Another Report on Sunday night:

NBC: Black screen and garbled sound (And bad audio on previous nights when video was coming through.)
PBS: Stong signal but no audio/video
Everyone else OK. (Actually, since I refuse to watch WEAR-DT, I don't know if they were OK or not!)

interesting, i just checked wpmi with my zenith 520 and everything looks good on my end.

that said the bama pbs channel is in and out and their tower has to be right on top of me, strange.

NBC-DT: Not ready for primetime!

Tonight I was able to watch the NBC network news at 5:30 PM, but then it was no audio/no video from 7 PM until the local news came on at 10:00 PM. Obviously, they are having problems receiving the network transmission during primetime.

beachrez, I have the same dark screen Monday. I had only checked during prime time Sunday and Monday.

WSRE is the PBS station I'm referring to. I get nothing, including a signal indicator. It one of three stations I can always get, so this is unusual.

Seems like my HD experience is taking steps back, not forward.

You deffinately don't want to invite any one over to see HD. You mite get embarrassed. You never know if it going to be on or not.

no doubt, hd is a broken truck or a cracked antenna away from sd at any second on any day :)

nbc went black for primetime here as well, as i'm sure it did everywhere. Maybe they'll get to work on it. Out til oct 6th sucks.

d

As I remember from my days in radio and television, if your signal wasn't up to specifications, it was to be turned OFF! Isn't the engineer that keeps this station operating also the chief engineer for a chain of corporate stations? I'm not faulting him, but they should be able to send in a hired gun to fix the problem. October is too late.

Spoke to a Mr. Couch @ WPMI today about the Digital transmission being screwed up and he said there was no problem with the NBC feed.

A strange thing happened tonight it started working right.

Now that's out of the way is anyone beside me having an audio problem with FOX-DT during the Braves game.
It sounds like the background noise is oscillating

J C

Yes I had to go to 10, the sound is ok there.

JC, do you have Couchs e-mail add: I'll tell him hes full of sh**. I have Tims but he is not there.

JC, when did WMPI start working ok? I check last night (Tuesday) when Fraiser started. No black screen, but no HD. WMPI was transmitting SD. I could have swore that it started with the "dark screen" for a couple of seconds in an attempt to transmit HD and then someone switch to SD. I switched over to cable at that point.

Didn't check later for L&O; SVI, as I had already rotated my antenna to Panama City for NYPD Blue in HD. Nice!

Anybody getting WSRE-PBS, Pensacola? I haven't gotten anything from them since sometime last week. Maybe management is doing a test to see how many complaints they get in order to estimate number of HD viewers.

Rick it was ok last night.

WSRE is doing fine with the Tom Petty / Sound Stage concert. 10/01/03. Tom Petty in HD, I'm not going there

Originally posted by RickRS
JC, when did WMPI start working ok?

Sorry, didn't have time to post yesterday.
Spoke with Mr. Couch Wed. A.M. and he saw the black screen during Whoopi and power cycled a piece of equipment at the station and thought that it had corrected the problem.

J C

Hey guys, haven't posted on here in a while, been in and out of the area for the last few months. I've been reading some of the latest posts and noticed the same thing as Rick. I haven't gotten a decent signal from WSRE over the last few weeks, maybe a month. WPMI has been good this past week. It's been nice to see the tonight show in HD again. I'm in shalimar by the way. I broke down and ordered the limited service that cox is offering in our area. It's too bad that none of the locals, besides PBS, are available yet but from what I have read online and heard from others, this is pretty standard for cox. They offer the service as soon as possible and then pass through the locals as they reach agreements with each one. To be honest with you, the main reason I'm getting it now is for ESPNHD. Hopefully the locals will come up in a timely manner. I'll let you guys know what the service looks like after I get it installed. I'm schedualed for tomorrow morning. Later.

Roger

Roger:
I found my WSRE problem may have been with my box (with a little help from WSRE). I use channel 23 and no dice. Tried channel 31 the actual WSRE-DT channel and, hey, its back! After tuning to 31, it remapped to channel 23 and everything's working again.

Tom:
Have to agree with the rationalization of cash outlay for HD equipment. Why sink more money into equipment that's out of date in a couple of years. Leasing it keeps your options open as Cox gets it act together.

And what do you know, WMPI is back in HD for Wednesday night, just in time for Ed, West Wing, and Law and Order.

If you would read other post about ESPNHD you would see a lot of complaints about them. But they have stated very clearly on their web site that they are limited in HD programing at this time.

On another note, Cox is launching INHD 1 & 2 on Wednesday the 8th at no extra charge. If your an HD subscriber you should see it on 751 & 752. If you don't you may have to call Cox to update your box via a "hit". A computer signal sent to your box. INHD has some issues with their upconversion, but the "true HD" programing is very good.

For those in the daphne/fairhope area, mediacom announced that they will start offering HD locally at the start of 2004. Probably same routine as cox, hbo and espn a few others and will get locals later. Does nothing for me as i would never ever use mediacom, but great for the future.

Did anyone lose Ch 10 and 55 ?


Are they at lower power ?

I was wondering what everybody thought about programmers who up-convert films or programing and call it HD. Is this something you would want or would you rather have channels that are HD most of the time and up-converted programming as a filler? With the limited amount of HD produced programming out there up-conversion is a fact. But do we want to see channels that do up-conversion only and call themselves HD? Just curious. ESPNHD is a prime example, though they will expand their contnet by mid 2004.

Tom, glad to be of help

WJTC-DT [44-1] and other Local stuff

Finally getting program information after a year or so of seeing only "Regular Schedule".

Getting widescreen on WB55 (55-1) when appropriate but several times without audio!

WSRE was "on" between 7 and 8 PM tonight (Wednesday) but then only a black screen despite a strong signal. I've had a fair amount of black screen from 23-1 lately (and I did try for 31-1).

Yeh no audio on 55-1, kinda sucked. watched enterprise live instead and replayed smallville so not a biggie., but annoying. it seems every week some channel loses audio. last sunday cbs's game had no audio. the week before it was fox's widescreen game (glad i have sunday ticket).

Anyone get weird pixelation on bama's digital pbs? i get a fairly strong signal, but it breaks up quite often.


All that said i have a small announcement.

I am probably making a job change in the near future. I plan to start a custom home theater company in baldwin county. I have a few wholesalers already and plan to pick up more. I'd appreciate any advice or if anyone would like to be involved i'm definately looking for partners. Also i'd be happy to help someone find a product way below retail if they're looking. (not posting here to sell, just advice, but i'd love to help my avs buddies.)

Anyway, off to birmingham tomorrow at 4:30 am for what may be my last financial advisor meeting. I will be happy to see that job go away. Happier than words can say.

daniel

WSRE was "on" between 7 and 8 PM tonight (Wednesday) but then only a black screen despite a strong signal. I've had a fair amount of black screen from 23-1 lately (and I did try for 31-1). [/B][/QUOTE]

I had no problem with WSRE

Has anyone heard when the updated software will be out for the Scientific Atlanta 3250HD? This is the receiver Cox uses. The problem is that it has a DVI connector on it but it's not enabled. Scientific Atlanta's web site says there will be an optional software upgrade available to enable it. I was just wondering if anyone had heard anything.

Why? My TV has 2 component inputs and a DVI input. My DVD player and OTA HD receiver are using the componenet inputs. Cox is coming out today to install Digital and HD cable. I saw that the 3250HD had a DVI connector so assumed it worked when I ordered the Cox HD install. I went and talked to my buds at Best Buy last night and found out the DVI connector is not enabled in this receiver yet. So, for the time being, my DVD player is going to have to run into an Svideo input.

Thanks,
Steve

I'm shocked that I wasn't the only one with problems with 10 and 55. They were at low power for a few days .. Back up now :)

UPN HD?

After seeing a report that UPN was about to begin HD network operation, I asked Tim Reid if the report was correct, and if 44-1 was ready to go. His response:

"We have heard mixed reports also but nothing official or a definitive time line. We have heard,
unofficially, that initially only Star Trek Enterprise and Jake 2.0 will be in HD. But, at present,
UPN has not supplied us with the HD satellite receivers with which to receive the HD signal.
We have however just ordered the HD encoding equipment that will be necessary to pass-
through the HD content and expect to have that in house and installed by early December or
sooner depending on shipping dates

Jp Football games in HD....

Well I can dream can't I ?

WSRE-DT

Something new? I'm getting the "regular" PBS programming as an upconvert on 23-1, and the HD programming on 23-2 (and 23-3). In the past, after 7 PM, we saw only HD programming on 23-1, 23-2 and 23-3.

Originally posted by Tom Blizzard
Steve,
-------------I've got the SA 3250HD too. However, I'm interested in the firewire (1394) output. I want to record on my JVC D-VHS.

-------------I've read somewhere, (or heard), that it will be "activated" sometime during the first quarter of 2004. So, if it's like Cox HD, :( we might have it around September of 2004.

It is my understanding that the DVI and 1394 outputs will not be activated until Hollywood, the Consumer Electronics industry, and other program owners come to agreement on the copywrite protection issues. There is still a lot of bickering going on about this. Once this issue is resolved the Digital outputs will be activated. Don't know if it will be globaly turned on or by request

Originally posted by rute
Has anyone heard when the updated software will be out for the Scientific Atlanta 3250HD? This is the receiver Cox uses. The problem is that it has a DVI connector on it but it's not enabled. Scientific Atlanta's web site says there will be an optional software upgrade available to enable it. I was just wondering if anyone had heard anything.

Why? My TV has 2 component inputs and a DVI input. My DVD player and OTA HD receiver are using the componenet inputs. Cox is coming out today to install Digital and HD cable. I saw that the 3250HD had a DVI connector so assumed it worked when I ordered the Cox HD install. I went and talked to my buds at Best Buy last night and found out the DVI connector is not enabled in this receiver yet. So, for the time being, my DVD player is going to have to run into an Svideo input.

Thanks,
Steve


It is my understanding that the DVI and 1394 outputs will not be activated until Hollywood, the Consumer Electronics industry, and other program owners come to agreement on the copywrite protection issues. There is still a lot of bickering going on about this. Once this issue is resolved the Digital outputs will be activated. Don't know if it will be globaly turned on or by request

is their a more active or responsive group than this that represnts our area? It appears that the members of this string are pretty much burned out

Mtchd, this is a thread for local HDTV info and reception. What does your comments aout DVI have to do with local HDTV. Maybe your comments about DVI should be in the General hardware HDTV area.

