UPDATE:

I put my new Channel Master 4221 antenna up. WOW! 100% readings on every channel. Now the question I have is, can anyone pick up stations farther north of the Awendaw towers. I guess I'm asking if anyone can pick up channels from Myrtle Beach. And if so, do I need to put in a secondary market zip code into my D* DVR for it to try and pick those channels up?

Not sure on the distance, but it can't hurt to try. When WTAT was still broadcasting from Arco Ln, I was able to pickup a Savannah (?) station while trying to focus my CM (not the 42xx series, but the 27 element yagi...32xx/33xx series??). Haven't tried since I went to the 51 element Philips ant. Would need a rotator anyway from my angle here in the Crick.

Even if you don't sub to SD locals thru D*, does the HR20 still incorporate the OTA signals?

Yeah. When basically set up, my channels started at 70 in the guide. I then went in and setup OTA, therefore all I have is 2-1,2-2,4-1, etc... for locals in the guide.

Tomorrow is my install date. Im a little worried about the installer getting a good line of sight for the dish. Crossing my fingers.

Not sure on the distance, but it can't hurt to try. When WTAT was still broadcasting from Arco Ln, I was able to pickup a Savannah (?) station while trying to focus my CM (not the 42xx series, but the 27 element yagi...32xx/33xx series??). Haven't tried since I went to the 51 element Philips ant. Would need a rotator anyway from my angle here in the Crick.

Well, I tried to get Myrtle Beach channels, but no dice. I've got 100% signal's on all my Charleston stations now and that was the goal anyway.

UPDATE:

I'm asking if anyone can pick up channels from Myrtle Beach.

From most Charleston locations, the bearing toward the Awendaw towers is going to be between NNE and NE, which goes out to sea after there.

Worse, there aren't (really) any HD stations in MB, well not any worth watching, anyway. WFXB, the MB Fox station has studios on the old Air Force Base, but its high power analog and DT transmitters are way inland, closer to Dillon than the Beach. ABC (WPDE) and CBS (WBTW) claim MB in their market, but their towers are even further inland, closer to their original city of license (Florence). The closest NBC is near Wilmington, but TWC carries WIS-DT for some reason...

From here in Georgetown, we can get all the above OTA reasonably well, but since they are spread in bearing, it actually works better to aim almost due south to Awendaw. (We had an OTA antenna up temporarily at one point but for now use TWC instead-another story for another post.)

Anyway if your new antenna can be conveniently rotated to more like NNW to NW you may get one or more of the above, especially when there is some coastal "ducting" going on, but probably not while your antenna is aimed at Awendaw. For grins, put your location into www.antennawab.org, using a phony antenna height like 200 feet, to see the bearings and distances to the "Myrtle Beach" stations. You may find Savannah to be closer!

Mike

I got a tidbit of info on the move to one DirecTV dish for locals here in Charleston. I had a service call with a lead tech on Saturday who told me he keeps hearing that DirecTV will be switching to one dish for local channels (which I'm assuming will bring HD locals with it) in February. He told me that at first it was supposed to be a few months ago, then it was supposed to be by the end of the year, but now he keeps hearing February.

This is most likely due to spot beam issues on Directv 10, and Directv 11 wont be launched until late Dec/early Jan. So feb sounds feasible.

Sounds like we're getting the same treatment Greenville got. They were told "next month" for a year and a half.

Even if they are anywhere close to getting us HDLIL in Feb08, that is still ahead of the original schedule for late summer 08. Still not holding my breath or planning any launch parties, but that would be a good 6 months ahead of sched.

I now get NFL-HD and USA-HD on Comcast Charleston. Thanks !!

I now get NFL-HD and USA-HD on Comcast Charleston. Thanks !!

Wow, did Comcast finally take NFL channel of the extra cost plan?

There is no sound on the local ABC HD 4-1 channel this am. Is there a list of names and numbers we can call at the stations to notify them of this issue?

These are the last batch of numbers I have found:
WTAT Master Control
529-2250

WCIV Master Control
971-5474

WCBD Master Control
216-4904

WCSC Master Control
402-5709

If these don't work, the next best thing is to call the 24-hours News Tip line and ask for Master Control or simply explain to the person who answers what problem you are having and they can either relay the message or transfer you to the appropriate person. And if you find a different/updated number, please post it.

Excellent! Thanks.

Hi - new to thread. I have Dish Network HD, but they currently don't have local HD stations. I really want to be able to watch a game (KU-MU) next Sat night in High Def. However, since it's on ABC nationally, I won't be able to get it on my HD TV (located at Fripp Island, SC near Beaufort).

Can someone clue me in to what I would have to do to get this broadcast. Willing to buy an HD antenna if that will work. I'm probably 60 miles from Charleston. Would I be able to pick up WCIV (ABC) broadcast that far away?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Mark

Hi - new to thread. I have Dish Network HD, but they currently don't have local HD stations. I really want to be able to watch a game (KU-MU) next Sat night in High Def. However, since it's on ABC nationally, I won't be able to get it on my HD TV (located at Fripp Island, SC near Beaufort).

Can someone clue me in to what I would have to do to get this broadcast. Willing to buy an HD antenna if that will work. I'm probably 60 miles from Charleston. Would I be able to pick up WCIV (ABC) broadcast that far away?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Mark
You can "move" to a market that has HD locals.

I "moved" to Atlanta about 3 months ago, and am lovin' it.

You can "move" to a market that has HD locals.

I "moved" to Atlanta about 3 months ago, and am lovin' it.

Do you mean you moved, i.e. changed residence to Atlanta? Or did you do a virtual move by repointing your satellite dish, or something like that?

Just get a CM 4228 and you should get all the Charleston stations

Do you mean you moved, i.e. changed residence to Atlanta? Or did you do a virtual move by repointing your satellite dish, or something like that?

Sounded like to me he was being a smart ass. Quite helpful as well.

No he moved fraudulently.

Just get a CM 4228 and you should get all the Charleston stations

OK - oljim. Thanks for the info, but a few clarifications.

If I get the CM 4228, how do I find out how to install/integrate with my current HD DishNetwork system? i.e. does it hook into the receiver? Where do I have to mount it?

I do have a Dish installer coming out this week to upgrade my dish. Maybe I should just have him put it in?

Just hook it the cable from the 4228 into the ant jack on the back of your dish rec. scan for chs, you will get the EPG for the OTA chs just like the ones from sat.
Get the ant as high as you can, would not count on Dish guy doing your ant. Do NOT let hime use diplexers, they will cut your signal

Do you mean you moved, i.e. changed residence to Atlanta? Or did you do a virtual move by repointing your satellite dish, or something like that?


You can give the satellite company an address in a market that has hd lil's and that allows you to get them. Many on the sat forums do it.

We are soliciting viewer comments on recent changes made to SCETV’s HD service. Earlier this month, we changed the encoding from 1080i/29.97 to 720p/59.94. By switching to progressive scan encoding, we hoped to improve the fluidly of screen transitions and reduce motion artifacts. The tradeoff is a resolution difference of 1920 X 1080 to 1280 X 720.

All observations are welcome, and we hope to finalize our encoding policy by mid December. Thank you.

-Shaun

We are soliciting viewer comments on recent changes made to SCETV’s HD service. Earlier this month, we changed the encoding from 1080i/29.97 to 720p/59.94. By switching to progressive scan encoding, we hoped to improve the fluidly of screen transitions and reduce motion artifacts. The tradeoff is a resolution difference of 1920 X 1080 to 1280 X 720.

All observations are welcome, and we hope to finalize our encoding policy by mid December. Thank you.

-Shaun

I noticed the change to 720p last week. No motion artifacts! Very nice. The picture is a little less crisp though. I wish you were able to achieve this in 1080i but it's nice to not have artifacts every time the camera moves.

Do you mean you moved, i.e. changed residence to Atlanta? Or did you do a virtual move by repointing your satellite dish, or something like that?

Just to continue the discussion on this a little: if you are close enough to the major market that has HD-LIL, you can call into your SatCo and tell them that you have changed your service address to that larger market. You will need to provide a real address, so if you know someone in Atlanta (or other nearby HD-LIL market), you can use their address or a sub-address, such as 123 Main St, Apartment A...in case they also have service and someone catches the red flag on that. Your billing address would remain the same. Think of it as if you were moving to your mountain cabin for more than just a few days and you want to take your receiver with you to get TV. Your billing address would still be the same, but your physical location (in the eyes of the SatCo computer) would be in this larger market. The trick is if you move, you will lose all of your true local channels (SD and/or HD), and you can't request a service call because you aren't actually where you claim to be.

If you get busted, you will at the very least be asked to return your equipment and never call that company again for service. At worst, they may try and hit you with some sort of fraud charge/fine.

Being on Fripp you would probably be on the very edge of the Atlanta spot beam for HD-LIL. Is there a closer market like Savannah that would provide HD-LIL?

As far as changes to your current system if you choose to "move", you wouldn't need to repoint your dish at all. But as Oljim has suggested, the best longterm solution is to simply get an antenna and point to your nearest major market. SatCo's can install your ant while on-site for a upgrade/service call, but you will likely do better calling them directly and asking for one of their techs to come out on his own time and pay him $50-$100 to do it if you don't feel confident that you could do a good enough job (or if you don't want to fall off the roof ;) )

The antenna option allows you to integrate the program guide and will allow you to access sub-channels of local networks. For instance, Charleston has 2-1 (NBC) and 2-2 (some WB-type syndicated network), and PBS has 7-1 (stndard national PBS feed), 7-2 (The South Carolina Channel), and 7-3 (PBS-HD). These subchannels would not likely be available by simply moving.

Moving is tricky and can cost you your service...a lot of people do it and get away with it all the time, but it carries a risk. The antenna will cost more upfront, but will be a great long-term investment. Add a rotator mount, and you can get Charleston and Savannah channels. This is the better option.

Good luck!!

We are soliciting viewer comments on recent changes made to SCETV’s HD service. Earlier this month, we changed the encoding from 1080i/29.97 to 720p/59.94. By switching to progressive scan encoding, we hoped to improve the fluidly of screen transitions and reduce motion artifacts. The tradeoff is a resolution difference of 1920 X 1080 to 1280 X 720.

All observations are welcome, and we hope to finalize our encoding policy by mid December. Thank you.

-Shaun

Thanks for the heads-up. I will definitely take another look in the coming days and post my thoughts/opinions. The increased fps will certainly help. :)

We are soliciting viewer comments on recent changes made to SCETV’s HD service. Earlier this month, we changed the encoding from 1080i/29.97 to 720p/59.94. By switching to progressive scan encoding, we hoped to improve the fluidly of screen transitions and reduce motion artifacts. The tradeoff is a resolution difference of 1920 X 1080 to 1280 X 720.

All observations are welcome, and we hope to finalize our encoding policy by mid December. Thank you.

-Shaun

To contrast the differences in the encoder schemes with our material, we will be broadcasting the HD service in 1080i/29.97 on Wednesday the 21st. On Thursday, the 22nd, we will switch back to 720p/59.94. To date, comments posted and emailed to me have been split on the desired format.

-Shaun

Shaun,

I have a 1080i CRT RPTV. I just turned on Masterpiece Theater and I must admit that 1080i looks much better than 720p on this show. My two cents worth is that the picture quality of 1080i overrides the smoother playback of 720p. Maybe if there were lots of sports that it would be different, but based on the programming I normally watch on PBS I like the 1080i better.

Shaun,

I have a 1080i CRT RPTV. I just turned on Masterpiece Theater and I must admit that 1080i looks much better than 720p on this show. My two cents worth is that the picture quality of 1080i overrides the smoother playback of 720p. Maybe if there were lots of sports that it would be different, but based on the programming I normally watch on PBS I like the 1080i better.

I was just watching MT as well and thinking the same thing as far as content delivered at 1080i. But PBS also has some footage shot almost in macro that when it pans, the image blurs (or has in the past anyway). The progressive scan should help. PBS-HD is not exactly known for their sports coverage ;) but for the Nature type shows that focus closely on items, I can imagine that the PQ will improve at 720p. I am still waiting to see some 720 programming before I make up my mind, but fingers are crossed for improved PQ.

FWIW - I am viewing PBS-HD via OTA in Goose Creek on Vizio 50" Plasma and Vizio 32" LCD. Both are capable of all formats (not incl. 1080p) but are "native" in 720p, I think.

Shaun-

I would have preferred to send this as a private message but your profile seems to not be set up to accept them. Please accept this as constructive criticism, not as a rant...

The choice between the two encoding formats you are evaluating is moot because the SC ETV ATSC stream is overburdened either way. The 19.2MB payload is just not suitable in practice for carrying 3 full resolution streams if one of them is HD, no matter whether it is 720p or 1080i. No matter how good the stat mux is, or how much bandwidth you hold back just for the HD substream, there will always be frequent noticable to occasionally severe artifacts on one or more of the programs due to bit starvation.

