For whatever reason, Sat C loses about 10% of its signal in this area between sunset and approximately 11PM. I can think of nothing in my immediate area that would affect the signal like that. True I have an indoor set-up but Sat A. continues to have almost all transponders in the 90's and B is in the 80's to 90's no matter the time of day. During the above mentioned time period 8, 10 and 12 of C drops from a high of about 55 to the 35-40 range. After 11PM, everything comes back and I have no problem receiving C. I can't explain it.

Incidentally if it wasn't for my DIRECTV HD Tivo, this would be a big issue, but fortunately I can record during the 'good' hours and watch when I desire to. Thank God for modern technology.

Originally posted by Benji
Incidentally if it wasn't for my DIRECTV HD Tivo, this would be a big issue, but fortunately I can record during the 'good' hours and watch when I desire to. Thank God for modern technology.

Good point about shifting the recording times. When I checked last night at 10:30 PM the signal on 110 was down to 65, and possibly dropping. I got up after midnight (my wife questions my sanity) to check the signal and it had returned to 75+ on all 3 transponders. Wouldn't you think we could find out why this variation in signal is happening?

I wish I had checked into this sooner as this is not the time of year to be on the roof adjusting the dish. Cosidering I pay for HBO for their HD content, it is upsetting to be unable to watch programs in the evening, especially if it is raining and the signal drops even further. I can only hope that at some point DirecTV will move HBO to another satellite.

As you can see, the issue is not with our equipment as DrDon and others have speculated. If it was it would be a 24/7 problem and not just 6 hrs every evening. If it was some outside interference during that time, it's a big coincidence that the interference is affecting one dish in Raynham and another in Warwick, RI! I firmly believe the problem is on DIRECTV's end. And if it wasn't for my Tivo, I'd be on the phone to them complaining.

I'm going up north for a for a few days but think I'll give DirecTV a call when I get back. I know though that their reponse will be that there is no problem. :mad:

Anyone else experiencing problems with 25-1 yesterday watching the Packer Vikings game. Block pixelation, audio sync, picture jumping(losing picture information for a split second). Never had problems like this on 25-1 previously. Other channels appeared to be OK.

Stupid me, I tivo'd the Pat's on 5-1, where for some reason, they did NOT carry ESPN's HD signal!!!

I chose 5-1 cuz I thought it might have been blacked out on ESPNHD....Can anyone tell me if it was?

ESPN sunday night games are not blacked out on ESPN in local markets.

The broadcast on channel 5 supplements the ESPN broadcast per NFL rules (all games must be available OTA in their home markets), but ESPN is the primary rights holder.

I know this is a Boston thread, but last night I noticed that I'm picking up FOX Providence pretty clearly now on the Analog channel and the HD clear on 64-1 and I'm in Southern NH. I never noticed it before and I'm pretty good about that. Did they boost their signal?

Could be that the weather conditions being very cooperative and or terrain changes no leaves.

I cannot remember if 64 is fully licenced yet. You can check the FCC site. I Live in Central Mass and get a good solid signal equally as good as the Boston feed..no drop outs. Though I don't recall any signal increases the past couple of weeks.

Is anyone else in S. New Hampshire having difficulty receiving WFXTDT OTA? I never seem to be able to get a signal above about 30 from them but I have no problem pegging to 100 every other station from Boston. Does this station have a power issue?

The last I knew WFXT-DT was still running at reduced power. I can receive it with a CM 4228, CM rotor and Wineguard UHF-only pre-amp. Receivers are MyHD, Mits 52725 and Sony SAT-HD300.

It could be that your signal is being blocked by a hill or trees, or you are picking up a reflection (multipath). Do you have a rotor?

Thanks for the reply, Dave. I checked on antennaweb.org and wfxt is on the same 194 degree heading from me as whdh and wbz is only 1 degree off. I get those wall-to-wall. Before I checked that web site I was thinking along the same lines as you concerning the rotor. But I also get stations at 185 and 213 with my stationary rotor. I'm also already using a 10 dB amp. Maybe it's time to upgrade from my $5 bow-tie antenna. I never worried about Fox before but now that they are going HD I suppose I should take them more seriously.

Dan

The WFXT-DT signal has always been tougher to bring in with the rotor, but once the antenna is oriented correctly, it comes in quite strong (doesn't peg the meter, however). By way of example (these numbers are not necessarily accurate), if I can swing the antenna 15 degrees for WBZ, I can only swing it about 5 degrees for WFXT and maybe 2 degrees for WLVI. When I have a good orientation for WFXT, it also works for WBZ, WCVB, WHDH & WGBH.

I am in Manchester on the Hooksett line and elevation is everything. I'm about 480' above sea level and WFXT is very strong. Matter of fact WNAC, the fox affiliate in Providence (64-1) has been received on most evenings. WLVI has been my problem as there is no room for error in the direction of my antenna. Good luck Dan

Hi all. Just thought I'd give some feedback on my OTA experiences so far.

According to antennaweb.org I am 35 miles away from the towers.

Upon reading all reviews, I decided to give the Silver Sensor a shot, so here's how it did:

WBZ CBS - 70%
WCVB ABC (1,2) - 65%
PBS - 60% in and out of lock.

Not bad for indoors I suppose, but I couldn't settle for that. I have CBS HD NY over the Dish, but that's not enough for me. I live in an apartment where my landlord allows me to have the Dish, so I figured he wouldn't mind another dish out there. I picked up the TERK Square Shooter from Best Buy. It's actually the Winegard - has the W on it. I'm sure I could do better than $149.00 on-line, but I had to make sure it worked first. Anyways, I ran it up to my 2nd floor window terrace where my dishes are located - (50' RG6). Here are the results:

WBZ - 80%
WCVB - 75%
PBS - 75%
WHDH - 65% - noticed this morning it wouldn't lock.
FOX - 62%
UPN - 62%

A definite improvement from the SS. Worth the upgrade so SS goes back to Sears. I still need to play around with the Shooter's direction and skew settings as I noticed it picked up fox and UPN after rotating the head(Must broaden the spectrum I guess). PATS looked awesome last night and I had no fear of losing the signal with the Shooter vs. the SS. The theory of outside and higher is better certainly proved itself to me. Give this one a shot if you don't want or can't have the big and ugly antennas.:o :)

Since you're in Leicester, you might want to check out Stark Electronics on Franklin St. in Worcester: http://www.starkelectronic.com/

They have a good selection of antenna at resonable prices. The folk in there seem pretty knowledgable too.

Jim

Anyone have trouble with channel 5 last night I was only getting at 20-40 signal

Originally posted by steverobertson
Anyone have trouble with channel 5 last night I was only getting at 20-40 signal

No the game came in sweet last night around 75%:)

Originally posted by scarhill
Since you're in Leicester, you might want to check out Stark Electronics on Franklin St. in Worcester: http://www.starkelectronic.com/

They have a good selection of antenna at resonable prices. The folk in there seem pretty knowledgable too.

Jim

Thanks, but I called there a few weeks ago and they seemed clueless.

The guys at stark have a big internet business..You pretty much need to knwo what you want if you call them as they are quite busy shipping orders. Though they have a very large selection of Pre-amps, amps, UHF splitters,antennas, connectors, cable etc.

The owner is a good guy.

If you are looking for antennas, they have a good selection from Antenna craft (good vhf), Channel Master and others. Another good source for antennas is antennas direct www.antennasdirect.com

They will let you evaluate and return if you are not happy. I would consider using the DB4 or DB8. I have a DB8 and are currently trying the XG91. The DB8 works absolutely great. It has a wide dispersion area and rated for 60mi. Though it is not VHF. If you want to pickup Springfield NBC Digital 11 and say Prov. WPRI 13, you will need VHF (7-13 anttenacraft..again at Stark will do well).

Otherwise using the DB4/8 or CM4228 pointed in the correct direction, you should be able to grab all of the Boston stations and maybe some of the Providence stations. Turn it East and you may pickup Springfield.....Terrain and Height will be a huge factor also. I live in Oxford..my install is 40' up.

Of course you will have better performance if the installation is outside and and I strongly recommend going with a preamp CM7777 (channel Master) (you can get this at Stark).You could also try U-Do-It electronics in Newton.

Hope this helps.

Paul

Originally posted by steverobertson
Anyone have trouble with channel 5 last night I was only getting at 20-40 signal

Upper 80's in Bellingham

Originally posted by steverobertson
Anyone have trouble with channel 5 last night I was only getting at 20-40 signal No problem here either Steve. Make sure you get your antenna adjusted so you can watch the Hokies in HD in the Sugar Bowl!

Anyone having trouble with 4.1. I am getting audio drop outs.

Originally posted by elbig
Anyone having trouble with 4.1. I am getting audio drop outs.

no problems here

Originally posted by Benji
No problem here either Steve. Make sure you get your antenna adjusted so you can watch the Hokies in HD in the Sugar Bowl!

If the Hokies are in the Sugar Bowl then I don't need channel 5 !!!

I wanted to report back on my attempts to pull in the Fox affiliate down in Mass. Now that I have a day off I was able to climb into the attic and play with my bow-tie antenna. I was able to move it a bit and get a peak of 51. I also saw a picture from WFXT-DT but it is still far from watchable. So I have ordered a CM 4228 from Stark and I'll find out next week if that antenna has enough gain to pull in WFXT.

I also fixed my problem pulling in the Sat C HD channels on D* today as well. That $3 Radio Shack attenuator did the trick.

Woodworm.

You might do better if you mount it outside. Also, have you pre-amped the bowtie cm7777?

an an alternative to the roof mount. check out antennasdirect.com's "j mount'
http://www.antennasdirect.com/InstallationTip.htm


Paul

Hi Paul,

I am currently using an old Radio Shack bow-tie (originally $5 and some change) that is an indoor antenna. I do have a 10dB archer pre. This works really well and I get all of the DT stations very well, except for WFXT which seems to insist on broadcasting at low power. So, I'm hoping that by replacing my dinky antenna with a more serious antenna will make the difference. I would still have to option of getting a more powerful pre. I know that I'm loosing 50% by not having it outside, but because of the slope of my lot I would need to go up about 40' whether I use a mast or try to mount it to the chimney. That would be a last resort. Here's keeping my fingers crossed!

Dan

Woodworm...lucky you for getting away with all the digitals on the cheap.

I think..not sure though.... that Fox 25 is already at there full allocated power 78KW. I know that even for me anntenna position was more critical to get Fox before I finally added a rotor. It's not like ch4/5/2 where they can be recieved anywhere and blindfolded.

You can check on the FCC site to see if 25 is licenced yet. I believe Fox out of Providence already is (ch51).

Funny thing about this DTV..I am able to pickup stations at certain times/conditions from Poland Springs-ME ABC 8 and NBC 6 out of ME greater than 80mi ....though I have taken the expensive route with masts/amps/rotar at 40'

Paul

So it breaks down that I'm spending over $50 to get one channel! :eek:

But I'm sure you guys know how it is, if there is one more HD source I can get then, dammit, it's mine even if it kills me!

I'm sure I'll be adding a rotor before long.

Originally posted by PATS-SOX fan
The guys at stark have a big internet business..You pretty much need to know what you want if you call them as they are quite busy shipping orders. Though they have a very large selection of Pre-amps, amps, UHF splitters,antennas, connectors, cable etc.

The owner is a good guy.

If you are looking for antennas, they have a good selection from Antenna craft (good vhf), Channel Master and others. Another good source for antennas is antennas direct www.antennasdirect.com

They will let you evaluate and return if you are not happy. I would consider using the DB4 or DB8. I have a DB8 and are currently trying the XG91. The DB8 works absolutely great. It has a wide dispersion area and rated for 60mi. Though it is not VHF. If you want to pickup Springfield NBC Digital 11 and say Prov. WPRI 13, you will need VHF (7-13 anttenacraft..again at Stark will do well).

Otherwise using the DB4/8 or CM4228 pointed in the correct direction, you should be able to grab all of the Boston stations and maybe some of the Providence stations. Turn it East and you may pickup Springfield.....Terrain and Height will be a huge factor also. I live in Oxford..my install is 40' up.

Of course you will have better performance if the installation is outside and and I strongly recommend going with a preamp CM7777 (channel Master) (you can get this at Stark).You could also try U-Do-It electronics in Newton.

Hope this helps.

Do you think a preamp will help with the Square Shooter? The only channels I cannot lock onto during bad weather are Fox and UPN. I only have a 50' run of cable going to my antenna. I'm wondering if the preamp will even make a difference.

