I was able to get WTVD in Jacksonville a couple of nights ago, on my modified Winegard UHF 8 bay, but when I was picking it up it was only at 35% while all the others were at 85%-93%. The signal was steady, but weak. Seems like they need to be putting out at least 32kW if not 40 to be equal to their competitors.

Ya, that is what I have heard about the 4228HD... Really, just adding a VHF-HI yagi is the way to go for VHF-HI. The Winegard YA-1713 is a lite weight and great antenna... Install a couple of feet from the 4221 and call it good! I like the two antenna solution, in case the VHF stations are in a different direction then the UHF, allows for more fine tuning!


How would you couple them? backwards splitter?

"We did have some concern about the power allocated by the FCC," said Rob Elmore, news director.

"The thing that wasn't within our control here," he said, "was the FCC mandated a certain level of power. We like our viewers to know we're operating at the full power granted by the FCC. There's nothing wrong with the signal (that) we're putting out."These are the same words I get from WNCN NBC17 for why northern counties got dropped from coverage. So...I guess the next phase of "the digital transition" is pissed-off viewers hassle the FCC until FCC allows the problematic stations more trasmitting power.

"The thing that wasn't within our control here," he said, "was the FCC mandated a certain level of power. We like our viewers to know we're operating at the full power granted by the FCC. There's nothing wrong with the signal (that) we're putting out."

Shouldn't they have been testing with the maximum assigned power output all along, instead of having to reduce power on cutover day ?

Fortunately for me I have one of those old 4228's on my roof. At my place WTVD went from 95% to about 70% signal strength, but I'm still getting it.

Actually, Ive been doing more googling and it appears that for channel 11, the new 4228HD may not be so bad after all. Its UHF performance isnt quite as good as the older design though.... However, for me, UHF performance isnt the problem. My 4221HD does fine. The gain for 4228HD isnt much higher but its beam width is quite a bit narrower which I would assume is better for multipath situations.... right?

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/TemporaryPage.html

Actually, Ive been doing more googling and it appears that for channel 11, the new 4228HD may not be so bad after all. Its UHF performance isnt quite as good as the older design though.... However, for me, UHF performance isnt the problem. My 4221HD does fine. The gain for 4228HD isnt much higher but its beam width is quite a bit narrower which I would assume is better for multipath situations.... right?

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/TemporaryPage.html

Works for me...they state the high VHF capabilities themselves on their product page http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16661574#post16661574
I will get some signal strength readings soon.

The balun on that antenna (4228HD) is designed for UHF according to the description from the site. You are kind of asking for more problems if you attempt to use it for VHF IMO without modifying it by taking that balun off and using the regular 300 ohm to 75 ohm we are all used to. This is one reason why I didn't buy this antenna, and the cost vs. performance of a Winegard 8 bay.

Close in like 25 miles, it will be enough. If you go out 50 miles, that is taking a risk, and I doubt it will pull 11 in.

The balun on that antenna (4228HD) is designed for UHF according to the description from the site. You are kind of asking for more problems if you attempt to use it for VHF IMO without modifying it by taking that balun off and using the regular 300 ohm to 75 ohm we are all used to. This is one reason why I didn't buy this antenna, and the cost vs. performance of a Winegard 8 bay.

Close in like 25 miles, it will be enough. If you go out 50 miles, that is taking a risk, and I doubt it will pull 11 in.

I guess I got lucky, plus it was free, so cost v performance is a no brainier :D

These are the same words I get from WNCN NBC17 for why northern counties got dropped from coverage. So...I guess the next phase of "the digital transition" is pissed-off viewers hassle the FCC until FCC allows the problematic stations more transmitting power.

If you're in the western part of Mecklenburg County, VA, you might have issues with WFXR-DT also on 17.

This station was probably a lot of the reason why WNCN is as power limited as it is.

- Trip

The balun on that antenna (4228HD) is designed for UHF according to the description from the site. You are kind of asking for more problems if you attempt to use it for VHF IMO without modifying it by taking that balun off and using the regular 300 ohm to 75 ohm we are all used to. This is one reason why I didn't buy this antenna, and the cost vs. performance of a Winegard 8 bay.

Close in like 25 miles, it will be enough. If you go out 50 miles, that is taking a risk, and I doubt it will pull 11 in.

Im just under 20 miles with the antenna in the attic.

So for the mod... are you suggesting that the existing balun be replaced with two typical baluns and then combine them together? Can you suggest a source for the balun and the combiner?

Im just under 20 miles with the antenna in the attic.

So for the mod... are you suggesting that the existing balun be replaced with two typical baluns and then combine them together? Can you suggest a source for the balun and the combiner?

From what I have read, the best results were with good quality baluns (yes 2 of them) and a low loss splitter in reverse for joining them.

Are the sub-channels on different transmitters? Let me start by admitting that I misunderstood the way my Dish DVR handles the locals... when it was telling me 4-0 that means is the Sat version of the channel (they channels are also mapped in the 6000 range, where I usually watch them, so I didn't realize)

so a revised chart of my scan.. attic mounted CM 4228, Dish 622 DVR

ch# signal-strength
2-x cannot tune
4-1 73 - can tune
4-2 73 - can tune
4-3,4,5 cannot tune
5-1 88 - can tune
5-2 90 - can tune
11-1 - cannot tune
11-2 82 - can tune
11-3 81 - can tune
17-1 cannot tune
17-2 98 - can tune
17-3 97 - can tune
20-1 64 - can tune
20-2 68 - can tune
22-1 cannot tune
28-1 100 - cannot tune
30-1 59 - cannot tune
40-1,2 cannot tune
47-1,2,3,4 cannot tune
50-1 81 - can tune
50-2 89 - can tune
50-3 87 - can tune

signal strength #s are as reported from the locals setup menu

I find 17-1 the oddest example.. I'm getting 97/98 on the -2,-3 and cannot tune the -1.. also 28-1 reports 100 signal in the menu, yet I cannot tune it.

One thing I considered was having too much signal? Maybe I need to add a signal degrader (can't think of the right word at the moment).. I do not have a signal amp, this is right off the attic antenna + 50' of cabling.

Are the sub-channels on different transmitters?

No. The fact that you can tune subs on 11 and 17, but not the main channel makes me think that maybe this is another satellite remapping artifact, and you're really not getting 11/17 OTA.

Drew

Im just under 20 miles with the antenna in the attic.

So for the mod... are you suggesting that the existing balun be replaced with two typical baluns and then combine them together? Can you suggest a source for the balun and the combiner?

I can't think of a brand off the top of my head, but make sure the loss on the splitter is no more than .5 for each port. The balun can be bought at lowes, and I would check there for a combiner. Get two equal lengths of coax.

No. The fact that you can tune subs on 11 and 17, but not the main channel makes me think that maybe this is another satellite remapping artifact, and you're really not getting 11/17 OTA.

Drew

mebbe.. I do get the yellow Dish OTA cannot tune error message tho, and a brief display of the signal strength before it shows the error.

I can't think of a brand off the top of my head, but make sure the loss on the splitter is no more than .5 for each port. The balun can be bought at lowes, and I would check there for a combiner. Get two equal lengths of coax.

Great... thanks.

By .5 per port I assume this translates to a basic 3.5db per port cable splitter where the .5 represents the actual loss over the theoretical 3db perfect split.

I found baluns on ebay (from a local Raleigh seller I have used before). Good to know they are available at Lowes.

Thanks!
Don

Great... thanks.

By .5 per port I assume this translates to a basic 3.5db per port cable splitter where the .5 represents the actual loss over the theoretical 3db perfect split.

I found baluns on ebay (from a local Raleigh seller I have used before). Good to know they are available at Lowes.

Thanks!
Don


This thread http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16669796#post16669796

Has some great info in it. You might want to check it out.:)

It looks to me like your box is not outputting the 1080i signals. Check the output res and I bet 480i and 720P are there, and it's missing 1080i.

Are the sub-channels on different transmitters? Let me start by admitting that I misunderstood the way my Dish DVR handles the locals... when it was telling me 4-0 that means is the Sat version of the channel (they channels are also mapped in the 6000 range, where I usually watch them, so I didn't realize)

so a revised chart of my scan.. attic mounted CM 4228, Dish 622 DVR

ch# signal-strength
2-x cannot tune
4-1 73 - can tune
4-2 73 - can tune
4-3,4,5 cannot tune
5-1 88 - can tune
5-2 90 - can tune
11-1 - cannot tune
11-2 82 - can tune
11-3 81 - can tune
17-1 cannot tune
17-2 98 - can tune
17-3 97 - can tune
20-1 64 - can tune
20-2 68 - can tune
22-1 cannot tune
28-1 100 - cannot tune
30-1 59 - cannot tune
40-1,2 cannot tune
47-1,2,3,4 cannot tune
50-1 81 - can tune
50-2 89 - can tune
50-3 87 - can tune

signal strength #s are as reported from the locals setup menu

I find 17-1 the oddest example.. I'm getting 97/98 on the -2,-3 and cannot tune the -1.. also 28-1 reports 100 signal in the menu, yet I cannot tune it.

One thing I considered was having too much signal? Maybe I need to add a signal degrader (can't think of the right word at the moment).. I do not have a signal amp, this is right off the attic antenna + 50' of cabling.

It looks to me like your box is not outputting the 1080i signals. Check the output res and I bet 480i and 720P are there, and it's missing 1080i.

But he says he's getting 5-1, which is 1080i, and not getting 11-1 (which is 720p) and 4-3 (which is 480i).

Drew

It looks to me like your box is not outputting the 1080i signals. Check the output res and I bet 480i and 720P are there, and it's missing 1080i.

I disconnected the antenna and rescanned. I now get 11-1 (barely) and 17-1. Oddly 28-1 is reported as a signal of 98, but I can get no picture. 4-1 is also barely coming in.

I moved the antenna to my TV and scanned there... its tuner is 2 years newer and better altho 4-1 was still iffy.

I tried adding an attenuator (knocked the other high 90 signals down to low 70s), but no dice on 28-1 (no tears over that).

Dunno.

As for the 622, I have it configured already for a 1080i tv (since I have 1080p), but it was worth double checking.

This article in the N&O today discusses the problems with local channels (and in the case of ABC national) signal strength and the fact that some stayed on VHF - with lower xmit power, as discussed in this forum days go.

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1573582.html

Anyone around here got TVGOS OTA since the switch?

I've got a three year old Toshiba LCD with ATSC tuner, that used to get TVGOS when UNC was relaying the channel line-up last fall. Unable to get anything since the switch. I've reset, and gone through the debug (753159852) screens. "host channel" is blank.

WRAL is carrying the data on 5-1.

- Trip

I think I'm ready to feed OTA to my HTPC and see how things go. I haven't minded the $13/month fee for basic (now broadcast) cable for my HDTV. There's nothing else I watch that comes with 'broadcast' cable package, it was just ease-of-mind knowing that when my wife turns on the TV she has a picture and not telling me to get in the attic. All looks pretty good with OTA for me here in Morrisville, so here we go.

I went ahead and dumped TW cable completely today too. Despite my previous ramblings about antennas, I attached the old rabbit ears to my HDTV and was able to pull in everything except WUNC (not at all) and WTVD (poorly). I am even getting the Greensboro CBS affiliate here in Cary.

The last time I hooked up the rabbit ears I was only able to get one station at a time and would have to reorient them to change stations. But, this time I have the ears leaning against a large metal picture frame, which could be helping matters, I guess.

I also ordered up an HD Homerun to round out the HTPC. The networks plus mlb.tv will do just fine for the summer. Come hockey season though....

(Thanks again for everyone's help.)

Can anyone here describe (or better yet provide an image) of what the WRAL-5 nitelite looks like ? On Jun 16 I got a Ch 5 down here in San Antonio (KENS-5 vacated) via Es that had a white squarish 5 logo in the lower left, about 1/3rd the way in. The 8mm camcorder video shot off the 5" b&w "monitor" has too much fading to easily make a clear frame capture of it. I've already eliminated WTTG in DC.

Can anyone here describe (or better yet provide an image) of what the WRAL-5 nitelite looks like ? On Jun 16 I got a Ch 5 down here in San Antonio (KENS-5 vacated) via Es that had a white squarish 5 logo in the lower left, about 1/3rd the way in. The 8mm camcorder video shot off the 5" b&w "monitor" has too much fading to easily make a clear frame capture of it. I've already eliminated WTTG in DC.The WRAL channel 5 analog output may differ depending on time, but there's currently a program alternating English/Spanish describing details of connecting antennas and converter boxes. The WRAL logo is pretty much where you indicated or maybe about 1/4 way in from the bottom left. It's a white 5 on a vertically rectangular sky blue background. There is a banner with a black background centered at the bottom of the screen with white letters reading "WRAL-TV / WRAL-DT Raleigh."

The WRAL channel 5 analog output may differ depending on time, but there's currently a program alternating English/Spanish describing details of connecting antennas and converter boxes. The WRAL logo is pretty much where you indicated or maybe about 1/4 way in from the bottom left. It's a white 5 on a vertically rectangular sky blue background. There is a banner with a black background centered at the bottom of the screen with white letters reading "WRAL-TV / WRAL-DT Raleigh."

Sent him a snapshot of that.

Here's the logo.
http://images0.cafepress.com/product/160892900v18_150x150_Front.jpg

Thanks to all. It's a good match. As the list that I have shows them scheduled to be running nitelite programming until Jul 6, I may have some additional opportunities to catch them again. Our "local" KCWX-DT-5 (silent on Ch 2 analog now) is due to fire up Jul 10. With just 20-kw at almost 50 miles it may need to apply for a power increase as all our others are within half that distance.

WRAL is carrying the data on 5-1.

- Trip

Thanks, I know they are transmitting it. I'd like to know if anyone is actually receiving it OTA? If so, what zip code is used in the set-up menu?

Thanks, I know they are transmitting it. I'd like to know if anyone is actually receiving it OTA? If so, what zip code is used in the set-up menu?

I'm using a DTVPAL DVR, and my zip code is the one for my residence in Youngsville - 27596. My suggestion is to use your zip code for where your TVGOS device is (unless you're using a DTVPAL in that special mode).

I'm using a DTVPAL DVR, and my zip code is the one for my residence in Youngsville - 27596. My suggestion is to use your zip code for where your TVGOS device is (unless you're using a DTVPAL in that special mode).

Does your DTVPAL DVR get TVGOS OTA with an antenna?

Does your DTVPAL DVR get TVGOS OTA with an antenna?

Sure does...

As the DTVPAL DVR does NOT get cable....

As I traveled today, across the southern areas of the WTVD viewing area, I saw several ladders out under antennas. Apparently a LOT of people are trying hard to receive their signal, along with maybe the other channels in that market. I've seen three brand new models of that Phillips antenna they sell at Wally World outside high above homes on poles. It is gray and is very tiny. This is it.

http://tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ir6fIORDvtZOCM:http://www.cnycentral.com/uploadedImages/wstm/News/Blogs/Phillips%2520DTV%2520Antenna.jpg

I don't see how they are going to get WTVD with that.

