Dallas,

One more question for you. I'm not sure when I'll be able to make it up to the HD in Teays. Next time you are in the store, would you mind checking to see if they have 4x2 sheets of MDF...not particle board, but MDF as it is stronger for Equipment cabinets. My last recessed Equipment Cabinet was made out of 4x2 sheets of MDF with White Melamine. Ultimately, I would LOVE to find some MDF with Black Melamine. They make it, just can't find it around here. If I can't find that, I'll go with 4x2 sheets of plain MDF and paint Black.

Don't make a special trip....just next time you are in the area :)

Anyone can verify if WSAZ, WCHS and WVAH are or will be broadcasting DD 5.1 with their HD broadcasts?

I know WSAZ does broadcast 5.1 because one night the center channel was missing. I emailed the engineer and he replied that their DD controller went out. I don't know about WVAH/WCHS, but hopefully will by the end of the month.

And not wanting to bring politics into the thread, but I thought you would get a kick out of this: It appears Warren McGraw has sued WV Media Holdings for running ads he claims ruined his reelection chances. Bray Cary was not happy about that whatsoever. If it upsets Bray Cary, then I am all for it.

As a doctor wanting to come back to WV you can't imagine how happy I was that loser Mcgraw lost the race. He single handedly could have ruined any malpractice reform in our state! Just like a lawyer to sue somebody! YOU LOST, go spend some of your kickback money!


I think we should put these two backward *ss morons in the same room together and let them fight it out.......... but keep the door locked and throw away the key!



Sorry I am ranting, but Satan still with no plans to do HDTV is ridiculous, as more stations adopt all his dumb excuses only get dumber!

ROG, did you tie your antenna ground into your house ground?
Do you have wind problems where you live?
Where did you purchase your channelmaster?
That is the 13 footer right?

If you don't care throw me an e-mail at the group I would like to talk to you about your install.

Whose turn is it to pester Raymond Beckner at WVAH/WCHS? I last bothered him on 11/19 which has been 2.5 weeks.

DarrinH

For now my set up is somewhat temporary until I see if I can get WCHS and WVAH at my current height.

I'm not using the house ground, I tied into the ground rod for the DirecTV system which is separate from the house ground.

Wind can be pretty high at times I'm between hills so sometimes it acts like a wind tunnel. I'm using 1" rigid conduit for the antenna mask with some added bracing at the couplings. (this held up fine in last weeks 35 MPH gusts). If I need to go any higher I will add guy wires.

I got the antenna, rotor, and pre-amp from Solid Signal, pretty good to deal with.

Not sure what you mean by 13 footer?

Hey guys, New to the site. I looked around this thread briefly so I dont know if this is old news to you or not, but NBC Im sure you know is digital and allowing HD to be passed when the national station or whatever you want to call it shows something HD. I talked to ABC engineers and they say they are working on the tower that was knocked over in the storm awhile back and they should be up digital by mid January. Even though one women there said Dec.1. CBS told me that they are feeling out the FCC to see what technical changes are going to be made and they want to broadcast digitally on Channel 13 and since technology is always changing they are playing the "waiting to see" card. But back to NBC the head guy their named Aaron said that the BIG 3 had to be up in digital by June 1rst of 2005 since we are the 63rd market in the nation. In my opinion the local CBS is going to be the one that drags their feet. Also Fox and ABC are on the same tower so its possible Fox might go up when ABC goes up. Once again sorry if this is a repeat but just as anxious to get HD and digital tv as you all are.

Welcome to the board. While we welcome you, your news about ABC not going digital until January is not welcome at all.:( This date has been pushed back several times. Yes you are correct that FOX and ABC should go digital at the same time. Lets just hope it is before the Superbowl.

As for CBS, they are definitely the feet draggers of the group. I'll let WVUDRJ chime in on his feelings about it.:D

Where do you live?

bllee


Herdfan thanks for the intro!


Welcome to our thread, especially if you are in the area. I live in Charleston but currently in Columbus Ohio. I encourage you to invite any/all of your friends also interested in HD TV to look into this thread. You may also want to join the West Virginia Home Theater club that Darrin started.

If you have the time you should read this entire thread from the beginning to appreciate a history of where we have come from and also to give you some local contacts for any questions you may have


Within this thread you will make note of someone we know as SATAN or the ANTICHRIST (AKA Bray Carey). He owns our local CBS affiliate and is anti-HD most likely because he is in denial, uninformed, horrible to talk to, a liar, only concerned about himself and an a**hole........... to put it nicely:D .


Anyway good luck with your HD experience we have come a long way in 18 months since the thread was started and ask a lot of questions. Getting HD depending on where you live (in reference to OTA) can be difficult here in the hills so ask about antennas, amplifiers, whatever you want to know and we will be glad to help.


PS I hope you are not related to SATAN..... oooops:D

Welcome bllee,
Be sure to give our group a look if you have not already, link is in the signature.
We have contacted WOWK by letter a couple of times and have not gotten a very professional response. Right now it sounds as if their station is doing the minimum that they can get away with in regards to a required digital signal.
We just added a couple of links on our news page with information on the two HD tower locations.

Thanks all for the friendly welcome, well right now I live in the Huntington area, but I am from Charleston so hopefully in 5-6 months I will be back. And yes Its a great forum to have locals that are interested in HD and hopefully we can get the local channels to get on it. And like I said in the first post when I talked to the local CBS they even admitted they are on the lowest digital frequency as possible to appease the FCC for now. Im just glad they got the new doppler radar for weather, we REALLY needed that!

Welcome Bllee,

It's always great to have a new member. I would second wvudrj's suggestion of reading the entire thread. We have come a long way.

If you plan to join the WVHTGroup, which I hope you do, please send us your equipment list as we try to keep that up to date. That way, when other members are looking for a specific piece of equipment, and you own one of those, we can obtain info from you regarding it.

Please note that CBS is broadcasting digitally and as you said, extremely low power. There is no commitment for any broadcasting station to go HD. Only Digital. In my experience, digital doesn't mean better, it means different than Analog. Actually, Digital CAN and many forms WILL be worse then a Analog Picture. Normally, Digital has compression involved which will degrade the signal somewhat..depending on the type and amount.

CBS is playing the "Let's wait and see" game huh? I can tell you this. The "Let's Wait and See" means "Let's wait and see all the other stations broadcast in HD and leave us in the dust".

If Fox will not be HD until January, I can wait. I will be dissapointed if they push it past February 6th for the viewing of the Super Bowl.

I'm REALLY hoping that Fox begins broadcasting in time for the new season of 24 on Jan. 9th.

Anyone have any recommendations for antennas for the St. Albans area? This one that Voom "upgraded" me to only picks up WCHS & WPBY (well, PAX too, but they don't count). I'm fairly ignorant about this stuff, but I just want to be able to get WSAZ. You guys know if whatever antenna I put up there will work with my Voom system? Egads... the fun...

Thanks in advance...

Sixy,

I use a Channel Master 4228 and pick up WSAZ great. If you can pick up WCHS & WPBY with your current antenna, WSAZ should come in easily as well. Try doing a new channel scan or manually tune to VHF 23.

I was only getting a signal of about 60 before on 23 (needs like 85 for Voom receiver to lock on)... I actually can't get anything right now. The recent winds have moved my antenna or something. I'm going to climb up there and move it around as soon as I can get someone to come over here and yell at me when I get a signal. :)

I lost signal on WSAZ-DT also. I think they had some sort of problem last night. I had been moving my antenna all around thinking maybe my antenna or pre-amp or even my receiver got damaged but I just checked a few minutes ago and WSAZ-DT was back on.

I get a 78-88 on WSAZ-DT for whatever thats worth.

Maybe someone with some connections can provide some details on what happened.

I will strongly second the channelmaster 4228, I upgraded to this from a radio shack rooftop antenna and got excellent signal with no dropout for wsaz and I live in charleston so you should be closer. Also roof mounting is the best for reception if your signficant other will allow it!

That's awesome. I'd posted on a Voom forum about antennas at the same time and the Channel Master 4228 was recommended there as well. There's already one antenna on the roof, I doubt if she (the wife) would even notice a different one. So she wouldn't be the problem, it'd be my lack of knowhow. Perhaps after the new year, I can get up there and fool around with it.

Is there somewhere locally that I can purchase it? Would they put it up there for me?

Thanks guys.

I got mine from solid signal with no problems and a good price. Is there an antenna there already, how is it mounted, could you just remove the old antenna and use the same mount? May make instalation easier!

Yeah, there's a Winegard (not sure of the model) antenna there now that was put up by the installers for Voom. I'm not sure how it's mounted or anything. Are most antenna mounts interchangable? If so, I would imagine that I could just swap it out. I think that's what the installers did when they upgraded my antenna the last time. I don't remember them putting up a new mount for it.

If there is already a pole up the 4228 just slides on the pole and is mounted with U-bolts. I did it myself.(Translation: ANYONE can do it if I can:D )

I am in Scott Depot and a Voom subscriber. The installers that Voom has utilized in the past have not done a good job installing the systems. Mine was installed on a woodn fence around my 2 story brick home. The antenna has a direct shot at WCHS and Fox towers., of course they are about a mile from my home. The house is between me and the other 2 towers that are toward Huntington. They have repeatedly missed my appointments to move antenna and it is frustrating dealiing with them. I will say that Voom beats Directv and Dish hands down in the HD category.

Mike

but I don't.:( Last Thursday evening at my daughters Xmas program for school, there was a guy there with a very nice video camera. He was also wearing a WVAH/WCHS fleece jacket. Since I was in the back video taping the performance, I was talking to him. He is a cameraman for WVAH/WCHS and so I asked him about their progress on HDTV. He seemed to know at least some of what was going on and mentioned that they were trying to have the HDTV signal up and running by the Superbowl at the latest, but hopefully some of the playoffs as well.

Now here is where I'd hoped to have good news. He said the digital signal was up and running at very low power and that they could receive it at the WVAH station. Since I am less than a mile from there, I got out my old antenna, strapped it to my deck and pointed it at the tower. Nothing.:( Not so much as a blip. But tomorrow I am going to go get a couple more lengths of conduit and raise the antenna up to about 30' off my deck and see if it helps.

If its any consolation, I still picked up WSAZ good and strong with my antenna pointed 120 degrees off their direction.

I will post more findings as soon as I get a chance to try the increased height.

Thanks for the update Dallas. I was going to call Mr. Beckner tomorrow to check the status. I may still do so to see what he says.

Since the new SHVEA legislation passed I finally broke down and bought an HD Tivo. (I waited to make the investment so I could be fairly sure I could get distant networks HD via DirecTV).

I'm in a white area for all the networks except ABC (Madison WV). Luckily when I got home today I found I'm now receiving FOX-HD from NYC in addition to the CBS-HD and NBC-HD I have been receiving. I had been receiving the Fox-SD before.

I also get the Charleston/Huntington locals via D*.

So it appears if you are in an analog white area you can get the HD distant nets even if you subscribe to the local network stations.

I guess I'll have to get a high gain antenna after WCHS-HD comes online full power to see if I can get ABC-HD from them. I have an awfully high hill to my north-northwest so I'm not hopeful.

Originally posted by clueless
I guess I'll have to get a high gain antenna after WCHS-HD comes online full power to see if I can get ABC-HD from them. I have an awfully high hill to my north-northwest so I'm not hopeful.
Don't do anything for a month or so. Rumor is ABC-HD is headed our way as well. :)

clueless,

From what I've read, it appears with the new SHVEA rules, if you already have the Distant Network Feeds, then you will receive the HD Network Stations as they become live on DirecTV (that means only ABC left to go). A very good source on the HD Programming Thread said it is most definitely coming, and SOON. Maybe not by 12/31, but soon. One rumor is that ESPN2-HD and ABC will both be available on 1/6....but tha'ts only rumor.

I had an Antenna at my last house for NBC-HD, which I rarely watched due to programming. Now that I'm in a new house, the only place to put up an antenna isn't very pleasing to the eye, so I'm happy that DirecTV is putting the Networks on. I'm just waiting for the day that we receive our LOCAL stations in HD via DirecTV.

Again.......what's up with WOWK?? Can't they see the writing on the wall?

Originally posted by tonybradley
Again.......what's up with WOWK?? Can't they see the writing on the wall?
If I get a little time over the next week or so, I am going to write a letter to CBS corporate letting them know that WOWK is NOT broadcasting in HD even though their website says it is. CBS won't put any pressure on WOWK if they think they are already passing the HD feed.

And 1/6 is a little late for the bowl games and the premier of Alias, but I'll take it anyway.:D

Any info on what Charter offers via HD (or will offer) in terms of Local Channels. Ie, does anyone knew if NBC is coming through in HD over Charter or has charter not picked it up for some reason.

hokiehigh,

I can only tell you what a member of the WVHTGroup told me, but he said NO, Charter does not offer any of the locals.

According to Bray Carrey at WOWKTV, he will not entertain broadcasting HD until the Satellite companies and/or Cable companies (i.e. Charter) state they will carry their channels. In other words....he is waiting for someone else to pay them Rights to carry their HD signal instead of going ahead and blasting it OTA to us for free.

So, maybe we should hit two sides. The letter to CBS Corporate and calling Charter letting them know how many of us would like to see them offer NBC, FOX and ABC through Cable. I guarantee you this would drive Carrey to HD.

Thanks for the response. If anyone knows specifically why charter does not carry NBC (the one HD station as of now) in HD i would love to hear an answer. Until then, i guess its either buy an OTA settop or get the D*.
Thanks a bunch.
j

Originally posted by hokiehigh
either buy an OTA settop
Right now, well at least a day or so ago, both Best Buy and Circuit City had open box OTA STB's for like $99. Or Wal-Mart has the USTV one for around the same price. You should be able to get a signal in SC as long as you aren't behind a hill to your west.

As to why Charter won't carry NBC is anybody's guess. My cable company, Adelphia, doesn't offer any HD channels.

You are all starting to see my point................