Paul

Blackngold19

I have no experience with the Square shooter. You can always try a preamp and return it or you can try a straight amp before going into the tuner (ASKA from Stark 16db I think is what I tried). For me they both seemd to do equally as well. I did not see any benefit to using both. I run 100' so a preamp helps me. It could be the difference between watchable and constant drop outs. I'd say the things to play with are, location, and get more height if you can or reposition to a more directline of sight. Also make sure you cable connections are tight & RG6 eliminate any splitters (a split will reduce your DB output by 1/2)

Its really lots of trial and error trust me.

paul

Originally posted by PATS-SOX fan
Blackngold19

I have no experience with the Square shooter. You can always try a preamp and return it or you can try a straight amp before going into the tuner (ASKA from Stark 16db I think is what I tried). For me they both seemd to do equally as well. I did not see any benefit to using both. I run 100' so a preamp helps me. It could be the difference between watchable and constant drop outs. I'd say the things to play with are, location, and get more height if you can or reposition to a more directline of sight. Also make sure you cable connections are tight & RG6 eliminate any splitters (a split will reduce your DB output by 1/2)

Its really lots of trial and error trust me.

paul

I was thinking of installing a cheap Phillips signal amp from Walmart to see if I could gain anything. I'm really happy with what I'm grabbing now with the Square Shooter, so I don't forsee more trial and error as far as placement goes. I already have 2 dishes and the Square Shooter on my bedroom terrace, so I'm as high as I want or can go without asking my landlord if I can put it on the roof. I don't think I can do much better at my distance from the antennas with the square shooter. I may play around some more with the skew setting to see if I can grab a better signal with FOX and UPN. Most people in here have mentioned the issue with FOX and the weak signal compared to the other stations so this may be something I have to live with. I hope the weather is nice on Superbowl Sunday. If you are traveling through Rochdale you might see my Satellites from the corners of Stafford and Pleasant. Thankfully, my landlord is a cool guy.

CBS - 80%
ABC - 75%
NBC - 70%
PBS - 70%
UPN - 60%
FOX - 60%

Blackngold...my folks live in Charlton on stafford. I convinced them finally to buy the walmart DTV tuner and get up an antenna. He can most of the Boston stations also get 11 out of Springfield (VHF). I dont think he can get 38 or 56 unless he goes higher.

Also..there is some law(FCC act) that prohibits landlords from disallowing you to put up an antenna. If its done right, he could grab a feed also.

Showing him hidef is believing. I personnally ditched cable and will not suscribe to any satallite.

I would personally drive down to stark and buy the ASKA for $34. Better quality.

Paul

Pats-Sox fan...the law you are referring to from the FCC permits satellite dishes and antennas in any complex so long as it is in an exclusive use space by the tenant and/or home owner. If it protrudes into a common area space, it is not within the intent of the law.

Benji... Thanks for the clarification. I was not sure exactly what exactly it consisted of. I had just seen something in passing.

Originally posted by PATS-SOX fan
Blackngold...my folks live in Charlton on stafford. I convinced them finally to buy the walmart DTV tuner and get up an antenna. He can most of the Boston stations also get 11 out of Springfield (VHF). I dont think he can get 38 or 56 unless he goes higher.

Also..there is some law(FCC act) that prohibits landlords from disallowing you to put up an antenna. If its done right, he could grab a feed also.

Showing him hidef is believing. I personnally ditched cable and will not suscribe to any satallite.

I would personally drive down to stark and buy the ASKA for $34. Better quality.

Paul

I believe two large pine trees about 100 feet away across the street really affect the signal strength for FOX, UPN, and NBC. I'm noticing the tree sway quite a bit during the heavy winds we are getting tonight. The signal strength for CBS, PBS, and ABC is strong enough to not be knocked out by the swaying trees. Unless of course the antennas are more than 1 degree off that antennaweb states they are 90-91 deg. I'm not sure if I can cleanly beat those trees even if I go higher and further back. I guess you can't be sure unless you try it. I like the fact that I'm only running 50' of cable, so I can't imagine there being any line loss. If I run 100' or so then a preamp may definitely be necessary. I'll continue to monitor my signal strengths over the weekend and keep you posted on any line of sight improvements. I might need to break the compass out.

Is UPN TV38 Supposed to be showing Star Trek Enterprise in Dolby digital 5.1? It was last year/season if I'm not mistaken.

Let me ask a real stupid question: I see a show like this advertised as "simulcast in HD." I have a full HDTV with bult in HD tuner. It should automatically pick that broadcast out as HD, right? But it doesn't. Is there some extra trick to this I don't know about?

I'm simply using cable and I have the coax cable going from the wall directly into the TV.

somebody has to broadcast it. And it will be on another channel. Over the air, the local UPN affiliate has two channels, one for standard, another for digital. They 'simulcast' on the two channels.

Has anyone experiencing audio sync and video dropouts with pixelation on 25-1, especially noticeable on the network feed. Bill holbrook are you out there. This does not to appear to be a lose of signal problem.

I will be getting my HD Tivo direct TV receiver installed today.

Can anyone tell me if Enterprise is broadcast in HD OTA in Boston on UPN38?

I thought it was but TitanTV does not list it as an HD show.

Thanks,

Maldini

Originally posted by Q of BanditZ
Let me ask a real stupid question: I see a show like this advertised as "simulcast in HD." I have a full HDTV with bult in HD tuner. It should automatically pick that broadcast out as HD, right? But it doesn't. Is there some extra trick to this I don't know about?

I'm simply using cable and I have the coax cable going from the wall directly into the TV.

Banditz,
You have to be able to receive the HD channel from either digital cable or over-the-air antenna (or satellite for other viewers). Otherwise, what weedeator said....simulcasting both non-HD and HD at the same time.

Keith

Originally posted by maldini
I will be getting my HD Tivo direct TV receiver installed today.

Can anyone tell me if Enterprise is broadcast in HD OTA in Boston on UPN38?

I thought it was but TitanTV does not list it as an HD show.

Thanks,

Maldini

Yes, Enterprise is broadcast in HD on WSBK-DT, note that this season it is actually being shot with HD video instead of 35mm film to save money. The scenes from Vulcan in the current episode arc look stunning in HD.

Smallville is also broadcast in HD on WLVI-DT.

Unfortunately Andromeda is NOT broadcast in HD when WLVI-DT broadcasts it (it lags the SciFi channel by at least one week, I think it is actually 2 weeks behind).

herb s.

I found channel 25 to be breaking up and having voice sync problems all day Sunday. The Steelers-Redskins game and Ice Age were unwatchable. This is also not the first time that I have seen this on Fox 25.
I checked the signal strength on my SIRT451 and it indicated that the signal strenght is not an issue. Others in the U.S. did not experience these problems, so I suspect that it is a local issue.

I get about a 70% signal strength on my DIRECTV Tivo receiver on WFXT, and I had no such problem during the Redskin-Steeler game. Could be multi-path problems where you live.

Originally posted by Q of BanditZ
Let me ask a real stupid question: I see a show like this advertised as "simulcast in HD." I have a full HDTV with bult in HD tuner. It should automatically pick that broadcast out as HD, right? But it doesn't. Is there some extra trick to this I don't know about?

I'm simply using cable and I have the coax cable going from the wall directly into the TV. What cable system do you have? If it is Comcast, you should be able to do a channel search and put the 'digital' channels into your TV tuner's memory. Every digital channel is a simulcast of an analog channel. The HD is only available on the digital channels.

Thanks for the feedback Benji. I am in Acton so I am a little bit surprised that I am having a problem. I saw no issues whatsoever with WFXT on my old Sony regular def. tube TV at the same time, coming off the same antenna using a splitter.

I believe WFXT-DT is still at low power because their frequency conflicts with something else (Canadian TV maybe).

WFXT (analog) and WFXT-DT are on different channels with different outputs. It is not unlikely that you receive one better than the other.

WooHoo!

My new CM 4228 in the attic is pulling in WFXT-DT! I do get blockage from time to time but it is a definite improvement 'cuz I never even got a picture before. So now maybe a little stronger pre-amp than my 10 dB Archer.

Oh, crap. I just checked and there is no picture. The signal has fallen from mid-50's to mid-teens.

Originally posted by D_Doherty
I believe WFXT-DT is still at low power because their frequency conflicts with something else (Canadian TV maybe).

WFXT (analog) and WFXT-DT are on different channels with different outputs. It is not unlikely that you receive one better than the other.

Well started with the Silver Sensor no Fox 31
Square Shooter outside during good weather 60%
DB4 coming this week hopefully this can kick FOX up into the 70 range..If I can get 70 I'll be satisified. Not much I can do beyond the DB4 footprint size - 29X16. Hopefully the extra gain over the Square Shooter make the difference.

FOX, UPN, and NBC all seem weaker than CBS, ABC, and PBS.

blackngold19

With your DB4, keep in mind you will have some good flexibility in orientating the antenna so you will have to play with it. Yes, Fox, WB are weaker than NBC,CBS,PBS......Paul

Originally posted by PATS-SOX fan
blackngold19

With your DB4, keep in mind you will have some good flexibility in orientating the antenna so you will have to play with it. Yes, Fox, WB are weaker than NBC,CBS,PBS......Paul

Well I'm assuming that I will aim it roughly where my Square Shooter is now and go from there. All antennas are between 90 - 92, so grabbing all signals doesn't appear to be the problem...I think more gain is the way to go. Why don't you swing on over and help me play around with the db4. My fridge is always fully stocked with beer. I wish I had a strength meter for the antenna as running up and down the stairs to check variations can be quite tiring. Who needs this exercise stuff anyway?

Thx for the replies.

Blackie

Blackie..try climbing up and down the ladder to the roof.


send me an e-mail when you are ready..see if I can spare a little time.



PL

Originally posted by PATS-SOX fan
Blackie..try climbing up and down the ladder to the roof.


send me an e-mail when you are ready..see if I can spare a little time.



PL

All my sat and antenna equipment is right out my bedroom window, so it's just easier to stay inside and go upstairs / downstairs. I'll email you when the DB4 arrives.

Take care,

Blackie

Originally posted by Hugh_DaMann
I found channel 25 to be breaking up and having voice sync problems all day Sunday....This is also not the first time that I have seen this on Fox 25.


I agree. My Panny TU-HDS20 is also doing this on FXT-DT right now. Video freezes ("hiccups") ever 2-3 seconds or so. I believe there is some local encoding or other issue which seems to only affect some boxes. This happened briefly right after the transition to 720p back in late August, but they were able to fix it shortly after people started noticing it. I don't have this issue with any other station, and WCVB-DT is also transmitting 720p so its not an issue with my receiver at this scan rate.

I realize my receiver is a dinosaur, and while at times the reception leaves something to be desired it does have the best PQ of any analog component based box I've seen to date, so I'm keeping it. I just hope there isn't some incompatibility with older units like mine which keeps this from being resolved once and for all.

Bill Holbrook - Can you try to fix this before the new season of "24" starts? Thanks!

Isn't it likely that Sunday's reception issues were more weather related than anything else? I have noticed that wind seems to havethe greatest impact and Sunday it was quite windy along with the rain. Once the wind settled down, my reception issues were gone.

Previous to the problems with 25-1, which started a couple of weeks ago never had a problem with 25-1 even when it operated on low power. The non-HD programing on it displays some weird audio problems, although there are no video breakups as with the HD network feeds. I am using a samsung 360 as my STB. Tried to watch Men in Black this weekend, it was unwatchable, just too many audio and video problems.

I get a 70% signal on both my HD Tivo and RCA DTC-100 with no video breakups on 25-1. I have seen no indication of a problem. I'm still thinking those of you with a problem might be suffering from multipath.

This is not a multipath nor any kind of reception issue.

Check posts around mid-September and you'll see talk by Bill H of issues with the local splicer they use to inject local programming without having to re-convert all the network feed stuff (for best PQ). They "fixed" some issues with this device then and I'm pretty sure this cured these same issues at that time. I bet they either rebooted or upgraded that thing and forgot to "re-fix" whatever the problem was.

Hopefully Bill signs on soon and sees these reports so he can address the issue and/or post a quick note about it.

I'm getting 65 plus on WFXT and have no drop out issues either. Before my last tweaking, I found that rain more than anything (even wind) affected my signal.

But haven't had any problems with WFXT since they went up on HD in mid September. I tend to agree that weather (rain or wind) could be a factor here. Just my $0.02.

Originally posted by sonofjay
I'm getting 65 plus on WFXT and have no drop out issues either. Before my last tweaking, I found that rain more than anything (even wind) affected my signal.

But haven't had any problems with WFXT since they went up on HD in mid September. I tend to agree that weather (rain or wind) could be a factor here. Just my $0.02.
I'm getting 65 + for WHDH lately anyway. Wind and or rain definitely make Fox and WHDH borderline locks. I think you need a SOLID 70+ to avoid normal rain / wind dropouts.