I also saw an antenna with a weird circular looking elements in the front. It was like a yagi as it had reflectors, but where the nose would be had the circular elements. It didn't seem that would get WTVD either. There is a LOT of confusion out there, and stores do not sell VHF antennas like you would expect to get the job done.

As I traveled today, across the southern areas of the WTVD viewing area, I saw several ladders out under antennas. Apparently a LOT of people are trying hard to receive their signal, along with maybe the other channels in that market. I've seen three brand new models of that Phillips antenna they sell at Wally World outside high above homes on poles. It is gray and is very tiny. This is it.

http://tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ir6fIORDvtZOCM:http://www.cnycentral.com/uploadedImages/wstm/News/Blogs/Phillips%2520DTV%2520Antenna.jpg

I don't see how they are going to get WTVD with that.

I also saw an antenna with a weird circular looking elements in the front. It was like a yagi as it had reflectors, but where the nose would be had the circular elements. It didn't seem that would get WTVD either. There is a LOT of confusion out there, and stores do not sell VHF antennas like you would expect to get the job done.

Like this one? It's not gonna do much for VHF....

http://www.antennasdirect.com/C2-Clearstream-DTV-antenna.html

Like this one? It's not gonna do much for VHF....

http://www.antennasdirect.com/C2-Clearstream-DTV-antenna.html

I've seen that one out there too, but no, that wasn't it. The front of it was like those new CFL light bulbs.

Anybody have any updates on WTVD? I'm near RDU in the Brier Creek area, still can't get a signal. I have a Terk HDTVa amplified VHF/UHF indoor antenna. Is anybody else in this area able to receive WTVD on VHF channel 11? If so, what kind of antenna are you using?

If so, what kind of antenna are you using?

The 90 minutes that I've watched of WTVD since the transition has been flawless for me. I'm using an attic mount CM4228 (the older 4228, not the 4228HD). I'm in Cary, near Evans and Maynard, about 4 miles from RDU.

Drew

Anybody have any updates on WTVD? I'm near RDU in the Brier Creek area, still can't get a signal. I have a Terk HDTVa amplified VHF/UHF indoor antenna. Is anybody else in this area able to receive WTVD on VHF channel 11? If so, what kind of antenna are you using?

I've been getting post transition WTVD about 10 minutes down the street from you with no problems, but I have a channel master 4228 on the roof. The 4228 doesn't technically do VHF, but it is able to get far enough into the VHF spectrum to get 11.

Good to know, thanks! Are you using an amplifier with your 4228s? I'm not very familiar with attic or roof mounted antennas. Only familiar with the amplified indoor variety.

I've been getting post transition WTVD about 10 minutes down the street from you with no problems, but I have a channel master 4228 on the roof. The 4228 doesn't technically do VHF, but it is able to get far enough into the VHF spectrum to get 11.

Ive got a 4228HD on order to replace a 4221HD in the attic. We will see how it performs...

Good to know, thanks! Are you using an amplifier with your 4228s? I'm not very familiar with attic or roof mounted antennas. Only familiar with the amplified indoor variety.

I'm not using a pre-amp. I am using a 4-way splitter with a built in amp that I need to make up for the loss caused by splitting 4-ways..

Drew

Anybody have any updates on WTVD? I'm near RDU in the Brier Creek area, still can't get a signal. I have a Terk HDTVa amplified VHF/UHF indoor antenna. Is anybody else in this area able to receive WTVD on VHF channel 11? If so, what kind of antenna are you using?

i'm at raven ridge/six forks. i'm using a cm3022 in my attic (wral sent it to me for free a couple of years ago ... thanks WRAL!). no amp, but only 1 tuner connected to the antenna (no splitters). signal for wtvd is definitely weaker than it was pre-transition, but still strong enough (no breakup/errors, etc.) i think, but i am not sure, that the cm3022 is a uhf only antenna.

interestingly, before the transition, i had the antenna adjusted to maximize the weakest signal, channel 17 (strength 75-80%). 5/11/50 were always 90-95%. after the transition, without touching the antenna, all my signal strengths dropped to the point of breakups with errors. even channel 50 which didn't change frequencies dropped to 60-65%.

i had to reposition the antenna about 6 feet over from where it was before, and rotate it about 45 degrees. i maximized for WTVD, to get its strength to 70-75%. once i did that, 5/17/50 were coming in 95-100% (stronger than before).

You may not want to hear it - but you will probably have better luck getting WTVD with an outside VHF antenna. I'm pulling it in just fine and I live east of Youngsville in a forest. But I do have a VHF as well as a preamped CM4221 UHF antenna .

Yes house atennas are now required. What makes me so upset about all of this, we were made aware of the power reduction that was going to occur. We were told that rescanning was going to be required. No everyone who has lost the WDVD are going to have to spend money in order to get that channel.

Good to know, thanks! Are you using an amplifier with your 4228s? I'm not very familiar with attic or roof mounted antennas. Only familiar with the amplified indoor variety.

No, and yes. I'm not using anything to amplify the antenna until it reaches the distribution center, then I have a 16x1 amplifier to pipe it to the rest of the house. I think in the terms you are asking the answer is no, I don't use an amplifier.

Anybody have any updates on WTVD? I'm near RDU in the Brier Creek area, still can't get a signal. I have a Terk HDTVa amplified VHF/UHF indoor antenna. Is anybody else in this area able to receive WTVD on VHF channel 11? If so, what kind of antenna are you using?

I'm still on TWC, but I tested out my OTA reception tonight on a second-floor TV (Chapel Hill). I was actually able to get all the locals, including WTVD and WUNC, and even WFPX (barely) with just an ancient set of rabbit ears. I was pretty shocked. Maybe my walls are just paper-thin.

ETA: the downstairs TV, however, can't see either WTVD or WUNC with the rabbit ears. Other channels are OK.

Anybody have any updates on WTVD? I'm near RDU in the Brier Creek area, still can't get a signal. I have a Terk HDTVa amplified VHF/UHF indoor antenna. Is anybody else in this area able to receive WTVD on VHF channel 11? If so, what kind of antenna are you using?

I use the DIY coat hanger antennas from Youtube and around the internet. It's mounted in the attic. After the transition, WTVD 11 and PBS 4 dropped. Channels were coming in too well with my sub-$10 antenna for me to justify buying another.

The solution for WTVD 11 was remaking the antenna. This time I used 10" sections instead of 7" sections (as per normal specs). From what I understand it makes the antenna extend more into the vhf range. After repositioning and a re-scan I can now get WTVD 11. It's only at about 30-40% but it's steady and clear. (I'm also surrounded by trees.)

Still can't get PBS 4. So I haven't figured that out yet.

Be patient. They're working on 4. Tower work either is occurring or should be occurring soon.

- Trip

Be patient. They're working on 4. Tower work either is occurring or should be occurring soon.

- Trip

Great news...thanks. The PBS science shows in HD were great.

You may not want to hear it - but you will probably have better luck getting WTVD with an outside VHF antenna. I'm pulling it in just fine and I live east of Youngsville in a forest. But I do have a VHF as well as a preamped CM4221 UHF antenna .
You're right, I didn't want to hear that :-) It's a shame that I will have to buy a new antenna and install it on my rooftop or attic just to receive one channel. One freaking channel. *sigh* Damn you WTVD.

You're right, I didn't want to hear that :-) It's a shame that I will have to buy a new antenna and install it on my rooftop or attic just to receive one channel. One freaking channel. *sigh* Damn you WTVD.

Agreed, WTVD was our favorite Morning show to watch before work, so they are about to lose our business. I get ABC out of Greensboro also so they are about to become my ABC channel.

You're right, I didn't want to hear that :-) It's a shame that I will have to buy a new antenna and install it on my rooftop or attic just to receive one channel. One freaking channel. *sigh* Damn you WTVD.

The other option is to try to get WXLV on UHF. They don't have "livewell" and devote their full b/w to HD, so their picture will probably be a lot better than WTVD's if you can get the signal. There's a presidential press conference on now, and WXLV blows WTVD away on the "Presidential hair test" You'll want to aim your antenna towards Greensboro...

Drew

Here is WXLV's coverage; :) on channel 29. GOod luck getting away from the soft HD pic!

http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/fm_tv_service_areas/maps/DT565545.jpg

I get WXLV in Mebane just fine, they just don't have a Morning news show. So I have to find soemthing else until 7AM when GMA comes on.

I was not able to pick up WTVD Channel 11 with my old Terk indoor antenna after the conversion, but I had just bought a new antenna from Monoprice.com for $24 and tried it and it picked up WTVD Channel 11 like a charm. It's denoted as an outdoor antenna but you can just sit it on its stand and use it indoors and it works like a charm. I just sit it beside my set. Here's the link to the antenna if anyone is interested. It works for me.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=109&cp_id=10901&cs_id=1090102&p_id=4730&seq=1&format=2#description

Does anyone know if WRAL's new digital signal is at full power yet? Last I saw they were only operating at 50% strength. Thanks

The other option is to try to get WXLV on UHF. They don't have "livewell" and devote their full b/w to HD, so their picture will probably be a lot better than WTVD's if you can get the signal. There's a presidential press conference on now, and WXLV blows WTVD away on the "Presidential hair test" You'll want to aim your antenna towards Greensboro...

Drew
Thanks! I was able to point my antenna towards Greensboro and pickup WXLV without losing any signal strength from the Garner antenna garden. Problem solved. Thanks for nothing WTVD.

Does anyone know if WRAL's new digital signal is at full power yet? Last I saw they were only operating at 50% strength. Thanks

Not yet
I think it should be by the end of the summer.

I think you are beyond the expected coverage, even when they go to full power.

I am surprised WRAL isn't at full power. I have been picking them up better than WRAZ and WLFL. I hope when they do get to full power, the signal will even be better than what I get them at now.

This isn't necessarily just a regional issue, but since I've seen a lot of people drop TWC and others in lieu of OTA and internet-based services, here come the cable co's to regulate 'TV' via the internet:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ikGvh8_ZrFrhQ3AYQjtcYVfPZAkwD9915UCO0

Comcast will test a technology that can authenticate the viewer as a subscriber — an effort to keep cable content secure online. Users are expected to not only log in with a user name and password, but the system will be able to tell whether you're a subscriber and figure out what channels you've paid for.

Interesting.

Thanks! I was able to point my antenna towards Greensboro and pickup WXLV without losing any signal strength from the Garner antenna garden. Problem solved. Thanks for nothing WTVD.

Wow, you're lucky. I have problems getting a strong enough signal from them to get them reliably.

Drew

Hi all. So, I finally got my hd homerun hooked up with only some minor frustrations (darn you, ASUS!). I have a couple of questions I was hoping to get some feedback on:

1. When I had the antenna running straight to the TV (Panasonic plasma) I was initally (about a week ago) able to pick up WRAL, WNCN and WRAZ. Over the last couple of days, I also began picking up WTVD with no breakups. WUNC was not even close. Then when switched to the homerun, I can no longer get WTVD at all, but I am getting WUNC, with very minor breakups. How does that happen, and is there a way to salvage WTVD? (If it matters, I am using Vista Home Premium Media Center.)

2. When I split the antenna cable in order to put two feeds into the homerun, the signal strength obviously declines. I'm using a little Radio Shack splitter. Would an amplifier fix this? If so, where should I go locally to get one and what should I ask for? (BTW, I don't get WTVD at all even when the antenna feed is not split.)

Thanks for any help.

Marc

I can no longer get WTVD at all, but I am getting WUNC, with very minor breakups. How does that happen, and is there a way to salvage WTVD?
<....>
2. When I split the antenna cable in order to put two feeds into the homerun, the signal strength obviously declines.

I don't have an HDHR, but I *suspect* that one of the tuners is more sensitive (better at getting weak signals), and the other has better multipath (ghosting) rejection. If you're lucky, then the HDHR is less sensitive (worse at getting weak signals) and better at multipath rejection. If this is the case, you can fix your problems by either using a pre-amp, or by using a bigger antenna, or one with better VHF characteristics. What antenna do you currently use?

Drew

I don't have an HDHR, but I *suspect* that one of the tuners is more sensitive (better at getting weak signals), and the other has better multipath (ghosting) rejection. If you're lucky, then the HDHR is less sensitive (worse at getting weak signals) and better at multipath rejection. If this is the case, you can fix your problems by either using a pre-amp, or by using a bigger antenna, or one with better VHF characteristics. What antenna do you currently use?

Drew

In three sentences, you've given me just gobs of information to work with! thanks.

I am *way* bleeding edge with my ten-year old rabbit ears that I got with my ancient Sony 13" CRT. I think the only reason I get most of what I'm getting now is that the ears are leaning up against a large square metal picture frame! I would consider a better "living room" antenna or possibly something for the attic, although the attic is a bit treacherous.

OK, here's a weird one. I have 2 (original) CM4228's in the attic, one pointed at the antenna farm, and one pointed at WUNC. I can pick up WFMY off the back of the antenna farm 4228, but not WXLV. Switching the cables and using the *same tuner* now attached to the WUNC aimed antenna, I can get WXLV, but not WFMY.

According to TV Fool:

WFMY: Effective ERP: 1000.000 kW (Adjusted according to your location)
Distance: 58.5 miles Azimuth: 274 degrees Compass: 283 degrees

WXLV: Effective ERP: 181.861 kW (Adjusted according to your location)
Distance: 57.5 miles Azimuth: 274 degrees Compass: 283 degrees

I can understand why I can't get WXLV off the back of the 4228 aimed the other way, since its so weak. But I'd have thought that I should be able to get WFMY from the WUNC aimed 4228. Does anybody have any ideas why I can't? WUNC is only about 7 degrees off from these Greensboro stations..

Thanks,

Drew

I swapped out a bad cable modem at my local Tim-Warner service center today and saw a big stack of brand new Samsung HD-DVRs. Has anyone else gotten one of these? Any feedback? Thought I might take back my SA 8300 HDC and swap it out for the shiny black Samsung... Thoughts? Bigger hard drive and better processor/Java?

I swapped out a bad cable modem at my local Tim-Warner service center today and saw a big stack of brand new Samsung HD-DVRs. Has anyone else gotten one of these? Any feedback? Thought I might take back my SA 8300 HDC and swap it out for the shiny black Samsung... Thoughts? Bigger hard drive and better processor/Java?


Which service center?

Which service center?
Chapel Hill (Raleigh Rd.)

I did find this thread with some guys in Charlotte reporting some issues: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1152474

just got one (3090) an hour ago...dialing it in now.

anything specific you want to know? no ac3 via hdmi by default is annoying, but the activation via diags trick mentioned in the referenced CLT thread worked perfectly.

wondering what the ethernet port is for...docs say 'for connection to another stb'. hmm. plugged into my home LAN and the switch shows a link, but no IP is pulled from the DHCP server. curious.

just got one (3090) an hour ago...dialing it in now.

anything specific you want to know? no ac3 via hdmi by default is annoying, but the activation via diags trick mentioned in the referenced CLT thread worked perfectly.

wondering what the ethernet port is for...docs say 'for connection to another stb'. hmm. plugged into my home LAN and the switch shows a link, but no IP is pulled from the DHCP server. curious.

