ABC Needs to 86 KATV as Little Rock's ABC Affiliate!

Totally agree...

But will it happen?

Over on the WTFDA (http://www.wtfda.org) list, someone posted a link to a Daily Telegraph article on the first town in the UK to switch off analog TV.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml;jsessionid=1BY1KBXNQ2MARQFIQMFSFF4AVCBQ0IV0?xml=/money/2007/10/14/ccdigi114.xml

The UK is doing this in stages with final analog OTA broadacasts ending in 2012.

Once again, today's events proves Little Rock television is a race to the bottom.

I wasn't home today to catch 7-1's aping of KWBF (verified listings via Titan TV) but its getting *way* over the top. KATV has *long* Jumped The Shark. All they need is to air Shepard's Chapel instead of The View, and stretch-o-vision on SD programming. Their "total transformation" to a crack-whore broadcaster will be complete.

ABC Needs to 86 KATV as Little Rock's ABC Affiliate!

Here is an idea. KATV could turn into a Super Station and go independent like WGN. The call letters could be ATV and stand for Advertising Television. That way they could run all of those "paid programming" things that they wanted to without any network requirement to run any ABC network shows at all.

Like an earlier poster, I wonder when their digital quality will come up to KLRT's.

What I can't figure out, is why we can't pick up KAIT from Jonesboro here in LR. I've driven the route many times, and its FLAT all the way up there. The distance isn't that unreasonable, and the terrain should be playing in our favor for tropo...yet I never get a peep out of them. Anyone else pick em up besides those up in that area?

Here is an idea. KATV could turn into a Super Station and go independent like WGN. The call letters could be ATV and stand for Advertising Television. That way they could run all of those "paid programming" things that they wanted to without any network requirement to run any ABC network shows at all.

Like an earlier poster, I wonder when their digital quality will come up to KLRT's.

WGN is actually the Chicago CW affiliate. But the national feed substitutes CW programming with syndicated fare and old movies. Also the station's morning newscast cannot be distributed nationwide due to some "feature" segments falling under "syndex" rules. KWGN channel 2 in Denver is WGN's sister station and is available on E* (SD only) and shows CW programming and local morning news.

I know of 2 old-line VHF stations that have gone indie. One is in Jacksonville, FL WJXT (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WJXT) channel 4 (42 digital) and in Phoenix, AZ KTVK (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KTVK) channel 3 analog (which I have logged via E-skip several times) (24 digital). KATV would still be successful as an Indie and still be able to carry LFS, Razorback basketball, and informercials. But, KATV wants their cake and eat it too and as a result holds Little Rock ABC HDTV viewers hostage except for D* "movers".

KATV's SD picture quality on digital is worst of the Big Four affiliates, and only slightly better than the Equity cluster. Lack of 5.1 audio for network programming is another handicap. I wonder if the Tulsa ABC station (KTUL-DT RF10 8-n) is as bad as KATV as programming/HDTV issues go.

What I can't figure out, is why we can't pick up KAIT from Jonesboro here in LR. I've driven the route many times, and its FLAT all the way up there. The distance isn't that unreasonable, and the terrain should be playing in our favor for tropo...yet I never get a peep out of them. Anyone else pick em up besides those up in that area?

I get them on analog occasionally Dave. The digital is a bit tougher since its VHF and my antenna (the small 4 element VHF log-peri) is a bit lacking for high gain. It doesn't help that KETG blasts away on channel 9 analog. Its an easier time getting KETJ-19 analog, KVTJ-48 analog, although sometimes KETJ-DT (20) will drift in down here. UHF rocks for tropo DX and 24/7 HDTV.

That's the problem...there is a lptv station running a couple watts downtown on channel 9, probably blocking the digital, but don't get 8 analog either, but admittantly, haven't rotated the vhf antenna that direction very often. I really need about a 80' tower to clear the surrounding ridges.

What I can't figure out, is why we can't pick up KAIT from Jonesboro here in LR. I've driven the route many times, and its FLAT all the way up there. The distance isn't that unreasonable, and the terrain should be playing in our favor for tropo...yet I never get a peep out of them. Anyone else pick em up besides those up in that area?

As far as I can tell, according to their radiation pattern, they are beaming SE (toward Memphis) from their transmitter location which is NE of Egypt, AR. Null on the N side, the coverage is to Paragould on the NE edge and around to Newport on the SW edge of the pattern. The signal apparently does not get any closer to LR than Newport on a regular basis. I may be wrong but this could explain why even though the terrain is flat, the pattern does not lend itself to reception in the LR area.

New HD channels on D*. FSSW HD , TOON HD, HGTV HD 229-1, FX HD, Fox Business Network HD, Speed HD, Fuel HD. I think thats it. Nice to see that we didn't have to wait till Wednesday.

That's nice to know. Each week D* is getting closer to that 100+ HD channel promise by the end of the year. Looks like they are ahead of schedule.

Just more good reasons not to have to watch local stations with their network's same ol, same ol programming.

Now I must go and select my new HD channels and de-select the SD channels.

Thanks for the heads up.

Wow, thanks Steveken. I've been so busy with the playoffs and football, I haven't even had time to watch any of em !

Turns out we have National Geographic HD as well. Don't guess I knew about that. Just stumbled upon it.

Had to buy an external drive to store all this stuff... Sure beats the TIVO days off upgrading hard drives...

Go to channel 77. There, they list all the new HD channels when they appear.

As far as I can tell, according to their radiation pattern, they are beaming SE (toward Memphis) from their transmitter location which is NE of Egypt, AR. Null on the N side, the coverage is to Paragould on the NE edge and around to Newport on the SW edge of the pattern. The signal apparently does not get any closer to LR than Newport on a regular basis. I may be wrong but this could explain why even though the terrain is flat, the pattern does not lend itself to reception in the LR area.

I think the radiation pattern is a little off. I live in Batesville and you can get channel 8 with rabbit ears; both analog & digital. I cannot confirm exactly how far they reach toward Little Rock but they must get down to Searcy because it is a reporting station for their weather as well as Mountain Home to the Northwest, West Plains & Poplar Bluff in MO. They also have these cities and counties in their weather warning maps. The station does good with ABC programming but the news is a little weak. Mostly due to entry level talent. Check out there website at www.kait8.com

Anyone in beebe or cabot with a rotor that can give me a signal report on kAIT dt ch9???

Too many channel 9s in this state.

I think the radiation pattern is a little off. I live in Batesville and you can get channel 8 with rabbit ears; both analog & digital. I cannot confirm exactly how far they reach toward Little Rock but they must get down to Searcy because it is a reporting station for their weather as well as Mountain Home to the Northwest, West Plains & Poplar Bluff in MO. They also have these cities and counties in their weather warning maps. The station does good with ABC programming but the news is a little weak. Mostly due to entry level talent. Check out there website at www.kait8.com

Their website had no mention of the actual RF channel (9), but listed the now defunct Tube Music Network (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tube_Music_Network) (Arkansas's only in-state affiliate) and the "switchover" page was cut and pasted from WAFB. I've not logged KAIT-DT since the The Tube went belly up so one would think KAIT would update the website, but of course not.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic: The first town in the UK began shutting down analog TV (http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/organgrinder/2007/10/whitehaven_switchover_right_he.html) this morning about 12 hours ago our time.

I accidentally deleted episode 2 of "The War" from my dvr before I could get it recorded to dvd, so I was much relieved when I discovered it was coming on last night on AETN 2-2. I plugged in my indoor vhf antenna, but to my chagrin the reception was much worse than it was when I recorded the series the first time. Desperate, I decided to try hooking up my indoor antenna outside just for the evening to see if my reception would improve. Fortunately, the signal strength jumped 10 points, the signal was rock solid, and I was able to record the show with no problems. So is there such a thing as "outdoor rabit ears" that I could just lay on the roof and plug in to my setup? That's all it would really take, and I have no desire to put up a big vhf antenna. As for hooking up an additional antenna, I currently have my outdoor uhf antenna and my sat dish diplexed together. If I add an additional antenna, how do I add it without loosing too much signal strength?

You can make a dipole out of wires, and feed that into a vhf hi/lo combiner on the low side, then your current antenna into th high side, and the output into your diplexer.

You can make a dipole out of wires, and feed that into a vhf hi/lo combiner on the low side, then your current antenna into th high side, and the output into your diplexer.

Any place on the net that might show me how to do that? I'm a civil engineer, so this sort of thing is all sparks and magic to me.

Any place on the net that might show me how to do that? I'm a civil engineer, so this sort of thing is all sparks and magic to me.http://kyes.com/antenna/rabbitear.html

There is currently a severe weather crawl along the bottom of the screen during David Letterman in HD on KTHV-DT. Is this the first HD weather overlay sighting in Little Rock?

The length of the wire would be 469/freq in MHz (75 for channel 5 I believe). Split in the resultant length wire in the middle. Attach the center conductor of your coax to one wire, the shield to the other wire. Tape or staple the wire to a nonmetalic surface with the wires sideways to the station,horizontal with the ground, and route the coax to the tv, adding a f-connector to the tv end.

Its not on WCBS :)

There is currently a severe weather crawl along the bottom of the screen during David Letterman in HD on KTHV-DT. Is this the first HD weather overlay sighting in Little Rock?

Here is a pic:

92227

Has 7-1 and 7-2 gone off the air? I was trying to do a little realignment of my antenna in here to see if I could get 4-1 better, but then all the sudden 7-1 went away and I can't get it back to save my life. It used to be about the easiest for me to get. I just want to make sure it wasn't me.

Okay, wasn't just me. I didn't touch the living room antenna and it was out too. While I was out there it came back up.

7-1 and 7-2 transmitter are off after storm earlier, and I can't get 11-1 or 11-2 now either...like their STL went down to their digital transmitter. So much for live radar during storms eh? LR TV sux.

At 11:58 KTHV analog was off the air as was KTHV-DT. No signal from KATV-DT. KARK-DT is off and on.

KTHV analog seems to be sitting in black. Must be doing wonders for the finals.

Just to be fair...Directv went out as well here...Just had a 50 mph wind gust front come through. Power is going nuts as trees blow into the lines. Even UHF is breaking up from lightning strikes...The ones that are left on that is.

I think that KLRT-DT was the only station that did not go off.

Wouldn't you know it...Power went out and my generator's gas can was used for someones vehicle without me being told, so no gas for the generator either...Night guys...must be bed time :)

Wow, that was one hell of a storm that went through. I looked at the signal strengths on the sats and of course had 0's on the 103(b), but even 101 was at low 50's or so. Usually up in the mid to high 90's. Now everythings back up to where it goes. I am just impressed that as quick of a storm as that was it was that thick of a layer.

Well, lost my HR20...doesnt recognize 103b exists, only has every other transponder on 101, nothing on 119, and all 3 on 110 (on tuner 1). H20 working perfect, so its not the dish alignment. Oh well...It was fun while it lasted.

obuengineer,
Try using old fashioned flat 300 ohm twin lead antenna wire.
http://i23.tinypic.com/o08pzp.jpg

I came up with 197" for the total length of the horizontal wire ("D" + "D" in the diagram above) for channel 5, but my calculations could be wrong. That's pretty long and yet another reason VHF sucks for digital TV. Who wants an antenna that big in the house or on the roof?

Solder the leads as shown above. The antenna should be stretched out fully and aimed perpendicular to the direction of the station transmitter. You can attach it to the wall or in the attic. If your house has foil backed insulation, you'll need to put it outside. It can also be attached to pvc pipe:
http://i21.tinypic.com/2hog010.jpg

There is currently a severe weather crawl along the bottom of the screen during David Letterman in HD on KTHV-DT. Is this the first HD weather overlay sighting in Little Rock?

Interesting, thanks to the pic, THV was the first in town to broadcast a locally produced, non-network HD program, so it makes sense they would be the first to figure out the how to overlay graphics. Oh, well, it was nice while it lasted. Hopefully they won't share, so it will take a while for the others to figure it out.

Well, lost my HR20...doesnt recognize 103b exists, only has every other transponder on 101, nothing on 119, and all 3 on 110 (on tuner 1). H20 working perfect, so its not the dish alignment. Oh well...It was fun while it lasted.

How did you lose it? Was there a lightning strike or something? Just sounds funny that you would lose one, but not more than that. Guess thats just the PFM nature of electricity.

Unfortunatly an STL dish that was supposed to be aimed eastward turned northward after the storms came through. Which put both channels off the air. I wish it had only been a power problem. We were able to use another microwave relay to put one channel on the air temporarily until we could climb the tower and get the antenna aimed back correctly. We finally got back on the main link around 3:40 or so. It was a fun night!

Ill bet it was. One word... FIBER :)

On the HR20, I discovered the bbc on tuner one fried. Swapped it with the bbc from tuner 2 and now I have tuner 1 and OTA. Gonna take the bbc off the H20 and put it on the HR20 and see if I can get both tuners working. I can put up with just the original 3 sats on the H20 til I can get a replacement. Yea, lightning hit a block away and took out the entire Levy districts power for 4 hours.

Wow, low quality HD on FOX again tonight. Blurry faces of the network people, grainy looking scenes that aren't brightly lit, basically very crappy 720p. Oh well, still far better than SD.

