Originally posted by seldenpat
Actually, "my signal strength is fine" is an acceptable answer from someone who is close to you. I can not find "from parts unknown" on the map, so I can't give you helpful information. Since I can't say "my signal strength is fine" from Selden, I'm not sure if I'm helping you...:p

Actually I got WABC-DT back at normal strength tonight (sure could have used it on Monday night:mad: ). I wonder if we're going to start seeing more signal fluctuations as we get closer to everyone getting hooked up on the combiner.........:confused:

Ever since Sunday night I have been having weird reception issues. CBS, ABC, FOX and the WB would not tune properly. And I come home today expecting to watch Smallville and I find out the WB is not broadcasting at all. This really pisses me off, and I hope they get their act together and get this combiner project finished once and for all. :mad:

Sorry if this was discussed already but does anyone actually watch them?
They are so over compressed they are hard to watch.
Almost every second the video suffers from tiling and artifacts.

I guess they can get away with it on the cartoons on PBS Kids but any
live action shows looks bad.
I wish they would give the badwith back to the PBS-HD feed which suffers from lack of full bandwith.

Originally posted by icemannyr
Sorry if this was discussed already but does anyone actually watch them?
They are so over compressed they are hard to watch...

You have to wonder what they are thinking. (or are they)

Originally posted by netman
You have to wonder what they are thinking. (or are they)

You must be the only 2 people that receive WNET ;)

Is WCBS-DT off the air? It's not coming in, either OTA or through Cablevision.

You caught me :) Since there is no thread for NYC Cablevision HD I posted here.

I'm missing CSI in HD :mad:

Not getting CBS-HD either. They must be completing whatever work they're doing. Nice though, during the most popular show on that network.

I'm getting nothing OTA and the DTV channel says that "this channel is currently not broadcasting." I wonder if the entire CBS-HD east coast feed is down or if it's just a local problem.

CSI in SD is just plain wrong.

This is ridiculous- I find it hard to believe they would shut it down during their most popular show. Does anyone have contact information for somebody at WCBS engineering?

I am about 60 miles from Manhattan. I live in Putnam County and am on a hill without any tall obstructions towards NYC. What are the chances I would be able to get HD OTA signals without an antenna the size of Godzilla?

Anybody up in this area get HD OTA reception?

What channels are currently available in OTA HD in New York City and what location are they broadcast from? (where do I point my OTA antenna?)

Originally posted by RNaval
What channels are currently available in OTA HD in New York City and what location are they broadcast from? (where do I point my OTA antenna?)

Check Antennaweb (http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx)

Originally posted by Chriš
This is ridiculous- I find it hard to believe they would shut it down during their most popular show. Does anyone have contact information for somebody at WCBS engineering?

i agree. unfortunately the DTV channels are not a priority for broadcasters yet.:(

Originally posted by icemannyr
You caught me :) Since there is no thread for NYC Cablevision HD I posted here.

FYI,
New York, NY Cablevision thread....
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=4449654#post4449654

as far as reception in Putnam. It might depend upon which tall hill. Like on top of Continental Village near WHUD's tower is a possibility for ESB transmitters. Unfortunately antenna websites only show contours, not terrain. Get Delorme's terrain mapping software for accurate information.

GT

HA! I just read much of that thread. I learned that sometimes pigs DO fly! Maybe that is a good omen for us combiner-watchers.

Guys,

I'm exactly 45 miles from philly & NYC. I get most all of the Philly stations OTA, but only seem to be able to get CBS from NYC.

Are the other stations just not at full strength or is it my setup possibly?
Any help is appreciated!

thx.

Aceman

Originally posted by Aceman
Guys,

I'm exactly 45 miles from philly & NYC. I get most all of the Philly stations OTA, but only seem to be able to get CBS from NYC.

Are the other stations just not at full strength or is it my setup possibly?
Any help is appreciated!

thx.

Aceman

ABC is full strength out of NYC, as far as I know.

Originally posted by Aceman
Guys,

I'm exactly 45 miles from philly & NYC. I get most all of the Philly stations OTA, but only seem to be able to get CBS from NYC.

Are the other stations just not at full strength or is it my setup possibly?
Any help is appreciated!

thx.

Aceman

I'm in flemington- close to middle like you (lean a little towards philly actaully although my zip code is actually in NY DMA)- anyhow only fox and CBS are possible from NY. CBS is great (high 80's), FOX is very good (mid 70's). Nothing else even registers with consistancy on the signal strength meter on my STB.

Thats with a 4228 with a pre-amp in my attic.

Philly I can get prettty much with a coat hanger. (exagerating a bit but a silver sensor without any amp works fine)- so its totally sad to see how weak an effort NY has made.

I'm in West Windsor. I get CBS, ABC and Fox out of NYC and occasionally NBC. But I also get NBC aout of Philly off the back of the antenna. I'm using an Antennas Direct DB8 in the attic with a Winguard pre-amp.

I have an interesting problem. If I leave out the zip code info on my Samsung 360, I receive 52.1 - 52.5 which gives me PBSHD. With my zip code info added these channels switch to 50.1 - 50.5 and I get a blank screen on 50.5. Of course without the zip code info the pro is another HD channel and the con is no local program guide data. My guess is from my location I can pickup signals from two different PBS transmitters and my receiver only locks one or the other. This may explain on my old DST-3000 how I would sometimes get PBSHD and sometimes not. Anyone else have this problem or a fix?

Originally posted by dm145
I get a blank screen on 50.5.

Interesting, I have a TS360 as well and I live very close to you. I'm currently watching 50-5 without any problems. Remember, 50-5 is only airing between 8pm and 12am. My only beef is that the Guide is wrong.

Does anyone here receive WPIX-DT? How is the reception in your area?

Originally posted by DevOne
Does anyone here receive WPIX-DT? How is the reception in your area?

I get it in Levittown, but it's quite spotty. Waiting for the combiner:(

Originally posted by DevOne
Does anyone here receive WPIX-DT? How is the reception in your area?

I receive WPIX-DT at 77% signal strength, no breakup here in Parts Unknown NY (very close to West Hempstead NY :p )

Just wondering if you guys have found antennaweb.org to be accurate and up-to-date on its prediction of channels you can receive at your location.

I'm about 45 miles outside NYC, with a big aerial on my roof, and antennaweb.org says I won't get anything digital out of there. But I recieve all the big network analog stuff no problem.

I am on the verge of ordering a Toshiba 52HMX84, and really hope to pick up high def stuff OTA from NYC. By the way, I'm in the Ridgefield/Danbury CT area.

What is your experience? Do I have a chance or not?

Thanks in advance.

I dont find antennaweb to be accurate for my area either...but its a great tool to use to get an idea of where you have to point the Ant. Right now Im getting CBS, Fox, ABC, UPN out of Staten Island NY....but no NBC or PIX. Waiting for the combiner myself....hope its ready for ThanksGiving....anyone have any updates. Last word was it would be ready hopefully in around a mth....
On another note did anyone see the Yankee Boston game last night? I thought it looked great OTA...much better than the feed that Directv was giving me. But to get back to the OTA feed of Fox.....there were many times during the game where the picture seemed to sort of flip. Did anyone else see that? Fox has got to get there act together....they did a good job overall but I was watching it with my wife and she kept on saying "what was that?"

Is anyone having a problem with Fox? I am getting a spitting/freezing/breakup problem every now and then for the past two days. The same thing is happening on 5.1 & Directv so it is either Fox or my receiver.

Yes, i've seen the FOX feed do the picture 'flip' thing at least 10 times last nite, and i dropped the signal, which went to a black sceen a few times. This happened at least 4 or 5 times.

Win

What you are seeing is a sync hit or loss. It seems to be coming from either WNYW or the network (doubtful about the network - people all across the country would be complaining). It is effecting OTA and cable (I'm seeing it on RCN).

Originally posted by ghostman
What you are seeing is a sync hit or loss. It seems to be coming from either WNYW or the network (doubtful about the network - people all across the country would be complaining). People around the country are complaining about it. It has been mentioned in some of the Fox threads in the programming forum.

I just started out in OTA HDTV. I have a ATI HDTV WONDER. I have a large antenna on the roof that I can rotate. I just upgrading all the wiring to RG6 with new Amplifiers. I can get all the other local channels like 2.1, 4.1, 7.1. The problem is I can not get 5.1 and 5.2. I have a signal strength of 82 on these channels but the picture does not load (when I tune to these channels all I get is a black screen or a picture of the last viewed channel). I am also extremely close to West Hempstead. Other channels that have lower signals like 66 come in fine. Was wondering if anyone has similar problems with FOX (5.1) and UPN (5.2).

George - I hate to batter our knowledgeable user with still more questions, but do you know if ABC-DT will have a higher ERP when it moves to the ESB? Or will reach further?

On the greatly-missed WTC, ABC was a very strong signal. It's still strong, but I typically get several short dropouts an hour. I seldom get these on CBS and very infrequently on FOX. Of course, I can't pick up WB here in NJ, although it was also a very strong signal before 9/11. As for UPS, I have no idea what's going on there. It seems to be a rush between going HD in NYC and going bankrupt.

Anything you can tell us about ABC and other networks' reach after the combiner will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your expertise and the time you've taken letting us know what's really going on on top of the ESB.

Rick

It's late and the Yankees are up in the 10th. Overall the ESB antenna will give about an 85% effective coverage compared to the WTC coverage. Check the FCC site to see what the construction permits allow the stations to run for ERP. Remember it is a combination of ERP and antenna height that decides coverage. I'll see if I can find a contour map.
George

Do we know if the combiner has been delivered, or is it still in Maine?

