I think I witnessed the change as I was watching Leno and after the baseball game. I switched to 3-1 and it locked in, on the station, then the no signal screen popped up for a split second and then the display read 2-1. No biggie, like I said its probably just a mistake.

Anyone in the Streetsboro/Shalersville area and if so how is the reception and what antenna do you use?

I just did a rescan of the locals, and I'm now picking up 21-1 (broadcast channel 20) out of Youngstown. I'm in Medina, and signal strength is about 40%. But I watched for about 15 minutes tonight, and NO PIXELLATION! Bye-bye channel 3! It's nice to have an alternative to NBC!

I too noticed the changed of NBC to 2-1. It seems the signal is stronger for me as well. Maybe a coincedence, but true.

On adelphia: I spoke to a local installer for Adelphia on Friday and he confirmed HD launch by end of year. He also stated that beta testing is going on as we speak in Westlake and only minor "tweaks" are needed. Nothing that should delay roll out. Good news, I guess. I wonder If I should have waited instead of buying those 2 Zenith STB's!!

Originally posted by ParsonsBri
I too noticed the changed of NBC to 2-1. It seems the signal is stronger for me as well. Maybe a coincedence, but true.

On adelphia: I spoke to a local installer for Adelphia on Friday and he confirmed HD launch by end of year. He also stated that beta testing is going on as we speak in Westlake and only minor "tweaks" are needed. Nothing that should delay roll out. Good news, I guess. I wonder If I should have waited instead of buying those 2 Zenith STB's!!

Well, for the time being you are safe with the two STB's because Adelphia and most other cable company's have not signed contracts with the local CBS stations.

Not sure how you are, but I could not deal without CBS in HD.

Jim

Originally posted by ZManCartFan
I just did a rescan of the locals, and I'm now picking up 21-1 (broadcast channel 20) out of Youngstown. I'm in Medina, and signal strength is about 40%. But I watched for about 15 minutes tonight, and NO PIXELLATION! Bye-bye channel 3! It's nice to have an alternative to NBC!

You'd think that at some point in my life I would learn not to open my mouth too soon. Oh well, I guess I'll just chalk it up to being a guy thing...

Anyway, 21-1 has been in and out for me the last couple of days. Signal strength hovers between 35 and 40%, but it's been full of dropouts lately. It actually dropped low enough yesterday to prevent my HD300 from locking in to the station. Anybody know of a way to check how much power they're pushing and if there are any plans to up it in the future?

And is anybody else picking up the station in other parts of the Cleveland area?

Originally posted by ZManCartFan
Anybody know of a way to check how much power they're pushing and if there are any plans to up it in the future?


Here is the FCC plan:

http://www.transmitter.com/FCC98315/OHatwch.html

Probably, only their engineer knows the 'plan'. But such people do answer the phone.

From what I see on a map you should only get Youngstown when the weather conditions are favorable -- you're out of normal range.

I have tried to get any Youngstown station, analog or digital, but have not succeeded. I'd especially like ABC, channel 36 digital, since it is in Dolby 5.1.

If that table is correct no wonder DTV channel 2 (NBC) is so hosed. Only 9.3 kW ! I'm assuming that is to prevent interference tio their analog channel 3 and hopefully it willl go up when channel 3 goes off the air.

Thanks for the link, Stan. Interesting stuff.

It appears that the information was culled from the original plan from 1999. IIRC, there was a website like 10000watts.com (or something like that) that provided updated filing information for stations. I think I remember visiting once to see when the various stations were scheduled to go on the air. But, I believe that site is no longer free, and I can't imagine paying for that. Is there anyplace else that provides similar info?

I live on the west side of Hudson (on Rte 303). For me channel 3 is always very good. With a bit of a tweak on the antenna rotor 19 is usually good. Channel 5 has to be pointed just perfect to get a decent/consistent picture (about 50% success rate) and 8 & 43 almost never are watchable.

What do others get in this area?

Be aware you can't compare signal strengths of two stations without also taking into consideration the channel they are broadcasting on. It is not apples to apples. It takes a lot more power to get the same coverage on a higher channel than a lower one. I was talking to the engineer at WJW a while back and he was really crying the blues about their electric bill. He said the power requirements to get roughly the same coverage on channel 31 were so much higher than channel 8 that they would almost certainly change the digital over to channel 8 when the analog would finally be turned off for good. He said it would save them a lot of money. The point is, you can't look at the power output of channel 2 and say it is less than that of channel 31 so their coverage must be less. It is not that simple.

Steve

I know this is true but its not a 100 to 1 ratio. Besides the lower channels are much more susceptible to ionospheric disturbances.And I thought one of the goals of the transition was to free the lower channels for other non TV services.

I am out in Portage county about 4 miles east of Streetsboro. I put up an antenna that states its good for 120 miles VHF and 65 miles UHF. Bah, only get WEWS on digital and all analog sinals are terrible. Its been 25 years since we used a TV Antenna here and back then B4 cable we did get signals on all Cleve channels. I have to recheck the connections, I had a devil of a time putting a connector on the RG 6 at the antenna. I usually have no trouble crimping them on but I went thru 3 B4 one took. It may be that or at least I hope. I installed a wall plate behind the TV and broke the RG6 line there. I wonder what kind of DB loss those wall plates with double female connectors cause?
As the crow flies more that 25-30 miles away from the transmission towers.

Originally posted by StanZ
Here is the FCC plan:

http://www.transmitter.com/FCC98315/OHatwch.html

Probably, only their engineer knows the 'plan'. But such people do answer the phone.

From what I see on a map you should only get Youngstown when the weather conditions are favorable -- you're out of normal range.

I have tried to get any Youngstown station, analog or digital, but have not succeeded. I'd especially like ABC, channel 36 digital, since it is in Dolby 5.1.

I'm 200kW ERP at 760 feet on a tower 1.5 miles southeast of downtown Youngstown. "The Plan" is to maximize at 460 kW at the top of the tower after I do some more tower work and kick our main 13 ton antenna off the top of the tower. I have at least one regular viewer in Massilon and one just north of Pittsburgh 50 air miles away.

"The Engineer"

Well I disconnected my rg6 from the antenna this afternoon and just a bit ago I fired up the HD receiver and I noticed that all signal strengths were the same as when I had the coax hooked tot he antenna. Low and behold it looks as I overtightened the RG6 connector intot he matching transformer on the antenna and it twisted the shaft in the transformer breaking its connection. Off the RadioSHack in the AM to pick up a new balum transformer and treat it like a lady. Hopefully will have better results this time

Originally posted by Gary Day
I live on the west side of Hudson (on Rte 303). For me channel 3 is always very good. With a bit of a tweak on the antenna rotor 19 is usually good. Channel 5 has to be pointed just perfect to get a decent/consistent picture (about 50% success rate) and 8 & 43 almost never are watchable.

What do others get in this area?

Gary - I'm actually just South of you in akron and I can get 5, 8 and 43 almost all the time with near 100% signal quality. (I'm using a fusionII HDTV card, w/ an existing UHF/VHF roof antenna that was here when we bought the house). I have only ever once received NBC (channel 2) briefly. For the most part I've given up on NBC for now. However, after hearing about the above results on Channel 20 out of Youngstown I may be re-aiming my anteanna or paying for a rotator soon.

here is my input, I am in akron and seems like different tuners are capable of pulling down different stations. I have used Samsung 150, 160, Hughes e86, zenith420, jvc6000 and sony hd200. seems like zenith420 and sony200 are the only 2 recievers were able to pullin nbc,abc,fox,cbs,upn consistently with out any drop outs. I have a rooftop antenna and i have never had any problem getting nbc,abc,cbs,fox,upn with those zenith and sony. with hughes e 86 i was getting everything but nbc, same with samsung 150. but with samsung 160 my nbc was full of drop outs and was impossible to watch during the day time. so my recomendation will be try zenith420/520 or Sony HD200/300.

Lots of excellent info in this thread!! A couple of comments.

I have not seen any of the classic "Nov 1 2003" DTV stations listed from the station list I get from the antenna-web site even testing except for wqhs-dt 34 which is already on with SD. Any one else see anything?

I am also wondering how you guys with directional yagi's are scanning for channels? Do you "bump" the rotator and keep re-sc anning?

"Back in the day" one problem with TV DX'ing was the AGC system in the TV itself lowering gain as input levels go up. I had stacked channel masters for 11 out of detroit to catch Browns games till the lake froze over. The screen would just go "Black" as the array passed by channel 8. has the AGC system been implemented digitally now a days? I cant say that I have noticed any "Overload" on my 38310. I agree with MOFIZ about tuner sensitivity. I need to do some feedline work but I'm not impressed with the tuner in the 38310. I'm not using a pre-amp do to my proximity to all the locals.


Yesterday 30-oct-03 I did catch 27 from Y-town around 1630 local.

Happy Halloween!

FYI

I received the following yesterday from WVIZ in response to my inquiry about their HDTV status:

>
> Unfortunately, WVIZ/PBS ideastreamSM will not begin digital
>broadcasting this year. Unexpected transmitting tower issues are
>holding up implementation of digital transmission. As soon as the tower
>issues are cleared up, we will begin DTV broadcasting. At this point we
>don't have an estimate of when that will be but we hope it will be
>sometime in the spring.
> The November 1 date is the date of the first extension from the
>FCC. The FCC is currently processing our application for a second
>extension
>We are also exploring the possibility of feeding a DTV signal directly
>to local cable companies by fiber. If this exploration should prove
>fruitful, we may be able to provide DTV programming to cable subscribers
>before we actually begin broadcasting.
>
> Thanks for your question
>
> Gary Bluhm
> Chief Engineer
> WVIZ/PBS ideastreamSM
>

Was it just me last night, or has WKYC digital reverted back to 3-1 after a few days as 2-1?

mine is back to 3-1 as well.

Originally posted by TV21CHIEF
I'm 200kW ERP at 760 feet on a tower 1.5 miles southeast of downtown Youngstown. "The Plan" is to maximize at 460 kW at the top of the tower after I do some more tower work and kick our main 13 ton antenna off the top of the tower. I have at least one regular viewer in Massilon and one just north of Pittsburgh 50 air miles away.

"The Engineer"

Wow! Talk about getting an answer! Thanks for the info. I'm looking forward to you going to full power. Like I said, it will be great to have an alternative to (the multicasting) Channel 3.

By the way, the analog signal comes in "ok" here in southern Medina. I get a lot of snow, but it's watchable most days.

Oh, and I'm not sure about air miles. But downtown Medina to downtown Youngstown is 70.2 miles in a car. To get the signal at about 35-40% is pretty good, especially considering the antenna is in the attic, and it's optimized for the Cleveland antennae northeast of here.

WEWS Audio has been horrible lately. Moving from center to left speaker, even on mono sources. I noticed it on the analog station though too.

Is anyone getting Univision on 61. Digital 34? I lost signal after getting it for a week or so. Not like I know whats going on anyways, it is in Spanish after all.

Ok, I fixed my OTA connection. When up on the roof I had forgotten my coax stripping tool and used diagonal pliers. It was not a neat cut/strip. This time I brought my cutting tool with me, redid the connector and low and behold I get digital 3,5,8,19 and 43 all with 75-80% signals on the meter. I also get 25 analog stations including the three Youngstown, Canton and what ever. Those signals are off the back/side of antenna so the pic(s) are not very good.
I live about 3-4miles east of Streetsboro and put a radio shack fringe yagi on the roof using the utility vent (stink pipe) clamp kit. About 20 feet off the ground is the antenna.

I'm watching ESPN HD right now...GB vs. MIN in 720p and it looks absolutely fabulous! I see some people here complaining how all of their programming looks like crap...well it only looks that way because MOST of their material is upconverted from 480i to 720p and then MOST people's TVs upconvert that to 1080i...I've got two HD boxes...one on a 720p native HD projector and on a 55" Mitsubishi HDTV (1080i native) and they both look great in HD...even the 1080i upconvert looks perfect.

I know one of the Comcast install tech, and he told me a few weeks ago that over at Comcast they are ready to deploy all their HD channels and I should expect to see it start appearing ( the 7 HD channels) starting the last two weeks of November with an offical launch on December 5th (they'll start advertising it on 12/5)

Does anyone know if Comcast Mentor is planning on carrying CBS or ABC in HD? They only make mention of FOX (why? 480p sucks guys...i know they are switching to 720p tho) NBC, ESPN, SHO, HBO, iNHD1 and iNHD2.

I spent all my home theatre budget on my 720p projector and have no extra money to buy a HD box to get ABC and CBS over-the-air :-( Come on Comcast....it can't be that hard to add two local channels that are already broadcasting HD...

Ultimind it all boils down to $$$ as to what comcast is going to be carrying on HD. And you can get a used Samsung OTA receiver for around 200 on ebay. You should get ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, UPN, TBN, and Univision all over the air. Maybe even some non Cleveland stations being in Mentor.

What is a FusionII HD card?

I did a lot of tree clearing this weekend and was able to get 5, 8 and 43 (along with my mainstays 3 and 19). But, all of a sudden I lost them again.

Twice this happened. Once Saturday afternoon, after being perfect from noon until about 3:00PM, and again on Sunday night at 7:50PM. All 3 went from perfect to unwatchable.

This is so frustrating!!!!!!

