I read about CBS broadcasting all of the games on Friday and Sunday in HD. Does anyone know if KDKA will be showing these games in HD as well?

That is wrong, not all of the games will be in HD.

I read in another post that only 2 games today were supposed to be in HD. KDKA carried neither one. WOIO in Cleveland carried the Kansas/Pacific game and it was in HD.

Originally posted by hoops10
I read in another post that only 2 games today were supposed to be in HD. KDKA carried neither one. WOIO in Cleveland carried the Kansas/Pacific game and it was in HD.

I don't know which KDKA you watched today, but they showed the Memphis/OSU game in HDTV on KDKA 25. They showed more HD games on Friday when they multicasted which was AWESOME!!!!

My mistake, you are right. They did show the Oklahoma St. game in HD. I didn't get a chance to see any HD games on Friday, but I was kinda disappointed that they didn't have the Kansas game also. I had to watch WOIO in Cleveland for the Kansas game in HD and it only had DS 2.0 sound, not like DD 5.1 sound that KDKA had.

Looking for some help. Recently took the plunge and got a 50" GWIII. Now I need a source for HDTV. My problem is I am a Dish customer so I called them first. They said it would take 6 to 8 weeks to get a 811 receiver to me, forget about a 921. Although I can get one myself Dish is offering a upgrade for a good price so I would want to get it thru them. Just don't like the wait. I am thinking about going to Comcast but I have read in the past that they limit their bitrate and you don't get a true digital picture. Is this the case or am I mistaken. The other option is to go to Direct but have no experience with them so I don't know any pros or cons. Since I have an outdoor antenna I will be getting most of HD OTA but still want cable or dish for the rest of my viewing. I don't want to make any hasty uninformed decisions but Dish ticks me off and if I can I will drop them. Any thoughts or experiences with Comcast or Direct would be appreciated.

Originally posted by dsilinski
Looking for some help. Recently took the plunge and got a 50" GWIII. Now I need a source for HDTV. My problem is I am a Dish customer so I called them first. They said it would take 6 to 8 weeks to get a 811 receiver to me, forget about a 921. Although I can get one myself Dish is offering a upgrade for a good price so I would want to get it thru them. Just don't like the wait. I am thinking about going to Comcast but I have read in the past that they limit their bitrate and you don't get a true digital picture. Is this the case or am I mistaken. The other option is to go to Direct but have no experience with them so I don't know any pros or cons. Since I have an outdoor antenna I will be getting most of HD OTA but still want cable or dish for the rest of my viewing. I don't want to make any hasty uninformed decisions but Dish ticks me off and if I can I will drop them. Any thoughts or experiences with Comcast or Direct would be appreciated.

Am building a new home and, in it, an H/T room. I'm a first gen customer of DirecTV yet was seriously considering giving it up for Armstrong digital cable. Armstrong is much better these days and, as I understand it, a few years ahead of Comcast.

I guess with the move and all, I just didn't want to deal with the hassles and expense of the dish, wiring...blah, blah, blah. Anyhow, my neighbor has a decent HDTV and about two months ago had cable installed. I was really hoping it would look as good or better than DirecTV. Quite frankly, I thought it was pretty bad by comparison. Further, my wife and I love the DirecTiVo with two tuners. Armstrong has a DVR but with one tuner. In other words, you can record shows which is better than nothing but you can't record while watching another channel. My wife, in particular, didn't want to give that up. So...I opted to stick with DirecTV.

Further, although I had to push and move up the food chain within DirecTV...I eventually got them to give me a new dish, FOUR receivers, $100 for a new OTA antenna, 6 months of Showtime for free and a 8-multiswitch. Normally, at best, they'll give you a new dish and three receivers so I think I made out pretty well.

In your case, I suppose you could just call Comcast and have them "plug it in" to check it out and see if you like it. Seems like a fairly inexpensive and quick solution for you. If you're not happy with it...I'd go to DirecTV. I also did some research on VOOM and just don't quite see the value yet with them. Maybe they'll be more competitive down the road.

Good luck.

Thanks Blitzburgh, I think I am going to rule out Comcast. I will call direct TV and see what they offer. I did call Dish back and told them I was unhappy about the wait hoping that they might move me up to keep me. The customer service rep basically said oh well. I want to call them back and say oh well you lost a customer. Maybe one customer doesn't really matter but at least I will get some satisfaction. It stinks having this HDTV and not being able to watch HD.

Anyone with Armstrong...I talked to a service guy today and he said they are planning on rolling out dual-tuner 6408's whenever they are able to get them. :)

Originally posted by dsilinski
Looking for some help. Recently took the plunge and got a 50" GWIII. Now I need a source for HDTV. My problem is I am a Dish customer so I called them first. They said it would take 6 to 8 weeks to get a 811 receiver to me, forget about a 921. Although I can get one myself Dish is offering a upgrade for a good price so I would want to get it thru them. Just don't like the wait. I am thinking about going to Comcast but I have read in the past that they limit their bitrate and you don't get a true digital picture. Is this the case or am I mistaken. The other option is to go to Direct but have no experience with them so I don't know any pros or cons. Since I have an outdoor antenna I will be getting most of HD OTA but still want cable or dish for the rest of my viewing. I don't want to make any hasty uninformed decisions but Dish ticks me off and if I can I will drop them. Any thoughts or experiences with Comcast or Direct would be appreciated.

Dsilinski:
I have been with Dish for over 6 years and have been mostly happy. I also have a 50" Sony GWIII and Dish's HD pack and OTA locals are awesome on this TV using the Dish 6000u.

I had been considering HDTV for a long time but couldn't convince myself it was worth it until Dish decided to unload their stock of 6000's for $149. I jumped on that in October '03 and then went shopping for a HDTV and got the Sony at Sears.

Yes Dish can be a pain ita to deal with, especially with their current shortage of HD receivers. They have a habit of releasing buggy equipment and letting us be beta testers for them. But they have now solved most problems with the 811 and the 921 (except for short supply).

Direct TV is coming out with a new 2 tuner HDTivo but it's availability date keeps geting pushed back. A few units are scheduled for release in mid April but mid year is a better guess for general availability.

I think you will be happy with Dish if you can wait the 6 weeks, but if not - it's a free country, shop around and get the best deal you can.

Rock

Thanks Rock, I think Iam going to stay with Dish regardless of the wait. Talked to Direct but they were not offering any deals. I have been with Dish for about six years and have not had problems with them. I just don't like it that I can buy a 811 somewhere off the shelf but Dish tells me they are behind 6 to 8 weeks. As I said to the Cust service rep how can retailers have your equipment and you don't? Maybe there is a logical explanation for it and if so I would like to hear it.

anyone else lost wqed for a while now

used to come in great on 38/13-3 now i get zippo..... been that way for a while anyone else??

It's been OK on cable.

wqed DT is off the air - they had antenna problems and had to take the antenna down (it is physically gone, it was removed with a helicoper a few saturdays ago) along with wqex - no date on return to air, but cold be awhile - is anyone having problems with wbwc dt reception - mine has gone away for about a week?

WCWB has been gone for me too.

Bill

Yesterday was the first time I picked up the digital simulcast of WPTT-22. Is this a new broadcast or did I just get lucky last night?

I have not been able to get WTAE for over week. It was never the strongest signal, but I could usually pull 77%.:confused:

Watched the NCAA championship last night...
Once again CBS only broadcast the L and R channels of 5.1

Although... it was kind of nice hearing the game without announcers. It felt more like sitting in the stands.

You didn't watch much of the game because it came on after a little while.

Originally posted by Clisenet
You didn't watch much of the game because it came on after a little while. So sure of yourself grasshopper?
I watched the entire game.

A 100% correct statement could have read: The sound was corrected after a little while.

I don't think i've ever watched a 5.1 broadcast that didn't have this problem at least once during the program. Granted, so far this has only included a spattering of live sporting events.

I wonder how many years it will be before this kind of audio snafu is eliminated?

Originally posted by dfiler

Although... it was kind of nice hearing the game without announcers. It felt more like sitting in the stands.


I agree. I really liked it that way. I felt like I had a courtside seat with the players and fans yelling and their shoes squeaking on the court and no blathering announcers. I found it refreshing!

Originally posted by guins
Yesterday was the first time I picked up the digital simulcast of WPTT-22. Is this a new broadcast or did I just get lucky last night?

I have not been able to get WTAE for over week. It was never the strongest signal, but I could usually pull 77%.:confused:


Sunday was the first time in about 2 weeks I could pick-up WB-22 DT, the signal is very low though, 36%. Wtae-dt is 69% here in baldwin township and holding steady.

so no one has any word on when wqed will be back up :(

life without wqed-dt blows. Any word on their antenna problems???

Just got off the phone with Paul Byers, the engineer at QED. The antenna is going up tomorrow, and they hope to be on the air Wed. if all goes well.

thanks for the info. I can't wait. Being stuck with OTA has made my HDTV purchase rather lackluster, especially since wqed-dt has been down. The networks seldom have anything entertaining on. Since I am not into sports and TV dramas I have been quite depressed with my decision to purchase a set at all. I actually bought a antenna and preamp just to get wqed. So I am very happy to here the good news. Hopefully my cable company will get hd soon. I think having movie channels and discoveryHD would help my hd depression.

I feel your pain edogg. CSI looks great in HD but it's still just a TV program. I've watched it a couple of times but can't get excited about it or much other network fare. I did enjoy watching 6th sense last night on ABC even with the commercials and occasional dropouts.

I get most of my HD fix from Dish network's HD Pack.

I'm excited that we'll be getting WQED DTV back. I wonder if they'll publish their schedule anywhere. I was never sure when they would be showing their HD Loop and when they would simulcast regular programming. I sent them an email about that (before their antenna went down) and got a reply from an intern saying that the digital station is still "experimental" so they don't list it.

Unfortunately I can't get wtae-dt our local abc affiliate so I did/nt get to watch the sixth sense. :-(

I don't know if you have ever visited titantv.com, but i have found there schedules to be quite accuarate. Its nice because you can customize it to show only the channels you like. From what I can remeber when I first got my set(october of last year) They played the loops alot but they seemed to be playing alot more pbs and syndicated stuff after that. Let's hope they keep up with that. I always wished they would play reruns of nature instead of the loops. I also enjoyed Tracks Ahead, Europe with Rudy Maxa, and that Desert Speaks...but they reran it everyday of the week. I guess this is what owning a color tv was like in the early sixties.

Did anyone notice that WPXI broadcast 2 digital channels last night? They had the full widescreed HD on 48-1 (remapped to 11-1) and the simulcast of their analog station with election returns on the bottom on 11-2.

