anyone else have MAJOR probs with WSPA's signal yesterday? I could not keep a solid signal, I assume due to the wind. Used the rotor to move the CM 4221, all to no avail. Had to switch to Charter QAM-HD. Surely WSPA was at full strength; anyone else have problems?
The signal on channel 7 kept dropping off for me all afternoon and evening.

The signal on channel 7 kept dropping off for me all afternoon and evening.


No problems here, strong all afternoon....

The signal on channel 7 kept dropping off for me all afternoon and evening.

Strong here

anyone else have MAJOR probs with WSPA's signal yesterday? I could not keep a solid signal, I assume due to the wind. Used the rotor to move the CM 4221, all to no avail. Had to switch to Charter QAM-HD. Surely WSPA was at full strength; anyone else have problems?

I have had the same problems here in Hendersonville since I installed my outdoor antenna 2 weeks ago. Constant drop outs or no signal at all. I have an indoor antenna also that does the same thing.

According to the thing that I got in the mail, Charter will be adding two new HD offerings in March.

772 MHD (MTV HD)
790 Starz HDTV

They are moving the Hallmark channel from expanded basic to the digital tier. I would assume that is the source of the bandwidth for the new HD channels.

According to the thing that I got in the mail, Charter will be adding two new HD offerings in March.

772 MHD (MTV HD)
790 Starz HDTV

They are moving the Hallmark channel from expanded basic to the digital tier. I would assume that is the source of the bandwidth for the new HD channels.
Charter has already moved the following from expanded basic to the digital tier (at least here in Asheville):

SoapNET from 72 to 202
Toon Disney from 73 to 109

The new digital channels that will be offered as part of the newly renamed "Digital Total View" Package (a.k.a. Digital Family Tier) beginning in March are:

137 American Life TV (think classic TV such as the hourlong 60's Colorized "Honeymooners" and Bill Cosby in "I Spy")
156 Reelz (think TV Guide Channel for the Movie Business)

I checked out MHD's website and it appears to follow the page of the Universal HD Network in that it airs the best of the Viacom Cable Music Properties' shows aired in HD (i.e. Storytellers). This could be disappointing to those expecting an MTV Simulcast in HD, but would be great for those looking for more concert-style music performances.

Maybe there'll be that much anticipated major push for more HD channels (i.e. TBS, CNN, The Weather Channel, FX, etc.) toward the last half of the year.....one could only hope!

137 American Life TV (think classic TV such as the hourlong 60's Colorized "Honeymooners" and Bill Cosby in "I Spy")I think those hour-long Honeymooners were originally shot in color, not colorized.

All--
D* CS tells me that LIL_HD is available in this market. I responded that a installer at a neighbor told me yesterday that it is not available yet, and that it would be delayed again**. CS then checked a supervisor and reconfirmed LIL-HD is now operational. D* offered me a Model HR 270 for $250 when I said I was thinking of switching to E*. Anyone had a better offer?
**--He then said they have no stock of receivers/recorders and they are backordered.

According to the thing that I got in the mail, Charter will be adding two new HD offerings in March.

772 MHD (MTV HD)
790 Starz HDTV

They are moving the Hallmark channel from expanded basic to the digital tier. I would assume that is the source of the bandwidth for the new HD channels.

That's great but when are they going to get WLOS & ESPN2?

All--
D* CS tells me that LIL_HD is available in this market. I responded that a installer at a neighbor told me yesterday that it is not available yet, and that it would be delayed again**. CS then checked a supervisor and reconfirmed LIL-HD is now operational. D* offered me a Model HR 270 for $250 when I said I was thinking of switching to E*. Anyone had a better offer?
**--He then said they have no stock of receivers/recorders and they are backordered.

Other message boards inform me that the standing deal for existing hr10-250 (aka hd tivo) owners is getting the hr20 for $99. hr 20's are leases though, you don't own it, and they're evidently extremely unreliable.

DTV CS just told me mid April is the new release dates for HD locals in the Greenville market.

I think those hour-long Honeymooners were originally shot in color, not colorized.
Apologies on the blunder.....I was meaning that it was in color....not given the Turner treatment....

anyone else have MAJOR probs with WSPA's signal yesterday? [Sunday 2/4]

I didn't have any significant problems with my OTA signal. I would have watched the Super Bowl on WBTV from Charlotte because it no longer multicasts (no subchannels to suck bits from the HD feed), but I was getting occasional dropouts on it because the wind was blowing my antenna and my neighbors' trees around. So I watched and recorded it from WSPA instead.

According to the thing that I got in the mail, Charter will be adding two new HD offerings in March.

772 MHD (MTV HD)
790 Starz HDTV

They are moving the Hallmark channel from expanded basic to the digital tier. I would assume that is the source of the bandwidth for the new HD channels.
Great news. 2 more worthy HD channels to the lineup.

I assume it's not just my gear, but does EVERYONE who gets the Charter HD tier experience the occasional and complete audio and video breakup? No particular time or channel. It's like someone's stepping on the pipe and the stream gets bit starved for a couple minutes.

Great news. 2 more worthy HD channels to the lineup.

I assume it's not just my gear, but does EVERYONE who gets the Charter HD tier experience the occasional and complete audio and video breakup? No particular time or channel. It's like someone's stepping on the pipe and the stream gets bit starved for a couple minutes.
me too. I thought it was my equipment. Often the HD stuff I record on the DVR breaks up so bad we can't watch it.

DTV CS just told me mid April is the new release dates for HD locals in the Greenville market.

I really hope this isn't true. It's supposed to be turned on next week! In fact they've promised 3 dates to this point--Fall 2006, mid January 2007, and February 14th. Mid April would be the 4th promised date, and I would have no reason to believe them at that point...

--Cross

I really hope this isn't true. It's supposed to be turned on next week! In fact they've promised 3 dates to this point--Fall 2006, mid January 2007, and February 14th. Mid April would be the 4th promised date, and I would have no reason to believe them at that point...

--Cross

I really hope it's not true, as well. I've come to the conclusion that most DTV reps are pretty clueless. It's rare that I call in and feel like I'm talking to someone competent, so who knows if what she told me is accurate.

Help!!

My parents just moved to Piedmont and I'm trying to get them setup to get HD from OTA. They live at the bottom of a gentle sloping hill with no trees or buildings close by.

The antennaweb info is as follows:

yellow - uhf WMYA 40 MNT ANDERSON SC 122° 11.7 40
yellow - vhf WNTV-DT 9.1 PBS GREENVILLE SC 15° 15.2 9
yellow - uhf WYFF-DT 4.1 NBC GREENVILLE SC 348° 28.1 59
green - uhf WSPA-DT 7.1 CBS SPARTANBURG SC 22° 32.2 53
green - uhf WNEH 38 PBS GREENWOOD SC 151° 29.3 38
red - uhf WGGS 16 TBN GREENVILLE SC 15° 15.2 16
red - uhf GGS-DT 16.1 TBN GREENVILLE SC 15° 15.2 35
red - vhf WLOS 13 ABC ASHEVILLE NC 346° 51.4 13
red - uhf WLOS-DT 13.1 ABC ASHEVILLE NC 346° 51.4 56
red - vhf WSPA 7 CBS SPARTANBURG SC 22° 32.2 7
red - vhf WYFF 4 NBC GREENVILLE SC 348° 28.1 4
red - uhf WNTV 29 PBS GREENVILLE SC 15° 15.2 29
red - uhf WUNF 33 PBS ASHEVILLE NC 346° 51.4 33
red - uhf WUNF-DT 33.1 PBS ASHEVILLE NC 346° 51.4 25
red - uhf WHNS 21 FOX ASHEVILLE NC 343° 34.2 21
red - uhf WHNS-DT 21.1 FOX ASHEVILLE NC 343° 34.2 57
red - uhf WYCW 62 CW ASHEVILLE NC 357° 34.9 62
red - uhf WYCW-DT 62.1 CW ASHEVILLE NC 357° 34.9 45
blue - uhf W68DM 68 PBS BREVARD NC 343° 33.8 68
blue - uhf W19CR 19 PBS TRYON NC 23° 39.3 19
blue - vhf W10AJ 10 CBS GREENVILLE SC 13° 15.2 10
blue - uhf WSQY-LP 51 ION SPARTANBURG SC 21° 10.4 51
blue - uhf WRET 49 PBS SPARTANBURG SC 78° 37.7 49
blue - uhf W24AU 24 PBS CASHIERS NC 314° 46.2 24
blue - uhf W27BD 27 PBS HIGHLANDS NC 302° 48.4 27
blue - uhf WNEH-DT 18 PBS GREENWOOD SC 151° 29.3 18
blue - uhf WMYA-DT 40.1 MNT ANDERSON SC 122° 11.7 14
violet - vhf WJBF 6 ABC AUGUSTA GA 164° 97.7 6
violet - uhf WNEG 32 CBS TOCCOA GA 267° 52.4 32
violet - vhf W02AG 2 CBS BREVARD NC 343° 33.9 2
violet - vhf W05AC 5 ABC TRYON, ETC. NC 23° 39.1 5
violet - vhf WBTV 3 CBS CHARLOTTE NC 63° 84.3 3

Does anyone else live in the Piedmont area and have you had success getting HD OTA? What antennea are you using?

Thanks!!

Does anyone else live in the Piedmont area and have you had success getting HD OTA? What antennea are you using?

Don't live near Piedmont but I think I can help. What channels do you primarily watch? If you're like most of us, I presume all. Looks like you've got a good chance of getting 4, 7, 13, and 21 in one direction, which would be North. The antenna of choice here is the Channel Master 4228. Lowes usually carries them. Are you doing an attic install or rooftop? Rooftop is almost always better, and the higher you can get the antenna, the better. If needed, a preamp can help pull in a weaker signal. However, with a 4228 and modest height, you shouldn't have much of a problem. WHNS looks to be the weakest signal for you. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

I see that Raycom will be sending the ACC Tournament in HD. The announcement stated that 11 of their 35 stations are capable of passing on the HD programming. I am not optimistic that WLOS is one of the 11. I would guess that a stations ability to show the HD versions of Wheel and Jeopardy is one indication of a station's ability to broadcast non-network HD programming. Has anyone heard whether or not WLOS will be able to offer this service to this area?

I see that Raycom will be sending the ACC Tournament in HD. The announcement stated that 11 of their 35 stations are capable of passing on the HD programming. I am not optimistic that WLOS is one of the 11. I would guess that a stations ability to show the HD versions of Wheel and Jeopardy is one indication of a station's ability to broadcast non-network HD programming. Has anyone heard whether or not WLOS will be able to offer this service to this area?

I think they should be able to pass along a live HD feed. I believe they just do not have the capability to record HD material to broadcast at a later time. Hopefully, our WLOS source can post a definitive answer.

Well, from all we know, THIS IS THE WEEK! Come on D*, get it right this time. Come Wednesday night, we should be able to watch local HD with our dish.

Well, from all we know, THIS IS THE WEEK! Come on D*, get it right this time. Come Wednesday night, we should be able to watch local HD with our dish.


Have you upgraded to the new dish and MPEG-4 receiver?

Yes, I did that at the end of November when they were telling us that these would go live on December 4th. As far as I know, I should be good to go. They sat me up with the new 5LNB Dish and the H20 receiver.

I AM READY!

Help!!

My parents just moved to Piedmont and I'm trying to get them setup to get HD from OTA. They live at the bottom of a gentle sloping hill with no trees or buildings close by.

The antennaweb info is as follows:

yellow - uhf WMYA 40 MNT ANDERSON SC 122° 11.7 40
yellow - vhf WNTV-DT 9.1 PBS GREENVILLE SC 15° 15.2 9
yellow - uhf WYFF-DT 4.1 NBC GREENVILLE SC 348° 28.1 59
green - uhf WSPA-DT 7.1 CBS SPARTANBURG SC 22° 32.2 53
green - uhf WNEH 38 PBS GREENWOOD SC 151° 29.3 38
red - uhf WGGS 16 TBN GREENVILLE SC 15° 15.2 16
red - uhf GGS-DT 16.1 TBN GREENVILLE SC 15° 15.2 35
red - vhf WLOS 13 ABC ASHEVILLE NC 346° 51.4 13
red - uhf WLOS-DT 13.1 ABC ASHEVILLE NC 346° 51.4 56
red - vhf WSPA 7 CBS SPARTANBURG SC 22° 32.2 7
red - vhf WYFF 4 NBC GREENVILLE SC 348° 28.1 4
red - uhf WNTV 29 PBS GREENVILLE SC 15° 15.2 29
red - uhf WUNF 33 PBS ASHEVILLE NC 346° 51.4 33
red - uhf WUNF-DT 33.1 PBS ASHEVILLE NC 346° 51.4 25
red - uhf WHNS 21 FOX ASHEVILLE NC 343° 34.2 21
red - uhf WHNS-DT 21.1 FOX ASHEVILLE NC 343° 34.2 57
red - uhf WYCW 62 CW ASHEVILLE NC 357° 34.9 62
red - uhf WYCW-DT 62.1 CW ASHEVILLE NC 357° 34.9 45
blue - uhf W68DM 68 PBS BREVARD NC 343° 33.8 68
blue - uhf W19CR 19 PBS TRYON NC 23° 39.3 19
blue - vhf W10AJ 10 CBS GREENVILLE SC 13° 15.2 10
blue - uhf WSQY-LP 51 ION SPARTANBURG SC 21° 10.4 51
blue - uhf WRET 49 PBS SPARTANBURG SC 78° 37.7 49
blue - uhf W24AU 24 PBS CASHIERS NC 314° 46.2 24
blue - uhf W27BD 27 PBS HIGHLANDS NC 302° 48.4 27
blue - uhf WNEH-DT 18 PBS GREENWOOD SC 151° 29.3 18
blue - uhf WMYA-DT 40.1 MNT ANDERSON SC 122° 11.7 14
violet - vhf WJBF 6 ABC AUGUSTA GA 164° 97.7 6
violet - uhf WNEG 32 CBS TOCCOA GA 267° 52.4 32
violet - vhf W02AG 2 CBS BREVARD NC 343° 33.9 2
violet - vhf W05AC 5 ABC TRYON, ETC. NC 23° 39.1 5
violet - vhf WBTV 3 CBS CHARLOTTE NC 63° 84.3 3

Does anyone else live in the Piedmont area and have you had success getting HD OTA? What antennea are you using?

Thanks!!

I live in Greer and I use a small OTA from Wal-mart ($20) and I pick-up all 4 of the biggies (4,7,13, & 21) with very little to no problem. Channel 7 has an audio glitch that just pauses the audio for a half second every now and then but that is the worst part. DTV is supposed to go live Wednesday for this area.

I live in Greer and I use a small OTA from Wal-mart ($20) and I pick-up all 4 of the biggies (4,7,13, & 21) with very little to no problem. Channel 7 has an audio glitch that just pauses the audio for a half second every now and then but that is the worst part. DTV is supposed to go live Wednesday for this area.

Good advice! Get the Phillips Mant 510 for $29. It works great.

It looks like the general information post at the top of this thread could use some updating:


WYFF/NBC (59) -- Maps to 4-1, with NBC/Local weather on 4-2. Transmits from Caesar's Head, SC, at slightly reduced power. The Chief Engineer expects full power “no later than mid 2005.” DT transmission has been reliable since the first quarter of 2003.

