Hartford, CT - OTA [Text View] - Page 15

rmcgirr83

10-31-05, 01:15 PM

garberfc

10-31-05, 02:30 PM

Dumping my broadband as well and between the two (dumping E* and broadband) and picking up Eastern CT Cable (digital, two TV's HD and two regular with 6meg up and 518 down broadband) I end up saving ~$50 a month.

Don't you mean 6Mb/s download and 518Kb/s upload? Those are bits per second, not bytes.

Frank

rmcgirr83

10-31-05, 02:33 PM

LOL...yeah I'm a newb. It's bassackwards...but still better than what I'm getting with DSL.

madpoet

10-31-05, 02:52 PM

Heh, as part of the deal for my house the buyers demanded I take down my Wineguard antenna, mast, etc; Fine by me, just saved myself a couple hundred bucks buying a new one ;).

markgo

10-31-05, 03:04 PM

jake14mw

10-31-05, 04:39 PM

OTA, I just couldn't take it any longer. :(

Between, WFSB not knowing, or knowing ;) , what they are doing and the leaves on the trees in the fall and the rain and wind in the summer. I've decided to ditch my OTA setup :shock:

Going back to eastern ct cable as they now offer all locals with HD, except ABC :?, and HD theater, YES (when in HD, NESN and ESPNHD.

Dumping my broadband as well and between the two (dumping E* and broadband) and picking up Eastern CT Cable (digital, two TV's HD and two regular with 6meg up and 518 down broadband) I end up saving ~$50 a month.

It is amazing, all of the crap that we put up with with the OTA stuff. For me, DirecTV has me hooked with their Tivos though. Can't do TV without them now. I never thought it would be that big of a deal. If Comcast gets their Tivo box implemented before DirecTV delivers HD locals, and I can get a good deal with their internet, I might go back to Comcast too.

garberfc

11-01-05, 11:17 AM

It is amazing, all of the crap that we put up with with the OTA stuff. For me, DirecTV has me hooked with their Tivos though. Can't do TV without them now. I never thought it would be that big of a deal. If Comcast gets their Tivo box implemented before DirecTV delivers HD locals, and I can get a good deal with their internet, I might go back to Comcast too.
I'm in the exact same situation. D* w/ HD TiVo (hacked of course). I can't live w/o it.

Is there a thread discussing Comcast/HD Tivo features and dates? Here's an interesting thread. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=520407&highlight=tivo+comcast)

My one concern is that Comcast may compress the heck out of the HD signal lowering PQ :mad:

Frank

rmcgirr83

11-01-05, 11:26 AM

For got to add...I also get two HD DVR's ;) which will hold 8 hours of HD or 60 hours of SD.

Friday can't come soon enough.

RE: Compression...I guess I'll see.

harlenm

11-01-05, 11:31 AM

8 hours of HD, that's pretty bad. My 8300HD will hold 20 hours of HD or 90 hours of SD.

harlenm

11-01-05, 11:32 AM

As far as compression, it seems that cable companies have no reason to compress because they have plenty of bandwith available to them with the removal of the analog channels. Someone said on here somewhere that for each analog channel you can have 10 digital SD channels, or two HD channels.

harlenm

11-01-05, 11:38 AM

I'm in the exact same situation. D* w/ HD TiVo (hacked of course). I can't live w/o it.

Frank

I just left D* for Adelphia and have the 8300HD, as posted above. There are a few things from tivo that I miss. Wishlists, a season pass manager that allows me to search by show, and the ability to record only new shows, not reruns.

Besides for that, I'm very happy with the ability to record HD, since with D* I only had an SD Tivo with a separate HD box.

RTracey

11-01-05, 12:14 PM

Does anyone know if WTIC 61 HD (31.1) drops their signal strength in the evenings? I've had a huge number of frustrating experiences with perfect pictures during the day that abruptly turn unwatchable near/just after sunset.

Yesterday was a perfect example: despite the wind causing isolated dropouts, the Redskins game (1pm--4:15pm) was great, but the second half of the Eagles game (6:15/6:30--) became unwatchable.

If it wasn't for the promise that FOX will get their act together when they raise the antenna height, I'd just give up on OTA despite the fact that I've got all the other networks nice and stable with a simple external roof mount (Antennas Direct DB2).

Is there any update on when the antenna height increase might happen? Does their FCC Extension simply last forever?

And on the subject of FCC Extensions, what about WEDY 6? Any prospects of them ever going live?

At this point my only hope is that it gets better when the leaves drop. I'm tired of blown recordings...

markgo - don't know whether WTIC drops their signal strength in the evening, but I highly doubt it - can't think of any reason why they would want to do that or why it would be necessary. I haven't watched WTIC in the past few days, but I have experienced the same problem you mentioned. I'm no expert on this, but I'm told there are some interesting (or not) atmospheric changes that can occur around sunset which can mess up the signal. The good thing is I've never seen it last more than a few days.

Ross

Rich - since you're no longer in the OTA ("in") crowd, I'm afraid I can't talk to you anymore :D

rmcgirr83

11-01-05, 12:17 PM

8 hours of HD, that's pretty bad. My 8300HD will hold 20 hours of HD or 90 hours of SD.

Better than nothing? :)

Rich - since you're no longer in the OTA ("in") crowd, I'm afraid I can't talk to you anymore

Just icing on the cake. lol

:p

jgili

11-04-05, 07:21 AM

harlenm

11-04-05, 07:27 AM

You shouldn't have a problem installing an antenna yourself, it's not that hard. You can get everything you need at radio shack, even the antenna if you want to buy one there, but there are much better ones available at varoius websites.

It all depends how hard it is to get on your roof. If you can't get on your roof, go to a local electronic store and ask if they know a company that does installs.

PatG25

11-04-05, 03:52 PM

garberfc

11-04-05, 04:14 PM

I have a question about WTNH in New Haven. I get all OTA channels in CT without any problems, especially Channel 8 since I live only 10 miles form New Haven. I tivod Grey's Anatomy on Sunday night (DirecTV HD Tivo), and the pixallation was incredible bad. The program was unwatchable. Weather was great Sunday night, so what gives? Were they playing with the signal? My Tivo is fine, Tuesdays Comander in Chief recorded fine, so did other shows. The previous week Grey's Anatomy also had problems, but not quite as bad.

Anyone know what is going on?
I live in Burlington, CT and WTNH is by far the most troublesome signal for me! We also HD TiVoed the show and it was fine...

But, there have been many times where the signal starts bouncing. We normally get a 65-70 signal, but on many occasions it'll start bouncing around in the teens for no apparent reason.

I've ruled out interference within our home. There have been conversations in this thread where other viewers experienced drop outs at the same moment within a show, only to be followed up by another evening where folks experiences were different?!?

It's hard to figure...

Signed - frustrated!!!

Frank

CHDinCT

11-06-05, 06:18 PM

Hi all:

I have a few questions about local companies in CT that install OTA antenna. Has anyone had a local person/company install their antenna? What was your experience? I'm looking for someone obviously who knows what their doing and can do a good roof mounted install. I searched this thread and found a few people but most of the posts are over 1 year old.

I live in Rocky Hill and have Dish network with a 942 pvr and currently use an attic antenna that gets fox, cbs, nbc.....and occassionally abc. Hartford has, fox, cbs, nbc at 9-10 miles and abc in New Haven at 23. Springfield has nbc, pbs at 28 and abc at 38 miles.

I'd like to have the 4 majors come in solid but would like to get other stations including those in Springfield or further out. Also with many college bowls on ABC and the World Cup next summer (for my father-in-law) I'd like to have a good setup for that channel which I currently don't have.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Try reading posts by Stumacdo in this thread, or send him a private message. He recently had a professional antenna install. He lives in Wallingford, so his set up may be different than what you need, but based on what stations you're looking to get, you definitely will need a rotor, and likely a pre-amplifier. Also, if you're inclined to do the install yourself, you can get all manor of antennas and accessories from Signal Electronics in West Hartford. But be forewarned, they don't take returns on installed antenna's whereas Radio Shack does.

harlenm

11-06-05, 07:15 PM

I just returned my antenna to radio shack, no questions asked.

jgili

11-06-05, 07:30 PM

Chris and harlen:

Thanks for your replies to my questions. I'll fill you guys in on what happens when I get the antenna up (whether I do it on my own or have someone else do it).

Thanks,
Joe G

Agnt86

11-06-05, 11:55 PM

Does anyone know if UPN9 is passing the HD signal now?

I sent them an e-mail asking about what the problem was, and I got an e-mail back that said the problem was corrected. When I sent them a link to their own site that said there was an issue passing the HD signal, they stated the page was not updated and that it would be changed. They did change the page.

So, the question is, are they broadcasting in HD now?

hancox

11-07-05, 08:00 AM

I'll never get why WCTX is calling themselves "UPN 9" when that's not their analog or digital channel assignment... :)

But, I can confirm I've recently seen WCTX-DT OTA running HD programming.

CHDinCT

11-07-05, 06:17 PM

pmalve

11-07-05, 06:48 PM

I'll never get why WCTX is calling themselves "UPN 9" when that's not their analog or digital channel assignment... :)

But, I can confirm I've recently seen WCTX-DT OTA running HD programming.
They have an agreement with most cable companys to carry them on channel 9. I first saw this in Florida where my father lives. All the networks go by there cable channels instead of their off air channels. Didn't realize it until cable was out one day and we hooked up a pair of rabbit ears and couldn't get any of the channels. Found them on UHF instead of the VHF channels they use on cable.

mspicer1234

11-08-05, 08:07 AM

I have a question about WTNH in New Haven. I get all OTA channels in CT without any problems, especially Channel 8 since I live only 10 miles form New Haven. I tivod Grey's Anatomy on Sunday night (DirecTV HD Tivo), and the pixallation was incredible bad. The program was unwatchable. Weather was great Sunday night, so what gives? Were they playing with the signal? My Tivo is fine, Tuesdays Comander in Chief recorded fine, so did other shows. The previous week Grey's Anatomy also had problems, but not quite as bad.

Anyone know what is going on?

PatG25 - I have the same DirecTV HD Tivo unit with a CM4228 antenna and I live up on a mountain. I recorded Grey's off of 8.1 and only had a minor issue for about 2 sec. Last week I had to realign the rotor settings with my antenna after the high winds the past few weeks which helped with my OTA quality. I did notice that earlier in the day that 8.1 was having problems.

anderdea

11-09-05, 12:34 PM

CHDinCT

11-10-05, 11:31 AM

I live in East Hampton and up until about five weeks ago was getting Channel 3.1 with no problems. Over the last five weeks or so I've noticed that Channel 3 digital has been breaking up and dropping out. I have an outside separate UHF antenna with amplifier and rotor. The signal strength seems to be bouncing around a lot, (40 - 90) causing the loss of sync.

I have three HD OTA tuners. One OTA tuner in a Dish Net 921 DVR, one in a new sony 42" LCD TV and one in my HomeTheater PC (My HD130 PCI Card). They are all exibiting the same signal drop outs.

After Chan 3 upped it's power a while back, I had a good locked signal for quite some time, not lately though.

Any one having the same isssues?

Don

Yes! What I've notice the past several weeks is that the WFSB signal seems pretty solid on Sunday when football is on but during the week it's one night good, next night bad. For example; last Sunday I had perfect reception for the football games after getting no signal the prior Friday night; Monday I could not watch anything in prime time; Tuesday and Wednesday, PT was fine. I've been wondering if they are tweaking their equipment, or if they have occasional problems that they don't realize right away since their OTA digital signal gets low priority - just don't know, but frustrating.

joehorn

11-10-05, 09:26 PM

cliff1371

11-11-05, 11:36 AM

i have lost wtic fox station over the last couple of days. i'm not receiving any signal at all. is their tower down?

CHDinCT

11-11-05, 12:50 PM

What has been happening is that the PSIP (guide and channel information) has been taking up too much of the bandwidth and not allowing the dynamics that is needed for closed captioning etc... It's actually called "stuffing". Thus the picture can not keep up causing pixelization.

The adjustment of days stored from 14 days to 7 days and some other tweeks to the encoders should fix the issue.

Stay Tuned :)

Joe - I assume you work for WFSB? Assuming yes, thanks for the update and keep us posted!

bfogelstrom

11-11-05, 01:23 PM

What has been happening is that the PSIP (guide and channel information) has been taking up too much of the bandwidth and not allowing the dynamics that is needed for closed captioning etc... It's actually called "stuffing". Thus the picture can not keep up causing pixelization.

The adjustment of days stored from 14 days to 7 days and some other tweeks to the encoders should fix the issue.

Stay Tuned :)
Joe, I've experienced improvement in the quality and reliability of the signal. I'm in Newtown so daytime reception is still sketchy but primetime is rock solid.

I have a Blake JBX21WB in the attic connected to a Samsung SIR-T150 receiver.

sp1dey

11-11-05, 02:52 PM

deconvolver

11-11-05, 04:18 PM

Quick question for the OTA gurus. I'm in Windsor and get great OTA signal on everything except WB WTXX and ABC WTNH. When I check the OTA meter, both channels are in the 80's and peak at 90... should be strong enough. But both channels frequently drop out, freeze, or become very pixelated. Since both channels are VHF and operate at low frequencies, 10 and 11... could this be FM interference and would a FM trap help?
It is a fairly long way from New Haven to Windsor for WTNH and WTXX does not have good coverage because they are not yet on the top of the tower so you will need an antenna with good VHF performance. What antenna do you have? It is hard to say what the problem is without some more data. Do you use a pre-amp? If so you should use one with an FM trap. Analog co-channel interference is more of a problem with VHF than with UHF since sometimes VHF goes much further so that could be your problem. You could try checking for a weak analog signal on the digital frequency while turning the antenna. Another issue with VHF can be noise interference. How do your analog VHF-high channels look? Do they have bands of sparkles across them?

