KTTW not HD yet, just digital.

CableOne in Sioux City came out yesterday and installed a cablecard into my new Sony. After an hour of dinking around, they called Phoenix to have their computers authorize my card. It works fine now - the card costs $2.95 per month and allows me to watch anything I subscribe to, including the HBO-HD channel, ESPN2-HD and Iowa Public TV's PBS-HD feed.

Too bad I can't receive KTIV's NBC HD feed via cable. Guess that's too much to expect - that the local cable company and KTIV would find a way to actually serve their shared customer base.

FOX 44 in Sioux City:

I can now receive KPTH's digital signal very well with my new Sony, but there is NO sound. I called the engineer at the station, she said her STB picked up the signal -- and the sound -- with no problem.

Anybody else have this situation?

For whatever reason I have to change my audio settings to I think it is audio 3 to pick up the sound on 44. I have to do this every time I change the channel to 44-1. Try moving your audio to a different channel.Worked for me. I do not know why the audio will not come on automatically.

I got a reply from Ed Hoffman at KTTW about a timeframe for HDTV.

"I do not believe it will happen anytime soon. We do not have the equipment to encode HDTV and are not looking at it soon."

So much for salvaging any of the fox NFL games this year. :-(

Does ANYBODY in Siouxland receive the KPTH digital signal? Do you get audio as well?

I do get the KPTH-DT signal in Morningside, but I have to have the rotor set just right to get enough signal for a solid picture. Their power must be very low - I get 5x the signal from Sioux Falls KELO. I do get audio as well.

Mark

Originally posted by Orlun
I have a question for any Sioux Falls SD Midcontinet cable HD users.

DO any of you use Cablecard?

Here is a repost from the HDTV equipment thread.

I am getting so frustrated with them pretending I don't exist. Anyone know anybody I should be calling?

Midco came out today to install my CableCard but failed. The cable guy said he had the exact same HDTV (Sony 42WE655) and had the same problems...which is why he only stayed for five minutes. I'm suppose to hear from them next week. I'll keep you all posted with what I find out.

A week after the first attempt, and Midco was able to get a CableCard working for my system. They still have a learning curve to master...but I'm pleased they resolved the problems so soon...

-Bryan

Thanks KTTW for being another Sioux Falls podunk station that does not plan to go HD anytime soon. Perhaps you should get together with KDLT since you are both Mickey Mouse operations. Gee, national feeds of NBC and FOX will soon be HD on DirecTV, but alas, I can not get any waiver for fear that these stations might lose the 3 people that watch them.

wxman,

I am waiting until we get locals on DirecTV, then I'm going to ask, "If I sign up for locals (whick I do not need as I get them all OK) why can't we also turn on my network HD feeds?" Maybe lame try, but has logic to it as now I would be paying for network feeds.

I am going to find a way to get FOX HD before Super Bowl.

I may have to "move" one of my HD receivers to my family farm. I have not done this yet as my understanding is that when DTV turns on the local feeds that the national network feeds will no longer be offered to people in white areas so I am not sure how they will be handling the HD feeds to those areas.... or maybe I need to do it before they turn on local feeds to be grandfathered in.

Took a shot at scanning for any more digital channels now that the leaves are off the trees and could pick up KSIN-DT on my box. It comes in as channel 27-1 but I also had 4 subchannels mapped as well: 27-2 - 27-5. For those who receive KSIN-DT, are these channels ever used for any broadcasts? I have never seen anything on any of them yet and want to delete them from my channels if they are useless.

Also to anyone with DirecTV. I receive the DirecTV FOX channels 388 & 389 as part of my monthly package. I also have the DirecTV HD package and was able to receive the MLB LCS & World Series games on channels 89 & 90. Does this mean when FOX HD comes on full time I can receive these channels like I can with 388 & 389? Does anyone know how that works?

Originally posted by Husker
Took a shot at scanning for any more digital channels now that the leaves are off the trees and could pick up KSIN-DT on my box. It comes in as channel 27-1 but I also had 4 subchannels mapped as well: 27-2 - 27-5. For those who receive KSIN-DT, are these channels ever used for any broadcasts? I have never seen anything on any of them yet and want to delete them from my channels if they are useless.

Can't speak to KSIN, but KRIN (their Waterloo transmitter) used only subchannel 1 for PBS-HD programming and subchannel 2 to simulcast IPTV analog. 3, 4 and 5 had "No A/V".

However, subchannel 2 hasn't been working since the State Fair ended. When I e-mailed IPTV engineering about this, they told me it was because their encoder was a loaner, but new encoders are on order.

On the subject of subchannels, I'm really unhappy with KELO-DT and their "11-2" or "UPN" subchannel they are also broadcasting. It's not that noticeable on network primetime shows, but with the CBS HD football games, both college and NFL, the quality really suffers. The "far away" shots look pretty good yet, but on the close ups and some other replay shots the "blocking" issues are 10x's worse then they were before the second subchannel was added. Has anyone else noticed this? Very disappointing as I can't say I've watched a single show on that channel since they added it.

Originally posted by Husker
On the subject of subchannels, I'm really unhappy with KELO-DT and their "11-2" or "UPN" subchannel they are also broadcasting. It's not that noticeable on network primetime shows, but with the CBS HD football games, both college and NFL, the quality really suffers. The "far away" shots look pretty good yet, but on the close ups and some other replay shots the "blocking" issues are 10x's worse then they were before the second subchannel was added. Has anyone else noticed this? Very disappointing as I can't say I've watched a single show on that channel since they added it.

I'm in Watertown and the channels are 3-1 and 3-2, and I notice exactly what you mention. CBS games on NFL Sunday Ticket have very little of this, so the lack of bandwidth plays a huge part in picture quality during action scenes.

One of the folks who posts on this thread, Dave Madsen, has just been promoted to General Manager of KTIV in Sioux City. Dave has generously provided answers and insight to some of our HDTV questions.

Congratulations, Dave. Keep that digital stream flowing -- and please sign an agreement with CableOne to get KTIV-DT on local cable.

Congrats, Dave!!!!!!!!!

BVfan, you have a PM.

BVfan:

Now that the Sioux Falls locals are being marketed by DirecTV, have you tried signing up for them and getting the Network HD feeds with it? I would assume DirecTV will need to get waivers from the local stations. What are the chances?

Now that we have locals I am going to call JoAnn at Alliance (formerly SplitRock Telecommunications) to see what we can do on Mon or Tues.

I may have to "move" to the family farm or to Brookings where my son is for the months of Dec-Feb so I can watch Fox football playoffs and the Super Bowl this year.

I too am disappointed with the quality of the fast moving action scenes on the KELO broadcasts. It is very noticeable and not evident on the ABC football games. Can the UPN service be that big a money generator that it is worth the degradation of the HD signal. I wish KELO would revisit their decision to split the digital bandwidth.

I know when football games run long KELO moves their newscasts to the UPN channel. I'm guessing that will be one convenient excuse they can use to keep it. UPN stinks. I'm even noticing the problems more and more on shows like the CSI's. Monday Night Football is so much more enjoyable than any football games on CBS now. Hopefully KSFY keeps things as is.

Has anyone heard anything new of when KTIV will be boosting their signal and raising their antenna? Just curious.

In an email from Dave Madsen, station manage for KTIV, he wrote,
"our "upgrade" plans for our KTIV-DT will be late summer next year. It's quite a complicated project, involving purchase and installation of a new transmitter, new antenna, moving the antenna to the top of our tower, building a building to house the transmitter gear, etc. Stay tuned!"

Sunday Ticket HD has Vikes/Seattle and is not blacked out, Hope they do same with Packers game.

I need some info from any of the people around Sioux City that can receive KSFY-DT (ABC) from Sioux Falls. Thing is, before about a year ago I could get KSFY ok (from Morningside in SC) with a few drop-outs now & then, but now it doesn't even register on the signal meter. Has anyone noticed a change in the last year? I wonder if KSIN-DT starting their broadcasts on ch.28 has any affect on KSFY-DT on ch.29?

Mark

KSFY reception in Sioux City:

I live on the north side of Sioux City and have been watching KSFY HD only since October. In that time, I have seen their signal level rise and drop sharply. They seem to push a stronger signal in the eveings during weekday prime time, and all day on weekends. Often I cannot receive a signal at all during the day, right up until about 7 PM. I used to think it had something to do with the sun setting, but as the days have gotten shorter the signal still doesn't seem to improve until around 7 PM.

Perhaps they are economising by pumping out fewer watts during the day, and increasing output for prime time.

I believe mulllin is right. I just live 4 miles from the tower and I have noticed that signal drop at times also. I have noticed it after 10:00 pm or early morning. KDLT-NBC also has done that, but I do not believe KELO does.

New to the forum but I finally have found some people that are local that have some of the same issues as me this is awesome. One quick question is what ota antennas has everyone had the best luck with. I am on my third one and I give it a so so rating it is one of the new jensens I forget what model but it has a rotatable loop on top and I can have it pick up half in one direction and if i turn it I get the rest. It has 45 Db power I think I am going to try the new terk from BB. I live about 20 miles from most of the towers. Just wanted to know what everyone else had luck with.

I also think we need to get on KTTW's case and get them going with their HD broadcast. The only way to speed up the process is to increase the demand for it and right now I dont think there has been much vocal demand yet. So lets change that.

remm,
I am a big fan of the Channel Master 4228. It is the antenna I have and I pull in the Sioux Falls stations and I am 80+ miles away from the transmitters. (I have an amplifier also.)

remmnate

I have used the TERK that is supposed to be omnidirectional that looks like a big grey cigar. Stay away!! I did not have much luck. I personally think that the TERK and Jensen antennas are nice looking and well built, but are not at funcional as the good old outdoor antenna.

I presently use a large UHF/VHF combo antenna, but am unsure of the manufacturer. Bought it at Warren Supply two years ago. I point it at KTTW and get rest of the digital signals out of the side of the antenna as FOX is at 235° and the other three networks are at about 100° but very close proximity (4 mi).

If you are tired of pointing & turning indoor antennas, it might be worth trying a small Radio Shack UHF only outdoor antenna ($24.00-75 mile range) pointed at Rowena. That should get you CBS ABC NBC WB UPN. FOX is VHF so you would still need something else to tune it in. I tried the RS UHF pointed at Rowena and a small VHF/UHF combo pointed at FOX and put them in serial. I got way to much ghosting from the close stations, but if you are farther away that may not happen.

Have you been to www.antennaweb.org to see where all the towers are from your location? That helps alot.

I have been to antennaweb and have the sioux falls stations ksf kelo upn in one direction and pbs and pbs hd are about 120 degrees different. I have not been able to get fox with any antenna I have tried yet. I have no problem with an outdoor antenna as far as cosmetics go but running the wire to the basement is going to be a big challenge if I take that route. There is a new terk with two bow ties and somewhere in the area of 55 db amplification which is the most on an indoor antenna that I have found. I am going to give that a try tonite. Ill let you guys know how that works. I can always take it back. And man monday night football was probably the most impressive hi def programming I have seen yet. Even better than some of the discovery HD stuff. I just wish fox would go HD so you could have all of the sunday games in HD.

remmnate

I am not sure there is an indoor antenna that will help you if you are doing this in the lower level and have some concrete and/or earth in your way. I originally tried an indoor in my lower level, which is a walk out and had a hard time getting consistent signals from even my close stations.

I originally ran RG6 out a window to an outdoor mounted on my deck to make sure it was an improvement, prior to cutting holes, etc. But it definitely helped my signal. I think you might be able to pull in FOX with that RS VHF antenna, if you point it straight at the tower. I am about 8 miles away and get 75% signal strength on my Fusion HDTV in my computer.

You are right about ABC MNF. That and ESPN look by far the best at this point in time on my set up.

Just an update on the antennas. The terk tv5 is no good after a digital scan I only received one channel with this antenna. I think I will stay with the jensen I can get KSFY KELO UPN and the two pbs channels with it in my basement. The three from sioux falls come in 95 % of the time and pbs about 80 so I can live with that until Summer when I can put up an outdoor. I have still never been able to get fox with any antenna at all. No big deal though until it goes HD.

Thanks all, for the info on KSFY reception.

Happy Holidays!!!

Mark

Hello,

Just let you all know that KETV out of Omaha is back up. Digital signal 20-1 remapped to 7-1. I can get a signal from Omaha but not from Sioux Falls. I watching Remember the Titans in HDTV with 5.1. Sounds AWESOME.

WHAT A TREAT

Craig

Just got and e-mail from Ed from KTTW today and this is what he said

(The power will not be going up anytime soon. As far as the HD we will have
it on over the air by Mid January if everything goes right. We also
anticipate being on Midcontinent Cable and Prairie Wave Cable.)

also got one from KDLT and here it is.

(Right now our plans are shooting for November 2005 hopefully we can be
on the air with HDTV by that time pending weather conditions and equipment
arrival.)

anyone khow what antenna i should get to recieve KTTW?? I live in Brandon. I can recieve KDLT, KSFY, KELO, KWSD, and KCSD, but not KTTW.

Craig,

Thanks again for the heads-up. I hadn't even considered Omaha stations since KSFY went out for me. I turned my rotor and I get KETV better than I ever got KSFY. Just in time for the bowl games too.

Mark

Mark,

Glad to hear that about KETV. The DD5.1 sounds AWESOME on MNF and the movies.

Have a safe and a HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!

Hopefully 2005 will bring us KMEG, KCAU and KPTH broadcasting in HDTV and in DD5.1 and KTIV to pass DD5.1 for NASCAR.


Craig

I have never received local brodcasts in DD 5.1 for any program or channel. My Sony has a cablecard, and I do get DD for the HBO-HD and TNT-HD -- but never for the HD broadcasts from PBS, KTIV, KSFY or KELO that I pick up on my antenna.