I expect they're at full power by now?

WLOS/ABC (56) -- As of this date (July 2005) this station on Mt. Pisgah has install a new full power transmitter but may be operating at slightly reduced power. A new antenna has been installed. WLOS-DT maps to 13-1 and its sister station (a WB affiliate) from Anderson, SC, is retransmitted as 13-2.

The sister station is now a MyNetworkTV affiliate. There is a new subchannel 13-3 that carries an SD simulcast of the HD signal.

WASV-62 (45) Maps as 62-1. – UPN Affiliation. Operated by WSPA full time on Channel 45 rebroadcasting its Channel 62 NTSC signal. Station is located south of Hendersonville, NC midway between WSPA and WYFF near the SC/NC border. HDTV date unknown. Operates at 48kW. Does not present an HD signal.

This is now WYCW-62 (45), a CW network affiliate and sister station to WSPA. Now broadcasts at 1000kW (apparently), with an HD signal on 62-1 and a copy of WSPA's weather info on 62-2.

SCETV HDTV is on Channel 9 from Parris Mt., north of Greenville.

Might also want to mention channel 43 (maps to 49-1,2,3) from just south of Spartanburg, and channel 18 (maps to 38-1,2,3) from near Waterloo, which are handy for viewers in the southern part of this DMA.

And then there's WMYA-40 (14), a MyNetworkTV affiliate which is a sister station to WLOS-13. It broadcasts an HD signal (authorized power 310kW) on 40-1 with no other subchannels, from a transmitter near Fork Shoals SC.

Great news. 2 more worthy HD channels to the lineup.

I assume it's not just my gear, but does EVERYONE who gets the Charter HD tier experience the occasional and complete audio and video breakup? No particular time or channel. It's like someone's stepping on the pipe and the stream gets bit starved for a couple minutes.
Yes, I do experience that. I initially thought there was a problem with the HD Receiver. It's good (or not so good) to know that others are having the same problem......

Good Morning Greenville. Any news about the HD locals from D*?

Last I heard was that it was TODAY!!!!!!!!!

I am at work so there is no way for me to check it until tonight. If anyone can confirm or deny, that would be great!

I don't know if they're on or not. They weren't this morning, so I called there a little while ago (once I got to work) and the CSR told me they should be. I kind of called in order to complain, since I've read elsewhere that they weren't going to be turned on until April now. She claimed that if I go to channel 21 for example, in the guide I should see 21.1 and 21.2 underneath. Now I do get that already, since I've hooked up an indoor antenna and set my HR20 for OTA locals, but since I live in Asheville all I can ever pick up is WLOS, the NC PBS stations and channel 62. I'm skeptical, but she claims they are on. She told me she'd open up a ticket and that I should call the technicians tonight. We'll see I guess, but I'm thinking she thinks that just since I have HDTV I get locals, like every other market in the country this size already does.

She claimed that if I go to channel 21 for example, in the guide I should see 21.1 and 21.2 underneath.

I wonder about his. I have an HTL-HD that won't decode MPEG4 but I would still expect to see the new channels in the guide. That is the way it works with the "Gaming" channels. If I try to acess them I get a message that I don't have the right type of receiver. I would expect the same behavor with the local (MPEG4) HD channels.

I am waiting for confirmation of the HD locals before I commit to any future D* contracts.

Just got off the phone with customer service

Now date is in their system as mid-April. They won't give a specific date as too many people called to complain when they gave a date and it didn't happen.

The CS rep did assure me though, that I would have "over 100 HD channels" by the end of the year.

I'll be the one standing in the corner turning blue from holding my breath.

Can you tell I'm annoyed? :rolleyes:

About what I suspected, the CSR I talked to this morning didn't seem to grasp what I was getting at, that the Greenville/Asheville locals have never been provided and that today was the day that we were promised. Oh well...I guess I'll call tonight and lay into someone and maybe get another credit or something. I picked up a decent indoor antenna last night and at least get a few channels. I really think that under the circumstances we should get the NY locals until they turn ours on, but that's not going to happen.

Just got off the phone with customer service

Now date is in their system as mid-April. They won't give a specific date as too many people called to complain when they gave a date and it didn't happen.

The CS rep did assure me though, that I would have "over 100 HD channels" by the end of the year.

I'll be the one standing in the corner turning blue from holding my breath.

Can you tell I'm annoyed? :rolleyes:

Well the HD locals definitely aren't showing up, and it's crap that the CSRs are trying to tell people that the channels they're receiving OTA are actually provided by D*. I'm more than a little annoyed since in October I agreed to a 2-year commitment based on D*'s promise of HD locals by the fall and an HD DVR. Well the DVR is just now beginning to work as advertised and the locals aren't here on the 4th promised date.

If I broke my commitment, I would have to pay D* big bucks, but they are free to break their commitments at will with no penalty. If only Charter didn't suck so bad (they didn't even show up at the appointed time, then tried to reschedule me for WEEKS later when I tried them in July), I'd dump D* like a bad habit and refuse to pay any money. Unfortunately it seems we have no real alternatives in this area, unless E* comes through with HD locals soon. Anyone notice that we're the biggest market D* serves without HD locals (http://www.dbstalk.com/hr20/html/DTV_LIL_DMA.html) ?

Can you tell how annoyed I am? :cool:

Anyway, I guess I'll continue with getting NBC, Fox and CW over the indoor antenna, until somebody can competently deliver locals over a satellite.

I wish we could get the network feeds, but I have already tried and been denied. We're in northern G'ville cty - off Lake Robinson.

We do have an OTA, but it is a small one indoors and we can't pick up ABC on it at all. We get NBC, Fox and CBS, but have to run it through our TV because the HR20 splits the signal and it isn't strong enough not to cut out. I just can't see going through the expense/hassle of running an attic antenna through 2 stories to our box.

I guess I'll just have to wait and be pleasantly surprised when they do come online.

I just picked up an indoor OTA antenna last night at Radio Shack. When I ran it directly to the TV, I got nothing. The guy at Radio Shack told me to try running it through the HR20 and voila, I got three separate ABC feeds, 5 NC PBS feeds and Channel 62 (CW). Nothing on Fox, NBC or CBS unfortunately, but I didn't figure I'd get much up here in Asheville. I feel the D* pain...but Charter here is worse. In fact this summer, Charter disconnected my D* when they hooked up my next door neighbor's cable. It took me a good hour outside in the dark til I could untangle their mess, and when I called them to complain (before I figured out what they did and fixed it myself), they told me they'd come out in a week to fix it.

I just wish they would give us a real date. I too, don't want the hassle of running all the cables up to my attic, or where ever I need to place my OTA system, when I don't know how long it will be needed. Murphy's law says they will activate local HD channels the day after I go to all that expense and trouble.

Add my name to the frustrated.

To all those frustrated with D*, it could still be worse. You could be a Charter customer!! Of course you would then have local NBC, CBS, and Fox HD though. I must admit I am surprised that so many on this forum have spent $$$ on HDTV's (and I assume AVR's and DD5.1 set-ups), but you won't spend another $150 or so on a good antenna AND PRE-AMP to get all the channels. Chances are good that if you take a few hours or so to put it in the attic and run it to your display you will be more than satisfied. I have the HR-20 and D*, but I'm not waiting around for them to get to us. IMO, their customer service has been slipping for a few years. Evidently they have enough subscribers now and they are complacent.

just my .02

Well, our issue with Charter is a whole 'nother story. Short version is they don't offer service in our neighborhood. (Longer story is about the number of times - 3 - that they have assured me that our neighborhood is now covered, then sent out an installer only to have them tell us we're too far away from the main road)

We have a two story house, so setting up an antenna in the attic, running cable, drilling holes, etc. is no small project for us. In our situation, it would gain us ABC (possibly - as it is 50-ish miles away) and the ability to run the OTA signal through our HR20 receiver/dvr.

As a number of people here have mentioned, D* has been promising HD Locals for months now. I think the main issue is that we are unable to get a realistic date for turn-on. So many of us just want to know WHEN we can expect service that we were promised in Nov. We had to extend our commitment by 2 years to get the receiver/dish, but D* hasn't lived up to their end of the bargain.

Sure, we've all spent some $$ on HD TV's and such, but why should we have to spend another $150 for something that *could* only be valuable to us for a month or two?

I have heard that it is the Greenville local channels that are not ready to send the signal to DTV in the proper format. equipment,software, etc... . Not sure how true that is. DTV is now saying mid April for the Local HD channels in Greenville, SC
I am not to worried. I have an outdoor ota antenna that gets me more than DTV will offer when they do get things going. I live in Simpsonville SC
PickyChicky the feed from the local channels will be a better feed then DTV will be able to give you. Also you will not have the rain fade issue like you will with a Sat. company.

I must admit I am surprised that so many on this forum have spent $$$ on HDTV's (and I assume AVR's and DD5.1 set-ups), but you won't spend another $150 or so on a good antenna AND PRE-AMP to get all the channels.

I found this a bit surprising myself. Attic/outdoor mount antennas aren't EASY but they aren't very difficult either. My antenna setup is trivial compared to my HF vertical setup that I've got for ham radio, and it's one of the easiest to setup! Once you've got all of the components, it takes only a few hours. And picture quality is going to be better than D*. Rain fade is a good point as well. And, best of all...programming is FREE! No monthly programming fees for the exact same content. Also, if you someday decide to dump D* or change providers or what not, you've still got the antenna. No monkeying with rabbit ears. And if you've got Charter, you can laugh at your neighbors while they're in an outage.

It is not always that easy to get local reception. You could almost say that the cable system in Asheville was originally set up just so that people could get WSPA. In many (Most?) areas around here you simply can not get WSPA even with a tower and all the amps in the world. I know that antennaweb does not show WSPA-DT for my address and I have never even gotten a sniff of it when I tried anyway.

I do not like paying Charter but I do not remember the last time that the television signal went out. It has been years since it has. There was, of course, the time about 20 years ago that the main office had the fire and the whole city was out....

I can sympathize with those who are leery of stting up antennas and pre-amps, etc. I can't imagine, however, NOT having it on my screen when you know it is out there. I am not even an amateur electrician but I've gone from nothing to the Silver Sensor behind my TV to the CM 4221 in the attic over the last 18 months. Last years Rose Bowl (USC/Texas) was ONLY available in HD OTA (in fact all BCS games). That would have been the final straw for me if I didn't have an antenna / pre-amp by then.

I can sympathize with those who are leery of stting up antennas and pre-amps, etc. I can't imagine, however, NOT having it on my screen when you know it is out there. I am not even an amateur electrician but I've gone from nothing to the Silver Sensor behind my TV to the CM 4221 in the attic over the last 18 months. Last years Rose Bowl (USC/Texas) was ONLY available in HD OTA (in fact all BCS games). That would have been the final straw for me if I didn't have an antenna / pre-amp by then.

Oh, I agree. Those who can't receive it have no options...that's obvious. But if it's out there, and there's nothing stopping you except putting up an antenna, then why not? Kinda like the folks paying D* or Charter all that money a month JUST for local channels...to me, that's insane. One Saturday afternoon and you can start counting the money you save every month.

Why in the world does Charter not offer WLOS 13 in HD? I keep checking with them but they never have an answer...Anyone else have any input on this? Pretty much tied to Charter at this point as my apartment complex doesn't allow any satellite dish installs. :rolleyes:

Why in the world does Charter not offer WLOS 13 in HD? I keep checking with them but they never have an answer...Anyone else have any input on this. Pretty much tied to Charter at this point as my apartment complex doesn't allow any satellite dish installs. :rolleyes:

Because WLOS is owned by Sinclair Broadcasting and they want Charter to pay for the rights to have their digital signal.

Because WLOS is owned by Sinclair Broadcasting and they want Charter to pay for the rights to have their digital signal.

Alas, more corporate stubbornness that hurts, who, in the end? Us, the viewers.

Because WLOS is owned by Sinclair Broadcasting and they want Charter to pay for the rights to have their digital signal.
AS I SAID BACK LAST YEAR, SINCLAIR BROADCASTING/WLOS IS THE REASON WE WILL NOT SEE HD VIA SATLITE ANY TIME SOON.I KNOW WHAT THE PEOPLE THAT
WORK FOR SINCLAIR BROADCASTING/WLOS HAVE SAID IN THE PAST ON THIS FORM,BUT WHAT ELSE COULD THEY SAY.LOOK AT WHATS GOING ON IN OTHER PARTS OF THE US WITH SINCLAIR BROADCASTING(THE LONGRANGERS OF BROADCASTING)SO THEY THINK IMO.THE NAME OF THE GAME IS $$$$$$, THE HECK WITH THE CUSTOMERS.
I GOT NEWS FOR SINCLAIR BROADCASTING/WLOS,I HAVE OTHER CHANNELS TO WATCH,AND THATS WHAT I WILL DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is anyone here from the Clemson area and familiar with the quality of OTA signals there? We're stuck in the same hole as some of you other guys with DirecTV.

More specifically, our antennas would be near the Oconee airport. AntennaWeb mentions that this may be a problem, but does anyone here have any practical experience with this?

Because WLOS is owned by Sinclair Broadcasting and they want Charter to pay for the rights to have their digital signal.

Here's a link to a related news story about the broadcaster-cable issue that I found interesting, and it raises some good points on both sides of the table, which ultimately leave the consumer holding the bag.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/story/F4C70EF104681D498625726900167B5D?OpenDocument

Ultimately, the broadcasters want to recoup some of their investment expenses for upgrading to high-def -- they must because it is in the interest of their stakeholders. And, like the article says, "They couldn't charge advertisers for prettier pictures..."

On the flip side, cable providers (at least Charter in Greenville, SC) do not charge subscribers additional fees to access the high-def signals of these broadcasters. What's more, these signals are delivered via the publicly owned airwaves -- so, would it really be ethical to charge customers above and beyond what the lifeline cable costs in order to receive them?

IMHO, the broadcasters (ie Belo & Sinclair) need to look at cable carriage of their signal as a way of expiditing the consumer adoption of HD. The sooner everyone starts watching their HD signals, the quicker they will be able to sell advertisers on the concept.

Likewise, cable companies need to think of new and creative ways to lure customers into paying more for additional HD services. They can do this by offering more HD channels (this is the same thing they do with lifeline vs. expanded tiers).

Why in the world does Charter not offer WLOS 13 in HD? I keep checking with them but they never have an answer...Anyone else have any input on this? Pretty much tied to Charter at this point as my apartment complex doesn't allow any satellite dish installs. :rolleyes:

Your landlord can't stop you from putting up a dish (generally speaking):

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

Your landlord can't stop you from putting up a dish (generally speaking):

That's very true, but a lot of that depends on if he/she has an exclusive use area, and if so, they can get a straight shot at the satellite.

Our complex here in Mauldin even has a flyer that tells us how to mount the dish that is acceptable with their code (free standing, not extending beyond the porch, no holes, and flat cables through the windows), so it may be worth asking the landlord if they have such a flyer.

Yeah, I battled it out with my complex. They would allow it on the balcony but in order to receive a signal, it would have to slighty extend over the balcony ledge, therefore intruding on a "common area." Sucks for sure!!!

Is anyone here from the Clemson area and familiar with the quality of OTA signals there? We're stuck in the same hole as some of you other guys with DirecTV.

