I pickup 16-1 at least 5 nights a week here in Monkey Junction.

Unless something has changed I don't think there is a decent CBS signal down here. I pick up CBS HD via Directv.

That is really weird. How can a signal that is only 421 kw come in like that and a signal that is at 1 million watts not come in ? These two channels are both in Dillion SC right? From the maps I looked at they are not directional a bit.

I have picked up 16 once or twice myself, but I'm not aimed at it--this was during really high ducting. I've never seen 56 DT though... but I have seen 13 analog during the summer months.
Keep trying, the weather is starting to improve. I'm picking up WECT tonight, where as last night I did not.

what direction should I be pointing to pick it up?

Here is the location of the tower-- so you should aim just barely to the north of due west...

WBTW-56 DT / 13-1

http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/fm_tv_service_areas/maps/DT418638.gif


WPDE-16 DT
http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/fm_tv_service_areas/maps/DT422674.gif

ok thats what direction I am pointing
16-1 is now coming in at 98% but still nothing on 13-1

Toronto, go over to the Myrtle Beach thread and see if others close to the coast can get a strong signal. It is hard to believe that the CBS is at full power, since you are getting such a good signal on 16. Hmmm

If you haven't already you might need to rescan for the receiver to pick up the PSIP data to display WBTW-DT instead of just entering chanel 56.

I didn't think of that foxeng-on my set all I have to do is enter in the frequency, I do that because it takes so long to do a scan.

Toronto, did you ever get the CBS? You may have to tweek the aim more toward the horizon,
or raise, lower the antenna slightly to obtain the signal. It's got to be there somewhere right?

last night I finially got it to come in at 11pm at 70%
and WB was coming also

I checked it this morning and WB was still there but CBS was not coming in again
I am going to try turning the antenna some and see if that helps

I hope I don't have to adjust the vertical angle of the antenna it was a hard hike to get it up there had to buy a 40' ladder just to do it
and then returned the ladder back to the store

Two antennas pointed in different directions

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Can I do this? Here is my situation:

I get NBC (37º and 31 miles), ABC (59º and 22 miles) and FOX (59º and 22 miles) out of Wilmington. With my high gain antenna pointed at them, they generally come in at about 90%.

I get CBS (311º and 56 miles), ABC (310º and 56 miles) and FOX (303º and 43 miles) out of Myrtle Beach or Florence. With the antenna pointed at them, CBS comes in at about 70% and ABC comes in at about 85%. FOX is due to go digital any day now.

Terrain is flat, flat, flat and there are no buildings or obstructions in the way.

I have three antennas in my attic currently. I just stacked my two Radio Shack VHF/UHF antennas and pointed them both at my stronger Wilmington signal. The high gain UHF only antenna is pointed at the Myrtle Beach/Florence stations. I get the Myrtle Beach/Florence stations great, but can't lock a signal on the Wilmington stations. Same thing happens when I swap the positions of the antennas.

Seems to me like I can just disconnect my VHF/UHF antennas, although they do allow me to pick up analog signals in case of a loss of a satellite feed. Maybe what I need to do is pick up another high gain UHF only antenna and point it in the other direction and combine the signals. If any of you can point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it. My concern was that combining two antennas that are pointing in different directions would interfere with each others signal, but that may not be a problem. There's got to be a way for me to pick up strong signals from both directions without physically having to go up into the attic to move the antenna.

The issue is that if I am not at home and I have set the DVR to record shows in two different markets, one market will not get recorded.

Thanks.

Len
Ocean Isle Beach

Are your antennas at least five feet from one another ?
Are your cables from each antenna the exact same lengths where they join together ? I assume your using a splitter in reverse?
That is my current set-up. I use a top mounted UHF only for Wilmington/Jacksonville and a VHF/UHF combo for Greenville/New Bern both joined together with a splitter in reverse, then run into a Channel Master Pre-Amp. I get all the channels available 24/7 with the exeption of channel 6. They only work at night. Even when I didn't have the Pre-amp I still got perfect reception. My ariels are outside however...

The antennas are currently at least five feet apart and the cables are about the same length. Yes, I'm using a splitter as a combiner. It's just that the VHF/UHF combo just must not strong enough to pull in the signals through the roof and the distance involved. Plus I think the UHF antenna on these combos is pretty weak.

I'm glad to hear your set up is working with two antennas. I'm thinking that if the high gain UHF works extremely well pointed in each direction, then there is at least a chance that with two of them aimed properly I'll be able to accomplish what I want.

Thanks for your reply.

Len

I think your right about the combo's being weaker performers than individual band antennas.
If there are no VHF digitals in your area, I would get just two UHF's and see what happens.
I have a VHF digital on 10 so that is why I have two antenna. Sometimes I have problems with the combo antenna too... but even with this 40 MPH wind I have perfect reception tonight.

For those who pick up WWMB CW20.1/20.2 or WPDE-DT ABC 16.1 OTA out of Florence/Myrtle Beach, I got an e-mail today from Mark Olson (Engineer for WWMB/WPDE) with this info:I wanted to let you know that we will be doing transmitter maintenance on WPDE and WWMB digital transmitters starting tonight. You shouldn't notice any changes until Friday or Saturday as we will be upgrading our PSIP tables which will require you to rescan your set top box. We also will be sweeping the transmission line and tuning the tubes for optimum performance. There is more on this on our website at WPDE (http://www.wpde.com/). I would appreciate it if you could let the viewers in the forum know this too. Please let me know if you have any problems or notice any improvement. So don't freak out if you loose 20.1/20.2 or 16.1 these next cuple days. :)

Incase you don't feel like clicking over to WPDE site or don't see the info, here is a copy/paste from the site.We will perform maintenance and software upgrades to the WPDE and WWMB High Definition transmitters this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The software upgrades will increase our signal strength and further enhance the High Definition picture quality. These upgrades will include a new programming guide on our digital channels.

Unfortunately you may experience brief interruptions in service during the installation of these upgrades. Please note that these interruptions will not affect our analog signal. Our High Definition viewers who receive us via
antenna, or on cable systems like HTC Cable, Time Warner Cable, and Southern Coastal Cable will need to rescan / reboot their set top boxes for the upgrades to take effect for their sets. WPDE DTV channel 16.1 will be found on 15.1 and WWMB DTV channels 20.1 and 20.2 will be found on 21.1 and 21.2 respectively after this upgrade is complete.

Finished installing another antenna in my attic yesterday. I now have three antennas up there, two Channel Master 4228 directional UHF's and one combination VHF/UHF antenna. One 4228 and the VHF/UHF antenna are stacked on top of each other with the VHF/UHF antenna on top and are pointing to Wilmington and the other 4228 is about ten feet away and pointing toward Myrtle Beach. The two UHF antennas are combined and then run through a Channel Master 7775 pre-amp. I wasn't sure if one pre-amp could handle the two UHF antennas, but it seems to be okay. I'm getting all stations very well at between 70 and 90%. Would I be any better off using a second pre-amp on the UHF antennas or are there any other fine tuning things I might want to do? I can live with what I've got right now, but of course I wouldn't be upset with an even stronger signal.

Len

removed

Shhhhhhhh........ don't give them all that info... :)

why?
should I edit my post and remove that info?

Notice the smilie? Just suggesting that the cable company may not need to know everything...

After having a HDTV for quite a while, I finally bought an amplified UHF/VHF indoor antenna, and I figured to head my way into this forum. I can pick up WWAY on 3.1 and 3.2, WSFX on 26.1 and 26.2, Worship on 35.1- 4, UNC-TV on 39.1-5 all with pretty good results. I'm in Hampstead, but can not get signal for any of the Greenville/New Bern channels. I figure it's because I'm too far away from those towers, but close enough for the Wilmington channels.

I'm curious though, if WECT and WSFX are on the same tower, and owned by the same company, is there some reason I can not pick up the WECT HD channels? I'm only trying to get the local OTA HD channels, so I'm not really looking at a big outdoor setup, but it seems weird that one channel on the tower comes in fine.

WECT DT and UNC-TV digital channels are on the same tower in Delco about a mile from where the tornado hit recently. WECT is extremely hard to get, so you will need an outdoor CM 4221
to pick it up. WSFX and WWAY occupy the top of the tower in Winnabow.

You are in the WNCT/WITN/WCTI/ENC-TV viewing area fringe, so you will also need an outdoor
High band VHF antenna coupled with a seperate UHF antenna to receive those. A rotor would be required for only the UHF antenna.
If you are in a valley you might as well forget the Greenville channels...

IdentityVoid,

To pickup WECT you may need to get an outside antenna. I live in the Scott's Hill area and with a DB4 I can pick up four local channels (ABC, NBC, FOX and PBS). I am waiting for CBS to get their act together (the SuperBowl in HD would be nice). I have the DB4 mounted on a mast about 30' high pointed almost directly west (275 degrees) through a forest of pine trees and all of the channels come in very well. Mounting an antenna 30' up on a 8:12 pitch roof is not much fun but worth it.

Bryant

bry999- you should be able to get WNCT-CBS & The CW from that area. It might take some tweeking with an antenna made for channels 7-13 (High Band) or a channel 10 special cut-but as you were saying may be worth the effort in the long run. If you do decide to try, make sure
the antenna will cover a violet (fringe) area.

I'm curious though, if WECT and WSFX are on the same tower, and owned by the same company, is there some reason I can not pick up the WECT HD channels? I'm only trying to get the local OTA HD channels, so I'm not really looking at a big outdoor setup, but it seems weird that one channel on the tower comes in fine.

WECT radiation pattern is known to suck, I mean, it has a signal suckout aimed towards Wilmington--has to do with the way it is mounted on the tower.

And yes, this is not my opinion, I have spoken with the chief engineer, who confirmed it, and said he has problems receiving the signal at the studio...

In general, re: WILM, maybe we (all ten of us :)) should start a letter writing campaign to WRAL, and ask why they treat us and their sister station with such disdain, especially considering that WRAL was THE forerunner of digital and HD transmission...

I used to get CBS in HD from the NY feed on Dish--but now that is gone. My other source is through lifeline TW cable running into a MyHD MDP-130 computer card.

Dish CBS had DD5.1, the WILM feed to TW cable is only DD2.0.

Dish bandwidth had been decreasing over the years, and CSI started to look pretty crappy. WILM through TW cable is better, but still doesn't have the full bandwidth it needs to look its best, and only DD2.0!

C'mon WRAL, spend a little bit of money down here! At least give WILM some new hardware to get that huge station logo changed and add DD5.1!!

Bah Humbug!

But happy holidays to everyone in this forum! :)

I wish you all could view WNCT-HD. The HD is better than WRAL-HD and has Dolby 5.1
Picture quality better on WNCT is not just my opinion, but that of NBC 17 Engineer in Raleigh as well. :D

Hello,

As of a few days ago (12/13/06), Charter Cable (I am South of Monkey Junction, B4 Bridge 2 CB) is offering HD cable.

Only a few "locals" so far and some are actually out of greenville not wilmington. After several days I finally have it up and running on my 1080i projector system. Picture looks super (for this market). I am watching NBC in 16:9 at about 120 inches diagonally. Discovery HD is GREAT!.

Anyone else playing with this or have it going?

Which Greenville channels do you get? WITN, WNCT? They must be capturing those in Holly Ridge and sending them down your way. I guess Charter hasn't made a deal with Wilmington broadcasters yet?

The HD channels I am getting are:

WCTI(H), WITN(D), WNCT(D), and WSFX(H). Also HDNET, Discovery HD Theater, and a few others.

The limited HD programming that they do offer is way cool.
Discovery HD Theater is beautiful.
Considering the bandwidth limitations of Charter , their low tech approach (in CB area anyway) and the cable co's compression I am impressed.

Of course with a large format 1081i projector, every little improvement has a drastic impact.

I actually am very happy and they do not take your eyes out for the HD upgrade. Check it out.


Scott

Scott,

I would like to know if you get UNC-TV HD or any of the UNC Digital Program services on your Charter service. It is my understanding that Charter does not reduce the bandwidth or bit rate from what they receive from the stations. Glad to hear you are enjoying your 1080i Projector.

Wayne Estabrooks

Back in January of 2000 I spent a week end at Fort Caswell. This is just south of Wilminton on the coast. I brought with me a portable color tv. Using the rabbit ears I could receive WBTW ch 13. I have seen of WBTW's 2000 foot tower & the dipoles are all on one side facing Wilmington. Is the WBTW ch 13 analog signals that much weaker in Wilminton? I can not get WECT dt ch 44 but not as good as I can WUNJ. WUNJ is about 9 db stronger. But WUNJ is top mounted. WECT is on the side of the tower. Also WECT had that tower for analog channel 6 from about 1958 until 1969. Ch 6 was pretty good about a -12 db] back then & was very reliable. Then in 1969 they switched to the 2000 foot tower & gave the tower to the NC ETV. Of course back then ch 6 was on the top. WUNJ digital is just as reliable today as WECT analog was back then. Only differents now is that because of the way digital work if you get it at all the screen is solid. WECT back then was just a little bit snowy. Then when they went to the 2000 foot tower it was rock solid & almost perfectly clear. When I first installed my dtv tuner I mounted a channel master 3021 uhf antenna with a channel master model 7475 30 db uhf preamp. I could not receive WECT digital but I could receive WWAY & WUNJ. Then I tested the antennas on the ground in my front yard. I measured on a sencore db meter & then I could receive WECT dt at -45 db. This is because the WECT dt antenna at Delco is 90 degrees to the right if you stand in my front yard facing the street. The street is straight & down hill. But I could not just move the antenna from the back of the house to my front yards near the street because that would look tacky. Then one of my neighbors down the street cut down the pine trees in his front yard. So I did some spot testing for signal on the roof. I found that when I stood on one place near a vent pipe I could then receive WECT. When I looked in the direction of the signal I could see the sky like looking through a tunnel through the pines & like looking out of an window through the woods. So I bought from Radio Shack a vent pipe antenna mount & mounted the antenna at that location. Now I get WECT 99.9 precent of the time now. WUNJ & WWAY still came through the pines trees before. WECT needs a clear path thou.WECT is on the side of the tower & at 900 feet. My experience with two way radio antennas when I was in the communciatons shop was that side mount antenna NEVER preform like the top mount. There are so many parts of the of the tower that are at various wave lengths from the driven dipole. The steel parts not at even multiple of 1/4 wave lengths will cause some of the signal to be reflected out of phase of the direct signal off the driven dipole. They will cause ghost in analog signal. In a digital signal the will cancel some of the direct signal. There some directional antennas with a shield that can be used on a side mount. But they will stop all of the power from going to the other side of the tower & you would be receive them very weak a mile on the other side of the tower. If they could some how share the top of the tower or share that antenna on the top they would do just fine. WUNJ that is now on the top is doing fine. I can understand them not using the 2000 foot tower. But I think they need to consider the 2000 foot tower with a directional antenna to push the power toward Wilmington or another tower in the Wilmington area when they can have the top with out any obstructions. You are right as it is now when the shut down the analog they will have about as much coverage as they did in 1954 when the went on the air on the side of an 400 foot tower.

