Welcome to the western carolinas Billy. I certainly appreciate you coming on the board to let people know what is happening. If all stations would try to communicate better with their end users I think the frustration levels of many would be diminished. I normally do not have reception problems with WLOS-DT. The main thing I dislike during your HD broadcasts is that at the top of every hour you switch from HD to SD to show your call letters. No other stations seem to do this.

So Billy, since you're on the inside, do you know if there's any near-future hope of getting WLOS on Charter?

Welcome Billy. Glad to see your presense here. I will continue to post comments in an effort to help you improve things. :)

My understanding is that WLOS has power problems at their site on Mt. Pisgah which started when they lost their main generator several weeks ago. That is when people in the Upstate, me included, started to have problems with their digital signal. When they increase power at the moment, they actually have to have someone at the site. If you have seen where their transmitter is on Mt. Pisgah, you'll understand the problem with that.

I think a great deal has to be done there before they can go full power. I understand the frustrations you all have. I assure you I have them too. I was on my roof yesterday tweaking my antenna to try to get every last bit of signal. I will say this though: they seem to be working on it. They did have someone at the site last night so that they could have a greater coverage area for the Super Bowl. They absolutely want to cover the Upstate with their signal. I have no idea what the corporate attitude is, but WLOS seems to have some personnel that are trying hard to get things going.

Thanks for the welcome everyone...

As far as getting our HD-SD on Charter, all I know is that "negotiations are ongoing". I have been told that everything less the encoder has been in place at the studio for some time now, so as soon as an agreement is reached, it should be connected very quickly.

Jeff was correct about the generator. Mt. Pisgah is around 5,700 ft (I think) and the weather up there is nothing like in Asheville. We are VERY prone to having power outages due to ice and snow, or fallen trees. Our generator went down after a test run when it oversped and had to be manually shut off. This damaged several internal parts. It must be removed from the site and hauled back to the Manufacturer to be repaired. This project is currently underway, however it is a BIG project to get a 750Kw generator and engine off that mountain! So in the meantime, we are using a "portable" 350Kw generator, which can not handle the full power load from the transmitter site. This means that unless we have a body on site, we have to run at reduced power on analog and digital. Everyone on the site does for that matter. Feb is sweeps time, so we have someone there most of the day and night to keep power up. The generator is not the reason our digital signal is not at 100% however. But we are working on both issues even as I post this.

Sinclair is doing everything in their power to get our situation in order. It's not a case of "they don't care". Our entire engineering staff is working very hard to get our digital conversion completed and working smoothly.

Thanks for posting and informing us of the situation. Pulling 24/7 shifts on the mountain sounds like a real plum assignment. :eek: Any frostbite incidents yet?

Will WLOS be more generous in the granting of waivers so that those of us with D* or E* can get the national network feeds until the local situation is resolved?

This would seem to be a reasonable stopgap measure and would placate many of us on this board.

Billy,

Thanks for joining the forum. As others have pointed out, I also believe all of our frustrations would be diminished if we had more communication. Please continue to monitor the board and give us updates on your progress. Can you give us any guesstimate as to when some of the repairs/upgrades will take place?

Like many of us, I struggle to receive a consistent signal. I live in Clemson. I spent most of Sunday afternoon adjusting my antenna in hopes of improving the signal well enough to watch the Super Bowl. Fortunately, I was able to gain just enough signal strength to minimize drop outs and was able to watch most of the game/commercials.

Billy---

Thanks for joining us. I apologize again if I come of as an irate customer. I was pretty frustrated for the Big Game last night. In any case, I appreciate you posting and monitoring and I hope WLOS/Sinclair can get this stuff ironed out.

Gabriel

Kudos to WLOS and welcome Billy. I am in East Asheville and recieve a 90-100% signal off of a set of rabbit ears. $15.00 rabbit ears. I also recieve FOX and the UNC channels at about 85-90%. Had a Super Bowl party and everyone was extremely impressed with the PQ. Keep up the good work and keep us informed.

I don't think the waivers will be allowed at this time. Corp. sent out an e-mail stating the guidelines, and I have not had a chance to read it yet, but from what I was told they are not going to offer any to anyone that can get our analog signal at Grade B strength. So if you can get our analog signal, you will not be granted a waiver at this time. Things may change once we do get up to power and can see what our coverage area will be like. But it is not up to us to grant them at this time.

The timeframe for getting our digital up to 100% is not established yet. We are currently working with Acrodyne to find out why the transmitter won't make power. We are waiting for Dilectric to come out and check our transmission lines, hopefully by March, and this will tell us if what we suspect to be wrong is actually the problem. Then, if all goes well, we will know what to do to repair the problem. If that does not tell us anything, we are back where we are now. That's really all I can tell you about it at this point. We have changed out almost every piece of the transmitter over the past couple of months, and it just does not seem to effect it.

Billy
Having a unexplained problem can be extremely frustrating (up and down the latter, turning the mast).. understanding the problelm is big a help. Thanks for coming on board. Hopefully we will be more understanding.

Billy
Having a unexplained problem can be extremely frustrating (up and down the latter, turning the mast).. understanding the problelm is big a help. Thanks for coming on board. Hopefully we will be more understanding.

You probably spent a couple of grand on the HDTV set - why not spend another $50 and get a rotor for the antenna???

Believe me, I don't have to mess with mine very often, but when I do, it's a real benefit!!!

Anyone know of piece of test equipment that would act as a tunable signal strength meter that can be used at the antenna? In future installations, this would save a bunch of ladder climbing, antenna turning, and cussing.

I am still using three antennas pointing towards Pisgah, Greenville, and Spartanburg, feeding a three way switch. I tried a rotor, but it was too slow for my liking.

bstratton1 --
As noted above your communications will go a long way in muting the anger over lack of communications, and incorrect information, that has been great frustration in your potential receiving area. This has caused unnecessary expense and time on the part of DR owners. Even the local big box stores continue to tell the public there are no local HDTV signals, thinking in terms of cable and satellite. Your station is the only one in this area that continues to not acknowledge communnications--including letters and phone calls--from the top down. In my recent attempts to identify the problem for not receiving captions on a Samsung receiver gained helpful information from all stations, but WLOS.
Welcome to the area.

Jerry,

I can't speak for anyone else, but I am sorry to hear that you have not been offered any answers to your question. I'm not sure if you have resolved it yet or not. As far as ABC goes, they are not broadcasting CC along with their HD programming yet. We are not sure why they don't seem to be concerned about this, but that is why we (WLOS) don't have CC during primetime and other HD shows. As for our upconverted signal, we are constantly checking this, even to the point of dedicating several monitoring stations to closed captioning ONLY. We do have occasional problems with sat feeds and every now and then a tape machine will not record the CC although we know it was there.

We did find a problem as well with E* customers not getting CC during network programming (other than HD), and that was taken care of very nicely by the local E* engineer about 2 weeks ago.

With the big box stores not promoting local HD, that does hurt everyone... including us at WLOS. If local interest would perk up and we received more demand for HD programming, then things would move along at a faster pace. Not just here in our market area, but nation wide. It boils down to Economics 101: Supply and Demand. Over the past several years I have become "used" to HD programming, even to the point that I would rather watch a show I don't care for over an analog show I like! (If I see the Discovery Channel's "Amazon" show one more time it may be a world record) Crazy how we evolve. But I am now convinced that there is hope. My father recently bought a 46" plasma. If he can realize the future is here, then I think everyone can. It only takes education and a little old fashioned "seeing is believing". It did help too that I would invite him over to watch football and nascar racing in HD every weekend. :cool:

Having read the article in last week's Citizen-Times about what a person needed to recieve HD OTA, I have begun a journey to help educate the uninitiated in this area about what is available on the digital spectrum. I wrote to the reporter and offered my assitance, so that people get the facts. I realize that I don't know everything about this new revolution, but I can offer what i have learned. I did this in a manner of kindness so that it would be recieved with enthusiasm. We need to offer our assitance and not our anger. Thanks Jerry for pointing this out.

Billy,

I don't think senior management at WLOS understands how our viewing habits change with HD. Most people with HD will watch HD. As you pointed out, we find ourselves watching programming that otherwise we would have tuned out. For many of us, WLOS is not an HD option (no supply). In time, when demand does increase and WLOS wants to supply that demand (ratings) will our viewing habits already be set? In other words, there is a risk to not making the investments now in HD even though current demand doesn't support it. The demand (us) may be watching other HD supply (FOX, CBS, NBC, etc.) by the time economics 101 kicks in for WLOS. :)

jeffmueller --
Re AC-T, good for you. Keep us posted as to the results. Most of the AC-T "electronics" info is written by an industry consultant, with a financial agenda. We got good press for a while in Greenville; I should send him a note asking for an update.

I'm assuming this part of the country will be blacked out for ESPN's HD feed of the big hoops game tonite. Guess it will be good old standard def on WLOS. Can't say I'm thrilled by this. Wish there was some way WLOS-DT could pass us the HD feed on 13-1 but I know I'm dreaming. :(

I'm assuming this part of the country will be blacked out for ESPN's HD feed of the big hoops game tonite. Guess it will be good old standard def on WLOS. Can't say I'm thrilled by this. Wish there was some way WLOS-DT could pass us the HD feed on 13-1 but I know I'm dreaming. :(

If it makes you feel better, ESPN does not show this game on their HDTV schedule. But when tournament time comes ..... :mad:

As far as ABC goes, they are not broadcasting CC along with their HD programming yet. We are not sure why they don't seem to be concerned about this, but that is why we (WLOS) don't have CC during primetime and other HD shows.


That surprises me, because WOLO-DT in Columbia does show CC during HD material from ABC: the Super Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, and the primetime shows that I've spot-checked. They're showing CC on "According to Jim" as I write this. Are they adding the captions themselves from the SD feed? (I suppose I really should ask Bob from WOLO/WCCB about this, since he posts in the Columbia thread...)

That surprises me, because WOLO-DT in Columbia does show CC during HD material from ABC: the Super Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, and the primetime shows that I've spot-checked. They're showing CC on "According to Jim" as I write this. Are they adding the captions themselves from the SD feed? (I suppose I really should ask Bob from WOLO/WCCB about this, since he posts in the Columbia thread...)

My guess would be yes, they are outsourcing the programming for CC. We (Sinclair) are also looking into the various options for this, including a server based "voice recognition" type of gadget that will caption any and all audio. I have not read alot about it to know much more than that. I just get the e-mails being shuffled along.

As for WLOS being left behind when the demand increases... we are well aware of this! It's not a lack of investing more money, it's already been done. It's just that we have a problem, somewhere, and until we find it we will be limping along.

I know many of you here may have knowledge of how the broadcast business works. But for those that might not, it's changing by the day! I may go in tomorrow and hear that the FCC has put a new directive on Closed Captioning (for instance), and that we are not currently complying with the new regs. So we have to drop what we are doing, and start working on this. Once we are ready to get back at the previous project, we learn that our network is going to upgrade there network delivery and someone will be there in 2 days, so we need to install cables and make rack space available. Then, a storm comes through Cherokee and knocks out our translator, so we have to drive down there to repair that. Once we are ready to get back to the original project, FCC as reworded the CC regs to include this... and so on. These times are changing at lightening pace as far as technology goes, and we are caught up in the middle of it the broadcast industry. Personally, I love it! It sure beats working 9-5 in a cubical, for me anyway. Broadcasters also tend to wait. Why? Because they have been doing this for a long time, and they know that if they buy this new thing-a-ma-bob today, it will be 1/2 the price in a few years, and probably outdated. So they wait until they are sure it's for real and going to be around a long time, or until the FCC rules that we MUST have it by next week. Trust me on this, the FCC can sometimes make something that is clear, very muddy!

I'm not complaining about any of this... just trying to put it into perspective for anyone that don't really know what we are trying to do. I'm sure we are no different than any other regulated industry either.

bstratton1
Re: you joining this thread

WOW............ man it is extremely nice to finally find out what in the world is going on. Thank you!!!

My guess would be yes, they are outsourcing the programming for CC. We (Sinclair) are also looking into the various options for this, including a server based "voice recognition" type of gadget that will caption any and all audio. I have not read alot about it to know much more than that. I just get the e-mails being shuffled along.

Hey Billy, here is an idea, if you already have the infrastructure in place.

We have a digital news set (not HD, just SDI digital) and all of our CC equipment is analog so that means that our newscasts do not have CC on them. To correct that, I took the analog to digital upconverter CC output that has all of our analog programing running through it and send it to the Harmonic HD encoder and we now have CC on all of our newscasts. This means that our analog CC is always ported over to the digital stream no matter what digital source we have on the air for CC.

Just a thought.

