I was pretty disappointed in WLMT last night, but at least they were trying for a while. Is the problem with so many local stations just that they have too many "old-school" engineers trying to catch up with all this new technology over the past few years?

I really wish WMC could do something about their subchannels. I don't want to watch Heroes in Soft-o-vision. Besides, I seriously don't know anyone who actually watches Tube, so it's essentially just dead bandwidth. Weather+, eh. I could see the benefit of that I guess, but they should be able to compress that like crazy and leave at least 14 Mb for their HD feed. If they could drop Tube, of course.

I'm just glad that Comcast has left HDNet alone thus far. Although, they messed with the NHL Center Ice HD feed on the HDPPV channel last night. They seem to have decided the game was over at 12:00 AM, and just cut the channel off right then, so I missed most of the 3rd and all of the OT. Does anyone know who you can complain to at Comcast about that? I pay good money for Center Ice, and that's unacceptable.

I was pretty disappointed in WLMT last night, but at least they were trying for a while. Is the problem with so many local stations just that they have too many "old-school" engineers trying to catch up with all this new technology over the past few years?

I really wish WMC could do something about their subchannels. I don't want to watch Heroes in Soft-o-vision. Besides, I seriously don't know anyone who actually watches Tube, so it's essentially just dead bandwidth. Weather+, eh. I could see the benefit of that I guess, but they should be able to compress that like crazy and leave at least 14 Mb for their HD feed. If they could drop Tube, of course...

Write em a letter: Here is what I wrote to WMC-TV:
Dear Lee Meredith,

I am writing to make my concerns known about the total lack of quality coming from our local affiliate WMC-TV Memphis 5-1. I get the feeling that there is a total lack of commitment to excellence coming from your station on many fronts.

First and foremost, there is a totally unacceptable picture quality being provided for those of us with HD TV. I believe this is due mostly to the "sub channels" which take up an amount of bandwidth great enough to degrade the picture quality to a grainy and artifact riddled mess. Honestly, are there enough viewers who watch those channels to make the main 5-1 channel virtually unwatchable? Basically the quality of the HD 5-1 channel is on par with the standard definition channel. Sports are truly unwatchable on the HD channel because the quality is so bad. Just because you can have sub channels does not mean you should since this is seriously affecting the main HD programming that so many people are there to actually watch.

The other unacceptable quality issue is with programming problems. A perfect example was last night Oct. 3, 2006 during the series premier of "Friday Night Lights." In addition to the picture quality issues mentioned above, the sound was not working properly. The only sound coming through was the "surround" sound and side speakers. There was no dialogue coming through the center channel and thus the entire show was ruined and unwatchable. This is just one of many examples of when something has gone wrong with the LOCAL HD feed. Is there no one at your station who monitors what is being broadcast? Does anyone who works at the station not care about the quality you are delivering to their set? If I worked there I would personally be embarrassed when showing off my product to advertisers and others.

From a major network such as NBC, I would expect better quality and more reliable service. Maybe the next step will be to begin writing letters to your advertisers making sure they know they are losing viewers based on quality issues originating at the local level. Please let me know if there are any plans to upgrade your quality level or should I just give up on all NBC programming?

Sincerely,

The response with my comments in red on what I feel about the response:

Jeff—

I am very sorry that you had difficulties receiving this episode of “Friday Night Lights.” {I didn't have difficulty, the station did not broadcast it properly==not taking blame for it} Fortunately, NBC is rebroadcasting this program twice this week. {Great, but I have other shows to watch now they've already lost me as a viewer} The premiere will air again tonight, Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. We will work to address the technical problem as quickly as we can. Also, the premiere episode of this show is available for viewing at NBC’s website: {Will that be in HD on a 55" screen with surround sound?}
http://www.nbc.com/Video/rewind/ful...how=fridaynight

We are continuing to study the multichannel issue, and hope to be able to achieve some improvement in this area. Thanks again for writing. {I have a great solution...just turn them off...nobody watches them anyway...but I guess as long as you can keep robbing sponsors into thinking some people do watch and gaining ad revenue from them you'll keep them on.}

--Lee Meredith, WMC-TV

Basically, if you want to see change many more of us will have to let them know what we want. Here is a post with all the contact information for all the stations: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8475053&&#post8475053:

and leave at least 14 Mb for their HD feed.
14 mbs isn't enough for 1080i. For 720p yes. WLMT was only sending 15 mbs and that had a lot of motion blocking. WLMT listened to our concerns and bumped that up to nearly 17.5 mbs. I haven't seen any blocking on that channel since. WLMT rejoined WPTY and WHBQ as best PQ here locally.

Ah, I didn't realize that. That's good to hear. I was really looking forward to seeing his little production logo at the end. Maybe he can snag Shiri Appleby as a guest star. :p Majandra Delfino's over on 'Help Me Help You' on ABC now too..


Shiri was on "Six Degrees" last night, and she looked great. I'm not sure if she'll be a regular on that show or not, but I hope so.

14 mbs isn't enough for 1080i. For 720p yes. WLMT was only sending 15 mbs and that had a lot of motion blocking. WLMT listened to our concerns and bumped that up to nearly 17.5 mbs. I haven't seen any blocking on that channel since. WLMT rejoined WPTY and WHBQ as best PQ here locally.

mx is absolutely right on this. 1080i CANNOT handle low bitrates, the picture simply breaks apart. 720p tends to hold together much better, which is why even though WPTY is at a lower bitrate than WLMT, it still looks great. We would need at LEAST 16, preferably 17, mbps for the PQ to really improve.

NBC should just go 720p. I mean, it couldn't get any worse...




I am very sorry that you had difficulties receiving this episode of “Friday Night Lights.” {I didn't have difficulty, the station did not broadcast it properly==not taking blame for it} Fortunately, NBC is rebroadcasting this program twice this week. {Great, but I have other shows to watch now they've already lost me as a viewer} The premiere will air again tonight, Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. We will work to address the technical problem as quickly as we can.

Yeah, and that will help me when they screw it up next week, or when they screw up Heroes or Studio 60 or something. They don't usually run programs 3 times a week...

I've given up on NBC programming, period. And I really wanted to see Heroes too. But it just looks too bad to watch.


Also, the premiere episode of this show is available for viewing at NBC’s website: {Will that be in HD on a 55" screen with surround sound?}
http://www.nbc.com/Video/rewind/ful...how=fridaynight

LOL! This right here shows EXACTLY how little they get this 'HD' thing. They clearly don't understand that we CARE about what it looks like...




Shiri was on "Six Degrees" last night, and she looked great. I'm not sure if she'll be a regular on that show or not, but I hope so.

Ooh! The whole Roswell gang is really starting to get back out there. And it seems they are all on ABC! You've got Emilie De Ravin over on Lost and Katherine Heigl on Grey's. (I find it so funny that she plays a character with the same name as her character on Roswell.) They've got almost everyone from Roswell on ABC now.
I'm glad I recorded that now. Thanks for letting me know.

Ok I need some advice please. I received my new HR10-250 and it has the 3.1 software. The receiver works GREAT again, as my other one did before the upgrade. I unplugged the phone line in fear that the 6.3a update would screw this box up as well. In the meantime I ordered the HR20-700 which is due to install next Sat. I am thiniking about cancelling this now since the HR10 is doing good. Is there an advantage right now in upgrading or is not worth it right now. Esp with OTA disabled and CBS not yet signed up. Can anyone that has upgraded let me know how you are doing with the HR20 vs the HR10 and was it worth it. Can the HR10 be hooked up with the HR20 with the same 5 lnb dish and if I have 4 recievers will the all feed off this new 5 lnb dish.
Thx for the help. again

the begining of the FL vs LSU? We have just gotten Comcast HD and the picture was THE worst ever. Totally unwatchable!!! It was so bad my choice was to go back to regular channel 3 or skip the game and watch the Truck race at Talledaga.

Can't say WMC's picture in HD is that great either.

It is that way on OTA as well

Ok I need some advice please. I received my new HR10-250 and it has the 3.1 software. The receiver works GREAT again, as my other one did before the upgrade. I unplugged the phone line in fear that the 6.3a update would screw this box up as well. In the meantime I ordered the HR20-700 which is due to install next Sat. I am thiniking about cancelling this now since the HR10 is doing good. Is there an advantage right now in upgrading or is not worth it right now. Esp with OTA disabled and CBS not yet signed up. Can anyone that has upgraded let me know how you are doing with the HR20 vs the HR10 and was it worth it. Can the HR10 be hooked up with the HR20 with the same 5 lnb dish and if I have 4 recievers will the all feed off this new 5 lnb dish.
Thx for the help. again
I'm waiting until the OTA tuner gets enabled to upgrade. Personally I'd rather not upgrade and lose 3 HD channels. Seems counterproductive. But with D* I think it's usually that way.

You should be able to still use your HDTivo with the new 5 lnb dish. That dish is still looking at the 101, 110, and 119 sats. You just wont be able to get any programming in mpeg-4.

the begining of the FL vs LSU? We have just gotten Comcast HD and the picture was THE worst ever. Totally unwatchable!!! It was so bad my choice was to go back to regular channel 3 or skip the game and watch the Truck race at Talledaga.

Can't say WMC's picture in HD is that great either.
Comcast would get a slightly worse picture than OTA. That being said I just got home recently and watched 1 play in HD and turned it to WPTY. WREG does a horrible job with motion which creates blocking all over the screen. They have been unresponsive to a few of our emails.

We all need to email WREG and voice our displeasure like Jeff says. If we don't get any responses then maybe we should email the company that owns WREG or send them letters thru snail mail which was ravma recommended by ravma.

We all need to email WREG and voice our displeasure like Jeff says. If we don't get any responses then maybe we should email the company that owns WREG or send them letters thru snail mail which was ravma recommended by ravma.

In my experience, generally speaking, physical letters tend to be more effective. Emails are so easy to create that they don't make an impression. However, a physical letter (a handwritten one) takes time and effort, so they are more likely to read and/or respond.

I worry that WREG might have some of our emails in a kill file...

I tried to watch today's NASCAR race on NBC through My HD local service on D* It is unbearable. The audio is way off and it has an "8mm" effect and it is driving me nuts. The MPEG 4 feed of 13 is not nearly as bad. Is it a WMC thing or a D* thing?

I tried to watch today's NASCAR race on NBC through My HD local service on D* It is unbearable. The audio is way off and it has an "8mm" effect and it is driving me nuts. The MPEG 4 feed of 13 is not nearly as bad. Is it a WMC thing or a D* thing?
For the NASCAR race, NBC screwed up and was only sending 11 mb's to their local affiliates instead of it looks like 23. It took them a while but someone finally woke up and realized there was a problem. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8608273&&#post8608273 I was Tivo'ing it and it was pretty nasty. But I don't think that the race right now looks good at all.

As far as the audio, it's synched up OTA. The D* feed will look a little worse than OTA because if the extra compression and mpeg-2 to mpeg-4 conversion.

Hey guys. I'm very new to HD OTA as I just recently dropped Comcast. I'm getting DirecTV and don't really want their HD package as the only channels I really care about are the ones I can get free OTA. I live in the Cordova area (right next door to Hope Presbyterian Church) and I'm just using a basic antenna and can get a couple of the HD channels pretty good on my TV but others not at all. My house is pretty clear of trees and such.

I seem to have no problem getting 3 or 13, but the others are really iffy. For channels 5 and 30 I get just about nothing while 24 sometimes is great other times it's really bad. I realize I need to get a better antenna, but don't want to spend too much money really.

Do you guys have any suggestions on what I should get? I know you've all been at it alot longer than I have and welcome any advice you might want to share. I'm gonna read through this thread some, but with close to 4000 posts that will be a daunting task to say the least.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

it it just me or is WMC's HD broadcast of the Today Show really sucking today? The audio quality is horrible and the picture is jerky... I had D* installed Friday, and all of the other HD channels appear to be working normally. I haven't had a chance to re-install my OTA antenna yet, so I can't check that just yet, but the WMC SD channel is working fine.

-Chuck

Anyone watching "Heroes"? The video is better than it was this morning but it still sucks, and the audio is still jerky sounding. The Today Show this morning looked like it was being broadcast on YouTube.com

-Chuck

Video is ok for me on Heroes, but it sounds like it's coming from a tin box.

Love this show, btw.

The Today Show this morning looked like it was being broadcast on YouTube.com

Don't you mean youtube.google.com? ;)

I agree though, I saw it this morning, and it was pretty bad. WMC seems to be on a downward slide.

Video is ok for me on Heroes, but it sounds like it's coming from a tin box.

Love this show, btw.

If NBC Universal was really nice, they'd start airing repeats of the show on Universal HD... :D

It's easily one of the best shows to come along in recent years.

I haven't watched it yet. I was busy trying to figure out why my garage wont open without some manual help. Soooooo, does anyone know anyone who is cheaper priced but does a good job on garage doors?

I am having the Hr-20 installed by D* on the 20th. I was told by D* that i would receive all the local HD stations thru the receiver. Is this true?

I am having the Hr-20 installed by D* on the 20th. I was told by D* that i would receive all the local HD stations thru the receiver. Is this true?
Yes and No.

Yes, you will receive all the local HD channels available from D*. Currently right now only WMC, WHBQ, and WPTY. WREG should be going up sometime (apparently it’s a big secret to them). D* has plans later to add the non-big 4, but we don’t know when.

No, you will not be able to get WREG, WKNO, and WLMT because the ATSC tuner has not been turned on yet.

So, currently no. Later, possibly.

Hey Everyone,

I just bought a HDTV ( Panny 50) and Onkyo 674 AV system. Need help deciding which antenna should i pick for OTA HDTV channels. Antenna Web gives me the following results.

* yellow - uhf WREG-DT 3.1 CBS MEMPHIS TN 87° 12.4 28
* yellow - uhf WKNO-DT 10.1 PBS MEMPHIS TN 95° 13.0 29
* yellow - uhf WPXX-DT 50.1 MNT MEMPHIS TN 79° 13.7 51
* yellow - uhf WHBQ-DT 13.1 FOX MEMPHIS TN 89° 11.7 53
* red - uhf WLMT-DT 30.1 CW MEMPHIS TN 65° 17.1 31
* red - uhf WPTY-DT 24.1 ABC MEMPHIS TN 65° 17.1 25
* red - uhf WMC-DT 5.1 NBC MEMPHIS TN 65° 17.1 52


Secondly HDMI cables. Everyone keeps telling me to buy monster cables. Anything else you guys recommend in same quality but less price range. Also do u recommend using surge protector. Amazon has a special on a HTS800.

Thanks in advance for help

Femur

Need help deciding which antenna should I pick for OTA HDTV channels. Antenna Web gives me the following results.I would suggest using the data from Antenna Web to find an antenna at Antennas Direct (http://www.antennasdirect.com/). I have had very good luck with them, as have several other people I sent there.

Secondly HDMI cables. Everyone keeps telling me to buy Monster Cables. Anything else you guys recommend in same quality but less price range?Monster Cable makes very nice cables; I use them for professional reasons. However, you can get identical performance for a fraction of the price. As long as an HDMI cable actually works (i.e. you get picture and sound), don't worry about anything else. If you have to run over 20 feet, a well-made cable stands a greater chance of working, but there is still no guarantee. It's hit or miss. A friend of mine here locally ran a garden-variety HDMI cable a whopping 60 feet with no booster and got a perfect picture.

Also do you recommend using a surge protector?Surge protector, yes. Expensive, esoteric power conditioner, no. SurgeX (http://www.surgex.com/products.html) makes some nice units.

I also highly recommend a voltage regulator and a UPS if your display is lamp-based. If you're an audio affectionado, you might want to try a line balancer. I use one, but their effectiveness is somewhat dubious in my mind! Check out Furman (http://www.furmansound.com/index.php). I would start with their professional line even though you're doing a home system.

BTW, has anyone been in on the PS3 action today?

Sorry about your garage door, mx. I'm in the same boat.

Chase

I was watching MLB and flipped over to Gilmore Girls during a break...

Does anyone else see a very large square at the top right of the image that is pulsating slightly? It looks a little bit like the smaller blocks associated with MPEG-2 bandwidth limitations, except it's about half as tall and a third as wide as the image. It is not visible all the time -- dark shots seem to accentuate it. The picture content is correct regardles of whether the block is visible.