I think the guys at WECT learned from experience that the side mounted antenna doesn't work out to well. WXFS FOX 26 was originally planned as a side mount lower down on the WWAY tower, but at the last minute was changed to a top mount with the WWAY antenna. It only puts out 80 KW. Even at this power, I have a strong signal 60 miles up the road. I think the signal radiation takes most of the power toward me and toward the Fayetteville area. Still I think enough reaches Myrtle Beach for a steady signal also.

Did some research on Wilmington NC and here's the latest on which is best: Dish, Directv or Time Warner.

HD Cable vs. Dish Network vs. DIRECTV


The comparison is based on Time Warner Digital Cable with HD channel package (TW), Dish Network’s HD (DN) package which included VOOM and DIRECTV’s HD (D*) offering. Some of the cable providers may be providing better more sophisticated packages based on Fiber Optics to the door. TW does not provide this in my area.



Technologies tested:

Dish Network (DN) HD DVR/PVR 921 and HD 811

DIRECTV (D*) HD10 & HD20 DVR

Time Warner (TW) HD Scientific Atlanta



For a few days this past week I had all three up and working long enough to do some true comparisons. All three vendors off some sort of special discount rate for 1st time customers. All three can be argued into giving you a HD DVR as part of the initial package at no cost. It does require haggling and often times requires a discussion with the disconnect department who ultimately can make changes and offer deals that the sales people can not. It is not unrealistic to anticipate that you could move from one vendor to the other over the course of 12-18 months and thereby reduce your home entertainment costs annually by 500+ a year.



On the surface, most would consider the number of HD channels as the definitive answer to this discussion. I would disagree with that – Content of those HD channels and the quality of that content are the real questions.



I have had Dish for about 24 months and before that I had TW Cable HD. I recently switched to DIRECTV. In addition, for a few days had access to all three services (I still have TW for Cable Modem and had them set me up temporarily with their latest HD box.)



The easy first question; which is the worst? That is TW. They are still upconverting analog signals to 1080i and therefore still have a lot of pixelization and static that is digitized into the broadcast. End result is the quality still suffers and head to head 480i broadcast of Sci-Fi Network, TW was the hands down worst. Across the board, Showtime HD, etc was the same. So given the quality issue and the fact that they are by far the most expensive of the three services, they easily are the first vendor voted “off the island.”



DN uses two small dishes (16 inches across) to accommodate their regular line up and to get the VOOM channels. D* on the other hand uses a much larger 23 inch single dish to get both SD and HD programming. Both are going to MPEG4 standard and all new customers and more importantly all new channels will be distributed in MPEG4. So existing customers must upgrade to an MPEG4 receiver, which neither will do for free, unless you’re a new customer (even this will take finesse to accomplish.) Both offer upgrades to existing customers for a leased unit for about $199.00



All of my dishes were professionally installed and have clear line of site to the satellites they use.



So if you’ve never used either then you have a good chance of negotiating a good deal for yourself and save yourself several hundred dollars a year. If you with one, then your best bet may be to switch to the other and reap your one year of savings.



In a head to head comparison between H10 and 811, I found the DIRECTV H10 produced a significantly better picture in all cases. Whether I was looking at a 480i or 1080i image, consistently it was brighter, more detailed with the H10 for exactly the same shows. It was even more obvious when compared to the 921. I was quite surprised to find this out. Colors seemed to be more washed out on the 811 than on the H10. While the H10 does have the advantage of doing MPEG4 and 811 is only MPEG2, this doesn’t matter for 90% of the programming since only HD Universal and a very few others are using that codec at this time. Most everything today is still transmitted MPEG2. Again using Sci-Fi network as the base (480i) images where much clearer and brighter coming from DIRECTV. For those of you who are Sci-Fi fans such as myself, you get an added benefit of going Satellite; Universal HD replays several Sci-Fi programs in HD such as Battlestar Galactica.



Content is important and Dish Network has far more HD channels than DIRECTV. Now, lets talk about what that gets you. Most of the channels come from an acquisition DN made of VOOM. These include channels like RAVE, RUSH, Kung Fu HD, Monsters HD, Destination HD, and several others. Unless you’re into some fairly esoteric stuff or dig Haunt Culture fashion shows, these channels are totally useless. Seriously, take the time and look at the programming these channels offer. Granted this is very subjective – your mileage may vary, however I found that all the meaningful content was on channels like TNT HD, Universal HD, World Cinema and Discovery HD. Everything else was pretty fringe content. Which isn’t bad, but was fairly undependable when it came to quality programming. World Cinema is an exception and as far as I know Dish is the only one providing it. It is Internal Movies in HD – this I found to have high quality programming consistently. So if your tastes tend to be fairly mainstream, your going to find that there is no difference between the two vendors. Yes one has more channels in HD, but that doesn’t matter if you don’t watch them. There is much discussion on this topic for 2007 since both networks are slated to add additional satellites for HD programming.



In conclusion, DIRECTV provides a significantly (noticeable) better image over Dish Network. However Dish has more channels. If I were new to both, I would go to Dish for the added channels, IF I found the programming to be something I would watch. If the channels I watch were the same mix as DIRECTV’s then unquestionably I would go DIRECTV for their quality of image. If I were a Cable customer I would change to a Satellite service if for no other reason than quality of product and cheaper price.

Can someone tell me exactly what charter HD in Wilmington is serv'n up.

Im not switching. Just want to know some backs.

Anyone sitting on a Tivo3 and inquired about charter's cable card offerings.

Please list the channels.

Its nice I have written several letters to charter in this area and when they do launch HD i didnt even get a call or invite to switch from directv.

What DVR are they using?

What locals are they carrying?

Are they carrying WB from somewhere?

What premiums?

Cablecard Available?


Nice to see they finally turned someone on even if it probally sucks

nc88keyz

Did some research on Wilmington NC and here's the latest on which is best: Dish, Directv or Time Warner.

Technologies tested:

Dish Network (DN) HD DVR/PVR 921 and HD 811

DIRECTV (D*) HD10 & HD20 DVR

Time Warner (TW) HD Scientific Atlanta



Those are obsolete Dish receivers, new subscribers would get either the ViP211 or ViP622.

Although your comparison may be valid for those specific receivers (and I understand that it's what you had on hand), the picture quality results could be different with the newer Dish receivers...

For about a week now WSFX HD has had peiods of being very unstable. It was particularly true during the game last night. I am on TW cable. Anybody else notice this?

Yes. WSFX HD has been pixelating OTA also. Last night I took a look at analog to see if it was
affected and even that picture was poping and had interference. Something is probably wrong with the satellite feed.

I really could use some input/help. I've been a DISH customer for seven years and would like to stick with them, but my circumstances might force me to go Direct. I lost my long distance networks and am in the process of applying for waivers with NPS. ABC was denied. The other three are pending. I currently have a 6000 HD unit and a 625 DVR unit. I currently cannot record any network broadcasts because I lost them all. I do have multiple antennas in the attic to pull in the locals.

On Friday I was watching CBS in digital/HD and it was pretty much unwatchable. Signal strength was about 50% and it broke up and froze so often that I had a hard time watching it. I wasn't surprised at that. CBS analog is very snowy, so I've got real problems with CBS.

Sunday I was watching FOX with a signal strength of about 95%. What really surprised me was that the digital signal was breaking up there too, not quite as bad as CBS the other day, but still bad enough that I had to switch and watch it via the analog signal.

I'm afraid to get the 622 unit and commit to it for 18 months if it's not going to be any better than I've got now. DISH does not carry my locals, but Direct TV does. I can take advantage of DirectTV's new customer offers, but I've heard some negatives about their receivers. But if they are my only real option to get and record the networks, I may have to do it.

Any ideas you guys have would be appreciated. Any input you have on the 622 and/or the DirectTV receivers also welcomed. Will the 622 work any better for me than the 6000? I'm also going to hit the forums and do some searching to see what I can find out.

Thanks.

Len
Ocean Isle Beach, NC 28469

Can someone tell me exactly what charter HD in Wilmington is serv'n up.
Just hooked it up this morning before work. Only had a few minutes to browse around, but the picture looks as good as my old TWC HD I had when I lived out in Leland (in Carolina Beach now).

As for the lineup (add $13 to your current bill for all of these, premiums included free if you already have the SD version):

704 WWAYDT
706 WECTDT
709 WSFXDT
770 HDNETMV
771 HDNET
772 UHD
773 ESPNHD
775 DHD
777 HBOHD
778 SHOWHD
779 MAXHD
790 STARZHD
797 TNTHD

Straight from my online Tivo program guide. CBS is missing though, isn't the super bowl on CBS this year?


Its nice I have written several letters to charter in this area and when they do launch HD i didnt even get a call or invite to switch from directv.
Yeah, same here! I have had Charter since moving to this foresaken town in April '06 simply because I use the cable internet (DSL not available to my apartment). Have called countless times asking about HD/DVR service. Called about 2 weeks ago and was told it would be 6 months. Happened to be searching in Tivo last night and one of the results was the 704 ABC channel. Talk about PO'd! Log onto here and find out it was available when I called two weeks ago.

No DVR available at this time was the answer I got from the online support, have an 800# to call for more info. Not expecting to get a reliable answer though after the lack of knowledge about HDTV availability. The online rep seemed to think calling this number would at least get me in touch with someone more in the know or maybe it is the number to call for badgering Charter into doing something (8669745046)

{Edit: Well, that number was apparently just for online orders or something, no help whatsoever... Did get a hold of a decent CSR though and found out that 1) DVR is delayed due to their "supplier" not having any new units; 2) DVR service will still cost an extra $15 per unit (isn't TWC only $10?); 3) CableCards are available for $1.50/mo. each... so far so good with the HD, off to watch the BCS game now...}

I am looking at the Tivo Series 3 and hope to get an answer on the above number about CableCards even though the series 3 apparently doesn't require them for dual tuner HDTV

Will update this after watching more of the HD channels this week. Really not impressed with the lineup, but the picture and sound are what I remember and have been missing for almost a year now!

--
Brandon
Carolina Beach

What happened to 'TheTube' on 26.2 ? It is now gone on my set and 26 has been renamed
WSFX-DT
It's a shame to see the music videos have been taken off all the Sinclair channels including 28.2 in RDU and now we lose them also.........

What happened to 'TheTube' on 26.2 ? It is now gone on my set and 26 has been renamed
WSFX-DT
It's a shame to see the music videos have been taken off all the Sinclair channels including 28.2 in RDU and now we lose them also.........


The Tube is still on TW Cable.
Also (crossing my fingers) WSFX HD has been fine for the BCS.

What happened to 'TheTube' on 26.2 ? It is now gone on my set and 26 has been renamed
WSFX-DT
It's a shame to see the music videos have been taken off all the Sinclair channels including 28.2 in RDU and now we lose them also.........
It just stopped being remapped. It was on their physical channel 30.4 this morning.

greetings guys!

i have direct tv hd.. but im also looking for some OTA. any recommendations on the best antenna in the hampstead area? i have been comparing for a while but im just not sure which will work best.

i have looked at the terk hdtvs, the square shooter, the db2 and the lacrosse. dont really want a big nasty antenna but i will if i have to. thanks in advance!



* yellow - uhf WWAY-DT 3.1 ABC WILMINGTONNC 248° 34.4 46
* yellow - uhf WUNJ-DT 39.1 PBS WILMINGTONNC 271° 32.1 29
* red - uhf WECT-DT 6.1 NBC WILMINGTONNC 271° 32.1 44
* red - uhf WPXU-DT 35.1 MNT JACKSONVILLENC 63° 15.7 34
* blue - uhf WCTI-DT 12.1 ABC NEW BERNNC 30° 53.1 48
* violet - uhf WUNM-DT 19.1 PBS JACKSONVILLENC 30° 53.1 18

I just asissted a friend who lives in Pelican Reef (Hampstead area) put up a Channel Master 4228, pre amp and a rotator. He is pulling in all the Wilmington HD's and also 35.1...(not sure of the station).

The antenna is mounted on his roof, about 30' high. He couldn't pull everything in until he used the rotator. Amazing what a few degrees can do.

Good Luck,
Incus

greetings guys!

i have direct tv hd.. but im also looking for some OTA. any recommendations on the best antenna in the hampstead area? i have been comparing for a while but im just not sure which will work best.

i have looked at the terk hdtvs, the square shooter, the db2 and the lacrosse. dont really want a big nasty antenna but i will if i have to. thanks in advance!