I can only hope that at some point after SCETV SD analog transmissions cease, there would only be a logical need to carry 2 substreams, ideally one HD in the format of the majority of your PBS national source material, and then perhaps a very BW limited "SC Channel".

I assume the preponderance of your HD source material comes in as 1080i, and if so, I feel it should not be cross-converted to 720p. My main HD display is a top-of-the line 720p plasma, and of course I prefer that format, when it has been captured in it, as done by ABC and Fox, but I would rather the set do the cross conversion from native 1080i sources. In a perfect world, it would be nice if you do air some native 720p material that it be transmitted that way, but I realize changing standards on the fly is not easy, and possibly risky for some viewers' receivers or CATV systems that might hiccup on the changeover.

I love and admire the pioneering HD work PBS nationwide and SC ETV have been doing for these many years. Showing friends the jaw-dropping "PBS Loop" a few years ago was often mind-blowing to them, and I think I singlehandedly "sold" more new HD sets in our neighborhood than the big box stores. Now that HD is becoming mainstream, I encourage you to uphold the very highest possible technical standards by 1)keeping 1080i material in that format and 2) going down to 2 subchannels.

Thanks for asking us our opinion, and for listening as well.

Mike

The choice between the two encoding formats you are evaluating is moot because the SC ETV ATSC stream is overburdened either way. The 19.2MB payload is just not suitable in practice for carrying 3 full resolution streams if one of them is HD, no matter whether it is 720p or 1080i. No matter how good the stat mux is, or how much bandwidth you hold back just for the HD substream, there will always be frequent noticable to occasionally severe artifacts on one or more of the programs due to bit starvation.


It seems to me all of that is a separate issue and does not preclude either 720p or 1080i being a better choice.

I have a Samsung 7146 LCD HD TV. My 2 cents would be that with 1080i being as good as it gets and with most tv's now being 1080i, that shows should be in 1080i. PQ is just not up to par in 720p to me. Just doesn't make sense to me to go backwards in PQ.

I would have preferred to send this as a private message but your profile seems to not be set up to accept them. Please accept this as constructive criticism, not as a rant...


The vCard in my profile has always had my email address available for download, and I have now enabled private messaging. I welcome honest dialog and I appreciate your comments. If anyone ever has any questions or comments about SCETV, even if it is not about DTV, please contact me. If I am unable to address the issue, I guarantee I will forward it to someone that can.


The choice between the two encoding formats you are evaluating is moot because the SC ETV ATSC stream is overburdened either way. The 19.2MB payload is just not suitable in practice for carrying 3 full resolution streams if one of them is HD, no matter whether it is 720p or 1080i.


From an engineering perspective, I agree with your assessment that our encoding system is being taxed with the current requirements of content. The reality of the situation is that I am tasked with how best to manage two SD streams, one HD stream, PSIP, DEAS and other data in the limited bandwidth of ~19.4 Mbs. I will continue to try and balance the best quality signal with the available resources.

Short term, we will be implementing changes that should alleviate some of the current issues with our broadcast. Mid December, early January, noise reduction gear should be in place pre-encoding. This allows a cleaner signal to be encoded lowering the processing needed for the service. Also, after the analog cutoff date (Feb 09), the current plans are to eliminate one our SD services to focus our primary schedule solely on the HD channel.

Initial plans are also being discussed for the long term. We understand that we are going to have to replace our encoding system in the next 2 to 4 years. As you might know, we were the first DTV station on the air in South Carolina. As a result of this, we are still using a first generation encoding system. As you can imagine, encoding algorithms have improved dramatically since 2000.

Again, I appreciate the comments and hope I was able to address some of the issues. We definitely want your input because ultimately what our viewer want is at the core of our mission.

-Shaun

The vCard in my profile has always had my email address available for download, and I have now enabled private messaging. I welcome honest dialog and I appreciate your comments. If anyone ever has any questions or comments about SCETV, even if it is not about DTV, please contact me. If I am unable to address the issue, I guarantee I will forward it to someone that can.

From an engineering perspective, I agree with your assessment that our encoding system is being taxed with the current requirements of content. The reality of the situation is that I am tasked with how best to manage two SD streams, one HD stream, PSIP, DEAS and other data in the limited bandwidth of ~19.4 Mbs. I will continue to try and balance the best quality signal with the available resources.

Short term, we will be implementing changes that should alleviate some of the current issues with our broadcast. Mid December, early January, noise reduction gear should be in place pre-encoding. This allows a cleaner signal to be encoded lowering the processing needed for the service. Also, after the analog cutoff date (Feb 09), the current plans are to eliminate one our SD services to focus our primary schedule solely on the HD channel.

Initial plans are also being discussed for the long term. We understand that we are going to have to replace our encoding system in the next 2 to 4 years. As you might know, we were the first DTV station on the air in South Carolina. As a result of this, we are still using a first generation encoding system. As you can imagine, encoding algorithms have improved dramatically since 2000.

Again, I appreciate the comments and hope I was able to address some of the issues. We definitely want your input because ultimately what our viewer want is at the core of our mission.

-Shaun

Good info! Sounds as if it will be better. :) Just as good is somebody that can do something, within limits, really does care and wants input. :cool: Not used to that anymore.

Is anyone else's ESPN 2 HD out? It's thirty minutes for Carolina / Clemson kickoff!! Both of my HD Cable Boxes (Comcast) are showing black.

Our ESPN 2 HD is out, too. We're getting a 727 message (meaning it's blacked out) with our DirecTV service. My wife's on hold with DirecTV right now trying to get the full scoop. If she doesn't get to see this game, I think she may hurt someone.

I called Comcast... the company line is that it will come back on after the other (WVU vs. UCON) game ends... since it is blacked out.

Its still not working on Comcast, but its working on 41 the sd channel.

GA,GA Tech game end just came on HD ESPN2, so maybe it's getting ready to switch there. Stupid why it's on SD and not HD.

GA,GA Tech game end just came on HD ESPN2, so maybe it's getting ready to switch there. Stupid why it's on SD and not HD.

No idea, but the hd channel is showing the game now. GO Gamecocks!! :D

It's on ESPN2HD on DirecTV now.

It's because of the reverse mirror with ABC and ESPN 2. The GA/GA Tech game (my game) was on ABC locally, and ESPN 2 for the rest of the nation. There are limited HD paths at ABC/ESPN. One of the 3:30 games probably went off early so a HD path became available for GA / GA Tech, that's why my game came up.

SCETV has decided to standardize the encoding for our HD service at 1080i/29.97. After reviewing viewer comments and looking at the type of content we provide, we felt this was the best standard for our setup. We are now in the process of installing noise reduction equipment to improve our HD service and hope to be complete by mid December.

I would like to thank the viewers who took the time to post their comments both publicly and privately to me. If anyone has any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.

-Shaun

Shaun, thanks for considering our input.

Has anyone else out there noticed dropouts on 5.1 lately? I started noticing it a couple of weeks ago. I have an outside RS UHF antenna with a Channel Master AMP and a rotator and I just can't get a steady signal on 5.1 like I used to.
I have a HR10-250 (for another week or so) and have never been able to get 100% on CBS but I usually get 95-98% or so. Now I only get 90% or so and random dropouts.
On a possible related note, PBS is now a rock steady 71%..all the time. I used to get 100% on it all the time and now I get no higher than 71% and it's perfectly constant at 71%. Very weird.

Has anyone else out there noticed dropouts on 5.1 lately? I started noticing it a couple of weeks ago. I have an outside RS UHF antenna with a Channel Master AMP and a rotator and I just can't get a steady signal on 5.1 like I used to.
I have a HR10-250 (for another week or so) and have never been able to get 100% on CBS but I usually get 95-98% or so. Now I only get 90% or so and random dropouts.
On a possible related note, PBS is now a rock steady 71%..all the time. I used to get 100% on it all the time and now I get no higher than 71% and it's perfectly constant at 71%. Very weird.

Any chance one of your connectors on the outside is loose or beginning to corrode? I had a run of cable that was showing signs of corrosion on one connector going into a splitter and when I changed that, my signal went up several points and became rock solid on all channels...not 100% on all channels, but at least it plateaued to a consistent level.

I have not noticed any issues during my Thanksgiving week CBS recordings.

Can anyone tell me if WCSC OTA is working right now?

Just bought a new Vizio and hooked my long dormant CM4228 to it. I have the antenna in the garage leaning against a window. Im able to receive all local HD signals except for WCSC.

sig = 94 but no pic/sound

CBS-HD on Comcast has had problems for the last two weeks ... other HD channels seems ok.

I just got back from Columbia for the weekend. What a disappoint that we don't have a HD weather radar or 24 hour local weather channel. I read that there used to be one, what happened to it?

Probably used the bandwidth for something worthwhile.

CBS-HD on Comcast has had problems for the last two weeks ... other HD channels seems ok.

Have not had any issues with CBS OTA.

Probably used the bandwidth for something worthwhile.
I play a lot of golf, so it would be worthwhile for me.

Probably used the bandwidth for something worthwhile.
2-2 used to be a constantly updated (not live sweeping) radar that zoomed from regional to state to local every few seconds. That was nice. But then they dropped it and loaded MyTV as the subchannel. Where before the radar image used little or no bandwidth, now we have a channel that (and this is only MY opinion) is useless and hogs way more bandwidth.

Last I checked, 5-2 was still a live sweeping radar that was a static view (except for the radar "arm"). Maybe this is not available on cable, but it was up on OTA last I checked.

I play a lot of golf, so it would be worthwhile for me.

Well you see therein lies the problem - it's always about me me me. BTW, I play a lot of golf too - did you know on the new weather.com radar maps you can zoom into your house, usually up to 10 minutes ago?

Has anyone heard if and when the local news channels are going to be broadcast in HD? I was in the upstate this weekend and channel 7-1 broadcast their news in HD. What a nice picture!!

I also agree that it would be nice to have a OTA weather radar. At least two of the upstate channels (channel 4 and channel 7) broadcast 24 hour weather subchannels in HD.

Well you see therein lies the problem - it's always about me me me. BTW, I play a lot of golf too - did you know on the new weather.com radar maps you can zoom into your house, usually up to 10 minutes ago?

And you are being an ass about this for what reason? I was asking a question about HDTV, not what website I need to go to to get a radar weather map. So while you want to be an ass about this, I will simply assume that you have nothing better to do with you life than be an ass about this.

Ah, sounds like you see the faulty logic. Lobby your Congressmen for ala carte programming if you want your own personal lineup. ;)

Ah, sounds like you see the faulty logic. Lobby your Congressmen for ala carte programming if you want your own personal lineup. ;)
I'd call my congressman, but unlike you I don't believe the federal gov't is the fix for everything.

unlike you I don't believe the federal gov't is the fix for everything.

I don't remember saying that. :confused:

But the solution to you wanting one channel while others prefer something else is ala carte programming which would cost everyone more in the long run. Sorry you take offense to the harsh reality that personal preferences don't matter that much in the grand scheme of things. Like the guy here who insists we should have the Big Ten Network here in SEC and ACC country. :eek:

I don't remember saying that. :confused:

But the solution to you wanting one channel while others prefer something else is ala carte programming which would cost everyone more in the long run. Sorry you take offense to the harsh reality that personal preferences don't matter that much in the grand scheme of things. Like the guy here who insists we should have the Big Ten Network here in SEC and ACC country. :eek:

Is it not possible that people who attended - or grew up fans of - Big Ten schools move to areas outside of the Big10 region, such as areas that are in the SEC/ACC regions? Maybe those people want to follow their alma mater from somewhere that doesn't carry their conference games locally...I know that I would personally be thrilled if the ACC developed their own network...and I live in ACC country, but would want to follow my team(s) if I lived elsewhere. Of course it is apparently unwise of me to attach some "personal" preference to any conversation here. :rolleyes:

And for what it's worth, no one is forcing you to have the BTN. You can always get a package of programming that is below where this would appear. Or better yet, don't watch it if it is isn't your preference.

I believe "shades" stated an interest in the idea and asked if there was such a radar/weather channel here. And yes, there were two, and one was replaced with a network that is syndicated programming only. As for this being worthwhile, maybe 10-year rerun episodes of "Friends" or "Moesha" is your taste, and if so, that's okay... we won't judge you for that. :D

But while WCBD is now broadcasting 2 video streams from their tower, the HD has gone downhill due to more bandwidth being needed for audio and video on the subchannel, as opposed to when they simply had the radar and it used a mere fraction of the bandwidth that MyTV uses.

So, personal tastes aside, I see the removal of the radar channel and implementation of the syndication channel as a negative move. Maybe Channel 2 is simply doing it as a revenue stream (ad sales) and don't care that their HD quality if not as good as it could be. That's their call. But if they ever decide to look into bringing the radar/weather channel idea back from the dead, maybe they might read these forums and see an interest from the local HD and OTA fans and consider it a little more. That recent discussion about PBS and their HD future was a perfect example of how the local affiliates might gather info from outside sources.