Originally posted by jerryez
This is a thread for local HDTV info and reception. What does your comments aout DVI have to do with local HDTV. Maybe your comments about DVI should be in the General hardware HDTV area.

Sorry Jerry,
This is probably my fault. I'm an old retired guy who chats too much. I'll try and get my comments and questions in the right place.
BTW, I'll go back and delete the stuff about DVI and firewire....:)
regards, Tom B.

Tom, all constructive comments are welcome here. Personal attacks on the members of this thread are not. Your DVI comments are always welcome.

Tom,
Quoting the Local HDTV Info and Reception subtitle
Local HDTV Info and Reception
This area is for the chat about the local HDTV stations. Also includes talk on antenna type and reception including HD Cable.
it appears that you're in the right area for comments on HD Cable for the Gulf Coast. There was a lot of wondering as to when Cox was going to get something going here, and you're the first to get any REAL info (aka an actual HDTV cable connection), so hang around and get us dudes with the "unsightly" antennas informed.

We (or I, at least) don't have a clue to what Cox or Hollywood are really going to do with DVI and 1394. We'll all deal with that when it it shows on the local scene. The Hardware area appears to be the area for endless talk about what is going to happen.

More from Tim Reid on UPN (44-1)

"As we suspected UPN officially announced today that they will indeed begin transmitting 2 shows
in HD starting October 15 (Star Trek Enterprise and Jake 2.0). We still have not received the HD
receivers from UPN as of yet, but testing was supposed to start today. As I told you last week, we
have the HD encoding equipment on order and should receive it by the end of November."

Originally posted by mtchd
It is my understanding that the DVI and 1394 outputs will not be activated until Hollywood, the Consumer Electronics industry, and other program owners come to agreement on the copywrite protection issues. There is still a lot of bickering going on about this. Once this issue is resolved the Digital outputs will be activated. Don't know if it will be globaly turned on or by request

I had thought it was our local Cox affiliate that was controlling whether the DVI worked or not. After I talked to my Cox installer I found that Scientific Atlanta is suppose to be releasing the upgrade in the beggining of 2004. I'll wait and see what happens.

Meanwhile, I just went a bought a Panasonic SA-XR25 receiver. It has two component inputs and one output. That fixes my problem for the time being.

Steve

Originally posted by jerryez
Tom, all constructive comments are welcome here. Personal attacks on the members of this thread are not. Your DVI comments are always welcome.

jerryez, and everyone, I did not mean to attack or demean anyone in this forum. If that is how anything I posted was taken i truly apologize.:(

If this comment was not meant for me, then I'm outa here :D

I'm like others here that are excited that so many "locals" appreciate the wonders of HD. I have a background based in video and also have some very knowlegeable contacts in the cable HD world. I am just trying to provide information to those who ask and maybe gain some insight to what we would like to see HD programming look like here in our slice of paradise

Well, I got my receiver yesterday and hooked it up last night.

I have a question:

Is the Discovery HD on Cox the only channel that comes in DD 5.1?

Also, are any of the OTA HD broadcasts DD 5.1?

Thanks,
Steve

Apology accepted.

Also, are any of the OTA HD broadcasts DD 5.1?


CBS

Originally posted by trich
Also, are any of the OTA HD broadcasts DD 5.1?


CBS

Thanks. I figured that out tonight during CSI....
:)

Steve

Breaking news

Dishnetwork will provide locals for Mobile

Mobile Al (Nov 13th) (Missing FOX)

DXing is great right now Tampa stations

I'm geting these channels

28.1 WFTS
32.1 WMOR
12.1 FOX 13

Sisco is usually broadcast in HD on WLOX.
Last night I got it in 4:3 format. Is it just me or did anyone else see this?

J C

4.3 for me too .

Hi. I am moving to Pensacola, and I was wondering if I will be able to get NBC, CBS, ABC, and FOX in High Definition if I subscribe to Cox digital cable with HD? After reading this message board, it seems to me that there is only one local channel that broadcasts in HD during prime on Cox. The Cox rep over the phone said that all of these channels are available, which is why I wanted to make sure with you... who knows, may be she did not know what she was talking about and confused digital cable with HD :) Thank you in advance.

Zibler, welcome to the area.

I DON'T get COX HD cable, but....

Word is that right now COX only provides the local PBS station in HD. In Pensacola you have available CBS, NBC, and PBS in HD OTA. Note that PBS is only in HD from 7-10pm every night, otherwise it multicast the standard analog station's programming with PBSYou.

FOX and WB are available in 480 widescreen OTA. They are multicasted together on channel 9, so until that changes, there is no WB HD.

UPN is available OTA and word is that they will upgrade to HD in Nov.

Your ABC station is a Sinclear owned, and they have a DT transmitter in place, but they won't have HD for a year or more.

COX hasn't got the issues worked out with the local stations, so until then OTA is the way to go for network HD. For the offical story, here's the COX Gulfcoast website's HD offerings. WSRE is the PBS station.

http://www.cox.com/gulfcoast/digitalTV/hdtv/

Rick, thank you for the info. I hope that COX Gulfcoast gets those issues taken care of. We have Time Warner in NY, and I get people get HD signal with all of the channels that Cox offers + the local channels.

Steve

Does anyone know for sure why Cox does not have the locals in HD. No, speculation please!

Does anyone know what is going on with WKRG? i had serious and annoying dropouts on saturday, had to watch the bama game in analog. Now i'm getting better reception but it still consistently drops out.

I talked to the engineer and he said he saw it too and did a reboot this morning, but it doesn't appear to have helped that much. I've checked my antenna and i'm pulling it in as strong as i can, it just keeps dropping out.

Anyway, anyone else have problems?

WKRG-DT (27)

I have found that their signal strength varies widely (20 to 100) as measured with my Hughes HIRD-E86. Normally it is in the 50-60 range which is good enough for viewing. One day last week, however, I had no usable signal. They are not a high-power station from a 2000 foot tower! On the other hand, digital 34 (the 'religious' channel), is always 70-72-- totally invariant no matter what time or weather conditions. My other stations (digital 9, 17,31,45,47) are always at 100+.

I've never had a problem with their signal. Used to get 95% consistently since they first went on air. Now i get 80-20 fluctuations, gets better at night but annoying during the daytime.

WJTC-DT


Are people with Samsung HD receivers still having problems with the UPN feed? I'm still seeing pixelation and also noticed a bunch of tiny colored dots spread out on the bottom 1/3 of the screen when watching UPN.

I know they stated months ago that they were working with Samsung on this but I'm just checking to make sure this is still the same problem.

BTW, no problems on any of the other digital/HD channels.

Thanks,
Steve

I get SD locals on Cox cable and the quality is better than the OTA digital picture of UPN, WB, and Sinclair's ABC. I only watch HD on the OTA digital channels. I use Cox for the others.

Originally posted by jerryez
I get SD locals on Cox cable and the quality is better than the OTA digital picture of UPN, WB, and Sinclair's ABC. I only watch HD on the OTA digital channels. I use Cox for the others.

You must have some good amps on your cable. My OTA SD looks much better than the Cox feeds.

BTW, even on the Cox Digital service channels 2-69 are Analog. The digital broadcasts don't start until channel 100. You can verify this by flipping through the lower channels looking at their quality and jumping to the channels above 100. There's a marked difference. I also verified it with the Cox reps. All channels below 100 are fed in analog. All channels above 100 are fed digital & HD.

Steve

I only get channels 2-26 basic cable with Cox. I get Dish net for all the HD and other channels

Originally posted by rute
WJTC-DT


Are people with Samsung HD receivers still having problems with the UPN feed? I'm still seeing pixelation and also noticed a bunch of tiny colored dots spread out on the bottom 1/3 of the screen when watching UPN.


I have the Samsung TS-160 DTV receiver and also get the pixelation on UPN. I also get the colored dots is red and blue on a line at about a 45 degree angle across the bottom 1/3 of the picture.
The pixelation is worse at times than others. Seems to be worse during commercials.

I'm not sure that the people at NBC/UPN are persuing a remedy to the problem because it affects so few customers.
I have spoken with Mr. Reid countless times over the past year and have resigned to the fact I probably won't be able to get UPN until I upgrade to a Sony STB. All the Sony box decode it just fine.

J C

To JC West (and others)

The local UPN station (44-1) is expected to change its encoding process in the next 30-45 days as UPN begins HDTV transmission. You might want to wait and see if this solves your problem. Tim Reid has reported that a new encoder is on order. This was posted about 7-10 days ago.

I have a panasonic tu-hds20 stb and i have had those flashing colored dots at the bottom one third of my set every since upn 44.1 started transmitting. i seem to notice it during dark scenes.

Originally posted by beachrez
To JC West (and others)

The local UPN station (44-1) is expected to change its encoding process in the next 30-45 days as UPN begins HDTV transmission. You might want to wait and see if this solves your problem. Tim Reid has reported that a new encoder is on order. This was posted about 7-10 days ago.

Thanks. I just went back and reread that post. I must not have been paying attention when I read it previously. Anyway, I can't wait for Enterprise in HD......

Steve

Originally posted by jerryez
Does anyone know for sure why Cox does not have the locals in HD. No, speculation please!

Very simply put, Cox needs to have "permission" from the station to carry the Digital feed. The only agreement in place is with WSRE. I to would like to see the locals on cable.

Old argument between the broadcasters and the cable companies, taken to a new extreme.

One argument states if the station is local, it must be carried by the local cable companies.
Second argument states that if the cable company receives the signal over the air from the broadcaster, it profits from the rebroadcast, and therefore must be paid in some manner for such rebroadcast rights. The camel's nose is in the tent because a new signal is now DIGITAL, and not the original analog broadcasts that were originally permitted. There is the subchannel issue. There is the high definition issue. All things that should have been taken care of years ago, but instead, were shunted off to the side in the hopes of getting the digital television monkey off the broadcasters back

Thought you all might be interested in this. A local (I'm in Pensacola) friend just supplied me with a commercial quality 50 foot telescoping antenna mast. I can get several more if anyone is interested. 30 foot is $50, 40 foot is $65, 50 foot is $80 and a 70 foot one is $100.
The 30' one ordinarily sells for $79.95 to give you an idea of the savings.
Send me an email at <rwood54741@yahoo.com> if you're interested.

