kd4pbs-

Assistant Chief Engineer? I think I once talked to someone by the name of Romeo, was that the chief engineer?

Anyway, as you can tell by my location, I'm pretty far away. Last check I was 90 or so miles away, but most nights if I spin the antenna around I can receive the Raleigh stations including all of the full-powered digitals. My question is, and I know this will upset the HD freaks here (no offense), but would it be possible to turn 22-2 back on and rebroadcast WRDC-SD on it once you go to full power, at least for the time being? Where I am, I currently have no UPN service (estimate on SD UPN digital from WDRL in Danville is Christmas, the latest is February) digitally, and my analog is beyond disappointing. Assuming both WLFL-DT and WRDC-DT go to full power at the same time, it'll be of little help because I happen to have Fox on channel 27 analog, and I've only received WRDC-DT in its current state once during very intense tropo ducting (my picture is on nchdtv.com). Fox on 27 also causes a floating image of 27 over 28 when trying to watch 28 analog.

I just want to be able to SEE Enterprise, quality/HD is not an issue...

- Trip

Originally posted by jeremiah75
I have a question. When a TV station is retransmitted on cable, are the TV stations commercials and advertisers also retransmitted to the larger viewing audience covered by cable?

Jeremiah
The program content is not different on cable from OTA. They either receive the station's signal OTA, or over fiber, and retransmit it for your convenience on another channel. The stations can usually pick which channel they are located on cable, if available.

Originally posted by NBC17ENG
The program content is not different on cable from OTA. They either receive the station's signal OTA, or over fiber, and retransmit it for your convenience on another channel. The stations can usually pick which channel they are located on cable, if available.

I know that cable channels (like ESPN for example) have some advertisement spots for the carrier (say DISH Network or the local cable company) that are inserted at the appropriate time in the feed. However, I'm guess that with OTA this is not the case. True/

Anyone else having problems with NBC 17-1 OTA? No matter how I aim my antenna I get signal dropouts. I have zero problems with all the other digital stations in our area, but 17-1 continues to be a royal pain in the a$$.

A problem I have with Sinclair asking the cable companies to pay them to carry their local HD channels is that advertisers pay Sinclair stations based on the number of potential customers they reach. The more people who watch the commercials on a Sinclair TV station, the more they can charge advertisers and Sinclair stations reach more potential customers by being on cable and OTA.

Jeremiah

Originally posted by robnalex
Anyone else having problems with NBC 17-1 OTA? No matter how I aim my antenna I get signal dropouts. I have zero problems with all the other digital stations in our area, but 17-1 continues to be a royal pain in the a$$.


I switched from 17.1 to 12.1 Greensboro because of the dropouts. I get a strong consistent signal on ABC, CBS and Fox Raleigh stations.

Originally posted by jeremiah75
A problem I have with Sinclair asking the cable companies to pay them to carry their local HD channels is that advertisers pay Sinclair stations based on the number of potential customers they reach. The more people who watch the commercials on a Sinclair TV station, the more they can charge advertisers and Sinclair stations reach more potential customers by being on cable and OTA.

I agree -- if Sinclair was offering to let the cable companies take some of those advertising spots for their own revenue I could see the cable company paying for content. Asking them to pay for something which doesn't generate extra revenue for TWC, but does for Sinclair, seems a bit inane.

Erik

Anyone else having problems with NBC 17-1 OTA? No matter how I aim my antenna I get signal dropouts. I have zero problems with all the other digital stations in our area, but 17-1 continues to be a royal pain in the a$$.

I'm also having issues with NBC 17-1, unfortunately. Decent signal (65-70%) most of the time, however still getting random audio and signal dropouts. Originally thought it due to multipath since my antenna (CM 4228) is in my attic, but other people having having the same type of issues makes me wonder.

NBC17ENG,

Since NBC's new shows will be in DD5.1 will WNCN-DT be passing the DD5.1 feed. I'm just asking because lastnight Joey was still DD2.0.

Originally posted by robnalex
Anyone else having problems with NBC 17-1 OTA? No matter how I aim my antenna I get signal dropouts. I have zero problems with all the other digital stations in our area, but 17-1 continues to be a royal pain in the a$$. I got an email reply from a station engineer today. He seems pretty sure the problem is at the station. They are not sure exactly what the cause is yet and are in the process of troubleshooting. Among other things, he said they had the transmitter aligned this week and installed a lot of new gear and could have disturbed a cable or patch panel connection. They rebooted all the equipment this morning and are checking everything connector by connector.

Originally posted by WildBill
Unfortunately I believe attempting to pass the PSIP info is exactly what broke the LG LST-3100A unites a few weeks back. A quick call to the fine engineers at WRAL had them speaking with TWC and I believe they either changed how the PSIP was passed or ceased doing so temporarily.

The LG units, of which a number of local folks like myself have, were negatively impacted by attempting to pass along the PSIP. At least that is what I remember being the explain. I also got the impression that the LG units were not in spec somehow. This assumption was partially corroborated by the fact that other QAM recievers (some sony' units specifically) had no problems before or after TWC attempted to initially pass the PSIP data. Thanks for the info. I've been using my LG LST-3510A for OTA only. I've disconnected my OTA antenna today and connected cable up to it to try that over the weekend. Your right. I'm getting no PSIP at all. Here's the channels I'm getting off of the Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville devision just south of Fayetteville.

84.3 TNT-HD [no audio]
85.2 WRAL-HD (CBS)
85.3 WRAL News Channel
85.4 WRAL-DT (CBS)
85.5 Blank (WRAL's extra channel)
85.6 Blank (WRAL's extra channel)
87.151 Music Choice Americana
90.1 PBS DT
90.2 PBS HD [90.1's audio]
90.3 WUNC Kids
90.4 WUNC Educational
90.5 WUNC North Carolina
93.1 Discovery HD Theatre
104.1 League pass in demand preview loop
106.3 Icontrol preview loop
106.9 Indemand preview loop
111.2 WNCN HD (NBC)
111.3 WNCN DT (NBC)
111.4 News 14 Carolina (SD)
113.1 WTVD HD (ABC)
113.2 WTVD DT (ABC News Now)
113.3 WTVD DT (ABC)
113.4 WRAZ HD (FOX)
113.5 WRAZ DT (FOX)
113.6 WRAL/Z Weather

Anyone getting NBC HD over direct tv?

Originally posted by corey
Anyone getting NBC HD over direct tv?

I think we're suppose to (since NBC17 is owned and operated by NBC corporate), but I'm showing that the channel isn't authorized even though it shows up in channels I recieve. There have been some posts on the TiVo Community board that DTV is having some problems getting folks properly authorized. Some folks have gotten it fixed by calling, others haven't. Since I get a good OTA signal (and won't watch anything on NBC until West Wing starts), I haven't bothered to call yet.

When I went to pay my bill online at DirecTV and NBC HD was listed under my programming. I hadn't checked on my HD tuner yet to see if it comes in.

Also, can anyone recommend a local company to mount my Channel Master antenna on the roof of my house? About how much am I looking to pay to get that done.

Originally posted by keefer37
When I went to pay my bill online at DirecTV and NBC HD was listed under my programming. I hadn't checked on my HD tuner yet to see if it comes in.

Also, can anyone recommend a local company to mount my Channel Master antenna on the roof of my house? About how much am I looking to pay to get that done.

I'm also getting the x721 message - when I called in, they said my account had the channel authorized, but that the Raleigh area feed wasn't ready yet, which I took to either mean he had no idea what I was really asking for or that D* hasn't authorized the feed to be shown in the Raleigh area yet.

As far as mounting your antenna - I can do it. I run a local HT company called Carolina Home Theater. Send me PM if you're interested and we can discuss a quote.

Are others still having problems with audio & video dropouts with their HD-DVR? They installed "TX15" cable from the street to my house which boosted the signal strength significantly but the problems persist. The higher signal played havoc with my cable modem and so I had to buy an attenuator to lower the signal and now it works fine. I wonder if the signal strength is too strong for the HD-DVR too. The room with the HD-DVR also has an amp which TWC installed to initially address the problem. The HD-DVR has an FDC reading of 17 (was 7 before the new cable). I can't remove the amp or all the signal goes down to -17 and all other outlets stop working.

Any advice or suggestions welcome. I'm also curious if others are still having the problems and what you are doing (i.e. giving up and accepting the problem, pursuing with TWC...etc).
Thanks,

I'm getting NBC-HD from D*. Are we eligible, here in the Triangle, for CBS-HD from D*?

Ok, so as I stated in a previous post, I asked TWC to bring me a new HD DVR, which they did on Wednesday. I recorded a few things, including the NC State game, with no problems...Audio dropouts are rare unless Im trying to watch two HD programs, and they all recorded to their full length. Today, I recorded the Panthers game, extended by a half hour. It ended at 420, so I hit stop about 426....the recorded ended at 358. Both NFL Primetime and SNF ended early (730-810 and 830-902 respectively). Its just very frustrating...at least with the audio dropouts I can see reasons why its happening...but with this I just have no clue....am I the only one having this problem? There is plenty of room on the DVR, about half full...Im wondering if the DVR THINKS its full though?

Mark-
I was told by TWC that your what matters is your signal level on each tuner and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

What are your levels on the digital channels?

I stopped using the optical out on the HD-DVR and switched to analog. That helped the audio drop-outs tremendously. I read somewhere that there's a bug in one of the DVR software components (PassPort maybe?) that makes the audio drop-out when you're using the optical connection.

Sal

Are others still having problems with audio & video dropouts with their HD-DVR? They installed "TX15" cable from the street to my house which boosted the signal strength significantly but the problems persist. The higher signal played havoc with my cable modem and so I had to buy an attenuator to lower the signal and now it works fine. I wonder if the signal strength is too strong for the HD-DVR too. The room with the HD-DVR also has an amp which TWC installed to initially address the problem. The HD-DVR has an FDC reading of 17 (was 7 before the new cable). I can't remove the amp or all the signal goes down to -17 and all other outlets stop working.

Endcontra & Supersalo,

Thanks for the responses. The signal levels on each tuner tend to run about 11-15. The SNR's tend to be about 35. When you state that you use the analog audio, do you mean the 2-channel audio outs (red & white) or the digital coaxial (black) out? I'm using the digital coaxial out, not the optical output. I'll have to try the 2-channel audio out and see if that helps.

The audio dropouts aren't consistent. Some days everything is fine and other days all channels are bad.

I've heard Scientific Atlanta is coming out with a new model. Maybe some of these bugs will be fixed with the newer model and we can swap.
Thanks again.

Originally posted by cgreco
I'm getting NBC-HD from D*. Are we eligible, here in the Triangle, for CBS-HD from D*?

WNCN is owned by NBC and that is what makes you eligible. If ABC ever gets on D*, since WTVD is owned by ABC, you would get that also. CBS and FOX are owned by Capital Broadcasting so WCBS and WNYW are not available to the Triangle market. Those who live in the Triad though will get WNYW since the Triad FOX station, WGHP is owned by FOX.

Mark-

Yes, the audio is the 2-channel (red/white) output.

I'll have to look at the back of my box. I don't remember seeing a coax digital output, just optical.

Sal

I'm still having serious problems with picture freezes, audio dropouts and pixelization. I have not had the DVR stop recording in the middle of anything, but would not be surprised, as the DVR seems VERY flaky. For example we'll be watching a show and for no reason, in the middle of the show it will jump to the beginning and start playing again. The only way to get through the affected portion is to fast forward through. Very strange. I could probalby live with this, but if the picture and audio problems cant be fixed, I'll be going back to my non-HD Tivo, which was always rock solid.

Originally posted by Eidolon
I'm still having serious problems with picture freezes, audio dropouts and pixelization. I have not had the DVR stop recording in the middle of anything, but would not be surprised, as the DVR seems VERY flaky. For example we'll be watching a show and for no reason, in the middle of the show it will jump to the beginning and start playing again. The only way to get through the affected portion is to fast forward through. Very strange. I could probalby live with this, but if the picture and audio problems cant be fixed, I'll be going back to my non-HD Tivo, which was always rock solid. You do not say what DVR you're using or whether you're having these problems with cable/satellite or OTA programs. Since you mention your non-HD TiVo, I'm guessing that you may be using the HR10-250 DirecTiVo. I have this unit, and have not experienced any of the problems you describe, so it would seem that your unit is faulty. I would recommend calling DirecTV and having it replaced.

What kind of way is this to run a business. I ordered a HD DVR for install this morning and took today off work. My wife received call this morning Time Warner completely out of HD PVR's and no idea when they will be in. I called back and got the don't call us we will call you to reschedule routine. You would think TWC could say "I have 200 box's need 15 spares so no more DVR's after next 185 orders". So now I sit missing a day at work.... I pay them $150 a month for this level of professional service? Thanks venting complete

Audio dropouts and wierd pixel glitches were pretty bad last night while I watched MNF. I wasn't even recording anything. Sure wish TWC had a fix for these DVRs (SA8000HD). I find it hard to believe it is a signal strength issue since the two previous boxes I had (SA3250HD and SA3100HD) were always rock solid.

So has anyone with audio dropouts had the problem corrected by an amplifier?

Haven't had any problems with recordings ending in the middle though.

Somebody a few posts up mentioned SA is coming out with a new HDDVR. Got any links? On the SA website I only found the SA8300HD, which looks like more than just a DVR, so I'm thinking that is not the new model you were speeking of.

Thanks,

Sooke

If you're using the optical output, switch to analog and see if that helps with the audio drop outs.

Sal

Originally posted by foxeng
WNCN is owned by NBC and that is what makes you eligible. If ABC ever gets on D*, since WTVD is owned by ABC, you would get that also. CBS and FOX are owned by Capital Broadcasting so WCBS and WNYW are not available to the Triangle market. Those who live in the Triad though will get WNYW since the Triad FOX station, WGHP is owned by FOX.

Thanks for the tip. I had DirecTV add NBC HD last night. I wish I could add Fox though. I don't always get a good signal from my indoor antenna. The dropouts during football were excruciating.

Uh Hmm - if you're having issues holding with your indoor antenna, there is always outdoor ones...

Besides, right now WRAZ-DT is having some problems that they're working on. Even at the reduced powerlevel, they're doing more than the Sinclair stations...

Originally posted by sooke
Audio dropouts and wierd pixel glitches were pretty bad last night while I watched MNF. I wasn't even recording anything. Sure wish TWC had a fix for these DVRs (SA8000HD). I find it hard to believe it is a signal strength issue since the two previous boxes I had (SA3250HD and SA3100HD) were always rock solid.

So has anyone with audio dropouts had the problem corrected by an amplifier?