I inquired about the November 1 date I have been seeing on antennaweb.org and this is the latest from WVIZ Engineering:

"Unfortunately, WVIZ/PBS ideastreamSM will not begin digital broadcasting this year. Unexpected transmitting tower issues are holding up implementation of digital transmission. As soon as the tower issues are cleared up, we will begin DTV broadcasting. At this point we don't have an estimate of when that will be but we hope it will be sometime in the spring.
The November 1 date is the date of the first extension from the FCC. The FCC is currently processing our application for a second extension
We are also exploring the possibility of feeding a DTV signal directly to local cable companies by fiber. If this exploration should prove fruitful, we may be able to provide DTV programming to cable subscribers before we actually begin broadcasting."

-- Paul

Wide Open West's Cleveland Area System Manager updated me with the following:

"WOW! Internet and Cable is planning on launching HDTV on 11/17/03. The initial launch will only include the carriage of HDTV programming from CBS, ABC, NBC, and HBO. Early next year we plan on adding additional services in HDTV."

-- Paul

Originally posted by ZManCartFan
... I'm not sure about air miles. But downtown Medina to downtown Youngstown is 70.2 miles in a car.

Here is an answer:

Distance between Medina, Ohio, United States and Youngstown, Ohio, United States, as the crow flies:
64 miles (103 km) (55 nautical miles)

Initial heading from Medina to Youngstown:
east (91.9 degrees)
Initial heading from Youngstown to Medina:
west (272.7 degrees)

See web site:
http://www.indo.com/distance/

I,m getting WEWS on 15-1?

I re-scanned channels every 20 degrees and I
didnt notice when it stopped re-mapping t 5-1 .

Anyone else ?

intermod

Originally posted by StanZ
Here is an answer:

Distance between Medina, Ohio, United States and Youngstown, Ohio, United States, as the crow flies:
64 miles (103 km) (55 nautical miles)



Wow. Thanks, Stan. This thread has been great, and it's pretty cool how we've got several different mini-threads all going on. I don't know about anybody else, but this is one of the first places I check every day online.

Shall we begin to organize another phone-a-thon to our local affiliates for 5.1 sound?

Looks like there are many new names in this thread since the last time I posted, so if we all call in, it may yield some results:)

Originally posted by thscott
I received the following yesterday from WVIZ in response to my inquiry about their HDTV status: ...

We are also exploring the possibility of feeding a DTV signal directly
to local cable companies by fiber. If this exploration should prove
fruitful, we may be able to provide DTV programming to cable subscribers
before we actually begin broadcasting.
Chief Engineer, WVIZ/PBS ideastreamSM
>

If that would happen and COMCAST would carry the signal, I would subscribe to their Digital/HDTV offering. As it it, I have the 60-day trial and I will cancel after the trial, because they don't have much coming that I don't already get Over-the-Air and/or Dish satellite.

Originally posted by Gary Day
What is a FusionII HD card?

I did a lot of tree clearing this weekend and was able to get 5, 8 and 43 (along with my mainstays 3 and 19). But, all of a sudden I lost them again.

Twice this happened. Once Saturday afternoon, after being perfect from noon until about 3:00PM, and again on Sunday night at 7:50PM. All 3 went from perfect to unwatchable.

This is so frustrating!!!!!!

Gary -

The Fusion II HD card is a PCI HD receiver card for my home theater PC. It's more or less a capture board with an HD receiver. I also use the S-Video input on the card w/ my DirectTV receiver and DScaler(software) to up convert my 480i signals to 1080i. The result is a very good picture. You can find out more about DScaler here (http://deinterlace.sourceforge.net/) and DVICO Fusion II here (http://www.dvico.com/products_multi.html)

Hey Guys! WOW what a great thread. I have been a long time advocate of HDTV programming in Cleveland since I purchased my first receiver in 2000. Recently I fell out of the HD scene when my son was born but I find now that he has hit the one year mark my free time is increasing. It is good to see that someone finally got a "Official" thread together for all of us to combine our resources and let the local broadcasters know we exist. I tried similar efforts in the past when I used to work for Audio Craft here in Cleveland. I now work as a Systems Engineer and do not have the "connections" I once had but I am willing to use what I have left to keep out efforts moving forward. Here are some of the threads I have been involved in previously to give some history.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=133127

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=137198

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=138904

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=144699

Good to see you here Chuck!

Channel 5, WEWS is now stretching their non HD stuff to hit the screen. I dont really like it, it just makes me press another button on the remote to set the stb to pillarbox to get back to oar.

On another note:

I like Fred's idea, lets put some pressure down to get some 5.1. How much longer do we have to wait? No PBS? No WB? No HD UPN? No 5.1 for any network? Crappy Multicasting on Channel 3? There is a lot to complaign about.

Ok. How come the 4pm CBS game on 19 is not wide screen? Its supposed to be HD.

They probably didnt flip the switch to the network HD feed since the Browns game ran past 4pm. I dont know exactly, you could give the station a call.

Originally posted by Mike_Stuewe
Channel 5, WEWS is now stretching their non HD stuff to hit the screen. I dont really like it, it just makes me press another button on the remote to set the stb to pillarbox to get back to oar.

I agree, the stretching looks bad. Why does WEWS want all their people to look fat? My stb gives me no option to fix it.

Big mistake. Everyone should call and write them. We want the picture to look good, not all stretched and mis-shaped.

I agree with you guys on the stretching on channel 15 - it looks bad. My guess is if you talked to someone in engineering they would just tell you they are doing what they were told to do. I'm not sure what dept. makes those decisions but the head engineer would probably know. Does anyone know his name and email address? In the mean time I'm been watching the Youngstown ABC affiliate on channel 36. No stretch there.

Steve

There are suddenly a lot of Adelphia threads, but this message is Cleveland-related, so I think it's best to put it here.

Not too long ago, the HD stations were added to the digital channel guide, and they've now been added to the channel listings on the Adelphia website (my zip code is 44120). When they first appeared on the digital box, there were channels for all locals, as well as HBO and Showtime. It looks like the initial offering will be much smaller, as only NBC, ABC, and Showtime remain. Still, it's a start, although the Adelphia office is currently saying it won't be available until January.

Originally posted by jtscherne
There are suddenly a lot of Adelphia threads, but this message is Cleveland-related, so I think it's best to put it here.

Not too long ago, the HD stations were added to the digital channel guide, and they've now been added to the channel listings on the Adelphia website (my zip code is 44120). When they first appeared on the digital box, there were channels for all locals, as well as HBO and Showtime. It looks like the initial offering will be much smaller, as only NBC, ABC, and Showtime remain. Still, it's a start, although the Adelphia office is currently saying it won't be available until January.

I checked my zip (44149) channel lineup this morning and none of the HD channels were listed. I just checked now and they have the same three showing. I still don't know if I can justify the price of Adelphia when I get all the locals without much of a problem with an indoor antenna. Plus, I have Directv and their HD package. I'd like to dump the rabbit ears but at what cost! Adelphia will have to get ESPN-HD and a few others for me to even consider adding cable again. I have Directv mainly for the NFL and don't see how I could live without the D*Tivo STB's. Plus the HD-Tivo will be out soon from D*.

Thanks for the info jtscherne.

well, this is odd, Fox 8-1 dissapeared from my menu tonight. Is this happening to anyone else? Or is it something to do with my receiver, which is a Zenith 520?

mchil wrote:

well, this is odd, Fox 8-1 dissapeared from my menu tonight. Is this happening to anyone else? Or is it something to do with my receiver, which is a Zenith 520?

__________________

Nope, Your OK. I saw 8-1 was missing around 6:30, may have been some PSIP trouble over there, I just punched in 31 and it re-mapped to 8-1.

Dan

No HD in Cleveland for the CBS game of the week for the NFL. I called the newsdesk and complaigned and was given a BS answer about how it has to do with the commercials, and got Jim somebody's email. 2 weeks in a row, total bullcrap.

Tne CBS HD game of the week is Colts/Jets (4pm)and is not being carried in Cleveland as FOX as the double header.
It sure looks (and sounds good, 5.1) on the DirecTV feed though.

Hang on, I'm watching the Colts, Jets game OTA on CBS now and it is in HD.

When this happens, call and ask to speak with Master control. They are the people that fall asleep at the switch, and they are the ones that can fix the problem.

Yeah after I hung up, they flipped the switch. Probably 15 minutes into the game.

Although Fox had the double header, CBS is able to show the game in Cleveland since the Browns were on Fox at 1. With the Browns on Fox, CBS could not show football at 1pm, so they can show the 4pm national game.

The Number I called was 771-1943, since its the weekend, I got the newsdesk number from their message system. That number is 367-7300. For future reference.

And this is a pretty high scorin' game right now.

I did not even bother to look for the game on 19 as DirecTV screwed up and did not black it out the way they usually do to Sunday ticket games that are broadcast on a local station. The 5.1 sound was really sweet and we do need to pressure the Cleveland stations to go that route.

Originally posted by Argee
DirecTV screwed up and did not black it out the way they usually do to Sunday ticket games that are broadcast on a local station.

All CBS HD games are shown on channel 70 with the NFL Sunday ticket. CBS stated that the blackout rules WILL NOT apply to the HD broadcast through the NFL Ticket.

When did CBS start sending 5.1 to their affiliates? I had heard they had some infrastructure problem with their satellites that did not allow them to do 5.1. Has that been overcome?

Steve

Speaking of WOIO has anyone noticed a slight shift in their color towards yellow?
My projector was down for a couple of months and the first thing I noticed when I fired it back up was this shift toward yellow on WOIO. I do not notice this on any of the other stations.

We all must be getting good reception on our locals this past week. I needed to dig down 6 pages to find the thread. I have not been watching much TV lately due to a kitchen remodel I'm working on at home. I did notice two minor drop outs during ER last night on WKYC.

Ray

Originally posted by Rbuchina
We all must be getting good reception on our locals this past week.
Ray

I haven't been able to get WOIO after dark for a couple of months. (An email to their engineer merited no response.

Channel 61/34 Univision came for a week or so and has vanished.

Comcast has not added any HD stations. ESPN HD, their one offering, tears (rhymes with 'shares') up a lot. That's a defect I've never seen in OTA digital. It must have something to do with QAM technology.

Stan,

You might want to double check your Comcast channel list. Maybe you have to call your local office to have it turned on. Over here in North Ridgeville I'm getting the following HDTV channels.

773-ESPND
774-INHD
775-INHD2
778-SHOHD
779-HBOHD
781-DWKYC
783-DWJW

I must say that when compaired to Directv, Comcast wins. The head end tech tells me that they are running at a full 19.7.
Check them out and let me know what you think.

Ben Music:)

Originally posted by Rbuchina
I did notice two minor drop outs during ER last night on WKYC.

Ray

I noticed three or four pixellation problems as well as 3 or 4 outright drop outs where the sound would continue but the picture went black for 1 or 2 seconds. It got to the point that my wife asked me to switch to the regular (DirecTV) channel. I didn't, though. ;)

Also, the past couple of weeks I've been watching the Buckeyes games on DirecTV channel 5. For anyone who has watched the digital channel, did the picture ever "go green" and slide around the screen when the commercial breaks would start / stop? I know that's not much of a description, but it kind of looked like what you used to see when the end of the film rolled by the projector lamp. Except green as well. The picture would come back after a second or two.

Just wondering if it's a DirecTV thing, Channel 5 thing, or a hardware issue.

I know this is a long shot, but any chance the OSU MICH game will be in HD?

Originally posted by ParsonsBri
I know this is a long shot, but any chance the OSU MICH game will be in HD?

No. ABC does the big ten and they don't have the trucks available to due college and NFL.

no, sorry....

Per request, I'm copying this post into this thread. Not sure if the subject came up here yet:

Well, I'm still in a state of shock. Looks like Adelphia is actually doing something positive for a change. While my buddy was talking to their tech support about his digital cable box being out, he asked about HDTV since he just purchased one. The guy said it was coming out Jan 1st. I had a hard time believing this so I called Adelphia corp. customer service & sure enough, it's 100% true. The woman I spoke to didn't know what programming would be but she confirmed they had a launch date of late December but pushed to the 1st of the year. So, HDTV will be available on Adelphia in Cleveland Ohio very soon.

-Todd

They didn't happen to mention if Discovery HD and ESPN HD were going to be offered did they?

If not then I'll probably stick with my OTA setup.

At this point, all that is known is that the system is being tested, with rollout coming "soon". The three stations currently appearing on the programming guide are still ABC, NBC, and Showtime. I've read on HDTVPub.com that HBO will be right behind, but nothing is official yet, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

How are you getting those channels? I'm in North Ridgevlle, and I still only have 773... Just called and they told me that those channels are not launching until monday (Dec 1).. Did you have to do anything to get those channels?

Originally posted by Ben Music
Stan,

You might want to double check your Comcast channel list. Maybe you have to call your local office to have it turned on. Over here in North Ridgeville I'm getting the following HDTV channels.

773-ESPND
774-INHD
775-INHD2
778-SHOHD
779-HBOHD
781-DWKYC
783-DWJW

I must say that when compaired to Directv, Comcast wins. The head end tech tells me that they are running at a full 19.7.
Check them out and let me know what you think.

