Oh.. it happens.. not at WOLO, of course..! ;)

My feeling is if you don't want it broadcast, don't make it one-button away from air.... :rolleyes:

hehehe ;)

Well, I've wrote Billy at WPDE quite a few times in the past, about different things including 5.1. Most of the time he would forward the email to the engineer Mark. Anyway, I stop asking about the 5.1 becaues of so many different answers!

I heard they were having problems with the decoder and should have it back within a week. Then another time that it as was stuck in customs coming back for repair. I'm not sure of the others, but I just stop asking anyway. The last time Billy wrote but Mark didn't, lol. But they did always repond though.

So, I actually believe what I read in this forum today, that they don't have it at all, and never did. Yeah, that one I'll believe.

Well, I've wrote Billy at WPDE quite a few times in the past, about different things including 5.1. Most of the time he would forward the email to the engineer Mark. Anyway, I stop asking about the 5.1 becaues of so many different answers!

I heard they were having problems with the decoder and should have it back within a week. Then another time that it as was stuck in customs coming back for repair. I'm not sure of the others, but I just stop asking anyway. The last time Billy wrote but Mark didn't, lol. But they did always repond though.

So, I actually believe what I read in this forum today, that they don't have it at all, and never did. Yeah, that one I'll believe.
Hehe, Maybe it's due to ABC possibly considering equipment that can do DDPlus (or maybe DTS, YEAH RIGHT!). :) Looks like no DD5.1 for WWMB-DT either for the time being, but it's to soon to tell. Well, for now I'm just happy I'll have reception of My fav CW shows in HD (and He$$ no "America's Top Model" ain't one of them, UGH!). :)

BTW, did Ashton Kusters WB show "Beauty and the Geek" get picked of by The CW? That was a funny show.

Who do we need to talk to, to get wPDE to hit the switch so we can get college football in HD?? I called the station last week during Ohio State vs. Texas game and got nowhere now I come home from work and they say enjoy Louisville vs Miami in HD, well guess what WPDE doesn't hit the switch yet again who do we need to contact about this and is there anyone on Time Warners end that can put pressure on them to broadcast HD material when it should be?

This is very frustrating!!

HEY! No idea how long this will last but right now WWMB 20.2 has a sweet SMPTE test pattern up in HD like I've never seen before. It's not the patterns in that ABC demo loop. Go adjust your tv! Has a Below Black bar and a bouncing box in the green color bar too.

GGunner, sorry no idea.

Now it's a alternating black/grey window.

Now back to SMPTE.

tomorrow

Diana,
Sorry to bug you again but I' was just checking to make sure that the program guide update has been delayed. Or is my box messed up.....

Also can someone explain what this station will be...........I'm assuming this is not the new CW channel

Not sure why the delay, but I can guess (and if I'm right I apologize). All updates for The CW and My Network TV should be in the guide for all SC Division with download overnight Sunday / Monday

My Network TV is not The CW - its a new FOX vehicle http://www.mynetworktv.com/

WMBF-TV 32 out of Florence/Myrtle Beach area. Suppose to be an NBC affiliate. Anybody heard of/about it yet?

Here (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?state=SC&call=WMBF&arn=&city=MYRTLE+BEACH&chan=&cha2=69&serv=&type=0&facid=&list=2&dist=&dlat2=&mlat2=&slat2=&dlon2=&mlon2=&slon2=&size=9) and Here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NBC_affiliates) (scroll down to SC list).

It is under construction.
http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t28047.html
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=WMBF

quoted from the article ... "Raycom (owners of WIS-TV 10, Columbia's NBC affiliate AND WECT-TV 6 Wilmington's NBC affiliate) are starting up a NBC station for Myrtle Beach/Florence, a market that currently is without an NBC affiliate."

I personally like WIS and enjoy the variety of the news from the state capital.

It is under construction.
http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t28047.html
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=WMBF

quoted from the article ... "Raycom (owners of WIS-TV 10, Columbia's NBC affiliate AND WECT-TV 6 Wilmington's NBC affiliate) are starting up a NBC station for Myrtle Beach/Florence, a market that currently is without an NBC affiliate."

I personally like WIS and enjoy the variety of the news from the state capital.
Cool. Wonder how many years it will take before they start broadcasting? I say minimum of 5 years. lol :)

So what happen to WWMB's HD signal. They were testing a HD signal all weekend but something must have went wrong because Monday their remapping changed from 20.1SD CW21 and 20.2HD (HD Demo loop) to 20.4 SD CW21 and 20.5 SD CWPlus. Hopefully they'll get it straight by this coming Monday. I wrote Mr. Huggins yesterday but haven't gotta a reply yet.

Has anybody gotten any signal from WWMB-DT 21's digital channel since thursday night?

No, I haven't seen it either.

Just got an e-mail from Billy Huggins. WWMB-DT's high boltage line for the transmitter shorted out and had to be completely rewired. He said they should be back on-air tonight.

Background - while there are DVRs with the model number 8000 and 8300 on the front of all DVRs, some of the 8000's are actually 8010's. You can't tell by looking at them if you have an 8010 - only by looking them up in the DNCS.

Last week we added a software patch to the 8010s to alleviate a black screen SDV bug. We were not told by SA the features of version 1.4.3 were in this patch (1.88) - so when some of you started talking about upgraded features, I started asking questions and found this out. Tonight this upgrade will be applied to all remaining DVRs.

Here is the full extent of the features involved:
1. Firewire Port (IEEE 1394) is active on all model 8300 HD units. Previously only 8300 HD Units manufactured after July 18, 2005 had this port active.

2. Between 1:00 am and 6:00am, the DVR hard drive will power down if no remote control activity is conducted for 2 hours. Previously the entire DVR unit would power-down.

3. Customers who wish to view a program currently being recorded will have the option to “Play from beginning”. Previously they had to rewind back to the start of the show if they wanted to perform this function.

4. A fourth, Fast-Forward and Rewind speed has been added.

5. The “Live” button is now active to take a viewer from a recording playback directly into Live TV. Previously customers had to channel off to quickly achieve this result.

6. Auxiliary inputs are now active for camcorder, VCR or gaming systems.


No mention in the documentation about the kick to live feed at the end of a 'recording show' so I don't think you got that one. Hope you enjoy what is included. Your equipment will receive a forced reboot during the maintenance window to achieve the download.

Not so good news. Looks like even if WWMB-DT gets back on the air tonight there won't be any HD pass thru from CW. Mr. Huggins says that even though they have purchased the receiver and encoder and have them installed, they still need one switch to pass through the HD from CW. He didn't mention when they were expection to have it. :(

Not so good news. Looks like even if WWMB-DT gets back on the air tonight there won't be any HD pass thru from CW. Mr. Huggins says that even though they have purchased the receiver and encoder and have them installed, they still need one switch to pass through the HD from CW. He didn't mention when they were expection to have it. :(

If the "switch" is as hard for them to get as equipment from 5.1 audio, then we might be still wondering about it a year from now. Thats not even mentioning the video stutter 15.1 has, that WPDE saids they don't have. :rolleyes:

Hey there - headed to a conference and won't be back in the loop until Friday morning.

Call CS if you have any issues 866-892-7201

Diana, pass along the thanks for the upgrades.
All are nice but these are the most appreciated. Am so glad to see those!

"Customers who wish to view a program currently being recorded will have the option to “Play from beginning”. Previously they had to rewind back to the start of the show if they wanted to perform this function.

A fourth, Fast-Forward and Rewind speed has been added."

Is anybody experiencing incorrect aspect ratio on WWMB-DT's 20.1 with the local network programming image looking sqooshed horizontally with the sidebars being too wide? All the other HD channels I get (even WPDE-DT 16.1) look normal during their local 4x3 broadcast. I'm using my Sharp LC-26D7U LCD's built-in ATSC tuner. My tv locks in full mode with a HD 720p/1080i signal.

I wrote Mr. Billy Huggins V.P/GM of WPDE/WWMB and told him the aspect ratio was not right but he said they have three different models (receivers/tv's?) and the picture is perfect on all three in the 4X3 ratio as they are not stretching the picture.

If your image on WWMB-DT 20.1 looks incorrect on 4x3 material could you post saying so and list your tv/receivers model please.

I looked at that tonight since you brought it up, and yeah, the picture is some wider than other HD channels showing 4:3.

Its not a lot, but you are right about it being not quite right. I used a Sharp 720P front projector while looking at it. That shouldn't even be a topic though, since it should be HD!

It's not going to bother me any, I only watch Smallville on CW, and since its letterbox, I use the VP30 scaler to pretty much make the ratio look correct on a 16:9 screen.

At least its much clearer than the Directv local SD feed, but it don't take much to be better than that mess.

I'm not trying to put anyone down, but based on my conversations with WPDE in the pass, regarding different subjects, especially the ABC video stutter they broadcast, you're not going to get anywhere with them.

Its not like they don't appear to listen or "say" they are doing something about a problem, since they do act like they want too. But in the end nothng changes and they then say its looks fine at the station.

Thx Larry J, just wanted to confirm it wasn't my tv. BTW, how the heck do you get WWMB in Charlotte?

how the heck do you get WWMB in Charlotte?

I get all the Columbia and MB locals in Charlotte... :D

LOL, well either ya'll have direct fiber links or 200' antenna poles. :)

WWMB is "squeezed" on my 2 boxes, so add me to the list.

Zenith hdv420 and samsung sir-t351.

Normally the zenith box will let me change the aspect ratio, but not on this channel, so maybe they've set some kind of other setting wrong too ?

Thx for the confirmation Nottacky. If I still had a digital camera I'd take a piction of both WWMB 20.1 and WPDE 16.1 and send to Mr. Huggins to show him but unfortunately it's broke.

He thinks my tv is doing it and I'm trying to convince him it's not just my tv. If everybody could send him just one e-mail mentioning you see the squeezed 4x3 image on 20.1 and the image studder on 16.1 and the receiver/tv used I think we can convice him to look into this further. Just one e-mail from multiple viewers should be sufficient to convince him there really is a problem.

Mr. Hilly Huggins - wlhuggins@wpde.com

Well, tell them to send it HD like they're suppose to be doing, and its a non issue. Heck, maybe they'll even find a switch somewhere...

But sure, I'll send another email, but Billy and Mark both have been given links to this forum, especially about the video stutter. Honestly, I don't think they have a clue about the stutter problem, but I would hope being a engineer that Mark can at less see it. But they've yet to admit it.

It's not as bad on cable, but its still there, just have to look for it. I checked it out on a SA8300 when I had a chance, just being curious.

Much Appreciated Larry J. I just sent the below in an e-mail. We can hope it helps if he realizes more than one persons experiencing this. :)
Hi Mr Huggins,

I can't understand what's happening to cause 20-1's 4X3 image to look squeezed with wider than normal sidebars. :) I've owned two HD-ready tv's and 3 HD settop boxes over the past 7 years. I currently own a Sharp LCD HDTV with built-in ATSC/QAM/NTSC tuners/receivers (my first integrated HDTV which I bought in the fall 2005) so I don't use a settop box anymore. When my tv receives a 720p or 1080i HD signal it locks into the full widescreen screen mode with no sidebars except only the sidebars the local station inserts with their 4x3 broadcast to fill in the 16x9 area, which I can't alter. The stretch/zoom modes aren't available unless the signal is a SD 480i/p signal. Below are the HD channels I'm able to pick up most of the time.

Out of Wilmington
=================
WWAY-DT 3-1 HD ABC
WECT-DT 6-1 HD NBC
WSFX-DT 26-1 HD FOX
PBS NC-DT 39-2 HD

Out of Raleigh/Durham/Fayettevillle
=========================
WRAL-DT 5-1 HD CBS
WRAZ-DT 50-1 HD FOX
WNCN-DT 17-1 HD NBC
WTVD-DT 11-1 HD ABC
WLFL-DT 22-1 HD CW

Out of Lumberton
================
WUNU-DT HD 31-2 UNC PBS

Out of Florence/Myrtle Beach
=============================
WBTW-DT 13-1 HD CBS
WPDE-DT 16-1 HD ABC
PBS ETV SC-DT HD 23-3
WWMB-DT 20-1 HD CW

WWMB-DT 20-1 is the only channel that the 4x3 material looks squeezed on with the black bars being wider than all others. Even WPDE-DT 16-1 looks normal. So if it's my tv causing WWMB-DT 20-1's 4x3 material to look squeezed I have no explanation as to why and no way to adjust it. I can only hope once you start passing the HD feed from CW that the aspect ration will look normal like it did the other weekend when you were testing 20-1 using the ABC HD Demo Loop.