And for what it's worth, no one is forcing you to have the BTN.

Which is not the issue. Again, the issue is limited available bandwidth. We all wish we could have access to every channel out there. I am not sure if this is a difficult concept or people just choose to focus on why can't we have Radar, BTN, MyTV and all of our personal preferences all at the same time. :confused: No one is berating anyone for having personal preferences like you infer. They just can not all be accommodated. That's about as many different ways as I can say it so I think I'm done. :D

Well you see therein lies the problem - it's always about me me me.

This is is the issue idiot. I asked if there is a radar channel and if not, why (was it not cost effective, was it a bandwidth issue, whatever)? I never said that I had to have it. I said it would be nice to have since I play golf. There is nothing about me, me, me as you want to point out. And you make this out as if I'm bitching about wanting something for nothing, hence your comment that I call my congressman.

Gary, take a frickin' chill pill and lighten up. I'm not asking that we raise taxes and support illegal immigration. All I was asking is, is there a weather radar channel. What was the problem with that?

This is is the issue idiot.

take a frickin' chill pill and lighten up.

Yeah, I'll follow your example. :eek:

Why the hell are we not getting Private Practice or Dirty Sexy Money on WCIV?!?!?

Why the hell are we not getting Private Practice or Dirty Sexy Money on WCIV?!?!?


I just called WCIV...they dont have a clue .

All they could tell me was it will be aired this weekend. My wife is in the process of sending hate mail...lol

I just called WCIV...they dont have a clue .

All they could tell me was it will be aired this weekend. My wife is in the process of sending hate mail...lol

I just called the news room and terrified the poor girl with the F-Bomb a couple times. Told them that whoever made the decision was an Fin' idiot and should be fired pronto. I think tonight's episode of Dirty Sexy Money is the last written before the strike.:mad:

Why the hell are we not getting Private Practice or Dirty Sexy Money on WCIV?!?!?

I am out of town right now...what is showing in place of those shows?

The Sweetest Thing - Cast & Credits: Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate, Selma Blair, Thomas Jane, Jason Bateman

...Again, the issue is limited available bandwidth...

Simple question allowing for a simple answer...
Is it your theory that:
A. WCBD is using LESS bandwidth for their subchannel (2-2/MyTV) than when they had the LiveVIPIR radar feed, or
B. WCBD is using MORE bandwidth for their subchannel (2-2/MyTV) than when they had the LiveVIPIR radar feed, or
C. WCBD is using THE SAME bandwidth for their subchannel (2-2/MyTV) than when they had the LiveVIPIR radar feed?

We all know that each network gets a set amount of bandwidth to send as many primary and secondary (and tertiary, etc) signals as they want, so long as they do not exceed the total allowable bandwidth. It is up to them to break that total bandwidth allowance into as many segments as they want. So if WCBD is choosing to create a subset channel, they are still held to the same total bandwidth. If they take any space on their beam for subset channels, they are taking away from the primary channel. By taking away bandwidth from the primary channel, they are degrading the signal for that primary channel. Therefore, the more bandwidth needed to transmit that subchannel, the less bandwidth can be used for the primary. It would seem to me (and I am admittedly NOT AN EXPERT or engineer) that the radar feed - which was video only - would tax the total bandwidth available LESS than the combined needs of audio AND video for 2-2/MyTV.

Simple question allowing for a simple answer...
Is it your theory that:
A. WCBD is using LESS bandwidth for their subchannel (2-2/MyTV) than when they had the LiveVIPIR radar feed, or
B. WCBD is using MORE bandwidth for their subchannel (2-2/MyTV) than when they had the LiveVIPIR radar feed, or
C. WCBD is using THE SAME bandwidth for their subchannel (2-2/MyTV) than when they had the LiveVIPIR radar feed?

We all know that each network gets a set amount of bandwidth to send as many primary and secondary (and tertiary, etc) signals as they want, so long as they do not exceed the total allowable bandwidth. It is up to them to break that total bandwidth allowance into as many segments as they want. So if WCBD is choosing to create a subset channel, they are still held to the same total bandwidth. If they take any space on their beam for subset channels, they are taking away from the primary channel. By taking away bandwidth from the primary channel, they are degrading the signal for that primary channel. Therefore, the more bandwidth needed to transmit that subchannel, the less bandwidth can be used for the primary. It would seem to me (and I am admittedly NOT AN EXPERT or engineer) that the radar feed - which was video only - would tax the total bandwidth available LESS than the combined needs of audio AND video for 2-2/MyTV.

And on top of all that...the radar channel was far more entertaining than that lousy excuse for a station with the lousy name of MyTV.

And on top of all that...the radar channel was far more entertaining than that lousy excuse for a station with the lousy name of MyTV.

While you and I may agree, that delves into the realm of "personal preference". I am trying to keep this focused on objective measures, not subjective. I will never begrudge anyone for their tastes or choices, so long as they never begrudge me mine. But if we could have that radar back AND get a better image stream from the 2-1 primary channel, then that would be an improvement. The signal for 2-2 is so poor that I don't think they could scrape anymore bandwidth away from that stream to improve the primary signal.

that delves into the realm of "personal preference".

A realm that can leave you wanting and disappointed. :)

Just in case anyone from WCBD is lurking here, or cares, as an OTA viewer only 2-2 provides a welcome option to me and I vote for it. Though the bandwidth discussions make sense I wonder how much outdated equipment might also have to do with the generally bad reception of WCBD broadcasts. Even the closed captioning is useless on local broadcasts.

I just called WCIV...they dont have a clue .

All they could tell me was it will be aired this weekend. My wife is in the process of sending hate mail...lol

Was it ever re-aired? I went to watch my recorded episode and found it to a recording of some movie. Didn't know about what was going on until I read this.

Was it ever re-aired? I went to watch my recorded episode and found it to a recording of some movie. Didn't know about what was going on until I read this.

I got the same thing, I just assumed it was a dvr error until reading this thread. Mine did not record anything this weekend. My wife will be PO'd.

I didn't get a recording over the weekend either. I wasn't expecting them to re air it either. I found another source for this episode but, I haven't watched it yet.

I didn't get a recording over the weekend either. I wasn't expecting them to re air it either. I found another source for this episode but, I haven't watched it yet.

Yeah. I didn't watch it off WCIV. Went to ABC.com.

I actually yelled at their float Sunday night at the Mount P. Xmas parade.
"Thanks for making me miss Dirty Sexy Money last Wednesday! Merry Christmas!":D
My wife got a chuckle.:p

Is anyone else having audio issues with the local HD channels (ABC, PBS, etc.) on Comcast? Other HD channels seem fine.

I've been getting audio dropouts on WCIV. Happened about every 2 minutes during Shrek the Halls the other night.

Yeah. I didn't watch it off WCIV. Went to ABC.com.

I actually yelled at their float Sunday night at the Mount P. Xmas parade.
"Thanks for making me miss Dirty Sexy Money last Wednesday! Merry Christmas!":D
My wife got a chuckle.:p

What would cause them to air that movie instead of the "regularly scheduled programming"? It's not like they aired some "local interest" programming in its place, like the March of Dimes Telethon. Could that have been a directive that came down from the ABC Mothership? But if that's the case, why not update the EPG to show that a movie is playing on a Wednesday night instead of the prime time shows? To be fair, I was out of town and did not see the EPG...was it showing the prime time shows or was it listing that movie?

Was there something else airing on another network that would have been a bigger draw - something like the Grammy's - that would have taken away a large percentage of the normal viewing audience?

I've been getting audio dropouts on WCIV. Happened about every 2 minutes during Shrek the Halls the other night.

Same here. Glad I wasn't the only one.

New HD Channels on Comcast Coming?

I just had the programming info show up on my cablecards for the following new HD channels. Unfortunately they are not live yet.

422 History Channel HD
423 CNN HD
424 Discovery Channel HD (Not Discovery HD Theater)
425 TLC HD
426 Animal Planet HD
427 SciFi HD

I know the satellites have had all these channels for at least a couple of months.

New HD Channels on Comcast Coming?

I just had the programming info show up on my cablecards for the following new HD channels. Unfortunately they are not live yet.

422 History Channel HD
423 CNN HD
424 Discovery Channel HD (Not Discovery HD Theater)
425 TLC HD
426 Animal Planet HD
427 SciFi HD

I know the satellites have had all these channels for at least a couple of months.

Not sure which is better news:
That Comcast is adding these channels after they have been available on D* (on probably on E*) for a couple weeks to a couple of months...OR
That your CableCards are working with Comcast
:p:D:eek::rolleyes:

I think it's the cablecard part.

chsgas, do you have the TiVo HD or a Series 3? The last comcast guy at my house said they've been having good luck lately with cablecards, which is a far cry from the message a few months ago. He said the TiVo HD's are working good. The S3's have issues.

I have a Series 3. The cablecards are not perfect but I can't remember the last time I missed a recording. The biggest trouble I had was with Comcast and how they had me setup. Once I convinced them it was an account setup and not the TiVo Series 3 I've had pretty good luck (knock on wood).

Anyone getting major interference on Comcast HD channels? FOX is unwatchable and ESPN is borderline driving me nuts (short trip BTW).

Tried a reboot and no change.

What would cause them to air that movie instead of the "regularly scheduled programming"? It's not like they aired some "local interest" programming in its place, like the March of Dimes Telethon. Could that have been a directive that came down from the ABC Mothership? But if that's the case, why not update the EPG to show that a movie is playing on a Wednesday night instead of the prime time shows? To be fair, I was out of town and did not see the EPG...was it showing the prime time shows or was it listing that movie?

Was there something else airing on another network that would have been a bigger draw - something like the Grammy's - that would have taken away a large percentage of the normal viewing audience?

AFAIK, the rest of the country got to watch it. I posted over in the main DSM thread over in HD Programming and one person said it was on. I called up a couple friends out of town and it was on for them to. I can only assume that there's an idiot over at WCIV who thought they were reruns due to the strikes and scheduled something to take its place...

OR the WCIV head honcho wanted to appease his wife or daughter with one of the worst chick flicks ever.:p

AFAIK, the rest of the country got to watch it. I posted over in the main DSM thread over in HD Programming and one person said it was on. I called up a couple friends out of town and it was on for them to. I can only assume that there's an idiot over at WCIV who thought they were reruns due to the strikes and scheduled something to take its place...

OR the WCIV head honcho wanted to appease his wife or daughter with one of the worst chick flicks ever.:p

Both explanations sound legit, though #2 just has a nice ring to it. :D

yes no cw in hdtv if not how soon

The cat is out of the bag. The HD channels will definitely be up by tomorrow. You may even see them sooner.

422 History Channel HD
423 CNN HD
424 Discovery Channel HD (Not Discovery HD Theater)
425 TLC HD
426 Animal Planet HD
427 SciFi HD

As for Fox and ESPN interference, I check with our engineers. We do not ahve any known issues with those channels.

Lancer - Let me know if you are still having issues.

Thanks

Chris

The cat is out of the bag, early. The HD channels will definitely be up by tomorrow. You may even see them sooner.

422 History Channel HD
423 CNN HD
424 Discovery Channel HD (Not Discovery HD Theater)
425 TLC HD
426 Animal Planet HD
427 SciFi HD

As for Fox and ESPN interference, I check with our engineers. We do not ahve any known issues with those channels.

Lancer - Let me know if you are still having issues.

Thanks

Chris

Cool! Chris, any word when Charleston will be getting TiVo deployment? That just might be enough to keep me from switching to D* when they get the locals in HD.

http://www.tivolovers.com/2007/12/18/comcast-finally-deploying-tivo-software-for-general-customers/

Cool! Chris, any word when Charleston will be getting TiVo deployment? That just might be enough to keep me from switching to D* when they get the locals in HD.

http://www.tivolovers.com/2007/12/18/comcast-finally-deploying-tivo-software-for-general-customers/

Cool news...about time this came to fruition. It's only been, what, three years since the announcement!?!

Does anyone know if the new Comcast Tivo will have Remote Booking and Media Share (or whatever the networking feature is called)?

Still loving D* HD at my house. Now if only Comcast would stop screwing with me and allow me to only get High-Speed Internet without having to add the cost of having their Basic cable tv package. Not that Bellsouth with their DSL is any better. I just want Internet only without having to get the lube out.

Still loving D* HD at my house. Now if only Comcast would stop screwing with me and allow me to only get High-Speed Internet without having to add the cost of having their Basic cable tv package. Not that Bellsouth with their DSL is any better. I just want Internet only without having to get the lube out.

Now that Verizon have Rev A broadband in this area, I dropped DSL (had Comcast HSI) before.