Looks pretty good here...Maybe they had a 480i widescreen camera on the studio... I've also occasionally had MY receiver set to 480i from copying to dvd and forgot to set it back to HD.

Well, lost my HR20...doesnt recognize 103b exists, only has every other transponder on 101, nothing on 119, and all 3 on 110 (on tuner 1). H20 working perfect, so its not the dish alignment. Oh well...It was fun while it lasted.Time to call them for a replacement. Don't mention lightning, of course.

Yea... Wonder how long a UPS will run a HR20, a LCD monitor that has a 360 watt max draw, and a 100watt * 5 channel amp? I looked a couple weeks ago and got confused by their rating (VA) vs Watts. I'm assuming the amp won't really draw much power at normal volume, the tv is gonna be the whole 360 watts, and I don't know how much the HR20 with an external Esata will use... Anyone want to risk a guess? 1200 VA? 900 watts do it? Want it to run at least 15 minutes, give me time to go out and fire up the generator.

Well, I know one way to find out. ;)

Hey, Alison, has DirecTV contacted you guys recently about anything related to their carrying KTHV HD once D11 is launched? Also, has there been any indications from DirecTV about carrying 11-2?

And anyone else that works at local stations that lurks in the shadows in this forum, have you guys had any contact from DirecTV about getting your HD signals up on D11 when it launches?

We were supposed to be on the next list last winter. D10 has plenty of spot beams, some of which won't work on the west coast, so I was hoping they might reallocate on of those spots to us...wishful thinking I know.

Does D* carry anyones subchannels? I haven't heard of any. I'd be happy if they added KAIT. Even happier if they dropped this stupid law and let us buy a sub to Memphis.

D* usually only carries local stations' main HD channel. Not sub channels. I heard that's one of the reasons they're not carrying PBS-HD anywhere. According to another forum, PBS wants D* to carry ALL their silly sub channels in every market where they carry the HD subchannel.

Dave,
"How long will a UPS will run the equipment you listed?" Not long at all. Better to connect only the D* DVR and (maybe) the TV. All HR20s should be on a UPS.

Hey, Alison, has DirecTV contacted you guys recently about anything related to their carrying KTHV HD once D11 is launched? Also, has there been any indications from DirecTV about carrying 11-2?

And anyone else that works at local stations that lurks in the shadows in this forum, have you guys had any contact from DirecTV about getting your HD signals up on D11 when it launches?

Not a word from DirecTV or Dish. The only thing that is going on currently in that area is AT&T is hooking up fiber to feed out our HD signal for their IPTV build out.

I'm gonna see if I can find one of those boxes you plug a device into and it reads out the devices wattage.

I'm gonna see if I can find one of those boxes you plug a device into and it reads out the devices wattage.

Its called "Kill-A-Watt". http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/travelpower/7657/

Thanks...hope someone local carries them...

Isn't thinkgeek good enough? I mean, you order it, they send it to you real fast, there is nothing to worry about.

Yea, that would be great if I had an internet connection here, but ordering items of my pda is a crap shoot.

FWIW, the H20 and HR20/w 750gb Esata and a 5 lnb dish draws 84 watts. Add it ALL my home theatre components all on and running, I'm using 460 watts, so I bought a 865 watt UPS and have 12 minutes using 50 per cent draw.

Steveken, the current HR20 ce tonight is stable and almost ready for release if you want to grab it.

Does it do anything to fix the few missed recordings that happen? I haven't had too many happen, just my sons Barney and Blues Clues occasionally. We stopped recording those though and went with Diego and Mickey Mouse, so it hasn't happened in a few days. I will look at the list and see what it says is included in there I guess. I was wondering, once they get the VOD working, where does it get the space for that? Does it just take your whole available space and reduce it by whatever amount you record?

Just wondering when the wide range of audio levels on KTHV-DT will be corrected. There is a problem.

Steveken, the current HR20 ce tonight is stable and almost ready for release if you want to grab it.

Just wondering, on the VOD, do they have any kids shows like what I mentioned in the other post? And, on the OTA signal strength screen, have they fixed it yet where it actually shows 100% if you have a 100% signal? Or is it still maxing out at 77%? This is one thing that has irritated me because I want to know how strong my sig is, but I can't cause it maxes at 77.

Oh, what the hell. While we're off topic:



DirecTV HD Channels
Revised 10/15/07
* Networks stretch some 4:3 programs to 16:9
DirecTV only passes along what they get from the networks.

74 Universal HD
76 HD Theater
79 HDNet
78 HDNet Movies
80 WCBS-HD
82 WNBC-HD
86 WABC-HD
88 WNYW-HD FOX
202 CNN HD
206 ESPN HD
209 ESPN2 HD
212 NFL HD
220 Big Ten HD
229-1 HGTV HD*
231-1 Food Network HD*
242 USA HD
244 Sci-Fi HD
245 TNT HD*
247 TBS HD*
248 FX HD
255 MGM HD
265 A & E HD*
267 Smithsonian HD
269 History HD*
273 Bravo HD
276 NGC HD
278 Discovery HD*
280 TLC HD*
282 Animal Planet HD*
284 Science Ch HD*
296 Cartoon Network HD
332 MHD Music HD
355 CNBC HD+
359 Fox Business HD
362 Weather Ch HD
604 Versus / Golf Ch HD
607 Speed HD
612 Fuel HD
643 Fox Sports SW HD

LR HD LOCALS will be available after launch of D11 satellite.

Not a word from DirecTV or Dish. The only thing that is going on currently in that area is AT&T is hooking up fiber to feed out our HD signal for their IPTV build out.

Is there any sources for information about this build out AT&T is doing? More specifically, for our area. I had heard of it before, but I had no idea it was being worked on now. Any information I can get and sources to keep up to date on it would be of great use.

Is there any sources for information about this build out AT&T is doing? More specifically, for our area. I had heard of it before, but I had no idea it was being worked on now. Any information I can get and sources to keep up to date on it would be of great use.

You will probably get more accurate info on local HD availability on this site. Looks like D* will be first again . . .

http://forums.directv.com/pe/action/forums/defaultview?msgBoardID=10100105

You will probably get more accurate info on local HD availability on this site. Looks like D* will be first again . . .

http://forums.directv.com/pe/action/forums/defaultview?msgBoardID=10100105

Well, since that is a directv forum, I doubt I will get any useful information at all as far as IPTV rollout is concerned.

Steveken...77 percent is an issue with the receiver. I have never had that problem with any national or CE release. Doyou have the -700 or -100?

VOD kids shows: pages and pages..Lots of Angelina episodes, Babar episodes,Barney,Blues Clues, Grimm Fairy tales,I could go on, but I'm on page 30 and only up to the L's...

Sorry to not answer your question but it APPEARS VOD gets downloaded to the reserved hard drive space. Deleting 4 hrs of VOD's didn't change my per cent of space available at all.

Interesting, thanks to the pic, THV was the first in town to broadcast a locally produced, non-network HD program, so it makes sense they would be the first to figure out the how to overlay graphics. Oh, well, it was nice while it lasted. Hopefully they won't share, so it will take a while for the others to figure it out.

I agree.. very interesting.

Maybe they will be the first to have a HD newscast?

Steveken...77 percent is an issue with the receiver. I have never had that problem with any national or CE release. Doyou have the -700 or -100?

VOD kids shows: pages and pages..Lots of Angelina episodes, Babar episodes,Barney,Blues Clues, Grimm Fairy tales,I could go on, but I'm on page 30 and only up to the L's...

700. And to me, thats an issue with the software on the receiver. The showing of any strength like that is the programming interpreting the signal and giving a strength reading. I am 99.9999% sure that its a bug and can be fixed through a software update. Well, I say to me because of all the programming I have done, I know thats something that I have come across before when you have something wrong in the code. Its like not having the right range in the variable or something. I'm fairly sure that its easy to fix if they can find it.

Thanks for the info on the kids VOD stuff. Might be able to talk the wife into letting me do the CE tonight if thats the case.

Well, it should fix the 77 percent thing too, cuz I have the -700 and get 100 percent on all but a couple locals. BTW, no missed recordings with this release for me, and none being reported on the CE thread.

CHANNEL 4-1 employee around? How about adding NBC weather to 4-2? Heard you guys have a good weather channel available to you your your subchannels.

davenlr,
If KARK's not doing subchannels yet, leave well enough alone. Anyway, if they did carry NBC Weather+ (http://www.weatherplus.com/), it would be a nexstar decision. And I don't think they're carrying NBCW+ on any of their NBC affiliates. In NWA, Nexstar uses sub channels as cheap pseudo-translator stations. The NBC station carries the FOX station in SD and vice versa. They do that up here because the towers are in different counties and the FOX transmitter doesn't reach very far.

Strangely, neither of the Nexstar managed Springfield stations (KSFX FOX & KOLR CBS) do sub channels at all. And the picture quality is outstanding.

Sorry to not answer your question but it APPEARS VOD gets downloaded to the reserved hard drive space. This is correct.
VODs are stored where "Showcase" programming is stored. That part of the HD cannot be utilized for regular DVR'd programs.

...Thanks for the info on the kids VOD stuff. Might be able to talk the wife into letting me do the CE tonight if thats the case.Steveken,
I did the CE last night and it fixed a problem I was having with sluggish/weak remote response. If you don't like the CE, just repeat the RBR+02468 the next day, to revert back to the previously downloaded software. I've done this before and never had a problem.

FWIW, my HR20-700 shows 100% signal strength on all OTA (antenna) locals, except a low power religious station. If tonight's DL doesn't help, it could be an antenna or cabling problem.

Well, it should fix the 77 percent thing too, cuz I have the -700 and get 100 percent on all but a couple locals. BTW, no missed recordings with this release for me, and none being reported on the CE thread.

CHANNEL 4-1 employee around? How about adding NBC weather to 4-2? Heard you guys have a good weather channel available to you your your subchannels.

Yeah, that's all we need is another .2 weather channel that they can sell ads on.

KLRT and KARK are leading in video quality by not adding a sub.

Yep, gotta go with arxaw and BelElDel here, NBC Weather+ may be the best thing since sliced bread, but I'd rather 4 just stay away from sub-channels.

I third that motion to keep KARK-DT subchannel free. The station's pristine PQ is one of its strong suits despite the less than stellar ownership. Plus preemptions are rare (save for that infamous Book of Daniel fiasco).

I've seen Weather Plus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC_Weather_Plus) during numerous DX sessions (via WMC-DT, KYTV-DT, KXAS-DT). For those not familar, its a mix of local segments, mixed in with national forecasts. Its in *some* ways what the original Weather Channel was until recently.

You guys really think CSI on KTHV has bad PQ? I personally cant tell any difference between it and KARK's PQ on Heroes... Using a 1080p 48"... Maybe you guys have bigger monitors, or my eyes are bad... I honestly can't see any PQ difference from 1 subchannel.

It's not so much in the network HD and SD progams, but where KTHV-DT and KATV-DT suffer is in the local pq. While KARK and KLRT's studio shots during local news and other programs are clear and crisp, KTHV and KATV's are lower in resolution and are degraded. As I have said before and IMO, KLRT was, and is, ahead of anyone in this market or probably the state in the digital transmission game from studio to transmitter since day one.

I would like to see the ratings numbers on who watches the subs.

Well, I watch thv2 in the morning for a quick news/wx update without all the bs the "morning" shows have. Don't watch 7's. Occasionally watch 42-2.

So you are saying the PQ on network shows are equivilent between KARK and KTHV but their local shows suffer from the digital subchannel? Maybe KARK just has better cameras. KLRT is only 720p. I watched it when they ran both KASN and KLRT as a subchannel during an ice storm when 16-1's antenna got damaged and it didn't look any worse. Maybe an engineer could pop in and tell us the bitrate and PQ degredation actually caused by running a low bitrate subchannel.

Well, I downloaded the new CE tonight. See the On Demand in the list, but it won't do anything when I click on it. I think I read somewhere how you have to wait a little while or something for it to work. What is this "trick play" I see them talking about on the CE stuff? And how do you do the "Remote Booking" stuff again?

Oh, and it didn't fix the signal meter strength part. Most of my channels still max out at 77% and don't budge further from there. Kinda weird. Just thought it would be nice to see how well the signal really was coming in.

That's gotta be a bug in the firmware. I've seen other reports of the 77 percent max, which is odd. If it was software, the ce should have fixed it.

DOD takes up to 24 hrs to populate the guide and you have to be authorized by D*'s server. Took me about 24 hrs.

Haven't tried remote booking, probably am option on their website.

You might report the 77 percent thing on the ce forum in case it is a software bug. Maybe the -700 used two different chipsets or something that can be fixed.

Oh, and trick play is just slang for the 30 second slip,ff, and Rew.
In case you didn't know it, you can left arrow on a guide to highlight that channel's number and call, and hit the info button for a "tivo" style program menu.

That's gotta be a bug in the firmware. I've seen other reports of the 77 percent max, which is odd. If it was software, the ce should have fixed it.

DOD takes up to 24 hrs to populate the guide and you have to be authorized by D*'s server. Took me about 24 hrs.

Haven't tried remote booking, probably am option on their website.

You might report the 77 percent thing on the ce forum in case it is a software bug. Maybe the -700 used two different chipsets or something that can be fixed.