Foxeng... that is a great idea and I will look into it ASAP! I'm guessing the delay is not enough to worry about by doing this? I'm not totally sure how we have ours setup right now. I have only been here about 6 weeks now and haven't had much time in the studio yet. But I will ask some questions and see if this would be possible for us to do.

Thank You

Foxeng... that is a great idea and I will look into it ASAP! I'm guessing the delay is not enough to worry about by doing this? I'm not totally sure how we have ours setup right now. I have only been here about 6 weeks now and haven't had much time in the studio yet. But I will ask some questions and see if this would be possible for us to do.

Thank You

To be honest, the latency in the CC is just about right for digital so the delay is minimual.

I guess I need to clarify that our production studio (where we do the news) is all digital and it has to be downconverted to analog for the analog master switcher and in that process is where the analog production CC encoder is located on that D/A downconversion. On the digital side, we just take the SDI output straight to a 4x1 SDI router that switches analog upconvert, production, commerial playback server and an SD version of net in case the splicer fails that then goes into the 480i to 720p upconverter and then on to the HD encoder. The digital CC decoder is between the A/D converter and the 4x1 router on the analog upconverter line which has CC all of the time. That digital CC decoder then runs RS-232 to the HD encoder where the CC is then inserted into the HD stream so no matter what the status is for the digital CC, we pull the analog CC and port it to digital so it is always there, to meet the FCC requirements. It is a low tech hick way of doing it, but it works and has worked since 2002 for us. If it works for you, great! Glad to help! If it is of no value, don't worry about it!

RE HD CC:
Quoting from above: "I'm guessing the delay is not enough to worry about by doing this?" Beats not having CC at all, but believe me it is a very serious problem and can defeat the use of CC in the confusion the delay causes. As for FCC involvement in CC, I believe the regulation is very clear...and in discussions with commission members it is a one of those viewer complaints that draws attention.

By the way WLOS, if your prime time network programming does not have Captions, please eliminate the notation from your program listings.

RE HD CC:
Quoting from above: "I'm guessing the delay is not enough to worry about by doing this?" Beats not having CC at all, but believe me it is a very serious problem and can defeat the use of CC in the confusion the delay causes. As for FCC involvement in CC, I believe the regulation is very clear...and in discussions with commission members it is a one of those viewer complaints that draws attention.

By the way WLOS, if your prime time network programming does not have Captions, please eliminate the notation from your program listings.

There will be times when you will have CC delay, even analog. If there is live captioning occuring, you could have as much as 4 seconds delay from the time the words are spoken, the human, who is in some remote location even in another state, has to hear the words, type them in, then send them back to the show and then be inserted into the feed. Then your receiver, analog or digital has to decode it and display it. This all takes time. The only time you can have it in perfect sync might be with a prerecorded show that has had the post time to get it right.

Jerry, WLOS primetime network shows DO have captioning. It's the network fed HD programs that do not.

Thanks again foxeng... I won't be able to look into it this week. But I will check it out as soon as I can.

Re WLOS CC -- Sorry I miscommunicated: I was referring to Network Primetime dramatic series such as last night's House. Your local captions (including news' scripts serving as captions) come through without a problem. But I have no problem understanding Darcel and company...only with the slurred speach of too many of today's actors in dramatic series. Even Bill Shatner can be understood!

And for the record, I am all too well aware of the types of origination of Captions.

Hi All:

A little history...
When Charter first announced HDTV - I jumped. Got a 51" Hitachi CRT-RP and the cable HD feed - then VOOM - I VOOM'd until it was gone. I'm back on Charter now. I find that I, like many here, won't watch much of anything that isn't HD.

The problem...
My new house is almost (finally) done. The house is in Laurens County, off Greenpond road (not far from Hwy 101), between Fountain Inn and Gray Court. I do not have cable in this new location. I am leaning towards getting Dish and the local HDTV feeds OTA. I've been to antennaweb and many other sites but don't yet have a definitive answer. I'm leaning towards getting a CM4228 8-bay with rotor and CM7777 amplifier. Any advise and/or pointers? Any great installers? Any other suggestions?

Thanks!
Jeff

Hi All:

A little history...
When Charter first announced HDTV - I jumped. Got a 51" Hitachi CRT-RP and the cable HD feed - then VOOM - I VOOM'd until it was gone. I'm back on Charter now. I find that I, like many here, won't watch much of anything that isn't HD.

The problem...
My new house is almost (finally) done. The house is in Laurens County, off Greenpond road (not far from Hwy 101), between Fountain Inn and Gray Court. I do not have cable in this new location. I am leaning towards getting Dish and the local HDTV feeds OTA. I've been to antennaweb and many other sites but don't yet have a definitive answer. I'm leaning towards getting a CM4228 8-bay with rotor and CM7777 amplifier. Any advise and/or pointers? Any great installers? Any other suggestions?

Thanks!
Jeff

Just a suggestion, but you should really consider DirectTV. They don't have Voom, but they are getting thier act together. Today they announced TNTHD will be on the air 17Feb06. I believe that within the next 10-15 months they will surpass Dish in the HD arena. This is just my opinion. For the announcement of TNT go to http://www.satelliteguys.us and go to the DirectTV HD forums. This is great news.

Hi All:

. I've been to antennaweb and many other sites but don't yet have a definitive answer. I'm leaning towards getting a CM4228 8-bay with rotor and CM7777 amplifier. Any advise and/or pointers? Any great installers? Any other suggestions?

Thanks!
Jeff

Jeff, I have a cm 4248 with the cm 7777. I am very happy with my results. 13 has been iffy at times, but over the last 2 months I have few drop outs with WLOS and thanks to their new engineer, we know things will get better with them. 4, 7, & 21 are strong 98% of the time. It looks as we are about the same distance from 13 & 21 so unless you are sitting in a valley I would think the 4228 & 7777 would provide a good picture. The 4228 is more directional than the 4248. With the rotor that should be no problem. Good Luck.

My new house is almost (finally) done. The house is in Laurens County, off Greenpond road (not far from Hwy 101), between Fountain Inn and Gray Court. I do not have cable in this new location. I am leaning towards getting Dish and the local HDTV feeds OTA. I've been to antennaweb and many other sites but don't yet have a definitive answer. I'm leaning towards getting a CM4228 8-bay with rotor and CM7777 amplifier.

I'm in Clinton, so I'm about 20 miles further from the Greenville stations than you are. I use a Radio Shack VU190XR combination VHF/UHF antenna that I bought in Laurens, with a rotator but no preamp. It's what I happened to have for analog TV when I started to investigate digital TV last year. I get all the Greenville-area digital stations OK, the biggest exception being WHNS (ch 21) because its digital signal is on ch 57 and I get some interference from analog ch 57 (WACH) out of Columbia. I have to aim my antenna carefully so one of its nulls is aimed towards WACH. Another exception is WUNF (33), the PBS station in Asheville, because its digital signal (ch 25) is not very strong to begin with and I get some interference from analog 25 (WOLO) out of Columbia.

This spring I'll probably add a CM7777, and then consider whether to move to a CM4228 antenna plus a dedicated high-VHF antenna, but this will be mainly to improve reception from stations in Charlotte and Columbia.

Found it!
Now I have to decide if the meter is worth the $.
http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?PROD=DIGIAIR&xzoom=zoom#xview

jtbell, where would I find a dedicated high-vhf antenna? When everything settles in a couple of years, I hope to receive the Atlanta channels( since I live in Ga. ) Ch. 11 has chosen ch. 10 for their dt broadcast. So 11 or 10 will be their final decision, probably. I have looked for vhf only antennas to combine with my current uhf, with no results. Thanks

The one that was suggested to me is the Antennacraft Y-10-7-13 (http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/y10713.htm).

I've got a PDF spec sheet (don't remember where I got it) that indicates a gain of 9.4 dB, a half-power beamwidth of 44.5 degrees, and a front/back ratio of 16.5 dB.

It looks like in principle I might be able to get something on all the high-VHF channels after the analog shutdown:

7 - WSPA (Spartanburg CBS)
8 - WOLO (Columbia ABC)
9 - WNTV (Greenville PBS)
10 - WIS (Columbia NBC)
11 - WTVI (Charlotte PBS, doubtful because of low power)
12 - WDRW (Augusta CBS)
13 - WLOS (Asheville ABC)

Does this mean I need to get a VHF/UHF combo antenna or add a VHF? I've been looking at UHF only (the CM4228).

Thanks!
Jeff


It looks like in principle I might be able to get something on all the high-VHF channels after the analog shutdown:

7 - WSPA (Spartanburg CBS)
8 - WOLO (Columbia ABC)
9 - WNTV (Greenville PBS)
10 - WIS (Columbia NBC)
11 - WTVI (Charlotte PBS, doubtful because of low power)
12 - WDRW (Augusta CBS)
13 - WLOS (Asheville ABC)

Until the analog shutoff in 2009 you can get away with UHF only. The only stations in the area that that use VHF for digital signals now are

WOLO-25 (Columbia ABC) - digital ch 8
WNTV-29 (Greenville SCETV) - digital ch 9
WTVI-42 (Charlotte PBS) - digital ch 11

For ABC you can use WLOS-13 (digital ch 56) and for SCETV you can use either WRET-49 (digital ch 43) or WNEH (digital ch 18). WTVI is so weak that I can pick it up only occasionally, in the middle of the night with very good weather conditions.

But after analog shutoff, both WLOS and WSPA are going to move their digital signals to their old VHF channels, so you'll have to allow for VHF at some point. (Actually WLOS isn't certain yet, I think... there are issues with potential interference with a station in Chattanooga.)

Great, thank you. I'll just add VHF if / when needed.
Until the analog shutoff in 2009 you can get away with UHF only.

Any suggestions for source and / or installers?
I'm leaning towards getting a CM4228 8-bay with rotor and CM7777 amplifier.

Thanks all!
Jeff

Anybody have any idea when D* is going to add the Greenville/Sptbg/Asheville locals in HD? This market is the 35th ranked DMA. I'm so tired of being out here without a reliable way of getting CBS,NBC,ABC and FOX in HD. I'm 60 miles from Greenville and 90 miles from WLOS. I have a CM4228 with the CM777 preamp and I have never consistently gotten WLOS and the others come and go depending on the wind, weather, etc... Every time I ask for a waiver thru D* I get rejected and D* claims there hands are tied and that the local affiliates decide who gets waivers. I just about shot the TV during the Super Bowl. I realize the quality won't be the same via mpeg4 from D* but unless the locals power up further or the technology for capturing the signal improves I'm stuck. Enough ranting. Thanks for listening.

HDless in Greenwood

krfuquamd

Anybody have any idea when D* is going to add the Greenville/Sptbg/Asheville locals in HD?
HDless in Greenwood

krfuquamd I'm not sure if either dish or direct is offering the locals in hd in any market as of today's date. Chicago, L A & N Y may be exceptions. Have you tired looking to Columbia for a better signal ? I have no idea what Columbia offers. According to everything I have read your combination 4228 & 7777 is as good as you can get. I'm thinking of that combination this summer to get the Atlanta broadcasts. Hope things get better.

Engineering staffs aside, if the affiliates were worth a darn, few people would ask for a waiver. Come to think of it, the greed of the affiliates created the waivers.

Anybody have any idea when D* is going to add the Greenville/Sptbg/Asheville locals in HD? This market is the 35th ranked DMA. I'm so tired of being out here without a reliable way of getting CBS,NBC,ABC and FOX in HD. I'm 60 miles from Greenville and 90 miles from WLOS. I have a CM4228 with the CM777 preamp and I have never consistently gotten WLOS and the others come and go depending on the wind, weather, etc... Every time I ask for a waiver thru D* I get rejected and D* claims there hands are tied and that the local affiliates decide who gets waivers. I just about shot the TV during the Super Bowl. I realize the quality won't be the same via mpeg4 from D* but unless the locals power up further or the technology for capturing the signal improves I'm stuck. Enough ranting. Thanks for listening.

HDless in Greenwood

krfuquamd
I have been working to get waivers thru the local channels off and on for the past 1.5 years. I have been succesful in getting WSPA to grant mine for CBS. I now have CBSHD from New York. WYFF is another story. I have called, written emails, talked to the engineering dept. all to no avail. I get all the other majors from a set of rabbit ears, so I guess I am one of the lucky ones. Don't waste your time requesting a signal test, these will not be available until May if at all. I have contacted D* about LILHD and they cannot give me any date other that this year sometime. This may be a stupid question, but have you put your address in www.antennaweb.org to see which way you need to point your antenna? How far are you from Columbia? Looks to me like you need to go to the thread for "Columbia, SC - HDTV"

I'm about 60 miles from Columbia and Augusta as well and they are further behind the HD times than the Greenville/Sptbg stations. I try not to take anything from Columbia except a win every other year at Willy Brice! Inside joke.