Bray Carey is satan himself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad:

Isn't the Antichrist going to perform miracles to confuse those on earth?

So, if Carrey ends up providing HD....it will be a miracle and I think I may get a little worried....LOL!!

Originally posted by herdfan
Don't do anything for a month or so. Rumor is ABC-HD is headed our way as well. :)

Unfortunately the modeling software thinks I can get a grade B analog signal from WOAY (ABC) in Oak Hill. I never could convince them to give me a waiver (even though Charter shows WCHS as an ABC affiliate here). Since D* isn't giving any more waivers I guess I'll have to wait for the digial white areas to be defined (or for D* to offer WCHS-HD). I suppose I should have asked for a signal test - oh well, too late now.

I left Raymond Beckner (Engineer at WCHS/WVAH) a voice mail last Wednesday (12/22) and have not heard from him at this time. He may be off a couple weeks through the Holidays or he may be hard at work on getting us our ABC and Fox-HD :)

I now have Fox, NBC and CBS HD feeds through DirecTV. Latest rumor (from a very factual person on the forum) is ABC-HD will be on DirecTV VERY VERY soon. Many are speculating in time for the bowl games this weekend, or for the Wild Card Games in Mid January.

I've had my Waivers for a few years now and was under the impression that I would be 'grandfathered' into the new year now that the new law has been passed. However, today, I am hearing that if your area offers Local SD feeds via DirecTV, then they will strip you from the DNS feeds.

If the latter is true, I can only hope that Raymond and his technicians have their HD feed up in time for the Playoffs and Superbowl. I don't have a good place to mount an antenna, but I will temporarily tie it to my Deck and run the coax in through the window to get the SB in HD.

I watched the SB in HD last year, so it will be tough to watch it in SD this year.

Hey guys its my first post and I enjoyed reading through this thread and others on AVS, Im a 22 year old student st Marshall and I have a couple of questions.....

Im about to make the plunge on a TV and I currently live in downtown huntington (about 8 blocks from the stadium and campus)

Will I able able to receive WSAZ fairly easy? (I have no ideas how far the antenna reaches) and will it be the same when ABC and FOX go live (hopefully soon)

Also my hometown is in Parkersburg and I will be returing there following this semester, and I thought I saw where WTAP (NBC Parkersburg news) was already in HD, can anyone verify this for me?

Also (slim chance on this one) will I be able to get WSAZ, WCHS ect from Parkersburg OTA?

Thanks for the info and help guys.

jls24,
Use this link for coverage maps and info on all tv transmitters in the US and Canada.
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/audio/tvq.html
WTAP dt49 is up and running in digital. If they are passing the NBC hd signal is another question.
Wsaz transmitter location and coverage area.
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?n=DS618282.html
WCHS same.
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?n=DS618166.html

I have adelphia cable, so obviously my choices for HDTV are limited. I have been in contact with Raymond Beckner for a while now. Here is his latest on the status of WVAH and WOWK broadcasting in HD:
"The schedule has not changed, other than to say probably the end of
January."

If the end of January is the date, I doubt it will happen. I bet Raymond and his Techs are off today.

If anyone can pull in the HD signal, let us know. Would have been nice to see some BCS bowls in HD.

Oops....what am I thinking? This is December.....duh!!!!

First Leno on new years eve wasn't in HD now Medium is not in HD. Does anyone have further information?

Leno coming through in HD just fine tonight. Sometimes they forget to "flip the switch.":(

yeah at least Leno was in HD. Still very disapointing NBCs most hyped mid season replacement then they drop the ball like that...

Call them. (304) 523-5333. Ask for the control room and tell them they need to pass the HD feed on the digital channel. I had to do this several times during NASCAR season when they wouldn't turn on the Widescreen feed.

If the people that answer the phone won't connect you, try to explain it to them and ask them to tell the control room.

Perhaps a stupid question...but, if they flip the switch will it come through in HD on my cable box. I have an HD box, but the only HD channels I get are HDNet, INHD, and ESPN.

Thanks

Sorry, but no.:(

The cable companies are even father behind than the networks when it comes to network HD. Although NBC has been up for a couple of years, none of the areas cable companies carry it. If you want NBC, or ABC and FOX when they get lit up, then you need to get an antenna and a STB if your TV is only HD-ready.

Kind of sucks doesn't it? Call Adelphia and bitch!

What is digital channel 52 owned by the PAPPAS TELECASTING OF AMERICA, A CALIFORNIA L.P. ?
Looks like it is on the WSAZ tower?
Is this the WB?

Are you getting a signal? I can't even pick up a whiff. The WB, WHCP anyway, is on DT-17 and I can get it to register on my signal meter sometimes, but get no picture.

Here is who Pappas is: http://www.pappastv.com/

Where did you find out about this?

Originally posted by herdfan
Are you getting a signal? I can't even pick up a whiff. The WB, WHCP anyway, is on DT-17 and I can get it to register on my signal meter sometimes, but get no picture.

Here is who Pappas is: http://www.pappastv.com/

Where did you find out about this?

Pappas applied to start a DT on channel 52. I saw it on the FCC site about a year ago, but according to the FCC database the allocation hasn't even been approved. It will likely never go on the air--on channel 52 anyway.

And if it's on already... somebody's got some explaining to do.

- Trip

ANy new info on the new stations yet? Still in columbus and all networks in HD here. I can't wait to get home!

Does anyone know that since WVAH and WCHS is on the same equipment, they will be multicasting? I've read that OTA stations that multicast, the signal is degraded and very noticeable.

Jay,

Sent an e-mail to Raymond Beckner today asking if I can plan a Superbowl Party in HD. Or if I I should shoot for a Daytona 500 party. I have not yet heard back.

Tony,

It should not be an issue in this case since they each will have licensed frequencies. Degradation happens when you start splitting up the bandwidth. Although I would like to see one of the stations run a 480i weather feed on one of the sub-channels.

As soon as I hear back from Mr. Beckner I will post his response.

I emailed Ray a few weeks ago, but have never heard a word from him.

Hope you hear some good news Dallas.

Hey....don't you get Fox-HD on DirecTV? I'm planning my Superbowl Party around Fox-HD on DirecTV.

Yeah I get it. And ABC too.:)

But with the new rules (SHVERA) who knows how long we will get to keep them. Besides, WSAZ-HD looks better than WNBC-HD, so I would expect ABC & FOX to be similar.

Originally posted by herdfan
Yeah I get it. And ABC too.:)

But with the new rules (SHVERA) who knows how long we will get to keep them. Besides, WSAZ-HD looks better than WNBC-HD

Yeah when they actualy bother to broadcast HD. They didnt show medium in HD again last night. I checked my tivo this morning and no HD again sigh...

Originally posted by cocoon
Yeah when they actualy bother to broadcast HD. They didnt show medium in HD again last night.
Next Monday send an e-mail to Don.Ray@wsaz.com letting him know they haven't been passing the HD feed for Medium. You may or may not get a response. I will try to check it next Monday and if its not in HD I will call the station and tell them to flip the switch. They were pretty good about turning it on during NASCAR last year.

Medium is a new show and it may not have occured to anyone to flip the switch.

I just talked to Jeff Gula this morning (one of our members) and he said that WCHS was live in digital at his home in Cross Lanes for a very short period of time on Friday evening. He said he kept looking at the signal strength between his NBC and ABC channels to compare and ABC was gone very quickly. He had not re-aimed his antenna before this.
I have heard that WCHS has been broadcasting digitally but at a very, very low power. This was the first time Jeff ever saw it off his antenna.
Maybe this means they are testing their new signal or something.

Originally posted by herdfan
Next Monday send an e-mail to Don.Ray@wsaz.com letting him know they haven't been passing the HD feed for Medium

Medium is a new show and it may not have occured to anyone to flip the switch.

thanks cant hurt to email them i suppose.

Darrin,

That's great news. If anyone has a STB with a signal meter the channel numbers are:

WCHS - ABC 41
WVAH - FOX 19

I will look for them to come up. Probably daily.:eek:

Herdfan,
I saw your post and pointed my rotor at WCHS, I am now watching WCHS DT.

I have a Dishnetwork 921 HDDVR. I was geting 95 signal on WSAZ DT (it varies with the weather) and I get it fine. I am getting 105-107 on WCHS DT.

NYPD is not in HD but is in Dolby Digital 2/0.

Titan TV is down tonight, so I don't know if it is supposed to be HD.

I live between John Amos and Winfield on RT 35. Probably 6/7 miles from the tower.

Bill

HDTV in WV,

If you are still locked on tonight, Lost and Alias are in HD. I'm interested in seeing if they flip the switch so you are receiving the HD broadcasts. From what I'm reading here, it appears WSAZ forgets to flip the switch quite often. I Hope WCHS isn't the same.

Mr. XXXXXXX,

Our goal is to have FOX HDTV on air in time for the Super Bowl and ABC HDTV shortly after.

Thank You,
Raymond Beckner Dir eng/Op wCHS/WVAH


Sounds like it may actually happen. I was able to get a signal of 20-25 on WCHS, but my antenna points the wrong way to get a strong lock.

I hope for those that do not get Fox on DirecTV that the HD feed will be up by Superbowl.

I noticed the local Smokey Bones resaurant has a big Mitsubishi HD set. Granted, they were running Charter Cable when I was there and they had Sport Center in Standard Definition stretched out on the thing. Come on.....I get ESPN-HD on my TV at home and it looks great.

I've thought about calling them to alert them of WVAH looking to have their HD feed up by Superbowl. Would be nice if they could have that on in HD for those out there that have never seen an HD picture before.

Dallas,

Maybe this would be a good place to have one of our Meets with Darrin....what channel is the Pro Bowl on and wonder if it will be HD?

I thought about calling one of the newspapers and letting them know the Superbowl would be in HD on FOX. Maybe they would run a story putting pressure on WVAH to actually get it done.

Smokey Bones is a great location for a meet. That place probably doesn't have a seat that can't see three or four TV's.

As for the Pro-Bowl, it is on ESPN, but their site is a little confused. The HD section lists NFL Countdown in HD from 6-7:30 on 2/13. But their NFL area lists the game starting at 6:00. It probably won't be in HD as Hawaii probably doesn't have an HD truck. The recent golf tournament there was in HD and it was a fairly big one.

I did find out that Adelphia in Huntington has a pretty nice HD lineup including Starz-HD and Max-HD plus all the same channels we get with D*. But the Red House location which serves me doesn't have any HD at all. Even Morgantown has a nice HD lineup from Adelphia.:( Blows away anything Charter has.

Day by day its getting better.:)

I do really hope WVAH gets their !@#$ together before the game so that I can watch it ay my neighbors house. We agreed that if he can get the game in HD OTA, the party is at his house, otherwise it is at mine. And I really don't want to get the house ready for a party.

So is 2/13 a tentative date for the meet?

Hey Dallas,

I mentioned the next meet to Darrin. He said he'd look into it. I don't think anyone emailed Darrin back letting him know what day during the week or weekend would be best for a meet. So, if we do something, it may just be you, me, Darrin and Joel, but hopefully, more will show up at the next meet.

I know what you mean about not using your house for the party. We are having a party at my house that day. I'm actually having folks over for the HD showing of the Pitt vs. Pats game today. I cleaned all day yesterday and my 2.5 year old went behind me messing again...LOL!

This is Paul Wilson, business editor at The Charleston Gazette. I see one of you considered contacting the newspaper about a story for HDTV and the Super Bowl. I'm working on something for later in the week, so if someone wants to contact me, send an e-mail to paulwilson@wvgazette.com.

I'm especially looking for someone in the Charleston area who wants to talk on the record for my story. I see one of you contacted WVAH/WCHS about the signal for the Super Bowl, which is what I want to focus on.

Thanks and hope to talk to you soon,
Paul

Make sure you all get a copy of Friday's Gazette.:)

Maybe he could report on what an a**hole Bray Carey, AKA the Antichrist, is. The man speaks with a forked tongue out of both sides of his mouth on each of his two faces:mad: Report how he would not do anything that would not earn himself money and then lie about why he really could not and has not and will not provide an HD signal even though all the other stations around him somehow manage to do it!



My disdain for him still has not worn off!

Darrin sent an email to Paul Wilson.

Dallas...are you also in contact with Paul?

wvudrj.....I do think there should be mention that "The Charleston area can now make claims that it will soon have all of their Networks in HD......oh wait.....the primetime leader, CBS doesn't and has no plans due to Mr. Carey"

Originally posted by tonybradley
Darrin sent an email to Paul Wilson.

Dallas...are you also in contact with Paul?
So why did he contact me instead of Darrin?

Basically he came over and interviewed me. He did talk to Bray, but got no real information. The good new is it looks like WVAH will be live for the game.:) Or at least they will die trying.

Originally posted by wvudrj
and then lie about why he really could not and has not and will not provide an HD signal even though all the other stations around him somehow manage to do it!
According to the Network HD list here on AVS, there are 10 markets in the Top 100 without CBS HD. Seven are of them are smaller markets, 2 are larger.

Also as it stands, we are in the largest market without FOX HD. But hopefully that is going to change soon.

In all seriousness, once ABC and FOX go live, we need to do something to either let advertisers know how we feel about CBS or perhaps all chip and and run a newspaper ad thanking ABC, FOX and NBC for HD. Anything to make him (BC) look bad.

Good question. Maybe Darrin and I were too slow in getting back to him and he went to you first....before Darrin had a chance to email him.

I agree 100% about running an add or something to thank those networks that are HD after WVAH and WCHS go live. So, that would be all but WOWK.

You know the other good thing about running an add like that? All these people in our area that have HD Sets will finally realize they DON'T have HD just because Circuit City sold them an HD set and told them everything is now HD. Yes..that happens. My neighbor just bought a 57" Hitachi HDTV and was telling me how great HD was. He was talking about one of the NFL games. I said "Cool, you get locals over directv". He said "Yes, but on Dish.....I was watching it on channel 11....HD is great" LOL. I can't tell you how many times I've heard this.