How do you get authorized in D's servers? I didn't know I had to do that, just assumed it would work once I d/l'd it. I don't see anything about remote booking on the website. And the forums know about the 77% thing, but not everyone has it.


EDIT: Nevermind, patience is not a virtue I have sometimes. Apparently you get on the D* servers automatically now when you do it. At least thats what I read on DBSTalk. I went back in there and it goes to the screen now, but doesn't show anything yet. It will just be a while before it populates now. I did have it freeze up on me once when I went into that Active button area. I guess I did something it didn't like. I had to push the red button to get it back up.

Active is very slow, one report said it took 15 minutes to exit it, but I haven't been able to duplicate it. Probably depends what else is going on at the time.

Was there a fix for the 77 percent thing? I can't do searches on this pda or I would look myself.

nope

steveken, what is the signal strength for locals on your other receiver?

You'll usually get better answers about CE releases over at dbstalk.com

You guys really think CSI on KTHV has bad PQ? I personally cant tell any difference between it and KARK's PQ on Heroes... davenlr,
Try watching a football game or other high motion programming on a station w/ sub channels. PQ sucks - at least it does on the stations up here, viewed on a 52" monitor. Looks almost as good as, but sometimes worse than DVD quality. Too much blurriness and blockiness during lots of motion.

Viewing and recorded several DFW-area digitals. DX'd with Panasonic DVD-R w/ digital tuner, but programmed KERA-DT into the E* box. Wired Science on in HD without multicasting and on UHF.

Wished AETN would do this.....

arxaw quote: "Try watching a football game or other high motion programming on a station w/ sub channels. PQ sucks - at least it does on the stations up here, viewed on a 52" monitor. Looks almost as good as, but sometimes worse than DVD quality. Too much blurriness and blockiness during lots of motion."

Maybe some "professional broadcast engineer(s)" could give us their version of why.

You onviously haven't watched any NBC sports. KARK could triple its bandwidth and the PQ would still suck and be unwatchable. I have never seen so many macroblocks as I have on NBC sports NASCAR and Golf boadcasts. And its NBC because WNBC looks just as bad. I'll watch KTHV's football game up close today and see if I can see any PQ problems.

Haley: Got Texarkana this morning, but that was the only one...Was seeing lots of co-channel interference lines onn ch7 analog, and must hve been skip on channel 5 cuz PBS was going from its usual 70 reading here down to 0, and dropping out, then coming back up. Will be great when analog is shut down.

steveken, what is the signal strength for locals on your other receiver?

You'll usually get better answers about CE releases over at dbstalk.com

Its a software issue on the 700 only. Its something that will be fixed eventually. I just have to know that 77% strength doesn't mean 100%. In any case, I don't think anyone on any board is going to have any good answers, so I am not worried about it anymore.

And as far as CE releases, I know where to find answers for the stuff. I just figured I would ask Dave because he told me about it and evidently already had it running.

arxsaw quote: "Try watching a football game or other high motion programming on a station w/ sub channels. PQ sucks - at least it does on the stations up here, viewed on a 52" monitor. Looks almost as good as, but sometimes worse than DVD quality. Too much blurriness and blockiness during lots of motion."

Maybe some "professional broadcast engineer(s)" could give us their version of why.

It is due to the fact that we have 19.4Mbps to fit our entire signal into. When you are pushing multiple channels into that 19.4Mbps you are reducing the amount of bandwidth available to each of the channels. Some stations run a static MUX that uses preset amounts of the 19.4Mbps dedicated to each of the channels and other stations use a dynamic MUX that will release more of the bandwidth from the lesser channels to make up for the additional bandwidth the main channel needs during fast motion. How you choose to divide up bandwidth per channel is purely at the choosing of the station. If you have a sports feed that is coming from the network, depending on the resolution, it may need almost the entire 19.4Mbps to come through cleanly. If you are limiting the bandwidth available to the primary channel because a subchannel is being carried, then that is at least one reason you will see the blockiness in the picture. We experimented with our signals to see what the threshold was before we decided we had compromised the integrity of the picture. We made a decision at that time that we had x amount of bandwidth we would allocate to subchannels should the opportunity arise and still feel we were not shortchanging the viewer. Could that change in the future? Absolutely.

As for a question asked earlier about the amount of bandwidth the stations allocate for each channel. I would be surprised to see anyone answer that question. We keep that data close the the vest, kinda like the Colonel isn't telling anyone what the 11 secret spices are.

E

Its a software issue on the 700 only. Its something that will be fixed eventually. I just have to know that 77% strength doesn't mean 100%.I have the HR20-700 DVR and all my locals channels received with antenna show 100% signal strength, except one low power religious station.

I have the HR20-700 DVR and all my locals channels received with antenna show 100% signal strength, except one low power religious station.

And of course its always possible that, even though they are the same model number, they use different parts in the receiver.

For instance, they could have switched to a different version or vendor for the OTA portion of the receiver with slight differences between the two OTA receivers. This all could have happened in the time you got your HR20-700 and the time I got mine. This would be a prime example of why the software might need to be changed to accommodate the differences in retrieving such information as signal strength from such a device.

So, just because you have the "same receiver" as I do doesn't mean that just because yours shows 100% that mine should as well. Its not always as black and white as a cable or an antenna.

It is due to the fact that we have 19.4Mbps to fit our entire signal into. When you are pushing multiple channels into that 19.4Mbps you are reducing the amount of bandwidth available to each of the channels. Some stations run a static MUX that uses preset amounts of the 19.4Mbps dedicated to each of the channels and other stations use a dynamic MUX that will release more of the bandwidth from the lesser channels to make up for the additional bandwidth the main channel needs during fast motion. How you choose to divide up bandwidth per channel is purely at the choosing of the station. If you have a sports feed that is coming from the network, depending on the resolution, it may need almost the entire 19.4Mbps to come through cleanly. If you are limiting the bandwidth available to the primary channel because a subchannel is being carried, then that is at least one reason you will see the blockiness in the picture. We experimented with our signals to see what the threshold was before we decided we had compromised the integrity of the picture. We made a decision at that time that we had x amount of bandwidth we would allocate to subchannels should the opportunity arise and still feel we were not shortchanging the viewer. Could that change in the future? Absolutely.

As for a question asked earlier about the amount of bandwidth the stations allocate for each channel. I would be surprised to see anyone answer that question. We keep that data close the the vest, kinda like the Colonel isn't telling anyone what the 11 secret spices are.

E

Well, from what I gather from your layman's explaination, apparently it does not matter how much bandwidth allocated to a sub channel, any will compromise the resolution of the main channel . . . right?

Why would the amount used be a secret (close to the vest) all one has to do is tune the channel to see the quality, or lack of.

Thanks for the answer.

I take it that you are not with KTHV. And, if not, I am glad that your station at least does not use the gray bars.

Well, from what I gather from your layman's explaination, apparently it does not matter how much bandwidth allocated to a sub channel, any will compromise the resolution of the main channel . . . right?

Why would the amount used be a secret (close to the vest) all one has to do is tune the channel to see the quality, or lack of.

Thanks for the answer.

I take it that you are not with KTHV. And, if not, I am glad that your station at least does not use the gray bars.

Depends...can I get a subchannel on KLRT and not cause a problem with the main network feed? Yes, it helps that the FOX network is 720p. We also got a subchannel on KASN without compromising the quality of the main channel. Granted a big help with this is the fact that we do not carry HD sports on KASN. KASN had been running at a reduced bitrate for testing purposes for over a year before we added VTV to the signal.

As for the bitrate per channel, there are programs you can run at home and see what bitrate the stations are allowing per channel. But I would be surprised if someone showed up from a station and started announcing what they were running.

Not with THV, as mentioned above I am with KLRT and KASN.

E

You onviously haven't watched any NBC sports. KARK could triple its bandwidth and the PQ would still suck and be unwatchable. I have never seen so many macroblocks as I have on NBC sports NASCAR and Golf boadcasts. And its NBC because WNBC looks just as bad. I'll watch KTHV's football game up close today and see if I can see any PQ problems.

Haley: Got Texarkana this morning, but that was the only one...Was seeing lots of co-channel interference lines onn ch7 analog, and must hve been skip on channel 5 cuz PBS was going from its usual 70 reading here down to 0, and dropping out, then coming back up. Will be great when analog is shut down.

I think part of the problem with PQ is that NBC is 1080i, which is half the frame rate of 720p. Why do you think ESPN broadcasts in 720p? a 60 fps picture is always going to be smoother than a 30 fps picture.

And of course its always possible that, even though they are the same model number, they use different parts in the receiver.

For instance, they could have switched to a different version or vendor for the OTA portion of the receiver with slight differences between the two OTA receivers. IIRC, all of the -700s use the same tuner chipsets. And the -100s use a different chipset. All -700s use the same software, and it is different from the -100s. I don't think there will be a SW update to fix your low OTA signal strength readings.

Depends...can I get a subchannel on KLRT and not cause a problem with the main network feed? Yes, it helps that the FOX network is 720p. We also got a subchannel on KASN without compromising the quality of the main channel. Granted a big help with this is the fact that we do not carry HD sports on KASN. KASN had been running at a reduced bitrate for testing purposes for over a year before we added VTV to the signal.

As for the bitrate per channel, there are programs you can run at home and see what bitrate the stations are allowing per channel. But I would be surprised if someone showed up from a station and started announcing what they were running.

Not with THV, as mentioned above I am with KLRT and KASN.

E

Thanks, again for your response to my question.

I have always said that KLRT-DT is, and always has been since day one, the leader in DT/HD quality among the LR stations.

What I gather from the engineering comments, and from the test I was able to observe when KLRT and KASN were both run on 38-1 and 38-2, it sounds as if KARK could run weather plus without degrading the main signal.

Wonder is NBC sports network feed is blocky? Can a station change from 1080i to 720p at the transmitter or are there major changes? If it was a matter of flipping a switch on the encoder, maybe they could switch to 720p for sports...and back to 1080i for regular programming... NASCAR has to be one sport that uses the most bandwidth...Fox, abc, and espn do great. TNT and NBC are horrible.

IIRC, all of the -700s use the same tuner chipsets. And the -100s use a different chipset. All -700s use the same software, and it is different from the -100s. I don't think there will be a SW update to fix your low OTA signal strength readings.

They may use the same tuner chipsets, but there is always the possibility that the chipset providers make upgrades on said chip designs. In fact, it happens ALL the time without the client that is using the chips knowing about it.

As someone who has done programming in the past that goes all the way down to the level such as pulling data for this tuner signal strength meter for equipment, I know that they often change chipsets without notifying the vendor as a fact. And yes, as far as the software for the boxes themselves goes, they do use the same software for the different -xxx models goes. They just may not have realized there are differences among the OTA tuner chipsets yet or care.

And, AGAIN, my signal strength readings are NOT low. They simply get capped off at a max value (in this case 77%) as if it were as high as it can go. What I am talking about is a situation where I am definitely getting a signal in the 90's if not maxing out at 100% on every other OTA tuner I have for certain channels, but seeing only 77% on the -700.

ANYWAY, thank you for your opinions.

What I gather from the engineering comments, and from the test I was able to observe when KLRT and KASN were both run on 38-1 and 38-2, it sounds as if KARK could run weather plus without degrading the main signal.

Wonder is NBC sports network feed is blocky? Can a station change from 1080i to 720p at the transmitter or are there major changes? If it was a matter of flipping a switch on the encoder, maybe they could switch to 720p for sports...and back to 1080i for regular programming... NASCAR has to be one sport that uses the most bandwidth...Fox, abc, and espn do great. TNT and NBC are horrible.

I think the source material would have to be 720p, otherwise you are just doing a conversion. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that converting between resolutions is not as good as broadcasting the original.

...Can a station change from 1080i to 720p at the transmitterKOZK-DT in Springfield, MO, rescales PBS 1080i-HD to 720p, in an attempt to save bandwidth. The result is, well, not good - usually less than DVD quality. Worse if there's lots of motion. Of course they're attempting this while broadcasting TWO other 480i sub channels.

KYTV-DT also does two 480i sub channels + one 1080i NBC channel. WNBC-DT on D* looks significantly better. Be glad KARK isn't doing this (yet). If you want the weather, use the D* interactive weather maps & forecasts, or even better, the internet.

Is there any sources for information about this build out AT&T is doing? More specifically, for our area. I had heard of it before, but I had no idea it was being worked on now. Any information I can get and sources to keep up to date on it would be of great use.

We assume they will retransmit local and cable channels via fiber. Very little information exists for the local rollout possilbly because they don't want the competition to know. AT&T doesn't even call us and let us know when they want come here to do some work. They just show up. I have spoken to a representative who says have a dead line to get their equipment on by the end of this month. But I can tell you that all of the equipment they will need will not be ready by then. I will let you know when I get more details.

We assume they will retransmit local and cable channels via fiber. Very little information exists for the local rollout possilbly because they don't want the competition to know. AT&T doesn't even call us and let us know when they want come here to do some work. They just show up. I have spoken to a representative who says have a dead line to get their equipment on by the end of this month. But I can tell you that all of the equipment they will need will not be ready by then. I will let you know when I get more details.

