Maybe Bill Holbrook can chime in, but I'm pretty sure that Bob Hess over at WBZ told me that most of the stations were sharing antennas, I just don't know who! This info is about four years old, so FXT may be on there own antenna by now.

Hmm. It looks like BZ and CVB share, but FXT and HDH have their own locations.

Originally posted by kwolff
Hmm. It looks like BZ and CVB share, but FXT and HDH have their own locations.

WBZ-DT, WCVB-DT, WSBK-DT, and WGBX-DT are co-located on a common antenna. WBGX-TV (analog) and WGBH-DT are co-located on a common antenna directly below.

WFXT-DT and WLVI-DT are located on another tower about a mile away to the east (separate antennas). WHDH-DT is on its own tower, also about a mile away to the northeast.

Originally posted by RYankowitz
WBGX-TV (analog) and WGBH-DT are co-located on a common antenna directly below.

Thanks for that info! I knew about the other co-locations, but was unaware that WGBH-DT was lower on the tower. That explains to me why the signal strength on WGBX-DT is always a bit higher than WGBH-DT in my area. I can completely lose GBH and still have a strong signal on GBX, and was puzzled by this behavior, since I knew they were on the same tower and I assumed (perhaps erroneously) that they both had the same ERP. Just a few degrees lower to the horizon would do it! Sure is a fussy business...

First of all thanks to the viewers for their help with resolving any issues we have had in the past. We have only received about a dozen complaints about the broadcast. Most were extreme fringe areas for our ADI. Others were from NTSC viewers who were inadvertently listening to the SAP channel and heard only crowd noise with no announcers.
We did have some breakup from the network as they did seem to have one bad camera. They did loose audio during the pregame as well.

For a point of information, we operate on a seperate antenna on the "Candleabra" with WSBK analog and WLVI analog and digital. WGBH A&D, WBZ A&D, WCVB A&D and WSBK DT all operate from the WBZ tower with a very impressive installation of combiners and antennas. WHDH A&D operate from their own tower in Newton. We are all within about 1 1/2 miles of each other. WFXT DT operates at 76 Kw EIRP from the Shively antenna. The Andrew antenna listed states that it is an application not the licensed antenna. This has been our request for an increase in power that was denied once before by the FCC and has been resubmitted. But as I have stated before, without giving an private internal information, that increase is unlikely to happen. The change over to digital will happen as early as 2006 or as late as 2009 depending on the will of congress pushing it. More than likely we will stay on 25 where we are already licensed at 1 meg. Our new transmitter installation allows us to simply retune and move the digital exciters over to the NTSC transmitters and operate that way on 25. Its not really that simple but close.
I understand viewer frustration when you spend a lot of money for HD equpiment and have trouble with our signal. I can only say there are a great many more factors that affect DTV than there were for NTSC.

I choose to post here only as a way of getting information flow between us and the viewers in a forum I can deal with in my work schedule. It also helps eliminate the need for the viewer to call in to get that information. Again I appreciate any frustration any viewer may have but our initial feedback was extremely favorable for the vast majority of our audience.

Bill Holbrook
Chief Engineer WFXT

Great post, Bill. Thanks for your excellent information, and I can well appreciate your constraints and frustration in dealing with the FCC (been there). I'm betting that DT on 25 at your authorized power with do the trick at my house. Will look forward to that.

Best regards,

SuperBowl OTA on WFXT 25-1 with Zenith SAT520 using amplified RCA Model ANT1250 Antenna reception was fine.

I have had issues with 25-1 but during the game no issues noted.

I checked 64-1 WNAC and signal was lower. 30~40 WFXT was strong 60~70 no dropouts. Audio did have issues but speaking with coworkers today they had audio problems too on Comcasts feed of WFXT so it must have been the network.



Fox channel on DTV 88 appeared slightly softer possible to the DTV bandwith being shared by other channels vs. OTA signal.

Originally posted by woodworm
Where are you, Herb. I'm in Chester.

I do think the FOX network was having a few issues as well. I was recording the game from my satellite feed and there where some drop-outs there.


Hi woodworm quick question were you recording using HDTivo?

i live in cambridge (not exactly a "fringe" area, unless perhaps we're talking politics). i'm offering the following data for consideration:

my receiver is a hughes/directv hr10-250. my antenna is a winegard ss1000 (aka "squareshooter") with preamp.

i get 2-1, 2-2, 4-1, 5-1, 5-2, 7-1, 38-1, 44-1, 44-2, 44-3, 44-4, 56-1, all with good signals. my receiver reports signal strength of 80-100 (steady) for all of those channels, although i rarely check the signal meter for them, because since i installed my system this summer, i've never had any problems receiving any of those stations. (a few, including i think 56-1 and maybe 38-1 have come up in the time since the first install).

when fox-25 first went digital, it seemed like i got an ok signal. i seem to remember watching an early patriots game (probably pats-seahawks on oct 17) in hd on fox.

i noticed my first major problems during the world series. starting then, i had a lot of freezing, stuttering, and pixelation.

checking the signal strength meter on my unit shows that unlike every other station, wfxt-dt causes my signal strength to oscillate wildly. it will be at 90 for a few seconds, then drop to 20.

i've climbed up the ladder and tried repointing my antenna a total of three different times over the last 4+ months, but i've never been able to fix the problem. in between those times when i was trying to repoint the antenna and fix the problem, i mostly didn't pay any attention to my signal on 25-1. none of the other digital channels seem sensitive to the direction my antenna is pointed, so i always set the signal meter to use wfxt-dt when trying to point my antenna, but i still can't get it to come in.

after spending a while reading the messages on this forum, i was starting to think that perhaps the problems were intermittent and that i just happened to have "bad timing". when i was trying to point my antenna, i happened to be hitting times when wfxt was having technical difficulties. i tuned to 25-1 a day or two before the superbowl during primetime and watched a few minutes of a show in HD and picture seemed ok. on the day of the superbowl, however, the problems were back. worse, than before in fact. rather than a decent picture with occasional stuttering/pixelation, instead i would see one static image for ~15 seconds at a time, then a burst of pixelated static and it would switch to another image for 10 seconds, etc. and no audio.

anyone have any insights into my problems receiving wfxt-dt? why do i have so many problems with them and NO problems whatsoever with other local channels, including some that apparently broadcast from the very same tower?

if i were to judge based on my personal experience and other reports here, i might guess that their signal might have compatibility problems with certain brands of receivers.... is that even possible? what about the polarization issue -- i haven't about that issue in the past, but now i wonder... does wfxt-dt use some unique type of polarization? could that interact badly with my squareshooter? do these problems only occur during major boston sporting events (world series, superbowl)?

Bill Holbrook,

Thanks for filling in some information and thanks for being a good sport concerning my tirade. I have been very impressed with the PQ of the FOX HD broadcasts. When the signal did come in during the 3rd quarter of the Superbowl, I was again very happy with the quality and I had no issues for the rest of the game. My enjoyment of the FOX HD games just helped to frustrate me even more when the signal went from really bad to almost non-existant in the first quarter of the game. If you are transmitting at 76 Kw that explains even more about the drop-outs I see, which is about 46 miles from the towers. I don't know what strength the other stations are operating at, but I suspect it is quite a bit more. I'm going to hope that a stronger antenna pre-amp will solve the occasional loss of the WFXT signal I see.

Welcome to the forum sanderv. No, I'm not quite ready to plunk down $1K for the HD Tivo. Perhaps if my Toshiba craps out I'll do it.

Thanks for the welcome, woodworm Ive been a visitor for quite awhile and just now posted to the group.

Thanks for the answer to the HD Tivo question. Are you using a Toshiba DST 3000?

If yes how are you able to record with it in HD?

Is it modded with the 169 Time kit?

Sanderv

Originally posted by PhiloT
Thanks for that info! I knew about the other co-locations, but was unaware that WGBH-DT was lower on the tower. That explains to me why the signal strength on WGBX-DT is always a bit higher than WGBH-DT in my area. I can completely lose GBH and still have a strong signal on GBX, and was puzzled by this behavior, since I knew they were on the same tower and I assumed (perhaps erroneously) that they both had the same ERP. Just a few degrees lower to the horizon would do it! Sure is a fussy business...
Sorry to rain on your parade, but the difference in elevation is insignificant. The upper antenna is only 50 feet higher than the lower, which would represent a fraction of a fraction of a degree of elevation difference to your antenna. Also, WGBH's ERP is a bit higher than WGBX's, not lower.

Hm. So much for that idea. Well, in that case we chalk up the consistently lower signal strength of GBH vs. GBX at this location to some combination of atmospherics, feedline mismatch, multipath, phase of the moon and voodoo, and abandon all attempts at a logical solution. I remain puzzled. Analog VHF behaves in more or less predictable ways, this stuff has no apparent rhyme or reason.

Can you borrow another brand/model receiver and see if you get the same result? Just a thought.

Good idea. Will have to see what I can come up with, certainly worth a try. What I wish I had is an ATSC-capable signal strength meter, I have one for NTSC but that's no help! The relative strength meters that are built into the STB software are not too satisfactory in that regard.

Yes sanderv, I am using a DST 3000. Sorry for not being clear, but my Tivo is the standard SD, dual tuner D* model. The Phillips model.

PhiloT, which STB are using now and what are your signal readings with WBZ and WCVB? I took a look at mine this morning. The latter two are pegged and WFXT is running mid-30's.

Originally posted by PhiloT
Good idea. Will have to see what I can come up with, certainly worth a try. What I wish I had is an ATSC-capable signal strength meter, I have one for NTSC but that's no help! The relative strength meters that are built into the STB software are not too satisfactory in that regard.
I'm afraid the only signal indicator worth anything in the ATSC world is a spectrum analyzer. There is no single number capable of adequately describing the complex 8VSB signal. BTW, about a year and a half ago, we performed a series of measurements (in conjunction with WGBH) to check on the performance of our new NTSC and ATSC antennas (the results of our multi-year tower rebuilding project). While everything was performing as predicted, one of the surprises we found was that signal strength (for the digital stations) was nowhere as important as signal quality. A strong signal with moderate multipath, especially unstable multipath, produced much poorer results than even a very weak but multipath-free signal.

I've attached a composite analyzer plot that demonstrates this. The green trace shows a strong and multipath-free signal that is easily receivable. The red trace shows a relatively strong signal, but one with moderate multipath (as shown by the dip in the trace). Some receivers will have problems with this signal, especially if the multipath is unstable. The yellow trace shows a weak signal, barely above the noise floor. However, there is no multipath in this signal, and the receiver had no trouble locking and decoding a solid picture.

My own experience at home in New Bedford, 43 miles from the towers, bears this out. I receive all Boston and Providence digital stations with almost 100% reliability, without an amplified antenna (Channel Master 4228 antenna, about 18 feet above ground). I have the advantage of access to a spectrum analyzer, and I see varying signal levels between stations, but in the absence of multipath, no trouble receiving any of them.

Excellent info, Bob! Thanks for the SA plots, it really tells the story. This reinforces what I have been thinking in terms of multipath vs. signal strength. I may try that CM 4228 solution, a relatively inexpensive experiment. From what I've read, those antennas are somewhat superior in multipath rejection than the corner-reflector yagi type antenna I am currently using, which is just the same old thing I've been using for years for analog UHF.

I am only 9 miles further out from the the tower complex than you are, and with a fairly straight shot in that direction, but have lots of hills directly to the east and west that are apparently mucking things up. I have faint but visible multipath on the analog signals from some of the stations, so it's likely I would have the same or worse on DT and that it would change significantly with conditions.

Some interesting science here, and I guess we'll all learn as we go, but it's hard on some of us old-timers. ;)

Thanks again.

Originally posted by PhiloT
I may try that CM 4228 solution, a relatively inexpensive experiment. From what I've read, those antennas are somewhat superior in multipath rejection than the corner-reflector yagi type antenna I am currently using, ...
One last comment. It's completely counter-intuitive, but our experience has been that highly-directional receive antennas have been the worst at receiving ATSC. The relatively broad CM4228 and its little brother the CM3021 have produced the best results. I have also seen some amazing reception in both urban and rural areas (as far away as Jamestown, RI, 6' off the ground) with the Winegard Sensar III, model GS-2200 amplified antenna, a very wife-friendly design, IMO (see it here: http://www.winegard.com/offair/pdf/WC-810.pdf).

Well, I'm already using that antenna, the CM 4228. Maybe that's why I sometimes get good reception instead of none at all. I'm ordering a CM 7775 or 7778. If that doesn't work then I'll give up on FOX HD until D* comes up with a solution.

Originally posted by RYankowitz
One last comment. It's completely counter-intuitive, but our experience has been that highly-directional receive antennas have been the worst at receiving ATSC. The relatively broad CM4228 and its little brother the CM3021 have produced the best results. I have also seen some amazing reception in both urban and rural areas (as far away as Jamestown, RI, 6' off the ground) with the Winegard Sensar III, model GS-2200 amplified antenna, a very wife-friendly design, IMO (see it here: http://www.winegard.com/offair/pdf/WC-810.pdf).