It's weird because WCVB, NBC, and PBS signal strength (75-80) on all appeared to not even budge during Sunday's rain/wind storm. I really think FOX, UPN, and NBC are the weakest of the bunch for some reason. DB4 or bust. I'll post the results of DB4 vs. Square Shooter soon.

Originally posted by Doug G
I agree. My Panny TU-HDS20 is also doing this on FXT-DT right now. Video freezes ("hiccups") ever 2-3 seconds or so. I believe there is some local encoding or other issue which seems to only affect some boxes. This happened briefly right after the transition to 720p back in late August, but they were able to fix it shortly after people started noticing it. I don't have this issue with any other station, and WCVB-DT is also transmitting 720p so its not an issue with my receiver at this scan rate.

I realize my receiver is a dinosaur, and while at times the reception leaves something to be desired it does have the best PQ of any analog component based box I've seen to date, so I'm keeping it. I just hope there isn't some incompatibility with older units like mine which keeps this from being resolved once and for all.

Bill Holbrook - Can you try to fix this before the new season of "24" starts? Thanks!

Well video and audio start to break up at around 60% signal strength, so it is highly likely that this is the problem you were having, especially on Sunday. I'd be interested to see if it is a problem with the antenna itself, or just a weak signal compared to ABC, CBS, and PBS. Let me know if your situation improves.

Originally posted by Benji
I get a 70% signal on both my HD Tivo and RCA DTC-100 with no video breakups on 25-1. I have seen no indication of a problem. I'm still thinking those of you with a problem might be suffering from multipath.
After reading the article on multipath at antennasdirect, I wouldn't be surprised at all if that were the case with the WFXT issue. It's just strange beacuse all of my antenna locations are between 90-92 degrees, so if I'm getting ABC, CBS, AND PBS in the mid 70's to low 80's then why would i get multipath issues only two degrees away. DO you think more raw gain and wider beam angle can overcome some multipath issues, especially in my case where I can lock on to FOX, but drops on when it rains, wind blows..etc...

This whole antenna issue is quite the crapshoot....

Tonight I received my highest signal strengths across the board. Can't figure out why the signals fluctuate the way they do.

PBS 2-02 78% Always solid

WBZ 4-01 81% Always solid

WCVB 5-01 78% Always solid (Best OTA HD Channel IMHO)

WHDH 7-01 70% Strange but it seems to have gotten stronger over the last few days. When I first picked it up it was on the 60% in /out area. My only gripe is that NBC doesn't show alot of HD like CBS and ABC.

WFXT 25-01 65% Still perplexing me. Was on the fringe of 60% when the Simpson's were on in regular digital format at 730PM. Flipped back to it when that Rebel Billionaire show was on and I had 65%.

WLVI 56-01 68% - Did a channel search at around 755PM and picked it up and watched it climb to 68% during Gilmore Girls around 820PM.

UPN 39-01 - Picked this up one day lst week in the low 60s when Veronica Mars was on. Since then it is lost in space. I mean the meter jumps in the 50% range. No lock at all.

My only guesses would be that:

a) Signal strength slightly increases and stabilizes during HD Programming hours.

b) Signal strength may vary + or - 5 due to normal cloud cover to clear skies.

c) Barometric pressure?

d) Possible wind movement or lack thereof. Calmness. No tree movement.

That's all I have for guesses. I must say it is fun monitoring and trying to tweak the OTA Channels.

Originally posted by Benji
I get a 70% signal on both my HD Tivo and RCA DTC-100 with no video breakups on 25-1. I have seen no indication of a problem. I'm still thinking those of you with a problem might be suffering from multipath.

Could that extra mile of distance between the UPN, FOX, and WLVI towers cause less signal strength vs the CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS tower????

I feel so alone after 5 straight posts here and no replies.....:) :)

Blackie,

add that inline amplifier, 16db. the calmness will be better than wind/rain
also sometimes, oddly ch7/2 will cutout. It may be due to air traffic out of Boston.

Also, the signals generally from Fox/WB/UPN are lower. More height or adjustment of antenna could help. Or you might try a 6db antenuator from RS. It could help you stablized UPN.

Paul

Originally posted by PATS-SOX fan
Blackie,

add that inline amplifier, 16db. the calmness will be better than wind/rain
also sometimes, oddly ch7/2 will cutout. It may be due to air traffic out of Boston.

Also, the signals generally from Fox/WB/UPN are lower. More height or adjustment of antenna could help. Or you might try a 6db antenuator from RS. It could help you stablized UPN.

Paul

I'm gonna try the DB4 first (More GAIN). After reading, I don't really feel like a pre-amp will help much at all. I only have a 50" straight run of RG6. I will read up on attenuators though. You should come check out my setup.

Blackie..I hear what you are saying...even though you are running 50' I tried both an inline amp vs a pre-amp using 75'. Using either or gave me an additional boost of equal stregnth. You can really only use one.

Reading about things is good...trial and error on ones own can also be advantageous. By the way..what do you have for an STB reciever?

If youd decide to do something before you get your DB4....I would try a stronger inline amp...not a preamp. The 'aska' at Stark works good.

At some point I will come see your setup. Maybe In the near future I could get an extra hand at raising my 55' ant setup for permant install. I am still working on putting all the pieces together.

PL

Originally posted by PATS-SOX fan
Blackie..I hear what you are saying...even though you are running 50' I tried both an inline amp vs a pre-amp using 75'. Using either or gave me an additional boost of equal stregnth. You can really only use one.

Reading about things is good...trial and error on ones own can also be advantageous. By the way..what do you have for an STB reciever?

If youd decide to do something before you get your DB4....I would try a stronger inline amp...not a preamp. The 'aska' at Stark works good.

At some point I will come see your setup. Maybe In the near future I could get an extra hand at raising my 55' ant setup for permant install. I am still working on putting all the pieces together.

PL

I have the DISH 811. Works good except for occasional freezups which require a reboot. I'll check on that ASKA inline amp you mentioned.

Just got off the phone with Stark Electronics. I'm going to try the Winegard DA04045 Distribution amp for 62.00. If I don't gain anything he said he'd take it back. I'll let you know later how I make out.

Wits end! I cannot get 4.1 without constant drop out. Sometime 38.1 is a problem. Signal strength goes up and down. Other HD OTA work fine. It has been fine until lately. I live in Wellesley so I am very close to Needham. I tried a inline 6db attenuator to no avail. I have a channel master 4228 in the attic with a rotor. Any suggestions????

elbig...I would tweek the rotation of your antenna a little. It may be possible interference from Air Traffic out of Boston?

Thanks but I have tried that with no apparent success.

Hello all. I've had HD for a few months now on a SIR-TS360 with a silver star and typically get 40-50% although the signal jumps a lot from 40 to 70 so I'm not sure what I'm exactly getting. Anyways, my wife is going crazy having to adjust the antenna all the time when it drops (does anyone have problems with Fox 25.1 when hd programs start with syncing? When I watch the OC the video is always 2 or 3 second behind I think due to bad reception). I'm in charlestown (north Boston), and I'm about 30 mile away from the towers. Should I opt for a blue level outdoor antenna? Thanks

Originally posted by blackngold19
I have the DISH 811. Works good except for occasional freezups which require a reboot. I'll check on that ASKA inline amp you mentioned.

Just got off the phone with Stark Electronics. I'm going to try the Winegard DA04045 Distribution amp for 62.00. If I don't gain anything he said he'd take it back. I'll let you know later how I make out.

I just finished watching FOX for the last 30 mins with a SOLID 72-76 signal range, and this is one of the windiest nights I can remember in some time. What did the trick was moving the antenna over and to the left about 3 ft. It must have beat out some multi-path issues by moving it. Also, the Winegard amp gave me +5 across the board for all channels. Nice to see Fox solid. I even picked up some more stations that wouldn't come in before.

2-01 80%
2-02 80%
4-01 85%
5-01 85%
5-02 85%
7-01 UP to 80% (Might be some multi-path for NBC, still drops out every few minutes.

25-01 75% SOLID
38-01 49 - 63%
44-01 49-76%
44-02 75%
44-03 80%
44-04 75%
56-01 68-72% SEEMS LIKE I LOST SOUND TODAY
56-02 68-72 My audio receiver is recognizing DTS - No sound though
68 -1,2,3,4 all around 60

Thanks for the help all. Won't reach perfection but this is pretty close.

Originally posted by elbig
Wits end! I cannot get 4.1 without constant drop out. Sometime 38.1 is a problem. Signal strength goes up and down. Other HD OTA work fine. It has been fine until lately. I live in Wellesley so I am very close to Needham. I tried a inline 6db attenuator to no avail. I have a channel master 4228 in the attic with a rotor. Any suggestions????
Being in the attic is definitely causing some multipath issues.

Originally posted by psy44
I'm in charlestown (north Boston), and I'm about 30 mile away from the towers. Should I opt for a blue level outdoor antenna? Thanks

Needham is only 7-8 miles from Boston, unless I'm misunderstanding your location...

Originally posted by herb s.
Previous to the problems with 25-1, which started a couple of weeks ago never had a problem with 25-1 even when it operated on low power. The non-HD programing on it displays some weird audio problems, although there are no video breakups as with the HD network feeds. I am using a samsung 360 as my STB. Tried to watch Men in Black this weekend, it was unwatchable, just too many audio and video problems.

Its probably multi-path. The leaves on the trees may have been blocking a reflection, or you were aimed at a reflection and now the LOS (line-of-sight) has improved such that the primary signal is overloaded the reflected one.

For those with antenna's in the attic, I really recommend you put them on the roof (ungrounded so they don't attract lightning!). At my old place, the 4228 on the roof had no problems, but the one in the attic couldn't get a good lock on CBS4, which is one of the stronger signals.

I too suspect multi-path. The only variable that has changed is the leaves. I assume that now they are gone I am getting multipath. I was hoping the attenuator would have helped. I cannot get an external antenna to pass the WAF test. I was lucky to get the D* dish. I guess I can switch to Comcast HD.

Hi I was wondering of someone could help me.

I get a strong 90+ signal on all local channels.

However, the 7-1 channel (WHDH) also has a 90+ strength but for the last day or so is consistently losing lock.

What could I be doing wrong? The antenna is having no problems with ABC/CBS/Fox/UPN/Pax losing lock but 7-1 is basically unwatchable.

I did not notice this problem before yesterday.

I live roughly 12 miles from Needham, which I think accounts for the very strong signal strength but I can't figure out why I am dropping. There are no leaves and the wind is as calm as can be today. I am hesistant to play with the antenna itself since I am getting such good strength on so many channels.

Can anyone confirm for me if there 7-1 is solid for them?

Maldini

Could the high wind last night affect the signal?

Elbig...wind absolutely will have some sort of an affect.

Paul

Maldini...I know you don't want to..but I would suggest just tweeking the antenna slightly. Since your signals are strong...I doubt that adjusting it a few degrees would matter with your other signals.

I have had ch 7 drop for me also.. Even on a nice cold calm nite. Just adusting the aim slightly...brought it right back.

Paul

Could the high wind last night affect the signal?

There is no wind right now and I am watching it drop continuously from the 90's to 0.

know you don't want to..but I would suggest just tweeking the antenna slightly. Since your signals are strong...I doubt that adjusting it a few degrees would matter with your other signals.

Ok thank you for the suggestion. I will give that a shot.

Andy

Originally posted by maldini
There is no wind right now and I am watching it drop continuously from the 90's to 0.



Ok thank you for the suggestion. I will give that a shot.

Andy If it is consistently dropping from 90 to 0, that definately sounds like a multipath problem. I occassionally have that problem but have an indoor antenna and that makes it easier to adjust. Still there are times when no ammount of adjusting will work. Then at some later time, the problem is cleared up on its own.

I just have to mention one more time what a freakin' disgrace WGBH-DT is.

They even acknowledge here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=476849) how lame their HD signal is because of multicasting, and use it as an excuse for not offering more programming.

This comes from the flagship of PBS channels, the one that probably funds more HD programming than any other.

Withhold your money until they clean up their mess!

Originally posted by DaveFi
I just have to mention one more time what a freakin' disgrace WGBH-DT is.

They even acknowledge here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=476849) how lame their HD signal is because of multicasting, and use it as an excuse for not offering more programming.

This comes from the flagship of PBS channels, the one that probably funds more HD programming than any other.

Withhold your money until they clean up their mess!

I hear a lot of people complain about it, but are you sure you are actually watching HD programming? They have some shows that are just WS, and I also don't think all of their HD material is from a high quality source (grainy film sometimes).