Moral of my story. Running an add itself may not force Bray to do much, but hopefully it will educate several hundred folks that have HD sets, but no HD when they think they do.....we could possibly add a petition in the add. Again, may not do anything, but wouldn't it be nice to know that their email server may get bombarded by emails from upset Customers?

I was flipping channels earlier tonight and noticed that D* had added WOUB the Athens Ohio PBS station. I was wondering if there is any update on the status WHCP?

Nice article this morning in the D section of the Gazette. I am dissapointed that the group did not get mentioned though.

Bray Cary quote "For instance, Channel 6 in Columbus, Ohio, broadcasts in high-definition on Channel 13. Cary said it's unclear whether that signal would interfere with a HD transmission from WOWK's Channel 13. If it did, WOWK might have to switch channels."

WHATTTT!!!! you have got to be kidding me! This guy thinks people have antennas in the Charleston Huntington area that have a long enough range to pick up Columbus Ohio HD channels!!!!!! WHAT AN IDIOT and WHAT A PISS POOR STUPID EXCUSE TO GIVE. Does this guy not have a smart station engineer that informs him? I bet he does but he doesn't want to spend the money.

more: "It is a mess," Cary said of the current situation. "And the consumer is not going to be the winner until the mess is straightened out."

No Mr. Cary it is not a mess. You are a greedy #$#@. From what I understand you are a millionaire a couple times over. Better yet your a stupid one because if you realized that if your station would spend some money like the other local network affiliates and put up a HD transmitter you would draw more viewers to your station because CBS has some of the best HD material out there.

Darrin & Tony,

This is a chance for you to expose BC for the liar he is. Write a letter to the editor as the P & VP of the WVHTG explaining that the station in Columbus broadcasting on VHF 13 will in no way affect WOWK's broadcast of HD on UHF 47.

Perhaps we can start a "Send Bray a Buck" campain to have everyone who wants to watch CBS in HD to send BC a dollar. If he got a ton of dollars he might realize that more than 12 people have HDTV's.

And given Tony's story about his neighbor, I wonder how many people realized this morning they aren't watching HD on their HDTV. And as a result are pi**ed at BB or CC who sold it to them.

Originally posted by DarrinH
[B]Nice article this morning in the D section of the Gazette. I am dissapointed that the group did not get mentioned though.

Bray Cary quote "For instance, Channel 6 in Columbus, Ohio, broadcasts in high-definition on Channel 13. Cary said it's unclear whether that signal would interfere with a HD transmission from WOWK's Channel 13. If it did, WOWK might have to switch channels."


Wow. What a load of ****!

You can't even pick up non HD Columbus Ohio stations in Athens Ohio ( over the air )and Athens is approximately 70 Miles closer to Columbus then Charleston/Huntingtinon WV

I hope WOWK gets flooded with emails. I've already sent them one. What is Mr. Cray's problem? I'm sure there aren't a lot of us out there with antennas, but I'd say more and more will get one when they see HDTV's capabilities. Thank goodness, I can't get an analog signal and I get CBS-HD via Dish. I hope that never ends so I won't be forced to watch WOWK down the road. The idea of putting an ad in the paper thanking WSAZ, WCHS and WVAH is a very good idea.

has anyone with D* noticed we now have Channel 20, a PBS station from Athens is now part of our local package. Makes you wonder how a PBS station can get a signal to D*, but a commercial station like The WB can't.:(

I haven't been lucky enough to see the article yet. I asked my Father in Law to keep the Gazette for me to grab tonight.

You know....I'm not going to say that both VHF channels wont' interfere depending on the Power Level in question. If Bray is looking at full power HD, and if Columbus has Full Power HD, I guess it could be possible, but not probable. I'm talking the extreme ends of both towers. Again, I have no clue if would happen that way, but I have a perfect person to ask, and Darrin knows EXACTLY who I'm talking about.

I remember (forget his name) the Engineer at WSAZ, 2 years ago told me that folks over 150 miles away were able to pull in the station with a Preamp. It was somewhere in Ohio, but not sure exactly where.

Here is a link to the article in the Gazette:

http://www.wvgazette.com/section/ConsumerInsight/2005012727


I got all excited for a few seconds when I saw the new local station. I mistakenly thought it was the WB/UPN station from Portsmouth. Oh well. Maybe some day. In scanning the guide for the Athens PBS station I noticed they do have a few different programs that WPBY doesn't have.

Originally posted by tonybradley
IYou know....I'm not going to say that both VHF channels wont' interfere depending on the Power Level in question. If Bray is looking at full power HD, and if Columbus has Full Power HD,
The problem is Bray is assuming that WOWK will take their original channel 13 back when they lose analog, but that Columbus 6 will stay at 13. These stations have invested tons of money in having consumers relate to their channel by a number. I don't see any way that Columbus 6 won't take their "6" channel back. If they choose to keep their digital up on 13 when analog gets shut off, then WOWK might just have to stay up on 47 or find a new number.

All of this channel nonsense has nothing to do with him not broadcasting HD. He will still have the same issue if he is only broadcasting DTV if Columbus 6 goes back.

On a positive note, I got my dad's antenna up and he can get the WCHS-DT signal in Milton. No WVAH, but at least I know his antenna is pointed correctly.

Correct me if Im wrong but can you even broadcast HD on channel 13? Doesnt it have to be a UHF signal?

Originally posted by herdfan
The problem is Bray is assuming that WOWK will take their original channel 13 back when they lose analog, but that Columbus 6 will stay at 13. These stations have invested tons of money in having consumers relate to their channel by a number. I don't see any way that Columbus 6 won't take their "6" channel back. If they choose to keep their digital up on 13 when analog gets shut off, then WOWK might just have to stay up on 47 or find a new number.

All of this channel nonsense has nothing to do with him not broadcasting HD. He will still have the same issue if he is only broadcasting DTV if Columbus 6 goes back.

On a positive note, I got my dad's antenna up and he can get the WCHS-DT signal in Milton. No WVAH, but at least I know his antenna is pointed correctly.

No station in their right mind would take a 2-6 allocation unless they had VERY good reasons. That said, my local WBRA-DT is out of their mind.

Low-VHFs suffer from many problems digitally. The same impulse noise and electrical interference you see in the analog signal of a low-VHF just destroys a low-VHF digital. Plus there's e-skip, the summer-time (normally) phenomenon that reflects the sky waves of signals back to earth, 500-1500 miles away.

Plus, most low-VHFs at this point are having to run at extremely low power levels because the low-VHF digitals bend around terrain very well... TOO well. WHP-DT on channel 4 in Harrisburg, PA broadcasts at 2,300 watts. Compare to the average low-VHF analog at 100,000 watts. Yet even with just 2.3 kW, WHP-DT reportedly interfered with analog WRC-TV in Washington, with 100 kW. The problem is, however, that the signal that interferes is too weak to be used.

Locally, I have WBRA-DT, my PBS station, on channel 3. They are at 7,250 watts (7.25 kW), but run a directional pattern so I only get roughly 2.5 kW in my direction. On a good day, it is my weakest signal, even though they are at full power. Most of the time, however, the signal is useless. Be it e-skip, electrical noise, or some other interference issue, it just doesn't work. The engineer tells me they will stay on channel 3 because they cannot afford to move back. If nobody can watch the signal, then they won't be able to afford anything.

Just a note, I've been monitoring the channel elections on the FCC site, and WSAZ-DT has applied to stay on channel 23, which is good news. Less important, WHCP-DT will stay on channel 17. Completely unimportant, WTSF-DT will stay on 44 (as if it had anywhere else to go). Also unimportant, WTAP-DT will stay on 49. No other Huntington-area stations have made elections yet.

Now, as far as I'm aware, PSIP rules state that if a channel elects to stay somewhere besides their original channel, they can still remap back to it. So, if WSYX-DT stays on channel 13 (which it likely will), then it CAN remap to 6-1 legally even after the shutoff. In that case, WOWK-DT will have to stay on channel 47 and remap to 13-1 (the transmitters are 107 miles apart. There's no way the FCC would let WOWK move back with them that close). It's not as much of a mess as he makes it out to be.

Even still, the HD equipment is independent of the transmitter. Whether they move back or not, only the TRANSMITTER has to be changed, not the HD equipment. It's no excuse for the lack of HD.

- Trip

Originally posted by Trip in VA
Now, as far as I'm aware, PSIP rules state that if a channel elects to stay somewhere besides their original channel, they can still remap back to it. So, if WSYX-DT stays on channel 13 (which it likely will), then it CAN remap to 6-1 legally even after the shutoff. In that case, WOWK-DT will have to stay on channel 47 and remap to 13-1 (the transmitters are 107 miles apart. There's no way the FCC would let WOWK move back with them that close). It's not as much of a mess as he makes it out to be.

Even still, the HD equipment is independent of the transmitter. Whether they move back or not, only the TRANSMITTER has to be changed, not the HD equipment. It's no excuse for the lack of HD.
Question: Who will have the higher status in the fight for channel 13? Will the FCC make WOWK stay on 47 or will they make Channel 6, which is WSYX BTW, move to a different channel? But the bottom line is WOWK will have this problem regardless of whether the are passing the HD signal or not.:(

One other issue regarding channel location, I have always understood that it takes more power to drive a channel higher in the band than one lower in the band. So WSAZ will use less power, or need to transmit fewer kW at 23 than WOWK would need to transmit to cover the same area at channel 47. Is this correct?

Also, given the fact that WOWK has been up digitally for close to a year, why are they bothering to do so given that FCC regs don't force them to do so until July? Seems like wasting money to do so when your customers can't take advantage.

Originally posted by herdfan
Question: Who will have the higher status in the fight for channel 13? Will the FCC make WOWK stay on 47 or will they make Channel 6, which is WSYX BTW, move to a different channel? But the bottom line is WOWK will have this problem regardless of whether the are passing the HD signal or not.:(

One other issue regarding channel location, I have always understood that it takes more power to drive a channel higher in the band than one lower in the band. So WSAZ will use less power, or need to transmit fewer kW at 23 than WOWK would need to transmit to cover the same area at channel 47. Is this correct?

Also, given the fact that WOWK has been up digitally for close to a year, why are they bothering to do so given that FCC regs don't force them to do so until July? Seems like wasting money to do so when your customers can't take advantage.

WSYX-DT was there first digitally. Therefore, they will get priority. They will most likely make WOWK stay on 47.

I know what you're going to say, "but WOWK was there first!" That's pretty much what I said when I heard my local WDBJ was staying on 18 rather than moving back to 7, but the GM said that the FCC told them they had to protect WVNS-DT on channel 8, owned by the same company as WOWK, so they stayed on 18.

You are correct. It should take more power on channel 47 than it would on 23. But it might be possible for WOWK to secure a different channel lower on the band, if they felt like moving twice.

Well, the FCC mandated that the station had a minimal signal on the air by May 1, 2002. But, many were able to get extensions. The FCC was letting stations get away with low-powered STAs, but wants all Top-100 CBS/NBC/ABC/FOX network stations at full power by July. All others have until July of next year.

Any other questions? I'm feeling especially helpful today.

- Trip

I am in Scott Depot
I am not getting a strong enough signal to get wchs with voom. Voom does require a fairly strong signal anyway. Is WCHS using their new antenna? Are they up to full power yet?

Originally posted by herdfan
has anyone with D* noticed we now have Channel 20, a PBS station from Athens is now part of our local package. Makes you wonder how a PBS station can get a signal to D*, but a commercial station like The WB can't.:(

I was watching something on Channel 20 and noticed occasional pixelation. The other D* locals seemed OK and the signal for that transponder was 100 (as it usually is). I wonder if D* is receiving WOUB's digital signal at the LRF instead of the analog signal and that is what is causing the pixelation. Maybe in preparation for HD locals (or maybe that's the only way they could get a signal).

I sent this email to the station manage at WOWK:



Dear sir: I have in the past asked for a waiver from your station so that I could get the High Definition national feed from Direct TV. After initially being told yes I was then told a host of lies and double talk by none other than Bray Carey himself as to why I could not have the waiver (because if I received one for HD feed then everyone else should) AND that there was not any interest in HD in Charleston to push for a local HD signal. I have since given up on your station due to poor information rolling down hill from the top (Mr. Carey) much like the old saying.

Recently I had the chance to read an article in the Charleston newspaper where Mr. Carey is again completely misinformed. How in the world could someone expect to pick up anything from Columbus! Where does he get this crap, I mean information? It seems that it would be easier for him to say he can't see any way that providing an HD signal could allow him to profit and that would be the end of it. His baseless lies are getting harder to justify now with WCHS and WVAH ready to provide an HD signal over the air for free. Those coupled with WSAZ who have been broadcasting for over two years now leave your station grossly behind. Your network readily advertises itself as the leader in HD programming, I guess that means everywhere but the Charleston/Huntington market.

As more people in Charleston realize that there 4000 dollar TV is not being fully utilized and the other stations go HD your station will feel the impact in the form of a monetary loss. As a member of the West Virginia home Theater group I can say the very people that have this technology have the buying power. Couple this with the exponential growth of HDTV sales and the writing is on the wall.

So I would love a truthful answer as to why your station is the last remaining station in Charleston without even an HD plan in the works. Please no more diversion tactics just straight answers. Is there not a corporate push from CBS to expand the HD market?

I have sent copies to WSAZ, WCHS, WVAH to commend them for their efforts and to help strengthen our position.

Thank You
Jay Lohan





I hope this gets through to them and I encourage everyone else to voice your displeasure!

wvudrj,

By Mr. Carey saying that there may be interfering signals is just a cop out. Thing is, FCC will not give any license to a neighboring cities for the same channel. Sounds like he is upset he may not get to have channel '13' back when HD starts moving back to the VHF band.

However, what Mr. Carey says is correct that two identical channels "frequencies" could interfere between Charleston and Columbus. Columbus is only 130 miles from Charleston. Now, look at the extreme ends (maybe Athens..not sure), you could possibly have a community that could pick up both. However, they are not going to have interfering signals because the FCC won't allow that to happen.

