Montgomery, AL - HDTV [Text View] - Page 10

JimP

11-27-06, 08:44 AM

The "official" Brighthouse answer is that they are in negotiation. That has been the answer for roughly 1.5 years.

The unofficial answer I got was that WCOV wants more money than Brighthouse will pay to allow them to broadcast the HD channel. Everyone loses, great solution.

I believe it was JimP that worked out a Tivo 3 with them. Hopefully, he'll fill us in on how it worked out.

Having the S3 for a little over a month, there are things that I like about it (i.e. receiving and recording OTA including WCOV-DT), 31 hrs of Hd recording capacity upgradable to 91hr. and things that still don't work right(tuning the cable version of WAKA-DT) which I just use the OTA version as a workaround.) Hopefully, the next firmware release will correct it.

I do think the picture quality is slightly better than the Motorola 6412 that Brighthouse uses and may not be at all noticable if you have a display with floating black levels or dynamically changes gamma. Be sure how your Sony handles this as certain picture modes do have floating blacks.

Brighthouse's Motorola 6412 phase 3 with the pioneer passport firmware is very user friendly and very stable. At the Tivo S3's current firmware version, its a draw which box has better user interface. Each has a couple of very minor advantages which cancel each other.

Something that you should consider is that Tivo lost around $54 million over the last 12 months, which I interpret as an indicator of whether or not they'll be around in 5 years. So there is a possiblity that your Tivo may become a $800 door stop. Big ouch. That went under my radar until after I bought mine. :o

DaHound

11-27-06, 01:09 PM

jerryhiggins

11-27-06, 07:18 PM

Thats a great price only its 65 miles from here. Next time I go to monkeytown Ill get one.

Thanks

They don't keep them in stock. You'll need to give them a few days notice to order one. They can have it in a couple of days.

WAKA DT

11-29-06, 10:09 AM

Hi Guys. I just joined the forum as you can see from the number of posts. I have DirectTv and need to get an antenna for OTA HD since they don't carry our locals. I live one block west of the new Walmart on Ann Street. I need a recommendation. Looking at the Winegard SS-2000 which is supposed to be "Multi-Directional", but you know how that goes. Could anyone that has this antenna give me a thumbs up or down as to whether to purchase this, or go with something else. I really don't want to put up a pole on the roof to mount the other more traditional type antennas.

Thanks.

Welcome. I know a friend who lives near you. He has tried omnis (and other types), although not a ss-2000. Probably what you'll find is that it will work
fine for everyone. Except one. That one will be either WSFA or WAKA. Depends
on positioning, etc. He has never been able to get everyone at once. He ended
up with 2 directionals in his attic. One pointed at WSFA and the other at WAKA.
The WAKA direction also got WNCF, WCOV, and WAIQ. Cable lengths between
antennas and combiner must be EXACTLY the same.

DaHound

11-29-06, 12:20 PM

Thanks for the reply. It's a damn shame that when you look at where my house is on the map from antennaweb, it looks like an umbrella without the fabric. :mad:

WackyEngineer

11-29-06, 01:12 PM

Thanks for the reply. It's a damn shame that when you look at where my house is on the map from antennaweb, it looks like an umbrella without the fabric. :mad:

Unfortunately, it's hard to predict what kind of reception you'll get in a given location. I live probably a couple of miles from you, just off Perry Hill, and I've had mixed results. I started out with an amplified indoor antenna, that worked surprisingly well, but I had to turn the antenna to get different stations. I now have two radio shack UHF antennas mounted just above my roofline, one pointed roughly towards WSFA, the other pointed in the direction of all the other stations. Aiming the antennas was a little tough, but I finally have decent reception from all the major local stations without having to turn an antenna.

You are probably close enough to WNCF to pick them up no matter which way you point the antenna. I just looked at the polar plot for the SS-2000, you MIGHT be able to get WAKA, WCOV, WAKA and WSFA with careful aiming depending on your elevation, surrounding trees and buildings, etc. Based on my experience, I suspect that your biggest problem will be receiving WAKA and WSFA at the same time, I generally could get everyone but WAKA or everyone but WSFA until I put up the second antenna.

Good Luck!

DaHound

11-29-06, 03:41 PM

You are probably close enough to WNCF to pick them up no matter which way you point the antenna. I just looked at the polar plot for the SS-2000, you MIGHT be able to get WAKA, WCOV, WAKA and WSFA with careful aiming depending on your elevation, surrounding trees and buildings, etc. Based on my experience, I suspect that your biggest problem will be receiving WAKA and WSFA at the same time, I generally could get everyone but WAKA or everyone but WSFA until I put up the second antenna.

I have a very old and large oak tree right next to my house on the west side. I hooked up an indoor "Star Trek" style antenna from Radio Shack the other day and got everthing except WSFA. WAKA was sorta in and out. I took it back. I believe if I put up a regular UHF/VHF roof antenna it may do O.K. I wish I could get two or three different types of antennas and try them out. I may have to put up a couple like you to get them all. Nothing like taking a giant step back to the 60s!

bdfox18doe

11-29-06, 03:55 PM

. Nothing like taking a giant step back to the 60s!

Yes, but the laws of physics have been around much longer, and so far no one has found a way around them. :)

Crisis_Core

11-29-06, 06:50 PM

Hey everyone, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I'm having some kind of issue with Bright House. I'm in Elmore, outside the city limits of Wetumpka, and I've got Bright House and a Vizio P50HDTV. I've got the HD box that Bright House brought out here hooked up with component cables to the television set. But during scenes with a lot of action, there's some heavy artifacting and pixelation going on the HD channels. Is this a common issue with Bright House, my TV, or the HD box? Thanks in advance.

JimP

11-29-06, 11:50 PM

Crisis-Core,

I also have Brighthouse. Which stations are you seeing this artifacting?

To help diagnose if its the cable box/signal, try using an antenna to pull in some OTA-HD channels. This will at least narrow it down to whether its the display or the cable system.

You might want to try changing the output resolution of the Motorola cable box to 720p in case the cablebox has a better video processor than the Vizio.

brian_esq

11-30-06, 12:23 AM

Crisis_Core and JimP:

I am on Bright House. I have had a some problems with the screen turning to a lot of crazy pixels and loss of sound. I assume this is "artifacting"? Maybe not? ;) I live in the middle of Wetumpka (closer to Bright House than most). I use a Motorola DCT6412 iii connected to a Sony KDL40XBR2 by HDMI.

Anyone:

I am a soap addict and for some reason CBS has been showing the Young and the Restless in standard definition for the past two days. What is going on? It had been in beautiful HD since I got my set three weeks ago.

JimP

11-30-06, 12:34 AM

brian,

The Motorola 6412 phase III is more sensitive to too hot a signal than their non DVR version of the same box.

You need to have Brighthouse make a service call to check the signal level to your cablebox as this is likely to be the problem.

Crisis_Core

11-30-06, 01:32 AM

WAKA DT

11-30-06, 11:11 AM

brian_esq

12-01-06, 01:32 PM

Y&R should be OK now. We were doing some work earlier in the week.
Thanks for the information. It is definitely back in HD.

NeedMoreToys

12-03-06, 10:20 PM

Whiners unite!

I know it won't help, but it made me feel better. I just sent the following to Brighthouse....

( birmingham.customercare@mybrighthouse.com )

Is there anything that can be done to expedite getting our local Fox station from Montgomery, AL (WCOV) in HD here in Wetumpka? They were one of the first local channels to broadcast in HD over 2.5 years ago, yet it is the only local HD channel that is still missing from our lineup.

The local Brighthouse folks have been telling me that "they are in negotiations" for over 1.5 years. I'm hoping something may be resolved for the new year so I can at least see this football game:

Tostitos BCS Championship Game
Florida vs. Ohio State Jan. 8, 8 p.m.
Glendale, Ariz. FOX

Scott Smith

12-03-06, 11:09 PM

I'll bet ya a dollar it's because Brighthouse can't receive it over the air. ;)

JimP

12-03-06, 11:22 PM

Scott,

It has something to do with Fox wanting to charge some kind of carriage fee and Brighthouse not wanting them to pay it. Where's my dollar? :)

Sorbert

12-04-06, 02:45 PM

Hello all first time here since gtting my new HDTV with the built in decoder thing. I was wondering I Live out in Pike Road and can only get 8 12 and 26 and 45 in hd. I got 2 antennas and have tried alligning them to get 20 and 32 but i just seem to not beable to get them i got a booster on both is there anythign i might be missing or is the signal just to far away for me to pick up. Got an in attic antenna had for 6 years since building the house dont know brand and a little terk HDTVa i got from bestbuy.

JimP

12-04-06, 04:06 PM

Sorbert,

With one antenna in the attic, where do you have the other one and how do you have them coupled together into a single cable going into the TV. Where do you have them aimed?

Sorbert

12-04-06, 04:10 PM

i have a why spliter so 2 into one thing before it goes into the tv the one upstairs runs through the house it is pointed tot he sw to try and get abc and i have the terk pointed due west and ive tried the terk going sw it still doesnt pick it up when pointed that way the regular 32 channel doesnt come in which i think is odd

well to make the connection fo the 2 clear the one downstairs on top of the tv case the cabel runs in back of the case through the hole the one upstairs is run through a amplifer then one comes straight to the tv and thes another split to run it through the house

shoncb

12-04-06, 06:03 PM

Hey y'all - Good luck with that FOX-HD request. Charter doesn't have it either. They, too, have been in negotiations for a number of years.

While we are on crappy cable service. As most have found out, the NFL Network is not receivable by any of the local cable stations. Direct TV and Dish have it, but that is all. The NFL Network has started a campaign similar to the old "I want my MTV" campaign. The website is http://www.iwantnflnetwork.com/ You can go there and have them send a fax on your behalf to the cable companies requesting they start carrying it. I visit it daily.

cheers.

Scott Smith

12-04-06, 07:06 PM

Sorbert

12-04-06, 07:48 PM

well can anyone suggest a good directional antenna to put outside from what i got from the general manager at wncf is i got to be in a sweet spot since im probley to far out for it on the one int he attic any suggestions would be great

shoncb

12-04-06, 08:04 PM

This is on the front page of knology.net

Important Message Regarding the NFL Network.
Due to excessive licensing fees, Knology will not be carrying the eight special LIVE NFL regular season games on the NFL Network. All cable customers would have been required to pay a higher fee, regardless of their interest level. We felt passing the costs onto all customers was unfair and not in everyone's best interest. The schedules for your hometown NFL team or any of the other NFL games carried on NBC, CBS, Fox and ESPN will not be affected.

BTW one of the Bowl Games is on NFLHD.

This is the crap I get from Charter:

Thank you for contacting Charter Communications. My name is Miriam. I appreciate the opportunity to assist you.

I thank you for your patience and apologize for not responding to your request in the timely manner. We also appreciate the email you have sent.

NFL Network has been putting scare tactics in the media such as radio and print ads to mislead our customers into thinking they will miss football games by staying with Charter. This simply is not true. You will always get your home town NFL football team in your market.

In your own markets, your home town teams will be carried on the local broadcast channels: CBS, ABC, FOX, NBC, which Charter does carry - often in HD.

In addition, Charter carries ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic and ESPNEWS in most of its systems and regional sports networks like Fox Sports, all of which devote significant coverage to NFL Football.

There is a possibility that you will miss only 6 Thursday night and 2 Saturday night games in November and December out of a total of 256 games played.

Charter is not currently carrying the NFL Network due to our responsibility to create value in both our sport tier and our basic tier for our customers. The NFL Network wants to charge a huge fee for their programming and insists that NFL Network be available to virtually everyone. This would mean we would have to pass along a significant additional fee to all of our customers instead of just those who would really want to see those 8 games. At this time Charter may not offer the NFL Network this season. I do apologize for any inconvenience this may cause or has caused you.

Scott Smith

12-04-06, 10:35 PM

There is a possibility that you will miss only 6 Thursday night and 2 Saturday night games in November and December out of a total of 256 games played.

Email her back and tell her she left out 2 NCAA bowl games that will be broadcast exclusively on NFLnetwork.
Rutgers VS Kansas State Dec 28th 8pm Eastern NFL Network.
Texas Tech VS Minnesota Dec. 29th 7:30pm Eastern NFL Network.

larrylwill

12-08-06, 11:25 PM

Is anybody else having drop out problems again from WSFA or is it just me? Its been doing it for the past 2 days that I have noticed.

thanks

NeedMoreToys

12-08-06, 11:45 PM

Is anybody else having drop out problems again from WSFA or is it just me? Its been doing it for the past 2 days that I have noticed.

thanks

I just watched last nights "My Name is Earl" and "Scrubs" on my DVR, both had a number of dropouts.

Crisis_Core

12-09-06, 12:23 AM

I just watched last nights "My Name is Earl" and "Scrubs" on my DVR, both had a number of dropouts.

Same.

SD4934

12-09-06, 01:15 PM

Same.

We are talking OTA, right? I've had problems also. It seemed to start with the windy and cold conditions. It seems fine this morning.

larrylwill

12-09-06, 04:56 PM

yes OTA, they had this problem befor and the weather was warm. Heven help us when they turn off analog. I love it when they clip the first few seconds of a program after a commercial showing Storm watch Weather radar and its clear. Also during the last bad storm I tuned in the weather channel 12.2 and they were showing commercials while it was blowing 40mph nd raining so hard I couldnt see outside.

shoncb

12-09-06, 06:03 PM

It cuts in and out via Charter, too.

Crisis_Core

12-09-06, 07:45 PM

We are talking OTA, right? I've had problems also. It seemed to start with the windy and cold conditions. It seems fine this morning.

No, I'm not OTA. It was ducking in and out that night. It's fine now, though.