More specifically, our antennas would be near the Oconee airport. AntennaWeb mentions that this may be a problem, but does anyone here have any practical experience with this?
I'm in Central in one of the student apartment complexes and I have found that signal quality on this side of the lake has been a little disappointing. You should have no trouble picking up 4 (WYFF - NBC), 7 (WSPA - CBS), 21 (WHNS - Fox), 62 (WYCW - CW), and probably 40 (WMYA - MyNTV). You can pick up 29 (WNTV - PBS/Greenville) if you have a decent VHF antenna (probably needs to be roof mounted). WLOS 13, our area's ABC affiliate, has been impossible for me to pick up so far. The Clemson area in general seems to be in a real hole when it comes to transmissions from the north of us (radio and TV). I have heard of guys on the Seneca-side of Clemson (across the lake) being able to pick up 13 with a good outdoor antenna, and you may very well have more luck than me in Central as the area around the airport is at a bit higher elevation than the surrounding terrain.

Since you mention that you are in the same boat as those with DirecTV, I assume you have given up all hope with Northland's HD (probably a good decision). My experience with Northland has been awful as far as HD is concerned and they have no interest in serving higher-end customers (without completely gouging them for service that can be had OTA for free). If you did want to go with Northland, though, the only HD locals you get are 7, 21, 29 (HD-only subchannel, regular PBS feed in SD, no SC channel) + ESPN, ESPN2, NFL Network HD (but completely worthless as they are too cheap to pay for the NFLN games and they have minimal HD content), and Discovery HD. No WYFF, WMYA, WYCW, WLOS (as Sinclair wants extra money for carrying their HD feed).

Good luck with trying to set up an antenna, and let me know if you are able to get WLOS, that would be welcome news.

I see that WYCW-DT has dropped its simulcast of WSPA's weather subchannel, leaving only the main 62.1 HD subchannel.

Also, WGGS-DT has added two SD subchannels: 16.2 is "16 TOO" which was showing an old B&W movie or TV show just now, and 16.3 is the "Harmony Music Channel".

Does anyone know why WYFF 4.1 is broadcasting the Today Show in 4:3 rather than 16:9? Most other NBC stations across the country are using 16:9 for the Today Show, as they do in primetime.

I admittedly only regularly tune into one show on WYCW -- Veronica Mars -- but I've noticed a real reluctance on their part to show an entire episode in high-def. The first half-second of the recap will be in HD, it'll immediately switch to SD, and it stays that way until I guess someone remembers to flip the switch back around 25 minutes in. This happened off and on at the start of the season, but they've been really bad about it for the past few weeks. I sent a politely worded e-mail about this last week but didn't get a response.

I'm in Central in one of the student apartment complexes and I have found that signal quality on this side of the lake has been a little disappointing. You should have no trouble picking up 4 (WYFF - NBC), 7 (WSPA - CBS), 21 (WHNS - Fox), 62 (WYCW - CW), and probably 40 (WMYA - MyNTV). You can pick up 29 (WNTV - PBS/Greenville) if you have a decent VHF antenna (probably needs to be roof mounted). WLOS 13, our area's ABC affiliate, has been impossible for me to pick up so far. The Clemson area in general seems to be in a real hole when it comes to transmissions from the north of us (radio and TV). I have heard of guys on the Seneca-side of Clemson (across the lake) being able to pick up 13 with a good outdoor antenna, and you may very well have more luck than me in Central as the area around the airport is at a bit higher elevation than the surrounding terrain.
I'm honestly not all that concerned with the ABC affiliate for now. They don't really broadcast anything I watch until next fall. Nice to see I could probably get FOX and NBC though.

The reason you probably can't pick up WLOS is that their digital antenna is currently undersized. Their transmitter is on Mount Pisgah, but they need to erect a new tower to support the weight of a proper-size digital transmitter. There's some controversy between WLOS, the Forestry Service, and some conservationist groups.


Since you mention that you are in the same boat as those with DirecTV, I assume you have given up all hope with Northland's HD (probably a good decision). My experience with Northland has been awful as far as HD is concerned and they have no interest in serving higher-end customers (without completely gouging them for service that can be had OTA for free). If you did want to go with Northland, though, the only HD locals you get are 7, 21, 29 (HD-only subchannel, regular PBS feed in SD, no SC channel) + ESPN, ESPN2, NFL Network HD (but completely worthless as they are too cheap to pay for the NFLN games and they have minimal HD content), and Discovery HD. No WYFF, WMYA, WYCW, WLOS (as Sinclair wants extra money for carrying their HD feed).

Good luck with trying to set up an antenna, and let me know if you are able to get WLOS, that would be welcome news.
We never even considered Northland an option. Even their SD selection is deplorable. To even get a decent amount of channels, you have to pay through the nose. All the stuff I hear about Sinclair really does annoy me though. I don't really understand how they can expect to get additional money for their HD feed when someone can run out and buy an antenna and not pay them a dime anyway.

I was actually up on Mt. Pisgah about a month ago hiking and had a pretty good look at the transmitter (you can walk under and around it). You are right about WLOS being underpowered, about all we can hope for is a deal to be brokered (probably after the 2009 switch-off) to allow for the construction of a new antenna. But at that point Sinclair will be required to send their HD signal free of charge to local cable cos, so it won't be as much of an issue anymore.

I was actually up on Mt. Pisgah about a month ago hiking and had a pretty good look at the transmitter (you can walk under and around it). You are right about WLOS being underpoweredx x x.
WLOS is limited in power by the FCC (both analog and digital) by their height above sea level...and that puts them at the highest in elevation in the east. Analog 13 is close spaced to at least five SE stations, and that can be a problem in out-lying areas. Who knows what is in store for us from co-channel when the DT signal is moved to 13. I just cannot understand the wishy-washy rules that keep changing from the FCC...nor can I understand why station managers opt for VHF-DT over strong recommendations from most engineers in favor of UHF.

All..re D*

My scheduled install is in early April for the 5-sat D* receiver dish. So, they have given me a new date in April for the LIL-HD availability. Also, I am told by several reliable sources that the HD transistion for D* is not going well from an engineering standpoint. Many older cable runs (as new as two years) are failing to pass muster, and field personnel are instructed to use only solid copper, not copper plated steel, for the new dish installation.

jb

Has anyone heard any updates as to when Dish Network will have local HD's available to us?

For anyone interested in the Asheville area, this weekend I found I could pick up the Tri-Cities (TN/VA) Fox station WEMT, on 39-1 via my indoor antenna hooked up to my HR-20 via the Secondary locals. Very few dropouts. This comes in more solidly than WHNS out of Greenville. I guess it will have to do until or IF D* gets their act together on the locals.

After hearing that several markets will be carrying the ACC Tourney in HD, I sent a message to WLOS asking if they would be showing it in HD. I also asked if they knew when WLOS would show up on Charter. Stunningly, I got a response. Not so stunningly (this is WLOS, remember), the answer to both was NO.

About the ACC Tourney, "we will not be able to obtain the HD receiving equipment in time." Not a big surprise there. I think it was just last week that they got the equipment to broadcast in color.

And about Charter, "If you want to receive WLOS and WMYA programming in high definition I would urge you to contact Charter Cable because they are the ones that you are paying every month for HD service." Whaaaaat? Why are they so special? All the other locals seemed to sign up with Charter, no problem. So as far as I'm concerned, the fault lies with them (Sinclair and WLOS).

WLOS...last to HD, last to full power, last to Charter.

Has anyone heard any updates as to when Dish Network will have local HD's available to us?

Their service rep claimed it is available now (Friday); but I have never talked to a more disinterested phone sales rep!

Need some guidance from my fellow OTA HD enthusiasts. Recently I have begun experiencing LOTS of dropouts, mostly on WSPA-DT but also on the others (WHNS, WYFF, etc). Not coincidentally, I split my OTA feed about 6 weeks ago in order to feed a TV in another room. Room 1 has the HR10-250, room 2 has the HR-20 (thus they are both split internally). I am using a CM 4221 in the attic, about 60' of RG-6 to the display, and also using the CM Titan 7777 pre-amp. I am splitting the OTA on the output side of the 7777. With more and more OTA offerings out there (plus D* dragging its feet). I need to solve my problems. So what do I do? Bigger antenna (4228, other)? Mulitpath issues? Lower gain pre-amp? I really do not want to put the antenna on the roof if it can be avoided. Antennaweb says I am only 18.5 miles from WSPA-Dt and I get WLOS fine - help!!

Need some guidance from my fellow OTA HD enthusiasts. Recently I have begun experiencing LOTS of dropouts, mostly on WSPA-DT but also on the others (WHNS, WYFF, etc). Not coincidentally, I split my OTA feed about 6 weeks ago in order to feed a TV in another room. Room 1 has the HR10-250, room 2 has the HR-20 (thus they are both split internally). I am using a CM 4221 in the attic, about 60' of RG-6 to the display, and also using the CM Titan 7777 pre-amp. I am splitting the OTA on the output side of the 7777. With more and more OTA offerings out there (plus D* dragging its feet). I need to solve my problems. So what do I do? Bigger antenna (4228, other)? Mulitpath issues? Lower gain pre-amp? I really do not want to put the antenna on the roof if it can be avoided. Antennaweb says I am only 18.5 miles from WSPA-Dt and I get WLOS fine - help!!

First off, the obvious question, did the problems start AFTER you installed the splitter? If you're using a regular old splitter, regardless, that can SERIOUSLY degrade your signal strength. You're halfing the signal, and distributing it. Now, if you're using an amplified splitter (also known as as a distribution amplifier), you don't have to worry about. In my case, it added a small amount of gain and increased my signal strength! I use a CM 3044...you can get them at Lowes. Unfortunately, if that's not the case, you might be stuck. For me, under normal to poor weather conditions, I can only get 3 of the 4 networks...I have to pick which one I don't want to see. Yeah, it's crazy. But I have a rotor to move it...however, I'm sure if I installed a preamp (like the CM7777, which I'm looking into), it'd probably make the weaker signal come in. What you might can do is get another antenna, aim it at WSPA for a strong signal, and use a signal combiner to feed both antenna into one coax. That might work. Anyone doing that now? I'd like to know how that does. Good luck!

Dashaund, indeed - my problems started recently post intall of the splitter. And it is a "regular old splitter" albeit a $9 "HDTV" splitter from Lowes. (I splurged compared to the regular $3 version). So I'm sure there is some signal loss. Regarding the distribution amp, which I have considered, can it be used in conjunction with the CM 7777 pre-amp? Or should it be used instead of the 7777? Before I installed the pre-amp I could not get WLOS-DT or WHNS, so I need the gain. Is there such a thing as too much gain? It was suggested to me on another thread that perhaps the 7777 is too much gain for stations as close as they are. Of course WLOS-DT is not close to me, I live in Sugar Creek.

Their service rep claimed it is available now (Friday); but I have never talked to a more disinterested phone sales rep!

Just called, not available, no idea when it will be available. Do I have a snowballs chance of picking up anything OTA in Marshall, NC?

Dashaund, indeed - my problems started recently post intall of the splitter. And it is a "regular old splitter" albeit a $9 "HDTV" splitter from Lowes. (I splurged compared to the regular $3 version). So I'm sure there is some signal loss. Regarding the distribution amp, which I have considered, can it be used in conjunction with the CM 7777 pre-amp? Or should it be used instead of the 7777? Before I installed the pre-amp I could not get WLOS-DT or WHNS, so I need the gain. Is there such a thing as too much gain? It was suggested to me on another thread that perhaps the 7777 is too much gain for stations as close as they are. Of course WLOS-DT is not close to me, I live in Sugar Creek.

Yes, in theory there is a thing as too much gain. You can overdrive the receiver. However, in this situation, it's very VERY unlikely that's what's happening. I forget the exact number of dB you need to overdrive the receiver, but it's much higher than 18.2db plus whatever signal you're receiving. That is a lot of gain compared to most preamps and such, but not enough on its own to overdrive anything. Yeah, that $9 HDTV splitter sounds more to me like a marketing scheme. It's probably slightly better than the $3 version, but you're still cutting the signal in half with any kind of amplification to compensate. Yes! You CAN use the 7777 with the distribution amplifier. Put the 7777's output to the input of the distribution amp. You'll still need to use the 7777...that and the 3044 have two totally different applications. Here's a link to the 3044:

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=56604-000000693-3044&pad=true

I've lost ch. 4, signal strength is almost 100, but no audio or video. I did a rescan, signal remains the same but no program, all other channels are normal...... Anyone else????

I've lost ch. 4, signal strength is almost 100, but no audio or video. I did a rescan, signal remains the same but no program, all other channels are normal...... Anyone else????


Their PSIP must be messed up. I can tune to the channel if I manually go to 59-1.

Yep, I happened to do a fresh channel scan on one of my receivers last night, and WYFF-DT came up as 59-1 and 59-2, not 4-1 and 4-2. Another one switched over immediately to 59-1 when I entered 4-1.

Yep, I happened to do a fresh channel scan on one of my receivers last night, and WYFF-DT came up as 59-1 and 59-2, not 4-1 and 4-2. Another one switched over immediately to 59-1 when I entered 4-1.

It is mapping correctly for me now.

Thanks for the replies on the 4.1 thing. A cell tower went up Tues. about 1/4 mile from my house and I thought I really had problems. The tower is at a 90 degree angle to my antenna heading. I'm sure the cell transmitters are not up and running yet.

Should I expect any problems?? 4.1 was back on line this afternoon. Thanks again..

Should I expect any problems?? 4.1 was back on line this afternoon. Thanks again..

With your cell phone? No. Haha, jk. Possibly...kinda doubt it though. Interference is unlikely...if it's directly blocking your antenna heading, then yes. But you say it's 90 degrees...nah. I doubt it.

[QUOTE=dashaund]With your cell phone? No. Haha, jk.

Well, I could care less about the cell phone, but I don't want nobody mess'n with my hd. Thanks

Remember that with D* or E* you will get the locals in HD Lite, It's cheaper in the long run to put up an OUTSIDE antenna on a good sized mast and go with a good rotor and pre amp and get full bit rate OTA HD. It's my land and nobody tells me what I can and can't do to get TV reception. Don't hide your stuff in the attic, put it outside where it can really shine.

I like your style, enoree.

Remember that with D* or E* you will get the locals in HD Lite,

There is no evidence to show that the locals are shown in HD Lite. To the contrary, many people say it is as good as you can get to receiving OTA. It is true in some of the early markets there were problems, but that was hardwire issues at D* and those encoders have been replaced and those markets are showing great improvement.

with my OTA setup I can receive signal from 3 different markets and can pick and choose what station I think is most consistent as far as "flipping the switch" in a reliable manner, plus I can boycott the Sinclair owned station if I so choose. And they are the biggest hold up to the locals being on D* or E* for this market anyways.

plus I can boycott the Sinclair owned station if I so choose. And they are the biggest hold up to the locals being on D* or E* for this market anyways.

What do you base that statement on? Raleigh only had 2 stations (WTVD and WNCN) available in HD LIL for a long time until WRAL reached a coverage agreement for WRAL and WRAZ recently.

Hi all,

New member here, this is my first post, been lurking some. After reading thru the posts, I finally decided to order an antenna and not wait any longer for the Satellite companies to roll out local HD. This also my first experience with OTA antenna.