I have had this setup for 4 yrs and I have waited for four years for the local affiliates to get with the program. I can get WSPA most of the time, NBC so/so, FOX better recently and WLOS is just pitiful. But I can't reliably count on any of them. I used antennaweb 4 yrs ago and I check it periodically. From what I understand my antenna/preamp combo is still the choice for longe range reception.

Even worse is the facy that the Greenwood cable company, Northland, is so far behind the times. When I called once to ask about HD they said they already have digital cable!

krfuquamd

Not really sure what you mean "behind the times". I can't speak for everyone but the HD content that I recieve seems to be pretty decent. Sure the stations are showing signs of growing pains, but on the whole I think they are doing pretty well. The only problem that I see is communication and I believe this will grow with the technology. You should maybe try Charlotte or Columbia for the ABC programming as they seem closer than WLOS. And I am not sure , but I don't think WLOS is at full power yet. You might think about getting a rotor to turn the antennea. I remember in the early 60's when my Dad put a 60 foot mast on the house, so that we could get stations out of Illinois that were broadcasting in color. One program I remember vividly was RAT PATROL and in the beginning credits it said "NOW IN COLOR" Wow what a revolution in technology that was. When we decide to buy a house you will know our place by the 60 ft mast.

Not really sure what you mean "behind the times". I can't speak for everyone but the HD content that I recieve seems to be pretty decent. Sure the stations are showing signs of growing pains, but on the whole I think they are doing pretty well. The only problem that I see is communication and I believe this will grow with the technology. You should maybe try Charlotte or Columbia for the ABC programming as they seem closer than WLOS. And I am not sure , but I don't think WLOS is at full power yet. You might think about getting a rotor to turn the antennea. I remember in the early 60's when my Dad put a 60 foot mast on the house, so that we could get stations out of Illinois that were broadcasting in color. One program I remember vividly was RAT PATROL and in the beginning credits it said "NOW IN COLOR" Wow what a revolution in technology that was. When we decide to buy a house you will know our place by the 60 ft mast.

Anybody else getting weird reception on WSPA tonight? Ghost Whisperer is showing some major macroblocking and the screen is mostly green. The weather looks fine on 7.2 and my signal meter is staying steady at ~70%...

--Cross

**edit: Seems as soon as this was posted the problem was fixed. Must have been at the station.**

WYFF-DT putting an extra strong signal this evening to this boondock location.

Anyone...what is the 33-100 UNC-DA that I am now receiving from WUNF-DT?
From the Greenville, NC HDTV thread:

The 2-100 or 25-100 etc. channel that you are receiving is a datacast channel.
Receivers are not really supposed to tune this but several are.
At present it has data for agricultural extension service. We, UNC-TV are participating in an experiment and placing data receivers at rural ag extension offices around NC. We are doing this in conjunction with NC State University.
Receivers that are not fully ATSC compliant will show this channel.

__________________
Wayne Estabrooks
Chief Engineer - Transmission
UNC-TV

Is it just me, or is 4.1 NBC having problems? I'm losing picture and audio, finally went to sd.
Never have any problems with 4, except tonight during the olympics.

Is it just me, or is 4.1 NBC having problems? I'm losing picture and audio, finally went to sd.
Never have any problems with 4, except tonight during the olympics.

Likewise in Anderson. Usually no problem with 4, but the signal is bouncing all over the place. Also getting dropouts even when the signal stays strong. I know it's windy, but.......

Is it just me, or is 4.1 NBC having problems? I'm losing picture and audio, finally went to sd.
Never have any problems with 4, except tonight during the olympics.

Same thing is happening on Charter, too.

I'm getting those dropouts on WYFF, too. The signal strength isn't fluctuating any more than usual on my meter, and the meter doesn't seem to be affected by the dropouts at all. And doesn't look like a network thing because I just saw some dropouts in what look like local commercials.

[added a few minutes later] I looked at today's Olympics thread in the HDTV Programming forum here. We're not the only ones seeing problems. Tonight's snowstorm in New York is disrupting NBC's transmissions. So those must not have been local commercials I was looking at, after all.

:(

The reason for dropouts (those with no change in signal strength) on WYFF-DT tonight (2/11) during the Olympics is due to an intermittent feed from NBC. The snow storm hitting New York is the cause. Unfortunately, NBC's HD feed has a much lower fade margin than the SD feed.

Sorry,
Doug

Anyone here from the Flat Rock area near Hendersonville NC? I can get WHNS from my 4228 and HTL-HD. Not much luck with anything else. Antennaweb says WASV and WSPA are in reach but so far no dice. Any suggestions?

I'm a few miles west of you and regularly receive Spartanburg and Greenville. There are times when I can't watch WHNS even though I can see the tower.

According to everything I have read your combination 4228 & 7777 is as good as you can get. I'm thinking of that combination this summer to get the Atlanta broadcasts. Hope things get better.

Don, I live about 10 miles east of you, a little south of Westminster on Lake Hartwell. I receive the local stations pretty well with a rooftop antenna, and although I have a rotor, I have found a position where I get everything well, so I don't need to move it on a regular basis.

I have tried to see Atlanta, but in my location, there is no indication that there is any signal at all. This could be for two reasons...

1-Toccoa channel 32 is right in line, and is VERY strong here. It may be overloading the preamp.

2-As you leave Toccoa heading West, the land rises to almost 1500 Ft, which I expect pretty well blocks the signals (I am at about 700 Ft.)

I have an HDTV tuner which plugs into a laptop, and an extra high-gain UHF antenna which can be carried around. Perhaps we can get together sometime at your place and give it a try.

Stop the presses!! I don't know if WLOS did something today, but I am getting WLOS at 100%!!!!! I did update my HDTV card drivers on my PC, but I can't believe a software update would have that dramatic effect on the signal. Whatever it is, THANK YOU!

[QUOTE=gjlowe]Stop the presses!! I don't know if WLOS did something today, but I am getting WLOS at 100%!!!!!

Must have been the snow on your side of the mountain. No snow here, no increase in signal as of 5 p.m. Still running around 75 on the meter, but will increase tonight up to 82, if things remain as usual. I'm happy with 75 or higher. Must be your lucky day.

The snow? Oh no! Does that mean when it melts I am back to no ABC-HD? I was hoping to finally see Lost in HD this week!!

[QUOTE=rchalk]
I have tried to see Atlanta, but in my location, there is no indication that there is any signal at all.

If 13.1 can hold their present signal strength, I have no problems with the Greenville four. However, this spring may bring a different story.
I don't understand the ch. 32 thing. I live about 4 miles from their transmitter and get NO signal on my Digital Stream (ProBrand) receiver. I'm not complaining, if I need to watch them (Friday night football) I can get them on a small loop on the rf input.
As for Atlanta, I'm at about 900 ft. (I think) and my line puts me just southwest of the 1500 ft elevation. Most days I can receive 17.1, 43.1, 46.1 and 69. That only gives me CBS (46.1), as the others are independents. 46.1 has a good signal, the others are borderline.
Not retired here, maybe we can give the high-gain antenna a try this summer.
Thanks.

Interesting call just now. I'm having a plasma TV put in my family room next week. In anticipation of this I called D* last week and requested another HD receiver to go with the H10 I already have in the media room. They agreed to send me one but would not garuntee me it would be the H20, only that it would be an HD receiever. They also told me I was not in a location that was due for the upgraded dish so I would not need the H20 right now and if/when the SC region gets upgraded they would then upgrade my dish and receivers at the same time. I told them it did not make sense to send me a H10 now, send an installer out, and then later in the year have them return to upgrade the dish and receivers but then alot of what D* does sometimes doesn't make sense.

Installer called about an hour ago to confirm appointment in am. I asked him if he could change my 5x4 multiswitch out for a 5x8 since I needed the extra outputs and he says something about my needing a special 6x8 multiswitch. Ding, Ding, Ding. I said are you planning to put in the upgraded dish tomorrow am and he says yes sir, I have been in Atlanta doing upgrades for some time now and I just received this order for your upgrade. I will be putting in the new HD dish for HD LIL's!

Any idea if this means any thing at all? Have others had their dishes upgraded in this area? Just curious. Boy I hope it indicates something is coming our way soon.

krfuquamd

Just joined today. Thanks to Doug at WYFF for pointing me in this direction.

Ever since WLOS started broadcasting, I've had video (never audio) problems with their HD signal. At first I thought it was just signal strenght problems, but after watching the Super Bowl I believe the problem is somewhere else. Here is the problem:

During the broadcast of the game (actually showing the game), the video was perfect. When they cut to commerical problems started. When a commerical was shown with the bars on the side (I'm sure there is a technical term, but I do not know it), there were no problems. However, when a commercial was shown in wide screen, there was hitch in the video. The picture would freeze for a fraction of second, then continue. This hitch repeated itself about ever second, and continued as long as there was a widescreen commerical. The "hitch" was periodic, not intermittent. There were never any problems in the audio. The problem also is present during regular broadcasts of network programming. The only time I have have not seen the problem was during broadcast of the Super Bowl ,local news, and commericals with bars on the side. I receive all the other local DTV signal perfectly. On a good day I can pick-up CBS out of Charlotte. I have a CM 4 bow UHF antenna pumped up through a CM 7775 mounted in the attic. The TV is a Zenith (built in HD receiver). It's about 3.5 years old.

Anybody have any ideas?

My inquiries to WLOS over the years have all gone unanswered. Zenith web site does not offer any help either. Does anybody have a idea what is happening??


Thanks,

Alan

Well..night 2 of a perfect WLOS-DT signal! I am hopeful for Lost in HD! Maybe there was still enough snow on the ground! :)

Skip...

I can't really give you an answer or suggestion on that. Only thing is, are you able to pick up any other ABC affiliates OTA? If so, do they do the same thing? Or is it only WLOS? If you can't pick up another ABC, the problem may be in ABC's HD signal and your tuner. I have not ran into anyone else having this problem. I do know that the video ABC sends during their HD programming is "strange". After contacting them concerning a CC problem with E* customers, we found out that they are altering their setup on line 21 (maybe others, but that one was the one we were looking at). ABC told me on a phone conversation that they are doing it until their digital conversion is completed. (This conversion is in progress nation wide, we already have ours done at WLOS) They didn't offer a reason why. My point being, this alteration of the signal could also be effecting your tuner, as it did the E* receive site's tuner. It sounds like the jump from HD to SD is when you notice the glitching... is this correct?

{snip}
However, when a commercial was shown in wide screen, there was hitch in the video. The picture would freeze for a fraction of second, then continue. This hitch repeated itself about ever second, and continued as long as there was a widescreen commerical. The "hitch" was periodic, not intermittent. There were never any problems in the audio. The problem also is present during regular broadcasts of network programming. The only time I have have not seen the problem was during broadcast of the Super Bowl {snip}

This sounds just like a problem we used to have with WLOS and some HD receivers. It only happened with taped HD content, so you wouldn't see it with SD (the black bars) or live broadcasts (sports). I had a discussion with WLOS's engineering department a while back, but no one could seem to pinpoint the exact problem. It just "fixed itself" at some point last year for me. (I have a D*-supplied H10 made by Samsung.)

Does the audio eventually get out of sync when this happens? If so, I'd say you're suffering from the exact problem several of us experienced last year.

--Cross

bstratton1...

As others have noted, I too have experience a slight increase in signal strength from WLOS recently. For me, it's the difference between watching and not. The signal appears to be what it was during the Super Bowl. Has a change been made? If so, is it permanent?

Thanks....

Skip...

I can't really give you an answer or suggestion on that. Only thing is, are you able to pick up any other ABC affiliates OTA? If so, do they do the same thing? Or is it only WLOS? If you can't pick up another ABC, the problem may be in ABC's HD signal and your tuner. I have not ran into anyone else having this problem. I do know that the video ABC sends during their HD programming is "strange". After contacting them concerning a CC problem with E* customers, we found out that they are altering their setup on line 21 (maybe others, but that one was the one we were looking at). ABC told me on a phone conversation that they are doing it until their digital conversion is completed. (This conversion is in progress nation wide, we already have ours done at WLOS) They didn't offer a reason why. My point being, this alteration of the signal could also be effecting your tuner, as it did the E* receive site's tuner. It sounds like the jump from HD to SD is when you notice the glitching... is this correct?

There is something more to this issue. I have a Fusion USB2 HDTV Tuner which plugs into my laptop. When I do an automatic channel scan, it completely ignores Channel 13-Digital, although it receives the others (4, 7, 9, 21, 33, 45) just fine. If I enter the channel manually, the picture comes and goes at about 1-second intervals, while the signal strength continuously reads Zero.

On the DirecTV HR10-250s, it works fine, as well as the internal tuner in an RCA P61310 TV (about 4 years old).