Are others getting DD 5.1 audio streams from these broadcasters?

rmullin,

Some of the PBS (KSIN) programs are DD5.1. KETV (ABC) out of Omaha passes DD5.1. KTIV, KSFY and KELO does not pass DD5.1.

Craig

Thanks Craig for the information.
Since we all are on the edge of HDTV reception here. What does everyone think about the experience. I for one am disappointed. The blockiness of the CBS HD transmission is very annoying. A good ghost free analog signal is better at motion.

The one thing digital is good at is ghost free reception. If there is too much ghosting then the signal just drops out.

Also the UHF band where all these stations reside is more effected by tree leaves and summer weather.

Just my thoughts

Was getting the Hawkeyes in HD and DD 2.0 on SF KSFY 13-1 up until about the start of 2nd quarter. Then was getting a flashing scrambled green screen, and now just getting SD signal. Any one else experience this as well, or is it just me? Was good while it lasted.

Also...I understand that some of these bowl games are in DD 5.1 audio. Any one know when our locals (KSFY, KELO, etc.) will be passing the 5.1 on to us?

cdieren,

I called KSFY today and since we are on weather alert, they took away the HD signal so they could run weather crawls and have no plans to put HD back up until weather improves. Almost half time of Rose Bowl and no HD. NSW alert is not off until 9:00 so no hopes for the Utah game either I have to assume.

Stations need to figure something out for the crawls so we can continue to receive the HD feed or they need to give me waivers for the nationals off of D*.

One good thing out of this, when I called the switchboard, she gave me the phone number for the master control engineer. That is how I found out what was going on.

beeper 3000,

I am just west of Spring Creek GC and I have a large outdoor attenna pointed at FOX (Got it from Menards- biggest they have). I only get 70-75% signal from FOX.

If you are in Brandon, it may be very hard to get a signal as there is are hills between you and the tower. Maybe they will be broadcasting a better signal once they go HD.

I hope they do go HD by end of Jan, otherwise no HD Super Bowl.

Since KSFY dropped the HD feed on Saturday because of the weather, I am concerned that they may do the same for Tuesday night's BCS championship since another winter storm is approaching.

BVFan, would you like to call KSFY and ask them what they intend to do? Make sure they know that with 1,000 other ways to get the weather alerts, we could sacrifice theirs long enough to watch the whole game in HD.

Also, kudos to KSFY and ABC in general for providing HD coverage of the Rose Parade on New Year's morning. It was stunning. I'm not a parade guy, but I couldn't take my eyes off of it.

Was counting on watching 3 straight bowl games in glorious HD...then got that green screen of death. Figured something was messed up with the feed or the problem was on KSFY's end with the ice and what not. But i'm throwing up the "BS" flag on the weather warning excuse. I posted this over a year ago:


KSFY-DT
I noticed last weekend that KSFY-DT was not interrupting the HD broadcast with the "Weather Warnings". The SD broadcast had all the scrolling messages, tickers, maps, etc., but the HD broadcast was in all it's glory. First I had noticed of this. This is something that had annoyed me all summer because KSFY seemed to leave the warnings on for long periods of time, which would knock the HD broadcast back to SD. Kudos to KSFY and hopefully KELO can follow suit.


I'm pretty upset if they've changed their stance on this issue. Is it so hard to turn back to SD to get weather info?

I too am worried about Tuesday's game HD coverage with weather coming in. KELO also goes to SD during their crawlers, but at least they go back to HD within a few minutes (normally). Are weather alerts something the FCC mandates as part of their license? If so why can they not just have them on the SD channel and run a short alert on HD stating to turn to SD for more info.

I am going to try to call someone at KSFY today to see if we can't get a better idea of why they did not go HD on Sat. until sometime after the offical warning was over at 9PM.

I agree that the ABC Rose parade coverage in HD was awesome to watch. I did switch over to Discovery HD (on D*) during ABC's commercials though and it was just as good. It was the KTLA? (Los Angles) live feed.

I emailed KSFY's station manager, program director, and head engineer today inquiring why we had to wait until the end of the NWS warning to get HD on Sat eve. Will post a reply when I get one. If I do not get one tomorrow, I plan to call. I was also wondering if the weekend guy didn't want to worry about switching back and forth during the weather crawls.

I also emailed KTTW as my FOX digital signal was extremely weak yesterday( about 35%, normally is 80%). Hopefully it is because they are working on coversion of the equipment. I do not watch FOX much except for football so I am not sure how long signal has been weaker.

Will post email responses I get, if any.

Originally posted by bbdotsd
....Since we all are on the edge of HDTV reception here. What does everyone think about the experience. I for one am disappointed. The blockiness of the CBS HD transmission is very annoying. A good ghost free analog signal is better at motion.

The one thing digital is good at is ghost free reception. If there is too much ghosting then the signal just drops out.

Also the UHF band where all these stations reside is more effected by tree leaves and summer weather.

Just my thoughts


Bill,

I was happy with KELO-DT & their CBS programming when they first started broadcasting HD, but since they started multicasting the UPN channel on 11-2, it stinks. Fast motion is terrible and the picture seems softer overall. I really don't have any dropouts from KELO regardless of conditions, but my antenna is on the roof. I recall yours is in the attic?

From what I've seen I think 720p broadcasts look better for fast motion than 1080i. The Bowl games were (are) awesome from KETV-DT in Omaha (720p).

Overall though, I'd say I'm happy with my digital reception. I can get PBS, ABC, CBS, & NBC no problem.

Mark

UPN 11-2 is the devil.

Husker: I agree that CBS does not look as sharp now. I really can not pinpoint it to when UPN came on though. I thought the NFL looked better this fall that it does now, but that is rather subjective. I wonder if they also have some other subchannel(s) they are doing some data broadcasting on now that we don't see on our receivers.

I'm not sure this shows how much compression (or band-width sharing) KELOHD is doing. I recorded NCIS on Tuesday and the files was about 6.8 GB. I recorded Alias from KSFYHD and it was about 8GB. Both were for 1 hour. My numbers aren't exact, but there was a definite difference.

I thought that KELO used to give me about a 16 GB file for two hours when I was recording this year on Monday's from 8-10. I used to record KELOHD while I watched ABC MNF live, but have deleted those files so I don't have a reference. I may have also been recording both subchannels and not realizing it.

I will also look at my PBSHD recording file sizes as they have subchannels. PBS has always looked very sharp, but they have no live sports to make a good comparision with.

I try to research the file sizes further to see if I get a larger file recording just the PSBHD sub than when I record just the KELOHD sub.

Over the weekend, I was getting a bunch of popping noises and hissing on KSFY 13-1. It improved Sunday, but still had audio dropouts about 1 second in length every couple of minutes or so. I haven't had any other audio issues with any other Digital stations, OTA or DirecTV.

Anyone else having/had audio issues with KSFY 13-1?

I wasn't getting any audio at all on Saturday via Midco. I didn't check Sunday until the evening, and then it was fine. Not sure what the problem was. Didn't worry too much about it because it was mostly a football weekend.

Definately noticed the sound problems on Saturday. Didn't notice it on Sunday but I didn't watch it much. I think the problems were during the local news too so it was a KSFY problem and not a network problem I would think.

Originally posted by BVfan
Husker: I agree that CBS does not look as sharp now. I really can not pinpoint it to when UPN came on though. I thought the NFL looked better this fall that it does now, but that is rather subjective. I wonder if they also have some other subchannel(s) they are doing some data broadcasting on now that we don't see on our receivers.

KELO is broadcasting its HD channel at about 15 mbits/sec, and UPN at around 4 mbits/sec. That missing 4 mbits/sec results in quite a loss of picture quality, most notably on their NFL telecasts.


I'm not sure this shows how much compression (or band-width sharing) KELOHD is doing. I recorded NCIS on Tuesday and the files was about 6.8 GB. I recorded Alias from KSFYHD and it was about 8GB. Both were for 1 hour. My numbers aren't exact, but there was a definite difference.

KSFY is broadcasting in 720p (vs 1080i for KELO) at about 12.2 mbits/sec. If your files are the same size for both, you're recording the entire stream, including sub-channels and Null packets. 720p compresses a lot better than 1080i, unfortunately for CBS, so ABC's games don't suffer the artifacting and loss of quality that we're seeing on KELO.

I will also look at my PBSHD recording file sizes as they have subchannels. PBS has always looked very sharp, but they have no live sports to make a good comparision with.

PBSHD has the same issues as CBSHD - it's 1080i with subchannels, so PQ suffers, especially during fast motion scenes. Fortunately, most of the PBS HD content is slow-panning documentaries, so it still looks great. If you watch some of their Soundstage concerts, closeups of guitars playing and other motion scenes definitely are degraded. PSB does some statistical multiplexing, I believe, which helps smooth over the worst of the motion artifacting.

Today I spoke to Dave Madsen, general manager of KTIV in Sioux City about their HD broadcast strength and about getting KTIV-DT on our local CableOne system. Dave said that the broadcast signal would not be increased until some time in 2006, in conjunction with the other local stations using the same tower. He said that they were'nt going to do it alone, and would wait until they could coordinate with the other stations. All stations have to be at full strength power by some time in 2006.

He also said that he would be negotiating a new 3-year contract with CableOne in the next few months. Apparently his station group feels that their HD signal should be worth something to the cable system (and the cable system thinks they should get something for carrying their HD signal.) I think they both benefit if the local cable system carries their HD signal and it's a wash.

Please feel free to make friendly and reasonable requests to CableOne and KTIV to get them together and get the NBC HD signal on the cable. It benefits everyone.

Mendu,

Thanks for explaining the technical aspects of the bit rate to me. I did the math on a 6.8GB file and it works out to about 15 mbits/sec as you explained.

What I can't explain is why I got a 16.2 GB file when I recorded ALIAS from KSFY for two hours on 1/5/05, but last night I recorded LOST and ALIAS for two hours and got a 10.2 GB file. I just pulled up the files and looked at them again so I wouldn't get the numbers wrong.

The 10.2 GB file works out to about 11.6 mbits/sec which is close to the 12.2 you stated, but that file on 1/5/05 works out to 18.4. Both are from ABC. Does that mean KSFY also broadcasts other subchannel data that ends up being wasted HD space if I do not tell the software to just record the subchannel I am interested in?

NFC Championship Game in HD on Local Fox. Just switched on the game and there is was. Wonder if they are testing signal or will stay up.

Picture looked as good as Sunday Ticket on D*

Audio shows up DD EX on my receiver so I assume 5.1 audio as KELO and KSFY both show as DD PLII on my receiver.

I don't think this is a test. The channel showed up in my Digital cable guide from Midco. I don't think Midco would add it until it was up for good. I also don't think it was in 5.1. My receiver has a little light that lights up when it receives a 5.1 signal. That light was not on during the game. The game looked great though. Much better than the one on CBS. I'm glad they got it done before the SuperBowl.

Originally posted by mgoblue55
I don't think this is a test. The channel showed up in my Digital cable guide from Midco. I don't think Midco would add it until it was up for good. I also don't think it was in 5.1. My receiver has a little light that lights up when it receives a 5.1 signal. That light was not on during the game. The game looked great though. Much better than the one on CBS. I'm glad they got it done before the SuperBowl.

I did not realize MidCo had it on. That is good news to know it was not a test. Hopefully no glitches for SuperBowl.

As for the audio, since I receive my signal OTA, we may not be able to compare what is being broadcast. My reference points are that all KSFYHD and KELOHD on both my setups show Dobly Pro Logic. For PBSHD, the audio will switch between Dolby Pro Logic or Dobly Digital, depending on the show. FOXHD did the same, during the game the audio showed Dobly Digital and when I looked later the audio was Dobly Pro Logic.

24 should be in 5.1 tonight so I'll look again.

Something looks hosed up today - couldn't get '24' last night, and today I have a signal but no lock on the channel. Sounds like they're still working out the glitches over there.

Mendu,

I am watching OTA and watched '24' in 720p WS last night. I checked on my HTPC card and was getting about 75-80% signal. Have not looked today. My wife is expecting 'American Idol' in HD tonight, so I hope things get worked out.

KELO-HD

I exchanged emails with the engineer at KELO about their signal and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. They do NOT broadcast DD5.1 and have no current plans to add it.

Now if I could just pick up the Sioux Falls FOX HD signal here in Sioux City... can't get it at all here.

Hello, new to the forum

I can recieve many stations in the SF/SC area (Larchwood)w/ my OTA powered and unpowered antenna (2 seperate indoor antennas). i can get analog signals from the following stations: KELO,KSFY,KDLT,KTTW**,KMEG,KPTH,KCAU**,IAPTV*,MNPTV*,KWSD*,
KCPO**,SDPTV***,KTIV***
*A little fuzz, but clear enough
**Extreme fuzz
***Cannot recieve
The following are the D-TV stations i can recieve
KELO(32)~90%,KSFY(29)~80%^,SDPTV(24)~40%
^signal strength shows about 80% but will drop to 0 if a gnat flies by
Now ALL of my D-TV stations need the powered antenna at full gain, and MOST of my analog tv stations come in better w/ the non-powered ant.

I also did an auto-program of my tv right before posting to get the best figures.

Is this consistant w/ anyone else in my area? What channel is KTTW-DT? Also, what SC channels are broadcasting in DT & what are their channel #'s? I do get my SF locals from DishNetwork also, and might be getting SC locals in the new future w/ new legislation from Dish.

Any comments would be appreciated, thanks.~ColAvsFan

-Edit i see that cdieren is pretty close to me

KTTW-HD is on CH 7. It gets remapped to 17-1. They are running on a temporary (!) low power license, so unless you're getting it through a cable feed, you just about have to be in Sioux Falls to receive it.

