Indianapolis / Terre Haute / Lafayette, IN - HDTV [Text View] - Page 13

kierandill

08-18-06, 07:42 PM

...

Also, anyone know if it's true that Dish does not offer any locals (even SD) through them if you're in the Lafayette area? Like I mentioned in my previous post, this is what their website suggested ... but I find this kinda hard to believe, because I just read somewhere that Dish is now covering 96% of American households in regards to their SD locals (and 47% of households with HD locals). And I don't think that Lafayette is *THAT* remote from civilization.

It is my understanding that receiving Indy locals via Dish (or DirectTV, for that matter) is strictly a legal problem, not a technical one. You are only allowed (by FCC) to subscribe to locals for the market (per Nielsen) that you reside in. Lafayette is not considered to be in the Indianapolis market.

And as someone else mentioned - stay away from the river when looking for a home - I'm 4 miles due south of downtown and I'm over 100 feet higher than the river.

justalurker

08-19-06, 01:56 AM

Satellite providers can also offer out of market stations that are "significantly viewed".

In Tippecanoe County, the signals considered "Significantly Viewed" are:
* WLFI-TV, 18, Lafayette, IN (Local Station)
* WTTV, 4, Bloomington, IN
* WRTV, 6, Indianapolis, IN
* WISH-TV, 8, Indianapolis, IN
* WTHR, 13, Indianapolis, IN
* WNDY-TV, 23, Marion, IN
* WHMB-TV, 40, Indianapolis, IN
* WXIN, 59, Indianapolis, IN

The satellite companies cannot offer SV stations unless they offer all of that market's locals. If I were in control of a satellite company, I'd uplink WLFI (one channel) and start selling locals in Lafayette!

BTW: The SV list varies in Benton County - there you would get:
* WLFI-TV, 18, Lafayette, IN (Local Channel)
* WTTV, 4, Bloomington, IN
* WRTV, 6, Indianapolis, IN
* WTHR, 13, Indianapolis, IN
* WTTK, 29, Kokomo, IN
* WXIN, 59, Indianapolis, IN
* WGN-TV, 9, Chicago, IL (the local version)
* WCIA, 3, Champaign, IL
* WICD, 15, Champaign, IL

In Warren County you would get:
* WTTV, 4, Bloomington, IN
* WRTV, 6, Indianapolis, IN
* WTHR, 13, Indianapolis, IN
* WCIA, 3, Champaign, IL
* WICD, 15, Champaign, IL
* WTHI-TV, 10, Terre Haute, IN

kierandill

08-19-06, 08:50 AM

Satellite providers can also offer out of market stations that are "significantly viewed".

In Tippecanoe County, the signals considered "Significantly Viewed" are:
* WLFI-TV, 18, Lafayette, IN (Local Station)
* WTTV, 4, Bloomington, IN
* WRTV, 6, Indianapolis, IN
* WISH-TV, 8, Indianapolis, IN
* WTHR, 13, Indianapolis, IN
* WNDY-TV, 23, Marion, IN
* WHMB-TV, 40, Indianapolis, IN
* WXIN, 59, Indianapolis, IN

The satellite companies cannot offer SV stations unless they offer all of that market's locals. If I were in control of a satellite company, I'd uplink WLFI (one channel) and start selling locals in Lafayette!

Interesting - I would check into it, but as of a month ago, the Indy channels being offered on Dish didn't include any HD. Which is why I joined this forum yesterday - to find out what hardware I need to get the OTA offerings from this distance. Thanks for the info, though!

jakexxl

08-19-06, 10:51 AM

justalurker - So you're saying they CAN offer these channels in Lafayette, they just don't?

kierandill - Thanks for your posts. In regards to your 2nd post, even though Dish is not offering the locals in HD yet, I would still think it would be advantageous to have Indy SD locals through Dish even if you're picking up the HD versions OTA. As I understand it, Dish's receivers don't pick up programming guide information that you're getting OTA unless you are subscribed to their locals. Plus, (at least in my current situation in SC where I'm about 50 miles from the channels I'm picking up OTA) I think it's sometimes helpful to have the SD locals in case one of the OTA channels is acting up, like in the case of bad weather. Better to have SD than nothing in those cases. You probably know all this anyways ... I'm just blabbering. No matter what, it sounds like the network channel situation in Lafayette is not exactly the best.

goldrich

08-19-06, 12:53 PM

My RCA ATSC11 STB will not decode WXIN-DT via OTA tonight. All of my other digital receivers are decoding it just fine. I contacted a friend in Greensburg and his ATSC11 will not decode WXIN-DT either. Looks like there might have been a software update at the station and a few brands/models of receivers are not liking it. Anyone else having a decoding problem with WXIN-DT tonight? Thanks.

Steve

Update......FYI

I sent the info above to Rick Poling at WXIN-DT. He and his staff did some checking on their end but couldn't find anything wrong. However, he reports that yesterday afternoon they "rebooted all the studio equipment" and now my RCA ATSC11 STB is once again decoding WXIN-DT just fine. It almost sounds too easy but apparently it did the trick! Sometimes a simple reboot will cure a locked up STB, too.

Steve

Bents

08-19-06, 07:35 PM

Does anyone know what HDSE is that has showed up on the comcast channel guide? It says "Off Air" and has only been there for three or four days.

IndyJeff

08-19-06, 07:42 PM

Does anyone know what HDSE is that has showed up on the comcast channel guide? It says "Off Air" and has only been there for three or four days.

It's their "High Definition Special Events" channel. It used to be there for years and then disappeared for a few months, but I never saw any programming on it. Too bad they couldn't put something like Universal HD there instead!

justalurker

08-20-06, 04:37 PM

justalurker - So you're saying they CAN offer these channels in Lafayette, they just don't?The can offer the channels IF they uplink and offer WLFI first.

kierandill, Indianapolis HD is uplinked for testing but not yet available to customers. Perhaps next month? Indy HDs will not be available outside of Indy market (they do not count as SV stations).

jhelms89

08-21-06, 02:42 PM

I just bought a house in Bloomfield. I currently live in the country outside of bloomfield. I have a wineguard HD8200P antenna and a AP8283 pre-amp. I will be able to pick up the Terre Haute Channels no problem but I am more intrested in picking up the Indy or Evansville channels, both of which are 70 miles away. I was curious what you guys though of this antenna and setup and wondered if I would be better off getting a channel master UHF only. Thanks for your thoughts.

MassNerder

08-21-06, 02:44 PM

Hi guys,
I'm sorry if this has been asked and answered a buch already, but I just got DirecTV and really like it. I know there have been complains about 'HD Lite' out there, but after Insight Communications' lack of customer service and horrible horrible HORRIBLE service, I'd put up with anything. But I digress...

ANYWAY, when I signed up for HD service the reps told me that ABC and NBC are the only local channels for now but the others should be coming eventually. The reps and a couple google searchs made it sound like DirecTV was trying to work out some legal issues with carrying the Indy stations. The installer who came to put in the dish made it sound like it might be a technical problem (at least with WXIN). I'm curious if the experts on this board have any more solid information than what I've been able to scrounge up. I'd appreciate it!

:D

NickIndy

08-24-06, 07:54 PM

Any idea when AT&T will be entering the tv market in the Indy area? People seem to really like Verizon FIOS and I would love to see what AT&T is going to have to offer!

bigdep

08-25-06, 09:45 AM

Hey guys I'm about 15 miles away from most local DT stations in Indy and I'm using the Terk HDTVa and its working perfectly however the placement is not ideal and my wife is hating the old school "bunny ears"! If I buy some very high quality coax could I extend the cable to a different area of my apt with out, or very little degration of pq.

If your not familiar with the Terk HDTVa it has a unremovable 5 ft coax cable that attaches to the antenna and then it plugs into the amplifer and theres a 3 inch coax that attaches to your tv / sat box from the amp. First off how should I connect the 2 coax connections any special adapters or just a male to male connector? Secoundly should i connect the "long" cable to the amplifer end or the cable that connects to the antenna?

Thanks

RSlamD

08-25-06, 12:42 PM

dabl

08-27-06, 06:38 PM

hoosierfan227

08-27-06, 08:00 PM

I seem to have lost OTA Fox 59-1 HD sometime this weekend, has it been down for anyone else?

I'm in Broadripple so about 3 miles from the tower and have been receiving it via attic antenna fine.

This has happened before and I've usually been able to fix it with a re-scan but so far no luck with that.....

Receiving it just fine in Franklin Township using an attic antenna. In fact Star Wars looks great.

nathill

08-27-06, 08:42 PM

I seem to have lost OTA Fox 59-1 HD sometime this weekend, has it been down for anyone else?

I'm in Broadripple so about 3 miles from the tower and have been receiving it via attic antenna fine.

This has happened before and I've usually been able to fix it with a re-scan but so far no luck with that.....

I may be all wet on this, but I think I used to receive Fox as 59-1. Tonight it comes in as 45-1. I have no idea if that has anything to do with your problem or not, but it seems strange to me.
Nat Hill IV

dabl

08-27-06, 09:20 PM

thanks for the replies, was hoping it wasn't just me but it appears that way.

all other channels come in fine with a silver sensor -> samsung hl-r6167 but like I said I have seen this before infrequently, specifically with 59-1.

I've re-scanned a few times, 45-1 didn't work for me.

could it be the antenna? I do see seasonal signal drop outs which I interpreted as multipath issues. I'd like to figure out what's causing this..

goldrich

08-27-06, 10:02 PM

tcoffman

08-28-06, 07:23 AM

MassNerder

From what I've seen, it's all legal issues with Directv and local channels. I'm using one of their HD-Tivo boxes and still just getting my local channels OTA. I'm guessing whatever receiver you got will take an antenna input, so if you're close enough and do have the input, I'd look at getting an antenna to supplement your channels. At this point, I'm probably waiting for the Series 3 from Tivo and switching to cable despite how much I hate Comcast. It also depends on how the new HD recorder from Directv works.
You should check out some of the other Directv forums around as well, here and elsewhere. There are a lot of folks with some good info. One thing they universally agree on is that Directv reps generally have no idea what they're talking about. :)

nathill

08-28-06, 09:04 AM

dabl and nathill,

It appears that there is another issue at WXIN-DT. I believe your situations tonight are related to previous posts http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8231921&&#post8231921 and http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8241315&&#post8241315 . Along with what you guys are reporting, once again my RCA ATSC11 STB will not decode WXIN-DT even though there is plenty of signal per the signal meter. All of my other STBs and digital tuners are receiving it fine. Anyone else having an issue in receiving WXIN-DT?

dabl, I see that you have the Samsung hlt-6167. Nathill, if you would, please let me know what brand and model of digital tuner you are seeing the remapping error with (45-1 instead of 59-1). I'll then send an email to Rick Poling at WXIN-DT to let him know what's happening.

Thanks for your posts.

Steve

Hey Steve;

I'm operating at about the 80% confidence level here, but I think the box that has trouble with 45 vrs. 59 is a Samsung SIR-T351. It has a DVI output, which I don't think the SIR-T151 has. (Neither one of these modeles has any labelling on them.)
It runs in my mind that WXIN has had troubles with my SIR-T351 in the past.
My LST-4200A dutifully reports channel 59-1. (and LG is proud enough of their model to actually label it!)
Keep us all posted.

Nat

goldrich

08-28-06, 10:46 AM

Hey Steve;

I'm operating at about the 80% confidence level here, but I think the box that has trouble with 45 vrs. 59 is a Samsung SIR-T351. It has a DVI output, which I don't think the SIR-T151 has. (Neither one of these modeles has any labelling on them.)
It runs in my mind that WXIN has had troubles with my SIR-T351 in the past.
My LST-4200A dutifully reports channel 59-1. (and LG is proud enough of their model to actually label it!)
Keep us all posted.

Nat

Nat,

Thanks for the info on your STB. I'll update Rick with this model. I sent a preliminary report to Rick last night and he's already responded by saying the engineering staff will be investigating this issue today.

Steve

nathill

08-28-06, 11:22 AM

Nat,

Thanks for the info on your STB. I'll update Rick with this model. I sent a preliminary report to Rick last night and he's already responded by saying the engineering staff will be investigating this issue today.

Steve

Hey Steve;
Is Rick a great guy or what?
I had problems about two years ago (I looked back to my saved Emails and found them), and Rick really got to work on them.
Way back then, it was a problem they were having with the Samsung SIR-T351s and Samsung 360s.
Keep us all posted.
Nat

jhelms89

08-28-06, 11:53 AM

J helms.....From Spencer I am using a ChannelMaster 4248 "Yagi" antenna, however the 4228 would be the prefered product. My antenna guy brought me a HD antenna from Winegard.....and I got better reception with my Channel Master so I had him switch it back to the old. I will be upgrading to the 4228 since it is rated for 30 more miles than my current antenna.

Currently I pickup Terre Haute, Vincennes, Olney illinois, Bloomington, & Indy.

Randy

Thanks. Do you still work for HH greg? Or do I have you mixed up with one of the other guys? Well I have the best VHF/UHF combo that wineguard makes. I just didn't know if uhf only would be that much better.

goldrich

08-28-06, 06:07 PM

Hey Steve;
Is Rick a great guy or what?
I had problems about two years ago (I looked back to my saved Emails and found them), and Rick really got to work on them.
Way back then, it was a problem they were having with the Samsung SIR-T351s and Samsung 360s.
Keep us all posted.
Nat

Nat and dabl, your STBs should be decoding PSIP along with audio/video from WXIN-DT just fine now. My RCA ATSC11 is decoding the station again. Yes, Nat, Rick is a great guy with response and information. Here's the latest from Rick at WXIN as of 5:30 p.m...............

"One of the other engineers tells me he did the "big hardware reboot" on the FOX splicer, so the problem should be fixed. "

Thanks, Rick.

Steve

kierandill

08-28-06, 06:09 PM

FWIW, I had no troubles tuning Fox last nite the few times I went by, including right at the beginning of the Star Wars movie. Using a nearly-new HD Dish receiver's OTA input.

nathill

08-28-06, 06:43 PM

Nat and dabl, your STBs should be decoding PSIP along with audio/video from WXIN-DT just fine now. My RCA ATSC11 is decoding the station again. Yes, Nat, Rick is a great guy with response and information. Here's the latest from Rick at WXIN as of 5:30 p.m...............

"One of the other engineers tells me he did the "big hardware reboot" on the FOX splicer, so the problem should be fixed. "

Thanks, Rick.

Steve

59-1 it is.
Rick rocks!
Now if he can fix the one second (or so) audio delay (vbg)

Good job, Steve

Nat

dabl

08-28-06, 07:25 PM

Steve, yep, 59-1 tunes in fine for me again now, thanks VERY much for your help!

--Don

ps I corrected my original post, meant to say samsung hl-r6167 not hlt.....

kierandill

08-29-06, 09:01 PM

Is anyone having trouble with WLFI tonite? My signal strength is high 90s, but the Dish receiver says "not locked". Signal strength has always been high, since I'm only about 15 miles away from the tower. 18 uses freq 11, so I wondered - is this the sign of some FM interference or something?

Thanks in advance.

Kieran,
HD OTA newb

MobileMusicKP

08-30-06, 08:59 AM

59-1 it is.
Rick rocks!
Now if he can fix the one second (or so) audio delay (vbg)

Good job, Steve

Nat

What is up with the audio delay anyway? I am seeing the same thing on 59-1 last night and this morning, but I see it on different channels from time to time, and I assumed it was the decoder in my TV. Last night I actually re-booted the TV in an attempt to get audio sync back on 59-1. I ended up watching 59 analog to keep from going crazy watching it. :(

Tom Weber

08-30-06, 09:58 PM

kierandill

08-31-06, 11:42 AM

For WLFI, have you tuned off of it and then back? I was up there this afternoon/early evening and had to re-program their PSIP generator after some virus troubles. But all appeared well up there before the end of CBS Evening News, 7 PM.

