You're right ridge, it wasn't on mine either. That's why I decided to post it up. It's also why I said I was crossing my fingers ;). But it shows up on my D* guide and on Titan and they have it on their site so I'm pretty sure there's going to be some hot licks tonight on 10-1.

Good luck with that antenna glz.

ron

It's in my Voom guide as well, let's hope they know something OPB doesn't.

Originally posted by R11
Hey everybody, this morning I got this email reminder I had set a week or two ago:

Great Performances: Eric Clapton: Crossroads Guitar Festival
Monday, December 13, 2004, 9:00 PM
KOPB-DT

Here's a link with details on the show (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/guitargods/index.html). There was a thread in the HD Programming forum about it a while back and it looks to be seriously sweet if you like blues/rock guitar like I do. If all goes well it should be 2 1/2 hours of hot HD (fingers crossed).

ron TitanTV (for what it's worth) shows that this is on KOPB-DT in hi-def! Now I'm glad I have two tuners (one for MNF, another for this)!

Well, it's kind of funny you mention the "Great Performances" program on OPB because on my way to work this morning, one of the morning radio talk show hosts (I think it was 103.3) was confused about which "Great Performance" show they were going to air. They thought that they were showing a Christmas special with Julie Andrews that had been lost for 50 years or something like that, and they have recently found and restored it. According to them they were going to air that program tonight (for the first time in 50 years) but when they went to verify it, OPB's website showed the Crossroads concert.

To be honest, I hope they show the Eric Claption one!

http://www.opb.org/schedule/dtv/

FWIW, since this only shows "stereo", I called the station a little earlier and asked. The lady who answered put me on hold for 4-5 minutes and when she came back she said "Yes, it will be in HD". As always I would not count on it completely until it's displayed on your screen but it looks very encouraging :).

ron

Doesn't OPB have different programming on their HD and SD channels at the same time?

5:30 PM and the signal from KATU has gone out. Is it just me? Everything else is coming in 80-90. Figures....30 minutes before game time.

Craig

I have been watching the first half in HD

Yes...I got it back about 10 min. before game time.

Originally posted by Marissadad
Some bonehead "salesman" at Best Buy tried feeding me that line of crap about 2 years ago, this after I'd been receiving HD OTA for 2 years already. He just wouldn't believe me that a plain old Rat Shack antenna could pull in HD. :D

Coincidently, the electronics saleman was a Best Buy guy. I suspected the info was false as that was the first time I'd heard that line. I really appreciate the info. Thank You.

By the way, I graduated from Woodburn Hi. Family has been in Woodburn since the 20's. Know the area like the back of my hand.

Clapton's an upconvert.....BOOOOOO!

I thought it looks kind of bad for HD :( (not bad, just not the normal crisp picture), Thanks for confirming. I was worried something was wrong on my end...
Oh well, Clapton is cool even if he's not real clear...

Ha! Great work KATU, loosing the HD feed with less then 3 minutes to go in a close game. Mason's TD catch would have looked a lot better in HD.

Dammit KATU, are you shilling for Comcast (which of course is still working)? Maybe they should just let Comcast do the radio part of the job.

I guess I've been kinda taking HD football for granted lately....until KATU went dead with two and a half minutes to go in the game, and I switched to the analog feed. ewwwwwwwwww!!! heh!! :)

then there's the upconvert Clapton.

It keeps me in perspective, and truly appreciating HD :D

Earl

I bet in SD that actually looked like roughing the passer!

Now that the game looks pretty hopeless.... KATU is back on the air.

I bet in SD that actually looked like roughing the passer!

Actually, everything looked pretty rough. :D

R11: You win - and thanks for having that reminder set up and letting us in on it. I really had my doubts when I saw the Clapton show in the Oregonian listing for OPB analog that it would also be on DT. I noticed the analog feed is letterboxed. Looking at some of the WS shots on my digital feed I wondered how they justified taking the wider angle for 4:3 viewers.

I know OPB is hurting for funding but when was the last time they showed us a premier concert (excluding Soundstage) without the breaks for money? I am a member but I don't feel that my membership is being rewarded with "programming interruptus". Thankfully, my DVR from Comcast will let me view it later without long interruptions. And just to be safe, it's going on VHS as well.

Bob

Gaaa! As you said Bob, the first strike was finding out it was "pledge week". Then the upconvert.... I almost bailed and was about to just record it to SVHS for later consumption so I wouldn't have to sit through the pledge breaks but I ended up watching it anyway. What a disappointment :(. It would have been great in HD...

ron

The real bummer is at the beginning of Clapton it said "Available in HD". NOT.

Did they at least show the pledge breaks in HD?

Originally posted by Marissadad
The real bummer is at the beginning of Clapton it said "Available in HD". NOT.

I'm sure it was "available" from PBS in HD but for some reason OPB chose not to show it that way but picked widescreen, instead. They probably picked it up directly from the DVD they were selling. The other frustrating thing about OPBDT is that just about everything they show from 8 to 11 carries the OPB HDTV bug, whether it's HD or not.

Gotta write to OPB today, (grumble, grumble...). :mad:

Bob

It wasn't even a good upconvert. There was lots of vertical banding in contrasty parts of the image (stage lights in a dark background). I haven't seen that since the last time I tried to downconvert an HD show to SD on my computer and screwed up nearly every possible setting.

Just a heads up.

There was a change made in the ATSC Standard a while back that went almost unnoticed. The change requires stations to not use services below Service 3 (video PID 0x031). (This was done to make the ATSC Standard compatible with the DVB Standard.) Since most of the Portland stations were on the air long before this change occured we have been using Service 1 (PID 0x011) and/or Service 2 (0x021) for most of the local DTV transmissions. As a result most of us will be in violation of this change come January 1, 2005. KPTV/KPDX are not affected by this since their recent rebuild addressed the matter.

We have jointly decided that we will all make the necessary changes in our respective digital transmissions on Tuesday, December 22 during midday hours. Once these changes are made everyone will need to rescan the channels. We agreed to make the changes the same day to cut the number of rescans to just one, hopefully.

KOIN will make the changes between 1 PM and 2 PM. The other stations will make them as their scheduled allows.

So, plan on doing a channel scan next Tuesday afternoon.

Originally posted by scowl
It wasn't even a good upconvert.
I gave up trying to watch the normal size screen, I watched it downconverted through my PVR then at "normal" resolution on my pj, which gave me about a 2/3 downsized image and it looked much cleaner.

Lee, thanks for the headsup.

Does this mean they're trying to make DVB-T and ATSC the same thing or would that make too much sense?

I know this forum is ota, but I'm sure someone out there also has Direct TV that could answer my question. I was checking satellite signal strength and found it to be 85-86. I was just wondering what others get from a triple lnb dish.

Craig

Oh no, I'm getting periodic garbage from KPDX... on Veronica Mars ngiht.

Maybe it'll be fixed when they switch to the network feed.

Originally posted by calambert
I know this forum is ota, but I'm sure someone out there also has Direct TV that could answer my question. I was checking satellite signal strength and found it to be 85-86. I was just wondering what others get from a triple lnb dish.

Craig
86, 92 and 93. I've been told anything above 70 is good. Is this correct?

Oh no, I'm getting periodic garbage from KPDX... on Veronica Mars ngiht.

Maybe it'll be fixed when they switch to the network feed.

No such luck, KPDX is having some real problems tonight.

Thanks Lee, for the update. Also, with CBS starting to send out DD5.1, are there any plans for KOIN to switch to DD5.1 in the near future?

Earl

Oh well, even with all the glitches it was still a great episode. Good thing I don't watch anything else on UPN.

On Voom, the signal goes away at 71, with Dish, it goes away at 40.

Heads UP! If you have HDNET, Portland vs Washington will be aired Saturday in HD at 3:00 PM.

Originally posted by Marissadad
On Voom, the signal goes away at 71, with Dish, it goes away at 40.

Heads UP! If you have HDNET, Portland vs Washington will be aired Saturday in HD at 3:00 PM.
Thanks for the heads up. I'll be watching...

Originally posted by scowl
Oh no, I'm getting periodic garbage from KPDX... on Veronica Mars ngiht.…and I thought it was just me… figures, on the one Tuesday night in the past couple months that I've had a solid signal from KPDX (only 72%, but still solid). :mad: Interestingly enough, KWBP was coming in a solid 70% last night for the first time since late August. That's just enough to get a solid picture with my 811… coincidentally, just a scant week since I signed up for cable. :rolleyes:

Speaking of cable, or more accurately, their Godsend of a PVR… *shrug* I knew it would happen. I just knew I'd have to watch live if I wanted to have any hope of preventing it, yet I knew I'd grow lax and rely upon timeshifting… it was downright predictable. *double shrug* I just got around to watching Desperate Housewives from this past Sunday, and wouldn'tcha know it… it took 'em 21 minutes to hit the HD button. 21 MINUTES!! That's not just indecent, that's obscene! The FCC should be fining this complete disregard of broadcast decency. *quadruple shrug*

Maybe it'll be fixed when they switch to the network feed.:confused: "…to the network feed?" Seeing as how they're already using the network feed, I'm going to assume that's improper use of the word… in which case, did I miss an announcement? To which network feed are they switching?

KPDX was breaking up for me last night as well and KATU went off the air just in time to miss the Charlie Brown special, I had to scramble to switch my PVR over to an analog OTA recording. They were back up after the show was over.

Has WB been decent lately? I'm planning on watching the Wizard of Oz in HD for the first time when they show it this Sunday night and I sure hope it's not messed up.

ron

KATU was off and on all through NYPD Blues also. Serious problems....

