We are finally switched to HD at 6:30 remaining in the first half of Lou/Wash.

I wasfinding the Illinois v UW-Millwakie game very entertaining.

YEAH! Wash-Lou now on in HD!!!

I cant understand what happened I have been getting great reception 3.1
and 3.2. Now I can't get anything at all just the analog signal. Anyone know who I can call or e-mail? I am in Mansfield 06250
Thanks

According to WFSB website, tonight's schedule is:

Analog Ch 3:
Game 1: Duke vs. Michigan State, 7:10 p.m.
Game 2: North Carolina vs. Villanova, 9:57 p.m.

HD Games 3.1
7:27 PM Wisconsin vs. NC State
9:57 PM UNC vs. Villanova

Originally posted by jake14mw
According to WFSB website, tonight's schedule is:

Analog Ch 3:
Game 1: Duke vs. Michigan State, 7:10 p.m.
Game 2: North Carolina vs. Villanova, 9:57 p.m.

HD Games 3.1
7:27 PM Wisconsin vs. NC State
9:57 PM UNC vs. Villanova

I was just going to bitch about this. I was sitting back watching the Duke-Mich St. game in HD bliss when they switched over to the Wisc-NC St game in HD. I'm not real happy about it, but at least the Duke game is being shown on analog WFSB. I'm also glad we're able to watch both games, but being selfish, I'd have preferred the Duke game to remain in HD. :)

Originally posted by BillN96
The engineering department is saying that they received wrong information from CBS and are trying to locate someone to change to the right transponder.

CBS did send out two sets of frequencie assignments to the affiliates. The first one was wrong.

I subscribed to the D* March Madness package and it turned out to be the biggest waste of money. I called D* to get my money back and of course the rules state you cant. I did talk to a retention rep who is crediting me 5 bucks per month for 12 months to recover the cost.

Here's an example of why the package was worthless. The first 2 days were just a chaotic mess. Dedicated games did not stay dedicated games. I ended just watching local WFSB in HD and it was great. It jumped around but that was CBS and it was doing that on the dedicated game channels anyways.

Sweet 16. All games in HD! NOT. WFSB ended up showing the Wisconsin game in HD and the Duke game in SD. I went to watch the Duke game in HD with the package and because the SD local on WFSB was Duke, it was blocked. So I had 2 versions of Wisconsin HD and no Duke at all unless I went WFSB analog. That was the last straw for me. It turned out, with a silly antenna and receiver, WFSB was able to provide pretty much all the games and choices with obviously exceptions. What turned out to be a complete ripoff was the March Madness package.

So in the end, Bravo to WFSB and shame on D* and CBS for that package. You can darn well make sure I wont be subscribing to it next year.

WB HD on 711 in CT (Comcast) started today!

The only local we don't have now is UPN (WCTX).

Congrats from a jealous Cox subscriber!

I don't know if you guys can help, I am trying to e-mail the engeneering dept at wfsb. I am wondering why I can't recieve the digital broadcast any longer? I live in Mansfield CT and was able to pull in 3.1 and 3.2 100 percent through my rooftop antenna, now I don't evan get a blip. About a month ago I lost the channel completely and have not gotten it back.. Nothing has changed on my end as I am still able to recieve all my other channels wvit fox Wb etc at the same strength I was prior. If anyone can help me it would be much appreciated. I am using aHughes e86 and radio shack antenna, evan when wfsb wasn't at full strength I was getting 35 on the meter. I still recieve there analog channel clear as a bell.
Thanks

Originally posted by Addicted2HD4Now
WB HD on 711 in CT (Comcast) started today!

The only local we don't have now is UPN (WCTX).

Interesting. There doesn't seem to be any programming on the channel at the moment. How did you discover it was there? Comcast never hesitates to send us a message or two when they are trying to hawk a wrestling pay-per-view but they're a little lax about informing us when they add channels. Of course, they're also pretty lax about adding the channels. I hope they'll be giving us Discovery HD, TNT-HD, and returning INHD2 some time soon. And I'm sure we'll finally get UPN once Enterprise has gone off the air.

Ok, well don't be too jealous just yet. I'm still getting the "Channel should be available shortly" message. It's on 711, nowhere near other HD content (all in the 300s). Must just be a testing channel at the moment, although it's marked in the Guide as WTXXD.

I called tech support and they didn't even show anything in the 700s. Not surprised that they have no idea.

Is anyone able to watch anything on this channel yet?

Threads merged.

pplchamp1 over on the BroadbandReports discussion forum pointed it out. I thought we might be getting it since a few other markets were talking about getting WB on March 30th. I had my fingers crossed.

I agree, now DiscoveryHD, INHD2 and TNT-HD would be nice. Would also be nice if they shared the Celtics HD broadcasts with CT.

Originally posted by xboxer9
I don't know if you guys can help, I am trying to e-mail the engeneering dept at wfsb. I am wondering why I can't recieve the digital broadcast any longer? I live in Mansfield CT and was able to pull in 3.1 and 3.2 100 percent through my rooftop antenna, now I don't evan get a blip. About a month ago I lost the channel completely and have not gotten it back.. Nothing has changed on my end as I am still able to recieve all my other channels wvit fox Wb etc at the same strength I was prior. If anyone can help me it would be much appreciated. I am using aHughes e86 and radio shack antenna, evan when wfsb wasn't at full strength I was getting 35 on the meter. I still recieve there analog channel clear as a bell.
Thanks

Good luck getting WFSB to respond - they still haven't answered the e-mail I sent them 2 months ago.

Originally posted by xboxer9
I don't know if you guys can help, I am trying to e-mail the engeneering dept at wfsb. I am wondering why I can't recieve the digital broadcast any longer? I live in Mansfield CT and was able to pull in 3.1 and 3.2 100 percent through my rooftop antenna, now I don't evan get a blip. About a month ago I lost the channel completely and have not gotten it back.. Nothing has changed on my end as I am still able to recieve all my other channels
Thanks

I too have the same situation. Beautiful signal in North Haven for a while but disappeared about 5 weeks ago, at least. No new volcanos caused new mountains, and certainly no leaves, so ...?

I may have the cause however. After enduring the WFSB comedy of errors saga for three years, I actually complimented them in a posting 5 weeks ago. That's all it took. Now, the signal has reverted back to the usual ie poor analog, no digital. Did Meridith bring back the old engineeriing and management team?

I rescanned all digital channels last night hoping to find WTXX since my box wouldn't show me anything but a message that the channel should be available shortly. I didn't find WTXX, but did notice that all the digital subchannel assignments had changed from what I had found a month ago. Did Comcast reassign everything recently? Anyone know where NBC is now, I was able to find all the others.

Interesting that "hello 33-3" hasn't responded.

Don't cha think? :confused:

Ross 2 months is nothing...Hello replied to a few of my emails then.............silence.

A2HD4N -

After your rescan, you no longer got the OTA HD feeds on the same channels (i.e. 79-1, 79-2, 110-2, etc)? I went to watch something on ABCHD earlier this week and wasn't able to tune in any of these stations - ended up having to get WTNH with my antenna. Perhaps, there has been some channel reassignments....?

Paul

After your rescan, you no longer got the OTA HD feeds on the same channels (i.e. 79-1, 79-2, 110-2, etc)?

That's correct, but I don't remember where everything was. I have it written down at home and will post the ones I found after work. This is the cable hooked directly to my TV, bypassing the cable box. Not an actual antenna, in case that info matters.

I want to say PBS is where FOX used to be (79.2?), then there's 89.1 and 89.2 (I don't remember which networks are which).

Man, I was just getting used to the wacky number scheme and it changes again! I'll do rescan this weekend and see what I get.

Originally posted by Addicted2HD4Now
Ok, well don't be too jealous just yet. I'm still getting the "Channel should be available shortly" message. It's on 711, nowhere near other HD content (all in the 300s). Must just be a testing channel at the moment, although it's marked in the Guide as WTXXD.

I called tech support and they didn't even show anything in the 700s. Not surprised that they have no idea.

Is anyone able to watch anything on this channel yet?

Last time I checked, Comcast had moved the channel from 711 to 307 (where the rest of their HD channels reside). There is now programming on the channel. Looks like will be able to tune in late at night and watch guys selling coins, cheesy computers and Klingon batleths in wide-screen now.

ABC - 88.1
PBS - 82.1
NBC - ??? (used to be 79.2, now no signal)
Fox - 89.1
CBS - 89.2
WB - ???

I found NBC on 88.2 and WB on 82.2.

I was hoping to get some information or comments from any one familiar with use of a cable card in this area. My parents live in the Old Saybrook area, and I am going to set them up with a new HDTV. I want to make using it as easy as possible (less phone cals for me), and feel that bypassing a cable box would be best. I am leaning toward getting them one of the Panasonic Plasma displays which are cable card capable. Any input from this thread would be greatly appreciated.

Also, is the local cable company in Old Saybrook Comcast or Cox?

Thanks in advance.

The big drawback to the Cable Card is the one-way communication. No guide, on demand, etc. Then unless the cable company provides the program information (usually seen in the guide) nothing will show up in the guide built into the TV. I know Comcast in my area isn't providing this info when the cable is hooked directly to my ANT input so I doubt it'd work with the Cable Card, but I'm not sure. The reason I mention it is I think it increases the difficulty of finding what you want to watch. Just something to think about.

I wish they were two-way, I didn't know that when I bought my HDTV with a Cable Card slot. :mad:

Interesting that "hello 33-3" hasn't responded.

Don't cha think?


Something must be going on because now I am getting something at least,
I get the picture in about 73% on the meter than it drops to 0. Maybe they are working on it..

Originally posted by xboxer9
Interesting that "hello 33-3" hasn't responded.

Don't cha think?


Something must be going on because now I am getting something at least,
I get the picture in about 73% on the meter than it drops to 0. Maybe they are working on it..

He doesn't really respond that often to anything raised here. I would guess that they are still messing with power levels there. They should at least respond somehow to people when they e-mail them at WFSB.

We're getting Yes in HD on 381 tonight on Comcast. Anyone know if it's just for tonight or if Comcast is replacing NESN HD with Yes HD in our area? I hope it's just for tonights game so we get it in HD.

Apparently the games that are broadcast OTA in Boston and on NESN elsewhere (mostly Friday nights but tonight's game was also one of those as well) are not available in HD. I hope that tonight we got the YES network only because NESN wasn't doing the game in HD. Getting YES instead of NESN on a regular basis would truly suck. What I would like to see Comcast do is have dedicated channels for NESN-HD and YES-HD, separate from INHD, but I'm not expecting that to happen any time soon.

docbone,

I don't think NESN HD and YES HD need their own dedicated channels at this point. The only HD content are Sox, Bruins (or not) and College Hockey on NESN and Yankees/Nets games on YES.

As much as I want Discovery HD, I'd rather they bring back INHD2 so they can pre-empt both INHD broadcasts with NESN and YES as necessary.

I e-mailed Comcast and was told we'd receive all "27" HD games NESN was broadcasting this year. I responded by telling them NESN had 102 HD games this season. I got a stupid response from a CSR because he didn't bother to read the threaded message where I was talking about HD with other CSRs and he told me NESN only carried SD (I guess he was confused because because I didn't say NESN HD in my response). I'm hoping that because I was told 27 games would be in HD, that doesn't mean we'll only receive the ones that don't overlap with a YES HD broadcast.

-Scott

WTXX-HD (WB) showed up on channel 184 in the Danbury Comcast area over the weekend. Also the Yankee game showed up on inHD-2 on Sunday. Surprised it wasn't blacked out. It was also showing non HD on Yes channel 37

I just spoke to three reps and none of them had any information about how the two feeds would be handled in the future. Guess you'll have to tune into 381 in the Hartford area and see if you're getting Red Sox or Yankee games.

The CSRs kept telling me that Comcast has no control over what programming is on 381. I tried explaining that I understand they have no contol over what's on INHD when that's on 381 but they have control over what shows up on 381 (INHD, NESN HD or YES HD). They still didn't understand. They wouldn't let me speak to anyone else that might understand what I was talking about. Only the MA rep was friendly. Comcast customer service sucks!!!

I believe that NESN only has HD feeds for home games, so last nights abomination wasn't in HD on NESN.

Originally posted by schmitter
I believe that NESN only has HD feeds for home games, so last nights abomination wasn't in HD on NESN.