I'm assuming these are also 160GB models, so maybe just a difference in response time/processor?

For those who assisted me a short while back, the WRAL-5 nightlight was into San Antonio for about 2 hours midday Friday - I could even decipher the tiny text this time.

For those who assisted me a short while back, the WRAL-5 nightlight was into San Antonio for about 2 hours midday Friday - I could even decipher the tiny text this time.
The atmosphere was prime for a lot of skipping on Friday. I was listening clearly to KOMG 92.9 FM in Springfield MO from Fort Mill SC at 6:57 last night in the car.

There have been several reports this month of low-VHF US east coast TV being received in Europe (mostly Portugal). With the NTSC shutdown they've very few targets left for a very few days to come.

Hurray! I got my CM 4228HD from WRAL. I now need to mount it. I am thinking of roof mounting to increase the gain.. and it will be easy to connect to my existing cable box no longer in use. I can add an amplifying splitter recommended earlier.

My question is recommendations on roof mounting. I think that Radio Shack is probably the only local source.. any comments? Also for mounting, I guess I should mount close to the peak. I may have to hire someone with a long ladder.. I have someone who does roof work for me. Any comments on tuning/ turning it for optimal performance?

I could put it in the attic but I would lose quite a bit of gain, plus I would need to figure out how to run cable down to the first floor, etc.... or I guess I could run it to the outside through the wall and down to the cable junction box.

I am not too far away from the stations, so hopefully I will be able to pick up WTVD.. which I can get now with my Terk HD but it is often pixalated.... only once in a while can I seem to stabilize the picture by moving around the antenna.

Ray

P.S. - My goals are to get a little better reception, mostly for WTVD since the others come in great with my Terk HDTV inside antenna... and to provide service to the second TV upstairs.. also would be nice to eliminate the unsightly inside antenna.

Hurray! I got my CM 4228HD from WRAL. I now need to mount it. I am thinking of roof mounting to increase the gain.. and it will be easy to connect to my existing cable box no longer in use. I can add an amplifying splitter recommended earlier.

My question is recommendations on roof mounting. I think that Radio Shack is probably the only local source.. any comments? Also for mounting, I guess I should mount close to the peak. I may have to hire someone with a long ladder.. I have someone who does roof work for me. Any comments on tuning/ turning it for optimal performance?

I could put it in the attic but I would lose quite a bit of gain, plus I would need to figure out how to run cable down to the first floor, etc.... or I guess I could run it to the outside through the wall and down to the cable junction box.

I am not too far away from the stations, so hopefully I will be able to pick up WTVD.. which I can get now with my Terk HD but it is often pixalated.... only once in a while can I seem to stabilize the picture by moving around the antenna.

Ray

P.S. - My goals are to get a little better reception, mostly for WTVD since the others come in great with my Terk HDTV inside antenna... and to provide service to the second TV upstairs.. also would be nice to eliminate the unsightly inside antenna.

I believe Lowes also carries antenna mouning hardware.

My 4228HD should arrive Monday.... It is going in my attic in place of a 4221HD. If im lucky... I will get 11 back.

I believe Lowes also carries antenna mouning hardware.

Yep.. I was going to suggest Lowe's and Home Depot as places to look for antenna mounting hardware, including masts, brackets, etc.

Good point about Lowes and Home Depot.. I do remember they have some equipment.

Does anyone have any comment about roof mounting? I hear that you lose 25-30% gain by being in the attic though it does sounds like some in my same area have had luck with the attic mounting. OTOH I have a VERY large attic. I guess I could run the line through the wall (with the appropriate grommets or caulk to seal up the resulting hole) to reach the cable box so that I can use the existing runs.. it is an interesting question. The biggest problem is getting to my downstairs unless I use the existing cable run.

As for roof placement, I have a hip roof. So the sides/ eaves are lower than the peak. If I do a roof mount, do I need to mount it on the peak? Also if I do that I guess I need to make sure I get the antenna properly rotated for maximum gain. The roof pitch is so steep, I normally get a guy to do work on the roof.

So any thoughts on roof versus attic mounting is appreciated.

Ray

Good point about Lowes and Home Depot.. I do remember they have some equipment.

Does anyone have any comment about roof mounting? I hear that you lose 25-30% gain by being in the attic though it does sounds like some in my same area have had luck with the attic mounting. OTOH I have a VERY large attic. I guess I could run the line through the wall (with the appropriate grommets or caulk to seal up the resulting hole) to reach the cable box so that I can use the existing runs.. it is an interesting question. The biggest problem is getting to my downstairs unless I use the existing cable run.

As for roof placement, I have a hip roof. So the sides/ eaves are lower than the peak. If I do a roof mount, do I need to mount it on the peak? Also if I do that I guess I need to make sure I get the antenna properly rotated for maximum gain. The roof pitch is so steep, I normally get a guy to do work on the roof.

So any thoughts on roof versus attic mounting is appreciated.

Ray

The first obvious question is... where are you located? How far from the antenna farm? I believe the loss from attic installation may be closer to 50% of the stated 'range'. My 4221 in the attic (Apex) is just fine for UHF (22,28,5,50,17) but is terrible for 11.

So any thoughts on roof versus attic mounting is appreciated.


I'd have preferred a roof mount too, but I *hate* heights and could not easily find anybody to do the install. So what I did was to try the 4228 in the attic first. I just ran a length of coax down to a TV, and discovered that between the extra 20' (all TVs are on 1st floor) and the huge gain of the 4228 as compared to the silver sensor I was using, the attic worked for me. After that, I worried about how to run the cables. I got lucky, in that I had an abandoned water heater drain pipe (had moved water heater to the garage, where it can do no damage). So I used that as a conduit to get to my crawl. Of course it wasn't a straight shot, and I needed to pull it through with a pipe-cleaning snake... That was a very unpleasant 2 hours of crawling to the back corner of my crawl, up to my attic, and back again. Ugh.

Ironically, I pulled it out 2 years later, and used the coax as a pull cable to pull through some RJ45 ethernet lines when I converted to SageTV, and put extenders near the TVs. A friend and I then ran the coax and the RJ45 into the wall of my 2nd floor office (where my home server is located). My friend had just finished helping his dad re-wire his house, and was very adept with a cable fish..

Drew

Beware of the gold colored antenna masts sold at Lowes, they are a thinner gauge than the gray ones that are sold at Radio Shack. I don't think it would matter on an attic install, but I wouldn't try a thin gauge mast on a roof install.:eek:

My 4221 (mounted outside in open air) was, with a UHF Winegard Preamp, just fine for all the UHF stations, and it could even pull in analog 11 (sparkley) and 5 (mostly B/W, static on audio). It sees zilch of digital 11 - fortunately I have a VHF CM series antenna for that ( and FM).

Putting an antenna in my attic would shut it down - my house was constructed with the foil covered sheathing (think big Faraday cage).

For most other people - putting an antenna in the attic is like throwing away HALF of the available signal. If your location can afford that hit - fine - but I'm of the opinion that we all need every bit of WTVD's digital signal we can pull in.

I'm still running pretty well (except for channel 4) on my internal antennas...

but I've been weighing other options. My prime options being considered are:

Attic mount
Share the mast my Dish satellite is using and put an external antenna atop that.

Has anyone here done that? Have a roof mount DBS dish for Dish or DirecTV, and mount a roof-top antenna on the same mast?

So, for those of you that did the antenna giveaway, does it matter when the TV was purchased? I cant find the receipt for my Mitsu TV purchased a few months ago, but I can find the Vizio we purchased around a year ago.

I am 26 miles from WTVD and about the same for most of the others, except WUNC which is 11 miles and in a slightly different direction. I receive all of the stations except WTVD very well with the TerkHDTV. It does sound like I will not solve my WTVD problem with an attic mount.

Ray

So, for those of you that did the antenna giveaway, does it matter when the TV was purchased? I cant find the receipt for my Mitsu TV purchased a few months ago, but I can find the Vizio we purchased around a year ago.

Good to go...i put in for my antenna over a year after I purchased my TV.

I'm still running pretty well (except for channel 4) on my internal antennas...

but I've been weighing other options. My prime options being considered are:

Attic mount
Share the mast my Dish satellite is using and put an external antenna atop that.

Has anyone here done that? Have a roof mount DBS dish for Dish or DirecTV, and mount a roof-top antenna on the same mast?

Yo ! -

I have a tripod on the roof for 110/119 , when I raised my dish I added a RadioShack U75 pointed to Roanoke Rapids.

Sigh second week in a row now that TBS HD has gone black for the Red Sox and Braves game. TBS SD is fine, but HD is black. No clue why, but it's really pissing me off!

Sigh second week in a row now that TBS HD has gone black for the Red Sox and Braves game. TBS SD is fine, but HD is black. No clue why, but it's really pissing me off!

Mine is black on Cable, but DirecTV is fine. You might call TWC.

Yo ! -

I have a tripod on the roof for 110/119 , when I raised my dish I added a RadioShack U75 pointed to Roanoke Rapids.

Cool.. No tripod here, but I have two dishes on my roof. It just looks so tantalizing to add onto the existing mount a small extension...

OR... as it turns out, a 3rd option I have... I have a 3rd mount still on my roof (no dish) from where I had to have a dish relocated a couple of years back... so I could put a mast back on that mount and hook an antenna there.

Need to check with my HOA to see how much I can do without approval (I know I have the right to an antenna, but even with those rights it is easier sometimes to go through architectural approval rather than win the fight later).

But I am tempted for the external roof mount because I am thinking I might be able to even bring some farther away channels in if I did that.

Sigh second week in a row now that TBS HD has gone black for the Red Sox and Braves game. TBS SD is fine, but HD is black. No clue why, but it's really pissing me off!


TWC said you need to pay extra for that. They said they are running short of money & needed to get every ones attention. We need some or the stimulas money. They want to get some of the stimulas money by charging more for sports. As the bomba said we want to spread the money around.

Sigh second week in a row now that TBS HD has gone black for the Red Sox and Braves game. TBS SD is fine, but HD is black. No clue why, but it's really pissing me off!

Looked good on Uverse!

twc said you need to pay extra for that. They said they are running short of money & needed to get every ones attention. We need some or the stimulas money. They want to get some of the stimulas money by charging more for sports. As the bomba said we want to spread the money around.



roflmao

:D

Looked good on Uverse!


Looked pretty good on MLB.TV premium as well. I'm really amazed at the quality of the games on their 1.2mb streams. Not to mention I got the preferred NESN broadcasters. Take that TWC :p

Sigh second week in a row now that TBS HD has gone black for the Red Sox and Braves game. TBS SD is fine, but HD is black. No clue why, but it's really pissing me off!



It sounds like TWC is guilty of filthy lucre too me.

Looked pretty good on MLB.TV premium as well. I'm really amazed at the quality of the games on their 1.2mb streams. Not to mention I got the preferred NESN broadcasters. Take that TWC :p

Wait until TWC starts blocking/charging for web-based TV services...they will get their money one way or another. Please come to my house UVERSE!

Please come to my house UVERSE!
I share your concerns. It is extremely sad that we're desperately waiting for one evil corporate duopolist to save us from another. I'd very much like to see a Wilson style "project greenlight" municipal option.

Drew

I share your concerns. It is extremely sad that we're desperately waiting for one evil corporate duopolist to save us from another. I'd very much like to see a Wilson style "project greenlight" municipal option.

Drew

Now there's some infrastructure I could get behind supporting. I teared up when I looked at their rates and speed, holy crap. http://www.greenlightnc.com/home/internet/

Ray


How long did it take you to get your antenna from WRAL? I have one on the way and was wondering how long it might take.

Thanks.

Now there's some infrastructure I could get behind supporting. I teared up when I looked at their rates and speed, holy crap. http://www.greenlightnc.com/home/internet/

I wish Durham could figure out how to do this. Since Verizon just declared us a rural area and sold us to Pioneer, all we really have left is TWC for land based entertainment/internet.

Ray


How long did it take you to get your antenna from WRAL? I have one on the way and was wondering how long it might take.

Thanks.

It sent for mine back in February...took about 4 weeks for me.

Does anyone have any information on the "Digital Access" tier that TW offers? I was shopping today, as Im out of contract with DirecTV soon, and I noticed this was now an option under their cheapest Digipic package. I have 3 HDTV's, only one of which I would want a DVR on. I assume the rest could access the QAM channels and the analogs from a regular cable (sans box), no?

Maybe this was posted in this thread already and I missed it, but does anyone know what happened to the WRAL NewsChannel (or WRAL2 as they had renamed it)? 5.2 is now "THIS" and 50.3 is a SD simulcast of 50.1.

Does anyone have any information on the "Digital Access" tier that TW offers? I was shopping today, as Im out of contract with DirecTV soon, and I noticed this was now an option under their cheapest Digipic package. I have 3 HDTV's, only one of which I would want a DVR on. I assume the rest could access the QAM channels and the analogs from a regular cable (sans box), no?

With the cheapest digipic, you get Broadcast Cable, Basic Cable, and Digital Variety. You may be able to substitute Digital Variety for a different digital tier, but Digital Variety is the most common.

http://www.timewarnercable.com/customerservice/clu/clu.ashx


or are you talking about this?
Digital Access (Includes Broadcast and Basic Cable, digital box, Music Choice, access to On Demand programming and Pay-Per-View services) $61.19-$64.11/mo

Yeah, thats what I cant figure out.


Digital Access
Access to over 180 channels, on-screen program guide and On Demand programming. Upgrade to HD at no additional cost.

* Digital Programming Tier, Premium services and additional outlets are not included. Pricing does not include franchise fees or taxes.

So, what the heck is this exactly? :confused:

It sent for mine back in February...took about 4 weeks for me.


Thanks

Yeah, thats what I cant figure out.




So, what the heck is this exactly? :confused:

I emailed TWC about digital access a couple of weeks ago and did not get much information about it other than the price list. Great way to do business.

I would like to know what the story is also in regard to WRAL Newschannel and WRAL WX channel? The only stations I can receive with a decent weather graphic broadcast at this time are 17.3. I know WTVD has one, but I cannot get their signal. WWAY has done away with weather as a whole pretty much, because of complainers and they had the best channel for radar in motion, but have killed theirs too for retro TV like WRAZ did. WECT runs Doppler radar static, and no other useful maps. We have weather that is way too harsh to be dropping the ball on it all at once. WITN is very aggravating because all they seem to have on their channel are cameras of ball fields. All I want is a channel low bandwidth that has doppler, satellite, with motion and detailed information on watches and warnings, not just a "Thunderstorm Warning for ____ county." on a runner or in a corner.

Yeah, thats what I cant figure out.




So, what the heck is this exactly? :confused:

It is filthy Lucre!

I am 26 miles from WTVD and about the same for most of the others, except WUNC which is 11 miles and in a slightly different direction. I receive all of the stations except WTVD very well with the TerkHDTV. It does sound like I will not solve my WTVD problem with an attic mount.