Ben Music:)

Rob and prevman,

As I mentioned in a earlier post, I am a beta tester for Cleve/No Ridgeville Comcast area. For about the last month or so I've been testing the Motorola 5100 HDTV set top box and all the 7 HDTV channels that I listed before. If you have ESPNHD (CH 773) on your box now, you should be able to get the other 6 on or after Dec 1st, which I understand is the official Cleve/Comcast rollout date.

I don't know if this will be automatic,or not. If nothing shows up on Dec 1st, then give your local area Comcast a call.

More good news: I just found out this morning that next on the list will be 4 more digital channels to be added very soon. They will include Cinemax HD, STARZ HD, ABCHD (WEWS Ch 5) and the WB Digital.

Hope this helps,
Ben Music

Update re Wide Open West - I called today and scheduled an install for Dec 13 for their HD service. I am in Shaker Heights and currently have their basic cable analog package. Phone rep stated that the following HD channels will be provided: ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC. I asked him about ESPN, he said "hopefully soon", I suggested they get inHD - he was not familiar with that but would put a request in to marketing. I think he said HBOHD was included in the HBO package (extra 10.00/mo), but I am not getting the HBO package, so I didn't remember exactly.

So the deal is $47.00/mo for basic analog cable + $11.00/mo for digital cable = $57.99/mo. I was not required to get the $11.00 digital cable package to get HD -- the rep said HD is *included* in basic cable or digital cable package, no extra charge for the HD converter (kinda scratching my head on that one...)

I will post an update here after the install... :)

-- Paul

Originally posted by paule123
Update re Wide Open West - I called today and scheduled an install for Dec 13 for their HD service. I am in Shaker Heights and currently have their basic cable analog package. ...

Paul, who are you talking about when you say "their basic cable analog package"? Comcast or Adelphia. I'm hoping you're talking about Adelphia but your post just isn't clear.

Moving Target, Paul is talking about the Cable Company "Wide Open West" (WOW) which provides service in some of the Cleveland suburbs. In North Royalton, we have a choice between Adelphia and WOW.

Thanks Ben for the information. The guy at Comcast was wondering how you had them already. I missed that you were a beta tester (how do you get to be one anyway?)

The guy I talked to said they moved the rollout back to December 3rd for some reason instead of the 1st. It would have been nice to have them for the holiday weekend, but I guess I will have to wait.

Glad to see some fellow Ridgeville folk on the forum.

Later all.

Rob

Hi guys,
I just got HD from Time Warner about a week ago and overall
I am pretty happy w/ it. Had my HDTV for about 2 years now so
it's a joy to finally use the "HD" part.

Here is what TW offers for programming:
(TW requires you to have digital cable but the HDTV upgrade is free)

High definition Channel Line-Up:

Position Channel
380 HBO East HD
381 HBO West HD
390 Showtime East HD
391 Showtime West HD
508 WJW Fox 8 Cleveland
521 WKYC NBC 3 Cleveland
551 WEWS ABC 5 Cleveland
554 Discovery HD Theater
555 In Demand HD
556 In Demand HD 2

I got to see HBO and SHO for a bit till they turned them off
as I only got the basic digital package. The movies looked really
crisp although both HBO's signal dropped out a lot.

WJW was pretty good but had uneven cropping for the R/L bars and
WKYC seemed to display what looked like EDTV picture. WEWS was
clean and crisp but many of its programs had those annoying larger
cropping bars.

DiscHD, InHD1 and InHD2 all have a wonderfull, clean, crisp HD picture.
DiscHD would get some compression but those are pretty rare.

Eventually I will save up for a HD receiver for OTA since the house already
had a antenna installed. Not sure what brand since getting on the
roof sounds like something to do when summer comes back.

Hopefully CBSHD, ESPNHD, PBS HD and WBHD are on the way but
just glad to have HD so I am not greedy :).

It appears that Cleveland Comcast's HD feeds have been set as active. When I woke up this morning I was successfully able to tune the box to 774, (didn't really have time to check the other channels). But I am assuming the other channels are active as well! Yahoo.. HD sopranos in March!



Originally posted by Ben Music

Rob and prevman,

As I mentioned in a earlier post, I am a beta tester for Cleve/No Ridgeville Comcast area. For about the last month or so I've been testing the Motorola 5100 HDTV set top box and all the 7 HDTV channels that I listed before. If you have ESPNHD (CH 773) on your box now, you should be able to get the other 6 on or after Dec 1st, which I understand is the official Cleve/Comcast rollout date.

I don't know if this will be automatic,or not. If nothing shows up on Dec 1st, then give your local area Comcast a call.

More good news: I just found out this morning that next on the list will be 4 more digital channels to be added very soon. They will include Cinemax HD, STARZ HD, ABCHD (WEWS Ch 5) and the WB Digital.

Hope this helps,
Ben Music

I must be doing something wrong - I am getting none of these channels (maybe too late at night - 1am?). Shouldn't they be on 24/7?

Originally posted by Steve B
I am getting none of these channels (maybe too late at night - 1am?). Shouldn't they be on 24/7?

I picked them up in Mentor on 12/1. I first checked at about 4 p.m.

For general information
Cox Cable just added
Bravo+
ESPNHD
INHD
INHD2
Discovery HD theater for 4.95 month first 6 months free
They already had HBO HD, ShowtimeHD, WOIOdtv, WEWSdts, and WUABdtv

All of the channels look great with the exception of HBO which appears to be having Issues! Anybody else notice this?

Originally posted by StanZ
I picked them up in Mentor on 12/1. I first checked at about 4 p.m.

I'm getting frustrated with all the other local cable companies offering service, while I can't get a straight answer from Adelphia! I call every other day and I haven't been given a specific date yet. Today I was told "maybe February". Of course, I could have called a half hour later and been told something completely different.

Monday nights game was going in and out on WEWS 5-1. I would have a 85% signal then all of a sudden it would die out and give me crap for a second, then come back. This happen several times a minute and was pretty close to unwatchable. Every other channel I normally get was fine. Anyone have the same thing Monday night?

Cactus,

I believe you were having problems because of high wind conditions. If you live in an area with a lot of trees the wind increases the problem.
I just have an indoor antenna for my set up and have been having a lot of this happening lately. Monday being the most recent. It got so bad Monday that the loss of signal locked up my DTC 100 and I had to reboot it.

PPS

Some of us can now compare signal quality from over-the-air antenna with quality from our cable provider. This problem Monday night with WEWS is a case in point.

I just signed up for Adelphia HD (Cleveland area; 575-8000). They are delivering the box on Saturday. They had to schedule it as an all-day appointment, but I don't care... They indicated that the box charge is $7.50 per month, but they are giving it to me for $3.50 per month for the first two months. I know the initial offering is slim, but I'll take what I can get for starters.

Keeping fingers crossed. I'll post again after installation.

My Comcast HD channels were on 12/1 as well. I have been at work almost non stop since Monday morning because of a server crash, but I had time to check out a little last night. Watched part of Clockstoppers on Showtime. It looked good, but had some dropouts. I also watched 24 on Fox's high res channel. Not as good as the other HD channels, but better than the regular channel for sure.

Glad to finally have some choices!

Happy viewing everyone!

Rob

Jtscherne, after your adelphia HD installation, please let us know what they are using for the box. Is it Motorola or SA and which model?

Thanks,
Richard

I just received this email from Adelphia today---I'm in Strongsville

Hello everyone,
I apologize for sending this email as my 1st contact to you, however I have not been able to talk to you via phone. In response to the inquiries you sent to our offices regarding HDTV, I am happy to announce that you will be given the opportunity to be one of the first to subscribe to our service. Currently we only have 4 channels that broadcast in HD which are ABC, NBC, HBO and Showtime. We are working on obtaining the rest. Because you inquired about this service first, you will be given a 2 month promotional offer of $3.50 per month. This new box will replace your old digital box ( @$3.50 per month) thus this service is free for 2 months. There is no charge for ABC or NBC, but you must subscribe to HBO or Showtime to receive the HD feed. After the two month promotion, the price for the HD equipment will go to $8.95 per month and hopefully the balance of the HD programming will be in place. Please call 216-575-8000 for additional information in regards to having a technician come to your home to install the equipment (no charge) or for you to pick up the equipment at one of our payment centers.

Thank you for your patience
Steve Marshall
Marketing Coordinator

I just went to two walk-in centers (Severance and Euclid Ave.). Neither of them had the boxes yet; they both were expecting them in, but don't have them in. Luckily I still have the Saturday appointment, so I'll wait until then.



Originally posted by Shark73
I just received this email from Adelphia today---I'm in Strongsville

SNIP
Please call 216-575-8000 for additional information in regards to having a technician come to your home to install the equipment (no charge) or for you to pick up the equipment at one of our payment centers.

Thank you for your patience
Steve Marshall
Marketing Coordinator

Is anyone else having audio problems with CBS tonight? I'm trying to watch CSI and the audio is horrible.

Jim

I signed up and installed Adelphia HDTV yesterday afternoon--scientific atlanta box with DVI option. At this time they are only offering ABC and NBC local HDTV along with HBO and Showtime HD. They indicted they would offer all HD channels available within three months (we shall see). However, they did say they will have a DVR box available by February. They let me take the box and install myself--however, I had some reception problems and the service people (by phone) indicated that they will have a policy that a service visit is mandatory and they will not let the user just pick up the box. Get there soon before they implement this policy. Cheers.

Shark73,
I had audio problems on CSI last night also. I receive CBS OTA. It was a weird strobe light effect of the sound that would jump in every now and then.
Ray

I just picked up my HD box from Adelphia in Strongsville. Haven't installed it yet, but I will do so this evening and will let everyone know how the PQ looks.

Jim

Ok. I setup the Explorer 3250 HD box that I got from Adelphia today. As reported the channels they offer are NBC, ABC, HBO & SHO. I only went with the HBO package for the time being, as I get SHO with DirecTv. I checked the PQ of HBOHD on both Adelphia and DirecTv and they look the same to me.

Does anyone know if Adelphia is compressing the signal at all? I know that D* uses a system to compress the signal when needed but the PQ looked the same from both providers.

Now I wait to see what HD channels Adelphia adds in the coming months.

panjj - do you know if that PVR will be for HD & SD shows or just SD?

Thanks!

Jim

I hope they get CBS by the Super Bowl and INHD by baseball season!

This rant isn't specifically HD-related, but it certainly is a cautionary tale.

I scheduled my HD hookup on Wednesday. They gave me today (Saturday) as my installation date, between 8:00 and 5:00. They wouldn't give me a more specific time. I re-arranged some things and began my wait. At approximately 4:45, I called in to Adelphia, because I was obviously concerned. After being transferred once, I was told that my appointment had been cancelled. At first, the man couldn't say why, but he finally indicated that they had run out of boxes.

Obviously, I was angry because I had a scheduled appointment, so I assume they had a box, but more importantly, the appointment was cancelled and NOBODY contacted me to tell me. By this time, my anger was certainly at its peak. I asked to speak to a supervisor and he took down the information, promising that I would be contacted within 24 hours.

At this point, I remembered that the Severance office was open until 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, and I quickly drove over there. Luckily, they still had a few boxes, so I was able to pick it up and installed it immediately. Everything seems to be working properly. I would have done this in the first place had I known my appointment had been cancelled.

I will be angry for quite awhile and I only wish I had a viable alternative so I could cancel Adelphia.

Anyway, end of rant.

What happened to the SEC Championship game? Was HD... now it's not. What gives WOIO-DT?

Call the newsline phone number and ask for the control room. Ask them nicley to flip the switch for the HD game. Usually, that does the trick.

Jim

More audio trouble for the Denver KC game right now. Its probably for the best though, I got finals to study for tomorrow :)

Yeah.....Lousy echo temporarily. It did the same last night during SEC championship game. And these guys are gonna broadcast the Super Bowl. Oh my! I'm sure they're doin' their best. And, I'm glad it's not just me noticing it.

No audio trouble with the HD game through NFL Sunday Ticket....it must be local. I wish they would get their act together and switch over to 5.1 audio already. It would be nice to have 5.1 for the playoffs and Super Bowl. I've been spoiled with the great sound this season over D*.

I was given no specifics on the DVR and I assume we will have to wait to see what box, options are offered.

On the installation issues: I had scheduled a Sat. visit by service to check on a sound issue I was having and had a long talk with the service agent on the phone. He opened the conversation by saying they would not be coming because they had not yet offered HDTV service. I told him I was watching HBO HDTV with their box at that exact moment. In his favor, he was very suprised, and angry, saying he had a HDTV set and was looking forward to the service himself, that there was a big communication problem and he would check on Monday. He did not have any boxes so that is why you probably had your apt. cancelled. I hope this is just a little glitch and not symtomatic of future problems with the HDTV rollout (recall they were going to do the rollout in late Dec. or early Jan. so the bump up may have not been planned to well). How about that for a positive attitude!

Good luck and hope the additional channels come very soon.

Hi everyone! I am new to HDTV. Just bought my first HDTV set 2 weeks ago and signed up to VOOM DSS, since Adelphia was too slow rolling out their HDTV service. I am now enjoying 26+ HDTV channels and am extremely happy with the PQ.