* yellow - uhf WWAY-DT 3.1 ABC WILMINGTONNC 248° 34.4 46
* yellow - uhf WUNJ-DT 39.1 PBS WILMINGTONNC 271° 32.1 29
* red - uhf WECT-DT 6.1 NBC WILMINGTONNC 271° 32.1 44
* red - uhf WPXU-DT 35.1 MNT JACKSONVILLENC 63° 15.7 34
* blue - uhf WCTI-DT 12.1 ABC NEW BERNNC 30° 53.1 48
* violet - uhf WUNM-DT 19.1 PBS JACKSONVILLENC 30° 53.1 18

I would suggest a CM 4221 or 4228. You should be able to get WITN-DT 32 from there also. You will need a rotor. If you want CBS & CW WNCT-10 VHF, I would suggest a high band http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=YA1713 added onto that via a CM 7777.

thanks guys... any difference in the 4221 or 4228 for the price?

how bout this from radio shack?

40" Boom Length, 17 Elements Outdoor Antenna for UHF-Only
Model: U-75R | Catalog #: 15-2160

CM 4221 is about $25 online, but S&H is more. The Channel masters are better than the RS, but that one is good also. I picked up both WWAY and WSFX with it 60 miles away, and it picked up UNC at 55 miles when they were low power with no problem.

Good luck! It's all trial and error at first to see where the best spot is to get everything usually.

attic installation worth a crap or do i have to get it outside?

The FCC has announced it has accepted for filing WILM's companion DTV channel 40.

Channel 40? That is the same as the Charleston FOX affiliates frequency. WTAT 24.1

The FCC has announced it has accepted for filing WILM's companion DTV channel 40.
What's that mean? What's that gonna be? :)

It means that the FCC has accepted an application for channel 40 for WILM-LP and if approved, WILM can build a digital station on channel 40.

If they go with 40, there is bound to be a lot of interference. I pick up Fox from Charleston regularly in the evenings and mornings.

The FCC has announced it has accepted for filing WILM's companion DTV channel 40.

Very, very interesting............ that should open up some more OTA recording options for sure...

Time to give Connie a call to get some more info.......(assuming she's still the station manager...)

Aw crap! I got excited too soon...

http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?list=0&facid=167819

Only 7,500 watts... and antenna about 170' above ground...

Oh well, it's a start...

Looks like the antenna will be within about 4-5 miles of my house at worst... but then again, the initial WSFX antenna was that close also, and I couldn't pick up squat. But I think WILM will be much higher...

If they go with 40, there is bound to be a lot of interference. I pick up Fox from Charleston regularly in the evenings and mornings.

Remember that LP stations have a fraction of the area that full power stations do. They are basically to cover a specific area where full power stations cover large regions. I am kind of surprised they didn't try to upgrade the status to a low end full power station with the new channels open but then they may not be able to until post transition when the old analog channels open up.

The proposed coverage doesn't look to bad though for what they are trying to cover.
http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/fm_tv_service_areas/maps/LD1155005.gif

The proof will be in the reception... I don't put too much stock in the proposed coverage diagram. We only need to go back and look at WSFX before they moved their antenna (and upped the power), and we could take a look at WECT's service contour map and see that it radiates out over the ocean... but as many of us here in Wilmington know, the signal has real problems stretching to the East...

The first WSFX antenna, mounted at their studio, was about 125' up at 5kW, WILM's is proposed to be about 180' at 7.5kW...

So really, I am encouraged by the developments, especially if the signal gets cleaned up a bit compared to the feed coming from TimeWarner cable, and if we can finally get DD5.1 instead of 2.0. Wait, hold on!! Maybe they'll devote the entire bandwidth to just the single broadcast!! We can hope... :)

I left a message with Connie this morning, hopefully she'll call back soon and I'll try to get more info.......

BTW, foxeng--thanks for posting the FCC approval, and in general, it's nice to have someone with your experience and knowledge posting...

Uh oh... it's a side mount antenna...

http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=441215

WILM digital... budgeted for 2008.......... maybe we'll get FiOS by then too..... :)

hey guys... one more possibly dumb question.. if i put up a 30' mast now with a 4228 or equivalent can i add the rotor/preamp later? or do i need to put those on when i install the mast?

WILM digital... budgeted for 2008.......... maybe we'll get FiOS by then too..... :)



Funny that you mention FIOS,

I have heard that AT&T and verizon are trading some territories. and wilmington will become a VZW landline market. Keep your ears to the wall. I know VZW wants this really bad

Funny that you mention FIOS,

I have heard that AT&T and verizon are trading some territories. and wilmington will become a VZW landline market. Keep your ears to the wall. I know VZW wants this really bad

We do have a large call center here... hmmm...

Funny thing was, Verizon builds a call center in Wilmington, but no one can get their service for a couple of years...

hey guys... one more possibly dumb question.. if i put up a 30' mast now with a 4228 or equivalent can i add the rotor/preamp later? or do i need to put those on when i install the mast?

I'm sure you can add it later, but it would probably be easier to do it all at once... you know, only one trip to the roof...

Of course, you won't know if you need it until you put it up without those items...

Those of you in Wilmington may want to try receiving WFXB-DT on channel 18, now that we're at full power from our new transmitter in Mullins SC.. :)

I doubt I will pull in WFXB... Our PBS station between New Bern and Jacksonville is on 18. Yesterday morning I noticed I couldn't get PBS on 19.1, so maybe I was picking up both signals! I don't care about PBS on 18 anyway, since I get them on 29 (39.1) also. I think in 2009 the Jacksonville PBS will move to 19, so maybe then...

The contour map doesn't include the Wilmington area, but it's possible my antenna stack could still pull it in:

http://home.earthlink.net/~marcpilot2/images/antennatower.jpg

Yeah, just kidding! :)

how long do you think it will take for CBS to start showing up on Channel 40 weeks months a few more years?

last night I was trying to watch CBS from Florence for the superbowl and it sucked it was all shakey

how long do you think it will take for CBS to start showing up on Channel 40 weeks months a few more years?

last night I was trying to watch CBS from Florence for the superbowl and it sucked it was all shakey

It's budgeted for 2008... as they say... "you do the math"... :rolleyes:

That said, just because it's budgeted for 2008, doesn't mean it will be operational in 2008... so I wouldn't hold your breath for OTA WILM...

Who do you have for cable? TW has CBS in HD...

wow junk that lol

I have Charter for Cable
who does TW use for CBS in HD? what station and why isn't Charter offering it with their current HD Lineup

how long do you think it will take for CBS to start showing up on Channel 40 weeks months a few more years?

last night I was trying to watch CBS from Florence for the superbowl and it sucked it was all shakey

Antenna sweet spots can be a pain in the arse. Does the CBS ever come in steady?

ya it comes in pretty steady but only at night and only when it is clear outside

I don't know what was causing the problem last night but the audio was dropping so bad we just put it on wilm which on our tv is streched and all blurry

TW cable is getting the CBS feed from WILM (from WRAL I presume?)

Don't know what Charter gets...

Raycom has announced that the ACC tournament will be delivered in HD for stations that are set up to pass it.

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/16664153.htm

Wait so TW gets its HD CBS from WILM ?? HOW I thought WILM didn't have HD

or does TW get the Standard def from WILM and the HD version from WRAL?

what station does Time Warner use for HD CBS in wilmington? because it isn't WILM right is it WRAL?

AFAIK, WILM is passing through WRAL's programming...

that has nothing to do with my question
what station does Time Warner use for HD CBS in wilmington?
I will just call them and post it here

wow what a wealth of knowledge I just got
ok time warner gets HD CBS from a fiber line directly between WILM's office and time warners office
and wilm has a fiber line set aside for charter to hook their HD converter box up to but charter just hasn't made the effort to hook it up

does anyone know who I can contact at Charter in carolina beach or holly ridge to get some movement out of them to hook up their fiber line at WILMs office

Hi Everyone. Just found this thread in AVS a few days ago & was looking for a little help. I'm currently using TW cable for my HD connection but looking to switch to Directv for more sports programming. (nfl st, mlb ei, rsn channels). Moved here from Ohio a few years back and I'm a Browns & Indians fan (GOD HELP ME). Reading on the Dbstalk forums about all the directv installer problems can be a little scary. Can anyone recommend a company or individual that does a quality install. Know it will cost me more money but just want it done right. Any one know who Directv uses to do their installs in Wilmington????

Hi Everyone. Just found this thread in AVS a few days ago & was looking for a little help. I'm currently using TW cable for my HD connection but looking to switch to Directv for more sports programming. (nfl st, mlb ei, rsn channels). Moved here from Ohio a few years back and I'm a Browns & Indians fan (GOD HELP ME). Reading on the Dbstalk forums about all the directv installer problems can be a little scary. Can anyone recommend a company or individual that does a quality install. Know it will cost me more money but just want it done right. Any one know who Directv uses to do their installs in Wilmington????



Will DirectTV give you all the local network channels both HD and SD? I'm not sure you will be able to watch ABC CBS NBC and FOX on HD. Does anybody else know?

My understanding is that Directv will only give me the locals in SD. If I want HD I would need to put up a roof antenna giving me all the locals except CBS which I'm pretty much screwed because there isn't a OTA feed. I think reading the past posts that's the best I can do. I'm hoping Directv will be getting HD locals when their new sats are put up later this year but thats not for sure.

If I want HD I would need to put up a roof antenna giving me all the locals except CBS which I'm pretty much screwed because there isn't a OTA feed.

*Post edited to protect the folks formerly oppressed by WRAL and HD DNS*

that has nothing to do with my question
what station does Time Warner use for HD CBS in wilmington?
I will just call them and post it here

Uh, well, you asked who does TW use, and I said WILM, which is passing WRAL's signal.

I don't know how that didn't answer the question. Maybe you should've read the answer more carefully.

Who do you think owns WILM? And where do you think WILM gets their signal from?

That could by why the WRAL news is played in Wilmington, on WILM, on TW cable.

And if you look at post 571, I think it's pretty clear there also.

WILM still needs their own HD equipment, even though they are passing WRAL's signal, and that's why the sound is only DD2.1, and not DD5.1--they don't have the most up to date equipment.

Hadn't heard of doing it that way before. Directv installer would have to go along since the install is here in Wilmington I would think? The satellite police aren't going to be knocking on my door down the road some day are they? The wife may take away all my tv rights if I get us in trouble.

EDIT



MASTEC does Directv installs in wilmington. THey are the contractors. Its hit or miss as to who you get. Ive gotten some idiots before, however I know they have some great ones too.

EDIT



MASTEC does Directv installs in wilmington. THey are the contractors. Its hit or miss as to who you get. Ive gotten some idiots before, however I know they have some great ones too.
Does anyone have the new slimline dish that directv is now using for their hdtv installs put in by mastec or anyone else. I have been looking around the area but have not come across one yet.

Does anyone know why there is no HD on FOX for the tournament?

Just got my install done for directv this last week and i'm looking to connect a attic antenna(inside is what i want) to pick up the locals in hd (except of course cbs). I'm close to the monkey junction area and am looking for recs on which antenna to get. thanks for any advice.

Hello folks, just dropped by to put my name back in the pot. I returned to WWAY back last November and if you have any questions for me, gripes, request, praises...etc., then let 'er rip.

Billy Stratton

Hello folks, just dropped by to put my name back in the pot. I returned to WWAY back last November and if you have any questions for me, gripes, request, praises...etc., then let 'er rip.

Billy Stratton

Billy,

Glad to see you back. Quick question. Any idea why so many shows on WWAY seem to go in and out of HD? For instance October Road had 2 segments in HD and 2 in SD. Is somebody, literally, falling asleep at the switch in the control room?

Thanks!

Rich

Billy,

Glad to see you back. Quick question. Any idea why so many shows on WWAY seem to go in and out of HD? For instance October Road had 2 segments in HD and 2 in SD. Is somebody, literally, falling asleep at the switch in the control room?

Thanks!

Rich



And the last segment of Six Degrees tonight.

In fact I would suggest not too many network shows make it through all segments in HD! It seems most have an SD segment somewhere!

Hello folks, just dropped by to put my name back in the pot. I returned to WWAY back last November and if you have any questions for me, gripes, request, praises...etc., then let 'er rip.

Billy Stratton

The mountains didn't work out, huh? That can be a tough gig!

Back from Asheville?...

I've noticed the same on WWAY, seems like after there's an SD commercial, the regular broadcast fails to switch back to HD. Surely there isn't the requirement to manually switch between commercials and program?

Some piece of equipment or software getting confused by commercials?

Hello folks, just dropped by to put my name back in the pot. I returned to WWAY back last November and if you have any questions for me, gripes, request, praises...etc., then let 'er rip.

Billy Stratton
Good having you back Billy. :)

Welcome back to Billy. No gripes here. The others already brought up the HD switch problem. LOL I don't know what causes this, but when the switch to HD is thrown, it looks really blurry for a second or two, and then clears up.

Welcome back to Billy. No gripes here. The others already brought up the HD switch problem. LOL I don't know what causes this, but when the switch to HD is thrown, it looks really blurry for a second or two, and then clears up.


I remember when CBS Chicago had the same problem with HD not pulling focus quickly. It was a setting on the HD Encoder.

I am sure curious why WWAY has so much SD mixed in with an HD broadcast. None of the other stations seem to have 1/10 of the problems. Manual switching vs. Automatic switching?

The problem with the HD programs having SD segments is due to our playlist GPI info line. The traffic Dept puts a line in the playlist to convert from SD back to HD, and when that point comes, there is a GPI trigger that selects the HD feed. For some reason the GPI is intermittent.

We recently added a digital master control switcher and I put a GPI on there to make sure we are going back to local programming after the HD Primetime shows are done, and I will look at a more reliable way to ensure the HD segments are switched when they're supposed to.