Now THAT looks interesting! It's bi-directional, which is PERFECT for me. Where I am in Nashua, the entire MA set of stations is just about exactly 180 degrees from the NH stations.

I'm just wondering if it'll be able to pull in the stations from an attic mount location. I've got a corner-mount Yagi that's doing so-so (its gets everyting except UPN, and in May I'll have no need of UPN).

Thanks!

-Kevin

Originally posted by khauser
Now THAT looks interesting! It's bi-directional, which is PERFECT for me. Where I am in Nashua, the entire MA set of stations is just about exactly 180 degrees from the NH stations.

I'm just wondering if it'll be able to pull in the stations from an attic mount location. I've got a corner-mount Yagi that's doing so-so (its gets everyting except UPN, and in May I'll have no need of UPN).

Thanks!

-Kevin
Be careful, here. The Winegard antenna is bi-directional only at VHF frequencies. As you go higher up into the UHF band it becomes uni-directional.

Originally posted by khauser
Now THAT looks interesting! It's bi-directional, which is PERFECT for me. Where I am in Nashua, the entire MA set of stations is just about exactly 180 degrees from the NH stations.

I'm just wondering if it'll be able to pull in the stations from an attic mount location. I've got a corner-mount Yagi that's doing so-so (its gets everyting except UPN, and in May I'll have no need of UPN).

Thanks!

-Kevin

I tried the 4228 in my attic with very poor results. I have since moved it to the roof with an amp and a rotator and it workd perfectly. I get all Boston & Providence channels.

Robert,
A quick question for you. I am in Rehoboth, not much different from New Bedford with relation to Boston channels. I have an older RadioShack roof antennae. FXT usually will come in but all of a sudden will get pixelation. 64 can be difficult too, and I will have to use the rotor from time to time during a show with these channels. 38 I had for a little time, but it is gone, and Idon't watch it much. The channelmaster antennae, is it that much better for our locations than what I am using? It is not a dedicated UHF antennae. I have towers right here in Rehoboth for some of the Providence stuff, including 64 I believe. That might cause some of my problems?:confused: We need great reception on Fox stuff for the upcoming NASCAR season!!!

It seems that the folks I've spoken to in RI watching the game on WFXT-DT all experienced loss of signal at the same time, just under 2 mins to go with the Pats going to 3rd down. Perhaps it was a sudden drop-off in power at the transmitter. I had no drop-outs in the broadcast up until that moment.

I'm hoping someone out here recorded the HD broadcast to their harddrive for archiving. If so could you please pm me? I'm hoping to get the segment I lost (would probably fit on a cd or 2) so I can repair my copy.

Many thanks,

Gregg

Originally posted by DoctorG
It seems that the folks I've spoken to in RI watching the game on WFXT-DT all experienced loss of signal at the same time, just under 2 mins to go with the Pats going to 3rd down. Perhaps it was a sudden drop-off in power at the transmitter. I had no drop-outs in the broadcast up until that moment.

I'm hoping someone out here recorded the HD broadcast to their harddrive for archiving. If so could you please pm me? I'm hoping to get the segment I lost (would probably fit on a cd or 2) so I can repair my copy.

Many thanks,

Gregg

Just curious more than anything. How would you get the segment written to cd's? I have a dvd recorder, but it will only record in 480i. Can a cd burner handle a hd file?

Using a pc based hd tuner card (ex MyHD 120) you can record the HD broadcast to a hard drive. It takes about 9gb of space per hour of HD. Then, the approriate software can copy a selected segment as a separate file(s). For my request (about a 2 min segment), the resulting file(s) could be copied as data to any blank media (cd's in this case). I could then use software to repair my files with this new segment.

Regards,
Gregg

Originally posted by Pablopsd
Robert,
A quick question for you. I am in Rehoboth, not much different from New Bedford with relation to Boston channels. I have an older RadioShack roof antennae. FXT usually will come in but all of a sudden will get pixelation. 64 can be difficult too, and I will have to use the rotor from time to time during a show with these channels. 38 I had for a little time, but it is gone, and Idon't watch it much. The channelmaster antennae, is it that much better for our locations than what I am using? It is not a dedicated UHF antennae. I have towers right here in Rehoboth for some of the Providence stuff, including 64 I believe. That might cause some of my problems?:confused: We need great reception on Fox stuff for the upcoming NASCAR season!!!
The problem with DTV reception is (short of having a spectrum analyzer) there's really no way to know if your antenna is getting a solid signal or if it is right on the edge. I suspect it's the latter with your reception of WFXT, so one nudge of the galactic gravitational constant and you've lost it.

The narrow beamwidth, long-distance antennas I think make the problem worse, because they have a faster fall-off. The broader beamwidth Channel Master and Winegard antennas may be more forgiving of minor pointing errors.

I've had the CM4228 up for several years, and I've only lost WLVI and WFXT in heavy rain and snowstorms, particularly when they were operating at much lower power. During the Blizzard of '05 I made a point to check while the wind was blowing, and I still had solid reception. The house was shaking, but I had HDTV!

I am having the same problem with WFXT in Groton. I get every channel fine with my Voom set up and really up until about 2 weeks ago got 25-1 in great as well. Then we started to notice it was having problems when we tuned into AI in the evening but it always seemed to straighten out right when show started. I was completely unable to watch the superbowl, my signal would hop from 90 to 20 ever second or two and never lock in. I fail to see what this can be on my end with everything else working and this channel working sometimes. Any advice so I dont have to go back to Charter to save my marriage? :p

Robert...just my 2 cents,

I use the DB8 similar to the 4228. During the storm the antenna/pole was rocking slightly back and forth on my roof 45' up....but HD held on nicely during the snow.

I have experimented with a long range Yagi, XG91 and found it to be slightly better stability wise than my DB8 during the rain/wind when it came down to an instance of pointing it in a direction that will allow me to hold both Boston and Prov stations together. But overall these 2 antennas styles for my situation are probably quite equal to the task.

My experience with WFXT is that it's pretty stable where I am. I have never really gotten any drop outs in months, though last night, I lost it completely. I don't know why.

I have noticed that in the summer time, I can see aircraft doing the slow rise from Logan during which I have had drop outs and had to readjust my antenna slightly. I have read somewhere that aircraft air disturbances could also be a factor in causing random dropouts....but who really knows.

I use 2 LG boxes, 4200a/3100a.

I've got no problem with any Boston digital except recently WHDH has been tough to zero in on during daylight hours. After sundown, I get a good solid signal. I'm thinking this has something to do with sunlight reflecting from the snowcover causing multipath.

Robert,
My HD signals were better in the blizzard than Sunday too!:D I was curious as to how well my receptions was, and I was able to get my channels, except for 38 as usual, along with my Direct TV . My Dish was sheltered from the wind by the house, and never had any major snow build up on it. I wish the same could be said for the driveway!! Will the towers in my town only about 2 miles as the crow flies if that cause interference with the signals coming from the Boston area? Overall, my reception is fine. Just on some occasions, I have to tweak the rotor a few degrees during a show. I am only watching at night/evening, so I can't say if it's different during the daytime. Like I said earlier I have an older 7-8+ years old RS roof antennae that I also use for FM. Might be worth upgrading to something newer? Its a big uhf vhf fm unit like in the old days.

Originally posted by Pablopsd
Robert,
My HD signals were better in the blizzard than Sunday too!:D I was curious as to how well my receptions was, and I was able to get my channels, except for 38 as usual, along with my Direct TV . My Dish was sheltered from the wind by the house, and never had any major snow build up on it. I wish the same could be said for the driveway!! Will the towers in my town only about 2 miles as the crow flies if that cause interference with the signals coming from the Boston area? Overall, my reception is fine. Just on some occasions, I have to tweak the rotor a few degrees during a show. I am only watching at night/evening, so I can't say if it's different during the daytime. Like I said earlier I have an older 7-8+ years old RS roof antennae that I also use for FM. Might be worth upgrading to something newer? Its a big uhf vhf fm unit like in the old days.
It's unlikely the Rehoboth towers will cause interference, unless you are looking past them on the way to Needham. In that case, the great difference in levels between their signals and the Needham signals could cause a problem. Maybe.

As for your antenna, there's no way to be sure short of replacing it, but given your difficulty with WSBK it might be worth a shot. The WSBK-DT power is about 8 dB below WBZ-DT's, which isn't a huge amount, and in Rehoboth should not be causing a problem. If you are able to get the weaker WFXT signal I'd suspect the antenna.

The CM4228 is a UHF-only antenna, so you'd have to get a VHF to go along with it. The airplane-wing Winegard is V & U, so it might be a better choice if you don't want to mount separate antennas.

Which Boston digital channels are VHF?

Thanks for the info, Robert. I really don't want 2 antennaes, so I guess I will think about what I want to do. The only thing on 38 is Red Sox on Fridays at home.

Pablo

Originally posted by DoctorG
It seems that the folks I've spoken to in RI watching the game on WFXT-DT all experienced loss of signal at the same time, just under 2 mins to go with the Pats going to 3rd down. Perhaps it was a sudden drop-off in power at the transmitter. I had no drop-outs in the broadcast up until that moment.

I'm hoping someone out here recorded the HD broadcast to their harddrive for archiving. If so could you please pm me? I'm hoping to get the segment I lost (would probably fit on a cd or 2) so I can repair my copy.

Many thanks,

Gregg

Same here, by the time I reacted to the issue, I was able to record off of 64-1 but almost a minute of the recording is missing(intermittent breakup from about 1:08 to :39) so there was only 9 seconds left on the clock when I got 64-1 recorded.

Please let me know if you get that segement.

Thanks,

Jim

I don't know if this can do anybody any good but I have the entire Super Bowl recorded flawlessly to my HD Tivo via FOX25. Not a single break-up.

Originally posted by Benji
I don't know if this can do anybody any good but I have the entire Super Bowl recorded flawlessly to my HD Tivo via FOX25. Not a single break-up.

Depending which STB you have, if it has firewire, it might be able to be exported to a PC: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=403695

Originally posted by vfrjim
Depending which STB you have, if it has firewire, it might be able to be exported to a PC: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=403695

HD Tivo's don't have Firewire. There are ways, but they can't be discussed on AVS Forums.

Originally posted by Benji
I don't know if this can do anybody any good but I have the entire Super Bowl recorded flawlessly to my HD Tivo via FOX25. Not a single break-up.

Benji,

Thanks for the offer. It appears though that it doesn't seem practical. Hopefully someone out here has it sitting on a hard drive in a PC. :)


Jim, if I am successful I will let you know. Please let me know if you are as well. We are not alone as I've gotten some PM's from others that are missing the end as well, not due to reception issues but rather their recording timer was too short.

Regards,
Gregg

Originally posted by DoctorG
Benji,

Thanks for the offer. It appears though that it doesn't seem practical. Hopefully someone out here has it sitting on a hard drive in a PC. :)


Jim, if I am successful I will let you know. Please let me know if you are as well. We are not alone as I've gotten some PM's from others that are missing the end as well, not due to reception issues but rather their recording timer was too short.

Regards,
Gregg

I recorded it on a MCE2005 with an ATI HDTV Wonder, at Best quality with 5.1DD but it's 26GB:eek:

I can't wait for the DVD-HD records to come out for the PC due out any time now.:)

Originally posted by roachxp
I recorded it on a MCE2005 with an ATI HDTV Wonder, at Best quality with 5.1DD but it's 26GB:eek:

I can't wait for the DVD-HD records to come out for the PC due out any time now.:)
Just burn that .ts/tp file that contains it on to a DVD and I will reimburse you. (if it is like a MyHD card, it is broken into 2 gig files(usually).

Originally posted by Shape
Which Boston digital channels are VHF?

None.

They are all VHF.

I put a channel master 4228 antenna in my attic last night. I can't believe all the channels I am pulling in with this thing, even in Worcester.

At the moment, it is just leaning against some boxes. But I am going to build a stand tonight so I can rotate it easily.

I did have trouble pulling in WFXT digital and WGBH digital, though. WGBX was fine. I love the multicasting they are doing on that channel. And I also got some Providence and NH stations. The antenna seems very directional, though, so I am not sure if I will be tuning in to those stations on a regular basis.

WFXT looked fine in analog (a few ghosts), but I couldn't get my Mitsubishi TV to find the digital station.

I haven't even installed an amplifier yet! :)

Originally posted by vfrjim
Just burn that .ts/tp file that contains it on to a DVD and I will reimburse you. (if it is like a MyHD card, it is broken into 2 gig files(usually).

I'll take a look it the folder. I only see ***.dvr-ms files which is the only format MCE2005 outputs. I have heard that there are programs that can convert is to other formats, but don't know the names.