Tom Weber
Engineering
WISH / WNDY / WIIH / LWS, et al.

Thanks for the reply -

What I tried was disconnecting from the roof (UHF -only Winegard) and using VHF rabbit ears. I removed WLFI from the channel list and re-added. Came in fine, but that eliminated all the others from the list. So I switched back to the rooftop and added them all back manually. Then, oddly, my Dish program guide had emptied itself. So I reset the receiver and all is back to normal. That was probably all I needed to do from the beginning. But I was fiddling with the VHF ears to follow up on some things I read about multipath and such.

This has probably been covered elsewhere, but does WISH plan to remain on VHF after Jan 09? The FCC doc I saw implied as much - I didn't realize the FCC wasn't booting everyone off of the VHF frequencies.

goldrich

08-31-06, 12:57 PM

This has probably been covered elsewhere, but does WISH plan to remain on VHF after Jan 09? The FCC doc I saw implied as much - I didn't realize the FCC wasn't booting everyone off of the VHF frequencies.

A number of DTV stations will remain on VHF channels, especially high-band VHF channels (7-13). Also, when the analogs are shut off in 2009, a number of current DTV stations on UHF channels will revert back to their analog channels. For example, in this area, WISH-DT will remain on ch. 9, WLFI-DT will remain on ch. 11, WTHR-DT 46 will switch to ch. 13 and WTHI-DT 24 will switch to ch. 10. As it stands right now, all other DTV stations in this area will remain on UHF channels.

BTW, most of the current DTV stations on UHF channels will remain on their current channel assignments, but there are a few that will change. In 2009, WTTK-DT 54 will switch to ch. 29 and WIPB-DT 52, Muncie, will switch to ch. 23, a completely new assignment since WNDY-23 will be an open channel at that time (with WNDY-DT on ch. 32).

Steve

dabl

08-31-06, 04:38 PM

I'd like some advice on using antenna preamps and distribution amps.

I'm in broadripple in Indianapolis, about 3-4 miles from most of the transmitters.

I have Zenith Silver Sensor in my attic currently feeding a single TV, a Samsung HL-R6167. I get pretty good results with all the channels but do see occaisional drop outs on several at certain times of the season/day.

I also have regular analog cable and currently split that 3 ways, 1 to a cable modem, 1 to the HL-R6167 and 1 to another TV.

I'll soon have a need to feed more sources since I'm adding an HTPC to the mix. The PC will have a max of 2 HD tuners and 2 analog tuners.

I'll want to distribute my antenna signal to 3 places: the Samsung TV and the 2 PC tuners.

I'll want to distribute the analog cable to 4 places: the cable modem, the Samsung TV, and the 2 TV tuners. I don't care about the other tv for now....

I just started looking at preamps and distribution amps and have seen some recent talk about the Winegard HDP-269 which seems like it might be a good choice for my application to use for the antenna pre-amp. I'd be interested in any comments and/or specific other recommendations about that.

I'm wondering about using a distribution amp following the HDP-269 and for the analog cable. I was thinking that I could then get rid of the splitter completely and that that would be a good thing. Is my thinking correct on this?

I was looking at the Channel Master 3044. Would that model be good choice? Maybe there's something better? I was also looking at the Channel Plus
DA-506BID. Are the antenna preamps and the distribution amps a 'get what you pay for' thing? Will a DA-506BID be better than a 3044? What about Radio Shack or Recoton? I was thinking in the case that one or more of these devices actually made things WORSE it might be nice to try out something I could get locally and could return without a restocking fee etc.

I'm unclear about one issue in general about using a preamp with an attic antenna, the physical proximity of the AC power outlet to the antenna itself.
I haven't found very good clear instruction at the various antenna preamp manufacturer websites I've checked (Channel Master, Winegard etc) but I
gather that in most cases an antenna preamp configuration assumes that AC power is NOT located particularly close to the actual antenna?

Would there be a significant advantage to having AC power in my attic near the antenna so the cable run from the preamp to the antenna could be kept very short? I could accomplish this easily as I have a friend who's an electrician and could easily install an AC outlet in the attic for the preamp if it would be a significant help. Would this make any difference depending on the model (Winegard HDP-269 vs Winegard 8700 vs Channel Master 7777) etc?

Re: my antenna and occaisional drop outs, I'm wondering if those are possibly multipath related. I've heard that some PC tuner cards can actually handle multipath issues significantly better than some TV tuners so I was hoping that I might see that kind of improvement on the HDTV inputs. On the otherhand I'd have no problem springing for a better/more appropriate antenna for an attic mount if it would be worthwhile and would be all ears on that.

thanks for any comments,

--Don

bigdep

09-02-06, 03:33 PM

coolray

09-04-06, 05:19 PM

IndyJeff

09-04-06, 09:20 PM

I wonder if someone can tell me what I have been observing on at least 6-1 and 13-1 lately. I am able to recognize, on my 16x9 Toshiba HDTV, the 4x3 digital picture, as it is the one with the black bars on the sides. I am also able to recognize the full screen 16x9 High Def picture. The one I am wondering about is a 16x9 picture with black bars all around. It appears to be a digital picture and not a High Def picture, but I was hoping some of the guru's on this site could explain what is happening and when did this start. Also is this a good thing or not.

Thanks guys
coolray

You'll usually see this if the show is a letterboxed, non-HD show. The image is 16x9 but contained within a 4x3 frame and broadcast as SD. If your television supports it, you can usually expand it out to fill the complete 16x9 screen, but depending on your TV model and the output settings of your digital source (i.e. cable box), you may have to live with this for these types of shows.

Jeff

coolray

09-04-06, 11:20 PM

Indy Jeff

Thanks for the explanation. I do not mind the look, I was just wondering what it was and how long they had been doing it, as I do not recall seeing that format until recently.

Thanks again
coolray

hoosierfan227

09-05-06, 06:59 PM

RWB

09-06-06, 02:10 PM

Hoosierfan227s thread reminded me of something else that is slightly disappointing.

After working hard and making as many adjustments as possible to get CW4 in HD it appears they will no longer be carrying the Pacer games. Bah humbug....still like the Tube however.

MassNerder

09-06-06, 06:48 PM

Hey guys I ran through the thread regarding CBS HD hitting the market for Directv and I'm curious where are the negotiations at? I'm hoping our own AVS engineer Tom Weber could provide us an update :D

For those of you that dont know the new Mpeg-4 HD DVR, the HR20 will be available in our area by the end of the month. However the OTA tuner will not be activated right away. Soo I'm hoping maybe cbs will be onboard by the time the HR20 is released? Any chance Tom? Or should I just get the Tivo one that can recieve OTA and wait on the HR20? I CANT MISS OUR BELOVED COLTS! Come on!

Thanks guys~!

Yeah, I'm wondering this too. It seems beyond me that CBS and Fox (although, who cares about NFC games, right guys?) can't get with D*on this. I know people from the local channels check this forum and I'd love to get a straight answer. I talked to Fox about this and they were nice enough to at least tell me that it was a contractual issue and they are working on it. CBS didn't even get back to me. Anyone from WISH want to comment on why your station isn't getting picked up by D*?

Sorry if I sound mad. I am. I live in Bloomington and there is NO way I can get your station in HD OTA and I know you wont give a waiver to me. So why can't this D* thing get resolved?

IndyJeff

09-06-06, 07:47 PM

Yeah, I'm wondering this too. It seems beyond me that CBS and Fox (although, who cares about NFC games, right guys?) can't get with D*on this. I know people from the local channels check this forum and I'd love to get a straight answer. I talked to Fox about this and they were nice enough to at least tell me that it was a contractual issue and they are working on it. CBS didn't even get back to me. Anyone from WISH want to comment on why your station isn't getting picked up by D*?

Sorry if I sound mad. I am. I live in Bloomington and there is NO way I can get your station in HD OTA and I know you wont give a waiver to me. So why can't this D* thing get resolved?

Keep in mind how long it took Comcast/Indy and the local ABC station to come to terms on an agreement for their HD channel. FOX was also a laggard a few years ago, if I remember correctly. And BrightHouse in Carmel has had similar issues on a few local channels, but it all worked out eventually.

So, all you DirecTV folks are just paying the same tax that us cable users had to pay over the past few years... a giant tax on our patience!

FWIW...

Jeff

nathill

09-06-06, 10:11 PM

Yeah, I'm wondering this too. It seems beyond me that CBS and Fox (although, who cares about NFC games, right guys?) can't get with D*on this. I know people from the local channels check this forum and I'd love to get a straight answer. I talked to Fox about this and they were nice enough to at least tell me that it was a contractual issue and they are working on it. CBS didn't even get back to me. Anyone from WISH want to comment on why your station isn't getting picked up by D*?

Sorry if I sound mad. I am. I live in Bloomington and there is NO way I can get your station in HD OTA and I know you wont give a waiver to me. So why can't this D* thing get resolved?

I don't know if you're interersted, but you can get both Fox and CBS in high definition through Insight for free with a QAM capable tuner.
Insight isn't all that cracked up about letting anybody know about that fact, but it's real.
I'm not sure, but I think you might have to subscribe to the digital package in order to get Fox and CBS, as well as ABC, NBC, both Indy and Bloomington PBS, and even "both" channel 4s.
I know I can get all of 'em pretty easily with my Samsung SIR-T451.
Keep us posted.

Nat Hill IV

bp787

09-06-06, 10:39 PM

MassNerder

09-07-06, 12:31 PM

interesting thing happend last week...

I'm on Dtv, and had "MOVED" to the Gary area so that I could get the New York HD network channels . Of course, that also meant getting Chicago locals instead of Indy locals, but no biggie. I only watched the HD channels from NY anyway. That was fine until I looked through the season and saw how many Colts Games (of the ones I don't go to in person) wouldn't be viewable in New York.

So since some of the HD locals were now on Dtv, I called them up and told them I moved back to the Indy area. My Indy locals switched over as expected. However, the HD channels out of Indy didn't show up! However, the screwed up and left the NY HDTV channels stayed on.

Not quite what I expected, but I'll take it. Now, I get all 4 major networks in HD AND my std def indy locals.

Once Indy gets the other two networks online in HD, I'll call up Dtv and complain. Until then, I'm fine ;)

Yeah. I'm getting an HR20 installed very soon, then I may have to 'move' until WISH and WXIN get their acts together. Missing Colts games aren't that big of a deal since we have Sunday Ticket anyway (girlfriend is a huge steelers fan, which is why Insight wont work (that and they are the spawn of hell....kinda...)).

I wish that directv would just give me the HD Colts Feed since they don't carry WISH.

jhelms89

09-07-06, 01:04 PM

goldrich

09-07-06, 04:02 PM

Our beloved Colts kickoff the season this Sunday night, unfortunately for us HD fanatics, on NBC. If you saw any of the preseason games on NBC the problems were numerous from macro-blocking to fuzziness. Based on threads over in the HDTV Programming forum the problems were blamed on weather subchannels, Harris encoders at the local affiliate, and just crappy HD from NBC. Some cities seemed to show improvement after the first two games that was attributed to changes made by the local affiliate. After reading the thread on the Colts preseason game on 8/20 I did not see any comments from a Indianapolis viewer and I did not see that game so here are my questions:

1. Any chance of of WTHR-13 turning off the weather subchannel during the game to give us more bandwidth?

2. Was the 8/20 game better and I just missed it.

3. Does anyone (goldrich?) have connections to the engineers at channel 13 to see if they have done anything locally to improve the HD picture?

I know we all want to see the Colts at their finest!!

The engineering staff at WTHR-DT is very aware of the feedback regarding the recent NFL broadcasts on NBC and has contacted NBC about its HD PQ. WTHR engineers have done some extra work on their end this week leading up to Sunday's Colts game. For one thing, the station has been adjusting and tweaking equipment, including the encoder. Extra staff will be at the station during this Sunday's Colts game to monitor the game as closely as possible. Beyond this, there is actually very little the local affiliates can do with the network feed.

Also, WTHR-DT is ready to go HD with Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy as of next week. For a few weeks the engineers will be doing some extra work to make this happen (with current equipment) while they continue to install and finalize new equipment that will make these HD broadcasts much easier and smoother.

Steve

goldrich

09-07-06, 04:34 PM

Update from the previous post with comments from Al Grossniklaus, Director of Engineering and Operations at WTHR.........................

(Thanks, Al, for your very detailed update. Much appreciated here at the Indy AVS Forum -- Steve)
............................................................ ...............................

1. Any chance of WTHR-13 turning off the weather subchannel during the game to give us more bandwidth?

A - Despite persistent speculation across AVS forums blaming local weather subchannels for macroblocking artifacts during NBC HD sports programming, these local 2-3 Mb/s subchannels such as WTHR's Skytrak Weather are not a problem. The remaining 15-16 Mb/s is plenty for good HD. You'll note that several other major affiliates in Indianapolis air at least one or more such subchannels (and at least one other uses a Harris encoder) and have carried their respective network's NFL HD casts without issue. As for these subchannels, advertisers' budgets have not increased with the advent of HD - stations have seen no additional revenue with HD. The weather and news DTV subchannels are a revenue stream that stations owners/shareholders have against the many millions already spent on DTV and HD equipment. So no, don't expect anyone's subchannel to be turned off.

2. Was the 8/20 game better and I just missed it.

A - Yes. There was a nationwide problem with NBC affiliates using Harris encoders (60% of stations use Harris encoders). Certain video during NBC HD SNF (for instance, a certain HD switcher wipe effect going to/from replays) generated artifacts in the NBC HD feed to affiliates which were interpreted as noise by the Harris encoder. The encoder would briefly automatically switch in heavy noise filtering, causing the video to go soft for a few seconds. Prior to the 8/20 game NBC and Harris sent a Technical Bulletin advising NBC affiliates to reconfigure Harris encoders to change the noise filter from an automatic to a fixed setting. This eliminated the momentary soft video during SNF.

3. Does anyone (goldrich?) have connections to the engineers at channel 13 to see if they have done anything locally to improve the HD picture?

A - See above. Early on, WTHR Tech Management discussed this directly with NBC and Harris. WTHR's initiative, along with several other affiliates, resulted in the above mentioned Technical Bulletin. WTHR made this change prior to the 8/20 game so WTHR-DT does not have the momentary "fuzziness" or "softness".

Q. Ready to go with the make-shift equipment arrangement for the HD broadcasts of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune next week?

A - Yes. We've been able to reallocate and reconfigure an HD Integrated Receiver Decoder and an HD tape deck, and taped a good transmission of test HD segments of these shows last week. Everything is on track to begin recording and airing these shows in HD beginning September 11th – unless NBC Nightly News goes long that evening because of the 9/11 anniversary. So far NBC has not indicated that Nightly News will run beyond their normal half hour on Monday, so keep your fingers crossed. WTHR's tech staff deserves everyone's appreciation for making an absolutely phenomenal effort, on VERY short notice from the show syndicator, to insure that the HD shows are recorded and air through this makeshift equipment arrangement as glitch-free as possible, especially considering that the majority of Wheel/Jeopardy affiliates have opted not to air HD. BTW, Wheel and Jeopardy are NOT the first syndicated shows to go HD. "Babylon Five" was shot in widescreen 35MM and about six years ago its final season was transferred to both an HD and an SD TV version. Our Columbus, Ohio sister station, WBNS-DT, was one of a handful of stations to carry the HD version of this first syndicated show to be provided in HD. Since "Babylon Five" was a weekly syndicated program, Wheel and Jeopardy can still lay claim to being the first DAILY syndicated programs available in HD. And, BTW, only the M-F Wheel/Jeopardy shows will be provided in HD! The syndicator is NOT providing the weekend Wheel/Jeopardy shows in HD, so - before you call or e-mail - be aware that Saturday Wheel/Jeopardy will be available and will air in SD ONLY.