Just ordered a Channel Master 4228. I live in Simpsonville, SC and I hope this antenna will work for me.

Hi all,

New member here, this is my first post, been lurking some. After reading thru the posts, I finally decided to order an antenna and not wait any longer for the Satellite companies to roll out local HD. This also my first experience with OTA antenna.

Just ordered a Channel Master 4228. I live in Simpsonville, SC and I hope this antenna will work for me.


This antenna should work for you. If you have any problems you should try getting a Channel Master 7777 pre-amp to use with your antenna.

Just ordered a Channel Master 4228. I live in Simpsonville, SC

Are you planning to use it on the roof or in the attic? This is a very directional antenna, so proper aim is important. Most of the stations look like they're in about a 10 degree range where you are, which is probably OK, but an important exception is WSPA (CBS) which is about 30 degrees away from the others. You might have trouble aiming so you can get everything including WSPA, especially if you put it in the attic, which cuts down the signal.

I'm gonna try the attic first. If it doesn't work well, I'll move it outside.

How about that. Charter added three new HD channels today.

774 - ESPN2-HD !!!!!
790 - StarzHD
792 - MHD

How about that. Charter added three new HD channels today.

774 - ESPN2-HD !!!!!
790 - StarzHD
792 - MHD

Just noticed that myself. More justification for them to raise the price of the HD package along with the other rate increases that just came out. Still debating making the switch to D* or E* in the month of March.

Are WLOS and WUNF-33 still transmitted from the same tower? I just recently purchased my first HDTV and I hooked up a cheap little Terk HDTVi antenna to see what I could pick up. I was surprised to see that I was able to receive the following channels from my home in Easley.

4.1, 4.2
7.1, 7.2
21.1, 21.2
29.1, 29.2, 29.3
40.1
62.1

After that, in an effort to try and improve my signal, I put the Terk HDTVi up in my attic with a cheap little signal booster and ran a cable down to the TV. I was able to get the previous stations, plus I was now receiving the following additional channels.

16.1, 16.2, 16.3
33.1, 33.2, 33.3, 33.4, 33.5

I still can’t seem to receive WLOS.

So, if WLOS and WUNF are transmitting from the same tower, then I suppose the issue is that WLOS is not transmitting as strong of a signal as WUNF. Is this accurate or am I incorrect in that they are on the same tower?

I’ve contemplated purchasing a larger antenna and putting it in the attic instead of the Terk HDTVi, but I may hold off and hope that when D* adds locals to the area (Aprilish) it will include WLOS.

How about that. Charter added three new HD channels today.

774 - ESPN2-HD !!!!!
790 - StarzHD
792 - MHD

ESPN2-HD finally! Must resist Tivo S3...

Looks like ESPNU was added as well (310)! Finally!

Excellent day to be a sports watcher in Greenville. UNC/GT is on ESPN2-HD tonight, if you want to take our new channel for a spin.

Also...Carolina fans, our Spring Game is being televised on ESPNU this year. Yeehaw!

Excellent day to be a sports watcher in Greenville. UNC/GT is on ESPN2-HD tonight, if you want to take our new channel for a spin.

Also...Carolina fans, our Spring Game is being televised on ESPNU this year. Yeehaw!

You're not a Dr. over here? ;)

You're not a Dr. over here? ;)

My highly-official doctorate does not extend beyond sports message boards.

So, if WLOS and WUNF are transmitting from the same tower, then I suppose the issue is that WLOS is not transmitting as strong of a signal as WUNF. Is this accurate or am I incorrect in that they are on the same tower?

You are correct, they are on the same tower.

http://www.2150.com/broadcast/default.asp

You can enter in your lat and long into that site and it will list the local stations, their transmitting power and location. WUNF is broadcasting at 185kw and WLOS is slated for 1000kw...however, I'm not exactly sure what their current output is. Anyone have a clue? But, you can definitely see that they're on the same tower...WLOS is actually almost 150ft higher. Wow, I'm shocked to see that you actually got those signals with that Terk antenna. Not to be rude, but, from my pervious experience with Terk products, they are way overpriced and underperform. I have a cheap pair of VHF rabbit ears that outperformed the last Terk antenna I purchased, and it was made for HDTV!

Greetings!

I've been doing some research on DirecTV, and while trying to find out about locals I stumbled onto this site. Thought I'd check in before reading some more of the posts.

Hi all,

New member here, this is my first post, been lurking some. After reading thru the posts, I finally decided to order an antenna and not wait any longer for the Satellite companies to roll out local HD. This also my first experience with OTA antenna.

Just ordered a Channel Master 4228. I live in Simpsonville, SC and I hope this antenna will work for me.

Just joined myself, and I live in Simpsonville too!

Let me know how you do with the antenna, I'm in the process of trying to figure out what I need as well. I have decent reception much of the time with basic rabbit ears, but suffer frequent drop-outs. I can pick up pretty much all of the local stations though. I have an old antenna in the attic, but I have so many splitters, etc. in the system that I need to re-do it all. Since the rabbit ears are directly connected to my TV's, they work better.

After reading thru the posts, I finally decided to order an antenna and not wait any longer for the Satellite companies to roll out local HD. This also my first experience with OTA antenna.

Just ordered a Channel Master 4228. I live in Simpsonville, SC and I hope this antenna will work for me.
See attached radar plot for info on channels in your area. Longer bars on the plot represent stronger channels. Transmitter details are listed to the right of the plot.

Anything above about -100 dBm under the "Rx_dBm" column should be fairly easy to pick up with that antenna. It looks like you'll have no problem picking up quite a few digital channels.

FYI, the 4228 is a highly directional antenna, meaning it will only pick up signals from a specific direction. These kinds of antennas need to be pointed correctly in order to get the desired signal. From the radar plot, you can see that channels are coming at you from multiple directions. A directional antenna can only be pointed at one cluster of channels at a time (the "beam width" of the antenna is about 30 degrees), so if you intend to get channels coming from a different direction, you'll need to rotate the antenna.

One way to solve that is to install a motorized rotator (if you have room for the antenna to rotate).

If you want to simultaneously access all the channels from multiple directions, then you'll either need an omnidirectional antenna or you'll need to install multiple directional antennas and combine their outputs.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

Best regards,
Andy

Looks like ESPNU was added as well (310)! Finally!

Also it appears Charter has added ABC News Now (ch 124) . If they cut the deal for that with WLOS that might be an indicator that we could see ABC-HD shortly.

Also it appears Charter has added ABC News Now (ch 124) . If they cut the deal for that with WLOS that might be an indicator that we could see ABC-HD shortly.


I am not going to hold my breath :rolleyes:

BTW, why has WLOS-DT been sending an SD stream along with the WLOS-HD and the WMYA-SD feeds?

Wow, I'm shocked to see that you actually got those signals with that Terk antenna. Not to be rude, but, from my pervious experience with Terk products, they are way overpriced and underperform. I have a cheap pair of VHF rabbit ears that outperformed the last Terk antenna I purchased, and it was made for HDTV!

No offense taken. I actually had low expectations for the Terk HDTVi. I was very pleasantly surprised at how well it has done though. In fact, this past weekend I ran a dedicated coax cable from my antenna down to my TV since a diplexer will not work once I move to D*'s MPEG4 equipment later this month. After switching from the shared coax cable with the diplexer to my new stand-alone coax, I am now picking up WLOS also. So, the Terk HDTVi is picking up all major networks for me (4, 7, 13, 16, 21, 29, 33, 40, & 62). I can't complain about that.

Why don't more stations use Logo colored side bars for all their SD broadcasts like WYFF 4-1 does? It sure beats grey bars!

BTW, why has WLOS-DT been sending an SD stream along with the WLOS-HD and the WMYA-SD feeds?

I've been wondering about that myself. I understand some stations do this so as to provide a SD digital feed for cable systems that can't or don't want to convert analog or HD digital to SD digital. But WLOS didn't need to do this before January.

After reading the comment about ABC News Now on Charter, I'm speculating that maybe WLOS is considering putting ABC News Now on 13-3, and they're using a downrezzed version of their HD feed to test how it would look.

See attached radar plot for info on channels in your area.

That's a cool table! I've started to generate similar signal estimates for stations one at a time, using SPLAT, to see how well they correlate with my viewing experience. Would it be possible to run that same set of stations with the following antenna location and height? I can do without the Atlanta stations, but I've received most stations from the Greenville, Columbia, Charlotte and Augusta areas at least occasionally.

latitude = 34.46648 deg = 34 deg 27' 59.3" N
longitude = 81.86426 deg = 81 deg 51' 51.3" W
height = 30'

Hmmm... some of your transmitter power levels are significantly different from what I see in the FCC database. I have:

WMYA = 310 kW
WHNS = 500 or 1000, depending on whether they've finished building out
WUNF = 185
WYCW = 1000 (comes in very well here, so it can't be just 11 kW!)
WCNC =791 (again, comes in fairly well here)
WLTX = 1000
WIS = 874
WACH = 520

After reading the comment about ABC News Now on Charter, I'm speculating that maybe WLOS is considering putting ABC News Now on 13-3, and they're using a downrezzed version of their HD feed to test how it would look.

I'm not sure about Charter's contracting stuff with ABC, but ABC News Now isn't exactly a high dollar product. With an easy to install FTA satellite setup, you can get ABC News Now for free on Galaxy 28 (and, yes, it's legal). I've been watching it for about six months now with a 90cm dish. Pretty cool. Check out the link below for more information on FTA satellite stuff. Makes great use for those old Primestar dishes! And if any of you have one of those big, ugly, 10ft satellite dishes in the backyard, you can make great use of it! A whole world of programming opens up to you, AND IT'S FREE! And, pssssst, there's a fair amount of HD content as well. Imagine watching some of the sports feeds directly off of the truck outside the stadium (NBC Sunday Night Football was regularly there last year at 36Mbps...NASCAR Busch and Nextel Cup feeds are normally there all week, every week at about 30Mbps). It'll knock your socks off! Just pay for the equipment, which doesn't cost a WHOLE lot (you can get some of it used on eBay downright cheap).

http://www.satelliteguys.us/forumdisplay.php?f=24

So, the Terk HDTVi is picking up all major networks for me (4, 7, 13, 16, 21, 29, 33, 40, & 62). I can't complain about that.

Awesome! Just to clarify, does it pick all of them up at once, or do you have to adjust? Also, does it hold up well during bad weather?

Awesome! Just to clarify, does it pick all of them up at once, or do you have to adjust? Also, does it hold up well during bad weather?

It receives them all at once. I used the street level view on antennaweb to get a general idea of which direction I needed to point it to get the most channels. To my surprise, it got all of them from the direction I chose. I just used some cable ties to strap the antenna to some beams at the top of the attic. I haven't noticed any drop outs due to weather so far.

That's a cool table! I've started to generate similar signal estimates for stations one at a time, using SPLAT, to see how well they correlate with my viewing experience. Would it be possible to run that same set of stations with the following antenna location and height? I can do without the Atlanta stations, but I've received most stations from the Greenville, Columbia, Charlotte and Augusta areas at least occasionally.

latitude = 34.46648 deg = 34 deg 27' 59.3" N
longitude = 81.86426 deg = 81 deg 51' 51.3" W
height = 30'

Hmmm... some of your transmitter power levels are significantly different from what I see in the FCC database. I have:

WMYA = 310 kW
WHNS = 500 or 1000, depending on whether they've finished building out
WUNF = 185
WYCW = 1000 (comes in very well here, so it can't be just 11 kW!)
WCNC =791 (again, comes in fairly well here)
WLTX = 1000
WIS = 874
WACH = 520
Sure thing! Here's the radar plot for digital channels in your area. My program searches for any transmitters within a given radius, so I don't actually need to individually specify which transmitters to include in the analysis.

The reason for the differences in transmitter power is because these broadcasters use directional antennas. The "Tx_kW" column is the EIRP being directed at your location after factoring in the antenna pattern and directional orientation on file with the FCC.

The only exception to this on your list is WYCW. According to the FCC records, they were operating under and STA granted on 3/8/2002 to broadcast only 48 kW. Odds are that they've now turned things up to their full 1 MW power levels, but it's hard to tell from the FCC transmitter database which record best represents the current active state of the transmitter. I try to keep up to date with my own list of FCC database "patches" just because of cases like this. Based on your observation, I will fix the WYCY record so that this will be corrected in future analyses. Thanks for catching this!


Best regards,
Andy

After hearing that several markets will be carrying the ACC Tourney in HD, I sent a message to WLOS asking if they would be showing it in HD. I also asked if they knew when WLOS would show up on Charter. Stunningly, I got a response. Not so stunningly (this is WLOS, remember), the answer to both was NO.

About the ACC Tourney, "we will not be able to obtain the HD receiving equipment in time." Not a big surprise there. I think it was just last week that they got the equipment to broadcast in color.
...

Here's a link (http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/acc/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/rlf07tourhd.pdf) (gleaned from the HD Programming Forum) to all the stations that will carry the tourney in HD. It's really disappointing that WLOS wasn't able to pull this off. For such a large DMA, Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson and Asheville seems to be really behind some of the smaller markets (Florence? How did they end up on the list before us?). I don't really know where the fault lies, but I hope we catch up soon.

--Cross

Here's a link (http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/acc/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/rlf07tourhd.pdf) (gleaned from the HD Programming Forum) to all the stations that will carry the tourney in HD. It's really disappointing that WLOS wasn't able to pull this off. For such a large DMA, Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson and Asheville seems to be really behind some of the smaller markets (Florence? How did they end up on the list before us?). I don't really know where the fault lies, but I hope we catch up soon.

--Cross

I think most people in Greenville and Spartanburg can pick up WBTV out of Charlotte. They will have the games in HD.

It receives them all at once. I used the street level view on antennaweb to get a general idea of which direction I needed to point it to get the most channels. To my surprise, it got all of them from the direction I chose. I just used some cable ties to strap the antenna to some beams at the top of the attic. I haven't noticed any drop outs due to weather so far.

Nice! I think I'd consider myself lucky then. Must be in a great location. As you can see here, many of us struggle with 4228s in the attic and you're using a tabletop antenna. Terk must've kicked it up a notch.

Andy,
Can you create a table for me as well?

Lat: 35.798763
Long: -82.656398

Thanks!

Can you create a table for me as well?

Lat: 35.798763
Long: -82.656398

Sure thing! See attached file.

It looks like you're in a really isolated location with only about 3 digital channels within reach (WUNF, WLOS, and WEMT). Most transmitters are pretty far away AND you have a lot of terrain blockage to deal with.

There are a greater number of analog channels, in case you're interested. With the presence of a few translators / repeaters in the area, there should be a total of a half dozen or more analog signals.

Best regards,
Andy

Looks like I might as well not even bother putting up a CM4228 antenna. I had a feeling I wouldn't have too hard of a time getting WLOS, but I'd also like to get WHNS and WYFF as well. Looks like I'll be waiting on E* to get their act together.

Apps1,

sadly, I'm unable to get WBTV from my location (Sugar Creek subdivision). If I upgraded from a CM 4221 / 7777 pre-amp combo to a bigger antenna, do you think it's possible? I assume the WBTV transmitter is 80+ miles away.