Bob

Is 44.1 off-air? I can't get it today.

It's up, coming in good over here.

I think they replaced/fixed their transmitter. I'm watching Stargate right now and haven't seen any pixelation. I also don't have the little sparkles on the bottom half of the screen.

Steve

Originally posted by rute
I think they replaced/fixed their transmitter. I'm watching Stargate right now and haven't seen any pixelation. I also don't have the little sparkles on the bottom half of the screen.

Steve

What STB are you using?
I'm using the Samsung TS-160 and If I can get it clearly, "it's fixed". I'll test it today before the NFL cranks up.

J C

Originally posted by JC West
What STB are you using?
I'm using the Samsung TS-160 and If I can get it clearly, "it's fixed". I'll test it today before the NFL cranks up.

J C

I'm using the Samsung SIR-T151. I've had the pixelation problem and sparkles since I bought the unit back in February. I e-mailed the station manager and verified it was a problem with their transmitter and they were working with Samsung on the problem. I watched it most of the evening last night and am now watching "That 70's Show" without a single pixel out of place. I think it's fixed.

Steve

My TS-160 is a year old this month and last night is the first time I've been able to watch a UPN program completely without pixelation.

Steve:
Does your Samsung TS-151 get Digital WB-55 and Fox-10?
The 160 gets confused on this on and will only get one at a time but not both.

J C

Originally posted by JC West
My TS-160 is a year old this month and last night is the first time I've been able to watch a UPN program completely without pixelation.

Steve:
Does your Samsung TS-151 get Digital WB-55 and Fox-10?
The 160 gets confused on this on and will only get one at a time but not both.

J C

Yes mine gets both of those channels. I assume you mean you have to turn your receiver off and back on if you want to go from WB to Fox. Mine works fine with both of them but can take up to 30 secs to initially sync on the signal.

Steve

Originally posted by rute
Yes mine gets both of those channels. I assume you mean you have to turn your receiver off and back on if you want to go from WB to Fox. Mine works fine with both of them but can take up to 30 secs to initially sync on the signal.

Steve

When I enter my zipcode for Directv to download my local guide I get Fox-10-DT but no WB-55. When I remove the zipcode and get the OTA channel info I get WB-55-DT and no Fox.
Really a pain, been in constant contact with Fox/WB engineering and they are working on it.

J C

Does anyone get program information for WB55-DT (other than "Regular Schedule)? If I remember, the WB/Fox engineer is Joe Addalia(sp?) Could someone post his correct name and email address once again? Thanks.

E-mail Address(es):
addalia@wb18.com

I only get regular schedule listed for 55 digital. I get the program info for analog 55 so i keep it visible.

Also whenever my stb resets (zenith 520) which is often i lose all my hidden channels and have to hide them again. Sometimes i completely lose digital 55. I have to do a pure scan to get it back, the zip code won't find it for whatever reason. But pure scan picks it up easily. May not translate for other stb's but works for the 520.

Thanks for posting the name/email address for WB/Fox.

Status update on WJHG TV, NBC in PCB

WJHG plans to begin broadcasting a digital signal sometime in the second quarter of 2004. We’ve applied for an extension taking us to the second quarter 2004.

Best Regards,
Mark Gilland
Chief Engineer / Network Administrator
WJHG TV
Panama City, FL
850-234-7777

Hey guys,

I just wanted to throw out i've started a home theater business. This is not really a solicitation to sell anything, though if anyone needs anything i'll be happy to get them excellent prices. Honestly this is really a request for advice and tips anyone on this thread can give me.

My company is called, Absolute Home Theater. I have signed up a lot of distributors and am direct with a few companies. I have a few jobs coming in and one independent guy who does some of my retrofitting.

Anyway, any suggestions or ideas would be great.

Thanks,
Daniel

[WJHG plans to begin broadcasting a digital signal sometime in the second quarter of 2004.

Welcome to the thread, Mark.

For our friends in the Santa Rosa Beach area this will be good news. I know that there was delay as your station was requesting a change to the channel freq. orginally assigned. What channel will WJHG be using? Do you plan to have network HD pass-thru in place when you began DTV broadcast? Any details on the tower location, height, ERP, directivity, etc.?

Has something changed at WKRG? Tonight my signal is about a steady 15-20 points higher than it has been. About the same now as WPMI. Does the cooler weather make the reception better? Or have they increased their power? Or is this just a fluke?

Bob

I told Daniel last week that my signal-strength had went up on WKRG. They may have increased the power a tad. Sundays NFL game was not in HD here. It was suppose to be.

My signal is better as well, still nowhere near where it used to be. up until 6 weeks ago i had a 95% signal strength since they started broadcasting. Now i get between 60-80%. Regardless i'm happy its more stable now.

Actually, I've now discovered that my signal dropped back down today.
A friend is telling me he gets about 20 points higher at night than daytime.
That could be all I was experiencing too. It's pretty strange. My WPMI signal never varies. But WKRG is all over the board. I'm sitting there watching the SS meter and it's wildly fluctuating between as low as 30 and as high as about 60. Causing dropouts all over the place. I wish they would get their act together. I now have my amplified antenna 50' above the ground. If it's as poor as this for me then I imagine most people with less height aren't even locking on at all. Seems kinda stupid to me for them to have ever bothered with getting the digital broadcast on the air to start.

Bob

What i don't understand is up until 6 weeks ago i had a solid consistent signal that never ever dropped out during the day or night. Now suddenly they are my worst channel, falling from my best. There has to be a problem on their end other than the low power, unless.... they lowered their power even more... argh

WKRG-DT

While I normally receive WKRG-DT with a reading in the 55-65 region, this evening (Wednesday, 26 November 2003, I am getting a reading of 10-18, and obviously, I'm not watching CBS. Hopefully, it will improve for Thanksgiving Day and the weekend.

Has anyone sent WKRG an email and ask them why?

I've sent Jim Richardson emails from time to time, here is the last one i got. I'm sure other people sending emails may help alert them that it's not an isolated event.

"Good Morning Daniel,


Nothing has changed here but I will reboot the system this morning and
make sure
all is well.

Thanks for the report,

Jim Richardson, CE
WKRG-TV 5, WKRG-DT 27
555 Broadcast Dr.
Mobile, AL 36606
(251)662-2975
(251)662-2911 FAX
jrichardson@wkrg.com

Our area is just not ready for prime time HD. Maybe in a couple of years.....
and that is a big maybe. Second day in a row WKRG did not flip the switch.

The cowboys game isn't in hd ...grrrrrrr Happy thanksgiving

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=330791

Everyone send email to Jim at WKRG:

jrichardson@wkrg.com

I have an samsung Sir 165 Directv receiver. I set the prim and sec stations to Mobile and Pensacola and let it do its thing then I scanned for chanels and it put 55 dt upn on fox 10-1 and the guide say it is fox 1o dt and the info is for fox 10 dt but it has upn programs on it.
Any one can help please do so.

Thanks,
Grady

Originally posted by jerryez
Everyone send email to Jim at WKRG:

jrichardson@wkrg.com

A copy of an email I just sent to him:

"I'm trying to find out why it is taking so long for WKRG to pass the HD
feed to Cox? I heard a rummer, from a Cox rep, that it's because Cox
refuses to use extra bandwidth to carry the live Doppler radar feed.
This sounds ridiculous. There are enough weather reports on Cox,
including a local weather channel. Most people watch more of the prime
channel than the Doppler channel. Anyway, ever since getting my Cox
digital and HD subscription, I have pretty much stopped watching the
analog feeds (Channels below 100) as they look horrible on a big screen
TV.

So, when can we plan on seeing WKRG HD on Cox?"

I'll post any reply I get...

Steve

Originally posted by juketrader
I have an samsung Sir 165 Directv receiver. I set the prim and sec stations to Mobile and Pensacola and let it do its thing then I scanned for chanels and it put 55 dt upn on fox 10-1 and the guide say it is fox 1o dt and the info is for fox 10 dt but it has upn programs on it.
Any one can help please do so.

Thanks,
Grady

I think you meant WB-55 instead of upn....

I have the Samsung TS-160 Directv receiver and it does the exact same thing. Have been in close contast with the Fox/WB engineer, Joe Addalia, and he says they are working on a software upgrade that may correct this problem. He's supposed to let me know when the upgrade is put into service.

J C

Does anyone know what's up with the WKRG OTA broadcast? They seem to be showing everything in 4:3 format. Even the HD shows are being broadcast 4:3.

I briefly flipped the football games on today only to switch off of them as I hate the 4:3 format now. Same thing for "Cold Case". Oh well, Lynard Skynard is on INHD so I'll watch it.

Steve

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=335049

Originally posted by trich
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=335049

While that is a nice thread, it doesn't explain our problems here in the P'cola area.

I haven't seen a HD show on WKRG in a while. From what I've read in the above thread and others, it's the local affiliate that has to "flip a switch" to give us the 16x9 format. So, all I can deduce is that our local affiliate doesn't want to feed 16x9 any more, or there's a problem with their equipment.

Steve

I see you did not watch the SEC game last night on WKRG, It was in HD plus 5.1.

Originally posted by trich
I see you did not watch the SEC game last night on WKRG, It was in HD plus 5.1.

No I didn't... So, I guess that eliminates broken equipment.:)

Steve

Speaking of the SEC game, that was the best HD game i've seen all year on cbs, the surround was well mixed, the picture beautiful. Maybe they had an upgrade. Makes ESPN sunday football (from directv) look awful. The only negative i have is i watched abc MNF in HD in lafayette, la (home town) a couple weeks ago and it blows everything except hdnet games away.

Does anyone have an update on the local channels coming to Cox? It seems like Time Warner cable has local channels in HD everywhere... What's up with Cox??? :( Thank you.

Originally posted by zilber
Does anyone have an update on the local channels coming to Cox? It seems like Time Warner cable has local channels in HD everywhere... What's up with Cox??? :( Thank you.

I talked to a Cox rep the other day. The problem seems to be the local afilliates are demanding more than Cox can offer before they'll sign a contract to feed the HD signals to Cox.

An example is that WKRG won't sign a deal with Cox unless Cox agrees to carry both the HD feed and the 24 hour a day Doppler Radar channel that WKRG provides. The problem is that Cox already provides a 24 hour local weather channel and isn't willing to give up the bandwidth for another local weather channel that is only going to show a radar picture 24/7. The Cox local weather channel is channel 324 which is the required channel to provide local weather on TWC.