Originally posted by roachxp
I'll take a look it the folder. I only see ***.dvr-ms files which is the only format MCE2005 outputs. I have heard that there are programs that can convert is to other formats, but don't know the names.

Here is a link to the FAQ, seems like it can be changed: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=465419

Please let me know if you can help us. I live close enough to DoctorG that I can bring him a copy of the DVD after you send me it. Thanks for all your help.

Jim

re: HD recordings

off topic, but people may be curious about previous discussion.

Those of you working with conventional tuners may be wondering about the subject of HD recordings of the last few days. This is generally easier if the tuner is in your computer (like the MyHD product).
For those who are looking at HD tuners, consider it as an option.
Pros:
1. If an entertainment computer is already available, the tuner is relativley inexpensive ($250 vicinity)
2. Recording HD is just a matter of having space on local hard drive
3. There is software available to use dvdrom as a movie player. Has the effect of 'upscaling' your DVD's using MyHD.
4. Save on precious HD monitor connections. In my case, my Samsung has VGA connection. I use it for computer/MyHD/movies (3 high def connections in one). MyHD also has option of DVI as daughter card.
5. Tuner fix/upgrade might be as easy as latest software install.
Cons:
1. You better like messing with computers. (My wife just watches SD)
2. Proper entertainment computer could run into $ (my system is a very quiet homebuilt, jet black finish)
3. As noted, the saved files have limited portability. (I made my default file size 4.3GB; basically a DVD per half hour.)

If your interested, there are AVS groups for MyHD and Media Center type computers. Maybe upgrade your computer room?
Mike C

Originally posted by mbtobe
None.

They are all VHF. I'm sure this is just a typo. You meant all UHF.

Before I say any more, I want to publicly appologize to WFXT and more directly to Bill Holbrook for my unfair comments and tirade during the superbowl last weekend. It is clear to me now that my issues with reception are simply a matter of distance. I still don't know if WFXT is transmitting at a lower power than say WBZ, but it doesn't matter now 'cause I seem to have solved my problem. So, thanks again, Bill for putting up with my BS.

I ordered a CM 7775, UHF antenna amplifier (26 dB gain) on Wednesday afternoon and received it the following afternoon. (Big thanks and many kudos to Stark Electronics in Worchester!) I started by checking the current signal strenth on WFXT-DT and it was at the usual mid 30's. Now that I had this baseline I installed both the amp and power supply at my headend, right before the multiplexer ant input. I checked the signal strength again and WHAM! Low 60's. To say that this got me all excited would be a gross understatement. So, now I moved the amp right up next to the antenna, a CM 4228 and now, to make a long rave short, I'm getting solid 80's and a beautiful, stable picture and audio from WFXT-DT and WBSK-DT !

I won't say that this will fix everyone's reception issues 'cause every situation is different. But if you seem to be pulling in channels 4 and 5 with no problem and Fox 25 is not cutting it you may want to consider an ~$50 experiment with one of the 777X series amps.

Originally posted by Benji
I'm sure this is just a typo. You meant all UHF.

Bad enough I can't type....but no excuse for not at least proofing!

Thanks Benji.

WHDH (7-1) is driving me crazy, all week its been 4:3, and right now its 4:3 + 16:9 top and bottom bars (if it makes sense), big BLACK square box around my TV on OTA, and on my buddies TV with comcast!

Whats going on!?

Did anyone have issues with UPN-38 sound? It was horrible during Enterprise...sort of a flickering sound...

Originally posted by nuzzy
Did anyone have issues with UPN-38 sound? It was horrible during Enterprise...sort of a flickering sound...

Yes, it happened to me with two different tuners.

Yes, Bad audio "flickering" throughout on my MyHD card

Mark H

WSBK-DT had bad audio with the HD signal for me as well (HD TiVo). The SD signal seemed OK (from Direct TV - BN38).

WFXT-DT transmission of Bud Shootout is awesome! Great HD picture and solid Dolby 5.1!

Originally posted by woodworm
WFXT-DT transmission of Bud Shootout is awesome! Great HD picture and solid Dolby 5.1!

Yeah great job can't wait for Daytona 500 next weekend:)

Can you get NESN-HD and ESPN-HD if you get the basic, HDTV package from Comcast?

I was wondering if it is still true that you can get HDTV channel with Basic (not extended Basic) with Digital Classic for about $25 total. I am trying to cut my cable cost. Can somebody confirm that you get ESPN-HD and NESN-HD?
Thank you in advance.

Originally posted by bluegene
Can you get NESN-HD and ESPN-HD if you get the basic, HDTV package from Comcast?

I was wondering if it is still true that you can get HDTV channel with Basic (not extended Basic) with Digital Classic for about $25 total. I am trying to cut my cable cost. Can somebody confirm that you get ESPN-HD and NESN-HD?
Thank you in advance.

bluegene,

You might want to inquire in the Boston - Comcast forum rather than here in the OTA forum. I'm not familiar with Comcast as we have COX in Rhode Island.

Regards,
Gregg

I also experienced problems with Enterprise's audio on Friday on 38-1.

When I tried to record it again on Saturday night, the audio was fine but it was not in HD. Is that normal for the Saturday night broadcast of Enterprise on 38-1?


Maldini

I don't know if it was just my system, but I had very poor/no audio for Grammy awards in HD only. My wife was very disappointed in Enterprise on Friday.

It is too bad the SD and HD audio are not synchronized, in my setup with 1 HD and 3 SD tuners, my audio could theoretically come from a different source.
Anyone know why they are not synchronized?

Mike C.

I had amazing audio for the Grammys last night. No dropouts. Picture was incredible, too.

But yeah, audio was breaking up for me during Enterprise.

Grammys video & audio was fantastic , but it was louder then other channels so I had to turn it down.

I agree with roach xp. Picture and sound was awsome but everytime I switched to a sports channel and back I had to change volume, Grammy's were very loud.

Originally posted by mcocorochio
I don't know if it was just my system, but I had very poor/no audio for Grammy awards in HD only. My wife was very disappointed in Enterprise on Friday.

It is too bad the SD and HD audio are not synchronized, in my setup with 1 HD and 3 SD tuners, my audio could theoretically come from a different source.
Anyone know why they are not synchronized?

Mike C.

It's because of the additional encoding HD needs. Depending on your audio receiver, you might be able to offset you audio enough so it matches. I believe my Denon has this option, though I've never used it.

hi. i'm in southern NH in a north-south-running river valley and am using the very directional CM4248 in my attic,
with UHF preamp. this setup gets me great results for the strong DTV signals from needham area, especially in cold or cloudy weather. 25.1 is the least reliable to pull in with either of my DTV tuners. this is not a surprise given the weak-ass transmit power that the FCC has authorized 25.1 for whatever reason. i consider myself lucky to ever pull in 25.1 over-the-air! so given the *CRUCIAL* content that is on 25.1, i have adelphia HDTV cable service too, and often end up shuffling component/audio cables before a key baseball or football game... maybe this info will be useful to others in southern NH especially. happy DTV-viewing, folks...

FYI D*TV people. After EMailing and calling D*TV I had given up getting local HD through them, but after seeing posts that other members were receiving local HD I called and blasted them. I now have network Fox and CBS HD! I would really be pissed since I put up an antenna in between, but I still get 7,5,38,56 OTA so it was not a waste.

I just want to let everyone know in the Boston area not to expect NESN HD anytime soon even when they launch the HD locals. I have been going back and forth with Stephanie Campbell at D* and was told that they have no room to add this channel. She said that it has come up alot in conversation at D* but that is about as far as it has gone. This is very disappointing news for me but will never go back to Comcrap as the HD ST is worth more to me than NESN HD

Steve...I don't think D* ever really intended to do HD regional sports networks, only OTA digitals. What I'm wondering is will they have all the Boston digitals or only 4, 5, 7 and 25?

Benji,

My guess is that it will only be 4,5,7,25 and maybe 38 and 56 but after trading email's with Stephanie she admitted that space is a huge issue for them even with the new birds going up. It is to bad that they can't offer the RSN's in HD because I know for a fact it is costing them business.

By the way Stephanie is retiring at the end of the month so I guess I need to find someone else to bother.

Steve...all this time I pictured Stephanie as a young, hottie. Now you're telling me she's an old bag!

Originally posted by Benji
Steve...all this time I pictured Stephanie as a young, hottie. Now you're telling me she's an old bag!

Lets put it this way I don't know that if she is old or young but for your preverted mind go with the young and enjoy it. It may have been a case where she had no choice who knows. I guess Robert Mercer will be the next one that I hound over there. I'll tell you it really sucks knowing NESN HD may never show up on D* but it is not enough to make mego back to Comcrap

Originally posted by steverobertson
Lets put it this way I don't know that if she is old or young but for your "preverted" ... Is that really a word?

Steve...are you contented with getting CBS and FOX out of New York? I'm assuming this all stops when the LILs start up. I will be moving shortly to East Bridgewater and should become eligible for those stations but probably lose NBC.

Originally posted by Benji
Steve...are you contented with getting CBS and FOX out of New York? I'm assuming this all stops when the LILs start up. I will be moving shortly to East Bridgewater and should become eligible for those stations but probably lose NBC.

Yes I do get those and you are right they probably will stop once LIL start which means I either upgrade my system and get rid of my HD Tivo or depend on my outside antenna which is not alway the most dependable piece of equipment. This who D* thing is starting to get annoying if it weren't for the HD ST games I might consider giving cable a try. I have to say though the SD channels on cable are pretty bad in my area so in reality I probably would never go back. I dropped the NBC HD feed when they started charging 2.25 a month for it as that is one station I never have a problem with locally.

Man you move an awful lot are the cops tying to track you down or something?

Originally posted by steverobertson


Man you move an awful lot are the cops tying to track you down or something? They don't allow pedophiles to hang around very often. Seriously, it's all about anti-perspirant deodorants...my neighbors think I should use it, I don't.

You may be interested in this:

HARRIS CORPORATION AND CBS SPORTS TEAM UP TO TRIPLE THE NUMBER OF 2005 MARCH MADNESS GAMES TO BE BROADCAST IN HIGH DEFINITION TELEVISION

NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL REGIONALS, FINAL FOUR AND CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES IN HDTV

24 First Round Games to Air in HD

39 NCAA Tournament Basketball Games to Be Broadcast In HDTV and 5.1 Surround Sound

NEW YORK, February 14, 2005 – Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS) and CBS Sports announced today an agreement in which Harris will sponsor High Definition Television (HDTV) coverage of the 2005 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship for a second consecutive year, and the number of games broadcast in High Definition (HD) will increase dramatically from 12 to 39.

HD coverage will include 24 High Definition games from four of the eight first round sites March 17-20. The four sites will be split with two being Thursday/Saturday sites, while the other two will be Friday/Sunday locations. In 2004, HD games originated from only one first round site.

This year’s Sweet Sixteen will be even sweeter in that all 12 games from the four regional sites in Chicago, Albuquerque, Austin and Syracuse will air in HD. In 2004, only one regional site broadcast HD games.

And for the sixth consecutive year, CBS Sports will air the two national semi-final games and the National Championship Game in High Definition.

The telecasts, which will be presented live by CBS Sports, will be “unified” productions produced in HDTV’s highest definition format, 1080i, and downconverted for the CBS Television Network’s analog broadcast coverage. This production technique also produces a better quality analog picture. Whether watching in widescreen HD or traditional 4x3 analog, viewers will see the same camera angles, replays and graphics and will hear the same play by play.

Once again, the High Definition NCAA Basketball Tournament games will be broadcast in 5.1 channels of CD quality surround sound. The addition of surround sound audio to the broadcast, coupled with the clarity of 1080 lines of picture resolution, will bring the stadium experience to the viewer's home.

"There is nothing like March Madness, and there is nothing like March Madness in HD and 5.1 surround sound on CBS," said Sean McManus, President, CBS Sports. "Now our friends at Harris are making it possible to take our HD coverage of the tournament to the next level. This is the sixth consecutive year we have broadcast the Final Four in HDTV, re-affirming CBS's leadership in HD Sports broadcasting."

“Working with CBS to enable HDTV broadcasts of the NCAA tournament is part of Harris’ commitment to the future of television,” said Jeremy Wensinger, president of Harris’ Broadcast Communications Division. “One of the best ways we can ensure the wide-scale success of digital television in the United States is by giving the American public the chance to experience HDTV, with its crystal clear pictures and dynamic surround sound, for themselves. High-visibility events like the NCAA tournament are an excellent way to do this.”

CBS Sports’ coverage of the 2005 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Final Four and Championship games will be broadcast live Saturday, April 2 (6:00-11:00 PM, ET) and Monday, April 4 (9:00-11:30 PM, ET) from St. Louis, Missouri.

Great news Bob...thanks for the heads-up!

I wish it were possible to multicast all the first round games in HD, but I know it's impossible with the bandwith ,but would be sweet.

I need some help

I am frustrated with my OTA situation and I don't know how to fix it.