JimP

12-10-06, 07:16 AM

Some cable systems are essentially OTA for locals as that's how that get their signal from them.

shoncb

12-10-06, 10:52 AM

WSFA is still screwed up. I set the DVR to record SNL last night. It recorded exactly 1 second of it. It has recorded all 1.5 hours in every previous attempt.

tomtb1

12-10-06, 01:59 PM

The Falcons' game is not being broadcast in HD by WCOV. According to the schedule, it is supposed to be in HD.

shoncb

12-10-06, 04:05 PM

I got it in HD via the OTA signal. Were they late turning it on (flipping the switch)? That is usually the case.

AubieKermit

12-10-06, 10:21 PM

WSFA still not working as of Sunday evening through Charter Digital HD. Missing out on that Cowboys v Saints matchup...

blp

12-11-06, 12:28 AM

Must be a Charter problem because I am watching it recorded off of Knology HD-DVR and no problems with it. In fact for NBC it looks quiet good.

Cwhat18

12-11-06, 11:27 AM

I have Charter HD with CableCard and WSFAHD is not working for me either. I noticed it was cutting out on Friday evening and I haven't gotten it back since. I've got Charter coming out on Thursday but who knows if they'll be able to do anything. This is frustrating!

SD4934

12-11-06, 06:56 PM

I'm getting very low and inconsistent signals on WSFA now (OTA).

ckhirnigs113

12-12-06, 05:42 AM

Hi, I live in Auburn, and I just bought a new Sony 34xbr960 HDTV. It's being shipped to me in the next few days, so I want to find out what my best HD option is going to be. Right now I have Charter digital cable, and I'm not too happy with the quality. I am thinking about paying for their HD package, but would it be better to just let my tv's HD tuner pick them up by itself. I guess I want to know if Charter scrambles their HD channels.

Also, I read on this thread that Charter doesn't carry the local channels in HD. Is this true? All in all, should I be thinking about getting a dish, or should I stick with Charter? Any info would be great. Thanks, CK

shoncb

12-12-06, 08:06 PM

I don't know if Charter carries local HD channels in Auburn. They carry 3 out of the 5 channels here in Montgomery. (ABC, CBS, NBC carried; FOX and PBS not carried). However, all are available Over The Air.

Be advised that Charter does not and will not in the near future carry the NFL Network. So, if you are a football fan...avoid Charter. I'd go with one of the Dish Networks.

tomtb1

12-12-06, 11:44 PM

I got it in HD via the OTA signal. Were they late turning it on (flipping the switch)? That is usually the case.
Yes, they flipped the switch in the second quarter.

JimP

12-13-06, 03:17 AM

Looks like WCOV is having a problem with HD also.

Had to watch House in SD.

JimP

12-13-06, 08:16 AM

So it seems that Brighthouse Wetumpka downloaded the new firmware last night.

Program guide shows 4 lines of channels and space for ads (down from 5 lines) and way down from the Tivo's 8.

They apparantly have a few bugs to work out as when you are recording one program, you can't change channels without cancelling the recording in progress.

One thing I noticed (Saradad) is that ESPNHD looks very clear. Don't know if they temporarily reallocated bandwidth or if its a permanent thing for that channel.

AirForceGuy

12-13-06, 03:06 PM

sarasdad

12-13-06, 04:27 PM

I agree.My problem is I can only get hd programing, the other statins are a milky white. I can not find setting to change to preserve output for 480

brian_esq

12-13-06, 11:16 PM

I am in Millbrook and have been a customer of Brighthouse since August 2006. I have been overall satisfied with the service... until now!

Okay, this "TV Guide" software is about the biggest pile of dung I have ever seen! First of all, a few weeks ago I got a letter stating they were switching from Passport Echo to TV Guide software at an indetermined date. The letter also said that more information would be coming shortly. I never got the "more information." I wake up this morning and my Motorola HD DVR was off. I turned it on, waited for it to boot up, pressed "Guide" and saw an abomination. This user interface is so rudementary and aesthetically unpleasing that I am seriously considering cancelling Bright House and going with another cable provider or possibly satellite. I am paying for a DUAL tuner DVR and apparently I cannot even record something while watching or recording something else. Well then what the heck is the point of me even having a DVR to begin with. That is completely ridiculous! As an extra bonus, all my taped shows are gone, with no warning beforehand.

Congratulations Bright House, in your efforts to presumably cut costs and increase your bottom line, you are going to lose my business as well as many others, I am sure.
At least you have the new guide. My DVR is completely useless. I came home and found the screen stuck on the Passport ECHO screen. This is the old firmware. I pulled the power cord out of the box to let it reboot. I got past the initial screen and got into the old guide. The old guide had no data. I could not and still cannot see any channels through the DVR. I called BH tech support. They sent a signal to my box to initiate the download. The clock on front of the unit showed DL instead of the time and some progress indicators. Two hours later, my DVR will do absolutely nothing. I did get the second mailing from BH so I knew what day this would happen on. I just hate that I lost my HD version of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. :( The lady at BH tech support told me I could call back if it still would not work. I tried this at 9 o'clock. Their answering system would not even let me connect to tech support. It said there was no such extension. Anyway, I have gotten a splitter out and run cable straight into my TV. At least now I can watch something. I also discovered that all of the adult channels come through in the clear. Can you believe that? I was shocked. ;) I haven't seen shows like that since my college days. TiVo, here I come, or, should I say, TiVo, I am ready to come back home.

blp

12-14-06, 02:31 AM

Yes, it looks like Dim House screwed up big time with this version. My co worker was pissed when he found all his saved recordings were wiped, cannot watch another channel while recording one and the guide only advances 1 day. Don't understand why they would put such crap out that was not beta tested. Knology loaded out a new version of SARA about a month ago(4 times FF) but has since fellback to prior version due to problems.

shoncb

12-14-06, 07:00 PM

I have a buddy that has Brighthouse. He is experiencing the same problems. He went to the office today and got this info:

To record one show, then change the channel to another show: You have to use the "swap" button on the remote control to switch to the 2nd tuner. He did not have a swap button on his remote, so the office gave him a new remote.

He had almost all of the disk space used with no recorded shows showing. Solution: the office game him a set of codes that need to be punched in the remote that will clear out the space on the HD and clear up the situation.

He also mentioned that he had to reprogram the entire "series" list.

sarasdad

12-15-06, 06:13 AM

I have 3 shows recorded and it says 60% full. I wonder how much HD I can record? I guess I need the codes also. The swap button does work.

JimP

12-15-06, 07:52 AM

sarasdad,

With the operating system residing on the same hard drive, its likely calculating the percent full to include the space that the OS is taking up. It would be be better if it just said that you had 10 hrs or whatever of recording time available.

Something we don't know yet is if the eSATA port for an external hard drive (think lots of storage) has become active with the new software.

DaHound

12-15-06, 10:45 AM

Anybody using or know anything about a PHillips Mant 950 antenna?

SD4934

12-18-06, 07:15 PM

I'm still having problems with WSFA. Some days it's okay, other days, like now, the signal is very erratic. All of my other OTA stations are fine. Is it just me, or or others still having problems with WSFA?

NeedMoreToys

12-18-06, 09:09 PM

I hadn't checked in here. It sounds like everyone enjoyed the DVR update as much as I did. :)

Hopefully, everyone has got their answers by now, but I noticed some of the complaints are things that I had to fix too, such as changing the guide display from 2 lines to 1 per entry so you could get back to 5 per page, and resetting the display output. For some reason, one of my HD DVRs switched to 480p and lost it's preserve output setting. The "new" menu can be accessed by powering off the box and pressing menu.

At least my boxes still worked when I got home, several friends called me that night wondering what the heck happened to their programming, or (my favorite) why isn't the cable box doing anything anymore.

A really smooth "upgrade" to an inferior product. Just awesome.

EDIT: I still see the same artifacts in the ESPN HD coverage of MNF, so no help there.

shoncb

12-18-06, 09:17 PM

Here's the latest from Charter concerning the NFL Network. They (Charter) said that they would show every home-town market NFL game. I called them on it when they didn't show last Saturday's Falcon's game. Here's their response.

"Thank you so much for contacting Charter Communications. My name is David.

I would be glad to assist you with your concerns about the NFL network in the best manner possible. I apologize for the inconvenience and I will address your concerns directly rather than give you a broad explanation of what is happening between Charter and the NFL network. You are correct in pointing out that not all local stations in all markets carry NFL programming. We do not make programming decisions for any of our providers. If FOX does not have HD in your area we have no control over that, if ABC is not providing NFL programming we do not control that. We do not make programming decisions we simply distribute the signal we receive from our providers. The Atlanta Falcons Dallas Cowboys game on December 16 was one of the 8 (out of 256) games the NFL network kept this season. The NFL network was carried by us as part of our sports tier in the past. They came to the negotiating table demanding a 350% price increase and to be offered to the majority of our 13 million subscribers whether they wanted the service or not. Those 8 to 10 dollars a year that you correctly pointed out represent a 104 to 130 million dollar a year cost for us to pass on to subscribers who may or may not wish to receive the NFL network. Our decision not to do this is backed by our subscribers who do not want to pay higher fees for services they do not wish to receive. If we were to do this we would lose as many or more subscribers as we will by not offering the NFL network. We do not wish to lose any subscribers but this is something we have little control over. It is the proverbial catch 22. We choose to go to bat for our subscribers and not add the NFL network to inevitable rate increases. I apologize for the inconvenience and misunderstanding you have experienced and I do sincerely hope that the NFL network will be willing to offer their services to us under terms that our subscribers find reasonable in the near future.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us by phone at 800-955-7766 or open a chat session. You can also check your bill balance and make payments on our website, http://www.charter.com."

WAKA DT

12-21-06, 06:18 PM

We'll be in and out for a few days. Usually you'll have HD programs,
but a green screen with audio during non-HD programming. Sorry about
the inconvenience.

SD4934

12-21-06, 06:52 PM

We'll be in and out for a few days. Usually you'll have HD programs,
but a green screen with audio during non-HD programming. Sorry about
the inconvenience.\

Thanks for the pre-emptive post.

Anybody know if WSFA is having problems? I'm still getting an erratic signal a lot of the time. When it is stable it is at a much lower level than previously (although still enough for a picture without drop-outs).

bdfox18doe

12-21-06, 07:29 PM

\

Thanks for the pre-emptive post.

That's why WAKA-DT stands for "We Always Kare About Digital Televison" :)

_Nomad_

12-22-06, 04:20 AM

brian_esq

12-22-06, 10:48 AM

With the Bright House firmware downgrade, I was motivated to return to the TiVo camp. I got the Best Buy rewards certificates from my HDTV purchase and coupled them with a 12% off coupon I found online. I certainly was not going to pay the full $799.99 price tag. When BB shipped the item to Wetumpka, they only charged 4% in tax, too.

Anyway, my series 3 arrived on Tuesday. Bright House came out yesterday. Their installer spent 2 hours with it and was unable to make it work. He called his office on speakerphone. The girl there said that the owner would probably know more about it than they would and to give me a shot at connecting it. When I got into it, I noticed immediately that the installer had plugged the cable line into the antenna connection. I switched the cable to the proper connection and got on the phone with Bright House. Within an hour, my two cable cards were operational along with my TiVo.

Bright House said I was only the 3rd person on the system to get a TiVo. It is certainly worth the investment. The interface is far superior to their current offering and still superior to the Pioneer Passport firmware.

I feel like I have come home. Thanks TiVo!

brian_esq

12-22-06, 10:52 AM

SD4934

12-22-06, 08:15 PM

WCOV DT in Elmore County

I am in Wetumpka and am eagerly anticipating the season premiere of 24 in a couple of weeks. Is there any further word on when Bright House will get WCOV? If not, has anyone up here (Wetumpka) had any luck with reception via antenna? I can't imagine having an HDTV and settling to watch 24 in standard definition. I live near the Indian bingo hall in Wetumpka proper.

Thanks,
Brian

I receive WCOV via antenna--very stable signal. (I live in Elmore about half way between Wetumpka and Millbrook.) Since WCOV is fairly low power, you will probably need a good outdoor antenna. I'm using an antenna from antennasdirect.com but you could go by Lowes and get an antenna that should work fine. I'd go ahead with the antenna, from what I've heard I wouldn't hold my breath for WCOV on BrightHouse.

Scott Smith

12-22-06, 08:45 PM

I am in Auburn, Alabama and I have Charter Cable with the HD DVR. For the longest Charter only offered 5 HD channels here. HBOHD, ShowtimeHD, CinamaxHD, ESPNHD and Discovery HD Theater. Now I have noticed the last couple of days that they added 4 more network HD channels out of Columbus, GA (NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX).

They don't have icons next to the stations in the menu or anything but, I was wondering if anyone knows if they are going to keep these channels as part of their HD lineup or is Charter just messing with us and will remove them soon? :rolleyes:

I feel for you. Charter sux state wide. They seem to have no incentive to have a competitive product because in most markets they have a captive audience.

All you have to do is drive around the exclusive Charter markets and you will see Satellite dishes growing like flowers.
I installed a Pioneer Elite 60" plasma today. A awsome piece of equipment. Unfortunately they had Charter with the HD package. I think I could have counted all of the HD channels on one hand excluding the locals in the Montgomery market.

JimP

12-22-06, 10:37 PM

Brian,

I too have the Tivo S3 and Brighthouse.

My configuration tunes WCOV HD using the antenna input and an outdoor antenna. Can we say "24 in high definition?" :)

brian_esq

12-23-06, 01:31 PM

Brian,

I too have the Tivo S3 and Brighthouse.