However, I am still struggling with local (Cleveland) OTA channels (VOOM receiver has OTA capability and the dish install includes the OTA antenna). Currently I can only receive ch.3-1 and ch.5-1 (ABC and NBC). I am not getting any signal on channels 8-1, 19-1, 43-1, etc. Some say it is a mapping problem in the receiver, others say the antenna is not pointing in the right direction. Installers promised to resolve this problem, but I haven't heard back from them yet.

1. Could someone please confirm that all the above DTV channels are available in Cleveland area? How far from Cleveland?

2. In which direction the antenna should be pointing to? (FYI, I am in Southern part of Solon.)

3. What kind of antenna do you have, if it matters?

4. What signal strength are you getting for each channel?

5. Can anyone receive other OTA channels in addition to those 5?

Your comments will be greatly appreciated!

I am on the lakefront near downtown Cleveland (Quay 55 apartments) and I have been using a "rabbit's ears" amplified indoor antenna (i'm on the top floor). OTA, I receive NBC 3-1 (40 signal strength), ABC 5-1 (78 ss), FOX 8-1 (88 ss) and UPN 43-1 (70 ss). My antenna is pointed towards the southwest. There are other posts that have URL linkages to sites where you can gte very specific antenna aiming details.

Last Thursday, I picked up an HD cable box from Adelphia (Scientific Atlanta) as a result of seeing some earlier posts on this Forum. For the next 2 months while Adelphia is deploying their HD system, they are not charging me anything extra for the HD box (same price as just digital cable). Currently I receive NBC HD, ABC HD, HBO HD and SHO HD. They all look great to my untrained eye. Adelphia "promises" to add CBS HD, ESPN HD within the next month.

Ok, I went to www.antennaweb.org (is that what everyone is using?), entered my (Solon, OH) address and got the following list of digital channels (I am skipping analog channels and azimuth numbers specific to my address):

Now Live:

* yellow WDLI-DT 39 TBN Canton OH
* red WKYC-DT 2 NBC Cleveland OH
* red WOIO-DT 10 CBS Shaker Heights OH
* red WEWS-DT 15 ABC Cleveland OH
* red WUAB-DT 28 UPN Lorain OH Now Live
* red WJW-DT 31 FOX Cleveland OH Now Live
* blue WFMJ-DT 20 NBC Youngstown OH Now Live
* blue WNEO-DT 46 PBS Alliance OH Now Live

Coming soon:

* yellow WEAO-DT 50 PBS Akron OH May 1 2004
* yellow WVPX-DT 59 PAX Akron OH Awaiting FCC Permit
* green WOAC-DT 47 SAH Canton OH Feb 1 2004
* red WVIZ-DT 26 PBS Cleveland OH May 9 2004
* red WBNX-DT 30 WB Akron OH Awaiting FCC Permit
* red WQHS-DT 34 UNI Cleveland OH Jan 1 2004
* blue WKBN-DT 41 CBS Youngstown OH Awaiting FCC Permit

Is anyone getting all 8 channels listed above?
I am a bit confused about channel numbers. Is 28 the same thing as 43-1 ?

Those are right. The coming soon dates are bullcrap though. No station has a set date when they will go live.

In westlake, I get,

2-1, 2-2, 2-3 (3)
10-1 (19)
15-1 (5)
28-1 (43)
31-1 (8)
39-1, 39-2, 39-3, 39-4 (17)

The reason the numbers are different is because HD telivision is transmitted over a different frequency than the analog station. It is then mapped to the regular station name on your OTA receiver. Hence the 2-1 showing up as 3-1.

Hi Guys,

Just brought my Adelphia box home today to hook up with my LT150 front projector.
First impression is that the HD channels look good, but I am having trouble getting the aspect ratio right.
I was hoping to have my screen masked off for widescreen and that the standard definition would be centered in the middle.
So far the picture runs off the top and bottom by a lot if I go to a non HD channel.
Any ideas.

Steve in North Royalton

Has anyone in the Cleveland Area been able to get DTV channels from Toledo or Toronto or any other cities with a large antenna? cause i have been considering buying a large antenna to get channels from other cities

Prankmafia, on good days I can get channel 11 CBS out of Toledo on the back end of my antenna. I have been thinking of throwing up a 12 footer on the roof with a router to see what else I can pull in, but there is snow on the roof so thats gonna have to wait.

Gentlemen,

In approximately 1 hour. The Cleveland Browns will take the field in the first Monday Night Football for the city of Cleveland in 8 years. As most of you know, Monday Night Football has been broadcast in High Definition throughout the season and ABC has done a quality job of covering the football games.

However, this is Cleveland HDTV. So the question is, what will the problem be for tonights big event in Cleveland? Do you think it will be audio or video dropouts? Do you think Channel 5 will forget to throw the HD switch? Maybe the transmitter could go down? Could ABC experience the same audio problems that have plagued CBS lately? Or could it be something else? Lets here your thoughts.

I can tell you right now. It will be a crappy signal strength from WEWS. I am already suffering dropouts out here in Avon due to poor signal. I hope this gets fixed. There is no excuse for a poor signal 25 miles from the towers. When are they going to improve the signal strength!!

You can do some things using the SETTINGS button. Scroll through and you'll find a screen option there.

The best thing to do is to get the full manual for the box at Scientific Atlanta's website:

http://www.scientificatlanta.com/explorerclub/index.htm

There are some setup things that can be done to box.

There's a lot of discussion over at Home Theater Spot:

http://www.***************.com/htsthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB4&Number=505275&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1

Hope this helps.


Originally posted by Steve101
Hi Guys,

Just brought my Adelphia box home today to hook up with my LT150 front projector.
First impression is that the HD channels look good, but I am having trouble getting the aspect ratio right.
I was hoping to have my screen masked off for widescreen and that the standard definition would be centered in the middle.
So far the picture runs off the top and bottom by a lot if I go to a non HD channel.
Any ideas.

Steve in North Royalton

The game looked pretty great out in Brunswick OTA. Only a few very minor audio drops. I only watched until halftime because I got tired and fed up with the Brown's performance.

I wonder why the ABC affiliate in Youngstown, channel 36 is not listed on the Antennaweb listing? I've been watching them instead of channel 15(WEWS) because WEWS now stretches/distorts their picture. I guess they believe the average Joe Sixpack prefers to have his screen filled. I'm glad there is an alternative. I've been able to get everything in Youngstown and Cleveland without a problem. I have a roof antenna with a rotor and I'm just Southeast of Akron.

Steve

I had my new Adelphia STB working in time for the game.
It looked fantastic.
After finally getting true HD program playing, and setting my screen size, all of the other SD channels fit in the screen the way they were supposed to.
Still not sure what I had wrong in the beginning but it looked great at 92" wide.

Now they just need to get more channels.

Steve

The game looked great last night. I have no complaints. I had Zero audio or video dropouts. It was very nice.

Looks like the only dropouts during the night were by Kelly Holcomb. OH!

In all seriousness, the 2nd half of that game was pretty sweet, even if the Browns did lose.

Making my usual rounds of the channels last night I saw Enterprise (that Star Trek show) on in HDTV! Is this a first for WUAB 43.1? It was not a real clear HD show, but looked good. The Jake 2.0 show after it was HDTV too.

Good job Channel 43.

Originally posted by SteveC
I wonder why the ABC affiliate in Youngstown, channel 36 is not listed on the Antennaweb listing? I've been watching them instead of channel 15(WEWS) because WEWS now stretches/distorts their picture. I guess they believe the average Joe Sixpack prefers to have his screen filled. I'm glad there is an alternative. I've been able to get everything in Youngstown and Cleveland without a problem. I have a roof antenna with a rotor and I'm just Southeast of Akron.

Steve

I watch Youngstown more now too. Why is WEWS doing such a stupid thing with the stretching? Why would anyone want all their people to look fat? I can?t stand to watch them anymore. They were a good Digital station before this.

Ken,
Was Enterprise and Jake 2.0 actually in HD(16:9, etc) or was it just the 4:3 upconvert of the analog feed? If they are finally able to relay the HD feed it is great news. I did not watch Enterprise last night because it was a repeat. I would have certainly watched it again if I knew it was in HD. I'll check it next week for sure. Thanks for the update.

Steve

Originally posted by SteveC
Ken,
Was Enterprise and Jake 2.0 actually in HD(16:9, etc)
Steve

Yes, 16:9 and HD. Not the Best HD I have seen by far, but that is the people making Enterprise's fault, not WUAB.

I'm going to send them a thank you and start begging for everything else they have to be in HD.

Ohio Residents...Anyone interested in getting Chuck Williams for an Ohio ISF tour?
The topic says it all, I was contacted by a fellow Cleveland area resident, and we are both interested in getting Mr. Williams out to calibrate our displays. He is one of the best in the business, and trust me when I say you will not regret having Chuck out, he will sqeeze every bit of potential out of your display(from personal expierence, he made my jaw drop after he tweaked the hell out of my Mitsubishi 2 years ago).

If you are interested, please post here or email me.

Thanks,
Fred

I am in Cleveland Heights--Sony GWIII. Add me to the list.

I'm interested out here in Medina, Toshiba 65H80.

How much would it cost? Or does it depend on how many people you get?

Could be interested. Loewe 38 inch. Just had it done 3 months ago. How great is this guy.
Akron

I was hoping some of you Comcast HDTV subscribers could help me determine if the time is right. I have been receiving HDTV OTA for over a year now here in Willoughby. I am a Comcast subscriber to analog cable and their high speed internet service. I also subscribe to TiVo and have a Sony standalone PVR.

1. What is the cost to subscribe to Comcast HD? Do you have to upgrade to their digital service? Do you pay to rent the tuner?

2. Are all 7 channels now active?

3. Can I incorporate my TiVo box into this system? I assume that the TiVo box would simply act as a smart channel changer for the HD STB. Do you know if Comcast will have an integrated HDTV/PVR STB any time soon?

4. I've been hearing about dropouts even over cable. Is this true? If so, what the hell? I figured I'd be done with dropouts if I went to cable.

Originally posted by Bizily:


"1. What is the cost to subscribe to Comcast HD? Do you have to upgrade to their digital service? Do you pay to rent the tuner?"

--Yes, you need to have the digital service from what I know. You don't need to pay EXTRA over the normal digital box. The normal digital boxes are 5.99 a month each. So if you have 3 Digital boxes, you could replace all 3 with HDTV boxes for no additional cost (assuming you have 3 HD displays to use them on :) ) . You get all 7 channels (assuming you already subscribe to HBO and SHO) for no additional cost.

"2. Are all 7 channels now active?"

--Yes, all 7 channels are up and running.

"3. Can I incorporate my TiVo box into this system? I assume that the TiVo box would simply act as a smart channel changer for the HD STB. Do you know if Comcast will have an integrated HDTV/PVR STB any time soon?"

--I can not comment on this question, as I do not yet use TiVo. I have heard that Comcast will be offering a PVR option in early 2004, but I have not seen anything concrete.

"4. I've been hearing about dropouts even over cable. Is this true? If so, what the hell? I figured I'd be done with dropouts if I went to cable."

--I have watched about 15-20 hours of HDTV over Comcast since Dec 1st, and have ONLY experienced dropouts on ESPNHD. I get an audio and video dropout every couple of minutes almost everytime I watch a HD program on ESPN. The other channels have not had this problem. NOTE: I have not watched much ESPN since the other channels came online, so I do not know if it is still happening. It may have only been while they were still testing the area with ESPN only.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

Rob

Originally posted by Fred DeGrandis
Ohio Residents...Anyone interested in getting Chuck Williams for an Ohio ISF tour?
(snip)
If you are interested, please post here or email me.

Thanks,
Fred

Fred,
Great Idea! My philips is desperate for help! I wonder how much it will cost? I am in as long as the cost is not crazy.

BP

I think Chuck usually charges in the $500-800 range. All depending what you get done. I had Craig Miller ISF my Mits in June. It was the best money I've ever spent.

Originally posted by Bizily
... 4. I've been hearing about dropouts even over cable. Is this true? [/B]

The dropouts don't bother me as much as the tearing (rhymes with caring) of the images. This happens when the scene changes a lot, such as when going to and from a commercial.

This is an effect I don't see OTA nor with satellite.

http://www.lionav.com/services.html

Here is a good list of the prices for his services and other info.

The last time he was out, I was amazed at the level of improvement that an ISF calibration yielded(There is a HUGE difference between a local place doing an ISF and Chuck doing an ISF calibration...He is the Babe Ruth of tweaking!).

Here are some comments from some other Ohio residents that were on the tour less than 2 years ago:

http://ohioisftour.freewebspace.com/index.html

THis comes along once every year or two, so dont let this pass...You will be amazed at the job this guy does.

Fred

Originally posted by Fred DeGrandis
Ohio Residents...Anyone interested in getting Chuck Williams for an Ohio ISF tour?...
I own a plasma set. I've heard about calibrating a projection set, but what do you think about calibrating a plasma? Do you really think it's worth the money? Can anyone personally attest to the benefit of calibrating a plasma TV?

I have not seen a calibrated plasma, but from what I have read its incredible. These are questions that I will bring up with Chuck, and will report back to you.

Fred

Originally posted by rlockshin
Could be interested. Loewe 38 inch. Just had it done 3 months ago. How great is this guy.
Akron

IMHO, he is the best!

Who here thought we would hit 20 pages this quick in this thread???