That was kinda cool. I wonder if they plan on continuing that or if it was just for election night?
Rock

I am getting some major lipsync on jay leno tonight. Anyone else or is this my problem???

Originally posted by RockScaler
Did anyone notice that WPXI broadcast 2 digital channels last night? They had the full widescreed HD on 48-1 (remapped to 11-1) and the simulcast of their analog station with election returns on the bottom on 11-2.

That was kinda cool. I wonder if they plan on continuing that or if it was just for election night?
Rock I'm seeing a 4:3 broadcast on 48-2 (11-2) all the time now. :-)

I know NBC was planning to start running weather radar on subchannels, but is 11-2 simply a 480i copy of their analog channel? What a waste of bandwidth. Your :-) should be :-( in that case as it's taking away bandwidth from the HD channel.

I wonder if that is not the reason for my lipsync problems?

I've got the same lip sync problem with the tonight show, I think it has the best HD picture out-there, but the lip sync thing drives me crazy. does anyone know if WB-22 is low power or not - signal comes and goes where most others including 40 DT and 4 DT are solid.

I have seen posts by people much farther North of Pittsburgh receiving OTA locals, but the only local I get regularly is KDKA(2). When the moon and stars align just right I can pull in WPGH(53). That was with a signal strength showing 70% on my Voom receiver. KDKA comes in great with just 18-20% strength. My line of sight seems pretty good with no major obstructions.

violet - vhf KDKA 2 CBS PITTSBURGH PA 248° 22.5
violet - vhf WTAE 4 ABC PITTSBURGH PA 206° 27.5
violet - vhf WPXI 11 NBC PITTSBURGH PA 243° 23.1
violet - vhf WQED 13 PBS PITTSBURGH PA 237° 22.2
violet - uhf WQEX 16 PBS PITTSBURGH PA 237° 22.2
violet - uhf WCWB 22 WB PITTSBURGH PA 202° 15.8
violet - uhf WPGH 53 FOX PITTSBURGH PA 247° 21.8

I believe the antenna already installed is a Channel Master Stealth. Antennaweb says that I can not receive any digital channels. The installer says I am two far away from the towers to get any OTA. The fact that I am already getting one steady and sometimes two means nothing.

How far away are you, and what antenna are you using?

You may think you have line of sight, but there must be some significant obstructions if antennaweb puts you in a "violet" area for those analog stations at a mere 22 miles distance. Either that or all of the stations have directional antennas oriented in the opposite direction. Nevertheless, antennaweb, ever so conservative, thinks you can receive analog UHF stations. If you can do that you can also receive DT UHF stations. You've already proven that.

The Stealth antenna that Voom provides has virtually no gain and is useless for your purposes. Just as useless as the opinion of their installer. Of course, that's just...my opinion. At the very least, you'll need something like the Channel Master 3021 (aka 4221A) and probably something other than the Voom dish mount to support it. If you'd rather not experiment, then install a Channel Master 4228. These antennas are available online at www.solidsignal.com, www.warrenelectronics.com, www.starkelectronic.com and other upstanding, above average retailers.

BTW, since you made no reference to Pittsburgh in your message subject, it's really unlikely that anyone from your area will choose to read your message. "Antenna Help for No. of Pittsburgh" might have been more effective. Just a hint for next time...

Thanks for your help! I meant to post my original question in the local Pittsburgh thread and notified the moderator when I realized what I had done.

Is the 4228 a directional antenna? If so what type of coverage does it get? I am talking about the compass orientation. Is 5 degrees feasible at 22 miles or would I need a rotor system? Thanks again!

Just curious if anyone else has Voom and can receive their local Pittsburgh OTA. Something doesn't seem right about having just one channel with a 70% strength signal. Trying to rule out the receiver from my list of problems.

Is anyone having problems receiving OTA WTAE signal recently?

Can anyone give me some recommendations on antenna installers in the Pittsburgh area. I am in the city. I finally got my 811 and now need someone to work on my outside antenna. I have been trying to find someone to do the work but it seems there are few if any that do this work. I did find one that does Dish installations and OTA antenna's but he does both or none. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If anybody starts getting wqed-dt ota please be sure to post something as soon as you see it up. I am anxiously awaiting their return to ota.

thank you.

Originally posted by repass
Is anyone having problems receiving OTA WTAE signal recently?
yeah Blitzburg's having problems getting WTAE but that's nothing new. I have been receiving it fine.

But I have NOT been getting a usable signal on channel 11 WPXI Digital since they started splitting their signal to 11-1 and 11-2. I'm only about 7 miles from their tower and I get constant drop-outs and the signal at best is around 65% and often drops below 50% resulting in a signal loss. In October I carefully positioned a 4 bay bowtie antenna so I could get all the local stations. Now I'm going to have to turn it more towards channel 11 and I'll probably lose WTAE.

Maybe it's a bad thing that cable companies are carrying the HD locals. As long as the cable gets a good signal they figure there's no hurry to boost power for their OTA signal. :mad:

RockScaler -- did you contact WPXI about that? Not that they will do anything, but it would be good for them to know that when they split their signal it had an effect on viewers.

Comcast still isn't carrying WPXI-DT. Still no agreement with station owner Cox I guess. I'd be more upset if NBC actually had more HD content I was interested in. But it would still be nice to get.

Originally posted by dsilinski
Can anyone give me some recommendations on antenna installers in the Pittsburgh area.

Yes...as the regulars know, Greg of Pittsburgh Custom Home Theatre solved many of my issues. His number is (412) 362-1273.

Do not...repeat, DO NOT contact Radio Shack. Digital Visions isn't bad but it's hit and miss regarding getting a really good technician. Call Greg and save yourself some hassles.

Originally posted by RockScaler
yeah Blitzburg's having problems getting WTAE but that's nothing new. I have been receiving it fine.



Just guess it goes to show how much I've complained about WTAE :D .

And, no surprise, I'm STILL not getting their weak, lame signal. That may change as I'm moving into my new home at month's end. Am on top of a hill, as opposed to being in a valley.

I'll let ya'll know...wish me luck.

PS And, as it would be no surprise for all regular members, Greg is doing my install. :D

Thanks Blitzburgh

wqed where are you?????

Originally posted by hondo21
RockScaler -- did you contact WPXI about that? Not that they will do anything, but it would be good for them to know that when they split their signal it had an effect on viewers.



I e-mailed WPXI yesterday about their split signal causing problems. Their website said to address it to engineering but that e-mail was "returned undeliverable" so I tried another address.

I haven't heard anything back yet.

Their signal was better last night. I watched Las Vegas with only a little bit of pixelization and dropouts.

Below is the response I got from WPXI.

At first my receiver still showed both 11-1 and 11-2 even after they stopped sending out 11-2. After deleting channel 11 and re-adding it (twice) I finally got rid of 11-2.

My singnal is still not as steady as before so I now suspect it was due to other factors such as humidity and foliage. I put my antenna up in late fall after the leaves were off the trees (I have many trees on my property) and started having problems with the signal at the beginning of May when the leaves had returned. This weekend I will turn the antenna more towards WPXI and hope I don't lose any other channels.

Rock


Please check the signal again. We have not been sending a second signal (11.2) since Friday 5/7 at about 5:30 PM. I am curious to see if there is any change.

I suspect that the problem lies with the Program System Information Protocol (PSIP). This data tells your receiver how to decode the data stream that is coming from our transmitter. This PSIP data is unique for each station’s HD feed.



We transmit a 19.3 megabit per second (Mb/s) data stream and only occupy 14.9 Mb/s of that with the HD channel (11.1). The remainder (4.4 Mb/s) is unused bandwidth. We took the 4 Mb/s that is needed to transmit the second SD channel (11.2) from the unused portion of the data stream. That will not impact signal strength.



If you still cannot receive a sufficient signal, you may want to have your receiver scan for channels again. This will force your receiver to update its PSIP table. If it had corrupt or faulty information this should help.



From your description of your location, you should not have any problem receiving adequate signal from our HD channel right now. Any increase in power would not be noticeable at your location. Please let me know if your reception problem has changed. I would value your input as we learn how this signal behaves in practice.



Frank Bobro

WPXI TV

Engineering Manager

wqed??

exactly... wqed?

what the heck is taking so long??? sigh.....

Just hooked up my Samsung TS360 receiver 2 days ago. With a small outside UHF directional antenna I can pick up 2,4,11,40,53 perfect. 22 sometimes but not QED at all. Live 10 miles north of Pittsburgh.

well wqed did have a strong signal could get it anywhere in the city.... but they took thier antenna down for repair or somehting :( and its been FOREVER...... no publicity about it that i have seen....... so people go home and search in vain with thier new tv's :( and buy more expensive antennas all for nothing :(

Any HTL-HD users who did receive the new firmware update notice any changes with KDKA? I am from the Youngstown, OH. area and I have always been able to pull in KDKA with no problem. Now that I have the new 2.0 firmware from DirecTV, I can seem to pull it in at all. Did KDKA drop it's power level or something? Any other ideas what might be the problem?

Talked to the enginer at QED yesterday. He said that the new antenna is up, and they are upgrading their transmitters. They now have a target of the end of the month.

That's great news about WQED, but I'm not getting my hopes up yet. Back on 4/26 an engineer told someone on this forum that they would be back on the air by 4/28, and obviously that hasn't happened yet. But at least it sounds like they are working on the problem. As a huge WQED fan (and to a lesser extent, a financial supporter!) I am eager to see them back in the land of DTV.

I will be getting my new Direct TV HDTV tuner next week. What is the current status of the PIttsburgh OTA HDTV networks. I have read thorugh most of the boards but the information is often old. Here are my questions....

1) NBC, ABC, CBS, WB, PBS and Fox. I live in Hampton township north of PIttsburgh will I get these channels and how often/good is the programming.

2) What is the deal with UPN. Thye have been on application status for ever.

Thanks

As long as you are not in a hole you should be able to get all those. I'm in Gibsonia and only have a problem with WTAE when the weather is bad. All the others come in great. QED is off line right now. I miss it :( I guess I should add that I have an outdoor antenna though.

Are WB and Fox actually passing the HDTV (EDTV for Fox) signals? I've flipped to them a couple of times when HD shows are supposed to be broadcast and have never seen anything other than SD.

I've never seen pittsburgh's WB or Fox stations broadcast anything but 480p 4:3 signals... Only standard definition and aspect ratio but at least there is no static.

Does anybody know when we'll see them broadcast the HD (ED) feeds?

They both look to be owned and operated by Sinclair.

Thanks BigD. I also live in Gibsonia.

Originally posted by scott12v
Does anybody know when we'll see them broadcast the HD (ED) feeds?

They both look to be owned and operated by Sinclair.