5-1, and 38-1 come in great. High 90's and stay that way for days at a time.

I get Fox and CBS on D* so I don't check them that often, but both had drop out issues via OTA from time to time before I got them off of D*.

I am having a hell of a time with NBC 7-1. It is normally in the mid 90's but every 10 or 15 minutes I get a quick drop down to the 50's and I lose the picture for a few seconds.

Sometimes its more often making it unwatchable, other times I can make it through an hour show with no issues. I have to always Tivo both the SD and HD versions of the same show so that I can have a back up.


My real question is, can I hire someone to help me with the issue? I think I may need to significantly raise the height of the antenna since it is only at head head right now. I am thinking that my problems are only going to get worse once all of the trees surrounding my house get leaves on them this spring.

Any help here would be appreciated.

Maldini

I don't know where you are located, but I had the same problem. Although channel 5 and 7 broadcast from the same general area, I was also unable to get them both with my antenna pointed in the same direction. I had the same drop out problem, which I believe to be caused by multipath. My solution was to install a rotator on my antenna so that I could move it to a prime spot for each channel. Now it works great. With the Channel Master Rotator with a remote, it works great and is really quite easy. As a bonus, I can easily move the antenna toward Providence, and I also get all the RI channels.

Hi mbtobe,

I am located in Millis MA, probably a 7-10 minute drive from where you are.

5-1 is located at 55 degrees and 7-1 is located at 59 degrees.

38-1 is located at 55 as well and since I get 5-1 and 38-1 both well, I think I am pointed correctly there. Its 7-1 thats the issue for me.

As for a rotator, how does that work with something like Tivo? I never watch anything live so the rotator would have to work in conjunction with Tivo and I am not sure that is possible.

Does this mean there may be no solution for my issue?

Maldini

Hey neighbor!

We have pretty much the same set up. I also have TIVO HD (HR10-250). The only difference is that I have the national feeds for Fox, NBC and CBS. The only one I am missing is ABC (5.1). Therefore, I generally leave the antenna pointed for 5.1 and use the DTV HD feeds for the other networks.
While the rotator is controled via remote, it is not controled by the TIVO unit.

Two possible solutions for you:
You said that your antenna is not mounted high. You may want to try using a less directional antenna (such as a CM4228) and mounting it on your roof.
I would bet you would be able to get all Boston channels with it pointed in one direction.
Or, how about two antenna's pointed toward each signal? You will need filters for this one.

Also, dont forget that we should be able to get DTV local HD feed this year.

Also, dont forget that we should be able to get DTV local HD feed this year.

This won't affect me until Direct TV comes out with a DVR that will handle MPEG4 which could be a long time away I think.

You may want to try using a less directional antenna (such as a CM4228) and mounting it on your roof. I would bet you would be able to get all Boston channels with it pointed in one direction.

This is my hope as well. Do you know of any people that I could hire to help mount an antenna up high like that and take the time to point it?


The only difference is that I have the national feeds for Fox, NBC and CBS.

How did you acquire the NBC national feed? Every time I call they tell me I can't get that station via direct tv.

Maldini

I mounted the antenna myself after not being able to identify any reasonably priced alternatives. As for the pointing, I got lots of excercise running up and down the ladder before getting the rotator.
As for MPEG4, it is my understanding that DTV will be providing a solution for that in the form of an upgrade. It is simply not reasonable to think they will leave current subscribers in the lurch.

As for NBC, I got a waiver last summer when I went to HD, before the new rule change.

Originally posted by RYankowitz

I've attached a composite analyzer plot that demonstrates this. The green trace shows a strong and multipath-free signal that is easily receivable. The red trace shows a relatively strong signal, but one with moderate multipath (as shown by the dip in the trace). Some receivers will have problems with this signal, especially if the multipath is unstable. The yellow trace shows a weak signal, barely above the noise floor. However, there is no multipath in this signal, and the receiver had no trouble locking and decoding a solid picture.



Are there any other characteristics in the signal trace to look for in order to spot multipath, aside from "tilt"? Is there any "signature" that would differentiate short delay multipath from long delay? What does the slope of the tilt indicate? Or, a tilt with a curve? Also, I occasionally see a sinewave "glitch" in the middle of the squarewave shaped trace for an ATSC signal. Is this "unstable multipath"?

I have an spectrum analyzer with battery power that is much easier to lug around the roof than an STB to measure BER while twiddling the antennas (which are horizontally stacked).

I have seen descriptions of using NTSC analog signals on a regular tv at the hdtvprimer website - e.g. counting 'ghosts", etc., to use as a means to re-aim an antenna to utilize nulls in the antenna gain pattern to attenuate multipath signals, but in my situation there are no analog signals at some of the frequencies I need to analyze.

AufVidyZen

As for MPEG4, it is my understanding that DTV will be providing a solution for that in the form of an upgrade. It is simply not reasonable to think they will leave current subscribers in the lurch.

I agree, but it is the time frame I am worried about. Since this will likely be their first foray into DVR like software, I am expecting this product to be quite a ways away (probably well into 2006) and I want to have a solution to tide me over until then using OTA.

Maldini

Originally posted by aufVidyZen
Are there any other characteristics in the signal trace to look for in order to spot multipath, aside from "tilt"? Is there any "signature" that would differentiate short delay multipath from long delay? What does the slope of the tilt indicate? Or, a tilt with a curve? Also, I occasionally see a sinewave "glitch" in the middle of the squarewave shaped trace for an ATSC signal. Is this "unstable multipath"?

I have an spectrum analyzer with battery power that is much easier to lug around the roof than an STB to measure BER while twiddling the antennas (which are horizontally stacked).

I have seen descriptions of using NTSC analog signals on a regular tv at the hdtvprimer website - e.g. counting 'ghosts", etc., to use as a means to re-aim an antenna to utilize nulls in the antenna gain pattern to attenuate multipath signals, but in my situation there are no analog signals at some of the frequencies I need to analyze.

AufVidyZen
[list=1]
Congratulations on having a spectrum analyzer at your disposal. I've found they produce unambiguous results while tuning. In my case, rather than lugging it up to the roof (makes an expensive 'Bonk!' sound when it falls off) I used another aid: walkie-talkies and a wife. It's geeky, I know, but she was a good sport about it. And, technically, it was business-related for me.
Bumpy is probably the best way to describe a signal suffering from multipath. The greater the number of bumps and the deeper they are, the worse off you are.
Generally a tilted or curved waveform can be handled by the receiver's equalizer (as long as the tilt or curve aren't too severe).
I don't think you can discern the different delays from a visual examination of the trace. The receiver can, through mathematical techniques, and some of our test instruments have displays that show this. I'm not sure what you'd do with the information, even if you had it.
By unstable, I mean the shape of the signal changes significantly as you watch the analyzer.
Minimizing ghosts using analog signals can be a useful aid, but as you say, it's only a compromise and I haven't found it very reliable in tricky circumstances.
[/list=1]

ok since no one has responded to my question about being able to hire someone to reinstall my OTA antenna I will have to assume that they may not exist.

As such, can someone help me with some basics?

1) I know I need to obviously adjust the azimuth but what about the other two parameters of tilt and elevation? My antenna seems to be able to adjust in all three areas but I don't know how to go about tuning the antenna.

2) Do amps help with multipath issues (if that is even what I have) or if I normally get signals in the 90's, outside of the random dropouts, would the amp be wasted?

Maldini

Hi there. I'm just getting into the world of HD. I have an HR10-250 up and running but no HD set just yet. I'm waiting on Cambridge Soundworks to deliver a Toshiba 34FHX84 in another week or so. Out of stock right now.

Anyway, I figured I'd take the time and get the HD DVR up and running and do some research on OTA antennas while waiting on the display. Man I'm cramming on lots of great information in this forum and pointers provided by many of you. :)

Antennaweb has me about 31 miles from Boston and needing to point in the direction of 135/136 degrees to get the OTA signals I'm interested in. It looks like based on my distance that indoor options such as the RS 15-1880 and Zenith Silver Sensor are most likely out of the question. I've gone through some 30 or so pages of posts in this topic and listed some of what others are using successfully to pull in the OTA Boston signals, comparing their antenna hardware and distance to what I might need. Maybe another member will find this helpful in the future.

01581 Westboro, Ma 20 mi. Silver Sensor n/a inside
02019 Bellingham, Ma 21 mi. CM4228 amp outside
Worcester,Ma 29 mi. CM4228 n/a attic
01520 Holden, Ma 31 mi. CM4228 CM7775 outside
01453 Leominster,Ma. 31 mi. ? ? ?
01463 Pepperell,Ma 31 mi. 8 bay bowtie CM7775? ?
01524 Leicester, Ma 36 mi. DB4 Wineguard ?
01540 Oxford, Ma 36 mi. DB8 ? ?
03101 Manchester, NH 49 mi. CM4228 CM7775 ?

Given the small listing above it looks like my best bet is to just start with the Channel Master 4228 and 7775 amp combo. I would have liked to have at least tried the Zenith indoor option but it appears it would be a wasted trip to Sears. The attic is really not an option as I'm in a cape and the 4228 will probably not fit in the crawl space.

I'm certainly going to review more posts in this topic to see if there are other options. Since I won't be doing this right away, (wife will require many dinners for roof mounting option), I'd appreciate any other suggestions on product and approach.

Thanks!

Originally posted by maldini
ok since no one has responded to my question about being able to hire someone to reinstall my OTA antenna I will have to assume that they may not exist.

You could check the yellow pages for "The Antenna Man" in Beverly, MA. He put up my roof antenna and was able to do miracle work to get strong signals from all three DirecTV locations despite the dish needing to be mounted on a pine tree.

Channel 2 is now putting out program titles for WGBH-SD (12 hours, titles only, no details). Still nothing for PBS-HD (2-2).

Channel 38 data has been out for a while - continuously broadcasting info for Feb 06.

Channel 25 guide data was stuck for a while, but is back again now.

My dad just bought a nice 70" HDTV and had a Direct TV installer come to the house today and told my dad that he couldnt get a signal due to the trees. I know my dad can get an OTA antenna but he really wants the discovery HD channel. What are his options to get a sat. setup working? He currently has local digital cable(Charter) but they dont offer any HD programming. I went over to antennaweb.com and got a map of what direction the local channels are in but I am still a little confused on it. Will that determine if I get the regular channel or the HD version of it or both? His house is about 25 miles from the towers in Providence RI and about 50 miles from the towers in Boston. He lives in Westport MA. I kind of joked with him and told him to put the dish on a 50ft poll on top of the peek on his house but I dont think he really wants to do that. You guys have any options for him. I have looked around here and there is just so much that its got me all confused

I had to locate my dish on the side of our lawn instead of roof where my original dish was located. Did the installer walk around the property to see if he could locate a line of sight of to the birds. A lazy installer could have just checked a couple of spots and took the easy way out, no line of sight, they get paid anyway. Just a thought.

Originally posted by georgemoe
Hi there. I'm just getting into the world of HD. I have an HR10-250 up and running but no HD set just yet. I'm waiting on Cambridge Soundworks to deliver a Toshiba 34FHX84 in another week or so. Out of stock right now.

Anyway, I figured I'd take the time and get the HD DVR up and running and do some research on OTA antennas while waiting on the display. Man I'm cramming on lots of great information in this forum and pointers provided by many of you. :)

Antennaweb has me about 31 miles from Boston and needing to point in the direction of 135/136 degrees to get the OTA signals I'm interested in. It looks like based on my distance that indoor options such as the RS 15-1880 and Zenith Silver Sensor are most likely out of the question. I've gone through some 30 or so pages of posts in this topic and listed some of what others are using successfully to pull in the OTA Boston signals, comparing their antenna hardware and distance to what I might need. Maybe another member will find this helpful in the future.

01581 Westboro, Ma 20 mi. Silver Sensor n/a inside
02019 Bellingham, Ma 21 mi. CM4228 amp outside
Worcester,Ma 29 mi. CM4228 n/a attic
01520 Holden, Ma 31 mi. CM4228 CM7775 outside
01453 Leominster,Ma. 31 mi. ? ? ?
01463 Pepperell,Ma 31 mi. 8 bay bowtie CM7775? ?
01524 Leicester, Ma 36 mi. DB4 Wineguard ?
01540 Oxford, Ma 36 mi. DB8 ? ?
03101 Manchester, NH 49 mi. CM4228 CM7775 ?

Given the small listing above it looks like my best bet is to just start with the Channel Master 4228 and 7775 amp combo. I would have liked to have at least tried the Zenith indoor option but it appears it would be a wasted trip to Sears. The attic is really not an option as I'm in a cape and the 4228 will probably not fit in the crawl space.

I'm certainly going to review more posts in this topic to see if there are other options. Since I won't be doing this right away, (wife will require many dinners for roof mounting option), I'd appreciate any other suggestions on product and approach.

Thanks!