Al Grossniklaus

Director of Engineering & Operations

WTHR NBC 13/WTHR-DT/WALV-CA

Indianapolis

hoosierfan227

09-07-06, 05:05 PM

The engineering staff at WTHR-DT is very aware of the feedback regarding the recent NFL broadcasts on NBC and has contacted NBC about its HD PQ. WTHR engineers have done some extra work on their end this week leading up to Sunday's Colts game. For one thing, the station has been adjusting and tweaking equipment, including the encoder. Extra staff will be at the station during this Sunday's Colts game to monitor the game as closely as possible. Beyond this, there is actually very little the local affiliates can do with the network feed.

Also, WTHR-DT is ready to go HD with Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy as of next week. For a few weeks the engineers will be doing some extra work to make this happen (with current equipment) while they continue to install and finalize new equipment that will make these HD broadcasts much easier and smoother.

Steve

Steve,

Thanks so much for your efforts on this. It was encouraging to see that WTHR-13 looks to be on top of the situation. I look forward to a great picture Sunday night!!

goldrich

09-08-06, 12:32 PM

Subject: Today Show - HD

As previously announced, the Today Show will premier in HD on Wednesday
September 13th.
The weekend Today Show will air in HD beginning Saturday September 16th.

The programs will be available on the HD network distribution, on a delayed
basis as appropriate,
to Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific time zones.

.............................................

UPDATE: The weekday and weekend editions are in HD and looking good.

MassNerder

09-08-06, 05:34 PM

nathill

09-08-06, 11:58 PM

FWIW I thought the Thursday night game looked the best so far. I think you guys are getting on top of things and I think we are all gald that you all are working on it. I have faith that come Manning Bowl, channel 13 will do their very best to make it a good time for all.

Thanks guys!

I didn't watch every minute of the game, but what I saw looked great. The microphones sounded like tin cans, but all in all a great job.
Nat Hill IV

Tersanyus

09-09-06, 02:24 PM

Hi all,

Sorry if this has been asked before but there are way too many pages to comb through to see if anyone else has this problem. Been reading this thread off and on for months as I got into HDTV only about 8 months ago.

I use an outside antenna and get all the channels I want just fine. Frequently I will leave the TV on Channel 20.1 since they are always broadcasting in widescreen HD. There seems to be a problem that every once in a while there is no voice audio in programs. The program on right now (don't know the title but it's about this aquarium in California) and you can hear the music and other sounds but no voices. It's like the center channel for audio is off. My TV's built in tuner has no voices, the older Samsung SIR-T451 doesn't have any audio and neither does my HTPC. With all 3 of these tuners showing the same issue it isn't my equipment. My antenna is fine. Strong signals. Maybe someone at WFYI falls asleep once in a while and forgets to turn on the center channel.

Just wondered if anyone else has seen this.

--Mike

Charles R

09-09-06, 04:37 PM

kierandill

09-09-06, 05:09 PM

Anyone else getting breakups on WishTV (channel 8.1) digital signal? I have been getting small pixel breakups for several days. Especially during the US Open coverage. They occur between a couple within a minute to a span of several minutes apart. I have rebooted my receiver (OTA) and the signal strength is a strong 95 out of a 100... I checked it for an extended period of time.

Probably not a good comparison, since my VHF antenna has only been installed for about 2 hours, but yes, here. I wasn't sure (and am still not, I suppose) if it is my install, though - Only getting about 67 +- 3 on the signal strength.

kierandill

09-09-06, 05:20 PM

Since I'm pretty new at this, and since Winegard had no info about this, I pose this question:
If one has separate UHF and VHF antennas on the same mast, is there a recommended minimum vertical separation? Right now mine are less than 2 feet apart vertically, but I'm worried about multipath or other issues.
Thanks,
Kieran

Charles R

09-09-06, 05:42 PM

I don't think they should interfere with each other since my antenna has both built into the one antenna.

kierandill

09-09-06, 06:19 PM

Ah - I should've surfed FIRST:
http://www.tvantenna.com/support/tutorials/uhf.html
says a UF should be mounted at least 4 feet above or below any other antenna to minimize interferance.
I think the difference with the UHf/VHF combos is that the UHF part is entirely in front of the VHF part, whereas on my split setup the front of the VHF is alongside about the first 2/3 of the UHF boom.
My symptom is a significant UHF signal strength drop, including no WFYI reception at all.

hoosierfan227

09-09-06, 09:04 PM

Anyone else getting breakups on WishTV (channel 8.1) digital signal? I have been getting small pixel breakups for several days. Especially during the US Open coverage. They occur between a couple within a minute to a span of several minutes apart. I have rebooted my receiver (OTA) and the signal strength is a strong 95 out of a 100... I checked it for an extended period of time.

Was so glad to see this post. Have been experiencing the same problems and my DirecTV HR10-250 has been showing good signal strength for my OTA antenna. I also can get WISH-DT over Comcast and the pixel break-ups were not quite as bad but were still occuring. Also my wife was watching on a different TV in SD and had some pixel break-ups as well. Not sure why OTA seems worse but was glad to hear I was not alone. It does seem to be very bad during US Open but have not watched much else on WISH.

Charles R

09-10-06, 12:08 AM

goldrich

09-10-06, 08:49 AM

rickaren

09-10-06, 12:39 PM

I saw the same "Break-ups" on Rockstar using both DirecTV SD Tivo and DISH VIP 622 DVR so it is not the receiver! Strange since it looked like the blocking you see on HD viewing sometimes in fast action. I had to think, wait a minute this is not recorded in HD? (like one couldn't tell) Since I saw the same from Local OTA (622) and Directv Local sattilite (MEPEG2) SD it had to be a CBS issue, not just a local problem. Don't know that I have ever seen this effect on SD programing, before.

Charles R

09-10-06, 01:53 PM

Hi Charles,

Sorry, but I don't believe I watched anything on WISH-DT this past week. Do the breakups appear during CBS programs (SD and HD) only, or have you also noticed the breakups during local commercial breaks within the CBS programs you were watching? Thanks.

SteveI know I have seen the breakups during commercials whether they were local or national I didn't catch. I might during the US Open Final this afternoon... if the problem still exists.

hoosierfan227

09-10-06, 05:12 PM

Thanks for the feedback. I have called their engineering department three times and each time have been meet with "I'm not aware of any issues and I can't check it right now"

Only thing I watched on CBS this week was Rock Star (both nights) and the US Open. Both had far too many breakups not to be noticeable. I was pretty sure it wasn't just me and if it's not I think it's a shame to ruin one of the HD highlights of the year (US Open).

Started watching the US Open Final OTA and the pixel break-ups and audio drop-outs were so bad I switched to Comcast. The pixel break-ups were still pretty bad but did not seem as bad as OTA.

Two other comments, it did occur on commercials both local and national and reading the HDTV programming forum on the US Open I did not see any mention of these problems in any other market. Based on this I would have to believe it is a WISH-DT problem.

P.S. When it remained a solid picture the video and audio were OUTSTANDING!!

rustysedam

09-10-06, 07:42 PM

I live in Terre Haute. I'm about 3 miles north of WTHI-TV studios and about 18 miles almost directly North of Farmersburg, IN, where the 3 network affiliates transmitters are located.

I have the following antenna from Radio Shack:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103084&cp=&origkw=antenna&kw=antenna&parentPage=search

The antenna is mounted on my chimney in a 2 story house that has a 12 pitch roof (very high roof).

For WTWO-DT channel 2.1, I cannot get a signal more than 3 out of 100.
For WTHI-DT channel 10.1, I cannot get a signal more than 30 our of 100.
For WBAK-DT channel 38.1, I can't even get a registerable signal strength and barely keep the picture most of the time.

I recently bought RG-6 cable swept tested to 3.0Ghz and high quality connectors with a crimping tool and ran all the lines myself, so I'm pretty sure they're all good connections.

Does my antenna just suck or am I missing something?

Thank you.

Ken Myers

09-10-06, 08:38 PM

I live in Terre Haute. I'm about 3 miles north of WTHI-TV studios and about 18 miles almost directly North of Farmersburg, IN, where the 3 network affiliates transmitters are located.

I have the following antenna from Radio Shack:
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103084&cp=&origkw=antenna&kw=antenna&parentPage=search

Probably should invest in a pre-amp for the antenna. How well are you receiving the analog stations? Depending on the loss of the RG-6 (4-6 dB/100') and the number of splitters in the line, you may have a good bit of loss before you hit the set. I live in Brazil. I have one of the top o-the-line RS antennas ($125) and a 26dB antenna mounted pre-amp at about 65 feet in altitude using RG-6 satellite TV cable. My signal on WTHI-DT is still only about 75 or so. Most of the time, I cannot get WTWO-DT or WFXW-DT. They are still low power. WTHI is now at 188Kw ERP. BTW, Indy, Champaign, and Bloomington are blasting in here also!

rustysedam

09-10-06, 09:02 PM

I have a straignt line of between 50-75 ft. of cable from antenna to TV. No splits.

What would be better, a Pre-Amp for my current antenna or a bigger antenna such as a Winegard with 25 elements (as opposed to 18 that I have now) and longer and wider?

Probably should invest in a pre-amp for the antenna. How well are you receiving the analog stations? Depending on the loss of the RG-6 (4-6 dB/100') and the number of splitters in the line, you may have a good bit of loss before you hit the set. I live in Brazil. I have one of the top o-the-line RS antennas ($125) and a 26dB antenna mounted pre-amp at about 65 feet in altitude using RG-6 satellite TV cable. My signal on WTHI-DT is still only about 75 or so. Most of the time, I cannot get WTWO-DT or WFXW-DT. They are still low power. WTHI is now at 188Kw ERP. BTW, Indy, Champaign, and Bloomington are blasting in here also!

RWB

09-11-06, 09:32 AM

Probably should invest in a pre-amp for the antenna.

Rusty, as Ken suggests a pre-amp will give you major improvement at least for the locals. If you're wanting more you may need to re-think your setup.

Sometimes you really do have to think is it all worth it? At a location 9 miles north of Terre Haute, but with a slight elevation advantage I'm getting very strong signals from WTHI, WTWO, FOX, and WTIU's pbs stations. Acceptable levels from WCID in Champaign and WB4's signal is a constant lock usually by 5pm.

rustysedam

09-11-06, 07:08 PM

goldrich

09-11-06, 07:55 PM

Congrats to WTHR-DT, as it is among some of the first stations in the country to offer Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy in HD. PQ looks very good, especially considering it's the first day for the HD broadcasts, plus the station is utilizing existing equipment until the new HD equipment for record/playback of syndicated programming is completely installed (November).

Steve

kierandill

09-12-06, 07:45 AM

What are the chances that WFYI might ultimately increase their power? 200kW just isn't getting it done up here, and I really don't want to change to some ginormous tower.

RWB

09-12-06, 01:20 PM

Thanks for the reply RWB. I wouldn't know how to re-think my setup. My antenna is mounted on the highest point of my 2 story house on my chimney and has 1 RG-6 cable running straight down from it to my TV...no splits whatsoever. At one point, I did have a couple of splits because I used pre-made cables I already had, but ended up buying a spool of cable and re-ran it as 1 solid cable and my signal strength didn't improve more than 2-3. Any suggestions on the setup?

Also, what kind of pre-amp would someone on here suggest would be good for pulling in as many stations from North Terre Haute as possible?

Thanks.

After having the pre-amp for my Winegard Square Shooter bite the dust I went with the general recommendation here and bought a Channel Master 4228 along with the CM 7775 pre-amp.

Putting the antenna up first and testing the signal WTHI was the only thing that would come in steady. Once I hooked up the pre-amp everything local almost maxed out. The Bloomington PBS stations at about 65 miles from my house come in almost at the same strength as the Farmersburg towers.

If you're just concerned with 24.1, 36.1, and 39.1 then a UHF/VHF pre-amp only will do you fine with your existing antenna. If you're trying for more as I was pointed to then you might want to look at something more directional designed for the upper channel range. Then once again you might be happy with something like a Zenith Silver Sensor if you're just wanting the locals.

I guess the question is besides wanting every channel possible in our ideal world what most important to you in this?

Almost forgot, you should be able to pick up a decent pre-amp at one of the local hardware chains. They are known to carry Channel Master equipment.

goldrich

09-12-06, 02:38 PM

What are the chances that WFYI might ultimately increase their power? 200kW just isn't getting it done up here, and I really don't want to change to some ginormous tower.

I seriously doubt that there will be any power increase at WFYI-DT, at least during the next two years. There are no applications pending with the FCC....http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=41397 Who knows what might develop after the analogs are shut off. Currently, WFYI-DT is operating with a directional antenna, which mostly limits its signal to the northeast, helping to protect the coverage area of analog WPTA-21, Fort Wayne. When stations like WPTA-21 are turned off, maybe WFYI-DT will be able to extend its coverage area in that and other directions. That is just speculation on my part.

Another factor with your location in Lafayette is that WFYI's tower is shorter than the other Indy TV towers. While WFYI-DT's antenna is mounted @ 775 ft. (HAAT), the other Indy stations have their antennas mounted in the neighborhood of 930 -1000 feet. Line of sight signal for DTV seems to be quite important.

My 2 cents.

Steve

jrcorwin

09-12-06, 03:07 PM

I've just read the posts telling that both Wheel of Fortune and Jepordy are being shown in HD now on WTHR. Great job folks, thank you much. I'm looking forward to checking that out.

Now, for a related question...

Anything else "old" that might be shown in HD in the near future? Possilbly after the new equipment is set up? Thank you!

Eleven

09-12-06, 05:15 PM

Ok, so now that the MLB Post season is just around the corner (Fox), and the NFL is starting up (NBC), are us poor saps in Terre Haute just going to have to suck it up again, and see all this wonderous HD material in grand old SD?

Sad really....

Have as many people as you know send an email to:
dlammers@nexstar.tv

Nexstar is holding TH hostage for HD content.
If NEXSTAR won't provide HD content, then why not allow Cable, and Sat providers give us the HD content from a distant network feed???

gb33

09-13-06, 10:33 AM

I have had the HR20 for almost a week now. And as you probably know the OTA is not turned on until October. Hopefully that is. I saw it touched on briefly earlier, but does anyone have a time frame or speculation for the arrival of CBS and Fox via Directv in HD? Currently only getting NBC and ABC. So it stinks not being able to get them either way and I struck out asking a CSR for distant or any timeframe.

goldrich

09-13-06, 12:34 PM

FWIW......For DTV viewers in the Peru, Wabash, Marion and Hartford City area, WISE-DT 19 (NBC), Fort Wayne, increased its power from 9.9 kW to 350 kW earlier this morning.

FCC coverage map...http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT422513.html

Steve

amervis

09-13-06, 04:24 PM

jasonblair

09-13-06, 06:03 PM

kierandill

09-14-06, 07:49 AM

I called in to the station yesterday to see if WISH would be showing the cleaned-up Star Trek episodes in HD, but got the thumbs down. We will get them, but apparently not in HD. Has anyone (WISH engineers?) heard anything about this being temporary?

I'll be ok with the cleaned up SD, but it's disappointing to know that we're not getting the full package, you know?

Seems like they've done more than just remaster in digital - they've altered them, like Lucas did with the original Star Wars movies. That's too bad.
http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/23775.html

gb33

09-14-06, 10:42 AM

Nobody knows of the reason for holdup of Wish (CBS) and WXIN (Fox) on Directv HD?

goldrich

09-14-06, 12:02 PM

Nobody knows of the reason for holdup of Wish (CBS) and WXIN (Fox) on Directv HD?

MOST LIKELY dollars and cents...........just like in the past with the area cable companies. I just got WXIN-DT and WTTV-DT via BHN on Jan. 1.

Steve

rustysedam

09-16-06, 12:20 AM

RWB, thanks again for the reply. In Terre Haute, my DTV channels are 10.1 (WTHI), 2.1 (WTWO), and 38.1 (WFXW). What are 24.1, 36.1, and 39.1 as I cannot receive those on my HDTV?