They both will be passing HD by the end of summer.

Originally posted by Mark Vidonic
They both will be passing HD by the end of summer.

That's good news...thanks.

Sure, good news to you OTA guys. But what about us Comcast people!!! We will become pawns to be sacrificed in the war over "I want a big money deal"

Originally posted by BigG
As long as you are not in a hole you should be able to get all those. I'm in Gibsonia and only have a problem with WTAE when the weather is bad. All the others come in great. QED is off line right now. I miss it :( I guess I should add that I have an outdoor antenna though.

What antenna are you using. The direct tv installer showed up today and they gave me one and I canonly get NBC. Do you actually get ABC as well. I have heard ABC is tough.

I live in McCandless and I have a standard yagi uhf/vhf rooftop antenna with a rotor. I get 2,4,11,53 perfectly but no signal from upn/wb digitally but their analog signal is decent and better than my comcast cable's feed of them. Is the lack of digital reception due low power output from the stations and will the increase to HD improve my chances of receiving them?
joe

Originally posted by trausch
What antenna are you using. The direct tv installer showed up today and they gave me one and I canonly get NBC. Do you actually get ABC as well. I have heard ABC is tough. I live in squirrel hill and use a silver sensor antenna. I can pick up all pittsburgh stations without rotating the antenna... except ABC. No matter what I do, I can't see any signal whatsoever from ABC.

Unfortunately, a roof-top antenna is not possible in my rental. Thus, I find myself simply watching everything but ABC. Too bad ABC doesn't care.

Wstanko, my understanding was the only holdup on putting WCWB-DT and WPGH-DT on Comcast is they wanted to wait until the stations were passing HD material. Why waste the bandwith if it's only a 4:3 picture? Also, WPGH never passed the 16:9 ED signal from Fox.

I live in Cranberry and receive all the digital broadcasts, except QED due to "their little problem", with a $19.99 Radio Shack UHF antenna.

Originally posted by Mark Vidonic
My understanding was the only holdup on putting WCWB-DT and WPGH-DT on Comcast is they wanted to wait until the stations were passing HD material.

Mark, I said that because of the Sinclair ownership. I had read in other places that Sinclair had big money issues and that is why they were blocking Comcast. I sure do hope you are the correct one in this case.

Originally posted by jsnides
I live in Cranberry and receive all the digital broadcasts, except QED due to "their little problem", with a $19.99 Radio Shack UHF antenna.

Wow you must live on a mountain.

Aw, didn't you know, everything's better in Cranberry! ;)

Actually jsnides lives at a higher elevation, and he also has the advantage of direction...all stations are south of where he lives and the angle of degrees probably isn't all that different from one station to the next.

l live high on a hill in Forest Hills, so I do pretty good reception-wise. The one thing I can't figure out is that WTAE's station is WEST of where I live, but according to antennaweb, I need to point my antenna EAST. I guess the station and the DTV antenna are not co-located.

[
l live high on a hill in Forest Hills, so I do pretty good reception-wise. The one thing I can't figure out is that WTAE's station is WEST of where I live, but according to antennaweb, I need to point my antenna EAST. I guess the station and the DTV antenna are not co-located. [/B][/QUOTE]


WTAE has their tower in Elizabeth.

Everything but traffic is better in Cranberry ;-). I don't live on a mountain but Bob is right about the elevation and the need to only point my antenna south south east. Did anyone hear any updates on QED?

*Moving this post into this thread from the main forum.*

Hi - I have an odd situation and I'd like to hear some opinions. I'm not terribly tech-savvy in regards to TVs, so bear with me as I try to explain my situation:

I subscribe to Comcast in the Pittsburgh, PA area (Ross Twp.). Right now I only receive four HD channels, ESPN HD, PBS HD, and two local channels have HD feeds. PBS shows HD content 24/7, and that picture is always in 16:9 and HD. The two local channels usually only show a couple hours per night in HD, usually prime time stuff. When they're showing HD content, the picture of course is 16:9. When they're just showing regular digital content, the picture goes back to 4:3.

My problem is with the ESPN HD channel (773). Whether they are showing HD or regular digital content, the picture is always in 16:9. When the show is HD, of course, this is perfect. But when it's the regular digital shows, it looks like crap, artificially stretched. Does anyone else notice this?

I called Comcast to ask about this. I explained my issue with the ESPN HD channel, and the tech put me on hold. He came back and told me that he'd checked their feeds and it's displayed the same way there. He didn't know why either. Now why in the world would this be happening, and since it's happening on their end, is there nothing I can adjust on my end to change it????

When I first had Comcast setup my HD box, the installer tried to fix this issue. He accessed some menu through the controller (which he said they usually don't tell customers about), and changed the setting to 4:3. This fixed the ESPN HD channel, but messed up all of the other channels. So I told him to set it back to the default. Any ideas on what's going on with this one channel?

Thanks a lot!

It's not your fault or Comcast's, ESPN is braindead.

No matter how you receive ESPNHD...Cable, DirectTV or otherwise you will see ESPN stretched. Check HD programming threads for the many threads about this issue. It is idiotic & I'll bet the movie advertisers just love seeing all their movie trailers stretched. If you get a chance check out ESPN's "5.1" circlejerk surround.

Originally posted by Scott Pgh
Now why in the world would this be happening, and since it's happening on their end, is there nothing I can adjust on my end to change it????
I don't know what STB you are using but my DierecTV box allows me to take in the signal thru S-Video connection & then re stretch it to normal 4:3 aspect ratio. I feel your pain.

Does WTAEDT 51 boost their signal when they broadcast in hd? i was watching the Flames vs. Lighting hockey game tonight just fine at 77% :D .(..antennaweb doesn't even list ABC as an available station) :( But the picture was just as good as my satellite ESPN HD feed. but now that the game is over I am not able to lock in WTAE at all!?!?!? if only they boosted the POWER!!!! i would be able to drop my local dish channels and stick to an OTA antenna:confused:

I'm moving to Pittsburgh (Mt. Lebanon to be specific) in June. What will I need to get OTA stations? Is reception generally good south of the city?

Originally posted by trausch
I will be getting my new Direct TV HDTV tuner next week. What is the current status of the PIttsburgh OTA HDTV networks. I have read thorugh most of the boards but the information is often old. Here are my questions....

1) NBC, ABC, CBS, WB, PBS and Fox. I live in Hampton township north of PIttsburgh will I get these channels and how often/good is the programming.

2) What is the deal with UPN. Thye have been on application status for ever.

Thanks

I used the standard winegard antenna that direct tv installed for free and iT sucked......I bought a Channel Master 4228 and it works great. I directed it towards ABC and now I get all the channels.

Hey Pgh! Wqed is back on the air as of 3:45 today

Cool!! I'll try a channel scan..

I cant get WQED on VOOM tonite, but all my other locals are comming in fine

I'm glad QED is back but my signal is real weak. I use to get it no problem now it's around 50% signal strength and I am having a lot of drop outs. Has anyone else noticed this?

Just checked my signal. Wqed is at 76. Had no problems so far .

My signal is about the same mediocre as I remember, but the weather we've had isn't helping either. I need to put my antenna on the roof one day but have been lazy up til now. I am very thankful to have qed back, but now I wish they'd mix up their schedule a little more. If they showed more reruns of Nature or other great PBS material it would be great. Very happy though.

Thanky you WQED

I think the weather was messing with me yesterday. Today I'm in the 60+% range and no more dropouts. Thanks for the replys!

QED has been pretty strong for me so far (80-90% range), although Monday it died about ten minutes into that special on the Grand Canyon explorers...no signal whatsoever for a long time. But, I watched the Stanley Cup anyway. Last night QED was up again but I watched the Lakers/Pistons game.

Originally posted by petesimac
I'm moving to Pittsburgh (Mt. Lebanon to be specific) in June. What will I need to get OTA stations? Is reception generally good south of the city?

I see you're moving from Atlanta where I suspect you have little trouble getting most channels OTA...because Atlanta's fairly flat. While I can't give you specific help in answering your question (I live north of Pittsburgh), you should know that most of Pittsburgh is hilly...north, south, east and west of the City.

Of course, with hills comes the likelihood of not getting an OTA signal. You'll likely get NBC (WPXI- 11) and CBS (KDKA - 2) regardless of where you live. You stand a good chance of getting PBS (WQED- 13) and FOX (53) with virtually little chance of getting ABC (WTAE - 4) or Sinclair's WB (22)...and with the latter, who cares since they have no HD content anyhow.

As the folks on this Forum well know, I've complained LOUDLY to everyone at WTAE - 4 to no avail. They simply have little power strength kicking out and their lame answers only show their continued ignorance in general.

If you haven't picked a home yet in Mt. Lebanon...buy a house on a hill for obvious reasons. :D

Yes...after nearly 9 months of building my new home, it's complete and we moved in. My home theatre room is nearly 98% complete thanks to the terrific job done by Pittsburgh Custom Home Theatre.

My room is 21' x 16'. I have a Da-Lite 92" fixed screen, the Sony HS20 projector, Sony 5000ES receiver, Sony 555ES DVD player, Sony HD300 tuner, the MX700 remote, Niles IR repeater, seven Paradigm speakers and their biggest sub woofer. Heck...even my lights can be dimmed or raised via my remote.

It rocks...

Sounds awesome, post some pictures. :)

Blitz, when is the AVS Forum housewarming barbecue and pool party?

First, it's good to see that Pittsburgh DTV is alive and well. Hopefully one of you will be able to help me out.

I'll be moving to the Squirrel Hill area in one week, and I'll be within 200 ft. of Frick Park (between Morrowfield Ave. & Douglas St. near Beechwood. I don't want to publicly post exactly where I'll be living for safety reasons). Antennaweb says that all the Pittsburgh Digital channels are in the Yellow antenna range for me, with the exception of WPXI, which is in Red (assuming, I'm not too close to trees, which I don't think I am, but c'mon, I'm near Frick Park).

Currently, I don't own any antenna, so I'm in the market to buy one. I think my wife would like to get analog channels first, since upgrading to digital is a bit expensive, though I think I can convince her to let me get an STB.[list=1] Is it worth it to try and invest in a UHF/VHF antenna, or should I just get an STB and a UHF antenna?
In either case, which antenna should I get? I don't know whether the Silver Sensor will be sufficient or not for DTV/UHF reception in my area. Robust reception is pretty important to me, though I don't want to get an 8-bay antenna either.
How much would professional installation cost? Also, I'm having roof work done to the house I'm moving into. Would it be worthwhile to see if my roofer can install an antenna while he's up there, or would it be better to get someone else to install it? For those who know him, my roofer is Steve Josowitz[/list=1]
Any help in this area would of course be greatly appreciated. Thank you,

sthayashi

I live near the Parkway right on the border of Greenfield, and just use 2 Radio Shack bow ties joined with a "Join-Tenna" sitting in my attic. The main problem I had was that the wtae tower (i think) is in the opposite direction from the rest. With just those, I get a solid signal pretty much all the time.