Haven't had any problems with recordings ending in the middle though.

Somebody a few posts up mentioned SA is coming out with a new HDDVR. Got any links? On the SA website I only found the SA8300HD, which looks like more than just a DVR, so I'm thinking that is not the new model you were speeking of.

Thanks,

Sooke

Strengthening the signal didn't help me. I did mention a new HD-DVR was supposedly coming out. I have a relative who lives in Phoenix and they have been waiting for their cable co. to provide the 8000HD for a while and were recently told it was postponed indefinitely. The reason that was given was that Scientific Atlanta no longer manufactures the 8000HD as they have a new model coming out. Sorry I don't know any more detail than that.
Regards,

Originally posted by supersalo
If you're using the optical output, switch to analog and see if that helps with the audio drop outs.

Sal

Thanks, that would be OK for a lot of stuff (that is not broadcast in DD5.1). But it is still a problem for shows I want to listen to in DD5.1 (Soundstage, some sports like MNF, HBO movies, etc).

Anyone else get glitches in the picture once in awhile where there is an area that the pixels look... messed up?

Sooke

Originally posted by aldamon
Thanks for the tip. I had DirecTV add NBC HD last night. I wish I could add Fox though. I don't always get a good signal from my indoor antenna. The dropouts during football were excruciating.

From what I've been reading, the New York Fox station is not flawless either. I personally would take WRAL and WRAZ over WCBS and WNYW any day.

And at least you HAVE HD. My FOX station can't get approval to install their new satellite dish, so no Fox-HD for me.

- Trip

Anybody else notice that WRAL DT is off the air? I was looking at the NOW PLAYING list on my HDTiVo and the local news didn't record. When I looked at the recording history, it said it didn't record because there was no signal on 5-1. I went and looked. Sure enough, no signal on 5.1, 5-2, 5-3, or 5-4. The local feed from DTV is fine. The OTA HD from the other stations (NBC, ABC, FOX) are fine.

And yes, I record the local news in HD. Why? Because I can. :D

WRAL is broadcasting OTA on 53.1 and 53.2. Earlier today, Fox 50 reverted back to 49.1, 49.2, and 49.3. Eventually, Fox 50 went back to "normal." Not sure what is going on with WRAL tonight.

Btw, do you normally receive 5.3 and 5.4? I thought these were only used for NCAA tournaments and such... Just curious as to whether I have been missing something?

WRAL just went back to 5.1 and 5.2

Hi all, you should all see 5.1 and 5.2 now.

And yes, 5.3 and 5.4 are only there during NCAA basketball.

Thanks for the heads up.

Oh and BTW it was still there on 53.1 and 2, we just had a PSIP glitch

Thanx psockett! Thought that was unusal for WRAL. I was hoping you guys were bringing some new channels online! *LOL* Multicast freak here... *LOL*

I would love to, can you spare some bits?

*LOL* I was actually wondering if Mix 101.5 would be simulcast on one of the subchannels. I figure the Satellite providers offer music channels. It seems a natural that at some point CBC might go that route sometime and offer music channels with it's DTV broadcasts. Actually, I couldn't figure out what it might be if it were to happen. I noticed recently that WTKR up in Norfolk set up a skycam channel as part of a demo for the station. I can't really see the use of using bandwith for something like that, but I guess that counts too. Anyway, thanx for getting the PSIP back online. My STB was getting confused! Any idea when Fox 50 will be offering detailed PSIP information on programming?

Working on it, with a little luck early in the new year.

Cool. Thanx!

Originally posted by robnalex
You do not say what DVR you're using or whether you're having these problems with cable/satellite or OTA programs. Since you mention your non-HD TiVo, I'm guessing that you may be using the HR10-250 DirecTiVo. I have this unit, and have not experienced any of the problems you describe, so it would seem that your unit is faulty. I would recommend calling DirecTV and having it replaced.

Should have been more detailed . . . Im using the TimeWarner HD DVR. Sounds like others are having the same problems I am. Hopefully TW will fix things through a firmware update.

Gilmore Girls not in HD tonight - what's up with that?

Just an FYI,
I talked to an engineer at WLFL. They are waiting on a software upgrade to bring up the HD again. He didn't know when, he said it could be this week or next week. I get their signal at about 60% in Mebane via my DirecTv HDTivo.
He also said that they are planning to be full power 1st Q of 05'.

Originally posted by Greg T
Just an FYI,
I talked to an engineer at WLFL. They are waiting on a software upgrade to bring up the HD again. He didn't know when, he said it could be this week or next week. I get their signal at about 60% in Mebane via my DirecTv HDTivo.
He also said that they are planning to be full power 1st Q of 05'.


Does that mean Smallville and The Mountain won't be in HD tonight, either?!

ARRRRRGHHHHH!!!!

Originally posted by Scooper
Uh Hmm - if you're having issues holding with your indoor antenna, there is always outdoor ones...

Besides, right now WRAZ-DT is having some problems that they're working on. Even at the reduced powerlevel, they're doing more than the Sinclair stations...

Nah. Outdoor antennas require mouting and exotic wiring. My indoor antenna was up and running in a few minutes. Hopefully WRAZ will broadcast at full power soon. All other stations come in fine.

Anyone else losing DirecTV signal from Sat C during the day? It's been out today since I checked about 12:30 P.M. Same thing happened yesterday, then it came back. Anyone know what's going on? I'd like to find out if anyone else is experiencing this before I call DirecTV.

Ok... D* says everything's fine on their end. The CS Tech had me enter channels 492, 493, 494 and said that the messages indicated all 3 sats were fine. I then entered channel 70 and the signal was back?! Any ideas? The D* phone tech didn't have a clue...just said to call back if it happens again.

Originally posted by robnalex
Ok... D* says everything's fine on their end. The CS Tech had me enter channels 492, 493, 494 and said that the messages indicated all 3 sats were fine. I then entered channel 70 and the signal was back?! Any ideas? The D* phone tech didn't have a clue...just said to call back if it happens again.

I saw a note on the TiVoCommunity board about some brief hickups that caused at least one of the sats to briefly look like it wasn't working. That was yesterday though, so you're issue may be unrelated, and I haven't been home all day so don't know if I saw the issue or not.

Originally posted by deArgila
Does that mean Smallville and The Mountain won't be in HD tonight, either?!

ARRRRRGHHHHH!!!!



How about that, they flipped the switch for Smallville. Looks good! I watched this show last year when my then Denver WB went HD. This episode seems much better than last years episodes. Suprisingly 30 minutes into the show and not one hicup.

HDTivo
2 radio Shack Yagi's (one pointed towards Raleigh, the other towards Greensboro), chimney mounted.

Originally posted by robnalex
Ok... D* says everything's fine on their end. The CS Tech had me enter channels 492, 493, 494 and said that the messages indicated all 3 sats were fine. I then entered channel 70 and the signal was back?! Any ideas? The D* phone tech didn't have a clue...just said to call back if it happens again.


No problems here with my HDTivo. I'm using an old 3LNB dish with the external multiplexer.

I'd say check to make sure it's not just one of your cables. I had a problem a while back where I couldn't tune one of the sats. I replaced the cable and the sat came back.

If you know someone looking to work in the Triangle for a company doing custom installation of HDTV-based home theaters, home automation and home networking solutions, please PM me. Familiarity and experience with these technologies, and a professional background are a must. Preferred experience: HTPCs/media servers, home IP networking, and AMX/Crestron.

Will the FOX saturday broadcast of MLB at 1pm (Cubs vs Mets) be in HD or just broadcast on the HD channel?

^ I dont think FOX is doing any HD baseball outside of the playoffs.

Ok, so Im still having issues with my DVR...can someone do me a favor? Set your DVR to record something on ESPNHD, anything really, and tell me how much of it you have when the recording is done. Everytime Ive tried to record something on ESPNHD, it gets chopped off. I recorded Thursday Night Football from 730-1130, but it only saved from 730-803. It happens with everything though, NFL Primetime, PTI, etc. I just want to know if this is happening with anyone else...it does happen on other channels from time to time, but it ALWAYS happens on ESPNHD.

DID YOU SEE THIS

Turn on the PIP function on the Explorer 8000HD DVR and that it spit out the NTSC output.

Original picture makes grey screen with PIP turned off.

What's with WRAL? The TWC guide says Pittsburgh at Miami, but they're showing Jacksonville vs Tennessee and it's not in HD.

The WRAL website says Jacksonville vs Tennessee. Anyone watching it
over the air?

Sal

Originally posted by supersalo
What's with WRAL? The guide says Pittsburgh at Miam, but they're showing Jacksonville vs Tennessee and it's not in HD....

Pittsburgh@Miami postponed until 8.30pm because of hurricane Jeanne.
Don't know why the Jacksonville game is not in HD...

Wonder if they will be televising the Miami-Pittsburg game here... Im a Miami fan and would love to see the game.

Has anyone else noticed that the picture freezes/drop-outs/pixellations are much worse when both tuners are set to an HD channel?

I'm watching TNT-HD and the freezing & pixellation was just terrible. When I changed the other tuner from WRAL-HD to an analog channel, TNT-HD became much better....

Sal

Originally posted by scsiraid
Wonder if they will be televising the Miami-Pittsburg game here... Im a Miami fan and would love to see the game.

My brother told me the game was only being shown locally in Miami and Pittsburgh. I think he got this from the Steelers website.

HDTV Guide

http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/programming/guide.php?campaign=trial_list

Someone was asking about an HDTV guide a few days ago and I wanted to share this guide from HDTV Magazine. It is free while in beta and the first 5,000 people to register (free) gets it for a year. The kewl thing about this guide is that you can input what HD channels you get and don't have to scroll through shows you don't get.

Jeremiah

Originally posted by jeremiah75
HDTV Guide

http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/programming/guide.php?campaign=trial_list

Someone was asking about an HDTV guide a few days ago and I wanted to share this guide from HDTV Magazine. It is free while in beta and the first 5,000 people to register (free) gets it for a year. The kewl thing about this guide is that you can input what HD channels you get and don't have to scroll through shows you don't get.

Or TitanTV (http://www.titantv.com), which is free (although you do have to register to customize it), not in beta, and allows you to select what channels you want in the guide as well.

Hi all,

I am a DirecTV customer and just recently (this weekend) upgraded to HD with an inside OTA antenna. (Terk TV5) I live in the west Cary area (55 and High House) and I can receive all OTA HD channels well except Fox and local ABC but I can adjust antenna and make them just usable... but a bit of a pain.

I am thinking about going with either an outside antenna mounted on my roof or an antenna mounted in my antic.

I prefer to hide the antenna in the attic. Will it work "good enough" in the attic (basically third floor) since I can "almost" make my inside (first floor) work or should I have it installed on the roof? I know that the roof is the best but wonder if the attic might be sufficient.

What do you guys think? Attic, roof or (maybe) just wait until DirecTV gets all locals done next year?? (schedule may slip or other issues??)

Also, any suggestions on where to buy the antenna locally (besides Radio Shack) and who can install? I spoke to someone at NowAudio (now Tweeter) and they said I can go into their store and order one but they don't stock them.

I went to the antenna site and it suggested a medium directional antenna. (I assume for the roof)

Thanks !!

Augie,

I think a 4 bay bowtie in your attic will work fine for all the Raleigh DTV stations. Keep the coax run as short as possible, 50-60 ft. Use RG-6 coax.
You can buy the 4-bay bowtie - order from Ace Hardware, about $25.
The 4-bay bowtie will work far better than the Terk IMO. It takes up very little space. You can see it on the Ace Hardware web site.
You can add a second 4-bay bowtie and point it at WUNC since the WUNC-TV/DT station is in the opposite direction from the raleigh stations. You can get a pushbutton coax antenna selector switch at Lowes to allow you to select either the raleigh antenna or the WUNC antenna. That is pretty much the setup I use.
That is what I think, others may have other suggestions.

Wayne E.

Roof mounted medium directional Antenna. Did you even have to ask ?

Originally posted by Scooper
Roof mounted medium directional Antenna. Did you even have to ask ?

If root mounting isn't an option, a medium directional antenna in the attic is the next best solution? If you want to watch WUNC and WRAL w/o having to actually exercise, there's no good solution, right?

Erik

My antenna is mounted in the attic - get all HD channels really strong - even UPN which I couldn't get with an indoor - except, of course, WUNC - which I can't even get on normal VHF NTSC. I live in the Five Points area of Raleigh, surrounded by trees and the antenna cable comes down the outside of my three story town house and into the old TWC cable box. I use the internal cableTV wiring to distribute to three coax points in the house. No amplification required, but I am using the LG set-top boxes. Saving a ton of money now there's no TWC bill! :-)

For local installers - google HDTV antenna raleigh or cary and you should get a number of qualified listings. In my case they had a number of suggestions and in the end I decided to go with Antennas Direct DB4 type of antenna and just forget about tuning in WUNC.

The Voom satellite guys came back out and installed an omni-directional atenna last week. I am now able to get all the HD locals including UNC, although I don't get anything on UNC until around 7pm.

Given the location of WUNC (or the Roanoke Rapids equivalent) in relation to the rest of the stations - you really should put your OTA antennas outside on a rotor - so you can aim it towards the direction of the station you're trying to get. Out here in Youngsville (no ATSC tuner yet, but I'm comparing the NTSC), I can get everything, but the rotor is necessary for either channel 4 or 36 to come in their best. I'm also in heavy trees - so to go with my CM 3021 UHF antenna, I also have a Winegard UHF pre-amp - with this combination, I get an excellent picture on everything except channel 40 - it still has issues with mild snow - but I point the antennas when necessary. 22 comes in pretty good when the antenna is pointed at 5,11,17,28 and 50, but it comes in BETTER pointed slightly WEST (but not as far as 4) . My gut feeling is that when I finally get an ATSC set top box, I should be able to receive everything that's at decent power.

Originally posted by Augie05
Hi all,

I am a DirecTV customer and just recently (this weekend) upgraded to HD with an inside OTA antenna. (Terk TV5) I live in the west Cary area (55 and High House) and I can receive all OTA HD channels well except Fox and local ABC but I can adjust antenna and make them just usable... but a bit of a pain.

I am thinking about going with either an outside antenna mounted on my roof or an antenna mounted in my antic.

I prefer to hide the antenna in the attic. Will it work "good enough" in the attic (basically third floor) since I can "almost" make my inside (first floor) work or should I have it installed on the roof? I know that the roof is the best but wonder if the attic might be sufficient.

What do you guys think? Attic, roof or (maybe) just wait until DirecTV gets all locals done next year?? (schedule may slip or other issues??)