Vuce

11-11-05, 10:00 PM

i have lost wtic fox station over the last couple of days. i'm not receiving any signal at all. is their tower down?

I've been having the same problem with WTIC up here in western Mass. I was getting Prison Break fine OTA but the last two episodes have been unwatchable because of the lack of signal strength. WFSB and WVIT come in great. There is definitely something going on with WTIC though.

intarch

11-13-05, 10:48 AM

caeguy

11-13-05, 10:53 AM

The only way that I can pick it up now is through channel 31.1. This problem is becoming more frequent. Wonder whats going on?

tase2

11-13-05, 12:49 PM

Is there anyone here from the Wallingford area that has serious OTA trouble like myself? Do you think the following thread from the Tivo forum would be of help?

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=270549

CHDinCT

11-13-05, 05:30 PM

Picked up a new H20 D* receiver locally to replace a dead old Hughes box. Bizarre -- 61-1 comes in with 90 plus signal strength, but, cannot get a picture at all. Info box and display data are present. Other OTA's work fine. Wondering if it is something in the broadcast signal?

People in Detroit who are using the new H-20 to pick up the new MPEG4 local digital stations have reported similar issues - high signal strength but no picture. Supposedly, a firmware update solves the issue. Your box should download an update automatically within a day or so. Of course, if that doesn't fix it, try 31-1.

deconvolver

11-13-05, 10:30 PM

cbagger01

11-14-05, 01:42 AM

WTIC-DT is clueless.

Their channel-mapping gets messed up every other week or so and makes the 61-1 channel blank out.

Like others have suggested, try manually tuning in 31.1 or 31.3 if you want to watch WTIC-DT

At the minimum, someone at the station needs to check and repair PSIP information every night before they turn out the lights. It should take all of 5 minutes to do this.

If they don't know how, all they need to do is buy an AccessDTV PCI computer ATSC capture card for under $200.00 and then click on the PSIP information tab in the software.

But I am not holding my breath.

jake14mw

11-14-05, 12:10 PM

cheneyp

11-14-05, 02:13 PM

WTIC-DT is clueless.

Their channel-mapping gets messed up every other week or so and makes the 61-1 channel blank out.

Like others have suggested, try manually tuning in 31.1 or 31.3 if you want to watch WTIC-DT

I have never been able to get a picture from 31.1 or 61.1. It's like the TV hangs up when it tries to tune it in (I have an built-in HD tuner in my RCA). Fortunately, I get 61HD on the cable line (QAM) so it hasn't affected my viewing...yet.

cliff1371

11-14-05, 03:25 PM

AAARGHHHHHHH...OK guys, my turn to look for some help here. I have been with this thread from the beginning, dabbling with OTA reception over the last couple of years. I live in Cromwell. Because I am addicted to Tivo, and couldn’t afford an HDTivo until they gave that great deal last month, I have been getting my HD by just propping an antenna up in the yard when I needed it, using a Zenith HD-SAT520 receiver.

Well, I just got an HDTivo, and so I tried mounting a CM 3021 antenna yesterday on the roof yesterday. My results were disappointing.

Since I can get NBC HD from DirecTV, the three channels that I’m really interested in getting OTA are WFSB, WTNH, and WTIC.

WTIC gave me an acceptable signal as long as the antenna was pointed in their general direction, no problem there. Fairly consistently in the 60s and 70s signal strength.

WTNH’s signal was good as long as the antenna was pointed just a little south of optimal for the Avon/Farmington towers. Signal strengths in the 60s and 70s with some jumping.

WFSB was the main problem. No matter where I pointed the antenna, I could never get a good enough signal to lock in a consistant picture. Signal strengths jumping all over the place from single digits and teens to an occasional max of low 60s. When I tried maximizing the signal for WFSB, WTNH became inconsistent too.

Is the up and down jumping of the signal a definite sign of multipath?

My main challenge is that I have a very big hill to the Northwest of me, and trees close to the house/antenna to the west.

Possible solutions that I have thought of:

Upgrade to a CM 4228 antenna. It’s basically a double version of what I have now.
Try some other antenna.
Try a pre-amp. I suspect that if I do that, maybe I could lock in WFSB.
Try an FM antenna trap. I read in another thread somewhere that this $6 item solved other people’s multipath problems.

Cost is definitely a consideration. My wife is ready to kill me over the amount of time/money this is taking me. Any ideas?

Jake, thanks for all your contributions the last few years. Anyways, i live in Southington so i'm pretty much dead center of the state. i also have the huge mountain range over here where FM towers are located.

I have the hdtivo also. Don't know if this will help BUT i use a little Zenith Silver Sensor antenna that's in my attic. My signals for wtic, wtnh, wvit, are all around 84-92 consistently. WFSB on the other hand is around 71-75. Since i have added the FM trap WFSB does not "drop out" anymore so the picture is fine. My antenna is small so i don't pick up the WB or UPN stations. Actually the signals are very weak on both. My buddy just mounted the CM stealth antenna($37) and he picks up everything well except for WFSB BUT he's close to me in Meriden so he may have better luck with an FM trap because the WFSB is all over the place also.

GOOD Luck

RTracey

11-14-05, 05:06 PM

Is the up and down jumping of the signal a definite sign of multipath?

My main challenge is that I have a very big hill to the Northwest of me, and trees close to the house/antenna to the west.

Possible solutions that I have thought of:

Upgrade to a CM 4228 antenna. It’s basically a double version of what I have now.
Try some other antenna.
Try a pre-amp. I suspect that if I do that, maybe I could lock in WFSB.
Try an FM antenna trap. I read in another thread somewhere that this $6 item solved other people’s multipath problems.

Jake - I can't definitively answer your questions, but perhaps I can give you a little bit of additional information. Regarding multipath, that's one possible explanation for a signal that's bouncing around, but I doubt that's the only one (trees between you and the transmitter being another). From your location however, I would have thought you would pick up WFSB without too much trouble (unless the hill is in the way). If it's a signal strength issue, either trying the CM4228 or a preamp should solve it, but that means experimentation and finding a store that will take either back if they don't solve your problem. Neither will solve a multipath problem, so I'll defer to others for advice if that's really what you're dealing with. Keep in mind that if you try a CM4228, you'll get better gain, but a narrower beamwidth, so that might cause problems with picking up WTNH without the use of a rotor. An FM trap isn't going to help with WFSB's signal because their digital broadcast is UHF.

Ross

deconvolver

11-14-05, 09:29 PM

Can anyone get WEDN-DT tonight? It seems to me like they are not broadcasting.

Cable70

11-15-05, 10:37 AM

Can anyone get WEDN-DT tonight? It seems to me like they are not broadcasting.

They had a problem with the Ch 53 transmission on saturday an they must have
used some of the DT equipment to get 53 back on line for the U-Conn basketball
games.
I just checked on 3 different recievers just to be sure and as of now the Ch 45 DT
is still off !

stumacdo

11-15-05, 02:26 PM

Jake - I can't definitively answer your questions, but perhaps I can give you a little bit of additional information. Regarding multipath, that's one possible explanation for a signal that's bouncing around, but I doubt that's the only one (trees between you and the transmitter being another). From your location however, I would have thought you would pick up WFSB without too much trouble (unless the hill is in the way). If it's a signal strength issue, either trying the CM4228 or a preamp should solve it, but that means experimentation and finding a store that will take either back if they don't solve your problem. Neither will solve a multipath problem, so I'll defer to others for advice if that's really what you're dealing with. Keep in mind that if you try a CM4228, you'll get better gain, but a narrower beamwidth, so that might cause problems with picking up WTNH without the use of a rotor. An FM trap isn't going to help with WFSB's signal because their digital broadcast is UHF.

Ross

I second this thought about the CM4228, but beware the 2 VHF channels. I've experimented for a few months with various combos of the CM4228 for UHF and a Yagi for VHF. Here in Wallingford, I'm pointing the CM4228 directly North for 3,61 and 30 and have the Yagi pointing South for Channel 8. I was disappointed with the Yagi as I expected to be able to point it due North and pick up 59 and also pick up 8 by default (since its tower is < 5 miles from me). However, while pointing North I did pick up 59 but Channel 8 was bouncing all over the place. Being that I watch more shows on 8, I chose to point the Yagi South and sacrifice WB.

All that being said, I know that some people on the thread have reported success picking up the higher band VHF channel (10 & 12) with the supposed UHF only CM4228.

As far as Channel 3 goes, it's been a major battle for many. I somehow locked into a spot where I'm picking it up at @ 60, WTIC at 70 and WVIT at 90+. I'd love to screw around with it and try and boost the WFSB/WTIC signals, but knowing my luck, I'd completely lose both.

Question to the group. I had to point my Yagi VHF South to pick up 8 since when I pointed it due North to get 59, the 8 signal bounced like mad. Any suggestions on how I could point the Yagi North for 59 and still pick up 8 without the crazy bouncing. I see no reason why I couldn't pick up 8 with the Yagi pointing directly North due to the proximity/strength of 8's signal. Thanks.

spider-man_man

11-15-05, 08:13 PM

RTracey

11-15-05, 08:49 PM

Question to the group. I had to point my Yagi VHF South to pick up 8 since when I pointed it due North to get 59, the 8 signal bounced like mad. Any suggestions on how I could point the Yagi North for 59 and still pick up 8 without the crazy bouncing. I see no reason why I couldn't pick up 8 with the Yagi pointing directly North due to the proximity/strength of 8's signal. Thanks.

Stu - I'm betting that when you point your yagi North, you are experiencing multipath problems. I'm a little confused about your reference to 59, since a VHF yagi isn't going to pick up a UHF channel - do you mean WTXX (ch 12)? If so - it's certainly not the most elegant solution, but you could get another yagi to point at WTXX (unless you want to invest in a rotor) and use a jointenna. You'll also need some significant separation between the two yagis on your mast to avoid interference issues - I believe the recommended distance is about 5 feet.

Is anybody else have trouble pulling in WTIC 61-1 OTA? I lost it on Sunday, signal strength was excellent but showed No signal on the screen. I have a Zenith HD-SAT520. I did a re-scan of Ant/Digital and actually lost the channel all togather. When I type in 31-1 or 31-3 it shows as not a channel. I'm at a loss - I have lost it before but only for a night or so.

WTIC is coming in fine for me right now, and I haven't experienced any issues recently.

Ross

spider-man_man

11-15-05, 09:03 PM

ckramer

11-15-05, 09:19 PM

Is anybody else have trouble pulling in WTIC 61-1 OTA? I lost it on Sunday, signal strength was excellent but showed No signal on the screen. I have a Zenith HD-SAT520. I did a re-scan of Ant/Digital and actually lost the channel all togather. When I type in 31-1 or 31-3 it shows as not a channel. I'm at a loss - I have lost it before but only for a night or so.

Thanks

I noticed the same thing on Sunday while trying to watch some NFL. As mentioned earlier here WTIC-DT must be having some PSIP problems.

I emailed the station yesterday to ask them about it, and this was their reply:

"According to our Chief Engineer, we are not having PSIP problems, but he says occasionally consumer receivers need to rescan. " :rolleyes:

caeguy

11-15-05, 09:27 PM

I noticed the same thing on Sunday while trying to watch some NFL. As mentioned earlier here WTIC-DT must be having some PSIP problems.

I emailed the station yesterday to ask them about it, and this was their reply:

"According to our Chief Engineer, we are not having PSIP problems, but he says occasionally consumer receivers need to rescan. " :rolleyes:

Rescan every month??? This is ridiculous :confused:
I dont have to do this with any other channel

spider-man_man

11-15-05, 09:58 PM

I have re-scanned numerous times. I ran an initial setup which scans for stations in my zip code which gave me back 61-1 but with the same original symtoms - high signal strength but "No Signal"/no picture. This has happened periodically in the past so hopefully it will be resolved - it is ridiculous.

intarch

11-16-05, 07:22 AM

Sounds like many others are having same problems I have. Actually, I can get WTIC-DT on 61-1 on my old Hughes box as well as my HDTivo unit -- just the new H20 can not receive a picture although the signal meter pegs at about 90. Anything else that can be done to affect the PSIP info?

stumacdo

11-16-05, 08:55 AM

Stu - I'm betting that when you point your yagi North, you are experiencing multipath problems. I'm a little confused about your reference to 59, since a VHF yagi isn't going to pick up a UHF channel - do you mean WTXX (ch 12)? If so - it's certainly not the most elegant solution, but you could get another yagi to point at WTXX (unless you want to invest in a rotor) and use a jointenna. You'll also need some significant separation between the two yagis on your mast to avoid interference issues - I believe the recommended distance is about 5 feet.

Ross

Ross,

My bad. When I said 59, I was thinking of the Channel # on my DTV system, it is indeed WTXX (Channel 12) that was causing me grief. I'm just baffled that I'm not able to pick up 8 even with the Yagi pointing directly North as 8 is so strong in our neck of the woods. My daughter's TV picks up 8 analog in her room just fine with NO antenna attached whatsoever. Any suggestions on battling the multipath I'm getting when pointing North ? I'd really like to try and avoid putting a 3rd antenna on my mast if at all possible....... Thanks. -Stu-

jake14mw

11-16-05, 01:25 PM

... An FM trap isn't going to help with WFSB's signal because their digital broadcast is UHF.

