Starting a new thread for our area, the old one was very long, covering 3+ months.

WSRE having pledge week again. Even with the "not ready for prime-time" programming lineup, I going to pledge this week, for the first time. Main idea is to let WSRE know that HDTV can attract viewers and money. I intend to ask that the pledge be earmarked for HDTV programming and equipment. For me, PBS is currently my biggest source of HDTV. Of course, since I'm not using a dish, there only NBC to compete with in our area:)

Waiting for word that FOX is ready to go widescreen. Any news?

Can't wait for fox to go widescreen and wkrg to get their digital feed. Also i wonder if we'll get the 1080i broadcast of enterprise this fall from upn, they are going digital will be interesting if they transmit it...

Something for Jerryez: There was a thread about PBS and someone posted a link to their local station's HDTV schedule.

http://www.knmetv.org/digital/dtv-schedule.php3

It appears to be the national feed schedule and covers the month. Finally, an actual schedule! Note that the times are for New Mexico, seem to be same as Central time. Don't think we'll get any of the earlier shows (before 7 pm). WSRE is now multicasting PBSYou on 23-3 from about 3 pm, when they stop multicast Florida Educational Network programming, up to 7 pm. Appears that's going to be WSRE's game plan, multicast everyday for daytime programming and HDTV in primetime.

Thanks, a schedule is a schedule. No wonder no one posts the schedule. There seems to be a repeat of the same 1 hour loop over and over. If this is the best our National PBS HD feed can do, how can the government expect local network channels to do better.
I sure wish that WSRE would show Smart Travels in HD. I sent Roland Phillips an email requesting Smart Travels. His answer was that WSRE can only pass thru HD that the network sends to them. They have limited HD capability and no ability to delay HD broadcasts yet.

I asked Mr. Phillips the same thing, show Smart Travels. WSRE could go to the HDTV feed at 5:30 on Saturday or Sunday to show this, they just have committed to simulicasting the analog channel until 7 pm everyday.

I think KNME-DT is just using the same description for the HD Loop, instead of the actual content. I'm guessing there is actually 3 or 4 hours of demo material, which they mixed up from time to time. Still, we miss Smart Travel, Tracks Ahead, and the Desert Speaks because they are all running before 7 pm. I noticed that both Smart Travel and Tracks Ahead aren't on the National PBS DTV schedule.

The KNME-DT schedule is wrong on Monday. For the last two weeks, Mary Lou's Flip-Flop Shop has shown up at 7 pm on Monday. With a target viewers age of 3-7 I can't sit thro it. Too advance for me :D

Anyone have any idea when the dtv channels in our area will start sending out program info to our stb's. Or is it just my zenith 1080 that shows no program info for any of the dtv channels.

Also anyone know the eta on widescreen fox, and digital upn?

I haven't use my program guide on the Samsung in ages, but it did have WPMI-DT NBC's program and WSRE's analog PBS schedule maybe a month ago. Nothing on WSRE HDTV on 23-1 or its PBSYour on 23-3. Will check again later today.

And on the topic of schedules, last night was the second time I found "The Desert Speaks" on at 7 pm Thursday. Produced by the Arizona State Parks Dept. Very good HD quality. I guess PBS is including this as a regular item at this time.

Interesting, i have no idea why i can't pick up the schedule for nbc dt. I also don't pick up a shedule for 55 though my replay tv picks one up just fine. Hopefully they get on the ball for the rest of these, from 10-1 to 27-1 its a see of no programming information, i have to look at the corresponding analog channel to see whats going on. Course i can't even receive analog wsre which is strange, since i pull in their dtv stations very strong.

Oh well, ready for some progress like widescreen fox and digital upn and digital (albeit not hdtv) abc to come online.

Cinder, a more current report. I loaded the guide on my Samsung last night. First time is a long time, the guide takes a solid 2 minutes to load so I don't use it. WPMI-DT schedule is there and WSRE 23-2 has the analog schedule, which of course is wrong because they stop the simulcast at 7 pm and the schedule shows programming continuing. WSRE 23-1 has "HDTV Programming", and WSRE 23-3 has "PBSYou Programming" listed for all time slots. I don't get any signal from WALA-DT or WKRG-DT so no idea if the guide works for them.

Well thats strange that i can't receive the program info for wpmi dt and wsre dt, will fool around with it for awhile. 2 minutes, ouch, thats a long time.
I reloaded the guide the other day and still have the same info, though 47-1 moved to 15-1 which makes it easier to see the guide info on analog 15.

Anyway ready for some movement in our area for more dtv. Anyone see odyssey 5? Man that blew me away and i was watching the hd signal downconveted to 480i on my 31 inch mits tv. 6 more weeks and i'll have a samsung dlp, can't wait...

Rick, is WSRE now taping shows from the national feed? The Desert speaks doesnt show on the national feed at 7pm Thursday. Check out http://www.knmetv.org/digital/dtv-schedule.php3 for the feed schedule.

Bob H.

I don't think they're taping, I guessing that PBS national is adding some more repeats into the schedule but have not updating what little info they provide. Two shows that started showing up are "Mary Lou's Flip Flop Shop" at Monday 7 pm and "The Desert Speaks" at Thursday 7 pm. I have a habit of checking WSRE frequently to see if anything besides the demo loop is on.

I'll email Roland Philllips and ask. Going to post on the HDTV Programming area is see if others have noticed this.

I previously received the following reply from Roland Phillips of WSRE opn their lack of ability to tape delay.:

"Jerry,

At the present time, we have limited HD capability at WSRE. We air HD programs when they are sent in HD by the network
simultaneously. We are working on some other limited time delay capability that we hope to put on line soon. Hopefully, in
the not too distant future, we will be able to record and play back HD programs when needed the way we do SD programs now.

Some of the programs that are sent letterbox by the network are not available at the same time in HD.

Hope this helps to explain the lack of programming.

We appreciate the letter. Keep watching.

Regards,

Roland Phillips
Asst. GM/Dir. of Eng., WSRE-TV"
He also sent the following response when I ask about a programming schedule for the HD channel:

"We are working on it and hope to have something that we can either publish or at least put on the web site next month. We also
hope to have the electronic program guide updated fully by then.
We're trying to get a local traffic manager hired, which will help.

Thanks for the contact.

Best regards,

Roland Phillips
Asst. GM/Dir. of Eng., WSRE-TV"

I just got a e-mail from Joe Addalia and Foxs widescreen [16:9] will be up and running in about the next 2 weeks.

Well somebody at WPMI did not flip the switch at 9:00pm for Crossing Jordan. I called but nobody answered.

Thanks for trying, Trich. First time I think this has happen at WPMI. I believe there are some episodes that were not done in HDTV this past season, but this one clearly had the HDTV banner when it started.

More news for the Ft. Walton Beach area. Panama City has had its second DTV station sign on: WFSG-PBS is live on channel 38.

Trying today, I'm getting some indication of transmission, but I can't lock on to this one. Antenna is reported at 449 feet and a transmitter power of 49.5 kilowatts. The tower is located between Panama City and Freeport.

Will try again tonight and see if conditions are better.

Please forgive if I'm asking something that has been covered before, but I can't find the old thread that's been replaced by this one.

I have just now hooked up external antenna and am trying to get myself up to speed. The only OTA DTV channels that auto-scan found are 15.1 and 9.2.

I am about 12 miles west of Gulf Shores (about half-way to Fort Morgan). What others digital signals should I be able to pick up from here?

thanks for your help,
russell

russdog, I live in Magnolia Springs, north of you. Fox [10.1]should be in WS this week.CBS [27.1] will go HD this fall. 15.1 NBC is HD now. Pbs Pensacola [23.1] is up now in HD. ABC will be up next year. Rick or Jerry will tell you more about WEAR. Your antenna should be pointed to the N.NE.Check your PM and I will give you my phone # if you want to talk.

It must be time to sumarize the local digital channels for the newer people.

WALA/Fox; Digital now, widescreen ???? (ch 9 or 10.1)
WSRE?PBS; Digital now, HD at night 7PM to 10PM (ch 31 or 23.1)
WKRG/CBS: Digital now, HD 2003. (ch 27)
WPMI/NBC: HD now, when network programming available. (47 or 15.1)
WEAR/ABC: Digital Sept 2002, HD June 2003 (ch 17)
WJTC/UPN: Digital late summer 2002 (ch 45)
WPBG/WB: Digital?

Did anybody ever contact anyone at WPBG. I have tried but never got an answer.

russdog, Here is a link to one of those old threads, if you want to catch up on the local HD info.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=132033

Russell, if you haven't found WPMI at channel 47(remapped to 15.1) they may be having problems. I saw the channel locked (meaning the transmitter was on) but no audio/video when I tuned in at 12 noon today.

I went by the WB's office in Daphne the other day and talked to the receptionist. She was very nice and gave me the name and email address of their engineer who is in charge of their dtv transition (only mentioned digital not hd). She didn't know much of what was going on but was nice.

I've emailed the guy once but received no response. Here is his name and email for anyone who is interested. He is in pascagoula and i take it works for pegasus (not good,not good) from his email address, which makes sense since they own wb 55.

Anyway, here it is:
Robert.Flanagan@pgtv.com

As an aside, guess fox went from no widescreen to no picture tonight :)

Also i've talked to cbs' engineer numerous times and he is very confident we'll have some HD before the football season is over... So take that for what its worth...

Sent WBPG an email. Received the following response (must of caught him at his computer):

"as of present the FCC has not assigned us a Digital channel for
WBPG 55 WB in Gulf Shore. I am not sure when this might happen, so we will continue to broadcast in the analog format until that filing is complete.
Thank you for you inquiry though, I just wish I had better news to give you."