Foxeng... yeah, back from Asheville. I loved every second I was there though! The wife unit didn't care about relocating, so I caved in and came back. The things we do for our better halves.

I also wanted to post here about some antenna/tower work that will be going on next week (Apr2 - Apr6). We are having to take our analog antenna down to do repairs on it, and this will require us to shut down both digital and analog transmitters (Fox and PBS included) while the tower crew rigs our tower. Then during the week we may have to lower power from time to time. This will mostly only involved the analog signal, but depending on circumstances, may also require lower power with the digital. The good news is that all the work will be done during daylight hours, and hopefully will only take 3 days to complete. Primetime HD signal will be normal.

The problem with the HD programs having SD segments is due to our playlist GPI info line. The traffic Dept puts a line in the playlist to convert from SD back to HD, and when that point comes, there is a GPI trigger that selects the HD feed. For some reason the GPI is intermittent.

We recently added a digital master control switcher and I put a GPI on there to make sure we are going back to local programming after the HD Primetime shows are done, and I will look at a more reliable way to ensure the HD segments are switched when they're supposed to.

.


Well so far Dancing With the Stars is all in SD. Sadly it's all too predictable for WWAY.

A couple of thoughts. ABC has spent close to a billion dollars on HD implemnetations and the viewers have spent several thousand dollars on wanting to watch HD. Why doesn't WWAY hold up their end? I just don't get it.

Also my bet is as soon as the station manager or chief engineer get HD at home WWAY will actually get around to teating HD better than and unwaned stepchild.

Sorry to rant but this has been going on for 2+ years. I still have E_mails I traded with Jack that go back to 2005. (He no longer replies.) If you are going to do something with your name on it (WWAY) why wouldn't you want to do it well?

The other Wilmington stations seemed to have figured it out why not WWAY?

Some of it was in HD. I turned back to WWAY after the first few segments. While it was in SD I watched WCTI. Sound sux, but it was HD.

Some of it was in HD. I turned back to WWAY after the first few segments. While it was in SD I watched WCTI. Sound sux, but it was HD.


First 2 segments were in SD.

Rich,

I am the Chief Engineer at WWAY and I do have HD at home. To be brief, last year around the April/May timeframe, the station here took a lightening strike on our tower at the studio. This strike took out about 40% of our equipment here. I was not here then, but I was made aware of the situation. There was a change in the engineering staff about the same time and as you might can imagine things were a bit hectic around here. For several weeks the station put their signal on the air by using a live van to microwave the signal to the transmitter site. Equipment was ordered and replaced on a priority basis. When I arrived back in November of '06, I was greeted by several serious conditions that required immediate attention. We are still working on a list of items that have been inoperative since last spring's lightening strike. So, while the problem is one that I can promise you we will work on, it is not at the top of priorities at this time.

I can't speak for what has been done or has not been done while I was away, but if you ask those here that have dealt with me in the past, you should find out that I will do everything I can to resolve any problems that you may post here, but I have to do it on a priority basis. I hope that is acceptable.

I can say Billy was very responsive to viewers (members) problems from day 1 of WWAY's HD broadcasting till he left WWAY. I haven't really watched WWAY-HD in awhile since I get more consistent signal lock on WPDE-HD (24/7) compared to WWAY-HD (70% of the time) and WTVD-HD on cable so not sure how their broadcass have been lately. Billy was a regular member/poster hear way back then and on Wilm forum. Unfortunately, analog broadcast is still local stations #1 money maker so it signal transmition and equipment still gets priority over HD broadcasting. Not Billy's fault, he has to focus on what the GM and Owner Morris Multimedia says to unfortunately leaving HD problems mostly for little extra time.

Rich,

I am the Chief Engineer at WWAY and I do have HD at home. To be brief, last year around the April/May timeframe, the station here took a lightening strike on our tower at the studio. This strike took out about 40% of our equipment here. I was not here then, but I was made aware of the situation. There was a change in the engineering staff about the same time and as you might can imagine things were a bit hectic around here. For several weeks the station put their signal on the air by using a live van to microwave the signal to the transmitter site. Equipment was ordered and replaced on a priority basis. When I arrived back in November of '06, I was greeted by several serious conditions that required immediate attention. We are still working on a list of items that have been inoperative since last spring's lightening strike. So, while the problem is one that I can promise you we will work on, it is not at the top of priorities at this time.

I can't speak for what has been done or has not been done while I was away, but if you ask those here that have dealt with me in the past, you should find out that I will do everything I can to resolve any problems that you may post here, but I have to do it on a priority basis. I hope that is acceptable.


Fair enough. I'm sure you are aware but the problems of (SD when it should be HD) far predate last spring. I sill have E_Mails from Jack (the previous chief engineer?) that go back 2 years regarding the same problem.

In technology years that is a lifetime!

I took some time at lunch to tap into a source on our switcher to add a second GPI trigger for HD in primetime programming. I would like for you or anyone that watches tonight's ABC lineup to let me know if you see the SD/HD slideshow again. I can't test it at this point in the day since we are not in HD again till primetime starts. I found me a "roundtoit".

Thanks Daryl... those early days were nip and tuck for a while there! Thanks to our great group of HD viewers in the Wilmington area, we were able to work through the first stages relatively painlessly!

If I recall correctly, aren't there significant equipment differences between ABC in general, and specifically WECT and WWAY? Don't know about WSFX. But it seems that the early stages of transition to HD were smoother for WECT and WSFX--mainly in the most complained about area of prime time not being switched into HD.

I finally got around to watching the final several episodes of Alias (that I had long ago recorded), and the very final episode was completely in SD!!!! Too late to call master control on that one! :rolleyes:

At least in the early days, I believe an engineer (or someone in master control) had to manually throw a switch for WWAY to go into HD mode (well... that assumption is really based on the number of calls I used to make to get them to "flip the switch"). WECT and WSFX had the equipment/software to do it automatically?

Anyway, just saying that the problems at WWAY may been significantly caused by the hardware they chose to use...?

Since DISH got slapped around in court, I've been relying on WILM via TW cable for my HD.

It has always had the following problem: the best I can describe it is that it looks like the bit width (not bandwidth-if I can make that distinction) is drastically reduced. I can see banding and a kind of macro blocking effect, much as if you took a 16 bit digital photo and down-rezzed it to 8 bits. (actually 8 bits is more than adequate, that's what all the photo editor software uses, unless you've got Photoshop CS).

Or it's as if you set your computer screen color resolution from 32 bit to 16 bit--but only worse, as if you could set your resolution down to 6 or 7 bits...

Let's say it looks more like a few bits are being dropped, reducing the color palette to the point where color transitions are blocky, not smooth.

Very noticable during NCIS--flesh tones are horrible. Also very noticable during McDonald's ads, at the very end with the red screen that rotates around--very uneven color transitions.

Is there an engineering explanation? I think the bandwidth is fine, I'm not seeing artifacts related to overall bandwidth. CSI still looks pretty good...

Equipment issue?

If I recall correctly, aren't there significant equipment differences between ABC in general, and specifically WECT and WWAY? Don't know about WSFX. But it seems that the early stages of transition to HD were smoother for WECT and WSFX--mainly in the most complained about area of prime time not being switched into HD.

FOX uses a completely different system for HD than the other networks. They use a "splicer" that is a very fancy downstream MUX that is spliced in the compressed digital stream in place of the station's compressed stream (it is called ATSC compatable) unlike the other networks that actually switch a full 1.5 gb HD stream.

I took some time at lunch to tap into a source on our switcher to add a second GPI trigger for HD in primetime programming. I would like for you or anyone that watches tonight's ABC lineup to let me know if you see the SD/HD slideshow again. I can't test it at this point in the day since we are not in HD again till primetime starts. I found me a "roundtoit".

Thanks Daryl... those early days were nip and tuck for a while there! Thanks to our great group of HD viewers in the Wilmington area, we were able to work through the first stages relatively painlessly!

Billy,

For the first time in a long time all segemnts (- about 10 seconds) of an ABC show (Dances with the stars in this case) was in total HD.

An observation that may make no sense. In the first few moments the show was in SD. It seemed like there was a switching effort that failed, very similar to lost segments on other nights. But right after that there seemed to be another switching event that suceeded. Don't know if that makes any sense at all but it seems like a second switching event worked?

Since DISH got slapped around in court, I've been relying on WILM via TW cable for my HD.

It has always had the following problem: the best I can describe it is that it looks like the bit width (not bandwidth-if I can make that distinction) is drastically reduced. I can see banding and a kind of macro blocking effect, much as if you took a 16 bit digital photo and down-rezzed it to 8 bits. (actually 8 bits is more than adequate, that's what all the photo editor software uses, unless you've got Photoshop CS).

Or it's as if you set your computer screen color resolution from 32 bit to 16 bit--but only worse, as if you could set your resolution down to 6 or 7 bits...

Let's say it looks more like a few bits are being dropped, reducing the color palette to the point where color transitions are blocky, not smooth.

Very noticable during NCIS--flesh tones are horrible. Also very noticable during McDonald's ads, at the very end with the red screen that rotates around--very uneven color transitions.

Is there an engineering explanation? I think the bandwidth is fine, I'm not seeing artifacts related to overall bandwidth. CSI still looks pretty good...

Equipment issue?

Something is very blotchy and low color fidelity with CBS. I just thought it was a very low bandwidth problem as they haul it over from Raleigh. Anyway WILM seems quite dependable but of very low quality.

The problem is with WILM or TW cable. WNCT HD looks outstanding. I've seen WRAL also and it looks just about equal to WNCT.

At least in the early days, I believe an engineer (or someone in master control) had to manually throw a switch for WWAY to go into HD mode (well... that assumption is really based on the number of calls I used to make to get them to "flip the switch"). WECT and WSFX had the equipment/software to do it automatically?

The answer is yes. Until last December we were using a very old GrassValley analog switcher that had lots of problems, including no working GPI feature. So we had to install a switch for the MCOs to flip in order to go to HD. With the newer digital switcher we recently installed, we are able to handle this a different way. In the past couple of years we have relied on a software trigger in the rundown to make the switch, and that has been failing as well. We are in the process of making our master control fully automated which will incorporate HD switching as well.

Rich, I would assume that the operator forgot to use the new source that I tied to the GPI yesterday, until after he was in the show. That would have been the second switch attempt. Of all things, last night during Dancing with the Stars, we lost network just prior to the announcement of the pair that would not be coming back. Sometimes you just can't win for losing. :)

I noticed this morn that GMA was in HD on WWAY but it was not the past couple morns I looked. ;)

Hey... engineers on board...

Is it possible that WILM is using some sort of lossy compression format on the video? Or they are actually dropping bits of information? Due to crappy hardware or software?

I thought of a better example. If you take a digital photograph, and save it multiple times as a JPEG, the image quality will deteriorate to the point where it looks "splotchy". Color transitions are no longer smooth because there aren't enough bits to adequately specify all the color gradations.

I wonder if the signal from WRAL is being compressed on its way to WILM?

If I got around to it, I think I could check bandwidth on recorded material from WILM using some free software somewhere... but I suspect the bandwidth is plenty high enough--to show all the ugliness of a compressed bit-starved image...

Not knowing anything on how they are receiving their HD signal, I would not want to venture a guess as to what is wrong. To be perfectly honest, I have not watched their signal since the end of football season, and as I recall that looked good... on cable at least.

Hey... engineers on board...

Is it possible that WILM is using some sort of lossy compression format on the video? Or they are actually dropping bits of information? Due to crappy hardware or software?

I thought of a better example. If you take a digital photograph, and save it multiple times as a JPEG, the image quality will deteriorate to the point where it looks "splotchy". Color transitions are no longer smooth because there aren't enough bits to adequately specify all the color gradations.

I wonder if the signal from WRAL is being compressed on its way to WILM?

If I got around to it, I think I could check bandwidth on recorded material from WILM using some free software somewhere... but I suspect the bandwidth is plenty high enough--to show all the ugliness of a compressed bit-starved image...

I just traded E_Mails with Peter Sockett who is the cheif engineer. I think he is located in Raleigh. He asked where we were receiving WILM and I told him TW channel 914. He also asked me what programs were a problem and I told him all.
I ran over and checked my neighbor's HD and it looked the same. Also got agreement with a couple of guys I golf with who have HD. As one said, "It ain't pretty!

I left a voicemail and email for Pete... haven't heard back yet...

At least that's 2 of us...

I offered to record a clip and send it to him...

I have a MyHD QAM capable HD tuner card in my PC, and use it to record network programming from TW Cable. The way my card tunes channels, both Fox and CBS are subchannels, if it matters, I think it's 112.

Fox looks great, so I would assume then that it's not a bandwidth problem on channel 112, although OTOH, I suppose TW could be doing something, but I doubt it...

Oh yeah, my brain is in gear now... on my second Bass Ale and a good cigar--if it weren't for those pesky gnats...... (I'm outside).

Had a thought on why perhaps Pete might be surprised (I'm assuming) that PQ is so bad...

So many media reports say that the majority of people buying HD sets aren't even watching true HD programming, just SD... so they wouldn't see a difference in WILM.

Then you've got those that have their tv's left at out of the box settings, which usually are too bright and too saturated.

Or you have those with 32" or so direct view LCD's... that may not as readily show the poor PQ...

Therefore no one even calls TW cable to complain, or if they do, TW just says it's WILM's fault--"we're just passing the signal"... I never used to care because I had CBS on DISH, although they were starting to lower the bandwidth, and I could see artifacts, but still no where near as bad as WILM...

I've got old technology, but arguably still superior in many ways to LCD and DLP, a Pioneer 58" CRT RPTV, calibrated by Gregg Loewen (good guy!)... all of which I relayed to Pete, as to why WILM PQ is crap...

I'm pretty sure WWAY was ALL HD tonight... :)

http://home.earthlink.net/~marcpilot3/images3/nikki1.jpg

Even CSI NY looked halfway decent tonight...