My configuration tunes WCOV HD using the antenna input and an outdoor antenna. Can we say "24 in high definition?" :)
I have been researching antennas. AntennaWeb says that to pick up WCOV from my house I need an amplified, directional antenna mounted outside. What are you using?

JimP

12-23-06, 04:33 PM

I have been researching antennas. AntennaWeb says that to pick up WCOV from my house I need an amplified, directional antenna mounted outside. What are you using?

I'm using dual Channelmaster amplified antennas. My home and surrounding area are a bit lower than ideal, so I'm not so sure that it wouldn't be an overkill for you.
They are Channelmaster 4228s. http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/4228.htm

shoncb

12-24-06, 12:44 PM

Congratulations to Charter-Montgomery and WCOV. FOX-HD is now available on Channel 783. Merry Christmas!

Now, if Charter would only add the NFL Network... :-(

NeedMoreToys

12-24-06, 02:48 PM

Congratulations to Charter-Montgomery and WCOV. FOX-HD is now available on Channel 783. Merry Christmas!

Now, if Charter would only add the NFL Network... :-(

I can't wait to call Brighthouse on Tuesday and congratulate them on having not only the worst DVRs available, but being the only local cable company that doesn't have WCOV in HD.

After 1.5 years in negotiation, maybe they should hire someone from Knology or Charter to help them actually close the deal.

:D

Scott Smith

12-24-06, 04:09 PM

I just noticed Knology has the CW on ch 19.

shoncb

12-24-06, 06:46 PM

After 1.5 years in negotiation, maybe they should hire someone from Knology or Charter to help them actually close the deal.

:D

It took Charter over 1.5 years to get the WCOV deal done. And, that was a deal with a local station. I predict it will be 5 years to get the NFL Network deal done. It looks like I'll have to get DirectTV prior to next year's NFL season. I'd stay with Charter, but they simply are not giving me all I want as a customer. Too bad, especially sine I pay them over $100 a month...$1200 a year! Think about it. That is a good chunk of money to be paying for a bunch of crap you don't want and not getting what you do want. Whatever happened to the ala carte deal?

JimP

12-25-06, 10:46 AM

shoncb

Seems that I read something about the NFL deal costing too much for DirectTV for it to continue in its current form. You might want to research that some before subscribing.

Scott Smith

12-25-06, 11:08 AM

If it's so cost prohibitive I wonder why Dish carries it?

Happy Dish customer here :)

shoncb

12-25-06, 01:02 PM

Interesting. DirectTV is the exclusive home to the NFL Sunday Ticket. I wonder why they would cut the NFL Network if they have the Ticket. Of course, I can't figure out these large companies anyway.

Thanks for the heads up.

brian_esq

12-26-06, 11:02 PM

jtrippe

12-27-06, 11:17 AM

I spoke with the station manager at ABC32 today. They also own the CW. The CW Digital OTA transmitter is up and working. However, the power amplifier went out and they had to send it out of the country to be fixed. It transmits at a power so low now that you can only pick it up very near the tower. When the amp is fixed we should be able to pick up the digital signal in Montgomery and Wetumpka. They have no idea when the amp will be fixed. This explains why some of us picked up a signal a few months back but could not get it to lock. The CW Montgomery signal does not carry HD right now but they expect that to change soon. Also, ABC is seriously considering adding some sub-channels to the digital signal. They don't know which ones yet or when they go live. It cost 30K just to start a digital sub. Any info. on any other new channels is greatly appreciated. I never can get a very good answer from MyNetwork TV as to when they'll broadcast a digital signal.

shoncb

12-27-06, 04:25 PM

Brian - I have one of those indoor Terk antennas. Not that I had much of a choice as I live in an apartment. But, anyway, I have never really had any problems receiving all 5 OTA Montgomery HD stations with the following exceptions.

1. The stations has known transmitter problems.
2. The station does not "flip the switch".
3. The trees begin to bud. (it happens)

SD4934

12-27-06, 07:19 PM

I have been dismayed at the fact Bright House does not have WCOV-DT. I have written here about my interest in HD antennas. Well get this... I visited the AntennaWeb.org web site to see what antenna type I needed for WCOV. They said that WCOV would be the most difficult signal for me to pull in and that I needed a large, outdoor, directional antenna. This morning I got on the Antennas Direct site and ordered such equipment. Later today, I just so happened to be in Best Buy and decided to try their indoor Terk branded antenna. I got home and connected this indoor antenna to my TiVo Series 3. I had to go through setup again. I then proceeded to check the signal strength of the over the air channels. To my surprise every local digital channel came in fine. Of course, WCOV has the weakest signal. It peaked at 64 on a scale of 1 to 100. My Terk antenna is resting on top of my subwoofer, 3 feet from a window, and pointing south through that window.

Am I good to go or will weather affect my signal?

Also, if my indoor antenna works for WCOV, I was wondering if anyone has been able to pull in signals from Birmingham or Columbus, GA on an outdoor model?

Thanks!

If it works for you, great! Antennas are funny, what works for one person may not work for a person in another location. If you find that the indoor antenna is not working for you, you can always go with an outdoors antenna. As far as the B'ham stations, I tried to get them when there was no HD in this area. I had a big parabolic on my roof peak. It was hit or miss (more miss) and very atmospheric dependant. My experiences with an indoor antenna for the Montgomery channels was not that great. Like I said, what works in one location may not work in another.

brian_esq

12-27-06, 08:17 PM

If it works for you, great! Antennas are funny, what works for one person may not work for a person in another location. If you find that the indoor antenna is not working for you, you can always go with an outdoors antenna. As far as the B'ham stations, I tried to get them when there was no HD in this area. I had a big parabolic on my roof peak. It was hit or miss (more miss) and very atmospheric dependant. My experiences with an indoor antenna for the Montgomery channels was not that great. Like I said, what works in one location may not work in another.
Well, my outdoor antenna is on its way whether I want it to be or not. My ordered shipped yesterday. It should be here on Friday. I plan to aim it at Columbus and Birmingham to see if it will pull anything in. I understand that the curvature of the earth kicks in at around 70 miles and will block signals beyond that distance. Here in Wetumpka, we are probably fairly close to B'ham especially with the TV towers in B'ham being on Red Mountain. I am from Phenix City and would love to pull Columbus TV stations in. I remember as a child we could get a weak analog signal from Columbus at my grandparents home in Redland and at Lake Martin.

One thing that is interesting with the TiVo Series 3 is that when you select antenna mode with your ZIP code already specified, it predefines or should I say lists OTA stations in nearby markets including Montgomery, Columbus, and Birmingham. It shows all of their secondary channels as well. You can then gauge their signal strength, if any, by way of the on screen signal meter.

rolltide1017

12-28-06, 12:20 AM

I live in Orlando but my parents live in Montgomery and I'm trying to gather up pricing info for HD services from Charter because they just got an HDTV for Christmas. They don't have internet access at home and I told them I would find some pricing info for them to compare Charter vs. DirecTV vs. Dish Network. I went to Charter's website and, unless I was on the wrong site, it sucked (please, I mean no offense to anyone here). I could not find any prices or even any programming packaging information. I told them that if Charters rates are good then it would probably be the better way to go since they would get the local channels in HD as well (without an OTA antenna I assume). Plus, I didn't have a great experience with D* here in Orlando a few years ago so, I'm a bit biased towards cable. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

EDIT - Also, does Charter offer an HD DVR?

Scott Smith

12-28-06, 07:57 AM

Charter sucks! Read toward the top of the page whare I made a longer post.

D* no locals.

E* No HD locals unless OTA. SD locals yes.

Knology.. theres the ticket. They use Scientific Atlanta 8300HD

shoncb

12-28-06, 04:52 PM

I went to Charter's website and, unless I was on the wrong site, it sucked (please, I mean no offense to anyone here). I could not find any prices or even any programming packaging information. I told them that if Charters rates are good then it would probably be the better way to go since they would get the local channels in HD as well (without an OTA antenna I assume). Plus, I didn't have a great experience with D* here in Orlando a few years ago so, I'm a bit biased towards cable. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

EDIT - Also, does Charter offer an HD DVR?

If you could find no specific information with regards to the services Charter offers, then you were on the right website. They want you to find the 'contact us' link and ask them for a price list. They will, eventually, mail you one...provided their mailbox is not full. I often get a return mail from them stating their customer service e-mail box is not operational at the moment and to try again later.

Anyway, I guess the prices are comparable with other big, greedy companies. I have a 5-Meg cable modem, the big value package with no additional movie channels, the HDTV services with the HDTV DVR, and Howard TV. I pay about $115 a month. The HDTV Services with DVR cost $21.97 alone. However, I will say that I do like the HD-DVR. It is pretty user friendly.

Charter does offer four local channels in HD (ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX). Of course, local HD content is contingent on the local stations actually turning the HD on! (an ongoing problem). ha ha

If they want to see the NFL Network, forget it. Charter does not have it, and from what I can get out of them, they won't offer it anytime soon.

Let me know if you have any other questions. I'll help if I can!

Scott Smith

12-28-06, 06:13 PM

Where do your parents live?
I would lean towards Knology unless it's not avaible in their area.

I'll be watching the #16 Rutgers at Kansas State tonight Split screen on the NFL Network while I watch #21 Texas A&M at #20 California at the same time. :D

rolltide1017

12-28-06, 10:39 PM

Thanks for the info guys.

According to my parents Knology is not available where they live.

jackbnimble404

12-28-06, 11:41 PM

Well, my outdoor antenna is on its way whether I want it to be or not. My ordered shipped yesterday. It should be here on Friday. I plan to aim it at Columbus and Birmingham to see if it will pull anything in. I understand that the curvature of the earth kicks in at around 70 miles and will block signals beyond that distance. Here in Wetumpka, we are probably fairly close to B'ham especially with the TV towers in B'ham being on Red Mountain. I am from Phenix City and would love to pull Columbus TV stations in. I remember as a child we could get a weak analog signal from Columbus at my grandparents home in Redland and at Lake Martin.

One thing that is interesting with the TiVo Series 3 is that when you select antenna mode with your ZIP code already specified, it predefines or should I say lists OTA stations in nearby markets including Montgomery, Columbus, and Birmingham. It shows all of their secondary channels as well. You can then gauge their signal strength, if any, by way of the on screen signal meter.

FYI, the Columbus stations are all at full power now except WLGA and WTVM has not raised it's transmitter on the tall tower. WRBL (CBS TV3/DT15), WTVM (ABC TV9/DT47), and WLGA (CW TV66/DT31) broadcast from towers in Cusseta south of Columbus. WLTZ (NBC TV38/DT35) and WXTX (FOX TV54/DT49) broadcast from towers inside the city. I know WLGA has a digital signal but not sure if they are broadcasting anything in HD, unlike the other locals it's digital signal is not carried on any of the cable systems in the city.

WTVM has a digital subchannel showing weather, WRBL has a digital subchannel showing the weather radar, and WXTX has a digital subchannel showing The Tube.
9.2 and 54.2 are carried in the digital tier on cable.

I for one would not be eager for any subchannels. They do degrade the picture quality when an HD broadcast is occuring on the x.1 channel. And the picture quality on the subchannel suffers too.

WAKA DT

12-29-06, 10:08 AM

WRBL DT 15 (CBS) puts a grade "B" signal over eastern Montgomery (barely).
Should be easiest to get here.

Grandpa Train

12-31-06, 01:25 PM

WOW! What a choice in Football games. Two bad games..chose the one in HD to watch. CBS really does not like HD.

shoncb

12-31-06, 01:47 PM

Yeah...the early CBS game is not supposed to be in HD. However, the FOX (WCOV) game is supposed to be in HD. Actually it started out in HD, then somebody flipped the switch off.

I dream of the day when I live in a market where the TV stations know what the heck they are doing and do it right consistently. It's hard to believe that we have been going through this same crap for years now.

shoncb

12-31-06, 01:48 PM

Okay, they flipped the switch back to "on" about 30 seconds after I posted that! Now that is service!

bdfox18doe

12-31-06, 01:59 PM

I dream of the day when I live in a market where the TV stations know what the heck they are doing and do it right consistently. It's hard to believe that we have been going through this same crap for years now.

Since FOX (unlike the other networks) ALWAYS provides programming on the HD feed, (even if not in HD) there is no reason not to flip the switch. It's quite simple to tally the FOX splicer off the master control switcher so that ANYTIME the network feed is on-air, the Splicer can automatically follow.

We do that here.. and no one has to worry about "flipping the switch".. :cool:

shoncb

12-31-06, 02:48 PM

well something happened. It was in HD, then not in HD, then in HD again. Flip swithing occurred somewhere.

JimP

12-31-06, 03:08 PM

....or they just wanted to see how fast you would post it on the forum/internet. lol

shoncb

12-31-06, 03:35 PM

He's claiming the problem is not theirs and not their fault. He pointed the finger elsewhere, which I read to be the FOX Network. I doubt they monitor this forum and would not bring the whole country down just to see how fast they start complaining in Montgomery, AL.

bdfox18doe

12-31-06, 04:07 PM

. I doubt they monitor this forum .

Once again, you show how little you really know. Some study in critical reading comprehension would do you a lot of good. ;)

If you re-read my post and think a bit, you may understand. But the again, maybe not.

There are many from the networks here. You'll never know..as they just don't post. :cool:

And my point was not towards FOX Network.. :)

shoncb

12-31-06, 04:30 PM

ANYTIME the network feed is on-air, the Splicer can automatically follow.

We do that here.. and no one has to worry about "flipping the switch".. :cool:

I read that as "It's the Network's fault". It's the Network's fault that the HD feed went down. If it was up, then your fancy splicer would have followed it.

...critically reading, of course.

