They dropped some, added some, and changed some. As an "old fart", there used to be 5 we liked, now just 2.

just the xxx parts ... all listed on http://musicchoice.com/channelchange/ are there although I've shortened some names to fit a label I put on my remote.

5 Solid Gold Oldies
6 R&B .......
......
49 Mexicana
50 Romances

Finally updated my Vista Media Center from your list... thanks!

Hey guys, looking for some insight.

I have a tuner card installed on my PC and am able to pick up the OTA (QAM) versions of Fox, CBS, ABC, NBC, and ETV in HD. I had been reading on line about streaming via firewire, so I picked one up today and did some tests:

HD Channels I can get/capture via firewire:
TBS, FX, Food, MLB, Discovery, Golf, History, and channels listed above.

HD Channels I cannot get via firewire:
ESPN, ESPN2, HDNet, HDNet movies, Discovery Theater, TNT, Showtime

I can understand HDNEt, HDNet movies and Showtime, by why TNT? Why ESPN?
I'm sure they've put the "5C DTCP" encryption (http://home.comcast.net/~exdeus/stbfirewire/#_Toc185690669) on them, I just don't see the logic.


NOTE: OTA is not the same thing as QAM.

OTA = picked up with an antenna
QAM = picked up on a cable from a cable company.

NOTE: OTA is not the same thing as QAM.

OTA = picked up with an antenna
QAM = picked up on a cable from a cable company.
Sorry, thanks for the clarification.

I pick up the ones I mentioned from the standard cable line coming into my PC (no cable box).

Sorry, thanks for the clarification.

I pick up the ones I mentioned from the standard cable line coming into my PC (no cable box).

<GRIN> the OTA stations are provided "in the clear" by your cable company and viewed by a QAM tuner. The TBS, FX, Food, MLB, Discovery, Golf, History are provided by his cable company as encrypted QAM, but the encryption is such that they allow the 1394 port to output the video; these only require the digital subscription and box, not an additional subscription.
ESPN, ESPN2, HDNet, HDNet movies, Discovery Theater, TNT, Showtime

I can understand HDNEt, HDNet movies and Showtime, by why TNT? Why ESPN?

Likely just the system they use, or perhaps they are extra charge by them.

Sorry, thanks for the clarification.

I pick up the ones I mentioned from the standard cable line coming into my PC (no cable box).

If you don't have a cable box, exactly how is Firewire used in your setup?
I have cable from the wall connect to my USB tuner that plugs into the PC. Great QAM, but would love more HD stuff with a FireWire solution.

Thanks in advance.

If you don't have a cable box, exactly how is Firewire used in your setup?
I have cable from the wall connect to my USB tuner that plugs into the PC. Great QAM, but would love more HD stuff with a FireWire solution.

Thanks in advance.Before trying the firewire, I had my PC in my bedroom (no cable box, just a standard cable line split for the modem/computer/tv) where I would receive the major networks through the cable line via my tuner card.
After bringing my computer to the den and hooking it up to my cable box via firewire (no tuner card involved), I am able to stream whatever channel my cable box is tuned to- to my PC, however some are 'blocked' by Charter's encryption on them.

Perhaps I've missed it, but why do we sometimes get blacked out on some Peachtree TV HD Braves games (last night-for example)? I know FSS is a mystery too, but wasn't sure if someone knew about Peachtree games.

Sorry about the post if it is in the wrong spot. I am near to over the air HD and to this area. i am near the GA sc border on 85 and was looking for some advice as to what i might be able to get over the air. Is it worth getting the external antenna etc? will i be able to pick up anything for Gville or Atl? also any advice on hardware would be much appreciated. thanks

Sorry about the post if it is in the wrong spot. I am near to over the air HD and to this area. i am near the GA sc border on 85 and was looking for some advice as to what i might be able to get over the air. Is it worth getting the external antenna etc? will i be able to pick up anything for Gville or Atl? also any advice on hardware would be much appreciated. thanks

You'll definitely need an outside antenna to receive OTA signals from the Greenville, Spartanburg, Asheville, Anderson market. Not sure about Atlanta stations at your location.

A gentleman who frequently posts on this forum has an interesting web site detailing his experiences with OTA reception. You may find his experiences helpful and informative. http://web.presby.edu/~jtbell/TV/stations.html

Before trying the firewire, I had my PC in my bedroom (no cable box, just a standard cable line split for the modem/computer/tv) where I would receive the major networks through the cable line via my tuner card.
After bringing my computer to the den and hooking it up to my cable box via firewire (no tuner card involved), I am able to stream whatever channel my cable box is tuned to- to my PC, however some are 'blocked' by Charter's encryption on them.


I thought a cable box had to be part of the FireWire equation...... I don't have a cable box with my basic Charter. Oh well, I'll live with my standard QAM.