Isn't CSI:NY CBS and not ABC?

Isn't CSI:NY CBS and not ABC?

Yes... I was multi-tasking/posting... :) since we've got a couple of major areas of discussion going...

Commenting that WWAY didn't have any problems with SD/HD transitions (at least during Lost), and when I surfed to WILM, the image quality wasn't as bad as usual, Criminal Minds still had some problems especially noticable in faces, splotchy flesh tones, and I have a greenish fringe halo effect around the areas of flesh tone that are off--especially in dark areas. CSI:NY had almost normal looking faces/tones...

Now, if I saw that greenish effect in all programming, I'd suspect my TV, but since it's 100% limited to WILM/CBS images, I'm pretty sure it's the source, and not my display.

Yes... I was multi-tasking/posting... :) since we've got a couple of major areas of discussion going...

Commenting that WWAY didn't have any problems with SD/HD transitions (at least during Lost), and when I surfed to WILM, the image quality wasn't as bad as usual, Criminal Minds still had some problems especially noticable in faces, splotchy flesh tones, and I have a greenish fringe halo effect around the areas of flesh tone that are off--especially in dark areas. CSI:NY had almost normal looking faces/tones...

Now, if I saw that greenish effect in all programming, I'd suspect my TV, but since it's 100% limited to WILM/CBS images, I'm pretty sure it's the source, and not my display.


I have 2 HD TVs here, I checked with the neighbor and a couple of guys at golf. Noticeable to all.

Of all things, last night during Dancing with the Stars, we lost network just prior to the announcement of the pair that would not be coming back. Sometimes you just can't win for losing. :)


Billy,

I checked with my wife and friends who were also watching HD all swear we didn't miss that segment. Is ther any chace the HD feed held up? I don't recall any glitches?

I left a voicemail and email for Pete... haven't heard back yet...

At least that's 2 of us...

..


I still haven't heard anything have you?

Billy,

I checked with my wife and friends who were also watching HD all swear we didn't miss that segment. Is ther any chace the HD feed held up? I don't recall any glitches?

Apparently the HD did make it through the faulty switch. I have heard the same thing from others here that watched the show in HD. It was only the SD feed from network that had the issue.

I still haven't heard anything have you?

Not a thing...

Got an email from Pete Sockett--they are looking into the issues...

Got an email from Pete Sockett--they are looking into the issues...


So did I.

Good News! Got a call at work just now from an engineer at WRAL...

They investigated the problem and found a bad component at WILM which was replaced this morning...

Please check CBS/WILM programming tonight to see if there's a difference.

If only I had sent an email sooner...........

:)

Good News! Got a call at work just now from an engineer at WRAL...

They investigated the problem and found a bad component at WILM which was replaced this morning...

Please check CBS/WILM programming tonight to see if there's a difference.

If only I had sent an email sooner...........

:)


Looks quite a bit better. Still some very slight blotchy flesh tone at times but much better overall.


Also kudos to Billy over at WWAY. Haven't seen an SD miscue in days!

2 long standing problems fixed! Thanks guys!

Only using the game last night on CBS (which still looked quite good before the fix), it IS much improved, but as you note, still a bit of blotchiness on the highlights of faces... cheekbones, parts of the forehead, etc...

Saw some macro blocking on some replays, and even during live action, especially on the red jerseys during fast motion--bandwidth must've been slightly reduced.

Otherwise, when I tuned in to the game, I was almost shocked at the saturation and clarity of all the colors in the stand, and on the floor... wow, my 6+ year old CRT RPTV can still do it right!

True test will be NCIS...

Lately I've been recording all prime time for later viewing... good to hear that WWAY is working...

Rich, let's be sure that both you and I send Pete a followup email... both thanking him for the fix, and further comments on picture quality...

Rich, let's be sure that both you and I send Pete a followup email... bothh thanking him for the fix, and further comments on picture quality...



Marc,

Like you I would like to see a few more progrmas but will follow up.

Wow!,

I abandon the forums for a few days and people are actually carrying conversations. Not just one way.

Whats the QAM situation with charter?

Anyone have a confirmed list. I did see someone posted list of timewarner qam in ILM over at the silicon dust forums.

I am strongly considering the HDHomerun and reselling my MYHD MDP100.

Great to have you back on board billy.

mdp-100 probably isn't worth much since it's so old... with the mdp-130 being available... might be worth more as a backup...

The HDHomeRun looks interesting... if you watch tv on your computer... I prefer to watch HD on my tv... and the big advantage to me of the mdp is that it's hardware based, and can be used on an old beater of a computer if necessary, and also it has its own video output, no special video card needed...

On another note, CBS/WILM seems to be only marginally improved. One one hand, this means that the BB game last night was exceptional (video-wise), and for some reason, way better than regular network programming.

NCIS had the usual sunburned look, which is a known problem with the source. The Unit was only a little bit better, still blotches on faces. CSI Miami... well, they mess with color tint/saturation anyway.

Seems like there's still something wrong.

My conversation with the engineer (not Pete) was very brief, didn't have a chance to talk much about what they found, but if I recall correctly, I believe he made a remark about WILM originating primetime programming? Meaning it's not passed to them from WRAL? This might explain why WRAL news isn't in HD on WILM--the feed directly from WRAL isn't HD?

Trying to logically figure out the video chain, and possible problem areas...

We need to get one of the engineers from WRAL on the forum...

On another note, CBS/WILM seems to be only marginally improved. One one hand, this means that the BB game last night was exceptional (video-wise), and for some reason, way better than regular network programming.

NCIS had the usual sunburned look, which is a known problem with the source. The Unit was only a little bit better, still blotches on faces. CSI Miami... well, they mess with color tint/saturation anyway.

Seems like there's still something wrong.

My conversation with the engineer (not Pete) was very brief, didn't have a chance to talk much about what they found, but if I recall correctly, I believe he made a remark about WILM originating primetime programming? Meaning it's not passed to them from WRAL? This might explain why WRAL news isn't in HD on WILM--the feed directly from WRAL isn't HD?

Trying to logically figure out the video chain, and possible problem areas...

We need to get one of the engineers from WRAL on the forum...


I agree WILM is better but not much.

ok i need a little help if possible...


just got a cm 4228 and a cm spartan3 preamp... im fairly proficient with technology but not sure what 'exactly' to do. anyone mind hooking me up with a few tips. thanks in advance!!!


JD


eta. ok i hooked it all up .. upstairs and it works pretty good. i get 3.1 and 26.1. i guess what i am asking is how hard is it to put it out on a mast.

[QUOTE=MarcS]mdp-100 probably isn't worth much since it's so old... with the mdp-130 being available... might be worth more as a backup...

The HDHomeRun looks interesting... if you watch tv on your computer... I prefer to watch HD on my tv... and the big advantage to me of the mdp is that it's hardware based, and can be used on an old beater of a computer if necessary, and also it has its own video output, no special video card needed...

****

HDHomerun - runs over cat5 to any pc in the house. I fully intended it for HTPC usage. I dont use the video outputs on the MYHD at all!. I just piggyback vga to a geforce 6600GT and before that an ati 9200 radeon. Works fine. Full screen passthrough is nice, but I think the dual tuners is more valuable and with cpus so powerful today, who cares about hardware vs. software decoding.

Heck I can o/c a 2.8 to 3150MHZ / single core. and almost do 1080p. even though i dont have a display capable of that resolution. Heck i dont even have DVI/HDMI. Its all component on my main set. I have a 50 sammy that does have HDMI upstairs though.

Ive heard really good stuff about the hdhomerun. I would be willing to bet I can get 70 bucks for the MYHD. I bought it for 125 a few years back. You are right though it might be worth keeping for that though.

I made some cash this week on cpu repairs, hometheater install/antenna work. So i might treat myself.

ESPN2 HD is now in the TWC HD package.

HDHomerun - runs over cat5 to any pc in the house. I fully intended it for HTPC usage. I dont use the video outputs on the MYHD at all!. I just piggyback vga to a geforce 6600GT and before that an ati 9200 radeon. Works fine. Full screen passthrough is nice, but I think the dual tuners is more valuable and with cpus so powerful today, who cares about hardware vs. software decoding.

Heck I can o/c a 2.8 to 3150MHZ / single core. and almost do 1080p. even though i dont have a display capable of that resolution. Heck i dont even have DVI/HDMI. Its all component on my main set. I have a 50 sammy that does have HDMI upstairs though.

Ive heard really good stuff about the hdhomerun. I would be willing to bet I can get 70 bucks for the MYHD. I bought it for 125 a few years back. You are right though it might be worth keeping for that though.

I made some cash this week on cpu repairs, hometheater install/antenna work. So i might treat myself.

I never could get my 6600GT to output properly to my tv via component... finally gave up... it was just way easier to use the output of the MyHD card, and so ends the story of using a PC as an "HTPC"... :)

I ripped a few DVD's to it (my computer), and watch them through the MyHD card--which some argued had equal or better output than any software/plugin combo... I also play rented DVD's via the MyHD card.

For me, simplicity won out... eventually I'm sure I'll get a tv with HDMI input, then I'll just pick up a DVD player that upconverts...

Marc,

I had opposite problem.

Bought a vga to bnc / rca cable convertor thinking I would not need a transcoder at all with the myhd card. Long story short. Mitsubishi tv and myhd card wouldnt play nice. would sync for about 4-5 seconds then loose the sync.

Ended up going with an audio authority VGA to component transcoder. All is perfect now. Like you though I will retire the trascoder sooner than later hopefully for a set with HDMI.


thanks for the feedback though.

I really want to find out whats out there on QAM on charter.

I bought a rotator at Lowes for $50. I plan to hook it up this weekend and stack antennas. I hope to gain WECT most of the time at least, and hope to pull in Raleigh stuff better. I will post my results when done.

Billy,
What happened to the Super Doppler 3 radar sweep? Did the motor burn out, cause I don't see it on the screen anymore? I found that during Severe weather this radar was faster and more accurate than any other. Sometimes during a lighter rain it didn't register very well however. It may have just needed a tune up.

Trying to logically figure out the video chain, and possible problem areas...

We need to get one of the engineers from WRAL on the forum...


WILM still looks fairly blotchy. Still worse than any other HD I see.

I also wonder why we can't get WECT or WILM deliver DD 5.1 Fox and ABC are in 5.1

I was able to get WECT-DT last night after 6PM to come in steady, even with the poor conditions. Also I pulled in WRDC (MyRDC) DT after 8PM steadily, and stronger than WECT even though it is over 90 miles from here. So far I'm pleased with the rotator. It has a digital compass and wireless remote. It only takes five to ten seconds to tune in the channels. I decided not to stack because the antenna would have been to close together, and the rotor said only 3 feet of mast on top? Anyway I can get high band analog and analog channel 6 even shows up a little with nothing but a UHF antenna. LOL Everything is a little stronger since I did away with the splitter and second antenna combination.

I decided not to stack because the antenna would have been to close together, and the rotor said only 3 feet of mast on top? Anyway I can get high band analog and analog channel 6 even shows up a little with nothing but a UHF antenna. LOL Everything is a little stronger since I did away with the splitter and second antenna combination.

Are you using the Channel Master rotor? If so that is the same one I am using. I took a 10 foot mast and put the VHF at the top of the rotor and put my 4228 at the top of the mast (check out the pik in the Greenville thread) and haven't had any problems. That 4228 isn't a heavy antenna at all and it has been in that configuration for over 3 years.

Are you using the Channel Master rotor?

Yep, the channel master 9521A. I used the Channel Master 4221 bowtie with it. I'm very satisfied with this set-up. I am kind of afraid to go as high as you did over the roof with all the storms we get around here. I'm not sure that it would make any difference, being all the networks are coming in, and I get more than anyone else around here that has cable and dish. The only channel I lost by going this way was WRAL analog.

Is WWAY-DT 3.1 not doing PSIP program data?

Is WWAY-DT 3.1 not doing PSIP program data?

I don't get any from them most times. I also don't get good data from WSFX.

Although WILM is slightly improved the Masters still had quite a bit of blotchy skin tone and the greens looked strange. My son in law in Chicago said the colors were great on Comcast Chicago. Any bets WRAL is running a highly compressed low bandwidth signal over from Raleigh? Does anybody see CBS HD off air? Or have seen the picture in Raleigh?

Also I searched the discussion board and haven't found anything. Does anybody know why neither WECT or WILM have DD 5.1? Seems like something they should have by now?

I took some time at lunch to tap into a source on our switcher to add a second GPI trigger for HD in primetime programming. I would like for you or anyone that watches tonight's ABC lineup to let me know if you see the SD/HD slideshow again. I can't test it at this point in the day since we are not in HD again till primetime starts. I found me a "roundtoit".
!


Billy,

ABC had 0 hd tonight. Everything is in SD. Did you guys lose the HD feed?

Dancing w/ Stars wasn't in HD out of New Bern either. I'm not sure about the other shows.

ABC was having network problems last night.

WILM doesn't have DD5.1 because they don't have the equipment (so I was told...), I assume it's the same reason for WECT...

CBS still looks bad... which reminds me, I'll have to reply to Pete's email that the component replacement did not fix the problem.

I had other problems last night, like trying to find where TW cable remapped WWAY and WECT HD--since I use a QAM capable computer card, it doesn't know what happened... :(

Did a complete rescan of all digital cable channels, and had to go through one by one and select them to see if I could find either station, which I couldn't. So now I have to use an antenna input for WWAY and WECT, and cable for WILM and WSFX...

Some days I think I'll just give up on tv... I'd try to get some help from TW cable, but can you imagine if I asked the question "where did you remap WWAY and WECT HD?"

Huh????????? So you say you aren't using a cable box? You have a "tuner card"?
Huh????????

