Anyone getting WFSB-DT in 5.1?

Originally posted by AV777
I live in the "shadow" of Meriden mountain in the "foothils" I can get Long Island stations (don't remeber the channels) (analog), 26 from New London (analog...but who cares) 8 DT (and HD) 59 DT (no HD yet) and nothing that comes from the Northwest because of that damn mountain...no even a scintilla of signal from 30 (analog), 24 (analog), 20 (analog or digital), 3 (analog or digital) and they won't grant a waver because I'm in their primary coverage area....grrrr! Nothing I can do...any help out there? BTW antenna is a Ch Mstr 4228 w/ rotor DTC-100 rcvr. no preamp because the FM stations on top of Meriden mountain "blow its brains" with signal and any amp get significantly overloaded!

Have you tried a FM trap? I just did a google search and this is the first one that came up.

FM trap (http://www.skyvision.com/store/mi3000048.html)

Originally posted by bfogelstrom
Anyone getting WFSB-DT in 5.1?

No 5.1 here @ 4:30, not OTA or Cable. I cannot tell the difference between the OTA and Cable picture or audio. DiscoveryHD and INHD2 are in 5.1 now though.

DiscoveryHD on cable? Which cable company do you get HD from, cuz I don't think Comcast has it in my area yet (Hartford/New Britain).

Have not tried an FM trap yet. Do you know the insertion loss? I assume this trap goes before the amplifier at the antenna end. I will have to wait until the snow gets off the roof before I can try this. Its kind of like a ski slope (expert level...black diamond) up there right now. As far as I'm concerned the first provider (either Cox or Direct TV) that can get me locals and the satellites in Hi-Def packaged one service gets my biz! No one can yet!

So, for those of you who watched or tried to watch the Super Bowl via WFSB OTA HDTV signal, how was it? Was the PQ good, not to much macro blocking, audio drops, etc? Was it in DD5.1? As a D* subscriber, I have not invested in a full outdoor antenna setup yet. Just wondering if WFSB is up to full speed yet before I make a decision to set up a full size antenna, rotor and pre-amp, ...... or switch back to Comcast. Feedback appreciated. Thanks,

Chris

We watched the entire Super Bowl here in Cheshire OTA on WFSB. PQ was great. Only a couple of dropouts during the entire 4 hours ... nothing to complain about. I don't know if WFSB increased their power (or just the conditions) but I have been receiving a solid signal from them the last 3-4 days.

The sound was 2.0, not 5.1. Audio sync was fine, much better than the 5.1 on ABC last year. Overall a great HDTV experience.

Allen

Simsbury (Hartford?) Comcast needs to get their pricing info figured out. I just got my latest bill and they're charging me a lot more than they claimed they would. It will be interesting to see how this conversation goes. I'm not sure if I posted my woes in this thread or a different one, but for some background I originally had basic "lifeline" cable (about $11/month including taxes). I called to get HDTV thinking that I should be able to get the HDTV locals for about $7 more a month. Was told repeatedly that I needed a digital package in order to get HDTV.

After much discussion, I was eventually offered a package for $29.83/month (including taxes) that would have (AFAIK) consisted of basic lifeline cable, HDTV, and the digital plus package. This would not have included the extended basic channels. I agreed to that.

When the installers came out they told me that I'd be missing out on several good channels including ESPN (which meant no ESPN-HD). They claimed that for about $42 plus tax I could get those extra channels. Because they claimed that it would cost me an installation fee for them to come back to add them but would cost nothing to drop the extra channels, I don't really watch much ESPN but I figured it would be nice to have the Hi-Def version for a month, so I said "why not", I'll try it out and probably downgrade after a month.

Well, I got the bill today and as best as I can figure it (it's of course confusing), the final bill is as follows:
$ 9.62 (Basic)
$ 0.38 (Community Access Fee)
$32.65 (Expanded Basic)
=====
$42.65
$ 9.45 (Digital Plus)
$ 7.25 (HDTV box/remote)
=====
$59.35
$ 9.38 (taxes, etc.)
=====
$68.73

So, instead of $42 plus tax, it looks like it's $59 plus tax. Based on the cost rundown, it seems like the $42 the installer quoted me lines up with what basic plus expanded basic would have cost, not taking into account the digital plus and HDTV box rental. It also looks like the initial rep I spoke with who quoted me the $29.83 was accurately giving me a true cost (for Basic cable, Digital Plus, and the HDTV box rental), though if I'm to believe many people here, she was still incorrect in insisting that I needed Digital Plus in order to get HDTV.

There are a few (literally, probably three or four) channels I'd really like from Expanded Basic and we like to listen to the Jazz music channel while we eat dinner, but am I alone in thinking that the prices for these packages is insane (the Expanded Basic in particular)? If I can get Basic cable plus the local HDTV channels for about $17 plus tax, those other channels hardly seem worth $51 extra.

Sorry for the rant.

Finally, one question I have for the group here...AFAIK, the Motorola 6208 (or 6408) hasn't been rolled out in CT yet, but when it is I should be able to get that without needing a digital package, right? Based on comments I've seen from people in other parts of the country, it sounds like there's a $10/month charge for this box. Anyone know if that is on top of the regular $7.25 HDTV box rental fee or if that takes the place of that fee (with the net result being that you're just paying about $3/month for DVR "service").

Scott

Unrelated to my rant, I just wanted to compare notes with other Comcast subscribers:

1) The Superbowl was not in 5.1.

2) The Superbowl was mostly Hi-Def but there were several camera angles used that were obviously upscaled standard-def. These views filled my 16:9 screen which leads me to believe that they were, in fact, chopping off the top/bottom of the 4:3 image and zooming it to fill the 16:9 screen. If true, I would have instead preferred that they centered the 4:3 image (in its entirety) in the center of my 16:9 screen with either black bars on the left/right or that goofy mulitshaded blue background that they used for filler in other segments. Thoughts from others?

3) Are any channels/shows on Comcast HDTV being broadcast in 5.1? I've only had my box for about a week and I haven't watched much HDTV content since it requires using my projector and pull-down screen and for my standard def TV, I watch most everything timeshifted using my TiVo.

Scott

I live in Meriden and am a customer of COX. I havent posted much in this room as I am new to the whole HD thing. As a subscriber to COX I recently had my hd set top box installed and received Discovery HD, ESPNHD, 2 INHD channels and HBOHD. No local channels available yet, however COX was nice enough to work something out with WFSB 3 so that we had the Super Bowl in HD. Simply awesome. Hopefully an agreement can be reached so that its up and running with all the local channels all the time. My question is...... Is the HD reception from OTA different (better or worse) than the cable feed of HD programming? I have my set top connected to my surround sound receiver with the fiber optical and WOW was the sound awesome! Sorry I cant get too technical with what box I have. Thanks.

I received WFSB-DT via Charter as they entered into a temporary agreement to carry the channel for the Super Bowl (the channel is gone this morning). PQ was very good with very few dropouts, but for some reason, the feed was switched to SD for the haltime show. It then switched back to HD at the start of the 3rd qtr. Reading other posts, halftime was in HD so I wonder why FSB made the switch.

Audio was unfortunately in 2.0 but there were no sync problems. I had hoped they would have 5.1 working by then but from what I understand, it should be up and running sometime this year! :eek:

I got my Superbowl HD through Comcast. I did have center and rear sounds, but I don't know what level of audio it actually was. And yes, for some reason, most of the halftime show was not in HD. It switched over to HD for me during Janet Jackson's performance. I did get the boob in HD. And my .02 on that is, I love a nice bare breast as much as the next guy, but halftime at the super bowl is not the place for it. Lucky for me only the guys were in the room. During that next commercial we did switch to the SD Tivo feed to get another look (or two) at it. Gotta love Tivo.

Originally posted by apaulct
We watched the entire Super Bowl here in Cheshire OTA on WFSB. PQ was great.

Originally posted by srauly
The Superbowl was mostly Hi-Def but there were several camera angles used that were obviously upscaled standard-def. These views filled my 16:9 screen which leads me to believe that they were, in fact, chopping off the top/bottom of the 4:3 image and zooming it to fill the 16:9 screen. If true, I would have instead preferred that they centered the 4:3 image (in its entirety) in the center of my 16:9 screen with either black bars on the left/right or that goofy mulitshaded blue background that they used for filler in other segments. Thoughts from others?

My thoughts?? IMHO, the PQ from CBS was piss-poor. :mad: It appeared to me that it was MOSTLY in SD, and there was only 2 or 3 HD cameras. The HD cameras looked just okay for HD, but the SD sucked. I don't really like 1080I for sports anyways.

What were those idiots at CBS thinking? If it wasn't our "Home Team" playing, I would have watched a DVD instead.

I sure wished that ABC had the rights. They would have done it RIGHT with ALL HD cameras. 5.1, and 720P.

I found the PQ not quite as good as CBS usualy is. Good but not great. The rest of the playoffs on CBS were better. Sound qualtiy was not as good either when comparied to regular season games that were on DirecTV's special NFL Sunday Ticket HD channels. The 5.1 in some of those games was great. Crowd noise all around..good clear center. You could hear the announcers of the stadium in the fronts and rears. Last nights was ok, but not great. I had to really crank the volume to get any kind of good sound.

RE: The picture quality: I also thought it was good but not great. The only direct comparisons I have are to the OTA MNF games from channel 8, one week of Sunday Ticket HD for a CBS game, and the AFC championship game. Things were just not as sharp. Especially the wide field shots. Another thing I noticed was that they really backed off on the use of the sky cam. Where was it? I thought that looked really good in the AFC championship game.

Originally posted by dorran
WVIT OTA Status

This is the latest just received (1/21/04) from WVIT's Chief Engineer.

"Sorry we didn't make the 1/15 date. We bound up by the cold weather. Mounting the antenna in these temperatures is out of the question. Can you imagine being up in the air 950 feet high held to the tower with a nylon harness and trying to turn some bolts while the 50 mpg wind at -40 degrees is blowing at you? Not for me, but meanwhile the transmitter is putting out full power into the dummy load on the ground making lots of heat!!!

Frustrating for us as much as it is for you!! If it was about 10 degrees warmer, we could start the antenna mounting portion, expected to take about 3-5 days. That's it and we're done. I would suspect by 2/1 hoping that we get some above freezing weather days.

Dave"

Dorran

Anybody heard anything from WVIT? It sure is a beautiful day for tower climbing today!

Originally posted by srauly

Well, I got the bill today and as best as I can figure it (it's of course confusing), the final bill is as follows:
$ 9.62 (Basic)
$ 0.38 (Community Access Fee)
$32.65 (Expanded Basic)
=====
$42.65
$ 9.45 (Digital Plus)
$ 7.25 (HDTV box/remote)
=====
$59.35
$ 9.38 (taxes, etc.)
=====
$68.73

So, instead of $42 plus tax, it looks like it's $59 plus tax. ...
Scott

Well, Scott. I think the installer was right. For about $42 you got basic + expanded basic to get the channels he said you won't get. Than add the digital & HD stuff you wanted and it adds up to what you got billed for.

I guess it all depends on what you're willing to pay for...

Originally posted by Andy238
Well, Scott. I think the installer was right. For about $42 you got basic + expanded basic to get the channels he said you won't get. Than add the digital & HD stuff you wanted and it adds up to what you got billed for.

I guess it all depends on what you're willing to pay for... Just to clarify, I asked him to verify that the $42 rate he was quoting me was the total amount that I'd be charged (not including taxes). So, he definitely wasn't right, though I agree that it looks like he was quoting the cost of Basic plus Expanded Basic.

Scott

After watching channel 3 in analog on Charter cable for so long with lousy picture I have no complaints about the HD signal we got. I watched The District Saturday night even though I never saw the show before to see how the quality was and was blown away. After watching HBO and Showtime the last few months I think the picture was much better than them and only a step below DiscoveryHD. Now if Charter doesnt get us the networks by the summer I am going back to Dishnetwork and putting up an antenna. DD5.1 would of been nice but at least they straightened out the audio sync before the game. Too bad they turned it off already, would of like to watch CSI Miami tonite before they shut it off.

I'm with you. I've had Charter HD service since November 2002. Since then they've added Showtime HD, and if CBSHD is gone tonight I won't be pleased. I'll also give them until the summer to get the locals up or I am switching to dish. I already have an application in for the waiver.

I am a Cox customer and I also have an OTA reciever. Out of curiosity I swiched back and forth between OTA and Cable during the superbowl. I was unable to see or hear a difference in the sound or picture between the two sources. I just hope that Cox can get all of the networks on before next season, as I can only sporatically get WTNH from here. I kind of irks me that I can get WGGB from Springfield without much problem, but they don't broadcast in HD.

So, for those of you who watched or tried to watch the Super Bowl via WFSB OTA HDTV signal, how was it?

Everything looked fine here in Farmington on OTA. PQ was great with no audio dropouts or pixellization. I'm one of the lucky ones who gets WFSB-DT solidly. I was pretty bummed out that the DD 5.1 never made it. Especially after hearing a few blips on Friday night.

My big complaint is the need for fireworks in indoor stadiums. A potentially spotless HD picture was spoiled by a haze until the late second quarter.

Agree on the fireworks, waste of money & viewing quality.

Heard from Engineer at WFSB, they were having an audio sync problem on Friday with DD5.1, so they didn't turn it on for the game, too bad. They are continuing to work on it this week - hoping we get it for the grammy's.

"My big complaint is the need for fireworks in indoor stadiums. A potentially spotless HD picture was spoiled by a haze until the late second quarter."
_____________________________

If you thought it looked bad on HDTV, you should have seen it in SD. I turned away from the game during halftime only to come back in the 3rd Quarter to what looked like fog in the stadium. Only found out much later what all I missed (i.e., costume malfunction) Also, thanks for the feedback on OTA PQ. Still not clear to me from other posters whether WFSB was at full power. Hopefully, by Spring they are and I can get the signal with a full outside antenna setup.

Chris

No way they were at full power. I could not get a picture. The signal strength was in th 20's. I would not count on WFSb going to full power any time soon.