I'm seeing the same thing today with their signal, btw - the carrier seems to be there, but the receiver isn't syncing on it (no data). Is anyone getting a picture from them currently?

Still no FOX-HD KTTW for me OTA.

COLAVSFANINNWIA

If you get a UHF outdoor antenna, your signals should go up quite a bit I would think Larchwood is only 8 miles line of signt from Rowena towers. You should also be able to pick up KDLT-DT for sure then. The only local you would not get with a UHF antenna is FOX. As Mendu stated that is being broadcast on channel 7.

I would think you could get KCSD-HD, KDLT-DT, UPN(the other subchannel on KELO-hd, 11.2) and WB. WB is also on the Rowena towers, So everything is the same direction for you.

Go to this link to see what I mean --> http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

So I have many more questions.

I cannot put up any outdoor antenna (Die mom, Die, funny that I got 2 dishes put up though) it would all have to be indoor antennas. I dont know too much about antennas in particular, but I did try using a Terk indoor antenna. Worked better as a coffee table item! My powered antenna (RCA) can pick up 13.1,11.1,11.2,2.1,and 2.2; so i am missing out on 17.1,46.1, and 36.1. My tv can sense a 51 (36.1)DTV feed but cannot lock on it; as well as 34 DTV. (who is that?). I was looking at Terk.com and they have a TV55 ant indoor/outdoor, does anyone know about that one? I have looked at antennaweb.org before, but it only refers to outdoor ones. Also does anyone know a good place to find out where all TV towers are located and how much output they have? Like i know which ones KDLT, KSFY, and KELO are, but which is the WB tower and where is the Sioux Falls' SDPTV tower and KTTW? I was also curious about the SC analog and dtv towers.

So that is all i have for now, but expect to hear from me again this weekend when i try to do some re-arranging of ants. Also my room is not very ideal, it is halfway underground. ~ColAvsFan

P.S. Still looking for an updated list of SC DTV non remapped channel #'s.
-Edit, all i need is KMEG's DTV #
-Edit #2 I found something that said KTTW-DT is @ 22 watts!?

Originally posted by COLAVSFANINNWIA
Also does anyone know a good place to find out where all TV towers are located and how much output they have?

Try this link:
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/video/tvq.html

This will take you to the FCC's TV Query. Type in the call letters of the station you want to find out about and submit.

After following the links you should get information about the analog and digital stations for those call letters. There's even a link that'll get you a map showing where the transmitter is.

Keep in mind that if any of the records you get shows a "Special Temporary Authority," that means the station has permission to operate at less than full power for the time being, sometimes much less. These STAs will gradually go away as the transition to digital TV continues.

Thank you Dline, very helpful website. I have all the SC station #'s now too because of that!

COLAVSFANINNWIA

The only digital channel that is close that might look like 34 is 33 that is remapped to 50.1 from Sibley (IAPBS) from looking at the antennaweb site.

If you put your address in the antennaweb.org site, it will give you a listing of every stations available, how far they are from you, and orientation. If you click for a street level map it show direction to all stations from your address. So it is helpful even if you do not want to pick out an antennae.

If you are in a lower level, just getting your indoor antenna near a window will help. If you can get the "indoor" antenna outside that helps even more. I had a Terk powered indoor, outside with 20 ft RG6 extension for my lower level until I could get an outdoor put up. and it helped alot. If you are trying to go through actual Earth to see a tower, you will not get much of a signal.

The terk TV55 would probably be most asthetically pleasing to your mom for an outside mount, but it is kind of a crap shoot if it would help. I had one and gave up on it. I would spend the $100 elsewhere.

I have not even gotten a sniff of the Sioux City digital signals with my antennas from Sioux Falls so maybe someone else can help you with whether or not it is feasible to think we can get them. I get analog 4,9,14, & 44. 14 comes in very good and 4 being the worse

Still no OTA picture on FOX HD - I get carrier info and signal strength of 80%. Wonder was is going on?

Well, thanks for those tips, my main focus was to see if i could pick up FoxHD for SB, but it doesn't look like KTTW will pump out more than 22 watts between now and then. I am going to hold off on moving any antenna for now until the olympics start, then i will do more hunting. I never watch NBC for anything(and WB), unless the NHL season starts up and the playoff games are on it. One more thing, and I dont know if this is the place to post it; does anyone get program information from the HD signals they get? My TV has a built-in guide, but I have only seen it once where it said anything other than "no information." I usually use my dish guide to see what is going to be on. Wondering if its my tv, or if none of the stations broadcast this. Thanks again~ColAvsFan

KTTWHD was up tonight OTA,

Sent an email to SDPTV about DTV ch. 24 remapped to 2-x instead of 23-x. Their reply:

The PSIP inserter, the ID information you are looking at, originates at the studio in Vermillion. It is added to the data stream and is sent North on the microwave with the 2-x designation for our Beresford transmitter. The ID signal carrying the 2-x designation, continues on the microwave path to the rest of the stations. That is why you also see it in Sioux Falls.

In the near future, we will add an additional piece of equipment called a "StreamBridge" at Sioux Falls, and the rest of our transmitter sites. Once installed, the StreamBridge will supply the correct channel identification for the Sioux Falls site and other sites that are StreamBridge-less at this time.

Be looking for the PSIP change in the near future.

Thank you for your interest in South Dakota Public Broadcasting!

Dale Baity
BIT/SDPB

Sent an email to KTTW and got this small reply, I dont know what it means for those of us >20 miles from SF. I should try to see if midco will come to Larchwood w/ their digital cable.

Unfortunately, we broadcast HDTV signal only in Sioux Falls, and DTV in
Huron, SD. So far, I don't know when/if we will have full power transmitters.
We also have our HDTV signal on Midcontinent Cable and Prairie Wave
Cable systems.
Regards,
Tigran Grant,
CE, KTTW

Edit - So I moved my antenna to the lowest, most middlest spot in the house, and with at least a 20% signal strength, I can now pick up all SF DTV signals except for Fox. Still hoping for a HD SB.~ColAvsFan

Good luck picking up KTTW in Sioux Falls. I use to be able to pick up the digital signal and I live on the southeast side of Sioux Falls. The tower, I believe is on the southwest side of town, probably no more than 10 miles from me. Since they started broadcasting HD, I can not pick up their signal.

I love their response, you can get it on cable. How about giving us a waiver, so I can pick up HD on DirecTV?

I've got that waiver from KTTW. Alliance communication was able to get that done for me a few months ago. Now that they have switched control back over to DTV, it may be harder to get that waiver. Doesn't hurt to try though! It's worth it because you can get the HD feed from NY so hello Superbowl in HD!!!!!

What kind of antennas are you using who live in Brandon/Southeast Sioux Falls? I need to get an outdoor antenna, but am waiting for recommendations from others in the area.

bighdtvfan

Wish I would have discussed waivers more with Alliance. JoAnn at Alliance said no way I would get a waiver with a SF address even though I am east of town and about 10 miles from the tower.

I have a 120" and a 50' VHF attenna. The 120" I have been running HD pointed right at KTTW-FOX (advertised as a 175 mile antenna) I get 75% signal with it. Tried my 50" Radio Shack and could not even get a sniff.

Even though I have the 120" pointed at about 120° away from the Rowena towers, I still get all stations from there great, plus this is about 180° away from PSB and I get it great. FOX is tough to get.

If you have line of sight to the Rowena towers, you should not need much of an antenna to get those stations. Just a midrange UHF. The probelm gets to be if they are not in the same direction. KDLT is harder to get for me so I point at it and can still get KELO and KSFY and PBS

wxman

I would try KTTW again. My signal is back up and same strength as it was prior to their coversionthis fall. Last week I had nothing from Tues to Friday, but it is up now.

I do believe it is harder to get than last winter though as I used to pick up their digital signal with my smaller antenna from my deck and as I posted earlier, I could not get even a sniff today trying that antenna which is now on top of the house. Maybe I need to have someone monitor the TV while I direct, but I have it pointed in exactly the same direction as my larger one.

Speaking of waivers -- Is there any precedence about getting waivers because of low strength signals? We obviously have a case. I think the problem is if you can get the analog signal and are in their A zone, tough.....

Sounds like the KTTW response to colavsfan, that they do not plan to go full power and are waiting to get the HD signal on sat when D* can acciomodate them. If you read around here, that might be late this year at the very earliest.

One would think they would have to go full power when they shut off analog, but maybe not. I have no idea how the legislation reads.

Anyone out there using something like the Winnegard Square Shooter or the Channelmaster 3000? Both are omnidirectional antennas that are more "wife friendly" when it comes to mounting it on the roof.

Hi All, Just though I'd check in from west river. I'm located about 50 miles south of Chamberlain near Colome. Just installed a Toshiba 34hfx84
and a dish network HDTV receiver. I'm picking up KPLO-DT(KELO),
KPRY-DT(KSFY) and KMNE-DT(NE-PBS). KTSD(SD-PBS) also has a DTV transmitter at the same location as KPLO but it's a no show. Dunno why as they have the best signal of all here on analog.

I have a question for one of you Sioux Falls guys. KPLO-DT is presently SD
only. Their picture fills the screen nicely on an analog set and the Tosh
does a nice job of streching it to fill the screen.

It appears to me that KPRY-DT is upconverting SD to HD, that is I get black
bars on the sides that can't be streched completely out of the picture.
The black side bars also show up on an analog set, the picture is tall and
skinny. When they go to HDTV in the evening it looks fine on the Tosh and
of course is tall and skinny on the analog set. CBS-HD and ESPN-HD on dish
seem to use this same format. I don't like it. NE-PBS does it correctly as
far as I'm concerned, it appears to me that they are transmitting is SD during
the day and HD during the evenings. During the day the 4/3 picture can be
streched nicely by the Tosh and looks normal on the analog set.

My question is, does KELO do as NE-PBS does during the day and KSFY has the black sidebars you can't get rid of on 4/3 content?

GravelChan

KELO HD in SF is like KSFY. KELO braodcast 1080i full time and KSFT broadcasts 720p full time. Black bars on the sides for 4:3 content. If you want to stretch that content, I would try a few things.

If you have not tried using the Dish receiver to change the picture aspect ratio, I would try that.

I assume you are running either component or DVI-to-HDMI out of the DISH receiver to the Tosh. The other thing to try is running S-Video out of DISH to the Tosh and switch to that input for SD material. You may be able to control the aspect ratio of that input with either the DISH or the Tosh remote. Maybe both of them will do it. Since you only want to do this on SD broadcasting, you should not see much of a difference in picture quality.

Assume you have the DISH 811. I looked at the web site and it appears there is no way to change rez coming out of the 811. Web sit says it upverts everything. On my SONY DirecTV receiver, I can change rez coming out of inputs to 480p or 480i and that allows me to change aspect ratios. If you could change the rez coming out of your receiver that may also be an option to try.

bighdtvfan

Here are the specs for the antenna I have. It is big and ugly and a pain to mount, but is only one that will receive FOX reliably that I have tried. I think I am less than 8 miles from FOX antenna and this is supposed to be an 80 mi antenna. Matter of fact I can recieve KUSD Vermillion channel 2 analog very good. Also get the Sioux City Stations OK so it is a strong antenna. Less money than the omnis also. Locally Menards has it, but I am sure you could find a similar one from Karl's -- Radio Shack etc.

If you try the ones you mentioned, make sure you can take them back if they don't work. You may be able to get KELO, KSFY, PBS HD stations with something like that. I think you still need to mount it above most obstacles for it to work. I had an old powered TERK omni and it worked best on top of the house.



Magnavox Outdoor Antenna 51 Elements

P/N MANT901


Product Features

with 51 element antenna
* VHF/UHF/FM
* features double boom construction
* swept wing elements
* range: 200mi. VHF, 80mi UHF, 150mi. FM

I noticed that KSFY-HD lost something, maybe its PSIP info, today (1-31-05). When I turned my TV to ch. 13-1 it immediatly converted to ch. 29-1, and it did not even say KSFY-DT (or whatever it used to say). I wonder if they are testing something... It still shows as 29-1 this morning (2 am 2-1-05). Also, any info on KTIV being at full power? I am anxiously waiting someone from Sioux City to be at full power, so I can see if I will need to relocate my antenna. ~ColAvsFan

colavsfan... from pg 16


Originally posted by rmullin
Today I spoke to Dave Madsen, general manager of KTIV in Sioux City about their HD broadcast strength and about getting KTIV-DT on our local CableOne system. Dave said that the broadcast signal would not be increased until some time in 2006, in conjunction with the other local stations using the same tower. He said that they were'nt going to do it alone, and would wait until they could coordinate with the other stations. All stations have to be at full strength power by some time in 2006.

He also said that he would be negotiating a new 3-year contract with CableOne in the next few months. Apparently his station group feels that their HD signal should be worth something to the cable system (and the cable system thinks they should get something for carrying their HD signal.) I think they both benefit if the local cable system carries their HD signal and it's a wash.

Please feel free to make friendly and reasonable requests to CableOne and KTIV to get them together and get the NBC HD signal on the cable. It benefits everyone.

BVfan

Thanks for the reply. I answered you last night but my post went off into cyberspace so here goes again.

I was afraid I was going to get the answer you gave. :-( That is, KELO is upconverting SD to HD.

I'm using DVI to HDMI for the Tosh. I have the 921 which I assume is similar to the 811 except for the PVR functions. It does have rez options of 4/3 or 16/9 that affects all outputs from the 921 the same. Using 16/9 certainly makes the SD upconverted to HD broadcasts look better other than you still have sidebars. But then all the other 200 channels look fat and wide. The Theater Wide 1 mode on the Tosh does a much more pleasing job of stretching a 4/3 pix. So you wind up having to switch modes on both the 921 and Tosh to keep things looking good. A real pain when surfing and trying to explain it to the wife. Switching 4/3-16/9 is also buried deep in the menu on the 921. Guess I'm going to have to write a note to KSFY's chief engineer with my thoughts on this and see what his response is.

