It's still a work-in-progress, so you may see some funky aspect ratio conversions by accident, but we intend to keep everything 16:9 unless it would require distorting the video, then we use side panels.

We should be adding more HD bells and whistles at we go along. Maybe 5.1 audio one of these days!

The big push now is to get the DTV transmitter on the top antenna. That should solve a lot of reception problems (including mine at home). I hope to have it on the air sometime on Friday.
I've noticed for all field shots there is a black bar all the way across the top.

The news tonight is showing 5.1. Is that a true 5.1?

I'm also getting higher reception numbers tonight.

Thanks Dave,
I'll keep that in mind while shopping for an antenna. Frankly, I'm beginning to wonder if it's even worth all the trouble for one channel. Really, the only thing I can think of off the top of my head is Heroes, that I'd like to watch in HD on NBC. Can't stand the Today show and many other of NBC's big productions.
I think I'm more interested in the pride of just being able to say that I'm set up to receive all channels.
I just haven't noticed much of an 'in-stock' selection of antennas locally for the last few years.

I've noticed for all field shots there is a black bar all the way across the top.

The news tonight is showing 5.1. Is that a true 5.1?

I'm also getting higher reception numbers tonight.

The black bars are from a timing problem between the upconverters and the switcher that we're working on. It shouldn't be there.

Our audio for all local programming is up-mixed 5.1 from the original stereo. This allows us to keep the loudness close to the real 5.1 that we pass on from Fox. One of these days, our local shows will be real 5.1, and we will pass them through without change as well.

The signal meter numbers shouldn't have been any higher last Friday (we didn't do anything that would have changed them), but they may be higher now. As of 5 PM yesterday we are now operating from our top-mounted antenna with full power, and even though this is supposed to only be a 2% increase from what we were running, I have noticed a 6 dB improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio at my house. It may make the difference between needing an outdoor antenna or getting by with rabbit-ears.

The black bars are from a timing problem between the upconverters and the switcher that we're working on. It shouldn't be there.

The signal meter numbers shouldn't have been any higher last Friday (we didn't do anything that would have changed them), but they may be higher now. As of 5 PM yesterday we are now operating from our top-mounted antenna with full power, and even though this is supposed to only be a 2% increase from what we were running, I have noticed a 6 dB improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio at my house. It may make the difference between needing an outdoor antenna or getting by with rabbit-ears.
I noticed both of these this morning.

The HR20 in our bedroom was able to keep a steady 45% signal to get a/v OTA, compared to about 20 - 25%. I just happened to check it out because the brrriiiippp from the D* feed was so, so, so bad. Then Ernie mentioned it.
I'm using the remote control antenna that came with the box for OTA in there.

Sure enough the next day I was watching 13-1 the signal was breaking up. It was going from 90's to 0. Today it is actually hitting 100.

Well, I went into my Menu options on my Dish VIP722 DVR and rescanned the local channels.
I still got nothing for 5. But I did get 13.1 at about 90% and it's in HD. Nice!

Good advice. I don't know why I didn't think to just try a rescan before.

Now if I can just find a nice minimal antenna that'll pick up 5. I've got the satellite version, but it's in SD. The other thing is that with my DVR I can record two satellite channels plus one local channel simultaneously.
Of course, if I find a VHF antenna to pick up 5, I guess I might as well make that the antenna for all local channels.
The last time I looked for outdoor/attic antennas Lowe's had one model in stock, Radio Shack had none. I ordered the little 2 bowtie UHF antenna online and shipping wasn't really an issue. I'd be glad to order the ideal antenna online but it seems that bulkiness of the bigger antennas drive the shipping cost way up. I don't know all the tech stuff about antennas. I wonder if a combo antenna not intended for low-VHF would do a fine job picking up 5 anyway? According to AntennaWeb, I'm only 3.6 miles from channel 5's broadcast tower.
I have the Radio Shack U-75R in my attic and get all the stations at 100% including Ch 5 and 13. This is with a TivoHD using OTA. The antenna is 40" long so it is fairly big.

I am watching an antenna on Ebay that includes free shipping. The seller has a 99% positive feedback. He has tons listed and many are selling for around $30 to $40 with free shipping. I plan to keep bidding until I win one for around $32. It includes a rotor and inline amp. He claims channels 2-79. It is 21" by 16" so still not real small.

I have the Radio Shack U-75R in my attic and get all the stations at 100% including Ch 5 and 13. This is with a TivoHD using OTA. The antenna is 40" long so it is fairly big.

I am watching an antenna on Ebay that includes free shipping. The seller has a 99% positive feedback. He has tons listed and many are selling for around $30 to $40 with free shipping. I plan to keep bidding until I win one for around $32. It includes a rotor and inline amp. He claims channels 2-79. It is 21" by 16" so still not real small.

Well, if you get the little ebay antenna, let us know how it performs. I'll check that out. I'd prefer not to have to mount a huge and expensive antenna on a new mast just for one channel. A moderate sized antenna in the garage attic would be a more reasonable solution.

Hi All - For a while now (pretty much about whenever the BIG SWITCH) occurred I have been having audio problems when viewing the WHBQ Fox 13 channel over DirecTV. It frequenty buzzes and cuts out. The channel seems to be fine OTA. Has anyone else experienced this issue - and if so, do they know if anyone is working on it.

I have been patiently waiting for it to clear up and wonder if I should be calling someone!

Thanks,
Bill

Hi All - For a while now (pretty much about whenever the BIG SWITCH) occurred I have been having audio problems when viewing the WHBQ Fox 13 channel over DirecTV. It frequenty buzzes and cuts out. The channel seems to be fine OTA. Has anyone else experienced this issue - and if so, do they know if anyone is working on it.

I have been patiently waiting for it to clear up and wonder if I should be calling someone!
What you are experiencing is known as the "brrrriiippp" syndrome on D*. I have seen it more on this channel than other locals. DTV Dave who posts here is an engineer at WHBQ. You could either send him a pm or he will eventually read it on here.

What you are experiencing is known as the "brrrriiippp" syndrome on D*. I have seen it more on this channel than other locals. DTV Dave who posts here is an engineer at WHBQ. You could either send him a pm or he will eventually read it on here.