I've never seen this before except on the season premiere of Runaway, where I attributed it to a faulty recording by the DVR. Before tonight, that was the last thing I watched on WLMT, so I can't say if the block is there for all programming.

Chase

No HD for Dancing With the Stars or Help Me Help you tonight.
And the decline continues....

Update: And as we go to Boston Legal, they splice it... Looks like it was just someone asleep at the switch, again.

Just wanted to give an update. I received my replacement HR10-250 from D* friday and it has the 3.1 software installed. So far it has played flawless. I get all the OTA locals near perfect except WKNO. Before even before the other unit went bad I could hardly ever get 13.1 and 5.1 would be about 50/50. I have unplugged the phone line because the folders and small speed increase are not worth the chance I take by accepting the 6.3a update. The update is supposed to be downloaded to everyone by the 19th. How long will I have to keep the phone line unplugged. Will this update stay in the stream for good ? I also canceled the HR20 install until they work some bugs out, and enable the OTA tuner.

Does anyone else see a very large square at the top right of the image that is pulsating slightly? It looks a little bit like the smaller blocks associated with MPEG-2 bandwidth limitations, except it's about half as tall and a third as wide as the image. It is not visible all the time -- dark shots seem to accentuate it. The picture content is correct regardles of whether the block is visible.

I've never seen this before except on the season premiere of Runaway, where I attributed it to a faultly recording by the DVR. Before tonight, that was the last thing I watched on WLMT, so I can't say if the block is there for all programming.
Don't see it during VM.

The mis-synch between the audio and video on the commercials during the Tigers/A's game on Fox is driving me crazy. It's off by more than a second.

Don't see it during VM.

I just checked my recordings of GG and VM and I didn't see it either.

How long will I have to keep the phone line unplugged. Will this update stay in the stream for good ?
I kept my replacement HDTivo unplugged for 689 days so I guess you could leave it unplugged forever. I plugged mine in October 4th and 5th. Didn't get the upgrade, and it's unplugged until the audio issues are fixed.

I think it will stay on your hdd once it is downloaded until you reboot your Tivo and it installs.

I just checked my recordings of GG and VM and I didn't see it either.I watched the first two minutes of VM and saw it, but it was much more subtle. It was not, however, visible on any upscaled SD content from WLMT. My source was Comcast using the 8300HD and viewed on the new Sony LCD panel. I'll have to try it on the PJ.

Chase

Hey Everyone,
Secondly HDMI cables. Everyone keeps telling me to buy monster cables. Anything else you guys recommend in same quality but less price range. Also do u recommend using surge protector. Amazon has a special on a HTS800.


The best thing you can do is NOT fall into the "premium" cable scam. A $70 Monster HDMI cable gives you the exact same picture quality and performance as a $5 one bought online. Stores like BestBuy and Curcuit City make up large margins with expensive cables, by tricking the new HD consumer into thinking that price of cable somehow equates to picture quality. This is not true.

As other people have indicated, when you're dealing with a digital signal (as HDMI and DVI are), as long as all the bits are passing in the cable you're not going to get any "better" signal. To put it another way, do you worry about the quality or brand of the VGA cable that comes with your computer's monitor? It's essentially the same thing.

Now, with analog component, you can squeeze some extra PQ out with higher quality cables. Digital is a different world, however.

Secondly HDMI cables. Everyone keeps telling me to buy monster cables. Anything else you guys recommend in same quality but less price range. Also do u recommend using surge protector. Amazon has a special on a HTS800.


Don't fall for the marketing hype. Just go to the monoprice website. I got my cables there and had a great experience with them. I was out at the new Best Buy on Winchester the other day and my jaw dropped when I noticed the HDMI prices at Magnolia. It's a digital cable. The signal is either there or it's not. Don't pay $120 for a $10 cable.

Don't fall for the marketing hype. Just go to the monoprice website. I got my cables there and had a great experience with them. I was out at the new Best Buy on Winchester the other day and my jaw dropped when I noticed the HDMI prices at Magnolia. It's a digital cable. The signal is either there or it's not. Don't pay $120 for a $10 cable.

The new Best Buy has a Magnolia?

Paul

I thought the game on FOX last night looked really good.

The new Best Buy has a Magnolia?
Yeah, its pretty nice. Compairing to what the home theater area used to look like at BB. The lighting is much darker and the cieling is much lower, and there are 2 HT viewing rooms. Cool setup.

The only problem I had when I went there was I was watching some of the stuff they had streaming and even though it was HD, it had tons of motion blocking on it. I don't know if it was coincidence, but they were showing SNF on NBC. :) They should get that fixed because only 2 stations in Memphis look like that, not all of them.

Yeah, its pretty nice. Compairing to what the home theater area used to look like at BB. The lighting is much darker and the cieling is much lower, and there are 2 HT viewing rooms. Cool setup.

The only problem I had when I went there was I was watching some of the stuff they had streaming and even though it was HD, it had tons of motion blocking on it. I don't know if it was coincidence, but they were showing SNF on NBC. :) They should get that fixed because only 2 stations in Memphis look like that, not all of them.

Thanks. Good to know.

Paul

The best thing you can do is NOT fall into the "premium" cable scam. A $70 Monster HDMI cable gives you the exact same picture quality and performance as a $5 one bought online. Stores like BestBuy and Curcuit City make up large margins with expensive cables, by tricking the new HD consumer into thinking that price of cable somehow equates to picture quality. This is not true.

As other people have indicated, when you're dealing with a digital signal (as HDMI and DVI are), as long as all the bits are passing in the cable you're not going to get any "better" signal. To put it another way, do you worry about the quality or brand of the VGA cable that comes with your computer's monitor? It's essentially the same thing.

Now, with analog component, you can squeeze some extra PQ out with higher quality cables. Digital is a different world, however.

And even to this day, I still get crap from people when I explain this. There is still this analog mentality with cables. So many people still don't understand that digital is just data.

I hate the marketing on the antenna boxes, too. They make it seem like their antenna will give you a higher quality picture, like you can get with a higher quality antenna when using it for analog. (And believe me, if it would help WREG and WMC, I'd be there in a second.) And of course, there are the 'HDTV Antennas'...

It's not surprising that people fall for the hype. The TV's themselves cost so much money that people just sort of naturally figure that the cables will cost a bunch too.

The new Magnolia is nice, especially when compared with the rest of the store, but the other night when I went over there it was just a nightmare. You go in the door and they have music playing from the CD section so loud that the speakers are clipping. You have all these other people messing with sound systems. You need earplugs just to shop there just because there are so many competing sounds coming out of the place. Jeez.. I sound like an old geezer.

The new Magnolia is nice, especially when compared with the rest of the store, but the other night when I went over there it was just a nightmare. You go in the door and they have music playing from the CD section so loud that the speakers are clipping. You have all these other people messing with sound systems. You need earplugs just to shop there just because there are so many competing sounds coming out of the place. Jeez.. I sound like an old geezer.

I agree, it's incredibly difficult to hear anything in there. They insist on blasting music throughout the entire place. And it will get so much worse around Christmas.

Anyone notice WMC's new set and graphics? They seem to be ripoffs of WREG's... (Which isn't surprising since WREG is in 1st place now.)

Anyone notice WMC's new set and graphics? They seem to be ripoffs of WREG's... (Which isn't surprising since WREG is in 1st place now.)
No I haven't seen them, but I'll check during lunch today if I can remember.

Is WREG first in number of viewers for the news? I've seen WHBQ claiming that they are first. Personally I watch 90% WHBQ in the morning and about the same for WPTY at night if I watch the news. I figure I'd watch and support the channels that gives us the best HD PQ. I used to watch WMC and WREG but very rarely watch them anymore.

Yeah, I saw the new set on the 6:00 news... they seemed so proud of it, how big it is, etc.-- but why couldn't we see it in HD? I thought this would give them the impetus to switch their newscasts over...

Yeah, I saw the new set on the 6:00 news... they seemed so proud of it, how big it is, etc.-- but why couldn't we see it in HD? I thought this would give them the impetus to switch their newscasts over...
Yeah no kidding.

I watched a few minutes at work. It looks more professional, but I hate the bar on the bottom that has the name of the story on it. Even on an SD TV it sticks up too far. WREG has that and I don't watch them because of it, but theirs is much lower. A couple of other things I don't like about it: When they shoot to the anchors there is a ring of 5's around them in teh background. Not only do we have that big colorful 5 in the corner, but there's like 10 5's in the back. Ok, I think we get the point.
Going along with the bar do we have to have wmctv.com on the screen all the time?

WHBQ has now littered their screen with a computer on the right side that says myfoxmemphis.com and you pretty much lose the ability to see anything on the bottom 3rd of the screen when that is up.

Why can't we just get the news without being bombarded with looping, colorful, flying, repetative, crawls, and annoying logos? The average viewer I'm pretty sure can figure out what station they are watching without having to see 5 or 3 whatever channel they are watching all over the screen.

Just make it basic. Save all that crap for the subchannels that are so precious.

Everytime I see something like this I think of that SNL skit when they were making fun of how CNN and other news stations throw up graphics all the time. the people talking were all moving around the graphics so they could be seen when they were talking.

Yeah, I saw the new set on the 6:00 news... they seemed so proud of it, how big it is, etc.-- but why couldn't we see it in HD? I thought this would give them the impetus to switch their newscasts over...

They don't show it in HD because it would result in pixelization, poor PQ, and graininess because of their multicasting on Weather+ and The Tube. ;)

Smallville not in HD again!!!

...EDIT: They flipped it now.

WMC is REALLY trying to be WREG.

I had seen the set but not the full news broadcast. That bottom bar is WAY too high, and I noticed they are putting the reporters' emails on-screen now, just like WREG.. Why does everything have to be so flashy? Why can't we just have a simple broadcast.

Man, as they return from break, they have the announcer saying, "You're watching Action News 5 with (list of anchors)." And then he says ""You're watching Action News 5." again.
Do they really think we are that stupid? I mean, they have it EVERYWHERE. They treat their viewers like mindless idiots who can't tell what channel they are on. Plus, the announcer sounds like he is YELLING at us.

Also, I noticed they are going to be running a debate for the 9th district on air at the end of the month, just like WREG did for Harold Ford Jr and Bob Corker...

At least it looks like they are HD-ready. The sets look like they are formatted 16x9 protected, and all the monitors are WS. (Although, as mollerup said, it would look terrible...)

Why don't we have a decent news station?

My gosh how many 5's can they try to cram on any one shot? I think its overkill. Perhaps they needed that many 5's because Joe Birch's hair tends to get big :eek:

The bottom bar tends to take up about 1/6th of the screen. Again overkill

I wonder who makes the decision: "Let's put a smaller ring of 5's in the background that encompasses a 3 foot 5" "Why don't we put a small wall behind the anchors that says News Channel 3. Then we can put a big CBS eye behind them" "In case someone forgets, lets put WHBQ 13 all over the outside of the anchors desk"

My 8300HD erased over 20 programs overnight... Just, gone. And they were set to 'Until I Erase'.

My 8300HD erased over 20 programs overnight... Just, gone. And they were set to 'Until I Erase'.
OUCH :eek:

Just like the SEC game yesterday, today's game on WREG looks awful when there is any movement on the screen. Far away shots look pretty good, but medium closeups with action, puke!

I'm trying to figure out which channel has the worse picture, 3 or 5. Both look awful with the artifacts

I had the HR20 installed about 10 days ago. The HD locals from ABC and Fox look outstanding; WMC is an entirely different story. It is obviously so compressed that the football game tonight doesn't even look like a live broadcast. The Today show looks like the football game, with the Today Show graphics looking blocked and blurred.

The WMC OTA signal looks much better (although still not comparable to 13 or 24). Makes you wonder what kind of crap they are sending to D*. From what I remember, the Comwarner signal was pretty close to what they are broadcasting OTA...

I thought at first it might be the dish alignment, but WMC is broadcast off the 103* satellite and I have a 98% signal strength on that particular bird.

WMC on OTA and Comcast are both pretty good. I cancelled my HR20 install until they get CBS or OTA working. Is there any word on CBS as of yet. How is the HR20 doing for you, is it the nightmare I have read about on the forums. Right now I have both D* and Comcast since there are so many shows I like to record in HD. I use Comcast for ABC and NBC and D* for CBS and Fox. Probl never watch TV live anymore LOL

Wow, the HR20 is a nightmare? I was considering getting it when they turn OTA on, but maybe I'll reconsider...

WMC on OTA and Comcast are both pretty good. I cancelled my HR20 install until they get CBS or OTA working. Is there any word on CBS as of yet. How is the HR20 doing for you, is it the nightmare I have read about on the forums. Right now I have both D* and Comcast since there are so many shows I like to record in HD. I use Comcast for ABC and NBC and D* for CBS and Fox. Probl never watch TV live anymore LOL

Up until last night, the HR20 had performed almost flawlessly. This morning is froze with "searching for satellite 1" and I didn't have time to keep messing with it. I have checked dbstalk today and the incidence of this thing freezing up seems to have really stepped up with the latest software push from D*. Mine grabbed the update the day it was installed, and my problems didn't start until yesterday. So far, 7 hard resets and it's still hung.

I'm going to take a look at it when I get home and I'll report back. I haven't turned the Comwarner equipment back in yet, and I think I'll just hold off for a while...

-Chuck

I just want to make sure I'm not missing out on anything. I've got an OTA which picks up all of the local Memphis channels in HD. I have D* with HD, but not with the local channels. I can already record the locals on my HD DVR cause the OTA is plugged in as the 2nd antenna. (channels show up on the channel guide) Other than beign able to record two channels at once, is there any benefit to switching to the D* local channel deal? I would have to think the OTA is a much better picture. (and I'm not waiting for CBS) Any input would be great.

I just want to make sure I'm not missing out on anything. I've got an OTA which picks up all of the local Memphis channels in HD. I have D* with HD, but not with the local channels. I can already record the locals on my HD DVR cause the OTA is plugged in as the 2nd antenna. (channels show up on the channel guide) Other than beign able to record two channels at once, is there any benefit to switching to the D* local channel deal? I would have to think the OTA is a much better picture. (and I'm not waiting for CBS) Any input would be great.

WMC's picture via the HR20 is crap compared to the OTA or Comwarner picture. It's jerky and looks extremely compressed. I don't really know what the problem is; the OTA picture looks fine, and the picture from the 8300HD from Comwarner looks fine (I hooked it back up tonight), but the picture from D* looks awful. Fox and ABC look great on the HR20, it's just WMC.

I can already record the locals on my HD DVR cause the OTA is plugged in as the 2nd antenna. (channels show up on the channel guide) Other than beign able to record two channels at once, is there any benefit to switching to the D* local channel deal? You will have to give up your HR10-250 and the Tivo interface for the HR20-700 and all of the problems that soccercoach61 is having. You will also need the new AT9 dish since the HD locals are delivered from the new satellites. As for recording 2 channels at once, you can do that now if you have your receiver wired and configured correctly.

-Robert

WMC's picture via the HR20 is crap compared to the OTA or Comwarner picture. It's jerky and looks extremely compressed. I don't really know what the problem is; the OTA picture looks fine, and the picture from the 8300HD from Comwarner looks fine (I hooked it back up tonight), but the picture from D* looks awful. Fox and ABC look great on the HR20, it's just WMC.
To be fair, WMC already looks bad OTA. I'm guessing D* gets the feed thru OTA, and then retransmits it to us. I can imagine it worse, but I don't want to see it worse than it is right now, because its bad. NFL and the few minutes I watched of Action Sports Sunday were awful with the artifacts all over the place.

It looked as bad as channel 3's football games.

Does anyone know if channel 5 is doing anything to try to fix this? Can they not bit starve 5-2 and 5-3 to make HD programs look better?

I pulled the B-blocks off and connected the sat cables directly; that seems to have fixed the "searching for satellite" problem -- at least for now. I also reinstalled my OTA attic antenna and my Comwarner 8300HD-DVR (at least for a couple of months) so I can now switch between the three.

What's interesting is that the WMC Comcast and OTA PQ's are comparable; it's only the D* PQ that seems to be severly compromised. Live shows in HD (Today, Leno, Conan, etc) don't look... well "live." And they definitely are not in HD. This really only started about a week ago; when the HR20 was first installed, the D* PQ was at least as good as the OTA.