Originally posted by Terono
I just started out in OTA HDTV. I have a ATI HDTV WONDER. I have a large antenna on the roof that I can rotate. I just upgrading all the wiring to RG6 with new Amplifiers. I can get all the other local channels like 2.1, 4.1, 7.1. The problem is I can not get 5.1 and 5.2. I have a signal strength of 82 on these channels but the picture does not load (when I tune to these channels all I get is a black screen or a picture of the last viewed channel). I am also extremely close to West Hempstead. Other channels that have lower signals like 66 come in fine. Was wondering if anyone has similar problems with FOX (5.1) and UPN (5.2). It's possible that this may be a problem with the ATI card. The URL below is for a review of the card; the reviewer had a problem with one of his 720p sources and the conclusion was that the ATI card was at fault.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1641010,00.asp

Originally posted by Terono
I just started out in OTA HDTV. I have a ATI HDTV WONDER. I have a large antenna on the roof that I can rotate. I just upgrading all the wiring to RG6 with new Amplifiers. I can get all the other local channels like 2.1, 4.1, 7.1. The problem is I can not get 5.1 and 5.2. I have a signal strength of 82 on these channels but the picture does not load (when I tune to these channels all I get is a black screen or a picture of the last viewed channel). I am also extremely close to West Hempstead. Other channels that have lower signals like 66 come in fine. Was wondering if anyone has similar problems with FOX (5.1) and UPN (5.2).


I have the same problem with 5-1. I am using a Hughes E86 with OTA and I get a blank screen but 100% signal strength. This just started to happen about a month and a half ago. Before that I received it with no problems. I am thinking that I need a new STB.

NS324, Yes I was reading about the HDTV Wonder card in the HTPC forum about problems. I did find last night 44-1 which I did a autoscan and it found last night that was FOX. I have tried scanning about 20 times since and I do not find the channel. Does anyone know where 44-1 Fox is coming from ?

Originally posted by Terono
Does anyone know where 44-1 Fox is coming from ?

Empire State Building

Did anyone else have problems recieving CBS-HD at about 8:25 pm in the middle of NCIS the picture went out and is still out

yep, picture (and signal) out.

No video or audio from WCBS-DT via Cablevision also.

CBS has been testing for several days now. Does anyone know when they will be done? Or why they don't just do their work overnight instead of in primetime?

Just a quick question: How is is that the OTA CBS-DT signal goes down, but not the feed from DISH in CBS-HD..............?

The OTA transmitter is off the air, but the feed to Dish & DirecTV is fiber.

Originally posted by Ken H
The OTA transmitter is off the air, but the feed to Dish & DirecTV is fiber. Well then they're cutting the fiber to DirecTV when they're servicing OTA. Too many times I've gone and looked when it's dark OTA and found the same via DirecTV's CBSHD-E feed. Maybe it's just coincidence? :)

Originally posted by dswallow
Well then they're cutting the fiber to DirecTV when they're servicing OTA. Too many times I've gone and looked when it's dark OTA and found the same via DirecTV's CBSHD-E feed. Maybe it's just coincidence? :)

Me too............both OTA and D* feed were out. Not the first time this has happened.

Is all this WCBS-DT related to the combiner ?

Originally posted by Scott G
Is all this WCBS-DT related to the combiner ? We can only hope. WCBS-DT has become dismally unreliable of late. It's frustrating; I almost feel like I should just go back to watching shows on ExpressVu live.

If it's combiner related, I can be patient.

If it's plain lack of concern for digital viewers while performing "scheduled" maintenance then they're in for some serious complaints.

Originally posted by dswallow
We can only hope. WCBS-DT has become dismally unreliable of late. It's frustrating; I almost feel like I should just go back to watching shows on ExpressVu live.

If it's combiner related, I can be patient.

If it's plain lack of concern for digital viewers while performing "scheduled" maintenance then they're in for some serious complaints.

Anyone know the number to start voicing these complaints? Or even an address?

Originally posted by dturturro
Or even an address?

if you want to go the snail mail route this should do the trick:

WCBS-TV Engineering
524 W. 57th Street
New York, NY 10019

To the best of my knowledge Dish only takes off air feeds from NYC stations to feed their sat net..... At least for NBC (WNBC)....
I thought it was fiber too until I was corrected by local engineering.
GT

Originally posted by George Thompson
To the best of my knowledge Dish only takes off air feeds from NYC stations to feed their sat net..... At least for NBC (WNBC)....
I thought it was fiber too until I was corrected by local engineering.
GT Dish Network definitely gets a fiber feed of WCBS-DT. An extra advantage to having fiber is that when a Yankee game is on, they supply a separate feed of CBS network programming to Dish Network that otherwise would be required to go to black during the game.

I have the same NO picture, but enough signal problem using an ATI HDTV wonder card. Comes in fine on my dish 811.

Originally posted by Terono
I just started out in OTA HDTV. I have a ATI HDTV WONDER. I have a large antenna on the roof that I can rotate. I just upgrading all the wiring to RG6 with new Amplifiers. I can get all the other local channels like 2.1, 4.1, 7.1. The problem is I can not get 5.1 and 5.2. I have a signal strength of 82 on these channels but the picture does not load (when I tune to these channels all I get is a black screen or a picture of the last viewed channel). I am also extremely close to West Hempstead. Other channels that have lower signals like 66 come in fine. Was wondering if anyone has similar problems with FOX (5.1) and UPN (5.2).

Originally posted by George Thompson
To the best of my knowledge Dish only takes off air feeds from NYC stations to feed their sat net.....
GT HD is fiber for CBS.

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but does anyone have any combiner updates? Is this baby installed yet and being connected, or still in storage? November is around the corner.

>>Sorry to sound like a broken record, but does anyone have any combiner updates? Is this baby installed yet and being connected, or still in storage? November is around the corner.

I know someone who works as a guard on the 86th deck of ESB. He told me the other day that there are always workers up there and that the combiner is a big deal to the people that work for the ESB. I asked him specifically if there was any big new antenna up there and he said not yet.

I watched THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW last night and around an hour and 40 mins in there was a great shot of the combiner freezing on the top of the ESB.

... and I watched the original King Kong movie and there was a shot of the giant ape pulling the antenna off the top of the building.
Finally, some explanations for all the delays.:D

Originally posted by s2silber
... and I watched the original King Kong movie and there was a shot of the giant ape pulling the antenna off the top of the building.
Finally, some explanations for all the delays.:D

Actually I heard that the Combiner was unable to make it's way through the New England area because the "locals" found out it was bound for the Evil Empire (AKA New York) and interfered with the shipping of the unit.

Now that the Evil Empire has been defeated, the New Englanders have taken a 2 week sabbatical to see if the Sawx can erased almost 90 years of misery.

Stay tuned.....I hear NEXT we'll be blaming that *other* New Englander who's running for President...... :D

Everyone is fair game in an election year.....right ?!?!?! :cool:

Any REAL info. about the combiner?

Does anyone know why there is a 2-3 second delay for digital broadcast compared to the SD channels? I've noticed this before for syndicated shows, but am watching the World Series and noticed this for live broadcast as well.

MPEG encoding/decoding

Stay tuned.....I hear NEXT we'll be blaming that *other* New Englander who's running for President......

Everyone is fair game in an election year.....right ?!?!?!

Oh... you just commited a huge offense. Rule number one in the AVS Forum Rule book states: He/She who writes a post, shall never ever make it political in nature!

;)

Morg

I don't know exactly why the delay, Yung. I would have said mged encoding/decoding too but I'm not sure how much delay that ads.

For example, my HD TV with built-in tuner is normally a fraction of a second ahead of my PC HDTV receiver. And, on a couple of occasions, I've found that the HD signal actually leads the analog one.

I suspect that satellite transmissions may be responsible for some of this but I wonder why it isn't consistent.

Rick

This message is politics-free, and I approved it.

Rick :D

I was wondering why the video feed is bad on local FOX5 programming shown on WNYW-DT. It looks like it's a bad 480i to 720p conversion.
The video is full of analog grain noise and the video does not good.
You can see the difference when WNYW-DT switches from a FOX network show to the local feed for an ad break.
The 4:3 and HD shows from the network feed look fine.

Here's a still cap from Good Day NY which shows what I am talking about:
http://img101.exs.cx/img101/3331/PDVD_007.th.jpg (http://img101.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img101&image=PDVD_007.jpg)

Originally posted by cpto
I don't know exactly why the delay, Yung. I would have said mged encoding/decoding too but I'm not sure how much delay that ads.

For example, my HD TV with built-in tuner is normally a fraction of a second ahead of my PC HDTV receiver. And, on a couple of occasions, I've found that the HD signal actually leads the analog one.

I suspect that satellite transmissions may be responsible for some of this but I wonder why it isn't consistent.

Rick

This message is politics-free, and I approved it.

Rick :D


There is also some buffering that goes on in both ATSC transmissions and satellite transmissions. This is because the data is actually sent a few times, spread out over a few "moments" using some interesting error correction technology. So the receivers will actually buffer the data for a moment before playing it back, to give it a good opportunity to get all the error correction data possible.

Then the data has to go through an MPEG video decoder and a seperate audio decoder. The interesting issue here, is that the video and audio can actually be "decoded" at different rates and then have to "resynchronized" so that the audio and video match correctly. The resnych also takes a few more moments.

Also: In TV stations, the video is actually still rendered in raw form (not in MPEG2). So the opposite process needs to occur, encode the video and audio, prior to broadcast. This also induces some delay.

In some stations, the SD transmissions are converted to NTSC also from the raw feed, and this can usually be done much faster, so it actually leaves the station first.

Also note: DirecTV/Dish will also RECOMPRESS video feeds (both SD and HD) from the stations to match their own network protocol needs and bandwidth. We know that they have at times lowered the quality of their HD feeds (when they had less bandwidth) over what HBOH and SHOH were transmitting to them. They seem to not need to do this anymore. (They still looked real good!)

Finally, if you have a HD PVR (Dish, DirecTV-Tivo), the data is buffered to the disk, prior to playback, so that introduces another delay.

Thanks for the explanation guys. I guess "live" tv is no longer real time. Does that mean no wardrobe malfunctions!

Well November is only a few days away. For the combiner, delivered, installed, tested, and operational in a week, or even a month, sounds pretty hopeless. :(

Then there will be time off for the holidays, then it will be too cold with snow/ice to do any antenna work, so I guess we should be looking at sometime around May?

I hope not...I was really hoping for the end of this year for the combiner. I have learned to live without it as everyone else has. When you are talking NYC , it just takes forever to get anything accomplished. As big as NY is...all our football teams play in NJ. I come to this site everyday in hopes that someone will write some positive info about the combiner installation....and with each passing day I believe more and more that it wont happen. Theres alot of stuff to watch but for now Im not watching NBC....WPIX or WNET. If their sig isnt strong enough to reach me...then Im not watching.