I just got my comcast cable HDTV box installed (DCT-5100) but I have a question on some programming. (I live in New Britain, hartford area) Mainly, I thought we were supposed to get INHD1 and 2? Tonight, I saw NESN from 6:00 - 12:00 and possibly beyond on the INHD1 feed even when the programmin guide said ring of fire was supposed to be on after 10:30. Is this normal? I'm all for NESN on the network, I loved the hockey game in HD, surreal, but they just switched to ESPNews and streatched it horribly. Also, was WTNH and ESPNHD working last night, my reciever had a blank screen that said ONE MOMENT PLEASE, This channel will be available shortly. It's had that message up all night. Is WTNH supposed to be active, along with ESPN-HD, and also INHD2?

(BTW, all other stations looked SUPERB in HD, PBS surprised me with a lot of stunning visuals)

We used to have INHD2, which covered all the NESN programming, but for some reason, when WFSB was turned on, INHD2 disappeared. So now, you will see the games on INHD1, regardless of the supposed feed. I also noticed ESPN being broadcast on there which I thought was odd. The comment on ESPN being stretched, that is how they broadcast most of their non HD material. They stretch it to fill the screen. Let me assure you that's when it's HD material, it looks superb. You should definitely be getting WTNH, and ESPN-HD. IF not, then it could be your cable run, either too long, or maybe too many splits. (I had a similar experience when trying to split the cable signal) You can also try resetting the box, by unplugging it, and letting it reset itself, or call comcast and they can reset it for you over the phone.

I also noticed that Comcast now has StarzHD and CinemaxHD. Now if we can just get FOX in whatever Enhanced format they are showing, it rounds out a good selection of HD material. Enjoy....

Hey guys. Quick update on WTIC, for those who don't know. Right now, they're "targeted date" to go live is March 31. So, if WTIC and WVIT are both accurate in their dates, we should be receiving two new local DTV stations in a 24 hour span between 3/31 and 4/1. But really, what are the chances that either of them will even make these dates? Maybe they will be in competition to beat the other. Oh well. Later guys.

I just got some bad news :mad: . I had gotten a few recommendations on here for installers and finally found a company that does it in Connecticut, American Satellite in Middletown. I called them a few weeks ago and they said they charge $750 but they give you a 12 foot channel master antenna and pre amp and automatic router and all this stuff so it sounded like a nice setup but they didn't know if Old Saybrook would be able to get CBS HD. They said they where doing an install in Madison and to give them a call back in a few weeks. So I called last night and they where not able to pick up New York or Hartford from Madison and its only 10 miles west from me and just as far south from Hartford so I guess there is no way I will get CBS HD via OTA at the current time. He did say that WFSB is transmitting at 50k watts and will be switching to 1 million watts and then there is a lot better chance that it will work and they are supposed to be doing that within the next 60 days so to call back in a month and check.

-Joe

Has anyone heard any rumblings about the WB network being added to Comcast? My wife and I like a couple of their shows (Smallville and Reba come to mind).

Scott

Originally posted by PaulieORF
if WTIC and WVIT are both accurate in their dates, we should be receiving two new local DTV stations in a 24 hour span between 3/31 and 4/1.
Not likely...Channel 30 has been giving dates and missing them for over 2 years now. And Fox (61) is no better they are still pending FCC approval last time I saw any info on them. And channel 3's transmitting at low power is criminal. The FCC should grow some hair and fine these stations for non-compliance. Ok, I took my pills so I'm calming down. But as a somewhat earlier adopter of this OTA HD I'm very disappointed in these local channels. Channel 8 (10) in New Haven and the WB channel (20?) are the only ones that seem to take any pride in doing the right thing.
Jay

Just an FYI, the WB station was admonished last year & threatened with a fine because of lack of movement - you can find the admonishment letter on the FCC site. They went full power shortly after that.

Originally posted by JosephR
I had gotten a few recommendations on here for installers and finally found a company that does it in Connecticut, American Satellite in Middletown. -Joe

Thanks Joe, I have been trying to find an installer for southeastern CT, called many many places, and until now no luck.

Does anyone know of an installer in my area for a OTA antenna on a single family ranch. I just hate heights.

C

Originally posted by cperry
Does anyone know of an installer in my area for a OTA antenna on a single family ranch. I just hate heights.

C

I don't know where you are, but Eastern Video in Manchester did satellite installation. They also do OTA and do work all over New England.


Pete

Originally posted by jayco59
Not likely...Channel 30 has been giving dates and missing them for over 2 years now. And Fox (61) is no better they are still pending FCC approval last time I saw any info on them. And channel 3's transmitting at low power is criminal. The FCC should grow some hair and fine these stations for non-compliance. Ok, I took my pills so I'm calming down. But as a somewhat earlier adopter of this OTA HD I'm very disappointed in these local channels. Channel 8 (10) in New Haven and the WB channel (20?) are the only ones that seem to take any pride in doing the right thing.
Jay

Arnold Chase said that some of the stations had to get new channel designations because the original ones were too close to each other. Maybe we should contact Lieberman and Dodd to see if they can encourage the FCC to speed up their approval of the new channel numbers.


Pete

"He did say that WFSB is transmitting at 50k watts and will be switching to 1 million watts and then there is a lot better chance that it will work and they are supposed to be doing that within the next 60 days so to call back in a month and check."
__________________________________-

No one can gaurantee it, but you should be able to get WFSB DT when it goes full power, assuming you have the right antenna setup. You might want to see how well their analog signal comes in, thought that is broadcast OTA on 3 (UHF) and the DT signal will be on 33 (VHF) I believe. Now, I've been waiting and following this board for 8 months to see when WFSB goes full power (at which time I'll put up an antenna), and nada yet. My fear is that when all the cable company's have the signal via fiber, they won't bother to up the OTA signal to full power.

Chris

Some of you are spending too much time posting and not enough time experimenting...I get WFSB from Madison, usually over 50% on my Samsung TS-160 with a $29 Radio shack VHF/UHF boom just sitting in the rafters in my attic....I also get WTNH and WWLP...so I have all three majors in HD....only downside now is no DD5.1 yet for WFSB. I am actually worried about increased ghosting when WFSB goes full power.

In Old Saybrook, you should have no trouble with WFSB when they go full power with a decent attic antenna, assuming your house is not in a hole...I'd try that before I spend $750 with anyone.

Originally posted by trdr_vix
In Old Saybrook, you should have no trouble with WFSB when they go full power with a decent attic antenna, assuming your house is not in a hole...I'd try that before I spend $750 with anyone.

We don't have an attic, its a 2 story house and the upstairs is fully finished with 3 bedrooms. I can't really run cabling or mount things outside, I'm not physically able due to my health and the rest of my family is a woman and two children so I have no choice but to hire an installer. It's kind of odd that they couldn't pull CBS HD in at all from Madison with that $750 setup of a 12 foot channel master with pre amp but you can with something in your attic.

-Joe

"I get WFSB from Madison, usually over 50% on my Samsung TS-160 with a $29 Radio shack VHF/UHF boom just sitting in the rafters in my attic.."
_____________________

Vix,

I don't know what to make of that statement. I'm in Southern Killingworth and have tried many times with my $12 rabbit ears to get WFSB with no luck . I don't even get the analog signal too good with it. I also have the Samsung TS-160 box. I get WTNH perfect. Contrasting your situation with what Joe was told by the installer who put up a full antenna setup in Madison, something doesn't add up. I've seen posts here by people less than 10 miles from the WFSB tower say they can't get it. What gives?

Chris

I don't know what to make of that statement. I'm in Southern Killingworth and have tried many times with my $12 rabbit ears to get WFSB with no luck . I don't even get the analog signal too good with it. I also have the Samsung TS-160 box. I get WTNH perfect. Contrasting your situation with what Joe was told by the installer who put up a full antenna setup in Madison, something doesn't add up. I've seen posts here by people less than 10 miles from the WFSB tower say they can't get it. What gives?

Right now I am getting at 8:30 prime time

WFSB (CBS) at 63%
WWLP (NBC) at 77%
WTNH (ABC) at 77%
WTXX (WB) at 77%
WCTX (UPN) at 20% (but no breakups)

With a RS VHF/UHF boom in the attic pointed at about 330 Deg. If I rotate it to about 60 deg. I loose most of the channels but can then pick up the PBS at Norwich. I am near the killingworth corner border with durham.

I think one of the problems may be by using the pre-amps..they are usually a cause of problems....I am running straight down a RG-6 coaxial about a 80 feet run into the basement and straight into the SAT box. There is a very significant problem with ghosting here in this part of Ct. unless you are on one of the very few hills. I would not use a preamp...get one of the booms and fiddle with it up in the attic...for Joseph, I don't know what to suggest, except maybe trying something temporary in the house just to see if you can pick up anything at all, with two stories, you should be able to rig something to see what you can get, giv eyou an idea, before you dump big money on something that may not work...think of buying a $30-40 RS boom and just tryi it out to see how it works...maybe you can even take it back afterwards.

Vix,
What is your elevation? Sounds pretty high considering your coverage area with a attic antenna.
Jim

I just found this over in the TiVo forum. Any thoughts?

-Joe

So here's what it takes to get waivers if you can't pull them in with an antenna: make the local station prove that you can get a grade B signal...
Call your local affiliate and demand a signal test. http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineer...00/nret0007.txt
Many stations will just give you the waiver as opposed to paying for a signal test.
Also, if you are asked if you have a working antenna connected to your TV, say yes...then you'll get to qualify through DTV's form why your signal is crap (mountains, woods, air force base, etc).
Good Luck!!

It's all about location. If you have no major obstructions within the first mile, you will have pretty good luck, if you have lots of trees/hills/mountains, you will struggle. trdr_vix is right, you just have to experiment, it took me 6 months to get the right combo to get WFSB reliably and I live 5 miles from the tower.

As for ghosting when full power, that won't happen, digital signals can't ghost. What they may do is step on other signals near their frequency.

Such,
Ghosting is the analog manifestation of multipath which will certainly kill a digital signal. A high gain antenna is usually the only cure for multipath.
Jim

Agree, ghosting is an analog phenomon only, that was my point. True what you are saying about multipath and digital signals, results will be pixelization or loss of picture on a digital signal.

Yes...I said ghosting, but I mean't multipath signal interference.

My elevation is 500 ft. MSL.

tv

Vix,
That is a decent elevation which is probably not the case for most others in SE Ct.
Jim

That is a decent elevation which is probably not the case for most others in SE Ct.

Yeah......I was always taught...no matter what, always live at the top of the hill.... my great great grandfather lived on one of the mountains surrounding Johnstown PA....otherwise I wouldn't be here.

JosephR,

You and I appear to be in a similar situation. I signed up for DirecTV a couple years ago when they activated dual tuners in their TiVo receivers and will upgrade to Hi-Def now that they are offering HD TiVos. We are also in the same town so our reception should be pretty similar.

What antenna is included in that $750 antenna install you mentioned earlier? I was assuming I'd need at least 2 antennas (1 pointed toward Hartford & 1 pointed toward New Haven) to be able to pick up all CT locals simultaneously. This is important because TiVo needs to be able to record any 2 local channels at a given moment.

Todd Healy

I told them the high fringe antenna that was recommended on here and they said it was a better one but still a channel master but a 12 foot one, I didn't get the model number. I really want to find a way to get it through the satellite instead of having a huge antenna like that installed on my roof. If I have to I will find someone on the net in an O&O area and buy them DirecTV for the lowest $40 plan just to activate my new HD DirecTiVo when it comes. I was hoping to find a cheaper way but that may be my only choice. I can't see putting out $750 if they aren't sure it will work. The new HD DirecTiVo will only have one OTA input so I think you can only hook one antenna to it, the OTA signal is split internally. It should work find with an antenna and rotor, all the people over on the TiVo forum where talking about it, you will have to make sure its pointed in the correct location before a show is due to record or it will just mess up. I doubt many people will have two even if it's possible.

-Joe

Originally posted by JosephR
I really want to find a way to get it through the satellite instead of having a huge antenna like that installed on my roof. If I have to I will find someone on the net in an O&O area and buy them DirecTV for the lowest $40 plan just to activate my new HD DirecTiVo when it comes. I was hoping to find a cheaper way but that may be my only choice.

All you need to do is "move". Find a real address in New York's DMA, which includes Fairfield County, Ct. Then call DirecTV and tell them you have moved to that address but you want to keep your Old Saybrook address as your billing address. This will get you all of local HD content offered now and probably any they offer in the foreseeable future.

I did that before DirecTV offered Ct locals and it worked perfectly with no additional cost.

Grrrrr...WTNH isn't showing the NHL All-star game in HD:mad:.

edit - It finally came on an hour late!

I live in Enfield. I am thinking of having an antenna installed before March Madness. Any recommendations for installers???

No 5.1 for the Grammys last night on WFSB.

Originally posted by JasonBourne
I live in Enfield. I am thinking of having an antenna installed before March Madness. Any recommendations for installers???

I used Eastern Video in Manchester.

WFSB.com as recently put up a forum on it's website, and one of the topics is: WFSB HDTV. Here is a perfect opportunity to let those Bozos know how you feel about how WFSB has treated it's HDTV viewers. Presumably, someone from the station reads the thing, and maybe our collective displeasure will be heard!

Can you provide the link to that forum as the only oen I found was "Poor HDTV Reception"

Thanks

That forum is the one...
http://users.boardnation.com/~wfsb/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=32

have a go at it!

I have to say that I'm just as disgusted with WVIT for continually pushing back there live date. What's more offensive is their fiber optic feed to Comcast. In my opinion, they are potentially driving business to Comcast as a result of this. Is this legal for them to do with OTA digital tv?

I went to the WFSB forum and posted on the HDTV topic. So far it is one of the most active subjects. Make sure we keep posting the issues tot hem!