Thanks.

After having the pre-amp for my Winegard Square Shooter bite the dust I went with the general recommendation here and bought a Channel Master 4228 along with the CM 7775 pre-amp.

Putting the antenna up first and testing the signal WTHI was the only thing that would come in steady. Once I hooked up the pre-amp everything local almost maxed out. The Bloomington PBS stations at about 65 miles from my house come in almost at the same strength as the Farmersburg towers.

If you're just concerned with 24.1, 36.1, and 39.1 then a UHF/VHF pre-amp only will do you fine with your existing antenna. If you're trying for more as I was pointed to then you might want to look at something more directional designed for the upper channel range. Then once again you might be happy with something like a Zenith Silver Sensor if you're just wanting the locals.

I guess the question is besides wanting every channel possible in our ideal world what most important to you in this?

Almost forgot, you should be able to pick up a decent pre-amp at one of the local hardware chains. They are known to carry Channel Master equipment.

rustysedam

09-16-06, 12:26 AM

This question is pointed at Mr. Ken Myers, but would appreciate replies from anyone who can test this...

I hooked a fiber optic cable from my HDTV to my surround sound system. When listening to programs that are supposed to be in surround sound, I hear no center channel sound (when turned up on the higest volume level for that individual speaker) and the voices come through very clearly on the right and left channels when they really shouldn't in true surround as they should come through mostly center only. When I switch the surround sound receiver to my satellite fiber optic cable, it works fine for surround as does my DVD players.

Is WTHI-DT not true surround sound or can anyone confirm or deny this?

Thank you.

estop

09-16-06, 08:02 AM

goldrich

09-16-06, 10:25 AM

I'm about to install an uhf antenna on a 40 ft. tower in the Peru area. I still have an anolog monitor put intend to purchase a digital set soon.

My current thinking is to use a CM 4228 UHF antenna with a CM rotor and pre-amp. My hope is to receive HD from Ft. Wayne S. Bend and Indy, all are aprox. 60 mi. distance. Anyone close to my area have experience with this antenna? I'm open to suggestions.

About the pre-amp, if I hope to receive channel 13 from Indy with the UHF antenna will I have to use a UHF/VHF pre-amp?

Welcome to AVS Forum as a new member, and good luck with your new antenna setup. It sounds like you are on your way to receiving a number of DTV stations. As long as you are not located in one of the lower terrain areas along the Wabash River, you should do well with a 40 ft. tower in that area. I grew up in Kokomo so I have an idea as to what reception possibilities are like around Peru.

If you are interested in receiving some VHF analog stations (like WTHR-13) for the next two years, plus receiving the three area VHF digital stations after the analog stations are turned off in Feb. 2009 (WISH-DT 9, WLFI-DT 11 and WTHR-DT 13), then I would suggest you also add a VHF antenna along with your UHF antenna (CM 4228). A high-band VHF antenna (here's an example.... http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/y10713.htm ) would serve you well in the future. At your distance, I don't believe the CM 4228 will do that well receiving these VHF stations.

With the above in mind, I'd recommend using a VHF/UHF pre-amp, such as the CM 7777....http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/7777.htm. This pre-amp provides separate inputs from each antenna at the top of the tower, but then combines the two antenna signals into one so you only need one coaxial cable from the top of the tower into the house.

If you decide to only use the CM 4228 along with a pre-amp, make sure the pre-amp you purchase is capable of passing the VHF frequencies, as some do and some do not.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck with the project and please report back with the results. Thanks.

FYI....I just found these pre-amp installation tips, if interested....http://www.solidsignal.com/tech_help_CM777X.asp

Steve

goldrich

09-16-06, 10:37 AM

Is WTHI-DT not true surround sound or can anyone confirm or deny this?

Thank you.

Maybe Ken has a more recent update on this subject, but here's what he posted back in June......http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7850625&&#post7850625

Steve

Hef

09-17-06, 01:50 PM

So what's the deal with the colts game not being in HD on WISH? I thought last year they were.

Tersanyus

09-17-06, 02:01 PM

Yeah, a definate disappointment. Especially when there was a college game yesterday in HD

hoosierfan227

09-17-06, 04:33 PM

So what's the deal with the colts game not being in HD on WISH? I thought last year they were.

CBS only broadcasts three NFL games a week in HD. They always try and pick what they view as the top games for HD. Any game involving the Houston Texans unfortunately will not qualify :). I would expect next weeks game versus the Jaguars to be in HD.

Tersanyus

09-17-06, 11:54 PM

CBS only broadcasts three NFL games a week in HD. They always try and pick what they view as the top games for HD. Any game involving the Houston Texans unfortunately will not qualify :). I would expect next weeks game versus the Jaguars to be in HD.

What is the reasoning behind that? Too expensive to broadcast 4 games a week in HD or something? Nearly every show during the week I watch is on CBS and all of them are in full HD.

I know HDTV isn't all the common yet. I met someone last week with a nice, expensive plasma. He has digital cable. He thought every channel was in HD since all channels filled the screen. I hated to break the news to him that absolutely nothing on his cable box was HD as he doesn't subscribe to it. I know it's common to hear that too.

estop

09-18-06, 12:23 AM

Steve,

Thanks for the welcome. It was short sighted of me not to have included the VHF in my plans and now intend to as you suggest, would have really missed the Indy connection.

I'm getting a lot of useful ideas here and soon hope to be ready to order and install the antennas myself. the altitude here isn't bad and with a little luck I should be pulling in OTA signls within a month. I'll post my results when I have something.

Gary

hoosierfan227

09-18-06, 12:54 PM

What is the reasoning behind that? Too expensive to broadcast 4 games a week in HD or something? Nearly every show during the week I watch is on CBS and all of them are in full HD.

A few months ago I listened to an interview with a CBS exec and he basically said it was budget/resources and they are going slow. To do all the games in HD would have prevented Letterman and one of their soap operas going HD. You are correct that all of prime time is in HD for all networks except for most reality shows and news magazines.

Anyways back to football. CBS football (both pro and college) in HD is generally considered the best. They will be sticking with 3 games a week for this year and rumor has it go to 4 next year and add at least one per year until the mandatory February 2009 cutover. In reviewing the Colt games for this year I would expect at least 4 more SD games(Houston, 2-Tennessee, and Bills). Two that I am on the fence on are NY Jets and Miami. I would expect all the rest to be in HD. We know NE, Philadelphia, Washington, and Cincinnati games will be HD as they are not CBS.

Update: CBS has announced that the Colts-Jaguars game will be in HD this week.

RWB

09-19-06, 07:15 AM

Update: CBS has announced that the Colts-Jaguars game will be in HD this week.

Good, see if you can read my lips from the upper level. I really hate the Jags. :D

MassNerder

09-19-06, 11:32 AM

Nobody knows of the reason for holdup of Wish (CBS) and WXIN (Fox) on Directv HD?

They are just giving anyone who asks the run-around. They say it's a contractual hold up and 'hope to be carried by DirecTV soon'. As you can see the channels are alocated if you look at the program guide of the H20. I would guess that it has something to do with those two channels broadcasting NFL football in Indiana and therefore wanting a crap-ton of money to be carried.

You need to contact the stations and tell them (nay, DEMAND) that they get their acts together with DirecTV.

Fox 59 can be contacted here:
http://fox59.trb.com/news/local/wxin-technical-email-story,0,3301299.htmlstory?coll=wxin-home-nav

Jeff White is GM of WISHTV. You can e-mail him directly at:
jwhite@wishtv.com

Anyone reading this who has D* and is p/oed that they cannot get their Colts in HD should write both of those. If people start complaining, the stations will hopefully respond. Get your friends and family to start writing too.

Thanks.

Tom Weber

09-19-06, 01:46 PM

Ken Myers

09-19-06, 10:16 PM

This question is pointed at Mr. Ken Myers, but would appreciate replies from anyone who can test this...

Is WTHI-DT not true surround sound or can anyone confirm or deny this?

Thank you.

Can I call you Rusty? Anyway, yeah, we have not yet replaced our dolby equipment that keeps us (WTHI-DT) from being surround compliant. Unknown when Terre Haute will see 5.1 OTA!???
Ken

Ken Myers

09-19-06, 10:24 PM

RWB, thanks again for the reply. In Terre Haute, my DTV channels are 10.1 (WTHI), 2.1 (WTWO), and 38.1 (WFXW). What are 24.1, 36.1, and 39.1 as I cannot receive those on my HDTV?

Thanks.

BTW, someone is referring to RF channels here. Actually here is the way it pans out for Terre Haute...
WTHI-DT 10.1 1080i (RF 24)
WTWO-DT 2.1 480i? (RF 36)
WFXW-DT 38.1 480i? (RF 39)
Most folks here are not really interested in the RF side of the mapping EXCEPT if your looking for antennas for these channels. Not sure if the newer receivers even allow you know the RF channels.
Ken.

Smooth317

09-20-06, 03:26 PM

Anyone with Insight (Fishers) know anything about the rumored new HD package channels? Last post I see estimated June and it's now September. Insight CSRs know nothing.

nathill

09-20-06, 04:48 PM

Anyone with Insight (Fishers) know anything about the rumored new HD package channels? Last post I see estimated June and it's now September. Insight CSRs know nothing.

I too would very much like to know. I would have enjoyed watching the Boilermakers in HD Saturday.
So typical of Insight. They recently sent us a letter crowing about all of the great HD programs we were going to get. They failed to mention when all of this magnificant programming was going to begin.
What a way to run a company!

rustysedam

09-20-06, 08:36 PM

Yes, Mr. Myers, I would love to speak with you to gain some insight. I know you're a sound engineer but seem to know alot about the video side also and know Terre Haute well. Maybe could help me in my search for an antenna to get my signal strength up for OTA channels.

I will PM you my phone number.

Can I call you Rusty? Anyway, yeah, we have not yet replaced our dolby equipment that keeps us (WTHI-DT) from being surround compliant. Unknown when Terre Haute will see 5.1 OTA!???
Ken

MassNerder

09-21-06, 03:14 PM

The only thing I'm being told is that we and DirecTV are in negotiations. How active, how close or far apart, they aren't telling me. Read into that whatever you will, but that's the extent of the info I have.

Tom Weber
Engineering
WISH / WNDY / WIIH

Tom, I appreciate you throwing that out there. I guess that I just find it really frustrating when that's all the consumer hears. I know you are out of the loop, but I'd love to just know if it will happen soon or later. Here's the better question: If I want to see the Colts in HD, should I wait for D* to add WISH-HD or should I plan on making other arrangements?

I know that question probably cannot be answered, but it'd be really helpful. I want the colts in HD, but because of my location/trees/etc I simply cannot get an antenna out there to pick up the signal.

bigdep

09-22-06, 11:23 AM

Anyone with Insight (Fishers) know anything about the rumored new HD package channels? Last post I see estimated June and it's now September. Insight CSRs know nothing.

I recieved a letter after I had switched to directv (go figure :rolleyes: ) saying they were rolling out hd verison 2 adding 3 or 4 channels and expected mid october for the roll out.

bigdep

09-22-06, 11:25 AM

I know that question probably cannot be answered, but it'd be really helpful. I want the colts in HD, but because of my location/trees/etc I simply cannot get an antenna out there to pick up the signal.

As far as directv goes I'm upset because I cant watch the Colts in HD although I have sunday ticket with superfan and an OTA antenna! The new directv HD DVR doesnt have the OTA tuners enabled yet! I'm so frustrated at the CBS and directv. Well heres to watching SD crap till there finished squabbling over cash.

IndyJeff

09-22-06, 12:02 PM

billmarc

09-22-06, 01:16 PM

Anyone with Insight (Fishers) know anything about the rumored new HD package channels? Last post I see estimated June and it's now September. Insight CSRs know nothing.

I have Insight here in Greenfield. I dumped all but what I need for broadband. Insight is a joke. I signed up with DISHNetwork and took their HD offerings. I couldn't be happier. Jim from AtticAntenna came out and made some adjustments to my attic antenna and I can get ALL of the HD locals, from Muncie/Kokomo to Trafalgar and everything in between!

billmarc

MassNerder

09-22-06, 02:26 PM

As far as directv goes I'm upset because I cant watch the Colts in HD although I have sunday ticket with superfan and an OTA antenna! The new directv HD DVR doesnt have the OTA tuners enabled yet! I'm so frustrated at the CBS and directv. Well heres to watching SD crap till there finished squabbling over cash.

Actually, I've read a lot of postings saying that it appears D* is not going to black out local games in HD even if the local channel is showing it. They will continue to black out the SD feed but not the HD feed. I've not had a chance to test this out because the Colts have not been one of the chosen few HD games from CBS until this week, but others have confirmed that for the last two weeks, games have not been blacked out for NFL ST/SF.

I think that would be a great solution. I don't watch any other CBS programming other than the Colts, so that would suit me just fine.

Smooth317

09-22-06, 04:39 PM

I have Insight here in Greenfield. I dumped all but what I need for broadband. Insight is a joke. I signed up with DISHNetwork and took their HD offerings. I couldn't be happier. Jim from AtticAntenna came out and made some adjustments to my attic antenna and I can get ALL of the HD locals, from Muncie/Kokomo to Trafalgar and everything in between!

billmarc

Sad to hear that. I haven't had any problems with the Noblesville office that covers Fishers. HD picture quality is fantastic... just wish we got ESPN2-HD and TNT-HD in particular. I dumped DirecTV when I made the upgrade to an HD display in August '05... when they wanted, I think, $800 for an HD Tivo and new dish to provide sub-par HD quality. Insight charged nothing up front, just the $8/mo DVR rental. Haven't looked into DishNetwork but I'd really rather not deal with buying/installing and flipping between antenna/cable.

rustysedam

09-24-06, 04:28 PM

Well, the Colts game wasn't in HD on WTHI-DT, but was advertised by CBS as being presented in HD. TitanTV program guide also said HD. It was a good game too.

MassNerder

09-24-06, 04:35 PM

It was in HD on CBS. DirecTV carried in it HD via superfan :D

It was a great game. Can't argue with 3-0.

XavierMike

09-24-06, 05:24 PM

I hope WTHS and DirectV get things sorted out before the Super Bowl.

IndyJeff

09-24-06, 05:30 PM

Well, the Colts game wasn't in HD on WTHI-DT, but was advertised by CBS as being presented in HD. TitanTV program guide also said HD. It was a good game too.

It was in HD in Indianapolis. Kind of pixelly I thought. The first 15 minutes or so were without the announcer track, which was kind of nice... :)

Jeff

KBandy

09-24-06, 05:36 PM

....The first 15 minutes or so were without the announcer track, which was kind of nice... :)

JeffI agree. It would be great if we could mute one channel (front, center) and lose the announcers but keep the nat sound. That would be ideal.

Just my opinion, mind you. ;)

Ken

kierandill

09-25-06, 07:38 AM

I agree. It would be great if we could mute one channel (front, center) and lose the announcers but keep the nat sound. That would be ideal.

Just my opinion, mind you. ;)

Ken

The father of a friend of mine from high school used to always put on the Reds games and mute the sound, and listen to a radio broadcast instead. That would be a nice option here.

nathill

09-25-06, 07:50 AM

The father of a friend of mine from high school used to always put on the Reds games and mute the sound, and listen to a radio broadcast instead. That would be a nice option here.

There is often a huge delay from one of the signals, usually TV. I watched IU play football on TV and listened to the radio broadcast while I worked on some stuff at the house.
When Don Fisher would announce a good play (which wasn't very often) I would look up to see the "replay" on TV.
There was that much of a delay.
The signals are seldom in synch.