Thanks for the info. I tried to call D* and their system was down, and thus - they wouldn't take a problem report. I then called WHBQ newsroom, there was no one in engineering at the time, but the guy I talked to sounded like they were very familier with the problem, and he thought that D* would have to be the ones to fix it.

Anyway - apparently WHBQ has more power now then they did right after the "BIG SWITCH" and my home reception is good now, not spotty like it was earlier.

Long story short - I am not going to spend hours on the phone with D* to give a report I am sure they already have, and will just watch WHBQ OTA.

Thanks for your feedback

Bill

What you are experiencing is known as the "brrrriiippp" syndrome on D*. I have seen it more on this channel than other locals. DTV Dave who posts here is an engineer at WHBQ. You could either send him a pm or he will eventually read it on here.

I've heard this from several DirecTV customers, although I've never heard it myself on WHBQ using their SD feed (I have heard it on other SD network channels, but I don't have HD). I think in my case, the problem is the buffer in the receiver overflowing. That may or may not be the case with the WHBQ HD feed. Since DirecTV picks this feed up over the air, and it doesn't seem to be an issue when receiving directly over the air for anyone but DirecTV customers, it is probably a DirecTV problem.

One thing that we have also heard via Fox is that AT&T UVerse has problems with audio at the splice points if a local station's audio bit rate differs from the Fox rate. WHBQ is now matching that rate (448 kb/s) to avoid that problem, and that may also have an effect on the DirecTV problem. We'll see.

I've heard this from several DirecTV customers, although I've never heard it myself on WHBQ using their SD feed (I have heard it on other SD network channels, but I don't have HD). I think in my case, the problem is the buffer in the receiver overflowing. That may or may not be the case with the WHBQ HD feed. Since DirecTV picks this feed up over the air, and it doesn't seem to be an issue when receiving directly over the air for anyone but DirecTV customers, it is probably a DirecTV problem.
I'm pretty sure it's a D* problem. Since I am seeing it on quite a few channels from D*. Here is a thread that mentions it, http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=2156458#post2156458.

I haven't seen it on any SD feed, only HD. But it is very bad when it happens. I haven't seen it near as bad on national channels compared to the D* WHBQ channel. The audio gets off sync, and then you hear an audio "stuttering" effect. When it happens the channel is unwatchable. I've only seen it during GMM, and when I go to the OTA feed it's perfectly fine. I'll try to capture it on my video camera next time I see it and send you the link though email if you want me to.

I've heard this from several DirecTV customers, although I've never heard it myself on WHBQ using their SD feed (I have heard it on other SD network channels, but I don't have HD). I think in my case, the problem is the buffer in the receiver overflowing. That may or may not be the case with the WHBQ HD feed. Since DirecTV picks this feed up over the air, and it doesn't seem to be an issue when receiving directly over the air for anyone but DirecTV customers, it is probably a DirecTV problem.

One thing that we have also heard via Fox is that AT&T UVerse has problems with audio at the splice points if a local station's audio bit rate differs from the Fox rate. WHBQ is now matching that rate (448 kb/s) to avoid that problem, and that may also have an effect on the DirecTV problem. We'll see.

Thanks for the update Dave. I will try watching/recording the D* version of WHBQ again and see if it is fixed with your change to the audio bitrate. Lately I have just been using the 13-1 OTA signal and have not seen any problems. However, I am using the same receiver for both (D* HR20) so should I expect that if the problem is a receiver buffer overflowing, shouldn't I see that on the ATSC OTA tuner in the same receiver? Or is it only overflowing after the MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 upconvert that D* does.

It is all very confusing...

Thanks,
Bill

Thanks for the update Dave. I will try watching/recording the D* version of WHBQ again and see if it is fixed with your change to the audio bitrate. Lately I have just been using the 13-1 OTA signal and have not seen any problems. However, I am using the same receiver for both (D* HR20) so should I expect that if the problem is a receiver buffer overflowing, shouldn't I see that on the ATSC OTA tuner in the same receiver? Or is it only overflowing after the MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 upconvert that D* does.

It is all very confusing...
The chip inside of the box does not convert the feed. The box can handle both mpeg-2 and -4 signals. The upconversion is done by D* before it is sent down to us. So for OTA is is coming is as -2. For D* it's coming in as -4.

FYI, I'm unable to receive channels 5 or 13 OTA (attic mount Philips SDV7400K/17 UHF/VHF/FM/HDTV) through a Dishnetwork VIP622 reciever.

Dish's tech support say they are working on these channels but I was curious if anyone else was having this same problem?

Did you do a rescan for OTA channels?

Where are you in relation to the towers?

Did you do a rescan for OTA channels?

Where are you in relation to the towers?

Yes I did a rescan. I have deleted all locals and done rescans several times. I have also tried to use the ADD LOCAL function in the VIP622's setup and there is no signal indicated in the meter.

Per antennaweb.org I'm 17 miles from WMC-5 and 14 miles from WHBQ.

NOTE: This does not appear to be a location or antenna issue as I have no problems receiving these channels with the antenna feed bypassing the Dish receiver and connecting directly to the TV. Since the original issue happened, I've installed a splitter with one coax connected to the Dish VIP 622 and one connected to the TV. This works for viewing channel 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 and 13 but does not allow for using the Dish VIP622's EPG or scheduling timers for OTA DVR recordings.

It may be that the tuner in the Dish receiver is more sensitive than the one in your TV and it is being overloaded. I think 5 and 13 are at full power now. Do you have a set of rabbit ears you can try with the Dish receiver and see if you can get 5 and 13? At 17 miles rabbit ears should give you some signal on your meter.

What does your signal meter give you on the other channels? If you get 5 and 13 with rabbit ears, you may need to attenuate the signal from your attic antenna.

It may be that the tuner in the Dish receiver is more sensitive than the one in your TV and it is being overloaded. I think 5 and 13 are at full power now. Do you have a set of rabbit ears you can try with the Dish receiver and see if you can get 5 and 13? At 17 miles rabbit ears should give you some signal on your meter.

What does your signal meter give you on the other channels? If you get 5 and 13 with rabbit ears, you may need to attenuate the signal from your attic antenna.