Also, any suggestions on where to buy the antenna locally (besides Radio Shack) and who can install? I spoke to someone at NowAudio (now Tweeter) and they said I can go into their store and order one but they don't stock them.

I went to the antenna site and it suggested a medium directional antenna. (I assume for the roof)

Thanks !!

I'll be glad to provide the antenna and do the install for you. I run a local Home Theater company (Carolina Home Theater). Send me a PM if you're interested.

This is not HDTV related but Im sure there are plenty of people here that would be interested. The State-Carolina game time has been set for October 9th at 6PM, and for the second year in a row, no TV! :mad:

I think someone at Chapel Hill doesn't want to see the heels getting slaughtered on TV. Wouldn't that be nice in HD

Go Pack

!:D

Originally posted by Augie05
Hi all,

I am a DirecTV customer and just recently (this weekend) upgraded to HD with an inside OTA antenna. (Terk TV5) I live in the west Cary area (55 and High House) and I can receive all OTA HD channels well except Fox and local ABC but I can adjust antenna and make them just usable... but a bit of a pain.

I am thinking about going with either an outside antenna mounted on my roof or an antenna mounted in my antic.

I prefer to hide the antenna in the attic. Will it work "good enough" in the attic (basically third floor) since I can "almost" make my inside (first floor) work or should I have it installed on the roof? I know that the roof is the best but wonder if the attic might be sufficient.

What do you guys think? Attic, roof or (maybe) just wait until DirecTV gets all locals done next year?? (schedule may slip or other issues??)

Also, any suggestions on where to buy the antenna locally (besides Radio Shack) and who can install? I spoke to someone at NowAudio (now Tweeter) and they said I can go into their store and order one but they don't stock them.

I went to the antenna site and it suggested a medium directional antenna. (I assume for the roof)

Thanks !!

I actually live in the very same area (55 & High House). Recently bought a Channel Master 4228 from Consumer Direct off of Wake Forest road in Raleigh. If interested in purchasing from them, call before you go since they might have to have someone pick it up from the warehouse in Garner. Anyway, I installed the antenna in my attic (equivalent to 3rd floor), and can pull in all of the stations in Garner without any problems. (FOX, ABC, NBC, CBS, etc.) I haven't bothered trying to get UNC however.

I'd recommend trying a couple of different antennas including the one from Ace Hardware if you can find it. (I checked the one right by Harris Teeter and they did not have it in stock) Thankfully, consumer direct has a pretty good return policy if there are any problems.

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions!

Kevad,

Thanks for the feedback. I just sent you a PM. (don't know if you will get it) Just wondering... did you use a tripod in the attic to mount it? How did you run the cable?

I sent you a couple of additional questions as well.

Thanks !!

Originally posted by Augie05
Kevad,

Thanks for the feedback. I just sent you a PM. (don't know if you will get it) Just wondering... did you use a tripod in the attic to mount it? How did you run the cable?

I sent you a couple of additional questions as well.

Thanks !!

Replied to PM... In case anyone else was wondering, I used the Radio Shack 15-882 to mount the antenna to my attic ceiling joist.

Is anyone in the Cary area having problems getting WRAZ (50-1) OTA? Roughly wed-thurs of last week my signal stopped coming in. The dreaded "weak signal" message is all that I get. Typically when this has happened in the past one of three things has happened:

1) wind shifted my outdoor antenna
2) TV simply lost signal and scanning for channels again fixes the issue
3) bad weather is rolling through the area and causing signal breakup

At this point, none of those seem to be the issue. The antenna is positioned the same as always (same position for over a year with signal being fine). I am still able to get all the other channels (5.1, 11.1, 17.1 etc...). Rescanning hasn't helped and the weather was fine until the last 48 hours.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Regards,
- michael

All,

I am thinking about installing a UHF only antenna in my attic as suggested by Kevad above. (thanks Kevad!) One issue I have is how to get the cable from the first floor to the attic.

Well, I found this device at Radio Shack that I can use to combine my existing DirecTV sat cable (which runs thru my attic) with the UHF antenna under consideration.

It cost $24 each and will need two. Seems a bit expensive to me.

Any issues with this device? How well will it work? Are there any other, less expensive options?

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F003%5F008%5F003%5F000&product%5Fid=16%2D2586

Thanks !!

Originally posted by Augie05
All,

I am thinking about installing a UHF only antenna in my attic as suggested by Kevad above. (thanks Kevad!) One issue I have is how to get the cable from the first floor to the attic.

Well, I found this device at Radio Shack that I can use to combine my existing DirecTV sat cable (which runs thru my attic) with the UHF antenna under consideration.

It cost $24 each and will need two. Seems a bit expensive to me.

Any issues with this device? How well will it work? Are there any other, less expensive options?

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F003%5F008%5F003%5F000&product%5Fid=16%2D2586

Thanks !!

I could not get my antenna to work with my DirecTV setup when using a diplexer. It would cause me to lose the odd transponders or all transponders depending on what I was trying. I had to run a separate cable from the antenna to make everything work. I can't recommend using diplexers.

Originally posted by mpenwell
Is anyone in the Cary area having problems getting WRAZ (50-1) OTA? Roughly wed-thurs of last week my signal stopped coming in. The dreaded "weak signal" message is all that I get. Typically when this has happened in the past one of three things has happened:

1) wind shifted my outdoor antenna
2) TV simply lost signal and scanning for channels again fixes the issue
3) bad weather is rolling through the area and causing signal breakup

At this point, none of those seem to be the issue. The antenna is positioned the same as always (same position for over a year with signal being fine). I am still able to get all the other channels (5.1, 11.1, 17.1 etc...). Rescanning hasn't helped and the weather was fine until the last 48 hours.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Regards,
- michael

Have you tried adjusting you antenna? Just becasue it has been solid for a year doesn't necessarily mean anything. This year has been a very odd year for atmospherics. I would also make sure that all of your connections are good and tight ( and dry). Nothing has change with the fox transmission so try giving some of these a shot.

Pete

FYI, if you do go the diplexer route and have multiple TV locations in your house, the 5x8 multiswitches for DirecTv will allow the antenna to come in on the 5th input and then you can diplex it back out at each location you need.

I live near Lochmere in Cary and was wondering what a good indoor ant would be. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Vanelin

Originally posted by vanelin
I live near Lochmere in Cary and was wondering what a good indoor ant would be. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Vanelin

Vanelin,

If you're looking for the indoor type that will sit on top of your tv, the Radio Shack 15-1880 gets great reception. Especially since you are fairly close to the towers. Plus, Radio Shack has a great return policy if it doesn't work out.

As far as attic antennas go, I'd recommend the Channel Master 3021/4221 or 4228 which seem to be popular choices. (I'm happy with my 4228)

I haven't been able to receive WRAZ-DT (50-1) OTA for the last week either. I live in NE Chatham County. My antenna is in the attic, so it's position hasn't changed. I'm not having any problems with any other OTA channels, just FOX50. I, too, was wondering if anyone knew what was up.

Thanks,

Steve

Originally posted by SteveFitz1
I haven't been able to receive WRAZ-DT (50-1) OTA for the last week either.

OK, so I am certain something is happening that is outside of my setup. I checked all of my connections and positioning on Tuesday and still could not get 50.1. Then last night everything went a bit crazy. As of last night, this is what I was getting:

FOX 50 - coming in on 49.2 - this was actually the HD content
ABC 11 - coming in on 52.1 - HD content
ABC 11 - coming in on 52.2 - ABC News content
ABC 11 - coming in on 52.2 - standard broadcast on digital channel
CBS 5 - coming in on 53.2 - HD content
WB 22 - coming in on 57.2 - HD content

Basically, none of the redirects to the main channel number were working. Any idea why this may have been happening? Additionally, I couldn't get NBC 17 on any of the digital channels. Can someone tell me what their other channel is? Maybe 54.1 or something.

Also, I noticed that there was HD content on WB last night. Is that new or has the Raleigh WB been broadcasting HD for a while. I don't watch many shows on the WB so I may have just missed it.

Thanks,
- michael

NBC 17's HD channel is 55

Is there any "." with the channel 55 or is it straight "55"?

Just out of curiosity, where are the nbc towers located? I just got an HDTV tues, did a scan, a couldn't find them, but I found all the stations that mpenwell listed.

Originally posted by vanelin
where are the nbc towers located?

You can go to www.antennaweb.org and enter your address. This will tell you were all of the towers are in relationship to your house. It is the "Choose an antenna" feature. It is very helpful.

Also, to be digital it would have to be 55.1 or 55.2 etc...

- michael

I checked with antennaweb.org and they have the NBC station from goldboro listed at 17.1

The station is licensed to Goldsboro but the digital antenna is on the same tower as WRAL and WTVD near Garner.

I'm new to the whole HD thing but just got setup yesterday with it through d*. Anyways with there roof mounted antenna omni directional I get channel 11, 5 is picked up but not watch able, and pax channel (I think 47?), and 28...

From antennaweb it shows that I am only 6.7 miles from the tower in garner yet I cant get 5, 50, or 22 clearly yet can get 11 which are all close together. And I can get a channel that is 40 miles away from me... it makes no sense to me... anyone have any ideas? I went to radio shack today and got the 15-1880 antenna that I saw some recommend for close distance reception so I’m going to give that a try tonight.

Thanks for any insight and help.

ncsu4life,

I'm new to the HD thing as well, and have had good success w/15-1880 ant. One thing that I found is that going to antennaweb.org, it gave me the direction which I should point the ant. I also found in playing with the ant, if I aimed it out a window, I would get the best reception.

I can now pick up 5.1, 11.1, 17.1 and 50.1 with no problems.

Thanks for the response Vanelin. how far are you from the towers if you dont mind me asking?

I live down near Lochmere in Cary, by antenna web, it's about 15 miles

Originally posted by Lee L
The station is licensed to Goldsboro but the digital antenna is on the same tower as WRAL and WTVD near Garner. This is what I've always heard, and makes me wonder why I have to point my antenna in a 20 degree different position to get 17.1 from where I need to point it to get 5.1???

Originally posted by ncsu4life
I'm new to the whole HD thing but just got setup yesterday with it through d*. Anyways with there roof mounted antenna omni directional I get channel 11, 5 is picked up but not watch able, and pax channel (I think 47?), and 28...

From antennaweb it shows that I am only 6.7 miles from the tower in garner yet I cant get 5, 50, or 22 clearly yet can get 11 which are all close together. And I can get a channel that is 40 miles away from me... it makes no sense to me... anyone have any ideas? I went to radio shack today and got the 15-1880 antenna that I saw some recommend for close distance reception so I’m going to give that a try tonight.

Thanks for any insight and help. I am in West Raleigh and use a Channel Master 4221 with a preamp and rotator. I have to aim the antenna to a different position for 17.1 (NBC) than for 11.1 & 5.1.

ok, i use TWC cable for HD, so I don't know anything about digital recievers or anything like that...but i have a question for other Wolfpack fans.

ABC is doing a broadcast next weekend of the UNC vs. NCSU game on channel 213 next weekend. it is also available to those with a digital reciever on 11.3.

what would people need to get that 11.3 feed? an OTA antenna from radio shack?

phisbfm yes you need an OTA antenna plus a stb tunner or built in tunner in your tv to recieve the game via antenna.

do most tv's have these tuners? how much would all that be at radio shack or somewhere else?

also, how far out of raleigh would you get a signal from abc in durham?

Good news on my new antenna that I setup last night. I am now able to get all the major channels that I want to get. Picking up with minimal adjustment of the antenna: 5, 11, 17, 22, 28 and 50 now. One thing I am noticing is that the signal meter on the ts360(directv unit) is worthless in determining the best position to receive the signals. Meter jumps all around from 70 to 45 to 10 to even 0 sometimes but not getting any dropouts. I feel like I should be able to pull in a stronger signal than 70 and it be constant being that im only aprox 7 miles from the towers. Any ideas?

how much would a set-top-box be for just a DTV broadcast?? would you still need a HDTV to get it? Because if I wanted to get channel 11.3, I would just need a DTV STB and a OTA antenna right??

Originally posted by phishbfm
do most tv's have these tuners? how much would all that be at radio shack or somewhere else?

also, how far out of raleigh would you get a signal from abc in durham?

No, most TVs do *not* have a digital tuner (ATSC is the acronym). Most have analog tuners and that's it. ATSC tuners are still fairly expensive. You can expect to pay $200 or $300 for a new one (or maybe more). You could also check eBay (I sold one this summer for $100). How far out you can be depends on your antenna and your surrounding area. I'm about 30 miles from the tower and get a great signal, but I have a fairly large antenna on my roof and a pretty clear shot to the tower.

I would check AntennaWeb (http://www.antennaweb.org) for more information for your specific location.

ncsu4life,

Is that a HD sat receiver?

I ran my ant straight to my TV, it has a built in HD tuner, and just messed w/ the ant until I could get all the stations in. I haven't checked on the 22 digital's, I'll have to do that tonight.

Yes it’s a Directv HD Satellite receiver from Samsung. It has one input for sat and another for the ota tuner. The antenna they installed on my roof got spotty results on close channels yet was able to pickup a channel 40 miles away. Purchased the radio shack antenna you have sitting on top of the TV now getting better reception for the close channels (as I get them all now that I want) yet not picking up the distant pax channel that I cold care less about.

ncsu4life,

I know this may be a little off topic but what do you think about the HD channels that D* offers? Are there any NBC, CBS, ABC HD channels that you receive from D*?

I think I have my wife ready for the HD Tivo and I'm doing my research now for closing arguments. :)

Thanks

Originally posted by vanelin
ncsu4life,

I know this may be a little off topic but what do you think about the HD channels that D* offers? Are there any NBC, CBS, ABC HD channels that you receive from D*?

I think I have my wife ready for the HD Tivo and I'm doing my research now for closing arguments. :)

Thanks For excellent closing arguments on the HR10-250 HD DirecTiVo, plead your case in the HDTV TiVo Powered PVRs (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=36) forum at the TiVo Community Forum. BTW, I have one, and for me it's like heaven on earth to be able to easily record HD programs!

Well I have had the system since wed so far and to be honest after my 6 months free hd programming runs out I will likely not sign back up for it. The main reason I got this unit was I purchased a wide screen hd capable monitor. So I needed the ota tuner that is built into the DirecTV system to get all the locals. The only reason as it stands now that I would consider keeping the hd package is for espn hd which is awesome and discovery is nice. However, I don’t think it’s worth the $11 a month they charge for these two stations. I will still get all the nfl sunday ticket games that come in HD since I have sunday ticket anyways which was the main reason I went with DirecTV vs. cable. I think right now the hd package only gives you espn, bravo, discovery, hdnet, and hdnet movies. If they add more to this package as I’ve heard they plan to do I may decide to keep it but as it stands now I won't.