Hi Fred D. I would be interested in an ISF for sure!!! Let me know what comes of this as depending on price, I'd want Mr. Williams to look at my Sony TV. thanks!!

-Todd

On another notes, I added Adelphia HDTV to my system as it saves me $15 for HBO-HD I was paying to Dish Network. The SA box is bare bones but gets the job done. ABC & NBC actually look a bit different than the OTA versions I get through my Dish receiver, but they do look very good (they seem a bit more saturated than OTA) and now I won't have to worry about drop-outs on NBC. Now they need to add CBS to avoid the multi-path problems I have with it. The DVI port however is not functional at this point which is slightly disappointing, but my new Dish 811 will use that anyway so it won't matter.

All in all, 4 channels for about $3 more per month for the box is well worth it considering it saves me the $15 from dish! I'm plus $12 now!! :)

-Todd

Originally posted by jtscherne
I will be angry for quite awhile and I only wish I had a viable alternative so I could cancel Adelphia.

Depending where you are in Cleveland metro area, you do have an alternative now - I just had Wide Open West out yesterday to install the SA 3250HD box (box has Firewire, DVI and USB - not sure if active yet) and they are currently offering ABC,NBC,CBS,FOX, and HBOHD. They say ESPN is coming "in 30 days or so" - the cable guy said they were working out incompatible signal issues or somesuch from the ESPN network feed. He said the HD boxes were flying off the shelves and he had to scramble to get mine for my appointment (which they scheduled 2-6pm and he showed about 3pm).

Check out www.wowway.com - IMHO their digital cable + internet bundles are hard to beat, and the 3 or 4 years I've had them, they are very responsive at not at all the typical "screw the customer" *cough* Adelphia *cough* cable company. Their reviews on dslreports rate them highly, and I plan to switch to them for internet once my one year deal with SBC DSL runs out.

Just curious - I have a friend with Adelphia who wants HD - can you just run over to the Severance office and say "gimme an HD box" or do you need to pre-arrange it? Do they still have the Soviet-style-bread-line customer service there?

-- Paul

Unfortunately, my apartment building is only wired for Adelphia at this point, although the WOW representive I talked to once said to check and see whether the apartment owners have an exclusive arrangement with Adelphia; otherwise, they could also install.

I did finally get someone to respond to my issues and so I'm reasonably satisfied, at least for now. One of the things the person told me though (and it's been mentioned here) is that you have to have a technician bring the box out now; they're not allowing pickups at the offices. I guess I was one of the last ones. He also indicated that they were totally overwhelmed by people, which is one of the reasons they ran out of boxes in the first place.

Originally posted by paule123

Just curious - I have a friend with Adelphia who wants HD - can you just run over to the Severance office and say "gimme an HD box" or do you need to pre-arrange it? Do they still have the Soviet-style-bread-line customer service there?

-- Paul

Originally posted by paule123

Just curious - I have a friend with Adelphia who wants HD - can you just run over to the Severance office and say "gimme an HD box" or do you need to pre-arrange it? Do they still have the Soviet-style-bread-line customer service there?

-- Paul

There might be a huge demand for the box so I'd call ahead, but in Twinsburg, I didn't make any appointment or have them order an hd-box for me. I literally walked in the door with my digital cable box, said I wanted the HD box, & within a minute or two, I was walking out the door with it.

-Todd

Originally posted by paule123
Depending where you are in Cleveland metro area, you do have an alternative now - I just had Wide Open West out yesterday to install the SA 3250HD box (box has Firewire, DVI and USB - not sure if active yet) and they are currently offering ABC,NBC,CBS,FOX, and HBOHD. They say ESPN is coming "in 30 days or so" - the cable guy said they were working out incompatible signal issues or somesuch from the ESPN network feed. He said the HD boxes were flying off the shelves and he had to scramble to get mine for my appointment (which they scheduled 2-6pm and he showed about 3pm).

Check out www.wowway.com - IMHO their digital cable + internet bundles are hard to beat, and the 3 or 4 years I've had them, they are very responsive at not at all the typical "screw the customer" *cough* Adelphia *cough* cable company. Their reviews on dslreports rate them highly, and I plan to switch to them for internet once my one year deal with SBC DSL runs out.

Just curious - I have a friend with Adelphia who wants HD - can you just run over to the Severance office and say "gimme an HD box" or do you need to pre-arrange it? Do they still have the Soviet-style-bread-line customer service there?

-- Paul

Paul,

Can you please provide a review of how the HD PQ is with WOW? I will consider the switch to WOW for the Internet and HD channels if the PQ is good.

Thanks,

Jim

Fred,

I missed Chuck last time due to being out of town. Keep me posted on a new trip.

Steve

WOIO-DT ???

Yesterday before the game I noticed I could not get WOIO-DT. I figured they just didn't want to run the digital TX for all the info-mercials they have been running this month, Anyway I found the game on 10-1 and it was fine
but I just tried to bring up 19-1 tonight and my set re-maps to 19. Still have to enter 10-1 to get WOIO-DT and to top it off there still running an infomercial!! Whats up with that?

Dan

I picked up my STB from Adelphia's Macedonia store (SA 3250HD) yesterday. They told me that NBC, ABC, PBS, HBO, and SHO are available now. I connected the STB to my Hitachi 60V500 and set the resolution at 1080i. I'm using the "stretch" mode in the 3250 even though my Hitachi has a better algorithm because I just don't want to be constantly going through the menus.

I eagerly waited for prime time last night to watch my first HD programs: "Vegas" on NBC at 9:00 and of course... Monday Night Football. Well, suffice it to say that I was not very impressed. In fact, I don't think that I could tell the difference between the channels broadcasting SD and the HD ones (NBC, ABC).

I've read on this forum that the 3250 upconverts SD signals to 1080i but I expected the Monday Night game to be really 'wow'. Sort of the feeling I got when I first got the TV and played "Monster's Inc." in 480p. That was definitely WOW....

Has anyone had similar "less than stellar" performance using Adelphia's HD box? I saw a college football game (demonstration) at Audio Craft in Akron that made me drool. That was about a year and a half ago so I kind of expected MNF to be at least as crisp. (Especially since I have the LCD 60V500! Man, what a set!!)

Is there something I'm not doing right in the setup? Adelphia 'customer support' told me that I did everything right. I wonder if they have to 'switch me over' to HD or something.

It was a real let down last night after talking it up to my wife all day. She didn't even comment on the PQ. Strange....

-Joe

Did anyone notice and break ups on Monday night football last night AGAIN on WEWS 5-1? Please tell me I'm not the only one!

Originally posted by Cactus Matt
Did anyone notice and break ups on Monday night football last night AGAIN on WEWS 5-1? Please tell me I'm not the only one!

Maybe one or two small breaks, but nothing really bad.

Well, I've seen HD MNF both OTA and through Adelphia. The OTA signal was spectacular and as far as I can tell, it looks just as great through the cable. Last night's game was just as good, so I don't have a good answer for you. I can definitely tell the difference between SD and HD.


Originally posted by Joe Cogan

Has anyone had similar "less than stellar" performance using Adelphia's HD box? I saw a college football game (demonstration) at Audio Craft in Akron that made me drool. That was about a year and a half ago so I kind of expected MNF to be at least as crisp. (Especially since I have the LCD 60V500! Man, what a set!!)

Is there something I'm not doing right in the setup? Adelphia 'customer support' told me that I did everything right. I wonder if they have to 'switch me over' to HD or something.

-Joe

Well, I've seen HD MNF both OTA and through Adelphia. The OTA signal was spectacular and as far as I can tell, it looks just as great through the cable. Last night's game was just as good, so I don't have a good answer for you. I can definitely tell the difference between SD and HD.

jtscherne,

Thanks for the response. Yeah, I thought something was fishy. I can ALWAYS tell the difference between a DVD and Digital Cable SD so I figured that the HD signal was going to really stand out.

I wonder if there's a setting I'm missing or something. I know that Adelphia's service is a little chopped up so maybe we just weren't receiving it? I'm on the "Western Reserve" Adelphia that services Hudson, Twinsburg, Macedonia, Northfield Center, Sagamore Hills, etc...

When you switch to a station broadcasting HD on Adelphia, it's obvious, right?

- Joe
------------------------

Originally posted by Fred DeGrandis
Ohio Residents...Anyone interested in getting Chuck Williams for an Ohio ISF tour?
Might be interested. Please keep me posted.
50"GWIII

Joe,

You did tune your cable box to the actual HD feed channel right?

Adelphia's HD channels are in the 700's

703, 705, etc. those are that channels that carry the HD feed of the networks. I just want to make sure you weren't watching the normal ABC & NBC stations, expecting it to be in HD.

I picked up the HD box last week from Adelphia (Lorain, OH), and there was definately a Huge difference last night between the SD broadcast of MNF, and the HD broadcast. The easiest way to notice (other then the quality) is the fact that the HD won't need to be squeezed or stretched, since it will be recieved in 16:9 format.

BlaZeR2

You did tune your cable box to the actual HD feed channel right?

Adelphia's HD channels are in the 700's


Blaze,

They are?!?!?! Darn those customer service reps!!! They told me that NBC and ABC would just magically 'switch' if there was an HD feed. Grrrrr :mad: I've talked to 4 different people and none of them mentioned it.

Since you're in Lorain, I'm wondering if I have the 'same' Adelphia as you. I say this because my Adelphia programming is different than the east side Adelphia (formally Cablevision). We don't have VOD in the Western Reserve network but they do. Anyone using Adelphia's HD in my area? (Macedonia, Twinsburg, Hudson, Boston Hts., Northfield Center, Northfield Village, Sagamore Hills, etc......) Do you use the 700 channels for the HD feed???

Well, I'll have to try this tonight. Hopefully I'll get them.

Lastly: Do the HD channels in the 700's come in all day or do I have to wait for prime time tonight? How about HBO and SHO? If I have to wait, I'll try "8 Simple Rules" on ABC at 8:00 PM (720p) and "The Tracey Morgan Show" on NBC at 8:00 PM (1080i)

Thanks a lot,
- Joe

I'm in Strongsville and the HD channels are on 703 (NBC), 705 (ABC). As far as I know all the Adelphia networks in Cleveland have the HD channels in the 700 range. The HD channels are on 24/7, however, they are not HD 24/7. You can check out the local news on 703 tonight. They broadcast the news in HD every day.

HD stations run 24 hours a day, with a mixture of standard and high definition programming. I think the local stations look better, even for standard broadcasts. A large portion of HBO's movies are in HD, as are many of the Showtime movies. If you go to HBO's website (www.hbo.com), the HD listings indicate if the movie is in true HD.

If you use the onscreen program guide, you'll see the HD stations down in the 700's. As you stated, there's only four stations for now, but I'm assuming that will increase over the coming months.

Well, I've got 'em. My 9 year old just confirmed this over the phone. My wife thinks I'm crazy....

...I am.

Thanks for all of your help guys. I really appreciate it.

One last thing... If an HD program is natively broadcasting a show in 720p (ie: NBC with "8 Simple Rules") should I switch my 3250HD to 720p in the setup? I am currently set at 1080i but my TV can receive either. Hopefully I could just keep it at 1080i and do the "RONCO" thing.... "Set it and forget it!!!"

-Joe

Don't worry about the questions. It's only the beginning as more and more people start to switch over. I suspect that it's issues like this that made Adelphia switch from allowing people in the Cleveland area to pick up boxes directly.

No problem, glad I could help.

about the 720p shows,

it is up to you. The box can easily convert it to 1080i, but some people actually like 720p better. The best thing for you to do is to start the show in 720p, and then switch it back and forth using the settings menu (settings, down 2x, the left or right for your desired resolution, then select)

Choose which ever setting you think looks the best.

BlaZeR2

Originally posted by Shark73
Paul,

Can you please provide a review of how the HD PQ is with WOW? I will consider the switch to WOW for the Internet and HD channels if the PQ is good.

Thanks,

Jim

Jim,
After having WOW HD service for a whole two days, I can say that the PQ is equivalent to OTA HD. I can flip my plasma input over to the Samsung SIR-T165 OTA receiver right next to it for comparison and there is no degradation viewing the HD channels over WOW cable.

I looked at ABC MNF, Leno on NBC, CSI on CBS and they all looked excellent. Whatever was on Fox in "Faux HD" looked good too...


-- Paul

Channel 19-1 audio. For the last couple weeks I've experienced significant problems with CBS digital audio. It is fine for 30 minutes or so, then breaks up. If I shift to the analog station for a while and then shift back to digital it is probably okay; but, then starts breaking up again after a period.

Is this a common problem for others or am I experiencing some king of hardware problem?

Thanks.

Originally posted by rlb
Channel 19-1 audio. For the last couple weeks I've experienced significant problems with CBS digital audio. It is fine for 30 minutes or so, then breaks up. If I shift to the analog station for a while and then shift back to digital it is probably okay; but, then starts breaking up again after a period.

Is this a common problem for others or am I experiencing some king of hardware problem?

Thanks.

Yes, it is very common for 19-1. Not much we can do but call the station and complain. Your hardware is fine.