WEAR, on the other hand, refuses to put up the money to get the equipment for feeding the ABC HD signals.

I'm not sure what's going on with FOX and NBC but I believe it all comes down to "The Good Ole Boy" network.

According to the Cox rep I talked to, he said he'd be surprised if we see any local channels by the end of the year.

The best you can do is e-mail the local affiliates and express your feeling about their failure to provide the best possible programming to their local audience.

Steve

Thanks. This is rediculous. I know a lot of people who are not getting HD with Cox, because the selection is poor. I gave in though :) When you say by the end of the year do you mean 2003 or 2004? I hope you mean 2003, because I would love to watch superbowl in HD via Cox...

Was it just me or did anyone else have a problem with reception during the Secret Santa movie???

Late in the movie I got blinks and sputters with the video momentarily going black.

J C

Never got a reply on the last post so I'll try again on another channel.

Is anyone having a signal drop out on UPN-DT? I had been getting a perfect picture after they installed the "loaner encoder" for weeks.
Now I'm getting a complete drop out of signal very frequently. Signal will hold steady for a while @ 63-67% then drop to 30% and then 0. After a few seconds the reception comes back. Not really watchable anymore.

Seems strange to be able to get perfect reception for weeks then all of a sudden bad.

Thanks J C

I don't watch 44.1 much but I went over there and I was getting drop outs with both of my Sonys. HD100 and HD200.

That's what happened to cbs to me, i finally got my antenna where i pull cbs in strong but sacrificed nbc and abc a bit, I need to tweak it a bit and things should be fine. Really blew my mind that i had great reception for over a year then nothing.

As for upn, haven't watched since enterprise went into reruns but i'll check it out.

Originally posted by rute
I talked to a Cox rep the other day. The problem seems to be the local afilliates are demanding more than Cox can offer before they'll sign a contract to feed the HD signals to Cox.

An example is that WKRG won't sign a deal with Cox unless Cox agrees to carry both the HD feed and the 24 hour a day Doppler Radar channel that WKRG provides. The problem is that Cox already provides a 24 hour local weather channel and isn't willing to give up the bandwidth for another local weather channel that is only going to show a radar picture 24/7. The Cox local weather channel is channel 324 which is the required channel to provide local weather on TWC.

WEAR, on the other hand, refuses to put up the money to get the equipment for feeding the ABC HD signals.

I'm not sure what's going on with FOX and NBC but I believe it all comes down to "The Good Ole Boy" network.

According to the Cox rep I talked to, he said he'd be surprised if we see any local channels by the end of the year.

The best you can do is e-mail the local affiliates and express your feeling about their failure to provide the best possible programming to their local audience.

Steve

They just don't seem to give a s**t. Might as well go back to DVD and forget the whole thing. I'm growing weary of it.

I checked upn, looks great over here.

The problem with going back to dvd is once you've seen HD it's difficult, kind of like going from broadband to dial up. Better to not ever try it than to try and get forced to go back :)

Anyway, happy holidays everyone. I'm building a showroom in mobile in the beginning of january and would really appreciate anyone's input or suggestions. Right now i'm planning a 14x18 room with 3 rows of theater seats. (i'm building it at southern leather gallery and they're doing the construction and the seats.)

I"m planning a 50 inch panasonic plasma, a zenith 520 or equivalent for HD, haven't decided on the receiver, depends on what distributors i pick up, and a 5.1 setup of James loudspeakers. Anyway, i'm just learning and would appreciate any help in this matter.

Thanks
Daniel

Anyone else having problems with UPN 44-1? My picture keeps pixelating and disappearing tonight.

Steve

Same here,off and on.

Same here for several days, on and off. I e-mailed Tim Reid several days ago and asked what they were doing but haven't got a response.

J C

I'm getting the same problem, very annoying. I assume they're installing their HD equipment (hoping) but who knows.

Anyone else hugely pissed off at wear for not giving us hd for the nfl playoffs or the fricking LSU national championship game, argh. And last year i missed my raiders in the superbowl in HD (might have saved me more pain but who knows.) And to top it off they seem to have the weakest signal for even crappy digital (which is better than their crappy analog... mono argh). Anyway, ranting.

Originally posted by Cinder
I'm getting the same problem, very annoying. I assume they're installing their HD equipment (hoping) but who knows.

Anyone else hugely pissed off at wear for not giving us hd for the nfl playoffs or the fricking LSU national championship game, argh. And last year i missed my raiders in the superbowl in HD (might have saved me more pain but who knows.) And to top it off they seem to have the weakest signal for even crappy digital (which is better than their crappy analog... mono argh). Anyway, ranting.

Yep. As I told their engineer, when I was told there were no plans to upgrade the local ABC station because it wasn't worth it, I haven't watched any ABC shows since.

Steve

It really sucks. I've been told repeatedly as of late that they'll be hd by fall 2004 but i'll believe it when i see it. As it is i watch alias (have to) and football. other than that i don't watch it, even though there are shows that intrigue me. For what it's worth i watch the shows recorded on my replaytv without commercials, so had they gone HD i would actually be watching their commercials. oh well.

geaux lsu :)

Here's the reply I got from Mr Reid:

Mr. West,

The loaner unit crapped out and we had to go back on the "repaired" original. We did finally
receive the final pieces of the new HD encoding system and hope to have that system on
air within the next couple of weeks. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Regards,

Tim Reid
Director of Engineering
WPMI-TV/DT NBC 15
WJTC-TV/DT UPN 44

Hi everyone. I just checked Cox HD Service webpage, and they are now listing Local Channels (when available) in their High Definition channel lineup. http://www.cox.com/gulfcoast/digitalTV/hdtv/HD_Pricing.asp
I called Cox customer service asking them if they will have a HD feed by Superbowl, and they said that they are working on getting the local channels to provide them the feed. If you are interests you, please email WKRG (CBS), and let them know your concerns regarding HD feed to Cox. Here are the emails:
General Manager (Joe Goleniowski) jgoleniowski@wkrg.com
Engineering (Jim Richardson) jRichardson@wkrg.com

If you get a response, please let us know here. Thank you so much for your help. You can also email the other local stations.

Originally posted by zilber
Hi everyone. I just checked Cox HD Service webpage, and they are now listing Local Channels (when available) in their High Definition channel lineup. http://www.cox.com/gulfcoast/digitalTV/hdtv/HD_Pricing.asp

They have actually shown this since day one. However, we are still waiting with baited remotes...:)

Has anyone thought about trying to get something like the News Journal involved in this? Maybe they'd want to do a story on how big bussiness like Cox and the TV stations let the consumer suffer while they argue about whether they are going to carry the local doppler radar channel or not. Maybe someone should have them look at other markets to see how they resolved their differences...

Steve

Can't you guys get WKRG (CBS) off an outside antenna. I do not believe that Cox will add HD in time for the Superbowl.

Originally posted by jerryez
Can't you guys get WKRG (CBS) off an outside antenna. I do not believe that Cox will add HD in time for the Superbowl.

Yes. I already get it off Antenna. I'm just venting my frustration with Cox and the local stations not being able to come to an agreement while the rest of the country moves on. If Cox had the local HD feeds, they would attract a lot more customers allowing them to reap it's rewards and build on their services.

Steve

I got a HD receiver and OTA antenna, but I cannot get a good signal... I am relying on Cox, but they are not moving too fast... :(

I do not see your location. How far are you from the towers. What kind of OTA do you have.

Yeah, I am 30 miles from the towers and get a great picture with an outside antenna. Near University Mall.

Originally posted by zilber
I got a HD receiver and OTA antenna, but I cannot get a good signal... I am relying on Cox, but they are not moving too fast... :(

Not sure about your location but I'm located off Blue Angel and Lillian. I had an indoor antenna but it didn't pull in the signals very well. I now have an outdoor antenna up about 18-20 foot and am getting all of the local HD/Digital channels fine.

Steve

Originally posted by Cinder
I'm getting the same problem, very annoying. I assume they're installing their HD equipment (hoping) but who knows.

Anyone else hugely pissed off at wear for not giving us hd for the nfl playoffs or the fricking LSU national championship game, argh. And last year i missed my raiders in the superbowl in HD (might have saved me more pain but who knows.) And to top it off they seem to have the weakest signal for even crappy digital (which is better than their crappy analog... mono argh). Anyway, ranting.

There is one thing that we can do to express our displeasure with WEAR management and ownership. Their license to operate is due to expire in April. Public comments are now being taken as to how WEAR has or has NOT served the public interest. Since it is part of the FCC's mandate to further digital television technologies, including HDTV, you can place a letter statinig your opinion which will go into their file. While it probably not amount to much, it will let the feds know that we are getting screwed by Sinclair and not being kissed afterward.

You can view the application during normal business hours at their studios on Mobile Highway in Pensacola, or get futher information by going to the FCC web page. www.fcc.gov

I'm not sure if anyone is aware but WEAR has a seperate page for their Digital Broadcasting. Here's the Link: http://www.weartv.com/home/digitalTV.htm

Here are a couple of quotes from the page:

"We will not be airing any High Definition (HDTV) programming until there is significant penetration of HDTV television sets in our market area."

"Currently, there are no Federal Communication Commission rules requiring cable companies to carry the local digital television channels in their native digital format. Although the FCC has mandated that all broadcasters begin delivering
Digital Television signals over-the-air by 2002, they have also allowed these broadcasters to keep their analog stations on the air until 85% of the local market is capable of receiving digital TV. This conversion process is expected to continue until at least 2010 and possibly longer. "

So it seems clear to me that WEAR couldn't care less about Digital Broadcasts. They are only broadcasting what the MINIMUM requirements are and are not willing to even attempt to satisfy their local HD ready customers. As I've said in the past, I watch WEAR as little as possible until they start listening to their HD audience.

In case anyone was wondering, here are the mailing addresses for the FCC Field offices in Atlanta and Tampa. I'm not sure which one we fall under.

Atlanta:
ATLANTA OFFICE (AT)
Federal Communications Commission
3575 Koger Blvd., Ste. 320
Duluth, GA 30096-4958

Tampa:
TAMPA OFFICE (TP)
Federal Communications Commission
2203 N. Lois Ave., Room 1215
Tampa, FL 33607-2356

Also, you can send a complaint to the FCC via e-mail: fccinfo@fcc.gov

I would suggest sending copies of any correspondence to WEAR. You can find their e-mail address at the bottom of their digital broadcast page.