I suggest you give it a try with a temporary mount or even just propping it up as a quick experiment with the coax running down the stairs. I get WTVD 11.1 fine now on my older CM4228 in my attic here in Cary, 17 miles from the towers. My other antennas (designed for UHF only) don't work for 11 but the 4228 is working well.

Like Drew, I sent my coax down an abandoned water tank drain (blowdrying a plastic parachute on fishing line got it all started). A Channel Master preamp in the attic provides enough gain to split and route the signal to every TV using the original cable TV distribution.

Now there's some infrastructure I could get behind supporting. I teared up when I looked at their rates and speed, holy crap. http://www.greenlightnc.com/home/internet/

The first time I saw this about two years ago while at work, I died a little inside. I knew I had to go home to my overpriced TWC when I went home.

I order it around May 1st I think. It just arrived on Saturday, so it took about 2 months to arrive.

Ray

I order it around May 1st I think. It just arrived on Saturday, so it took about 2 months to arrive.

Ray

Thanks...I was afraid it would take that long. Oh well.

Ok, so I am being bitten slightly by the WTVD thing. (and this turned out longer than I thought it would, sorry)

I have a roof mounted antenna but it is in a gable end pointed perfectly for the direction of the antenna so I do not have to go through the roof at all, just osb and vinyl. (which is good because we have radiant barrier on the roof plywood anyway, which would kill it completely) I am also helped by the fact that our house is pretty tall.

I am being hurt mostly I think by the way I am running the wire and also by a somewhat bad tuner. Since I have always had good reception, I was not too careful about running things. When I first set it up, I ran the antenna down to the main panel and then distributed it back out on an 8 way non powered splitter that came as part of the structured wiring. It was running to 4 locations, with the other 4 capped with 75 ohm terminators. In one location, that feed is further split to a DirecTV box with OTA tuner as well as the TV.

When I added a TV on the third floor, I tried splitting the antenna feed up there, one going to the TV and one continuing down to the splitter. Everything worked fine. Now however, with the WTVD thing, I am getting low signal on 11. Usually in the 60s, but it drops to the 50s sometimes on one of my DirecTV HR20 receivers. The other one is fine and the TVs which have newer tuners seem fine.





So, to cover my sins of splitting, I was wondering if a preamp would work OK or if I just have to reroute everything and run wires down and back up for Antenna feed. Or maybe go with a powered splitter rather than passive?

In order, I'd try -
No splitters besides the 8-way (even if it means another 3rd floor run to the splitter)
replace passive splitter with distribution amp
Pre-amp with passive splitter
Pre-amp with distribution amp

When you start using multiple amps - it starts getting tricky - you have to make sure you aren't overdriving the input of the distribution with the output of the pre-amp.

All you really want to do with a pre-amp is just make up for the cable length losses between the antenna and your distribution system (the passive 8 way splitter / distribution amp). So, going whole hog for the highest dB amp you can find is NOT always the best path.

Here is a project I have in mind and could use some help.

I have a bonus room with HD projector. I have both an CM4228HD and CM4308 that I plan to put in my attic and point southeast and west just to see what I get. My plan so far is to run a 50' section of RG6 cable into a closet and up through the ceiling and into the attic. I need to run it to the other end of the house in order to avoid various metallic objects.

Can I run a simple splitter from the 50' cable to both antennas? If so, will that affect the signal at all?


My fear is I won't be able to pick up any additional channels to the west that I couldn't get with the same antenna pointing southeast, so if there's a negative effect of having two antennas I might just use one.

Any advice is appreciated.

Ok, so I am being bitten slightly by the WTVD thing. (and this turned out longer than I thought it would, sorry)

I have a roof mounted antenna but it is in a gable end pointed perfectly for the direction of the antenna so I do not have to go through the roof at all, just osb and vinyl. (which is good because we have radiant barrier on the roof plywood anyway, which would kill it completely) I am also helped by the fact that our house is pretty tall.

I am being hurt mostly I think by the way I am running the wire and also by a somewhat bad tuner. Since I have always had good reception, I was not too careful about running things. When I first set it up, I ran the antenna down to the main panel and then distributed it back out on an 8 way non powered splitter that came as part of the structured wiring. It was running to 4 locations, with the other 4 capped with 75 ohm terminators. In one location, that feed is further split to a DirecTV box with OTA tuner as well as the TV.

When I added a TV on the third floor, I tried splitting the antenna feed up there, one going to the TV and one continuing down to the splitter. Everything worked fine. Now however, with the WTVD thing, I am getting low signal on 11. Usually in the 60s, but it drops to the 50s sometimes on one of my DirecTV HR20 receivers. The other one is fine and the TVs which have newer tuners seem fine.





So, to cover my sins of splitting, I was wondering if a preamp would work OK or if I just have to reroute everything and run wires down and back up for Antenna feed. Or maybe go with a powered splitter rather than passive?

I would get a 12 db indoor amp from k mart. I would go the attic with the amp & an extension coord to power your amp. I would place the amp as close as you can to the antenna. Like no more than 3 feet away. Then try your dtv & see if you get all you channels & may be some more because of the amp will pick up & boost the weak signals. If it all works then connect your other dtvs & test.

WRAL signal has not changed since the switch, although they were to activate an new antenna at a 600' higher altitude. Marginal signal all the time and significantly less than before they lowered their antenna several months ago.

WNCN signal has greatly improved, however they do not operate at full power continuously. I get either zero or 80 signal strength. e.g. past couple mornings the signal returned at 8am or 9am.

WTVD signal has somewhat improved, yet they also appear not to operate at full power continuously. Their signal goes from 30 to 70 at either 8am or 9am.

Is there some morning anomaly which impacts WNCN and WTVD selectively?

When I first set it up, I ran the antenna down to the main panel and then distributed it back out on an 8 way non powered splitter that came as part of the structured wiring. It was running to 4 locations, with the other 4 capped with 75 ohm terminators. In one location, that feed is further split to a DirecTV box with OTA tuner as well as the TV.

When I added a TV on the third floor, I tried splitting the antenna feed up there, one going to the TV and one continuing down to the splitter. Everything worked fine. Now however, with the WTVD thing, I am getting low signal on 11. Usually in the 60s, but it drops to the 50s sometimes on one of my DirecTV HR20 receivers. The other one is fine and the TVs which have newer tuners seem fine.

So, to cover my sins of splitting, I was wondering if a preamp would work OK or if I just have to reroute everything and run wires down and back up for Antenna feed. Or maybe go with a powered splitter rather than passive?

The compound splitting multiplies up. The signal power is divided by 2 on the first splitter in the attic, then by 8 on the 8-way (down to 1/16th power) and by another 2 where you split at the DirectTV set-top (1/32nd power).

Replacing the 8-way with a 4-way should help, as would putting a good preamp near the attic antenna, upstream from the first splitter.

Can I run a simple splitter from the 50' cable to both antennas? If so, will that affect the signal at all?

My fear is I won't be able to pick up any additional channels to the west that I couldn't get with the same antenna pointing southeast, so if there's a negative effect of having two antennas I might just use one.

Try the 4228 by itself first and see if you can get all the channels you want.

Don't add the second antenna with an ordinary splitter - this can exacerbate multipath issues since both antennas will be picking up the same signals with slightly different time delays. If you find that you need more than one antenna, use an A/B switch or Jointenna frequency-selective combiner that will select one station to insert from the other direction.

Is there some morning anomaly which impacts WNCN and WTVD selectively?

The Sun?

Both are east, southeast of you (at 120 degrees at my location in Cary), and you say the problem happens when the Sun is low in the sky and nearly "behind" the towers from your location. I wonder if UHF 17 and VHF11 susceptible to interference from the sun?

Drew

The compound splitting multiplies up. The signal power is divided by 2 on the first splitter in the attic, then by 8 on the 8-way (down to 1/16th power) and by another 2 where you split at the DirectTV set-top (1/32nd power).

Replacing the 8-way with a 4-way should help, as would putting a good preamp near the attic antenna, upstream from the first splitter.

If I am only using a powered splitter (drop amplifier) without a preamp, does the location of where that splitter is make a difference (i.e. in the attic next to my antenna or down in my media closet) :confused: My guess is that it wouldn't matter, but I haven't tested that out yet.

Here is a project I have in mind and could use some help.

I have a bonus room with HD projector. I have both an CM4228HD and CM4308 that I plan to put in my attic and point southeast and west just to see what I get. My plan so far is to run a 50' section of RG6 cable into a closet and up through the ceiling and into the attic. I need to run it to the other end of the house in order to avoid various metallic objects.

Can I run a simple splitter from the 50' cable to both antennas? If so, will that affect the signal at all?


My fear is I won't be able to pick up any additional channels to the west that I couldn't get with the same antenna pointing southeast, so if there's a negative effect of having two antennas I might just use one.

Any advice is appreciated.


You will do best with 300 ohm at the same length. Then connect them in the to an indoor amp. Put 3 twist per foot on the 300 ohm to keep the wire from picking up unwanted signals. Using two 75 ohm transformers on each antenna will load the signal from each other.

If you go to google & type stacking 2 antennas you will see a lot of links for a lot of info including what happens to the signals when you connect 2 antennas. Like for exmple, some times the unwanted signal of the back or side of one of the antennas & is out of phase with the other antenna; thus causing problems.

Someone remind me...There's someone saying on the "Is Your Local News in HD" Message Board saying that WLFL is airing WTVD's 10 p.m. News in HD (citing Wikipedia). I thought when I was in Kinston watching it via OTA last week from da 'rents, it wasn't in HD. Please confirm. Thanks!

Directv added UNC-TV HD and UNC-KD to its local MPEG 4 lineup in the Greenville Washington New Bern market, Ive heard that it was also added to the Raleigh market.

Someone remind me...There's someone saying on the "Is Your Local News in HD" Message Board saying that WLFL is airing WTVD's 10 p.m. News in HD (citing Wikipedia). I thought when I was in Kinston watching it via OTA last week from da 'rents, it wasn't in HD. Please confirm. Thanks!

I haven't checked since the transition... but last time I remember checking, WLFL wasn't carrying the WTVD news in HD yet. Maybe something changed since I last checked.

I thought at least one problem was that WLFL uses 1080i while WTVD uses 720p, and I thought they didn't know how to deal with that between the two stations.

CW 22 news is NOT in HD. I saw it last night.

CW 22 news is NOT in HD. I saw it last night.

Thanks! I posted a link to your post on the "Is Your Local News in HD?" Message Board.

Wahoo. UNC is now in HD on DirecTV. They are sending 4-2 in HD as well. Confirming post from above.

Tuesday morning - I was getting some really great reception - from the stations in Richmond !

I usually get up about 830 AM, and noticed that WTVD wasn't on. So I did a channel scan on my Philco TB100MW - and low and behold - there at least 3 Richmond stations as well as most of my usual Raleigh stations, coming as clear as you could expect the Raleigh stations. They started fading out about 1030 - 1100, then they were gone...

or are you talking about this?
Digital Access (Includes Broadcast and Basic Cable, digital box, Music Choice, access to On Demand programming and Pay-Per-View services) $61.19-$64.11/mo

Yeah, thats it, but it says its $29.99 on the ordering page. Where did you find that info at?

Yeah, thats it, but it says its $29.99 on the ordering page.
$29.95 seems to be a promotional price for the first 12 months.

By the way, the Digital Programming Tier is not included in the Digital Access package.

Wahoo. UNC is now in HD on DirecTV. They are sending 4-2 in HD as well. Confirming post from above.

4-2 is HD??? Maybe you should double check.

36-2 is the HD out of Roanoke Rapids...

$29.95 seems to be a promotional price for the first 12 months.

By the way, the Digital Programming Tier is not included in the Digital Access package.

They do not say what the price is after 12 months. it may go up $100.00 each month. Thus on the 13th month may be $129.95 each month. Some also have a contact for that $29.95 that includes free installation & set up the account. In that $29.95 contact you keep the service for 2 years after the first 12 months. If that is the case, then if you end your service early you must pay the first years discount back 12 * $100.00 = $1200.00 & the $25.00 set up the account fee & $175.00 for the installation And maybe then the rest of the 2 years of service at the regular service of 24 * $129.00 = filthy Lucre!

Make sure you read all the fine print before you take a discounted promotional offer. You could be making a commitment to a contract. It may be like those cell phone contracts.

^
|---> filthy Lucre!

If I am only using a powered splitter (drop amplifier) without a preamp, does the location of where that splitter is make a difference (i.e. in the attic next to my antenna or down in my media closet) :confused: My guess is that it wouldn't matter, but I haven't tested that out yet.

Splitting it closer to the TV is better. If you split it near the antenna, the signal strength is lower in the long cable run, but any noise interference that might enter the cable run will be the same, causing a lower signal to noise ratio at the destination.

Splitting it closer to the TV is better. If you split it near the antenna, the signal strength is lower in the long cable run, but any noise interference that might enter the cable run will be the same, causing a lower signal to noise ratio at the destination.

If he were talking about a simple splitter, I would agree with you.... but he appears to be talking about a distribution amp. Amps are typically used to compensate for distribution losses and should be placed before the distribuiton network (closer to the antenna) as by the time the weak signal gets to the destination... the damage has already been done.

4-2 is HD??? Maybe you should double check.

It could be. Can anyone confirm one way or another? I know UNC has fiber feeds to at least one cable company and has a QAM channel to itself. They could certainly feed two HD channels to cable if they wanted to, though in March I hadn't heard anything about an arrangement like that.

I don't remember how they fed satellite, but if it's a similar arrangement, the same argument applies...

- Trip

If he were talking about a simple splitter, I would agree with you.... but he appears to be talking about a distribution amp. Amps are typically used to compensate for distribution losses and should be placed before the distribuiton network (closer to the antenna) as by the time the weak signal gets to the destination... the damage has already been done.

Thanks for all the input. I will give both a try. I'm assuming the distribution amp is only compensating the loss due to distribution (and I guess cable length) and not overall signal strength? And this is different from a 'preamp' that increases your signal to noise ratio? It would be much easier to have the distribution amp in my closet where I have access to all the runs (well, I only need to throw it to 2 TVs right now), versus getting more lines up into my attic. Time to give a whirl. I guess I could also put a preamp in the attic to my distribution amp downstairs.

Any local places I could get a preamp if needed?

Thanks to all!
NitDawg

Thanks for all the input. I will give both a try. I'm assuming the distribution amp is only compensating the loss due to distribution (and I guess cable length) and not overall signal strength? And this is different from a 'preamp' that increases your signal to noise ratio? It would be much easier to have the distribution amp in my closet where I have access to all the runs (well, I only need to throw it to 2 TVs right now), versus getting more lines up into my attic. Time to give a whirl. I guess I could also put a preamp in the attic to my distribution amp downstairs.

Any local places I could get a preamp if needed?