Steve

WB has been solid for me. It's weird, my Voom stb used to pull it in around 74 and would break up constantly, but in the last 2 weeks or so, it has been solid in the mid 80's. Did they bump up their power?

Looking for recommendations on an ISF tech in the Portland (Canby) area, based on your experience.

Anyone had their set calibrated recently? I have a Sony 57WS550...

Looking for recommendations on an ISF tech in the Portland (Canby) area, based on your experience.

Anyone had their set calibrated recently? I have a Sony 57WS550...

Krasmusik is a calibrator in the Portland/Vancouver Area. He posts alot in the Local meets forum.

You might want to send him a pm.

Originally posted by Marissadad
KPDX was breaking up for me last night as well and KATU went off the air just in time to miss the Charlie Brown special, But I have the Charlie Brown special from last night on disk right now. I watched the whole thing and saw no problems.

Are you sure KATU was off the air? :confused:

Originally posted by Moorebid
:confused: "…to the network feed?" Seeing as how they're already using the network feed, I'm going to assume that's improper use of the word… in which case, did I miss an announcement? To which network feed are they switching? They were having break ups during the Simpson's rerun at 7:30PM. Simpson's reruns are in syndication. KPDX does not receive them through their HD UPN network feed.

Buzzman59,

You might try Myriad Home entertainment in West Linn. They are a small retailer/custom installer. They are listed in the forum's "installer database" found under services at the top of the page. It says the are cerified ISF.
503-722-8180.

Craig

Lost comes on, KATU goes off the air....

Lost really lost now :-(

What is the problem with KATU these days?

maybe they hired a new night time guy and we need to train him. :D

It's almost like they're hitting the wrong button, when they go to commercials it comes back and then when they switch back to the show, the whole station gets knocked off the air.

I switched to the analog feed and left my SS on the digital feed and that pattern is starting to develop

KATU, Gone again...

Hmmm, would that be some sort of program error in their system or just plain incompetence by the control room?

Their signal is completely disappearing. Wouldn't someone in the control room have to making some pretty drastic mistakes?

BTW.... poof again!

Scowl, KATU was dead at 7:55, 5 minutes prior to the show, I checked it on both stb's and 0% signal strength so I changed to an analog recording on my PVR. It may have come back right before the airing but I didn't want to chance it.

Originally posted by scowl
Their signal is completely disappearing. Wouldn't someone in the control room have to making some pretty drastic mistakes?
I would think so, but I don't know enough about television hardware to even make an educated guess.
What I do know is that in the past I've seen where a station has some type of hardware problem and when they switch feeds they end up broadcasting a dead carrier, there's a signal there but nothing riding it.
KATU's problem is such that local broadcasts of commercials and promos were working fine, but as soon as they switched to the national feed everything went dark. No image, no sound, no signal at all. As soon as the switch was made back to the local broadcast everything was fine. I don't recall even one occasion where there was a commercial break that it wasn't working, yet most always when they switched back to the show, dead airspace, and it stayed dead until it went local again. For all I know they may have a transmitter that senses when it's getting no signal and automatically stops broadcasting.

Earl

Originally posted by scowl
They were having break ups during the Simpson's rerun at 7:30PM. Simpson's reruns are in syndication. KPDX does not receive them through their HD UPN network feed. Ahh, I took "on Veronica Mars ngiht" to mean during Veronica Mars, I didn't bother to check the time of the post. :) I guess the network feed didn't fix anything… *shrug*

And as for all the problems with KATU OTA tonight, it should be of interest that I had no such trouble with KATU on Comcast… Lost recorded beautifully, both hours of it. So take that for what it's worth…

Originally posted by Marissadad
Scowl, KATU was dead at 7:55, 5 minutes prior to the show,It was definitely back up by 8PM and survived the show. I don't think KATU's signal has been going an hour straight since then.

Wouldn't the fact that Comcast was able to provide a clear, uninterrupted showing of LOST lead to a conclusion that KATU was able to provide a good feed to Comcast and the problems reported here were due to OTA transmission problems? I would think a "switch flipping" problem would affect the Comcast signal too.

Originally posted by earletp
For all I know they may have a transmitter that senses when it's getting no signal and automatically stops broadcasting. I don't think that's likely. From what I've read (and the local engineers can tell us) is that shutting down a transmitter is a long process and starting it up is even longer so it's not something you'd want to do regularly or automatically.

It's hard to tell if there is any signal because ATSC receivers will usually reject anything that doesn't look reasonably close to an ATSC stream even if they are picking up something.

Where is the all knowing Lee when we need him?

Thanks scowl, that makes sense.
Could it be possible that KATU is unaware of how bad the problems are? Has anyone contacted them?
I know it was mentioned earlier that Alan had to go to the station to watch Lost in HD a few pages back.

Earl

Scowl is right, we would not want to shut down our DTV transmitters. That drastically shortens the life of the tubes and at around $30,000 each, that would be a bad thing. Much like your own receivers, all the gear we use in our ATSC stream is subject to the occasional lockup and has to be rebooted once in a while. It is all software driven and I swear sometimes that Windows is lurking in there somewhere. I have had times when the only way to cure an erratic problem with the stream is to physically turn a piece of equipment off and then back on. Over time, this stuff will likely get better but you have to consider that good ole' NTSC has been around for a long time and it is not software based.

Our upconverter that takes our analog and converts it to HD is a Linux based system. When it needs rebooted, we have no stream for about 90 seconds - not such a good thing in a broadcast station. That's why all our critical equipment is on a big UPS backed by a generator. However, we don't yet have a generator to keep the DTV transmitter on the air like KOIN does. The budget has been approved for the project so we should have that installed in the next few months as time permits. I'm also trying to get approval for a UPS big enough to handle the transmitter to completely avoid outages.

I just got word from the WB network that we will not again have 5.1 sound until somewhere around Jan 15th. They are having trouble getting the new equipment they ordered to give them a redundant system like they should have had in the first place. Keep your fingers crossed.

Pat

Thanks Pat,

I always find your posts an interesting read. I'm very new to HD, and having followed several boards on this forum I felt as though I was late getting to the HD party. To then learn what the broadcasters are going through it's pretty clear to me that I've arrived in the HD world during the top of the first inning.

Craig

In my case it was a simple mind thinking of simple solutions. ;)

Thanks Pat, for the explanation and your continued efforts, they're both appreciated.

Earl

Thanks Pat. Between Lee and yourself, you both keep us very well informed from the inside.

Don't forget. Tomorrow is the day.

Originally posted by Lee Wood
Just a heads up.

There was a change made in the ATSC Standard a while back that went almost unnoticed. The change requires stations to not use services below Service 3 (video PID 0x031). (This was done to make the ATSC Standard compatible with the DVB Standard.) Since most of the Portland stations were on the air long before this change occured we have been using Service 1 (PID 0x011) and/or Service 2 (0x021) for most of the local DTV transmissions. As a result most of us will be in violation of this change come January 1, 2005. KPTV/KPDX are not affected by this since their recent rebuild addressed the matter.

We have jointly decided that we will all make the necessary changes in our respective digital transmissions on Tuesday, December 22 during midday hours. Once these changes are made everyone will need to rescan the channels. We agreed to make the changes the same day to cut the number of rescans to just one, hopefully.

KOIN will make the changes between 1 PM and 2 PM. The other stations will make them as their scheduled allows.

So, plan on doing a channel scan next Tuesday afternoon.

Lee I hate being picky but Tomorrow is December 21. I wanted to make sure that the change is tomorrow (Tuesday, Dec 21st) and not actually Wednesday, Dec 22nd.

Like I said, not to be picky or anything... :)

Thanks for the head's up Lee.

Originally posted by Karl Englebright
Lee I hate being picky but Tomorrow is December 21. I wanted to make sure that the change is tomorrow (Tuesday, Dec 21st) and not actually Wednesday, Dec 22nd.

Like I said, not to be picky or anything... :) It's so hard to keep track of dates this time of year. Yes, Tuesday IS the day.

I appreciate you keeping us updated!

Thanks!

Hey, all my local channels are gone! What's the deal? ;)

ron

I'm sure KPTV and KPDX are still there! :)

Well, yeah you're right. It was just a preemptive post anyway :). Have any of them already made the changes?

ron

KPTV and KPDX went on the air using service 3 in anticipation of the new standard. It confused the heck out of me because I couldn't get anything out of the first two program streams!

Originally posted by R11
Have any of them already made the changes?

ron KOIN is complete with the changes. Looks like KATU is also. It also looks like KWBP and KGW are working on it and KOPB hasn't started yet.

BTW - With these changes if someones PSIP system goes away the programs will be on the -3 and -4 subchannels (like 40-3 and 40-4 instead of 40-1 and 40-2).

After seeing my Sammy DLP/HD Tivo combo, my dad in Portland is going to get a 46" HLP set.

I'm running D*, but he's likely to stick with cable. What are the best options in the Portland area, with Comcast? (Tualatin, to be exact.)

Is the HD DVR available there yet?
Is there a way to use Comcast and an OTA together with a Sammy HLP?

Any tips appreciated!

Originally posted by dennya
After seeing my Sammy DLP/HD Tivo combo, my dad in Portland is going to get a 46" HLP set.

I'm running D*, but he's likely to stick with cable. What are the best options in the Portland area, with Comcast? (Tualatin, to be exact.)

Is the HD DVR available there yet?
Is there a way to use Comcast and an OTA together with a Sammy HLP?

Any tips appreciated!

The HD DVR (Motorola 6412) is available and is being discussed here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=339961&goto=newpost)

I don't know what inputs the Sammy has, but presumably it has at least multiple component inputs. The DVR has component and DVI outputs. It doesn't receive OTA HD, though. So for CBS/KOIN and UPN/KPTV you'd need an OTA receiver.