Do you have a VIP622 receiving WMC-5 and WHBQ-13 OTA?

I do not have any rabbit ears.

The signal meter in the VIP622 MENU SETUP LOCAL is as follows: (Note at the time of this posting atmospheric conditions are not optimal as I'm not receiving Jackson channels 7.1, 7.2&7.3 which usually comes in but only at night)
3=100
7=0
10=100
24=91
30=77
40=64
50=99

My Philips plasma TV has a signal bar without any numbers within the channel setup menu so the following are guesses as to how much of the bar is filled. Also the numbers are the transmit numbers:
5=85%
8=0 to 40% with no picture
10=0 to 40% with no picture
13=85%
19=0 to 40% with no picture
20=0 to 40% with no picture
23=85%
25=85%
28=85%
29=85%
31=55 to 60%
39=0 to 40% with no picture
41=0 to 40% with no picture
44=0 to 40% with no picture
51=85%

Well, I see that channel 10 also goes from 100 (picture) to 40 or below and no picture. So in essence you loose 5, 10 and 13 between the 2 tuners. It is interesting that these 3 towers are all west of the other towers and 5 is the furthest west.

It is possible that the TV tuner is more sensitive thus allowing you to pick up 5 and 13 with 10 being too strong. Too strong will not peg 100, it will waiver the signal because the tuner can not lock onto it. However, just because a signal waivers doesn't mean it is too strong.

Both meters are not true measures of signal strength but the channel strengths are relative to each other for the Dish receiver and relative for the TV but not relative between the Dish and TV. In other words, a 50 on the Dish is not the same as a 50 on the TV.

If you are getting Jackson sometimes, perhaps your antenna isn't aimed correctly. The Jackson tower would be the furthest east of the others obviously.

Well, I see that channel 10 also goes from 100 (picture) to 40 or below and no picture. So in essence you loose 5, 10 and 13 between the 2 tuners. It is interesting that these 3 towers are all west of the other towers and 5 is the furthest west.

It is possible that the TV tuner is more sensitive thus allowing you to pick up 5 and 13 with 10 being too strong. Too strong will not peg 100, it will waiver the signal because the tuner can not lock onto it. However, just because a signal waivers doesn't mean it is too strong.

Both meters are not true measures of signal strength but the channel strengths are relative to each other for the Dish receiver and relative for the TV but not relative between the Dish and TV. In other words, a 50 on the Dish is not the same as a 50 on the TV.

If you are getting Jackson sometimes, perhaps your antenna isn't aimed correctly. The Jackson tower would be the furthest east of the others obviously.

Do you have a VIP622 receiving WMC-5 and WHBQ-13 OTA?

Well, I see that channel 10 also goes from 100 (picture) to 40 or below and no picture. So in essence you loose 5, 10 and 13 between the 2 tuners. ....

NOTE: The TV MENU shows the RF channel numbers (i.e. 10.1= RF 29) so it appears to have the same signal strenghts as 5 and 13

Also I have the antenna pointed @ 270°, due west.

Do you have a VIP622 receiving WMC-5 and WHBQ-13 OTA?

No, I have DirecTV. I didn't get 5 and 13 after the switch until I did a rescan.

Boy, was I ever picking up the Memphis Market here in Yell county Arkansas last night....bout 300 miles....not bad. I was getting WREG 3.1 , WMC 5.1 & WKNO10.1 at about 70-85%. Kept them most of the night. Here is a link to some screen shots of my Dxing last night. Pulled these in on a Winegard 8200 w/cm7777. Antenna is only about 18 feet high but for some reason thats my "hot spot". I've had it up 40+ before and never had the reception I do at 18 feet. If any of you want, check out your channels on my TV in the Little Rock thread:D

FYI, I'm unable to receive channels 5 or 13 OTA (attic mount Philips SDV7400K/17 UHF/VHF/FM/HDTV) through a Dishnetwork VIP622 reciever.

Dish's tech support say they are working on these channels but I was curious if anyone else was having this same problem?

I am in Tipton County and I receive both OTA great on my VIP622.

In your signal strength post, you don't list 5 or 13. Both are transmitting on their VHF frequencies now. Sounds like you didn't get a good rescan.

New article in the CA about U-Verse coming soon!

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/aug/16/att-enters-television-market/

According to the MBJ this morning:

"AT&T will officially unveil its U-Verse advanced television product in Memphis starting Monday."

I just had a new receiver installed by D* yesterday. Arghhhh!

Just went by the AT&T store on Hacks Cross Road. They are selling U-verse, but don't have it for display. They looked up my address in Collierville, and said service wasn't available yet. And, no indication of when it will be.

Anyone got U-verse yet in Memphis>

I looked up 38135 (Bartlett) and mine comes up...

I looked up my address in midtown today and it's not available here yet either.

I looked up my address in midtown today and it's not available here yet either.

I looked up my zip in Walls, MS (just outside Memphis) and it shows available...

SSh, dont tell anyone, but at least Comcast will have some competition:

Verizon rebuilt their infrastructure to provide truly state of the art, nearly limitless bandwidth with fiber to the premises (FTTP). When newer, faster switches and wave division multiplexers become available, Fios can increase bandwidth significantly without replacing fiber lines.

AT&T on the other hand tried to do things on the cheap. They designed a system that squeezes the last ounce of performance out of legacy thin copper wires. U-Verse will go from 2 HD-Lite streams to 3 even worse looking HD-Lite streams by cranking up the compression. The results are not pretty.

AT&T's strategy was penny wise, pound foolish. They have lower capital expenditures up front. However, the bulk of the cost of a system rebuild is not copper thin wire or fiber optic cable, it is the labor cost to do the project in the first place. U-Verse is built in such a way that it almost guarantees that AT&T will have to tear out lines and completely rebuild their network again in 5 - 12 years. Verizon on the other hand can simply replace switching equipment at the node and place more capable modems in consumers' homes as needed. Verizon already has laid fiber that can fulfill foreseeable bandwidth demands for the next 20 or 30 years.:cool:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=17002640#post17002640

SSh, dont tell anyone, but at least Comcast will have some competition:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=17002640#post17002640

Verison FiOS is in Memphis ???