Steve

Just talked to Joe at WEAR, here's the latest:

"Hi Daniel,

We are currently working with ABC and with our corporate engineering group to acquire all the necessary equipment to pass ABC's High Definition programming. We already have some of the equipment in-house, but won't be getting ABC's new receive dishes until later in the 1st or 2nd quarter of this year, so we should be broadcasting HDTV sometime this summer. We will determine then if we also need to increase our power. I'm surprised that you're having difficulty with your reception...we haven't had any DT-17 reception complaints from anyone else who's as close to our tower as you are.

We'll try to let our digital customer base know via e-mail when we start broadcasting HDTV.

Thanks as always for your viewership, and for your interest in WEAR-DT17.

Joe
"

I just checked my signal strength on my 811 and I get WEAR @ 85%. wkrg @ 70%, and the rest between 85 and 90. All have a good picture in SD digital except WEAR. Their digital picture is worse than the Cox cable SD picture of WEAR. If WEAR wants to get even with Cox they should just give them their digital channel, since it is not worth anything.

I agree on Wear's digital picture, if my analog wear picture wasn't so bad i wouldn't even care to watch the digital. (granted the only thing i watch now is alias and i record the analog).

I get about 50-55% on wear but have never worried about it since i'm not watching them live anyway. I get 90-95 on everything else.

By the way my company is up and running, if anyone ever needs anything please ask. If anyone on here is running a similar type company i would appreciate any advice and would be happy to work as a laborer on some jobs to get more experience.

Thanks,
Daniel

It does sound like the corporate mucky-mucks in Maryland that own WEAR ABC are beginning to see the light and at least TRY to pass HDTV at the transmitter site. And I don't blame the local people at the station one bit. It all comes down to money and toeing the company line. This is why I'm against further consolidation of ownership by corporations.

I've been through the stores and watched these big screen sets going out the loading dock in bunches. My wife, who works in a call center for a satellite company, has had to go through a crash course in walking customers through installing the equipment to their sets In short, any electronics retailer will tell you now the hottest thing is home theatre (Plasma sets, digital, HDTV!) Perhaps the glacial flow of investment will speed up a bit

In Crestview, at least I have a choice of getting WMBB as a second ABC affiilate. Dothan Alabama's CBS WTVY affiliate comes in with rabbit ears! Right now, I'm turning the mast for Panama City and Dothan on one side, then almost the opposite direction for WSRE PBS, WEAR, and WJTC. I would prefer an antenna array that would replace a rotator, also a good source for a in-line coax amp. This Rat Shak one I have now is a weak link in the chain.

I also keep my 12 foot SAMI C/Ku earth station on line, and have made the conversion from Videocypher II to Digicypher II digital decryption. I get ALL of the movie channels on the birds (at a discount rate), not the limited package the cable wants me to see.

Happiness is all of these things to play with. Sadness is not having the time.

I am looking for someone to install an antenna for HD. Any recommendations for the Pensacola airport area?

A 20 foot pole and a radio shack large otdoor antenna will pull in anything in Pensacola area. You should be able to do it yourself.

Steve i'd be happy to help you out. Shoot me an email at daniel@absolutehometheater.net

I'll be happy to help you install it and get the equipment at good prices, or simply walk you through the process of setting it up yourself over the phone. (by the way i'd do it for free to help you out and learn the pensacola area a bit, not soliciting business.)

Dothan Alabama's CBS WTVY affiliate comes in with rabbit ears!
Damm, Richard! I must be sitting in a hole here in FWB. WTVY is too weak for me with an outside antenna.

And just FYI, sometime ago, Wade at WTVY stated that they plan to drop channel 36 and use channel 4 for DTV when the day comes to shutdown their analog transmitter. So do think VHF/UHF combo when planning that second antenna purchase for your eastern coverage.

Wade mention this when I was asking him about any plans to increase power on the DTV transmitter. The plan is to use what they have now and go DTV full power when they change to channel 4, as less power (less money) is needed for the same coverage. So I'm SOL for CBS.

Originally posted by RickRS
Damm, Richard! I must be sitting in a hole here in FWB. WTVY is too weak for me with an outside antenna.

And just FYI, sometime ago, Wade at WTVY stated that they plan to drop channel 36 and use channel 4 for DTV when the day comes to shutdown their analog transmitter. So do think VHF/UHF combo when planning that second antenna purchase for your eastern coverage.


Yup, I'm at 135 feet above sea level acccording to my GPS. I've got a benefit for being on a hill northeast of Bob Sikes Airport as the crow flies, no big trees, and a 30 foot mast, so I have a pretty good shot. I think that at 75 miles approximate I am out of luck for strong, consistent reception of the Mobile stations who have their transmitter sites at Spanish Fort, though.

Originally posted by steveschindler
I am looking for someone to install an antenna for HD. Any recommendations for the Pensacola airport area?

Originally posted by jerryez
A 20 foot pole and a radio shack large otdoor antenna will pull in anything in Pensacola area. You should be able to do it yourself.

I'm about a mile south of the airport. I have a lot of pine trees. I struggled with the big Radio Shack antenna atop a 20ft tall pole. Couldn't get enough signal from WKRG digital to lock on.
I replaced the 20 footer and big antenna with a 40 foot telescoping mast (with guy wires) and a small Winegard antenna with a built in preamp. That did it. I'm surely no expert but since we're close I'll be glad to try and help. PM me if you wish.

Bob Wood

One thing about a telescoping mast. You can put it up 20 foot and if you do not get a satisfactory signal. Lower it and add guy wires and run it up the full length. My antenna is up about 25 feet and has a clear view of the tower direction( no major trees). Sound like you got lots of help, maybe we could have a antenna raising party.

I added a Channel Master in line amplifier (13db) to the line in from my ouside antenna. I was trying to get Alabama PBS 41. It increased the signal strength on all channels by about 5%. Most signals are 90-92 now except W@KRG which is 75% and WEAR, which today is 70% on mt 811. ALabama PBS comes in at 49%, but will not lock and get a picture. I might take t6he amp back, not really very much improvement. Should an amp improve the strength more than 5%. Does anyone know of a better amp.

WJTC UPN 44-1 is now broadcasting in HD.

I caught a couple of shows last night and had no pixelation as before.

J C

WJTC UPN 44-1 is now broadcasting in HD.

Sweet!

Not much HD programming on UPN, but every little bit more that we can get in the Gulf Coast is appreciated.

very cool, hope they don't cancel enterprise the limey *******s...

The PQ on UPN tonight [movie] was just about as good as it gets. I was very impress.

Anyone not getting WKRG (CBS) on 5-1 today or at all?

This is my first day with my new Zenith HDV420 STB. I'm getting all other channels with no problems and good signal strength. I've tried scanning the channels twice and direct access via remote and it has no signal.

Man, I was hoping to watch CSI Miami in HD! :(

Thanks,

Sonicflood
Foley, AL

The antenna for WKRG is on hy.31. you need to turn your antenna more west to get it. I have two, one for 5.1 and one for all the rest. We live in a bad place because the towers are in two directions from us. I live in Magnolia Springs.

Originally posted by trich
The antenna for WKRG is on hy.31. you need to turn your antenna more west to get it. I have two, one for 5.1 and one for all the rest. We live in a bad place because the towers are in two directions from us. I live in Magnolia Springs.

Thanks for the info! What antenna (brand/model) are you using? I sent you a P.M..

Thanks,

Scott (Sonicflood)

WKRG-DT

It was foggy last night, and apparently that is all that is needed to block the WKRG digital signal. They broadcast a rather weak signal, and a signal that has enormous variation. In contrast, the religious channel (34?) has a tower in almost the same location (I think), and their signal strength is almost invariant, and adequate.

Since CBS has the best, and most HDTV programming, it would be nice to see them up their broadcast power by 10-25%. Last time I asked, I was told that would not happen until perhaps 2006.

With UPN now broadcasting HDTV, WKRG's weak signal, and WEAR's refusal to consider passing through the ABC HD signal, are the two remaining problems in our area, in my opinion.

I'll throw out one more problem. wpmi at least for me varies wildly. Some days it's 80%, last night i had almost 90%, and all of last week i had 40-50%. Everyweek it's different. Also the windier it is the lower my signal.

I have an attic installation that is fixed and not going to go anywhere which leads me to wonder, Does Wpmi's tower shake with the wind? Anyway, just a minor annoyance, can't wait to see enterprise in HD.

One more thing, would like WB to go HD, the widescreen is great but i want my HD.

As a side note, anyone tried out the new winegard square shooter antenna? i've read good things and have a client that wants one. I'll post how it works in our area when i find out.

Daniel

Daniel I asked Joe last week about WB and he said SD for now. Fox will use a new splicer for HD. He said this will allow FOX to distribute HD at a bitrate (Quality) that is air-ready as opposed to contribution ready. The contribution signals require much more bandwidth on the satellite then the air-ready signals.



To the viewer there will be no difference in quality. The network and broadcasters have gains behind the scenes that will ultimately lead toward more HD for the viewers.

WALA/WBPG

From what I have read, WALA will not have the bandwidth to transmit both the FOX programming in HD and simultaneously, the WB programming in HD . I wonder if they can do FOX-HD and WB-Widescreen at the same time. At some point, it seems that WBPG will have to apply for a digital channel of their own, and build out. Major, major expense!

Has anyone else been having problems with WPMI(15) audio? Everytime I've checked it for the last few nights there hasn't been any audio. I just did a rescan of all channels to see if that fixed it but it didn't. All of the other channels come in fine and I'm getting a very strong signal on 15.

Thanks,
Steve

They (WPMI-DT) do seem to be having audio problems for the past several nights.

ARGH i've been waiting for enterprise all day and it's not in hd with bars all around, argh.

What did anybody expect? They are running Enterprise in tape delay (they are not the kind of people who have heard of hd recording) so you will get no Enterprise HD until they fulfill the SEC basketball contract. By the way, as far as I know, no other local station has HD tape delay either. Somebody is asleep at the wheel. They could insert a different ad stream aimed at the kind of people that have HD and sell the same programming twice (one contract for analog, one for digital). I think I would rather advertise for selling a Porche to the digital people. This would lead to local HD content and more HD awareness at the station as a source of revenue. From reading this and other forums, all these people seem to think of HD is that it is an unfair and expensive government mandated pain in the butt. Nobody is thinking of tomorrow and trying to get a jump on the competition.