As far as local channels i think NBC, and Fox are the only ones available in our area at the moment. These are national feeds and aren't locals. But since you can pull the locals down already where you are its not really an issue for you as you have them OTA. In the coming years i think i have seen where directv is planning on launching two more sat's so that is where people are thinking the local hd channels are going to be offered from what i have read. so they are coming just not there now.

Originally posted by vanelin
ncsu4life,

I know this may be a little off topic but what do you think about the HD channels that D* offers? Are there any NBC, CBS, ABC HD channels that you receive from D*?

The HD package is a little lite, but it appears DTV is working on it. Right now you can get ESPNHD, Discovery HD, Bravo HD, HDNet, HDNet Movies, and an HD PPV channel with the HD package. CBS and NBC HD are available as well, but you must lived in an area whose station is owned and operated by the network to get the national feed (or you have to get a waiver). For us that means NBC (and ABC if/when it becomes available on DTV in HD) but I think that's it. It's normally runs $10.99 a month, but right now they are running a deal of 6 months for free (new or existing subscriber). If you get HBO or Showtime and have an HD reciever, you can also get the corresponding HD movie channel at no additional cost (you don't have to get the HD package to get this, just the movie channel).

robnalex,

Been over at tivocommunity quite a bit today getting the scoop on the HD Tivo. Sounds like HDMI is a big problem right now. Maybe not on an grand scale, but just the reports I'm seeing in the tivocommunity forum.

Since I just got a new TV with HDMI, I would be looking to use it... I may wait a bit, not sure though, because I have the NFL sunday ticket, and I want to see my football in HD before the season ends.

I've also seen people suggesting that D* may start selling the HD Tivo's around $700 in Nov or Dec.

Tough decision.

Originally posted by vanelin
robnalex,

Been over at tivocommunity quite a bit today getting the scoop on the HD Tivo. Sounds like HDMI is a big problem right now. Maybe not on an grand scale, but just the reports I'm seeing in the tivocommunity forum.

Since I just got a new TV with HDMI, I would be looking to use it... I may wait a bit, not sure though, because I have the NFL sunday ticket, and I want to see my football in HD before the season ends.

I've also seen people suggesting that D* may start selling the HD Tivo's around $700 in Nov or Dec.

Tough decision.

Don't wait. HDTivo is THE BEST THING to happen to HDTV.

The HDMI issue is overblown - I've never had an issue with mine. And they come with a 1 year warranty anyway.

And even if you happen to get one with an HDMI problem and have to return it - you haven't lost anything.

No Nascar widescreen yet. Why can't they get it right?

Hiatt66,

Agree. This is nuts. How hard can it be? NBC17 KNOWs this happens every time a race is on NBC but they dont seem to care or do anything about it. I have emailed... nothing... I called... got the basic 'we're closed' message.

NBC17ENG... What can we do? Who do we scream at? Does anybody care?

I know....I just tried to call the station and got no where. Wish we didn't have to rely on someone to "flip" the switch.

I even tried the news tip line (i was gonna give them a tip that NBC NASCAR pulls a vacuum) and got nowhere.

What is REALLY sad.... The rest of this seasons races are shown on NBC. No more are TNT. Sad... At least I can watch football in HiDef.

I hear ya. The Pats game looks good doesn't it?

Not too shabby. Im really impressed with ESPN-HD PQ.

Me too. The Vols game last night was very good PQ.

Originally posted by deArgila
Don't wait. HDTivo is THE BEST THING to happen to HDTV.

The HDMI issue is overblown - I've never had an issue with mine. And they come with a 1 year warranty anyway.

And even if you happen to get one with an HDMI problem and have to return it - you haven't lost anything. Except that DirecTV is apparently no longer replacing units with bad HDMI until the issue is fixed. However, if you purchase from Circuit City or Best Buy you can probably get them to replace the unit if you get a bad one. But you're right, deArgila, the HDTiVo is indeed the best thing to happen to HDTV, and this issue certainly wouldn't stop me from getting one.

All,

Just want to share my success story from this weekend hoping that it might help others. My original post was about one week ago... ie.. attic antenna install .... west Cary area... near High House and Highway 55... about 20 miles from the Garner towers. I am also a bit lower than others around me but I have no tree or building blockage near my house.

I originally purchased a Terk TV5 indoor antenna at Best Buy (for $50) when I bought my Hughes HTL-HD DirecTV receiver. The Terk was barely usable. (provided spotty coverage) This set-up might work better for those closer to the Garner location.

At the advice of a couple of posters, (thanks!!) I purchased a Channel Master 4221 UHF antenna for $25 at Consumer Direct in Raleigh (seem like a good store with good prices.) Here is a link to their product:

http://www.consumer-direct.com/detail.cfm?vpartno=4221

I also purchased a Radio Shack attic mount for $11. (another great recommendation !!) I had 50' of RG6 cable left over from a previous project (DirecTV install) so I did not have to buy any cable. Total price for everything was $35 and no labor cost !!

I installed the 4221 in my attic (third floor walk-up) pointing at 119 degrees thru a window. (not sure how much bearing this had on the performance but posts suggested that this might help peformance). I ran the cable (needed about 48 feet and the cable was 50' long... perfect) down my exterior wall thru the sofet area down into my crawl space then into my wall on the 1st floor. (still need to secure the cable to the exterior wall but at least it is in the backyard)

I am not sure what the actual signal strength is but I am getting great PQ on all of the major local HD channels, 5, 11, 17, 50.... and I have not noticed any issues at all.... great investment for only $35... a savings of $15 over the Terk indoor antenna!!

Thanks for all the great info on this forum. I hope this helps others in the Cary area.

Doug

Hi,

Just entering the HDTV world here in Chapel Hill...

I bought one of the Silver Sensor antennas for OTA broadcasts. It picks up WUNC(4), WRAL(5) and WTVD(11) just fine.

All the other channels (namely NBC17 and Fox50) come in with no signal at all. I had assumed this was because the Silver Sensor was a UHF antenna, and maybe those channels were broadcast over VHF.

However, checking antennaweb.org, they indicate on there that Fox50 and NBC17 are actually UHF??

Can anyone shed some light on whether I should just pony up for a vhf antenna and get an antenna combiner. thanks

Originally posted by aab
Hi,

Just entering the HDTV world here in Chapel Hill...

I bought one of the Silver Sensor antennas for OTA broadcasts. It picks up WUNC(4), WRAL(5) and WTVD(11) just fine.

All the other channels (namely NBC17 and Fox50) come in with no signal at all. I had assumed this was because the Silver Sensor was a UHF antenna, and maybe those channels were broadcast over VHF.

However, checking antennaweb.org, they indicate on there that Fox50 and NBC17 are actually UHF??

Can anyone shed some light on whether I should just pony up for a vhf antenna and get an antenna combiner. thanks UHF is all you need for all our local digital stations. You probably just need a better antenna, preferably an outdoor roof mounted one.

Originally posted by aab
Hi,
All the other channels (namely NBC17 and Fox50) come in with no signal at all. I had assumed this was because the Silver Sensor was a UHF antenna, and maybe those channels were broadcast over VHF.


As noted above, you probably need a better antenna. I had the silver sensor for awhile, and I couldn't really get NBC or Fox either (I'm in NE Durham, about 26 miles from the antennas). I got a Channel Master 4221 and mounted it in my attic, and that helped alot. Then I moved it to the roof this summer and now my signal strength is excellent and I rarely get pixelation.

While I'm here typing, I saw that UPN is broadcasting Enterprise in HD this year. I remember seeing something that our UPN affiliate was working on HD broadcast (rather than just digital), but I can't remember if they're done yet. Anyone know? TIA.

Originally posted by pkscout
As noted above, you probably need a better antenna. I had the silver sensor for awhile, and I couldn't really get NBC or Fox either (I'm in NE Durham, about 26 miles from the antennas). I got a Channel Master 4221 and mounted it in my attic, and that helped alot. Then I moved it to the roof this summer and now my signal strength is excellent and I rarely get pixelation.

Yes, everybody in town is UHF, and the previous suggestion about getting an outdoor (or at least Attic) mounted antenna will most likely cure all of your woes!

At the very least try different locations around the room. Also, be aware that the biggest reception issues are not signal strenght, but signal reflections.

Originally posted by aab
Hi,

Just entering the HDTV world here in Chapel Hill...

I bought one of the Silver Sensor antennas for OTA broadcasts. It picks up WUNC(4), WRAL(5) and WTVD(11) just fine.

Can anyone shed some light on whether I should just pony up for a vhf antenna and get an antenna combiner. thanks

Your Silver Sensor may need to be amplified. That's why I chose the Radio Shack 15-1880 over the Silver Sensor. It comes pre-amplified out of the box.

Got a nice note from NBC17 today indicating that they have 'read the riot act' to Miami concerning NASCAR in 16:9. They think Miami now understands (this time) and hopefully will get it right from now on. Time will tell.....

Thanks NBC17!

Anything mentioned about WNCN-DT NBC17 passing the DD5.1 audio of the new NBC shows that the NBC Network is now passing?

Why doesn't UNC HD give us a 24hr OTA HD station, with one multi casted SD station to satisfy the FCC. We buy HD OTA and HD TV's for HD not more SD stations. I understand that it's 24 hours via Time Warner. But, I'm a DirecTV/OTA guy. I sent them a message, but I wanted to find out if anyone knew of a political reason, or maybe they think it's our preference to see 5 stations of SD instead of 1 station of SD and 1 station of HD.
I'm jonsin for Smart Travelers.

FYI, channel 11.3 (OTA) is carrying the NC State vs. Carolina game right now. Coverage is not so great, and the audio is the radio broadcast, but at least we can watch it.

WOW...NASCAR is in widescreen today! Good job NBC! :)

Ok I am stumped; according to antennaweb.org , both these stations are at the same distance and compass orientation from my house.

So why is it that I can only get one station tuned in at any given time using my indoor antenna?

Because WRAZ is on a STA for lower power right now. The STA asked for permission to use much less than normal while some repairs are being made.

QED - if you're not within sight distance of the tower on Auburn your INDOOR OTA antenna probably will NOT be enough to receive WRAZ. An OUTDOOR antenna, is much less affected by this.

Originally posted by Scooper
Because WRAZ is on a STA for lower power right now. The STA asked for permission to use much less than normal while some repairs are being made.

QED - if you're not within sight distance of the tower on Auburn your INDOOR OTA antenna probably will NOT be enough to receive WRAZ. An OUTDOOR antenna, is much less affected by this. Whats "STA" mean? Also I was under the impression that WRAZ was at low power with a directional antenna and has always been so due to interference of a neighbering counties station.

STA - Special Temporary Authorization.

Initially that was the case; we now have a permit to raise the power of WRAZ to 1MW, which, with a little luck, and a lot of money should be complete by summer.

BTW, don't always assume that it is a power issue, many (actually most times) it is a reflection issue, especially when you can receive one OR the other when tuning the antenna.

Pete

Originally posted by psockett
BTW, don't always assume that it is a power issue, many (actually most times) it is a reflection issue, especially when you can receive one OR the other when tuning the antenna.

Here in Greensboro, many times I get WRAL-DT with no problems 99% of the time and can not receive WTVD-DT from the same tower but 50% of the time. Other times if I move the antenna just a little, I can get WTVD-DT without losing WRAL-DT. Most times I can't get WNCN-DT when I get both of the others no matter what I do. RF is a funny business.

Just to second Daryl L's earlier post - when will the other HD channels start broadcasting 5.1 audio?

Thanks psockett.

foxeng, I agree. I'm 40 miles south of Fayetteville with a 25 foot tall, 14 foot long, 9 foot wide Channel Master Crossfire 3671 antenna with a Channel Master titan 7777 amp. Raleigh is north of me but I have to turn my antenna eastward about 110 degrees to pickup WRAL-DT, WTVD-DT, WNCN-DT and WRAZ-DT with the best strength. I get WRAL-DT nearly every morning and evening (sometimes during afternoon), WTVD-DT nearly every morning and evening, WNCN-DT nearly every morning and evening and WRAZ-DT 50% of the time in the evenning. WRAL-DT is the strongest. The slightest turn of the antenna and their all gone. Talk about being finiky.

psocket, good news. I do have one question though and in all seriousness. What do you consider summer, do you mean summer 05?

I also have just gotten a D* HDTivo. I'm using a Silver Sensor. I get all the stations to the best of my knowledge. I'm just outside of Durham on the west side along I85.
But, while watching HD football, the grass keeps going from fuzzy to clear, kinda splotchy. My understanding with digital reception was that you had it or you didn't. Am I seeing something "normal" due to the broadcast and not so much a lack of antenna? I'm using OTA for the games on Fox.

Originally posted by linetest
My understanding with digital reception was that you had it or you didn't. Am I seeing something "normal" due to the broadcast and not so much a lack of antenna? I'm using OTA for the games on Fox.

This is a common myth with digital TV. If you have a marginal signal, you'll lose data. This causes corruption of the MPEG stream and can result in all sorts of visual artifacts. It's not "snow" like you're used to with analog TV, but blotches, stutters, sparkles, and the like.

It's possible that the grass going from clear to splotchy is just a result of the MPEG compression. Still shots of grass will have more definition than moving shots of grass.

I paid very close attention the past 5 weeks at picture quality of the NFL games on ESPNHD (on cable), FoxHD (WRAZ) and ABCHD (WTVD) (both on cable and OTA) and Fox definately had artifacting (on OTA and cable) on the turf (grass) while ABCHD and ESPNHD showed no signs of it whatsoever. I tried hard to see the artifactinng on ABCHD and ESPNHD but could not see any. So the artifacting is definately due to Fox's broadcast at a network level and not a local reception problem. Fox still has some tweaking to do to match ABCHD and ESPNHD's 720p picture quality.

I'm not knocking FoxHD. Their just starting and on top of that breaking ground in a new HD delivery system. It will improve. ABC and CBS had their startup artifacting errors when they began.

Is FOX broadcasting the playoff baseball in true Hi-def?? or are they up-converting much like TNT does? It doesn't seem to be as clear as other HD broadcasts...but hopefully it'll get better for the championship series and the world series!

Starting tonight, the FOX baseball is suppose to be HD. The previous games were just widescreen and not HD. Atleast that is what I have read.

- michael

Anyone know where I can pick up a Silver Sensor in Raleigh? Best Buy and CC don't list them and Sears shows them as "out of stock."