Does not sound good or like thay are in a hurry to get the FCC to assign them a digital number, let alone get the digital signal on the air.

No that doesn't sound good at all. By the way how do you like your rp 56? I'm getting the samsung 437w dlp in a few weeks and plan on trying out the pany 82 to pair with it, but curiuos how the 56 was in your opinion. I'm going from an excellent interlaced player, toshiba 9000, so want to make sure it has pretty good build quality.

The new samsung 720p/1080i faroudja upconvert dvd players is also interesting...

For FWB and eastward, word from WFSG-PBS;

WFSG-DT, channel 38, signed on at 8:00 am CST on 06/24/02. The main program channel duplicates the Ch. 56 programming. During the daytime there are three other streams of programming. (Children's shows, educational programming, and governmental and informational programming) During primetime we are broadcasting a single stream of HDTV (when available.) Again, these are the same shows that are on the analog channel but in digital format.

At present, Ft. Walton Beach is on the edge of the projected coverage area of Ch. 38. I would certainly appreciate any information you could give me concerning your ability to receive the signal, such as antenna type, height, and quality of signal.

We are petitioning the FCC to increase our power, hopefully by year's end. If this is granted you should have no problem receiving the signal.

Jim McDaniel
Director of Engineering
WFSU-TV, WFSG-TV, WFSG-DT


That being said, I have had no luck of getting WFSG. They are about 43 miles east of me, with a 449' tower, transmitting at 49.2 kW. STB report a weak signal, but can't lock on.

Jerry, I find nothing on WBPG-55 having a DTV channel assigned on FCC's TV query page or on 100000watts.com

Well Joe must have run in to trouble with the switcher he got. He told me over two weeks ago that was all he needed to give us WS [16:9] 480p.

Quote

Also i've talked to cbs' engineer numerous times and he is very confident we'll have some HD before the football season is over... So take that for what its worth...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Richardson told me last year that we would see SEC football in Nov.2001 .................NOT
Daniel, did you ever get your HDTV?

I am getting the samsung 437w dlp when it comes out in august, got a sweet deal on it b/c my nephew is a manager at a circuit city, perfect for my setup.

I got a reply from WEAR about their DTV plans:


WEAR-DT has a DTV construction extension until Nov. 1, 02 at the moment. We will be on ch. 17 but I'm not sure if you'll be able to get us in FWB right away because we won't be at full power. We will not be transmitting high def. because our control room equipment is analog.

Mark Brian
WEAR-TV3 / WFGX-TV35 engineer


I called Mr. Brian and asked about transmitter power level and antenna height (WEAR-DT is approved for construction at 1 Megawatt and 1899 feet). Mr. Brian could provide no answers, stating only that these were corporate decisions and they had provided no information, yet.

Originally posted by Cinder
By the way how do you like your rp 56? I'm getting the samsung 437w dlp in a few weeks and plan on trying out the pany 82 to pair with it, but curiuos how the 56 was in your opinion. I'm going from an excellent interlaced player, toshiba 9000, so want to make sure it has pretty good build quality.

The new samsung 720p/1080i faroudja upconvert dvd players is also interesting...

Sorry to take so long to answer your question, but I was out of town for a couple of days. I got the rp56 because of the great reviews tht it got in tech magazines. I wanted the progressive scan for my widescreen HD tv. It plays dvds that almost look as good as HD. I am very happy with it, but I think that it has been discontinued. I got mine at Sears on closeout for $161.

Sounds good, i think i'll probably go with the 82 when it comes out, then upgrade to a dvi 720p scaled dvd player in a year or so. Can't afford the tv and the samsung player right now, and there will probably be more out, and possibly more firewire dvdaudio/sacd players as well to hook to my receiver. Progress is nice :)

Whats going on with fox digital 9 ? (10-1) i am pulling in a strong signal but no picture. Its been like this for awhile now, i have rescanned always finding it and the guide, but no picture. Anyone else getting this?

>Whats going on with fox digital 9 ? (10-1) i am pulling in a
>strong signal but no picture. Its been like this for awhile
>now, i have rescanned always finding it and the guide, but
>no picture. Anyone else getting this?

yep, same thing... sometimes the picture will flicker on for just a split second... but as a rule, it shows up as a strong signal that doesn't translate into picture or sound... (glad it's not just me ;-)

also, am curious: you guys refer to it as 9 or as 10-1... on my end, it shows up as 9.2... what does this mean?

thanks...

Technically it is channel 9, but different stb's map it to different channels. My zenith 1080 maps it to 10-1.

I found this CEA link that shows ABC and UPN Live dates as 11/01/2002.

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/address.asp

Then you have to type in your address.

argh, when is fox going to fix their digital feed...

Any info on if abc and upn will upconvert to 480p at least? Also wonder if upn will pass the enterprise hd feed. Hope abc goes hidef (doubt it) by the superbowl.

That is if the Superbowl is in HD.

True, but i believe it will be. We shall see.

I got an E-mail from Joe Addalia [FOX] and here is where we are at.

_________________________________________________________
Hi Bobby,

We are waiting for an aspect ratio converter card. Since the FOX widescreen feed is SD its anamorphic and instead of switching our format converter in and out of anamorphic mode, we opted to do it right and use one aspect ratio. However if I knew it would take this long to do it right, I would have done something in the interim.

We spoke to the manufacturer, Miranda Technologies, this afternoon and they said any day now. I'm really sorry about the delay, it has just been out of our hands. The good news is all of the switching and automation is in place and ready.

We will install the card as soon as it comes in and start the widescreen FOX Network as soon as everything is tested.

Thanks for your patience,

Joe

I wish that one of our local channels would add HDNet to their feed when the network is not braodcasting HD. They can get it for free from Mark Cuban. If NBC added it, they would be broadcasting HDNet most of the time. They can add their own commercials. Maybe, we ought to request they do it.

Jerry, according to some post, some stations are already doing this.
Rick, call Mr. Phillips at WSRE and tell him that HDnet is "free" for the asking.
WSRE has no HD during the day so why not give Mark Cuban a call and show it during the day.

Bobby, I think WSRE is happy with their daytime multicasting. This is apparently part of the PBS long range plan - multicasting a combination of regular programming and either PBSYou, PBSKids, or state/local education programming. Never hurts to ask.

OK, you can take this for what its worth.
I just got this e-mail from Joe Addalia [Fox] about W/S.

Bobby,



We are going to be testing the FOX Widescreen switching tonight. If all goes as planned we will have it in place for every Primetime. FOX has not released any information on Sports yet, but we’ll be able to pass that along as well.



Thanks for your patience,



Joe

Got this update from WEAR ABC. Not the best news, but at least they are progressing. No HD from ABC this Fall.


Jerry,

We have taken delivery of our Digital Transmitter and our engineering
staff is working at the new tower site on various aspects of getting
ready for installation of the transmitter and antenna. Our target date
is still November 1st for being on-air. At the present time, our
equipment will only up-convert our standard analog signal to digital
format...we do not have the necessary equipment to broadcast
high-definition. That could possibly change by January, but we don't
know at this point.

Thank you again for your interest in WEAR-TV programming, and have a
very nice
day.

Joe Smith

Fox 480p 16:9 is up and running.

Originally posted by trich
Fox 480p 16:9 is up and running.

It sure looks great... for the split-second views of it that I receive...

Does anyone have a clue as to why...

* I get fine reception on the other digital channels
* the Fox channel has the strongest signal (by a small margin)
* the Fox channel produces either zero picture-and-sound or only brief flickers of it.

I have moved the antenna around without effect.

Any ideas re: fine signal and no picture?

thanks...

I'm getting the same thing and have been for some time. I really don't think this is a problem on our end, but is on their end.

Originally posted by Cinder
I'm getting the same thing and have been for some time. I really don't think this is a problem on our end, but is on their end.

I agree that it's not on our end. So, either it's on their end or else it's some kind of weirdness between here and there.

They're probably not gonna fix the problem unless they know it's a problem, so we probably oughta honk at 'em. I was hoping that somebody here would have a clue as to what it is, so that we'd know what we're asking them to do.

later...

I have found that WALA's FOX digital channel is sometimes on 09-02, instead of 09-01. Try it, when it comes on for a second then go away. Let me know if it works.

Ok, fox digital for the zenith 1080 has always mapped to 10-1. Its still there but i receive no picture, however if i pull up my channel guide then a picture appears in 10-1 that is the fox digital feed. It is extremely pixelated like i'm getting a terrible signal. My signal is about 90% maxed out on the strength meter, and i've never had trouble before.

Now i also have channel 9-1 that is suddenly on my channel guide. No picture here no matter what i do. Also get a strong signal. I've rescanned and 9-1 went away, leaving the strange 10-1 feed.

Originally posted by jerryez
I have found that WALA's FOX digital channel is sometimes on 09-02, instead of 09-01. Try it, when it comes on for a second then go away. Let me know if it works.

9.2 is where I'm looking... it's the only place I've gotten FOX (I got the set a couple months ago, so never looked before then)...

I sent WALA FOX an email about their mapping of the channel. The fixed the problem and sent me a reply. Check your Fox, it should be mapping to 10-01 now.

I just rescanned, and it's still on 9.2 (which is ok with me)...

also, all the sudden, I can now get picture, but the sound is choppy... audio is in and out every few seconds, garbled to point where the channel isn't watchable... any ideas?

Just for reference i moved my antenna very little yesterday afternoon, apparently it had started pointing upward a bit. Anyway yesterday i suddenly got fox in picture wise, but the sound was choppy. Now checking fox the sound is fine. I'm sure this all has less to do with my antenna than what fox is doing, but just throwing it out there.