Anyone notice HBO and Showtime are coming in clear via QAM? Not HD, just SD versions... but still nice!:)

Sorry about the post if it is in the wrong spot. I am near to over the air HD and to this area. i am near the GA sc border on 85 and was looking for some advice as to what i might be able to get over the air. Is it worth getting the external antenna etc? will i be able to pick up anything for Gville or Atl? also any advice on hardware would be much appreciated. thanks

What will make the most difference is how high your home is; Like if you are on the hill top or in a valley. If you are the the valley then a lot has to do with which side of the hill the direction the stations are. I would go to google & type topo map & see how high you are The I would take a portable tv & try in on an indoor antenna & see what you can receive analog now while 7 & 13 are still analog. then give us a report of what you see on the tv screen on the analog tv

This is two nights in a row no Braves in HD on Peachtree (772). Anyone know why?

It is listed on
-the Braves' official schedule
-Charter's on line listing for this area, and
-on my cable box's guide

This is two nights in a row no Braves in HD on Peachtree (772). Anyone know why?

It is listed on
-the Braves' official schedule
-Charter's on line listing for this area, and
-on my cable box's guide

Yep, same here on the Asheville system...

For a sense of humor from Charter's customers and a big belly laugh for DirecTV Customers, here's a funny pic post: http://ping.fm/p/Wa5u0

DirecTV may have the biggest Ad presence AND the biggest customer base... but DISH still has the BEST DEALS!
Jeff

I called charter and they said its a programing issue with peachtree. They said they only can send out what they recieve. I call BS cause the sd version on channel 58 is fine and thats thru the peachtree network. Anybody got any ideas?

For a sense of humor from Charter's customers and a big belly laugh for DirecTV Customers, here's a funny pic post: http://ping.fm/p/Wa5u0

Even as a D* customer, i find this funny. So "pop" any new HD from charter yet?

I called charter and they said its a programing issue with peachtree. They said they only can send out what they recieve. I call BS cause the sd version on channel 58 is fine and thats thru the peachtree network. Anybody got any ideas?

It isn't BS. Last night's game was on FSN. FSN games are NOT PeachTree games. PeachTree incorrectly listed games they aren't carrying on WPCHD (Tribune shows it as WPCHBO). It occurred in the Tribune guide data as well. The only way it would list the game would be if PeachTree provided that data to Tribune.

It isn't BS. Last night's game was on FSN. FSN games are NOT PeachTree games. PeachTree incorrectly listed games they aren't carrying on WPCHD (Tribune shows it as WPCHBO). It occurred in the Tribune guide data as well. The only way it would list the game would be if PeachTree provided that data to Tribune.

Umm, I watched part of the game last night and it was on SD (AVL Charter ch 77) where CSS shows the Peachtree games. The game was complete with the Peachtree branding & logos. It was not on FSN here.

Umm, I watched part of the game last night and it was on SD (AVL Charter ch 77) where CSS shows the Peachtree games. The game was complete with the Peachtree branding & logos. It was not on FSN here.

I may have it confused with 2 nights ago. But I do recall them playing on FS Monday or Tuesday. In that case it will not be on WPCHD. It is possible there was an issue and PeachTree didn't do the game in HD last night for some reason. AFAIK, Charter doesn't do any type of switching to enable the games on 772, so it must not of been provided.

i am near the GA sc border on 85 and was looking for some advice as to what i might be able to get over the air.

Go to tvfool.com. enter the "Check your Address..." section, and enter your address. It will give you a list of information about the signals at your location, from the stations around here. Or start with the "Maps" section, and then you can adjust your location by clicking on a map, and finally get the same list as in the other section.

If you post the results over next door in the HDTV Technical (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=25) forum here, there are several people there who can interpret the results and help identify suitable antennas.

I tried entering just a town name, Fair Play SC, with the "Maps" option on TVFool. It looks like unless you're down in a valley (for example right next to the east shore of the lake), you should be able to get all the Greenville-area stations with a decent outdoor antenna. You might even get some with an indoor antenna, but probably not all of them, not at 40+ miles. On the other hand, a simple indoor rabbit-ears plus UHF loop costs only about $10, so it's cheap to try one.

It looks like Atlanta is too far away to get useful reception from there.

Where might I find a list of clear QAM channels for the Charter cable system in Greenville, SC? Specifically looking for ABC. Thanks

Where might I find a list of clear QAM channels for the Charter cable system in Greenville, SC? Specifically looking for ABC. ThanksIf you read back a ways here, you'll find a fairly complete list; www.silicondust.com seems pretty good here too.

ABC-HD, on CharterGreenville (Greer) is 77.2. Look at the 103.x and 104.x for the other HD clear QAMs. (Oh, weather is 75.2)

This refers to SD digital not HD channels. I posted on the Moxi DVR forum too. I've raised this question before and hope I can get an authoritative answer now. In June when the Great Digital Changeover happens, Charter will be carrying analog versions of many channels that have changed to digital. The question is: will Charter simulcast the digital feed and will the Moxi DVR tune to the digital version of a channel or to the analog version?

