Just a FYI For Comcast users in Muncie

It appears they've switched to ADS or are switching, the other day I noticed that I was tuning into digital versions of the analog channels woohoo~

Now just to catch up with the rest of Comcast's HD lineup :X

Did anybody notice the problem that WTHR was having showing Law and Order SVU on Tuesday night? The show kept jumping from HD to SD and back and in some cases was showing both at the same time. The sound would drop out at times as well. The beginning and ending were pretty much unwatchable. Has WTHR mentioned anything about showing it again?

Did anybody notice the problem that WTHR was having showing Law and Order SVU on Tuesday night? The show kept jumping from HD to SD and back and in some cases was showing both at the same time. The sound would drop out at times as well. The beginning and ending were pretty much unwatchable. Has WTHR mentioned anything about showing it again?

Unfortunately this is not an uncommon occurance with NBC. I've seen Friday Night Lights and Bionic Woman (among others) switch between SD and HD erratically only to go back to SD with echoing sound. This happened more last season and it's a shame to see that it hasn't been fixed yet. I don't know if it's an issue at WTHR or if it's a national thing.

You'll just have to wait for the repeat, whenever that is.

Hi all. I'm just a nosy new guy, but don't you think the % of TVs hooked to cable and sat will go down as people discover OTA HDTV? Combined with the spiraling prices of large screen, yet space saving TVs?

Now that cable and satellite companies are carrying more and more markets' local channels in HD, the average person won't have any use for an antenna. Any difference in PQ between OTA at DirecTV MPEG4 is negligible and most certainly unnoticable to your regular old viewer.

Did anybody notice the problem that WTHR was having showing Law and Order SVU on Tuesday night? The show kept jumping from HD to SD and back and in some cases was showing both at the same time. The sound would drop out at times as well. The beginning and ending were pretty much unwatchable. Has WTHR mentioned anything about showing it again?

My wife was showing me this last night as we had recorded it. The next question is how are you receiving your signal OTA, satellite, or cable. Mine came from the DirecTV HD signal for WTHR. If the sources differ I would suspect WTHR. If all DirecTV they may be the problem.

I had this happen watching Wheel of Fortune the other night, it threw me for a loop.

I've never experienced it watching Heroes or Chuck though, so I guess that's a good thing.

would this antenna work in the attic? I'm in Westfield. Would it be too much or not enough?

http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?main_cat=03&CAT=&PROD=AD-V10

Thanks

My wife was showing me this last night as we had recorded it. The next question is how are you receiving your signal OTA, satellite, or cable. Mine came from the DirecTV HD signal for WTHR. If the sources differ I would suspect WTHR. If all DirecTV they may be the problem.

It did the same thing via Comcast here in Muncie. I'm pretty sure it was an issue at WTHR.

Does anyone know if anything is going on with WTTV-HD? I live in Fishers, and have had almost no problems pulling it in with my Dish 622 and a set of RCA amplified rabbit ears sitting on top of my TV. Then, suddenly, as of last week, I can't pick up the signal at all. There's been no change in my setup, and the antenna is fine -- is picking up all the other local network HD affiliates at the same signal strength. I tried adjusting the antenna, but no dice.

Not sure if it's something with the broadcaster, or maybe it's just the change in weather? There has been lots more cloud cover...

Any insight or advice would be appreciated.

I lost it too. It was coming in fine, and then for the last week or so it had zero signal strength (Dish 622 receiver). Then today (Saturday 10/27) it's back at normal strength.

I have a Tivo HD with built-in QAM tuner. I am on Comcast. Previously I was able to get the HD version of the local stations (6-1, 8-1, 59-1, etc). Those channels still show up on the scan, but nothing is showing. I am wondering if they moved them? I was scanning around and found Fox on 101-3, ABC on 106-9. Does anyone know what is going on?

Are you saying that Comcast broadcasts HD channels in a way I can receive them without paying for their HD service? I have an HD-tuner TV and it's getting OTA like a champ with my $14 rabbit ears. I can't seem to get Fox59, though, and that's the only thing stopping me from dumping HD from Comcast at this point. I have two TiVo's in my house, and I'm about ready to buy the TiVo Series 3. If the Series 3 can get HD local channels without a cable card off Comcast's wire, I'd be overjoyed.

One other question. For those of you who do whole-house redistribution of your TiVo signal... What channel can I safely use without clobbering Comcast's digital signal, etc? I'm on channel 123 right now, and it seems OK, but I have lost ESPN2 in the process. Any other alternative?

I live in Marion County, on the east side around 75th and Sunnyside.

Hey everyone,
I'm dropping insight/comcast in favor of Dish Network. Any advise on what antenna to get so that I can pickup HD locals? Im on the southeast side of Noblesville VERY near to channel 40's tower.

Thanks.

Hey everyone,
I'm dropping insight/comcast in favor of Dish Network. Any advise on what antenna to get so that I can pickup HD locals? Im on the southeast side of Noblesville VERY near to channel 40's tower.

Thanks.

Are you looking for suggestions on an indoor antenna, attic antenna or outdoor antenna? At your distance from most of the TV towers on the NW side of Indy, it should be fairly easy to receive them. Hopefully someone living near your area will post a suggestion.

BTW, WHMB-40/DT-16 no longer transmits its signals from the 500-foot tower at their studios near your house. Both signals now come from 1000-foot towers located near West 79th and Township Line Road. The fairly new tower with the tripod platform near the top of the tower holds the broadcast antenna for WHMB-DT.

Steve

Sorry, a moment of...well, not levity...

http://www.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,84636.0.html

She clearly went off the deep end, but Comcast should absolutely be ashamed of themselves for sending a 75 year old woman outside to wait for two hours in the heat, and screwing over her installation. Both are at fault,
shame on both of them equally!

A couple weeks ago I lost channels 8 and 13 on my HD OTA feed. Anyone know what's going on. I got a big honkin antenna on the chimney of my two story house. I live in Frnaklin. I've been getting great signals for a long time now, several months. Then the dog threw up on the cable feed. I thought he had brought and end to my world, but it turned out it was just the dish feed cable. Not a problem. But I can't watch the Colts tomorrow in HD. What's up. help in Franklin Indiana.

We have a great 50 inch plasma tv, however we can not get 8-1 to come in. I know many other people also have this problem.

We live on the far Southeast side of Indianapolis and can get all the other stations via our indoor antenna. Any suggestion on a good indoor antenna that people have had success with would be appreciated.

Thanks! Less than 10 hours before the game.

Currently, WISH-DT is the only local DTV station transmitting on a VHF channel (9). The others are using UHF channels. Make sure your indoor antenna is designed for VHF reception. For example, the Silver Sensor antenna is designed for UHF only.

Also, the location of the antenna can sometimes make a big difference in the signal strength, as there can be hot and cold spots. And aiming the antenna for maximum signal can be VERY critical. Changing the azimuth just a few degrees can be the difference between a great signal and virtually no signal.

I'm just throwing out some thoughts. Maybe something here will assist you.

Steve

Is anyone else experiencing signal strength issues with WLFI 18-1 digital signal in the greater Lafayette area? I've had my outdoor antenna setup for over a year now and while they've had video frame drop outs frequently for much of that year, I'm now seeing signal drop outs. My on screen signal meter will go from 5 to 6 bars to 0 and back to 5 or 6 about once or twice a minute. It is impossible to watch. Not good as it's my only source for CBS and I enjoy a little football on the weekend.

Is anyone else experiencing signal strength issues with WLFI 18-1 digital signal in the greater Lafayette area?

I'm not in the Lafayette area, but WLFI-DT's signal is fine tonight just south of Carmel (@ 40 miles from the Rossville transmitter site). I'm using this antenna....http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=Y10-7-13 @ approx. 26 feet AGL. I'm not sure why your reception of the station would suddenly change.

Steve

Hello;

Has anyone compiled a list of what is on, all of the local broadcasters subchannels or does anyone have a link to such info? Thanks!

Dave
ps: Hi Steve!

I have a question. I know used to with comcast even if you did not subscribe to cable and just had internet you could still pick up some channels. Does anyone know if this still works and if it does what channels is it?

I have a question. I know used to with comcast even if you did not subscribe to cable and just had internet you could still pick up some channels. Does anyone know if this still works and if it does what channels is it?

It depends. They could install a trap and limit your channels to either nothing or just the limited basic set (locals + a few others). Or, they may not bother to do anything special in which case you'll probably get all the analog channels (2-99). If you're getting any channels at all, then you'll probably get the local channels in HD if your television has a QAM tuner.

Jeff

Did WTHR 13-1 do anything with their switching equipment today? For the first time ever, I do NOT have the popping & cracking sound and picture in my plasma when they switched from HD to SD.


Did anyone else notice this or know if this happened today?

Did WTHR 13-1 do anything with their switching equipment today? For the first time ever, I do NOT have the popping & cracking sound and picture in my plasma when they switched from HD to SD.


Did anyone else notice this or know if this happened today?IIRC I read somewhere that they were going to install some new equipment and that was one issue it would resolve. Hopefully the new equipment can get the audio level consistent between the commercials and the show also. I'm just about ready to fire off a letter to the FCC about the unacceptable audio levels between the two, since there is already guidelines in place for that, and they have had plenty of time to tweak those settings. Back to the topic, I hope you are correct about the snap being fixed, pretty annoying every time it happens.

I am very pleased with the quality and pricing of U-verse. However, from Thursday to Monday, I was not a happy camper. Let me explain, briefly.

Service went down Thursday morning. Call Tech support. Tried some things to resolve the problem over the lines, with no results. Schedule an appointment for Saturday when my wife is home. (No problem. I have a roof-top antenna, so we still get TV).

Saturday: Tech comes out. We list the problems we have been having for a couple of weeks (slow response from remote to box, frequent re-booting, etc). He goes to the main box. Wires were not paired together on initial install in March. He corrects it, re-wires the main line to the gateway. (GREAT!!) Comes time to download new firmware to new gateway. NO CAN DO!! Wherever the info comes from is overloaded. Have to make an appointment. (This is where it gets fun!! NOT) U-verse says we have to go to the back of the quene (behind the new installs) and work our way up before anyone can come out. This is unacceptable to both of us. So we make an appointment for Sunday 12-PM.

Sunday: Tech calls at AM, can he come out now. YES!! He calls back shortly after and says his supervisor says there is still a problem in getting the firmware. He will call us when it is ready.

IT NEVER WAS! After calling tech support, apparently the office was closed on Sundays. This was a bogus appointment to get my wife off the phone.

We get a tech to come out on Monday (After I told customer of my ordeal and I was not a happy camper). Took 30 minutes from start to finish for the firmware to update and get us going.

Call back Customer service and get transferred 3 times before I talk to someone in billing. All he can offer me is $25 credit ($5/day I was down) I explained how they lied to us about the Sunday appointment and I should be compensated $50. NO CAN DO!!

If you have equipment that is "old" and are experiencing problems, U-verse is learning as they go. It could be in the equipment/wiring. I am writing this to give everyone a heads up on what to expect from AT&T.

Anyone else noticing lip synch problems on WTHR-HD lately? the last few days it's been noticeable. I'm watching OTA with a Dish 622 receiver.

Jeff

Yea...I'm seeing the same thing here with OTA. They seem to be having problems....it's not us.

Anyone else noticing lip synch problems on WTHR-HD lately? the last few days it's been noticeable. I'm watching OTA with a Dish 622 receiver.

Jeff

The good news for you you're getting WTHR. I'm doing everything I can but at a maximum fringe of about 80 miles and of course the change in seasons I'm pretty much dead in the water with OTA.

Where am I going with this??? The Colts Thanksgiving night game will only be shown on NFL Network or WTHR. So I've got to hope we get some strange weather pattern to help me out, but I'm not holding my breath. :mad:

Hey everyone,
I'm dropping insight/comcast in favor of Dish Network. Any advise on what antenna to get so that I can pickup HD locals? Im on the southeast side of Noblesville VERY near to channel 40's tower.

Thanks.

sjanson -

I'm in the same boat...dropping Insight/Comcast for Directv and just picked up a new OTA antenna this weekend. I live right across the street from the channel 40 tower as well. I picked up a VU-90 XR from Radioshack (fairly inexpensive) and laid it in my attic. This model is probably overkill for our area, but I didn't want to take any chances. I had tried a variety of indoor antennas and was lucky to pick up WISH. Now I'm getting 98% signal strength on WISH-DT and 95%+ on the other majors.

sjanson -

I'm in the same boat...dropping Insight/Comcast for Directv and just picked up a new OTA antenna this weekend. I live right across the street from the channel 40 tower as well. I picked up a VU-90 XR from Radioshack (fairly inexpensive) and laid it in my attic. This model is probably overkill for our area, but I didn't want to take any chances. I had tried a variety of indoor antennas and was lucky to pick up WISH. Now I'm getting 98% signal strength on WISH-DT and 95%+ on the other majors.

Wondering why you got an antenna when you get the locals in HD from Direct....unless you are unable to use the 5 LNB dish?

Wondering why you got an antenna when you get the locals in HD from Direct....unless you are unable to use the 5 LNB dish?
From what I understand, I won't get CBS in HD (WISH) through D*...which was the only reason why I got the antenna. A lot of effort for one channel, but I can't live without the NFL in HD.

From what I understand, I won't get CBS in HD (WISH) through D*...which was the only reason why I got the antenna. A lot of effort for one channel, but I can't live without the NFL in HD.

Not sure why you wouldn't get CBS...you're iin Noblesville? My ex-wife is in Noblesville with D*** and she gets CBS HD.

Not sure why you wouldn't get CBS...you're iin Noblesville? My ex-wife is in Noblesville with D*** and she gets CBS HD.

I hate to disagree, but I have had D* for over a year and WISH is not one of the HD locals. The parent company (whose name escapes me) will not settle with D* for any of their stations HD signals.

Channel 8 is owned by Lin broadcasting and None of their affiliates has signed on with D*. I sent them a letter about this and only got back a standard form response.

I hate to disagree, but I have had D* for over a year and WISH is not one of the HD locals. The parent company (whose name escapes me) will not settle with D* for any of their stations HD signals.

Yes, my fault, I sincerely apologize, I was dead wrong. My ex does have D*** with HD in Noblesville, she gets CBS SD, but not HD via D***. I assumed (and you know what can wrong when you do that) that she had CBS HD. My apologies!

Is anyone else experiencing signal strength issues with WLFI 18-1 digital signal in the greater Lafayette area? I've had my outdoor antenna setup for over a year now and while they've had video frame drop outs frequently for much of that year, I'm now seeing signal drop outs. My on screen signal meter will go from 5 to 6 bars to 0 and back to 5 or 6 about once or twice a minute. It is impossible to watch. Not good as it's my only source for CBS and I enjoy a little football on the weekend.

I live on the south side just north of McCutcheon High, with UHF and VHF antennas on a 10 foot mast on the roof of a ranch home. I don't watch WLFI that much because I find I can get WISH most of the time without problem. While it has a low average signal strength compared to WTHR and WRTV, it is much less variable. I suspect that has to do with it being VHF.

So you may need to bite the bullet and add a VHF antenna sooner. You'll need one when WTHR goes back to VHF in 09 anyway.

Yea...I'm seeing the same thing here with OTA. They seem to be having problems....it's not us.

I've been gone all week and just got back earlier today - looks like the problems are continuing. The lip synch is there, the volume is all over the place, and sometimes the image gets quite dark, and then goes back to normal.

I hope the Colts game is glitch-free!

Wondering why you got an antenna when you get the locals in HD from Direct....unless you are unable to use the 5 LNB dish?

If you have satellite, getting your locals via the antenna has a few advantages:

- slightly better PQ
- you get the subchannels like 13.2, 8.2, and 8.3 for weather
- you get the HD versions of PBS, CW and whatever channel 23 is now (plus other local digital channels)
- if the satellite goes out during a bad storm, you still have the locals to watch

If you have satellite, getting your locals via the antenna has a few advantages:

- slightly better PQ
- you get the subchannels like 13.2, 8.2, and 8.3 for weather
- you get the HD versions of PBS, CW and whatever channel 23 is now (plus other local digital channels)
- if the satellite goes out during a bad storm, you still have the locals to watch

Amen.

I know that some folks from WTHR read this thread so I wanted to point out that InShite Communications in Lafayette is blacking out the Colts Falcons game on wthr SD and HD and demanding that you watch it on NFLn SD, which is an extra charge, luckily I live in Indy and have rabbit ears, but my family doesnt have these advantages, the cable is supposed to provide uninterrupted feeds on locals...so much for that, it looks like they will be getting an antenna nexxt spring when it gets warm out.

I am thinking of ditching Comcrap for DirectTV. If I understand correctly, I won't be able to get CBS in HD? I would have to add a separate antennae? If so what type of antennae?

If I get Sunday Ticket will the Colts games be available in HD or will they be blacked-out?