I'm about 8 miles from all the towers (Right around Hwy 50 and Hwy 42) so I'm hoping that an indoor unit is all I will need.

I'm also open to suggestions about an alternate antenea, the SS just seems to be what's recommended for an indoor unit.

Thanks

Jay

Sears sells the Silver Sensors for $50! Outrageous. I bought the Philips version (same antenna) at Walmart for $25. Check Walmart for the Philips one (box is triangular).

Originally posted by Daryl L
Anything mentioned about WNCN-DT NBC17 passing the DD5.1 audio of the new NBC shows that the NBC Network is now passing?

It will be in 5.1 when avalible from now on.

Originally posted by SWiTCH
Anyone know where I can pick up a Silver Sensor in Raleigh? Best Buy and CC don't list them and Sears shows them as "out of stock."

I'm about 8 miles from all the towers (Right around Hwy 50 and Hwy 42) so I'm hoping that an indoor unit is all I will need.

I'm also open to suggestions about an alternate antenea, the SS just seems to be what's recommended for an indoor unit.

Thanks

Jay

Jay,

You might want to consider the Radio Shack 15-1880 as an alternative if you can't find the Silver Sensor. (or even instead of). Many people have given it rave reviews, and it's easily found at just about any Radio Shack. (Plus you can return it if it doesn't work out)

Originally posted by NBC17ENG
It will be in 5.1 when avalible from now on.
NBC17ENG, was beginning to think you had quit the forum or posting. Thanks for the info. Much appreciated. Sounds great. :)

Hi all.

1) Yes, WRAZ to full power by Summer 2005!
2) The artifacting on WRAZ football is definately happeing during the encode process at the network level, this is not a reception issue.

Pete

Hi all,

I am playing around with the FusionHDTV Gold QAM card and was wondering if anyone had an update channel map.. I saw the one earlier and have noticed some changes....

Thanks,
George

How is the Fusion card working for you gfs? Im thinking of getting one but Ive been dragging my feet on it...probably because I know I wont be able to record ESPNHD with it.

Anybody having problems with NBC-17 HDTV feed? Don't know where the problem is but for the last 24 hours we've been having problems with massive breakups, frozen screens etc. For instance, right now "Joey" is completely frozen on what looks like perhaps a Kodak commercial or something and has been for 10+ minutes.

I'm watching on a TWC HD-DVR. I can flip over to the SD feed and everything is fine. Back to the HD and we've still got the frozen picture. All my other HD is coming in loud and clear.

Jarrett

Originally posted by ENDContra
How is the Fusion card working for you gfs? Im thinking of getting one but Ive been dragging my feet on it...probably because I know I wont be able to record ESPNHD with it.

Hey everyone. HDTV Newbie here. :)

I picked up the FusionHD3 QAM-T PCI HDTV Tuner a few weeks ago from digital connection. Hey are my thoughts and some issues.

Currently using on my home PC with a 17in monitor via RGB. The video card is an Nvidia GeForce MX 440 so it supports the DxVA software decoding on a P4/2.4Ghz with 256mb of RAM running Win XP. The CPU load when watching is around 40%. HDTV software uses about 40mb of RAM.

OTA -- Used a cheap antenna out the back window I live in N. Raleigh with lots of trees behind the house and picked up most of the DTV stations including PBS from Chapel Hill. I did have some issues with NBC a few weeks ago but it appears they had some problems with the signal dropping out.

QAM with TW -- The reason I bought this card was to see how well it supported QAM. When I first installed the card, software and drivers I played with the OTA. I then rescanned for the QAM channels (256 QAM) and around channel 86-87 it crashed the DVICO app. I then saw the post where all the local channels were and manually added them. After mapping whenever I tuned to channel 113 it crashed the DVICO app. This meant no ABC nor FOX.
After a week of crashes I removed the software and drivers and reinstalled.
This time I did not autoscan but added the channels manually, I am happy to report the crashes no longer occur.

The other big issue is I cannot get Titan TV to map the subchannels for recording of HDTV. :(

I am happy with this product as I am new to the whole HDTV revolution so I wanted to take baby steps before purchasing the expensive stuff. :) I get all the TW QAM channels that are unencrypted. It's pretty cool. NFL Football on CBS and FOX is amazing!

Feel free to PM with specific questions or concerns I would be happy to share since I have learned so much from this site.

Originally posted by Kevad
Jay,

You might want to consider the Radio Shack 15-1880 as an alternative if you can't find the Silver Sensor. (or even instead of). Many people have given it rave reviews, and it's easily found at just about any Radio Shack. (Plus you can return it if it doesn't work out)

Picked up a Silver Sensor today at Walmart. For everything except UPN, it's great. Can't get UPN at all tho with it. Guess I'll be returning it tomorrow and trying out the Radio Shack 15-1880. I would have thought being 8 miles from all towers that I could have used about anything but I guess with UPN being in a totally different direction from the rest of the towers it's causing me some grief.

Jay

Originally posted by SWiTCH
Picked up a Silver Sensor today at Walmart. For everything except UPN, it's great. Can't get UPN at all tho with it. Guess I'll be returning it tomorrow and trying out the Radio Shack 15-1880. I would have thought being 8 miles from all towers that I could have used about anything but I guess with UPN being in a totally different direction from the rest of the towers it's causing me some grief.

Don't bother. I think UPN is broadcasting at the absolute minimum required by law, which means if you are standing at the tower you can get it. In addition, while they are broadcasting in digital, those morons aren't broadcasting any HD yet (at least not when I checked last week).

wjarrettc,

I was having problems with the reception using OTA ant as well. 17 would jump all around the board when I was measuring the signal strength on my TV.

It's a shame since I was wanted to watch Joey and ER in HiDef. Luckily I have D* and Tivo, so those shows were Tivo'd and I'll catch them tonight.

Originally posted by vanelin
wjarrettc,

I was having problems with the reception using OTA ant as well. 17 would jump all around the board when I was measuring the signal strength on my TV.

It's a shame since I was wanted to watch Joey and ER in HiDef. Luckily I have D* and Tivo, so those shows were Tivo'd and I'll catch them tonight.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that is bi-provider around here. I've still got E* + TiVo, so no hi-def, but at least I can reliable record programs when the HD-DVR flakes out (like it did last night by only recording 48 minutes of CSI!)

The HD-DVR is sooooo frustrating. It works good enough about 85% of the time and the picture looks much better than TiVo when it's working correctly so I can't bear to give it up but I'm getting increasingly irritated by all its quirks.

Originally posted by wjarrettc
Anybody having problems with NBC-17 HDTV feed? Don't know where the problem is but for the last 24 hours we've been having problems with massive breakups, frozen screens etc. For instance, right now "Joey" is completely frozen on what looks like perhaps a Kodak commercial or something and has been for 10+ minutes.

I'm watching on a TWC HD-DVR. I can flip over to the SD feed and everything is fine. Back to the HD and we've still got the frozen picture. All my other HD is coming in loud and clear.

Jarrett
We had a satellite receiver issue straight up at the beginning of Joey last night. After it was corrected, the network had a issue at their end, then pretty color bars from Burbank, then back to the show. It was stable the rest of the evening. I have not heard an official word on what happened from the source, but it was definitely on NBC's end.

We've only received one other report of breakups like this from a TWC viewer, but his issue should be corrected by a visit from them today. All three transmitters are humming along with no problems, except for the occasional "squirrel in the power lines" from Progress Energy.

Originally posted by vanelin
wjarrettc,

I was having problems with the reception using OTA ant as well. 17 would jump all around the board when I was measuring the signal strength on my TV.

It's a shame since I was wanted to watch Joey and ER in HiDef. Luckily I have D* and Tivo, so those shows were Tivo'd and I'll catch them tonight.

I'd take a very close look at all the connections from the antenna. It was a bit windy last night, and any loose wire would make your signal jump around. Always compare it to another station like WRAL, since their antenna is about 20 feet or so from our's.

When I saw the frozen frame on Joey, I checked my signal before calling the station and it was solid at 93. It sure seems like a loose wire from your antenna.

All connections must be clean, dry, protected and tight. Any corrosion will affect OTA reception. We've also seen on the satellite, that the signal can be too high, and cause the same affects as too low. (We had to pad down the signal from the dish on our network receiver) I have not heard of it OTA, but it is certainly a possibility.

Originally posted by pkscout
Don't bother. I think UPN is broadcasting at the absolute minimum required by law, which means if you are standing at the tower you can get it. In addition, while they are broadcasting in digital, those morons aren't broadcasting any HD yet (at least not when I checked last week).

Thanks for the advice. I picked up one of the Radio Shack 15-1880s and it's worse than the Silver Sensor for picking up locals. Guess Im gonna return them both, do an outside unit and just live without UPN for now. Maybe at some point Ill get ambitious and try to find an outside unit that will get them all for me.

Originally posted by wjarrettc
Anybody having problems with NBC-17 HDTV feed? Don't know where the problem is but for the last 24 hours we've been having problems with massive breakups, frozen screens etc. For instance, right now "Joey" is completely frozen on what looks like perhaps a Kodak commercial or something and has been for 10+ minutes.

I'm watching on a TWC HD-DVR. I can flip over to the SD feed and everything is fine. Back to the HD and we've still got the frozen picture. All my other HD is coming in loud and clear.

Jarrett I had the same problem but it was corrected by the time ER was on.

Another problem on WNCN-DT 17 was with the DD5.1 audio. Both Wensday and Thursday evening the dialog was coming from the back surround speaker like if everything was reversed. Fox, CBS's(sunday NFL games) and ABC's DD5.1 is fine. Hopefully NBC17ENG will notice and be able to correct it. ;)

Sigh......once again no Widescreen for Nascar from NBC17.

Just noticed two new channels on Time Warner here in Cary today.

140 - Carolina Sports Entertainment Television
http://www.c-set.tv/ for more info

552 - Kids on Demand
includes BBC Kids and PBS Kids OnDemand programming.

Coverage began in widescreen but the sound was messed up by 10-15 sec from the video. There must be someone at NBC responsible for this crap--has anyone had any luck finding out who? What about an email address to complain?

I noticed the new channels as well.

I have no idea about who is responsible.

http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2005/data/schedule.html

Here is a link to the 2005 NASCAR scedule. Most of the dates are just placeholders with info about start times to be filled in later. Maybe somehow, someone can send this link to the Miami control center and they can check it periodically to make sure the system is set up correctly so we can actually watch NBC coverage in HD next year. Hopefully, with enough notice, they can get it right. ;) ;) ;)

Well guys.. I spent most of the day playing around with a couple of outside anteneas and basically I've decided that Im going to have to have someone come out and install a rooftop unit for me and get this thing going. So far nothing Ive done seems to be better than the original Silver Sensor I bought in the beginning and the two outside units Ive tried have actually been much, much worse. Maybe I need a good amp, Im not sure. Like I said, at this point, Im tearing my hair out.

The problem is also complicated by the fact that I simply don't feel comfortable climbing my roof. It's really steep and you'd have 0 chance of stopping yourself if you started sliding. So, that brings me to my question.

Has anyone used any installers around Raleigh for getting their antenea situation resolved? I need to just have a professional come out and get me going.

Thanks

Jay

Which HD box does TWC have that DOES support Firewire? Any of them? I want to try to record the NC State-Miami game on ESPNHD, and Firewire is the only way I can find that might work....or will the fact that its encrypted STILL keep me from recording it regardless?

Originally posted by Daryl L
I had the same problem but it was corrected by the time ER was on.

Another problem on WNCN-DT 17 was with the DD5.1 audio. Both Wensday and Thursday evening the dialog was coming from the back surround speaker like if everything was reversed. Fox, CBS's(sunday NFL games) and ABC's DD5.1 is fine. Hopefully NBC17ENG will notice and be able to correct it. ;) WNCN-DT 17's signal has been an unreliable PITA for some time now. I solved this by getting DirecTV to give me the NBC HD over the satellite. No more fine tuning and redirecting my antenna everytime I want to watch/record NBC! :D

Originally posted by ENDContra
Which HD box does TWC have that DOES support Firewire? Any of them? I want to try to record the NC State-Miami game on ESPNHD, and Firewire is the only way I can find that might work....or will the fact that its encrypted STILL keep me from recording it regardless?

Assuming things haven't changed since I got my box, it's the 3250HD which supports firewire. I can record to D-VHS (generally) without problems. I'm not sure if you can record to PC or not. Also note that TWC doesn't advertise that they carry firewire boxes and I've seen a post from someone else here on avsforum from Raleigh who called TWC and was told they didn't have any firewire boxes in stock. You probably have to special order it. Also my experience is that the front line CSR's may not even know what you are talking about. You may have to ask for a HD supervisor/specialist.
Good Luck,

Originally posted by NBC17ENG
I'd take a very close look at all the connections from the antenna. It was a bit windy last night, and any loose wire would make your signal jump around. Always compare it to another station like WRAL, since their antenna is about 20 feet or so from our's.

When I saw the frozen frame on Joey, I checked my signal before calling the station and it was solid at 93. It sure seems like a loose wire from your antenna.

All connections must be clean, dry, protected and tight. Any corrosion will affect OTA reception. We've also seen on the satellite, that the signal can be too high, and cause the same affects as too low. (We had to pad down the signal from the dish on our network receiver) I have not heard of it OTA, but it is certainly a possibility.

I actually have an indoor ant so I won't have any corrison unless the little ones pour orange juice on the ant or tv :(

The wral signal strengths were coming in around 95%.

Looks like everything is working fine now for 17.

Thanks,
Vanelin

Originally posted by SWiTCH
Has anyone used any installers around Raleigh for getting their antenea situation resolved? I need to just have a professional come out and get me going.

Thanks

Jay

The closest I've come is Now Audio / Video, but they would only install a new antenna I purchased from them, not help me with correcting an existing install. I've had no luck finding anyone else, but got lucky when my father came to visit. He had enough experience with antennas from the pre-cable days to help me get mine up and working...

If you find someone who is willing to re-run lines, fix antenna installs, and the like, please let us all know here.

Originally posted by gstelmack
The closest I've come is Now Audio / Video, but they would only install a new antenna I purchased from them, not help me with correcting an existing install. I've had no luck finding anyone else, but got lucky when my father came to visit. He had enough experience with antennas from the pre-cable days to help me get mine up and working...

If you find someone who is willing to re-run lines, fix antenna installs, and the like, please let us all know here.

Ill do that. Im actually looking for someone to just do the whole thing. If I have to rerun lines then so be it. My setup is pretty basic anyway. I guess today will be spent on the phone looking for someone to do this.

Thanks!