Hmm, interesting. I guess I was shooting more for maybe when they are planning to get it out to customers around here, what their rollout plans might be channel wise, possible pricing for the service, or basically anything else that might be found. I just thought that there might be some sort of online resource where I, and others who might want to know, could go to find out more about the whole IPTV thing. Thanks for your bit though. What you said does cover what I asked.

NBC Sports is usually low quality (from all the threads in the HDTV Programming forum here). I always hear about CBS Sports being the best of the best but that subchannel on THV must be killing it because it's always blocking during motion for me (whether it's football or basketball). NBC has other problems but without a sub on KARK, I don't get the blocks. So no subchannel for KARK!!! Heroes looks stunning in HD, don't wanna touch that...plus we already have 11-2 and 7-2 for news and weather (never watch 'em)

steveken,

I think you mentioned at some point that you have just the basic Comcast TV package. Any idea if the networks come in as clear QAM still, or are those in a totally different set of frequencies?

I always hear about CBS Sports being the best of the best but that subchannel on THV must be killing it because it's always blocking during motion for me (whether it's football or basketball).

FWIW, while DXing Sunday morning, noticed that Dallas-Fort Worth's KTVT-DT CBS O&O (RF 19, 11-n) does not multicast. I would have loved the tropo to have lasted 2 more hours and watched CBS-HD OTA w/o multicasting. KDFW-DT FOX (RF 35, 4-n) only does low-bandwidth sat images/radar (no audio) on its 4-2 sub. Even SD suffers when there is too much mulitcasting (such as KDTX-DT TBN [RF 45, 58-n] running 5 480i subs).

I know NWA *has to* be a good place for OTA CBS since KOLR-DT doesn't mulitcast and KFSM-DT stopped theirs ;)

Actually what I would like to see, would be the NWS put up a UHF LPTV-DT station up at each of their NOAA WX radio transmitter sites, carrying the closest doppler radar live, with NOAA audio. I don't need a talking head pointing at a map. It would seem the next logical step to the NOAA WX radio system...Plus, it would be great for Dx'ers.

Actually what I would like to see, would be the NWS put up a UHF LPTV-DT station up at each of their NOAA WX radio transmitter sites, carrying the closest doppler radar live, with NOAA audio. I don't need a talking head pointing at a map. It would seem the next logical step to the NOAA WX radio system...Plus, it would be great for Dx'ers.

Dave,

I've seen this done by Tulsa NBC affiliate KJRH-DT two years ago as you described. Much better than the silly music and features on KTHV-DT 11-2 and KATV-DT 7-2.

This proposed NOAA WX TV would be such better use of the public airwaves than the endless TBN/religious LPTV's.

Dave,

I've seen this done by Tulsa NBC affiliate KJRH-DT two years ago as you described. Much better than the silly music and features on KTHV-DT 11-2 and KATV-DT 7-2.

This proposed NOAA WX TV would be such better use of the public airwaves than the endless TBN/religious LPTV's.

At least KTHV-DT 11-2 has managed to get rid of the gray bars, unlike 11-1. Wonder why just on 11-2? Anyone know?

steveken,

I think you mentioned at some point that you have just the basic Comcast TV package. Any idea if the networks come in as clear QAM still, or are those in a totally different set of frequencies?

Yup, still clear QAM. I even did a rescan a while back to see if anything had changed. The only changes that I remember seeing was seeing more of the on demand channels as people around me watched stuff. But, anyway, to answer your question, I just looked at the networks and the prime time HD shows are clear as a bell.

At least KTHV-DT 11-2 has managed to get rid of the gray bars, unlike 11-1. Wonder why just on 11-2? Anyone know?If 11-2 is 480i / 4:3, your 16:9 TV is providing the black bars on that channel, not the station.

Wonder if equity would do it? They are in love with stockpiling lptv channel assignments. All it would take is a live internet feed and a noaa weather radio at the transmitter site.

Wonder if equity would do it? They are in love with stockpiling lptv channel assignments. All it would take is a live internet feed and a noaa weather radio at the transmitter site.

Bad idea, Equity would be trying to run informercials between 10pm-12 Noon on the weather feed :(

But it would be better than having LATtv on 42-3 (which I saw English-language informericals before 6am one morning). Equity did simulcast Univision on that sub for a time.

Hmm, interesting. I guess I was shooting more for maybe when they are planning to get it out to customers around here, what their rollout plans might be channel wise, possible pricing for the service, or basically anything else that might be found. I just thought that there might be some sort of online resource where I, and others who might want to know, could go to find out more about the whole IPTV thing. Thanks for your bit though. What you said does cover what I asked.

A link you can try is www.uverse.att.com. AT&T has rolled this "Uverse" product out in 15-20 markets so far as an alternative to satellite or cable. As far as I can see there isn't any specific information on Little Rock on the site.

Why does AETN show Nova in pillarbox and letterbox instead of HD like PBS national? It even shows HD in the guide but almost never is. How come?

Why does AETN show Nova in pillarbox and letterbox instead of HD like PBS national? It even shows HD in the guide but almost never is. How come?

Don't bitch, be glad you get it. LOL

Anyone into PBS type programming, check out Planet In Peril on CNNHD...Awesome quality and excellent documentary...several episodes throughout week with daily repeats.

Why does AETN show Nova in pillarbox and letterbox instead of HD like PBS national? It even shows HD in the guide but almost never is. How come?They probably don't want to turn off all of their sub-channels.

I called AETN....They do not have the equipment to record the HD feeds and retransmit, so unless their schedule and PBS feed are at the same time, No HD. Its sad. Maybe they could just get Directv to send it to them and record it on a HR20... No HD recorder, state spent all the money on Houston Nutt's salary.

Does anyone know if there are any tower vendors in Arkansas or Southern Missouri? I am wanting to find a 30-40 ft Rohn, AME, or simialr tower to put up at my residence. They are extremely hard to find and the shipping on the towers from ecommerce is as much as the tower itself. I have a couple HD antennas I want to mount.

Thanks

Does anyone know if there are any tower vendors in Arkansas or Southern Missouri? I am wanting to find a 30-40 ft Rohn, AME, or simialr tower to put up at my residence. They are extremely hard to find and the shipping on the towers from ecommerce is as much as the tower itself. I have a couple HD antennas I want to mount.

Thanks

One place you can try that would be more likely to have tower than anywhere else would be Memphis Amateur Electronics Supply. They are a ham radio dealership, so would definitely have stuff like that. Well, at least I hope they still do. It has been many years since I have done business with them, so I don't know if they are around anymore. I seem to remember the guy that worked there was named Chick or something like that (the spelling is probably wrong). Anyway, look em up.

ncentral ark,
Also ask in the Springfield, MO thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=272222).

Local Motorola or two way radio dealer might have some. Texas Towers prices are reasonable, and close enough for a drive to pick em up.

Someone posted this to WTFDA's list. I found it today, sorry about the delay but have been away from the internet mostly for the past week.

http://www.dewitt-ee.com/articles/2007/10/24/news/news01.txt

"People who receive their TV via cable or a satellite system may have a little longer, but they will still eventually have to get new television sets."

What a crock. :mad:
Here's an employee of the state educational television commission - someone who's supposedly in the know, spreading disinformation. Sounds more like a Best Buy employee.

Why couldn't he just say "If you receive TV with an antenna, all you'll need to do is buy an INEXPENSIVE CONVERTER BOX before Feb '09"

Picked up a DMX-36 from Wiltronics in Tyler, TX last weekend. In case someone is considering a tower now or in the future, it is not a Rohn but it doesn't look too shabby either. The price seemed decent and no shipping charges. Everything needed to install for just under $400 new. Of course there is the cost of gas, but I have family in South Arkansas so that helped. The tower is made by Delhi from Canada and can be found at their website www.wade-antenna.com

Is that a 36' self supporting tower? How many cubic feet of concrete is required?

Is that a 36' self supporting tower? How many cubic feet of concrete is required?

It is a tapered self supporting tower. In reality the tower is 32' with a 8' mast that fits into the top making the overall height 36'. Spec says 1.35 cubic yards of concrete at a 36" width base. I have a delhi vip 306 & 91XG that I plan on putting on top.

Thanks. I don't think 32' + mast would clear my trees. Ill have to check. Price sure got my attention. My last tower was a 70' Rohn, but I don't have the space here for wide guy wires. When you get it up, let me know k
how much sway there is when you are hanging off the top. I Might could replace the 8' mast with a 20'er if the tower is pretty tight.

"People who receive their TV via cable or a satellite system may have a little longer, but they will still eventually have to get new television sets."

What a crock. :mad:
Here's an employee of the state educational television commission - someone who's supposedly in the know, spreading disinformation. Sounds more like a Best Buy employee.

Why couldn't he just say "If you receive TV with an antenna, all you'll need to do is buy an INEXPENSIVE CONVERTER BOX before Feb '09"

Been away from the forum for a few days. Let me address two things just to make sure no one misunderstands.

Actually, McCullars did talk about converter boxes. It is in the last sentence of paragraph immediately preceding the one quoted.

And, McCullars works for the "AETN Foundation", not the educational telelvision commission; which is a separate entity. Many folks think of them as being the same thing; but, they aren't.

Whatever. The general public only sees "AETN."

Yes, he mentioned converter boxes, but to further the FUD, he says "they will still eventually have to get new television sets."

Attempted to watch NBC Nightly News tonight on KARK-DT at 5:30 p.m., but after 10 minutes of non-HD, I gave up on seeing it HD as they still had not thrown "The Switch" for some reason. What a shame since neither ABC nor CBS have a HD newscast at 5:30.

They finally switched it at 5:49 p.m.

I hope they are able to refine their operation before long as the other stations seemed to have done.

I plan to install a delhi 306 and a 91XG on my tower. How important is it on location of the antennas to each other. Should the vhf be above or below the uhf and at what distance? I am thinking 3.5' on distance. Also do the jumpers from each antenna need to be the same length? I will input the antennas into a CM7777 with the vhf and uhf separated. Any comments would be appreciated.

Also for my particular location, the 91XG at 22' is out performing the CM4228 for reception of both Memphis & Little Rock UHF at 80 mile distance to LR and 90-100 mile distant to Memphis. I do like the CM4228 and miss getting the local AETN & KAIT with it. But it was a more hit and miss with the distant stations. I feel the combination I have now will give me the best solution. Understandably not a 24/7 scenario but I get decent signals 90% of the time at night.

Whatever. The general public only sees "AETN."

Yes, he mentioned converter boxes, but to further the FUD, he says "they will still eventually have to get new television sets."

My point exactly; the general public sees "AETN". And the newspaper article correctly made that reference. It was the description stated in message #3624 saying he is an "employee of the state educational television commission"; which is the error I was correcting.

What is FUD ? I'm not familiar with that.

Kelly

The UHF antenna is usually mounted above vhf because it is usually lighter and has less windload. Antennas should be separated by at least one wavelenth at the lowest frequency, however that's hard to do. The sharper the directionalty of the aantennas, the less interaction they will have. The length of coax to the amp isn't critical as long as its at least one wavelength and isn't used to phase two identical antennas together.

Been away from the forum for a few days. Let me address two things just to make sure no one misunderstands.

Actually, McCullars did talk about converter boxes. It is in the last sentence of paragraph immediately preceding the one quoted.

And, McCullars works for the "AETN Foundation", not the educational telelvision commission; which is a separate entity. Many folks think of them as being the same thing; but, they aren't.

Apparently wherever he works he should be more versed in digital broadcasting if he is going to make statements like that. A lot of people don't know or understand what is going to happen to analog television in early 2009 and I don't see any of the stations in this market making any effort to educate the viewers of what is coming. Educational TV? Why not start educating?

AETN has been on a roll about digital TV:

Choosing VHF frequencies over UHF and low power in comparison to analog

Limited HDTV programming schedule

On air promo failing to mention "AETN Digital" OTA availability.

And now this feller from The AETN Foundation that probably couldn't tell the difference between a composite and an HDMI cable.

PBS national is just as bad. They claim Directv can show pbsHD anytime, but the truth is, only if Directv agrees to carry all 4 subchannels as well as HD in EVERY Lil market. Channels 2-4 are duplicates...what a terrible bandwidth waste. Now they are going to congress to try to force Dish and Direct to carry them.

Add to that the STATEWIDE PBS network can't afford a HD recorder to timeshift NOVA, and won't show it in HD when available from national tells me PBS is broken. Really Broken.

kboswell,
The definition of FUD is HERE (http://www.acronymfinder.com/af-query.asp?Acronym=FUD&p=dict).

ncentral ark,

That's a great combo and the 91XG's directional performance will usually exceed the 4228. It should - it costs twice as much. Its directionality is a good thing in your case. But for many in central ark metro, it's too directional.

I agree with Davenlr, put the lightest antenna on top of the mast for less wind loading. Correct spacing between the two antenna is not practical, so just space them as far apart as possible.

Will you be using a rotor? That combo is a lot of weight an inertia for the rotor to deal with - get a heavy duty one.

kboswell,
The definition of FUD is HERE (http://www.acronymfinder.com/af-query.asp?Acronym=FUD&p=dict).

Thanks, Sam. I appreciate the link.
Kelly

I plan to install a delhi 306 and a 91XG on my tower. How important is it on location of the antennas to each other. Should the vhf be above or below the uhf and at what distance? I am thinking 3.5' on distance. Also do the jumpers from each antenna need to be the same length? I will input the antennas into a CM7777 with the vhf and uhf separated. Any comments would be appreciated.