WILM doesn't have DD5.1 because they don't have the equipment (so I was told...), I assume it's the same reason for WECT...

CBS still looks bad... which reminds me, I'll have to reply to Pete's email that the component replacement did not fix the problem.

??

From: Rich
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2007 8:13 PM
To: Sockett, Peter
Subject: RE: Poor quality HD signal

Peter,

The picture though slightly better is still quite blotchy. The area that looks the worst is skin tones. Particularly on people with darker complexions. WILM just isn't nearly as good as other the other networks.



Thanks, I’ve got one of my guys looking at it.
Peter A. Sockett

Chief Engineer

WRAL-TV & WRAL DT




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks Rich for motivating me to send off an email to Pete... I just sent it...

I threw out a few potential clues for him, which I'll share here, in case anyone else might notice the same as me...

First is that the quality of the image seems to improve later in the evening, e.g., the 8pm program sucks, the 9pm isn't so bad, and by 10pm the picture looks half decent. (this is NOT because I'm on my third bourbon and coke by then! :D )

Second is that I've noticed the HD commercials look a lot better than regular network programming.

What we don't have a problem identifying is that faces look bad, but to be more specific, it's generally only the highlights, like cheekbones, foreheads, etc... the areas that physically stand out on the face, that also might have higher brightness levels. But also the converse would be the very dark areas that seem to glow green...

I caught a few glances at Ghost Whisperer with Camryn Manheim guest starring, and there was a dark scene that made her look like she had raccoon eyes!

Hopefully they'll find the problem...

If you could send him some screen caps, that might help him. Just a thought.

If you could send him some screen caps, that might help him. Just a thought.

I offered twice to record a program and send an exerpt of the transport stream file... I haven't played around with the various editors lately, but could probably extract a single image. But I'd rather send a couple second "raw" stream so it's not in any way further degraded by converting a screen capture into a jpeg file of some sort...

I don't want to send anything before I get a formal request to do so...

I offered twice to record a program and send an exerpt of the transport stream file... I haven't played around with the various editors lately, but could probably extract a single image. But I'd rather send a couple second "raw" stream so it's not in any way further degraded by converting a screen capture into a jpeg file of some sort...

I don't want to send anything before I get a formal request to do so...


I sincerely hope they can just walk up to a monitor somewhere and see the quality of the video. I can't imagine they would not have the ability to monitor what they are sending out.

But, then again, there was a time where I didn't know a single technical person at WWAY who seemed to know what was going on with their HD signal!

I've run into that issue in the past also, where a stream (whether video or audio) will be "monitored", but it's the input stream, not output from a transmitter.

Just a few days ago I alerted our local NWS office that the weather radio transmission was dead, he then put on the audio for a few seconds, which we both could obviously hear, but that didn't answer the question of whether it was coming out of the transmitter (it wasn't)...

Monitoring the feed isn't enough, it has to be the final output from the antenna... even then, it must be on an HD monitor or tv...

CBS looks maybe slightly better, but still sunburned faces.

NBC (WECT) tonight is windowboxed for me--not full screen HD...

WWAY is ok!! :)

WUNJ (UNC tv) HD seems to be ok OTA, but on TW cable it breaks up every few seconds. WUNJ xmitter was offline a week or two ago while WECT (I think it was them) worked on their antenna--something about protecting the workers???? What's a little RF while high on a tower???

I've been in touch with Wayne Estabrooks and he's got people looking into the situation...

Last week one day I remember that WWAY and WSFX were off the air for analog antenna work.
I didn't knwo WECT was going to be doing work? No wonder I haven't picked them up lately!

Maybe this will be the answer to WILM's video quality problems? (In today's Wilmington paper)

http://home.earthlink.net/~marcpilot4/wilm/wilm2.bmp

appears they are trying to get someone in there to bring things up to date. WILM-TV is sorry at this point. The feed they are giving to directv is astonishing....and this is one time i dont blame the sat company for their compression tactics. I mean why would they be compressing WILM differently than WECT. Time will tell but maybe just maybe we will get something respectable out of WILM before years end.

They are just looking for a Master Control Operator. A "switch flipper" if you will.

A little off topic but i just noticed that bellsouth dsl 6.0 has dropped to 42.95 from 46.95. Last time this happened I got credited back from the change date. Wonder if I can repeat this since, I tricked them into naked dsl a while back ....while not having a land line.

Ill be calling on Monday! Also my HD-Homerun should be in the hizzy on monday too


My gosh, mwave has the E6420 for 189.xx now with free 512 flash drive. Tempting

Also my HD-Homerun should be in the hizzy on monday too

Please post your experiences with the HDHR... I've tried to read through its dedicated thread under HTPC, but pretty long thread...

WILM doesn't have DD5.1 because they don't have the equipment (so I was told...), I assume it's the same reason for WECT...

CBS still looks bad... which reminds me, I'll have to reply to Pete's email that the component replacement did not fix the problem.

I had other problems last night, like trying to find where TW cable remapped WWAY and WECT HD--since I use a QAM capable computer card, it doesn't know what happened... :(

Did a complete rescan of all digital cable channels, and had to go through one by one and select them to see if I could find either station, which I couldn't. So now I have to use an antenna input for WWAY and WECT, and cable for WILM and WSFX...

Some days I think I'll just give up on tv... I'd try to get some help from TW cable, but can you imagine if I asked the question "where did you remap WWAY and WECT HD?"

Huh????????? So you say you aren't using a cable box? You have a "tuner card"?
Huh????????


I'm having this same mapping problem. I have $8 cable through TW here in Wilmington, and I'm only able to pick up the HD channels for FOX and CBS. I'm currently missing NBC (WECT) and ABC (WWAY). I've tried reprogramming but neither my HDTV nor my Samsung HD tuner in my back bedroom are able to find them. It's EXTREMELY frustrating.

I've tried calling TW on the issue and when I said that "NBC used to be on 79-2 and got remapped somewhere and it's now PBS", I got a big fat, "Huh, I don't understand what you're referring to..." When asking about what to scan under to pick up the most channels (STD, HRC, and IRC) and I got a big fat, "Huh, I don't understand what you're referring to..." So I hung up the phone disappointed. The girl on the phone did say they were undergoing maintenance for HD issues, but gave me nothing else information-wise.

I'm at a loss, both in ideas and in 2 of the most important networks I watch in HD. Any help?

Right now 78-3 is CBS, 78-4 is TheTube, 78-13 is FOX, annnnnnnnnd that's it after checking.

Any help would be awesome,
Ian

Buy a cheap UHF antenna as a back-up. LOL

Been there, tried that. No signal in my apartment.

I'm getting Fox on 78-3... Still haven't found WWAY and WECT, so the question is, if they're having problems with HD channels, what are all the TW cable subscribers doing for HD?

I'm using an antenna for WECT and WWAY...

Have you tried a small set top amplified antenna? I still have to aim differently for WECT and WWAY, one position isn't good enough.

You might also try a longer run of coax so you can move the antenna around the room, closer to a wall or window, etc...

Marc I went out oogling 1080P displays today.

I was looking for a WS65831 from Mits but I didnt find one anywhere. I did see the 731 and while a strong set, i didnt see what I wanted to. I noticed costco online carries the 831 but not sure if its in the store here in ILM.

Im not sure what I am gonna do with the hd homerun, my first idea was to sell the myhd card. I just dont use it these days and it irritates me it has no MCE drivers or support for any other frontend. I have 2 hd tivos right now with 400gb drives in them. Im not ready or even thinking about mp4 directv boxes yet. I dont want that ugly dish just yet till i have to.

My weekend has been strange though.

Ended up trading a s423 mobo, ram and cpu for a 775 mobo. Which led to the strong desire/requirement. for a C2D cpu. Probally gonna grab the 6420 in the next day or so. My 2.8p4 setup will be injected into my server to replace the 423 rig.

Selling my PSP package to compensate for some of the upgrade cost.
The mobo was aquired for free with my trades. I still need ram, video card, and cpu now. Wants - 2 seagate 7200.10 500gb drives. Priorities..... not sure where they are right now :)

Ill let you know in two weeks. I will have either bought a lot of crap or held off. Have to see.

I cant bring myself to want the vizio 60inch plasma at sams. Very afraid of something that big and brand quality control scares me a little. The tv is a not a priority right now. Nothing is saying you will lose out if you dont get some hdmi action here soon, but its fun to look.

I'm getting Fox on 78-3... Still haven't found WWAY and WECT, so the question is, if they're having problems with HD channels, what are all the TW cable subscribers doing for HD?

I'm using an antenna for WECT and WWAY...

Have you tried a small set top amplified antenna? I still have to aim differently for WECT and WWAY, one position isn't good enough.

You might also try a longer run of coax so you can move the antenna around the room, closer to a wall or window, etc...



I find the silver sensor and a bungie cord fastened to my wifes head works wonders. I dont even need a rotor anymore. I just ask here to turn 30 degrees and click here heals together. When i wanna channel scan i send here outdoors with a really long rg6 cable. We have a bell on the end that is closest to the reciever. ...that way when it gets too hot outside and she needs a refreshment she just tugs on the cable and the bell sounds. Unless 24 is on.....I usually grant her request to come indoors. I get best signal strength(The Sweet Spot) when she is standing in the dog poop pile to the left of the deck. WRAL is sometimes a reality on a good night. Ive used some spray paint to mark the X out there.

FYI, i wouldnt try this unless you set the expectation with your significant other first. She might not hold getting adequate OTA receptiion at the same priority level as you do..... no matter how good that picture is in glorious HD!!!

Yeah, I like the silver sensor and bungie cord stuff--wait, it's related to an antenna? Have I been using it wrong all this time?? :D

1) Obviously your wife doesn't read this forum

-or-

2) She has an exceptional sense of humor

nope...not a forum of interest for her & she might have a sense of humor. doubtful though.

I got my HDHomerun today.

Called up bellsouth and asked them for a 4 credit back to march for the difference in the dsl rates for 6 mbit extreme. The representative state they dont credit back the months, but came right out and offered a 1 mo. full service credit for my dsl at 46.99 (the old rate) I told her that was definately more than I was asking for and she was very nice and knowledgable. She also stated naked as well as the majority of att services would be available within 12 months of the merger. Was a very pleasant conversation. Took 6 minutes of my time approx. and I have the email confirmation for the price change and adjustment to my account of 46.95 + tax.

Simply very professional and a delight to work with.

wway is 96.11 & 96.22

wect is 96.2 & 96.4

wway is 96.11 & 96.22

wect is 96.2 & 96.4

Thanks! I'll have to try it out tonight...

For all those that have TW cable for HD, can you comment on, or check for quality of reception for UNC TV HD?

I am getting constant video breakups with no change in signal strength, but OTA seems fine.

I've been in touch with the engineers at UNC-TV, who in turn got in touch with TWC... TW claims they have no problems... so to rule out any equipment problems at my end, I'm looking for anyone else that has the same reception problem as me...

I remember the reasons why i parted from charter now.

I installed the HD Homerun this evening. and do not have charter service activated.

Bare bones cable is 15.74 a months. and there is a 47.99 installation fee that will not e waived. I talked to 2 supervisors and an agent in 2 different business centers.

Doesnt look like qam is in my future. I did however find the out what the HD lineup is on charter in wilmington areas.

As follows:

________________
NBC
FOX
CBS
NO ABC
UPN
HDNET
HDNET MOVIES
UNIVERSAL HD
ESPN HD
DISCOVERY HD
TNT HD.

Not sure what the digital simulcast would be. Looks like my tuner will be used for OTA which is ok. There are times when the OTA tuners are booked because of directv offerings on other HD channels.

I do have a plan to get some QAM info for charter in wilmington. My in-laws condo has charter barebones. Should be able to test there over the next few days.
Qam will have to be for another day for me.


They say a truck roll is required for a basic turn on. Of course i had charter a few years ago and its all b/s but anyways I tried.

wway is 96.11 & 96.22

wect is 96.2 & 96.4

No joy, no signal at all on channel 96...

Anyone else want to try to manually add those channels to see what you get?

No joy, no signal at all on channel 96...

Anyone else want to try to manually add those channels to see what you get?

I will try and report back.

UPDATE:

Ok, just tried it on my main TV and it's a no-go, mainly because I'm unable to figure out how to force it to those specific channels on 96. However, I did try it on my Samsung HDTV tuner on my computer desk and was able to enter them in and get the channels properly.

So, in short...I have verified they are in fact working as stated by the other poster (sorry, name slips me), but just need to figure out how the hell to get it to force on my main TV. :-\ Perhaps I could do another channel scan.

Ian

I'm using the MyHD mdp-130 computer card, and I can enter a specific channel and say "add", but it will only pick up 96-1 with no signal.

I can also edit a *.mcl file which the MyHD uses for its channel lineup, and I have manually entered 96 with those 4 subchannels, but still no signal...

I suspect something fishy about the data stream, something the Samsung is willing to ignore, but the MyHD cannot ignore, therefore it won't see those channels. (much like the early problems with PSIP data on OTA signals--older tuners would often choke if the format/content wasn't "standard")

Too much other hinky stuff going on with TWC and local HD channels for me to believe all of a sudden my setup has gone bad. Plus I get WILM just fine (even if the image STILL has crappy color), and WSFX also...

Good thing I can get OTA without a problem...

Last resort will be to call TWC and get a ticket opened to have them check my signal... :eek:

But the fact that I'm not the only one with problems in receiving WWAY and WECT leads me to believe that I'm not at fault...

TW cable seems to have fixed their problem with UNC-HD, but I still can't get WWAY or WECT...

What channel is UNC-HD on?

Nevermind...I did a re-scan and found all the UNC-TV channels. The next problem is I CANNOT get my regular TV to tune into 96 to pull in NBC and ABC. My external tuner picks it up fine...what the hell?