I hate WLOS-DT and their refusal / inability to carry the ACCT in HD. That is pathetic and shows a definite disregard for some of their customers. Simply pathetic! What is the deal with those guys?!

Apps1,

sadly, I'm unable to get WBTV from my location (Sugar Creek subdivision). If I upgraded from a CM 4221 / 7777 pre-amp combo to a bigger antenna, do you think it's possible? I assume the WBTV transmitter is 80+ miles away.

I hate WLOS-DT and their refusal / inability to carry the ACCT in HD. That is pathetic and shows a definite disregard for some of their customers. Simply pathetic! What is the deal with those guys?!


I am actually a little further away from WBTV that you are (Botany Woods). I get a steady signal using an XG-91 antenna and a CM-7777. I have to rotate my antenna about 180 degrees from my normal "sweet spot" and WBTV comes in fine.

Apps1,

sadly, I'm unable to get WBTV from my location (Sugar Creek subdivision). If I upgraded from a CM 4221 / 7777 pre-amp combo to a bigger antenna, do you think it's possible? I assume the WBTV transmitter is 80+ miles away.

I hate WLOS-DT and their refusal / inability to carry the ACCT in HD. That is pathetic and shows a definite disregard for some of their customers. Simply pathetic! What is the deal with those guys?!

Could be a Sinclair thing. I just looked and the tournament is on three Sinclair stations. How many will be doing HD? You guessed it - zero.

Could be a Sinclair thing. I just looked and the tournament is on three Sinclair stations. How many will be doing HD? You guessed it - zero.

Pathetic...and not at all surprising. While most stations did what they had to do to meet the challenges of HD, Sinclair has treated the whole HD conversion like the plague. They're going down kicking and screaming.

It's a shame the FCC isn't serious about cracking down on negligent companies like Sinclair.

Sure thing! Here's the radar plot for digital channels in your area.

Thanks! That listing is broadly consistent with my impressions of relative signal strength/quality. The cutoff between "watchable with occasional dropouts" and "receivable only with favorable atmospheric conditions" seems to be around -100 dBm with my Radio Shack VU-190XR antenna + CM7777 preamp.

The main exceptions are stations for which I suspect co-channel interference from analog stations:

ch 9: digital WNTV in Greenville SC versus analog WSOC in Charlotte
ch 17: digital WLTX in Columbia SC versus analog WUNE in Linville NC
ch 25: digital WUNF in Asheville NC versus analog WOLO in Columbia
ch 57: digital WHNS in Greenville versus analog WACH in Columbia

I would subjectively rank these four a few spots lower than your list indicates.

And I can receive WRLK in Columbia better than your list indicates. Subjectively I'd put it below WOLO and WIS but above WACH (which I'd put a bit lower than your list). I can usually receive it in the evening with only occasional dropouts, as opposed to its table-neighbors WRDW and WAGT (Augusta) which I can receive only occasionally, late at night.

The reason for the differences in transmitter power is because these broadcasters use directional antennas.

D'oh! <slaps forehead> Fortunately, the latest version of SPLAT lets you specify antenna radiation patterns. I'd better start taking advantage of that.

The main exceptions are stations for which I suspect co-channel interference from analog stations:

ch 9: digital WNTV in Greenville SC versus analog WSOC in Charlotte
ch 17: digital WLTX in Columbia SC versus analog WUNE in Linville NC
ch 25: digital WUNF in Asheville NC versus analog WOLO in Columbia
ch 57: digital WHNS in Greenville versus analog WACH in Columbia

I would subjectively rank these four a few spots lower than your list indicates.
I'm glad you mentioned this since I was actually working this into the next revision of the tools. I will be incorporating co-channel and adjacent-channel interference warnings in cases where I think there might be a problem. In your particular case, channels 17 and 25 definitely have very strong co-channel interference. Channels 9 and 57 do not seem to be hit quite so bad.


And I can receive WRLK in Columbia better than your list indicates. Subjectively I'd put it below WOLO and WIS but above WACH (which I'd put a bit lower than your list). I can usually receive it in the evening with only occasional dropouts, as opposed to its table-neighbors WRDW and WAGT (Augusta) which I can receive only occasionally, late at night.
Thanks for all the detailed feedback. It certainly helps me in figuring out ways to improve the usefulness of the analyses. It's never gonna be perfect, but it does give me a more accurate picture of what's going on at a particular point in space. If you have any other suggestions, please let me know.

Best regards,
Andy

It's a shame the FCC isn't serious about cracking down on negligent companies like Sinclair.

Exactly how is Sinclair being negligent? There is no FCC mandate for HD just digital.

And we're talking about syndicated HD material here, not network HD. It must take some extra equipment to receive syndicated HD (by satellite?) even if it's live and doesn't have to be recorded for time-shifting as with shows like Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.

Exactly how is Sinclair being negligent? There is no FCC mandate for HD just digital.

As far as I know, and I may be wrong here, WLOS is still not at full power. I know that it's the only station I still have a VERY hard time getting here in Greenville. Combine that with their hardball tactics with Charter and you have a company that is simply not successfully providing their content to the market in which they are licensed to do so. That seems like something the FCC should be interested in.

Apps, are you using the XG-91 for all the "closer" local channels as well? Or are you using more than 1 antenna? I would love to get away from my dependance on WLOS-DT for ABC - HD offerings. Is WBTV an ABC affiliate? My feeble memory of my Charlotte years says "no" it is not, but hopefully I am wrong.

On a completely unrelated note, is anyone using their attic or roof mounted antenna for FM radio reception? If so, how does this work with your connections? Diplex? Split? I would love to strengthen some of my FM stations WITHOUT degrading my HD signals. It's probably not possible... oh well...

As far as I know, and I may be wrong here, WLOS is still not at full power. I know that it's the only station I still have a VERY hard time getting here in Greenville. Combine that with their hardball tactics with Charter and you have a company that is simply not successfully providing their content to the market in which they are licensed to do so. That seems like something the FCC should be interested in.

If they are operating at reduced power, they do have FCC permission to do that and I am sure it is for a good reason. The FCC doesn't issue those type permissions just because someone got up on the wrong side of the bed.

And if because a company wishes to be paid a fair market value for their product and they are not getting it, then in our system of economics, they have every right to withhold that commodity from the market place. Just because it ISN'T in HD doesn't mean they are not serving their community. The FCC doesn't mandate HD of any kind and as long as WLOS is providing a digital signal (something the FCC DOES require), per FCC authorizations, and it happens to NOT be in HD, then they are well within THEIR rights and authorizations to do so. It is a classic case of "let the buyer beware."

If you don't like the fact that WLOS isn't in HD, then YOU as a consumer have EVERY right to NOT WATCH them. But to say they are "negligent," you haven't proved your case.

Viewers have this misconception that they are "owed" television. No where in the Constitution does it say that HD television or television in general is a God given right. Television is a business, no different than Joe Blow's Widget Factory down the street and yes, they want EVERYONE to watch them, but no one has a bottomless pocketbook. Eventually someone says enough is enough, no matter how much they have. It is purely economics and nothing else. Joe makes widgets and Sinclair makes television. As long as both are plying their trades within all of the laws, then if you don't like what they are doing then by all means get your widget from somewhere else or don't watch the Sinclair station. Last time I looked, my TV had both an on/off button and a channel selector. And THAT is a very POWERFUL thing for consumers that is not used that much anymore.

You control your own destiny my friend.

If you don't like the fact that WLOS isn't in HD, then YOU as a consumer have EVERY right to NOT WATCH them.

But here's the problem...WLOS is the ABC provider for the Greenville area. We have NO CHOICE but to watch them to get ABC programming on television. They are licensed by the FCC to provide this service to us...and essentially they are not providing it. Again, we have NO OTHER CHOICE for getting ABC OTA in Greenville. ABC.com has a pretty good online service, but I should not have to do that. Trust me, I don't want to support WLOS in any way, so it's been ABC.com and Bit Torrent for me...not just out of spite, but because I physically CANNOT watch the ABC in my own freaking market OTA or on cable.

What makes it so frustrating is that all the other network stations in our market took care of the HD upgrade nearly TWO years ago (if not sooner), while WLOS is still dragging their heels. So it's the discrepancy that's so telling. They're the ONLY station who seems to have gotten left behind. What makes them so different? There has to be a reason they just aren't getting it done, while the rest of the networks took care of business in a timely manner.

Viewers have this misconception that they are "owed" television. No where in the Constitution does it say that HD television or television in general is a God given right. Television is a business, no different than Joe Blow's Widget Factory down the street and yes, they want EVERYONE to watch them, but no one has a bottomless pocketbook. Eventually someone says enough is enough, no matter how much they have. It is purely economics and nothing else. Joe makes widgets and Sinclair makes television.



So then why do we need the FCC? Who owns the airwaves that television companies use to sell there "tv widgets"? How much do they pay for their piece of the spectrum? And how can the individual consumer really impact the company, when they don't have a direct part of the company's revenue?

It's one thing to say "don't buy the widgets" when that directly impacts the bottom line, but when you say, "just don't watch", and there's no direct impact, what good does that really do? They still get their money from the college conferences, beer companies, and KIA OF GREER.

Sinclair doesn't make the television, they just make it ....... unavailable.

"What makes it so frustrating is that all the other network stations in our market took care of the HD upgrade nearly TWO years ago (if not sooner), while WLOS is still dragging their heels."

"Sinclair doesn't make the television, they just make it ....... unavailable."



I have been watching WLOS OTA in HD in Greenville for a long time (2+ years). I assume you are frustrated because it is not on Charter and for some reason you are unable to pick it up OTA. There signal has been very reliable for me.

Hey all, I may not be asking this in the right place. Is anyone here in or near Asheville that could give me some pointers on how to get set up with an antenna? I'm particularly interested in NBC (which I think is out of Greenville?). I don't really know what kind of antenna I would need, but I'm sure someone here does. =)

I recently discovered a decent sized area of my attic that is completely empty and not really viable for storage (also it's an outside area of the attic, so not really insulated either--thin walls). It may be a good place for an antenna if that's an option.

I was considering going with the antenna and a Hauppauge card for my PC to act as a PVR, which I think will act as the receiver I would need as well. I could stream out to my televisions from there. Anyone done this?

Thanks!
Travis

........... and KIA OF GREER.

Sinclair doesn't make the television, they just make it ....... unavailable.

You just had to bring up KIA OF GREER :rolleyes:

Sinclair is a business and they make decisions to try to increase their bottom line. I may not like it, but that is the way it is. The terrain in WNC does make it a challenge for a television station to cover the area. It would seem that in the case of Sinclair seeking retransmission cash would make it not to be in the best interest of WLOS to have good coverage in the area. They do not get cash from OTA viewers. (yet) A couple of years ago when they lost the lease on the land where the translator that served Sylva. I remember them saying, that they could just get it on cable or satellite. And that is where they left the viewers in Sylva.

As for myself, I understand that they want to maximize their profits and that they do not owe me anything. It is just that I get a perception of Sinclair that rubs me the wrong way.

But here's the problem...WLOS is the ABC provider for the Greenville area. We have NO CHOICE but to watch them to get ABC programming on television. They are licensed by the FCC to provide this service to us...and essentially they are not providing it.

So you are saying you get NO ABC programming for WLOS, SD or HD? If that is correct, then you have a legit complaint. If you get ABC via WLOS in EITHER/OR SD or HD, then WLOS is meeting its obligation. Again, remember, no where does it say ANY station MUST provide HD. HD is one of 18 different formats that is allowed to be broadcast and there are two of those, 1080i or 720p. The law only says that the signal on digital will be equal to the analog. Since analog is only SD, that is all ANY station is required to provide. Did you know that stations are not required to transmit color or stereo? As long as a station is transmitting at least a black and white mono signal, according to the law, they are in compliance. When color came out it was almost 10 years before anyone other than NBC did color and then another 10 years before color was considered prominent. When Sinclair decides it is in their financial interest to provide more HD, they will. Remember just because it is available in HD doesn't mean you are entitled to it in HD, no matter how hard of a pill that is to swallow, and I know it is a toughy.

What makes it so frustrating is that all the other network stations in our market took care of the HD upgrade nearly TWO years ago (if not sooner), while WLOS is still dragging their heels. So it's the discrepancy that's so telling. They're the ONLY station who seems to have gotten left behind. What makes them so different? There has to be a reason they just aren't getting it done, while the rest of the networks took care of business in a timely manner.

Then vote with your remote. If HD is that important to you then only watch the stations that provide the level of HD you want and not the others. When enough people do that, it does show on the P/L sheets in both directions.

So then why do we need the FCC?

To provide order for the spectrum that is used to its best potential and of late to provide a revenue source for the US Treasury.

Who owns the airwaves that television companies use to sell there "tv widgets"?

Here is a shocker, the US Government, in "We the People's" name, not "We the People" as so many people think. If that were true, we wouldn't need the FCC in the first place.

How much do they pay for their piece of the spectrum?

Every station pays licensing fees on a yearly basis to the FCC PER station and with digital PER STREAM based on the market size. Any filing with the FCC to change even the slightest thing (even a name change of a company) has a filing fee starting in the hundreds of dollars.

And how can the individual consumer really impact the company, when they don't have a direct part of the company's revenue? It's one thing to say "don't buy the widgets" when that directly impacts the bottom line, but when you say, "just don't watch", and there's no direct impact, what good does that really do? They still get their money from the college conferences, beer companies, and KIA OF GREER.

As I have been saying, you vote with your remote. You don't watch, the ratings fall. The ratings fall, the cost a station can charge for ads falls. The companies revenues fall. If the ratings are not there, the college conferences will NOT want to spend money on a station no one watches, same with beer companies or any company for that matter. Remember, only the ads sold within programming is the only way a station really makes money. There is no government handout for commercial broadcasters like there is with PBS stations.

If you feel that will not help, call the station and tell them of your feelings. DO IT NICELY. A person ranting and raving and sounding like a lunatic WILL NOT BE seriously listened to. Do not just wait and on the spur of the moment in the heat of an "offense" make a call or write a note. Sit and and think about what you want to say and how you want to say it and then make notes to be sure you stay on track and then do it. You would be surprised how many people will sit back and gripe and moan and NEVER tell the station and then wonder why nothing ever happens. Stations DO NOT read minds. You have to tell them, but you have to do it in a respectful manner as in dealing with any other business.

Sinclair doesn't make the television, they just make it ....... unavailable.

That is your opinion and it is your right to have it.

The real question, of course, is why do we need all these local stations based on 1950s technology? The day will come (a long, long time in the future) when we dump them and get all our signals by satellite from a relatively few national stations. I hope I live to see that happen, and the local stations get screwed, but I doubt it.

Hey all, I may not be asking this in the right place. Is anyone here in or near Asheville that could give me some pointers on how to get set up with an antenna? I'm particularly interested in NBC (which I think is out of Greenville?). I don't really know what kind of antenna I would need, but I'm sure someone here does. =)

I recently discovered a decent sized area of my attic that is completely empty and not really viable for storage (also it's an outside area of the attic, so not really insulated either--thin walls). It may be a good place for an antenna if that's an option.

I was considering going with the antenna and a Hauppauge card for my PC to act as a PVR, which I think will act as the receiver I would need as well. I could stream out to my televisions from there. Anyone done this?

