC at 42 miles out with a Radio Shack U-75R UHF only antenna. Only if you are more than 50 miles away would I think a VHF would be necessary.

HIGH VHF is a more desirable slot for TV because it carries further, is easier to receive, and requires much less transmitter power to blanket an area. LOW VHF, 2-6 is NOT desirable because of lightning interference in the signal, and noise like electrical appliances can ruin picture.

Press VOL- and VOL+ simultaneously on the box (not the remote) until the mail light turns on. Then press CH+ on the box and not the remote. Then use the remote to find the signal levels of the QAM tuners and the FDC tuner. They should be between -8 dBmV and +8 dBmV, with 0 dBmV being ideal. Too little is too hard to read, while too much will blow out the receiver. Also, for the QAM tuners, you need at least 33 dB of signal to noise ratio (SNR), with more being better. For signal to noise ratios, there is no such thing as too much signal to noise ratio, so higher is always better. You also need at least 20 dB of SNR for the FDC out of band tuner, with more being better. It can tolerate much lower SNRs because it is much slower than a regular digital channel that contains either television programming or a carousel (a data channel that broadcasts frequently needed data like guide updates, firmware updates, emergency broadcast system data, and on demand data).

If they are outside this range, call TWC to have your signal level looked at. You might need to have a splitter removed.

You are awesome. Thanks for taking the time to answer!

For all these channel changes that will be happening, will that affect reception after Feb 09? Currently I receive these channels with fairly few issues, whenever they change, will that affect how I receive them? For example, whenever WRAL or WUNC swap from their current channels at 53 and 59 to 48 and 25, will I need to re-adjust my antenna?

So, according to antennaweb.......we have the following air channel changes for the dtv stations....

4: 59 -> 25
5: 53 -> 48
11: 52 -> 11
17: 55 -> 17
22: 57 -> 27
28: 27 -> 28
40: 38....38
50: 49....49


My question is, why on earth would ABC move back to 11 which is on VHF? For several years only a UHF antenna was requred for "HDTV Reception" in our area, and now they are gonna go make me but a VHF antenna to receive them after february?

What gives?!!

As far as direction - no. However, depending on how well your UHF antenna receives VHF channel 11, you MAY need to add a channel 11 / upper VHF antenna to your current rig.

The easiest test for right now - see if your UHF antenna does a decent job on pulling in analog 11. If it does, you will probably be OK with no changes required.

ANyone else getting really confused about when WRAL needs to drop out of HD to run a crawl? The weather crawls don't do it anymore, but recent news updates have caused a drop to SD. Now the crawl about the antenna (also thanks psockett for the heads up) is in HD. WHat is the deal?

NBC17ENG - any word on the testing last week ?

I have TWC basic in Cary and since sometime Saturday my VCR can't find the time signal. Is anyone else having this problem? Is anyone aware of what might be causing this?
___________________

Vonage since February 2005

ANyone else getting really confused about when WRAL needs to drop out of HD to run a crawl? The weather crawls don't do it anymore, but recent news updates have caused a drop to SD. Now the crawl about the antenna (also thanks psockett for the heads up) is in HD. WHat is the deal?

I noticed this during Survivor on Thursday. Survivor is finally in HD yet on Thursday night they were dropping down to SD to do the crawl about the antenna. Now evidently they are doing the same crawl in HD? I wonder if it's as simple as a training issue. Maybe the person who keeps dropping them down in to SD doesn't know how to do an HD crawl. I was even more confused later when I was watching CW22 and they were able to do an HD crawl. If they can do it correctly surely WRAL can do it on a consistant basis.

Question for NBC17Eng...

Are there any plans for HD syndication playback capabilities, or HD studio (news) production ??? The HD syndication playback seems like a no brainer.

We are dropping to 1438ft


FWIW, reception of WRAL OTA for me is still good here in Cary. This is based on perfect recordings of yesterday's noon news, and the "Big Bang Theory" at 8pm..

Cheers,

Drew

I'm still fine here in Youngsville.

Hello,

I'm thinking about pulling the trigger and getting a cable package again from TWC. I've held out for a year now after they price-tiered me out of anything I wanted to watch. But it's fall television season, I have a much nicer set than I did this time last year, and Food HD is calling my name, dammit.

Right now I just have cable modem service and pull the digital locals off QAM with a HDHomerun. If I get a package, does TWC have any other unencrypted digital channels I'll be able to get on the HDHR without a STB?

Any tips on getting a decent digital package (again, mostly looking for the 'educational'/how-to HD channels, don't care about Sports or Premiums) at a decent price?

Oh, if only a la carte existed.

Thanks in advance.

When on earth are we getting new channels? Over 6 months ago it seems like every market except Raleigh got Animal Planet, Discovery (not theater), TLC, and I think one other. Charlotte is now testing 4 MORE channels, and we still haven't gotten what most of the TWC customers in the US have gotten at this point, nevermind NC.

Is TWC going to force boxes to subscribers after the transition, so we can get 100% of the analog bandwidth back, and finally get some channels???

Down in central Onslow county, getting 11, 28, and 50 at 75%, WLFL 22 at 50% and WRAL and WNCN are a no show at 0!

Hello,

I'm thinking about pulling the trigger and getting a cable package again from TWC. I've held out for a year now after they price-tiered me out of anything I wanted to watch. But it's fall television season, I have a much nicer set than I did this time last year, and Food HD is calling my name, dammit.

Right now I just have cable modem service and pull the digital locals off QAM with a HDHomerun. If I get a package, does TWC have any other unencrypted digital channels I'll be able to get on the HDHR without a STB?

Any tips on getting a decent digital package (again, mostly looking for the 'educational'/how-to HD channels, don't care about Sports or Premiums) at a decent price?

Oh, if only a la carte existed.

Thanks in advance.

I dumped cable (except for the $10/mo. package) back in July but got it hooked up again yesterday because most of the mlb playoffs are only on tbs. The best deal I could get was $102/mo. for roadrunner, digital cable and an hd-dvr on my hd set, and standard cable on my little 13". Its about $20 off what I was paying before I dumped cable. Its one of those 12-month intro rates (no commitment required). But what I've heard is that U-verse will be in Raleigh in a few months and all over the Raleigh area within 12 months. So I'm figuring things will improve by the time the intro rate expires.

Yeah, TWC's prices are a joke considering the service, but I can stomach it at rate I got.

Down in central Onslow county, getting 11, 28, and 50 at 75%, WLFL 22 at 50% and WRAL and WNCN are a no show at 0!

Not sure why you're not getting WNCN, but you DID see the story on WRAL's aux antenna ?

http://www.wral.com/5onyourside/story/3623178/

I've got a second CECB coupon to use and I'm deciding between the Channel Master 7000 and the DTVPal Plus. Does anyone have experiences, good or bad, with either of these in the Triangle area? Are either of these available from local stores?

I dumped cable (except for the $10/mo. package) back in July but got it hooked up again yesterday because most of the mlb playoffs are only on tbs. The best deal I could get was $102/mo. for roadrunner, digital cable and an hd-dvr on my hd set, and standard cable on my little 13".

I signed up via the sales chat on their website. I told them I wanted digital cable, 1 HD-DVR and road runner...don't even offer me digital phone. She came back and said $85 per month. I said upgrade the roadrunner to RR Turbo and I'll do it. She said for $4 more she could do RR Turbo, so I've got RR Turbo, digital cable with an HD-DVR for $89.

I signed up via the sales chat on their website. I told them I wanted digital cable, 1 HD-DVR and road runner...don't even offer me digital phone. She came back and said $85 per month. I said upgrade the roadrunner to RR Turbo and I'll do it. She said for $4 more she could do RR Turbo, so I've got RR Turbo, digital cable with an HD-DVR for $89.

Looks like I've got a phone call to make!

Thanks for the replies, I may give the sales chat a shot.

How long should a TWC new cable box take to load?

Mine's been sitting here for the better part of 20 minutes saying "Searching for signal. This service should be available momentarily" on screen and the box itself where the timer should display just says "ALT". :confused:

How long should a TWC new cable box take to load?

Mine's been sitting here for the better part of 20 minutes saying "Searching for signal. This service should be available momentarily" on screen and the box itself where the timer should display just says "ALT". :confused:

That should not be happening. Check your cabling, both between the wall and the cable box, and just behind the wall.

Sometimes, your house might have RG-59 cable if it was built before digital cable was created. This cable was good for analog cable, but is no good for digital cable. You need RG-6 cable for digital cable. You might need to hire an electrician to replace the RG-59 with RG-6.

Sometimes the contractors who terminate the cables behind the walls use screw-on connectors which are so bad in my opinion that they are guaranteed to fail. If this is the case, you have three choices:

Call TWC for a truck roll. Since the failure does not involve their equipment, you will get charged. However, TWC technicians have the best kind of connectors and connection kits: compression connectors.
Go to Radio Shack and buy its high-quality crimping tool (not the inexpensive one that can sometimes fail from time to time) and some crimp-on F-pin connectors. These are mid-grade connectors that make mid-grade connections.
Go to your hardware store and buy F-pin compression connectors and the tools necessary to install them. This is very expensive, but are the same stuff that TWC technicians use to make the highest-quality connections.

If none of these apply, you either have a signal quality issue that requires a truck roll to diagnose and repair or a bad cable box. Call TWC for a truck roll and let its technician diagnose and find the problem. I think that truck rolls are free if the fault is TWC's fault for an improper installation or a bad cable box, but please check with TWC technical support about this.

Got in the shower.

Got out.

Everything was back to normal. Crisp picture as normal. :D:D:D:D

How long should a TWC new cable box take to load?

Mine's been sitting here for the better part of 20 minutes saying "Searching for signal. This service should be available momentarily" on screen and the box itself where the timer should display just says "ALT". :confused:

The Magic 8-Ball says "Reboots Ahead". The shower probably didn't fix anything. :)

Sometimes, your house might have RG-59 cable if it was built before digital cable was created. This cable was good for analog cable, but is no good for digital cable. You need RG-6 cable for digital cable. You might need to hire an electrician to replace the RG-59 with RG-6.

RG-59 should be fine for digital cable over regular length runs around the house. I've only replaced all my device cables with RG-6 just over a year ago, but the rest of the building is probably rocking some seriously old cable and that was fine. Signal levels are about 5dB power, 36dB SNR (edit - just had a look)

I didn't have a specific technical reason to replace the cable, it was just there and I felt the urge to do some compression fittings. :)

Of course since SDV still has not been fixed as far as I know and they gave no indication of the problem, if it turns out that the building cable is to blame I will take it all back. ;)

RG-59 should be fine for digital cable over regular length runs around the house. I've only replaced all my device cables with RG-6 just over a year ago, but the rest of the building is probably rocking some seriously old cable and that was fine. Signal levels are about 5dB power, 36dB SNR (edit - just had a look)

I didn't have a specific technical reason to replace the cable, it was just there and I felt the urge to do some compression fittings. :)

Of course since SDV still has not been fixed as far as I know and they gave no indication of the problem, if it turns out that the building cable is to blame I will take it all back. ;)

Could you explain what you mean by "SDV still has not been fixed"?

Do you mean that when you tune to an SDV channel that it sometimes or always fails, or do you mean that SDV is not enabled?

If it is the first case, I can think of three possibilities:

The upstream path is so attenuated that your box's DAVIC reverse path transmitter is not powerful enough to punch through the attenuation.
Some engineer misread or forgot to consult the chart or table on which frequencies are used for non-SDV video. Therefore, the SDV server is misconfigured and assigning SDV viewers to non-SDV frequencies. SDV and non-SDV channels cannot be multiplexed on the same frequency under Navigator's SDV system.
There are too many people watching different SDV channels, and the SDV pool has run out.

The first item can be disproven if you can watch video on demand because VOD requires the box communicate with the VOD server. Since the 8300HDs TWC ordered before the separable security mandate had no DOCSIS cable modems, their only communication ability requires the DAVIC reverse path transmitter.

The second one happened to me during the Olympics, causing the Olympics special channels to fail. Just call TWC technical support to complain and ask around to see if your neighbors has the same problem. If so, your trouble ticket and their trouble tickets can be combined by the customer sevice representative to declare a global outage, which sends a TWC engineer into the head end to investigate and hopefully fix this problem. One TWC customer service rep told me that he had the same problem, and therefore was able to combine my ticket with his. TWC obviously does not want to send an engineer to the head end to try to fix a problem there unless it is routine maintenance or there is a global outage pointing to a problem at the head end because changing settings there could cause problems for all customers served by that head end.

The third one is a result of poor planning of which channels to place on SDV. This also probably would require a global outage to be declared. My advice to you: Follow the advice for the second case. My advice for this situation for the TWC engineer: Put QVC, ShopNBC, and other shopping channels on SDV. Your customers have Road Runner or another ISP to take care of their shopping needs over the Internet.

Looks like I've got a phone call to make!
wow, i've been paying around $110 for the same, without turbo. Do they ever (re)negotiate for existing customers?