Originally posted by Chriš
Well November is only a few days away. For the combiner, delivered, installed, tested, and operational in a week, or even a month, sounds pretty hopeless. :(

Then there will be time off for the holidays, then it will be too cold with snow/ice to do any antenna work, so I guess we should be looking at sometime around May?
An engineer at one of the affiliates who'll be "combining" said it would be "just a few weeks" now. He acknowledged that they've been promising this for a long time, but said it's really going to happen soon.

Originally posted by Terono
I just started out in OTA HDTV. I have a ATI HDTV WONDER. I have a large antenna on the roof that I can rotate. I just upgrading all the wiring to RG6 with new Amplifiers. I can get all the other local channels like 2.1, 4.1, 7.1. The problem is I can not get 5.1 and 5.2. I have a signal strength of 82 on these channels but the picture does not load (when I tune to these channels all I get is a black screen or a picture of the last viewed channel). I am also extremely close to West Hempstead. Other channels that have lower signals like 66 come in fine. Was wondering if anyone has similar problems with FOX (5.1) and UPN (5.2).

Terrano - I am having the exact same issue - I get all the other local channels except 5.1 (FOX) and 5.2 (UPN) via ATI HDTV Wonder. I get signal strenght of 90% on both, but no video at all. Sometimes I get audio on FOX (during the WS) but never a picture.

Could it be something to do with the graphics card in my PC?

Hello Guys, I've got the same problem with a twist. I have a Fusion III card. With the Fusion software, 5.1 (Fox) comes through great, 5.2 (UPN) is black. Watching with MCE2005 however, the opposite is true. All other channels are fine with either front end.
Does anyone have this issue with a STB or built in tuner?

Which mpeg codec are you using? I was using windvd6 at first and had the problem with Fox. I tried the NVIDIA codec last night and FOX and WWOR worked for the first time in MCE.

Would be curious to see if it is a codec issue. Not sure I would be too suprised.

-maynard

Originally posted by Phil Hightech
Hello Guys, I've got the same problem with a twist. I have a Fusion III card. With the Fusion software, 5.1 (Fox) comes through great, 5.2 (UPN) is black. Watching with MCE2005 however, the opposite is true. All other channels are fine with either front end.
Does anyone have this issue with a STB or built in tuner? Hi guys, I watching 5.1 and 5.2 OTA with a Sanyo 32" HDTV - no problem. Good luck.

Originally posted by Phil Hightech
Hello Guys, I've got the same problem with a twist. I have a Fusion III card. With the Fusion software, 5.1 (Fox) comes through great, 5.2 (UPN) is black. Watching with MCE2005 however, the opposite is true. All other channels are fine with either front end.
Does anyone have this issue with a STB or built in tuner?

I also have a Fusion 3, and have the same problem with the Fusion software - I have no problems with 5.1, but get only audio on 5.2. However, if I record 5.2, I'm able to watch it in Media Player Classic or VLC media player just fine.

Originally posted by Unoriginal Nick
I also have a Fusion 3, and have the same problem with the Fusion software - I have no problems with 5.1, but get only audio on 5.2. However, if I record 5.2, I'm able to watch it in Media Player Classic or VLC media player just fine.

I haven't tried recording UPN, thanks for the info. This certainly is a pain. I think it has something to do with the way Fox assigns UPN as a sub but not being an expert in ATSC modulation, I'll leave it at that. Hopefully this will all be moot when UPN has its own TX.

I'm using the QAM Fusion card OTA and also cannot get UPN. I get audio only OTA. I tried recording it, then I get a picture via Media Player, but no sound. It also gives some error messages in Media Player about a bad codec. I am running under ME. Do you think if I upgraded to XP I would be better off?

Why all the fuss over a non HD sub channel 5-2? Can we stay on topic? Local HDTV and Reception. I check this forum to get the status of HD not SD. This thread is long enough as it is. Thanks.

Originally posted by dm145
Why all the fuss over a non HD sub channel 5-2? Can we stay on topic? Local HDTV and Reception. I check this forum to get the status of HD not SD. This thread is long enough as it is. Thanks.
This is quite on topic. This thread is New York OTA. That means ATSC broadcasts. 5-2 is an ATSC broadcast.

I found this quote from Mark Cuban in this article (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/lang_whitaker/11/01/high.def/index.html) .

"Absolutely," Cuban said. "HDNet and HDNet Movies get added to TWC in NYC on Nov 4. And just like all music switched from AM to FM, all TV will go to HD, or it will just disappear."

Has anyone been having trouble with WABC-DT in the last few days? Last night, during the Jets game on MNF, I had wildly erratic signal strength and occasional breakups. What's going on? For a while, after the transmitter work that took place between August and September, Channel 45 was my strongest digital station.:( :confused:

Originally posted by s2silber
Has anyone been having trouble with WABC-DT in the last few days? Last night, during the Jets game on MNF, I had wildly erratic signal strength and occasional breakups. What's going on? For a while, after the transmitter work that took place between August and September, Channel 45 was my strongest digital station.:( :confused:

Seriously, WABC-DT was horrible for me last night also. It wasn't that bad on the weekend, but last night it barely broke 49%, and when it did I lock on I would get a 63-64% signal for maybe 15-20 minutes before it would just drop off. Monday of all days! :D

No trouble for me at all with WABC-DT last night.

None for me in central Nassau either.

Maybe it was just in certain parts, e.g., northern Westchester?

Originally posted by s2silber
Maybe it was just in certain parts, e.g., northern Westchester?

I'm in Nassau and I was having problems, so maybe it's something else.......?

In any case I got the signal back at full strength today. Of course, I would have preferred it on Monday, but c'est la vie.....

What gives with UPN 5-2 WOR Channel 9 in NY. I tuned into Star Trek Enterprise and it says in the corner it's in HDTV but it doesn't come in that way. What's the problem and who do you contact to get an answer.

Originally posted by tstatguy112
What gives with UPN 5-2 WOR Channel 9 in NY. I tuned into Star Trek Enterprise and it says in the corner it's in HDTV but it doesn't come in that way. What's the problem and who do you contact to get an answer.

UPN is not HD yet

Anyone know the new date for the combiner? I want UPN HD.

M.

A lot of us are waiting to see the glory of TPOL in HD. Even Doug ;)

What is the purpose of 5-2 when 9 is available? Is 9 not available to people in NY?

SMPTE meeting next Wednesday 11/10 at Postworks downtown. Guests invited to presentation of affordable HD editing. Reps from JVC and Sony.
http://www.mte.com/nysmpte/meetings/mtg0411.htm
George

A lot of us are waiting to see the glory of TPOL in HD. Even Doug

I guess you knew where I was coming from on that request........

M.

Overnight, I noticed WCBS 45-1 did not have a blank screen and WWOR 5-2 was not there.

Could this be signs the combiner work will be completed soon?

I thought there were folks that monitored this thread that were somehow affiliated with that project. Can any of them provide an update?

thanks,

maynard

I've been having problems with ABC again. Is anyone else experiencing problems with ABC?

Rich, Im south of you and no problems with wabc-hd 7-1 or wabc-sd 7-2.

Tony

Originally posted by RMSko
I've been having problems with ABC again. Is anyone else experiencing problems with ABC?

Rich, I've been having trouble again with 7.1 and 7.2. I'm in Nassau County, NY. It's been on and off since Monday. I got a signal back around Wednesday, but the last few days it's been fluctuating between 49-63%, very difficult to lock onto the channel.

Originally posted by GRN
Rich, I've been having trouble again with 7.1 and 7.2. I'm in Nassau County, NY. It's been on and off since Monday. I got a signal back around Wednesday, but the last few days it's been fluctuating between 49-63%, very difficult to lock onto the channel.

Thanks. That's the exact same experience that I'm having. I was getting it in the high 80s to low 90s before last week and now the channel is going in and out. Something similar happened about 2 months ago when they were doing some work, so maybe that's what is happening again.

You know, I don't mind if they're doing work on WABC. Really I don't. But I wish they wouldn't do it Mondays!!!!! :D

I understand your frustration.

I'm in Woodside, Queens, which is very close to Manhattan so it allows me basically to pick up all available OTA channels with a RS double bow-tie indoor antenna.

However, I still have to adjust the antenna to lock on to any given channel from day to day.

CBS comes in the best for me so I just aim towards the Empire State Building and it locks fine. [it is the most consistent of all the channels]

But not for FOX--which also broadcasts from the ESB--I have to reorient the antenna sometimes 180 degrees to pick it up! Why is that?

If I want ABC--I have to aim it slightly north(since WABC is at the Conde Naste Building) and of course to pick up NBC---somewhere around there also.

So everytime I change the channel, I have to get up and re-aim the antenna slightly.

The mornings sometimes are better than night....it just must be everything from interference, atmospheric conditions, wi-fi networks..whatever.

Of course since it's indoors--it is easy for me to reorient...for you outdoor antenna types--good luck.

Maybe a rotor?

I was thinking of a rotor, but figured I would wait for the combiner before spending any kind of money to have it done (because there's no way I would climb my silly ass up on my chimney to do it :D )

In all honesty, WABC has been the only station that is really giving me problems. Ironically enough, it was coming in perfect in the 70% range before the supposed upgrade. Since then it barely breaks 60%. I don't get WNBC either, but no big deal. I do get WCBS, FOX, WPIX, WNJN and WFUT all nice and strong , and with football on WCBS and FOX, that's the main thing for me.

I cant wait for the combiner. For the past two years I have tried everything until I got the biggest radio shack antenna they sold and figured that I couldn't get it in any better. I can get CBS 100%, Fox 100%, ABC 100%, NBC 80%-90%... The channel I want the most is WB and that comes in differently every night. Sometimes it works perfect without one pixelation during the show and other nights it wont lock onto the signal. I cannot wait for the combiner. I will be so happy when I can pick up all of the channels with a normal sized antenna!

Originally posted by slocko
A lot of us are waiting to see the glory of TPOL in HD. Even Doug ;)

What is the purpose of 5-2 when 9 is available? Is 9 not available to people in NY?

Slocko-

its worth shinnying up on the roof with a new antenna to aim at philly.

"Just do it"

;)

Originally posted by shappyss
I cant wait for the combiner. For the past two years I have tried everything until I got the biggest radio shack antenna they sold and figured that I couldn't get it in any better. I can get CBS 100%, Fox 100%, ABC 100%, NBC 80%-90%... The channel I want the most is WB and that comes in differently every night. Sometimes it works perfect without one pixelation during the show and other nights it wont lock onto the signal. I cannot wait for the combiner. I will be so happy when I can pick up all of the channels with a normal sized antenna!

