BTW, WAVE did get the Daytona feed on, but the Audio sinc was REALLY bad. I tried both OTA and Insight and they were bot wayyy off. Then about 150 laps there were a lot of breakups. This seemed to be resolved wiwth 15 laps remaining or so.

On my 80" screen, this presentation did not really shine. I don't know if the optics in the zoom lenses are just not up to the task, but the detail was not as good as I hoped. I guess you have to realize that the cameras are filming from over 1/2 mile and the lenses are probably designed for SD.

Daytona unfortunately was not a great showcase of HD. I caught some motorcycle racing over the weekend on HDNET and that looked sweet. I don't think they were dealing with nearly the zoom though.

One last rant relating to sports coverage in HD. Why don't they put an HD camera in the blimps??? These could produce very nice scenic shots to hilight the technology.

looks like TNT-HD will launch officially in may according to this article

http://www.tvbarn.com/ticker/archives/017810.html

Hopefully Insight will have it!

Don't know if this helps anyone else or not, but you can watch a recording off the DVR while it is simultaneously recording another program. Just realized this last night.

Scott - HD???

Every time I am watching something on the DVR it gives me a message when it is time to record something. Am I missing something here?

I am not talking about watching live TV. I am saying (poorly apparently) that you can watch something you recorded previously (ie, something on the 6208's DVR recordings menu) at the same time it is recording another channel. For instance, I recorded Harper off HDNet Movies yesterday morning. I was watching it last night and forgot that I had set 102 Dalmations to record for the kids at 8:00 on Disney. The 6208 did record 102 Dalmations while I was watching Harper. I wasn't aware you could do that.

Some bad news on the Thunder over Louisville front. WAVE won the rights to show Thunder exclusively this year. WHAS is still planning on showing Thunder but the KDF is trying to stop them.

What are WAVE's chances of doing a HD broadcast, and if so, actually running at full bandwidth?

Originally posted by stovetop
Some bad news on the Thunder over Louisville front. WAVE won the rights to show Thunder exclusively this year. WHAS is still planning on showing Thunder but the KDF is trying to stop them.

What are WAVE's chances of doing a HD broadcast, and if so, actually running at full bandwidth?

... Sounds like a job for Mark Cuban and co ;)

HDC

n/m

One word about this SD development for Thunder
"SUX" :mad: :mad: :mad:

Surely WAVE will do it in HD too! NBC could just bring the truck two weeks early(since they do the derby in HD... ha ha

At least there is a chance with them. Just think if it had been WDRB...

Anyone else see the big stink over WAVE vs. WHAS broadcasting Thunder? The 2 station managers were fighting over the phone on WHAS radio call-in and WAVE news was showing Steve Langford challenging the WHAS manager about some agreement to let it be exclusive to whoever the Kentucky Derby Fest gives the rights to. WHAS says they will "cover it" as a news event.

Wonder if WAVE underbid WHAS because they won't have to use (rent) an HDTV truck. This would be a travesty. It is apparently a 3 year deal so WAVE gets it for the next 3 yrs :mad:. If I had known it was a call-in I would have called and raised the HD issue. Anyone else have any word on this aspect of the controversy?

It sure would be great if NBC would bring the HD truck for Derby in early (probably no chance). Looks like goodbye HD Thunder for 3 years!

Landford and company are aggressive on the cost side. WAVE would only do HD Thunder if the cost were minimal. So at this point, I would say highly unlikely.

I'm not sure it really matters. Today WAVE is not a proponent of HD, as they only broadcast HD at 15Mbps, not the full 19.2Mbps. Who wants to see pixelated fireworks anyway?

RE: WHAS Power

Stan Wolff of Kermit Knutson Custom A/V informed me last week that WHAS has no near plans of going full power. Based on a conversation Wolff had with the WHAS chief engineer, the reasons: added electricity cost and little demand for OTA HD.

One bit of good news: the high power transmitter and antenna are in place.

Originally posted by cambus
RE: WHAS Power

Stan Wolff of Kermit Knutson Custom A/V informed me last week that WHAS has no near plans of going full power. Based on a conversation Wolff had with the WHAS chief engineer, the reasons: added electricity cost and little demand for OTA HD.

One bit of good news: the high power transmitter and antenna are in place.

I am just a little west of E-Town and I get WAVE abd WLKY digital with great signal level, but I did get WHAS last oct into nov, but since then I get nothing digital from them. Do you have any contact info for WHAS and ABC that I might let know that HDTV is needed out in the country.
Thanks

Mike T

Originally posted by MichaelZ
Anyone here had any luck getting their 6208 stb firewire to work with any Dvhs, monitor or PC? I see in the HDTV Recorder forum others are having luck with some of these devices. Some of those who are having luck are on Insight cable and all seem to have the same firmware version. I am starting to wonder if my STB is flaky (I still have numerous FF issues) or does Insight have the firewire ports disabled? Anyone?

I have the 6208 and a mitz dvhs but I have'nt tried it yet. I'm just happy with the component setup at the moment. I don't even use my dvhs much since I got the 6208. The 6208 does a great job of recording and playback. Much better than the dvhs!

So, does anyone know when we'll start seeing more HD channels from Insight?

Hey guys,

Just got in contact with Steve Lanford over at WAVE and he very much wanted us to know that WAVE3 was doing the whole show in HD this year. So, that's good news to hear.

I also tried to grill him about the bandwidth issue, but he's not letting up on his stance of them going to be using it in the future. He offered a side-by-side test over channel quality, and I counter-offered with some recorded Jay Leno footage. :)

Anyway, I encourage you guys to send him an email, #1 thanking them for stepping up to the place and doing HD this year, and #2, encourage them to devote full-bandwidth for the event.

http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=87588&nav=7k8Z087i

Here's the form. I wouldn't recommend grilling him about anything, as it's overall a good thing they're are doing HD, and my original email to him was mildly insulting, which I suppose I should apologize for. ;) But, just remember, your voices are being heard, so don't yell louder than you need to. :)

Originally posted by stovetop
Just got in contact with Steve Lanford over at WAVE and he very much wanted us to know that WAVE3 was doing the whole show in HD this year. So, that's good news to hear.

Now if you could just get them to crank up the power so those of us in fringe-land can get it ;)

Oh well at least with WAVE there's a chance I can see it, with WHAS no chance at all.

HDC

Stovetop, thanks for the update! Good news indeed.

Steve Landford can take his side by side comparison and stick it. I've got HD material saved from Wave which proves 15Mbps is inferior to 19Mbps. To be fair, you don't need 19Mpbs most of the time. But when things move fast you better have the bandwidth, otherwise welcome to pixelation land. A clear example was American Rejects on Leno last year.

Let's hope NBC stays away from sports programming in HD which requires the full 19.2 for acceptable results.

Some Encoders work better than others. (WAVE and WHAS both have first generation encoders..)

Great news about WAVE and Thunder. I sent an email to Steve. Let let them know we are watching. I asked for more HD cams as a way they could show up WHAS. That always griped me. PQ would go from stunning to pathetic when they changed to SD cams on copters or bridges.

OK, so which "Recipient" do I choose on this page (http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=87588&nav=7k8Z087i) to get an email directly to Steve Lanford at WAVE3. His name is not listed in the drop down box. What is his title?

Originally posted by William Smith
Some Encoders work better than others. (WAVE and WHAS both have first generation encoders..)

Aint dat de truth.

For sale.....
A big pile of GI equiptment. :)

Originally posted by Rick214
OK, so which "Recipient" do I choose on this page (http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=87588&nav=7k8Z087i) to get an email directly to Steve Lanford at WAVE3. His name is not listed in the drop down box. What is his title?

Select 'General Manager' to get to Steve.

I think this is a win-win situation. If it looks good, then I won't complain, but if it becomes unwatchable, I'll have a recording of it to show Mr. Landford directly why they either need better encoders or raise thier bandwidth. Plus, it'll be nice to see how another local stations handles HD.

I have not gotten WAVE digital signal for about 2 days, are they having problems or have lowered the power, I am 50 miles away but it usually comes in great.

Mike T

Regarding WAVE, not sure what to tell ya Mike. I get them on Insight cable and they are coming in fine. Sorry to hear OTA is not working for ya with WAVE.

BTW, I just saw an announcement for a national PBS-HD channel. The story said it will be available to all cable cos that offer local PBS DTV channels. Will this be a way around the multi-cast problem? I sure hope so. Can you KET guys give me an idea of if/when Insight will pick this up? Will it be just one of your sub-channels or will it be a national feed separate from your KY PBS network?

Here's the article:

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040225/dcw001_1.html

THis sounds good to me!

Originally posted by mtallent
I have not gotten WAVE digital signal for about 2 days, are they having problems or have lowered the power, I am 50 miles away but it usually comes in great.

Weather conditions have been abysmal for OTA the past few days - I've been having a bit of trouble with even with stations that are normally rock solid. Should improve once the winds calm down.

HDC

Sucks about the Stern Show...that was my entertainment in the morning...argh! Clear Channel suxxxx!

Clear Channel Stations to not listen to:

101.7
97.5
840AM
95.7
100.5
790AM
98.7

I know some of these I can't give up completely but I will try and limit my time on them. Clear channel must be the Mob of radio around here

<--- WFPK 91.9


That's about all I listen to. Well, sometimes 89.3 for some news or 88.1 (WNAS...the New Albany High School station...they play a GREAT mix of music)

Anyone else having problems with their new HD cable box showing a big area of darkened display?

It's almost as if a shadow covers most of the display...about the same is darkened as would be shown by a 2:35:1 movie.

Almost has a Macrovision feel to it and it's on various channels (SD and HD). I tried powering off and on and it still does it.

Very odd.

Hope it's not my TV. Haven't tried a DVD yet.

Nightowl,

Are you using a transcoder? A lot of transcoders have problems with tri level sinc used on HD conponant outputs.

I have been experiencing some problems with my HD and DVD signals running through my Key Digital CTCA3 transcoder - I can't seem to get a good HD and DVD picture without using different settings for each one. Very flaky behavior lately. At some point, my setup was working fine, then all of the sudden it's not. I've been trying (without a whole lot of luck) to work with Key Digital on a resolution. I'll post when I get a resolution. For what that's worth....

btw, I'm also having trouble with the Key Digital CTCA2 transcoder

Nope...going right from the HD box to the TV.

Doesn't seem to be happening anywhere near as much tonight, though.

Well...it's my TV.

I was watching the DVD of The Insider today and it was doing the same thing.

:(

Time for another service call.

Again tonight 3/10 the audio on WLKY DT is distorted. This audio problem is now in its second year. Please email Jim Mercer at WLKY and join me in bringing this to his attention.

jmercer@hearst.com

Anyone else getting breakups on HD channels or channels locking on a frame then no sound for several seconds then returning to full motion video? This happens to me every few days. Wonder if its an Insight 6208 , bit rate or signal strength in my house problem.