The Silver Sensor might get you the high powered stations, CBS, ABC, PBS. The combo you are going to get would be my choice if I could go 40x40". Living in an apartment at 36 mi from the farm I opted for the antennas direct DB4. I get all my local fairly reliably excpet for low powered UPN. Check out the antenna selection at www.antennasdirect.com. They have quality product, although I will say the 4228 is a great UHF antenna, especially for around $50.00. Good luck. You should be fine @ 31 miles as long as you are not in a hole. Remember, outside and higher is better. Aim that puppy right at the farm......Adjust for "hot spots" for fine tuning. Good luck!!!

Originally posted by BOTTLEDZ28
My dad just bought a nice 70" HDTV and had a Direct TV installer come to the house today and told my dad that he couldnt get a signal due to the trees. I know my dad can get an OTA antenna but he really wants the discovery HD channel. What are his options to get a sat. setup working? He currently has local digital cable(Charter) but they dont offer any HD programming. I went over to antennaweb.com and got a map of what direction the local channels are in but I am still a little confused on it. Will that determine if I get the regular channel or the HD version of it or both? His house is about 25 miles from the towers in Providence RI and about 50 miles from the towers in Boston. He lives in Westport MA. I kind of joked with him and told him to put the dish on a 50ft poll on top of the peek on his house but I dont think he really wants to do that. You guys have any options for him. I have looked around here and there is just so much that its got me all confused

Took me 3 DTV installers to finally agree that to get around the trees, I needed 2 dishes connected with a multiswitch.

Dont give up and INSIST that they get it right.

Originally posted by blackngold19
The Silver Sensor might get you the high powered stations, CBS, ABC, PBS. The combo you are going to get would be my choice if I could go 40x40". Living in an apartment at 36 mi from the farm I opted for the antennas direct DB4. I get all my local fairly reliably excpet for low powered UPN. Check out the antenna selection at antennasdirect. They have quality product, although I will say the 4228 is a great UHF antenna, especially for around $50.00. Good luck. You should be fine @ 31 miles as long as you are not in a hole. Remember, outside and higher is better. Aim that puppy right at the farm......Adjust for "hot spots" for fine tuning. Good luck!!!

Thanks Blackngold. Since I have a $50 Sears gift card left from Christmas, I think I'm going to just pick up a Silver Sensor for ha ha's. Can't hurt. If I'll I'm missing is WSBK UPN I'll be ok with that.

But I fully expect to have to put up a CM4228. I've also read alot about the DB4 you mention. It is hard to tell what the better antenna is. I've read about 19 pages of the antenna topic here and both seem to be can't lose options based on my distance.

Since I'm 20 minutes from Stark in Worcester, I'll probably save the shipping cost and get a CM4228 in the Spring. I'm expecting my cable run will be about 40 ft so I'll try it without an amp at first. If I do need an amp, I'll get the CM7777 instead of the 75 so I can run it combined.

But since theres snow now, I'll give the Zenith SS a shot. If it doesn't work it will only cost me a trip back to Sears. :cool:

How would you get a digital 5.1 surround by using an antenna? My dad is desperate to get the daytona 500 in HD and his only way to get it right now is w/ an antenna. the local cable company doesnt offer any HD and direct TV told him twice that they couldnt get any signal.

My Mitsubishi TV has an internal ATSC antenna and a digital audio output in the form of a coaxial S/PDIF connector. I plugged that into my receiver and I get Dolby Digital 5.1.

Originally posted by BOTTLEDZ28
How would you get a digital 5.1 surround by using an antenna? My dad is desperate to get the daytona 500 in HD and his only way to get it right now is w/ an antenna. the local cable company doesnt offer any HD and direct TV told him twice that they couldnt get any signal.

If you have a HD OTA tuner that has a optical or coax audio output, then plug one or the other into a audio receiver that is 5.1 capable on your on the way. I will be selling my Zenith 420 HD tuner box. If your in the market send me a PM.

Originally posted by BOTTLEDZ28
How would you get a digital 5.1 surround by using an antenna? My dad is desperate to get the daytona 500 in HD and his only way to get it right now is w/ an antenna. the local cable company doesnt offer any HD and direct TV told him twice that they couldnt get any signal. If you have an HD receiver and a Dolby Digital sound system, the OTA signal from WFXT-DT will automatically produce a DD 5.1 soundtrack on all FOX-HD programming. Your HD receiver will have either a digital coaxial or digital optical output that you need to connect to your A/V receiver.

ok, Im gonna have to check onmy dads TV then. he just bought a Sony 70" widescreen LCD. Ill see if it has an audio out

Originally posted by BOTTLEDZ28
ok, Im gonna have to check onmy dads TV then. he just bought a Sony 70" widescreen LCD. Ill see if it has an audio out

Does your dad's tv have a built-in HD OTA tuner, if it does it probably has dolby digital output.

yes it does. see, the problem we are having is that he lives in a cowville where there is like no technology availible. the local cable comapny doesnt even have HD and there digital box has no digital outputs on it. :confused:
so, our next best thing was direct tv or something but now he cant get any signal due to big trees near the house. so his next thing was voom which I was told uses a completly different satilitte and should work out for him but there is way to much BS going on with all thesde dumb installers that show up. so all this has left us with getting a cheap OTA antenna for now just my dad can see what HD looks like. Plus he really wants to see the nascar race on FOX. I just need a quick easy way of getting the HD version of fox. We are gonna try this OTA antenna from radio shack and see what happens. is this easy to calibrate? How do you find the HD channels when using the antenna?

Originally posted by BOTTLEDZ28
ok, Im gonna have to check onmy dads TV then. he just bought a Sony 70" widescreen LCD. Ill see if it has an audio out If it has a built-in digital tuner it will have a digital audio out otherwise you're SOL.

If your Tv doesn't have a built-in signal meter, it's trial and error. In your TV menu, find the digital channel scan and scan to see if any signals are picked up. Aim the antenna in the direction of Needham, preferably on a window sill facing in that direction, with a long cable to the TV. Good luck!

No A/V on WHDH-DT all day today, signal is strong at 80-90% and fully locked, and program info is displayed. Rebooted and rescanned several times with no results. Anybody out there able to see it? Also lost WGBH completely for a little while, was receiving no RF at all on that one, but it's back to 90% now.

Right now, I am able to see the NBC feed on WJAR-DT, so I do have an alternative to WHDH, but it's usually marginal.

hi PhiloT. 7.1 is working on my tv right now. audio & video are there. signal strength is just barely there though. some pixelations/dropouts.

Thanks, tveli. Very odd. It was working just fine last night, with the same signal strength. Can't figure out what could have changed, nothing changed at this end. Usually when something like that happens, a rescan will do the job, but not this time. I do lose WHDH sometimes, but when I do, the signal strength goes low or is wavering, which is not the case tonight. Very mysterious, indeed.

This information may already be known to some of you, but for those who are interested in gaining some knowledge of the theory and practical applications that relate to this discussion, check out this site: www.hdtvprimer.com, written by an engineer (and fellow HAM) Ken Nist,_ MSEE (ret),_ KQ6QV.

It is a strictly non-commercial site, and he has accumulated a great deal of excellent info on HDTV OTA reception, antenna theory, basic electronic theory (some good reminders here even for us old geezers), and practical applications and how-to techniques. I just ran across this today looking for comparisons of various antenna polar patterns, and that's where I found them, along with some excellent computer models of frequency response of various antenna designs.

Got stuck surfing around in there for about an hour, and learned a number of new things and was reminded of a few basics that I had forgotten! Interesting stuff.

BottledZ,
I have a buddy that lives in Westport in the middle of a pine grove and he can amazingly get a DirectTv signal. I know it is last minute, but WNAC 64 is closer than channel 25. They both will have the race today. If you can't get it, come on up to Rehoboth. Only 50" but in HD with full surround and leather furniture. Of course, you sound like a Chevy guy by name. Probably a Junior fan.:D You can still come and watch all that unbiased /Chevy DEI coverage on Fox and Speed!

Pablo

Is it just me. I'm getting no signal on FOX 25-1 WFXT. Blank screen. Fortunately I get CH 88 so I can see the race but was wondring if anyone else is seeing or not seeing this...

ursa

Getting it in Rehoboth. No Problem

Pablopsd, Im a harvick(29) fan. I dont care for jr:D . I live in fallriver so I get comcast HD and the race looked great. Im asking all these OTA questions fo rmy dad who lives in westport. He watched it on regular cable today. hes trying to see what Voom can do for him.

Did anyone else lose signal on Law & Order Criminal Intent tonight? My recording only got the first ~6 minutes - there was presumably no signal after that point.

I also had peoblems with Fox yesterday

No problems with FOX yesterday up here in Andover. I'm really an open-wheel/sportscar fan (only two weeks to F1 season!) so this is generally the only NASCAR race of the year I'd watch flag to flag but I found it fairly entertaining and thought it looked pretty good overall. (Well, except for that hurrendous opening "show".)

I'm also having problems with 7-1, seemingly no signal since about Fri night (last time I remember checking.) Apparently they've messed with their PSIP mapping or something since they no longer map to 7-1 on my Panny HDS20, now back on 42-1. No SW upgrades or other changes and re-scan didn't fix so I'm confident its on their end. Hopefully they will realize what they did wrong and fix it next week.

I haven't been able to get in 7-1, either on my Mitsubishi WD52525.

gsr, i watched l&o "sequel intent" last night, OTA from beginning to end.
there were a couple of of signal drops due to weather conditions & the fact that i am 50 miles from the xmitter.
also a brain-drop near the end as i dozed off for a few minutes ;)

Originally posted by Shape
I haven't been able to get in 7-1, either on my Mitsubishi WD52525.

Glad to hear it's not just me having issues with 7-1, I still have excellent locked signal, current program info, but no A/V since Friday, as stated above. Have tried reboots and rescans daily, no results. Somethin's fishy somehere, more messin' around with the PSIP again, I'll wager.

Rig here is the USDigital wally-world special. Working great for every other channel but 7-1!

Originally posted by BOTTLEDZ28
yes it does. see, the problem we are having is that he lives in a cowville where there is like no technology availible. the local cable comapny doesnt even have HD and there digital box has no digital outputs on it. :confused:
so, our next best thing was direct tv or something but now he cant get any signal due to big trees near the house. so his next thing was voom which I was told uses a completly different satilitte and should work out for him but there is way to much BS going on with all thesde dumb installers that show up. so all this has left us with getting a cheap OTA antenna for now just my dad can see what HD looks like. Plus he really wants to see the nascar race on FOX. I just need a quick easy way of getting the HD version of fox. We are gonna try this OTA antenna from radio shack and see what happens. is this easy to calibrate? How do you find the HD channels when using the antenna?

Your dad needs a UHF/VHF combo on a rotor. Check out www.starkelectronic.com for some good combos. Also, I doubt VOOM will be able to do a job of that magnitude. Call around to see if their are any installers in the area to get a quote. I can't see how you can call the installers dumb though. It seems to me that if you are going to purchase a 4,000 TV, you should first figure out what your options are.

I know it's usual to complain about too much overscan, but how about too little?

On WFXT 25-1 OTA, I can typicaly see the very top of the screen where there's some white noisy lines and junk (sorry, I don't know the technical jargon). I only see it on 25-1 and it's most prevalent when they're showing a national HD program and cut to local SD/upconverted signal (ie, commercials). It doesn't seem to happen when they cut to commercials on other non-HD broadcasts. FWIW, I'm watching on a Samsung DLP set.

Does anyone else have this issue? It's only the top couple of pixels across the screen, but it's very obvious that it's the end of the signal and that either there isn't enough overscan or that the image is shifted down enough that I'm seeing what should be hidden in overscan.

-Steve

EDIT: Oops. My bad. Others have already complained in this thread. I guess it's worth noting it again though since it seems to be an actual issue and not just me.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=4330592&highlight=overscan#post4330592
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3951858&highlight=overscan#post3951858

After reading numerous posts here, I thought for sure I would need a 4 bay or 8 bay UHF antenna being 31 miles away from the towers. Since I had a Sears gift card, why not experiment with the SS first.

Well I'm pulling in everything I wanted and more with it. Even Worcester and Providence. :)

The weakest Boston signal strengths are WCVB-DT 5-1 at 76-83 and WFXT-DT 25-1 at 76-83. The rest are in the 90's!

WBPX-DT, PAX 68-1 is the worst and pixelating but I really don't watch it. I adjusted the direction of the SS to better the signal on WFXT-DT FOX and WCVB-DT ABC.

Disclaimer: I fully understand it is now 11:45 PM ET, Feb 21, snow on the ground, cold, etc; etc. Maybe in the spring and summer, the Zenith will not be providing me with this type of reception. Then I'll have to address the CM4228 and where that will get installed.