Now, run off and tell the moderator on me...again!

shoncb

12-31-06, 04:37 PM

You are right, GP. I'm really surprised we get two double-header football games today! Thanks, to whoever is in charge of programming! :-)

shoncb

12-31-06, 05:08 PM

It's 4:07 and the FOX HD signal is down again. Who know why?

Scott Smith

12-31-06, 05:11 PM

Never missed a beat on Fox 5 Atlanta. :)

shoncb

12-31-06, 05:16 PM

There must be some middle-man between the FOX Network and our local station (WCOV) that keeps turning it on and off.

I have to look at this critically. If you see it in HD off the Atlanta station, and it is not in HD here in Montgomery, and since there is nothing wrong with our station's HD equipment (because it always follows the network feed), then there is a problem between the network and our local station.

bdfox18doe

12-31-06, 05:27 PM

and since there is nothing wrong with our station's HD equipment (because it always follows the network feed), then there is a problem between the network and our local station.

You're assuming nothing is wrong @ WCOV, or that the WCOV splicer is properly installed so as to follow the networks feed. That probably is not the case based solely on what you describe, which I'm sure is an accurate description.

FYI, I don't have anything to do with WCOV...My FOX stations are WCCB,WFXB, (and WABG)..and our splicers are properly configured to follow the network.
I can say from experince that FOX has few problems with their feeds.

BTW, I did design, purchase, and install WAKA-DT's studio equipment, which is why I monitor and post here. System control for all our stations comes from here in Charlotte.

And WackyEngineer takes good care of WAKA-DT. :)

Scott Smith

12-31-06, 05:38 PM

Ha!
Just switched over to Knology Fox HD and no HD. Went back to Fox5 Atlanta and it's in HD. Plus I rewinded 20 min and never loast HD.

Sure am glad I "Moved" to Atlanta. :D

shoncb

12-31-06, 05:46 PM

bdfox18doe

12-31-06, 05:56 PM

LOL! As I said previously. "I dream of the day when I live in a market where the TV stations know what the heck they are doing and do it right consistently.".

So do I.. we broadcasters (collectively) have about 2 years to get our act together... :eek:

budf15

01-01-07, 01:29 AM

HELP! For some reason, all of my OTA locals dropped from the 70-80% strength range to around 32% today. In other words, I've lost all local HD OTA. Anyone else having this problem?

shoncb

01-01-07, 02:03 PM

Are the trees budding? No joke...that has been given as a reason in the past. And, there is something to it. I know they typically won't bud till the spring, but the weather has been pretty mild and might have caused some trees to start to bud.

JimP

01-01-07, 03:16 PM

budf15,

Like to help but need more information.

...such as HD tuner, antennas, antenna amplifier, etc.

P.S. Next to impossible that trees leafed out overnight where you lost all your channels at once. Only happens in fairy tales.

SD4934

01-01-07, 03:53 PM

Anybody else having a problem with WNCF? Wanted to watch the Rose Bowl at 3:30 but right now my signal strenght is very erratic--from good to totally gone.
All the other channels are coming in fine.

budf15

01-01-07, 04:58 PM

Thanks for the help. I have a DirecTV HR10-250 that has worked flawlessly until yesterday. I have a radio shack outdoor antenna in my attic that came with an inline power injector to boost the signal. I usually got 60-80% on the major networks in the Montgomery area. I can still get the local PBS station at 92% so haven't lost that one at all but the others are all in the teens or 20's and continuously drop to zero. I tried replacing the inline booster with a brand new one but that did nothing. Since I can still get the PBS station, I'm guessing it's not the internal tuners, but I could be wrong. Anyone have any thoughts? Maybe I need to reorient the antenna in the attic but that seems HIGHLY unlikely since it's bolted into place!

Thanks.

buckeye1

01-01-07, 07:45 PM

WNCF has been in and out for me on the antenna all day. Both knology and charter have both dropped signal throughout the day. Knology has been better for most of the rose bowl, but is acting up again.

At least when they act up, I know it's not my antenna.

_Nomad_

01-01-07, 08:13 PM

FYI, the Columbus stations are all at full power now except WLGA and WTVM has not raised it's transmitter on the tall tower. WRBL (CBS TV3/DT15), WTVM (ABC TV9/DT47), and WLGA (CW TV66/DT31) broadcast from towers in Cusseta south of Columbus. WLTZ (NBC TV38/DT35) and WXTX (FOX TV54/DT49) broadcast from towers inside the city. I know WLGA has a digital signal but not sure if they are broadcasting anything in HD, unlike the other locals it's digital signal is not carried on any of the cable systems in the city.

WTVM has a digital subchannel showing weather, WRBL has a digital subchannel showing the weather radar, and WXTX has a digital subchannel showing The Tube.
9.2 and 54.2 are carried in the digital tier on cable.

I for one would not be eager for any subchannels. They do degrade the picture quality when an HD broadcast is occuring on the x.1 channel. And the picture quality on the subchannel suffers too.

Thanks for that info jackbnimble404. It answered some questions I had! :)

JimP

01-01-07, 08:25 PM

bud15,

Do you happen to know what the signal strength was for PBS prior to the recent problem with the other channels? Wonder if it has actually dropped also.

Have you checked the DirectTV threads to be sure that they didn't download a firmware upgrade that may have changed the tuning characteristics.

budf15

01-01-07, 08:25 PM

Figured out my signal problem. Went outside and took a closer look at the connections to the grounding block and they were a little corroded so I cleaned them with my dremel tool and now I'm back in business.

brian_esq

01-01-07, 11:31 PM

JimP

01-02-07, 01:38 AM

au01st

01-02-07, 02:00 AM

brian_esq

01-02-07, 10:36 AM

Brian,

Back in September
http://www.tvpredictions.com/jacobson091606.htm

It looks like several cable systems have just dropped INHD2.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/search.php?searchid=517464

Wonder if Brighthouse will replace it with something else.
INHD2 may be gone altogether. I just went to their site and no programs are scheduled on that channel.

Thanks for sharing the articles.

WAKA DT

01-02-07, 10:45 AM

LOL! As I said previously. "I dream of the day when I live in a market where the TV stations know what the heck they are doing and do it right consistently."

I checked the OTA feed and Charter's feed. We have no FOX-HD in Montgomery today.

CBS is going great today. Good job to those guys! wink-wink.

Well, since you gave us a wink, I'll let you in on the WCOV problem. This is top
secret hush hush. The HD is coming and going because they're installing
weather map and crawl devices. Yeah, I know they don't have any meteorologists or a news department, but they saw the future. Fox 5 is going
to be handling the switching. And the feed will have to go back to standard def
when they put up the maps because the link between Fox 5 and WCOV will be relayed by the Westinghouse Stratovision system. Although the primary plane
for this (B-29 Superfortress) is equipped for HD, the secondary plane (a twin-engine PV-2) is not. Reasoning that when you need something, the primary never works, it was decided that the weather info would always be in SD, so as not to
confuse by non-consistency any other meteorologists who might be watching for the purpose of "monkey see, monkey do". And they do that alot...the little devils.
Anyway, that could take me on a rant about the news department (these are the folks the phrase "it's a nice place to work, except for the people" came from)....
but I have to go. I'm piloting the B-29 this morning.

NeedMoreToys

01-02-07, 10:12 PM

My TiVo informed me this morning that Bright House cable had dropped INHD2. It had formerly been channel 784 in the HD Tier.

Does anyone know why they discontinued this channel? I also notice that it has been dropped from their web site's channel listing.

I'm betting that they are "in negotiation" for a replacement channel and you can expect to be told the same thing in 2 years :)

When another Brighthouse customer called to complain about the BCS being in SD, they gave him the "in negotiation" story. He started laughing and told them they gave him the same answer last February when he asked why NASCAR was still in SD.

Some good news for Brighthouse folks, after they bricked my DVR Saturday attempting to update it again, they replaced it today. They now have the 6416 Moto's instead of my old 6412, so you get a 160GB drive instead of a 120GB. The bummer for me was that it had an HDMI output instead of a DVI output and it needed to hook to my digital switch that is DVI. I wasn't thrilled to have to go get a HDMI to DVI cable, but the extra space will come in handy.

_Nomad_

01-03-07, 01:57 AM

JimP

01-03-07, 02:51 AM

Hi all,

Just got my Toshiba HDTV this past weekend, and I'm currently enjoying DirecTV HD, but I don't have locals. I'm located in Auburn, just off Wire Road near the Struttin' Duck. Is anyone nearby using an OTA antenna that can make a recommendation? It's about 50 miles from Montgomery, and I really would like to get either their HD broadcasts or from Columbus, which is about 30 miles away.

A couple of the Montgomery transmitters are actually a fair distance from Montgomery. That may create a problem when you figure up the total distance.

I think I'd be more inclined to try for the Columbus stations. Even then, you probably need to research where their transmitters are located. If you go up one level and then do a search for "Columbus", you might find a thread dedicated to Columbus Georgia where they can give you some good information about transmitter locations and power output.

sarasdad

01-04-07, 06:45 AM

The two INHD channels on BRIGHTHOUSE have merged together.

rolltide1017

01-04-07, 07:33 PM

I have another question for you guys, if you don't mind. I've been on the phone with my dad helping him get everything set up right. Charter installed the HD DVR (MOXI 9012 I think) for them today but hooked it up with only a composite cable. I had my dad switch it for a component cable. We then went into the setup menu of the DVR and I had him select only the 480p/720p/1080i resolutions. He is now getting a true HD signal on the HD channel which, he wasn't before because of the way the cable guy set it up.

My question is this; my HD DVR has a setting were it automaticly adjust the aspect ratio to 4:3 (adding grey bars on the sides) when you watch a SD channel but we couldn't find a similar setting on the MOXI box. Right now the box stretches the SD channel to fill the screen. Does a similar setting exist or do you have to manually change the TV from wide mode to 4:3 each time? Thank for the help.

qoncept

01-05-07, 07:30 AM

My TV does the same and I just yesterday finally got an DVI->HDMI cable to replace my composite. Now the aspect ratio is changing on its own just as it should. Automatic aspect changing is a setting that must be enabled in the menus, though.

JimP

01-05-07, 08:11 AM

rolltide

Like qoncept said, its likely to be a setting in the display.

What is the make and model TV?

rolltide1017

01-05-07, 01:07 PM

He has a Samsung LN-S4051D LCD TV. There is no setting on the TV to change the AR automatically. There are only 3 choices on the cable box he has: wide mode, cropped or letterboxed. I looked through the manual of the cable box on Motorola's website and, it appears that there is no setting that will make the box change AR automatically. Oh well, he'll just have to live with changing it himself with the TV's remote.

JimP

01-05-07, 01:40 PM

rolltide

Do you have the URL for the moxi box?

I've been digging around on the pdf for the display (page 27 on adobe reader and 25 in the file) on http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/200602/20060222193454984_BN68-00998A-01.pdf and feel like I'm going around in circles

Just guessing here but it sounds like the cable box is outputting either 1080i or 720p for all content including SD at 480i/p. The display thinks its HD and stretches it.

qoncept

01-05-07, 02:58 PM

The Moxi should automatically be outputting the correct aspect ratio. As far as I can tell (and in my experience), there is no setting that needs to be changed or enabled. I'd bet there is some hidden setting somewhere or maybe a problem with the cables.

rolltide1017

01-05-07, 07:02 PM

On all SD channel the image is stretched to fill the screen even though he has 480p selected. HD channels are fine, they display correctly even when a 4:3 show comes on. Is just the SD channels like SciFi and The History Channel etc. taht he has to use the TV's remote and change the TV to 4:3 picture mode.

Here is the manual I found for the Motorola BMC-9012 cable box. Page 43 is where it talks about the AR setting and page 44 is where it talks about the resolutions. http://www.digeo.com/assets/manuals/viewersGuide.pdf

It says this under the resolutions setting which leads me to believe that the box doesn't automatically adjust the AR.
Tip: If you have HDTV, we suggest you set your video output for
HD (usually 1080i). However, if you want to view SD shows in their
original 4:3 ratio, we suggest you change your video output setting to
480i. After the show, change the setting back for HD.

JimP

01-05-07, 08:15 PM

rolltide,

Can't believe that it wouldn't at least change the output to a variant of 480 for SD content.

Based on the manual, I'm wondering if on page 44 where it makes a reference to 480p or 720p, its basically offering to switch to 480p if the content is 480 and scale 1080i to 720p and leave 720p native.

Might be worth a try.

rolltide1017

01-05-07, 11:58 PM

Problem is fixed!! We had to select the "letterbox" box mode under the widescreen setup menu (page 43 in manual above) and now the TV automatically adjust for SD and goes back to 16:9 for HD. It even works with all 3 resolutions selected (480p/720p/1080i). The manual wasn't written too clear about the letterbox mode; it made it sound like HD material would be letterboxed inside a 4:3 screen. Everything seems to be working correctly now and they are happy with it for now. Thanks for the help guys.

qoncept

01-08-07, 08:03 AM

Alright, Charter's lack of HD channels has me thinking about switching to Knology. I'm concerned about problems I've heard with their cable modem service though. From what I've heard, its absolutely horrible and you'll frequently lose service. I haven't heard much about their digital cable and DVR. Can anyone share any insight?

Scott Smith

01-08-07, 08:49 AM

I have had Knology internet since it came to town in 97'. I can count on one hand the times it has been down.

Their cable box is the Scientific Atlanta 8300HD. Great box and I have heard you can now attach an external hard drive to it.

Cwhat18

01-08-07, 12:16 PM

I have Charter HD in Montgomery and just noticed yesterday that FOX HD has been added on channel 783. Finally!!!