How far is Daphne from the towers at the Styx exit. I am 30 miles from the towers and get a 90 and above on Fox. I even get a 65 on CBS, which is my lowest strength signal.

Not very far at all. Couldn't tell you exactly, but i know its less than 30 miles. Signal strength is no problem for me.
95- fox
80- nbc
75- cbs
55- wsre

i was just having the same problems russ was having with fox, but now i'm good. The only channels i really have a lot of trouble pulling in are analog 44 and 55. I have 55 watchable now (that is until i get my new set, then i'm sure it will go to hell.) but 44 sucks.

I get Fox on 9.1 with my HD100. I am [was] not having the trouble that ya'll were having. Don't know why. 95- 97 signal strength. Daniel you live 20 miles or so closer to the tower than me. Your are only about 5-7 miles max from it. CBS tower will be about 5 miles east north east up hy.31 from the FOX tower.

cool, explains why i have no trouble with those channels. Do you know where the towers are that have the wb and upn on them are?

Cinder ask.

Do you know where the towers are that have the wb and upn on them are?
_____________________________________________________
Daniel I have no idea.

no problem, i'll figure it out.

Just an update of interest to the Ft. Walton Beach area: WTVY in Dothan AL said earlier that they expect to get their antenna up in late August. I emailed the station engineer and it will be a little longer.

I'm sorry to say that we have been delayed because of equipment deliveries. Now the projected date is around the 1st of October.

Thanks for your interest in HDTV and our station.
Wade Thomaston

Today's updates

WEAR in Pensacola and WTVY in Dothan have filed for extensions of their CP Extensions to Nov. 2002 already on file. Both claim this is primarily in case of unseen delays that may force them to miss meet the Nov. 2002 deadline.

From the new CP Extensions:

WEAR-ABC in Pensacola reports DTV transmitter has been delivered. Tower construction is scheduled, no date given. DTV antenna scheduled to ship from manufacturer in Sept. WEAR will go on air with low power under STA permit when complete.

WTVY-CBS in Dothan reports all systems in place except antennas. They have to replace their NTSC antenna and mount a DTV antenna. They expect both antennas by mid-Sept.

For me, personally, WEAR is not going to HDTV until mid-year 2003 or later, so I could care less. Of course, if they have the thing sit up, maybe things could happen faster. But then again, this is a Sinclear owned station. WTVY is the one I’m interested in. They said that they had HD pass-thro equipment going into their station from day one. They will be low powered, about 60 kW, but they are sited on a tall tower (1860 ft.) that’s about 64 miles NEE from Ft. Walton Beach. Won’t help you guys in Pensacola or Mobile.

"Tower construction is Scheduled" Will they build a new tower or modify the old one? If they start today on a new tower it will take several months to build

Rick, when KRG goes HD in Oct. are you sure you wont be able to get it?
I bet you could with this.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=1330929&fullpage=1

Does anyone have an updated ETA for KRG going HD ( i see trich says october, is this confirmed?) and the UPN channel (can't remember its call letter).

Does anyone have an updated ETA for KRG going HD ( i see trich says october, is this confirmed?) and the UPN channel (can't remember its call letter
______________________________________________________
I talked to Jim Richardson a few weeks ago and he said he hope to be in HD 2nd. week in Oct. WKRG[ 27.1] CBS. He told me that they had every thing there but the micro antenna. Eta for antenna is 3rd week in Sept. Tower is up and ready.

Bobby,

Thanks for the suggestion.

I didn't know that WKRG is going HDTV this fall. I thought they were suppose to be incapable of finding money for this new-flanged DTV thing.:) I’m not expecting to get WKRG-DT until they do some work on their tower and transmitter. They have a STA that puts their tower and transmit power at 833 ft and 55 kW. I can’t see them at all. I think the tower height is the biggest limitation. WKRG’s tower is 73 miles from Ft. Walton. If you use the distance estimate formula (distance = Square root (2 * tower height)), WKRG is only going to reach about 46 miles.

WSRE and WMPI towers and power are 1801 ft / 287 kW and 1830 ft / 1000 kW, respectively. These towers are 59 miles from Ft. Walton, and can reach 66 miles. Dothan’s WTVY is only 64 miles from Ft. Walton, and with a tower setup at 1800 ft and 50 kW, I’ll find out if power will be a factor now. More gain with a super-duper antenna array could help, but first I try a station that closer.:) I mean, after all, aren't we all waiting for cable to delivery HDTV and this antenna stuff is just a passing fad?:)

I just got this in a e-mail from Joe.



16x9 Programs (Widescreen):

Boston Public

Girls Club

Grounded For Life

24

Bernie Mac

Fastlane

John Doe

Malcolm In The Middle

The Grubbs

Theatricals (20th movies only)

MOW

Keene Eddie



16x9 Programs (w/Black)

That '70s Show

Cops

The Simpsons

King Of The Hill

Cedric The Entertainer





All Sports (NFL, MLB, NASCAR)

Note: NFL will start with one widescreen game each Sunday sometime in the next few weeks.

For anyone interested in WTVY in Dothan: Bad news on the pending start of the first HDTV equiped CBS station within easy reception of Ft. Walton Beach

There was a design flaw in one of our antennas. This delayed the date until the first of December. Sorry about the delay.
Wade Thomaston

damm!

Here's an update on WJTC UPN 44...


"We had planned on being digital by September 1, but obviously that
didn't happen due to weather and a series of problems. We will make
the November 1 deadline probably mush sooner. To start with we will
only be upconverting analog. When our encoding equipment was
purchased back in January,UPN had no plans to go HD. After CBS purchased
them they stated that at some point they would take all the programming
to HD. From a corporate stand point, we are waiting until they provide a
cutover date and then we will purchase the necessary conversion equipment
as it involves 12 stations. Thanks for for watching NBC 15' HD signal.
By the way, NBC announced today that ER will be shown in HD this season.

Regards,

Tim Reid
Director of Engineering
WPMI-TV NBC 15/DT47
WJTC-TV UPN 44/DT45

Take this with a grain of salt he may be under the impression that it will be HD because it will be provided to NBC affiliates on the 1080i upconvert HD feed recently started by NBC to eliminte switching issues. I hope he is right, but evertybody will have to wait till tommorrow night to confirm this.

I agree. Seems nbc would make a big announcement for everyone if this was the case, but one can hope. Wish i could watch enterprise in hd, for that matter i wish i could watch smallvilled in HD as well, but doesn't sound like the local wb will do anything for awhile...

Goodbye isidore,

wonder what happened to WKRG, here's hoping they just lost power and nothing happened to their tower...

If you weren't walking NBC Sunday night on WPMI, American Dreams was NOT in HD. In fact, the first 10-15 minutes of Boomtown was not in HD and then finally it jump in to HD. :(

Any one got a number at the station where we can get a human being, afterhours? I called and only got voice mail.

Hear American Dreams was very good looking HD. Boomtown was pretty good, too.

Just got a reply from Tim at WPMI after complaining about trying to get the HD during "American Dreams"
Sorry about the problems. NBC is now upconverting every primetime show into 1080i so there should be no switching involved. Unfortunately the weak link is sometimes the human involved. We have reinforced to the operators as to which button to push during primetime. Hopefully this won't happen again. Sorry but we are not allowed to give direct numbers to the Master Control area.

We should have WJTC DT up and running in the next couple of weeks or so. Apologies for this taking so long, weather, mishaps and a litany of problems have delayed that project. We will only be upconverting the NTSC signal to start as UPN provides no HD programming. When they finally give us a date, our corporate folks have told us they will purchase the necessary equipment to pass it.

Thanks for watching.

Tim Reid
Director of Engineering
WPMI-TV NBC 15/DT47
WJTC-TV UPN 44/DT45
661 Azalea Road
Mobile, Al 36609

Guess West Wing will be "SD widescreen"

I just got a E-mail from Jim Richardson and he said WKRG [27.1] will be in HD by the 26th of Oct.

I got this e-mail today from Jim at WKRG.


> Hi Bobby, boy your on the ball. Well we installed the digital microwave
> today, went without any problems. Shipping on the M/W was a few days late
> and had to schedule the HDTV modifications for Monday, the 28th. Thanks
for
> the ongoing signal reports and will look forward hearing for you guys when
> we do switch.
>
> Take care,
>
> Jim Richardson, CE
> WKRG-TV 5, WKRG-DT 27

Just got back from New Orleans, so I'm wondering, how come nobody posted that Ch 44 UPN is on the air as DTV channel 45?

I found it Tuesday night, but didn't have anytime to post before my trip. If you guys can check into it, I'm having a problem - there is no audio. Good picture, just no sound.

Rick

You are right. I found it and thought the picture was great but no sound. I thought they were still working on the transmission.

Rick I don't have sound either, but Jerry does. My new HD200 will "sometimes" map to 46.2 and then I get sound but if I go up or down on the channels I can not go back to 46.2. It will go to 45.1 and no sound. I called Tim Fri. but he was not there. My HD100 will only get 45.1. I tried to manually put in 46.2 but the boxes wont take it. I don't know why "sometimes" when I go to 45.1 it jumps to 46.2. I think Tim can fix it in the PSIP.

Word from Tim Reid:
Thanks for the info. I reset our PSIP generator and the problem should becorrected. Apparently there is a bug in the system that resets the audio PID# to the video PID#. Depending on whether a given decoder caches PSIP info or not is when the change becomes noticeable. I'll have our operators check more regularly. Thanks

Tim Reid
Director of Engineering
WPMI-TV NBC 15/DT47
WJTC-TV UPN 44/DT45
661 Azalea Road
Mobile, Al 36609

Thanks, Rick. I guess unless somebody calls or emails them they never know of the problem.

