Charleston, WV - HDTV [Text View] - Page 4

tonybradley

12-02-05, 02:08 PM

I feel your pain my kids watch TV and when they go to bed my wife turns on the SD DVR and watches her ten thousand Reality TV shows until bedtime. I have an XBOX 360 and don't get to play that either.

I need and HD playroom that is padlocked and I have the only key. (In the new house in 2050! :mad: )

Yeah....sounds like my wife. However, I do like watching Survivor and Amazing Race with her.

I have my Theater room done (for now). I still need to do acoustic treatments, but sounds OK to me at the moment. I have only watched 3 adult movies so far. The rest have been movies for the kids. Let me give you some advice when you do your Theater room in the new house. Have a separate HVAC system or at a minimum, a separate Zone. I tied into my existing and put in one return and supply. After watching the first movie (Batman Begins) with 4 people in the theater, it was like an OVEN. PJs put out a LOT of heat. Big reason was the Air never kicked on as the thermostat is upstairs. Lately, I've been turning the FAN on at the Thermostat to keep constant airflow in the room. That's helped a lot, but would rather have put in a seperate HVAC for the basement.

clueless

12-03-05, 03:37 PM

Has anyone heard about Charter Cable being taken over by another cable company here in the Charleston, WV area. A Charter technician was at my home recently, and he mentioned this to me, and I told a friend about it at work today, and he said he had heard something about it over the past couple of weeks on the news, or in the newspapers.

The Tech mentioned TimeWarner, but the friend at work had mentioned Cox.

Anyone?

I remember reading an article about it. If I remember correctly Charter has some of its operations (including WV) up for sale. I believe Time-Warner and Cox were both mentioned as potential buyers.

herdfan

12-03-05, 03:43 PM

Plus throw in the fact that Adelphia is being bought by TW and Comcast, but Comcast has to divest of some properties. So as part of that deal, TW could take over Adelphia's WV operations and adding Charter's would make logistical sense.

Of course, these are MSO's and little they do makes sense. :D

Being served by Adelphia, I am hoping that it is Comcast so I will have access to the dual Cablecard HD TiVo.

GotaLUVyourHDTV

12-04-05, 12:54 AM

Hey Guys,

Just stumbled onto your forum last night, I was searching for the date that WOWK 13.1 goes High DEF. Their 480P digital broadcast looks really bad on my 57" Hitachi and I’d really like to see the Steelers – Bengal game tomorrow in high def. My NY D** High Def. Channel is not carrying the 1:00 game, so I am stuck watching the game on WOWK 13.1

Thought you might be interested with my results so far, it has taken a lot of experimenting to receive these since I’m almost 70 miles from the towers.
I live above Parkersburg WV, and receive 3.1 WSAZ, 8.1 WCHS, 11.1 WVAH and 13.1 WOWK from your area with just an occasional drop out. The I (PAX) channel 29.1,29.2,29.3 & 29.4 are only received early in the morning and late in the evening. There is a hill behind my house that is in the direction my antenna is pointed to receive the Charleston Channels so it has been quite a challenge. Right now I have the JERROLD DELHI VU-937SR antenna with the JRVU8PZ (Power Zoom) attached. This is mounted on a 44’ tilt over tower; I have a rotor mounted in the top and 14’ of mast pipe. Also I’m using the Channel Master 7777 pre amp and RG-11 Coax down the tower, and then RG-6 coax from the grounding block to the TV. When spring gets here I’m thinking about adding another 7’ to my tower (since I already have the piece sitting in my garage) and running RG-11 coax on in. Seems like the higher I go the better the signal strength. :)

I also receive 15.1 WTAP NBC from Parkersburg and two PBS Digital Channels, WOUB 20.1 & 20.2 from Athens OH and WOUC 44.1 & 44.2 from Cambridge OH.

Greg

sjividen

12-05-05, 04:15 PM

Hi all...just found this thread and am a bit overwhelmed at the moment with information.

With the upcoming Sugar Bowl, I've decided to finally take advantage of my HD-capable TV. I live in the Nitro area near the river and was wondering what kind of success I can expect with just a tuner and an indoor antenna? Putting up an external antenna really isn't an option, so I'm trying to figure out if I'll be able to receive and channels before going out and making the purchase.

Also, if I go through with it, what kind of price should I expect to pay locally for a tuner and antenna? Thanks in advance...

DiamondDaveWV

12-06-05, 10:11 AM

With the upcoming Sugar Bowl, I've decided to finally take advantage of my HD-capable TV. I live in the Nitro area near the river and was wondering what kind of success I can expect with just a tuner and an indoor antenna? Putting up an external antenna really isn't an option, so I'm trying to figure out if I'll be able to receive and channels before going out and making the purchase.

Also, if I go through with it, what kind of price should I expect to pay locally for a tuner and antenna? Thanks in advance...

Most likely you can get WCHS-DT (the station with all the BCS bowls) and WVAH-DT with a small "set top" indoor HDTV (i.e., UHF) antenna. The transmitter for these stations is just a few miles west of St. Albans. If you are satisfied with just getting these two channels, I would experiment with different Terk antennas from Circuit City. They have a very liberal 30-day return policy.

Getting WSAZ-DT will likely require at least an attic mount of a 4-bay or 8-bay Channelmaster or similar quality antenna (such as from antennasdirect.com), since the transmitter is closer to Huntington.

What kind of TV do you have? If your TV or DirecTV receiver does not have a built-in ATSC/HD tuner, you will need to buy one at Circuit City, etc. I don't know exactly what they run -- a new one probably $150-200. Radio Shack used to sell one for under $100. I would check there first.

Good luck.

herdfan

12-06-05, 10:36 AM

I was searching for the date that WOWK 13.1 goes High DEF. Their 480P digital broadcast looks really bad ........I’m almost 70 miles from the towers. I live above Parkersburg WV, and receive 3.1 WSAZ, 8.1 WCHS, 11.1 WVAH and 13.1 WOWK
Welcome to the Forums.

Mark this date for WOWK: When Hell freezes over. :mad: And calling it 480p is a stretch. It looks horrible, more like 360i.

Since you have such a tall tower and can pull in our stations over the hills, have you tried pointing it at Columbus to see of you can get anything from that direction?

tonybradley

12-06-05, 11:49 AM

tonybradley

12-06-05, 11:51 AM

sjividen

12-06-05, 02:12 PM

Oh...if you have DirecTV with an HD receiver, you can use it for OTA as well. If you have DirecTV and do NOT have an HD receiver, the HD package is $11 a month and Circuit City has a DirecTV HD receiver for $.01 after mail in rebate.

Thanks for the advice Tony and Dave.

I ended up getting the Samsung T451 at CC. While I was there, I saw the DirecTV HD receiver (H10). As I'm a DTV subscriber, I asked the salesguy if I could use it to pick up OTA, but he told me no. So apparently he was wrong?

Even so, I have a DTV TiVo now that I don't want to give up. I guess that means I'd have to pay $5 more for the extra receiver? Then again, I paid $250 for the Samsung tuner and the DTV HD DVR appears to be $400 after rebate. And I thought this would be relatively simple... :rolleyes:

DiamondDaveWV

12-06-05, 03:18 PM

Thanks for the advice Tony and Dave.

I ended up getting the Samsung T451 at CC. While I was there, I saw the DirecTV HD receiver (H10). As I'm a DTV subscriber, I asked the salesguy if I could use it to pick up OTA, but he told me no. So apparently he was wrong?

Yes, he's wrong.

I'm positive every DirecTV HD satellite receiver has a built-in off-the-air ATSC tuner. So if you do end up subscribing to DirectTV's HD package, and get a new DirecTV HD receiver, then you won't need the Samsung. You simply plug your off-the-air antenna into the "antenna in" input on your DirecTV HD receiver, and use the receiver's menu to scan for WCHS-DT, etc. It should then automatically insert Channel 8-1, etc., in your DirecTV channel guide.

Let us know how it turns out.

herdfan

12-06-05, 03:45 PM

Take the Samsung back and get the H10. Why? Its free with a 2-year commitment.(Rebate) Can't beat that. Plus you can get ESPN and ESPN2@ in HD from D*. Can't beat that with bowl season coming up. :D

Edit: Just read the rest of your post. Once you have a TiVo its hard to watch any other way. I have had the HD TiVo since May 2004 and they would have to pry it from my cold dead fingers. There is nothing like watching network programming in HD on your terms. Other than CBS. :mad: Well worth the $400. :D

sjividen

12-06-05, 04:51 PM

Well, I hooked up the Samsung--knowing full well I'm gonna return it--with a Radio Shack antenna just to see what I can get. Nothing at first, but as I was scrolling through the channels, right after 18 was Fox (listed as 11-1). I still can't figure out how to get WCHS, but I know it's out there. The manual for the tuner is typically bad, but I'll keep messing with it.

As for the DTV HD DVR...I was reading a thread at TiVo Community and a lot of people there are simply calling the DTV retention department and getting great deals. I called just to check on the prices and was offered $599 for the equipment, with a $200 credit (not rebate) and a free install. I'm not sure if I'd still be able to do the $200 rebate or if that included an OTA antenna, but I told them I'd get back to them. Posters in the aforementioned thread were getting credit, still able to use the rebate, free OTA, and discounts on programming. This definitely seems to be the best route, so I'll probably call back tomorrow and see if I can talk them down anymore.

Edit: Just checked the very first pages of this thread and found the DTV channel numbers. Off to try and get at least WCHS...

DiamondDaveWV

12-06-05, 05:27 PM

I'm not sure if I'd still be able to do the $200 rebate or if that included an OTA antenna, but I told them I'd get back to them.

When I upgraded to HD w/ DirecTV, they threw in a free OTA antenna for locals in HD. At the time, they were giving out a Winegard Sensar model that was almost useless here in Charleston. I ended up having to buy the DB-4 that I use now, but I convinced DirecTV's retention dept. to have a crew come back install it for me for free. It saved me the trouble of getting on a 40-foot extension ladder, and grounding and diplexing the incoming line. So I still got something out of the deal.

GotaLUVyourHDTV

12-07-05, 08:44 AM

Welcome to the Forums.

Mark this date for WOWK: When Hell freezes over. :mad: And calling it 480p is a stretch. It looks horrible, more like 360i.

Since you have such a tall tower and can pull in our stations over the hills, have you tried pointing it at Columbus to see of you can get anything from that direction?

I have received ABC WSYX 6-1 from Columbus but Columbus is almost 30 miles farther from my location than Charleston is. I have also received WTOV 9 from Stubenville and just about all of the channels from the Pittsburgh market but can not receive them like the Charleston Networks. I also have been talking with the chief engineer at WTRF 7 (CBS) in Wheeling to see when they are going to go high power, they are still at low power. :( The same company owns WTRF that owns WOWK, so it's going to be a while. And then they probiably won't brodcast HD...

sjividen

12-07-05, 11:17 AM

OK, so I hope this will be my last post on the subject...

I can easily pick up WCHS and WVAH with just the little $25 Radio Shack indoor antenna. Unfortunately, there wasn't much on last night to watch, but I could tell a noticeable difference between the HD signals and DirecTV signal of whatever music award show was on Fox. Looking forward to Lost tonight, even if it's a repeat.

I called the DTV retention department last night and got stuck with some kid who sounded like a college dropout. When I brought up the offer from Charter, he went into this spiel comparing cable service to a memory card that doesn't fit the latest digital camera or something; I stop listening after 5 seconds. I should've hung up on him as he replied "I don't know" to a couple of questions, but I was able to finagle a decent enough deal out of him.

I got: a $200 instant credit on the $599 cost of the equipment, a free OTA antenna, free installation, and a $5 discount on the HD tier for 6 months. I don't know if I'll be able to to do $200 mail-in rebate, but I'm sure gonna try. I know I didn't get as good a deal as others, but I've only been a DTV subscriber for a little over a year.

Thanks again for all the help and advice!

wvudrj

12-07-05, 10:55 PM

3dogman has a PM.

All these new people we really need a meet!

tonybradley

12-08-05, 01:04 PM

3dogman has a PM.

All these new people we really need a meet!

I agree Jay. Darrin and I stopped our meets because it appeared folks were losing interest. However, I think it's turned around now. We have many new folks on the forum in our area.

I asked this question earlier this year (or maybe last year, I can't remember now) with no response, but maybe now is a better time.

Would having a meet through the week, or on a Satuday afternoon be the best? My wife seems to think our turnout wasn't great in the past because we were meeting on Saturdays, which is when most people are spending time with their family.

I'd be interested in some ideas. If everyone that would like to have a meet reply back on this forum, that would be great. In the reply, let me know what you'd like to expect from the meet. Should we meet at a central location and travel to each other's homes to see our setups, Eat at a restaurant and talk HD and HT, or other.

herdfan

12-08-05, 05:46 PM

Its probably a little late this year with Christmas coming up, but Monday night leading into MNF would have been good or Thursday since the college games start a little earlier.

Count me in whenever you schedule one.

larryg1957

12-12-05, 04:45 PM

Just found this board last week. It's great!

In catching up on past posts, I noticed that WSAZ had some technical problems a couple of months ago. That's about the time I quit receiving WSAZ-DT. I used to get 60-70% on my signal strength and now I get zero. I've added a rotator to my antenna since then and still can't find a signal. Anybody else seeing this problem.

Thanks.

andy4theherd

12-12-05, 08:57 PM

cocoon

12-12-05, 09:18 PM

Last year I got averaged 80 for WSAZ-DT then it changed to 75 (I believe this is when they changed some transmitting equipment and power output) but these days its averaging 70. Its weird because last year as the temperature got colder the signal level increased on all channels this year it hasn't changed much at all and in some cases even worse signal.

DiamondDaveWV

12-13-05, 09:23 AM

Is Pax/i Network still broadcasting a digital signal? I used to get PAX multicast fine, but haven't picked it up the past few times I've done a channel scan.

d1live

12-13-05, 09:39 AM

DiamondDaveWV

12-13-05, 10:23 AM

Hello all ye fellow West Virginians, Iam a DtV customer that has also been denied HD Channels out of NY, and so far Ive had no luck picking up any signal thru my antenna that is 10 feet above my roof, Iam less than 30 miles from Charleston. I may need a new antenna or maybe just new wire, but is anyone else getting Channel 19,23, or 41 thru their OTA antenna, Iam very frustrated and ready to move. Thanks all

Lots of folks here get all or some of the local digital network broadcasts OTA -- primarily a function of where they live in relation to the broadcast towers, their local topography, and what antenna they are able to use.

Where do you live, what antenna are you using, etc.?

clueless

12-13-05, 02:16 PM

I live in Madison WV (about 30 miles southwest of downtown Charleston down US 119). Anyway I am in a DirecTV white area for all the networks except ABC. Since the Super Bowl and Sugar Bowl are on ABC I decided to build a test yagi antenna tuned for 634MHz (UHF Channel 41) to see if I could get a signal.

Well results were mixed. I just had the little 6 element yagi on a 8 foot mast stuck in the back yard. The signal would fluctuate wildly from 0 to 60 (on my HR10-250). The average was probably around 20. It would lock a signal and then lose it. Then the other tuner would lock a signal and then lose it.

My question to you fine gentlemen is: If I buy a commercial yagi or multi-element bow-tie antenna and put it up around 25 feet do you think the signal would be solid enough to use?

Oh yeah I live on a hill and have clear line of sight in all directions - except north - which is of course the direction I need to point the antenna. I would say the top of the hill to my north is probably 25 degrees elevation. I think the antenna was experiencing some gain because if I turned it east or west I would get zero signal.

DiamondDaveWV

12-13-05, 03:36 PM

I live in Madison WV (about 30 miles southwest of downtown Charleston down US 119). Anyway I am in a DirecTV white area for all the networks except ABC. Since the Super Bowl and Sugar Bowl are on ABC I decided to build a test yagi antenna tuned for 634MHz (UHF Channel 41) to see if I could get a signal.

Well results were mixed. I just had the little 6 element yagi on a 8 foot mast stuck in the back yard. The signal would fluctuate wildly from 0 to 60 (on my HR10-250). The average was probably around 20. It would lock a signal and then lose it. Then the other tuner would lock a signal and then lose it.