MassNerder

09-25-06, 08:25 AM

It used to be the case (at least it seemed to be) that when a game was in 5.1, the announcer was always in the center channel (and only the center channel). I'd just disconnect the center channel and just have game sounds. Seems not to be the case anymore. I agree though, the option to just have crowd noise would be great...rather than listening to the announcers pimp shows that I'll never watch.

billmarc

09-25-06, 02:49 PM

Sad to hear that. I haven't had any problems with the Noblesville office that covers Fishers. HD picture quality is fantastic... just wish we got ESPN2-HD and TNT-HD in particular. I dumped DirecTV when I made the upgrade to an HD display in August '05... when they wanted, I think, $800 for an HD Tivo and new dish to provide sub-par HD quality. Insight charged nothing up front, just the $8/mo DVR rental. Haven't looked into DishNetwork but I'd really rather not deal with buying/installing and flipping between antenna/cable.

Oh, the HD picture quality from Insight was very good, but the HD offerings were/are very limited. Channel 23 is not offered in HD and there were/are only five channels in their HD package beyond locals. They have been promising more HD since May and I just got tired of waiting. DISHNetwork has about thirty and are planning more. Maybe some day Insight will get their act together, but I doubt that I'll come back.

_____________________

billmarc

IndyJeff

09-25-06, 03:11 PM

Oh, the HD picture quality from Insight was very good, but the HD offerings were/are very limited. Channel 23 is not offered in HD and there were/are only five channels in their HD package beyond locals. They have been promising more HD since May and I just got tired of waiting. DISHNetwork has about thirty and are planning more. Maybe some day Insight will get their act together, but I doubt that I'll come back.

I'm sure you know this, but Channel 23's network programming has been absorbed into Channel 4 (WTTV - the new 'CW' network). I don't think that WNDY will have any HD content to show any longer.

Jeff

nathill

09-25-06, 03:50 PM

Oh, the HD picture quality from Insight was very good, but the HD offerings were/are very limited. Channel 23 is not offered in HD and there were/are only five channels in their HD package beyond locals. They have been promising more HD since May and I just got tired of waiting. DISHNetwork has about thirty and are planning more. Maybe some day Insight will get their act together, but I doubt that I'll come back.

_____________________

billmarc

I'm with 'ya, except that I haven't had the nerve to cut 'em off just yet.
Why promise something then delay in delivery? Don't tease us.....

Feddie

09-25-06, 03:54 PM

Is there any progress in TWC carrying WTHI?

Tom Weber

09-25-06, 05:09 PM

Actually, WNDY is now the affiliate of MyNetwork, and MyNetwork is making the claim that it's the first all-HD network! (I assume they're meaning OTA.)

Both shows (Desire and Fashion House) are HD, all 6 days a week they air.

Tom Weber
Engineering
WISH / WNDY / WIIH

hoosierfan227

09-25-06, 08:29 PM

Several people(including myself) have posted here about numerous pixel break-ups and audio drops on WISH 8.1. (see posts 3053,3054,3058-3063, and 3111)

There is now a thread going over at Tivo Community about this same issue:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=318668

I keep checking the signal strength on my antenna on my HR10-250 and it consistently shows 92-95. Other people are reporting a strong signal also. Has anyone received an explanation on this from WISH? It seemed to start around the first of September as it really became noticeable during the US Open and was still bad during the Colts game yesterday.

Tom Weber, do you have an explanation for this?

goldrich

09-25-06, 08:53 PM

Hoosierfan,

Yesterday I wasn't home with my setup, but I was at my brother's house here in Indy watching the Colts game on his new HDTV via OTA using a Z. Silver Sensor. I didn't notice any video break-ups and no one else at his house made any comments about it, and we watched the entire game. I hadn't seen any other posts here regarding this issue so I didn't realize it was continuing.

Steve

IndyJeff

09-25-06, 08:56 PM

hoosierfan227

09-25-06, 09:31 PM

I noticed it during the U.S. Open, but I didn't see anything wrong with the Colts game yesterday.

Jeff

I need to clarify. While it did occur every five minutes or so during the Colts game yesterday it was nowhere near as bad during the US Open where it happened probably every minute. I have also noticed it during the college football games and my wife said Survivor on the 14th was very bad. I keep thinking maybe it is something with my set-up but then others are seeing the same issue.

jlwine

09-25-06, 11:07 PM

Mr. Tom Weber,

I too have been experiencing periotic breakup on 8.1 for about 3 weeks now. This happens on both of my DirecTiVo's (off air signal) and at the exact same moment. Interestingly, actually have two separate antennas an attic antenna for the living room and rabbit ears for my bedroom. My signal strength is between 88-92. I have had HD for 4 years and this is my first real problem with your signal.

Are you aware of this issue?

posg

09-26-06, 10:59 AM

Terre Haute bashed on "Studio 60" last night.

"Not that there's anything wrong with that" - (Jerry Seinfeld)

justalurker

09-26-06, 05:12 PM

Yeah ... one of five "NBS" markets to drop Studio 60 because of the proposed skit. Flash back to "The Book of Daniel" which was one of many shows that died incomplete on NBC last year. (I still can't believe NBC wouldn't let Celebrity Cooking Showdown finish their week ... come on - they couldn't give it a full week???) "Heist" also quietly died mid-story.

There was a lot of talk whether or not "The Book of Daniel" would air in the South Bend market. Notre Dame owned the NBC affiliate when they refused to air "Coupling" (along with Terre Haute, IIRC). They got tired of the moral questions about what they were being asked to air and have now sold the station.

In the case of "Coupling" and "The Book of Daniel" the shows died very quickly and in some ways the stations were vindicated for not airing the series. The "NBS" show "Studio 60" will likely not follow that path and instead follow the fictional path toward success despite controversy. I'm suprised the NBC show "Studio 60" hasn't received more complaints.

Tom Weber

09-26-06, 05:19 PM

Les Auber

09-26-06, 05:29 PM

KBandy

09-26-06, 05:46 PM

I just haven't seen any kind of problem here, but I've been looking since I got back from vacation. ...........

Folks with problems seem to all be DirecTV Tivo users - is this correct? What model and software version are the devices?

Tom Weber
Engineering
WISH / WNDY / WIIH

Vacation?! The nerve!! :D

I watch WISH-DT via Comcast, and will see a pixelated horizontal "line" on the screen perhaps 4 or so times during an hour long prime time show.

My question to those that see this anamoly is, is the problem seen during local upconverted programming, or just network programming? I really don't watch WISH-DT except during prime time, so I can't say.

My thinking is, since, as I recall, this has been reported from different parts of the country, that this is a network stream problem, and the local affiliates are simply "passing what comes down the pipe".

Ken

mjrichar

09-26-06, 05:50 PM

I am about to get a DirecTV DVR (HR20) installed this Saturday. D* says that the only HD locals I can get from THEM is ABC and NBC. Is that correct? If so, whats the deal?

Does anyone know when they'll give us the other channels we can get OTA?

thanks.

IndyJeff

09-26-06, 06:20 PM

Jeff,
Now that you've had you're S3 Tivo for a few days what do you think? How's the PQ? Have you tried it with cablecard? Comments on the OTA tuner? Thoughts in general?

I have one of the S1 Sony Tivo's that has been great though it obviously won't do HD. I'm seriously tempted to do the upgrade even though it wasn't in the budget and appreciate any input you might have on the new piece.

I think the TiVO S3 is terrific. The HD picture quality is excellent (as good as, if not better than, any other receiver I've used, including the Voom receiver, a Motorola HD digital cable receiver, and most recently a Motorola DCT 6412 DVR).

The CableCards work fine, and except for one defective card which added an hour to the installation time, it's been smooth sailing as far as setup with Comcast. Picture quality on non-HD digital channels is very good, and the analog channels are as good as you can expect on a large screen and as good as a cable line going directly into the TV. You can change the aspect ratio quickly on the TiVO remote (stretch, zoom, letterbox) and since this is done by the TiVO and not the TV, I can now zoom (my TV will only stretch a digital signal natively). You can also set the letterbox/pillarbox color to gray or black through the TiVO menus, which is a feature that I like.

I haven't hooked up my antenna yet - Jim from Attic Antenna is coming tomorrow to get my antenna (which he installed back in the Voom days) hooked up again as I have a small wiring problem that I need some help with. I should know more about this by tomorrow. It will be nice to have the antenna available if the cable goes out.

Everything else works just like TiVOs have always worked. In other words, "it just works" which is a far cry from the DCT 6412 which required a lot of babysitting. The only negative I've found is that it takes between 1.5 and 3 seconds to change the channel. I hope this can be improved a little in a future software update.

Of course everyone complains about the price, but $800 doesn't seem out of line relative to the price of our televisions and other home theater and computer equipment. And we only live once... :)

If you have any other questions, ask away.

Jeff

Les Auber

09-26-06, 06:46 PM

IndyJeff

09-26-06, 07:28 PM

Jeff,
Thanks a bunch. PQ was something I was worried about and sort of suspected that Tivo had gone the extra mile on. I'm fairly sure that any of the cable co DVRs are built to the lowest bid instead of performance if past experience with older cable gear is any guide.

Does the Tivo S3 upconvert everything, analog, SD cable, etc, to HD output?

It is good to hear they managed to keep the 'just plain works' system. I don't know how it could be made easier unless it just read your mind.

I can't really object to the price. My old one was $400 with only one tuner, no HD and only 9 hours of video watchable on a big screen. Just wasn't in the budget at the moment but really hard to pass up.

Let me know how the OTA works when the antenna gets hooked up. Wonder if that will make a difference in the time to change channels between OTA channels versus cable? I wonder if it's possible the time delay is just to buffer the transport stream. IIRC with Tivo you're actually watching the output of the encoded/decoded stream ran to a small 30 minute buffer on the drive giving the pause, FF, RW etc of live TV.
Thanks again,

From everything I've read, even the pickiest "videophiles" seem to be happy with the S3, so I wouldn't worry about the picture quality. I have mine set to up-convert everything to 1080i ("1080i fixed"). There are lot of modes, both fixed (480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i) and hybrid (SD gets 480p, HD gets either 720p or 1080i depending on your TV's capabilities). There's also a native mode which is an unconverted signal from the source if your TV can handle all the resolutions.

I say go for it! Fry's has them in stock (or at least they did over the weekend)... :)

Les Auber

09-26-06, 08:48 PM

Thanks Jeff!

hoosierfan227

09-26-06, 09:48 PM

Tersanyus

09-26-06, 11:44 PM

I just haven't seen any kind of problem here, but I've been looking since I got back from vacation. Our transmitter guy checked the signal we're putting out, and the RF is immaculately good. We'll probably reboot our encoder and multiplexer to be on the safe side, but I watch HD here in my office and it's the same as it's been for years.

No, it's definitely different. This annoying "burp" as I call is seems to happen every 5 minutes or so. I also believe someone asked if it happens during SD programming? Yes it does. I record very few SD programs but one I do record is Amazing Race 10. The first episode was pretty bad. Seemed to "burp" every 2-4 minutes. It notice it really bad since I record all HD programming on a HTPC. I can tell you it is only channel 8. I don't watch much on other networks but those HD programs are fine.

I will tell you this though. On the internat ATSC tuner in my Westy 32W6 the "burp" isn't anywhere near as noticeable. Same on my Samsung SIR-T451. On those two tuners all you will see is a splotch of pixellation near the bottom of the screen mostly. I don't think it appears in other parts of the screen.

I made sure that these "burps" occur at the same time on both tuners. I watched the Colts game this past Sunday on the built in tuner. When I would see this "burp" I would not what was on the screen (like where a player was moving) and would check the HTPC recording. It occurs in the same spot.

Yes my HTPC seems more sensitive to whatever is causing this issue. On that tuner I get a 1 second gap where the picture freezes but the sound goes on fine. Thankfully this is not a huge issue but it certainly is annoying.

I'm glad we have Tom Weber here. I would hope that he could get to the bottom of this issue. It IS there. I get a funny feeling you're gonna have to look hard to see it. I seriously doubt it is in the signal you are sending out. Seems to me it's some kind of encode/decode error. I would also say if you are going to check this in the studio not to use any antenna/feed the station itself has. Hook up a pair of rabbit ears and look very closely. I'd watch the picture only with muted sound. Don't pay attention, just look at the picture.

Hope I've been of some help. I don't have high end equipment but have a keen eye for this kind of pixellation since I've also got Dish Network.

Tom Weber

09-27-06, 02:55 PM

Tersanyus

09-27-06, 05:00 PM

tcoffman

09-28-06, 07:26 AM

Tersanyus

09-28-06, 10:36 AM

Well, I watched the recording of Jericho I made last night on WISH-DT. I did NOT see any problems. Looks like the reboot Tom Weber did of the equipment at WISH did the trick.

I'm glad becuase as I look at the Scheduled Series recoding list in Media Center (like the To Do list of a TiVo) 9 of 12 programs to record are on CBS. One is on NBC (ER) and the other is on ABC (Lost). The 3rd is a for the remastered Star Trek that airs on WISH as well as WNDY. Not sure what's going on with that. Seems one is a week behind the other.

IndyJeff

09-28-06, 02:48 PM

Jeff,

Do you know how many tuners you got with the S3? The H10-250 gives me 2 sat inputs and 2 OTA inputs, but I can still only record 2 shows at a time. I had heard rumors of 4 tuners on the S3, but are they configured that same way?

Thanks,

It probably has about 6 or 8 tuners in it -- it has enough to let you record two simultaneous shows from any combination of sources:

- analog antenna
- digital antenna (SD and HD)
- analog cable
- digital cable (SD and HD)

But you're right - the TiVO "only" gives you access to 2 tuners at a time.

Some OTA feedback - Jim from Attic Antenna came by yesterday morning and got my wiring straightened out, and he also cleaned up Comcast's "drill a hole in the floor" wiring and put proper wall plates in place (Jim rocks!). The OTA channels are integrated in with the cable stations in the guide, and it's easy to tune digital subchannels directly using the remote. With the Voom receiver, I had to tune to the base channel and then use channel-up to get into the subchannels.

The OTA receiver in the TiVO Series 3 seems to be excellent - I was even receiving WTTV-DT well enough to get a picture yesterday. I was not able to pull in this station when I had the Voom receiver. Of course, WTTK-DT is now much stronger for me with a signal strength in the mid-90s (I live near Keystone at the Crossing).

This Series 3 can also receive analog stations from the antenna in addition to the digital stations (this surprised me). After doing the scan, I had analog versions of 6, 8, 13, 20, 23, 40, 59, and a few others, in addition to 6.1, 6.2, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, etc. for the digitals.

Jeff

Brandon Martin

09-28-06, 05:05 PM

[Been lurking for a while...] Since I'm sure someone will find this interesting/useful, I'll go ahead and put it up here. While trying to figure out why I was having so much trouble pulling WFXW digitally, I decided to go do some "real" tests. WFXW and WTWO are currently both running very low power levels (1.2kW ERP according to the FCC), and it shows:

See attachment, I guess...

(For those actually inclined to read into it, take the raw numbers with a grain of salt - I'm not sure how well the instrument was calibrated, and the internal preamp was on).

The thing I found the most interesting is that WICD (which, admitidly, is a powerhouse) is stronger than either of the two local stations other than WTHI, which is now running high power. In particular, WFXW doens't visibly make it out of the noise at all, which would explain my difficulty in receiving it back at my apartment.

The equipment used on this was a 145/440MHz amateur vertical that happens to work OK across all of VHF about 100 feet above ground level, fed down to amateur radio station W9NAA with about 75ft. of LMR-400 UF. A real TV setup will probably do a few dB better.