I am thinking of ditching Comcrap for DirectTV. If I understand correctly, I won't be able to get CBS in HD? I would have to add a separate antennae? If so what type of antennae?

If I get Sunday Ticket will the Colts games be available in HD or will they be blacked-out?


That's correct, WISH is not available in HD via D***, however, you can still get the SD signal from D*** for WISH. If you wanted HD WISH, you'd have to pull it down OTA. This would probalby require an antenna. Where i live, basic rabbit ears are able to pull it in. Try here for more info on antenna selection: http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

Also, if you get Sunday Ticket, the Colts games are blacked out there, you would still be able to get the SD feed of WISH for the games through D*** and of course, you will get the HD feeds of ESPN, FOX and NBC through D***. Also, right now, if you sign-up with D***, they will give you Sunday ticket for the rest of this season for free.

Hope that helps!

Hi all,
I recently purchased a Panasonic TH50PX77U HDTV. I live in an apartment complex on 350 South (living room window facing the north). I have Directv but no local channels. I have a Jensen TV931 indoor UHF/VHF antenna. With this, I can only get CBS (ch 18, but not the digital channel which I believe is ch 18.1).

Any suggestions on a different indoor antenna or other steps I can try?

I do have balcony which faces the north if you can recommend a small outdoor antenna, however, it would great if an indoor one would work.

Thanks for your help, knowledge, and experience.

Amen.

The same goes fore cable, although some system do provide the subbies, due to signal processing at the cable company, the OTA picture looks slightly better with an OTA antenna. And it's still a great idea to have as a backup when the cable goes out, when a bad storm hits, or when that intoxicated person sadly decides to take on a phone pole, and loses.

sjanson -

I'm in the same boat...dropping Insight/Comcast for Directv and just picked up a new OTA antenna this weekend. I live right across the street from the channel 40 tower as well. I picked up a VU-90 XR from Radioshack (fairly inexpensive) and laid it in my attic. This model is probably overkill for our area, but I didn't want to take any chances. I had tried a variety of indoor antennas and was lucky to pick up WISH. Now I'm getting 98% signal strength on WISH-DT and 95%+ on the other majors.

Thanks for the info,
We're moving to South Noblesville in 2 weeks so I'll pick up this antenna to get WISH TV, have DTV moving my equipment so should have the other locals. Anyone up there tried to get a waiver?

Just curious - does anyone know if Comcast in Indianapolis is offering their expanded basic channels (i.e. channels < 100) in digital format yet for the digital cable subscribers? I know this is something that most Comcast markets had implemented long ago but Indy has been a laggard.

Also, has Indy added any new HD channels since the Spring?

Jeff

I was wondering if anyone else was receiving ESPNHD over QAM with their comcast expanded basic. Well, I was up until yesterday evening. And all the sudden the TV can't pick up a signal for the channel (72.1, I believe). Basically my question is: Is anyone else have this problem. Or if comcast moves the channels around to keep them hard to find (requiring a re-scan). I'm a new owner of a HDTV and don't know a whole lot in regards to this. Any help, suggestions would be appreciated.

Does anyone know if they 5 new Brighthouse HD channels are SDV? For some reason my Cablecards say that I'm not authorized and I pay for everything they offer (but I don't have their box, just an S3 TiVo) Thought I would ask before I call and get frustrated. Thanks!

Hi all,
I recently purchased a Panasonic TH50PX77U HDTV. I live in an apartment complex on 350 South (living room window facing the north). I have Directv but no local channels. I have a Jensen TV931 indoor UHF/VHF antenna. With this, I can only get CBS (ch 18, but not the digital channel which I believe is ch 18.1).

Any suggestions on a different indoor antenna or other steps I can try?

I do have balcony which faces the north if you can recommend a small outdoor antenna, however, it would great if an indoor one would work.

You definitely need the indoor antenna to be amplified. If so, you really ought to be able to pull in 18.1 easily. The transmitter is located in Rossville, so you might play around pointing it in that direction.
You may have to try a few other antennas before you get it right, but a good amplified version should get you WLFI in HD. I realize you're limited in an apartment complex, but with an outdoor antenna you can pull in all the Indy stuff pretty reliably.

Does anyone know if they 5 new Brighthouse HD channels are SDV? For some reason my Cablecards say that I'm not authorized and I pay for everything they offer (but I don't have their box, just an S3 TiVo) Thought I would ask before I call and get frustrated. Thanks!

I have BHN (Carmel system) and this evening I'm receiving four new HD channels (HGTV-HD, MTV-HD, HIST-HD, CNN-HD) with their SA 8300HD but still NO BTN or BTN-HD and NO NFL or NFL-HD. How disappointing, especially following article after article after article relating to the lack of BTN in this Big Ten market. These new channels they did add will rarely be viewed at this household.

Steve

I was wondering if anyone else was receiving ESPNHD over QAM with their comcast expanded basic. Well, I was up until yesterday evening. And all the sudden the TV can't pick up a signal for the channel (72.1, I believe). Basically my question is: Is anyone else have this problem. Or if comcast moves the channels around to keep them hard to find (requiring a re-scan). I'm a new owner of a HDTV and don't know a whole lot in regards to this. Any help, suggestions would be appreciated.

Same Problem here. Was getting ESPNHD, TNTHD, and a few other HD channels over QAM via Comcast earlier this year, along with the locals. Then, all but the locals went away over the summer. Started getting ESPNHD back for the past couple of months and it was gone again Monday Night even after a rescan. You can try a rescan, but Comcast has probably encrypted it again and it won't be available via a rescan.

Hello all,

I just purchased my first HDTV, a Samsung Plasma. I am currently shopping around for the best HD service, and was wanting to get this groups opinion on what the best option is. I currently have Dish Network, although with no HD programming or an HD receiver. I am looking away from Dish because they don't offer our local channels in HD. I'd rather not mess with an antenna, but will if it comes down to it. I primarily watch NBC and ABc, although I do watch the Colts games and would like to watch those in HD as well. What do you all think my best bet is? I live in Anderson, and can get Insight cable, Dish, or DirectTV.

Your opinions are appreciated.

I'm new to this forum, but not to Dish. The upside to D*...your locals EXCEPT Wish-TV8, so you will still need an antenna. Currently, more HD channels though most of them are in name only, not transmitting much in pure HD. Upside to Dish...if you want a DVR (and you do, trust me), Dish has the best one out there and it's FREE for new subscribers. It can record two sat programs an one OTA at the same time. D* is offering some kind of deal on theirs, but not as good as Dish. I am confident Dish will be adding more HD channels soon. BTW, the network OTA signals will produce a better image than those that are compressed further on the Sat. If you do go with either Sat company, you'll need to invest in a good VHF/UHF antenna. Ch. 8 is broadcasting over VHF, and 13 will be going back to it's original frequency on VHF in Feb, 2009. So, some things to consider. For antennas and info about what antenna you should use see antennaweb.org.

Redseal, I've been looking into this same issue for the past couple of weeks and have posed the question "What OTA antenna do I need to get the HD local channels?" on one of the Purdue sports message boards I belong to, and I got a few responses that made me think it could be done.

I live clear on the other end of town from you - up in West Lafayette on the very north end out near the SR 43/I-65 exit. One guy who answered my question lives just north of Purdue and said he has the Winegard GS2200 Sensor III Amplified VHF/UHF Antenna. He then listed all the channels he got with it, and it sounds like he gets all of the local networks in HD, including WLFI and also an NBC (I think) out of Champaign, IL. He claimed that he didn't get any signal strengths less than 60% for any channel, which I think is pretty good for antenna reception with HD since it's basically you get the channel or you don't.

You can see the antenna at the following link (and I don't vouch for the website's services or anything, this is just where I found it first...):

solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=ANWGS2200

It's not all that big an antenna, and I just want to say I haven't personally tried it yet (we're still contemplating making the switch to satellite and I'm trying to do all this research ahead of time). If you'd like to see the antenna mounted to the satellite, there's a picture here:

solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?prod=SDS-1111

Additionally, I spoke to a couple guys at Best Buy last weekend (and yes, I realize they're salesmen, so they'll say whatever you want to hear...), but one of the guys said he himself had an indoor HD antenna at his house and he gets all of the local HD networks no problem. Now, I don't know where in town he lives or anything like that, but he seemed to be saying that an indoor antenna would be all you'd need. Of course, they sell "the one you need" there - ha - so you might try that as well because I think it's fairly inexpensive. Just food for thought.

Hope this helps, and if anyone has anything to add or has other ideas, I'm open to hearing them! Thanks everyone!

Does anyone know how exactly the Comcast take over of Indy area Insight is going to work at the start of the year? I haven't been able to get much info from Insight.

Just wondering if anyone knew how smooth the transitions are and if we'll get continual service (HD?) when the "flip" happens on New Year's. Smack in the middle of college bowl season is not a good time to have your cable and/or HD service go out.

To answer my own question, Brighthouse did confirm that the new HD channels are on SDV. Can't use a cablecard device, including my beloved TiVo S3:mad: Of course I would rather go without the channels than use their crappy DVR.

To answer my own question, Brighthouse did confirm that the new HD channels are on SDV. Can't use a cablecard device, including my beloved TiVo S3:mad: Of course I would rather go without the channels than use their crappy DVR.

TiVo announced that there will be a USB adapter for the S3 that will allow it to decode SDV channels.

Hi all,
I recently purchased a Panasonic TH50PX77U HDTV. I live in an apartment complex on 350 South (living room window facing the north). I have Directv but no local channels. I have a Jensen TV931 indoor UHF/VHF antenna. With this, I can only get CBS (ch 18, but not the digital channel which I believe is ch 18.1).
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/images/smilies/redface.gif
:o
Any suggestions on a different indoor antenna or other steps I can try?

I do have balcony which faces the north if you can recommend a small outdoor antenna, however, it would great if an indoor one would work.

Thanks for your help, knowledge, and experience.

It is unclear to me that the antenna is your problem. If you can get 18 analog very clearly, you should be able to get the digital feed. Your TV does have an ATSC tuner, as I looked it up. IWhile their digital channel is "called" 18.1, the frequency is actually VHF 11.
I'm familiar with your location, being a south-sider, so I plugged it into Antennaweb. The WLFI tower is on a bearing of about 86 (at about 13 miles), meaning to aim due east from you would require your antenna to "look" through any neighboring apartments in your building, at least. If you can get an outdoor one on the balcony so it can face east and not have your own building in the way, you should be good. Or perhaps you were assuming their tower was north towards the city, and this aiming info is all you may need with your indoor. In any case, best of luck! And Lafayette Electronic Supply are THE people to see (on north Earl, near McDonalds) about hardware and advice on this.

It is unclear to me that the antenna is your problem. If you can get 18 analog very clearly, you should be able to get the digital feed. Your TV does have an ATSC tuner, as I looked it up. IWhile their digital channel is "called" 18.1, the frequency is actually VHF 11.
I'm familiar with your location, being a south-sider, so I plugged it into Antennaweb. The WLFI tower is on a bearing of about 86 (at about 13 miles), meaning to aim due east from you would require your antenna to "look" through any neighboring apartments in your building, at least. If you can get an outdoor one on the balcony so it can face east and not have your own building in the way, you should be good. Or perhaps you were assuming their tower was north towards the city, and this aiming info is all you may need with your indoor. In any case, best of luck! And Lafayette Electronic Supply are THE people to see (on north Earl, near McDonalds) about hardware and advice on this.

Thanks for the help. Your right, east is through other buildings. I'll see if maybe I can get an outdoor antenna mounted. I'll check out the supply store mentioned for a good antenna.

Redseal, I've been looking into this same issue for the past couple of weeks and have posed the question "What OTA antenna do I need to get the HD local channels?" on one of the Purdue sports message boards I belong to, and I got a few responses that made me think it could be done.

I live clear on the other end of town from you - up in West Lafayette on the very north end out near the SR 43/I-65 exit. One guy who answered my question lives just north of Purdue and said he has the Winegard GS2200 Sensor III Amplified VHF/UHF Antenna. He then listed all the channels he got with it, and it sounds like he gets all of the local networks in HD, including WLFI and also an NBC (I think) out of Champaign, IL. He claimed that he didn't get any signal strengths less than 60% for any channel, which I think is pretty good for antenna reception with HD since it's basically you get the channel or you don't.

You can see the antenna at the following link (and I don't vouch for the website's services or anything, this is just where I found it first...):

solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=ANWGS2200

It's not all that big an antenna, and I just want to say I haven't personally tried it yet (we're still contemplating making the switch to satellite and I'm trying to do all this research ahead of time). If you'd like to see the antenna mounted to the satellite, there's a picture here:

solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?prod=SDS-1111

Additionally, I spoke to a couple guys at Best Buy last weekend (and yes, I realize they're salesmen, so they'll say whatever you want to hear...), but one of the guys said he himself had an indoor HD antenna at his house and he gets all of the local HD networks no problem. Now, I don't know where in town he lives or anything like that, but he seemed to be saying that an indoor antenna would be all you'd need. Of course, they sell "the one you need" there - ha - so you might try that as well because I think it's fairly inexpensive. Just food for thought.

Hope this helps, and if anyone has anything to add or has other ideas, I'm open to hearing them! Thanks everyone!

Thanks, I'll check around. If I find out anything, I'll let you know.

Does anyone have any information about getting a waiver from WICS in Springfield, Illinois? My mother lives east of Terre Haute, just south of the Airport, and she wants DirecTV. I have DirecTV, but my zip is 47802, and I qualify for distant ABC service. My mom, although she only lives less than a mile from me, is in zip 47803. DirecTV says that the zip code is serviced for ABC by WICS in Springfield, Illinois! Springfield is 100 miles away from her! There is NO WAY she could pick up their signal from the east side of Terre Haute, right? The local cable in Terre Haute carries WRTV-6 out of Indianapolis, so I don't see how WICS can claim they are the affiliate for someone east of Terre Haute.

I've called the station, and was transferred to the voicemail of Brad Wheeler, but he has not called me back. Does anyone have experience with this? What should I do?

Does anyone have any information about getting a waiver from WICS in Springfield, Illinois? My mother lives east of Terre Haute, just south of the Airport, and she wants DirecTV. I have DirecTV, but my zip is 47802, and I qualify for distant ABC service. My mom, although she only lives less than a mile from me, is in zip 47803. DirecTV says that the zip code is serviced for ABC by WICS in Springfield, Illinois! Springfield is 100 miles away from her! There is NO WAY she could pick up their signal from the east side of Terre Haute, right? The local cable in Terre Haute carries WRTV-6 out of Indianapolis, so I don't see how WICS can claim they are the affiliate for someone east of Terre Haute.

I've called the station, and was transferred to the voicemail of Brad Wheeler, but he has not called me back. Does anyone have experience with this? What should I do?
What is the purpose of the waiver? Is WICS not available on DIRECTV? It used to be that subscribers could challenge station's refusal of waiver by asking for "signal measurement." Maybe you meant High-Definition.

Does anyone have any information about getting a waiver from WICS in Springfield, Illinois?

I believe you are referring to its sister station, WICD, Champaign, IL. WICD-DT (ABC) transmits with 950 kW @ 1230 feet (HAAT) and covers a large area of eastern Illinois and western Indiana, including areas near Terre Haute, per posts by viewers on AVS Forum. As for station waivers, I have no personal experience in that area. But you might try contacting WICD and see if you get any feedback.

UPDATE: Per the FCC coverage map for WICD-DT, it appears that it will be a tough sell to obtain a waiver.
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT1031586.html

Steve

I believe you are referring to its sister station, WICD, Champaign, IL. WICD-DT (ABC) transmits with 950 kW @ 1230 feet (HAAT) and covers a large area of eastern Illinois and western Indiana, including areas near Terre Haute, per posts by viewers on AVS Forum. As for station waivers, I have no personal experience in that area. But you might try contacting WICD and see if you get any feedback.

UPDATE: Per the FCC coverage map for WICD-DT, it appears that it will be a tough sell to obtain a waiver.
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT1031586.html

SteveThe directv site says "WICS," but that may be a typo. I've never heard of anyone in Terre Haute watching a station from Champaign, and it would probably require a monster TV antenna to be installed, right?

If Terre Haute is in WICD's area, how is Time Warner cable able to carry WRTV out of Indianapolis, and not WICD out of Champaign?

The directv site says "WICS," but that may be a typo. I've never heard of anyone in Terre Haute watching a station from Champaign, and it would probably require a monster TV antenna to be installed, right?

If Terre Haute is in WICD's area, how is Time Warner cable able to carry WRTV out of Indianapolis, and not WICD out of Champaign?

In some areas of Terre Haute it might take a monster antenna (low terrain areas near the Wabash River), but in some areas around and near the city, I would think that WICD-DT would be fairly easy to receive, given its high power and high tower, for very good line of sight reception.