Sometimes, your house might have RG-59 cable if it was built before digital cable was created. This cable was good for analog cable, but is no good for digital cable. You need RG-6 cable for digital cable. You might need to hire an electrician to replace the RG-59 with RG-6.


This is the most ridiculous statement (outside of the elections) I've read in a long time. At 865 MHz (the worst case) RG-59 looses 7.5 db/100 feet and RG-6 looses 6.1 db/100 feet, a 1.4 db difference. A simple 2-way splitter looses around 4 db per port, or the disadvantage that over 250 feet of RG-59 cable has compared to RG-6. There is no such thing as "digital" cable or "digital" antennas.

More important is the quality of the sheilding. That varies from poor to excellent on both 6 and 59. Poor sheilding allows undesired off-air transmissions to ingress on to the cable line and cause interference.

Actually, in many cases, signal levels that provide snowy analog pictures are fine for digital. If your analog channels are reasonably noise free, and you're not getting interference, signal level is not your problem.

Check analog cable channels (through a direct connection to your TV, not through the box) 68-69, 72-73 in Raleigh as these are about the same frequency as off-air 17 and 22. If you see lines on these channels, you're are getting undesired ingress.

Had several snow-outs last night while watching the USF-Pitt game on ESPN-HD. I ge them as well periodically on Food-HD. Anybody else see these, or is it time to get TWC back out to check signal quality?

My advice for this situation for the TWC engineer: Put QVC, ShopNBC, and other shopping channels on SDV. Your customers have Road Runner or another ISP to take care of their shopping needs over the Internet.

Given that those are all provided on both analog and clear-QAM, I wonder if there's something contractual in how they're carried that requires them to force the shopping channels on everyone, much like the locals.

This is the most ridiculous statement (outside of the elections) I've read in a long time. At 865 MHz (the worst case) RG-59 looses 7.5 db/100 feet and RG-6 looses 6.1 db/100 feet, a 1.4 db difference. A simple 2-way splitter looses around 4 db per port, or the disadvantage that over 250 feet of RG-59 cable has compared to RG-6. There is no such thing as "digital" cable or "digital" antennas.

More important is the quality of the sheilding. That varies from poor to excellent on both 6 and 59. Poor sheilding allows undesired off-air transmissions to ingress on to the cable line and cause interference.

Actually, in many cases, signal levels that provide snowy analog pictures are fine for digital. If your analog channels are reasonably noise free, and you're not getting interference, signal level is not your problem.

Check analog cable channels (through a direct connection to your TV, not through the box) 68-69, 72-73 in Raleigh as these are about the same frequency as off-air 17 and 22. If you see lines on these channels, you're are getting undesired ingress.

When I was referring to digital and analog cable, I was stating that QAM frequencies are often assigned to the high frequencies where RG-59 could be a problem, while NTSC channels occupy the low frequencies where RG-59 is no problem. I also admit that there are some great RG-59 cables and some unbelievably bad RG-6 cables. I admit that this is a set of oversimplifications because I was speaking about the general case. In general, RG-59 does a worse job of protecting high frequencies compared to RG-6, but it does not matter if the cable is a very short run to the main splitter. However, TWC technicians have told me to discard the RG-59 cables we brought in from a previous house.

I wrote about changing the cable out because I have had troubles caused by overly long cables causing trouble with my cable modem, and thought that he or she could have a similar issue, where the type of cable installed could give the margin needed to not worry about the occasional signal dip. My problem with the cable modem was solved by the installation of an outlet that is much closer to the cable modem and the main splitter. The previous outlet had us run cables across the room because that was where the phone jack was which we used to use for DSL until BellSouth became a spamhaus. Since it was impractical to move the computer desks closer to the cable outlet, we had to run cable across the room. Once we installed the new outlet, the required upstream power went down quite a bit and our cable modem no longer gets knocked out as much. Adding a closer outlet gave the cable modem the margin it needed to stay online during tough times. Since we had no margin whatsoever for any more signal loss before the cable outlet move, any lower quality cables behind the wall would have made the cable modem unworkable before the outlet move. I was thinking that this person might be in the same situation as I was.

wow, i've been paying around $110 for the same, without turbo. Do they ever (re)negotiate for existing customers?

Yes.. Call and ask for "retention". You can simply ask for the better rates, and/or gather information on plans offered by Dish/DirectTv, etc and ask what TWC can do to match. (personally I feel the Dish HD-only offerings are a superior value, and once AT&T unbundles ADSL from requiring a land-line may switch that as well). But if you like TWC and want to stay with them, that is a good approach.

wow, i've been paying around $110 for the same, without turbo. Do they ever (re)negotiate for existing customers?

Well, I gave them a call and told them someone else in Raleigh was getting HD-DVR + Turbo for $89 and they said, "That's not possible," refused to match it and said I was getting the best deal I could get. I asked them if they will be running an promos when AT&T's service starts in a few months. They said "We are always running promos." So, that went nowhere fast. If anyone has better luck, please post. Considering how bad the HD offerings from TWC are here, TWC's prices are still too high as far as I'm concerned.

Well, I gave them a call and told them someone else in Raleigh was getting HD-DVR + Turbo for $89 and they said, "That's not possible," refused to match it and said I was getting the best deal I could get. I asked them if they will be running an promos when AT&T's service starts in a few months. They said "We are always running promos." So, that went nowhere fast. If anyone has better luck, please post. Considering how bad the HD offerings from TWC are here, TWC's prices are still too high as far as I'm concerned.

What they didn't tell you is that those promos are only for new subscribers. Very few of the cable, satellite, or cellphone providers really care about you after your a customer. You're better off leaving and for a year or so and then coming back. When I went to DirecTV I got deal offers from TWC almost weekly. Since leaving DirecTV I get offers on about the same pace from them.

When I was referring to digital and analog cable, I was stating that QAM frequencies are often assigned to the high frequencies where RG-59 could be a problem, while NTSC channels occupy the low frequencies where RG-59 is no problem. I also admit that there are some great RG-59 cables and some unbelievably bad RG-6 cables......

Cable is rarely the problem. It's too many splits, loose connections, splitters put in backwards, jumpers with push on connectors, etc. Cable companies generally leave the tap in the pedistal or pole with around 20db at the highest operating frequency with leaves room for 175 feet of cable and a four-way splitter. Most TV's work fine with analog signals as low as -5db.

AT&T is installing U-Verse hubs around Raleigh, launch date projected to be in first quarter of 2009.

Cable is rarely the problem. It's too many splits, loose connections, splitters put in backwards, jumpers with push on connectors, etc. Cable companies generally leave the tap in the pedistal or pole with around 20db at the highest operating frequency with leaves room for 175 feet of cable and a four-way splitter. Most TV's work fine with analog signals as low as -5db.

One of the times that my cable modem was knocked out was solved when I spotted a cable that apparently got crushed and dented by something heavy. I changed it out and the cable modem went back from nonfunctional to functional with no margin. I then cut the dented area out and crimped on a couple of F-pin connectors on the new cable ends.

This was before the new outlet was installed, giving the cable modem some much-needed margin.

Therefore, I suggested the possibility of a bad cable.

Well, I gave them a call and told them someone else in Raleigh was getting HD-DVR + Turbo for $89 and they said, "That's not possible," refused to match it and said I was getting the best deal I could get. I asked them if they will be running an promos when AT&T's service starts in a few months. They said "We are always running promos." So, that went nowhere fast. If anyone has better luck, please post. Considering how bad the HD offerings from TWC are here, TWC's prices are still too high as far as I'm concerned.

Did you ask for retention? Did you say you could get a better deal from Dish/DirectTv? Did you have a plan from the competitor in front of you so you could quote the exact price/value so that TWC would have a target to match?

I've never had a problem getting a $10-$20/month savings when I call. Always be polite and always ask what they can do to keep you. You should be prepared to follow thru (I always was)... ie. the discount they gave me would get me to a comparable price of the competitors and save me the trouble of doing the switch. When they are no longer willing to do that for me I will pull the plug (on RR, I already did on TV) and go to the better value.

Don't forget: Starting tomorrow (Thursday) UNC-HD (http://unc-tv-dtv.blogspot.com/2008/08/viewer-question-presently-i-get-regular.html) begins running 24 hours a day OTA:

So when will i see the new "all HD" feed? I am using Vista Media Center with OTA antenna. I can confirm that i lost 4-4 (no more motorweek for me), but i am watching 4-1,2 & 3 without any HD. the shows are letterboxed, but they are also pillared on the sides. Looks exactly like it was before.

do i need to tweak my channel listing? i cannot find any 4-x channel notations on their site anywhere.

thanks
Dave

P.S. if someone can get me motorweek (without saying get cable) I would greatly appreciate it.


EDIT: OH, so now it shows HD. thanks for making me look stupid UNCTV. Now someone just get me motorweek back.

Did you ask for retention? Did you say you could get a better deal from Dish/DirectTv? Did you have a plan from the competitor in front of you so you could quote the exact price/value so that TWC would have a target to match?

I've never had a problem getting a $10-$20/month savings when I call. Always be polite and always ask what they can do to keep you. You should be prepared to follow thru (I always was)... ie. the discount they gave me would get me to a comparable price of the competitors and save me the trouble of doing the switch. When they are no longer willing to do that for me I will pull the plug (on RR, I already did on TV) and go to the better value.

Thanks for the tips. The fact is, I want to have tbs hd right now so I can watch the mlb playoffs and satellite is not a realistic alternative (for reasons I won't go into here). So there is no realistic threat right now that I can follow through on. I dropped back to the $10/mo. plan in July and was actually surprised by the lack of effort by TWC to get me back to a big digital package.

I have heard the same about u-verse that posg heard, i.e. in Raleigh within a few months. So if that is the case, I'll switch then. (I've actually heard it will be in Raleigh in a few months, but not necessarily in Cary at the same time.) In any event, I've got my bill down from about $125 to $102 for roughly the same service, so I can live with that for a while.

Im still getting WRAL here in Washington NC. About 90 miles east of Raleigh.
I thought WRAL lowered the tower?

They did - you must have a good antenna / pre-amp setup.

P.S. if someone can get me motorweek (without saying get cable) I would greatly appreciate it.

Call or write WUNC and complain. It probably helps if you're a "member". The more complaints they have, the more chance they'll listen...

FWIW, it *was* nice to see This Old House / Ask This Old House in HD over the weekend. But I'd rather be able to see all the shows I miss from -ED.

Drew

Am I correct in assuming that those of us in Durham will be out of luck on U-Verse since we're a Verizon market?

(Earlier this year there were a lot of rumors we were getting FIOS, but they didn't pan out.)

Edit:

Well, I tried calling TWC sales the other night and got the standard $115 or so to add digital cable to my existing high-speed internet.

Tried the sales chat on a whim today, explained I just wanted to add digital + digital variety, no phone, and got $89/mo total, although that is without HD-DVR.

WTVD started showing syndicated "Lost" reruns last night at 3:30 AM. The HD syndication thread indicates that many stations are showing these in HD. Our local outlet, WTVD, is not. If you care, complain to the station.

I don't watch "Lost", but WTVD showed the most recent Stargate Atlantis syndicated rerun in HD in the wee hours of Sunday morning. I was pleasantly surprised.

Drew

I don't watch "Lost", but WTVD showed the most recent Stargate Atlantis syndicated rerun in HD in the wee hours of Sunday morning. I was pleasantly surprised.

Drew

Lost on WTVD is in HD as of the second episode. Advice to DVR users: Go ahead and record the program schedule after Lost if you want to get the whole episode, it never seems to start on time. I can't believe anyone would watch it live at 3:30 AM.

I was with Directtv for about ten years and decided to give TWC a chance after working out a deal with the associate at the Kiosk in the mall. I got a great deal. But now my intro rate for a year is coming up and they really haven't added any new HD channels worth damn in the time I had it. My RR and package rates are going up a total of $60. I can now go back to Direct and get all channels and NFL ticket for $75 for 4 months! If I can work out another deal with TWC, I'll stay, but It looks like back to Dtv which I never really had any complaints except to dual line drops for dvr and now they have fixed that. I don't understand why Greenboro has better HD channels than we do.

Lost on WTVD is in HD as of the second episode. Advice to DVR users: Go ahead and record the program schedule after Lost if you want to get the whole episode, it never seems to start on time.


At least for Stargate Atlantis, it is scheduled from 2:36->3:36am. I find that when there is no sports induced schedule slop, it sometimes starts early. So I pad my recordings to start 6 minutes early, and end 45 minutes late.

There's an extension for SageTV that I need to install which monitors sports events (via websites like espn.com), and tries to adjust recording times for the events themselves, and all programming scheduled afterwards..

Drew

Drew, how do you like Sage? Every year or so it seems like I go through all the DVR apps and end up back with BeyondTV. It doesn't do other media (music/DVDs) but its superior transport controls just make me keep coming back. I haven't looked at Sage in a while, though.