If anyone knows of a show that will appear on Discovery HD or HDnet and WGBH, I will see if I can make a DVHS recording to see just how much difference there is... Actually I suppose just flipping from WENH-DT to WGBH-DT should give some indication...

Yes, I know the difference between SD and HD, but no matter, even their SD stuff pixellates/macroblocks. The Great Performances concert w/Eric Clapton (HD) was macroblocking all over the place.

Originally posted by DaveFi
Yes, I know the difference between SD and HD, but no matter, even their SD stuff pixellates/macroblocks. The Great Performances concert w/Eric Clapton (HD) was macroblocking all over the place.


I get a perfect picture, with little or no pixellation.
I have a CM 4228 on my roof with a rotator.

So do I..using DB8 on the roof..very strong stations. I don't mind the multi channels. Personally..I don't believe stations will change their formats until the analogs go down and they are forced to go all HD.

Originally posted by mbtobe
I get a perfect picture, with little or no pixellation.
I have a CM 4228 on my roof with a rotator. Then you're the only one.

It's not a matter of reception, it's a matter of multicasting.

Dave...sorry to dispute your last post but I never have a pixellation/macroblocking problem with channel 2, either on my built-in tuner (WD62725), HD Tivo or F38310. I use an indoor antenna with an 80% signal.

Originally posted by Benji
Dave...sorry to dispute your last post but I never have a pixellation/macroblocking problem with channel 2, either on my built-in tuner (WD62725), HD Tivo or F38310. I use an indoor antenna with an 80% signal.

Two different things are being discussed here:

1) Actual reception quality, which is where pixellation, macroblocking, multipath, rain, wind, etc. come into play.

2) Multicasting multiple channels into the signal, which reduces the bandwidth available for HD content, resulting in a lower quality HD picture when compared to other channels.

Originally posted by gsr
Two different things are being discussed here:

1) Actual reception quality, which is where pixellation, macroblocking, multipath, rain, wind, etc. come into play.

2) Multicasting multiple channels into the signal, which reduces the bandwidth available for HD content, resulting in a lower quality HD picture when compared to other channels. I would tend to agree with this.

Originally posted by elbig
Could the high wind last night affect the signal?

Elbig,

I live in West Newton about 3.5 miles from the towers -- probably not too far from your location in Wellesley -- and had no drops at all during the recent windstorm. I've had perfect reception across the board since I moved my antenna (an unamplified unattenuated SquareShooter) from inside the attic to the roofline outside. I tried it outside at head level first with inconsistent results, but as soon as I moved it up off the ground (maybe 15' or so), I found that it hardly even matters where I point it: all the local signals are clear and strong.

Originally posted by DaveFi
Then you're the only one.

It's not a matter of reception, it's a matter of multicasting.

ABSOLUTELY, what a difference when watching it OTA and FTA on the original feeds over satellite...More of us need to complain to stations that use subchannels and tell them that thier picture quality SUXS!

Jim

My sister was getting DiredtTV installed today, and I went over to make sure the guys didn't mess up the house toomuch so that I would have to fix the leaks, such as crews into a rubber roof etc. While talking with the guy, he asked if I had the same dish. I said no, I get HD OTA, and when DirectTV offers more HD then I would think about it,not worth the $11 month for me. He looked at me with this look of disbelief. I said I get all the Boston channels, as well as what is up from Providence, RI. He insisted that I wasn't getting HD. "Just cause you have a HD tv doesn't mean you are getting HD". I told him to come and see it. In 5.1 and 1080i or 720p. Still doesn't believe me. Then he says "Some people think they can just put up rabbit ears and get HD". Well, with a tuner that might be possible:D with the right antennae and equipment. Anyway, he is coming back Saturday to do her install. I am sure he and his buddy were saying how I don't know what I am talking about while they were driving home. That's OK because I went home and was watching my free OTA HD primetime stuff before I fell asleep! :D

Quick question. This will be my first winter with OTA HD. How much should I expect to have our lovely No'restern affect my signal? I am using a roof antennae with a rotor. Located in SE Mass about 40 miles as the crow flies from Boston. Right now I get everything pretty regularly except for 56 and 38. No great loss unless they are covering Sox in HD on Friday nights? What do you think?

Originally posted by Pablopsd
Quick question. This will be my first winter with OTA HD. How much should I expect to have our lovely No'restern affect my signal? I am using a roof antennae with a rotor. Located in SE Mass about 40 miles as the crow flies from Boston. Right now I get everything pretty regularly except for 56 and 38. No great loss unless they are covering Sox in HD on Friday nights? What do you think? If you have an outdoor antenna, snow or ice on it would affect the signal and if you have any evergreens in the line of sight, strong winds could affect it. Other than that you're golden.

Originally posted by DaveFi
Then you're the only one.

It's not a matter of reception, it's a matter of multicasting.

I dont think I am the only one. But the orig post did indicate he was getting his signal via cable. With a finely tweeked antenna, I get a picture with no breakups at all. I am not referring to the picture quality, but rather the pixellation breakup issue.

Anyone notice that Perfect storm was was not in HD on 7-1 but WAS on 10-1, what up with that? I think 10-1 is RI.

Originally posted by marty1
Anyone notice that Perfect storm was was not in HD on 7-1 but WAS on 10-1, what up with that? I think 10-1 is RI. Not sure if that was HD or widescreeen 480i. It was widescreen on New York's WNBC (via DIRECTV) also. But usually all HD programming on WNBC is Dolby 5.1. This was not. In any case, someone at WHDH probably forgot to flip the old switch. Sometimes when Nascar is on NBC on the weekends, WNBC is wiescreen, WHDH isn't. But that is clearly 480i as well.

tvh3ad:

Yeah I guess I'll have to consider moving the attic antenna to outside but I don't think the ole lady will like it one bit. Funny thing is it has been working fine. I think the leaves gone from the trees may have an affect since that is about the only thing that has changed. Could it be seasonal atmospheric effect - if there is such a thing?

RYankowitz,
Seems like 38.1 has had static in the audio all day, seems like a problem here. Anyone else?

Thanks

Originally posted by vfrjim
RYankowitz,
Seems like 38.1 has had static in the audio all day, seems like a problem here. Anyone else?

Thanks

I was out of the office all day. I do hear it at home. I'll make sure it's checked into first thing tomorrow. Thanks for the head's up.

Originally posted by HDorBust
For those with antenna's in the attic, I really recommend you put them on the roof (ungrounded so they don't attract lightning!).
HDorBust,

I've got to take strong exception to this advice. You run a serious risk of damage to life and property when you have a coax cable running up to the antenna, without the antenna and mast properly and separately grounded.

Lightning, having made a several thousand-foot jump to the antenna, will not be discouraged by the balun between the antenna and the coax cable. Without a ground from the antenna leading directly to earth (around the outside of the building/house), all of the lightning's energy will be conducted into the house, where it will continue to try to find a way to earth, most likely through your megabucks HDTV system. If you're lucky, that's the best that will happen (a fire of course is the worst).

The idea is not to fight lightning (you'll always lose), but to take it by the hand and lead it away from you and your house.

Go here: http://members.aol.com/starkelect/cmig8.htm for a discussion of proper grounding procedures, which happens to be on our favorite antenna dealer's (Stark Electronics) website.

Originally posted by RYankowitz
I was out of the office all day. I do hear it at home. I'll make sure it's checked into first thing tomorrow. Thanks for the head's up.

Thanks Robert, my mother watches 38.1 for 3 to 4 hours aday :) and I am the one that hears about it when something isn't right :D

Jim

Originally posted by RYankowitz
HDorBust,

I've got to take strong exception to this advice. You run a serious risk of damage to life and property when you have a coax cable running up to the antenna, without the antenna and mast properly and separately grounded.

Lightning, having made a several thousand-foot jump to the antenna, will not be discouraged by the balun between the antenna and the coax cable. Without a ground from the antenna leading directly to earth (around the outside of the building/house), all of the lightning's energy will be conducted into the house, where it will continue to try to find a way to earth, most likely through your megabucks HDTV system. If you're lucky, that's the best that will happen (a fire of course is the worst).

The idea is not to fight lightning (you'll always lose), but to take it by the hand and lead it away from you and your house.

Go here: http://members.aol.com/starkelect/cmig8.htm for a discussion of proper grounding procedures, which happens to be on our favorite antenna dealer's (Stark Electronics) website.

If I were installing someone else's antenna, I would ground it to cover my ass (and the National Code). But I won't ground my own. Someone who has been in the business for a long time explained that they learned early on that by grounding it , the antenna becomes a lightning rod.

My father and I used to install an occasional antenna when I was still in high school back in the early seventies, and he always grounded them. I remember reinstalling an antenna after one of them was struck by lightning. If I remember correctly, the lightning still took out the TV, the rotor controller and a few other items, so I don't think the antenna ground did much to prevent lightning from coming into the house.

Since the National Code was written, a lot has been learned about lightning. In particular they now know that it uses a charged streamer coming up from the earth to complete the circuit to allow the lightning to strike the ground. My suspicion based on this (and the practical knowledge from someone who installs them ungrounded has never had one struct by lightning) is that this charged streamer won't initiate from inside the house on the coax.

At my previous location, I had my CM 4228 mounted on a 20 foot mast with guy wires, all ungrounded for ~2 years. That particular location was subject to some pretty extreme lightning and neither the antenna nor house was ever struck by lighting.

So my philosphy is simple, don't give lightning a conduit where one didn't exist before. For wooden dwellings with the antenna on the roof, not grounding the antenna seems safest to me. I figure a grounded antenna will do little to prevent damage from a direct strike, so why encourage the direct strike in the first place. My new location is also in an area of extreme lightning, so time will tell...

If I was more concerned, I would probably put up separate lightning rods (and I still might do that). I may get burned by my own philosophy, time will tell.

FYI, the National Weather Service has a web-site devoted to lightning safety. I haven't found any discussions of TV antennas, but it has some good facts about lightning and how to be safe when lightning is in the area.

http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/

This URL discusses the known science of lightning:

http://www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov/science.htm

One more that discusses changes in the Code:

http://www.lightningsafety.com/nlsi_info/CodeReview2002.html

Note the following from the above URL:

2.5 Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Recommended Practice for Grounding of Industrial and Commercial Power Systems, IEEE Std 142-1991. IEEE-142 contains useful information for the lightning protection engineer..."Lightning cannot be prevented; it can only be intercepted or diverted to a path that will, if well designed and constructed, not result in damage...The fundamental theory of lightning protection of structures is to provide means by which a discharge may enter and leave the earth without passing through paths of high resistance...It should be noted that the use of air terminals on a building or structure may increase the frequency of lightning strokes at that specific location. Although the building may be protected by a properly installed lightning protection system, the increased stroke frequency may have a detrimental effect on processes or operations within the building."

Now that we have electrocution covered does anyone have issues with 25.1 when it is a HD program. I get delays and skips with an HD program, but once it goes to commercial and it is SD, I have no issues.

Anyone else?

greenelucky,

What receiver are you using? I am using a SIR-T451 and certainly have a problem with 25.1 but others here do not seem to. I do not believe that my problem is due to reception since the signal strength is fine.
I frequenctly see pixelation and have voice not synced with video, and most bizarrely, I will have what appears to be slow motion in real time. In the middle of a football play, everyone will suddenly slow down. Video will suddenly catch up after dropping a short period of time. Pretty wierd, eh?

Anyone else see this kind of behavior?

Originally posted by greenelucky
Now that we have electrocution covered does anyone have issues with 25.1 when it is a HD program. I get delays and skips with an HD program, but once it goes to commercial and it is SD, I have no issues.

Anyone else?
I've previously posted this problem, same thing happens to me only when watching the network feed on 25.1, I see it with commercials as well. Using a samsung 360.

Originally posted by herb s.
I've previously posted this problem, same thing happens to me only when watching the network feed on 25.1, I see it with commercials as well. Using a samsung 360.


I have a Samsung 360 as well.

Is there anyone with a Samsung receiver who does not experience these issues with 25.1?

Originally posted by vfrjim
Seems like 38.1 has had static in the audio all day, seems like a problem here. Anyone else?

Thanks

I've noticed this as well. Been a couple days like this.

Originally posted by Hugh_DaMann
Is there anyone with a Samsung receiver who does not experience these issues with 25.1?

My Panny TU-HDS20 (and a co-worker's) are both doing this as well. See my prior post a few pages back. Bottom line is this issue had been fixed and was a splicer configuration issue but has reappeared for some reason.

Bill Holbrook is nowhere to be found. I sent email to FOX25 asking them to pass it along to their Chief Engineer (noted as Steve Harrington on the "inside Fox25" page) and included all the relevent technical details as well as a link to this thread.