You can be offended by WVIT if you like, but, in the absence of a real OTA signal, they at least made HDTV available to a large portion if the state when they were unable to offer one OTA. WFSB has continually denied those who are unable to get their OTA signal a waiver to get out of market HDTV CBS. It seems like WVIT made a good-faith effort to get the signal in as many hands as it could while they were tied up with local zoning: WFSB has put up a flashlight on a fishing pole and thumbed it's nose at Connecticut by claiming that they have a signal in the air, and it's your fault that you can't see it, and by-the-way, excuse us, we have to go feed the gerbil that powers the transmitter!

Originally posted by eorcman
I used Eastern Video in Manchester.

I called them twice asking if they installed outdoor antennas. They answered no.:confused:

Originally posted by cgorra
You can be offended by WVIT if you like, but, in the absence of a real OTA signal, they at least made HDTV available to a large portion if the state when they were unable to offer one OTA. WFSB has continually denied those who are unable to get their OTA signal a waiver to get out of market HDTV CBS. It seems like WVIT made a good-faith effort to get the signal in as many hands as it could while they were tied up with local zoning: WFSB has put up a flashlight on a fishing pole and thumbed it's nose at Connecticut by claiming that they have a signal in the air, and it's your fault that you can't see it, and by-the-way, excuse us, we have to go feed the gerbil that powers the transmitter!

Oh, the bitterness! It's just TV!! :)

While WVIT (NBC) and WTNH (ABC) have made HDTV available to cable and satellite subscribers in CT (WTNH is also available OTA), WFSB (CBS) continues to withhold HD to all but digital cable subscribers and those few who can get the signal OTA. This is the ugly side of no competition. It only makes it worse that they fail to respond to the many e-mails, phone calls, and message board entreaties from us, the huddled masses. Does anyone know to whom to write at the FCC? Perhaps WFSB will take their calls.

I don't believe that a little hyperbole to make a case is a bad thing...:p

This is a beautiful week weather wise....lets go WVIT, get up your d**n ladders and get this antenna fired up!!! You said by Feb 1st, but weather did not let that happen. The WVIT engineer was quoted as stating they only needed another week or so to finish....well, lets go!! You have your week right now!!! Maybe we can actually have 2 of the major networks out of the 4 by months end!!! You could claim to be the 2nd major to go OTA in connecticut!! Now wouldn't that be something nice to tell eveyone in the office!!!

Sorry for the sarcasm towards the end, but I think that is how everyone must be feeling at this point!! ; )

scottte

You can be offended by WVIT if you like, but, in the absence of a real OTA signal, they at least made HDTV available to a large portion if the state when they were unable to offer one OTA. WFSB has continually denied those who are unable to get their OTA signal a waiver to get out of market HDTV CBS.

I think everyone who cannot get WFSB-DT OTA should request a signal test, if that's what it takes to get the waiver from them, but the above quote is not an apples to apples comparison.

WVIT made the DTV signal available to Comcast subscribers. Those who don't get WVIT-DT probably still get the analog signal and all of WVIT's paid advertisers. WVIT doesn't lose a thing, unless you can get WWLP-DT from Springfield. (When I write WVIT about their HD progress, I always mention that I have been enjoying HD on WWLP.)

If Meredith grants waivers for WFSB, people no longer watch WFSB analog and WFSB's advertisers suffer. It's a huge issue of the almighty dollar and it sucks for us. In my eyes WVIT has been dragging their feet more than WTIC and WFSB. They are CT's only O&O station. They also have slowed the progress of DTV in CT because of their petitions against to the FCC on channel assignments.

I'm not convinced WVIT is in any hurry now that they're carried on Comcast. I think that they can shut a lot of people up who have access to their digital signal through Comcast. I guess that is worse for me than WFSB because for some reason i get WFSB fine with a small indoor Terk antenna. I've hesitatated getting anything for my attic because I don't want to end up with something that doesn't work when all stations are live.

I think everyone who cannot get WFSB-DT OTA should request a signal test
Arbee,

I agree - do have any idea how to go about requesting a signal test?

Originally posted by JasonBourne
I called them twice asking if they installed outdoor antennas. They answered no.:confused:

Jason, I don't know happened. I used them for my DirecTV dish and later called them about putting up my antenna. I told them I would buy the antenna but I needed them to put it up. They said no problem. I ended up doing it myself, but they were ready to do it. Sounds like they have changed direction.

I mentioned them because they did an excellent job with the DirecTV dish. They were not a DirecTV installer and I already had the equipment. They just came out and did a good job.


Sorry about the results.


Pete

The antenna for WTIC's HDTV signal arrived at Rattlesnake Mountain today. The feedline is already in place, the DTV transmitter is on its way (pre-wiring already done!), and they are estimating to be on the air in the next two weeks!!!

Originally posted by achase
The antenna for WTIC's HDTV signal arrived at Rattlesnake Mountain today. The feedline is already in place, the DTV transmitter is on its way (pre-wiring already done!), and they are estimating to be on the air in the next two weeks!!!

Arnold - what is the status of WVIT? Last we heard from their engineer a couple of weeks ago, the transmitter was operating into a dead load and they were just waiting better weather to install the temporary antenna.

You can read the frustration in this thread. Every time we get a date, the stations fail to meet it.


Pete

Originally posted by eorcman
Arnold - what is the status of WVIT? Last we heard from their engineer a couple of weeks ago, the transmitter was operating into a dead load and they were just waiting better weather to install the temporary antenna.

You can read the frustration in this thread. Every time we get a date, the stations fail to meet it.


Pete

Pete, I have no idea what is going on with WVIT. They are by themselves on their own tower, so I don't have access to what they're up to. As of about 10 days ago (when I was last at our Rattlesnake Mountain facility), there was still several reels of guy wires at their site yet to be installed.

The stations on our tower are WTIC analog, WTXX-DT, and coming: WTIC-DT, WEDH-DT, WEDH analog, and possibly, WTXX analog.

achase, Will wedh dt be up also in 2 weeks or are they a different story? What will wtxx do with their tower in waterbury? Does that mean they will be a hartfordstation now. Thanks for keeping us up to date on what is happening. Are you going to broadcast at full power and if so do you think I would be able to pick up signal in Bethlehem? Am getting tired of waiting for Charter to get networks and am thinking of going back to dishnetwork and an antenna.

http://ftp.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/News_Releases/2000/nret0007.txt

Here's a link to the FCC's website ain regards to the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHIVA). These are the passages I think apply the best.

"The SHVIA also authorizes satellite carriers to provide distant broadcast programming to eligible subscribers. A household is eligible to receive distant TV signals via satellite if it can not receive a signal of Grade B intensity using a conventional outdoor TV antenna."

"The SHVIA establishes procedures whereby broadcast stations can
grant waivers to satellite subscribers who are predicted to be able to receive local network station signals off-the-air, and therefore are ineligible to receive distant signals via satellite. The SHVIA also provides that if waivers are denied, consumers can request a signal test to determine the
actual signal strength received at their homes."

The procedure is to call the station state that you were denied a waiver for the DTV signal, and ask for signal test. Whether it works or not is another story.


Good news on WTIC-DT!

I thought we were told that WVIT had all the guy wires installed already.

In talking with a WFSB engineer I came away with the impression that part of the reason for their delay in going to full power is that they are employing the same tower crew as WVIT and won't be getting their new antenna installed until the WVIT tower work is completed.

Originally posted by AreBee
http://ftp.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/News_Releases/2000/nret0007.txt

Here's a link to the FCC's website ain regards to the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act (SHIVA). These are the passages I think apply the best.

"The SHVIA also authorizes satellite carriers to provide distant broadcast programming to eligible subscribers. A household is eligible to receive distant TV signals via satellite if it can not receive a signal of Grade B intensity using a conventional outdoor TV antenna."

"The SHVIA establishes procedures whereby broadcast stations can
grant waivers to satellite subscribers who are predicted to be able to receive local network station signals off-the-air, and therefore are ineligible to receive distant signals via satellite. The SHVIA also provides that if waivers are denied, consumers can request a signal test to determine the
actual signal strength received at their homes."

The procedure is to call the station state that you were denied a waiver for the DTV signal, and ask for signal test. Whether it works or not is another story.


Good news on WTIC-DT!

I thought we were told that WVIT had all the guy wires installed already.


Can't WFSB refuse the waiver and say they are not going to do a signal test because they are not operating at full power and will be at some later date?

Pete

I'm not sure if this link has been posted here before, but I came across this interesting page that shows several photos of WFSB's transmitter site. It may be of academic curiosity here... note the small low-power digital transmitter and the side-mounted temporary antenna.

http://necrat.tripod.com/wfsb_protv.html

Can't WFSB refuse the waiver and say they are not going to do a signal test because they are not operating at full power and will be at some later date?

I don't know if they could. I didn't see a provision about temporary situations. There always seems to be loophole. :mad:

Originally posted by pmalve
achase, Will wedh dt be up also in 2 weeks or are they a different story? What will wtxx do with their tower in waterbury? Does that mean they will be a hartfordstation now. Thanks for keeping us up to date on what is happening. Are you going to broadcast at full power and if so do you think I would be able to pick up signal in Bethlehem? Am getting tired of waiting for Charter to get networks and am thinking of going back to dishnetwork and an antenna.

WEDH is still awaiting FCC approval. The timetable on that is unknown. Until they grant the license, the antenna(s) can't be ordered. If WTXX (20) moves to Rattlesnake, they will still officially be a Waterbury station (just as WVIT is technically a New Britain station). What will happen to WTXX's tower is unknown. We are looking at it for telcom use, but Waterbury is not exactly a hotbed of rental activity.

When WTIC-DT starts up from the temporary location, it may not be at ultimate full power, but it will be at HIGH power. I'm not sure what the terrain is like between Rattlesnake and Bethlehem, so I can't predict the coverage. What is your WTIC analog signal like?

Good News:

Major parts of the WTIC-DT (31) tansmitter arrived today! The antenna installation is scheduled for NEXT WEEK!!!

Thanks for the info, Arnold...we all know that if you still owned the station, WTIC-TV would have been the first in CT with DTV!

Originally posted by cgorra
Thanks for the info, Arnold...we all know that if you still owned the station, WTIC-TV would have been the first in CT with DTV!

You can say THAT again! Boy, does it ever frost me to see how slowly these corporations move. I don't know if you remember, but when WTIC signed on it was already 100% in stereo, and also had the first statewide use of S.A.P.


BTW, I've been 'filming' in hi-def for the last four years....

Let's face it, Arnold, you just like toys, like the rest of us! :)

Assuming WTIC's timeline is accurate, then Connecticut's only O&O station (of the big 4) will be the last to broadcast DTV over the air, how pathetic!!

scottte

Assuming WTIC's timeline is accurate, then Connecticut's only O&O station (of the big 4) will be the last to broadcast DTV over the air, how pathetic!!

Yes, pathetic indeed! What's really pathetic is that PAX, UPN, WB and even Univision for God's sake, have a DTV station on line in the Hartford area. Even if the HD content isn't there, these stations are further along than WTIC-DT and WVIT-DT.

Thanks for the great news Arnold! One problem that most of us have been having is that currently we don't have much of a way to guage whether or not how well our current antennas will be able to pick up WVIT-DT, WTIC-DT, and WFSB-DT (when at full power). The other one of the big 4 is WTNH which is at full power VHF so many of us have no problem with that. Since the three I mentioned are fairly close together, could you comment on how accurate you think using WTIC-DT as a guide to how well we will be able to pick up the other two is?

I have been holding off on doing anything with antennas until I thought there was a decent station to use as a guide to what I need.

It'll be really ironic that if all this happens, WFSB will be the last station to broadcast at full power.

Originally posted by achase
Good News:

Major parts of the WTIC-DT (31) tansmitter arrived today! The antenna installation is scheduled for NEXT WEEK!!!

Hi, Arnold...

If WTIC is mounting the antenna before the candelabra is in place, will they be able to go full power, or will they have to use a reduced power due to tower placement (side mount) or proximity to the ground?

Originally posted by dda
Hi, Arnold...

If WTIC is mounting the antenna before the candelabra is in place, will they be able to go full power, or will they have to use a reduced power due to tower placement (side mount) or proximity to the ground?

Arnold already answered that (see below).

"When WTIC-DT starts up from the temporary location, it may not be at ultimate full power, but it will be at HIGH power."


Pete

Is WCTX at full power. It is at the same location as WTNH, but comes in with just over 1/2 the signal strength at my location.

Originally posted by db999md
I live in East Longmeadow, MA ... snip ... NYPD blue is in dolby digital 5.1 which is cool. I do not think it has been in dolby digital in the past.Are you sure it is dolby 5.1? I can look into this - but I believe the stream is Dolby Digital but only 2/0 (stereo, left + right).One more comment that may help people. I find that with the radio shack amp I need to turn the amplification strength down to about 1/2 to get all the channels in. More than that and the signal vanishes.Not uncommon. Cranking up the gain on a pre-amp could overload the receiver and/or increase the signal to noise ratio making it difficult or impossible for your receiver to maintain a lock on the digital signal.Here is a problem that I have. With WWLP, when they come back from commercials it looks like they turn off the dolby digital for a second which causes my JVC receiver to have to re-initialized dolby digital and lose about 4 seconds of audio. I can see the dolby digital light go off for a sec then on again. this occurs also on a zenith HDV420 terrestriail receiver as well.I'm a late comer to this thread; wish I had seen this back when you posted it! In any event - I recently noticed this myself. A few weeks ago some changes were made which should have eliminated this problem. Some ATSC receivers were having a problem when we switched from network to locally inserted advertisements and then back to network. But not all ATSC receivers exhibited the problem ...