My question to you fine gentlemen is: If I buy a commercial yagi or multi-element bow-tie antenna and put it up around 25 feet do you think the signal would be solid enough to use?

If I were you, I would experiment with a Terk TV32 antenna from Circuit City and a Pre-amp from Lowes, both which should be returnable for 30 days, before putting up a 25-foot tower.

d1live

12-14-05, 01:42 PM

Finally got new cable to run to my very old (but in good shape) antenna, I let my Sony 42a10 do a search and it found 1 digital channel, at first. Then I realized my antenna had a little black box the wire ran through that was 1 part of the old ChannelMaster Pre-Amp that was installed when the antenna waz bought over 10 years ago, so I dug through the coat closet and found the other black box that plugs into the wall and antenna wires, hooked it up and did a search for all channels and waz very surprised to see that it found 17 analog and 8 digital :) . Come to find out most of the analog channels looked bad even turning the rotor a complete 360. But channel 3.1 8.1 and 11.1 were all that I really wanted and they look great, I am still amazed on how good the picture quality is. By the way the old Channel Master Pre-Amp Model 0063C really works great, Iam still think about buying a new one to see if its any better than the old one. Ill write back soon. Thanks, you guys have been a big big help.

d1live

12-14-05, 05:35 PM

Just finished tuning OTA channels, most all channels had atleast a signal strength of 69%, channel 8.1 was 86% and 11.1 was 93% according to the meter on my DtV HD-10 reciever. My reciever now gets 3.1 - 8.1 - 11.1 - 29.1 or I 29.2 PAX- 29.3 Worship- 29.4 FaithTV - their were a few others, some in the 40's but after I hooked up through my HD-10 I couldnt find them again, one was a alternative ch.13, somewhere in the 40's. Hopes this helps.

sjividen

12-14-05, 07:44 PM

herdfan

12-14-05, 08:06 PM

I found a directional map at AntennaWeb, so I guess I'm gonna have to tinker with the direction of it. Any other suggestions or tips?
Look back through this thread for some maps of the tower locations. I am getting both towers with a somewhat directional antenna even though they are almost 150 degrees apart.

wvudrj

12-14-05, 09:17 PM

I think the point here with everyone TRYING so many different ways to pick up OTA is that Charter and adelphia all need to start picking up the HD feeds over cable!

herdfan

12-14-05, 11:03 PM

I don't see 8 or 11 going to cable unless Sinclair changes their policy of wanting $$$ for the feeds. I think you will see all 4 HD feeds on D* before they are on cable.

DiamondDaveWV

12-15-05, 09:32 AM

After a delay because they didn't have the HD TiVo in stock, DirecTV made it out today and I'm up and finally running in HD. Even with the OTA, though, I can still only pick up 8.1 and 11.1, which is what I got with the little internal antenna. I found a directional map at AntennaWeb, so I guess I'm gonna have to tinker with the direction of it. Any other suggestions or tips?

What kind of OTA antenna did DirectTV provide, and where did they mount it?

Chances are, you won't be able to pick up WSAZ-DT without at least a 4-bay HD antenna -- Channelmaster 4221, AntennasDirect DB-4, or Winegard 4400 (same as the Terk TV32 at Circuit City) -- and a probably even a pre-amp.

DarrinH

12-15-05, 01:22 PM

tonybradley

12-15-05, 03:33 PM

How are all of you guys grounding these antenna?
Are you tieing into your electrical ground or doing a seperate ground.
I have read that seperate grounds are a very bad idea due to the potential difference.

Yes, you are correct on the potential differences. Best to ground to the same block. Otherwise, you 'could' get some noise generated in the signal.

sjividen

12-15-05, 04:27 PM

What kind of OTA antenna did DirectTV provide, and where did they mount it?

Chances are, you won't be able to pick up WSAZ-DT without at least a 4-bay HD antenna -- Channelmaster 4221, AntennasDirect DB-4, or Winegard 4400 (same as the Terk TV32 at Circuit City) -- and a probably even a pre-amp.

I didn't see a model #, but it's a Winegard (see pictures). The DirecTV tech--who admitted that he had never done an HD install--just pointed it in the general direction of the DTV dish, which I think was about 220.

In this position, I was seeing about 15% on WSAZ-DT. So I went out in the rain today and fiddled with it. I tried moving it as close as I could to 290, but the WSAZ signal actually dropped to nothing. After trying a bunch of different positions, the original of 220 or so is actually the best.

I also called DirecTV today to ask about a waiver for CBS. I'm slowly working my way through the 27 pages of the thread, so I'm sure I'll find out later that I shouldn't expect to have it go through. Oh well, I just wanted it to watch the upcoming WVU bball games in HD.

Amerikes

12-15-05, 05:12 PM

I have a Terk32 with 5' mast and hardware, that I would be willing to sell. I tried it and it did as good as the Channel Master 4228 that I now have installed. I had already gone beyond the time to be able to return it. It is like new, I had it up a couple of weeks, when I decided to get the 4228. I really didn't see a whole lot of difference if any in the ability to receive local channels. I am thinking of adding 10 feet more of mast to my present installation. I get 8.1 and 11.1 really well, and do fairly well at getting 3.1( That is the one that I am trying to receive better). 13.1 doesn't come in real well, and when it does the picture is lousy. I used the same Indoor preamp with both.

DiamondDaveWV

12-16-05, 07:44 AM

[QUOTE=sjividen]I didn't see a model #, but it's a Winegard (see pictures). The DirecTV tech--who admitted that he had never done an HD install--just pointed it in the general direction of the DTV dish, which I think was about 220.[QUOTE]

That's the same kind DirecTV gave me. I think its called a Winegard Sensar and its actually meant for the top of an RV. Utterly useless.

Per my prior posts, I was able to convince DTV to come back and replace the Sensar with a DB-4 that I bought myself from antennasdirect. I run the incoming OTA line through a ChannelMaster distribution preamp from Lowes. In addition to WCHS-DT and WVAH-DT at 100%, I can get WSAZ-DT and PBS-DT at 80% at my house in Charleston.

tonybradley

12-16-05, 08:02 AM

tonybradley

12-16-05, 08:46 AM

For those interested, I found a nice link explaining Antenna and Amplifier information. It's a little detailed, but not too detailed to where it's not understandable.

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/basics.html

DiamondDaveWV

12-16-05, 04:13 PM

[QUOTE=DiamondDaveWV][QUOTE=sjividen]I didn't see a model #, but it's a Winegard (see pictures). The DirecTV tech--who admitted that he had never done an HD install--just pointed it in the general direction of the DTV dish, which I think was about 220.

This may be a silly question......does the amplifier go on the antenna outside? I thought a 'Distribution Amp' was for inside for long cable runs and didn't really do anything to boost the signal and the preamp was for outside to boost gain.

You're correct -- it's primarily designed for signal loss on significant cable runs, which I have. In a best case scenario, I would have installed an antenna-mounted pre-amp, but I don't have a 40 foot extension ladder to that can reach the OTA antenna on the side of my house. If you are able to install it, the best solution is an antenna-mounted preamp.

tonybradley

12-17-05, 12:30 PM

Well, I finally had an hour or so to play around with the Channel Master Antenna I've had in my basement since I moved last July. I was going to temporarily mount it to my 30' mast, but decided that was too much trouble for a test. I let my antenna lay on the top railing of my deck (about 11 foot off the ground). I ran some RG-6 in through the window and attached to my Zenith HD-SAT520.

I did a search for my channels. Here is what I can pick up (Digital) with the antenna pointing in one direction:

3-1
8-1
11-1
29-1
29-2
29-3
29-4

Now, when I first hooked it up, I was getting 30-1 (WHCP-DT - WB). However, I cannot seem to pick it up now. At 3PM, it shows Veronica Mars as HD.

Question 1: Is WHCP-DT broadcasting in HD since the guide shows some shows in HD?

Comment 1: Currently, I have the antenna pointing in one direction and can pick up all the channels I mentioned above. My Zenith HD-SAT520 Signal Strength meter doesn't show percentages, only Bad Normal and Good. With the antenna pointing in one direction, all channels above are between the high side of Normal and Good. If I move it some, I can get almost perfect for 8-1 and 11-1, but can't pick up 3-1. However, moving it a few degrees, I was able to get 3-1, 8-1 and 11-1 at High NOrmal/Low Good.

Question 2: Anyone with a SAT-520 know if you can test the signal strength by percent?

Comment 2: My antenna is only 11' above the ground, but I live on a hill. It's pointing into a thicket of trees. When I officially mount my antenna, it will be more than twice as high as it is now sitting on my deck. I'm excited that I can pick up 8-1 and 11-1.

herdfan

12-17-05, 01:10 PM

Now, when I first hooked it up, I was getting 30-1 (WHCP-DT - WB). However, I cannot seem to pick it up now. At 3PM, it shows Veronica Mars as HD.
Were you able to get a picture? I used to be able to get a signal according to my meter, but was never able to get a picture.

Can't you get 13.1? Too bad with all those HD programs. ;)

tonybradley

12-17-05, 02:13 PM

Were you able to get a picture? I used to be able to get a signal according to my meter, but was never able to get a picture.

Can't you get 13.1? Too bad with all those HD programs. ;)

I got a picture when I first connected the coax to my tuner. After I did a channel scan, I tried to go back to it and NOTHING!! Just says No Signal now.

Spending all this time on the forum, I'm upset my antenna won't pick up 13-1 in HD like everyone elses.....LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today gives me good reason to keep my DirecTV HDs. For the past 20 minutes, the Patriot's game has been in SD on 11-1. Was HD, then went to commercial, then SD from then on. just checked...after about 20 minutes...it's back in HD.

andy4theherd

12-17-05, 07:13 PM

Now, when I first hooked it up, I was getting 30-1 (WHCP-DT - WB). However, I cannot seem to pick it up now. At 3PM, it shows Veronica Mars as HD.

are you sure it was whcp? i thought i read somewhere that their dig signal was 17.1?

GotaLUVyourHDTV

12-18-05, 03:40 AM

Today gives me good reason to keep my DirecTV HDs. For the past 20 minutes, the Patriot's game has been in SD on 11-1. Was HD, then went to commercial, then SD from then on. just checked...after about 20 minutes...it's back in HD.

Yea, I had to do the same thing... What is up with 11-1, does someone at the station have to flip the switch to bring it back to HD ?¿?

D* HD's are better than SD, but still not as good as OTA. When I checked back on 11-1, I was happy to see they were back to 5.1 Dolby and 720P...

GotaLUVyourHDTV

12-18-05, 03:51 AM

are you sure it was whcp? i thought i read somewhere that their dig signal was 17.1?

Your'e right, they are broadcasting their digital signal on channel 17 UHF but I'd say his receiver shows it as 30.1 :)

herdfan

12-18-05, 09:30 AM

IFor the past 20 minutes, the Patriot's game has been in SD on 11-1.
Not that it matters with the horrible graphics that FOX is covering 30% of our screens with.

tonybradley

12-18-05, 10:27 AM

are you sure it was whcp? i thought i read somewhere that their dig signal was 17.1?

That's what my SAT-520 shows it as. But, I was never able to pick anything up after the first time I had a picture.

Now that I know I can get a really good signal on all the main stations without a Preamp, after Christmas, I'm going to try out the Attic and see if I can get a decent signal. If decent, I can get a preamp.

Maybe Jeff Foxworthy could have a new "You might be a Redneck if.....", but I'm thinking about leaving my antenna resting on the railing of my deck for a while just to do some more comparisons between Network HD on D* and OTA. I've seen football, now I want to see some prime time shows.

herdfan

12-18-05, 10:56 AM

I've seen football, now I want to see some prime time shows.
I don't notice much difference in the primetime shows. I guess its because they don't need the bandwidth like sports do. And many of them, like Law and Order, are fairly dark anyway.

How is the theater coming? I just finished my "Media Room". Won't get the full HT until my daughter is through with her playroom.

tonybradley

12-18-05, 04:25 PM

I don't notice much difference in the primetime shows. I guess its because they don't need the bandwidth like sports do. And many of them, like Law and Order, are fairly dark anyway.

How is the theater coming? I just finished my "Media Room". Won't get the full HT until my daughter is through with her playroom.

I've noticed that with HD prime time throughout the last few years. They are very dark. So, my antenna is still sitting in the same place, and I have the same signal strength for 11-1 today as I did yesterday. However, 8-1, I'm getting No Signal. The signal strength is very low. That's odd because yesterday, I was getting almost full signal strength. Does WCHS and WVAH have a signal 24-7, or do they only turn on their Digital Feeds during a specific time?

The HT is "mostly" finished. I still need to put up some acoustic panels on my first reflection spots and I need to purchase an IR repeater system so I don't have to lean and point towards the back of my room to turn the volume up, etc. Other than that, it's finished. Once the Holidays are over, I'll have some people over. Darrin has been over for a movie, but with a 3 year old and a 1 year old, I don't have much time for movies.

tonybradley

12-19-05, 09:22 PM

Haven't touched my antenna on my deck, and tonight, I'm getting a strong signal on 8-1 for MNF.

sjividen

12-21-05, 05:30 PM

tonybradley

12-21-05, 06:33 PM

Do any of you guys have strong feelings regarding the Channel Master 4228 vs. a DB4? I think I only need a medium range antenna since I live in Nitro. The price difference is negligible, though the DB4 is slightly smaller (not that it really matters). Given my location, I'm also wondering if I'll need a preamp, though I can always pick one up at Lowes to experiment.

Oh, and how difficult are antennas to assemble and set up? I'm hoping that I'll be able to just switch it out with the one that DirecTV "gave" me, but that's probably too optimistic.

I live in Sissonville (17.1 miles) from WCHS/WVAH and around 30 from WSAZ. I have the Channel Master (3220 or something...the 100mile VHF/60 mile UHF from Lowes). I pick up all three of those networks with a pretty good signal with my antenna sitting on my Deck.

Nitro is only like 4 miles from the WVAH/WCHS tower and only 22 miles to WSAZ. I'd think a smaller antenna would be OK for you.

d1live

12-21-05, 09:49 PM

Do any of you guys have strong feelings regarding the Channel Master 4228 vs. a DB4? I think I only need a medium range antenna since I live in Nitro. The price difference is negligible, though the DB4 is slightly smaller (not that it really matters). Given my location, I'm also wondering if I'll need a preamp, though I can always pick one up at Lowes to experiment.

Oh, and how difficult are antennas to assemble and set up? I'm hoping that I'll be able to just switch it out with the one that DirecTV "gave" me, but that's probably too optimistic. Sjividen, check this one out for 25 bucks, looks real easy to assemble. Only place that I can find it in stock is Spencer, to far for me. Tony, how good of signal can you get on 3.1, mine is in and out at 63% and best is around 70, I get 8.1 and 11.1 with ease here in Goldtown, signals in the lower 90's if I tweek with the rotor. http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103088&cp=&kw=antenna&kwCatId=2032057&parentPage=search

DiamondDaveWV

12-22-05, 09:20 AM

Do any of you guys have strong feelings regarding the Channel Master 4228 vs. a DB4? I think I only need a medium range antenna since I live in Nitro. The price difference is negligible, though the DB4 is slightly smaller (not that it really matters). Given my location, I'm also wondering if I'll need a preamp, though I can always pick one up at Lowes to experiment.

Oh, and how difficult are antennas to assemble and set up? I'm hoping that I'll be able to just switch it out with the one that DirecTV "gave" me, but that's probably too optimistic.

The 4228 is an "8-bay" antenna, so its really the same size as a DB-8. I think an 8-bay antenna like the 4228 is probably overkill for Nitro, unless you live in the shadow of a significant hill. Plus the 4228 is made from galvanized steel and weighs a lot more than other brands made from aluminum, which could pose additional challenges in mounting it.