Drew, how do you like Sage? Every year or so it seems like I go through all the DVR apps and end up back with BeyondTV. It doesn't do other media (music/DVDs) but its superior transport controls just make me keep coming back. I haven't looked at Sage in a while, though.

I really like it. I got SageTV mainly because I wanted to move my HTPC from sitting next to the TV (where the toddler messing with it could cause recordings to fail) into a closet, and I really liked their STX-HD100 extender. Unlike most extenders I know about, it runs the normal SageTV GUI, and acts just like a PC client. This means that you can install normal SageTV customizations (like commercial skipping), schedule recordings, watch video podcasts, etc. It also "just works" for HD. There is no tweaking different codecs, etc.

It handles DVDs quite well. I rip them on my server, and I can play them (and skip the FBI warnings and previews) on the extender. It can also play my iTunes music library (only files w/o Apple DRM), and will display a nice photo slideshow

What do you mean by "superior transport controls"?

Drew

Thanks for the information, I may need to look at it again.

Transport controls: no matter what kind of files I throw at it (including divx), fast-forward, rewind, skipping forward and backwards all always work the way you would expect in BTV. It seems like every other package I try, these controls either do not work for some formats, or they work in a 'fake' way (fast-forward actually just skips ahead in chunks, etc.). And BTV has 'smartskip' which makes commercial skipping really, really easy without any third-party post-processor needed. Since I primarily am looking for playback of television and the rest is ancillary to me, I really miss these features whenever I try another package.

Having more media options, especially DVD playback, would be nice though.

How does Sage handle EPG these days? Do they provide it or do you have to get set up with zap2it (or whatever that turned into)?

(fast-forward actually just skips ahead in chunks, etc.). And BTV has 'smartskip' which makes commercial skipping really, really easy without any third-party post-processor needed.


I never use fast forward, I always skip forward/back, so I'm not sure if that works on non-TV files. I do know that commercial skipping works fine on non-TV shows, as I imported all my old unwatched TV shows from MythTV as "videos" in SageTV. I actually think the commercial skipping in SageTV is nicer than the commercial skipping in MythTV (easier to tune comskip.exe, and it is 2x as fast).


How does Sage handle EPG these days? Do they provide it or do you have to get set up with zap2it (or whatever that turned into)?

You get a lifetime supply of guide data via SageTV. SageTV's upstream provider *is* Zap2it, but you don't deal with them, you deal with SageTV's servers. When doing setup, you select your region (Raleigh/Durham/Fayetville for us) and what provider you use (TWC, OTA, OTA digital, etc) and it populates the guide data. It can also use the ATSC guide data for over the air digital, and you can import data via xmltv. I've never used anything but the built in guide data, and it has worked flawlessly.

BTW, I remember there are extensions you can use to bring over your BTV shows intact, and your viewing history, etc, so that SageTV won't re-record shows you've already seen via BTV, etc. I wanted to do the same for MythTV, but I was too lazy.
See http://www.geektonic.com/2008/01/how-to-convert-beyond-tv-shows-into.html

Drew

I recently got on the phone to ask TWC technical support about which channel will replace the MOJO HD channel which will shut down soon, and also asked the technician when new HD channels will arrive in this area. He said that FSN HD will go on full time to replace the failed channel, and that this division will put up more channels after the analog shutdown. He claimed that the analog shutdown will free up more bandwidth, and that is when we will get more HD channels. I was told the same thing a few days ago from the TWC kiosk in the Cary Towne Center mall. WTF?

I thought that the cable system bandwidth should not be affected by what goes on in the OTA arena. One of these possibilities are true:

The OTA signals in our area are so strong and that TWC's infrastructure in our area is poorly designed so it cannot tolerate high-powered OTA NTSC signals, creating holes in the spectrum of frequencies in TWC's cables. There is some evidence for this because WARZ-TV 34 (do not confuse this with WRAZ Fox 50) at one time complained about its channel assignment on the Garner/Selma system because it was on channel 5, where WRAL's NTSC OTA signal interfered with the WARZ signal on cable; and CSPAN on channel 5 in Cary has a tiny bit more noise than other analog channels when viewed on an analog set in my house, but that noise is noticeable.
TWC's employees have been fed a bunch of BS.
Some TWC engineer failed to realize that the OTA analog shutdown does not shut down analog on cable.

New HD channels coming to TWC Raleigh in February 2009

Hopefully, U-verse will be available by then. If not, I will have to switch back to satellite.

I recently got on the phone to ask TWC technical support about which channel will replace the MOJO HD channel which will shut down soon, and also asked the technician when new HD channels will arrive in this area. He said that FSN HD will go on full time to replace the failed channel, and that this division will put up more channels after the analog shutdown. He claimed that the analog shutdown will free up more bandwidth, and that is when we will get more HD channels. I was told the same thing a few days ago from the TWC kiosk in the Cary Towne Center mall. WTF?

I thought that the cable system bandwidth should not be affected by what goes on in the OTA arena. One of these possibilities are true:

The OTA signals in our area are so strong and that TWC's infrastructure in our area is poorly designed so it cannot tolerate high-powered OTA NTSC signals, creating holes in the spectrum of frequencies in TWC's cables. There is some evidence for this because WARZ-TV 34 (do not confuse this with WRAZ Fox 50) at one time complained about its channel assignment on the Garner/Selma system because it was on channel 5, where WRAL's NTSC OTA signal interfered with the WARZ signal on cable; and CSPAN on channel 5 in Cary has a tiny bit more noise than other analog channels when viewed on an analog set in my house, but that noise is noticeable.
TWC's employees have been fed a bunch of BS.
Some TWC engineer failed to realize that the OTA analog shutdown does not shut down analog on cable.


You've been victim of bad information. First, "ingress" is almost always a house drop problem, and/or actually enters a poorly shielded tuning circuit on a cheap TV. That's why cable companies always put junk on channels prone to interference. They really can't control what customers do to their connections inside the house, and I've seen some Lu-Lu's in my day.

The launch of additional HD channels is in no way related to the analog shutdown. There will be more HD channels soon, but just not soon enough. Certainly long before February. And it is definitely related to a strategic defense against the arrival of U-verse. Rumors are both sides are prepared for a full fledged war.

The launch of additional HD channels is in no way related to the analog shutdown. There will be more HD channels soon, but just not soon enough. Certainly long before February. And it is definitely related to a strategic defense against the arrival of U-verse. Rumors are both sides are prepared for a full fledged war.

Bring on the war!!!! Hopefully TWC will get tons of emails/calls about the lack of HD and UVerse coming and get the lead out.... hint hint... When is UVerse supposed to arrive?

You've been victim of bad information. First, "ingress" is almost always a house drop problem, and/or actually enters a poorly shielded tuning circuit on a cheap TV. That's why cable companies always put junk on channels prone to interference. They really can't control what customers do to their connections inside the house, and I've seen some Lu-Lu's in my day.

The launch of additional HD channels is in no way related to the analog shutdown. There will be more HD channels soon, but just not soon enough. Certainly long before February. And it is definitely related to a strategic defense against the arrival of U-verse. Rumors are both sides are prepared for a full fledged war.

I suspected bad information in the first place. That is why I wrote "WTF?" in the first paragraph and wrote the second and third items in the list. This stuff does not make much sense to me. Isn't the point of SDV to free up bandwidth?

I even asked why what goes on in the OTA space mattered to cable. I got the same responses, so I created the list in my previous post. The first case is in case TWC is concerned about ingress. The other two cases are for the case that what the technical support man has been fed some BS which he is parrotting to me or if he is bluffing.

From Broadcasting & Cable:

NBC Universal is pulling the plug on Weather Plus, the 4-year old digital venture between NBC and local affiliates that provides 24-hour local weather service on digital tiers. NBCU acquired a minority stake in The Weather Channel in July, rendering Weather Plus all but redundant.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6602781.html

Discuss.

Bring on the war!!!! Hopefully TWC will get tons of emails/calls about the lack of HD and UVerse coming and get the lead out.... hint hint... When is UVerse supposed to arrive?

The team installing the U-verse cabinet near where I live said 1st quarter 2009. While AT&T has been somewhat stealth in most markets, I've heard from a fairly reliable source that North Carolina will be their most aggressive project to date, with wide availability and major sales and marketing support.

That said, TWC is preparing for battle. There will be many more HD channels, deep discounts, heavy retention marketing, etc.

The down side to all of this is that U-verse HD picture quality is reportably fair to poor, certainly a consideration. And I wonder how aggressive AT&T will be marketing to the MDU (apartment) market, given that those residents are much less likely to have a satellite option. However, since those potential subscribers are so transient, AT&T may not get payback on the installation cost over the short life of the subscription.

At the risk of sounding political, do you go with the old and experienced, or do yo go with the energy of youth ? ;);););)

From Broadcasting & Cable:

NBC Universal is pulling the plug on Weather Plus, the 4-year old digital venture between NBC and local affiliates that provides 24-hour local weather service on digital tiers. NBCU acquired a minority stake in The Weather Channel in July, rendering Weather Plus all but redundant.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6602781.html

Discuss.

Yawn....

The reason why all these digital side car weather channels are useless is that they are prerecorded loops that are of no value when it really matters, during severe weather outbreaks. Just throw up a live weather radar graphic and they might occasionally have some value.

Good riddance.

Yawn....

The reason why all these digital side car weather channels are useless is that they are prerecorded loops that are of no value when it really matters, during severe weather outbreaks. Just throw up a live weather radar graphic and they might occasionally have some value.

Good riddance.

To heck with the weather graphic... put the bandwith into 17.1... Id like to see 17.2 shot and put that bandwith into 17.1 too while they are at it :D

I am happy enough with DirecTV for TV input, but will be really interested in any better internet speeds from U-verse (versus RoadRunner).

I work from home, and could really use the higher upload bandwidth that U-verse will have (reportedly up to 10Mbps down / 1.5Mbps up). RoadRunner is a snail at 0.3Mbps up!

Now if this forces RoadRunner to push a button and give us faster speeds, to compete with U-verse, then that's just fine with me.

To heck with the weather graphic... put the bandwith into 17.1... Id like to see 17.2 shot and put that bandwith into 17.1 too while they are at it :D

Seconded... I actually remove 17.2 from my lineups so that nothing gets recorded on it by accident if I forget to specify a channel for a favorite.. It would be nice to see the bandwidth reclaimed.

Drew

At the risk of sounding political, do you go with the old and experienced, or do yo go with the energy of youth ? ;);););)

The track record of the "incumbent" shows that it only wakes up and moves when forced to (and barely at that). We've been hearing "more HD, any day now" for well over 2 years (since I switched to Dish) and TWC has not delivered.

I've yet to see "poor picture quality" on any HD/HD-lite sevice.. or at least suspected any blur was due to LCD motion issues, not low-bandwidth signal. I tend to think of that argument as akin to the same scare tactics used to scare voters from going to the polls (since we're on a political theme)(ie. I think its a red herring)

Until TWC goes a-la-carte (ie. line-item-veto), there is no way they can match the value I get from Dish (45 HD channels + HD HVD, $45/month).

The team installing the U-verse cabinet near where I live said 1st quarter 2009. While AT&T has been somewhat stealth in most markets, I've heard from a fairly reliable source that North Carolina will be their most aggressive project to date, with wide availability and major sales and marketing support.

I've heard that Raleigh will get the goods in a matter of months but that other Triangle areas (inc. Cary, where I live) will not get it until later. Actually, a friend of mine who works for AT&T has been told the exact (as exact as it can be) dates but he is not allowed to tell me (or at least he likes to torture me with it ... but not in the way you're thinking, you sickos).

If AT&T knows what they are doing (they did get the iPhone, so that says something) they can really put a hurt on TWC in this area. I don't think the average consumer in this area realizes how little TWC is providing for the money when viewed on a national landscape. Hopefully, AT&T will show this area what they have been missing and many will jump ship.

I've heard that Raleigh will get the goods in a matter of months but that other Triangle areas (inc. Cary, where I live) will not get it until later. Actually, a friend of mine who works for AT&T has been told the exact (as exact as it can be) dates but he is not allowed to tell me (or at least he likes to torture me with it ... but not in the way you're thinking, you sickos).

If AT&T knows what they are doing (they did get the iPhone, so that says something) they can really put a hurt on TWC in this area. I don't think the average consumer in this area realizes how little TWC is providing for the money when viewed on a national landscape. Hopefully, AT&T will show this area what they have been missing and many will jump ship.

Don't be naive. TWC knows exactly what it's facing and is posturing itself technically and contractually to provide whatever it needs to remain competative.

I jumped over to DirecTV last fall when they rolled out the big HD package. Honestly, there were a few nuggets, but an awful lot of filler. Because we are temporarily in an apartment after an aborted attempt to relocate, I am stuck with TWC. Now that HD is becoming more mainstream, and there is actually HD programming on these so-called HD channels, most of the major cable operators will have a pretty full plate of HD channels in the coming months. Once you remove the 39+ versions of Fox Sport Networks on DirecTV, the line-ups should be comparable. In fact DirecTV is starting to slow down as they gobble up what "fixed" bandwidth they have.