JMCecil

01-11-07, 07:09 AM

Fox digital audio was popping in and out last night for me. This is OTA 20.1. Anyone else?

buckeye1

01-11-07, 08:16 AM

qoncept--
From my experience the better service depends on where you live. At my previous house, both were rock solid for cable and internet. Knology was hands down the faster internet service.

Since I have moved, Charter has the better internet service. The 7MB Knology package was routinely under 1MB at night(sometimes ads low as 167kb). Repeated calls did nothing, even though they admitted the problem was on their end somewhere. Charter's 10MB package will drop to around 7MB at night plus has a 1MB upload.

On the HD side:
Both appear to broadcast clear QAM local channels.
My TV picks up all the local HD channels on knology, but only WSFA and WNCF on Charter.

My mythtv box picks up all the local channels on both Knology and Charter.

Both have issues from time to time with the HD feed.

anybody--
Is anybody else able to receive all Charter HD directly on there TV? I need to figure out if it is a TV tuner issue, or I am lucky on my mythtv box.

Intheswamp

01-11-07, 03:23 PM

Here's a copy of a message I posted in the Local HDTV forum...looks like most conversation takes place in regional/area threads so I'm re-posting here. Sorry for the redundancy. Thanks!

==================================================
Howdy. A rank newbie here needing some advice. I wish I'd found this forum before ordering my antenna, but I think it'll be ok. The antenna I ordered is a Winegard 7082P, it will be up in the air about 20', and there will be roughly a 100' coax run with a grounding connector inserted at it's midpoint. My question is whether I need to get a pre-amp.

We don't have a digital, much less a HD set in the house, but within the next year we will be purchasing one. Our primary set is a 31" Sony crt that's 12-13 years old...great picture, but non-HD. Naturally, I will not be able to test the antenna for digital until we get the new set, but I figure if I can get high-grade analog reception going I'll have a head-start on getting good digital reception.

Our location sits on a nice hill in south Alabama with most of our local transmitters coming from the north of us. Currently we're using a little (4.5'?) vhf/uhf antenna that has something like 4 vhf elements and 8 or so uhf elements along with 4 reflectors. The antenna actually does pretty good.

Below is the result from my antennaweb query. With the small antenna we receive channels 2, 12, 32, 4, 20, and 8 very good...reception from some of the stations actually seem to equal our satellite receiver's quality. Channel 67 comes in with bad snow and channel 22/CW (not listed) comes in with light snow.

The pre-amp that I'm considering is the Winegard AP-8700 but I'm wondering if I need a pre-amp at all...I think the 100' coax run is what is nudging me towards getting one. Any suggestions or recommendations are definitely appreciated since I'm not really sure what I'm doing here!

Thanks! Ed

yellow - vhf WDIQ 2 PBS DOZIER AL 192° 12.6 2
*green - vhf WDIQ-DT 2.1 PBS DOZIER AL 192° 12.6 11
red - vhf WSFA 12 NBC MONTGOMERY AL 36° 20.2 12
*blue - uhf WSFA-DT 12.1 NBC MONTGOMERY AL 36° 20.1 14
blue - uhf WRJM 67 MNT TROY AL 36° 20.2 67
blue - uhf WNCF 32 ABC MONTGOMERY AL 323° 36.4 32
blue - vhf WTVY 4 CBS DOTHAN AL 149° 66.8 4
blue - uhf WCOV 20 FOX MONTGOMERY AL 36° 20.1 20
blue - uhf WAIQ 26 PBS MONTGOMERY AL 7° 44.9 26
blue - vhf WAKA 8 CBS SELMA AL 321° 38.0 8
*violet - uhf WAKA-DT 8.1 CBS SELMA AL 321° 38.0 55
*violet - uhf WBIH-DT 29 IND SELMA AL 335° 62.7 29

Dewey TO

01-12-07, 11:48 AM

qoncept

01-12-07, 04:16 PM

Is anybody else able to receive all Charter HD directly on there TV? I need to figure out if it is a TV tuner issue, or I am lucky on my mythtv box.
I get all the channels without any problem. I did go to watch the Fiesta Bowl and not find Fox HD in the guide, but when I pushed in the channel number it worked (and then showed up in the guide).

buckeye1

01-12-07, 06:00 PM

qoncept -
Is Fox showing up as 783 or 20.1. WSFA and WNCF show up remapped to 12.1 and 32.1 on my tv, but I don't see WAKA or WCOV. With Knology all the HD feeds show up as 901 - 905.

Intheswamp

01-12-07, 09:48 PM

hi intheswamp

I have the Winegard PR8800, using the Channelmaster CM0264 amp. I recommend the same amp for you because as you now realize the antenna you chose may not be the preferred choice for digital, however it may be a good antenna for the digital on vhf in your area.

Reasons:
1-the CM0264 has 300 ohm inputs that match the antenna (no need for a balun)
2-the CM0264 has 2 inputs and you may consider adding another antenna in the future. The CM0064 has only one input which would match your 7082 nicely, but the two amps are roughly the same price and 0264 can be set to a single antenna by a switch inside the mast-mounted preamp.
3-the channel master amps has very low noise ratings which in my opinion are just as important as overall gain.

If you want a 75 ohm preamp then the CM7777 is the choice, but I have one as well and despite a higher rated gain the 0264 outperforrms it because it is a 300 ohm amp

hope this is helpful
Thanks for the feedback, Dewey TO.

I may be getting confused here. The 7082P has a 75 ohm connector. It appears that there must already be a balun or matching circuit of some sort inside the "cartridge" of the 7082P allowing the antenna to connect directly to a 75 ohm coax cable. If I want to use a pre-amp that has a 300 ohm input am I correct in thinking that I would have to insert a balun between the antenna "cartridge" coax connection and the 300 ohm pre-amp? Or, is the 7082P designed so that it can directly feed into a 300 ohm pre-amp?

In looking at the Channel Master pre-amps it looks like the 0068-DSB would be a model that would connect to the 75 ohm connection of the 7082P with no problems. It (the 0068) has the same specs as the 0264 and the 0064. The 7777 would connect easily with the 7082P antenna but it looks like it is backordered everywhere (maybe discontinued?).

Thanks for getting me to look at the CM pre-amps...looks like I can get a bit more punch from them than the Winegard 8700 that I was looking at and with less noise...especially in regards to UHF.

Ed

Scott Smith

01-12-07, 10:14 PM

Anyone scanning charter cable with a QAM tuner stumbled across 101.1 yet? :D :D

I did at a customer's house. It was an awkword moment to say the least. :D :D

Dewey TO

01-13-07, 06:57 AM

The Platinum series of Wingard's have the 75 ohm coupler included. Is it removable on the 7082P like it is on my PR8800? If it is, then remove it and use a 300 ohm input preamp, don't use a second transformer. The antenna should have 2 screw terminals for the twin lead 300 ohm cable.
Regarding the preamps the 0068 would not be as good a choice as the 7777 in a fringe reception area (less gain, and only one input, 75 ohm like the 7777), so if you cannot remove the coupler from your antenna the 0068 may be your choice, but you may have other issues when you go digital if you need to set up a second antenna.

Dewey

qoncept

01-13-07, 11:52 AM

qoncept -
Is Fox showing up as 783 or 20.1. WSFA and WNCF show up remapped to 12.1 and 32.1 on my tv, but I don't see WAKA or WCOV. With Knology all the HD feeds show up as 901 - 905.
Fox is on channel 2 and HD is 783. Dumb luck was the only reason I remembered that when I went to watch the game Monday or I would have been a very unhappy camper. What is the .1?

Intheswamp

01-13-07, 12:02 PM

Mornin' Dewey. I haven't received the 7082P yet...in the freight system somewhere. From what I can tell from the "70" series online manual it looks like there is a plastic box/cartridge (with balun inside?) that snaps onto another plastic piece that is made onto the antenna. This box/cartridge has the coax connection on it. From viewing the manual it looks like the piece that is made onto the antenna has a couple of spade-looking blades on it....this might be an possible hook-up point for 300 ohm.

I looked at the PR8800 and saw the 300 ohm connection....standard wingnut connection. I didn't see anything like this in the online manual for the 7082P. When it arrives this week I'll check it out and see if a 300 ohm connection is possible.

Yes, the 7777 would give me more gain but everywhere I've looked it seems it is backordered. Seems I did find one vendor that had it in stock but it was like $20 more than other vendors.

Ed

Dewey TO

01-13-07, 02:24 PM

buckeye1

01-13-07, 03:38 PM

qoncept-
Receivers remap the OTA HD broadcast channels. Fox is remapped to 20.1, WSFA 12.1, WNCF 32.1, and WAKA 8.1. This does not normally happen on QAM, so I am confused as to why 2 channels do this on Charter, and 2 don't show up at all. I guess I need to contact Panasonic about the TV tuner.

Intheswamp

01-15-07, 11:40 PM

Hello Ed
I email Winegard about the spade lugs that the cartridge snaps to and inquired if they are standard size so that it could be used to feed a 300 ohm amp. If it can then be sure to use marine grade spade connectors on the short twin lead cable that goes from the antenna to the preamp. Don't use connectors from the local automotive supply, the will corrode and cause signal loss. I don't expect to get a reply from Winegard until the workweek.

I feel guilty that I have a 7777 in the box not giving anyone any signal, but I'm hanging onto it to use next season on the boat with my DB2.

Thanks for the tip on the marine grade spade connectors...once I get the antenna in (should come in tomorrow) I'll see if it's a easy mod. I managed to (hopefully) find a 7777 at www.affordablehdtv.com. I plunked the plastic down and it says they are now processing my order. Hopefully they're a reputable outfit and I won't get mirrrors and smoke.

I'm considering picking up a digital tuner to tinker with. I had considered the new Samsung DBT-H260F but then saw it wouldn't work (without some monkeying) with my my KV-32S10. I'm looking now at the discontinued (and less sensitive) SIR-TS360...digital and analog along with some good connectors for a non-component/non-hd television. Think this would be a good choice to tinker with?

Take care,
Ed

DaHound

01-17-07, 03:04 PM

Intheswamp

01-18-07, 05:17 PM

Evening Dewey. The 7082P antenna arrived this week but had a problem. The box was basically trashed and the longest VHF element had a bend in it on the short side that was enough to open the seam up on the element. I don't think moisture entering the seam will itself hurt reception but the moisture will surely eventually cost some rust/contact issues with attachment screws...waiting on replacement/pick-up of this antenna.

But, I did manage to check the connection out. For this old guy it's a bit of a foreign connection. The "cartridge" houses the balun (circuit board) who's contacts are notched spades. These "spades" actually press against two rods inclosed inside the half of the cartridge that is permanently attached to the antenna. I was a little doubtful about the connection and emailed my vendor. He said that that connection had been in use since the mid-90's and that he had never had a problem with them. I guess if it ever comes down to it I can use a split-nut to attach a 300 ohm line. ???

-quoted from above-
I'm considering picking up a digital tuner to tinker with. I had considered the new Samsung DBT-H260F but then saw it wouldn't work (without some monkeying) with my my KV-32S10. I'm looking now at the discontinued (and less sensitive) SIR-TS360...digital and analog along with some good connectors for a non-component/non-hd television. Think this would be a good choice to tinker with?
-end quote-

What do you think...go with the H260F and deal with the menu issue (how often will I really need to go into the menu?) or go with the TS360?

Thanks,

Ed

bdfox18doe

01-18-07, 05:28 PM

What do you think...go with the H260F and deal with the menu issue (how often will I really need to go into the menu?) or go with the TS360?Thanks,Ed

The 360's have had a lot of failures. If you can deal with operating the 260 without the OSD, I'd go with it. It's reception is MUCH better than the 360.

Intheswamp

01-18-07, 06:59 PM

The 360's have had a lot of failures. If you can deal with operating the 260 without the OSD, I'd go with it. It's reception is MUCH better than the 360.

Thanks for the feedback. All of this is a tad greek to me, but with the 260 there is no analog reception, correct? That kind of bugs me but I'm sure I can work around it.

Basically I would use the tuner to get things ready for our yet-to-be-purchased HDTV...antenna, feedline, etc.,. Hopefully later this year the prices will drop some more (currently looking a the Panasonic TH-50PX60U while it's on special...think it'll get any cheaper?). When we do finally replace our current set we will move it to my mother-in-laws with the tuner...hopefully the tuner's menu won't need accessing much for her.

I definitely like the *MUCH* better reception aspect being as we're 30-40+ miles to most transmitters.

Ed

bdfox18doe

01-18-07, 07:21 PM

but with the 260 there is no analog reception, correct? That kind of bugs me but I'm sure I can work around it. Ed

Yes.. BUT.. you can't do initial setup on the 260 without a compatible display.
So.. if all you have is a NTSC TV, you will NOT be able to do the initial setup on the 260. Nada, zip, nothing..

If you can set it up with a HD monitor, then move it to an NTSC set, it will be fin as long as you can accept NOT knowing what channel you are watching via OSD..

Intheswamp

01-18-07, 08:13 PM

Yes.. BUT.. you can't do initial setup on the 260 without a compatible display.
So.. if all you have is a NTSC TV, you will NOT be able to do the initial setup on the 260. Nada, zip, nothing..

If you can set it up with a HD monitor, then move it to an NTSC set, it will be fin as long as you can accept NOT knowing what channel you are watching via OSD..

There's a work-around on doing the initial setup that a couple of guys in another thread have mentioned. Basically it is to hook the green component jack on the tuner to the yellow video composite on the television. This will give you a b&w screen, but the menus are there. Once things are set up, reconnect the cables as they were. Another option also mentioned is to permanently connect the green component to the yellow composite, use this input for menu access but use the s-video as input for actual viewing. Here's one of those postings...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9466291&&#post9466291

I guess if everything else failed I could purchase a cheap digital tv from wallyworld for a few days.