My DB-4 was shipped already assembled.

tonybradley

12-22-05, 02:09 PM

Sjividen, check this one out for 25 bucks, looks real easy to assemble. Only place that I can find it in stock is Spencer, to far for me. Tony, how good of signal can you get on 3.1, mine is in and out at 63% and best is around 70, I get 8.1 and 11.1 with ease here in Goldtown, signals in the lower 90's if I tweek with the rotor. http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103088&cp=&kw=antenna&kwCatId=2032057&parentPage=search

I don't live too far from Goldtown. When my wife and I got married, we moved into a garage apartment in Goldtown. My best friend growing up lived down Dog Fork Road. I love my Receiver, but unfortunately, it doesn't give me signal strength in percentages. I have a bar that says Poor, Normal (in the middle) and Good. My antenna is temporarily sitting on my deck. I can turn it so that I get probably around 90 - 95% on 11.1, about 90% on 8-1 and NOTHING for WSAZ. If I turn it to get WSAZ, I can get it around 80%, but my 8-1 and 11-1 drops down to around 70% as well. If I compromise and turn it in the middle of those two spots, I get around 70% on WSAZ and around 85% on the other two. Now, last night, not sure why, but my WSAZ signal dropped just below 50%. Once I mount the antenna up on the house, I'll have another 12-20 ft more in height and should get even better signals. However, i'm going to attempt to place it in the attic first (if it will fit) and see what happens.

andy4theherd

12-25-05, 11:03 PM

any of you guys used this? (for those who don't know) it's a digital audio source connector. you can hook 4 optical or coax components to it and output to your a/v receiver. it will automatically select the active component and send the signal to your receiver. i'm currently using a 3 input switch that must be manually turned to the desired component.

i'm weighing the options of buying this to expand my older sony reciever (only 1 optical in and 1 coax), or just buying a new receiver. the best price i have found for the unit is $131 (includes shipping).

p.s. i got the sony av3100 commander remote for xmas! it kicks serious ass! i replaced 4 remotes in a matter of about 10 minutes. the "system" control feature is awesome! i can now at the press of 1 button; turn on my tv, my amp, by dvr, set my tv to the correct input, set my amp to the correct input, and have my wife bring me a beer (well, almost).

ramy

12-25-05, 11:44 PM

I would go with this: http://www.national-tech.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?body=Search&text=component+switch

I have one and it works great.

andy4theherd

12-26-05, 10:33 AM

I would go with this: http://www.national-tech.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?body=Search&text=component+switch

I have one and it works great.

which one do you have? the bottom one appears to only have optical in's (no coax). i can't really tell from the pix if the top one takes optical and coax.

herdfan

12-26-05, 10:45 AM

I have not had any experience with that particular AA product. But I am using their Component Distribution Amp and am very pleased with it.

I am using this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=details&kw=SIVS502&is=REG&Q=&O=productlist&sku=392122

in my daughter's playroom to allow her to switch between D*, DVD, VCR & Gamecube. It will take all the inputs and output them in either Composite, S-Video or Component. It takes IR inputs and she uses my old Harmony remote to be able to select what she wants.

A little more expensive than the AA, but more functional and cheaper than an AVR.

ramy

12-26-05, 11:50 AM

which one do you have? the bottom one appears to only have optical in's (no coax). i can't really tell from the pix if the top one takes optical and coax.

I have the bottom one. It doesn't have coax, sorry I missed that in the previous post.

tonybradley

12-27-05, 12:06 PM

I'm assuming WCHS HD (ABC) was on for everyone last night? I didn't have a signal all weekend. Fox and NBC was ok, but my signal for ABC dropped to nothing.

herdfan

12-27-05, 01:16 PM

Actually I was down at Chili Willi's in Huntington giving the bartender !@#$ becasue they have all these nice HD Plasma screens and are not feeding them any HD meals. :D

sjividen

12-27-05, 05:32 PM

I appreciate all the help and advice so far, but I'm still running into some problems. My DB4 arrived today and I assumed it would be as simple as: Step 1 - Unplug Winegard piece of crap that DirecTV gave me...Step 2 - Plug in DB4. However, that's not exactly what happened.

Because I had the dual-tuner TiVo, I already had two lines running into the house. The installer decided to use a combiner for the off-air antenna so he wouldn't have to run a separate line. Well, when I plug in the DB4 using the same cable that the Winegard was running on, all kinds of crazy stuff is happening.

I lost the HD channels and one of the tuners. And it was having problems picking up the regular DirecTV channels...ESPN was pixellated if it came in at all. So I went and checked out the combiner. It's labelled: "Winegard Powered Off-air/Sat Combiner, Model DS-8000, Do not connect to passive off-air antenna". When I plug the Winegard back in, everything goes back to normal.

So do I need a different sort of combiner? And what exactly is a passive off-air antenna?

Oh, and I think I'll have to buy a preamp because I still couldn't pick up 3-1 consistently even with the DB4.

tonybradley

12-27-05, 07:24 PM

herdfan

12-27-05, 07:29 PM

You need either one or two regular diplexers. You can get them at BB or CC.

Are you running a powered multiswitch? If so, the MS can power your pre-amp from the antenna port. If not, then you will need to power the amp before you diplex on the signal. You will also need to get a DC block from Radio shack to put between the diplexer and the HR10-250 as it does not like voltage on the OTA feed.

Is there any possible way for you to run a dedicated OTA line from the antenna to the HR10-250? You may need one in the future as the AT9 dish can't be diplexed.

herdfan

12-27-05, 07:31 PM

I would assume your Winegard antenna is an "Active" antenna, meaning powered?
Yes they have a built-in amp in the housing. They get the power from either the STB or a powered multiswitch.

sjividen

12-27-05, 08:15 PM

Again, thanks for the advice all. I'm such a noob...

Tony: Not sure about the Winegard, but the combiner is powered. Can anybody tell me if the DB4 is passive or not?

Herdfan: Again, I'm still learning, but I don't think I have a multiswitch. I'm not really capable of running a dedicated line for the OTA; I should've made the installer do it instead of going with the combiner. Thanks for the tips about the diplexer and DC block.

herdfan

12-27-05, 08:37 PM

Can anybody tell me if the DB4 is passive or not?
Out of the box it is passive. When you add the pre-amp it will essentially become active.

How far a run is it from the antenna to the TV? Any wall fishes?

sjividen

12-27-05, 09:25 PM

Out of the box it is passive. When you add the pre-amp it will essentially become active.

How far a run is it from the antenna to the TV? Any wall fishes?

It's not really a wall fish. The original installer just ran the line along the outside of my townhouse and then into the wall of the living room. If I had to guess, it's probably at least 50 feet.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but is this what the final setup should approximate?:
DB4--> preamp --> diplexer --> DC block --> HD TiVo

And why exactly is it that DirecTV was adversely affected when all I did was switch out the Winegard for the DB4? I still got 8-1 and 11-1 perfectly with the DB4, but the DirecTV channels were essentially gone. The DirecTV sigal is still going into the combiner just the same...does the fact that the Winegard is powered and the DB4 isn't have something to do with this?

herdfan

12-27-05, 10:34 PM

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but is this what the final setup should approximate?:
DB4--> preamp --> diplexer --> DC block --> HD TiVo

And why exactly is it that DirecTV was adversely affected when all I did was switch out the Winegard for the DB4? .... but the DirecTV channels were essentially gone.
More like this:

DB4--> preamp --> diplexer --> cable run --> diplexer --> DC block --> HD TiVo Bold Added

Keep in mind the pre-amp needs power so if you are going to run power up to it near the dish, you might as well run a separate OTA line. I have plenty of cable and connectors that you can have. It is really not that hard.

My guess, and its only a guess, is that the Winegard combiner is a dual power pass unit, so it passes the 13 or 18 volts from the receiver to both the LNB for switching and to the antenna to power the amp. So the HD TiVo was sending voltage to a non-powered antenna and you were getting some voltage issues on that line.

skeeno

12-27-05, 10:45 PM

First, nice to see that there is a place with some good discussion on local HDTV, I thought I was the only one p- offed about our market. After reading the good posts, thought I would join and give my two cents worth. (sorry it gets a little long, but it's a year or two worth of frustration)

Yes, you guessed it, WOWK. In North Putnam I have been getting the major three networks in our market since they have been playing with the signals, often emailing with the engineering departments and discussing their signal. They were all eager to answer emails, discuss their digital progression, and were happy to get the consumer feedback.

And then there is WOWK. Ever since last January's story in the Char. Gazette about Fox going HD for the superbowl, I was amazed at the attitude of the WOWK folks who basically said we're not going to do it and HD still has way to many issues. Humbug! And from reviewing the prior threads, I see that I was correct in assuming the guy at WOWK is a pompous ___. Ever since January 05, I have sent various emails to WOWK, usually after CBS aired a nice HD program I wanted to watch, only to be reminded with that crappy sd signal that isn't worth watching from 100 ft away. Most emails went undeliverable or I just never got a response, however I did receive an answer to one email from someone in the engineering department. I disguised the question about their analog signal strength and sure enough I got a response. After a few emails back and forth, I threw a question in about DT. Got a response, and then I went for the jugular, HDTV. The guy never responded, even after repeated "replys" on my part.

Now my thought. I had not allowed myself to get worked up over the issue of WOWK until today. There was an article in the Daily Mail about WSAZ going to mulitcast another station of programming on some of their digital spectrum. I thought, boy they got good press from the print media, and CHI 3 is being proactive in digital (like they were at first). Good for them. So, obviously they like the good press, I wonder how WOWK would like some negative press?

I think it would make a great follow up article for that reporter (or any) to write about digital tv and our market, where it is going, the consumers that have spent big bucks on hdtv systems, what the future holds, and most importantly, that 3 of the 4 major affiliates are delivering what customers want, but for some reason, 1 station refuses to provide what customers want. An article could discuss the ground-swell of discontent (like you and me) amoung tv watchers and how it's starting to cause viewers to stop watching WOWK programming. (after all, how much CSI can one person take)

I'm sure the devil would refuse that interview, because a knowledgeable reporter could poke holes in any excuse he would offer about not providing HDTV.

Anyway, thought I would throw that out there for someone who is ambitious and has the time for a grass roots media campaign, or at least willing to call the reporter from the daily mail. It's not for me, I was barley ambitious enough to write this post.

Again, sorry for the length.

sjividen

12-27-05, 10:49 PM

My guess, and its only a guess, is that the Winegard combiner is a dual power pass unit, so it passes the 13 or 18 volts from the receiver to both the LNB for switching and to the antenna to power the amp. So the HD TiVo was sending voltage to a non-powered antenna and you were getting some voltage issues on that line.

You know an awful lot for a Marshall fan :)

Seriously, thanks again for the assistance. Your last couple of sentences were beyond my current knowledge, almost all of which was gained from this very useful thread. All I know is that the Winegard (pictured here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6727788&&#post6727788)) has only one connection and it's the coax that runs to the combiner.

Since these efforts are essentially just to get 3-1, I'm starting to reconsider the investment. I'll probably pick up a preamp and the diplexers tomorrow at Rat Shack just to see if I can actually get everything working together and also pick up 3-1. If not, then it's an easy decision.

clueless

12-28-05, 08:14 AM

Basically they are adding "3.2" showing "family programming".

http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/Other+News/2005122719?pt=20

DiamondDaveWV

12-28-05, 10:14 AM

It's labelled: "Winegard Powered Off-air/Sat Combiner, Model DS-8000, Do not connect to passive off-air antenna". When I plug the Winegard back in, everything goes back to normal.

So do I need a different sort of combiner? And what exactly is a passive off-air antenna?

Oh, and I think I'll have to buy a preamp because I still couldn't pick up 3-1 consistently even with the DB4.

Sorry things have gotten so complicated. Herdfan knows way more about this than I do. The DB-4 is definitely a passive OTA. So my question would be whether adding an antenna mounted pre-amp (and indoor power supply) to the DB-4 would make then make it "compatible" with the existing Winegard combiner. My guess is probably not.

Sine DirecTV agreed to install an OTA for local HD, and it didn't get all the stations it should have, you might try calling them to see if they will set up the DB-4 for you for free. That's what they did for me -- but maybe i just caught someone in the Retention Dept. on a good day.

.

herdfan

12-28-05, 10:15 AM

Your last couple of sentences were beyond my current knowledge,
Satellite signals come down in either Right (Odd) or Left (Even) polarity. I don't understand that, but accept that is how it is. The LNB (Low Noise Block) is the "antenna" for the satellite signals that receives the bounced signals from the dish. Every channel on a satellite system is broadcast on an Odd or Even polarity and the receiver knows which channels are on what. The receiver tells the transponder which polarity it needs by sending an 18V (Odd) or 13V (Even) signal from the receiver to the LNB. The LNB then switches to the correct polarity for the requested channel.

So when you tune to a channel, say ESPN which is on SAT A at Transponder 10, the receiver sends a 13V signal to the LNB to set the LNB to the correct polarity. Now lets say you want to tune to Channel 3 which is on SAT B. To access channels on SAT B, in addition to the voltage, the receiver can also send a 22Khz tone. So to get Channel 3, which is on SAT B, Transponder 29) the receiver sends an 18V signal and the 22Khz tone. The multiswitch built into the Phase III dish (what you have) sets the SAT to B and polarity to Right.

How all this relates to you: The amp in the Winegard is powered from these 13V and 18V signals from the receiver. When you removed the amplifier and sent DC voltage to the DB4, there was no amp to accept it. It is possible that reflection of this voltage confused the multiswitch in the dish and caused your issue since the amplifier was not there to accept the voltage. Still sort of a SWAG.

Clear as mud now, right. :)

herdfan

12-28-05, 10:18 AM

for someone who is ambitious and has the time for a grass roots media campaign

Welcome to the forum.

I don't know if a media campaign will do it. I think it is going to take all of us, and then some, putting pressure on WOWK's advertisers to make a difference. Hit them where it hurts. Remember, the Superbowl should be back on CBS next year (2007), so we have a year.

herdfan

12-28-05, 10:21 AM

So my question would be whether adding an antenna mounted pre-amp (and indoor power supply) to the DB-4 would make then make it "compatible" .
No. If you use an indoor power supply on a diplexed signal you are adding voltage to the sat runs as well. This will play havoc on your multiswitch.

sjividen

12-28-05, 11:28 AM

Thank goodness for credit cards, liberal return policies, and the week off of work. To recap, my issues were (1) picking up 3-1 consistently and (2) if I was able to pick up 3-1 with the DB4, avoiding interference with the DirecTV signal.

I bought a Channel Master Spartan 3 amp from Lowes this morning and hooked it up with the DB4 and all existing equipment, including the Winegard combiner. As of right now, everything is working. The 3-1 signal is hovering around the high 60s and occasionally pixellates, but it is coming in along with the DirecTV signal. So right now I seem to be operational with:
DB4 --> CM Spartan 3 amp --> Winegard combiner --> cable run --> diplexer --> HD TiVo

I would like to boost the 3-1 signal as it's a bit fritzy. Would the CM 7777 preamp make a significant difference over the Spartan? The UHF gain is higher on the 7777, not that I know what that means. :)

herdfan

12-28-05, 12:12 PM

Would the CM 7777 preamp make a significant difference over the Spartan? The UHF gain is higher on the 7777,
Possibly, but if you over-amp you could run into problems with 11-1 which should be the strongest station because it is the closest and the low in the UHF band. Lower UHF frequencies are stronger that higher UHF frequencies at the same power. The HR10-250 has problems with overly strong signals.

OTOH, it can't hurt to try. If you really want to get crazy, remove one of the screens from the DB4. That is what it took me to get a signal from all stations on my 4228. You can always put it back on.

tonybradley

12-28-05, 12:42 PM

Satellite signals come down in either Right (Odd) or Left (Even) polarity. I don't understand that, but accept that is how it is. The LNB (Low Noise Block) is the "antenna" for the satellite signals that receives the bounced signals from the dish. Every channel on a satellite system is broadcast on an Odd or Even polarity and the receiver knows which channels are on what. The receiver tells the transponder which polarity it needs by sending an 18V (Odd) or 13V (Even) signal from the receiver to the LNB. The LNB then switches to the correct polarity for the requested channel.

So when you tune to a channel, say ESPN which is on SAT A at Transponder 10, the receiver sends a 13V signal to the LNB to set the LNB to the correct polarity. Now lets say you want to tune to Channel 3 which is on SAT B. To access channels on SAT B, in addition to the voltage, the receiver can also send a 22Khz tone. So to get Channel 3, which is on SAT B, Transponder 29) the receiver sends an 18V signal and the 22Khz tone. The multiswitch built into the Phase III dish (what you have) sets the SAT to B and polarity to Right.