Who should I contact at WMC to discuss?

-Chuck

There is a thread (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=67622) at dbstalk.com that is discussing the picture problem that WMC seems to be having. Looks like it may be a problem with how the MPEG-4 bitstream is handled/delivered to D*. Other cities are having the same problem, and some cities have had it resolved.

I would hope that WMC would want to resolve this quickly...

-Chuck

Who should I contact at WMC to discuss?
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8475053&&#post8475053

Lee Meredith. I've emailed him and he responded. So did Jeff (mollerup). Of course you saw his response. :D
There is a thread (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=67622) at dbstalk.com that is discussing the picture problem that WMC seems to be having. Looks like it may be a problem with how the MPEG-4 bitstream is handled/delivered to D*. Other cities are having the same problem, and some cities have had it resolved.

I would hope that WMC would want to resolve this quickly...
Yeah I wouldn't want to see that PQ. They have some way to go to increase what they are sending out OTA now, but I wouldn't want to see what D* is sending down. Funny how the issues appear to be mostly around 1080i stations.

e-mail sent! Thanks!

We'll see what happens.

-Chuck

You guys are great! Thanks for keeping all of us in Memphis on top of how to get most of this growing technology. I can't tell you how much I've learn and have been able to make the right decisions due to dialogue like this. Though I don't get to add much other than a question, I've learned it spurs conversation for the greater good! (another plus)
I don't think other cities keep things like this going as well and given we've got lines into the local channel techy's to get info, makes it this avenue a gem. Just want to say Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I have a HDTV and DirecTV. I live in the Cordova area and was told when the separate HD antenna was installed that I could either get channel 3 or channel 5, that their signals did not overlap enough to get both. Is this true? Is there a way that I can get all of the local channels in HD? I appreciate any help with this.

Hi everyone,

I have a HDTV and DirecTV. I live in the Cordova area and was told when the separate HD antenna was installed that I could either get channel 3 or channel 5, that their signals did not overlap enough to get both. Is this true? Is there a way that I can get all of the local channels in HD? I appreciate any help with this.

Go to this site (http://www.antennaweb.org) and enter your street address, city, state, and zip. It will tell you how far you are from the towers and in what direction relative to your location they are. You are looking for the 3.1 and 5.1 stations. If the towers are so broad apart relative to your home that a directional antenna can't pick both of them up, then you are probably close enough to them both to use a simple set-top antenna.

-Chuck

Hi everyone,

I have a HDTV and DirecTV. I live in the Cordova area and was told when the separate HD antenna was installed that I could either get channel 3 or channel 5, that their signals did not overlap enough to get both. Is this true? Is there a way that I can get all of the local channels in HD? I appreciate any help with this.

I have a Channel Master Stealth Antenna and I get 3, 5, 10, 13, 24, 30, 40, and 50.

I'm near the corner of Old Brownsville and Yale.

Paul

I...was told when the separate HD antenna was installed that I could either get channel 3 or channel 5, that their signals did not overlap enough to get both.Hi tiger fan, welcome to the forum, BTW. I'm just curious who told you that. Not only is it not true, it doesn't make any sense. Sounds like something a BB or CC sales rep would say. :rolleyes: Anyway, you've now come to the right place to get good advice. :)

Anyone know how to contact WREG, these guys website does not have contact info, probably for good reason because they are obviously hoding their signal hostage from DTV and I want to write them a nasty letter.

These aholes would not give me a waiver to get national HD CBS feed even thouh I have tried a million ways to get an HD signal, thought DTV getting locals would solve the problem but lo and behold I assume since the NYT is selling the sation they are refusing to negotiate. Their refusing to give me a waiver and refusing to return my calls is just an abuse of what the law was intended to protect. Absolute scumbags.

Anyone know how to contact WREG, these guys website does not have contact info, probably for good reason because they are obviously hoding their signal hostage from DTV and I want to write them a nasty letter.

These aholes would not give me a waiver to get national HD CBS feed even thouh I have tried a million ways to get an HD signal, thought DTV getting locals would solve the problem but lo and behold I assume since the NYT is selling the sation they are refusing to negotiate. Their refusing to give me a waiver and refusing to return my calls is just an abuse of what the law was intended to protect. Absolute scumbags.

The contact information for all of the Memphis stations is here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8475053&&#post8475053).

Anyone know how to contact WREG, these guys website does not have contact info, probably for good reason because they are obviously hoding their signal hostage from DTV and I want to write them a nasty letter.

These aholes would not give me a waiver to get national HD CBS feed even thouh I have tried a million ways to get an HD signal, thought DTV getting locals would solve the problem but lo and behold I assume since the NYT is selling the sation they are refusing to negotiate. Their refusing to give me a waiver and refusing to return my calls is just an abuse of what the law was intended to protect. Absolute scumbags.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8475053&&#post8475053

This is the first I have heard of WREG being sold. (I did a google and came up with some articles about it) But that probably explains why WREG isn't on D* yet, and probably wont be on D* for a while. I guess that might explain why they aren't responding to any emails about anything in a while. I even know 2 friends of mine who have emailed Ron Walter and they haven't gotten a response. The best we could hope for it whoever takes the station would be to drop the subchannel and care about the HD PQ.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8475053&&#post8475053

This is the first I have heard of WREG being sold. (I did a google and came up with some articles about it) But that probably explains why WREG isn't on D* yet, and probably wont be on D* for a while. I guess that might explain why they aren't responding to any emails about anything in a while. I even know 2 friends of mine who have emailed Ron Walter and they haven't gotten a response. The best we could hope for it whoever takes the station would be to drop the subchannel and care about the HD PQ.

Maybe that's why I can't get anyone to return my calls either. :(

Paul

Hi tiger fan, welcome to the forum, BTW. I'm just curious who told you that. Not only is it not true, it doesn't make any sense. Sounds like something a BB or CC sales rep would say. :rolleyes: Anyway, you've now come to the right place to get good advice. :)
Yeah no kidding. Did they also tell you they don't work on commission? :)

Tiger fan if you have any questions, come here and ask first. We would be able to provide you with better and more accurate info. We don't get commission either. :p

See the link I posted right before this one. You will see 2 channel numbers per station. Each station has an analog and digital channel assignment. WREG for example is analog channel 3. The digital channel is 28. So if you went into your HD stb and checked the signal strength for WREG-DT you would look it up on channel 28. Your stb will still remap the channel to 3-1. There is no way that digital channels can bleed into each other. There are digital channels 51 (WPXX) 52 (WMC) and 53 (WHBQ) and they don't effect each other. Unless you have a really bad line of sight to the towers you will be able to get more than 3-1 and 5-1, you'd be able to get all local channels.

Yep, it's being sold and I legitimately can't get a clear signal with 3 different OTA's I have tried except after about 8 or so P.M. and they won't gove me a waiver, another reason I will never vote Republican because I know for an absolute fact they were bribed by the broadcaster to pass this stupid ass law back in the late 90's. I know because my sister worked for them Senator Murkowski who was one of the prime movers. Total horsecrap. I'm being screwed out of SEC HD football unless I get Comcrap cable???? WTF is that????

Anyone with an hr20-700 getting hd locals experience the audio and video being out of sync last night wathing game 7 of the nlcs?

Maybe that's why I can't get anyone to return my calls either. :(

Paul

I heard back from Jim Anhalt about WREG in HD on DirecTV. I coudn't get any specific details, but he did say... and I quote... "hopefully, it won't be too much longer."

We'll see. :) I'm waiting for WREG in HD on D* before I cancel Comcast. Well, that or working OTA on the HR-20.

Paul

I heard back from Jim Anhalt about WREG in HD
You should reply to his email and ask if they plan on doing something about the motion blocking on their programming.

For those getting our locals in HD from D*, do you still get channel 88?

You should reply to his email and ask if they plan on doing something about the motion blocking on their programming.

For those getting our locals in HD from D*, do you still get channel 88?

Nope, I don't get channel 88 (NY FOX HD).

I thought I should because our FOX station is owned an operated, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore with HD. I don't know why though.

Should we be getting 88?

Paul

I still get channel 88 but I wonder for how much longer. Hope it lasts thru the football season sometimes they have different games so its nice to have a choice.

WREG still won't call me back, I am gald someone got a call, maybe the not much longer is a good sign but I doubt it.

I'd cancel Comcast, the SD channels signal is so much bette on DTV it's amazing. Is it worth giving up CBS HD? Half a dozen one way, 6 the other. Sd receptions on Comcast is horrid.

They shut off my 88 when I got the WHBQ local in HD, but then I had a problem with my box the way it was loaded and they had to re-boot and the CSR I got the 2nd time was inexperienced and saw I was authorized for 88a nd asked me if I was still supoosed to get it and I said yes so about, this was about a week later, they hooked it backed on and I have had it ever since and when everyone else got their cut offf notice I did not get one, so we will see. My neighbors was cut off last week and mine was not. I have Sunday ticket (for free due to a disastrous install experience for the new HD dish which is a long story so that's not an issue) so I don;t care about that but once basketball starts it will be ncie to have diif games.

Hope WREG gets their crap together before the SEC championship game at least.

Nope, I don't get channel 88 (NY FOX HD).

I thought I should because our FOX station is owned an operated, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore with HD. I don't know why though.

Should we be getting 88?
If you don't get HD locals from D* you should be getting 88. I'm not sure about if you will get 88 if you do get D* HD locals. It looks like it's a crapshoot if you will get them or not. I'd call and find out.

DTV offers WHBQ HD, so according to them you don't get 88 anymore, but like the other guy since it was o/o and they have a "blanket waiver" I thought by law you cuold get it anyway, to include east and west coast regular feeds. Pretty sure this is correct and maybe it is, I just have not bothered to find out, but I will wait till they cut me off in case I am wrong to ask retention about it.

DTV offers WHBQ HD, so according to them you don't get 88 anymore, but like the other guy since it was o/o and they have a "blanket waiver" I thought by law you cuold get it anyway, to include east and west coast regular feeds. Pretty sure this is correct and maybe it is, I just have not bothered to find out, but I will wait till they cut me off in case I am wrong to ask retention about it.
D* has only offered us the East FOX HD feed, nothing else. They blamed it on SHEVRA, or whatever those initials are. But I think D* could've offered both east & west feeds, not sure about SD. I didn't read much more into it since it didn't effect me personally.

Too bad we aren't getting an hd game on 24-1 right now. I've got some family over and we are going from 5-1 to 3-1 looking at the pq. They agree that they both look equally bad, with 5-1 looking much worse. I feel like I should've Tivo'd the game on 24-1 earlier to show them what our good affiliates can do.

They live in Dallas and I've been there many times, and the local CBS station there BLOWS AWAY 3-1. MY dad said it is hard for him to watch these channels. But I guess these 2 locals care more about no one watching their subchannels than the masses that spent thousand of dollars for the HD pq.

Too bad we aren't getting an hd game on 24-1 right now. I've got some family over and we are going from 5-1 to 3-1 looking at the pq. They agree that they both look equally bad, with 5-1 looking much worse. I feel like I should've Tivo'd the game on 24-1 earlier to show them what our good affiliates can do.

They live in Dallas and I've been there many times, and the local CBS station there BLOWS AWAY 3-1. MY dad said it is hard for him to watch these channels. But I guess these 2 locals care more about no one watching their subchannels than the masses that spent thousand of dollars for the HD pq.
Can't say I disagree with you, other than the Dallas part. I only watched a little bit of both afternoon games and they both looked horrid.

Still getting channel 88.

Still getting channel 88.
Upgraded to mpeg-4 yet?

Hi tiger fan, welcome to the forum, BTW. I'm just curious who told you that. Not only is it not true, it doesn't make any sense. Sounds like something a BB or CC sales rep would say. :rolleyes: Anyway, you've now come to the right place to get good advice. :)

The DirecTV installer of the hi-def box and the directional antenna told me that. He did work with the antenna trying to get all of the stations. He also fell asleep on my couch while he was waiting for the box to perform part of the setup and download.

Go to this and enter your street address, city, state, and zip. It will tell you how far you are from the towers and in what direction relative to your location they are. You are looking for the 3.1 and 5.1 stations. If the towers are so broad apart relative to your home that a directional antenna can't pick both of them up, then you are probably close enough to them both to use a simple set-top antenna.

-Chuck


yellow - uhf WPTY-DT 24.1 ABC MEMPHIS TN 336° 8.7 25
yellow - uhf WLMT-DT 30.1 CW MEMPHIS TN 336° 8.7 31
yellow - uhf WREG-DT 3.1 CBS MEMPHIS TN 282° 6.8 28
yellow - uhf WPXX-DT 50.1 MNT MEMPHIS TN 301° 6.7 51
yellow - uhf WMC-DT 5.1 NBC MEMPHIS TN 336° 8.7 52
yellow - uhf WHBQ-DT 13.1 FOX MEMPHIS TN 277° 7.5 53
violet - uhf WKNO-DT 10.1 PBS MEMPHIS TN 266° 6.2 29

I did as you suggested and it looks like the DirecTV installed aimed the antenna for WREG and WHBQ, since it is a 50 degree swing to get the stations at 336 degrees. What type of set-top antenna would y'all recommend, or is there an area on this forum for that?

Thanks

The DirecTV installer of the hi-def box and the directional antenna told me that. He did work with the antenna trying to get all of the stations. He also fell asleep on my couch while he was waiting for the box to perform part of the setup and download.
No way!!!! You shoulda had your camera close.

yellow - uhf WPTY-DT 24.1 ABC MEMPHIS TN 336° 8.7 25
yellow - uhf WLMT-DT 30.1 CW MEMPHIS TN 336° 8.7 31
yellow - uhf WREG-DT 3.1 CBS MEMPHIS TN 282° 6.8 28
yellow - uhf WPXX-DT 50.1 MNT MEMPHIS TN 301° 6.7 51
yellow - uhf WMC-DT 5.1 NBC MEMPHIS TN 336° 8.7 52
yellow - uhf WHBQ-DT 13.1 FOX MEMPHIS TN 277° 7.5 53
violet - uhf WKNO-DT 10.1 PBS MEMPHIS TN 266° 6.2 29

I did as you suggested and it looks like the DirecTV installed aimed the antenna for WREG and WHBQ, since it is a 50 degree swing to get the stations at 336 degrees. What type of set-top antenna would y'all recommend, or is there an area on this forum for that?
I use a Samsung Axiom, or something like that. It's been discontinued but is pretty good. If your in Cordova I'd start by aiming your antenna towards Best Buy in the Wolfchase area.

What channels are you able to get right now with what the installer installed?

Upgraded to mpeg-4 yet?

Yes. I posted about 3 or 4 weeks ago when I upgraded.

The DirecTV installer of the hi-def box and the directional antenna told me that. He did work with the antenna trying to get all of the stations. He also fell asleep on my couch while he was waiting for the box to perform part of the setup and download.

Do you have room in your attic? I have an outdoor antenna in my attic. Works great.

I am around the I40 and Canada road exit.

yellow WPTY-DT 24.1 ABC MEMPHIS TN 336° 8.7 miles
yellow WLMT-DT 30.1 CW MEMPHIS TN 336° 8.7 miles
yellow WMC-DT 5.1 NBC MEMPHIS TN 336° 8.7 miles
yellow WPXX-DT 50.1 MNT MEMPHIS TN 301° 6.7 miles
yellow WREG-DT 3.1 CBS MEMPHIS TN 282° 6.8 miles
yellow WHBQ-DT 13.1 FOX MEMPHIS TN 277° 7.5 miles
violet WKNO-DT 10.1 PBS MEMPHIS TN 266° 6.2 miles

From you home, the largest amount of separation between towers is 70° and you're 8.7 miles away from the farthest tower. You should be able to pick up all these stations with a small multi directional antenna.


yellow WPTY-DT 24.1 ABC MEMPHIS TN 64° 6.4 miles
yellow WLMT-DT 30.1 CW MEMPHIS TN 64° 6.4 miles
yellow WMC-DT 5.1 NBC MEMPHIS TN 64° 6.4 miles
yellow WPXX-DT 50.1 MNT MEMPHIS TN 114° 4.0 miles
yellow WREG-DT 3.1 CBS MEMPHIS TN 144° 4.6 miles
violet WBUY-DT 41.1 TBN HOLLY SPRINGS MS 147° 20.2 miles
yellow WKNO-DT 10.1 PBS MEMPHIS TN 150° 6.5 miles
yellow WHBQ-DT 13.1 FOX MEMPHIS TN 155° 4.6 miles
The largest amount of separation between towers at my home is 91° and I'm 20.2 miles away from the farthest tower. The Channel Master 3010 (http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?I=6593010) mounted in my attic picks up all of these stations without problems.