I don't work for either one of these stations, but my speculation is that when Terre Haute's local WBAK-38 (now WFXW-38) switched from ABC to Fox a number of years ago, Time Warner cable was able to bring in an out-of-market ABC station, which obviously was awarded to WRTV-6, Indy. In checking the service (coverage) maps for WRTV-6 and WICD-15, neither one appears to "service" Terre Haute.
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=TV1057607.html
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=TV48706.html

Meanwhile, since WICD-DT went full power a couple years ago, Terre Haute is now within its service area, while WRTV-DT is not (according to the FCC map).
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT1031586.html
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT1057600.html

Does Time Warner cable in Terre Haute carry WICD-DT or WRTV-DT? If not, it would interesting to know why, and if this is the case, whether they have future plans to carry one of these DT stations since Terre Haute does not have a local ABC station.

You might try contacting WRTV to see if you can at least get some explanation on this issue.

Steve

Time Warner carries WRTV-DT. In fact, that is the only network they carry as a DT station... For some reason, they don't carry WTHI-DT, WTWO-DT, or WFXW-DT.

Anyone else not getting Heroes in HD from WTHR tonight?? Thanks for ruining the season finale...

I was wondering if anyone else was receiving ESPNHD over QAM with their comcast expanded basic. Well, I was up until yesterday evening. And all the sudden the TV can't pick up a signal for the channel (72.1, I believe). Basically my question is: Is anyone else have this problem. Or if comcast moves the channels around to keep them hard to find (requiring a re-scan). I'm a new owner of a HDTV and don't know a whole lot in regards to this. Any help, suggestions would be appreciated.

I'm getting it tonight on 73.1.

Does anyone have a current list of the QAM channels?

I just switched to Directv (from Comcast and S3 Tivo) and notice a fairly drastic difference in HD quality. Especially ESPNHD. Anyone else have a similar experience?

I just switched to Directv (from Comcast and S3 Tivo) and notice a fairly drastic difference in HD quality. Especially ESPNHD. Anyone else have a similar experience?

After comparing the two, which one provides the better HD quality? I've been thinking about switching to satellite in order to receive BTN-HD. Thanks.

Steve

After comparing the two, which one provides the better HD quality? I've been thinking about switching to satellite in order to receive BTN-HD. Thanks.

SteveThe channels on DirecTV's new satellite use MPEG 4 encoding with plenty of bandwidth. I can honestly say that they are all GREAT looking channels. I don't notice any compression artifacts at all.

The older MPEG 2 channels tend to have some compression. DirecTV has stated that they will be moving the current MPEG 2 channels to MPEG 4 early next year, after the DirecTV 11 satellite is launched. (Scheduled in January.)

The current MPEG 2 channels are ESPN, ESPN2, HBO East, HDNet, HDNet movies, TNTHD, UniversalHD, and Discovery HD Theater... But as stated, they should all be moved to MPEG 4 early next year. The local channels are in MPEG 4, and look just as good as the local station broadcasts.

(Now if only the local station broadcasts weren't so bit-starved to begin with!)

After comparing the two, which one provides the better HD quality? I've been thinking about switching to satellite in order to receive BTN-HD. Thanks.

Steve

ESPNHD looked much, much better with my TiVo S3. I don't know if that has something to do with Comcast v. Directv or if it has something to do with the S3 TiVo being THX certified and the HR-21 not.

yeah i'm interested in satellite also. just can't figure if i'm gonna be paying more than what i'm paying now for the terrible cable lineup

yeah i'm interested in satellite also. just can't figure if i'm gonna be paying more than what i'm paying now for the terrible cable lineup


Just go to D** or Dish's site and run the numbers see how it works out.

Just go to D** or Dish's site and run the numbers see how it works out.

i've done that but i'm curious how much the price goes after these special offers are over. Guess I should just call and talk to a rep.

i've done that but i'm curious how much the price goes after these special offers are over. Guess I should just call and talk to a rep.

It lists all the regular prices on their website.

I'm getting it tonight on 73.1.

Does anyone have a current list of the QAM channels?

I would like to know as well.

My locals are now in the 79, 100, and 101 area.

i recommend anyone interested in satellite to check out Dish Network in Indy. its great, i pay as much as i did for brighthouse, but get more. and the DVR is outstanding

You continue to broadcast horrible audio level, lousy surround, and uneven video. You now are broadcasting incorrect overscan for the school closings ticker. Although it is correctable in the service menu it will be incorrectly registered on the other channels or video inputs. It appears obvious to me that you don't own a Hi Def TV or Digital Surround System at home and rely on your studio equipment. That equipment apparently doesn't have digital audio either since the sound is constantly wrong. How about going to Radio Shack and buying a $39.00 meter and checking it out.

Channel 13 Digital continues to stink! Thanks to the other locals for their hard work and diligence in providing high quality A/V.

Steve

Gee, hope I don't make a mistake some day - some customers get really angry!

That probably sounds snarkier than I mean it. Purely as a viewer, yes, I hope that all stations are able to get things normalized as soon as possible. On the other hand, I've been in that same position at times, and I know (having talked with them) that those guys are having a really lousy holiday season trying to get a station rebuilt while not losing any air time. I hope to be in the same position soon, if our parent company gives us the green light. And we'll probably have a rough couple of weeks when we do the same thing they are.

I'm not saying not to express impatience, but I am reminding everyone that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

So, anyway, WTHR folks, how's it going, and can all the viewers (your loyal competition included <g>) have better audio for Christmas?

Tom Weber
WISH Engineering

Gee, hope I don't make a mistake some day ..................

Tom Weber
WISH Engineering

In this new DTV world, you are bound to make some mistakes.

As an apprentice, many years ago, they always told me "if you don't make mistakes, you're not doing anything":D

You make it sound as if it is a recent, passing problem, or a mistake. It has been going on for years and I am tired of fielding questions from customers about their issues. I don't get complaints about WISH or others. If they would simply respond or acknowledge a problem that would be better than ignoring complaints. The fact that Tom Weber is here and interested says quite a bit about his dedication and customer service. I get the distinct feeling that either WTHR doesn't care or they are not that bright.

WTHR...fix the problems or at least have the interest to respond.

I get the distinct feeling that either WTHR doesn't care or they are not that bright.

WTHR...fix the problems or at least have the interest to respond.

Channel 13 Digital continues to stink! Thanks to the other locals for their hard work and diligence in providing high quality A/V.


Can I mention another annoyance? Typically for ALL the over-the-air (OTA) HD digital streams in the Indy market, there is a paucity of detailed program information in the Electronic Program Guide. (I'm being too kind - this detailed program info normally is COMPLETELY absent.)

Why is this? Can it be corrected? Who do I write to? (The FCC reports ehy have no authority over this. Does that mean the conditions of a broadcaster's license re: obligation to serve the public DOESN'T extend to letting viewers know what's on?)

I and many, many others have spent a fair chunk of change on receivers capable of capturing this info, information that presumably was incorporated into the specification for digital television signals because the industry thought it would be helpful to viewers. So why isn't the industry putting this into their OTA signals? I'm confident this info is available over cable and satellite feeds, but it's absent in OTA.

It is really annoying. I find myself relying on Zap2It's web service instead.

FWIW, according to the CBS/NFL coverage map and the TitanTV schedule, in this area at 1 p.m. today, WISH and WTHI will present the San Diego @ Tenn. game while WLFI will present the Oakland @ Green Bay game.

Steve

Can I mention another annoyance? Typically for ALL the over-the-air (OTA) HD digital streams in the Indy market, there is a paucity of detailed program information in the Electronic Program Guide. (I'm being too kind - this detailed program info normally is COMPLETELY absent.)
...............

I rarely use this feature via any of my OTA receivers, but after testing with four different units (STBs: RCA ATSC11, Humax HFA100 and LG LST-3100A;
Sony KDS-R60XBR1 with built-in tuner) I found the results to be very mixed. Sometimes the display included ALL the info (title plus full description). Sometimes only the title was displayed. And in a few cases, NOTHING was displayed. The results appear to depend upon the receiver. Maybe some of the local engineers will check their respective stations with various tuners (brand/model).

Here's what I found early this afternoon:

WISH: Humax= T; LG= T; RCA= F; Sony= T

WLFI: Humax= F; LG= NT; RCA= F; Sony= N

WTHR: Humax= MF; LG= T; RCA= T; Sony= T

WRTV: Humax= T; LG= T; RCA= T; Sony= T

WTTV: Humax= F; LG= F; RCA= F ; Sony= T

WXIN: Humax= MF ; LG= F; RCA = F ; Sony = T

WFYI: Humax = N ; LG = N ; RCA = N ; Sony = N

WNDY: Humax = F ; LG = F ; RCA = F ; Sony = T

WIPB: Humax = NT ; LG = F ; RCA = F ; Sony = T


F = Full display (title and description)
MF = Mostly Full display (some descriptions missing)
N = Nothing displayed
NT = Not Tested
T = Title only displayed

Steve

WISH sends 3 full days' worth of title and program description information. WNDY sends the required 12-hour minimum right now, but that will be expanded in the next few weeks, after their new encoder/multiplexer/PSIP generator complement is fully installed and operational.

Why a particular box does not display this I cannot say, I don know that we are sending it.

Tom Weber
Engineering
WISH/WNDY/WIIH/LWS

WISH sends 3 full days' worth of title and program description information. WNDY sends the required 12-hour minimum right now, but that will be expanded in the next few weeks, after their new encoder/multiplexer/PSIP generator complement is fully installed and operational.

Why a particular box does not display this I cannot say, I do know that we are sending it.

Tom Weber
Engineering
WISH/WNDY/WIIH/LWS


Steve's testing is interesting and raises some questions. I just now (1:20 PM Monday) ran through the OTA channels I care about and only WNDY showed a program description (tho' it was truncated to a single line, so it wasn't very helpful!) All had title information, except WFYI*. The channels I ran through were WTTV, WRTV, WISH, WTHR, WFYI, WNDY and WXIN.

I have a Samsung DTB HD260F tuner feeding an HD-ready LCD set.

* NB: WFYI's evening programs (e.g. shows I place great value in: NOVA, Frontline) all too often have only "DTV Programming" as their title, so the EPG info I get from them is, for all intents and purposes, worthless.

BTW, Tom's mention of a three-day feed helps me understand why the entire grid takes so long to load when I want to look at it rather than simply one channel's listings.

Thanks for your replies, Steve & Tom....

I believe you are referring to its sister station, WICD, Champaign, IL. WICD-DT (ABC) transmits with 950 kW @ 1230 feet (HAAT) and covers a large area of eastern Illinois and western Indiana, including areas near Terre Haute, per posts by viewers on AVS Forum. As for station waivers, I have no personal experience in that area. But you might try contacting WICD and see if you get any feedback.

UPDATE: Per the FCC coverage map for WICD-DT, it appears that it will be a tough sell to obtain a waiver.
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT1031586.html

Steve

I'm a little late to the party, but can confirm that WICD-DT at least OTA is obtainable near Terre Haute. Picking it up with zero problems, strong signal approximately 4 miles south of Clinton and 8 miles north of Terre Haute.

Using a Channel Master 4228 as my antenna.

Clinton and Riley are quite different. Anyone receive it in southern Vigo county?

We send the current 3-hour block's information every 8-tenths of a second, I think. The next 3 3-hour blocks' info gets sent maybe every second and a half or two. The blocks from 12-hours out to 3 days out are sent maybe every 6 seconds.

I'd have to actually stop the information from going out for some seconds to check the exact numbers in the configuration, but that's the basic theory - the current/next/soon stuff gets sent at least once per second, later stuff less frequently.

The way it's supposed to work, I'm told, is that your sets should be able to go out and tune around on their own in the off-hours, and get a couple of days info, so it's already in there when you look for it, not have to load in fresh from scratch every time. I don't know if any sets are actually built with that capability, however.

Tom Weber
Engineering
WISH/WNDY/WIIH/LWS/etc.

Does anyone know how exactly the Comcast take over of Indy area Insight is going to work at the start of the year? I haven't been able to get much info from Insight.

Just wondering if anyone knew how smooth the transitions are and if we'll get continual service (HD?) when the "flip" happens on New Year's. Smack in the middle of college bowl season is not a good time to have your cable and/or HD service go out.

To answer your question -- A guy I work with in Fishers called into Insight yesterday to get answers. When I went out to check my bill online there was a banner saying that we were changing 12/31. When I showed him -- he called on the spot.

They said no new equipment, just a software update on 12/31 with the Comcast lineup pushed over, which is better than what Insight offers. The bad thing is that you will have to go in and reset all of your DVR settings -- unless someone knows a work around.

All emails (@insightbb.com) will HAVE to change at some point. The lady on the phone didn't know how this would be handled. Supposidly this is supposed to be a "seamless" change -- I guess we will find out.

Tom Weber, thanks for your feedback.

Tom and T Heller, I found out that in order to get the full description via my Sony KDS-R60XBR1 the built-in tuner must first perform an auto scan. Personally, I don't like this feature so I had been locating and switching to the various stations manually. After allowing it to scan for the stations, a number of the local and area stations' info is now being displayed. Here are the results:

WTTV-4.1= Full description
WRTV-6.1, 6.2 = Nothing
WISH-8.1 = Full description; 8.2, 8.3 = Title only
WTHR-13.1, 13.2 = Title only
WLFI-18.1, 18.2 = Nothing
WFYI-20.1, 20.2, 20.3 = Title only
WNDY-23.1 = Full description
WTTK-29.1 = Full description
WHMB-40.1, 40.2 = Title only
WCLJ-42.1, 42.3 = Full description; 42.2, 42.4, 42.5 = Title only
WIPB-49.1, 49.2 = Full description
WXIN-59.1 = Title only
WIPX-63.1, 63.2 = Full description; 63.3, 63.4 = Title only

I realize that WHMB, WCLJ and WIPX do not currently offer HD but I was curious how they stacked up with the other DTV stations. The results still appear to be very mixed depending on the brand (and/or model) of tuner.

Steve

The way it's supposed to work, I'm told, is that your sets should be able to go out and tune around on their own in the off-hours, and get a couple of days info, so it's already in there when you look for it, not have to load in fresh from scratch every time. I don't know if any sets are actually built with that capability, however.

Tom Weber
Engineering
WISH/WNDY/WIIH/LWS/etc.


Given how my tuner responds. I believe that's right. (It certainly makes sense.) But I suspect the 'cache' is dumped daily, as it does seem to "load from scratch" with every new day. However, if I shut the receiver down say at 8 pm and turn it on again later in the evening, it doesn't take as long to present the full grid. (Although the detailed program info is typically AWOL as I wrote earlier.)

I guess I'll just have to scratch my head in wonderment how the EPG content can vary so markedly from one station to another. I gotta believe a standard was established for combining this info into the signal, but maybe not all the manufacturers of set-top boxes got the memo. And perhaps individual stations differ in their progress in configuring their equipment. Between the two of them, I guess I'm SOL.

To answer your question -- A guy I work with in Fishers called into Insight yesterday to get answers. When I went out to check my bill online there was a banner saying that we were changing 12/31. When I showed him -- he called on the spot.

They said no new equipment, just a software update on 12/31 with the Comcast lineup pushed over, which is better than what Insight offers. The bad thing is that you will have to go in and reset all of your DVR settings -- unless someone knows a work around.

All emails (@insightbb.com) will HAVE to change at some point. The lady on the phone didn't know how this would be handled. Supposidly this is supposed to be a "seamless" change -- I guess we will find out.

That's all great, but here's my question. I just moved from a Comcast area to Insight. I was paying $137 for Digital Cable (with DVR service) and Broadband with Comcast. Now I'm paying $98 for Digital Cable with Digital Choice 2.0 with DVR and HD and broadband. I did NOT have HD service with Comcast and i'm paying almost $40 per month less. Yes, I know Inisight has fewer channels than Comcast, but I'm worried about how high my bill is going to go when Comcast takes over. They better be ready to offer me something to keep me, b/c if my bill goes up signifigantly, I'm going to one of the sat companies.

I am on Brighthouse. I am not getting the new HD channels (CNNHD, History HD, HGTV HD, and MTV HD) that were added using my cable card device. I asked their customer service department why twice, and an installer once. None could answer why. Does anyone know if Brighthouse in Indy implemented SDV?

I am on Brighthouse. I am not getting the new HD channels (CNNHD, History HD, HGTV HD, and MTV HD) that were added using my cable card device. I asked their customer service department why twice, and an installer once. None could answer why. Does anyone know if Brighthouse in Indy implemented SDV?

Yes, scroll back a page or two - their new channels are SDV. You'll have to wait for TiVO to release their external device to handle switched digital video next year.

Jeff

Thanks. I suspected as much.

I have to say its pretty annoying to ask two seperate customer service reps and one installer directly, "Did you implement switched Digitial Video, is that why I can't get these channels?" only to get back blank expressions, and "What's that?" and then to find out later that they did implement it, with no prior notice to the customers.