How all this relates to you: The amp in the Winegard is powered from these 13V and 18V signals from the receiver. When you removed the amplifier and sent DC voltage to the DB4, there was no amp to accept it. It is possible that reflection of this voltage confused the multiswitch in the dish and caused your issue since the amplifier was not there to accept the voltage. Still sort of a SWAG.

Clear as mud now, right. :)

Nice description. For those of you that have ever been interested, this is why you cannot sent the cable from your Dish to a Splitter and run multiple TVs. Each channel sends the voltage and the frequency that has been alotted. If two tuners were sharing the same cable run, then you would have interference with not only even/odd polarity, but the Frequency alloted for the channel. The Multi Switch is able to separate these frequencies and switch them to the appropriate cable run going to a specific receiver that requested the channel.

tonybradley

12-28-05, 12:43 PM

Was anyone having problems with 8-1 this weekend? WVAH came in as strong as usual, and I was getting 3-1. However, for most of the weekend, I didn't have a signal. For MNF, I had nothing.

DiamondDaveWV

12-28-05, 01:21 PM

The 3-1 signal is hovering around the high 60s and occasionally pixellates, but it is coming in along with the DirecTV signal.

I would like to boost the 3-1 signal as it's a bit fritzy. Would the CM 7777 preamp make a significant difference over the Spartan? The UHF gain is higher on the 7777, not that I know what that means. :)

If can raise the signal strength for 3-1 up into the mid-70s, it should pretty much stabilize the picture. So it's worth trying the CM 7777, although I don't know where you can get one that will let you return it if it doesn't work. Lowes doesn't carry a 7777, do they?

DiamondDaveWV

12-28-05, 01:28 PM

Was anyone having problems with 8-1 this weekend? WVAH came in as strong as usual, and I was getting 3-1. However, for most of the weekend, I didn't have a signal. For MNF, I had nothing.

I watched portions (maybe 1 hour, total) of the two NBA games in HD on 8-1 on Christmas Day. I didn't notice anything unusual with the signal. Did not watch MNF.

tonybradley

12-28-05, 02:00 PM

Maybe my receiver was having problems locking onto it. Very odd that it had been receiving a fairly stong signal and then all of the sudden...nothing.

sjividen

12-28-05, 03:02 PM

If can raise the signal strength for 3-1 up into the mid-70s, it should pretty much stabilize the picture. So it's worth trying the CM 7777, although I don't know where you can get one that will let you return it if it doesn't work. Lowes doesn't carry a 7777, do they?

I was actually mistaken. It was 13-1 that was steady in the 60s and stabilized (whoopee!). 3-1, when it's steady, is also in the 60s but fluctuates quite a bit and is unwatchable right now. I'll check with an actual HD show later tonight. Aren't the 3-1 and 13-1 signals coming from the same general area?

And, no, Lowes doesn't carry the 7777. Before I go through with a purchase, I'm going to try and move the antenna. Right now it's fastened to the mast that DirecTV put on. But the mast is bent at an angle, so I can't turn the antenna in the exact direction it should be facing, although it is pretty close. I'm gonna figure out the best way to place the antenna higher...probably just with a straight mast.

DiamondDaveWV

12-28-05, 04:06 PM

I was actually mistaken. It was 13-1 that was steady in the 60s and stabilized (whoopee!). 3-1, when it's steady, is also in the 60s but fluctuates quite a bit and is unwatchable right now. I'll check with an actual HD show later tonight. Aren't the 3-1 and 13-1 signals coming from the same general area?

And, no, Lowes doesn't carry the 7777. Before I go through with a purchase, I'm going to try and move the antenna. Right now it's fastened to the mast that DirecTV put on. But the mast is bent at an angle, so I can't turn the antenna in the exact direction it should be facing, although it is pretty close. I'm gonna figure out the best way to place the antenna higher...probably just with a straight mast.

Somewhere back in this thread there are links to maps the broadcast towers. I think, relative to Nitro, they are roughly in the same direction. Try tweaking the antenna direction, I get 3.1 and 13.1 at 80-90% in Charleston with the DB-4 and only a distribution amp. But how much of that signal strength is due to my location on the West Side Hill, I don't know.

sjividen

12-28-05, 07:52 PM

Somewhere back in this thread there are links to maps the broadcast towers. I think, relative to Nitro, they are roughly in the same direction. Try tweaking the antenna direction, I get 3.1 and 13.1 at 80-90% in Charleston with the DB-4 and only a distribution amp. But how much of that signal strength is due to my location on the West Side Hill, I don't know.

According to Antennaweb.org, 3-1 and 13-1 are both at 298 degrees relative to me and the 3-1 is only half a mile further away.

Is 3-1 coming in OK for everybody else? It's storming right now here and I'm getting a reading of ZERO with no activity at all. Meanwhile, 13-1 is still steady in the 60s.

skeeno

12-29-05, 06:47 AM

Welcome to the forum.

I don't know if a media campaign will do it. I think it is going to take all of us, and then some, putting pressure on WOWK's advertisers to make a difference. Hit them where it hurts. Remember, the Superbowl should be back on CBS next year (2007), so we have a year.

I agree, it will take a combined effort. My only thought with "media" was that there is no quicker way to hit that many people at one time with the message of WOWK stinks. In effect, I think that would lead faster to advertising dollar loss since current and future advertisers also read the media, and may give some extra thought on where they spend their ad dollar if "people" are upset with WOWK.

sjividen

12-29-05, 10:19 AM

Well I am again at a loss about what to do now in my futile attempts to get one stinking channel.

My signal for 3-1 is back to what it was before I put the amp on...even though the amp is still connected. It was working alright until it stormed yesterday and now it's apparently toast. I think I'll take Dave's advice and hassle DirecTV to come back out and install it correctly (dedicated OTA line). Either that or call a professional to come out and do it right. Any recommendations?

Sorry for posting with every single little problem, but I figure some of the info may come in handy for newbies like myself who run into similar problems.

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

Update: I've spent most of the morning trying every permutation I could think of to see what's interacting with what, in terms of the equipment. I unplugged the power supply to the preamp, but left the amp itself connected and that actually improved 13-1, which I've been using as a baseline since it's coming from the same general direction as 3-1.

It seems that the diplexer that splits the signal before it goes back into the HR10-250 is power passing. When I hooked up a regular diplexer, 13-1 drops way down, but is steady in the 60s with the power passing diplexer. 3-1 does the same thing, but not as dramatically.

So I left the power passing diplexer and jury-rigged the mast so that I could reposition the antenna in the right direction and a little higher. As of right now, I'm getting 3-1 steady in the 60s with no pixellation. However, 8-1 and 11-1 have both dropped to the 70s, whereas they were both in the 90s before. But everything is working for the time, and that's all I want. Fingers crossed...

DiamondDaveWV

12-29-05, 01:42 PM

Update: I've spent most of the morning trying every permutation I could think of to see what's interacting with what, in terms of the equipment. I unplugged the power supply to the preamp, but left the amp itself connected and that actually improved 13-1, which I've been using as a baseline since it's coming from the same general direction as 3-1.

It seems that the diplexer that splits the signal before it goes back into the HR10-250 is power passing. When I hooked up a regular diplexer, 13-1 drops way down, but is steady in the 60s with the power passing diplexer. 3-1 does the same thing, but not as dramatically.

So I left the power passing diplexer and jury-rigged the mast so that I could reposition the antenna in the right direction and a little higher. As of right now, I'm getting 3-1 steady in the 60s with no pixellation. However, 8-1 and 11-1 have both dropped to the 70s, whereas they were both in the 90s before. But everything is working for the time, and that's all I want. Fingers crossed...

I may be wrong, but I don't think there is any increased picture quality that comes with a digital signal in the 90s versus the 70s -- so maybe things will work out.

Just a thought, but you might want to run by what you are doing with someone at antennasdirect.com. If they have a technical support person, he/she might have some useful input on your problems.

tonybradley

12-29-05, 03:44 PM

I may be wrong, but I don't think there is any increased picture quality that comes with a digital signal in the 90s versus the 70s -- so maybe things will work out.

Just a thought, but you might want to run by what you are doing with someone at antennasdirect.com. If they have a technical support person, he/she might have some useful input on your problems.

Correct. Digital is either on or off (1 or a 0). If your receiver is able to distinguish the 1s from the 0s, you have a PERFECT picture. If it cannot distinguish, you have blips of no picture. Analog is a creature of noise. The signal is continuous and infinite, so moving the antenna will improve or hurt the picture. With Digital, it either is or isn't. The strength comes with discerning the 1s and 0s with respect to noise. If you have a signal in the 90s, then during the summer storms and leaves on all the trees, you are better equipped to keep your picture. A weaker signal, such as 60s may work in the winter, but not so optimal in the summer if you have trees in your path that will grow leaves, etc.

One thing that I don't understand (and Dallas may know) is how an Amp works with Digital Signals. An Amp increases the Amplitue of a Sinusoidal wave. By doing so, you are also increasing the Noise by the same factor, which could be bad. For Digital (1s and 0s), you are not looking at a Sinusoidal wave, but a square wave. No infinite numbers, just ones and zeros. You can't AMP this. A device called a Repeater is used for Digital. You add a repeater at a point where you can still discern the 1s and 0s and it will REPEAT the exact signal on the other end. It's not increasing the amplitude and noise, just repeating the original signal which eliminates any noise that was introduced.

So, does that mean that Digital Broadasts are really Digital information coded into Analog Sinusoidal waveforms? Is that how the Amplifiers work with Digital broadcasts? It's increasing the amplitude of the Analog Sinusoidal waveform that houses the Digital content, OR does the Amplifier somehow work as a Repeater too, which doesn't make sense to me?

Dallas?

sjividen

12-29-05, 06:12 PM

I have so many questions about so many things I wouldn't know where to start if I were to contact customer support :)

One thing I'm curious about is how the preamp is still having an effect even though it's not running through the power supply. It's also solved the previous problem of the screwy DirecTV signal that occurred when I connected the DB4 to the powered combiner.

andy4theherd

12-29-05, 07:55 PM

not to change the subject...

i got a call last week from a rep with hbo/cinemax with a deal for both channels for $7.95/month for 6 months. did any of you guys get this call? i really need the number to call and get this. i called armstrong and they said that it is an hbo promo and i have to sign up for it with hbo.

herdfan

12-29-05, 08:03 PM

One thing I'm curious about is how the preamp is still having an effect even though it's not running through the power supply.
Its getting power from the receiver. There were issues with some of the Voom receivers that when the receiver was set on a 13V transponder, there was not enough power to run the amp.

That could maybe explain why you had 3-1 and then you didn't.

sjividen

12-30-05, 09:20 AM

Its getting power from the receiver. There were issues with some of the Voom receivers that when the receiver was set on a 13V transponder, there was not enough power to run the amp.

That could maybe explain why you had 3-1 and then you didn't.

Given that I'm apparently OK with an amp that doesn't need a power supply, are there any recommended models that I could buy locally just in case something goes awry? I see that SolidSignal sells the same Spartan 3 I got a Lowes, but sans power supply, for only $36.

ukycats

12-31-05, 05:23 PM

test

ukycats

12-31-05, 05:32 PM

Hi

Sorry about the previous post with picture with nothing added. I had submitted a previous post, but can't find out what happened to it. The picture is of the antenna that I currently have mounted, but I have no idea what type it is?

Anyway, I found this site yesterday and am quite impressed!

I have recently gotten involved in HDTV and am still learning.

Currently I have the new D* HD PVR (hooked up Wednesday). I've been playing around with the OTA channels and trying to determine signal strength, etc. I've also visited the antenna web site and will try to cut and paste:

* yellow - uhf WKAS-DT 25.1 PBS ASHLAND KY 71° 1.2 26 90+
* lt green - uhf WPBO-DT 34.1 PBS PORTSMOUTH OH 319° 31.1 43 20+
* blue - uhf WSAZ-DT 3.1 NBC HUNTINGTON WV 86° 23.1 23 70+
* violet - uhf WHCP-DT 17.1 WB PORTSMOUTH OH 319° 31.1 17 00
* violet - uhf WVAH-DT 11.1 FOX CHARLESTON WV 101° 40.0 19 85+
* violet - uhf WPBY-DT 33.1 PBS HUNTINGTON WV 89° 23.9 34 80+

For some reason it does not list WCHS-DT or WOWK-DT, but the signal strengths I get from them are 15+ and 80+ respectively.

It seems that most on here highly recommend the CM 7777 pre-amp. Do you think that this would help my situation out much? Specifically, I want to receive WCHS (no picture at all right now).

I also wouldn't mind getting involved in a campaign to put pressure on WOWK to start airing HDTV soon.

loyalwvu

01-02-06, 10:07 AM

Its about 10:00 am on Jan 2, 2006. I can get WCHS-DT, but can't get WVAH?? Is Fox off the air today. This is very strange since usually I can get Fox but not WCHS. Anyone else notice this?

herdfan

01-02-06, 10:43 AM

Getting them both fine here in Teays Valley.

ukycats

01-02-06, 10:57 AM

I'm receiving WVAH but not WCHS in Ashland, KY.

wvsteveo

01-02-06, 11:42 AM

Its about 10:00 am on Jan 2, 2006. I can get WCHS-DT, but can't get WVAH?? Is Fox off the air today. This is very strange since usually I can get Fox but not WCHS. Anyone else notice this?

As of 11:30 at my Charleston South Hills location I am receiving 3, 8, 11, PAX (4) and PBS (3) OK . I hope it stays that way for the game tonight!

loyalwvu

01-02-06, 04:25 PM

I'm in South Hills too, and might have to bring a beer and come over and watch. Go Mountaineers. :)

tonybradley

01-02-06, 07:26 PM

I'm frustrated. I'm getting WVAH in the 90s, WSAZ in the 80s and anywhere from 0 to 20 for WCHS. At first, I was getting WCHS in the high 80s, now nothing. Does that sound like maybe my receiver just isn't locking in on the signal anymore? The antenna hasn't moved direction.

ukycats

01-02-06, 07:58 PM

tonybradley

01-03-06, 08:01 AM

Sorry to hear about your luck, Tony.

But, are you certain that your antenna hasn't changed?

The reason that I ask is because I actually went up on my roof earlier this afternoon and readjusted and am now getting WSAZ, WCHS, and WVAH with very strong signals. I'm so pumped and the bowl games have looked great!

Good luck

Bruce

I even went back out and moved it back around to where I (at first) had the strongest signals for WCHS and WVAH, but didn't get WSAZ. I turned it to where I was getting WVAH in the strong 90s. My signal meter doesn't show percents, just a bar, but based on that, it would have been around a 96% or so. WCHS was showing around 20% at best, then went to 0% no matter where I turned the antenna. I understand WCHS is at a higher frequency and it won't be pulled in as well as WVAH, but by pointing the antenna to where I get the Strongest signal for WVAH (~ 96%), I'm getting nothing now for WCHS. It was in the high 80s for the first week, but since then, I haven't got a thing.

Luckily, I have ABC HD on D*. More compressed, but still better than SD.

herdfan

01-03-06, 08:11 AM

Luckily, I have ABC HD on D*. More compressed, but still better than SD.
Absolutely more compressed. As I mentioned before, you don't really notice it on Network Primetime, but I sure could tell the difference during yesterday's games.

A 2006 resolution: Badger the !@#$ out of BC and WOWK to give us HD. :)

ukycats

01-03-06, 08:30 AM

A 2006 resolution: Badger the !@#$ out of BC and WOWK to give us HD. :)

A few days before finding this forum I had gone to the WOWK website and sent an email to "Satan"? asking when WOWK would start sending a HD signal. His reply was "hopefully within 6 months".

I read in an earlier page where some were talking about contacting CBS nationally to put pressure on WOWK to start broadcasting in HDTV; has anything come of this?

tonybradley

01-03-06, 11:29 AM

Absolutely more compressed. As I mentioned before, you don't really notice it on Network Primetime, but I sure could tell the difference during yesterday's games.