I'm trying to find a regular source for the Televes DAT75 antenna at a reasonable price. I think this antenna would be quite good in our area. I'll post any update as I have been in contact with an engineer from the company who is working in Florida.

I have talk to Tim twice today and he is still trying to fix the sound on 44.1.
CBS is not up yet, I hope Jim gets it going today so we can watch CSI to night.

Originally posted by RickRS
Just got back from New Orleans, so I'm wondering, how come nobody posted that Ch 44 UPN is on the air as DTV channel 45?

I found it Tuesday night, but didn't have anytime to post before my trip. If you guys can check into it, I'm having a problem - there is no audio. Good picture, just no sound.

I posted UPN in this thread, but no one was on the forum those two days.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=182196

We now have WHBR digital channel 33 on the air also. That is 6 digital channels.

So you did, Jerry. :)

I have this thread flagged as subscribed so when anyone post any local news I'll get a note to check. Of course that don't work when you start a new thread. :)

But it ain't Summer anylonger!

Just got this update from WEAR/ABC on their new digital siugnal.

"The only update is that due to a critical piece of equipment being
unavailable until mid-December, we will go on-air with a low-power
antenna mounted at about 300 ft. on the tower, before November 1st. We
should be on-air with our full power and at 2000 ft. in late December or
early January. FYI, we will also be moving our analog (ch. 3) antenna
to the 2000 ft. tower in late December/early January, so our analog
signal should be much improved also.

Let me know if you can pick up our digital signal after November 1st.

Thanks,

Joe Smith"

Still no audio on WJTG-DTV ch 45 with my Samsung SIR-T150. Anyone still having this problem?

Jerry, do you wish to start a new Mobile/Pensacola/FWB thread? If so, put a link to it here, please. I stopped checking the "Local HDTV Info and Reception" forum area regularly except for this thread some time ago.

I agree, if we start a new thread this is the place to link to it, i never check local info.

CBS went to HD at 11:45 today.Here is Jim Richardsons e-mail add:
e-mail him and give him a big thanks.
JRichardson@wkrg.com
I had to edit this. I forgot to tell you its on 5.1 now.

This thread is fine. I have now linked to this thread also. Enjoy Jag and Guardian in HD tonight, then thank Jim and tell him if the quality is good.

I'm praying for some tropo skip out to Ft. Walton:)

I have gotten WKRG-DT a couple times in the past few weeks when conditions were right. Maybe the planets will be aligned Thursday between the hours of 8 and 9 pm CST. CSI in HDTV, pleeeeeaaaaassssseeeee!

WKRG is broadcasting at low power. When they go to full power you should be able to get them. In 2010. :(

I got sound now on 44.1.

Got audio on UPN 44/45. Tim Reid has solved his problem.

Got WKRG for a brief 3-4 minutes last night. Mostly commericals, then a minute of JAG :)

I watched Jag, Guardian, and Judging Amy in HD on WKRG. Had some pixalation, probably due to low signal power. The picture was perfectly clear oitherwise.

Rick, what channels are you receiving in FWB. I am getting solid reception on 19,31,38,45,47. Only problem is no audio on 31, buts thats not a big problem since they are only running HD for 3 hours a night, I'll stick with the sat feed for now. I have had no luck with CBS or FOX.

Bob H.

Robert, I have solid reception of three: WRSE (what was the DT number ?) UPN on 45, NBC on 47. I have caught CBS on 27 (WKRG-Mobile), ABC on 19 (WABB-Panama City) and PBS on 56? (WFSU-Panama City) when conditions were right (rarely). Of course WABB is not HD. Not certain what WFSU-PBS is showing, They were multicasting 4 channels one night, no HDTV national feed. At that time the only thing on the national feed was the demo loop.

With summer fading, I see more indications of signal from my Samsung's STB signal indicator, including FOX. Have never caught FOX on WALA once. This weekend, I'm working on raising the antenna from 20 feet to 40. Hoping that will improve my shot at CBS. Will let you know tonight.

Rick, very interested in your results at 40 feet. I have enough Rohn tower to get that high but am only at 20 now. What antenna/preamp are you using?

Bob H.

So we were in a Mexican standoff, no?:)

I was hoping you would have something to report on moving up to 40-50 feet and you were waiting for me to do it. Sorry to say, I got no improvement. I added a section to my Rohn tower and also topped it with a 10 section of mast tubing. I think my total height is now about 38 feet

Rick, well I guess no rush on getting my tower any higher :( What antenna and/or preamp are you using? I have a RS VU-190 and was thinking of trying the CM 7777 preamp. Is anyone in the area having good luck with any particular antenna or preamp? Would like to hear what everyone is using and at what height, distance from towers etc. I am using a DTC-100 which is not the most sensitive so I need every bit of signal I get get.

Bob H.

duplicate message

I am using the RS VU190 also with no preamp. I am 30 miles from the towers and get above 90% on all except WKRG/CBS. I get 78% on WKRG.
My antenna is on a 20foot pole.

jerryez

Are you getting FOX? Which channel and signal strength if you are? I'm receiving everything but FOX and can't understand why.

I am watching Fox wodescreen right now. Boston Public. Perfect picture on 10-1 at 83-87%

Well if you cant pickup FOX in Gulf Breeze, we dont stand a snowballs chance over here in FWB. Hows your CBS reception?

Bob H.

Robert,

My CBS reception is very good. My problem with FOX is that I am using a UHF only antenna so I won't be able to receive FOX at 10.1 since it is VHF.

The Televes DAT75 receives a good signal with no dropouts for CBS and NBC (5.1 and 15.1)

WEAR is on the air with a digital signal, but do not waste you time trying to receive it. They are broadcasting at 830 watts on a 300 foot antenna. Unless you live withing viewing distance of the tower, forget it. They are still waiting on equipment for the tower. Sometime in late December or early January, they claim they will have a digital signal up at the 2000 foot level. It will not be HD until an undetermined date in the distant future.
Sinclair still working their magic.

Argh, i thought they would be HD by the superbowl...

jerry,

I was receiving some pretty decent signal in Gulf breeze from the WEAR digital channel for a few days and had people coming to watch the FSU game yesterday. The signal was not good, lots of dropouts. I had to frantically make a cable to run through my house to one room of cable input we use primarily for cable modem. We missed the first 5 minutes of the game as I sweated it out.

I wonder why they even waste the time and power if it is so low.

I am susprised that you get it at all. I live near University Mall and get no signal at from from WEAR channel 17.

They are on the air to meet the FCC requirement of being on the air ONLY.

I was afraid my CM 9521 rotor was going to wear out yesterday as I tried to adjust it back and forth to keep enough signal to watch the game on WEAR. My guests weren't upset because it was a show just watching me.

You would think with such a captive group of viewers in our area they would move forward faster or maybe it is the lack of competition from network on satellite that allows the delay.

Sinclair doesn't care if you, me or anyone else ever gets to watch HD on his stations.

I have Panny AE100 and COMCAST just connect HD
box for me.

I do not think I am getting any HDTV signal at all

AE100 shows 520i or (480i) on menu option.

If I connect my Panny DVD 82s it changes to 525P (480p) and picture is
great.

Tonight Sopranos was showing 525i.

I was so excited and now I am so disappointed.

Am I doing something wrong?

I get pictures on channel 179 HBOHD and 180 ABCHD but it is not HD
resolution.

DO I need any special setup on the Comcast box\ and or AE100.

I am totally confused.

PLEASE HELP:( :(

evinsp, You have posted your problem in a thread on local HDTV reception in the Mobile/Pensacola area. We do not have HD cable here or use the Panny AE100. To get the help that you need you need to start a new thread in the HD hardware section.

Rick, anything new in FWB? I was bored tonight and did a scan and was surprised to find 9-2 and 34-2 show up. Has WALA upped their transmitter power or was this a wierd tropo effect tonight? I thought 34 was a low power Christian channel so I'm thinking it might be tropo, but hope not.

Bob H.

I'm guessing it's tropo, likely as not. I was watching WKRG-27 (CBS) again. My experience has been reception of WKRG only at night and as the weather clears and temperatures drop some. I got WKRG Tuesday and Saturday nights this week, other nights were too weak.

I haven't got WALA-9 (FOX). If you got decent reception for any length of time, I'm guessing I'm either in a hole, reception-wise, or my old antenna is way past its prime. The cooler weather helps increase the tropo effect, so you may get FOX-widecreen with some regularity. As far as increasing their power, WALA claims they are sucessfully received in Okaloosa county. They are also at full power, as set by FCC. They could "maximize" or increase the power level, with permission from FCC, but I think they believe that they're doing just fine.

I just got a e-mail from Joe and he said that the NFL game Thursday on Fox [WALA] 10.1 will be 480p 16:9.

Hi. I got my HDTV setup about 3 weeks ago. Thought the salesman knew what he was talking about but now find that picture loss and breakup are very bad at my location. I am using a Radio Shack antenna (medium size directional on about 15 feet of pole) after trying several others. Still bad reception at random times. I usually get 100% signal strength but drop off goes to 70% instantly then back up. Is this common? Any recomendations? Thanks.

Welcome to the thread, cannon50. Give us a little details on you're setup. What tuner are you using? What channels are you having problems with? And for that matter, what did the salesman tell you?

I'm not sure were Fowl River is, assuming it's north of Mobile, yes? Since I'm in Florida, I can't offer anything other than general advice, but I'm sure there will be some of the AL guys with more "local" knowledge signing in sometime soon.