Speaking of that, has anyone heard anything about the progress of the combiner lately ? Everything seems to have gotten quiet. Any News ?

Originally posted by shappyss
I cant wait for the combiner. For the past two years I have tried everything until I got the biggest radio shack antenna they sold and figured that I couldn't get it in any better. The channel I want the most is WB and that comes in differently every night.

WB is broadcasting on VHF channel 12. Did you get a UHF only antenna? If you're receiving NBC (at low power) you should still get WB.

OK, I know it isn't HD, but it certainly is broadcasting something in NYC. I see these antennas on many of the avenues below 14th St. This one is on Seventh Ave, just south of 14th (WABC Antenna in the background). I'm not sure if they're in other parts of Manhattan. Anyone know what they are for, what they are transmitting? Something for NYPD? NYFD? MTA?

Originally posted by Swisher
OK, I know it isn't HD, but it certainly is broadcasting something in NYC. I see these antennas on many of the avenues below 14th St. This one is on Seventh Ave, just south of 14th (WABC Antenna in the background). I'm not sure if they're in other parts of Manhattan. Anyone know what they are for, what they are transmitting? Something for NYPD? NYFD? MTA?


Are there fire or police call boxes on the poles? I can't tell from the picture.

Just a guess, but maybe they're for radio transmissions in the subways. Police? Fire? Cellphones (gasp!)?

Hey all,
I'm a johnny come lately to this thread, having spent the lion's share of my time in the TWC NYC thread. I've searched back a few pages and I apologize but I'm too lzay to read all 156 pages to see if this has been brought up and asked/answered.

Anyway, I'm finally in a position to have my very own antenna on my very own roof. My roof is in the west village and believe it or not I can see the tip of the ESB tower when standing on my roof.

Based on that, I'm guessing I should get pretty good reception of all the channels. Is that a safe guess?

Also, any STB recommendations? (I'll still have TWC btw in any case).

Thanks!
TM

Should be no problem for you. I get all NYC channels with an indoor Silver Sensor from 14th St., except PBS. On certain days I can get that with drop out. Remember that WPIX is on 12, so you'll need a UHF as well as VHF antenna.

Originally posted by Swisher
Should be no problem for you. I get all NYC channels with an indoor Silver Sensor from 14th St., except PBS. On certain days I can get that with drop out. Remember that WPIX is on 12, so you'll need a UHF as well as VHF antenna.

Did anyone get to see the DubyaBee's presentation of LOTR: Fellowship of the Rings in HD last night?? I rotated my antenna back towards Philly and picked up part of the broadcast....but I had signal strength issues (as I normally did with WPHL (17-1) when I used to toy with Philly stations).

I had some viewing issues that I wasn't sure came from my signal strength or from a source/station issue. A few times while I was watching the screen just went black for 2-3 seconds....with no pixelation before or right after the picture came back. Usually if I'm having signal strength issues my E86 will pixelate....and freeze the picture itself. These were just plain/jane BLACK screen issues.

:confused:

Thanks swisher! :)

TM

Originally posted by jaypb
Did anyone get to see the DubyaBee's presentation of LOTR: Fellowship of the Rings in HD last night?? I rotated my antenna back towards Philly and picked up part of the broadcast....but I had signal strength issues (as I normally did with WPHL (17-1) when I used to toy with Philly stations).

I had some viewing issues that I wasn't sure came from my signal strength or from a source/station issue. A few times while I was watching the screen just went black for 2-3 seconds....with no pixelation before or right after the picture came back. Usually if I'm having signal strength issues my E86 will pixelate....and freeze the picture itself. These were just plain/jane BLACK screen issues.

:confused:

I'm watching it tonight (flipping back and forth between that and MNF). 77% strength, picture looks good. No dropouts or any problems as I'm watching it.....

Can someone be so kind as to link the CBS-HD schedule for the NFL to see what games are in HD? I remember someone put the list up a while back but I'll be damned if I'm going to go wading through pages of posts to find it :D

Just use this for all the games on both networks.
http://www.directvsports.com/Schedules/Packages/NFLSundayTicket/

Okay, a couple of dumb questions:

What's the difference between the "Enhanced" channel and the "HD" channel? Also, can we assume that any games that are on the HD channels will be in HD OTA?

I dont have NFL Sunday Ticket but the enhanced has nothing to do with the picture quality, it just puts extra stats and info from other games on the side and bottom of the screen

Are they working on the combiner now??????

I've lost 2.1, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 7.1, and 7.2. Surprisingly the only channels I receive are 11.1, 11.2, and 11.3.

Does anyone know what's going on???

Originally posted by s2silber
Okay, a couple of dumb questions:

What's the difference between the "Enhanced" channel and the "HD" channel? Also, can we assume that any games that are on the HD channels will be in HD OTA?

Enhanced channels have the scoreboard from all the games taking about 50% of your screen.

HD channels (as the name implies) are Hi-Def channels.

Games that are on the HD channels (local games) will be on HD OTA as well.

Originally posted by UroDoc
Are they working on the combiner now??????

I've lost 2.1, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2, 7.1, and 7.2. Surprisingly the only channels I receive are 11.1, 11.2, and 11.3.

Does anyone know what's going on???

I don't know, but today I suddenly picked up 41-1, WXTV-DT, which I had never been able to get previously. Hooray, another Spanish channel that I have no use for! :p

Oddly enough, 53-1, WFUT, suddenly changed to 68-1 and its stayed that way since this morning.

For some reason all of my DT ch's are coming in with a little stronger sig ...but I have a feeling its because of the leaves that are falling from the big trees around me. But I'll take the extra sig.....the only ch's Im having trouble with are the WB and WNET....NBC comes and goes.

Originally posted by Scott G
has anyone heard anything about the progress of the combiner lately ? The first shipment from Maine has arrived in NYC.

Last night was another disappointment for me in Monmouth County. I could not pull a solid signal for 7-1 forcing me to watch LOST in SD. I have been having all sorts of issues with 2-1 and 7-1 for the last week or so. Normally 2-1 and 7-1 are perfect. 4-1 is still my biggest disappointment. But luckily D* carries it.

How many more shipments till its ready?

Originally posted by Gary Quiring
Last night was another disappointment for me in Monmouth County. I could not pull a solid signal for 7-1 forcing me to watch LOST in SD. I have been having all sorts of issues with 2-1 and 7-1 for the last week or so. Normally 2-1 and 7-1 are perfect. 4-1 is still my biggest disappointment. But luckily D* carries it.


Why don't you watch 2-1 on D*?

I have Directv and I feel even though CBSDT and NBCDT look great via Direct...that OTA is way better quality. But I can only get NBCDT through Direct....for now.

Originally posted by Gary Quiring
Last night was another disappointment for me in Monmouth County. I could not pull a solid signal for 7-1 forcing me to watch LOST in SD. I have been having all sorts of issues with 2-1 and 7-1 for the last week or so. Normally 2-1 and 7-1 are perfect. 4-1 is still my biggest disappointment. But luckily D* carries it.


Gary: I watched CSI and Without a Trace last night on 2-1 off the air. Came in good and strong; no problems. I am just a few miles up the road from you in East Brunswick.

Originally posted by sting0r
How many more shipments till its ready?

2,357 more and we're done......just kidding! That's my frustration talking. ;)

Originally posted by dan57
Gary: I watched CSI and Without a Trace last night on 2-1 off the air. Came in good and strong; no problems. I am just a few miles up the road from you in East Brunswick. Last night (Friday) was another confusing/frustrating night. Not only did I have problems pulling Jag via OTA but the D* feed was showing a screen apologizing due to technical difficulties. I finally finished it via the SD feed.

Originally posted by Bogney Baux
The first shipment from Maine has arrived in NYC.

Man, I hope the guy who wrote that the remaining shipments will be snowed-in in Maine till the May thaw was wrong...

But given the combiner's history that is what will happen.:(

I hope Im wrong but I dont expect to see the combiner active this year. Does anyone else? Despite what people say about time periods for the combiner , I believe nothing until its up and running.

Yup, given its history, I'd say anything in 05 is bliss. To call this a 'saga' is an understatement.

the first shipment was the special wrench needed for the 1000 screws. after this, one screw will be shipped out every month.

i hope my great grand children read this thread to me once i can't see anymore so i can find out the status of the combiner :D

Originally posted by Bogney Baux
The first shipment from Maine has arrived in NYC.

I just connected my receiver last night to my UHF amateur radio beam thru my 20 db wideband preamp. I'm in Huntington , north shore in Suffolk county. Its good to hear they are working on the ESB combiner. This is what I'm getting now:

WLIW21

WLIW-DT

WXTV-DT

WCBS-HD

Originally posted by vinnyv07
For some reason all of my DT ch's are coming in with a little stronger sig ...but I have a feeling its because of the leaves that are falling from the big trees around me. But I'll take the extra sig.....the only ch's Im having trouble with are the WB and WNET....NBC comes and goes.


vinny, I first started receiving OTA HDTV signals last winter. NBC was fine for me half the time. When there was snow on the ground I almost had it all of the time. When the weather turned warm it was gone UNTIL just recently when it got cold again???

I don't worry much about NBC because I get it from DirecTV now, but the OTA looked ~much~ better so I looked forward to future developments in better reception for our area.

Harry Dugan
Admin at http://www.hdtvforum.com

Originally posted by HDugan
When there was snow on the ground I almost had it all of the time. When the weather turned warm it was gone UNTIL just recently when it got cold again???

Snow on the ground? Or was it trees without leaves?

Originally posted by Bogney Baux
The first shipment from Maine has arrived in NYC.

Your post correlates with the pulse of activity I recently received on Friday from NBC which stated...

Sorry about the delay getting back to you. We're probably 5 to 6 weeks away from the combiner being in place and ready to go. Construction IS now taking place on the room and the radio station that had been in the way has been fully relocated. The actual combiner is scheduled to be delivered to the building in pieces in the next week.

I am not getting my hopes up that "ready to go" actually means go, but I pray that the momentum will make it so.