Funny, abomination wasn't the word I was thinking of.
Of course, I'm a Yankee fan, so...................;)

Originally posted by schmitter
I believe that NESN only has HD feeds for home games, so last nights abomination wasn't in HD on NESN.

Actually, NESN has some road games in HD this year (started with the Arizona exhibition game), look at their schedule. They have 102 games in HD and the Sox only play 81 games at home. I would imagine those games will be at any park that is wired for HD telecasts (cameras). As more ballparks are wired for HD we'll get more and more games in HD.

YES had last night's game in HD, the only bad part was listening to their announcers. They do a good job, and weren't as hard to listen to as I thought it would be (not as bad as their radio announcers). At least I got to see the "abomination" in stunning HD.

We'll be getting any games between the Sox and Yankees that WSBK in Boston has in HD on YES in HD instead of NESN. We'll be getting all Sox games in HD that NESN has rights to, and on nights when there isn't a Sox game in HD and there is a Yankees game in HD we'll get the YES HD broadcast of the Yankees game. Hopefully that makes some sense.

Does anyone own an ATI HDTV Wonder PC tuner? I was thinking of picking one up to try and was curious as to how good the antenna worked, particularly in the Hartford area..

We'll be getting any games between the Sox and Yankees that WSBK in Boston has in HD on YES in HD instead of NESN. We'll be getting all Sox games in HD that NESN has rights to, and on nights when there isn't a Sox game in HD and there is a Yankees game in HD we'll get the YES HD broadcast of the Yankees game. Hopefully that makes some sense. [/B]

Well, that makes sense, although I don't fully understand why they don't just have one channel available for Sox games and a different one for Yankees games. While I'm not a Yankee fan there are plenty of them in CT. They should have access to the games they want to watch and I never want to get into a situation where Comcast feels it has to blow off a Sox game in favor of a Yankees game.
BTW, I have now learned that Comcast did have an HD feed of Sunday night's game on a special channel, but only in the greater Boston area.

BTW, I have now learned that Comcast did have an HD feed of Sunday night's game on a special channel, but only in the greater Boston area.

Boston had the game in HD on WSBK DT which engineering finished adding to their lineup on April 1st. Or do you mean those outside the Boston DMA got the YES HD feed like we did in CT?

<P>My dilema:I now live about 30 miles from the transmitters of the Hartford
network affiliates.With my Radio Shack 15-1880 indoor antenna pointed south,I get good to great reception.
<P>I'll soon be moving to Natick which is about 10 miles west of Needham.
However,my place has a south facing,but no east facing,window.
Anybody have any idea what my chances are of getting anything from
Needham OTA?
<P>Thanks!

Threads merged.

Originally posted by nollchr
Does anyone own an ATI HDTV Wonder PC tuner? I was thinking of picking one up to try and was curious as to how good the antenna worked, particularly in the Hartford area..

I am in Newington and picked one of these up two weeks ago. It picks up everything that my big antenna on the roof picks up with only the included antenna, although it does have trouble with WTNH and WCTX.

I am not using the ATI software though, instead I am using it on a Windows Media Center PC I built.

Originally posted by Scott Greczkowski
I am in Newington and picked one of these up two weeks ago. It picks up everything that my big antenna on the roof picks up with only the included antenna, although it does have trouble with WTNH and WCTX.

I am not using the ATI software though, instead I am using it on a Windows Media Center PC I built.

Thanks for the info. I think I'll pick one up and try it. I guess I can always return it if it doens't pull in enough channels.

I hear that WSBK-DT has shown up on Comcast cable in the Boston area, and I wonder if anyone in CT has any idea if WCTX-DT is going to show up on Comcast here in CT anytime soon? Both are UPN stations, and I that would complete the local HD lineup for us here in Hartford

As much as I'd like Discovery HD Theater, I would imagine Comcast will finish with the locals first. The locals seem to be their priority though. Boston got UPN within a month of getting WB so we'll have to see if UPN pops up in CT in the near future.

Unfortunately we don't seem to have any Comcast "insiders" in the CT area like Boston does.

Anyone having problems with HD channels on Comcast? I seem to have lost WTNH and WFSB from their (just) remapped channels (can't remember if they were on 88 or 82).

I guess I can't take a vacation!

Hope all is well with the HD Viewing. Hope everyone is aware that we are showing the Masters on Thursday and Friday on our HD

:)

Originally posted by hello33-3
Hope everyone is aware that we are showing the Masters on Thursday and Friday on our HD

I am VERY much aware that you are showing The Masters on Thursday and Friday. It is fantastic. I know not all CBS affiliates are doing this so thank you very much. Two huge events done right by WFSB (NCAA Tournament and The Masters).

Thank you again and keep up the good work!

Originally posted by Addicted2HD4Now
As much as I'd like Discovery HD Theater, I would imagine Comcast will finish with the locals first. The locals seem to be their priority though. Boston got UPN within a month of getting UPN so we'll have to see if UPN pops up in CT in the near future.

HD locals should be top priority for all cable companies since that is one of the main things that sets them apart from satelite. Unfortunately I have to deal with the inept people at Tele-Media (Adelphia) who do not see this. Currently we only have NBC and CBS which is a total joke.

Addicted2HD4Now, you are 100% right with your statement.

BillN96,

Except what I meant to say is that Boston got UPN within a month of getting WB. OOPS!

dd

Originally posted by hello33-3
I guess I can't take a vacation!

Hope all is well with the HD Viewing. Hope everyone is aware that we are showing the Masters on Thursday and Friday on our HD

:)

hello33-3 - can you tell me why, after you encouraged members to e-mail WFSB engineering with questions/feedback, that they haven't had the courtesy to respond to the e-mail I sent them months ago regarding the status of your digital transmitter and reception difficulties in East Lyme? Thanks.

hello33-3,

Great job on the Masters coverage! It made a very entertaining tournament that much better.

Rumors are flying that Comcast could have TNT-HD before the NBA playoffs start on 4/24. Anyone know if Comcast in CT will be adding this channel?

I e-mailed Comcast last night to find out if they'll ever free up bandwidth in CT by eliminating the duplication of HBO and The Movie Channel being on channels 14/15 on analog in addition to the offering on the digital packages. They said eventually they will, but no date as of yet. That's 4 HD channels or 20 digital channels that they're depriving us of!!! Any Comcast customer should e-mail them and ask them to get on the ball. Tell them to give us Discovery HD and TNT HD soon!!!

I just saw my first Red Sox game on NESN HD on Monday vs. Yanks (since I was on vacation first week of the season)... and all I can say is my goodness what a beautiful picture. Absolutely loved it and looking forward to an entire season of HD baseball. Thats the good news.

The bad news is the Celtics got blacked out tonite because Cox Cable doesn't carry FSN in HD. So it appears that its basically impossible for Cox subscribers to get a Celtics game in HD because it will always be blacked out. And we don't get TNT or ABC HD either (for semi-finals & finals)... very slim pickings for NBA in HD on Cox.

Well, here's one way Comcast seems to have freed up some bandwidth, but not exactly the way we would like them to: WTIC-DT seems to have disappeared from channel 306. Anybody have some idea of what's going on with that?

docbone,

I called Comcast last night and was told it was a temporary outage due to signal problems. I really don't think they'd start taking away HD locals to replace with national HD channels, but who knows. Hopefully 306 is back today.

Originally posted by Addicted2HD4Now
Rumors are flying that Comcast could have TNT-HD before the NBA playoffs start on 4/24. Anyone know if Comcast in CT will be adding this channel?

For what it's worth, Charter in CT just added TNT-HD to it's lineup.

Now if they would only add the locals they wouldn't be that bad.

FYI - 306 was back online tonight when I got home from work. Guess it wasn't a way to free up some bandwidth after all and I got good info from a Comcast CSR for a change.

Originally posted by Addicted2HD4Now
FYI - 306 was back online tonight when I got home from work. Guess it wasn't a way to free up some bandwidth after all and I got good info from a Comcast CSR for a change.

Or a lucky guess. :) I see it's back today. But I find it rather odd that they deleted the channel entirely rather than just leaving it without programming for a day. I suppose they have their reasons.
I saw a piece on NECN today that talked about how Comcast's subscriber base increased by only 8000 last year, a completely insignificant number compared to their overall total. I'm no network executive, but perhaps if they started increasing the number of (HD) channels they offer rather than just increasing their price structure, they might actually boost their customer base by a statistically significant figure.

With Voom out of the picture and neither DirecTV nor Dish Network offering a killer HD package, I would think Comcast could definitely pick up subscribers by boosting their HD offerings. Since we have our locals, the only national HD channels we're missing are Discovery HD, TNT-HD, Universal HD, HDNet, HDNet Movies and INHD2 (ok so that's quite a list). If Comcast could find a way to squeeze those in I'd think they'd attract quite a few HD subscirbers who might currently be satellite subscribers. However, if DirecTV comes through later this year with many HD channels (including Red Sox games in HD) and a way to get and record local HD, I'll be switching. I'm tired of getting less HD channels than other areas (even though we do ok compared to others) and paying just about the same per month. Our network was just upgraded last August to a higher capacity and we've not seen a whole lot added other than Local HD channels.

Yes, Charter did add TNT-HD. Although it would have been nice if they used the bandwidth to give us ABC and CBS first. I'm wondering if we are left in the lurch in Eastern CT because we are located between the Hartford/New Haven and Boston markets. We receive two standard definition analog CBS feeds (one from WFSB and one from WBZ) and two standard definition analog ABC feeds (WCVB and WTNH), but Hi-Def from none of the four. All I know is that this better be resolved by the fall when football starts or I'll be marching myself to satellite.

Charter also added Starz HD and Cinemax HD. We don't get CBS or ABC in western CT either. We get networks from CT and NYC on analog but only digital from WVIT and WTIC which I think has only been since the super bowl. THey have been telling me since they started having HD service that the networks would be on soon. That is about 2 years now. I hope that when Voom goes off I can still use receiver for ota channels as I get digital from Hartford and NYC where I live. Charter deal was too good to pass up with HD DVR for now. 103.57 with internet before taxes. When the DBS companies start using mpeg 4 and they add HD then I will reevaluate. At least with Charter there is no time commitment.

Hey Larz,
I heard on the news last night that Monday Night Football is moving to ESPN !

Does any one know whats going on with CPTV? Will WEDN be moved to Frequency 9? Will there be a tower for WEDH in Hartford County and will they be using Frequency 45 when WEDN switches to 9?

I can get WEDN in Norwich but I have to rotate my antenna. If WEDH is activated, then I can keep my antenna pointed to the Hartford hills.

Originally posted by Cable70
Hey Larz,
I heard on the news last night that Monday Night Football is moving to ESPN !

Cable70,

That's not happening until the 2006 season. Then Sunday night football will be moving to NBC as well.

Originally posted by brewer4
Does any one know whats going on with CPTV? ... Will there be a tower for WEDH in Hartford County and will they be using Frequency 45 when WEDN switches to 9?

An engineer from Fox61 posted awhile back that it wouldn't be until after July 1st that sister stations WTIC-DT and WTXX-DT would move from their current positions on the side of Farmington's Rattlesnake Mountain broadcast tower to the top of the tower.

Since the antenna for CPTV for greater Hartford (Channel 24) was scheduled to join the antennas for Channels 20 and 61 at the top of that tower in a three-antenna arrangement, I got the impression from the engineer's post that issues with CPTV's digital frequency were still holding up the "candelabra" until the second half of this year.

In a post from last year or the year before, the owner of the tower stated that the following events had to occur:

(1)The FCC had to approve Channel 24's new digital channel number/frequency.

(2)Once that was done, Channel 24 would know what type of broadcast antenna to order.

(3)Once it was known what type of antenna Channel 24 would be using, the owner of the Rattlesnake Mountain tower could finalize the design of the "platform" that was going to be mounted at the top of his tower. The platform was going to function like a candle-holder, holding three antennas at the top: WTIC-DT(Fox61), WTXX-DT(WB20), and WEDH-DT(CPTV24).

A couple weeks ago my receiver re-scanned the over-the-air local digital channels, and it automatically added Channel 45-1. The channel is a black screen.

I'm not sure if the FCC has made its decisions regarding Channel 24, but the candelabra installation hinges on those decisions.

Originally posted by WHNB
A couple weeks ago my receiver re-scanned the over-the-air local digital channels, and it automatically added Channel 45-1. The channel is a black screen.