Thanks!
Travis

I live in a townhouse in S. Asheville, and am getting the following with my indoor Phillips Silver Sensor, which I have on the 2nd floor of the house.

4-1, 4-2 NBC and Weather Plus out of Greenville
13-1, 13-2 WLOS and My40
33-1 through 33-5 UNCTV
39-1 Fox out of Johnson City
62-1 WYCW

Went through a couple different antennas and placement before I got these working without having to mess with the antenna continually. I tune them through my D* HR20...about the best I can do until they finally get us OTA locals, and who knows when that will be, they've missed several promised dates already. Got better reception running it through the HR20 than I did connecting it directly to the antenna in on my Sony HDTV. Channel numbers would probably be different for you if direct tuning.

Then vote with your remote. If HD is that important to you then only watch the stations that provide the level of HD you want and not the others.

That should be easy...considering I can't even get WLOS-HD.

What I'm saying is that there is clearly something wrong with the way Sinclair does business. They are notorious throughout the industry. So no one should be surprised when one of the stations doesn't operate up to the standards of their competitors.

So what can we do about it? There are plenty of options. So check out some of these websites. Some are opposed to Sinclair's decided right-wing bias. But most are just opposed to Sinclair's general ineptitude at broadcasting television. Either way, you know something is amiss when this many people are crying out about it.

SinclairWatch...a site dedicated to "reclaim our airwaves and take our democracy back." (http://www.sinclairwatch.org/)

Sinclair and the Public Airwaves: A History of Abuse (http://www.sinclairwatch.org/sinclair_report.pdf)

A general history of Sinclair and their issues (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sinclair_Broadcast_Group)

StopSinclair...raises political concerns about Sinclair (http://www.stopsinclair.org/)

back to the original complaint ie.. no ACCT in HD. Anyone know why or for what reason Sinclair/WLOS can't/ won't show it in HD? Is it an equipment issue? We are watching "Desperate Housewives" in HD; we got the British Open in 16x9 SD. I fail to see what the big problem is... other than it's Sinclair.

also, anybody using their antennas for FM? how's that work?

back to the original complaint ie.. no ACCT in HD. Anyone know why or for what reason Sinclair/WLOS can't/ won't show it in HD? Is it an equipment issue? We are watching "Desperate Housewives" in HD; we got the British Open in 16x9 SD. I fail to see what the big problem is... other than it's Sinclair.

also, anybody using their antennas for FM? how's that work?


I believe it is an equipment issue. They are only set up to broadcast live HD from ABC.

Maybe next year we will be able to see the ACC Tournament in HD in this area. But, since some of the games have been on WMYA, Asheville area viewers could still be SOL for those games. That station is basically not available OTA here. If Sinclair and Charter kiss and make up WLOS would probably be on Charter but IMHO WMYA-HD would not. Would it be on D* or E*? doubtful, but for my NLOS property a moot point anyway.

Go Heels!
Oxb UNC '79

I could be wrong, but it looks as if the ACCT is in hd with bars on the sides. 13.1 signal strength isn't the best with a few drops, but it sure beats the Atlanta feed on E.. I watched some of the games in Commerce on Dish and they had that washed-out sd look. If it's not hd I need to get my eyes checked. Or has the discussions been about 13.1 and the cable providers only?

Just made the switch to D*, and watching HD locals via OTA for the time being. I was told by the installer that HD locals will finally go live mid-April. I also talked to a guy at Circuit City today, and he said their D* rep was their on Friday, and gave a more specific date of 4/13/2007.

I know to take all this "information" very lightly, but since my signal pretty much sucks OTA, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I could be wrong, but it looks as if the ACCT is in hd with bars on the sides. 13.1 signal strength isn't the best with a few drops, but it sure beats the Atlanta feed on E.. I watched some of the games in Commerce on Dish and they had that washed-out sd look. If it's not hd I need to get my eyes checked. Or has the discussions been about 13.1 and the cable providers only?


13.1 is very good SD, but they did not broadcast the HD feed.

13.1 is very good SD, but they did not broadcast the HD feed.
I switched between 13.1 (ACC) and 7.1 (SEC) and could see little or no difference, other than the bars..... Is 13.1 sd that good and/or 7.1 hd just not up to snuff???

I switched between 13.1 (ACC) and 7.1 (SEC) and could see little or no difference, other than the bars..... Is 13.1 sd that good and/or 7.1 hd just not up to snuff???
Was the show 7.1 actually being broadcasted in HD?

I switched between 13.1 (ACC) and 7.1 (SEC) and could see little or no difference, other than the bars..... Is 13.1 sd that good and/or 7.1 hd just not up to snuff???

Watch the news on WLOS-DT and you will see their SD at its best. It is not HD but it is very good. (Good visually at least)

Was the show 7.1 actually being broadcasted in HD?
I assume it was in hd as my tv was set on "normal" aspect and there were no bars, the menu set for hd only, and the audio was in 5.1 surround (which may not mean anything). I sure hope I haven't wasted all this money, and can't tell the difference between sd and hd. : :eek:

I have seen the 13.1 news and it really jumps out, would have bet it was hd.... :confused:

I assume it was in hd as my tv was set on "normal" aspect and there were no bars, the menu set for hd only, and the audio was in 5.1 surround (which may not mean anything). I sure hope I haven't wasted all this money, and can't tell the difference between sd and hd. : :eek:

I have seen the 13.1 news and it really jumps out, would have bet it was hd.... :confused:


Except for a few rare occasions (Old movies or some TV transfers) if you have side bars it is not HD.

I assume it was in hd as my tv was set on "normal" aspect and there were no bars, the menu set for hd only, and the audio was in 5.1 surround (which may not mean anything). I sure hope I haven't wasted all this money, and can't tell the difference between sd and hd. : :eek:

I have seen the 13.1 news and it really jumps out, would have bet it was hd.... :confused:

I can answer this for you, but it may surprise you. First of all, WLOS did NOT carry the ACC tournament in HD. WBTV out of Charlotte did, and I switched back and forth between the two. The HD feed of this tournament was one of the best HD presentations picture- and sound-wise that I have seen in the five years I've had HD. The game on CBS was also in HD, but was clearly a couple of notches lower in terms of picture quality. What may surprise you is that SD, good ol' 480i, can look surprisingly good when done right. We have WLOS-DT as proof of this. What cable and satellite have done is cripple the quality of SD by compressing the signal so much that it is hardly recognizable. If you compare an OTA feed vs. a satellite feed of local SD channels, the difference is immense. But, depending on your TV, top-quality SD and mediocre HD (which I considered the game on CBS to be) sometimes can look similar, except as you and apps have noted, the "bars" on the sides. Perhaps one day we will be privileged enough to see HD at it's finest, but as the war of limited bandwidth goes on, our providers continue to try to offer us more and more channels, while sacrificing the quality of the ones we care about.
Also, what apps said earlier was correct: if an event is being shown "live" (sports, news, etc.) then it would be 16:9 if HD by definition. Older movies that had closer to a 4:3 ratio that have been converted to HD, are still broadcast as 16:9, where the "bars" are actually part of the source.

Anyone notice channel 7.3 NCAA Basketball yet?

Anyone notice channel 7.3 NCAA Basketball yet?

Well, I can not get WSPA-DT OTA but 7.3 might be the reason that the Maryland-Davidson game seems to be badly bit starved on Charter. Even the local SD commercials look bad.

Anyone notice channel 7.3 NCAA Basketball yet?

Checking it out right now. Looks like they're vertically stretching a 16:9 feed into a 4:3 frame. I actually think this is a good idea for this weekend. It may be hurting the HD feed on 7.1 a little, but with the problems CBS has had lately, I don't think we'll notice.

Checking it out right now. Looks like they're vertically stretching a 16:9 feed into a 4:3 frame. I actually think this is a good idea for this weekend. It may be hurting the HD feed on 7.1 a little, but with the problems CBS has had lately, I don't think we'll notice.

Sorry to reply to my own post, but on second thought, after comparing 7.1 with WBTV out of Charlotte, it looks like the multicasting is causing much more macro-blocking and pixelation. So, which is better, the chance to see out of market games or highest picture quality?

I was wondering about the NCAA coverage on WSPA through Charter HD myself...Seems like alot of points of the broadcast are blurry or out of focus. Anyone else noticing this issue?

I like the third channel for these early rounds. Yes there is some breakup but it is still pretty good OTA. I don't know about cable.

I am jumping in here late because of recent travels, but I cannot let this go by without a response. Re: But, depending on your TV, top-quality SD and mediocre HD (which I considered the game on CBS to be) sometimes can look similar, except as you and apps have noted, the "bars" on the sides.[QUOTE]:

I don't know what signal you have been watching, but the CBS national HD feeds are outstanding and their control over most of their program providers is the best as to program quality. I have no objections to the quality I receive from WSPA-DT except for audio levels and closed caption problems from time to time. Having said that, some of the CBS HD cameras are getting long on tooth, the network having pioneered HD and still using some of its early-era electronics.
I agree with you with respect to WLOS analog quality, and certainly find the two major satellite providers do a terrible job at picking up the local signals from off-the-air. This may have changed, but while most stations around the country were providing the sat-carriers microwave feeds, this area stations' signals were taken from off-air antennas less than a year ago.
The industry must find a means to level out it's audio in switching sources. It is a disgrace! And the sound quality for most local origination, especially the promos, sounds as if it originates in the bathrooms. (Come on Fox...you can do better.)

Charter is obviously not getting a good feed for the NCAA's broadcast. Horrible pixelation at times and the periodic blurriness drives me crazy. I know I'm being picky, but come on Charter, you can do better than this!!!!

Looks like WSPA TV is going to take commercials breaks, in overtime, even though CBS did not call for a break. Must be working on somebody's bonus.....

Yeah, I just noticed that, as well (probably when it broke from the Pitt-VCU OT Game (around 8:10 p.m.?) to air a commerical break before beginning coverage of the UNC-Michigan State game on the analog channel and the HD Feed continuing with the Pitt-VCU Game.

I have Charter HD and I totally agree with swurver's comments about the CBS HD Feed (horrible pixelation and blurriness with movement). Yeah, Charter can do better than that....

Thanks for the agreement popweaverhdtv...was starting to think it was just me!!! Was going to make a call to Charter, but we all know it will do no good!!!

What may surprise you is that SD, good ol' 480i, can look surprisingly good when done right. We have WLOS-DT as proof of this.

Also their sister station WMYA-DT. Check out their syndicated reruns of "Will & Grace", and "Still Standing", for example. I refer to OTA, of course. And WMYA-DT has no extra subchannels to degrade the signal on 40.1!

[QUOTE=jerry birdwell] I don't know what signal you have been watching, but the CBS national HD feeds are outstanding and their control over most of their program providers is the best as to program quality.[/I][QUOTE]:

Jerry,

I didn't mean to start an argument, nor do I claim to be an expert on anything. In fact, most of what I know comes from you and some of the other long-time members of this board. But I was referring to the specific NCAA game on CBS last Saturday (don't even remember the teams now) in comparison to the HD feed of the ACC Tournament via Raycom on WBTV. There was no contest. I totally agree with you on the high standard that CBS has set since the beginning of HDTV. But even now, watching the NCAAs on WSPA pales to the same feed on WBTV. Plus, I feel that some of the other productions have surpassed CBS Sports over the last year or two. But I consider that a plus for the industry, as WSPA and CBS continue to do a fine job.

The PQ on CBS's basketball coverage definitely varies from venue to venue. It was pretty obvious this weekend with their "flex" coverage, as they switched back and forth between games. They probably had to press into service all the HD equipment they could get their hands on, including older stuff that doesn't perform as well as newer stuff.

And on top of that were the differences between WBTV which no longer runs any subchannels that suck bits from the main feed, and WSPA which added a subchannel for the tournament, on top of their Weather Plus imitation. I've usually stuck with WBTV for the tournament, but this afternoon I had to watch WSPA for a while because I was recording Star Trek off of WYCW so I had to point my antenna in that direction.

Please help with interference

I just installed a CM 4228 and 7777 amp. Everyting works fine, except when a dremmel drill is used in same room. The dremmel causes the signal to distort.

Any advice to eliminate interference from dremmel, thanks?

Exactly how much are you using said dremmel tool?

Dremmel in use most of the time.

Unfortunately, both dremmel and antenna setup will have to co-exist, if possible.

Any advice to eliminate interference from dremmel, thanks?

Don't dremmel and watch TV at the same time. It is probably a good safety tip anyway! :D

Setup is in a business environment. TV for waiting customer. Dremmel used in shop.

Setup is in a business environment. TV for waiting customer. Dremmel used in shop.
Sounds like it might be a power supply issue rather than a TV signal issue. Have you tried moving the TV to a different circuit? Putting it on a high-end UPS would be even better since they usually have more EMI filtering than the TV itself.

What does the picture distortion look like (horizonally wavy, blocking artifacts, snow, etc.)? And is it displaying an analog or digital channel?

Best regards,
Andy

Thanks Andy for the reply....this was exactly what I was thinking to do, but havent gotten around to trying it yet. I hope moving it to another circuit will work, dont really want to spend more $ on a ups

the distortion is blocking artifact on digital channels

Hey, FoxCarolina.... no HD for Idol tonight?

Was wondering the same thing about Idol...called Charter and they wanted to schedule an appointment for a Tech to come out this week...such idiots over there...must be a feed issue.

Hey, FoxCarolina.... no HD for Idol tonight?

It switched to HD for the 9:00 hour.

You can add Greenwood, SC (Northland Cable) to the QAM enabled list finally.
I noticed that the info channel was off for a few days and when it came back, it was different. I thought they may be testing something new, so I re-scanned with my PHD200 box and it found 59 analog and 216 digital channels. In the past the count has been 58 analog and 224 digital with no clear channels and 30 music channels. This mornings count is now 4 clear HD channels, CBS NBC FOX and PBS in HD and 48 music channels.

Moving like molasses in January into the 21st century!

Watching the NCAA tournament and WSPA has two HD feeds of the same game going on simultaneously (7.1 and 7.3). It's obviously causing problems with macroblocking on 7.1, so can anyone give me a good reason that they are doing this?

For those of you D* customers, it may be that finally soon we'll have our locals in HD. I saw this thread on another forum, and from reading through the whole thing, it looks like it could be as early as this coming week. Of course, I'll believe it when I see it...

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=83215

http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070325/NEWS01/703250320


Pay no attention to the man on crutches. They took that picture back in 2003 when they were doing an HD article. Needless to say I was a little surprised when it showed up on this Sunday's front page. The TV in the picture is the one that I now use for my computer monitor.

For those of you D* customers, it may be that finally soon we'll have our locals in HD. I saw this thread on another forum, and from reading through the whole thing, it looks like it could be as early as this coming week. Of course, I'll believe it when I see it...

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=83215

About 6 hours after this was posted, the referenced thread posted another date of 3/28/07 for an HD local launch in the GSAA market. Guess I'll keep my fingers crossed eventhough I have always heard 4/15/07. Hopefully one of those dates pan out.

http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070325/NEWS01/703250320


Pay no attention to the man on crutches. They took that picture back in 2003 when they were doing an HD article. Needless to say I was a little surprised when it showed up on this Sunday's front page. The TV in the picture is the one that I now use for my computer monitor.
I read that this morning. I couldn't help but feel that people on the fence about HD would shy away from it after reading that article. :(

What did everyone think about NBC's first nightly foray into HD News? I was disappointed that WYFF flipped to HD after at least a minute into the newscast. (Don't know whether that was a network or local glitch.) However, once the switch occurred, the picture was decent. I'm sure that it'll take time for the news reports to be taped or occur live in HD. However, it's an advantage over watching ABC or CBS's newscasts...for now.