Transmitting 4/3 in SD as NE-PBS does makes it much simpler when changing channels. Maybe I'm easy to please but a good SD pix is almost as good as upconverted SD. KPLO-DT(KELO) (SD, they are not HD as of now) is definitely a sharper/cleaner picture than KELO on *E, surprise,surprise :-(.
In this case the 921 outputs in 480P.

BTW I'm using a CM 3023 (80" yagi) to pick up KPRY-DT ch19. It's lightweight but well constructed and has very good performance. KPLO-DT is ch13 so the old VHF ant works fine. NE-PBS ch15 is full power, they are 60 miles from me but I think I could almost get them on a coat hanger. :-)

I'm amazed, you walk into a TV showroom, whether around here or in Sioux Falls. You see all these expensive HDTV sets, so you know they must be selling a lot of them. Yet, you ask about OTA antennas and you get a blank stare. Apparently most of these HDTV sets are simply hooked up to standard cable and that's it. I do realize that for those of you 10 miles from the transmitter an indoor antenna will usually work, still.........

Well KSFY is back on 13.1 and they now have station and programming info. So this answers my earlier question about my TV's programming guide. Also, I have a reply from KELO-TV~ColAvsFan

Thank you for your interest in digital TV.

According to the manufacturer of our digital encoders and the experiments that we did, adding a second channel did not have an affect on the quality of the HD channel. However, adding a third channel would mean we would have to drop the bit rate of the HD channel and that would affect the quality. For that reason we won’t be adding a third channel over-the-air until improvements are made in the combining of signals and digital compression.

ABC uses the 720p format and CBS uses the 1080i format – there has always been a debate on which is better. CBS feels the 1080i format has a sharper picture because there are more lines of video, but ABC feels that 720p does better with “action” such as during a football game.

Thank you for the invitation to the forum!

Regards,
John Hertz
KELO TV Engineering

GravelChan,

At least you do have options of viewing the picture the way you want with your setup. I'm sure stations are not going to change the way they broadcast the signal. You are right that the problem becomes when someone unfamiliar with your setup wants to watch something and does'nt like it wide or wants is wide, but doesn't know how to get there from here or doesn't like messing with the remote all the time.

It has taken over a year, but my wife is a convert. She used to watch maybe a movie every now and then on the 51". Tonight she "had" to see American Idol in HD on FOX. Now she is interested in learning how to run the stuff correctly so if I am not here she can make sure she can get in done.

Thanks for the antenna info. I may have to look into the one you have as mine is big and ugly and I would like to get something else. Sure sounds like your station signals are stronger than here.

In response to your HD observation, Sioux Falls can get HD on cable, so maybe that is what a lot of people are doing that get HDTV/s locally.

Just bought a $25 Radio Shaq antenna, put it in my garage attic, and pointed toward the southeast and can now get a strong KTTW Fox 17-1 signal.
When I scanned for new digital channels on my Dish Network HD box, I lost a few of the channels I previously had with just my rabbit ears. So I got the street level map from Antennaweb.org, crawled back in the attack and spliced in the rabbit ears and monkeyed with them until I finally got these:

46.1 KDLT
36.1 KWSD (WB)
29.1 KSFY-HD (I also seemed to have lost the PSIP of 13-1)
17.1 KTTW-HD
11.2 UPN
11.1 KELO-HD
2.2 SDPB
2.1 SDPB-HD (24)

And with the Dish Network, I get:

TNTHD
DHD (Discovery)
HDNET
HDNETMV
ESPSHD

That's 9 channels of HD. I'll live with that for now.

I am only about 4 miles from the KTTW transmitter, which I understand is not even on a tower but only designed to send a signal to the local cable company dish farm.

I'm not touching a thing till after the SuperBowl. ;0)

Reading others threads got me thinking about my OTA setup and why it seems I need such a large antenna to get FOX on some of my sets. I end up doing some splitting which drops signal everytime, I don't know exactly how much, but probably part of why I need what I have to get the signal. I think 2 way splitter drop 3 db and 3 ways drop 5.5 db. I am sure someone out there can tell us better than I.

Again I am 8-9 miles from the FOX "tower" which is SW of me.

I do a two way split right from the antenna -- one of which goes to an HD receiver (50 ft) -- the other goes to a 3 way splitter (50 ft) - that goes to an HD receiver, a HTPC setup, and a 80 ft cable run. The 80 ft cable run goes to a 0-25 db Channel Plus Amplifier that goes into a 6 way splitter. The 6 way splitter does have an HDTV receiver after it and I can get FOX-HD with about 70% signal. I have over 700 ft of quad-shielded RG6 througout the house to various locations.

So I guess what I am saying -- if you are running a short cable run to a single set, you may be able to get by with much less antenna than I have. Especially if you have a line of sight to the FOX tower.

BVfan,

KTTW-DT is only 4 miles away from me at 126 degrees (according to antennaweb.org). and I still can't get the signal. My antenana is indoors going into a built-in tuner. I get KDLT-DT which is over 14 miles away with more buildings in that direction. I think the problem is just simply...FOX is on extremely low power.

Luckily my system has a CableCard so I've been getting KTTW just fine.

-Bryan

I don't know about the rest of you....but I thought the Super Bowl looked great on KTTW. Broadcasting in 5.1 was a nice touch. I was very impressed, so were all the people that came over. Now if we can just get the Lions in the big game I'll be all set.

I agree, my friends that had not seen football in HD were blown away by the clarity you can have at large screen sizes which add to the enjoyment of watching an event such as the Super Bowl.

Looks like no OTA HD Sports all weekend as I looked thru the schedule.

Grammys supposed to be in HD Sunday, but not listed that way on my guide.

The Grammys looked great on KELO, other than the expected strobe light-caused macroblocking during some performances.

I sure wish they'd add their 5.1 equipment, however. I'm spoiled after having the surround sound on Fox for the Superbowl, I guess :)

Just wanted to throw it out there that I can get fox in Lennox 11.4 miles according to antenna web. I can pull it in at about 65% if I put my rabbit ears outside on my deck with a 50' run of RG-6. I think Ill change my setup in the future but for now once a week for nascar is not that big of a deal but eventually Ill get something mounted on the roof. So I think that even though they are at low power don't get discouraged it is still possible to get it and it is the ONLY local in DD5.1 which kind of makes up for their lag behind in going HD.

Based on what we are seeing from KTTW, I posed the question in another thread as to whether a station will ever have to transmitt at high power as eventually "everyone" will be able to get their "digital" signal from either D* or cable. Both responses indicated that according to their license they should have to transmit at full power once they have a digital only llcense. That is probably a few years away though.

BTW.. I thought NASCAR was great in HD and 5.1 yesterday on FOX. The sounds during the "Crank IT Up" were something else to hear. I did have trouble with audio for the first hour or so (some crackling), but that may have been the network or my equipement. My PC to receiver digital interface has trouble locking on sometimes.

Originally posted by BVfan
Based on what we are seeing from KTTW, I posed the question in another thread as to whether a station will ever have to transmitt at high power as eventually "everyone" will be able to get their "digital" signal from either D* or cable. Both responses indicated that according to their license they should have to transmit at full power once they have a digital only llcense. That is probably a few years away though.

Actually, DT stations will have to boost their power BEFORE analog shutoff, though the deadline is a year later in Sioux City and Sioux Falls than it is in Omaha and Des Moines.

ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC affiliates in the top 100 markets have to go full power by July of this year. (Omaha is the nation's 76th market, Des Moines is 73rd.)

All other commercial stations (that means you, Sioux City and Sioux Falls) have to go full power by July 2006 -- or, if they're switching DT channels, they need to have a DT signal that serves at least 80 percent of their analog viewership.

im gonna go nuts if i cant get Fox in HD soon!

COLAVSFANINNWIA

Got to get those rabbit ears outside .... to even have a chance. Remember KTTW-HD is actually channel 7 VHF so you need the telescoping portion of the rabbit ears extended 1/2 to full.

Will KTTW stay on VHF or will they switch to UHF in the future?

Yes, KTTW will keep their DT on channel 7, according to their channel election form. (Sorry, I couldn't resist checking.)

While I was at it, I checked every station licensed to Sioux City and Sioux Falls and created this list similar to what I did for my home market. Hope it helps.

WHEN ANALOG ENDS ...

... The following Sioux Falls stations will STAY on their current DT channels:
KDLT (47), KCSD (24), KTTW (7)

The following Sioux Falls stations will GO BACK to their former analog channels:
KELO (11), KSFY (13), KWSD (36)

___________________________________________________

Sioux City stations STAYING on their current DT channels:
KMEG (39), KSIN (28), KTIV (41)

Sioux City stations GOING BACK to their former analog channels:
KCAU (9), KPTH (44)

___________________________________________________

SOURCE: FCC Form 382 from each station, posted on the FCC website

Originally posted by BVfan
Got to get those rabbit ears outside .... to even have a chance. Remember KTTW-HD is actually channel 7 VHF so you need the telescoping portion of the rabbit ears extended 1/2 to full.

Tried that, Superbowl day/evening. I used anything I could find that resembeled an antenna. Rabbit ears, powered indoor antenna, FM wire antenna, and aluminum foil 2 stories up on the roof. Froze many parts of my body off (it was cold and windy up there). I could only get a "hint" of the signal. My TV would scan ch 7 for DTV for a long time before it would go to analog 7 and get snow. Normally, it does a "quick scan" of DTV before it switches to analog. But I got the same results inside just above ground level as well as outside at the same height. I know from antenna web that the tower is only 4 degrees north of straight west so I always aimed that way.~ColAvsFan

By the way, dline, does the FCC know when the stations plan on going full power?

Originally posted by COLAVSFANINNWIA
By the way, dline, does the FCC know when the stations plan on going full power?
The only "drop dead date" I know of is the July 1, 2006 date I mentioned earlier. It applies to all stations that aren't covered by the earlier deadline, including those in markets your size (#101 and smaller).

If a station doesn't meet that deadline, it won't be able to carry its maximum service area to its digital channel -- hence its nickname, the "use it or lose it" deadline.

Until that time, it's a matter of whenever your stations stop applying for extensions of their Special Temporary Authorities (STAs), which allow them to operate their digitals at lower power.

Below is a map from the FCC site of the KTTW footprint. I think our feedback on this forum would show that the circle is about only 60--70% of that size. I suppose good line of sight and a good antenna would increase the distance some.

KDLT map for comparision purposes....

Yeah, I'm not too sure how accurate those maps are. I have looked at them before. When I put my "rabbits" on the roof, KDLT only came in at 20% whereas I can move the antenna indoors and get it at 10% in some spots in the basement. Too bad I dont know of anyone else in Larchwood to compare too. ~ColAvsFan

If I remeber correctly, KELO did a multicast last year on Thusday and Friday of the NCAA Men's BB tourney. We usually got to see a HD game and our local game. Anybody have a contact at KELO who can tell us what they are planning this year?

Only thing I know is that they are to be installing new PSIP equipment to get guide info and time correctly on thier channels later this week. ~ColAvsFan

It would be really nice if KELO would start broadcasting in 5.1 SS. This is my first year of March Madness in HD, so I guess I will take it one step at a time.

The KELO engineer emailed me that they have no plans to upgrade their sound to DD5.1

This is from the KELO web site. So it appears they will be mulitcasting.

Thursday, March 17:
Oklahoma vs Nigra - 11:45am CT tip off (analog & HDTV)
Cincinnati vs Iowa - 1:40pm CT tip off (analog only)
Utah vs University of Texas - 2:05pm CT tip off (HDTV only)
Texas vs Nevada - 6:10pm CT tip off (analog only)
Gonzaga vs Withrop - 6:25pm CT tip off (HDTV only)
Texas Tech vs UCLA - 8:45pm CT tip off (analog & HDTV)

Friday, March 18:
Minnesota vs Iowa State - 11:30am CT tip off (analog only)
Charlotte vs NC State - 11:15am CT tip off (HDTV only)
UNC vs Oakland - 1:50pm CT tip off (analog only)
Connecticut vs Central Florida - 1:35pm CT tip off (HDTV only)
Wisconsin vs Northern Iowa - 6:20pm CT tip off (analog only)
Syracuse vs Vermont - 6:10pm CT tip off (HDTV only)
Kansas vs Bucknell - 8:40pm CT tip off (analog only)
Michigan St. vs Old Dominion Uni. - 8:30pm CT tip (HDTV only)

My Bad,

KELO is not actually multicasting. I pulled up their schedule and they are still showing UPN shows on 11.2. So they are just showing us some different games on 11.1 than on analog 11. --- Which is what they stated on their site and I misunderstood.

Dang, I was hoping to see one of the Iowa games in HD. They are broadcasting guide info now, and their time is correct.~ColAvsFan

COLAVSFANINNWIA

All they gotta do is win both games this weekend and they'll be in HD next weekend. ...(Sorry about IOWA today... only game I had wrong in my brackets for the afternoon)

BVfan, I was meaning any of the Iowa schools (Iowa, IA state, UNI) for an HD viewing since I got today and Fri off of work. But myself, I am a Gopher fan so I would not be rooting for IA state, and I dont really care that Iowa lost :D. The games I did watch in HD looked absolutely brilliant, alot better, in my mind, than the football HD games. ~ColAvsFan

Why is it when CBS shows a close up in HD that is moving quickly, the background seems to pixelate or get fuzzy? Is it because it is 1080i rather than 720P? I don't notice it on FOX HD.