AT&T will have the handicap of limited "last mile" bandwidth for the forseeable future which means if quality is more important than quantity, TWC will be the better choice, and TWC will probably have the quantity as well. TWC has already started to "pull down their shorts" on package pricing.

AT&T will have the handicap of limited "last mile" bandwidth for the forseeable future which means if quality is more important than quantity, TWC will be the better choice, and TWC will probably have the quantity as well. TWC has already started to "pull down their shorts" on package pricing.

Now now, don't start making those early predictions again.

I'm still waiting for TWC to become HD competitive with DirecTV based on the statments you were making back in 2006. :p

Now now, don't start making those early predictions again.

I'm still waiting for TWC to become HD competitive with DirecTV based on the statments you were making back in 2006. :p

Touche !!!:(:(:(

I am happy enough with DirecTV for TV input, but will be really interested in any better internet speeds from U-verse (versus RoadRunner).

I work from home, and could really use the higher upload bandwidth that U-verse will have (reportedly up to 10Mbps down / 1.5Mbps up). RoadRunner is a snail at 0.3Mbps up!

Now if this forces RoadRunner to push a button and give us faster speeds, to compete with U-verse, then that's just fine with me.
I know this is offtopic somewhat, but if thats the speeds U-verse offers, I will jump ship in a second, as long as its not significantly higher than Roadrunner (have Dish for TV so I could be rid of TWC for good).

Last call!

Well, what was the result?

Don't be naive. TWC knows exactly what it's facing and is posturing itself technically and contractually to provide whatever it needs to remain competative.


Well, I don't think that I am being naive. TWC in this area just hasn't impressed me as a company that is keeping up. My understanding is (and please correct me if I'm wrong) that satellite has fairly high market penetration in this area, which is a potential indicator of above average consumer dissatisfaction with cable. I don't think TWC has done anything creative or interesting to correct that trend. They appear to me to be a by-the-book conservative monopoly. I may be wrong, and wouldn't mind if I was, but I think if AT&T positions itself well (no major technical gaffes at the outset, good early reviews, no costs to transition from cable to U-verse, competitive content, superior prices, etc.) it can grab more market share than TWC believes it may lose.

Hi all,

We just put a new, more efficent, encoding farm on line today.

This new equipment has performed great in our tests on the bench and I would love to hear any feed back you might have about a change in our picture quality.

FYI, we have not changed any of the bit rates (nor do we intend too).

(For those of you who have seen us breaking up over the supper hour, that is a completly different problem...uggh).

Thanks,

Pete

If UVerse offers decent upload speeds, I'll switch in a heartbeat thanks to the improvements for online gaming and other high-upload tasks I do.

Am I correct in assuming that Durham verizon territory will be out of luck for U-Verse? What little media coverage there is refers to the rollout as "triangle area", but that could be lazy writing.

(Am I the only person here who lives on the wrong side of the tracks?)

Hi all,

We just put a new, more efficent, encoding farm on line today.

This new equipment has performed great in our tests on the bench and I would love to hear any feed back you might have about a change in our picture quality.

FYI, we have not changed any of the bit rates (nor do we intend too).

(For those of you who have seen us breaking up over the supper hour, that is a completly different problem...uggh).

Thanks,

Pete

This may have nothing to do with your change, but it's possible I suppose. Last night I was trying to adjust my picture by eye. Best I remember, I was back and forth between CSI and Bones. (5 and 50 right?) On scenes with a bright light or window in the background, everything seemed to merge into a bright white blur. Some of the bright commercials looked like the screen was about to melt or something. I turned the contrast down to about 14, and it still was like that. My normal setting is about 40 to 48 range. The default setting is 50. Turning down contrast and brightness would not eliminate the problem.

Do you ever broadcast a test pattern late at night or early am?

So, does anybody know what is up with ABC11's low bitrate? Most of their primetime drama's seem to be coming in at 3GB/hr or less. That's about 1/2 of the bitrate of FOX 50, the other OTA 720p station. Are all ABC stations this bad? I'm having problems getting WLXV, so I can't check myself..

Drew

So, does anybody know what is up with ABC11's low bitrate? Most of their primetime drama's seem to be coming in at 3GB/hr or less. That's about 1/2 of the bitrate of FOX 50, the other OTA 720p station. Are all ABC stations this bad? I'm having problems getting WLXV, so I can't check myself..

Drew

From what I've heard, all the ABC-owned stations (WTVD is one) got new encoders that are supposed to be better at compressing down HD. I have heard from several places that it ends up looking like crap, but that's probably what you're seeing.

- Trip

WTVD is running 3 channels. That is a big part of the problem right there. One sub would be ok, but two is causing too much drain off the main.

Am I correct in assuming that Durham verizon territory will be out of luck for U-Verse? What little media coverage there is refers to the rollout as "triangle area", but that could be lazy writing.

(Am I the only person here who lives on the wrong side of the tracks?)

Yup, unless AT&T decides to run all new fiber to all new nodes and then all new copper to your house. Interesting definition of "competition" in my book.

I watch so little TV that isn't OTA I keep toying with the idea of canceling my cable all together. If I could get legal HD (including the 5.1 audio) online of a few shows from Sci-Fi and USA we probably would.

Oh, and I'm on the Verizon side of RTP too and frustrated by their progress. I can only imagine how much worse it will get when TWC starts rolling out new HD in Raleigh to compete with UVerse and not in Durham...

I started seeing "No Program Information" for 11.1, 11.2, and 11.3 OTA on my Zenith DTT-901 even after I tune in the channel and wait. Reception is fine, and program info for all other channels is working fine. Has anyone else had problems with WTVD's PSIP data?

Oh, and I'm on the Verizon side of RTP too and frustrated by their progress. I can only imagine how much worse it will get when TWC starts rolling out new HD in Raleigh to compete with UVerse and not in Durham...

Would they really do this, though? Their 'upcoming channel change' page is global for the region, and the only differences in their local lineups are in the broadcast areas.

(Oh wait, it's a way for them to be more evil. Of course they would!)

Yup, unless AT&T decides to run all new fiber to all new nodes and then all new copper to your house. Interesting definition of "competition" in my book.

I watch so little TV that isn't OTA I keep toying with the idea of canceling my cable all together. If I could get legal HD (including the 5.1 audio) online of a few shows from Sci-Fi and USA we probably would.

Is iTunes quality/resolution high enough for you? I've toyed with going that route. (I could get most of my shows from iTunes, but would lose the ability to channel surf)

Dealnews had an interesting article about cutting the cord to any pay TV service... http://dealnews.com/features/Unplugged-Trading-Cable-TV-for-Internet-TV/231073.html and Hulu has added HD recently.

Oh, and I'm on the Verizon side of RTP too and frustrated by their progress. I can only imagine how much worse it will get when TWC starts rolling out new HD in Raleigh to compete with UVerse and not in Durham...


Although it's not unheard of(see Bravo in Carrboro but no where else in the triangle) I strongly believe any HD added will be added for the whole area and not just for Raleigh. The recent addition of the Big Ten Network and the brief Olympic channels has been systemwide. TWC is currently working to merger all their systems in to three headends.(Raleigh, Greensboro and Charlotte) For them to just add HD in Raleigh would go against everything they are working towards. Not to mention if they did that myself and hundreds like me on the "wrong side of the tracks" would be switching to a dish.

Then again this is Time Warner we are talking about...

Did I miss this announcement? I don't have HD Suite on TWC, but I'm watching Alien Nation on UHD right now and it's coming through fine and free.

I watch so little TV that isn't OTA I keep toying with the idea of canceling my cable all together. If I could get legal HD (including the 5.1 audio) online of a few shows from Sci-Fi and USA we probably would.

How are you getting those now? DirecTV? TWC doesn't carry either of those, do they?

I did a year cable-free, clear QAM (that I could pull from having roadrunner hooked up) and OTA only. Installer will be out tomorrow, I miss Food and Discovery, so I'm back on the evil train for a while.

I'd avoided satellite because I think the 2-year contract is the height of absurdity, but I keep forgetting about Dish.

Edit: Nevermind, I see Dish requires a contract also. Impressive lineup, though--I can see now why the disgruntlement with TWC's lineup is so pronounced. I've been out of the loop for a while.

How are you getting those now? DirecTV? TWC doesn't carry either of those, do they?

I did a year cable-free, clear QAM (that I could pull from having roadrunner hooked up) and OTA only. Installer will be out tomorrow, I miss Food and Discovery, so I'm back on the evil train for a while.

I'd avoided satellite because I think the 2-year contract is the height of absurdity, but I keep forgetting about Dish.

Edit: Nevermind, I see Dish requires a contract also. Impressive lineup, though--I can see now why the disgruntlement with TWC's lineup is so pronounced. I've been out of the loop for a while.

Sometimes the sat services don't force you to get a contract.. on the flip side they may not offer you the signup special(s). Even paying non-contract price (nothing as onerous as with the no-contract cellphone prices), odds are that you would STILL get more HD for less $$ (vs TWC).

Is iTunes quality/resolution high enough for you? I've toyed with going that route. (I could get most of my shows from iTunes, but would lose the ability to channel surf)

I've watched a couple of episodes of things and a movie from iTunes, and the "HD" quality would probably be OK for me given the shows. I tried Hulu for awhile as an experiment, and mostly it's just the issue of trying to control a web browser from the couch that dinged me on the WAF. Oh, and she thought the analog SD was better quality that the digital 480p Hulu delivered. Go figure. I'm usually the quality nut in the family.

How are you getting those now? DirecTV? TWC doesn't carry either of those, do they?

Sorry I wasn't clear. I'm not getting either SciFi or USA in HD right now. Just the crappy SD analog versions. Frankly, if TWC got those two channels in HD I might actually pay to upgrade to the digital service *and* get cablecards/tuning resolver for my TiVo.

I started seeing "No Program Information" for 11.1, 11.2, and 11.3 OTA on my Zenith DTT-901 even after I tune in the channel and wait. Reception is fine, and program info for all other channels is working fine. Has anyone else had problems with WTVD's PSIP data?

Yes, I looked last night and had no PSIP from them either.

Did I miss this announcement? I don't have HD Suite on TWC, but I'm watching Alien Nation on UHD right now and it's coming through fine and free.

I've been getting UHD since probably when they unlocked it for the Olympics. I just never brought it up here for fear of possibly losing it ;) (not that I really watch anything on it. Unedited movies with commercial breaks are just as bad as edited movies to me).

Did I miss something or does anyone know why 5.1 and 50.1 were off-air late last night?

Via Dish they were yellow screens, and via OTA they were non-existent. Analog was still up and running, just the digital channels seemed to be gone. Fine now, but not late last night.

Question for psockett and whoever else might know the answer.

I noticed while researching about FOX stations that WRAZ has two SD subchannels (http://www.rabbitears.info/screencaps/nc-ral/64611-0_0.htm). I thought the FOX splicer was designed to only air one. If so, what of the following is going on here?

1. The splicer HD stream is being re-encoded at the station level so that two subchannels can be added
2. Fox is sending a specialized DT stream to the WRAZ splicer that has a lower bitrate than the average FOX stream nationwide (~14 Mbps peak instead of ~16 Mbps peak)
3. Fox is sending a lower bitrate (14 Mbps peak) to all stations
4. The splicer is not receiving any specialized stream, 50-1 HD video bitrate peaks in the 15.5-16 Mbps range, and the subchannels' bitrates are always being squeezed into whatever bitrate is left, even if there's only about 3 Mbps for both 50-2 and 50-3's audio and video streams.

I want to better understand how FOX stations might be able to properly deploy ATSC M/H (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATSC-M/H). From what I can tell, it'll use up a lot of the bandwidth that's currently used by 50-2 and 50-3, and the splicer will probably provide the bandwidth equivalent of a brick wall in this regard....

FWIW, it *was* nice to see This Old House / Ask This Old House in HD over the weekend.
How were you able to see this show in HD? It is not listed anywhere on 201/4.2 that I can find.

How were you able to see this show in HD? It is not listed anywhere on 201/4.2 that I can find.

OTA those two shows are now available on 4.1, so you might check whatever cable channel corresponds to 4.1.

OTA those two shows are now available on 4.1, so you might check whatever cable channel corresponds to 4.1.
Okay, I'm confused. Channel 4.1 corresponds with 200, I believe. I have yet to see any HD on any UNC channel except 201, which doesn't make sense. So, there is HD programming on 4.1?

Channel 4.2 corresponds with 4.2, which is the UNCHD channel, I think.

Question for psockett and whoever else might know the answer.

I noticed while researching about FOX stations that WRAZ has two SD subchannels (http://www.rabbitears.info/screencaps/nc-ral/64611-0_0.htm). I thought the FOX splicer was designed to only air one. If so, what of the following is going on here?