I'm not sure if the FCC has made its decisions regarding Channel 24, but the candelabra installation hinges on those decisions. FCC TV Query (http://www.fcc.gov/mb/video/tvq.html)

Channel 45 digital is WEDN-DT in Norwich - I believe the last signoff I saw a couple of weeks ago indicated that as well. WEDH has an outstanding application (since 1999) asking for the 45 allocation for Hartford (and assuming Arnie's Rattlesnake facility). A quick review of the FCC's web site shows no action on CPTV's request to assign channel 9 digital for their Norwich site.

A lot of the Yankees games have been shown on inHD2. I think they are pre-empting the normal programming to show YesHD. It is different than what is on the inHD website.

bfadams,

Assuming you're a Comcast subscriber . . . You are correct. In the Southwest part of the state, INHD2 is pre-empted to show Yankee games when available from YES HD broadcasts. The rest of the state gets Yankees games in HD from YES when there isn't a conflicting Red Sox game in HD from NESN.

You must be the only area of the state that gets INHD2 from Comcast as well.

Hello all-

I am moving to Wallingford and was wondering if anyone can recommend a DTV installer in the area that is not a hack. I've had DTV for over 4 yrs but I cannot find the records of who did my initial install.

Thanks for any info.

can someone please tell me why a channel i receive ota with an outside antenna and a pre amp,one part installed on mast other near tv, jumps around so much? i mean the signal strenght goes from 60 to 25 to 50 to 30 etc... happens constantly. if there is a reason please give me a solution.
thanks for the help and all you guys (and gals) are awesome!
thanks again,
tucker

Threads merged.

threads merged?
thanks

Tucker

The reason can be due to many things from multipath to the signal just not being strong enough.

If you post in the HDTV hardware forum you may have a better chance of a better answer.

Comcast subs in CT are missing out on yet another HD addition. TNT HD has been added in quite a few markets across the country, Boston on Tuesday. I e-mailed Comcast to find out if we'd be getting it and was told "Comcast New England has no plans to add that channel at this time." Since Boston is getting it, I guess that just means just the CT part of New England won't be getting it at this time.

Thanks Comcast. One step closer to cutting back Comcast services and adding DirecTV. I really hate the idea of putting a dish on my house, but I'm almost there.

I feel your pain, Cox doesn't have TNT-HD either which is key this time of year if you have any interest in the NBA playoffs.

The one thing I'll say for Comcast is at least they specifically address your question and give an honest answer. With Cox the answer is always "thank you for your inquiry, please be assured we are negotiating for additional HD channels.....". But they won't tell you what those channels are or when you might get them. They've been in "negotiations" with ABC for a couple of years now.

My recent email from Cox stated that they have moved from "negotiating" to "actively negotiating". Now thats progress, don't you think? :mad:

Topic: Comcast Cable HD STBs
Region: CT SubRegion: New London

Anyone hear any new/updated information on Comcast having the SA8300HD boxes for this area? A few months ago I switched from the SA3250HD to the SA8000HD and was told that they would have the SA8300HD towards April/May.

They also said that around the same time they would finally do a firmware update for the SA8000HD boxes (which is definately needed). A few weeks ago I called again about this and got no information about the SA8300HD boxes but I did get some information about the firmware update. They should be pushing the updated firmware at the end of April (which is pretty darn close).

I'm glade to see a new firmware version but I hope that this also means they are close to offering the better box SA8300HD too.

Anyone else get any information?

BTW Both times I had to ask alot of questions and dig to get someone that would give me answers I trusted.

Originally posted by Addicted2HD4Now
Comcast subs in CT are missing out on yet another HD addition. TNT HD has been added in quite a few markets across the country, Boston on Tuesday. I e-mailed Comcast to find out if we'd be getting it and was told "Comcast New England has no plans to add that channel at this time." Since Boston is getting it, I guess that just means just the CT part of New England won't be getting it at this time.

Thanks Comcast. One step closer to cutting back Comcast services and adding DirecTV. I really hate the idea of putting a dish on my house, but I'm almost there.

what else is new. first they rip away inhd2, then they dont give us discovery hd,and now tnt-hd. we have to be one of the only states that doesnt have inhd1 and 2. at my next condo association meeting i am forcing them to find a spot where i can put a dish. i have had it with concast.

Originally posted by smartass1235
what else is new. first they rip away inhd2, then they dont give us discovery hd,and now tnt-hd. we have to be one of the only states that doesnt have inhd1 and 2. at my next condo association meeting i am forcing them to find a spot where i can put a dish. i have had it with concast.

smartass,

I did get some encouraging news from Comcast today (not from a CSR, but don't want to reveal who gave me the info). It should be credible, though.

They said they have a contract to carry Discovery HD and INHD2 in our area (no news there). They will be rolling both out over the "coming months". Now, you can break down years into months, but I'm going to put this info together with some I got from support/service over a month ago and guess we might see them around June. I was told back in March that they were working on considlidating the CT infrastructure for uniform product rollouts in CT. Completion timeframe was a few months at that point.

Other good news was that we're not out of bandwidth, and steps will be taken if/when that does happen to ensure expansion of the video lineup is possible.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for June and post any more info if I hear anything else. I'm probably on Comcast's hit list at this point because I've been bugging anyone I can find an e-mail address for as well as the CT DPUC. Hopefully they understand I wouldn't be asking if their marketing department did a better job of letting it's customers know what's going on.

I don't understand why they'd wait to begin showing Discovery HD though since they were able to add WTXX-DT and Yes HD before the infrastructure consolidation was complete. They can probably chew bubble gum and walk at the same time, too :)

Any thoughts of maybe Comcast's roll out of new channels coinsiding with the acquisition of the Adelphia properties? They could be picking some equipment or bandwidth by merging the two infrastructures.

They're not buying bandwidth by acquiring Adelphia. They're simply acquiring territories and the infrastructure that comes with them. If they need upgrading to get them up on par with the rest of CT then they'll be on the hook for that.

My guess is that the rollout and consildation are completely separate from the acquisition but could happen at about the same time. I would think it'd be a while before the Adelphia areas become "Comcast" areas. Probably will take the same amount of time as when Comcast acquired AT&T areas about 4 years ago. It was at least 6 months before things began to switch over.

Who knows if they'll take over the CT Adelphia areas anyway, could be Time Warner that gets those areas.

does anyone think an indoor antenna with an antenna in input from the outdoor antenna would help reception????/

Threads merged.

Originally posted by Addicted2HD4Now
They're not buying bandwidth by acquiring Adelphia. They're simply acquiring territories and the infrastructure that comes with them. If they need upgrading to get them up on par with the rest of CT then they'll be on the hook for that.

My guess is that the rollout and consildation are completely separate from the acquisition but could happen at about the same time. I would think it'd be a while before the Adelphia areas become "Comcast" areas. Probably will take the same amount of time as when Comcast acquired AT&T areas about 4 years ago. It was at least 6 months before things began to switch over.

Who knows if they'll take over the CT Adelphia areas anyway, could be Time Warner that gets those areas.

I have spoken to the Director of Marketing for Adelphia of Western CT (Tele-Media), and he has said that Comcast is indeed taking the Waterbury/Seymour system. He used to work for Comcast in New Haven, as a matter of fact. He told me that our Adelphia system has the most bandwidth capability that is currently available to any cable company. I'm no pro, but it had something to do with 850 MHz or something like that. This would lead me to believe that our transition to Comcast should be quicker and smoother than some AT&T BB customers from years ago, in that there really is no system upgrade to be done for us.

Sounds like some of the Comcast areas in CT would be the ones needing to be upgraded..... New London area Comcast is still on a 500Mhz system.... :( Not cool and no information on when / if they'll upgrade.

(I'd be happy with a SA8300HD box and newer firmware over the SA8000HD with the oldest firmware we have now!)

Originally posted by Addicted2HD4Now
smartass,

I did get some encouraging news from Comcast today (not from a CSR, but don't want to reveal who gave me the info). It should be credible, though.

They said they have a contract to carry Discovery HD and INHD2 in our area (no news there). They will be rolling both out over the "coming months". Now, you can break down years into months, but I'm going to put this info together with some I got from support/service over a month ago and guess we might see them around June. I was told back in March that they were working on considlidating the CT infrastructure for uniform product rollouts in CT. Completion timeframe was a few months at that point.

Other good news was that we're not out of bandwidth, and steps will be taken if/when that does happen to ensure expansion of the video lineup is possible.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for June and post any more info if I hear anything else. I'm probably on Comcast's hit list at this point because I've been bugging anyone I can find an e-mail address for as well as the CT DPUC. Hopefully they understand I wouldn't be asking if their marketing department did a better job of letting it's customers know what's going on.

I don't understand why they'd wait to begin showing Discovery HD though since they were able to add WTXX-DT and Yes HD before the infrastructure consolidation was complete. They can probably chew bubble gum and walk at the same time, too :)


Addicted,
i still dont have wtxx-dt. however, the other day i was checking my email and i took a glance at the tv listings through comcast.net(not .com). it has wtxx-dt listed at 307. this also happened right before wtic-dt was added to 306. im assuming in my area(branford) we will get wtxx, discovery and inhd2 all in june(hopefully).

Originally posted by PaulieORF
I have spoken to the Director of Marketing for Adelphia of Western CT (Tele-Media), and he has said that Comcast is indeed taking the Waterbury/Seymour system. He used to work for Comcast in New Haven, as a matter of fact. He told me that our Adelphia system has the most bandwidth capability that is currently available to any cable company. I'm no pro, but it had something to do with 850 MHz or something like that. This would lead me to believe that our transition to Comcast should be quicker and smoother than some AT&T BB customers from years ago, in that there really is no system upgrade to be done for us.

That's great that your system is 850mhz (thought the next step was 860mhz after 750mhz, but no matter). Also, I hope your contact stays with Comcast, that'll finally give this area an inside source with real information. Any idea when your area will actually be taken over by Comcast? Late summer/early fall?

What's up with 24 (the show) on Comcast? I had Comcast digital/HD installed a couple weeks ago and recorded 24 on my 6412 STB the last two weeks. Both times it was not in Hi Def - no Widescreen - no 720p - just regular SD. Yes, it was set to record the HD channel - 306 IIRC. Nascar HD on Fox is pretty good so it's not a consistant Fox problem and I don't think its my equipment. Anyone else see this? I'm on the old TCI N. Branford system.

Originally posted by Addicted2HD4Now
That's great that your system is 850mhz (thought the next step was 860mhz after 750mhz, but no matter). Also, I hope your contact stays with Comcast, that'll finally give this area an inside source with real information. Any idea when your area will actually be taken over by Comcast? Late summer/early fall?

You are correct, it is an 860mhz system, not 850mhz. I double checked after I posted earlier.

As far as the conversion, there has been no talk of any specific period, other than that they are saying it will be within a year. I've heard that it could happen anywhere from 5 months, to 9 months. But most people I've talked to think that it will be done in under 9 months. However, this is all based on estimates. I believe Comcast has to assign a committee to manage the conversion, and at that point we'll know more clearly when it will be.

Where do things stand with OTA on CBS and Fox? I'm still not getting a signal for either of them unless I turn my antenna 90d off the heading. And with spring here, the tree leaves kill my NBC signal as well :(. Man I hate my house location.

It sure sounds as if you are experiencing an overload problem because of WHPX-DT on channel 34...They are 40 miles closer to you than WFSB-DT or WVIT-DT. I have recently ordered a trap from the TinLee company of Toronto, who makes cingle channel traps to be antenna mounted: I will pass along my results, as one of their traps may solve your problems on channels 33 and 35

could you please post a URL?

thanks,

Originally posted by cgorra
It sure sounds as if you are experiencing an overload problem because of WHPX-DT on channel 34...They are 40 miles closer to you than WFSB-DT or WVIT-DT. I have recently ordered a trap from the TinLee company of Toronto, who makes cingle channel traps to be antenna mounted: I will pass along my results, as one of their traps may solve your problems on channels 33 and 35

http://www.tinlee.com/

if the filter you ordered works could you please tell use which one you used and how to mount etc... i also cannot pick up fox and cbs but i can get new yorks cbs and fox most of the time.
thanks,
tucker

Thanks Chip... and I still have to bring you over sometime and ply you with food and beverage for your knowledge ;).

hey madpoet , do you have cable , i think most if not all the cable companies in CT have WFSB, WVIT and WTIC and they all sould be in clear QAM.