Originally posted by Petey_S
I live near the Parkway right on the border of Greenfield, and just use 2 Radio Shack bow ties joined with a "Join-Tenna" sitting in my attic. The main problem I had was that the wtae tower (i think) is in the opposite direction from the rest. With just those, I get a solid signal pretty much all the time.

Just my opinion but I think you could own a TV right in WTAE's building or right next to their tower and their signal would still be too weak to pick anything up.

Ya think?

"But hey, that's just my opinion and I could be wrong!" - Dennis Miller :D

What is this WTAE you speak of? ;-)
I've never received any such station in Squirrel Hill.

But seriously. It doesn't even register on my signal strength bar.

Originally posted by Mark Vidonic
Blitz, when is the AVS Forum housewarming barbecue and pool party?

Hey...I'd be all for it though the dogs (3) might object... :eek:

Would love to post some photos but don't think it would do it justice. Besides, my decorating has yet to begin. It is all very SWEET my friends...I feel very fortunate.

Pittsburgh Custom Home Theatre is coming tomorrow to finish the OTA install and I'm hoping to pull in WTAE as my new house sits on top of a hill. Five will get you ten I don't get it...:mad:

I'll keep ya'll posted!!

Comes in without a problem for me. I am on the top of the hill though.

I can demonstrate if necessary. . .

Blitzburgh, where exactly do you live?

One thing that I find a bit puzzling is that WTAE (ABC, for the person who asked), is almost precisely East of my location. Yet, antenna web claims that it is 12 miles at 159, which is SSE from me. So is antenna web wrong? Or does WTAE broadcast from a different location than where their studio is located?

Also, Blitzburgh, how much is the installation running you? I'm curious as to what antenna I should invest in and how much it'll cost.

wtae studio's are located in wilkinsburg right off the parkway, but their transmitter is in elizibeth township which is south of the city

Sorry for the offtopic post, but anyone in the North Pittsburgh Telco region might want to take a look at their new 3Mbps DSL service. They aren't advertising it to current customers so I just found it by accident. If you are a current DSL customer you are also probably being overcharged for your current service since they lowered their 256 and 512 rates but didn't lower it for current customers.

http://www.connecttime.net/pricing_availability.asp

Originally posted by sthayashi
Blitzburgh, where exactly do you live?

One thing that I find a bit puzzling is that WTAE (ABC, for the person who asked), is almost precisely East of my location. Yet, antenna web claims that it is 12 miles at 159, which is SSE from me. So is antenna web wrong? Or does WTAE broadcast from a different location than where their studio is located?

Also, Blitzburgh, how much is the installation running you? I'm curious as to what antenna I should invest in and how much it'll cost.

I'm using the Channel Master Yagi 4225...I think that's the model number but I forget...with a pre-amp 7335...or something like that, sorry. Install cost is based on time so it depends on what the installer is dealing with. Generally, I'd think it shouldn't take much more than an hour and a half.

As most on here know, I only us Greg of Pittsburgh Custom Home Theatre. His rates are not higher than Digital Visions or other "high end" stores that provide hardware, software..."turn key" operation. In fact, most don't know...I didn't...but Greg has it all as well. Anyhow, if it's just the antenna you're installing, it would probably cost $100 + or -.

Hope this helps.

PS When Greg did my OTA antenna install today, I recall his saying he pointed toward 160 which got me the strongest signal from WTAE. It's unbelieveable but I actually can get WTAE...for now!

PPS Quick Edit...I live on top of the hill in the Preserve East plan in Cranberry...which is why I suspect I'm now able to get WTAE. The wife don't know it but it's one of the reasons I chose this lot/plan to build the new home.

Originally posted by agtiny
Sorry for the offtopic post, but anyone in the North Pittsburgh Telco region might want to take a look at their new 3Mbps DSL service. They aren't advertising it to current customers so I just found it by accident. If you are a current DSL customer you are also probably being overcharged for your current service since they lowered their 256 and 512 rates but didn't lower it for current customers.

http://www.connecttime.net/pricing_availability.asp

Thanks...I'm going to check mine out tomorrow.

Anybody south of the city...Armstrong started HD service this week on the Connellsville system. Includes 2,4,11,13 digital, ESPN-HD, HDNET, HDNET Movies, HBOHD, ShowtimeHD and Cinemax HD. I had a Dish6000 w/o local (I'm in a valley), but a tree got my 119 sightline a couple of weeks ago so I scheduled cable install with HDPVR, expecting it might be months before the HD channels were up. Installer told us they started HD this week. He put in Motorola PVR (6208) all new wiring, hooked everything up correctly and its working fabulously so far.

Originally posted by agtiny
Sorry for the offtopic post, but anyone in the North Pittsburgh Telco region might want to take a look at their new 3Mbps DSL service. They aren't advertising it to current customers so I just found it by accident. If you are a current DSL customer you are also probably being overcharged for your current service since they lowered their 256 and 512 rates but didn't lower it for current customers.

http://www.connecttime.net/pricing_availability.asp


NPTCO sent me a letter advising that prices were being lowered and the new service was available. Also, there was a flyer advertising the new service in my latest bill. You may need a new modem for the 3Mbps service, which they'll send by UPS. You mail back your old modem at no cost.

Suggestion: Don't ask them to turn on the new service on a Friday, as I did. There was a computer programming error on their part, and it wasn't fixed until Monday. As a result, I was without high-speed service for the weekend, and it was badly missed as I was working on a project for work.

So far, my service is testing out at 1.5 Mbps rather than 3. I'd be curious if anyone is getting a much higher speed than I am.

I got mine installed last Friday. Took the guy about 1 minute to switchover the connection at the CO. It's coming out between 3.5 and 3.8 Mbps at all times I've tested it. It's nice. :) I get online billing so that may be why I never heard about it. They refused to give me a credit on the amount I overpaid because apparently I signed up under some "deal". That's not true but oh well, it's not that much money.

Anyone getting Discovery HD on Comcast?

Originally posted by Mark Vidonic
Anyone getting Discovery HD on Comcast?

I'm not.

I haven't seen DiscoveryHD show up yet on Comcast either. Assuming we'll get it soon, I wonder what channel it will be on?

Another OT post but here goes, Armstrong just raised their Speeds again, the Zoom Pro package is still $59 a month for 4.5mbit down and 512K up. Not bad as this is the second upgrade in 6 months.

Originally posted by hondo21
I haven't seen DiscoveryHD show up yet on Comcast either. Assuming we'll get it soon, I wonder what channel it will be on?

I don't think any one has it, I am still waiting for it on Armstrong.

man, i started reading this thread and its over 40 pages so please don't kill me if this has been answered before, all help is much appreciated.

i recently moved to cranberry township and i just got the armstrong service with hdtv. the hdtv channels are incredible, however the channels i watch the most are channels 2-70 which are just normal analog channels, not even digital quality. i think i am canceling armstong and getting dish network with hdtv so that i can get the "normal" cable channels in digital tv, the analog signal from armstong just looks horrible in my opinion. however, if i do this i will lose the great HDTV armstrong has for abc, nbc, and cbs. with an over the air antenna can i get near the HDTV quality of armstrong for cbc, nbc, etc? with the digital cable provided by dishnetwork be that much better a picture than what armstongs analog signal is?

any input is much appreciated... perhaps i can't do any better than what i am now with armstrong i don't know.

In general, HDTV will look the same no matter how you receive it. An OTA antenna will be fine provided you can tune in all of the Pittsburgh stations. The hardest one up here is WTAE ABC because their signal is so weak. I know the analog channels really suck on Armstrong, but before you give it up, try out the 6208 DVR box for a month or so. Then consider that you will have to pay around $1000 to get an HD DVR on a satellite system. :)

Another thing you can try for the analog channels is splitting the cable and hooking it up directly to your TV's tuner. TV's always have better filters and things to make analog cable look better than it does through the cable box. If it still sucks, look at channels 400+. That's what all non-HD channels will look like on satellite. They are still pretty poor quality on a large TV.

As many of us are aware, the local FOX affiliate WPGH Fox 53, is owned by those notorious digital TV foot-draggers, Sinclair Broadcasting. They currently transmit a virtually useless weak digital signal that many describe as being worse than the analog channel. I get my HD via Comcast cable, so I can't comment on it from personal experience.

This has not been a huge deal up till now since FOX hasn't broadcast HD anyway, although they have done their "high resolution" Fox Widescreen EDTV (480p). But now things are getting serious. FOX is moving to 720p soon and most notably will be broadcasting a full slate of HD NFL games, including the playoffs and Super Bowl in January. Not to mention primetime shows like "24." Unless Sinclair/Fox 53 upgrades soon, we're going to miss out on all that here in the Burgh area. They're not on the list of Fox stations ready for HD (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=409554).

Has anybody heard any encouraging news on this front at all? Is any kind of work underway at the station to move them towards HD?

I submitted an inquiry about this via the Fox53 website, and urged them to upgrade to HD ASAP, citing the aforementioned Fox programming looming on the horizon. I know it probably won't do any good, but I think it's important for the station and its owner to know that there are some of us out here who notice what they do (and don't do) and who care. I urge you to send them a quick note too. And if you get HD via cable like me, make sure you note that you'd like to see WPGH-DT on cable.

Here is the website contact form:

http://www.wpgh53.com/pittsburgh_pa/station/contact_departments.shtml

Originally posted by agtiny
In general, HDTV will look the same no matter how you receive it. An OTA antenna will be fine provided you can tune in all of the Pittsburgh stations. The hardest one up here is WTAE ABC because their signal is so weak. I know the analog channels really suck on Armstrong, but before you give it up, try out the 6208 DVR box for a month or so. Then consider that you will have to pay around $1000 to get an HD DVR on a satellite system. :)

Another thing you can try for the analog channels is splitting the cable and hooking it up directly to your TV's tuner. TV's always have better filters and things to make analog cable look better than it does through the cable box. If it still sucks, look at channels 400+. That's what all non-HD channels will look like on satellite. They are still pretty poor quality on a large TV.

yes, i already have the cable split and hooking it up directly, its just not acceptable how it comes in. the DVR box i do have, and yes it rules but i am definitely getting satellite... since arstrong and sat are relatively the same price..

the big problem i am having now though is going back and forth between directv and dish network. i can't seem to find a way to justify getting directv even though i'd love to have sunday ticket because they want $300 for the hd satellite, where as dish network i don't have to pay any upfront fees at all. the HDtivo for direct is obviously better, but i don't think the $300 difference can be justified no matter how much i try. plus, dish network now has Turner (TBS) in HDTV and you can get CBS HDTV out of LA or NY if you get permission from the youngstown CBS station which after calling youngstown shouldn't be a problem.

thanks so much for you input. since i watch comedy central, E!, mtv etc a ton armstrongs analog signal is just horrible i can't live with it. what is especially dumb about armstrong is how channels above 70 are digital cable, like mtv2, nick2, etc are in digital with a much better picture than the standard channel. i have the HD PVR that arstrong installed and yes it is great being able to record HD but i guess i'd rather spend the grand or whatever it will cost to get a high def recorder, even though armstongs at the $1 a month they are charging me is a great bargain.