A 2006 resolution: Badger the !@#$ out of BC and WOWK to give us HD. :)

Dallas, do you have any clue how I could have been getting such a strong signal for WCHS, and then all the sudden, nothing? The strange thing is, I get a very high signal strength for WVAH, which is on the same tower. Even though the frequency of WCHS is higher, and harder to pull in, that doesn't explain why the signal strength is now so low that I get no picture when I had a signal in the 80s before. I still have my antenna in a temp location...it's just sitting on my deck.

ukycats

01-04-06, 08:46 AM

tonybradley

01-04-06, 11:48 AM

Please forgive me for posting this subject on this forum, but my thoughts and prayers are with the families and community of the coal miners. I was watching and celebrating with them last night (on TV) and to hear this morning that it was a miscommunication.

I've very thankful for the one miner who was found alive, but I feel so badly for those families that waited and then went from jubilation to shock and sorrow.

I feel extremely bad for the families that have been affected. I'm not even going to pretend that I understand their pain when thinking for 3 hours that their loved ones were alive, just to have that feeling shattered. On the other side though, those responsible for the Rescue worked non stop and came from other parts of the country to help. My hat is off to those folks and I feel equally as bad for them that their efforts are now being masked by someone that misinterpreted information. The media is now going to run with this and make that the top story. Although it's sickening, it's wonderful that one of the miners made it out alive. If anyone on this thread was affected by this, my prayers are with you.

supadupadave

01-04-06, 05:04 PM

I am new to this thread, and live in the Charleston Area. Does anyone have any recent infromation about Charter finally offering anything new?

footbalfreak

01-04-06, 07:02 PM

tonybradley

01-04-06, 07:06 PM

I talked to the owner of a local TV store in Huntington yesterday. I was looking for a rotor/ turner for my antenna. I asked him if he had any idea when WOWK would broadcast HD and he said they already do in 1080i. I explained that I know that they broadcast in Digital but not HD. He replied he watched CSI in HD a couple nights ago. I then replied that WOWK must not have it at full power. He explained he was only using a bow antenna and received a perfect picture. I dont know if he was full of it, just wanted to argue with me, or was on to something. If so I need to figure out why my attena wont pick up the signal. Anybody have any info on this? Is it true?

SUGAR BOWL CHAMPS!!!!! Loved it in HD!!!!

If this employee is like any other employee from any other store in this area that sells audio video, he doesn't have a clue.

However, I can tell you that TWO years ago, I talked to a local Charleston Engineer for WOWK that told me they were broadcasting in HD, just low power. Pretty bad when the Engineers (or maybe an Technician, not sure) for their company don't even know. Doesn't say a lot for them.

cocoon

01-04-06, 07:12 PM

I talked to the owner of a local TV store in Huntington yesterday. I was looking for a rotor/ turner for my antenna. I asked him if he had any idea when WOWK would broadcast HD and he said they already do in 1080i.

The owner of the TV store is either lying or is an idiot. WOWK-DT does broadcast in digital but absolutely no HD. I will defer to others on whether WOWK-DT is at full power. I don't personally care until they are broadcasting in HD.

herdfan

01-04-06, 08:01 PM

If it is the store I am thinking of, and I have talked to him about this, he has a STB that passes along the native signal. For some reason, his STB indicates WOWK as 1080i even though its not.

I wonder if they are adding the 1080i marker to the PSIP data?

traganoo

01-04-06, 08:11 PM

wheres the hd for the rose bowl!!?!

traganoo

01-04-06, 08:18 PM

There it is.... :-)

wvudrj

01-04-06, 08:19 PM

I will bitch some more. I watched 4 hours of the OSU game Monday with no dropouts. Five minutes before the wvu game here the signal goes on/off/on/offon/off/on/offon/off/on/offon/off/on/off. I moved my antenna, have a 8 bay channelmaster a channelmaster amp, multiple adjustments all without help.

I just can't enjoy a program, much less listen to my wife bitch about the dropouts just to see 50% in HD. I am tired of being on my roof!.

Anyone want to buy my setup I am sure we could come to a reasonable agreement. I am just sick of all the hassle involved. I can't understand why they can't just put it on cable and get it over with!

One pissed off Jay!

larryg1957

01-04-06, 11:54 PM

I had the same problem until I bought a rotator. I could have a strong signal from Fox and or WCHS one day and then 0 the next. Funny thing is, the azimuth from my house to the Fox/WCHS tower is around 228 degrees but sometimes my best signal is if I'm pointing at almost 360. I'm aiming into a hill behind my house. Guess I'm getting a lot of reflection. I'm thinking about raising my antenna to about 10' above the roof to see if that helps.

Paul E. Fox, II

01-05-06, 12:03 AM

herdfan

01-05-06, 09:01 AM

Paul,

Has any progress be made towards the guide data issue for 11-1 on D*?

Thanks.

Games have looked great by the way. No signal issues at all here in TV.

GotaLUVyourHDTV

01-05-06, 09:50 AM

The owner of the TV store is either lying or is an idiot. WOWK-DT does broadcast in digital but absolutely no HD. I will defer to others on whether WOWK-DT is at full power. I don't personally care until they are broadcasting in HD.

I talked to WOWK engineering yesterday to get an idea when they would be broadcasting in HD. They told me they were in the process of trying to get the needed equipment and should have it in the next few months. He did say they might have some demo equipment from a vendor set up so they could broadcast the Steelers / Bengals playoff game this Sunday in HD. Sure hope he's right.

ukycats

01-05-06, 11:09 AM

Paul,

Has any progress be made towards the guide data issue for 11-1 on D*?

Thanks.

Games have looked great by the way. No signal issues at all here in TV.

Yes, that would be great if the guide were input. 24 will be airing soon (my favorite show). Is there anyway to setup up a season pass on 11-1 as it is now?

ukycats

01-05-06, 11:10 AM

He did say they might have some demo equipment from a vendor set up so they could broadcast the Steelers / Bengals playoff game this Sunday in HD. Sure hope he's right.

That certainly would be nice!!!

herdfan

01-05-06, 11:43 AM

Is there anyway to setup up a season pass on 11-1 as it is now?
You can do a repeating "Manual Record". It will work like a VCR and record the same time/channel every week. The only issue is if the slot moves the recording won't move with it. You will just have to check to make sure it hasn't changed time slots.

Plus you might want to get a Season Pass for SD 11 just in case the Manual Record misses one.

tonybradley

01-05-06, 01:07 PM

Tony,

One thing I noticed out here in the woods it that the stronger my WVAH-DT single was, the lower my WCHS-DT signal became. I finally settled on an area where my WCHS signal is in the high 80's/low 90's and my WVAH signal is about 5-8 points lower normally.

Occasionally, I find that they are both much higher but never equal.

I'm grasping at straws here but I wanted to give you something to try.

Jay,

Not sure what was going on with you for the WVU game...I watched about 20 minutes of it and it was pristine. It was like 9:15pm when I was watching and I tuned back in with about 2 minutes left before halftime and it was still golden.

As to the thing about the salesmen/engineers. I've found that they don't distinguish between DT and HD very well. That's understandable for Salesment...a little harder to understand for a Broadcast Engineer. Do you know who you talked to at WOWK? I still know a few of the "engineers" and I could at least help you sort the Freaks from the Geeks.

I just don't understand how for a week I had a strong signal for 8-1 and now Nothing!!! I've tried turning it in every direction for kicks and Nothing. I'm going to see if I can borrow someone elses receiver and try it out on theirs. Wouldn't hurt to try. If I can't get it on theirs, then I've at least ruled out one thing.

I forget who I talked to at WOWKTV. It's been a couple years back. Very nice guy. Actually offered to sell me an HD receiver that they had laying around. I'm thinking his name was Chris. Anyone you know?

wvsteveo

01-05-06, 01:49 PM

[QUOTE=wvudrj]I will bitch some more. I watched 4 hours of the OSU game Monday with no dropouts. Five minutes before the wvu game here the signal goes on/off/on/offon/off/on/offon/off/on/offon/off/on/off. I moved my antenna, have a 8 bay channelmaster a channelmaster amp, multiple adjustments all without help.

WVUDRJ:

My channel 8 signal did the same thing about midway thru the 2nd Quarter...I switched over to the Charter cable feed. I switched back at the begining of the 4th Quarter without any problem. I am located in South Hills on Smith Road with an attic mounted CM4228.

footbalfreak

01-05-06, 07:18 PM

I know my name is footbalfreak but I enjoy Mountaineer Basketball also. I checked my Directv guide last night and saw the WVU-USF game on FSN Pitt. I was over joyed. Sat down tonight with my beer and popcorn ready to watch the mounties when suddenly my screen went black and ther were the word " this programming not available in your area" MY AREA? Is some Herd Fan blocking my signal? What the #@!#@? In live in by God WV and it is a WVU game (my area). Considering CH 8 is not showing the game FSN Pitt should not black out. The Sports Pack with DTV is a joke unless you like Soccer or Poker. It is times like these that I understand why people loose their minds and their cool :-)

Also it will be a cold day in Hades if the Bengals/ Steelers playoff game is in HD. If it is you will probably have to live beside the station to pick it up.

tonybradley

01-05-06, 08:49 PM

DarrinH

01-06-06, 08:07 AM

I guess I can finally join the list of those that are now totally pissed at Brey Carey. On a hunch I went home after work yesterday and hooked up an older model of one of these

http://mars.walagata.com/w/wvpres/antennae.jpg

with a spliced together coaxial cable from my DISH 811 through my floor into my living room upstairs. I set the thing in the window and starting typing in the channel numbers into the 811 to see if I got a signal. I was not expecting anything since I live in Fairplain WV which is 8 miles south of Ripley on I77. I tried ABC first and to my surprise I got a signal strength of 67 out of 100. So I typed in the channels for NBC, FOX, and CBS and started rotating the antenna around. I was able to pick up FOX and NBC with strengths in the 70's and I received CBS with a signal of 49 but was unable to lock onto the signal. I guess this means it was going in and out too much for the 811 to accept it.

So now I can honestly say it is time to hang Carey up by his privates and verbally bash him in the media. If CBS would transmit at full power and pass on the network HD feed I could get it at my house!

So I suppose this means I can use a good antennae in my attic with a rotor. I am a bit limited for space in my attic so are there any good medium sized amplified antennae that you guys are using? What about terk? Tony mentioned someone here was using an amplified terk antennae in their attic?

herdfan

01-06-06, 08:40 AM

The Channel Master 4221 or the DB4 are smaller antennna's that will fit in most attics.

ukycats

01-06-06, 10:17 AM

I guess I can finally join the list of those that are now totally pissed at Brey Carey.
..........
So now I can honestly say it is time to hang Carey up by his privates and verbally bash him in the media. If CBS would transmit at full power and pass on the network HD feed I could get it at my house!

I called the CBS headquarters (New York, I believe) yesterday afternoon to let them know that their website had WOWK listed as a station in WV that currently broadcasts HD, but this was inaccurate. The lady that I talked to said that it "may be an error on our (their) website".

I told her that that were several people in our area that our dissatisfied that we cannot receive CBS in HD and that, though I enjoy much of there programming, "it was becoming more and more difficult to watch after watching HD programming on the other networks in our area". I told her that CBS was the only network that I could not receive in HD in my area.

She asked if I had contacted WOWK and I explained that I (and several other) have, but it seemed that the only responses were very vague, such as "hopefully in the next few months" and that seemed to be the same response they have been giving for over a year.

I then asked if she (and CBS) could do anything to help us out. She said that the person that I really needed to talk to was currently out of town, but she took my contact information, said that she would pass this along, and that I should hear back from someone by early next week. Maybe some pressure from "higher up" will help encourage WOWK to start broadcasting HD sooner?

p.s. Glad you got WCHS working, Tony.

DarrinH

01-06-06, 11:25 AM

Can anyone tell me what direction WHCP-DT channel 17 is (azimuth)?

I have received ABC WSYX 6-1 from Columbus but Columbus is almost 30 miles farther from my location than Charleston is. I have also received WTOV 9 from Stubenville and just about all of the channels from the Pittsburgh market but can not receive them like the Charleston Networks. I also have been talking with the chief engineer at WTRF 7 (CBS) in Wheeling to see when they are going to go high power, they are still at low power. The same company owns WTRF that owns WOWK, so it's going to be a while. And then they probiably won't brodcast HD...

What is with this mother &*#$#( !
So now he controls the HD from Wheeling as well!
Something has got to be done.
ukycats, be sure to post who this contact is so I can contact them as well.
Carey knows about the ole home theater group so maybe I can use that with this contact to gain some leverage. It may be time to resurrect the old group if this would work!

herdfan

01-06-06, 11:39 AM

They used to be in Portsmouth, OH. I don't know if they moved their transmitting location to Charleston with the news operations or not.

So a guess from Fairplain would be in the 250-270 range.

And don't forget Beckley as well. :(

DarrinH

01-06-06, 11:43 AM

Beckley, what do you mean, they transmit from Beckley too?

herdfan

01-06-06, 11:50 AM

WV Media Holdings has 4 stations in WV. I forgot about Clarksburg.

http://www.wvmh.com/

Don't expect to see HD from any of them anytime soon. :(

DarrinH

01-06-06, 11:55 AM

tonybradley

01-06-06, 01:01 PM

Ok here is something I am considering...
making up a flyer to propose to the manager of circuit city to give out to those interested in HD sets.
It would have all of the basic info about HD in our area as well as the requirements to get the free signals over the air. We will also sneak in contact information for the local stations. Perhaps this will create a wave of e-mails and phone calls to WOWK.

I let you know what I find out.

Darrin, we could probably get Joel to help out on this. He's quite good with the graphics programs on the PC, so we could make these flyers look somewhat professional. I get tired of those people that get duped into buying an HD and think they are watching HD when they get home. Most the people I know (outside this forum) are that way.

I think I just figured it out. Bray Carey is just misinformed. He probably thinks he is broadcasting in HD.........Half Duplex. Ok, you techies or engineers will get that.

ukycats

01-06-06, 01:15 PM

footbalfreak

01-06-06, 07:30 PM

Paul E. Fox, II

01-06-06, 08:31 PM

Darrin, we could probably get Joel to help out on this. He's quite good with the graphics programs on the PC, so we could make these flyers look somewhat professional.

You guys do know that you KNOW someone that controls not one but FOUR professional graphic designers...right? Get me the information you want and I'll get it made for you!

As for engineers at WOWK, you should be trying to get Warren Kunkle on the line if at all possible. Unless something has changed in the past few months, he is basically the Number One Geek (read...Chief Engineer/Director of Engineering) at WOWK. Now in all honesty, I guess he could have moved on but we just hired away one of their Creative Services Producers and he told me that Warren was still the man.

Guide data...here's the deal. No one knows and it's quite honestly a series of endless loops. For us to put up guide data similar to the stuff that the satellite companies do, I'm told that we would physically have to cut and paste it into the appropriate device locally. This would be a full time job and Sinclair is NOT going to pay for someone to do just that.

Also, calling the networks isn't really going to help. They do care that viewers are pissed but there are a few mitigating circumstances that complicate the issue:

1) None of the stations in WV are O&Os (owned and operated by the Networks themselves). The networks have very little pull locally as long as the signal is available.

2) The only way the networks can really *muscle* the station is if their Affiliate Agreement is up for negotiation. They could, and I want to stress *COULD* refuse to renew with said station unless they do what they want. This would take the MAJORITY of views threatening to NOT WATCH THE NETWORK in a particular area unless it was HD. That's not going to happen here...there aren't enough of us yet. This would also be unlikely as there is money to be made AND the local station in question could just say they didn't have the capital to do it yet

3) In a similar fastion to Number 2, viewers could go straight to local advertisers and tell they they REFUSE to watch anything on a particular station unless they change their policy. Again, this is unlikely because the only HD Programming is Primetime and most local advertisers don't have deep enough pockets to buy there anyway. Not to mention, we don't have a large enough "group" to put a dent in the overall Total Viewers category...again, there are simply Not Enough of Us.

4) This is a big one guys...the FCC only requires stations to broadcast a Digital signal...not a High Definition Signal. If you look at the letter of the law, BC is in complete compliance with the current law. There is NO REASON for him to change his stance as he doesn't have much as far as ratings go in most places and ultimately, losing us isn't going to hurt him. Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa viewer don't know about HDTV yet and don't give a damn either way. As long as the can physically *SEE* their shows, they're happy.