But for now, thank you little $39 indoor antenna! :D

BottledZ,
Didn't Harvick get fired after Thursday?? LOL. Your dad should be able to get something OTA with an antennae no problem. I get all the Boston stuff, except 38 and RI stuff, which I had better get, since I can see some of the towers through the trees. I have probably a 8 year old Radio Shack roof antennae with a rotor. I do have to adjust direction somewhat, and I am sure that there are better options, but I think your dad should be able to get something in time for next Sunday's race in CA. All the races this year are in HD. H should be good until it's a FX or Turner broadcast. Then we are SD over DirectTV.

Pablo

PS I can't believe I was more happy with Gordon winning instead of Junior! Was hoping Bush was going to be able to make a run since Mark Martin couldn't.

Originally posted by georgemoe
After reading numerous posts here, I thought for sure I would need a 4 bay or 8 bay UHF antenna being 31 miles away from the towers. Since I had a Sears gift card, why not experiment with the SS first.

Well I'm pulling in everything I wanted and more with it. Even Worcester and Providence. :)

But for now, thank you little $39 indoor antenna! :D

The Silver Sensor is the best, I used my ATI Silver Sensor and screw it to the peak of my roof. Then yesterday my VOOM install saw it and were amazed by the little thing picked up 27 channels, so they just hooked it up to my Voom receiver (since Voom's OTA antenna is crap).

Originally posted by roachxp
The Silver Sensor is the best, I used my ATI Silver Sensor and screw it to the peak of my roof. Then yesterday my VOOM install saw it and were amazed by the little thing picked up 27 channels, so they just hooked it up to my Voom receiver (since Voom's OTA antenna is crap).

You got that roachxp. I am actually picking up 4 of the 5 PAX subs but not 68.1. Weird. Maybe some more tweaking is needed.

Correction: I'm not getting Worcester but picking up some of the Manchester OTA signals. WMUR-9 (9-1) I am not getting.

I was going to package the Zenith SS back up, return it, and get one online cheaper. Somehow that just doesn't seem right. :)

RYankowitz,
Audio is staticy on WSBK-DT today.

Jim

Originally posted by vfrjim
RYankowitz,
Audio is staticy on WSBK-DT today.

Jim

Still is as of tonight. Taping of Veronica Mars, 8-9 PM, Tuesday, was too garbled/muffled/static-y to watch.

Bill, Bob,

WFXT program data has been out for a few days (PSIP data is for Feb 17/18, today is Feb 22)

WSBK program data has been out for weeks - stuck on Feb 06.

_Paul

Also noticed that WSBK sound is staticy. PBS-HD 2-2 is also went from 90 to 65 signal strength.NBC is a crap shoot..Could be 80 or nothing????

yeah i'm getting the static on wsbk sound , still. i noticed it on enterprise recently, and on my recording of jeopardy from tonight.
i suppose i'll be recording it via analog tomorrow.

if you are into it, check jeopardy.com, ultimate tourney of champs.
my childhood friend Jeff Richmond is on the show again tomorrow and is
on their web site.
i'm hoping he is going to win and kick Ken Jennings' ass!

looks like nbc 7.1 worked ok for me tonight, i recording law & order special sequel unit. i can tell reception was good because my hdr230 says 52 minutes were recorded. that number would be much lower if there were significant dropouts.

Thanks for the info. I'll look at it tomorrow.

Bill Holbrook
Chief Engineer WFXT

I don't get it. I get in all of the channels over my antenna (CM-4221 with a winegard amp) EXCEPT for 7-1. I get 2-1, 2-2, 4-1, 5-1, 25-1, 38-1, 44-1,2,3,4, and 56-1. I get great signals on all of those channels. But I get absolutely NO signal strength from 7-1. Zero. I've tried both my Mitsubishi WD-52525's internal ATSC tuner, and I've tried my ATI HDTV Wonder. The analog channel 7 comes in beautifully. But I get no digital signal whatsoever.

What gives? Is anyone else having a similar issue?

I shouldn't have to move the antenna in order to get in 7-1, should I? Antennaweb.org says that all of these stations are located at 101 degrees relative to my house. And I am about 31mi away. The antenna is in my attic, but given the antenna, the amp, and the great signal that I am getting with the other channels, I would think that 7-1 would come in just fine.

Since I use an indoor antenna, snowfall should not be an issue, but after every significant snow we've had this winter, 7-1 gets much weaker to the point that I can find no acceptable position for the antenna. When the weather and snowcover is mild, I get a great signal on 7-1 as well as all the Boston stations. Right now I'm getting a strong signal on 7-1 but seemed to have lost 2-2. All other Boston channels are A-OK.

Snow is an issue whether the antenna is inside or not. If snow gets into the trees it makes harder for the signal to diffract through it.

I have had ongoing problems with 7-1 also. As of Monday night I hadn't seen any A/V for four days, despite an apparently strong locked signal and the presence of accurate program info display. I am going to check it again tonight when I have finished replacing my old Rat-shack special antenna with the CM 4228 that Buster Brown delivered to the doorstep yesterday.

When 7-1 has been working for me, I have observed that I have to move the antenna ever so slightly east of the others to keep it fully locked. Since I am 52 airline miles to the northwest of the farm, the difference in angle between all of the Boston stations should be essentially zero for me, but I suspect I may not be getting the main signal from 7-1 at all but working off a strong reflection/diffraction from a nearby mountaintop. 7-1 is definitely a challenge, and it is no surprise that it's also one of my weakest analogs as well.

The interesting thing is that without moving the antenna at all I am getting WJAR 10-1, with only a 60%-ish signal, but it's a consistent 60% so it stays locked (bearing out the theory that it's not so much signal strength as it is signal quality that's important). So, at least I have one NBC feed available. Don't want to miss SNL, after all...;)

I wonder if any of the WHDH engineering staff reads this board. I have seen posts here from all of the local OTA stations in the last couple of months, but I don't recall ever seeing any from WHDH engineers, at least none that identified themselves as such.

This isn't strictly a broadcast issue. I just set up a Windows XP Media Center 2005 PC last night with an HDTV Wonder card. Unfortunately, Media Center 2005 doesn't have any guide data for 2-2 (PBS-HD), 44-2, 44-3, and 44-4.

Is anyone else having a similar issue? Have you been able to fix it?

Originally posted by Shape
This isn't strictly a broadcast issue. I just set up a Windows XP Media Center 2005 PC last night with an HDTV Wonder card. Unfortunately, Media Center 2005 doesn't have any guide data for 2-2 (PBS-HD), 44-2, 44-3, and 44-4.

Is anyone else having a similar issue? Have you been able to fix it?

If you have Comcast digital cable has a cable provider you can get the info for the 44 channels by manualy going to the guide setup screen.

Also Channel 7-1 is down for everyone, it's an issue on there end.

Originally posted by roachxp

Also Channel 7-1 is down for everyone, it's an issue on there end.


Channel 7-1 can't be down completely. I have had no problems watching the last two evenings from Pawtucket, RI. I watched the news and Leno Monday night without any issues, and I watched the news again last night with no problems.

SMK

Originally posted by roachxp
If you have Comcast digital cable has a cable provider you can get the info for the 44 channels by manualy going to the guide setup screen.



But not for 2-2, PBS-HD? Are there any cable operators that carry that channel?

Again, WHDH-DT has done something to their PSIP data which has affected mapping on some STBs only. If you are no longer receiving 7-1, try manually keying in the root digital channel, 42. On some STBs this may automatically bounce you to 7-1 in which case you need to purge your STB memory to eliminate the mapping. Sometimes a rescan does this, sometimes change of zip then rescan, or you may need to use a multi-key reset sequence, it all depends on your specific STB.

In my case, 7-1 still appears as a mapped channel, it just has no A/V. I have to use ch 42 to get the programming content.

I will contact them about this since it seems they have either done this deliberately or simply just not noticed yet.

I think the problem is on channel 7's end. The signal has been very erratic the past few weeks, and continues to be.I received a strong signal this morning and without re-adjusting the antenna, the signal has weakened considerably the past 3 hours and is now unviewable. I don't have this problem with any other channel.

Whereas I got 0% signal strength last night on 7-1, this morning I got about 25% signal strength. Not enough to view anything, of course.

So, I think you are right. It is on their end.

Originally posted by Shape
But not for 2-2, PBS-HD? Are there any cable operators that carry that channel?

Cox Cable in RI carries it and my son who lives in Plainville gets it on Comcast

Shape,

Must be what Doug G is saying about WHDH. I'm the same distance, 31 miles as you, and I have no problem receiving both 7-1, and 7-2. Was fine last night and this morning. Signal strength of around 90 with an HR10-250 and Zenith SS.

WFXT PSIP data should be good again. I had to restart the PSIP server.

Bill Holbrook
Chief Engineer WFXT

I posted the below thread last week but didn't receive any feedback. This is what I asked:

"My Samsung TS-360 is 2 months old, bought new. Has been glich free till now. After installation of all available channels (Air, Cable & Digital), I selectively remove the channels I don't want (all Air & Cable) so I am left with strictly HD channels. First up is PBS channels 2-1 & 2-2. There is also 2-104 which is labeled "UpDatTV". Next up is 4-1 (CBS),5-1 (ABC),7-1 (NBC and 25-1 (FOX). These are all OTA.

I can select any of these channels in random or sequential order and I receive all, OK. When I power down the 360 to "Standby", wait about 10 minutes and then power up, channels 2-1 & 2-2 and 2-104 are gone from memory and I have to re-enter them to receive the signal. All other HD channels are fine, still in memory. If I just program 2-1, 2-2 & 2-104 all alone to memory, I don't lose them. Add any other channels and they disappear."

I have since contacted Tier 2 support at Samsung and they are baffled as well. They think it might be related to transmission data that PBS WGBH Boston has changed in their broadcast signal, but Tier 2 really isn't sure. Dave, the Samsung tech, mentioned this PM when I talked to him, that he had received another call today from a Boston area viewer who reported exactly the same occurence with his 451. My STB is a 360.

I am looking for some feedback from any greater Boston owners of ANY brand of STB that is receiving their HD programming OTA. No D* or cable programing, just OTA. Tell me what you have and if you have experienced my problem.

I plan to contact WGBH tech services to ask them if any changes have been made to their signal data.

Thanks for your anticipated feedback.

Chris

No WHDH, 7-1 for me all week. Signal strength 90%, absolutely no audio or video. All other stations are fine. Antenna in same direction as always. ATI HDTV on a PC.

Originally posted by Doug G
Again, WHDH-DT has done something to their PSIP data which has affected mapping on some STBs only. If you are no longer receiving 7-1, try manually keying in the root digital channel, 42. On some STBs this may automatically bounce you to 7-1 in which case you need to purge your STB memory to eliminate the mapping. Sometimes a rescan does this, sometimes change of zip then rescan, or you may need to use a multi-key reset sequence, it all depends on your specific STB.

In my case, 7-1 still appears as a mapped channel, it just has no A/V. I have to use ch 42 to get the programming content.

I will contact them about this since it seems they have either done this deliberately or simply just not noticed yet.

I guess my $200 USDigital/Hisense/Wallyworld box doesn't allow direct input of unmapped channels, seems it's scan/map or nothing. Even if I try to "fool" the box by scanning with no antenna connected such that no channels are mapped, it won't let me input a known good channel that I get on a solid basis like 19, 20, 30 & 43. It's kind of like WinXP, always thinks it's smarter than you are. ;)

I also tried the key sequence that resets the box to defaults, it autoscans everything back in as before, they all work except 7-1. Well, I also lost 38, but that's a regular occurrence. I only get 38 in a snow/rain storm. Not logical, but that's how it works.

Good luck contacting WHDH, Doug. I hope that you can get their attention, it seems like quite a group of folks with several different kinds of STBs having this problem.

PhiloT - Wow, sorry to hear that your box won't allow you to tune the actual channel, that's certainly a setback.

I sent email yesterday to their director of engineering who I've had contact with in the past on several other technical issues/problems. He's very nice and has always been responsive and understanding as well as thankful that people here are so observant.

Will post as soon as I hear anything.

I tried tuning into 42 last night with Windows MCE, and it did not work.

Bill, thanks for restarting the PSIP server - I can confirm good prgram data for WFXT. Also, WSBK program data is back too - did you restart thier server too?

Thanks, Paul.

Originally posted by Shape
I tried tuning into 42 last night with Windows MCE, and it did not work.

Same here I tried it didn't work, good thing I can still pick up NBC's WJAR station from RI.

Originally posted by roachxp
If you have Comcast digital cable has a cable provider you can get the info for the 44 channels by manualy going to the guide setup screen.


How do I select Comcast? I put in a zip code for my guide that has Comcast available. But when the list of providers comes up, all I get is "Antenna" as a selection.

I only have an ATI HDTV Wonder in the machine, but I have the analog tuner enabled, too.

Originally posted by Shape
How do I select Comcast? I put in a zip code for my guide that has Comcast available. But when the list of providers comes up, all I get is "Antenna" as a selection.

I only have an ATI HDTV Wonder in the machine, but I have the analog tuner enabled, too.