Verison FiOS is in Memphis ???
No, it was just a link to another post.

Fios would be very nice here.

No, it was just a link to another post.

Fios would be very nice here.

Agreed !!

No, it was just a link to another post.

Fios would be very nice here.

You phrased it much better than myself.
It's definitely not Fios, but anything to get Comcast a little worried, has got to be a good thing.

Anyone in this area received the update from D* to enable DoublePlay (dual live buffers)?

No, still waiting....very much wanting.

Anyone in this area received the update from D* to enable DoublePlay (dual live buffers)?

Still waiting....

Here's a short video on DoublePlay

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jb87jiFE7c

Kevin

For the last couple of months, the primary camera angle for baseball and now football looks like it's shot in a different frame rate on Fox HD. It stutters, like every few frames is being dropped. Anybody else been seeing this? Anybody from Fox 13 know anything? I'm using a SA 8300HD on Comcast.

Thanks.

For the last couple of months, the primary camera angle for baseball and now football looks like it's shot in a different frame rate on Fox HD. It stutters, like every few frames is being dropped. Anybody else been seeing this? Anybody from Fox 13 know anything? I'm using a SA 8300HD on Comcast.
Are you talking about something like in this thread, http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1163878? Personally I haven't seen it, but I haven't payed close attention to the sporting events on FOX.

Hello all,

I live in Hernando, MS (zip 38632) about 25 miles south of Memphis, TN. I have a HR22 receiver with an AM21 for my OTA signals. I mounted a "Winegard HD-1080 2-Bay Bowtie UHF - High Band VHF Antenna (HD-1080)" in my attic but I am only receiving a limited number of OTA signals. My channels 3(cbs), 10 18(pbs), 24(abc), 40(tbn), 50(ion) all come in very well. Unfortunately, my channels 5(nbc), and 13(fox) do not come in at all.

Is there any way I can add another antenna to work together with my existing to pick up my missing channels? If so, do I use some kind of a splitter?

Or, should I invest in a different antenna altogether?

Thanks.

-My zip code is 38632

Got the dlb software update overnight.

Hi Bill

The bowtie antenna is good for UHF signals. You would have been able to receive channels 5 and 13 before "the big switch" because they were broadcasting on their temporary UHF channels. Now they have switched back to the VHF assignments, so you will need a multi-band antenna to receive 5 & 13.

Hope this helps!

Kevin

Hello all,

I live in Hernando, MS (zip 38632) about 25 miles south of Memphis, TN. I have a HR22 receiver with an AM21 for my OTA signals. I mounted a "Winegard HD-1080 2-Bay Bowtie UHF - High Band VHF Antenna (HD-1080)" in my attic but I am only receiving a limited number of OTA signals. My channels 3(cbs), 10 18(pbs), 24(abc), 40(tbn), 50(ion) all come in very well. Unfortunately, my channels 5(nbc), and 13(fox) do not come in at all.

Is there any way I can add another antenna to work together with my existing to pick up my missing channels? If so, do I use some kind of a splitter?

Or, should I invest in a different antenna altogether?

Thanks.

-My zip code is 38632

Got the dlb software update overnight.

Good news, I'll have to check when I get home !

Thanks for the heads up !!!

Kevin

Good news, I'll have to check when I get home !

Thanks for the heads up !!!
No problem. 2 easy ways to tell are: When you turn on the HD-DVR it wasn't already buffered, or when you click Menu you have an option for TVMAIL.

Hello all,

I live in Hernando, MS (zip 38632) about 25 miles south of Memphis, TN. I have a HR22 receiver with an AM21 for my OTA signals. I mounted a "Winegard HD-1080 2-Bay Bowtie UHF - High Band VHF Antenna (HD-1080)" in my attic but I am only receiving a limited number of OTA signals. My channels 3(cbs), 10 18(pbs), 24(abc), 40(tbn), 50(ion) all come in very well. Unfortunately, my channels 5(nbc), and 13(fox) do not come in at all.

Is there any way I can add another antenna to work together with my existing to pick up my missing channels? If so, do I use some kind of a splitter?


You can add a VHF-only antenna to the mix (if you have the room in your attic!). You will want to get a band combiner (the same thing as a band splitter, but put in backwards) to put both VHF and UHF on the same coax without distorting the signal. Just using a regular combiner (splitter) will cause problems with both signals. The band combiner should have a VHF connector, and UHF connector and a combined connector.

Although using two different antennas can be a pain, it does have the advantage of allowing you to point them in different directions to avoid reflections that may be in different locations on VHF and UHF.

Are you talking about something like in this thread,(link deleted) personally I haven't seen it, but I haven't payed close attention to the sporting events on FOX.

Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, after 10 pages nobody seems to know for sure what's going on. Is there still a Fox13 tech hanging out around here?

Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, after 10 pages nobody seems to know for sure what's going on. Is there still a Fox13 tech hanging out around here?
DTV Dave right above your post is the engineer at WHBQ.

I noticed this "studdering" last night watching House OTA on my HR-20...


For the last couple of months, the primary camera angle for baseball and now football looks like it's shot in a different frame rate on Fox HD. It stutters, like every few frames is being dropped. Anybody else been seeing this? Anybody from Fox 13 know anything? I'm using a SA 8300HD on Comcast.

Thanks.

Hello all,

I live in Hernando, MS (zip 38632) about 25 miles south of Memphis, TN. I have a HR22 receiver with an AM21 for my OTA signals. I mounted a "Winegard HD-1080 2-Bay Bowtie UHF - High Band VHF Antenna (HD-1080)" in my attic but I am only receiving a limited number of OTA signals. My channels 3(cbs), 10 18(pbs), 24(abc), 40(tbn), 50(ion) all come in very well. Unfortunately, my channels 5(nbc), and 13(fox) do not come in at all.

Is there any way I can add another antenna to work together with my existing to pick up my missing channels? If so, do I use some kind of a splitter?

Or, should I invest in a different antenna altogether?

Thanks.