I have a Sony 53 inch rear projection set with a $30 new Radio Shack rooftop antenna (hdtv compatable) with coax. Was using a Hughes E-86 set top box - sent back at recomendation of Hughes. I am at N30.47437 W088.12220 about a mile or so from Mobile Bay south of Mobile. Regular reception is not a problem from antennas about 20 miles away in the hills across the bay. I do have a cell phone tower about a mile away but who dosen't? No tall buildings, etc. I have tried multidirectional antenna, signal attenuator, filters, amplifier, new cables, moving the pole, etc. to no effect. By the way, the salesman admitted that he did not know that a set top box was needed. I spent a whole week trying to get digital signals without one. I now read where multipath is likely the problem and I wonder what I can try next or maybe bail out while I still can.

cannon50,

Your salesguy obviously was misinformed. As close as you are to the towers you shouldn't have a reception problem with the right antenna.

I am using the Sony HD200 STB to receive my signal and it does very well bringing in the stations from my location in Gulf Breeze but I am also using it for DirecTV.

I use a directional antenna as all of the broadcast towers are very near the same compass direction for me. I do use a CM 9521 rotor to adjust the antenna direction by remote control and it is a great little device. Sometimes moving the antenna only 2 degrees can make a big difference for my reception.

To the best of my knowledge antennas aren't really HD compatable. They are either UHF, VHF or both. They can also add radio transmission. Most of the digital stations in our area are UHF. Go to www.antennaweb.org to determine more. I really like the info at www.100000watts.com for finding station location and broadcast towers. Make sure to click on the little tower that shows up for each station as it shows a map location for the tower.

You shouldn't need an amplifier that close to the towers but all amplifiers are certainly not created equal. Some have higher gain, higher noise and can be UHF, VHF or both. The CM 7777 is a popular one for both.

Higher is usually better for antenna location. How long is your coax run and what type are using?

50 feet of coax as per recommended by RS about 10 feet rolled up inside. My reception was crystal clear at 100% strength except for the random breakup and picture freeze when strength dropped. We watched the whole Auburn vs. Alabama game with no problem. Sometimes we get no usable picture for almost half an hour due to drop out. No digital for now until I get another box. Is there any possibility the problem is in the transmission instead of reception? Anyone else have this problem? Thanks.

Anyone have an update on WTVY's on air date. The last date I have is 12/15/2002.

Thanks

Have you tried contacting them. Most station engineers are very responsive and friendly. Here is their web site, which has contact info: http://www.wtvynews4.com/

WTVY's response to my inquiry as to their on-air date of December 15th is as follows.

This is still our projected date.
We will be transmitting true HDTV.
Look forward to hearing from you after we get on the air.

Thanks for watching.
Wade Thomaston



Finally a CBS HDTV station I can receive.

I recently bought a samsung 437 dlp and want to get it properly isf'd. I just want to make sure i get someone familiar with dlp's and who will do a good job for me.

Does anyone have any recomendations for our area?

I've done a lot of tweaking myself with all the different settings, and love this set. But would like a pro with pro equipment to come in and dial it in the rest of the way.

thanks

d

Lots of luck. I found a tech in Atlanta, but he wanted travel (air, lodging, & meals) plus a fee to isf my set. When I checked around on the net, I could not find anyone that could reccommend him. No one closer than Atlanta. If you find someone, let me know.

I have a name of a guy in our area, but i don't know if he works on dlp's and haven't called him yet. I was hoping to find someone that is recommended. I found a guy in texas, but same deal, travel, fee , etc.

PM me if you want the name of the guy near us, i'll probably talk to him in a couple of weeks about an isf if he has the right equipment for a dlp.

That said would still rather someone that comes recommended.

Ask the guy that you have the name of for references with phone numbers. Call them and talk to each of them. Also, PM me his name and phone number and let me know what his references say, if you talk to them. What is dlp. I was thinking about isf on my tv, but the picture is so good that I do not want to pay as much as the tech that I sent you wants.

Anyone else having problems receiving nbc digital and upn digital tonight?

I got my hd 520 yesterday and have been blown away by HD. Yesterday and today have had great signals on all digital channels, with nbc and upn being the lowest. About 60% for them, wheras i get about 90-95% for all other digital stations (except abc of course.)

Anyway i assume that because my signal is not really strong the rain is causing drop outs, however the signal on all my other stations hasn't moved at all and they're all rock solid.

Anyway just curious. Probably means i need to tweak the ole antenna, but i hate to risk losing something else in favor of nbc in bad conditions...

Any suggestions, and seeing as i live in daphne any idea where the nbc/upn tower is in relation to me?


While i'm on the subject:
Does anyone else not have program guide information for PBS HD, WB Analog and UPN Digital ?

Didn't get a chance to check yesterday, did WTVY go on the air? Enquiring minds want to know:)

Bob H.

Just got back from Seattle yesterday and did a quick scan last night. No signal on 36 from Dothan yet. I guess we get it when we finally get it:)

Correct me if I'm wrong, Robert, but don't you get everybody but FOX on your multi-dish rig? If so, the irony of the situation is that FOX maybe the one channel we may not get until the cable company adds true digital broadcasts to its line-up. Mobile is already "full power" on DTV-9, just too short of an antenna. Panama City will likely be too weak for us also, if it ever gets on the air.

For those interested I got an e-mail from Wade with WTVY. They have experienced a problem with their tower crew. They are now projecting a January 15, 2003 date.

Has anyone heard anything more about abc in pensacola? Also anyone have an email of an engineer i can ask about their progress as well?

Contact at WEAR/ABC is:

Joe Smith: joesmith@wear.sbgnet.com

He last said that their tower should be complete by mid December. They are now broadcasting a digital signal at 830 watts on a 300 foot tall tower to meet the FCC deadline. Their new tower will be 2000 feet at full power(whatever that will be).

I told him that I am sure the cows around the tower are enjoying the signal.

If anyone was watching WEAR last week had a three part series on HDTV on their ten o clock news. I felt that they slammed HDTV.

Well i just got this unfortunate, but not surprising, bit of info from Wear. Maybe we should all start emailing the engineer in the hopes of increasing the number of requests for HD. Probably won't help, but can't hurt. Well no super bowl, if they aren't HD by monday night football next year i will lose it.

d


"WEAR is currently broadcasting in digital on channel 17, from a low
power transmitter and antenna height of 260 feet off Wilcox Road in
Baldwin Co. near our channel 3 tower site. We currently up-convert our
analog signal, and don't carry any HD feeds. We are actively working on
installation of a full-power antenna at a height of 2000 feet, and are
authorized by the FCC for a full 1 million watts ERP. But that is
scheduled to be completed in March, 2003, after the Super Bowl. Also,
currently there are no plans to broadcast high definition programming
until there is a larger number of HDTV receivers in our market.

Thanks for your interest in WEAR-DT17 programming.

Joe Smith
Programming Manager"

That is why I watch WKRG/CBS most of the time. It is mostly HD.

CBS is really on top of it. I was surprised to see my receiver picks up full dolby digital from cbs, wheras it only picks up the dolby 2.0 from fox and nbc (which is what i expected.) I thought only abc transmitted in dolby digital? Is this something our affiliate has done in preparation of cbs going dolby digital, or something else. The dolby digital sounds better that the 2.0, but not like hbo hd or a dvd. Just curious about this. It took me by surprise when i switched to 5-1 and thx ultra 2 popped up. (only comes up when receiving a true dolby digital or dts signal) Otherwise it just comes up thx cinema and uses pro logic 2 to create the effect.

" Maybe we should all start emailing the engineer in the hopes of increasing the number of requests for HD."

I am sure that all five of us will have a great impact.

:) i did leave the disclaimer "probably not" :)

That said surely there are a few lurkers, i know i've seen posts by more than 5. Perhaps if we can find two more, say a group of 7 hders in the abc area, then they will shell out the money necessary for the transition.

All kidding aside, there has to be some stats on how many hd sets and receivers are really in our area. This is a large area and a friend of mine at circuit city in mobile has personally sold 10 hd 520's, and 4 hd 420's. So lets see, that brings us to a mighty 21. Surely wear will do the transition to make 21 people happy. :)

I think that we should get the station managers email address(i will do that tomorrow) and send him an email. pointing out that all the other area station are already HD and if WEAR/BC chooses to delay, as people buy HD sets they will get in the HABIT of watching the other stations and when WEAR adds HD, nobody will remember them or care. Most people do not change channels.

Daniel the last time I was in Mobile I stopped at the Sony store[ my cousin works there] and they had sold out of HD200s, so there is more of us out there than you think.

Some of us didn't buy our Sony HD200 locally because it wasn't yet available. Add me to the list of those disappointed with WEAR.

I wonder what impact the station manager has on the decision?

This station is owned by Sinclair. They make all decisions at corporate and none of them have anything to do with promoting HDTV.

I wonder what impact the station manager has on the decision?

NONE......... Wear is owned by Sinclair. Enough said.

I'm not surprised at all to find out there are more of us.

As for the station manager not having anything to say on the matter, i agree. Sinclair unfortunately has their reasons and i'm sure they're setup by their money men. That said it never hurts to make some noise about our dissappointment in wear. I wouldn't be surprised if sinclair has a magic number of stb's to be in a region before they switch to hd. Each station independent of the next. This makes fiscal sense in that they'll spend the money when they know there are enough hders out there, but not until that point.

That said the more noise we make the more likely it is they'll think there are more of us than there are. And i belive there are quite a few of us as is. I don't believe they'll jump up and down and give us hd overnight, but they may have a hidden plan to wait years, but with noise we could possibly reduce that to less time. (i'm trying to be overly optimistic, i want my monday night football :) )

still, an occasional email or phone call to the station manager won't hurt me one bit.

Tired of waiting for WEAR, if you still have a BUD in your backyard you can watch ABC HD for very litle money and a little time. If you have Ku on the dish you can actually get HD PBS for more than 3 hours a night, WOW!!!!!