I do not know if this is a problem with the program material, or with the PSIP data, but something is definitely different on the WLOS signal as compared to the others.

bstratton1
WLOS management continues to be the only station that has not responded regarding a solution to my Samsung TS 160 not receiving ABC Prime time Captions.

I have not observed a change in DT signal strength, only a change in multipath with weather changes (ground mosture?) ...a change that is easy enough to keep up with for signal stability.

bstratton1...

As others have noted, I too have experience a slight increase in signal strength from WLOS recently. For me, it's the difference between watching and not. The signal appears to be what it was during the Super Bowl. Has a change been made? If so, is it permanent?

Thanks....

We are currently running our digital transmitter at 50% power during the morning/afternoons, and in the evening. As was stated in a post above, we have a generator down, so backup power is a problem. February is also "Sweeps" month, so we man the transmitter site during the day and night in order to keep the power up. Until our generator is back online, we will not be at this power after March first except for primetime probably. The weather has caused a delay in our generator repairs, but we hope next week will be clear of bad weather so we can get back on it.

As for the other issue listed above... does anyone else have the problem listed by Skip? If so, can you pick up another ABC affiliate? Do they have the same type of problem? I know these digital tuners will be the death of me since they seem to all have different characteristics, but any info about this helps us to narrow the problem down. We will look into it.

Skip...

I can't really give you an answer or suggestion on that. Only thing is, are you able to pick up any other ABC affiliates OTA? If so, do they do the same thing? Or is it only WLOS? ....


.....It sounds like the jump from HD to SD is when you notice the glitching... is this correct?


I have not tried another ABC affiliate. I'll give that a shot. The "glitch" is only in programming that is shown in widescreen and not live (i.e. LOST).

Anybody have any thoughts to which other ABC affiliate might be the easiest to pick up. I'm in the Mauldin area.


This sounds just like a problem we used to have with WLOS and some HD receivers. It only happened with taped HD content, so you wouldn't see it with SD (the black bars) or live broadcasts (sports)...

....Does the audio eventually get out of sync when this happens? If so, I'd say you're suffering from the exact problem several of us experienced last year.

--Cross

Yes, that sounds like a good description of the problem. The audio never goes out of sync. Just realize that commericals are short, and if I'm watching say LOST, I'll switch back to analog 13 if the problems is present.


Thanks,

Alan

Just joined today. Thanks to Doug at WYFF for pointing me in this direction.

Ever since WLOS started broadcasting, I've had video (never audio) problems with their HD signal. At first I thought it was just signal strenght problems, but after watching the Super Bowl I believe the problem is somewhere else. Here is the problem:

During the broadcast of the game (actually showing the game), the video was perfect. When they cut to commerical problems started. When a commerical was shown with the bars on the side (I'm sure there is a technical term, but I do not know it), there were no problems. However, when a commercial was shown in wide screen, there was hitch in the video. The picture would freeze for a fraction of second, then continue. This hitch repeated itself about ever second, and continued as long as there was a widescreen commerical. The "hitch" was periodic, not intermittent. There were never any problems in the audio. The problem also is present during regular broadcasts of network programming. The only time I have have not seen the problem was during broadcast of the Super Bowl ,local news, and commericals with bars on the side. I receive all the other local DTV signal perfectly. On a good day I can pick-up CBS out of Charlotte. I have a CM 4 bow UHF antenna pumped up through a CM 7775 mounted in the attic. The TV is a Zenith (built in HD receiver). It's about 3.5 years old.

Anybody have any ideas?

My inquiries to WLOS over the years have all gone unanswered. Zenith web site does not offer any help either. Does anybody have a idea what is happening??


Thanks,

Alan

This is exactly what I have been describing earlier in the thread. I still have the problem. But it didn't happen during the Superbowl (did happen during commercials) and State of the Union Address. It was the Superbowl and its commercials that convinced me that the problem was not on my end.

I'm thinking about switching back to Charter now that I have a HD set (mainly for the Braves games), can anyone tell me what channels they have in the HD package now and which DVR they're using? (Is it still the Moxi?)

Charter's HD package currently includes:

HDNet
HDNet Movies
ESPN-HD
BravesVision (when in season)
Discovery HD Theater
HBO-HD
Showtime-HD
Cinemax-HD
WYFF-D (NBC)
WSPA-D (CBS)
WNTV (I think?; some PBS station)
Universal HD
TNT-HD

I think you're out of luck with the DVR, though, at least for a while -- one of my co-workers tried signing up for it a few weeks ago and was told that Charter is completely, entirely out of those boxes.

[QUOTE=bstratton1]
As for the other issue listed above... does anyone else have the problem listed by Skip?

I have no such problems with a Digital Stream.

Charter's HD package currently includes:

I think you're out of luck with the DVR, though, at least for a while -- one of my co-workers tried signing up for it a few weeks ago and was told that Charter is completely, entirely out of those boxes.
Thanks. It's nice to see they have Universal and TNT now, but the lack of a DVR is disappointing.

UNC-HD looks absolutely fantastic tonight! Special right now about Western North Carolina

Anyone here from the Flat Rock area near Hendersonville NC? I can get WHNS from my 4228 and HTL-HD. Not much luck with anything else. Antennaweb says WASV and WSPA are in reach but so far no dice. Any suggestions?

I am in Hendersonville. With my present antenna orientation I am receiving WLOS, WHNS and WUNF. I have picked up a signal from WASV in the past but i have to turn the antenna to do it. I don't believe they are broadcasting anything in HD yet. I have not been able to pick up WYFF or WSPA. I have an old channel master antenna on the roof that is VHF/UHF. I have been debating trying a 4228 to see if i could pick up WYFF and WSPA. I have noticed two houses in the neighborhood that look to have 4228's on the roof. I plan on stopping by and asking if they are receiving the two channels i am missing before i bother buying a 4228.

I am in Hendersonville. With my present antenna orientation I am receiving WLOS, WHNS and WUNF.

What direction are you pointing? I get WHNS in almost any direction, how do I get the rest?

I know this is not the right thread for this info but TNTHD is up and running on 75 D*

[QUOTE=gjlowe]The snow? Oh no! Does that mean when it melts I am back to no ABC-HD?

Those who smiled upon western N.C. recently are smiling tonight on ne Ga. with a signal in the low 90s. First time ever for WLOS. Maybe things are getting better on the mountain. No snow here.

What direction are you pointing? I get WHNS in almost any direction, how do I get the rest?

For me the magic spot is around due west. 270 degrees. antenna web (apparently i have not posted enough to be allowed to type in a web address) puts the wlos tower at around 300 degrees from my home. since like you i can get WHNS no matter which way i point the antenna i aim it more towards wlos then anywhere else. from what i have read in this forum your antenna is going to be more directional then mine so you may have to take a more precise aiming at each station with a rotor depenind on which one you are trying to watch at a given time. the good thing about your antenna is that you should have a greater range then mine. go to antenna web put in your address then take the information they give you along with a compass onto your roof or whereever your antenna is and aim it at whichever tower to see if you can pick up the signal. i will say i am at one of the higher elevations in hendersonville so your results may vary. its seems being on one side of the hill or the other makes a big difference.

29-3 in South Carolina puts a heckuva lot more HD programs OTA than the three hours a day from 33-2 here in NC. I will donate accordingly.

29-3 in South Carolina puts a heckuva lot more HD programs OTA than the three hours a day from 33-2 here in NC. I will donate accordingly.

wish we could get 29-3 in asheville

I'm watching a Rick Steves episode right now and the video of Avignon, France is awesome.

Does anyone know if Direct TV offers local channels in HD in the Charlotte area? I emailed them and they gave me back a cookie-cutter response about my regular locals being available which I already knew. Any help would be appreciated.

Sugget you call 800-directv and tell them you are potential subscriber and ask for the info.

Their email support is marginal at best.

Does anyone know if Direct TV offers local channels in HD in the Charlotte area? I emailed them and they gave me back a cookie-cutter response about my regular locals being available which I already knew. Any help would be appreciated.

DirecTV just announced today that Charlotte will be added in the next group of markets for HD LIL by Spring.

wish we could get 29-3 in asheville

I receive Greenville's Channel 9 DT very well from my location, but use a Channel 9 Yagi to insert into an otherwise all UHF antenna system. The only problem arises when on rare occasions analog Channel 9 in Charlotte crosses the mountains. (The reason to use a Yagi.)

No I havent read all the posts at this thread but have tried to read some. I thought I would post a few items and hope that I may recive some positive feedback. Fox 21-1 the time and the guide is all messed up for me it resets my time to like 6am and shows only the daily buzz as the only thing coming on. It wasent like that about a month ago but thought they would figure it out and fix it by now. ABC 13-1 when ever the show is brodcasting a primetime HD program the voices go out of sync, kinda like watching a old kung fo movie that had been dubed into english 9 out ov charlotte dosent do this even with a weaker signal. ABC 9-1 and 9-2 , 9-1 program guide shows weather and 9-2 shows the ABC ch9 progaming some one needs to flip it. SCETV channels 49-1 through 49-3 used to have a program guide availble but is now gone , waz up with that. And while Im talking PBS why is it SC can do a 24hr HD channel (even though some programs are repeated durring each day) and NC can only offer about 5 hrs a day? And last Comercials ..... Everyone ABC,FOX,CBS,NBC Quit pumping up the volume at commercial breaks, it is very annoying and just makes me want to turn back over to my dish and watch tv. . I recive many channels and dont realy know what the norm is arround this area but will list what I am getting and if you see something I should or shouldnt let me know.

CBS 3, 3-1,3-2,3-3,7,7-1,7-2
NBC 4,4-1,4-2,36,36-1,36-2
ABC 9,9-1,9-2,13,13-1
Fox 18,18-1,18-2,18-3,21,21-1,21-2
IND 13-2,16,16-1,40,40-1,40-2,46,55,55-1,55-2,62, (when is 62 going digital)
PBS 33,33-1,33-2,33-3,33-4,33-5,49,49-1,49-2,49-3

SCETV channels 49-1 through 49-3 used to have a program guide availble but is now gone , waz up with that.
We had an issue earlier in the week between our PSIP generator and our encoding system that caused some DTV tuners, primarily decoders with the Samsung chipset, to ignore our EPG. This problem should now be resolved.

If you still can not receive our EPG, I would like to know.

-Shaun

when is 62 going digital

I can pick up WASV's 62.1 digital channel. It's a standard definition signal with a crappy conversion of their analog channel. Analog 62 looks better to me!

People who have contacted WASV about this, have posted here that they plan to start broadcasting in HD by July 1. Now that WB and UPN are going to merge into a new CW network, I wonder if those plans will change if WBSC gets the CW affiliation instead of WASV.

When did WBSC-DT increase its power on RF channel 14? I just picked it up for the first time, and it re-mapped to 40-1 WBSC-1. It's showing "24" in what looks like upconverted SD with gray bars on the side.

Whenever I've tried to tune to RF 14 before, all I could ever get was a tiny blip on my signal meter. Now it's coming in at about 75%.

HI jb.
I've never seen WBSC before. Saw your post, gave it a shot and they are there. Signal around 70, so it is marginal. They are WAY to the right (40 degrees) of my line for the Greenville four, but I got em.

WBSC's transmitter is south of Greenville, and west of Fountain Inn. For best reception I have to turn my antenna significantly west of the other Greenville-area stations.

JT, or anyone else that can explain.

I am also receiving WGGS 16.1 with a signal of 30 with no dropouts, how is that? They have been there for sometime now. Usually below 70 I will get dropouts.

Hi again,
I have a CM 4228 run to a D* h10-250.
Question?
I am getting Fox at 50% -NBC at 70% and CBS at 96%. Can I put an amplifier so it ups my Fox reception?
Thanks

Hi again,
I have a CM 4228 run to a D* h10-250.
Question?
I am getting Fox at 50% -NBC at 70% and CBS at 96%. Can I put an amplifier so it ups my Fox reception?
Thanks



I use a Channel Master 7777 pre-amp and I get a signal strength in the 90's on all channels with my Hughes HD-Tivo.

[QUOTE=golf ace]I am getting Fox at 50% -NBC at 70% and CBS at 96%. Can I put an amplifier so it ups my Fox reception?
Thanks


If you are near Paris Mt.
I would rotate the antenna slightly counter clockwise to get away from 7, that may get the other channels for you, or at least reduce 7's signal so that you could add an amp if needed. Good luck

I have the antenna pointed at 7 now. When I point it at 21 I lose 7 so I guess that a pre amp would work perfect. \
Is the 7777 the best one.

\
Is the 7777 the best one.

I use the 7777 with good reception of all four stations. It has the highest gain on the uhf band, of any pre-amp I could find. And it is a cm. but I wouldn't expect perfection. Good luck, again.