-My zip code is 38632
WMC-TV 5 does have a supply of midrange and rabbit ears style antennas that we are providing to people who are still having difficulty receiving our signal. I'm not sure if the midrange antenna will get the job done in Hernando, but it might. Please contact us at dtv@wmctv.com or call us at 901-726-0472 or 877-287-9958 and we'll see if we can get you fixed up.

--Lee Meredith, WMC-TV 5

WMC-TV 5 does have a supply of midrange and rabbit ears style antennas that we are providing to people who are still having difficulty receiving our signal. I'm not sure if the midrange antenna will get the job done in Hernando, but it might. Please contact us at dtv@wmctv.com or call us at 901-726-0472 or 877-287-9958 and we'll see if we can get you fixed up.

--Lee Meredith, WMC-TV 5

The mid-range VHF antenna should work fine in Hernando. I live there, and found that the rabbit-ear VHF antennas are not quite good enough, but placing the smaller of the two outdoor antennas that Radio Shack sells in my attic was plenty to receive 5 and 13 with lots of margin to spare.

The only down-side of using an antenna in my attic is that when the cold weather comes and the gas furnace comes on (it's right next to the antenna), the electric igniter will probably cause the picture to lock up for a second or two. I think I can live with this for the advantage of having the antenna out of the wind and rain. It should last just about forever up there (as long as I don't trip over it to change the filters).

The HD PQ of SEC games on WLMT have been atrocious so far.

DTVDave,
Could you address the stuttering picture problem I mentioned above during Fox sports HD telecasts? It seems based on the link provided after that post that MANY people nationwide are noticing the problem. What the heck is it?

Got the dlb software update overnight.

I received it in Midtown as well:)

Hi Bill

The bowtie antenna is good for UHF signals. You would have been able to receive channels 5 and 13 before "the big switch" because they were broadcasting on their temporary UHF channels. Now they have switched back to the VHF assignments, so you will need a multi-band antenna to receive 5 & 13.

Hope this helps!

Kevin

Kevin,

I have a bowtie in the attic in midtown and I'm getting all local signals. I know I shouldn't, but I'm not questioning success! Maybe some of you engineer types can offer an explanation.

Kevin,

I have a bowtie in the attic in midtown and I'm getting all local signals. I know I shouldn't, but I'm not questioning success! Maybe some of you engineer types can offer an explanation.

A bow tie can get in a VHF signal at least VHF high. I have a homemade DB4 than can pick up UHF 8 and UHF 10( in Nashvile ) on occasion and I live 70 miles from the stations. So certainly a bowtie can pick up VHF 13.

I live north of Memphis and use an original Winegard CM 4228 (not the new HD version) installed in the attic and I get all of the Memphis locals including channel 5.

I was pleasantly surprised when analog 5 (which I couldn't get) went dark and the digital signal on VHF 5 showed up. I thought I was going to have to change antenna's to get the new 5.

BTW, from everything I've read the CM 4228 has been modified and labelled HD. This latest version apparently doesn't work well below 13.

DTVDave,
Could you address the stuttering picture problem I mentioned above during Fox sports HD telecasts? It seems based on the link provided after that post that MANY people nationwide are noticing the problem. What the heck is it?

It sounds as if they have at least one camera set with a slow shutter speed. They sometimes do that for a "film" effect, but I wouldn't think that it would be good for sporting events. It's also possible that there is some sort of new gizmo that they're experimenting with that's screwing up the video.

I've passed the word of the problem up the line to the Fox Network, but they are separate from the Fox-owned stations, so I probably won't hear back from them. I'm sure that there is a contact email on the Fox Sports site, and the more people that send them a description of the problem the better!

Kevin,

I have a bowtie in the attic in midtown and I'm getting all local signals. I know I shouldn't, but I'm not questioning success! Maybe some of you engineer types can offer an explanation.

If the bowtie is in a strong field (midtown is pretty good), and high enough (in an attic), even it can act as a VHF antenna. It's just not a very good one. If the signal is strong enough, even a piece of wire can be enough (coat hangers do work).

Your UHF antenna might have 20dB of gain (over a tuned dipole) in the middle of the UHF band, but probably has -12 dB of gain (or 12 dB of loss) in the VHF band. If the signal is strong enough, it can overcome that loss and the receiver will work just fine. You just won't have as much margin for variations in signal caused by weather or noise from other sources as you would using an antenna with higher VHF gain (or lower VHF loss).

The bottom line is: whatever works is good - even it it's tin foil on the ends of rabbit ears!

If the bowtie is in a strong field (midtown is pretty good), and high enough (in an attic), even it can act as a VHF antenna. It's just not a very good one. If the signal is strong enough, even a piece of wire can be enough (coat hangers do work).

Your UHF antenna might have 20dB of gain (over a tuned dipole) in the middle of the UHF band, but probably has -12 dB of gain (or 12 dB of loss) in the VHF band. If the signal is strong enough, it can overcome that loss and the receiver will work just fine. You just won't have as much margin for variations in signal caused by weather or noise from other sources as you would using an antenna with higher VHF gain (or lower VHF loss).

The bottom line is: whatever works is good - even it it's tin foil on the ends of rabbit ears!

Dave,

I think I understand the last sentence :)
I don't have much margin for error on 5 (i.e. temporary pixilation in rainy weather), but it is not bothersome enough to make me add an antenna.
Thanks

WMC-TV 5 does have a supply of midrange and rabbit ears style antennas that we are providing to people who are still having difficulty receiving our signal. I'm not sure if the midrange antenna will get the job done in Hernando, but it might. Please contact us at dtv@wmctv.com or call us at 901-726-0472 or 877-287-9958 and we'll see if we can get you fixed up.

--Lee Meredith, WMC-TV 5

I live in Southaven and get all local channels thru my D* 5-LNB dish, all in HD except WLMT. Are the local HD's not available thru the dish in Hernando?

The HD PQ of SEC games on WLMT have been atrocious so far.

When oh when will WLMT HD come thru the dish?? I don't really want to add any other components (AM21, my old antenna, etc) to get it.

Has anyone noticed the sound volume fluctuating on D*, on several different channels? I have an HR-22 100 HD DVR and I've noticed the sound fluctuating pretty bad on both local and other stations. NBC, Food Network, and others. It happens both during programing and during commercials.