I've also noticed a studder/jitter like effect on 16-1 that happens randomly for a second or two. It's kinda like if I were watching something on a projector back when I was in elementary school and the film would slip occasionally on the projector reel if that makes any sense. Never seen this on any other channels. Several others on the forum notice both these effects on 16-1 and 20-1 aswell. Not complaining or anything of the sort. Just trying to be helpful by mentioning what your viewers are seeing. Hope you have a great day. :)

IM trying to get my HR10250 to pick up WWMB20.1 It can tune on one box but not the other.

I have my DMAS set for Wilmington Primary and Florence,MB Secondary

The box that is picking it up has Wilmington Primary and Raleigh,Durham Secondary.


Im going to try to delete the channels. I have been picking up CW around 8:30 to 11 in the evenings.

Looks like they tinkered with the width of WWMB-DT 20.1's sidebars. But they went a little to far. :) Now their a little too narrow but it still looks better.

Did anyone get Billy to say when they are expecting this "switch", so they can pass HD on 20.1 ? I did ask that in the email that Daryl wanted sent about the sidebars, but this time they didn't answer. Of course I had put in about the stutter on 15.1 and 5.1 audio, so maybe they are tired of hearing about it, lol.

I asked in two seperate e-mails with a couple other questions/comments. First e-mail got no reply, second e-mail he avoided the switch question.

Well, I'm not sure what that means, since he didn't answer me at all and avoided it with you. I would say it means not anytime soon, but why put most of the equipment in and then not use it.

Course, trying to make sense out of what local stations do is basically a waste of time I think.

I think WPDE gave WWMB their audio equipment because I haven't had any problem with audio on 15.1 the last couple of nights but 20.1 has been giving me stutter problems

I got lucky lastnight. WLFL-DT CW22 from Raleigh locked in steady for me just at 9pm so I got to watch Supernatural in HD atleast. My reception of the Raleigh and Wilmington stations have been terrible the past two weeks except from WSFX-DT FOX26 leaving me with pretty much only the Florence/Myrtle Beach stations as digital OTA option. That kinda sux. If WWMB would get the HD passing thru from CW I wouldn't care about getting the Raleigh and Wilmington stations.

Hi guys - I have some news.

I have accepted a promotion to our Corporate office in Stamford, CT. I will be the Director of Product Development for Video. I start up there Nov 1.

Over the next 3 weeks I'll be finishing up things here - as I begin to learn about my new job responsibilities... which include Mystro Digital Navigator, SDV, Digital Simulcast, HD (but not specific programming deals), video packaging and other cross-functional initiatives like Caller ID on TV.

Over the years I have discovered you are a very valuable source of information and I believe if the company wants to succeed we need to listen to what you want. As such, I have started a new thread. I hope you will be so kind as to share your opinions with me here

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=733414


I want you to know that I am sad to leave you... well, most of you ;)

And now - headed on a 3 day vacation in Asheville. If you have any issues please call CS at 866-892-7201

Good luck with the promotion and have a great vacation Diana. You've been a great help around here. :)

Does anybody else out there use an H20 receiver from DTV to pull in OTA channels? I just upgraded from an H10 and now I'm getting zero sound on 16.1 and 20.1. Wondered if it was just me.

Does anybody else out there use an H20 receiver from DTV to pull in OTA channels? I just upgraded from an H10 and now I'm getting zero sound on 16.1 and 20.1. Wondered if it was just me.
Sorry, I wasn't watching either lastnight but right now both have sound.

For anyone interested, I got an email back from Billy Huggins at WPDE today and he said that they are working on the HD passthrough for WWMB 20.1 and should have the switch installed this week. He also said that they were installing new audio encoders. I sent him a link to this forum to get any feedback from you guys. Maybe he'll stop by and give us a heads up on things.

bhambandit,

Thx for the update. Much Appreciated. Let's hope all goes well.

For anyone interested, I got an email back from Billy Huggins at WPDE today and he said that they are working on the HD passthrough for WWMB 20.1 and should have the switch installed this week.
It would be awesome if they had it ready by primetime thursday. :D

Does anyone know when Fox is going to go full power?

I think Bob said the 1st quarter of 2007 at the earliest.

Im getting CW this evening at about 28% out of Wilmington, NC

Appears to be audio issues though. *As in no audio* on my MYHD card.

All other stations are fine including your CBS affiliate in 5.1DD

I might try to schedule some recordings this week.

Anyone else having audio issues with 20.1

Im getting CW this evening at about 28% out of Wilmington, NC

Appears to be audio issues though. *As in no audio* on my MYHD card.

All other stations are fine including your CBS affiliate in 5.1DD

I might try to schedule some recordings this week.

Anyone else having audio issues with 20.1
I watched Star Trek on 20.1 yesterday at 7pm and it had audio then and currently has audio right now. BTW their audio on 20.1 CW21 is still mono but 20.2 CWPlus is stereo.

Im not getting anything this afternoon. Have to wait till the evening.

Im not getting anything this afternoon. Have to wait till the evening.
Okay. ;)

What happened to channel 805, NBC WIS the hd channel to be exact. Around 7:30pm tonight I was watching Football in America in HD on 805 I changed the channel and tried to flashback nothing happened. I typed in 805 into remote it goes to the radar channel on 806. Then I pull up my guide and the channel is gone completely. Did you lose your contract with WIS or what????? Very weird I have never seen anything like it.

Okay now it works again 8:45pm sunday

I keep reading about people receiving WWMB CW 20.1. Well, while I only checked it at random times, I haven't been able to get anything but a blank screen for awhile now. I can get 20.2 and its 4:3 picture inside the 16:9 bars, like HD channels do when showing 4:3.

I tried tonight (sunday) around 9:30pm and its the same. So, are you all saying that 20.1 and 20.2 is on? If so then I must have really strange problem. I don't get a message saying weak signal or anything, just a blank screen. I've never get any guide info since they left 21.1. The guide is still on 21.1.

That could be a directv thing maybe since its a Directivo that I'm using to receive OTA with.

I keep reading about people receiving WWMB CW 20.1. Well, while I only checked it at random times, I haven't been able to get anything but a blank screen for awhile now. I can get 20.2 and its 4:3 picture inside the 16:9 bars, like HD channels do when showing 4:3.

I tried tonight (sunday) around 9:30pm and its the same. So, are you all saying that 20.1 and 20.2 is on? If so then I must have really strange problem. I don't get a message saying weak signal or anything, just a blank screen. I've never get any guide info since they left 21.1. The guide is still on 21.1.

That could be a directv thing maybe since its a Directivo that I'm using to receive OTA with.
I had a problem a couple times were 20.1HD CW21 would change to 20.2 and 20.2SD CWPlus would change to 20.4 leaving 20.1 blank and a blank 20.3 showed up but a rescan both times corrected it. So I think doing a rescan should fix it for you.

Anybody notice WPDE 16.1 is only SD today and not HD?

Okay now it works again 8:45pm sunday

805 disappeared completely last night from guide after a couple of days of two listings with one or both "off the air".

Called TWC and reboot fixed the problem. The guy said there were many calls the last few days.

Are we ever going to get ESPN2 or any other channels in HD? Also, not that I ever watch it, but whatever happened to channel 14, WB? No more on any of our sets.

HD is great but these local channels need to get their act together. Too many screw ups especially on weekends.

Also, not that I ever watch it, but whatever happened to channel 14, WB? No more on any of our sets.

HD is great but these local channels need to get their act together. Too many screw ups especially on weekends.
I could be wrong but I don't think there was a local WB network affiliate for the MB area. So cable offered WB100 (a cable only WB channel for areas without a local WB affiliate which is now CWPlus) but since WB was discontinued and since WWMB 21 is now CW they probably turned cable channel 14 off since they carry WWMB 21 CW on cable (saving bandwidth).

I could be wrong but I don't think there was a local WB network affiliate for the MB area. So cable offered WB100 (a cable only WB channel for areas without a local WB affiliate which is now CWPlus) but since WB was discontinued and since WWMB 21 is now CW they probably turned cable channel 14 off since they carry WWMB 21 CW on cable (saving bandwidth).

Pretty close Daryl.

The CW is a franchise that was purchased by WWMB. Analog bandwidth has to be negotiated with them as would be expected with any new broadcaster that sprung up.

FYI Media General bought many, many CW and My Network TV licenses around the country. In Charleston and Hilton Head, we are negotiating for The CW in the same manner.

Pretty close Daryl.

The CW is a franchise that was purchased by WWMB. Analog bandwidth has to be negotiated with them as would be expected with any new broadcaster that sprung up.

FYI Media General bought many, many CW and My Network TV licenses around the country. In Charleston and Hilton Head, we are negotiating for The CW in the same manner.
Ahhh, gotcha. Thank You. :) I did notice WWMB is carrying CW21 on digital OTA 20.1 with local programming during non-primetime hours (just like when they were UPN) and they added CWPlus to 20.2 with 24/7 CW programming. :)

BTW, got a e-mail from Mr. Huggins (WWMB/WPDE VP/GM) about 16-1 being SD the past two days and about 20-1 passing HD. He said they have a team in with a spectrum analyzer to locate the source of the problem. They are close to a solution from the report this morning. When they know the solution they will put both up in HD. Here's hoping soon. ;)

I saw bad freezing/pixelating saturday during golf on WPDE 16-1 while I was channel surfing.

You will be greatly missed!!!

It is way too cold for you to move there heheh. Thank you so much for all your help.

Gail

Thanks - hopefully I'll still be helping, but from the big picture perspective.

Spoke with R. Lynah today from Universal HD. Diana very kindly passed an email from me onto him. I have lots of deaf friends in and out my home and it is frustrating that Universal HD is not closed captioned. Mr. Lynah said that Universal HD will be closed captioned in the first quarter 2007. They are also updating lots of their programming.

Also, during the fourth quarter of 2007, USA, SciFi and Bravo are going HD. There is a possibility that all 3 will be HD before then but for sure by the fourth quarter.

Now if I could just get INHD to be as responsive lol.

Gail

Another e-mail from Mr. Billy Huggins of WWMB/WPDE saying their waiting on one audio cable to go HD on 20.1 CW. I noticed late yesterday they got the size of the sidebars set correctly for the local 4x3 programming.

Hey Guys -

I'm traveling in the morning to see the family for a couple of days - if you have an issue, please call 866-892-7201. I hope to be back on line later on Sunday.

Gary J - if you see this, thanks so much for calling me back. We did get it covered, but I appreciate you willingness to assist.

Have a good trip Diana.

Well, WWMB 20.1 finally got the pass through of the HD from CW going lastnight. Now some may complain about "it took long enough" or "it wasn't DD5.1" but I look at it like this.

We didn't have a local WB and cable only WB100 was never going HD. WWMB could have went Independant or worse, went MyNetworkTV. Some areas don't have a CW, some that do aren't HD yet and may not be for awhile. Atleast WWMB did go CW and looked like they just had a couple set backs/delays getting all the equipment delivered to go HD for CW. It may not be DD5.1 but atleast it was stereo (surround). It looked and sounded good.

WLFL CW22 out of Raleigh passes HD & DD5.1 but my reception of them is iffy. May get them, may not. When I do it's not often that I have a lock for the full 8-10pm time period. Plus, even though CW22 does DD5.1, lastnight and last thursday night all of Smallville was stereo only over a 5.1 feed. That means no surround sound or center channel activity or using DPL2(x) unless you used analog audio. Both thursday nights only Supernatural was in 5.1 audio. Some have 2 or 3 sub channels stealing PQ from HD. WWMB only has 1 sub. So we may not have the best, but we don't have the worst either. I'm happy it's finally HD and atleast it's not mono. ;)

Just trying to verify something on the Time Warner System in Myrtle Beach. I just bought a Westinghouse 32" LCD with a clear qam tuner. I was hooked to the old analog-only "Hotel Loop", but just got switched to a newer digital channel line (but alledgedly not to the filber optic system which apparently doesn't run near my house). House is near the Cabana Shores motel just north of the Ocean Forest Condos. Should I be able to watch local HD channels without a cable box? Looking through this thread, I think I should. Yet when I scan for channels, no HD channels are found. The whole point of buying this TV was to avoid having to use a cable box, since this is just a vacation property.