I do, and I am using a couple of QAM tuners now ;). But Cox only carries CBS, NBC, Fox and PBS. I need ABC, WB, and UPN to round it out and it becomes a real pain having to switch between various devices (QAM tuner, DirecTV receiver, etc;). If I could get them all via a single input (QAM or OTA) I would probably die a happy man ;)

Madpoet, I keep thinking that you are still in Mystic, and I now remember that you have moved...If you have to rotate your antenna 90 degrees away from the signal, one of two things is happeniong: either you are picking up a reflected signal, rather than a direct signal, or, more likely, you are experiencing an overload on one or more channels. Are you using a preamplifier?

Does anyone have any news on when WTIC 61 is going to do something about their antenna/power?? I have sent a letter via snail mail to Paul Brenner at channel 61 with no response. I was requesting a waiver directly from him so I could get FOX HD via D* untill their signal was strong enought to reach the south west area I am in here in Milford, CT.

If they are addressing their issues soon, it wont be a problem as I understand the antenna will actually be on the same structure as WVIT adn maybe even higher??? If this is true, I should have no problem as I get WVITDT at about 75% on average with a stable picture.

Just appreciate if anyone in the know has any good news on this matter, thanks.

scottte

Chip, yes I am using a CM7777 pre-amp. Without the preamp my signal levels are even worse :(. Could be reflection, with all the hills around me in Manchester I'm just not sure.

Can anyone on the New Haven Comcast system confirm if they're currently receiving TNT-HD? Here's a message I got from someone at Comcast, and find it odd that one system in CT would have TNT-HD and not the others.

Thank you for taking the time to write us.

Yes, you will find that TNT-HD is available in MA/NH/ME and New Haven CT Systems (Hampden, New Haven and West Haven CT).

We hope to provide TNT HD to our CT customers soon, but we are not able to speculate on a specific date at this time.

Thank you for the opportunity to assist you. If you need further assistance with any of your Comcast services please reply to this email and we will be happy to assist you. Thank you again for choosing Comcast we appreciate your business.

I don't know too much about the situation, but could it be because the New Haven Comcast system is an 860mhz system, and they have plenty of bandwidth available, while many other Comcast systems have not been upgraded to 860mhz yet, and don't have a lot of free bandwidth for additional HD channels currently?

Just a thought. Seems like the only logical reason for not adding the channel to all Comcast systems.

That would make sense if we were running low on bandwidth on our 750mhz system. I was told by a VP at Comcast that that is not the case though. I was also told that they are uniformly rolling products/channels out to CT systems. That's not very uniform if in fact New Haven has TNT-HD already.

Charter HDTV in eastern CT.

I get Charter cable out of the Willimantic office and was considering getting their HDTV package. Any one using that service and any comments on the quality?

Thank you

Originally posted by Addicted2HD4Now
That would make sense if we were running low on bandwidth on our 750mhz system. I was told by a VP at Comcast that that is not the case though. I was also told that they are uniformly rolling products/channels out to CT systems. That's not very uniform if in fact New Haven has TNT-HD already.

This was in the info section on this month's bill...

Parents: Do you know you have options to help determine which programming is appropriate for your family? Visit comcast.com and click on "Parental Controls" to learn more about the types of parental control features available as part of your Comcast Cable service.

Comcast is in the process of upgrading our systems to better serve you. As a result, this may cause temporary loss of service. If you should have any questions, please call us at 1-800-COMCAST. Thank you for choosing Comcast.

Over 100 home and away Red Sox games brought to you by NESN in high-definition on INHD2. Pause and rewind great plays with DVR! With Comcast Digital Cable, an HDTV set and a HD/DVR converter box from Comcast - you'll see the games like never before.


-- Odd, I still do not have INHD2.

Anyone having problems recieving ABC HD on Comcast Hartford, today4/9

Threads merged.

Originally posted by smeck
Anyone having problems recieving ABC HD on Comcast Hartford, today4/9

smeck,

I coudln't watch the Miami/Washington game on Comcast, channel 304, yesterday. It acted as if it were blacked out, but I'm sure that wasn't the case. They must have been having trouble with the signal. They could have at least broadcast in digital if the HD was down.

That was the feed I was having problems watching. I think it was comcast local because in boston they were recieving it.

Does anyone know if WFSB is now transmitting in full power?

Thanks
George

re WFSB Power:

I don't think so George, at least based on my picture now versus several months ago.

Yes, WFSB is back at full power.

Not alot going on with OTA in Hartford. Havent seen this thread get pushed back so far in the latest updates que.

Whats the scoop with WEDH and WEDN. Both are listed as digital 45. Is the tower in Hartford up now? Is there only one signal being sent?

Lately I have been very frustrated with channel 8's HD. When watching Desperate Housewifes they didn't switch the HD feed until they were ten minutes into the show this seems to happen every week. Since the HD channels are always cleaner than the regular digital channels I watch the local or networks standard def shows on the HD channels, off course when I go to watch channel 8's newcast the channel is in black. I assume because they didn't switch from the National feed. Anyone else experience any problems like I mentioned?

Lately I have been very frustrated with channel 8's HD. When watching Desperate Housewifes they didn't switch the HD feed until they were ten minutes into the show this seems to happen every week. Since the HD channels are always cleaner than the regular digital channels I watch the local or networks standard def shows on the HD channels, off course when I go to watch channel 8's newcast the channel is in black. I assume because they didn't switch from the National feed. Anyone else experience any problems like I mentioned?

Yes. The WTNH engineering department needs frequent reminders about HD programming. I called them almost weekly with Monday Night Football. If you call the newsroom and ask for the engineering department they are usually pretty quick about fixing the issue. It is very annoying though. On the bright side this will no longer be an issue Jan 1, 2008 when analoge goes away. :rolleyes:

I also notice WTNH's signal strength goes down during prime time hours. Good timing. Not sure if its an interference but its sometimes enough to cause some pixelization. Very annoying on a taped HD Tivo. Its taped and I dont know about the signal degredation to do anything about it.

Thanks my paranoia thought it was just me. Channel 8 has always laged behind the competion I'm glad things haven't changed.

Hello.

Has anyone experienced this. I TIVO'd The season ending CSI Miami last Monday. For the first 28 minutes, HD picture great and only the background sound, no dialogue. Then the picture shifted to regular Def and the sound came back. Something wrong at WFSB or is it me? Thanks. The sound problem happened once before on CSI.

Dorran

There was no center channel. I had the same experience. Apparently, another "switch" wasn't changed.

Hello.

Has anyone experienced this. I TIVO'd The season ending CSI Miami last Monday. For the first 28 minutes, HD picture great and only the background sound, no dialogue. Then the picture shifted to regular Def and the sound came back. Something wrong at WFSB or is it me? Thanks. The sound problem happened once before on CSI.

Dorran

I watched the show live and called the control room to alert them of the audio problem as soon as I noticed it. Apparently it has something to do with the manner in which the network feeds the audio signal and WFSB can't correct it by remote control from the station. They have to send somebody up to Avon Mountain to the transmitter site to physically make the adjustment.
FYI, the HD signal goes directly from the network to the transmitter facility in Avon. It is not routed through the studio in downtown Hartford.

Is anyone having an audio problem with WTNH and/or WVIT? I can get a pretty good picture for both stations OTH, but no sound since sometime late yesterday. The weird part is that I get sound when tuned to the weather sub channels for both stations. I can't tell if it's my equipment or the signal. I don't see anyone else posting on this issue so maybe it's me. I keep checking my set up and connections but since I get audio on the weather sub-channel I'm thinking its them. Though what's the coincidence of both stations having the same problem simultaneously?

Chris

Hello.

Has anyone experienced this. I TIVO'd The season ending CSI Miami last Monday. For the first 28 minutes, HD picture great and only the background sound, no dialogue. Then the picture shifted to regular Def and the sound came back. Something wrong at WFSB or is it me? Thanks. The sound problem happened once before on CSI.

Dorran

The problem was due to incorrect Dolby E metadata. The problem was limited to stations who use Dolby E to control the 5.1 mode switching. Affiliates who used VANC metadata or control the mode switch manually did not have the problem. CBS is working on a solution.

Is anyone having an audio problem with WTNH and/or WVIT? I can get a pretty good picture for both stations OTH, but no sound since sometime late yesterday. The weird part is that I get sound when tuned to the weather sub channels for both stations. I can't tell if it's my equipment or the signal. I don't see anyone else posting on this issue so maybe it's me. I keep checking my set up and connections but since I get audio on the weather sub-channel I'm thinking its them. Though what's the coincidence of both stations having the same problem simultaneously?

Chris


Problem solved. Was on my end. Needed to reboot my Sammy TS160. For some reason, audio on some OTH (digital vs analog?) channels was not processing.

Yes. The WTNH engineering department needs frequent reminders about HD programming. I called them almost weekly with Monday Night Football. If you call the newsroom and ask for the engineering department they are usually pretty quick about fixing the issue. It is very annoying though. On the bright side this will no longer be an issue Jan 1, 2008 when analoge goes away. :rolleyes:
Ever notice that the audio/video sync is OK on WTNH when they are doing standard def? As soon as they switch to HD, the sync is lost. I still can't beileve this has not been fixed.

I noticed yesterday that there are 3 new channels available to Comcast subscribers in CT (at least on the Plainville System). Unfortunately they're listed as "Local Access Programming" and are CN8, EI (whatever that is) and some other channel that I didn't have time to figure out what it was. I was hoping to find some new HD programming that might be headed our way, but all I found on 703, 709 and 710 is what is listed above.

Comcast says they're "Security Channels" that they added for apartment buildings to connect their security cameras to so tenants can see what the cameras can see. Oh well, for those of us who don't live in apartment buildings, we get to see CN8, UPN and PAX on those channels. YIPPEE!!!

They're wasting precious bandwidth on that!? "Gee, we don't have enough bandwidth for DiscoveryHD but for those of you in apartment buildings, we'll give you three channels for security cameras..."

What's up with that? What dolts... :(

Andy

They're wasting precious bandwidth on that!? "Gee, we don't have enough bandwidth for DiscoveryHD but for those of you in apartment buildings, we'll give you three channels for security cameras..."

Andy, these are virtual channels. Just a pointer to the analog channel carring the security camera in the particular apartment complex. No additional bandwidth comsumed.

mallego

Friend of mine was talking about the added channels, he thinks its a test of analog channels being converted to digital. Just around the corner is that, so says Yoda.

Meesa thinkin that too.

Just can't believe the BS answers Comcast comes up with sometimes. I mean, what the hell difference would it make to them, their share price or anything if we were given a straight answer?

If it's testing for ADS, I'm not very impressed with the PQ. Wouldn't say it's looking any better than Analog.

They might give you a straight answer if the person you asked had any clue what that answer was. What are the chances of that?

Well, I just sent them an e-mail asking them directly if those channels were for testing ADS channels prior to making them "live". Can't wait to see what kind of answer I get this time.

I am in the New London comcast area with SA 8000HD DVR and called to see about switching to a SA8300HD box. I was told that they have recently upgraded our system to the 860Mhz (we were 500Mhz just a while back) and will be transfering the headend from where it is now to a new location and have the new headend setup as Motoral (harmonizing the region to Mot from small pockets of SA).

I was told that I could still keep the SA equipment as legacy (BTW they just pushed the firmware update last month which did help PQ) which I did not understand how SA works on the Mot headend. Anyways they will be offering and replacing SA8000HD boxs with Mot 6412 boxes (which I have been reading up on here and don't think are any better than the SA, correct me if I'm wrong). The rough timeline I was told was in the next couple months for the hardware part.

They are also going to harmonize the channel numbers and move the older SA area from the 170s/180 # for HD to the Motorola channel numbers of I think 3xx's for HD or is it 700's?? Anyways with the channel rearrangement / harmonized atleast in a regional sense they might be adding new HD channels. The rough timeline that I was told for this channel changes/additions was by the end of this year.

BTW I'm still thinking of calling and trading my SA8000HD in for a SA8300HD. I'm not sure that the Mot 6412 would be a great step to make from the SA8000HD.

EDIT: (adding left out information)

I forgot to mention that I asked how we will be notified and was told it will come in the billing paperwork.

I was also told that the recent change in the billing (which caused some billing mistakes) just the last couple months was due to the fact that they had to adjust the billing to be compatiable with the new Motorola headend that we are going to be transfered to. (Maybe something with PPV or On Demand charges??) To me this supporting / tie-in information seems to make the rest of the information more crediateble.