Everyone see this (http://www.courier-journal.com/business/news2004/03/14/E1-cool14-4457.html) article in the Courier-Journal about Insight loosing 9,000 customers, mostly in the Louisville area?

I hope this causes them to be more competitive by lowering their rates and offering more HD.

RE: Insight

I'm not surprised they have lost some analog customers. I think their HD offering is great, but other services seem subpar:

1) Three years ago my analog channels looked terrible. Insight techs agreed when on-site, but they claimed it was my inside wiring (new home, wiring professionally done). On the third visit, I suggested the tech hook a cable directly from the outside box to my TV, bypassing my inside wiring. Guess what? The picture was still unacceptable, so the tech recommended "I lower my TV sharpness". Two years later, the picture magically improved.

2) InsightBB: I paid $5 extra per month for a static IP address, and my IP address would change every 2 months, breaking my VPN configuration. When I spoke with their tech team, they told me it was caused by necessary equipment upgrades. Frustrated, I switched to DSL.

Originally posted by PCS
Anyone else getting breakups on HD channels or channels locking on a frame then no sound for several seconds then returning to full motion video? This happens to me every few days. Wonder if its an Insight 6208 , bit rate or signal strength in my house problem.


Ayup...I get that once in a while. I have to change channels and come back most of the time.

I need some advice if anyone would like to help out. Yes I'm new here and probably asking some Q's that have been asked before but I need some advice from people in my area. I've researched and read a number of threads on this forum(even skimmed this 80 page thread) and need more precise advice about getting OTA broadcasts.

A little info:
-I live in in the heart of J-town (watterson tr. & Taylorsville Rd area). I have zero trees or tall buildings near my house.

-I bought a Samsung SIRT165 and a Silver Sensor antenna.

-According to antenna web I am less than 20 miles from all the major towers.

-I pointed the SS in the right direction, not sure if there is a science about it, but I also tried pointing it every which way.

Alright, I hooked it all up last night and fiddled for about 3 hours. I could only get (analog) channels 3 & 11 and those had a reception quality of a 1950's OTA snowing broadcast(I'd say 60% image, 40% snow). 32 & 41 had 95% snow and 5% image. 58 & 21 had zero reception. I could not get a single HD broadcast. From what I read it either comes in or it doesn't, so obviously I didn't get anything last night.

What gives? I have to be doing something wrong. From what I read of the SS, it should be working perfect with the conditions I have.

Thank you all for your tolerance of yet another newbie joining the HD fray.

Originally posted by Michael Corvin
Alright, I hooked it all up last night and fiddled for about 3 hours. I could only get (analog) channels 3 & 11 and those had a reception quality of a 1950's OTA snowing broadcast(I'd say 60% image, 40% snow). 32 & 41 had 95% snow and 5% image. 58 & 21 had zero reception.

What gives? I have to be doing something wrong. From what I read of the SS, it should be working perfect with the conditions I have.

A starting point for me is just using the antenna with a plain 'ol analog TV initially... You should get pretty good signals with the SS at 20 miles distance. The snow you describe seeing makes me think your antenna isn't really connected... at 20 miles a coat hanger should work better than what you describe...

Make sure the tuning setting on your "analog" TV is set to ANTENNA instead of CATV when you do this.

Originally posted by ragamuffin
Make sure the tuning setting on your "analog" TV is set to ANTENNA instead of CATV when you do this.

Ahh. One of those lost settings that never gets used having had cable hooked up so long. Excellent idea. I will have to try that on my lunch hour. THanks.

Originally posted by Michael Corvin
Ahh. One of those lost settings that never gets used having had cable hooked up so long. Excellent idea. I will have to try that on my lunch hour. THanks.
And one other thing to keep in mind is to make sure you're not inside a "shielded" enclosure. Ideally you should start with your antenna near a window with line of sight in the direction of the towers you're trying to receive signal from. You can then move from the window and determine if there is any signal degradation as you move away or around.

I am new to the forum. I have have been working on my OTA setup for about a week now. I think that it is done. I have a few reception questions though.

1) Did anyone else experience the audio sync issues with Law & Order SVU again last night (3/16)? I thought this was taken care of.


2) Did anyone experience a few brekups before Survivor tonight (3/17)?


On another note...

What gives with the NCAA tourney? Up until 3/16 many guides had all the primetime games listed as being in HD. All of the sudden they are not. Anyone know what's up?


Thanks
John


----- BTW, I am one of the 9000. My cable PQ always stunk. I had the HD, but it constantly froze, pixelated and dropped out. I still have phone and BB, but they are suspect, at best. I got tired of poor service, and techs that tried to use jargon that they didn't understand, insulting my intelligence. I now have DirecTV since 06/14/03. My $.02, since the article was mentioned

Alright here is an update. I have a second receiver the t151 I picked up for my brother. I hooked that up and get a medium signal strength. But it works. It took a few minutes to get the antenna positioned right. So I am watching Jessica Simpson on Leno butcher the Berlin song Take my breath away. Yikes.

Anyway if I walk in front of the SS I lose the signal. Weak if you ask me. I guess I need an outdoor one.

I since I found the exact placing of the antenna, I left it alone and hooked up the t165 to see if I can get a signal. Nada. Same crappy signal. I don't get it.

Lastly, I want to be able to get the NCAA this weekend but 32 is the only station not coming in. It is at the same degree as Wave 3 but I get nothing. Odd.

Here is this weekend's schedule of HD NCAA games this weekend. I'm not sure WLKY is carrying any of those games locally. So it may not be so urgent to figure it out by this weekend.

Friday, March 19, 2004

East Rutherford Region
12:30pm
(7) Memphis vs. (10) South Carolina

30 Minutes Following
(2) Oklahoma State vs. (15) Eastern Washington


St. Louis Region
7:25pm
(5) Providence vs. (12) Pacific

30 Minutes Following
(4) Kansas vs. (13) Illinois at Chicago


Sunday, March 21, 2004

East Rutherford Region
2:20pm
Memphis/South Carolina vs. Oklahoma State /Eastern Washington

St. Louis Region
30 Minutes Following
Providence/Pacific vs. Kansas/Illinois at Chicago

OK here same new info on CH. on Insight cable there going to get INHD and INHD-2 anf Starz-HD and Cinmax-HD but its going to be like 3 to 6 month there working on taking out the analog Premium ch and then add more HD and digital ch :)

So let me get this straight, NO NCAA in HD in Louisville. What a crock!

I have officially given up on the SS. Went and bought a $50 VHF/UHF antenna from Radio Shack during my lunch hour. If that doesn't work, my parents have an antenna on their roof they no longer use that I might have to swipe.

OK this really blows!!!

1) What is the deal? All other channels are coming in fine, but CBS/WLKY keeps cutting out. Are they not pushing full strength? Come on people, this is the NCAA tourney!

2) NCAA on WLKY PQ is not as good as usual sports. Esp. the graphics, they look sloppy and blurred.

I am frustrated beyond belief. Is anyone else having the same reception problems as me? It is Thurs. 03/18 at 3:14 PM. I am attempting to watch the game on the digital simulcast.

Bad enough no HD games, but not even being able to watch the digital version... that really stinks.


UPDATE: OK, I will give them a little bit of a break. The wind is really whipping today. But... it does not seem to be affecting any other stations.

Just FYI, I have a T165 and get great OTA DTV and HD reception! No problems with ABC,CBS,NBC,FOX and the four PBS channels. My antenna is a very large RadioShack antenna ($30 on sale) hung by shoelaces in my attic. I have the signal fed via coax to a small video amplifier (channel master - ~$30) and then to the T165. The antenna / amplifier is the same setup I have used for years for analog tv. I set up the antenna/amp up years ago when I first moved to town instead of getting cable. In the last month I got a new HDTV and the T165. I live off of goose creek rd. My guess is that if you are having trouble with louisville reception, then get a better antenna and/or a signal amp. I hope the NCAA is in HD or at least DTV!

I am about ready to take it all back. F it all. It shouldn't be this complicated. No wonder why it has taken so long for it to catch on. I hooked up the $50 antenna from RS. Put me back at square one. On both receivers. Neither was getting a signal. The 165 won't even highlight the signal strenth option on the menu. So I am flying blind as to where to point the antenna. At least the 151 lets me do that. Sad that the cheaper model, by $200, works better. That is messed up. So far the 165 has given me 0 signal in three days of effort.

Last resort, my folks have an antenna on their roof they aren't using, I'm gonna take. if I can't get it working with that I'm hocking it all. It isn't worth the heartache. I've wasted 8-10 hours on this crap and have absolutely diddly squat to show for it. I mean I'm about ready to throw something through the tv. AAARGHH! :mad:

Corvin - I'm right there with you man. As soon as I think I have it right... pixelation and cut-out. AAAAHHHHH!!

MichaelZ - I am glad that you have great reception, though it frustrates me to think that, me being in Highview/Fern Creek, I have spent a decent amount of money and time and I can't even watch the ballgame.


Again, is anyone else having problems with CBS today? I'm getting everything else fine, just not CBS. It is usually the channel with the best reception.

Finally having some luck. Watching ER in HD. Very nice. CBS is coming in but it takes about 5 or 6 seconds. Damn I wish UL was in HD tomorrow night.

Corvin - Are you getting CBS without any drop-outs/ cut-ous, or pixelation?

I'm in Bedford, IN watching 32-1 via OTA and have not had a problem all night long. It has been on since 7:30PM at least.

-AKH

It was analog and I didn't watch it. Just flipping through to see which ones were coming in.

Congratulations on getting your HD working. I was absolutly stunned when I finally got it all hooked up. CSI will never be the same!

From about 9:30 on WLKY was coming in much better. Maybe the problem was the wind and the trees, or a combination of both. THanks for replys. I'm looking forward to better reception for tonight, esp. the shaky Cards.

Originally posted by bpwagner
Congratulations on getting your HD working. I was absolutly stunned when I finally got it all hooked up. CSI will never be the same!

ER looked nice. Leno looks a tad "soft." Neither have blown me away so far. Don't get me wrong it is a vast improvement, just nothing like some sports broadcasts I've seen in store. But it is nice to have them anamorphic for my widescreen.

Ugh! What happened to WLKY's upconverts during the NCAA games yesterday? Blury, blury, blury - graphics were barely readable in places. WKYT's upcons looked much better on the same material ... usually the situation is reversed.

HDC

Michael,

I lost the HD HBO signal during the Soprano's last night also. I'm not sure of the time, but I think it was about half way through. I'm using the original HD box. (No PVR) The other HD channels were fine. I switched over to the standard digital box for a few minutes and when I came back the HD HBO feed was back... Nice to know it wasn't just me.

I need more help. The ONLY HD channel I can get is wave 3-1. All the rest are analog and not worth watching(like noted in previous posts). I've done the channel search/add a number of times and can't get anything. I know NYPD is in HD but I can't get squat. What are the actual HD channels in Louisville so that I can just put in the number and just go to it without searching?