Ross

Thanks for the help everyone, and RTracey, thanks, I did not realize that FM traps were only helpful for VHF. I hate all of this tinkering. I am having a bunch of guys over for football/poker this Sunday, and I wanted to be able to have two HD games on at the same time, but I'm not confident in my WFSB reception being good enough.

Maybe it will be with my HD SAT520, it's tuner seems to be much better than the one in the HDTivo.

RTracey

11-16-05, 03:21 PM

Thanks Ross, What kind of receiver do you have? I saw elsewhere in this thread it might have something to do with their channel mapping. I always had good signal strength from that station. All the other CT digital stations are coming in fine.....Rob

Rob - I have a D* HR10-250 Tivo receiver.

Ross,

My bad. When I said 59, I was thinking of the Channel # on my DTV system, it is indeed WTXX (Channel 12) that was causing me grief. I'm just baffled that I'm not able to pick up 8 even with the Yagi pointing directly North as 8 is so strong in our neck of the woods. My daughter's TV picks up 8 analog in her room just fine with NO antenna attached whatsoever. Any suggestions on battling the multipath I'm getting when pointing North ? I'd really like to try and avoid putting a 3rd antenna on my mast if at all possible....... Thanks. -Stu-

Stu - I'm afraid we're getting outside of my comfort area of knowledge. I'm guessing you're dealing with multipath with a North facing antenna, 'cause I can't think of any other way you would be picking up WTNH to the south unless the signal was bouncing off of something and then to the front of the antenna. Aside from installing a rotor, if I can come up with any ideas, I'll let you know, but hopefully someone more knowledgeable will offer something.

Jake - you're welcome; you're amongst friends when it comes to problems with WFSB :D

Ross

spider-man_man

11-16-05, 06:36 PM

Hi Guys, Came home from work and was now receiving content on 61-1. Hey Ckramer, I guess they must have fixed what was not broken. Anyway, glad to have it back.....Rob

caeguy

11-16-05, 07:43 PM

Yes...61-1 is back for me too! Guess what...no rescan required. Isn’t that a surprise :rolleyes: Just shows how immature the market and technical support truly is.

ckramer

11-16-05, 07:44 PM

Hi Guys, Came home from work and was now receiving content on 61-1. Hey Ckramer, I guess they must have fixed what was not broken. Anyway, glad to have it back.....Rob

I know what you mean. But it's frustrating when you want to watch a little football and it doesn't work. And, on top of that they won't admit that they have a problem.......

riddler

11-16-05, 09:46 PM

deconvolver

11-16-05, 09:46 PM

Yes...61-1 is back for me too! Guess what...no rescan required. Isn’t that a surprise :rolleyes: Just shows how immature the market and technical support truly is.
61-1 is back for me on my Sony E50A10. No scan needed to fix it for me this time either. They really need to isolate this problem; it shouldn't be very difficult with careful monitoring of their signal.

ckramer

11-16-05, 10:42 PM

61-1 is back for me on my Sony E50A10. No scan needed to fix it for me this time either. They really need to isolate this problem; it shouldn't be very difficult with careful monitoring of their signal.

I don't know why WTIC-DT won't admit they're having PSIP problems. Maybe they just have to reboot a PC or two.

It seems many of us have recently been experiencing the same symptoms:

From a PSIP testing web site (as a noob I can't post URLs yet):
If a set is expecting to get the PSIP information and the station isn't sending it or isn't sending an error-free transport stream, you can rest assured, no matter how good the received signal is, it isn't going to get past the decoder and there will be no picture.

jake14mw

11-17-05, 09:20 AM

stumacdo

11-17-05, 10:52 AM

For those with DirecTV struggling with OTA HD, good news, the new satellite launched successfully. According to the link below, we SHOULD get HD locals over the dish in early 2006. They say 36 markets, we are the 28th biggest TV market. Also, in case you didn't notice, the XM radio channels have replaced Music choice. Supposedly also coming next year, the out of market local channels that cable companies offer.

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=127160&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=783972&highlight=

Good news on the possible local HD via DTV, but for those of us who are addicted to using DVR/Tivo, we're not going to see the new DTV HD DVR until mid/late 2006. Call me crazy, but without the benefits of the DVR, I won't be making the switch to HD via DTV until the new HD DVR from DTV is available.

jake14mw

11-17-05, 12:05 PM

RTracey

11-17-05, 01:00 PM

a in Bristol CT

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

I have been trying to receive a decent signal for a week now. I have tried 3 or 4 different anrennas, the best one being the Terk HDTVs . I first tried a little uhf antenna in my basement and picked up some signal , but had serious dropout. I figured If i am getting signal in the basement , then going up on the roof would be no problem. So I went and bought 100 ft of rg06 and installed the terk on the roof. Well it seemed to work pretty good , I pointed it in the right direction according to antennaweb,org and I got about 77% on 3 stations. The same problem started occuring after about 2 minutes. The signal would fluctuate from 77 down to 0 and back and forth , this kept happening over and over on all stations. The problem that I think i have is that i am located at the top of rt 69 near wolcott and there are a lot of trees and mountain in the way of the towers. I am definetely not drawing a consistent signal . Where do I go from here ? Should I try a cm antenna ? I can only get up so high seeing I live in a ranch that is set down in the bottom of a hill. I dont want to spend a ton of money because nobody that carries good antennas will let you return them if they dont work. If there is anybody in the same area as I am , please let me know what the secret is to achieving a steady signal. I know I can pick up signal , Ive seen what the channels look like in hd, its just that I cannot maintain a steady signal strong enough to be consistent. I also do not want to go crazy spending tons of money and having my house look like a space station for Nasa! Any help would be greatly appreciated !

riddler - which stations are you trying to receive and which ones you are having difficulty with? First rule of OTA reception - trees and mountains are bad, so height is your friend. If you can't get above one or both, OTA reception may continue to be a problem. However, you may want to consider a better antenna before giving up - the consensus seems to be that while Terk antennas may work for some, they're generally terrible antennas (I also wouldn't expect an indoor antenna to last too long outdoors in the elements). You're probably also experiencing a rather significant signal loss over 100' of coax relative to the small gain from an indoor antenna. Once you tell us what stations you are hoping to pick up, someone can probably suggest a better antenna.

Ross

riddler

11-17-05, 07:28 PM

bfogelstrom

11-17-05, 08:15 PM

No center channel (or very low). All you can hear is the music track. Asleep at the switch again. No answer in the control room either.

deconvolver

11-17-05, 09:41 PM

I bought a channel master 3016 today and I mounted it on my deck and I get channels 3, 8 30 ,but Im having a hard time with fox 61. These channels are the strongest , but they still seem to cut out on me even with the cm. I tried putting it up on my roof and it seemed the reception got worse. I brought it back down a few feet and the signals were better. I can watch it for a while , then all of a sudden it will go out. It looks like it is trying to get the signal , but it just wont maintain it. I also bought a 12db amplifier to add to the cm antenna. I cut the wire down to 75 feet and I hoped that would work. I notice the h-10 receiver is very sensitive to strong signal. Can I try another amplifier , this time only a bigger one ? That is my next step . I need all the help I can get. Im starting to beleive it is just not a good area for local reception.
You may be in an overload condition with an amplifier; more gain is probably a bad idea for your location. To see if you have really bad overloading check all the analog stations and see if any look weird- inverted like a photo negative or big bars across them or wavy diagonal lines- which could all be symptoms of overloading caused by a strong TV or radio station. The change in signal with elevation suggests that you could have a local multipath issue. You may be able to fix WTIC by simply trying many more antenna locations. There is a great deal of information on antennas at this site:
http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/siting.html

RTracey

11-18-05, 09:39 AM

riddler - deconvolver has some good points. I doubt you're going to need any additional amplification given your proximity to the towers. Particularly if you're dealing with a multipath issue, trying different antenna locations and making sure the antenna is aimed correctly might help. Did you buy an amplifier or a preamplifier? A preamp has two boxes - one that goes on the mast next to the antenna, and one that plugs into your house AC near your receiver. Did you try the CM3016 with and without the amp or preamp, and was there any difference? I wouldn't worry about the coax length with the CM3016 - I was only concerned it might be an issue with that indoor Terk antenna you were using.

deconvolver - question for you: that's a great suggestion to use the reception on analog stations for trouble-shooting. That only works if your TV or box has an NTSC tuner, correct? My understanding was most new TV's/boxes only have ATSC tuners, in which case I imagine one would have to go to plan B (whatever that is).

Ross

CHDinCT

11-18-05, 10:43 AM

No center channel (or very low). All you can hear is the music track. Asleep at the switch again. No answer in the control room either.

So you were trying to watch Alias at 8:00 on WTNH too? Had the same experience. It is just sad that many of these network affiliates are so apathetic when it comes to the quality of their OTA digital signal. I figured after 5-10 minutes, someone at WTNH would notice and fix the issue, but that was expecting too much, obviously. :mad:

jake14mw

11-18-05, 11:25 AM

What is the reason for these CONTINUOUS sound problems with WTNH?

deconvolver

11-18-05, 01:26 PM

deconvolver - question for you: that's a great suggestion to use the reception on analog stations for trouble-shooting. That only works if your TV or box has an NTSC tuner, correct? My understanding was most new TV's/boxes only have ATSC tuners, in which case I imagine one would have to go to plan B (whatever that is).
Ross
Yep, an NTSC tuner is required. Of course you could probably find an old small TV somewhere to use for de-bugging. What we use to diagnose issues like overloading, noise interference, or long delay multipath after the analog shutdown is a good question. Maybe future ATSC TV's will include a built in spectrum analyzer? Ok, maybe I'm dreaming about that but better built in OTA diagnostics may be a necessity after the analog shutdown.

RTracey

11-18-05, 08:40 PM

Yep, an NTSC tuner is required. Of course you could probably find an old small TV somewhere to use for de-bugging. What we use to diagnose issues like overloading, noise interference, or long delay multipath after the analog shutdown is a good question. Maybe future ATSC TV's will include a built in spectrum analyzer? Ok, maybe I'm dreaming about that but better built in OTA diagnostics may be a necessity after the analog shutdown.

I guess we can always dream.... :rolleyes:

Cardiff Giant

11-19-05, 03:39 PM

I went to Radioshack and picked up the HD Tuner that is on clearence for 90 dollars along with an antenna (nothing fancy just a indoor UHF/VHF antenna). I'm in Newington in an apartment (brick construction too) and I was able to get WFSB, WVIT, WTIC, WTXX and the Spanish Language station. I wasn't able to get ABC consistently though (I was able to get it while standing holding the antenna right near my window but I wasn't able to lock it in without me holding the antenna. I could probably try another antenna but I think I'm just going to scrap the whole idea and return everything. My big reason was ABC in HD and since that seems like it'll be tricky to get at my location I just can't justify the expense. Hopefully Cox will get ABC HD on cable soon!

cbagger01

11-19-05, 03:56 PM

bfogelstrom

11-20-05, 03:58 PM

Now today we're having bottom of the screen jitter problems on WTIC-DT for hours now.

markgo

11-20-05, 04:33 PM

...

I emailed the station yesterday to ask them about it, and this was their reply:

"According to our Chief Engineer, we are not having PSIP problems, but he says occasionally consumer receivers need to rescan. " :rolleyes:

What email address did you use? I've sent a couple of questions via their silly web site form, but never received any answer.

It might make a difference if all of us start complaining at the same time the next time WTIC goes out . I've given up trying to record WTIC in digital--too many lost programs.

Like many others of this forum, the only station I ever have any problems with is WTIC. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but it sure seems like they have more trouble keeping their signal running, and even when it is, due to their insufficient antenna height, reception is highly variable.

The funny thing is I don't think the stations really care about OTA HD. They have to broadcast it because they'd lose their oh-so-valuable bandwidth and broadcasting rights if they didn't. But it's clear from the lack of technical support not just on WTIC but on others that it's not a priority.

They seem to tolerate signal outages, blown configurations and all sorts of operational problems that should be unacceptable. And the "it's all new technology, there's bound to be some problems" excuse is getting a bit old (literally).

--MarkGo

garberfc

11-21-05, 11:27 AM

Good news on the possible local HD via DTV, but for those of us who are addicted to using DVR/Tivo, we're not going to see the new DTV HD DVR until mid/late 2006. Call me crazy, but without the benefits of the DVR, I won't be making the switch to HD via DTV until the new HD DVR from DTV is available.
That goes for me as well!

Has there been any reporting of the PQ of the HD locals? I pay D* for SD locals now and the PQ is generally very poor :(

Has D* released any information about a replacement HD DVR? I'd also hate to step (or jump :) ) backwards to a under performing DVR.

Frank (Spoiled w/ my TiVo)

jake14mw

11-21-05, 02:58 PM

That goes for me as well!

Has there been any reporting of the PQ of the HD locals? I pay D* for SD locals now and the PQ is generally very poor :(

Has D* released any information about a replacement HD DVR? I'd also hate to step (or jump :) ) backwards to a under performing DVR.

Frank (Spoiled w/ my TiVo)

I think the early reports of the Detroit HD locals say it's excellent, but that's easy because it's the first one up. There's no reason for them to compress things yet with plenty of room available. Hopefully, it stays that way, but we saw what happened to their SD programming.

I don't think DirecTV has released much information about their HD DVR. Some unofficial speculation gets leaked, but it is supposed to be based off of their recently introduced R-15 DVR which seems to be getting pretty good reviews. I too am nervous about not getting something nearly as good as Tivo.

ad301

11-21-05, 04:13 PM

I don't think DirecTV has released much information about their HD DVR. Some unofficial speculation gets leaked, but it is supposed to be based off of their recently introduced R-15 DVR which seems to be getting pretty good reviews. I too am nervous about not getting something nearly as good as Tivo.