This is going to be an uphill battle folks...I fight it every day. How many different people are actually posting in this thread? Take that number and then see what percentage that is against the number of households in the actual DMA and as you'll see what a small percentage *WE* actually are...non-existant if you will. I don't like it but all we can do is make as much noise as we can.

Also, I'll be surprised as hell if WOWK has an actual HD picture for the Steelers/Bengals game. It might happen but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were any of you.

Ok...to the WB. WHCP is in Portsmouth and is remaining there as of now. They are possibly relocating their license to Charleston but that is a process that takes time. A request has to be filed with and approved by the FCC. To the best of my knowledge, that process has not actually started yet but I could be wrong. If any of you are reading the articles in the newpaper, the cat named Tom Syner is my brother-in-law and he talks the big talk. Will it happen? Maybe. It is just as possible that they'll cease their Charleston office due to lack of financial gain and investor problems first. To be honest, either *COULD* happen but have any of you actually *WATCHED* the great experiment? I know you like the WB Primetime shows but for them, Primetime just doesn't pay the bills. The reason they're trying to have a news presence in Charleston is because Kanawha and Putnam counties are where the cash in this market lives. They can get a higher spot rate with a newscast but they also have to have ratings...which they don't yet. Will they? Them Blue Hairs do love their Tom McGee so we'll see.

Darrin, this is the antenna I have:

http://www.antennasdirect.com/DB8_HD_Antenna.html

It is in my attic and I'm getting pretty good reception on most things but I can't get WHCP either. I can see it just a tad...enough to know something's moving around back there but that's about it.

Ok...that's enough of a post for now...back to our regularing scheduled discussion.

herdfan

01-06-06, 09:14 PM

More Directv HD channels coming in April...

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

I have just had a discussion with a Directv installer who says he just got back from some school provided by Directv, and he says that Directv is planning to launch 1500 channels in HD in April. He said that by the end of 2006, there will be more channels in HD than in SD. Anyone heard anything like this?
__________________
Mark Walker
He is sort of wrong. D* is in the process of launching 1500 HD channels, but most of them for 2006 will be HD-LIL's or Local channels which you won't receive unless you are in the top 36 markets. Based on our market number (#64), we will probably see them in early to mid 2007 when the new satellites (D* 10 & 11) go up.

herdfan

01-06-06, 09:19 PM

Guide data...here's the deal. No one knows and it's quite honestly a series of endless loops. For us to put up guide data similar to the stuff that the satellite companies do, I'm told that we would physically have to cut and paste it into the appropriate device locally. This would be a full time job and Sinclair is NOT going to pay for someone to do just that.
Thanks for the update. But here is the question: How does the 8-1 guide data get there? Or for that matter, how does the regular 8 & 11 guide data get there.

Keep in mind that as cheap as Bray Cary is, he still has his guide data up for 13-1, so I doubt he is paying someone to cut and paste it.

Paul E. Fox, II

01-07-06, 12:37 AM

Dude,

The guide data that is there is actually hand typed by one of our maintenance engineers as time permits. I don't think that ABC is streaming it nor is Tribune providing it...or more to the point, providing more of it:(!

tonybradley

01-07-06, 07:37 AM

More Directv HD channels coming in April...

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

I have just had a discussion with a Directv installer who says he just got back from some school provided by Directv, and he says that Directv is planning to launch 1500 channels in HD in April. He said that by the end of 2006, there will be more channels in HD than in SD. Anyone heard anything like this?
__________________
Mark Walker

Dallas already answered about the Locals. We'll see them here sometime in 2007....after the launch of the 2 new satellites.

You will see one more channel in March for D*. I forget the name, but it's an original program, a music channel. Live music I believe.

There is rumor that D* will possibly pick up National Geographic HD when it goes live, but that remains to be seen. The only HD channel we KNOW we will be gaining on D* this year is their music channel.

tonybradley

01-07-06, 07:39 AM

You guys do know that you KNOW someone that controls not one but FOUR professional graphic designers...right? Get me the information you want and I'll get it made for you!

I did not know that's what you do. I'll be talking to Darrin today and we'll brainstorm a little. Then we'll look for input from all the knowledgable people here.

Maybe on the bottom of our flyer, we should have a spill about the WV Home Theater Group?

ukycats

01-07-06, 08:14 AM

I did not know that's what you do. I'll be talking to Darrin today and we'll brainstorm a little. Then we'll look for input from all the knowledgable people here.

Maybe on the bottom of our flyer, we should have a spill about the WV Home Theater Group?

I don't consider myself one of the knowledgable, but I think that promoting this group is a very good idea. We realize that we have more "power" in numbers; it should only help our cause to have more members.

andy4theherd

01-07-06, 08:41 PM

anybody else's abc hd feed crap out? i have sound but the pic is very messed-up...

d1live

01-07-06, 08:48 PM

anybody else's abc hd feed crap out? i have sound but the pic is very messed-up... Yep, mine went Green, signal strenghth is still around 90. This sucks.

Avas

01-07-06, 09:39 PM

Yep, mine went Green, signal strenghth is still around 90. This sucks.
Mine crapped out also at about 8:32 pm. Fortunately I could switch back to Charter, but not HD. Sometime WCHS even had Fox 11.1 on the 8.1 channel. Seems like someone is tweaking the wrong buttons at one of these stations. Signal is a constant 90 up on the hill in East St. Albans.

Maybe this is technology growing pains!!!

andy4theherd

01-08-06, 01:09 PM

mine was back up for the 4th quarter...

so what are the odds of the steelers/bengals game in hd today?

...and congrats to all the wvu fans on the board, after sept. we can say we beat the sugar bowl champ :ducks for cover:

sjividen

01-08-06, 05:03 PM

I have some family that just purchased an LCD TV even though they're not really techheads. Therefore, I'm making it my job to make sure they take advantage of their equipment. They're Charter subscribers, so I'm curious what Charter offers in the way of HD programming...their website isn't very informative.

Specifically, are the locals available in HD? And do they offer an HD DVR service? Thanks...

wvudrj

01-08-06, 06:06 PM

I hope nobody died holding their breath waiting for the bengals game in HD!

andy4theherd

01-08-06, 06:11 PM

I hope nobody died holding their breath waiting for the bengals game in HD!

yea, the SD feed is looking as Shatty as ever

crr7171

01-08-06, 08:34 PM

JLitton

01-08-06, 11:08 PM

wvudrj

01-08-06, 11:37 PM

JLitton I would go back and read this thread to see how far weve come. Welcome. One of the posters here I am sure live near you. Another great site is antennaweb.org to see what kind of antenna you will need, just plug in your address. I would stay away from terk products if I were you, not known for their quality IMHO.

Anyway good luck and welcome

Amerikes

01-08-06, 11:57 PM

New to the thread...

Just bought a HD LCD flat panel this afternoon. The guy at CC tried to sell me a terk indoor hdtv antenna for 40 bucks. I held off until I talked to Charter. I talked to Charter this evening and found out that they only offer the above mentioned channels in HD. So, here's my question. If I go back to CC and buy the antenna, will I be able to pick up the local channels in HD? I live about one mile from the Edens Fork exit of I77. This is really disheartening after spending 2300 bucks on a new TV. Pissed Off is more like it.

Any help would be appreciated.

Don't be so disheartened, I live up at Big Chimney, and get WCHS Channel 8.1 high definition, and also WVAH Channel 11.1 HD with an outdoor antenna, and the signal is around 90% for both, using a Channel Master 4228, and an indoor amp. I am currently considering raising my antenna an additional 5' to 10' to see if I can get a better signal for WSAZ Channel 3.1(I receive about a 50% to 60%, and the signal comes and goes). But you will be very happy with the results of High Def. I watched all the ABC(Channel 8.1) College football games, including WV and Georgia and it was great.

And about your antenna, Circuit City sold me that indoor antenna also(Terk5, I believe), but it didn't work at all for me(I took it back), so I put up an outdoor antenna. At first, I used the Terk 32 outdoor, and it did a real good job, but I was hoping for more, so I installed the Channel Master 4228, which is about twice the size as the Terk 32. The picture/signal was about the same, and I left the Channel Master 4228 Installed. Didn't feel like changing back, and there was really no reason to....... I still have that Terk32 that I purchased from CC, if you are interested.

Amerikes

01-09-06, 12:06 AM

Oh, Jlitton, also, does your tv have a built in tuner. I was assuming that it did.

If not, you would also have to buy a hd receiver/tuner to receive OTA signals.

JLitton

01-09-06, 06:59 AM

It does not, if I get the charter hD box, would that work?

WVince

01-09-06, 07:36 AM

Welcome to the forum from a fellow that mainly lurks in the background <g>.

Just curious... you wouldn't by chance work for the Postal Service, do you?

(I have a supervisor at work thats a John Litton..... thought you might be him.)

DiamondDaveWV

01-09-06, 09:04 AM

It does not, if I get the charter hD box, would that work?

The Charter HD boxes that I've seen made by Scientific Atlanta do not have a built-in ATSC tuner/input for an OTA antenna. So unless you can score an Accurian HD tuner from Radio Shack (I think they may be sold out in Charleston), you're looking at spending another $200-250 at Circuit City for a tuner and $50+ for a DVI or HDMI cable to connect the tuner to your TV.

Unless you are going to switch to DirecTV, you may want to consider another TV with a built-in HD tuner, if you can get one at the same price as the model you purchased.

The Terk TV32 antenna at Circuit City is great to experiment with for 30 days, but I wouldn't keep it. It is merely a re-packaged Winegard 4400 that you can buy online for $20-30.

tonybradley

01-09-06, 09:38 AM

New to the thread...

Just bought a HD LCD flat panel this afternoon. The guy at CC tried to sell me a terk indoor hdtv antenna for 40 bucks. I held off until I talked to Charter. I talked to Charter this evening and found out that they only offer the above mentioned channels in HD. So, here's my question. If I go back to CC and buy the antenna, will I be able to pick up the local channels in HD? I live about one mile from the Edens Fork exit of I77. This is really disheartening after spending 2300 bucks on a new TV. Pissed Off is more like it.

Any help would be appreciated.

Did you graduate from Sissonville HS around 1994 or so?

I live in Sissonville and have good luck with OTA reception. I can't pull in WOWK's Digital Signal, but since it's low powered and SD, I really don't care. For what it's worth, another poster mentioned he put up a cheap $20 powered indoor antenna from walmart on his windowsill and was able to pull in WCHS, WSAZ, NBC and PAX (He lives in Fairplane). He brought this antenna to my house. I put it at the window of my basement family room and was able to pick up the same channels (WCHS, WSAZ NBC and PAX) as I can receive on my Large outdoor (unpowered) Channel Master Antenna. Actually, I got a better signal for both WVAH and WCHS than the large outdoor antenna. Darrin is looking to order the DB4 antenna through Antennasdirect. If that works for him, I'm going to try it in my attic. If it works well, I will be getting rid of my MAMMOTH channel master antenna and going with this small DB4 to put in the Attic.

DarrinH

01-09-06, 03:30 PM

Question, is it possible to combine the signals from two antenna's so you can avoid rotating? I have another one of these indoor amplified antenna's and I am curious if I can make the two work togther...
Would it be better to use a switch between the two?
Which would be less expensive?
Is there any loss associated with the switch?

My big issue is whether a UHF only antenna in the attic will be better than what I have in the table top. Is the array better at gathering more of the signal without amplification?

ukycats

01-09-06, 04:10 PM

Darrin

I noticed a similar thread; it MAY help:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=628623

Good luck!

JLitton

01-09-06, 05:21 PM

tonybradley

01-09-06, 07:18 PM

Tony- yep, that's me. I'm just getting into this stuff and have lot's of questions, but I've learned alot by reading this post.

WVince - yep, its me, as you found out at work today.

As for my previous post that the TV does not have I tuner, I was incorrect. It does have a tuner built in. So I'm going to try the indoor antenna and see what I get. I went back to CC today and talked to them, but left without anymore knowledge that I had when I went in. Still didn't buy the terk based on what you have told me.

thanks, and its cool that I know some people on here.

When you try the indoor antenna, make sure you get an amplified antenna (one that you plug into the wall for extra gain). I'm going to brag on this forum a little bit. Any questions you have, feel free to ask here. With the combined knowledge of these folks here, we can answer most questions or steer you in the correct direction. Employees at Circuit City don't have a clue about Home Theater or HD. It's not their faults. They just aren't trained and CC doesn't hire people who are as interested in this technology as the rest of us. I can tell you all kinds of stories.

Paul E. Fox, II

01-09-06, 08:09 PM

Darrin,

Just so you know, my DB8 is the big brother of the one you're looking at getting and I get ALL of the VHF stuff too...just not as clearly. My channel 8 and 11 are clean enough that back before the Small Dish Satellite days, I would have been quite happy with the reception on both of the those channels as well as 13. My analog WSAZ isn't very good at all but them's the breaks as they say.

Also, I was talking to Raymond shortly after the purchase and success of my antenna and he told me that I may want to combine my super UHF with a regular VHF for improved reception. I believe that I found a device that would do just the trick once when I was poking around Antennas Direct but I don't recall what it was actually called. As I understand it, it's similar to the Diplexers used for sat systems. There are differences but I'm not an engineer so I can't site the specifics.

Also...just to update: I know have all 7 of my mains for The Palace. It's finally starting to come together in here....can't wait until it's all finished!

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

I just went to Antennas Direct and found this:

http://www.antennasdirect.com/antenna_combiner.html

hehe...it's called a combiner (of course...why didn't I think of that!) and it should do exactly what you're trying to do.

andy4theherd

01-09-06, 08:31 PM

i wouldn't write off terk products. i have the tv5 indoor antenna and get 3.1, 8.1, 11.1, 13.1, 29.1, and several pbs stations.

i live in spring valley

Amerikes

01-09-06, 09:44 PM

i wouldn't write off terk products. i have the tv5 indoor antenna and get 3.1, 8.1, 11.1, 13.1, 29.1, and several pbs stations.

i live in spring valley

Well, like I said in one of my previous post, I chose a larger antenna(Channel Master 4228) and was somewhat dissapointed in that I did not notice any noticeable difference from the Terk 32 that I had installed previously. That is the only reason that I bought the CM 4228, in hope that I would get a much stronger signal. I didn't take the Terk32 back to Circuit City, because I had already thrown the box away..... :(

But, I'm happy, and if I get Hungry, I can eat the Terk32 for dinner..... :D

tonybradley

01-09-06, 10:05 PM

Paul E. Fox, II

01-09-06, 11:09 PM

I took one tonight after I set the speakers up...they're just there for show now as I don't have a receiver or sub OR the DVD player I want.

Not really sure how to attach an image here or what the size/pixel requirements are for this forum. If someone would like to give me quick lesson and see what I can do tomorrow.

Darrin knows how long I've been waiting for this...I can barely stand the waiting now as I can almost here what it will sound like in there. But alas...patience...just a little bit more and it will be over.

herdfan

01-10-06, 07:17 AM

IOR the DVD player I want.
Don't know what your budget is for the DVD player, but Toshiba's HD-DVD player is coming in March. There are 2 models, $499 and $799, which are far cheaper than I expected them to be.

The $499 also upscales regular DVD's to 720/1080. Best Buy will have them in March.

tonybradley

01-10-06, 08:20 AM

Don't know what your budget is for the DVD player, but Toshiba's HD-DVD player is coming in March. There are 2 models, $499 and $799, which are far cheaper than I expected them to be.

The $499 also upscales regular DVD's to 720/1080. Best Buy will have them in March.

WOW!!! I missed the $499 one. I heard about the $799 one.
So, who is going to go with Blu ray, and who is going to go with the inferior, but cheaper HD-DVD players?

Paul,

I think the size limitation is 640 x 480 or something like that. I know I always have to downscale mine before I can attach them. You can always add them to the AVS Gallary under your name. I'm not sure if that has the same constraints or not. What kind of Sub you looking to use?

herdfan

01-10-06, 08:34 AM

So, who is going to go with Blu ray, and who is going to go with the inferior, but cheaper HD-DVD players?
Going with both. :D

I will get one of the HD-DVD players plus I will get a PS3 which will have Blu-Ray.