Originally posted by Michael Corvin
What are the actual HD channels in Louisville so that I can just put in the number and just go to it without searching?
try http://www.louisvillehdtv.com/

Thanks for the link. Much appreciated.

Does anyone participating in this thread own a LG LST-3100A HD receiver? I was wondering if it is possible to receive Insight cable's analog/digital/HDTV channels with the QAM abilities of this STB. Please post specific channels if possible. Since Insight "flashes" their boxes, perhaps it won't work for this cableco.

Any comments regarding anomolies (freezing, ff/rew, channel jumping, etc.) also helpful.

It seems that since the LG is the only model with QAM enabled (yes, Samsung SIR-T351, I am talking to you), if the LG picks up some QAM it may be the STB to buy (for now).

First, I am getting a clear signal from CBS finally, but still no luck with ABC or Fox. Tourny time tonight!

Second, I bought a DVI cable and it doesn't seem to work. I am wondering if I am doing something wrong. I plug it in and I don't get a picture, I get fat wavy vertical lines on the right and left side of the tv. Almost where the P&S bars would be. If I switch inputs, to say cable or dvd, they stay. If I unplug the cable, they stay. The only way to get rid of them is to unplug the tv. Any ideas?

Argh! All games tonight are from Atlanta instead of St. Louis where the HD crew is broadcasting from. Bummer.

Originally posted by Scott Shanks
Argh! All games tonight are from Atlanta instead of St. Louis where the HD crew is broadcasting from. Bummer.
Not sure how L'ville CBS handles their DT signal... but Lexington CBS tends to allow the "network" HD signal to ride on through to the HD feed if available... while the CBS "regional" feed on the analog CBS channel follows what's deemed appropriate for the region. This allows one to see both games simultaneously when the HD game is *NOT* the regional feed. Maybe L'ville CBS does this too?

That would be sweet. Anyone know if this is the case?

Originally posted by ragamuffin
Not sure how L'ville CBS handles their DT signal... but Lexington CBS tends to allow the "network" HD signal to ride on through to the HD feed if available... while the CBS "regional" feed on the analog CBS channel follows what's deemed appropriate for the region. This allows one to see both games simultaneously when the HD game is *NOT* the regional feed. Maybe L'ville CBS does this too?
That IS what WLKY is doing!

We've got the XAV/Texas game in SD OTA on channel 32 and the UAB/Kansas game in HD OTA on channel 26.

Thank you WLKY / CBS!

:D :D :D :D :D

The game looks great tonite, first chance I've had to see basketball in HD.

Terrible sound drop outs though. About once every 10 seconds. Anyone else having this problem tonite?

I watched the HD game for a while on OTA and then switched to Insight Cable with no sound drop outs.

Originally posted by peabobb
The game looks great tonite, first chance I've had to see basketball in HD.

Terrible sound drop outs though. About once every 10 seconds. Anyone else having this problem tonite?

No sound problems with OTA here near E-Town, HDTV looks GREAT.

Mike T

No OTA sound drop outs here either. First experience with HD sports. Very impressed.

Is WLKY going to be running the HDTV coverage of the Masters? I know CBS is covering it in HD, but I didn't know if WLKY-DT would be airing it.

Originally posted by Buckett
Is WLKY going to be running the HDTV coverage of the Masters? I know CBS is covering it in HD, but I didn't know if WLKY-DT would be airing it.

Why wouldn't they?

Originally posted by HDTVChallenged
Why wouldn't they?

Hmmm because somebody forgets to 'flip the switch' maybe? ;)

-AKH

Because they are suspect. Just like all of the Louisville channels.

I thought they did a pretty good job last year. I had people over to watch the Super Bowl and The Masters. Everyone noticed that the Masters was Hi-Def. Only one person said something about the Super Bowl being HD.

I've been getting some snow on this channel. Not alot but some. Anybody else?


Also I seen in the paper this weekend where someone is selling a mitsubishi 55" TV and a leather chair for $1400. It said it was a 1080i model but they did'nt give the model no. Great deal if it's the same model as mine. I paid more than twice that. If I had the room I'd look into it. I clipped it out if anyone is interested.

I'm glad Insight screwed up the daylight savings thing. I could sleep in an extra hour before watching the Roddick final in the Nasdaq Open. :D

When are they gonna pick up some new channels though? In-HD would be nice - whatever happened with that?

WHAS snowy here too. Has always been for me. Only really noticeable in black areas. Can get bad at times.

I get several irregular vertical "snowy" lines across the screen on WHAS-DT. I do not see them on HD broadcasts, just SD commercials and now I am noticing them on SD broadcasts. They are mostly visible on the black bars on the area outside 4:3. Wonder if anyone has told WHAS?

Also, I've seen lots of promo for WHAS broadcast for Thunder Over Louisville. I thought WAVE was doing it this year. The station managers were arguing over this a few months ago on the radio and I accidentally tuned in while sitting in traffic. Looks like WHAS will be doing Thunder in HD. Wonder if WAVE will do it too and if they will do it in HD too. This could get interesting.

Originally posted by HTCrazy
I'm glad Insight screwed up the daylight savings thing. I could sleep in an extra hour before watching the Roddick final in the Nasdaq Open. :D

When are they gonna pick up some new channels though? In-HD would be nice - whatever happened with that?

Insight told me they were working on adding some channels later on this year. No mentions of what channels though.

Insight told me they were working on adding some channels later on this year. No mentions of what channels though.

Snakeez posted this about a week or two ago:
OK here same new info on CH. on Insight cable there going to get INHD and INHD-2 and Starz-HD and Cinmax-HD but its going to be like 3 to 6 month there working on taking out the analog Premium ch and then add more HD and digital ch :)

Good news - sorta. I just wish they'd hurry up with the InHD thing. Now that they're showing IMax movies in hi-def along with their sports and movies, it would make the Insight HD package much more complete.

Just an FYI for all the Insight HD customers with the Motorola 62XX series HD recorders...

MichaelZ has posted and I have confirmed that the new update to the software on the Motorola box (version 7.10, released within the past two days and being pushed out to customers now...) now enables the Firewire output and will let you record HD to a XP PC with a small amount of setup.

Check out this thread on the HD recorders forum for more info...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3660790#post3660790

-Alex-

Alex,

What capabilities do you gain? I assume you can offload recorded content (I have a 6208) for archive. I assume you can then burn these files to DVD-R. Do you send them BACK to the 6208 over FW for viewing? Can you view the files on the PC? What file format are they? Do you need hardware decoding? Special software?

Sorry for all of the questions, but that other thread is 22 pages and I hoped you could at least summarize the capabilities before I jump into that thread for the implementation details.

I was wondering what the minimum hardware requirements would be.

Originally posted by bairda
Just an FYI for all the Insight HD customers with the Motorola 62XX series HD recorders...

MichaelZ has posted and I have confirmed that the new update to the software on the Motorola box (version 7.10, released within the past two days and being pushed out to customers now...) now enables the Firewire output and will let you record HD to a XP PC with a small amount of setup.

Check out this thread on the HD recorders forum for more info...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3660790#post3660790

-Alex-


YES!!!

And, WAVE 3 will be broadcasting Thunder in HD

Our plans are to broadcast the entire event, air show and fireworks, in simulcast HD.

We have a completely separate HD mobile facility to provide the live camera views. Of course, any taped segments or content not provided live from the HD cameras will not be in HD, but the older NTSC 4x3 format and then up-converted to digital.

Briands...

Well you are right on target with the benefit of archiving HD material, thus freeing up the paltry 80gb HD on the Motorola 62xx. However there are several other benefits:

- ability to stream the HD content to other devices that can play transport streams (*.ts) such as the Roku HD1000
-ability to use PC's to play the HD content either via a hardware/software combo such as MyHD or just a software player (videolan, elecard)
-ability to edit/capture HD content

Suprisingly, (and as MichaelZ has reported) the HD content takes up less room then you would expect. I transferred Star Wars ATOC last night and the whole movie from HBO HD came out at about 10gb...just a little over twice the size of the ripped DVD.

Right now there is NO way to transfer material from your PC back to the Motorola...it is a one way trip out to the PC. Also the capture of HD material is actual time. So a two hour movie will take two hours to be captured and transferred to your PC.

No special hardware is needed for the capture other than:
-Motorola 62XX cable box with the 7.10 software update (you should get this automatically)
-PC with windows XP and sufficient memory (256mb) and storage space (remember how big the HD content can be)
-Firewire input card on XP capture PC
-Firewire cable for connecting the PC to the Motorola 62XX
-The ummm..."core" driver set which enables the PC to see the connected Motorola 62xx box as a Panasonic DVHS AV/C tuner and Panasonic DVHS AV/C device. The driver downloads are listed on several threads. PM me if you have trouble finding them
-CapVHS0603e software. This software does the actual capture on your PC. Once again listed in several threads, but PM me if you have trouble finding it.
-A media player capable of playing back a transport stream (*.ts) file that you create from the capture. I have had good luck with both the elecard and the VideoLan players. These can be found at DVDDigest and the doom9.org sites.

This may sound like a long list and you may be thinking that it is a complicated setup, but it really isn't. There are some good screen shot directions that people have posted that make it very easy. Once again if you can't find these, just PM me.

Hope this helps!
-Alex-

Is WHAS acting like a bunch of big babies or what? I hope there is a serious backlash against them if they go forward with their plans to broadcast Thunder as a "news event".

Thanks, Alex, for the very informative post. My computer budget just went up a few hundred dollars, I think.

Just be prepared for the PC (or Mac for that matter)HD recording to be locked down in short order. Insight will start the encryption/scrambling of their signals sooner rather than later, so enjoy this while you can!

More info on that here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=388947

-Alex-

Alex,

Thanks for the info.

Can you use the firewire out to the HTPC to view "real time"? The thought being that I could bypass the component transcoder issue and use the PC output.

I'll catch up on the other thread this weekend and give this a go.

Originally posted by Briands
Alex,

Thanks for the info.

Can you use the firewire out to the HTPC to view "real time"? The thought being that I could bypass the component transcoder issue and use the PC output.

I'll catch up on the other thread this weekend and give this a go.

Briands....
As far as I can tell you cannot view the capture "live" via your PC using the capDVHS software. It seems specifically designed to only let you emulate a DVHS player and write a TS file from the stream of the firewire port.

I am not sure if there is any other software that can do what capDVHS does right now with the motorola 62xx and a XP PC. Even worse, there seems to be some mystery behind who wrote the capDVHS program and when, if ever the source code will be opened up for people to further develop.

-Alex-

Insight has started offering HD here in Bowling Green as well. I'll read thru this thread for some info. Just thought I'd give a heads up.

Originally posted by Scott Shanks
Is WHAS acting like a bunch of big babies or what? I hope there is a serious backlash against them if they go forward with their plans to broadcast Thunder as a "news event".