1. The splicer HD stream is being re-encoded at the station level so that two subchannels can be added
2. Fox is sending a specialized DT stream to the WRAZ splicer that has a lower bitrate than the average FOX stream nationwide (~14 Mbps peak instead of ~16 Mbps peak)
3. Fox is sending a lower bitrate (14 Mbps peak) to all stations
4. The splicer is not receiving any specialized stream, 50-1 HD video bitrate peaks in the 15.5-16 Mbps range, and the subchannels' bitrates are always being squeezed into whatever bitrate is left, even if there's only about 3 Mbps for both 50-2 and 50-3's audio and video streams.

I want to better understand how FOX stations might be able to properly deploy ATSC M/H (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATSC-M/H). From what I can tell, it'll use up a lot of the bandwidth that's currently used by 50-2 and 50-3, and the splicer will probably provide the bandwidth equivalent of a brick wall in this regard....

I'm not psockett, and I'm sorry to say I don't have a capture of WRAZ-DT while they're doing HD through the splicer, but my guess is that their arrangement is sort of like WOLF-DT in Scranton PA. They also have two subchannels.

http://www.rabbitears.info/screencaps/pa-scr/73375-0_0.htm

I'd much rather hear it from psockett himself, though.

- Trip

Does anyone know why ABC 11s HD live audio broadcasts(football games, nascar last week) sounds muddled and like the announcers are talking into tin cans on strings....I am watching through TWC in Cary. Anyone else notice this?

Okay, I'm confused. Channel 4.1 corresponds with 200, I believe. I have yet to see any HD on any UNC channel except 201, which doesn't make sense. So, there is HD programming on 4.1?

Channel 4.2 corresponds with 4.2, which is the UNCHD channel, I think.

Worth noting that the OTA configuration has recently changed for channel 4. Cable still has the SD "analog" channel, a 24 hr HD channel, PBS Kids, PBS NC, and PBS Education... BUT OTA now only has PBS, PBS Kids, and PBS NC. the main 4.1 OTA channel is now HD when the show is HD, SD when not... so OTA still doesn't have the 24 hr HD channel. This means the 1:1 relationship of the OTA vs Time Warner lineup is harder to compare now...

It's like there are 6 different PBS available, depending on how you look at it. 3 via OTA and 5 via cable... or maybe all 6 via cable if Time Warner has reconfigured.

Does anyone know why ABC 11s HD live audio broadcasts(football games, nascar last week) sounds muddled and like the announcers are talking into tin cans on strings....I am watching through TWC in Cary. Anyone else notice this?

Same here. In fact no matter what the sport, same result. It is less noticeable when I use my Receiver and DD 5.1.

For my TV, I use HDMI and have actually set the TV's audio to Mono (not Surround, etc.) and that seems to work. It's dreadful.

I'm not psockett, and I'm sorry to say I don't have a capture of WRAZ-DT while they're doing HD through the splicer, but my guess is that their arrangement is sort of like WOLF-DT in Scranton PA. They also have two subchannels.

http://www.rabbitears.info/screencaps/pa-scr/73375-0_0.htmCan someone with TSReader please parse a scene or two from WRAZ this Sunday during one of the doubleheader football games or Game 3 of the NLCS? Thanks.

I tried to spin my antenna and see WRAZ-DT with my DViCO but couldn't get more than 52% signal (needs 60% to decode).

- Trip

Trip, try, say, after 9 PM tomorrow during NLCS Game 3?

Same for me. This happens once in a while. I adjusted my antenna thinking that might be the problem, but I have came to the conclusion that it may be the station. It always comes back after a while also.

Anyone know why this happens with DTV?

I started seeing "No Program Information" for 11.1, 11.2, and 11.3 OTA on my Zenith DTT-901 even after I tune in the channel and wait. Reception is fine, and program info for all other channels is working fine. Has anyone else had problems with WTVD's PSIP data?

Trip, try, say, after 9 PM tomorrow during NLCS Game 3?

I got it last night, but all my captures are corrupt for some reason.

The gist of it was that 50-1 was at 14.75, 50-2 was at 1.5, 50-3 at 1.8.

I make no promises about a new one tonight.

- Trip

The gist of it was that 50-1 was at 14.75, 50-2 was at 1.5, 50-3 at 1.8.


I think they must run dramas at lower bit rates. I have a few weeks worth of "Bones" piled up, and they're around 4.9GB, which works out to be about 11.5Mb/s.

Drew

I think they must run dramas at lower bit rates. I have a few weeks worth of "Bones" piled up, and they're around 4.9GB, which works out to be about 11.5Mb/s.I don't think they need any more. Sporting events have a more complex combination of motion and native detail, and that requires bandwidth hogging. Also, note how film-captured shows are slightly softer per pixel than sporting events. I think that's because of the film used. The encoder probably notes this, and adjusts bitrate accordingly.

Do you think the drama picture quality is good?

Ha! The atmosphere loves me this weekend. Didn't even have to turn the antenna this evening!

http://www.rabbitears.info/screencaps/1-temp/wraz.htm

- Trip

NC State at Maryland football on the 25th scheduled for 330PM on ESPN360...ie, not available to many people at all in this area.
Any chance ABC11 will (assuming its allowed) air this on a subchannel? Preferably not tape delayed.

NC State at Maryland football on the 25th scheduled for 330PM on ESPN360...ie, not available to many people at all in this area.
Any chance ABC11 will (assuming its allowed) air this on a subchannel?If it's available in the Raleigh area, Verizon FiOS Internet subscribers have full access to ESPN360.com included in their subscription. Don't expect it to be allowed anywhere near OTA.

NC State at Maryland football on the 25th scheduled for 330PM on ESPN360...ie, not available to many people at all in this area.
Any chance ABC11 will (assuming its allowed) air this on a subchannel? Preferably not tape delayed.

AT&T and Verizon internet customers have access to ESPN 360. I've watched a couple of 360 games and some look horrible and the others look *ok*. You never know, the game could end up on ESPNU.

http://www.rabbitears.info/screencaps/1-temp/wraz.htm


I must be missing something. From that output we see the following bitrates for the video PIDs:
WRAZ-HD - 19.00Mbps
WRAZ-DT - 5.00Mbps
WRAL-WX - 2.75Mbps

So, just for the video, we have a bitrate of 26.75Mb/s. I thought ATSC was limited to 19Mb/s? Doing the subtraction of the bitrates used by WRAL-WX and WRAZ-DT (19-7.75), it looks like only 11.25Mb/s is left for WRAZ-HD. This jives with the file sizes I see..

Drew

Same for me. This happens once in a while. I adjusted my antenna thinking that might be the problem, but I have came to the conclusion that it may be the station. It always comes back after a while also.

Anyone know why this happens with DTV?

Program info for 11.1, 11.2, and 11.3 is back now, but it took a good number of days. Oh well. I chalk this up to the unreliability of PSIP that people in other threads talk about.

I don't think they need any more. Sporting events have a more complex combination of motion and native detail, and that requires bandwidth hogging. Also, note how film-captured shows are slightly softer per pixel than sporting events. I think that's because of the film used. The encoder probably notes this, and adjusts bitrate accordingly.

Do you think the drama picture quality is good?

I admit I don't watch baseball. I mainly watch NFL football and college basketball. Both football and the dramas from 720p channels look a little softer on my TV (46" 1080p) than 1080i channels do. NFL football seems to be the most apples to apples comparison, and I'd rather watch a football game on WRAL (CBS, 1080i) than WRAZ (Fox, 720p), as it seems sharper.

Drew

This may have nothing to do with your change, but it's possible I suppose. Last night I was trying to adjust my picture by eye. Best I remember, I was back and forth between CSI and Bones. (5 and 50 right?) On scenes with a bright light or window in the background, everything seemed to merge into a bright white blur. Some of the bright

I could just be imagining things, but last week's Numb3rs seemed to have a contrast problem like you describe too. Scenes with bright back lighting (like your bright light or window) seemed to be overpowered by the back light, and it was hard to see what was happening in the foreground. (1080p Sony LCD)

Drew

I could just be imagining things, but last week's Numb3rs seemed to have a contrast problem like you describe too. Scenes with bright back lighting (like your bright light or window) seemed to be overpowered by the back light, and it was hard to see what was happening in the foreground. (1080p Sony LCD)

Drew

I sent an e-mail to WRAL about the problem. They said that they would look into it.

I must be missing something. From that output we see the following bitrates for the video PIDs:
WRAZ-HD - 19.00Mbps
WRAZ-DT - 5.00Mbps
WRAL-WX - 2.75MbpsThese are maximum bitrates allowed by the statmuxer. That said, during some primetime programming, especially with sports, HD bitrate can go well above 11.25 Mbps. Just take a look at the RabbitEars link -- if you scroll down, you'll note that the HD bitrate is almost 15 Mbps, with both subchannels' video bitrates under 2 Mbps.

If it's available in the Raleigh area, Verizon FiOS Internet subscribers have full access to ESPN360.com included in their subscription. Don't expect it to be allowed anywhere near OTA.
Im thinking back to when State played Rider in Reynolds on ESPNU and it was shown on a subchannel (tape delayed however). Admittedly, nothing was done for the two FB games last year, but those were home games. Verizon FIOS is NOT available to anyone in Raleigh, unless its a very small area close to Durham. AT&T is the only option, and most people go with RR for the convience or the speed.
AT&T and Verizon internet customers have access to ESPN 360. I've watched a couple of 360 games and some look horrible and the others look *ok*. You never know, the game could end up on ESPNU.
Definitely wont be on ESPNU, that channel has games scheduled already. I understand that not every game can be broadcast on TV, and thats ok...but when they are dragging all their equipment out there to broadcast it, its kind of stupid I have no way of watching it (without signing up for a different ISP).

Hey, NCN OTA DTV is back on the air for me. haven't even tried to tune in for a few weeks -maybe 2 months. I've changed nothing but yesterday & today noticed 17.1 locking in just fine.

Did they change something at their tower recently? Haven't seen NBC17Engineer post since we submitted strength logs a few pages back.

Looks like Time Warner is going to have a tent at the State Fair.

http://www.timewarnercable.com/Carolinas/events/fair.html

I suggest we all go by and harass them and see if we can get any more information on HD. I'm sure that we'll get the standard answer of "we don't know" but at least when we ask this time we can then go enjoy some nice fried oreos or a funnel cake or something. :D

I'm going to the fair tomorrow. I will report back if I hear anything exciting.

Dish and Direct are still using the analog signals. (I'm Dish / OTA). Test just completed with story on WRAL for Noon news.

Directv added FOX NEWS CHANNEL HD today.

Looks like Time Warner is going to have a tent at the State Fair.

http://www.timewarnercable.com/Carolinas/events/fair.html

I suggest we all go by and harass them and see if we can get any more information on HD. I'm sure that we'll get the standard answer of "we don't know" but at least when we ask this time we can then go enjoy some nice fried oreos or a funnel cake or something. :D

I'm going to the fair tomorrow. I will report back if I hear anything exciting.

Yep, the meteorologists will have a handle on that :D

Dish and Direct are still using the analog signals. (I'm Dish / OTA). Test just completed with story on WRAL for Noon news.

Both Dish and Direct will convert to digital pickup of local SD in the middle of December IIRC.

Don't remember seeing this posted here:

http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/BAaf/~3/ZgLi0wcui5U/20081017-fcc-fines-cable-for-anticompetitive-switched-digital-video.html

Of interest for those using CableCARD.

Did I miss this announcement? I don't have HD Suite on TWC, but I'm watching Alien Nation on UHD right now and it's coming through fine and free.

I've been getting UHD since probably when they unlocked it for the Olympics. I just never brought it up here for fear of possibly losing it ;) (not that I really watch anything on it. Unedited movies with commercial breaks are just as bad as edited movies to me).

And a day or so after I posted this, it vanished. Coincidence? ;)

And a day or so after I posted this, it vanished. Coincidence? ;)

Oh I am quite sure that TW has someone reading this forum. I was getting some good and reliable information from one of their VPs and as soon as I posted that information here, he stopped responding to my emails. I don't understand why TW has to be so secretive about everything they are doing.

Watching the UNC game in un-HD on a HD channel. Anyone know what is going on.

Looks like ABC is getting a feed from ESPN for the broadcast.

Watching the UNC game in un-HD on a HD channel. Anyone know what is going on.

Looks like ABC is getting a feed from ESPN for the broadcast.

Stayed non-HD the whole way through, so I guess this is one of those times ESPN/ABC decided not to try. They still don't have enough cameras to go around for all the places they need to cover live in HD, and before the season this game probably didn't look like it would be one on the "must have" list I imagine.

We'll get there one day... it was just our (ACC country) turn this week.

Stayed non-HD the whole way through, so I guess this is one of those times ESPN/ABC decided not to try. They still don't have enough cameras to go around for all the places they need to cover live in HD, and before the season this game probably didn't look like it would be one on the "must have" list I imagine.

We'll get there one day... it was just our (ACC country) turn this week.


That game would have been ugly even in 1080p.