Originally posted by Lee Wood
KOIN is complete with the changes. Looks like KATU is also. It also looks like KWBP and KGW are working on it and KOPB hasn't started yet.
So is everyone done, can I do my re-scan now? How will I know it's done? What will be different?:rolleyes:

Lee, is there any good news concerning DD 5.1 and KOIN now that CBS is passing it through?

Thanks.

Why don't I get a color icon for all my local and DirecTV channels. Only some of them are a real (color) icons, others are just grey with the stations call letters in the center. How do these get updated?

Originally posted by Marissadad
Lee, is there any good news concerning DD 5.1 and KOIN now that CBS is passing it through?

Thanks. Not as long as the FCC keeps dropping multi-million-dollar mandates on us and our other stations. Full dynamic PSIP is mandatory as of February 1, 2005 ($300k), so are native 708 captions ($75,000) and the kicker - full power buildouts by July 1, 2005 for UHF transmitters that will be abandoned later when stations start going back to channels 7-13 ($??,000,000).

Does anyone know what unscrambled QAM channels are available over Comcast basic cable in the Portland/Beaverton area? I am debating purchasing the Samsung SIR-T451 ATSC tuner to replace my SIR-T165 because of its ability to tune unscrambled QAM, but I have no idea what I'll get beyond the major networks already available OTA.

Any input is appreciated. Thanks!

Originally posted by Lee Wood
Not as long as the FCC keeps dropping multi-million-dollar mandates on us and our other stations. Full dynamic PSIP is mandatory as of February 1, 2005 ($300k), so are native 708 captions ($75,000) and the kicker - full power buildouts by July 1, 2005 for UHF transmitters that will be abandoned later when stations start going back to channels 7-13 ($??,000,000).

That's to bad, but certainly understandable, that's one heck of an investment!!

Earl

Originally posted by jseitz
Does anyone know what unscrambled QAM channels are available over Comcast basic cable in the Portland/Beaverton area? I am debating purchasing the Samsung SIR-T451 ATSC tuner to replace my SIR-T165 because of its ability to tune unscrambled QAM, but I have no idea what I'll get beyond the major networks already available OTA.

Any input is appreciated. Thanks!
All you'll get is ABC, NBC, PBS, WB, FOX and several digital music stations.
You actually get more from OTA than unscrambled QAM since you get CBS and UPN OTA too.

Earl

Thanks for the reply, Lee, I really feel for you guys.

704 (KATU), 708 (KGW), 710 (KOPB), 712 (KPTV), 713 (Fox)

Originally posted by Marissadad
Thanks for the reply, Lee, I really feel for you guys.

Hey, remember when we were going to have bake sales, car washes, etc. to raise the $25k (or was it 35?) Lee needed for the 5.1 equipment? A few of us were seriously thinking of starting contributions. But I don't know if the folks over on the Comcast thread (me included as I'd be glad to dump my OTA box) would be happy with us funding an Emmis enterprise that won't deal with Comcast for HD cable carriage.

Looks like a further stalemate for having 5.1 from KOIN anytime soon. :(

Bob

This could very well be an issue with my TV (Mits DLP 52525), antenna, or both, but as of about 3 or 4 weeks ago, I lost KATU OTA digital. I realize there was a change in the OTA stuff today, and I was hoping a new channel scan on the Mits would pick up KATU again after the changes... but no. I pick up all the other stations (KOIN, KWB, KPDX, KWG, and some others), including VHF channel 2 (analog KATU).

Does anyone else have issues bringing in the KATU (ABC) station in HD? How about anyone with a Mits DLP TV?

Originally posted by ridgefamus
(snip...)
I don't know if the folks over on the Comcast thread (me included as I'd be glad to dump my OTA box) would be happy with us funding an Emmis enterprise that won't deal with Comcast for HD cable carriage.

Looks like a further stalemate for having 5.1 from KOIN anytime soon. :(

Bob Emmis IS willing to deal, but Comcast is only interested in ONE deal. That is the one where stations give them a HDTV signal for free so that they can sell it and up-sell their customers. After what is soon to be a five year / $4,000,000 investment in Portland alone for HDTV with no advertiser revenue that simply does not compute. The satellite companies compensate stations for selling their signals. Comcast refuses to even talk about it.

Originally posted by Lee Wood
KOIN is complete with the changes. Looks like KATU is also. It also looks like KWBP and KGW are working on it and KOPB hasn't started yet.
So is everyone done, can I do my re-scan now? How will I know it's done? What will be different:rolleyes:

Originally posted by glz
So is everyone done, can I do my re-scan now? How will I know it's done? What will be different:rolleyes: Everyone is done. After the rescan you should see nothing different from the way things used to be.

Originally posted by glz
So is everyone done, can I do my re-scan now? How will I know it's done? What will be different:rolleyes:

We all finished the changes by 3:30pm yesterday. With our 5 consumer receivers here at the station (and our analog transmitter site), a MyHD card in the shop, our "professional" Sencore Demod and my receiver at home, none of them required a re-scan and they all seem happy. I have to say this went smoother than I expected although I had plenty of problems since the instructions from the equipment manufacturer were flat wrong in a couple of places. I'd say that the change was a big sucess for Portland and it's great that we're in a market where the engineers can all work cooperatively on projects like this which benefits all of us engineers as well as you consumers. Thanks Lee for heading up the project.

Pat

Originally posted by Lee Wood
Emmis IS willing to deal, but Comcast is only interested in ONE deal. That is the one where stations give them a HDTV signal for free so that they can sell it and up-sell their customers. After what is soon to be a five year / $4,000,000 investment in Portland alone for HDTV with no advertiser revenue that simply does not compute. The satellite companies compensate stations for selling their signals. Comcast refuses to even talk about it.

Lee: I'm sure you are right and can speak knowledgeably from Emmis' perspective. However, the perception remains that the other local HD providers have gotten a deal done with Comcast. Can their revenue models be so vastly different? I know Cox Communications in the SF Bay Area is in a similar position as Emmis with Comcast there. We can't get CBS NFL in HD here while SF can't get Fox NFL in HD via Comcast, among the other HD offerings of the respective networks. Again, these are discussion better suited to the Portland Comcast thread.

For the OTA thread, let me say how extremely grateful I am to you and ALL the dedicated, pioneering engineers in our community who have set Portland into a leadership position for digital/HD broadcasting. The investment is great and the payback is far into the future. But without forward-thinking innovators, we'd still be in the dark ages. Personally, (and in spite of what I said earlier) I would prefer to keep my "free" OTA viewing alive rather than paying Comcast or another provider for local HD programming. But when those providers package compelling non-local HD programming without a la carte capability, we are pretty much at their mercy.

Bob

Hi Lee-

Thanks for changing KOIN's PSIP.

(sarcasm generator full on)

Now I can timeshift KOIN's HD programming using my sir-t165 and Mits 2000 DVHS recorder, equipment I purchased 2 years ago for just this purpose. It only took an act of congress(fcc) to get this done. This may be the best thing the government has done for me since the tax cut.

I could already do this with my 3410a, which I purchased 2/04 after a year of frustration and inability to record 6-1.

I know there are others in the neighborhood that have this same combo and might find this info useful.

BTW- I would like to invite you over to watch ABCHD, NBCHD, FOXHD, WBHD, and OPBHD on comcast in the clear QAM that comcast does not charge extra for even with just basic cable. We can watch these channels in HD on the 3410a but you may not like them as they are actually "free of any additional charge". Just don't tell the BIG SHOTS at Emmis. I would think much less of them if I thought they knew the truth and continued to spew their lame story.

(sarcasm generator off)

Seriously Lee, I don't expect you to go against Emmis, but if you saw the truth for yourself I would hope you would at least stop propagating the company line here. It makes you look like Bagdad Bob.

Lew

Try not paying your basic cable bill and see how long you'll get Comcast to give you those local HD channels for free. Having the equipment to watch them is not really any different than having a cable ready TV for the analog channels.
Do you really think if Comcast was not required to pass them on that they wouldn't quickly be relegated to a HD Premium service at an additional charge?

Comcast won't even tell you that you can get the HD locals with a QAM receiver and limited basic, if you ask they'll tell you that you need the HD package and one of their digital HD receivers. They do use them to upsell services and equipment.

(yeah, I know, wrong forum) :D

I want to give all the engineers at the Portland stations a big THANK YOU! You guys are doing wonderful work and provide outstanding service to us HD junkies. I watch 95% HD now so the work you do is very important to me. Watching HDTV is how I zone out after a hard day at work. Your dedication allows me to smile every time I see that beautiful picture.

On another topic-
I still struggle trying to get a decent signal here in Salem for NBC but my remote antenna rotator has made that tolerable. I'm amazed at how much variation there is in the signal. Here is how my antenna has been aimed lately:

Aug/Sep 140
Nov 8 108
Nov 9 100
Nov 28 76
Dec 2 145
Dec 12 154

...and I watch TV every day. And yes, my antenna actually moves correctly and is mounted properly. I used to climb up on the roof every week or two in the fall/spring.

Doesn't PAX have a digital signal. I figured with all the remapping etc. I would look for it but I could not find it, not that I watch PAX anyhow.

PAX disappeared a while back.

I do whole heartily agree that the engineers in Portland help raise this market to a level above many of the others.
I feel fortunate that we have them participating in this thread too.

Originally posted by bertschb
I'm amazed at how much variation there is in the signal. Here is how my antenna has been aimed lately:

Aug/Sep 140
Nov 8 108
Nov 9 100
Nov 28 76
Dec 2 145
Dec 12 154
When are these stations going to stop moving their towers around? :D

I would think that the farther away you are from the tower, the less variation you would have in direction. So much for that theory. Any idea what crazy path these signals are taking to get to you?