Bob McCormick
WWLP TV22
Springfield MA

Originally posted by JVanderwalker
Is WFSB's signal directional? I get a 100 up here in WMass about 40 miles away. I don't understand your issue with low power. By DT standards 500 KW is alot of power.
Jim Terrain can play a greater role as you go higher in frequency. WFSB is on the east side of the north-south ridge ... as you may also be in Easthampton MA. You may have a clear shot to them (whereas the poster in Tolland CT may have some level of obstructions).
My understanding is WFSB-DT is still also running low power ... you can find information on the FCC's web site for WFSB (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=WFSB). On that page it indicates that the current WFSB-DT channel 33 transmissions is using an omni-directional antenna and 20 kW ERP. They're supposed to go to a megawatt with a directional antenna. This is their Relative Field Polar Plot (http://www.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/polarplot?temp=44846&rotate=0.00&p0=.776&p10=.760&p20=.776&p30=.820&p40=.880&p50=.940&p60=.984&p70=****&p80=.984&p90=.940&p100=.880&p110=.820&p120=.776&p130=.760&p140=.776&p150=.820&p160=.880&p170=.940&p180=.984&p190=****&p200=.984&p210=.940&p220=.880&p230=.820&p240=.776&p250=.760&p260=.776&p270=.820&p280=.880&p290=.940&p300=.984&p310=****&p320=.984&p330=.940&p340=.880&p350=.820)

Remember: the FCC's goal was to provide each broadcaster with a digital channel that would provide the same coverage area as their current analogue allocation. The difference with digital (ATSC) is that its either there or not - there's no fringe snowy type reception ...

Originally posted by cgorra
What you are seeing in Western Mass is WFSB's new Springfield service which is an attempt to capitalize on Springfield as an advertising market. WFSB purchased a defunct low-power religious channel in Springfield, and has converted it to a "Springfield" station. You can find it "OTA" in Springfield on channel 67 analog. It rebroadcasts most of WFSB's programs, but WFSB promises that there will be some exclusive Springfield programming. This is not totally accurate. Meredith Corporation bought channel 67 from Trinity Broadcasting. The station is a low power allocation for Springfield MA and is located on Mt. Tom, not in Agawam. The station has been on the air (not defunct) since circa 1994. Trinity's callsign was W67DF - and it was changed to WSHM-LP in October 2003 when Meredith purchased it. FCC information can be found here (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=WSHM-LP). Most cable operators in the Springfield market seem to have replaced their WFSB allocation with the WSHM-LP broadcasts.

Originally posted by raoul5788
WUTHCA has been added as channel 47 by my Sony HD-200.
There is no signal though. Anyone else have this happen? This is one of Entravision's CT stations. The -CA on the end of the callsign indicates a "class A" television service. (See FCC web site for more info.) Currently on channel 47 they have a construction permit to move to channel 28. The transmitter location is just north of Route 94 (Hebron Ave) in-between Hill St and Mountain Rd in Glastonbury CT. Their FCC information can be found here (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=WUTH-CA). They have a very directional antenna with one main lobe pointed at 295 degrees - which puts most of the signal out over the Hartford area. This station is the same owners as WUVN channel 18 in Hartford. Can't receive it from where I am (western Mass) but suspect it may be programmed similarly to WUVN, possibly in Spanish.

Originally posted by bfogelstrom
Arbee,

I agree - do have any idea how to go about requesting a signal test?

A signal test is requested through your satellite provider. They will ask the station for permission to test at your house. The station may then either issue a waiver without a test, or grant permission to do a test. The test is done by an independant third party agreeable to the station and satellite company. If the test passes, (the signal is strong) the subscriber is required to pay for it. If the test fails, (the signal is too weak) the TV station is required to pay the tester. The test is done on the analog channel. There is no legal requirement for a HD waiver at all. HD waivers are issued at the discretion of the local station.

Originally posted by Tower Guy
A signal test is requested through your satellite provider. They will ask the station for permission to test at your house. The station may then either issue a waiver without a test, or grant permission to do a test. The test is done by an independant third party agreeable to the station and satellite company. If the test passes, (the signal is strong) the subscriber is required to pay for it. If the test fails, (the signal is too weak) the TV station is required to pay the tester. The test is done on the analog channel. There is no legal requirement for a HD waiver at all. HD waivers are issued at the discretion of the local station.

How big of an antenna do they use to do the signal test? If it passes how much do you actually have to pay? I am 40 - 50 miles from WFSB on the Shore in Old Saybrook and have been told people can't get it with a huge antenna on there roof in Madison.

-Joe

Originally posted by JosephR
How big of an antenna do they use to do the signal test? If it passes how much do you actually have to pay? I am 40 - 50 miles from WFSB on the Shore in Old Saybrook and have been told people can't get it with a huge antenna on there roof in Madison.

-Joe

The antenna is not large. It will be placed at 20' if you live in a one story house, 30' for a two story. A very rough calculation of available TV signals at any location is at: http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx

To get CBS in HD in Old Saybrook I'd try a high gain UHF antenna with a preamp aimed at WCBS on channel 56. It's 92 miles away, but no terrain to block the signal. A Channel Master model 3023 UHF antenna with a AP-8703 preamp or 3018 VHF/UHF antenna and AP-2870 preamp is available at: http://www.starkelectronic.com/allant.htm

RPMcCormick,

Thank you for your posts.

Would you know if WWLP has high definition studio cameras for the newscasts that originate in their Chicopee studios?

Also, would there be any visible difference in the station's high-def picture quality if standard definition channel 22-1 and weather radar channel 22-2 were eliminated to devote full bandwith to high definition?

WWLP-DT consistently provides one of the best digital signals that I can receive via a small arc-shaped antenna that is clipped to the top of my satellite dish in East Windsor, CT.

Originally posted by WHNB
Would you know if WWLP has high definition studio cameras for the newscasts that originate in their Chicopee studios?No - currently no HD studio cameras, etc.Also, would there be any visible difference in the station's high-def picture quality if standard definition channel 22-1 and weather radar channel 22-2 were eliminated to devote full bandwith to high definition?Yes, indeed. The bandwidth of an ATSC transmission is around 19.39 mbps. The sum total of all channels encoded plus the tiny bit of overhead can't exceed that. Although many ATSC tuners won't tell you the numbers most ATSC PC cards will. The 22.2 weather channel is taking 1.5 mbps, 22.1 SD broadcasts around 4.5 mbps and the rest for the 22.3 HD transmissions. The station is looking at changing that configuration to improve on the quality of the HD broadcasts. Keep watching!WWLP-DT consistently provides one of the best digital signals that I can receive via a small arc-shaped antenna that is clipped to the top of my satellite dish in East Windsor, CT. Thank you for your feedback - will make sure it is shared internally. There is also another thread for the Springfield market here on the AVS forum that I'm also actively monitoring. We appreciate all feedback and comments!

Originally posted by Tower Guy
To get CBS in HD in Old Saybrook I'd try a high gain UHF antenna with a preamp aimed at WCBS on channel 56. It's 92 miles away, but no terrain to block the signal. A Channel Master model 3023 UHF antenna with a AP-8703 preamp or 3018 VHF/UHF antenna and AP-2870 preamp is available at: http://www.starkelectronic.com/allant.htm

Well the thing is I am not physically able to do it myself and don't know of anyone except American Satellite in Middletown that does it with a 12' Channel Master, Pre Amp, Router, all setup and installed for $750.00 but they said they just did one in Madison and could not get any CBS HD from anywhere, not Hartford, New York, or Rhode Island. That location was only 10 miles east of me on the water so I do not want to put $750 out for it on a gamble. I would really rather not deal with an antenna and fade and all the stuff that comes with it if I can somehow get a signal test to fail and get the waiver.

-Joe

Comcast in the hartford area will add WTICDT to its on channel 183 in the New Haven,Groton,Clinton and Middletown systems according to letter filed with state DPUC. In the Hartford,Vernon,Lakeville,Plainville and Branford systems it will be on channel 306. I wish Charter would get there act together. Wish I lived in a Comcast area.

Originally posted by cgorra
Let's face it, Arnold, you just like toys, like the rest of us! :)


Who...me???

Originally posted by jake14mw
Thanks for the great news Arnold! One problem that most of us have been having is that currently we don't have much of a way to guage whether or not how well our current antennas will be able to pick up WVIT-DT, WTIC-DT, and WFSB-DT (when at full power). The other one of the big 4 is WTNH which is at full power VHF so many of us have no problem with that. Since the three I mentioned are fairly close together, could you comment on how accurate you think using WTIC-DT as a guide to how well we will be able to pick up the other two is?


WVIT-DT will be transmitting from a height at least 200' lower than WTIC-DT when the candelabra is built. Initially, WVIT-DT will start off at it's permanent height and power while WTIC-DT will start off at a reduced height and ERP. Once WTIC-DT goes to their permanent antenna and location, ANYWHERE that WVIT-DT can be received WTIC-DT should be there as well. Actually, WTIC-DT should beat them on both height AND power levels when everything is finalized.

The Harris Channel 31 transmitter has been delivered to WTIC. The installation will start on Tuesday. The feedline is already in place, and the antenna will be installed within the next two weeks.

Arnold

While working on a listing to help the family obtain OTA transmissions via our antenna rotator, I decided to expand it to summarize for myself and perhaps other AVS members the status of reception in CT. The DRAFT, in Excel, is in the attached zip file.

If people would find a fully completed and double-checked chart such as this useful, let me know. With others help, I can improve it and then provide a final copy, to be revised from time to time. (I would also get it into a pdf format next time.)

I don't know if this helps, but here is what I get off air in Manchester. I have an antenna in the attic with 26db of amplifier gain.

WFSB 3.1 and 3.2
WTNH 8.2
WTXX 20.1
WWLP 22.1, 22.2, 22.3
WUVN 46.1
WGGB 40.1
WGBY 57.1, 57.2, 57.3 and 57.4 (unless showing HD, then 57.1 and maybe 57.2)

When the antenna points north I get just about everything except WTNH. When I tune to get WTNH I only get WTNH and WTXX. Come to think of it WTXX is my strongest station. I can get up to +17dbmv on that one, after the amps. My next strongest station is actually WFSB.

All in all not a bad list. I do notice that every once in a while, even with a strong "good" signal, the best my receiver gives, I will occasionally have an audio dropout or the video might tile a little bit. Mildly annoying, but not to bad.

Important Note --The following is a header on the printout of the Excel spreadsheet but may not appear when viewing the file: "By: afis (Based on the work and contributions of CT/NY/MA AVS Forum Members)." I just tried to bring together the info everyone has contributed so generously over many months.

Schmitter---
A couple of questions:
(1) WGBYDT is broadcasting regular PBS HD programming on 57.1. Are demo loops during the day?

(2) WGGB is 40 and WGGB-DT is 55.1?

(3) WWLP-DT has regular NBC HD on 22.3 or 22.1?

Unfortunately I have that pesky job thing keeping me from seeing what any of these channels broadcast during the day. But in non prime time, WGBY DT has the regular BGY feed on 57.1, PBS Kids on 57.2, a channel for slightly older kids on 57.3, and PBS YOU on 57.4. This is all SD programing, just mulitcasted. At night, prime time, they show whatever PBS HD program might be available on 57.1 and within the past week or so they have also been showing something else on 57.2. Since this has been happening, I have noticed more digital artifacts on the HD channel. Also no Dolby 5.1 here.

On WGGB, sorry, my error. CH40 is analog, and 55 is DT. My box shows only 55.2, and I have yet to see HD on this channel, but I haven't looked all that hard either. GGB must not have the header information configured correctly, or my box would remap 55.2 to 40.2 like every other channel.

WWLP shows the HD on 22.3, no Dolby 5.1.

The only active Dolby 5.1 I have seen is from WTNH, but would be really happy to see more.

It has been a week or two since I looked at WGBY, but what they had been doing was four SD broadcasts during the day, as others have noticed. The bit streams were all equally divided, e.g., each channel had the same bandwidth. Many ATSC tuners would not show any audio on their daytime 57.1 channel because it was non-AC3 audio (I think an older mpeg audio encoding was in use). Rumour has it they have the equipment coming in to upgrade 57.1's daytime audio.

At night WGBY was running just a single channel and dedicating the full stream to that. Most often contained some pretty good examples of what 1080i quality could look like (sic). When adding a second channel (57.2) at night they have to take away some of the bandwidth being allocated to 57.1 ... which may be the reason for some artifacts.

Interesting that you're able to get something from WGGB-DT ... as I have a HiPix computer (PCI) tuner card along with two other STB and can't get a lock on it. Got some other friends in the Springfield area who also can't receive it. What type of tuner are you using? (I suspect something is not setup right with WGGB-DT's psip information or what the PID's are saying they're encoding.)

Yes, WWLP-DT's HD is on 22.3 ... and only doing AC3 Dolby Digital 2/0 format (192 kbps). That's actually true for 22.1 as well. Dolby 5.1 encoders are on-site. Not sure what the timeframe is for getting those on-line. My understanding is that there currently isn't any NBC material in 5.1 format yet. Trying to confirm that. Anyone know any further details?

Schmitter, thanks for the post. I'm about to move up to the Vernon/Manchester/Tolland area, so it's good to know I'll have hope :).

-MP

Originally posted by afis
WWLP-DT has regular NBC HD on 22.3 or 22.1? Currently 22.1 is just the SD version of WWLP's programming esentially simulcasting whatever is on analogue WWLP channel 22. 22.3 is the HD encoded channel - and that's where you will find NBC HD and 16:9 format material when it is available. Otherwise 22.3 really just has the same feed as 22.1. Please note that this is being reviewed and may change in the future.

Anyone using the Samsung T160?

After inserting my zipcodes for CT and Springfield, the box will not recognize WTNH-DT channel 8-1. It picks up 8-2 but that's it. My Hughes E-86 picks up 8-1. I'm pretty sure that WTNH is running their 720p feed on both, but I'm not 100% sure. Are they the same feed?

I noticed that WGBY now has the programming info in the guide instead of "HD Demonstration".

Mr. McCormick, any new info about getting that fixed for WWLP? It still says "Regular Schedule" on 22-3.

AreBee,

WTNH is only broadcasting on 10-2 (remapped 8-2). This started a couple months ago when they changed equipment and did away with multi-casting (hopefully for good)! For some reason they only broadcast on sub channel two.

Yep, they are the same feed. I have a Mits SR-HD5 (essentially a Hughs) and the Samsung T160. The Mits sees WTNH on 8-1, the Samsung sees it on 8-2. Seems like the re-map is not workign on the Samsung, which is strange because it's newer. Wish these guys would get this stuff all straightened out, it drives me crazy thinking I've lost channels all the time........