Stayed non-HD the whole way through, so I guess this is one of those times ESPN/ABC decided not to try. They still don't have enough cameras to go around for all the places they need to cover live in HD, and before the season this game probably didn't look like it would be one on the "must have" list I imagine.

We'll get there one day... it was just our (ACC country) turn this week.

Actually it has nothing to do with cameras. Pretty much all ABC/ESPN games are being done in HD this season. It has to do with ABC/ESPN and their reverse mirror that they do. ABC can only send two HD feeds at a time. Ohio State vs Michigan State and Kansas vs Oklahoma were both broadcast on ABC to a larger portion of the country so they got the HD feeds. Since UNC/UVA was in a smaller broadcast area we got stuck with the SD feed. There have been times where the game on ABC has been in SD but when it is mirrored in other parts of the country on ESPN it was in HD. This week both the ABC and ESPN2 coverage were SD only.

Actually it has nothing to do with cameras. Pretty much all ABC/ESPN games are being done in HD this season. It has to do with ABC/ESPN and their reverse mirror that they do. ABC can only send two HD feeds at a time. Ohio State vs Michigan State and Kansas vs Oklahoma were both broadcast on ABC to a larger portion of the country so they got the HD feeds. Since UNC/UVA was in a smaller broadcast area we got stuck with the SD feed. There have been times where the game on ABC has been in SD but when it is mirrored in other parts of the country on ESPN it was in HD. This week both the ABC and ESPN2 coverage were SD only.
Okay, the consensus is that the game itself (UNC/UVA) was not worthy of HD broadcast. And admittedly it still would have been ugly.

Perhaps more importantly, the ABC network did not have the bandwidth to broadcast in HD anyhow.

So with the Best Buys and Circuit Cities of the world trying to sell everyone large, high end plasma and LCD TVs capable of HD, the broadcast industry does not have the infrastructure to support. Consequently, everyone has to learn how to stretch the picture to fill their screen for the foreseeable future. And then there are the cable companies, but I won't go there.

Cheers

Actually it has nothing to do with cameras. Pretty much all ABC/ESPN games are being done in HD this season.

Just to nitpick :) "Pretty much all" means some must not ;)

It has to do with ABC/ESPN and their reverse mirror that they do. ABC can only send two HD feeds at a time.

Back to seriousness... I did not know they had this limitation. That sounds like the limitation CBS had to overcome last year in order to serve all the basketball games in HD for the tourney. I'd say that's a major piece of the puzzle that ABC/ESPN need to get on top of right away those cameras are going to waste if they can't send multiple simultaneous feeds in HD.

The game was actually produced in HD (Sportscenter Highlights were in HD), but as was mentioned above, ABC can only distribute 2 HD games at a time. Most weeks, the SD game ends up being the Big 12 game, but we were the unlucky ones this week.

Consequently, everyone has to learn how to stretch the picture to fill their screen for the foreseeable future
No...no, they dont have to learn how to do that, because they would be wrong...wrong wrong wrong wrong :).

I have a hd tv with built in qam turner so I can get all of the local HD channels for free. Yesterday the game worked perfect while watching the Panthers football game now all of a sudden I can't get FOXHD or ABC HD which is bullshit anyone else in Raleigh having this problem on your HD's?

I have a hd tv with built in qam turner so I can get all of the local HD channels for free. Yesterday the game worked perfect while watching the Panthers football game now all of a sudden I can't get FOXHD or ABC HD which is bullshit anyone else in Raleigh having this problem on your HD's?

Same situation here, TWC-Chapel Hill. No clear qam FOX HD or ABC HD. Anyone know what is going on?

No fox or ABC on QAM for me either. Im in Apex.

Ok I found out what was wrong just scan all of your channels again and they should show back up just fine.

Thanks, eaton, that solved the issue.

It's so nice of TWC to put that clear, concise and prominent notice up on their website. :rolleyes:

As of today, TWC changed the physical channel for ABC (WTVD) and FOX (WRAZ) from 113 to 92. You should perform an auto-scan in order for your QAM tuner to find them.

I have a hd tv with built in qam turner so I can get all of the local HD channels for free. Yesterday the game worked perfect while watching the Panthers football game now all of a sudden I can't get FOXHD or ABC HD which is bullshit anyone else in Raleigh having this problem on your HD's?I noticed this tonight as well. Apparently, overnight last night TWC switched the frequency of WTVD and WRAZ channels from 729MHz to 633MHz. A rescan should be able to pull in the channels again. This is in Apex using a couple of tuners for my macs over QAM.

As of today, TWC changed the physical channel for ABC (WTVD) and FOX (WRAZ) from 113 to 92. You should perform an auto-scan in order for your QAM tuner to find them.

Interesting.. TWC hasn't moved any of the basic HD QAM channels (ABC, PBS, CBS, FOX, NBC) in the nearly 5 years I've had a high-def TV. I hope they don't start moving them around at random. I'm glad I'm recording OTA, otherwise I'd have missed some stuff last night.

Did anybody else notice that the remapping information for WRAL disappeared after a channel scan? Eg, on my new 1080p LCD Sony, WRAL is now showing up as 85.{2,3,4} rather than 5.{1,2,3}. I scanned twice to be sure, and the 5.x remapping info seems to be gone now.

Drew

Did anybody else notice that the remapping information for WRAL disappeared after a channel scan? Eg, on my new 1080p LCD Sony, WRAL is now showing up as 85.{2,3,4} rather than 5.{1,2,3}. I scanned twice to be sure, and the 5.x remapping info seems to be gone now.It's moved and 22.1 and 28.1 seem to be missing unless they've been moved as well and I didn't recognize them when I was checking through channels.

I recently learned of a great new HT install company here in the Triangle. They really concentrate on theater room installs with whole home media servers and home automation. If anyone is interested, PM me for more info.

Thought I'd spread the word.

I may be able to see if there is an AVSForum discount.

It's moved

No, WRAL has not moved. It has always (for the last 4 or 5 years) been at 85.x. Its just that the CVTC is just screwed up, and there is no remapping info to map 85.x -> 5.y. FWIW, I had 22.1 and 28.1 when I checked 5 minutes ago.

Drew

Interesting.. TWC hasn't moved any of the basic HD QAM channels (ABC, PBS, CBS, FOX, NBC) in the nearly 5 years I've had a high-def TV. I hope they don't start moving them around at random. I'm glad I'm recording OTA, otherwise I'd have missed some stuff last night.

Did anybody else notice that the remapping information for WRAL disappeared after a channel scan? Eg, on my new 1080p LCD Sony, WRAL is now showing up as 85.{2,3,4} rather than 5.{1,2,3}. I scanned twice to be sure, and the 5.x remapping info seems to be gone now.

Drew

I still have them all in the correct slots...5.1, 5.2, 5.3. I can also tune 85.2, 85.3 and 85.4.

Jeff

I've also had 11.1 and 50.1 vanish, did a rescan per Erik and it's all back now.

CBS HD 5.1/3 is now gone, and it shows up @ 85.2 .

28.1 and 22.1 are intact.

TWC-Raleigh on a Vizio.

Interesting.. TWC hasn't moved any of the basic HD QAM channels (ABC, PBS, CBS, FOX, NBC) in the nearly 5 years I've had a high-def TV. I hope they don't start moving them around at random. I'm glad I'm recording OTA, otherwise I'd have missed some stuff last night.

Did anybody else notice that the remapping information for WRAL disappeared after a channel scan? Eg, on my new 1080p LCD Sony, WRAL is now showing up as 85.{2,3,4} rather than 5.{1,2,3}. I scanned twice to be sure, and the 5.x remapping info seems to be gone now.

Drew

Same here...I used TSReader to check the transponder and the channel information is indeed missing from the Transport Stream.

This is very annoying as I missed a few recordings on my HTPC, plus the time to rescan and reset connections is lengthy on the HTPC, not so bad on a standard TV where you don't need to scan and link to channel data. Anyways, glad to see I'm not the only one caught off guard by this.

Also, for some reason UNCHD was not populating in my scans so I had to manually add it to my HTPC TV front end software, TSReader found it...so not sure what changed.

Anyone else have bad DD audio sync on ABC tonight during Eli Stone?

I changed the output to PCM on the TWC Nav box and that improved it but switching back returned the issue.

Its just that the CVTC is just screwed up, and there is no remapping info to map 85.x -> 5.y.
According to the diagnostics screen for my QAM tuner, the CVCT is totally missing from the 85.x channels (WRAL).

Same here...I used TSReader to check the transponder and the channel information is indeed missing from the Transport Stream.

Also, for some reason UNCHD was not populating in my scans so I had to manually add it to my HTPC TV front end software, TSReader found it...so not sure what changed.

Which front-end do you use that works well with TSReader?

Do you also do OTA ATSC or just QAM? if yes, which antenna do you use?

Thanks

Anyone else have bad DD audio sync on ABC tonight during Eli Stone?

I changed the output to PCM on the TWC Nav box and that improved it but switching back returned the issue.

At first I thought Katie Holmes was just horrible at lipsynching the song at the beginning, but then I noticed how it was slightly off the entire show.

At first I thought Katie Holmes was just horrible at lipsynching the song at the beginning, but then I noticed how it was slightly off the entire show.

You use the TV for audio or a receiver?

Anyone else have bad DD audio sync on ABC tonight during Eli Stone?

I changed the output to PCM on the TWC Nav box and that improved it but switching back returned the issue.
My DVR recordings of Samantha Who and Boston Legal were bad from Monday night...through Dish.

My DVR recordings of Samantha Who and Boston Legal were bad from Monday night...through Dish.

I have recordings with out-of-sync audio/video going back a while on ABC11. The first I remember seeing it was the "Bewitched" movie recorded Aug 18th.. But I probably didn't watch anything on ABC11 for months before that.

Drew

You use the TV for audio or a receiver?

Receiver

My DVR recordings of Samantha Who and Boston Legal were bad from Monday night...through Dish.

I, and others, have reported various recording problems with WRAZ and WTVD via Dish for a while now. No problems at all recording OTA... but WRAZ has frequent audio skips (especially with the Sunday night lineup) and ABC is almost as bad sometimes (especially when I record Boston Legal).

Don't know what is going on exactly, but Dish has been made aware and has sampled recordings from various folks who have reported... and are at least looking into what the problem might be since it doesn't affect all of our locals.

Hey guys, thanks for posting...I found this thread after trying to search for a problem of why I can't pick up 11.1 and 50.1...Going to go re-scan my tv and see what If I can pick them back up. I deal with problems like this all day so when it comes to coming home and having problems I really could care less. heh

I see alot of QAM talk here, are you guys in apartments/condos that have a QAM set-up throughout the property?

p.s. I hope to be around. I use this site for a lot of info but finally decided to register.

<--Technical Support for largest Directv Commercial retailer and do Dish as well. Poo on Dish for the commercial side of things.

WOOT WOOT...I'll update if that resolves my issue

re-scanned and all is well now! :cool:

I see alot of QAM talk here, are you guys in apartments/condos that have a QAM set-up throughout the property?TWC sends out QAM signals for local stations on cable.

Yeah, I have the audio skips on my Sunday night lineup from FOX as well...watched via Hulu instead. They weird thing is, if I skip back and watch a segment over, the drop outs are in different places, and I hear dialogue I didnt hear the first time. House from Tuesday had a few too, but was watchable...the animated shows werent watchable at all.

The CVCT data for WRAL is no longer missing. I did another auto-scan, and now I can enter 5.1 instead of 85.2.

It's moved and 22.1 and 28.1 seem to be missing unless they've been moved as well and I didn't recognize them when I was checking through channels. WLFL and WRDC are still on the same frequency (543MHz) for QAM.

twc sends out qam signals for local stations on cable.

10-4

Yeah, I have the audio skips on my Sunday night lineup from FOX as well...watched via Hulu instead. They weird thing is, if I skip back and watch a segment over, the drop outs are in different places, and I hear dialogue I didnt hear the first time. House from Tuesday had a few too, but was watchable...the animated shows werent watchable at all.

Yeah, for some odd reason on FOX the dropouts are worse during their "Animation Domination" than if I record other shows during the week. I've also noticed how the skips change places, which makes me think the recording itself might be fine but something about the stream is not well-liked by the playback. It's not an easy-to-diagnose problem, but is fortunately very repeatable so hopefully the more they look at it the sooner they can fix it.

From the Time-Warner Update Page, posted within the last couple of hours:
Upcoming and Recent Channel Lineup Changes

Oct. 29, 2008: The following HD channels will be added to the Free HD lineup:

* Discovery HD - Channel 260: Offers real life entertainment in shows such as American Chopper, Monster Garage, Unsolved History, and more.
* Speed HD - Channel 273: 24-hour cable network devoted exclusively to automotive, aviation, and marine entertainment and information.
* ESPNU HD - Channel 288: Coverage of NCAA college sports includes basketball, football, baseball, hockey, and more.
* Bio HD - Channel 296: BIO HD is about real people and their real lives: up close and personal, gritty and provocative, always unfiltered.

Not necessarily all of the ones I'd want...but it's a start. Hopefully, it is only a start.