Originally posted by hilladen
Doesn't PAX have a digital signal. I figured with all the remapping etc. I would look for it but I could not find it, not that I watch PAX anyhow.

Last evening I was doing a rescan, before I knew it wasn't necessary, and came across PAX at 22-1, 22-2, 22-3 and 22-4. I couldn't believe the number of subs!! After I finished the scan, I couldn't bring any of the 22s back in. Wierd!

Originally posted by hilladen
Doesn't PAX have a digital signal. I figured with all the remapping etc. I would look for it but I could not find it, not that I watch PAX anyhow.

PAX is digital on channel 4 making them the only VHF channel currently used for digital in Portland. The reason you might have trouble receiving them is that your UHF antenna probably doesn't work too well on VHF frequencies. My silver sensor at home works fine, but I'm only about 4 miles from the site. Your reception problem could also be due to impulse noise (you know the sparkles in analog pictures) that plague AM radio and analog TV pictures. To a DTV signal, that noise creates random errors that can drive your receiver nuts trying to find the good data in the jumble of bits. That's also why most stations throughout the country will choose not to return to a low band (2 - 6) channel for DTV when we shut down analog for good.

Pat

What exactly where the changes that occurred yesterday? I am receiving 32-1 a whole heck of lot better then I did before the changes. Are they responsible for my better reception of is just another oddity in my relationship with the WB in HD.

A note of thanks to Lee, Pat and all the other folks at Portland DTV stations whose hard work brings us hours of HD viewing pleasure!

The re-scan had two benefits for me. For one, PAX 22.x (and its 4 useless SD subchannels) disappeared. Second is that although WB's signal strength is around 40-50%, the picture is a lot more stable than before.

Also, in the spirit of the season, a hearty "thanks" to the wonderful people who post many informative and helpful comments to this forum, and are patient with those of us who are not very HDTV-savvy. You know who you are!

HZ

I would have to agree with Hormoz. I have learned a lot form participating in this forum, thanks for all the useful information and tips.

I have a UHF/VHF combo and get PAX just fine, not that the channels are fine, 4 sub channels, crap! They are ALMOST as good as Dish Networks worst SD channels, LOL.

Thanks Pat & Lee for your hard work, I've been enjoying so much HD lately & have so many choices, I hardly know what to tune in anymore.

Originally posted by lewlew
Now I can timeshift KOIN's HD programming using my sir-t165 and Mits 2000 DVHS recorder, equipment I purchased 2 years ago for just this purpose. It only took an act of congress(fcc) to get this done. This may be the best thing the government has done for me since the tax cut.

I could already do this with my 3410a, which I purchased 2/04 after a year of frustration and inability to record 6-1. Do you mean the SIR-T165 / Mits 2000 combo now works? The change in PSIP should not have affected the Samsung unit if what they told me the cause of the problem (successive duplicate PSIP packets) was correct. But, the implementation of a new PSIP system next month probably would have. (Anyone want a 5 year old, $35,000 PC?)

It works very nicely, thank you.

Newbie here. Just got a Sony KDF42WE655 last month and am still figuring everything out. It's a first time HDTV for us so everything is new.

First thing I want to do is thank y'all. I've been reading posts and doing searches about questions I have and I have to say that most everything you want to know is here if you look for it. Appreciate Lee and Pat giving of their expertise. Nothing like having a real honest to god expert posting to a forum board.

Lee, does that full strength PSIP implementation that you mentioned have anything to do with on-screen (on-signal?) program information? When I tune to a station an information box pops up on my screen with station id, signal strength, etc. but the info for programming is empty. Actually it says
"No Program title available" and "No program information is available."
But one time several weeks ago when I was changing channels there was program information. I think it was KPTV but I'm not 100 percent sure about that. Up until that time, since I'm strictly OTA, I thought program info was only available with cable or dish but now I'm wondering.

And just for general info, I see from the posts that alot of people in the South and Southwest locations seem to have problems with KATU or KOIN.
I'm in North Portland up by the University of Portland and my problem station here is KGW. It seems to go black alot.

Gary

It's possible that it will take a minute or two for your tuner to accumulate enough PSIP info before it will display any of it. The open source PSIP tool I use takes a long time to find everything in the stream. It looks like the data is sent in bits and pieces every few seconds. Try checking the PSIP after you've been watching a station for a few minutes.

has any of the SIR-T165 owners on the portland area had any issues receiving KOPB 10-1? I just purchased this unit and have not yet mounted my antenna, but I've heard rumors of issues w/ PBS.
thanks

I have no issues with my SIR-TS160. I can receive all the channels just fine. It is not the exact same but my understanding is that they are similar.

But one time several weeks ago when I was changing channels there was program information. I think it was KPTV but I'm not 100 percent sure about that. Up until that time, since I'm strictly OTA, I thought program info was only available with cable or dish but now I'm wondering.

Gary, KOIN has been consistent with providing program info for a long time. KPTV and KPDX have done pretty well since going HD this fall though there have been a few glitches. KWBP had program info for a while but then had trouble with their system and Pat hasn't had the chance to get it fixed, but it will be back.
I've never gotten any program info from KATU, KGW, or KOPB, though there was a rumor a few months back that KGW was working on theirs and once in a while KOPB will display "DTV Program" but that's the best it does.

Earl

Must be Santa causing the OTA glitches tonight...

Merry Christmas :)

jseitz,

OPB 10-1 with T165 works fine from Tanasbourne area.

Locally the only serious issue with the T165 was the inability to record 6-1. That was fixed this past week.

bertschb,

I'm guessing the rotor numbers you have posted are compass points. If they are compass points, aren't all but one of your numbers pointing south of east?

Do Salemites have their own transmitter towers somewhere off to the southeast or are you playing some sort of weird mountain pinball with the signals from Portland?

If your numbers are merely relative to the rotor control and not a compass heading, well, then, "nevermind".

This probably doesn't affect anyone but me, but I don't think KOIN is sending PSIP data correctly:

ERROR in TS 0x1e01 pkt Continuity Count - expected 14 got 13
ERROR in TS 0x1e17 pkt Continuity Count - expected 7 got 6
ERROR in TS 0x1e01 pkt Continuity Count - expected 15 got 14
ERROR in TS 0x1e17 pkt Continuity Count - expected 8 got 7
ERROR in TS 0x1e17 pkt Continuity Count - expected 9 got 8
ERROR in TS 0x1e17 pkt Continuity Count - expected 10 got 9
ERROR in TS 0x1e17 pkt Continuity Count - expected 11 got 10
ERROR in TS 0x1e01 pkt Continuity Count - expected 0 got 15
ERROR in TS 0x1e01 pkt Continuity Count - expected 1 got 0
ERROR in TS 0x1e01 pkt Continuity Count - expected 2 got 1
ERROR in TS 0x1ffb pkt Continuity Count - expected 7 got 6
ERROR in TS 0x1ffb pkt Continuity Count - expected 8 got 7
ERROR in TS 0x1ffb pkt Continuity Count - expected 9 got 8

being that Discovery Channel SD is found on basic cable, could Discovery HD also be had with a QAM tuner like the SIR-T451 with no additional service? in other words, is Discovery HD unscrambled since its SD counterpart is on basic cable?

Originally posted by jseitz
being that Discovery Channel SD is found on basic cable, could Discovery HD also be had with a QAM tuner like the SIR-T451 with no additional service? in other words, is Discovery HD unscrambled since its SD counterpart is on basic cable?
There's a seperate forum for Comcast questions here
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=339961&perpage=20&pagenumber=1

though I already answered you here
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=4851038#post4851038

the short answer is No
Good luck and enjoy your HD,
Earl

thanks again for your response, earl. i will stick with the 165 and OTA. the antenna will be up up in the next few days!

If you're anything like me, I went from "WOW!! HD is way cool", to "I sure wish we had HD out of prime time" to "EWWW, SD really sucks!!" heh!! ;)

Sorry to any Steve Harvey fans out there. We had a satellite receiver die tonight and that is why we had no DTV signal for about 45 minutes of the show. The guy in master control is a vacation fill-in due to the holiday and didn't know to look at the right monitor so he didn't know anything was wrong until I called him. I got things reconfigured to use our other HD receiver so the rest of the night should be good.

As to the comment about KWBP's signal being better after the PID changes - beats me. That change should have nothing to do with how your receiver decodes the signal except to tell it which packets are video, audio or data. Nothing else has changed so the signal level should be the same as before. As I've mentioned before, I don't understand all I know about this DTV, MPEG, ASI, ATSC, SMPTE-310M, DVB stuff but I sure have learned a lot of nifty acronyms :D :D :D

Pat

I was watching the Colts v Chargers earlier today and kept getting pauses in the game without loss of picture. Anyone experience that as well?

I had several pauses during the CBS game. Sometimes I lost picture, sometimes not. The reception always registered the same, even during pauses.

I've been having a harder time getting KOIN to come in reliably in the past month or so. It used to be rock solid all the time. I had to move my antenna a foot or so to get the reception bar up to mid-normal. Weather, perhaps (though why just KOIN)?

(I'm about 8 miles NW of the towers)

Hi all,

I've read various AVS forums for years, but only recently realized this great thread existed. I've since gone back and skimmed the entire Portland OTA thread and also the Portland Comcast thread. But it's hard to completely absorb all that info, so I have some simple questions to ask. I apologize in advance if the answers have been previously posted and I've overlooked them.

Thanks to all the great posts, I now understand that OTA HD has a certain bit rate, about 20 Mbit/sec. That bit rate can be dedicated to a single subchannel, such as a football game, or it can be split up into 3 or 4 subchannels. This is decided program by program at each individual TV station.