Also for my particular location, the 91XG at 22' is out performing the CM4228 for reception of both Memphis & Little Rock UHF at 80 mile distance to LR and 90-100 mile distant to Memphis. I do like the CM4228 and miss getting the local AETN & KAIT with it. But it was a more hit and miss with the distant stations. I feel the combination I have now will give me the best solution. Understandably not a 24/7 scenario but I get decent signals 90% of the time at night.

Careful, with that setup you could very well become a DXer :D Did you acquire the Delhi 306 with that dealer in Tyler or online? You *might* be able to pull in WMC-DT when it reverts to ch 5 (hopefully, someone over there will wake up and realize what a bad move that will be) after Feb 2009.

As for a rotor, get something designed for the Amateur Radio market. Memphis Amateur (http://www.memphisamateur.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=21) carries some of the heavy duty rotors. That array is too much for the typical light duty "TV" rotors (especially with the Delhi 306).

Careful, with that setup you could very well become a DXer :D Did you acquire the Delhi 306 with that dealer in Tyler or online? You *might* be able to pull in WMC-DT when it reverts to ch 5 (hopefully, someone over there will wake up and realize what a bad move that will be) after Feb 2009.

As for a rotor, get something designed for the Amateur Radio market. Memphis Amateur (http://www.memphisamateur.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=21) carries some of the heavy duty rotors. That array is too much for the typical light duty "TV" rotors (especially with the Delhi 306).

Yes, I picked up the Delhi 306 at Tyler; I inquired about a 307 but he did not have anymore 307's in stock. Hope it helps with WMC when they revert back to vhf. They are one of the weaker uhf digitals other than WHBQ from Memphis. I can pick them most nights with the 91. I really hope the 306 will pick up KTHV. You guys have got me thinking now with the heavy duty rotor. I have a delhi Model 994051 that I picked up there also; got it at a decent price. It cost $50 and is pretty much like the RS/Tandy but failed to consider the weight/wind load. The top section of the tower has a base for the rotor to rest. I checked the instructions and it says to use a 4' mast with two antennas mounting the larger antenna 12" from the bottom. Thanks for the input and link to the store in Memphis. Will have to re-think the rotor issue.

I use a rat shack rotor with a large vhf/uhf combo and a really big uhf yagi on a 10' mast. It will work a couple years :) It will also turn during high winds, the brake just can't handle that windload. I just resync after a storm. On a tower, check out the yaesu medium duty rotor.

I use a rat shack rotor... It will also turn during high winds, the brake just can't handle that windload. What Dave said on the windload and RatShack rotors.

I use one on my tower with only a CM4228 antenna. After only a few months after replacement, I'm finding I have to re-sync it after a good wind storm. And if gets less wind loading than a regular 4228 would because I have the screen removed to make it bi-directional.

A heavier duty rotor would definitely be worth the money, unless you're a tower monkey and actually enjoy climbing up there to replace it periodically :)

http://i17.tinypic.com/2pqm83b.jpg

If my rotor goes out like the last one did, I'll probably just remove it, since I rarely use it.

Love KATV's VHS quality arkansas game. Hmmm, sparklies...must be using that spare C band 6 foot dish out back. Haven't seen sparklies in years. Its funny.

Now that's bad.

I didn't even see sparklies on the ind. stations up here....

Stations KEJB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KEJB) (El Dorado) & KKAP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KKAP) (LR) will flash cut to digital on 2/17/09. If wikipedia is correct, they will both be on lowband channel TWO. It's a good thing there's nothing to watch on those stations....

Other stations listed to flash cut are shown here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Television_stations_to_Flash-Cut_to_digital):

Never heard of KKAP unless that's the low power translater showing the same program as channel 20.

GOD I hate KATV...they are delaying the Ohio state game which is blacked out on ESPN, and of course, can't afford a HD recorder (cant the just subscribe to Directv and use a dvr?) so its in vhs-o-vision... Thank goodness for WABC!!! KATV needs their tower to fall over. Hope a tornado drops down rigt on top of it. Then they can transmit circular polaarization.

KATV-DT has the worst quality video of any station I have ever seen. During the AR vs. TN game I almost turned the television off and listened to the radio it was so bad. Even their local newscasts and other local programs' video are terrible. When is KATV-DT going to move into the 21st century?

WGN is actually the Chicago CW affiliate. But the national feed substitutes CW programming with syndicated fare and old movies. Also the station's morning newscast cannot be distributed nationwide due to some "feature" segments falling under "syndex" rules. KWGN channel 2 in Denver is WGN's sister station and is available on E* (SD only) and shows CW programming and local morning news.

I know of 2 old-line VHF stations that have gone indie. One is in Jacksonville, FL WJXT (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WJXT) channel 4 (42 digital) and in Phoenix, AZ KTVK (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KTVK) channel 3 analog (which I have logged via E-skip several times) (24 digital). KATV would still be successful as an Indie and still be able to carry LFS, Razorback basketball, and informercials. But, KATV wants their cake and eat it too and as a result holds Little Rock ABC HDTV viewers hostage except for D* "movers".

KATV's SD picture quality on digital is worst of the Big Four affiliates, and only slightly better than the Equity cluster. Lack of 5.1 audio for network programming is another handicap. I wonder if the Tulsa ABC station (KTUL-DT RF10 8-n) is as bad as KATV as programming/HDTV issues go.

a bit late, but no, Tulsa is actually about as good as ESPN-HD is.

the fort smith ABC affilitate tried to hijack cox for money like a couple of affiliates have done in new orleans, and cox responded by yanking them from the HD tier and replacing them with the tulsa affiliate (who promptly added arkansas coverage to their post-news sunday sports show and sucked up a couple of the fort smith affiliates' advertisers, get some of that you greedy bastards). i had no complaints with the tulsa ABC affiliate. it wasn't CBS quality, of course, but it was as good as any other 720p broadcast.

Stations KEJB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KEJB) (El Dorado) & KKAP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KKAP) (LR) will flash cut to digital on 2/17/09. If wikipedia is correct, they will both be on lowband channel TWO. It's a good thing there's nothing to watch on those stations....

I think someone @ KEJB has did some PR "editing" and some wishful thinking. I'll have to find the site, but no Arkansas stations will be operating below channel 7 after 2/2009. WMC will attempt to broadcast digital from ch 5 (a disaster waiting to happen), and many Alaska stations will use 2-6 for digital.
KEJB is the MNTV station for El Dorado/Monroe (it comes up here 24/7 but its as bad as KWBF as network/syndicated programming goes--and its analog so I never watch)

Dave, KKAP is a Daystar (religious broadcasting network) relayer, but its signal is weaker here than KKYK-CA 20 (RTN), and even K34FH (the TBN LPTV station on ch34 Little Rock).

KATV-DT has the worst quality video of any station I have ever seen. During the AR vs. TN game I almost turned the television off and listened to the radio it was so bad. Even their local newscasts and other local programs' video are terrible. When is KATV-DT going to move into the 21st century?

I'm glad I got to work today: good overtime, avoiding KATV's broadcasts of the Hawgs, and avoiding another Houston Nutt-coached loss.

They'll move that direction when Dale Nicholson is retired or pushing daisies. He like Fidel Castro needs to go and go quickly (both have been been around about the same time it seems).

[QUOTE=Xayd;12181382]a bit late, but no, Tulsa is actually about as good as ESPN-HD is./QUOTE]

Question: Does KTUL-DT pass network 5.1 audio?

Stations KEJB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KEJB) (El Dorado) & KKAP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KKAP) (LR) will flash cut to digital on 2/17/09. If wikipedia is correct, they will both be on lowband channel TWO. It's a good thing there's nothing to watch on those stations....

Other stations listed to flash cut are shown here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Television_stations_to_Flash-Cut_to_digital):


I think the bracketed "2" on wikipedia is a link that is busted. Link "1" goes to Doug Lung's "transmitter" website but that page is a bit stale.

The FCC info from Aug. '07 shows El Dorado will have channels 10, 27, & 43. Which would fit if KEJB "flash-cuts" from analog to digital; retaining it's channel assignment. Same thing for the Eureka Springs station flash cutting on 34.

As haley-SEA, said (in message 3651), after Feb 2009, there will be no low-band VHF stations in Arkansas.

[a bit tired, hoped I phrased that well]

Hope this helps,
Kelly

Via W9WI, right here (http://www.w9wi.com/articles/lbdtv.html).

a bit late, but no, Tulsa is actually about as good as ESPN-HD is.

Question: Does KTUL-DT pass network 5.1 audio?

yes

figured i'd have some fun with KATV on wikipedia for forcing me to watch Overrated State University lose to Illinois in low def.

wonder how long it'll take them to pounce on it...

KATV in the Digital Age

KATV is now broadcasting on the second band of their digital signal (7-2), calling this channel KATV News Now. Like competitor KTHV's THV2 channel, KATV News Now broadcasts 24 hour news and weather, and is also available online.

Despite other Little Rock stations being competitive in HDTV as HDTV has become more widespread, KATV to date assumingly does not have the equipment to properly re-transmit network high definition feeds. Network programming such as ABC-ESPN sports broadcasts are often, if not mostly, lowered to a quality level poor even in low definition comparisons due to KATV delaying network broadcasts with low definition equipment to force local programming (with local advertising) into network time slots, such as football broadcasts.

Never heard of KKAP unless that's the low power translater showing the same program as channel 20...On the Springfield thread, someone posted that the channel {{{2}}} was entered on wiki as a placeholder. So, all of those flash cut stations may not actually be moving to 2. Makes sense. It's more likely they'll keep the channels they are using now.

The FCC shows KKAP (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=58267) broadcasting on channel 36, with an ERP of 320kW, from Shinall Mtn.

heheh, poor ol' KATV - still stuck in the 1950s-era technology? Even Fayetteville's ABC affiliate, KHOG has HD time-shifting capability. And they're not exactly a shining example of a great station...

... KATV needs their tower to fall over. Hope a tornado drops down rigt on top of it. Then they can transmit circular polaarization.

About a year ago a KATV insider told me they just hold their breath because they fear the tower will fall down all by itself. I doubt anything has changed.

Years ago they actually cared about PQ but when they were #2 they tried harder. As long as they carry the top of the ratings charts they won't put any money into technology. They trail everyone in the changeover to digital.

I thought it was interesting while visiting in Dallas that WFAA Channel 8 (digital 9) has a real pretty picture on cable (HD local news also) but you can't get them OTA with a UHF antenna. I get 12 here fine, but as you drop into the lower frequencies they tail off (as expected). Just reinforces my thoughts that AETN going to Ch7 will insure that almost nobody will watch it OTA when they finally change. I suspect most of their audience is via cable anyway.

I am amazed that KATV's salespeople can sell airtime on that station. Oh, well, I guess the car dealers, furniture sellers, and churches will buy the saturation spots and let KATV air them when they want to.

Surely the engineering staff is ashamed of what they have to work with by management not spending any money on modern equipment.

A VHF-Hi/UHF combination antenna would be much easier to design and implement. Perhaps come 2009 one of the major antenna players will design a good combo antenna. Driving out in the country daily, and especially up in the Ozarks, I see a LOT of OTA antennas, and not just left overs from years ago. There are still a lot of people getting OTA.

I was thinking the addition of three or 4 vhf hi elements behind the screen of a 4228, or simply a small vhf-hi array phased in, would work. Ham operators use 2M/70cm Combo antennas every day. That would be the same general bands needed for vhf-hi/uhf.

figured i'd have some fun with KATV on wikipedia for forcing me to watch Overrated State University lose to Illinois in low def.

wonder how long it'll take them to pounce on it...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KATV

LOL

You go, Xayd :)

A VHF-Hi/UHF combination antenna would be much easier to design and implement. Perhaps come 2009 one of the major antenna players will design a good combo antenna. Driving out in the country daily, and especially up in the Ozarks, I see a LOT of OTA antennas, and not just left overs from years ago. There are still a lot of people getting OTA.There are a lot of people using OTA in the Ozarks (and South Ark, too), because the DMAs are so screwed up. For many in these areas it's the ONLY way to get Ark. TV local news, weather and sports. Satellite can't offer it.

One sat dealer here in Eureka has even started installing antennas for customers, due to HD demand. There is still no HD on coxcable in Eureka/Berryville. The antenna of choice is the CM4228 + CM7777 preamp.

FWIW, I get chs 9, 10, & 13 very well with the CM4228. And that's with the screen removed. And ch 10 is 70 miles away. I think the 4228's screen helping with VHF reception is a myth.

The majority of UHF antennas, though, do not work well for any VHF channels.

I sent a message to KATV engineering with links to their wikipedia article and a link to this forum so maybe someone will come on here and get the message about their situation.

yes

figured i'd have some fun with KATV on wikipedia for forcing me to watch Overrated State University lose to Illinois in low def.

wonder how long it'll take them to pounce on it...

KATV in the Digital Age

KATV is now broadcasting on the second band of their digital signal (7-2), calling this channel KATV News Now. Like competitor KTHV's THV2 channel, KATV News Now broadcasts 24 hour news and weather, and is also available online.