Any "Glee" fans out there notice something strange last Wednesday night with the aspect ratio? At the Atlanta Fox station, a viewer reports that on Dish Network he saw the aspect ratio change from the normal letter-box (he must have an SD receiver) to a center-cut display at 8:44 PM, after a local break. Fox reports no trouble, but the station's air-check tape confirms that it happened. I know you guys use HD, but if you noticed anything strange, it might give us a hint to what is going on.
Thanks,

I use OTA where possible and didn't notice anything last week.

I did notice a few times last night during Hell's Kitchen the commercial break would run into programming. It seemed to always be during a local commercial. The WHBQ bug would show up in the bottom right corner for a few seconds, then the show would come back on at 4:3 for a second and then go back to WS.

It sounds as if they have at least one camera set with a slow shutter speed. They sometimes do that for a "film" effect, but I wouldn't think that it would be good for sporting events. It's also possible that there is some sort of new gizmo that they're experimenting with that's screwing up the video.

I've passed the word of the problem up the line to the Fox Network, but they are separate from the Fox-owned stations, so I probably won't hear back from them. I'm sure that there is a contact email on the Fox Sports site, and the more people that send them a description of the problem the better!

Thanks for sending the information up. FYI, the following was posted on the main thread on this issue the other night by a tech at WCCB in Charlotte:

Originally Posted by bdfox18doe
It is being worked on by FOX, Cisco, TWC, WCCB, and others..all together.
This is not something one can wave a magic wand and magically correct.

I did notice a few times last night during Hell's Kitchen the commercial break would run into programming. It seemed to always be during a local commercial. The WHBQ bug would show up in the bottom right corner for a few seconds, then the show would come back on at 4:3 for a second and then go back to WS.

Unfortunately, we know the cause of that one. The network changed the amount of local commercial time in two of the breaks at the last minute, so we had too many commercials in the breaks. This means that we came back to the network late, while they were already into the program segment.

The change in aspect ratio for a couple of seconds is the delay between our live switching and the splicer switching. Usually it would occur in black, and nobody would notice, but when something like this happens, it becomes obvious. That should change with the installation of "Splicer 2.0” that is rolling out now. The new splicer will also be redundant, getting rid of the only single point of failure we have. We will end up with two completely independent signal paths all the way to the antenna!

Comcast is still semi-supporting HD on cable-ready (without box).

However, WREG, 3-1, disappeared last week. The telephone support rep had no idea you could get HD without a Comcast set-top box. She agreed to forward to the head end tech staff.

It would be nice if they would pass through the locals consistently.

And, my line still isn't qualified for uVerse. Anyone had experience with uVerse, either good or bad?

And, my line still isn't qualified for uVerse. Anyone had experience with uVerse, either good or bad?

I live in Southaven and uVerse is available here. However, it has a 3/1 stream. Meaning 3 SD streams and 1 HD stream. I have to have 2 HD streams, so it's not for me. In Memphis you might be lucky to get the 2/2 stream.

Mark

I noticed the briipp on WHBQ pretty bad during the news last night and this morning.

Has anyone had any problems with losing OTA signal from WMC or WHBQ since the most recent dl on the HR20's? I've noticed the signal meter will read 0, but like last night even though it read 0, when I went to the program that is being recorded from that OTA station there will be audio/video like there wasn't a problem. I can go back into the signal meter when I go have a signal and it's solid in the 70's.

I haven't been watching the signal meter, but I have noticed that the signals are more stable since the changeover. I also attributed some of this to a newer antenna in the attic in lieu of a dipole behind the set...

Kevin

Has anyone had any problems with losing OTA signal from WMC or WHBQ since the most recent dl on the HR20's? I've noticed the signal meter will read 0, but like last night even though it read 0, when I went to the program that is being recorded from that OTA station there will be audio/video like there wasn't a problem. I can go back into the signal meter when I go have a signal and it's solid in the 70's.

ahhhh CBS audio is fluctuating soooo bad right now, I have D*. Anyone else experiencing this at all? SUPER annoying!

ahhhh CBS audio is fluctuating soooo bad right now, I have D*. Anyone else experiencing this at all? SUPER annoying!
I noticed it the other day.

I've noticed that WPXX-TV (My 50 Memphis) dropped My Network TV and is now Ion Television (I guess that is because ion owns the station). What will happen to My Network TV? Do you think another station in Memphis will add it to its digital sub-channel or will we just not have an affiliate anymore??

I would suspect another station will add it. My guess is that it could show up on 30-2 with RTV, since co-owned WAWS in Jacksonville does the same thing.

- Trip

I noticed the briipp on WHBQ pretty bad during the news last night and this morning.

The last two nights the brriips are almost unbearable on Fox 13 news which also caused severe lip sync. Is this a problem of DirecTV or Fox 13? Thanks!

Watched both Bones and Fringe via the DirecTV feed of WHBQ last night and while Bones was fine, Fringe was nearly unwatchable due to the brriiip audio problem.

The last two nights the brriips are almost unbearable on Fox 13 news which also caused severe lip sync. Is this a problem of DirecTV or Fox 13? Thanks!


Usually it is DirecTV.
What is happening is the DirecTV MPEG-4 encoder is "dumping" and having to reset as it is transcoding the MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 at the uplink center.

This seems to happen to HD locals more than national channels.
If the locals are doing this, you can tune into the OTA feed and sometimes see it there too, but usually you will not. This doesn't mean the station isn't the cause/source. Their feed may have corrupted bits that do not affect the playback of the MPEG-2 stream, but it's bad enough to cause the MPEG-4 encoder to reset.

I too had the problem with Fox 13 last night on Fringe. Drove me insane! And what was getting worse and worse throughout the show! By the end I was so pissed that I could barely watch the show.

I watched it OTA, and had no issues at all. So definitely a DirecTV issue.

With the election coming up Thursday I hope that the local stations don't screw up the national programming to show minute by minute updates of the race. WPTY completely ruined Grey's Anatomy for my wife Thursday by showing their 1920's map with a grey background (no overlay) and cutting out the center speaker for over 10 minutes.