I'm trying to decide whether to go OTA or Comcast for local HD channels, and I wonder what I would lose from Comcast. I currently have Directv but can't get any HD because trees block the 110 and 119 satellites. And of course there are no HD locals on DTV anyway.

I'm asking here rather than in the Comcast thread, since what I'm asking about is really the DIFFERENCE between OTA and Comcast. In an ideal world I'd cross-post, but that's not an option with these forums.

My two questions are simple. Sorry if my terminology isn't super clear. I have a technical background but am not up on HDTV.


1) Does Comcast carry all the subchannels of an OTA signal, or do they just carry the main one?

2) Within a subchannel, are the bits that Comcast carries identical to the OTA bits, or are they further compressed by Comcast. For example, if the main OTA subchannel has 10 Mbit/sec devoted to it during a given program, will Comcast carry those exact 10 MBit/sec or can they further compress the data before putting it on cable? I'm not interested in possible bit rate differences related to 8VSB vs QAM modulation. I'm interested in the underlying bit rates of the MPEG-2 encoding of the actual programs.


I understand that my questions can apply generically between OTA and cable, and aren't specific to Portland or Comcast. But I'm not interested in generic answers. I want to know what's happening in Portland (actually Tualatin) because that's where I live.

Also, I realize that I can't get KOIN from Comcast. And that's a big deal for me, because of football. But I also don't want to deal with mounting an outdoor antenna and running 100 ft of coax from the wrong side of my house thru my basement crawl space and to my main entry point. But life is a series of tradeoffs.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

I don't understand all I know about this DTV, MPEG, ASI, ATSC, SMPTE-310M, DVB stuff but I sure have learned a lot of nifty acronyms LOL Pat, that cracked me up. :D
Happy Holidays to you and I'm hoping the DTV elves are kind to you in the next year.

I had similar problems with KOIN football today, fortunately those kind of things are pretty rare.

Phantom Gremlin, I'm not an expert but from what I know, Comcast passes the signal through just as they get it, I'm told they do not alter it in anyway. Though experience shows me that OTA gives a slight improvment in image quality over cable. On the other hand, there have been a few times recently that we've lost the OTA signal but Comcasts transmission has not faltered. <shrug>
No, Comcast doen not send out the sub-channels, just the main digital feed from each station.
Not only will you not get KOIN from Comcast, you won't get UPN either.
FWIW, I have a QAM capable STB and I just leave it set for OTA.

Earl

Originally posted by Phantom Gremlin
1) Does Comcast carry all the subchannels of an OTA signal, or do they just carry the main one?
No, just the main one.

2) Within a subchannel, are the bits that Comcast carries identical to the OTA bits, or are they further compressed by Comcast. For example, if the main OTA subchannel has 10 Mbit/sec devoted to it during a given program, will Comcast carry those exact 10 MBit/sec or can they further compress the data before putting it on cable? I'm not interested in possible bit rate differences related to 8VSB vs QAM modulation. I'm interested in the underlying bit rates of the MPEG-2 encoding of the actual programs.
No, OTA transmission is totally different than the technique used for cable (IE, a OTA tuner will not receive the cables HD signal). Both technologies work very well. I have direcTV HD service and OTA local. the OTA signal looks much better than DirecTVs HD signal. DirecTV is "almost HD" because of all the compression they do. I recently switched from Comcast HD service. Although the selection was limited, it looked as good as the OTA signal I receive now...

I'm very happy with my current setup as DirecTV will continue to offer more HD programs and it's an all digital offering. Parts of Comcast are still Analog. Run the cable and put up an antenna. You will be happy you did (once your done)... I hope this helps

Originally posted by Phantom Gremlin
I'm trying to decide whether to go OTA or Comcast for local HD channels, and I wonder what I would lose from Comcast. There's some legal discussion on whether or not cable companies will be forced to carry subchannels someday but they aren't at this point.

You don't gain much of anything with Comcast as far as local channels. You get improved reception which sometimes includes receiving the channel even when their OTA signal is dead. You lose the ability to easily record DTV although some people have successfully recorded local channels through the cable STB's firewire port.

I almost never watch OTA channels on Comcast. My HTPC (with an DTV receiver board) gives me Tivo-like features that the Comcast STB won't give me like pausing and rewinding a live program. Also I can't adjust Comcast's STB for the overscan of my monitor like I can with my PC's video card so about 15% of the picture is missing.

Other than that, the OTA and Comcast pictures are identical. I've switched back and forth between the two many times and not seen any quality differences at all. I've often tried to pause a program on my PC not realizing I was watching it on cable.

(off subject)
Scowl,

I was thinking of trying to set up my PC to do what you have your PC doing, record etc. Could you clue me in on some software and other parameters that may help. I haven't looked to far so I suspect that there is a thread in AVS land somewhere. Any help you could give would be appreciated.

Originally posted by scowl
...
You don't gain much of anything with Comcast as far as local channels. You get improved reception which sometimes includes receiving the channel even when their OTA signal is dead. You lose the ability to easily record DTV although some people have successfully recorded local channels through the cable STB's firewire port.

I almost never watch OTA channels on Comcast. My HTPC (with an DTV receiver board) gives me Tivo-like features that the Comcast STB won't give me like pausing and rewinding a live program. Some of these comments are no longer valid, now that Comcast is installing the Motorola 6412 HDTV DVR. It also has Tivo-like features including rewinding a live program and recording HDTV. See thePortland Comcast thread here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=339961&goto=newpost)

Then there are other conveniences HTPC's give you like screen captures, much more storage (and easy to upgrade any time), copying programs to DAT or DVD so you'll have them forever, and saving programs to your laptop so you can watch them on a long flight.

These are not features most people would use (I admit I've only done the laptop thing twice) but I feel good knowing that I'll only be limited by what my PC can do and not what the cable company allows me to do.

Scowl may I correspond with you via email about the subject?

Sure, send me a private message. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/private.php?s=&action=newmessage&userid=7430069)

Originally posted by hilladen
(off subject)
Scowl,

I was thinking of trying to set up my PC to do what you have your PC doing, record etc. Could you clue me in on some software and other parameters that may help. I haven't looked to far so I suspect that there is a thread in AVS land somewhere. Any help you could give would be appreciated.

They are called HTPC's, and here is the tread you want to check out.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=26

Good luck!

Attention Samsung owners:

Samsung has an upgrade kit available for some of their OTA receivers to make them correctly handle the broadcast flag that may someday be present in DTV signals. You can read more about it at this site under the FAQ: http://*******.com/5zj9e

I've ordered one for the Samsung we have in our shop so I'll let you know how the upgrade goes after I get the kit.

Pat

Can I ask what antennas people are using for their OTA HD reception? I have a Dell W4200HD (built in HD tuner) and a Dishnetwork DVR 921.

I am just trying to figure out what the best OTA antenna option is from the Washington Square area.

Currently I am looking at the "DB2 High Gain Multi - Directional"....the little silver surfer (or what ever it is called) didn't do it for me! :)

Can I ask what antennas people are using for their OTA HD reception? I have a Dell W4200HD (built in HD tuner) and a Dishnetwork DVR 921.

I am in Tualatin and tried several different antennas. I started with the Terk HDTVi it did not work well at all. After that I tried the Terk tube type antenna TV-55?? It was garbage as well. I tried and old style RCA 40" Boom antenna in my attic that worked OK. Then off a recommendation from CPCAT I now have a Channel Master 8 bow tie CM4221. The 4221 seems to work the best for me. It still has drop outs once in a while depending on weather. Best of luck

Originally posted by Pat Shearer
Attention Samsung owners:

Samsung has an upgrade kit available for some of their OTA receivers to make them correctly handle the broadcast flag that may someday be present in DTV signals. You can read more about it at this site under the FAQ: http://*******.com/5zj9e

I've ordered one for the Samsung we have in our shop so I'll let you know how the upgrade goes after I get the kit.

Pat Don't forget to check this thread about the Samsung STB upgrades (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?threadid=323077)

Was anyone getting a signal from KATU last night? Why is "Lost" always "Lost"?

Craig

Didn't check my OTA feed last night but since it was on Comcast in HD, I have to believe KATU was putting out an HD signal. KATU-DT is on this morning OTA here in Tigard.

Bob

I got home in time to watch the end of the first Lost ep and the whole second one OTA with no probs...

Any body watch CSI: NY last night? For me KOIN seems to be having much worse pixelation than usual. Lee, if you're lurking have you made any changes in the BW allocation lately? It was extremely poor last night. Seemed even worse than usual :mad:.

ron

Thanks for the feedback. I tweeked my attic antenna a few degrees to the north, and KATU is back to reception of 90. Funny thing is that there has never been a time when it wasn't the strongest signal I receive. Seems funny that it would come in at 90 or not at all. I'm thinking that my antenna may have pivotted a bit out of position. After the adjustment every channel comes in very strong. (80-100).

Craig
Craig

I'm having trouble getting audio on Katu 2-1. My digital off air signal is 77%. It's so weird, usually I have to go to different channels then came back then the audio would work. I have this problm almost every time I go to 2-1 channel. I have samsung TS160 DTV box. Also any of you know the samsung code to put in panasonic remote control?
Thanks,
Vicky

Fire Dragon, I have the same receiver and I have had similar problems. You will need to do the whole unplug - plug in reset to get it to come back.

For me, KATU has had considerable lip-synch issues lately.

(possible) programming note: It looks like OBP-DT has a few HDTV programs that do not show up in their listing (http://www.opb.org/schedule/dtv/).