Why is it when CBS shows a close up in HD that is moving quickly, the background seems to pixelate or get fuzzy? Is it because it is 1080i rather than 720P? I don't notice it on FOX HD.

It's because of that ridiculous UPN subchannel they air which is stealing precious HD bandwidth. At least that's my uneducated opinion. KELO-HD hasn't been the same since they started carrying it. Watching the games last night it was bad, bad, bad.

Last night's HD game on KELO: was it me or was the picture quite dark?

Originally posted by rmullin
Last night's HD game on KELO: was it me or was the picture quite dark?

I too thought that a couple of the games yesterday were darker than others, but I can not remember the specific venue. Seems to me it was the arena that had a lot of blue on th floorl

Just compared NC State/Charolotte game on D* HD and KELOHD. The KELO broadcast does not appear to be darker than the D*. What is noticeable is difference in the sound. D* is in DD 5.1 and the crowd noise makes you feel like you are there.

Originally posted by bighdtvfan
Why is it when CBS shows a close up in HD that is moving quickly, the background seems to pixelate or get fuzzy? Is it because it is 1080i rather than 720P? I don't notice it on FOX HD.

I agree with Husker about KELO looking softer at times than it use to. I think is is more noticeable in some indoor live events and some of the network programs.

I also saw pixelation last night, but I did not watch KELO very much so that may have been a function of what was going on with the network. I also think that sometimes signal strength may affect the quality of a moving obect as I have experienced the same effect on FOX.

I do think the ABC, ESPN, and FOX HD live events look more "3D" if you will, so maybe that is the 720p over the 1080i.

Since most of the HD crews are independents that the network hires, that could also be a variable for quality in the live venues.

I'm of the opinion that it has more to do with 720p vs 1080i broadcasts than the KELO/UPN subchannel. 1080 interlace gives us 180 less lines at a single instant in time than 720p. If you take a look at past threads, about the only time anyone complains about KELO's brodcasts is during sports events. Meanwhile, slow moving CSI looks fantastic. We're comparing apples vs. oranges here...

I'm sure somewhere in this AVS forum there is a topic about pixelation. I'm sure it doesn't happen just in Sioux Falls, however, I will look later. I do know that I have seen it on PBS HD as well. (1080i worse than 720p?)

To rmullin's comment about the picture looking dark, I myself had to turn DOWN the brightness on my screen. My eyes were hurting at the brightness. But for me its easy to hit the picture type button from standard to movie. That solved it for me. ~ColAvsFan

Re: 1080i Pixelization

I agree that there are definite flaws in the broadcast stream from KELO-HD, but you can't say it is the difference between 720p and 1080i. In addition to the broadcast signals, I can get HBO-HD from my cable system in 1080i, and there is never that kind of pixelation - even on very fast, bright action scenes.

We are still on the 'bleeding edge' of the HD revolution, and everything is not up to the quality we all desire, and that our HD TVs can produce. As the networks focus more on HD and digital broadcasts, I expect things to improve substantially on the local level.

Originally posted by BryanSD
I'm of the opinion that it has more to do with 720p vs 1080i broadcasts than the KELO/UPN subchannel. 1080 interlace gives us 180 less lines at a single instant in time than 720p. If you take a look at past threads, about the only time anyone complains about KELO's brodcasts is during sports events. Meanwhile, slow moving CSI looks fantastic. We're comparing apples vs. oranges here...

The pixelization/macroblocking you see with 1080i isn't an interlace artifact, which would look like NTSC jitter, but rather it's a bandwidth problem - when lots of pixels change on the screen simultaneously (fast motion scenes), there simply isn't enough bandwidth to get all the information down the pipeline. So you get pixelization around the fast-motion areas, or across the entire picture during a fast pan, for example.

720p displays slightly fewer pixels per second, but its real benefit is that it compresses more efficiently under MPEG2, requiring less bandwidth to broadcast, and therefore its picture quality doesn't suffer nearly as much as 1080i. Given sufficient bandwidth, say 19mbits/sec, 1080i sports can look great (HDNet is 1080i, for example), but that doesn't leave any bandwidth for stations that want to add subchannels. So there's a tradeoff for 1080i vs 720p - 1080i offers more resolution, but 720p is smoother for action scenes. I personally prefer 1080i for movie and documentary programs, but I like 720p for sports.

For multicasting TV stations, 720p is a win. The 720p HD signal doesn't suffer much degradation at reduced bandwidth - I think KSFY sends out their 720p at ~12mbits/sec, for instance, and it looks fine. Compare that to KELO's 1080i at ~15mbits/sec, which has lots of artifacts during sporting events despite a higher bitrate.

For multicasting TV stations, 720p is a win. The 720p HD signal doesn't suffer much degradation at reduced bandwidth - I think KSFY sends out their 720p at ~12mbits/sec, for instance, and it looks fine. Compare that to KELO's 1080i at ~15mbits/sec, which has lots of artifacts during sporting events despite a higher bitrate.

But is whatever bitrate KELO is sending out essentially split b/w the 2 subchannels? I don't have any equipment that can check those numbers.

All I know is Monday Night football, for example, on KSFY looks pristine from start to finish...live action, replays, slow motion, etc. CBS football looks really good from the "sideline" cameras that they show the live game action from (better than ABC I would say) but suffers during replays and slowmotion with the blocking/artifacting issues. Watching the NCAA's the past 4 days I'd say basketball suffers worse than football. I think KELO added the UPN sub-channel in Feb of 2004, right after football season when they carried the Super Bowl, but i could be wrong.

Meanwhile, slow moving CSI looks fantastic. We're comparing apples vs. oranges here...

Slow moving scenes....yes. But the blocking/pixelating/artifacting is much worse in the fast action scenes or the "strobe light" type scenes of the CSI's then it was a few years ago.

Again, all JMO but I've been watching both HD channels pretty religiously since they started up. I also have a 1080i set with all 720p converted to 1080i at my set top box.

Originally posted by Husker
But is whatever bitrate KELO is sending out essentially split b/w the 2 subchannels?

I emailed the KELO station engineer a few months back and he told me the HD channel get 15/Mb and the .1 channel gets 3Mb.

Kind of off the subject but has anyone ever contacted KDLT and found out when they plan on putting up the NBC shows in hi-def??

Originally posted by Husker
But is whatever bitrate KELO is sending out essentially split b/w the 2 subchannels? I don't have any equipment that can check those numbers.


All stations start with ~19.4 mbits/sec to work with.

KELO is splitting their bandwidth, with about 15mbits/sec going to CBSHD, and 3.?mbits/sec going to UPN. The rest is audio and overhead.

KSFY is only broadcasting one stream, ABCHD at about 12.2mbits/sec. They're padding the rest of the channel with null packets, essentially.

I agree that for sports, 12mbit 720p looks better than 15mbit 1080i.

For last year's Superbowl on CBS (NE vs Car), KELO shut down their subchannel for the day, giving the CBSHD feed most of the 19mbits/sec. I thought it looked substantially better than their weekly games this past season, or this weekend's NCAA games.

Living on top of a hill in Sioux City, I watch the Sioux Falls HD ABC and CBS. Sioux City's sole HD channel, KTIV NBC, broadcasts a signal so weak that large parts of Sioux City cannot receive it.

SIOUX CITY RESIDENTS: can you reliably tune-in the Omaha HD channels? Which ones? I understand that some or most Omaha channels will be broadcasting at full power by some time this April.

What is your experience with Omaha HD channels?

Wife finally got fed up and called KSFY. Last week my wife was complaining because Desparate Housewives wasn't in HD. Then when it started this week the same way, she finally got fed up and called them. 5 minutes later it switched to HD.

Is this someone sleeping at the station? Is there a manual step that someone forgot? Anyway the wife was happy again, and so I was happy again.

KSFY

My wife thanks your wife. Thank goodness that KELO had the Final Four in HD.

I noticed that KDLT is now bradcasting HD. I don't know if they passed any of their prime time programming in HD because I wasnt home this evening. Also KCSD now re-maps to 23-1, 23-2. ~ColAvsFan

Anyone watch the PGA masters on CBS? I thought the Hi-Def commercials looked better than the game. The outdoor lighting may have had something to do with it too though.

I agree the the Masters tournament is just about the best commercial there is for high definition TV. I think CBS should be commended for what must be a tremendous effort to have all those HD cameras.

I know it is a stretch for this board but there appears to be an HD Radio company in our area. Here is the link to the press release I stumbled across.

http://www.hdradiomagazine.com

The Masters used a mix of HD and SD cameras so that is why some shots may not look as good to you. I believe most of the back nine tee boxes and greens have HD with fairway cameras being SD.

Did anyone switch to analog KELO 11 yesterday and notice they were doing storm crawlers there, but not on the Masters KELO-HD 11.1. That is great progress if they will continue that practice.

Originally posted by mgoblue55
Wife finally got fed up and called KSFY. Last week my wife was complaining because Desparate Housewives wasn't in HD. Then when it started this week the same way, she finally got fed up and called them. 5 minutes later it switched to HD.

Is this someone sleeping at the station? Is there a manual step that someone forgot? Anyway the wife was happy again, and so I was happy again.

There is a switch that is manually thrown. Not being a TV station engr., I do not know the logistics of this. I have called both KELO and KSFY numerous times for that very reason. Call the news hotline is the best way to get them to answer. Ask if the show is in HD and if master control has thrown the switch.

I always checking the AVS HD Programming Forum first to make sure I am not crying wolf if you will. Seems to be a problem with the beginning of sporting events or if the first show in Primetime is SD.

After reading here that KDLT was now broadcasting in HD I checked it out on saturday and watched some SNL. It was in 4:3 hd but HD none the less. To my suprise I looked at my reciever and it was getting a 5.1 audio signal. I guess that they are the last local to go HD but Ill take it if they are going to give us 5.1 :)

Another note. Watching the masters this weekend has reminded me why I spent all this money on HD TV. It was fantastic!!! Some of the camera shots from behind the tee box were awesome. You could actually see the ball long enough to see the type of shots that they were hitting.

Any other info on KDLT-DT? I'm guessing low power and not passing HD...but the 5.1 audio has me intrigued.

KDLT

No such thing as 4:3 HD - it must be just good old digital, but not HD digital.

As for the signal strength, I can receive their analog signal in Sioux City, but not the digital - gotta be pretty low power like Sioux City's NBC digital signal.

I guess I should clarify. The picture of SNL was definately HD but I think inetead of ESPN's grey bars on the side they were still Black. The sound was definately 5.1. I am going on just what I saw. I have not contacted anyone to verify this information. I have not watched it since then to further confirm anything.

I agree that the clarity of KDLT has improved over the 480 SD they were sending us, My receiver also shows 1080i and DD EX audio (5.1).

But everything is in 4:3. I stayed up for Jay Leno last night and it was in 4:3. I have an HD file someone sent me from the Leno show and the file is 16:9 and more defined.

I'm thinking at this point they are upverting their SD signal. Their 10:00 news broadcast looked much better than the KSFY or KELO, but I think KELO's local stuff looks pretty bad anyway

mullin -- Husker,

I'll check again, but I believe my power signal was as high as it has been when KDLT was SD. Not as strong as the analog signal though. I believe I posted a coverage map back a page or two. The map probably shows the absolute borders of coverage and in acutuallity the range is probably less.

It looks better because it is no longer stretched to fill the screen. It was digital before, but they changed the aspect to improve picture quality.

Originally posted by wxman
It looks better because it is no longer stretched to fill the screen. It was digital before, but they changed the aspect to improve picture quality.

They also were not broadcasting in 1080i before though, were they? I never watch enough NBC to be sure. I know I could change the ratio so it was not stretched before, but the quality looks better now.

May have to email them.

When I went to kDLT site to email them, found this coverage map.

KDLT will be providing an HD signal from our Rowena tower in July or August 2005. We have ordered the equipment ($2.2 million). Thanks for your inquiry.

Regards:

Gary Bolton
General Manager


Our plans are to start carring the NBC HD signal later this year. We are trying to have it by Nov. 1. We are now only upconverting the signal.

Don Sturzenbecher
Chief Engineer
KDLT-TV
3600 S. Westport Ave.
Sioux Falls, SD 57106
dsturz@kdlt.com
605-361-5555
695-361-7017--fax

Not sure where all they are offering this....

Midco is offering half price on their bundled services if you now receive satellite service and are willing to switch. They have stopped in a couple times to talk to me and I am now trying it. Have both D* and Midco on the same setup so I can compare.

I am getting Internet, one phone line, and Digital cable with one movie channel and all HD channels they offer (Digital Essentials Trio). The offer given me was 6 months for 52.50 + taxes. Will be $105/mo after than. Also need to rent digital box for $10/mo to get digital and HD channels. Box is a dual tuner DVR that holds 12 hours of HD programming.

No commitment term so I can drop when I want. Thought I would compare services as the $52.50 is less than I was paying for Midco Internet and Qwest phone together now.

Dish Buy-Back is what the rep called it when he called in the order.

KTIV Reception Problems

This last week I have been receiving terrible reception of the KTIV digital signal. I live in south morningside. I called KTIV engineering and they indicated no problem on their end. I have also had bad reception for KPTH, but KCAU and KSIN come in ok. Is anyone else experiencing poor reception?

KTIV Problems:

I live on top of a hill on the north side of Sioux City - almost in sight of the 2,000 foot tower. I can no longer receive a digital signal from KTIV, just the analog.

The problem is that their digital antenna is very low - no where near the top of the tower, and more importantly, they are only putting an extremely weak signal - about 1/60th of the strength of their analog signal. ANY leaves between you and their tower will absorb and scatter their lame signal.