You should be nervous. After testing an r15 extensively for a week, I posted my review here:

http://www.dbstalk.com/showpost.php?p=476200&postcount=1

ckramer

11-21-05, 08:28 PM

Get an indoor "Amplified" VHF/UHF antenna like a rabbit ears type.

If mounted on a high spot with the amplifier on and the rabbit ears placed 180 degrees apart (IE: completely flat in the horizontal direction), you will create good conditions for picking up WTNH-DT ABC in high def.

Cardiff Giant,

cbagger01 is right.

Check out the Philips Silver Sensor (PHDTV3). It's an "Amplified" VHF/UHF antenna that's available at Walmart for about $35. I have it on top of my TV and I can get WFSB, WTNH, WVIT, WTIC, WCTX. Not WTXX yet.

ckramer

11-21-05, 08:30 PM

What email address did you use? I've sent a couple of questions via their silly web site form, but never received any answer.

It might make a difference if all of us start complaining at the same time the next time WTIC goes out . I've given up trying to record WTIC in digital--too many lost programs.

Like many others of this forum, the only station I ever have any problems with is WTIC. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but it sure seems like they have more trouble keeping their signal running, and even when it is, due to their insufficient antenna height, reception is highly variable.

The funny thing is I don't think the stations really care about OTA HD. They have to broadcast it because they'd lose their oh-so-valuable bandwidth and broadcasting rights if they didn't. But it's clear from the lack of technical support not just on WTIC but on others that it's not a priority.

They seem to tolerate signal outages, blown configurations and all sorts of operational problems that should be unacceptable. And the "it's all new technology, there's bound to be some problems" excuse is getting a bit old (literally).

--MarkGo

MarkGo,

I originally posted through their website: the Contact Us link, then Programming

The gentleman that replied to me is John Mason - jmason@fox61.com

hancox

11-26-05, 03:36 PM

Argh - WTNH-DT OTA goes on the fritz - AND THERE'S A UCONN GAME ON!!! @#@#$!@#$!@#$!@#$@!#$@#$!@#$@#Q$@

(um, yeah, calling engineering now :) )

bfogelstrom

11-26-05, 04:05 PM

Have not been able to receive WFSB-DT for several days now - no signal at all. Anyone alse having problems?

Wayne Estabrook

11-27-05, 08:31 AM

Have not been able to receive WFSB-DT for several days now - no signal at all. Anyone alse having problems?

Yes I am visiting friends in Shelton, CT and WFSB was bad yesterday but this morning it is back to full signal strength.

This afternoon WFSB signal strength is back down to 30% and was 100% this morning. Other stations signal level remain the same as this morning.

anderdea

11-28-05, 11:46 AM

I purchased a Sony HDD250 High Def PVR on Wednesday. After scanning in the available channel in my area. I still don't get WTICDT on 61.1. It shows it in the Program Guide but no video or audio. I can select it manually on 31.3 but the TV Guide program doesn't recognize this channel so no guide info is supplied. This happened about 2 months back when I purchased a Sony 42" LCD HD RPTV with built in OTA tuner. WTIC fixed it's mapping after a while and all was well with 61.1 displaying properly. I disconnected OTA antenna feed from the Sony LCD to feed and test out the new PVR so haven't been able to check 61.1 using the TV's OTA tuner. Is Fox DT having mapping problems again.

stumacdo

11-28-05, 01:40 PM

Has anyone heard anything on if/when WTIC is planning their long-rumored move "up" the tower to be at least equivalent with WVIT ? I've noticed over the last few weeks their signal hovering in the mid-60's which is about the break-down point on my DTV HR10-250. I'm getting a little worried with the inclement weather looming, their signal will quickly become unusable. I currently pick up WVIT at a signal of 90, so I'm hoping the move up the tower will really help their signal. Anybody heard anything ?

On another topic, has anyone noticed the problems with WTNH OTA recently ? A week ago, Alias was sent without the center channel (i.e. vocals) and only had the soundtrack sound. This weekend, they had audio and no video for golf and finally, last night on Gray's Anatomy, half the screen was blacked out. Go figure as WTNH is usually one of the better OTA's. My guess is that due to the holiday weekend, they had no engineers on site to address/monitor.

sp1dey

11-28-05, 04:25 PM

hmmm... I thought it was just my recording of Gray's Anatomy last night. I don't watch the show but my wife does. I forgot to ask her if it was the whole show or not... did it eventually clear up?

stumacdo

11-29-05, 08:44 AM

hmmm... I thought it was just my recording of Gray's Anatomy last night. I don't watch the show but my wife does. I forgot to ask her if it was the whole show or not... did it eventually clear up?

Yep, right about the 1/2 hour mark. Glad it wasn't one of "my" shows. Would have been pretty p@ssed if it was Lost that got screwed up like that.

schmitter

11-29-05, 08:59 AM

AreBee

11-29-05, 02:41 PM

hmmm... I thought it was just my recording of Gray's Anatomy last night. I don't watch the show but my wife does. I forgot to ask her if it was the whole show or not... did it eventually clear up?

My wife called me out of the workshop and I thought my TV was screwed up. I ran upstairs and saw the same thing on my Hughes E-86. I also noticed that the analog broadcast was fine.

I have also emailed WTNH about the audio but I have not received a reply.

jake14mw

11-30-05, 10:32 AM

I e-mailed them yesterday. Does anyone have a real e-mail address for someone? I just used that contact us web site link that probably nobody reads.

craigdeguz

11-30-05, 04:42 PM

deconvolver

11-30-05, 05:10 PM

Hello all,

I am a newbie to the OTA HDTV scene and I am very stuck. I have a 42 inch sony a10 which looks great. I live in Storrs mansfield, CT and I am trying to pull in some HDTV channels. My cable provider is charter and they are horrible only offering fox and nbc hd over cable. So I went to best buy and bought some random antenna, a RCA ant537 which is amplified. my question is how the heck do i receive channels, especially ABC HD and CBS HD. I hooked up the antenna to the antenna coax and set it atop of my tv and its barely receiving anything. I noticed a lot of posts with signal strength...how do you find that out?

Anyways just a newbie in desperate need of help.....thanks!!
First go to antennaweb and find out what stations it predicts you'll get for a given antenna type:
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx
What stations does it say you can get? Antennaweb is pessimistic for digital stations though so with a roof mounted antenna you may get stations it doesn't list. Try pointing your antenna so analog channel 30 comes in best. Then in the setup menu scan for digital over the air channels. I am near Norwich and with a roof mounted Winegard 9032 antenna with a Channelmaster 7777 pre-amp I get PBS, NBC, FOX, and CBS in digital (I also have to use a trap for analog channel 69 to keep my signal from overloading). I also have a VHF-high antenna with which I get ABC in digital. I have a program (Radiomobile) that will predict signal strength given lat/long based on the terrain if you would like those results.

craigdeguz

11-30-05, 05:38 PM

craigdeguz

11-30-05, 06:15 PM

smeck

11-30-05, 08:32 PM

Wednesday night no audio for at least an hour on their Hi-Def channel I wonder if they'll ever fix it. Their unbelievable, how can they call themselves professional it's beyond me.

caeguy

11-30-05, 08:39 PM

It really is amazing how our local stations all have their different issues.

WTIC - Mysteriously disappears and you can only pick it up on 31.1
WTNH - Audio problems

And they all tend to be a sleep at the switch from time to time.

deconvolver

11-30-05, 10:37 PM

I have a problem because i live in a college apartment so i cant use outdoor antennas at all. I have seen all sorts of info on this website sayin that WTNH has a strong signal and that most can receive it. I jus dont know if i bought the correct antenna or if there is somethin i have to do.

i just really want abc hd because i want to watch lost in HD. any suggestions or comments about the storrs/manfield/tolland/coventry/uconn area would be great!
First, WTNH is a VHF station unlike most DTV stations which are UHF. Second, WTNH digital is on the same channel as WJAR's analog station. I did a quick check of the path loss for Storrs with Radiomobile and you get a similar weak signal from the New Haven and Providence towers to the center of campus. Even a small amount of an analog station on the same channel as a digital station can kill the digital channel in my experience. The problem with rabbit ears is they have no back lobe rejection to get rid of WJAR and you also might need more gain since the signal will be fairly weak. The other problem is that if you are near campus the large buildings there might reflect WJAR's signal so that even a good directional antenna would not be able to eliminate it. For your best chance you could try suspending something like a Winegard YA6713 from your ceiling:
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?CAT=&PROD=YA6713
That antenna is about 3' x 4' but would only hang a few inches below the ceiling. You would first point it to get analog channel 8 in well then fine tune the pointing until there is nothing but pure snow (which is what a digital channel looks like when tuned as analog) on analog channel 10 with no hint of the analog frame of WJAR. Then you would tune 10.1 to try to get WTNH digital. I would expect that you would need very exact pointing to eliminate WJAR and if you do succeed even people moving in the room might change the reception of WJAR enough to cause drop-outs on WTNH-DT. If you are on the west side of a hill your probability of success would be higher. How are you able to get analog 8 and 10 with the rabbit ears? If you get 8 anaolg in well and 10 analog not at all for any position of the ears then that would suggest you can probably have success with WTNH-DT.

ckramer

11-30-05, 10:46 PM

jake14mw

12-01-05, 12:41 PM

Wednesday night no audio for at least an hour on their Hi-Def channel I wonder if they'll ever fix it. Their unbelievable, how can they call themselves professional it's beyond me.

A friend here at work also mentioned no sound during Lost last night. The sound was actually good last night OTA, he has Comcast, so maybe for once it was a Comcast issue?

caeguy

12-01-05, 01:32 PM

I had no audio during Lost last night OTA

vinny75

12-01-05, 02:38 PM

RTracey

12-01-05, 03:27 PM

I had no audio during Lost last night OTA

No problem here last night with OTA audio on Lost.

Ross

deconvolver

12-01-05, 03:40 PM

RTracey

12-01-05, 03:46 PM

Hi Folks,

Complete newbie to OTA. Own a two storied house in East Hampton CT, 25Mins From Hartford. (1Exit from Glastonbury on Rt2).

I have Dish 811 and get most of the HiDef except ABC, FOX and CBS. DishNetwork wants me to put another Dish on the roof to get local channels. I would rather give OTA a shot.

Absolutely have no idea on what antenna to get the basic Local HiDef channels. If any of you could help me point get started on this I would really appreciate it.

Vinny - I would suggest you start off with a CM 4228 UHF antenna and see what stations you are able to pick up. If you don't have a lot of success with the antenna alone, you can add a CM7777 preamp, but you may not need it for your location. Couple things to keep in mind. First, WTNH (ABC) is high VHF, so you may pick it up with the CM 4228, or you may not - if you don't, you'll need to get a high VHF yagi to pick it up (which there are ways to join up with the CM 4228). Second, you might have some difficulty picking up both the UHF stations out of Hartford, and WCTX (UPN) out of New Haven. If that's the case, you'll either need to get a rotor, or use an antenna with a wider beamwidth with which you can split the difference in the two antenna locations (e.g., a CM3021 or maybe a Winegard Squareshooter). I know this sounds like some trial and error, but that's the way it is with OTA. Ideally, someone who lives in or near East Hampton with an OTA set-up will tell you what works for them, but if not, this should get you started. Good luck!

Ross

vinny75

12-01-05, 03:52 PM

CHDinCT

12-01-05, 06:23 PM

Hi again,
I was also wondering real quick how i set up the antenna meaing what i do with the rabbit ears if i wanna try to get wtnh. do i point them down or up extend all the way or not?

also.........i guess ill just say....is there any way possible for me in storrs, ct to get abc hd or cbs hd without having to mount an antenna on my roof?

Craigdeguz,

Maybe I missed this piece but did you say whether your TV has an internal ATSC tuner? You need an ATSC tuner to get digital OTA stations. Some HDTV's come with them and most of the satellite boxes have them. Cable boxes rarely do. Just asking since you said you didn't get any signals at all when you plugged the antenna into the TV coax. I would think you could pull in some of the Hartford stations - WFSB - with an amplified UHF antenna, or at least get a blip here or there.

Chris

deconvolver

12-01-05, 06:35 PM

Hello
Thanks for responding. I did check antennaweb. I am posting their sugegstions here. I just did not know what the next step was or interpreting this and getting the right antenna. I am probably antenna obtuse. Based on this, what am I supposed to do as next step? All I want is occational HD content that these local stations broadcast.