I hope WHAS gets sued and loses their broadcast license.

Their General Manager is a total #$@#$&@#$

Originally posted by Scott Shanks
Is WHAS acting like a bunch of big babies or what? I hope there is a serious backlash against them if they go forward with their plans to broadcast Thunder as a "news event".

Originally posted by NightowlKY
I hope WHAS gets sued and loses their broadcast license.

Their General Manager is a total #$@#$&@#$

Why is WHAS being singled out by everyone? According to the official Derby Festival webpage, "WAVE has been broadcasting the show since 1998". Wasn't WHAS the official broadcaster during that time period? If so, why did no one complain about WAVE broadcasting it then?

And to peripherally keep this on topic, WHAS' HD broadcast was pretty good!

The point is that all four local stations bid for the exclusive broadcast rights to telecast the show and WHAS lost. Now they are trying to usurp that process by claiming that the show is a news event. Trust me, if things were reversed, WHAS would be screaming bloody murder. Why would WHAS take the time to bid on the broadcast rights if they intended to broadcast it anyway and not pay anything.

Originally posted by Scott Shanks
The point is that all four local stations bid for the exclusive broadcast rights to telecast the show and WHAS lost. Now they are trying to usurp that process by claiming that the show is a news event. Trust me, if things were reversed, WHAS would be screaming bloody murder. Why would WHAS take the time to bid on the broadcast rights if they intended to broadcast it anyway and not pay anything.

I understand that completely. My question, I guess, is is this different from past years? WHAS and WAVE have both broadcast Thunder since at least 1998. Wasn't WHAS the "official" broadcast partner those years?

And, BTW, I have no strong opinions either way - I've only lived here a few years and am just trying to figure out how it has been run in the past.

Originally posted by JThree
I understand that completely. My question, I guess, is is this different from past years?

There was no *exclusive* rights clause until this year ... that addition was WHAS's idea ... it backfired on them.

HDC

This message has been sanitized for your protection

Originally posted by HDTVChallenged
There was no *exclusive* rights clause until this year ...

There is the bit that was missing! Now things make sense. Thanks!

Let's talk football!!!

NFL in HD on FOX (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=391168)

Anyone know the rollout schedule for WDRB? What about Fox on Insight?

Originally posted by Briands
Let's talk football!!!

NFL in HD on FOX (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=391168)

Anyone know the rollout schedule for WDRB? What about Fox on Insight?

I sure wouldn't hold my breath waiting for WDRB to do anything. They're still not even doing the 480p broadcast.

But now they will have some content worthy of HD:)
I think it's time to ask their schedule.

Exclusive my butt!!!!!! It is a public event.......just like the Pegasus Parade. WHAS can cover it if they wish.....they just wouldn't get access to some points that are kept under wraps by KDF and Thunder officals. If it is so exclusive then why didn't they do the same thing for radio coverage. WHAS 84 is covering it on the radio. This is held on public grounds....it is not like the actual Derby and can be sold to a Broadcast Company for the "EXCLUSIVE" showing of the derby. If it is so exclusive.....then I guess I would need to pay WAVE an admission fee. Selling the "exclusive" rights was just another way to generate money for Thunder and I applaud them for being creative....but my gosh it is a public event on public grounds. WHAS has as much right to broadcast Thunder as they have to broadcast Friday Night Flights.....I guess until the KHSAA wants to sell the rights to High Scholl Football to a local station. If WAVE is broadcasting it in HD then that's all they need.....that will draw the viewer's.

WHAS should not have participated in the bidding process if they did not intend to live by its results. Its a matter of ethics and responsibility, not necessarily legality.

Looks like WHAS has agreed not to show thunder fireworks, but still insists on daylong coverage of all else. Here's the kicker: there are no commercials during the 30 min display which they are opting not to do. THerefore they can still sign on advertisers and make $$$ on it even if they show "reruns of last years fireworks" during the actual fireworks display. Pretty tricky WHAS. Man these broadcasters are really devious (crafty)about making a buck. Now I know why an FCC is so imortant to protect the public interest in this area. I've been worried about the HD aspect if WAVE does the exclusive on Thunder. Anyone know if they will do it in HD? I guess WHAS will do the reruns in HD for us HD junkies.

Originally posted by PCS
I've been worried about the HD aspect if WAVE does the exclusive on Thunder. Anyone know if they will do it in HD? I guess WHAS will do the reruns in HD for us HD junkies.

Look back a page.

They will be...well...mostly. Some shots will be 4:3 upconverted.

The weather is going to be great. I am going to watch thunder in true definition...Live!

Glad to hear that WAVE will do it in HD. Now I have to decide which channel to set my recording on. Just like bpwagner I'll be seeing it in "true definition". That doesn't mean I don't also want to watch the HD broadcast. Any TV insider know who has the most HD cameras?

Since WHAS isn't showing the fireworks (only highlights from previous shows), its kind of a moot point as to who has the most HD cameras - if yu are recording it for the fireworks.

Good point Scott. Guess I didn't want to set the 6208 on WAVE all day and get home to find I got a primarily SDTV recording. If WHAS is doing air show and post fireworks (I bet they do some sort of replay) in HD that's what I am trying to figure out about cameras . I can see how my comment seemed somewhat moronic. Hope you see my dilemma. If nobody knows the inside scoop then I'll just take my chances with WAVE this time and keep my fingers crossed.

Did WAVE not buy the audio rights? ;)

I'm watching WAVE-DT on Insight and have no audio. Some of the shots are HD though! Things seem fine on the analog channel.

I finally decided to call about the sound problem. As soon as I dialed the last number the sound finally came on! That's what I call service!

Great HD presentation for Thunder...

but the music :rolleyes: !!

-Alex-

Great "Thunder" Show this Year! Can't comment on the HD as I can only pull in the analog on 3 from up here, but I was still quite impresssed ... I thought they did a great job with Soundtrack this year(not necessarily the music itself, but how it "worked" with the show) as compared to last couple of years I've watched it ...

I thought too many shots were either too close or too far away from the action. But, hey, it was in HD so I can't complain too much!

Has anyone found out anything more about WLKY and its ability (or lack of ability) to broadcast live HD events in 5.1? The chief engineer at CBS was suppose to have contacted the engineer at WLKY a while back.

I sent this email to WDRB Fox-41:

"...Can you confirm that WDRB is planning to broadcast in HD this year?..."

Here's the response:

"Rick,

At this time, that is our plan. September is our goal.

Bill Lamb
General manager
WDRB-TV"

Originally posted by Rick214
I sent this email to WDRB Fox-41:

"...Can you confirm that WDRB is planning to broadcast in HD this year?..."

Here's the response:

"Rick,

At this time, that is our plan. September is our goal.

Bill Lamb
General manager
WDRB-TV"

Now if they and WHAS would just increase their power to something more than light bulb level it would make me really happy down here west of E-Town.

Mike T

I concur WAVE did a great job on the HD for Thunder. IMO they kicked WHAS booty. All HD all the time during the fireworks. That's what I'm talking about! No dumb SD shots of the sparks hitting the bridge or helicopter shots in SD. Just 2 or 3 cameras with good capture and only a few times out of sync with the action. Not bad at all.

Great news about WDRB. Hope Insight picks them up then power level is irrelevant if you've got cable.

I missed the HD showing of Thunder. Was visiting with a friend. Don't suppose they'll be replaying it, eh?

But, good news about WDRB and let's hope Insight does pick them up soon.

And, what's up, Nitewatchman? LTNS. :)

Originally posted by NightowlKY
I missed the HD showing of Thunder. Was visiting with a friend. Don't suppose they'll be replaying it, eh?

Unlikely ... the nearly instant replay was in SD. I guess they don't want to spring for an HD VTR ;)

Anyhoo ... does anyone know if WAVE is running at full (or even 1/2) power yet? I'm 76mi out but I can get WLKY-DT fairly consistantly, WAVE-DT seems to be consistantly down ~5.2dB relative to WLKY.

HDC

message sanitized for your protection

Originally posted by NightowlKY
I missed the HD showing of Thunder. Was visiting with a friend. Don't suppose they'll be replaying it, eh?

But, good news about WDRB and let's hope Insight does pick them up soon.

And, what's up, Nitewatchman? LTNS. :)

I was not able to get my computer to record the firewire from my RCA DLP, so all I could do is record the widescreen composite video from the RCA to my computer. I made a widescreen DVD and it looks pretty good for SDTV.

Did anyone record the HDTV signal to their computer, and if so would they let me get a copy of the file so I can make a DVD and check the quality difference between the two methods of capture.

Mike T

Originally posted by mtallent
...Did anyone record the HDTV signal to their computer, and if so would they let me get a copy of the file so I can make a DVD and check the quality difference between the two methods of capture.

I don't know about how others are doing it, but getting an HD stream from the cable box to the computer over firewire results in about 9gig/hour files. Not really conducive to sharing over the internet!

Originally posted by JThree
I don't know about how others are doing it, but getting an HD stream from the cable box to the computer over firewire results in about 9gig/hour files. Not really conducive to sharing over the internet!

No, I did not expect that, I want to check the quality difference in the different recording methods, so I need the full raw captured HDTV stream. I am about 60 miles from Louisville, and get there about every week, and I have a USB2/firewire external hard drive that I could transfer the large files too. Maybe trade something for your time and trouble, I have been designing video struff for about 40 years and have been working with video capture-edit-encoding for about 3 years. Or if you are really a TV addic, I can let you get your picture taken fondling a Prime Time EMMY award.

Any takers?

Mike Tallent W6MXV near E-Town

Quick question. Input appreciated.

I can receive nearly all of the local DTV stations (save BIG58) without reception issues. However, WDRB continually locks up (picture freeze, audio drop out, pixellation). Does anyone else have this problem? Is WDRB's signal weak?

I know that they are not broadcasting in HD format yet, but this is more of a reception issue.

I would like to get this straightened out before NFL season and MLB playoffs.

Hardware:
Hughes HTL-HD or SIR-T151 (probs occurred on both)
CM 3021
CM pre-amp


THNX.

Originally posted by mtallent
Now if they and WHAS would just increase their power to something more than light bulb level it would make me really happy down here west of E-Town.

Mike T


Amen ....brother....I'm down here just south of Etown and East of Glendale....would love for WHAS to broadcast at a higher power level although I devised a way to pick it up....wow that was a chore....can't get WDRB yet.....whatcha using?

WHAS DT static is about to drive me nuts. Due to the static, their DTV isn't worth watching unless it is HD programming (when static disappears).

Originally posted by J_Slimz
Amen ....brother....I'm down here just south of Etown and East of Glendale....would love for WHAS to broadcast at a higher power level although I devised a way to pick it up....wow that was a chore....can't get WDRB yet.....whatcha using?