I think WGBY fixed the 57.1 SD audio about a week or so ago. I heard a rumor that they were using that audio for the station lobby or something, but just a rumor.

I have a Zenith HDV420 or something like that. It seems to do a pretty good job. I wish it had more features like a "last channel" and I wish I could lock out unwatched feeds, like 22.1 and 22.2. I also wish it would change audio or fake my Denon 1803 out so it wouldn't beep every time it lost or aquired a new audio feed. But I shouldn't complain, I bought it as a floor model for $180.

Such -- I share your frustration. I am not always sure what audio or video qualities, or even channels I should be getting or searching for. Hence, my attempt to chart it out.

Could someone please explain the following confusing state of affairs: My current understanding is that WCTX-DT 39 (UPN) remaps to 59.1, but "will be going to 6." However, I also have notes that WEDY-DT (Ct PBS) IS currently 6. What have I got wrong here?
Thanks.

Maybe someone could help me. Does anyone know what might be the hold-up with my cable provider(COX) putting the local HD channels on air? It seems Comcast is way ahead of the game but unfortunately I dont reside in a Comcast territory. Is it a negotiations thing or just not available. I know most of you deal OTA, but I just figured it wouldnt hurt to ask.

First off, forgive me for interloping on this CT thread, and posting a non-HD question here, but I, as a former Nutmeg stater, need your help.

I grew up in New Haven and moved to MA in '84 and lost touch with a friend. I just heard that his father passed away and tried searching the New Haven Register and Hartford Courant for the obituary, but could not find it. I am hoping that someone in this thread may have their papers for the last week or so and can check for the orbit and send me a private message.

The deceased name was Robert Murphy Sr. I am not sure where he was living at the time of his death. He was a former SNET Manager and previously lived in Fair Haven. He leaves three children, Robert Jr., James, and Roseanne.

I would really appreciate it if someone was able to find it. Thank you and again, I apologize for hijacking the thread for a moment.

Originally posted by afis

Could someone please explain the following confusing state of affairs: My current understanding is that WCTX-DT 39 (UPN) remaps to 59.1, but "will be going to 6." However, I also have notes that WEDY-DT (Ct PBS) IS currently 6. What have I got wrong here?
Thanks.

I would like to know if anyone is getting anything on CH6. I get a lot of signal level on that channel (using a meter), but my box does not see it. I also don't see a picture when I bypass the box and just use the analog tuner in the TV. Also is 39 actually active? I can't get my box to see that one either.

Thanks in advance

Yep, they are the same feed. I have a Mits SR-HD5 (essentially a Hughs) and the Samsung T160. The Mits sees WTNH on 8-1, the Samsung sees it on 8-2. Seems like the re-map is not workign on the Samsung, which is strange because it's newer. Wish these guys would get this stuff all straightened out, it drives me crazy thinking I've lost channels all the time........

thanks such, thanks Bill I thought I was losing my mind.

Such, what's your take on the two boxes as far as ability to receive DTV stations. I didn't really see an improvement with the Samsung. No new channels, no fringe stations stabilized, status quo.

The PQ of the Samsung appears a little better than my Hughes. Better color, sharper SD upconverts.

Originally posted by AreBee
Anyone using the Samsung T160?

After inserting my zipcodes for CT and Springfield, the box will not recognize WTNH-DT channel 8-1. It picks up 8-2 but that's it. My Hughes E-86 picks up 8-1. I'm pretty sure that WTNH is running their 720p feed on both, but I'm not 100% sure. Are they the same feed?

I noticed that WGBY now has the programming info in the guide instead of "HD Demonstration".

Mr. McCormick, any new info about getting that fixed for WWLP? It still says "Regular Schedule" on 22-3.

My Samsung box did the exact same thing. I actually dont think its the Samsung box, but rather is WTNH's digital feed. At the same time this happened, we also lost 8-3 and 8-4, which were semi-useful in my opinion (its hard to find local weather on DirecTV without Wink).

I havent let it bother me........the HD content is at least there, just on 8-2 instead of -1. I have a feeling it does have somethign to do with equipment changes while they stop multicasting, maybe they are beefing something up in regards to 8-1.

-Chris

Originally posted by Paul Marold
Comcast added two new channels today - MAX HD (Channel 368) and STARZ HD (Channel 375). They still haven't separated the costs from getting all the pay channels so it is expensive but at least they're adding.

Three weeks later, those two channels showed up yesterday on Comcast here in Madison CT.

If Comcast offered a HD TiVo, I would switch the majority of my programming spending over from DirecTV right now, but with the HD DirecTiVo due in less than two months, that's not going to happen, even though Comcast currently offers more HD.

Ok. I've got a stumper. Hopefully someone can help me out with it. How is it that here in Windsor I can get WGBY-DT with a pretty solid signal on my Dish 6000 but can't get WGGB-DT? I think they're on the same mountain (Mt. Tom) and WGGB is pumping out more power. I don't get it.

Anyone? Thanks!

Andy

WGGB is not pumping out more power. They are operating at very, very low power. It wouldn't matter anyway because WGGB is not broadcasting any HD.

Ahh so. So the power output is the reason. But even with low power at 25 miles away I thought I'd get something. Yeah, I'm sure mfusick will let us know when they're doing HD :D

Thanks!

antennaweb.org has updated their site to say
that WTIC-DT will be on air on 3-4. Let's hope!

Yep. And WVIT by 4/04! Fingers are crossed.

Andy,
I can see WGGB's tower from my living room yet I only can get a 25 signal with no lock. I looked at their signal with a spectrum analyzer and their is plenty of level. I think their bit stream is hosed. BTW Wggb is a Sinclair station which does not believe in HD so don't hold your breath.
Jim

Originally posted by ad301
Three weeks later, those two channels showed up yesterday on Comcast here in Madison CT.

If Comcast offered a HD TiVo, I would switch the majority of my programming spending over from DirecTV right now, but with the HD DirecTiVo due in less than two months, that's not going to happen, even though Comcast currently offers more HD.

ad301,

Are you going to shell out the $900 for an HD Tivo? I'm in the same position as you, the HDTivo would be heaven, and I could wait, but I can't justify the $900 to the family, or even myself...ok maybe to myself, but definitely not my wife:)

I think once the cable companies start rolling out their HD PVRs, DirecTV will have to bring down the price of the HD DTivo. If the local channels around here ever get their OTA act together, the HD Tivo would be the ultimate for us.

Originally posted by jake14mw
ad301,

Are you going to shell out the $900 for an HD Tivo? I'm in the same position as you, the HDTivo would be heaven, and I could wait, but I can't justify the $900 to the family, or even myself...ok maybe to myself, but definitely not my wife:)

I think once the cable companies start rolling out their HD PVRs, DirecTV will have to bring down the price of the HD DTivo. If the local channels around here ever get their OTA act together, the HD Tivo would be the ultimate for us.

I doubt the HDTiVo will come down in price this year. I already pre ordered mine at Value Electronics and they have already sold out there first 350 order shipment and are selling for there second shipment due to arrive April 15th. It's in very high demand and none of the cable companies PVR's compare to a TiVo. TiVo is the best on the market.

-Joe

Can anybody recommend a very good antenna expert/installer for Southwest CT / Westchester NY area ? ( I live in Old Greenwich, CT). Unfortunately my house is surrounded by trees and my current installation only picks up CBS(56) reliably, though when it is really, really cold in Winter I get ABC(7) and NBC(4).

I think I am affected by "multipath" and need the best antenna/amp on the market, plus I'd like to have my 2nd TV connected, so is more work than I can do in my spare time.

-Mike

Originally posted by jake14mw
ad301,

Are you going to shell out the $900 for an HD Tivo?

I think once the cable companies start rolling out their HD PVRs, DirecTV will have to bring down the price of the HD DTivo. If the local channels around here ever get their OTA act together, the HD Tivo would be the ultimate for us.


I will absolutely buy a HD TiVo just as soon as I can get my hands on one. As Joe said, the pent up demand for these things is going to make them scarce for awhile. Not being able to time-shift in HD has been a real pain, and I've been eagerly awaiting the HD DirecTiVo since it was announced over a year ago.

Thanks for the info, Jim. I just wish they'd get with the program.

WCTX DT channel 39 has a movie on noe in High Definition. We can look forward to Enterprise nexrt Wednesday. John

I just pre-ordered the HD Tivo from Tweeter. It was listed under a different model number. They had an internal email which stated that they expect shipment in June for whatever that is worth. Tweeter usualy takes a bit longer to get these things than everyone else, but I figured just in case I could not get it anywhere else, I would pre-order it and get on the list at Tweeter early.

Originally posted by fitsman
I just pre-ordered the HD Tivo from Tweeter. It was listed under a different model number. They had an internal email which stated that they expect shipment in June for whatever that is worth. Tweeter usualy takes a bit longer to get these things than everyone else, but I figured just in case I could not get it anywhere else, I would pre-order it and get on the list at Tweeter early.

Value Electronics just said that it's been moved to the first week in April for release now. So it could keep moving further back as we get closer. I hope its not June though. They also stated that it looks like DIRECTV will be the only brand name on this HD-DVR and the model # will be changed to HR10-250.

I have never used OTA on my Samsung yet, I am curious people on the forums have said HD for certain stations are odd channel #'s or frequencies, how does this convert to the HD tuners? I'm wondering how it will work on the HDTiVO when it comes out for getting guide data and knowing what channel to record.

-Joe

Being that I live in Western Mass I usually lurk in this thread because I get a majority of my channels from Hartford. I think that I also fall into the Hartford coverage area of Comcast. So....

I have the new 7.07 firmware from Comcast that has enabled DVI. Maybe you guys should check. I never got a message from Comcast about it. It just happened.

I just checked, and yes DVI is enabled for comcast here in the Hartford/Windsor area. Thanks for the update.

I dont have dvi on my tv and am thinking of replacing it. Does there seem to be much difference in the picture quality on the SD and analog channels. If not then I dont have much reason to change tv's except I was going to buy one with built in tuner as I am tired of waiting for Charter to get networks in HD.

Can anyone tell me how Cox cable in Manchester is? What box do they distribute for HD? How many HD channels do they have?

Thanks,
MP

If you read the Boston HDTV thread there's more info on DVI vs. Component and that an upgrade of the cable box is really needed to see the improvements in PQ.

madpoet,

I have COX HD in Enfield. Only stations right now are DiscoveryHD, INHD and INHD2, ESPNHD (useless, very few things are actually broadcast in HD), HBOHD and ShowtimeHD. They are using the Motorola 5100 and 6200 as their STB. I asked for a 6200, but got a 5100 when they installed it. It is pretty frustrating to hear about all the HD stations that Comcast offers just the next towns over , Windsor and Windsor Locks. Now Comcast offers DVI! When is COX going to catch up? It sure must be nice to have a monoply and not have to respond to your customers because they have no other cable choice!

Originally posted by rstang8691
When is COX going to catch up? It sure must be nice to have a monoply and not have to respond to your customers because they have no other cable choice! Calling or complaining to your local cable company will likely not get too far ... but here's another idea:

Cable operators are granted licenses (or franchise agreements) to operate. In Massachusetts this is usually handled by each municipality, e.g. city and town. I believe in CT it is handled on a more regional basis.

These licensing authorities may be interested in your comments ... and in some cases, they may even track issues and complaints. In any event, usually these commissions, committees, etc. have regular meetings as well as interaction with the licensees (cable companies) - and at senior management level.

Use the system - it may work for you!

From what I understand, the holdup is with the networks not allowing Cox to carry the locals. I was told to call the networks and complain and that might speed things up. Of course if you talk to the networks, they say it is the cable operator. The rumor I am hearing is that the networks want the whole 6Mhz from the cable operators, and the cable operators want to put more than one network on the 6Mhz carrier. Of course the cable operator only wants to put the main HD feed on, but the network wants the multicasted channel as well.

As a side note, Cox will NOT be taking ESPN off the air. They signed a contract on Thursday that will last either 7 or 9 years, I forget which.

Originally posted by schmitter
From what I understand, the holdup is with the networks not allowing Cox to carry the locals. I was told to call the networks and complain and that might speed things up. Of course if you talk to the networks, they say it is the cable operator. The rumor I am hearing is that the networks want the whole 6Mhz from the cable operators, and the cable operators want to put more than one network on the 6Mhz carrier. Of course the cable operator only wants to put the main HD feed on, but the network wants the multi-casted channel as well. Bit confusing with the wording. My connotation of networks is ABC, CBS, NBC, UPN, and WB. Most cable operators carry local affiliates (stations) of these networks. Therefore you wouldn't want to call the network ... but the local station. The only time I could foresee you'd want to be calling the station ... is when the station has withheld permission to rebroadcast from the cable operator!

I have not recently reviewed any technical info on how the local cable operators are delivering digital and HD digital channels ... many schemes are not limited to just 6 MHz channels. In some cases, digital transport streams contain many PID's, each of which could be a separate audio and video channel. For example, I was recently looking at our NBC satellite feed - and I think the whole thing was on the order of 55 mbps ... there's lots of channels in there, all with differing bandwidth. This includes the SD and HD feeds that viewers see on their local affiliates (like WWLP).

What happens with a cable system's rebroadcast of a local TV station's ATSC signal is very much dependent on how that cable plant operates. You could pass the 6 MHz ATSC signal intact ... and as long as the box or TV set on the subscriber side knew what to do with ATSC (decode it), you'd get whatever the local station is broadcasting - including all sub channels.

But I would suspect that the approach most frequently used would be to have an ATSC receiver at the cable head-end ... which would be tuned to the desired channel (like WWLP 22.3). The output of that tuner would then be fed into a cable system encoder - which would then distribute it out to the subscribers. (In this case it would require a STB for the system in question.)

(Of course, an alternative is to direct feed from the local station's plant to the cable system's plant. The end result would be the same - or possibly even better, if the bit rate supplied over a direct connection exceeded what the off-air sub-channel was set for.)