Despite other Little Rock stations being competitive in HDTV as HDTV has become more widespread, KATV to date assumingly does not have the equipment to properly re-transmit network high definition feeds. Network programming such as ABC-ESPN sports broadcasts are often, if not mostly, lowered to a quality level poor even in low definition comparisons due to KATV delaying network broadcasts with low definition equipment to force local programming (with local advertising) into network time slots, such as football broadcasts.

LOL. Well done.

I thought it was interesting while visiting in Dallas that WFAA Channel 8 (digital 9) has a real pretty picture on cable (HD local news also) but you can't get them OTA with a UHF antenna. I get 12 here fine, but as you drop into the lower frequencies they tail off (as expected). Just reinforces my thoughts that AETN going to Ch7 will insure that almost nobody will watch it OTA when they finally change. I suspect most of their audience is via cable anyway.

I subscribe to the Dallas HDTV thread (my extended family is all in the Metroplex so I'm there a few times a year, love the HD news, they now have two or three broadcasting local news in HD!) and I constantly hear about the troubles picking up WFAA (digital channel 9). Even good VHF/UHF combos sometimes have trouble. When I was there my single 30" telescopic antenna picked it up fine, haven't taken my amplified antenna there yet...

I sent a message to KATV engineering with links to their wikipedia article and a link to this forum so maybe someone will come on here and get the message about their situation.I doubt they even know what wikipedia is, but great idea.

Did you also send a copy to Nicholson? You can contact him via their web site.

I recently moved to LR from Colorado. Crazy would be my response to the obvious question. Anyway, I am having a difficult time understanding what the local HD situation is here in LR. I have had Dish forever and received the Denver locals in HD where I used to live. What is the deal here? I installed a standard antenna in my attic to get my locals here in HD. Is the quality of the broadcast just poor or am I not tuning in to the correct channels. I don't have much experience with OTA, never had to use it. Is there a method to improve the quality, or is it they are just not broadcasting quality? Any insight to this would be appreciated.
Thanks
Jerry

I recently moved to LR from Colorado. Crazy would be my response to the obvious question. Anyway, I am having a difficult time understanding what the local HD situation is here in LR. I have had Dish forever and received the Denver locals in HD where I used to live. What is the deal here? I installed a standard antenna in my attic to get my locals here in HD. Is the quality of the broadcast just poor or am I not tuning in to the correct channels. I don't have much experience with OTA, never had to use it. Is there a method to improve the quality, or is it they are just not broadcasting quality? Any insight to this would be appreciated.
Thanks
Jerry

Jerry, a quick channel list: Sorry to be redundant to the regulars....
KETS (PBS/AETN) RF 5 LOW VHF (2-n) 4 SD channels (except for occasional HD) Redfield
KARK (NBC) RF 32 (4-n) 1 HD channel Shinall
KATV (ABC) RF 22 (7-n) 1 HD channel, 1 SD channel Redfield
KTHV (CBS) RF 12 HIGH VHF (11-n) 1 HD, 1 SD channel Shinall
KLRT (FOX) RF 30 (16-n)1 HD Channel Shinall
KASN (CW) RF 39 (38-n) 1 HD channel, 1 SD Redfield
KWBF (MNTV) RF 44 (42-n) 1 stretched "HD" channel, 2 SD channels

The Redfield antenna farm is halfway between Little Rock and Pine Bluff in NW Jefferson County (I-530 passes between the 2 towers). Shinall Mtn is in west Little Rock near the junction of Chenal Parkway and AR Hwy 10. Because the stations transmit from different locations, this adds to the difficulty (SE Ark has it somewhat easier, but the Shinall stations here (Star City, 65 mi from downtown LR) are considered fringe (more so in areas with pine trees). KETS uses low (Band I) VHF which has *many* issues with digital television (check out the issues WBBM in Chicago has had). KTHV is more prone to interference than KARK, KATV, KLRT, or KASN. None of the Little Rock locals offer HD newscasts, and one of the big four only passes DD 2.0 stereo audio.

I use OTA and get all those stations 24/7 using a two antenna array (CM 4228 and a small VHF only antenna) and preamp except for KWBF (its lower power and its antenna is at a lower level----and little to none of its programming interests me anyway ;) ). KATV is the notorious ABC affiliate that often bumps ABC/ESPN weekend sports for syndicated LFS SEC football and basketball and even infomercials. Best PQ/Sound in this market is KLRT, followed by KARK. KTHV's multicasting effects PQ, and has sound issues (involving volume). On rare occations where KETS broadcast HD, its excellent if no thunderstorms are in the surrounding area.

What are you currently using for an antenna, and are you located in a valley or a hilly area above average terrain? And are you using a E* HD receiver or the TV's tuner and/or external STB?

Thanks for stopping by, several of us have been here for sometime and are willing to help (although as Sat tv goes, its mostly a D* board here).

Welcome to Arkansas. I'm one of the experimenters, build test antennas and make a hobby of it all. You got a good rundown in the previous message. I just have to ask what in peticular are you having problems with, Picture quality, break-ups, lack of HD newcasts, ???? Lots of good people here will be glad to help.
P.S. Dump Dish, get Direct :)

My HR20 is possessed. After months of getting all the stations, suddenly 7-1 and 7-2 both give me a black screen with no audio, with a signal level of 90, and 42-1,2,and 3 signal dropped from the 80's to 0 occasionally bouncing up to 25. 2-1 is coming in solid with a signal level of 35-40, and all the rest are 90-100.

What's up with 7 and 42? Anyone else having any problems?

My HR20 is possessed. After months of getting all the stations, suddenly 7-1 and 7-2 both give me a black screen with no audio, with a signal level of 90...Dave, is it an HR20-700 or HR20-100? There is a new (phased national release) software update for the -700 that may have caused some problems. Mine was acting weird and a RBR didn't help. So I unplugged for an HOUR and that seemed to fix it. You might try that.

I hope it's not toast. HR20 availability is very tight right now, due to the huge new demand for D* HD service. If you have to replace it, odds are they'll send you an HR21, which as you know, has no OTA tuners.

Also, the HR20-700 (made by Pace) is no longer in production. The only HR20 being made now is the -100, made by RCA. I was told this by a local D* installer. I helped him install a CM4228/7777 combo yesterday.

JerryLA, welcome to the Central Ark. forum.

Ditto on haley-SEA's excellent post. OTA reception in the LR area is a big PITA. There are digital stations located in two different directions and broadcasting on THREE different television bands; VHF-LO (chs 2 thru 6), VHF-HI (chs 7 thru 13) and UHF (where all the stations with any sense moved to for DTV). So, in many cases, you need a Rube Goldberg antenna farm to pick up all of the stations.http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/88/Rubenvent.jpg/400px-Rubenvent.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_goldberg)


DirecTV will be adding Little Rock ABC, CBS, FOX & NBC affiliates as soon as their next satellite, D11, is up & running.

My HR20 is possessed. After months of getting all the stations, suddenly 7-1 and 7-2 both give me a black screen with no audio, with a signal level of 90, and 42-1,2,and 3 signal dropped from the 80's to 0 occasionally bouncing up to 25. 2-1 is coming in solid with a signal level of 35-40, and all the rest are 90-100.

What's up with 7 and 42? Anyone else having any problems?

How did you get it to let you see 42-3? I don't get that in my list. On my H20, I was able to manually put it in. Oh, and speaking of 42-2, what is the deal with it always listing programs in russian on the guide??? I mean, its REALLY annoying. I can figure out what it is by looking at 49, but I shouldn't have to. Its clearly russian with english letters.

I was finally able to readjust my speakerwire antenna that I have shoved in a front closet where I can get 4-1 at 77% (the max on my HR20 for some weird reason though I have seen reports that in the new CE this has been fixed).

The only problem with this is that my 11-1&2 have apparently suffered a little bit going from the 77% down to the 60's with occasional glitches in the signal which makes the audio drop out. I shouldn't be having this problem in my opinion except in the case where it might drop down really low just quick enough for the glitch to happen. I can live through it though.

I was getting a lot more glitches in 4-1 when trying to watch shows. 16-1 seems to have taken a small hit too for some reason. 16-1 is the one I NEVER had a problem getting. It was ALWAYS maxed easily, so I don't know what the deal is there, just have to live with it I guess till D11 gets blasted up there.

davenlr,
Hold down the INFO button for 3 seconds and see what software version your HR20 is running. Mine is 0x1be, which auto-downloaded early this morning.

If yours isn't running that version (it's a national release) do a forced software download. If your box is running that version, try a "RESET ALL."

Another possibility is that something non-standard has been added to katv's PSIP data stream that's affecting reception of that station on certain tuners.

I've been running the CE but the national release overwrote it at night without my knowlege. I fixed my KATV problem (why I don't know) by resetting locals and starting from scratch, letting it piick the dma from zip code and all that. Comes in fine now.

I've reported the missing 42-3 and russian 42-2 several times. They just don't care. I don't get 42-3 on my HR20, my bad. It was my H20 that picked it up.

The 77 thing is supposedly fixed in the first CE of the new cycle which was last Saturday, but if you only have one HR20, wait a while. Bug reports of failures is off the chart.

I have noticed glitches in 16-1's signal the last couple weeks, and They are down to 95 from a solid 100 here. Don't know what's going on.

LR locals are all down (tr 25 signal 0). Parents called thinking their system went down. Wonder what's up? I know they are adding 20 or so new HD channels in the morning, but that shouldn't affect 119...

LR locals are all down (tr 25 signal 0). Parents called thinking their system went down. Wonder what's up? I know they are adding 20 or so new HD channels in the morning, but that shouldn't affect 119...

at 6:30 they are all up here. and how do you know they are adding 20 HD's in the morning?

was just looking at the signal strength screens.....on 103(a) it looks like there are a lot more transponders open for readings there. 1 through 6 and 15 through 24. I don't seem to remember all those being there before, it was like 1 through 6 at best I thought. Thats on my H20 anyway, haven't looked at the HR20.

On a different note, anyone have any experience with TVersity and the Xbox 360? I have been trying all day to get that to work and haven't had any luck.

at 6:30 they are all up here. and how do you know they are adding 20 HD's in the morning?It's posted over at dbstalk.com in this thread (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=109199).

20 more HD channels to be added to D* at 6-something tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. That's also when they nearly always add stuff.

What Sam said :)

Sorry, no advice...I use mediaplayer and don't own any game consoles.

The new Transponders on 103a are for a rollout of new SD locals from what I understand. Note transponder 17 is reading 90+ all over the country, so its appprently not a spot beam.

Sure wish D* had a tech site that posted what was going on for us techies.

LR locals and several other cities locals were out for 20 mins. Guess D* lost a uplink transmitter or something.

Haley, thanks for the information. I just realized how little I know about OTA. I am going to do some research here in this forum and educate myself on this subject so hopefully I can converse without to many "stupid" question. Life here in Maumelle is a different animal from CO. Thanks for the welcome everyone, I hope at some time I can be of benefit to this forum

Haley, thanks for the information. I just realized how little I know about OTA. I am going to do some research here in this forum and educate myself on this subject so hopefully I can converse without to many "stupid" question. Life here in Maumelle is a different animal from CO. Thanks for the welcome everyone, I hope at some time I can be of benefit to this forum

I didn't know where you were in Central Arkansas. Maumelle is north of the Shinall Mtn antenna farm within 5 or so miles. It is a "restricted" CC&R community, but there are some work arounds (attic mounting or stealth outdoor mounting). You should point your antenna if all possible towards Redfield (for KASN, and KATV). The big PITA will be KETS since its the odd dog in that pack.

HOA/POAs and cities can no longer restrict outdoor TV antennas less than 12' above the roof line, nor dish antennas under 1 meter.

Maumelle restricted antennas years ago because they owned the cableco and wanted everyone to sub to it instead of using a dish or antenna. But FCC rules now override Maumelle's wishes. Maumelle can no longer restrict outdoor antennas or satellite dishes, that fall within the limits of the FCC rules. You don't even have to ask. Just put install it. They can't legally do anything about it. If they bitch, print out the rules and give 'em a copy.

See:
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

Maumelle should be in the "split the difference with a wide beamwidth" antenna zone. A 2 bay bow tie has a 45 degree and should work, as should a corner reflector. You will need to add a channel 5 yagi with a channel 5 jointenna to get PBS I'm guessing.

I was told by someone at a higher end home theatre store here to go to Radio Shack and ask for the "Little Rock" special which had one mast and two components that would allow for pointing in two directions. Radio Shack told me they had not made that model in years. I opted for a single antenna which I have in the attic and it seems to work pretty good. I keep getting losses of signal on NBC which of the networks is what we seem to watch the most. I've lost interest in most of the "network" shows except for a few. I keep reading about pre-amps for antennas. I'm not sure what you guys are referring to. I suppose this boosts the antennas ability to pick up signals???
Another thing, it seems that most of the people I talk to here go with Direct TV and not Dish. I am in the middle of a contract with Dish so I guess that is where I will stay for the time being. Is there really that much difference in the quality of picture and sound on Direct HD? I have always been pleased with Dish but really have nothing to compare it to. Dish was by far the leader in CO because " I heard" that Direct really compressed their HD. What do you guys think? Anyone ever seen a side by side comparison of something on Dish & Direct? Thanks again.
J

..." I heard" that Direct really compressed their HD. What do you guys think?Not since D* launched the new MPEG4 satellites. The days of HD Lite are gone, at least on the multitude of new MPEG4 HD channels on D*

E* is the one playing the HD Lite game, now, in an attempt to add more HD channels. If you're having trouble getting locals (probably wouldn't with a small OUTDOOR antenna), you'll want D*, since they'll be adding the LR HD locals very very soon. LR's not even on the "coming soon" list for E*. And D* has more HD channels worth watching (not VOOM repeats), with many more on the way the E* does'nt have capacity for.