Anyway, hopefully this can help some people who need to budget out their setup. 3-4dB SNR seems to be the minimum for my tuner to pick out a signal with normal multipath, but I've been told that modern tuners do better. For reference, I can get WTHI-DT with an indoor preamplified antenna very well (I in fact have to turn the preamp down due to multipath), but WTWO-DT I have to get the antenna outside and even then it's hit or miss. WFXW-DT I've never been able to get anything past the ATSC pilot using a ground level antenna. I have yet to try pulling WICD.

rickaren

09-28-06, 05:18 PM

Never thought of it before but I can utilize 7 turners from our Home Theater Room with one Directv SD Tivo DVR (2); DISH VIP 622 DVR (3) and Directv H10-250 (2). Best of all, 5 of the seven could be HD from satellite or OTA. All receivers are in that room and due to a home distribution system all except the H-10 can be viewed on three other LCD sets in the house and this computer. Pretty lucky and an over-kill since there are only two of us.

George Molnar

09-28-06, 06:32 PM

[Been lurking for a while...]

The equipment used on this was a 145/440MHz amateur vertical that happens to work OK across all of VHF about 100 feet above ground level, fed down to amateur radio station W9NAA with about 75ft. of LMR-400 UF. A real TV setup will probably do a few dB better.

Actually a real TV setup would probably do a lot dB better because TV stations transmit with Horizontal Polarization and a vertically polarized receiving antenna is definitely impeded.

H-pol signals depolarize as they travel, and the generally accepted number is 17 dB, thus an H-Pol transmitted signal into a V-Pol receiving antenna would be about 17 dB lower than if the receiving antenna were H-Pol.

And that extra 17dB would definitely improve signal-to-noise thus allowing your DTV receiver to decode weaker signals (as opposed to not and reporting "weak signal" instead).

There's also a smaller penalty from using a 50-ohm antenna and transmission line as opposed to the 75-ohm standard for television reception.

I wonder how big an improvement you'd realize if you repeated this experiment using 75-ohm coax like RG-11 with a broadband UHF yagi antenna like the Blonder Tongue model BTY-UHF-BB http://www.blondertongue.com/reception/bty.pdf and adding a broadband UHF preamplifier like the Blonder Tongue model CMA-Uc http://www.blondertongue.com/reception/preamplifiers.pdf would improve ever further.

Brandon Martin

09-28-06, 07:05 PM

Yeah, it's a vertical. From what I've heard, linear cross polarization penalties are more like 10-12dB for a full 90 degree mismatch, still bad of course (the "rules of thumb" seem to vary by community, oddly enough). That antenna also exhibits some phasing oddities due to the non-ideal ground plane (three radials) it sits on, so turning it actually can change things sometimes.

As far as the coax, the whole system here is 50 ohms, including the spectrum analyzer input. The antenna can't really be characterized as having any specific impedance since it wasn't designed for use on these bands (it's peaked on the amateur 2m and 440MHz bands). It's definately close to 50ohm on the bands it is designed for.

I really do wish I had a log periodic up on that tower (for purposes other than TV, actually), but, frankly, there isn't anymore room! The primary business of that setup is amateur operations, I just happened to have the spectrum analyzer handy, something to hook it up to, and some questions to attempt to answer for myself. I mostly did it for a relative comparison in signal strength (since all 3 broadcasters in town come out of Farmersburg). It's still a fairly valid comparison of relative signal strengths and jives pretty well with my experiences using my indoor TV setup. I also used a 20-something element 440MHz peaked Yagi (horizontal polarization) and pointed it at Farmersburg, but the frequency response peak on that thing is so sharp that it was next to useless up at these frequencies.

I mostly just put that up there because I had it handy and figured it might do someone else some good if they were wondering why they couldn't get WFXW. According to the FCC's info, WTWO and WFXW are nearly identical (same tower and same ERP), but WFXW has its radiation pattern directed south, rather than north. I'm kinda curious why that is, since their primary market is Terre Haute (to the north). I'd like to be able to get them digital, though they unfortunately don't do HD :(

Brandon Martin

09-28-06, 07:30 PM

goldrich

09-28-06, 07:53 PM

Hum, I realized I looked at the wrong line. WFXW is non-directional on their low power digital, which does explain a few things. Still not good :( Anybody know if there are any plans for WTWO and WFXW to start carrying HD?

It seems that Nexstar stations do not convert to HD until they upgrade their transmitter facilities to full power. WCIA, Champaign and WMBD, Peoria are reportedly in the final stages of upgrading to full power and HD. A Nexstar station in Little Rock recently upgraded to full power and went HD at the same time.

This previous post, http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7978663&&#post7978663, links to a Nexstar letter about future plans relating to full power upgrades (including WTWO). WFXW is not mentioned in the letter, as it is involved in a LMA with Nexstar.

Steve

hoosierfan227

10-01-06, 04:23 PM

I've rebooted our encoder and our multiplexer this afternoon, even tho I watched closely for about 10 minutes at the end of The Price Is Right and into the first segment of our Noon News, and did not notice any abnormalities in either network or local content.

Tom Weber
Engineering
WISH / WNDY / WIIH

Tom,

Sorry for taking so long to respond if this worked or not but as Tersanyus says "it did the trick." I just watched the Colts win and most of the Alabama-Florida game yesterday and did not notice one pixel break-up. The CBS picture is by far the best and it was a real joy to watch with a consistent picture. It is great to know we have a local station that cares about it's HD signal.

Thanks for all your efforts on this.

Tersanyus

10-01-06, 05:05 PM

I watched the Colts too and the picture was just fine. Good to hear another report the same thing. And it is great that we have someone here on these forums who hears what we say and does what he can. Tom may not have seen the problem but it was there. And now it isn't after his reboot of the equipment. I hope this problem never returns but if it does at least Tom Weber will know what to do.

Now if we could get someone to look at that audio... which I think is someone playing around. I use a 5.1 surround sound system and every great once in a while the audio changes dramatically. Sometimes the announcers appear to be on the 3 front channels then the audio will drop out completely, then it comes back and the announcer is right there in the center channel only. It's like someone is turning the 5.1 surround on and off. I only notice this on live football. It could happen on other HD live events but I don't watch anu other sports. From what I recall, this only happened in the first half today. Didn't notice it in the second half. But I was watching most of the second half on a different tv with no surround. I don't think the problem is my equipment as I have watched NFL and College games on other networks and never noticed.

Thanks for your fix of the video glitches Tom Weber! The audio glitch is livable but it would be nice to know where that is coming from. Could it be a national issue?

hoosierfan227

10-01-06, 07:12 PM

Now if we could get someone to look at that audio... which I think is someone playing around. I use a 5.1 surround sound system and every great once in a while the audio changes dramatically. Sometimes the announcers appear to be on the 3 front channels then the audio will drop out completely, then it comes back and the announcer is right there in the center channel only. It's like someone is turning the 5.1 surround on and off. I only notice this on live football. It could happen on other HD live events but I don't watch anu other sports. From what I recall, this only happened in the first half today. Didn't notice it in the second half. But I was watching most of the second half on a different tv with no surround. I don't think the problem is my equipment as I have watched NFL and College games on other networks and never noticed.

Thanks for your fix of the video glitches Tom Weber! The audio glitch is livable but it would be nice to know where that is coming from. Could it be a national issue?

I noticed the same thing on audio also. It did happen in the second half. There are times when the audio is outstanding and then all of sudden it seems to go from 5.1 to stereo. It also occurred during the college game yesterday.

On a side note I noticed that WTHR-13 had dialogue/announcers coming out of all five speakers on HD programming. Noticed it Friday night on Law and Order, yesterday during Notre Dame Football, and the start of the NASCAR today. Apparently somebody figured it out during the NASCAR race as 5.1 audio was finally in the correct speakers the next time I switched.

KBandy

10-01-06, 09:43 PM

Thanks for your fix of the video glitches Tom Weber! The audio glitch is livable but it would be nice to know where that is coming from. Could it be a national issue?
What I have noticed of the audio glitch seems to be related to when CBS switches from the live game to New York for updates, and then back. I would be willing to bet this is a CBS issue, rather than WISH. Nonetheless, hopefully someone will find a solution.

Ken

bigjims_hdtv

10-02-06, 09:37 AM

Tom Weber

10-02-06, 03:39 PM

I'm afraid that my yard took precedence over the game this weekend, but I did catch a little football about 6:15 to 6:45 on Sunday. It seemed like we stayed on 5.1 thru a local commercial break, but that shouldn't happen.

OK, did someone push a button? Maybe the "NotMe" character from Family Circus? Hard to pin things down at times....

Glad the other problem is better. I hope some analyzer gear we've asked for gets approved, it may help us pinpoint things better, especially when some receivers see problems and other don't.

Tom Weber
Engineering
WISH / WNDY / WIIH / etc.

MassNerder

10-02-06, 08:49 PM

I noticed the same thing on audio also. It did happen in the second half. There are times when the audio is outstanding and then all of sudden it seems to go from 5.1 to stereo. It also occurred during the college game yesterday.

Yup. I noticed that too. I don't think that's an issue with WISHTV, actually. I was getting it on the Sunday Ticket HD feed for the Colts game and darned if it didn't happen there. As I understand it, that feed has nothing to do with WISH. (But I could be wrong. Last time I checked LIN was playing hardball with D* so I doubt they are doing anything to carry the game).

Tom Weber

10-03-06, 11:04 AM

Hey, MassNerder, what city are you in?

Tom Weber
Engineering
WISH / WNDY / WIIH

jlwine

10-03-06, 03:13 PM

MassNerder

10-03-06, 06:38 PM

I'm in Bloomington. It seemed as though the feed would just switch from 5.1 to 2.0 and back every once and a while. Certainly did it a LOT less than it used to.

Edit: Any chance there is some news on the Wishtv on D* front Tom?

Bents

10-03-06, 08:25 PM

Im in Muncie on Comcast and just noticed that the Colt game is being replayed on the NFL Network which is a new channel.

goldrich

10-04-06, 07:49 AM

Does anyone on the list have a QAM tuner on Bright House cable in Carmel? I just got a new HD LCD tv (HP 32") with a QAM tuner. I installed it on Bright House yesterday. It auto tuned in 704 (CW 4) 706 (ABC) 710 (PBS - WFYI) 711 (FOX - WXIN) and 713 (NBC - WTHR).
Unfortunately it didn't tune in 708 (CBS). Just wondering if anyone else has been able to see WISH on an unencrypted QAM channel on Bright House in Carmel?

Thanks,
Jim

I am able to receive WISH-DT via Bright House with one of my QAM-capable STBs but instead of it registering as ch. 708, as it does via the SA8300, the LG STB registers it as ch. 109-2. Also, audio and video tend to drop out from time to time. I had tried this over a year ago with this same receiver and I had the same results.

BTW, this same receiver indicates different channel numbers for the other local stations, too (WTHR-DT 100-3; WXIN-DT 113-4 ??).

Steve

nathill

10-04-06, 09:21 AM

BTW, this same receiver indicates different channel numbers for the other local stations, too (WTHR-DT 100-3; WXIN-DT 113-4 ??).

Steve

Hey Steve;

I think your LG is "telling it like it is" when it comes to the actual frequency of the channel it is receiving.
For a while, I was receiving other people's on demand movies on my LG. That's when I found out that cable companies are capable, through digital overcompression, of sending out ten movies to different folks on ONE cable channel.
It would appear to me that the huge numbers (channel number 708!) are just the cable company's labeling of the channel for the end user.
My RCA television backs up this idea by actually showing the frequency of the cable channels, and they match what the LG is showing the channel to be.

Nat

oryan_dunn

10-04-06, 11:07 AM

Yeah, cable systems only have 135 6MHz channels. Their digital boxes assign virtual channel numbers so that each channel is a whole number, not something like 75-11. Usually, SD digital channels can have 10 channels per 6MHz channel and 2 HD channels with 256 QAM per 6MHz channel. Here in Auburn, I had an LG that exhibited this same behavior.

nathill

10-04-06, 11:20 AM

IndyTom

10-04-06, 01:14 PM

Hello! Long time lurker here!

I spent time talking to a DTV CSR today about the HR20 and Indy's omission of WISH-HD and WXIN-HD.

She told me that I should be able to get 6 and 13 in HD over the satellite, but also 8 and 59 OTA on the new box (until they formally sign up with DTV).

Can anyone with an HR20 confirm this? I was hesitant in placing the order because I did not want to watch the Colts in standard definition and was willing to wait until those 2 networks had an agreement.

Thank you very much for any info that you have!

Tom

IndyJeff

10-04-06, 01:17 PM

IndyTom

10-04-06, 02:02 PM

Pretty sure the antenna port is disabled for now on the HR20 (based on everything I've read).

Jeff

Thanks Jeff - I should have done some digging before my post. Looks like everyone has the same questions over at DBS.

The thought of not seeing the Colts in HD was enough for me to delay my order until the remaining local affiliates are under contract and/or the OTA is activated on the tuner.

Thanks again!

Tom

justalurker

10-04-06, 02:05 PM

Pretty sure the antenna port is disabled for now on the HR20 (based on everything I've read).Yep. No OTA yet on the HR20.

Check out the DirecTV forums at AVSForums sister site DBSTalk.com ... there are a lot of details about that receiver there.

bigjims_hdtv

10-04-06, 02:56 PM

I am able to receive WISH-DT via Bright House with one of my QAM-capable STBs but instead of it registering as ch. 708, as it does via the SA8300, the LG STB registers it as ch. 109-2. Also, audio and video tend to drop out from time to time. I had tried this over a year ago with this same receiver and I had the same results.

BTW, this same receiver indicates different channel numbers for the other local stations, too (WTHR-DT 100-3; WXIN-DT 113-4 ??).

Steve

Thanks, Steve. I will give that a try. It's interesting that the new TV found the other QAM channels with their Bright House numbers. Must be something similar to PSIP happening.

Jim

goldrich

10-04-06, 09:23 PM

Thanks to Bright House, they have now added more video clutter and outdated information to the screen. I noticed this evening that they have added a bright red banner across the top portion of the screen to announce weather warnings, which interrupts EVERY SINGLE channel offered. Plus, now at 9:22 p.m., they are still running a severe thunderstorm warning that EXPIRED over an hour ago. Another automated mess......................

Steve

wrwine3

10-05-06, 10:09 AM

jlwine

10-05-06, 03:39 PM

Thanks Jeff - I should have done some digging before my post. Looks like everyone has the same questions over at DBS.

The thought of not seeing the Colts in HD was enough for me to delay my order until the remaining local affiliates are under contract and/or the OTA is activated on the tuner.

Thanks again!

Tom

You can do what I did. Call DTV customer retention 800-824-9081 and argue until they let you buy a HR-10 at retail and refund you the purchase price. I had the HR-20 for two days and hated it. Much happier with the HR-10 TiVo interface and it does get OTA signal.

bigdep

10-06-06, 09:47 AM

I havent had much time to get back with everyone regarding the DTV issues with the HR-20 and our Locals.

If you have sunday ticket with superfan they have allowed all of us to watch the Colts in HD. The regular SD feed is blacked out but the NFL and Directv talked about the issue and allowed us and other major cities with the same problems to watch there teams in HD although the HD local isnt available yet.

So I'm a happy Colts fan and as far as the OTA tuners being activated the earliest I've heard is sometime in the next 3 weeks. More info then head over to dbstalk.com and check out the HR-20 threads.

Go Colts

bonscott87

10-06-06, 01:17 PM

What transponders and sats are the HD MPEG4 locals and RSN's coming in on for Indy?

Tersanyus

10-07-06, 03:28 PM

Anyone watching WFYI's PBS HD channel today? All day today it looks like the horizontal hold is way off. Like 10% of the bottom of the picture is on the top of the picture. I've seen this before on this channel. Someone is not paying attention at this station.

The other day I heard the missing center channel problem again. Do we know of someone at WFYI?

Tersanyus

10-08-06, 11:07 AM

For those of you still interested the picture on PBS HD is still messed up. Looks like someone should have been paying more attention before leaving for the weekend. You'd think *someone* from the station would watch their own HD channel and call someone to fix it before Monday morning.

Hef

10-08-06, 02:07 PM

I notice the PBS shift also.