The CSR's at the MB office are friendly & courteous, but when I hear things like "I haven't been trained on tuners." I think they're right: They haven't been trained to give sufficiently accurate answers.

Thanks in advance for any help!

vstone-

We are on the TWC system in Georgetown, so my comments may not apply, but TWC is pretty consistent statewide in their headend configuration...

I would think if you're on the main TWC feed which includes digitals, you'll get any QAM signals that are in the clear (not encrypted). How far upstream you'd have to go to hit the fiber node should not make any difference.

You said your scan was not succesful. I assume you connected a split of the cable feed directly into your TV's ATSC/QAM input. I only mention that because our Pioneer has 2 "antenna" connectors but one feeds an NTSC (analog) only tuner while the 2nd feeds a QAM/ATSC tuner. It also may take a while to finish; our Pioneer takes 35-40 minutes (!) to complete a scan. That's because there are HUNDREDS of digital channels with QAM encoding, but most of them are encrypted which results in a "channel" being noted but it will be blank.

Your set should find most of the DT locals and their subchannels, along with Discovery HD Theater, TNT-HD, and a HD Special events channel (often blank or color bars). The notation may be a bit wierd depending on how well your tuner catches metadata. Our pioneer says WCSC-DT from Charleston is "107.02" or QAM channel 107 subchannel 2, for example, while others show up with the correct TWC name/lineup. TNT for example says "TNT-HD 840" as if you were using the TWC box it would show up as channel 840.

I hope that helps. Others in this thread who are on the MB TWC loop in may have more specific advice for you. You may also have some luck asking TWC CS to escalate your call to someone with more technical knowledge. We have the SA 8300HD box and use that for most viewing, but we also have a split of the cable directly into the set. That way if we are recording 2 shows on the 8300 PVR, we can still watch a third program if it's one in the clear.

Mike

Just trying to verify something on the Time Warner System in Myrtle Beach. I just bought a Westinghouse 32" LCD with a clear qam tuner. I was hooked to the old analog-only "Hotel Loop", but just got switched to a newer digital channel line (but alledgedly not to the filber optic system which apparently doesn't run near my house). House is near the Cabana Shores motel just north of the Ocean Forest Condos. Should I be able to watch local HD channels without a cable box? Looking through this thread, I think I should. Yet when I scan for channels, no HD channels are found. The whole point of buying this TV was to avoid having to use a cable box, since this is just a vacation property.

The CSR's at the MB office are friendly & courteous, but when I hear things like "I haven't been trained on tuners." I think they're right: They haven't been trained to give sufficiently accurate answers.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Hello there - I have a couple of pieces of bad news for you.

First the hotel loop has never been switched to "a newer digital channel line". It is 550 mhz and you will not be able to use your QAM tuner to obtain any digital or HD channels. Residential homes are too few and far between on the Hotel Loop for us to justify the capital expenditure to upgrade that area to Digital (at least to date)

Second, the CSSRs have not been trained on tuners and they will not be trained on tuners, because TWC doesn't support that capability. We support digital and HD channels that customers acquired through our equipment. I will however update their script to remind them of this fact and that the hotel loop will not have access to digital or HD signals no matter how they are acquired.

Thanks Diana, but the house next door has 4 or 5 HDTV's and he's getting HDTV. The tech at my house that talked to him, but never called me at the right number, alledgedly said that our house couldn't be switched to fiber optic, but could be switched to digital. After the techs did whatever they did to switch us to digital the analog channel lineup changed from the hotel loop lineup (which didn't match any of the lineups in the Sun) to that listed at your web site. Additionally the cable line to the house, which was in the air via pole, is now buried, which indicates that they did something. I'll check, including veryfying HDTV reception next door, when I'm back down there next week.

This is not making much sense right now. Please email your address to twcscnews@twcable.com so I can accurately investigate. If you have your neighbors address too that would assist as well.

Have a good trip Diana.

Well, WWMB 20.1 finally got the pass through of the HD from CW going lastnight. Now some may complain about "it took long enough" or "it wasn't DD5.1" but I look at it like this.

We didn't have a local WB and cable only WB100 was never going HD. WWMB could have went Independant or worse, went MyNetworkTV. Some areas don't have a CW, some that do aren't HD yet and may not be for awhile. Atleast WWMB did go CW and looked like they just had a couple set backs/delays getting all the equipment delivered to go HD for CW. It may not be DD5.1 but atleast it was stereo (surround). It looked and sounded good.

WLFL CW22 out of Raleigh passes HD & DD5.1 but my reception of them is iffy. May get them, may not. When I do it's not often that I have a lock for the full 8-10pm time period. Plus, even though CW22 does DD5.1, lastnight and last thursday night all of Smallville was stereo only over a 5.1 feed. That means no surround sound or center channel activity or using DPL2(x) unless you used analog audio. Both thursday nights only Supernatural was in 5.1 audio. Some have 2 or 3 sub channels stealing PQ from HD. WWMB only has 1 sub. So we may not have the best, but we don't have the worst either. I'm happy it's finally HD and atleast it's not mono. ;)

I didn't look at WWMB the night you're talking about, but I did check it the last two nights and didn't see any HD. Actually tonight I didn't see anything on 20.1 on the time I had set it to record, just to see if it was HD. I did see it back on later when I looked live, but it wasn't in HD.

I didn't look at WWMB the night you're talking about, but I did check it the last two nights and didn't see any HD. Actually tonight I didn't see anything on 20.1 on the time I had set it to record, just to see if it was HD. I did see it back on later when I looked live, but it wasn't in HD.
Yep, for some reason they didn't pass through the CW HD feed Monday or Tuesday night. No idea why, but I did watch Smallville and Supernatural in HD on 20.1 last Thursday night.

I e-mailed Billy today asking why 20.1 hadn't been HD this week and his reply was:
I am out of town but I will find out what is going on!

Just got an e-mail from Mark Olson (Chief Engineer @ WPDE/WWMB-TV). He said CW is up and running in HD on WWMB. There was a miscommunication between the Master Control Operators as they installed a new switch to allow them to do HD on CW. And appologized for any inconvenience.

I invited him to join us here. No idea if he will though. I don't think Americas Top Model (ugh) is HD but One Tree Hill is HD so we'll know at 9pm for sure. :)

WWMB-DT 20.1 switched to the HD passthru for CW at 8pm lastnight. Although Americas Top Model (ugh) is not produced in HD I heard the audio change from mono (local feed) to stereo surround (National CW feed). And One Tree Hill is produced in HD and it was broadcast in widescreen HD. :)

Am so jealous that you guys are getting the CW in HD. Hopefully Time Warner will add it soon so the rest of us can see it too.

WWMB 20-1 was looking good during Smallville and Supernatural in HD lastnight. :)

Sorry gail2magic, not trying to rub it in.

Anyone else missing HBOHD1 and SHD1, hasn't shown up for two days now on my system.?

Anyone else missing HBOHD1 and SHD1, hasn't shown up for two days now on my system.?

Looks fine in Surfside.

I don't have ESPN2HD, ESPNU, or NFLN. :( Try a reboot -- we get channels that disappear every so often and a reboot will solve the problem most of the time.

I would gladly reboot if I could get the channels you mentioned, but my 2 channels starting coming back, then going out and then half black half heavy pixelation, the last i checked they were in normal, I was hoping for a while there they were taking those two out and replacing them with ESPN2HD or something else, since they are basically the same channels anyway just 2 hours apart usually.

Anyone having problems with WPDE?Got a 93 on signal strength but no audio or video?

Anyone having problems with WPDE?Got a 93 on signal strength but no audio or video?
Fine here at 11:30am.

Just for info, I finally ended up getting PBS (800,801,802), NBC (805,806), FOX (820), plus TNT-HD and Discovery HD via my Westinghouse TV clear QAM tuner. CBS and ABC were MIA.

It also picked up several channels numbered like 90-0001, etc.

I intially thought this was a cable company problem. A little research indicated that not all QAM tuners are created equal. Several QAM STB's miss at least some of the channels. The LG LST-4200a STB is supposeedly the best, based on testing a few STB's. I know of no comparative testing of TV's with built-in clear QAM tuners.

Another interesting thing that showed up is that the SD clear QAM channels (801, 802, 806) all show up as widescreen only. Adjusting the aspect just zooms the picture. When I went back to the dealer, they showed me a cablecard Sony that did the same thing and they said that their TV's at home did the same thing. They didn't believe me until I made them look at the channel via a cable box. I assume a common chip set or chip family with a major design flaw.

Anybody pulling hi def channels out of the air that actually lives in the Myrtle Beach area?

What kind of antenna do you need? Rooftop?

I tried 3 years ago and failed miserably. I still do not know of a house with an antenna.

Thanks Gary. I've never seen one either.

The reason I ask is I have 1976 Panasonic BW TV in my garage with a busted indoor antenna and I was able to watch the Redskins/Cowboys game last Sunday while I worked out. Coming inside I couldn't find the game on cable.

It turns out I was getting 26 out of Wilmington. I knew we got two Fox channels on TW but I had no idea where they came from. Now I know. BTW, channel 26 is the only channel I am able to get a watchable picture on the old TV.

I won't pursue this any further.

bpear1600: I live just east of Conway and recieve both WPDE-DT and WBTW-DT over-the-air from their Latta area broadcast towers. I have been using a roof mounted Antennas Direct DB-8 UHF multi-bowtie array antenna with a Channel Master 7777 pre-amp. Both channels come in 100% reliably in HD at a signal strength of 96 to 100 on the signal strength meter of my Direct TV H-20 HD receiver, which receives over the air signals. I also receive WWAY-DT out of Wilmington, but reliable reception depends on the weather - signal strength runs about 52 to 62. Since both WBTW and WPDE went to full power on their digital channels I have discovered that the attic antenna I formerly used now brings in a perfect digital signal on both stations on our bedroom Panasonic Plasma TV (which has a built-in digital tuner). The attic antenna, which is VHFand UHF, has a simple Radio Shack pre-amp and also brings in the SC PBS digital channels, which are on channel 9 (VHF) and which a UHF antenna will not pick up. I can't comment on Time Warner HD picture quality because I have never seen it on a large screen, but I can say that the quality of the over-the-air HD is absoutely stunning. There's no digital compression whatsoever, unlike satellite or cable. Live broadcasts like golf, footfall and Letterman's Late Show are almost like being there.
Jack

Jack, thanks for the info.

I wish TWC had more hi def channels but overall we're satisfied with them. I wish I could say the same about some of the local channels and their infrequent but annoying technical problems.

What kind of infrequent technical problems are you refering to? On the HD channels or the standard definition over the air channels? From personal experience I've learned that not all the problems are on the broadcast end.
Jack

We've had periods where the signal is not HD, many times after commercial breaks but sometimes entire shows that are normally in HD.

TWC says these are station related. No?

And here I thought these were problems with just their over-the-air signal. WBTW-DT seems to be the worst in this respect. All their HD shows this past weekend were broadcast in SD -- I thought they were just cavilier about their over-the-air broadcast standards. If WBTW-DT was in SD on TWC over the weekend then apparently there was some kind of technical problem at the station end. My big technical problem is wity WPDE-DT - for whatever reason their sound singnal is consistnatly out of sync with lip movement. The problem though is with my Samsung receiver, because there's no problem when I use the digital tuner in the TV.

We don't get WBTW in hi def. We get the Charleston CBS station. They have had their share of problems as well.

I'm old enough to remember the early days of television and that's what this reminds me of.

WPDE losts its' hi def picture altogether during DWTS and it stayed off into the next program. The picture came back between 10 and 11.

I wish TWC would give us the Charleston ABC affiliate instead. WPDE must be a bare bones operation judging by the problems they have and the station's on-air talent.

WPDE owns the franchise for ABC programming content for the Florence-Myrtle Beach market. Adding another market at this late date would probably be illegal without WPDE's permission. I think there are (or were) some rules about adjacent markets and cable distribution, but Charleston is a ways away. Might be allowed in Georgetown.