In talking with KTIV general manager Dave Madsen, I found out that they have no plans on changing anything until 2006. They are waiting to make the necessary improvements to coordinate with updates to KCAU and KPTH which share their tower. It's all about money: a minority of their viewers care about digital at this time, and they don't want to spend the money to reach those viewers.

Strange logic, when you consider that the HD and digital viewers should be the most desirable demographic to their advertisers.

Stranger still, KTIV will not make an agreement with CableOne to put their HD signal on local cable.

As an advertiser on KTIV and a digital viewer I find that extremely unfortunate.

Originally posted by BVfan
Not sure where all they are offering this....

Midco is offering half price on their bundled services if you now receive satellite service and are willing to switch. They have stopped in a couple times to talk to me and I am now trying it. Have both D* and Midco on the same setup so I can compare.

I am getting Internet, one phone line, and Digital cable with one movie channel and all HD channels they offer (Digital Essentials Trio). The offer given me was 6 months for 52.50 + taxes. Will be $105/mo after than. Also need to rent digital box for $10/mo to get digital and HD channels. Box is a dual tuner DVR that holds 12 hours of HD programming.

No commitment term so I can drop when I want. Thought I would compare services as the $52.50 is less than I was paying for Midco Internet and Qwest phone together now.

Dish Buy-Back is what the rep called it when he called in the order.


How is Midco's HD compared to D*? I'vd been with D* since 1996 and their HD since last July. I really don't have any complaints other than the outragous price D* is asking for NFL ST HD this coming season. How do you like Midco's DVR? I have an HD Tivo and have had DTivo for the past four years, I love it and have had a chance to use a friends Midco DVR, it really doesn't compare to the Tivo, but I'm sure I could save quite a bit getting service from Midco, I already have their phone and internet.

Originally posted by mhaider
How is Midco's HD compared to D*? I'vd been with D* since 1996 and their HD since last July. I really don't have any complaints other than the outragous price D* is asking for NFL ST HD this coming season. How do you like Midco's DVR? I have an HD Tivo and have had DTivo for the past four years, I love it and have had a chance to use a friends Midco DVR, it really doesn't compare to the Tivo, but I'm sure I could save quite a bit getting service from Midco, I already have their phone and internet.

I have Midco's HD DVR. No complaints, but I've never done Tivo so not sure what I'm missing. Probably the one annoying feature about Midco's DVR is that it is doesn't have a 30-second forward. You can still fast forward through the commercials, but like the VCR you still have to watch the commercials. Overall the HD recordings look good to me on the DVR. The DVR will also convert up as an option the 480i to 1080i or 720P, but I've found that my Sony's Built-In tuner does a better job of upconverting.

I miss the full digital of Direct-TV (Midco's basic-like channells are still analog), but it's nice to have the HDTV locals available through cable (no problem getting FOX in HD).

Originally posted by BryanSD
I have Midco's HD DVR. No complaints, but I've never done Tivo so not sure what I'm missing. Probably the one annoying feature about Midco's DVR is that it is doesn't have a 30-second forward. You can still fast forward through the commercials, but like the VCR you still have to watch the commercials. Overall the HD recordings look good to me on the DVR. The DVR will also convert up as an option the 480i to 1080i or 720P, but I've found that my Sony's Built-In tuner does a better job of upconverting.

I miss the full digital of Direct-TV (Midco's basic-like channells are still analog), but it's nice to have the HDTV locals available through cable (no problem getting FOX in HD).

How would you rate the D* HD PQ to Midco's?

I was at a buddies house last night and played around with their Midco DVR, I personally like the Tivo better, but it's what I've been used to for the past four years, plus I have double the HD record time, but if I'd never had a DVR before the Moto would be great, my friends sure love it. My friend has my old Toshiba 50" RPTV that I had before I bought my Sony LCD last year so it's a TV I'm used to watching, I'd say the Midco analog is worse than D*, but the digital and HD channels look great and that's through a compsite video connection, I'd love to see what the HD channels look like on my TV.

Now that I have had both for a few weeks now. Family likes convenience of the Midco DVR and having basic cable on all TVs in the house. PVR probably not as nice as TiVo from what I have heard, but is easy to use.

PQ looks the same to me on my 51" Sony RP. Except I do agree that D* STV looks a lttle better than Midco basic. It should as Midco basic is analog. I plan to do a comparision on the projector soon. A 104" picture should show up any difference in the HD pix.

D* has more HD channels for the price. I'm not getting the extra HD channels so am only comparing locals. I thought HD channels were part of pkg, but guess not. Did get Starz HD as part of the pkg., but it doesn't show many of it's movies in HD so not sure it would be worth it at full price.

I have three D* recievers with the ability to run feed from any receiver to any TV in the house, which we have found to be an advantage to D* as we can run things you can not get on basic cable to any TV without getting a digital cable box for each TV. Things like regional sports, Sunday Ticket, and anything that would be "digital" on Midco.

Midco TV part of their package is really not much less once you pay for a DVR and HD plus any premiums you want.

If I had to make a decision today, I'd probably stay with D*

Originally posted by BVfan
D* has more HD channels for the price. I'm not getting the extra HD channels so am only comparing locals. I thought HD channels were part of pkg, but guess not.

I'm sure the HD package channels are supposed to be part of the $9.00 DVR charge. I have two co-workers and two friends that have the Midco DVR and that's how it works for them. One thing I've noticed, Watertown is about $20.00/month cheaper on a Midco package than SF, I think that might be because we have Prairiewave too. Whenever there's a Midco ad in the Argus, the same deal in the Watertown PO is that much cheaper. Give Midco a call and see what they have to say.

Thanks for the input about Midco HD, I've thought about having my friends record some HD than bring the DVR to my house to check it out on my TV, but I don't plan on leaving D* right now, I like what I'm getting and I want to see what D* has to offer when they get the next two new sats up to go along with the one launched in April.

Originally posted by BryanSD
I have Midco's HD DVR. No complaints, but I've never done Tivo so not sure what I'm missing. Probably the one annoying feature about Midco's DVR is that it is doesn't have a 30-second forward. You can still fast forward through the commercials, but like the VCR you still have to watch the commercials. Overall the HD recordings look good to me on the DVR. The DVR will also convert up as an option the 480i to 1080i or 720P, but I've found that my Sony's Built-In tuner does a better job of upconverting.

I miss the full digital of Direct-TV (Midco's basic-like channells are still analog), but it's nice to have the HDTV locals available through cable (no problem getting FOX in HD).

There is a 30-sec skip and a 15-sec rewind, it just isn't programed into the remote that midco gives out. If you have a programmable remote, you can program the codes in and map it to a button. I have it all set up on my Harmony.

I have never used Tivo either. That being said, I love the Midco DVR. The one thing I like the most is the dual tuner. You can record one show and watch another. Or record two different channels at the same time while watching a previously recorded show. I use this often. My NBC viewing has gone way down since getting it, because they are not in HD yet. I find myself watching mostly the HD channels. If I could get a dual tuner HD DVR from Dish or DirecTV for a decent price I might consider switching. However, as of right now this is keeping me happy. (And more importantly it is keeping my wife happy)

I am in Rapid City, but I have Midcontinent Communications. The remote has unused A, B, and C buttons. It would be ideal to program the 30-second skip, an A/B switch, and the DVR mute to control for the auto mute. I found the codes in a thread for another company, but it did not work with the remote that I was given from Midcontinent Communications. If anyone can figure out how to program them, let me know.

I am in an apartment that has free basic cable. I originally just got the DVR for $16 a month and had the locals for free. I then called and asked about getting the HD channels only, and the CSR said it was $10 to add digital cable and the HD channels. I still think it is a lot because I don't find much value in the digital channels and it is only 4 HD channels here.

Originally posted by Feddie
I am in Rapid City, but I have Midcontinent Communications. The remote has unused A, B, and C buttons. It would be ideal to program the 30-second skip, an A/B switch, and the DVR mute to control for the auto mute. I found the codes in a thread for another company, but it did not work with the remote that I was given from Midcontinent Communications. If anyone can figure out how to program them, let me know.

I am in an apartment that has free basic cable. I originally just got the DVR for $16 a month and had the locals for free. I then called and asked about getting the HD channels only, and the CSR said it was $10 to add digital cable and the HD channels. I still think it is a lot because I don't find much value in the digital channels and it is only 4 HD channels here.

If you haven't looked through this thread you might find some ideas on programming the remote, I noticed some when I scanned through it.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=464986

Yes, I looked at that thread. They have the codes that are needed, but I don't know how to get this remote to accept the codes to be mapped to a button. Lately I have been having a problem with shows saying they have recorded, but they didn't. When I stop watching something recorded, the screen is normally blank when it should be showing current shows on whatever channel it is on. Has anyone else experienced this?

I just talked to a CSR that said there was an upgrade fix for the freeze, but it might not have loaded correctly. Thanks for letting customers know that there was an upgrade. I lost several season finales thanks to the great company. The CSR lady was a very rude as well. I hope that Black Hills Fibercom puts them out of business. The only thing they have of value is the Fighting Sioux Sports Network.

My brother-in-law has the same box from Comcast in Omaha. He has complained of programs not recording when they should have. I have not experienced this myself. I have not experienced any technical issues with this box at all (knock on wood).

Got my first bill and guess I should have realized this...
There are $11.96 in telephone only taxes and fees so your final savings on just a phone would be about $3.00 as compared to Qwest. Qwest taxes are $9.94

Also the billed me for $68.97 +$4.50 DVR instead of the $52.50 + $9 DVR I agreed to. Am calling about this as I have a written and signed order form.

Lightning strike last Sat and I loss all services. Got junky basic cable back in about 4 hours, but did not get any digitial cable, internet, or phone working until Monday when they came out and fixed.

DVR retained all information through the ordeal though. I also have had no problems with the recording aspect. Have everything running through a conditioner and surge protector so maybe that helps.

Still need to hook up to the BIG screen to see if I can tell a difference between D* and Midco.

Did anyone else have audio problems during Primetime HDTV on KSFY on 6/3? It sounded faded, I had to crank the volume up a bit to hear, but when it went to comercial, it sounded fine. It only did it on this channel and only in HD. I anyone else had the problem let me know.

I did not listen on 6/3, but in general the HD audio on KSFY is lower when compared to KELO or KTTW. It seems like it is certain programs though.

I noticed for the first game of the NBA finals, the HD feed from KSFY ABC was uninterrupted by weather warnings like the analog was. And yes I have to turn up the volume for KSFY-DT during regular programming.

I heard a rumor today that KDLT was showing HD last night - was anyone watching?

KDLT was in HD last night. I happen to have the TV on 46, looked up during Leno and it was FULL SCREEN! :) Looks like KDLT is ahead of schedule for converting to HD. Now if I could just get KTTW in HD. Does anyone get KTTW over 8 miles away east of Sioux Falls?

KDLT was in HD last night. I happen to have the TV on 46, looked up during Leno and it was FULL SCREEN! :) Looks like KDLT is ahead of schedule for converting to HD. Now if I could just get KTTW in HD. Does anyone get KTTW over 8 miles away east of Sioux Falls?

Good luck. It's been awhile since I looked, but I couldn't even get KTTW 3 miles away from the tower!

Watched Jay Leno in HD, looked great!!! As for KTTW, we will have to wait until they get full power to watch it anywheres without a direct line if sight w/ the tower. I know some poeple at 8 miles who can get it in, but they are to the SW of the tower and most of the area btwn the tower and them is country.~ColAvsFan

Yes -- KDLT in HD with NASCAR tonight -- Looked pretty good. Didn't realize it was on for Leno. Have to start recording so I can archive some of his musical guests.

As for KTTW -- I have picked it up with Amplified Rabbit ears last winter, but with all the leaves on the trees have had trouble. Am using a Menards Zenith antenna on top of my home presently (their biggest one). I live about a mile SE of the Walmart on east 10th on a hill so am kind of NE of tower. Usually getting about 65-70% strength with a three way splitter and shooting through trees.

Conan O'Brien is also HD late night on NBC. Looks great.

I emailed KDLT and inquired on the coverage area of the HD signal. Here is the reply.

Hello,

Presently our HD range is within a radius of 25 miles of Sioux Falls. On or before July18th, the HD signal range will increase to 70 miles of Sioux Falls. We're in the process of installing our new full power digital transmitter and antenna, which is scheduled to be on the air by July 18th or sooner. Thanks for your inquiry!!!

Regards:

Gary Bolton
General Manager

Great news! Anyone heard when KTTW will up their power? Does anyone have a contact for KTTW?

Great news! Anyone heard when KTTW will up their power? Does anyone have a contact for KTTW?

Yes I do. Here is what there General Manager says :rolleyes: ...

Hello,

Presently our HD range is within a radius of 2.5 miles of Sioux Falls. On or before December 18th, the HD signal range will increase to 7 miles of Sioux Falls. We're in the process of installing our new half power analog transmitter and antenna, which is scheduled to be on the air by December 18th or sooner. We hope to give you the final NFL game of the season over the air in HDTV. Thanks for your inquiry!!!

Regards:

Michael Bolton
General Maintenance

Yes I do. Here is what there General Manager says :rolleyes: ...

Hello,

Presently our HD range is within a radius of 2.5 miles of Sioux Falls. On or before December 18th, the HD signal range will increase to 7 miles of Sioux Falls. We're in the process of installing our new half power analog transmitter and antenna, which is scheduled to be on the air by December 18th or sooner. We hope to give you the final NFL game of the season over the air in HDTV. Thanks for your inquiry!!!

Regards:

Michael Bolton
General Maintenance

You had me except for the Michael Bolton and the icon

For everyone who watchs NFL football, not being able to get FOX HD this fall will suck as will not seeing Sunday Night Footall in HD on NBC. Maybe this is a solution you can try. Also for those unable to receive any of the other locals in HD.