Was it just my imagination, but didn't I see the first 5 mins of the Colts game in HD and then now it's SD (were talking OTA)?

goldrich

10-08-06, 03:29 PM

At 3:25 p.m. WFYI-DT (PBS HD) is stilled messed up. Meanwhile, WIPB-DT 52 (49.1) looks great with the same programming. Since WIPB-DT came on the air about a year ago, I personally prefer the HD PQ of WIPB-DT(1080i) over WFYI-DT(720p).

Steve

Tersanyus

10-08-06, 04:12 PM

Todays Colts game wasn't supposed to be in HD. CBS only does the top 3 games in HD. Our game since it was against a, well, worse off team, wasn't one of the top 3 games this week to be broadcast in HD.

PBS HD is fine now. I did send an e-mail to WFYI. Maybe someone is there after all this weekend. I also notice they have changed their WFYI logo. It now has a dark gray backgound behind it.

Perhaps someone did get my e-mail I sent to WFYI. Or it was probably someone who works at the station finally noticed the problem.

Hef

10-08-06, 04:26 PM

So the first 5 mins of the Colts wasn't in HD? I thought for sure it was.

Tersanyus

10-08-06, 04:36 PM

It might have been. I do not know. I wasn't watching for the first 30 minutes or so.

hoosierfan227

10-08-06, 09:05 PM

So the first 5 mins of the Colts wasn't in HD? I thought for sure it was.

I also missed the first 30 minutes or so but I think what you saw was actually part of the pre-game show. CBS prides themselves on being "first on the field" and actually sends the broadcast about 12:55 to the local game. You may have seen the announcers with the CBS HDTV blue bars up and it gave you that impression. When the game actually starts at 1:00 it is SD. This is just a guess.

The good news is the next few games should be in HD. The next one I would worry about is November 12 against Buffalo and after the December 3 game also against Tennessee.

nathill

10-08-06, 10:19 PM

I don't know about the Colts starting out in HD today, but I do know that the St. Louis Cardinals gave up two runs in the top of the first inning tonight before the game converted to HD and 5.1.
I love this experiment we call digital television!

IndyJeff

10-08-06, 11:11 PM

I watched LOST earlier this week, and DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES tonight (both on RTV-6 in HD). Has anyone else noticed periodic green horizontal lines that flash briefly on the screen?

Tersanyus

10-08-06, 11:26 PM

Yeah. Lost is the only show I watch on ABC and I noticed those lines as well. I saw it on the live feed as it aired and when I went back and watched the recording my PC made.

Thankfully I archive this show from other sources. Whever that HD feed came from there were no lines. Makes me think the issue is with our local ABC.

I watched LOST earlier this week, and DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES tonight (both on RTV-6 in HD). Has anyone else noticed periodic green horizontal lines that flash briefly on the screen?

IndyJeff

10-08-06, 11:29 PM

Yeah. Lost is the only show I watch on ABC and I noticed those lines as well. I saw it on the live feed as it aired and when I went back and watched the recording my PC made.

Thankfully I archive this show from other sources.

I'm watching another ABC HD show now from Thursday night and it also has the lines. Does anyone know anybody at RTV-6? Maybe they need to reboot some things...

goldrich

10-09-06, 10:25 AM

I, too, noticed the green horizontal lines on WRTV-DT last evening. An email has been sent to an engineer at the station.

Steve

jlwine

10-09-06, 04:46 PM

.....I wasn't watching for the first 30 minutes or so.

Neither were the Colts--but that is a different story altogether. :)

jlwine

10-09-06, 04:47 PM

I watched LOST earlier this week, and DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES tonight (both on RTV-6 in HD). Has anyone else noticed periodic green horizontal lines that flash briefly on the screen?

Yup, I have seen it the last few days as well.

balefire

10-11-06, 09:19 AM

WTTV's translator station, WTTK, is currently transmitting a digital signal from the WXIN tower, approximately 5-7 miles from Zionsville. WTTK-DT 54 (29.1) should be fairly easy to receive in your area. WTTV-DT 48 (4.1) should be up and operating with 870kW prior to July 1, as opposed to its current power of 4kW.

WIPX-63 transmits from Trafalgar, next to the WTTV tower, which is about 40 miles from your location. However, WIPX-DT 27 (63.1) is quite powerful and is very easy to receive at my location near Carmel.

Steve

Yeah! I finally get channel 4.1 (since 29.1 was very spotty) here in Zionsville just in time for my pacers season. I also now get 63.1 crystal clear (was also spotty before).

However, any ideas on when Indy Music Channel (IMC) Channel 65 will go digital? The music content on Ch. 65 is more to my tastes than Ch 4.2 The Tube. Thanks!

hoosierfan227

10-11-06, 09:43 AM

Yeah! I finally get channel 4.1 (since 29.1 was very spotty) here in Zionsville just in time for my pacers season.

The Pacers are not on channel 4 this year. All TV games will be on Fox Sports Indiana. No cable/satellite, no Pacers.

http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/tv_sked_060913.html

kierandill

10-11-06, 11:20 AM

The Pacers are not on channel 4 this year. All TV games will be on Fox Sports Indiana. No cable/satellite, no Pacers.

http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/tv_sked_060913.html

They'll need a live feed from inside a jail to cover all of them... :D

justalurker

10-11-06, 12:33 PM

He shoots and he's booooooooooooooooooooooooked!
(Read as if the word "booked" us stretched out the way sportscastsers stretch "scores".

IndyJeff

10-11-06, 01:21 PM

He shoots and he's booooooooooooooooooooooooked!
(Read as if the word "booked" us stretched out the way sportscastsers stretch "scores".

BOOKED, BABY!

IndyJeff

10-11-06, 05:11 PM

I, too, noticed the green horizontal lines on WRTV-DT last evening. An email has been sent to an engineer at the station.

Steve

The green lines are still there (with a vengeance) as I watch last night's Boston Legal.

ryan330i

10-11-06, 11:03 PM

I'm on Brighthouse cable in Carmel, IN. Has anyone noticed audio dropouts on ABC HD content? The last two episodes of Lost and Ugly Betty, the audio cuts in and out randomly.

I don't have any problem with other stations, and I never had a problem when i lived down the road in Insight Cable territory. Same Denon receiver.

I've noticed when I set the box to output non Dolby Digital while troubleshooting, the Pro Logic also cuts out. I dont' know if this is a problem with my receiver handling audio properly, or their box, or the signal strength...

Anyone?!? I'm about ready to DUMP cable and start over with AT&T's bundled DSL and satellite TV over this. It's incredibly frustrating.

jlwine

10-12-06, 09:18 AM

The green lines are still there (with a vengeance) as I watch last night's Boston Legal.

The green bars were definitely there again last night during "Lost" I only wish WRTV was as responsive to viewer feedback as WISH tv has been.

IndyJeff

10-12-06, 09:26 AM

bigjims_hdtv

10-12-06, 02:45 PM

I'm on Brighthouse cable in Carmel, IN. Has anyone noticed audio dropouts on ABC HD content? The last two episodes of Lost and Ugly Betty, the audio cuts in and out randomly.

(snip)...

I have noticed problems with WRTV on Brighthouse also, recently. I "DVR'd" Boston Legal on Tuesday night with both my 8300, and my HR10-250 (from off air).
The 8300 had quite noticeable audio drop outs every minute or so. The recording from off air had no audio drop outs. I noticed this last week also. By the way,
I noticed the random green lines also.

Jim

Tersanyus

10-13-06, 12:28 AM

Yeah, someone needs to do something at WRTV. I just can't understand how a problem like this can continue for so long without one of their own engineers noticing. Does anyone from the station even watch their own station? There's probably only one engineer at the station who has an HD set. LOL

goldrich

10-13-06, 09:41 AM

........However, any ideas on when Indy Music Channel (IMC) Channel 65 will go digital? The music content on Ch. 65 is more to my tastes than Ch 4.2 The Tube. Thanks!

To date, according to FCC files, the only local LP (low power) station to file for a digital companion channel is WIIH-CA 17 (Univision), the sister station with WISH and WNDY. WIIH-CA has applied to use ch. 8 for its digital station after WISH-8 (analog) is turned off.

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1748A1.pdf

Steve

goldrich

10-13-06, 09:59 AM

Yesterday I watched some programs I recorded last week from WRTV-DT via BHN using the SA8300HD (DVR). Now I understand the comments relating to the audio dropouts. They were quite numerous in the recorded material. Then last night I watched some "live" programs from WRTV-DT via BHN and I didn't notice any audio dropouts. Hopefully that has been rectified.

Last night I did notice a few of the green horizontal lines from time to time, but not nearly as bad as seen and reported last week. And, for whatever reason, I have not received an email reply from WRTV.

Steve

Tersanyus

10-13-06, 10:53 AM

oryan_dunn

10-13-06, 11:35 AM

Check this site out: www.preservelocaltv.com
It is run by Nexstar (no surprise there). The thing is, I can't figure it out. They say that to preserve local tv, one owner needs to be able to own more than one station in a market. I'm confused. It also mentions an FCC ruling; does anyone here know about this ruling or have a link to it?

It seems that this is Nexstars sob story trying to get views onboard with them becuase they cannot provide a digital signal.

Here is a link to the Fort Wayne thread starting at my post there:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8646044&&#post8646044

oryan_dunn

10-13-06, 11:56 AM

Well, instead of doing my computer science project due today, I did a little looking on the fcc site and came up with these:

Here is the main page about the rules in question:
http://www.fcc.gov/ownership/

And the rules specifically:
http://www.fcc.gov/ownership/rules.html

And quoting from this link
Local Television Ownership Limit - Under the current rule, a single entity may own two television stations in the same local market if (1) the so-called “Grade B” contours of the stations do not overlap; or (2) at least one of the stations in the combination is not ranked among the top four stations in terms of audience share and at least eight independently owned and operating commercial or non-commercial full-power broadcast television stations would remain in the market after the combination. The Commission in 2003 voted to revise the local TV ownership rule to permit an entity to own up to two television stations in markets with 17 or fewer television stations, and up to three television stations in markets with 18 or more television stations. The rule revision was challenged in Prometheus and has not taken effect. The Further Notice seeks comment on whether the Commission should revise the number of stations that can be commonly owned or whether additional evidence or analysis exists that would further justify the limits adopted in 2003.

And:
Dual Network Ban - The current rule permits common ownership of multiple broadcast networks but prohibits a merger between or among the “top four” networks, i.e., ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC. The restraint was not an issue in Prometheus. The Further Notice calls for comment on whether the restriction should be retained.

It looks like it this rule would affect the Terre Haute market since Nexstar owns both the NBC and FOX stations there. Basically, it would force the breakup of Nexstar since they own two of the big four in many markets.

Tom Weber

10-13-06, 03:27 PM

FYI, WIIH filed for Ch. 8 for their digital a few weeks ago; we were warned by our Washington folks that it would take a few weeks to show up on the public record, as there were many, many filings, and it would take time to enter them all.

So there may be more to show up in the (near) future.

Tom Weber
Engineering
WISH / WNDY / WIIH / LWS

Tom Weber

10-13-06, 03:38 PM

Well, if there's another problem that shows up only/first with Tivo I'll probably see it now - picked up my S3 on Wed eve and it seems very nice - have some schedules set up (so far all the stuff I'm recording is HD - some surprise, eh?).

What is the overall reliability on the Tivo? Best Buy really wants to sell me the 3-yr extended warranty for $99. Is it worth it? This is my first Tivo, so I don't have any reliability info.

Thanks in advance,

Tom Weber
Engineering
WISH / WNDY / WIIH / LWS

goldrich

10-13-06, 05:15 PM

Les Auber

10-13-06, 06:13 PM

IndyJeff

10-13-06, 08:01 PM

Tom,
Can't speak yet for the S3 Tivo but FWIW my S1 Tivo by Sony has been pretty much bulletproof (touch wood). I got the thing when they came out years ago and so far the only thing I've had to do is replace the hard drive recently. The drive and recording circuitry is on 24/7 so wearing out a hard drive was not a surprise after several years of continuous use. Replacement was simple and I got more recording time to boot. I did hear of some modem issues on these early units but haven't had any trouble.

I've only had the S3 box for a week or so. So far I'm impressed. Seems like they added features but didn't lose the goodness of the original system. Having two tuners is a big plus when feeding a projector with none. It's hard to say if the earlier reliability will translate to the S3 but it's a start. Hopefully when and if the time comes it's as easy to replace the drive. I haven't networked it yet so can't comment on what that adds.

Les,

How did you replace the drive in your old TiVO? Did you get the kit from Weaknees.com?

Jeff

P.S. - Awhile back, I sold my Sony Series 1 that is probably about 5 years old now, and it's still running fine in its new home. The Series 2 that I replaced it with is getting a bit noisy (so I need to replace the drive) but it's not failed in the 3.5 years I've had it. And so far so good with the S3 which is now my main tuner/recorder.

hoosierfan227

10-13-06, 08:59 PM

Update: An engineer at WRTV-DT and I chatted via email this afternoon regarding the recent comments about the green horizontal lines and the audio dropouts (for BHN users of the SA 8300HD DVR). The station put a new Tandberg encoder on line about a week and a half ago so this MIGHT be causing some of these issues for some receivers.

Has anyone noticed the green horizontal lines on any WRTV-DT upconverted broadcasts, or HD broadcasts only? This info could really help the engineers troubleshoot this issue. Thanks.

Steve

I noticed the green horizontal lines watching Grey's Anatomy tonight. I also looked briefly at Ugly Betty which my wife still had recorded and saw it there also. I am using a HR10-250 DirecTV DVR getting my locals OTA. I am not experiencing any noticeable audio dropouts.

ryan330i

10-13-06, 09:58 PM

The audio probably will continue to drop out on your recordings. Do a test and watch a program live on WRTV-DT and record it as well. You'll probably notice nothing on the live feed but the recording will have audio drop outs. WISH-DT had this problem a few weeks ago until a very helpful member of this community rebooted the equipment and since then all is fine.

Yesterday I watched some programs I recorded last week from WRTV-DT via BHN using the SA8300HD (DVR). Now I understand the comments relating to the audio dropouts. They were quite numerous in the recorded material. Then last night I watched some "live" programs from WRTV-DT via BHN and I didn't notice any audio dropouts. Hopefully that has been rectified.

Once again, I feel incredible graditude for having AVSForum. I had switched digital audio cables and even switched receivers (lucky I had a spare around) to remove the possibility of my equipment as the source of the audio dropouts. It just so happened I was still on ABC and I stumbled upon the culprit (time delayed or recorded material) as well. Pause and resume TV? --audio drops out randomly. Watch live? --no problems.

For the record, as of yesterday (Thurs 10.11), I was still having problems, but I'm going to reboot tonight. Also, on Ugly Betty last night I did notice the green line pop in once in awhile. Unfortunately I haven't watched any SD material yet, to see if the problem is there.

Regarding the audio dropouts, I went to Brighthouse with the results of my research this morning and felt like a noob when they said to reboot it. Reminds me of calling IT Support; everybody knows rebooting is ALWAYS the first thing you try. I asked "Tony" if I was the only one reporting this problem and she said she had someone a week ago with the same problem and rebooting solved it for them. <crossing fingers>

rickaren

10-13-06, 10:24 PM

I noticed the green horizontal lines watching Grey's Anatomy tonight. I also looked briefly at Ugly Betty which my wife still had recorded and saw it there also. I am using a HR10-250 DirecTV DVR getting my locals OTA. I am not experiencing any noticeable audio dropouts.

It is a Local issue since I have seen it on both my DISH VIP 622 DVR and DirecTV HR10-250 using OTA. I pointed it out to my Wife and she said why would anyone complain about something so small as that! Oh well WE can.

Les Auber

10-13-06, 11:27 PM

Jeff,
I bought a pre-programmed replacement drive from PTV Upgrade, http://www.ptvupgrade.com/. They also sell stuff for S2 boxes and on a quick look now have upgrades for S3. They also sell just the software so you can use your own drive if you like.