Using the card in my laptop and getting speeds around 2mbits. Not bad and I can get access riding down the interstate or sitting in a restaurant.

yes i miss quote on cw how soon for it on dish in hdtv

wasn't there just a law passed that prohibits companies from requiring u to purchase other services to get internet? or did that just apply to dsl and phone companies? sent from seat 7a.

Hey there - bought a 26" element HDTV yesterday and am absolutely loving it so far. Have been a lurker of this forum for years but because we never owned an HDTV never had a reason to post. May have lots of questions in the future though :-)

For now though two questions: first, is 5-1 down? I'm not getting any signal at all. Second, is 5.2's doppler feed gone? I was getting 5-1 nice and strong last night but couldnt find 5-2 at all.

I'm not at home so I can't comment on the status of 5.1 but 5.2 radar has been off the air for a long time.

Does anyone have D* On-Demand. I just hooked my HD DVR to the internet and want to try to get D* On-Demand.

Well, never mind on the 5-1. It seems to be back up. Wondering if maybe the storms messed something up this morning.

Does anyone have D* On-Demand. I just hooked my HD DVR to the internet and want to try to get D* On-Demand.

Yep - hooked up month or so ago. Worked great the few times I tried it. There are a ton of things available, but as you probably heard it is all standard definition content now. Looking forward to HD on demand down the road - then I'll probably use it more.

Yep - hooked up month or so ago. Worked great the few times I tried it. There are a ton of things available, but as you probably heard it is all standard definition content now. Looking forward to HD on demand down the road - then I'll probably use it more.

So,all you have to do is have your D* HD-DVR conected to your home network in order to get the On Demand content? Does that allow you to get an update to the receiver or ...?

Yep - hooked up month or so ago. Worked great the few times I tried it. There are a ton of things available, but as you probably heard it is all standard definition content now. Looking forward to HD on demand down the road - then I'll probably use it more.

Yeah my DVR is updating and channels 1000+ are starting to show up in the guide. SD only kinda stinks, but hey, it's free after all. I'm sure after I get a chance to use it a bit that I will then begin to want the HD, but this still beats my original expectations.

So,all you have to do is have your D* HD-DVR conected to your home network in order to get the On Demand content? Does that allow you to get an update to the receiver or ...?

Yeah - you hook it up and overnight D* begins the download of the content. I think it takes a day for all on demand channels to be available.

Receiver updates still come via satellite, not the network link though if that is what you were asking.

FYI - when using the DOD (D* On-Demand), you can view the available offerings by going to Channel 1000, or you can simply type in the channel directly. For instance, TBS is channel 245...the On-Demand channel for TBS is 1245. So simply placing a "1" in front of the desired channel will take you directly to that network's DOD content.

Thus ends the lesson of the day...Merry Christmas! :D

Ive had my internet and phone connection tied into my HR20-700 for 2 days now and I still dont have any On Demand content. Ive even ran through all the tests and completed a new setup just to see if that would work. Still nothing.

Mine took a day or so to completely fill in. But I was a beta tester (a program called "Cutting Edge" by the D* developers). By now I figured it was all running smoothly. Now that it has been a national software release, you can call in to D* CSR and ask for a "push" for your data stream. They may still need to flip the switch for your account to see the DOD.

Mine took a day or so to completely fill in. But I was a beta tester (a program called "Cutting Edge" by the D* developers). By now I figured it was all running smoothly. Now that it has been a national software release, you can call in to D* CSR and ask for a "push" for your data stream. They may still need to flip the switch for your account to see the DOD.

I called into D* to let them know about my hooking up the DVR to the internet(s). The guy at D* Tech Support said it would take a few days for DOD to show up, but they started showing up about 3 hours later. So if you do call D*, hit the Tech Support button.

Here's two other tasty nuggets for those of you who are new to the DOD experience:
1) You can watch your downloaded programs/movie while they are still downloading. While downloading, the icon will appear red, then yellow, then green. Red means it's not quite ready to watch; Yellow means there is enough cached to begin watching; Green means it is all done downloading and can be viewed in its entirety.
2) You can record three programs at once and watch a fourth...all at the same time! OTA/Sat signals do not interfere with DOD downloads since they come in over the internet. So go crazy with the downloads and don't worry about DOD canceling your normally scheduled recordings.

Happy viewing!

Ive had my internet and phone connection tied into my HR20-700 for 2 days now and I still dont have any On Demand content. Ive even ran through all the tests and completed a new setup just to see if that would work. Still nothing.

for some i reason i remember having to do something really strange to get it enabled (since it is still technically beta) but for the life of me i can't remember. if you don't get a response here check out dbsforum or something and give it a search. if i can think of it i'll post as well.

Try this link: http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv-cutting-edge-ce-discussion-forum/105166-how-activate-directv-demand-hr20-700-a.html

Good Luck!

Try this link: http://www.satelliteguys.us/directv-cutting-edge-ce-discussion-forum/105166-how-activate-directv-demand-hr20-700-a.html

Good Luck!

Yep - that's it: that keyword search of IWANTMYVOD. I thought that was an unusual step to have to do but when I did it, it worked, so no complaints...

I thought DOD was now "RTM" on all versions of software for the D* DVR's. But if it is still just a CE release, then, yes, this would be a critical step.

Came home from a long vacation and saw the new HD channels on Comcast ! Very nice !!!!

Now if we can get the Science Channel in HD !

So, how many Comcast subscribers will be watching Saturdays NFL game on WCBD? I'm not going to waste my time watching and listening to audio drops. I was just watching the nightly news and lost about 10 seconds straight of one of the news stories.

I'll probably watch the game on WCSC for the 5.1 audio (and no audio drops).

I am kind of curious about this simulcast...will the audio and video simply be shared from NFL Network to the other networks? Or will each network have their own announcers and camera feeds? Maybe our resident Technical Director can share some insight on this rare event. All three national networks broadcast in 1080i, so I guess the signal sharing would be fairly seamless.

I plan to at least view the three feeds and see which looks/sounds best, likely NFLHD or CBS will be the final viewing location.

Just found this note on HDSportsGuide.com:
12/26/2007
The Saturday Night NFL Network broadcast of the historical game between the undefeated New England Patriots and New York Giants will be simulcast on NBC and CBS. The game also will be televised by WCVB-ABC (Channel 5) in Boston, WMUR-ABC in Manchester, New Hampshire (Channel 9) and WWOR (Channel 9) in New York. The telecast begins at 8 p.m. ET with kickoff set at 8:15 p.m. ET.

UPDATE 12/27/2007: HDSportsGuide.com has received confirmation that the simulcast on NBC and CBS will be carried in high definition!

So it appears that this will be simulcast on every network except FOX. So if ABC is sharing the feed for those select markets, how is the transition done from 1080i to 720p?

There is a reason why Fox will not have the game. NBC is the prime time network carrier for the NFL and CBS would have the game if the #^*^%$ NFL Network was not carrying the game originally. The visiting team is the factor as to what network the game is carried. CBS gets AFC visiting teams and Fox gets NFC visiting teams.

So it appears that this will be simulcast on every network except FOX. So if ABC is sharing the feed for those select markets, how is the transition done from 1080i to 720p?


The game is only on ABC in those select markets. The NFL network arranges carry agreements with stations in the home and away markets of the games they carry. It just happens to be ABC stations in this case. The conversion is a simple cross conversion using a cross converter- likely at each station. Just a basic "black box". Those stations probably have HD news and regularly receive HD signals of various formats for rebroadcast/highlights- it's something they do on a regular basis.

NBC and CBS will carry the NFL Networks telecast as-is and will air the NFL Network announcers. I was the technical director for those games last year so I'm pretty familiar with their operation. (I probably can't publicly state my opinion of Mr. Gumbel.) The signal is sent via satellite from the remote to Stamford, CT where it's distributed to the various outlets: DirecTV, Comcast, and NFL Network Studios in Culver City. I would assume that NBC and CBS will simply pick up the signal distributed from Stamford, just like everyone else.

...The conversion is a simple cross conversion using a cross converter- likely at each station. Just a basic "black box". ...

So how much does one of those little "black boxes" cost? And how much effort is needed to make it work? Is this something that any "run of the mill" affiliate technician/engineer can operate?

I ask these questions only because the primary reason given by Raycom/Lincoln Financial Sports for not broadcasting the ACC Tourney in HD was that so many of their affiliates are operating varying types of equipment (in terms of 720p/1080i) that they cannot send out one signal and rely on their affiliates to convert the signal.

Sounded like a cop-out to me when I first heard that since my DirecTV DVR is capable of recording and displaying 480i/p, 720p, and 1080i signals in their native formats or forcing/reformatting to a selected resolution. If DirecTV can put that ability into thousands of DVR's, why can't local affiliates do the same thing?

In case you are wondering, here's the site: http://www.raycomsports.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=6&url_subchannel_id=&url_article_id=99&change_well_id=2

Q: Are RAYCOM SPORTS� telecasts available in High Definition?

A: Raycom Sports is regrettably unable to currently provide our viewers with games in HD. The technology for high definition distribution of syndicated (or non-network) telecasts is not yet to the point where all of our local TV stations can pull down a HD feed, process the signal and then successfully rebroadcast it out to their local viewers.

In case you are wondering, here's the site: http://www.raycomsports.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=6&url_subchannel_id=&url_article_id=99&change_well_id=2

Q: Are RAYCOM SPORTS� telecasts available in High Definition?

A: Raycom Sports is regrettably unable to currently provide our viewers with games in HD. The technology for high definition distribution of syndicated (or non-network) telecasts is not yet to the point where all of our local TV stations can pull down a HD feed, process the signal and then successfully rebroadcast it out to their local viewers.

I'd be happy if they got out of the broadcasting of events and allow the network to cover games. Nothing worse this year when trying to watch some college football only to see that annoying logo of Lincoln Financial or Raycom Sports and know there is no HD picture there. I'm more apt to watch a game I don't care about just because it was in HD than one I'd like to watch.

Just my opinion.

I agree 100% with that. I don't limit myself to HD-only games, but given the choice between an HD broadcast of Mt. St. Mary's vs. Spatula State or an SD broadcast of Boston College vs. Florida State, it's a no brainer... Go Fightin' Spatula's!!! :D :p

Some of the local engineers can probably better answer your question, but I'm guessing a cross-converter can cost anywhere between $2500 and $100,000 depending on features and quality. Many converters that we use do more than just cross convert, they also up/down convert and they can handle multiple ins/outs.

Most any "run of the mill" engineer could use this box, its a simple in/out box usually with a touch screen UI that has various settings for standards, aspect ratios, etc.

I think Raycom is correct however. Many local stations can't take-in an HD signal, other than the network. Most local stations have little to no HD equipment actually at the station. I believe all the HD switching happens at the transmitter. Even if they could downlink an HD signal at the station, they may only have an SD microwave to the transmitter and no way to pump that HD signal through their facility. If there's a hundred different stations, there could be a hundred different reasons why they can't air a LFN game in HD. Granted most stations with an HD transmitter probably COULD, but not without some OT on their engineering staff and a trip to the transmitter to manually switch things around every game.

Now I feel really naive. The transmitters at the towers are specifically SD or HD? I thought all the HD processing happened inside the booth. But if a station such as WCSC can already transmit national primetime shows or other sporting events in HD, shouldn't they be able to accept RLF's HD signal and retransmit it? According to the RLF site, WCSC is the 2nd largest affiliate (behind their home station in Charlotte). You would think that a "flagship" affiliate would be a little more advanced and ready to rebroadcast their mothership's full lineup. Or better yet, as a company they may want to look at this as an opportunity to step into the present/future for their viewing public and make a decision that all HD would be either 720p/1080i, and then help their affiliates by subsidizing some of the necessary switch-overs or assist with the purchase of some new converters/transmitters.

Or an even better idea would be to have the ACC replicate what the BigTen(11) has done with the launching of their own network (SD & HD) to broadcast nothing but ACC sports (all sports, not just BB or FB) all year long. They could have exclusive ownership of all ACC home sporting events, broadcast on their own network, but also send those signals to all of their affiliates in SD so that those who do not get the "ACC Network Channel" through D*/E* can still see marquis events throughout the season.

As it stands now, I will probably watch more BigTen(11) basketball this season than ACC basketball simply because they broadcast the games in HD. And I am happy to pay for the BigTen(11) channel as part of my Sports Pack just so I have that option. I hope it succeeds so that the ACC will feel the pressure to do something similar. Lord knows that unless you beat some of these guys over the head, they just won't see that HD is the way to go.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! Now let's go watch some football... :D

Posted back in August but saw no reply, so I'm posting again.

I can get all the other major stations (WTAT, WITV, WCBD, WCIV), but unable to pick up WCSC. Any ideas why this might be so? I thought most of these stations were suppposed to be broadcasting from the same tower.