News from Tim, i didn't think of tape delay, was just happy basketball was on so smallville and enterprise didn't conflict. Oh well, a new thing to worry about. Still doesn't explain why the picture was almost completely green.

Mr. Henderson,

Enterprise was tape delayed because of our SEC basketball contractual obligations and at the present time we have no capabilities to record and playback HD programming. We are developing a plan to do both at the same time in the near future. Not sure about the pixilation, we didn't see it here but I'll investigate.

Regards,

Tim Reid
Director of Engineering
WPMI-TV/DT NBC 15
WJTC-TV/DT UPN 44
661 Azalea Road
Mobile, Alabama 36609
251-602-1500
251-602-1547 Fax
TimReid@Clearchannel.com

hello guys,
i've noticed since wjtc-dtv has gotten their new encoding equipment
that picture quality is not as good. their programs are in 4:3 with the
exception of star trek and the background of older shows like that70's
show has an awful greenish tint. i have use my expand mode and back
way down on the brightness to make the picture better.

i talked to tim reid monday and he said that they were broadcasting
1080i and thats why i had black bars on the side. he also said that
he hadn't noticed a green tint but would take a look.

i guess he couldn't fix it because the broadcasts still have that
green tint.

Yeh the green tint is very annoying. My signal has dropped from mid 90's to mid 60's to 70's, maybe the storm maybe the added bandwidth. Either way i ordered a square shooter antenna, will relay how it works.

Sent a request for an update from WJHG, NBC in Panama City about there progress in bringing digital broadcast to the area. The reply was as follows:

Thank you for your patience. We hope to be broadcasting HD in July. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Steve Voorhies
News Director

Good news if true.......:)

WJHG's track record on meeting projected go live dates on DTV is dismal. They have been projecting dates like this for over a year. Date passes and they just come up with another date usually 3 months out that come and pass with another date projected 3 more months out. They never give a reason for the delay, they just keep advancing the date.

I believe we will find WMD in Iraq before these clowns get a digital signal in the air. They simply don't feel the need to put the station on the air or they don't see the demand.

Enterprise News (44-1)

Mr. Henderson,

Just a note to forewarn you that Enterprise will not be in HD tonight due to a failure
of our brand new HD encoder. We got our replacement SD encoder in today only to
have the HD encoder develop audio problems. Believe me this is as much if not
more frustrating for us as it is for you.

Tim Reid
Director of Engineering
WPMI-TV/DT NBC 15
WJTC-TV/DT UPN 44
661 Azalea Road
Mobile, Alabama 36609
251-602-1500
251-602-1547 Fax
TimReid@Clearchannel.com

Is this the place to ask about a newbie in Biloxi MS? I just moved to the Gulf Coast from Central Texas and we are in the process of building a new house in West Bilxoi a about 3 long blocks from the beach.

I bought a CM4228 w/7777 preamp just before leaving Texas hoping to get some OTA HD from the new house. I am over the hurdle of the neigborhood not allowing external antennas.

Question: Is there any hope of getting more than the local WLOX. Maybe some NO or Mobile stations.

Any guess at needed height of antenna? I assume I will need a rotor, any recommenations on brand or model of rotor?

Thanks.

Originally posted by raymar99
Is this the place to ask about a newbie in Biloxi MS? I just moved to the Gulf Coast from Central Texas and we are in the process of building a new house in West Bilxoi a about 3 long blocks from the beach.


Welcome to this strip of the Coast.........

I am in Theodore, Al. which is South of Mobile.
I am using the same antenna/preamp that you have and I get WLOX real good. As far as what you can receive from Mobile I don't have a clue but from what I've heard I would be surprised if you can get anything.

All the towers are East of Mobile between Mobile and Pensacola.

Good luck J C

Raymar99,

You may want to check into the distance from your place to New Orleans. The CBS station WWL in NO is HD- on channel 36. You would indeed want a rotor, or a dual antenna setup, if its reachable from your location, as I would expect you would have to point west or southwest from Biloxi to get it.

The FCC report WWL is operating at 319Kw from a 311 meter tower. While that's a STA for WWL, those are good numbers for power and height. You could check lat and long for location. If you are within 65 miles, I would give it a try. While you're at it, check for distance to Mobile stations from your place.

raymar99, are you saying that you are having a problem with an OTA antenna or NOT having a problem with an OTA antenna as it regards a neighborhood covenant or government entity?

This web site may make some interesting reading for you.

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

I no longer have a problem with the neighborhood covenants - once they really read the FCC Fact Sheet they started the modification process for the outdated covenants.

How do I find the Location (Lat, Long) of the transmitting antennas. I know about where WLOX in Boloxi is but I would like to pin point it and the NO and Mobile transmitters.

The only web site I know is the www.Antennaweb.org

I checked the distance from my house to WWL in NO and it is 71.5 miles. Bummer. The Mobile stations are almost exactly the same distance (71 - 81 miles) as NO using antennaweb.org. The web site does not show any of the stations in NO or Mbbile as Digital!

I have attached a map with the 60 and 75 mile radius lines plotted from my new house. Can someone tell me where the Mobile area transmitters are located along the radius lines?

Thanks.

Maybe someone can summarize the available stations, location, and DTV/HD status! Wouldn't that be great.

Just thought i'd throw this bit of info out there.

I recently bought a Winegard Square Shooter to test it and see what all the hype was about. I plugged it into my tv in my office at home and pulled in all my (analog) stations except 3 much better than my cm 4228 with cm 7777 in my attic. Was amazed.

Then i did an install job for a client in Eight Mile, Al and had a lot of trouble getting his winegard antenna and amp that i got for him to work. I've installed this combo before with minimal problem, but in his scenario i could not pull in any digital channels other than 3-1 and 5-1.

So, i left and came back with my SS and installed it with the winegard amp on it. I moved it around, found a good spot and mounted it in his attic. To say i was amazed is to put it mildly. He had a 85-90% signal strength on every station from 3-1 to 55-1. And this was in his attic. I'm not saying it will work for everyone but if you have the money this is worth a test.

I ordered another one to test on my house, will mount it outside. I don't understand how this antenna works, but it's worth checking out.

Daniel

How do I find the Location (Lat, Long) of the transmitting antennas. I know about where WLOX in Boloxi is but I would like to pin point it and the NO and Mobile transmitters.

The only web site I know is the www.Antennaweb.org [/B][/QUOTE]

You can download an Excel spreadsheet from www.transmitter.com. There is a sheet for both Digital and Analog OTA stations.

Originally posted by raymar99
How do I find the Location (Lat, Long) of the transmitting antennas. I know about where WLOX in Boloxi is but I would like to pin point it and the NO and Mobile transmitters.The only web site I know is the www.Antennaweb.org

Raymar99, you can get the info straight from the FCC at their TV Database Query located at http://www.fcc.gov/mb/video/tvq.html

Calling up WWL in New Orleans and looking for the Digital STA listing, I see that the transmitter is located at 29:54:22.00 Lat. and 90:2:22.00 Long.

From your map, Mobile/Pensacola would be a long stretch from your place. I'm guessing towers are at the 70 mile radius or more.

DTV tower locations for other stations:

WKRG-CBS (36) 30:40:55.00 lat, 87:49:41.00 long., STA 55kW @ 254 meters (approved for 1000kW @ 557 meters)

WALA-FOX/WB (9) 30:41:17.00 lat, 87:36:27.00 long., 124kW @ 346 meters

WPMI-NBC (47) 30:37:40.00 lat, 87:36:27.00 long., 1000kW @ 558 meters

WSRE-PBS (31) 30:37:40.00 lat, 87:36:27.00 long., STA 287kW @ 549 meters (approved for 1000kW @ 530 meters)

WJTC-UPN (45) 30:35:16.00 lat, 87:33:13.00 long., 1000kW @ 457 meters

If you look for "Relative Field Polar Plot" in the FCC query results, it will show you the polarization of the antenna (if any). Most of the Mobile/Pensacola stations have a pattern that favor a west by northwest/east by southeast receiver location, which works to your disadvantage.

[Edit] Quick look at miles from Biloxi city center to WALA is 69.5 miles, WKRG 67.9 miles, WWL is 76.4. So WWL-CBS New Orleans looks bad, unless you are a bit closer. WKRG is weak, so I wouldn't expect to get it, either. WALA, WMPI, maybe. You will be on the fringe and will have to go for max. antenna gain and tower height. Its a crapshoot. I'm 73 miles from WKRG, on the east side, and it's not reliable over 95% time at that distance. WPMI is 60 miles and always a strong signal.

Is it my signal or did WJTC go down right in the middle of Enterprise tonight? It came back on a few minutes later then went off again.

My receiver showed a signal but there wasn't any picture or sound.

Did anyone else have this problem?

Thanks,
Steve

yeh something wrong on their end, when it was on looked great, but yeh dropped out 3 times during the show.

RickRS - Thanks a million for taking the time to give me all the specific info that I was seeking. It is reallly great that you help folks the way you do.

I am exactly 71.5 miles from the WWL tower and the only good thing is that the entire distance is all over water with nothing with any elevation of note between us except maybe in the NO area.

Looks like to only way to know is to hook up and see what I get.

WLOX and WWL are more than 90 degrees apart so I will have to go the rotor route or dual antennas.

Thanks again.
:)

Originally posted by rute
Is it my signal or did WJTC go down right in the middle of Enterprise tonight? It came back on a few minutes later then went off again.

My receiver showed a signal but there wasn't any picture or sound.

Did anyone else have this problem?

Thanks,
Steve

Exact same thing here................

J C

Ok guys. As some of you know i've started a custom home theater company. I'm sure some on this board are in the same line of work. Anyway i'm building my first showroom and would really appreciate any help.

I'm thinking of having some sort of calibration party. I'm still learning about projectors and optimal acoustics and want to get it right, and I know there are some real pro's on this board. I would really appreciate the help and will supply the food and beverages as well as a cpl door prizes/giveaways or something like that.

I just want the theater to sound good and look good. I'm just trying to carve out a niche in this market to live off of and help people get addicted to this insanely fun hobby/obsession.

Anyway, please email me at daniel@absolutehometheater.net if you're interested. Construction won't start til sunday the 21st, so probably a month or so away from true calibration. (i'll let things settle and do it the best i can before then.)