I hope that updates are provided during commercials. WHBQ is good about this, and usually WPTY is. Cutting out of HD, scrunching the show to a small box while showing ELECTION 2009 on the left side of the screen and a constant ticker which only updates every 10+ minutes is just freaking annoying. Use the HD ticker technology sparingly. We will find out who won the election. Telling us at 8:30 with 10% of the precincts reported is a waste.

There, I got it out. Whew!

With the election coming up Thursday I hope that the local stations don't screw up the national programming to show minute by minute updates of the race.

I couldn't agree more! Now with all of the subchannels available there should be no reason that they couldn't devote one of them to all the detailed coverage they wish and preserve the network programming for the rest.

Kevin

The reason some stations don't show election coverage on subchannels is because some subchannels are not available on Satelite and Cable.

I understand this and for w-2-w severe weather coverage I support using the main channel for that coverage, but for something like election coverage I believe that should be pushed out to a sub, or online for that matter, and advertised as such.

Just my 2 cents....

I too had the problem with Fox 13 last night on Fringe. Drove me insane! And what was getting worse and worse throughout the show! By the end I was so pissed that I could barely watch the show.

It's definitely a DirecTV problem. When we are on Fox, the transport stream all the way to the transmitter is just as it left the Fox uplink in LA, due to the use of the splicer. It should affect all Fox stations at the same time if it is a problem with the Fox stream. That being said, I don't think anyone has nailed down the cause of this yet, but there are lots of people at the network, the local stations and at DirecTV working on it.

On a side note, occasionally the local Dish Network local-into-local receivers get into a mode that screws up the lip sync. This requires a reset of their head-end receiver, not the customer's receiver. This is usually caused by an interruption in the stream, such as when we change encoders for maintenance. We also see this on our TV sets here - some will have the lip sync problem and some will not. Usually turning them off then back on clears them. The receivers that Dish uses at their head-ends probably have the same problem.

I recently got out of an aprtment with some awful proprietary cable (direcpath) and the house I'm in had Comcast in it. A few questions about Comcast service, since i've never had it-

* It seems over the past week I've lost either Ch. 5 Hd or Ch. 13. I thought signal drops were a Sat. problem? Is this common or a symptom of the cable run to this house?

* Why the hell am I paying $7 for HD access/outlet PLUS $17 for DVR service? Two HD DVR's adds about $40 a month?

* They must recycle the heck out of these HD DVRs, because I have one that is dented and has a noisy HD in it.

* Why aren't the menu's HD? Seems like an easy fix...

* Overall, how is comcast service in Memphis?

I was a little put off when I went in, had to pay the first month of service, plus $100 deposit for each HD-DVR. Totalled almost $400..

I know D* makes you "buy" their boxes, so I guess really thats a wash...

* It seems over the past week I've lost either Ch. 5 Hd or Ch. 13. I thought signal drops were a Sat. problem? Is this common or a symptom of the cable run to this house?

I used to have that happen to certain channels on the same frequency band. Usually it's line interference of some kind. If you call them and explain it, they'll send a tech out to check.

* Why the hell am I paying $7 for HD access/outlet PLUS $17 for DVR service? Two HD DVR's adds about $40 a month?

Wow... the prices went way up. I was paying $5 for the DVR and HD used to be free. The one thing about Comcast is, you can negotiate with them, especially if you threaten to go to satellite. Just get the latest advertisement for DirecTV or Dish out, and ask the rep why you'd stay with Comcast. They'll usually give you a pretty good deal.

* They must recycle the heck out of these HD DVRs, because I have one that is dented and has a noisy HD in it.

Both of my boxes were brand new, but then I got them when each model first came out. It wouldn't surprise me if they were recycling them. Keep in mind that if you leave Comcast, they will NOT come pick the boxes up, and will keep billing you full price until you go down and turn them in yourself.

* Why aren't the menu's HD? Seems like an easy fix...

Because Comcast in Memphis elected to keep the crappy Scientific Atlanta cable boxes from Time Warner, which have used the same menu style for at least a decade, literally. SA stuff is horribly outdated, slim on features and really buggy. But it's cheap, which is what the cable providers like.

* Overall, how is comcast service in Memphis?

Was a customer for 6 years. Terribly overpriced, especially after their "specials" run out. HD channel offerings are/were pathetic compared to satellite. Service itself wasn't bad, and OnDemand was nice. Rarely had an outage, but that varies from area to area.

I was a little put off when I went in, had to pay the first month of service, plus $100 deposit for each HD-DVR. Totalled almost $400..

I know D* makes you "buy" their boxes, so I guess really thats a wash...

Wow... I didn't have to do anything like that for either of my boxes. When do they give you your money back?

Satellite may make you buy the boxes, but they usually have so many first-time buyer specials, that it almost always ends up being free or close to it.

The "deposits" credit on the bill after 6 months.

I absolutley loved D* when I had it, but the house is in a pretty wooded part of G'town. Not sure I can get a clear LOS.

Plus, I need internet, and I see Comcast charges you almost double the rate if you're an internet customer only (60 bucks?)

* It seems over the past week I've lost either Ch. 5 Hd or Ch. 13. I thought signal drops were a Sat. problem? Is this common or a symptom of the cable run to this house?


That's usually a symptom of bad connectors or cable in the house. You might check that all connections in the wall (behind the wall plate if you have a jack there) or at any splitters (sometimes in the attic) are tight and secure. You can usually tell if they were professionally done because the crimp will be symmetrical and clean. Bad ones will look as if they were crimped with a pair of pliers. Screw-on connectors are also suspect. For some reason, this problem can knock out one or two digital channels (actually two streams on the same channel), but leave the adjacent ones working fine. I couldn't make something to do this if I tried!

Plus, I need internet, and I see Comcast charges you almost double the rate if you're an internet customer only (60 bucks?)
49.95, no tax

With the election coming up Thursday I hope that the local stations don't screw up the national programming to show minute by minute updates of the race.

I think you'll be pleased!

I couldn't agree more! Now with all of the subchannels available there should be no reason that they couldn't devote one of them to all the detailed coverage they wish and preserve the network programming for the rest.

Kevin
The problem with sub-channels is that the FCC requires that you provide that channel with its own children's programming every week, as well as a bunch of reporting and paperwork requirements, just like the main channel.