Paul

WCIV (4.1) and WCSC(5.1) are located at the same antenna farm. (Compass reading of 67 degrees, 20.6 miles from West Ashley per antennaweb.org website)

So I wouldn't think it is an antenna issue if you can get WCIV (4.1) okay unless you have some kind of interference or filter that blocks that specific channel.

Have you tried rescanning?

Comcast SCI-FI HD channel is showing up as letterbox within a 4:3 window on my HD ... looks like a 480i/p content ... resulting in borders on all four sides.

Posted back in August but saw no reply, so I'm posting again.

I can get all the other major stations (WTAT, WITV, WCBD, WCIV), but unable to pick up WCSC. Any ideas why this might be so? I thought most of these stations were suppposed to be broadcasting from the same tower.

Paul

To help we need to know where you are, what ant do you have. How high is your ant?

Hey ATP, check out this thread regarding Raycom CBB games in HD. I guess they're doing some this year, with limited availablity by market. There's also some answers regarding requirements to do take-in the HD feed at the station level from someone who knows more about that end of things than I do.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=966723

Hey ATP, check out this thread regarding Raycom CBB games in HD. I guess they're doing some this year, with limited availablity by market. There's also some answers regarding requirements to do take-in the HD feed at the station level from someone who knows more about that end of things than I do.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=966723

Excellent find! Thanks for the info. And if true, then that means that both Duke/UNC games would be in HD - first with RLF and second with ESPN!!! YAHOO!

I just bought a Samsung DTB-H260F OTA Tuner from Bestbuy set it all up and everything works fine except I have "No Information" on the local NBC Station WCBD every other station has guide data, anyone else having a problem with this station and suggestions on how to fix this? Or anyone have a number to call the station and get some help from them?

Thanks,

David

Are you using OTA (TVGOS) or cable/sat?

OTA, I am also watching this morning and the Today show is not in HD, this is very disappointing.

Did anybody catch the Sound of Music last week on ABC.
It was absolutely awful. It had to have been the transfer.
Grit everywhere, etc.
It looked like the DVD release from several years ago.

Saw some of SOM 12/30, wasn't blown away but it was nice to see this old standard during the holidays again. Worse than the mediocre PQ, however, was the crop to make it 1.78 (16:9) aspect; only the opening with titles was OAR. In some scenes the end kids were cut in half!

There was some in-depth discussion in the HDTV programming/ABC Movie of the Week thread if you are interested:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=834451

scroll down to about post 67 and later.

Mike

OTA, I am also watching this morning and the Today show is not in HD, this is very disappointing.

I think the Today Show is in HD, I haven't seen it broadcast in non-HD since getting my OTA HD in Oct. Are you sure you are tuned to 2-1?

I just bought a Samsung DTB-H260F OTA Tuner from Bestbuy set it all up and everything works fine except I have "No Information" on the local NBC Station WCBD every other station has guide data, anyone else having a problem with this station and suggestions on how to fix this? Or anyone have a number to call the station and get some help from them?

Thanks,

David

I just reread your post and noted that you said "tuner". I didn't pay attention the first time. This leads me to believe that you are on a Home Theater PC setup. If so is it Windows Media Center? Also Shadestrades ? "Are you sure you are tuned to 2-1?" comes to mind. There are nearly an infinite number of possibilities in the new digital world you need to provide more info on your platform.

Well no Media Center just a tuner hooked up to a HDTV monitor, I resolved the issue by calling the station, their engineer said he would reset some piece of equipment which he did and a few minutes later, the guide data appeared the set top box is made to receive and decode the PSIP data encoded with the DTV transmission, so it was a problem at the station, but I decided to return the box and sell the TV already have 2 people interested, $100 for an HDTV is a steal, especially a SONY, I got me a 24 inch 1080P Gateway Monitor which I am now using for my computer and the bedroom TV.

Thanks,

David

Ah yes! Along with the infintite number of variables on the user side there is the matter of the stations equipment and them keeping it set right during the transition to digital. I would suspect their bigest problem in the past was trying to stay awake. I wonder how many times the term "they forgot to flip the switch" shows up in these forums?

I wasted a lot of time in the begining because I thought it had to be my problem because surley the station would have it right.

I just reread your post and noted that you said "tuner". I didn't pay attention the first time. This leads me to believe that you are on a Home Theater PC setup. If so is it Windows Media Center? Also Shadestrades ? "Are you sure you are tuned to 2-1?" comes to mind. There are nearly an infinite number of possibilities in the new digital world you need to provide more info on your platform.

2-1 as in OTA NBCHD channel 2-1.

Also Shadestrades ? "Are you sure you are tuned to 2-1?" comes to mind

Should have read

Also Shadestrades question of "Are you sure you are tuned to 2-1?" should be checked.:o lazy 1 finger typist:D

Speaking of 2-1 has anyone else had lousy reception on the local NBC broadcast recently? It seems to have gotten worse each day for at least the last couple of weeks. Local 6pm news and 6:30pm national have been unwatchable. Even the analog sucked. I'm not refering to PQ it just hangs up and sound loss constantly. I have changed nothing on my equipment.

Watched Katy Couric for the first time the other night! :o:(

Any loss in reception quality on my end has likely been due to antenna realignment needs. After that last blast of wind we had about 2 weeks ago, all of my channels have been borderline good/decent and the ones that were just decent before are now iffy.

2-1/2-2 are ok here 71 miles from tower

Thanks for input. Don't understand (again!). To many variables. Ant. is in attic so wind not problem. But it does involve signal as it will drop out completely at times with low sig. but comes back to tease mode within 20/30 seconds. It seems to be the worst when from 5:30 to 7:00 but that is when I am watching the news each night.

So I'm watching ER on comcast ch.432 last night and after several short duration fallouts it just locks up for about 2 minutes...had to change to the SD channel (003) to follow the show. Did anyone experience this while watching via Sat. or OTA? Is this a comcast problem or WCBD?

Ant. is in attic so wind not problem. But it does involve signal as it will drop out completely at times with low sig. but comes back to tease mode within 20/30 seconds. It seems to be the worst when from 5:30 to 7:00 but that is when I am watching the news each night.

The fancy FCC charts would have you believe that if you are within the "grade A contour" of a TV transmitter, your reception should be strong and stable, i.e. predictable.

Unfortunately RF propagation is not an exact science. At UHF frequencies, for example, leaves on trees have a significant effect, and if they move as during a windy period, the signal "quality" even on your stable attic antenna will vary. In our low country climate, we are also subject to frequent thermal inversions, especially around dusk and dawn as the warm marine air and colder air aloft change heights with the sunrise and set, and also during periods of unseasonably warm weather. These also can alter the propagation path somewhat, but it's usualy a slow-change type effect over a period of hours.

BTW the signal strength reading on your set is probably not a measure of the raw signal strength, but more typically a measure of how hard the error detection/correction circuitry is having to work. If you already are close to the "digital edge" because of multipath (not raw signal strength, which should be good where you are) your set may be going in and out of lock with short term changes in the path between your house and the tower, especially if it's not true line of sight. Newer chip sets in ATSC receivers have gotten very good at rejecting fixed multipath, i.e. from buildings and other unmoving objects, but varying multipath is still a challenge for most all of them. Once you lose ATSC lock, it takes a while (seconds?) to regain it, unlike good old analog sets.

I don't know if any of these factors are the root of your current problems, but we have had a big change in the leaves on trees in the last month, and we have had some very unusual weather, so it's an educated guess. If you have the stomach to experiment with antenna placement and orientation, you may hit a better hot spot in th attic. Even better would be to get it outside and up above the roofline, but that may not be practical.

Hope that helps...

Mike

The fancy FCC charts would have you believe that if you are within the "grade A contour" of a TV transmitter, your reception should be strong and stable, i.e. predictable.

Unfortunately RF propagation is not an exact science. At UHF frequencies, for example, leaves on trees have a significant effect, and if they move as during a windy period, the signal "quality" even on your stable attic antenna will vary. In our low country climate, we are also subject to frequent thermal inversions, especially around dusk and dawn as the warm marine air and colder air aloft change heights with the sunrise and set, and also during periods of unseasonably warm weather. These also can alter the propagation path somewhat, but it's usualy a slow-change type effect over a period of hours.

BTW the signal strength reading on your set is probably not a measure of the raw signal strength, but more typically a measure of how hard the error detection/correction circuitry is having to work. If you already are close to the "digital edge" because of multipath (not raw signal strength, which should be good where you are) your set may be going in and out of lock with short term changes in the path between your house and the tower, especially if it's not true line of sight. Newer chip sets in ATSC receivers have gotten very good at rejecting fixed multipath, i.e. from buildings and other unmoving objects, but varying multipath is still a challenge for most all of them. Once you lose ATSC lock, it takes a while (seconds?) to regain it, unlike good old analog sets.

I don't know if any of these factors are the root of your current problems, but we have had a big change in the leaves on trees in the last month, and we have had some very unusual weather, so it's an educated guess. If you have the stomach to experiment with antenna placement and orientation, you may hit a better hot spot in th attic. Even better would be to get it outside and up above the roofline, but that may not be practical.

Hope that helps...

Mike

This reminded me of a Mr. Wizard answer...very simple and easy to read and understand without having to know exactly what those thermal inversions are and not needing a degree in thermal dynamics. Thank you! :D

And I always just told my dad that when it's windy, the leaves blow and interrupt the clear signal. :p

What was the phase of the moon at the time?

Satori84, Thank you for a understandable explanation. In my case it is probably all of the above. Kind of like the notification option of this thread for me, sometimes it will notify, maybe it will, I have a headache... :D

Lot of trees around me and was fine in the past so outside would probably not be worth the hassle and it has gotten better. Also spent a long time orienting the ant to get the best all around direction (at that point in time :) ). I have spent a huge amount of time over the past year and a half tuning and fussing with my setup but I have gained confidence in my equipment. A big reason for that has been this thread and responses like yours.

So long as you don't have little critters running around in your attic that can bump the antenna, once you get a good lock, everything on your end should remain fine. Though due to plate tectonics, you may need to adjust your antenna every 100,000 years or so. ;)

The big problem with an ant. in the attic is 30-50% of the signal is gone or lost before it gets to the ant.

I know I lose some but aside from all the other variables I normaly have 94-96% on all local when I check. In the recent past it has only been NBC with a suddenly consistent problem for me.

MyTV 36-1 couldn't have looked any worse yesterday. I turned to it on Saturday for the Carolina/Kentucky hoops game and it wasn't watchable. Sound only came out of my right speaker and the picture was "scratchy". Anyone else have this problem.

MyTV 36-1 couldn't have looked any worse yesterday. I turned to it on Saturday for the Carolina/Kentucky hoops game and it wasn't watchable. Sound only came out of my right speaker and the picture was "scratchy". Anyone else have this problem.

I use to pull in here in Beaufort but it been sometime since I received it.

Same here Eddie, I think it is the station in Sav. same DTV 35 WGSA 34-1

Just tried it here (only 2 minutes) and it was perfect.

Well ABC and FOX are on the ball with the SOTU address in HD, but CBS (who is apparently providing the feed) and NBC are slacking. Of course I'm referring to our locals as it appears other areas are getting their feeds right.

All four are HD for me on TWC. You don't say what your source is.

All four are HD for me on TWC. You don't say what your source is.

Comcast, and the guide only showed ABC as being in HD, but FOX had it even though the guide didn't have it's little HD next to the description.

Well ABC and FOX are on the ball with the SOTU address in HD, but CBS (who is apparently providing the feed) and NBC are slacking. Of course I'm referring to our locals as it appears other areas are getting their feeds right.

Came in just fine on Fox Business News HD (D*). A few minor pixelations that added up to maybe 3 seconds over the 50+ minute speech.

Did a search on my phone from Atlanta airport last night about 20 minutes prior to the start and found about 10-15 HD sources for the SOTU, and FBNHD was just the first one on the list, so I chose it. Remote booking via cell phone has been a recent AWESOME feature add for D*. Not sure if any of the other services will be adding it (or already have it) but it sure makes last-minute "oops, I forgot" recording a breeze. :D

I realize this is the Charleston thread but is there anyone in the Walterboro area able to pick OTA HD from the Charleston market area?
if so what type of antenna are you using?
and is a rotor absolutely necessary?
Thanks

I realize this is the Charleston thread but is there anyone in the Walterboro area able to pick OTA HD from the Charleston market area?
if so what type of antenna are you using?
and is a rotor absolutely necessary?
Thanks

Walterboro is certainly not too far away. We have posters from Beaufort and Savannah who can certainly answer that better than I can (from their personal experience) but I seem to recall the Channel Master 4228 as being the antenna of choice for the deep fringe users.

A rotor would only be necessary of you want to pull in Savannah signals as well. From your location, most of the signals would be coming from a fairly tight angle and wouldn't need much tweaking once acquired. All but one or two of the stations that broadcast from Charleston are from a tower farm in Awendaw, north of Mt Pleasant. Those that aren't in the tower farm likely wouldn't be strong enough to get to Walterboro anyway. But you may want to look into an amp as part of the equation...again, I leave this bit of experience to those who post here from Beaufort and beyond.