Explain what you use for WHAS. I got a great picture from them from sept into nov, they must have been testing the higher power, then they just dropped slightly below my receiver threshold at a signal level of 20. I have the Radio Shack RU-190 VHF/UHF on the roof of 2 story house with a Channel Master 7777 preamp with 2 db noise figure. I get WAVE and WLKY with signal strength of 70. I am near Cecilia just west of E-Town.

Mike T W6MXV

I have a 59 element yagi antenna on the roof of a capecod with only an in-line signal amplifier plugged in to a light bulb fixture in a crawl space that is accessible througha small door in my basement where I can use a pull string to turn it on and off when I need it....need it for WHAS but not for WLKY...if I have it on for WLKY it is too much and runs my signal down....want to try a CM 4228 with a pre-amp....have the 4228 just waiting to get the pre-amp...and for the damn rain to stop....hope I can receive WDRB soon too...especially if they are going to start NFL in HD

While I have been pretty angry with FOX as a network for not doing HD and taking the ridiculous stance that you can't see the difference between 480p & 720p, I am glad they finally see the HDTV light! However, I have felt pretty good about WDRB since my conversation with Station Manager Bill Lamb last fall. He told me WDRB was ready and waiting for FOX to get their act together on the HD broadcasting before his station put $$$ into equipment. He didn't want to invest in a temporary FOX widescreen and then have to go to HD. He assured me that WDRB would be very competitive with the other major stations in Louisville and offer HD as soon a FOX gave the word. He was leaving for a meeting of station execs the same week we talked. He returned and emailed me that HD was coming and the exact date was still TBA. It appears he was being honest about that so I suppose I can believe the rest of what he said.

That long story is to say I believe most of us will be pleased with WDRB when Sept. 2004 comes. :cool:

Again, is there anyone in the Louisville area that has problems, or has had problems receiving WDRB-DT OTA? I could really use some advice/ideas. I would like to be able to pick it up by the time they go HD.

THNX

I recieved this response from Gary Schroder regarding WDRB-DT

Howdy,
Up to this point, Fox has only given the affiliates a non-FCC approved HD signal (480P Wide Screen). This fall they plan to "do it right". We DO have plans to perform the "network pass through" to cable AND our on-air signal... this fall.

I emailed FOX41 to ask if they would be sending out an HD signal in time for this football season and whether Insight would carry it by then. Response:

"Up to this point, Fox has only given the affiliates a non-FCC approved HD signal (480P Wide Screen). This fall they plan to 'do it right'. We DO have plans to perform the 'network pass through' to cable AND our on-air signal... this fall"

Seems like a cut and paste to me!

Just a wild guess, but I would speculate that the NFL is requiring Fox to broadcast their games in HD this year to a minimum number of markets. If Fox wants to keep their contract with the NFL, which they obviously do, they will abide by the NFL's request.

I don't doubt that I am not currently missing anything. The problem is that I can't pick it up very well, but I would like to by the time there is something worth watching. I didn't know if they are broadcasting at a low signal strength or if I am the only having the probs.

THNX for the info.

Originally posted by Buckett
I don't doubt that I am not currently missing anything. The problem is that I can't pick it up very well, but I would like to by the time there is something worth watching. I didn't know if they are broadcasting at a low signal strength or if I am the only having the probs.

According to the FCC, WDRB is currently operating under an STA at either 3.36kW or 6.62kW ERP depending upon which entry is actually in effect ...

Yes, this is very low power for a station on channel 49 ... yes, you are likely to have multipath problems as well in south LA ... especially if you're anywhere near the airport.

To add salt on your wounds I once pulled in both WFTE-DT and WDRB-DT for several hours from 76mi out ... freaky weather conditions ;) :D

HDC

message sanitized for your protection

LOL. Thanks for the info. I appreciate it greatly. FYI, I'm south of I-265 a decent piece from the airport.

I have read the many posts about the new HD box, but I was wondering if those who have had it a while could post some pro's and con's about it. I am still trying to decide if it is worth the extra money to move to the single box, so I would like to know if you guys think that it's worth getting. I know the picture quality is not as good, but how bad is it?

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks,

K13

Personally, I think the positives outweigh the negatives.
The ability to record HD makes it worth the upgrade. There is so much material on at times I can't watch (late at night or while I am at work).
The analog picture is watchable on some channels, terrible on others. The motion artifacts are so distracting, it hurts your eyes. Anyway, if most of what you watch is available on the digital channels and HD channels, it's a no-brainer. If most of what you watch is in the 02 - 79 range, it's a much tougher call.

Is anyone having problems with Ch.55 tonight or lately?

Here are the signal strength readings I'm getting on my DTC-100 with Square Shooter Ant.

Ch.17 - 94%

Ch.26 - 88%

Ch.38 - 88%

Ch.47 - 88%

Ch.49 - 82%

Ch.51 - 88%

Ch.55 - 27%

I have the Ant. pointed at 8 deg. from north (towards the east)

Just got the Ant. today, I'm moving it around to find good locations.

Thanks for any help.

Scott Douglas

Jockey on HBO last night was well worth watching. I would have like to have seen them interview some execs at Churchill (or some trainers or owners) for their take , but I guess that wasn't the focus.

Can anyone confirm that Insight turned off the DVI output on their Motororla 62xx boxes within the past two weeks and if so why?

Kleve13,

I am with Scott on the Insight box PQ. HD is great. Analogs are mediocre to poor. Of course 480i analog is p*ss-poor on any TV IMO. The only show I watch that is not on the HD/DTV range is Enterprise and I am hopeful that this will go HD in the next year or so once the local UPN passes the HD signal of their network. Otherwise I watch exclusively HD/DTV. I wasn't that way before I got HD cable but now I can't stand to waste my time with anything else so I don't even give myself a chance to get interested. If there's nothing on I go DVD. You may find that your viewing habits change once you have the box.

On another matter here's hoping NBC does a better job with the Derby broadcast this year. HDNET can sure do horse racing in great HD fashion with their HR Challenge from Santa Anita. Last years Derby was the absolute WORST HD broadcast I have ever seen in my 4+ years of watching HDTV. I'm glad it wasn't WAVE's fault since it seems to have been a national phenomenon.

Per KET website:

KET is to expand PBS HD/WS programming to a full primetime schedule starting May 1!!!!! Outstanding. .... Congrats to KET and the mysterious Mr. Smith.

HDC

On another matter here's hoping NBC does a better job with the Derby broadcast this year.

And how. Last year we had 8 people over for a High Def Derby Party. They all figured I was having equipment problems. This year we're having 15, and I sure hope they don't lame out again.

Originally posted by MichaelZ
Is the derby going to be broadcast in HD?

As long as you are in range of WAVE-DT ... Once again, it will not be available in HD in central KY, thanks to the FCC and WLEX's little "war of wills" ... A Perfect example of why we need distant digitals.

HDC

Well, once again there were too many standard def cameras and too few HD. Every so often an HD shot would come in and everyone would say "ohh look, that must be HD". Once they do the whole thing in HD, it will be a real luxury to watch - but given the feable efforts over the last 2 years, I'm not sure it will ever happen. It least this year it wasn't dropping signals 50% of the time. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by MichaelZ
I sent an e-mail to Bob Ross about WLKY's constant audio problem (like last nights CSI :(). Anyone had any luck bitching to anyone at CBS about this problem? I am down to CSI, that is about the only thing I watch on CBS due to this popping audio and I am about to throw in the towel for the rest of the season.


I sent an email to Bob Ross some months ago he said he would contact the Group VP for 32. As you can see nothing has improved. I have emailed WLKY for over a year with no results. I have given up. They either do not care are incapable of fixing the problem.

What about NBC via insight last night? I recorded ER. Not only was there quite a few breakups, but I missed the ending by several minutes , but at least I cought the last 3 minutes of Friends :(

Anyone know how to get this 6208 clock synced???

FYI (For Y'alls Information)

HD shows up on KET. Will it be at a decent bit rate and watchable? Here's the news flash.



PBS DTV comes to primetime in Kentucky

Starting this month, KET is pleased to offer a monthly average of 100 hours of high-definition (HD) and widescreen (WS) programming on KET4. By broadcasting the PBS DTV primetime schedule, we've made it possible for you to watch a full range of stunning, digital programming every night—from 8 pm to 11 pm ET Monday through Saturday, and 7 pm to 11 pm ET Sunday.
Among the HD programs offered this month are American Family, a weekly serial drama about a Latino family in Los Angeles, and Renoir to Rothko: The Eye of Duncan Phillips, which explores the collector's modern art in stunning detail. A complete schedule of HD and WS programs is available on our Watch page.
To receive digital broadcasts, you need a digital receiver and a signal source. Viewers across the state who have DTV receivers can access KET4 directly off the air with an antenna. If you get your TV signal by way of a cable or satellite provider, call them for information about receiving KET's digital services in your area. Typically, the cable or satellite company will provide the necessary DTV receiver.
To better understand the changes that are in store as all the nation's television broadcasters convert from analog to digital signals, please visit the DTV pages on our Web site. When you're ready for digital, KET is digital-ready.

Originally posted by Briands
What about NBC via insight last night? I recorded ER.

Zuckervision strikes again .... do not attempt to adjust your set. But seriously, this is just another case of NBC screwing around with the schedule times and program lengths.

HDC

Originally posted by STEVENSHS
I sent an email to Bob Ross some months ago he said he would contact the Group VP for 32. As you can see nothing has improved. I have emailed WLKY for over a year with no results. I have given up. They either do not care are incapable of fixing the problem.

Yeah, I was about to post about this. WKYT had the same exact problem for a while, but they appear to have fixed the problem. The problem *is* fixable, should WLKY accept the mission. If you can get WLKY's engineer to talk to WKYT's you might have some success.

I've also noticed that WLKY's audio is really cranked up in the high range ... sounds like everything above 8kHz is boosted by 10dB and the low end sounds weak compared to WKYT and just about everyone else.

I'm with you though, I'm tired of begging engineers to do the job they're paid to do ... If something is screwed up, I just change the channel.

HDC

I've upped the bit rate on KET4 but have to watch KET1 and KET2 as well..

Awaiting some more goodies before I'm done..

HDC,

Not all engineers have the knowledge to handle DTV yet.. Most plants were setup by the transmitter installers and the local folks were not even in on the equipment spec much less trained on the art of fine tuning the transmission system. When we did the WKPC plant in 1999, WE taught the installers how to max the encoder as KET had been doing digital MPEG 2 based transmission over satellite since 1995...

Besides why should they give a damn? All they ever get from the AVS folks is grief..

All I got was grief over the lip sync issue, but only got one confirmation that the problem was fixed..

PBS|HD / DKET4 looks pretty good tonight.

Thanks for the upping the bandwidth! Some interesting stuff too.

Originally posted by William Smith
All I got was grief over the lip sync issue, but only got one confirmation that the problem was fixed..