I guess he thinks we are all a bunch of WV Hillbillies that don't know nuttin' about that there technology stuff.

Just pathetic. It's pretty bad that a nice article was written about HDTV in our area and to summarize, Bray Carey is a misinformed, arrogant, stubborn, money hungry goon!!

Hello Charleston,

Im from the Omaha NE thread. Looks like we have the same problem. Emmis owns one of your stations (WSAZ) in the area and they will not let them put there HD Channel on Cable as they want Money for a Free over the air channel.

Please help and Email Emmis and let them know what you think.

===============Pasted from the thread==============

Looks like over in the Omaha-Lincoln Ne Thread the Cox Cable Emmis issue is still alive.

Emmis pulled there CBS HD from Cox cable one year again demanding money for the free over the air channel.


Here is the thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/show...&pagenumber=130


Here is some info on who to Email- pated from the thread

Here are the EMAIL Addresses for the Top VPs at Emmis Corp (the ones who own KM3 and the ones who made them pull the HD).

Cut and Past Comma delimited:

rmena@emmis.com,desayian@emmis.com,kate@emmis.com,staffingde partment@emmis.com,ir@emmis.com,wzberger@emmis.com,rcummings @emmis.com

(below is a line by line list)

Please Email them weekly and ask for the free HD channel to be put back on.



KM3 and Emmis one year ago said they pulled there HD Feed because cox was charging for it and making money on it.

Things have changed in the last year.

Now all cable systems in a Emmis area offer the Local HD channels FREE unscrambled via free QAM channels.

This means the Emmis reasoning is no longer valid. They have no reason to demand money for a FREE OVER THE AIR HD Signal.

After all the Government, our tax money gave them the channel. We should be able to watch it free over the air and free on cable.

It is time for Emmis to add KM3 HD back to Cox.



rmena@emmis.com
desayian@emmis.com
kate@emmis.com
staffingdepartment@emmis.com
ir@emmis.com
wzberger@emmis.com
rcummings@emmis.com

Sounds reasonable to me that WSAZ does not want their channel making money for another company after they spent the cash to put HD OTA. Why shouldn't Charter cable pay WSAZ for the HD? If Charter had WSAZ in HD wouldn't that make more people want to subscribe to the Charter HD package thus making Charter additional money?
There is no way I would complain to any company around here that is taking steps with their own money to provide HD OTA and not providing it to the cable companies. Seems stupid that this is what WOWK is waiting for. Sounds like the cable company is NE doesn't want to pay for the HD, I believe Charter feels the same around here.

Darrin,

I agree 100%

I don't know what happened last night. I was receiving WSAZ-DT with no problems earlier yesterday but now I cant receive a signal from WSAZ-DT at all. I checked the antenna to make sure it was aimed correctly then put it back in place just in case it had moved.

The strange thing is now that its in original location I get WOUB-DT stronger signal.

I am having the same problem with WSAZDT...........

And I am only 6 miles away form the tower.......

All the other stations are coming in fine......

Pax, WPBY and WowkDT (not that that one matters)

I just wonder what is going on?

Just posting saying that Fox11 appears to be active w/ a digital signal. I'm getting a 98 on signal. The picture has the grey boxes on the sides for the SD stuff. Does not stretch like other channels.

Originally posted by sixy
Just posting saying that Fox11 appears to be active w/ a digital signal. I'm getting a 98 on signal. The picture has the grey boxes on the sides for the SD stuff. Does not stretch like other channels.

I get signal bars on channel 19 that keep fluctuating between 0 and 31 which isn't good enough for my equipment. I hope they aren't at full power because that would mean I have to get new antenna or I'm just too far away.

I still get no signal on WSAZ-DT.

WVAH loud and clear on 19-1 in Huntington. I get a signal of about 85 using a Silver Sensor indoor antenna. Pq matched the NY Fox feed on Directv

-spence

I am getting Fox 11 right now now after a channel scan at 90%

Thats good news for the Super Bowl.....

I jts wonder if its in HD..... I hope

Still curious about WSAZDT though......

I was getting it fine up until yestarday and the antenna is pointed in the right direction but still no signal.......

Observations on local channels:

I got "Everybody loves Raymond" on Fox last night in HD. My signal was 125 which is as high as it gets on my receiver. Picture quality very good.

However I cannot lock in on channel 8-1. I could get it last week very good.

Adelphia is having trouble with WSAZ analog, and I cannot get 3-1 on my UHF antenna.

Bill in Winfield

Interesting little piece on WVAH website.
http://www.sbgi.net/misc/cable_resale_local_tv.pdf

An Open Letter From Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.
To Our Viewers
Ladies and Gentlemen:
The digital television signals of television stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group,
Inc. are not currently carried on many local cable systems. The reason for this is quite simple --
the cable companies have refused to pay for the right to retransmit these digital signals. Even
though they charge you to receive our signal, they don’t want to pay to receive something which
they are essentially reselling.
These cable companies would like you to believe that Sinclair is wrong to demand
compensation from them. We think if you will consider the following points you will agree that
Sinclair’s position is correct.
1. Broadcast Television Programming Is Tops In Popularity. Consider how much you
pay the cable company every month and what that payment is for. If you are like most people
you spend a lot more time watching most broadcast television stations than any cable channel.
Yet the cable companies use your money to pay the cable channels and not Sinclair. If it was up
to you to you to determine which channels you wanted to pay for every month, wouldn’t you
designate part of your money to receive the local broadcast stations?
2. Cable Companies Routinely Pay to Acquire Programming. As noted above, cable
companies pay to obtain the right to carry most cable channels. In addition, despite their claims
to the contrary, cable companies routinely provide other broadcasters some form of
consideration in order to receive the right to retransmit their broadcast stations. It may not be
cash, but they are in fact paying to receive local stations’ signals. Sinclair simply wants to be
paid like everyone else.
3. Satellite Television Providers Pay Broadcasters Cash. The satellite providers,
DirecTV and Dish Network, are cable’s primary competition and provide essentially the same
service to consumers. These satellite companies routinely pay local broadcasters for the right to
rebroadcast their signals and, in fact, it was the addition of local channels to satellite providers’
program schedules which allowed them to obtain many of the subscribers they have today. Why
should the cable companies not have to pay for the same programming that their competitors
buy?
4. Payments to Sinclair Should Not Increase Your Cable Bill. Contrary to claims by the
cable companies, paying Sinclair should not lead to material increases in your cable bill. In the
first place, Sinclair is looking for no more than 50 cents per subscriber, per month, a very small
percentage of the average cable bill. In addition, we believe that consumers already believe the
fees they pay cable companies are in part to receive local signals. Cable companies simply need
to reallocate the fees you pay them away from the cable channels with low viewership to the
broadcast stations which have compelling programming and high viewership.
5. Sinclair Is Meeting Its Obligation To Provide Its Signals For Free. The signals of our
television stations (including the digital signals) continue, as has always been the case, to be free
to consumers over-the-air. The law, however, explicitly allows us to charge cable systems for
the right to retransmit our signals so any suggestion that we are doing anything improper is
simply incorrect. Similarly, claims that we received our right to broadcast for free are not only
irrelevant, but equally incorrect. We paid billions of dollars to acquire the stations that we own
and also spent more than $150 million to build out the infrastructure to broadcast a digital signal.
We realize that you are caught in the middle and care a lot more about the fact that you
can’t receive our digital signal than the reasons why you can’t. We certainly appreciate the time
you have taken to read this letter and hope that after you think about these various issues, you
can better understand why we think we should be paid by the cable companies for our signal.
If you would like the cable companies to provide our digital signal, we ask that you
contact them to let them know this. We also ask that you let them know that you believe it
makes sense to allocate a portion of your cable bill to the programming that you spend the most
time watching. They want to profit by selling our signals to you; it is only fair that they pay us
for the right to do so.
Thank you for your time in considering our point of view on this important subject. We
hope that together we can convince the cable companies to spend your subscription fee properly
so that you can receive our digital signals from your cable provider in the future.
Sincerely yours,
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.

It sounds to me that WCHS/WVAH has shifted its working signal over to FOX for the superbowl. Maybe they do not have all of the system working together yet and they put all of their working resources into the FOX transmission for the superbowl.

On the above article, I can not see how Brey Cary is waiting for the cable companies to have the capability to transmit his stations HD signal when at the point they do, the cable companies don't intend on paying him for it.

I spoke to an engineer this morning and they are upgrading their system. Supposed to be back up Wednesday or Thursday next week stronger than ever. Sounds GOOD to me. I only get around a 76% on my TIVO.

Anyway, I know people were wandering what happened.

Brian

Ok, with the help of information from this thread I am e-mailing Bray Cary once again in response to the Gazette news article. I also sent a copy to the reporter.

Mr. Cary:

Our members read your responses in the article in the Gazette on January 28th. I must say through communications with them via e-mail and postings on our local HD thread at the audio video science forum (AVS) it is safe to say that our members are not happy with your answers. We find it very disappointing that your station is not willing to step up to the plate (as all of the other local stations are now doing) to broadcast their digital signal and pass on the high definition network feed at 2/3 to full power. Your use of the “classic chicken and the egg” to describe the situation does not really fit since WVAH, WCHS and WSAZ took the initiative. They spent the money to get their signals in the air so that their customers can enjoy the programming the major networks offer. We see it as West Virginia Media Holdings has “laid an egg” since CBS offers some of the best high definition programming yet WOWK is now in the stone ages in comparison to WVAH, WCHS and WSAZ.

“We’re ready to go with it as soon as we can distribute it,” Cary said. “Satellite does not have the capacity right now to handle HD for all the local stations [in the Charleston-Huntington area]. For cable, we’re actually in negotiations with Charter [Communications] to carry high definition, but we haven’t concluded that, nor has anyone else.”

This makes it sound like it is the satellite and cable companies fault for your lack of HD transmission. When the satellite companies are ready in the very near future and they are willing to pay your station for the signal, how long will it take your station to provide that signal? This makes it sound like it will only take a few months which we know is not true unless you have efforts already in progress.

But there are a lot of details to work out, he said.

For instance, Channel 6 in Columbus, Ohio, broadcasts in high-definition on Channel 13. Cary said it’s unclear whether that signal would interfere with a HD transmission from WOWK’s Channel 13. If it did, WOWK might have to switch channels.

“It is a mess,” Cary said of the current situation. “And the consumer is not going to be the winner until the mess is straightened out.”

Our members know that digital transmissions are very directional. Only people on the fringes of the service area to the north could (and that is a very slight could) have some interference IF the towers were within 10-30 degrees of each other, which we know is not true. One person from the Athens Ohio area that has a HD antenna posted on our thread at AVS that he can not pick up the over the air analog channels from the Columbus area and Athens is approximately 70 miles closer to Columbus than to Charleston.

If your worries are about WOWK taking its original channel 13 back (from 47) once you lose your analog signal when the mandatory digital transmission period begins and its interference with Columbus digital transmission, don’t fret. I am sure that the Columbus station intends on taking its channel 6 back as well. We also know that there is no way the FCC will allow WOWK and the Columbus station to occupy channel 13 after the mandatory digital transmission date with their proximity. Furthur, WSYX-DT (the Columbus station) was broadcasting first digitally and we know that they will have priority with the FCC so WOWK will likely have to continue mapping to 13-1.

We are well informed when it comes to technology associated with home theater. Unfortunately our members do not feel we are treated as such when we receive a one sentence answer to our list of questions to you of June 25th 2004. Now that WSAZ, WCHS and WVAH are making strong efforts to broadcast digitally and pass on the network high definition feed, the West Virginia Home Theater Group intends on placing as much pressure on WOWK as it can. The article in the Gazette on January 28th featured one of our members and it was his intention that it not only encourage WVAH to have its signal ready for the Superbowl but make it known to the public where WOWK stands. We will continue to encourage letter and e-mail correspondence to you, associates at CBS and the Federal Communications Commission until we feel we are getting honest answers as to why WOWK has not followed suit and made the step into the future of digital high definition transmission.

Darrin Holmes
President of the WV Home Theater Group

Tony Bradley
Vice President of the WV Home Theater Group

Nice wording Darrin.

He better get on the ball. Charleston is in Market#62 per the Nielson rating. That means DirecTV will have Charleston locals (HD) in 2006 more than likely. Let me tell you, if he plays stubborn with the OTA feed, when WSAZ, WCHS and WVAH are live on DirecTV and his isn't, WOWK better make room for a few more servers because we will light them up with emails!!

Originally posted by DigitalInDunbar
I spoke to an engineer this morning and they are upgrading their system. Supposed to be back up Wednesday or Thursday next week stronger than ever. Sounds GOOD to me. I only get around a 76% on my TIVO.

Anyway, I know people were wandering what happened.

Brian

Thanks.

At least now I know something isn't wrong with my setup.

Originally posted by DigitalInDunbar
I spoke to an engineer this morning and they are upgrading their system. Supposed to be back up Wednesday or Thursday next week stronger than ever. Sounds GOOD to me. I only get around a 76% on my TIVO.

Anyway, I know people were wandering what happened.

Brian


Thanks a Bunch......

That is Great News.....

Now I can quit fiddling with everything and relax a little.....

If WSYX-DT elects to go back to channel 6, I will eat a disk. I feel safe predicting that WSYX-DT will elect to stay on 13. And that will mean that either WOWK will not be able to go back to 13 or if they do, they will have to be very directional.

I really have no say in what you put in your letter, only being a supporter of HDTV and not an actual viewer in the area, but you might want to add about how the equipment for passing HD is entirely separate from the transmitter and is therefore no excuse for not passing the HD. Anyone who knows that will see that WOWK is just a case of dragging feet.

- Trip

Anybody else notice the weird zoom or image shift on wvah during the O.C.? The FOX logo is almost halfway off the screen.

--spence

I see it

I am sure there are kinks that need to be worked out by the engineers......