ATI HDTV Wonder, unlike analog TV, does not allow you to enter any channel numbers for HDTV. You can only select those channels it automaticaly found with a scan. From the HDTV setup menu select Channel List. You can only select channels already in this list. You will probably see a 7-1 which for me just started working tonight.

Also the ATI HDTV is OTA only. It does not work with Comcast.

Well, I feel stupid. I got my wife downstairs looking at the TV and Media Center's signal strength graph, and we found an antenna position that worked for all of the channels. I have 7-1, now, and even 10-1. 25, 38 and 56 are coming in great, too.

Sorry to bag on WHDH for what was my own issue. It seems that their signal is just a bit more narrow than the others, so it takes a more finely tweaked antenna to get them in.

Well, actually 7-1 just came in *with* A/V tonight (at least by 8 PM or maybe earlier today, since I had not checked since last night), and that was with NO antenna changes at all. Signal strength is exactly where it was last night at 80-90%, so I think Doug G's e-mail must have done the trick or WHDH suddenly realized something was amiss with their PSIP data.

Josh, you may well have had a signal strength issue, but if you had made the changes yesterday you still may not have seen any A/V from WHDH, which is more or less a moot point now that you have it.

In any case, hooray for the engineers at WHDH! And thanks to Doug for his efforts.

Don't pat yourselves on the back too soon for getting the beat on 7-1. Without any antenna changes my signal strength this evening on 7-1 is within range of the other Boston digitals. This afternoon, it was up/down and all over the place. I'm not completely sold that 7-1 has solved its problems and I repeat "its problems". I'm convinced it's not on our end that the problem exists, and my gut feeling is it will surface again.

Originally posted by BreakPoint
ATI HDTV Wonder, unlike analog TV, does not allow you to enter any channel numbers for HDTV. You can only select those channels it automaticaly found with a scan. From the HDTV setup menu select Channel List. You can only select channels already in this list. You will probably see a 7-1 which for me just started working tonight.

Also the ATI HDTV is OTA only. It does not work with Comcast.

Well my ATI HDTV works with the Comcast listings, I just pick 44-2 in the guide setup and scroll through the Comcast Digital listing till I get to the PBS World listing and select enter. I also works for Create, and Kids, and I use the Fox25 listings with WNAC64 also. Of course you will need a anaglog tuner enable either a seperate tuner or have the hacked drivers for the HD Wonder. You need a cable line in the analog tuner to be to get the Comcast guide.

Originally posted by vfrjim
RYankowitz,
Audio is staticy on WSBK-DT today.

Jim
Sorry for the delay in responding. I've been living in the bowels of WSBK-TV(analog)'s Klystrons all week.

We have taken care of the problem (for good [I hope, I hope]). New software version, will fix all bugs, introduce no new ones, etc., etc.

Yep, just confirmed 7-1 back to normal on my Panasonic STB.

Originally posted by Shape
But not for 2-2, PBS-HD? Are there any cable operators that carry that channel?

Comcast does on channel 802.
As it looks like 2-1 is still a 4:3 480i signal,they consider 2-2 as Ch 2 HD

Channel 802 on Comcast Digital for zip code 01757 has the same listings as channel 2, which is WGBH (not HD). :(

Originally posted by Shape
Channel 802 on Comcast Digital for zip code 01757 has the same listings as channel 2, which is WGBH (not HD). :(

Truest me Cable channel 802 is the PBS HD demo channel.

I lost 25.1 yesterday. Anyone else?

11.1 MIA last couple of days, anyone else lose it.

No problem with 25-1...never got 11-1.

Anyone know when FOX25 will be be doing their news in HD. I was wondering since the FOX in CT is already doing the 10'oclock news in HD.
Bill can you give us a time frame?

RYankowitz, Static is back on WSBK-DT, audio is really raspy too.

Bill, its stuck on last Thursday!

25.1 back up Sunday.

I have an RCA 210 HD box from D*. If I put in zip for local programming guide I lose sound on 4.1. Anyway to get around this without removing all local channel OTA guides?

Originally posted by mspiro13
I have an RCA 210 HD box from D*. If I put in zip for local programming guide I lose sound on 4.1. Anyway to get around this without removing all local channel OTA guides?

Unfortunately there is now way around this problem, I forget the exact source of the problem it is something to do with PSIP transmitted to certain STB's; my Samsung 360 exhibits this behavior while my Sony HD200 does not. There is a more detailed explaination of this behavior on this thread. Should be able to run a search and find it.

Anyone know where I can get a cheap tuner for watching OTA HD on my projector?

Or if anyone has one that they are not using and want to sell, please let me know.

Is that all I need, a tuner and an antenna to get OTA HD? I live in Waltham, so hopefully, a signal will not be a problem for most channels.

Thanks!

The cheapest tuner I have heard of is the one that Walmart sells for $200. Alternatively, if you have a relatively fast PC near your TV, you can use an HDTV tuner card. They can be found for $150 or so, and offer a lot more than a standalone tuner will.

I think a used DTC100 would do the trick.

Hi, how could I find out what is available in OTA HDTV (before actually trying it out? :-)...is there a website that lists channels for different markets or how?

THANKS!

All the channels are available in HD OTA

2, 4, 5, 7, 25, and sometimes 56, not sure about 38


These are mostly for the prime time lineups between 8-11

Thanks for the fast response guys...;-)...

Actually I just moved into the area and I am getting my HDTV and all other stuff from movers in the next few days.

I'm trying to find out the stations which those channels correspond to? Ie. ABC, CBS, etc., etc? What's the complete list of stations that are available in Boston and do HD?

THANKS!

Guys what stations are OTA HDTV in the Boston area? Anybody had any problems receiving OTA HD in Beacon Hill?

THANKS!

check here for stations http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx

2-1, 2-2, 4-1, 5-1, 7-1, 25-1, 38-1, 44-1, 44-2, 44-3, 44-4, and 56-1 are the digital stations I receive.

2-1, and the 44s will never have HD on them since they are lower bandwidth multicasted stations. 2-2 is always HD (PBS-HD), and the rest are a mix of HD in primetime and SD at other times.

Wow beautiful...thanks D_Doherty...

Two questions:

(1) how do I know which of these are HD??? or have HD programming?

(2) what kind of antenna is recommended for picking up most of these?

I will be getting Dish satellite from the roof (almost at the limit of line of sight, if you know how Beacon Hill rooftops are ;-), but until that's done I'd like to have OTA HD...also maybe have it concurrently as sat. HD leaves a lot to be desired sometimes (and none of their networks are in HD unless you have a east/west separate dish, at least that's what I remember)...

THANKS!

Thanks guys, you were faster than me...with the antenna site and the list of channels I was able to see which networks I'd be getting!!!

This site is amazing and everybody here is wonderful; many thanks once again!

=============

oh and if you guys can recommend a not-too-expensive antenna which would pick up these stations (indoor or outdoor use should be ok I guess, depending on the size/etc.) I'd appreciate it. I know there are different antenna types which are better for different frequencies...I just want to pick up most stations which have OTA HD.

THANKS!!!

I had to put a channel master 4228 antenna in my attic with an amplifier to get any stations. This antenna is huge and ugly! But I live in Worcester. 31mi away from the antennas. You should be able to pick up stations with a much smaller indoor antenna, I would think. Try an antenna like a Silver Sensor.

http://www.zenith.com/sub_prod/product_Display.asp?cat=49&id=131

It is only $30 to $40ish. Sears has it for $40. If it doesn't work, return it. :)

A copy of this antenna came with my ATI HDTV Wonder, actually. It doesn't work where I am, though. If I didn't need it in case I have to return the HDTV Wonder, I'd sell it to you cheap. :)

Hehe, thanks a lot for the offer, let me know if you decide to sell it.

On the other hand, speaking of directional antennas (I have built highly directional pencil-beam planar antennas for satellite reception), how would it work to get signal from MULTIPLE towers? I'd venture to say that it will work with one tower at a time only, correct?

From my location and looking at that extremly useful antenna site, it seems towers are all around me (ie. I will be in the center of Boston), whereas for somebody some distance away from the city the towers would be in the same direction...

Maybe a lower gain, broader-pattern antenna would work? I definitely need something on the smallish size though, either for indoor or outdoor usage.


THANKS!

I have found http://www.titantv.com to be a good source to see what programing is HD

Shoot over to the HD Local forum.

Even better:

www.antennaweb.org

2 - PBS
4- CBS
5 - ABC
7 - NBC
25 - FOX
38 - UPN
56- WB

Depending on where you are you may also pick up some Rhode Island / New Hampshire or Conn. stations, not sure about HD on any of those however

I am using the built-in digital tuner in the Panasonic plasma with Comcast basic cable to get local HD channels. I figure since Comcast gets the signal directly from OTA so I might get a better answer here.

Has anyone notice the severe lag of closed caption on WFXT these days? It was pretty normal last week. But it's been lagging for at least 2 or 3 whole seconds since yesterday. When I watched House last night, the caption always came on one sentence late. Made it impossible to watch the show.

CBS prime time shows on WBZ always has some half second lag, too.

I've been running digital OTA for a couple of weeks now. Reception is great (Somerville) and I love it, but I'm noticing that WLVI (the WB) has an issue with the content getting lighter momentarily. In other words, it seems to "flicker" by getting several shades lighter for an instant (less than a second), and then it switches back to normal. It will do this for long periods of time (hours), with an irregular frequency (maybe every 6-7 seconds on average). it's pretty annoying.

I'm not sure if "flicker" is the correct term (because it's not a normal TV-style flicker). But I'm hoping that I've described the issue well enough.

Anyway, has anyone else seen this? It only seems to be happening on WLVI, otherwise I would suspect that it's my OTA receiver.

Thanks,
Aaron

I wasn't sure where to post this so i figured this would be a good place to start. I am going to be moving in a few weeks to newer house in Marlborough. Its a bigger house that I am not a big fan of getting up on the roof of. So I was wondering if anyone knew of any good installers that could install a dish and a OTA antenna.

Thanks

OTA and dish Antenna

I was surprised that this guy would come all the way to Everett.
I really liked his work. Used a meter and nailed the HD signal.
Hid the down wire behind siding 'corner'.
All the above might be normal for a pro; but if I did it myself there would be a wire flapping from and antenna aimed with a boy scout compass. Never mind the mess in my pants when climbing a ladder.

Loporto Satellite & Tv Antenna Svc
1085 Bedford St
Abington, MA 02351-1206
Phone: (781) 871-4053

Mike Cocorochio

MIke..just curious, do you know what kind of meter he used to nail down the HD signal.

Thanks in advance

Pat-sox,
Didn't know he even used a meter til I called him back after I got my HyHd working. I just wanted to give an an ata'boy. He was an ol'timer, I just figured he looked at the position of the sun or something. I was kind of naive about the whole antenna thing, just knew it wasn't going to be me on the ladder.
He told me the majority of his work is dish and the mystery meter was the only way.
In the past I used a attic antenna and my wife and I would just scream at each other. I figure HD (and the investment $$) deserved a roof antenna.
Mike

There is a problem with CC timing on some of the Network programming on Fox. We checked with them and they know about it and are working on it. It's not on the local end.

Bill Holbrook
Chief Engineer WFXT

Originally posted by BHolbrook
There is a problem with CC timing on some of the Network programming on Fox. We checked with them and they know about it and are working on it. It's not on the local end.

Bill Holbrook
Chief Engineer WFXT

Thanks for the info Bill. It's great to have insiders here.

Hey Bill quick question. When will FOX25 be planing on doing any newscasts in HD?

When will FOX25 be planing on doing any newscasts in HD?
Their in-studio shots look really good... far better presentation (video quality wise) than the other local station's news. Very hd-like if it's not already. I was actualy sticking my face near the TV the other day and asking "are they doing the studio shots in HD?" Very crisp whereas the other stations look like they haven't upgraded equipment in a while...

-Steve

Originally posted by Steve O
Their in-studio shots look really good... far better presentation (video quality wise) than the other local station's news. Very hd-like if it's not already. I was actualy sticking my face near the TV the other day and asking "are they doing the studio shots in HD?" Very crisp whereas the other stations look like they haven't upgraded equipment in a while...

-Steve While FOX25 local news does look pretty sharp, it's not HD. I don't think we will see local HD newscasts on any station in the foreseable future, due to the costs of upgrading current electronics that are only SD capable.

Originally posted by Benji
While FOX25 local news does look pretty sharp, it's not HD. I don't think we will see local HD newscasts on any station in the foreseable future, due to the costs of upgrading current electronics that are only SD capable.
I had the pleasure to see the FOX in CT do there 10oclock news in HD while out in Western Mass and it looked great. Can't wait tosee it here at FOX25:)

Originally posted by mspiro13
I have an RCA 210 HD box from D*. If I put in zip for local programming guide I lose sound on 4.1. Anyway to get around this without removing all local channel OTA guides?