RickRS, yes at the moment FOX is the only one I am missing, I would have to upgrade the CPU in my HTPC to be able to decode the 4:2:2 that FOX is using. Not enough on FOX to be worth it.

Bob H.

I watch Boston Public, John Doe, and Firefly(just canceled) on Fox. The widescreen is better than SD, but a long way from High Definition. I wouldn't invest a lot of money in getting Fox widescreen.

Bob, How do you get ABC HD on the BUD.

widescreen nfl is pretty sweet as well, still not hd, but at least you get to see more of the field. (if you're lucky enough to have a game you're interested in thats set in wide.)

Jerry, a Unity Motion/Integra receiver will pickup ABC HD, PBS HD, WB HD and various standard definition DVB channels.

Bob H.

Is anyone in the Mobile/Theodore area having a problem receiving WJTC 44-1 on the new Samsung TS-160 HD STB?

For a short time I had the Hughes E86 and it picked up UPN 44 just fine, the Samsung has a lot of seemingly random pixelation. Got an idea it;ps the receiver.

Thakns J C

JC pm Rick Steverson. You can find him on page 6 on this thread. He has a Samsung and lives about as far east of the tower as you live west. Just guessing, you are about 50 plus miles from the tower. Check here.
http://100kwatts.tmi.net/tv/MOB.html
WJTC does not look as good as 5.1 10.1 or 15.1 because 44.1 just upconverts analog to digital.It is not true [digital]. WEAR does the same thing.

i was having trouble getting 15.1 and 44.1, then i tweaked my antenna about 6 inches and pulled them in great. Then yesterday 44.1 started dropping out (after several days of good behavior) and now this morning 15.1 is starting to drop out. In my scenario i think its because some *******s are building a house with a tall roof in the direct line of sight my antenna is pointing. could this be the cause? or is it more possible the antenna moved back a little?

That said Tim Reid is really helpful in getting your antenna pointed in the right direction. You might give him an email with your exact location.
treid@wpmi.com


d

Just wanted to throw this out, but could our abnormal weather conditions be affecting our dtv signals this much?

Also anyone know why we get dolby digital 5.1 from cbs, when the national cbs doesn't even have 5.1 yet? I'm not complaining :) just curious

I get CBS NY HD and they have digital pro logic. Must be a local thing. Bob Ross of CBS said previously that CBS was installing the 5.1 equipment, but I do not know the completion date.

WKRG has had stereo for years. Jim e-mail me about a month ago and said he was going to switch to 5.1. When the wind blows like today it affects my signal. I'm going to get a bigger pole and go a little higher and tie it down. Right now it sways in the wind.

JC,

I've got the older version, the Samsung SIR-T150. I don't tune UPN that often, as I mainly go to the STB when I'm watching HD programming and go back to cable for regular SD programming. Anyway, I have a occasional problem with pixelation on WMPI and WSRE and those are strong signals. Sometimes it gets very bad and I found that powering down the box for a few seconds clears that up.

The occasional problems can sometimes appear to be related to multipath, as they appear when aircraft are flying over. I'm near Hulbert AFB airfield, so the planes are big, low, and slow (AC130 gunships). The only thing that would help would be a better antenna with a tighter directional reception pattern, or repositioning the antenna.

The fact that some really bad pixelation problems can be cleared up by powering down the STB suggest that the decoder circuits are not perfect. And I'm talking bad pixelation, so bad that sections of several frames of images can be on-screen at the same time, making the image impossible to watch. Luckly, the really bad pixelation is rare and the fix is simple:) I can live with it. I would suggest you check the HDTV Hardware area to see if other 160 users in other parts of the country have any problems/fixes for this STB.

All in all, DTV with an antenna is much better than regular TV by antenna in my area. The amount of pixelation/dropouts is very small.

Anyway, welcome to our little reception chit-chat. Be sure to email some of the stations here in the area, it helps to let them know they got a growing population of viewers with HDTV STB. Just this past spring, the engineer at WKRG was quoted as saying there weren't but maybe 10-15 viewers for DTV in this whole area.

Bummer!

Watched UPN last night for a little bit and was getting lots of pixelation. Same today. I don't remember it being this lousy. My other stations are fine and the power down doesn't do anything for this problem. I think we may have a problem with the station. What are the rest of you guys seeing.from UPN 44/45?

WEAR/ABC's local station manager is Carl Leahy. His email address is cleahy@sbgnet.com. Everyone in the Pensacola area or any other area that wants to help us out, please send him a nice email, trying to persuade him to push Sinclair for funding for the equipment to pass through the ABC HD programming. He does not think that there are many HD viewers in this area. Let's persuade him otherwise, but be nice. No jumping on Sinclair.

I talked to tim reid and this was his response. It improved my signal a good bit, but only at about 80% on both nbc and upn. Upn seems to be the most inconsistent. Here's what he said for what its worth. May be good to get some people from other ares talking to him, he is very interested in getting the signal to everyone.

"I hope the weather doesn't affect your signal that much. I rebooted
our encoders and switched to the backup exciter on the transmitter.
We did not see the blocking here at the station in Mobile. Thanks for
the info.

Regards,

Tim Reid
Director of Engineering
WPMI-TV NBC 15/DT47
WJTC-TV UPN 44/DT45
661 Azalea Road
Mobile, Al 36609
"

jerry,

Carl is a friend of mine which is why I was wondering if the station manager had any input in the HD decision. I will set something up with him after Christmas. If you have any useful info you would like for me to provide to him, let me know.

I just got an email from Cox in Pensacola and they said that the anticipate adding HD in March 2003. Two months ago they were saying the end of 2003. I have basic cable for my internet connection and Dish for everything else. Since they will carry the locals in HD, I will probably switch. I would guess that this date would apply to FWB also. Anyone in Fort Walton heard anything from Cox.

Hi guys! We just purchased an RCA widescreen hdtv and a Winegard 8200 antenna in the last two weeks. We don't have an amp or anything else. So far we receive all PBS's, WPMI and like those of you that I went back and read, we can get Fox but no sound. We have our antenna at 35' but are going to talk to FWB about going higher. I also emailed WEAR to let them know we are disappointed in them. I thought you could only get true HDTV from over the air, not cable? We did all this cuz we want to cancel cable.

Linda,

You can get most of the networks in HD or widescreen without cable. You do need a OTA(over the air) HD receiver. Does your RCA have a built in HD reciever for OTA. If not you will need to buy one.

Yes, it was one of only 3 that had hd built in (that we could find)and also has direct tv built in. I loved seeing Crossing Jordan last week in HD. I was only curious about cable because I saw in a few posts that cable is supposed to be getting hd and I thought it was only OTA. I did a lot of research over a two month period before deciding to buy the antenna, rotator and tv set . So far we are very happy with it all, except, of course, ABC & FOX.

Was in Best Buy in P'cola toady and noticed sign saying that Comcast was broadcasting HD. Is this for real? I saw that Comcast just started HD in Sarasota but hadn't read anything about our area. Also for anyone in the local area with a UM receiver, another HD channel became available a couple of days ago, email me if you need the details.

Bob H.

What is a UM receiver?

Linda, welcome to HDTV world. Where are you at in Ft. Walton? I'm in the FWB Northgate neightorhood, and Robert is in Shalimar. Neither one of us gets FOX. It maybe a matter of location.

As far as going higher, if you get FOX without sound,something else is wrong. DTV reception is an all or nothing issue. You either get it or you don't. In fact, I understand that the picture will break up (pixelation) before the sound degrades.

I have a DTC-100 and the sound of FOX's digital cuts in and out and the sound on PBS-HD sounds all garbled. At times it will pop in after a couple of minutes and be fine as long as I don't change channels. Does this sound like a receiver issue? It does to me but I want a second opinion.

Chris,

When it happens, what is your signal strength? PBS should be strong w/o problems which makes me think it is a receiver issue but it could be a signal issue as well. Is this a new problem?

Chris,

I live in Theodore Al. South of Mobile. I have a Samsung TS-160 HD receiver and I get a 100% signal strength from 10-1 Fox and I ocassionally get the audio cut in and out that you mentioned.

It seems to be a sync thing with Fox 10 but I don't think it's your receiver. For what its worth the problem is getting less frequent than before.

J C

i also have nearly 100% on fox and get the audio cut in/out but it goes away after a little while, i agree that its probably some sort of sync issue. Once my 520 latches onto fox and the audio cut ins stop, then i can change channels anc come back without any problems.

I have the Dish 6000 with OTA adapter and have no audio problems on any OTA channels. I get some pixelation once in a while on WKRG, bu even then no audio problem.

Govnah, a UM reciever is a Unity Motion receiver for the Big Dish. Are you in the Mobile/Pensacola area. You do not list a location on your post.

I agree about the Fox issue but Chris also has a problem on PBS - HD which is different.

Just wanted to make my presence known. I still don't have a HDTV. I posted here about 6 months ago when i lived in dothan. I then convinced my parents to get a HDTV monitor...since then i've moved to Mobile.

I'm just a lurker...waiting and wandering whats going on with HDTV in mobile.

Anyone know when Comcast is gonna pick up HDTV on their digital cable?

crimsonblake, Welcome to the local thread on HDTV. We have Cox in Pensacola. Go to the Comcast site and send them an email and ask them. They will either give you a tenative date or tell you they do not know yet, but they should send you a reply.

I still need a HDTV..anyone want to donate some money to a 22 yr old?

Chris, I have audio problems with WSRE on the DTC-100 all the time. Just go back to watching on the big dish. Did you get ABC tuned in on T4?

Bob H.