If I thought it was something I could explain in 30 seconds, I'd call the Engineering dept, but I doubt this would be the case.

Oh well, hopefully my note gets to someone who can do something. Hope we can get this addressed before the new season of "24" starts :(

Doug G,

Thanks for the info. I will send Fox 25 a note also. Perhaps if several of us bring up the issue they will take notice.

Hugh - No response as of yet from FOX25 so I'm doubtful my comments will reach the intended audience. I think sending another email would be good and reinforce that there's a problem. I used the "news" contact form on the web site and just lead off with a note to please forward it to the engineering dept, specifically Steve Harrington.

If nothing happens in a week or so I'll probably have to put in a call to the Engineering guys.

Doug - I sent FOX 25 an email last night, also requesting that they forward it to the appropriate department. If you find a good point of contact, please post it and we can continue to assist them in maintaining their service.

Originally posted by RYankowitz
I was out of the office all day. I do hear it at home. I'll make sure it's checked into first thing tomorrow. Thanks for the head's up.

My recording of Entreprise was missing audio for a significant part of the beginning. It appears that whoever was trying to fix it eventually switched from HD => SD mode, the audio came back, but as of yesterday I was still hearing the static.

Anyone notice a decrease in signal strength of about -3 across the board after the freezing rain storm from last week? Most stations dropped and havent came back up since. I'm wondering if this is just normal.

Tonight I've been having problems pulling in ch 4 and 38.

Originally posted by Mark0
Tonight I've been having problems pulling in ch 4 and 38.

No problems here. Watched Judging Amy on ch 4. Very strong signal (90+), no breakups at all.

If you have a roof-top antenna, you may have an icing problem causing the decreased signal strength. I have a set-top antenna and have lost no strength at all on any Boston stations.

Originally posted by Benji
If you have a roof-top antenna, you may have an icing problem causing the decreased signal strength. I have a set-top antenna and have lost no strength at all on any Boston stations.

Seems like all stations are back to where they were before the ice storm.. There was no ice build up after the next day..it melted. Also WLVI and WSBK each are taking turns in going from mid 60's to 70's from day to day.

Originally posted by Hugh_DaMann
Doug - I sent FOX 25 an email last night, also requesting that they forward it to the appropriate department. If you find a good point of contact, please post it and we can continue to assist them in maintaining their service.

Has anyone heard back from FOX 25 about this issue?

Anyone have a problem with NBC last night (wwensday 12/15/04) I kept getting odd pictures, not pixellation, more like zigzag green/yellow patterns acros the screen

Signal strength was oK, and the other channels last night came in with out a problem. Can a signal be too strong? The problem showed up on both a Sir-t351 and a myhd-100

So the NBC problem wasn't just Comcast? I mean, people had that problem OTA as well?

I saw that OTA too.
Last night and the night before.
It goes away during the commercials.

I gave up on getting my OTA to work without multi-path (channel 4.1 was cantankerous) so I called Comcast yesterday to order HD with the dual tuner HD DVR. They installed it today! As expected SD sux but HD looks fine. I now get HD local channels and have HD PVR for a lot less than $1000. I didn't want to do this but I did and it seems to be working.

Originally posted by greenelucky
Now that we have electrocution covered does anyone have issues with 25.1 when it is a HD program. I get delays and skips with an HD program, but once it goes to commercial and it is SD, I have no issues.

Anyone else?

I am still having this problem. It happened yesterday during the 4pm game.

Anyone else?

Haven't had any problems with 25-1 since the early summer time.

greenelucky,

I still have the problem also. I sent an email to FOX25, but received no response. Doug G, are you still out there? Did you hear anything from FOX25?

Hugh/greenelucky -

Not even so much as a form letter "Thank You" from FOX25. The problem is still there, and its definitely much worse on national feed programming. I see it on local feed stuff, but to a much lesser degree.

I'm planning to call them this week probably. Something happened on their end in the last several weeks. I watched the ENTIRE ALCS and World Series (which was after the 720p cutover) and never saw anything like this. The premiere of "24" starts on Jan 9th, so that's my target to get them to fix it.

I pulled my "new" Panny TU-DST52 out of mothballs (bottom line is PQ sucks and I've been to lazy to sell it, so it just sits around in the box) and interestingly noted that this unit DID NOT exhibit the same problem. This proves it is NOT a reception/multipath issue. Also, if you notice there are NEVER any dropouts in the audio stream, its only the video that pauses. My bet is there's some MPEG format or framing issue which the older decoder chokes on. But before anyone jumps up to say its my equipment, I have no issues like this with WCVB-DT and they also transmit 720p. Once again FOX is the only station out there to have technical issues they can't seem to detect and get worked out. And the worst part is its like they have their heads in the sand!!

I'll try to call some morning this week before I leave for work and post an update when I have one. Keep your fingers crossed.... ;)

Doug G,

My experience matches yours exactly. I had no problems during the ALCS or World Series, but it is horrendous now. I also have no problems with any of the other local stations. This is unique to Fox 25.1 as far as I can tell.

Good luck on reaching someone at Fox25. Let us know if we can be of assistance.

Doug G/Hugh,


My issues are exactly the same as well. Lets hope FOX wakes up.

The football game on FOX seemed fine for me yesterday at about 80% signal strength. Although I must say i do expect some pixellation every 5-10 minutes when watching OTA stations. I don't expect perfection with all of the variables and elements that are between my antenna and the towers. I must say though that it is snowing like crazy right now, my bottom elements are half buried in snow and i can still watch all my stations at 35 miles. I have no room to complain. :)

Hate to keep beating a dead horse, but I honestly have had no problems with 25-1 for at least 6 months now. I have the HD Tivo as well as a DTC-100 and am using an indoor antenna that is aimed to the SE. I live in an apartment building on the bottom floor. If I aim the antenna to the NW, I get a barely useable signal. I know the antenna is faced SE because I have a DIRECTV satellite dish in doors as well right next to the antenna aimed SSW.

I have had no problems with 25-1 since mid September when they finished working on their new equipment. Due to some significant multipath issues, my strongest signal is pointing west! I get a solid 71-75 on my HR10-250.

I have had severe multipath problems since the leaves came down I can't wait for D* to launch their new birds so we can get local HD channels which I hope includes NESN

Sorry I haven't posted or really checked here in a while but we have been busy with other things. I'm not sure all of the issues but I think I can address somethings. We have occasionally been experiencing issues with delayed audio pixelation and general weirdness mostly we believe coming from the splicer. We have done some minor configuration changes from the design we were given that we have shown to resolve the problems we have seen here. Also some of these issues only showed up on our Harris receiver at the transmitter site. However we have not seen any of these issues in a couple of weeks. Also it happened on local as well as network . If it is continuing, noone here has seen it to report it to me. A few more specifics would help for us to diagnose. I will check back for any other info.

Bill Holbrook
Chief Engineer WFXT

Originally posted by Benji
Hate to keep beating a dead horse, but I honestly have had no problems with 25-1 for at least 6 months now.

Benji - I believe you!

As I said, my other newer box exhibited no issues at all tuning 25-1. Its likely that something has just changed with their MPEG stream which only affects certain receivers.

I just hope its not something they consciously did and won't be willing to undo. But since they are the only station I'm receiving with this problem I'm hopeful this isn't the case.

Originally posted by steverobertson
I have had severe multipath problems since the leaves came down I can't wait for D* to launch their new birds so we can get local HD channels which I hope includes NESN

You and me both. My locals OTA are fine. I would love NESN.

Using two separate receivers (both Panasonic) I see the following anomolies. Does anyone else see these or any different issues? Please note which STB you have.

Using Panasonic TU-HDS20 (V8.10) and TU-DST52:

1) I don't receive any PSIP or guide data from any station

2) WGBH-DT: Maps a sub-channel 2-101 "UpdatTV" with no programming

3) WLVI-DT: Mapped as 41-4, 56-1, and 56-2. 56-2 has no sound.

4) WGBX-DT: Sub-channel 44-4 (PBS Kids) suffers from video freezes. On my TU-HDS20 this doesn't display video, but does have sound. Video will appear if I change to another non 44-x SD channel (like 2-1) and then directly key in 44-4. Weird.

5) WFXT-DT: Suffers from severe video freezes during national feed programming. These are less severe but still present in local feed programming. Audio is unaffected. This problem was not exhibited on the TU-DST52 which is a newer unit than the HDS20. It also happened for a short time following the 720p cutover in late Aug, was fixed thereafter during Sept/Oct, then reappeared sometime in mid-Nov.

6) WSBK-DT: Recently had static sound issues, but I think these may have been resolved since I didn't notice them in the last few days.

Bill Holbrook,

Thank you for checking in. I am using a Samsung SIR-T451 receiver and experience severe video problems on 25.1 During this past weekend's football games, the video stream froze, broke down into large pixels and occasionally appeared to be in slow motion. Due to these delays, the audio is out of sync with the video, but I do not hear interruptions in the audio stream. This also occurs during prime time shows. We have pretty much abandoned watching anything on Fox 25 due to this.

None of these problems existed when we were watching the ALCS and World Series games, so something has apparently changed since then. I do not believe that I have changed anything in my configuration. This past weekend I tried changing resolution and switching from component video connections to DVI, but neither of these changes affected the errors that I am seeing.

My receiver indicates that I have plenty of signal strength and I do not see these errors on any other station in the Boston area. If there is anything that I can try to assist in debugging this problem, I will be glad to do it.

Joe
Acton, MA

Originally posted by BHolbrook
A few more specifics would help for us to diagnose. I will check back for any other info.

Bill Holbrook
Chief Engineer WFXT

Hello Bill!! Boy, am I glad to see you're back!!

Several of us are experiencing what can best be described as momentary "freezes" during programming on 25-1 over the last several weeks. They occur in general about once every two seconds, last for some fraction of a second, and appear almost like dropped video frames in the MPEG stream. These are most obvious during national feed programming (like the NFL yesterday.) They are also present during local feed programming, but to a lesser degree. The frequency of these freezes appears to be related to the programming content. When there is more motion content, the freezes are more frequent, when there is less motion, they are less frequent. The audio seems unaffected, I can't hear or detect any dropouts of any kind.

This problem also existed immediately after the cutover to 720p back in late Aug, but was quickly addressed and I never saw it during the entire months of September and October during the ALCS and WS coverage. I can't say exactly when it started up again, but I want to say sometime in mid-Nov since I believe the Thanksgiving day NFL game was exhibiting these symptoms.

As far as I can tell, some Panasonic (TU-HDS20) and Samsung (SIR-T360) receivers are affected by this issue. Both are DirecTV/OTA units, not sure if this relevent or not.

If you need any more specifics, let me know and I'll do my best to provide them.

Originally posted by Doug G
Using two separate receivers (both Panasonic) I see the following anomolies. Does anyone else see these or any different issues? Please note which STB you have.

Using Panasonic TU-HDS20 (V8.10) and TU-DST52:

6) WSBK-DT: Recently had static sound issues, but I think these may have been resolved since I didn't notice them in the last few days.

Doug,

This problem was at our end, and was corrected by us. It was caused by a problem with a circuit board in our Master Control switcher. It is an intermittent problem (very intermittent), and may return. We are pursuing it with the manufacturer.

[QUOTE]

5) WFXT-DT: Suffers from severe video freezes during national feed programming. These are less severe but still present in local feed programming. Audio is unaffected. This problem was not exhibited on the TU-DST52 which is a newer unit than the HDS20. It also happened for a short time following the 720p cutover in late Aug, was fixed thereafter during Sept/Oct, then reappeared sometime in mid-Nov.
QUOTE]

Bill,

I have this issue and I have a Samsung TS360. I have the same exact issues.

2) WGBH-DT: Maps a sub-channel 2-101 "UpdatTV" with no programming
2-101 is a data feed. Unless your receiver can capture data, it shouldn't be putting in in the channel lineup. You could complain to Panasonic - best bet it is a oversight on their part.

_Paul

steverobertson: I , too, was experiencing severe multi-path problems after the leaves fell. I finally gave up and went to comcast hd. I now get local HD just fine. I know d* will eventually get there and probably surpass cable but I couldn't wait any longer. Of course, the ana;og channels really suck. I look forward to their switching to all digital in the future.

Originally posted by elbig
steverobertson: I , too, was experiencing severe multi-path problems after the leaves fell. I finally gave up and went to comcast hd. I now get local HD just fine. I know d* will eventually get there and probably surpass cable but I couldn't wait any longer. Of course, the ana;og channels really suck. I look forward to their switching to all digital in the future.