ABC
green - vhf WTNH-DT 8.1 ABC NEW HAVEN CT 260° 25.1 10

UPN
green - uhf WCTX-DT 59.1 UPN NEW HAVEN CT 260°

FOX
violet - uhf WTIC-DT 31.1 FOX HARTFORD CT 313°

NBC
violet - uhf WVIT-DT 30.1 NBC NEW BRITAIN CT 312°

Thanks
Vinny
It looks like CBS will be a problem but you still might get it with a really good outdoor UHF antenna + pre-amp. If you want both UPN and Fox then you will probably need a rotor to change between New Haven and Hartford. You could get ABC and Fox + NBC at the same time without a rotor by pointing a VHF antenna at New Haven and a UHF antenna at Hartford. RTracey's advice is sound- one of the best UHF antennas is the Channelmaster CM-4228 (but a big UHF yaggi like the Winegard PR-9032 should be good enough for NBC + Fox at least with an amplifier and the 9032 has less wind load than a 4228). If you want a separate VHF antenna then a VHF-high Yaggi like a Winegard YA-6713 would be a good choice. You could get one combination antenna if you use a rotor but for good UHF reception you might need a fairly large one (and most of that size will be for channels 3-6 that you don't need-> WFSB-DT is at 33). The Channelmaster CM-7777 pre-amp is a good choice if the antenna alone isn't good enough (switch selectable for combined or separate UHF&VHF) or you could use a Winegard AP-2870 for separate VHF&UHF antennas or AP-8700 for a combination antenna. The Winegards have less gain so they're a good choice if a strong nearby station could cause overloading. The easiest way to get this equipment is over the phone/internet from a company like one of these:
http://www.solidsignal.com/
http://www.starkelectronic.com/
http://www.warrenelectronics.com/

deconvolver

12-01-05, 06:47 PM

Craigdeguz,

Maybe I missed this piece but did you say whether your TV has an internal ATSC tuner? You need an ATSC tuner to get digital OTA stations. Some HDTV's come with them and most of the satellite boxes have them. Cable boxes rarely do. Just asking since you said you didn't get any signals at all when you plugged the antenna into the TV coax. I would think you could pull in some of the Hartford stations - WFSB - with an amplified UHF antenna, or at least get a blip here or there.

Chris
The Sony A10's have a good ATSC receiver for OTA-HD (and cable with a cablecard).

SMC17

12-02-05, 09:25 AM

I had no audio during Lost last night OTA
In Killingworth I also had no audio on ABC for Wednesday night and Thursday morning (during GMA). It's back today. I'm wondering whether I'm having multipath issues. The signal for ABC was high 90's to 100 during the outage (according to my HTPC tuner card). Funny thing was I was able to get sound in my Fusion card XP TV app but not in Windows Media Center. Could it be seasonal/weather related issues causing multipath and forcing frequent drop outs and no audio? I've never had a problem before. Setup is RS combo antenna (on rotator) in attic to CM amp to dual tuner (Fusion and Avermedia) Windows MCE HTPC. Any thoughts? I've got a CM 4228 ready to install but everything was working so well I bagged it until later.

Sean

KevinSartori

12-02-05, 10:02 AM

vinny75

12-02-05, 11:08 AM

Deconvolver

Will this work in my case?

http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...rentPage=family

Thanks
Vinny

It looks like CBS will be a problem but you still might get it with a really good outdoor UHF antenna + pre-amp. If you want both UPN and Fox then you will probably need a rotor to change between New Haven and Hartford. You could get ABC and Fox + NBC at the same time without a rotor by pointing a VHF antenna at New Haven and a UHF antenna at Hartford. RTracey's advice is sound- one of the best UHF antennas is the Channelmaster CM-4228 (but a big UHF yaggi like the Winegard PR-9032 should be good enough for NBC + Fox at least with an amplifier and the 9032 has less wind load than a 4228). If you want a separate VHF antenna then a VHF-high Yaggi like a Winegard YA-6713 would be a good choice. You could get one combination antenna if you use a rotor but for good UHF reception you might need a fairly large one (and most of that size will be for channels 3-6 that you don't need-> WFSB-DT is at 33). The Channelmaster CM-7777 pre-amp is a good choice if the antenna alone isn't good enough (switch selectable for combined or separate UHF&VHF) or you could use a Winegard AP-2870 for separate VHF&UHF antennas or AP-8700 for a combination antenna. The Winegards have less gain so they're a good choice if a strong nearby station could cause overloading. The easiest way to get this equipment is over the phone/internet from a company like one of these:
http://www.solidsignal.com/
http://www.starkelectronic.com/
http://www.warrenelectronics.com/

madpoet

12-02-05, 11:34 AM

Hello.

I wonder if someone on the forum could help me. I'm trying to get a waiver to receive the New York NBC station in HD. My understanding is that because the local affiliate (WVIT) is owned and operated by the network (NBC), there is an exception that allows you to receive a distant feed. When I lived in Columbia and applied for the waiver, I was approved. I've just moved to Vernon and my waiver was declined. I spoke to Ronni Attenello at WVIT and she is unaware of the "O&O exception". She told me that if I could email her something official on the exception, she would grant the waiver. Does anyone have a link to the actual FCC document about this ruling (or whatever it technically is)? I did some searching on this forum and also googled it, but didn't come up with any useful hits.

Please help!

Thanks!

Veron is a problem because technically they sit in the area of two OTA feeds for NBC. Still, you should have been approved. I was about 5 months ago. Interestingly, 1 town over in Manchester you aren't considered to be in the OTA area for Mass. and thus only have to worry about WVIT. FWIW, I don't know why you reapplied for waivers when you moved... should have just left it alone.

CHDinCT

12-02-05, 01:29 PM

In Killingworth I also had no audio on ABC for Wednesday night and Thursday morning (during GMA). It's back today. I'm wondering whether I'm having multipath issues. The signal for ABC was high 90's to 100 during the outage (according to my HTPC tuner card). Funny thing was I was able to get sound in my Fusion card XP TV app but not in Windows Media Center. Could it be seasonal/weather related issues causing multipath and forcing frequent drop outs and no audio? I've never had a problem before. Setup is RS combo antenna (on rotator) in attic to CM amp to dual tuner (Fusion and Avermedia) Windows MCE HTPC. Any thoughts? I've got a CM 4228 ready to install but everything was working so well I bagged it until later.

Sean

SMC17,

I'm in Killingworth too and had no problems Wednesday night with audio issues from WTNH. Watched LOST in glorious HD and DD5.1. Not sure what your problem was, but I don't think it was WTNH. Though, I don't think I watched anything else on WTNH on Wednesday or Thursday night, however.

deconvolver

12-02-05, 01:57 PM

Deconvolver

Will this work in my case?

http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...rentPage=family

Thanks
Vinny
You only pasted a partial link so I can't see what you are looking at. Radioshack antennas are convenient to buy and return if needed but the Channelmaster and Weingard ones that I mentioned should work better. If you need a pre-amp or distribution amp you should stick with Channelmaster or Weingard; the Radioshack ones can be much worse.

KevinSartori

12-03-05, 11:34 AM

Veron is a problem because technically they sit in the area of two OTA feeds for NBC. Still, you should have been approved. I was about 5 months ago. Interestingly, 1 town over in Manchester you aren't considered to be in the OTA area for Mass. and thus only have to worry about WVIT. FWIW, I don't know why you reapplied for waivers when you moved... should have just left it alone.

Yeah, I actually get the Springfield station in more reliably than the Hartford one, but both are unreliable. I have a Silver Sensor, the new amplified one with the two VHF whips. I live in a condo now, so I can't do an outside antenna like I had in Columbia. As for leaving well enough alone, DirecTV didn't give me a choice. When I moved, I didn't have the distant NBC feed anymore. When I called DirecTV, they told me that because I moved, I had to reapply for a new waiver. Kind of annoying.

If I can just find some kind of "official" documentation on the O&O exception, my waiver will be granted. Can anyone help? Maybe I should create a new thread...

raoul5788

12-03-05, 11:36 AM

Yeah, I actually get the Springfield station in more reliably than the Hartford one, but both are unreliable. I have a Silver Sensor, the new amplified one with the two VHF whips. I live in a condo now, so I can't do an outside antenna like I had in Columbia. As for leaving well enough alone, DirecTV didn't give me a choice. When I moved, I didn't have the distant NBC feed anymore. When I called DirecTV, they told me that because I moved, I had to reapply for a new waiver. Kind of annoying.

If I can just find some kind of "official" documentation on the O&O exception, my waiver will be granted. Can anyone help? Maybe I should create a new thread...

I receive WNBC from D* with no waiver. I thought anyone in the Hartford DMA
got it with no need for a waiver. I'm in Cheshire, but that shouldn't matter.

KevinSartori

12-03-05, 06:16 PM

Thanks for the replies. I got home today and there was another postcard from DirecTV letting me know that my waiver for NBC was granted! I can only assume that Ronni Attenello at WVIT did research herself on the whole O&O exception and resubmitted an approval. I had to call DirecTV to have channel 82 turned on, but now I'm a happy camper :D

stumacdo

12-08-05, 08:47 AM

Has anyone noticed problems with WTIC's OTA signal over the last few days ? I noticed it first on Sunday during the NFL games, but have not seen any usable signal from them all week. Really not too much of a concern since all their key shows are in repeats right now, but it's still a little puzzling. I'm wondering if something is up at the tower they share with WVIT. I've noticed that WVIT's signal, which is usually one of the strongest at 95+ has now dipped down into the low 80's. Anybody else noticed this problem ?

cbagger01

12-08-05, 02:02 PM

PaulieORF

12-08-05, 02:04 PM

Hey guys,

Has WCTX-DT resumed broadcasting HD shows in HD? I went to the web site to try and find an update, but actually found that the message about the problem has disappeared.

hancox

12-09-05, 10:32 AM

Hey guys,

Has WCTX-DT resumed broadcasting HD shows in HD? I went to the web site to try and find an update, but actually found that the message about the problem has disappeared.

Yep, they have been for a while...

cgorra

12-10-05, 12:56 PM

Yes, I watched "Everybody Hates Chris" the other night in HD on WCTX, and it looked quite good. Still no DD 5.1, though

PaulieORF

12-10-05, 12:59 PM

Thanks guys.

CHDinCT

12-11-05, 03:02 PM

I saw a problem with the decoding of the stream during an episode of "Seinfeld" earlier this week.

There was much stuttering and parts of the picture were drawn in the wrong place on the screen.

I looked at both the OTA signal and the Charter cable WTIC-DT signal and saw the same behavior on both channels.

I just realized that the problems I'm having with WTICDT are likely the same you guys have been seeing. I guess I hadn't tried to watch anything on WTICDT during the week. Then, yesterday, my wife was watching White Christmas. I sat down to watch the end of it with her and all of a sudden, my Samsung TS-160 lost all signals - OTA and satellite. I had to force a reboot by unplugging it. After that the rest of the movie had some stuttering and breakups but was otherwise fine. Today, I sit down to watch some football and just flipped to WTICDT OTA to see what was on. Within 30 seconds, my box did a reboot all on its own this time. Just before it rebooted, I got a blue screen with a message - "Unsupported Mode". Now I'm afraid to even switch to WTICDT.

There is obviously something wrong with their transmission. I really wish somebody from WTIC would post on the forum with some type of explanation and expected date of correction. At this point, watching the Giants - Eagles game in HD is extremely doubtful.

stumacdo

12-12-05, 11:41 AM

I just realized that the problems I'm having with WTICDT are likely the same you guys have been seeing. I guess I hadn't tried to watch anything on WTICDT during the week. Then, yesterday, my wife was watching White Christmas. I sat down to watch the end of it with her and all of a sudden, my Samsung TS-160 lost all signals - OTA and satellite. I had to force a reboot by unplugging it. After that the rest of the movie had some stuttering and breakups but was otherwise fine. Today, I sit down to watch some football and just flipped to WTICDT OTA to see what was on. Within 30 seconds, my box did a reboot all on its own this time. Just before it rebooted, I got a blue screen with a message - "Unsupported Mode". Now I'm afraid to even switch to WTICDT.

There is obviously something wrong with their transmission. I really wish somebody from WTIC would post on the forum with some type of explanation and expected date of correction. At this point, watching the Giants - Eagles game in HD is extremely doubtful.

Yep, was unable to watch the Giants - Eagles game OTA yesterday in HD. The wierd thing is that my DTV HD box shows the WTIC signal "obtained" at a signal strength of @ 70, but then within a few seconds, the signal is no longer "obtained". I'm getting a little worried now as the NFL season is heating up and local games aren't accessible via DTV. Plus, 24's coming back in January and I would love to be able to watch that in HD.

I think several pages back (?) there may have been a communication contact at WTIC ? Not sure if it's worth reaching out, or if maybe that person sometimes comes to our forum.

CHDinCT

12-12-05, 11:51 AM

Yep, was unable to watch the Giants - Eagles game OTA yesterday in HD. The wierd thing is that my DTV HD box shows the WTIC signal "obtained" at a signal strength of @ 70, but then within a few seconds, the signal is no longer "obtained". I'm getting a little worried now as the NFL season is heating up and local games aren't accessible via DTV. Plus, 24's coming back in January and I would love to be able to watch that in HD.

I think several pages back (?) there may have been a communication contact at WTIC ? Not sure if it's worth reaching out, or if maybe that person sometimes comes to our forum.

Agree with your sentiments completely. What also worries me is that when D* starts to provide CT local HD via satellite, they plan on obtaining the feed via antenna - at least that's what I've read elsewhere in the Forum. If that's the case, we'll get the same garbage signal via D*. Maybe WTIC will have their act together by then, or the increased HD-via-satellite audience will add some pressure to fix the OTA signal.

stumacdo

12-12-05, 12:51 PM

Agree with your sentiments completely. What also worries me is that when D* starts to provide CT local HD via satellite, they plan on obtaining the feed via antenna - at least that's what I've read elsewhere in the Forum. If that's the case, we'll get the same garbage signal via D*. Maybe WTIC will have their act together by then, or the increased HD-via-satellite audience will add some pressure to fix the OTA signal.