We live in Georgetown County.

TWC gives us CBS in hi def from Charleston. They don't use the Florence/Myrtle Beach station, TG.

These Florence/MB stations are bush!

They're all more or less still on the learning curve. Our NBC High Def comes out of New York on Satellite. Even NBC in NY has its glitches from time to time - one entire weekend a couple of months back standard def. instead of HD. I don't thank any of them have a complete handle on HD yet. All things considered, it being a totlly new system of broadcasting, it is excellent about 95 to 98% of the time. In any case, it's such an improvement over SD I can live with the glitches.

These Florence/MB stations are bush!

That's a pretty accurate false-generalization, IMHO. It certainly will change quite
soon, at least for one MB station... :)

About to change how and "quite soon" when? I assume you're referring to WFXB in Myrtle Beach? Will they be on the air at anything like full power and fron a higher tower than they're now using before the end of the year?

Congrats to the CCU football team for making the playoffs. Too bad TWC does not care. Their game will be be on ESPNU and TWC does not carry that service. If you want to watch the game you will need a dish or HTC cable or a friend with that set up. Might be a good time to tell TWC good bye!

About to change how and "quite soon" when? I assume you're referring to WFXB in Myrtle Beach? Will they be on the air at anything like full power and fron a higher tower than they're now using before the end of the year?


I already answered that question sometime back. :)

What's with the timidity? Is there some reason you can't answer it again?

Two antennas pointed in different directions

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Can I do this? Here is my situation:

I get NBC (37º and 31 miles), ABC (59º and 22 miles) and FOX (59º and 22 miles) out of Wilmington. With my high gain antenna pointed at them, they generally come in at about 90%.

I get CBS (311º and 56 miles), ABC (310º and 56 miles) and FOX (303º and 43 miles) out of Myrtle Beach or Florence. With the antenna pointed at them, CBS comes in at about 70% and ABC comes in at about 85%. FOX is due to go digital any day now.

Terrain is flat, flat, flat and there are no buildings or obstructions in the way.

I have three antennas in my attic currently. I just stacked my two Radio Shack VHF/UHF antennas and pointed them both at my stronger Wilmington signal. The high gain UHF only antenna is pointed at the Myrtle Beach/Florence stations. I get the Myrtle Beach/Florence stations great, but can't lock a signal on the Wilmington stations. Same thing happens when I swap the positions of the antennas.

Seems to me like I can just disconnect my VHF/UHF antennas, although they do allow me to pick up analog signals in case of a loss of a satellite feed. Maybe what I need to do is pick up another high gain UHF only antenna and point it in the other direction and combine the signals. If any of you can point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it. My concern was that combining two antennas that are pointing in different directions would interfere with each others signal, but that may not be a problem. There's got to be a way for me to pick up strong signals from both directions without physically having to go up into the attic to move the antenna.

The issue is that if I am not at home and I have set the DVR to record shows in two different markets, one market will not get recorded.

Thanks.

Len

I am trying to pick up a cbs stations from around 70 - 90 miles away I am in zipcode 28412 and the station wbtw is in 29501
I can pick it up after dark when it isn't windy but if it rains or during the day I can't get it in during the day the signal bounces around between 0% - 30% and on clear nights it gets up to 80%

I was wondering if there was anything I could do to improve my performance I am using a 91XG antenna on a 40' mast I tried putting a Channel Master Amp model number 3044 on the cable right before I plug it into the tv but it seemed to make the signal % worse even though the picture didn't look any worse

or does WBTW turn off during the day?

Is anyone else but me having trouble with ESPN HD?

My picture has been intermittingly locking up for a few seconds on and off during MNF for the last few weeks. I also have DirecTV (for the NFL package) and ESPN HD is not doing that on dish.

I'm wondering if its my TWC STB?? Its the early HD model-about 2 years old.

Recently moved to the Myrtle Beach area, specifically Forestbrook area.
I have D* mainly for Sunday Ticket.
AntennaWeb says I can get Fox and ABC digitals,
On my D* HD receiver WBTW CBS shows as HD? Does WBTW broadcast HD?
Also is there a NBC HD broadcaster available OTA?
Last question is the FOX digital signal is out of Myrtle Beach? Is there a FOX out of Florence or in the same direction as Florence?

Man I came from Maryland and had all HD OTA options, this is definetely not what I had in mind.

CARRMAN

Have you seen many antennas on houses in Myrtle Beach?

Carrman, You should be able to get FOX from Wilmington. 26.1 (30) The only NBC is WECT 6.1 (44)- Go to the Greenville NC HDTV thread and you will see someone from your area posted there talking about how they picked up NBC from Myrtle Beach.
I suspect the best thing to do is get a Rotator with a 91XG antenna.

Carrman, WBTW-DT (CBS, 13-1), WPDE-DT (ABC, 15-1), WWMB-DT (CW, 21-1), WHMC-DT (PBS, 23-1, 23-2, 23-3), WWMP-DT (My Net TV, 13-2) and WWAY-DT (ABC, 3-1, 3-2, 3-3) are all easily received over-the-air with 4-bay bow-tie UHF roof antenna and low-noise pre-amp. (Only exception is PBS, which broadcasts on channel 9 and requires a VHF antenna for reception) WFXB-DT, (Fox, 43-1) is still broadcasting on low power and from a very low broadcast tower, so if you're not in the area of the airport, it's not likely you can get any signal from them -- they're supposed to go to full power from a new tower sometime in early 2007???
WECT-DT, (NBC, 6-1, 6-2 fron Wilmington, NC) is not readily receivable, so you're best served by getting a waiver to get NBC-HD out of NY from your Direct TV satellite. Supposedly, all the major networks (locals) will soon be available in HD via satellite from Direct TV in the near future -- about 45% of the country is covered this way right now, but Myrtle Beach is still way down on the list.
I have Direct TV myself and get all of the local HD channels over-the-air -- picture quality and reception are excellent. BTW, the ABC, CBS and PBS channels are all receiveable now with a simple attic antenna, assuming you have an HD set with good signal sensitivity.

Thanks for the info! Ya I keep hearing that D* is going to have the locals in HD, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

I got an e-mail today from Mark Olson (Engineer for WWMB/WPDE) with this info:I wanted to let you know that we will be doing transmitter maintenance on WPDE and WWMB digital transmitters starting tonight. You shouldn't notice any changes until Friday or Saturday as we will be upgrading our PSIP tables which will require you to rescan your set top box. We also will be sweeping the transmission line and tuning the tubes for optimum performance. There is more on this on our website at WPDE (http://www.wpde.com/). I would appreciate it if you could let the viewers in the forum know this too. Please let me know if you have any problems or notice any improvement. So don't freak out if you loose 20.1/20.2 or 16.1 these next cuple days. :)

Incase you don't feel like clicking over to WPDE site or don't see the info, here is a copy/paste from the site.We will perform maintenance and software upgrades to the WPDE and WWMB High Definition transmitters this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The software upgrades will increase our signal strength and further enhance the High Definition picture quality. These upgrades will include a new programming guide on our digital channels.

Unfortunately you may experience brief interruptions in service during the installation of these upgrades. Please note that these interruptions will not affect our analog signal. Our High Definition viewers who receive us via
antenna, or on cable systems like HTC Cable, Time Warner Cable, and Southern Coastal Cable will need to rescan / reboot their set top boxes for the upgrades to take effect for their sets. WPDE DTV channel 16.1 will be found on 15.1 and WWMB DTV channels 20.1 and 20.2 will be found on 21.1 and 21.2 respectively after this upgrade is complete.

Carrman, You should be able to get FOX from Wilmington. 26.1 (30) The only NBC is WECT 6.1 (44)- Go to the Greenville NC HDTV thread and you will see someone from your area posted there talking about how they picked up NBC from Myrtle Beach.
I suspect the best thing to do is get a Rotator with a 91XG antenna.Where you live will greatly affect how you receive WECT. But WCBD an NBC out of Charleston SC comes up in the Myrtle Beach area. See the FCC coverage maps for WECT & WCBD and take note of your relationship of the location your home to the coverage map. I would type out the link here to point you directly to them except this site will not let me do that. When you are near the end or past the end of the coverage area shown on the map things like pine trees will weaken the signal. Both of the signals are weak & need very good antenna & preamp. I will post more information here later when I have time to edit it & post it.

Anyone in the Florence area having a problem with NBCHD,FOXHD and ABCHD? I haven't been able to pick these up since around noon today. Also does channels 805 and 806 come from the same source, because I can watch all the weather news I want but no WISTVHD. Thanks

I'm not getting them channels either. Guess TWC has screwed us again..........

Am in Florence....they were fine here yesterday and also great today.

Anyone have any news when Time Warner will be adding the local Fox station HD broadcast?

Diana, you are missed :)

I am getting them today also, it just seems they go out on the weekend, I had a friend call me and theirs was out also. Football day no HD channels non football day HD channels go figure. I watched them via antenna out of columbia, but my friend had to watch the cowboys in SD.

Finished installing another antenna in my attic yesterday. I now have three antennas up there, two Channel Master 4228 directional UHF's and one combination VHF/UHF antenna. One 4228 and the VHF/UHF antenna are stacked on top of each other with the VHF/UHF antenna on top and are pointing to Wilmington and the other 4228 is about ten feet away and pointing toward Myrtle Beach. The two UHF antennas are combined and then run through a Channel Master 7775 pre-amp. I wasn't sure if one pre-amp could handle the two UHF antennas, but it seems to be okay. I'm getting all stations very well at between 70 and 90%. Would I be any better off using a second pre-amp on the UHF antennas or are there any other fine tuning things I might want to do? I can live with what I've got right now, but of course I wouldn't be upset with an even stronger signal.

Len

It would help to know where you are located.

You are absolutely right. :)

Midway between Wilmington and Myrtle Beach.

Len
Ocean Isle Beach, NC

Figures. Many people Myrtle Beach and south have little OTA reception luck.

Figures. Many people Myrtle Beach and south have little OTA reception luck.I can receive WPDE 15[dig16] WWMB 21[dig20] WHMC23[dig9] on a bow tie indoor antenna on the floor of my living room. If you take the antenna out side in my front yard near the street I can get WECT 6[dig44] WUNJ 39 [dig29] & WWAY 3 [dig 46] If you put the antenna up about 25 feet up with a pre amp you will get 4 of the Charleston dtv channels WCBD, WCSC WTAT & WITV. I live about 7 miles from the coast. The biggest problem is that the dtv stations have problems getting all of the bugs out of the new equipment & the power is down some times. But remember the are running both analog & digital thus having a hard time to keep all of it working while in the new equipment is being debugged

David-the-dtv-ma, exactly where, seven miles from the coast, are you located? Also, what kind of ATSC receiver/tuner are you using that gets all of these stations? I live about 12 miles from the coast, just east of Conway off of Rt 501, and am using an 8-bay bow-tie antenna with a low noise pre-amp. The antenna is located on my roof, about 20 feet off the ground. I get WPDE-DT, WBTW-DT, WWMB-DT, WWMP-DT with virtually 100% reliability. WWAY-DT comes in perfectly only sometimes, when the weater conditions are right -- WECT-DT in virtually always a no-show, as is WUNJ-DT. Even re-orienting the antenna toward Wilmington does not get WECT-DT and it does not improve WWAY-DT to any great degree. Is your location clear of all trees? I have quite a few tall pines located both close to the house and all around in other sections of the subdivision. I'm using the ATSC tuner in my H-20 Direct TV HD receiver, which may not be the most sensitive. I've heard the new Samsung H-260F HD receiver (5th generation chip-set) is supposed to have much higher sensitivity. Will be trying it in the next month or so. Other than not receiving the Wilmington and Charleston stations, though, my OTA HD reception is now virtually bulletproof -- fully as reliable as standard definition - signal strength of 90-100% at all times. And, no rain fade whatsoever, no matter how hard the rain -- which is somthing I can't say for the satellite HD signal.