I would never go back to cable I have way to much invested in D* right now but for others I guess that is an option and like you said the SD channels suck. I can hang in there for a few more months until D* offers the HD channels as I now have CBS, NBC, and Fox network HD feeds. Like I said yesterday I hope NESN is part of the HD local package

has WHDH-DT 7.1 disappeared OTA for anyone else ?
it seems fine on adelphia cable 707, but my HD recorder is OTA only...
one of these days i'll swap the cable box for the new one with the hd-pvr....

i haven't noticed anything unusual about 25.1 lately;
its reception here in southern NH is always very
dependent on weather conditions & season.

nope.. very strong here right now.

Dang, did we scare Bill away already?

7.1/whdh-dt is ok here tonight via the antenna. it
must have been weather conditions that eliminated it for me last night
& other recent nights. ..
signal strength was 10%, as if there were nothing but noise.

Anyone using a Samsung 360, how is your reception on the Fox National feed channel 88, a number of people in hardware thread report problems with video and audio, similar to those reported on this thread. I can't check it our myself as my PJ is in for some repair work.

Need Help with WPBX-DT

I'm located on Long Island, NY
and I decided to SCAN for DTV Signals
and tonight I locked WBPX (32) , WHDH (42)
and WPRI (13)... (I guess there is some conditions)

Anyway, I seem to have a problem with WPBX-DT,
The video is screwed up, all I see is the 1st 1/4
of the video. I had this problem with WWOR NY
one time, but it went away ( I assume WWOR fixed it )

also how many SUBChannels does WPBX-DT have,
and what is on them ? I relaly cant tell..

Thanks !

Originally posted by herb s.
Anyone using a Samsung 360, how is your reception on the Fox National feed channel 88, a number of people in hardware thread report problems with video and audio, similar to those reported on this thread. I can't check it our myself as my PJ is in for some repair work.

I had it on very briefly last night and saw no A/V issues.

Re: WPBX,

The 4 substations are

68-1 WPBX-DT
68-2 PAX-West
68-3 Worship
68.4 Faith

Originally posted by herb s.
Anyone using a Samsung 360, how is your reception on the Fox National feed channel 88, a number of people in hardware thread report problems with video and audio, similar to those reported on this thread. I can't check it our myself as my PJ is in for some repair work.

I have a 360 and had these issues with OTA and channel 88.

Originally posted by greenelucky
I have a 360 and had these issues with OTA and channel 88.

From what I have read on this thread and the hardware thread, the problem appears to be a combination of the Samsung 360 and the Fox HD feed, people with other STB's do not appear to have this problem. The $64000 question is who do we file complaints with: Fox, D*, and or Samsung.

Could someone help me? I was going through all my recordings for the World Series(to edit out commercials) and I found out that I deleted the begining of Game 4, just from the start of the game to the begining of the Bottom of the first. If someone could be so kind to burn that small amount on a Cdrom, I would REALLY appreciate it. I would pay them for the postage/blank CD , time, etc. Please PM me if you could help me. Any format in transport stream would be fine (.ts/tp) would be fine.

Thanks!!

Jim

Anyone else not seeing the Pats in HD right now????

Maldini

LOL, one second after my post they finally switched the feed over to HD :)

Originally posted by maldini
Anyone else not seeing the Pats in HD right now????

Maldini

Probably due to the earlier Colts-Chargers game going into overtime.
The couple of sound glitches heard in the beginning was probably the control room folks trying the HD satellite feed, realizing the earlier game wasn't over, then falling back to the upverted SD feed.

I'm generally not a critical person, but it bothers me how often WBZ fails to "flip the switch" in a timely manner. It took them 20 minutes. Really, how hard is it? I had flipped over to the CBS national feed from NY on DirecTV because THEY were showing the game in HD.

Come on WBZ! This happens far too often.

-Steve

Channel 12 in Providence also had it in HD from the beginning, altho they don't pass along the DD 5.1

Thanks for the info. I will check into this a bit more. It seems from the descriptions it is similar to something we have seen twice here. I tend to believe that it is the splicer as we have had some issues. The unit was changed out in early November (after the WS) and I wonder if it might be the problem. That device has been an area of concern.

Bill Holbrook
Chief Engineer WFXT

Originally posted by bcushman
Channel 12 in Providence also had it in HD from the beginning, altho they don't pass along the DD 5.1 Actually 12-1 was showing the ending of the Chargers-Colts game in HD when the Pats game had already begun. After the Colts game, WPRI-DT switched to the SD version of the Pats-Jets and finally went to HD aftr 4-1 had already switched.

It seems as though I always have to call channel 4 during the SEC game each Saturday to have them flip the switch. I guess it just seems that way anyways and in reality it is not every Saturday but just seems like it. Yesterday I watchede channel 80 out of NY didn't even bother looking at 4-1 as I have had bad multipath the last month so I didn't even notice there was a problem but if I had I would have made the call.

I'm guessing Bob Yankowitz must be watching the Patriots games. Maybe he called (if he wasn't at work).

Someone finally figured it out I don't understand why this isn't automatic but then again what do I know

What happened to 7.1 WHDH, No digital signal?

7.1 WHDH it back on.

Every one of the past 3 winters I have a problem with 7.1 - it has dropouts and freezes but I never have problems with other channels. I assume it has something to do with the leaf cover disappearing but why only 7.1?
Any ideas why this happens?
- I am in Boxford
I will eventually go D* HD but I don't think Boston qualifies for the NBC E HD feed.
Appreciate any thoughts re; 7.1. thanks.

Originally posted by Lyson
Every one of the past 3 winters I have a problem with 7.1 - it has dropouts and freezes but I never have problems with other channels. I assume it has something to do with the leaf cover disappearing but why only 7.1?
Any ideas why this happens?
- I am in Boxford
I will eventually go D* HD but I don't think Boston qualifies for the NBC E HD feed.
Appreciate any thoughts re; 7.1. thanks.


Could be multipath issues. I have had similar issues with 5.1 as well as 7.1.
When I finally installed a rotator for my antenna, I found that I am able to fine tune each channel. What amazes me, is that the "sweet spot" for each channel seems to move periododically. The rotator allows me to find it.

Just a heads up on the NBC HD feed from D* they charge 2.25 a month for it

I have the WNBC-New York feed from D* but actually very seldom watch NBC. As for 7-1, I could not pick up a useable signal Sunday evening through Tuesday afternoon. Now it seems to be back to normal. I actually prefer 7-1 to WNBC because I like the local news from Boston. The only good thing about WNBC is it uses Dolby 5.1 sound for primetime HD programming whereas WHDH does not. But that is no big deal because I don't ever actually watch NBC in primetime.

Thanks for the feedback - i have a rotator and it didn't change anything but maybe i didn't move the antenna enough - the moveable sweet spot is interesting.
I emailed the station this morning so we'll see if they respond about a broadcasting issue.
I don't mind paying the 2.25 if I have to avoid the freezes and dropouts b/e it's unwatchable with them.
i prefer the local to the NY feed but it's not that big a deal b/e I can watch local news elsewhere - although WHDH - ch 7 is our favorite.

Agree that the NBC prime time programming is in sad shape but so was Abc last year and look at it now - so who knows.

For those who also get HD networks from DirecTV, is your situation any different from mine (assuming you live near Boston) ...

NY CBS - free
LA CBS - not available
NY FOX - free
LA FOX - not available
NY NBC- $2.25/month
LA NBC - $2.25/month
NY ABC - not expected to be available
LA ABC - not expected to be available

That is what I have going on

I have the same, except for FOX. I get both NY & LA and I am charged $2.25. Also, LA & NY CBS are $2.25 together, not each.

I have NBC - ny/la - $2.25 for both

Fox - ny/la - $2.25 for both

CBS - ny - N/C - LA- $1.50

ABC - not mentioned on my bill

Originally posted by RScogland
For those who also get HD networks from DirecTV, is your situation any different from mine (assuming you live near Boston) ...

NY CBS - free
LA CBS - not available
NY FOX - free
LA FOX - not available
NY NBC- $2.25/month
LA NBC - $2.25/month
NY ABC - not expected to be available
LA ABC - not expected to be available

Are you telling me that I can receive NBC-E HD over DirecTV? I was told I was ineligible for this by DirecTV. I'd pay the 2.25 a month.

I had to get a waiver - being way down here on the cape I was approved

I also got a waiver. DTV submitted requests for me, after I asked.

I was given waivers by CBS, NBC and FOX. ABC (WCVB) said no.

Same here - waiver denied for ABC - being reported that ABC - NYC/lA will be live 1/5/2005 on directv ch 86+87 - I am going to re-request my ABC waiver

Just hung up - rules have changed - cannot request east / west feeds if local channel is currently available (ch 5) - Damn !!

Good luck. I understand that WCVB is not very generous in that regard.
I wonder what they are afraid of? Are there really that many of us that it might affect their statistics and thus ad revenue? I doubt it.

I wonder who, at WCVB we need to contact to request one.
Anyone know who the decision maker is?

I guess no one record the World series in HD that could help me?

Originally posted by mbtobe
I wonder who, at WCVB we need to contact to request one.
Anyone know who the decision maker is?

I already tried gaetting the waiver and was denied which really didn't surprise me. I really don't watch that much ABC anyways

I don't understand why anyone in this area needs ABC from D*. WCVB and WLNE cover Eastern Mass and SE New England with very strong signals. To change the subject, is anyone having a problem getting WBZ-DT right now? The past couple of days I had problems with WHDH and WSBK. Now I can get those channels and have an unuseable signal on 30-1. I normally get an 82% signal on my DTC100. It's down to 0-20% right now.

I have had lots of problems with channel 5 lately with multipath I can't wait for the HD locals this spring,summer, fall or whenever we get them I am sick of OTA signals being unstable

Originally posted by Benji
I don't understand why anyone in this area needs ABC from D*. WCVB and WLNE cover Eastern Mass and SE New England with very strong signals. To change the subject, is anyone having a problem getting WBZ-DT right now? The past couple of days I had problems with WHDH and WSBK. Now I can get those channels and have an unuseable signal on 30-1. I normally get an 82% signal on my DTC100. It's down to 0-20% right now.
The WBZ-DT transmitter is doing its thing, full-power, right now.

Originally posted by Benji
I don't understand why anyone in this area needs ABC from D*. WCVB and WLNE cover Eastern Mass and SE New England with very strong signals. To change the subject, is anyone having a problem getting WBZ-DT right now? The past couple of days I had problems with WHDH and WSBK. Now I can get those channels and have an unuseable signal on 30-1. I normally get an 82% signal on my DTC100. It's down to 0-20% right now.

I had CBS on E***, you needed a new dish aiming at 61.5 for one station. It is the feed out of NY. My WHDH signal dropped from 82 - 75 today. Also, I am noticing that WSBK and WLVI are taking turns going up and down over the last week or so. A few days ago I couldn't even get WLVI to lock, now it's over 70, but WSBK, which was around 70, is now around 60 and in and out of lock. Weird stuff!! I can't complain as I've had solid signals for the last few weeks on PBS, CBS, ABC, NBC, and FOX. If I get WLVI and WSBK to lock it's an added bonus.

Originally posted by Benji
I don't understand why anyone in this area needs ABC from D*. WCVB and WLNE cover Eastern Mass and SE New England with very strong signals. To change the subject, is anyone having a problem getting WBZ-DT right now? The past couple of days I had problems with WHDH and WSBK. Now I can get those channels and have an unuseable signal on 30-1. I normally get an 82% signal on my DTC100. It's down to 0-20% right now.


Seems to me you answered your own question.
If you had NBC & CBS via DTV as a back up, you would not be bothered by WBZ's & WHDH's problems right now.

Bob Y. ... I trust you know what you're talking about but I never have a problem with either 30-1 or 39-1. But yesterday I had the same problem with 39-1 that I am having right now with 30-1. All the other Boston stations are coming in strong.

Originally posted by Benji
Bob Y. ... I trust you know what you're talking about but I never have a problem with either 30-1 or 39-1. But yesterday I had the same problem with 39-1 that I am having right now with 30-1. All the other Boston stations are coming in strong.
Both WBZ-DT and WSBK-DT are (and have been) stable, at full power. I have had no problem with either at home (in New Bedford). Let's see what the other forum members have to say.

Originally posted by RYankowitz
Both WBZ-DT and WSBK-DT are (and have been) stable, at full power. I have had no problem with either at home (in New Bedford). Let's see what the other forum members have to say.

Hi Bob. Do you know what happened with Sunday's Pats - Jets game? It didn't go into HD until almost the 2nd quarter. Is this something that I should worry about come playoff time?

Originally posted by Benji
I don't understand why anyone in this area needs ABC from D*. WCVB and WLNE cover Eastern Mass and SE New England with very strong signals. To change the subject, is anyone having a problem getting WBZ-DT right now? The past couple of days I had problems with WHDH and WSBK. Now I can get those channels and have an unuseable signal on 30-1. I normally get an 82% signal on my DTC100. It's down to 0-20% right now.