It costs $1 a month?

Also does anyone have more info on when Armstrong is going to add more channels?

ok the big question i have and i need opinions for all that can give... do channels such as MTV, Comedy Central, E!, etc come better with satellite (dish net or directv) in comparison to armstong? it seems like since dish is a digital signal it would automatically be better than armstrongs current analog channels, but some people have told me there is no noticeable difference. anyone with armstrong could help me with this, opinions? thanks.

Yes, the quality will be better on satellite. The channels will look similar to Armstrong channels 400+, i.e. no fuzz, ghosting, or other analog artifacts.

My $39.95/month Armstrong Zoom is consistently clocking in at 3.6-3.7Mbps. They just need to get their upstream to better than 256 so I can see my kids better on our nightly videoconference (SightSpeed rocks).

Anyone know when Armstrong/Motorola will have a new box - 6412 or whatever they will call their dual tuner/120GB device? Dual tuner isn't that big a deal, but recording HD sucks up space.

What is $1/month? My HD is $3 and PVR is $6.

One caveat to the dbs signal being free of analog artifact which my experience confirmed but with my set up, sony 8" crt on to 100"diag screen with Faroudja scaler @ 1380x1040, I had Dish for a week and initially I was impressed with how 'clean' the picture looked compared to my Comcast and OTA reception. But as I watched further I began to notice the edges of everything against backrounds 'shimmering' rather than well defined which increased with any motion. When I mentioned this to the installer who was letting me trial the set up he said that was digital artifact due to compression of the signal. He said he has had that complaint from other clients who use large projection screens. Some find it acceptable others like myself was too distracting compared to the analog 'fuzz' and so I went back to cable and OTA.
Many on this forum when asked about this responded that they never watch broadcast dbs material on their larger displays only hdtv and dvd, they only use their 36" or less sets for that which they say dbs looks great.
joe

WPGH-DT is now broadcasting 720P on 53.1 and also added a sub-channel 53.2 as of 5 pm today!

Wow! I never thought I'd see the day. I wonder if they have the hardware to pass Fox shows in widescreen now. Heh, I bet we'll never see them on cable though, given Sinclair's greediness. I'll email Armstrong and see if they've been talking about it.

Originally posted by agtiny
Wow! I never thought I'd see the day. I wonder if they have the hardware to pass Fox shows in widescreen now. Heh, I bet we'll never see them on cable though, given Sinclair's greediness. I'll email Armstrong and see if they've been talking about it.
I have been emailing Comcast several times and they gave me the standard reply about nothing. So today I called customer service and got a real sweet heart who said she was passing all my Comcast questions about Discovery, Fox and NBC along by email to a representative who handles this area. She wanted permission for any party to call me with information. :D (Yeah)

I'll update this one.

I asked for encouraging news on Fox 53 and you supplied it! Thanks for the news. Keep us updated on all the details. No reply from the station to my inquiry of the other day.

Here's the word from Armstrong.


We have had preliminary discussions with WPGH, but Sinclair is challenging to deal with. I'm cautiously optimistic.

We should be adding TNT HD before September and I expect an improved offering from NBC shortly, which will either enhance or replace Bravo HD, now that their merger with Vivendi has gone through.

Are you still relatively pleased with our HD service? Suggestions? We expect to offer PVR's with dual tuners this fall, as soon as the TV Guide integration issues with Motorola are solved.

I envy you with Armstrong. That reply shows that somebody there knows what is going on, unlike the completely clueless responses you get from Comcast CSRs on any HD-related question. Not to mention that we don't have as much HD content on Comcast.

Don't get too excited about TNT HD. I have it on Dish and I don't think they've broadcast a single thing on it in HD other than basketball playoffs.

Great news about Fox OTA! I'll have to check it out tonight and see how it looks.

Wonder if this means WB might upgrade soon, since they are Sinclair as well.

Yes, WCWB will be upgraded as well.

I currently do not get WCWB-DT nor UPN-DT, I live on a hill top in North Hills with a basic( 40mi. range?) rooftop YAGI antenna on a rotor. Will the HD upgrade be more like to increase my chance of reception if this is a matter of output power? I currently get the hd CBS, ABC, NBC, and FOX.
joe

You are not getting UPN19-DT (their call letters escape me right now, it's been a long day) because it doesn't exist. CBS/Viacom, the parent company of UPN (and of KDKA) has been trying to get their digital channel assignment changed for years with no luck, so they've been getting extensions to their construction permit.

Originally posted by gmc9512
WPGH-DT is now broadcasting 720P on 53.1 and also added a sub-channel 53.2 as of 5 pm today!

Yes...I noticed that as well. My 53.2 shows as coming through satellite while 53.1 reads as OTA-DT.

What's that all about?

Note in today's Post-Gazette Tuned In TV column (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04183/339873.stm):Discovery HD on Comcast

Beginning today, Comcast will offer a Discovery Channel network, Discovery HD Theater, in high-definition on Channel 789, moving to Channel 205 on Aug. 30.

Discovery Network's content, including "Monster Garage," "Trading Spaces" and "What Not to Wear," will also be available from Comcast's On Demand service.

So can anyone view 789 yet? Its not showing up in the North Hills.

WCWB-DT has added their subchannel as of at least 11AM today. They are running color bars on 22.2, and my tuner indicated it's HD. Very good news. It seems that they are doing the reverse of WPGH 53.1 is the HD channel, while 53.2 is the SD upconvert. WCWB seems to be 22.1 will be the SD upconvert while 22.2 will be HD. Obviously, this might change once WCWB gets both working, but that's what it seems to be now.
Also, I am in Imperial (near the airport), Discovery HD is up on 789 for me.

Originally posted by Mark Vidonic

Also, I am in Imperial (near the airport), Discovery HD is up on 789 for me.

Uh-oh, it is not on in the North Hills and I have a sinking feeling that we won't get it for some time. We still don't have InHD 1 or 2, and the last time I talked to Comcast about the issue, they said that the Ross head-end needs to be upgraded and didn't have a timeframe for the upgrade.

Ouch. Sorry, Scott, you may be SOL for a while then.

I was wondering why all of a sudden I had 2 different feeds for WPGH! (When I was watching, 53.1 was a 4:3 image "stretched" to fill 16:9 screen, whereas 53.2 was "pillarboxed".) Hopefully this means the upcoming Fox HD football season will be as good as promised!

Card hacking posts deleted.

Originally posted by wstanko
I have been emailing Comcast several times and they gave me the standard reply about nothing. So today I called customer service and got a real sweet heart who said she was passing all my Comcast questions about Discovery, Fox and NBC along by email to a representative who handles this area. She wanted permission for any party to call me with information. :D (Yeah)

I'll update this one.

She just called back this afternoon to tell me that Discovery was now on! "What a country we live in"
She has heard nothing of the other two, but hey, she had never heard of Discovery before I called. So goes life when calling for information, you land up giving more than receiving.
Thanks group for keeping me up to date for Comcast CSR are clueless.

Originally posted by scott12v
So can anyone view 789 yet? Its not showing up in the North Hills.

Yes, 789 coming in nice here in Brighton Heights area of the Pittsburgh. Now if Comcast could get WPGH and WPXI in HD.

I think I'm going tomorrow to exchange my 5100 for a 6280. I'm due for a change

Originally posted by WRL
Yes, 789 coming in nice here in Brighton Heights area of the Pittsburgh. Now if Comcast could get WPGH and WPXI in HD.

I think I'm going tomorrow to exchange my 5100 for a 6280. I'm due for a change

Do you know what head-end you are on? I thought most of the North Hills was on the Ross Head-end... I'm in McCandless, so you're not far away...but no Discovery for me.

Do you have the InHD channels?

Originally posted by scott12v
Do you know what head-end you are on? I thought most of the North Hills was on the Ross Head-end... I'm in McCandless, so you're not far away...but no Discovery for me.

Do you have the InHD channels?

No, I have no idea what head end. I'm a few hundred feet from the Ross twp border. I do get the INHD channels (774 and 775) and both look great!

I have DiscoveryHD now on 789 on Comcast out of Greensburg. But watching a little of the Jeff Corwin Experience there was a lot of picture breakup going on. Looks like they still need to fine tune things. When the picture isn't fragmenting it looks very nice, right up there with the PBS (790)quality which I think is best of the HD channels. I'll wait awhile and see if things improve before calling to inform them of problems.

Now that 53 is 720P does that mean we will be able to enjoy the "Fox Widescreen" broadcasts?

Originally posted by WRL
Yes, 789 coming in nice here in Brighton Heights area of the Pittsburgh. Now if Comcast could get WPGH and WPXI in HD.

I think I'm going tomorrow to exchange my 5100 for a 6208. I'm due for a change

Damn, I went and exchanged my 5100 for the 6208 today and lost my Discovery HD (Channel 789). Some of my other HD channels were giving me the "not authorized" message. Got them taken care of, but I don't think the rep was very knowledgable. I told her my INHD channels were giving me the not authorized message, and she told me they are pay-per-view and I shouldn't be receiving them. Got them back now :)

I want my DiscoveryHD back! She told me it hasn't been 'released' yet, and if I was receiving in on my 5100, I shouldn't have been

Continued complete incompetence from Comcast CSRs.

They truly know virtually nothing about their own HD offerings or plans. I can't believe they still think INHD is pay-per-view after they've been here for over 10 months.

Originally posted by hondo21
Continued complete incompetence from Comcast CSRs.

They truly know virtually nothing about their own HD offerings or plans. I can't believe they still think INHD is pay-per-view after they've been here for over 10 months.

I didn't want to argue with her about it. She was very nice on the phone. I just asked if she could do something about the not authorized message I was also getting on KDKA, knowing that once that was ok, I'd gt my INHD back. I just don't understand why I lost DiscoveryHD. The channel listing isn't even on the preview guide now. She did tell me it would be channel 205 though, not 789 :p

Just another update, as of about 5 minutes ago, I am now receiving DiscoveryHD and it is on channel 205. No longer on 789

Originally posted by BigG
Now that 53 is 720P does that mean we will be able to enjoy the "Fox Widescreen" broadcasts?