Why do you think HD-DVD is inferior? I understand that it can't hold as much data and all that and from a computer standpoint that might matter. But as long as HD-DVD can show me a movie in HD at 1080i it will be fine for most consumers.

Edit: Here is a link to the Toshiba: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7652523&type=product&productCategoryId=cat03013&id=1134699969167

tonybradley

01-10-06, 10:33 AM

Going with both. :D

I will get one of the HD-DVD players plus I will get a PS3 which will have Blu-Ray.

Why do you think HD-DVD is inferior? I understand that it can't hold as much data and all that and from a computer standpoint that might matter. But as long as HD-DVD can show me a movie in HD at 1080i it will be fine for most consumers.

Edit: Here is a link to the Toshiba: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7652523&type=product&productCategoryId=cat03013&id=1134699969167

I guess inferior wasn't the correct word. I'm with you on the "As long as it does HD, I'm happy". I just hear a lot on this forum say that it's inferior. I don't have a 1080P display, nor will I for a long time, so I guess HD-DVD will be fine.

Any guess on how much the PS3 will be? If it has to be comparable to the Xbox, maybe $500 AND you get a Blu Ray player?

herdfan

01-10-06, 10:50 AM

I just hear a lot on this forum say that it's inferior.
From a technical standpoint it is inferior. It holds 30gig while Blu-Ray can hold 50gig. And if I were backing up my HHD, then that 20gig makes a difference. But as long as HD movies fit on it, most consumers won't care about the technology, just the content.

tonybradley

01-10-06, 10:58 AM

From a technical standpoint it is inferior. It holds 30gig while Blu-Ray can hold 50gig. And if I were backing up my HHD, then that 20gig makes a difference. But as long as HD movies fit on it, most consumers won't care about the technology, just the content.

I agree with that. If the quality will be the same, then I don't care. For LotR extended version, it may be a difference of Blu ray putting both DVDs on one instead of us changing it out. Maybe HD-DVD can do that too. If not, that's only a FEW DVDs that we'd have to worry about. For the price difference, I'll gladly change out a disk if need be.

DarrinH

01-10-06, 03:40 PM

JLitton, Tony and I are right in your area. We should try to get together soon.
Drop me a line at moman_46732@yahoo.com, Tony and I might be getting together this weekend to do some speaker testing.

tonybradley

01-10-06, 07:04 PM

I just wanted to post because I updated my Sig file with a link to some pictures of my HT. I'll attach more once I do the Acoustic Panels some day.

Paul E. Fox, II

01-10-06, 07:53 PM

I looked around last night and couldn't find any kind of rules for posting pictures so I'm going to try to just keep it as small as I can and still make it viewable.

As for HD-DVD/Blu-Ray...I'm looking forward to neither. There are too many questions left unanswered for me about whatever Content Protection Scheme...err, System they use and whether or not I'm presumed to be a Pirate unless I prove that I'm not. That's not the way it should work...they should have to prove I am. My "DVD Player of Choice" is going to be the Denon 3910...my DVDs look good enough at this point so until there's a clear winner in the High-Def Disc Format War, I'm on the sidelines.

As for the sub...I'm looking at an SVS...not sure which one yet but I'm leaning toward the PB12-Plus from SVS.

herdfan

01-10-06, 10:15 PM

My "DVD Player of Choice" is going to be the Denon 3910...As for the sub...I'm looking at an SVS...not sure which one yet but I'm leaning toward the PB12-Plus from SVS.
I have its little brother, the 1920. I mainly chose it because it did the upconversion and knowing that I was going to get a HD-DVD player within 6 months, I cheaped out. :D

Get an SVS and you won't regret it. I have the PB2-ISD which is basically 2-12" drivers, but of slightly lesser quality than in the Plus. It can shake the house. You feel the bass. Great CS also. I had an amp go out and they sent me a new one overnight.

DarrinH

01-11-06, 08:17 AM

http://www.walagata.com/
Paul, here is a good free website for uploading pictures.
You could just post the links to them in the forum.
This is one that I used for the WVHT Group.
No problems and not real complicated.
You will have plenty of room to keep the pictures big.

tonybradley

01-11-06, 07:59 PM

Dallas,

I know you have the same Denon Receiver that I have (the numbers are different, but same one). Are you running your settings with the Mains set to Large? The auto calibration set it to Large. Large and LFE for Sub. I changed them to small and I think it sounded better at Large. Just curious. I'm having some sub issues now. Not sure if something is wrong with my sub, room modes or all of the above.

herdfan

01-11-06, 08:14 PM

Paul E. Fox, II

01-11-06, 08:22 PM

You guys are running your speakers set at Large? I've found numerous threads that absolutely contradict that...pretty much as a rule!

Also, since I'm not sure about your receivers, what are you running? I know Darrin has a Denon but that's it.

You know, I was really going the other way on HT until I got the TV. My room was ready to start accepting equipment but there was nothing in here except boxes. After the TV hit on August 1st, man...did the bug bite again.

I'll get some pics posted as soon as I can.

tonybradley

01-12-06, 08:27 AM

Yes, my mains are set to Large as is my center. I am running Polk RTi10's for the mains and a Polk CSi5 for the center. So they are big speakers anyway. My X-over is set at 60hz as my mains go down there easily and the sub to LFE.

What kind of issue are you having?

That's how mine is set as well (except center to small). The auto calibration set my Sub to like -6.5dB. Basically, you couldn't hear nor feel any LFE. I had to crank the receiver up to about +2.5dB to get a decent thump. I tried War of the Worlds when the machine came out of the ground. The bass was VERY distorted...rattly. Not like room rattle, but like speaker rattle. I then tested it with the Eagles DVD (DTS Only) on the opening DTS sequence and it also sounded horrible. Again, just distorted. I was able to decrease the distortion by turning the volume on the Sub down, but then i basically took away the Low frequency to the soundtrack, which won't do.

Darrin is bringing over his SVS Sub Saturday and placing it in the exact spot my sub is now. I'm interested in seeing how his sounds to determine if maybe it's a room placement thing, or if my sub is malfunctioning. I have several coax plates around the room so I can move my sub around. I will try that as well.

You guys are running your speakers set at Large? I've found numerous threads that absolutely contradict that...pretty much as a rule!

Also, since I'm not sure about your receivers, what are you running? I know Darrin has a Denon but that's it.

You know, I was really going the other way on HT until I got the TV. My room was ready to start accepting equipment but there was nothing in here except boxes. After the TV hit on August 1st, man...did the bug bite again.

I'll get some pics posted as soon as I can.

You probably even read a Thread that I started months ago asking that very question regarding Large vs. Small. Almost everything you read states for Dolby Digital and DTS, your mains should be set to Small to get the true LFE. The Denon Receiver allows you to get true LFE PLUS setting your Mains to Large. The thread I started was very large and MUCH debate over the correct method. I came to this conclusion: "There is no correct Method". YOu need to try both and see which sounds better in your room with your particular speakers. Before now, I've always set my Mains to Small, but it also sounded better that way. My Receiver Automatically set mine to LARGE. I changed it to small, and it didn't sound as good, so I went back to LARGE. Now, once I determine the best placement for my sub (or a new sub), then I'll run more tests and listen to different soundtracks to determine which is the best for me. Generally speaking, you would want your Mains set to Small, but don't do it blindly. Compare the two first.

As far as equipment goes:

Projector: Panasonic AE-500U (720p HD)

Surround Receiver: Denon AVR-2805 7.1 Auto Calibration with Microphone

Speakers: Infinity RS-5 mains, CC3 Center, Polk for the 4 surrounds (bookshelf, forget the model), Infinity BU-120 Sub.

DVD Player: Denon 1710. It's a cheap one, but came free with the Denon receiver. I wasn't looking to buy a good one with HD-DVD and Blu-ray around the corner.

HD DirecTV Receiver: Zenith SAT-520

Screen: Home-made 100" using 1x3s and blackout cloth

Outdoor Speakers: Niles OS-10 (I will be running these off the second zone of the Denon this summer)

Mitsubishi WS-A55 55" HDTV

sjividen

01-12-06, 02:19 PM

herdfan

01-12-06, 02:26 PM

Would any attempts to appeal this decision be a total waste of time?
For now, probably yes. But sometime this spring the FCC is "supposed" to have the criteria in place for digital signal testing as outline in the SHVERA. At that point it may benefit you to ask for a signal test for the digital feed.

herdfan

01-12-06, 04:34 PM

A lot of it depends as Tony said on your room. Many speaker mfg's, Polk for instance, want you to run your mains through the subwoofer and let the X-over on the sub determine what goes back out to the mains. In this case SMALL would be the way to go.

I tried it this way and thought it sounded terrible, so I switched back. I am using a 60Hz X-over so my mains are doing a lot of the work. That leaves the sub free for more LFE duty.

Going to Indy this weekend for the Colts game (gave my bro-in-law and his 2 sons playoff tickets for X-mas. My other bro-in-law could not use his so I get it. :) ) So I am going to take the wife to the Magnolia they have in the Best Buy there. I was in there over Thanksgiving and heard some Vienna Accoustics. WOW! They played a track from IRobot and I came home to see if I could hear some of the same detail in my Polks that I heard in the Vienna's. Nope, not even close. I had always thought I would move on to Paradigms when the speaker upgrade bug got me, but after hearing the Viennas, I may have changed my mind.

Tony,

I am assuming you are using the sub-out for the LFE channel. Are there any settings on the back of the sub such as phase that you could adjust? Do you have the volume on the sub turned up too high? I set my sub volume at a around 1/3 and let the amp do its work. I then use the sub volume to fine tune what I want to hear.

Also, I upgraded when I finished my Media Room. Went with a 3806 as I needed the HDMI switching/conversion for the Denon DVD. My 2805/985 is still in service in the living room but that may change as well. I am running an IR distribution setup to be able to control my Living Room HR10-250 but when I turn the blasters to HIGH it controls the living room AVR as well. It was bad over X-mas when the who family was here as the in-laws in the basement kept adjusting the volume in the living room. If I set the blasters to LOW, it get poor control. (Of course this would not be an issue if D* put a flat IR receive window on the HR10-250 instead of a curved one that the mini-flashers won't stick to.) So I am looking at getting an H/K 635 as it discontinued and can be had for around 1/2 its list. And with the new firmware fixing its DD issue it could be a good choice for the living room.

cocoon

01-12-06, 04:47 PM

I finally got my rejection card from DirecTV stating that WOWK won't allow me to receive the CBS HD feed. I guess it's safe to assume that nobody else has gotten approved recently? Would any attempts to appeal this decision be a total waste of time?

When I asked for waivers last year I was approved for 3 out of 4. A couple months ago I asked DirecTV for a waiver for distant NBC and was approved. It can't hurt to ask again.

If it fails again from DirecTV or other options fail there is always the Canadian option.
Search the main HDTV programming forum for "kusat" for the opinions on that subject. If I didn't get waivers for all 4 networks I would of chosen the Canadian option.

Paul E. Fox, II

01-12-06, 07:14 PM

Dallas,

Are you having any of the HDMI problems the people seem to be experiencing over in the 3806 Thread? That's the receiver I want but with all the weird little quirks...I'm get just a touch antsy if you know what I mean.

My room is probably very plain compared to what all of you have but it's all Mine (Bwu HA HA HA)!

I just can't get over the fact that I can actually see "Lost" and "Invasion" in High Def now. Looking forward to "24" Sunday and Monday as well.

herdfan

01-12-06, 07:34 PM

My HDMI is working fine. But, there is always a but, I am only using it as follows: HDMI in from a Denon 1920 DVD and HDMI==>>DVI out to the TV from both HDMI and component sources. I am also simultaneously outputing component as well.

With that being said, many of the HDMI problems I have read about are related to SA cable boxes and D* satellite boxes (specifically the HR10-250) not playing well with the 3806. I am not using the HDMI with my HR10-250 because it won't down-convert HDMI IN to component out. I need the component out since I am also sending the componenet signals to the pool table area on the other side of the wall.

As soon as I get the pictures hung I will post some pictures.

tonybradley

01-13-06, 09:21 AM

.....heard some Vienna Accoustics. WOW! They played a track from IRobot and I came home to see if I could hear some of the same detail in my Polks that I heard in the Vienna's. Nope, not even close. I had always thought I would move on to Paradigms when the speaker upgrade bug got me, but after hearing the Viennas, I may have changed my mind.

Tony,

I am assuming you are using the sub-out for the LFE channel. Are there any settings on the back of the sub such as phase that you could adjust? Do you have the volume on the sub turned up too high? I set my sub volume at a around 1/3 and let the amp do its work. I then use the sub volume to fine tune what I want to hear.

Also, I upgraded when I finished my Media Room. Went with a 3806 as I needed the HDMI switching/conversion for the Denon DVD. My 2805/985 is still in service in the living room but that may change as well. I am running an IR distribution setup to be able to control my Living Room HR10-250 but when I turn the blasters to HIGH it controls the living room AVR as well. It was bad over X-mas when the who family was here as the in-laws in the basement kept adjusting the volume in the living room. If I set the blasters to LOW, it get poor control. (Of course this would not be an issue if D* put a flat IR receive window on the HR10-250 instead of a curved one that the mini-flashers won't stick to.) So I am looking at getting an H/K 635 as it discontinued and can be had for around 1/2 its list. And with the new firmware fixing its DD issue it could be a good choice for the living room.

Dallas,

I've heard Vienna Acoustics before at a Tweeter. WOW is right!!!!!!!! They have one series that is about $6K for the two mains..or maybe that was just one.

Speaking of BB, did you read the big news yesterday? The BB Kiosk had the Toshiba HD-A1 for $314!!!!!!!!!!! Many got it for that price. Question now is: Was it a misprint and they will cancel all their orders, or was there something else behind the Low price!!! I called BB yesterday afternoon, but the goober I talked to had no clue what an HD-DVD player was. Once I gave him the model number to look up on his Kiosk computer, he put me on hold for 25 minutes. I hung up and called back twice, and nobody from that department ever picked up. I was considering buying it over the phone. Online, it was still $499. FYI: Go to the thread I mentioned above and there is a code to get $50 off from that player at Crutchfield. So, It's about $450 from Crutchfield.

I have my sub hooked up correctly, I just need to do some research on it. It's never sounded like that before, so I don't know the problem. I'll try your method of keeping the volume at 1/3 level. The book says either (can't remember which one) to turn the volume of the sub all the way down or all the way up when doing the Auto Calibration. I'm thinking it's all the way up, but I'll have to relook at that. If all the way down, I think the amp would be off in the sub. I have changed the phase on the back with no luck.
Enjoy the game this weekend.

Paul,

You should read (maybe you do) the Lost thread on this forum. WOW is it involved!! 24 Sunday...YES!!!!!!!!!!

herdfan

01-13-06, 10:38 AM

The Vienna's I heard were not that much. As for the HD-DVD player, I am about 1/2 annoyed at Toshiba because to get it in black, you have to get the $799 one. I am tired of silver components, but it it worth the price to get it in black. No, so I will just be annoyed.

Give the 1/3 a try. See how it sounds and then try 1/2. It is all about tweeking it for the best sound.

tonybradley

01-13-06, 12:38 PM

Vienna Acoustics are a German company, which are known for great speakers anyway. If I remember correctly, they have models such as Beethoven, Bach, Motzart, etc. I remember drooling over them while living in Baltimore. Now that I remember, one of their models sold for over $4K a Speaker!

Yup..just looked them up online. One of their Models is $9,998 for a pair.

I really like Polk too. I was thinking maybe that route on my next upgrade. The maker of Polk (Matthew Polk) and I graduated from the same college.....not at the same time..LOL...so I guess I have some loyalty there)

I'll try the Sub at 1/3 Volume and Recalibrate.

herdfan

01-13-06, 01:11 PM

tonybradley

01-13-06, 01:26 PM

The line that Magnolia Home Theater (The ones in BB's) carry are the middle line. They are about $2000 pr. plus a center for another $1000. I alway had the idea that if you bought good upper end consumer speakers, and Polks definitely fall into that category, that your couldn't really tell much difference.