Unfortunately, it's not always that cut and dry. :) Hope this helps a bit.

Paul

I use a Samsung Axiom, or something like that. It's been discontinued but is pretty good. If your in Cordova I'd start by aiming your antenna towards Best Buy in the Wolfchase area.

What channels are you able to get right now with what the installer installed?

It is aimed more westward so I get 3.1 and 13.1. Occasionally I can get about 15 seconds of 5.1 and then it pixelates and freezes.

Do you have room in your attic? I have an outdoor antenna in my attic. Works great.

I am around the I40 and Canada road exit.

I have an existing directional mounted outside so the easiest? thing would be to take that off and put a multidirectional in and connect to the same cable, I think.

Where should I go shopping for a multi-directional? Everything except channel 10 is in the yellow zone, so that is supposed to be the most simple. I live about 10 minutes south of you near Macon and Pisgah, east of the Krogers.

Thanks again to everyone.

I have an existing directional mounted outside so the easiest? thing would be to take that off and put a multidirectional in and connect to the same cable, I think.

Where should I go shopping for a multi-directional? Everything except channel 10 is in the yellow zone, so that is supposed to be the most simple. I live about 10 minutes south of you near Macon and Pisgah, east of the Krogers.

Thanks again to everyone.

I bought my Channel Master 3010 at Lowes on Germantown Road.

You can also try Antennas Direct (http://www.antennasdirect.com/), Crutchfield (http://www.crutchfield.com/), or any number of online dealers.

Paul

I bought my Channel Master 3010 at Lowes on Germantown Road.

You can also try Antennas Direct (http://www.antennasdirect.com/), Crutchfield (http://www.crutchfield.com/), or any number of online dealers.

Paul

One other place, Bluff City Electronics. Look under the professional audio and video section on their web page.

Since I have seen several posts in the last couple of weeks on this subject, I thought I would update everyone on the current Hr10, Hr20, DTV debate based on my results. I have 3 HD sets that were on DTV HR10's. I converted one of the boxes to the new HR20 about a month ago. The Hr20 remote is a little more difficult to get used to and the menues are not as convenient as the HR10, however the response is instantaneous compared to the Hr10 which would sometimes take 3-4 minutes to recognize a record command. The HR 20 has frozen on me twice in this time period and I had to do a reset but again it resets in about a third of the time it takes the HR10. I just got a software update to the HR20 Saturday. I don't know its purpose and haven't seen any noticible difference. I also recieved the new updates to the HR10's last week and again have not seen any noticible difference in them either. Don't know what the most recent update was for. Once all locals are carried thru D and the HR20 has OTA capability, I will convert the other 2 sets.

I was also in Dallas recently and the quality of their local HD stations broadcasts was remarkable compared to our local stations. Maybe one day they will get serious and realize that HD is here and their income will depend on their quality.

Maybe one day they will get serious and realize that HD is here and their income will depend on their quality.They will, but only after their analog signal has been shut off. For now, the majority are still watching analog, so that is where is money is.

I was also in Dallas recently and the quality of their local HD stations broadcasts was remarkable compared to our local stations. Maybe one day they will get serious and realize that HD is here and their income will depend on their quality.
Our local CBS, NBC, and PBS stations have been multicasting and messing up the main HD feed so long I wouldn't know how to react if they did shut the subs off. Don't get me wrong, I'd love for them to do it. I'd be happy with them turning them off or making them dark just for HD programs only.

Count the 5's or references to WMC-TV. They are everywhere!!!!

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/9627/wmcnews1ml7.th.jpg (http://img88.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wmcnews1ml7.jpg)http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/4498/wmcnews2uu9.th.jpg (http://img115.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wmcnews2uu9.jpg)http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/7316/wmcnews3qw2.th.jpg (http://img115.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wmcnews3qw2.jpg)http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/8428/wmcnews4ho1.th.jpg (http://img115.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wmcnews4ho1.jpg)http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/7161/wmcnews5sh5.th.jpg (http://img115.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wmcnews5sh5.jpg)http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/8407/wmcnews6ae8.th.jpg (http://img115.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wmcnews6ae8.jpg)http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/4215/wmcnews7hz7.th.jpg (http://img115.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wmcnews7hz7.jpg)

Now the 3's or WREG. Notice some of these has the News Chanel 3 over itself. I didn't get a shot of the main screen of the weather desk. The background has another at least 7+ references.

http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/1152/wregnews1pe7.th.jpg (http://img115.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wregnews1pe7.jpg)http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/8850/wregnews2mj2.th.jpg (http://img115.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wregnews2mj2.jpg)http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/1538/wregnews3uo5.th.jpg (http://img115.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wregnews3uo5.jpg)http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/7348/wregnews4me9.th.jpg (http://img115.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wregnews4me9.jpg)

Count the 5's or references to WMC-TV. They are everywhere!!!!

Now the 3's or WREG. Notice some of these has the News Chanel 3 over itself. I didn't get a shot of the main screen of the weather desk. The background has another at least 7+ references.

LOL! You rock, MX. Too freaking funny.

I love how the manatee story was the LEAD. I mean, what else could be more important than a manatee?....

Does anyone else watch 30 Rock. I was on OTA 5-1 and they couldn't get the splice/sound right all night. Yet another flub from our local NBC station. Also noticed the sound was tunneled on Dancing with stars.

LOL! You rock, MX. Too freaking funny.

I love how the manatee story was the LEAD. I mean, what else could be more important than a manatee?....
I've actually wanted to do that since WMC went to their new "5 overload" set but I got off work early enough and the wife was a little late getting home, so I had the chance.

WHBQ has that bar on the desk, but isn't near as bad as these 2. WPTY and WLMT do it much better with just the channel in the lower right side of the screen. But the ticker bar is still way too high.

hmmm. maybe if WREG and WMC cut down on the number of channel references on their news, because we obviously can't tell which channel we are on, then their HD PQ will get better? There seems to be some correlation with crap on the screen and a crappy screen.

Concerning the new 5 lnb dishes, a buddy of mine got D* installed today and he said he didn't need to have an antenna to get the local digital channels. HE said he has all 6 of them without an antenna. Is this true?I have been to his house to check his setup.

Also noticed the sound was tunneled on Dancing with stars. Now that Jerry is off I'll probably not watch again though.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :mad:

Be careful of spoilers, please! I had DVR'ed it tonight, and hadn't gotten a chance to watch yet... :(

Although, I kinda knew it was coming.

Yeah you can get all 6 locals in SD on D*. Only 5, 13, and 24 in HD.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :mad:

Be careful of spoilers, please! I had DVR'ed it tonight, and hadn't gotten a chance to watch yet... :(

Although, I kinda knew it was coming.

Sorry ravma479. Didn't even think about it when I typed it in. I've since removed it from my post (which obviously doesn't help you now). But it was after the show and forgot that many didn't see it live. Sorry to spoil it for you or anyone else who read it. :o

I live in the Nesbit area and have been thinking about trying OTA with a 3 year old Sony CRT that is HD ready and hooked up to a C band system. No HD programming as of yet with the C Band. I was thinking about getting the new Samsung tuner and trying it out to check my reception on the locals and if they were good moving that TV out and putting in a 50" plasma. After reading some portions of this thread it seems like there is a lot of complaining about our Memphis stations quality, so I guess my question is it worth the effort right now? WMC is the primary local station we watch which seems to have the worse quality from what I have read. Maybe I watch it more because it has the best reception for our location. I figured I might also need to upgrade my external antenna also for OTA HD. What do you guys think? Are our Memphis stations so bad that it I might be wasting time and money at this time?
Thanks.
Mike

I live in the Nesbit area and have been thinking about trying OTA with a 3 year old Sony CRT that is HD ready and hooked up to a C band system. No HD programming as of yet with the C Band. I was thinking about getting the new Samsung tuner and trying it out to check my reception on the locals and if they were good moving that TV out and putting in a 50" plasma. After reading some portions of this thread it seems like there is a lot of complaining about our Memphis stations quality, so I guess my question is it worth the effort right now? WMC is the primary local station we watch which seems to have the worse quality from what I have read. Maybe I watch it more because it has the best reception for our location. I figured I might also need to upgrade my external antenna also for OTA HD. What do you guys think? Are our Memphis stations so bad that it I might be wasting time and money at this time?
I don't know how much C-band HD stb's are but have you looked at those? The only thing with those I have read most of the free HD stations are now encrypted.

As far as local stations, the situation has gotten better in the past year, to a degree.

WHBQ-DT's tower went live just after Christmas last year. They don't multicast, have been told no plans to multicast, and their start-up issues have been few and far between recently.

WPTY-DT and WLMT-DT both don't multicast. The engineer for these stations just recently increased the bandwidth of WLMT-DT after listening to our complaints about the PQ. Only thing is they don't broadcast 5.1. WLMT-DT is the only 1080i station which doesn't multicast. Multicasting hurts 1080i much more than it does 720p.

Those 3 stations have the best PQ of the ones we have.

WKNO-DT side converts it's 1080i signal to 720p. To me this loses a lot of detail. I only watch 1 or 2 shows which rarely come on so I don't watch enough to really talk about it. They are sending arouns 12 mbs for their HD video feed, have one subchannel, and keeping space open for later, just in case.

WMC-DT multicasts 2 subs which steals nearly 3 mbs from the main HD feed. There is a lot of blocking during NBC sports programs (some of that blame is on NBC themselves) and their taped HD programs don't look all that good.

WREG-DT also has 1 subchannel. That sub steals between 2 - 3 mbs. WREG looks great, as long as there isn't movement on the screen. Once there is movement, it all goes to crap.

Personally I think it's worth it. But it also depends on how much money you are planning on spending. But I can also say that because I have started watching more HD on channels that don't multicast. Up until this year CBS has always had the most programs on my Tivo. Now it's FOX.

Are our Memphis stations so bad that it I might be wasting time and money at this time? We're a picky bunch. I've been watching HD for over 4 years now. Spend the money now. It's a great improvement over what you have now.

I figured I might also need to upgrade my external antenna also for OTA HD. It depends on which antenna you have now. I'm using a Radio Shack UHF antenna (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103088&cp=2032057.2032187.2032189.2032205&allCount=16&fbn=Price%2F%2410.00+-+%2449.99&fbc=1&fr=StorePrice%2FRSK%2F00001000%2F00004999&parentPage=family) installed in my attic.

If you want to sample local HD on a 103" screen, send me a PM. I'm willing to help any locals with their HD setups. Plus, I'm only a couple of miles from the Nesbit city limits.

-Robert

Those with D* watching the world series has fox 88 pooped out on you as it has for me tonight. aaggghhhhhh lol

That is weird when I changed the channel down to the other HD channel and back to fox 88 it is ok now. I have been recording the game since I bowl on Thursday nights, if you call what I did tonight Bowling

88 did go to SD for a while during the game. I guess you caught it when it switched back. I was watching 13-1 for the game.

Bowling as in drinking and then rolling a ball every couple of minutes. :D

Thanks guys. There is not much HD programming available on C Band which I guess is why I have not gone that route yet. There is a STB for C Band HD but I can't get local stations over C Band and have to rely on my external antenna. By the way, it is an old Radio Shack antenna too. It might be adequate for OTA HD but it has some damage from over the years and as I mentioned my reception is not great at this point and I don't mind putting the money in a new one if need be.
It also seems like I remember reading on this thread that one of the local stations would go back to VHF for HD soon so I assume I should get a VHF/UHF antenna if I need to replace mine?
Robert, I might take you up on your offer for advice if I need it. Electronics are not my thing and I find it all very frustrating. The guy who has helped me out with the C Band satellite over the years has been good but he is not doing much of that kind of work anymore. I live off of Tulane Road between Star Landing and Nesbit Road by the way.
I guess as soon as I can find one, I will get the new Samsung tuner and give it a shot. They have been released and are being sold but still hard to find.
Mike

Radio Shack antenna. It might be adequate for OTA HD but it has some damage from over the years and as I mentioned my reception is not great at this point and I don't mind putting the money in a new one if need be.
It also seems like I remember reading on this thread that one of the local stations would go back to VHF for HD soon so I assume I should get a VHF/UHF antenna if I need to replace mine?
No farther away from the towers than you are, it won't take much antenna to get the signals. Your old RS might be fine for now.

It is almost certain that WMC-DT and WHBQ-DT will be VHF after the analog shutoff (sometime in 2009?) as the channels they are now using (52 abd 53) will no longer be available for TV. Looks like the others may (or may not) stay with UHF. Anyway, if you replace your antenna, it seems wise to put up a VHF/UHF combo.

Someone needs to complain to the FCC about WREG not allowing DTV to have HD or in the alternative giving waivers, this is not serving the community. I did, everyone affected needs to do so. They won't even return my calls.

Someone needs to complain to the FCC about WREG not allowing DTV to have HD or in the alternative giving waivers, this is not serving the community. I did, everyone affected needs to do so. They won't even return my calls.

My sources say they're in contract negotiations... but that's all I've been able to get from anybody. I wouldn't say they're "not allowing DTV to have HD". In fact, there are numerous cities across the nation missing one or two HD locals for the same reason we're missing WREG.

It is possible that DirecTV isn't working directly with WREG in these contract negotiations, but working with WREG's owner, The New York Times Company, instead. It's also possible that these negotiations are going slowly because The New York Times Company is selling WREG along with their other TV stations.

The bottom line is that nobody has released anything official about why we still do not have WREG in HD on DirecTV. All the information I have seen, heard, or read has been conjecture based upon what is definitively known.

I, for one, do not believe filing complaints with the FCC is necessary.

Paul

I disagree, it is neccesary. They at WREG are being a-holes no doubt about it. DTV has reached agreements with the other locals so they are obviously offering market rate deals. WREG won;t return my calls or e-mails regarding this issue or their refusal to give me a waiver in spite of the fact I can't get a signal worthn a darn with 3 different HD OTA antennas. It is not unheard of for stations especially those up for sale to try and hold the HD signal hostage for valuation purposes. It is obvious that's what they are doing. I suggest folks affected flood the FCC with complaints by phone, e-mail and letter as I am doing. Please do so.

I would think any TV station, WREG included, want as many viewers as possible to receive their broadcast by what-ever means they can, be it OTA, cable or satellite. Total number of viewers is what gives value to the station. Preventing people from viewing doesn't do them any good. Now granting waivers is another issue, because then they would be telling you since you can't view our channel it's OK to view CBS from another marker. Of course, no TV station wants that. Just my $.02 on the matter, FWIW.

Yes and no, a lot of stations view the sattelite HD signal as a cash cow to some extent as since the station is for sale, they are obviously holding it hostage and demanding an unreasonable fee request to increase the value of the station or are refusing to negotiate to let the new owner to have it as a thing of value for them to handle as an unkown commodity, On the waiver, since I can't get an HD signal and I get the SD signal from DTV to watch the local news etc. which was the stated purpose of the SHVA anyway, we know not the real one but in the context of the bribing of the republican congressmen the selling of the extra congressmen to get the needed votes this was the selling BS talking point bandied about by those in districts where there was some opposition, the need to have folks watching local news for weather alerts, etc., I am already covered so they should give me a waiver. Of course since they are not serving the public and they know they aren't returing my calls or e-mails so they don't care.

Of course since they are not serving the public and they know they aren't returing my calls or e-mails so they don't care.
Now this sentence I wholly agree on.

Other than me, some people on this board have contacted them and even a few new to HD friends of mine. How many have gotten responses? I know only one of my friends who sent 2 reminder emails. That's the only way I know about the "negotiations" part. The people at WREG pretty much stopped responding about a year ago.