Thanks to all!
NitDawg

Yes... the point of a distribution amp is to allow you to take an acceptable signal with good SNR and strength for a single receiver but not enough to be run thru a long coax and split multiple times,,, and allow it to be split and distributed to multiple receivers. Amps arent magic though... If the signal isnt there.. the amp wont fix that. :D

Yes... the point of a distribution amp is to allow you to take an acceptable signal with good SNR and strength for a single receiver but not enough to be run thru a long coax and split multiple times,,, and allow it to be split and distributed to multiple receivers. Amps arent magic though... If the signal isnt there.. the amp wont fix that. :D

So the attic was the best spot, and I ran a single line down to my media closet where I then split it to my vizio LCD and Hauppage tuner, connected to a Sammy PDP. Thanks to all :D As when I played with my setup before, the vizio tuner appears to be much more robust, as I get all the expected channels just fine...WUNC, WTVD, WRAL, WRAZ, WNCN, WRDC, WLFL (just a CM4228HD in attic) plus 20-1 and 20-2 (CW out of somewhere else).

Like my Samsung tuner, My PC TV tuner is a bit more picky...I get all the locals, with WUNC on the fringe (an occasional drop here or there) but is the only channel on this tuner that isn't maxed out (via my digital strength meter/SNR/error indicator for my tuner). Its still in the green, but every once and a while it drops out for a few seconds.

I can live with this for now, but speaking of which, I was reading older posts to figure out what WUNC is doing in the upcoming months and am still a bit confused...so they are boosting their current antenna and putting up another antenna in Garner?

I'm going to make a run with this setup for now and hopefully pull the QAM plug.

It could be. Can anyone confirm one way or another? I know UNC has fiber feeds to at least one cable company and has a QAM channel to itself. They could certainly feed two HD channels to cable if they wanted to, though in March I hadn't heard anything about an arrangement like that.

I don't remember how they fed satellite, but if it's a similar arrangement, the same argument applies...

- Trip

Well, I just double checked myself. It is being broadcast in 720p over DirecTV...however, it looks like crap. :)

UNCKD on directv is 480i. Go into you menu and check you resolution settings.
Several people have said the same thing, and they had the resolutions setting wrong.

go to Menu> setup> hdtv> tv resolutions tab> select resolutions

then > video tab select NATIVE on.

I have TimeWarner cable connected directly to a digital TV, no set-top-box. TVGoS stopped working in April when Macrovision switched carriers from PBS to CBS, then started working again in May after TWC made some changes.

I've lost the TVGoS feed again and now TWC claims that it hasn't worked since the PBS-to-CBS change and that the data is not available in our area.

Does anyone have a TVGoS feed from WRAL over-the-air? If so, I can use that to prove to TWC that the data is available.

UNCKD on directv is 480i. Go into you menu and check you resolution settings.
Several people have said the same thing, and they had the resolutions setting wrong.

go to Menu> setup> hdtv> tv resolutions tab> select resolutions

then > video tab select NATIVE on.

Did that...checked them all 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i. I set it to native on...then changed to 4 (1080i) then back to 4-2 (720p)...I've done this once or twice before. :)

I have TimeWarner cable connected directly to a digital TV, no set-top-box. TVGoS stopped working in April when Macrovision switched carriers from PBS to CBS, then started working again in May after TWC made some changes.

I've lost the TVGoS feed again and now TWC claims that it hasn't worked since the PBS-to-CBS change and that the data is not available in our area.

Does anyone have a TVGoS feed from WRAL over-the-air? If so, I can use that to prove to TWC that the data is available.

Sure does work - I'm getting it on a Echostar DTVPAL DVR OTA from WRAL.

I have a Sony KDL-46W4100 which works directly from the TWC outlet (no box on this TV). It did not work until late May after losing it earlier this year. I had to do a complete reset on my TV to get to work

I have TimeWarner cable connected directly to a digital TV, no set-top-box. TVGoS stopped working in April when Macrovision switched carriers from PBS to CBS, then started working again in May after TWC made some changes.

I've lost the TVGoS feed again and now TWC claims that it hasn't worked since the PBS-to-CBS change and that the data is not available in our area.

Does anyone have a TVGoS feed from WRAL over-the-air? If so, I can use that to prove to TWC that the data is available.

One problem which I have noticed with local access, over the air that is, is where to move is uneven. The picture is not pixalating, the colors are good but the it is like the motion temporarily slows or gets stuck. Is that a reception problem or some that can be improved with a stronger signal? I just noticed it today for channel 28.

Ray

So I just tried temporarily putting my CM 4228HD from WRAL in the attic. I am located near Southpoint and get most channels quite well with my Terk HDTV antennae. As a test, I positioned the new CM on top of the metal duct propped horizontally and facing SE in the direction of most of the station. I then ran the 100 ft cable directly down through the attic stairs opening to the downstairs TV.

The good news is that I can now get WTVD!!! It does pixalate sometimes but the second time I turned it on again, it did not pixalate.

I have a splitter amplifier coming which may improve things, and allow for a second run. I could also mount it higher in the attic. I just wonder if that doesn't say that the access from the attic will always be marginal with WTVD.

I also posted a question because with both antennae I have sometimes seen uneven motion.

Perhaps I really need to mount it on the attic.

Thoughts on any of the above?

Ray Hooker

So I just tried temporarily putting my CM 4228HD from WRAL in the attic. I am located near Southpoint and get most channels quite well with my Terk HDTV antennae. As a test, I positioned the new CM on top of the metal duct propped horizontally and facing SE in the direction of most of the station. I then ran the 100 ft cable directly down through the attic stairs opening to the downstairs TV.

The good news is that I can now get WTVD!!! It does pixalate sometimes but the second time I turned it on again, it did not pixalate.

I have a splitter amplifier coming which may improve things, and allow for a second run. I could also mount it higher in the attic. I just wonder if that doesn't say that the access from the attic will always be marginal with WTVD.

I also posted a question because with both antennae I have sometimes seen uneven motion.

Perhaps I really need to mount it on the attic.

Thoughts on any of the above?

Ray Hooker

I just got my 4228HD mounted in the attic. Compared to the previous 4221HD, it is better but still marginal on WTVD. I have good signal strength but still getting uncorrected errors in tuner stats. I would imagine that its due to multipath. The UHF channels are fine.

I just got my 4228HD mounted in the attic. Compared to the previous 4221HD, it is better but still marginal on WTVD. I have good signal strength but still getting uncorrected errors in tuner stats. I would imagine that its due to multipath. The UHF channels are fine.

For me in Morrisville, South of 54, I have no problems with WTVD with my attic mounted 4228HD (thank goodness).

What happened to WUNC on the TV-Fool maps? Its not even listed for me anymore

One problem which I have noticed with local access, over the air that is, is where to move is uneven. The picture is not pixalating, the colors are good but the it is like the motion temporarily slows or gets stuck. Is that a reception problem or some that can be improved with a stronger signal? I just noticed it today for channel 28.

Ray

Sounds like it might be an autocorrelation error. That might be the wrong term; it's been decades since I did much signal processing. If I'm remembering correctly, if the receiver can't fully decode the frame it might just toss that frame out and redisplay the one that it still has. And of course hope for a better frame to decode/display. The symptom then is that you loose the smooth flow of the images and get some stop/start jerkiness because of the dropped frames.

Causes could be multiplath from a passing airplane, the wind blowing a tree branch into your signal path, etc.

What it all comes down to is that your signal is marginal and therefore fragile. With analog this isn't so bad because analog can degrade gracefully. Digital signals are nearly all there or not there at all and therefore can't degrade gracefully.

At least that's what popped into my mind. I'm just guessing without actually seeing the artifacts. So really I'm just tossing out an idea.

What happened to WUNC on the TV-Fool maps? Its not even listed for me anymore

There was a change to the way the FCC database listed some stations and it's affected TV Fool's handling of certain stations. WUNC is one of them.

Andy has assured those of us in the TV Fool thread in the HDTV Technical forum that it is being worked on...

- Trip

As anyone in Morrisville or West Cary smelled AT&T fiber anywhere in their hood? My address isn't valid on their website, not that it would give me a date, but still curious.

Thanks!

TownOfCary was spraypainting on the curb in front of my house. When I asked them whatsup they said ATT is installing the uverse cables in my neighborhood (glenridge, cary) this month and they were out marking utilities for them.

That said, the website doesn't have any specific info, but I do know they are running cables since I saw them working a few blocks away.

TownOfCary was spraypainting on the curb in front of my house. When I asked them whatsup they said ATT is installing the uverse cables in my neighborhood (glenridge, cary) this month and they were out marking utilities for them.

That said, the website doesn't have any specific info, but I do know they are running cables since I saw them working a few blocks away.

Nice! I can't wait for them to get started. Thanks.

So I finally made the switch over to OTA, relinquishing the mighty basic cable package. I know its only $13 a month, but if I'm not going to use it, see ya later. Anyways, the TWC sales rep,

"Ohhhh, so you don't want any TV service?"

"No, please cancel my basic service"

"Can I ask why you are canceling?"

"I can get what I want OTA."

"You know your TV won't work since the digital transition, do you have a converter box?"

"Yes my TV will work, no I do not have a converter box."

"You know there is no customer service to help you with that, I'm pretty sure you can't get TV reception without a converter box?"

"My TVs have digital tuners, I'll be okay."

"I'm just curious for myself, how many channels can you get? I hear you get 4"

"I get about 20"

"Can I offer you 200 channels for only $30 more a month?"

I am at peace.

Did anybody else notice that WRAL's presentation of the Boston Pops 4th of July was only in 4:3 (maybe not even HD - although I'm sure WRAL upconverted it) ? I'm wondering if that was Boston station originating, or Network passing it along that way...

I received a letter today from Time Warner stating that the "Start Over" feature would be available July 6. Well, it's not working at my house.

Did anybody else notice that WRAL's presentation of the Boston Pops 4th of July was only in 4:3 (maybe not even HD - although I'm sure WRAL upconverted it) ? I'm wondering if that was Boston station originating, or Network passing it along that way...

I'm pretty sure the feed was SD, and the fault of the local station producing it in Boston. There was some discussion over in this thread: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16768547

It should have clued me in that SageTV didn't say it was going to be in HD, but I just expected it to be HD as well.

Drew

So I finally made the switch over to OTA, relinquishing the mighty basic cable package....


Good for you!


Anyways, the TWC sales rep, ...

"Can I offer you 200 channels for only $30 more a month?"


To which you should have asked, "For how long, and what will the price be after that?" :D

I received a letter today from Time Warner stating that the "Start Over" feature would be available July 6. Well, it's not working at my house.

Got the same letter and sadly it is working at my house. It's pretty much useless to me since it's only on 10 channels and only the SD feeds of those channels. It's a pretty neat feature and works well but will never get used by me until they add it to some HD channels.

The 10 Channels it is currently on:
Boomerang, Biography, Fine Living, Fox Movie Channel, Hallmark Channel, National Geographic, Noggin, Showtime, TMC and Tru TV.

What's worse it's not even available on all the shows on those channels. Just selected shows. The letter does say that additional channels will be added in the coming months. We'll see what happens. I think they have had it for a year in Charlotte and haven't gotten anything good.

My son was watching Boomerang yesterday night and the channel was freezing for about 1-2 secs every 3-4 mins. Probably related to Start Over.

My son was watching Boomerang yesterday night and the channel was freezing for about 1-2 secs every 3-4 mins. Probably related to Start Over.

I was getting the same thing on Discovery HD last night. Really irritating. Hopefully a box reboot will help.

I was getting the same thing on Discovery HD last night. Really irritating. Hopefully a box reboot will help.

Same thing happened to me yesterday on every channel that I tuned to. Doesn't seem to be happening today. I called TWC and scheduled a technician for Wednesday. If it doesn't start happening again today, I guess I will cancel.

Got the same letter and sadly it is working at my house. It's pretty much useless to me since it's only on 10 channels and only the SD feeds of those channels. It's a pretty neat feature and works well but will never get used by me until they add it to some HD channels.

The 10 Channels it is currently on:
Boomerang, Biography, Fine Living, Fox Movie Channel, Hallmark Channel, National Geographic, Noggin, Showtime, TMC and Tru TV.

What's worse it's not even available on all the shows on those channels. Just selected shows. The letter does say that additional channels will be added in the coming months. We'll see what happens. I think they have had it for a year in Charlotte and haven't gotten anything good.

I've only gotten it to work on one channel. Seems to be a pretty useless feature unless they eventually implement it on all channels including HD channels. Maybe then it might be somewhat handy but certainly not to the extent that TWC has hyped it.

My son was watching Boomerang yesterday night and the channel was freezing for about 1-2 secs every 3-4 mins. Probably related to Start Over.

Same thing on a handful of HD channels for me last night. I tried rebooting the box, but didn't help. Haven't tested it today though.

Nice! I can't wait for them to get started. Thanks.

As another Morrisville resident, I will be happy with this as well.

I only want Uverse for Internet. Right now, I can only get 3.0/384 DSL from ATT even though we have freaking Fiber running to the curb here.




By the way, the Digital Programming Tier is not included in the Digital Access package.

All this time, I thought TWC was the home of Free HD???? ;)

As another Morrisville resident, I will be happy with this as well.

I only want Uverse for Internet. Right now, I can only get 3.0/384 DSL from ATT even though we have freaking Fiber running to the curb here.

I'm in Addison Park and I also just want internet (plus ESPN360) from ATT. Since my address barfs on their website, what are the speed/price packages offered with U-verse?

Here is a link to the general service tiers and prices for Internet. Looks like 1.5 meg for $25 ranging up to 18 meg for $65. Looks like the Upload ranges from 1 meg to 2 meg based on some looking. https://uversecentral1.att.com/uvp/home/explore .

CW 22 news is NOT in HD. I saw it last night.
I just checked WLFL's Wikipedia page -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WLFL -- and found this:

"On April 21, 2008, WTVD became the third television station in the area to produce its newscasts in high definition and the WLFL broadcasts were included in the upgrade."

This is vague enough to be interpreted either way, but seems intended to leave the impression that WLFL broadcasts the news in HD.

If WLFL is doing it's broadcast of WTVD's news at 10 in HD, then it's in 4:3 HD, if not upconverted SD.

I'm having a new home built this year and I am looking for advice on coax wiring. My walk through with the electrician is in two weeks, this is where I tell him where I want my cable/ethernet/phone/power outlets/speaker/etc mounted. In case my home builder's hired electrician is not well versed in this stuff, I want to be prepared. If he knows what he's doing, I just want to make sure we're on the same page.

If possible I'd like my coax wiring to support both cable TV/broadband internet services as well as OTA DTV.

1. Is this possible to do simultaneously over the same coax wiring or would cable tv and internet services interfere with the OTA antenna frequencies?

2. I'd like to have an attic mounted antenna. Does this mean I just need an additional coax outlet installed in the attic or is there more to it than that?

Long story short, I'd like every TV in the house (about 3 or 4 TVs) to have the option of either plugging into the coax outlet and pick up OTA TV or be connected to a digital cable set top box.

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

I just checked WLFL's Wikipedia page -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WLFL -- and found this:

"On April 21, 2008, WTVD became the third television station in the area to produce its newscasts in high definition and the WLFL broadcasts were included in the upgrade."

This is vague enough to be interpreted either way, but seems intended to leave the impression that WLFL broadcasts the news in HD.

The huge problem with Wikipedia is that pretty much anyone can post anything, and if no one else corrects it then it stays there.