Well, you can. I ended up with the Polks because CC was in the process of discontinuing the RTi line (Polk didn't discontinue it, CC just stopped carrying it) and got a good deal on them. Which was made better since the dropped the price twice within 30 days of me buying them so I go the difference plus 10% twice.

I had the wife listen to the passage in IRobot again last night. So we will see. She has better ears than I do, so she may push for them after hearing them. :D

Here are my issues with Speakers. We all know that the number one thing to improve the sound of your system is to acoustically treat your room. You can make semi-cheap gear sound 100x better. Or, you can make high end gear sound not much better than semi-cheap gear in an un treated room. I've come to this conclusion. When I upgrade, I will only buy from a company that will let me trial the speakers in my house, in my room and with my equipment. I remember being in Tweeter and they were playing Toy Story on little Tivoli Speakers. They were inexpensive too. WOW...did it sound great. My buddy bought them. In his house, well, they sound ok....sound like inexpensive speakers.

So, my question to you is this: Do you really think you'll be able to tell a HUGE difference if you were to place those Vienna Acoustics in your room in place of the Polks, instead of listening to them at Best Buy? I'm just curious. I just remember almost every speaker sounded great in Tweeter's listening room...obviously some better than others.

herdfan

01-13-06, 08:43 PM

That's a good point and not one I had given much thought to. Given that it is Best Buy I should be able to return them in 30 days. I will definitely find out before I buy them.

I don't know how much treatment the room has with all the equipment on one side, a glass door, multiple speakers etc. I will look around and see if the walls are treated, bass traps and any other feature that could change the sound characteristics.

Thanks for the tip.

tonybradley

01-13-06, 09:20 PM

If you get those, I'm going to have to come by your house sometime and take a listen.

Did you say this is the BB Magnolia store?

herdfan

01-13-06, 11:13 PM

Did you say this is the BB Magnolia store?
Yes. In Indianapolis. It took over a corner of the store and has a nice viewing area with a couch and a dedicated room with a projector.

sjividen

01-14-06, 11:02 AM

Is anybody else having problems with 3-1 right now? It's intermittently fritzing out, even though the signal strength hasn't changed at all.

Amerikes

01-14-06, 01:06 PM

3.1 is a problem for me also, but it is around 37 miles to the Tower. I get about 65% estimated( with my accurian receiver), and it sometimes cuts in and out.

Does anyone know how 3.1 compares to 8.1 (18 miles from tower) and 11.1 as far as power goes. I am further from 3.1, and naturally I don't expect to get a stronger signal. I have been thinking of raising my antenna an additional 5 to 10 feet to see if it makes any difference. At the present, my Channel master 4228 sits with the top of the antenna at approximately the top of the roof peak, however it is facing west, away from my roof.

Paul E. Fox, II

01-14-06, 11:57 PM

According to my Director of Engineering Operations, all the stations in our market are operating at near full or Full Power. WB30 could be the exception to this but I'm not sure...until recently they weren't really on the radar. I'm getting about 65% as well on both WSAZ-DT and WOWK-DT. I'm unable to get WB 30 at more than just a bit of movement in the snow on the analog and nothing on their Digital feed. I've also lost PBS-DT out of Huntington.

WSAZ does seem to have more problems for me than ANY of the others. I have massive lip-sync issues most all of the time and I do get a lot of pixelization and other similar problems so I'm not sure if they have all their quirks worked out.

We also have a lot of quirks with Digital Transmission on WCHS. Lot's of little issues that can be related to ABCs tweaking but could also be something to do with our transimitters. I know Raymond mentions there are quirky things about the transmitters every so often.

Amerikes

01-15-06, 09:50 AM

I checked my signal strength again for WSAZ, and it probably looks to be more like 45 to 55 percent. I don't seem to ever have any problems with WCHS, or WVAH. They are always in the 90 percent range, and I haven't noticed anything wrong during the time that I have been watching.

I really would like to get WSAZ better, with the Winter Olympics coming up here around the 10th of February. And many of the NASCAR races were shown last year, and probably this year also.

Oh, and WOWK Channel 13 is absolutely lousy. I tried watching the NFL playoffs yesterday, and my receiver indicates that they are not even broadcasting in HD. I have seen some of the negative comments here in this forum. Wow, what is wroing with them. I'll bet CBS is not like that Nationally, or is it? I went back to watching it on cable, which on Charter analog, is not much better.

herdfan

01-15-06, 10:44 AM

WSAZ does seem to have more problems for me than ANY of the others. I have massive lip-sync issues most all of the time and I do get a lot of pixelization and other similar problems so I'm not sure if they have all their quirks worked out.
I only seem to have lip sync issues with WSAZ programming such as local news and not with NBC national programming.

andy4theherd

01-15-06, 11:44 AM

Oh, and WOWK Channel 13 is absolutely lousy. I tried watching the NFL playoffs yesterday, and my receiver indicates that they are not even broadcasting in HD. I have seen some of the negative comments here in this forum. Wow, what is wroing with them. I'll bet CBS is not like that Nationally, or is it? I went back to watching it on cable, which on Charter analog, is not much better.

i have armstrong cable and their feed is terrible. i get a weak OTA analog wsaz signal and it is equal in quality to the cable feed of wowk...

WVince

01-15-06, 01:25 PM

Amerikes

01-15-06, 01:29 PM

Hello folks,

I've decided to go ahead and put up an outside antenna, but would prefer getting it from a local dealer instead of ordering it thru solidsignal, or someone else online.

Just curious if anyone knows of a local dealer (Charleston/Huntington area) that would have the CM4228 in stock?.

I'm off Monday, and if I can find a store in stock and open that would make for a good day off "project" <g>.

Thanks in advance...

I checked locally, and could not find the CM4228. Plus, I believe that you can get it cheaper online anyway. Solid Signal would be a good source, I believe that is from where I ordered mine. You may also do a google search for the CM4228 and see what you come up with.

wvsteveo

01-15-06, 06:10 PM

WVince:

I would second the Solid Signal online source recommendation for a CM4228. Very fast service. It will be delivered before you know it. I am not aware of that antenna being available anywhere locally.

WVince

01-15-06, 07:15 PM

Thanks for the heads up.
I went ahead and placed my order this evening. Now I can look forward
to installing it NEXT weekend instead <g>... (With luck and quick shipping...)

It will be worth the effort if I can pick up channel 3 and 13 ... everything else
comes in OK with rabbit ears. I may end up having to hook up a decent A/B
switch and keep the inside antenna hooked up for my stronger stations, that
way I will be able to get by without a rotor...

Paul E. Fox, II

01-15-06, 11:02 PM

I don't watch WSAZ-DT for much other than the occasional NBC Prime offering...not sure why, maybe it's because I work for the competition:)!

That being the case, I always notice some Lip-Sync problems...sometimes a little, sometimes a lot, but I can't remember the last time I didn't see a bit of it.

Also, I checked the signal strengths tonight during the game (actually, during a commerical). WSAZ-DT was running between 73-75 percent. WCHS-DT and WVAH-DT were flipping about in the 90's. Alas, I didn't bother to check out BC's Stretch-O-Vision...just isn't worth the effort!

And...let me add. "24" in High-Def was Frickin' AWESOME!

ukycats

01-16-06, 12:49 PM

And...let me add. "24" in High-Def was Frickin' AWESOME!

Yes, I can't wait for tonight's 2 hours. The first 2 hours didn't have very much action, did it? ;)

Amerikes

01-16-06, 02:18 PM

I finally got around to adding another 5 feet of antenna mast, and it made a significant improvement. On my Accurian receiver, I checked it before I went out to add the additional length, and both Channel 3 and 13 were well below the 66% mark(It is marked in thirds). After, I am getting in the green, about 70% to 75%. I am actually getting a little better signal for WOWK, probably around the 75% mark.

Yesterday, I estimated that I was getting around 50% on both, and Channel 3 was in and out, and Channel 13 would not come in at all.

I first added 10' of mast, but it was way to unstable, so I pulled it down and put the 5' section on.

Now, I must find a way of helping to insure that the mast doesn's move around too much in the wind.

I will have to wait until weather conditions are different, to see if the signal holds up. Well, I still have a few things to tidy up outside.

clueless

01-17-06, 07:31 AM

I only seem to have lip sync issues with WSAZ programming such as local news and not with NBC national programming.
I have seen lip sync issues during the WSAZ local news on the SD DirecTV feed.

That is about all I ever watch on WSAZ. I watch the NY NBC HD feed for network shows.

DarrinH

01-17-06, 03:28 PM

I managed to stay up and watch the tonight show in HD last week. I noticed that my receiver said 6.1 surround sound with the Dolby Digital light on but the sound was coming from the front L & R only with a simulated surround sound. Is WSAZ only passing on two channel simulated surround? Is FOX the only one transmitting 5.1 Dolby Digital?
Usually my Denon 2802 uses two channel sound to create the Dolby Pro Logic II simulated surround but this did not happen in this case.

herdfan

01-17-06, 04:10 PM

If you get those, I'm going to have to come by your house sometime and take a listen.
Well, I took the wife and she heard them and thought they sounded awesome. So the WAF was pretty high. So I had the OK there. I guess two things held/are holding me back. First, I have always wanted Paradigm's and I am afriad if I haven't made a direct comparison, I will still want Paradigms. The other is that the Vienna's are 4 ohm speakers. Now they were running through a Denon 3806, but there is no way to tell how they had the speakers matrixed. Is the Denon providing the power and they are just using a speaker selector, or is the Denon acting as a pre/pro and they have a McIntosh amp ( a brand they carry) hidden in the back actually driving the speakers. It would make a difference. Got the dear in the headlights look when I asked.

The wife did like the surrounds as they are only about 5" deep compared to the Polk FXi5's which stick out like a foot. She wanted to know why we just couldn't get the surrounds. I tried to explain timber matching, but gave up. She also liked the look of the Martin Logans but didn't get the music speakers vs. HT speakers thing.

So did Darrin's SVS sub help you find you problem?

Paul E. Fox, II

01-17-06, 11:08 PM

Darrin,

According to my esteemed Engineering Staff, Fox 11 has always been sending 5.1 out. I don't have any way of verifying that as I'm still shy a receiver in The Palace. ABC is doing things a bit different and I'm not sure how much they actually send out a true 5.1 signal. Sometimes its 2.0, sometimes it's 4.1...it all depends on the program.

Also, I did confirm that while there is a "button" in Master Control at WCHS that switches us over to HD, there is NO SUCH BUTTON at Fox 11. The Fox Splicer handles that as well as the Dolby Digital audio. That being said, whenever I see a program that should be HD on ABC, I call Master Control. It's gotten to the point that whenever I identify myself to the MCO on duty, they just reach down and hit the button...magic HD!

I don't have a lot of info about WSAZ-DT...they don't really talk to me much (read...at all) so I can't really tell you what they're doing over there.

Interestingly enough, I watch a new "HI-DEF is Coming Soon" piece on WOWK's 7pm News last night and they were really talking about how great HDTV is and how much the viewers will like it. I found it odd that they aired that piece and don't even pass-through the HD Signal for Prime...WOW!

herdfan

01-17-06, 11:38 PM

I don't have a lot of info about WSAZ-DT...they don't really talk to me much (read...at all) so I can't really tell you what they're doing over there.
I can tell you that if the show that it in HD is not on during Primetime, WSAZ most likely won't know about it. I have had to call I don't know how many times to tell them to flip the switch for a NASCAR race on Sunday afternoon. During one race, the manager on duty told me the control room didn't know how to do it. Don Ray got an e-mail about that.

In all fairness, NBC was having issues with that race and much of the country watched it in SD. I still have to call way to often. The FOX splicer seems to be the best deal going.

Tell us more about this HD program on WOWK news. Was it just taling about HD in general or about WOWK getting ready to go HD. I can tell you I will be pi**ed if WOWK goes HD, gets it on cable and then goes around advertising it and gets all the credit for being the HD leader when they drug their feet and kicked and cried about having to do it.

WSAZ, WCHS and WVAH all need to tout their HD feeds to the public.

DiamondDaveWV

01-18-06, 12:24 PM

Tell us more about this HD program on WOWK news. Was it just taling about HD in general or about WOWK getting ready to go HD. I can tell you I will be pi**ed if WOWK goes HD, gets it on cable and then goes around advertising it and gets all the credit for being the HD leader when they drug their feet and kicked and cried about having to do it.

Speaking of WOWK, I just got an email reply from the esteemed Bray Cary. I emailed WOWK about whether they would be broadcasting in HD in time for March Madness, and Cary responded: "We are in negations now and hope to have it available by then. Will know more in two weeks." Sounds like he's talking about a carriage contract with cable, to me.

herdfan

01-18-06, 12:45 PM

Perhaps Paul can give us some insight, but if WOWK has the ability to separate the HD feed, or accept it via the satellite, then what does it take to send that feed out over the DT channel which is carrying the SD feed. I know that CBS doesn't use the splicer system like FOX so there is no new equipment needed there.

And Paul, watch out. The sneakly little !@#$%^& is going to get cable carriage and start touting it as WOWK being the only one available on cable. I can even see him going as far as putting HD cameras in the studio for HD local news.

DarrinH

01-18-06, 12:58 PM

So is anyone else experiencing the same 2 channel sound with the Tonight Show?
American Idol looked good last night on the 100" screen.
FOX absolutely rocks with HD content now!

DiamondDaveWV

01-18-06, 01:43 PM

Speaking of WOWK, I just got an email reply from the esteemed Bray Cary. I emailed WOWK about whether they would be broadcasting in HD in time for March Madness, and Cary responded: "We are in negations now and hope to have it available by then. Will know more in two weeks." Sounds like he's talking about a carriage contract with cable, to me.

I emailed him back and asked: "Thanks for the response. I assume you are referring to a distribution agreement with the cable company -- what about your free over-the-air broadcasts on Channel 47/13.1?"

His one-word reply was: "Both."

herdfan

01-18-06, 01:50 PM

So is anyone else experiencing the same 2 channel sound with the Tonight Show?
There is a post over in the Members forum at Satguys referring to some audio testing being done during the NBC news. Sounded like a goof, but maybe NBC is working on getting 5.1.

I can't link to it as it is in the members only area, but the poster talked about each channel being tested.

tonybradley

01-18-06, 02:33 PM

Well, I took the wife and she heard them and thought they sounded awesome. So the WAF was pretty high. So I had the OK there. I guess two things held/are holding me back. First, I have always wanted Paradigm's and I am afriad if I haven't made a direct comparison, I will still want Paradigms. The other is that the Vienna's are 4 ohm speakers. Now they were running through a Denon 3806, but there is no way to tell how they had the speakers matrixed. Is the Denon providing the power and they are just using a speaker selector, or is the Denon acting as a pre/pro and they have a McIntosh amp ( a brand they carry) hidden in the back actually driving the speakers. It would make a difference. Got the dear in the headlights look when I asked.

The wife did like the surrounds as they are only about 5" deep compared to the Polk FXi5's which stick out like a foot. She wanted to know why we just couldn't get the surrounds. I tried to explain timber matching, but gave up. She also liked the look of the Martin Logans but didn't get the music speakers vs. HT speakers thing.

So did Darrin's SVS sub help you find you problem?

My old JVC receiver had a switch for either 8 or 4 ohm load. I'm not sure if my 2805 has that or not. Even if the Denon has it, I'm not sure if the power load would suffice. It's very possible they were using the Denon as a pre/pro with another amplifier powering the speakers, but I doubt it. The only reason I say that is 6 years ago when I heard Vienna Acoustics for the first time, it was hooked up to a middle of the road Denon. They could have been doing the same thing, but I doubt it.

Darrin and I were unable to connect this weekend. I am going out of town this weekend, so will try again next weekend. I've been emailing SVS. From what I've read and the communications I've had with them, I'll experience a HUGE difference upgrading to an SVS for my room. I'll test with Darrin's first.

With that being said, I'm trying to raise some money for a new subwoofer. I'm looking to sell my Tascam 4 track recorder, BC Rich NJ Strat Guitar and Peavey Studio Chorus Amplifer. Anyone know of anyone that may be interested? Oh yeah....I guess I can sell my Infinity BU-120 as well. :)