I was just about to give up and turn my antenna towards Charlotte when the guy at the HD switch finally woke up. :rolleyes:

Of course, all the field shots are still SD for the time being, but even that stuff looks better now than it did before. I think WYFF was previously up-converting a SD feed themselves, instead of using the network feed directly, because their picture on Nightly News usually looked noticeably softer than on WCNC in Charlotte.

I was just about to give up and turn my antenna towards Charlotte when the guy at the HD switch finally woke up. :rolleyes:

Of course, all the field shots are still SD for the time being, but even that stuff looks better now than it did before. I think WYFF was previously up-converting a SD feed themselves, instead of using the network feed directly, because their picture on Nightly News usually looked noticeably softer than on WCNC in Charlotte.

Again, WYFF (or the National Feed) forgot to flip the switch to HD at the beginning of tonight's Nightly News. At least it was a shorter amount of time before the switch was flipped on (about 15 seconds?). Nightly News finally had live HD shots (including one with Andrea Mitchell from their DC Bureau).

For those of you D* customers, it may be that finally soon we'll have our locals in HD. I saw this thread on another forum, and from reading through the whole thing, it looks like it could be as early as this coming week. Of course, I'll believe it when I see it...

http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=83215

4th time's the charm! I awoke this morning to WYFF-DT, WSPA-DT, WLOS-DT, and WHNS-DT all beamed down from D*. This is good for me as I haven't been able to get WSPA or WLOS reliably and I really didn't want to go with an outdoor antenna.

--Cross

4th time's the charm! I awoke this morning to WYFF-DT, WSPA-DT, WLOS-DT, and WHNS-DT all beamed down from D*. This is good for me as I haven't been able to get WSPA or WLOS reliably and I really didn't want to go with an outdoor antenna.

--Cross
WHAT CHANNEL NUMBERS WOULD A PERSON FIND THESE NEW DIRECTV
CHANNELS VIA BEAM?DO WE HAVE TO RESET RECEVIER TO PICK UP NEW
CHANNELS?
THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ANY HELP YOU CAN GIVE
TG

WHAT CHANNEL NUMBERS WOULD A PERSON FIND THESE NEW DIRECTV
CHANNELS VIA BEAM?DO WE HAVE TO RESET RECEVIER TO PICK UP NEW
CHANNELS?
THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ANY HELP YOU CAN GIVE
TG

You have to have the new dish and an Mpeg-4 receiver. If you have the new equipment I believe the digital channels will be listed with their analog counterparts on the guide.

Yes, I saw 4, 7, 13 and 21 twice, with the HD offering being the higher one up on the guide. Picture seemed pretty good, I compared WLOS which I was getting via antenna to the D* WLOS in HD, and they were indistinguishable. WHNS seemed a little blurrier than I got it through the antenna, but this was just their morning news, not in HD. Will probably get a better feel for differences in primetime tonight.

Well, it's about time! My dad will be thrilled to hear this!

Needless to say this D* subcriber was happy this morning.

SWEET!! Final four and Masters in HD!!

Must be nice!! E* has no idea when they'll send locals in HD. I'm jealous! If D* had a receiver like the E*'s ViP622 I'd switch in a heartbeat. It's nice being able to watch programs recorded on the DVR in the bedroom as well as the living room.

You have to have the new dish and an Mpeg-4 receiver. If you have the new equipment I believe the digital channels will be listed with their analog counterparts on the guide.

Nice. I know that there are supposed to be 150 HD channels within a couple of years or whatever...I'm assuming that they'll be in MPEG4. So, I guess I should upgrade. When I bought my HD TiVos a year and a half ago, they said they would upgrade my box free of charge when HD locals came around. What are they wanting to charge you other D* customers? I hope they keep to their word...if not, I'm going to be a little upset.

Nice. I know that there are supposed to be 150 HD channels within a couple of years or whatever...I'm assuming that they'll be in MPEG4. So, I guess I should upgrade. When I bought my HD TiVos a year and a half ago, they said they would upgrade my box free of charge when HD locals came around. What are they wanting to charge you other D* customers? I hope they keep to their word...if not, I'm going to be a little upset.

They want $99.00 for a standard HD box and $199.00 for HD DVR box. I will hold off on upgrading my HD Tivo until they add some Mpeg-4 HD content that I want. I get all the locals fine with an antenna so there is no advantage for me to upgrade at this time.

Just made the swtich because of local HD, callled D* this morning and install date is tomorrow, talk about fast

Same here, just called and upgraded to the HR20, installation is this Saturday. Will let you know how it turns out.

Is there a way to tell whether you have a 5 LNB satellite when you can't actually see the dish? I've looked around the menus and don't see where it's listed.

If this helps, I have an HR-20 DVR and an H-20 receiver and both are recognizing the HD locals, but it just says "searching for signal" on those channels. My standard def locals are coming in fine.

Go and look at the physical dish itself. Does it have 3 prongs or 5 pointing towards the dish?

Go and look at the physical dish itself. Does it have 3 prongs or 5 pointing towards the dish?

Unfortunately, I can't see it without getting on the roof of a three-story house, which I'm not real keen on. I'll know for sure on Saturday, as a technician is coming out to replace my dish, if necessary, and replace my HR10-250 with an HR20.

Just wondering if the D* locals (WYFF, WSPA, WLOS, and WHNS) look as good through the dish as they do via an OTA? Someone give me an update.

D* HD looking good so far. FOX looks exactly the same on satellite vs. OTA. NBC & CBS are also very comparable with no obvious difference on our 65" Mits. Of course, ABC is looking fantastic since we couldn't get WLOS OTA!

We have noticed some intermittent sound sync issues through the HR700 that were fixable by pausing then playing. Only one case where we had to change channel then back to go to live buffer which fixed the issue.

Only two prime time slots so far, but we are really pleased.

Hope that helps!

Has anyone else with the DirecTV HD locals noticed intermittent sound dropouts? I noticed this on both WSPA and WHNS tonight (It happened several times during the first few minutes of CSI). The signal strengths on all 5 satellites are very good, and I did not notice these dropouts on OTA, so I don't think it was the station.

BTW, aside from this sound dropout issue, I am very pleased with the quality of the HD locals. Honestly, I cannot really tell the difference between the DirecTV version and the OTA version.

They want $99.00 for a standard HD box and $199.00 for HD DVR box. I will hold off on upgrading my HD Tivo until they add some Mpeg-4 HD content that I want. I get all the locals fine with an antenna so there is no advantage for me to upgrade at this time.

That's pretty shafty. I mean, I paid HOW much for my HD TiVo? Some people paid $999 when they came out...I waited till they dropped, but I still paid $600. Then they want $199 for an upgrade, JUST to get get the MPEG4 stuff? I think they're about $299 at the store off the shelf. That's insane. No way. They can keep it for now. It's definitely not worth it when they're isn't really anything new to receive.

Has anyone been watching NASCAR on FOX? Has WHNS been showing the races in HD? That's what I really care about with all this HD stuff. :)

Has anyone been watching NASCAR on FOX? Has WHNS been showing the races in HD? That's what I really care about with all this HD stuff. :)

Yes, they are in HD.

Yes, they are in HD.
Thanks buddy. :)

I can't help it. I just love seeing billboards as clearly as possible when they're driving 200mph :)

At 200 MPH, the in car HD cams look a lot like SD!

At 200 MPH, the in car HD cams look a lot like SD!
I think that's because the in-car cams are SD. :(

Dashaund,

I feel your pain about the $199 "upgrade" for the new HD-DVR with MPEG4 capability. I called and ordered the new box but would not pay the $199. The CSR would not budge from the $199, but customer retention did offer a $100 credit, and I'm keeping my old box.

For those of you with the New HD-DVR (MPEG4), I know I'll be getting a new 5-LNB dish. Will this dish support my old SD-Tivo box and the "old" HD-DVR (non-MPEG4)? If not, I'm guessing I'll need a second dish. This is not really a problem, but I want to be prepared for it.

The fact that I don't receive ABC, and CBS is spotty, through my HD antenna, makes me very happy that D* FINALLY added Greenville to their HD satellite feed!

Thanks for all of the information on this board. I don't post often but read every day!!


John

Dashaund,

For those of you with the New HD-DVR (MPEG4), I know I'll be getting a new 5-LNB dish. Will this dish support my old SD-Tivo box and the "old" HD-DVR (non-MPEG4)? If not, I'm guessing I'll need a second dish. This is not really a problem, but I want to be prepared for it.

The fact that I don't receive ABC, and CBS is spotty, through my HD antenna, makes me very happy that D* FINALLY added Greenville to their HD satellite feed!

Thanks for all of the information on this board. I don't post often but read every day!!


John


Hi there John
Yes your old equipment will work fine with the new 5 dish. I have the HD tivo and the new HD-DVR hr20 , the hr20 is a capable machine after you get used to the not so subtle differences between it and the tivo. Sorry for the run on sentence.
Ed

I think that's because the in-car cams are SD. :(

They are HD this year. The problem is they are so small using small chip blocks and the vibrations are so violent in the cars that it diminishes the PQ but you can tell the color is much more vivid than the SD and when things are calmer, the PQ is stunning.

I agree, kudos to Fox's excellent NASCAR coverage. I think the in-car looks amazing considering all of the factors. And they removed the side bars as somebody previously mentioned when they switch to the in-car views.

The sidebars are gone because the picture is a 16:9 HD picture.

Just a quick question. My buddy overheard me saying that D* just added this market for locals and was surprised to hear that because he has D* and hasn't noticed. Does he need to do something special to receive the new locals?

Just a quick question. My buddy overheard me saying that D* just added this market for locals and was surprised to hear that because he has D* and hasn't noticed. Does he need to do something special to receive the new locals?
They should just come on as long as it's a H20 or HR20.It does require software download.If receiver has not downloaded you can force a download by hitting red button by card slot > during welcome screen hit 02468 on remote .

They should just come on as long as it's a H20 or HR20.It does require software download.If receiver has not downloaded you can force a download by hitting red button by card slot > during welcome screen hit 02468 on remote .
Thanks. :)

They should just come on as long as it's a H20 or HR20.It does require software download.If receiver has not downloaded you can force a download by hitting red button by card slot > during welcome screen hit 02468 on remote .

Along with the H20 or HR20 receivers, you also need a 5 LNB dish. The 3 LNB will not pick up the HD LIL.

Along with the H20 or HR20 receivers, you also need a 5 LNB dish. The 3 LNB will not pick up the HD LIL.
HD LIL?

HD local channels. HD Local into Local. They are on a separate sat from the SD locals and the national channels.

Hey guys, I am a deaf person living in the greenville sc area, and all of my local channels in hd are not close captioned except for WYFF channel 4.. they are the only one that came thru with the caption. WSPA did for a few days but as of today there was no caption. That left Fox 21 and WLOS with no closed caption. A phone call to both station, they said they were brodcasting with closed caption OTA because they add the close caption feed themself and montior the close caption several times a day. I called directv and they were like well we are not showing any problem blah blah... Please check your captions and see if they are working and if not then call them and complain. Since FCC requires Cable company and Sat companies to follow the law. So I bascially cant enjoy the local hd channels until they fix the problem... 300 dollars on a HD DVR!!!! GRRRRRR

I'm thrilled that Asheville, NC is finally getting HD locals. Unfortunately I will have to upgrade my equipment to the 5 LNB because I only have a 3 LNB and I live right at the base of a mountain. I already get the other HD channels but I am worried that when the guy comes to install my new 5 LNB dish that I will not be able to get the local HD channels. That would be a very huge disappointment to me becaue I have waited so long for D* to get their act together. I wonder how much a HD DVR will cost me now (last time I checked it was $600 and I had to pass on it). I want to be able to record some of my local HD programing so that I can watch it later because I work nights. If it is $200 I will go ahead and pony up the dough. I may have to wait a few weeks to upgrade and save up for it but it will be worth it. I really hope I can get these new HD locals. It would add so much to my HD programming to be able to record and watch these on my huge HDTV. Well, I'm gonna call D*. Wish me luck.

I'm thrilled that Asheville, NC is finally getting HD locals. Unfortunately I will have to upgrade my equipment to the 5 LNB because I only have a 3 LNB and I live right at the base of a mountain. I already get the other HD channels but I am worried that when the guy comes to install my new 5 LNB dish that I will not be able to get the local HD channels. That would be a very huge disappointment to me becaue I have waited so long for D* to get their act together. I wonder how much a HD DVR will cost me now (last time I checked it was $600 and I had to pass on it). I want to be able to record some of my local HD programing so that I can watch it later because I work nights. If it is $200 I will go ahead and pony up the dough. I may have to wait a few weeks to upgrade and save up for it but it will be worth it. I really hope I can get these new HD locals. It would add so much to my HD programming to be able to record and watch these on my huge HDTV. Well, I'm gonna call D*. Wish me luck.
I wouldn't be worried if you already are picking up HD from TRIPLE SAT then 99.9% of the time the new KAKU dish will work in the same location .This is not always the case if you have the round basic dish.

I wouldn't be worried if you already are picking up HD from TRIPLE SAT then 99.9% of the time the new KAKU dish will work in the same location .This is not always the case if you have the round basic dish.

Thanks for the info. I think I can rest easy now.


Now for the bad news---

I called D* they said it will cost $233 for the HD DVR and they want it all up front. They simply will not budge and charge it to next months bill. I won't have that kind of cash for 3 solid weeks (if I'm lucky). So I have no choice but to do without even longer. What really pains me is that the rep said they had just stopped allowing charges to next months bill only last week. Why oh why did they have to tell me that? Per usual I'm a day late and a dollar short. It seems like this crap always happens to me. You'd think they could have at least given their HD package customers, in the individual markets, a heads up about them getting local HDs so we could have been prepared. I went from thrilled to p* off in a matter of minutes. This is one very unhappy D* customer.
I know P* and moaning won't do any good but it'll still help me vent my anger a bit. Well I'll talk to ya again in 4 weeks when the guy has finally installed it (cause I know I'll probably have to wait an additional week just to have him get out to my house and have my equipment upgraded). I'm so ticked with D* right now. If any one else already has their local HDs please don't let me rain on your parade. I'd be very excited to have them also. Just be thankful you were able to get them so soon. Some of us aren't so lucky.

I wouldn't be worried if you already are picking up HD from TRIPLE SAT then 99.9% of the time the new KAKU dish will work in the same location .This is not always the case if you have the round basic dish.

The HD local channels are on two new sats that the 3 LNB doesn't cover (99 and 103). The 3 LNB dishes only look at 101, 110 and 119. The LNB's on the 3 LNB dish do not cover the new KA bands that these new sats work on. Simply put, the 3 LNB WILL NOT WORK for the ANY HD LOCAL STATION ANYWHERE. To receive the local HD channels, you must have the 5 LNB dish.