I've been in training the past week at work so I haven't had the chance to craft a letter that I am going to send them. It not only majorly addresses the PQ issue but also why they are not on D* yet.

In your case, in a perfect world, they would grant you HD waivers until their signal is up on D*. However, I think WREG could really care less what their viewers do/don't see. This could possibly be because they are being sold, or just the simple fact that the station gm doesn't care. Personally if I contacted the FCC about them, it would be about their PQ. Someone mentioned contacting the advertisers a while ago. That would probably get some response from them also. Probably more than contacting the FCC. I have a feeling they would blow you off also. Or say they had some "provacitive" show from 2001 they have to fine someone for.

It sucks, and I'm sorry for the trouble you are having. A long time ago I was having a lot of trouble getting WMC-DT. I sent a letter to the station gm at the time. In a few days I heard from someone at WMC about trying to help me get the signal since I asked for waivers. That's about the only thing I would say you could do, but you have already tried contacting them.

Anyways, the game on WPTY-DT looks great!! No blocking at all. This is how football should be done. Not this crap with motion blocking when there is a little amount of movement on the screen. I turned it on WREG for the SD game and even saw blocking on that. WREG and WMC need to watch and learn.

I spoke to Jim Anhalt, WREG's Chief Engineer, last Friday. It took him five days to respond to my voicemail, but he did respond. He was very nice and was apologetic for the situation with DirecTV. He wasn't able to give me specific details but did say they were working with DirecTV and hoped to be online before much longer.

...

To put this into perspective... there are a number of cities that have been waiting for much longer than us:


Sacremento/Stockton/Modesto, CA has been waiting to get their FOX station since 04/19/2006
Milwaukee, WI has been waiting to get their CBS station since 05/17/2006
Indianapolis, IN has been waiting to get both their CBS and FOX stations since 05/31/2006
Seattle/Tacoma, WA has been waiting to get both their ABC and FOX stations since 05/31/2006
Hartford/New Haven, CT has been waiting to get both their ABC and FOX stations since 06/28/2006
Raleigh/Durham, NC has been waiting to get both their CBS and FOX stations since 06/28/2006
West Palm Beach/Fort Pierce, FL has been waiting to get their CBS station since 06/28/2006
Memphis, TN has been waiting to get their CBS station since 09/13/2006
Portland, OR has been waiting to get both their ABC and CBS stations since 09/13/2006
Austin, TX has been waiting to get their NBC stations since 09/27/06
Las Vegas, NV has been waiting to get both their CBS and NBC stations since 09/27/2006
Madison, WI has been waiting to get their ABC station since 10/25/2006
Portland/Auburn, ME has been waiting to get their FOX station since 10/25/2006
Reno, NV has been waiting to get their NBC station since 10/25/2006


Trust me, I completely understand the frustration. Almost all of my favorite shows are on CBS. The sole reason I'm paying for Comcast is to have the ability to use a DVR to record my favorite HD shows on CBS.

We, as Memphians, are not the only people in this situation. There are seven markets that have been waiting longer than us. Of those seven markets, four are waiting for two stations.

I don't see how contacting the FCC would do any good. WREG is working with DirecTV. How is that not serving us, their viewers? Just because they're not moving fast enough for you doesn't mean they're not putting forth the effort.

Paul

I am under no illusions it will do any good, but why are a few people on here so concerned that I will or rather have contacted the FCC, do you guys work for these dudes or something? Again, I don't think it will do squat. But DTV has obviously offered market rates or whatever or they would not be on NBC, ABC and FOX. They are either engaged in extortion or not negotiating, period, so they should give me a waiver, end of story. I don't care what other people have waited for, not relevant.

Is anyone else having problems with 110 sat TP 08?I'm getting readings in the mid 30's and am constantly having breakups on the picture. I saw this a few days ago but there were some clouds. Tonight it's clear outside.

Is anyone else having problems with 110 sat TP 08?I'm getting readings in the mid 30's and am constantly having breakups on the picture. I saw this a few days ago but there were some clouds. Tonight it's clear outside.

Mine's 82 right now.

This is weird... almost all the transponders on all the sats were in the 90s when my AT-9 dish was installed. Now they're almost all in the 70s.

I wonder what's happened.

Paul

Mine's 82 right now.

This is weird... almost all the transponders on all the sats were in the 90s when my AT-9 dish was installed. Now they're almost all in the 70s.

I wonder what's happened.
It's up to 41-43 right now and no breakups.

Its strange, I'm getting these readings on 110:
TP 08: 41
10: 77-79
12: 60-62

I am under no illusions it will do any good, but why are a few people on here so concerned that I will or rather have contacted the FCC, do you guys work for these dudes or something? Again, I don't think it will do squat. But DTV has obviously offered market rates or whatever or they would not be on NBC, ABC and FOX. They are either engaged in extortion or not negotiating, period, so they should give me a waiver, end of story. I don't care what other people have waited for, not relevant.

It's all a big Republican conspiracy to control the airwaves and limit your choices. :D

I don't think anyone here is really concerned if you contact the FCC, but a lot of them have been through this and they are simply trying to share their experience with you.

Good luck with your waiver.

-Chuck

It's not a Republican conspiracy. Frankly I don;t think they care, a lot of Democrats did it too. They were just the ones who were bribable by the broadcasters and for the most patr took the money and went along with something most people could have cared less about and DTV and citizens overwhelmingly fought them on every step of the way. It was a crooked campaig money grab is all. I know for a fact because my sister worked for then Senator Murkowski of Alaska a prominent republican and she worked on the bill and kept me informed about it and how they would laugh about it behind closed doors. There are many travesties perpetrated by Democrats and others by Republicans that they were paid to do by buss. that were either to the detriment of citizens or opposed by citizens, this one just affects me and ticks me off and I happen to know about it.

Sounds like a good commercial.

"Call me"

I am hearing impaired and must use close captions. I just got 2 HR 20's installed and neither will show closed captions on the HD locals (5, 13, 24) even though they show them on all other stations. Does anyone else have this problem?

WPTY-DT is out of sync...

Edit: It's gotten a bit better, it still seems off to me though.

Just checked WPTY. It must be fixed now.

Yeah, it was fixed by the time that Help Me Help You came on. It was REALLY bad at the beginning of Dancing with the Stars, but it got better as it went on.

Yeah, it was fixed by the time that Help Me Help You came on. It was REALLY bad at the beginning of Dancing with the Stars, but it got better as it went on.

Just like last week, it sounded like it was all "tunneled" through the center speaker on Dancing.

I guess I've gotten lucky so far that it isn't effecting the shows I'm watching.

So was the 5.1 not turned on?

5.1 was on, but like mollerup said, it sounded like the channels were not separated properly.


Interesting article:
TiVo readies for prime time with Comcast

http://news.com.com/TiVo+readies+for+prime+time+with+Comcast/2100-1041_3-6130862.html

Tivo would be great, but 9.95 a month for the service is to high. If Comcast goes higher on their box which is 7.95 and DVR service which is 6.95, I will drop them and get another D* HD Dvr. They charge just 5.00 more for the Box and 0 extra for the DVR service if you already have it. I have 4 DVR's from D* and only pay 5.99 a mth total for the DVR. If I had 4 from Comcast I would pay almost 28.00 a mth for just the DVR. That is where they get you. They may have On-Demand and more movie channels but you pay out the A$$ to get it. AND NO NFL. I only have Comcast right now because my OTA is not that great esp on 5.1. When the HR20 is more stable and they activate the OTA I will probl drop Comcast all together.

I just read over at the Tivo sight that a possible fix for the 6.3a audio drops on the HR10-250 may be to do a rescan on the OTA channels. The person that posted did this and has not had any since. I also read that some are switching to Sat only then back to Sat/OTA and that is fixing it. It is worth a try. I have them on 13.1 quite a bit and had my first 2 on 3.1 while watching a recording of CSI-Miami and Criminal Minds. I had one each for about 8-10 seconds with the video glitch right after. Thought I would share this with the group.

5.1 was on, but like mollerup said, it sounded like the channels were not separated properly.
Strange.

Well the 110 sat problem I mentioned only seems to be happening to 1 of my stb's. I checked the sat strength on all my others and those were all fine. So I'm guessing it's just a problem on that one. We've got someone coming out Friday to look at it. If I get one of the new D* HD stb's are they supposed to also replace the dish?

When I was on the phone with the dude he said the signal strength can be zero and I would still get a picture. I had to convice him that I wasn't getting a picture at all. And if I was it was like a local digital signal where there are huge blocks and lines and shows part of the last channel that I was on.

I just read over at the Tivo sight that a possible fix for the 6.3a audio drops on the HR10-250 may be to do a rescan on the OTA channels. The person that posted did this and has not had any since. I also read that some are switching to Sat only then back to Sat/OTA and that is fixing it. It is worth a try. I have them on 13.1 quite a bit and had my first 2 on 3.1 while watching a recording of CSI-Miami and Criminal Minds. I had one each for about 8-10 seconds with the video glitch right after. Thought I would share this with the group.
Let us know how this works out for you. If it does work then I'll be upgrading mine.

Man what a great Grizz game tonight so far. Hope it's over before I fall asleep.

I just read over at the Tivo sight that a possible fix for the 6.3a audio drops on the HR10-250 may be to do a rescan on the OTA channels. The person that posted did this and has not had any since. I also read that some are switching to Sat only then back to Sat/OTA and that is fixing it. It is worth a try. I have them on 13.1 quite a bit and had my first 2 on 3.1 while watching a recording of CSI-Miami and Criminal Minds. I had one each for about 8-10 seconds with the video glitch right after. Thought I would share this with the group.

Sad to report it does not. I had a couple of drops watching Bones and The Rich List

Was the Grizzly game in high def wed nite? if so, what station/service?

No it wasn't. It was in compressed SD on D*, channel like 665 or something. Some FSN games will be in HD, http://msn.foxsports.com/name/HD#FSSouth but if D* carries it that's another story. I would think for those that now get HDLIL's it should be broadcast for those people at least. The ones on the Grizz schedule, http://www.nba.com/grizzlies/schedule/, on TNT would almost definately be in HD. I'm pretty sure ESPN would also. For the NBATV ones, they could be in HD also, but if FSS is doing the game also, guess which one we will see? Yep, the SD version. I've asked about the games on WMC being in HD. I haven't gotten an answer back. But the games are produced by the Grizz, so it's up to them.

Go here to check. I think maybe 3 games in November in HD.
http://msn.foxsports.com/story/1530967

If we are also classified as FSN Midwest, shouldn't we get the HD games on that channel? Tonight there's a hockey game.

Readings I got from HD programming tonight.

WREG during CSI: http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/2289/wreggu5.th.jpg (http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wreggu5.jpg) WREG during Shark: http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/8528/wregtv2.th.jpg (http://img98.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wregtv2.jpg) WMC during The Office: http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/6663/wmc2or5.th.jpg (http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wmc2or5.jpg) WMC during ER: http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/369/wmc4ah8.th.jpg (http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wmc4ah8.jpg) WHBQ during the OC: http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/5255/whbqdq3.th.jpg (http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=whbqdq3.jpg) WPTY during 6 Degrees: http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/9156/wptymx8.th.jpg (http://img98.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wptymx8.jpg) WLMT during Supernatural: http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/7176/wlmtba8.th.jpg (http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wlmtba8.jpg)

Antenna Web gives me this back

yellow - uhf WLMT-DT 30.1 CW MEMPHIS TN 2° 10.0 31
yellow - uhf WREG-DT 3.1 CBS MEMPHIS TN 321° 4.5 28
yellow - uhf WMC-DT 5.1 NBC MEMPHIS TN 2° 10.0 52
yellow - uhf WHBQ-DT 13.1 FOX MEMPHIS TN 311° 4.7 53
yellow - uhf WPTY-DT 24.1 ABC MEMPHIS TN 2° 10.0 25
yellow - uhf WPXX-DT 50.1 MNT MEMPHIS TN 342° 5.8 51

So do I need a multidirectional antenna? I see my compass settings differentiate a lot. I'm new to the OTA thing and am looking for a decent antenna to get digital channels. Anyone have any suggestions?

Deadpool,

It looks to me that you only have 51 degrees of separation between the 5, 24, 30 cluster and 13. My guess is if you had a directional and aimed it about 346 you might be ok.

Readings I got from HD programming tonight.Can this really be Memphis? WMC sending 15 Mbps and WHBQ sending 12 Mbps? What has happened to the world... :D ;)

How did WLMT look?

Chase

Can this really be Memphis? WMC sending 15 Mbps and WHBQ sending 12 Mbps? What has happened to the world... :D ;)

How did WLMT look?
Yeppers it's Memphis. Also be aware that those numbers include video and audio.

However the number for WHBQ is misleading. Glad you asked. :D

FOX distributed splicers to it's affiliates and it sends the national programming thru the splicer network. WHBQ has some control over some things, bugs, other graphics, etc, but when there is network programming on, WHBQ is at the mercy of what FOX is allowing them to send. For example during NFL games, FOX sends out 15 mb's, for example. So if someone looked at the number who might not know how it works (not trying to talk down about you, just trying to help explain) they would think WHBQ only sent 15 mbps? Even though these charts don't show it, WHBQ at this time was sending 3 mbps of null data. So during network programming FOX controls the bit rate. During local programming WHBQ controls it, and they send all they got.

WLMT still looks really good. I'm hard pressed to see any blocking on that channel at all. That's if I do look for it.

Even though these charts don't show it, WHBQ at this time was sending 3 Mbps of null data.For some reason, I thought your stream analyzer program included null data. My bad.

So during network programming FOX controls the bit rate.I knew that FOX controls the transfer rate for network programming, but I didn't realize it dipped that low at times. I assume they are monitoring their national feed to ensure they don't need to send more?

Chase

For some reason, I thought your stream analyzer program included null data. My bad.

I knew that FOX controls the transfer rate for network programming, but I didn't realize it dipped that low at times. I assume they are monitoring their national feed to ensure they don't need to send more?
There is a chart that does show null data. It's not one that does it over time like these charts do. It would be a snapshot type chart. I'm showing these because it shows it over a period of time. I think this is the only report that shows it over a period of time. I think all the other's are snapshots, I'll have to check.

When I first started it last night it was down in the 9's. I had to do a double take and then turned the tv on WHBQ. Usually when I first start the software it will give it a very high number until it catches up, usually about 10 seconds. But this went on for at least a minute. I came back after a few minutes and it increased.

I mentioned something like this in a preseason FOX thread, and foxeng mentioned we wouldn't see more than 15 mbps for football because they don't think they need to send more than that. So your assumption is probably correct. Personally I think they should send it all, but that's just me. Maybe David could provide more info?

So that explains why WREG and especially WMC look really bad.

There is a chart that does show null data. It's not one that does it over time like these charts do. It would be a snapshot type chart. I'm showing these because it shows it over a period of time.Gotcha.

I mentioned something like this in a preseason FOX thread, and foxeng mentioned we wouldn't see more than 15 Mbps for football because they don't think they need to send more than that. So your assumption is probably correct. Personally I think they should send it all, but that's just me. Maybe David could provide more info?Yes, I'd like to hear David's take, too. I can understand not wanting to chew up bandwidth sending superfluous data. The question is how the network decides how much is enough. I think we would all agree that some of our local affiliates don't always make the best call in that regard when the decision is left up to them.

I just noticed...12 Mbps A/V + 3 Mbps null = 15 Mbps. What am I missing? :confused:

Chase

I think we would all agree that some of our local affiliates don't always make the best call in that regard when the decision is left up to them.
:D

I just noticed...12 Mbps A/V + 3 Mbps null = 15 Mbps. What am I missing? :confused:
I changed from the OC last night to NFL football in my example. The stations have to send error correction info, epg, etc in their transport streams, which takes up a little bit of room. I don't think it's more than 1 mbps.

You must not have gone to a Memphis City School, you got that right! :)

I changed from the OC last night to NFL football in my example.That explains it. :cool:

The stations have to send error correction info, epg, etc in their transport streams, which takes up a little bit of room. I don't think it's more than 1 Mbps.15 Mbps A/V + 3 Mbps null + 1 Mbps metadata is more like it. :)

You must not have gone to a Memphis City School, you got that right! :)Yikes!

Chase

I just don't see how 12 mbps is sufficient, even at 720p.