Here is the system i'm putting in and what we'll be working with:

19.4 ft long x 14ft wide. 8 ft tall (i wanted 9 but there is an air duct so that brings in the even number, but hopefully it will be alright.)

6 James 8sdx inwall speakers (fronts/side surrounds/rear surrounds)
1 James 8sdxc inwall (center)
2 james 110 sdwx (2 in ceiling subs, one is active the other passive, i'm probably going to mount them in opposite corners, 1 front right corner/ceiling, the other rear left corner/ceiling)

BenQ 8700 projector
Da Lite 92" 16x9 HCCV fixed cinema contour with pro trim.

Lexicon MC8/CX7 combo
JVC 40k
Hughes (the one made by LG) hd stb, feeding dvi to the projector.

I haven't decided on the dvd player. The lexicon rt10 is very intriguing but also very pricey, granted everything is pricey but not sure i can justify it when i can get a quality dvd player that upconverts and outputs via dvi for less. Would appreciate advice on this. Budget is getting tight for the showroom as it is, and if it was my home i'd put a quality universal player with dvi out in it.

I haven't decided on my power protection. I have talked to richard grey but i'm leaning towards a panamax system due to the difference in price. Haven't decided which unit but i'm still studying.

Going with Lutron lighting via ir to dim etc.

Going with the new harmony 678 (think this is the number, it's built off the 659 which is an amazing remote, but comes out in a cpl weeks.)

I think that's about it at this point. It will be installed at a friend's leather gallery in mobile and he's putting in 3 rows of theater seats, all very nice and very comfortable and very affordable compared to the crap lazy boy is putting out now.

We'll also double the walls with insulation then on the inside will study the room and cover parts with ultra sued swatches and parts with glassed movie posters depending on the acoustics.

The only thing i really don't like, other than it being 8 ft tall and not 9ft, is the rear of the room will have a 6 ft sliding glass door. The glass will be tinted and there will be very thick velvet drapes in front of it, but they want to let people see inside when no one's in there in order to draw people in there. In the end i think it makes sense, no one wants to walk into a closed off room in a store, just have to make sure the drapes block out all the light when it's necessary.

Anyway, any advice or help is very welcome.

Thanks,
Daniel

fox/wb went off the air for me today. have had a pretty solid 80% strenght for over a year and then bam, doesn't even show up anymore, occaisonally picks up to 10%. Anyone else having problems? I need to go fool with my antenna to see if it blew around or something, everything else is just as strong as it's ever been.

What is deal with Ch 44's poor signal ?

anyone else having problems with fox/wb?

i'm pulling in a solid signal for 44, but it's not always the most stable.

No 44 here either but now I can get Mobiles PBS with my new SqS. They have HD all day.

Ch 44 is having some problems
Ch 15 is coming in 90%


I guess that I will shoot Clear Channel an email tomorrow and ask them what the deal is .

44.1 is ok today.

Anyone know when WKRG DT 27 is going raise power? It is the only digital channel I can't receive.

I added a preamp to my OTA. I now pick up PBS 42 in glorious HD, but lost channel 17(3) WEAR. Sounds like a fair trade to me. I did not watch WEAR anyway. There crappy digital sucks.

Anyone know when WKRG DT 27 is going raise power? It is the only digital channel I can't receive.
___________________________________________________

Jim Richardson told me 2006 and he ought to know.

Is it just me or is anyone else having a problem holding a lock on 15-1 DT?

NBC usually is one of my strongest digital stations however in the last few days it is really unstable. I get a solid 63% signal for 3-10 minutes then it drops to "0" and says "searching for signal" then pops back on for a while.
Really annoying....... So frequent it's not watchable.

I'm using the Samsung DTV TS-160 HD receiver.

Has anyone in this area upgraded to the Samsung TS-360 yet??

Thanks J C

JC, I have a LCD HDTV using a Sony HD100. I also have a plasma using a Sony HD200. The 100 will have drop-outs even when there is a strong signal "sometimes". The 200 with a good signal will stay locked on all of the time. 15.1 is my best station for a lock. When the wind is hi,[before the SqS] I will lose WKRG. On my 200 44.1 is the worse, it may be ok to day and tomorrow bad I never know. My 100 will not get 44.1 at all, never has. I live in Magnolia Springs and have a lot of big trees and I have tried a lot of antennas. I just got a SqS and it is the best one yet. I can get 42.1 now for the first time but it would not get 10.1 or 55.1[vhf] So I put up a small RS antenna and combined it with my SqS, now I get 10.1 and 55.1. I can not get 44.1 or 55.1 on my 100, never have. I have to put the blame on the 100. I have a amp for it but still no go. If you read all of the posts on the AV board you will see that most drop-outs are cause buy STBs or poor reception. In my case its the HD100.
BTW my SqS is only 5 feet off the ground, that is where I got the best reception.

I've got a lock in on everything except 10.1/55.1, i got the sqs which brought everything in including fox/wb, but suddenlty they're compeltely gone.

Which vhf antenna did you buy bobby?

What is a SqS?

What type of antenna would be good for the Navarre, FL area...

Here is a square shooter, UHF only.

http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?CAT=&PROD=SS-1000

so the square shooter would work in Navarre? The WineGard rep was telling me not much of anything works in that area. Thanks for your help....

Mill,

I've not heard of anyone having success in Navarre with the square shooter but that doesn't mean it won't work there. Other antennas have a higher gain on paper but to heck with specs - all that matters is whether it works.

I have a Televes DAT75 UHF antenna in Gulf Breeze coupled with a Sony HD200. The two work fine together. I've been following the square shooter because it still amazes me the thing seems to work. I'm surprised the Winegard rep didn't push something in their line.

Well i've installed 3 sqs for clients, all three needed a winegard 8780 but after that they pulled in all the stations beautifully. Even fox/wb. all the installs were in various parts of mobile.

Now for my setup :) i installed it and it pulled in everything great, then i lost fox/wb. Literally went from 70% to 0% overnight.

So today i decided to fool with it some more, turned it, adjusted the tilt, etc, no go. So i figure, what the hell, i turn it away from the towers, and bam i'm getting fox/wb. granted i lost nbc/abc, but after some tweaking with it basically pointing mostly away from the towers, i'm pulling in everything. It all ranges from 85% to 70% now, where before i had a strong 95% on everything then 0% on fox/wb, but hey so far it's holding the signal steady. Time will tell but i'm excited :) now if i can just get my hd tivo, one more month :)

Iceman,

You are now using the Square Shooter? I just need to find a vendor that would be willing for me to return it if it does not work.... I just hate to be stuck with something that does not work for me.....

Mill,

I should have a cpl sqs's in the next week, if you want to try one to see if it works that's cool, if it doesn't i'll refund you. I recommend using a preamp with it, i have a winegard 8780 extra as well you can try with it if it needs it.

Let me know.
Daniel
daniel@absolutehometheater.net

Mill,

I don't have the square shooter. I have a Televes DAT 75. It (Televes)works fine from Gulf Breeze but you are about 10 - 12 miles farther away from the antennas to the West than I.

Cinder and Iceman... Thanks for all the help..

Cinder I will be emailing you to take you up on your offer.

mill3704.

The "Square Shooter" is a "urban /metro" antenna. I won't be surprise if its a dud when used in Navarre. Those positive reports are from users in Mobile who are closer to the towers than you are.

The Winegard rep. is wrong, you can get good reception in Navarre. You will likely need a "fringe" or "deep fringe" antenna, possibly with a masthead mounted pre-amp. I'm in FWB and I can tell you that NBC, UPN, and PBS are easy to get with a standard fringe antenna on an outside mast. CBS and FOX are very dicey. In fact, I've given up on them. There was a user in FWB who reported getting both after going with Winegard's biggest antenna on a 40 foot mast, but there has been nothing from that person since. Can't tell what the deal is, if reception has been consistantly good or spotty, with signals coming in on a good night.

You are closer, so you will get a better shot than us in FWB. If you want to get FOX get a VHF/UHF antenna, as it's DTV is on channel 9. All the others are on UHF channels. Good luck.

I wish the cable and satellite companies would get off the dime and provide it normally without the OTA. They would make more money, and the demand would be their.

Rick you may be right but it will cost him zero $ to try. I have 5 antennas and not one of them will get Mobiles PBS. They have HD all day so I just wanted it. The SqS got it with it laying on my porch, now you can believe that or not. It is by far the best antenna of the lot. In my case it has a draw back. It will not get 10.1 or 55.1 vhs. I cut the end off of a RS antenna and put it on the same post that my SqS is on, 5' off the ground, and combined them. I'm hopeing when all of the leaves come out it will still work ok. Time will tell. BTW my yard is 5 -- 8 feet above sea level.

I just got this from Joe.
_______________________________________________

Good afternoon,



We made some changes today in order to add the program guide information to FOX10 and WB55. If it’s not too much trouble, would you mind tuning both of our channels in and letting us know what you are receiving?



Thanks,



Joe
_______________________________________

I'm getting nothing on my two Sonys.

When I program Fox 09 into my Dish 811, it shows Fox on both Fox 10 and 55. I do not get any program guide even in prime time.

I e-mail Joe some screen-shots of the guide. Here is his reply.
_______________________________________________

Thanks, we are working on it. I hope to have it going by the end of the day.

Something in the air tonight, i fooled with my sqs yesterday to pull in everythign strong. Vhf just isn't very good, anyway turned the tv on a few minutes ago and fox is solid but wb is gone. The weird thing is i'm picking up some hd cbs 46 at about 40%, i think it's new orleans, also pulling in 39 at 30% but it won't lock long enough to see what it is, but i think it's a digital wb. I'm picking up an analog wb from new orleans pretty good as well. Weird weather tonight. Anyway, makes me want to test the limits of this antenna's uhf tuning.

Originally posted by Cinder
Something in the air tonight, i fooled with my sqs yesterday to pull in everythign strong. Vhf just isn't very good, anyway turned the tv on a few minutes ago and fox is solid but wb is gone. The weird thing is i'm picking up some hd cbs 46 at about 40%, i think it's new orleans, also pulling in 39 at 30% but it won't lock long enough to see what it is, but i think it's a digital wb. I'm picking up an analog wb from new orleans pretty good as well. Weird weather tonight. Anyway, makes me want to test the limits of this antenna's uhf tuning.

Channel 39 is WLOX ABC in Biloxi, MS.