SCETV guide is up and working now. THANKS The part about sammy tuners jives as I have an Akai that is nothing but a rebadged sammy. Now if 9 and 21 can get thers fixed all my guides will work. Gony try to tune 40 and 62 tonight, tried 62-1 last night and got about 60% sig with no pic and no sound. I have wached with less signal than that other stations before so it might be a possable multipath issue. Problem is that standard analog 62 is clear and no ghosting so i tend to not belive multipath is it.

Anyone else having problems with WHNS (Fox 21.1)? As of last night, no picture or sound on channel 21.1. I've got a solid signal (88%) like usual according to the signal strength indicator. All other OTA channels are ok/normal?

Anyone else having problems with WHNS (Fox 21.1)? As of last night, no picture or sound on channel 21.1. I've got a solid signal (88%) like usual according to the signal strength indicator. All other OTA channels are ok/normal?

Yep it died last evening around 6 or so. Steady 95% signal no sound/picture. All other stations fine

Yep it died last evening around 6 or so. Steady 95% signal no sound/picture. All other stations fine


I am getting the same problem. It is just like the PSIP problem they had back in late December that effects only certain receivers. I have sent an e-mail to let them know.

Same here with 21.1. What's up?

Same here with 21.1. What's up?

Receving 21.1 with no problems, except can not get program guide.

Receving 21.1 with no problems, except can not get program guide.

what reciever do you have?

what reciever do you have?

I have a Digital Stream (Pro Band). Circuit City on line.

Never could spell, should be (Pro Brand). I've never had any problem with sink as some have expressed here. However, I have lost the program guide for 21 before.

I have a Digital Stream (Pro Band). Circuit City on line.

Never could spell, should be (Pro Brand). I've never had any problem with sink as some have expressed here. However, I have lost the program guide for 21 before.

I have the new H20 from D*. I did call Fox Eng this afternoon but got the voice mail. Left a message

WHNS has no picture on my Accurian (Radio Shack) receiver. I think this is basically the same as Don's Pro Brand. The signal strength meter reads mostly normally (mid 70s) but there are short sharp dips every couple of seconds. The picture is fine on my Sony DVRs, however. They show a signal strength of 77% and "Good" quality.

Jon

I live in Morganton, NC and am not getting WHNS 21.1 either. I have a Directv H10. My signal strength is not an issue but there is no picture. So I don't think the problem is in the equipment.

I have the Directv HR10-250.

Same problem here. The signal is OK, but no picture or audio. I have a Sony TV with built-in tuner.

This better be solved before 24 on Monday or I'm sending Jack Bauer over to WHNS to "take care" of things.

Both 21.1 and 21.2 are not seen for the past 2 days either via my Samsung 165 receiver or even the LG-4220. The latter is a good one that picks up almost all stations. I think that the problem is with Fox and not at my end

Both 21.1 and 21.2 are not seen for the past 2 days either via my Samsung 165 receiver or even the LG-4220. The latter is a good one that picks up almost all stations. I think that the problem is with Fox and not at my end



WHNS is aware of the problem with their PSIP and they are working to correct.


Update: The problem has been fixed.

WHNS is aware of the problem with their PSIP and they are working to correct.


Update: The problem has been fixed.

Back up and rockin in Asheville

MyNetworkTV Signs 17 Sinclair Stations

By Michele Greppi - Television Week

The new-network affiliate wars heated up with the announcement Thursday that Fox's MyNetworkTV has signed as affiliates 17 of the 24 Sinclair Broadcast Group owned-or-operated stations that have been affiliated with The WB or UPN, which is merging into The CW.

The announcement was made jointly by Fox Television Stations CEO Jack Abernethy and Sinclair President and CEO David Smith.

The 17 stations cover 11.9 percent of the U.S. TV universe.

The WB-affiliated Sinclair stations signed in the deal include WTTA-TV in Tampa, Fla., (the 12th-largest market in the country), WCWB-TV in Pittsburgh (market No. 22), KVWB-TV in Las Vegas (48), WSTR-TV in Cincinnati (34), WBSC-TV in Greenville, S.C. (35), KRRT-TV in San Antonio, (37), WTVZ-TV Norfolk, Va. (42), WNYO-TV Buffalo, N.Y. (49), WNYS-TV Syracuse, N.Y. (76), and WDKA-TV in Paducah, Ky. (80).

The UPN-affiliated stations affiliating with MyNetworkTV include WRDC-TV in Raleigh, N.C. (market 29), WUXP-TV Nashville, Tenn. (30), WCGV-TV in Milwaukee (33), WABM-TV in Birmingham, Ala. (40), WUPN-TV Greensboro, N.C. (47), WMMP-TV Charleston, S.C. (64).

Also part of the deal is Sinclair's independent station WFGX-TV in Mobile, Ala. (market 62).

In a handful of markets where Sinclair has UPN-WB duopolies, it retains stations that presumably face the choice of going independent or competing for affiliation with The CW.

By Michele Greppi - Television Week

The WB-affiliated Sinclair stations signed in the [MyNetworkTV] deal include [..] WBSC-TV in Greenville, S.C.

So WASV will probably go with the new CW network, then.

Same problems with FOX. I'm using a Samsung TS360

This thread is a big help in keeping me from running up to the attic. :)

My Directv H10 crapped out. A call to tech support got another receiver overnighted. I requested an H20 replacement. The tech (someone who actually knew about electronics) told me that HD locals for this market 'wasn't even on the radar yet' and I'd have no use for the H20 anytime soon.

Hmmmm, baseball season is a few weeks away and the BravesHD channel disappears from Charter in Asheville.

Hmmmm, baseball season is a few weeks away and the BravesHD channel disappears from Charter in Asheville.

It disappeared South of Atlanta also.
Maybe making room for more programming?
Braves HD is usually on WTBS here.

BeeCee

The BravesHD channel comes and goes all the time during the season (at least it did last year). It appears before the broadcast for a few hours with a sign on, shows the game, and then after a few hours of sign off, it will disappear.

The BravesHD channel comes and goes all the time during the season (at least it did last year). It appears before the broadcast for a few hours with a sign on, shows the game, and then after a few hours of sign off, it will disappear.

I meant that it disappeared from the channel line up. It has been there as a blank channel since the end of the season last year. Now it is gone.

I have seen it completely disappear as well, and that is what I was referring to...fear not my friend! We will have Braves HD when the season starts!

I'm concerned about the disappearance of the Braves-HD Channel too... it has been there continuously since last season (and I never remember it disappearing from my guide at all last year). Given the fact that Turner just sold Turner South to FOX, I wonder if the HD broadcasts might be going to get the axe, or if they've decided to start charging for them and Charter isn't going to pay up?

They also COULD be making room for additions and be going to move the Braves to a higher channel. ESPN-HD is 773 and the Braves were on 774. Maybe it disappearing now means ESPN2-HD is coming sometime soon? If they were going to add it they would need that channel # to put it after ESPN, so taking it out of the guide would make sense then.

That's PURE speculation on my part though... but it does seem to make some sense at least

Hello fellow TWC customers, the following is info gathered from emails to TWC Executive Fred Dressler. These are his quotes.

Future HD channel update

ESPN2-HD - hopeful to have espn2hd in time for baseball.
STARZ-HD - End of the year at the earliest
CINEMAX-HD – is almost done
TMC-HD - is done
Wealth TV-HD - are not in the works
Outdoor Channel 2-HD – are not in the works
MHD (MTV) - will take many months to conclude.
National Geographic-HD - No Word
Food Network-HD - Scripps has not yet made us a proposal.
HGTV-HD - Scripps has not yet made us a proposal.

The Oscars OTA 13-1 Dolly never looked better WOW[I][U]

Was running a water-cooled Plasma, so display is still functioning. Otherwise it would have melted when Dolly came on stage.

I happened to tune to WLOS-DT during a HD program (the Oscars) tonight for the first time in a few weeks and it had closed captions running. First time I've seen them on a HD program on WLOS. Billy Stratton and his crew must have figured out how to pipe in the captions from the analog feed. Thanks, guys! :)

Anyone:

I am receiving a SCTV Channel 30 here in Asheville as of yesterday when I moved my antenna another 14" higher by placing it on a rotor and pointing the antenna East South East (toward just south of Charlotte) during setup. The signal is very strong (88-94) and steady. I get no other identification, but receive the usual -1, -2 and -3 signals from SCTV. DT30 is stronger than the Greenville SC DT9. Does anyone have the location of the DT-30 transmitter?

Thanks

Anyone:

I am receiving a SCTV Channel 30 here in Asheville as of yesterday when I moved my antenna another 14" higher by placing it on a rotor and pointing the antenna East South East (toward just south of Charlotte) during setup. The signal is very strong (88-94) and steady. I get no other identification, but receive the usual -1, -2 and -3 signals from SCTV. DT30 is stronger than the Greenville SC DT9. Does anyone have the location of the DT-30 transmitter?

Thanks

The only FCC listing for SC on channel 30 is WNSC analog in Rock Hill. Maybe they changed it to digital? In Georgia, WAGT-DT, Augusta. and WVLT-DT, Knoxville.

Thanks for info, foxeng. I rule out Knoxville, because a mountain rises up some 800' directly behind and between me and Knoxville. I found a PBS DT30 listed for Rock Hill, but found it hard to believe I would receive such a strong and steady signal from that distance. But, that is not my first surprise in playing with DT signals.

having problems with 7.1 cbs. no audio, with 1/3 of upper screen showing compressed video, remainder of screen black. Anybody else???

they are back, must have been receiver problems here.

It was doing that through Charter as well a few minutes ago.

It was doing that through Charter as well a few minutes ago.


Thanks for the reply, guess it was them after all.

having problems with 7.1 cbs. no audio, with 1/3 of upper screen showing compressed video, remainder of screen black. Anybody else???

they are back, must have been receiver problems here.


Had the same problem here, but with OTA signal from Dishnet on an 811. It seemed to correct itself by the time CSI Miami came on.

Russ

The only FCC listing for SC on channel 30 is WNSC analog in Rock Hill. Maybe they changed it to digital? In Georgia, WAGT-DT, Augusta. and WVLT-DT, Knoxville.

WNSC-D is located in Rock Hill. It's RF channel number is 15, but as per FCC regulations we rebrand it through PSIP as our our analog channel 30. The radiation pattern of the antenna at that site is specially designed to put the majority of our signal to our neighbors in NC.

-Shaun

I am getting Rock Hill loud and clear! Signal is better than WUNF on Pisgah and your DT-9 in Greenville. How long has it been on the air? (I receive both "local" stations from slightly over ridge lines.)

Do any of you guys here in the Upstate, know who installs for Dish (in the Laurens area)? Im not sure if just one outfit serves the whole Upstate, or if there are several. I had the number for the guy that did my previous install, but lost it. I just ordered a 622 from Dish, but they said I can't get an install date until April 1st. Just wanted to check with the installer and see if he can do it a little sooner. Thanks.

Russ

I am getting Rock Hill loud and clear! Signal is better than WUNF on Pisgah and your DT-9 in Greenville. How long has it been on the air? (I receive both "local" stations from slightly over ridge lines.)
I believe that station has been on the air for over a year in a half, but we went to our tuned antenna last summer. If one of our stations go down, at least you have the option of switching to the other.

-Shaun

What antenna and equipment are you using for OTA and do you get all our locals from Spartanberg and Greenville, and if so how is the reception?

I don't understand why I am receiving WBCS on two different channels. I responded to Jon Bell back in Feb. that I had never seen WBCS until his post on their appearance on 40.1, I was wrong. Never paid much attention to call letters on sub channels, but 13.2 is WBSC, as is 40.1 so why are they on both channels ? It doesn't really matter, but would like to know.

I am getting Rock Hill loud and clear!

That's pretty impressive, considering that you're about a hundred miles away from WNSC's transmitter, which is about half way between Rock Hill and Chester. I'm about 55 miles to the southwest and can get only weak blips on my signal meter occasionally. This is in constrast to the stations broadcasting from the towers near Belmont (73 miles), from which I can usually get good to excellent signals.

That's pretty impressive, considering that you're about a hundred miles away from WNSC's transmitter, which is about half way between Rock Hill and Chester. I'm about 55 miles to the southwest and can get only weak blips on my signal meter occasionally. This is in constrast to the stations broadcasting from the towers near Belmont (73 miles), from which I can usually get good to excellent signals.
We tried to place the majority of our ERP (Effective Radiated Power) at WNSC-D into areas that were not already covered from our other transmission sites. You should have a good signal from WNEH-D (RF-ch18, PSIP-ch38).

Just curious, can you receive WRET-D (RF-ch43, PSIP-ch49) from Clinton?