I am in the New London comcast area with SA 8000HD DVR and called to see about switching to a SA8300HD box. I was told that they have recently upgraded our system to the 860Mhz (we were 500Mhz just a while back) and will be transfering the headend from where it is now to a new location and have the new headend setup as Motoral (harmonizing the region to Mot from small pockets of SA).

I was told that I could still keep the SA equipment as legacy (BTW they just pushed the firmware update last month which did help PQ) which I did not understand how SA works on the Mot headend. Anyways they will be offering and replacing SA8000HD boxs with Mot 6412 boxes (which I have been reading up on here and don't think are any better than the SA, correct me if I'm wrong). The rough timeline I was told was in the next couple months for the hardware part.

They are also going to harmonize the channel numbers and move the older SA area from the 170s/180 # for HD to the Motorola channel numbers of I think 3xx's for HD or is it 700's?? Anyways with the channel rearrangement / harmonized atleast in a regional sense they might be adding new HD channels. The rough timeline that I was told for this channel changes/additions was by the end of this year.

BTW I'm still thinking of calling and trading my SA8000HD in for a SA8300HD. I'm not sure that the Mot 6412 would be a great step to make from the SA8000HD.

EDIT: (adding left out information)

I forgot to mention that I asked how we will be notified and was told it will come in the billing paperwork.

I was also told that the recent change in the billing (which caused some billing mistakes) just the last couple months was due to the fact that they had to adjust the billing to be compatiable with the new Motorola headend that we are going to be transfered to. (Maybe something with PPV or On Demand charges??) To me this supporting / tie-in information seems to make the rest of the information more crediateble.

Beaker,

Sounds like good info, hope the timeline doesn't take quite that long though. I did get a piece of info back in March that backs up what you were told. I was told they were working on consolidating the CT digital headend to uniformly roll out new products. I was also told separately that we'd be getting the HD channels we lacked compared to other Comcast areas in the "coming months". I was hoping that meant this summer.

I also got some info from someone on the Boston, MA thread. Apparently ADS has begun in CT and we should have 10-15 digitally simulcasted channels by now. I'll look as soon as I get home to see if CN8, UPN or PAX are being simulcasted.

Seems like we're finally finding out what's going on in CT. Good stuff.

Thanks for the info, guys. That is some hopeful news. Maybe a Hartford system MHz upgrade is in the plans too. Keeping my fingers crossed. I'll be moving to the Western side of Bloomfield around December. Should make my choice to stay with Comcast or go back to Sat more interesting.

This is from memory.. (I posted it on DSLR)...

Channels being digitally simulcast in East Hartford as of May 25th.

3 CN8
9 WCTX (UPN)
10 WHPX (PAX)
11 WTXX (WB)
13 WRDM (Telemundo)
18 WUVN (Univision)
56 CSpan
66 Disney
72 QVC
73 HSN

I have not gone through all the channels since I first noticed they started, so there may be a few more by now.

Friend of mine was talking about the added channels, he thinks its a test of analog channels being converted to digital. Just around the corner is that, so says Yoda.

703, 709 and 710 are actually analogs of digital simulcast channels.

703 is CN8 (3)
710 is WCTX (9)
711 is WHPX (11)

Trust me, they are analog even though they are above 100. (my post above this one lists all the cuirrent digital simulcast channels.)

This is from memory.. (I posted it on DSLR)...

Channels being digitally simulcast in East Hartford as of May 25th.

3 CN8
9 WCTX (UPN)
10 WHPX (PAX)
11 WTXX (WB)
13 WRDM (Telemundo)
18 WUVN (Univision)
56 CSpan
66 Disney
72 QVC
73 HSN

I have not gone through all the channels since I first noticed they started, so there may be a few more by now.

Thanks for the info! Somehow I missed your post on DSLReports. Must have been the week I was on vacation and locked in my basement.

Edit:

Just flipped through all the channels. The only ones showing up with the "digital" icon on the info bar are the ones already listed.

Is it Fox Network, WTIC, Comcast, or me? I would have thought last week's Yankees-Red Sox and this week's Angels-Red Sox Game of the Week, as well as the Coca Cola 600 (or whichever race Fox had on Memorial Day) would have been broadcast in HD but all 3 looked like plain old streched SD on my TV. Did anybody se any of these events in HD?

They were stretched Fox is being cheap, what else is new.

Is it Fox Network, WTIC, Comcast, or me? I would have thought last week's Yankees-Red Sox and this week's Angels-Red Sox Game of the Week, as well as the Coca Cola 600 (or whichever race Fox had on Memorial Day) would have been broadcast in HD but all 3 looked like plain old streched SD on my TV. Did anybody se any of these events in HD?

Red Sox games that WSBK in Boston carries, are not in HD. It must have something to do with blackout rules, which bother me by the way. There were a couple of games that would have been on ESPN-HD and INHD1, but because they were WSBK games, both those channels were blacked out and I had to watch on NESN analog.

http://www.boston.com/sports/nesn/programming/schedules/redsox/

Only the Friday night games are WSBK HD only. They don't have rights to any other games. The Fox games on Saturdays are part of Fox's Baseball Game of the Week and have exclusive air rights to MLB Baseball between the hours of 1:00 and 4:00 on Saturday afternoons the same as ESPN has exclusive rights to MLB games aired at 8:00PM on Sunday nights.

So with that in mind, it's simply Fox being cheap and not broadcasting their Saturday games in HD. Nobody sees that game in HD, not just certain markets.

Updated list of DS channels as of 2:00 AM on 6/8.

2 WFSB (CBS) *
3 CN8
6 WTIC (Fox) *
8 WTNH (ABC) *
9 WCTX (UPN)
10 WHPX (PAX)
11 WTXX (WB)
13 WRDM (Telemundo)
18 WUVN (Univision)
56 CSpan
66 Disney
72 QVC
74 HSN


* = New Additions since last list.

Anyone else have a problem getting WTNH last night? I tuned in for According to Jim at 9:00 and had a blank screen on 8-1. I was getting 8-2 ok.

pplchamp1, I'm not following your list. What do you mean by DS channels? New additions where?

pplchamp1, I'm not following your list. What do you mean by DS channels? New additions where?

madpoet,

He's talking about the channels that have been Digital Simulcasted. The process of going to an all digital lineup started last month in CT.

HTH

-Scott

I have Comcast digital cable in CT and im wondering where I can find the YES HD channel?

Thanks,
Andy

Any word on the candelabra antenna project for Rattlesnake Mountain?

I drive by the antenna complex every day and I have not noticed any visual differences. That doesn't mean there isn't anything happening though.

Yet another DS update! This one is not as good as the one I posted yesterday!

2 WFSB (CBS) * (**)
3 CN8
6 WTIC (Fox) * (**)
8 WTNH (ABC) * (**)
9 WCTX (UPN)
10 WHPX (PAX)
11 WTXX (WB)
13 WRDM (Telemundo)
18 WUVN (Univision)
56 CSpan
66 Disney
72 QVC
74 HSN


* = New Additions since last list.

** = No longer DS as of 6/9

That last update didn't make a lot of sense anyway. The locals were already available in digital on the HD channels. I know not everyone gets the HD channels, but I'd think they're the lowest priority for ADS. Just like the Sox, take a step forward and 3 steps back. :)

That last update didn't make a lot of sense anyway. The locals were already available in digital on the HD channels. I know not everyone gets the HD channels, but I'd think they're the lowest priority for ADS. Just like the Sox, take a step forward and 3 steps back. :)


You're right it doesn't, but, until I go on vaacation (first week of July) and have comcast come out with my two Dual Tuner DVR's, I can't watch the HD channels upstairs. ;)

That last update didn't make a lot of sense anyway. The locals were already available in digital on the HD channels. I know not everyone gets the HD channels, but I'd think they're the lowest priority for ADS. Just like the Sox, take a step forward and 3 steps back. :)

The only box I have in my house where I want the digital simucast is my HD/DVR box. my analogs look awesome on every other set (3 standard digital boxes). Even my analogs look great if I bypass the box and use the TV tuner on my big screen. Of course then I loose the PVR features.

Is it Fox Network, WTIC, Comcast, or me? I would have thought last week's Yankees-Red Sox and this week's Angels-Red Sox Game of the Week, as well as the Coca Cola 600 (or whichever race Fox had on Memorial Day) would have been broadcast in HD but all 3 looked like plain old streched SD on my TV. Did anybody se any of these events in HD?

WTIC is having trouble with their fox feed or equipment. WNYW had the race last week in HD. Also I recorded the insider wednesday and the first 20 minutes were fine, then switched to SD and no more dolby digital.

Any word on the candelabra antenna project for Rattlesnake Mountain?

I drive by the antenna complex every day and I have not noticed any visual differences. That doesn't mean there isn't anything happening though.

In case anyone is interested, I traded PMs with Arnold Chase last week. Arnold owns the tower complex on Rattlesnake Mt. where WVIT-DT, WTXX-DT and WTIC-DT currently transmit from. It seems as if the antenna candelabra construction is complete and the support structure is ready to go but Tribune and CPTV haven't gotten their licensing/channel issues settled with the FCC. Until that is settled, they can't purchase their antennas yet.

If they don't get started soon, they could run into winter weather construction prohibition, and another year will be lost.

Does anyone have a contact at WTNH (ABC)? I am getting sick of the signal strength dropping by 20-30% during prime time hours (8-11 PM). I rotate my antenna during the day, I get a signal strength of 80-88 and around 9:20ish PM, the signal drop is in the low 60's and pixelating. Its been worse the past week. If it only drops 10-20% I am in good shape but lately its been unwatchable. Why is it dropping during the most important time of the day? What could be interferring?

brewer4,
Take a look at channel 10 using an analog TV. It is possible you are receiving an analog TV station, maybe WPRI in Provedence. John

Sorry, its WTNH out of New Haven Digital 10, channel 8-1. I've been getting it for years and I have always noticed the signal strength goes down in prime time. Used to be mainly for Monday Night Football, but since I got the HD Tivo, I record my ABC stuff using the digital channel. Lately, the signal degredation is much worse than before. Its impacting my NBA Finals viewing. And analog is not an option when you want to watch the basketball game in HD.

The fact that two stations share channel 10 at the relatively close distince of New Haven and Providence can cause problems for either or both. In the evening propagation often improves to distant stations. In your case if the improvement is in the direction of Providence, you could lose WTNH-DT or your signal strength indicator may show a lower value not because WTNH is weaker but because "noise" is added by channel 10 Providence, lowering the signal to noise which is what matters. Generally if you can see even a very snowy analog picture on channel 10, you will have trouble receiving a digital station on the same channel. John

Hmmm.....You really think the WJAR analog 10 is conflicting with the digital 10? I thought they are totally different animals despite being on the same frequency. I am not an engineer but I dont think thats the issue given I am near Hartford and pretty far from Providence. I cant really pick up anything from Provdence even analog. Plus my antenna is only VHF pointed toward New Haven and pretty blocked from the Providence direction. It also only hits after 9 PM. Would WJAR be increasing their analog signal after 9PM?

The signal stayed intact tonight for WTNH but I watched it go from 80-83 at 7PM to around 70's at 8:30 PM. It only pixelated a few times but this prime time drop is not good.

I was wondering if anyone can tell me the name of someone who can install an OTA for local HDs. I live in the Old Saybrook area and someone said that we were to far to receive the over the air signal.
Help. :(

With the right antenna you can get channels in Old Saybrook. I've been able to get them in Ledyard and Marlborough. The caveat, it will have to a roof mounted rotating antenna something in the size of 6 feet plus with a good pre-amp. Dont even bother with the new smaller fancy looking antennas, the old school UHF/VHF antennas are best for your location. With the right one you should be able to get WTNH in New Haven, the Hartfords and possibly the Rhode Island ones when you rotate.

I dont know any installers but there are plenty of folks in this forum that can help.

Is it Fox Network, WTIC, Comcast, or me? I would have thought last week's Yankees-Red Sox and this week's Angels-Red Sox Game of the Week, as well as the Coca Cola 600 (or whichever race Fox had on Memorial Day) would have been broadcast in HD but all 3 looked like plain old streched SD on my TV. Did anybody se any of these events in HD?
WTIC is having trouble with their fox feed or equipment. WNYW had the race last week in HD. Also I recorded the insider wednesday and the first 20 minutes were fine, then switched to SD and no more dolby digital.

Same thing for me this week with the NASCAR race on WTIC-DT/Comcast. All I get is a message saying something about that station being available soon - same as I got with the Coca Cola 600.