I'm sorry to say that my last post on this thread was waaaay off and I apologize for that. I am just a messenger. But in all actuality, NBC has had their act together...the ESB Combiner project was too unpredictable.

I'm looking forward to the day that my OTA-HD is so plentiful that I can cancel my DirecTV SD-HD locals and use that money for a moca-latte! :)

Harry Dugan
Admin at http://www.hdtvforum.com
...see our daily HDTV news.

Is it just me...or did WNBC just remap to 28-1, and 28-2?

Weird...

Up till now it has been on 4-1 and 4-2...

Samsung T-161.

Originally posted by John Chu
Is it just me...or did WNBC just remap to 28-1, and 28-2?

Weird...

Up till now it has been on 4-1 and 4-2...

Samsung T-161.

4-2 is now a weather sub-channel. For my E86 STB's it's still 4-1 and 4-2...although 28-1 and 28-2 will remap to 4-1/2 if I input it.

Since I don't watch much IF ANY HD from NBC I think a local weather channel is a pretty neat feature (especially since D* doesn't provide "local weather") although I wonder how much it sucks from the HD presentation.. When I turned my antenna away from Philly over a year ago I actually missed the Philly ABC's weather subchannel---which at that time was just a large scale radar map of the Philly/Jersey area.

4-2 is now NBC Weather Plus, new digital weather service designed to compete with the original The Weather Channel. You can read more about it at mediaweek.com or tvweek.com. I saw it initially about a month ago as the O&O in RDU was working out some kinks in their system before they pick it up. Looks pretty good from a stand point that the Weather Channel never really shows weather anymore. *lol*

Originally posted by John Chu
Is it just me...or did WNBC just remap to 28-1, and 28-2?

Weird...

Up till now it has been on 4-1 and 4-2...

Samsung T-161.

Im getting 80 plus signal on 4-1, 4-2 , and no picture using an hd tivo, if i go manually to 28-1 , i get nothing :(, and on my dtc 100 it still comes in on 4-1

Same here 4-1 and 4-2 signal but no picture:confused:

Tony

Came across this article today:

NBC launches digital weather channel
Tuesday, November 16 2004, 04:33 GMT -- by James Welsh

Capacity on local NBC stations' digital multiplexes is being used to launch an all-weather channel from the network.

Many local stations in the US use part of their digital multiplex to broadcast weather information, ranging from a simple Doppler radar screen to fully-featured weather information channels. NBC's "Weather Plus" network combines national and local weather programming: an "L-Bar" display wrapped around the screen will carry live local weather data, with the network's programming comprising national weather updates and cut-ins from meteorologists at local affiliates.


http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds17003.html

I noticed 4-2 in my guide last night but it was just snow. No pun intended.

Is anybody not receiving WNBC-DT 4-1 OTA? I've never had a problem receiving WNBC-DT 4-1 until last night and today (as of 4:00 pm).

Thanks, Tony

No NBC here in Park Slope, Brooklyn, either. ABC is difficult to receive as well.

No NBC 4-1 in S.I. on HD TIVO. Before yesterday I was getting it at 100%. :(

You have to try to get it on 28-1 and 28-2. For some reason when they put on 4-2, they changed the PSIP. I can manually tune it on 28-1/28-2, but get nothing on 4-1.

Acording to my Tivo I am getting a 90-95% signal on channel 28 (4-1 NBC) but I get no picture. Also when I try to tune to 28-1, the Tivo will not remap correctly, so I can't view it that way either. :(


Originally posted by Scott G
You have to try to get it on 28-1 and 28-2. For some reason when they put on 4-2, they changed the PSIP. I can manually tune it on 28-1/28-2, but get nothing on 4-1.

You have to try to get it on 28-1 and 28-2. For some reason when they put on 4-2, they changed the PSIP. I can manually tune it on 28-1/28-2, but get nothing on 4-1.

Hi Scott! I just did what you suggested...I'm getting a signal but no picture, are you getting a picture? Why would NBC want 28-1 and not the proper 4-1?

Thanks, Tony

Anyone have a phone number for the engineers to report the problem ?

I'm not getting any picture on 4-1 or 28-1 with my HDTivo. Are others seeing a picture on 4-1 or 28-1 using a different receiver?

No picture on either channel as well.

4-1 and 4-2 coming in with no problems Westbury, LI, NY. Mitsubishi Promise Module, ChannelMaster 4248 antenna, CM7777 preamp, and CM9521a rotator.

Are you sure your receiving NYC NBC ???


Originally posted by UroDoc
4-1 and 4-2 coming in with no problems Westbury, LI, NY. Mitsubishi Promise Module, ChannelMaster 4248 antenna, CM7777 preamp, and CM9521a rotator.

4.1 and 4.2 back on the air. Noticed that 4.2's audio and video are out of synch.

4.1 was not interupted on DirecTV's feed - the problem was that nothing was being transmitted from the stick atop the G.E. Building.

Gary

Yup...NBC-DT 4-1 and that new 4-2 weather channel with the lip synch problem.

For the general group:

I am located about 7 miles north of the Tappan Zee bridge, near the Hudson river. I have a line of sight with NYC, and use a Radio shack Fringe antenna.

HDTV received is as follows

CBS-always
NBC-since the trees dropped leaves, moreso, but not always-usually less than 50%, but the box will try to pull a signal. Lotsa pixellation.
FOX-always
Channel 9-always
WPIX always
ABC- always, both channels, 7.1 and 7.2

I've tried PBS, and no go on all the allocated channels, even with a specific search.

I'm using the $200 wal mart box, feeding a Sony WEGA 4:3 set via the Pb Pr Yb inputs.

It rocks ! You can tell a real HDTV source, and when it's not. The Tonight show, one night, went from HD to SD after a commercial, and you can tell the difference, even with a "normal" set.

I get a perfect analog signal on all analog channels, so that I get such good HD is partly location and partly overkill antenna. I would suggest that most with a "reception problem" break down and mount the best antenna you can.

While I can't comment as to other STB's, I am happy with the wally world box, and I don't like walmart. The box seemed to be a loss leader so I thought it was OK.

Gary , i dont think thats correct, i was and am able to get 4.1,4.2 using my rca dtc-100 ota for past few days, but, the hd tivo up untill a few minutes ago would not.

Originally posted by ilkevinli
Are you sure your receiving NYC NBC ???

Antenna is aimed at NYC approximately (265 degrees). Same orientation that I receive 2-1, 4-1, 4-2, 5-1, 5-2, 7-1, 7-2, 11-1, 11-2, 11-3. 28-1 remaps to 4-1, 28-2 remaps to 4-2.

No OTA NBC 4-1 in Manhattan =( Before it was coming in just fine. Anyone know whats going on?

Just checked again. Still receiving NBC 4-1 and 4-2 in Westbury.

No NBC HD in Babylon!

Originally posted by HDugan
Your post correlates with the pulse of activity I recently received on Friday from NBC which stated...



I am not getting my hopes up that "ready to go" actually means go, but I pray that the momentum will make it so.

I'm sorry to say that my last post on this thread was waaaay off and I apologize for that. I am just a messenger. But in all actuality, NBC has had their act together...the ESB Combiner project was too unpredictable.

I'm looking forward to the day that my OTA-HD is so plentiful that I can cancel my DirecTV SD-HD locals and use that money for a moca-latte! :)

Harry Dugan
Admin at http://www.hdtvforum.com
...see our daily HDTV news.

from what i just heard a few days ago, the combiner itself is in Manhatten being stored, and will be moved to ESB this thursda nite...now how long before it gets up and running thats anybodys guess

Well, it's that time of year again.

No, not football season, Thanksgiving. And for Thanksgiving, as with last year, I will be making a trip from my home here in Virginia to Fair Lawn, NJ.

I was kinda hoping the combiner would be installed by Thanksgiving (I'll be arriving Wednesday evening). Doesn't sound like that's going to happen.

So, since Easter (which I think is the last time I was in the area), how much has changed? I think WPXN-DT came on the air, WFUT-DT powered up and began remapping properly, and WABC-DT powered up more (but they were receivable before anyway), but is that it? If it is, that's very disappointing.

Last year, I got:

2-1 1080i CBS WCBS-DT *Strong*
4-1 1080i NBC WNBC-DT *Very Weak*
4-2 480i ??? WNBC-DT
5-1 480p Fox WNYW-DT *Strong*
5-2 480i UPN WNYW-DT
7-1 720p ABC WABC-DT *Strong*
7-2 480i ABC WABC-DT
29-2 480i Rel WFME-DT *DXed*
29-3 480i Test WFME-DT
50-1 480i PBS WNJN-DT *Strong* (And whatever subchannels)
53-1 480i TFT WFUT-DT *Very Weak*

And also got weak signals that were not usable from digital channels 12 (WPIX-DT), 40 (WXTV-DT), and 48 (WRNN-DT).

Looks to me I'll only be able to add 31-1 and any subchannels, 5-1 will be 720p instead of 480p, and there'll be a stronger signal on 68-1. Not very impressive for the number one market.

I think this is very disappointing for the #1 market, considering this is where all except UPN are O&Os and cover the most people. The fact that WNBC can't even get a decent digital on the air (why don't they just go to the Conde Naste with WABC-DT?) is just sad. The combiner shouldn't even be an excuse. They should have had new digitals on the air faster than they did.

But anyway, am I forgetting anything in my observations? Has WNYE-DT begun doing actual programming again yet (since they started doing COFDM data transmissions after 9/11)? Have any other stations (I heard something about WTBY-DT powering up) boosted power? What's the estimated completed date for the combiner?

Thanks for any help.

EDIT: Also, looking down the FCC database, it appears that WNJU-DT has an STA to broadcast from the WFME-DT site near East Orange, NJ. Can anyone receive this broadcast?

EDIT2: WPIX-DT has a for a 160 kW STA from the ESB on channel 33. WMBC-DT has applied for a CP to do 1000 kW from the WNJN-DT site. WWOR-DT has a 170 kW STA from the ESB. WABC-DT has a 219 kW something (not an STA, but I'm not sure what DX means in that context) on the ESB.

- Trip

Hello everyone, Just found this forum. I just bought a cheap RCA antenna at Home Depot and Samsung SIR-165, I hooked it up and get everything great everything except WNBC. Without going back through these hundreds of posts, can someone give me the reason that NBC does not come in ? According to all the antenna sites they are at the some location as most of the rest.