Good Luck!

I live in Beaufort. I use the channel master 4228 with amp and rotor. Rotor is necessary.

"Rotor is necessary."

Because Charleston and Sav. are in opposite directions from Beaufort. As stated previously if you want both it would be necessary. What additional options do you get from Sav.?

dan0 - go to www.antennaweb.org, click on "Choose an Antenna" button, then fill out the form and the results will show you your distance from Charleston towers (and Savannah) and the relative angle to each tower. I would imagine that from your location, the Charleston towers would just about all fall within a 5-10 degree arc. If so, that should be sufficient to get all of Charleston's (strong) signals without a rotor.

Just a note, it has been awhile since I was on antennaweb and the last time I did that they still had some outdated info for the towers. The four major networks (and PBS) in Charleston are all at the same general angle as WCSC, or within 2 miles of it.

I realize this is the Charleston thread but is there anyone in the Walterboro area able to pick OTA HD from the Charleston market area?
if so what type of antenna are you using?

Since terrain blockage can have a significant impact on TV reception, your antenna needs will be depend on your exact location. If you are at a higher elevation on a hill facing Charleston, you'll have a much easier time than if you're at a lower elevation behind the shadow of a hill. The attached coverage map for WCBD shows an example of how the hot and cold spots vary with the terrain.

and is a rotor absolutely necessary?

If you point your antenna at Charleston, you should be able to get all the major networks. There are two PBS transmitters in the area, namely WITV and WJWJ. If you keep the antenna pointed at Charleston (no rotator), then you'll probably get WITV, but you won't get WJWJ since it's coming from a different direction. If this is good enough for you, then a rotator would not be necessary.

If you are interested in getting WJWJ, or attempting channels from other markets (e.g., Columbia, Augusta, Savannah), then a rotator would be needed.

Best regards,
Andy

He is about 48 miles from Charleston towers and only 12-14 from WJWJ. I can turn my ant just about any direction and still get WJWJ and I am 18-20 miles from tower.

If you going to the trouble putting up a antenna, go ahead and spend the extra $50-$60 on a rotor. Digital signal needs to be fine tuned sometimes and having the rotor makes it worth while.

Eddie is right about that, I need to move my ant about 5-7 deg to get the best signal from all the stations in Charleston. It is better to move ant with a remote control than climb up on the roof.

Anyone notice Fox's picture being grainy, and worse than usual lately? Comcast here.

There was a post a few weeks back about how Raycom was finally going to do some regular season games in HD this year. I was hopeful that this meant they would be aired on WCSC (as the primary R/LF affiliate), but alas, we don't get the HD feed because it is aired on WMMP. And what was aired was less than spectacular. There were constant audio pops and skips. About every five minutes, the audio would drop into a staccato rhythm for about 10-seconds. The video was just about as bad (not counting reception issues). Often, when there was a graphic on the bottom of the screen (such as player name/stats or some silly promotional campaign) that graphic would blink/bleed through the bottom of the screen and come back down from the top of the screen. It was just weird.

I am fairly certain the the ACC Tourney will be "mostly" on WCSC, but there will still be a chance that WMMP carries some of the rest of the R/LF HD feeds...what a shame... :(

Thanks for the feeback everyone, gives me something to chew on.

you are correct about antennaweb being outdated
according to them the only station i can get is wjwj pbs out of Beaufort
thanks again

Try tvfool.com

There was a post a few weeks back about how Raycom was finally going to do some regular season games in HD this year. I was hopeful that this meant they would be aired on WCSC (as the primary R/LF affiliate), but alas, we don't get the HD feed because it is aired on WMMP. And what was aired was less than spectacular. There were constant audio pops and skips. About every five minutes, the audio would drop into a staccato rhythm for about 10-seconds. The video was just about as bad (not counting reception issues). Often, when there was a graphic on the bottom of the screen (such as player name/stats or some silly promotional campaign) that graphic would blink/bleed through the bottom of the screen and come back down from the top of the screen. It was just weird.

I am fairly certain the the ACC Tourney will be "mostly" on WCSC, but there will still be a chance that WMMP carries some of the rest of the R/LF HD feeds...what a shame... :(

WMMP basically stinks! It's unwatchable in my house. The PQ is grainy and the sound only comes out of my front right speaker. I get the channel via an OTA antenna, but the signal strength is 83+, so it's not my tv. WMMP likely is sending out a weak signal to begin with.

WMMP basically stinks! It's unwatchable in my house. The PQ is grainy and the sound only comes out of my front right speaker. I get the channel via an OTA antenna, but the signal strength is 83+, so it's not my tv. WMMP likely is sending out a weak signal to begin with.

Thanks for reminding me, I forgot to mention the "mono". What's really odd is when watching the Family Guy (which was on just before the game started), aside from the ridiculous video quality, the OTA audio was very soft. When I turned to my D* local feed, the video was the same (except stretch-o-vision) but the audio was about 20-30 decibels higher...scared the crap out of my wife and she was in the kitchen. :p

Is that difference due to D* trying to amp up the signal; or is that because being 20 miles from the source has caused that much deterioration in the audio for my antenna? Or is is just because WMMP sux?

Either way, it is a great reminder to NEVER try and watch anything on that channel again if I can help it.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE....no more ACC on WMMP!!!!

Anyone else getting grey sidebars on non-HD channels on D* now. They weren't there before for me and now they are there on non-HD channels.

Anyone else getting grey sidebars on non-HD channels on D* now. They weren't there before for me and now they are there on non-HD channels.

Not too long ago, D* sent out a fairly comprehensive software/firmware update to all of their boxes that changed a lot of menu features/functions/locations. Your system may have "defaulted" back to gray bars when that happened. It's a fairly easy fix through the SETUP menu to get it back to black. PM me and let me know if you need step-by-step help... :)

ATP,

I was able to figure it out via the Setup menu. Thanks for directing me to the right place to figure it out. My next thing to try is to see if I can watch video off a USB memory stick.

Shades

Anyone know what type of video file formats that can be played via the network connection to the D* HD DVR? I've tried DIVX and MPEG-4, but neither work.

Looks like a lot of posts are gone, some one ask if HD signals could be picked up on Kiawih . Yes we get them here in Beaufort so all you need is a good UHF antenna like the CM 4228. Do not fall for the HD ant. hype any UHF ant that worked 40 yrs ago will work better that the so called HD ant that cost $100.

This is the missing post:
"Here is the message that has just been posted:
***************
albiemanmike

Hello all,
I was hoping someone can enlighten me on your particular areas HD OTA reception etc. I have a very important client who has a house on Kiawah Island that I have to visit in the next 2 weeks and while I was there I was hoping maybe I could also help him out with his HD woes. He is being told that there is no way for him to get HD where he is located (HD Locals is what i should have said). He has satellite now but they don't/can't carry the locals down there from what i understand so I told him why don't you get a nice OTA ant. and get the locals that way. He tells me his "tech people" down there say he cannot get OTA where he is??? Is this actually true or is he getting a bunch of baloney from these so called experts???? This guy has tons of money so he won't hesitate to plunk down the ching for the equipment he needs but if like they say it isn't possible then oh well.
***************"

That is crazy unless he has a 1story home totally surrounded by 2 & 3 stories or something of that nature. If it is not a situation where there is some unusual signal block then I would suspect the "experts" intend to get much more of his "tons of money" when they do the "impossible". Or maybe they are afraid that after spending $100,000 or more he might wonder why it only cost $200 including install to get such a good pic.:D

Does anyone know if the Duke vs UNC game going to be blacked out on ESPN HD? If comcast is going to blackout the game on ESPN HD then they should atleast provide an alternative HD feed for the game. Watching the game tonight on My Charleston 13 is going to suck when I know the game is in HD on ESPN.

Jeez! WMMP sucks on Comcast. I can't believe they blacked out the game on ESPN.:mad: I gotta get an antenna!

TC1,
I have been talking with another member who lives in your area and he said pretty much the same thing. He could not figure out why my client would not be able to pickup the locals on an OTA ant.??? I have not been down to his home yet but will be heading down there on Feb. 15th for the whole weekend and I would LOVE to prove his "experts" wrong, I just don't know if I will be able to pull it off with the limited time available to me in 3 days. Is there a good ant. I could pickup for OTA that will not include a ton of installation issues so that I could at least test to see if there is a chance of getting OTA signal at his home???? Thanks for the response I wasn't banking on the website choking on me when I originally posted.:D:eek:

TC1,
I have been talking with another member who lives in your area and he said pretty much the same thing. He could not figure out why my client would not be able to pickup the locals on an OTA ant.??? I have not been down to his home yet but will be heading down there on Feb. 15th for the whole weekend and I would LOVE to prove his "experts" wrong, I just don't know if I will be able to pull it off with the limited time available to me in 3 days. Is there a good ant. I could pickup for OTA that will not include a ton of installation issues so that I could at least test to see if there is a chance of getting OTA signal at his home???? Thanks for the response I wasn't banking on the website choking on me when I originally posted.:D:eek:

Depends on how much knowledge you have. A $10 set of rabbit ears from Walmart with the metal ring and coax cable connector could prove the point. The digital signals are in the UHF range, the ring part of the rabbit ears. But if you get the old analog (NTSC) signal there you will get the Digital (ATSC, DTV) also. Your real problem will probably be the complexity of his
current setup and the specific features of the TV used to test. There are many variables in the new digital world and in this case he probably has them all.

Some will think this crazy but considering time and wealth level the following action could be best. Pick up a set of rabbit ears and the smallest, cheapest DIGITAL portable TV you can find ($100$ ??) and plug it in. DO NOT worry about HD, just digital. If you get digital you will get HD on the right TV. Be sure you tune digital channels not analog during test. Locally that is 2-1, 4-1,
5-1, 7-1, 24-1, 36-1 and all are to the North of you in the same area. OLJIM can tell you about the Savannah stations to the South.

When you are done donate TV to Salvation Army and consider it a business expense. If you find one that will run on battery keep it as it can be very useful in emergencies, you can test it before you get there and you can go down to the beach and that would pretty much eliminate interference variables ;).

Tom

I would think he would have a HD tv, go to R/S pick up a U75 and a 25 ft section of RG-6 cable, make sure the U-75 has a 300- 75 ohm adapter. Take it with you, hook to his TV, point it north and do a channel scan for digital channels. If you get them down on the ground level it will work much better when antenna in up on the roof

Totally agree with you. But, There are time not money constraints and possibly knowledge as well. The existing setup could be extremely complicated,i.e. HD tv in all rooms centraly controlled by a single remote, computers, Audio, etc. I am sure you know there is some really heavy duty stuff available if you have the bucks, I wish :(. If you have no idea what you are doing you could mess up the existing system. IMO it all depends on the knowledge level of the tester and how extensive the existing system is.

If only it were my problem!:D

Gentlemen,
I thank you one and all for the extensive advice. I can assure you I am extensively trained and fully versed on all things Electronic/IT. As a Senior IT Support Engineer I have been requested to do some things that might boggle some peoples minds. And as a self proclaimed DIY type personality I have gained vast knowledge of most all types of residential/commercial technology. My client actually only needs the HD I believe on his 65" Runco panel in the great room as far as I know. So this should be quite easy to initially test. Getting the Ant. and associated cabling in the most advantageous location may be more than I can do in my limited time there but this should not be a problem as he can have someone else come in and do the wiring after I have confirmed that signal is available/usable. Have any of you any experience with the Winegard Omni-Directional Ant., it is amped and catches signal 360 deg. They say it is good to 55 mi. but frankly I am not experienced with the OTA setups as I have not used an ant. for reception in decades. 55 mi. seems a bit optimistic to me and not having been in the area before I do not know what type of terrain he is surrounded by either??? In any event I will report back with results after the trip down on the 15th. Thanks again.

Gentlemen,
I thank you one and all for the extensive advice. I can assure you I am extensively trained and fully versed on all things Electronic/IT. As a Senior IT Support Engineer I have been requested to do some things that might boggle some peoples minds. And as a self proclaimed DIY type personality I have gained vast knowledge of most all types of residential/commercial technology. My client actually only needs the HD I believe on his 65" Runco panel in the great room as far as I know. So this should be quite easy to initially test. Getting the Ant. and associated cabling in the most advantageous location may be more than I can do in my limited time there but this should not be a problem as he can have someone else come in and do the wiring after I have confirmed that signal is available/usable. Have any of you any experience with the Winegard Omni-Directional Ant., it is amped and catches signal 360 deg. They say it is good to 55 mi. but frankly I am not experienced with the OTA setups as I have not used an ant. for reception in decades. 55 mi. seems a bit optimistic to me and not having been in the area before I do not know what type of terrain he is surrounded by either??? In any event I will report back with results after the trip down on the 15th. Thanks again.