What channel is UNC-HD on?

Nevermind...I did a re-scan and found all the UNC-TV channels. The next problem is I CANNOT get my regular TV to tune into 96 to pull in NBC and ABC. My external tuner picks it up fine...what the hell?

Ongoing problem...going back a few weeks... I get no signal on 96.

My suspicion is that they have a bad data stream, something not quite "standard". I saw this a lot when the stations started broadcasting OTA HD. Some tuners are quite sensitive to anomalies in the data stream, and will just not tune in a signal.

Based on the fact that one member here can get his Samsung to tune 96, but not his tv, and that I can't get my MyHD card to tune 96, and you can't get it to work, leads me to the conclusion that TW cable has a problem on their end...

No HD tonight... Monday 4-30 WWAY 3

Noticed that, fortunately, nothing I watch on Monday night on ABC...

WILM picture quality is greatly improved, but still not quite 100%...

Still can't get WWAY or WECT on TWC...

No HD tonight... Monday 4-30 WWAY 3


Unfortunately, in my opinion, WWAY is really backsliding. I made the mistake of telling a few neighbors WWAY has really got their act together. Here's what I heard from neighbors.

October Road:
No audio for half of the show and then audio in and out with lots of crackling.

Dances With the Stars:
2 weeks in a row where all or some of the show was in SD.

Brother's and Sister's:
The entire show's audio was out of sync.

Anybody know why everything is taking such a nosedive?

Nope, but when things are not right with 3.1 and I want to watch ABC, I just tune to New Bern
on 12.1 (48) They don't have dolby still unfortunately, but it is almost always "glitch free".

I'm just a few blocks away now from the WWAY studios--want me to drop by at lunch time and have a word with Billy?? :D

I'm just a few blocks away now from the WWAY studios--want me to drop by at lunch time and have a word with Billy?? :D

Actually that would be a great idea. He has been AWOL around here and the HD is heading to an all time low.


Just wonder what is going on
.

Another thought. I wondr if Billy threw up his hands and left?
I can't imagine things being this bad under his watch.

I can't imagine he'd do that. He might be off for a few days or might be out of town.

I can't imagine he'd do that. He might be off for a few days or might be out of town.


Boy I hope you are right bu it has been a month since he posted here..

Billy has been out for a few days...

I dropped by and met him in person for the first time, and I got to see Master Control, and the rack with the HD equipment.

There was a noticable hole in the rack where the audio encoder for HD used to be... it crapped out a few days ago, and is out for repair. That's why there is no HD signal. He expects the box to be back tomorrow (Wednesday). (it might "just" be a hard drive problem, which should be relatively easy to fix, if it's another problem though, it might take longer)

In the mean time they are upconverting the SD signal.

He's a Lost fan also, so he's hoping it gets fixed by tomorrow night.

Confirmed that PSIP is not working--they are waiting for new equipment/software--sorry if I didn't get that exactly right, but in any case, it will be a new system for generating PSIP--don't recall a timeframe.

I asked Billy what kind of contact he has at TW Cable regarding the problem some of us are seeing with WWAY and WECT "disappearing"... rolling his eyes... he wished he had more pull... :)

He and his neighbors down in the Boiling Spring Lakes area cannot receive either of those HD channels... so TWC is aware of the problem, but are essentially trying to blame the FCC for requiring them to remap the channels (where's the bull poop emoticon?)

TWC is suggesting calling to set up a ticket and house visit--but that would be to "fix" their own cable box--so if you're like me and use another type of tuner, I would assume that means we're out of luck for now... (they "fixed" Billy's box by going into the service menu, but that didn't completely work either...)

Seems the only way to get more action would be to call TWC often to complain... and/or the tv stations themselves to let them know that TWC is dropping the ball and pointing fingers...

WILM picture quality looked pretty good last night, definitely getting better. I was beginning to think it was a thermal issue with the HD equipment, since PQ always got better later in the evening.

I'm still here... you guys can't get rid of me that easy!

Update:

I had a nice visit from Marc today and he informed me that there was some buzz going on here that I should reply to. Sorry for my absence, but I had been at our transmitter site for 2 weeks working on an analog (yes, I said analog) antenna and transmission line problem. Then took a few days off to regroup.

Last week we lost an audio encoder in our HD rack. I don't know that this is the only problem just yet, but we have since sent it off to be repaired and expect it back tomorrow. Since that went down, we have not been switching to HD to keep the static or popping noise from going out over the air. If it turns out to be longer before we get it back, there is a way I can re-wire things to get the HD video and SD's upconverted audio out, but it will require bypassing our GPI and could lead to further misc. problems on nights when I need to sleep. Hopefully it won't come to that. I watch LOST, so believe me when I say I will do whatever I can to get it done tomorrow should the box be back by then.

The Time Warner issue that everyone is talking about here is one I have been dealing with myself at home. I have been in contact with their tech (sorry, not sure if I should release his name on here) and he first told me it was only in the Southport/Boiling Spring Lakes area. This is where I live. So I lost our channels as well as WECT's. Their tech told me to contact TW and setup a service call. Apparently that is the only fix... they can't do it over the phone. The service call was completed last Thursday and by the time he left I not only couldn't get WWAY or WECT, but I also lost audio on all my HD channels and many others above the channel 200 area. This past weekend I noticed that I was able to receive WWAY 909 and 903 again, but I still have lots of breakup. I will be calling them again today to see why I am still having problems even after the service call.

Nice meeting you Marc. Anyone else that would like to drop by and get a quick tour of our station is welcome to come. I am in and out alot, so you may want to call in advance to make sure I know you are coming and will be there, but I'll be happy to show you around and explain how we do what we do, or don't do as the case may be sometimes.

I'm still here... you guys can't get rid of me that easy!


Last week we lost an audio encoder in our HD rack. I don't know that this is the only problem just yet, but we have since sent it off to be repaired and expect it back tomorrow. Since that went down, we have not been switching to HD to keep the static or popping noise from going out over the air.
.


Billy,

Srtrange night tonight. Dancing with the stars was in SD then HD then SD again. Curiously the audio was good throughout including the HD portion and in sync even in the HD porton.

I don't watch Boston Legal that much but I have been flipping back and forth while watching the NBA.

Boston Legal started in SD and was fine with the audio. It swiched to HD and the audio was way way out of sync.

Strange night.

Did you happen to notice if the audio was stereo or Dolby Digital?

Maybe he was experimenting with using the stereo audio with HD video?

At the times I've flipped over to 3.1 I noticed the audio was just (((Stereo))) (left-right&Sub woofer). All the speakers on my receiver where lit, but no surround or Dolby Digital output.

I've noticed that both WNCT 9.1 and 3.1 always have the speakers shown as "active" but they only put out surround or Dolby Digital at night. Some channels such as WRAL don't show all the speakers as active until the show is actually 5.1 Digital.

The Master Control Operator might have been playing around with it. I'll find out what was going on.

Tick, tick, tick (wait, that's 24...), still in SD, 2 hours to go until Lost.................. :eek:

Tick, tick, tick (wait, that's 24...), still in SD, 2 hours to go until Lost.................. :eek:

Well there has been a bunch of audio pops so I am guessing it's another of who knows what.

There is a lot of interference in the air here tonight. I had to watch A. Idol on WTAT-DT 24.1 because I couldn't get 26.1 to come in at all. 24 was in and out some. I am getting an ABC on 25 that I have no idea where it's coming from. The analog signals look all horrible too.

I think last night we had a ship on the river that didn't turn off the radar. We lost ALL network receivers at 8PM last night, and they were going in and out till around midnight. Interence was our guess. Then again this morning at 9am, our analog air signal went crazy in the studio again for about 15 minutes (until someone at the PA finally told them to shut off that radar is my guess) then went clear. I was working on the audio issues here until that happened last night, so sorry we had to keep everything in SD.

I think last night we had a ship on the river that didn't turn off the radar. We lost ALL network receivers at 8PM last night, and they were going in and out till around midnight. Interence was our guess. Then again this morning at 9am, our analog air signal went crazy in the studio again for about 15 minutes (until someone at the PA finally told them to shut off that radar is my guess) then went clear. I was working on the audio issues here until that happened last night, so sorry we had to keep everything in SD.

Two words: Fiber links

Any chance HD will be back tonight?

Billy mentioned the "F" word :) when I dropped by a few days ago... ha ha, fiber links would be nice, but they are quite costly...

I had the same interference last night also... oh well, still recorded Lost in SD for later viewing...

In my channel surfing however, I did not notice a problem with the other stations--is there a particular reason radar would only affect WWAY? Some very specific frequency issue? Tower/antenna particulars?

I found out where the channel 25 I was getting last night came from at 11:00 PM. It was WJXX from Jacksonville Florida! The signal was solid too.

Two words: Fiber links

Two more words: Too expensive.

I found out where the channel 25 I was getting last night came from at 11:00 PM. It was WJXX from Jacksonville Florida! The signal was solid too.


WOW!

That is a band opening at 537.250 MHZ.
I can't remember seeing a frequency that high coming that far. At least at high enough strength to be solid. I wonder if there was some upper atmosphere cold air ductiing. That means there must have been a huge amount of interefernce all along the ducted path. Must have been a bunch of 2 way stuff affected.

I picked up 2 jacksonville FL. stations early morn a couple times a couple years ago. Was freaky.

I picked up 2 jacksonville FL. stations early morn a couple times a couple years ago. Was freaky.

Daryl is so modest... here's his antenna:

http://home.earthlink.net/~marcpilot4/images/arecibo.jpg

More on topic... the engineers at WILM (WRAL) are doing a little bit more extensive testing, looking at signals at various points in the transmission chain to try and identify why the colors are so weird...

Unfortunately, tonight, WILM/CBS was all in SD... so either that's a part of their testing, or a switcher has failed (either human or computer).

WWAY was in HD... that's good news...

So here's the deal... to make sure he doesn't adversely affect the power grid, Daryl employs some alternate methods of power generation for his modest antenna...

http://home.earthlink.net/~marcpilot4/images/hamster_wheel.gif

I don't know, maybe it's just a metaphor for life...

On the Florida DX, just remember that the distance across the water from Jacksonville to Wilmington is much less than if you drive it. It is also not uncommon in the DX world for receivers along the NC coast to pick up FM and all kinds of TV (V and U) from the northern east coast of Florida. A small tropo opening is all it takes since there is nothing to get in the way of the inversion over water.

Back in the 60's and 70's it was not uncommon to be on the beach at Wilmington or Morehard City with a battery powered transistor radio and listen to WAPE 690 AM Jacksonville, FL in the middle of the day like a local. (I did it at Morehead and Wrightsville with a 3 transistor radio you could buy for $20 back then) It really isn't as far across the water as one might think.

Back in 2003 or so we received an e-mail from a gentleman in Canada that said he watched our SD 6PM news cast the day before. He also sent some screen shots.

Your right about the water. Once you get off the land of the Brunswick county coast, the rest of the path is over water from here to Florida. I think it's about 360 miles or so from my antenna to theirs.

LOL @ MarcS, funny posts. :D

I am using RRs cable box so I haven't looked into this. If you hook up a TV with an ATSC tuner (which I don't, presently, have) will you be able to receive the local HDTV stations via Time Warner Cable? I am thinking about getting an HD card for my desktop computer.

Thanks!

I am using RRs cable box so I haven't looked into this. If you hook up a TV with an ATSC tuner (which I don't, presently, have) will you be able to receive the local HDTV stations via Time Warner Cable? I am thinking about getting an HD card for my desktop computer.

Thanks!

Only if you also subscribe to basic lifeline service... otherwise I'm sure they've got a blocking filter to only allow internet traffic...no tv...

Re: WWAY and WECT problems on TWC........ I was able to get information directly from someone at TWC in tech support that knew what was happening.

It was related to the remapping, and the specific physical channel 96, which is in the 99 MHz range, or basically FM radio... very easy for interference to creep into the signal chain via loose F connector.

In the end, whether that was my problem, don't know... but they have remapped again to 651 MHz, so the problem should be gone.

Just do a rescan--now if only I knew what that physical channel was...

Did some research:

100-2 - WECT
100-4 - WECT Weather 24/7

100-11 - WWAY
100-22 - WWAY Weather 24/7

I didn't bother writing down the other channels, but they appeared in the 78-79 range between CBS, FOX, and the PBS channels.

CBS and FOX (and TheTube) flash on my screen, perhaps it's my long cable run causing it? :( I have an amp on the line, perhaps I should try it w/o the amp to see if it does anything.

Hope this post helps,
Ian

For me, 100-1 = WECT and 100-3 = WWAY...

But thanks for the tip on the major channel...

Actually, I'm seeing multiple subchannels with the same network, looks like 100-5 is the same as 100-1...

Funny thing is, this forced me to hook up my yagi antenna in the attic again, and I pick up WWAY, WECT, and WSFX with no problem... I only need the cable to get WILM in HD...

Still, nice to have backups...

Yes! They fixed WILM picture quality...

I believe it was an encoder that they replaced today...

I hate TWC; they are a bunch of crooks that continually raise prices while at the same time reducing services. If there was any market competition for cable they wouldn't be able to rape the consumer like they do. I'm sure you guys know all of this, but I just had to vent.

Does anyone know if Direct TV is going to add local HD channels anytime soon? I see that back to the future add all the time, but I don't know if that applies to Wilmington. I would love to get Direct TV just so I could tell TWC what they can do from now on with my $130 bill.

att will roll out their IPTV service within lext 12-16 months. Directv should have wilmington market up by mid next year. They say end of year but I dont believe that for one sec. We are pretty low on the DMA list. 137-139??

Call belllsouth get 6mbit dsl for 42. suspend your tel line on vacation plan use your cell phone, and do OTA for a while. DOwnload what your missing on CBS and build an HTPC or use Xbox with xbmc for source. There are options. Time Warner doesnt own you.