My understanding is that the FCC has changed its policy about network waivers from the past. If you read some of the posts in the HD forum, you can now get waivers to receive HD national networks if you are unable to receive a HD signal from a local network.

If you do a search in the HD Programming forum for "DNS" you will get threads discussing this. (Lots of reading) Sounds like you can send a waiver request to D* and if the station does not respond or do a signal test in 30 days, they will turn on the national HD feeds. Probably not that simple, but worth a try.

Fox National Feed probably won't be the Vikes or Pack, is the only down side.

I was going to try to do this to get SuperBowl last year, but the KTTW GM assured me they were going to have HD by then, which they did.

Yes I do. Here is what there General Manager says :rolleyes: ...

Hello,

Presently our HD range is within a radius of 2.5 miles of Sioux Falls. On or before December 18th, the HD signal range will increase to 7 miles of Sioux Falls. We're in the process of installing our new half power analog transmitter and antenna, which is scheduled to be on the air by December 18th or sooner. We hope to give you the final NFL game of the season over the air in HDTV. Thanks for your inquiry!!!

Regards:

Michael Bolton
General Maintenance

It seems as if they are already brodcasting at half power on analog. I just hope they will further increase the HD range to a higher power by July 2006 from the 7 miles~ColAvsFan

Quick edit for BVFan...what do you mean in your post by not seeing sunday night football in HD from NBC? NBC doesnt have rights to NFL until 2006 season. And KDLT is passing HD from NBC right now. Plus it appears that soon they will be at full power.

It seems as if they are already brodcasting at half power on analog. I just hope they will further increase the HD range to a higher power by July 2006 from the 7 miles~ColAvsFan

Quick edit for BVFan...what do you mean in your post by not seeing sunday night football in HD from NBC? NBC doesnt have rights to NFL until 2006 season. And KDLT is passing HD from NBC right now. Plus it appears that soon they will be at full power.

Sorry, jumping ahead of myself on the NBC Football thing. The idea of my thread was some people will not be getting HD locals as they may be out of range and their option (if they already have DirecTV) is to try waivers. Cost nothing but your time to try.

I got the waiver from KTTW about a year ago so I get the Fox feed from NY. I also subscribe to Sunday Ticket and got the Vikings in HD over DTV. Apparently, the waiver allows me to view the local games via Sunday Ticket. Hopefully it will be the same this year.

Anyway getting a better signal of KDLT? I was anticipating the increased signal strength on the 18th, but that seems to have come and gone. Mine seems to be weaker at the moment than it was the past few days. Before I was able to at least get a picture via my Samsung 360, now it is just searching for signal.

Yeah, I got fired up about the increased signal strength "before the 18th" and was disappointed. Then I re-read the post about their upgrade, and KDLT said they would have it upgraded before DECEMBER 18th.

Guess I better hurry up and wait.

I think that the December 18th date was with kttw and that the response copied from KDLT's GM was July 18th. Time will tell, otherwise time to finally get that pre-amp and see if that will help the signal out any.

Is KSFY down for you too?

Ben

Ben -

Can't get KSFY tonight, but had a perfect picture last night. I just searched for the alleged KDLT HD signal, but there's nothing I can pick up in Sioux City. Guess the folks doing the transmitter upgrade got behind a bit - must be the heat.

In response to KDLT - I drove right by the tower on the 18th (it can be arranged so that it is on my way to work) and saw no one or any vehicles there around midday so I dont know if that means anything or not. I think this Gary at KDLT is someone who does business with my company quite frequently, but I havn't seen him since I saw the thread on here to ask him. I will flag him down next chance I get which I know wont be tommorow, Thurs. the 21st but maybe the 22nd or the 23rd. ~ColAvsFan

My signal strength for KDLT is still only around 80%. I would anticipate is will be 100% once they are at full strength. I have emailed them this morning so will post when we receive a reply.

I tried KSFY this morning and no signal. I am also getting no signal from KTTW, but that may be my tree blockage problem.

Also at only about 50% with WB on 50.1

Both KELO and PBS are at 100%

Next week now

Looks like they won't be on Midco HD tier until this fall

Hi

Thanks for your inquiry about KDLT's HD signal.

We're already sending out a "low power" digital signal, which reaches a 20 mile radius of Sioux Falls on channel 46.1. We expect to be sending a "full power" digital signal out sometime next week. The full power signal will reach a 65-70 mile radius of Sioux Falls. We just spent $2.2 million to go full power digital. You will be able to enjoy all of NBC's HD programming now.

I am in the process of negotiating carriage of KDLT's digital signal with the cable companies that offer "digital tier" channels to their subscribers. KDLT should be carried by the cable companies who offer the digital tier carriage by September 2005.

Again, thanks for your inquiry.

Regards:

Gary Bolton
General Manager

Sweet,

Thanks for the info.
Ben

Next week now

Looks like they won't be on Midco HD tier until this fall

Hi

Thanks for your inquiry about KDLT's HD signal.

We're already sending out a "low power" digital signal, which reaches a 20 mile radius of Sioux Falls on channel 46.1. We expect to be sending a "full power" digital signal out sometime next week. The full power signal will reach a 65-70 mile radius of Sioux Falls. We just spent $2.2 million to go full power digital. You will be able to enjoy all of NBC's HD programming now.

I am in the process of negotiating carriage of KDLT's digital signal with the cable companies that offer "digital tier" channels to their subscribers. KDLT should be carried by the cable companies who offer the digital tier carriage by September 2005.

Again, thanks for your inquiry.

Regards:

Gary Bolton
General Manager

Hey BVfan, did he say anything to you about a transmittor being bad? The way Gary was talking to me at work today, he sounded like it might be a while before they get to "full power." They are working on getting the one good transmittor up this weekend (cross your fingers) or by early next week and that should reach about 45 miles out. And they way he made it sound like it might be a little while (1-2 months) before they can go 65-70 miles when they get the other transmittor in. Maybe I was just confused the way he was talking to me. He sounded quite pissed though about having to spend 2.2 mil on something that didn't work quite right. ~ColAvsFan

Hello all, first time poster here to the forum. I've been reading extensively on the various issues associated with pickup of signals in the Sioux City and Sioux Falls area.

As a resident of Sioux City, I've been salivating at the possibility of picking up three different PBS stations in our area from IA, NE, and SD. I was also curious about the luck others have had picking up Omaha broadcasts in addition to Sioux Falls.

I also have a pending question into the IPTV folks about KSIN-DT. I realize that SD subchannels can be utilized when no HD content is being broadcast. I'm trying to find out if any of the current subchannels will be simulcasting the analogue programming on digital. I'm also inquiring with NET and SDPB about similar setups.

Has anybody heard what is going to be done during the Analogue/Digital transition phase that will prolly last until 2009 in this area if DTV penetration stays at its current progression?

I'm tinkering with a pcHDTV card to pick up these signals now. If anybody has a recommendation of a decent set top box for an analogue telly I'd love to hear it as well.

Sorry for the long post, but alot of this stuff has been nagging at me for some time.

cheers,

-mhs

From Sioux City I have picked up 3 channels from Nebraska Public TV - for one day. I think they were running tests. Each channel had different programming - as I recall there were two different episodes of Charlie Rose and something else.

Of course, the signal from Vermillion SD is pretty strong: 2.1 is PBS digital and 2.2 is their "regular" analog signal re-broadcast in digital. IPTV is on 27.1 with mostly the same PBS digital.

I can receive the HD signals from the Sioux Falls CBS and ABC, and I expect to be able to receive the NBC feed very soon -- as soon as KDLT ups their signal strength.

Locally in Sioux City, KTIV, KCAU and KMEG all put out signals powered by a Duracell battery, and only KTIV is in HD. KTIV is negotiating with CableOne to put their HD signal on the wire, but nothing is certain there.

The unfortunate truth is that we're on the bleeding edge of the HD revolution, and in a smaller market we should be happy (thrilled, even!) to get a test pattern.

KSFY seems to have been off the air for a few days now on their digital side - has anyone heard what's up there?

Edit - nevermind; got this from a friend just now:

"they blew the main tube in the transmitter, the part arrived this am, the guy to fix it arrives @ 2pm on a plane, they are hoping to be back on the air tonight."

I'm tinkering with a pcHDTV card to pick up these signals now. If anybody has a recommendation of a decent set top box for an analogue telly I'd love to hear it as well.
-mhs

Can't you also use your pcHDTV to hook up to the analog TV as it has composite/sound out?

If you want cheap, maybe try to find a VOOM box that has not been deactivated, as they still recieve OTA signal. Only ones on Ebay right now are all from the same guy and the bids are $10 so beware. Search "VOOM Box" in the AVS forum to find out more particulars about VOOM boxes. Not sure what the boxes have for outputs.

There may also be some DirectTV HDTV boxes for sale cheap when some of markets switch to the new MPEG4 format.

Otherwise plan on spending at least $200 -- this forum tells you everything you need to know ---> http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=179095

Still no increase in power from KDLT-HD. Signal strength still at 75% as of yesterday

I don't think that KDLT at 75% in the Sioux Falls metro area will do me any good in Sioux City. I get KELO-HD with a 95% signal strength, and KSFY with about 67%. That's 75 miles from the transmitter.

I hope they get the watts pumping out of the KDLT transmitter soon.

RE: KDLT-DT
I spoke w/ Gary today (Sunday, 31st). He has been absolutely pissed at the new transmittor. Some part of the one that was supposedly was good, had a leak in it. So he said 2 more weeks to get that in. And pry not too long after that they will get the second transmittor up and going to be full power. He said the original plans were to be up at 75 miles by now. He also told me he will let me know when they are up on power, but I will pry find out on my own before he ever tells me. ~ ColAvsFan

I don't think that KDLT at 75% in the Sioux Falls metro area will do me any good in Sioux City.

Yeah, I'm only 5 miles away so I should notice the jump. Part of my problem is I am so close, if I point right at KELO tower, my signal strength goes down, as I must be getting reflective signals.

FOX here is the real bugger. Even the analog signal is weak. I have huge trees in direction of the transmiter. I can pick up your Fox44 almost as good as 17.

I dunno what happened to Analog Fox17, but over in Larchwood, it is nearly to usually unwatchable. good thing for dish i can get it in clear. and also in Larchwood Fox44 comes in almost perfect. Wasnt that long ago when i was able to get both in about the same.

I am guessing that no one knows the time frame for KTTW-DT full power? Must be the July 2006 deadline they are waiting for to stick out any more $$.~ColAvsFan

Does anyone here living in Sioux Falls and subscribes to Directv, get the national Fox HD feed? I have a friend who is asking and I don't know the answer. He has a problem getting the local fox HD feed which is rather weak. I know here in NW Iowa we are able to pick it up over the sat.

Thanks,
Ben

Does anyone here living in Sioux Falls and subscribes to Directv, get the national Fox HD feed? I have a friend who is asking and I don't know the answer. He has a problem getting the local fox HD feed which is rather weak. I know here in NW Iowa we are able to pick it up over the sat.

Thanks,
Ben

KTTW's offical coverage map shows they presently cover a 15 mi radius from their tower. We all know here that is not a fact. He would have to get a waiver and if you live in SF, that may be hard to do. You may have him call DirecTV to see what the exact process is as I am sure they would not just turn the nat feed on for him.

Thats what I thought. Thanks. I will pass the info on.

Hello all. Below is some info on digital/HD status of the Omaha stations - I received from the KETV chief engineer. With my home being in Morningside (Sioux City) I have been very surprised with the reception I can get from Omaha. I watched the MNF game on KETV (I believe they are transmitting at 700Kw) and my signal strength was 100%. I also get almost 100% signal from WOWT so it looks like 1000Kw will easily get the job done here if you have a decent antenna & amp (my reception from KMTV is hit & miss). Here's the Omaha station info:

==========================================================

KMTV-DT (CBS) is still running 700Kw ERP, will go up to 1000Kw here when the FCC grants their license which should be any day now.

WOWT-DT (NBC) on channel 22 is running 1000Kw ERP.

KPTM (Fox) channel 43 is changing out their antenna this month, and will run 1000Kw ERP, look for them by the end of the month.

WB (KXVO) will not be passing HD initially.

==========================================================

Mark

Does KWSD WB broadcast any HD shows in HD?

Does KWSD WB broadcast any HD shows in HD?

Unfortunatly they are SD only. :mad:

Can someone tell me how long Midcontinent has had TNT-HD and FSN HD?

Can someone tell me how long Midcontinent has had TNT-HD and FSN HD?

Couple of weeks.

Unfortunatly they are SD only. :mad:

Bummer....DirecTV is having fall previews of the various channels this month, and this week they're highlighting the WB and it looks like there's going to be some good shows this fall in HD.

KDLT appears to have upped their power. I can get 80% signal strength from Chancellor,SD

Yup. You beat me to it. KDLT-DT is pegging the meter here at 100%. HD and 5.1 and looking good. NBC in HD...finally!

Life is strange...

I now receive KDLT's digital signal in Sioux City (that's 70+ miles from the tower) at 95% signal strength. Dolby digital sound, too.

My local NBC affiliate (KTIV) also broadcasts a digital HD signal from a tower about 10 miles from my home, and I can't receive anything.

Guess it proves that you need to have a signal powered by more than a couple Duracell batteries and a hamster wheel.

THANK YOU to the folks at KDLT and their advertisers.

KDLT appears to have upped their power. I can get 80% signal strength from Chancellor,SD

Yahoo!

Now if you can just get FOX :)

rmullin ..

That is an awesome signal. My signal strength for KDLT went up from 78 to 94% so I assumed they had gotten the upgrade done. My signals are kind of screwy as I am so close to all the towers. Some days KSFY will not even come in.