If you haven't setup your E* service yet, call and cancel. You can get out of your contract if you don't have line of sight to the satellites.

See http://www.dbstalk.com for more info on D*'s HD lead, and the channels they are now offering in MPEG4.

Maumelle should be in the "split the difference with a wide beamwidth" antenna zone. A 2 bay bow tie has a 45 degree and should work, as should a corner reflector. You will need to add a channel 5 yagi with a channel 5 jointenna to get PBS I'm guessing.Dave,
Will a 2-bay pick up that lone HI-VHF on channel 12?

I know it won't get PBS - nothing will. At least not without dropouts.

Yea, you can actually see ch12's transmitting tower from Maumelle.

Jerry: preamp mounts at the antenna, power supply in the house. Amplifies signal to overcome coax loss. As close to the transmitters as you are, it will most likely overload the amp, and cause all sorts of problems.

If NBC is your main desire, point the antenna directly at the mountain of towers you should be able to see to the south about 5 miles. If you can't see it, someone can point you to a website which will give you the compass heading.

You should get a full 100 signal from NBC (ch 32). At worst, you might lose ABC. Where is your antenna and what kind do you have now?

Jerry, for compass directions for the tv towers, enter your complete address and 9-digit ZIP Code at:
http://www.antennaweb.org/
On the results page, select digital channels only and click on "Street Level Map"

This is a little off topic, but not much, and I figure you guys will know the answer to this question. What's the real reason that the sat companies want you to keep your receiver plugged in to a phone line? Do they get usage stats from you, or what?

...What's the real reason that the sat companies want you to keep your receiver plugged in to a phone line? Do they get usage stats from you, or what?Don't know about E*, but D* uses the phone line:
1. To make sure all receivers are being used at the same address.
2. To make it easy to order PPV events and movies.
3. To collect viewing data (if you allow it).
4. Enable on-screen Caller-ID (if you subscribe to that feature from your phone co.).

You can change your Data Collection preference by logging into your Account Profile at the DirecTV.com web site.
There are 3 choices:
1. Allow Anonymous Data Collection (Opt-IN)
2. Allow Personally-identifiable Data Collection (Opt-IN)
3. Do not allow any Data Collection (Opt-OUT)
I think #3 is the default. That's what my account is set to.

You can also call D* to change this.

If you want to have the phone line connected for Caller-ID, but don't want the box calling in each month, you can prevent the modem from calling out by accessing the hidden "phone" menu. After accessing the phone menu, enter a string of "ones" (1111) in the "Disable Call Waiting" field.

Accessing this menu varies on each receiver model. Example, on the D* H20-600 receiver, hold down the MENU & Right Arrow buttons on the front panel of the box (not the remote) for several seconds.

Additionally, D* states in their TOS that the phone line must be connected. But they do not enforce this rule, nor do they charge extra (like E* does) if the line is not connected.

This is to any station engineers or employees:

Come Feb 2009, when your station switches off analog, will your repective network cut off your current standard def feed?

We are trying (on another forum) to determine what sd cable and sd sat viewers will get. i.e. a letterboxed version of your widescreen format downrezzed, a side crop, or a squish.

Good luck with that one. I would not expect anyone but KLRT-DT people to know the answer to that question. The others don't appear to know how to correct the problems they have now. Audio levels, gray bars, switching, audio, resolution, audio,etc.

Good luck with that one. I would not expect anyone but KLRT-DT people to know the answer to that question. The others don't appear to know how to correct the problems they have now. Audio levels, gray bars, switching, audio, resolution, audio,etc.

And then there is a local station that REFUSES to air some network HDTV sports programming. Yesterday, no Ohio State-Mich in HD, today no MLS Cup. Its not that I give a rip about soccer, but HD soccer is legitimate programming unlike infomercials.

Thanks for the info guys. I went to antennaweb.org and got the information about my locals. Re-added them into my system. I have to do a minor tweak on the antenna position in my attic, only getting about 76 on NBC. Hope to get that done this weekend. Unfortunately I am in the middle of a new contract with E*. I did a little exploring last night on the web and checked out the D* website. Very interesting. There are a few things from the list of HD that I sure wish E* had. I have noticed they are adding a few at a time to my lineup. Any idea if any of the local news stations are going to upgrade to HD in the near future? In Denver the NBC affiliate was the only one doing a great job with HD. They actually have been on the air HD for about 2 years now. Right now I have a standard Radio Shack middle price range antenna mounted in the attic. I need to add something to pick up the more distant and different direction stations. What is the best bang for the buck? Are the small omni directional antennas any good or do I just need to add another one like I have and point to a different direction? Later.
J

... Any idea if any of the local news stations are going to upgrade to HD in the near future? In DenverCompared to Denver, LR is a small market. Since locals are owned by fairly large corporations, you may not see any locally produced HD here until the corporately owned stations in much larger markets than LR are upgraded to local HD capability. It's very expensive to upgrade a studio to HD.

For antennas, omnis are a poor choice for digital TV, and if unsure of what you're doing, combining two antennas pointing different directions often results in worse reception, not better. . A better choice for your location may be something with a fairly wide beam spread (multi, not omni), like a CM 4220 (http://warrenelectronics.com/antennas/4220.htm) or CM4221 (http://warrenelectronics.com/antennas/4221.htm). One of these may work, with the antenna aimed at a sweet spot, somewhere between Redfield and Shinall locations, probably around 190°.

Both of the above antennas are easily installed using a DS-3000 sat dish mounting pipe/bracket (http://www.warrenelectronics.com/Satellite/dish_mts.htm). The antennas can be painted to blend in with backgrounds.

OTA reception in LR can be difficult. If you continue to have reception problems, getting the antenna OUTSIDE may solve a lot of problems. If your roof is metal or if you have foil-backed insulation in the walls or on the underside of roof decking, attic installation is definitely not recommended.

HOAs (http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html) cannot prevent you from installing an OTA antenna on your own private property.

I don't know how difficult it is to get out of a dish contract. You might could drop everything to a minimum package, and then get Directv. I can't believe the Dish hd channels can look very good, since they haven't added any sats, and have to be compressing and downrezzing the hell out of them.

I tried an omni, they don't work at my house (north little rock). I actually had better luck with a UHF bow tie on the TV.

OK, now KLRT is on my S*it list.
Pregame for Panthers/Packer game. First minute was packer game, them they switch to the crappy Giants game. I swear I'm gonna get a part time job and just buy Superfan and NEVER watch these two bit local stations again.

I can't believe the Dish hd channels can look very good, since they haven't added any sats, and have to be compressing and downrezzing the hell out of them.

I just turned on the HD pack from E* on Friday after a hiatus since the summer. I only have a 32" tv, but the hd looks pretty good to me. Not as good as OTA, but that's to be expected. I've had HD for a couple of years now, so I have learned to see the difference in good quality and poor quality.

What's the resolution of your 32" TV?

D*'s mpeg4 channels look as good as OTA (and much better than sports on NBC OTA) so that tells me a lot.

My tv can diplay 1080i but I leave the sat receiver on 720p because 1080i looks sloppy. I say the mpeg4 channels don't look as good as OTA, but the difference sat hd and OTA hd is really quite small when compared to standard def. Those of us that comment on this forum complain a lot about very small differences, but most people can't tell the difference. In fact, most people don't even notice stretch-o-vision. That's why our local stations and even the big sat companies aren't motivated to put out the best possible picture quality. It's lost on most folks.

1080i x ?

Yea, depends a lot on the TV. On my native 720p tv, 1080i looks worse than 720p, but on my 1080p, 1080i is scan doubled and looks spectacular. Admittantly, 720p looks good and I'd have a hard time telling the difference.

The native resolution of my tv is 1360x768.

The HT Guys say that you need a 50" or larger TV and be relatively close to it to see the difference in 720p and a higher resolution. I bought the Toshiba HD-A2 hddvd player when it went on sale at wally world for $99, and I could see little difference in that and my sony upscaling dvd player. With smaller tvs, hi def dvd players just aren't worth it right now. Unfortunately, the HD-A2 doesn't like DVI, which is all I've got on my TV, so I sold the player to my next door neighbor.

The native resolution of my tv is 1360x768.You should notice little, if any picture degradation in some of the downrezzed channels on E* or D*, especially on a smaller display. Some of the 1920 x 1080i channels are downrezzed to 1440x1080i and others to 1220 x 1080i, or something close to that.

Unfortunately, the HD-A2 doesn't like DVI, which is all I've got on my TV, so I sold the player to my next door neighbor.

You do realize that you could have bought an HDMI to DVI cable and used that, don't you? They are really cheap on ebay. And for the audio portion of the content, you probably could have used digital coax or optical output into a receiver to get it done. I know you say you couldn't tell much difference between it and your upconverting player, but for $99 and added features it would have provided you, I think you should have kept it.

I've been using hdmi to dvi for 2 years with my stb. I'm well aware of my cabling options. The toshiba player could not establish an HDCP connection with my tv via hdmi. I called the toshiba help line, and they said they would only guaranty that it would work with hdmi to hdmi. HDCP is apparently quite finicky. The player would output 1080i via component, but only on hd dvds. It would not allow upscaling of standard dvds via component. Since I already have a great upscaling dvd player and a dvd recorder, I decided not to add a third dvd player to the mix that would only occasionally be used.

This is to any station engineers or employees:

Come Feb 2009, when your station switches off analog, will your repective network cut off your current standard def feed?

We are trying (on another forum) to determine what sd cable and sd sat viewers will get. i.e. a letterboxed version of your widescreen format downrezzed, a side crop, or a squish.

Good question. We have not heard anything, but my assumption at this time is the analog feed will go away and the cable co will either center punch to 4x3 or downrezz it. The boxes that go anything to anything SD to HD, HD to HD, HD to SD) are starting to get really cheap.

OK, now KLRT is on my S*it list.
Pregame for Panthers/Packer game. First minute was packer game, them they switch to the crappy Giants game. I swear I'm gonna get a part time job and just buy Superfan and NEVER watch these two bit local stations again.

We were slated for the Giants game all along. In fact, PSIP and channel guide info should have stated it was the Giants game. Network had us looking at the wrong transponder and had to switch us. It happens from time to time.

E

Directv guide data showed you carrying the Packer game. Quite embarrassing to have company over to watch a game then find out its not on. All is well, I got NFL Sunday Ticket and free superfan for $170 so we only lost about 5 minutes of the game we wanted.

Didn't mean to vent so bad, KLRT is by far the best HD station in the market. Just had me in a bad spot.

This is to any station engineers or employees:

Come Feb 2009, when your station switches off analog, will your repective network cut off your current standard def feed?

We are trying (on another forum) to determine what sd cable and sd sat viewers will get. i.e. a letterboxed version of your widescreen format downrezzed, a side crop, or a squish.

Yes, the SD network feeds will end. Your set top box should let you choose the mode. A "Coupon Eligible Converter Box"......

"CECBs must convert all ATSC formats to NTSC. The units must support a 4:3 center crop of a 16:9 transmitted image, and a letterbox rendition of a 16:9 transmitted image."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CECB

Thanks, so basically it will up to the retransmitters how to supply the SD converted signal to their customers. I suspect either way is going to make some of them unhappy.

for whatever reason, I'm pretty sure KATV does not use the SD feed for its SD broadcasts of Saturday night Football (or any college football in HD)...

a) there's no ABC bug as there's supposed to be in the ESPN on ABC SD broadcasts
b) the bottom line is cropped, the current category moves off screen and you can't see the end of the bottom line on the right side

so is that their plan already in action? just crop the 16x9 to fit 4x3?

I'll try to get a screenshot next time and there's one on wikipedia of how it's supposed to look in SD

Yes, the SD network feeds will end. Your set top box should let you choose the mode. A "Coupon Eligible Converter Box"......

"CECBs must convert all ATSC formats to NTSC. The units must support a 4:3 center crop of a 16:9 transmitted image, and a letterbox rendition of a 16:9 transmitted image." Thanks rhoops, I appreciate you taking the time to post an answer.

We're aware of the consumers' STB options for analog. I think the OP wanted to know how cable/sat headends & uplinks will format stations' 16:9 aspect ratio programs for sending to customers with NTSC TVs. Most cable/sat viewers will still have SD cable/sat boxes with no aspect control, or (analog) cable ready NTSC TVs with no aspect ratio control. Will the local broadcast stations (ie KARK, KSFX, KOLR) require cable/sat companies to send these customers a 16:9 letterboxed image or center cropped 4:3 image? Or does it matter to the stations?

for whatever reason, I'm pretty sure KATV does not use the SD feed for its SD broadcasts of Saturday night Football (or any college football in HD)...If katv uses an SD feed, an abc logo similar to this one may be visible in the lower right corner of the 4:3 frame:
http://i7.tinypic.com/6p8tddu.jpg

.
.