-Shaun

I wanted to let OTA viewers know that UNC-TV has not been broadcasting OTA HD since 10:20 PM on Friday March 3, due to some serious technical problems. We had a failure of our large UPS and tripped a 1600 amp 3 phase 480V breaker at our headquarters network operations center and we were off the air statewide digital and analog for awhile Friday night. We hope to return our 8pm to 11pm OTA HD schedule as soon as we can get equipment up and running. We had numerous equipment and computer failures, servers, automation etc. related to the power outage. We regret this inconvenience to our viewers.

We tried to place the majority of our ERP (Effective Radiated Power) at WNSC-D into areas that were not already covered from our other transmission sites. You should have a good signal from WNEH-D (RF-ch18, PSIP-ch38).

Just curious, can you receive WRET-D (RF-ch43, PSIP-ch49) from Clinton?


I get very good signals from both WNEH-D and WRET-D and usually watch WRET-D because I don't have to rotate my antenna from the Greenville-area stations. I can also get WNTV-D from Greenville, although not very well, probably because of interference from analog ch 9 in Charlotte. I can even get WRLK-D from Columbia, fairly well in the evening but marginally in the daytime. This is with a roof-mounted 160" combination VHF/UHF antenna from Radio Shack. No pre-amp, but I have one on order which I should be able to try out in the next couple of weeks.

On another subject, as long as I have your attention :) ... As you surely know, the SCETV analog stations (at least ch 29 in Greenville) broadcast data for Gemstar's "TV Guide on Screen" (TVGOS) system. My Sony HD DVRs use this system. TVGOS currently does not provide program listings for SCETV's digital channels. This is not a problem for subchannel 1 because I can "re-map" the listings for the analog channels so that they tune to 49.1, 38.1, etc. However, I have no listings for subchannels 2 (SC Channel) and 3 (HD channel), which makes it awkward to record them.

In mid-January I wrote to customer support at SCETV, asking about the possibility of asking Gemstar to provide TVGOS program listings for the SC Channel and the HD channel. I got a response that listings would begin in mid February, but so far I haven't seen anything, even after re-initializing TVGOS on my DVRs recently.

I know that things like this often slip behind schedule, so I wasn't going to follow up on it until at least the end of this month, but since I have your attention I hope you can provide some information on the status of this project.

In mid-January I wrote to customer support at SCETV, asking about the possibility of asking Gemstar to provide TVGOS program listings for the SC Channel and the HD channel. I got a response that listings would begin in mid February, but so far I haven't seen anything, even after re-initializing TVGOS on my DVRs recently.
I was not aware of a problem with TVGOS and our system. This isn’t surprising though, since my area is primarily digital encoding and distribution. I am out of the office this week, but I will bring it up in our engineering meeting on Monday.

You are always welcome to email directly with any questions or comments. Even if I don’t know the answer, I should be able to forward it to someone that does. My address is available in my vCard.

-Shaun

jtbell,

Here is what I found out from our programming department in regards to TVGOS. Your email along with others was forwarded to our contact at Gemstar/TV Guide on January 13th in hopes to find a solution to this situation. Apparently, Gemstar has already accommodated other digital stations such as UNC-TV. To date, the necessary changes have not been made and we have sent out our requests again directly to their IPG customer support. I will keep you updated as soon as I learn more.

-Shaun

I don't understand why I am receiving WBCS on two different channels. I responded to Jon Bell back in Feb. that I had never seen WBCS until his post on their appearance on 40.1, I was wrong. Never paid much attention to call letters on sub channels, but 13.2 is WBSC, as is 40.1 so why are they on both channels ? It doesn't really matter, but would like to know.


WLOS transmits the WB Network on our sub channel 13-2 and the WBSC transmitter in SC transmits on their channel 40-1. So you are getting the same signal from 2 seperate transmitters. My best guess is to give WB coverage to our Asheville area. I will attempt to verify that for you.

I'm a little late on this. During the Oscars on WLOS, the typical stuttering of picture and audio sync issue was not present. It appears WLOS is able to address the issue during major broadcasts such as the Superbowl, State of the Union and Oscar Awards.

However, during the Oscars, they would switch to movie clips as opposed to the live stage shots and at that point I would get the audio sync and stuttering. Very confused.

I'm a little late on this. During the Oscars on WLOS, the typical stuttering of picture and audio sync issue was not present. It appears WLOS is able to address the issue during major broadcasts such as the Superbowl, State of the Union and Oscar Awards.

However, during the Oscars, they would switch to movie clips as opposed to the live stage shots and at that point I would get the audio sync and stuttering. Very confused.

not having that problem here

I don't know what a V card is. When I attempted to download, all I got was an error message.

Too bad WNC only gets HD OTA 3 hours a day from PBS stations. I keep the antenna pointed south for many more hours of HD programming from the PBS stations there.

I'm a little late on this. During the Oscars on WLOS, the typical stuttering of picture and audio sync issue was not present. It appears WLOS is able to address the issue during major broadcasts such as the Superbowl, State of the Union and Oscar Awards.

However, during the Oscars, they would switch to movie clips as opposed to the live stage shots and at that point I would get the audio sync and stuttering. Very confused.

This sounds like the same problem they have had since day one. It only happens with some receivers. I know the Samsung 360 was one of the boxes that had this problem. Originally it happened with ESPN-HD on D* as well, but they corrected the problem.

blooker ...and others:
NC PBS has adopted the limited HD only in prime time rule so that it can expand its SD offering to four channels during the day, thus spreading its bandwidth for added educational and children's programming. There have been staff recommendations to management to expand HD hours, but so far there has been no change. I personally have pushed to expand HD to a 6 p.m. start. Time will tell.
Have you noted the new use of "trickle" bits to provide a static message on 33-2 during otherwise black presentation?

I haven't seen the message on 33.2 during the day, but I've seen a static message on 33.4 and 33.5 in the evening. Or is it 33.3 and 33.4? whatever...

Guys, my dad just purchased a Panny plasma and lives in Gaffney. He got an HD box from Charter yesterday. All I know is that it's a Motorola, has DVI out and no DVR. What model is it likely?

Also, what channels can he receive when he finally hooks it up? He said he didn't sign up for an HD tier b/c the lady never mentioned it. What's free and what's premium, I suppose? And on what channels can I find this content?

Thanks in advance.

Also, what channels can he receive when he finally hooks it up? He said he didn't sign up for an HD tier b/c the lady never mentioned it. What's free and what's premium, I suppose? And on what channels can I find this content?The local affiliates -- NBC (784), CBS (787), and PBS (788) -- should be free.

If he subscribes to HBO, Showtime, and/or Cinemax, he should get the high-definition versions of those channels as applicable for no additional charge. HBO-HD is 777, Showtime-HD is 778, and Cinemax-HD is 779.

I believe you have to subscribe to the HD Pak to get HDNet (770), HDNet Movies (771), ESPN-HD (773), Discovery HD Theater (775), Universal HD (793), and TNT-HD (797). We used to get a channel with most of the Braves home games on 774, but it was dark during the off-season, and apparently it's gone altogether now.

Thanks, Adam.

Any idea when FOX-HD will be available in the Upstate?

Wish I had some concrete information to pass along, but I have no idea when Fox or any of the other local affiliates will show up on Charter.

The local affiliates -- NBC (784), CBS (787), and PBS (788) -- should be free.

Is 788 the SD simulcast of SCETV's analog channel (29.1) or is it the HD channel (29.3)?

Is 788 the SD simulcast of SCETV's analog channel (29.1) or is it the HD channel (29.3)?Always on, always widescreen, not always true HD.

This sounds like the same problem they have had since day one. It only happens with some receivers. I know the Samsung 360 was one of the boxes that had this problem. Originally it happened with ESPN-HD on D* as well, but they corrected the problem.


Thanks. I do have the TS360 :(

Are you saying that it is a problem on there end, but specific to certain receivers? If so, one of two things can remedy it. 1. I can change receivers or 2. They can solve the issue on their end.

I wonder if this is even something they are working on?

I have recently been wanting a DVR. Haven't researched them at all yet. Maybe they come as receiver/dvr and I will get a new tuner by default. :confused:

Thanks. I do have the TS360 :(

Are you saying that it is a problem on there end, but specific to certain receivers? If so, one of two things can remedy it. 1. I can change receivers or 2. They can solve the issue on their end.

I wonder if this is even something they are working on?

I have recently been wanting a DVR. Haven't researched them at all yet. Maybe they come as receiver/dvr and I will get a new tuner by default. :confused:

That is exactly what I am saying. I tried the Samsung then the new H10 and they both had the problem. I returned those units and got the Hughes HD Tivo and everything has been great.

All:

Any of you researched the impact of conversion to MPg4 will have on current equipment. I probably will go with Direct for LIL HD when it becomes available (MPG4) in this area, but want OTA as backup. I have seen nothing that indicates receivers that decode both 2 and 4 will be offered. At the time I switch I will want a recorder. What impact will this have on the current HD Monitor-receivers? All this is complicated by the fact I probably will need a receiver change fairly soon.

Any comments?

All:

Any of you researched the impact of conversion to MPg4 will have on current equipment. I probably will go with Direct for LIL HD when it becomes available (MPG4) in this area, but want OTA as backup. I have seen nothing that indicates receivers that decode both 2 and 4 will be offered. At the time I switch I will want a recorder. What impact will this have on the current HD Monitor-receivers? All this is complicated by the fact I probably will need a receiver change fairly soon.

Any comments?

Jerry,

The H20 has both MPEG2/4 and an ATSC OTA tuner built in.

All:

Any of you researched the impact of conversion to MPg4 will have on current equipment. I probably will go with Direct for LIL HD when it becomes available (MPG4) in this area, but want OTA as backup. I have seen nothing that indicates receivers that decode both 2 and 4 will be offered. At the time I switch I will want a recorder. What impact will this have on the current HD Monitor-receivers? All this is complicated by the fact I probably will need a receiver change fairly soon.

Any comments?

I have the new H20 and AT9 Dish from D*. The PQ OTA is fantastic and the HD channels from D* are also good. Had this set-up about 2 weeks now and no problems as of yet. I think D* will have the LILHD avail in our area at least by mid year or so. We missed the second set to be turned on and although I believe we are 35 or 36 in the DMA ratings, they replaced us with another DMA. The hold out in our area for D* to carry LILHD is WYFF, all others have gotten agreements as far as I know. If I am wrong with this info, (based on rumer IE someones brother who had a sister was told by the cousin of someone who thought they worked for D*) please correct me. By the way the AT9 dish is a monster.

The prime reason D* skipped over us is most likely why Charter does not have WLOS-DT up, Sinclair is taking a hardline stand on wanting a fee for every sub. You would probably do some research and see that markets that have been skipped over have a Sinclair station.

The prime reason D* skipped over us is most likely why Charter does not have WLOS-DT up, Sinclair is taking a hardline stand on wanting a fee for every sub. You would probably do some research and see that markets that have been skipped over have a Sinclair station.

D* and Sinclair have a nationwide agreement and D* pays the stations. Has been for years.

D* and Sinclair have a nationwide agreement and D* pays the stations. Has been for years.

So am I correct in my assumption?

So am I correct in my assumption?

Sounds like it is possible. We missed out on the second group also and we are an O&O. The local Sinclair chief has come out and said that the Triad will be in the next group this summer so it is possible that WNC/Upstate will also be.

The first time Direct TV put the locals on the "bird", they moved this market up in the time it was turned on. While we are the 35th largest market, we have one of the highest Sat. penetration...over 20% percent of the area has Satellite, and that was 5-6 years ago. So look for GSP to move up on the list.

John Burton

I'm stuck with Charter right now and even if DirectTV or Dish gets HD locals, my wife has been reluctant to switch to satellite. So I want to get as inexpensive of an HD Tuner that I can get. Just noticed that Best Buy has a DirectTV HD receiver for $99 and it does have antenna input. Anyone know if you can use a DirectTV receiver for getting locals in HD over the air without subscribing to their service?

I really want ABC and FOX in HD and it's going to be tough to even justify $99 to my wife but that may be the cheapest route to go if I can use it.

BTW, $99 is the price w/o any rebate so it doesn't appear that there's a requirement to subscribe to get that price.

I'm stuck with Charter right now and even if DirectTV or Dish gets HD locals, my wife has been reluctant to switch to satellite. So I want to get as inexpensive of an HD Tuner that I can get. Just noticed that Best Buy has a DirectTV HD receiver for $99 and it does have antenna input. Anyone know if you can use a DirectTV receiver for getting locals in HD over the air without subscribing to their service?

I really want ABC and FOX in HD and it's going to be tough to even justify $99 to my wife but that may be the cheapest route to go if I can use it.