From the Time-Warner Update Page, posted within the last couple of hours:
Upcoming and Recent Channel Lineup Changes

Oct. 29, 2008: The following HD channels will be added to the Free HD lineup:

* Discovery HD - Channel 260: Offers real life entertainment in shows such as American Chopper, Monster Garage, Unsolved History, and more.
* Speed HD - Channel 273: 24-hour cable network devoted exclusively to automotive, aviation, and marine entertainment and information.
* ESPNU HD - Channel 288: Coverage of NCAA college sports includes basketball, football, baseball, hockey, and more.
* Bio HD - Channel 296: BIO HD is about real people and their real lives: up close and personal, gritty and provocative, always unfiltered.

Not necessarily all of the ones I'd want...but it's a start. Hopefully, it is only a start.

Its about damn time....The only one I care about and have actually complained to TW about is Discovery but I will take all the HD we can get.

Its about damn time....The only one I care about and have actually complained to TW about is Discovery but I will take all the HD we can get.

Discovery is great... but I would really like Science-HD

Discovery is great... but I would really like Science-HD

Someone on the Charlotte forum was told that multiple channels will be added in chunks between now and the end of the year. I didn't believe it until I saw this announcement(although they haven't announced adding any new channels in Charlotte yet). Anyway, they said that Science-HD is one of the ones that should be added soon. Give me History HD and I'll be happy with Time Warner until they finally get off their butt and sign a carriage agreement with USA-HD.

Someone on the Charlotte forum was told that multiple channels will be added in chunks between now and the end of the year. I didn't believe it until I saw this announcement(although they haven't announced adding any new channels in Charlotte yet). Anyway, they said that Science-HD is one of the ones that should be added soon. Give me History HD and I'll be happy with Time Warner until they finally get off their butt and sign a carriage agreement with USA-HD.

I wonder if these new channels will be SDV or Linear.... My TiVo would love it if they were linear.... however... Im not optomistic about that.

Its about damn time....The only one I care about and have actually complained to TW about is Discovery but I will take all the HD we can get.

You can see
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=652328&page=1
for a list of channels that TWC has deals either done or is currently negotiating. Note that TWC having a deal done does not mean we are getting it soon, and definitely not we already have it, but is a list from which we may be getting stuff. A small sample of channels we don't get but TWC has deals done already: CNN, History Channel, The Science Channel, The Learning Channel, Animal Planet, FX (which would probably be a part of what TWC calls Free HD) and stuff like The Tennis Channel, The Movie Channel, MGM that may require extra $$.
Some of the ones I'd like to see - SciFi, USA, IFC and AMC are under negotiatons (for a long while now).

From the Time-Warner Update Page, posted within the last couple of hours:
Upcoming and Recent Channel Lineup Changes

Oct. 29, 2008: The following HD channels will be added to the Free HD lineup:

* Discovery HD - Channel 260: Offers real life entertainment in shows such as American Chopper, Monster Garage, Unsolved History, and more.
* Speed HD - Channel 273: 24-hour cable network devoted exclusively to automotive, aviation, and marine entertainment and information.
* ESPNU HD - Channel 288: Coverage of NCAA college sports includes basketball, football, baseball, hockey, and more.
* Bio HD - Channel 296: BIO HD is about real people and their real lives: up close and personal, gritty and provocative, always unfiltered.

Not necessarily all of the ones I'd want...but it's a start. Hopefully, it is only a start.

Nope I still think this is pathetic. With all the maketing deals made by other TWC networks they deploy Bio HD? People don't watch Bio SD, how many HD viewers do they expect to care about that?

Cinemax and Starz HD? Where the hell are they? Their main channels have been in HD for 4 ***#@**!! years.

Which front-end do you use that works well with TSReader?

Do you also do OTA ATSC or just QAM? if yes, which antenna do you use?

Thanks

I just used TSReader to verify data. I actually use GBPVR as my TV Tuner front end.

Just QAM...HTPC is in the basement and we already have TW so I haven't tried OTA(ATSC) yet.

I just used TSReader to verify data. I actually use GBPVR as my TV Tuner front end.

Just QAM...HTPC is in the basement and we already have TW so I haven't tried OTA(ATSC) yet.

Cool, thanks.

From the Time-Warner Update Page, posted within the last couple of hours:
Upcoming and Recent Channel Lineup Changes


Any idea when this will actually take place? will they be available over QAM?

Thanks

Any idea when this will actually take place? will they be available over QAM?

Thanks

Ummmm, 10/29??? :) Nobody will be sure about the QAM until the new channels are up...I doubt if they are available, but one never knows. :)

I want Fox News!

Does anyone know when NBC 17 might start broadcasting their news in HD? If I'm not mistaken they are the only folks left in the Triangle that are still doing their news broadcasts in SD.

Please help me understand....
I thought that ABC/ESPN was going to have all football games in HD this year, at least I remember reading that on line during the summer..
Why was last week's UNC/VA game and this week's VA Tech/Fla. St. games in SD?
Thanks
Ernie

Please help me understand....
I thought that ABC/ESPN was going to have all football games in HD this year, at least I remember reading that on line during the summer..
Why was last week's UNC/VA game and this week's VA Tech/Fla. St. games in SD?
Thanks
Ernie

Well believe it or not, the game is actually being produced in HD. If you watch sportscenter tonight the highlights will be in HD just like the lowlights from the UNC/VA games were last week. ABC/ESPN is producing all games in HD this year. The problem is they don't have the ability to broadcast them all in HD. The problem lies with ABC/ESPN reverse mirror broadcasting that they do. ABC is carrying 4 games throughout the country during the 3:30 timeslot. However, they only have the ability to transmit two HD feeds throughout the country at a time. They usually use this for the east/west HD feeds during primetime. So this week, the Michigan State at Michigan game and the Oklahoma State at Texas games are getting the HD transmissions. Those of us in viewing areas that get the FSU/VT game or the UCLA/Cal games are stuck with the SD feeds. There is a forum over in the HDTV programming section that list each week which games will be HD and which will be SD. This weeks forum can be found here.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1078620

Thanks a lot for the info - tarheelone. Maybe next year ABC/ESPN will be able to have more than 2 HD feeds.

Hey all, might have some stupid questions below but I hope someone in Raleigh can help me out :). I don't live in NC but most of my family does, this weekend my parents were up there and being the nice folks they are they tried to help set my aunt up with a digital converter box since she's still using an antenna. I can't remember exactly which box they got, but I believe it's a Magnavox and when I did some research on it for my dad while he was hooking it up I found that they just have terrible quality control, my dad had to exchange the first one to get one that would power on. I'll probably end up swapping that out for one of the Dish Network ones or a Channel Master when I go to visit next, but whatever.

The issue is that she is unable to receive WRAL without lots of breaking up, and apparently also can't receive WUNC at all. These are the two most important channels for her. AntennaWeb is pretty useless for some reason, it only shows 4 digital stations as being available (zip code is 27549, single story house with tall trees around), doesn't show even an analog WUNC. She has an outdoor antenna on her roof, it's probably about 25 years old. I was thinking I'd probably switch this out for a CM3020 at some point, but I'm hesitant to do anything until February to see how channel changes and increased transmission power shakes out. I don't know what the plans are for this in Raleigh, is anyone else in Franklin county and doing OTA? Any recommendations for an antenna to choose now, or any channels besides WUNC that may be on a different digital channel than analog?

WRAL is operating from a directional, temporary antenna while they replace their current antenna. If she can see WRAZ alright, after the transition she shouldn't have any trouble.

- Trip

Hey all, might have some stupid questions below but I hope someone in Raleigh can help me out :). I don't live in NC but most of my family does, this weekend my parents were up there and being the nice folks they are they tried to help set my aunt up with a digital converter box since she's still using an antenna. I can't remember exactly which box they got, but I believe it's a Magnavox and when I did some research on it for my dad while he was hooking it up I found that they just have terrible quality control, my dad had to exchange the first one to get one that would power on. I'll probably end up swapping that out for one of the Dish Network ones or a Channel Master when I go to visit next, but whatever.

The issue is that she is unable to receive WRAL without lots of breaking up, and apparently also can't receive WUNC at all. These are the two most important channels for her. AntennaWeb is pretty useless for some reason, it only shows 4 digital stations as being available (zip code is 27549, single story house with tall trees around), doesn't show even an analog WUNC. She has an outdoor antenna on her roof, it's probably about 25 years old. I was thinking I'd probably switch this out for a CM3020 at some point, but I'm hesitant to do anything until February to see how channel changes and increased transmission power shakes out. I don't know what the plans are for this in Raleigh, is anyone else in Franklin county and doing OTA? Any recommendations for an antenna to choose now, or any channels besides WUNC that may be on a different digital channel than analog?

See Trip's comments about WRAL on the temporary antenna.

But yes - I'm in Franklin County (just east of Youngsville on Tarboro Road, in a forest), and I get all the Digital stations just fine - and that is the ONLY way I get HDTV. I'm currently using a CM4221 4 bay antenna for the digital stations, but keep in mind that WTVD will be returning to channel 11 after the transition. For WUNC - your relative may want to have a rotor so they can point at Roanoke Rapids for WUNP, or a separate antenna for the same. They will probably need a bit better antenna than I have, depending on where they are in Louisburg. That CM3020 should serve her fine, along with new RG6 cable, maybe preamp if she has a long cable run.

Use www.tvfool.com and use their address to get a better handle on what you're trying to receive.

I posted a few weeks ago about NBC17 losing 5.1 audio during Sunday Night Football and no one replied... but it happened again tonight. No football, but the highlights show was not 5.1 and had very low volume... this continued even when 40-Year-Old Virgin started.

If it matters this is via OTA... and since this is a repeat performance of lack of 5.1 audio I wanted to post again and see if anyone else has noticed.

The issue is that she is unable to receive WRAL without lots of breaking up, and apparently also can't receive WUNC at all.

And just one more note. WUNC's antenna is on a different tower from all the other digital channels in the area. So in most cases you will have to reorient your antenna to get WUNC. In my case the WUNC tower and the rest are just about 180 degrees apart, so I can pick up WUNC off the "back" of my antenna with a few drop outs, but that is totally location dependent.

From the Time-Warner Update Page, posted within the last couple of hours:
Upcoming and Recent Channel Lineup Changes

Oct. 29, 2008: The following HD channels will be added to the Free HD lineup:

* Discovery HD - Channel 260: Offers real life entertainment in shows such as American Chopper, Monster Garage, Unsolved History, and more.
* Speed HD - Channel 273: 24-hour cable network devoted exclusively to automotive, aviation, and marine entertainment and information.
* ESPNU HD - Channel 288: Coverage of NCAA college sports includes basketball, football, baseball, hockey, and more.
* Bio HD - Channel 296: BIO HD is about real people and their real lives: up close and personal, gritty and provocative, always unfiltered.

Not necessarily all of the ones I'd want...but it's a start. Hopefully, it is only a start.
ESPN U is a nice start, but why not add ESPNews too? Oh, and...

TWC adding 11 HD channels in Greensboro, NC, Triangle seen fuming

by Darren Murph, posted Oct 27th 2008 at 12:06PM
You can't be serious. No, really -- this cannot be happening. Merely days after Time Warner Cable did its best to appease rightfully frustrated Raleigh-based subscribers with four new HD channels, in flies word that our pals up I-40 are getting set to receive 11. It's been no secret that TWC favored the Triad in the high-def department, but this is just blatant. Beginning on Wednesday, Greensboro, NC-area customers will see SPEED HD and Bio HD hit the lineup, with Fox Sports Network South HD, Cinemax East HD, Cinemax West HD, Starz HD, The Movie Channel HD, Weather Channel HD, FX HD, Hallmark HD and Pay Per View HD joining that duo "in the coming months." Suffice it to say, Triangle dwellers everywhere are hoping and praying for that U-verse investment to amount to something sooner rather than later. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]

Update: A new source asserts that TWC will begin the rollout of 20 new HD channels in its "Carolina Region" starting on October 29th. Unfortunately, there's no mention of what areas will get what channels, we'll remain cautiously pessimistic that the entire state won't see all 20 until we hear otherwise.

ESPN U is a nice start, but why not add ESPNews too? Oh, and...

If you look at Greensboro's channel change information page, they are only getting Speed and Bio on Wednesday. They already have ESPNU and Discovery as they have had SDV for a while now. Time Warner is working to combine it's services into three headends in NC(Raleigh, Greensboro and Charlotte) and add things statewide at the same time like they recently did with Big Ten HD. So as you can see by the article below, when they add those in Greensboro they will likely add them here as well.


http://carolinanewswire.com/news/News.cgi?database=001news.db&command=viewone&id=2999&op=t


TWC kicks off ‘HD mania’ with the launch of more than 20 High Definition Channels
10-27-2008

Raleigh, NC – There’s no turning back! Time Warner Cable’s Carolina Region is rolling out HD channels like never before. Time Warner Cable, the home of Free HD, is adding more than 20 new HD channels to the lineup. The channels are available free to customers with TWC’s digital tier of service and HD equipment. The channels will be added in phases beginning Thursday, October 29th and continuing over the next few months.