NBC has the weakest signal of the 4 major networks (CBS, FOX, ABC are all stronger). I get NBC in Plainview, but it is not the steadiest signal. I believe the NBC signal comes from the GE Building and you may have to play with your antenna direction a little to find the sweat spot for all the channels. The ESB is the point most south, then the Conde Nast is in the middle. Move your antenna to get ABC as stong as possible and then see if you get NBC.

Good Luck,
Joe

PS I also have an Signal Amplifier on my antenna. You may need one too if you don't already have it.

Originally posted by speedlaw
For the general group:

I am located about 7 miles north of the Tappan Zee bridge, near the Hudson river. I have a line of sight with NYC, and use a Radio shack Fringe antenna.

HDTV received is as follows

CBS-always
NBC-since the trees dropped leaves, moreso, but not always-usually less than 50%, but the box will try to pull a signal. Lotsa pixellation.
FOX-always
Channel 9-always
WPIX always
ABC- always, both channels, 7.1 and 7.2

I've tried PBS, and no go on all the allocated channels, even with a specific search.

I'm using the $200 wal mart box, feeding a Sony WEGA 4:3 set via the Pb Pr Yb inputs.

It rocks ! You can tell a real HDTV source, and when it's not. The Tonight show, one night, went from HD to SD after a commercial, and you can tell the difference, even with a "normal" set.

I get a perfect analog signal on all analog channels, so that I get such good HD is partly location and partly overkill antenna. I would suggest that most with a "reception problem" break down and mount the best antenna you can.

While I can't comment as to other STB's, I am happy with the wally world box, and I don't like walmart. The box seemed to be a loss leader so I thought it was OK.

Wow, that's pretty good reception you get. I'm 17 miles west of NYC an get the same minus WPIX. I'm astonsihed that you get it.

If you have a antenna with rotor, aim it some degrees to the right (westernly). Montclair NJ seems to put out a strong signal. On days they provide DTV for 50.1, 50.2, 50.3 and 50.4. From 8p-12a they provide HDTV on 50.5. Sometimes the channels move to 51 or 52 I think. But don't kill yourself...the HD programming "when on" is only so so.

Is there any word on when or if UPN in will go HD in NYC? I was really hoping to watch Enterprise and even Veronica Mars in HD.

Originally posted by GoldenBoy
Is there any word on when or if UPN in will go HD in NYC? I was really hoping to watch Enterprise and even Veronica Mars in HD.

When the combiner is finished!

Great, so I've got another year or two? :rolleyes:

It depends on the weather in Maine! :eek:

Where does ABC broadcast in NYC? I can't get either channel, and I would love to see Lost in HD.

Originally posted by muadib
Where does ABC broadcast in NYC? I can't get either channel, and I would love to see Lost in HD.

WABC-DT broadcasts from the antenna on the top of 4 Times Square (the Conde-Nast Building), at W. 42nd St. and 7th Ave. As for Lost in HD, the high-point during the first episode (the survivor being inhaled by a jet engine) was worthwhile, but it's been downhill ever since.

Originally posted by Manatus
WABC-DT broadcasts from the antenna on the top of 4 Times Square (the Conde-Nast Building), at W. 42nd St. and 7th Ave. As for Lost in HD, the high-point during the first episode (the survivor being inhaled by a jet engine) was worthwhile, but it's been downhill ever since.

I disagree the shows been great but let's stay on topic.

Is NBC down again ??? It went back up last night and now its down again :(

WNBC 4.1 and 4.2 coming in loud and clear.
4.2 is simulcasting 4.1's programming - no
terrible weather channel!

Gary

I spoke with WCBS engineer Steve Pear today for an article I'm writing, and he said all the components of the combiner are here and the goal is to get it online no later than 12/31.

Now its back up again. I dont know whats going on. This is very frustrating !!!

Originally posted by Gary Press
WNBC 4.1 and 4.2 coming in loud and clear.
4.2 is simulcasting 4.1's programming - no
terrible weather channel!

Gary

Originally posted by andrewjnyc
I spoke with WCBS engineer Steve Pear today for an article I'm writing, and he said all the components of the combiner are here and the goal is to get it online no later than 12/31.

Wanna bet??

Steve is the VP of Engineering and on top of the project that he described as the "Project from Hell". Believe him. He is also part of the NBC alumni group at CBS.
George

Hi,

I live 2.5 miles south of ESB, Lower E. Side, I can't get 2.1(cbs) and 4.1(nbc) at all. I can only recieve 5.1-2 (fox), 7.1-2 (abc) and sometime 11.1-2 (wb). I have medium range direction antenna on the roof (5 stories building) and Sony TV with ATSC tuner built in. My question is if I get a TV antenna amplifier, will it help?? Recommendation on which type to buy??

Originally posted by George Thompson
Steve is the VP of Engineering and on top of the project that he described as the "Project from Hell". Believe him. He is also part of the NBC alumni group at CBS.
George

I would not doubt Steve means well and believes what he says but things have ways of going astray. 12/31 is ALREADY beyond the last estimate. The target is constantly moving. Projects like this are nearly impossible to track and predict. When I see all the stations on my set I will believe the completion date.

I did a quick search and didnt see any discussion...

Was anyone able to check out Lord of the Rings in HD a few weeks back (I think it was on WB, either that or UPN).

How was the quality? I live in White Plains, NY and still have no ability to receive their HD broadcast with my roof antenna. Pathetic.

Originally posted by Mach5
Hi,

I live 2.5 miles south of ESB, Lower E. Side, I can't get 2.1(cbs) and 4.1(nbc) at all. I can only recieve 5.1-2 (fox), 7.1-2 (abc) and sometime 11.1-2 (wb). I have medium range direction antenna on the roof (5 stories building) and Sony TV with ATSC tuner built in. My question is if I get a TV antenna amplifier, will it help?? Recommendation on which type to buy??
Hello,
I wouldn't suggest an amplifier for your location. Mast mounted amps are easily overloaded in strong signal areas and are usually better suited for suburban or rural areas. In your case I would suggest turning the antenna in different directions to see what changes. A rotor certainly makes this easier, but if you find a position that gets all stations you probably won't use the rotor much after that.
Make sure you try all directions while adjusting. You may find that pointing at a nearby building South of you is better than aiming straight at the ESB.
In my location, I'm receiving WNJN with the antenna pointing at Garden City LI. The signal is bouncing off an apartment building a couple of blocks away. Have fun!

-Phil

Originally posted by lirong
I did a quick search and didnt see any discussion...

Was anyone able to check out Lord of the Rings in HD a few weeks back (I think it was on WB, either that or UPN).

How was the quality? I live in White Plains, NY and still have no ability to receive their HD broadcast with my roof antenna. Pathetic.

TNT will be showing THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING in HD sometime in early-mid December, so if you have access to the channel via cable, you'll be able to catch it.

Originally posted by lirong
I did a quick search and didnt see any discussion...

Was anyone able to check out Lord of the Rings in HD a few weeks back (I think it was on WB, either that or UPN).

How was the quality? I live in White Plains, NY and still have no ability to receive their HD broadcast with my roof antenna. Pathetic.

I caught bits and pieces of it (since it was on opposite the ESPN Sunday Night Game and MNF; talk about bad scheduling). The quality ranged from very good to awesome in some shots, but I didn't catch enough of it to really pass judgement on it.......

Also I think someone posted that TNT will be showing LOTR: FOTR in HD. TNT-HD will be showing it in high-def. You will need that specific channel to see it in HD; regular TNT will not have it.

Well, would you believe it? General Electric/NBC has done it again!
No digital broadcasting of channel 4 - no 4.1 or that incredible waste of
bandwidth "NBC Weather Minus."
They can't blame this this on the combiner - DirecTV's feed of 4.1 is not working either.
All brought to you, or in this case, not brought to you by the people who
bought RCA/NBC to only run it into the ground!

The General is spinning!

Gary

Originally posted by Gary Press
Well, would you believe it? General Electric/NBC has done it again!
No digital broadcasting of channel 4 - no 4.1 or that incredibly waste of
bandwidth "NBC Weather Minus."
They can't blame this this on the combiner - DirecTV's feed of 4.1 is not working either.
All brought to you, or in this case, not brought to you by the people who
bought RCA/NBC to only run it into the ground!

The General is spinning!

Gary

As of 2:15 pm today, OTA 4.1 and 4.2 are off the air in Manhattan, but 704 (4.1) and 731 (4.2) are coming in fine on TWCNYC.

Very strange!

WNBC is able to feed TWCNY but not DirecTV and the antenna atop of the same building where master control is located.

Gary

WNBC-DT is also coming in on Cablevision, but not OTA. They have a fiber optic feed of the channel to the cable companies, but the OTA signal has been on and off lately.

Still can't find 4-1 , tried to reload on 28, strong signal but only 4-2 using my BEV6100. At least the Seattle local news in HD

They're back!

4.1. and 4.2 have returned O-T-A and via DirecTV.

Unfortunately, the hiatus did nothing to improve
"Weather Minus!" Still so poorly executed -
still out of synch.

You don't put something on the air until it's ready -
and especially in the country's biggest market.

Gary

Its 9:20 PM now and I am getting 0% on NBC 4-1, 100% on all of the other OTA channels, with a direct view of ESB. Are you sure OTA is back on?

Yes, they are there at 9:24 p.m.

Gary

i'm still getting only 4-2

Originally posted by Gary Press
They're back!

You don't put something on the air until it's ready -
and especially in the country's biggest market.

Gary

Unfortunately, in the country's biggest market, you're also not really interested in pushing HDTV when you know that you might lose your original frequency to alternative services.

...And so it goes...

C

combiner update

..the birds are chirping in my ear and they are telling me that the combiner is in pieces at ESB right now and a technician from dielectric will be in town starting tomorow to start work on gettin it all together :D

You're sure that little birdie isn't on drugs? :)

i trust this bird....its getting its info from someone directly involved with one of the stations...

Originally posted by Ken Ross
You're sure that little birdie isn't on drugs? :)

I will need to be on drugs if I have to wait much longer.

Forgive me if this has been asked before, but when the combiner is done, will all/most of the stations be on it right away, or will they come online one at a time?