BTW, $99 is the price w/o any rebate so it doesn't appear that there's a requirement to subscribe to get that price.

I don't think satellite receivers are usually able to be used for just their ATSC tuners without subscription, and that price may also be with a contract. For $99 you COULD get a PCI Card for a PC like the Fusion5 Lite HDTV card, which would allow you to use a PC as both your tuner and DVR for HDTV...that is, if your wife would allow you to put a PC in the TV room... :)

I saw some of the US Digital HD receivers in Wal-Mart for $99. I do not think that those need a subscription to the unmentionable service that also goes with them.

Well that's a really good deal. I used to have the Di$@ Network service, and my HD box would not work on only OTA without the subscription (I tried once I cancelled).

I saw some of the US Digital HD receivers in Wal-Mart for $99.

If you need a HD receiver, the US Digital is a good one, especially at that price. If you get one, e-mail "customerservice at usdtv.com" and ask them to send you the latest firmware update on a USB memory stick. It makes the unit more stable and adds a couple of nice features. I just upgraded my unit a few days ago, and it makes a significant difference.

The main "gotcha" for some people may be that the US Digital units don't have HDMI or DVI output, just component video, S-video and composite video. And it doesn't do cable (QAM), just OTA (8SVB).

[added] And you don't have to subscribe to the USDTV service which provides some pay channels. In fact, that service isn't even available in this area, just in a handful of cities so far. I think they were expecting to roll out much faster than they actually did.

This reminds me of another "gotcha" for these units. Every once in a while they automatically shut down the output, look for a software update on one of the channels, and then reboot. So far it's happened to me only at 3 or 4 am, while I was trying to record something from it to my DVD recorder overnight.

The following came from D* with respect to their plans for LIL HD:

"We expect to be serving at least 12 cities by the end of this year, and then gradually expanding our coverage to more and more cities across the country over the next two years.

At this time our current HD programming will continue to be broadcast using the MPEG-2 standard, MPEG-4 technology will be used only to provide local HD programming in select cities. (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Tampa and Washington, D.C. are expected to launch this year, with more to be added throughout the next year.)

Once local HD programming launches in your city, customers with HD receivers will be eligible for an MPEG-4-compatible receiver replacement. If you want to replace your HD DVR, you may need to wait a bit longer. Our new MPEG-4-compatible DIRECTV HD DVR receiver is expected to be available in early 2006"

So we wait.

Jerry,

Sounds like someone sent you the wrong info. They have already got those first 12 up and have listed the next 24 markets that are to be up starting next month for a total of 36 markets by Spring with good rumors of having another 12 or 24 markets ready to go by summer. The bottleneck is the availablity of receivers and dishes for the new markets.

Foxeng: The info was sent yesterday from Directv Customer Service. It is the confusion over MPG4 markets that stands out. While this was not a press release, the implied replacement receivers (at discount?) continues to confuse customers who believed earlier public promises to trade out older receivers. It is not happening in existing LIL markets. I get the same conflicting information from upper management.

over on another DBS forum, someone called D* about this market and was told it wasn't even on their radar screen for this year. That plus D*'s pathectic HD pak is why I will cancel D* in mid April and stick with E* instead, E* also plans to have this market on the bird this year.

Foxeng: The info was sent yesterday from Directv Customer Service. It is the confusion over MPG4 markets that stands out. While this was not a press release, the implied replacement receivers (at discount?) continues to confuse customers who believed earlier public promises to trade out older receivers. It is not happening in existing LIL markets. I get the same conflicting information from upper management.

I have the new H20 Mpeg4 receiver and the new AT9 dish from Direct TV. When I purchased(before 3/1 lease deal) iI was told by the CSR that it was going to be early to late summer before we would get the HDLIL channels here in the western Carolinas. All new installs are the AT9 as far as I understand.

Having problems with 7.1 guide, again. Only showing "dtv program", no program info. Any body else?

Having problems with 7.1 guide, again. Only showing "dtv program", no program info. Any body else?Same here.

Having problems with 7.1 guide, again. Only showing "dtv program", no program info. Any body else?

The guide is working fine for me.

Thanks to WLOS HD for solving the primetime caption problem.

So I'm watching Wichita St. v. Seton Hall on WSPA (7.1) ... I'm really shocked that it isn't in HD? I just figured the entire tournament would be in HD. Anyone have any idea what tournament sites are/aren't in HD?

(Sorry if this is the wrong thread for this.)

So I'm watching Wichita St. v. Seton Hall on WSPA (7.1) ... I'm really shocked that it isn't in HD? I just figured the entire tournament would be in HD. Anyone have any idea what tournament sites are/aren't in HD?

(Sorry if this is the wrong thread for this.)

You should find all your answers in this thread.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=656257

You should find all your answers in this thread.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=656257

Thanks for pointing me in that direction. But after looking at that thread (and this one (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7317733)) ... that leads me back here to the local thread, because apparently we're supposed to be getting certain games like Wichita St.-Seton Hall in HD. Other people across the country seem to be getting them fine, but we have SD. :(

All:

Any of you researched the impact of conversion to MPg4 will have on current equipment. I probably will go with Direct for LIL HD when it becomes available (MPG4) in this area, but want OTA as backup. I have seen nothing that indicates receivers that decode both 2 and 4 will be offered. At the time I switch I will want a recorder. What impact will this have on the current HD Monitor-receivers? All this is complicated by the fact I probably will need a receiver change fairly soon.

Any comments?

Jerry,

We have been advised by DirecTV that they have no plans to carry any PBS local DTV stations. They at present only plan to carry ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC DTV locals. So you will need OTA to get a PBS DTV station.

Thanks for pointing me in that direction. But after looking at that thread (and this one (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7317733)) ... that leads me back here to the local thread, because apparently we're supposed to be getting certain games like Wichita St.-Seton Hall in HD. Other people across the country seem to be getting them fine, but we have SD. :(


From what I read it appears that if there is no specific game of local interest local stations can choose to go with the SD feed that switches around to many different games. That seems to be what WSPA has chosen to do.

I don't know how much of this information you already know, but I will post this anyway. I just had an H20 put in last week. To get the locals in HD via DirecTV, you will of course have to have an H20 reciever which does not include a recorder. Wal-Mart has these for just under $100 now. You will also need a new AT-9 dish which can see the Ka band satellite, plus it will also be able to see a total of 5 satellites when they launch them; all new installs get this new dish which is twice the size of the current 3 LMB HD dish. Overall, it is not really a bad deal, $100 for the reciever, and a free dish install. The downside is that there is not much in the way of HD programming offered by DirecTV, but the H20 is an excellent OTA receiver. From what I understand, the new version of the H20 with a DVR will be out sometime this year, probably 3rd quarter. I hope that some of this was helpful.

Anyone here watch much of anything that's not in HD?

I try not to...but sometimes my hand is forced... :) no really, with a baby, there is lots of PBS shows during the day that aren't yet in HD (Sesame St., Bob the Builder, etc.) Also, some gameshows like Jeopardy, and sporting events that aren't in HD. Other than that, not really... :)

If you can get 29.3, that's the place for OTA PBS. Many hours of HD there.

Anyone else having signal problems with 7.1 (WSPA-CBS)? I noticed last night that signal had dropped to the 50's. I normally have a solid 70 to 75 signal with little to no pixelization. I checked this morning and signal was only 10 to 30%?

I'm trying hard to understand the benefit of getting the new dish and the H2O if you already have a HD DVR (or TiVO). Why would we need MPEG4 if we already receive all the locals via OTA? to get rid of our antennas?? Right now I am relatively happy with my HD Tivo and my OTA reception, even WLOS, except during the day. Unless D* switches all HD to MPEG4, I see no reason for new equipment. Am I missing something here?

Anyone else having signal problems with 7.1 (WSPA-CBS)? I noticed last night that signal had dropped to the 50's. I normally have a solid 70 to 75 signal with little to no pixelization. I checked this morning and signal was only 10 to 30%?
Yeah, something's definitely not right about it. I usually get about 75. It's in the low 60s and completely losing signal (to 0) about once a minute. Very annoying.

I'm trying hard to understand the benefit of getting the new dish and the H2O if you already have a HD DVR (or TiVO). Why would we need MPEG4 if we already receive all the locals via OTA? to get rid of our antennas?? Right now I am relatively happy with my HD Tivo and my OTA reception, even WLOS, except during the day. Unless D* switches all HD to MPEG4, I see no reason for new equipment. Am I missing something here?

I am in the same situation as you. I will not switch until they have an HD-DVR and add HD channels that are exclusively Mpeg-4.

[QUOTE=CurtE]Anyone else having signal problems with 7.1 (WSPA-CBS)?

No problems here, their signal is strong and steady. Maybe yours has cleared up by now.

I'm really looking forward to a stand alone, removable media, HD recorder that can record right from the satellite receiver.

I'm really looking forward to a stand alone, removable media, HD recorder that can record right from the satellite receiver.

Do what I did...........Go to BB or CC and get a HDTV tuner card for your PC. Also get a 250 GB Hard drive for storage. Hook this to your sat rec'vr ,sign up for Titan TV (for scheduling, not required) and record HD directly to your hard drive. This is exactly how Tivo works but without the fee. At this point there is not a DVD recorder for your PC that does HD, but the technology is right around the corner. If you buy the hard drive that is external (usb 2.0 hookup), you have the removable media. Bulky (about 4 lbs) but it works great.

Yeah, something's definitely not right about it. I usually get about 75. It's in the low 60s and completely losing signal (to 0) about once a minute. Very annoying.

Anyone else having signal problems (again) with WSPA 7.1?

I was having problems on Thursday and Friday as mentioned in my post above. It seemed to be better on Friday night; however, signal issues are back on Saturday night.

[QUOTE][CODE=CurtE]Anyone else having signal problems (again) with WSPA 7.1?


I watched some of the games yesterday, with no problems. Today's signal remains around 90, which is normal for 7.1 at my location.

Looks like rain in Atlanta today.

I watched some of the games yesterday, with no problems. Today's signal remains around 90, which is normal for 7.1 at my location.

Looks like rain in Atlanta today.

Thanks for your response Don F. Looks like I've still got the same problem this morning.

I'm tyring to figure out if this is just me only - jakexxl posted the other day that he was having some strange signal issues with 7.1? I've had no setup changes and other channels are ok?

Thanks.

Anyone else having signal problems (again) with WSPA 7.
All appears normal with WSPA-DT here. Watched most of the afternoon with no problems.

My H10 crapped out Monday night. It was a refurbed replacement for another H10 that died two months ago. Directv will two day another replacement. It will be a spare since I went to Best Buy yesterday and bought a H20 and will hook it up today. Maybe it will prove to be reliable.

The install of the H20 was easy. Any idea of the planned use of the USB connector?

I just recently bought an HD tv with a cable card.

I have Charter cable. WYFF HD is on 784. WSPA HD is on 787. Where can I find WHNS and WLOS HDTV?

Please forgive if this topic has already been addressed, but I just received a reply from WHNS (see below) regarding their carriage on Charter and thought I would pass it along. At least, now we know who we should target our requests toward.

==BEGIN QUOTE

WHNS and Charter Communications have reached an agreement for WHNS HD to be carried on Charter Cable. To my knowledge Charter has not started the service at this time.

==END QUOTE

Thanks for your response Don F. Looks like I've still got the same problem this morning.

I'm tyring to figure out if this is just me only - jakexxl posted the other day that he was having some strange signal issues with 7.1? I've had no setup changes and other channels are ok?

Thanks.

Yeah, I was having problems last week trying to catch the bball games on 7.1 ... but those problems were gone by late Friday night (as in last Friday), and have not reappeared. My signal strength is consistently about 73ish ... which is about normal for me.

Please forgive if this topic has already been addressed, but I just received a reply from WHNS (see below) regarding their carriage on Charter and thought I would pass it along. At least, now we know who we should target our requests toward.

==BEGIN QUOTE

WHNS and Charter Communications have reached an agreement for WHNS HD to be carried on Charter Cable. To my knowledge Charter has not started the service at this time.

==END QUOTE

Charter usually launches channels in "groups".. I still say the Braves-HD Channel disappearing from 774 is more than a coincidence, either they're not going to offer the service this year since Turner South was sold to FSN, or they're preparing to add a group of channels and needed that slot.

Logically if they're freeing up 774 it should be for ESPN2-HD and with baseball coming up that could be a stage for launching it...

or perhaps they're close to a deal on WLOS and hope to launch it and FOX together?

Anyone else having extreme problems with reception in the last couple of days? I though it was due to the wind we had the last couple of days, but I currently am stuggling to get 4 or 21. I have constant droppouts (1 every 5-10 seconds).

I've rotated my antenna 360 degrees and cannot find anywhere that I get over 75%. Instead it fluctuated between 60% and 0%. I normally get 80-90% steady signals.