Hmm... I'm going to have to delete a bunch of channels and let it scan to find them again. I have not had any program guide info in my Dish receiver for many months, but I know that when I first started with OTA in summer 06, it was almost always nearly fully populated.

Clinton and Riley are quite different. Anyone receive it in southern Vigo county?
I live about 5 miles northwest of Riley on 46 and receive WICD with a silver sensor indoor antenna at a 90% signal strength using a VIP 622. I don't have any trees in the way and it is pointed directly out the window, but I was amazed at how well I receive it.

On a somewhat related note, any news on HD for WTWO and WFXW?

I have two DishNetwork HD receivers in Shelbyville that are receiving OTA HD from the Indy stations. All are excellent with the exception of WISHTV Channel 8. For about 2 months, the signal strength drops on an intermitent basis and I loose the picture or it breaks up or freezes. I don't have this problem with any other HD broadcasts from Indy.

Is anyone else having this problem with WISHTV?

I live about 5 miles northwest of Riley on 46 and receive WICD with a silver sensor indoor antenna at a 90% signal strength using a VIP 622. I don't have any trees in the way and it is pointed directly out the window, but I was amazed at how well I receive it.

On a somewhat related note, any news on HD for WTWO and WFXW?
I've been told by the station manager that they hope to have HD for WFXW before the Super Bowl, and for WTWO before next fall... Who knows if that will ever happen.

I'd also love to see WTWO broadcasting in 1080i, and still have mono audio! :p

I've been told by the station manager that they hope to have HD for WFXW before the Super Bowl, and for WTWO before next fall... Who knows if that will ever happen.

I'd also love to see WTWO broadcasting in 1080i, and still have mono audio! :p

Nexstar's Fox affiliate in Fort Wayne, WFFT, just started passing HD.......
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=12512158&postcount=2304

Steve

I have two DishNetwork HD receivers in Shelbyville that are receiving OTA HD from the Indy stations. All are excellent with the exception of WISHTV Channel 8. For about 2 months, the signal strength drops on an intermitent basis and I loose the picture or it breaks up or freezes. I don't have this problem with any other HD broadcasts from Indy.

Is anyone else having this problem with WISHTV?

I have noticed a few occasional dropouts on WISH-DT lately but here in Indy I don't believe they were related to a drop in signal strength.

Are you using a VHF antenna to receive WISH-DT (digital ch. 9)? The other Indy DTVs are currently on UHF channels.

It could be the result of some occasional co-channel interference (CCI) from WCPO-9 (analog), Cincinnati. You might need a more directional antenna to help reject the channel 9 (WCPO) signal. An analog signal on the same frequency can really mess up a digital signal by making it difficult for your DTV receiver to decode the digital information.

Just some thoughts that might relate to your issue.

Steve

I've been told by the station manager that they hope to have HD for WFXW before the Super Bowl, and for WTWO before next fall... Who knows if that will ever happen.

I'd also love to see WTWO broadcasting in 1080i, and still have mono audio! :p


Go to the link and look half way down. Good news for those near Terre Haute.

http://mywabashvalley.com/media/pdf/NewsletterNov2007_2.pdf

I have noticed a few occasional dropouts on WISH-DT lately but here in Indy I don't believe they were related to a drop in signal strength.

Are you using a VHF antenna to receive WISH-DT (digital ch. 9)? The other Indy DTVs are currently on UHF channels.

It could be the result of some occasional co-channel interference (CCI) from WCPO-9 (analog), Cincinnati. You might need a more directional antenna to help reject the channel 9 (WCPO) signal. An analog signal on the same frequency can really mess up a digital signal by making it difficult for your DTV receiver to decode the digital information.

Just some thoughts that might relate to your issue.

Steve

No, I'm using a new UHF/VHF antenna that I purchased this last spring. It also has a rotor and I have played with the direction on several occasions with no luck.

We've had to go pretty much off the air on both analog and digital for 2 days, to do some antenna repairs. For some reason, the tower workers don't like to have thousands of watts of power being transmitted while they're up there working on the antennas <g>.

For about 10 days (waiting on parts, and good weather), we were at regular height, and normal power, but with only 1/2 of the antenna, so there was a slight change in gain and reach. And, during the repairs (daylight hours), we activated our original site, on Post Rd. (east side of Indy) with a low-power transmitter, for several hours for the 2 days.

But the repairs are all made, and we're back on our normal facilities. And while we had the opportunity, we were able to make prophylactic checks on the DTV antenna system, before it becomes our real bread-and-butter in a little more than a year. All is well with it.

Tom Weber
WISH Engineering

Go to the link and look half way down. Good news for those near Terre Haute.

http://mywabashvalley.com/media/pdf/NewsletterNov2007_2.pdf
That is great news. I know this is a little greedy, but I really hope they can begin broadcasting before the BCS games. However, I'll be happy if we get the Super Bowl in HD.

We've had to go pretty much off the air on both analog and digital for 2 days, to do some antenna repairs. ......

Tom Weber
WISH Engineering

Thanks for keeping us informed. In this wild and wooly DTV age, when reception goes sour without any explanation....we start getting a little nervous about what the future holds.

I only wish other station engineers cared enough to keep us up to date!

Again, Thank You!

I'm in Avon and not having any luck receiving any clear QAM channels on BrightHouse. Are all of their QAMs scrambled on this system? I know my friends with Comcast in Plainfield are able to do a channel scan and pick up all the local stations + ESPN + CSPAN and such on their TV's built in HD QAM tuners. But I've tried on my Samsung LNS4695DX/XAA and on a Pinnacle USB HD tuner stick and no digital channels are detected.

I'm in Avon and not having any luck receiving any clear QAM channels on BrightHouse. Are all of their QAMs scrambled on this system? I know my friends with Comcast in Plainfield are able to do a channel scan and pick up all the local stations + ESPN + CSPAN and such on their TV's built in HD QAM tuners. But I've tried on my Samsung LNS4695DX/XAA and on a Pinnacle USB HD tuner stick and no digital channels are detected.
My parents live in Plainfield and have Brighthouse. Using the tuner integrated in their Panasonic plasma, they are able to receive WTTV, ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and PBS in HD. They do not receive ESPN or other channels. Not sure if it helps, but the numbers are in the 700 range.

...In this wild and wooly DTV age, when reception goes sour without any explanation....we start getting a little nervous about what the future holds.

Well stated - and weSHOULD be getting a little nervous about things happening in the digital world without any explanation. I've got one to share with Tom Webber and others in this forum. (Maybe I'll post it to another, too.)

Today I got a hard-knocks lesson in corporate corner-cutting. First, let me state that I've expressed concern earlier in this forum with the completeness of EPG (electronic program guide) info on the digital channels. I know that information is out there --and I believe it's part of the digital broadcast signal standard (ATSC) -- but with my Samsung STB (H260F), detailed episode information is RARELY available on the stations I receive.

I get my digital HD signal OTA. I can't imagine that subscribers to HD cable or satellite service go without this on-screen EPG information, but I could be wrong. If it's part of a standard, why isn't it a standard of digital television for the *viewers*, too? As WISH-TV engineer Tom Webber has indicated, his station is putting it out in their digital broadcast signals.

OK, that's a long introduction to my hard-knocks lesson today.

I hemmed and hawed, but today broke down and laid out a grand for a new Sony 32S3000 (32") LCD set. I set it up quickly and got to learn it features. But here's what I was surprised to find among its features:

1. There's NO EPG information whatsoever;
2. It has a clock that is *manually* set (not one that grabs the time from the ATSC signal); and
3. There's NO signal strength meter anywhere to be found.

This sucks - and I will be returning the unit tomorrow morning.

My three-year old 23" HD-ready Zenith LCD has ALL these things. It not only displays EPG information (at minimum the progam title), but Zenith includes a programmable guide, where I can instruct the television to tune to an upcoming program(s) when the program(s) starts. NOTHING LIKE THAT IN THE SONY. Why not?

When I returned this evening to the Sears store, the sales guy said NONE of the sets they currently stock (Sony, Samsung, LG, Sharp, and the rest) have an on-screen guide!!!! Effing amazing!!


Bottom line question: how do manufacturers get off not incorporating ATSC standards into their sets? Didn't the manufacturers in the CEA, along with the NAB and its broadcasters, lobby for the new digital age - and forcing an all-digital world on us? If they're the champions of the brave new digital world, how do they get by with this sort of "short-sheeting" of consumers?

I'm outraged on this and will write the FCC and my U.S. Senators and Representatives. I suppose I could choose to "lay back and enjoy it" (like a judge once advised a rape victim she should have done), but why should I lay out a thousand dollars on a brand spanking new Sony HD television that's as functionally obsolete as analog sets will be Feb '09?

Who do [the f#@&] do they think they are?

Wikipedia (forgive me, I'm just starting my research) says that certain PSIP info is *required* by the FCC. Two required items in the PSIP are:

1. STT (system time table): Current time, once per second; and
2. EIT (event information table): titles and program guide data

So, if the FCC requires broadcasters to put this info in their ATSC signal, how the f can television manufacturers sell units that don't decode this info, for presenting it on-screen for viewers?

Thanks to WTHR-DT for its Christmas Eve presentation, "The
Angels Sing" featuring the Indianapolis Children's
Choir performing at St. Luke's U. M. Church. The broadcast
was presented in HD with surround sound. It's
great to see local presentations like this in HD!!

I missed that program, but I can imagine it was fabulous in HD and surround sound. Kudos to those who deliver on the promise of HD


Meanwhile, I'm researching this EPG (PSIP) issue. I've found the ATSC standards documents at http://www.atsc.org/standards.html. The definition of what is in the PSIP is within the A/65C standard. (Apparently, there's one PSIP standard set for terrestrial broadcast and another for cable.)

Here's a relevant section for the OTA PSIP (underscoring is mine):

1.1.1 Terrestrial Broadcast
The following PSIP data shall be included in all ATSC-compliant Transport Streams to be transmitted via terrestrial broadcast:
• The Terrestrial Virtual Channel Table (TVCT) defining, at a minimum, MPEG-2
programs embedded in the Transport Stream in which the TVCT is carried.
• The Master Guide Table (MGT) defining the type, packet identifiers, and versions for all
the other PSIP tables in this Transport Stream, except for the System Time Table (STT).
• The Rating Region Table (RRT) defining the TV parental guideline (rating information)
system referenced by any content advisory descriptor carried within the Transport
Stream, except the RRT corresponding to rating_region 0x01 (US + possessions).2
• The System Time Table (STT), defining the current date and time of day.
• A service_location_descriptor for each digital virtual channel in the VCT.
• The first four Event Information Tables (EIT-0, EIT-1, EIT-2 and EIT-3) describing 12 hours of events (TV programs), each with a coverage of 3 hours, and including all of the virtual channels listed in the TVCT.

So, it's pretty clear that the EPG information I've expressed concern with indeed IS required under the ATSC standard.

So, the only reason I can think of for television manufacturers to be presently selling ATSC sets that do not present their owners the EPG/PSIP information which broadcasters are mandated to provide, is that FCC rules only require sets manufactured after a certain date (say, Feb 18, 2009) must fully comply with these ATSC standards.

This deferred data would have created a huge opportunity during which manufacturers could ride the 20-30% year-over-year increase in HD television sales, but save a buck or two by not including circuitry to decode and present the required PSIP information. I suppose this would help them sell upgrades or even replacements to those crippled sets in the next few years. It is most curious that all the manufacturers seem to be in on this game.

That's my current supposition and I'll research this matter more. But as you can tell, I'm quite disturbed by this apparent 'screw the customer - they'll never know until it's too late' . Merry Christmas to all the families who plunked down a good chunk of change to enjoy a big, HD picture. Too bad they've been sold a crippled television.

If I'm correct on my supposition, this concerted action by manufacturers deprives purchasers access to and enjoyment of the full mandatory features of ATSC. Or did the manufacturers assume they could supply firmware upgrades at a later date? What's the story behind this?

Color me mystifed.....

I rarely use this feature via any of my OTA receivers, but after testing with four different units (STBs: RCA ATSC11, Humax HFA100 and LG LST-3100A;
Sony KDS-R60XBR1 with built-in tuner) I found the results to be very mixed. Sometimes the display included ALL the info (title plus full description). Sometimes only the title was displayed. And in a few cases, NOTHING was displayed. The results appear to depend upon the receiver. Maybe some of the local engineers will check their respective stations with various tuners (brand/model).

Here's what I found early this afternoon:

WISH: Humax= T; LG= T; RCA= F; Sony= T

WLFI: Humax= F; LG= NT; RCA= F; Sony= N

WTHR: Humax= MF; LG= T; RCA= T; Sony= T

WRTV: Humax= T; LG= T; RCA= T; Sony= T

WTTV: Humax= F; LG= F; RCA= F ; Sony= T

WXIN: Humax= MF ; LG= F; RCA = F ; Sony = T

WFYI: Humax = N ; LG = N ; RCA = N ; Sony = N

WNDY: Humax = F ; LG = F ; RCA = F ; Sony = T

WIPB: Humax = NT ; LG = F ; RCA = F ; Sony = T


F = Full display (title and description)
MF = Mostly Full display (some descriptions missing)
N = Nothing displayed
NT = Not Tested
T = Title only displayed

Steve



Steve:

I just translated your readings into a table and, applying a score of 10 for an F (including the MF's), 6 for a T and 0 for an N, I computed a composite score for the receivers and the stations. (A 'not tested' had no effect.)

--
For receivers, Sony scored miserably:

Humax scored a 78 (out of a total 100);
The LG scored a 73;
The RCA scored 80; and
Sony pulled in a 47.

--
For the broadcast stations:

WISH 70
WLFI 67
WTHR 70
WRTV 60
WTTV 90
WXIN 90
WFYI 0 (I've written them a couple of times on this)
WNDY 90
WIPB 87


I patched this together pretty quickly and *may* have made a mistake with the math or mis-typed something, so I take responsibility for any error in translating Steve's experimental data into the above scores. (I'm usually very good at detail and careful with my math, so there's only a small possibility of any significant error. I just double-checked it all and it looks fine.)

Getting new equipment configured is no picnic, and we're putting in new gear that multiplexes the various audio and video channels, and adds PSIP. The old PSIP generating computer didn't help matters by dying this afternoon, basically halting other progress. I have the new one, just hadn't planned on getting it up and running for another week or two (the "don't change too much stuff at once" theory blown to bits once again!).

So, WISH PSIP info is completely missing tonight, wish me luck for the morning.

Tom Weber
WISH Engineering

Thank's for the heads-up Tom.

WISH TV seems to have stopped working. Neither of my Dish Network receivers are picking up the channel. Both say the signal strength is 100% but not picture is being displayed.

I tried a rescan but nothing.

Then I turn to the internal ATSC tuner in my LCD TV. It says 8.1 has 100% signal strength. Then I channel up and on 9.1 is WISH-TV.

If I recall correctly WISH is actually transmitting on VHF channel 9.

Tom Weber said there is new equipment, could this be realated to WISH-TV's sudden change of channels? Now that I think about it a bit more could this be some kind of problem with how broadcast channels can re-map their channel number from the actual transmitted channel number.

WISH TV seems to have stopped working. Neither of my Dish Network receivers are picking up the channel. Both say the signal strength is 100% but not picture is being displayed.


Same here also with a Dish VIP 622 receiver. It was fine last night as I recorded the Kennedy Center Honors program.

Jeff

Sorry if it's been answered but I spent 45 minutes browsing through and didn't find any recommendations on a hd antenna. I'm 30 miles south of Indy, should I even bother with getting one, if so what's a good one?

Same here also with a Dish VIP 622 receiver. It was fine last night as I recorded the Kennedy Center Honors program.

Jeff

Not that I wish ill on others, but WHEW! :D
I just received the VIP622 upgrade yesterday (from a 211) and when adding my locals, found that WISH was gone. The signal strength is the same as always - mid-upper 60s - but it cannot resolve it. Scanning found WHMB and WFYI without problem, both of which are normally less reliable here. Until now, I was blaming the new receiver!

This AM I tried tuning WISH with my MCE PC (VBOX ATSC tuner card) and it says no signal as well.

Are you guys with dish vip622's paying extra for locals or is there a way to tune them in ota with the dish? I have the 622 as well but am new to the hd world.

Are you guys with dish vip622's paying extra for locals or is there a way to tune them in ota with the dish? I have the 622 as well but am new to the hd world.

I pay extra for the locals, but they're in SD. I get them OTA in HD with the 622. It has a built-in OTA HD tuner. Sometimes we want to record and watch at the same time (or even record two locals and watch one).

Greg

Are you guys with dish vip622's paying extra for locals or is there a way to tune them in ota with the dish? I have the 622 as well but am new to the hd world.

You can plug an antenna into a 622/722. If you purchase the locals package (in SD in Indy) you get the program guide information for your HD/digital locals that you receive from the antenna.

If you don't purchase the SD locals package, then you can still receive your digital locals via antenna but you don't get any program guide information, and you have to set up recordings as with a VCR using date/time instead of recording by name.