Unless the sub-channel can bring in some considerable money, it's not worth it. And we know what it does to the main channel bit rate (although that's not such a problem with 720p). It's a shame - it could be used for extended weather and news event coverage to keep it off of the main channel for those who don't want to see it.

Who is the complete and utter IDIOT at WHBQ who decided to cut into Fringe in the last 5 minutes of the show and cut off the ending?

I think you'll be pleased!

So much for that claim.

The problem with sub-channels is that the FCC requires that you provide that channel with its own children's programming every week, as well as a bunch of reporting and paperwork requirements, just like the main channel.

Unless the sub-channel can bring in some considerable money, it's not worth it. And we know what it does to the main channel bit rate (although that's not such a problem with 720p). It's a shame - it could be used for extended weather and news event coverage to keep it off of the main channel for those who don't want to see it.

Well it is a new way of doing things, and we're early in the game. I can remember similar "complaints" about those damn FM channels sucking the AM's side revenue down :)

Kevin

Not cool at all: Cutting the last 5 min. of Fringe! You couldn't hold off til YOUR LOCAL NEWSCAST STARTED IN 5 MINUTES!

not pleased at all.

I'm still mad about this. Stupidest thing I've seen a Memphis station do since WPTY cut off the end of a Lost episode a few years ago to tell us about a possible severe thunderstorm in some uninhabited county in Arkansas.

Actually, they cut to the news at 8:50. Luckily it's online.

Agree, not cool at all. Tonight WPTY did the best since they didn't cut into programming at all. I haven't seen CSI yet and don't tivo anything from WMC.

But thanks to all for posting here, so I knew to get my copy of Fringe from somewhere other than my TiVo. You guys saved at least one person from the same frustration, so thanks!

But thanks to all for posting here, so I knew to get my copy of Fringe from somewhere other than my TiVo. You guys saved at least one person from the same frustration, so thanks!
Good ending. :)

So much for that claim.

I was referring to the lack of squeezed back, postage-stamped programming and election graphics on the HD feed. I had no idea about chopping the Fringe ending (I was caught yelling at my TV, too!). I didn't know about it until it happened.

Sorry!

I was referring to the lack of squeezed back, postage-stamped programming and election graphics on the HD feed. I had no idea about chopping the Fringe ending (I was caught yelling at my TV, too!). I didn't know about it until it happened.

Sorry!


That was good I enjoyed Bones much more because of that. :)

It's definitely a DirecTV problem. When we are on Fox, the transport stream all the way to the transmitter is just as it left the Fox uplink in LA, due to the use of the splicer. It should affect all Fox stations at the same time if it is a problem with the Fox stream. That being said, I don't think anyone has nailed down the cause of this yet, but there are lots of people at the network, the local stations and at DirecTV working on it.FWIW, I haven't noticed this so far on any of the FOX NFL games...WHBQ via D* or NFL Sunday Ticket.

FWIW, I haven't noticed this so far on any of the FOX NFL games...WHBQ via D* or NFL Sunday Ticket.

Some of my counterparts at other Fox stations have reported some disturbances in the MLB broadcasts this past week, but these appear to be different from the other problems (video pixelization and audio burp). With this one, the signal either locks up or goes black for a few seconds. The problem has been isolated to the Motorola receivers that we all use, so they should have a code fix for it soon. We may get lucky and find that this also fixes the other problems!

Hello everyone...
Can I survery this forum about what brand and model of OTA antenna do you use?

I am thinking of cutting my DirecTV subs and just going OTA since most channels we watch are local and if not, we can watch it online.

I am located in the Bartlett area around Ellis Rd. and Germantown Rd. towards Hwy 70. I am thinking of installing the antenna in my attic and would like to use it with 3 tv's, 1 with a built in tuner and 2 with dtv converters.


Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

You'll love this one... I am using a set of rabbit ears feeding into an amplified distribution amp, feeding 4 TV's

Full signal, all the time, in Bartlett, close to Whitten and Memphis Arlington.


Kevin

Hello everyone...
Can I survery this forum about what brand and model of OTA antenna do you use?

I am thinking of cutting my DirecTV subs and just going OTA since most channels we watch are local and if not, we can watch it online.

I am located in the Bartlett area around Ellis Rd. and Germantown Rd. towards Hwy 70. I am thinking of installing the antenna in my attic and would like to use it with 3 tv's, 1 with a built in tuner and 2 with dtv converters.


Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Is anyone else ticked off that WREG is dropping down to SD to tell us what we are watching and pimp a news story coming on at the 10 pm news?

Looks like we got some new local HD's from D*.

WKNO 10
WMAV 18
WLMT 30

You'll love this one... I am using a set of rabbit ears feeding into an amplified distribution amp, feeding 4 TV's

Full signal, all the time, in Bartlett, close to Whitten and Memphis Arlington.
Kevin

I have crap reception and use rabbit ears, but I live over by the golf course and live on a hill, which on the bottom level I am probably getting some ground reflection. I ought to put it in the attic, but I only rent and as long as my wife can get her pvr working she is happy, which makes me happy.

Besides with hulu, and the internet not much of what you need is missed. I think that the receiver in my pvr an hvr 1800, is better than what is in my TV, or those digital boxes as I don't get drop outs.

Nothing better than on a sunday afternoon putting on the national parks and reading a good book.

Yee haw!!! Just when I had about decided to look into Uverse when my D* commitment is up at the end of december. Are there anymore SEC games on ch 30 this year? I know CBS has a double header this week

Yee haw!!! Just when I had about decided to look into Uverse when my D* commitment is up at the end of december. Are there anymore SEC games on ch 30 this year? I know CBS has a double header this week
I would guess 3 or 4, until the sec regular season is over.

Finally !!!!

looks like we got some new local hd's from d*.

Wkno 10
wmav 18
wlmt 30

Looks like we got some new local HD's from D*.

WKNO 10
WMAV 18
WLMT 30

Great - thanks for the heads up - I am particularly happy to see WLMT 30..

oh yeah! We've been missing WLMT HD ever since we got an HD DVR with no OTA antenna connection on it. All I have to say is, it's about time!