Ed

bdfox18doe

01-18-07, 08:17 PM

There's a work-around ..Ed

thanks ed! I had not seen this yet.. interesting! :)

Intheswamp

01-18-07, 08:33 PM

Well, at least that's the way it's *supposed* to work. I pulled the trigger on one of the tuner's online with CC so we shall find out how well it works out. ;) It should arrive Wednesday.

...and thanks for the info on the 360 that helped me decide on the 260. :)

Ed

shoncb

01-21-07, 02:40 PM

All of Charter's services are experiencing some sort of problems today. The internet is slow, some of the tv channels are pixelating, OnDemand is completely out, etc. I called them and they confirmed they are having severe bandwidth issues on the head-end in Montgomery today. I asked them to credit my bill because of the lack of service, and they did. So, if you are a Charter customer and want a full day's credit on all services, call them!

sarasdad

01-23-07, 07:00 AM

Anyone notice no center channel on universal HD on brighthouse. It says in dolby Digital on my AV but no center channel.

Dewey TO

01-23-07, 11:30 AM

Intheswamp

01-23-07, 10:23 PM

Hello Ed

I've been away a couple of days. I've got some info from Winegard about the cartridge. It is a matching transformer and a coupler in one unit. Apparently the combo antenna is actually two separate antennas, one uhf and one vhf each with its own feed lines which are combined in the cartridge. If those spade connectors aren't standard size, then the choice for a preamp is the either the CM7777, 7778, or the 0068. If they are a standard size then a 300 ohm preamp could be an option, Winegard says that the uhf side of the antenna is 300 ohms but the vhf is 75 ohms (this seems strange to me) still waiting for more info from them.

Have you checked transmitter locations for digital in your area, this will help you decide on the amount of gain you will need to have good signal strength.

Howdy Dewey, good to hear from you. I looked at the coupler/cartridge again today. The first antenna was slightly damaged and the second one was damaged, too. Between the first and second one I managed to piece together a good one and send the other one back with UPS today. :rolleyes: I'm very interested in how well the connection holds together. The "spade" contacts are actually on the cartridge unit. There is a notch in them that press against four different rods...two UHF and two VHF, I would guess. It looks like simply snapping the box together makes the connection. I guess in the future if the connection fails I can try using some split-nuts or something....break out some of the ham radio rigging. :)

I found a source on the 7777 and installed it on my existing smaller antenna.....WOW!!!...definitely makes a difference! I couldn't believe the difference! I'm picking up 10 viewable analog stations(listed below in the antennaweb results), 7 of which are very-good/excellent...#45 and #3 are weak while suprisingly #4 comes in pretty good.

yellow - vhf WSFA 12 NBC MONTGOMERY AL 36° 20.2 12
* yellow - uhf WSFA-DT 12.1 NBC MONTGOMERY AL 36° 20.1 14
yellow - uhf WRJM 67 MNT TROY AL 36° 20.2 67
yellow - uhf WCOV 20 FOX MONTGOMERY AL 36° 20.1 20
yellow - vhf WDIQ 2 PBS DOZIER AL 192° 12.6 2
* green - vhf WDIQ-DT 2.1 PBS DOZIER AL 192° 12.6 11
green - uhf WBMM 22 CW TUSKEGEE AL 48° 33.4 22
blue - uhf WMCF 45 TBN MONTGOMERY AL 13° 47.2 45
blue - uhf WNCF 32 ABC MONTGOMERY AL 323° 36.3 32
blue - vhf WAKA 8 CBS SELMA AL 321° 38.0 8
* blue - uhf WRJM-DT 48 MNT TROY AL FCC Ext 48° 32.7 48
blue - vhf WTVY 4 CBS DOTHAN AL 149° 66.9 4
violet - vhf WRBL 3 CBS COLUMBUS GA 68° 100.9 3

I really think, after mounting the 7777 on my small antenna, that the 7082P will do me a good job...just gotta wait for some of these other stations to come online. If I get a chance this weekend I'll mount the 7082P but I might have a delay....our daughter is having our first grandbaby probably Thursday. :D :D

I originally started with a set top box from viewsonic, which allowed prices for a new flat panel to come down. Looks like you are doing the same, good move, it'll save you some bucks. I'm looking for a second flat panel (a 1080p), I've tried a Samsung 40" LCD (beautiful pictures, but I was not totally happy), so I returned it, prices are still falling. I think I can wait a little longer.

Well, I *thought* I was going to hold out, but...

I punched the button today on a Panasonic TH-50PH9UK. :D Talked the last couple of days with some guys at Plasma Concepts...very helpful folks and actually seem to understand my "newbie" questions (thanks Aric and Keith)! I'll probably be going HD with DirecTV so I went ahead and ordered the HDMI blade. I probably should have waited longer, but hopefully I got a decent deal on a good panel. :)

Now to study up on how to hook it all together! To start with I'm figuring on using the Samsung H260F OTA tuner that should be here tomorrow, my old DVD player, and our SD DirecTV satellite box. I'll need to get on HD satellite pretty quick so we won't be so restricted on viewing during the break-in. I've got a learning curve to overcome here...but it'll be fun. :)

Did I say I was going to be a GRANDDADDY????? :D :D :D

Ed

JimP

01-24-07, 12:46 AM

Ed

Congrats on becomming a Granddad and pulling the trigger on a new plasma. :)

Intheswamp

01-24-07, 08:51 AM

Ed

Congrats on becomming a Granddad and pulling the trigger on a new plasma. :)
Thanks Jim, the excitement over the plasma is definitely taking second fiddle to the GRANDBABY !!! Wow, just think how good those videos of the grandbaby's gonna look!!!! :D :D

Intheswamp

01-26-07, 09:26 AM

Thanks Jim, the excitement over the plasma is definitely taking second fiddle to the GRANDBABY !!! Wow, just think how good those videos of the grandbaby's gonna look!!!! :D :D

Thursday 25, 2007, 7:51cst:
A beautiful little 5lb. 8oz. baby girl with reddish hair.
Mother and daughter are doing well.
Father will survive.
Grandparents are DELIGHTED!!!! :D :D :D :D :D :D

Ed

philly33flyers

01-30-07, 11:06 PM

Hello all,

Sorry for the Off-Topic post but I was hoping that someone here would be able to help me. I am the owner/manager of a business here in Montgomery and am having huge problems with Charter Internet.

The problem for the past 2 years and counting has been that our internet comes and goes as it pleases. Whenever I call the Charter Business tech support they say they see no problem and send out a tech. The problem with that is the tech comes out 1 or 2 days later when the internet is working fine again. Meanwhile, nobody ever believes that the internet was ever down.

The main problem is that sites that are all text will load perfectly fine, yet sites with any kinds of images or ads will not load. Seems like a simple DNS issue to me, but far be it for me to suggest that to Charter's all high and mighty business tech support team.

Anyway, this problem has been ongoing for 2 years now and it's to the point where I have no idea what to do. Our business (hotel) relies on the internet as a selling point to our customers. When we can't provide this high speed internet to our customers, they get upset and in-turn file a complaint with our corporate office. I have been through countless number of supervisors, and still no solution. I have even tried to contact our so-called business representative here in Montgomery, but she never returns any calls.

It seems everyone at Charter is either too good for you, or extremely rude to the point where dealing with them is not worth the hassle. While at the same time, their technicians who are sent out on dispatch seem lazy and incompotent. For the past 10 or 15 times that they have sent dispatch out here to test the signal quality of our lines, they have come either without their equipment to test the lines or they will say that the lights on your modem are on so everything must be working fine. Ridiculous to say the least.

I've even been to the point of contacting the corporate office to no avail.

Unfortunately, I live in an area of town where DSL is not an option, nor is Knology.

And I feel that if I am paying $100 for the same exact service that any normal person would pay $40 for. For that extra $60 I would expect better service and support.

Anyway, I guess my question/hope is that somone here would know who I can get in touch with or someone here who actually works for charter who is actually going to take the time to try to solve my problem until it's fixed. Like i said this is ongoing for 2 years now and happens constantly. To the point where i had to put charter tech support on my speed-dial.

Thanks for reading this long post and helping with any suggestions.

Scott Smith

01-30-07, 11:47 PM

Dump Charter.

Get Business DSL connection.

Not a DNS issue. DNS (Domain Naming System) matches Domain names to IP addresses. Has nothing to do with text vs graphic pages.

Sounds like an intermittent cable issue to the cable modem. Probably some bad RG6 terminations.

But first and foremost a business has no business using a residential cable modem for their customers.
None of my corporate customers use Charter nor would I allow them to.

Basic would be Bellsouth Business DSL.
Next level would be Network Telephone Bonded T1 pair.
Next would be a fiber link from Knology

One of my corporate customers with 35 desktops and a Domain Controller with Exchange hosting their own domain and mail has an 85 dollar a month Business DSL with zero problems.
It was only 5 years ago they were paying 500+ a month for a fractional T

philly33flyers

01-31-07, 12:36 AM

Problem is, DSL is not available here or I would've switched a long time ago. And a T line is not in the budget. Cannot spend $300+ for just internet.

Also, it is not a cable connection issue. I've swapped coax cables, ethernet cables, even went through 5 different modems. It's either a problem with their lines or something in their main office.

Actually, about 3 months ago I was talking to someone who owns another hotel in Prattville and he was explaining to me the exact same problems that I have and he said that many other hotels were having the same problem. The common denominator was Charter.

Scott Smith

01-31-07, 01:09 PM

I'm amazed DSL isn't avaible in Prattville especially if your right out there at the interstate. Knology might be an option. They are strong in that area.

When I said cable problem I was refering to between the wall and the pole not anything you can get too.

Also it may be that your guests are hogging up all of the bandwidth. May need to look into some packet sniffing software or equipment.

A lot of time facilities like yours will have Proxi servers to cach the commonly used web pages to reduce traffic on the wire.

Do you have wireless? Is it secure? Or are other people that aren't even guests jumping on it?

philly33flyers

01-31-07, 01:36 PM

I am not in Prattville, I am in Montgomery. I was just using Prattville as an example of someone else I spoke with all the way out there that was having the same exact problem.

And yes, I always tell the technicians to go check the lines, but they are too smart to listen to their customers.

There are not very many guests using the internet, maybe 2 or 3 at a time. I've contacted the company that handles our tech support for the guests and they have said they do not see any specific IP using more bandwith than another.

Also, we do have wireless and it is unsecured as it has to be for our guests

JimP

01-31-07, 03:42 PM

phily33flyers,

Since your wireless is unsecured, is there any way to find out if someone nearby (not a guest) is hogging your bandwidth??

Scott Smith

01-31-07, 05:06 PM

Most of the time in a Hotel enviroment the wireless is open and allows you to connect. But when you open IE you are redirected to a authentication site which requires credentuals to allow you to surf. Most of the time it's a pin number that is only good for a day or so given out to the guests at time of check in.
This re-direction also funnels users through a proxi server.

philly33flyers

01-31-07, 07:46 PM

Nobody is hogging the bandwith, I am able to check who is logged into the router at the time. Most of the time my IP is the only one that is even logged in. Also, I have turned off all redirection and log in pages currently thinking that may have been the problem.

I finally got through to the "corporate" office of charter. They sent a tech out here. According to him, if it takes yahoo.com or cnn.com 2 full minutes to load, then that's ok and everything is working.

I finally conviniced him to check the lines outside, he took my modem out to the main node across the street and said that it was having the same problems there so it's a problem on the head end.

Great to know that for 2 full years there has been a problem on the "head end" and the "engineers" at charter were to incompotent to realise this. I'm sure this will not ever be fixed.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions.

Scott Smith

02-02-07, 04:08 AM

Charter is having issues state wide.

I have a customer in Prattville and Auburn that are having intermentent surfing issues.

philly33flyers

02-02-07, 11:44 AM

I think you can make this statement 350 days out of the year.

Charter is having issues state wide.

I have a customer in Prattville and Auburn that are having intermentent surfing issues.

Intheswamp

02-04-07, 11:18 AM

...
I really think, after mounting the 7777 on my small antenna, that the 7082P will do me a good job...just gotta wait for some of these other stations to come online. If I get a chance this weekend I'll mount the 7082P but I might have a delay....

Ed

I finally got the 7082P up in the air yesterday. Sadly, with the Samsung digital receiver I can't really tell any difference from the original antenna that was half the size! I guess what I need to do is hook up an analog tv to the antenna and see how it does. I was kind of hoping to pull in a FOX station from down toward Dothan, but no dice. CBA via channel 4.1 comes in great, but no FOX via channel 33.1. I know that the FOX channel doesn't have nearly the transmitting power that the CBS channel has, but I sure was hoping. As it stands I can't receive a FOX channel. WCOV in Montgomery apparently hasn't turned up a digital transmitter.

Preliminary (rank newbie) findings from last night:

I'm thinking the smaller antenna was "good enough" and had only a small amount of directivity to it that actually caused it to have a fairly wide-angle of decent reception. On the other hand the 7082P may be increasing signal strength from "head-on" stations but rejecting more signals coming from the side than the smaller antenna did. I'll tinker with it some more, but I think the 7082P will require that I go ahead and install the rotor...maybe it will really be better then.

Also, the "connection", I should've taken some pictures of it. It's kinda weak-seeming to me...inside the top of the box is simply some flat spades with slots in them which press against some rod-shaped elements that are in the bottom of the box which is attached permanently to the antenna structure.

I guess to really check the 7082P out I need to hook it back to an analog television and see if the reception improves on some of them.