If you read back a ways here, you'll find a fairly complete list; www.silicondust.com seems pretty good here too.

ABC-HD, on CharterGreenville (Greer) is 77.2. Look at the 103.x and 104.x for the other HD clear QAMs. (Oh, weather is 75.2)

Thanks gbynum!

If you read back a ways here, you'll find a fairly complete list; www.silicondust.com seems pretty good here too.

ABC-HD, on CharterGreenville (Greer) is 77.2. Look at the 103.x and 104.x for the other HD clear QAMs. (Oh, weather is 75.2)
ABC is 77.2 like he said

I can't recall which is which, but
103-0
103-1
103-2
are NBC, CBS, and ETV

104-3
is Fox

This refers to SD digital not HD channels. I posted on the Moxi DVR forum too. I've raised this question before and hope I can get an authoritative answer now. In June when the Great Digital Changeover happens, Charter will be carrying analog versions of many channels that have changed to digital. The question is: will Charter simulcast the digital feed and will the Moxi DVR tune to the digital version of a channel or to the analog version?

AFAIK, ADS which will allow digital simulcast of 2-99 is still a ways off for the Charter/Upstate SC market. Perhaps plans have changed and it will be implemented this year, but I wouldn't bet on it. Perhaps CharterJosh knows something about the ADS implementation timeline. It's definitely something cable box and cablecard users would love to see.

Even as a D* customer, i find this funny. So "pop" any new HD from charter yet?

If you cut the "wood" and mountains that block the southern sky, maybe. :rolleyes: Besides, there are other Charter customers on here that could answer that question for you. ;)

Even as a D* customer, i find this funny. So "pop" any new HD from charter yet?

In Beaufort, Charter has18 HD channels and thats if you have all premium channels. I talked with guy who handles the head here last year and was told that he had all the equipment to update. He was waiting for the tower guy to put up additional antennas for the Fox and ABC in Savannah. I spoke with him again a month ago and was told a different story. He said he didn't have enough bandwidth and was hoping to get the golf channel back.

I started working toward getting Directv and had to get the tree guy out here three different times. When it comes to trees make sure the installer uses the instrument that tell him where the 5 satellites are located and what trees need to be cut. The first two trip the installer didn't use it and that why I had to get the tree company here more than once. Yesterday I got me Directv connected and I'm here to tell you that I didn't know there were some many HD channels. I also got the HD-22 DVR and have recorded two shows. The playback looks as good as the real thing and my bill dropped $40.:)

AFAIK, ADS which will allow digital simulcast of 2-99 is still a ways off for the Charter/Upstate SC market. Perhaps plans have changed and it will be implemented this year, but I wouldn't bet on it. Perhaps CharterJosh knows something about the ADS implementation timeline. It's definitely something cable box and cablecard users would love to see.
I am in Asheville NC and would love to hear from a Charter insider whether the locals will be simulcast and whether the Moxi will be pointed toward the digital versus analog feeds.

What I want to know... I CONTINUE to see an increasing number of local commercials for Comcast Cable... Originally they were all just sort of "generic" Comcast commercials, just showing Comcast as this sort of "Heirmonyous Bosch-type wonderland," but the last few days I've actually been seeing Comcast commercials featuring Shaquille O'Neil and "Mr. Red-Eyes," lol (I never CAN remember that guy's name, although I know him well), offering Cable WITH HBO for only $29.95 for a full year, with an 800-number to call for more information.

That looks to me A LOT like either Comcast has moved into parts of this market, or is PREPARING to buy out Charter, currently in bankruptcy, which I suspect is more likely.
Jeff

That looks to me A LOT like either Comcast has moved into parts of this market, or is PREPARING to buy out Charter, currently in bankruptcy, which I suspect is more likely.
Jeff

There has been a lot of commercials from Comcast for the last 6 months or so. But I don't think it has anything to do with a possible purchase of Charter in the upstate. It's more likely because of their presence in Georgia and lower SC.

I am in Asheville NC and would love to hear from a Charter insider whether the locals will be simulcast and whether the Moxi will be pointed toward the digital versus analog feeds.

It isn't just the locals but most if not all of the analogs that would broadcast in digital with ADS. And if they do implement it, they would update the Moxi boxes to map to the digital frequencies (the Moxi box is capable and is used like this in some areas). It would result in a much better picture. It makes such a huge difference already with the few basic tier channels they have moved to digital in the <100 range.

This refers to SD digital not HD channels. I posted on the Moxi DVR forum too. I've raised this question before and hope I can get an authoritative answer now. In June when the Great Digital Changeover happens, Charter will be carrying analog versions of many channels that have changed to digital. The question is: will Charter simulcast the digital feed and will the Moxi DVR tune to the digital version of a channel or to the analog version?
After the Digital Transition, everything will be basically the same as it is now. The local channels will be converted to analog and there won't be a digital simulcast of the SD version of the channel at this time. As rrainwater mentioned, there are plans (presumably - since other areas have done this) to provide a digital simulcast of all analog channels at some point, but I haven't heard anything on that in any of our markets for some time now.