Are you guys with dish vip622's paying extra for locals or is there a way to tune them in ota with the dish? I have the 622 as well but am new to the hd world.
If you go with the DVR advantage plan, your DVR fee and locals are included and you save $3 per month over ala carte.

Getting new equipment configured is no picnic, and we're putting in new gear that multiplexes the various audio and video channels, and adds PSIP. The old PSIP generating computer didn't help matters by dying this afternoon, basically halting other progress. I have the new one, just hadn't planned on getting it up and running for another week or two (the "don't change too much stuff at once" theory blown to bits once again!).

So, WISH PSIP info is completely missing tonight, wish me luck for the morning.

Tom Weber
WISH Engineering

Tom, it appears that your new equipment is up and running on WISH-DT here in the 11 a.m. hour as I now have PSIP info via my LG STB (OTA). As you had posted earlier, it was missing on this same receiver last night.

Those of you with the VIP622 setups, please try WISH-DT again. It sounds as though the missing PSIP info last evening may have caused your receiver issues last night.

Steve

Sorry if it's been answered but I spent 45 minutes browsing through and didn't find any recommendations on a hd antenna. I'm 30 miles south of Indy, should I even bother with getting one, if so what's a good one?

Hopefully I'm qualified to answer this.

I'm in Muncie which is a little further than what you're trying to do. A few days ago, I didn't think I was going to be able to get the HD OTA content from Indianapolis but decided to try it anyway. Went to Radioshack and purchased the HD Indoor/Outdoor antenna (DA-5200 .... sorry, I can't post a link) and it's working fine. Right now, it's laying sideways on top of my entertainment center inside next to the TV with a duplex-like building directly between me and Indianapolis. Signal strengths are between 65 and 75 for every channel except WISH-TV. I don't get that signal at all. Not sure if it's related to the antenna or the reception but I'm still trying to figure it out. Seems odd to me to have a decent signal for the others and nothing from them but I'm still looking into it.

Both WISH and WNDY were still up and down thru this morning, finally stabilized just before 1 PM this afternoon. The configuration expert has left town. I had a beer at lunch, both to celebrate his departure and to help calm my nerves <g>.

Tom Weber
WISH/WNDY Engineering

WebmastTroy:

First of all, try again now - see my posts of last night and this afternoon.

Secondly, does your antenna pick up VHF stations at all - especially 7-13? WISH-HD is broadcast over physical channel 9. I tell people to use an analog set on the antenna and turn the antenna for a good, crisp, clean picture on WISH-8 analog. That sets you up right for reception of WISH HD over channel 9.

Tom Weber
WISH Engineering

Once again I feel the need to explain the suffering in Tippecanoe County. You know, the ONLY county in Indiana where residents don't have a true choice between cable & satellite. We can't get our locals via satellite because our we have one network in town. This one network (WLFI-CBS) isn't carried by either dish company, therefore we can't get locals via satellite, but wait it gets better. The satellite companies can't offer distant networks to residents of Tippecanoe county because we're supposed to be able to receive all networks via antenna. This has been a complete joke until OTA HDTV. With OTA HDTV, we can actually get decent picture, but it does require a large outdoor antenna, with pre-amp and all the baggage that goes along with such a setup. (you know, extremely directional antennas, elements breaking off, wind damage etc)
We also get fun events such as in the 3rd qtr of the Colts vs Patriots game, Insight cable pulls the plug on WTHR viewers showing a screen that says "switch channels to the NFL network". The following day in the paper it expained that happened because we're so far from Indy. WTHR was unable to let viewers in Tippecanoe county view the game, it was only for people in the Indy markets. What a joke! Luckily I was watching it via OTA HD so I wasn't affected, but many weren't so fortunate. What's even more sad is that WTHR is one of the networks that won't grant a distant network waiver for dish customers stating that we are in their market. So which is it? C'mon.. pick a side, you can't have it both ways.
I have been a long time DirecTV customer, Insight cable customer, and OTA viewer. (yes I watch too much TV) I'm one of the rare DTV customers that does get SD distant networks as I was grandfathered in some how years ago. I've also subscribed to the $13.95 a month Insight cable package for years to get my local networks which requires switching etc. And now for the past year or so I've enjoyed watching OTA HDTV with one of these
http://antennasdirect.com/DB8_HD_Antenna.html
SO here's my issue today. I have an HDVR2 which is DirecTV service with TIVO which I've had for years. It hooked my family on the TIVO service. For those that haven't experienced it, you should. The cable companies DVR does not compare, nor do the new DTV DVR's. Since the HDVR2 isn't Hi Def, I'm missing out on a lot of DTV HD content. Since the new DTV DVR isn't Tivo, my wife says no way. (I somewhat agree) I also am not pleased with the time delay when changing channels on the new DTV HD receivers. Way too slow. So, I'm looking to give in, and go with the new HD Tivo TCD652160 and subscribe to Insight's (soon to be Comcast) HD service and drop DTV all together. This new TIVO box uses cable cards which brings me to my first question for you those still reading.
Should I expect the same HD picture quality via cable card that I enjoy via OTA antenna?
Does Insight use SDV in the Lafayette market?
One interesting side note, Insight states that they offer the local networks via HD in their $13.95 a month package, only that the customer needs the cable cards or "other hardware" to view it.
The last thing I will add to this rant is that if DTV ever reaches an agreement with WISH for HD, I hope they will also add WLFI as there is already fiber optic cable between the two sister stations which would eliminate the need for DTV to setup a substation in the Lafayette area etc.

WebmastTroy:

First of all, try again now - see my posts of last night and this afternoon.

Secondly, does your antenna pick up VHF stations at all - especially 7-13? WISH-HD is broadcast over physical channel 9. I tell people to use an analog set on the antenna and turn the antenna for a good, crisp, clean picture on WISH-8 analog. That sets you up right for reception of WISH HD over channel 9.

Tom Weber
WISH Engineering

From the box:
"Frequence range: VHF 47-230MHz, UHF 470-890MHz (ch. 14-69), FM 88-108MHz"

I think I understand that WISH-TV is somewhere around 188 so it should be able to pick it up.

To be honest, every analog station looks horrible through this antenna. WISH-TV was the only one I had trouble getting out of black and white but the others weren't far behind. Overall, signal levels have dropped a few points this afternoon and evening from the past few nights probably because of the weather.

If I can get a hold of a diplexor (the guys at Radioshack look at me like I'm stupid when I ask for it), I'll try move the antenna up to the attic to see if I can get some better reception there.

If you have doubts about that antenna, Radioshack had another indoor one I decided against purely because he said that the one I got was "newer". I can go grab and try it before they close tonight.

WebmastTroy, I found your antenna at the RS website. Checking the reviews for this antenna, it doesn't sound good for VHF stations. Several have reported bad reception of VHF stations (7-13).
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?summary=summary&techSpecs=techSpecs&currentTab=techSpecs&cp=&custRatings=custRatings&features=features&accessories=accessories&productId=2253765&support=support&tab=custRatings#showReviews
Just looking at it, it doesn't appear to be wide enough to accomodate the wavelength of VHF frequencies.

Steve

Both WISH and WNDY were still up and down thru this morning, finally stabilized just before 1 PM this afternoon. The configuration expert has left town. I had a beer at lunch, both to celebrate his departure and to help calm my nerves <g>.

Tom Weber
WISH/WNDY Engineering

Well done - yes, I'm getting all the WISH channels just fine on both systems now. :cool:

Are you guys with dish vip622's paying extra for locals or is there a way to tune them in ota with the dish? I have the 622 as well but am new to the hd world.

As HD_In_West_Lafayette mentioned in his novel ( :D ),
I can't get the Indy market channels via Dish, since Neilsen considers Lafayette its own market.

There is a way to tune them via the 622 - provided you have an adequate antenna. Your other post about being 30 miles south means your going to need a decent sized one. If you are not far from Bloomington, there are channels from there you could likely get with rabbit ears (there really is no such thing as a "digital" or HD" antenna).
In any case, attach the antenna to the "antenna/CATV in" connector on the back. Then on the dish remote, push "menu". In the menu, choose System Setup, Local Channels, Scan Locals. When it is finished, choose Done and it will "save important info" to your receiver.
If you get a list of the channels and their actual frequencies, you can plug them in that menu manually, and even use the signal meter to help "aim" your antenna.
This only applies to digital TV and ignores analog OTA altogether.

WebmastTroy:

First of all, try again now - see my posts of last night and this afternoon.

Secondly, does your antenna pick up VHF stations at all - especially 7-13? WISH-HD is broadcast over physical channel 9. I tell people to use an analog set on the antenna and turn the antenna for a good, crisp, clean picture on WISH-8 analog. That sets you up right for reception of WISH HD over channel 9.

Tom Weber
WISH Engineering

On one of my HD tvs I noticed I was not getting Channel 8 this morning (no signal whatsoever). I played around with my antenna to no avail. On a whim I manually scanned between (including) channels 8 and 10 and discovered the WISH channels were now on channel 9 (9-1, 9-2, 9-3). They had been displayed on 8-1, 8-2, and 8-3 for over a year (as long as I have had HDTV), so I suspect the change is more than coincidental with the work you and the team have been performing?

Additionally, the signal strength was quite low this morning but perhaps related to the issues you earlier identified. I will post again if this issue remains.

Now I need to check my other HD tv to see if a transition to 9-1, 9-2, and 9-3 are required.

Thanks for keeping us abreast of the changes!

Oh yeah... any update on when we might expect "full screen" HD newscasts (a la WTHR ch. 13)?

As HD_In_West_Lafayette mentioned in his novel ( :D ),
I can't get the Indy market channels via Dish, since Neilsen considers Lafayette its own market.

There is a way to tune them via the 622 - provided you have an adequate antenna. Your other post about being 30 miles south means your going to need a decent sized one. If you are not far from Bloomington, there are channels from there you could likely get with rabbit ears (there really is no such thing as a "digital" or HD" antenna).
In any case, attach the antenna to the "antenna/CATV in" connector on the back. Then on the dish remote, push "menu". In the menu, choose System Setup, Local Channels, Scan Locals. When it is finished, choose Done and it will "save important info" to your receiver.
If you get a list of the channels and their actual frequencies, you can plug them in that menu manually, and even use the signal meter to help "aim" your antenna.
This only applies to digital TV and ignores analog OTA altogether.

Thank you, I'll give it a try.

On a whim I manually scanned between (including) channels 8 and 10 and discovered the WISH channels were now on channel 9 (9-1, 9-2, 9-3). They had been displayed on 8-1, 8-2, and 8-3 for over a year (as long as I have had HDTV), so I suspect the change is more than coincidental with the work you and the team have been performing?
Interesting that you mention this. My very first HDTV was delivered yesterday. I scanned for channels and WISH's broadcasts showed up at 9.3, 9.4, 9.5. I thought that was very strange. When I checked 9.1 and 9.2, there was a signal, but no data.

This afternoon, after reading Tom Weber's comments about configuration changes at the station, I rescanned. Now, WISH shows up at 8.1, 8.2, 8.3.

Wacky stuff, this HDTV. ;)

I've been looking forward to the winter classic outdoor nhl game between the Penguins and Sabres since it was announced. Sold out quickly and supposed to be broadcast at 1pm ET on NBC. When I check the programming guide on my tv and on wthr's website, they list such inane content as Montel Williams reruns. Please, please say it ain't so! I found some email addresses on the wthr site, for programming and general manager and emailed them...of course they come back as out of office, not back til after new years. Any suggestions? and if they don't broadcast it, any thoughts on where I can find a feed? This is going to kill me.

I've been looking forward to the winter classic outdoor nhl game between the Penguins and Sabres since it was announced. Sold out quickly and supposed to be broadcast at 1pm ET on NBC.
I saw the promos on NBC Sunday night during the Colts game. Looks like an interesting game. Didn't know anybody would have the guts to organize an outdoor NHL game in Buffalo, no less.

When I check the programming guide on my tv and on wthr's website, they list such inane content as Montel Williams reruns.
That's just the local media manipulating the local market. After all, you wouldn't want professional hockey to catch on in this town, would you? How many years has Indianapolis only had minor league hockey? Yet, Columbus, Ohio, got an NHL expansion team a few years ago? It's all about local support...or the lack thereof.

Any suggestions?
Telephone the station on Monday. Ask to speak to someone in programming. Politely ask them about the broadcast and express your interest in seeing it.

And, I thought one of the advantages of digital TV was that stations could use their various sub-channels to broadcast content that was a bit out of the mainstream. This would be an excellent time to exercise that feature. Leave Montel and Dr. Phil on 13.1 and put the hockey game on 13.3.

This is going to kill me.
Nah. You'll live. I was a Checkers season ticket holder for several years back in the early 1980s when they were a farm team for the Islanders. It seemed that just about the time the team started to click, the good players would get called up to the Islanders. Oh, well, I got to see Hall of Famer John Vanbiesbrouck before he went on to fame and fortune in the NHL. I think he played for Peoria back in his minor league days.

Ok, I took bb37's advice and called. No one from programming working today, but I got transferred around and spoke to someone in the news department who said they are showing it. I'm coming down off the roof now and hopefully work will be slow tomorrow so I can see it all live. I hope they fix the EPG so I can dvr it correctly.

Ok, I took bb37's advice and called. No one from programming working today, but I got transferred around and spoke to someone in the news department who said they are showing it. I'm coming down off the roof now and hopefully work will be slow tomorrow so I can see it all live. I hope they fix the EPG so I can dvr it correctly.

Looks like the game is being shown on the Skytrak Weather Channel, which is total horse$hit. It will be like watching the game through a screen door.

What a friggin' joke this station is.

-----

From WTHR.com

PROGRAMMING NOTE

The NHL game between Pittsburgh and Buffalo on Tuesday will be broadcast on the SkyTrak Network. You can check our list of cable channels or watch on digital channel 13.2.

-------

OMG. This channel is ridiculous. I'm calling again first thing in the morning. What a bunch of idiots running this channel.

To answer your question -- A guy I work with in Fishers called into Insight yesterday to get answers. When I went out to check my bill online there was a banner saying that we were changing 12/31. When I showed him -- he called on the spot.

They said no new equipment, just a software update on 12/31 with the Comcast lineup pushed over, which is better than what Insight offers. The bad thing is that you will have to go in and reset all of your DVR settings -- unless someone knows a work around.

All emails (@insightbb.com) will HAVE to change at some point. The lady on the phone didn't know how this would be handled. Supposidly this is supposed to be a "seamless" change -- I guess we will find out.

Just curious if anyone had anymore info on the switch over. I don't see any change but now if I go to insight's site it says for I should now go to comcast.com for service and support.

Count me as another viewer disgruntled by the decision to air the NHL game on 13.2. I'm not even an NHL fan, but with the elements being the way they are, I thought it would be a nice alternative to some of the less-than-appealing bowls today. But watching on 13.2 will be pretty nasty... we could probably find higher quality streams on the net somewhere.

Count me as another viewer disgruntled by the decision to air the NHL game on 13.2. I'm not even an NHL fan, but with the elements being the way they are, I thought it would be a nice alternative to some of the less-than-appealing bowls today. But watching on 13.2 will be pretty nasty... we could probably find higher quality streams on the net somewhere.

Thought that I would be the first one to comment...I haqve this thing recording at home on 13.1 at home just gonna miss it now thank wthr

I am stunned that WTHR management would make this incredibly poor decision. I was really looking forward to this in HD. They should have moved the talk shows to 13-2 and kept the hockey on 13-1.

Anyone have a phone number for WTHR engeneering/control room that they would care to post?...they can switch the feed easily...they just need a flood of calls...


UPDATE

317-636-1313 is swamped

Count me as another viewer disgruntled by the decision to air the NHL game on 13.2. I'm not even an NHL fan, but with the elements being the way they are, I thought it would be a nice alternative to some of the less-than-appealing bowls today. But watching on 13.2 will be pretty nasty... we could probably find higher quality streams on the net somewhere.

If you have satellite, call up and "move" for a few hours. :)

Atlanta is showing it in widescreen. I can't tell if it's HD or not, though - I think it is widescreen SD. But it looks way better than 13.2.

Really disappointed in WTHR. Not a hockey fan but I was looking forward to this game. I'd even told mom about it and she wanted to watch it too :(

If you have satellite, call up and "move" for a few hours. :)

Atlanta is showing it in widescreen. I can't tell if it's HD or not, though - I think it is widescreen SD. But it looks way better than 13.2.

Sadly for those of us that expected it to be on 13HD, as TVGuide and all programming sources promicsed and are away today, we are screwed...


First they cant do a friggen text scroll on HD, then they have a green stripe down the side of every HD show, and now this? can we apply for a more responsible NBC affiliate? lets make WTHR an ABC affiliatre because they dont have any good stuff...

If you have satellite, call up and "move" for a few hours. :)

Atlanta is showing it in widescreen. I can't tell if it's HD or not, though - I think it is widescreen SD. But it looks way better than 13.2.