No, I don't think so. I haven't bothered to try, since I get CBS-E via D*. But it'd be nice if it worked for March Madness. (I have a Samsung TS-160.)

BTW, here's Samsung's description of the problem.
http://erms.samsungusa.com/customer/sea/jsp/faqs/faqs_view.jsp?PG_ID=3&AT_ID=17148&PROD_SUB_ID=47&PROD_ID=-1

Maria in HD would be awesome

Originally posted by steverobertson
Maria in HD would be awesome Be careful Steve. Don't want your wife to smash your TV screen.

Originally posted by Benji
Be careful Steve. Don't want your wife to smash your TV screen.

Shw knows my desire for her in HD;)

Originally posted by steverobertson
Shw knows my desire for her in HD;) She's not in my Top 3 FOX25 rankings: (1) Cindy (2) Molly (3) Bianca.

At this point there are no plans nor could I discuss them if there were. But as far as our studios and cameras go the main 5 cameras we use are 720P cameras but we only use the SD outputs. The other 4 studio cameras are SD only. The set is great and could easily look good in HD.

Bill Holbrook
Chief Engineer WFXT

Thanks Bill, the news looks great now, i can't wait till HD comes in the future.

WHDH-DT
anybody else having major problems with whdh-dt?? i am having major breakup issuses through my comcast 6412, as well as a zenith ota tuner, so it must be an issue with the station. this has been going on for months now, some shows are ok and others,(last nights svu), are unwatchable between the pausing and screen corruption. you think they would have had any problems fixed in a few months time

Originally posted by hammersfd
WHDH-DT
anybody else having major problems with whdh-dt?? i am having major breakup issuses through my comcast 6412, as well as a zenith ota tuner, so it must be an issue with the station. this has been going on for months now, some shows are ok and others,(last nights svu), are unwatchable between the pausing and screen corruption. you think they would have had any problems fixed in a few months time I've had the exact same problems the past couple of months OTA. I think this could be a multipath problem from sunglare off the snowcover. It seems to be alright after sundown or on cloudy days. Late at night I get a consistent strong signal but once the sun comes out, the signal is all over the place. I don't have this problem with any other Boston station.

Benji,

Maybe you should move again. My problem has been channel 5 lately probably because of the snow

Yeah, last night, NBC was virtually unwatchable for all the breakups. (In my case, Comcast.)

Interestingly, while the video failed consistently, the audio was there almost the whole time, and the closed captioning never once dropped out. Almost makes me wonder if the problem is with the source, rather than reception. I mean, I understand that CC and audio are fewer required bits than video, but the video dropouts were so bad and so sustained, that I would have expected audio and CC dropouts to go with it.

Originally posted by steverobertson
Benji,

Maybe you should move again. My problem has been channel 5 lately probably because of the snow I am moving again in late summer, but for the moment, WHDH-DT is my only TV reception problem. I don't understand your problem with WCVB. WCVB and WBZ seem to be the 2 strongest OTA digitals, and I never have problems with them.

Incidentally, I just checked my DTC-100 signal meter. This morning I was getting a solid 70% on WHDH.Now it is jumping from 60% down to 0% every few seconds.

I have always had problems with 4 but 5 is something new I can't wait to get HD locals and trash the antenna

After I move, I'm considering trashing the antenna, dish and DIRECTV Tivo and going back to Comcast. Soon they will have all the Boston digitals as well as NESN-HD. I don't think DIRECTV will ever have regional sports networks in HD at least not in the foreseeable future.

Benji,

I agree the only thing that keeps me with D* is the sundaty ticket and all the money I have tied up in their equipment. Plus I lovre TIVO which maybe another issue not to far down the road. I can't imagine seeing RSN'S in HD anytime soon but then agin we thought we would never see locals in hD with D* so stranger things have happened. Comcast in my area just sucks plain and simple the HD looks ok but the SD is pure crap so that is another reason.

Benji,

I agree the only thing that keeps me with D* is the sundaty ticket and all the money I have tied up in their equipment. Plus I lovre TIVO which maybe another issue not to far down the road. I can't imagine seeing RSN'S in HD anytime soon but then agin we thought we would never see locals in hD with D* so stranger things have happened. Comcast in my area just sucks plain and simple the HD looks ok but the SD is pure crap so that is another reason.

Originally posted by toots
Yeah, last night, NBC was virtually unwatchable for all the breakups. (In my case, Comcast.)

Interestingly, while the video failed consistently, the audio was there almost the whole time, and the closed captioning never once dropped out. Almost makes me wonder if the problem is with the source, rather than reception. I mean, I understand that CC and audio are fewer required bits than video, but the video dropouts were so bad and so sustained, that I would have expected audio and CC dropouts to go with it.

The wife recorded two Will and Grace's from 8 to 9 on WHDH-DT. These were with our Silver Sensor during the snow and wind storm. It was nasty. The 1st show had some major freezing, drop outs, weird screen discolorations. The 2nd showing had a couple but not nearly as bad. I'm not really sure what goes on during the day as we are both at work.

Finally my Tosh 34HFX84 comes in today to use with my D* HR10-250. I'm gonna need more popcorn. :cool:

Originally posted by Benji
I've had the exact same problems the past couple of months OTA. I think this could be a multipath problem from sunglare off the snowcover. It seems to be alright after sundown or on cloudy days. Late at night I get a consistent strong signal but once the sun comes out, the signal is all over the place. I don't have this problem with any other Boston station. HDH has been problematic for quite awhile now...both OTA and cable...but (please correct me if I'm wrong) how does sunglare effect shows after the sun goes down? They've been having breakups - many of which have been documented here - for a long time. L&Os, Leno, etc.

Here's to wishing there were more Bill Holbrooks of the world at other stations...

The past 2 days, my WHDH problem seems to have cleared up. I've been getting a strong signal 24/7. Let's see if this morning's snowstorm screws it up again.

Can anyone please tell me if I can use a Hughes DirectTV HIRD E86 receiver for only OTA HD? The literature is a little confusing and I can't figure out if I can get an OTA HD signal with 5.1 sound by using this receiver and a UHF antenna.

Thanks!

midfiman,

It will work.

Dave

Thanks Dave!

Originally posted by midfiman
Thanks Dave! It will work perfectly but you won't get any program guide information as that is supplied by the DIRECTV satellites.

Originally posted by Benji
The past 2 days, my WHDH problem seems to have cleared up. I've been getting a strong signal 24/7. Let's see if this morning's snowstorm screws it up again. Yep...screwed it up again!

On wednesday morning we will be doing some reprogramming to our encoder that may require some boxes to need a rescan.

Bill Holbrook
Chief Engineer WFXT

Originally posted by BHolbrook
On wednesday morning we will be doing some reprogramming to our encoder that may require some boxes to need a rescan.

Bill Holbrook
Chief Engineer WFXT

Hope it is not like WBZ-DT, when they changed thier PSIP info, DirecTV messed it up and STILL there is no audio till the guide info from DirecTV gets changed, this is applicable to the Samsung TS160/360...

Guys -- quick question -- does anybody live downtown Boston and pick up OTA HD stations? What antenna are you using?

I am in Beacon Hill on a lower-floor (2nd) apartment of a multi-story (4) building and would like to get OTA HD stations. It seems that they are transmitting from a multitude of towers, but mostly around a given heading...I checked www.antennaweb.org to see all channels and it is recommending a medium directional antenna.

Does anybody have any recommendations of a decent unit to use? Should I put it on the roof, or can I get away with having it indoors?

THANKS!

On wednesday morning we will be doing some reprogramming to our encoder that may require some boxes to need a rescan.
Bill, this isn't a dig on your station, but rather a very generic comment on the state of HDTV (and Thanks for posting such info. I really do appreciate it).

Anyway, I wonder if HDTV is EVER going to be truly ready for the average consumer (the ones who don't know DVI from DVD and really don't care to know, and that's the vast majority of people)? When I continue to read things like that, it makes me wonder if this technology can ever get to point where it's completely stable and "just works" without the consumer having do anything special to make it work.

Like I said, not a negative comment about the station engineers who (thankfully!) post here to help us out. Just a general comment about the state of things...

Hope it is not like WBZ-DT, when they changed thier PSIP info, DirecTV messed it up and STILL there is no audio till the guide info from DirecTV gets changed, this is applicable to the Samsung TS160/360...

Yup, I'm still waiting for that fix. Last we'd heard is that the Samsung has recognized this as a problem, but I haven't seen any sort of fix yet. Sigh.

-Steve

Originally posted by BHolbrook
On wednesday morning we will be doing some reprogramming to our encoder that may require some boxes to need a rescan.

I really, Really, REALLY, hope this doesn't cause the video freezes and stuttering to return on those STBs (read: mine!) which were previously affected. Been free and clear since late Jan, and it would sure be frustrating to have to go thru all that again....especially in the middle of the "24" season. :(

I'll post any feedback on Wed night whether or not I see any problems on my Panny TU-HDS20.

Signal from WFXT-DT for last nights "24" was near perfect for my HR10-250. The only stutter was at the very end during next weeks episode preview. :cool:

The closed captioning delay on FOX 25 seems to be getting worse. Does this encoder change have anything to do with fixing it?

Any word from CBS4 on which NCAA Tourney games will be in HD this week? I know they're planning on having BC/Penn on Thursday - any other definite plans?

Originally posted by perrycom
Any word from CBS4 on which NCAA Tourney games will be in HD this week? I know they're planning on having BC/Penn on Thursday - any other definite plans?

I don't know anything about WBZ, but WPRI in RI is going to be showing all games. HD on 12-1, and SD on 12-2,3,4. Check the Providence, RI thread.

SMK

We have completed the encoder work. So if you don't see us, a rescan should get us back. Also the CC problem is from the Network. I have not heard anything more of the status of fixing it.

Bill Holbrook
Chief Engineer WFXT

Originally posted by perrycom
Any word from CBS4 on which NCAA Tourney games will be in HD this week? I know they're planning on having BC/Penn on Thursday - any other definite plans?
We are working on the schedule and will post it on our website (http://www.wbz4.com) when complete. Sunday's lineup will be posted on the website Saturday.

Originally posted by RoyGBiv
I don't know anything about WBZ, but WPRI in RI is going to be showing all games. HD on 12-1, and SD on 12-2,3,4. Check the Providence, RI thread.

SMK

They also are using 64-2 their sister station to do the other games. Here is WPRI schedule till Sunday.

Starting Noon on Thursday
12-1 will have the Cleveland games in HD.
12-2 will have the Indianapolis games in sd.
12-3 will have the Tucson games in sd.
64-2 will have the Boise games in sd.
When the games end you may see a slide until the next games starts.

Friday
12-1 Worcester games in HD.
12-2 Nashville games in sd.
12-3 Oklahoma games in sd.
64-2 Charlotte games in sd.

Saturday
12-1 Cleveland games in HD.
12-2 Indianapolis games in sd.
12-3 Tucson games in sd.
64-2 Boise games in sd.

Sunday
12-1 Worcester games in HD.
12-2 Nashville games in sd.
12-3 Oklahoma City games in sd.
64-1 Charlotte games in sd.

Go to the Providence thread for other info.

I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden, I'm getting very little signal strength on 7-1 and 38-1. Everything else is coming in fine. I've tried adjusting the antenna, but I can't find a spot where everything comes in like it did before.

Originally posted by BHolbrook
We have completed the encoder work. So if you don't see us, a rescan should get us back.

All was well on my Panasonic tuner last night - no hiccups or video freezes during any of the programming I viewed. Didn't even have to rescan, took a few seconds but the box was able to successfully map the new channel settings to the old virtual map by itself. Glad to see the upgrade was problem free and hasn't appeared to cause any new (or old!) problems.

Is WBZ multicasting the other games? My tuner picke up 4-2, 4-3, 4-4 with an excellent signal but no video.

Originally posted by roachxp
Is WBZ multicasting the other games? My tuner picke up 4-2, 4-3, 4-4 with an excellent signal but no video.
WBZ can only transmit one program on 4.1, always in 1080i HD. Your tuner is telling fibs in displaying 4.2, 4.3, and 4.4.

Bob Yankowitz: I have not been receiving PSIP info for 4-1 for the past couple of weeks on my DTC-100. I did a re-scan and still am not receiving it. I do get the PSIP on my built-in WD62725 tuner. Is there any reason my DTC-100 is not receiving it that you know of?

Originally posted by RYankowitz
WBZ can only transmit one program on 4.1, always in 1080i HD. Your tuner is telling fibs in displaying 4.2, 4.3, and 4.4.

I see I manually enter the channels on my HTPC and it was picking up the RF signal, my mistake.

Anyone notice 4 and 4.1 had different games so I was able to go back and forth. One HD one SD.

Anyone having sound issues with 4-1?
I am getting picutre but no sound.

No problem with 4-1 but getting very weak signal on 38-1 and this has been going on the past couple of days. All other Boston stations coming in strong.