That's odd, Robert, I don't have any audio problems with WSRE with my SIR-T150. So could this be a receiver problem at fringe reception level?

crimsonblake, nice try but I have to save all my money for when I'll forced to trash my Toshiba to buy an all new setup with a DVI capability:)

Still waiting for WTVY in Dothan to go on the air. Will your folks be adding a HDTV STB when that happens, crimsonblake?

Trich and I were in Las Vegas last week and went to a big electronic store.
They had Samsung 27" HDTVs for $695.00. Daniel, they had your DLP and that is a nice tv, and only 60lb. wow. The best looking tv there was a 73" Mitsubishi with 9" guns [probably ISF to the max] but man it was sweet.
Crimson, the first 3 years Trich and I were married we had a 19" tv. You can get in to HD for about $600. Get you a Samsung 150 or a 151 [less than $400]then go to Sams and get a 19" monitor $179 and you now have HD. I did this with my HD100 and with my 19"Sony monitor just to see what it would look like. You will be amazed at the PQ. Full screen too so no bars when watching HD.

Yeh i'm loving my tv. Incredible quality. Occasionally i want a darker black, but its usually not noticeable at all. HD is pristine. I've seen that monster mits, its incredible.

Crimson give me a PM, i may know someone who is looking to unload some used (less than a year) HD equipment to buy some better stuff. He works at a circuit city and gets great deals. Still might be out of your range, but i'll go over it with you privately.

Originally posted by RickRS
That's odd, Robert, I don't have any audio problems with WSRE with my SIR-T150. So could this be a receiver problem at fringe reception level?

crimsonblake, nice try but I have to save all my money for when I'll forced to trash my Toshiba to buy an all new setup with a DVI capability:)

Still waiting for WTVY in Dothan to go on the air. Will your folks be adding a HDTV STB when that happens, crimsonblake?

I talked to them over christmas about it. I told them they could get WDHN and WTVY..they were happy until i told them they would have to put up an outside antenna. IS there anyway they could pick them up with a indoor antenna?

BTW i just got off the phone with Comcast Cablevision Mobile.. They said estimated time for HDTV is ONE YEAR!!!! sheesh.

I pick up everything perfectly with an outdoor antenna mounted in the attic. Its worth a try.

News from the far east :) Nothing for y'all in Mobile and Pensacola. Wade Thomaston at WTVY Dothan reports they're shooting for Jan 15 to be on the air. Sigh - looks like a possibility of no HD AFC playoff games for me.

Panama City's WMBB has a note on their website under the "digital tv" link that they are trying to pass ABC HD after the start of the year. No word on an exact date. Folks in in Niceville and Destin eastward may get ABC HD before Pensacola.

As far as Cox Cable in FWB, called today. The sales rep that took the call said they are constantly told HD is right around the corner, but they are never given a date. She's not expecting HD on cable anytime soon. So nothing new.

Originally posted by RickRS
News from the far east :) Nothing for y'all in Mobile and Pensacola. Wade Thomaston at WTVY Dothan reports they're shooting for Jan 15 to be on the air. Sigh - looks like a possibility of no HD AFC playoff games for me.

Panama City's WMBB has a note on their website under the "digital tv" link that they are trying to pass ABC HD after the start of the year. No word on an exact date. Folks in in Niceville and Destin eastward may get ABC HD before Pensacola.

As far as Cox Cable in FWB, called today. The sales rep that took the call said they are constantly told HD is right around the corner, but they are never given a date. She's not expecting HD on cable anytime soon. So nothing new.

Your gonna be able to pick up WTVY in FWB?!

Robert,

No I have not gotten CBand going again - YET. I think my LNB is out. I will replace it after New Year. I don't anticipate any major issues. To everyone else who replied, My signal strength with PBS is in the high 90's and with Fox in the high 80's. I live very close to the towers over at Wilcox. The Fox audio problem seems to be better. PBS was in and out tonight between 7 and 8 and then started coming in fine. Also, the last couple of days I have noticed my signal strength on WKRG CBS to be alot lower than it had been (40s and 50s) Anyone else experiencing this?

Thanks,

At what point on signal strength do u start noticing "artifacts"?

Chris, shame on you, got to get that LNB changed, 3 networks east and west feeds plus PBS, add WPMI locally and you have almost all network HD available apart from NBC west .

Bob H.

Originally posted by crimsonblake
Your gonna be able to pick up WTVY in FWB?!

Yupp, easy as pie.

WTVY has their tower at Millers Crossroad, which is 8 miles north of Bonifry, FL (did I spell that right?). It's 64 miles from me, as a crow flies, and the tower is a good 1800 feet tall. The only question is power level, as WTVY will use about 80 kilowatts for a low power setup instead of the FCC approved 1 megawatt. But I bet that won't be a problem.

TSHA22 - I'm at the fringes of WKRG reception, so I only get it when atmospheric conditions are perfect. Last couple of days were lousy after a having number of nights with some reception (maybe an hour, if I'm lucky). Maybe your numbers were from the same change in atmospheric condition.

A few years ago I gave my BUD away.....sigh..........

Bob, I already feel bad enough, you're not helping matters any ;) Getting the BUD going is at the top of my to do list next week. I am actually seriously considering adding a 4DTV and HDD200 for the added HD content. I am thinking that with the improvement BUD has over DSS with standard channels, HD has got to be an improvement as well.

Chris looking back that was one of the dumbest things I have ever done.
It was still working so all I would need is a 4DTV and I would be cooking.
When I got D* [94 or 95] the PQ was just as good as the BUD but has gone down hill the last few years. I watched raw feeds up to 2 or 3 years ago and with a new receiver could watch the SB on ABC......sigh...........

Bobby ,all is not lost :) Look around your neighborhood, I'll bet theres a BUD you could get just for hauling it away. I've got an extra UM receiver on the market, so for a weekends work and less than $250 you could be getting ready for the SB in HD.


Chris, the HD feeds on 4DTV look exactly the same on the pizza pans, its the regular feeds where BUD really kills DSS.


Bob H.

Just spoke with Lowell Beckner at WMBB (ABC in Panama City) and he is not sure if they will be ready for broadcasting the SB in HD. He is trying to get the tower crew in and it is his goal to have it ready but.............

So whats the status of all the channels in the area now?
Dothan, PC, Pensacola and Mobile?

It must be time to sumarize the local digital channels for the newer people.

WALA/Fox; Digital now, widescreen Now (ch 9/10.1)
WSRE?PBS; Digital now, HD at night 7PM to 10PM (ch 31 or 23.1)
WKRG/CBS: Digital now, HD Now. (ch 5.1/27)
WPMI/NBC: HD now, when network programming available. (47 or 15.1)
WEAR/ABC: Digital Nov 2002, New tower digital Mar 2003. HD who knows?(ch 17)
WJTC/UPN: Digital now. (ch 44/45)
WPBG/WB: Digital? Not even assigned a digital number. Channel does not respond to emails. Complained to FCC and FCC told me that it is not their problem.

Don't get Dothan or PC. Maybe Ft Walton guys can add those.

Any reliable rumors as to when WEAR-DT (better known as the last with the least) will increase its power to something greater than 5 candlepower so that it can be received on Pensacola Beach?

WEAR will increase power when they move to full tower in Mar 2003 (see my corrected post above. Note that it will not be HD then.

Can add a couple of updates.

(Beat me to it:)
Wear?ABC: Digital now on tiny tower, digital on large tower Mar 2003. HD will not happen until they decide enough people in the area have it. My wild guess is summer 2003, unless someone has heard something else.

WPBG?WB: I conversed with their engineer sometime ago on the phone, i have the number for anyone interested. He will not return emails. He said at that time their policy was to stay analog until the end, then go off the air if necessary. Hopefully this has been changed as it is a bit crazy.

Phone Number: 251-621-6552
Rober Flanagan

Email: robert.flanagan@pgtv.com

WBPG is owned by Emmis, who also owns WALA/FOX in Mobile. Maybe someone from WALA knows an answer.

I'll give the Dothan update as i think i understand it is.

WTVY(CBS) - Digital & HDTV Jan.15th
WDHN(ABC)-Digital Now, HDTV?
WDFX(Fox)-Digital May 2003

Below is an email response to WMBB as to possibility of their ability to pass HiDef signal from ABC prior to the Superbowl.

You and I will both rest easier when this is done! I have received everything now and am trying (desperately) to get crews in here for installation of it all. My goal is Super Bowl! And, I think we'll make it. Keep your fingers crossed!

On the WPBG webpage it says that it is owned by Pegasus. On 1000000watts site, it says it is owned by EMMIS (same as WALA). One of these sites is wrong. Since the email address for the engineer was *.pgtv, I'm guessing the Pegasus ownership is the correct one. ALso, the station never applied for a DTV CP.

Below is an email response from Wade with WTVY concerning the probability of their being live with a digital signal by 1/15/2003. Response is dated 1/3/2003.

I can't really say at this time. The weather is really delaying the tower
crew. If we could have a good week and 1/2 with no rain or high winds it
would really help.

Does anyone in the Mobile/Pensacola area have the Samsung TS-160 HD receiver?
I would like to compare notes on reception if you do.

Thanks J C

WMBB Update

Received the following from the general manager of WMBB concerning their passing the HD signal for the Superbowl.

"We are trying our best to have it up by Super Bowl time, but it looks like it may not happen. Target date now is mid Feb."

They say they cannot get a tower crew in to install a new microwave link. They has been going on for 4 months now. By Nov, Dec, Jan and now Feb.

For those east of Pensacola, looks like no HD Superbowl.

Bill

Bill Byrd
General Manager
WMBB Television

Tell him that WEAR/ABC in Pensacola is not even trying to get into HD for the Superbowl. They have NO projected date for HD and there station manager, Earl Brown, did not even answer my email.

Man, this is dissappointing news.