Per the HDTV Programming forum it is in HD.

The game is being rebroadcast on UHD tomorrow at 5pm. I guess I'll watch it twice. It is still HORSESHIT!

The game is being rebroadcast on UHD tomorrow at 5pm. I guess I'll watch it twice. It is still HORSESHIT!
UHD is OK, if your cable carrier didnt take it away from you, as Insight did sme time ago for many of my buddies...so WTHR is still a complete ****-up


and why should I need a premium HD cable channel to get a free-to-air broadcast the way it should be seen?

I know we are all frustrated and upset about WTHR's decision but we MUST call, send e-mail, etc. to make sure they know what a terrible decision this was. Venting here will do no good unless we contact them directly.

I pulled the General Manager and "Programming" addresses from the contact page (http://www.wthr.com/Global/category.asp?C=28218) on wthr.com and emailed them. Sent them an email, because I know bogging down the poor folks answering the phones today wouldn't do much good.

I know we are all frustrated and upset about WTHR's decision but we MUST call, send e-mail, etc. to make sure they know what a terrible decision this was. Venting here will do no good unless we contact them directly.

Eight emails sent to eight different people... Four bounced back w/ out of the office replies. Phone calls will happen tomorrow; along with a letter to the Star feedback section (whatever that is called).

There is no downside to this game as far as exposure for hockey and the NHL. It just sucks that many won't be able to see it. If I did not have OTA w/ my HDTV I would have missed the game as I am a D* subscriber.

I know we are all frustrated and upset about WTHR's decision but we MUST call, send e-mail, etc. to make sure they know what a terrible decision this was. Venting here will do no good unless we contact them directly.

So I suppose it's safe to say that nobody at WTHR follows this thread even though it may reasonably be called the only one on the Internet that actually addresses local Indianapolis market concerns and where the readers/responders actually give a damn.

Greg

I just turned on 13-1 on QAM and the game is now there in HD (end of OT, going to the shootout). Wow. How long has it been there?

I just turned on 13-1 on QAM and the game is now there in HD (end of OT, going to the shootout). Wow. How long has it been there?

Probably since 4:00 when Oprah ended. Made me even more upset when I saw what I had been missing.

Made me even more upset when I saw what I had been missing.
Me too. I had been watching the game on Ch. 50 analog OTA because my PQ seemed better there than on 13.2. I stuck with it until the end of the shoot-out and then decided on a whim to check 13.1. Darn, there's the post-game in HD. Wish I had known. Thanks, WTHR. :rolleyes:

I didn't get home from the hospital until past 6pm. I had to dvr the game in two segments on 13.2 since it wasn't on their EPG. I'm hoping to watch it in HD tomorrow on UHD--thanks for the heads up on that. I emailed people starting 2 days ago and called two days in a row; had to leave a message this morning as the switchboard was closed. I even copied some of the stuff from here, removed the names and emailed it to them. I'll post their replies for ya.

From Rob Porter @WTHR:

"Hockey has generated very poor rating in the past on WTHR. Stanley Cup in Prime time only generated a 1 or 2 rating. Our talk shows will do a much higher rating. I'm sorry. I don't anticipate other hockey preemptions."

I dont buy the ratings BS for one minute...not with some of the odd stuff that I have been seeing lately on NBC sports...dirt truck racing? curling? these things beat hockey?

and this wasnt just any NHL game, it was the first ever outdoor pro hockey game in the US, and it was a friggen holiday and it was the only sport event on NBC as they have no bowl rights...this was just a retarded beancounter with some sort of grudge wielding power...

Yes, I think the ratings argument is specious in this case. It was a holiday, this was a special sporting event that the network had advertised during SNF, and WTHR pre-empted it for reruns of Montel and Dr. Phil. <sigh>

Anyone in the Terre Haute area using the Square Shooter Antenna?

I currently have a Terk (Dish Antenna) was thinking of (upgrading??) to the square shooter. I have no problem picking up WTHI-DT, but WTWO and WFXW don't come in at all.

I talked to the Head Engineer from WTWO today and they are planning to provide HD service for the SuperBowl on WFXW, but he said it will still be at low power. They won't up their power on the tower until later this summer

I dont buy the ratings BS for one minute...not with some of the odd stuff that I have been seeing lately on NBC sports...dirt truck racing? curling? these things beat hockey?

and this wasnt just any NHL game, it was the first ever outdoor pro hockey game in the US, and it was a friggen holiday and it was the only sport event on NBC as they have no bowl rights...this was just a retarded beancounter with some sort of grudge wielding power...

I think that is where WTHR really missed the boat was how special and historically significant game this was. I watched some of the rerun on UHD and the picture and especially the sound was terrific.

By the way the ratings were the highest for a hockey broadcast since the
90's.

http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/hockey/comments/winter_classic_on_nbc_draws_24_overnight_rating/

I think that is where WTHR really missed the boat was how special and historically significant game this was. I watched some of the rerun on UHD and the picture and especially the sound was terrific.

By the way the ratings were the highest for a hockey broadcast since the
90's.

http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/hockey/comments/winter_classic_on_nbc_draws_24_overnight_rating/


FWIW, WTHR's canned response (my buddies received the same message):



Thank you for your e-mail regarding the NHL game on New Years Day. We
regret our decision NOT to carry the game on WTHR. We attempt to make
the best decisions in the carriage of our programming. Unfortunately,
the decision NOT to carry the Hockey game on NBC was NOT one of our
better decisions. We don't anticipate any other hockey preemptions. If
you wish to further discuss this matter feel free to call me at
317-655-5675.

We appreciate your feed back and again regret the error.

Thanks Again,

Rod Porter

--------

- dk

I have the square shooter in Terrre Haute and I cannot get WTWO or WFXW. However, I haven't tried very hard. I hope it warms up this weekend as I now have a project....

I forgot to mention my disgust later on New Year's Day upon finding that the 5pm WTHR news had been preempted by The Music of Seal on Ice or some other such nonsense. I normally watch my local news on WTHR because it's in HD, so when 5pm came around, I naturally flipped to 13.1... except they aired the damn ice skating instead.

So I flipped over to WISH and watch what appeared to be the B (C?) team featuring Angela Buchman. You'd think Angela Buchman, Supreme Duchess of the WISH Weather Empire, would be at home on holidays.

I have the square shooter in Terrre Haute and I cannot get WTWO or WFXW. However, I haven't tried very hard. I hope it warms up this weekend as I now have a project....

I was beginning to think it was just my antenna. On some days WTWO-DT comes in (when the Colts play on Sunday Night) But most days no go.

The station must boost power when they play.

Hopefully I can pull the HD feed of WFXW for the SuperBowl

I just got onto this thread. Please let me know who I can bitch at about them not showing the game. Also, is it playing again anytime soon? I missed it on UHD. Thanks. I can't believe this!!! We missed history in the making live!!

I was beginning to think it was just my antenna. On some days WTWO-DT comes in (when the Colts play on Sunday Night) But most days no go.

The station must boost power when they play.

Hopefully I can pull the HD feed of WFXW for the SuperBowl

I live about 10 miles from all three station's towers in Terre Haute and I can't pick up WTWO DT or WFXW DT.

I think I'll purchase an amp in hopes of picking up the superbowl in HD on Fox this year, but hopefully they'll boost the power.

MStepp99 & ALEMIS, if either of you pick up the WFXW signal be sure to let us know your exact setup; I'll do the same if I can get anything working.

Good luck.

FWIW, WTHR's canned response (my buddies received the same message):



Thank you for your e-mail regarding the NHL game on New Years Day. We
regret our decision NOT to carry the game on WTHR. We attempt to make
the best decisions in the carriage of our programming. Unfortunately,
the decision NOT to carry the Hockey game on NBC was NOT one of our
better decisions. We don't anticipate any other hockey preemptions. If
you wish to further discuss this matter feel free to call me at
317-655-5675.

We appreciate your feed back and again regret the error.

Thanks Again,

Rod Porter

--------

- dk

Well, it may not be a great answer, but at least we know they will not do the same crap to the NHL Saturday games this winter/spring, nor will they preempt any coverage of playoffs and Stanley Cup games.

By the way, after getting my HDTV last year, a WTHR NHL HD broadcast was my first sporting event in HD, heck, a stanley cup game no less.

I like watching hockey live, but could never really follow it in SD because the puck was so hard to follow without a lot of concentration, HD allows me to relax and still follow the puck. same goes for golf

I live about 10 miles from all three station's towers in Terre Haute and I can't pick up WTWO DT or WFXW DT.

I think I'll purchase an amp in hopes of picking up the superbowl in HD on Fox this year, but hopefully they'll boost the power.

MStepp99 & ALEMIS, if either of you pick up the WFXW signal be sure to let us know your exact setup; I'll do the same if I can get anything working.

Good luck.

It says I'm 14.7 miles from the tower, but my brother-in-law lives in Parke County (Bridgeton) and can receive WTWO-DT, but not WFXW. He uses a large directional antenna w/ rotor.

I guess I don't really understand this, He is further away but bigger antenna, and picks it up, but I'm less than half the distance with a smaller multi-directional antenna and get nothing.

Does it have anything to do with your TV? He has a 720p RCA, I've got a 1080p Samsung DLP

I just got onto this thread. Please let me know who I can bitch at about them not showing the game. Also, is it playing again anytime soon? I missed it on UHD. Thanks. I can't believe this!!! We missed history in the making live!!


I looked at the guide for UHD and don't see it listed for the next couple of weeks. I would go to the WTHR website and most people seem to be contacting a Rob Porter. I do believe WTHR knows they blew it.

It says I'm 14.7 miles from the tower, but my brother-in-law lives in Parke County (Bridgeton) and can receive WTWO-DT, but not WFXW. He uses a large directional antenna w/ rotor.

I guess I don't really understand this, He is further away but bigger antenna, and picks it up, but I'm less than half the distance with a smaller multi-directional antenna and get nothing.

Does it have anything to do with your TV? He has a 720p RCA, I've got a 1080p Samsung DLP

You basically answered your own question relating to the antenna/reception issue. Because WTWO-DT and WFXW-DT are currently at very low power (WTWO-DT = 1.92 kW @ 880 ft. and WFXW-DT = 1.2 kW @ 853 ft.) the receive antenna must do a GREAT job at picking up the very weak air signal and transferring that signal to your digital receiver. With these weak signals, every tree, roof, wall, etc. between the transmit tower (in Farmersburg) and your receive antenna is going to reduce this already weak signal. Until later this year when WTWO-DT increases its power to 1000 kW and WFXW-DT increases its power to 850 kW (a recent modification from 1000 kW) the amount of signal you are able to capture with your antenna is going to make it or break it for you.

If you want to watch the upcoming Super Bowl via WFXW-DT you will most likely need a large, directional (which increases the signal gain) antenna, similar to what your brother-in-law has in Bridgeton, which is mounted in an unobstructed location, so it can virtually 'see' the transmit antenna on the WFXW tower in Farmersburg. Using a line-of-sight propagation formula, with their antenna mounted @ 853 feet above ground level and factoring in the curvature of the earth, their signal should travel roughly 40 miles, but anything and everything between those two points will reduce and/or reflect that signal. And we all know what a couple of tree leaves will do to a SUPER weak satellite signal.........

Also, as for digital receivers, no two are exactly the same. Some are better than others at amplifying, processing and decoding weak DTV signals. And relating to your weak signal issue, the 720p vs 1080i vs 1080p is a completely different animal and does not affect your reception issues.

BTW, Nexstar's Fox affiliate in Fort Wayne, WFFT-DT, just installed HD equipment a few weeks ago. That station transmits a VERY challenging OTA signal.... .970 kW (970 watts!!!) @ 210 feet (barely above the ground in TV). Viewers in the "Summit City" area are really scrambling with various antennas trying to get set up for the Super Bowl.

Steve

You basically answered your own question relating to the antenna/reception issue. Because WTWO-DT and WFXW-DT are currently at very low power (WTWO-DT = 1.92 kW @ 880 ft. and WFXW-DT = 1.2 kW @ 853 ft.) the receive antenna must do a GREAT job at picking up the very weak air signal and transferring that signal to your digital receiver. With these weak signals, every tree, roof, wall, etc. between the transmit tower (in Farmersburg) and your receive antenna is going to reduce this already weak signal. Until later this year when WTWO-DT increases its power to 1000 kW and WFXW-DT increases its power to 850 kW (a recent modification from 1000 kW) the amount of signal you are able to capture with your antenna is going to make it or break it for you.

If you want to watch the upcoming Super Bowl via WFXW-DT you will most likely need a large, directional (which increases the signal gain) antenna, similar to what your brother-in-law has in Bridgeton, which is mounted in an unobstructed location, so it can virtually 'see' the transmit antenna on the WFXW tower in Farmersburg. Using a line-of-sight propagation formula, with their antenna mounted @ 853 feet above ground level and factoring in the curvature of the earth, their signal should travel roughly 40 miles, but anything and everything between those two points will reduce and/or reflect that signal. And we all know what a couple of tree leaves will do to a SUPER weak satellite signal.........

Also, as for digital receivers, no two are exactly the same. Some are better than others at amplifying, processing and decoding weak DTV signals. And relating to your weak signal issue, the 720p vs 1080i vs 1080p is a completely different animal and does not affect your reception issues.

BTW, Nexstar's Fox affiliate in Fort Wayne, WFFT-DT, just installed HD equipment a few weeks ago. That station transmits a VERY challenging OTA signal.... .970 kW (970 watts!!!) @ 210 feet (barely above the ground in TV). Viewers in the "Summit City" area are really scrambling with various antennas trying to get set up for the Super Bowl.

Steve
Thanks for the clarification Steve. The differential in power explains why I can get WTWO on some days but have never been able to receive WFXW.

I'm using the unamplified square shooter antenna and a Dish VIP 622 receiver. I ordered a Winegard HDP 269 preamp yesterday with the hope that I'll be able to receive WFXW. I have to admit I'm not encouraged....

I looked at the guide for UHD and don't see it listed for the next couple of weeks. I would go to the WTHR website and most people seem to be contacting a Rob Porter. I do believe WTHR knows they blew it.

Thanks hoosierfan. I'm still boiling over this. I wonder what the hockey coaches did when they had their Pee Wee players over to watch the game here in Indy. Bet it wasn't a happy group of hockey players.

Goldrich

Thanks for the great info. Since I'm already going to my brother-in-laws for a SuperBowl party, I won't mess with a larger antenna.

I know the diff. from 720P vs 1080i/p, but was just wondering if the digital tuners in these TVs would affect the signal pull.

I'll just bide my time until the boys in Farmerburg up the power, then will REJOICE!!!

Thanks for the clarification Steve. The differential in power explains why I can get WTWO on some days but have never been able to receive WFXW.

I'm using the unamplified square shooter antenna and a Dish VIP 622 receiver. I ordered a Winegard HDP 269 preamp yesterday with the hope that I'll be able to receive WFXW. I have to admit I'm not encouraged....Actually there is only 1.0 db difference between these two stations which makes virtually no difference between their coverage areas (compare http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DS996033.html and http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DS626774.html). This difference is well within the a.g.c. slop of any dtv receiver, so maybe you shouldn't conclude that the explanation for occasionally getting WTWO and never getting WFXW is the differential in power. Also, the two channels are only 12 MHz apart so its not a spectrum issue and the two transmitting antennas differ by only 8-meters in height. I would expect a nice UHF Yagi like the BTY-10-U (for Band D) to receive them both quite nicely (http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display_print.asp?PROD=SS4873). Be sure to mount high and clear and aim directly toward the tower location.

Thanks for the clarification Steve. The differential in power explains why I can get WTWO on some days but have never been able to receive WFXW.

I'm using the unamplified square shooter antenna and a Dish VIP 622 receiver. I ordered a Winegard HDP 269 preamp yesterday with the hope that I'll be able to receive WFXW. I have to admit I'm not encouraged....

Hey KK, good move in getting the preamp. I live 9 miles north of Terre Haute and use to have the Square Shooter with the built in preamp and never had a problem in getting WTWO WTHI, WCID out of Illinois, or the PBS stations out of Bloomington. Switched to the CM2448 with a preamp and it easily increased the signal strength for all. Fox is a tricky thing and absolutely you have to almost get it perfect. Weird but I have better luck using my Zenith Silver Sensor to pick up Fox than I do using my CM antenna.

Adding the preamp to your Square Shooter will be like night and day. I think you'll be very surprised on how much better you can lock onto things. :)

P.S. I was able to get signals using using one of the first generation Samsungs which were junk.

Anyone in the Terre Haute area using the Square Shooter Antenna?

I currently have a Terk (Dish Antenna) was thinking of (upgrading??) to the square shooter. I have no problem picking up WTHI-DT, but WTWO and WFXW don't come in at all.