Look into beyond TV or Sage for PVR on your PC. Get a HDHOMERUN for qam recording. sorry for the short answers . Off to work.

Thanks for the help. It's nice to know that TWC won't be the only option for years to go.

Call belllsouth get 6mbit dsl for 42. .


Be a little careful about the 6mbit. If you are close to a central office and have new plant you can get close to that but speed drops pretty fast with distance and plant condition.

bellsouth has remote dslams just about everywhere needed on the south side of town. i get roughly 760-800 kbps round the clock, but you are right distance will hurt ya to some extent.

reminder to sell - still need to test out the hdhomerun on a qam system on charter.

Charter want to nickel and dime me for basic install and charge truck roll fee . Forget it. Ill make do with OTA and directv.

I decided it was time to join this excellent form on HDTV and comment on some recent issues.

There have been problems with RF interference (called ingress when affecting coax signal feeds) on Time Warner Cable (TWC) as Billy so accurately described a few messages ago. I have been in contact with the Lead Head Tech and they are very much aware of the problem and working to correct it. If you are having problems, don't hesitate to call TWC customer service and if they tell you it is a station problem, tell them they are wrong on this one and insist on a service call - that is likely the only way you are going to get it fixed. They will need to improve the RF wiring and/or add traps to eliminate the local interference.

FYI, we feed TWC HD signals for WECT and WSFX by fiber from our studios here on Shipyard Blvd so even if our transmitters are down they continue to receive our signal for re-transmission.

I decided it was time to join this excellent form on HDTV and comment on some recent issues.

There have been problems with RF interference (called ingress when affecting coax signal feeds) on Time Warner Cable (TWC) as Billy so accurately described a few messages ago. I have been in contact with the Lead Head Tech and they are very much aware of the problem and working to correct it. If you are having problems, don't hesitate to call TWC customer service and if they tell you it is a station problem, tell them they are wrong on this one and insist on a service call - that is likely the only way you are going to get it fixed. They will need to improve the RF wiring and/or add traps to eliminate the local interference.

FYI, we feed TWC HD signals for WECT and WSFX by fiber from our studios here on Shipyard Blvd so even if our transmitters are down they continue to receive our signal for re-transmission.


Thanks for the information. Will be sure to push TWC if they just finger point.

Quick question. Any target date for WECT to go 5.1? Sure do miss NBC in 5.1 since we moved here a couple of years ago.

Definitely on our to do list. I'm sorry we don't have this up already but we are a bit stretched. I certainly hope to have it up some time this summer.

Dan? :)

Hello ulltron! An FYI--WSFX is one of my most watched channels. Excellent reception up here 60 miles away!

A question, do you plan to integrate a WSFX logo into the HD feed? So far all I've seen is either the blue or white FOX bug on network HD. Most of it is cut off too.

Hello. I live in the Winnabow (really more like Leland) area about 5 miles down HWY 133 headed south towards Southport. I am a DirecTV subscriber and therefore I do not get my local channels in HD. I just recenlty purchased four different OTA antennas, both indoor and outdoor types, and was surprised to find that the $9.96 indoor non-amplified Phillips antenna from Walmart performed just as well as the others. I get all the major stations (WUNJ-DT, WWAY-DT, WSFX-DT) with 75-80% signal strength in HD except for WECT, the one that I cared about the most. I cant pick WECT up at all. It is channel 6.1, right? Is anyone in the area experiencing this same problem? I dont understand why I am recieving WUNJ-DT but not WECT-DT because according to antennaweb they are broadcasting from the same tower. Man, I'd really like to be able to watch The Office in HD! Any help would be appreciated.

What are you using as a tuner? Built-in to tv, standalone box, etc?

Have you just done an auto-scan?

Have you tried to manually add the channel?

For me, the signal strenght on WECT is about 1/2 the strength on average compared to the other stations, yet always seems to be more stable... I'm around the Monkey Junction area.

A question, do you plan to integrate a WSFX logo into the HD feed? So far all I've seen is either the blue or white FOX bug on network HD. Most of it is cut off too.

You are actually ASKING the station to add another logo on the screen to help obscure the programming image? :rolleyes:

Whether it's see-through or not, it still is distracting to the eyes to have any logo, let alone multiple ones...

Hello. I live in the Winnabow (really more like Leland) area about 5 miles down HWY 133 headed south towards Southport. I am a DirecTV subscriber and therefore I do not get my local channels in HD. I just recenlty purchased four different OTA antennas, both indoor and outdoor types, and was surprised to find that the $9.96 indoor non-amplified Phillips antenna from Walmart performed just as well as the others. I get all the major stations (WUNJ-DT, WWAY-DT, WSFX-DT) with 75-80% signal strength in HD except for WECT, the one that I cared about the most. I cant pick WECT up at all. It is channel 6.1, right? Is anyone in the area experiencing this same problem? I dont understand why I am recieving WUNJ-DT but not WECT-DT because according to antennaweb they are broadcasting from the same tower. Man, I'd really like to be able to watch The Office in HD! Any help would be appreciated.

I rarerly get WECT. I don't understand it either, because I get WUNJ very strong. I know that WECT is aimed toward the west, and is running at a weaker power than WUNJ is, but still it is very rare that I can lock it. I use an outside antenna with a rotor and channel master mast mounted amp.


You might try entering in channel 44, because that's their frequency.

You are actually ASKING the station to add another logo on the screen to help obscure the programming image? :rolleyes:

Whether it's see-through or not, it still is distracting to the eyes to have any logo, let alone multiple ones...

There's going to be a logo anyway, whether it be the FOX logo or the FOX 26 logo. The local is supposed to submit their own bug to take the place of the network bug. From what I understand, the blue bug isn't even supposed to make it on air. FOX 50 in Raleigh has submitted their own bug, and it is very small. It looks like this:

FOX 50
Digital

What are you using as a tuner? Built-in to tv, standalone box, etc?

Have you just done an auto-scan?

Have you tried to manually add the channel?

For me, the signal strenght on WECT is about 1/2 the strength on average compared to the other stations, yet always seems to be more stable... I'm around the Monkey Junction area.

Right now I am using the tuner that is built into my TV, but I plan on using the tuner in my DirecTV HR20 when I get a new one to replace the current one that I am having problems with.

I did auto-scan to detect all the digital channels and then I tried to manually add 6.1 which I thought was WECT. Is it not?

6.1 is their virtual channel, the physical channel is 44... that could be why you couldn't add it... I think usually you have to add using the physical channel...

With the computer tuner card I use, sometimes it won't pick up a channel on auto scan, so I add it manually...

Re: Fox logo being "small"--I guess that's all relative... on a 58" screen, logos tend to take up a pretty good chunk of real estate.

Haven't noticed lately if UNC-TV has reduced the size of their HD logo, but last time I measure it, it was 9" wide on my screen...

On the WECT issue, can any engineer comment on whether living too close to the towers would put you "under" the signal?

Does the signal radiate perfectly downward at the tower? (I think probably not?)

If Caison lives to the East of the tower (in the "suckout" zone of the radiation pattern), is it possible he's "underneath" the signal? To the extent that his reception is weak?

I decided it was time to join this excellent form on HDTV and comment on some recent issues.

.

WECT and the Preakness
Just a comment on today's Preakness in HD. Every time the scroll advisng people to "stay tuned for local news after the preakness" ran the picture would drop to SD and the sound would be knocked out for the transition back and forth.

There has to be a better way to do this? Switching in and out of HD with dropped sound can't be the best way to present a major event?

Thanks!

On the WECT issue, can any engineer comment on whether living too close to the towers would put you "under" the signal?

Does the signal radiate perfectly downward at the tower? (I think probably not?)

If Caison lives to the East of the tower (in the "suckout" zone of the radiation pattern), is it possible he's "underneath" the signal? To the extent that his reception is weak?

There are always some downward radiation, but 99.5% of the signal goes straight out from the antenna. If it didn't, you won't have any signal away from the tower. I would say he has more multipath than anything else, not lack of signal.

Here is WECT's elevation pattern on file with the FCC. As you look at the graph, imagine the tower and antenna has been laid out horizontally on the ground and the big lobe is the antenna and you can see how much downward radiation there is at lower levels on the tower.

http://www.w4cl.net/fox/wectelevationpattern.jpg

This is also why the Denver NIMBY group didn't really have a technical leg to stand on when they talked about all of the "downward" radiation that would give them cancer and everything else. That graph is based on 2000 ft. In Denver, it was higher than that because of the 10,000 ft mountain. Just doesn't happen that way.

Is it possible for multipath to be worse closer to the tower than further away?

I believe it is, because it seems people closer in have a harder time than those of us 40 to 60 miles away. I think they get too many reflections. That's why I think when your close in you need a yagi antenna with a narrow beam.

Is it possible for multipath to be worse closer to the tower than further away?

Yes because of the stronger reflections. Remember that receivers are very sensitive. They have to be when you get out on the fringe of a signal. If you live in the shadow of a tower, even the low levels of RF that is on the ground under a tower can and do overpower a receiver because the receiver is sucking in signals, so to speak, as if it were away from the tower because it doesn't know it isn't. So you either have to reduce the signal level to allow the internal AGC to work as if it were away from the tower or reduce the multipath so the receiver isn't overloaded with all of these ghost signals or a combination of the two.

In analog you see the multipath clearly when under a tower. Lots and lots of ghosts in all different colors because the signal is being distorted in the receiver due to the signal level (receiver overload) and amount of different signals due to the signals being reflected off of everything including the walls in your house and your neighbors houses (and even you and your family as you walk around the house) at the close distance. The same holds true for digital, but in that case, the receiver doesn't know how to decode the distorted multiple signals it is receiving so it decodes nothing or macroblocks at best.

We have this same problem in transmitter buildings. That is why we pull a low level sample directly off the transmitter into a receiver. Too much overload and multipath.

I believe it is, because it seems people closer in have a harder time than those of us 40 to 60 miles away. I think they get too many reflections. That's why I think when your close in you need a yagi antenna with a narrow beam.

A yagi complicates the situation because the yagi has gain and at this point, you have too much signal to start with. If you are going to use a directional antenna of any type to reduce multipath in a close in situation, you have to have attenuators in the line to knock the signal down to at least match the gain of the antenna. If the antenna has a gain of 12 db, you need at least a 12 db pad to equalize things back out. These things can be done and done easily, you just have to know what you are doing and don't make a bad situation worse, like using 300 ohm twin lead through a metal window under a tower. You will never get a usable signal for many reasons using that setup. (Unshield cable through a metal coil that acts as a second non adjustable antenna, just to name a few!)

The name of the game is to manipulate the signal by restricting signal level and keeping additional unwanted multipath signals from engressing into the system including stray RF directly into the receiver through the receiver case. You want all of the signal coming through shielded cable so you can work with it. It isn't rocket science, but you need to stop and think what you are doing.

The Internet is a wonderful tool! That is why you are here isn't it? :D

Yep! I'm kind of glad I don't live too close though!

I just want to find out if you are seeing what I am or if it's me/my setup. When I'm watching a local news broadcast on the HD channels, WWAY and WECT look so much worse than when I flip to WILM and see the WRAL broadcast. The previously filmed news segments look ok, but the actual sitting at the desk and reporting looks pretty crummy. I have no desire to watch the Raleigh news, I just happened to notice recently that it is much clearer. Has anyone else noticed that? Is it a problem which will be addressed or is it something I'll have to get used to? I am aware that WILM had problems with HD until very recently, by the way. I have an LCD and get my signals through Time Warner...

WRAL originates its news in HD. WECT and WWAY upconvert SD. You will see a difference in PQ.

Indy 500 in HD this weekend?

All,

I have decided to partways with my HTPC case. Its a Kanam/Ahanix HT200/D4

Please pm me or do search over at forums.anandtech.com for details.

Search for keyword "HTPC in F/S forum and "Gr8snakee" userid

Local pickup in wilmington would make this a deal at the price I am asking. I also have a MYHD card for cheap as well. MDP100

Comes with bonus slot-load dvd drive made be aopen that has been flashed with pioneer firmware for regionfree and spindown feature as a bonus.

I will miss this case and if I were to set up two htpcs it would rock, but im not. My wife already hates me for our electric bill.

Everyone have a fantastic weekend.

OK, I'm back. I made a post a couple of weeks ago describing my problem with not being able to pick up WECT at my home in Winnabow with my set top antenna. After doing some reading I decided that I would give the Radio Shack U-75R antenna a shot (only $30). So I ran some RG6 up to the attic and attached the antenna to a mast high in the top of my attic. Wow, now I get WECT @ 85%, FOX @ 90-95%, and PBS at 100% with all of them being rock solid stable. Now I'm having trouble staying locked on WWAY! The signal for WWAY jumps around from 0-75+%. It's really annoying because the picture keep pixelating. I am only about 6.1 miles from their tower, so what I think that I am experiencing is multipath. Does this sound like multipath? If so, is there any way around this or am I just going to have to decide which channel I want the most, WWAY or WECT? Do you think a non-yagi antenna like a Eagle Aspen DTV2BUHF two bay antenna would work better to reduce multipath, or is a yagi best in this situation? ANY HELP WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!! I'm almost ready to pull my hair out here. Thanks.

Billy,

After watching almost an hour of the Indy Race in very very bad SD I called the newsroom and they immediately switched back to HD.

I thought the switcher was automatic? Did somebody override it and leave in SD?

Billy,

After watching almost an hour of the Indy Race in very very bad SD I called the newsroom and they immediately switched back to HD.

I thought the switcher was automatic? Did somebody override it and leave in SD?

And it is back in SD again! Called the newsroom again. But so far it's still SD. I know it is HD on the network as my son inlaw has it on in Chicago.

GEEEEEEEZ! My favorite motor even of the year!