The list of high definition channels include: Speed HD, BIO, Discovery Channel, ESPNU, Planet Green, CNN, Disney Channel, History, Animal Planet, ABC Family, Lifetime, ESPNews, Learning Channel, FSNS HD, Cinemax E, Cinemax W, Starz!, TMC and PPV. The more than 20 HD channels offer something for everyone!

Planet Green
A 24-hour eco-lifestyle television network offering more than 250 hours of original green lifestyle programming that is entertaining, relevant, and accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds. Planet Green features several original shows including The Green Life starring Adrian Grenier of Entourage and Supper Club with Tom Bergeron, host of ABC's Dancing With the Stars.

ESPNU
ESPNU HD is the HD simulcast of ESPNU which is currently carried on all digital lineups in TWC’s Carolina region. The network will carry more than 200 hours of HD programming including live college game coverage. Football coverage includes live games Thursday and Saturday nights.

Discovery Channel
All the fantastic programming you’ve come to appreciate from Discovery in stunning HD format. Popular shows include Deadliest Catch and Planet Earth.

Speed Channel
Speed Channel HD is the HD simulcast of Speed Channel, your number one authority on anything motorsports including NASCAR and Formula One race coverage.

Other HD channels launching in the near future include The Weather Channel HD, FX HD and Hallmark HD. Sprout and MLB will be added in Standard Definition. The addition of these channels is the result of an infrastructure upgrade of more than $50 million dollars. “Time Warner Cable is and will continue to be the best HD value available,” says Brian Kelly, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Time Warner Cable’s Carolina Region. “With our advanced fiber network, these additional channels are the first step toward adding hundreds of HD programming choices in the future.”

Sprout! Finally! Kids will be excited...

As you might be aware, U-verse is soon to launch in the Carolinas. I just got back from a trip to Indiana and AT&T U-verse is all over the radio. I understand that while launches in other markets up to now have been somewhat low key, the Carolina launches will be aggressive.

So TWC will be in a defensive position and will have to have a nearly similar line-up to AT&T. Should be an interesting battle, not as interesting as the one that terminates next Tuesday, but interesting just the same.

PS The decision you make between video providers is no where near as important as the decision you need to make next Tuesday.......VOTE !!!

As you might be aware, U-verse is soon to launch in the Carolinas. I just got back from a trip to Indiana and AT&T U-verse is all over the radio. I understand that while launches in other markets up to now have been somewhat low key, the Carolina launches will be aggressive.

So TWC will be in a defensive position and will have to have a nearly similar line-up to AT&T. Should be an interesting battle, not as interesting as the one that terminates next Tuesday, but interesting just the same.

PS The decision you make between video providers is no where near as important as the decision you need to make next Tuesday.......VOTE !!!

I voted today!!! Avoided the rush by voting early. :D Process was painless.

I voted today!!! Avoided the rush by voting early. :D Process was painless.

I know it is politically incorrect to ask who you voted for, but please pardon my boldness. Cable or Satellite?

I know it is politically incorrect to ask who you voted for, but please pardon my boldness. Cable or Satellite?

HAHA!!!! Cable! :D

As you might be aware, U-verse is soon to launch in the Carolinas. I just got back from a trip to Indiana and AT&T U-verse is all over the radio. I understand that while launches in other markets up to now have been somewhat low key, the Carolina launches will be aggressive.

So TWC will be in a defensive position and will have to have a nearly similar line-up to AT&T. Should be an interesting battle, not as interesting as the one that terminates next Tuesday, but interesting just the same.

PS The decision you make between video providers is no where near as important as the decision you need to make next Tuesday.......VOTE !!!

I voted early last week. Much easier than voting on election day. And I agree. EVERYONE get out and vote!

I voted early last week. Much easier than voting on election day. And I agree. EVERYONE get out and vote!

Or as Al Capone said.... "Vote early and Vote OFTEN"

:D

More details per Engadget HD (http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/10/28/twc-gets-official-with-hd-expansion-in-the-carolinas/):

Hi -- I'm the director of digital communication at Time Warner Cable, and I'd like to clarify a few things here.

We're rolling out up to 20 HD channels over the next several months, depending on the division. Different technical issues apply to different divisions, preventing us from doing a massive simultaneous channel deployment. Hence the staggered rollout times -- but rest assured that we want to give everyone as many HD channels as we can as soon as we can. It's part of staying competitive in this business, and it's important to us.

Here are the channels that will roll out over the next several months. Some will appear on Wednesday, and the entire list should be completed by sometime in January --

Raleigh, NC

Speed HD
BIO
Discovery Channel
ESPNU
Planet Green
CNN
Disney Channel
History
Animal Planet
ABC Family
Lifetime
ESPNews
Learning Channel
FSNS HD
Cinemax E
Cinemax W
Starz!
TMC
PPV
Weather Channel HD
FX HD
Hallmark HD

We're also adding Sprout and MLB in Standard Definition.

Finally!

From my TWC update via email:

Time Warner Cable Launching over 20 New HD Channels
Time Warner Cable is pleased to announce the upcoming addition of the following channels:

Additional HD Channels Coming Soon!
• ABC Family HD • ESPNU HD • Speed Channel HD
• Animal Planet HD • Fox Sports Carolina HD* • Team HD (NBA)*
• BIO HD • Game HD (MLB/NHL)* • Weather Channel HD
• CNN HD • HD Pay-Per-View Premiums
• Discovery Channel HD • History HD • Cinemax East HD
• Disney Channel HD • Learning Channel HD • Cinemax West HD
• ESPN2 HD • Lifetime HD • Starz! HD
• ESPNews HD • Planet Green HD • The Movie Channel HD

So, catch great sports action on channels like ESPN2 HD, ESPNU HD, Speed Channel HD and more. Enjoy family entertainment in high-definition on Disney Channel HD, ABC Family HD or Discovery HD. Plus, explore in-depth profiles of exceptional people on BIO HD or the news of the day on CNN HD. And those are just a few of the new channels that are coming soon.

Did anyone watch Dancing with the Stars Last night? Using the OTA signal, I got some crazy audio with the level dropping for a few minutes, then going back up for a few, then back down, over and over again during pretty much the entire show. It might have stopped toward the end, but I can;t remember for sure.

Was this a WTVD issue or a national issue?

Did anyone watch Dancing with the Stars Last night? Using the OTA signal, I got some crazy audio with the level dropping for a few minutes, then going back up for a few, then back down, over and over again during pretty much the entire show. It might have stopped toward the end, but I can;t remember for sure.

Was this a WTVD issue or a national issue?

Happened to me over QAM but only in the beginning of the show, was fine for the rest of it. I assume it's an ABC issue and not a TWC since it happened on OTA and QAM.

It's been an HD nightmare lately with all the bad broadcasting we're seeing...

Cut and pasted from a post by a TWC employee:


Here are the channels that will roll out over the next several months. Some will appear on Wednesday, and the entire list should be completed by sometime in January --

Greensboro:

Speed HD
BIO
FSNS HD
Cinemax E
cinemax W
Starz!
TMC
PPV
Weather Channel HD
FX HD
Hallmark HD

We're also adding Sprout and MLB in Standard Definition.

******************

Columbia, SC

Speed HD
BIO
Weather Channel HD
FX HD
Hallmark HD

We're also adding Sprout and MLB in Standard Definition.

*****************

Raleigh, NC

Speed HD
BIO
Discovery Channel
ESPNU
Planet Green
CNN
Disney Channel
History
Animal Planet
ABC Family
Lifetime
ESPNews
Learning Channel
FSNS HD
Cinemax E
Cinemax W
Starz!
TMC
PPV
Weather Channel HD
FX HD
Hallmark HD

We're also adding Sprout and MLB in Standard Definition.

*****************

Charlotte, NC

Speed HD
BIO
Discovery Channel
ESPNU
Planet Green
CNN
Disney Channel
History
Animal PLanet
ABC Family
Lifetime
ESPNews
Learning Channel
FSNS HD
Cinemax E
Cinemax W
Starz!
TMC
PPV

******************

Ummmm, 10/29??? :) Nobody will be sure about the QAM until the new channels are up...I doubt if they are available, but one never knows. :)

Thanks for being a smart-!@#&%^ :)

10/29 is only an annoucement date, it can take years until they actually make the channels available, that's why I asked...

Here are the channels that will roll out over the next several months. Some will appear on Wednesday, and the entire list should be completed by sometime in January --


That's the information I was looking for...:)

I did a scan last night, 75 analog (NTSC), 45 digital (QAM).

Did anyone watch Dancing with the Stars Last night? Using the OTA signal, I got some crazy audio with the level dropping for a few minutes, then going back up for a few, then back down, over and over again during pretty much the entire show. It might have stopped toward the end, but I can;t remember for sure.

Was this a WTVD issue or a national issue?

I've been seeing audio issues with WTVD for a few weeks, but assumed it was limited to Dish. Audio drop-out (or clips perhaps) every few seconds.

Only on WTVD.. all other channels are fine.

Also _seems_ limited to DVR'd material.. tho it could be the DVR is more sensitive to the audio signal.

From the Time-Warner Update Page, posted within the last couple of hours:
Upcoming and Recent Channel Lineup Changes

Oct. 29, 2008: The following HD channels will be added to the Free HD lineup:

* Discovery HD - Channel 260: Offers real life entertainment in shows such as American Chopper, Monster Garage, Unsolved History, and more.
* Speed HD - Channel 273: 24-hour cable network devoted exclusively to automotive, aviation, and marine entertainment and information.
* ESPNU HD - Channel 288: Coverage of NCAA college sports includes basketball, football, baseball, hockey, and more.
* Bio HD - Channel 296: BIO HD is about real people and their real lives: up close and personal, gritty and provocative, always unfiltered.

Not necessarily all of the ones I'd want...but it's a start. Hopefully, it is only a start.

shiptz...

No offense, but this is the post you referenced. It clearly states October 29, 2008 for the stations listed.

Thanks for being a smart-!@#&%^ :)

10/29 is only an annoucement date, it can take years until they actually make the channels available, that's why I asked...



That's the information I was looking for...:)

I did a scan last night, 75 analog (NTSC), 45 digital (QAM).

Sorry you actually had to read the entire thread...October 29 wasn't an announcement date (unless I've already slept through TOMORROW).

shiptz...

No offense, but this is the post you referenced. It clearly states October 29, 2008 for the stations listed.

Sorry you actually had to read the entire thread...October 29 wasn't an announcement date (unless I've already slept through TOMORROW).

None taken :)

10/29 is a day from now, the guy is talking about it will take MONTHS...

Anyway, I needed the laugh... thanks for providing it :)

none taken :)

10/29 is a day from now, the guy is talking about it will take months...

Anyway, i needed the laugh... Thanks for providing it :)

:) :) :)

I wonder if any other channels besides the 4 mentioned will "pop up" tomorrow? I hope so. :D

I wonder if any other channels besides the 4 mentioned will "pop up" tomorrow? I hope so. :D

I highly doubt it. Channels are generally announced here. (http://www.timewarnercable.com/Carolinas/programming/channelChangeUpdate.html)

Jeff

Yeah I know that but with the way TWC is talking they don't even know whats coming when. lol

First of all, keep adding more HD channels.

But here is a thought, how about restructuring the Guide. Talk about a mess.

It would be nice to be able to de-select packages that a subscriber does not get, like HBO. This way all the HBO channels would not appear.

Being able to de-select non-English speaking channels would be nice too.

Perhaps just allow the subscriber to deselect anything they don't want in the guide.

From TWC site:

Oct. 29, 2008: The following HD channels will be added to the Free HD lineup:

Discovery HD - Channel 260: Offers real life entertainment in shows such as American Chopper, Monster Garage, Unsolved History, and more.
Speed HD - Channel 273: 24-hour cable network devoted exclusively to automotive, aviation, and marine entertainment and information.
ESPNU HD - Channel 288: Coverage of NCAA college sports includes basketball, football, baseball, hockey, and more.
Bio HD - Channel 296: BIO HD is about real people and their real lives: up close and personal, gritty and provocative, always unfiltered.

But so far this morning no new channels in Cary.

From TWC site:

Oct. 29, 2008: The following HD channels will be added to the Free HD lineup:

Discovery HD - Channel 260: Offers real life entertainment in shows such as American Chopper, Monster Garage, Unsolved History, and more.
Speed HD - Channel 273: 24-hour cable network devoted exclusively to automotive, aviation, and marine entertainment and information.
ESPNU HD - Channel 288: Coverage of NCAA college sports includes basketball, football, baseball, hockey, and more.
Bio HD - Channel 296: BIO HD is about real people and their real lives: up close and personal, gritty and provocative, always unfiltered.

But so far this morning no new channels in Cary.

OK rebooted both set top boxes (4250HDC and 8300HD) and now have all 4 channels.