In the same vein to what ALEMIS posted if you're looking at a Square Shooter I can't stress enough the importance of buying the amplified version because there is such a major difference in signal strength.

I just got onto this thread. Please let me know who I can bitch at about them not showing the game. Also, is it playing again anytime soon? I missed it on UHD. Thanks. I can't believe this!!! We missed history in the making live!!

I saw a commercial this evening on The NHL Network. Apparently they will be replaying the game on Saturday and again on Sunday.

- dk

Try this one on for size...

In Marshall, IL (16mi. West of Terre Haute) I hooked up my parents' new 40" Samsung LCD tonight, to "BASIC CABLE", they were planning on switching to DishNetwork later next week. But the TV picked up 6 Digital Channels of those 4 are broadcasting programs in HD.

NBC, ABC, FOX are all coming from Springfield or Champaign. And CBS is coming from both Terre Haute, and Springfield.

Is this all being pulled from the internal TV Tuner? Now they are rethinking the move to Dish, as they would have to pay additional for locals that aren't in HD, or get an antenna.

Try this one on for size...

In Marshall, IL (16mi. West of Terre Haute) I hooked up my parents' new 40" Samsung LCD tonight, to "BASIC CABLE", they were planning on switching to DishNetwork later next week. But the TV picked up 6 Digital Channels of those 4 are broadcasting programs in HD.

NBC, ABC, FOX are all coming from Springfield or Champaign. And CBS is coming from both Terre Haute, and Springfield.

Is this all being pulled from the internal TV Tuner? Now they are rethinking the move to Dish, as they would have to pay additional for locals that aren't in HD, or get an antenna.

Most HDTV's have what is called QAM tuner and provided the cable company does not encode the signal you will get HD channels. If you search on QAM you will see many examples of people in the Indy area getting HD channels over Comcast/BHN without a digital box. These channels seem to come and go as the cable companies encode them. When I first got my TV over 2 years ago I was getting CBS, NBC, TNT, MOJO, FOX, and all PPV channels over Comcast. Now I get locals only over QAM Tuner.

If your parents wants locals only in HD then stick with cable. If they want ESPN, TNT, etc. I would stick with Dish and get an antenna.

WTWO and WFXW have boosted their power output today it appears, as I'm able to watch the NFL Wildcard games in DT.

and... WFXW-DT is coming in off the antenna and I haven't been able to pull it in but maybe 5-6 times in 2 yrs.

When the configuration guy was in last week, he had left our encoders at some different rates than we usually leave them. I had to be in at work this evening, and one of my guys mentioned that the basketball game was a bit pixel-ly. This reminded me of the non-standard data rates, which I've now adjusted to much closer to their normal settings. Sports especially should look better now.

Tom Weber
WISH Engineering

WTWO and WFXW have boosted their power output today it appears, as I'm able to watch the NFL Wildcard games in DT.

and... WFXW-DT is coming in off the antenna and I haven't been able to pull it in but maybe 5-6 times in 2 yrs.
I hope this is true. I was planning on messing around with my setup tomorrow during football.

Anyway, I found something about WTWO and WFXW and their transition to DT and HD. It's on page 3 of this newsletter I found:

http://mywabashvalley.com/media/pdf/NewsletterNov2007_2.pdf

Looks like they are trying to have WFXW HD up in time for the superbowl.

I hope this is true. I was planning on messing around with my setup tomorrow during football.

Anyway, I found something about WTWO and WFXW and their transition to DT and HD. It's on page 3 of this newsletter I found:

http://mywabashvalley.com/media/pdf/NewsletterNov2007_2.pdf

Looks like they are trying to have WFXW HD up in time for the superbowl.


I don't know how permanent it is for now. The signal was really good on WTWO and WFXW yesterday.

I guess 4 weeks will tell, I'll have my fingers crossed for HD

I talked to the Head Engineer from WTWO today and they are planning to provide HD service for the SuperBowl on WFXW, but he said it will still be at low power. They won't up their power on the tower until later this summer
According to the Terre Haute Time Warner Cable website they will have the WFXW HD feed for the superbowl on channel 708.

http://www.timewarnercable.com/terrehaute/

Just another option.

I've had my HDTV for about 2.5 weeks now. Tonight, I noticed that I've lost 3 of my 5 digital local channels on Insight (Comcast?) QAM. Just had the TV scan for channels again. Just getting 6-1 and 8-1 now. 13-1, 29-1, and 59-1 are gone - not even showing up scrambled. Anyone else notice something similar? Any idea what's going on? I'm not in the mood to deal w/ a cable company tonight so I won't be calling them.

Has anyone else had a lot (one or two per minute) of picture breakups on WTHR-DT in the last few days?

Nothing has really changed on my end. My signal strenth is about 82 or 83 on a Dish 622 (again, not changed) but the picture pixilates and breaks up from time to time.

Anyone else?

Jeff

Has anyone else had a lot (one or two per minute) of picture breakups on WTHR-DT in the last few days?
Yup, I'm getting it on DirecTV also. I wonder if something's wrong with the feed that WTHR provides to the cable/sat carriers.

I'm sitting here right now watching 13.1 from DirecTV along with 13.1 OTA in P&P. The OTA feed has no break-ups. As an aside, there's about a 7-second delay from the OTA feed to the satellite feed.

Has anyone else had a lot (one or two per minute) of picture breakups on WTHR-DT in the last few days?

Nothing has really changed on my end. My signal strenth is about 82 or 83 on a Dish 622 (again, not changed) but the picture pixilates and breaks up from time to time.

Anyone else?

Jeff

Yea....It' a shame someone from WTHR doesn't post here when they are having problems that may effect their viewers.
Tom Webber, Engineer at WISH, often does...and I thank him for that!!!

Yup, I'm getting it on DirecTV also. I wonder if something's wrong with the feed that WTHR provides to the cable/sat carriers.

I'm sitting here right now watching 13.1 from DirecTV along with 13.1 OTA in P&P. The OTA feed has no break-ups. As an aside, there's about a 7-second delay from the OTA feed to the satellite feed.

I'm watching OTA and getting the break-ups.

I'm watching OTA and getting the break-ups.

I've noticed these as well over the past couple of weeks on Ch. 13 OTA. 77 or so signal strength being reported on my Dish 722.

I noticed the breakups last night when watching Las Vegas via Insight / Comcast via clear QAM.

I have noticed the same thing. I was beginning to think that it was just my setup, but it looks like others have the same problems. It is really quite annoying.

I can't get 8-* in at all tonight to watch the game. I did just swap roof-top antennas for a different one however I was watching basketball this afternoon on 8-1 without any problems. Around 4pm or so it went dead, all of the Wish channels are gone via OTA down in Mooresville.

I've tried on 2 different antennas and both report no signal. Around 8pm I got choppy audio and a slide show of video but now there's nothing at all.

I too am getting the breakups on Directv and OTA. It might be a problem with the DTV encoder. I will check the WTHR Dir of Eng. on Monday to see if this is the case.

This morning when I tune to 8-1 I get a message that there's no signal on that channel at all.

If this isn't working by the Colts game today there will be a riot in Indy today.

At 8:20 a.m., receiving WISH-DT OTA with virtually perfect signal strength (98 out of a possible 100).

Steve

At 8:20 a.m., receiving WISH-DT OTA with virtually perfect signal strength (98 out of a possible 100).

Steve

Well crap. I just tried on both my antennas and nothing comes in. Good day to troubleshoot a rooftop antenna, we've got about an inch of freezing rain outside...

At 8:20 a.m., receiving WISH-DT OTA with virtually perfect signal strength (98 out of a possible 100).

Steve
Thanks for the info. I re-ran the setup assistant for Beyond TV and then 8-1 started working again. Bizarro.

I am receiving my local HD channels OTA through DirecTV's HR-20 receiver. The receiver is hooked up for video and audio through the HDMI cable. Over the weekend, I had a pretty consistant audio dropout every 3-4 minutes on 8-1. Trying to figure out where it is WISH or the receiver. Any one getting WISH OTA experiencing similar audio problems?

Jeff

I am receiving my local HD channels OTA through DirecTV's HR-20 receiver. The receiver is hooked up for video and audio through the HDMI cable. Over the weekend, I had a pretty consistant audio dropout every 3-4 minutes on 8-1. Trying to figure out where it is WISH or the receiver. Any one getting WISH OTA experiencing similar audio problems?

Jeff

I was getting the same thing while watching the Colts/Chargers game. It happened through the HR-20, and using the television's HD-tuner directly. However, 8 on SD was just fine.

- dk

I've had my HDTV for about 2.5 weeks now. Tonight, I noticed that I've lost 3 of my 5 digital local channels on Insight (Comcast?) QAM. Just had the TV scan for channels again. Just getting 6-1 and 8-1 now. 13-1, 29-1, and 59-1 are gone - not even showing up scrambled. Anyone else notice something similar? Any idea what's going on? I'm not in the mood to deal w/ a cable company tonight so I won't be calling them.

Do you have any updates? I had the same thing happen; on 10 Jan 08 I saw that 59-1 was gone and remembered 20-1 cutting out the night before, so I figured the Comcast switch occurred. I did a rescan, lost 4-1, 6-1, 8-1, 13-1 too...rescanned again...lost 20-1 and 30-1; leaving me w/ ZERO HD QAM channels. I knew the Insight->Comcast switch happened because I now gained a comcast channel. I figured they were either sorting things out, or maybe increased the power thus saturating my amplifier (when I got my new tv a month ago, I Rx'd all HD except 59-1, while my old LG LST-4200A got all channels; after maxing my gain [from ~1/4 to full], I got it back, and it'd been fine ever since).
So I looked up my cable modem power, and read up about the ideal range. My downstream power was ~+15dB, and the 'recommended' was no more than 14; so I got it to +13 and rescanned. I got some channels back, but not all. Its seems to be different every time I do it.
Now, I have a friend who lives nearby (in Greenwood) who had a non-adjustable amp. He got a HD trial deal from Insight in late Dec and the cable guy said he didn't need the amp; so he pulled it and can now pick up all QAM on his Sony (he couldn't previously; though his setup has also been switched around so I can't be sure of the root cause). So, I need to set my amp down closer to where it was (which my cable modem reported as close to 2-3dB according to wife when I was adjusting it...) and/or just direct-connect it w/o the amp and see what I can get...

I am receiving my local HD channels OTA through DirecTV's HR-20 receiver. The receiver is hooked up for video and audio through the HDMI cable. Over the weekend, I had a pretty consistent audio dropout every 3-4 minutes on 8-1. Trying to figure out where it is WISH or the receiver. Any one getting WISH OTA experiencing similar audio problems?

Jeff

I was getting the same thing while watching the Colts/Chargers game. It happened through the HR-20, and using the television's HD-tuner directly. However, 8 on SD was just fine.

- dk

I have been seeing the same behavior on my HR20. What is strange about this is I am only getting the dropouts on 8-1 OTA and all the other channels I get OTA, no audio dropouts. On my HR10 which I also use OTA tuner for my locals, no problem with 8-1. It also happens on both SD and HD programming. I have mine hooked up using HDMI for video and optical for audio. Finally it seems to have started in the last couple of months.

What is weird to me it seems like if it was the HR-20 it would happen across all channels. If it was WISH it would happen on my HR-10 also. Hopefully Tom Weber has some ideas.

I have been seeing the same behavior on my HR20. What is strange about this is I am only getting the dropouts on 8-1 OTA and all the other channels I get OTA, no audio dropouts. On my HR10 which I also use OTA tuner for my locals, no problem with 8-1. It also happens on both SD and HD programming. I have mine hooked up using HDMI for video and optical for audio. Finally it seems to have started in the last couple of months.

What is weird to me it seems like if it was the HR-20 it would happen across all channels. If it was WISH it would happen on my HR-10 also. Hopefully Tom Weber has some ideas.

Its not the HR-20. I have Insight/Comcast in Fishers and the same thing was happening during both football games on WISH this weekend, along with the IU game. I also know someone who has Uverse and it was happening for them as well. I also noticed the amount of "noise" in the broadcast of the IU game was extremely high. I noticed it during the Kentucky/Louisville game a couple weeks back as well. However, I don't think this is WISH's issue, but a CBS issue as there was minimal noise in the broadcast of the Colts game immediately prior to the IU/ILL game on Sunday.

If you've recently had some issues receiving WXIN-DT-45 (59.1), it should be okay now. Just like a little over a year ago, certain brands/models of digital receivers could not decode the signal due to some issue with the PSIP that could not be identified. If you are still not able to receive the station OTA, Rick Poling at WXIN suggests "to either do a new channel scan or do a 'manual add' of channel 45, or try punching in 45 on their remote. Any of those should get us back, depending on the make and model of the set."

Steve

I talked to the Dir. of Eng. at WTHR today. He said that there was an issue with the DTV encoder late last week, but that it is working now. There is more work planned later on to keep the glitches to a minimum.

I've done more testing w/ my QAM loss since the Comcast channel switch;

Let's see; after my first adjustment, I was running a downstream power of ~13-14, and I got 13-1, 59-1, and I think 6-1. So I went to ~7-8dB, and got 4-1, 6-1, 8-1, 20-1, 30-1; meaning; everything but 13-1 and 59-1. Then went to ~10 and got I think 6 and 8 or something. Then 5dB and got only 4 or 6 I think...down to 2.5dB, and I get nothing; though I had video streaming on the network, so maybe that affected it. Will rescan w/o internet traffic tonight, then try a direct connection w/o the amp/splitter. And note, if you didn't read my last post; I got all channels (HD for 4, 6, 8, 13, 20, 30, and 59) up until the Comcast channel switch last wed/thurs). My amp/splitter is the 1-to-4 radio shack adjustable gain model, if you're wondering.

Anyone doing any QAM testing?

Al G. from WTHR asked me to post this more detailed description of last week's problem.


"We detected an occasional slight discontinuity in our DTV bitstream last Thursday evening. After some troubleshooting we narrowed the problem down to the DTV encoder’s precision frequency reference oscillator so on Friday we replaced the encoder’s master reference board and also reconfigured the new board to use our GPS locked master precision reference. This produced a 100% solidly locked correct DTV stream on our over the air bitstream analyzer as well as completely stable solid reception on our various OTA HD monitor receivers which are under constant observation in MC. However – we do monitor the forums – and noted that several posters appeared to still be experiencing some occasional slight random HD video pixelization as of Saturday. So after what further testing we could do with the encoder on air, we determined that there may be some small residual problem in the encoder frame multilayer mainplane, so ordered a replacement frame which the mfr could not get here until Wednesday. The frame arrived today and we will take the encoder (and therefore DTV) off the air for 30 - 45 minutes to move all cards and connectors to the new frame and swap the old out with the new.

Al Grossniklaus
Director of Engineering & Operations
WTHR

BTW: We do monitor the various Forums. Anytime that anyone or the group has a technical question or comment about our DTV signal - rather than wondering, you are welcome to e-mail me directly from the wthr.com website – just go to the “about wthr” page and under “contacts” simply e-mail “engineering”. E-mails are always answered promptly, and you may share the answer with the forum."

Thanks to Bubba Jr. for passing this info on , and a big thanks to Al Grossniklaus of WTHR for the original.

Does anyone have the listing or can explain the digital channels that are broadcast via QAM at Brighthouse?

I plugged my new kitchen TV into the wall and I am able to pick up the digital network channels listed below.

704 - WTTV (CW)
706 - WRTV (ABC)
708 - WISH (CBS)
711 - WXIN (FOX) - BTW, why isn't this 759 to stay with the numbering scheme?
713 - WTHR (NBC)
720 - WFYI (PBS)

Then I get a lot of different digital channels in the 100 range? What are these? Does anyone have a listing?

Does anyone have the listing or can explain the digital channels that are broadcast via QAM at Brighthouse?

I plugged my new kitchen TV into the wall and I am able to pick up the digital network channels listed below.

704 - WTTV (CW)
706 - WRTV (ABC)
708 - WISH (CBS)
711 - WXIN (FOX) - BTW, why isn't this 759 to stay with the numbering scheme?
713 - WTHR (NBC)
720 - WFYI (PBS)

Then I get a lot of different digital channels in the 100 range? What are these? Does anyone have a listing?


From their website, here's the channel lineup for Carmel....
http://indiana.mybrighthouse.com/products_and_pricing/digital_cable/programming/channel_lineups/carmel.aspx

Double check your channel number for WFYI. It should be on 710, as HBO is on channel 720. I assume WXIN is on 711 because the analog channel is on channel 11 with a number of cable companies in the area. Also, the QAM channels are clustered in the 700-715 range. The premium channels start at channel 720.

Steve

Anyone doing any QAM testing?

Sorry, forgot to come back here. I think it was a problem with the TV (Samsung LN-T4065). I scanned, only 1 or 2 channels. Flashed / upgraded the firmware. Scanned again and I got all the channels I originally had. Maybe the new firmware is better at dealing with whatever signal Comcast is feeding us?