Anyone know more about what's up? I assume from the messages above it's a WTIC issue and not Comcast. Is there an off-hours number to call for WTIC? The fox61 web site lists a M-F 9-5 phone number...

I am a Comcast HD customer in the Boston area. I set up my parents up with comparable service this weekend (they live in the Old Saybrook area). All I can I say is that I hope Comcast upgrades service there soon, because you are getting screw*d. My parents are paying about the same cost as I am every month, however they have inferior service and hardware.

In Boston we get the following HD channels which are not available via Comcast in CT: DiscoveryHD, INHD2, UPNHD, and WBHD. More are soon to come in Boston as well (ESPN, Universal, Disney?). This allows us to get all Friday Red Sox games in HD, where CT does not.

Also, there are many complaints about the Moto6412, but I can tell you it is a FAR superior box to the SA DVR boxes used in my parents' area. The interface when using DVR controls on live TV is much much smoother and user friendly on the Moto. Also, there are many annoying quirks with the SA box, like having to push a secondary button after Guide to get to programming information.

I hope that Comcast upgrades the system down there soon, or I will be moving my parents to DirectTV as soon as locals are launched in HD. I guess I won't be complaining about the service in the Boston area any time soon.

Its funny all this talk about HD here in CT. I picked up HD on Comcast when it first hit a year and a half ago......beginning this year I cancelled digital but kept the box, so i still get the networks and PBS in HD.......the only channel I watch in HD now is PBS, and its so bandwidth starved its not even worth it.

I'm seriously considering just cancelling the box (I dont' DVR)...and I rarely watch shows on the networks.

To be honest until they can provide adequate bandwidth for the channels its almost not worth it. I remember being psyched when RETURN OF THE KING was going to be on StarZHD....I watched the first 10 minutes, it macroblocked 4 times, and shut it off. Pathetic.

I hope you OTA guys are doing better.....

I am a Comcast HD customer in the Boston area. I set up my parents up with comparable service this weekend (they live in the Old Saybrook area). All I can I say is that I hope Comcast upgrades service there soon, because you are getting screw*d. My parents are paying about the same cost as I am every month, however they have inferior service and hardware.

In Boston we get the following HD channels which are not available via Comcast in CT: DiscoveryHD, INHD2, UPNHD, and WBHD. More are soon to come in Boston as well (ESPN, Universal, Disney?). This allows us to get all Friday Red Sox games in HD, where CT does not.

You're incorrect.

I am in Connecticut and I get WBHD. As for UPNHD, even if we got it, we still would not get Friday night Red Sox games in HD. It is the local UPN that does the games, not the UPN Network. UPN in Boston is WSBK 38, UPN in Ct. is WCTX 59. WCTX shows Yankees baseball on Friday nights, so there's no way we'd ever get the Red Sox games via UPN.

The Connecticut area is also under construction, they're working on the systme so they can unilaterally roll out all new services to the enitre state. This is expected to be completed hopefully by the end of this month.

The Connecticut area is also under construction, they're working on the systme so they can unilaterally roll out all new services to the enitre state. This is expected to be completed hopefully by the end of this month.

Are you saying that Comcast here in CT will be rolling out new HD channels by the end of June???

I am in Connecticut and I get WBHD.

The Connecticut area is also under construction, they're working on the systme so they can unilaterally roll out all new services to the enitre state. This is expected to be completed hopefully by the end of this month.

Perhaps you get WBHD in the Hartford area, however in the shoreline area they most definitely do not get it yet.

I hope you are correct about the service switchover by the end of the month. While I got this story on the phone and from the CSR at the Clinton office, the two local techs I spoke with were HIGHLY doubtful of this happening by the end of the month. I think at least you all should be paying less than I do in Boston.

I am a Comcast HD customer in the Boston area. I set up my parents up with comparable service this weekend (they live in the Old Saybrook area). All I can I say is that I hope Comcast upgrades service there soon, because you are getting screw*d. My parents are paying about the same cost as I am every month, however they have inferior service and hardware.

In Boston we get the following HD channels which are not available via Comcast in CT: DiscoveryHD, INHD2, UPNHD, and WBHD. More are soon to come in Boston as well (ESPN, Universal, Disney?). This allows us to get all Friday Red Sox games in HD, where CT does not.

Also, there are many complaints about the Moto6412, but I can tell you it is a FAR superior box to the SA DVR boxes used in my parents' area. The interface when using DVR controls on live TV is much much smoother and user friendly on the Moto. Also, there are many annoying quirks with the SA box, like having to push a secondary button after Guide to get to programming information.

I hope that Comcast upgrades the system down there soon, or I will be moving my parents to DirectTV as soon as locals are launched in HD. I guess I won't be complaining about the service in the Boston area any time soon.

Yup, WBHD in Hartford area. No INHD2 or DiscoverHD though. Not even FSN HD when the Celtics are at home. I have complained a couple of times to our local customer service executive and each time I was assured the discrepency would be remedied in the coming months.

Also, it's impossible to get the Red Sox in HD on Friday nights unless you live within the Boston DMA. Doesn't matter if you have UPN HD or not, you're not getting it if you don't live within the Boston DMA. It's a stupid rights issue that Comcast and UPN are in agreement on.

We have the 6412 in the Hartford area as well. My first one sucked, always resetting, I've had my second one since February and is still working just fine.

We're probably a month or two behind Boston in ADS progress as well. Yet with all the differences between the options in both areas we pay just over $1 less per month for comparable programming packages.

We're probably a month or two behind Boston in ADS progress as well.

In terms of picture quality, ADS unfortunately turned out to be much ado about nothing in the Boston area. I think ADS is great, as it will eventually free up bandwith for more HD channels and services. However, there is no discernible improvement in picture quality after ADS.

In terms of picture quality, ADS unfortunately turned out to be much ado about nothing in the Boston area. I think ADS is great, as it will eventually free up bandwith for more HD channels and services. However, there is no discernible improvement in picture quality after ADS.

Agreed. I was hoping for a cleaner picture, but unfortunately, as you said, it's just step toward freeing up bandwidth.

I got this message from Comcast last night. Does anyone think it's a sign of things to come or just a stupid mistake by Comcast marketing not realizing we don't have INHD2 or Discovery HD in CT?

http://www.scottwidmer.com/stuff/comcast_email.jpg

Maybe DiscoveryHD and InHD2 are "new this month" :)

I'd be thoroughly satisfied if that's the case, but I'm not holding my breath.

This is typical of Comcast. It's not the first time they have sent out an e-mail promoting things that they don't actually offer.
I did, however, just notice that the little red message light on my cable box was glowing so I was thinking maybe they might really be adding some channels this time. But, as usual, it was just the announcement of another dumbass wrestling pay-per-view.

That makes two PPV messages this week. The little red light of false hope.

I thought when I've receieved these e-mails in the past they were usually for channels I had. Maybe just not remembering correctly.

Hey guys, I like the site, looks pretty well run! I'm a resident from Southington, in central Connecticut. Two years ago, my family and I bought an HDTV and decided to try Dish Network to get some channels. Eventually, we stopped ordering cable, but there was one major casualty: the YES Network. I have been considering buying a Terk TV55 antenna to test if I can get YES, but I'm worried I'll waste $60 if I can't receive it. I'm looking through antennas, as I might get a Channel Master, but I still worry I will waste my money and not get the channels I hope for.

Does anybody here get YES from his/her antenna that lives in Connecticut? I appreciate the help.

EDIT: Just to specify on something, I understand fully that I won't get the YES Network in high definition. I don't even care if it's in color; I just want to be able to view Yankees/Nets games rather than imagining it through the radio.

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding, but isn't YES a cable channel only? They don't broadcast that OTA, do they?

You will most definitely be wasting the $60 if your reason for buying an antenna is to pick up the YES Network. If your satellite provider does not offer it, the only way you could get it is via cable, assuming your local cable company offers it. YES Network is not an over-the-air service. There's no way you can pick it up -- HiDef, Low-Def, color or black & white -- with an antenna. You should be able to pick up Friday night Yankees games over the air on UPN-59 out of New Haven but that's about all you'll get without subscribing to a pay service. I'm afraid you're stuck listening to John Sterling.

I got this message from Comcast last night. Does anyone think it's a sign of things to come or just a stupid mistake by Comcast marketing not realizing we don't have INHD2 or Discovery HD in CT?



Image removed ;)

I got one of those three months ago listing INHD2 and Discovery HD.

Last months listed TNT HD.

Screw comcast. ;)

Image removed ;)

I got one of those three months ago listing INHD2 and Discovery HD.

Last months listed TNT HD.

Screw comcast. ;)

Good thing I didn't hold my breath!

You will most definitely be wasting the $60 if your reason for buying an antenna is to pick up the YES Network. If your satellite provider does not offer it, the only way you could get it is via cable, assuming your local cable company offers it. YES Network is not an over-the-air service. There's no way you can pick it up -- HiDef, Low-Def, color or black & white -- with an antenna. You should be able to pick up Friday night Yankees games over the air on UPN-59 out of New Haven but that's about all you'll get without subscribing to a pay service. I'm afraid you're stuck listening to John Sterling.

Just what I wasn't hoping to hear. :(

I appreciate your help though; my sixty bucks is saved. Maybe I'll just have to order cable. Thanks a ton again.

Just what I wasn't hoping to hear. :(

I appreciate your help though; my sixty bucks is saved. Maybe I'll just have to order cable. Thanks a ton again.


I do not know what commitment you have with Dish; however, Direct has YES and depending on where they are playing (all home and some away games) it is also in HD.

We received a Comcast channel card in the mail the last week or so saying INHD2 and DiscoveryHD would be available mid-July for Vernon-Tolland area. I think they said July 12th. Also many channels changes. HD is moving from the 300's to 200's if I remember correctly.

bac2010,

Thanks for the info! Hopefully that means the rest of CT as well. I'll have to keep an eye out for Comcast mailings.

bac2010,

Thanks for the info! Hopefully that means the rest of CT as well. I'll have to keep an eye out for Comcast mailings.


If I get one I'll scan it.

Thanks for the updates on Comcast (especially for the CT region). I'll be following this thread closely (well nothing out of the ordenary there).

Thanks again!

BTW It seems that the rollout I got wind of from a CSR and posted in post #2887 might actually happen...

I'm still not sure if I would like to switch to the Moto 6412 w/iGuide from the SA8000HD.... Anyone have any input?

I just called Comcast at their Berlin, CT number as was greeted by "Thank for calling Comcast of CT . . ." They seem to have updated their phone support at the local number and have added friendly and knowledgable CSRs. The lady I spoke with confirmed that all of CT would be getting the new HD channels and the major channel realignment. 15 days and counting!!!

addicted2HD4Now,

Can you post or PM me that phone number? Thanks.

Does anyone know the best way to contact WFSB and WVIT about waivers? I was disapointed but not surprised when they denied them, but I defy them to come to my house and get a digital signal. WVIT granted them, and I get WTNH with no problems.

-MP

Try asking "Hello33-3" who posted on here a few times during March Madness. He works for WFSB. PM'img him might be the best chance at getting an answer. Haven't seen him around here since then.

Does anyone know the best way to contact WFSB and WVIT about waivers? I was disapointed but not surprised when they denied them, but I defy them to come to my house and get a digital signal. WVIT granted them, and I get WTNH with no problems.

-MP

The best way is the old fashioned way: write a letter and mail it to them.

WFSB is at 3 Constitution Plaza, Hartford 06103

WVIT is at 1422 New Britain Ave., West Hartford, CT 06110

Thanks docbone, I appreciate it. I'll give that a try.

I just called Comcast at their Berlin, CT number as was greeted by "Thank for calling Comcast of CT . . ." They seem to have updated their phone support at the local number and have added friendly and knowledgable CSRs. The lady I spoke with confirmed that all of CT would be getting the new HD channels and the major channel realignment. 15 days and counting!!!

I spoke to a very nice CSR at the CT Comcast phone help in Berlin. It was a very nice experience relative to the standard 1800comcast CSR....

Anyways, I was told July 12th for all channel rollouts.

HD wise: We're getting back inHD2 !!! (great new!) and getting DiscoverHD.

That's it for HD this time around. :(

They are moving some SD channels around in the packages so you get more with the Digital Classic. Stuff like: International History, OLN, Biography, PB1, TV Game, Lifetime Movie....

They are also going to be adding premium channels with more Cinemax channels.