Jay

Sledge Antenna did my attic install and ran cable for me too. They would have done a roof install if I'd needed it but I get everything except PBS so the attic was fine. Found them by googling "Antenna Raleigh" You may also find other providers via google or by going to antennas direct and looking for their local dealers.

Sledge Antenna & Satellite Sales and Services
(919) 266-9932
7724 Wakebrook Dr Raleigh

Cheers -- gregor

Originally posted by Daryl L
I had the same problem but it was corrected by the time ER was on.

Another problem on WNCN-DT 17 was with the DD5.1 audio. Both Wensday and Thursday evening the dialog was coming from the back surround speaker like if everything was reversed. Fox, CBS's(sunday NFL games) and ABC's DD5.1 is fine. Hopefully NBC17ENG will notice and be able to correct it. ;)

First I've heard of this. Only the new shows are in 5.1 right now, and I watched Joey last Thursday and it was fine. The rest of the night was stereo.

As for the race Saturday night, NBC was delaying it 5 seconds, and they switched it to 4:3 after 20 minutes because the video delay system failed and they couldn't get it working, causing the 5 second lip sync issue with the audio.

Originally posted by NBC17ENG
First I've heard of this. Only the new shows are in 5.1 right now, and I watched Joey last Thursday and it was fine. The rest of the night was stereo. I don't know why it's like this but when WNCN-DT is passing a DD2.0 signal it's fine in surround sound but everytime I've watched WNCN-DT 17.1 and it switched to the DD5.1 audio feed the dialog comes from the surround speakers. It happens on both TWC 217 and OTA 17-1(55-1). Audio DD5.1 feeds on CBS's DD5.1 feed on Sundays NFL games and on Fox or ABC's DD5.1 feed play just fine with dialog coming from the front center speaker. Same with other digital channels like HBO, SHO, STARZ, dialog is front and center as normal.

Originally posted by SWiTCH
Ill do that. Im actually looking for someone to just do the whole thing. If I have to rerun lines then so be it. My setup is pretty basic anyway. I guess today will be spent on the phone looking for someone to do this.

Thanks!

Jay

Hey, SWiTCH. Have you found anyone yet?

I run a home theater company - I'll be happy to do this for you. Send me a PM if you're interested.

Hi All,

I need a few eyes (and ears) here. I have had a complaint of lip sync problems on WRAL 5.1. Are any of you seeing anything? ( for that matter WRAZ 50.1 as well).

Thanks,

Pete

I watched WRAL News at Noon, 5, and 5:30 today. Didn't notice any synch problems during those broadcasts. Caught a little bit of the network feed during B&B and ATWT and didn't notice anything odd. Hope that helps a bit. Haven't really watched any of WRAZ today.

Originally posted by psockett
I need a few eyes (and ears) here. I have had a complaint of lip sync problems on WRAL 5.1. Are any of you seeing anything? ( for that matter WRAZ 50.1 as well).

I've watched the 6:00 news on 5.1 all week and haven't noticed any issues.

Haven't noticed any issues with baseball on 50.1 either, but there are fewer chances to notice audio sync issues during baseball coverage.

I assume those strange picture blips during the Yankee game last night weren't local. It kind of looked like a digital delay system somewhere was choking. They didn't seem to be occurring on the analog signal (via satellite).

Some Samsung DLP TVs are notorious for lip sync issues.

Also, my old RCA DTC-100 could develop lip sync issues if it was experiencing any picture interruptions. Tuning away and then back to the channel would clear up the problem.

Almost the first half of the first hour of The West Wing was not in HD on NBC tonight.

:mad:

Originally posted by mswilson
Almost the first half of the first hour of The West Wing was not in HD on NBC tonight.

:mad:

We'll, there off to a great start then. The last episode wasn't in HD *at all*, so I guess they've improved. ;)

Now I'm really going to call DirecTV to get my national HD feed for NBC fixed (I'm not getting it even though we are in an area with an affiliate owned and operated by the network). That way I don't have to wait for NBC17 (or Miami or whoever it is that can't figure this out) to get this right at least more often than they get it wrong.

Originally posted by pkscout
We'll, there off to a great start then. The last episode wasn't in HD *at all*, so I guess they've improved. ;)

Now I'm really going to call DirecTV to get my national HD feed for NBC fixed (I'm not getting it even though we are in an area with an affiliate owned and operated by the network). That way I don't have to wait for NBC17 (or Miami or whoever it is that can't figure this out) to get this right at least more often than they get it wrong.

Pulled this from another thread on the West Wing premiere when someone in DC was complaining about a similar problem...

I am getting the West Wing in HD via OTA in Miami. Both episodes tonight were in HD for me.

Sounds like they've got their best employees on their local market and the slackers working distribution for the rest of the country.

Originally posted by pkscout
We'll, there off to a great start then. The last episode wasn't in HD *at all*, so I guess they've improved. ;)

Now I'm really going to call DirecTV to get my national HD feed for NBC fixed (I'm not getting it even though we are in an area with an affiliate owned and operated by the network). That way I don't have to wait for NBC17 (or Miami or whoever it is that can't figure this out) to get this right at least more often than they get it wrong.

Let me know if you get this resolved - I have the same issue.

I contacted them and they said it was activated in my account, it also shows up in my channels that I receive - but I get an x721 message when I tune to the channel.

Originally posted by psockett
Hi All,

I need a few eyes (and ears) here. I have had a complaint of lip sync problems on WRAL 5.1. Are any of you seeing anything? ( for that matter WRAZ 50.1 as well).

Thanks,

Pete

With both ESPN-HD over DirecTV and WRAZ 50.1 over OTA when in HD (note both are 720p channels), I get major lip-synch and video glitch issues when standard-def commercials are played. The 720p parts of the broadcast are fine, but any SD commercials have major synch issues. I have not had nearly as many issues with WRAL 5.1 in 1080i mode when showing HD content. In all cases, the HD content itself seems fine.

This is using a Samsung SIR-TS360 DirecTV HD receiver.

Anyone having static on the WB broadcasts? I only watch Smallville OTA for its HD, but last week and this week there was a lot of intermittant static in the audio. Anyone else experiencing this, or is it my setup?

Well, given how often the SA8000HD DVR has been maligned by me and others on this forum (and rightly so), I thought I'ld share a good experience:

Last night my power went out for about 5 minutes. At the time I was recording two HD shows and watching a third previously recorded (so, heavy disk I/O). I thought, "oh crap, I've probably lost every thing I have recorded". But after the power came back on, and after the 8000HD took a few minutes to get its marbles organized, everything I had previously recorded was still there. The two shows that had been interrupted resumed recording. I was pleasantly surprised given the DVRs glitchy track record.

I was a little nervous at first because the DVR was initially unresponsive, even after the boot activity appeared to be complete. Couldn't even get it to tune a channel. Guess it just needed more time because all of sudden, poof, all was well. The shows that I was recording that were interrupted are now in two parts, one part before the power outage, the second part after power returned.

Also noticed the OS appears to have been upgraded on Oct 8. Not sure what changed.

Sooke

Originally posted by keefer37
Anyone having static on the WB broadcasts? I only watch Smallville OTA for its HD, but last week and this week there was a lot of intermittant static in the audio. Anyone else experiencing this, or is it my setup?

I experienced this problem during WLFL's broadcast of Smallville last night as well. I had dropped signal strength about 10% due to fiddling with my antenna, so I thought that was the problem. Glad to know it was not just me with the problem. I didn't notice the static during commercials however. The only time I was hearing the static was during the show.

Originally posted by easternncnewswat
I experienced this problem during WLFL's broadcast of Smallville last night as well. I had dropped signal strength about 10% due to fiddling with my antenna, so I thought that was the problem. Glad to know it was not just me with the problem. I didn't notice the static during commercials however. The only time I was hearing the static was during the show.

Yes, I noticed some of the commercials were fine. It honestly seemed to me like the audio was turned up too loud and was being over driven or something.

Well, I went to pick up the SA3250 so I could record the State game to DVHS...but somehow I managed to get a box that DOESNT have a Firewire port. Not only that, but TWC told me they might could get a box to me WITHIN A MONTH. Very disappointing. If anyone has the capability to record the State-Miami game in high-def, please let me know, I will gladly pay for the blank tape and shipping if needed.

Can anyone help a befuddled newbie out? My HDTV arrived this morning, and it has a built-in QAM tuner. I have truly tried to search this thread for an up-to-date listing of what I can get 'in the clear" with Standard Service on TWC...but 60-odd pages is a lot to plow through. I found this (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=147473&perpage=20&highlight=TWC%2017.1&pagenumber=55) listing at the bottom of the page...but it seems out of date.

For instance, that list says 113.1 should be WRAZ FOX HD. I punch that in, and the tuner 'maps' to 11.1 , which is WTVD HD (I think). Yes, I found WRAZ on 50.1.

I'm guessing the local HD/digital channels are found on their OTA...number (since I don't know the technical term)? I also saw menion of maybe TNT and Discovery HD in the clear, , but I'm guessing they are encrypted now?

If anyone can post, or point me to, an up-to-date list of what I should be able to tune into, I'd greatly appreciate the help. I'm sure I'm the 1000th newbie to ask, and I know it gets tiring. I'll 'pay it forward', and keep an eye on the thread and respond to similar questions when I can.

If I can try your patience a bit more...am I correct in my thinking that not all the local channels broadcast in HD all the time? The 'channel info' my TV can display will show a channel as digital, but not necessarily in HD? For instance, 5.1 lists as WRAL in digital...but I'm thinking it's not in HD right now (Clemson/Maryland game)? But the infomercial on 11.1... is? < my set is showing that as 'HDTV-1', but the football gave just as 'WRAL DT'>

Thanks for any help. Honestly...I tried to search/read before I asked...

Jake

Originally posted by Shaky jake
Can anyone help a befuddled newbie out? My HDTV arrived this morning, and it has a built-in QAM tuner. I have truly tried to search this thread for an up-to-date listing of what I can get 'in the clear" with Standard Service on TWC...but 60-odd pages is a lot to plow through. I found this (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=147473&perpage=20&highlight=TWC%2017.1&pagenumber=55) listing at the bottom of the page...but it seems out of date.

For instance, that list says 113.1 should be WRAZ FOX HD. I punch that in, and the tuner 'maps' to 11.1 , which is WTVD HD (I think). Yes, I found WRAZ on 50.1.

I'm guessing the local HD/digital channels are found on their OTA...number (since I don't know the technical term)? I also saw menion of maybe TNT and Discovery HD in the clear, , but I'm guessing they are encrypted now?

If anyone can post, or point me to, an up-to-date list of what I should be able to tune into, I'd greatly appreciate the help. I'm sure I'm the 1000th newbie to ask, and I know it gets tiring. I'll 'pay it forward', and keep an eye on the thread and respond to similar questions when I can.

If I can try your patience a bit more...am I correct in my thinking that not all the local channels broadcast in HD all the time? The 'channel info' my TV can display will show a channel as digital, but not necessarily in HD? For instance, 5.1 lists as WRAL in digital...but I'm thinking it's not in HD right now (Clemson/Maryland game)? But the infomercial on 11.1... is? < my set is showing that as 'HDTV-1', but the football gave just as 'WRAL DT'>

Thanks for any help. Honestly...I tried to search/read before I asked...

Jake

Hi Jake,

Welcome aboard! I've got basic cable and I have found tons of HD programming (or at least channels) available with the built in QAM.

My QAM tuner remaps so I'll give you the remapped info:

HDDiscovery theater moved not too long ago-- to channel 0
TNT-HD is on 84.3

UNC channels galore on 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4 Only 4.2 is HD the others are digital 480i but 4.3 is nice since it is 24 hour kids programming (nice if you have kids at least)

You've picked up the locals-- 5.1, 11.1, 17.1, 50.1
There are some multicasting on them-- 5.2, 11.2, 17.2, etc. and some have a third as well like 11.3.

I am seriously considering a better UHF indoor antenna. I have a loop right now, but I find I can receive non-HD 48, 20, 28 and HD 2.1,2.2 (Greensboro CBS) and 22.1 (Raleigh WB). I see from antennaweb.org that 28.1 47.1 are broadcasting at some level. I may go to a silver sensor of amplified antenna to try to pull in the signals better or see if the 28.1 and 47.1 are out there.

BTW, I saw a thread that the HDSuite was available in some places (it was not the Raleigh forum) as an upgrade with Cable card and could be done with the Basic cable package. I enquired at the TWC booth at the fair regarding wether this similar set up was acheivable-- a good deal in my eyes-- $1.75 or so for the cablecard, $13 or so for Basic and another $7 or so for the HD-Suite without all the standard or digital cable crud. The response was that they didn't think that could be done-- "one must have the digital package to get any HD" which they changed their story to "HD-suite" after I explained that I was already pulling in the HD local channels through the tuner with Basic Cable. However, they did indicate they had a limited number of cablecards-- first come first serve.

I'd be interested in any info or stories by folks who try out the cable cards.

Thanks,
Gary

Originally posted by Shaky jake

If I can try your patience a bit more...am I correct in my thinking that not all the local channels broadcast in HD all the time? The 'channel info' my TV can display will show a channel as digital, but not necessarily in HD? For instance, 5.1 lists as WRAL in digital...but I'm thinking it's not in HD right now (Clemson/Maryland game)? But the infomercial on 11.1... is? < my set is showing that as 'HDTV-1', but the football gave just as 'WRAL DT'>

Thanks for any help. Honestly...I tried to search/read before I asked...

Jake

Hi Jake,

I forgot to address your last question. No, not all channels are HD all the time. I have only found UNC-HD, Discovery Theater, and TNT-HD (which is upconverted so not all shows are equal) have non-stop HD.

I asked previously about how to find out what HD programming is available and got a linked response-- which I found to have a good (non-scheduled) rundown of what will be in HD for the given day:
www.titantv.com/ttv/home/HDTVUpdate.aspx


Thanks,
Gary

Thanks, Gary, for the welcome - and the info.

Maybe it's my tuner...? I get no 84.1; that seems to remap to 84...and I think that's Discovery HD...unless the Moster Chopper Builders Who Bicker All The Time Guys have moved to TNT? Oh, a logo just came on - yup, I'm getting Discovery HD on 84. And I couldn't get a channel 0 at all. Would TNT be somewhere else? I'd just hate to have to go through all the digital channels the tuner picked up - tried some, and just get "Not an Authorized Channel" message. I'm in Durham, if that makes any difference.

It's a tad frustrating - I'm used to being technologically adept.

Yeah, I called TWC - have to get the whole DIGIPICs pkg to get digital service.

If you, or anyone else has any further ideas about TNT...