I asked the same question (quite) a few pages ago. The answer I got was that all, except WNET will come on-line at once. Apparently it makes more sense logistically. That said, the next logical question is can one of the networks throw a wrench into the works or is this now up to the engineers/techs doing the install?

technician from dielectric will be in town starting tomorow to start work on gettin it all together


Not today;)


http://www.trendmultimedia.com/empire.jpg

Saw this truck outside the Garden Sunday (11-21) for the Knicks Cavaliers game.

Tony



http://www.trendmultimedia.com/hd.jpg

Originally posted by trend1
Saw this truck outside the Garden Sunday (11-21) for the Knicks Cavaliers game.

Tony

http://www.trendmultimedia.com/hd.jpg

I'll start by saying I have D* and do not have cable.

Call me crazy, but I *think* the game was on NBA-TV in HD....so I assume they were providing it in HD for NBA-TV. I noticed after the NFL games ended yesterday that my D* receiver had Channel 94 listed as "NFL--Cavaliers at Knicks". 94 is in the NFL HD channel area. When I tuned to the channel it said "Game is unavailable in your area". And then I went to MSG (621) and noticed the game was starting at 7:30. I was going to check the HD programming area to see if it was indeed an NBA HD broadcast that was "blacked out" in the NYC area for D* subs.

Originally posted by trend1
Not today;)
Just so some people do not get the wrong impression, the combiner will be installed indoors so weather should not be a factor.

Just so some people do not get the wrong impression, the combiner will be installed indoors so weather should not be a factor.

Bogney Baux, Some one posted a picture of the combiner that looked a bunch of pipes, I was under the impression that this was for outside the building not inside it. Can you educate me on this mysterious combiner thing.

Thanks, Tony

Is there a site that shows:

Broadcaster/Affiliation/power/location?

AntennaWeb.org has 2 of the 4, but doesn't list transmitter power or location (it does give pointing direction though)

Also, AntennaWeb.org shows that my OTA should point at 105 degrees from my location, but if I go to other sites, and calculate direction from my house to the Empire State Building (using lat/lon calculators), I come up with 95 degrees. Interesting... Unless AntennaWeb is assuming that the points of transmission are still at the WTC - (we're talking ABC/CBS/FOX/NBC) which totally make up for the 10 degree difference... Or maybe that geocode information (lat/long) actually uses true north rather than magnetic north?

no engineer here- but they apparently put that thing-a-ma-bob with all the pipes (AKA the pope organ) in a room inside the building just below the antenna.

From what i can gather- then all the stations feed their signal (via cables?) to the pipe organ. THen the pipe organ feeds the antenna (via another cable?)

I guess cable runs have to be kept to a minimum- because they are real particular about which room the thing had to go in?

Peppered throughout the last 75 pages or so are comments about some 4th rate spanish AM radio station previously occupying the "magic room" and they refused to move until recently- hence one of the many delays....

of course - you guys who know fell free to correct and or add to that. As I said- no engineer - just an interested reader....

Originally posted by grodgers
Is there a site that shows:

Broadcaster/Affiliation/power/location?

AntennaWeb.org has 2 of the 4, but doesn't list transmitter power or location (it does give pointing direction though)

Also, AntennaWeb.org shows that my OTA should point at 105 degrees from my location, but if I go to other sites, and calculate direction from my house to the Empire State Building (using lat/lon calculators), I come up with 95 degrees. Interesting... Unless AntennaWeb is assuming that the points of transmission are still at the WTC - (we're talking ABC/CBS/FOX/NBC) which totally make up for the 10 degree difference... Or maybe that geocode information (lat/long) actually uses true north rather than magnetic north?
You'll have to dig out your latitude/longitude and magnetic deviation, but I wrote a little app that provides all that info about stations for you:

http://www.2150.com/broadcast

Originally posted by dswallow
You'll have to dig out your latitude/longitude and magnetic deviation, but I wrote a little app that provides all that info about stations for you:

http://www.2150.com/broadcast

A) Thanks for moving this where it belonged - I shall try to stay on-topic going forward!

B) That's exactly the data (and more) that I was looking for. I'm going with a Yagi from AD (hope it comes BEFORE Thanksgiving) and it looks like everything I want to receive is within 1 or 2 degrees - I should be able to find a sweet spot and not use a rotator.

C) On the search results, in the transmitter antenna column, is there any kind of assumed scale? Can anything be gleaned from that data other than the shape of the broadcast signal?

Originally posted by grodgers
C) On the search results, in the transmitter antenna column, is there any kind of assumed scale? Can anything be gleaned from that data other than the shape of the broadcast signal?
It's mapped from the FCC antenna data and I'm not really sure of the method that's used to compute those values or how it translates to real world numbers. I always assumed it was representative of a percentage of the signal strength, which probably suffices as a general guide (i.e., if it extended 50% from the center to the edge, that'd be 50% of the signal in that direction versus the 100% you'd get if it weren't directional, etc). Until someone says different, I'd use that as a mutlipler (on a scale of 0 to 1) of the ERP to see an effective ERP towards you.

Probably good enough to make educated guesses that way.

Originally posted by dturturro
I asked the same question (quite) a few pages ago. The answer I got was that all, except WNET will come on-line at once. Apparently it makes more sense logistically. That said, the next logical question is can one of the networks throw a wrench into the works or is this now up to the engineers/techs doing the install?

Thanks for the response. Hopefully, it is just up to the engineers now to install it.

Hopefully there was no water damage to the 'pipeorgan' when a contractor hit a water main up there last week and caused extensive flooding. I seem to remember brass or copper being used for the pipe on some versions so they shouldn't rust.
Tuning slugs may get junk on them and make it sticky to turn screws.

I would guess that the transmitter feeds may be 6" hardline at that power level. More plumbing which means straight paths and right angle bends. Not familiar with Dielectric feedline, but I grew up in Orland Park, Il and knew most of the engineers at Andrew. (I used Heliax exclusively on my ham radio antennas).

Looks good for antenna upgrade either way.
GT

Originally posted by jaypb
I'll start by saying I have D* and do not have cable.

Call me crazy, but I *think* the game was on NBA-TV in HD....so I assume they were providing it in HD for NBA-TV. I noticed after the NFL games ended yesterday that my D* receiver had Channel 94 listed as "NFL--Cavaliers at Knicks". 94 is in the NFL HD channel area. When I tuned to the channel it said "Game is unavailable in your area". And then I went to MSG (621) and noticed the game was starting at 7:30. I was going to check the HD programming area to see if it was indeed an NBA HD broadcast that was "blacked out" in the NYC area for D* subs.

The game was being broadcast in HD on NBA-TV. Anyone who has the channel outside of the New York market could see the game. I have DISH, so the game was blacked out for everyone in the NY area on NBA-TV. Cablevision (which owns MSG and FSNY) owns the broadcast rights for Knicks telecasts and as such broadcast Knicks games in HD only on the MSG channel. As a result, only people who subscribe to Cablevision (cable) are able to see the MSG channel in HD. D* cannot and DISH cannot. This holds true for any Knicks broadcasts on ESPN-HD, TNT-HD, etc. The game would be blacked out on those channels and the only way to see it would be on MSG, and the only way to see that in HD would be if you subsrcibe to Cablevision.

Originally posted by GRN
The game was being broadcast in HD on NBA-TV. Anyone who has the channel outside of the New York market could see the game. I have DISH, so the game was blacked out for everyone in the NY area on NBA-TV. Cablevision (which owns MSG and FSNY) owns the broadcast rights for Knicks telecasts and as such broadcast Knicks games in HD only on the MSG channel. As a result, only people who subscribe to Cablevision (cable) are able to see the MSG channel in HD. D* cannot and DISH cannot. This holds true for any Knicks broadcasts on ESPN-HD, TNT-HD, etc. The game would be blacked out on those channels and the only way to see it would be on MSG, and the only way to see that in HD would be if you subsrcibe to Cablevision.

I would imagine that you could see the Knicks in HD on ESPN/TNT if the game was a national exclusive game (as opposed to regional). Kind of like when the Yankees are the Sunday Night game of the week on ESPN.

Originally posted by chrisb3
I would imagine that you could see the Knicks in HD on ESPN/TNT if the game was a national exclusive game (as opposed to regional). Kind of like when the Yankees are the Sunday Night game of the week on ESPN.

That's correct; that would be the exception to the rule. It's rare, though. And, like you said, it would only apply if the game was the national game. If not, it wouldn't be shown, since there are many occassions when ESPN and YES/MSG have been simulcasting the game (for example, on a weeknight) and the ESPN feed is blacked out. I would estimate that maybe 5% of the time the game would not be blacked out. The other 95% of the time it is.

Honestly, though, with the state of the Knicks as it is, does anybody really care? Personally, I would rather watch a great team in SD than a horrible team in HD :D

Originally posted by GRN
Honestly, though, with the state of the Knicks as it is, does anybody really care? Personally, I would rather watch a great team in SD than a horrible team in HD :D

Very True. :)

About the other bit, I was just clarifying the possibilities (ok, the only possiblilty) of having a Knicks game in HD for us D* folks.

This is a forum for discussing New York City Over The Air High Definition reception.

There are separate forums for cable reception from Time Warner, RCN, Comcast, and CableVision. There are also separate forums for discussing programming.

Please direct your posts to the correct audience.

Originally posted by George Thompson
Hopefully there was no water damage to the 'pipeorgan' when a contractor hit a water main up there last week and caused extensive flooding. I seem to remember brass or copper being used for the pipe on some versions so they shouldn't rust.
Tuning slugs may get junk on them and make it sticky to turn screws.

GT

What makes me want to say "Here we go again"?

As of 9:40 PM tonight in Manhattan, I am still not getting 4-1 or 4-2 OTA. Every other channel comes in 93-100%. Can anyone confirm this?

10:04 p.m. - both stations coming in OTA.

Gary

I get 4-1 on MyHD but Expressvu will not lock in signal

Originally posted by MSaccardi
I get 4-1 on MyHD but Expressvu will not lock in signal 4.1 and 4.2 are both up @ 4:40 pm

Anyone else have issues with the "surround" sound last night on the MNF broadcast OTA?? My receiver was only picking up the sound from the front left/right speakers....with NOTHING out of the center and the Rears.

I checked the programming forum...but there seemed to be a cluster **** of issues nationally there....I didn't see anyone from the NYC area posting there.