It doesn't look like we are. I'm watching Bernie Mack on the 53.1 right now and it is not in widescreen...even though it had the "fox widescreen where available" ad during the opening of the show.

I'm not getting DiscoveryHD now, but it's there on both 789 and 205 with "this channel available shortly."

Originally posted by hondo21
I'm not getting DiscoveryHD now, but it's there on both 789 and 205 with "this channel available shortly."

It's back here on 789 also. I'm getting it crystal clear on both 205 and 789

Im new to the area and live to the south of pittsburgh. i dont think that comcast offers hd down there as part of the cable package. I was thinking about voom or maybe directtv. does anyone have any suggestions and if you are subscribing to voom, how well do the local hd channels come in using their provided ota antenna. thanks.

Kamalis14,
Where are you in the SH's? In Canonsburg we get the full HD package from Comcast.

in Washington

I've been told by the Comcast workers that Canonsburg is a hub for the Washington service so you should have full access to all the HD channels. Unless you are desperate for putting up the OTA system and fighting the battle of uneven reception, go for the easy solution. One year ago I left Dish with all its promises for more HD and have steadily picked up new HD channels one by one on Comcast. Of course they are still negotiating with WPXI and I guess now with WPGH. Those two would really "make my day."

Anyone have a Dish 811 receiver and using that to pick up pittsburgh OTA channels? I can't get KDKA to save to the channel lineup. I found one other person with the same problem on another forum. Just wondering if anyone can actually tune to it with an 811, and if so, whats your secret?

KDKA shows up as 25-1, not 2-1. For some reason it doesn't remap.

Yea that drives me crazy! Someone shoud call them. nudge nudge

You have it showing up as 25-1 Greg? What I'm saying is, I can't get it to show up at all. It finds it when it scans for digital channels, but it never actually shows up in the list of channels. I can't tune to it directly either. Same deal when I try to manually add it. Someone else had the exact same problem.

Dish receivers will download info on what digital stations are in your area. Unless you get a signal strength locked signal, you will not be able to tune to the station.

Originally posted by Jeraden
You have it showing up as 25-1 Greg? What I'm saying is, I can't get it to show up at all. It finds it when it scans for digital channels, but it never actually shows up in the list of channels. I can't tune to it directly either. Same deal when I try to manually add it. Someone else had the exact same problem.

I have KDKA in my on screen guide as 2.1 and 25.1...too funny, eh?

I'm trying to update a master list of OTA HD stations. Pittsburgh has not yet been updated. Can somebody that knows what networks are broadcasting in HD or HD/DD5.1 go to the following link and post the info?

National List of Stations Broadcasting HD / DD5.1 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=422073)

Just need the Network, Re-mapped Channel#, and if they're DD 5.1. For any of the networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, UPN & WB) that are currently broadcasting in HD.

Thanks....

Anyone notice that TitanTV is listing 3 new PBS stations now? In addition to the channel 38 (13-3, primarily HD) they are listing 33-1, -2 and -3. It appears 13-3 and 33-1 are simulcasting, but 33-2 and 33-3 are different material. 33-2 seems to be all children's programming, and 33-3 is all educational/how-to programming.

I haven't tuned into these new channels yet, anyone know if they are really up and running?

46 pages are a bit read all. so can someone tell what channels are ready in pittsburgh area atm?( I currently have dishnetwork)

Any word on FOX?

I'm curious... when they'll start boradcasting HD content over their current HD signal?

I've yet to see anything other than SD. Or have I just become blind over the years?

I'm quite thankful that I don't have to play aspect ratio games with FOX or WB anymore since they're broadcasting 4x3 only on their *-2 channel and 16x9 on the *-1. Now if only they'd put the H in HD.

Found out those "new" PBS stations are WNPB from Morgantown, West Virginia...I can't pull them in. Oh well!

According to TitanTV, tonight WPGH FOX (53-2) will be broadcasting "North Shore" in HDTV at 8 pm. This is the first HD programming I have noticed on Fox, hopefully everything will work out okay and I will gain more confidence in their ability to broadcast the upcoming football season in HD!

Don't get too excited. Titan Tv has been adverstising Fox HD programs for the past few weeks. None have been in HD tho. It looks like they are thaking the "small baby steps" approach to HD.

At least small baby steps are better than no steps at all. It may be snails pace but there is progress in our local HD offerings.

Has anyone else noticed that PBS D-38 remaps to channel 80? What's that all about? But channel 2 (D-25) finally remapped to 2.1 on my latest scan.

Now if there was only some kind of progress on UPN -19 I'd really be happy. But I guess the FCC is even slower than the networks.
-Rock

So was North Shore shown in HD?

I know that a WFMJ and a WYTV employee(out of Youngstown, OH) have posted in the past about when their stations were going digital.

I was wondering if someone with knowledge over at WKBN(CBS out of Youngstown, OH) will let us know when they will start broadcasting digital. They have been waiting for their"FCC Permit" forever. It would be nice to know of any date to do so.

Also FOX out of Youngstown as well. When are they going digital.

So was North Shore shown in HD?
:o I forgot to watch! I can never get around to watching TV that early, I'm more of a 9:30 pm starter. I'll let you know if I do manage to remember next time.
Has anyone else noticed that PBS D-38 remaps to channel 80? What's that all about? But channel 2 (D-25) finally remapped to 2.1 on my latest scan
Last night 38 was re-mapping to 13 for me. I'll have to try inputting 80 and see what happens. Good to see Channel 2 finally is re-mapped, I hate having to remember all these alternate numbers!

I have Comcast and live in Greensburg. I have a problem with CBS HD (782). The screen breaks up and I get audio drops quite frequently. It doesn't happen on any of the other HD channels. When I go to diagnostics while on that channel there is an average of about 400-500 correctable errors. The other channels have no errors. (HBO sometimes has some sometimes, but I never have a problem with the picture like on CBS.)

I don't know if the problem is with Comcast or CBS, or maybe me. I had Comcast check my signal strength and they said it was good.

It just seems odd that's it's only CBS.
Does anyone else have this problem???

You finally get kdka to get with the program and then wqed falls off of the bus!

STEELERSRULE: I too am wondering when WKBN will get their act together and start broadcasting their digital signal. I live very close to Youngstown, OH. I spoke with someone who told me that WKBN was close to being bought by another company so that may have something to do with it.

Has anyone that receives WTAEDT(51) had problems recently? I used to be able to lock onto a weak 40 strength signal, but the last few weeks, I have only been getting a signal strength of 5. At first I thought that it was most likely due to atmospheric conditions, but the weather has changed and the signal remains at 5.

Also, does anyone have any info on WCWBDT(22)? Do they plan to be operational by fall and pass their network HD feed and will they be 5.1 surround capable?

Originally posted by hoops10
STEELERSRULE: I too am wondering when WKBN will get their act together and start broadcasting their digital signal. I live very close to Youngstown, OH. I spoke with someone who told me that WKBN was close to being bought by another company so that may have something to do with it.

Thanx for the reponse on WKBN hoops10. If they are in the process of being bought, that might help explain why they are "delayed" in their digital turnaround.

Also my FOX question(WYFX out of MASURY, OH) may be "tied in" to the WKBN issue. They show alot of commercials for WKBN on WYFX, and they also show their(WKBN) 10:00 p.m. news from WKBN studios. I think it is also called "WKBN news at 10pm" on FOX'S WYFX!!

STRANGE?!

Originally posted by kkc
Has anyone that receives WTAEDT(51) had problems recently? I used to be able to lock onto a weak 40 strength signal, but the last few weeks, I have only been getting a signal strength of 5. At first I thought that it was most likely due to atmospheric conditions, but the weather has changed and the signal remains at 5.


WTAEDT(51) comes in OK about 50% of the time for me. I have been meaning to get back up on the roof and aim my antenna at Elizabeth (where their tower is) but haven't yet. All the other locals come in pretty well and so far I've just left well enough alone.

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone here with a first generation RCA DTC-100 is receiving WQED-DT? I have a problem that has occured recently where neither of my receivers (RCA F38310 with built in DTC-100) can receive WQED-DT. The problem started about 2 weeks ago. I know of a few people with different receivers that can get the station. I had a similar problem a year ago with WFMJ-DT which was resolved with their chief engineer.

Just curious.....

--Clint--

Hello Pittsburgh,

Our Fox Sports Net Bay Area just started showing Giants and A's games in HD a couple of weeks ago, and tonight's and tomorrow's Giants games at the Pirates are listed as being in HD.

I was curious as to which outlet, if any, you have showing Pirates games in HD. I am assuming that in order to show these two games in HD, FSN Bay Area must be borrowing the Pirates' HD video feed.

(I don't think FSN brought its own HD truck to Pittsburgh, but I suppose that's possible. Anyone going to the game?)

Clint,

I just checked my DTC100 and I do NOT get anything but the "Weak Signal". I don't even register anything on the built in meter. But, when I go thought the discover channels process, it adds ch 38 which it shouldn't if there truly was no signal. And I noticed when cycling thru the channels the tuner locks on to 38 instead of the usual 38-3.

If you have a theory as to what may be wrong, I have a contact at WQED than we can get on the phone.

PS: called WPXI to see if the Olympics will be in HD this Friday night. Titan TV doesn't indicate it's going to be in HD. The main line wasn't much help, "That seems to be the question of the day" was the response I got.

Jim

Jim,

Just sent you a PM...

--Clint--

Originally posted by SonomaSearcher
Hello Pittsburgh,

Our Fox Sports Net Bay Area just started showing Giants and A's games in HD a couple of weeks ago, and tonight's and tomorrow's Giants games at the Pirates are listed as being in HD.

I was curious as to which outlet, if any, you have showing Pirates games in HD. I am assuming that in order to show these two games in HD, FSN Bay Area must be borrowing the Pirates' HD video feed.

(I don't think FSN brought its own HD truck to Pittsburgh, but I suppose that's possible. Anyone going to the game?)

Our Fox Sports Pittsburgh shows the games in glorius fuzzy SD. Even if they start broadcasting in HD it will be quite a while till I see them in HD over satellite.

Good to see that Fox has at least started the conversion process though.

hey guys... i'm in fairmont, wv (15-20miles south of morgantown)... if i have a clear view to the north what might my chances be of pulling in KDKA, WTAE, and WPXI with a DB8 from antennasdirect.com? i realize its not a science... but if i can't get at least those pittsburgh channels I'll just settle with what D* provides me and forget about the antenna?

anyone?

for those who have armstrong and the hd package just wondered if anyone else whom was a non subscriber started getting showtime HD in the past week... is this a special promotion, is it only me ? regardless, its nice to have showtime HD for the time being.

yeah... guess it was just a weekend promo or something.