I'm in Theodore and get it clearly with the CM 4228 & 7777 pre-amp.

J C

Well i put in the wrong number, it's 36 that i was getting in. Got both channels strong last night. New Orleans CBS and NBC, i didn't turn the antenna or fool with it but seems strange i'm picking up new orleans and not abc in biloxi. Oh well, gives me hope )

Originally posted by trich
Rick you may be right but it will cost him zero $ to try.
I for sure wouldn't want to stop him from trying something that won't cost a thing. I am skeptic it will work, but I don't want him to give up if it doesn't work thinking that it was the only chance he had because of some misinformation or misunderstanding with this "Winegard rep". It'll be easier to get OTA HD from Navarre than from FWB.

Did anyone in the Mobile area have a problem receiving 15-1 last evening? For whatever reason I could not get it.

J C

Originally posted by JC West
Did anyone in the Mobile area have a problem receiving 15-1 last evening? For whatever reason I could not get it.

J C

I watched Law and Order CI last night. no problems here.

Steve

Has PBS 42.1 been off the air, for awhile we were receiving 42.1,.2 +.3 consistently, now just 42.1. As of right now, 5:25 pm on 3/26, no single.

Thanks,

I'm watching 42.1 right now.............. Trains.............

Originally posted by TS45
Has PBS 42.1 been off the air, for awhile we were receiving 42.1,.2 +.3 consistently, now just 42.1. As of right now, 5:25 pm on 3/26, no single.

Thanks,

As far as I rmember it's always been 42.1 and 42.2. That's what's on now. Maybe you are thinking of WSRE PBS on 23.1, 23.2, and 23.3....

Steve

Does anyone in this area have the new Hughes HTL-HD DTV receiver?
I'm very curious to see how it handles the local HD signal.

My Samsung TS-160 will not separate WB-55 from Fox-10.

J C

JC, I read that it does not have a OTA digital Signal Meter.
$299 ain't bad but you need a signal meter.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=320364&perpage=30&pagenumber=1

Jc, I just read that the price is now $249.
______________________________________

Did anyone notice, Circuitcity's Price just went down another $50

Its listed now as 249.99
on the website

I've hooked up two htl hd's in mobile and both pulled in every station no problem, both were east mobile.

The lack of a signal meter is very annoying, but if you know where to point the antenna and given the price it's a great receiver, plus they're supposedly going to update the firmware to add a signal meter real soon. For $250 it's a no brainer, it's really just a stripped down zenith 520 (530 equivalent, can't remember lg's new numbers.) In both installs i used a square shooter and it pulled in the vhf digital channels 100% as well, which is odd since i can't pull in the vhf channels with my ss and i'm closer to the towers, oh well...

Sorry,

PBS was 42.0, 42.1 +42.2. Saturday,12:47 pm, still no 42.1 or 42.2??

Glad others are still receiving the signal. Will have to check out the system set up, either our system/reception have changed or the station has cut back there power. Located near North of Grelot, off Hillcrest.


Thank you,
Tom

Ts its 12:59 and 42.1 & 42.2 are on. I live in Magnolia
Springs.

Jc this is posted on the hardware board.
____________________________________

My replacement htl-hd was installed yesterday. It is version 1.07 and the build date is dec.'03. I have the signal meter on this one, nice feature, the clouds are overhead and it is showing just over normal for a local broadcast. I haven't noticed any audio dropouts yet with this box. I posted in another thread asking how to filter the guide without doing custom, no replys. Is there a way to filter only the channels I want like 2.1 5.1 7.1 in that order? I just want to get rid of the channels in the guide I don't use, without doing custom or is this the only way? btw the htl I have is from D.

B. Ray,

What antenna are you using? We have a fringe area RCA.

Tom

SqS, the best antenna that I have ever tryed. Daniel [cinder] can help you with one.

OK folks, I got a new STB today at CC in Pensacola. Its a Hughes HTL-HD and the "GUIDE" works on "ALL" local ch: nether one of my Sonys will get them. This box will let you expand the picture on our local digital ch: so no bars. My plasma does not like bars. [burn in]

trich,

I've been looking to add another STB with the price decline of the Sony's and the new HD Tivo coming out soon. I know D* is supposed to begin providing STB's soon at a very low price but I can't believe the quality will be quite as good as those available now. I have a Sony Hd200.

What do you think of your new Hughes compared to your Sony STB? I'm using a plasma as well.

thanks.

iceman you got a pm.

Did anyone else lose the WKRG HD broadcast last night in the middle of "Cold Case"?

Steve

Hello rute,
I didn't just lose wkrg 5.1,5.2
I lost 15.1,55.1 and had signifcant signal strength loss on 10.1,3.1,33.1,42.1
23.1 as a matter of fact, all my analog channels were sub par last nite.
I guess their was some weird phenomena going on last nite.
My channels seem back at full strength this morning.

ABC-HD!!

No, not WEAR! But due to strange atmospherics (I guess), I've got a very strong signal from Biloxi (WLOX, 39-1, 13-1) on Monday night (3/29/2004). Watching "The Haunting" in wide-screen with 5.1 sound. Also getting a PBS station on 16-1 (from Mississippi?)

Maybe WEAR will be one fo these.

http://www.broadcastnewsroom.com/2004/03_mar/news/kma7v40g.htm

Greetings all

Am new to the forum, and have a question on mediacom's HD cable, so please excuse if this has been asked before.

Wanted to know if the mediacom HD cablebox is compatible with an older HD TV, a Sony HS10 set? Mediacom box has 3 cable component video connector set up, but my TV has 5 connectors for the HD input (Hd, Vd, and R, G and B). Know that the R,G, B connectors on TV will support 480P from progressive DVD, when used by themselves, but do not know if they will support 1080I for HDTV without the additional Hd and Vd cables connected.

Appreciate any help/advise you may have.

Thanks!

Paul

Paul,

Sounds like to me that the Mediacom box is just their normal Digital box. I'm not aware of them offering HD at this time, but I could be wrong.

Suprisingly, they do offer HD on cable now. Box is different size and color than the normal Digital cable, and they offer ESPN, Bravo, Showtime, Discovery and somesort of HD movie network channel.

Thanks

Paul

According to the Mediacom rep they only offer 1 channel - Showtime. They anticipate adding 6 more channels within 6 months if they are able to "work the bugs out". The box is $11 instead of $8. The rep recommended waiting. They do hope to have over twenty HD channels within 1 year.

You may wish to call Mediacom or check their website.

phone (800) 239-8411.

There are much better offerings at this time including OTA which is free. VOOM seems to be making inroads. I've been happy with D* HD service but like evryone else I would love to have more channels and more HD content.

Hope this helps.

Paul,
Thank you... I'm surprised they have not let the community know, not that I would change from Directv... It is just a crying shame that you have to have OTA to receive HD local channels even with the local cable provider. that is a problem they should all be solving....

Regards,
Billy

Was WKRG-DT down tonight? I tried during King of Queens and couldn't get a signal.

Steve

Its ok here. 8:32pm

Yeah, I figured it out. My son had switched the "FM Trap" switch on the signal booster. It's working now....

Steve

Has anyone heard anything about local channels in Pensacola coming to Cox in HD? How long does it take to come to agreements??? This is rediculous :(

It could be on the way.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=394664

That's very interesting. I hope that Cox GulfCoast will come through now.

I sent an email to cox and they said local channels are coming but it will be more than 3 months out.

I talked with someone at CBS, and they also said that they are close to having agreement with the cable companies within 1-2 months. Hopefully, Mediacom will not take additional 6 months to figure it out...

I assume that when the locals do come to the Gulf Coast, it will require a digital box from the cable company to tune in the signal. My monitor already will tune OTA and cable digital, and I have no desire to get the rest of the premium channels through the cable. I get a better signal at a cheaper price with my beautiful useful device and its digital receivers. Anyone know how this will work?

More than likely that will be how they set it up. I am hoping that it does not require it, since I am a DIRECTV fan.... Don't really want to pay for both services...

Anyone lose WKRG? i've had it solid 80-85% forever, now it's at 15% and not coming in. I just got an hd tivo yesterday but it had the same readings as my zenith 520 had. Just trying to find out if the storm affected wkrg or if perhaps my hd tivo is overpowering which apparently it can do with strong signals.

thanks,
daniel

I watched Cold Case in HD last night, no problems.

J C

Cinder where did you get the HD TIVO?

Regards.....

Argh, starting to hate antennas. Have had great reception all year, now everything is going to hell. I can't pull in cbs more than 40% no matter where i point my antenna and i'm not far away, annoying... The hd tivo definately has a weaker tuner but not by much, very annoying...

well time to get back to work on the antenna then on my real job )

I bought the hd tivo from value electronics on their preorder list. I preordered back in january and received it this saturday. Best place to find one now is Rapid Satellite (or something like that, check the tivo forum.)

So far i really like it, has some quirks i don't enjoy but hopefully they'll be fixed. It only pulls in atsc ota so makes my ota that much more important.

DOH!

ok, valuable lesson learned today. A preamp that is full of water is of no use to anyone ;) man that was a big storm.

Daniel

Ok, this is getting annoying.

With my preamp that is full of water plugged in (i obviously haven't replugged it but i remember its mark) i had cbs at 50-55%, but everything else was real bad.

Without any preamp everything comes in strong except abc and cbs. In this scenario abc comes in but with a lot of breakups, cbs is at 0 no matter what i do.

With a winegard 8780 preamp i had laying around i pull in everything very strong, but cbs is at 0. no matter where i point the antenna, cbs is 0.

this is really bizarre....

Cinder: Did you check your FM trap switch? I found that to be my problem once. Switched the switch and everything started coming in again.

Steve

FM Trap is fine. I fine tuned my antenna and now pull in everythign except fox/wb. I'll have my new preamp that separates vhf and uhf today so i can use a separate antenna for fox/wb and that should solve the problem. I got the antenna pointed correctly but took about 10 minutes of it just sitting there before out of nowhere it started picking up every uhf channel. Works great now.

Now if i can just get directv to send out program guide info for wb 55-1 i'll be happy. Just says regular programming, which makes the hd tivo difficult to operate. Oh well.

thanks,
Daniel

ABC-DT

Not sure why, but I've been getting a very strong signal from WLOX-DT (13-1, 13-2 and 13-3) for the last several days. Any one else in the Pensacola area getting this station (broadcasting on channel 39). They are doing HDTV with 5.1 sound.