I keep an antenna pointed south just to see if I can get any digital SC stations, but not a sniff.

Mendu

Thank FOX thing is irrating. I don't get FOXHD at all as I took down my big VHF/UHF antenna this summer. Am thinking about putting up a VHF only pointed at FOX as my other antenna gave me reflected signal problems. Wish they would just switch to UHF with the digital signal.

BVFAN
I put up a VHF only antenna with a channelmaster signal blocker that only allows channel 7 VHF to pass through it. No problems at all with the other antenna nor any ghosting. I bought it through Warren Electronics in case you are interested.
I have heard from KTTW. They will not be going full power until July 2006. BUMMER!!!!

BVFAN
I put up a VHF only antenna with a channelmaster signal blocker that only allows channel 7 VHF to pass through it. No problems at all with the other antenna nor any ghosting. I bought it through Warren Electronics in case you are interested.
I have heard from KTTW. They will not be going full power until July 2006. BUMMER!!!!

Thanks for the info.... I will try that prior to NFL start.

Warren is not local ... Right? Found the web site.

Way to go KDLT!! Does anyone have any info if the Sioux Falls affiliate of the WB will be doing any 1080i broadcasts of their shows this season via OTA?

Thanks,
Ben

Hello from Sioux City. Does anyone know if KSFY-DT has upped their transmit power lately? When they first started broadcasting I could get some signal and then it went away for me. I haven't scanned for it lately though. What is the digital channel number again?

Mark

It is either 32 or 28 I think. SOrry i can't be more specific.

It is either 32 or 28 I think. SOrry i can't be more specific.

Found it - KSFY-DT is channel 29.

http://www.northpine.com/broadcast/sd/tv.html

Good. Glad you found it.

Did anyone notice during the FL St/Miami game MON Night that KSFY put a weather bug message over the top of the HD pic. Upper RH corner, and very discrete. In time for MNF.. alright. Bug said to tune to analog channel for weather alerts. Bug was there during local commericals also.

I plan to email them as this is a great way to do it. I also plan to email KELO, as they had CSI in non-HD mode with weather alerts along the bottom..... like always. KELO needs to step up to the plate on these things.

Yes, I noticed the bug too. Certainly better than losing the HD feed. I did turn over to the analog feed a few time and there was no weather messages, even though the HD bug was up. Sort of annoying in this case as it partially covered the football clock and scoreboard.

Right,

KSFY took away the alert on analog later in the game, but left the bug up on HD. I agree about the clock and the downs. I kept switching back and forth at the end of the game to see how much time was left. Did not have time to do any emailing today to the stations, but may try tonight.

Really do not understand the rhyme or reason for alerts on the screen any way as SF got hammered after midnight so why take away the alerts at 10:00. I suppose it is linked electronically to the NWS some how.

KELO-DT 11.1 Low power?

Anyone else experiencing what seems to be low power from KELO-DT this afternoon - both 11.1 and 11.2?

This is usually my strongest local signal, but now is unwatchable while KSFY-DT and KDLT-DT (13.1 and 46.1) seem just fine.

I didn't notice that. Right now (8:30) KSFY-DT seems to be at really low power, but KELO-DT
and KDLT-DT are just fine.

This evening at about 9:30 when I checked it again, KELO-DT seems back to normal power. Maybe it was just my setup and not a transmitter power issue?

Found KDLT HD in the Midco Cable lineup! Now with all the current local HD channels now available on cable...I can retire the rabbit ears!

What has happened to KDLT's high-def signal? I get a strong digital signal, but not in HD - for at least a couple of days now.

Any idea what's going on?

I called the KDLT newsroom tonight about the HD signal. The kid there said they haven't had HD since Saturday when they got struck by lightning. No word on when it will be fixed.

Just got my new Sony HD set and new antenna setup outside. I live on the north side of Sioux City and am able to get all of the local stations, as well as some Sioux Falls stations in HD. The problem I am having, like I see others have had is that I get a great picture on KPTH DT 44.1, but no sound. I am using the tuner on my Sony, and get sound on all other stations, and even KPTH SD chan 44. I have went through all of the settings that I can see that might make a difference, but have had no luck and I am starting to get pretty ticked off since about 70% of the shows we watch on local stations are on FOX. Anyone found a way that works to get sound? Anyone from KPTH out there willing to offer any feedback? IMO, it seems like KPTH could care less about their customers as I too have emailed them with some basic questions in the past, and have yet to get any sort of reply from them. Pretty sad IMO as FOX has great programs!!

*EDIT* Never mind... LOL I hit the Guide button on my remote by accident, this brings up a channel guide as well as a section called Alternate Audio. If I select 2. English or 3. English I get sound, if I leave it on the default of 1. English I get nothing. What a crazy place to locate this setting. I hope that KPTH makes the changes needed so that their sound works with the standar settings just like everyone else does. Hope this helps others with new Sony Grand WEGA TV's out.


--

Anthony

I checked out the Tonight Show overnight, it was (again) in HD. Looks like they have their problem fixed.

Yeah...I noticed KDLT HD was back also. Is anyone getting 5.1 though? The front 3 channels are all that are lit up on my receiver anymore during NBC primetime. It used to be 5.1.

My stereo receiver says it's 5.1.

But the "standard" sound (non 5.1) sounds wrong - like everything was recorded in a closet. The 5.1 sounds ok, but I don't know if I am getting anything thru the rear speakers.

SNL will be in HD on Saturday - let's hope they have everything tuned up by then.

My receiver was back to showing 5.1 for KDLT HD. It still doesn't sound right at all though.

The last few days I can not seem to get KTIV's DT signal. I can get all of the others, and even KDLT DT out of Sioux Falls. I don't know if it's just the signal or what, but there were days when the weather was a little bad and I would loose the KTIV signal but KDLT would be clear as day.

I do agree with Husker though, the sound is messed up. Most of the sound is coming out of only the left front and left rear speakers...

If Dave from KTIV is still reading this, hopefully he can post some info on what's up with KTIV's DT signal.

I received the following email from Dave Madsen:

Sorry, everybody. KTIV-DT is off the air while we try to determine what the problem is with the transmission. It may be a day or two before we're back up an operating. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Dave Madsen
Station Manager
KTIV-TV, KTIV-DT, KXWB-TV
email: dmadsen@ktiv.com
Phone: 712-239-4100, ext. 201

I received this on October 4

I received the following email from Dave Madsen:

Sorry, everybody. KTIV-DT is off the air while we try to determine what the problem is with the transmission. It may be a day or two before we're back up an operating. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Dave Madsen
Station Manager
KTIV-TV, KTIV-DT, KXWB-TV
Phone: 712-239-4100, ext. 201

I received this on October 4

Thanks for the info Bill. Hopefully they get things worked out as it's pretty sad that when we get a small storm I can't get KTIV DT from a tower about 15 miles away but I can get a close to perfect signal from KDLT DT which has a tower that is something like 80 miles away lol.

Does anyone here know when KPTH plans on offering a HD signal here in Sioux City? About 80% of the local shows I watch are on FOX and it would be great to be able to watch them in HD.

I have tired emailing them several times, but never get any kind of reply, which is really starting to tick me off. It reflects very poorly on a business in my mind when they refuse to send you any sort of reply to your questions. Maybe someone from KPTH reads this forum and can offer some input here...


Thanks,

KTIV update Dave Madsen email received 10/11/05

Sorry, all...KTIV-DT is off the air. We discovered some problems in the system and we're working to get it corrected. The issues appear to be with some of the equipment that is mounted up on our tower, so it requires a special climbing crew and replacement parts to get it fixed. Of course, weather affects the ability of the climbing crew to do their work, so it may be several days before we are back on the air.

Dave Madsen
Station Manager
KTIV-TV, KTIV-DT, KXWB-TV
email: dmadsen@ktiv.com
Phone: 712-239-4100, ext. 201

I am currently using a terk over the dish antenna and I only get KELO and KDLT every now and then. I live in the southeast part of town around 26th and Sycamore. Orginally I tested the Dish Network 6000 (Temp setup) with the OTA module and my signal strength was great, but after I ran the wire about 50 feet with 2 splices my signal is horrible. Would rabbit ears work better? Any thoughts and suggestions are more than welcome.

Thanks in advance

I am currently using a terk over the dish antenna and I only get KELO and KDLT every now and then. I live in the southeast part of town around 26th and Sycamore. Orginally I tested the Dish Network 6000 (Temp setup) with the OTA module and my signal strength was great, but after I ran the wire about 50 feet with 2 splices my signal is horrible. Would rabbit ears work better? Any thoughts and suggestions are more than welcome.

Thanks in advance

Your biggest problem, owning anything with the name of terk. If you gotta set of ears laying around the house, I would try that. KELO, KSFY, and KDLT should come in clear as a bell with any kind of wire as you are really close to the tower.~ColAvsFan

I recently moved to Sioux Falls and acquired a DirecTV HD reciever and an over the air antenna for local HD broadcasts. I am able to get KDLT, KELO and KSFY in HD, but I am not able to receive KTTW. I live in town (2 blocks east of Minnesota, a few blocks south of 26th) and I am getting increasingly frustrated by my inability to get FOX in HD while living in town.

I am a total newbie and purchased a one piece "high definition amplified outdoor antenna" at Radio Shack. Would I find more success with a boom antenna with multiple elements, or am I out of luck regardless of what I do until June 2006 when KTTW upgrades their HD broadcasting capabilities?

Thanks in advance.

We're able to get KTTW at work with a directional antenna in the NW corner of Sioux Falls, up by SE Tech. So I'm surprised you can't get it in central Sioux Falls- is your line of sight to the S blocked by something?

That being said, at home in Brandon I don't have a prayer of getting KTTW. For that I'll have to wait until next year when they (hopefully) upgrade their transmitter.

I recently moved to Sioux Falls and acquired a DirecTV HD reciever and an over the air antenna for local HD broadcasts. I am able to get KDLT, KELO and KSFY in HD, but I am not able to receive KTTW. I live in town (2 blocks east of Minnesota, a few blocks south of 26th) and I am getting increasingly frustrated by my inability to get FOX in HD while living in town.

I am a total newbie and purchased a one piece "high definition amplified outdoor antenna" at Radio Shack. Would I find more success with a boom antenna with multiple elements, or am I out of luck regardless of what I do until June 2006 when KTTW upgrades their HD broadcasting capabilities?

Thanks in advance.


Remember that FOX is on VHF 7 and really low signal so that RS omni-direction antennae may not do the job. Also if you aren't above the trees, you may have a hard time getting a signal because of your line of sight.

Oh, Mendu, looks like you got in before me with the same thought. I have just one tree in my way towards FOX and this summer the signal was bad and as the leaves fall, my signal gets better every day.

I have the 40" boom, 17 element RS antennae that I am not using at present. PM me if you would want to try that pointed right at FOX. I believe I could get a signal with it last winter. But I was direct wired to a reciever, no splitters.

I am currently using a terk over the dish antenna and I only get KELO and KDLT every now and then. I live in the southeast part of town around 26th and Sycamore. Orginally I tested the Dish Network 6000 (Temp setup) with the OTA module and my signal strength was great, but after I ran the wire about 50 feet with 2 splices my signal is horrible. Would rabbit ears work better? Any thoughts and suggestions are more than welcome.

Thanks in advance
Might check your splices first to make sure there is not problem there. Not sure if an signal amplifier would help if your splices are OK. Here is an amplifier I used that Best Buy has. If it did not work, you could probably return it. I'm using it to boost channels 114-121-124 though my whole house system so I can watch D* sat on on my cable connections. My signal went from extremely weak to great.

RCA Digital Bidirectional RF Amplifier - Model: DT100M

The TERK dish antennaes are very sensitive to orentation also. I had one years ago and would have to rotate it to different positions on my dish to get each channel clear. So you end up with a compromise of signal strength with it.

I'd try rabbit ears if you got them, as KELO, KSFY, KDLT, PBS HD and WB-SD should all come in pretty good where you are. Might have to try a boom antennae for FOX though.

Remember that FOX is on VHF 7 and really low signal so that RS omni-direction antennae may not do the job. Also if you aren't above the trees, you may have a hard time getting a signal because of your line of sight.

Oh, Mendu, looks like you got in before me with the same thought. I have just one tree in my way towards FOX and this summer the signal was bad and as the leaves fall, my signal gets better every day.

I have the 40" boom, 17 element RS antennae that I am not using at present. PM me if you would want to try that pointed right at FOX. I believe I could get a signal with it last winter. But I was direct wired to a reciever, no splitters.

Thanks for the offer of the antenna. I may take you up on it. We are situated at a low point and we are surrounded by towering trees, but I would be willing to try a different antenna. The trees are such an issue that they prevent me from getting local channels through DirecTV because that area of the sky is obstructed. I just may be out of luck until KTTW upgrades the signal.

email from Dave Madsen KTIV
1) We've just been informed from NBC that when there is a problem with severe weather at the main network transmit site in New York, they switch to a transmit site in Burbank...but the Burbank site doesn't have HD facilities. So, if you were wondering why there wasn't an HD signal recently, that MAY have been the problem.

2) Sometime during the day on Wednesday, we are going to turn off KTIV-DT for some additional testing. It will probably last 4-5 hours, but we think we can get it done during the day so it doesn't affect Wednesday night's HD programming.

3) Again a reminder...if you're having difficulty with the KTIV-DT signal, please contact our Chief Engineer, Dick Herr. He needs to hear from you the specifics of the kind of problems you're having. Dick's email is rherr@ktiv.com, or you can call him at 239-4100, ext. 206.

Dave

Dave Madsen
Station Manager
KTIV-TV, KTIV-DT, KXWB-TV
email: dmadsen@ktiv.com
Phone: 712-239-4100, ext. 201