All you have to do is watch the 10pm news and see that WLFL is not showing WTVD's HD feed. Haven't heard if they plan on doing so or not... but they definitely aren't thus far.

I'm having a new home built this year and I am looking for advice on coax wiring. My walk through with the electrician is in two weeks, this is where I tell him where I want my cable/ethernet/phone/power outlets/speaker/etc mounted. In case my home builder's hired electrician is not well versed in this stuff, I want to be prepared. If he knows what he's doing, I just want to make sure we're on the same page.

If possible I'd like my coax wiring to support both cable TV/broadband internet services as well as OTA DTV.

1. Is this possible to do simultaneously over the same coax wiring or would cable tv and internet services interfere with the OTA antenna frequencies?


I don't believe so. Will you have a central hub where RG6/Cat5(e)/coax branch out from? This seems to be the trend. I just went through this process...you can get a single sized wall plate with 2xCoax and 1xCat5 connections. You will need separate coax lines running to the terminals if you want a centralized antenna and cable box at the same site. Telephone and internet can be interchanged on the Cat5 terminals.

2. I'd like to have an attic mounted antenna. Does this mean I just need an additional coax outlet installed in the attic or is there more to it than that?

Yes, have a coax run from your attic to your distribution hub. Make sure you but a 110 outlet up there as well for powered amplification/distribution. You will also have another line coming in from outside the house (cable/internet).

Long story short, I'd like every TV in the house (about 3 or 4 TVs) to have the option of either plugging into the coax outlet and pick up OTA TV or be connected to a digital cable set top box.

Well, if its and either or and not both, then you only need a single coax run to each terminal and switch it at your hub.

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Have fun!

I just checked WLFL's Wikipedia page -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WLFL -- and found this:

"On April 21, 2008, WTVD became the third television station in the area to produce its newscasts in high definition and the WLFL broadcasts were included in the upgrade."

This is vague enough to be interpreted either way, but seems intended to leave the impression that WLFL broadcasts the news in HD.

Either way, as stated above, the statement is just incorrect.

donnied4rko,
I think nitdawg took care of your main questions.
A couple additional items.
1 - I would see if it is possible to install a conduit run between your wiring closet or wiring box on the main floor and the attic. That would make any future changes VERY easy.

2 - Be sure to have an outlet in or very near your main wiring box. Nitdawg mentioned reasons to have some outlets in the attic where you might put your antenna in case you need to amp the signal or put on a rotator.

3- If the house is large and/or you want sufficient wireless coverage consider a run dedicated for wireless broadcast unit to a location on the 2nd or 3rd floor or attic. Sometimes, like in my case, a wiring closet is on the 1st floor and located between a bunch of HVAC items and wireless reception is not all that I desire. So a CAT5 run to a location near power where you will setup a Wi-Fi hub might be a point of consideration.

A couple other thoughts somewhat on topic.
1 - Don't neglect coax runs to locations such as the garage and back-porch. Those are tons cheaper and easier to do in the build phase.

2 - For Ethernet - Don't neglect somewhat overlooked areas to wire like near your TV or entertainment systems for game systems such as the XBOX360 and PS3 type hookups. Sure wireless works but at this stage you can get a wired connection there and put in a hub and have options for a HTPC and game systems in the future.

3 - Having done the wiring (low and high voltage) for my own house I decided against ANY phone wiring. Just a thought but I knew that I was done with landlines and went with a VOIP type solution. I put my efforts towards Ethernet, coax and speaker wiring. Just a thought.

Enjoy the build process. This stuff is easy compared to wall-color, carpets, house color...etc. :)

WildBill and Nitdawg, thanks for the helpful info!

donnied4rko,
I think nitdawg took care of your main questions.
A couple additional items.
1 - I would see if it is possible to install a conduit run between your wiring closet or wiring box on the main floor and the attic. That would make any future changes VERY easy.
Great idea. If you have a crawl space, you should have one underneath, which can also help with future runs on the first floor/outside

2 - Be sure to have an outlet in or very near your main wiring box. Nitdawg mentioned reasons to have some outlets in the attic where you might put your antenna in case you need to amp the signal or put on a rotator.

I have a 110V outlet in my connection box (use it to power wireless router and cable modem) and I had them put another outlet in the closet itself so I could power my printer and NAS. With that said, think about possible TV wall mounts to plan for 110V and cable/audio runs, although putting in a 110 isn't too bad usually after the fact.

If you have the $ (it was $150 for my family room and bonus room) the prewiring for 5.1 speakers. Even if you don't have a setup, it is so worth it for when you are ready.


3- If the house is large and/or you want sufficient wireless coverage consider a run dedicated for wireless broadcast unit to a location on the 2nd or 3rd floor or attic. Sometimes, like in my case, a wiring closet is on the 1st floor and located between a bunch of HVAC items and wireless reception is not all that I desire. So a CAT5 run to a location near power where you will setup a Wi-Fi hub might be a point of consideration.
Great tip...very dependent on what's around, my 1st floor jobby gets it done just fine since all my HVAC is in the attic

A couple other thoughts somewhat on topic.
1 - Don't neglect coax runs to locations such as the garage and back-porch. Those are tons cheaper and easier to do in the build phase.
Garage is key...poker night or Sunday football frying up some wings...never would have thought of it if the builder didn't mention it.

2 - For Ethernet - Don't neglect somewhat overlooked areas to wire like near your TV or entertainment systems for game systems such as the XBOX360 and PS3 type hookups. Sure wireless works but at this stage you can get a wired connection there and put in a hub and have options for a HTPC and game systems in the future.

This is what I had them put wherever I had coax, I had Cat5e:
http://www.xsvtoys.net/images/wallplate_typical6-port.jpg

3 - Having done the wiring (low and high voltage) for my own house I decided against ANY phone wiring. Just a thought but I knew that I was done with landlines and went with a VOIP type solution. I put my efforts towards Ethernet, coax and speaker wiring. Just a thought.
With my setup, I have a telephone distributor (which I don't use) and router at my switch which allows me to send either phone or internet to any of the Cat5e jacks...no need for traditional phone wiring since it is backwards compatible.

Enjoy the build process. This stuff is easy compared to wall-color, carpets, house color...etc. :)
Amen!

I'm having a new home built this year and I am looking for advice on coax wiring. My walk through with the electrician is in two weeks, this is where I tell him where I want my cable/ethernet/phone/power outlets/speaker/etc mounted. In case my home builder's hired electrician is not well versed in this stuff, I want to be prepared. If he knows what he's doing, I just want to make sure we're on the same page.

If possible I'd like my coax wiring to support both cable TV/broadband internet services as well as OTA DTV.

1. Is this possible to do simultaneously over the same coax wiring or would cable tv and internet services interfere with the OTA antenna frequencies?

2. I'd like to have an attic mounted antenna. Does this mean I just need an additional coax outlet installed in the attic or is there more to it than that?

Long story short, I'd like every TV in the house (about 3 or 4 TVs) to have the option of either plugging into the coax outlet and pick up OTA TV or be connected to a digital cable set top box.

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

I would run a coax to the out side of the roof to be ready to accomodate dish or direct tv satilight. Also run the coax to a place to mount a roof top antenna if you really need a stronger signal. If you do a run to the out side make sure to tape up & seal the end of the coax. If the end of the coax is exposed to humidity it deteriate the foam in a year or 2 thus the coax will weaken a very strong signal.

...
2 - For Ethernet - Don't neglect somewhat overlooked areas to wire like near your TV or entertainment systems for game systems such as the XBOX360 and PS3 type hookups....

You might also want to put an Ethernet connection along with power up to the attic where your OTA antenna will be. That might be a good place to put something like an HDHomerun tuner, but I guess it could be near the distribution hub space too.

I have TWC broadcast (formerly basic) cable in Cary.

Sometime after Monday nite the signal for all my digital channels dropped so low that my Panny TH-50PX600U can't pick them up. The analog channels are still there and my internet connection is OK. Also, my SD DVR (Philips 3576) can still bring in all but Fox (50-1).

I wondered if anyone else might be having similar problems?

I tried to get TWC to address the problem but got the same tired run around about "no HD on broadcast tier". I asked to speak to a supervisor, got put on hold for five minutes, and was then dropped into a voice mail box. I left a message asking for a call back but, surprise, surprise, there has been no response.

I thought that the broadcast tier on cable was required to carry the local broadcast HD channels. Am I mistaken?

I would appreciate any suggestions on how to address this issue.

Perhaps there is a forum for TWC problems?

Will
Vonage since February 2005

I thought that the broadcast tier on cable was required to carry the local broadcast HD channels.
Yes, a broadcast HD channel must be carried on the lowest tier (or else it must not be carried on any tier), according to FCC Rule 47CFR76.901.
I would appreciate any suggestions on how to address this issue.
I suggest that you simply tell the reps that some channels have suddenly become too weak to receive reliably, without mentioning HD. If they send a technician to meet with you, it will probably be easier to explain the situation in detail.

I have TWC broadcast (formerly basic) cable in Cary.

Sometime after Monday nite the signal for all my digital channels dropped so low that my Panny TH-50PX600U can't pick them up. The analog channels are still there and my internet connection is OK. Also, my SD DVR (Philips 3576) can still bring in all but Fox (50-1).

I wondered if anyone else might be having similar problems?

I tried to get TWC to address the problem but got the same tired run around about "no HD on broadcast tier". I asked to speak to a supervisor, got put on hold for five minutes, and was then dropped into a voice mail box. I left a message asking for a call back but, surprise, surprise, there has been no response.

I thought that the broadcast tier on cable was required to carry the local broadcast HD channels. Am I mistaken?

I would appreciate any suggestions on how to address this issue.

Perhaps there is a forum for TWC problems?

Will
Vonage since February 2005

Did you rescan your channels? I know they have reassigned QAM channels now and then.

To the folks doing their own wiring, don't wire Cat 3- put in Extra Cat 5 instead.

in my house, the phone lines are Cat 5 anyway. I have Vonage, and just fed the output of the Vonage box (albeit a Cat 3 cable) into the Vonage box, and voila, dialtone all over the house. I did the same thing you did (boy was the builder mad! but he gave his ok). The wiring company wanted $95 per drop - basically saved $2500 by doing it myself.

Just use good quality wire (I used RG6, but my brother got on me because it wasn't Quad Shield), and it is better to run one too many wires than one too few.

To the folks doing their own wiring, don't wire Cat 3- put in Extra Cat 5 instead.

in my house, the phone lines are Cat 5 anyway. I have Vonage, and just fed the output of the Vonage box (albeit a Cat 3 cable) into the Vonage box, and voila, dialtone all over the house. I did the same thing you did (boy was the builder mad! but he gave his ok). The wiring company wanted $95 per drop - basically saved $2500 by doing it myself.

Just use good quality wire (I used RG6, but my brother got on me because it wasn't Quad Shield), and it is better to run one too many wires than one too few.

Exactly, there is no need for traditional phone wiring since you can send a phone signal over Cat5/Cat5e/Cat6...after a lot of DIY at my first house, it has been a blessing to get what I wanted in a new house

I have TWC broadcast (formerly basic) cable in Cary.

Sometime after Monday nite the signal for all my digital channels dropped so low that my Panny TH-50PX600U can't pick them up. The analog channels are still there and my internet connection is OK. Also, my SD DVR (Philips 3576) can still bring in all but Fox (50-1).

I wondered if anyone else might be having similar problems?

I tried to get TWC to address the problem but got the same tired run around about "no HD on broadcast tier". I asked to speak to a supervisor, got put on hold for five minutes, and was then dropped into a voice mail box. I left a message asking for a call back but, surprise, surprise, there has been no response.

I thought that the broadcast tier on cable was required to carry the local broadcast HD channels. Am I mistaken?

I would appreciate any suggestions on how to address this issue.

Perhaps there is a forum for TWC problems?

Will
Vonage since February 2005

These people simply don't care as long as they get their monthly check. Don't pay them until you get your channels. When they contact you, (and they will) tell them you are not getting what you would normally pay for.

An antenna would quickly put an end to your headache.:)

These people simply don't care as long as they get their monthly check. Don't pay them until you get your channels. When they contact you, (and they will) tell them you are not getting what you would normally pay for.

An antenna would quickly put an end to your headache.:)

Make sure its not a tuner issue. I don't see how they could selectively turn off QAM signals at your house without causing an uproar everywhere as they would be breaking the law:

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-07-170A1.pdf

I have TWC broadcast (formerly basic) cable in Cary.

Sometime after Monday nite the signal for all my digital channels dropped so low that my Panny TH-50PX600U can't pick them up. The analog channels are still there and my internet connection is OK. Also, my SD DVR (Philips 3576) can still bring in all but Fox (50-1).

I wondered if anyone else might be having similar problems?

I tried to get TWC to address the problem but got the same tired run around about "no HD on broadcast tier". I asked to speak to a supervisor, got put on hold for five minutes, and was then dropped into a voice mail box. I left a message asking for a call back but, surprise, surprise, there has been no response.

I thought that the broadcast tier on cable was required to carry the local broadcast HD channels. Am I mistaken?

I would appreciate any suggestions on how to address this issue.

Perhaps there is a forum for TWC problems?

Will
Vonage since February 2005


Will,
Same thing happened to me 2 days ago. No more broadcast HD channels via TWC. So here is the interesting thing, they are lost on my TH-42PX60U - have re-scanned multiple times - still doesn't find them. But on my Samsung 50" Plasma, they just moved - e.g. 5-1 is 85-2, 4-2 is 90-2, etc. I will be calling TWC on my way home tonight. Wife is complaining royally - will be hooking up antenna to Panny for viewing tonight.

Cheap

Will,
Same thing happened to me 2 days ago. No more broadcast HD channels via TWC. So here is the interesting thing, they are lost on my TH-42PX60U - have re-scanned multiple times - still doesn't find them. But on my Samsung 50" Plasma, they just moved - e.g. 5-1 is 85-2, 4-2 is 90-2, etc. I will be calling TWC on my way home tonight. Wife is complaining royally - will be hooking up antenna to Panny for viewing tonight.

Cheap

This happens when they change the physical address of the QAM channel. Channel 4-2 has never physically been 4-2. I think the problem is with PSIP data not being included, since I think its the PSIP data that tells your QAM tuner "make me the channel 4-2" even though I'm really 90-2. Or maybe not all the PSIP data is being send, if that's even possible (I know virtual channel data is more than just PSIP and PSIP is more than just channel mapping).

I think the legality is muddy on whether or not TWC has to provide this info, they could change QAM frequencies every day and still say they provide those channels, it would just make your DVR attempts FUBAR as well as require more scanning.

The first post in this thread links out to a frequently updated mapping http://home.roadrunner.com/~res18h39/channels.htm.

Go go antenna!

The wife sent off the receipt and antenna request form to WRAL yesterday. I hope this works, because Im about >< close to cutting off DirecTV. The only thing I watch on there is SPEED, the rest is just network TV that I could receive OTA or stuff I could watch online.

The wife sent off the receipt and antenna request form to WRAL yesterday. I hope this works, because Im about >< close to cutting off DirecTV. The only thing I watch on there is SPEED, the rest is just network TV that I could receive OTA or stuff I could watch online.