I've been quite disappointed with WTIC recently. They've replaced my usual whipping boys (WFSB) as my new problem provider for HD OTA. I have no problem with occasional issues, but I can't believe they'd let these problems slide with the NFL games they televise. For regularly scheduled prime-time broadcasts, December is usually a dead month, so I can see there not being too much concern there. The NFL is a whole other issue.... Not that I'm a Giants fan, but it would be nice to be able to watch their games OTA in HD if I wanted to.

vssman

12-12-05, 01:02 PM

jake14mw

12-12-05, 01:47 PM

Did anyone else get a stuttering picture on the Cowboys-Chiefs game yesterday? For most of the game it looked like I was getting about 2 frames per second. It was wierd, no blocking, but just bad video. When they went to commercial it was fine, so I don't think it was my antenna. I could not get the Giants game to lock at all.

Primus

12-12-05, 02:01 PM

First time poster. You guys definately have one giant thread going. I've gone through quite a few pages but haven't seen much info on PBS (WEDH? ch 24) going digital. I get all of the others in digital great in Naugatuck but nothing from PBS. Any of you know when they'll be on-air with a decent signal?

Try pointing your antenna towards Bridgeport and tune to digital channel 52. You should be able to pick up CPTV 49.

CPTV's website has information about emergency repairs in Avon. "Repairs Underway
Emergency repairs are being done at CPTV's Channel 24 transmitter in Avon, starting Wednesday, December 7, 2005, because the transmitter has been operating at 25 percent power. While this work is being done, cable viewers will be unaffected, but people in the Hartford area will be unable to receive CPTV over the air. Repairs will be completed as quickly as possible so that service can be restored to all CPTV viewers." I don't know if it also involves the digital channel or not.

You also might be able to receive PBS out of Springfield, MA(Ch. 57) on Digital channel 58.

good luck,

Primus

ctdish

12-12-05, 04:12 PM

vssman

12-12-05, 05:33 PM

Thanks for the info. I can only get maybe 25% on the Bridgeport Channel. I'm blocked by the ridge toward Oxford. I called them quite a while ago and they didn't have any info other than they were asking for a frequency change from the FCC. I guess they were assigned channel 32 and are on the same tower as WFSB (channel 33)?? Everything is so clear on just a digital channel, let alone HD - it kind of makes analog depressing to watch ;) ...

ckramer

12-12-05, 08:13 PM

I've been quite disappointed with WTIC recently. They've replaced my usual whipping boys (WFSB) as my new problem provider for HD OTA. I have no problem with occasional issues, but I can't believe they'd let these problems slide with the NFL games they televise. For regularly scheduled prime-time broadcasts, December is usually a dead month, so I can see there not being too much concern there. The NFL is a whole other issue.... Not that I'm a Giants fan, but it would be nice to be able to watch their games OTA in HD if I wanted to.
Back in October, I sent an email through the "Programming" link on WTIC-DT's web site, complaining about their problems. I received this response:
It's working fine. Here's a web site that might help
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx
Thanks for watching.

A couple weeks later, I sent another email asking this question:
Are you guys having a problem regarding the PSIP information?? Yesterday (11/13) I couldn't watch football in HD at all. I was getting signal strength at 85-90, but no picture.

He replied:
According to our Chief Engineer, we are not having PSIP problems, but he says occasionally consumer receivers need to rescan.

I said:
But, if 61.1 doesn't work and 31.1 does, that pretty much points to a PSIP problem, right??

He said:
You'd think so, but not necessarily on our end. In any case, digital TV is a new technology so we make frequent updates.

So, to recap: Everything is working fine on their end, occasionally we need to rescan, and it's a new technology so they are making frequent updates.

Confused? I know I am.....

ckramer

12-13-05, 11:00 AM

I just got a reply from WTIC-DT about the problems last weekend:

Unfortunately, at least part of the problem was on our end. We had a microwave failure, it took nearly a day to get a replacement part. We are continuing to address the issue with the manufacturer. We apologize for the problem.

We've been back on the air since last night. However while we were off, we had no signal.

stumacdo

12-13-05, 03:35 PM

I just got a reply from WTIC-DT about the problems last weekend:

I'll have to check when I get home, but I think I checked signal strenth on WTIC last night around 7 PM and it was bouncing around in the 30's-40's. I did notice that WVIT, which is on the same tower, was also at a lower signal strenth than usual. Have to check tonight if it's all better.

carlosolaechea

12-13-05, 11:05 PM

Anyboby from Adelphia Norwich CT Whats up with Fox 61 in HD and ABD in HD??

PaulieORF

12-13-05, 11:10 PM

Anyboby from Adelphia Norwich CT Whats up with Fox 61 in HD and ABD in HD??

I live in the Waterbury area served by Adelphia. We get ABC and FOX HD from NY. I asked (at the request of someone in the Norwich system) the area Director of Marketing about ABC and FOX for the Norwich system. He said that it would likely occur after the end of this year, as they are currently working on new retransmission agreements with all of the local station owners. This means that it's likely that not only will you see the addition of WTIC HD and WTNH HD, but also WTXX HD and WCTX HD.

sgbroimp

12-14-05, 07:38 AM

stumacdo

12-14-05, 08:57 AM

I set up a new HD set with HD tuner cable card, but not card installed. Comcast is cable supplier here on east CT shore. Got PBS HD on Ch 240 just fine, ABC in the 70.something area also ok, but got pixel breakup on Fox and I think maybe CBS or NBC, along with some half second freezing. Is this likely to be a Comcast issue or something with my line strength, quality or the set?

It may not be you. We've all been seeing a lot of problems in the last week or 2 with Fox (and NBC is on the same tower). There was an email from WTIC posted here earlier where they admitted there was a problem and they fixed it. However, when I got home last night, I tested WTIC and their signal is still way off. Noticed WVIT was extremely low as well, so I'm not sure if it's something at the tower rather than something individually wrong with WTIC/WVIT.

sgbroimp

12-14-05, 11:05 AM

Stumacdo - Thanks. As noted, I am on Cable via Comcast. Are you saying that tower would also be the source for the Comcast signal I get?

stumacdo

12-14-05, 11:36 AM

Stumacdo - Thanks. As noted, I am on Cable via Comcast. Are you saying that tower would also be the source for the Comcast signal I get?

I'm not 100% sure, but I know my next door neighboor has Comcast for HD (while I get it OTA for my DirecTV HD set-up) and it seems that when I have a problem, so does he. The one caveat would be when there's crappy weather, I'm more affected with issues OTA than him. All things equal, I'm pretty sure that the HD signal he gets via Comcast is being originated by WTIC and if I'm having problems, so will he via Comcast and vice versa.

Not 100% sure (some of the other guys in this thread might know for sure) but that's my guess.

stumacdo

12-14-05, 11:39 AM

sp1dey

12-14-05, 12:11 PM

I have to be honest with all the recent frustrations trying to pick up local channels in HD OTA, I'm perilously close to pulling the trigger and moving away from DTV and moving to Cable - at least until DTV start local HD sometime in 2006. I'm not sure how the Comcast people are doing with HD, but I've got to figure they're in better shape than us who are depending on (mostly un-reliable) OTA signals. I know I've gotten a few warning looks from the wife when I set-up one of her shows to TIVO in HD and I get the dreaded "signal not available". Has anybody else here gotten fed up with HD via DTV and moved to Comcast ? My biggest hold-back was the NFL Ticket (but the season's almost over) and the use of a DVR/TIVO. May sign up for Comcast for a year until DTV releases their HD PVR and CT HD. What do you all think ?

A close friend of mine in Hartford got Comcast's HD DVR and after a month of use he's demanding they come and take it away. It's really buggy and has nothing over the HR10-250 (in spite of it's own problems). That being said, OTA issues can be even more annoying. I know for myself and past dealings with Comcast I know I'll never go back. I'll gladly wait for DTV's offerings to improve over the alternative. Pick your poison!

jake14mw

12-14-05, 01:49 PM

I am right with you guys exactly. The main reason that I stay with DirecTV is that I love Tivo. I have them on all three sets. So, if I went to Comcast, I would have to pay $10 for each one, and I’m not willing to pay that much for an inferior DVR. So for a long time, I had a DirecTV HD receiver, and that picked up OTA signals pretty reliably. Recently, I got the HDTivo, and the problem is that the OTA reception with it is significantly worse. OTA is not reliable at all. So now, I’m kind of stuck. I don’t want to put up with Comcast’s inferior DVRs but my HD OTA is not reliable enough.

Apparently, DirecTV may have our HD locals “early in 2006”, but I won’t bother with it until they come out with an HD DVR that can receive it, and the reviews of their new NON-Tivo DVR are not good, so I imagine that the HD version will be similar. I just called for waivers to get the NY HD channels, and they immediately granted me NBC, but had to submit waivers for the others. The others will most likely be denied. Doesn’t it just figure that NBC is the only one that I don’t watch any HD shows on?

The moral of the story for everyone out there is, if you don’t have a DVR yet, don’t start with Tivo, because everything else will seem crappy in comparison!

stumacdo

12-14-05, 01:56 PM

Begin Rant

I don't disagree as I also love my DTV Tivo boxes (I've got 3 of them, 2 regular and 1 HD). It's just sooooo frustrating that they're many good shows out there in HD, and you've got a 50-50 shot of receiving them at any point in time when using OTA. Good luck on getting a waiver granted. I think unless you're in Fairfield county, you're going to get NBC and that's it. The diabolic trick would be to call DTV and tell them you're "moving" to somewhere in Fairfield County, but that the billing address should remain at your existing house.

The only OTA signals that seem to be mostly reliable are WVIT and WTNH, and even they have sometimes screwed up and not had the audio signal sent with the video (as a month or so ago with WTNH) or sent a Standard picture OTA instead of HD (a few weeks ago with WVIT). I know it's pretty new tech, but let's be realistic, OTA signals have existed for what, like 50 years now. Figure it would be pretty bug-free by now...... ;)

End Rant

sp1dey

12-14-05, 03:59 PM

One concern about dumping DTV for Comcast (other then it not being Comcastic... sorry) is... how is DTV going to handle the switch for existing customers, versus new (which you would be if you dumped it and came back after MPEG4). I'd hate to see you pay full price for an HD DVR (when it's available) when you could get it for free or nearly free. Or course anything associated with DTV's upgrade is pure speculation at this point.

PatG25

12-15-05, 12:11 PM

I also have the HR10-250 along with two other SD Tivos. There is no way I am going to give it up. In addition, I don't really care if DTV goes to local HD; they are just going to compress the signal even in the MPEG 4 format. The only way I switch is if they can give me a HD DVR and the new setup for free - I paid enough for my current setup.

The HD Tivo is worse in picking up OTA signal than my other receiver. I never had to rotate the antenna, now I do. Living in Wallingford I was able to pick up the New Haven stations for the back of the antenna. However, the only problem I had recently with OTA reception was with WTIC during the Giants - Philly game. Other than that, I have had no problems whatsoever loosing the HD signal.

CHDinCT

12-15-05, 12:37 PM

The moral of the story for everyone out there is, if you don’t have a DVR yet, don’t start with Tivo, because everything else will seem crappy in comparison!

That fits me to a T. I've been with D* for about 3 years and went HD about 2 years ago. Knowing that they won't support the HD-TIVO once MPEG4 is available in our local market, I didn't want to spoil myself with the TIVO version. I'll wait for the HD-DVR that works with MPEG4 local HD that we should have available via D* sometime next year. Never having owned a TIVO, I won't know what I'm missing, hopefully.

I do hope they offer a lease option for about what cable charges though.

sp1dey

12-15-05, 01:19 PM

I'm fortunate enough to get all the networks very strong OTA (except for some odd reason WFSB was acting up this morning despite the singal being a constant 92). With that being said, I'll certainly not dump my tivo until there is actual HD content that warrants it... HD lil's won't do it for me. Not even HD starz, cinemax, or TNT would lure me away. HD sci-fi (which doesn't exist) and NESN would though.

jake14mw

12-15-05, 02:08 PM

One note for people here about us Tivo people bashing other DVRs. Even a non-Tivo DVR is better than no DVR. Get One! It literally does change the way you watch TV. I would easily go without HD before I would go without a DVR.

Never having to be in front of the TV at any particular time without missing anything is....well....priceless.

sp1dey

12-15-05, 03:25 PM

I dont know if I could go without HD, but I certainly couldn't live without a DVR. Given the choice, I'll keep my Tivo (since my OTA is quite good) until as I said... additional HD that interests me prompts a change. The notion of dropping my HD Tivo for DTV's offering doesn't scare me just need a good reason to do so. But life without a DVR of any kind... NO WAY! Other then Pats games, I can't remember the last time I've watched live TV. Even if I intent to watch a show the same night it airs, I'll wait 15 minutes before I start it just to avoid commercial breaks.

cgorra

12-15-05, 07:46 PM

It may not be you. We've all been seeing a lot of problems in the last week or 2 with Fox (and NBC is on the same tower). There was an email from WTIC posted here earlier where they admitted there was a problem and they fixed it. However, when I got home last night, I tested WTIC and their signal is still way off. Noticed WVIT was extremely low as well, so I'm not sure if it's something at the tower rather than something individually wrong with WTIC/WVIT.

Actually, WVIT and WTIC are NOT on the same tower! WTIC and WTXX digital are on one tower on Rattlesnake Mountain, and WVIT is on another tower on the same Mountain: you can see the two towers on I-84 Between exits 37 and 38

cgorra

12-15-05, 07:47 PM

FWIW, WGGB-DT in Springfield has finally gone up with a real HD signal: no Dolby Digital 5.1 as of yet, though

stumacdo

12-16-05, 10:21 AM

Actually, WVIT and WTIC are NOT on the same tower! WTIC and WTXX digital are on one tower on Rattlesnake Mountain, and WVIT is on another tower on the same Mountain: you can see the two towers on I-84 Between exits 37 and 38

Thanks for the heads-up. I always thought they were on the same tower. Still having problems - wonder if something is up over there ?

cbagger01

12-16-05, 01:59 PM

FYI,

I doubt that the NYGiants game problems were due to OTA reception problems.