I'm following with interest everyone's experience with OTA HD. I hadn't really planned on taking the OTA plunge, thinking it was a matter of little time before Charter carried the local's HD signals. The more I read from many of you and others, the more it seems this could be a very long wait.

Top it off with the fact that my wife just informed me that we are hosting a Super Bowl party. That's all the motivation I need, but now I have a dilemma: my anal retentive nature that manifests itself in analyzing most purchases to death conflicts with the fact that I have two days until the Super Bowl. Time for an emergency purchase!

So, may I ask if any of you can suggest a good HD receiver and, perhaps, an indoor antennae? Given my time crunch, something I could by locally would be best. I'm in the Cross Lanes area with a clear view to the west, towards the Teays Valley tower locations.

One last question: what is the web site that calculates distance from any given location to a local station's tower? I'm almost sure I've seen it, but cannot find it.

Thanks,
Mike

.antennaweb. org/aw/ Address. aspx

Sorry I had to space it out being new has its kinks. Good Luck

Originally posted by spha
Anybody else notice the weird zoom or image shift on wvah during the O.C.? The FOX logo is almost halfway off the screen.

--spence

The Fox logo thing is a national thing. If you have more than 1% overscan, it's chopped off. Very unprofessional-looking if you ask me.



As far as a tuner suggestion, I suggest anything with the Zenith/LG name on it. My local Circuit City has had the Zenith HDV420 open-box for as little as $110. As far as an antenna, I've had very good luck with the Zenith Silver Sensor. Looking at your location, you're only about 7 miles from WVAH anyway, so your issue might be more about multipath rather than weak signal, and the Silver Sensor is very good with both.

This is no antennaweb, (not that I personally trust anything they say) but I did a quick check of distances to the various stations for you.

WSAZ-23 (24 miles) NBC-HD
WCHS-41 (6 miles) ABC-HD
WVAH-19 (7 miles) FOX-HD
WOWK-47 (24 miles) CBS-SD
WLPX-39 (3 miles) PAX-SD
WPBY-34 (23 miles) PBS (I honestly cannot remember if WPBY does HD or not)

All except WLPX are almost due west (WSAZ and WOWK are west-northwest); WLPX is north-northeast.

Hope that helps...

- Trip

Bikeman,

I also recommend the Zenith/LG brand receivers.

Like you, I also analyze purchases to death. That's why I went with the SATHD500 (I think that's the model) Zenith DirecTV/OTA tuner. I love it. I bought a new house this past summer and had a new baby in October, so I haven't had the time to install my Channel Master antenna. Currenly, I get all the networks (national feeds) through DirecTV, but plan on OTA soon.

Good luck. The clock is ticking. Good thing is....Superbowl starts so darn late now, it gives you some additional time.

Let me offer this to you. Go to Circuit City....buy any of their tuners you see that you can afford and an indoor antenna. Take it home...see if it works. If it does....great. If it doesn't, take it back. If it works, you have 30 days to research what you REALLY want and take it back and get a different one. No sense in trying to buy the perfect one now when you only have 2 days to think about it. I'd just take it back if you aren't happy with it.

PS...I want to cry everytime I say "Go to Circuit City" as I hate everything about the company due to past problems. I think Bray Carey is their CEO too. But, it's close and quick.

Re: Zenith 420 receiver
I have one that I retired when I got my Dish 921. I paid about $200 for it at C C a year ago. The warranty is expired because CC called me last month to try to sell me an extended warranty. If anyone wants it I will take $100 for it. It works fine.

Bill in Winfield

Picked up WVAH's DT signal at 100% last night with a TERK TV3 indoor antenna I just picked up at Circuit City

Had same problem that's been reported with the FOX logo during "The O.C."

DiamondDaveWV,

That's GREAT. Where in Charleston are you that you pick up a signal that strong with an indoor antenna?

Did anyone catch the game last night? Looked incredible, for FOX-HD anyway. I got my dad setup and he was able to watch it as well. Now he wants an HD-TiVo.:D

Has anyone gotten a response from BC? I really don't expect one other than the same old crap.

Herdfan,
Saw the game last night in HD also, and it did look great. I am in south charleston on top of hill and was using a channelmaster (8 bow tie one). I just bought a reciever on saturday from circuit city to tide me over for the superbowl, got to get one with dvi/hdmi. My guests were more then impressed at the picture quality.
Now if I could only watch CBS shows in Hi-def.......

Anyone see if ABC is hidef yet? I didnt bother to look nor do i know if there has been any hd programming on it in the last couple of days.

I raised my antenna 5 feet or so. I have been using a DB8 and the UHF preamp
from antennasdirect. It can pickup WSAZ-DT and WOUB-DT with good signals but usualy not at same time.

I noticed on some antenna related site not antennaweb (cant remember it right now) that it said the WVAH/WCHS towers were like 5 - 7 miles further away from my location and approximately 20 degrees off from the WSAZ tower. I get a 0 - 31 and sometimes hitting 100 for less then a second on 19 through my HD Tivo OTA signal meter. Im thinking the those differences are preventing me from receiving a usable signal on WVAH-DT and same would go for WCHS-DT when it goes full power since they are at the same location.

I wonder if an antenna like XG91 could pull in WVAH/WCHS. That would involve combining signals from the 2 antennas and from what I have read combining antennas of different types usually doesn't work very well.

All that said I guess I'm lucky enough to have got the waivers for ABC FOX and CBS. So I can watch HD even though it is "HD-lite" from Directv.

Did I miss something?

Is WSAZDT back on the Air yet.....

Because I am not recieving a signal........

I would figure when WCHS goes full power I should be able to get it since WVAH is coming in at 100% and they are going to broadcasting at the same power form the same tower........

PAX always comes in

and so does WPBY....?

If someone can tell me if they are recieving WSAZDT, I would appreciate, maybe I can find the problem with my setup

Originally posted by tonybradley
DiamondDaveWV,

That's GREAT. Where in Charleston are you that you pick up a signal that strong with an indoor antenna?

I live in Edgewood area on the west side hill -- I can see the lights of South Charleston and points west from my front porch (at least I can with all the leaves off the trees in my neighborhood). It probably helps that the antenna is amplified.

I had a scare yesterday right before the game when I turned on the TV and got the "Searching for Signal" message on Channel 11-1. Turns out my wife had set the "ugly" antenna on the floor behind the TV while she was cleaning up before our guests arrived. I set it back up on the fireplace mantle and the signal came right back.

Thanks to all for the great input. I made the trek to CC in Barboursville Saturday, picking the LG combo DVD/HDTV receiver with DVI output and a Terk HDTVi indoor antennae. Hookup took all of 10 minutes Sunday morning and I was watching great HDTV! Fortunately, FOX was showing the pregame stuff at noon in HD, so I knew I was set for the game.

Only bad thing now is that I have a perfectly good Samsung HD931 DVD player with DVI output with no home. Guess I'll ebay it, unless one of you locals are interested.

Thanks again,
Mike

Any word on when WCHS might be up and running?

-spence

Originally posted by spha
Any word on when WCHS might be up and running?

-spence


Or if anyone knows when WSAZ-DT will be back on the air?

Originally posted by cocoon
Or if anyone knows when WSAZ-DT will be back on the air?
I just sent the Chief Engineer an e-mail. I will let you know what he says.

Has anyone called the local fox and thanked them for getting the superbowl up and running? Unfortunalty I didnt get to see it but I heard it looked great..

Originally posted by herdfan
I just sent the Chief Engineer an e-mail. I will let you know what he says.

Here is his reply:


We ran into a few problems this evening and did not make it back on air yet. We hope to be back on by late tomorrow afternoon. We were having a problem in the RF system that was rejecting about 3000 watts of energy into the system dummy load. We have that under control but it took a while to get the Rf combiner to coorperate.

So it looks like they are working on it. Hope it is back up soon.

Originally posted by herdfan

So it looks like they are working on it. Hope it is back up soon.

Cool thanks for the update.

Hello Charleston, WV

I'am located about 4-5 mi. SE of Chillicothe,OH. in what has always seemed to be a hot spot for WV tv reception. Of course my best reception is from Columbus.

I'm presently using a combo vhf/uhf Radio Shack antenna(don't remember the model no. as it was discontinued about 4 yrs. ago, but was the largest RS made then), with a Winegard AP-8780 preamp and RS rotor. This is about 30' high mounted to my chimney.

I'm still in the exploratory stages for a HD set, but I'm leaning toward a Sony XBR crt. I do however have a Samsung SIR-T165 used with just an old Sylvania console.

WSAZ-DT had been my most strong WV dt signal. Just a thought about them being down; NBC Columbus 4 (dt 14) had also been down a while back and when they returned they were multicasting NBC weather plus on 4-2- pretty cool!

I too have been anxiously awaiting especially Fox 11 digital for an ocasionally different NFL game on Sunday's. For the most part I'm receiving them quite well, with a drop-out once in a while in the afternoon's.
They are stronger for me than Pax dt 39, which drops out a lot in the afternoon.

Regards,

Bruce

Originally posted by bruschi88
Just a thought about them being down; NBC Columbus 4 (dt 14) had also been down a while back and when they returned they were multicasting NBC weather plus on 4-2- pretty cool!

I read an article about NBC's Weather Plus (http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news/2005-02-03-all-weather-usat_x.htm) in last Fridays USA Today. The article said 60% of NBC's DT affiliates would have it on this year. I asked WSAZ that question in an e-mail and have not gotten an answer yet. It looks like an easy way for affiliates to provide this service without the cost of development.

They are back on the air now :) But it looks like its not as strong as before.
I was getting aroung 80% on my HD-Tivo now I'm only getting 70%. Hope
they kick it up a notch soon.

Got it. I'm getting around 80 on my HD-TiVo where I was getting 94-96 before. The whole purpose of this outage was to go full power, which for WSAZ-DT is 724kw up from the 425.5 they were running.

Not sure what to make of this.

I am now receiving 19 with a 62-68 signal and receiving WSAZ-DT with a 68-71 signal.

The best I got 19 before today was a 31 and I used to get around 88 on WSAZ-DT.

For some reason am not able to pick up the WVAH-DT ID thing forgot what it was called. It just shows up as 19-3 I can also use 19-1 (actualy 19- and any number works for me at the moment.)

EDIT: googled for the term it was PSIP :)

It's possible that WSAZ is slowly powering up if they got a new transmitter. A station near me started off at very low power and then gradually over several days increased power, just to make sure something didn't explode/die.

- Trip

Here's the final channel elections for the Huntington area. Looks like I have a disk to eat (see my post about WSYX-DT). WSYX-DT applied to move to channel 36, with WTTE-DT, the co-owned current occupant moving back to the analog frequency, 28.

WSAZ-23
WCHS-41
WVAH-19
WOWK-13
WKAS-26
WLPX-39
WHCP-17
WPBY-34
WPBO-43
WTSF-44

- Trip

Originally posted by Trip in VA
Here's the final channel elections for the Huntington area. Looks like I have a disk to eat (see my post about WSYX-DT). WSYX-DT applied to move to channel 36, with WTTE-DT, the co-owned current occupant moving back to the analog frequency, 28.
You only had to eat a disk if they moved back to Channel 6. With channel 13 free, WOWK loses its argument. :)

Where can you find the Columbus list? Thanks.

Here's Columbus, even though this isn't the Columbus thread, but you asked...

WCMH-14
WSYX-36
WBNS-10
WTTE-28
WOSU-38
WSFJ-24
WWHO-46

Pass it along to the Columbus thread if you wish.

- Trip

So,

Looks like bruschi88 confirmed my theory that some locations COULD receive both Columbus and Charleston/Huntington Stations.

What makes this even more crazy is the fact that a CEO of all people would be so ignorant to think the FCC would even allow two surrounding cities to broadcast on the same frequency for their digital station.

Ok Bray.......time for your next Cop Out as to why you aren't doing HD....bring it on!

FYI: A fellow Charleston native (my cousin) will be playing Bass for the Counting Crows on the Oscars that will be in HD (I think...can anyone confirm).

Tripp,

Is this information on the FCC website somewhere?

Originally posted by herdfan
Trip,

Is this information on the FCC website somewhere?

Yes it is, but you have to load a separate page for each station, which was took a very long time.

If you want to look for yourself, here's the search page...

http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_sear.htm

Then in the left box under "File Number" you type 'BFRE%T.' Then next to call sign, put the calls of your station with a % after it. So to look up WOWK, you'd put 'WOWK%.'

- Trip

Either its not working right now or I haven't quite figured it out.:(

I will keep trying. I would love to mail BC a copy of the page where WSYX elected Channel 36.

I think emailing BC your findings would be PERFECT!!

Originally posted by herdfan
Either its not working right now or I haven't quite figured it out.:(

I will keep trying. I would love to mail BC a copy of the page where WSYX elected Channel 36.

I've taken a photo to help you. http://root.quelorant.com/fccsearch.png

If you need further help, let me know.

http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101039339&formid=382&fac_num=56549

There's the WSYX election page, just in case.

- Trip

Hello,

I have not been able to receive analog ch. 13 now for perhaps a couple years. The signal is barely discernable and it originally had me really perplexed. Ch. 13 analog had been very strong here for years, way back when they were WHTN, on a par with Columbus analogs, almost.

I've only had my Samsung SIR-T165 for about 13 months so I don't know for sure when WSYX went digital. The degradation in the 13 analog was definitely before that.

Would co-channel interference between a digital and analog signal result in one being almost completely wiped out? That's the only conclusion I've been able to reach. All my other WV analogs are just as they have always been for years.

I've not been able to verify the ch. 13 signal loss with anyone else around locally. It seems everyone is either on cable or small dish or they are fixed in a Columbus direction antenna orientation.

Did anyone notice that WVAH was mapping in as 19-1 for a short time earlier this week? I've been receiving them without drop-outs since then.
Also, we have a low power ch.19 in Columbus that I have been getting fairly well most of the time. Since WVAH-dt powered up I have noticed perhaps a slight loss in 19 Columbus signal, but it's really difficult to say objectively if WVAH is the cause. WCLL -19 Columbus has somtimes had CCI with 19 Cleveland and even 19 in Jeannette,PA.