Unifying of the STB brand (SA vs. Moto) is down the road, no real info on ETA but being talked about.

No 8300HD boxes outside of the Hartford region.

That's about it.

Does anyone know the best way to contact WFSB and WVIT about waivers? I was disapointed but not surprised when they denied them, but I defy them to come to my house and get a digital signal. WVIT granted them, and I get WTNH with no problems.

-MP

I'm not absolutely sure about this, but I thought I had heard that all they had to demonstrate was that you could pick up an analog signal, not digital - and I don't know what the quality standard is for that analog signal, i.e., whether a snowy picture meets the definition of signal reception. If you have any luck, particularly with WFSB, please post because I'm in the same boat as you are. Thanks.

That would make three of us!!

Is anything going to change July 1 in the Hartford DMA? The big 4 networks are supposed to be at full power come July 1, 2005. Have any of our beloved stations found additional loopholes and extensions? Are they at FCC met power levels that there wont be any improvements?

I get the 4 majors (WVIT, WTIC, WTNH, WFSB) but not everyone can. I know how frustrating it is given I'vd had to upgrade and tweek my configuration just to receive stations. Also, what has happened to WEDH? Werent they supposed to be on a new tower with WVIT. Is that another extension and change coming? Did they get the digital 45 allocation? Next year?

I know our DMA hasnt had as many issues as Denver but enough is enough. Digital is here and lets see some stability and better signals.

I spoke to a very nice CSR at the CT Comcast phone help in Berlin. It was a very nice experience relative to the standard 1800comcast CSR....

Anyways, I was told July 12th for all channel rollouts.

HD wise: We're getting back inHD2 !!! (great new!) and getting DiscoverHD.

That's it for HD this time around. :(

They are moving some SD channels around in the packages so you get more with the Digital Classic. Stuff like: International History, OLN, Biography, PB1, TV Game, Lifetime Movie....

They are also going to be adding premium channels with more Cinemax channels.

Unifying of the STB brand (SA vs. Moto) is down the road, no real info on ETA but being talked about.

No 8300HD boxes outside of the Hartford region.

That's about it.

I'm glad my experience with the Comcast of CT people wasn't an isolated incident. I'll no longer be calling the 1-888-COMAST number.

Thanks for the info on the SD channels. I didn't ask about confirming the HD info when I called.

Is anything going to change July 1 in the Hartford DMA? The big 4 networks are supposed to be at full power come July 1, 2005. Have any of our beloved stations found additional loopholes and extensions? Are they at FCC met power levels that there wont be any improvements?

I get the 4 majors (WVIT, WTIC, WTNH, WFSB) but not everyone can. I know how frustrating it is given I'vd had to upgrade and tweek my configuration just to receive stations. Also, what has happened to WEDH? Werent they supposed to be on a new tower with WVIT. Is that another extension and change coming? Did they get the digital 45 allocation? Next year?

I know our DMA hasnt had as many issues as Denver but enough is enough. Digital is here and lets see some stability and better signals.


I mentioned this a couple weeks back on page 97.

I traded PMs with Arnold Chase last week. Arnold owns the tower complex on Rattlesnake Mt. where WVIT-DT, WTXX-DT and WTIC-DT currently transmit from. It seems as if the antenna candelabra construction is complete and the support structure is ready to go but Tribune and CPTV haven't gotten their licensing/channel issues settled with the FCC. Until that is settled, they can't purchase their antennas yet.

If they don't get started soon, they could run into winter weather construction prohibition, and another year will be lost.

Then the question is, do they have official FCC extensions? July 1 was supposed to be a major cutoff and very few exceptions. I can see CPTV (not required until July 2006) but the majors were supposed to be all done and at full power. If the FCC is holding things up, thats one thing, but fines were supposed to be levied against stuff like this. This stuff was supposed to be done last year. Anyone know the official FCC status on this?

Then the question is, do they have official FCC extensions? July 1 was supposed to be a major cutoff and very few exceptions. I can see CPTV (not required until July 2006) but the majors were supposed to be all done and at full power. If the FCC is holding things up, thats one thing, but fines were supposed to be levied against stuff like this. This stuff was supposed to be done last year. Anyone know the official FCC status on this?

Sounds like they have a modification request and an extension request that are pending. This document is not specifically about the WTIC-DT problems, but it mentions the issue. Note, this document is a year old. I'm still looking for something more current.

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-04-117A1.pdf

See page 2, item 7.

The link in question were the original extensions which has long since expired. I havent been able to find anything that gives them permission for more of this temporary stuff. The extension, under construction, on/off signals, week signals, etc. is just getting flat out old. I am fortunate I get signals but then I have a double 6 foot boon yagi rotating atenna to nail the signals. Not every does.

Wow - anyone catch the hideous WTNH-DT crawler last night? Just happened to glance by, and POW - big, ugly...a burn-in machine. Stop the insanity!

I guess we could all start filing FCC complaints about them not being at full power ;)

so what do we do to complain to the fcc about not having a full signal??

scottte

Wow - anyone catch the hideous WTNH-DT crawler last night? Just happened to glance by, and POW - big, ugly...a burn-in machine. Stop the insanity!

This is completely unacceptable. What is the best method to voice our concern?

I dont see one single improvement with the July 1 deadline. In fact, I have seen flaky signals at WTNH and WVIT not too mention the non-majors. It just goes to show you how much pull the FCC has and how well this digital convergence is going. This was supposed to be an important step and so far from reading other DMA threads, a reall clanking DUD!!

Just received this response from WTNH in regards to their new WTNH-DT logo.

Dear Sir:

Effective July 1 we have been required by the FCC to properly ID our
DT-station signal. This is required by law. Regrettably, the display of
that id is not in the format that that you or we want to have. We
apologize for this display and are working diligently to find a more
soothing way to communicate our id. We appreciate your patience as we
make the necessary adjustments.

Thank you for taking the time to express your concern and we hope to
have this resolved shortly.

Regards

Just received this response from WTNH in regards to their new WTNH-DT logo.

Dear Sir:

Effective July 1 we have been required by the FCC to properly ID our
DT-station signal. This is required by law. Regrettably, the display of
that id is not in the format that that you or we want to have. We
apologize for this display and are working diligently to find a more
soothing way to communicate our id. We appreciate your patience as we
make the necessary adjustments.

Thank you for taking the time to express your concern and we hope to
have this resolved shortly.

Regards

Do the other channels have just as annoying of a logo as WTNH-DT to comply with the law?

For those of you that have DirecTV, what HD network stations do you get from them? The last I knew, the only one that you could get without a waiver was NBC. Is this still the case?

Yep. Sadly. I am working on waivers without much hope now.

Has anyone outside of Vernon received a new lineup card from Comcast? I hope I'm wrong, but thinking they're going to test the massive lineup change in the Vernon area and then roll it out to the rest of CT. Again, I hope I turn on my TV tomorrow morning and find out that I'm wrong.

Addicted2HD4Now,

I am hoping the same thing. The last Comcast cable bill did not have any notification in it (lineup, memo, note, etc...) and the CSR in berlin said we'd see something in the billling paperwork. Of course I told her that I never saw any notice even last year when they added the local networks in HD.

I'm really looking forward to getting iNHD2 (back) and DiscoveryHD. It would be extremely nice to get them tomorrow and not have to wait another month or more without getting any more HD. How long has it been since they added something good?

BTW I'm in New London County.

If you go to the following link and look at any town included on the Vernon system, their updated lineup is available. Nothing for anything on the Hartford or Plainville system. A few towns by the shore have the updated digital lineup listed, but no HD.

http://comcast-ne.com/newchannels/channels.php

Thanks for the link. It looks dissapointing that Groton (and most other areas) are only getting form analog channels converted to digitial.

I'm really hoping for ESPN2-HD to arrive ASAP as the NHRA season is rounding up and College football starts up. Could really use ESPN2-HD.

I'd rather get something like Universal HD, a channel that carries a variety of HD programming 24/7 instead of another channel that is HD once in a while. However, I understand where you're coming from because I like my sports in HD as well :D

Anyone having problems with ESPN HD I haven't had audio for well over 12 hours. I'm on the Plainville Comcast system.

I don't have any sound on ESPN HD either. Haven't since the end of the Home Run Derby last night. I didn't start having problems until close to 11:30.

Ok, just spoke with someone at Comcast of CT. No area other than Vernon is getting the new channel lineup today. No date is set on when the rest of us poor bastards will see the new channels/revised lineup. Not happy! :mad:

I wonder what makes Vernon so special?

Maybe next week they'll give the rest of CT the super package of free HD channels (like Boston MA or Baltimore MD area, don't they get more HD channels [I don't count premium pay/per channels.]).... Plus ESPN2-HD, HDNET1&2, inHD2, DiscoveryHD, Universal HD.

Plus for being loyal Comcast customers a cut in the monthly bill of 5 dollars to be followed by future reductions/reinbusments for our Beta testing of hardware.

The next week we get new bug free HD DVRs with an ultra cool and fast GUI.

*** Ohh sorry about that I must have been day dreaming. ***

*** Ohh sorry about that I must have been day dreaming. ***

Daydreaming? Sounds more like hallucinating.

Well, I guess there's quite a bit of work to be done on the analog side with how much the channel lineup is switching so they decided to use that area as the test area. Not sure how they would have selected one area over another.

Canton/Avon/Burlington (Plainville system) and parts of the Hartford system are next but it's going to be a while, not this month and maybe not next month either.

I wonder what makes Vernon so special?

I don't understand why Comcast doesn't just create an HD tier. I would pay $10-$15/month to have all available HD channels available to me (current channels plus HDNet, HDNet Movies, Universal HD, ESPN2 HD, TNT HD, INHD2, Discovery HD Theater, etc.). Of course, local HD shouldn't be included in this package, those should be available without extra charge.


Maybe next week they'll give the rest of CT the super package of free HD channels (like Boston MA or Baltimore MD area, don't they get more HD channels [I don't count premium pay/per channels.]).... Plus ESPN2-HD, HDNET1&2, inHD2, DiscoveryHD, Universal HD.

Plus for being loyal Comcast customers a cut in the monthly bill of 5 dollars to be followed by future reductions/reinbusments for our Beta testing of hardware.

The next week we get new bug free HD DVRs with an ultra cool and fast GUI.

*** Ohh sorry about that I must have been day dreaming. ***

For those of you that have DirecTV, what HD network stations do you get from them? The last I knew, the only one that you could get without a waiver was NBC. Is this still the case?

Jake,

Yep, this is still the case. WNBC- DT out of NYC is the only one I get from DirecTV. WVIT is the only O&O station in CT.

Cox customer here in Meriden. Anyone else have problems with Foxs' sound feed last night? Sound was terrible.

Cox customer here in Meriden. Anyone else have problems with Foxs' sound feed last night? Sound was terrible.

It must have been a network problem because I heard it OTA.

Dont normally watch the local HD feeds, but have noticed that Fox broadcasts an EXTREMELY overscanned image on my TV that does not exist on other channels.

Its really, really overscanned....or zoomed or what have you.

Can someone confirm that the do (or do not) have a problem getting Fox61 (WTIC-DT) over Comcast in CT - channel 306 in the Branford area? Since May I only get a 'channel available shortly' message and no picture/audio. I read here where someone stated there were problems between WTIC and Comcast so I figured I'd wait it out. Finally, after not receiving the all-star game last night I figured it was time to call.

I spoke to a WTIC engineer who wasn't aware of any problems which surprised me since I figured if it was a widespread problem many people would have called. Any one else in the same boat?

I called Comcast and was also told they have not had any reported trouble with WTIC. The Comcast tech suggested I check all my cable connections which didn't make sense to me since I get all the other HD stations and don't see how a connection problem could only effect WTIC. Anyone know if that makes any sense at all?

Dont normally watch the local HD feeds, but have noticed that Fox broadcasts an EXTREMELY overscanned image on my TV that does not exist on other channels.

Its really, really overscanned....or zoomed or what have you.

They zoom sd broadcasts, not the hd ones, a bad idea imho.

No problems here. When I got my first DVR box that would happen on some channels occasionally, haven't had that problem in many months.

Can someone confirm that the do (or do not) have a problem getting Fox61 (WTIC-DT) over Comcast in CT - channel 306 in the Branford area? Since May I only get a 'channel available shortly' message and no picture/audio. I read here where someone stated there were problems between WTIC and Comcast so I figured I'd wait it out. Finally, after not receiving the all-star game last night I figured it was time to call.