I might take my Barco Graphics 800, screen and OTA antennae and go somewhere where the grass is green, the sky is blue, rivers flow with milk and honey and the SuperBowl is in HD!

I really want to see this in HD!

ABC claims that 65 ABC affilitiates will carry the Superbowl in HD. That a little more than one per state. Of course NW Florida is not in Florida, so it does not count.

And the networks and broadcasters are wondering why people don't rush out and immediately replace all their analog TVs.

But ABC also claims those 65 stations cover 60-70% of the viewing audience. Bull S--t!

Bet ABC is counting viewing population. If there is an ABC HD station in Orlando, Tampa, and Miami, that would be 60-70% of Florida.

The irony of Panama City (ranked 147?) getting HD from ABC before Mobile/Pensacola (ranked 67)!

But in Panama City's defense, this will be their first station to go HD. Mobile/Pensacola has NBC, CBS, and PBS all in HD and FOX is widescreen for sometime now.

Does anyone living east of the WEAR studios on Mobile highway actually receive WEAR-DT in any consistent manner (either as 17-1 or 3-1)? And, not that I would ever watch it, what happened to WHBR-DT? They seemed to have been on the air for a few days (35-1 remapped to 34-1) but have now disappeared.

Wow, you guys almost make me feel guilty. :) I'll be thinking of you on the 26th. BUD is wonderful, BUD is great, must keep chanting.....

Bob H.

The radar for Intellicast is showing ice and snow down there.

Are ya'll getting any of this?

We had a little sleet and ice falling this AM, but it is just light drizzle at the moment, but it is not affecting my reception of the Fox widescreen game off of my antenna or should it affect the HD reception of the CBS game at 3PM.
My Intellicast radar just shows rain. What does you question have to do with local HD reception?

Nothing, I have been reading the posts and just saw the radar. My reception up here has gone down a little with just the clouds, so was wondering what it was doing with ya'lls.

Always glad to help out with a weather report. How do the clouds affect your reception?

I am in an area with a lot of multi-path and the wind probably more than the clouds affects the signals. I check in on this thread because we are looking for a house or condo down in the Gulf Coast area. So of course we want to make sure we can get HD-OTA.

Everything, but the Superbowl, no ABC HD OTA. You might also get a condo as close to the towers at Wilcox exit on I 10, since so far none of the stations are at full power yet. Gulf Shores would be excellent. Ft Walton Beach would be a no-no.

Did anyone here think the WALA Fox widescreen game today had terrible pixelating/compression? My analog was better than the digital today. Yesterday was alot better. Of course both games shown on CBS looked fantastic.

How about the Ft. Morgan area or Foley?

I live close to Foley and get every thing ok except ABC digital. NO body gets it. They dont have enough power to start your car. Jerry lives as close as anyone and he cant get it.

There are no words to describe how bad the PQ was on FOX today. There shows in 480p 16:9 look good to me but sports just looks awful.

man the fox broadcast was real bad. Yesterdays wasn't fantastic, but todays was bad.

Cbs was unreal, though watching my raiders dominate the jets (in the 2nd half at least) i did seem to notice less HD cameras being used than in the pitt/tenn game. Not that it bothered me much, though i still am looking for a replay of chad morton returning the kick to the oak 45, that was an unreal run. How he stayed on his feet is beyond me.

Get to see the raiders in the afc championship :) If anyone is able to record on dvhs i would be very thankful. Its going to be hard to go from cbs to analog (even a little fuzzy) abc. argh

Daniel I bet CBS PBS and NBC looks good on your "DLP". That will be my next tv.

There is some good HD on PBS now. 7-8 pm.

Yes it looks unreal, love my dlp. The pbs special right now is great, man that was some good football. Go Raidahs :)

I'm a Saints fan. I guess i'll never see the Saints in HDTV...lmao.

Being from la i definately pull for the saints, by the same coin they broke me long ago and i root first for the raiders... )

Originally posted by crimsonblake
I'm a Saints fan. I guess i'll never see the Saints in HDTV...lmao.

I am a Saints Fan also and I move around a lot. You need to get the NFL Ticket from Directv. They are suppossed to have HD games next year.:D

D* has never said that all the games will be in HD. I suspect that a game of the week or two might be in HD on CBS, but I doubt that every game each week will be in HD. That is a lot of bandwidth.

Originally posted by rgathright
I am a Saints Fan also and I move around a lot. You need to get the NFL Ticket from Directv. They are suppossed to have HD games next year.:D

But i think they are only going to show a few select games in HD. I'm sure the Saints will be the last team to have a HD game. :)

So if I was to find a place anywhere Southeast or Southwest of Mobile and South of I-10 what stations would I be able to pick up OTA?

Actually, anywhere in Baldwin Couty Al would be great. All the broadcast towers are located off of Interstate 10 in the middle of Baldwin County. Gulf Shores(located on the beach) Orange Beach, Ft Morgan, Foley, Summerville, are all South of the towers. Here is a link to the local stations.

http://100kwatts.tmi.net/tv/MOB.html

People are moving out of Mobile co. into Baldwin co. that should tell you something. East of Mobile you will get:
CBS-HD
NBC-HD
PBS-HD
FOX-480p
UPN-Digital
ABC-Digital March?
All the rest are analog.

Are the towers North or South of I-10?

The towers are scattered within five miles of the Wilcox exit off of I10. Most are on the South side. This point just happens to be the highest point of land between Mobile/Pensacola. Look at a map of labama, preferably a Baldwin County map and you will understand better.

Saints are nfc so that means fox. So unless they have a game of the week against a afc team on cbs, we'll definately get no better than widescreen 480i upconverts...

Dothan WTVY Update

It seems it never ends !!!!!!

Received this e-mail from Wade Thomaston with WTVY.

The tower crew that was installing our antenna dropped a 30 pound puller
from 1500 feet and it damaged the antenna. It had to be shipped back to
Andrew for repair. Now we are looking at the end of February or the first of
March. Sorry about the delay.


Wade Thomaston
WTVY-TV


Bob H

Originally posted by trich
People are moving out of Mobile co. into Baldwin co. that should tell you something.

Eastern Shore is a nice place to raise a family but man talk about a serious comute to work. Also you lose all the conviences of living in a big city atmosphere. I still love mobile and plan on buying a house in midtown next year.

The tower crew that was installing our antenna dropped a 30 pound puller from 1500 feet and it damaged the antenna
Oh well:(

Maybe by the summer rerun season I'll see CBS-HD with some regularity.

At least WMBB-ABC in Panama City already has the antenna and transmitter, they just need HDTV pass-tho equipment. Not that it will do me much good, Ft. Walton is just outside the current setup's range, but at least you can get it in Santa Rosa Beach. Hang in there, Bob, someday soon you will finally get OTA HDTV!

I got some big news. I called Comcast and told that "every available HD channel will be on Comcast Cablevision in Mobile by the end of 2003". Last month i was told that it would be 2004 before they would offer HD content. I feel this is great news. I asked if he meant every local HD channel, he replied "No, every HD channel, period."

Look out Directv and Dish.

The towers are scattered within five miles of the Wilcox exit off of I-10. Most are on the South side

Does anyone know why the two new towers down there have that large triangular shaped structure on the top? Is that the actual antenna?

Bob

A person at Foley cable told me that by year-end they would have HD.

Bob I took some pictures of them, sent them to Jerry. I don't know what they are. Jerry do you know?

For the third time in the past 7-10 days, I have received a fairly strong signal (70-100) on ddigital channel 17. I imagine that this is due to the cool (cold?) clear nights. However, I get neither picture nor sound (on 17-1 or 3-1) despite the strong signal. Unbelieveably, I am getting a strong signal with picture/sound from New Orleans WWL-DT (36-1 remapped as 4-1). That's 200+ miles! But nothing from WEAR. I have re-scanned, and re-entered my zip code. But I get the message "channel unavailable". Any ideas?

The triangle at the top of the towers is just part of the tower. It is like a platform for an area to mount more antenna structures on.

Hello everybody!
I've lurked for a month on this thread - researching for an HDTV purchase now that I've moved to Florida. Very informative posts by everybody, appreciate all the local expertise and folks with direct communication to Network people. Sounds like I am in a good area to pickup HDTV as an early adopter, nearly every major network except ABC I guess.

Ok - need some advice on what brand/type of antenna you all recommend for me to aim at the Wilcox Exit Towers over there in Alabama. I live in the NW corner of Pace, Florida, probably 30 miles from the towers, about the same distance as folks in downtown Pensacola, so I'm hoping I have a good chance to pickup nice signals. I subscribe to Dish network with a PVR508 - can't live without a PVR now.

I hear alot about these Televes antennas and also some people using big Radio shack antennas as well. It would be wonderful to only have to put a medium size antenna in my attic, but I could put it outside on the roof if I absolutely had to. Maybe buy one locally, try it inside and if no go, move it outside. I'd like to avoid buying a rotator mount, are those necessary? According to antennaweb.org, the stations are at 269 degrees and 263 degrees azimuth from me, pretty close in direction.

If I blew off FOX, I could just get a UHF only antenna, right?

Second - which set top box should I get? Samsungs have been reccomended, but I see people with Dish 6000s with OTA adapters. How much do those cost, since I am already a subscriber and can't get the "New Customer" discounts?

Sorry to open up with multiple questions, thanks in advance though. I'll keep you posted on results. Haven't heard much from anybody North of Pensacola in Pace or Milton. Higher ground here, should be decent signals.

Thanks again.

Welcome to our board Steve. I have D* but Jerry has Dish so he can help you there. I would get a uhf-vhf antenna because Fox[10.1] in 16:9 480p does look good at night. There sports is what looks so bad.