Regards,

Bruce

Originally posted by bruschi88
Would co-channel interference between a digital and analog signal result in one being almost completely wiped out? That's the only conclusion I've been able to reach. All my other WV analogs are just as they have always been for years.

http://www.dxfm.com/Content/DTV_info.htm

This page has an example of co-channel analog and digital interference about half-way through.

- Trip

Looks like they turned up the power a little. I was getting 71% now I'm getting 76%. Guess thats a good sign and I hope it continues.

Does anyone have any idea when WCHS 8 will be going to full power?

Originally posted by DigitalInDunbar
Looks like they turned up the power a little. I was getting 71% now I'm getting 76%. Guess thats a good sign and I hope it continues.

.

What kind of antennae do you guys use to pick up those stations and do you use signal boosters? I live in Cannonsburg just outside of Ashland, KY.

Originally posted by ramy
What kind of antennae do you guys use to pick up those stations and do you use signal boosters? I live in Cannonsburg just outside of Ashland, KY.

I personaly use a DB8 antenna & PA-16 Preamp from http://www.antennasdirect.com/ for my setup. My other equipment is listed in my profile.

For better antenna info try the main antenna thread
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=381623

I was flipping channels last night and noticed that D* had added WB 39 from Miami Florida it shows as channel 30 for our DMA. The Directv website lists this as part of the locals now. I guess this means that D* has given up on whatever was going with WHCP from Portsmouth Ohio.

Does anyone have more information on this?

Cocoon,

I just noticed this today too. Something even more odd...scroll up to Monday and Tuesday Prime Time. Everwood, Gilmore Girls, etc. is listed as HD!!!!!!!!!?????????

None of the other SD channels show HD for the primetime shows, because it's the analog channels. I haven't heard of D* adding WB as an HD channel.

Do think this is just an error in the Program Guide?

I am in Scott Depot and am still only able to get 8 digital occasionally. Are they at full power yet?

Originally posted by tonybradley
Cocoon,

I just noticed this today too. Something even more odd...scroll up to Monday and Tuesday Prime Time. Everwood, Gilmore Girls, etc. is listed as HD!!!!!!!!!?????????

None of the other SD channels show HD for the primetime shows, because it's the analog channels. I haven't heard of D* adding WB as an HD channel.

Do think this is just an error in the Program Guide?

Has to be an error in the guide. If it was a HD channel then my SD Tivo wouldnt be able to see the channel. I also think if it really was HD D* would of placed it above channel 70 with the other HD channels.

That and 4:3 SD material on the HD channels, at least on my Mits, can't be stretched like the shows on WB today. Wishful thinking....was hoping the 'error' was on D*'s end, but I get it on my SD Tivo box as well.

OH well...reruns of Smallville on HDNET is still OK

I emailed DirecTV about the deal with WHCP-30 and here was thier response

Dear Richard,

Thanks for writing. You are correct, we are required to carry every station in any local market in which we carry at least one local station. However, we are not required to carry any stations until they meet certain minimum technical requirements and they ask to be carried. Some stations elected not to participate in our local channel package, while others didn't meet the minimum technical requirements. Hence, we're not carrying WHCP-30.

Thanks again for writing and stay tuned to DIRECTV.com for the latest news and updates about our services.

Sincerely,

Mary J
DIRECTV Customer Service


It looks like WHCP didn't meet "certain Technical requirements"

Ah well......

I wonder if they will offer a substitute for the UPN which is also on WHCP or not.........

Originally posted by Lundylove
It looks like WHCP didn't meet "certain Technical requirements"

The only technical requirement WHCP has not met is they can't provide a usable signal to the LRF for D*. This is located at the WVAH station in Teays Valley. The LRF for E* is in Huntington.

WHCP has the option of providing the signal via a fiber link, but have chosen not to probably due to cost.

Has anyone got the guide info for fox to show up. I have the HD Tivo and all it says is regular schedule. Can't set up recordings.

Thanks

Has anyone in the Charleston/Huntington area received the dreaded card from D* yet requesting that you choose either the local stations or the distant network feeds?

I live in a defined analog white area so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't lose the HD distant network feeds... However I am not not very hopeful based on some interpretations of the new law and D* implementation of it that I have read on other threads/boards.

I don't do D* but I lost my abc and nbc from E* shortly after the locals became available. The good thing is that I still get my east and west CBS plus CBSHD out of NY.

I read somewhere that once you have a waiver, they can't take it away. I got the waiver 6 or 7 years ago.

Clueless,

Anymore details on this letter? What is our timeline to choose? I talked to a rep about 2 weeks ago that said if you had a waiver, they couldn't take the Distant Feeds away...Locals or no locals. Geez...this is a bummer. I LOVE my HD. Actually, I rarely watch the locals (just in the AM news before work). So, easy choice for me.......Distant HD feeds.

Originally posted by DigitalInDunbar
Has anyone got the guide info for fox to show up. I have the HD Tivo and all it says is regular schedule. Can't set up recordings.

Thanks

I thought it was just me and really didn't give it much thought since I only seem to be able to pick up the station when its cold out like tonight and even then there is some drop out.

I have 2 uneducated guesses about it.
1: the station is too new for tivo the data
2: the PSIP for WVAH digital says "WVAH" instead of "WVAHDT" thus the tivo doesn't know what to do with it

I really have no idea but its fun to speculate :)

I looked at some ATSC info and the problem is not the HD-Tivo. It is WVAH. The guide data is in their data stream and not downloaded from the satellite. You would think they would know how to do it because WCHS has their's working and they are ran by the same people. Now if WCHS would just flip that darn HD switch......

Originally posted by tonybradley
Clueless,

Anymore details on this letter? What is our timeline to choose? I talked to a rep about 2 weeks ago that said if you had a waiver, they couldn't take the Distant Feeds away...Locals or no locals. Geez...this is a bummer. I LOVE my HD. Actually, I rarely watch the locals (just in the AM news before work). So, easy choice for me.......Distant HD feeds.

Tony,

I have not received a letter yet. But others have. See this link for a copy of the letter:

http://www.incambria.com/Distant%20...ks%20masked.pdf


My problem is I do not have ABC distant and I am not eligible for it (I live in a grade B conture for ABC). So I assume that means if I take distants over locals I would not have ABC in SD or HD. Of course if I take locals I'll have ABC but not the other 3 networks in HD. I wish they'd just hurry up and define the digital white areas.

I haven't gotten one yet either. :confused:

===WSAZ which is owned by Emmis wont allow WSAZ on Cable Update=====

The Cox cable regional manager meet in Omaha with a Emmis Manager.

Emmis is still demanding to be paid for there over the air signal that is free.
Emmis is also still planning on dropping to 480P and starting there new USDTV cable tv over the air pay service.

http://www.usdtv.com/

In the meeting the Emmis manager said that ALL station managers will be meeting in March to talk about the HD on Cable issue.

Folks, your Emails to the stations are working keep emailing and calling your Emmis station.

Originally posted by ScottChez
===WSAZ which is owned by Emmis wont allow WSAZ on Cable Update=====

The Cox cable regional manager meet in Omaha with a Emmis Manager.

Emmis is still demanding to be paid for there over the air signal that is free.
Emmis is also still planning on dropping to 480P and starting there new USDTV cable tv over the air pay service..

Are you saying that all Emmis owned stations are planning to stop broadcasting HD and downrez everything to 480P?

I hope they are not taking away the HD!!!!! I can't imagine they would. I can say that I watched WSAZ while I was in town mostly because the HD offering. We need clarification on this and if that is the plan a barrage of Emails needs to be sent to WSAZ saying not to get rid of the HD signal.

Originally posted by ScottChez
===WSAZ which is owned by Emmis wont allow WSAZ on Cable Update=====

The Cox cable regional manager meet in Omaha with a Emmis Manager.

Emmis is still demanding to be paid for there over the air signal that is free.
Emmis is also still planning on dropping to 480P and starting there new USDTV cable tv over the air pay service.

http://www.usdtv.com/

In the meeting the Emmis manager said that ALL station managers will be meeting in March to talk about the HD on Cable issue.

Folks, your Emails to the stations are working keep emailing and calling your Emmis station.

Is the USDTV coming to this area?

Is it just me or are they off the air today?

Brian

Originally posted by DigitalInDunbar
Is it just me or are they off the air today?

Brian

I can't even pick it up yet

Have they said when they are going to full power

I've been getting a strong signal (90%) but sometimes the picture had lines through it. I have no Idea when they are going HD but hopefully this is the reason they are down for now. Maybe they are putting in the new equipment.

Brian

That might be good news.....

I might be able to pick them up pretty soon............

Do you get WVAH now. Cause if you get it you should have been able to get WCHS. I'm pretty close to them but they were both about the same signal strength.

I've been getting abc digital for a while, not as strong as nbc or fox which i've got with hd. abc should be broadcasting in hd soon thou with stronger power. I noticed that the abc feed was out yesterday as well an hope that this is due to an upgrade to hd. Below is a copy of an email i recieved last week regarding the hd signal. Cbs has no plans to go hd anytime soon and are broadcasting at low power digital which i recieve intermittently. I'll also post there reply to an email i sent them. OTA is definately the way to go.


ABC reply Email:

Mr. King,
At this time, WCHS has only a low power standard definition digital
signal on air for the local Charleston area. It will be a several more
days before we can have the HDTV signal on air, but we are getting closer.

Raymond Beckner, Dir Eng/Op, WCHS/WVAH (nice guy)

King, David wrote:

> I was curious as to whether or not you all are broadcasting hd feeds. I
> noticed that you have a digital station. I just wasn't sure if you are
> broadcasting in high definition.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> David King


CBS reply email:

Dear David,

No we are just broadcasting in standard definition, digital low power to meet current FCC requirements. There are a number of issues right now still to be decided that keep us from building out over the air, high definition. Most importantly is our digital channel assignment. Currently we are on 47 digital and have applied to be 13 digital. Until that’s resolved we will hold off. WSAZ nor the two Sinclair stations (WVAH and WCHS) want to remain on their analog channel assignment in the digital world for various reasons which is why they are moving forward.


However, we are working aggressively with the major cable operators. Given that 98% of homes in our coverage area get their signal from either cable or satellite we are focusing our efforts on working with them to retransmit the stream. Most HD sets in the market do not have receivers according to the regional electronics distributors. I too have an HD set and want this to happen sooner than later. I’ll keep your e-mail in my HD folder and advise you on our progress.



Sincerely,

Chris Leister

General Manager

P.S. Do you have cable? If so, which system do you use?

I have this vision of a little wooden Chris Leister doll sitting on Bray Carey's lap saying whatever Bray Carey wants him to say.



They won't go HD until I win the lottery and I pay for the new equipment and I give Mr. Carey a kickback for letting me broadcast his "free" OTA material!

WCHS is back on the air and in HD. Im getting a 93-95 signal strength. Don't know what time they came on I didn't get home till late tonight.

3 down and 1 to go. We need to put the pressure on. Consumer pressure won't work. We need to work on the advertisers. A sales rep came in my store a few weeks ago wanting me to advertise on WOWK. I told her that WOWK has no interest in doing anything for me as a consumer so I have no interest in doing anything for them as an advertiser. So I'll spend my money with the networks that care.

Boy that was a good day :)

What store is yours digital?

Just sent the following email. Lets keep the heat on Bray Carey and WOWK!



To WOWK:


Today WCHS turned on their High Definition, FREE, over the air signal at a respectable power level such that actual people in the Charleston/Huntington broadcast area and not just those privileged few that live within fifty feet of their digital tower (like WOWK) can obtain their signal.

That means that WSAZ, WVAH, WCHS are all offering HDTV FREE over the air to their consumers. I can do nothing but applaud them for trying to keep pace with the transition to HDTV that should be expected in a top 100 market.

That also means that myself and many, many others in our area continue to be extremely disappointed with the snail like pace and pathetic excuses your channel continues to use in regards to the HDTV transition. Please broadcast the OTA signal with the HD feed. Maybe I am too ignorant of how "hard" the transition is but 75% of our locals have done it with WSAZ being up and running for more than two years.

To us that are more interested in the matter it seems that the problem starts with your leadership. I personally have spoken with Mr. Carey and received several very poor reasons for not broadcasting the signal. More excuses followed in the recent article in the Charleston newspapers. We are tired of the excuses.

I would find it more cordial to be told "We just don't feel like paying for that until someone makes us" At least then we would have been told the truth. As the two Sinclair stations transition to HD your reasoning becomes more and more lame. Please step out of the dark ages and power up the HD feed. Your area customers deserve it and soon it will be mandated!
James A. Lohan MD

Gwuedo welcome to our thread. I would encourage you to read the entire thread if you have not to get a timeline of events regarding HD here in Charleston. Darrin's WV home theater club also puts out a little newsletter and has group get togethers at times. WOWK is and will continue to be a problem for various reasons. I truly don't believe they have any immediate HD plans. WCHS and WVAH were this late only because their original tower was destroyed in a storm.



Anyone of us would be more than happy to try and help in any way. The forum contains a huge amount of info and will probably be directly responsible for you spending more money...... always something new or better out there!

By the way you can "subscribe" to individual threads like this one and get an email when a new post shows up.

I am about to send Mr. Carey an email as well. My point will be this: "You originally and continue to state that WOWK will not go HD until the Satellite Companies and Cable Companies agree to carry your station. DirecTV has not only made this announcement public on the Internet News sites, but they are running several television commercials stating they will begin carrying all Local HD channels. The first 50 or 60 markets will go this year. Charleston/Huntington is around 62, depending on which rating you read. Therefore, a Satellite Company did announce they would carry your Station. However, at this time, you have no station for them to carry....."

It will be worded a little differently, but you get the point.