For 16:9 format, ABC uses a logo like this one in the lower right corner of the 16:9 frame:

http://i1.tinypic.com/6x1r586.jpg
Of course, if KATV is taking a 16:9 feed and center cropping it to 4:3 for and SD broadcast, this logo would not be visible.

I noticed something along these lines last week during Samantha Who? I have seen the difference while watching HD programming, when KATV has "flipped the switch" from SD to HD, but this was the first time I remember seeing it on the SD station. We were watching the show recorded from SD on Dish, and I saw the picture get brighter and more colorful and the bug disappear. The framing was the same, but it was obvious that they were feed the HD signal on the SD channel. It switched back and forth a couple of times.

On a seperate note, the last 15 minutes of Heroes was SD on KARK-DT last night.

Thanks rhoops, I appreciate you taking the time to post an answer.

We're aware of the consumers' STB options for analog. I think the OP wanted to know how cable/sat headends & uplinks will format stations' 16:9 aspect ratio programs for sending to customers with NTSC TVs. Most cable/sat viewers will still have SD cable/sat boxes with no aspect control, or (analog) cable ready NTSC TVs with no aspect ratio control. Will the local broadcast stations (ie KARK, KSFX, KOLR) require cable/sat companies to send these customers a 16:9 letterboxed image or center cropped 4:3 image? Or does it matter to the stations?
I don't think there is anything concerning this in the retransmission agreement between the stations and the cable companies, so the opinion of the station may not be a factor.

There will still be quite a bit of 4:3 aspect programming after the transition, so it would be a pity if they ran letterbox all the time and then you have a border on all sides when the program is 4:3.

At work I view Mediacom's HD box on a 16:9 LCD monitor and there is no combination of settings on the monitor and box that will fill the screen without distorting the image. I settled on a shrunken image with black all around.

As much as I hate the idea of center cropped 4:3 that is probably what we will see. When I compare SD and HDTV versions of today's programming (on side by side monitors), that is basically what we have on SD today.

As a side note, the cable companies are going to use both carrots and sticks to entice you to accept one of their cable boxes. Some channels will be SDV (Switched Digital Video), which require a two-way communication much like pay per view. The cable ready NTSC TV's days are numbered. In a few years if you want more than 20 channels you'll need a box.

In many cable markets the analog channels are gradually disappearing, one by one, and being replaced by digitally multiplexed channels. SDV means even clear QAM and cablecard equipped sets will not work for all programming. Sooner or later we will all give in and accept a cable company box.

I live in WLR off of Cantrell. I have a 5-inch wire hanging from the back of my set and I get all the digital stations just fine.

radio.joe, even KTHV-DT and KETS-DT? If so, consider yourself very lucky. Especially KETS-DT, which is next to impossible to reliably receive without annoying dropouts.

I don't think there is anything concerning this in the retransmission agreement between the stations and the cable companies, so the opinion of the station may not be a factor.rhoops, thanks.

If "16:9 cropped to 4:3" is what the sat/cablecos end up doing, do you know if stations plan to move the logo bugs over into the 4:3 frame (NOT that I would like that), so NTSC viewers will still see it?

I noticed something along these lines last week during Samantha Who? I have seen the difference while watching HD programming, when KATV has "flipped the switch" from SD to HD, but this was the first time I remember seeing it on the SD station. We were watching the show recorded from SD on Dish, and I saw the picture get brighter and more colorful and the bug disappear. The framing was the same, but it was obvious that they were feed the HD signal on the SD channel. It switched back and forth a couple of times.

On a seperate note, the last 15 minutes of Heroes was SD on KARK-DT last night.

I've seen the switch from SD to HD happen in a commercial, even if it was just a SD commercial.

The last 15 minutes of Heroes was the best part of the episode, if not the best of the season, and I was not happy it was in SD. Especially those effects shots that looked amazing in SD but were probably even better in HD.

radio.joe, even KTHV-DT and KETS-DT? If so, consider yourself very lucky. Especially KETS-DT, which is next to impossible to reliably receive without annoying dropouts.Yes on KTHV. I'll have to double check KETS-DT. When I have an answer, I'll edit this post. I only set the TV for OTA signal once. My regular viewing is with the Comcast DCH HD-DVR.

Joe

Just got word that Comcast is adding the NFL network in HD on channel 406 starting today.

Yes on KTHV. I'll have to double check KETS-DT. When I have an answer, I'll edit this post. I only set the TV for OTA signal once. My regular viewing is with the Comcast DCH HD-DVR.You must be on a hill on Cantrell. Elevation helps.

Can't you just jump between inputs on the TV to switch between OTA and cable?

rhoops, thanks.

If "16:9 cropped to 4:3" is what the sat/cablecos end up doing, do you know if stations plan to move the logo bugs over into the 4:3 frame (NOT that I would like that), so NTSC viewers will still see it?
I can't imagine that happening. The NTSC cable viewer will become a vanishing breed rather quickly. Big box retailers will be selling 20" LCD's below $200 in another year.

Cable subscribers will be coerced, one way or another, into having a cable box.

Sure hope New York NBC has it all in HD. I copy every episode to DVD on the weekend...Havent watched Mondays yet :)

Yeah I know, the weather sure is nice up here in NY ;)

You must be on a hill on Cantrell. Elevation helps. Can't you just jump between inputs on the TV to switch between OTA and cable?Yes, I am on a hill. I still haven't checked what I do and do not get. And, yes, I have my cable box feeding via HDMI. The set will allow switching over to OTA, but I seldom do. When I first set it up I caught a few minutes of the Late Show from CBS OTA and it was awesome.

Something funny that I just remember to post on here. My HR20-700 got that new update middle of last week (I think thats when it came down). I think it is the 0x1BE. Every since I haven't seen that "Audio and Video" thing listed in my menu. I was wondering if anyone else had noticed that too. I remember it being there every other release I got. Wonder why they took it off. Guess I could do the CE this week to get it back (I would hope). Anyway, anyone else seen that?

Audio and video thing? Not sure I follow what menu you are talking about.

The item that allows you to listen to MP3's, look at pictures, and had a Video option that never let you do anything because they hadn't implemented it yet. The main thing was listening to MP3's and looking at pictures with an audio soundtrack.

Oh. Reboot your router, then run network connect on the DVR. If it doesn't see media player or your media server when it boots, it leaves that menu item off.

I have been noticing on KARK that there seems to be no consistency on the feeds through Dish. Is it just me, or does the aspect ratio change sometimes during the middle of a broadcast of a 30 minute program. I keep using HBOHD as a reference point but have seen the aspect of the local NBC change from filling my screen to being cut off on both sides to a perfect aspect ratio but smaller than my screen. Does that make sense. I at first thought I had accidentally hit the wrong button on the remote or something in one of my macros had caused this. I don't think that is the case. Is this normal for OTA? This is very strange. Can anyone shed any light on this? I'm running through a Dish Vip622 receiver to a 1080p Sony. All the HD content on satellite is correct using "normal" on the 622 and "full" on the tv. Does that sound right. I really don't like to stretch the picture on the SD. It just seems to change every evening.
Thanks

Hd shows will be widescreen, HD 4:3 shows (Deal or no deal) will have side bars, News and SD shows will have side bars. Widescreen SD and lots of commercials are both letterbox and pillarboxed.

What you're seeing is someone forgettting to "flip the switch." That is a local affiliate thing, and I've noticed it several times on KARK lately as well, I made note of the fact yesterday that the last 15 minutes of Heroes was in SD this week. NBC sends widescreen versions of nearly all of their shows in SD, so that's why you see pillarboxed and letterboxed shows. I've seen it on the other stations as well, except for Fox which uses a splicer. Well, actually I've even seen them do it on occasion, when they are inserting graphics into a primetime show.

Seems KATV found the solution, use the HD feed and just chop off the sides for the analog viewers.

Oh. Reboot your router, then run network connect on the DVR. If it doesn't see media player or your media server when it boots, it leaves that menu item off.

Yeah, I think they took it out of the 0x1BE release.

I just rebooted my router like a day ago and I know that I have multiple sources for the box to see and get mp3's and pictures from because it always has in the past. I even went so far as to reboot the DVR to see if that was it. Nothing.

It just simply has been disabled in this release apparently. I haven't seen "Audio and Video" listed in the menu since the 13th when my box updated with that software release.

Hmmm. I guess I could redownload the national release and test mine. What are you using for a server, media player or something else? Static or dynamic IP's? Have you told the DVR to reset network defaults. I recall several people had the problem of the dvr messing up their network settings. Can you download from VOD with your current settings?

Wow, sure do ask a lot of questions. :) I know you are just making sure of stuff. Trust me, when it comes to stuff like this that I have used before, I know what to look at. I'm really not as much of a noob as I might sound. I'm actually pretty good at network stuff. :)

Its nothing different on my network at all, its just not there on the box. Don't worry about redownloading anything. I am not really wanting any help figuring out why its not there or anything. All this was more of a wondering if it has disappeared off anyone elses national release box. Not really a big deal at all.

Happy Turkey Day to all!

When I arrived home a few minutes ago, apparently some local station is asleep at the switch (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12290400#post12290400).

Meanwhile I'm watching the Colts @ Falcons on NFL Network.

... wondering if it has disappeared off anyone elses national release box...Only thing I lost with the last ntl. release was on-screen Caller-ID.

KARK is GARBAGE!!!!
KATV is GARBAGE!!!!

Just a little warning about programming next week on KATV. The showing of the Shrek christmas show "Shrek the Halls" and "How The Grinch Stole Christmas (40th Anniversary )" that was supposed to be shown at 7pm on Wednesday night (barely a good time for childrens programming anyway) has been bumped by the fracking razorcrap basketball game.

Childrens shows that are barely at a good time to begin with, then being bumped until 12:36am because of a g*d d*mn basketball game is inexcusable! This is another instance of KATV not giving a d*mn about their viewers and catering to bandwagon jumping individuals and their stupid obsession with barnyard animals. I could have sworn that there were guidelines for programming for children that needed to be adhered to. Well, this is no way to meet the requirements set forth by the FCC.

I sincerely apologize if my momentary rant has offended anyone. If it has, please let me know and I will alter my post to remove the offending parts. I just went ahead and put it in there to convey how pissed I am to find crap like this.

EDIT: One more thing I found that I am getting screwed out of next Wednesday is Pushing Daisies is supposed to be on at 8:00 pm. Well, guess what, that isn't going to be either. THANKS KATV!!!!!! VIVA LE TORRENTS!

Only thing I lost with the last ntl. release was on-screen Caller-ID.

And you have the 0x1BE release on your box? And you still have the "Audio and Video" entry on your menu? (At least I believe that is the way it is labeled.) I find that odd. I guess boxes can behave differently. All I know is that nothing had changed on my box or network other than my getting the CE software just before this NR that gave me the VOD ability.

I enjoy watching Razorback basketball as much as anyone, but dread the terrible ARSN/KATV coverage. Especially since last year when the ESPN coverage of AR-Texas Tech was blacked out for KATV's subpar SD. In a perfect world, the games would be put on KKYK-CA or KWBF but the old-guard analog cable customers in Forrest City, and Prescott would be looking for the black helicopters if that happened, lol.

I was hoping one of the ESPN networks or regional FSN would carry AR-MO instead of KATV. And the following are the games carried by that outfit, that will preempt Wednesday night ABC programming (7-9pm) and likely cause 9pm programs to be shown in SD (instead of in HD in progress)

Nov 28 Missouri
Dec 12 Texas-San Antonio
Dec 19 Northwestern St

I have to laugh, because at my parents house they have a HR21 in the kitchen with a 3 element uhf yagi to the tv tuner and in the LR they have a HR20 with rabbit ears/uhf loop. On both setups, they get every digital except PBS and, you guessed it, KATV. I told them they weren't missing anything...if they want to watch channel 7, just tune it in via sd satellite feed, nothing in HD on it anyway hahahaha.

I beg to differ, Dave. When 7 isn't screwing people over with worthless Razorback garbage (sorry haley-SEA, I just got fed up with all the bs associated with them years ago), they do have a few good HD programs. I LOVE Pushing Daisies and my wife likes Notes From The Underbelly. I may start trying to pick up Samantha Who cause I always liked Christina Applegate. Other than that, yeah, they aren't missing much at all.

If they want anything off ABC, tell them to get them via torrents. I don't usually condone the downloading of TV off the net like that, but you can get the content easier and most often far better than even OTA. At least that way you don't have the commercials to sit thru. Hell, if you get it from a good source you can get it in just as good of quality.

On Pine Bluff/WEHCO cable at my parents place their QAM capable SDTV hasn't shown any changes since late spring.

No KLRT-DT or KASN-DT anywhere (analog only), but all four of KETS/AETN's SD subchannels are carried, as is KTHV-DT and THV 2, and both KATV-DT streams, and KARK-DT.

It's not necessary to get ABC programing via bittorent unless you just want to. You can stream all their shows from the past month or so for free. And the quality is surprisingly good. That's how I discovered Pushing Daisies.

...If they want anything off ABC, tell them to get them via torrents... Just "move" to Mena and watch the the flagship station; WABC-DT from New York.

Screw katv