For example, my HD TiVo claims they will be showing The Desert Speaks on Monday at 4PM and Smart Travels at 4:30. It also lists many showings of The Desert Speaks at times like 2:30 AM and 1:00 AM when I thought they were not on the air.

According to TitanTV, the Tournament of Roses Parade is in HD tomorrow morning on KATU.

WOW,

I guess I am in the club just hooked up OTA Silver Sensor antenna on my 811 dish. I pointed at general direction of towers and am pulling in an 86 for the Rose Bowl. Looks flawless.

It probalbly helps I am in SW hills Hillsdale area on a hill with direct view.
Antenna is indoors pointing out a glass door with a few trees.

simply amazing

Welcome!

I try to research before asking wierd questions,

but is there a reason when I scanned DTV that the results show two channels? Like I have two of KOIN I believe one says SD the other HD. Is it normal I guess is what I am asking. running a indoor silver sensor.

thanks

Yeah, it is normal for the stations to have a SD channel as well as a HD channel.

BTW Lee, are you gong to have another triple cast going in March?

It's normal, you should get the following:

KATU: 2-1
KOIN: 6-1 & 6-2
KGW: 8-1 & 8-2
KOPB: 10-1
KPTV: 12-1
KPAX: 22-1 & 22-2 & 22-3 & 22-4
KWBP: 32-1
KPDX: 49-1

Thanks,
Every station is locked in at 90 except kpax and some religious channels.
dish 811
silver sensor
west hills, between hillsdale and barbur blvd.
worked first time first point.

Hi, I am getting a green bar on right side of ABC rose bowl and fiesta bowl. Very distracting. Seems to only be with this station. Are others seeing ths? Want to be sure it is ABC and not my new equipment. Thanks, Roy

Originally posted by globo
Every station is locked in at 90 except kpax and some religious channels.Actually, you shouldn't get PAX (KPXG) as it's on a VHF frequency (4) and the Silver Sensor is a UHF antenna.

Originally posted by roysi
Hi, I am getting a green bar on right side of ABC rose bowl and fiesta bowl. Very distracting. Seems to only be with this station. Are others seeing ths? Want to be sure it is ABC and not my new equipment. Thanks, Roy Yeah, ABC's always like that. No idea why. Usually the overscan of a television would conceal it, but for those of us who have adjusted our sets for little-to-no overscan, or - worse - have digital displays with no overscan, it's a glaring aberration.

Originally posted by roysi
Hi, I am getting a green bar on right side of ABC rose bowl and fiesta bowl. Very distracting. Seems to only be with this station. Are others seeing ths? Want to be sure it is ABC and not my new equipment. Thanks, Roy
My Dish 6000 did that and I went into the Setup portion for HD and adjusted the screen's horizontal position and it went away. My Voom box has never had this symptom. Also, it seems to help leaving the box in 1080i, if I put it in 720p, it is more prone to this green bar.

Thanks guys, good to know it isn't my problem. I'm using LG LST-4200A with AE700 projector (8.8ft screen!) Will try 1080i. Thanks again! Roy

8.8ft screen? Marissadad boast a 9.16 ft screen. :D

Originally posted by hilladen
8.8ft screen? Marissadad boast a 9.16 ft screen. :D
:D You know, it's true, size DOES matter. ;)

I have the silver zenith and I can get all the pax channels. I put my attenna next to window on the 2nd floor.
My b/f thinks I'm too cheap b/c I have no cable & no sattelite. I love my new panny 53" projector TV, the picture is crystal clear on HD channels and DVD movies.

KOIN is cool. It shows the schedule. Why can the rest of the HD local have that? Maybe one of these days.. this year

FireDragon, With patience, KPTV and KPDX will show you a schedule too!! :)

I also receive PAX with just a Silver Sensor.

Earl

I tried watching the blazer game tonight on the 8-1 digital channel. I kept getting dropped pixels and audio. Clearly a reception/transmit problem. Did anyone watch the game on 8-1 with no problems? Not sure if it's my setup or not.

Sorry, I didn't watch the game so can't help you out with that, but trying to watch Behind Enemy Lines OTA on 6-1 and experiencing alot of problems, the signal strength drops from 80 to 0 and the picture and sound freeze for a few seconds. Happens every few minutes. Anyone else, experiencing this or is it just me.

Ditto on Behind Enemy Lines. I didn't start watching it because both Voom and HDTV Magazine did not say HD, but I tuned it for a moment and it was HD but I went back to it a few minutes later and even though it showed a signal of 94% there was no audio or video, then a few minutes later it was back.

Regarding KGW and Blazer games, I sure wish they would shut down the sub channel during games, the picture is absolutely horrid. I end up watching them via an analog signal, it looks much better, isn't that sad?

TitanTV showed it as being in HD. I've found it to be pretty reliable.

Alas, eventually the picture went permanently black with no sound, although the signal strength was still showing around 80%. Well I should say permanently because I didn't wait around to see when it would come back, but I did check again after about 15 minutes or so an it was still black. Man this sure get's frustrating sometimes. And it was a really excellent transfer. On my screen, only a 8.83 ft diagonal, it looked great while it lasted.

All you guys with your big screens might start giving us screen envy.

Have we ever gotten a complete answer as to why KOIN is having all these issues with their signal? I know Lee has addressed some individual issues here and there but I don't remember him giving us a full explanation, other than the systems aren't redundant...etc.

Originally posted by hilladen
All you guys with your big screens might start giving us screen envy.

Have we ever gotten a complete answer as to why KOIN is having all these issues with their signal? I know Lee has addressed some individual issues here and there but I don't remember him giving us a full explanation, other than the systems aren't redundant...etc.

The PSIP system died sometimte during the movie Sunday night. The screen looked like the computer program was working, but no data was coming out. This will be fixed for good later this month when a new PSIP goes on line that does not rely only on a PC to keep from hiccupping.

Other breakups are most likely seasonal (leaves vs no leaves) or weather related (rain or wind moving trees). Since the PID changes week before last no changes have been made to anything.

Regarding NCAA Playoffs Multicast - no word from CBS yet, but if they let us we'll be doing it.

First time since early December that I've had trouble with KATU. Usually the HD channel is great but just in time for the Sugar Bowl its a pixelated mess. Clear skies and windy but nothing else to interfere. Anyone else having problems tonight 1/3?

KATU looks good to me right now. I had been watching the game on Comcast but switched to OTA when I saw your post.

I tuned in the game for about 5 minutes and it looked fine. I will be watching USC tomorrow night.

Bill Briare,

Do you have any trees that sway back and forth in the wind? I do and it can cause problems when it is very windy. Doubly worse if it is raining and windy.

I do have one tree that might be the culprit. I didn't think it was in the line of sight but it might be affecting the signal. BTW, KATU went out all together for me last evening. I do have HD on comcast too but I can record the OTA so for football I prefer to go that way. I wasn't much of a football fan (soccer guy) before but it sure looks good in HD. I prefer to record it and do something else then 30 second skip as soon as a tackle is made. Back to the line of scrimmage! This wouldn't have worked so well last night as they seemed to be stuck at the line in a pixelated blur!

Originally posted by hilladen
Bill Briare,

Do you have any trees that sway back and forth in the wind? I do and it can cause problems when it is very windy. Doubly worse if it is raining and windy.

I see you've discovered the way to quickly watch a football game you have on disk! I regularly use the "tackle, +15 seconds, +15 seconds" method too. You can get through a whole game in a little over an hour that way.

Does anyone know if the seattle seahawk game on saturday will be in HD? Titan tv doesn't list it as being HD. IF not how stupid of abc. Afterall couldn't they use the same equipement they used for Monday night football?

Does anyone know if the seattle seahawk game on saturday will be in HD? Titan tv doesn't list it as being HD. IF not how stupid of abc. Afterall couldn't they use the same equipement they used for Monday night football?

Does anyone know if the seattle seahawk game on saturday will be in HD? Titan tv doesn't list it as being HD. IF not how stupid of abc. Afterall couldn't they use the same equipement they used for Monday night football?

Does anyone know if the seattle seahawk game on saturday will be in HD? Titan tv doesn't list it as being HD. IF not how stupid of abc. Afterall couldn't they use the same equipement they used for Monday night football?

All playoff games will be in HD on ABC.

HD broadcasting equipment doesn't sit around. That would be stupid. The equipment you saw Monday Night Football with has already been to down Pasadena to broadcast the Rose Bowl.

ABC has the Sat. playoff games listed as HDTV on their web page.

Originally posted by flapbreaker
Does anyone know if the seattle seahawk game on saturday will be in HD? Titan tv doesn't list it as being HD. IF not how stupid of abc. Afterall couldn't they use the same equipement they used for Monday night football?

Does anyone know if the seattle seahawk game on saturday will be in HD? Titan tv doesn't list it as being HD. IF not how stupid of abc. Afterall couldn't they use the same equipement they used for Monday night football?

Does anyone know if the seattle seahawk game on saturday will be in HD? Titan tv doesn't list it as being HD. IF not how stupid of abc. Afterall couldn't they use the same equipement they used for Monday night football?

Does anyone know if the seattle seahawk game on saturday will be in HD? Titan tv doesn't list it as being HD. IF not how stupid of abc. Afterall couldn't they use the same equipement they used for Monday night football? Ahhh, so this explains why I got four emails telling me there was a new post in the thread.... ;)

Anybody think the Hawks will actually win a playoff game?

ron

sorry for the multiple posts. It wasn't intentional.

No worries mate. Four is a pretty good feat though :D.

ron

Good News regarding OPB

I just got my weekly email with the OPB DTV Schedule and it says:
*NOTE* OPB-DTV now broadcasts a 24-hour daily schedule.

I haven't been able to validate that yet, since I'm at work.