The issue may be a lot more complicated than just a 6 MHz channel. For example, WWLP may be encoding on its ATSC channel 11 transmissions the 22.3 subchannel with 12 mbps bandwidth. (The total of all subchannels in an ATSC broadcast can't exceed the aprox 19 mbps maximum.) If the cable operator receives and re-encodes the HD transmission - it may do so with a lesser bit rate ... and that may adversely affect the quality of what you see.

I'm not aware of any ATSC tuners that tell you the actual encoded bit rates of off-air transmissions ... but just about every ATSC computer tuner card will do that. (Or you can figure it out using a free program that can read transport stream files that you've recorded on your computer.)

HTH

Well, thanks for the info. A bit disapointing. Anyyone have the 6200 from Cox and know if they've enabled FW on it? My guess would be no, but it doesn't hurt to ask :). I'll have to see if I can pick up any signals in my new place. If I can get OTA again, I'll go back to a PC card. I loved the MyHD120 when I had it previously.

Thanks,
MP

RPMcCormick, you are correct, I should have been more clear in my wording. I can tell you what I know on the cable side. Currently Cox has up to 3 HD channels on one carrier, and I have not seen any problems with this. I know that the Motorola HD boxes currently only recieve signals in an analog format, 64QUAM format and 256QUAM format. 256QUAM is capable of about 42Mbps. This is what is currently being used for the Cox HD channels. Since when I plug my cable into my Zenith HD box, it finds no HD channels, I can assume that Cox is doing some re-encoding to make it work.

You can see what is active and not active on your Motorola box by turning the box off, then hitting select on your remote. This should bring up a Diagnostics menu. On my box d11 is interface status, and this is where I see 1394 I/O Device as NOT INST and DVI Port as NOT INST.

Patiently waiting, but getting antsy, for technology to catch up to my wants,
Schmitter

Schmitter, I sent you a PM. Had some more specific questions.

Thanks,
MP

WCTX DT channel 39 has a movie on noe in High Definition. We can look forward to Enterprise nexrt Wednesday.

My guide claimed that Sunday's re-run of Enterprise was HD, but it was not.

Curious to see what happens on Wed.

Originally posted by rstang8691
madpoet,

I have COX HD in Enfield. Only stations right now are DiscoveryHD, INHD and INHD2, ESPNHD (useless, very few things are actually broadcast in HD), HBOHD and ShowtimeHD. They are using the Motorola 5100 and 6200 as their STB. I asked for a 6200, but got a 5100 when they installed it. It is pretty frustrating to hear about all the HD stations that Comcast offers just the next towns over , Windsor and Windsor Locks. Now Comcast offers DVI! When is COX going to catch up? It sure must be nice to have a monoply and not have to respond to your customers because they have no other cable choice!
You are lucky to have DISCHD, as Comcast does not carry it ANYWHERE. The only sure way to get it all is to use Voom or DirecTV in combination with an antenna capable of picking up signals from all over the state.

The WTIC-DT Channel 31 antenna work starts tomorrow. Sign-on is scheduled for March 1.

The WTIC-DT Channel 31 antenna work starts tomorrow.
-------------------------------------------
achase -- Is WTIC-DT currently 31, or remapping to 31, or will it be going to 61.1?

Also, is it certain that WCTX-DT will be going to 6, meaning WEDY-DT will have to go to something else?

Thanks for the tower updates - it fosters some OTA hope.

biggaw - I'd trade you DSCHD any day for ABC, CBS, and NBC. It's stunning video but I'd rather watch programming I'm more interested in. And somebody ought to shoot that leopard to kill that short. Enough already.

RPM - FWIW, I applied for, and got nominated to, my community's cable and telecom advisory board. The main agenda item is our current cable contract. We advise the selectmen who control the award. Every drop adding to the rising tide of HDTV acceptance helps.

Originally posted by afis
The WTIC-DT Channel 31 antenna work starts tomorrow.
-------------------------------------------
achase -- Is WTIC-DT currently 31, or remapping to 31, or will it be going to 61.1?

Also, is it certain that WCTX-DT will be going to 6, meaning WEDY-DT will have to go to something else?




They are really at Channel 31. I'm not sure how they remap. I am not involved with WCTX so I have no info on them.

Woohoo! Great news, Arnold. Thanks for the update.

Is TIC Live Now?????

WTIC-DT is not live right now. Arnold say's they're shooting for this coming Monday.

Originally posted by afis
Also, is it certain that WCTX-DT will be going to 6, meaning WEDY-DT will have to go to something else?WCTX-DT will be staying on channel 39. CPTV has the allocation for channel 6 for WEDY-DT (currently WEDY analogue channel 65 in New Haven). You can find the FCC information for WEDY (both 6 and 65) located here (http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=WEDY). If someone has a contact at CPTV it would be interesting to find out what, if anything, they're doing with channel 6. I have not heard anything myself ...

Ok... on a whim, I just hooked up my Hitachi 57XWX20B with it's built in HD tuner to my digital cable. I was able to tune EVERY HD channel. I'm talking even the channels that I do not subscribe to, like Max HD. ESPN, all the locals, HBO, Showtime, etc; I was stunned. Apparently they aren't encrypting anything at all here. I proceded to beat my head against the wall, since I am moving in a month and won't be able to take advantage of this marvelous discovery :). Pity, since I just snagged a JVC 30K to start taping. I'm only praying this will still be the case when I move to a Cox feed in April, though I can't believe this situation is normal.

-MP

Sorry dude, you will have no such luck when you connect to Cox. I just tried it and my HD tuner did not find any channels.

Heh, it was a long shot at best :(. Maybe when they add the locals it will be in the clear.

Hello People,

I just purchased an LCD monitor with a DVI (no component) input.

i would like to run this as an HD display off Comcast in New Haven.

Anyone have a Scientific Atlanta receiver and know if the DVI output is working?

Also, does the DVI output work when an analog (non HD) station is being watched?

New Haven's Comcast seems a bit clueless and I have been waiting for a tech to return my call for a while....

All help appreciated,
Paul Levatino

Schmitter,

Using my LG LST-3410A tuner, I can receive WTNH-HD (ABC) on channel 112 through my Cox cable feed regularly.

Is WTNH the only one you get on CH112? Do you get any others? My Zenith doesn't pick up anything, and I can only once in a while get TNH OTA.

Originally posted by rsdube
Schmitter,

Using my LG LST-3410A tuner, I can receive WTNH-HD (ABC) on channel 112 through my Cox cable feed regularly. Wow this is pretty interesting. Is there any way to force the Cox HD box to tune to this channel?? I love Cox's HD service but I can't wait for the locals. Thanks.

Achase,
Do you know how many Kw WTIC will start broadcasting at? Weather looks good all week so hopefully they can finish antenna work.

I received e-mails back from the programming and engineering departments at WTIC. I asked several questions about WTIC-DT and these were their answers.

OTA Tower
They were pretty vague on this. "My understanding is that the antenna height and power will evolve over the coming months." I am guessing that they don't even know yet.

Mapping
The channel will be at 31 and will NOT be remapped. The reason they gave was that after the digital transition of all NTSC channels, the frequencies between channels 59 - 69 will be auctioned off the public service communication people. So in a couple years we will be seeing Fox31.

Sub-Channels
From the engineer: "For now it will be only 31-1 but very soon we will have sub channels that will include program schedule information and yet to be determined other services." I am not excited about sub-channels. As long as they shut off their sub-channels for primetime and HD programming (like other responsible stations) this shouldn't be an issue.

Dolby Digital
When I asked about the Dolby Digital the engineer responded: "Eventually...but there is no real time frame." Hopefully their time frame includes the MLB Playoffs and World Series.

Programming (720p)
From the programming director: "We will pass whatvever Fox provides. In the beginning it will be Fox Widescreen. Recently, they have committed to 720p and intend to provide that starting in the summer."

I hope this help clarify some questions about WTIC-DT coming next week.

A big thank you to John Mason and Paul Brenner at WTIC for providing this information.

Originally posted by AreBee
Glad to finally see this thread. I'm in Farmington very close to the Rattlesnake Mountain complex. This is what I pick up for DTV/HD with my Hughes E-86 and my attic mounted Winegard PR-7015 combination VHF/UHF antenna (with ChannelMaster 9251A remote contolled rotor). No amplification at all. Sub channels included where applicable.

Ralph

Hi Ralph,

I'm one of your nearby neighbors over in Burlington! I'm planning on going HD this spring.

I was reading your post and am interested as we are in generally the same position. I'm hoping we get similar signal strength. I'm wondering what altitude you home is at? I'm at 635' and can watch the blinking lights on Rattlesnake Mtn from my front yard. I'm guessing I'll get a great signal from CBS, FOX and NBC. ABC in New Haven is what I'm wondering.

Is your Winegard a directional antenna? I might go with two antennas, one for the towers that are close by and anther directional antenna for ABC (I'm going to be using a HD Tivo that can turn a rotor :( ). From my house the cluster on Mtn are about 80 degrees from ABC. Any thoughts?

Frank

Originally posted by shizno

WFSB (CBS) at about 90%
WTNH(ABC) at about 85%
WWLP (NBC) at about 65%
WTXX (WB) at about 95%
WGBY (PBS)at about 35-50%


I'm planning on HD soon. When receiving a digital signal, what percentage is recommended for maintaining a picture and sound? I understand there's either a Great picture or no picture. Is this accurate?

TIA,

Frank

Originally posted by AreBee
I have a remote control rotor that can be controlled with my universal remote. Type in the channel # and the antenna turns and you don't even have to get up from the couch!

Very wife friendly

Very Cool :cool:. Mind sharing the name and model number of the remote and rotor setup?

Originally posted by Such
I've had little luck with the Radio Shack combo antenna's (including the VU-190), eventually returned it and got seperate Wineguard VHF & UFH antannas. Been perfect since I did that, plus you can point them in different directions if needed.

Live in Avon and get WWLP/NBC out of Springfield, WFSB/CBS from Avon MT, WTXX/WB off Rattlesnake, and ABC out of New Haven. All with 90+% signal strength.

Have the antenna's in my attic and use a Channel Master 7777 preamp.

Such,
Which Wineguards are you using? I'm over in Burlington and would like to try your setup.

TIA,

Frank

Anyone getting WB HD (12-1) Waterburry from the Bridgeport-Fairfield area ?????

mayimbe,

I am in Milford and have never been able to pull the WB from Waterbury in and I do pretty well for other signals in connecticut and NY.

Does anyone know when/if Comcast will be picking up the digital feed of WTIC and what channel it would be on? (831?)

WB isnt broadcasting there diital signal from waterbury. They are using a transmitter in Farmington. They only broadcast analog signal from Waterbury. Could be why you cant pick it up in Milford. You cant get Wpix from NY instead? Think that might be closer.

Originally posted by shovelhd
biggaw - I'd trade you DSCHD any day for ABC, CBS, and NBC. It's stunning video but I'd rather watch programming I'm more interested in. And somebody ought to shoot that leopard to kill that short. Enough already.
the networks are antenna channels. DISCHD is a limited cable/directv/dishnet channel only.

Cablevision in Fairfield County just added WNBC and Bravo-HD to their HD lineup. So they now carry CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS (Thirteen), INHD, STARZ, Bravo, HBO, Showtime, Cinemax and TMC. The networks are all NYC stations.

If you have an OTA HD tuner, I understand the ABC station in New Haven is fairly easy to pickup.

Originally posted by garberfc
I'm planning on HD soon. When receiving a digital signal, what percentage is recommended for maintaining a picture and sound? I understand there's either a Great picture or no picture. Is this accurate?

TIA,

Frank

My experience has pretty much been either picture or none. Usually around the 35% mark I will get severe pixelation from loss of signal that is unwatchable.

If I can get the signal about 50-60% it works perfectly.

shizno.

If only Cox would get on the ball...

biggaw, the networks are antenna channels if you can receive them. I can't. Hence my comment.

Originally posted by garberfc
Hi Ralph,

I'm one of your nearby neighbors over in Burlington! I'm planning on going HD this spring.

I was reading your post and am interested as we are in generally the same position. I'm hoping we get similar signal strength. I'm wondering what altitude you home is at? I'm at 635' and can watch the blinking lights on Rattlesnake Mtn from my front yard. I'm guessing I'll get a great signal from CBS, FOX and NBC. ABC in New Haven is what I'm wondering.

Is your Winegard a directional antenna? I might go with two antennas, one for the towers that are close by and anther directional antenna for ABC (I'm going to be using a HD Tivo that can turn a rotor :( ). From my house the cluster on Mtn are about 80 degrees from ABC. Any thoughts?

Frank

Hi, Frank,

I'm in Bristol a quarter mile from the Burlington line, at the same elevation... we might be neighbors! WTNH and WCTX will be a challenge for you unless you get a large directional antenna for them. There is at least one ridge between us and WTNH/WCTX and you will get a weak signal with multipath. As you suspect, all the Rattlesnake and Avon mountain channels are no problem, as is New London's WHPX! I also get analog Springfield channels WWLP and WGBY with acceptable quality (a little snow but no multipath) but I cannot reliably receive any DTV from Springfield.

I just have a Channel Master StealthTenna with amplifier mounted in the basement (!) and I'm ok with my reception although I cannot receive ABC HD or WB HD. No great loss for me.

Originally posted by pmalve
Achase,
Do you know how many Kw WTIC will start broadcasting at? Weather looks good all week so hopefully they can finish antenna work.

They will be using their permanent transmitter, but into a temporary antenna so the ERP will be lower until the final antenna is in operation. I'll find out what the TPO is tomorrow.

The weather WAS good this week, and the antenna is now in place!!!

The feedline is to be connected in the next day or so, thus things are still looking good for sign-on this weekend.

I have pictures being emailed to me which I will post shortly.
:)

Excellent news about the antenna! Any progress is good progress with the remaining CT locals.

I hope they broadcast at a higher power than WFSB's temporary setup or else I would be getting excited for nothing.

Achase ---

Photos? Hmmm -- I was thinking a few days ago how photos of WTIC antenna work would be valuable. Maybe I will send them to WFSB/Meridith as an instructional aid in how to complete a properly powered digital transmitter?