For now, though, I"m saying I haven't gained much of anything. :(

Ed

JimP

02-04-07, 03:18 PM

Anyone on Brighthouse cable notice that channel 206 is their SD substation rather than the HD station which has different programming?

sarasdad

02-08-07, 04:00 PM

Hey where is everyone!!!!!!! Yes I noticed it Jim. I called and they said I must be mistaken.

bdfox18doe

02-08-07, 04:03 PM

Hey where is everyone!!!!!!! .

I was thinking same thing.. not even a StuporBowl post about WAKA either way! :)

Grandpa Train

02-08-07, 04:08 PM

I was thinking same thing.. not even a StuporBowl post about WAKA either way! :)

I think most people have given up. Montgomery Television is the way it is going to be.

bdfox18doe

02-08-07, 04:19 PM

I think most people have given up. Montgomery Television is the way it is going to be.

Montgomery isn't the only place like that GP.. :(

shoncb

02-08-07, 06:59 PM

Not HDTV related, but Charter's internet is absolutely horrible. I called customer service. They say they are doing something to the entire state of Alabama and have no "get well" date. So, I requested, and was granted a full-month's credit for the internet portion of the bill.

If you have Charter internet, call, complain, and save some money!

JimP

02-08-07, 07:10 PM

Hey where is everyone!!!!!!! Yes I noticed it Jim. I called and they said I must be mistaken.

I'll call them tomorrow.

We'll see their explaination for why the program guide for PBS-HD hasn't been the same show that's being aired for several days. I can tune 26.1 (OTA-HD)with my Tivo and it agrees with what's on Brighthouse program guide.

philly33flyers

02-09-07, 08:05 AM

Welcome to the club. If you read my posts a few ways up you'll see what I've been dealing with, with charter. I wouldn't hope for a resolution soon from them though. More than likely it will be another month or 2 before they get their lazy technicians and IT guys who think they rule the world to do any kind of work.

And i'm sure after it's completely fixed it will go down again shortly after since it will just be a patchwork fix like everything else they do.

Not HDTV related, but Charter's internet is absolutely horrible. I called customer service. They say they are doing something to the entire state of Alabama and have no "get well" date. So, I requested, and was granted a full-month's credit for the internet portion of the bill.

If you have Charter internet, call, complain, and save some money!

Grandpa Train

02-10-07, 06:37 PM

CBS can't even show it in HD. They are a HD wasteland. Back to ESPN and Basketball.

bdfox18doe

02-10-07, 08:15 PM

. Back to ESPN and Basketball.

nahhh... over to ESPN and NHRA!.. :)

brian_esq

02-11-07, 05:47 PM

IS WCOV-DT down? I have been watching it over the air for almost two months with a Terk indoor antenna. I can't pull anything in this weekend.

Grandpa Train

02-11-07, 05:54 PM

IS WCOV-DT down? I have been watching it over the air for almost two months with a Terk indoor antenna. I can't pull anything in this weekend.

It is good here around Dalraida area.

Intheswamp

02-11-07, 06:21 PM

It is good here around Dalraida area.
<sigh> Ya'll are making me jealous. I'm between Luverne and Greenville and can't get a hint of WCOV-DT down here. I'm on a hill down here with a Windgard 7082P and CM7777 pre-amp, but the 1kw that WCOV is putting out just doesn't make it down here. I called the other day inquiring about when they might "pump it up" a bit....nothing promising for quiet some time it seems. :(

CBS out of Selma(WAKA-DT) and Dothan(WTVY-DT) and of course NBC(WSFA-DT) out of Montgomery I get fine....but no ABC or FOX digital down here. :(

Ed

brian_esq

02-11-07, 08:55 PM

It is good here around Dalraida area.
Are you getting it over the air?

Grandpa Train

02-11-07, 09:40 PM

Are you getting it over the air?

BOTH..Dish and OTA.

brian_esq

02-12-07, 09:47 PM

I was picking up WCOV-DT over the air with my antenna for over two months. I have a signal strength around 50 to 55 as measured on my TiVo Series 3. Tonight, I added a longer coaxial cable to the antenna and placed it by the window. My signal strength jumped to above 60. My screen is still black and blank. All the other local stations come in fine.

It appears that I do not have an equipment problem. What else could it be?

Is the station still mapped at 20.1?

Help?

Brian

brian_esq

02-12-07, 09:54 PM

FIXED! I did a Channel Scan on the TiVo, and it appears and now everything works again. I suppose the TiVo had mapped WCOV-DT on the wrong frequency.

larrylwill

02-13-07, 08:35 PM

<sigh> Ya'll are making me jealous. I'm between Luverne and Greenville and can't get a hint of WCOV-DT down here. I'm on a hill down here with a Windgard 7082P and CM7777 pre-amp, but the 1kw that WCOV is putting out just doesn't make it down here. I called the other day inquiring about when they might "pump it up" a bit....nothing promising for quiet some time it seems. :(

CBS out of Selma(WAKA-DT) and Dothan(WTVY-DT) and of course NBC(WSFA-DT) out of Montgomery I get fine....but no ABC or FOX digital down here. :(

Ed

Ed: I'm south of you SE of Brantley and I get WCOV DT fine. Im using a CM4228 antenna.

larrylwill

02-13-07, 08:48 PM

Are you guys enjoying prime time Weather on Ch 12 and Ch 8 tonight? Now their competing on who has the most coverage.

Scott Smith

02-13-07, 08:54 PM

Yep 8 has Stomtracker now woo hooo!
NCIS will be rebroadcast at 12:35 tonight. How much you want to bet it will be in SD?

Hey look on the bright side. Fox doesn't have news so Americal Idol wasn't interupted! :D

larrylwill

02-13-07, 09:07 PM

I am watching Ch 4 F...K ch 8, and soon the same for Ch 12, soon noby will be watching but weather addicts.

Intheswamp

02-13-07, 11:24 PM

Ed: I'm south of you SE of Brantley and I get WCOV DT fine. Im using a CM4228 antenna.
I'm just west of Luverne a couple of miles. It seems like I would have a better chance at WCOV than you considering my location. I don't get an inkling of a digital signal, but yet analog 20 is no problem, go figure. I upgraded my antenna a week ago from a smaller ~4-foot vhf/uhf combo to the Winegard 7082 figuring it would help, but no dice. I'll keep tinkering with it, who knows...somebody might chop a tree down up in Highland Home.

Ed

Scott Smith

02-14-07, 01:37 AM

I just got around to watching the Grammy Awards. Little did I know I was setting myself up to have the Dixie Chicks crammed down my throat. What a crock of $hyt.

JimP

02-14-07, 01:42 AM

Intheswamp

02-14-07, 10:26 AM

Intheswamp,

The Winegard 7082 has a published range of approximately 35 miles (beamwidth 30 degrees) where the Channelmaster 4228 has a published range of 60 miles (beamwidth of 15 degrees). Ranges are based on UHF band.

You would probably do better with the Channelmaster 4228 on a rotator.

grrrrr, I am beginning to get a tad disgruntled with the vendor I purchased from. On their site the 7082 is stated to have a range of 60 to 90 miles! It doesn't state whether 60 uhf miles and 90 vhf miles...just "60 to 90 miles". I figured I'd be ok with this antenna. I searched a bit and found that on Warren Electronics site it states what you mention....35 miles on UHF. Also, WE states 60 miles on VHF.

Checking Winegard's website discloses basically nothing in regards to range, though it's cousin, the CA7082...same length, etc., is stated as being for "deep fringe". :mad:

Looks like I need to make a ph******* and inquire about why it's not performing to it's "60 to 90 mile range", basically it's not doing as good as my old 4.5' RS antenna that laid unused in the bushes for 5 years!

Thanks for the heads up on the range...

Ed

JimP

02-14-07, 10:46 AM

Ed,

Are you using it with an amplifier?? Both Winegard and Channelmaster make good ones. In theory they're really only suppose to improve signal drops over your wiring run, but many swear by them.

WAKA-DT 8

02-14-07, 01:01 PM

I am watching Ch 4 F...K ch 8, and soon the same for Ch 12, soon noby will be watching but weather addicts.

I made that call. As you know, we usually split off the DT for HD, regardless of what the SD is showing. We do that so the HD folks can
see programming. We may not always be able to, but we do when we can and as
you know 12 doesn't. However, at 7pm last night, Montgomery and surrounding counties were under a Tornado Warning....sirens were blaring, and my house
was being pelted with hail. Thought switching away might not be the thing to do
right then. But at least we do when we can. Weather goo-gah bothers me as much as you. Always looking for a better way to convey the info.

WAKA-DT 8

02-14-07, 01:14 PM

<sigh> Ya'll are making me jealous. I'm between Luverne and Greenville and can't get a hint of WCOV-DT down here. I'm on a hill down here with a Windgard 7082P and CM7777 pre-amp, but the 1kw that WCOV is putting out just doesn't make it down here. I called the other day inquiring about when they might "pump it up" a bit....nothing promising for quiet some time it seems. :(

CBS out of Selma(WAKA-DT) and Dothan(WTVY-DT) and of course NBC(WSFA-DT) out of Montgomery I get fine....but no ABC or FOX digital down here. :(

Ed

Not to be picky, but WAKA is not "out" of Selma. Our city of license is Selma, just like the ABC affiliate in Birmingham has their city of license in Tuscaloosa (or Anniston). But that's just a technicality. Everything comes out of Montgomery. Just had to say that. Carry on.

bdfox18doe

02-14-07, 01:20 PM

I made that call. .

And just "who" are "you"?? :)

You made the right call. Thanks to you, mass calamity was averted in Montgomery last night. ;)

Intheswamp

02-14-07, 02:04 PM

Ed,

Are you using it with an amplifier?? Both Winegard and Channelmaster make good ones. In theory they're really only suppose to improve signal drops over your wiring run, but many swear by them.

Howdy Jim. I've got a CM7777 pre-amp at the antenna. I've got about 100' of RG-6 coming feeding the tuner. I added the pre-amp to my smaller antenna before I "upgraded" to the 7082P and it made a very noticeable difference in signal quality. I haven't tried the 7082P without the pre-amp.

Ed

Intheswamp

02-14-07, 02:25 PM

Not to be picky, but WAKA is not "out" of Selma. Our city of license is Selma, just like the ABC affiliate in Birmingham has their city of license in Tuscaloosa (or Anniston). But that's just a technicality. Everything comes out of Montgomery. Just had to say that. Carry on.

I understand. I guess I was just referring to where WAKA hails from. :) Where is the xmitter tower for WAKA located? WSFA and WCOV tend to have my antenna pointed in a north-by-northeasterly direction, where as WAKA has it pointed in a north-by-northwesterly direction. ???

Btw, I'll echo Bob's remarks and say good-call for last night.
Carry on.

Ed

WAKA-DT 8

02-15-07, 09:55 AM

I understand. I guess I was just referring to where WAKA hails from. :) Where is the xmitter tower for WAKA located? WSFA and WCOV tend to have my antenna pointed in a north-by-northeasterly direction, where as WAKA has it pointed in a north-by-northwesterly direction. ???

Btw, I'll echo Bob's remarks and say good-call for last night.
Carry on.

Ed

about 15 miles sw of MGM airport. Within a mile of 32's ANALOG tower.
Gordonsville....or as the sign the state has up "Gordonville".

WAKA-DT 8

02-15-07, 09:56 AM

And just "who" are "you"?? :)

You made the right call. Thanks to you, mass calamity was averted in Montgomery last night. ;)

who am i? WHO ARE YOU???????????

Intheswamp

02-15-07, 10:11 AM

about 15 miles sw of MGM airport. Within a mile of 32's ANALOG tower.
Gordonsville....or as the sign the state has up "Gordonville".

That explains why I get break-up when I direct my antenna towards WSFA,etc.,..even when I try to "split the difference". WAKA is closer to me than the rest of the pack, but I have to swing hard to the northwest to point my antenna at it's xmitter.
Ed

Intheswamp

02-15-07, 10:15 AM

who am i? WHO ARE YOU???????????
Easy now, head injuries can cause this condition...we're looking up the number for 911 as we speak....

Scott Smith

02-15-07, 10:17 PM

about 15 miles sw of MGM airport. Within a mile of 32's ANALOG tower.
Gordonsville....or as the sign the state has up "Gordonville".

Hmm I didn't know that. I thought AKA was in Selma.

sarasdad

02-16-07, 06:51 AM

I know who both of you are!

bdfox18doe

02-16-07, 08:17 AM

I know who both of you are!

Now my head hurts! :D

WAKA-DT 8

02-16-07, 12:19 PM

Hmm I didn't know that. I thought AKA was in Selma.

i give up. back to the nuts in the weather department (which is also in montgomery). WE'RE ALL IN MONTGOMERY!

bdfox18doe

02-16-07, 01:13 PM

WE'RE ALL IN MONTGOMERY!

But I'm not in Montgomery. :p

I thought we were the only ones with Nuts in the weather department.. :rolleyes:

sarasdad

02-16-07, 03:26 PM

Millbrook has lots of nuts

Intheswamp

02-17-07, 01:41 PM

Grandpa Train

02-18-07, 01:26 PM

I am having nothing but trouble with FOX OTA reception today. It will not stay locked. Anyone else? :mad:

Rick0725

02-18-07, 10:33 PM

I'm still pondering my reception here west of Luverne...primarily the absence of receiving WCOV from Montomery. As you might know from my earlier posting, I'm currently using a Windgard 7082P with a CM7777 pre-amp and WCOV is completely eluding me. I'm seriously considering putting up a UHF-only antenna and the 91XG and CM4228 are what I'm looking at.