... And who was the kind viewer that did that? ;) :D

Anyway, my point was that we viewers sometimes get the impression that station managers/engineers just don't care "because nobody is watching our digital signal anyway." ;) (Note: this does not apply to KET ;) )

I'm just tired of that excuse. Engineers/master switch operators really ought to be monitoring their own end product don'tcha think? The CBS audio issue at WLKY has been going on all season, you'd think somebody could have taken the initiative by now ;)

Good to hear you've found some more bits the play with. If I can pry myself away from Survivor/Sopranos/Deadwood tonight, I'll give KET a look. The Widescreen programs have been looking pretty good recently, but the "Orca" program still had some moments of severe blockiness last week.

HDC

To those of you with the Insight Motorola HD cable box:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=399490


:D :D :D

Yea but you guys are slipping...

Originally posted by William Smith
Yea but you guys are slipping...

????? :confused:

Anyhoo, I did manage to catch "American Family" last night. Actually looked reasonably good even in the battle explosion scenes ... perhaps progress is being made. Of course, I'll have to see more examples before I'm convinced. Oh, and the audio dropouts appear to have disappeared.

HDC

Hi all,

Reading through previous posts I saw where insights SD channels (under ch. 99?) were pretty bad after installing the new HD box. Has there been any improvements?

Any opinions on ESPN HD quality? I've heard some people say its good and others that its just ok....

Bryan

Any improvement to the SD channels has been minimal, really.

The ESPN events that are produced in HD are fine IMO. The stretched SD stuff is a little too distorted for me. But, it is a much clearer signal than the SD signal on channel 44.

If I had money to burn, I'd get both boxes. But, unfortunately . . . . . :(

Did anyone attempt to watch "Helter Skelter" last night? There were so many break-ups (via Insight) it was completely unwatchable.

Originally posted by Scott Shanks
Did anyone attempt to watch "Helter Skelter" last night? There were so many break-ups (via Insight) it was completely unwatchable.

It was not insight. It was WLKY. They fixed it this morning. Can not pay to have a tech on weekends I guess.

Originally posted by STEVENSHS
It was not insight. It was WLKY. They fixed it this morning. Can not pay to have a tech on weekends I guess.

Probably no chance of them re-airing it (in HD) either

I may be frustrated with WKET about their multicasting and such for HD, but I do respect Will Smith and others for reading and posting on this site. Thank you very much!

I only wish someone from WLKY was reading this too. Helter Skelter was unwatchable due to pixels. Pitiful. I don't watch as much TV in the summer due to longer days and being outside more, but evening primetime is when I do watch and WLKY is dropping the ball.

I do appreciate having this forum to help me diagnose these problems as:
1. my equipment
2. cable
3. broadcaster
4. network
5. Acts of God (just kidding)
:D

Originally posted by MichaelZ
The golf game Sunday, on WLKY was really bad. Choppy, pixel city, audio dropouts - in a word, it sucked. I've about given up on some of the local stations - I am not sure they are ever going to get it right :(

Yes, Friday night was all screwed up too.

But, I've been having more troubles with WAVE. For about the last 3 or 4 weeks, lots of breakups and audio dropouts. It's frustrating because Wave has come in great for over a year and now its no good. Anyone else having problems with Wave?

Originally posted by Chris Sutton
Yes, Friday night was all screwed up too.

But, I've been having more troubles with WAVE. For about the last 3 or 4 weeks, lots of breakups and audio dropouts. It's frustrating because Wave has come in great for over a year and now its no good. Anyone else having problems with Wave?

I receivew WAVE OTA and have breakups, etc. Over the weekend when they turned off 3.2 I still had breakups during the horse race.

Originally posted by STEVENSHS
I receivew WAVE OTA and have breakups, etc. Over the weekend when they turned off 3.2 I still had breakups during the horse race.


I had to watch the race in analog myself. Have you always had a problem with Wave or is this a recent thing?

Just trying to find out if this is WAVE's problem or mine.

Originally posted by Chris Sutton
I had to watch the race in analog myself. Have you always had a problem with Wave or is this a recent thing?

Just trying to find out if this is WAVE's problem or mine.

This was much worse than normal. I get stong signal from all of them where I live. Wave is usually much better but, there is some video problems. WLKY has audio problems. Whas is OK most of the time.

I'm getting Insight HD installed next week. I have A sony Wega HD Monitor, with a DVI Interface. I was wondering if I need to Buy a DVI Cable, Or If Insight's DVR box comes with one. Is a DVI cable needed to view HD channels? And How will normal TV look?

Welcome BirdsEye.
Insight will provide component cables at a relatively reasonable $15. A DVI cable is not required. I suppose you can use it, I'm not sure. You can browse back a few pages (not too many) for a discussion about how "normal TV" will look. Not very good, but I think you will watch very little normal TV from now on. Good luck.

Did WAVE-DT get zapped by lighting or something? I haven't been able to get even a blip for the past couple of days ... WLKY is still strong, KET-17 (usually weaker than WAVE) still registers on my signal meter.

HDC

Originally posted by HDTVChallenged
Did WAVE-DT get zapped by lighting or something? I haven't been able to get even a blip for the past couple of days ... WLKY is still strong, KET-17 (usually weaker than WAVE) still registers on my signal meter.

HDC

WAVE DT is not on the air. Perhaps this is how they plan to fix there video problems.

Originally posted by STEVENSHS
WAVE DT is not on the air. Perhaps this is how they plan to fix there video problems.

LOL ... sounds a bit extreme to me but I guess that's an option :D Thanks for the confirmation.

HDC

NEWSFLASH

For any UofL sports fans WHAS has taken the contract from WDRB for football, basketball, olympic sports and coaches shows. Perhaps eventually that will mean the CARDS in HD. At least it means upconverted SD digital cable. I see this as good news. WDRB broadcasts rated from fair to poor IMO. WHAS did UofL until 1988 and I recall they did a pretty good job. Here's hoping . . . :cool:

I would bet anything that Gary "I followed Rick Pitino to Cleveland when he asked for his privcy" Gupton was fired to clear the way for WHAS to get the UofL contract.

Gupton is such a UK hack. Yes Scott I think his firing cleared the way.

Sorry to offend any UK fans. :p

Just a warning for those with Insight Cable using their DVR box. Last night my cable was turned off because I forgot to pay the bill. So my wife and I decided to catch up on some shows we had recorded onto the DVR. No go! Apparently Insight does not let you access your DVR recordings when your service is cut for nonpayment!

Originally posted by BirdsEye
I'm getting Insight HD installed next week. I have A sony Wega HD Monitor, with a DVI Interface. I was wondering if I need to Buy a DVI Cable, Or If Insight's DVR box comes with one. Is a DVI cable needed to view HD channels? And How will normal TV look?

Birdseye

We have the same set up (Sony HD & Insight HD). No you don't NEED a DVI cable to watch HD. I bought a DVI cable cos some said you get improved picture, but I don't see it. I still watch HD through the component cables even though the DVI is connected. My advise don't waste your money.

Originally posted by JThree
Just a warning for those with Insight Cable using their DVR box. Last night my cable was turned off because I forgot to pay the bill. So my wife and I decided to catch up on some shows we had recorded onto the DVR. No go! Apparently Insight does not let you access your DVR recordings when your service is cut for nonpayment!

Another warning!! if you don't pay your LG&E bill and they turn your power off, you can't watch ANYTHING. Believe me I know.

Another warning!! if you don't pay your LG&E bill and they turn your power off, you can't watch ANYTHING. Believe me I know.

Good one gnj1958 LOL:D

Originally posted by gnj1958
Another warning!! if you don't pay your LG&E bill and they turn your power off, you can't watch ANYTHING. Believe me I know.

That's what backup generators are for :D Hey maybe that's what happened to WAVE-DT ;)

HDC

Originally posted by PCS
NEWSFLASH

For any UofL sports fans WHAS has taken the contract from WDRB for football, basketball, olympic sports and coaches shows. Perhaps eventually that will mean the CARDS in HD. At least it means upconverted SD digital cable. I see this as good news. WDRB broadcasts rated from fair to poor IMO. WHAS did UofL until 1988 and I recall they did a pretty good job. Here's hoping . . . :cool:


No more Don Russell maybe?!?!?

WAVE was back on the air with there digital signal last night. It appears the down time was not to fix the video breakup problem. It is still present.

Originally posted by STEVENSHS
WAVE was back on the air with there digital signal last night. It appears the down time was not to fix the video breakup problem. It is still present.

Yep I was about to ask if others were still seeing the problem. WKYT in Lexington went through a period like this when they first went on the air. In their case, the problem was a bad encoder board (IIRC.)

HDC

I checked a few minutes of Jurassic Park to see if it was HD. NOT! Yes there were pixels and breakups. I'm glad to know its their problem. I was about to call Insight.

Originally posted by PCS
I checked a few minutes of Jurassic Park to see if it was HD. NOT! Yes there were pixels and breakups. I'm glad to know its their problem. I was about to call Insight.

Contact WAVE Engineering:

tjohnson@wave3tv.com

Originally posted by gnj1958
Birdseye

We have the same set up (Sony HD & Insight HD). No you don't NEED a DVI cable to watch HD. I bought a DVI cable cos some said you get improved picture, but I don't see it. I still watch HD through the component cables even though the DVI is connected. My advise don't waste your money.

Are you sure your DVI is working? I was told when I picked up my 6208 box that they turned off the DVI and this was confirmed by Insight. See below.

"Due to copyright laws and the DVRs ability to export recorded programs, we are no longer able to use DVI cables with our digital equipment. At this
time, we do not have a firm timetable to provide to you of when this feature
will become available again, but we will be sure to keep our potential
customers posted as further details develop. "
Sincerely,
Karen Stokes
Insight Communications

Fred

I just checked to make sure and I'm definately getting an output from the DVI. As usual Insight don't know what they're talking about. Unless it's only my box that's doing it.

I was told by my Insight installer that Insight denies publicly that the DVI is operative but that it does in fact output a signal and I could use it if I wanted to. I don't use it but this would fit with what both posters are saying.:confused:

I am somewhat of a newbie, and wondered what over the air signals are available in Louisville area?
I live in Crestwood area and have an E86 Hughes and a HR10-250 Directv box.

What is confusing for me is one day I pick up Wave3 with sub channels 3-1 and 3-2 and then nothing, this also happens with Whas too. One day I get 11-1 strong signal then it wavers and then a lot of times nothing.

What signals should I be able to get over the air ?

Also is there a good antenna installer in the area that I could contact ?

Thanks for any help.

Cliff

Go to: louisvillehdtv.com to see the local digital channel information and more.

I used Miller Electronics in Georgetown, IN to install an attic antenna for me. They did a good job.