Great, that makes it Very Simple.

Don't know about The Wineguard.

I would guess the distance to Charleston transmitters no more then 30 miles as the crow flies.

This is flatland. If it is one of the multi story mansions on the beach blue sky and ocean are the only thing between there and the transmitters. They are all in a rural area about 17 miles North of Charleston, in Awendaw, only a few miles from the Atlantic. All major broacast networks and PBS.

As you can see it just doesn't make sense that they would tell him that. Looking forward to the answer to that. Kiawa is an incredibly beautiful and quiet place. Used to vacation there every year and I don't play tennis or golf. Just peace and quiet, Enjoy.:)

Thanks TC,
I am looking forward to visiting down there and just relaxing for a couple of days. We arrive early Friday morning and I intend on installing all of his new IT gear on Friday so that we have the rest of the weekend to just relax and relax and relax. the wife and I rarely get any chance to get away so this will be a treat for sure and to do it in Kiawah should make it even better. If I can prove to him that the TV can accept HD OTA that will be icing on the cake.

I can tell you stay away from amped omni antenns for HD signal. all the signals come from two towers .
I am 71 miles from the same towers. you are going to be about 30 miles

Thanks TC,
I am looking forward to visiting down there and just relaxing for a couple of days. We arrive early Friday morning and I intend on installing all of his new IT gear on Friday so that we have the rest of the weekend to just relax and relax and relax. the wife and I rarely get any chance to get away so this will be a treat for sure and to do it in Kiawah should make it even better. If I can prove to him that the TV can accept HD OTA that will be icing on the cake.

If you going to install a outside antenna on Kiawah Island you may need a copy of FCC OTARD rules since Kiawah has a lot of restrictions and I feel sure one of them is outside antennas. http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/consumerdish.html

I have a new 47" HDTV from Olevia that I got 3 days after Christmas. I am a regular DISH network subscriber getting America's 250 with a DISH DVR 625 receiver. I went out to Radio Shack yesterday and got their HDTV Indoor/Outdoor Directional Antenna. I was told in the store that all I needed was a splitter to run the satellite cable into and the antenna cable into and then I would have both on my TV. I tested this indoors and I got fantastic reception for OTA digital and analog, but could not get my satellite to come in. Since I wanted to watch LOST in HD, this wasn't an issue last night, but now I'm wondering if I spent $100 on these two items foolishly. More likely, I did something wrong... question is, is there anyone here who might know how to do it right?

I read my TV user manual and of course I cannot get both OTA and cable channels at the same time, but I thought the splitter was supposed to allow my DISH receiver to allow both the satellite signal and the signal from the HD antenna?

Will I have to go to DISH and pay to upgrade to an HD Receiver? I do not want to subscribe to HD service with them if I can get the networks OTA in HD which is all I'd really be interested in, plus, now that DISH has gone up in price, I really don't want to give them any more money!

The antenna is currently sitting next to my TV indoors, but in an alcove above my gas fireplace, so really it's like attic space as my living area is the second floor.

Any help would be great!

The 625 has no OTA tuner, no use to run ant to the 625, If you want to rec. and record HD you need a 612, 622 or 722 HD DVR You shold read back in this forum, the best antenna R/S sells is the U75 for $30

Recording issue aside for the moment.

Even though I know nothing about the dish setup but if you have just an ordinary splitter that would be the problem. What I would think is you need an A/B type switch and you could then manualy switch between the 2 inputs. But, That is an inconvenient solution. There are all kinds of switches available even ones with remote control for the switch.

Have you checked the back of the TV or the manual for more then one ant. input? My Toshiba has two. I have only OTA now but I could bring cab or sat in on the other. My channel setup on the TV would then specify which input as well as channel.

Hang in there! It can be done.

If your TV can't do it you should follow oljim's advice above. You would need a sat box that performs the switch.

Even if you only have one Ant. Input, you could still do it by running the OTA cable into ANT, and running DVR cables into Composite (Red/White/Yellow) or HDMI (even though it is not HD, it might have HDMI OUT) or COMPONENT (Red/Blue/Green). The first would not allow for HD signal passthrough, but the other two would, assuming you ever upgraded the DVR to HD. If it's not too much more per month, it might be worth upgrading to HD DVR even if you don't subscribe to any HD from E*, simply so you can record OTA HD.

Even if you only have one Ant. Input, you could still do it by running the OTA cable into ANT, and running DVR cables into Composite (Red/White/Yellow) or HDMI (even though it is not HD, it might have HDMI OUT) or COMPONENT (Red/Blue/Green). The first would not allow for HD signal passthrough, but the other two would, assuming you ever upgraded the DVR to HD. If it's not too much more per month, it might be worth upgrading to HD DVR even if you don't subscribe to any HD from E*, simply so you can record OTA HD.

1313 is right you should not feed the sat. to TV with RF, but use a/v red, white and yellow or use an S cable in place of the yellow and no reason to feed ant to the 625.

So....... last year I heard "Feb" for locals in HD on D*.........

So....... last year I heard "Feb" for locals in HD on D*.........

Don't hold your breath...The new sat is due for launch sometime in early March. .. 2 months to get in orbit and acquire signal...then maybe, just maybe we might get HD-LIL. I am actually planning to start holding my breath in July.

mtiffee,

Since you are a broadcast technical director could you tell us why there are such huge differences in the sound volume between some of the different networks? I'm not talking about commercials and programming but sound level overall. For instance channel 4-1 seems to be almost 50% lower then 2-1 & 5-1.

Hi All,
Thanks for the advice everyone! I took a splitter and combined the antenna and satellite cables that come "in" the house. Then after that I used another splitter to split the cables back out and plugged the antenna cable into the back of the 625 and the satellite cable into the satellite feed. This 625 is a DVR that is controlling 2 TVs allowing me to watch 2 different channels and record them both.

My main TV in the living room is working great, I get the satellite channels through my Ch. 3 and all the regular channels in SD and HD on the others. So, that's solved, however...

My problem now is that I'm getting no reception whatsoever on my TV2 in my bedroom. Thinking I need another pair of splitters? But the signal is already combined and split again at the 625 DVR to get the satellite reception.

I don't care if I get the OTA reception on this TV, I just want my satellite... confused about why it doesn't work when that part of the cable routing has not been changed to this TV...

Any ideas??

I said before, do NOT feed ant to the 625, I has NO tuner and can NOT pass ant. signal to your second (tv 2), and you should not watch your 625 on ch-3. The only cable from your 625 to your main (tv-1) should be by a RED, WHITE and YELLOW cable from the 625 to the TV. To get ant to second tv you would need to run a second cable to the second TV, If you try to mix the signal from the output of the 625 and ant you will end up with mush.

Hi oljim,

Forgive me for my ignorance... I think if I understand, I need to run the component red, white and yellow cable (or s-video) to my TV1 so that it receives the OTA channels from the antenna, correct? Sorry for needing the remedial course, but every time I think I get it... well, I get mush, like you said.

So, if I un-hook that cable from the 625 and use the component cables... will TV2 be working as before since the signal isn't mixing through the 625??

Regarding Channel 3, when the satellite guy set up the system, he put TV1 to go out through my TV's ch. 3 and TV2 to go out through it's ch. 60.

BTW... I really appreciate your help and patience!

mtiffee,

Since you are a broadcast technical director could you tell us why there are such huge differences in the sound volume between some of the different networks? I'm not talking about commercials and programming but sound level overall. For instance channel 4-1 seems to be almost 50% lower then 2-1 & 5-1.


Could be many reasons. I think a big reason is that people don't know how to set audio levels properly. When audio was analog you could "get away with" being lazy about your levels since processing downstream would correct it.

No the Red, white and yellow or S is for the sat to TV, hook the ant cable stright to the tv . You will get tv-2 on the other tv on ch 60. The sat guy should be shot for hooking the 625 to the TV(tv-1) on ch 3. Now you will select video one or what ever input you put the r/w/y or s cable from the 625 to watch sat. Once you hook the ant cable stright to the TV do a channel scan on the TV for your off air channels.
Now if you want to feed ant to TV-2 it can be done but it will take some extra goodies
The problem with the way he had it hooked up, you used the only ant input for the sat and had all the other inputs unused and they were made for hooking up things like a sat. vcr, dvd .

Could be many reasons. I think a big reason is that people don't know how to set audio levels properly. When audio was analog you could "get away with" being lazy about your levels since processing downstream would correct it.

I assume you are referring to the station end. I've always wondered that myself. Always seems like I'm cranking up ABC while turning down CBS. I wish my receiver would process 2.0 digital to pro-logic surround sound and I'd leave in in digital as everything seems a little better there. Can't stand listening to something in stereo.


On another note, any experience a loss of 1080 on their Comcast boxes today. Everything was fine then I switched over to a 720 program and when I went back to 1080 it was a blurred mess. Went into the menu and switched it to upconvert all to 720 and all is fine now.

Anyone else having a problem receiving MSNBC, Fox News and a few other channels via D*? I had ESPN HD freeze up, but the sound was still going. On MSNBC and Fox News channels the screen is blank. Any thoughts?

The Navy is practicing shooting down satellites.

Anyone else having a problem receiving MSNBC, Fox News and a few other channels via D*? I had ESPN HD freeze up, but the sound was still going. On MSNBC and Fox News channels the screen is blank. Any thoughts?
Receiving all channels as I should...reading those selected channels 5x5.

Recommend calling D* and getting directed tech support. You may just want to do a Red Button Reset (RBR) first. This will more than likely "unlock" a frozen box.

The Navy is practicing shooting down satellites.
Good one! :D

Restart seemed to work. Thanks for the recommendation.

Wouldn't it be nice if the local Charleston stations would show us a local news program in HD vs reminding us every few hours about how the channels will be digital in a year.

Hey channels 2, 4 and 5, are you ready to go digital? Then broadcast your local news in HD!

All the locals networks are broadcasting in digital already. :)

Your argument is one I support in theory, but it is also the same flawed argument that continues to confuse people about the upcoming digital conversion.

Wouldn't it be nice if the local Charleston stations would show us a local news program in HD vs reminding us every few hours about how the channels will be digital in a year.

Hey channels 2, 4 and 5, are you ready to go digital? Then broadcast your local news in HD!
He is referring to local telecast of the news in HD, etc. I guess with the large amount of money these stations paid out to upgrade to digital, it will be sometime before you see local HD.

He is referring to local telecast of the news in HD, etc. I guess with the large amount of money these stations paid out to upgrade to digital, it will be sometime before you see local HD.

Oh, I am fully aware of his point. But my point is that people often read a message like this and think that Digital Broadcasting=High Definition Broadcast. I have had to explain the Feb '09 conversion to my parents and sister several times in the last 6-12 months. Every time they see an ad or hear a story on the radio about the digital conversion, they call me and say "Well, ABC ran a story on the news last night saying such-and-such and then later, CNN said something slightly different. What am I supposed to do?"

It's not this post, per se, but the general confusion posts like this make in the minds of those who don't understand. And this all works to the benefit of the HDTV manufacturers and merchants. They are happy to have more people buying HD sets based on the unclear news broadcasts they hear and/or don't understand.

I would very much like to see local news in HD...well maybe not Channel 5. The dinosaurs on that set might scare me off the news. ;)

You may have "exposed" the reason besides money that local HD is being put off. In analog all TV personalities look at least ok. In digital, "Huh?, Is that so & so?". In HD, "Oh My God!:eek:". There is also the ":cool:WOW!:cool:".

One might have all new fantasies. :D:D:D

ATP,

You were right. I was mixing two topics. My rant should have been that with all new TV's being sold are basically HDTV's, so why not broadcast in HD. I've been ticked that the Big Ten has a nice network on D* where they show a bunch of games in all sports in HD, but I have to try to watch SEC games in SD on WMMP, which is awful. Also the SEC and ACC games of the week via Lincoln Financial are in SD. Their argument is that not all their affiliates can broadcast in HD. So what. Those same affiliates can show soaps and primetime shoes recorded or broadcast in HD with no problems. And as for the locals, if they are going to push HDTV's as part of their digital transfer awareness, then show us local broadcasting in HD.

Hope that clears up my original thoughts.

You may have "exposed" the reason besides money that local HD is being put off. In analog all TV personalities look at least ok. In digital, "Huh?, Is that so & so?". In HD, "Oh My God!:eek:". There is also the ":cool:WOW!:cool:".

One might have all new fantasies. :D:D:D

A-B your HDTV satellite or cable source between a component connection (analog) and a HDMI connection (digital) and I bet you would be hard pressed to see a difference.

You may have "exposed" the reason besides money that local HD is being put off. In analog all TV personalities look at least ok. In digital, "Huh?, Is that so & so?". In HD, "Oh My God!:eek:". There is also the ":cool:WOW!:cool:".