OPB is up and running, I was watching it yesterday and was in total shock! My Voom guide had been showing the 24/7 schedule for a few days but it wasn't on when I tuned in, but yesterday I saw Tracks Ahead in the schedule and gave it another shot and sure enough, it was HD.

Way to go OPB. Now if they would only move the bugs to the corners and only display a single bug at a time.

Anyone else having problems with KOIN tonight? Signal strength is good on my LG-4200A, but I'm not getting any video or audio. My Fusion III card won't tune 6-1.

(Sorry for the double post)

Judy

OPB's 24hour digital rocks except for omitting the newshour. Even though the newshour is not hdtv it looks much better digital OTA than with dishtv.

I now got channel 10-2. It's not a duplicate SD channel of 10-1. Cool!!!!

I was having trouble getting a signal from KPTV. Anyone else experience that?

"Law and Order" is in SD on KGW. I would call the station but I was checking out this show "Alias" on KATU. It's in HD and so much better...

KGW's still in SD for Leno. I put a call into the newsdesk about a minute into the program, which has done nothing. Too bad, Patricia Arquette's on tonight… :(

Agreed on Alias, a perfect match to Lost IMO… too bad I pretty much entirely missed Season 3, I'm kinda fuzzy on the details.

And just to recap what I've missed for the last month… I swear, I've changed nothing, but KPDX is all of a sudden coming in stronger than ever, any night of the week. The last two weeks of Veronica Mars have been spotless. Hopefully Enterprise will continue the trend next week when they come back with new episode(s).

Originally posted by Moorebid
Agreed on Alias, a perfect match to Lost IMO… too bad I pretty much entirely missed Season 3, I'm kinda fuzzy on the details. I missed the first two seasons and never understood what on Earth was going on in the few episodes I saw during last season. I may have to rent all the previous seasons just to catch up like I did with Smallville.

I didn't watch any network drama series before I got HDTV. Now I'm paying the price! :(

My dumbass Voom "Program Planner" didn't change channels for me, I got home at 8:10 so I missed the first 10 minutes of LOST, can anyone tell me what happened? Thanks.

In regards to OPB, yes dear, does your digital receiver have an analog tuner? It normally looks better than the SD channels.

Originally posted by scowl
I missed the first two seasons and never understood what on Earth was going on in the few episodes I saw during last season. I may have to rent all the previous seasons just to catch up like I did with Smallville.Yeah, I only caught bits and pieces of the first couple seasons as well, since X-Files occupied the timeslot during its first season, and Malcolm in the Middle for it's second, with Andy Richter there for half a season… so the only time I got to watch Alias was when there was a repeat or no competing program. Last season, they had both Malcolm and Arrested Development, and I was watching even repeats of Arrested…

*sigh* The problem I have with the DVD season pack is that I just never get around to watching them all. I can't just sit down and watch an entire season in a sitting… or even a third of a season for that matter (especially if it's a full-season order)… 1-2 episodes max, which is why one-episode-a-week suits me so well. That and I'm pretty good at keeping previous events in mind from one week to the next. Plus, with so much getting recorded on my PVR, I have absolutely no time to watch DVDs (or do much of anything else, for that matter :rolleyes: ). Besides, DVD is irrelevant now that I have HD. :)

I didn't watch any network drama series before I got HDTV. Now I'm paying the price! :( Join the group… err, forum. :)

Originally posted by JudyL5
Anyone else having problems with KOIN tonight? Signal strength is good on my LG-4200A, but I'm not getting any video or audio. My Fusion III card won't tune 6-1.

(Sorry for the double post)

Judy
Yes, I had the same issue early evening yesterday. I've noticed this happening a few times lately but they seem to fix it before I get around to calling them...:(

The first 10 minutes of LOST....
It starts out with Kate, by herself, up a tree gathering fruit. After climbing back down she hears a noise in the bushes, then more noises so she picks up a rocks and throws it. There's a holler and Sawyer comes out hollering at her for almost breaking his knee. Kate then hears another sound and they head off and find a waterfall with a big pool at the bottom, so they take off their clothes and go for a swim.
While swimming they find a pair of seats from the plane with bodies still in them at the bottom of the pool. Sawyer then takes the wallet off the dead guy and they also find the case and retrieve that. Kate at first says it's hers then recants and lets Sawyer take it.
The scene then switches to the beach where everyone is scrambling trying to move all their stuff up the beach since the tide has decided to come in a wash the wreckage away...

Alias is still one of my favorites, the first two seasons were better than the third, but you do have to see them all to keep up. There's been small details all along that end up playing out later in the series.

Lee Wood,

I went to watch CSI: NY last night and the audio stream was messed up with no center channel. Sounded like KATU does when they receive a circle surround feed but leave their encoder set to DD. I tried switching my receiver to PCM which usually helps with the KATU problem but it made no difference. Gave up watching the show because I've got my front mains widely spaced and it just bugs me too much hearing all the dialog coming from the corners of the room :(. Was running late this morning so I didn't get a chance to check to see if it was still acting up or not. FWIW, yesterday morning when I flipped on your news I noticed right away that the wispy/static phase issue had reappeared, although it seemed to be gone when I tuned in for CSI last night...

ron

Originally posted by earletp
The scene then switches to the beach where everyone is scrambling trying to move all their stuff up the beach since the tide has decided to come in a wash the wreckage away... I think they're trying to get the series off the beach so they could film in more secluded locations. It sounds like it's been a lot of work keeping the beach clear of onlookers. They also have to make sure there aren't any boats in the background and Hawaiian weather is unpredictable. Moving people to the caves was obviously to shoot more of the series in their big studio.

Thanks for the recap Earletp.

I really like the programing and quality of the new HD 10.1 broadcast. Now that PBS has HD channel 10.1 and channel 10.2 my guide for 10.1 works fine but the guide for 10.2 is blank. How do i get the guide for 10.2 to show when I select that channel?

Originally posted by glz
I really like the programing and quality of the new HD 10.1 broadcast. Now that PBS has HD channel 10.1 and channel 10.2 my guide for 10.1 works fine but the guide for 10.2 is blank. How do i get the guide for 10.2 to show when I select that channel?
You get an OTA program guide on 10.1? My 3100a never gets past "Receiving program information".

I am now getting a program guide on KGW in addition to the ones I've gotten on KOIN, KPTV and KPDX for a while now.
It does take much longer to download the guide on KPTV and KPDX than it used to.

(I just double checked and for whatever reason, I'm only getting program information on KOIN and KGW right now...)

Earl

I just checked, I get a guide on every x.1 channel that I can receive (all the local channels except WB). I usually get a guide on the X.2 channels but they often have the same program on as the X.1 channel. PBS now has totally different (HD) programming on the 10.1 channel. 10.2 has the same program material the analog channel 10 broadcasts. I'm only getting the guide for the 10.1 channel but would like to be able to tune in 10.2 and get the guide for it as well.

Thanks glz,
I guess it's an issue with my STB not being able to decode the data stream. :(

Earl

Is anyone else having 5.1 sound issues on KATU with the Seahawks playoff game? I'm getting no sound from the center channel. This has happend before on MNF, but I thought it was just a one time issue. It appears to happen a lot during ABC football games in HD. I emailed the station and received a reply from Alan, the engineer I assume and he said he would "look into it". Since searching these forums, it appears that this is a regular occurance? Can anyone shed any light on this? Lost and Alias sound is fine in 5.1.

Thanks,

L

According to some in this thread http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=4951258#post4951258, ABC is only putting out 2.0 for this game. KATU must be pasting a DD 5.1 mark in their stream because that's how my receiver thinks it's coming in, both OTA and from Comcast. But all I get is front L&R. They say the Charger game should be 5.1.

Bob

Yes, the Charger game is fine. Why does KATU pass 5.1 if ABC is only sending 2.0?

Yeah, that's better. Now I can turn down the center channel so I don't have to listen to Madden.

I just cannnot believe the fireworks on nights when it's already foggy. Who decides things like that? I'd hate to be in the stands but I feel like coughing involuntarily anyway.

I only can see the guide for channel 6 and now 8. I could not find any update for samsung TS160 tuner. Any1 knows about update for samsung TS160?
Thanks.

Look back a couple pages, there is a post about Samsung updates.

Was watching the movie last night on 8.1, and at about 10 PM or so my HD tuner suddenly went blank, displaying a flashing WAIT signal for a few seconds, and then the signal reappeared on the screen. This went on at interval of about every 5-minutes or so, well through their local news at 11 PM. Besides being annoying, I lost the date/time setting on the tuner (Sony SAT-HD 200). I checked and the other DTV channels seemed to be fine. All seems to be going well this morning, but it sure was a strange event, and I had not seen anything like it before! Did anybody else notice this, or was it my tuner acting up?

HZ

I recorded the whole Battlestar Galactica last night (and I'm stunned at how well done it was) There were two or three glitches but they didn't happen every five minutes. I had a solid signal the whole time.

I love this new PBS 10-1 programming I'm receiving on D*TV. Last night was an increadible show on killer whales of Northern Vancouver Island. Many of the shots were amazing. Does anyone know where this feed originates? It does not mirror the local PBS channel 10.

Hormoz,

If that was an OTA signal that was dropping off, it may be that your antenna direction just needs a little tweek.

Craig

calambert: It comes from OPB-DT. The whale show has been on the digital channel before. You can get an email of their 10-1 programming by signing up at opb.org

Does anyone who gets program info from 10-1 on their OTA receiver know if it is current/accurate? My OTA receiver doesn't provide that but the iGuide I have from Comcast gives me analog channel 10 data when I tune to ch 710, OPB digital. It's never correct so I need to go back to my email schedule to see what's coming on 10-1. Just wondering if there's a different stream of program information OTA that iGuide doesn't get/pass.