As to the replacement itself it was literally nothing more then taking the cover off, undoing 4 screws and 2 cables to remove the old drive and then plugging in the new drive. I've only bought from them the one time but they shipped promptly and the drive was very well packaged. Since all went well I can't say how they'd handle a problem.

In my case the drive wasn't noisy. I was just getting drop outs and brief freeze ups on the screen. The new drive solved it and I got more space besides. It now serves on the bedroom TV.

coolray

10-14-06, 09:20 AM

WRTV 6-1 GREEN LINE

I too have been getting the green line on their HD broadcasts for quite some time now and I am getting this all OTA here in Selma, Indiana. I am using a Hughes E-86 and was using an LG- LSS-3200A but it has been down for awhile so I am not sure if the "green line" would appear on it, but my gut reaction tells me it is an WRTV problem. Mine is a fairly scientific gut

coolray

IndyJeff

10-14-06, 10:02 AM

Update: An engineer at WRTV-DT and I chatted via email this afternoon regarding the recent comments about the green horizontal lines and the audio dropouts (for BHN users of the SA 8300HD DVR). The station put a new Tandberg encoder on line about a week and a half ago so this MIGHT be causing some of these issues for some receivers.

Has anyone noticed the green horizontal lines on any WRTV-DT upconverted broadcasts, or HD broadcasts only? This info could really help the engineers troubleshoot this issue. Thanks.

Steve

I've only seen the green lines on HD material. I've watched World News a few times and there are no green lines.

Jeff

IndyJeff

10-14-06, 10:02 AM

hoosierfan227

10-14-06, 08:29 PM

I've only seen the green lines on HD material. I've watched World News a few times and there are no green lines.

Jeff

I think it is only HD broadcasts also. The best example I have of this is I was watching the Ohio State-Michigan State game and the green lines were occuring frequently. They mercifully switched us to the Missouri-Texas A&M game and the green lines immediately stopped occuring. I have the Michigan-Penn State game on at the moment and the green lines are back.

One other thing I noticed was the commercials. When it was what I considered a national commercial the green lines would appear even if the commercial was 4:3 SD. Even though the commercial was 4:3 the green line would go across my entire 16:9 screen into the black sidebars. On local commercials(there was a Pacer commercial right at the beginning of the Mich-PSU) there were no green lines.

goldrich

10-16-06, 10:08 AM

Once again, I feel incredible graditude for having AVSForum. I had switched digital audio cables and even switched receivers (lucky I had a spare around) to remove the possibility of my equipment as the source of the audio dropouts. It just so happened I was still on ABC and I stumbled upon the culprit (time delayed or recorded material) as well. Pause and resume TV? --audio drops out randomly. Watch live? --no problems.

For the record, as of yesterday (Thurs 10.11), I was still having problems, but I'm going to reboot tonight. Also, on Ugly Betty last night I did notice the green line pop in once in awhile. Unfortunately I haven't watched any SD material yet, to see if the problem is there.

Regarding the audio dropouts, I went to Brighthouse with the results of my research this morning and felt like a noob when they said to reboot it. Reminds me of calling IT Support; everybody knows rebooting is ALWAYS the first thing you try. I asked "Tony" if I was the only one reporting this problem and she said she had someone a week ago with the same problem and rebooting solved it for them. <crossing fingers>

Thanks for the info, Ryan330i. Over the weekend I rebooted my SA 8300HD DVR but I'm still getting audio dropouts from newly-recorded programming via WRTV-DT (BHN ch. 706). As we've mentioned before, there are no dropouts while watching the live broadcast of the same programming.

As for the intermittent thin, green horizontal lines, I saw them quite frequently during the Saturday night college football game and again last night during Desperate Housewives.

Thanks to all who have provided feedback information. I have sent an updated email to WRTV regarding the above issues.

Steve

Charles R

10-16-06, 10:32 AM

I'm getting the same green lines with a Motorola 6416 (two of them) via Insight. No audio issues but the green lines are driving me nuts (within the scheme of things). I emailed the General Manager about the issue... if that helps.

IndyTom

10-16-06, 01:26 PM

jlwine

10-16-06, 02:42 PM

nathill

10-16-06, 03:19 PM

Interesting day on WISH-TV yesterday. At 1:00 - expecting the Bengals game was actually treated to the Cowboys/Texans game (IN HD) instead. After about 20 minutes, the viewers were switched back to the Bengals game in progress (Non-HD).

I didn't have a preference for either game, but it made me wonder - could WISH-TV (and other networks) offer one game on 8 and another on 8-1? Or are there agreements in place with the NFL that would prevent this option? I would suspect that DirecTV would not be happy if the NFL allowed local networks to present different games on their sub channels.

Just curious!

When WISH-TV was first broadcasting digitally on channel 9, they broadcast three different NCAA basketball games at the same time. It was way cool, but they didn't continue the practice.
I would be VERY happy if they could do what you describe (one game analog, another digital), but somehow I'll bet it never happens.

Tom Weber

10-16-06, 04:47 PM

oryan_dunn

10-16-06, 07:21 PM

What about 1HD on the digital channel and 1 SD on the analog channel? Obviously this wont be possible post 2/17/09, but for the time being...

IndyTom

10-16-06, 08:01 PM

There are strongly worded missives from the NFL every few weeks during the season that we may NOT show one game in analog and another in HD. Sorry.

Yes, we pioneered the NCAA Multicast. We did it for several years, but stopped last year. I'm hearing whispers that we may do it again this year, but it means that people won't get any HD games in the early rounds - we can do either 1 HD game or 3 SD games in the bandwidth - for fast-moving and high-detail basketball, present capabilities don't lend themselves to anything more.

Tom Weber
Engineering
WISH / WNDY / WIIH / LWS

Tom - thank you for the clarification! I can't say I blame them (the NFL) for their stance - otherwise, no one would sign up for the various "all season passes" that they have in place.

I look forward to the possibility of the NCAA Multicast again!

Tom

kierandill

10-17-06, 07:45 AM

Interesting day on WISH-TV yesterday. At 1:00 - expecting the Bengals game was actually treated to the Cowboys/Texans game (IN HD) instead. After about 20 minutes, the viewers were switched back to the Bengals game in progress (Non-HD).

I didn't have a preference for either game, but it made me wonder - could WISH-TV (and other networks) offer one game on 8 and another on 8-1? Or are there agreements in place with the NFL that would prevent this option? I would suspect that DirecTV would not be happy if the NFL allowed local networks to present different games on their sub channels.

Just curious!

I would add that TitanTV said the Bungles game was supposed to be upconverted HD, which it wasn't.

goldrich

10-17-06, 09:03 AM

I would add that TitanTV said the Bungles game was supposed to be upconverted HD, which it wasn't.

FWIW.....Check out these sites for more accurate info regarding HD.

http://www.hdsportsguide.com/
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=734845
(Week 7 maps will be posted within a few days)

Steve

goldrich

10-17-06, 10:01 PM

Earlier today WRTV-DT replaced the encoder. So far tonight, my observations indicate that the green horizontal lines are gone. Fingers crossed.

Steve

goldrich

10-18-06, 09:40 AM

Earlier today WRTV-DT replaced the encoder. So far tonight, my observations indicate that the green horizontal lines are gone. Fingers crossed.

Steve

Ryan330i, please recheck your SA 8300HD DVR via Bright House. Last night I recorded some new HD material from WRTV-DT and while playing it back this morning I didn't hear any audio dropouts. Let us know if yours is okay, too. It appears that the other encoder at WRTV-DT may have been the culprit for this issue, too.

Steve

IndyJeff

10-18-06, 09:59 AM

Earlier today WRTV-DT replaced the encoder. So far tonight, my observations indicate that the green horizontal lines are gone. Fingers crossed.

Steve

Boston Legal looked perfect last night.

Jeff

IndyJeff

10-18-06, 10:12 AM

Did anyone else get the horrible "reverb" for about 15 minutes during Studio 60 on Monday night? The opening scene was in HD, and when it came back from a commercial break it was in SD but the sound had a horrible reverberation that made most of it unintelligible. After 10 to 15 minutes of this, it went back to HD for the rest of the show.

When it went back to HD, the sound level was very low. I had to crank my receiver halfway to maximum just to get a listenable volume.

Aside from the recent problems on RTV (which know seem to be solved), it seems like WTHR is consistently the "problem child" among our otherwise excellent local digital stations. For years, there were lip-synch issues, and there are frequently problems like the one I just described. There are also frequently loud pops, buzzes, and cracks when they switch from commercial mode to HD mode, some of which can really make you jump out of your chair.

Do you suppose this is poor equipment at WTHR? Or an NBC problem? Their main engineer seems to know his stuff, from the emails that have been posted on here.

Just curious if anyone might know the inside scoop... :)

Jeff

chibul

10-18-06, 08:30 PM

Is anyone else's CBSHD (WISH-TV) channel having scrambled audio issues? Had to switch it to the fugly standard channel to be able to hear it.

stonegossard

10-18-06, 08:33 PM

Is anyone else's CBSHD (WISH-TV) channel having scrambled audio issues? Had to switch it to the fugly standard channel to be able to hear it.
My wife said the same thing happened on Monday night on CBS HD also during their primetime shows. Only on HD and only the dialogue. The music is right I think.

chibul

10-18-06, 08:43 PM

Yeah, the dialogue and sound effects are completely gone now, but the music is the same. Weird.

chibul

10-18-06, 09:00 PM

Everything went back to normal for the last scene of Jericho, and the WISH-TV news commercials had some echoing...they're normal now, though.

ultraweaver

10-18-06, 09:36 PM

I too experienced the severe audio issue. A shame too. I have tivo set to record it, just got home and looking forward to watching it. I guess I can only hope that they re-air it. However, being that the issues were on the 8-1 side and not the standard def, I doubt they will.

drsimnal

10-18-06, 09:45 PM

Tersanyus

10-18-06, 10:33 PM

Yeah I noticed the audio problems on WISH too. I first noticed it on Tuesdaysnights recording of NCIS. The first part of the program has the bad audio then after the first commercial all was fine. Really didn't think much of it since I only watched it this morning.

Recorded Jericho tonight, go to start watching it about 15 minutes ago and decided to come here to see if I was the only one and thankfully I am not.

There will not likely be a repeat of any of the shows with bad audio. All I can say is that I am thankful there are alternate methods of watching shows after they air.

chibul

10-19-06, 12:21 AM

To any Muncie residents...has there been any talk of Comcast adding more HD channels? We only have ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, Discovery, INHD, some channel that's been off-air since I bought my HDTV, the movie channels, and the local channels. Was really hoping for Universal HD.

Of course, this is the same stone-age city that doesn't have On Demand programming yet, nor has Comcast added any sports packages (NFL/NBA Season Pass), NBATV, or tons of other things that nearly every other location has. :)

chibul

10-19-06, 12:43 AM

DVR'd Jericho while I watched HD hockey. Started to watch during an intermission and discovered that NO SOUND except intermittent background music, as you all know. Apparently NOT a national issue as no one else on the HD programming thread for the show had any issues that have been posted so far.

Now, this show was so-so before to me. I have lots of other things to do with my life. I doubt they'll reair it for us, even though they royally screwed it up. I can tell you right now I'm not going to keep watching next week, having missed this whole darn episode. I'm done. Thank god ABC hasn't done this to LOST; even if they did you can watch the ep free on ABC.com if you missed it somehow.

First off...you missed virtually nothing in this episode. Only 2-3 important things happened - the rest was about putting out a fire that happened when the electricity came back on.

Second, CBS does show the episodes of Jericho on their website...I imagine this one will be up tomorrow.

Glad I wasn't the only one with the problem.

drsimnal

10-19-06, 08:32 AM

First off...you missed virtually nothing in this episode. Only 2-3 important things happened - the rest was about putting out a fire that happened when the electricity came back on.

Second, CBS does show the episodes of Jericho on their website...I imagine this one will be up tomorrow.

Glad I wasn't the only one with the problem.

I didn't know they showed eps on their website; sounds like I didn't miss too much though. I'm not sure this show is a keeper for me. I'll have to check out CBS's website.

hoosierfan227

10-19-06, 09:57 AM

Earlier today WRTV-DT replaced the encoder. So far tonight, my observations indicate that the green horizontal lines are gone. Fingers crossed.

Steve

Steve,

Thanks as always for your efforts on this. The problem has been fixed based on what I am seeing.

hoosierfan227

10-19-06, 10:08 AM

MassNerder

10-19-06, 12:02 PM

Did anyone else get the horrible "reverb" for about 15 minutes during Studio 60 on Monday night? The opening scene was in HD, and when it came back from a commercial break it was in SD but the sound had a horrible reverberation that made most of it unintelligible. After 10 to 15 minutes of this, it went back to HD for the rest of the show.

Yup. I had the same problem. It appears as though someone was, literally, asleep at the switch (okay do you really have to manually switch feeds when a show comes back from commercial in HD?). It sounded like the HD audio and the SD audio were coming through at the same time with a slight delay. It was annoying as hell. This has also happened during Law and Order on WTHR-HD. Wonder if anyone from that station reads these forums. Or, I wonder if Mr. Webber could just work for both (since he seems to listen to viewers! HUZZAH!). :D

I've also noticed a lip synch issues on NBC that I don't get on any of my other stations. However, I'm willing to believe it's my MPEG4 feed from DirecTV. "Someone up there hates me....DirecTV....."

Tom Weber

10-19-06, 04:58 PM

We've had several instances lately where our equipment may or may not have been behaving appropriately.

We've been getting Dolby audio metadata instructions from CBS via a method other than the one they suggest. It's worked pretty well until the past couple of weeks. Since it's not the "blessed" method, I don't know that we can blame CBS for the problems.

But, to the point, the equipment to handle this correctly was approved and ordered a few weeks ago, and has started to arrive.

To keep things listenable in the meantime, however, I'll be keeping WISH in stereo for probably a week or two, until enough gear has arrived and been configured to implement reliably. You can still do a Dolby Pro Logic decode on this signal.

Tom Weber
Engineering
WISH / WNDY / WIIH / LWS

ryan330i

10-20-06, 07:24 PM

Ryan330i, please recheck your SA 8300HD DVR via Bright House. Last night I recorded some new HD material from WRTV-DT and while playing it back this morning I didn't hear any audio dropouts. Let us know if yours is okay, too. It appears that the other encoder at WRTV-DT may have been the culprit for this issue, too.

Steve

We watched Lost from the DVR Wednesday night and did not hear any audio dropouts.

IndyJoe

10-23-06, 01:58 PM

I have had the 6.3a software for about 1 week now. The only problem I had is 1 of my sat tuners didn't work after the update. A system reset through the menus fixed the problem even though unplugging it from the wall and plugging it back in did not. Other than that initial problem the software has been great and I haven't noticed any of the problems that you have mentioned. Hope this helps.

AlanSaysYo

10-23-06, 11:15 PM

I know there are many threads over in Tivo Community on this but am looking for someone local who has had their DVR upgraded to the new software. Has anyone been upgraded and NOT experienced the problems that are being posted - audio dropouts mainly over FOX HD OTA if using DD, constant rebooting, etc.

The problems seem to be random and was hoping to hear from someone in Indy that it is working fine for. I currently have my phone line unplugged as there are too many things on FOX coming up(Colts-Skins, World Series) and do not want to risk problems.

So, should I leave it unplugged or let the upgrade happen?

My machine upgraded to 6.3a a couple weeks ago. Since then I've had one spontaneous reboot. I've also had problems with OTA signals fading in and out, but I believe that's been building since before the upgrade. It's been an issue with NBC, not Fox, so I wouldn't worry about that. All of my OTA Fox reception has been excellent.

I'd say plug it in... the groups are nice and the menus and guide are much faster now.