I agree the signal is usually solid - but not always - dtv would be a good backup - but the main reason for me is to have a west coast option for time shifting programs on my hd tivo.

Originally posted by blackngold19
Hi Bob. Do you know what happened with Sunday's Pats - Jets game? It didn't go into HD until almost the 2nd quarter. Is this something that I should worry about come playoff time?
It was a technical problem at our end. There should not be a repeat during the playoffs (I hope).

I saw that too about the PATS game but I switched to DirecTV chan 80 CBS out of NY and it was in HD. I later switched back to WBZ and it was in HD.

I would like to receive some of the networks in HD via Direct TV as a back up to my drop out problem.

What is the exact procedure I need to perform to get the waivers? I see someone in Bellingham was able to get them and I live in Millis so I am hopeful that I can get the waivers as well. Channel 5 is not a big deal since that is one of the ones I never get a drop out on voa OTA.

Thank you


Andy

Originally posted by maldini
I would like to receive some of the networks in HD via Direct TV as a back up to my drop out problem.

What is the exact procedure I need to perform to get the waivers? I see someone in Bellingham was able to get them and I live in Millis so I am hopeful that I can get the waivers as well. Channel 5 is not a big deal since that is one of the ones I never get a drop out on voa OTA.

Thank you


Andy

Contact D* CSR and they will apply for the waiver for you.

I was told yesterday by DTV CSR that the rules recently changed and if you can get your locals via dtv ex: ch 2-4-5-7 you can not apply for waivers any more - so if you have waivers - hold on to them -

Originally posted by Lyson
Every one of the past 3 winters I have a problem with 7.1 - it has dropouts and freezes but I never have problems with other channels. I assume it has something to do with the leaf cover disappearing but why only 7.1?
Any ideas why this happens?
- I am in Boxford
I will eventually go D* HD but I don't think Boston qualifies for the NBC E HD feed.
Appreciate any thoughts re; 7.1. thanks.

tried 7.1 again last night - signal was strong no problems - I wonder if it's like receiving a AM radio signal from a city like NY - sometimes it's strong and sometimes it's full of static - just asking as I have no idea.

Originally posted by jalferes
I was told yesterday by DTV CSR that the rules recently changed and if you can get your locals via dtv ex: ch 2-4-5-7 you can not apply for waivers any more - so if you have waivers - hold on to them -

I was hoping that moving from D* SD to HD would solve my 7.1 OTA drop out problem - if it doesn't I have less interest in making the move.
I read on a tivo forum that D* is launching 2 new satelites in April to deliver local channels to the top 25 or more markets. As Boston ranks 5th we should qualify - the local market launch must be HD though right?

If that's the case I guess I should wait?

OK I called direct TV as suggested.

As mentioned above, there no longer seems to be any type of waiver needed.

They looked up my zip code and immediately turned on Fox and CBS for me and said there was nothing I could do about NBC. I asked about the waiver and they said they no longer mean anything with the new rules.

Does this make sense to anyone? I am happy though that I got Fox and CBS with nothing more than a phone call though.

Maldini

Originally posted by maldini
OK I called direct TV as suggested.

As mentioned above, there no longer seems to be any type of waiver needed.

They looked up my zip code and immediately turned on Fox and CBS for me and said there was nothing I could do about NBC. I asked about the waiver and they said they no longer mean anything with the new rules.

Does this make sense to anyone? I am happy though that I got Fox and CBS with nothing more than a phone call though.

Maldini

Where are you located?

Where are you located?

Millis MA

Any D* subs here? I'm pretty sure we're not eligible to get ABC-HD turned on in the Boston market (not an O&O) but wanted to confirm with others here....

Originally posted by BHolbrook
Thanks for the info. I will check into this a bit more. It seems from the descriptions it is similar to something we have seen twice here. I tend to believe that it is the splicer as we have had some issues. The unit was changed out in early November (after the WS) and I wonder if it might be the problem. That device has been an area of concern.

Bill Holbrook
Chief Engineer WFXT

Bob -

BINGO!!!!!! THIS EXPLAINS EVERYTHING!!!!! :D :D :D :D

Thanks for reassuring my sanity. Yes, this issue had previously been fixed and this explains why soon after the ALCS/WS the problem reappeared.

If you need any more info please let me know and I'll do my best. I hope this issue can be addressed soon.

I am having trouble getting the following channels, Telemundo and Univision, and also WLVI.

First I am using a MediaCenter with the ATI HDTV Wonder, and get 90+ on every channel except the ones above. Is LVI full power I checked the FCC site and says 550kw but the signal comes in choppy no matter where I point the antenna. The other 2 channel no picture at all. My listings list Univision on channels 18.1,27.1, and 29.1. So which one is the right one and what is the FQ29???
Thanks

Originally posted by BHolbrook
Thanks for the info. I will check into this a bit more. It seems from the descriptions it is similar to something we have seen twice here. I tend to believe that it is the splicer as we have had some issues. The unit was changed out in early November (after the WS) and I wonder if it might be the problem. That device has been an area of concern.

Bill Holbrook
Chief Engineer WFXT

Bill,

Thank you for looking into fixing this. I do not know if you have tried any fixes yet, but I am still seeing the same issues. During this afternoon's Patriots game, the video was freezing and jumping but the sound was continuous. When they cut back to the studio, the video was way out of sync with the audio. (Using a Samsung SIR-T451 receiver.)

I am seeing the same problem everyone else is seeing with 25.1, and I have a SIR-T451. Not that I am that interested in PAX, but I am getting pixelation for 68.1 as well. Every 1-2 seconds, especially when things move. 68.2,68.3 and 68.4 do not show the pixelation problem at all. I am getting solid signals for all my channels. Anyone else seeing pixelation for 68.1?

-- Magnus

5-1 and 5-2 have been Q5 and up against the pin in my neighborhood since October.

Suddenly, I have usual signal strength but no A/V on either since around Christmas. 4-1 and 7-1 are still fine (with the usual rain fade).

Am using the "Wally-World special" USDigital OTA STB, and have had reasonably good results considering the multipath and distance from the towers (62 airline miles +-)

Can anyone confirm whether 5-1/5-2 are operational at this time, or within the last week or so?

Much obliged.

Getting my usual 80% on 5-1 on my DTC-100.

Briefly tuned to WFXT-DT last night as I was channel surfing and noticed a distinct cut-over from local (commercials) feed to national feed. I wonder if they've removed the splicer temporarily?

The bad news is that the freezes are still occurring with the national programming in this config. I only saw a few seconds of the local feed right before this transition so it was hard to tell if the problem was still present in this programming.

I think I remember reading a while back in a Sat HD thread that several folks receiving the FOX HD from DirecTV were reporting similar problems on the national feed stuff. (I think some even said that it wasn't present in the same programming from their local Fox DTV broadcast - maybe a benefit/result of re-encoding by the local affiliate?)

Hope this gets worked out before the Superbowl....

Originally posted by PhiloT

Can anyone confirm whether 5-1/5-2 are operational at this time, or within the last week or so?

Much obliged.

Got my tuner early last week, and 5.1 and 5.2 has been working without problem since then.

Just checking in. I'm in Weymouth and I'm a Dish subscriber (I guess that's E*?). I just bought a DB4 from Antenna's Direct and will be using it with the Dish 811 receiver. I tested it last night in the house, using the tuner built in to my Sanyo HT3744 tuner and picked up 2.1, 4.1, 5.1, 7.1, 38.1, 4 channels on 44 and 4 channels on 68. I picked up all these channels while aiming the antenna THROUGH the house, so I hope when I get the antenna on the roof this weekend, I'll be able to pick up 25.1 and 56.1. WFXT is the very important right now, considering the NFC playoffs and the Superbowl are there, and the SD fox I get on the Dish is pretty lousy.

Anyway, I'll post back this weekend, if I get the DB4 on the roof, and let you know how it went. But if anybody out there is in Weymouth or nearby or is using the DishNetwork 811 tuner, I'd appreciate any feedback.

Originally posted by PhiloT
5-1 and 5-2 have been Q5 and up against the pin in my neighborhood since October.

Suddenly, I have usual signal strength but no A/V on either since around Christmas. 4-1 and 7-1 are still fine (with the usual rain fade).

Am using the "Wally-World special" USDigital OTA STB, and have had reasonably good results considering the multipath and distance from the towers (62 airline miles +-)

Can anyone confirm whether 5-1/5-2 are operational at this time, or within the last week or so?

Much obliged.

I experienced the same. Signal level looked fine but no audio or video. I deleted 5-1 and 5-2 from my stored stations then added them back again, and voila, the video and audio were back. The Sugar Bowl loooked pretty good last night. Something obviously changed on 5-1 and 5-2 and apparently some receivers did not handle the change very well.

Thanks, Hugh. After I posted this last night, I actually started thinking about that very thing, and ran the auto-program function which fixed the problem immediately. I didn't delete the channels first, but it worked just the same.

As you say, they must've changed something during that time period that the receiver didn't like. The hazards of using software to create pictures...

Getting ATSC to behave reminds me a lot of what it was like to get NTSC to behave in the 1950s. Always tweaking the set, moving the antenna, spending more time making adjustments than actually watching the shows!

Now, on to my next project: building a high-gain twin UHF array to attenuate multipath!

mbtobe,

I live in Franklin and got shot down for all waivers but NBC...Although, I have had CBS from the begining and have it still, so I guess my gripe is with FOX.

Did you do anything special for the waivers?

Thanks, James.

Originally posted by marty1
mbtobe,

I live in Franklin and got shot down for all waivers but NBC...Although, I have had CBS from the begining and have it still, so I guess my gripe is with FOX.

Did you do anything special for the waivers?

Thanks, James.

I actually did nothing. Several months ago, when NBC was getting ready to come up on DTV, I called to ask about getting a waiver. They said that they would request it. A couple of weeks later, I got a postcard from DTV indicating that I had been granted waivers by CBS, NBC and FOX, but that ABC denied my request. In September, I noticed that I was getting FOX national feeds (channels 388 & 389) in addition to chanel 25. I am charged $2.25 per month and when FOX HD came on, I got that as well.

FOX should be no big deal for you as I get both 25-1 and 64-1 with very strong signals.

WBZ-DT and WSBK-DT will be making a change to their MPEG streams this week that may affect your reception.

The ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee), which created the standard we use in this country for over-the-air DTV, changed the numbering requirements for the PIDs (Packet Identifiers) in the transport stream. As a result, all television stations must change the numbering of any PIDs currently below hexadecimal 30. This change was made to facilitate international coordination exchange of bit streams.

Most current DTV receivers will not be affected by the change, but some early models, especially those tuned to the station while the change is made, may lose picture and sound, even though the signal strength indicator shows plenty of received signal.

If you see this problem, a rescan of your receiver should resolve it.

We plan to make this change sometime after 8am this Friday morning. If that changes I'll let you know. I can also pass along from my colleagues at WGBH/WGBX that they plan to make the same change sometime this week, possibly as early as today. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

When I requested waivers I was told that one of the stations (I forget which) had an automatic waiver on file so I could have it immediately but would need to wait on my waiver request for the other stations. Then after a while I got a postcard indicating that all four major networks declined my waiver request and the 'automatic waiver' station was taken away as well. I think I'll keep requesting waivers until they give up -- it's not like I live near Boston enough to care about the local ads anyway...

~ Fred

Originally posted by RagerXS
When I requested waivers I was told that one of the stations (I forget which) had an automatic waiver on file so I could have it immediately but would need to wait on my waiver request for the other stations. Then after a while I got a postcard indicating that all four major networks declined my waiver request and the 'automatic waiver' station was taken away as well. I think I'll keep requesting waivers until they give up -- it's not like I live near Boston enough to care about the local ads anyway...

~ Fred

I hate to break it to you, but the waiver process no longer exists as of 1/1/05. Any waiver's in place prior to then are grandfathered. Thus, for DTV, those of us in the Boston area can only get CBS and Fox national feeds as channels 5 and 7 are not O&O. I am lucky in that I have a waiver from 7, so I get the NBC feed as well. Of course, 5-1 is the station I have the most problems with, and is the only major network I can't get the national feed for.

Originally posted by RYankowitz
WBZ-DT and WSBK-DT will be making a change to their MPEG streams this week that may affect your reception.

The ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee), which created the standard we use in this country for over-the-air DTV, changed the numbering requirements for the PIDs (Packet Identifiers) in the transport stream. As a result, all television stations must change the numbering of any PIDs currently below hexadecimal 30. This change was made to facilitate international coordination exchange of bit streams.