I live off Forest Brook Rd near 501. I have a motorola hdtv 101. I have a 4 bay antenna like a channel master 4225. I removed the screen off of it so it is hard to see it above the roof. I have a sencore signal meter to measure signal. When I took the screen off I lost about 2 db of signal. When I changed sides of the antenna the level was the same thus, I gained two directions for signal. Now I receive one side [what was the back] Charleston stations & Wilmington stations on the other [what was the front] with out changing the position of the antenna. But take note of http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT990128.html and http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT989257.html & compare your location to the level of signal you should have. If it is near the edge of the circle pine trees will weaken it too much to be usable. You may need to look at a topographic map & take note of how high you are & if any hills are in the way of your signal. How well do you receive the analog WCBD. The pine trees I had burned really good in the fire place after they dried out. The hurricanes took most of the other pines out. What the hurricanes did not take out folks had cut because when the fell on their house during the hurricanes they busted through the roof.

David-the-dtv-ma, thanks for the FCC map links. Very informative and useful. Unfortunately, for WECT-DT, I'm located just outside of the blue circle service area. Probably, without the tall pines, I'd have a shot at receiving it, but with the trees it's pretty much a no show. WWAY-DT is a higher powered station, so I guess that makes the difference -- their signal comes in on a fairly regular basis - I know they're broadcasting from a 2000ft tower -- WECT's tower is only 900 feet. I'm in the Charleston circle (solidly)but would probably need a rotator because it's almost the opposite direction from that of WBTW-DT and WPDE-DT. In any case I'd only need to pick up a local NBC-DT outlet, CBS and ABC come in fine. Right now I'm watching WNBC-DT from New York off satellite and both picture and sound could not be better. In fact, NBC out of NY is now virtually 100% HD, even their locally produced shows like the news, so I'm not so sure a local NBC outlet would really be an improvement.

I would turn the antenna by had & try WCBD. If you receive it very well. Then try & see how well you receive WPDE & WBTW. If your signal is strong enough you may still receive them even thou the antenna is not pointed to them. I receive them even thou my antenna is pointed to Wilminton & really Charleston too because it will receive off both sides.

Well, I gave my little experiment a shot and here are the results:

I live off of McCormick Rd. which is off of Forestbrook Rd. My immediate surroundings are pretty open, there are some trees in the distance.
I moved from Maryland and had a SquareShooter for my OTA's, so I figured I'd try it. I am able to pick up WPDE 15-1, WWMB 21-1CW, WHMC 23-1 PBS, WXFB 43-1 and I also get ABC 3-1 out of Wilmington. That's not too bad.
I'd be content with that except I can't get CBS WBTW to lock on, it goes from 60% to 0 and won't stay locked! All the other's are pretty strong signals, why not WBTW? I need to get something better before the SUPERBOWL!
Can I get away with a attic mounted antenna? If so, any recommendations?

Winston4u, how did you get a waiver for the NBC feed?
Directv told me I was denied for all the network HD's.

Carrman,
I apparently was grandfathered in from the prior DNS law. Plus, my location is outside the reception area of every local NBC HD signal. However, DirectTV did force me to accept their satellite SD locals in order to contiue to receive NBC-HD from NY. My understanding is that the waiver will end when Direct TV begins carrying the local Myrtle Beach channels in HD. When that happens I'll have WIS-DT as my NBC affiliate (I have WIS in SD now from DirectTV as my local NBC station). One further point on waivers: DirectTV determines eligibility by your zip code. The local SD channels from DirectTV are worth considering because down the road, when the local HD channels become available by satellite, there will be no additional charge for HD over the $4. monthly for local MB channels.
BTW, an attic antenna should work just fine for WBTW-DT. Channel 13-1 is by far the strongest and highest quality HD signal in the MB area -- at least since they went to full power. Their signal strength at my location is consistently 100%, with virtually no drop-outs or pixelation, even in the worst rain storms. WPDE-DT is a close second -- signal strength is a consistent 90%. And since their last round of software upgrades to the HD transmitter, most of the issues with their signal have disappeared. Now, if they'd just switch to Dolby 5.1 for their sound, they'd be as good as WBTW. Oh well I suppose nothing is ever perfect with HD broadcasting.

Carman, you should be able to get WCSC 5-1 digital as uhf ch 47 the CBS Charleston. I receive them stronger than I do WBTW. But WBTW is uhf 56 that puts it higher freq than the rest. Also WBTW is an side mount antenna. WCSC is on the top at 2200 feet. You would also should get the NBC WCBD from Charleston. You might try your antenna pointed south east & see.

Ok, here is an update,
I set up my secondary market to Charleston, I am now able to get NBC WCBD, still can't lock onto a CBS, WCSC is at about 30% or a bit higher.

I'm going to try a better pre-amp and if that dosen't work I think I'm going to need a better antenna.

Thanks for the help!

Is the audio fixed yet on WCBD? The last time I picked them up I could barely hear the dialog, and had my receiver cranked up all the way.

Don't know but it's fine on cable!

Does any one have a motorola digital tv tuner hdtv100 or a hdtv 101. I have seen the death of two of them. I am now out of warranty & motorola said "T S" [tough stuff] & :mad: I do not have the $ to buy a third. Thus I am back to analog. I compare their tuners to windows 3.0 :( on a 286 pc or like the first color TVs in the late 1950s. :eek:

David-the-dtv-ma,
Other than checking E-bay, there's not too much choice. I've had good experience with the OTA HD tuner in Direct TV's Samsung SIR-TS360. It receives all of the available local OTA HD with excellent quality and has been quite reliable over the almost three years I've had it. It's the last DTV set top box that will receive OTA without a subscription to Direct TV. They're available on E-bay used and re-furbed at fairly good prices. Unit must have an acces card in order to work on OTA. Another choice is Samsung's SIR-TS451, which is over the air only and also available on E-bay used and re-furbed - last I saw ran about $119 to 129.

I am hoping I can go whole hog & find a hdtv on sale. But before I buy I will check the reports of it. I have found by typing in google most report mine as junk. One said to spend your money on some thing else. I am blessed that I did not buy a HD monitor connect up to the tuner. If I did I would be required to replace this tuner. But since I was watching the composite sd output to a analog tv I will just replace them both. My only loss it I could have used the tuner to record to my dvd recorder. I think I will go with a 26" or 30" 16 by 9 flat screen hdtv. I have seen some for about $500.00. So I will live with my analog while I wait for a good hdtv deal.

I am buying my mother a HDTV.

Can I expect to recieve all network channels OTA?

I think her satallite provide won't be able to provide a HD reciever for quite some time so OTA is likely the only signal she will be able to get.

What can I expect in Green Sea?

longtimewolf,
From Green Sea she is well in range of the three major networks OTA -- WBTW-DT (CBS), WPDE-DT (ABC), both broadcasting from Latta/Dillon area. WECT-DT (NBC), broadcasts from from the Delco area outside of Wilmington. FOX-DT (24-1 in Wilmington)should also come in -- I can get it here in Conway, SC occasionaly. Depending on the sensitivity of the ATSC tuner in the HDTV you buy, an attic antenna may be all you'll need - I can get all the Florence stations, here in Conway, with just an attic antenna. Both the North and South Carolina PBS digital channels should also come in fine.

Looks like we will need an antennea.

Is the a good place in cfonway to get one. I would like to avoid the seaboard nightmare if possible!!

Looks like we will need an antennea.

Is the a good place in cfonway to get one. I would like to avoid the seaboard nightmare if possible!!

longtimewolf,

Hit the wrong key. Lowe's carries Channel Master antennas - not sure what model, but that's where I bought my attic antenna.

I have to say I am a bit disappointed in the options for OTA HD.

In Raleigh there are a bunch of channels with plenty of programing.

I guess the trade off is that in Raleigh, I can't hunt or fish...

Well, that's the big city for you -- lots more variety. You should see the choices thay have in NY or Chicago. The question is, though, how much of the extra variety is really worth watching? Actually, WPDE-DT and WBTW-DT both now have sub-channels in HD, namely CW and My TV, for what they're worth, mostly re-runs of old shows. So, it's not really that bad. What other OTA channels are there available in Raleigh? I used to live in the Greensboro area and I can't recall very much more local OTA.

In Raleigh you can get all the networks in HD OTA.

I just had the Dish guy out here and I learned that even with a HD Dish equipment, you still can't get all the big networks in HD. You HAVE to get them OTA. In Green Sea, we can't get but just ABC and CBS.

That is insane...so...I guess the new HDTV goes back until we can get a solution out here in Green Sea.

You should be able to get NBC (WECT-DT, Ch 6-1) out of Wilmington OTA. Green Sea is well within their transmission service area. I receive CBS and ABC in HD OTA perfectly here , just east of Conway. Only NBC is a problem - I'm too far away from WECT-DT for good reliable reception. But it's not a problem because Direct TV provides it out of NY in HD, because there's no other local source. Comes in fine -- and incidently, the big city stations are almost totally HD now, not just the prime time shows. All the NBC local programming is HD, including the local news.

We only get 13 and 15 here OTA in 1080i. 43 is 480i. we get the secondary programing channels to. We are using a low end set top (rabbit ears) anetenna.

I just signed up for Direct Tv and will get rid of DISH for the reasons you just stated.

In Raleigh, we have the local news in HD as well. WRAL was the first commercial HD channel in the nation. We have it pretty good. I am used to the TWC HD package.

this dish network stinks and I will be glad to see them go.

I assume you like DirecTV?

Actually, channel 15 is 720P, as are all ABC outlets including ESPN and ESPN2 HD. Fox 43 will be 720P also when they evantually go to full power OTA -- supposedly sometime in the first quarter of 2007. BTW, if you're getting 13 and 15 with just rabbit ears, you should have no problem getting WECT-DT (6-1) with an outdoor antenna. And yes, I'm quite satisfied with Direct TV, for the most part. Just that their rates have started the steady yearly escalation, like Time Warner, since Rupert Murdoch took over. Wouldn't be too bad if they had more HD channels -- but that's supposed to change first half of next year. They're also supposed to be offering local stations in HD sometime in the near future. Don't know what TW offers in HD in Raleigh, but here it's not much more than you can already get from Direct TV

Hello I'm new to this and I wanted to know how to get the best reception with my DB8 HD multidirectional antenna. I currently have it in the attic and I cant get WBTW or WFXB. Am I supposed to hook the OTA antenna to the satillite receiver or my TV?? Another question I have is when I tune to 15.1 (WPDEDT) I have bars on the side of the screen. I would take that as being 4:3 ratio but I cant seem to stretch like I did when I had TWC. Any help would be appreciated. I want the best signal possible until direcTV decides to put local channels in HD in our area....Thanks

where do you live?

Am using Time Warner.....the new A&E HD is not coming thru in HD and the closed captioning seems broken. I sometimes see letters but just for a few moments.

Anyone else having a problem?

Probably because MHD and A&EHD are SDV channels.

Well that sure would explain it..lol...thanks :)

My pet peeve is when closed caption does not work properly.

I live Hwy 707 & Enterprise Rd area.

Longtimewolf, I just am trying to help. FOX as you know uses UHF ch 43. WECT uses UHF ch 44. In Green Sea you are just a few miles from the ch 43 tower & it could being so close in frequency & distants to the ch 43 tower it could be causing problems with WECT. In Green Sea you tune an analog tv to ch 44 if you see 43 coming over in 44 you may see why you are not getting WECT. Green Sea is not far from the coverage of WIS on uhf 41. You may try it & check it out

Did TWC ever add CW in HD in the Myrtle Beach area? I don't think they have but since I don't use it, just thought I'd ask. I guess this cutting edge SDV system in SC that's a test market just can't handle it? Yeah, I know, they gotta talk about it for awhile.....

Did TWC ever add CW in HD in the Myrtle Beach area? I don't think they have but since I don't use it, just thought I'd ask. I guess this cutting edge SDV system in SC that's a test market just can't handle it? Yeah, I know, they gotta talk about it for awhile.....


no but we did just get hd movies on demand although the selection of titles leaves alot to be desired.

To get this straight:

Carolina Forest area here. (The Farm)

If I use DirecTV I will get Local in HD from NY? So no local news? These are obviously HD Lite, how is the picture?

I currently have E*, I get no HD locals, using OTA antenna, only getting channel 13. Overall Dish is pretty bad, the STB often resets and I have to wait for the 5 minute reboot to continue watching.