Was watching KDKA news yesterday and Stag said that comcast is going to show the Steelers game this weekend in HD. Channel 782. Just letting the steelers faithful know.

Originally posted by SonomaSearcher
Hello Pittsburgh,

I was curious as to which outlet, if any, you have showing Pirates games in HD. I am assuming that in order to show these two games in HD, FSN Bay Area must be borrowing the Pirates' HD video feed.

(I don't think FSN brought its own HD truck to Pittsburgh, but I suppose that's possible. Anyone going to the game?)

Any Pirates games that are not on ESPN or some other national broadcast (which is to say, all of them) are shown on Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh. The price we pay for not having our own version of NESN or Comcast SportsNet is that we have to wait until Fox Sports decides it wants to start doing its HD service in our area. I don't really want to slam Fox Sports, because to be perfectly honest, they run a really cool channel, at least at the local level. National Fox Sports programming is mostly garbage, but they treat local sports well. I don't totally understand the implications of the relatively recent announcement of a Fox Sports 720p HD rollout. Apparently that only applies to the national Fox Sports channel on satellite or something. I just wish they'd hurry up and start local HD for FSN. Pittsburgh is a huge sports town (and, increasingly, it's becoming a big cable HD town, too, according to people at Comcast). We're just salivating for the opportunity to get more local HD sports. Fox -- you put it in HD, and we will watch! Now move it!

It's really a shame, considering that not only is PNC Park the most gorgeous ballpark in the league, but it's also wired from the ground up for HDTV. I'm relatively certain (just from observation) that even the jumbotron is high def.

The only thing that's not ready for HD? Every Pirates game shown in Pittsburgh.

Let us know how the game looked...



Dan

The Sloth,

I live in Uniontown, PA, about 20 miles north of Morgantown. With a Channel Master 3021 4 bay UHF antenna, no preamp or rotator, and mounted on my front porch 8 ft off the ground. I can get digital WTAE, WPXI and KDKA with no drop outs, I can also get WPGH with drop outs.
If I rotate my antenna 180 degrees, I can get Morgantown PBS's 3 channels too.
Try posting in the official avs antenna thread. There is alot of great help and you may get the answer you need. I'm guessing but you may be around 70-80 miles from the Pittsburgh Stations, so I think its going to be tough even with no obstructions.

Originally posted by Angelo M
The Sloth,

I live in Uniontown, PA, about 20 miles north of Morgantown. With a Channel Master 3021 4 bay UHF antenna, no preamp or rotator, and mounted on my front porch 8 ft off the ground. I can get digital WTAE, WPXI and KDKA with no drop outs, I can also get WPGH with drop outs.
If I rotate my antenna 180 degrees, I can get Morgantown PBS's 3 channels too.
Try posting in the official avs antenna thread. There is alot of great help and you may get the answer you need. I'm guessing but you may be around 70-80 miles from the Pittsburgh Stations, so I think its going to be tough even with no obstructions.

thanks. ya, im between 60-70 miles from the stations i listed. i ordered a DB8 from antennasdirect and it should be here monday... its going on a 10ft mast mounted on my chimney and also on a multistory home... <fingers crossed>

Originally posted by the-sloth
thanks. ya, im between 60-70 miles from the stations i listed. i ordered a DB8 from antennasdirect and it should be here monday... its going on a 10ft mast mounted on my chimney and also on a multistory home... <fingers crossed>



Let us know how it turns out for you. Good Luck.

comcast is advertising in the PPG that the preseason game against houston will be broadcast in HD as mentioned above, but i wonder will it ONLY be on comcast ? seems to me that if its being broadcast on KDKA it would have to go out to anyone that has CBS HD in the area correct?

Last year when they did that for a preseason game, KDKA was doing the broadcast and it was available OTA and on all cable systems.

Hey all,

I noticed last night and I just tried again to get KDKA-DT (25/2-1) via outdoor antenna. I have a signal of 80 or so, but no pic....just a black screen. Anybody able to see it? I wonder if it may be because of the Steeler game this evening.


Clint

Sorry for the post folks. I turned off the PSIP info (No Channel remapping) and all looks fine on KDKA-DT. I really need to get something other that this 1st generation DTC-100.

Sorry again.

Clint

I'm on the road for work...how does it look?

The game looks excellent! It seems to have much better pq than last nights game on network HD. Any reasons why? I wish all the games on CBS in HiDef looked this good.

Originally posted by c_perrone
Sorry for the post folks. I turned off the PSIP info (No Channel remapping) and all looks fine on KDKA-DT. I really need to get something other that this 1st generation DTC-100.

Sorry again.

Clint

Clint - I am having the same problem with KDKA-DT as you were having, but unlike you I have been unable to solve my problem. I am getting a strong signal BUT NO PICTURE. I don't understand; KDKA has always been my best HD channel. I have a Samsung DTV receiver.

Originally posted by guins
Clint - I am having the same problem with KDKA-DT as you were having, but unlike you I have been unable to solve my problem. I am getting a strong signal BUT NO PICTURE. I don't understand; KDKA has always been my best HD channel. I have a Samsung DTV receiver.

Guins,

I'm not sure how your receiver is set up, but on mine I had to turn off the "acquire off air guides" in order to see KDKA-DT. If I turn on that option, I lose KDKA-DT. I think it has something to do with the PSIP information that is being sent out, but I really don't know.

--Clint--

To all y'all from " The Burg". I flew up from Houston Friday and watched my Texans get whomped on Saturday night. Pittsburgh is just like I remember from 20 years ago. The people are great and the hospitality was outstanding. Even though we walked through you tailgate parties with our Texan jerseys on, you people couldn't have been nicer. I don't remember much after we walked into the pub at the Hilton but I do remember seeing LOTS of stunning women. Thanks for a great weekend Pittsburgh and I hope you have a great season.

Bill Grubbs
Spring,Texas

c_perrone: Do you know if it's possible to turn off the 'acquire off air guides" on the Hughes HTL-HD? I can no longer get KDKA either.

Originally posted by c_perrone
Guins,

I'm not sure how your receiver is set up, but on mine I had to turn off the "acquire off air guides" in order to see KDKA-DT. If I turn on that option, I lose KDKA-DT. I think it has something to do with the PSIP information that is being sent out, but I really don't know.

--Clint--

Well, I didn't change anything but I re-scanned the digital channels tonight and it FINALLY picked KDKA up again.....although it has moved to 2-1 (where they should have had it all along) instead of 25-2.

Btw, thanks for your reply. :)

Originally posted by hoops10
Do you know if it's possible to turn off the 'acquire off air guides" on the Hughes HTL-HD? I can no longer get KDKA either.

Hoops10,

I'm not sure about the HTL-HD. I do own one, but it's at my other house in Butler. If I'm not mistaken, that unit has the advanced program guide and I don't think you can turn off the "acquire off air guides". I'll check through the manual sometime tomorrow when I get up there. I think what we need to do is get in touch with KDKA and let them know that some people are having trouble with their signal.

--Clint--

guins: So KDKA is now broadcasting on 2-1, so therefore it is now VHF instead of UHF?

c_perrone: Thanks. Yes, the HTL-HD does have the Advanced Program Guide on it.

Originally posted by hoops10
guins: So KDKA is now broadcasting on 2-1, so therefore it is now VHF instead of UHF?

Hoops10,

No that is not correct. KDKA-DT is broadcasting on UHF 25. It is a function of your receiver that "remaps" the channel to 2. I did a rescan early this morning and everything appears to be back to normal with KDKA-DT on all of my units.

--Clint--

KDKA is still on 25, they are just remapping via PSIP to 2-1. They might move to 2 after their analog is shut off in however many years, but I think since VHF is weaker they might stay on 25.

New to the forums, I'm going to the experts for HD help.

I live in Cranberry Twp and have had D* for years. My wife loves the two tuner TIVOs we have. I am looking to buy a JVC 52z575 and upgrade to HD. To do this, I will have to move over to Armstrong Cable. I see some of you live in Cranberry and have Armstrong. What is your opinion of their HD? Are their receivers any good? Do they or will they have two tuner PVRs anytime soon? Thanks for your help.

Armstrong HD is great and the Moto 6208 DVR box is OK but not as good as a Tivo. It is also just single tuner. The 6412 dual-tuner boxes are going to be rolled out within 3 months or so I expect. If you are used to a Tivo these are a step backwards as there is no season pass option and the interface is nowhere near as good. But, they are essentially free. You don't have to buy your own for $1k which you'd have to do if you wanted to stick with D* and get an HD Tivo. I think the rental fee is like $6/mo for the box. I also think you can only get one DVR per house, but that rule may have changed. It was in effect when they first rolled these out (January) because they had limited units.

Here's what you should do. Buy your TV and sign up for Armstrong with the HD package, the DVR, and any premium channels you want. There's no commitment so you can simply trial it out for a month or two. If you can't handle the DVR, cancel it and buy a $1k HD Tivo, put up a large OTA antenna, and stay with D* service. And hope you can receive WTAE-DT which is notoriously hard to receive up here. For me it was a no-brainer which way to go. :)

I may have to have D* and Armstrong to keep peace in the house then. I seriously doubt my wife (and neighbors) will let me put up an antenna. Has anyone tried a silver sensor here in Cranberry to pick up WTAE? Thanks for your help.

Bill Grubbs,

Thanks for being such a good sport. I was at that game too, I didn't see you! Weather was great, wasn't it? Hope it wasn't too cold for you. Hopefully our teams paths will cross again some time.

-Bob

I'll be rooting for you tonight on ESPNHD !! Weather was fine. I didn't have to put my sweatshirt on 'till the end of the 3rd quarter !!

Bill

Have any of you local power users tried a Zenith Silver Sensor here in Cranberry Twp. If so, what channels were you able to pick up. Thanks for your help.

Originally posted by GNo
New to the forums, I'm going to the experts for HD help.

I live in Cranberry Twp and have had D* for years. My wife loves the two tuner TIVOs we have. I am looking to buy a JVC 52z575 and upgrade to HD. To do this, I will have to move over to Armstrong Cable.

Depending on your location, you can have an off air antenna pick up WTAE. I have done it before for clients, but due to terain and LOS issues, there is no guarantee. As far as neighbors allowing you to put up an antenna, as long as you are in a house, they have no say on you installing an antenna. The wife OTOH, is a different issue. :D

Yeah it's hit or miss, I could pick up WTAE with a small Xium antenna in a window and a Radio Shack preamp as long as the antenna was positioned exactly right, but some others with big outdoor antennas can't receive it at all.