I spoke to a WTIC engineer who wasn't aware of any problems which surprised me since I figured if it was a widespread problem many people would have called. Any one else in the same boat?

I called Comcast and was also told they have not had any reported trouble with WTIC. The Comcast tech suggested I check all my cable connections which didn't make sense to me since I get all the other HD stations and don't see how a connection problem could only effect WTIC. Anyone know if that makes any sense at all?

No problems here. When I got my first DVR box that would happen on some channels occasionally, haven't had that problem in many months.Thanks - first cable box? Did you get it replaced?

Yep. Kept resetting and annoying the daylights out of me. Would just shut off in the middle of looking through the guide or whatever. Basically any time I touched a button on the remote I feared it would reset. I remember getting the message at least a couple of times on various HD channels when I had that box as well. It was a refurbished HD box which I traded in for a brand new box. Haven't had either problem since.



Thanks - first cable box? Did you get it replaced?

The following channels are being DS'd (Digitally Simulcast) in East Hartford, as of 7/14.

2 WFSB (CBS)
3 CN8
4 WVIT (NBC)
6 WTIC (Fox)
8 WTNH (ABC)
9 WCTX (UPN)
10 WHPX (PAX)
11 WTXX (WB)
13 WRDM (Telemundo)
18 WUVN (Univision)
56 CSpan
66 Disney
72 QVC
74 HSN

I don't have any sound on ESPN HD either. Haven't since the end of the Home Run Derby last night. I didn't start having problems until close to 11:30.

Like some of you, I also lost sound on ESPN-HD after the Home Run Derby. I got it back the following day. However, at the same time I lost ESPN audio I also lost CPTV-HD on channel 302 and WTXX-DT on channel 307 and have still not gotten either back. Is anybody else experiencing this. (BTW, for a couple of days prior to this CPTV DT pictures was highly pixelated and breaking up.)

It is now a day after I first posted this and I have channels 302 and 307 back but they are both pixelated to the point of being unwatchable.

No issues here with any of the HD channels.

Can someone confirm that the do (or do not) have a problem getting Fox61 (WTIC-DT) over Comcast in CT - channel 306 in the Branford area? Since May I only get a 'channel available shortly' message and no picture/audio. I read here where someone stated there were problems between WTIC and Comcast so I figured I'd wait it out. Finally, after not receiving the all-star game last night I figured it was time to call.

I spoke to a WTIC engineer who wasn't aware of any problems which surprised me since I figured if it was a widespread problem many people would have called. Any one else in the same boat?

I called Comcast and was also told they have not had any reported trouble with WTIC. The Comcast tech suggested I check all my cable connections which didn't make sense to me since I get all the other HD stations and don't see how a connection problem could only effect WTIC. Anyone know if that makes any sense at all?



Don,
I live in branford and havent had any issues with WTIC-hd. maybe reset the box???????????????????????

Hi

Sorry if this have been ask and answered, but I did not read all 2990 posts.

This is in regard to Directv HD-Waiver Requests.

I live in Wallingford (06492) in a Condo and an outdoor OTA is not an option.

I received my official response postcard from D*. I already knew that only NBC was granted.

But I received a letter from my local CBS affiliate that went as follows:

Thank you for your interest in seeing more CBS in high definition. With our maximum power transmitter you now get a great signal in Wallingford. As a resident of Connecticut you do not qualify for a waiver. We are delighted that you can watch CBS in high definition on Channel 33-WFSB. We hope you enjoy CBS in high definition.

Sincerely

Program Administrator.

OK a couple of things

My OTA only picks up the signal maybe 5% of the time and never stays clear for more than 20 minutes. So I do not get a great signal in Wallingford.

They mention watching CBS HD on channel 33.
WFSB is channel 3. So as far as I knew the HD was on channel 3.1.
Channel 33 on D* is a "Channel not available"
I know I must be missing something here. Anyone know what this channel 33 is all about? Also, if my OTA does not pick up the signal, shouldn't I be entitled to a waiver?


And in general how have people in Central CT done with D* waivers. Does anybody have East & West Coast National feeds. Either HD or DNS or both or even just East Coast.

This is another question I had in response to the following comment made in another forum:

The whole premise behind these local affiliates denying distant networks (hd or otherwise) is that they want you to watch their stations and their commercials to bolster their advertising revenue. This seems beyond absurd for those of us who haven't seen a commercial in years!

John from Boston


Then I asked:

not to be the least bit facetious, but I am curious as to why the above scenario is allowed with my local Comcast Cable Company.
In my zip code-06492-(central CT) per my cable company allows us to get all the major networks from both New York and Hartford-New Haven. So in that case I was able to watch NY stations all the time and not have to watch local CT advertising.

I realize not all CT cable companies offered both CT & NY stations, but shouldn't it be consistent that our zip code area should receive the same coverage on both the Sat and Cable?

So in my case it is really not the "national feed" that I am inquiring about, it is that we want our NY channels too.

Why would local networks allow this in cable and not D*

Thanks for any comments or information you can share.




Thanks
Mark

WFSB corresponds to a digital channel of 33. The callsign or the viewable channel designation is still the old analog of 3. The .1 and .2 refer to subchannels on the same digital signal of 33. It should be possible to get something of a signal indoors but make sure its of descent quality, possibly amplified and attempting to point north (from Wallingford).

To view the digital channel landscape go to www.antennaweb.org

The new Waiver process is making it impossible for anyone with little to no exceptions to get digital channels over satellite if you live in a proper designated DMA. You are right smack in the middle of the Hartford/New Haven DMA (Demographic Market Area).

Directv will be offering Hartford HD channels more than likely by end of next year or 2007. Stay tuned for those. Hope this helps.

Directv will be offering Hartford HD channels more than likely by end of next year or 2007. Stay tuned for those. Hope this helps.

2007-I realize this waiver and HD Sat feeds stuff is confusing and very complicated, but there should be something Directv can do to customers that both, pay for local channels and pay for the HD package.


The following is my OTA setup:

Zenith ZHDTV1Z Silver Sensor

Channel Master CM 7777 Titan2 VHF/UHF Preamplifier with
Power Supply (CM7777)

I was told to hook up as follows:

Mount the preamplifier itself as close to the antenna as possible: the power supply should be close to the TV set. The power supply needs to be plugged into the wall.

Thats what I did.

Nothing but WTNH & WCTX are guarantees at any time. I have studied www.antennaweb.org and attempt to point the SS at the correct spot, but it is always a roll of the dice as to whether or not it will work.

A quick question. I have the OTA in the highest spot and closest to the window as possible. But the SS does face directly into a thin vertical blind. Should that make much of a difference?

I believe there has to be something that Directv can do to accommodate my needs until 2007.

Mark

Mark,
Indoor reception of digital TV is difficult even with strong signals due to multipath. Your best bet is to try to get the cleanest picture (without ghosts and snow) as you can looking at analog channel 30 or 61 and then switch to the Hartford digital channel you want to watch- CBS NBC or FOX. ABC and UPN are near New Haven so a different antenna location may be necessary. John

The following is my OTA setup:

Zenith ZHDTV1Z Silver Sensor

Channel Master CM 7777 Titan2 VHF/UHF Preamplifier with
Power Supply (CM7777)

Mark

what I suggest you do is go to Radio shack/Home Depot/Lowes and buy a large uhf/vhf antenna (~$50-60), buy the biggest that will fit. Then mount it in your attic.
I live in Cheshire and have such a setup, it works very well, I dont need to rotate the antenna, and get abc, cbs, nbc, fox, wb. I got the ChannelMaster antenna from Lowes.
I recommend these places because you can easily return antenna if it does not work very well for you, otherwise there is a professional shop up in Hartford, which can get better antennas.
If you were in some fringe area, I would see where you could complain about the reception. Since you are in Wallingford, take matters in your own hands and get the proper OTA setup. Another reason to do this is the fact that pure OTA signal, will always be better than comparable Sat or Cable signal. Reason is very simple - compression. Sat and Cable bandwidth is limited, so in order to stuff a gazillion channels, they compress the feed.

About your setup, you should not need the amp because of your proximity to the towers, did you try removing it and scanning for channels? Make sure that you use good quality rg6 cable for your runs.

Max

what I suggest you do is go to Radio shack/Home Depot/Lowes and buy a large uhf/vhf antenna (~$50-60), buy the biggest that will fit. Then mount it in your attic.
I live in Cheshire and have such a setup, it works very well, I dont need to rotate the antenna, and get abc, cbs, nbc, fox, wb. I got the ChannelMaster antenna from Lowes.
I recommend these places because you can easily return antenna if it does not work very well for you, otherwise there is a professional shop up in Hartford, which can get better antennas.
If you were in some fringe area, I would see where you could complain about the reception. Since you are in Wallingford, take matters in your own hands and get the proper OTA setup. Another reason to do this is the fact that pure OTA signal, will always be better than comparable Sat or Cable signal. Reason is very simple - compression. Sat and Cable bandwidth is limited, so in order to stuff a gazillion channels, they compress the feed.

About your setup, you should not need the amp because of your proximity to the towers, did you try removing it and scanning for channels? Make sure that you use good quality rg6 cable for your runs.

Max


Unfortunately the Condo has no attic. Also unfortunately, an outdoor ant of any type is not an option.

You don't think I need an amp for 19 miles?

I'll try removing it later and see what happens.


Thanks
Mark

Unfortunately the Condo has no attic. Also unfortunately, an outdoor ant of any type is not an option.

You don't think I need an amp for 19 miles?

I'll try removing it later and see what happens.


Thanks
Mark

having no attic is indeed unfortunate, short of cutting up sheetrock inside a closet and making your way up inside the roof, I have no better suggestion.

people have reported that having an amplifier, while being too close to the tower can actually worsen the signal. It tends to overload the tuner. Give it a try and you will see. When I tried the distribution amp at my house, it made no difference.

when you are trying to lock CBS, put you tuner into acquisition mode, then pick up the Silver Sensor and try different directions holding it in your hand, try sideways and upside down.

good luck,
Max

Hi

This is in regard to Directv HD-Waiver Requests.

I live in Wallingford (06492) in a Condo and an outdoor OTA is not an option.

Thanks for any comments or information you can share.

Thanks
Mark

Depending on the specifics of your property the limitation on outdoor TV antennas may be illegal. See http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html for details.

Hi

This is in regard to Directv HD-Waiver Requests.

I live in Wallingford (06492) in a Condo and an outdoor OTA is not an option.

Not to be the least bit facetious, but I am curious as to why the above scenario is allowed with my local Comcast Cable Company. In my zip code-06492-(central CT) per my cable company allows us to get all the major networks from both New York and Hartford-New Haven. So in that case I was able to watch NY stations all the time and not have to watch local CT advertising.

I realize not all CT cable companies offered both CT & NY stations, but shouldn't it be consistent that our zip code area should receive the same coverage on both the Sat and Cable?

So in my case it is really not the "national feed" that I am inquiring about, it is that we want our NY channels too.

Why would local networks allow this in cable and not D*

Thanks for any comments or information you can share.

Thanks
Mark

New rules passed by Congress in December 2004 allow for DBS and cable to carry similar signals. The FCC has not yet enacted the rules mandated by Congress. Once the rules are passed, these are the list of stations that DBS may sell to you if they opt to do so.

New Haven County

WFSB, 3, Hartford, CT (formerly WTIC)
WTNH-TV, 8, New Haven, CT (formerly WNHC)
+WTXX, 20, Waterbury, CT
+WVIT, 30, New Britain, CT
+WCTX, 59, New Haven, CT (formerly WBNE)
+WTIC-TV, 61, Hartford, CT
WCBS-TV, 2, New York, NY
WNBC, 4, New York, NY
WNYW, 5, New York, NY (formerly WNEW)
#WABC-TV, 7, New York, NY
#WWOR-TV, 9, New York, NY (formerly WOR)
WPIX, 11, New York, NY

The proposal for new rules are at:

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-24A1.doc

No wonder the lawyers rule things. A guy just wants to watch TV and here's the complex document you wont understand or have patience to read. I love technology but what are we doing to ourselves?

No wonder the lawyers rule things. A guy just wants to watch TV and here's the complex document you won't understand or have patience to read. I love technology but what are we doing to ourselves?

The FCC is simply trying to put order into two processes that have been abused.

If you rent a home, you can do what you want in the space that you are renting.

If you want to watch distant stations on DBS, there needs to be definable limits on how far is distant.