There has been a lot of commercials from Comcast for the last 6 months or so. But I don't think it has anything to do with a possible purchase of Charter in the upstate. It's more likely because of their presence in Georgia and lower SC.

Maybe so, rrainwater. I just know I NEVER saw a Comcast commercial in this market in MY LIFE until about three weeks before Charter's official announcement (and AFTER it was already public knowledge) that they were going to file bankruptcy, so I just found the timing a bit "conspicuous," to say the least.

Frankly, based on some of the nasty things I've read about Comcast from people who are stuck with THEM in other areas of the country, I figure we'd be trading one barrel of half-rotten apples for another, anyway, except Comcast is ahead of Charter on Bandwidth limits, so at least in that regard, I'd prefer keeping Charter.
Jeff

After the Digital Transition, everything will be basically the same as it is now. The local channels will be converted to analog and there won't be a digital simulcast of the SD version of the channel at this time. As rrainwater mentioned, there are plans (presumably - since other areas have done this) to provide a digital simulcast of all analog channels at some point, but I haven't heard anything on that in any of our markets for some time now.
Thank you, Josh, for this information. I am sorry that this is the answer, though.

Thank you, Josh, for this information. I am sorry that this is the answer, though.
Me too, I hate watching analog channels on my HDTV. I keep hoping we'll at least get some new HD channels soon but I haven't heard anything on that lately either.

I called charter and they said its a programing issue with peachtree. They said they only can send out what they recieve. I call BS cause the sd version on channel 58 is fine and thats thru the peachtree network. Anybody got any ideas?

Friday's game also wasn't on PeachTree HD. I would try to contact them and see what the problem is.

It makes such a huge difference already with the few basic tier channels they have moved to digital in the <100 range.Rainwater, in unscrambled QAM, the only ones I am aware of are 86.8 WNTV2, 92.12 CSPAN2, and 92.13 MTV2; are there others?

Rainwater, in unscrambled QAM, the only ones I am aware of are 86.8 WNTV2, 92.12 CSPAN2, and 92.13 MTV2; are there others?

G4, DXD, ans SOAP are in digital. I'm not sure if they are encrypting these channels or not but they are a part of the basic tier.

Peachtree HD seems to be working tonight.

I notice on Charter Ch. 785 that WMYA is now airing there (at least here in Asheville). I can't tell if it's HD or not. I guess we'll see at 8 p.m. if Primetime is in HD (definitely at 10 p.m. with the news from WLOS). The EPG hasn't populated with its schedule (only says "To Be Announced" for each half hour block).

Update at 8 p.m.: WMYA is indeed in HD on Ch. 785 here in Asheville (and Clear QAM on 78-3). Finally!!!

Peachtree HD seems to be working tonight.

Same here (and in Clear QAM, too).

I notice on Charter Ch. 785 that WMYA is now airing there (at least here in Asheville). I can't tell if it's HD or not. I guess we'll see at 8 p.m. if Primetime is in HD (definitely at 10 p.m. with the news from WLOS). The EPG hasn't populated with its schedule (only says "To Be Announced" for each half hour block).

Update at 8 p.m.: WMYA is indeed in HD on Ch. 785 here in Asheville (and Clear QAM on 78-3). Finally!!!

Great, now when will we see the CW in HD via Charter QAM?
(CW HD OTA is 62.1)

Yeah, and when will DISH and DirecTV offer them in HD? Getting CW via antenna isn't even something I plan to BEGIN to attempt "down in the valley" where I live... can't understand why nobody offers it in HD. WMYA isn't even a network affiliate any more, so why are they offering THAT first?

At least Charter DOES have a PBS signal in HD, though. I don't even get THAT with DISH... one of my very few complaints.
Jeff

I notice on Charter Ch. 785 that WMYA is now airing there (at least here in Asheville). I can't tell if it's HD or not. I guess we'll see at 8 p.m. if Primetime is in HD (definitely at 10 p.m. with the news from WLOS). The EPG hasn't populated with its schedule (only says "To Be Announced" for each half hour block).

Update at 8 p.m.: WMYA is indeed in HD on Ch. 785 here in Asheville (and Clear QAM on 78-3). Finally!!!
Wow, I didn't even know this was coming. I'm a little surprised that WMYA HD came before WYCW, but hopefully we'll get that one in the near future too.

Who knows WHY Charter does the things it does, Josh! If you ever figure it out, please let the rest of us in on it, lol.

By the way, I like your disclaimer... I assume without that not only would Charter potentially be liable, but they'd use the very first complaint as an opportunity to put you on the unemployment line.

From what I've observed, with the exception of independent contractors it generally doesn't appear to be the local rank and file who are putting Charter in the Potty... looks to be all the nameless, faceless folks working "behind the scenes."
Jeff

Wow, I didn't even know this was coming. I'm a little surprised that WMYA HD came before WYCW, but hopefully we'll get that one in the near future too.