Jay,

Before you bought your property, I hoped you checked your neighbors. I can see it now, you build the house, your neighbors come over with a strawberry pie "Hello neighbor, my name is Bray Carey, what's your name?"

I can see it now, he says he has an HDTV, even once told me he could not tell much of a difference between SD and HD(not joking). As my property is on a hilltop and not the depths of Hades I would not expect him to be my neighbor.:D

Equally as bad though there will be an ambulance chasing, doctor sueing, trial lawyer down the street. (hold on while i vomit!)

What is the farthest away from the towers that someone is able to pick up the HD signals? I live in Cannonsburg/Ashland, KY 41102 and when I tried to pick up signals about a year ago I couldn't get even a fuzzy 3 and 13 analog and couldn't get 3 digital at all.

I am 16 miles away from the WSAZ tower and pick it up at 90+ with an antenna in my attic that is pointed at least 10-15 degrees off axis. So a CM 4228 should be able to pick up WSAZ in Ashland easily.

As soon as things calm down, I am going to send a letter to BC and the GM refuting as many of their BS points as I can. I am also going to send it to all 3 papers and see who will print it. It might have more impact now that WOWK is the only local affiliate not doing HD.

I am about 51 miles away from the WSAZ-DT and about 58 miles away from the WCHS-DT & WVAH-DT towers.

I always can get a useable signal from WSAZ-DT when they are broadcasting :)

As for WVAH-DT I can get a usable signal when its cold out. I'm not sure if its because my receiver isn't sensitive enough or my antenna equipment is not up to job.


Since there are now 3 HD signals I might try another antenna set up and get it professionally installed this time if its doable in my area.

My equipment is listed in my profile and I used this site to base the distance
http://www.2150.com/broadcast/default.asp

I'm in Grayson and get a high 80 signal on WVAH and get a 90+ on WSAZ. I don't get the analogs very well.

I'm pretty close to both WVAH and WCHS but I get 95 on both so if your getting WVAH you should be able to get WCHS as well. I have an HD10-250 Tivo and I have to "scan" for off air channels before they will show up in the guide. Might want to check your receiver. It's my understanding though that they are both on the same tower.

Brian

I still say that the only way to sway WOWK is to "sway" advertisers. I'm starting to keep a log of local advertisers that run on WOWK. If some others could do the same we could put together a good list of them and maybe contact them (a polite letter) explaining our position and WOWK's position.

After all, WOWK depends on the local advertisers for their INCOME. If we can influence even 20 to 30 perecent of these advertisers to move to one of the better stations ("Better" I like that) Then we impact WOWK's income.

WOWK will not, under current conditions move to HD. Carey said he has an application for channel 13 in HD. Well they all do. When the analog is turned off (Maybe in 2007) they will all switch back to their original channel designation. It only makes since. The lower the frequency the less power output it takes to cover the same area. WOWK is just pissed that they drew the highest UHF channel in the market. The higher the frequency the more wattage they have to pump out to cover the same area. So 13 or 47..... They don't want to put the money into equipment that they won't need in a couple years. Makes since buisness wise but it leaves us out in the cold. Costs alot more to transmit 895kw than it does 114.8kw.

That's why I say we need to work on the advertisers. If it cost a million for the equipment and expenses then we need to reduce his income by a million. Then he can loose it up front or on the back end, either way he looses.

I hope he see's this. I'm sure he or one of his people follow.

Start keeping a log of local advertisers. I have, along with when they were on. After we get a good list together we should start contacting them and suggest that to maximize their investment they should use another network.

Either way I watch CBS in HD during prime time by other means. Shame I miss all those local advertisements. So Carey can KMA.....

Later

I'm not getting a strong enough signal for 41 to see the new hd they are broadcasting. are they up at low power since converting to hd? had a great signal last week from them in plain digital. I'm getting all my other stations strong. 3 down 1 to go.

Originally posted by DigitalInDunbar
WOWK will not, under current conditions move to HD. Carey said he has an application for channel 13 in HD. Well they all do. When the analog is turned off (Maybe in 2007) they will all switch back to their original channel designation. It only makes since. The lower the frequency the less power output it takes to cover the same area. WOWK is just pissed that they drew the highest UHF channel in the market. The higher the frequency the more wattage they have to pump out to cover the same area. So 13 or 47..... They don't want to put the money into equipment that they won't need in a couple years. Makes since buisness wise but it leaves us out in the cold. Costs alot more to transmit 895kw than it does 114.8kw.

Umm, actually, only WOWK has applied to return to the VHF of 13. Sinclair has decided to go UHF across the board on all of their stations, it seems (WCHS to 41, WVAH to 19). And only the insane stations made low-VHF elections (2-6) because those frequencies are AWFUL for digital. (WSAZ elected 23)

WOWK's arguments haven't made sense at ALL. It doesn't matter where they wind up, the equipment to broadcast the actual HD programming is NOT dependent upon the transmitter. They could change frequencies every year and never have to touch the HD equipment. The very least they could do, is even if they stayed at low power on 47, they could do the HD. They'll likely have to spend the money at some point, why not now?

- Trip

Hey guys, its nice to see you guys putting pressure on the companies, it seems like its working. I just got my first HD TV today, Well my parents did but they dont know how to use it. Anyway I live in Parkersburg, so I doubt I can reach anything OTA Thats why a built in tuner wasnt a factor in my TV purchase. But if you guys think theres a chance I could reach it Id buy a tuner.

Anyway my question. Now that 3 of the 4 networks are up, how long do you think its will be before Charter and Adelphia pick them up. Has anyone heard anything about that yet? Thanks

one more thing. Just so you know. WTAP an NBC affiliate in Parkersburg is available in HD, Ithink, if Im reading there website correctly. They say there on digital channel 49. So if anyone may be closer to parkersburg than Charleston may want to give it a try. Go to www.wtap.com and the a tab to the right that says HDTV blog I just started reading it and I think its available now. Please correct me if Im wrong.

I hadn't scanned since Wednesday evening. I ran a scan again this morning and I'm getting WCHS, but its only at 65. I'm going to rotate the antenna afterwhile and see if I can do any better (I'm moving a little slow this morning). This morning, both WVAH and WSAZ are at 80-81, which results in a very good picture. I should be able to get WCHS just as good though, shouldn't I? I'm using a Dish 811.

I hear that WVAH and WCHS are on the same tower but I have my doubts. I've heard more than one person say they can rotate their antenna and get a better signal.

Digital,

They are on the same tower. Could be a difference in propagation due to one being on 19 (WVAH) and the other being on 41(WCHS).

Although I can now receive WCHS in Huntington, I have yet to see them pass through a network HDTV signal. Does anyone have any idea of when that might occur?

-spence

I'm seeing the same thing. Everything has the side bars on it. I guess I was a little premature in saying they were HDTV. But they are closer. The picture quality is much better anyway.

I received the following email from WCHS engineer yesterday regarding their new DT broadcast but apparent lack of HD programming:
________________

You are correct, we do not have the HDTV signal system quite ready. It will be several more days perhaps a few weeks for true ABC network HDTV, but we are working on it.

Thank you,

Raymond Beckner Dir Eng/Op WCHS/WVAH

My wife and I got a quote from a local home improvement contractor to have some work done on our house. Well, his quote came in around $4K, which was twice what I expected. So I told him no. Well, it seems no is not the answer he wanted to hear, so he has been calling back lowering his price. He called today and was now offering to do the work for $3200. I told him no. I was getting tired of the calls, so when he pressed as to why we were not going to have the work done, I told him that his firm advertised on WOWK-TV and that as far as I was concerned, as long as this continued, I would not be using his company. I explained how the other local stations managed to pass along a HD signal, but WOWK refused. I also told him that had I known this before, I would never had called him for the quote. To say the least he was stunned.

Do I feel bad? Well, maybe a little.;)

In response to my letter this is what I got today.


"Dear Dr Lohan

We are just broadcasting in standard definition, digital low power to meet current FCC requirements. There are a number of issues right now still to be decided that keep us from building out over the air, high definition. Most importantly is our digital channel assignment. Currently we are on 47 digital and have applied to be 13 digital. Until that's resolved we will hold off. WSAZ nor the two Sinclair stations (WVAH and WCHS) want to remain on their analog channel assignment in the digital world for various reasons which is why they are moving forward. WSAZ does not want channel 3 because of electrical interference reasons. Sinclair believes there are advantages to low band UHF when they start multiplexing their signal in the future which will limit their ability to broadcast full high definition. We believe the best place is as a high band VHF (13). It would be fiscally irresponsible for us to move forward until the FCC decides on our allocation.



We are working aggressively with the major cable operators. Given that 98% of homes in our coverage area get their signal from either cable or satellite we are focusing our efforts on working with them to retransmit the stream. Most HD sets in the market do not have receivers according to the regional electronics distributors. I too have an HD set and want this to happen sooner than later. I'll keep your e-mail in my HD folder and advise you on our progress.



Sincerely,

Chris Leister

General Manager"


I'm am thinking about replying by saying, "I can't believe you got an HDTV and watch standard definition on it!"

All I really here is "WAH WAH WAH WAH WAH WAAHHHH"

No wonder WOWKTV is behind. Their General Manager has an HD set and he probably thought watching CSI that said "Simulcast in HD" meant he was getting HD, so he had to come up with this boohakie!!

No wonder WOWKTV is behind. Their General Manager has an HD set and he probably thought watching CSI that said "Simulcast in HD" meant he was getting HD, so he had to come up with this boohakie!!


LMAO



Go EERS onto the second round!

That's the lamest email i've read. Too bad it's the same email he sent me a few weeks ago. He most keep a email templete for all the bitching we do! It's just another pesky hd guy, send him the standard b.s. I wish they'd get a clue and give us some hd.

Its been a while since the stats of the 3 digital stations were posted. I am wondering if they are all full power. The reason being that for the past 2 days I have been able to receive a 68 - 71 signal on channel 41 (WCHS-DT) and now can only get a 30 or so signal on 19 ( WVAH-DT ).


And since I'm at it if anyone from WSAZ-DT is reading I would like to thank them for running Medium in HD completely on March 14 without me having to call in. :)

Here in columbus they have been multicasting so that I could see the WVU games in their entirety(great for me) but no HD games. Now that we are in the sweet sixteen I hope I can get the WVU game in HD on the national feed.


Are they multicasting the tournament in Charleston?

The crawl at the bottom of the screen said they were broadcasting the WVU-Wake game on 13-1, but I didn't check. The OT was on the NY HD feed. Looked SOOOOO much better than the SD feed.

I watched the entire Wake game on the D* CBS-East HD feed even though the listing said it was supposted to be the Louisville-Cincy game. I did not check the CBS-East SD feed.

I was just up your way and hooked up a dish net 811 for my mother. I had an old batwing Winegard and give it a shot. She lives out cyrus creek rd. by the baptist church (not sure of name) but the first one you come to of 60. I got a good strong signal in the high 80's on 19.1 FOX no problem. This is in Charlestown I understand it's about 30 miles.
Channel 41.1 ABC (I think) I got the low 80's but had drops.
Channel 47.1 WOWK didn't come in till evening around the 70's but also had drops.
WSAZ DT23 only 7 miles I got a signal but not enough for a lock to my surprise.
WPBY DT34 again 7 miles nothing!
WLPX DT 39 I could get a good signal in the middle of the driveway but not where I had to mount the antenna.
Basically Charleston stations further away did better then Huntington's. She is at the bottom of a fair size hill to her North. What surprised me is 7 miles and no DTV lock. You guy's do have a few mountains up there. The Bat wing antenna is not very directional and I can see where the signal is probably bouncing off all those mountains. My question is what kind of antenna are you using up there? Would a more directional, to cut down on multipath be better. I'm thinking of a CM 4228 or Antennas Direct 43XG? She basically has a small opening to the east and to her west it's a up hill climb but nothing right on top of her. The hill to the north isn't very big but she's right against the bottom. South another hill about 200 feet away. Any hope or will I have to run an antenna to the top of one of those hills? That would be an easy 200 feet to near top of the north hill.

I hope all West Virginians will be routing for the mounties tonight(even the Marshall fans):D .

Originally posted by wvudrj
I hope all West Virginians will be routing for the mounties tonight(even the Marshall fans):D .
You must want me to commit sacrilege.:eek: :eek:

Actually, since Marshall did beat WVU;), I guess I will at least hope they don't lose.:)

You should really root for a team that has a chance like the Kentucky Wildcats. just kidding guys. I hope WVU kills Texas Tech.

I guess I will at least hope they don't lose.


That must have been so hard for you to say!


:D

Originally posted by wvudrj
That must have been so hard for you to say!


:D
You have no idea.:D

Way to go herdfan it was you turning your back on the herd that has lifted us to the elite eight!!!!



Go EERS!!!!

My father was informed from a worker from PBS that channel 13 will be given to WOWk because the conflicting channel in Ohio has decided to give up that channel. So Bray Cary has NO EXCUSES now. Also PBS is working on their Digital signal, apparently they have been having problems.

Go EERS!!!!

Well neither one of the teams from around here made it to the Final Four so I guess I will have to root for the Louisville Cardinals

Originally posted by bllee
So Bray Cary has NO EXCUSES now.
Except that now he will be the only one that will be using a VHF band channel. While some UHF antennas will pick up VHF 13, some will not. So he is going to force everyone who wants his channel to get an antenna that will get both.:(

Just a heads up for anyone unlucky enough to have Charter HD (Like me). They added Cinemax-HD today on channel 779. Of course, you have to pay for the movie tier to recieve it. :rolleyes:

Also, Charter is supposed to be adding TNT-HD in the next 2 weeks. The CSR also said that they are working with ABC or CBS (he wasn't sure, but we know it's not CBS) on a deal that should be worked out pretty soon.

It looks like my bi-monthly emails might actually be working.