I know this is off topic a bit, but what the h*ll happened to WVIT?? Did they give up??? ; )

scottte

Hi, Frank,

I'm in Bristol a quarter mile from the Burlington line,

dda,

Sound's like we're all really close. I'm only two minutes from Burlington and Bristol, right by the Farmington soccer fields (Tunxis Mead).

I was checking the tower today as I drove by and I thought I saw something new mounted about half-way up the tower. Wasn't sure if it was there before and my mind was tricking me because I wanted to find something.

P.S. I think Enterprise was in HD last night! I kept flipping back and forth and it sure looked HD.

Schmitter,

Sorry for the late reply, but I do not visit the forum as regularly as most or as much as I'd like. I can receive, the following HD channels via Cox cable.

83 ESPN (advertisment loop)
102 NBA League Pass (advertisment loop)
106 SiTV (some kind of English language Latino channel)
112 WTNH (ABC)

Originally posted by AreBee
I think Enterprise was in HD last night! I kept flipping back and forth and it sure looked HD.

Hi Ralph!

Long time no talkie....

I don't know....

It WAS 16x9

Not 5.1, only 2 channel of course.

SOME scenes ALMOST looked HDTV, (upconvert?) other scenes looked like I was pulling them off their analog channel. :mad:

Were you flipping between UPN analog and UPN digital?

I kept flipping between HD-NET and and Enterprise during commericals, and HD-NET HDTV looked astronomically better than UPN HDTV.

Hopefully, UPN is just having teething problems.

Originally posted by rsdube
Schmitter,

Sorry for the late reply, but I do not visit the forum as regularly as most or as much as I'd like. I can receive, the following HD channels via Cox cable.

83 ESPN (advertisment loop)
102 NBA League Pass (advertisment loop)
106 SiTV (some kind of English language Latino channel)
112 WTNH (ABC)



I live in Meriden and have COX cable and never heard of the HD channels you say you have. I have INHD1, INHD2, ESPNHD, and DISCOVERYHD.

How do you have ABC hd and I don't? Am I missing something? I have the full package, every channel available and I dont have local channels.

All my channels are in the 700's.

Originally posted by rsdube
Schmitter,

Sorry for the late reply, but I do not visit the forum as regularly as most or as much as I'd like. I can receive, the following HD channels via Cox cable.

83 ESPN (advertisment loop)
102 NBA League Pass (advertisment loop)
106 SiTV (some kind of English language Latino channel)
112 WTNH (ABC)

On my 3410 I get from COX on 111-2 WFSB HD, WVIT HD on 111-3, WTNH HD on 112-1 and PBS HD on 112-2 plus all of the above.

Originally posted by mnky21
I live in Meriden and have COX cable and never heard of the HD channels you say you have. I have INHD1, INHD2, ESPNHD, and DISCOVERYHD.

How do you have ABC hd and I don't? Am I missing something? I have the full package, every channel available and I dont have local channels.

All my channels are in the 700's.

These channels are not offered to customers yet. When they will, they probably will be somewhere in 700's. Cable companies use mapping so they can assign any number to any channel. LG QAM tuner shows actual physical channel number. It is like OTA where actual channel is different from physical.

Schmitter,

I can also receive the 111-2, 111-3, & 112-2 HD channels from COX like CKNA, who uses the same tuner.

CKNA,

Have you found a way to manually add all the sub-channels to your CADTV tab or surf list? When you scan, it will only show one sub-channel for a CADTV channel. As far as I know, there is no way to add 111-2 and 111-3 for example and add them to your surf list. It is only one or the other. Basically, you never know when another station is on a sub-channel unless you channel up/down or manually enter the numbers in, but this can be totally random.

Originally posted by BillN96
I hope they broadcast at a higher power than WFSB's temporary setup or else I would be getting excited for nothing.

It will "blow the doors" off of WFSB's signal...

Not to worry!

Originally posted by scottte
I know this is off topic a bit, but what the h*ll happened to WVIT?? Did they give up??? ; )

scottte

I was at Rattlesnake Mountain today and I see they have side-mounted a new antenna near the top of the tower.

I have COX HD in Enfield, and like mnky21 I only get INHD 1 & 2, ESPNHD, DISCHD, HBO and SHO HD. Does the fact that COX offers some local HD channels in other parts of the state mean that there are no contract issues? Every cust. service rep only say they're working on it and they have no idea when they will be available. But from the above posts, it souds like they already are available. What's up with that? Anyone have any idea when the locals will be released to the rest of us? By the way, I have a Motorola 5100 HD box, not the model that was mentioned by the folks who can get the locals. Does that make a difference? I hope this means we may see something soon. BOB

Some changes at WWLP-DT:

22.1 is now running a slide informing viewers to tune to 22.3

WWLP-DT's main programming will now be seen on 22.3. It will consist of WWLP's standard definition programming except for those times when NBC HD 16:9 programming is available.

The next phase will include some bandwidth adjustments to improve the quality of the 22.3 HD broadcasts.

There may be some delays in updates to electronic program guides.

The 22.1 slide also has an email address you can use if you have any problems. You can also post in the AVS forums as well. As always, viewer feedback and comments are welcome.

Originally posted by afis
Achase ---

Photos? Hmmm -- I was thinking a few days ago how photos of WTIC antenna work would be valuable. Maybe I will send them to WFSB/Meridith as an instructional aid in how to complete a properly powered digital transmitter?

Here you go...

Arnold,

I looked like you circled something that somebody dropped and got caught on a wire! It's a good thing I'm not running that tower, or I'd be sending somebody up to get that thing off.:D Seriously though, thanks for the news and the pictures.

I'm sure that the people over at WFSB have been taking advantage of the great weather too.:rolleyes:

Since there is no HD to be had from Fox, I'm not exactly dying for the programming from WTIC-DT, but I am very interested in how well all of our antennas are able to pick it up!

Originally posted by achase
It will "blow the doors" off of WFSB's signal...

Not to worry!

<Big sigh of relief> Thanks for that great news. Can't wait for next week. Another step in the right direction for CT OTA.

I live in Meriden, CT 06450. Need to decide on a "permanent" antenna for my setup. I have a HD box on 2 separate TVs. Most of the stations are within 10 to 15 miles from me. the furthest in Springfield is 39.1 miles. The problem is several stations are 180 degrees from each other. What kind of setup would people recommend? Also, How would I split it out to the 2 TVs? I would like to do the install myself, as I have set up my satellite dishes on my own.

Also, anyone using a multi-directional antenna to get the channels in different directions? Have to get prepared for the HD TiVo coming out.

Have gone on antennaweb and titantv but wanted to get some suggestions from people living in CT.
Thank you

Originally posted by rsdube
Schmitter,

Sorry for the late reply, but I do not visit the forum as regularly as most or as much as I'd like. I can receive, the following HD channels via Cox cable.

83 ESPN (advertisment loop)
102 NBA League Pass (advertisment loop)
106 SiTV (some kind of English language Latino channel)
112 WTNH (ABC)


Ok, now I see what is happening. CH83, 102 and 106 are EAI channels that have digital programing on them. The advertising loops would go out unencrypted, which is why you can see them. I am not sure on the CH106, but I will check and get back to you.

CH 112 is one of the EAI channels that has HD content, as is CH111. CH109, 110 and 111 have DiscoveryHD, ESPNHD, INHD 1, INHD 2, HBO HD, and Showtime HD.

Interesting to note, that all of the HD EAI channels, 109-112 are 256QUAM, and the 83, 102, and 106 are all 64 QUAM.

I just wonder if my Zenith is incapable of reading a 256Quam signal. I will have to do more research.

Thanks for the feedback,
Schmitter

Originally posted by mstmorse
I live in Meriden, CT 06450. Need to decide on a "permanent" antenna for my setup. I have a HD box on 2 separate TVs. Most of the stations are within 10 to 15 miles from me. the furthest in Springfield is 39.1 miles. The problem is several stations are 180 degrees from each other. What kind of setup would people recommend? Also, How would I split it out to the 2 TVs? I would like to do the install myself, as I have set up my satellite dishes on my own.

Also, anyone using a multi-directional antenna to get the channels in different directions? Have to get prepared for the HD TiVo coming out.

Have gone on antennaweb and titantv but wanted to get some suggestions from people living in CT.
Thank you

I am in Cheshire so my antenna needs are similiar to yours.
I use a RS VU-120XR with no amp and pick up all of the locals and sometimes get WWLP-DT and WEDN-DT. WTNH-DT and WCTX-DT
are almost exactly 180 degrees from Rattlesnake Mt and I pick them
up even with the antenna pointed away from them, althought WCTX
is not as strong as WTNH. Usually I just turn the antenna when I am
watching them. The Channel Master 9521 works great for that.
Once you program it, just punch in the channel number and it goes
to the correct setting, very easy and convenient! Good luck.

I hate to bring up a non-OTA tower topic but did any other Comcast subscribers have MAJOR issues with the audio last night (Thursday 2/26/04) on atleast the nbcHD and abcHD channels on a SA3100HD box? The NBC-HD was random audio drops hear and there but man when I went to watch CSI in CBS-HD it was unbelievably bad. It had a constant, repetative drop of the audio that was more than 10 times a minute. This made it unwatchable! I'm going to call my local Comcast ASAP this morning.

Just wondering if anyone else had this issue. BTW I have had this issue on the NBC-HD before but never on CBS-HD and never during CSI.

PS I did check the Digital channels to see if it could be my digital coax connection or the STB hardware for that connection but the sound was perfect on all non-HD channels.

Yep, CSI was ugly. Had to switch back to SD broadcast.

Originally posted by CKNA
On my 3410 I get from COX on 111-2 WFSB HD, WVIT HD on 111-3, WTNH HD on 112-1 and PBS HD on 112-2 plus all of the above.


I'm wondering why you have a different box than me. How do I get one? Can I call cox and get it? Also, does the DVI input work on yours? Mine has it but its not functional.

How are you Bob?

Still blacked-out on the Celts? You aren't missing anything. I always end up tuning out. They look horrible.

Were you flipping between UPN analog and UPN digital?

Yeah I was, and the thing that made me say 59-1 was HD was that the picture on 59 looked stretched and 59-1 did not. I don't thnik 59-1 was zoomed either. Looked like a ful picture. Like you said, I wasn't awed with the PQ though, not like I am with CBS or ABC. For the record HD programs from NBC and WB don't seem to strike me either. It just doesn't seem as vibrant and 3D.



I thought I saw something on the WVIT tower this morning as I drove by. Looks like it's attached now. Not swinging in the breeze. I'm guessing Arnold's picture was mid-installation.


Yep, CSI was ugly. Had to switch back to SD broadcast.

Not sure about ANC-DT and NBC-DT but the CBS-HD audio problem was not exclusive to Comcast. I experienced the constant audio drops via OTA. I had to watch the channel 3-2, the stretched upconverted Springfield equivalent of WFSB-DT. iI was hoping that 5.1 was going to pop in or something. Im going to shoot off an email to WFSB to see what the skinny is.

Currently Cox does not have any agreements with the local stations to rebroadcast. The people who are getting them are using off air HD tuners and getting very lucky. Cox is only supplying Motorola 5000/6000 series HD boxes. You cannot force the box to tune to any EAI channel. It will only tune to channels listed in the on screen guide, and will only tune to those channel numbers.

It sounds as if CKNA has a box supplied by cox. Maybe I got confused. Any idea when Cox will work this out?

Thanks for the feedback. Especially madpoet that it wasn't just my box (I really didn't think it was) and from AreBee that it wasn't even "cable-feed" specific. Those are great things to know! :)

I did call Comcast (Groton) this morning and the lady really wanted to believe I had a DVR (I even said it was an SA3100HD), anyways she said that some people have called in about the audio drops but she wanted to add it was video issues too. I corrected her version of the story and got an appointment (that I do not want) with a tech to visit, even though I asked what they could do and I though it would be pointless. *Shrug* Now to call back and cancel that tech visit for Saturday! Gotta love cable companies. :)

Is it me or do the cable companies that rebroadcast the HD feeds not get the personell up to speed (I know it's very new and I even started my conversation nicely pointing that out. I was just calling for some info and be a count on the "# people with the issue" list. *Shrug*) or know what is going on with the A/V feed? Atleast it's a friday.

Do what I do... call the local office at least twice a week and beg them to get the 6200s down here. We're being repressed with these stupid SA3100s! :)

But as of April1, I have to start dealing with Cox. *shudder*

Originally posted by mnky21
It sounds as if CKNA has a box supplied by cox. Maybe I got confused. Any idea when Cox will work this out?

The box CKNA is refering to is a LG Electronics LST-3410A. This is what is refered to as a Digital Set Top Box. Its primary function is to decode Off The Air(OTA) digital signals. When hooked up to the Cable signal, it is decoding a "clear QUAM" signal. It will not decode an encrypted QUAM signal, which is why he cannot get DiscoveryHD, ESPN HD, INHD 1 & 2, HBO HD or Showtime HD. To recieve these he would need a Motorola 5000/6000 series HD box, available from Cox. Unfortunately, there still is no agreement that allows Cox to rebroadcast the Local Affiliates, so with the Motorola box, you do not get the local affilates.

Schmitter

Ok, home now and just checked. I cannot get any cable HD from my Zenith HDV 420 box. Even trying to force it to EAI channels 109, 110, 111 and 112.

If you have an SA (Scientific Atlanta) box, that means that your cable company has SA head end equipment, and you cannot use a Motorola box. Likewise if you have a Motorola box, your cable company uses Motorola head end equipment and cannot use an SA box. Dern proprietary equipment.

So the question remains, wait until Cox gets the agreements necessary for the locals, buy an LG box and hope Cox doesn't start encoding the locals before they get the agreements, move to a Comcast area or get a library card and throw all this stuff in the garbage?

Originally posted by AreBee


I thought I saw something on the WVIT tower this morning as I drove by. Looks like it's attached now. Not swinging in the breeze. I'm guessing Arnold's picture was mid-installation.

The picture I posted was of the WTIC-DT antenna being hoisted. The WVIT-DT antenna is on a different tower.