Have you checked some of their more intense shows, like Prison Break or House? What kinds of numbers are you seeing during those?

I just don't see how 12 mbps is sufficient, even at 720p.

Have you checked some of their more intense shows, like Prison Break or House? What kinds of numbers are you seeing during those?
I'll check those programs if I can remember. I guess I can see it on OC. It's 16 mm and has a grainy look to it anyways, so I don't think a clear PQ is what they are going for. Since House and Prison Break look better, I would think those would have more mbps.

What did everyone think about the WS? That was in the 12 mbps range and I thought it looked awful.

btw...this is WHBQ during local programming.
http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/8026/whbqto0.th.jpg (http://img292.imageshack.us/my.php?image=whbqto0.jpg)

That's what you call optimum! Another reason why WHBQ is #1 in my book. Followed by WPTY, WLMT, WREG, WMC, and WKNO.

btw...this is WHBQ during local programming. That's what you call optimum!Mighty fine. Good job, WHBQ!

Followed by WPTY, WLMT...Still in that order following the WLMT rate boost? Since MNF left ABC, I rarely watch either of those stations.

Chase

btw...this is WHBQ during local programming.
http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/8026/whbqto0.th.jpg (http://img292.imageshack.us/my.php?image=whbqto0.jpg)

That's what you call optimum! Another reason why WHBQ is #1 in my book. Followed by WPTY, WLMT, WREG, WMC, and WKNO.

That's mighty impressive! If only they could get some HD cameras.....

Deadpool

Any antenna you get should be a UHF/VHF combo unless you want to get another one in 2009. Channel 5 will be moving from 52 back to 5 then. I believe channel 13 will be moving from 53 back to 13. Therefore, you'll need a combo antenna.

For 10 miles, I'd try a small outdoor UHF/VHF combo antenna from Radio Shack such as: Antenna (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103084&cp=&origkw=antenna&kw=antenna&parentPage=search)

Vanished

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/4082/whbq1hx3.th.jpg (http://img169.imageshack.us/my.php?image=whbq1hx3.jpg)

Still in that order following the WLMT rate boost? Since MNF left ABC, I rarely watch either of those stations.
Yeah, WLMT doesn't do 5.1. They went from 5 to 3 with the increase.

Been away for a while and can't get Fox13 on DTV. Signal strength is 87, but breaks up every 5 to 6 seconds. Noticed it during the World Serious, but not being a baseball fan I didn't watch it and it only became a problem when I couldn't watch Vanished last night. Is there a problem or have the high winds moved my antenna?

Vanished

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/4082/whbq1hx3.th.jpg (http://img169.imageshack.us/my.php?image=whbq1hx3.jpg)


Man, If they would just bump up the bitrate nationally...

Interesting... I turned on WMC-DT on my HR20 this morning and I have a notice from D*: "We are experiencing temporary technical difficulies. Please stand by. We apologize for the inconvenience."

But when you tune to ME5, the SD channel, it is working fine. I wonder if they are replacing the MPEG-4 encoding equipment for the HD signal at channel 5? If so, YEA!!!!

Now if WREG will just sign on, I can turn Comweepay off... ;)

-Chuck

Interesting... I turned on WMC-DT on my HR20 this morning and I have a notice from D*: "We are experiencing temporary technical difficulies. Please stand by. We apologize for the inconvenience."

But when you tune to ME5, the SD channel, it is working fine. I wonder if they are replacing the MPEG-4 encoding equipment for the HD signal at channel 5? If so, YEA!!!!

Ditto. It sure would be nice. :)

Now if WREG will just sign on, I can turn Comweepay off... ;)

-Chuck

Ditto again. :) OTA on the HR-20 would be enough for me to cancel cable. But I'd still like it as MPEG4 to save space.

Paul

I mentioned something like this in a preseason FOX thread, and foxeng mentioned we wouldn't see more than 15 mbps for football because they don't think they need to send more than that. So your assumption is probably correct. Personally I think they should send it all, but that's just me. Maybe David could provide more info?

I think that the limiting factor in football is the number of games that Fox has to distribute in HD. Right now, Fox is running each transponder at 73.726 Mb/s, so they can get six feeds in each transponder using 12 Mb/s for each one. That's how they manage to distribute so many games in HD at the same time instead of having just a few in HD and the rest in SD.

The satellite transmission rate is pretty aggressive - just changing out a connector to the wrong type in the feed from our receive dish can cause the receivers to croak! I know that the highest levels of Engineering at Fox are very sensitive to the video quality. There may be a few that get away from them, but they try to make sure that the data rates don't affect the video quality.

720p takes less compression for a given data rate than 1080i, but we have found the hard way that some video can stress MPEG-2 past what theory says should work. In some ways, we're still learning what we can get away with by having it croak on the air!

Whenever we notice problems, or more importantly, get reports of problems from you guys, we pass them on to Fox Engineering to add to their knowledge base. We've found out the hard way that the demods in our facilities don't always act the same way as receivers in real viewer's houses! Please keep up the quality reports!

We experienced the failure of the IOT tube overnight, so WMC-DT will be off the air until we are able to have a replacement tube shipped in. We anticipate being back on the air Tuesday afternoon if everything goes well. HD service to most Comcast customers should not be affected.

--Lee Meredith, WMC-TV

For some reason, I thought your stream analyzer program included null data. My bad.
I found a chart that does have null data on it for a period of time. It's a little harder to read becuase it is a line chart, but I'll try to post one soon. The earliest would be Tuesday since I won't be home until after FOX ends it's HD programs tonight.

We experienced the failure of the IOT tube overnight, so WMC-DT will be off the air until we are able to have a replacement tube shipped in. We anticipate being back on the air Tuesday afternoon if everything goes well. HD service to most Comcast customers should not be affected.
Thanks for the info Lee. I'll be sure to change my recordings to the D* SD channel.

I just got the high definition package from Comcast on Saturday, and I'm using the SA8300HD dvr. I noticed a few minutes after the technician who did the install had left that I'm not receiving several of the high definition channels (805, 813, and the ones for TNT-HD and ESPN-HD). The screens are usually just black whenever I change the station to them. Comcast tried rebooting the dvr, but it didn't fix a thing. They're sending out another technician this Wednesday afternoon, but I was wondering if anyone else has experienced a similar problem and what was done to correct it.

My apologies if a problem report/solution has already been posted in this thread, but the forum search function has been temporarily been disabled due to heavy traffic.

Thanks,

Ken

I've noticed a very dirty "constellation" display on our stream analyzer from our off-air DTV signal. Our receivers don't seem to be effected by this, and changing transmitter exciters doesn't change it, so it may be something in the stream analyzer. It looks as if receivers would constantly lock and unlock if what it is displaying is really happening. If anyone notices that they suddenly can't get us to lock when we have been normal up to now, please post here and let me know. It may be something as stupid as water in our receive antenna line (I hope!).

Thanks,

I just got the high definition package from Comcast on Saturday, and I'm using the SA8300HD dvr. I noticed a few minutes after the technician who did the install had left that I'm not receiving several of the high definition channels (805, 813, and the ones for TNT-HD and ESPN-HD). The screens are usually just black whenever I change the station to them. Comcast tried rebooting the dvr, but it didn't fix a thing. They're sending out another technician this Wednesday afternoon, but I was wondering if anyone else has experienced a similar problem and what was done to correct it.

My apologies if a problem report/solution has already been posted in this thread, but the forum search function has been temporarily been disabled due to heavy traffic.

Thanks,

Ken


Ken,

You most likely have a problem with the signal strength/quality for the 8300hd. Did the original installer put a signal booster on your input line? If you press and hold the "SELECT" button on the front of the receiver, then when the e-mail light begins to flash, press "INFO" and you will be in the diagnostic menu. Under RF Parameters on the first page (there are 35), if you have values that are in RED then your signal strength is not appropriate for the system to deliver your HD content. The technician coming out on Wednesday will probably install an in-line RF amplifier to boost the signal.

I had the same problem. The guy from TW who came out to fix it was really upset that the original installer didn't take the time to check the signal strength on the HD box...

Chuck

Ken,

You most likely have a problem with the signal strength/quality for the 8300hd. Did the original installer put a signal booster on your input line? If you press and hold the "SELECT" button on the front of the receiver, then when the e-mail light begins to flash, press "INFO" and you will be in the diagnostic menu. Under RF Parameters on the first page (there are 35), if you have values that are in RED then your signal strength is not appropriate for the system to deliver your HD content. The technician coming out on Wednesday will probably install an in-line RF amplifier to boost the signal.

I had the same problem. The guy from TW who came out to fix it was really upset that the original installer didn't take the time to check the signal strength on the HD box...

Chuck

Hey that's pretty cool. Mine is orange though. Tuner1 10 dBmV. What's that mean?

Paul

COOL! Glad I checked this thread; I thought something might have happened to my equipment, as I noticed I can no longer get WMC, currently the ONLY HI DEF channel I can get (but I currently only have a set of rabit ears in the attic, LOL).

Hey, DTV Dave, I notice your in Hernando. Are you Chief over at MC? I do have a question reguarding WMCs broadcasts; especially NASCAR (okay, so I am closet redneck, LOL).

While watching NASCAR sometimes I get "clicks" or "pops" in the audio. Most notibly, when changing source material, especially seems to happen I *think* during cut to local commercials. Also, I notice when it happens my AVR switching modes. Its almost like the broadcast from the venue is encoded in 5.1, but the local commercials seem to be enocded in Dolby 2 channel (I can't remember the exact modes). Just curious, but what is causing this?

Also, not important, but I am noticing a trend in broadcast (both radio and TV) where some material is encoded in an extremely low bit-rate. I can hear the high frequency aliasing in some of the material (mostly commercials though). Just thought I'd throw that out there. Whats worse, I see alot of SONGS recorded that way in radio, not just commercials, and it sounds bad. I don't have golden ears, but if I were a betting man, I say the audio was encoded at 128K in Mp3.

-Alan

Hey that's pretty cool. Mine is orange though. Tuner1 10 dBmV. What's that mean?

Paul

Paul, to be honest, I don't know. I remember the fella that came out and put the amplifier on my cable said it should be around -5dBmV and I've been watching mine vary between -4 and -6, mostly solidly on -5 and I've never had a picture drop out or black/grey screen on any channel since he put the amp on. Before that, I couldn't tune ESPN-HD, TNT-HD, WMC, or WHBQ.

Are you having any trouble with tuning stations or with the picture/audio dropping out?

-Chuck

Hey, DTV Dave, I notice your in Hernando. Are you Chief over at MC? I do have a question reguarding WMCs broadcasts; especially NASCAR (okay, so I am closet redneck, LOL).

While watching NASCAR sometimes I get "clicks" or "pops" in the audio. Most notibly, when changing source material, especially seems to happen I *think* during cut to local commercials. Also, I notice when it happens my AVR switching modes. Its almost like the broadcast from the venue is encoded in 5.1, but the local commercials seem to be enocded in Dolby 2 channel (I can't remember the exact modes). Just curious, but what is causing this?
DTV Dave is WHBQ, ENGDave is WMC, lmeredith is head guy at WMC. (good to see him post)

I hear that popping sound a lot also. You are correct that it is when switching from national to local commercials, and back.

Paul, to be honest, I don't know. I remember the fella that came out and put the amplifier on my cable said it should be around -5dBmV and I've been watching mine vary between -4 and -6, mostly solidly on -5 and I've never had a picture drop out or black/grey screen on any channel since he put the amp on. Before that, I couldn't tune ESPN-HD, TNT-HD, WMC, or WHBQ.

Are you having any trouble with tuning stations or with the picture/audio dropping out?

-Chuck

No, I'm not having any drop-outs.

Is it possible my signal is too hot? Could that be why it's orange? :) Mine's positive 10 dBmV, not negative 10 dBmV.

Paul

Some of our Fox owned stations have reported large audio level differences between network programming and network commercials in the past week or so. Has anyone here noticed this?

Thanks,

Ken,

You most likely have a problem with the signal strength/quality for the 8300hd. Did the original installer put a signal booster on your input line? If you press and hold the "SELECT" button on the front of the receiver, then when the e-mail light begins to flash, press "INFO" and you will be in the diagnostic menu. Under RF Parameters on the first page (there are 35), if you have values that are in RED then your signal strength is not appropriate for the system to deliver your HD content. The technician coming out on Wednesday will probably install an in-line RF amplifier to boost the signal.

I had the same problem. The guy from TW who came out to fix it was really upset that the original installer didn't take the time to check the signal strength on the HD box...

Chuck

Thanks for the quick response, Chuck! I'll try that tonight and see if that's the problem. It certainly sounds like it.

Ken

I'm at home today (sick child) so I thought I'd mess around with this a little.

Here are 2 reports that show what percentage null values are being sent. I chose WKNO because they are sending close to 4 mbps of null data. This first chart shows how much percentage of the mux they are sending. Kinda hard to see. http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/2633/wkno1oz6.th.jpg (http://img375.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wkno1oz6.jpg) This one shows the same info but on a 100% graph. http://img467.imageshack.us/img467/1733/wkno2fv9.th.jpg (http://img467.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wkno2fv9.jpg)

You see that they are sending anywhere from 57 - 62% of their mux (audio and video) for 10-1, their HD channel. If you do the math, 19.39*60% = 11.63 mpbs. Even for 720p that isn't enough.

When I post the stuff that I get from TSReader you will notice that I move the chart so that it will show the mbps that the main HD channel is given. You can also see the percentage in that green bar. For example, on post 3901 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8806352&&#post8806352) WREG gave 79% on its 2 shows, WMC 78%, WPTY 91%, WLMT 96%, and WHBQ during local programming, post 3914 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8812983&&#post8812983), 98%.

Some of our Fox owned stations have reported large audio level differences between network programming and network commercials in the past week or so. Has anyone here noticed this?
I haven't noticed this, but I did notice a 7 - 9 audio difference in OTA and the D* SD feed. I'll try to remember to check tonight.

I'm at home today (sick child) so I thought I'd mess around with this a little.

Here are 2 reports that show what percentage null values are being sent. I chose WKNO because they are sending close to 4 mbps of null data. This first chart shows how much percentage of the mux they are sending. Kinda hard to see. http://img375.imageshack.us/img375/2633/wkno1oz6.th.jpg (http://img375.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wkno1oz6.jpg) This one shows the same info but on a 100% graph. http://img467.imageshack.us/img467/1733/wkno2fv9.th.jpg (http://img467.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wkno2fv9.jpg)

You see that they are sending anywhere from 57 - 62% of their mux (audio and video) for 10-1, their HD channel. If you do the math, 19.39*60% = 11.63 mpbs. Even for 720p that isn't enough.

When I post the stuff that I get from TSReader you will notice that I move the chart so that it will show the mbps that the main HD channel is given. You can also see the percentage in that green bar. For example, on post 3901 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8806352&&#post8806352) WREG gave 79% on its 2 shows, WMC 78%, WPTY 91%, WLMT 96%, and WHBQ during local programming, post 3914 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8812983&&#post8812983), 98%.Thanks for posting all the cool charts, mx.

Chase

Some of our Fox owned stations have reported large audio level differences between network programming and network commercials in the past week or so. Has anyone here noticed this?Sorry, I haven't been watching much the last month or so. I did not notice any problems during FOX NFL Sunday last week or this week on NFL Sunday Ticket, but that may not be what you mean by network programming.

I will check the Redskins/Cowboys game from WHBQ on my DVR.

Chase

Why is 10 sending so much "null" data? Are they always doing that? Why aren't they giving that extra to the 10-1 channel?

I watched the HD sports this weekend, UT/LSU, Nascar, NFL SNF, and CBS NFL. I thought all of them looked terrible. UT/LSU and the NFL game had tons of artifacts during movement. Nascar looked much worse than last week, and the SNF game had teh same characteristics of the CBS games, looked great with no movement, and then once there was movement it went to crap. Not to mention 3 looks better than 5 does. I've noticed on 5 during the NFL pre-game the guys clothes go out of focus if they barely move.

Wow, it's amazing you go from 78 & 79 to in the 90's for the good channels. I can tell the difference in them. I guess it shows the priority given to the hd channel. I'm glad I spent $4000 to be able to watch bit starved hd from 3 channels, and magnificent hd from the other 3.

lmeredith, is anything being done to make the hd picture look better?