Time Warner HD (no STB using QAM/ATSC tuner) my TV will get some locals but I have to AUTOSCAN every time to get the locals, + TNT to be available.

So what is the best setup for our area? Sure would like to get NBC, ABC, CBS, & FOX with 1 OTA antenna (can mount in attic or on dish) & use a DBS provider for Sports Pkgs/HBO.


Thanks!!

Back in Sep I purchased a clear QAM tuner and reported my problems here. The week after New Years I hooked up an external clear QAM tuner (Samsung 260). I confirmed that the missing CBS and ABC were there, unencrypted, but did not have the channel identifiers like 800 for PBS. In fact there were two ABC's. Apprently Charleston ABC was available for Georgestown folk.

edit: Georgtown for Charlestown

I reported this to TWC, but have not gotten a response.

bdfox18doe,

How close is WFXB-DT FOX 43.1 to going full power or atleast to the tall tower?

bdfox18doe,

How close is WFXB-DT FOX 43.1 to going full power or atleast to the tall tower?

Full power and the tall tower will be the same, sometime 1Q..

Full power and the tall tower will be the same, sometime 1Q..
Great, thanks for the update. :)

Just upgraded my HD tv to one with built in HD tuner.

Could someone give me the numbers to set the tuner for channels I might pick up in Florence?

Will be keeping Time Warner but am curious what I could pick up using this small Phillips HD antennae they brought with the tv.

Thanks

Digital Channel 16 is WPDE channel 15 analog,18 will be wfxb fox when they go full power in the next couple of months,20 is the CW wmmb myrtle beach, and 56 is wbtw channel 13. with and indoor rabbit ear type antenna the only thing i can pick up is wpde, now if your tv has a QAM tuner, you should be able to get cbs florence and charleston, abc florence and charleston, fox,nbc, tnt, dicovery hd, also mhd and a&e hd.

Topher57, how come you can't get wbtw digital?
They went to full power a while back, and I can always get it with an indoor antenna no matter where it's aimed, and i'm located close to Timmonsville.
It's the only station that just booms in for me.

Did the auto channel search for digital and picked up 3 stations.
WBTW....their HD and their SDA one...13.1 and 13.2...very strong signals for both of those
WPDE....the HD 15.1...very good signal but does cut out some but comes back

Am off 3rd Loop and am just using this small rabbit ear indoor HD antennae from Phillips. Circuit City threw it in when I got the new Sony 40" BRAVIA V-Series HDTV. Am real pleased with the quality of the 3 channels. The quality for those is as good as Time Warner. The TV does a great job with Time Warner too. I like the variety of choices with Time Warner but nice to have the capability to pick them up without it. Was hoping to pick up the CW since TW does not broadcast it in HD but maybe later when they increase strength. The quality of the analog channels is pretty bad with the antennae lol. The Circuit City installer recommended I get the other Phillips antenna - Philips Indoor/Outdoor HDTV Antenna (MANT950). Circuit City was out of it so I might order it online and find someone to set it up for me. The installer said it could sit on the floor inside the apartment in front of the patio doors.

topher57...thanks for the help

I don't know, I thought channel 13 would come in to, My son bought me this tv and i didn't know jack, He tried a few antennas and couldn't pick up channel 13, as cbs is what i needed for college football saturdays and cbs was the lone holdout on hd with time warner. He ended up buying me a channel master 4228 uhf antenna and now I get cbs-florence,abc-florence,cw-myrtle beach, cbs-columbia,abc-columbia,nbc-columbia and fox-columbia. So I haven't really checked rabbit ears lately, that may or may not have been before 13 went full power.

I think I will check the Yellow Pages and try to find someone who could come out and work with the antenna to see if I can do better. After reading reviews on the MANT950...not sure what would be best. Would like to get the CW. Am lost on what is the right one to try.

If anyone has a recommendation for someone in Florence, send me a msg here on the forum..thanks.

gail for channel 15 turn antenna about an inch or two to the right of where you get cbs 56-1, and for the cw about another inch or so to the right of 15, also unlike analog channels you need to turn the antenna slowly and let it sit in each place for a half minute to a minute to see if they pop in, they may not pop in time you stop somewhere, but may if you leave it there a couple of seconds or so. I am giving directions based on my outside antenna. If you have a window facing the a little north of due east it would help you get a little better reception from indoors. hope this helps some. You could start due east and slowly work your way north going from 20.1 CW,15.1 ABC, 56.1 CBS.

Thanks

Appreciate all the help!

I just installed a new Plasma in my bedroom and picked up a DVR from the local office. The reception on a few of the HD channels is horrible. Like today during the golf coverage the picture wouldn't hardly come in. It appears to only happen on channels 810 and 931. Does anyone have any ideas on why this could happen?

I Does anyone have any ideas on why this could happen?


Issues with your cable drop. Call your provider.

Does any one remember when WBTW was on channel 8?

I got it fixed. I replaced the cable from the attic down to the TV. Thanks for the reply

Greetings all, I am the Chief Engineer for WFXB and it is my pleasure to announce that WFXB-DT's full power 1 megawatt transmitter is on the air for testing.

I look forward to reading your reception reports. If you have any reception issues, please post your location, antenna type/configuration and most importantly the model number of your receiver.

Ken:

I'm in Laurinburg, NC and receiving a great signal on 43-1 with a DB-8 antenna and preamp. Using a H10 receiver from DTV and getting about 80% signal strength. That strength for me is very comparable to the rest of the florence/myrtle beach market stations. Glad to finally be able to get Fox in HD!

This is great news! I'm in Lumberton. I'm using a Channel Master 4228 with a Channel Master 7777 amp, that is mounted outside. For my receiver I'm using a Directv H-10 receiver. The signal is kinda unstable but we are having some wind and cloud cover tonight,so that might have something to do with it. THX!!!

HDnut05
Keep in mind that the WFXB tower is not in the same location as the other stations you are receiving. From Lumberton, our tower is about 30 degrees to the south of the stations that have their towers near Dillon. You should be able to find a sweet spot somewhere in the middle that works well.

Here's a link to a good map (http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/programming/broadcast-market.php?dma_name=Myrtle+Beach-Florence) of the local stations locations to assist with aiming your antenna.

Greetings all, I am the Chief Engineer for WFXB and it is my pleasure to announce that WFXB-DT's full power 1 megawatt transmitter is on the air for testing..

About Time!.. :D Guess I need to finish up your new encoding rack now huh? :)

Just did a scan on my Sony 32XBR2 using rooftop CM3671 antenna with CM7777 amp in Pembroke NC. Picking up 43.1 with a steady signal strength of 98%, SNR 31db, AGC 34% (line ran thru remote controlled A/B switch). SWEEEEEEEET! :D

Ken:

Weird problem I noticed on Prison Break and now 24 in HD. The FOX watermark at the bottom of the screen is cut off. Half of the X is gone from the right side and the bottom 5% or so of the whole watermark. Regular 4:3 broadcast of other programming seems to be ok and even the promos and some of the commercials in HD seem ok. Almost like the scale of the feed is slightly off. I tried resetting my receiver and didn't see any difference. Haven't seen this on any other stations. Is it just me?

Hartsville, SC here. I am happy to be able to see WFXB in HD. I am using a TERK antenna mounted on my DTV dish and a Samsung SIR-T351. thanks for all your hard work.

Ken:

Weird problem I noticed on Prison Break and now 24 in HD. The FOX watermark at the bottom of the screen is cut off. Half of the X is gone from the right side and the bottom 5% or so of the whole watermark. Regular 4:3 broadcast of other programming seems to be ok and even the promos and some of the commercials in HD seem ok. Almost like the scale of the feed is slightly off. I tried resetting my receiver and didn't see any difference. Haven't seen this on any other stations. Is it just me?

No, it's not just you. It's a problem I'm aware of and hope to have corrected soon.

Ken:

Weird problem I noticed on Prison Break and now 24 in HD. The FOX watermark at the bottom of the screen is cut off. Half of the X is gone from the right side and the bottom 5% or so of the whole watermark. Regular 4:3 broadcast of other programming seems to be ok and even the promos and some of the commercials in HD seem ok. Almost like the scale of the feed is slightly off. I tried resetting my receiver and didn't see any difference. Haven't seen this on any other stations. Is it just me?
Shhhhhh, the less that can be seen of that big, big, big, huge BLUE bug the better. :)

ktFOX55/27,

Had no reception problem at all in Pembroke during Prison Break lastnight. And I'm not sure how/why but Compared to WRAZ-DT 50 out of Raleight on TWC, WFXB-DT 43 looked better, slightly sharper/crisper. And not a single glitch/breakup that I recall. Only the network passthru's audio is much lower than the local audio adverts. And PSIP seems to be working good. Thx for getting it to distant viewers. :)

. And PSIP seems to be working good. :)

Why thank you there Daryl!

Why thank you there Daryl!
NO, thank YOU Bob. ;)

ktFOX55/27,
Great job getting it right, right out of the gate -- picture is perfect, Dolby5.1 is excellent and absolutely no sound/lip sync problems. I'm located just east of Conway, off 501, using a DB-8 antenna w/pre-amp. Signal strength on Direct TV H-20 receiver is a solid 100%. Reception is best of all your competition, some of whom are still not using Dolby5.1 and are still not 100% perfect every night. Great job.

Thanks winston4u :)
I can't take all the credit though. Kudos to bdfox18doe and all the othe people behind the scenes at our flagship station in Charlotte that helped make this happen. My hat's off to them, thanks guys.

I have the new logo graphic or "bug" as we call it online during FOX network programming. Goodbye to the big blue ugly! So far on the displays I have checked, it's no longer getting chopped off by overscan. Anyone seeing it get chopped of like the blue one on their set?

ktFOX55/27,
Re. the Fox logo or "bug". It is no longer being chopped off by overscan. I don't know why all the stations have to have this ID constantly present -- do you think we viewers are too stupid to know what we're watching? To me all these logos are real irritants -- worse yet I'm concerned about screen burn-in on my plasma screen, which I've begun to encounter by the ever present ESPN logo on basketball games. Your Fox logo is really quite intense -- any posibillity of cutting it back? The CBS "eye" WBTW-DT (Ch-13-1) is much less bothersome (much less intense and not a bother as far as burn-in's concerned). It's really annoying to have to zoom the picture, as I do with ESPN, to get rid of the logo and crawl to prevent burn-in.

ktFOX55/27,

Is it possible to make the station bug that your using for the HD primetime broadcast just as transparent as the bug that your using for the local daytime broadcast?

ktFOX55/27 here. I created a new account so that my screen name makes sense to newcomers to the forum down the road.

winston4u and Daryl L
I wasn't happy with the transparency of the bug either. I made some changes today that I think have it matching the bug we use during local programming very well, which has been my goal all along. It just takes a bit longer to get it dialed in as I have to work through the engineers at FOX to make the changes.

WFXB,

You should have used the nick "WFXB43eng" or similar. ;) Anyway, thanks alot. The bug looked great lastnight. Much, much better. If only every other cable channel engineer thought like you and Bob. :) BTW, the PQ and audio on local and national is still just great.

Hey guys, this is a lot of info to read through so hopefully you guys just give me the consensus answer here. I'm in Florence and was wondering what the preferred service is around here for HD channels. Time Warner, DirecTV, Dish? Thanks.

WFXB,
Thanks for the follow-up on the "bug". The transparancy is much better now -- certainly no longer any potential for screen burn-in. As Daryl L said, if only all the local stations were as responsive to viewer concerns. PQ, sound and signal strength are excellent.

I would say time warner if you don't want to go the antenna route, I don't know about dish, but my son has directv and he's not expecting HD locals anytime soon, Time Warner has all of your locals. With a small antenna you can get all your locals in HD minus NBC.

blinkage: I prefer a antenna for all local network stations. I think all the satilight & cable system are having band space problems. If I understand it correctly there is now two signal required to carry. The SD & HD signal. I think that this is true because if two people are talking on a wide screen you would see both. In the 4:3 Sd the film would need to be rerecord with a camera on only the person talking. Then with the other person speak they switch to a camera on the other side of the screen. I know that they had to do this years ago to put on the 4:3 tv wide screen movies like the sound of music. I do not think they could just crop of the the sides because that would have be where the person was at on the screen. Any way the Local TV have both signals on the digital channel. I do not know if the cable has the space for both & I have seen them just run only the SD.