........... Rick

My DVI was "halted" a couple of weeks ago. It happened to my friend a few weeks earlier than that. I was told by a "tech" from insight that it was mandated that they begin shutting it down...they are doing it randomly a spreading it out. I was also told that it is "temporary" until software can be devloped and downloaded to the box to prevent the loophole that allows free copying. They offered to supply a free component cable. I have been using it since and there is really know difference in quality. It's just a shame to have all digital equipment and have to go back to analogue.

HD HBO and SHO are out for me also.... I was thinking the same thing about the Soprano's....

WAVE has the big horse race today and the big video and audio breakup. They are truly an embarrassment to broadcasting.

Is WHAS not carrying the hockey game tonight? Is it being broadcasted on an alternate channel? I support the Crusade, but watching clog dancers doesn't make me want to give any money.

Since we got the new HD boxes from Insight we get constant breakups where the sound will drop out and the picture will pixelate for a few seconds. This happens every few minutes and is pretty much constant any time of day any HD channel. In fact I don't think we've watched a single show on HD where this didn't happen at least once. My girlfriend is sick of it to a point where she refuses to watch HD anymore.

Does anybody else have this problem? Is it Insight? Is it a faulty box, bad connection. As I said it happens on every HD channel so it can't be the stations at fault. For the amount of money we pay it would be nice to have a non interupted show once in a while.

gnj1958,

it has to do with the recording function of the hard drive, since it's always recording as you watch, sometimes it needs to catch up with itself and it lag's the picture. To fix this, just pause (press 'up') it for like 3-5 seconds and play (press 'up' again) from that point so that you're always playing it off the hard drive, and you shouldn't have that problem again.

It's just annoying since you have to do it every time you change the channel. But it's worth it if you're watching an HBO movie or something that you're not going to flick back and forth from.

I have recently sent multiple e-mails to WHAS regarding the Harris Flexicoder/blurred picture issue. I would suggest and appreciate it if others would do the same. Information can be found on the topic HERE (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=3802384#post3802384) and HERE (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=3861709#post3861709). Thanks for any help and time you might lend to help in correcting this problem.

For those of us south of Louisville, around Etown and such, WHAS isn't that great. They are not broadcasting at FULL power and that SUCKS!! So, even though WHAS may not have some of the problems that WAVE and/or WLKY have they aren't without their OWN faults!!!!

I'm not asking you to complain. They have the equipment. Apparently they just have it set up wrong. If you read the threads/posts that I linked to, you would see what I mean. Overall their broadcasts are pretty good, but during the sports broadcasts you can notice that blurry/fuzzy effect at random times. ABC issued statements to the local affiliates concerning this, but apparently WHAS has not fixed the problem.

I think that a few new threads have cropped up about this problem in the "HDTV Programming" section.

Again, please contact WHAS letting tham know that you have observed the blur/haze problem and encourage them to correct the Harris Flexicoder per ABC NY instructions.

Thanx.

Do the locals not have HD monitoring? I had to call WHAS again tonight to get them to flip the "HD switch" for the 4th qtr of the game. Ahh! Between the local staions and D*, HDTV has become too much like work. Frustration is beginning to set in.


Update: BTW. I got an e-mail from Bill Brown at WHAS a couple days ago saying that they would look into the blur/haze problem. I AM glad to see that they are trying, and do acknowledge their viewers.


11:46 PM - just placed 3rd call to station reminding them to turn the HD transmission back on. Rediculous.

Originally posted by wolfiii
I am somewhat of a newbie, and wondered what over the air signals are available in Louisville area?
I live in Crestwood area and have an E86 Hughes and a HR10-250 Directv box.

What signals should I be able to get over the air ?

Cliff:
I also have the Hughes E86. I live just north of I-71 off of Barbour Lane and I originally tried a big rooftop antenna to pick up OTA digital channels; however, I could only get a couple (WLKY and WAVE, I think).

I eventually picked up a little Zenith silver sensor and placed it on top of my equipment rack. Much to my surprise, it picks up everything (even our craptacular FOX affiliate). Very rarely, I have to nudge it a bit to get it to come in at 100%. Most of the time, it works great.

See my placement of the Silver Sensor in the top right of this picture (http://smorty71.shawnmorton.com/images/HT_front_lrg.jpg)

Originally posted by sMoRTy71
See my placement of the Silver Sensor in the top right of this picture (http://smorty71.shawnmorton.com/images/HT_front_lrg.jpg)

Whoa! That's a lot of remotes! :D

Yah. One word: Pronto.

Originally posted by Raiden256
Whoa! That's a lot of remotes! :D

And that's not even all of them. My TiVo and FireFly remotes aren't pictured.

For some reason, I find it easier to just use the remote that goes with the component I'm trying to control then try to remember the key sequences I programmed into a universal remote.

Anyone else getting low signal strength from WHAS tonight?

Blur problem seems to be fixed. Way to go WHAS! Thanx.

I hope that the low signal is not a trade off for no-blur.

No blurring for me either. I didn't notice any change in signal strength. Were you having dropouts or did you just happen to check your signal meter?

Signal fine here in Springhurst but, friend called from Alta Vista area and could not get picture and steady very low signal.

I was getting dropouts due to low signal. Meter is fluctuating greatly. Borderline unwatchable. No blur though. Ugh.

If you guys would, please check your signal for a bit when you get home and tell how it is. I am still getting huge fluctuation with dropouts.

Thanx.

Thanks Buckett for getting the WHAS problem fixed. It takes all of us pushing in our own way to get the most from our foot dragging stations. Any word on WDRB yet about the 720p upgrade. I see they are not listed on the thread on the main forum as one of the stations going live in the fall. :mad:

On another matter anyone have VOOM? How is their antenna for getting locals? Does it work well in our area? How was the installation? STB issues?etc.

Hey PCS, how is your WHAS signal strength?

Don't thank me, thank Mr. Bill Brown at WHAS (bill.brown@whas.com).

I don't know anything about WDRB yet.

Will humidity affect signal/signal strength?

I watched most of the Regan Funeral on WAVE DT yesterday and there were few if any video breakups! Also WAVE was broadcasting in DD. Perhaps they have been working to fix their problems....I hope. Anyone else see this improvement?

Originally posted by STEVENSHS
Also WAVE was broadcasting in DD.

Skeptical that it was true 5.1 and not just a flag setting ;) But yes I've noticed an improvement on the dropout front. I saw a good portion of the Reagan service and also parts of Leno and there weren't any significant dropouts. ... Of course since I'm 76mi from the tower, I can never be sure if my dropouts are due to propagation trouble or station issues. :)

HDC

I've had Insight HD since January and I know in the past Showtime has shown up asunavailable. I noticed last night that I am getting Showtime HD. Is this a trial? Anyone else notice this?

If it is a trial, you think they'd let you know bout it...

Yup, me too... let's hope this is a long trial:D

will i had SHO HD. sence jan. where have you been lol :) maybe your insight account was not set up right you know insight is not on top of things like that lol

SHO-HD showed up for me last week. Lets keep a low profile on this one. LOL:D

Buckett, can't say about OTA right now since I use Insight for locals. My question was for any Voomer who uses their antennae setup. I'm thinking of trying VOOM.

WHAS OTA is dropping out like crazy for me right now. Varying wildly from 100 to 0 every 5 seconds or so. What gives? Prior to the blurring fix, I was getting 100 all the time with no dropouts.

Yup me too. That is why I was asking how everyone's signal strength was. I talked to Bill Brown about this on Friday. He said that it was due to the windy conditions that we had been having. No matter what the weather, I never had drop outs before they fixed the blur. Please e-mail him with your concern (bill.brown@whas11.com). When I talked to him Fri. he said that there had been no other complaints (another reason that we attributed it to the wind.

I have not been able to get a solid steady signal from WHAS since the fix. It has been jumping from good to bad.

***Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut.***

There is bad weather tonight, but like I said, I got reception in all weather conditions prior to the fix.

Originally posted by PCS
On another matter anyone have VOOM? How is their antenna for getting locals? Does it work well in our area? How was the installation? STB issues?etc. I've had V* since December. I already had an attic antenna so I used that and not the "stealth" antenna they provided. I live a few miles from, and have line of sight to the Knobs, so OTA reception is not a problem for me.

Digital Dimensions was the local company that did my VOOM install. It was the 2nd VOOM install they had done. They did what I asked of them without resistance which was 1) run 2 RGB6 lines so as to not use the diplexer for OTA and 2) did a wall fish for me for no extra charge (they could have charged for that it turns out).

I started with one of the early (read: requently locked up) STB's of course and it has since been replaced. The current software version (5.68) is very stable. We are supposed to be getting another software push within the next couple of weeks that is supposed to add OTA channel scanning and fix some other annoyances. All the digital channels with the exception of 15-4 (which happens to be KET's semi-HD channel) is correctly mapped. I hoping the scanning feature will add that though.

I have had some problems with rain faid only in mod-heavy rain and have been told I'll be upgraded to a larger dish to address this - hasn't happened yet.

Overall I've been very happy with the PQ. I have Insight HD cable as well as D*. My A/B/C comparisons have shown Insight HD and V* to be equal PQ, with Direct TV HD PQ inferior (softer). I've since dropped D*'s HD pack.

IMHO If you only want one provider and you are into movies or LOTS of HD then V* is your best bet. If you're into sports then D* is your best choice. I only have D* now for NFL Sunday Ticket. I have Insight still because I have two 6208 HD recorders. When V*'s DVR comes out (supposidly this fall) I'll probably drop Insight. I'll always keep D* for NFL Sunday Ticket as long as they are the exclusive provider.

Go to http://www.satelliteguys.us/ to find out all you wanted to know about VOOM and more. They have a very large/active VOOM forum there.

WHAS OTA seems to be fine for me. No problems yesterday during the PGA coverage (even during the storm). I didn't check the signal meter but no dropouts.
WAVE OTA is much better also. I watched about an hour yesturday and not a single breakup or audio dropout. It was unwatchable before this weekend.

Anyone looked at WKMJ-DT lately?

( RF 38 DT- 68)

Originally posted by William Smith
Anyone looked at WKMJ-DT lately?

( RF 38 DT- 68)

Usually too weak for me ... but I can get 17 quite often :D ... Now that you bring it up, the Tribune/Zap2it/DirecTV-APG channel mapping for 38/68 needs to be updated. Of all the KET digitals, only WKLE in Lex/Rich seems to have the correct mapping from Tribune. Somewhat trivial, but it can make some D* STB's a real bear to use.

HDC

Finally got Insight HD!! HD looks fantastic on Hitachi57s500.
I noticed that several of you folks are recieving SHO-HD, I am as well.
However, I subscribe to HBO and am not getting HBO-HD. I am on hold with Insight as I am posting this. Whoa!! They answered before i finished.(I really need to learn how to type faster) I was told that there is a problem at the Head End with the HBO-HD and "it should be fixed shortly". We'll see. BTW does anyone know how long HBO-HD has been out?

Originally posted by William Smith
Anyone looked at WKMJ-DT lately?