Jim

WOIO seemed to be having a hard time last night. I was watching NCIS and they switched to the analog signal for a while. My signal strength was going up and down like a yo-yo. I hope the CBS affiliate in Youngstown can get their digital channel on the air soon. It will be good to have an alternative when WOIO is having their all too frequent "problems". Maybe they also will be more open minded about things like multicasting the NCAA basketball tournament games. The engineer at WOIO says they don't have the equipment to do it and have no plans to acquire it. Very sad.

On a different note. Did anyone catch the Victoria Secret thing last night on UPN channel 28. I couldn't believe it when I switched over to it and saw that it was in HD. Those models looked pretty good. UPN's website lists no information about which programs are in HD. I subscribe to the daily HDTV Magazine email listing of HD programming and they don't list anything for UPN either. I sent Dale Cripps an email asking about this and here is his reply:

Steve, the head of UPN's HDTV effort is the same one who heads it for CBS and he has not seen fit to inform us as yet of all of their HDTV offerings and their web site provides few clues. I am told there is a reluctance to promote UPN HDTV nationally because they have so few UPN outlets. So, to say it is nationally distributed, while technically an accurate statement, it is not something being spoken of outside of local markets. The consequences of promoting something nationally which has in reality only a few markets working is all of the telephone calls, faxes, and emails you have to be field from the missing markets telling them why they didn't get such and such a program. As these stations come on line or increase their power I suspect that our CBS colleague will be happy to keep us posted and up-to-date. Until then any discovery you make I hope you will share it with me. I do have a UPN logo already for the magazine.

Dale

Dr. No was in HD last Friday and I suspect the Bond movie this Friday may be also. UPN seems to be making a reasonable effort to provide us with some HD. Its a shame they don't want to let anyone know about it. I asked Dale in my reply for an email address of someone at UPN to complain to but he did not reply. There is no contact info on their website. I guess we will just have to keep checking on our own to see if something is in HD.

Steve

HDTV Galaxy has been pretty correct so far about the HD offerings of UPN. They did not however list the victoria secret show which was on last night. I flipped it on, saw it was HD, then realized this isnt worth watching and shut it off. But its cool to see the HD on UPN. This friday nights bond movie is Goldfinger btw.

Cleveland HD, now with 5 HD channels!!!

Mike,
Thanks for the HDTV Galaxy recommendation. I was not aware of it. I'll pass it on to some of my HD capable friends. There is a lot of info there.
Steve

Chuck Williams is willing to come....If enough interest is generated, we can get him from January 13-18.

Let me know if you guys are interested....

The spots for the last tour filled up in less than a week, so hurry!

I have PM'd all of the people that showed interest.

Thanks,
Fred

To all that are interested, we need to know how many people we have in the next couple of days. This is going to be a mini tour, and there are already 2 people for sure. We can pull the tour off with another 1-2 people, but the more the better.

Chuck told me that the 13th-18th is open. If there are onle 4 people that are interested, then he will only be here for 2 days. If there are 12 people interested, then he will be here for the whole time.

If you want to have your spot locked in, to ensure that you are included in the tour, please PM or email me with your name, phone and address, and state that you are definetly in.

If you have read anything about Chuck, you already know what he is capable of.

Fred

Anyone know if Time Warner plans to pick up CBS, WB, ESPN or PBS
HD channels anytime soon?

I would figure since the surrounding competition already has
those or will have them soon TW would push for the same lineup.

BTW anyone catch Zeppelins "song remains the same" on INHD?
Before my time but still great to see and hear them perform.

Update:

4 people joined the tour this morning, so there are a total of 5 for sure members thus far(all in the greater Cleveland area). I would like to first thank all of the members of the January 2004 Chuck Williams Ohio ISF tour for your great response. For people who are still on the fence, feel free to contact me, and we can talk about what you can expect in a calibration, and the improvements that many have seen post calibration.

We have hit the magic number, Chuck Williams IS coming. We have 5 for sure people, and the spots are filling up quickly. Chuck is coming, but it would be great if even more people signed on. We can have him for up to 1 week(January 13-18), but as it is right now, Chuck will only be here for 2-3 days(unless more people are interested). If more of you are interested, then he will stay for the entire week, but we need to know in the next 2 days(we need to make flight plans(from Washngton DC) ASAP).

Fred

I would have C. Williams do my 65411, but I already have an appointment with Craig Miller in May. If it was anything other than a Mits, I'd jump in...but Craig is the absolute BEST when it comes to getting the best out of a Mitsubishi. He calibrated my buddies 73411 in June and I almost fell over he did such a nice job

Originally posted by ParsonsBri
Fred,
Great Idea! My philips is desperate for help! I wonder how much it will cost? I am in as long as the cost is not crazy.

BP

I sent you a PM.

Thanks again everyone,
Fred

Originally posted by Smak Runner 2K
I would have C. Williams do my 65411, but I already have an appointment with Craig Miller in May. If it was anything other than a Mits, I'd jump in...but Craig is the absolute BEST when it comes to getting the best out of a Mitsubishi. He calibrated my buddies 73411 in June and I almost fell over he did such a nice job

I couldn't agree more. I had Craig calibrate my Mits 55411 in June too. The difference was night and day. Nothing against Chuck...I've only heard great things about his work. However, If anyone in the area is considering a calibration of a Mits and doesn't want to jump in on Chuck's tour due to the holiday's or such....consider having Craig stop by if in fact he will be in NE Ohio in May.

Jim

6 are now currently rnrolled.

If you are considering this, please let me know ASAP, because the deadline is tomorrow!

Thanks,
Fred

Fred how much coin are we looking at dropping here for this guy? I'm sure its worth it, but that pesky tuition bill just came the other day and apparently college is more important than TV.

I live in Shaker Hts , Ohio also. Adelphia only has ABC, NBC, HBO and SHO. What channels does WOW offer now in HD? Fortunately I live in a city that where I can have either.

Originally posted by handsworth
I live in Shaker Hts , Ohio also. Adelphia only has ABC, NBC, HBO and SHO. What channels does WOW offer now in HD? Fortunately I live in a city that where I can have either.

You might want to go back a few pages and read the posts from Paul regarding WOW HD cable. Here is one of his posts.

"Depending where you are in Cleveland metro area, you do have an alternative now - I just had Wide Open West out yesterday to install the SA 3250HD box (box has Firewire, DVI and USB - not sure if active yet) and they are currently offering ABC,NBC,CBS,FOX, and HBOHD. They say ESPN is coming "in 30 days or so" - the cable guy said they were working out incompatible signal issues or somesuch from the ESPN network feed. He said the HD boxes were flying off the shelves and he had to scramble to get mine for my appointment (which they scheduled 2-6pm and he showed about 3pm).

Check out www.wowway.com - IMHO their digital cable + internet bundles are hard to beat, and the 3 or 4 years I've had them, they are very responsive at not at all the typical "screw the customer" *cough* Adelphia *cough* cable company. Their reviews on dslreports rate them highly, and I plan to switch to them for internet once my one year deal with SBC DSL runs out.

Just curious - I have a friend with Adelphia who wants HD - can you just run over to the Severance office and say "gimme an HD box" or do you need to pre-arrange it? Do they still have the Soviet-style-bread-line customer service there?

-- Paul"

Having stopped by the Severance Adelphia office yesterday, they have no boxes. You have to schedule an appointment with the installer, "Sometime between 8AM and 5PM". They had no one in the bread line at Severance.

I'm scheduled for Monday.

Originally posted by Mike_Stuewe
Fred how much coin are we looking at dropping here for this guy? I'm sure its worth it, but that pesky tuition bill just came the other day and apparently college is more important than TV.

If you are using a RPTV, my guestimate is around 500 (give or take). You will not regret having him do your display, the last time he was here, my jaw nearly hit the floor when he was done!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I hear ya on the tuition bill:(

Regarding WOW. I asked them via e-mail what new channels they would be adding and if they were planning to have a PVR (e.g., SA 8100HD) available in the near future.

Only thing they told me was to expect ESPN and Showtime within the next 30 days.

Their prices are very reasonable. Their premium package with all movie channels, HD, and their fastest cable modum (faster than Adelphia's) for around $107/month. It's $10-$20/month cheaper with their slower modums. If I add my D* service (only HD, Showtime, and HBO) plus my Adelphia cable modum, I paying around $130/month. If they have an HD PVR available soon, I won't have to buy an $800-$1000 HD Tivo.

Only current downside I see with WOW is the limited HD offerings. I'll watch their offerings for the next 3-6 months. If they add HD channels, add a PVR, and local users say their "PQ" is good; adios to D*.

Yeah Ill have to pass on the calibration Fred. If it were over the summer I would be game.

I knew slackin off at River High and not getting a college scholarship would bite me someday. Apparently it bit my television.

Good luck to you guys with your TV tune ups :)

I went to River High too:)

Update:
As of 4:40 today, we have 9 people enrolled in the tour(7 from the Cleveland area, and the other 2 from Cinci). The cutoff date to join the tour will be tomorrow, so if you are considering joining, please do so soon.
If you have any question, please let me know ASAP.

Here is a list of the members thus far, if you want in but don't see your name listed, PM me NOW!:

Cleveland members:
Brian Barthelman
Fred DeGrandis
Nick Satullo
Ted Brady
Jim Bizily
Panjj(please PM me with your full mane)
Ronald Arotin

Cinci Members:
hugenbdd( I need your info to reserve you a spot)
Mike Hugenberg

The Cinci leg of the tour will be later on during the week. Mr. Hugenberg from Cinci has offered to use his Frequent Flyer miles to take care of the airfare for the tour. I would like to thank you again Blue Martini, and I encourage the rest of you to send him a note thanking him for saving all of us $$$ and making it easier for some of us to have Chuck out. As long as everything works out, the travel expenses will be less than we originally planned.

As I said earlier, we are going to try and wrap this up tomorrow(Sunday), so please let me know ASAP. The free airfare may help some of you get off of the fence.

The schedule will be made up by Mr. Satullo and I after we have cut off the open enrollment. Chuck will start off in Cleveland where he will work his magic on at least 7 displays. He will start on the 13th of January, and stay in Cleveland until the 16th of January. He would then fly to Cinci and finish up the tour there. It will take 1-2 days in Cinci because of the service work and CRT setup that is required by the 2 Cinci members. This means that Chuck will fly into Cinci probably either late January 16th or early the 17th, and fly out on the 18th of January back to Washington DC.

I think that if one more member joined in the Cleveland area, we would be all set. This would mean 8 people in the greater Cleveland area(2 displays per day) for a total of 4 days(13-16th). He would then fly out on the 17th and finish on the 18th.

I may be able to work an extra Cleveland person in, but first come first serve. Also, I will be making a waiting list just in case of an emergency(your display blows up..etc.). Please let me know if you would like on this(if you missed your chance on this tour)(we actually used 1 person on the waiting list for the last tour). I don't think we will be able to include Columbus in our tour this time(due to the lack of interest shown). It amazes me how fast these tours book up, last time it was 1 week, this time, it is been around 3-4 days!

If you have any questions, let me know,

Fred

So I'm over at a friends house tonight hooking up his new Samsung "home theater in a box" HTSK-5 and he has Adelphia (Shaker Hts) with the Scientific Atlanta 3100 set top box. I notice that on all the analog channels, there is no audio out via digital coax, only audio on those channels via the standard stereo RCA jacks?? When I am on HBO, etc., then the digital audio kicks in.

The Samsung isn't able to sense the lack of digital audio and autoswitch down to stereo RCA, so he's got to switch audio inputs if he wants the full digital surround sound experience - kind of a pain in the ass...

Do you guys have the same problem with the Adelphia STB?

-- Paul

Yep,

That is the way the SA 3100 works. The digital coax out will only be active when viewing a show via digital cable, the analog channels will only carry the analog sound, and therefore will be sent through the digital audio out.

I was lucky, my Yamaha receiver will automatically switch down to the RCA's when there is no sound on the digital side.

Is anyone having problems with WKYC ch 3 digital. I did a resync on my HD100 a week ago and havn't been able to get 3.1-3.3 to sync. It shows 2.. but no signal level. All other stations work fine except for the intermittent sound echo on 19.1. I get 82-100 signal level on the other stations..........

Originally posted by Joe Cogan
Well, I've got 'em. My 9 year old just confirmed this over the phone. My wife thinks I'm crazy....

...I am.

Thanks for all of your help guys. I really appreciate it.

One last thing... If an HD program is natively broadcasting a show in 720p (ie: NBC with "8 Simple Rules") should I switch my 3250HD to 720p in the setup? I am currently set at 1080i but my TV can receive either. Hopefully I could just keep it at 1080i and do the "RONCO" thing.... "Set it and forget it!!!"

-Joe

Does your TV display 720p or downconvert it? (what TV do you have again?). My TV accepts it, but then downconverts it to 480p, so 1080i is my only choice. I'm glad you figured out the problem with your HD. I figured that it wasn't the HD content since you were able to format on your TV & with an HD signal you probably wouldn't be able to do so.

I'm not sure if anyone has posted this info, but just in case, here is how to get into the SETUP wizard on that Adelphia HD box. It will solve the problem with the Guide not displaying via SVIDEO for SD material as it will send 480i out of the componant output. The box is incapable of displaying the Guide via SVID or Composite, so this solves that issue while allowing your TV to format 480i properly (wide zoom, natural zoom, etc...)