Why is 10 sending so much "null" data? Are they always doing that? Why aren't they giving that extra to the 10-1 channel?
WKNO was broadcasting a simulcast of their main feed on 10-3. I mentioned this a few months ago but then it disappeared. I sent an email to Russ about it since I noticed the null value was still pretty high. He kinda confirmed why I thought they were having that doing nothing, but also gave me some info about it.

He said the stations are mandated to have a simulcast of their regular programming on digital format. They did have the simulcast but then brought it down, didn't give a reason why and I didn't ask. They are keeping that space open for later. He also said when they do have to start the simulcast they will re look at the whole situation and might go back to 1 HD 1080i and 1 SD channel.

I'm watching Heros from last night in SD. Man it's hard to watch. Some of the scenes where the dude stops time really looks fake in SD.

I wonder which channels will break their HD to show us constant election results? IIRC last time it was WMC and WREG.

Did anyone catch the blip that ABC did at the beginning of the 7pm hour? They are broadcasting results in HD! They are using a 4x3 camera for Charles Gibson and using that for the SD channel. Then, on the HD, they are putting him off all the way to the left, and using the right side's space to show additional tickers NOT shown on the SD!!

THAT is how you use your Widescreen frame, even if it's only upscaled SD content!


So far, no HD breaks for results, but its early..

Did anyone catch the blip that ABC did at the beginning of the 7pm hour? They are broadcasting results in HD! They are using a 4x3 camera for Charles Gibson and using that for the SD channel. Then, on the HD, they are putting him off all the way to the left, and using the right side's space to show additional tickers NOT shown on the SD!!

Yeah I saw it, it was cool.

Did anyone catch the blip that ABC did at the beginning of the 7pm hour? They are broadcasting results in HD! They are using a 4x3 camera for Charles Gibson and using that for the SD channel. Then, on the HD, they are putting him off all the way to the left, and using the right side's space to show additional tickers NOT shown on the SD!!

THAT is how you use your Widescreen frame, even if it's only upscaled SD content!


So far, no HD breaks for results, but its early..

That's being creative!

Some of our Fox owned stations have reported large audio level differences between network programming and network commercials in the past week or so. Has anyone here noticed this?
I noticed this during House from the national feed last night, and also Bones from WHBQ tonight. It was maybe 4 - 5 db.

I noticed this during House from the national feed last night, and also Bones from WHBQ tonight. It was maybe 4 - 5 db.
Thanks! I'll pass it on to the network engineering folks.

I just got the high definition package from Comcast on Saturday, and I'm using the SA8300HD dvr. I noticed a few minutes after the technician who did the install had left that I'm not receiving several of the high definition channels (805, 813, and the ones for TNT-HD and ESPN-HD). The screens are usually just black whenever I change the station to them. Comcast tried rebooting the dvr, but it didn't fix a thing. They're sending out another technician this Wednesday afternoon, but I was wondering if anyone else has experienced a similar problem and what was done to correct it.

My apologies if a problem report/solution has already been posted in this thread, but the forum search function has been temporarily been disabled due to heavy traffic.

Thanks,

Ken

I just wanted to let everyone know that the cable guy came out yesterday and fixed my problem. It turned out that the cable tv isolator I had been using (the Mondial M.A.G.I.C. isolator) was causing the signals for some of the HD stations to not be properly passed on to the cable box. I had originally bought the Mondial device a couple of years ago because I was getting a lot of hum through my surround system because of a ground loop (I thought) between my a/v system and the cable (as soon as I disconnected the cable from the wall to my VCR/TV, the hum would disappear). Anyway, we removed the Mondial isolator and connected the tv cable directly to the SA8300HD dvr, and, VOILA, I get all my HD stations. Also, and just as important, I don't get any hum in my audio system either, so something must have been wrong with my setup or connections before (power cords crossing audio cables, etc.) that was causing the hum. Anyway, all is well now, so I'm happy. Thanks for everyone's suggestions

Ken

p.s. I'm still having a problem getting a couple of stations on my non-hidef tv in the bedroom, but the cable guy said that was because of using RG59 cable to that room; Comcast will be sending someone out on the 18th to install RG6 to that room instead (I've already got RG6 to my living room where my plasma resides).

Did anyone notice a problem with the PBS feed on cable last night? It was fine early in the evening, but when I switched over to watch "Warplanes" around 9pm the HD broadcast on channel 810 was non-existent, and the analog feed on cable channel 10 was having severe blocking and breakup problems. I neglected to see if the over-the-air analog signal had any problems, too, but I was wondering if anyone else noticed problems with the digital cable feed, either hi-def or non-hidef. I hope it's not my tv or SA8300HD having more problems, anyway!

p.s. I'm still having a problem getting a couple of stations on my non-hidef tv in the bedroom, but the cable guy said that was because of using RG59 cable to that room; Comcast will be sending someone out on the 18th to install RG6 to that room instead (I've already got RG6 to my living room where my plasma resides).
Is Comcast doing that for free?

Is Comcast doing that for free?

Good question. I'm going to call them up before he comes out and see if they're going to try to charge me another $80 installation fee for that. In my opinion they shouldn't be charging me another fee since the guy who initially installed the line to my bedroom a few days ago must have used RG59 (in his defense, I think there was already an RG59 line running into my attic which he must have decided was ok to use).

Ken,

You most likely have a problem with the signal strength/quality for the 8300hd. Did the original installer put a signal booster on your input line? If you press and hold the "SELECT" button on the front of the receiver, then when the e-mail light begins to flash, press "INFO" and you will be in the diagnostic menu. Under RF Parameters on the first page (there are 35), if you have values that are in RED then your signal strength is not appropriate for the system to deliver your HD content. The technician coming out on Wednesday will probably install an in-line RF amplifier to boost the signal.

I had the same problem. The guy from TW who came out to fix it was really upset that the original installer didn't take the time to check the signal strength on the HD box...

Chuck


I had a similiar problem earlier this year. Signal strength was WAY too low on a number of the frequencies that the HD channels are carried across. TNT-HD, Universal HD, WMC-HD, and about half of the HBO's would progressively get worse through the day, until they wouldn't come in at all by the evening. The first guy who came out didn't really do anymore more than replace the coax to the wall. Apparently, he just visually spot checked a few channels and called it good. I couldn't be home that day, so I don't know for sure. Problem is, the channels for the most part worked well before noon, which is when he was there. By that evening, I was still having the same issues.

The second guy that came out actually took the time to check the signal levels on multiple frequencies and figured out it was a problem at the street level. He was pretty annoyed that the first guy didn't do this. He also took the time to give me some insight into what the different values mean in the diagnostic menu, and what to make of them.

When I needed to have another room setup, I was fortunate to have this guy again, and he once again did a very good job, making sure everything worked before leaving.

I wasn't going to post this but I was shocked by the response that I got I wanted to let everyone know. I sent a letter to Ron Walter at WREG. This first letter is what I wrote to him. The second post will show his response and then my reply to him. It's been 5 days since I sent my last reply and I haven't heard anything back, which I honestly didn't expect.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Ron,
I’m sending this letter because I have not gotten responses from emails I have sent to both you and Jim Anhalt in the past months concerning the HD PQ. I hope that this letter will generate some interest in making the HD PQ better and to show that I am serious about it.

There are a couple of questions in this letter. The first is concerning Jeopardy in HD. Do ya’ll have the equipment to tape delay the HD feed of Jeopardy? If not do you expect to get it anytime so we can see Jeopardy in HD?

Second is the HD feed on DirecTV. I personally am waiting until the ATSC tuner is turned on in the HD-DVR before upgrading my boxes to the new MPEG-4. There is a lot of talk on the message board about what is taking so long and if WREG-DT will even be up on DirecTV. I know you probably can’t go into too much detail but will we see WREG-DT on DirecTV anytime soon?

There is speculation that the DirecTV feed and how others aren’t getting responses to questions is related to your station being sold. I hope that isn’t true. Most of the buzz is that WREG just doesn’t care.

The last concern is about the HD PQ. I’m copying an email I sent to Jim Anhalt early this month that I didn’t get a response on. I’ve added some more things into the email.

What can be done to fix the excessive motion blocking on HD programs? WREG has the best picture locally when there is very little movement on the screen. However, when the movement picks up the beautiful picture becomes a big mess of blocks around the action. It makes the picture go from a 10 to a 3.

If I had to rate the PQ of WREG on fairly static shots, I’d rate it in the top 2 stations in our city, along with WPTY. I even mentioned this to you earlier this year. But once there is movement it drops down to the bottom 2 along with WMC.

These are screen shots of an NFL football game a month and a half ago. As you can see we were still only getting a little less than 15 Mbps of video.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8294114&&#post8294114

I pulled this audio/video information during CSI:NY on October 4th.
File Size Processed: 2.46 GB, Play Time: 00h:18m:02s
1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps, 80.00 Mbps (14.41 Mbps Average).

I noticed that at times the null data value was close to 1.5 mbps. Is there a reason why that was so high? Even at the low end I’ve seen about 650 kpbs null data. Can that number be decreased? Other stations send as low as 150 kpbs, and one was sending less than half of that.

At the same time that I got the numbers above, I was watching 3-2 and it was in the 2.5 mbps range for video. If it is imperative that that channel has to be on why can that not be dropped considerably to give a better output of HD programs? During SD programs it can go back up. I’ve seen WMC go as low as 750 kbps video for Weather Plus and the picture quality looks nearly identical as 1.4 mbps. Since both channels have the same look, feel, and content, can’t 3-2 be squeezed so 3-1 can reap the benefits?

I know all this info because I have the software and hardware to be able to monitor transport streams. I have worked with other station’s chief engineers to help make their HD PQ better.

WLMT increased their signal to right around 17.5 mbps for video up from 15, and it has made a huge difference. Scenes that previously were littered with motion blocking are gone. I have only seen minimal blocking in very extreme cases, and that was only when I was asked to look for it. I don’t expect it so I don’t look for it. WREG-DT on the other hand even when I don’t look for it I see it quickly.

It is very hard for 1080i stations to hold together when there is movement with less than 15 mbps of video. Even worse when the 15 mbps is the combined total of video, audio, and other data. The highest video stream I have seen for WREG-DT is in the 15.3 mbps range. Even then medium amount of movement caused massive blocking.

If there is anything I can do to assist in making the HD PQ better let me know. As you can tell I am very willing and able to help with making the HD PQ better. I’ve even offered to have the engineers visit my house to see what I am talking about. While I haven’t had them in my house, I have been on the phone with them during HD programs that they have been testing so I could provide real time feedback. I’m just tired of seeing all these huge blocks around any movement when I’m watching WREG-DT.

If the blocking went away, this channel would always be a 10. But when there is a medium amount of movement, especially during SEC and the few NFL games, the picture looks just as bad as the games on WMC which is just barely sending as much as WREG is. In addition to the football games all the CSI’s, Cold Case, and Without a Trace are full of blocks when the camera pans around or there are people walking in front of others.

I would appreciate it if I did get some kind of return correspondence. Whether is be email, snail mail, or phone call.

Thanks for your time,

Dear Mr. Thompson:

Thank you for your recent letter, postmarked October 31, which I received today.

I regret you have not received responses to E-mails sent to me. I checked my system and have no mail from you within the past 30 days, as I generally do not delete E-mail, letting our system drop them after 30 days.

Now, with respect to your questions, we do not have the equipment to broadcast Jeopardy in HD. We do not plan to purchase it soon.

Our corporate people are reviewing the DirecTV HD proposal, and as of now,a determination for re-transmission has not been made.

We do appreciate your very generous offer to assist us improve our HD-PQ, but we rely on staff to implement our plans according to equipment and budget considerations.

I hope you enjoy watching News Channel 3 in HD or any other format that is available to you. We appreciate you very much and thank you for your support.

Ronald A. Walter
President and General Manager
WREG-TV/DT
803 Channel 3 Drive
Memphis, Tennessee 38103
(901) 543-2103
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Ron,

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I left work early Friday and didn’t get this until today.

I incorrectly said I emailed you recently. I emailed Jim Anhalt twice and didn’t receive an answer from either one of those. I thought that I copied you in on one of them but I didn’t.

I’m kinda disappointed that you rely on staff instead of viewers comments for the HD PQ. I’m just saying that because from being in previous management positions (not trying to compare mine with yours) I do know how employees will tend to agree with management. But then you bring in Joe Schmo off the street and they have different views and then you ask your employees their new opinions and they agree with Joe. I’m not trying to imply anything, but it’s happened to me on more than 1 occasion.

All I’m asking is that a higher priority be giving to the HD during HD programs. I understand that 3-2 pretty much has to be turned on 24/7. Luckily I haven’t noticed any late or non switching in quite a while. I did notice that the video for HD NFL yesterday was given as much as 1 mpbs more than programming Thursday night. Is it more important to have eye popping and clean HD and sub standard 3-2, or standard HD and standard 3-2? Am I wrong in thinking that more people watch 3-1 than 3-2?

Again I thought that mostly static shots looked awesome. However when there was movement on the screen the PQ went to crap. I watched a few minutes of the NFL HD game in between commercials of NASCAR. I turned on the LSU/UT game late in the 4th quarter and noticed on the first play all the motion blocking. I was kinda hoping my letter would’ve made changes. Only my love of watching UT lose kept me from changing the channel. I was actually 18 feet away and could still see the blocking on my 42” TV. I can’t imagine how it looked on 720p TV’s or bigger TV’s than mine.

Thanks,
Dennis

Most of the buzz is that WREG just doesn’t care.

Mr. Walter's response is very disappointing and reinforces the statement above.

It may be time for me to finally write a letter voicing my concerns.

Paul

Mr. Walter's response is very disappointing and reinforces the statement above.

It may be time for me to finally write a letter voicing my concerns.

Paul
I agree. It is very disappointing. I'll start watching less of channel 3.

I've noticed a very dirty "constellation" display on our stream analyzer from our off-air DTV signal. Our receivers don't seem to be effected by this, and changing transmitter exciters doesn't change it, so it may be something in the stream analyzer. It looks as if receivers would constantly lock and unlock if what it is displaying is really happening. If anyone notices that they suddenly can't get us to lock when we have been normal up to now, please post here and let me know. It may be something as stupid as water in our receive antenna line (I hope!).

DTVDave
No one responded to my situation described on page 196. I checked again tonight and I get sound dropouts every 5 or 6 seconds, even on SD programs.

WREG is sending about the same for the SEC game. I haven't seen it hit 16 mpbs total yet.

WREG is a joke, a POS station that does not care and is not serving the public, they will not give me a waiver to get national CBS HD feed which is total horsecrap sicen they obviously are not negotiating in good faith with DTV. All of you should do like I did if you are DTV customers and complain to the FCC and write CBS corporate, not the WREG parent company, but the network. I know it probably won;t do any good but it can't hurt. They are a freaking joke.

Anyone else having trouble with the 24-1 OTA signal tonight Sunday night?

Also, can't believe I'm saying this, but the game on 5-1 one actually seems to look better tonight than usual?!? Hmmm.

Edit: I diagnosed the problem. My son had been playing around in the utility closet today and bumped the antenna rotator. It had only been moved a few degrees, but the signal on 24-1 was litterally down to 0-10. I rotated it back and it was back to normal...amazing that it can change the signal that much with only a few degrees. But I do live around a lot of tall trees, so maybe it was just being blocked.

Well, I didn't really watch anything on 24-1, but I was getting a fair signal. There were some strange reception conditions last night though. I had a good signal from 5-1 (and thought the game looked OK, also), but couldn't get 3-1 and some of the others I'm used to getting. But I did briefly get audio and video from 17-1 down in Alabama, 275 miles away! And a very snowy analog on channel 2, don't know where that one was from.

But I did briefly get audio and video from 17-1 down in Alabama, 275 miles away! And a very snowy analog on channel 2, don't know where that one was from.
Impressive! Which channel was it?

Anyone else having trouble with the 24-1 OTA signal tonight Sunday night?

Also, can't believe I'm saying this, but the game on 5-1 one actually seems to look better tonight than usual?!? Hmmm.
I didn't have any trouble during Funniest video's. I didn't check it after then.