My local cable feed for WTIC-DT (Charter) was also messed up for that game.

Cable70

12-16-05, 02:15 PM

FYI,

I doubt that the NYGiants game problems were due to OTA reception problems.

My local cable feed for WTIC-DT (Charter) was also messed up for that game.

WTIC had a problem with a microwave feed last sunday through sometime
late monday evening when they got it fixed. It only affected the digital OTA.
So if your cablecompany receives that OTA you would have seen the
problem also.

sp1dey

12-16-05, 03:25 PM

Anyone know if WFSB has been having issues? I live in Windsor and usually it's rock solid but the past few days it seems to have some random pixelation issues (not unwatchable, just really annoying). When I watch the meter on my HR10-250 it stays a constant 92.

smeck

12-18-05, 05:04 PM

Anyone having audio issues with WFSB. I"m experiencing audio dropouts every few minutes.

Cable70

12-18-05, 05:22 PM

Anyone having audio issues with WFSB. I"m experiencing audio dropouts every few minutes.

Analog or Digital ?
Digital seems fine !

PaulieORF

12-18-05, 05:23 PM

Anyone having audio issues with WFSB. I"m experiencing audio dropouts every few minutes.

Yep, I'm having the same thing. Had the problem since Friday night.

(Adelphia in Waterbury)

Cable70

12-18-05, 05:43 PM

I just heard it 2 times about 15 second apart, picture froze up on the 2nd time.

PaulieORF

12-18-05, 06:10 PM

I just heard it 2 times about 15 second apart, picture froze up on the 2nd time.

I'm not watching CBS right now, but when it was happening for me, it wasn't happening that frequently. More like once every few minutes or so, and there wasn't any picture breakup.

Cable70

12-18-05, 07:13 PM

I only did it once in about 45 minutes the rest of the time was fine.
We do recieve it OTA over here.

carlosolaechea

12-19-05, 10:09 PM

I live in the Waterbury area served by Adelphia. We get ABC and FOX HD from NY. I asked (at the request of someone in the Norwich system) the area Director of Marketing about ABC and FOX for the Norwich system. He said that it would likely occur after the end of this year, as they are currently working on new retransmission agreements with all of the local station owners. This means that it's likely that not only will you see the addition of WTIC HD and WTNH HD, but also WTXX HD and WCTX HD.
Thanks for the good news. I can't wait to see that

carlosolaechea

12-19-05, 10:14 PM

Anybody knows about the Dish Network and local station in HD beginning next year?

deconvolver

12-20-05, 08:59 AM

Anybody knows about the Dish Network and local station in HD beginning next year?
HD LIL for CT will probably be on DirectTV (but not Dish) by the end of next year.

raoul5788

12-20-05, 09:06 AM

HD LIL for CT will probably be on DirectTV (but not Dish) by the end of next year.

The word on satelliteguys is that we will have hd locals by the 2nd quarter of 2006.

bac2010

12-20-05, 01:42 PM

Cable70

12-20-05, 02:01 PM

On WFSB DT audio dropouts, I was just about to call Comcast on the problem. I thought it might be a local feed issue in Tolland. Picture is OK, captions are all messed up - we at least wanted to know what they said even if we couldn't hear them.

Call the cable company and complain, the more the better, they will pass the
issue on to WFSB hopefully, I spoke with them yesterday and it didn't seem like
they were aware of the problem.
I see it directly off air as well as on a cable system.

Beaker1024

12-20-05, 02:24 PM

I just called WFSB and the receptionist told me she has not heard of this complaint before. I was put through to the Engineering department but no one picked up the phone after a few minutes of letting it ring.

WSFB main number = (860) 728-3333

carlosolaechea

12-20-05, 02:31 PM

HD LIL for CT will probably be on DirectTV (but not Dish) by the end of next year.
What is HD LIL ? Thanhs

sp1dey

12-20-05, 03:44 PM

What is HD LIL ?

HD LIL stands for High Definition Local into Local. Right now DirecTV and Dish offer only Standard Def LIL. DirecTV is in the process of rolling out HD LIL (local networks) to the top however many markets and eventually everyone.

carlosolaechea

12-21-05, 04:54 PM

HD LIL stands for High Definition Local into Local. Right now DirecTV and Dish offer only Standard Def LIL. DirecTV is in the process of rolling out HD LIL (local networks) to the top however many markets and eventually everyone.
Thanks for the info! Do you know what's the date for CT. Thanks again! :)

raoul5788

12-21-05, 05:30 PM

Thanks for the info! Do you know what's the date for CT. Thanks again! :)

There is no firm date yet, but it looks like by the second quarter of 2006.

sp1dey

12-22-05, 01:42 PM

Anymore word on the WFSB audio dropouts? so annoying.

CHDinCT

12-22-05, 01:50 PM

Thanks for the info! Do you know what's the date for CT. Thanks again! :)

As raoul5788 said, there is no announced date yet. But, you can get some feel for the schedule by knowing that D* announced that HD LIL for the top 12 markets would be rolled out roughly between Nov 1st and Dec 31st. the CT locals market, defined by Nielson as the Hartford-New Haven locals, is the 27th largest market (last I checked - about a month ago). So, if D* activates 10-12 markets at a time, CT would be in the 3rd waive. I think people are assuming the next 10-12 will be activated sometime in the 1st qtr of 2006, with the third wave in the second qtr of 2006. Of course, that's if everything goes according to plan and no major technical issues are encountered, and of course if carriage deals are in place with the local CT stations.

bac2010

12-22-05, 02:31 PM

I called WFSB and left a message with Mark Gordon in Engineering asking if he knew about the audio dropouts (and if he didn't know - he does now!). We have been watching WFSB analog and although the picture isn't high def and no DD, at least we aren't annoyed.

stumacdo

12-22-05, 03:22 PM

eorcman

12-22-05, 07:03 PM

Has anyone been getting an OTA signal from WEDN (Norwich) lately? It has been several weeks and I am not getting any signal from them. Previously I was getting a very strong signal.

:( Pete

CHDinCT

12-22-05, 07:52 PM

Is anyone still having problems with WTIC ? I know they're showing all repeats right now, but with the exception of NFL games on the weekend, I having been showing a usable signal during the week for at least the last 2 weeks.

Looks pretty good of late to me, though haven't watched too much on WTIC. I did just check it now and it's very steady.

ctdish

12-22-05, 09:22 PM

Has anyone been getting an OTA signal from WEDN (Norwich) lately? It has been several weeks and I am not getting any signal from them. Previously I was getting a very strong signal.

:( Pete
Looks Ok now at 9:25 Thursday evening. John

upset264

12-23-05, 07:55 AM

mspicer1234

12-23-05, 11:05 AM

Does anybody pick up WFSB in HD in the Woodbury area. Charter only gives me Fox and NBC, I get WTNH with a $30 Radio shack indoor antenna. I would like to know if anyone in the area successfully gets WFSB and if so with what equipment.

I am in Oxford and get WFSB in HD OTA in the high 80's to low 90's using a Channel Master 4228 with a rotor mounted on a 6ft. pole on the roof. I have a splitter for the OTA feed going into 2 Direct TV HD receivers (Sony SAT-HD300 & HR10-250 Tivo). I do not use a pre-amp as the signal quality has been good (I tried a CM7777 at first and it made it worse). I also get WTNH and WVIT in the low 90's; however, WTIC is in the mid to high 60's and I seem to have the most problems with them.

Cable70

12-23-05, 06:30 PM

Has anybody noticed an improvement with WFSB's audio dropouts ?
I noticed them doing something like rebooting some equipment yesterrday afternoon.
One of my recievers went from logging about 100 errored seconds an hour to 2 on
average per hour.
The other reciever had Bit Error Rates jumping all around and basically very bad readings
to a steady good reading. So I have seen an improvement finally, I havn't watched the
channel though.
Not to bad I guess, I talked to them monday morning and let them know, If I let something
like that go for 4 days I would be fired.........go figure......LOL.

CHDinCT

12-23-05, 06:49 PM

Looks pretty good of late to me, though haven't watched too much on WTIC. I did just check it now and it's very steady.

Update: Can get hardly a whiff of WTIC now. What the #@! They've got to be having some problem on their end. Ranges from rock solid to non-existent. Hurry up and get the permanent antenna up WTIC.

Cable70

12-23-05, 07:14 PM

Update: Can get hardly a whiff of WTIC now. What the #@! They've got to be having some problem on their end. Ranges from rock solid to non-existent. Hurry up and get the permanent antenna up WTIC.

I am getting it here in montville fine right now using an Antennas Direct DB8
and thier preamp.
It has been fine on the cable system also if it helps !
Anything change with your settup?

smeck

12-23-05, 07:19 PM

I talked to the Chief Engineer yesterday said he was going to refer it to his Transmission people we'll see if it improves.

Cable70

12-23-05, 07:33 PM

I talked to the Chief Engineer yesterday said he was going to refer it to his Transmission people we'll see if it improves.

Yea same for me on monday.

CHDinCT

12-23-05, 07:44 PM

Anything change with your settup?

No, haven't touched a thing since finishing my antenna install in August. I did have occasional signal issues with WTIC before the leaves dropped, but none since, except when everyone else has.

I was thinking of watching Ice Age on WTIC tonight, so I checked to see how it was coming in and I get the dreaded black screen with "searching for signal" message. Then a blip every once in a while.

Cable70

12-23-05, 08:00 PM

No, haven't touched a thing since finishing my antenna install in August. I did have occasional signal issues with WTIC before the leaves dropped, but none since, except when everyone else has.

I was thinking of watching Ice Age on WTIC tonight, so I checked to see how it was coming in and I get the dreaded black screen with "searching for signal" message. Then a blip every once in a while.

Did you maby get some water in a connector or your preamp if it is outside?
Wind move the anntena ?
Wire get pinched or frayed ?
I have seen a little dropout since a posted last, but it is there !

CHDinCT

12-24-05, 03:36 PM

Did you maby get some water in a connector or your preamp if it is outside?
Wind move the anntena ?
Wire get pinched or frayed ?
I have seen a little dropout since a posted last, but it is there !

Doubt it. Things are virtually rock steady today. Signal holding about 70%. Late yesterday, I did a signal check and it was zero. I'm pretty sure there was a power reduction of some sort late yesterday. That's the only way I could see you getting the signal and me not. I would say I'm almost in a fringe location for getting WTIC when it's good, so any drop in power and I'm SOL. Using a Channel Master 4228 with the CM 7777 pre amp.

stumacdo

12-27-05, 01:24 PM

Doubt it. Things are virtually rock steady today. Signal holding about 70%. Late yesterday, I did a signal check and it was zero. I'm pretty sure there was a power reduction of some sort late yesterday. That's the only way I could see you getting the signal and me not. I would say I'm almost in a fringe location for getting WTIC when it's good, so any drop in power and I'm SOL. Using a Channel Master 4228 with the CM 7777 pre amp.

Chris,

I'm with you. My signal for WTIC for the weekend's NFL games was a record-high 75% for me. I'm just hoping they get this straightened up before all their prime-time shows return in January.

aldujaparov

12-30-05, 02:45 PM

this forum & hdsportsguide.com say it should be...anyone have a # for their engineering dept?

raoul5788

12-30-05, 02:52 PM

this forum & hdsportsguide.com say it should be...anyone have a # for their engineering dept?

I just checked, it's in HD ota.

aldujaparov

12-30-05, 02:56 PM

yeah, I just checked and it's on now (wmass comcast)...never mind (tries best gilda radner imitation)

raoul5788

12-30-05, 03:20 PM

yeah, I just checked and it's on now (wmass comcast)...never mind (tries best gilda radner imitation) :)

carlosolaechea

01-01-06, 03:39 PM

January is here an I still can not see Fox 61 an channel 8,in HD. I wonder if Adelphia from Norwich have enough bandwith to carrie more stations in HD.

PaulieORF

01-01-06, 08:19 PM

January is here an I still can not see Fox 61 an channel 8,in HD. I wonder if Adelphia from Norwich have enough bandwith to carrie more stations in HD.
Here is a copy and paste of my response to this same question posted by someone on the Adelphia system in Norwich in another thread....
There is a good chance that Adelphia will have new re-transmission agreements for all of the networks (even WB and UPN) come the beginning of the new year, as I believe their current agreements expire on Dec 31. These new agreements will all likely contain carriage of the HD channel as well. So, the agreements will likely be in place in literally weeks, however how long it takes for you to actually see the channels depends on if the head-end has the equipment in-hand or has to order it.
Then, I talked to the Adelphia Regional Director of Marketing, and here was my update to the response...
I heard back from my guy. He said that they are working on it, but unfortunately it looks like you will have to wait for the new re-trans agreements with LIN Broadcasting for WTNH, and Tribune for WTIC. But hopefully this will likely occur in the not too distant future.
And just so you know, it is not a bandwidth issue.

carlosolaechea

01-01-06, 11:15 PM

Here is a copy and paste of my response to this same question posted by someone on the Adelphia system in Norwich in another thread....

Then, I talked to the Adelphia Regional Director of Marketing, and here was my update to the response...

And just so you know, it is not a bandwidth issue.
Thank you very much for the info .

PaulieORF

01-01-06, 11:16 PM

Thank you very much for the info .