Not so fast. Just checked: no WMYA in QAM here in Anderson with Charter yet.

Yeah wow, they snuck WMYA in there. Fantastic. More Clemson football local broadcasts in HD this year! : )

Yeah, and when will DISH and DirecTV offer them in HD? Getting CW via antenna isn't even something I plan to BEGIN to attempt "down in the valley" where I live... can't understand why nobody offers it in HD. WMYA isn't even a network affiliate any more, so why are they offering THAT first?

At least Charter DOES have a PBS signal in HD, though. I don't even get THAT with DISH... one of my very few complaints.
Jeff

Now you're asking when the Dish companies are going offer it? Ha! :-) Why they're offering THAT (WMYA)? Primetime in HD, News13 on My40 and My40 This Morning in HD...ACC Football and ACC Basketball in HD and Syndicated Programming that's available for airing in HD {i.e. Desperate Housewives, Legend of the Seeker(?), etc.}. Besides, Sinclair has a deal inked with Charter for WLOS and WMYA's SD and HD signals thru next March. I don't know if WYCW has a deal with them to air the HD, though (maybe CharterJosh knows?).

Yeah wow, they snuck WMYA in there. Fantastic. More Clemson football local broadcasts in HD this year! : )

You are seeing WMYA in QAM Charter in Easley? What channel?

Not so fast. Just checked: no WMYA in QAM here in Anderson with Charter yet.

WMYADT is 77.1 in Greenville.

Now if Tribune would add the guide data for 785 sometime this year would be great. :)

WMYADT is 77.1 in Greenville.



WMYADT is 77.1 in Anderson too! Thanks.

But, I noticed we are now longer getting Weather Channel HD (QAM) anymore on 75.2... oh well.:mad:

But, I noticed we are now longer getting Weather Channel HD (QAM) anymore on 75.2... oh well.:mad:

Try 76.3.

WSPA News at Noon just had a story that Spartanburg City Council had a first vote on whether to allow AT&T to bring U-Verse to Spartanburg to compete with Charter today, with a second vote sheduled for two weeks. The story said AT&T is promising pricing comparable to cable (with a lot more HD and better quality, from what I've read)... So it looks like it's coming to our market, for sure.

I can't imagine City Council would say NO, although the stupid news report didn't say what the result of the vote was (maybe it happened too late in the news cycle to have the result in time). I'll look later, and if ANYONE on City Council voted NO, they will be certain to get a letter from me informing them about the value of competition in the marketplace!
Jeff

The story said AT&T is promising pricing comparable to cable (with a lot more HD and better quality, from what I've read)


I think "better quality" is debatable. It seems many people are not all that impressed with the quality they provide on HD channels. Even so, it is still a great thing for them to come to the area. The more competition the better. Plus, their internet service is suppose to be very fast.

Now you're asking when the Dish companies are going offer it? Ha! :-) Why they're offering THAT (WMYA)? Primetime in HD, News13 on My40 and My40 This Morning in HD...ACC Football and ACC Basketball in HD and Syndicated Programming that's available for airing in HD {i.e. Desperate Housewives, Legend of the Seeker(?), etc.}. Besides, Sinclair has a deal inked with Charter for WLOS and WMYA's SD and HD signals thru next March. I don't know if WYCW has a deal with them to air the HD, though (maybe CharterJosh knows?).

You are one up on me now. Direct doesn't offer WMYA in HD yet. Supposed to add second quarter this year.

Now if Tribune would add the guide data for 785 sometime this year would be great. :)

I guess it was pre-planned after all. Tribune has updated the channel mapping already. It hasn't yet propagated to other services that use the data just yet but it should soon.

I think "better quality" is debatable. It seems many people are not all that impressed with the quality they provide on HD channels. Even so, it is still a great thing for them to come to the area. The more competition the better. Plus, their internet service is suppose to be very fast.

I'm not surprised, rrainwater. To me, having to choose between Charter and AT&T is analagous to having to choose between thrombosed hemorhoids and kidney stones! :eek:

Why can't we ALL just get Verizon FIOS??? :(

I'm not surprised, rrainwater. To me, having to choose between Charter and AT&T is analagous to having to choose between thrombosed hemorhoids and kidney stones! :eek:

Why can't we ALL just get Verizon FIOS??? :(

If you could get Verizon to offer FIOS here in Weaverville (they're the land line provider here), I'd be the first in line to sign up! No h'roids or stones to choose from...;)

You are one up on me now. Direct doesn't offer WMYA in HD yet. Supposed to add second quarter this year.

LOL...one up on what? I can't even keep a straight face when reading that line. I would trade in a WMYA HD signal for USA HD and SciFi HD any day.

WMYADT is 77.1 in Anderson too! Thanks.