I've noticed that some shots of the games look better than they did at the beginning of the season. More specifically the far away camera with very little motion. But when there is some movement it looks horrible. I only watched 15 minutes of the game and it looked about the same as last week.

When I was in bed watching on our 30" LCD about 14 feet away, I could see an amazing amount of blocking when that dude from Chicago caught the fg and took it back for a td. They showed the reply from the sky cam and it was one of the worse things I've ever seen in my life.

At least the NFL game didn't look as bad as NASCAR did.

DTVDave
No one responded to my situation described on page 196. I checked again tonight and I get sound dropouts every 5 or 6 seconds, even on SD programs.
Sorry I missed your post, Bob. It perfectly describes what we've been seeing here. The constellation falls apart every few seconds. None of our receivers show a problem, but we're close to the transmitter as viewers go. It probably gets worse the further from the transmitter you get since the signal-to-noise gets worse with distance.

We're trying to narrow down what's causing it, so we may have some signal problems during the day while we poke around the transmitter. We'll try to keep it as normal as possible during prime.

Again, sorry that I missed your post, and I'll try to get this fixed as soon as possible!

Hi, new member here.

I've had an OTA atenna hooked up since April along with a Dish install. Everything was pretty good until I started losing Fox (13.1) about 2-3 weeks ago. Signal strength is around 86-88, but it pixelates almost constantly and totally drops the signal every 20 - 30 seconds. The antenna is in the attic, and hasn't been moved since it was installed.

I've called WHBQ, but they say there aren't any issues. I tried adjusting the antenna some, but that only caused me to lose NBC totally. I moved it back for NBC and have just had to deal with an unwatchable Fox HD signal.

Anyone else having recent problems?

Again, sorry that I missed your post, and I'll try to get this fixed as soon as possible!
Not a problem, thanks for the reply. I hope you get it fixed before 24 starts, although I record it both OTA and off E*

McCavity 09:

You are having the same problem that I am and that DTVDave just responded to. They are trying to get a fix on it.

Impressive! Which channel was it?
WDBB - BESSEMER, AL

Not a problem, thanks for the reply. I hope you get it fixed before 24 starts, although I record it both OTA and off E*

McCavity 09:

You are having the same problem that I am and that DTVDave just responded to. They are trying to get a fix on it.

Cool.

Sorry I didn't realize that's what he was replying to. That'll keep me out of the attic for a few days, at least.

Dave, I noticed that House from the national D* HD feed was much louder than Prison Break from WHBQ last night. I went from PB to House and had to turn the audio down about 3 db's. I don't know what House was like from WHBQ.

Dave, I noticed that House from the national D* HD feed was much louder than Prison Break from WHBQ last night. I went from PB to House and had to turn the audio down about 3 db's. I don't know what House was like from WHBQ.Do you have a way to compare the DD DialNorm values?

The FOX NFL games from D* are 2dB louder than WHBQ due to different DialNorm values. I wonder if the same thing is true of other network programming.

Of course, there are any number of other explanations... :)

Chase

Do you have a way to compare the DD DialNorm values?

The FOX NFL games from D* are 2dB louder than WHBQ due to different DialNorm values. I wonder if the same thing is true of other network programming.

Of course, there are any number of other explanations... :)

Chase
I can for OTA broadcasts, not from D*. I checked the DN of WHBQ during House and it was at 25, or whatever it usually is.

I can for OTA broadcasts, not from D*. I checked the DN of WHBQ during House and it was at 25, or whatever it usually is.I get 25 for DD 5.1 from WHBQ and 27 for DD 5.1 from D* for FOX NFL games.

Chase

Hey guys
I posted two or three weeks ago about getting into OTA and decided to do it based on a couple of replies. I installed the new Samsung tuner this weekend and was very impressed with the quality of the digital reception compared to what I got with analog. Signal strength only seems to average about 50% on the channels but the picture is still good execpt on channel 5. 13 has the next lowest signal but I still get a good picture from it.
I don't seem to pick up any signal at all from 5. Went up on the roof and rotated the old Radio Shack antenna around about 30 degrees in each direction and still nothing. The antenna still looks to be in pretty good shape even though it is probably 15 years old. I think the cable from the antenna is smaller diameter than RG6 which I have elsewhere in the house. It is old too and was installed when I put in a C band system probably 20 years ago. Any guesses on what to improve the reception? Replace the cable? Preamp? New antenna? All of the above?
Mentioned it before but I live in the Nesbit area.
Thanks for any advice.
Mike

I think 5 digital is off the air.

Last week, I lost it, and thought it was my equipment, but a few posts up (maybe previous page), a spokesperson for 5 said they lost an IOT (tube) for their transmitter.

I receive 5 perfectly with no dropouts at all. Well, this morning, its gone again, so I think its them.

-Alan

Hey guys
I posted two or three weeks ago about getting into OTA and decided to do it based on a couple of replies. I installed the new Samsung tuner this weekend and was very impressed with the quality of the digital reception compared to what I got with analog. Signal strength only seems to average about 50% on the channels but the picture is still good execpt on channel 5. 13 has the next lowest signal but I still get a good picture from it.
I don't seem to pick up any signal at all from 5. Went up on the roof and rotated the old Radio Shack antenna around about 30 degrees in each direction and still nothing. The antenna still looks to be in pretty good shape even though it is probably 15 years old. I think the cable from the antenna is smaller diameter than RG6 which I have elsewhere in the house. It is old too and was installed when I put in a C band system probably 20 years ago. Any guesses on what to improve the reception? Replace the cable? Preamp? New antenna? All of the above?
Mentioned it before but I live in the Nesbit area.
Thanks for any advice.
Mike, I don't think the cabling being less than rg6 is the issue. The issue you would run into is if you have long runs of rg-59 there could be some degredation in pq.

To answer the question about what could help, I'd say possibly all 3. If you need new cabling you could always get Comcast and have them re-wire your house ( :) ). I'd probably start with the pre-amp. If your antenna is working fine with other stations then it might not be the antenna. But you could always try another one. WMC is usually the hardest to pick up since they aren't as powerful as other stations. What kind of signal strength do you get on WPTY and WLMT?

I do know that WMC was on the air last night since I was able to get a signal from them when I was checking DN values on WHBQ last night. It's possible it's acted up since we had some pretty cool lightning where I live which is close to the WMC/WPTY/WLMT tower.

kewilson, who paid for the cabling re-wire?

I've had WMC-DT all night tonight.

I get that with WMC-5 too, out in Collierville. Sometimes it comes in strong enough to watch and sometimes it doesn't. It's a crapshoot, so I am constantly double recording shows on it, one in SD and one in HD, just to make sure I get them.

Sucks not seeing Sunday Night Football in HD.

Sucks not seeing Sunday Night Football in HD.

You ain't missing much, in terms of picture quality.

mx6bfast
Thanks for the advice. I responded yesterday but I guess the post didn't go through.
It is a pretty long length of cable from the antenna, probably about 100 feet before it gets to this TV upstairs. Comes into the house downstairs and is split off to another TV then upstairs.
I checked the signal strength on 24 and 30 this AM and they were both better than 50%. This Samsung tuner gives you 10 bars kind of like a cell phone and not actual strength. Still nothing on 5.
I can run an extra piece of RG6 from the antenna directly into the bedroom and see if this does anything as a test. I have seen the Winegard preamp HDP 269 recommended around here and guess I can buy that if the cable test doesn't do much good.
One other question. This tuner has a guide but it only has info on WKNO. From what I have read the PBS stations do the broadcasting for guide info? Do we not get that here?
Thanks again.
Mike

One other question. This tuner has a guide but it only has info on WKNO. From what I have read the PBS stations do the broadcasting for guide info? Do we not get that here?
Thanks again.
Yeah we get them for all the channels. The only times I have heard EPG not coming in is on E* and you have to sub to their locals. Strange.

Yay! It's that time of the year again. Time for no Smallville in HD because of Basketball!

Sigh.. As long as they don't touch my precious Veronica Mars...

Yay! It's that time of the year again. Time for no Smallville in HD because of Basketball!

Sigh.. As long as they don't touch my precious Veronica Mars...
I'm a Tigers fan, so I'm glad to see the games, but you'd think that they would somehow try to rebroadcast Smallville (or other preempted shows) in HD.

Anyway, am I remembering correctly or did WLMT 30 last year show a game or two in HD. Not a national feed, but just a local game like tonight?

Yep, Didn't they have some HD equipment at the games?

Yep, Didn't they have some HD equipment at the games?
Yeah they did. I asked about it a few months ago and was told they had the Clear Channel HD truck last year. The truck no longer exists so the games wont be in HD.

I know this is off topic, but does anyone know anyone who is looking to purchase a couch? My wife and I are selling our old one since we got new furniture. It's almost 4 years old but is in extremely good condition. It has only been sat on maybe 50 times, and was mainly used to fold clothes on. It's oversize, 92" long, creme and taupe, filigree print.

We are selling it for $375 obo (the 3 piece set we purchased at the time was valued at $4k). It would be perfect for a kitchen couch, game room, or a cheaper price alternative than getting a new one if your on a budget.

If you or someone you know might be interested, my email is mx6bfast@hotmail.com.

I am going to put a new and update poll up sometime soon. Can ya'll look over the current poll (in my sig) and let me know what questions you think I should also ask?

If you submit at the bottom of each page don't worry, I'm not accepting new results.

Well, even though Denny Hamlin didn't win the Nextel Cup I can't complain. Looking into the future for NASCAR the best thing I can say is good thing it is off of NBC!! It looks like the races that will be on network affiliates will be on FOX and ABC. Not counting TNT and ESPN, the future looks really bright again for us locally getting ALL the NASCAR races in beautiful and crisp HD again. Yesterday's race was awful. So bad that after a couple of minutes of watching it I started watching something else but was using my NASCAR TrackPass from RR to follow the race. I turned it on with 10 laps left but it didn’t look any better. :(

And the NFL game was even worse. I watched the last 4 minutes and could tell from 14 feet away on a 30” how bad the PQ was. WMC/NBC, WREG and ESPN/D* have really turned me off on NFL on their stations this season. I have watched maybe 10% of what I did last year. Even if it’s a game I could care less about I’ve been watching WHBQ, or soccer on FSC. I really miss ABC doing MNF. I have been watching more ABC college games this season, taking away from WREG and WMC. No stranger to the fact that they have more HD games and their HD doesn’t break all up when someone takes a step.

Speaking of that, did the OSU/UM game look better than the USC/Cal game Saturday night? I missed the first game but thought the 2nd one was lackluster.

I saw one of the greatest weather commercials last night on WHBQ. Joey Sulipeck (bow tie guy) said they would not scare you into watching their weather coverage, wouldn’t say they have the only most powerful weather radar, and won’t make you scared of the weather. And best one of all, they won’t break into programming unless it’s absolutely necessary. If they stay true to that it would be awesome! The only thing that would be better if he said they would break into SD programming only if need be and not HD. :D

Slwo weekend on here. I guess everyone is getting ready to eat turkey.

5 did look very bad for the race and the football game, as usual. I wish NBC didn't get NFL because WMC does look so bad. And I'm happy that Nascar is moving off of NBC also, for the same reason. Why can't they do something about it? Like turn off the subchannels? Do they think their picture looks good enough to have them on?

Hey, can anyone give me some antenna advice?

I'm trying to get an HD setup for my father. He lives in Athens, TN, halfway in between Knoxville and Chattanooga. I did an Antennaweb search and it's coming up with mostly purple stations. Can anyone recommend a good antenna? I'd prefer not to have a huge one, but that might be required, as he lives about an hour away from the stations.

Hi,

He'll need a really fine outdoor antenna in Athens. A rotor is also a must as he is equidistant between the 2 cities. An amplifier may also be needed for OTA HD reception. Don't easily expect getting WFLI, WDSI, WMAK, WKOP, or WTCI reliably. You have a decent shot at the other channels.

Kent Teffeteller, Ph.D!, M.S., CPBE, LPN!

I saw one of the greatest weather commercials last night on WHBQ. Joey Sulipeck (bow tie guy) said they would not scare you into watching their weather coverage, wouldn’t say they have the only most powerful weather radar, and won’t make you scared of the weather. And best one of all, they won’t break into programming unless it’s absolutely necessary. If they stay true to that it would be awesome! The only thing that would be better if he said they would break into SD programming only if need be and not HD. :D

I love that commercial... it is a DIRECT dig at WREG and their whole weather team. So far, from what I've seen, Sulipeck does the best job. I got sick and tired of the way WREG predicted the "possibility of a danerous, land-based hurricane-like thunderstorm" every time it was supposed to rain a quarter of an inch or less. Ridiculous.

I'm like you, I find myself finding more and more reasons to watch WHBQ and WPTY. I've bee nwatching AR and LSU battle it out on CBS, and the picture quality is getting worse as the game progresses... makes me wonder if the field lighting has something to do with it... nah, just the same crap picture as usual from CBS.

-Chuck

I'm like you, I find myself finding more and more reasons to watch WHBQ and WPTY. I've bee nwatching AR and LSU battle it out on CBS, and the picture quality is getting worse as the game progresses... makes me wonder if the field lighting has something to do with it... nah, just the same crap picture as usual from CBS.
I've actually changed news casts I watch from WREG to WHBQ, WPTY if I miss the 9 pm news. I tried watching WMC but the "5 overload" turned me off. I'm just one person, but I am watching the channels that give me what I think is the best HD PQ.

You are right the SEC game today was terrible in terms of PQ. But WREG could give a flying flip less. WMC looked even worse during the parade and dog show yesterday. There was some dancing part with some people in white and it was utterly nasty. It looked like 3rd rate HD.

Speaking of a waste, has anyone ever turned to 5-1 and A/V for 5-2 or 5-3 display instead? I was flipping channels 2 nights ago and when I turned to 5-1 5-3 came on but it was wierd. It was showing the correct video, but some wierd songs for the audio. I'm sure the 3 or 4 people that watch that channel enjoyed it.

I love that commercial... it is a DIRECT dig at WREG and their whole weather team. So far, from what I've seen, Sulipeck does the best job. I got sick and tired of the way WREG predicted the "possibility of a danerous, land-based hurricane-like thunderstorm" every time it was supposed to rain a quarter of an inch or less. Ridiculous.
-Chuck

Worse than that... I remember a year or two ago, WPTY interrupted the last 5 minutes of Lost to talk about a servere thunderstorm watch in some uninhabited county in Arkansas. They must have been called like crazy about that, because a couple of weeks later during a severe weather warning during Lost, they made sure they broke in during the commercial, and made it VERY clear that they would get off our TVs before Lost came back on.

Worse than that... I remember a year or two ago, WPTY interrupted the last 5 minutes of Lost to talk about a servere thunderstorm watch in some uninhabited county in Arkansas. They must have been called like crazy about that, because a couple of weeks later during a severe weather warning during Lost, they made sure they broke in during the commercial, and made it VERY clear that they would get off our TVs before Lost came back on.
I remember that....http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5410521&&#post5410521

DTV Dave,
Anything new on your problem? I recorded Spidey II the other night, but it was too jumpy to watch.

I noticed Prison Break had quite a few scenes in it where the picture seemed jumpy.

DTV Dave,
Anything new on your problem? I recorded Spidey II the other night, but it was too jumpy to watch.
I moved our stream analyzer to the transmitter site and connected it directly to the transmitter output, and everything looks great. There must be something external to the transmitter causing this, but I'm not sure what. There is the possibility of two other channels mixing together in a way to put interference on our channel, but we haven't noticed this before. Also, it's not like someone new just came on the air! There is a new wireless Internet service that uses the unused UHF channels. One wanted our approval to operate on channel 54, but we refused to waive our interference protection since our calculations showed that they could interfere with us. It might be someone else that we don't know about.

After Wednesday, we'll dump the transmitter off at various times during the day so that we can sniff around with a spectrum analyzer to see if there is something out there on our frequency (we can't see it with the transmitter on). I'll let everyone know what I find. It's interesting to note that mx6bfast has the problem since he is pretty close to the transmitter.

Thanks,

I'll Tivo House tonight from WHBQ instead of D* to see if I can see it again. I also wont delete the program if I do see it. If I don't see it tonight I'll check during Bones also.