There is a lot of SPEED programming online, HULU has lots of shows, Pinks, Engine Block, Life on the Block, Wrecked, and more - just hook up your PC to the big screen!
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_Pv-2hnrPM4U/SliNVuAOYrI/AAAAAAAABTs/dq4QUf2gaDU/PINKS.png

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_Pv-2hnrPM4U/SliNVuAOYrI/AAAAAAAABTs/dq4QUf2gaDU/PINKS.png

good luck!

This happens when they change the physical address of the QAM channel. Channel 4-2 has never physically been 4-2. I think the problem is with PSIP data not being included, since I think its the PSIP data that tells your QAM tuner "make me the channel 4-2" even though I'm really 90-2. Or maybe not all the PSIP data is being send, if that's even possible (I know virtual channel data is more than just PSIP and PSIP is more than just channel mapping).


Great answer, except for the part about "changing the physical address of the QAM channel". WRAL-HD has been on 85 for years, and I remember WUNC being on 90.

FWIW, they did something similar a few years ago, where the stopped sending PSIP, or at least the CVCT, for ABC and Fox which shared 113 at the time. It was broken for months. This freaked out MythTV, and caused me to put up my antennas. Now I have no loyalty at all to TWC since I only use them for internet, and will jump to AT&T for internet service as soon as U-verse is available.

Drew

There is a lot of SPEED programming online, HULU has lots of shows, Pinks, Engine Block, Life on the Block, Wrecked, and more - just hook up your PC to the big screen!
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_Pv-2hnrPM4U/SliNVuAOYrI/AAAAAAAABTs/dq4QUf2gaDU/PINKS.png

good luck!

Yeah, no F1 though. Bernie has seen fit that it wont be simulcast online. :mad:

Great answer, except for the part about "changing the physical address of the QAM channel". WRAL-HD has been on 85 for years, and I remember WUNC being on 90.

FWIW, they did something similar a few years ago, where the stopped sending PSIP, or at least the CVCT, for ABC and Fox which shared 113 at the time. It was broken for months. This freaked out MythTV, and caused me to put up my antennas.

That's true...I do remember the virtual channel mapping flaking out from time to time in VMC, e.g. 5-1 would disappear...I had to create a new channel, 85-1 and there it was. So maybe some devices barf without PSIP.

Now I have no loyalty at all to TWC since I only use them for internet, and will jump to AT&T for internet service as soon as U-verse is available.

Can I get an amen!

Can I get an amen!

I would, but I know ATT has no plans before Q4 2010 to extend U-verse into our neighborhood in Wake Forest, and that leaves me stuck with TWC.

I would, but I know ATT has no plans before Q4 2010 to extend U-verse into our neighborhood in Wake Forest, and that leaves me stuck with TWC.

Depends on what part of Wake Forest you're in - A good bit of WF and points east / north of there are Embarq (now CenturyLink). There have been NO announcements about any TV over phonelines. If you're in Embarqland - U-verse ain't coming at all (to the best of my knowledge).

Depends on what part of Wake Forest you're in - A good bit of WF and points east / north of there are Embarq (now CenturyLink). There have been NO announcements about any TV over phonelines. If you're in Embarqland - U-verse ain't coming at all (to the best of my knowledge).

Ironically, Im not in Embarqueland. Im right off of Burlington Mill and Ligon Mill rd. I am less than 1 mile outside of Raleigh city limits.

Yeah, no F1 though. Bernie has seen fit that it wont be simulcast online. :mad:

I really need to send a tuner card to a friend of mine in Buffalo, both to escape the DirectTV NFL monopoly & catch my Bills OTA, and to hopefully catch the F1 on CBC...

Drew

& catch my Bills OTA,
Drew

Ahhh, all the chips are the table for Buffalo this year! We usually head up to Rudino's (a decent Bills crew up there)...if only the NFL online package could be sold in the US.

My 8300HDC is rapidly dying (it's rebooting on its own at least once per day now, usually when I'm trying to use it), and I'm planning on swapping it out tomorrow... just wondering if I should be expecting a shiny new 3090 or yet another 8300. Any thoughts?

Will,
Same thing happened to me 2 days ago. No more broadcast HD channels via TWC. So here is the interesting thing, they are lost on my TH-42PX60U - have re-scanned multiple times - still doesn't find them. But on my Samsung 50" Plasma, they just moved - e.g. 5-1 is 85-2, 4-2 is 90-2, etc. I will be calling TWC on my way home tonight. Wife is complaining royally - will be hooking up antenna to Panny for viewing tonight.

Cheap


Technician spent about an hour measuring signal strength, error rates, speaking to his back office about the channel re-mappings. Apparently his TWC management would not admit that they are doing anything internally to screw up the channel mappings, but he and some other technicians had service calls for the same problems. Broadcast HD channels still not available on bedroom TV, but multiple re-scans have now added about 6 new cable HD channels (USA/FX/ABC Family/Sci Fi/CNN/LMN) which we never received before.

His suggestion was that one of the cables in the wall from our panel to the bedroom was throwing errors, so we should replace it (and that this could be causing the issues). I am going to hold off and wait for TWC to fix things on their head end as the cable worked fine for the first 4 yrs were have been in the house and is still able to pick up other (higher frequency) HD channels.

I too noticed an issue last week with some of my channels disappearing. But I have a SA8240HDC.

When it first happened, I thought the box had just up and died, since it could not tune simple SD channels like WRAL, WTVD (Note: currently hooked to plain ole SD TV, not HD). Second box worked fine for about 3-4 days, then showed same issues, would not tune 2-24, but picked up 25 - ... just fine. I was able to work around by tuning to 257 for WRAL, 213 for WTVD.

Last night I finally jumped into the Diags, and saw I was having lots of failure to tune to SDV (mini carousel errors). I guess with the 8420, the lower broadcast channels are over SDV, and I am now unable to tune to any SDTV or HDTV channels via SDV. It worked for a while, but just stopped. I have rebooted, pulled the plug, etc, but no joy. I have not looked at my S/N levels yet, and I wonder if that is lower (all of the sudden) that if that could be causing the issue, or might there be a deeper issue at play.

My 8300HDC is rapidly dying (it's rebooting on its own at least once per day now, usually when I'm trying to use it), and I'm planning on swapping it out tomorrow... just wondering if I should be expecting a shiny new 3090 or yet another 8300. Any thoughts?

We had our 8300 replaced on Friday (video freezing during playback). No 3090 for us, same old 8300.

Maybe you'll get lucky.

Frank

how are you finding out about what neighborhoods are getting on to UVerse when? I'd like to know when my Morrisville neighborhood is on the list. I am concerned that we may not even have the neighborhood box to begin with (new neighborhood). I am hoping that our builder had foresight to lay fiber or will through the neighborhood. At least TWC has been laying more line.

And I just got an 8300HDC last week. For those looking for deals with TWC, I got $49 per month at the new Wal-Mart a couple of weeks ago

We had our 8300 replaced on Friday (video freezing during playback). No 3090 for us, same old 8300.

Maybe you'll get lucky.

Frank

I guess maybe I did... I picked up a 3090 from the Cary office on High House Rd. (in case anyone's curious). I had to enable AC3 over HDMI using the tricks over in the 3090 thread, and for some reason the box didn't show up as authorized (phone call to TWC fixed that immediately). I'm having some issues tuning the upper reach of the HD channel block that I didn't have with the 8300HDC (maybe this thing is more sensitive to signal noise?)... I'll have to call them about that.

One telling thing was how many people in line were turning in all of their equipment. One gentleman specifically was talking about switching to u-verse... too bad that won't be an option where I live.

It has been 32 days since analog signals were shut off in the US and phone calls from OTA viewers have dropped off to almost nothing. Since most of you are on cable or satellite, now’s your turn to chime in. How’s your experience since the transition going? Let us know if you are having any problems, and I’ll try to help out any way I can.

Call us or leave a voicemail at 919-835-6250 or email (mailto: dtvanswers@wncn.com) me at dtvanswers@wncn.com.

Let me know what your experience is with your service provider. Be sure to let us know what service you are using, and tier (basic cable, SD or HD and what equipment you are using as in DVR, QAM, TiVo or VHS. If several folks report the same issue, I will post the status here and on my blog at www.dtv.myncblogs.com to keep you updated.

Also, if you are not having any problems with the local channels, I’d love to hear from you too!

I'm in Mebane, NC I have a UHF only Yagi mounted to the outside of the house. I have one pointed towards Greensboro and one pointed towards Raleigh, I get:

4=I get this descently most of the time
5=I use to get this perfectly, but after they reduced their power I get them sparcesly
11=This use to be our favorite station (Morning news show and GMA), but I get nothing after they switched to VHF
17=I get this fairly decently most of the time, some break up some times
22=I get this rock solid most of the time
50=pretty much matches what's I'm seeing from channel 5.

From Greensboro:
2=I get this channel very well, the only problem is occasional multi path
8=I get this channel really well since they turned back on channel 35, I wasn't getting 8.
12=I get this channel perfectly
20=I get this channel perfectly
26=I get this decently most of the time
45=I get this channel very well, the only problem is occasional multi path

Yesterday at 5 PM when I checked I was getting Raleigh channels; 5, 17, 22, 28, and 50

Every time it rains, they come in really well, even in the day. Otherwise, I get them after sun down, and in the mornings when it's humid. If it's a low dewpoint day, then I don't get them.

WTVD is sandwiched in between WNCT 10 and WCTI 12. That is one reason I believe they suffer. Both of those have more power. They should look to get out of their 11 slot and into maybe a 7 slot or a UHF slot

Technician spent about an hour measuring signal strength, error rates, speaking to his back office about the channel re-mappings. Apparently his TWC management would not admit that they are doing anything internally to screw up the channel mappings, but he and some other technicians had service calls for the same problems. Broadcast HD channels still not available on bedroom TV, but multiple re-scans have now added about 6 new cable HD channels (USA/FX/ABC Family/Sci Fi/CNN/LMN) which we never received before.

His suggestion was that one of the cables in the wall from our panel to the bedroom was throwing errors, so we should replace it (and that this could be causing the issues). I am going to hold off and wait for TWC to fix things on their head end as the cable worked fine for the first 4 yrs were have been in the house and is still able to pick up other (higher frequency) HD channels.


Broadcast Hi Def channels are back where they belong on my Samsung. Still no dice on my wife's Panny (even with a firmware upgrade). But new cable HD channels show up each day. Today's scan added Discovery HD and some Spanish HD channel. The cable HD channels keep changing frequencies, so I need to scan immediately before watching TV. Frustrating to say the least, but an adventure.

I will be signing up for DirecTV when there discounted NFL Sunday ticket/Premier package takes effect in a couple of weeks. Football on the iPhone - cant wait.

Broadcast HD channels still not available on bedroom TV, but multiple re-scans have now added about 6 new cable HD channels (USA/FX/ABC Family/Sci Fi/CNN/LMN) which we never received before.

Re-scans on your cable box or tv? I'm assuming cable box since digital tier channels are encrypted, so how do you 're-scan' a SA cable box? Curious.

Re-scans on your cable box or tv? I'm assuming cable box since digital tier channels are encrypted, so how do you 're-scan' a SA cable box? Curious.

We're talking about cable hooked directly to the TV without a cable box. The scan is a QAM digital channel scan performed on the TV.

Usually, only the broadcast channels are unencrypted, but it seems some of the 'premiium' HD channels are showing up as unencrypted. But probably not for long.

Today's scan added Discovery HD and some Spanish HD channel. The cable HD channels keep changing frequencies, so I need to scan immediately before watching TV. Frustrating to say the least, but an adventure.


Sounds like your SDV channels are being sent in the clear. That's not the normal for TWC, obviously. So, each new one you get is one that someone local to you has requested. What are the channel numbers you get for them?

We're talking about cable hooked directly to the TV without a cable box. The scan is a QAM digital channel scan performed on the TV.

Usually, only the broadcast channels are unencrypted, but it seems some of the 'premiium' HD channels are showing up as unencrypted. But probably not for long.

Correct - these are channels picked up by the QAM tuner, no cable box.

Sounds like your SDV channels are being sent in the clear. That's not the normal for TWC, obviously. So, each new one you get is one that someone local to you has requested. What are the channel numbers you get for them?


Channel 7/12/2009 7/14/2009 7/15/2009
108-1 SyFy HD
108-2 SyFy HD
108-3 TLC HD (only worked for a couple of hours)
109-1 USA HD Discovery HD
109-2 USA HD
109-3 USA HD
111-1 CNN HD
112-2 ABC Family HD
112-3 ABC Family HD
112-4 FX HD
113-1 SyFy HD
113-2 Spanish HD
114-1 CNN HD CNN HD
114-2 LMN HD
115-1 FX HD LMN HD
115-2 FX HD
123-1 PBS HD NASA

Sounds like your SDV channels are being sent in the clear. That's not the normal for TWC, obviously. So, each new one you get is one that someone local to you has requested. What are the channel numbers you get for them?

Kind of reminds me of 2004 or so, when they'd send the PPV channels in the clear. There was lots of ... interesting ... material being watched by the neighbors.

Drew

Kind of reminds me of 2004 or so, when they'd send the PPV channels in the clear. There was lots of ... interesting ... material being watched by the neighbors.

Drew

Ditto that. I remember back then I had just picked up a LG OTA/QAM receiver and was showing the wife the QAM channels one night and along came some of that ..programming.. that she nor I wanted to see.

What are the chances of getting one of the local OTA broadcasters to carry Dot2 Network (http://www.dot2network.com)? That seems like one of the better choices for subchannel programming out there (as far as recent quality movies go).

It Dot2 actually existed as a network, it might be easier to get carriage. As of right now, it's just a website and promises that have gotten delayed again and again.

- Trip

Still no dice on my wife's Panny (even with a firmware upgrade).

Can you tell me how you got the "firmware upgrade"? I'd like to find out if there is one available for my TH-50PX600U and get it even thou it probably won't do any good.

Will
Vonage since February 2005

I suggest that you simply tell the reps that some channels have suddenly become too weak to receive reliably, without mentioning HD. If they send a technician to meet with you, it will probably be easier to explain the situation in detail.

Erik,

Thanks, your suggestion worked like a charm. I called yesterday morning, said "There's a message on my TV that says 'Poor signal quality'.", and the tech was at my door by 1:00p.

I guess the rule of thumb should be too little info instead of TMI. :)

Will
Vonage since February 2005

Sometime after Monday nite the signal for all my digital channels dropped so low that my Panny TH-50PX600U can't pick them up. The analog channels are still there and my internet connection is OK. Also, my SD DVR (Philips 3576) can still bring in all but Fox (50-1).

The TWC tech came out yesterday afternoon (17 July) and, althou the problem is not fixed, I had a better experience than cheapdad00.

The tech quickly determined that it's not a signal strength problem and a scan after removing the filters was no help either. When I mentioned that the 3576 was getting all the channels OK (50-1 came back sometime while we were out of town this week), he started making phone calls. Net-net, there is a known (to TWC) problem with Panny's getting the HD signals. One of the other managers in his office is experiencing it himself and they are working to resolve it. He mentioned in passing that they have had a number of calls for the same thing.