Thanks for the feedback.

OTA isn't really an option for me. I tried indoor antennas and was only able to recieve CBS with any sort of stability because of the trees and landscape around my house. I don't have the money to invest in a quality outdoor antenna/preamp/etc.

I want the HD broadcast networks, so it sounds like cable is the way to go. It looks like Time Warner carries all the same HD channels as the dishes, plus the local HD channels that dishes don't. My only concern is if the quality of the Time Warner picture is the same as the dishes.

My only concern is if the quality of the Time Warner picture is the same as the dishes.
The larger your display the more you will notice the superior picture quality of the Time Warner signal to the overly compressed dish signal.

blinkage: I prefer a antenna for all local network stations. I think all the satilight & cable system are having band space problems. If I understand it correctly there is now two signal required to carry. The SD & HD signal. I think that this is true because if two people are talking on a wide screen you would see both. In the 4:3 Sd the film would need to be rerecord with a camera on only the person talking. Then with the other person speak they switch to a camera on the other side of the screen. I know that they had to do this years ago to put on the 4:3 tv wide screen movies like the sound of music. I do not think they could just crop of the the sides because that would have be where the person was at on the screen. Any way the Local TV have both signals on the digital channel. I do not know if the cable has the space for both & I have seen them just run only the SD.Starting in the 70's many directors, like Clint Eastwood, began framing their films so they could be easily cropped to 4:3. This was usually only in 1.85 films, not 2.35 films.

Interesetingly enough, the a few of the first Cinemascope features (2.55 at the time) were filmed twice, so they had a 4:3 version to show in non-Cinemascope theatres.

Darry; Zanuck, then running 20th Century Fox is said to have scolded directors for NOT putting principle actors at the very outside limits of the screen. Given that its was shot at 2.66, then cropped to 2.55 (later 2.35) this could have had some unfortunate side effects.

Most interesting from a technical standpoint, How the West Was Won was shot in Cinerama, which is like 2.87. A Cinemascope print was made using the center 80% of the screen, which didn't work well. The 4:3 print that most people have seen on TV was taken from that print.

The larger your display the more you will notice the superior picture quality of the Time Warner signal to the overly compressed dish signal.

Excellent! Not only that, but Time Warner's equipment is much easier to come by. DirecTV wants me to buy a $300 HD DVR and pay additional monthly fees on top of it. Time Warner will pay my cancellation fee for DirecTV, and doesn't make me buy all of their equipment.

I have a HL-S5086W with a built in HD Tuner...I live in Dillon. Using rabbit ears, I'm able to get all networks (including the FOX signal which just went full power and looks great on my TV) except NBC...what is my best bet for NBC?? WIS from Columbia or WECT from Wilmington??? and are these stations at fullpower yet, meaning will I ever be able to get one of them with the rabbit ears or will I have to install an outdoor antenna?

Thanks.

According to this map http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT990128.html & WIS according this map http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT626664.html Dillon is too far. My, Dillon is a NBC void. When a new station WMBF is on the air http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=TV1006092.html shows you may get it. If it was me & this is a place where I was going to stay, I would get a signal channel antenna cut for channel 10. I would watch analog temporary. In 2009 they will put digital over the analog channel 10.

vstone:I agree with you. I watched "20000 leagues of the sea" over TMC or AMC. I am not sure which one it was but is was one of the two. I noticed Bert Lancaster & actors on the left & right of the screen. That movie could not be just directly cropped & shown on a 4:3 screen or if it was you would have missed some of the activity on the sides. But then it was filmed in 1954. Thus if you were to rent a dvd from a movie rental house my guess is that it would be like some of the dvds I have rented. The have on the dvd two copies of the same movie; one in 16:9 & one in 4:3. I have seen some of the TV stations broadcast current show the same way. Like for example one tv station has an analog channel 3 which of course is in sd. They have a digital channel 46. The digital channel relabels it self to 3. If you watch 3.1 it is ABC in hd. If you watch 3.2 they have a rerun of the weather from the last local news showing. On 3.3 they have ABC in sd. Now comes my big question. Does dish, direct tv & the tv cable systems have the band space to carry the 4 channels the the station is broadcasting over the air. One of the channels of course is in analog & in sd. The analog channel will be going off in 2009 when the FCC recalls one of the broadcast channels. That is why I was saying they can not just crop the HD & send it through. As I figure it out to be that there is more to it than that.

20,000 ... was letterboxed on TCM.

Some movies' DVD's were made full frame on one side and letterboxed on the other, but most were not.

Some older films were only released full frame, even though they were filmed widescreen. This was probably based on which format was selling best. Disney did this, although I think they have relented.

Most HD TV shows are specifically filmed to use only the center and you can occasionaly see that during the transition going to and from SD commercials. Firefly was specifically not filmed that way by the director, much to the consternation of the network.

Can't speak for Dish.

DirecTV will probably have the bandwidth if they get both new satellites in the air this year. For now, I don't know what their plans are. Even for markets for which they already do locals in HD, I think they only carry ABC, NBC, CBS, CW, myNetwork - No PBS or independents. They don't carry all SD stations for a given market either. I suspect as Feb, 2009 approaches they will start turning off analog broadcast channels (and those cable channels with redundant SD/HD programming) to reclaim the bandwidth.

An interesting case is the PAX network (Now i network or some such). Their digital OTA stations carry 4 channels. One is the west coast feed of the another. I don't know if they have any local programming. They are essentially OTA versions of cable networks, trying to get on cable systems for free.

Most cable companies have the bandwidth now to show all 4 (If they want to), but it would be silly to have two different channels carrying the SD feed. More to the point, they would rather allot the bandwidth to On Demand programming. In Martinsville Adelphia (now Comcast) have CBS SD, CBS HD, CBS weather (now off the air) and myNetwork SD (run offf the CBS HD signal until they can get a tower). What is carried depends on what the broadcaster and cable co. agree on.

The cable companies want to be able to downrez HD signals to SD for their SD only customers. This will result in letterboxed pictures on an SD set. The broadcast industry is fighting this. I don't know how it will come out.

Hey I'm Ken from Laurinburg also. I get all the Florence locals but 15 and 43 can have a 75 to 80% signal and then fade to nothing. I think the wind moves my antenna. Channel master with preamp. any thoughts I love NASCAR and want to watch 43.

Ken

Hey I'm Ken from Laurinburg also. I get all the Florence locals but 15 and 43 can have a 75 to 80% signal and then fade to nothing. Ken

Ken-

You're trying to watch WFXB-DT, correct?

Yes that is correct. Any help is appreciated. I wanted to check out options before I buy another antenna. Ken

15 and 43 can have a 75 to 80% signal and then fade to nothingSince you are getting good signal most of the time my bet is that your antenna is fine, but you may need to spend some time tweaking the aim of the antenna to find a sweet spot that allows you to pick up all the stations you want to receive reliably. You may also want to experiment with removing the preamp.

Once you're done always take a few extra minutes to make sure your antenna is securely fastened in place and every coax connector is in good condition, tightened and weatherproofed.

Lastly, what receiver are you using?

Excellent! Not only that, but Time Warner's equipment is much easier to come by. DirecTV wants me to buy a $300 HD DVR and pay additional monthly fees on top of it. Time Warner will pay my cancellation fee for DirecTV, and doesn't make me buy all of their equipment.

Well, you can get the DVR from Directv basically free if you are a new customer, you just have to ask or look for the right deal. It is free with Dish without asking.

No doubt for some people cable is easier to deal with and TWCSC does have a slightly better picture, but I saw more difference in SD than HD. I've compared both rather close along with OTA also. Also Directv's picture can and does vary.

Not all cable systems work that well though, they vary a lot from area to area. In North Myrtle Beach is where I watched HD with their SA8300 dvr. I use a Sharp 720P projector with a 110 inch screen, so that's large enough to see what difference there was. I could also do a A/B comparsion because switching HDMI through a video processor.

For now TWC is some better but not a HUGE differerence. It will be interesting to see how they handle more HD in the future, even with SDV. They certainly aren't in a hurry in SC adding anything. CW isn't even on the system yet, far as I know.

Directv doesn't have HD locals (if you only want the real locals) and it will be probably at least a year since it depends on the launch of the second satellite, since Sea Launch had that explosion. But I can FINALLY get all the networks OTA easy and with the dual tuners on the Directv dvr, for me the locals aren't a big deal. Plus I'd have to make a extra effort to get CW if I only had a cable box, so if I have to get one OTA station, then getting them all is just as easy.

What I cannot take though is that SA8300 GUI. I can use it and know how too, but don't want too. Also since I want 3 extra boxes it would cost me around $395 a year more in fee's with TWC. I cannot see paying more for something that I hate.

I'll take the new HR20 Directv dvr with the bugs anyday, but the bugs are getting close to being gone. I have the HR10 (tivo version) also anyway. I will admit I considered changing more than a few times to TWC with some of the stuff Directv has done lately, but overally I still decided for me its not the best option. Plus for me they don't have more HD, even though I think they should.

I do have Verizon FIOS internet in NMB, the only place in SC that has it, but they aren't sure when video will come. I will take that over Directv because they don't have bandwidth problems with lots of HD, which equals a better picture than either one.

But I can FINALLY get all the networks OTA easy and with the dual tuners on the Directv dvrLarry J, could you get a little more in depth on the dual tuner DVR for D*. Are both OTA tuners working as advertised now and are you able to record 2 OTA HD channels at once? Also, how well does the program guide integrate OTA and D* programming. Any insight you have is appreciated.

I have a Dishnetwork 622vip. Can the wind make a slight movement of the antenna and cause this? I have a channelmaster 7778 pre-amp but have not tried removing this. The signal strength will go from 85-95% quickly to 0 and then back up within ten seconds.
Thanks for the help!!!
Ken Harrell

Also to WFXB. The Dishnetwork 622 is very good at intergrating the guide for OTA and Sat. OTA show up yellow with a little antenna beside them. They are recordable only on tuner 1 which is the HD tuner. All non HD channels are recordable on tuner 2. Hard drive will hold 25 HD hours or 200 sd hours. Hope this info will help.

Ken Harrell

Can the wind make a slight movement of the antenna and cause this? The signal strength will go from 85-95% quickly to 0 and then back up within ten seconds.I guess that all depends on your definition of slight, antenna movement could certainly cause what you are describing.

Does the problem usually occur on windy days and not on calm days?

Larry J, could you get a little more in depth on the dual tuner DVR for D*. Are both OTA tuners working as advertised now and are you able to record 2 OTA HD channels at once? Also, how well does the program guide integrate OTA and D* programming. Any insight you have is appreciated.


Yes, the tuners are on now and they work fine for me. The HR20 doesn't scan for channels it goes on a database of what stations are available in the area, from a zip code.

Also you can enter a secondary zip code to get another market. So in NMB of course I use Wilmington for the second. All the stations from both where correct and the guide is integrated right with the Directv channels.

It has 4 tuners but you can only do two at one time, like 2 OTA, 2 Sat or 1 OTA and 1 Sat. You can watch a recorded show while recording two.

They've had some bugs with the HR20 if you've been keeping up reading about it, most information is at dbstalk. Directv has been trying to get it right since Sept. and it appears its rather dependable now. They're letting people download software updates to give feedback on before it goes national, to those that want to do it. The last one was yesterday and it appears to be the best one yet.

Anyway, its not missing recordings for me at this time and hasn't froze up for quite awhile. Its not perfect but certainly no worse than the SA8300, or not the one's I've used. Well, I like it much better myself.

Getting OTA sometimes can run into odd problems with pixelation for no apparent reason, so with any dvr or receiver sometimes you have to work with it. But I get a strong signal on all channels.

Overall I like the HR20 just fine now.

Thanks for taking the time to post that Larry J. It was just the info I was looking for.

WFXB,

Just figured I'd let you know I get WFXB-DT at 98% signal strength 24/7 with my amplified rooftop antenna. But I disconnected my rooftop antenna and connected my amplified rabbit ears yesterday and still get a solid signal strength of 98% even now during mid afternoon. I'm locate 1 mile east of Pembroke city limits on HWY711 (Lat/Long:34.667373/-79.175109). That's even stronger and more consistent than WPDE-DT/WWMB-DT and WBTW-DT is equal to WFXB-DT but fluctuates often while WFXB is steady even though WPDE/WWMB and WBTW are closer to me.