One might have all new fantasies. :D:D:D

I'd be okay with local HD news if Nina Sossaman was still on... :):rolleyes:

Anyone have any Comcast updates on future HD channels? The Weather Channel in HD is calling me! They have tons on other providers...

A-B your HDTV satellite or cable source between a component connection (analog) and a HDMI connection (digital) and I bet you would be hard pressed to see a difference.

I'll take that bet.

The point is there is no technical reason an analog signal can not look as good as a digital signal.

The point is there is no technical reason an analog signal can not look as good as a digital signal.

Aside from the over-processing that takes place converting Digital to Analog and back to Digital VS. maintaining a seemless digital stream from source to monitor.

From a HD-DVD/Blu-Ray to HDTV, using HDMI allows for an upconvert to HD from SD source disc. Component only displays 480i.

Plus, by using Component cables, you lose that wonderful DRM/HDCP protection...you wouldn't want to risk that, now would you. ;)

Aside from the over-processing that takes place converting Digital to Analog and back to Digital VS. maintaining a seemless digital stream from source to monitor.

From a HD-DVD/Blu-Ray to HDTV, using HDMI allows for an upconvert to HD from SD source disc. Component only displays 480i.


You mean 1080i.

Anyway that is why I said "your HDTV satellite or cable source". HD DVD is much greater bandwidth.

You mean 1080i. ...
No, that was what I meant. When you watch an SD DVD in a High Def player, the player will upconvert the SD signal to 720p/1080i ONLY IF you are using HDMI cables. If you use Component cables to connect your HD-DVD/BluRay player to your HD Monitor, you will only get 480p (sorry, I guess I was wrong before...480p, not 480i).

Or at least that is what my Owners Manual told me when I bought my soon-to-be-useless Toshiba HD-DVD :)

UPDATE/CORRECTION: I just did a google search and found that the Toshiba will upconvert HD-DVD over component up to 1080i, but will only output DVD's at 480i/p. However, the Panasonic Blu-ray DMP-BD10A allows you to select your component output from 480i, 480p, 720p or 1080i.

So newer devices than mine can apparently upconvert SD to "true" HD via component. I stand corrected. Gotta love Google :D

upconvert HD-DVD over component up to 1080i

That makes no sense but even if it did HD DVD is 1080p so that would be a down-conversion. :eek:

Is there really that much of a difference visually, between 1080i and 1080p ?

Is there really that much of a difference visually, between 1080i and 1080p ?

You betcha! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinterlace)

ACC brings its HD A-game to the tournament
Posted Feb 26th 2008 10:11AM by Steven Kim
Filed under: Sports

Pundits may be calling men's basketball in the ACC "weaker" this year than in the past, but the conference will be bringing the HD to you strong during its tournament. Between Raycom, ESPN and ESPN2, all the conference tournament games will be available in HD. This is a great way to start off the season that is March Madness, so consult the listing of local Raycom affiliates and the ACC Tournament schedule after the break and start planning your "sick" days early, folks!


Local Raycom affiliates:

Boston, MA WSBK-I
Providence, RI WLWC-CW
Baltimore, MD WNUV-CW
Washington, D.C. WDCA-MNT
Charlottesville, VA WVIR-N
Richmond, VA WTVR -C
Roanoke, VA WDBJ-C
Charlotte, NC WBTV-C
Greensboro, NC WFMY-C
Greenville-NB, NC WCTI-A
Raleigh, NC WRAL-C
Wilmington, NC WECT-N
Charleston, SC WCSC-C
Columbia, SC WOLO-A
Florence, SC WWMB-CW
Greenville-Spart., SC WLOS-A
Atlanta, GA WATL-MNT
Columbus, GA WLTZ-N
Miami, FL WBFS-MNT
Orlando, FL WRBW-MNT
Tampa, FL WTOG-CW
West Palm Beach, FL WTVX-CW
2008 ACC Tournament Schedule:

3/13 - 12:00 PM - ACC Tournament: Opening Round #8 vs #9 - Raycom HD
3/13 - 2:30 PM - ACC Tournament: Opening Round #5 vs #12 - Raycom HD
3/13 - 7:00 PM - ACC Tournament: Opening Round #7 vs #10 - ESPN 2 (720p)
3/13 - 9:30 PM - ACC Tournament: Opening Round #6 vs #11 - Raycom HD
3/14 - 12:00 PM - ACC Tournament: Quarterfinal #1 vs 8/9 Winner - Raycom HD / ESPN 2 (720p)
3/14 - 2:30 PM - ACC Tournament: Quarterfinal #4 vs 5/12 Winner - Raycom HD / ESPN 2 (720p)
3/14 - 7:00 PM - ACC Tournament: Quarterfinal #2 vs 7/10 Winner - Raycom HD / ESPN 2 (720p)
3/14 - 9:30 PM - ACC Tournament: Quarterfinal #3 vs 6/11 Winner - Raycom HD / ESPN 2 (720p)
3/15 - 1:30 PM - ACC Tournament: Semifinal 1/8/9 vs 4/5/12 - Raycom HD / ESPN (720p)
3/15 - 4:00 PM - ACC Tournament: Semifinal 2/7/10 vs. 3/6/11 - Raycom HD / ESPN (720p)
3/16 - 12:30 PM - ACC Tournament: Championship - Raycom HD / ESPN (720p)

HOT DAMN!!!! I trust this means that since WMMP isn't listed that all RLF coverage will in fact be on Channel 5.

Actually, has there been any local confirmation that these WCSC games will be in HD? They were supposed to be in HD last year and weren't. And since WCSC hasn't shown any of the three regular season games that RLF did in HD, this would be their first opportunity. It would be nice to get some local input on the real likelihood of all 10 RLF games being in HD.

Some of the games have been HD on TWC's HD special event channels.

The three that were shown on WMMP were also shown in HD on TWC's special events channel!?! That sux for me.. :(

Can anyone here tell me a tri county area cable co that carries 2-2(CW) and 7-2, 7-3(PBS Etv & HD)? I have Windows MCE and can use any local cable EPG info for my OTA only setup (have to trick it). Been using Summerville TWC but suddenly info not there for these sub channels.

Just a quick note to let those of you that assisted me with my questions regarding HD OTA on Kiawah Island. I made my trip down there 2 weeks ago Feb. 15-18 and man what a beautiful state you folks have down there. Man I could really get to like living down there. As it turns out my boss/client has 2 homes on Kiawah, we stayed in the "little house" which is about 2 mi. from the "big house". The big house is opulence at it's finest, it has to be at least 10,000+ sq. ft. and they have an Infinity pool right out the back door that looks like it just goes right into the ocean. They live right next to the Ocean Coourse at Kiawah and are members there as well. I got to see my first alligators.....Very Cool indeed. I am sure most of you that live down there are pretty used to seeing them but for this northern yankee it was a joy to see them in their natural state. We saw many other flora & Fauna and that was really the highlight for me being a big outdoors nut. I unfortunately didn't get nearly enough time to explore and see the sights as I was very busy with his IT needs in the big house. But more to the point, I spoke to one of his TV guy's that has worked at the house in the past and he told me there is no reason he should not be able to get OTA HD at his home. It would just depend on his SAT boxes and whether he had the newer ones without ATSC tuners or not. If not than he would have get dedicated ATSC HD tuners to tune in OTA. He has a big Runco 65" Plasma in the main dining/TV/Kitchen area (Open floor plan) and it is a beautiful panel that would benefit greatly from some good HD input. Thanks again to all that offered assistance it is greatly appreciated indeed. And I will be going back as his wife said we could come down and use the "litlle house" anytime just pay $75.00 cleaning fee per week and it's ours..........:eek::D

Glad to hear you enjoyed your vacation. And equally glad to hear that OTA is possible, though we knew that anyway. Obviously having the right equipment does factor into the "ability" to receive HD OTA.

Come on down anytime!

Thanks ATP,
Man is that some place to live. Fat chance I will ever be able to afford to live there but visiting is the next best thing and I do envy you your location it really is gods country which unless you drive 20 mi. is very much still urban without much sprall.

Just a quick note to let those of you that assisted me with my questions regarding HD OTA on Kiawah Island. I made my trip down there 2 weeks ago Feb. 15-18 and man what a beautiful state you folks have down there. Man I could really get to like living down there. As it turns out my boss/client has 2 homes on Kiawah, we stayed in the "little house" which is about 2 mi. from the "big house". The big house is opulence at it's finest, it has to be at least 10,000+ sq. ft. and they have an Infinity pool right out the back door that looks like it just goes right into the ocean. They live right next to the Ocean Coourse at Kiawah and are members there as well. I got to see my first alligators.....Very Cool indeed. I am sure most of you that live down there are pretty used to seeing them but for this northern yankee it was a joy to see them in their natural state. We saw many other flora & Fauna and that was really the highlight for me being a big outdoors nut. I unfortunately didn't get nearly enough time to explore and see the sights as I was very busy with his IT needs in the big house. But more to the point, I spoke to one of his TV guy's that has worked at the house in the past and he told me there is no reason he should not be able to get OTA HD at his home. It would just depend on his SAT boxes and whether he had the newer ones without ATSC tuners or not. If not than he would have get dedicated ATSC HD tuners to tune in OTA. He has a big Runco 65" Plasma in the main dining/TV/Kitchen area (Open floor plan) and it is a beautiful panel that would benefit greatly from some good HD input. Thanks again to all that offered assistance it is greatly appreciated indeed. And I will be going back as his wife said we could come down and use the "litlle house" anytime just pay $75.00 cleaning fee per week and it's ours..........:eek::D
If his 65 plasma does not have a ATSC tuner, did you look to see what type of inputs it has, I for one would never get a HD sat box that was not a DVR and has a ATSC tuner to record HD OTA

And I will be going back as his wife said we could come down and use the "litlle house" anytime just pay $75.00 cleaning fee per week and it's ours..........:eek::D


:D:D:D:D:D:D :eek:Check the market rentals there in season:eek:

If you want to see real beauty come back around Easter. God gets so creative with His paintbrush!

Thanks ATP,
Man is that some place to live. Fat chance I will ever be able to afford to live there but visiting is the next best thing and I do envy you your location it really is gods country which unless you drive 20 mi. is very much still urban without much sprall.
Oh, we have sprawl alright. It's just not so obvious YET on Kiawah. But it is inching its way out there. The population here has doubled in like the last 10-15 years, if you count the entire tricounty metro area. The town I grew up in just up the road from Charleston (Summerville) had only 6000 people in 1974, but now has about 40-50k with its suburbs. That's the down side to living in a great location...everyone else wants to come check it out and some don't ever leave. :)

But having spent about 4 years in northern Fairfield County (Danbury/Bethel), I can tell you that God didn't "waste" any of his talents up there. The winters in CT are like the Summers here...long and hard. But the spring and fall are worth it. When I win the PowerBall lottery, I would love to move back up there.

You betcha! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deinterlace)

Ok ... I will bite !

There is no virtually no difference between 1080i and 1080p .. Click here (http://www.hometheatermag.com/gearworks/1106gear/)

And if you disagree .. please enlighten us ... and please be as technical as you can.

Cheers.

Ok ... I will bite !

There is no virtually no difference between 1080i and 1080p .. Click here (http://www.hometheatermag.com/gearworks/1106gear/)

And if you disagree .. please enlighten us ... and please be as technical as you can.

Cheers.
Not getting into the fray, but that was a wonderfully simple yet thorough explanation. Thanks for the link.

That was a great link. TYVM.

Ok ... I will bite !

There is no virtually no difference between 1080i and 1080p .. Click here (http://www.hometheatermag.com/gearworks/1106gear/)

And if you disagree .. please enlighten us ... and please be as technical as you can.

Cheers.

Not really appropriate for this thread but a few comments on points from the article. -

"November, 2006" - about 12 years old in dog years, 20 in tech years :D

"There Is No Difference Between 1080p and 1080i"
"My bold-printed, big-lettered breaker above is a little sensationalistic" - he got that right :D

"Every TV sold in the United States has a refresh rate of 60 hertz" - no longer true and for good reason - de-interlacing and 3:2 pulldown can be eliminated with a 1080p source

"If the TV correctly deinterlaces 1080i, then there should be no visible difference between deinterlaced 1080i and direct 1080p" - He should have put "correctly" in quotes because none do, nor can they. He hints at it a little bit later - "If a TV doesn't correctly deinterlace 1080i, on the other hand. . .well, that's a different article ". This is where it gets a little bit tricky and is better explained here (http://www.hqv.com/technology/index1/cadence_detection.cfm?CFID=&CFTOKEN=6ddf669d485093fc-78ED6304-7E90-E2A3-B266FE8E2A5C1A94) for example.

"Without question, it would be better if all TVs accepted a 1080p input." - This would have been a better "bold-printed, big-lettered breaker".