Install went smoothly on Saturday, but mainly because I had already pulled the wires into my house. I didnt want an installer drilling holes in my walls. Anyway, I got the new HR20-100 which comes in black and silver. Mine is the black one thankfully. The differences betweeen it and the 700 are minor, the light circle on front is solid instead od individual LEDs, and it has a coax digital out in addition to the optical. It also runs a different sofftware revision, several versions older than the 700... Those of you struggling with the upgrade price try to speak with a retention department rep, I finally got mine for $99 installed. I just told the regular rep I was promised a free upgrade when I bought my first HD Tivo (which I was) and she eventually switched me higher up the ladder... Good luck!

The HD local channels are on two new sats that the 3 LNB doesn't cover (99 and 103). The 3 LNB dishes only look at 101, 110 and 119. The LNB's on the 3 LNB dish do not cover the new KA bands that these new sats work on. Simply put, the 3 LNB WILL NOT WORK for the ANY HD LOCAL STATION ANYWHERE. To receive the local HD channels, you must have the 5 LNB dish.
You are correct.I was just saying if he already was picking up the 101,110,119 then line of sight to the 99and 103 sats shouldn't be a problem.

Had a friend at work tell me about The Golf Channel being yanked off of Charter Cable Systems on Wednesday (4/4) if no deal is reached. I found this article from the Wisconsin State Journal explaining the situation with Comcast and negotiations associated with The Golf Channel and Versus: http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/sports//index.php?ntid=126904 . I just checked Golf Channel and Versus and there is a crawl running that asks for Charter Cable Customers to call an 800 number to ask for continued carriage of those channels.

You are correct.I was just saying if he already was picking up the 101,110,119 then line of sight to the 99and 103 sats shouldn't be a problem.

Not always. I have a partical block of 110 by the top of one tree. 101 and 119 are both in the clear.

Hey guys, I am a deaf person living in the greenville sc area, and all of my local channels in hd are not close captioned except for WYFF channel 4.. they are the only one that came thru with the caption.

I checked 4.1, 7.1, 13.1 and 21.1 tonight, both at around 6:15 when they were all showing local news or syndicated reruns (all SD of course), and just now when they are all showing network stuff (all HD material except for NBC Dateline). I got captions every time, with two different OTA receivers.

I checked 4.1, 7.1, 13.1 and 21.1 tonight, both at around 6:15 when they were all showing local news or syndicated reruns (all SD of course), and just now when they are all showing network stuff (all HD material except for NBC Dateline). I got captions every time, with two different OTA receivers.
I think he's referring to the those channels coming through D* not having captions. I could be wrong though.

I am also not getting any close captioning on Channels 21 Fox, 7 CBS, and 13 ABC,
I am getting close captioning on Channel 4 NBC like Razacutter explained in that post. My SD channels of the same above mentioned all have close captioning..it is only the HD locals thru Directv that are not captioning with the exception of
Channel 4. It is extremely hard for me to understand the talk in shows like"24" without the close captioning. Who can we call at the stations?

I am also not getting any close captioning on Channels 21 Fox, 7 CBS, and 13 ABC,
I am getting close captioning on Channel 4 NBC like Razacutter explained in that post. My SD channels of the same above mentioned all have close captioning..it is only the HD locals thru Directv that are not captioning with the exception of
Channel 4. It is extremely hard for me to understand the talk in shows like"24" without the close captioning. Who can we call at the stations?
If the SD channels have them, then it sounds to me like an issue with D*, not the local affiliates.

For those that can get them, how is the HD quality for the locals? Is it up to par with the other premium HD channels? I wouldn't expect them to be, but I am still curious. Thought I'd just ask for the heck of it.

No one has reported serious PQ differences yet, at least on this board.

For those that can get them, how is the HD quality for the locals? Is it up to par with the other premium HD channels? I wouldn't expect them to be, but I am still curious. Thought I'd just ask for the heck of it.

I have an HR20 receiver with an AU9-S dish. I also have a TERK HDTVi antenna in the attic for my OTA reception. After doing a little bit of switching back and forth between my OTA channels and the D* provided LIL channels, I do not really see any difference. It is a close enough quality that I've hidden my OTA 4-1, 7-1, 13-1, and 21-1 channels in my favorites list and only use the D* provided ones for 4, 7, 13, and 21, along with my other OTA channels, such as 4-2, 7-2, 21-2, 29-1..3, 33-1..5, 40-1, and 62-1.

I was really hoping they were going to add an HD feed of FSN South when they turned on our area, but I guess that won't happen until late in the year or early next year when the new birds are flying, if not much later. I would imagine they are more interested in getting more national HD channels up and adding the big four locals in more regions before they go back and add secondary locals and RSNs to existing areas.

Schema, I had an e-mail chat with a D* guy a few months ago re: new HD channels and was told the RSN HD channels are not on the near horizon for us in the Upstate. Alas, neither is the Golf Channel HD, due I'm sure to MPEG 4 considerations and its parent ownership.

Regarding new MPEG 4 hardware, there's no reason for anyone who's been a D* customer for 3+ years to pay anymore than $99 for the upgrade, assuming you must have MPEG 4. Other than steady WLOS-DT, I don't know what it's good for if you have a good OTA setup. Connect with D* customer retention and someone will take care of you. Threaten to switch to cable or E*. several threads about this on both this site and dbs.talk

I dragged my feet on upgrading to HD for a long time. I finally decided to pull the trigger in February. I purchased a Sony 1080p LCD and an antenna. I was pleased to discover that I could receive all OTA channels in my area after moving the antenna into the attic. At that point, I was pretty content with my configuration. However, I really wanted ESPN and ESPN2 in HD, so I decided to upgrade to D*'s new equipment. I suppose I could have just purchased an HR10-250 receiver and kept all my other hardware the same, but I figured I'd go ahead and get the HR20 and a new dish while I was at it.

I played the leaving for cable or E* card and I got a pretty decent deal. They gave me the HR20 for $199, one year of HD service for free, and three months of Showtime for free. I've read of other people doing even better than that, but I was pretty happy with that deal. D*'s national HD lineup is very limited, but it is still more HD channels than I had before and now I can record my OTA HD shows to the HR20 DVR, so I'm happy with my upgrade so far.

Schema, the beauty of the HD-TiVo (HR10-250) is that you can run your antenna into it and use the DVR functions for your OTA. Plus you have the dual tuners, dual buffering, etc. I've had the HR-20 about 4 months now and never watch it because of the TiVo. Hell, I wouldn't even know we had the new LiL thru D* unless I read avs forums. I guess now I know which STB I'll use on the next windy day. For tomorrow and Friday though I have UHD on D* for the Masters in all its HD glory. Anybody know if WLOS-Dt is giving us the HD feed during the week?

One last note: I'm going to have a very hard time getting rid of my HR10-250 and the TiVo functions. If D* ever goes to all MPEG 4 I may switch providers just to get a Series III.

Schema, the beauty of the HD-TiVo (HR10-250) is that you can run your antenna into it and use the DVR functions for your OTA. Plus you have the dual tuners, dual buffering, etc. I've had the HR-20 about 4 months now and never watch it because of the TiVo.

Can't you do the same thing with the HR-20?

I just wanted to thank everyone here for all the wonderful information and advice, especially Foxeng and Jerry! I am moving down the road to Durham, where the reception is certainly better, but the views aren't! Thanks again everyone!

I think he's referring to the those channels coming through D* not having captions.

Correct. At least he now has evidence that the problem lies with D* and not with the stations, if D* is picking up the OTA signal and retransmitting it. If they're getting some kind of direct feed from the stations, then there could be a problem with the way the feed is set up, which I suppose could be at either end.

I just wanted to thank everyone here for all the wonderful information and advice, especially Foxeng and Jerry! I am moving down the road to Durham, where the reception is certainly better, but the views aren't! Thanks again everyone!

Depending on where in Durham you are, check out and see if you can pick up our digital signal on channel 35 just north of Asheboro. Our analog makes it. Good luck!

Quote:

Originally posted by Universal GC

"Can't you do the same thing with the HR-20?"


Answer: Nope, not even close. IMO, the HR10-250 is a far superior product to the HR-20 in that it has all the TiVo functions that are patented and unavailable on the latest D* STB's. That's my biggest beef with D*, that they went away from using other companies products (read: GREED) and are giving us stuff like the HR-20. I've never used a Series 3 TiVo but I'm willing to bet it is MUCH, MUCH better than the HR-20. I know the HR10-250 is. Once you have used the dual tuner / dual buffering set-up for watching two games or two shows at once, it's hard to watch TV any other way.

Quote:

Originally posted by Universal GC

"Can't you do the same thing with the HR-20?"


Answer: Nope, not even close. IMO, the HR10-250 is a far superior product to the HR-20 in that it has all the TiVo functions that are patented and unavailable on the latest D* STB's. That's my biggest beef with D*, that they went away from using other companies products (read: GREED) and are giving us stuff like the HR-20. I've never used a Series 3 TiVo but I'm willing to bet it is MUCH, MUCH better than the HR-20. I know the HR10-250 is. Once you have used the dual tuner / dual buffering set-up for watching two games or two shows at once, it's hard to watch TV any other way.

Calvin
When I first got the HR20 I thought the same thing. But after using it for the past 3 months I have come to like it more ( or at least as much.) There are work arounds for the dual buffer that after you figure them out it becomes 2nd nature just like the Tivo. In fairness I still have the HR10-250 hooked up, but that just because the only thing better than 2 channels recording is 4.
Ed

In case anyone hasn't noticed it yet, WSPA-DT has added subchannel 7.3 to show the USA Network's coverage of the Masters tournament today and tomorrow. It's in widescreen SD (480i). I watched it today after I got home from work, and it looks pretty good, even if it isn't HD.

It's even better on Universal HD! I wonder why WSPA isn't showing the HD feed on 7-1 or 7-3? Seems like they did that a few years ago...

Well, I had a very good payday this week (overtime pays off) so I was able to get my HD locals. I called and got the HD DVR and the tech is coming by this next Monday to set it and my new 5 LNB sat up. Gonna be getting the HR 20 series DVR. HR 20 was all got as far as the model goes. Hope the setup goes alright. Talk to ya later to let you know how it went.

After a year with charter crap I have gone back home to D*. Already had 5LNB dish and H20. Did the install myself in just under 2 hours. Fairly easy if you take your time and pay attention. PQ on all LIL looks real good as well as other HD channels.

After a year with charter crap I have gone back home to D*. Already had 5LNB dish and H20. Did the install myself in just under 2 hours. Fairly easy if you take your time and pay attention. PQ on all LIL looks real good as well as other HD channels.
Welcome back. I used to have content from them. Way too overpriced, for subpar picture quality and slim pickings. First tried "Dish' but hated the constant renegotiation problems they always have. I got sick of seeing that ribbon along the bottom of at least one of my channels every six months warning of a possible interruption in broadcast. They were only slightly cheaper then D* and again had what seemed like less choices, to me at least. I was also never that crazy about their equipment and it's quality. Anyway . . . I finally went to D* after listening to a couple buddies of mine rave about it.

Thanks for the info. I'd install my own, but I'd just rather not mess with it at all. Glad that the PQ seems right on par with most of the other HD channels. My personal favorite, of the HDs I have been able to get so far is DiscoveryHD. It never ceases to amaze me. It's in a class all by itself IMO. Something tells me it's gonna keep it's top spot in my HD lineup.
I'm talking about PQ of course.

My personal favorite, of the HDs I have been able to get so far is DiscoveryHD. It never ceases to amaze me. It's in a class all by itself IMO. Something tells me it's gonna keep it's top spot in my HD lineup.
I'm talking about PQ of course.

I couldn't agree more.

If the SD channels have them, then it sounds to me like an issue with D*, not the local affiliates.


it is a problem with D* because i contacted Fox 21 and they said that with the OTA they are having no problem recieving CC... but they were unaware of D* brocasting in HD, and said that D* is having the issue with CC Right now its saturday april 7th and i am on the phone with them for the 2nd time.

The D* tech came and upgraded my setup to the new local HD channels yesterday and brought my new HD DVR. I can confirm that my HD DVR is the newest model of HR20-100S. This particular one happens to be silver but I have heard that they manufacture a black one as well. Personally I much prefer the very sharp looking silver, plus it goes great with my silver Philips DVD recorder. Once everything was set up, I was actually able to keep myself from just playing around with it because I wanted to completely understand the features and functions it has. I set mine to record "Dancing with the Stars" on ABC that aired in High Definition on my new local HD channel, and "The New Adventures of Old Christine" with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, that also aired in High Definition on my new CBS local while at the exact same time recording "The Lake House" that aired on HBOHD (in HD of couse). I was completely blown away at how spectacular the image quality of the recorded programs are Vs Live TV. I swear it is so sharp and crystal clear you could not
ever possibly tell the difference between a recording and the original broadcast. I am very very very particular when it comes to HD and I notice every single detail. When it comes to attention to detail not even the smallest and most insignificant detail ever gets past me. This HD DVR is simply amazing. I also tested out the ability to rewind live TV this morning on my local news when I had turned it on, only to have just missed todays local weather report. Well I just rewinded the broadcast and watched the weather report that I missed. Again the video was so sharp, it's unreal, and an exact match to the original live broadcast signal. You could not tell the difference if your life depended on it. It completely blew me away. There are DVD recorders and other Tivo sets that I have seen but personally I think this model is on a whole new level. It's simply amazing. the guides and browsers look at first glance to be the same as a normal reciever so it didn't take me too long to get used to that, but it did take me a little while to learn the vast amount of other options that you have with this HD DVR. I did not know at first if I could completely turn of the box (without a single light on at all) and still have it record and I could not find that answer in the manual either. Well that was also a pleasant surprise for me. You can turn it completely off and it still records everything you set it to record because even though it looks like it is off, it really isn't. As far as the local HD channel quality goes, in my particular setup, my locals come in fantastic quality. They are every bit as sharp, vibrant, and clear as my other HD channels are. They are right on the level of HBOHD and ShowtimeHD. Simply amazing. Only one day, and I'm already spoiled. No crappy cable Co. reception or fiddling around with antennas for me EVER!!!!

So, this was unexpected (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10285063&&#post10285063):

Charter Communications and Sinclair Broadcast Group reached a three-year retransmission-consent agreement that covers 28 TV stations reaching 1.9 million subscribers.

The deal, which includes HDTV programming, expires March 31, 2010. It encompasses Sinclair owned-or-operated stations in 19 markets.

The stations included in the agreement are: WLOS/WMYA in Asheville, N.C./Anderson, S.C.; WABM/WTTO in Birmingham, Ala.; WDKA/KBSI in Cape Girardeau, Mo./Paducah, Ky.; KGAN in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; WSYX/WTTE in Columbus, Ohio; WKEF in Dayton, Ohio; WSMH in Flint, Mich.; WXLV in Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem, N.C.; WMSN in Madison, Wis.; WCGV/WVTV in Milwaukee; WUCW in Minneapolis; WZTV/WUXP/WNAB in Nashville, Tenn.; WTVZ in Norfolk, Va.; WLFL/WRDC in Raleigh, N.C.; WRLH in Richmond, Va.; WGGB in Springfield, Mass.; WICS/WICD in Springfield/Champaign, Ill.; KDNL in St. Louis; and WTWC in Tallahassee, Fla.

GREAT NEWS! Now I'll be able to watch LOST in HD!