I can't believe they would add ABC and not FOX. Who knows, maybe BC has found a way to screw us OTA types and is going to put WOWK in HD on cable. It would eliminate any transmitter issues if he can just pass the HD feed along on cable. Plus, most likely the a** will get paid for doing it.:(

Except that now he will be the only one that will be using a VHF band channel. While some UHF antennas will pick up VHF 13, some will not. So he is going to force everyone who wants his channel to get an antenna that will get both.


I bet somehow he has an investment in the only VHF antenna company and this is a plot to screw us even more!
:mad:

Originally posted by herdfan
Except that now he will be the only one that will be using a VHF band channel. While some UHF antennas will pick up VHF 13, some will not. So he is going to force everyone who wants his channel to get an antenna that will get both.:(

First off that's years away and secondly you can make a folded dipole for around 10 bucks and put in the attic. I have one for DT 7 here and picks up 40 miles away mounted outside. Here's a link on how to build. Also a link to my antenna.
http://www.wfu.edu/~matthews/misc/dipole.html

http://jimc705.tripod.com/pixs/#

The dipole is above the UHF. I made from cpvc half inch water pipe with 300 ohm lead in inside and the balun. To make waterproof connections. Takes about 30 minutes to build.

Hadn't programmed my Sony HD200 for a while and with 40ft tower and up on highest hill around, I am receiving Ch 8 in digital on my channel 41.3 and also 11 on my channel 11.1.
Last Night Friday evening I received the Fox (11) programmming that was broadcast in HD actually in HD.
We shall see. I am in SE OHio about 65 miles as the crow flies from where i think the tower is.
Anybody else getting a good signal to receive HD?

Saw your post about cinemax hd on charter. I too saw on guide that cinemax hd was on channel 779 but both local and national charter reps said was not available yet. I have every other hd channel available on charter and am looking forward to max hd when it gets here but one question why putt listing on epg if channel is not available?

Originally posted by wyllie1
Saw your post about cinemax hd on charter. I too saw on guide that cinemax hd was on channel 779 but both local and national charter reps said was not available yet. I have every other hd channel available on charter and am looking forward to max hd when it gets here but one question why putt listing on epg if channel is not available?
That's really surprising. I've seen on some of the other local threads where they have a new channel, but it isn't on the guide. So I always check some of the channel numbers around the HD channels incase they did that. I haven't heard of them having it on the guide and not available. They even have it on the Channel Lineup on their website.

Did they give you a date for it starting? Also, did they mention anything about TNT-HD or any other new channels? I usually bug them about once a week, but I've been behind lately.

EDIT - 4/4: They added Starz HD to the guide today. It would be nice if they would start non-premium movie HD channels.

Sorry got bad info from the local office. Cinemax HD started Monday and I am now getting it. Looks great! They also added Starz HD but am not a subscriber to it but maybe later. Now have all available hd channels except Starz and it is still not enough. Once you have HD regular tv looks fuzzy. CSR at Charter 800 number said TNT HD available about the 15th so then we will have 7 hd channels available but still no locals. Wish Charter would get it together on that score. Rep also said more coming this summer but had no details

Any other of you WV D* customers notice you are paying for the Distant Networks through 4/30. Hopefully that means we won't lose them on 4/7.


03/31/05 04/30/05 Network: NBC from NYC Monthly 1.50
03/31/05 04/30/05 Network: CBS from NYC Monthly 1.50
03/31/05 04/30/05 Network: FOX from NYC Monthly 1.50
03/31/05 04/30/05 Network: CBS HD Available w/Local or HD Pkg 0.00
03/31/05 04/30/05 Network: FOX HD Available w/Local or HD Pkg 0.00
03/31/05 04/30/05 Network: NBC HD Available w/Local or HD Pkg 0.00

Originally posted by justice2
Hadn't programmed my Sony HD200 for a while and with 40ft tower and up on highest hill around, I am receiving Ch 8 in digital on my channel 41.3 and also 11 on my channel 11.1.
Last Night Friday evening I received the Fox (11) programmming that was broadcast in HD actually in HD.
We shall see. I am in SE OHio about 65 miles as the crow flies from where i think the tower is.
Anybody else getting a good signal to receive HD?

I'm in SE Ohio also. My antenna is raised about 30 feet. I really only get WSAZ-DT reliably. I use a DB8 antenna and PA-16 preamp. What antenna and pre-amp do you use to pull in the stations? I'm 58 miles away from the WVAH/WCHS towers so I would be real interested to know how you did it.

Originally posted by clueless
Any other of you WV D* customers notice you are paying for the Distant Networks through 4/30. Hopefully that means we won't lose them on 4/7.


03/31/05 04/30/05 Network: NBC from NYC Monthly 1.50
03/31/05 04/30/05 Network: CBS from NYC Monthly 1.50
03/31/05 04/30/05 Network: FOX from NYC Monthly 1.50
03/31/05 04/30/05 Network: CBS HD Available w/Local or HD Pkg 0.00
03/31/05 04/30/05 Network: FOX HD Available w/Local or HD Pkg 0.00
03/31/05 04/30/05 Network: NBC HD Available w/Local or HD Pkg 0.00

Yes mine says the same thing.

I sure hope my D* Networks stay active.

My area just received a new Cable company (bought out the Mom and Pop shop). Cebridge Communications (not sure how to spell it as I don't subscribe).

They hired Contractors from OH and MI to come in and put up tons of fiber. (Very careless contractors and they need to be hit with some major fines, but that's another story).

They opened the Pedestal in my little sub division thingy and installed some sort of device. Heck, it looks like something a Gas Company would install. My neighbor said it's for High Definition, then he turned around and said Cable Modem. I asked which it was and now he doesn't remember.

I've been lazy and haven't put up the Antenna since I'm getting the Networks on D*. If I lose them, then I'll go the Antenna Route until D* carries our Local HD channels next year (fingers crossed)

P.S. I'm drywalling my Basement now. Should be done next week. Then I can concentrate on the 13x19 Home Theater Room. I have my Panasonic AE500 Projector sitting, ready to go.

Originally posted by tonybradley
IP.S. I'm drywalling my Basement now.
Don't forget to use 2 layers in a HT.:D

Sounds great. Will you have it up and running by football season?

I sent a letter to D* electing the DNS service. So I no longer have locals. I don't really care, but my wife was liking the WB D* recently added. But she agreed that she would rather have the west coast feeds than the WB. I don't think I would have won that argument if it were just about the HD networks.:eek:

I'm only going to use one layer in the HT. I'm not too concerned with the sound escaping into the adjacent rooms. Plus, I have to live with a drop ceiling. I'll stuff the joists with R-25. I finally found a place in Hurricane that sells OC703 Rigid Fiber Glass for my First Order Reflection Points. I plan to take a week off work very soon to build the stage, the equipment cabinets, paint the drop ceiling rails and cut 2x2 drywall tiles and paint black for the ceiling.

My Goal is September...we'll see. I have Sooooo many projects going on at once right now.

I didn't even get a card. I've read that only those Pre 1999 received the card. I still don't know how I'll play out. I received my waivers in 2002. When is the cut off 4/7 or 4/11?

Cards were due to D* by the 7th. Have not heard when they will act on them. Where in Hurricane did you find it?

I am up to my a** in it as well. I am getting ready to do a component/digital distribution from the living room to the basement and MBR. Placed an order today for most of the connectors and the 1694A cable. Just have to decide on which distribution amp to use. Leaning toward the Audio Authority 985DTV because it accepts optical and converts it to digital coax.

And the wife wants the Polk XM radio she got for her b-day to be able to be played all over the house. So I need to run speaker cables as well. And of course, she wants it all done at the same time to minimize the mess.

I'm sorry, it's in Winfield. Specialty Products and Insulation Co. They only sale the Rigid boards with Foil or FSK backing. That's OK because I'll have the backing facing the wall and it won't have any effect (no reflections).

I sent an email to my home address with all the details. I can't remember the price now for a 4' x 2' x 2" board. Wasn't too expensive, but wasn't cheap either.

I'm eventually going to place in Ceiling Speakers in every room of my house, but that will be a LONG time away. After I finish the HT, I'll work on the rest of the basement little by little.

During this project I installed AC/DC Smoke Detectors throughout the house. That was fun wiring that in a house already built.

My old neighbor had Audio/Video Distribution through his entire house. It was great. He had a TV mounted on the wall in the Master Bathroom with Niles Ceiling speakers. He had IR Wall Sensors in every room. Just kept a cheap All in One remote in the rooms and you could watch the Cable, DVD Player, Laser Disk Player, VCR or listen to music in any room. He had two DVD players downstairs and would throw one in for us, and one in for his daughter who could watch and control it from her room. That way, he didn't have to worry about it getting broke in her room, or taking up any room.

Are you going to purchase an Infrared Repeater System as well? I need to get one as my Basement and HT are wired for it now. I finally found a 2 Sensor HUB that's part of a KIT on Ebay (Niles). I think right around $200.

Originally posted by tonybradley
Are you going to purchase an Infrared Repeater System as well?
Yes, but I haven't decided which one. I don't really care about DVD distribution as I can move a disk from room to room. But I usually want to watch something on a TiVo that is in a different room than where I want to watch it.

Any ideas on IR repeaters? I could always go with the pyramid ones, but I think the inwall mounted ones look better.

Xantech is a very popular brand on the forum. Niles is VERY good, but a little more on the pricey side. Not much more expensive, but a little.

I'll go with Niles at some point. You can go to crutchfield.com and search for Niles. YOu can see all the different sensor styles Niles has, the different transmitters and Hubs. I only need a Two Sensor hub. If you are doing an entire house, you would need something more. With Xantech, you can run all your sensors in parallel, which is nice. Not sure if you can do that with Niles, or if you HAVE to buy the bigger Hubs.

I found the Xantech on Smarthome. I will have to check out the Niles.

I will be doing a fairly complicated setup with each TiVo doing multiple locations and each location being fed by 2 or 3 TiVo's. Of course about the time I get it all done, D* will give us MVR and it will be all for naught.

What I didn't like about Smarthome was that they didn't have a layout of what you need to do certain things similar to what they have the X10 stuff. So I will check out the Niles and hope there is more setup info for it.

Thanks again.

Edit: I just checked out the Niles website and I will be going with the Niles stuff. The documentation was far superior to anything else I had seen. Thanks for pointing me in that direction.

Dallas,

Sounds pretty complicated what you are doing. I may have to stop over sometime and have you show me everything. Is it going to be tough to fish the cables where you need them?

FYI: Niles is very good stuff. I have some Niles OS-20 Outdoor speakers. They were $250 a piece. I got them for $250 for the pair from a company that was getting rid of their Niles Speakers (they changed Manufacturer Lines every 3 years or so).

I think for the short term, I'll just point my remote to the rear of the room until I can afford the Niles repeater. I have too many other things that I must have for my HT to be operational first.

Actually the fishes won't be too hard. I hope anyway. I have full attic access and the one going to the basement is on the same wall as the upstairs TV, so drywall cuts should be kept to a minimum.

As for the Niles, I think I am going with their speaker distribution/volume controls as well. Crutchfield has it all and I like the full documentation that Niles provides.

Niles has a good reputation for Audio/Video distribution. So, when will this project start/complete?

Recently, WCHS's digital signal has been "jumping" from Channel 8-1 to Channel 41-1 on my TV. Originally, my receiver (I'm using the OTA tuner built-in to my RCA DirecTV HD receiver) assigned WCHS's digital signal to Channel 8-1. Over the weekend, it assigned it to Channel 41-1. Then last night it was back at Channel 8-1.

Has anyone else had this happen or know what would cause it?

Originally posted by DiamondDaveWV
Recently, WCHS's digital signal has been "jumping" from Channel 8-1 to Channel 41-1 on my TV. Originally, my receiver (I'm using the OTA tuner built-in to my RCA DirecTV HD receiver) assigned WCHS's digital signal to Channel 8-1. Over the weekend, it assigned it to Channel 41-1. Then last night it was back at Channel 8-1.

Has anyone else had this happen or know what would cause it?

Yeah, sounds like their PSIP unit either reset or failed or something. Once they got it back in proper order, it returned to 8-1.

- Trip

Is anyone getting guide data from WVAH? I get WCHS, but not WVAH.

I asked the same question weeks ago. It's up to WVAH to get it right. The guide info is transmitted in their stream. It's only a slight inconvience for me because I don't watch Fox that much. Not much on worth watching in my opinion.

As wyllie1 mentioned last week, Charter officially added TNT-HD today on channel 797. No other channels were added.

to start putting pressure on WOWK via their advertisers.

Some research has indicated that Charleston is the largest market without access to CBS HD programming. The two larger DMA's whose local affilates are not passing the HD feed either plan to this year (WYOU-Scranton, PA) or are O&O and available on Both D* and E* (SLC, UT).

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to begin? I would think logging the local advertisers commercials would be the place to start, but since I no longer have locals via D*, I can no longer do that.

After we have a list of advertisers, we need to send polite letters to them explaining HD, refuting BC's completely inaccurate PR, and explaining that by the end of 2005, we will be the largest market without access to CBS programming in HD. And ask them to support WSAZ, WVAH and WCHS with their advertising $$.

What if we made Bray Carey "an offer he can't refuse"?


Anyone no about sleeping with the fishes?



I am just kidding but I think our plight is hopeless as Bray Carey is in total control.


That doesn't mean we should not try to expose him as much as possible as a money hungry lier in the press AND pressure his advertisers.


I will be back July 1st in Charleston and will help however I can!

A little off topic, but I just read that, beginning 2006, Monday Night Football will be on ESPN and Sunday Night Football will be on NBC. ABC is looking to get rid of football altogether.

Back to Dallas' statement. My buddy is a Communications Student at State College (University or whatever they are now), and he's an editor for the school paper. I'll see if any of his instructors has any insight on how we could proceed with our battle.

Any word on when WCHS might start putting the network HD feed through? I called them
abot two months ago and the engineer said, "within a week." Obviously we are now outside
of that window. If anyone maintains correspondence with any of the people involved
please disclose the apparent problems/ timeframe.

-spence