No problem. If I get a timetable for the new locals to go up, I'll post that info here.

varian

01-07-06, 07:46 PM

Hi,
I live in Willimantic Connecticut. I live in an apartment. I can't put up a outdoor Anntenna on the roof. I live about 43 or 50 miles from the tv stations? I am looking for a good terk Anntenna to get the channels from 43 or 50 miles. Does anyone else live in an apartment and can't put up a outdoor Anntenna on ther roof? If so what kind of Anntenna and how many channels can you pick up? Does this Anntenna work good? Does anybody have one? If so how many miles can you pick up and how many channels? This is what Anntennaweb said

Miles from

blue - uhf WHPX 26 i NEW LONDON CT 192° 20.1 26
blue - uhf WVIT 30 NBC NEW BRITAIN CT 284° 31.9 30
blue - uhf WPXQ 69 i PROVIDENCE RI 138° 26.7 69
blue - uhf WTIC 61 FOX HARTFORD CT 284° 31.9 61
violet - vhf WTNH 8 ABC NEW HAVEN CT 257° 43.0 8
violet - uhf WTXX 20 WB WATERBURY CT 267° 43.7 20
violet - uhf WSBE 36 PBS PROVIDENCE RI 94° 38.6 36
violet - vhf WLNE 6 ABC NEW BEDFORD MA 112° 53.4 6
violet - uhf WWLP 22 NBC SPRINGFIELD MA 330° 36.2 22
violet - vhf WPRI 12 CBS PROVIDENCE RI 91° 49.3 12
violet - uhf WNAC 64 FOX PROVIDENCE RI 91° 48.5 64
violet - uhf WGGB 40 ABC SPRINGFIELD MA 343° 43.1 40
violet - uhf WUVN 18 UNI HARTFORD CT 293° 30.6 18
violet - uhf WEDH 24 PBS HARTFORD CT 293° 30.9 24
violet - uhf WEDN 53 PBS NORWICH CT 184° 13.2 53
* violet - uhf WEDN-DT 53.1 PBS NORWICH CT 184° 13.2 45
violet - vhf WJAR 10 NBC PROVIDENCE RI 91° 48.8 10
violet - vhf WFSB 3 CBS HARTFORD CT 293° 30.9 3
violet - uhf WCTX 59 UPN NEW HAVEN CT 257° 43.0 59
violet - uhf WUTH-CA 47 TFA HARTFORD CT 284° 13.5 47

take a look and email me back . Thanks for any info. anyone can give me.
Varian

jake14mw

01-08-06, 11:21 AM

Since you are so far from the towers, the chances are that a Terk antenna would not work for you at all. They are generally regarded as way overpriced for their performance. Getting signals with an indoor antenna there is going to be very hard to do. There is a $49 Radio Shack indoor amplified antenna that you might try, given that they have a good return policy.

CraigD

01-08-06, 01:14 PM

I live in Western Mass. and I cannot receive FOX 61 OTA HD 61.1. Earlier posts seem to talk about cable agreements...is anyone getting 61.1 OTA?

Thanks for the help.

ckramer

01-08-06, 05:38 PM

I live in Western Mass. and I cannot receive FOX 61 OTA HD 61.1. Earlier posts seem to talk about cable agreements...is anyone getting 61.1 OTA?

Thanks for the help.

I did, but I had to go to 31.1 instead. PSIP problems again I guess??

caeguy

01-08-06, 07:45 PM

No problems for me with 61.1 today :)

cbagger01

01-09-06, 02:08 AM

WTIC-DT 61.1 appears fine for me if I tune it in at location 31.3

CraigD

01-09-06, 06:08 AM

Thanks for the replies...I still cannot pull in 61.1 or 31.1 in western Mass. I was able to before this weekend and I do get the anolog ch 61.

jake14mw

01-09-06, 03:53 PM

My OTA reception was much more reliable than usual this weekend. Great news for a steelers fan expecting to have to watch WFSB in SD!

schmitter

01-10-06, 08:37 AM

CraigD

01-10-06, 11:40 AM

I couldn't get Fox last night OTA no matter what I did. Maybe I will have to rotate the antenna. With the antenna optimized for WTNH I used to get WTIC no problem, but lately it has been sporadic at best and by that I either get it or I don't, not dropouts. I still get 3, 20, 22, 30 and 59 without having to move my antenna. Something definitely changed with WTIC.

Glad to here someone else is having problems as well...I need to rotate my CM 4228 antenna here in western Mass. to get 3.1, 30.1, and 61.1 from the south and 22.1, 40.1, and 57.1 from the north and west. Last night I did a full re-scan using my two Sony HD200's and re-tweaked my pre assigned antenna positions. Now I get all the channels at a stronger signal than ever...almost maxed out on the meter...all except WTIC 61.1...no signal scrolls across the face of my Sony.

Does anyone have a telephone number for WTIC that would put me in contact with the person in charge of the OTA HD? Would love to asked a few questions. Thanks again.

schmitter

01-10-06, 01:11 PM

What Set top are you using? I am using a Zenith HDV420 set top.

CraigD

01-10-06, 02:53 PM

What Set top are you using? I am using a Zenith HDV420 set top.

Sony SAT-HD200...just for OTA HD. I do not subscribe to DirecTV anymore but still have the dish hooked up and still receive the program guide for free.

ckramer

01-10-06, 07:14 PM

Glad to here someone else is having problems as well...I need to rotate my CM 4228 antenna here in western Mass. to get 3.1, 30.1, and 61.1 from the south and 22.1, 40.1, and 57.1 from the north and west. Last night I did a full re-scan using my two Sony HD200's and re-tweaked my pre assigned antenna positions. Now I get all the channels at a stronger signal than ever...almost maxed out on the meter...all except WTIC 61.1...no signal scrolls across the face of my Sony.

Does anyone have a telephone number for WTIC that would put me in contact with the person in charge of the OTA HD? Would love to asked a few questions. Thanks again.

CraigD,

I communicated earlier (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6708003&&#post6708003) with a gentleman at WTIC named John Mason (jmason@fox61.com). Why don't you give it a shot too??

Maybe you'll get better results than I did.....

pcp33

01-11-06, 08:52 AM

CAn someone point me in the right direction.I would like to get my TV calibrated here in shelton.I can't find anyone here in CT that will do it for a reasonable price.Thanks

CHDinCT

01-11-06, 01:54 PM

Well, like some others on this forum, I couldn't get a reliable lock on WTIC-DT last night (Tuesday). Seemed fine on Monday night. It shows up on 61-1 when it's strong enough on my Samsung TS-160, so no issues with remapping; just signal strength. WTIC is very variable for some reason.

Question if anyone here has tried getting OTA reception with the new D* HD20 box? While it seems to have some speed and interface issues per the HD hardware forum, everyone is raving about the improved OTA tuner. Many people are picking up channels they could not get before. Any reports for CT-Western Mass? I may try one when the leaves come in in the Spring if WTIC is not stronger by then and D* doesn't have the HD locals off the new birds.

stumacdo

01-11-06, 02:37 PM

This WTIC thing has really got me flumoxed. Usually, I'm the one crabbing the most about having problems with their signal, but I have to let you know that OTA I picked it up great last night (here in Wallingford) and was able to watch House in HD with absolutely no break-ups throughout the entire show. Go figure !!!

Someone else asked about calibration. I don't know anybody specifically located in CT, but I know that on one of the other forums, there's a highly recommended guy named Gregg Loewen. He's based out of Maine but regularly does scheduled road-trips to the various states in the NorthEast. I've been kicking around having a calibration done myself - just having been able to swallow the price tag (although I'm sure it'll be worth it). His company's web site is : http://66.201.107.3/mgreggloewen.php

schmitter

01-11-06, 04:43 PM

CAn someone point me in the right direction.I would like to get my TV calibrated here in shelton.I can't find anyone here in CT that will do it for a reasonable price.Thanks

Depending on what you call reasonable price you could try http://www.attunedservices.com/

Or you could get the Ovation software DVD and get it pretty darn close by yourself.
http://video.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?ean=14381586725&userid=Af4MhbsCxQ&frm=0&itm=1

I think that there is a newer version out there that works with LCD and Plasma sets as well, but I am not 100% sure.

argrafix

01-12-06, 01:10 AM

CraigD

01-12-06, 08:38 AM

CraigD,

I communicated earlier (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6708003&&#post6708003) with a gentleman at WTIC named John Mason (jmason@fox61.com). Why don't you give it a shot too??

Maybe you'll get better results than I did.....

Thanks for the link and email address. I did not get a chance to email him, but 61.1 is now showing up on my set top box this morning (TH-12th). I knew it had to be on their end...don't know what the problem was but "24" starts on Sunday and the wife will kill me if it doesn't display in HD. I just got rid of Comcast HD service....

ckramer

01-12-06, 12:09 PM

That's the problem. It's back right now, but what's the next big event (NFL playoffs, NASCAR, etc.) when it will occur again??

From my experience, WTIC is the only channel that's either hit or miss...

madpoet

01-12-06, 01:36 PM

I haven't lost it over the last few days, and I'm in Vernon. Not sure why. I use 2 HD Tivos and an internal OTA tuner and all have been fine.

RTracey

01-12-06, 02:41 PM

CAn someone point me in the right direction.I would like to get my TV calibrated here in shelton.I can't find anyone here in CT that will do it for a reasonable price.Thanks

I see some other members have given you suggestions. I've also heard good things about Gregg Loewen - another option is Eliab Alveraz de la Campa at Avical (www.avical.com). Eliab has calibrated my RPTV a couple times over the last few years and done an excellent job.

Ross

pcp33

01-12-06, 06:55 PM

Thanks everyone for the recommendations.2 to 300 dollars doesn't seem to bad.I will try Greg first and see what he says.thanks

maapoo

01-12-06, 07:08 PM

Hi Schmitter,
I live in the Manchester area, and I have had the same problems you have. WTIC was at 85 to 95% signal before it disapeared about 4 or 5 days ago. Since then, I have been relocating my Antenna Direct DB4 with no results (attic install.) Anybody else in CT experiencing this? I got to have my Fox HD for the Daytona 500!

Hi argrafix,

There seems to be a problem with the PSIP info. I can tune in to the channel if I punch in the frequency (31) manually.

However, if I do an autoscan, the receiver recognizes the channel and remaps to 61-1. But if I flip through the channels using channel up/down, I only get a blank screen when I'm on 61-1.

Try entering the channel (31) manually and see if you get a signal.

Hope that helps.

Regards
MP

maapoo

01-12-06, 07:15 PM

schmitter

01-13-06, 09:34 AM

I had talked to one of the guys in the engineering dept at WTIC on Wednesday morning, and he did say that he would look at it. On Wednesday I unplugged my box and left it unplugged over night and when I got home last night and did a re-scan I was able to get WTIC. I don't think that unplugging the box did anything, I think the phone call worked. I just called the number on the web site and asked for engineering. The guy was genuinely concerned and willing to look into the problem. Now if we can only get the aspect fixed...

jake14mw

01-13-06, 09:36 AM

Can anyone point those of us that our confused about the frequency and channel remapping stuff to a SIMPLE explanation of it? I have no idea what PSIP is.

Brian Hakey

01-13-06, 09:38 AM

Gregg Loewen has done excellent work on my TV in the past, I highly recommend him.

madpoet

01-13-06, 09:41 AM

I would agree on that, though I haven't had much luck getting Gregg to respond to my emails lately :(. Hopefully he's just busy.

CraigD

01-13-06, 09:53 AM

Just wondering if anyone is using an internal HDTV tuner card or external HDTV USB box connected to a PC or Mac. If so, OTA or QAM or both and the real world results. I am thinking of trying the PVR function.

Thanks

madpoet

01-13-06, 10:36 AM

I've used both with several cable systems in CT and with OTA. fairly successfully. What are you looking for?

mnylen

01-13-06, 10:40 AM

Hey folks. I am a DirecTv subscriber and tried 3 different indoor antennas with the same result - basically only got channel 33. I decided to jump on the HD wagon since I got a good deal from Directv but I am starting to get cold feet. I am thinking of gettting a Channelmaster 777 if DirecTv OTA does not work properly. Does anyone in the Marlborough area have Directv with its OTA working properly. I have one week to call everything off and still not commit to Directv.

madpoet

01-13-06, 10:42 AM

You're likely going to have to get an outoor antenna.

mnylen

01-13-06, 10:48 AM

The DIrectv installer is going to connect one (whatever Directv installs on the dish)...

CraigD

01-13-06, 11:14 AM

I've used both with several cable systems in CT and with OTA. fairly successfully. What are you looking for?

I have been "researching" many cards but I am looking hard at the FusionHDTV 5 USB Gold which seems to work officially with Windows (I have a Dell w/MCE 2005) or unofficially with a Mac (I have a PowerMac G5[2003]w/10.4.4). Any help generic or otherwise is much appreciated!

madpoet

01-13-06, 11:41 AM

CraigD

01-13-06, 12:03 PM

I've used the Fusion II and III, as well as the MyHD120 and 130. I prefer the MyHD line but if you want it integrated with MCE then yes, the Fusion is a decent choice. I haven't been super happy with their software support but when you get it working and leave it alone it works pretty well. Problem is that, unless something has changed, MCE doesn't support QAM scheduling and recording. So you will be doing a lot of that manually if you want QAM.

I have Comcast in Western Mass. and I am not even sure if QAM is an option now or in the future, but I would like to buy hardware that suports it I guess. I currently receive OTA HD with a couple of Sony SAT-HD200 receivers with no DirecTV service used with a CM4228 antenna on a rotator. I can pull in 3.1, 22.1, 30.1, 40.1, 57.1, and 61.1(recent trouble).

Thanks for the info.