Originally posted by schmitter
Ok, home now and just checked. I cannot get any cable HD from my Zenith HDV 420 box. Even trying to force it to EAI channels 109, 110, 111 and 112.

If you have an SA (Scientific Atlanta) box, that means that your cable company has SA head end equipment, and you cannot use a Motorola box. Likewise if you have a Motorola box, your cable company uses Motorola head end equipment and cannot use an SA box. Dern proprietary equipment.

So the question remains, wait until Cox gets the agreements necessary for the locals, buy an LG box and hope Cox doesn't start encoding the locals before they get the agreements, move to a Comcast area or get a library card and throw all this stuff in the garbage?

Zenith HDV420 does not receive QAM. Only latest tuners from LG do that.

Originally posted by achase
The picture I posted was of the WTIC-DT antenna being hoisted. The WVIT-DT antenna is on a different tower.

Was driving by the towers yesterday on the way to lowes in plainville. The antenna on WVIT is at the top of the tower which is good news for people not living on top of it. WTIC antenna doesnt look too high up on the tower which makes me think I am going to have trouble getting signal. Really dissapointed about that. Achase, how long are they planning to use this antenna until the permanent antenna is put up. Dont think they would of spent the money to put up temporary antenna for just a few months. Will permanent antenna be at the top of tower?

Yes, the permanent antenna will be at the top as part of a candelabra assembly. Do not expect the permanent antenna to be operational for another 12 months or so.

The WTIC-DT transmitter is now operational and feeding power into the test load. The antenna is mounted and at last word was being hooked up to the feedline. The station is scheduled to begin operations on Monday.

Arnold
:)

Whats up with wtnh right now I've got audio with a blank green screen,anybody else got this,who has a number to call about this,man I hope it's fixed before the academy awards tonight!!!! Great news on wtic now if wvit would get it together!!!! Thanks Jim

It's great that we have an insider like Arnold to keep us up on what is happening with WTIC-DT, but we have no one on the inside at WVIT to tell us what is happening over there. Outward appearances would seem, since the weather has held up for us, that WVIT should be very close to signing on WVIT-DT. Does any member of this forum have any idea of what is happening at WVIT?

It would also be nice if someone from WFSB (sucks!) who we know reads this forum, would stand up and give us a true update on their (lack of) progress. But no, they just lurk in the darkness, chuckling at our frustration.

I am also getting a green screen with Audio, its happenig on both my Dish 921 and 6000 receivers. Also I am only getting 10-2 (Remaping to 8-2) no other sub channels.

For some strange reason WFSB (which I always have a hard time getting) is coming in real strong!)

And WGBY out of Springfield I am getting only 1 channel on 58-1 however 2, 3 & 4 all have no sound and no picture. I wish they would run PBS's 24 hour HD channel. :)

How come Voom can offer WFSB-DT but I need a waiver from WFSB to get it from DirectTV??

Originally posted by JasonBourne
How come Voom can offer WFSB-DT but I need a waiver from WFSB to get it from DirectTV?? From recently reading the Voom web site ... the provide (sic) "networks" via off-the-air method, not via their satellite feed. Hence you get whatever they send over the satellite feed (somewhere between 25 and 29 HD channels depending on how you count them) ... and the rest you (hopefully) get by off-air reception. Ring them up and confirm it!

Originally posted by Scott Greczkowski
I am also getting a green screen with Audio, its happenig on both my Dish 921 and 6000 receivers. Also I am only getting 10-2 (Remaping to 8-2) no other sub channels.WTNH-DT is in green and not programming? As I understand it - currently WTNH-DT is encoding one sub-channel for ABC and dedicating a lot of bandwidth to it. Sometime soon the weather sub-channel should be back. If you're having a problem with WTNH-DT ... please post additional info; date and time would help as well ... and I'll relay it along.And WGBY out of Springfield I am getting only 1 channel on 58-1 however 2, 3 & 4 all have no sound and no picture. I wish they would run PBS's 24 hour HD channel. :) WGBY-DT switches back and forth between four SD channels and a single HD channel. I've noticed that on some boxes that decode the PSIP info and remember it - they may not behave properly. IMO, too many set top boxes require you to rescan the band to find the ATSC channels and then decode what those channels are offering. In many cases - when channels change the technical details of what's being encoded ... set top boxen may not be doing a good job of figuring out what's changed.

Right, for Voom it's whatever you can get OTA. I'm talking to them about their current offer now, and whether I want to do it. If I do, I'm going to go with my own antenna/rotor rather than rely on the antenna piece of their dish... if I can!

Originally posted by madpoet
Right, for Voom it's whatever you can get OTA. I'm talking to them about their current offer now, and whether I want to do it. If I do, I'm going to go with my own antenna/rotor rather than rely on the antenna piece of their dish... if I can! If the box has separate inputs for satellite and off-air antennas (which I would expect it should) ... then you should have no problem with your own antenna/rotor!

If they do something like combine up a UHF/VHF antenna that's mounted with their dish into the coax feed for the satellite - it may be a bit more difficult to get an antenna you provide into the box ... but not impossible.

I've looked over their web site ... and been emailing one other viewer that has the Voom setup locally here in western Mass. Be interested in any feedback you have in talking with them - offers, deals, etc. Where I live we've got Charter cable - but not much in the way of HD programming (and currently no ATSC stations on the cable). Been considering DirecTV HD setup - but this Voom, which seems pretty new (they only launched their first satellite mid-2003) may also be a reasonable source to consider.

The final adjustments are being made at this time to WTIC-DT (31). Everything is hooked up and ready to go. Although they are scheduled to begin operation tomorrow (Monday), they may actually be on the air this evening!

Arnold

P.S. - Relax, the photo of the transmitter was taken before it was completed!!!

C'mon WVIT, lets hear something!!! Does anybody hear anything that honestly makes them think WVIT will be on before summer of 2004???

scottte

Originally posted by scottte
C'mon WVIT, lets hear something!!! Does anybody hear anything that honestly makes them think WVIT will be on before summer of 2004???

scottte

I was driving past Rattlesnake mountain today on Rt 6 and I saw a new, side-mounted antenna near the top of WVIT's tower, seemingly completely installed in its "final" position so I would think there is not too much preventing them from signing on the air any time now... assuming the transmitter and feed lines are in place and they can get the programming to the building.

Originally posted by bfogelstrom
It would also be nice if someone from WFSB (sucks!) who we know reads this forum, would stand up and give us a true update on their (lack of) progress. But no, they just lurk in the darkness, chuckling at our frustration.

If I hear anything, I'll let you know <hehe> :D

Originally posted by RPMcCormick
WTNH-DT is in green and not programming? As I understand it - currently WTNH-DT is encoding one sub-channel for ABC and dedicating a lot of bandwidth to it. Sometime soon the weather sub-channel should be back. If you're having a problem with WTNH-DT ... please post additional info; date and time would help as well ... and I'll relay it along.

This afternoon I was getting a lime green screen, but was getting audio. No subchannels other when 8-2.

Tonight I turned on the Oscers and it was back to normal (although still no weather or sports sub carriers)

THE PQ was nice on the Oscers too, but man is Billy Christal getting old. :)

achase...any idea what happened with WTIC-DT tonight? They went on the air, I had a great signal of 100%, but the picture was really choppy. Right now, they are off the air. Something go wrong?

Comcast HD Audio Problem:

Anyone out there have Comcast HD and pick up the new HD box SA 3250HD.

I continue to have audio problems after trading in my 3100HD box for the new 3250HD box.

For example tonights Oscar telecast on Channel 180 the audio does not match the lips (i.e. chineese movie problem)

I am trying to determine if this is a 3250 box problem or a Comcast general problem with all boxes.

Called Comcast and they said "we will send tech out" i.e. worthless help line help.

Originally posted by Scott Greczkowski
This afternoon I was getting a lime green screen, but was getting audio. No subchannels other when 8-2.

Tonight I turned on the Oscers and it was back to normal (although still no weather or sports sub carriers)

THE PQ was nice on the Oscers too, but man is Billy Christal getting old. :)

Scott,

WTNH turned off subchannels couple months ago. They are running full data rate now.

Originally posted by PaulieORF
achase...any idea what happened with WTIC-DT tonight? They went on the air, I had a great signal of 100%, but the picture was really choppy. Right now, they are off the air. Something go wrong?

I haven't received an update on tonights progress however any digital processing problems can be fixed - what's most important is the carrier signal level that you received!

Great news to hear WTICDT comes in 100% in Prospect. I am having Voom installed Wednesday so I am hoping to get some channels ota. The Motorola reciever they use has separate inputs for antenna and dish so you can use your own antenna and rotor. 3 days and counting. RP, we also have charter cable and HD doesnt seem to be a high priority for them. They seem more interested in their DVR for 9.99 a month and their VOD service. I have given up waiting for them even though I can't complain about their picture quality on SD channels. Too hard to pass up 30 HD channels.

Achase,
I will check channel 31 in Mystic when I get home tonight. Any word on the xmitter power from your present set up? John

DaveB99,
I still have the SA3100HD from Comcast for my HD and in the beginning of the of the Oscars I had a bunch of audio issues. Cleared up right before the long comedic song. Last Thursday CBS-HD had audio dropouts also during CSI that I was annoyed with, but found out it was the CBS feed (OTA viewers reported the same issue). So it's hard to figure out some times if the issues are the STB or the feed.

About the STB, I have had my SA3100HD reset itself and have major issues locking onto the HD channels lately. This is trouble some. Can you please comment on your observations on the differences / improvements / anything of the SA3250HD in relation to the SA3100HD. Also do you believe they are freely (as in to anyone who asks) replacing the horrible SA3100HD boxes with the SA3250HD and what Comcast believes is the driving force to do this? And when did you get your box switched out? Sorry for all the questions.

PS Unfortunately just because Comcast has replaced some HD boxes in Clinton doesn't mean the Groton Comcast area can receive it but I can hope. I just might have to give them a call today based on your feedback! Thanks in advance.

I traded my 3100 for a 3250 2 weeks ago. Worse move I could of made. Seems to have major delay changing channels, getting guide to start up etc. I was hoping the picture would be better on the sd channels set a 420p output. I am not impressed. the 3100 at 420I was much sharper image. No difference in the HD pictures. The stretch and zoom modes in the box are not as good as the ones on my mits tv. Having Voom installed Wednesday and am going back to basic cable for 13.00 to get local weather channel and discount on internet service.

Hopefully someone can help me with an OTA antenna. Currently with my Terk TV-4 set top antenna on my first floor, I receive:

WFSB
WTXX
I think the Spanish channel

I'd like to be able to get ABC and others with a strong signal as they go live. I bought a 50" Radio Shack antenna to put in my attic, I really don't want something outside. I haven't hooked this up yet; but have a few questions:

* Do I need to mount this in my attic or can I just lay it on the floor?

* Am I likely to get a better signal with this large antenna in my attic vs the small set top antenna 2 stories down? Even with it on the floor?

* If I do have to mount this, there isn't enough room for me to rotate? Based on where I am (Middletown) could I get away with it stationary?

Thanks everyone. The reason I ask now is before I run all kinds of coax and mount (or preferably not mount) thing, I want feedback from others.

for those that may have caught a quick glimpse of WTIC DT, where is it??? Is it on 31-1 ??? I have a Hughes HTL, what channel should I be looking at?? Thanks!!

scottte

Originally posted by CKNA
Scott,

WTNH turned off subchannels couple months ago. They are running full data rate now.

CKNA shows you how much I watch WTNH, you know the problems I had with them in the past. :)

Hey have you got a chance to play with a 921 yet?

I am still considering getting an OTA antenna installed from American Satellite. I live in Old Saybrook, does anyone know what channels I should be able to get in HD in Old Saybrook? It's going to cost $750 to have it done so I want to make sure it will be worth it. I can't install it myself and don't know anyone that could so that would be my only route. I am getting the new HD DirecTiVo in a month so I want to be ready. I have a Samsung SIR-TS160 now. I tried one of those indoor radio shack antennas and I couldn't get anything here in Old Saybrook. I really want CBS in HD and hopefully they will be full power eventually. So basically I am just trying to justify buying this. I already get all the network locals from DirecTV so I would only be using this to get HD content.

Thanks.

-Joe

pmalve,
Thanks for the feedback on the switch from SA3100HD to SA3250HD with Comcast. I have been reading up on other threads about the SA3250HD and it seems it has a ton of features that are definately very interesting and much better than the old SA3100HD, but alot of people do no like some aspects of it.

One question, what setting did you use on the SA3250HD? It seems that setting it for "Pass-Through" mode and enabling 720p (disabled as default) if you can do 720p appears to be a "fix" for the PQ comments most people have. Just wondering if you tried these routes.

Any other SA3250HD user out there? Feelings from going from the SA3100HD?

I got this from WVIT this morning:

It's been a rough winter with the cold and wind albeit the past few days you wouldn't know. In any event, the antenna got put up last Thursday, and the last variable piece of line is being put in today. If the line sweep goes well, and we get the authorization from the commission, we should be on later this week. It has not been a kind winter for tower work. Anytime the temps were under 35 (which they were allot) or the winds at the 900 ' level were higher than 25 mph, we could work. There were a lot of days like that, especially the cold.
Dave

I have the moto 6200 from Cox. Is there anyway to bypass the channels that cox has on the box to view the local HD channels that some people are receiving?

Originally posted by Beaker1024
pmalve,
Thanks for the feedback on the switch from SA3100HD to SA3250HD with Comcast. I have been reading up on other threads about the SA3250HD and it seems it has a ton of features that are definately very interesting and much better than the old SA3100HD, but alot of people do no like some aspects of it.

...

Any other SA3250HD user out there? Feelings from going from the SA3100HD?

I would like to know this too. Beaker, could you list some of the features that you thought were most advantageous for an upgrade? Things I would like to solve from my 3100HD:

The ability to make the grey side bars black instead of grey for non-widescreen shows.
The ability of the box to pass sound from the analog channels through the digital audio connection.
On the 3100HD, sometimes when you are using the channel up/down keys the picture will not show up. You have to go up and down again in order for it to come back.