Or, maybe no one was watching locally......:confused:

Same here--it was ok on satellite channels but ota it was as you have described it. It was also weak since the volume had to be turned way up

WABC-DTV always broadcasts 5.1 channel sound. Most of the time when the sound is monophonic as during the news or stereo as with most SD programs and probably football last night, they put the sound only in the left and right front channels. Receivers expect that with 5.1 channel sound the channels will have the correct distribution of sound and so don't switch to Pro Logic and produce a center channel. WNBC handles this switch just fine. I have to switch my receiver to analog mode on WABC to get the sound processed by Pro Logic. It's an extra nuisance. I wish that WABC would wake up and handle their sound correctly.

Cynthia

A byproduct of WABC always hard-coding their audio as 5.1 is that you can't manually switch a PL2 decoder into the circuit. Even on stereo programs, the receiver logic says that it is receiving a 5.1 signal, even though there's nothing but L/R in the feed. Normally, there is no need to PL2 "decode" a 5.1 program!

NBC uses metadata to switch their audio encoder, and home receivers can be set to automatically insert a PL2 decoder when receiving a two-channel signal. This keeps the stereo commercials from sounding "bad" in comparison to the 5.1 program that it airs inside. When NBC sends a real 5.1 program the encoder switches to 5.1 mode and passes all six channels. BTW, the PL2 decoder is automatically dropped out when receiving the 5.1 program, as it should do.

I agree, I wish WABC would "tell the truth" about their audio.

Well, I'm now sitting in Fair Lawn, NJ. I get all the way here to realize I forgot the remote for my Zenith HDV420. But that's ok, I can still use it with the buttons on the front panel.

Here's what I can get well, in remap order:

WCBS-DT (2-1 1080i) - Easy to receive
WNBC-DT (4-1 1080i, 4-2 480i) - Stood on head and managed to catch
WNYW-DT (5-1 720p, 5-2 480i) - Seems to suffer from multipath
WABC-DT (7-1 720p, 7-2 480i) - Easiest of all to receive
WFME-DT (29-2 480i, 29-3 480i, etc.) - Easy to receive
WPXN-DT (31-1 480i) - Easy to receive when in the right area
WXTV-DT (41-1 480i) - Difficult to receive
WNJN-DT (50-1 480i, 50-2 480i, etc.) - Easy to receive, but HD did not appear at all
WFUT-DT (68-1 480i) - Easy to receive
WNJU-DT (71-1 480i) - See WNBC-DT

It seems that NBC is not sending any additional PSIP info with WNJU-DT, as it is remapping to 71-1 (see attachment). NBC network does the same thing. When WXII in Winston-Salem first signed on, they transmitted no PSIP. Some tuners could only decode it during NBC-HD, where it remapped to 81-1. PBS-HD mapped to 80-3, and so on.

I tried for WNET-DT 61 and WRNN-DT 48, but had no luck with either of them. I didn't even bother with WPIX-DT 12, though I might give it a try later (because I had a lot of luck with WHTM-DT 10 when we were in Harrisburg).

Is WTBY-DT at full power? I might try for that one a little later also.

And lastly, to elaborate on WNJN-DT... It mapped to 50-1 through 50-4. When I tuned in at around 10 last night, 50-2 and 50-3 were completely off, but there was no HD signal of any kind. I think I know what the problem is though I'm no expert. The same thing happened with my tuner when I tried to watch PBS-HD on UNC out of North Carolina, and it turned out they had a flag on the bitstream that said the HD stream was inactive. Some tuners ignored the flag and displayed it anyway, but others didn't even map 4-2 (they just had 4-1, 4-3, 4-4, and 4-5). Perhaps someone could give NJN a call and tell them about this?

I'll check in again a little later.

- Trip

Originally posted by Trip in VA
WNJN-DT (50-1 480i, 50-2 480i, etc.) - Easy to receive, but HD did not appear at all
[/B]

NJN only broadcasts HD in prime-time on 52-5. I believe they have to stop broadcasting 52-3 & 52-3 to free up bandwidth for the HD but I may be wrong about that. A few weeks ago they broadcast Nova in HD and I was pretty impressed with the PQ (factoring in the fact that it's a PBS station with sub-channels).

I receive channel 55 from LI here in CT and was wondering if they are broadcasting a digital signal yet. I see from the FCC site they are going to be on channel 57. If they are broadcasting, are they at low power or full power. Their analog signal comes in fairly well here so I am hoping to get their digital signal. Thanks for your reply. Also for NYC channels I got better reception in the summer and fall before the leaves fell off. I was surprised at that, as my CT channels which are much closer to me came in much better when leaves fell off.

I'm in Nassau and I cannot pick up 55-DT even pointing my antenna directly at their tower. I don't know if it's because they don't broadcast or they are just at low power. There's a Long Island reception post which you may have better luck with.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=330451

Originally posted by trend1
Saw this truck outside the Garden Sunday (11-21) for the Knicks Cavaliers game.

Tony



http://www.trendmultimedia.com/hd.jpg

That truck basicly lives at MSG and hardly ever moves, hence why there is an MSG network logo painted on the side of the truck, partially because when its loaded up with gear its over the weight limit to travel the roads legally-- its one of the first HD mobile units built so at the time virtual monitor walls and flat panels wernt cost effective to use.

And those on Cablevision systems get MSG in HD.

Originally posted by dturturro
NJN only broadcasts HD in prime-time on 52-5. I believe they have to stop broadcasting 52-3 & 52-3 to free up bandwidth for the HD but I may be wrong about that. A few weeks ago they broadcast Nova in HD and I was pretty impressed with the PQ (factoring in the fact that it's a PBS station with sub-channels).

I know. What I'm saying is that 50-2 and 50-3 were both blank (dead) but there was no 50-5 to tune to.

Also, I did a signal check for WPIX-DT on 12-1 and I'm really close. I'm going to try and get a better signal and a screenshot a little later.

- Trip

anybody have any trouble with CBS-2 on thanksgiving day?? my signal kept fluctuating and i was getting pixelization sound drops etc..usually one of my best..thanks

Does anyone have any suggestion on which outdoor antenna should I get?? I live in Lower East Side(Chinatown) - Manhattan. Currently, I have ChannelMaster Model 3016 (rated for 30-40 miles range) on the roof, but can only get 7.1 (ABC-HD) and sometime 5.1 and 11.1. TIA.

>>
anybody have any trouble with CBS-2 on thanksgiving day?? my signal kept fluctuating and i was getting pixelization sound drops etc..usually one of my best..thanks

Yes, i saw a few breakups during the Indy game. Not normal for them but they have been better than most.

Originally posted by Mach5
Does anyone have any suggestion on which outdoor antenna should I get?? I live in Lower East Side(Chinatown) - Manhattan. Currently, I have ChannelMaster Model 3016 (rated for 30-40 miles range) on the roof, but can only get 7.1 (ABC-HD) and sometime 5.1 and 11.1. TIA.

Your antenna is fine. You are probably suffering from multi-path (signals bouncing off of buildings. You may want to consider a rotor or a decent indoor antenna. Either way, reorienting the antenna will be your best bet. You may also want to wait until the combiner is done (hopefully). At that point, when you catch the ESB signal you won't need to constantly play with your antenna.

I've tuned into the two NJN stations I can receive on occasion and have never found them carrying the PBS evening HD feed.

Does anyone here have any information on what, if any, feeds they carry?

Thx

C

Originally posted by cpto
I've tuned into the two NJN stations I can receive on occasion and have never found them carrying the PBS evening HD feed.

Does anyone here have any information on what, if any, feeds they carry?

Thx

C

I mentioned this while I was visiting. I had the strongest signal of any station on 50-1, both 50-2 and 50-3 were blank, but there's no HD stream. I think they have a flag on 50-5 which is preventing some of the more PSIP-aware tuners from tuning the HD stream. UNC here in North Carolina had the same problem when they began HD. He said that the flag was there from before they did HD that said the x-2 (the HD) stream had nothing on it. Some tuners ignored it, while others, like mine, just would not tune x-2.

- Trip

I am 62 miles from the ESB in CT with a pretty clear shot. I can pull in WXTV (ch 40) with a great solid signal probably around 70 - 75%. WNYW on the other hand is fluctuating and will not lock. I believe 40 and 44 are very close in power and I think ch 40 is one hundred feet higher. Could it be the radiation pattern of WNYE is not very strong to the Northeast?
Also I have seen an application for WNYW to go to 990kW (they are 246kW now I think), but WCBS is going to remain at 349kW?
Must be Murphys law, WXTV is one of my strongest signals and I don't speak a lick of Spanish.

I'm only pulling in abc and fox right now.
After scouring this site I think the following info is true

NBC is coming off of the GE Building
CBS and FOX are on the ESB
ABC is off of the Conde Nast Building

So my question is: (since I can pull a weak FOX signal (61%))
*********************************************************
AFTER the combiner is up should I be getting all the stations broadcast from ESB transmitter and would they all have the same power output?
*********************************************************
Is the power to be bumped up w/ the combiner project? (fingers crossed)

I really don't want to monkey w/ my antenna in the attic again. I'll hold tight w/ what I've got now if in a few month(s) the combiner will provide me the rest. The antenna thing is a headache. 2 degree change on my 4228 and the singal is lost.

I wish everyone would include a location in their profile. It allows you to make some assumtions when it comes to reception.

To the best of my knowledge, Fox will not change at all when the combiner is in place. Fox is on a separate antenna. UPN will go on the combiner, as will NBC, eventually. I don't know about other NYC stations.

I'm in Babylon ( long island) and although I get both 13 and 21 PBS digital signals , neither is in HD. Are they broadcasting in HD?

Originally posted by hphase
I wish everyone would include a location in their profile. It allows you to make some assumtions when it comes to reception.

To the best of my knowledge, Fox will not change at all when the combiner is in place. Fox is on a separate antenna. UPN will go on the combiner, as will NBC, eventually. I don't know about other NYC stations.

Once the combiner is operational it will provide WNBC, WABC, WWOR, WPIX, and WNET.

Harry
Admin at http://www.hdtvforum.com
Get a daily dose of HDTV news.

13 broadcasts in HD but 21 does not, even though it does broadcast a digital signal. 21 is sqaundering their bandwidth by dividing it up and broadcasting standard definition shows on several subchannels.