I haven't watched too much WTHR this week, but I can't recall any more breakups. I'll try to pay attention on Friday.

Hi guys!

I'm debating what height antenna tower to install. I live in Batesville and want to pick up Cincy (no problem), Indy (to watch the Colts games) and, as a bonus, Louisville and Dayton.

The gentleman at the local Radio Shack said he pointed his 50ft tower at the store towards Indy and could only get 6, 13 (spotty) & one or two other channels (53 & 43?) Not 59.

Sounds like people in Greensburg and Columbus can get most/all of the Indy channels, w/ some problems w/ WISH. It's hard to justify spending $750-$900 installing a 30-40ft antenna to begin with, esp. if I can't get all the networks from Indy.

I got a used antenna/amp and mounted it on my deck, just to see my chances for HD reception. Cincy/Dayton was great, but since my house is in between my deck and Indy, I didn't bother turning it around.

I was considering an CM 4228, especially since it appears to have good sensitivity to some VHF channels. Any other suggestions re: tower height or antennas/equipment would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Ed

I'll be in the city this weekend. Can anyone recommend a retailer who carries Channel Master? I'm looking for the CM7777 preamp.

I'll be in the city this weekend. Can anyone recommend a retailer who carries Channel Master? I'm looking for the CM7777 preamp.
You'd be better off ordering from www.Solidsignal.com.

We detected an occasional slight discontinuity in our DTV bitstream last Thursday evening. After some troubleshooting we narrowed the problem down to the DTV encoder’s precision frequency reference oscillator so on Friday we replaced the encoder’s master reference board and also reconfigured the new board to use our GPS locked master precision reference. This produced a 100% solidly locked correct DTV stream on our over the air bitstream analyzer as well as completely stable solid reception on our various OTA HD monitor receivers which are under constant observation in MC. However – we do monitor the forums – and noted that several posters appeared to still be experiencing some occasional slight random HD video pixelization as of Saturday. So after what further testing we could do with the encoder on air, we determined that there may be some small residual problem in the encoder frame multilayer mainplane, so ordered a replacement frame which the mfr could not get here until Wednesday. The frame arrived today and we will take the encoder (and therefore DTV) off the air for 30 - 45 minutes to move all cards and connectors to the new frame and swap the old out with the new.

Al Grossniklaus
Director of Engineering & Operations
WTHR

BTW: We do monitor the various Forums. Anytime that anyone or the group has a technical question or comment about our DTV signal - rather than wondering, you are welcome to e-mail me directly from the wthr.com website – just go to the “about wthr” page and under “contacts” simply e-mail “engineering”. E-mails are always answered promptly, and you may share the answer with the forum."[/QUOTE]

Are you monitoring the digital audio feed as closely? This has been a constant source of frustration with audio dropouts, center channel dropouts during commercials, and incorrect channel levels. How will the above replacements effect these. This morning the Today Show was experiencing a horrible audio dropout problem so the above fix, if done, did not correct this.

I'll be in the city this weekend. Can anyone recommend a retailer who carries Channel Master? I'm looking for the CM7777 preamp.

As far as I know, the only retailer in Indy that stocks that model is King Electronics, 1711 Southeastern Ave., 317-639-1484, and I believe they close early on Saturday.

Steve

Hi guys!

I'm debating what height antenna tower to install. I live in Batesville and want to pick up Cincy (no problem), Indy (to watch the Colts games) and, as a bonus, Louisville and Dayton.

The gentleman at the local Radio Shack said he pointed his 50ft tower at the store towards Indy and could only get 6, 13 (spotty) & one or two other channels (53 & 43?) Not 59.

Sounds like people in Greensburg and Columbus can get most/all of the Indy channels, w/ some problems w/ WISH. It's hard to justify spending $750-$900 installing a 30-40ft antenna to begin with, esp. if I can't get all the networks from Indy.

I got a used antenna/amp and mounted it on my deck, just to see my chances for HD reception. Cincy/Dayton was great, but since my house is in between my deck and Indy, I didn't bother turning it around.

I was considering an CM 4228, especially since it appears to have good sensitivity to some VHF channels. Any other suggestions re: tower height or antennas/equipment would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Ed

You should chat with MAX HD (Greg) in Greensburg. Here's his website
http://community-2.webtv.net/GregBarker/NewTowerAntennas/ I'm sure he'll see this post and chime in soon.

Until the analogs sign off, it's going to be very difficult for you (in Batesville) to receive WISH-DT-9 (8.1) with analog WCPO-9, Cincinnati pounding on the backside of your antenna. To have any luck with this one, you are going to need a VERY directional antenna, or antenna array (stacked).

Also, since you mentioned that you are receiving Dayton stations, keep in mind that WXIN-DT-45 (59.1) is on the same channel as analog WRGT-45, Dayton, which is very powerful with a very high tower http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=TV92182.html.

Good luck and let us know what you decide. Thanks.

Steve

For the past couple of weeks I have been having trouble with the signal on 8-1, 8-2 and 8-3. I have a Dishnetwork 921 PVR that has a single OTA tuner. When I switch to either of the 3 channels the picture reverts to a flickering grayscale with occasional mauve area after 10 to 15 seconds. If I switch to a different OTA channel, normal colors return. I have rescanned channels and realigned the antenna (in northern Bloomington). Anyone else have this problem? It could be that the tuner is going bad, but the distorted coloring only occurs on 8-*s.

Todd;
I have had no major problems with 8-1,8-2, or 8-3 recently, and I also live in the North side of Bloomington. I have three different types of HDTV set top boxes, and none of them show any big problems with channel 8.
I would note that these three digital channels come in on channel 9, and I think they're the only VHF digital signal in Bloomington.
So maybe the VHF side of your antenna is not good.
Hope it's not the tuner.
Nat Hill IV

Are you monitoring the digital audio feed as closely? This has been a constant source of frustration with audio dropouts, center channel dropouts during commercials, and incorrect channel levels. How will the above replacements effect these. This morning the Today Show was experiencing a horrible audio dropout problem so the above fix, if done, did not correct this.

Al G. had this response to your question:

Our recent encoder work only involved changing the old encoder frame out for a new frame, the cards and connectors were moved from the old frame to the new which had no individual effect on the audio. This corrected a small problem in the frame’s midplane that had affected the reference clock and the ATSC stream is 100% correct on the stream analyzer. I don’t know what your audio setup is, we do indeed closely monitor our broadcast DTV audio on a reference AC3 decoder and audioscope, as well as various brands of OTA receivers and surround decoders and are having no DTV audio problems as you describe. If you’ll e-mail me directly via the WTHR website as I asked previously, I’ll be happy to discuss and help resolve any individual reception/display/audio problems.



Al Grossniklaus

Director of Engineering & Operations

WTHR

I noticed a second or two complete signal loss (audio and video) at the start of Las Vegas on WTHR tonight. Then another couple of those weird pixelation video breakups through out the show. Comcast / Insight QAM in Fishers.

BTW, anyone know what the Comcast QAM channels are in Muncie? We got mom a 32" Vizio for the bedroom last weekend. Comcast wanted $15 (!) a month for a box to go with the CableCard in the family room, so she's just running the cable straight to the TV. She gets things on odd channels like 100-3 and 72-1 (just making those up, not sure of the exact channels). Can't find an actual channel list of which networks are where. My Insight service has things on channels that make sense.. 6-1, 8-1, 13-1, etc.

edit: Forgot about the channel list on silicondust.com. The ones they list sound vaguely like what she was seeing. She was seeing some up in the 100 and 101 range, and some down closer to the high 60's, low 70's. I'll have to check with her this weekend and go through their list.

Thanks for the info, Nat. I'll look into the VHF antenna some more. I really think the tuner may be going, but the problems seem to have started around the 8-* upgrades.

Are others experiencing issues with Ch. 13 WTHR this evening? I switched over to their newscast at 6pm and quickly lost the signal. Since then, there have been brief episodes where the signal strength was enough to produce a picture (some of the time block/pixellated). Most of the time, however, the signal strength is so low there is no picture available.

On my Dish 722 receiver I typically get a 73-75 signal strength for WTHR (80+ for WTTV, 90+ for WRTV, 75-77 for WISH, and 99-100 for WXIN, for comparative purposes). Currently, during the brief instances a signal is received from WTHR, it is down in the upper 50s-lower 60s before being lost.

I haven't touched a thing on my setup... what is going on at Channel 13? I hope I am not alone in experiencing such a loss of signal strength?

I'm getting about 75 on a Dish 622 tonight. Usually I get low 80s.

It's been going on for the last several days. I have two sets on two independent antennas and they are both doing it.

Actually there is only 1.0 db difference between these two stations which makes virtually no difference between their coverage areas (compare http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DS996033.html and http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DS626774.html). This difference is well within the a.g.c. slop of any dtv receiver, so maybe you shouldn't conclude that the explanation for occasionally getting WTWO and never getting WFXW is the differential in power. Also, the two channels are only 12 MHz apart so its not a spectrum issue and the two transmitting antennas differ by only 8-meters in height. I would expect a nice UHF Yagi like the BTY-10-U (for Band D) to receive them both quite nicely (http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display_print.asp?PROD=SS4873). Be sure to mount high and clear and aim directly toward the tower location.

OK,George,it seems a lot of people have trouble getting WFXW on 39.Could their much higher signal level on 38 cause problems,specifically the audio carrier? I have picked the signal up from here,but it seems the analog on 38 overwhelms the DT on 39.Is this possible?

Hi guys!

I'm debating what height antenna tower to install. I live in Batesville and want to pick up Cincy (no problem), Indy (to watch the Colts games) and, as a bonus, Louisville and Dayton.

The gentleman at the local Radio Shack said he pointed his 50ft tower at the store towards Indy and could only get 6, 13 (spotty) & one or two other channels (53 & 43?) Not 59.

Sounds like people in Greensburg and Columbus can get most/all of the Indy channels, w/ some problems w/ WISH. It's hard to justify spending $750-$900 installing a 30-40ft antenna to begin with, esp. if I can't get all the networks from Indy.

I got a used antenna/amp and mounted it on my deck, just to see my chances for HD reception. Cincy/Dayton was great, but since my house is in between my deck and Indy, I didn't bother turning it around.

I was considering an CM 4228, especially since it appears to have good sensitivity to some VHF channels. Any other suggestions re: tower height or antennas/equipment would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Ed

Almost missed this post.Seems they fly by and I miss a few...thanks Steve!

Ok Ed,you're in a challenging situation for Digitals as Steve pointed out,with all the co-channel inteference going on,but after the transition there's a good possibility you can pick up several adjacent markets with a really good install.I would suggest going to the tvfool.com site and put in your address or exact coordinates and play around with different antenna heights.With a good high-gain setup,most stations showing -115db or better can be mostly reliable.

Greg B

I would like to thank WTHR for showing this afternoons NHL Boston V NY game in HD and not a rerun of Doctor Phil...

Keep the HD sports action coming!

WISH TV 8-1 signal is jumpig fro 0 to 27 to 66, never higher than 70%. My DTV HR20 wont' pull it in. All of the oter stations with transmitters in that area show better than 90% signal strength on a regular basis. I wonder if anyone else is having a problem. I am located in Avon.

Ken

WISH TV 8-1 signal is jumpig fro 0 to 27 to 66, never higher than 70%. My DTV HR20 wont' pull it in. All of the oter stations with transmitters in that area show better than 90% signal strength on a regular basis. I wonder if anyone else is having a problem. I am located in Avon.

Ken

No problems with my HR-20 pulling in the signal. I am in the Greenwood area. Still have the annoying loss of audio for a second or two every 5 minutes or so though.

WISH TV 8-1 signal is jumpig fro 0 to 27 to 66, never higher than 70%...I am located in Avon.
I'm just north of you in Brownsburg which puts me a bit closer to the transmitters than you. With the receiver in a Sony 40S3000 and a small VHF-UHF antenna in the attic of a one-story house, I'm getting 8.1 OTA direct with signal strength ranging from 93-98%. No noticable audio problems.

No problems with my HR-20 pulling in the signal. I am in the Greenwood area. Still have the annoying loss of audio for a second or two every 5 minutes or so though.

Getting the same audio drops &video pauses on Insight / Comcast via QAM cable for the NE / SD game.

Getting the same audio drops &video pauses on Insight / Comcast via QAM cable for the NE / SD game.

glad I checked here: about called att about the drops on uverse on the west side

Getting the same audio drops &video pauses on Insight / Comcast via QAM cable for the NE / SD game.

Same here OTA (for weeks actually).

Getting the same audio drops &video pauses on Insight / Comcast via QAM cable for the NE / SD game.

In the second half of the Chargers @ Patriots (*caught cheating - per New York Post....) game, I noticed audio drops and video pauses at 5:35 p.m. and 5:46 p.m. via Bright House and OTA.

Steve

Ahh, and now WXIN 59-1 is completely blank on Insight QAM. TV just shows "Weak or No Signal" Also noticed the CW channel is blank, 29-1.

Unplugged the tv & cable, plugged it back in, stations are back. Shrug.

Lots of audio loss with WISH-DT lately (OTA). No video problems. Audio will sometimes cut out for a moment before a commercial comes on or just randomly. I am on the west side... Avon area

OK,George,it seems a lot of people have trouble getting WFXW on 39.Could their much higher signal level on 38 cause problems,specifically the audio carrier? I have picked the signal up from here,but it seems the analog on 38 overwhelms the DT on 39.Is this possible?


Looks like WFXW may have boosted the power output yesterday for the NFC Championship. I was able to tune in WFXW-DT on 39.3 with no problem at all.

Fingers crossed for the SB

Looks like WFXW may have boosted the power output yesterday for the NFC Championship. I was able to tune in WFXW-DT on 39.3 with no problem at all.

Fingers crossed for the SB

I never even tried it yesterday. Was it in HD or still sd?

We sent a piece of equipment back to the manufacturer a couple of weeks ago, and they've been much slower than we anticipated at getting it turned around. It is, however, very old (for the DTV world), and it may or may not be able to be resurrrected. We think this is the root of the (mostly) audio problems that people are experiencing now. Manufacturer has said that we will have -something- back by the end of this week. Either a repaired unit, or a loaner.

This would not apply to BrightHouse customers, as the piece of equipment in question comes after they pick up our HD signal at the studio.

Tom Weber
WISH / WNDY Engineering

I never even tried it yesterday. Was it in HD or still sd?


Still in SD, TV said 480i.

But signs are pointing to the SB in HD. I've been able to tune the WFXW-DT, during big events on Fox (Playoff Football, American Idol, etc...) then the signal drops off right after the program.

On a side note, 2 weeks ago, I swapped out my Coax with an older piece of cable I had lying in the basement, with a larger fitting. And have not lost the signal of WTWO-DT (2.1) since.

Tom,

I apologize if you've already answered this previously on this thread, but I wanted to ask a question about the audio on WISH. I have Insight (now Comcast) cable in West Lafayette, and I've noticed that every Sunday during football, there are audio dropouts pretty constantly throughout the afternoon where the sound will just go away for maybe 5 seconds at a time. Seems that it never fails to do this during NFL broadcasts, and I can remember this problem happening all the way back to last year's Super Bowl. It may happen other times as well, but I don't notice them as much as I do during football.

I know other people here in town who mention the same problem and was wondering if you might be able to provide an answer to this? We all have high-quality stereo equipment and HD through our cable hookups. Is this an issue with our cable company, or with the signal coming from WISH or some other issue? Is there anything we can do ourselves to remedy this issue?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Tom,

I apologize if you've already answered this previously on this thread, but I wanted to ask a question about the audio on WISH. I have Insight (now Comcast) cable in West Lafayette, and I've noticed that every Sunday during football, there are audio dropouts pretty constantly throughout the afternoon where the sound will just go away for maybe 5 seconds at a time. Seems that it never fails to do this during NFL broadcasts, and I can remember this problem happening all the way back to last year's Super Bowl. It may happen other times as well, but I don't notice them as much as I do during football.

I know other people here in town who mention the same problem and was wondering if you might be able to provide an answer to this? We all have high-quality stereo equipment and HD through our cable hookups. Is this an issue with our cable company, or with the signal coming from WISH or some other issue? Is there anything we can do ourselves to remedy this issue?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Read post 4496. Two above yours. As always Tom Weber comes through.

Still in SD, TV said 480i.

But signs are pointing to the SB in HD. I've been able to tune the WFXW-DT, during big events on Fox (Playoff Football, American Idol, etc...) then the signal drops off right after the program.

On a side note, 2 weeks ago, I swapped out my Coax with an older piece of cable I had lying in the basement, with a larger fitting. And have not lost the signal of WTWO-DT (2.1) since.
I ended up getting the amplifier for the square shooter and have been able to get wtwo almost all the time (rarely received it before) but still can't get wfxw. I didn't try it during the game yesterday though. I also have basic cable thru TW and a QAM antenna on my upstairs tv - so as long as the signal is passed unencrypted I should get the Super Bowl either way.