Turn your cablebox OFF.
On the box, hold down "guide" and "info" until you see the box display say 1080i or 720p
The wizard will take you through turning on & off each resolution.
For most widescreen TV's, you'll only need 1080i widescreen & 480i Standard. (if your TV can DISPLAY 720p, you can add this for ABC, otherwise it'll just output it as 1080i which is fine too)
Exit the wizard and then turn the box on.

You will now have a new option in the setup menu of the box (where you have the favorites & other options). The new option will give you the selections you just made so you can pick 1080i or 480i to come out of the componant output!!! So for HD channels, switch it to 1080i and for SD switch to 480i so that your TV can then format to fill the screen. You could add 480p std. to the output, but in most cases, your TV will do a better job upconverting to 480p, 940i etc...

This will now allow you to view the GUIDE when watching SD 480i material!!! Plus, now you don't have to switch inputs on your TV to SVID or Composite to watch SD material.

-Todd

Originally posted by wfwiles
Is anyone having problems with WKYC ch 3 digital. I did a resync on my HD100 a week ago and havn't been able to get 3.1-3.3 to sync. It shows 2.. but no signal level. All other stations work fine except for the intermittent sound echo on 19.1. I get 82-100 signal level on the other stations..........

Yes, with my Dish 811, I could not get the signal to lock in for NBC. Normal it's weaker, but fine, but today it was impossible to pull in. I'm glad I also have the Adelphia HD box as well to get NBC as it was fine on their service.

Anyone having audio problems with WOIO?

During the football game yesterday(Saturday), the audio was very messed up.

Originally posted by Fred DeGrandis
Anyone having audio problems with WOIO?

During the football game yesterday(Saturday), the audio was very messed up.

YES! During the Sat. football game (around halftime), and also Sunday night when I tuned in to the end of the Christmas Shoes and had the same audio problem. The audio problem instantly fixed itself at 10:59pm when the format changed from HD to SD during the credits. I emailed WOIO Programming Dept/Engineering about this and mentioned the other complaints on this forum.

The audio problem was evident OTA and cable HD (WOW) so I think it's on WOIO's end.

-- Paul

From Dweez:

Does your TV display 720p or downconvert it? (what TV do you have again?). My TV accepts it, but then downconverts it to 480p, so 1080i is my only choice. I'm glad you figured out the problem with your HD. I figured that it wasn't the HD content since you were able to format on your TV & with an HD signal you probably wouldn't be able to do so.

I have the Hitachi 60v500 LCD RPTV. It runs 1920 x 1080 progressive natively and up-converts all signals coming in including: 1080i, 720p, 480p, and 480i.

I've set the SA 3250HD up to save the 1080i & 720p formats and have A/B'd the HD programs. I really haven't seen that much difference so I've been sticking with 1080i because of the ease of up-conversion with my TV (1080i to 1080p).

On Adelphia's HD offerings: Anyone hear if Adelphia is going to add to the HD line up? I'm becoming an HDTV junky... We still need: CBS, FOX, PBS, DiscHD, and ESPN-HD. *sigh*

PS: Dweez: Thanks for your help again. I sent you a private message.

-Joe

Fox isn't HD yet, and WVIZ hasn't set an official date to start local HD broadcasts. I hope we get CBS before the Super Bowl though.

What's up with CBS' broadcast schedule? There are times when I'll try to tune it in, and I'll get next to no signal. And there are other times when it will come in at about 90% here in Medina. I just can't seem to make rhyme nor reason out of it, as it's not just related to times when the material is or is not in HD. For example, I tried tuning it in tonight during some HD broadcast, and it was essentially off the air for me (some fluttering signal strength down in the 5% range-- could be just a reading off the WBNS signal in Columbus.)

Is Channel 19 broadcasting at set hours during the day, or is just whenever they feel like it? Or is there something wrong with my antenna on that particular frequency?

We need to organize a group call in to WOIO.

While we're on the subject of a call in, that 5.1 sound for all of the locals would be nice too......I think we should call all of them too.

Let me know what you guys think,
Fred

My dad was talking to a friend of his who knows the engineer at WOIO. He mentioned that the engineer is taking a lot of heat for all the audio screwups coming in during HD programming. He made it sound though that it was a network problem.

I dont know how likely a network problem is since no other cities are complaining about their local affiliates CBS audio.

Originally posted by ZManCartFan
Is Channel 19 broadcasting at set hours during the day, or is just whenever they feel like it?

I almost never get CBS-HD anymore. It used to be late night failures, then primetime, then last afternoon... I have a high antenna in Mentor that gets CBS analog and the other HD stations in the same direction.

It's probably an issue of the power level at which they're broadcasting -- something like ten per cent of 'normal' power.

My emails to the WOIO have not been answered.

Does anyone know if the Adelphia local HDTV channels are scrambled? If I have a QAM receiver, will it receive them? Since they are in the 700 range, I assume that I won't be able to get them without using the Adelphia-supplied box. Anyone know for sure?

I was unable to get the Adelphia HD channels without an Adelphia HD box. Using a Sony XBR 950 with a QAM digital tuner. I could get some VOD and "other" fee-for-service channels in the 75 - 95 range, but after the very recent Adelphia reconfiguration, some of these no longer appear.

Your Mileage May Vary.

Any new info on additional HD channels (CBS, Discovery, ESPN, etc.)?
Also, will the DVR they plan to offer be the 8000HD?

Thanks for any info.

Well I solved the problem with WKYC. I swung the antenna 180 and the HD100 picked up the station. Don't ask me why. I had unplugged it over night and after scanning the DTV channels I lost the 2.. channel and picked up the 3.1-3 channels. Maybe too much gain on the antenna and picking uo reflections or other interference on the low channel. I don't have patch 1187 on the HD100 and don't have a means of getting it without buying a SAT antenna. Maybe be a mute point as I have COMCAST coming next Tuesday with the HD box and my TV only has one DTV input. Creates a problem as I want to add a progressive scan DVD player. Anyone know of a reasonable component video switch?

Also would like to know what box Comcast is noe using in the Cleveland area..

PVR update. I have recently learned that Adelphia will offer a non-HD PVR in January & an HD PVR possibly later in the year 1st Quarter. Specs and models are have not been made clear at this time

Originally posted by wfwiles
Also would like to know what box Comcast is now using in the Cleveland area..

For HD, the Motorola 5100.

Thanks I found the manuals for it on the Motorola sight. I need to rework my layout drawings before Tuesday...

I would like to thank everyone that showed interest in the Ohio ISF tour. It took less than one week, but we have filled every last spot that is available.

If you are in the Cleveland area and are interested, please let us know. We will form a waiting list, and if there is any extra time(a very good possibility) or a cancellation, then you will be in. Please email me to get on this list.

I have contacted all of the members of the tour(if you haven't heard from me, please contact me ASAP).

I will email you the schedule in the next few days, so please lookout for it.

Thanks again everyone,
Fred

Originally posted by Fred DeGrandis
I would like to thank everyone that showed interest in the Ohio ISF tour.... Thank you, Fred, for your efforts in gettings this tour set up!

Originally posted by StanZ
For HD, the Motorola 5100. Stan, isn't the 5100 a cable modem?

Oops. Never mind. I see now that Motorola uses 5100 in two different products. That's odd.

Cable Modem: SB5100
HD Cable Receiver: DCT5100

The 5100 pales in comparison to the features of my DirecTV Hughes box.

But last night at about 10:15 our HBO movie disappeared because of loss of satellite signal, during a light rain/snow. Then the other satellite channels started to disappear, also.

So the 5100, which still delivered, took on a new shimmer of worthiness.

Does anyone know if our local Comcast has any plans to rollout the Motorola 6208 (or 6408)?

I received a flier today from Comcast on the new channels. They only show WKYC-NBC and WJW-FOX as the only local HD stations available. Anyone in the Eastlake-Willoughby-Mentor area getting the others. I will have to find a component video switch to use my OTA box to. :confused:

Originally posted by wfwiles
...I will have to find a component video switch to use my OTA box to. :confused: Most of us use our home theater receivers to switch video. It makes it easier since it allows you to switch the video and audio together. But if you want a dedicated component video switch, try www.digitalconnection.com. They have an Audio Authority 4x1 component audio/video switcher on sale now.

Just had an Adelphia HD cable box installed. There is a DVI connector on the back. I called Adelphia Customer Service who refered me to a semi-technical person, who was totally clueless, knowing only how to connect the box via component cables.

I've got the box, Scientific Atlanta 3250HD, connected to the HDTV via a DVI-D cable, but the TV doesn't see anything on that input.

Has anyone had any luck with this set up?

Thanks Bizily. After posting yesterday I found the AA1154 at Digital Connection. I searched the forum and found several threads on it with some pro and some con posts. I ordered one. If I can overcome the auto switching problems it will be great as my wife is kinda remote challenged. :-) It looks like the biggest problem is auto switching wit most boxes keeping the output hot. My receiver is a JVC RX-8000 and does s-video switching. I don't want to go into a new receiver yet.

Originally posted by roblake
Just had an Adelphia HD cable box installed. There is a DVI connector on the back. I called Adelphia Customer Service who refered me to a semi-technical person, who was totally clueless, knowing only how to connect the box via component cables.

I've got the box, Scientific Atlanta 3250HD, connected to the HDTV via a DVI-D cable, but the TV doesn't see anything on that input.

Has anyone had any luck with this set up?

No. The DVI connection is for future use...it's not active.

Switch to the componet cables and you will be good to go.

Jim

For all of you Adelphia HD subs out there. I think we need to put some pressure on Adelphia Cleveland. I was at my parents house in Youngstown for Christmas and they already have Starz HD. The channel lineup in Y'town is HBO HD, SHO HD and Starz HD....as of now they do not have any of the local Youngstown channels in HD. I find it odd that they have Starz already and we do not.

Happy Holidays to all.

Jim

Originally posted by Dweezilz
PVR update. I have recently learned that Adelphia will offer a non-HD PVR in January & an HD PVR possibly later in the year 1st Quarter. Specs and models are have not been made clear at this time



Adelphia is using the SA 8000 for now and will upgrade to SA 8000HD

i just ordered comcast digital cable and on the phone the lady said that in mentor, Ohio they dont offer hd which i know they do. What i was wondering though is when they bring the boxes out will i get the motorola dct5100 which will let me do hd automatically.

Will be interesting to see. They are to bring my HD box out tomorrow. I called them last week and they said it was available in Eastlake. I also got a flier the other day listing the new channels. They don't line up with the channels I am getting now. Trying to determine what I have from their web site and my bill is useless. After I get the HD box installed I will have to bug them on the channel lineup........

Does anyone know if Cleveland will be able to get the Rose Parade in HD OTA? Rumor has is that CBS will offer it, but does anyone know for sure if we will get it?

OK. I'm new to this forum. I've been reading it for several days. Here's my dilemma. I just bought a Mitsubishi 42" HDTV. I got it hooked into the rest of my system, using the TV to get video only. All the audio is routed to my Denon reveicer. I'm a TWC customer in Akron, using a SA 8000 DVR box. I love it. I have yet to hear them moving to any HD DVR. They are awaiting performance results from the 8000HD and a pioneer box. Locally, they only broadcast 3, 5, and 8 digital channels. Plus, Discovery, Showtime, and HBO. What do I do? Do I go with two boxes, wait for the HD DVR, or give up my DVR?

Thanks,
Frank

Just got the Adelphia box installed today. I am quite underwhelmed. I watched "Las Vegas on WKYC with consistent pixelization or video dropouts. OTA WKYC was actually pretty good for the last half hour of the program. WEWS was good. Any reason for the dropouts on cable?

I asked the installer about additional channels. No news on anything new anytime soon. They need to at least add the remaining locals, if not ESPN and StarZ.

This may be a very short test for me!

Originally posted by ParsonsBri
Just got the Adelphia box installed today. I am quite underwhelmed. I watched "Las Vegas on WKYC with consistent pixelization or video dropouts. OTA WKYC was actually pretty good for the last half hour of the program. WEWS was good. Any reason for the dropouts on cable?

I asked the installer about additional channels. No news on anything new anytime soon. They need to at least add the remaining locals, if not ESPN and StarZ.

This may be a very short test for me! I pretty much agree. At this point it's at zero cost, so I'm not worried about it. But they're going to have to add a bit of coverage to make it worth the extra $5 a month that they plan to charge us. If not, I'll just stick with OTA. But with the rain last night, I was still getting a lot of dropouts on that.

A big part of the problem for me is that they are really not carrying ANYTHING that I want to watch at this point. I don't subscribe to SHO or HBO - they really don't have anything on that interests me. And for that matter, neither does NBC or ABC. And I'm not all that interested in sports, so ESPN won't matter much to me. Maybe they can add HDNet.

My kids like to watch a bunch of the WB shows, so I'll be glad when that comes on the air. And I only watch a handful of shows anymore - I like CSI and that comes in HD. And Enterprise will be HD here eventually. But at this point, Adelphia has neither of those.

I like to be an "early adopter", but it seems at this point that I've really jumped the gun. I probably should have waited another year.

I'd like to see them add some "free" HD content that I can't get over the air. When are networks like Spike, SciFi, USA, FX, Oxygen, TCM, Bravo, etc. going to go HD? For that matter, what about VH1, CMT, or MTV?