Bob

I hope I'm not being picky here, but did any of you guys notice the picture on 10.2 (OPB-DT subchannel that simulcasts the analog one) is definitely lacking in contrast? This, of course, is in comparison with similar subchannels (8.2 or 6.2). Having said that, I'm sure glad to see the synching of the analog with this subchannel.

Craig, My problem with last Sunday's KGW-DT seem to have been confined to that night. All seems to be well now, and thanks for the suggestion.

HZ

KATU on the blink for the end of Lost and continuing into Alias. Signal is really sparodic and has caused my Dish 6000 to reboot 3 times. Really frustrating. Anyone else experiencing issues. Beginning to wonder if something is wrong with my 6000.

Same here on the Dish 811.

Every one to three seconds the video and sound would cut out really rough and the pop-up about using the Page Up and Page Down buttons changing resolutions would appear. It seemed like something was resetting repeatedly. Everything was fine on the other channels. Had to watch Alias via the ABC local satellite channel.

Erik

I had one drop out/loss of signal on KATU tonight is all, and it was during a commercial, there were a couple of audio pops though.

But Thanks!! Alan at KATU, as of tonight I'm getting program information in my guide for channel 2.1. :)

Earl

My Dish 6000 handled it much better than my Voom stb. I was recording from Dish and it just froze on the Zebra frame until it came back and picked right back up, my stupid Voom box just sat there like a brain-dead corpse telling me there was no signal even after it came back. I had to tune off of channel 2 then back to reacquire the signal. At least we didn't lose any of the show.

I watched the show on my Voom stb and I had no sound problems, I'll watch the recording from Dish tomorrow and see how it turned out.

KATU was really bad on my Dish 6000 starting with the news and continued on through Alias. Had to move over to my MYHD which was pretty stable with only a few glitches.

Steve

I only had one such problem through Comcast… right before the first commercial break, immediately before the "LOST" logo slowly moves toward the "camera," I lost picture for about 2-3 seconds, and audio for maybe a split second… it had the appearance of a network problem. Other than that, nothing of note.

I just watched my recording of Lost and there was only 1 very brief video dropout, lasted about 1/2 second, other than that, nothing, it was perfect. I had zero drops during Alias.

Fellow Portland Voomers, I need help. Seems I am about the only person on the planet with noise issues on Voom. I would like to ask if you have Voom and do NOT see any mosquito noise and have a screen at least 65" (preferably a pj), could we get together and do some testing? I would like to bring my Voom stb and pj to your house and view my pj on your stb and my stb on your pj and see where the noise comes in.

I am ready to throw Voom in the garbage and I hope it is just an equipment issue so I can correct it. I have tried everything, including replacing the stb this past Monday. I am at my wits end.

If anyone can help, pleas PM me.

Thanks,

Darrell

Probably just user error ;)

hilladen, I'm sure glad you have a winkey in that smile. I've had HD for 4 years now and only Voom is giving me grief.

Is anybody else seeing/hearing serious probs with 6-1? For the last week I've heard the return of the static/phase issue with local originated programming, and what sounds like all-channel stereo with the network HD programming. I tried to watch CSI last night and it just doesn't work hearing main dialog coming from all angles so once again I gave up :(. On top of that it's just been down completely at various times as well.

ron

I tried watching my recording of Lost and Alias from my MyHD-120, and both didn't work. Lost was just black for me, and it appeared that it rebooted my machine about 2/3rd way through Alias, since I had two files, but also just black. Oh well, at least I had Lost taped from Dish as well. Missed Alias.

Rob

Those of you who know electronics know that components only work as long as the magic smoke remains contained in the components. Well, at 12:30 AM this morning some of that smoke escaped from the HD Encoder's Power Supply. It doesn't work any more.

Plan A is to borrow a power supply locally and hope it works, Plan B is another unit coming overnight tonight from our Omaha sister station for delivery Saturday. Plan C is to keep running 6-1 in Standard Definition until the manufacturer can get a replacement to us.

I'm really hoping Plan A works and we'll be back in HDTV tonight or Plan B works and we're back in HDTV Saturday afternoon.

Thanks for the info and good luck Lee

Ron, why don't you just switch to stereo mode when you're experiencing these issues?

Thanks for the info Lee. I feel asleep in front of the TV last night. When I woke up the screen was blank as if my antenna was gone (no signal message at the bottom). I'm glad to know it's not my equipment but sad to know it's a bigger problem. good luck with plan A, B on C...

I also recorded Alias the other night on a MyHD 120. I only get a black screen during playback too on the MyHD. HOWEVER, the show WAS recorded as I was able to play it back on my Elecard software player. The MyHD card certainly doesn't like something about the stream.

I any case, I was able to watch Alias live as my old Panny DTS-50 didn't have any problems with Alias except for that one drop out during the commercial that has already been mentioned.

CBS drove me crazy last night !!! -- at least this site let me know now it wasn't my setup.

I just received a new MYHD 120 yesterday and was setting it up last night. CBS D6-1 has traditionally been my strongest HD channel. I recorded both CSI and Without a Trace and then watched CSI. About Midnight I started tweaking my PCs settings. Of course at 12:30am I lost the CBS signal -- I then stayed up til about 4am tweaking everything I could try with both my antenna setup and my PC before I gave up in frustration.

I guess tonight I need to put my PC back together again and reinstall all of my splitters and diplexers.... If the card wasn't brand new I would have guessed it was the channel and given up a lot earlier ;)

Originally posted by Marissadad
Ron, why don't you just switch to stereo mode when you're experiencing these issues? I tried various settings including PCM audio (which helps for instance when ABC is receiving circle surround and leaving their encoder set to DD). Stereo does me no good as I'm still getting sound from the corners of the room instead of the center. I think this (one issue) has to do with CBS now sending some of their HD shows in DD 5.1 but KOIN not having the capability to do it. For that scenario, something with their current equipment/settings does not work correctly with PLII. The audio static/phase prob is a separate issue I believe (which also seems to have something to do with PLII though). On the local originated feeds the static has come back with a vengeance the last week or so. I've given up now and just quit watching KOIN altogether. It would be nice if things got sorted out by the time the new Survivor started up though. NTSC 6 stinks where I'm at...

ron

Thanks to Mike Janes at the Portland Trail Blazers KOIN HDTV is back up and running. Woo-Hoo!

Lee, Great news. Thanks to all responsible. I've spent a lot of money and nixed Comcast in order to receive KOIN in HD. It's nice to know you guys value your customers and do what ever is necessary to keep the quality service alive. Thank You !!!:p

Great news Lee!! and a big Thanks to Mike and the Blazers too!! :D
(that's one way to gain fan appreciation) ;)

Earl

Ron, I have just the opposite regarding NTSC, I record Survivor on my Panny E85H's analog tuner and the playback on my bigscreen looks better than recording it on KOIN's 6-1.

KOIN definitely doesn't have the best HD upconversions of SD material. I don't know if KOIN or CBS does the conversion.

Does anyone in Tualatin use the Silver Sensor and if so, how's it work in that particular town?

Guys
Does anyone know if KOIN has had to reduce their poere output due to the equipment problem
Thanks

I use a Silver Sensor and it works good for me. All channels are 75% or higher, most in mid 80-100%. I'm kind of pointing straight at the towers with only a few trees in the way.

YMMV depending on where you are. The only way to really know if it will work for you is to try it.

Edit: BTW thats using a MyHD 120 for the receiver.

Alan: Where's the HD of the figure skating tonight? The afternoon show was terrific (except for the ABC SD cam in the mix) but my wife was anticipating seeing the night show in HD. What's up?

Chris, where'd you buy yours? the only place I can tell that has it is Sears at Clackamas Town Center.

Originally posted by ridgefamus
Alan: Where's the HD of the figure skating tonight? The afternoon show was terrific (except for the ABC SD cam in the mix) but my wife was anticipating seeing the night show in HD. What's up?

Not Alan, but I am in the same boat as you. I watched football earlier and my wife had dibs for the figure skating tonight.
It started out in HD but there were a lot of dropouts (thought the signal remained constant) lots of audio pops and even a period of a garbled digitized mess. They switched to SD and then the HD came back. We had high hopes, but it was still having major problems.
They switched back to SD and it's stayed there since then...

Earl

Yeah, I don't know what happened to the HD production of the skating. My wife went to the lady's short program at the Rose Garden on Thurs. night and she's seeing some of that tonight. From what I have seen on the ABC thread from eastern viewers, they are seeing something in HD. Maybe when they get to tonight's performances it will switch to HD. Sure in maddening, though, when they advertise it to be in HD.:mad:

I tuned it late to the skating and noticed that the ABC logo for HD was just visible to the right of the 4:3 image. I was wondering what happened, I have my daughter this weekend and we were going to watch it, major dissappointment.

Ron, now I know what you mean about KOIN's surround sound. I finally caught CSI: Miami last night live and it sounded like the same thing was coming from all 5 speakers, but softer from the surrounds and center so it sounded like the Mains were the predominant vocal speakers.

Once again Lee Wood did the right thing and turned off KOIN's subchannels so we could watch the AFC playoff game in HD sans blocks and pixelization. The MPEG header said the game was 17750.0 kbps and I calculated it at 17329.7 kbps. I'm not very good with numbers so I'm probably off. It looked absolutely perfect.

What the heck is that SD subchannel for anyway?

Don't they need the SD to comply with the whole mandated OTA digital channel stuff?

Robert,

I bought mine at Fry's about 6 months ago.

I looked there today but they didn't have any. I ended up at Sears at clackamas Town center, they had 4 there.