Hello,

Anyone else here have problems with the KDKA HD feed for the New England Vs Carolina (08/28/04) NFL game last night? I had major pixelization issues, as well as drop outs. However, the signal is reading 100% on my Samsung. All other OTA stations are fine as well, I'm just having a problem with KDKA which is odd because I've never had a problem before as I'm located right outside of the city in N. Hills. Thanks.

Regards,

Mark

I checked out The Casino Sunday at 9 on WPGH Fox 53 here in Pittsburgh. It looks like HD!! After years of an upconverted 480i signal from Sinclair owned WPGH, this is a very welcome sight indeed! Bring on some football!!

Kevin

Originally posted by kkc
I checked out The Casino Sunday at 9 on WPGH Fox 53 here in Pittsburgh. It looks like HD!! After years of an upconverted 480i signal from Sinclair owned WPGH, this is a very welcome sight indeed! Bring on some football!!

Kevin

Indeed, this has long been awaited!

Jim

is wqed ota digital feed still down?

Originally posted by Mgraham
Hello,

Anyone else here have problems with the KDKA HD feed for the New England Vs Carolina (08/28/04) NFL game last night? I had major pixelization issues, as well as drop outs. However, the signal is reading 100% on my Samsung. All other OTA stations are fine as well, I'm just having a problem with KDKA which is odd because I've never had a problem before as I'm located right outside of the city in N. Hills. Thanks.

Regards,

Mark

Mark - I flipped over to this game while watching VT/USC (just because it was HD)....and yes I had the same issues with the broadcast. I think it was weathered related...there were electrical storms in my area.

Speaking of weather related: I sure do hope that the drop-off performance last night for "Tomorrow Never Dies" was not typical. It had so many audio/video drop-offs on Comcast it was not watchable.

If Directv or Dish wanted to make an advertisement for converting, this movie would be the poster.

I've been seeing picture dropouts and breakup on KDKA-DT via Comcast for the past few days. No problems on any of the other HD channels. So I guess it's a KDKA problem. Very annoying.

Just talked to Mark Etzi (KDKA Engineer). They know about and are working on the pixelization and breakup problem. I got the impression they're hopeful it will be fixed soon ....

Thanks for the replies everyone. Glad to hear it just wasn't my setup. Looking forward to checking out WPGH in HD and Football. I have D* and have been very happy, but there was a noticeable difference between the KDKA HD OTA Feed and D* HD CBS Feed. Hopefully they'll get it fixed soon. Thanks again.

Regards,

Mark

Originally posted by burghman
is wqed ota digital feed still down?


I was receiving WQED HD on 13-3 yesterday evening

Kevin

anyone have any updates on armstrong adding those new HD channels discussed earlier in this thread, TNT, FOX, etc ?

has anyone been able to pull in WPGH Fox 53 broadcasts in cranberry with OTA ?

I have several clients who are able to receive Fox-53 via an off-air antenna in Cranberry. The hard one is getting WTAE out there, but it is possible.

The latest word from Armstrong is they are in talks with Sinclair over WPGH and WCWB. Haven't heard anything about any other channels.

I'm actually able to pull in WPGH HD(and an SD sub-channel) using an indoor RCA amplified +25dbs antenna(two dipoles for VHF/FM and a round thingy in the middle for UHF) connected to a rectron +10dbs amplified 4 way splitter running to both my LG LST-4200A and my Yamaha HTR-5590 for FM(STERN IN THE MORNING!!!!) all the way up here in New Wilmington.

It is over 50 miles away!! I also get KDKA, and WPXI as well. These are not especially important because I receive them via cable(clear QAM) along with WTAE. I can also receive WFMJ(NBC, Youngstown OH), WYTV(ABC, Youngstown OH), PBS(Alliance, OH).

Is there a problem with WQED out of Pittsburgh on their Digital signal.

It would have been nice to get both the WB and UPN out of the burgh as well, but their signal is just too weak. Maybe a nice 4-bay antenna would do it.

Oh well.

Seems that KDKA-DT is still having issues. Noticed a lot of picture freezing and stuttering during the Steelers game last evening. So much so that I switched over to analog, since it wasn't in HD anyway. Was this what others saw?

Hope they get this ironed out before the regular season starts.

Originally posted by hondo21
Seems that KDKA-DT is still having issues. Noticed a lot of picture freezing and stuttering during the Steelers game last evening. So much so that I switched over to analog, since it wasn't in HD anyway. Was this what others saw?

Hope they get this ironed out before the regular season starts.

I noticed this as well(up here via Adelphia clear QAM near New Wilmington, PA) and hope they fix this soon.

It might be because it was handled by local people and was only a local broadcast?

When the NFL starts, this might not be an issue(wishful thinking probably).

so the steelers/oakland game this sunday is in HD.... yet the next week the Balt/Pitt game is now. i know its all about ratings for what games cbs does in HD but still this is ridiculous.

i'm also conemplating if it will be worth the trouble since i have armstrong to get an OTA system hooked up just for Fox HD, not knowing if i'll even be able to tune it in.

I noticed that Smallville was broadcast in HD on WCWBDT (22-1) tonight. However, the horizontal was off, with the bottom third of the picture appearing at the top of the screen. Hopefully, the engineers will get the bugs ironed out and we will have another HD choice in the Burgh!!

Kevin

I seem to have lost KDKA the last few days. Are they off air or is my 6000 receiver taking a nutty?

Steelers are looking good..... :cool:

Yes they are! To bad I can't watch them on KDKA-DT. They are down, right?

Yes they are! To bad I can't watch them on KDKA-DT. They are down, right?

KDKA-DT is fine on Armstrong cable.

Ok, I'm getting it OTA. Or, not getting it I should say. Blank screen. All my other OTA stations are fine. I have a signal from channel 25. No pic.

KDKA-DT was on and the game in Hi-Def on Comcast. But I continue to see periodic picture breakup/pixelizing (not as bad as it was a week or so ago). Also there is a lip synch issue. Sound/picture slightly out of sync. Obviously not noticeable during game action, but it is for studio reports and commercials.

Hmm... Anyone here running a Dish 6000 and receiving KDKA-DT OTA right now? Maybe a call to their engineering dept. is in order.

EDIT: Problem solved. I found the fix on DBS Talk. I never saw this bug in the two years I've owned this thing.
__________________________________________________________
Dish 6000 Locks up on one Digital Channel:

Symptom: Signal strength wise, you should be able to get this channel in just fine. Its coming in at better than 50%, you can add it to the channel line up, but when you go to watch it, it just sits there, the signal meter locks up and after a while, the unit either reboots or you get knocked out to another channel either at the beginning of the line up or just adjacent to the channel you where trying to watch.

Reason: Something funky in the PSIP? Don't know.

Work Around: Delete both that Digital channel and if there is a corresponding Analog channel for that one, delete it too. So if 45.1 is locking up and you also have 45.00 analog added, delete them both. Then re-add only the digital 45.1 channel to your line up. If should come in Ok and you should be able to view programming on it. If so, then you can try and re-add the Analog channel after the digital has been working.

KDKA on Comcast was pretty much perfect pictrure-wise. There was a pretty bad lip-sync issue, but for a football game, that really doesn't matter. I switched to OTA a couple of times and didn't notice any problems, but that was probably only for a total of 5 minutes.

Hello Fellow Pittsburghers

I have Comcast cable with a 6200 set-top box connected to a 2HD (Z2) via DVI. I was wondering if anyone could tell me why my INHD channels do not fill the entire 16x9 screen. There is aways a narrow black bar at the bottom of these channels. Also on certain channels there seems to be either a pink flickering line at the bottom of the screen, or a very narrow strip of digital pixelation at the top of the screen, or a very narrow strip of the picture at the top of the screen. Anyone else experience these artifacts?

Rich

Couldn't believe I saw HD for 1st time on Sinclair owned WPGH-DT Fox 53 for yesterday's Eagle's game. Just need a power boost now!

Steelers looked awesome on KDKA.

Jim

I had the exact same problem viewing yesterday's Steeler game as BigG on my DISH 6000. Great signal strength on KDKA-DT (25.01), over 90%, but no picture at all so I missed the game in hi-def. This is the first time this bug has happened to me also.

I took his suggestion and deleted the KDKA Analog channel and everything is fine again. Thanks BigG !

KDKA Digital/HD via Adelphia cable here near New Castle had some breakups too, but when I switched over to the analog feed, they were experiencing some problems too.

There was some audio delay, especially in the beginning of the game. But as the game went on, it seemed to inprove. When they went down to field reporter in the third quarter, there was a slight delay in the beginning of her report. But after about 5-6 seconds into it, it matched up. This was while using a LG LST-4200A outputted to a Yamaha HTR-5590 via an optical cord. This was through QAM digital, not OTA.

This next part may be of interest to people who live on the North Side of Pittsburgh, over further North like Wexford, Zelienople, Beaver, etc...

WFMJ(NBC) out of Youngstown now has a sub-channel(20-2) which looks like is going to be used for the digital feed of the WB for OTA people. It currently just has a screen that says,"CBWB coming soon!"

Soon of course could mean 3 months, or a year. Who knows.

This could help people who live too far from receiving(like me) the WB out of Pittsburgh. If you live on the North side of the city, you may be closer to Youngstown, OH to receive it. It also may be operating at a higher power in order to make reception much easier.

I just got my HD today from Comcast in Pitt. Im watching monday night football right now, and for some reason, the sound is 40% lower than all of the other Dolby 5.1 HD channels. I.e. i can click over to KDKA and Everybody loves Raymond is great sounding, but this damn football game sounds awful. Anyone have any idea or experience something similar?

Any word on UPN OTA yet?

WNPA (UPN-19) was originally assigned channel 30 as it's digital transition station. On August 25, 1999 they filled a petition to change the channel assignment to channel 49. As of August 27, 2004 the FCC has neither approved nor denied that petition. Additionally the FCC has not issued the permits that would allow or rulings that would require WNPA to transmit on the originally assigned channel 30.

I believe there are interference issues that prompted WNPA's request to change channel assignments. WNPA also falls within the Canadian border zone that requires negotiation withe the Canadian equivalent of the FCC that may be delaying the matter.

Once a ruling has been made on the petition (yes, it has already been a 5 year wait) and the required construction permits (federal and local) have been issued there will most likely be an addional delay of several months to a year while the necessary hardware is ordered, delivered and installed.

In short, I wouldn't expect WNPA-DT to be on the air anytime soon. Hopefully when it does it will be starting in HD.