But, I noticed we are now longer getting Weather Channel HD (QAM) anymore on 75.2... oh well.:mad:

No TWC HD on QAM here. :mad:

I've got a question for the techno savvy here on the forum. Is it possible to diplex an FM attic antenna with a Channel Master 4221 (carrying OTA) ? I've already got one run of RG-6 from the attic to the AVR and I'd like to avoid another. My FM antenna downstairs isn't cutting it.

If the answer is yes - can I assume the solution is to use two splitters? To further complicate the issue, I'm using a pre-amp (CM 7777) to boost the OTA signal before feeding the HD DVR. Any suggestions on how to wire it all up? Much thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Edit: after a little more research, it would seem perhaps I need a diplexer in the attic where I am combining the two sources (not a combiner or splitter?) ? Has anyone here done anything like this? Thanks for any help.

I've got a question for the techno savvy here on the forum. Is it possible to diplex an FM attic antenna with a Channel Master 4221 (carrying OTA) ? I've already got one run of RG-6 from the attic to the AVR and I'd like to avoid another. My FM antenna downstairs isn't cutting it.

If the answer is yes - can I assume the solution is to use two splitters? To further complicate the issue, I'm using a pre-amp (CM 7777) to boost the OTA signal before feeding the HD DVR. Any suggestions on how to wire it all up? Much thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Edit: after a little more research, it would seem perhaps I need a diplexer in the attic where I am combining the two sources (not a combiner or splitter?) ? Has anyone here done anything like this? Thanks for any help.

Well there are splitters that go more than two ways, Calvin... three-way, four-way, and possibly even more than 4-way, although 4-way is the most I've ever bought or remember seeing... You sometimes need to get really technical with splitters, however, when you're using them for specific applications, however, if you want to get the best results... Different splitters are rated for different Mhz ranges, with different tolerances and ratings as far as how much db loss they have (the less, the better). You can sometimes get a bit of variety and quality at Wal-Mart or Radio Shack, but if you REALLY want to get technical and splitters/amplifiers to suit exactly what you need, I find it's best to pay a little more and go to a specialty electronics store...

In Spartanburg, we have Harley's Electronics on Asheville Hwy. There's probably some place similar in Greenville. If not, Harley's is not far off Hearon Circle from Business 85. The folks there REALLY know their business. The owners' dad (Harley Parks) built the business back in the 40s, and the several brothers and their kids who are still in it (a few employees aren't family) have been in the business all their lives and REALLY know television-related electronics! The set me up with a splitter for my cable modem to split the signal to my cable input to the back of my Windows Media Center computer with the primary split going to the modem, so the modem wouldn't get any sort of TV feedback (when I was still using Charter's TV service). I didn't even know such a thing existed.

At any rate, if ANYONE can help you with better splitters, they, or someone like them, should be able to. Mike Parks is the current owner.
Jeff

I've got a question for the techno savvy here on the forum. Is it possible to diplex an FM attic antenna with a Channel Master 4221 (carrying OTA) ? I've already got one run of RG-6 from the attic to the AVR and I'd like to avoid another. My FM antenna downstairs isn't cutting it.

If the answer is yes - can I assume the solution is to use two splitters? To further complicate the issue, I'm using a pre-amp (CM 7777) to boost the OTA signal before feeding the HD DVR. Any suggestions on how to wire it all up? Much thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Edit: after a little more research, it would seem perhaps I need a diplexer in the attic where I am combining the two sources (not a combiner or splitter?) ? Has anyone here done anything like this? Thanks for any help.



Do you have the manual for the CM7777?

From the spec I see on the cm7777 in a Channel master catalog that preamp has 2 inputs one is -> vhf one is -> uhf. Also there is a switch to make a combined uhf/vhf input on a single input like from a uhf/vhf combo antenna. Or switched to have seperate uhf-> vhf -> inputs like from a seperate uhf & vhf antennas. that preamp also has a switch for a FM trap to block the FM. If all of these options are also on the cm7777 you have; All you have to do is set the switchs & connect your FM antenna to the vhf -> input connect the uhf antenna -> input. Then at the preamp power supply [like behind your tv set] disconnet the out put to the tv & connect a signal splitter in that out put. Then connect your fm radio & your tv to the splitter.

Will you may need a VHF high band antenna to receive when WSPA WLOS put the digital signal on ch 7 & 13?

If so you can get a signal splitter & use if for a combiner to connect the FM & the VHF high band to the same input port on the pre amp.

Wow, your answer was all kindasorta GREEK to me, David (are you one of those Parks brothers? ;) )

I DO know that the entire FM bandwidth of 87.9 ~ 107.9 Mhz resides in the space BETWEEN what is about to become the FORMER analog bandwidth BETWEEN channels 6 and 7 (back in the old days, when we had a B & W Setchel-Carlson TV circa 1963 or so with "infinite" fine tuning rings around the channel finder, on those days when the reception was so bad you couldn't get Channel 7 to come in worth a hoot anyway, sometimes you could almost tune in some of the FM stations, instead, lol).

Much beyond that, I generally leave to the "experts," and David, you appear to meet that description. Hope we can get Calvin's FM up and running.