I got this Sony 32XBR2 LCD HDTV in early December and it's never shown a signal strength reading higher than 98% from any station so I assume 98% is it's max reading even though the progress bar has the room.

What kind of pre-amp do you use with your db8?
Ken In L-burg

Anybody else trying to get local HD broadcast channels via TWC using a clear QAM tuner? The few I had available disppeared in mid February. The channel lineup says yoiu need a digital converter to get them.

I still get them. 2 abc's 2cbs's nbc fox tnt dsc

I went by TWC in MB and ended up taking to somebody at the head end. They have been updating their systems for the new DST days (nothing like waiting until the last minute) and adding applications, requiring rebooting their systems, but no one should have has any problems. Tell that to the salesmen at AVAC who have been rsesetting their TCVsets at home as well as the ones at their store twice a week lately trying to find the local HD channels.

Time Warner Tech Folks just admitted to me that they are running SDV (Switched Digital Video) here in MB. They do not yet have an answer as to why TV sets with clear QAM tuners in certain locations are having problems finding local HD broadcast channels via TWC. I suspect that something happened between FEB 12 and FEB 14, when I lost locals.

For the record TWC in Raleigh has stated that only new channels being added will be on SDV.

My TV can detect 5 of these channels(but no local HD) , up from 4 at the end of 2006. They just added GEM TV, which appears to be a jewelry shopping channel. Two of channels are On Demand movie ads and a channel advertizing NBA Legue Pass. I can't iumagine people spending a lot of time viewing that, so I guess that their system isn't really being tested much yet.

TWC customers in Greensboro are seeing something similar. The TWC folk are asking Scientific Atlanta some questions, as are the TWC people here. The SA folks seem to have caused a lot of trouble for us clear QAM fans. Topher57 in Florence isn't having any problems, so I guess it's only on specific head end equipment.

WFXB,
Have a question about the sound level of your HD broadcasts in Dolby 5.1. Is there a reason Fox's Dolby level is about 15dB lower than that on other HD stations using Dolby 5.1? I realize the dB read out on my home theatre processor is not calibrated, but when I tune in to one of your HD broadcasts (Bones, last night) I have to raise the volume level about 15dB higher than that of, for example WBTW-DT, WNBC-DT, or HDNet Movies, to achieve subjecively the same approximate sound level. Is there some specific reference level that the Dolby encoders are set to? Or is the level of each station pretty much whatever they choose to use? The sound field of your 5.1 broadcasts is by far the best in this area, just the level is so much lower than the other stations.
By the same token, when set for Dolby and a commercial goes to Pro-Logic encoding the sound level will almost blow you out of the room -- only solution here is to mute the sound during all the commercials. Not what you would want obviously, but the only way to keep from being blasted. Any comments or thoughts???

WFXB,
Have a question about the sound level of your HD broadcasts in Dolby 5.1. ???

Winston-
If you are listening to "network" programming, all of the Video, as well as Audio parameters, are set by FOX in LA. We have NO ability to alter the video or audio coming from FOX due to the use of MPEG splicing. All FOX stations get the same feed: what you hear there on WFXB is exactly the same you would hear from WCCB, WGHP, or WRAZ.

Personally, I would trust the levels from FOX more than any other network. :cool:

WFXB local is another story. We're in the process of improving the audio and video from WFXB's local programming, (which will more closely match FOX's) but that will be a few months before you notice. :)

bdfox18doe,
Thanks for the information. I thought that might be the case since Fox's sound level is almost the same as the Dolby 5.1 level on DVDs. Probably also explains why the sound of the other locals seems to be all from just the front 3 channels with virtually noting from the the rear. Keep up the great work-- picture quality and signal strength are outstanding. Truly the best of all the locals.

bdfox18doe, Thanks for the information..

You're quite welcome. Ken and I are here to answer any questions you guys have.
Feel free to drop us a line at any time. Always enjoy my time down there at WFXB,
and will be there quite a bit in the near future. :eek:

I have a Dishnetwork 622vip. Can the wind make a slight movement of the antenna and cause this? I have a channelmaster 7778 pre-amp but have not tried removing this. The signal strength will go from 85-95% quickly to 0 and then back up within ten seconds.
Thanks for the help!!!
Ken HarrellDish Network has identified a problem with the 622 receiver that may cause problems with OTA DTV reception. Dish Network has addressed this issue in their latest software release, L4.01. To find out if your 622 receiver has been updated, check its software version number: Menu > System Setup > Installation > System Info. If you do not have the upgrade, contact Dish Network.

Check and see if you have ESPN2HD on channel 951, i couldn't find ESPNU, but i went through it pretty quickly.

Channel 951 shows E2HD and no information but it was not there yesterday. Could that be ESPN2HD -- maybe?

It has the same program as analog espn2, and espn2hd on the black borders.

Is TWC in MB really out of HD DVRs? I was just up there about 3 weeks ago swapping a 8000 for a 8300 for my old roommate and there were at least 30 behind the counter.

I just moved into my new house (only 1 mile away) and when the installer came he brought reg DVRs with him. At first he thought they just put the wrong units on his truck. He said they probably figured I wouldn't know the difference. It took 5 phone calls to his Manager to relay they didn't put the wrong one on the truck but they were on back order and they wouldn't have any for weeks. He left me a few 3250s which I may add are horrid. The guide doesn't work from Midnight-2am every night.

The man was so clueless, had no idea what HDMI was, then tried to tell me that he couldn't use the coax installed into my house because I was using a laptop for my internet!?!?!11??1?? He was upset there was only 2 RG6 cables coming out of the house saying they normally charge per outlet but my house is pre-wired into a Home Network Box in my closet. Once he saw the 8 way splitter in it he was on the phone again with his boss. I tried to explain to him one was for TV (white) and the other is for the cable modem (black). He wouldn't hook up the cable modem in my box with a router ready to go, he made me do it since he "had never saw one before"

Anyway, sorry about the rant, I have Ypbpr & audio cables all over my walls until I can get some 8300HDs with an HDMI port!!

I'm not surprised with your issue. It was such a joy when I moved down here in May of 04 and I was able to go to the Oak st location and just pick up my dvr and modem and hook everything up myself since I knew more than the installers they hired. Quick and easy no hassle. I also had no prob picking up a HD DVR when I switched to Hd. I had to swap one out since because it broke but again no issue.

Then I moved and told them of the move and that they would need to switch me over. The lady on the phone told me I had to be there at a certain time to let the man in my house to set me up. I told her I have never had a TWC installer at my house and didn't need one. Her response was "oh" and let me do my own hookups again.

I have heard they no longer let you do what i did in picking up my own equipment and hooking up myself. Which is a shame because I know there are alot of people as knowledgeable or more who can more than handle the hook ups on there own without letting some shady stranger who doesn't know what there doing in their home.

I'm not surprised with your issue. It was such a joy when I moved down here in May of 04 and I was able to go to the Oak st location and just pick up my dvr and modem and hook everything up myself since I knew more than the installers they hired. Quick and easy no hassle. I also had no prob picking up a HD DVR when I switched to Hd. I had to swap one out since because it broke but again no issue.

Then I moved and told them of the move and that they would need to switch me over. The lady on the phone told me I had to be there at a certain time to let the man in my house to set me up. I told her I have never had a TWC installer at my house and didn't need one. Her response was "oh" and let me do my own hookups again.

I have heard they no longer let you do what i did in picking up my own equipment and hooking up myself. Which is a shame because I know there are alot of people as knowledgeable or more who can more than handle the hook ups on there own without letting some shady stranger who doesn't know what there doing in their home.

Not very encouraging. I am headed up to the office today, will report what happens.

They let me pick up a SA3250HD.

Finally, Time Warner and Disney reach agreement.

http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSWEN611120070404

Hey, I haven't been on here in a while, I was wondering if someone had links to some of the relevant Time Warner, Myrtle Beach, HDTV threads and onDemand threads. I wanna start keeping up with the threads for my area again and am having a hard time finding all the relevant ones. I'm particularly interested in finding out about some onDemand channels, when they might show up, etc etc.

Right off the bat, has anyone heard anything about WWE 24/7? I'm just blown away that a SOUTH CAROLINA cable service would overlook one of their largest audiences this side of NASCAR. :) It's been out for over a year now, and they just announced that they'll begin using it as their HD Broadcast test channel.

The Garden City office told me for months that a minimum of two technicians had to come to my home two times to hook up my high speed. When I went to the Myrtle Beach office to pay my bill, I fortunately mentioned this. I left that day with an HD box and a high speed converter. And never missed a minute of work to do so

I've read some posts here and just wondered how some of you receive some of the distant signals that are discussed. Is this through some sort of antennas(forgive my misspelling). Or through cable. I have a Sharp lcd hd that I can receive some channels that my cable box doesn't deliver,i.e. 82.001, 83.002, 84.002, 84.003, 91.001, 100.001, 100.002, 102.005, 102.006, 107.001, and 107.002. I get these through TWC and would love to hear of others I am missing

82.2abc,87.1nbc,87.2fox98.2tnt, i forget the numbers for mhd, dsc hd, also showtime ever so often, but not regular.

Anybody hear any random static popping in the audio on WWMB 21.1 CW during Smallville and Supernatural lastnight?

Anyone know of any new HD channels that might be added soon?

Thanks

Now you've been around long enough to know nobody knows that. ;)

Well, "hope springs eternal" ...lol. Maybe they will finally replace Diana someday.

Anybody hear any random static popping in the audio on WWMB 21.1 CW during Smallville and Supernatural last night?


Yes I did, and also in LOST on WPDE. That's why I came into this topic to see if anyone else was getting it. Whats really strange to me though is the fact it recorded on two different dvr's and they both have that popping sound at the same place's.

Well, I guess its not that strange but it tells me it was a OTA problem only, but because it happen on two different channels at night, sounds like some kind of interference. First time I ever heard it on any OTA channel's and it happen about 4 or 5 different times, during each show.

So, I guess I'll record some random stuff at night and see if it continues, but I hope something hasn't started transmitting some kind of signal that is causing it.

But I just remember that those two stations are owned by the same people, so maybe its just a problem with them. Course I'd think they had to use separate equipment, but then again they never got the video stutter out of ABC.

Yes I did, and also in LOST on WPDE. That's why I came into this topic to see if anyone else was getting it. Whats really strange to me though is the fact it recorded on two different dvr's and they both have that popping sound at the same place's.

Well, I guess its not that strange but it tells me it was a OTA problem only, but because it happen on two different channels at night, sounds like some kind of interference. First time I ever heard it on any OTA channel's and it happen about 4 or 5 different times, during each show.

So, I guess I'll record some random stuff at night and see if it continues, but I hope something hasn't started transmitting some kind of signal that is causing it.

But I just remember that those two stations are owned by the same people, so maybe its just a problem with them. Course I'd think they had to use separate equipment, but then again they never got the video stutter out of ABC.
Thx, I was afraid the digital amps in my receiver was messing up because I also heard it during "Lost" but I was watching it on WTVD 11.1 from Raleigh on TWC (DVR'd) and not WPDE 15.1 at the time. I was watchng Smallville and Supernatural on 21.1 OTA live.

Is anyone have dialog on WWMB 21.2 coming from the rear/back speakers instead of the fronts? For awhile I was only getting sound on 21.2 from the front left speaker but two weeks ago it started sounding like everything is backwards.

Is anyone have dialog on WWMB 21.2 coming from the rear/back speakers instead of the fronts? For awhile I was only getting sound on 21.2 from the front left speaker but two weeks ago it started sounding like everything is backwards.

I just checked 21.2 for you and yes the voice audio is coming out of the rear speakers. Sounds like they got that working really good.

I wonder whats up with the static in the sound recently, because you getting it on another station could mean interference, just taking a guess. But looks like it would also show up on Cable since most get stations OTA.

I really doubt the exact same popping static was broadcast from ABC and CW. I hope its not something that keeps showing up.

I just checked 21.2 for you and yes the voice audio is coming out of the rear speakers. Sounds like they got that working really good.
Thx for letting me know.
I hope its not something that keeps showing up.
Me too.