( RF 38 DT- 68)

I checked it out last night. Looks great. Much better than 15-4. Is it running PBS HD all the time?

Originally posted by William Smith
Anyone looked at WKMJ-DT lately?

( RF 38 DT- 68)

Update: As luck would have it, there was enough bounce that I could reel in 38 for a while last night. Unfortunately, I only saw a WS program (repeat of "Ayers Rock" program.) So are we seeing the same 720p stream or are you running 38 at 1080i? (My STB converts everything to 1080i.)

There did seem to be more graininess and visible heat shimmer on 38 vs KET4 ... but the late hour could have been playing tricks on my eyes :D

HDC

PS: Disregard earlier post about Tribune channel mapping, I had assumed 38 was still a clone of the statewide digital feed ...

Anyone looked at WKMJ-DT lately?

I'm too far away to pick it up, but let me take this opportunity to say that I've really enjoyed having access to the PBS HD block in primtime every night on KET-4.

-Reagan

WKMJ-DT is running HD programming full time with the required one SD sub channel of KET2 programming. Its in 720p at about 13 Mbps.

Currently all equipment is located at the transmitter site so hang in there if it dies it will take a little time to get there. ..

EPG is not available at this time but its coming soon..

We were working on it on the 15th..

William

P.S. .. Its been up since about May 1 and no-one noticed....I'm disappointed .. Especially Rick as he loves to bust my chops..

Originally posted by William Smith
WKMJ-DT is running HD programming full time with the required one SD sub channel of KET2 programming. Its in 720p at about 13 Mbps.

P.S. .. Its been up since about May 1 and no-one noticed....I'm disappointed .. Especially Rick as he loves to bust my chops..

Well in *my* defense let it be known that I'm 76mi from the WLKY/WAVE tower site. Am I correct in that the channel 38 xmitter is closer to Brandenburg? If so, that's more like 80-86mi out :D

Even so, I did catch a bounce around 7-8pm again last night. "Smart Travels" looked very good on 38-1. The signal started to fade by the time KET4 kicked in, so, I still haven't been able to do a valid A/B compare yet. Tomorrow's another day ... I'll add 38 to my list of desirable DX signals.

HDC

Now that the we have the "official" word on Fox's technical plans for the NFL HD distribution (http://www.tvweek.com/technology/061404foxhd.html) , I was wondering if anyone has any updates on what WDRB's plans are for starting HD broadcasts. I know they said "this fall", but will that be in time for the NFL kickoff? Are they part of the FOX corporate sponsored equipment upgrade for affiliates to get this uncompressed HD? More importantly, will us Louisvillians see 2 HD games from WDRB each Sunday?

Also any update on new channels for Insight. Seems that there were rumors about INHD and TNT HD at some point and then nothing...

Thanks ahead of time!
-Alex-

Nope the Louisville site ( on Floyds Knob in Indiana) has all 4 stations on it.

WKPC and WKMJ Analog and Digital.

The antennas are WKPC analog on top with WKMJ analog side mounted under it when WKPC-DT and finally WKMJ-DT under that.


Both digitals are running the equivalent of the same power but are on separate antennas. 17's is an Andrew and 38 is a Dielectric.


Its a full site ( both on the tower and on the ground)

William

Originally posted by William Smith
Nope the Louisville site ( on Floyds Knob in Indiana) has all 4 stations on it. ....

Both digitals are running the equivalent of the same power but are on separate antennas. 17's is an Andrew and 38 is a Dielectric.

Humm .... Is it possible that there may be some digital co-channel interference on 38? Several times my E86 has shown a steady 51-58% on the QoS meter for 38, but when I try to watch I just get brief moments of picture followed by the typical 'loss of signal' breakup ... In fact, this was happening last night when I tried to compare to 38 to KET4. Then again, I know there's another KET analog lurking out there on 38 so maybe that's part of the problem.

Analog must die if only to make room for all these digitals. ;)

HDC

HDC,

Yes, there is another one ... pretty close to you too ... I would imagine WKMR 38 (analog), Morehead off the back of the antenna would be your biggest Co-channel issue(CCI) concerning WKMJ-DT ....

update: While its true our receivers can do quite a bit to "combat" analog to digital CCI -- They have filters(hopefully well-implemented, but it probably varies by make/model I'd think) to notch out the NTSC video, audio+color burst carriers - which are relatively small "slices" of the 6MHZ channel where the biggest part of the NTSC signal is -- which is different than ATSC 8VSB signal, which pretty much evenly uses the entire 6MHZ in a very "random-noiselike way" - which of course minimzes the effects of digital to analog interference -- Digital to analog CCI is seen as pretty much, just "extra snow". --

In any event --- Still, there is only so much that can be done where analog to digital CCI is concerned, and anything present that raises the noise floor (including a NTSC signal - which is also just seen as "noise") is going to lower the S/N ratio, and of course, the weaker the desired signal is, the more that "extra noise" can be a problem ....

Best way to combat that(besides possibly getting a receiver with better RF performance) would be to move to an antenna with better directivity and that can do a good job rejecting signals off the backside(a stacked array of well designed Yagi's might work, if the rejection of signals off the backside "good enough") -- Don't recall what you're using, but more gain might help a little too ...

For those that may be interested:

Chuck Williams is doing a Midwest ISF Calibration Tour that will be kicked off here in Louisville. I've been debating this for a while, but some of you may be less on the fence than I am about it.

I know we don't get too many calibration tours through Louisville, so I figured some of you HD nuts would want to know. :D

Here's (http://www.***************.com/htsthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=601068&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=365&fpart=1) the post on the Spot.

Cheers,
Raiden256

Originally posted by Raiden256
For those that may be interested:

Chuck Williams is doing a Midwest ISF Calibration Tour that will be kicked off here in Louisville. I've been debating this for a while, but some of you may be less on the fence than I am about it.

I know we don't get too many calibration tours through Louisville, so I figured some of you HD nuts would want to know. :D

[

Cheers,
Raiden256

Gregg Loewen will be in Indianapolis for CEDIA and I am going to have him come down to Brandenburg to do my calibration. He may be able to fit some more people in as well. This would be around the 1st of September or so.

Mark

Originally posted by Nitewatchman
HDC,

Yes, there is another one ... pretty close to you too ... I would imagine WKMR 38 (analog), Morehead off the back of the antenna would be your biggest Co-channel issue(CCI) concerning WKMJ-DT ....

Don't recall what you're using, but more gain might help a little too ...

CM4228 + Wineguard AP4800 (sitting on a tripod in a spare bedroom :D) If it ever stops raining and thundering I might try it out on the roof, although the roof option may just cause my foliage issues to worsen.

I've about come to the same conclusion as you on the co-channel issues - then again maybe the Humana building is getting in the way :D.

HDC

Originally posted by HDTVChallenged
CM4228 + Wineguard AP4800 (sitting on a tripod in a spare bedroom :D) If it ever stops raining and thundering I might try it out on the roof, although the roof option may just cause my foliage issues to worsen.

Lord yes, get it outside - even try it out down near the Ground and see what happens ... even better, add a rotor so you can easily aim the thing too.... You might want to try it w/o the preamp too ... ANY nearby strong source of RF can easily overload the preamp+scatter noise/intermod all over the place, even if the strong RF source(s) is not a TV station+isn't operating on the "TV bands" -- preamps are very broadband.

but, all in all --- If you're getting stations at all from 70-80 miles with the antenna indoors, just imagine what you could do outdoors .... Although I wouldn't think that would likely change any "ratio" to much of a degree concerning co-channel interference issues -- The desired signal will be stronger, but so will the signal from the co-channel station ....

Foilage and trees are nothing compared to the attenuation you get by putting the antenna indoors(Which, in the best of circumstances would be about 15db extra atteunuation -- that's a lot -- and you don't really gain any of that back with the preamp .... keep in mind, the threshold for good DTV reception is approx 15.3db of S/N) ... I've found The best spot indoors is often usually near a window(although certian types of insulated glass can also be a problem) that faces the towers to cut down on signal atteunation as much as possible .... Also, anything about 10 wavelengths or so from the antenna(in front of it especially) becomes somewhat a "part" of the antenna -- not only is this likely to increase multipath difficulties, but also alters certian other characteristics of the antenna/antenna design(VSWR for instance).

Originally posted by Nitewatchman
Lord yes, get it outside - ....

One of these days I'll at least try it ... I figure I need about another 5 to 5.5db of clean signal to be able to get WAVEDT and WLKYDT consistantly without a little tropo help. My concern with the trees is the local multipath that kicks in with the wind. I just hate to sink holes in the roof only to see little or no improvement ... maybe I can figure out how to come up with a temporary non-penetrating roof mount ... Humm .... take existing tripod mount, add a little plywood, a few power tools, a couple of cinder blocks, have ER on standby ... sounds like a project ;)

HDC

Like I said, just try it outside near the ground on a short piece of mast(as free as obstructions as possible) first and see what happens -- Move it around a bit to try to find a sweet spot if necessary. I think you might be surprised(even when the wind blows).

But, keep in mind, the main limiting factor here is the curvature of Earth, and depending upon the terrain at your location, you're probably outside the Louisville stations "predicted" service areas(except WAVE 3 analog) anyway -- with the added difficulty of a potentially somewhat difficult CCI issue on ch 38 .....

Anybody in KY using an MIT (Macro Image Tech) HD tuner (could be an HD card or the MDR-200 stb, etc.)?

I'm asking because I just got an MDR-200 and it's having trouble with the KET stations. Signal strength is strong and sometimes it'll tune in KET-1 (which then works perfectly if I don't change the channel), but I can't get it to show me KET-2 and beyond. I'm guessing this is a PSIP issue.

Anyone have any advice?

By the way, my old STB (Tosh DST-3000) always worked perfectly with the KET channels, but I doubt it ever did any heavy lifting with regard to PSIP issues.

On a positive note, KET time is correct even though I'm in the Central time zone. And there is actual guide data for KET-1. Very impressive.

Thanks,
Reagan

William,

What's up with KET4-HD? Thursday night (6/17) - dead air, Friday night no service at all on either KET3 or 4. Did something break or is this just EPG experiments going astray?

HDC

Originally posted by Raiden256
For those that may be interested:

Chuck Williams is doing a Midwest ISF Calibration Tour that will be kicked off here in Louisville. I've been debating this for a while, but some of you may be less on the fence than I am about it.

I know we don't get too many calibration tours through Louisville, so I figured some of you HD nuts would want to know. :D

Here's (http://www.***************.com/htsthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=601068&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=365&fpart=1) the post on the Spot.

Cheers,
Raiden256


Wish I had the money to have Chuck come back and tweak mine. But, I need to have it serviced first, though.

Chuck did a fabulous job before on my Mits.

What does the calibration cost? I've also been kicking the idea around.

Please check KET4 for me and let me know which transmitters you can see..

Thanks
William