I have a little $12 "desktop" Terk FM antenna for my receiver, which is here in the basement (the antenna sits at just about ground level, as the yard slopes, and this end of the house is near the bottom of the slope). It helps a little, and I can pick up the stations I like without TOO much interference, but with like 200 channels of music on DISH, it's seldom an issue any more... I even discovered their "Spa" channel carries "Hearts of Space" from 11-12 tonight... Hadn't heard that in ages... Don't usually go to music that early, but I had some things to do online that didn't need distraction and now I'm really glad I did. That may become a regular part of my routine.

For anyone else who may remember and miss that long-running show, SPA is on DISH at Channel 6073.
Jeff

David and Jeff, much thanks for the replies. Jeff, YES, my 7777 pre-amp is just as you describe. I still have the manual. I was wondering if I could plug the FM into the VHF input. Sounds like I can!

I guess the important thing now is to make sure I don't have the FM trap switched to "On". And I will indeed split the output. Does the 7777 do anything to the FM signal?

And so far, so good with WSPA and WLOS - DT's. The 4221 currently works fine with both although I know that may change. Good thing my D* DVR now receives the locals over DBS. I mostly just use the antenna for the weather. Still like it though.

Thanks again for the help.

If you could get Verizon to offer FIOS here in Weaverville (they're the land line provider here), I'd be the first in line to sign up! No h'roids or stones to choose from...;)

Verizon will not be the land line provider for much longer. (http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-13-2009/0005025060&EDATE=)

David and Jeff, much thanks for the replies. Jeff, YES, my 7777 pre-amp is just as you describe. I still have the manual. I was wondering if I could plug the FM into the VHF input. Sounds like I can!

I guess the important thing now is to make sure I don't have the FM trap switched to "On". And I will indeed split the output. Does the 7777 do anything to the FM signal?

And so far, so good with WSPA and WLOS - DT's. The 4221 currently works fine with both although I know that may change. Good thing my D* DVR now receives the locals over DBS. I mostly just use the antenna for the weather. Still like it though.

Thanks again for the help.

the book I have shows the cn7777 gain of the VHF at 23 db that includes the FM band.

The only concern is, preamps do have a limit of how high of a signal they can carry. The mast mounted preamps are for out doors & when you have weak signals. I have seen a strong FM station be so strong that it flooded the amp & came in 2 or 3 places on the dial. Also I have seen a UHF tv station do the same. What has even worse is that the distorted the weak signals to be unusable.

On my antenna in the attic I use an indoor distribution amp Cm 3042. It can handle high signals. I just had to run a drop cord for ac to power the amp.

I do not think folks know that if the antenna is going in the attic an out door preamp in not neccessay & a indoor distribution amp can be used & will have much better results.

But since you aready have the preamp, you can try the FM connection & see how it works.

WSPA News at Noon just had a story that Spartanburg City Council had a first vote on whether to allow AT&T to bring U-Verse to Spartanburg to compete with Charter today, with a second vote sheduled for two weeks. The story said AT&T is promising pricing comparable to cable (with a lot more HD and better quality, from what I've read)... So it looks like it's coming to our market, for sure.

I can't imagine City Council would say NO, although the stupid news report didn't say what the result of the vote was (maybe it happened too late in the news cycle to have the result in time). I'll look later, and if ANYONE on City Council voted NO, they will be certain to get a letter from me informing them about the value of competition in the marketplace!
Jeff

I read in the paper the other day that Greer had approved AT&T and they expect to start roll out within a year. That would be great. I am getting about a quarter of the speed I am paying for on Internet with Charter. It would be really good to have some competition. I was in Tampa when Fios rolled out there and you can't believe how much faster and cheaper the cable company got in just a few months. It was a wonderful thing to watch. Makes you believe in market forces.

Harry

Verizon will not be the land line provider for much longer. (http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-13-2009/0005025060&EDATE=)


LOL...Well, so much for that, heh? :eek::mad:

the book I have shows the cn7777 gain of the VHF at 23 db that includes the FM band.

The only concern is, preamps do have a limit of how high of a signal they can carry. The mast mounted preamps are for out doors & when you have weak signals. I have seen a strong FM station be so strong that it flooded the amp & came in 2 or 3 places on the dial. Also I have seen a UHF tv station do the same. What has even worse is that the distorted the weak signals to be unusable.

On my antenna in the attic I use an indoor distribution amp Cm 3042. It can handle high signals. I just had to run a drop cord for ac to power the amp.

I do not think folks know that if the antenna is going in the attic an out door preamp in not neccessay & a indoor distribution amp can be used & will have much better results.

But since you aready have the preamp, you can try the FM connection & see how it works.



David, I took your advice and wired everything up yesterday (still haven't got my new FM antenna yet so I'm just using the 4221). Surprisingly I got good results - still not everything I want though.