To help me decide between the two I've post an online poll here on AVS, here is the link for it: 91XG vs. CM4228 Poll (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=806976)

If ya'll could take the time to vote and maybe leave some suggestions/thoughts/tips/etc. on that thread I'd appreciate it!

THANKS!
Ed

Recently installed a hd7082p at my parents .

read some of your other posts to get a better feel of the situation.

yellow - vhf WDIQ 2 PBS DOZIER AL 192° 12.6 2
*green - vhf WDIQ-DT 2.1 PBS DOZIER AL 192° 12.6 11
red - vhf WSFA 12 NBC MONTGOMERY AL 36° 20.2 12
*blue - uhf WSFA-DT 12.1 NBC MONTGOMERY AL 36° 20.1 14
blue - uhf WRJM 67 MNT TROY AL 36° 20.2 67
blue - uhf WNCF 32 ABC MONTGOMERY AL 323° 36.4 32

the vhf side of the antenna may be causing you problems and the cm7777 may have too much gain for your setup. the cm 7777 is not recommended with stations in yellow and/or less than 30 miles or so from towers.

you may want to try to amplify only the uhf side of that antenna and pass vhf.

here is how.

-run coax off the hd7082p antenna to the common port of a cm0549 vhf/uhf combiner/separator.
-uhf output off the cm0549 to the preamp
-run a coax off the vhf port of the cm0549 inside
-recombine the amplified uhf off the preamp power supply and the unamplified vhf with another cm 0549
-common output from the 2nd cm0549 to splitters and tuners

there is only .5db insertion loss and the vhf and uhf ports are isolated by 30 db with the cm0549 so I would not be concerned with any signal losses and they are inexpensive.

http://www.warrenelectronics.com/Antennas/joiners.htm

I use this setup when I suspect overload from vhf . I had to do this at my parent's since they had a very dominant ch 12 vhf. After that worked at my parents, did the same here to clean up some co channel interference isuues at my home .

but the cm7777 or even the ap8700 may have too much gain especially at your distances from some of the towers.

That explains why I get break-up when I direct my antenna towards WSFA,etc.,..even when I try to "split the difference". WAKA is closer to me than the rest of the pack, but I have to swing hard to the northwest to point my antenna at it's xmitter.

the above is the classic sign of overload...too much gain coming from the cm7777 with intermod distortion from the dominant vhf stations in your area.

The winegard hdp269 preamp would work best in your situation with lower gain and higher overload tolerance.

If not amplifying vhf does not help the situation, then add the 91xg to improve uhf performance. If you keep the hd7082p in your setup for vhf /fm, I would not amplify the vhf side and only the uhf. 23db gain for vhf is rather excessive and so is 26 db gain for uhf under your conditions and may be causing problems with your setup at your home.

combine the 91xg for uhf with your hd7082p for vhf/fm through the cm7777 vhf and uhf inputs and spaced about 3' or so apart.

if your system is being overloaded by the cm7777 you would need to do the following.

pass vhf and only amplify uhf with the hdp269 preamp.
-run 2 separate lines into the home.
-amplify the signal off the uhf antenna
-combine the 2 antennas inside with a cm0549.

I did the above here with my hd8200p since I was not satisfied with the uhf performance and had to amplify uhf only because of intermod distortion caused by 3 strong vhf stations.

I also tried the cm4228 but it was too heavy and could not get the 2 antennas spaced far enough apart.

the combined setup will work great cause the hd7082p performs adequately on vhf and the 91xg does a wonderful job on uhf even better on some channels then the cm4228. The 91xg tames multipath nicely and I could not tolerate the cm4228 in that regard.

this setup would be the best of both worlds.

the above is alot to digest...just take it one step at a time.

your cm7777 is causing issues with your setup.

Intheswamp

02-21-07, 09:52 AM

Recently installed a hd7082p at my parents .
read some of your other posts to get a better feel of the situation.Thanks!

yellow - vhf WDIQ 2 PBS DOZIER AL 192° 12.6 2

the vhf side of the antenna may be causing you problems and the cm7777 may have too much gain for your setup. the cm 7777 is not recommended with stations in yellow and/or less than 30 miles or so from towers.

you may want to try to amplify only the uhf side of that antenna and pass vhf.

here is how.
I think that first I'll simply try it with the 7777 out of the circuit, hooking the feedline directly to the 7082's balun. This will give me a reference point for the antenna. Then I'lll simply try it with feeding from only the UHF side of the pre-amp. This will be amplfying the UHF side but should pretty well exclude any vhf signals, shouldn't it? From looking at antennaweb, 2150, etc., it looks like I don't really need any VHF reception since I'm not using an analog tuner. The pre-amp definitely helped with the smaller antenna, but the 7082P is almost twice the size it was.

If I see that I do need the VHF side I will try splitting it as you described. Thanks for that info!

Thanks for the info, Rick, and for pointing out that the 7777 might actually be a problem! I appreciate you taking the effort here to explain all of this. I'll keep you posted.

Ed

Intheswamp

02-24-07, 10:29 AM

Is WCOV's digital transmitting antenna mounted on WSFA's tall-tower down at Naftel Station? That is what I'm gleaning from WCOV's website. Also, anybody know what height it is at?

Thanks,
Ed

Scott Smith

02-24-07, 10:51 AM

Their analog antenna is on WSFA's tower. Their Digital is still on Adrian Lane.

Grandpa Train

02-24-07, 11:07 AM

Their analog antenna is on WSFA's tower. Their Digital is still on Adrian Lane.

Where is Adrian Lane?

Intheswamp

02-24-07, 12:10 PM

Where is Adrian Lane?
Street Atlas puts it on the southside, northwest of the Baptist Hospital complex. Roughly about five blocks north of Baptist Hospital and three blocks to the west.

I think this may be their studio location, also.

Ed

Scott Smith

02-24-07, 08:12 PM

http://bumracing.com/albums/album01/Wcov.jpg

Scott Smith

02-24-07, 08:20 PM

http://www.wcov.com/technical/location.html

At 7:45PM on Friday, March 22, WCOV-TV returned to the air with a reduced antenna height of 350 feet and an effective radiated power of 14,000 watts. This temporary service provided for minimal coverage of the Montgomery area until the new transmitter was built. WCOV-TV now broadcasts from an antenna at 2139' above sea-level and with 2,667 kilowatts of effective radiated power from the WSFA-TV Tall Tower in Grady, Alabama. Operation of the new facility began in late January of 1997.

Intheswamp

02-25-07, 12:29 AM

Their analog antenna is on WSFA's tower. Their Digital is still on Adrian Lane.
Thanks for the info, Scott. I'll be glad when they (WCOV) gets some height and power with their digital...I miss FOX. :)

Ed

shoncb

02-25-07, 09:22 AM

I'm shocked. Neither WSFA nor WAKA displayed the fancy weather maps during last night's 4:10 A.M. storm.

jtrippe

02-26-07, 11:24 AM

brian_esq

02-26-07, 10:57 PM

I'm moving to Cotton Lakes in Wetumpka. It's past the high school off of Highway 14. Does anyone live near there and use an antenna for OTA HD? Tell me a little about the signal. I was thinking of setting up two antennas. I know it's difficult to get both WAKA and WCOV on a CM 4228 without a rotor. I can't really invest in one right now. What I was thinking of doing was putting my 4228 in the attic with my CM 7777 Amp to get WSFA, WCOV, PBS and WNCF attached to my LG 4200A HDTV receiver. Then, I would hook up my indoor Terk HDTVi to my Dish Vip211 to get WAKA. I really can't spend $ on extra equipment. Anyone have any advice or suggestions? Also, I'm splitting the signal to five rooms. Any suggestions on a good splitter that will prevent signal loss? Thanks in advance for the help.
This probably doesn't help much, but I am only using an indoor Terk. Of course, I only have one TV to feed. My antenna is pointed toward a southern facing window. I purchased the antenna to receive WCOV. Due to some problems with my TiVo Series 3 not liking local stations on the cable feed, I am using the antenna for all of my local channels. I can pull them all in, but when I aim the antenna for the best signal strength on WCOV, my WNCF signal drops in and out sporadically. I live near the Pizza Hut off of US 231 in Wetumpka.

jtrippe

02-27-07, 10:38 AM

This probably doesn't help much, but I am only using an indoor Terk. Of course, I only have one TV to feed. My antenna is pointed toward a southern facing window. I purchased the antenna to receive WCOV. Due to some problems with my TiVo Series 3 not liking local stations on the cable feed, I am using the antenna for all of my local channels. I can pull them all in, but when I aim the antenna for the best signal strength on WCOV, my WNCF signal drops in and out sporadically. I live near the Pizza Hut off of US 231 in Wetumpka.

Thanks for the input. I think I'll should be able to pick up all the signals then. They must be pretty strong out in Wetumpka. What signal strengths are you getting?

brian_esq

02-28-07, 12:40 AM

Thanks for the input. I think I'll should be able to pick up all the signals then. They must be pretty strong out in Wetumpka. What signal strengths are you getting?
My TiVo shows signal strength on a 0-100 scale and here is what I usually get: I get WSFA, WAIQ, and WAKA in the 80's (near 90) consistently. I have a little problem with WNCF, but when I aim straight at it, it shows in the 70's. WCOV is very weak with my antenna. The best I get is mid-50's, but, when I have aimed properly, it stays at that signal strength. This is why I have problems with WNCF. I aim my antenna for Fox because I am a huge 24 fan. :)

giantjad

03-01-07, 04:39 PM

Hello, I'm new to AVS and have a parcel of knowledge about QAM. Does anybody know the channel assignments for the local affiliates on Charter. I have an SDTV with no set-top box that gets in the music, movie, and local affiliate channels. However, on another QAM tuner I get everything except the local HD stations. But for some strange reason I do get the PBS sub station "Create." I live in Prattville, and have gleamed the channel assignments if I had a set-top box, but I'm looking for the actual HD channel on basic cable.

WAKA-DT 8

03-01-07, 06:58 PM

WAKA-DT 8

03-01-07, 07:00 PM

I'm shocked. Neither WSFA nor WAKA displayed the fancy weather maps during last night's 4:10 A.M. storm.

We saved it all for today (Thursday).

giantjad

03-01-07, 07:01 PM

Thanks for the info. I'll see if I can figure anything out.

buckeye1

03-01-07, 10:14 PM

giantjad

according to my hdhomerun the QAM frequencies are
WAKA-DT 90.5
WAKA-WX 90.7
WCOV-DT 90.8
WCOV-WX 90.9
WNCF-DT 93.1
WSFA-HD 93.2
WSFA-WX 93.3
TheTube 93.4

I think the HD feeds are on channels 781-784.

My mythtv box picks up all the channels from the hdhomerun and the fusionhd card.

My tv only picks up WAKA and WCOV. It used to pick up WSFA and WNCF. I complained and the picked it up for service. Now I get the channels I didn't before, but lost the ones I used to get.

giantjad

03-01-07, 11:05 PM

Thanks, maybe now I can manually tune them in. You'd think that it would be a little easier researching this on the internet, but I couldn't turn up anything until your help here. Much thanks.

buckeye1

03-02-07, 11:31 AM

Let me know if you have any success.

giantjad

03-02-07, 01:36 PM

Was able to manually tune them in, thanks.

buckeye1

03-02-07, 04:34 PM

Did you tune them via the 90.5, 90.8 etc. or via the 781-784

giantjad

03-02-07, 05:19 PM

I rescanned every channel for about six times and finally got them, I suppose it's just my hardware.

SD4934

03-04-07, 01:27 PM

I'm having problems with my WASF OTA digital signal today. Regardless of where I position my antenna, the signal is very erratic. My other OTA channels come in fine. It's windy today, so maybe that's the problem. The WSFA signal seems very sensitive to weather. Guess I'll have to watch the Alabama game on my analog cable signal.

jtrippe

03-05-07, 05:00 PM

Antennaweb is listing that the CW digital 22 is now available. Can anyone pick it up? Is anyone in Wetumpka able to pick up CW digital or analog? What about MyNetworkTV?

brian_esq

03-05-07, 10:45 PM

Antennaweb is listing that the CW digital 22 is now available. Can anyone pick it up? Is anyone in Wetumpka able to pick up CW digital or analog? What about MyNetworkTV?
I did a channel scan but did not find The CW. I don't think Montgomery even has a MyNetworkTV affiliate. Do they?

The one thing my scan DID pick up is another APT subchannel. I had not seen Channel 26.4 before. My TiVo labeled it "APTV IQ". That makes a total of 4 APT channels I get.

>>> UPDATE <<<

I just went to the antennaweb site. You have mistakenly identified The CW as having gone digital. When you perform the search and get your results, choose show digital channels only. The CW/Channel 22 is removed from the list.

jtrippe

03-06-07, 10:33 AM

I did a channel scan but did not find The CW. I don't think Montgomery even has a MyNetworkTV affiliate. Do they?

The one thing my scan DID pick up is another APT subchannel. I had not seen Channel 26.4 before. My TiVo labeled it "APTV IQ". That makes a total of 4 APT channels I get.

>>> UPDATE <<<

I just went to the antennaweb site. You have mistakenly identified The CW as having gone digital. When you perform the search and get your results, choose show digital channels only. The CW/Channel 22 is removed from the list.

Brian,

Can you pick up the CW analog at all? The MyNetwork affilaite used to be UPN Montgomery. I think its tower is in Troy. They aren't digital yet. I guess CW isn't either then. They told me they would be soon though. I got my hopes up when it said "now available" on antennaweb. My fiance loves to watch Reba on the CW. If I have to watch something with her I'd rather it be digital or HD. It just makes the viewing experience better. BTW, is that brian_"esq" as in attorney? I ask because I'm one and that's the only place I ever see that used. Well, except for the Bill & Ted movies.