Most current DTV receivers will not be affected by the change, but some early models, especially those tuned to the station while the change is made, may lose picture and sound, even though the signal strength indicator shows plenty of received signal.

If you see this problem, a rescan of your receiver should resolve it.

We plan to make this change sometime after 8am this Friday morning. If that changes I'll let you know. I can also pass along from my colleagues at WGBH/WGBX that they plan to make the same change sometime this week, possibly as early as today. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Thank you for the notification. I am using a Samsung SIR-T451, which is a new model, and have already experienced this problem with 5-1 and 5-2, so I suspect that many people will have this problem, not just a few. As you said, a rescan resolved the problem.

Originally posted by jszafran
Of course, 5-1 is the station I have the most problems with, and is the only major network I can't get the national feed for.

I dont know about your location, but even though I would expect to be able to get 5-1 with my antenna point at the same direction as 7-1 & 4-1, it does not work that way for me. When I added a rotator I was able to move the antenna so as to get a 88-90 reading for 5-1. I was not able to find a sweet spot where I could get all three at the same setting. I presume I have a multipath issue, maybe you do as well.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by RYankowitz
[B]WBZ-DT and WSBK-DT will be making a change to their MPEG streams this week that may affect your reception.

Thanks! This explains my earlier issue with 5-1. They must've made their changes earlier.

Now, if I could only work out why I have have ongoing audio sync problems with 2-1 and 2-2. Some days they are right on, and other days there are delays of a second or more. Never have this with 44-1, -2,-3, or -4, or any other local stations (except 5-2 on occasion, but I don't watch it much).

Anybody else have this issue?

Originally posted by PhiloT
Now, if I could only work out why I have have ongoing audio sync problems with 2-1 and 2-2. Some days they are right on, and other days there are delays of a second or more. Never have this with 44-1, -2,-3, or -4, or any other local stations (except 5-2 on occasion, but I don't watch it much).

Anybody else have this issue? [/B]

I did not notice any audio sync problems last night watching Nova. In general, I do not recall having any audio sync problems with WGBH, but I will look for it.

WGBH will also make a change to the PIDS (packet identifiers) associated with what is now program 2 (WGBH DT 2-1) and WGBX DT 44-1). Both of these streams are simulcasts of WGBH-2 and WGBH-44 analog respectively. To cause minimum impact on cable carriage of WGBH_DT PBS-HD PID 30 hex and WGBX DT World PID 30, Create PID 40, Kids PID 50, we will only be shifting the simulcast PIDS. On WGBH DT the WGBH-2 simulcast changes from PID 20 to PID 40 hex. On WGBX DT the WGBX-44 simulcast changes from PID 20 to PID 60. This change is scheduled to take place on Friday morning Jan 7.
Some DTV boxes may need to have a channel scan re-map after the change.

Mike Foti
Senior Engineering Manager
WGBH

Originally posted by Hugh_DaMann
I did not notice any audio sync problems last night watching Nova. In general, I do not recall having any audio sync problems with WGBH, but I will look for it.

Thanks, Hugh. It is intermittent, and seems to vary from program to program. I have a firmware upgrade on the way for my Wally-World STB, which may solve some issues.

Originally posted by IBBP
WGBH will also make a change to the PIDS (packet identifiers) associated with what is now program 2 (WGBH DT 2-1) and WGBX DT 44-1).

Mike Foti
Senior Engineering Manager
WGBH

Thanks for "the heads-up" Mike. Glad to see you on the forum!

thanks for the headsup, RY. i have a 2001 sony hdtv with integrated atsc -
maybe its tuner will be affected by this PID change. if you have a URL
for someplace that lists every nerdly detail about this spec modification,
i'm interested to grok it.

another subject....
too bad the waiver process is toast now. sort of.
on the bright side,
maybe the end of the waiver process will allow this thread to actually be about OTA,
instead of non-OTA-waivers/satellite.

one guy i know who is more into HDTV than me is way into satellite.
he calls me an OTA Utopian because i think it will be great if/when
more OTA stations do like channel 5 & 44 has done, and have an SD subchannel and an HD main channel. also
i think it's great that 44 has 4 subchannels even
though they are all SD. could they support 5 SD subchannels?

let's do the OTA-utopian arithmetic,
68 channels maximum per market after 2006, half with 1 HD & 1 SD subchannels, and half with 5 SD.
that's about 244 subchannels! unfortunately they'd all be at the whim
of capricious FCC actions that allow beloved talk show yentas to talk about
detailed & obscure sexual acts, but prevent tall gorky joey-ramone-looking guys from saying the *exact* same things.
on the bright side of that, we'll still have cable&satellite to provide us
the impending The Howard Stern Network. but for his face, SD-only, please.

oops, i didn't mean to go off on a rant there ;)
happy HD-trails....

Originally posted by tveli
thanks for the headsup, RY. i have a 2001 sony hdtv with integrated atsc -
maybe its tuner will be affected by this PID change. if you have a URL
for someplace that lists every nerdly detail about this spec modification,
i'm interested to grok it.


Here's a reasonably detailed explanation of the change, courtesy of the NAB: http://www.nab.org/scitech/techcheck/tv/tv122004.pdf

Here's the unreasonably detailed (114 pages[!]) complete ATSC DTV standard document, latest version: http://www.atsc.org/standards/a_53c_with_amend_1.pdf

Or, just go here to the source and look around at all the standards:
http://www.atsc.org

If you can get through any or all of the standards in one sitting, staying awake throughout, you're a better man than I'll ever be...

A very interesting discussion re PID changes. As I reported earlier, I did get 5-1 back after the rescan, but still have no 5-2. Seems like it tries to decode it, as I get 1 sec of audio before no A/V at all, but still have good signal strength.

I'd try to delete everything and start again, but apparently the USDigital Wallybox doesn't allow deleting in this fashion, just lets you "skip" the channels you already have. Maybe the newer version of the firmware will fix this. The US DTV guys are actually fairly responsive, as others have reported elsewhere - I got a reply in less than 24 hours.

We'll see what happens when the other stations do their PID changes. WBZ-DT comes in like gangbusters here (85-90% at all times), but I'm afraid WSBK is a lost cause (never more than 30%), so I'll probably never know about that one.

Thank goodness for this forum and all you friendly engineers, or I would've thought I was finally losing it. ;)

Originally posted by PhiloT
A very interesting discussion re PID changes. As I reported earlier, I did get 5-1 back after the rescan, but still have no 5-2. Seems like it tries to decode it, as I get 1 sec of audio before no A/V at all, but still have good signal strength.


I just lost 5.2 yesterday night. It has small blips of sounds sometimes, but no picture. I have tried to rescan but that has not helped. I am using SIR-T451.

Originally posted by mbjorkman
I just lost 5.2 yesterday night. It has small blips of sounds sometimes, but no picture. I have tried to rescan but that has not helped. I am using SIR-T451.

Same here and did a rescan, could be the snowstorm.

eli,

Supposively the US Digital Box that PhiloT uses supports a OTA cable card service that currently is operational in Vegas, SLC and a couple of other Western US areas. Their concept is buying some of the non used bandwidth in certain DMA markets to broadcast about 20 (I think) of the popular cable stations in only SD. Thus competing a little with the satallite and cable guys for less and no contracts.

I personally have my reservations about whether this service will actually get out East anytime soon. It's a nice concept though.

I guess for most folks using HDsets..though form what I read and hear, I have to believe that they would rather have 1 HD vs 4 SD (DVD quality) subchannels that fills the bandwidth.

I personally still use 25in dinasour color set, and love the SD channels, but when I finally jump probably into a HD set probably 05, I rather have the HD channel and elimate the subs. Especially PAX, as the quality is terrible.

Still no 5-2 today, but occasional "blips of sound" as mbjorkman aptly puts it. I doubt the storm would create this effect, as it would affect signal strength on both 5-1 and 5-2 equally (they are both on the same carrier, don't forget), and signal strength is the same on both.

Interesting that it's happening with different receivers, as that seems to show it's a function of a change in transmission. Is anyone actually able to view 5-2 today?

I wonder if anybody has a contact for WCVB engineering. Maybe they don't know about this development yet (or maybe they do!), and I'm not sure that they check this board...

Update, and some info for those interested:

I heard from the nice folks at USDTV about how to *really* reset the WallyWorld DB-2010 STB, and now I have 5-2 back again. May just be a coincidence, but it's back 100%.

This probably should be posted to some other hardware thread (I looked but didn't find a relevant thread), but the "reset" procedure for erasing all your current channels and settings and bringing the box back to the default out-of-box condition is as follows:

With the unit on, use the remote and do this 5-key sequence in fairly rapid succession (I had to practice a little before getting the timing just right, no more than a second or two between key presses):

1. Press "guide" (the USDTV guide - a red oval button on my remote)
2. Press "aspect"
3. Press "exit"
4. Press "prog info"
5. Press "0"

That starts the out-of-box initial setup sequence, walking you through each screen. Then, you're back in business.

The only down side to doing this is if you do it on a lousy day, you may lose some of the stations that you were getting previously. I lost 25-1, but I'll just run the channel scan again sometime when the weather clears and I'm sure it will return.

One more item: unplugging this unit, waiting a couple of minutes and plugging it back it again *will* force it into a hard reboot, which may clear up some problems like lockups, etc., but it does NOT clear your channel lineup or other settings. Only the sequence above will accomplish this.

I have great signal strengths most days but every so often I miss a show entirely, like Law and Order on NBC the other day. The drop outs were too frequent, most likely due to the storm (even though none of the other channels showed any issues).

My wife has suggested that I start to tivo both the hd OTA and the sd from Direct TV so that we won't lose shows. It seems like a good idea.

I keep reading various rumors that Direct TV will be able to send HD locals via some new birds going up but I am unaware how much truth their is to these rumors and if they are true, what is the rough time frame?

Maldini

I keep reading various rumors that Direct TV will be able to send HD locals via some new birds going up but I am unaware how much truth their is to these rumors and if they are true, what is the rough time frame?


DirecTV Announces First 12 Local HD Markets

Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, DirecTV announced 12 DMAs that will be among the first to receive local channels in high-def sometime in the second half of the year.

The first DMAs to receive local HD channels are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Detroit, Houston and Tampa. The markets represent nearly 36 million homes, or 32.8 percent of all U.S. TV households.

DirecTV said additional markets that will receive local HD programming via satellite this year will be announced at a later date.

DirecTV will expand its capacity for more HD with the planned launch of four next-generation satellites, two of which will fly later this year. The satellites will deliver more than 1,500 local HD and more than 150 national HD channels and other advanced programming services to consumers nationwide by 2007.

In connection with the announcement, DirecTV demonstrated a live MPEG-4 AVC/DVB-S2 high def feed at the show. The new standard in transmission and video compression will be used by DirecTV to expand its video offering, including local and national HD channels, the satellite TV company said.

http://www.skyreport.com/viewskyreport.cfm?ReleaseID=1561#Story1

Thank you for the information. Sounds like I just have to wait another 9 months or so.

Great news!

Maldini

Originally posted by maldini
Thank you for the information. Sounds like I just have to wait another 9 months or so.

Great news!

Maldini

And probably buy a new MP4 box.

Help! I can't picture on WLVI at all with my Fusion III QAM (dual input rev). I used to use an indoor amplified but in the attic, it was enough to rarely get momentary locks on WLVI. I have upgraded to a large UHF antenna in the attic with a 10dB amp, now almost everything from boston comes in at 25-32 dB (100%) including WLVI, and except WSBK which floats at ~75%, but doesn't seem to drop out too much.

However I can't get a picture on WLVI at all!! It reads the channel name WLVI-DT subchannels 1 & 2, but I get black and no audio.. Removing the amp and rotating the antenna do nothing either. Is it the station? I mean I am picking up their call letters!

What gives?

Originally posted by davatar
Help! I can't picture on WLVI at all with my Fusion III QAM (dual input rev). I used to use an indoor amplified but in the attic, it was enough to rarely get momentary locks on WLVI. I have upgraded to a large UHF antenna in the attic with a 10dB amp, now almost everything from boston comes in at 25-32 dB (100%) including WLVI, and except WSBK which floats at ~75%, but doesn't seem to drop out too much.

However I can't get a picture on WLVI at all!! It reads the channel name WLVI-DT subchannels 1 & 2, but I get black and no audio.. Removing the amp and rotating the antenna do nothing either. Is it the station? I mean I am picking up their call letters!

What gives?

There seems to be something wrong with WLVI's data stream. It doesn't include any PAT (Program Association Table) packets, which are used to identify the MPEG-2 programs present in the stream, and are supposed to occur at least every 100 ms.