Thanks,

Jake

Originally posted by Shaky jake
Thanks, Gary, for the welcome - and the info.

Maybe it's my tuner...? I get no 84.1; that seems to remap to 84...and I think that's Discovery HD...unless the Moster Chopper Builders Who Bicker All The Time Guys have moved to TNT? Oh, a logo just came on - yup, I'm getting Discovery HD on 84. And I couldn't get a channel 0 at all. Would TNT be somewhere else? I'd just hate to have to go through all the digital channels the tuner picked up - tried some, and just get "Not an Authorized Channel" message. I'm in Durham, if that makes any difference.

It's a tad frustrating - I'm used to being technologically adept.

Yeah, I called TWC - have to get the whole DIGIPICs pkg to get digital service.

If you, or anyone else has any further ideas about TNT...

Thanks,

Jake

Hi Jake,

I'm getting TNT-HD on 84.3, not 84.1. Does that help? I don't know why HD Discovery moved to 0 on my TV. It was at 93.1 as per the link you posted.
<EDIT:>
Being in Durham may make a difference. I'm in Raleigh.

Thanks,
Gary

I'm in Durham and here's what I'm getting ...

84.2 - DiscoveryHD
84-3 - TNT-HD
85-2 - CBSHD (WRAL)
111-2 - NBCHD (WNCN)
113-1 - ABCHD (WTVD)
113-4 - FOXHD (WRAZ)

I can't seem to find PBSHD (WUNC) anywhere ... I used to get it at 90.2

I'm using an LG-3510 - is anyone else getting it?

Originally posted by mswilson
Almost the first half of the first hour of The West Wing was not in HD on NBC tonight.

:mad:

Now I've confused myself. I finally got around to watching West Wing last night (recorded on my HD-TiVo via OTA), and the whole thing was in HD, or at least it was 16:9 (my plasma display only does ED, so I can't tell the difference between 16:9 digital and true HD).

Originally posted by pkscout
Now I've confused myself. I finally got around to watching West Wing last night (recorded on my HD-TiVo via OTA), and the whole thing was in HD, or at least it was 16:9 (my plasma display only does ED, so I can't tell the difference between 16:9 digital and true HD).

West Wing showed two episodes. The first hour was the last episode of last season. I did not see that one. The second hour was the season premiere. It appeared to by in HD to me for the entire time.

My guess is that the repeat episode was shown in SD and the new one in HD.

Jarrett

The only company besides Tweeter who may do this is maybe ?CC?.
There is a HT and PC custom installer who I know sells antennas. I am not sure if they install it. They are called DLS. ph# is 969 6567

The real trick is finding a good antenna. I may have to try the Channel master 4221. I tried every indoor antenna and right now am getting the locals w/ bunny ears. However, every once in a blue moon they break up. I am not dealing with that.

You guys have certain rec'ns for a distance of 35 miles from the towers in one direction. I have tried the terk silver sensor knockoff, the radio shack popular amplified, and the bunny ears. All the indoors were equivalent. The bunny ears are being run into an amplifier.

When WNCN-DT 17-1(TWC CH. 217) switches to their DD5.1 signal is anybody besides me getting any dialog bleeding into the surround speakers (especially the left sides)?

Originally posted by Daryl L
When WNCN-DT 17-1(TWC CH. 217) switches to their DD5.1 signal is anybody besides me getting any dialog bleeding into the surround speakers (especially the left sides)?

Do you know if you're seeing the issue with West Wing? I haven't watched it yet (the HDTiVo recorded it last night), but I'll check when I do watch it.

Don't watch West Wing so I haven't checked it but it's like that on all NBC shows I've watch (Joey, LAX, Las Vegas, Medical Investigations, ER, Crossing Jordan, Father of the Pride, Scrubs) and even commercials. I know only this seasons new shows are true DD5.1 but all new and old are bleeding over to the surrounds. It's been this way since they started passing the DD5.1 primetime feed. It's the same on TWC and OTA. All the other stations I get DD5.1 on (CBS, ABC, SHO, HBO among others) and my DD5.1 DVD's sound just fine so my systems obviously working fine.

Originally posted by Daryl L
When WNCN-DT 17-1(TWC CH. 217) switches to their DD5.1 signal is anybody besides me getting any dialog bleeding into the surround speakers (especially the left sides)?


Definitely hearing this on West Wing through my HD-DVR on TWC. It is very distracting. I had to turn off the amp and listen to the TV itself instead of my surround sound system.

Originally posted by wjarrettc
Definitely hearing this on West Wing through my HD-DVR on TWC. It is very distracting. I had to turn off the amp and listen to the TV itself instead of my surround sound system. Yep I have to do the same. Thanks for checking because I was the only one that had commented on this since WNCN-DT started their primetime DD5.1 passthrough a couple weeks ago. I was beginning to wonder if it was just me. :) And it's like that OTA too, not just TWC.

I've been noticing on Joey as well. I'm receiving it OTA.

Hi all. We are thinking of getting an HDTV and I am looking into how to feed it. I have had DirecTV since the mid-90s. I am happy with the picture (well it does get pixelated some times), but don't like the price I would have to pay for HD.

I live in a 5 year old neighborhood in Cary.

My questions are thus:
1) How is the picture these days with TWC? I am asking separatly about the analog, digital, and HD channels.
2) Are the TWC HD channels as good as OTA, or do they compress/pixelate them?
3) DirecTV has announced a bunch of new HD local and network channels coming up in the next couple of years. Has TWC had any announcements about adding HD channels, or going all digital, etc? What is their next couple of years plan?
4) What HD STB are they using these days, and does it have component, SVideo, and/or digitial outputs?

Thanks.

Originally posted by abward
Hi all. We are thinking of getting an HDTV and I am looking into how to feed it. I have had DirecTV since the mid-90s. I am happy with the picture (well it does get pixelated some times), but don't like the price I would have to pay for HD.

I live in a 5 year old neighborhood in Cary.

My questions are thus:
1) How is the picture these days with TWC? I am asking separatly about the analog, digital, and HD channels.
2) Are the TWC HD channels as good as OTA, or do they compress/pixelate them?
3) DirecTV has announced a bunch of new HD local and network channels coming up in the next couple of years. Has TWC had any announcements about adding HD channels, or going all digital, etc? What is their next couple of years plan?
4) What HD STB are they using these days, and does it have component, SVideo, and/or digitial outputs?

Thanks.

I am a long time DISH subscriber who added TWC for local HDTV content around May of this year. I use a DISH 811 STB connected to my monitor via DVI. For TWC, I use the HD-DVR from Scientific Atlanta connected by component video cables.

Analog channels (0-99) on TWC sucks on my HD monitor. On my other SDTVs, I don't find it too bad, but definitely noticeably worse than DISH. I still cary DISH primarily so I can get most of your basic channels (CNN, ESPN2, COMEDY CENTRAL) in digital format since TWC offers them analog. The SD digital channels on TWC and DISH are comparable in quality. I've tried to compare pix quality between like HD channels on DISH and TWC (ESPN-HD, HDNet) and I cannot tell a difference on my monitor (a CRT-based Toshiba CinemaSeries). I am also a fan of the VideoOnDemand services offered by TWC, but wish they had some HD in the VOD offer.

Also, TWC has INHD and INHD2 in their HD package which you cannot presently get through DISH or DirecTV.

I really like the HD-DVR from TWC for $7 a month. That coupled with not having to mess with OTA signals has lead me to keep TWC. I have had lots of problem with TWC customer service, both for my cable and for my VoIP phone . If I could get local HD content and DVR from DISH, I'd drop the TWC package.

So, in short, I like TWC's technology and programming, but I'm not a big fan of their customer service. I'll continue to carry both TWC and DISH until one of them clearly differentiates their offer to me or until their are so homogenous that is doesn't matter.

One more thing. The reason I can afford to carry both TWC and DISH is that if you call up TWC and tell them you are currently a DISH/DirecTV subscriber they will usually offer you a really good deal on programming (like 30-40% off list price) if you'll convert. They guarantee the price for 18 months and there's no commitment on your part to stay for any duration.

This was the case in May, I expect they still do this as in general, cable is losing subscribers to DBS systems.

wjarrettc,

Thanks for the info.

What is the non-DVR HD STB they are giving out right now?

Originally posted by wjarrettc
Analog channels (0-99) on TWC sucks on my HD monitor. On my other SDTVs, I don't find it too bad, but definitely noticeably worse than DISH. I still cary DISH primarily so I can get most of your basic channels (CNN, ESPN2, COMEDY CENTRAL) in digital format since TWC offers them analog. The SD digital channels on TWC and DISH are comparable in quality. I've tried to compare pix quality between like HD channels on DISH and TWC (ESPN-HD, HDNet) and I cannot tell a difference on my monitor (a CRT-based Toshiba CinemaSeries). I am also a fan of the VideoOnDemand services offered by TWC, but wish they had some HD in the VOD offer.

Also, TWC has INHD and INHD2 in their HD package which you cannot presently get through DISH or DirecTV.

I really like the HD-DVR from TWC for $7 a month. That coupled with not having to mess with OTA signals has lead me to keep TWC. I have had lots of problem with TWC customer service, both for my cable and for my VoIP phone . If I could get local HD content and DVR from DISH, I'd drop the TWC package.

So, in short, I like TWC's technology and programming, but I'm not a big fan of their customer service. I'll continue to carry both TWC and DISH until one of them clearly differentiates their offer to me or until their are so
homogenous that is doesn't matter.

On my Sony KD-34XS955 I find the TWC analog channels to have a grainy look-- like a picture or film type grain that is not unpleasant and I sometimes prefer that feel and look over a non-HD digital equivalent. It depends upon my preference each evening. Sometimes the DT 480i signals are very reasonable. Perhaps it depends upon the show or cameras.

I definitely love the HD response of the set regardless of OTA or Basic cable response, it rocks and sets the best viewing standard. The 720p is upgraded to 1080i internally and sometimes I feel that the native 1080i is better, but often times I don't notice at all.

Thanks,
Gary

One more gripe about TWC. Today during the Manchester United v. Portsmouth English Premier League soccer match on PPV, the game went out after 38 minutes and never came back. The same thing happened last weekend during the Manchester United v. Arsenal match (a rivalry equivalent to Red Sox/Yankees in English soccer).

This is a PPV package that costs $300 a year and this is the third time I've had problems with TWC bringing the game in through the first 10 weeks. I've checked around on other boards and this is an RDU-only problem. DISH/DirecTV and TWC in other markets had no interupptions during this game.

When I asked to speak to a supervisor this morning, I was told one was not availlable but if I left a voicemail they would call me back shortly. It's been over 4 hours without a call back.

I'm getting ever closer to firing them over this. Considering that my monthly bill for cable/VoIP phone/broadband is about $175 and I generally spend another $50-60 a month on PPV packages and events, I'm feeling the only way I can make my frustration known is to fire them, and make sure someone high enough up in their management structure understands why they are losing such a valuable customer.

wjarrettc,

For VoIP, consider trying Vonage or AT&T CallVantage.

Vonage is $25/month for unlimited calling and you can have a virtual number in the UK for $5/month.

AT&T is $30/month, and may sound even better than Vonage.

Thanks for the feedback. I left TWC in the mid-90s after experiencing bad signal and service. It appears as though they have not mended their ways.

Originally posted by pkscout
Do you know if you're seeing the issue with West Wing? I haven't watched it yet (the HDTiVo recorded it last night), but I'll check when I do watch it.

OK, I finally got around to watching West Wing, and I'm definitely hearing the bleed over, and yes it is really bad. I finally turned Pro Logic off because sometimes I couldn't hear the dialog over the shouting brook.

Originally posted by pkscout
OK, I finally got around to watching West Wing, and I'm definitely hearing the bleed over, and yes it is really bad. I finally turned Pro Logic off because sometimes I couldn't hear the dialog over the shouting brook.
pkscout,

Thanks for the update.

Just for clarification for everyone. I've did a little more testing. If WNCN-DT 17-1 OTA (and TWC 217) is sending only analog and DD2.0, and either audio sources are played back in dolby prologic 2 (or DPL2x) theirs no dialog bleeding into the surrounds. But when their passing the DD5.1 feed both the DD5.1 audio played back as DD5.1 it has dialog bleeding over into the surrounds. And the analog audio played back with DPL2 has alot of dialog bleeding into the left and right front speakera and little dialog bleeding over into the surrounds but not as bad as the DD5.1 feed.

What the heck is going on with WTVD's over the air signal? WNCN, WRAL and WRAZ are coming in fine but WTVD refuses to come in for more than a few seconds.

Anyone else seeing issues with WRAL? Normally the signal comes in nice and strong for me (90%+), but since last night, it's fluctuating between 0%-45%. All other stations seem to be coming in normally.

Originally posted by aldamon
What the heck is going on with WTVD's over the air signal? WNCN, WRAL and WRAZ are coming in fine but WTVD refuses to come in for more than a few seconds.

and

Originally posted by Kevad
Anyone else seeing issues with WRAL? Normally the signal comes in nice and strong for me (90%+), but since last night, it's fluctuating between 0%-45%. All other stations seem to be coming in normally.

Thought I'd respond to these both together. I'm getting WTVD and WRAL just fine here in Durham (both at 95%) with a roof mounted antenna. If the signal is bouncing around, it might be multipath reflection (which can happen with indoor or attic mounts), but if you've been getting the signal fine I doubt multipath would just start happening.

Hmm...yeah, that's strange. I just assumed something was going on with the transmitter, since nothing really changed on my end, and I'm getting all of the other stations without any issues. Guess I'll have to mess around with my antenna when I get home since the signal is at 0%-15% now. (My antenna is mounted in the attic, but WRAL has been stable at 90%-100% for the past 6 months or so)

Actually, as fall hits and the leaves fall off the trees multi-path can change greatly. Try adjusting your antenna, you'd be suprised at how much things can change. But yes, WRAL is at full power and has been all along.

Pete

That's a very good point Pete....without doing anything yesterday, the signal I got for WRAL jumped back up to a solid 50%-60%, so that's definitely good enough for no breakups and a smooth picture.

Originally posted by pkscout
and

Thought I'd respond to these both together. I'm getting WTVD and WRAL just fine here in Durham (both at 95%) with a roof mounted antenna. If the signal is bouncing around, it might be multipath reflection (which can happen with indoor or attic mounts), but if you've been getting the signal fine I doubt multipath would just start happening.

Aren't the antennas for all of these stations in the same area? I still can't tune in WTVD and it's driving me crazy. WRAL, WRAZ and WNCN all come in fine with the occasional blip.