I agree, Adelphia will needs to upgrade their HD offerings soon. I am afraid, however, that they are using a business model that does not worry about current adopters (those who have OTA tuners, etc.) and are focusing on those new HDTV christmas purchases who are currently on cable and will make the upgrade through them and will be more patient and willing to go through a gradual expansion of channels (not likely to purchase OTA tuners, drop cable and go to sat., etc.).

I would like to have a single box solution, hence my hope they will expand quickly and allow me to sell the OTA HD tuner. I look forward to a PVR/HD box, with full cable HD coverage. We shall see.

If nothing is added by the Super Bowl, I will leave Adelphia for WOW. Currently, WOW is offering all of the locals in HD and I have DirecTv for the HD movie channels. The only thing keeping me with Adelphia right now is my cable modem and email address. However, I can get over that if they continue to waste my time with only two local channels.

Originally posted by Steve B
Does anyone know if Cleveland will be able to get the Rose Parade in HD OTA? Rumor has is that CBS will offer it, but does anyone know for sure if we will get it? There's no HD indication for this broadcast on any of the TitanTV listings - not locally, not nationally. So it doesn't appear that CBS or anyone else is offering it at the network level. Too bad, they missed an opportunity with that one.

Do some of the local Cleveland digital stations go off the air from time to time? I haven't been able to pick up CBS/19 at all this evening - I get no signal whatsoever. All the other channels are fine, and 19 was fine yesterday. But tonight it's nowhere to be found.

Then a few minutes ago, 43/UPN disappeared. Do they go off at midnight?

Originally posted by Jim Gilliland
Do some of the local Cleveland digital stations go off the air from time to time? I haven't been able to pick up CBS/19 at all this evening - I get no signal whatsoever. All the other channels are fine, and 19 was fine yesterday. But tonight it's nowhere to be found.

Then a few minutes ago, 43/UPN disappeared. Do they go off at midnight?

I don't know what OTA receiver you are using, but on my Samsung T165, the signal strength meter is pretty useless, I get either "no" signal or 50%, there is nothing in between, so what looks like "off the air" really is just a marginal signal.

Re UPN, it wouldn't surprise me if they shut the digital xmission off at midnight, I know the other stations used to do that. I guess it saves money until there is a critical mass of DTV viewers. Some stations used to not turn the digital channel on until noon each day.

-- Paul

Channel 43 digital is on the air noon to midnight

Originally posted by Jim Gilliland
There's no HD indication for this broadcast on any of the TitanTV listings - not locally, not nationally. So it doesn't appear that CBS or anyone else is offering it at the network level. Too bad, they missed an opportunity with that one.
The parade is on DiscoveryHD.

And probably on CBS, too.

I've noticed a couple of times on Channel 43 that when the HD program is over the screen goes black. They might have to switch the SD signal manually and are slow on the trigger.

Thanks for the info - I think I'm mostly just having reception problems. I've only been at this for a week or so, and I don't really have enough history to know what to expect. Yesterday and today, I seem to be having a lot of trouble getting a decent signal out of 19 and 43. 3, 5, and 8 are coming in OK.

I've got an attic antenna, and I've tried a moving it and rotating it in various ways. I've also tried an antenna amplifier, which seemed to help just slightly.

43 is by far the most troublesome of the bunch.

Originally posted by Jim Gilliland
I've got an attic antenna, and I've tried a moving it and rotating it in various ways. I've also tried an antenna amplifier, which seemed to help just slightly.

IMHO, the attic can be a real signal killer and amplifiers are of little help. After trying increasingly larger Radio Shack outdoor antennas and the big Channelmaster UHF array inside the house, in attic, in windows, I ended up shelving those and went with a Silver Sensor placed in a 3rd floor window attached to a continuous RG6 coax run to the 1st floor receiver. The only channel giving me a hard time is 3-1,3-2. Some days I need to up/down past that channel a couple times to get the receiver to lock on. I know I can get even better performance out of the Silver Sensor if I mounted it outside.

FYI, the Plain Dealer had an article about Adelphia's HD rollout in the Thursday newspaper (it was in the regular Thursday home section). From reading it, it sounds like Adelphia may have been a little surprised about HD interest in the area and that they were overwhelmed.

As to future channels, they just indicate that negotiations are underway, but no dates are given.

Does anyone know why ABC stretched the first two bowl games yesterday on the OTA signal and then had the last bowl game in 4:3 mode?

I realize that none of the games yesterday were broadcast in HD, but it's nice to receive the digital OTA signal in 16:9 format.

I noted the other day that I was having a lot of trouble getting a decent signal out of 19 and 43 here, even though 3, 5, and 8 are coming in fine. Is it possible that 19 and 43 are running at significantly lower power than the other three? I remember seeing a site somewhere showing the transmitter power in use by the various stations, but I can't remember where it was. Can anyone help with this?

If it's just a question of waiting until 19 and 43 come up to full power, I'll just wait. Or could it be that the higher frequencies have trouble getting through the attic wall more than the lower frequencies? It'll take some work to move the antenna outdoors, but if that's the only solution I may give it a try.

Of course, there's yet another alternative I suppose. I could just wait for Adelphia to finish their "negotiations" and skip the OTA reception completely.

Originally posted by ammiller2
Does anyone know why ABC stretched the first two bowl games yesterday on the OTA signal and then had the last bowl game in 4:3 mode?

I realize that none of the games yesterday were broadcast in HD, but it's nice to receive the digital OTA signal in 16:9 format.

I don’t know why they do this. The last game was the only one I could stand to watch. If it is not in HD, then please just show it 4:3. The stretched 16:9 looks very bad.

What frustrates me is I've had HD now for a year and there has not been ONE OTA HDTV station added out of the 5 possibilities. Talk about waiting until the last minute. Come on PBS, WB, and UNI. Get with the program !

Univsion was on for a few days and then the signal went dead if that makes you feel any better.

Plus you can get TBN 17 out of the akron area, but they have so many problems and a lot of bad programming that it aint anything to get excited about.



As far as the stretch on 5. I hate it, that and channel 3.

If they insist on stretching non-hd programming, at least leave all network stuff in 4:3 and local stuff 16:9. since no one really cares about local programming.

Originally posted by jtscherne
FYI, the Plain Dealer had an article about Adelphia's HD rollout in the Thursday newspaper (it was in the regular Thursday home section). From reading it, it sounds like Adelphia may have been a little surprised about HD interest in the area and that they were overwhelmed.

As to future channels, they just indicate that negotiations are underway, but no dates are given.

I have had OTA for several years. I don't think anything you do will help with ch19. I have the same problems. Some nights it is great, other nights it breaks up or disappears completely. I have a large antenna with a rotor and also tried installing an amp at the antenna. Nothing helped. I havn't watched 43. 3, 5, and 8 digital channels (2, 15, 31) usually come in fine. 19's digital channel is 10. I got the COMCAST HD box this week and was disappointed to find they only have NBC and FOX. It looks like they are adding ABC in the channel shakeup on the 15th as well as upping the price by five bucks. So that leaves CH 19 only OTA. I was hoping the box would solve the CH19 problem since CBS has a lot of the programs we watch.

Check out Antennaweb.org

They added a "Miles From" column that I never saw before. The warm weather is giving some spring like propagation. I got channel 21 which usually does'nt come in. There are a lot more stations listed on antennweb.org than I have ever seen before including Detroit, Mi.

Be that as it may I do not see WNEO channel 46 listed. Wonder if any of you guys south of me in Royalton can pick them up. It is on the Titan TV listing for my location as are a couple of Y-Town stations that I cant get either.

Thanks and Happy new Year

Dan

Originally posted by intermod
Check out Antennaweb.org

Be that as it may I do not see WNEO channel 46 listed. Wonder if any of you guys south of me in Royalton can pick them up.
Dan

I'm in Stark county and have been getting digital WNEO 46 for what seems like over a month now. It is not a real strong signal. It is just showing the PBS HD loop for now and a multi-cast of the analog channel on 46-2.

If anyone at WNEO reads this, please stop the multi-casting and don't stretch your non-16:9 shows. These are two of the biggest mistakes digital channels make.

I got to work today and put up an outside antenna. All that work, but still no CBS. I'm rather annoyed. I'll tinker with the orientation some tomorrow, but I've had enough for one day. It was a lot of work, but there is some benefit - at least I'm now getting a good signal on 43/UPN. But I'm really beginning to wonder if CBS19 isn't actually just running an intermittent operation. It sure seems like it. Sometimes the signal is just weak, other times it vanishes completely and no amount of tweaking will bring it in.

Is anyone here getting 19 consistently, or does it come and go for everyone?

That has been the problem I have seen on WOIO for ever. Sometimes it is solid for 45 minutes and then break up terribly. Irritating when it breaks up three quarters thru the program.

I get WOIO no problem.

The only problems I have is with their frequent audio problems, but thats a problem at the station, not with the broadcasting.

Watched parts of Zoro tonight and it was all good. Remember HD football tomorrow.

I've finally achieved some success with 19. I reoriented the antenna to a somewhat more northern heading and I'm getting the five major local stations quite well now. Antennaweb.org says that these stations are all slightly south of west for me, but I'm finally getting them by pointing slightly north of west. I'm not sure where the discrepancy lies, but I'm getting good results now so I'm not going to worry about it. Well, at least until WB and PBS come along.

Hello !

I live in Fairview Park and am considering buying the Channel Master 3671 and the Fusion HD card. Anyone have that combo by chance? I love watching Seinfeld on 43 every night and then switching to Leno and Conan before bed. Should I get some kind of rotor thing to move my antenna or will the Channel Master be strong enough to pick up NBC and WUAB without turning it?

Originally posted by Shawn Pilichis
... Should I get some kind of rotor thing to move my antenna or will the Channel Master be strong enough to pick up NBC and WUAB without turning it?

Have you gone to the web site:
www.antennaweb.org
and checked out your stations' directions. You'll probably see that all the stations you want are in the same direction, implying that you don't need a rotor. (Though you'll in some posts that 'direction' is a story unto itself.)

Originally posted by Jim Gilliland
I've finally achieved some success with 19. I reoriented the antenna to a somewhat more northern heading.

My experience is the same. The nominal orientation from my house is 232 degrees. Lately, I have had to point at 260 degrees to receive 19-1.

I can see ghosting on the analog 19-0, so I'm pretty sure there is some multipath in the picture.

But the 'best' orientation seems to fluctuate with the climate.

(At 260 degrees, I can't get much of anything else -- I have to rotate back to 232.

Stan,

Since the leaves have fallen I now receive WOIO without any of the problems I had through the summer. I live north of Rt 2 so I'm in close proximity to you. It looks like I will need to chop some trees down next spring if my reception problems return with the leaves. Perhaps Comcast will be all set up by then with all the locals.

Ray

Originally posted by Rbuchina
Stan,

Since the leaves have fallen I now receive WOIO without any of the problems I had through the summer. I live north of Rt 2 so I'm in close proximity to you. It looks like I will need to chop some trees down next spring if my reception problems return with the leaves. Perhaps Comcast will be all set up by then with all the locals.

Ray

I just got my OTA box connected back up this afternoon. I only have one HD input on the TV so put the cable box on it last week. I will see if WOIO has improved. It has been very sporatic in the past. COMCAST only has two of the local stations on at the moment with the third listed for the channel shakeup the 15th.....

For those with HD cable...How's NBC tonight for you? I'm trying to watch Las Vegas and I the picture keeps dropping out.

Thanks,

Jim

Originally posted by Shark73
For those with HD cable...How's NBC tonight for you? I'm trying to watch Las Vegas and I the picture keeps dropping out.

Thanks,

Jim

Were you watching WKYC? I was seeing major dropouts and pixelization on my equipment too. I even had my guys reboot the encoder.

I was watching WKYC OTA and it was dropping out and locking up every minute or so. I had to switch to the satellite signal in SD.

Just wondering if any of you guys had problems with CSI Miami's audio feed on WOIO tonight (and last week). For some reason, the sound was in 5 channel stereo. My Yamaha showed it in stereo although it sounded like each of my 5 speakers was producing the same sounds. I switched channels to NBC, ABC, Fox, Discovery-HD etc... and all of those seemed to be in either DD or Surround sound & were perfectly normal. Only WOIO was off. This is the 2nd week in a row the sound was like this.

Anyone else notice this?

-Todd

Originally posted by TV21CHIEF
Were you watching WKYC? I was seeing major dropouts and pixelization on my equipment too. I even had my guys reboot the encoder.

Yes, I was watching WKYC out of Cleveland via Adelphia and OTA. Sometimes I have trouble pulling WKYC in via OTA....last night was one of those nights. I switched to cable and it was just as bad.

Jim

Reference the video dropouts:

WKYC has been doing this since Saturday, although I only notice it when they are receiving the network HD feed. I havnt really seen it when they show non HD material, although I also have not seen much non HD NBC material.

I loved the commercial for HD on WKYC last night, talking about how they offer the best possible picture. - HAHA

Attn: WKYC

The day you fix the intense video dropouts, and you stop multicasting useless channels, then you can talk. Until then, of the 4 HD channels in Cleveland, they have without a doubt the worst picture quality.

Rant off

i just got comcast digital cable with hd and there is some hd channels but i was wondering if we were getting any more on the 15th when they add more channels.