He left me with a phone number to contact his manager by Wednesday if the HD channels don't come back. This is far from perfect but it sure beats being told that there's a problem with "one of the cables in the wall".

FWIW, TWC is not the only provider having problems getting a good signal to Panny's. Here's a link to something I found in DSLReports: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r22107003-Qam-Tuner-and-fios-tv.

I also saw some references to people having problems with the cable assignments jumping around in Philadelphia.

Hopefully some good news by Wednesday.

Will
Vonage since February 2005

An antenna would quickly put an end to your headache.:)

If only ...

But there is no free lunch.

It's not out of the question if TWC can't or won't fix the problem, but I face a series of "issues" with an antenna.

Here in Cary we're between the main broadcast farm and the UNC antenna so it would be TWO antennas, not one.


I put the WRAL 4228 on my deck to see if it might be viable and found that even with the signal at over 90% there were not infrequent breakups in the picture and sound. The TWC signal NEVER EVER breaks up like that on any channel. I really, really like that.


Broadcast tier in Cary is fairly reasonable at $11 / month (36¢ / day). I don't think I could get an antenna put up for anything close to 2 years worth of cable ($265).


Further, here in Kildaire Farm you're not supposed to put up an antenna that's big or higher than your house. I know as Scooper has pointed out, that they can't stop you. But it would be a "p***ing contest" and I'd rather spend my time / energy testing my single malt collection (just to make sure it does not go bad ;)).

Thanks for the thought.

Will
Vonage since February 2005

If only ...

But there is no free lunch.

It's not out of the question if TWC can't or won't fix the problem, but I face a series of "issues" with an antenna.

Here in Cary we're between the main broadcast farm and the UNC antenna so it would be TWO antennas, not one.


I put the WRAL 4228 on my deck to see if it might be viable and found that even with the signal at over 90% there were not infrequent breakups in the picture and sound. The TWC signal NEVER EVER breaks up like that on any channel. I really, really like that.


Broadcast tier in Cary is fairly reasonable at $11 / month (36¢ / day). I don't think I could get an antenna put up for anything close to 2 years worth of cable ($265).


Further, here in Kildaire Farm you're not supposed to put up an antenna that's big or higher than your house. I know as Scooper has pointed out, that they can't stop you. But it would be a "p***ing contest" and I'd rather spend my time / energy testing my single malt collection (just to make sure it does not go bad ;)).

Thanks for the thought.

Will
Vonage since February 2005


Absolutely no need to make it a pissing contest - when they come to tell you to take it down - simply hand them a printout of the OTARD and tell them to vacate your property. Promptly. And tell them to take a long walk off a short pier.

If only ...

But there is no free lunch.

It's not out of the question if TWC can't or won't fix the problem, but I face a series of "issues" with an antenna.

Here in Cary we're between the main broadcast farm and the UNC antenna so it would be TWO antennas, not one.


I put the WRAL 4228 on my deck to see if it might be viable and found that even with the signal at over 90% there were not infrequent breakups in the picture and sound. The TWC signal NEVER EVER breaks up like that on any channel. I really, really like that.


Broadcast tier in Cary is fairly reasonable at $11 / month (36¢ / day). I don't think I could get an antenna put up for anything close to 2 years worth of cable ($265).


Further, here in Kildaire Farm you're not supposed to put up an antenna that's big or higher than your house. I know as Scooper has pointed out, that they can't stop you. But it would be a "p***ing contest" and I'd rather spend my time / energy testing my single malt collection (just to make sure it does not go bad ;)).

Thanks for the thought.

Will
Vonage since February 2005

If you are really concerned about the appearance, get some dark green spray paint, and paint your antenna before installing so it will blend in with the background. If they can still see it from the road, they must be using binoculars. If they complain about this, they for sure need to get a life, and take that walk recommended by Scooper.:) Also I would report them as peepers or stalkers even.

I put the WRAL 4228 on my deck to see if it might be viable and found that even with the signal at over 90% there were not infrequent breakups in the picture and sound. The TWC signal NEVER EVER breaks up like that on any channel. I really, really like that.



My 4228 gives me a picture that breaks up very rarely (like only in a downpour on my 5 year old tuner). Perhaps you didn't aim it carefully -- a 4228 is very sensitive to direction. Don't give up easily.

Also, I've only needed to do a rescan once in 5 years OTA for the digital transition. Compare this to TWC, which sometimes sends the CVTC, and sometimes doesn't, and can move channels around at will without warning. This confuses lots of TVs and DVRs. Witness the current Panny problem you're having. So, when there is a problem OTA, it causes a small breakup very rarely. When there is a problem with TWC, it causes all recordings fail. I know which I prefer..

Drew

If only ...

But there is no free lunch.

It's not out of the question if TWC can't or won't fix the problem, but I face a series of "issues" with an antenna.

Here in Cary we're between the main broadcast farm and the UNC antenna so it would be TWO antennas, not one.



Actually in Cary, when WUNC is at full strength (now does not count), most of us are able to pick up 4 off the back side of the 4228.. only 1 antenna needed. Also wasn't there some talk of them moving to the same antenna farm as everyone else? (trying not to start an unfounded rumor)

A very, very low powered signal from Garner has been applied for. Less than 1 kW ERP on channel 30 from UNC. I'm not sure how much it will help should it be approved.

- Trip

Panasonic firmware can be found at
http://www.pasctraining.panasonic.com/firmware/index.html

Can you tell me how you got the "firmware upgrade"? I'd like to find out if there is one available for my TH-50PX600U and get it even thou it probably won't do any good.

Will
Vonage since February 2005

Will,
Here's where I downloaded the firmware upgrade for my Panny (link below is for your 600U):

http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-electronics/support/Televisions/VIERA-Plasma-HDTVs/Drivers-Downloads/model.TH-50PX600U.D#ts

Dundakitty's link will work as well. Process is fairly straightforward. Didn't help things though. Local HD's still missing.

Unfortunately, my Panny only has 1 coax input, as opposed to the dual inputs on my samsung (1 for cable/1 for OTA) or I would hook an antenna up to it.

Oddly enough I just upgraded my Windows 7 machine tonight and did a re-scan and am missing all of the local HD programming I had prior to the upgrade. My Windows 7 machine in the living room is still able to tune them without a problem (haven't done a re-scan and do not plan to anytime soon).

Update: It looks like I'm getting Discovery HD, ABC Family HD, FX HD, USA HD and TLC HD now instead of the locals. There are certainly some issues going on behind the scenes with mappings. I can take the above channels and manually add them to my living room PC and get them along with the existing local HD channels that I can not seem to get anymore in the bedroom.

From the Time Warner Channel Change page:

August 1, 2009: YES may be added to the Sports and Games Tier on Channel 334.

August 25, 2009: The following channels may be added:

CBS College Sports HD - Channel 333
Fuse HD - Channel 237
Fox News Channel HD - Channel 238
Fox Business News HD - Channel 239

Also there are reports out of Charlotte of a Navigator update for MDN boxes. We might be getting that soon as well.

Will Time Warner reinstate HBO On Demand in HD, like Comcast did recently?

From the Time Warner Channel Change page:

August 1, 2009: YES may be added to the Sports and Games Tier on Channel 334.

August 25, 2009: The following channels may be added:


May be added? I'm glad they're confident in their upcoming plans.

Actually in Cary, when WUNC is at full strength (now does not count), most of us are able to pick up 4 off the back side of the 4228.. only 1 antenna needed. Also wasn't there some talk of them moving to the same antenna farm as everyone else? (trying not to start an unfounded rumor)

Is there a known timeframe for when WUNC is planning on broadcasting at full strength? It'd be nice to ditch my $11/month TW package (which is mainly used to get WUNC Kids!)

Is there a known timeframe for when WUNC is planning on broadcasting at full strength? It'd be nice to ditch my $11/month TW package (which is mainly used to get WUNC Kids!)

If you're up north of Raleigh - you might want to see if you can receive WUNP 36 out of Roanoke Rapids. Doing this would probably mean a second antenna, but - it is a possibility. It's the one I get.

Oh - BTW - WUNC has put in for a channel 30 TRANSLATOR that is targeted at RALEIGH out in the antenna farm.

Anyone know when WRAL started broadcasting their news in 5.1 surround?

I don't always catch the news every day... but I noticed today that it was in 5.1 rather than their usual 2.0 for the newscast.

Actually in Cary, when WUNC is at full strength (now does not count), most of us are able to pick up 4 off the back side of the 4228.. only 1 antenna needed. Also wasn't there some talk of them moving to the same antenna farm as everyone else? (trying not to start an unfounded rumor)

I'm at Davis and Morrisville Carpenter and I get great reception of WUNC on all of my tuners with a little flake with my TV tuner card on my HTPC (but still fine most of the time). This is off the backside of an attic-mounted 4228HD, so when they go full power it should be just fine (and the antenna was free) all around.

Anyone know when WRAL started broadcasting their news in 5.1 surround?

I don't always catch the news every day... but I noticed today that it was in 5.1 rather than their usual 2.0 for the newscast.

Their news used to be in 5.1, then they turned it off a couple of years ago. Glad they turned the machine back on again. I watched last night at 5:30p and Mike Maze even mentioned my town Jacksonville.:D I love my antenna!!!

Got my 4228HD from WRAL today. :D

Next question, I have four cable feeds to rooms in the house. Distro happens in the garage. Id like to not have to run a new cable down from the attic. Can I hang the 4228 in the garage and still get a decent signal. Im planning on an amplifier with a 4 way splitter from Radio Shaft.

The higher / outdoors you can put your antenna, the better it will work. That said - there is no reason to move your distribution if it works - just run the cable from the antenna to get to it.

I received a notice from TWC regarding replacing my CableCARD with an HD Converter. The original date was July 28th but it appears to have been moved back to August 3rd. I ordered the converter on line several weeks ago, but have not heard a peep. Anybody else in my shoes??? (Size 10):


For customers currently renting CableCARDs for use in UDCPs, as a valued CableCARD customer ,Time Warner Cable wants to insure that important upcoming changes regarding our channel line-up do not affect your ability to access certain channels on your one-way CableCARD-equipped retail device.

As indicated in a recent letter you received from us, Time Warner Cable will provide one basic HD converter per UDCP in exchange for the CableCARD(s) used in that device. This basic HD converter will allow you to receive programming delivered using SDV, but not our other interactive features (such as the Electronic Programming Guide, Video On Demand, and other two-way services that, by design, UDCPs cannot access).

For at least one year, you will pay the same monthly price for each basic HD converter that you are currently paying to rent a CableCARD. (Additional charges may apply after the initial one-year period if you wish to continue to use the basic HD converter(s) at that time.) In order to take advantage of this unique opportunity, please place an order below to exchange your CableCARD(s) for a basic HD converter.

Please be advised that you will receive your equipment closer to the time of the channel line-up change on August 3. Once you receive your new equipment, you will be provided with instructions on how to return your CableCARD(s). Please note, you will continue to be billed at your regular monthly rate for your CableCARD(s) until they are returned via the envelope provided. Within the next few weeks expect to receive email from Time Warner Cable that provides information on the shipment of your HD converter(s).

Click here to order a Basic HD Converter online.

I received a notice from TWC regarding replacing my CableCARD with an HD Converter.

According to Google (http://hdtv.forsandiego.com/messages/2/7418.html), the "Basic HD Converter" is a "SA 3100 HD with no IPG or any of the other features" If it is cheaper than a regular box, that sounds like it would be good for people with homebrew DVRs using the HD PVR.

Drew

According to Google (http://hdtv.forsandiego.com/messages/2/7418.html), the "Basic HD Converter" is a "SA 3100 HD with no IPG or any of the other features" If it is cheaper than a regular box, that sounds like it would be good for people with homebrew DVRs using the HD PVR.

Drew

now why would you give up a Tivo for one of these?

now why would you give up a Tivo for one of these?

I expect its aimed at TV's with cablecards. Nobody in their right mind would exchange a TiVo S3/THD for a 'dumb' cable box :) . The S3/THD plus Cablecard and TA works better than the TW supposedly intelligent DVR.

I'm at Davis and Morrisville Carpenter and I get great reception of WUNC on all of my tuners with a little flake with my TV tuner card on my HTPC (but still fine most of the time). This is off the backside of an attic-mounted 4228HD, so when they go full power it should be just fine (and the antenna was free) all around.

I live right near Davis and MC also and right now I can pick up WUNC on one of my tuners, the one that is closest to the antenna. Hopefully, when I re-do the splitting it will allow that to work everywhere.


Has anyone noticed some really weird surround issues on WTVD. OTA I am getting all the surround info collapsed into the left surround speaker and sometimes ever other sound info is ther eas well. Pretty much on every show, but some of the commercials during the British open were especially bad. Other channels are fine so it is not my setup.

now why would you give up a Tivo for one of these?

Should have clarified, it is a TV, not a TiVo, that I have the CableCard in.

So I first dropped down to the "broadcast" package just to get HDTV via QAM. That was a $10 service charge (when they told me it did not cost anything to change service). After the transition and I was in the clear with my antenna, I went and canceled cable TV service all together. Again, they came out to my house/curb to put in a filter, another $10 charge (this time I specifically addressed this point when I make the call, to no avail). Whatever, I'm done with them anyway (just RR for now). Just for fun, I plugged one of my panels into the cable line and pulled in 40+ digital channels (all the high stuff) but covered the same QAM channels I had with the "broadcast" package...CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, PBS, RDC, CW, ION, C14News, CSPAN2, NasaTV, shopping garbage. Anyways, I thought that was interesting...maybe the don't have filters that can separate these frequencies without jacking with the internet feed? Just tossin the info out there.

So I first dropped down to the "broadcast" package just to get HDTV via QAM. That was a $10 service charge (when they told me it did not cost anything to change service). After the transition and I was in the clear with my antenna, I went and canceled cable TV service all together. Again, they came out to my house/curb to put in a filter, another $10 charge (this time I specifically addressed this point when I make the call, to no avail). Whatever, I'm done with them anyway (just RR for now). Just for fun, I plugged one of my panels into the cable line and pulled in 40+ digital channels (all the high stuff) but covered the same QAM channels I had with the "broadcast" package...CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, PBS, RDC, CW, ION, C14News, CSPAN2, NasaTV, shopping garbage. Anyways, I thought that was interesting...maybe the don't have filters that can separate these frequencies without jacking with the internet feed? Just tossin the info out there.


I remember when I was in Orlando when we had TWC and then Brighthouse, it was pretty much a known deal that if you get roadrunner, you'll get the basic cable as well since they can't block it. I've never tested such a thing though.

I remember when I was in Orlando when we had TWC and then Brighthouse, it was pretty much a known deal that if you get roadrunner, you'll get the basic cable as well since they can't block it. I've never tested such a thing though.

Here in NC they put a filter on the line to block all TV if you don't have any. It annoys the RR techs to no end as they keep getting called out for RR issues that turn out to be a filter gone bad.