Yes, I'm pretty sure they're all on the same tower. I wish I had some helpful hint to help with the issue you're having with WTVD.

No they are NOT all on the same tower. However, they ARE all within .5-1 mile radius from each other. The WRAL tower has WRAL/WRAZ Analog/Digital, WRDC /WLFL digital. WTVD analog/digital have their own tower, as does WNCN analog/digital. I'm not quite sure where WRDC analog is (it's close to or ON the WRAL tower) and the WLFL analog tower is significantly to the west of the others (not as far away as WUNC analog/digital - which are close to Chapel Hill). The Pax stations are off in their own locations as well - 47 analog/15 digital is between Louisburg/ Rocky Mount. and the 62 is close to Fayetteville. All this is publicly available information if you know where and how to look and how to plot it on a chart/map.

Hey all:

I've been working on a new website about television. Some of you may recall 100000watts before it went subscription? That's basically what I'm doing, except I'm getting detailed about HD in this site.

www.rabbitears.info

I just completed Raleigh, the third market I've done, after Greensboro and Roanoke. I'd like to ask that if you see any mistakes, please let me know.

Thanks!

- Trip

Originally posted by Scooper
No they are NOT all on the same tower. However, they ARE all within .5-1 mile radius from each other. The WRAL tower has WRAL/WRAZ Analog/Digital, WRDC /WLFL digital. WTVD analog/digital have their own tower, as does WNCN analog/digital. I'm not quite sure where WRDC analog is (it's close to or ON the WRAL tower) and the WLFL analog tower is significantly to the west of the others (not as far away as WUNC analog/digital - which are close to Chapel Hill). The Pax stations are off in their own locations as well - 47 analog/15 digital is between Louisburg/ Rocky Mount. and the 62 is close to Fayetteville. All this is publicly available information if you know where and how to look and how to plot it on a chart/map.

LOL, well I moved my antenna all over the place and got WTVD back while keeping WRAL and WRAZ. Unfortunately now I've lost WNCN. Luckily I have NBCE on DirecTV so it doesn't matter. WNCN always seems to be problematic anyway. So I consider that a victory until the leaves come back I guess :)

aldamon what kind of antenna do you have in your attic? I'm thinking of putting one there as the one i have on top of my tv take too much tuning for certain channels.

WRAL, WRAZ, WNCN, WLFL, WRDC - All on the Same tower in Auburn

WTVD on their own tower about 1 mile from those listed above

PBS is in Chapel Hill.

Please note that these are the locations for the DT's only, the analogs are different in some cases.

Pete

Originally posted by ncsu4life
aldamon what kind of antenna do you have in your attic? I'm thinking of putting one there as the one i have on top of my tv take too much tuning for certain channels.

I don't have an antenna in my attic. I have a $40 Radio Shack 15-1880 in my living room. Everything was coming in fine until a few days ago. I haven't given up on WNCN but NBCE fills in nicely for prime time.

Has anyone else seen NBC Weather Plus on 17.2? So far, it looks like pretty standard fare for a weather channel, not as locally focused as WRAL Weather Center channel on 50.3. My understanding is that it will enventually evolve into a split national/local focus. Also, I thought it was not supposed to debut until next week. Wonder if we are getting a sneak preview right now. Currently WNCN is overlaying the audio from 17.1 over any audio that NBC Weather Plus carries; it must have it's own audio, it has it's own commercials. LOL. Anyway, looks like a viable alternative to The Weather Channel.

Removed as of 12:35; must have been testing it out.

has anyone heard anything about when directv and UPN48 will fix the signal problems with the UPN48 directv feed???

Did anybody else notice that UPN 28 digital wasn't broadcasting last night? I was trying to 'tape' (PVR) veronica mars, and discovered that i wasn't getting a signal. I could switch over to analog and get it just fine.....

Originally posted by jamielee
has anyone heard anything about when directv and UPN48 will fix the signal problems with the UPN48 directv feed???

I didn't even realize there was a problem. Of course the only thing on UPN we watch (record actually) is Enterprise, so as long as everything is working between 5pm and 6pm and Sundays I'd never even notice.

Can someone list the digital stations in the RDU market that are at full power? I am setting up my mother-in-law with a digital receiver. She lives on a hill north of Martinsville, VA. So far she gets all of ROA exc. FOX, all of GSO except FOX, and WUNC 4 from CH. Thanks...

Heres the RDU stations I get in Washington NC 90+ miles east of Raleigh.

5.1 5.2 WRAL DT
11.1 11.2 11.3 WTVD DT
17.1 17.2 WNCN DT
22.1 WB22DT
28.1 upn28
30.1 shop at home
47.1-4 pax
50.1 -3 wraz dt

I still have occasional audio dropouts as well as picture stutter on HD channels. Particullarly with HD+DD5.1 channels. Last night American Chopper on DSC-HD was almost unwatchable.

My questions are:

1) Does anyone have an HD-DVR from TWC who does NOT experience audio dropouts or picture stutter or other strange viewing glitches? (Do we all have this problem?)

2) Has anyone with an HD-DVR from TWC who HAS experienced these issues found a fix?

I know when they first came out some on this forum were trying to get TWC to boost there signal and stuff. Any success? I'm skeptical since I never had any signal strength problems with the SA3100HD or the SA3250HD.

I'm beginning to think the box is just a poor design, rushed out. I'm unwilling to give up the DVR function however. I'm just trying to find a fix.

Thanks,

Sooke

Originally posted by sooke
I still have occasional audio dropouts as well as picture stutter on HD channels. Particullarly with HD+DD5.1 channels. Last night American Chopper on DSC-HD was almost unwatchable.

My questions are:

1) Does anyone have an HD-DVR from TWC who does NOT experience audio dropouts or picture stutter or other strange viewing glitches? (Do we all have this problem?)

2) Has anyone with an HD-DVR from TWC who HAS experienced these issues found a fix?



Sooke,

I still experience intermittent problems with the HD-DVR. This last Tues & Wed were particularly bad (11/9-10). All HD channels seemed to be having problems. For the last 6 weeks or so, I'd had nothing but perfect recording/playback. So I don't think the box is the only source of the problem. I should also mention that the problems of the last couple of nights occurred on my 3250HD also. When the HD-DVR gets a good signal, it seems to work fine which is why I'm not going to switch boxes unless a new model becomes available.
Regards,

Originally posted by aldamon
What the heck is going on with WTVD's over the air signal? WNCN, WRAL and WRAZ are coming in fine but WTVD refuses to come in for more than a few seconds.

I'm having the same problem with 11.1 for the past few weeks. Anyone figure out what's going on with it? All my other stations are still excellent. I'm using a Rooftop antennae.

Originally posted by gillcup
Sooke,

I still experience intermittent problems with the HD-DVR. This last Tues & Wed were particularly bad (11/9-10). All HD channels seemed to be having problems. For the last 6 weeks or so, I'd had nothing but perfect recording/playback. So I don't think the box is the only source of the problem. I should also mention that the problems of the last couple of nights occurred on my 3250HD also. When the HD-DVR gets a good signal, it seems to work fine which is why I'm not going to switch boxes unless a new model becomes available.
Regards,

It's not a "fix" but there is definitely a correlation between how much you ask the HD-DVR to do and the pixelation/dropouts. For instance:

1) Recording two HD shows and watching a recorded program - massive dropouts

2) Recording one HD show and watching a separate recorded program - some dropouts

3) Recording on HD show and not watching TV - none or very few pixelation

Time shifting is also bad news. For instance, if I start watching an HD program as it is recording (say 30 minutes into the program I begin at the start of the program), when I reach the 30 minute mark, I will start to see dropouts and pixelation.

My experience seems to be that the hardware just doesn't have the processing power / cache / bandwith to deal with the loads.

Stupid question from a member hanging out mostly on thr RPTV forum:

As my trusty Toshiba 36A60 tube has begun to fail , I went to Best Buy to size up the rear-projection HDTV's. After talking a bit with the salesman, he mentioned that a Time-Warner rep told him that they were not going to be activating the DVI port on their cable STB's. I thought this was odd, because I'd read that people here were using DVI output to their HDTV monitors, so...

Is he full of you-know-what and trying to sell me on satellite, or is there any truth to what he's saying?

Originally posted by TetsujinWave

Is he full of you-know-what and trying to sell me on satellite, or is there any truth to what he's saying?

Some truth in it...

It is possible to get an HD STB from TWC with DVI output activated, but you have to specifically ask for it. I asked for it and they still brought me one without a DVI output. I had to take it into the office and get a replacement that did have DVI.

Although all of the HD-DVR STBs have a DVI output on the box, DVI is disabled in the firmware. Someday, they may enable it but considering all the problems these boxes have, I seriously doubt we'll see DVI on this first generation of HD-DVRs.

Hope that helps.

Jarrett

Originally posted by TetsujinWave
Stupid question from a member hanging out mostly on thr RPTV forum:

As my trusty Toshiba 36A60 tube has begun to fail , I went to Best Buy to size up the rear-projection HDTV's. After talking a bit with the salesman, he mentioned that a Time-Warner rep told him that they were not going to be activating the DVI port on their cable STB's. I thought this was odd, because I'd read that people here were using DVI output to their HDTV monitors, so...

Is he full of you-know-what and trying to sell me on satellite, or is there any truth to what he's saying?

Don't get me started on Best Buy sales-people. Chances are he wasn't trying to sell you on satellite or anything else - he just didn't know any better.

But that's the main problem over there - they just don't know any better and they try to come off like they are giving you expert advice.

If you want DVI from TWC, it's certainly available. Ask for the Pace box. Beware, however, that TWC is encrypting the signal via DVI with HDCP. So, make sure that your display has an HDCP-compatible DVI input.

And don't bother to ask the guys at Best Buy if a display is HDCP compatible - I just went through this whole thing with a client of mine a few weeks ago. I ended up having to go to Best Buy with him, explain HDCP to the salesperson and have him exchange his TV.

Sorry for the rant. Hope it helps. :)

Originally posted by deArgila
Don't get me started on Best Buy sales-people. Chances are he wasn't trying to sell you on satellite or anything else - he just didn't know any better.


I remember one time I was in Best Buy and mentioned to the sales person I was going to look around at a few other places. The salesman tried to convince me it was better to shop at Best Buy because their salesmen weren't commissioned and wouldn't try to "up sell" you like some of their competitors (I think he was referring to Circuit City, at the time).

My reaction... "So, that explains why your sales/customer service is such crap! You've got nothing invested in whether or not I make a purchase or just stare dumbly at the bank of televisions."

Jarrett

Originally posted by TetsujinWave
I thought this was odd, because I'd read that people here were using DVI output to their HDTV monitors, so...


Tetsujin,

DVI is also available on their SA3250HD box (in addition to the Pace). I used it for a week and had no problems. Don't know which box is better though.

Sooke

I appreciate the responses--I know exactly what you're talking about. When I got to the HDTV area, we was explaining that the pedestal Samsung DLP had the "HD3" chip in it, which gave the best picture. When I corrected him (it has the HD2+ chip), he still didn't believe me until I explained exactly how each chip worked and the pluses and minuses of each.

No DVI on the recorder might be a deal breaker--not sure.

Originally posted by TetsujinWave
No DVI on the recorder might be a deal breaker--not sure.

As you noted before, if DVI is going to be a requirement for a DVR, I think your only option right now will be the HDTiVo from DirectTV (or does the Dish 921 have it as well?). I love my HDTiVo, but there have been a number of folks on the TiVo Community board that have gone through multiple units trying to get one one which the HDMI port actually works (the unit comes with an HDMI to DVI converter). Of course, there are lots of folks for whom it has been working perfectly with HDMI as well.

You might also want to consider the new Sony CableCard HD DVR's, which are either out or coming out soon. I found some info by googling for "DHG-HDD250" One of the drawbacks to this unit is that it can only record one thing at a time.

Originally posted by sooke
I still have occasional audio dropouts as well as picture stutter on HD channels. Particullarly with HD+DD5.1 channels. Last night American Chopper on DSC-HD was almost unwatchable.

My questions are:

1) Does anyone have an HD-DVR from TWC who does NOT experience audio dropouts or picture stutter or other strange viewing glitches? (Do we all have this problem?)

2) Has anyone with an HD-DVR from TWC who HAS experienced these issues found a fix?

I know when they first came out some on this forum were trying to get TWC to boost there signal and stuff. Any success? I'm skeptical since I never had any signal strength problems with the SA3100HD or the SA3250HD.

I'm beginning to think the box is just a poor design, rushed out. I'm unwilling to give up the DVR function however. I'm just trying to find a fix.

Thanks,

Sooke

Sooke,

Im having the same sorts of problems you describe. The problems come and go though, so it is hard to diagnose what is causing them. One day there will be no issues and the next day the TV is truly unwatchable (stutters and drop outs literally every 10 seconds). I keep hoping that there will be some magical firmware upgrade that fixes the problems, but if it keeps up too long I will happily go back to my SD Tivo (which never had any problems) and give TimeWarner back the HD DVR--which has been unreliable and a source of frustration from day one.

Im extremely interested to hear whether there is anyone out there who IS NOT having problems with the HD DVR.

New HDTV!! in north raleigh.. I picked up the cheapest Jenson antenna at Best Buy to try out. It's picking up FOX beautifully with no dropouts. WRAL is also pretty good. I can't get NBC17 at all, and ABC 11 has lots of dropouts. Is this a typical reception with an antenna? What good antennas are you all using? Is it possible to set up the antenna and not have to tweak it differently for each channel?

I know the answers are probably somewhere in this 1000+ msg thread. I'll see if i can find them..

Originally posted by cbordman
New HDTV!! in north raleigh.. I picked up the cheapest Jenson antenna at Best Buy to try out. It's picking up FOX beautifully with no dropouts. WRAL is also pretty good. I can't get NBC17 at all, and ABC 11 has lots of dropouts. Is this a typical reception with an antenna? What good antennas are you all using? Is it possible to set up the antenna and not have to tweak it differently for each channel?


I'm not familiar with the Jenson antenna. Is that an indoor one? You'll almost always get better reception with an outdoor antenna, and since these things work "line of sight" the higher the better (i.e. roof mount). However, folks are having success with indoor antennas as well. I had a Silver Sensor for awhile (before I put up a roof mount) and I'd say my experience was about the same. WRAL was great, FOX and ABC were pretty good, and NBC depended on the weather. With the roof mount their all great now. All the stations we get in this area (except WUNC-DT) are clustered in the same area (a couple are even on the same tower), so you shouldn't need to tweak the antenna much if at all, unless you are particularly far from the towers or the antenna is very sensitive to direction.