Anyone else having extreme problems with reception in the last couple of days? I though it was due to the wind we had the last couple of days, but I currently am stuggling to get 4 or 21. I have constant droppouts (1 every 5-10 seconds).

I've rotated my antenna 360 degrees and cannot find anywhere that I get over 75%. Instead it fluctuated between 60% and 0%. I normally get 80-90% steady signals.

I watched Crossing Jordan on WYFF tonight & the race on WHNS earlier today, and both worked fine for me.

I was having reception/signal issues (many drop-outs) with 7.1 WSPA several days ago - the problems appeared with no change in setup or antenna movement. I did have to tweak my antenna location in my attic. I moved it about 2 or 3 feet and signal came back as strong as ever for 7.1 (solid 73) and ABC, FOX and NCB are now much better (all high 80's to low 90's)...so it does appear that the problem was on my end?

I've only had digital/HD for a few months. Could the leaves coming out trees cause this type of reception problem?

I was having reception/signal issues (many drop-outs) with 7.1 WSPA several days ago - the problems appeared with no change in setup or antenna movement. I did have to tweak my antenna location in my attic. I moved it about 2 or 3 feet and signal came back as strong as ever for 7.1 (solid 73) and ABC, FOX and NCB are now much better (all high 80's to low 90's)...so it does appear that the problem was on my end?

I've only had digital/HD for a few months. Could the leaves coming out trees cause this type of reception problem?

Leaves can cause reception prblems if they are in the line of site between the tower and your antenna. I believe they can also enhance multi-path problems especially when it is raining and windy.

[QUOTE=sic0048], stuggling to get 4 or 21. I have constant droppouts (1 every 5-10 seconds).

I watched golf and nascar yesterday with not problems. Just checked all four channels this afternoon, all are at their normal signal levels. No dropouts.

bstratton1

Could we get an update on how things are going on the mountain. When can we expect 13.1 at full power. Thanks...

We are scheduled to have Dielectric on site April 18th to replace our Combiner, which is a big reason we have to run at lower power right now. They will also sweep our transmission line after the install, which should determine if we have a problem there causing our transmitter to not operate at full power. I will know more then, and maybe we will be ready to pump it up.

Our generator is, hopefully, going to be carried back up on Pisgah the week of April 10th. I say hopefully because we have not heard a firm date yet, but April 10th has been floating around. Of course weather has everything to do with this too.

I'll relay more info as soon as I hear.

It looks as though WSPA is retransmitting the SD feed of WASV on 7.3.

The CW Signs 30 New Affiliates
By Michele Greppi of Television Week

The CW on Tuesday announced 30 long-term affiliation agreements that increase clearances to 114 stations reaching more than 74 percent of the country.

The newly signed affiliates include four General Media properties: UPN affiliate WASV-TV Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C.-Asheville, NC-Anderson, S.C., (the 35th-largest market in the country); WB affiliate WJWB-TV in Jacksonville, Fla. (market No. 52); a digital channel of NBC affiliate WCBD-TV in Charleston, S.C. (101); and a digital channel of CBS affiliate WNCT-TV in Greenville-New Bern-Washington, N.C. (105).

Two of the deals were for low-power UPN affiliates owned by Raycom Media: WSTQ-LP in Syracuse, N.Y. (76); and KXTU-TV in Colorado Springs-Pueblo, Colo. (93).

Six of the deals of the deals involved digital channels of Quincy Newspapers-owned stations: NBC affiliate WREX-TV in Rockford, Ill. (133); ABC affiliate WXOW-TV in La Crosse, Wis. (123); ABC affiliate WAOW-TV in Wausau-Rhinelander, Wis. (134); NBC affiliate KTIV-TV in Sioux City, Iowa (143); NBC affiliate WVVA-TV in Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill, W.Va. (149); NBC affiliate KTTC-TV in Rochester, Minn.-Mason City, Iowa-Austin, Minn. (152); and NBC affiliate WGEM-TV in Quincy, Ill.-Hannibal, Mo.-Keokuk, Iowa (169).

Four deals involved digital channels of stations owned by Gray Television: NBC affiliate WJHG-TV in Panama City, Fla. (157); ABC affiliate WBKO-TV in Bowling Green, Ky. (for the digital station currently operated as a WB affiliate) (183); ABC affiliate WTOK-TV in Meridian, Miss. (184); and NBC affiliate KKCO-TV in Grand Junction-Montrose, Colo. (187).

Affiliation deals were made with Grant Communications for two WB affiliates: WBVA-TV in Roanoke-Lynchburg, Va. (68); and KGWB-TV in Davenport-Rock Island-Moline, Ill. (95).

The other deals announced involved UPN affiliate KBEJ-TV in Austin, Texas (53), owned by Corridor Television and operated by Belo Corp.; Banks Broadcasting's UPN affiliate KNIN-TV in Boise, Idaho (119); Camino Real Communications-owned WB affiliate KWWT-TV in Odessa-Midland, Texas (159); KM Communications' WB affiliate KPIF-TV in Idaho Falls-Pocatello, Idaho (163); and Rocky Mountain Broadcasting's KMTF-TV in Helena, Mont. (206).

Other deals made for digital channel space included Barrington Broadcasting's ABC affiliates WHOI-TV in Peoria-Bloomington, Ill. (117) and KVII-TV in Amarillo, Texas (131); Catamount Holdings' CBS affiliate KHSL-TV in Chico-Redding, Calif. (130); the University of Missouri's NBC affiliate KOMU-TV in Columbia-Jefferson City, Mo., (138); Delmarva Broadcast Service General Partnership's ABC affiliate WMDT-TV in Salisbury, Md.(148); and Block Communications' NBC affiliate WLIO-TV in Lima, Ohio (185).

"We're very pleased to sign our first long-term, multistation affiliation agreements with Media General and Raycom Media, two of broadcasting's largest, most admired station owners, as well as with Grant Communications and Quincy Newspapers, companies whose strong entrepreneurial spirit is grounded in local station ownership," said John Maatta, chief operating officer of The CW. "We're also adding to the number of Banks, Barrington, Belo, Block Communications [and] Gray stations in the CW fold, as well as sealing new deals with a number of other companies with whom we've previously partnered for The WB. All of these companies share our excitement and enthusiasm for the unique and exceptional programming and promotion opportunities that The CW creates for them."

The CW, announced Jan. 24 as a joint venture of CBS Corp. and Warner Bros. Entertainment, will launch in September with programming from UPN and The WB, which will close at the end of August.

I saw that UPN was being broadcast on 7-3 as well and wondered if it had anything to do with the UPN/WB merger (OK - merger might not be the correct term to use, but that is what I considered it to be when I first heard the news).

FoxEng - what do you think that means for us here?

It would be nice if CW started out broadcasting in HD, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I suspect they won't because I would guess they will simply use the existing equipment - but that is just my completely uneducated guess. :)

It would be nice if CW started out broadcasting in HD, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I suspect they won'tCW in the national or local sense? Both The WB and UPN send out a good bit of their programming in high-definition, and I'd expect capable CW affiliates to continue doing the same. When I last pestered them, WASV claimed that they'll be broadcasting in HD this summer (July, I think they said). Whether or not that happens, I guess we'll have to wait and see...

CW in the national or local sense?

Local.

Speaking of which, I just noticed that WASV-D is pillarboxed right now -- I wonder if that means they've finally made the transition. Guess we'll find out later this evening...

Edit -- and the answer is "no, they haven't". Maybe it's still in progress.

WASV is broadcasting a HD (1080i) signal on 62.1 now, according to my Sony HD DVR. So far all I've seen is upconverted SD with dark blue bars on the sides. Another thing I noticed today is that 62.2 is carrying a clone of the weather information from WSPA's 7.2.

WSPA 7.1 is also showing the dark blue bars on upconverted SD. I don't remember seeing this before, but I seldom watch SD on 7.1 so I might have missed it for a while.

Iam not sure if this is related or not, but when I tune to 7.1 on my Dish 811 OTA, it freezes the 811 and then reboots the machine!!?? It only happens with WSPA 7.1 and no other channels. Any ideas?

So far all I've seen is upconverted SD with dark blue bars on the sides.Right. Network programming was the same way last night -- Veronica Mars was in SD and pillarboxed the same way as syndicated fare like Dr. Phil -- but I'm hoping they're just getting all of their ducks in a row.

[QUOTE=SpineRep when I tune to 7.1 on my Dish 811 OTA, it freezes the 811

I used the 811 for a while and had a number of problems, including the one you described. I decided to drop their hd package and went ota only. Presently the only problem I have with 7.1 is their program guide, that is not very often. Others here may have had a better experience with the 811, but I was not happy with the one I had.

Of course, I did have to buy reciever (Digital Stream)

The 811 hasn't given me one single problem until now.. oh well no big deal my 622 is here and waiting to be installed!
Russ

Anyone know if WSPA will be showing HD Masters Thursday and Friday on 7.1? Seems like they did last year.

Anyone know if WSPA will be showing HD Masters Thursday and Friday on 7.1? Seems like they did last year.

They have for the last five years or so. I can't imagine that they wouldn't this year.

Isn't The Masters on USA Network before the weekend?

The Thursday and Friday rounds will be on USA.

I wait for this all year. It's a toss up on which is best. Watching it in HD or being there.

The Thursday and Friday rounds will be on USA.

Apparently CBS will broadcast coverage on their HD channels while maintaining normal programming on the SD channel. This was discussed in the HDTV Programming forum. Hopefully WSPA will carry it.

For those of us with cable/satellite Universal HD will also have some HD coverage on Thursday/Friday.

Has anyone else experienced audio level problems on WLOS-DT tonight? I was settling in to watch Grey's Anatomy, and the center channel was overwhelmed by the music and ambient tracks, and I couldn't hear the dialogue at all. I noticed that when the news came on at 11, the overall level was extremely low as well.

Has anyone else experienced audio level problems on WLOS-DT tonight? I was settling in to watch Grey's Anatomy, and the center channel was overwhelmed by the music and ambient tracks, and I couldn't hear the dialogue at all. I noticed that when the news came on at 11, the overall level was extremely low as well.


There were no audio problems on my end.

Maybe it's my receiver but the program guide needs to be updated. The times are correct but the programs are still on standard time. Example, 21 shows 9 p.m. with the 10 o'clock news. All channels are off. Anyone else having this problem?

Maybe it's my receiver but the program guide needs to be updated. The times are correct but the programs are still on standard time. Example, 21 shows 9 p.m. with the 10 o'clock news. All channels are off. Anyone else having this problem?


My recievers have a menu option where you can set whether to observe DST for your area. You probably have this option to observe DST turned off for your reciever.

Has anyone else heard anything about WHNS HD coming on Charter here in Greenville?
Someone mentioned that a deal was done, but nothing since.

I got a thing from Charter in the mail today with their channel lineup and prices in it. The HD channels are listed as they are today. No Braves channel, no ESPN2, no WHNS. Since my yard was filled with ice yesterday I thought that something might have frozen over and WLOS could have been there.

It was just hail though. :rolleyes:

No WSPA-DT in Northern Greenville County? Guys I need help. Is there a reason I should not receive WSPA-DT north of downtown Greenville? I am trying to set up an HDTV at the Furman Golf Course (very close to the intersection of 25N and 276) and for some reason I can not receive our local CBS feed, which is much needed for the Masters this weekend, plus Thurs and Friday. Is Paris Mountain in the way (it is very close to the North/NorthEast)? Antennaweb says yes for zip code 29609 but no for 29613 (furman's zip code). Do I need a pre-amp? Any help is much appreciated.

Paris Mountain may very well be your problem. According to a map I made that shows the transmitter locations for the stations that I can receive (or hope to receive :p ) WSPA should be NE or NNE of you. I've forgotten the name of the mountain it sits on, but it looks like it's not far S or SW of Saluda.

. You probably have this option to observe DST turned off for your reciever.

Thanks for the reply. My receiver has been set to "auto" for time selection, for about two years with no problems, until now. I've rebooted' turned off dst, turn it on and back to auto. but none of the times and programs line-up. Guess I have receiver problems. When in doubt unplug everything. We'll see.

MY receiver (Mot HDT-100) shows a clock when it is off. It seems to get the time from whatever station it is tuned to at that time. If WLOS was the last one the time is correct. If WHNS was on last the time is off by an hour. Which is actually better than it has been since the time seems to be somewhat random from WHNS.

hey guys hows it going. I have a quick question. Is the local cbs station in greenville showing the masters in HD for thursday, and Friday. I havent heard if there are or not.

thanks for the help

WSPA 7.1 will have it in HD Thurs. and FRi., but only on the DT not on analog.

that is the news i want to hear. thanks a lot enoree