Another question: when I get the antenna and wire it to the VHF-port on the 7777, do I set the VHF switch to "combined" or "separate"? Obviously I am "separating" the signal at the DVR with the splitter but the two signals (FM and UHF OTA) are "combined" on the single cable leaving the attic. I'm still slightly confused. Thanks again for your help.

David, I took your advice and wired everything up yesterday (still haven't got my new FM antenna yet so I'm just using the 4221). Surprisingly I got good results - still not everything I want though.

Another question: when I get the antenna and wire it to the VHF-port on the 7777, do I set the VHF switch to "combined" or "separate"? Obviously I am "separating" the signal at the DVR with the splitter but the two signals (FM and UHF OTA) are "combined" on the single cable leaving the attic. I'm still slightly confused. Thanks again for your help.

When the manual says combined they mean for a UHF/VHF/FM combo antenna. But you can get a higher gain antenna by using a UHF only, VHF only & FM only antennas. Thus when you set the switch to separate & then connect the UHF antenna to the UHF port & the VHF [or FM] to the VHF port on the pre amp; The preamp will inside combine the two signals & send them down the single coax. This is better because the two ports have separate amps & thus the two antenna signals do not load one another down like a signal splitter/combiner would. The splitter/combiner will lower your signal by 1/2 or 3 db. You will split the signal inside for your FM radio & your tv; But, since it is after the preamp you will not see the differance like you would if you had connected a splitter/combiner before the weak signal goes into the preamp.

There are other ways to combine the signal with out lowering the signal but since you aready have the preamp with these options it will do it for you.

You want the "separate" setting. The "combined" setting is for using a single VHF/UHF combination antenna connected to one of the antenna inputs. I've forgotten whether it's the VHF or the UHF input that also serves as the "combined" input, but they should be labeled pretty clearly. I can't look at mine easily to check because it's up on the roof. :)

I am not sure this is really the right place but since a bunch of this is touched on here, I thought I would add it. I recently moved into the area and went with Charter for Internet since there don't seem to be a lot of other choices where I live. I signed up for 20 mbit service since I had fast stuff where I moved from. If I run the Charter speed test, I see pretty close to the 20 sometimes and sometimes only 10 or so. Obviously depending on how busy the local loop is. The problem is that if I try to run any real speed test to a site out on the net, I am lucky to get 3mb on download. I almost always get about 2 on upload. It appears that they just have either very narrow or very overloaded pipes from Charter to the rest of the net.

This has really become significant to me because I got a new Panasonic plasma TV that has built in function to stream video from Amazon so that I can rent and play a bunch of movies/TV shows direct from the net. The problem is that the connection is so slow that it doesn't look very good. Who wants to rent something that looks bad?

Anyone have some insight on is this problem fixable by complaining or do I just hang on and wait until AT&T brings U-verse to Greer?

Harry

I am not sure this is really the right place but since a bunch of this is touched on here, I thought I would add it. I recently moved into the area and went with Charter for Internet since there don't seem to be a lot of other choices where I live. I signed up for 20 mbit service since I had fast stuff where I moved from. If I run the Charter speed test, I see pretty close to the 20 sometimes and sometimes only 10 or so. Obviously depending on how busy the local loop is. The problem is that if I try to run any real speed test to a site out on the net, I am lucky to get 3mb on download. I almost always get about 2 on upload. It appears that they just have either very narrow or very overloaded pipes from Charter to the rest of the net.

This has really become significant to me because I got a new Panasonic plasma TV that has built in function to stream video from Amazon so that I can rent and play a bunch of movies/TV shows direct from the net. The problem is that the connection is so slow that it doesn't look very good. Who wants to rent something that looks bad?

Anyone have some insight on is this problem fixable by complaining or do I just hang on and wait until AT&T brings U-verse to Greer?

Harry

I am not sure if this is the place for your questions. Most here are about those of us that do not have cable & use an antenna. We help one another with tip to questions about getting the the old way with an antenna.

Have you tried getting you locals with antenna. There are much better than the cable, uncompressed & free.

Most here are about those of us that do not have cable & use an antenna.

Actually, we're a very diverse collection of OTA, Cable and Satellite HDTV Viewers from across all of our DMA.

I recently moved into the area and went with Charter for Internet since there don't seem to be a lot of other choices where I live. I signed up for 20 mbit service since I had fast stuff where I moved from. If I run the Charter speed test, I see pretty close to the 20 sometimes and sometimes only 10 or so. Obviously depending on how busy the local loop is. The problem is that if I try to run any real speed test to a site out on the net, I am lucky to get 3mb on download. I almost always get about 2 on upload. It appears that they just have either very narrow or very overloaded pipes from Charter to the rest of the net.

This has really become significant to me because I got a new Panasonic plasma TV that has built in function to stream video from Amazon so that I can rent and play a bunch of movies/TV shows direct from the net. The problem is that the connection is so slow that it doesn't look very good. Who wants to rent something that looks bad?

Anyone have some insight on is this problem fixable by complaining or do I just hang on and wait until AT&T brings U-verse to Greer?

Harry

WELCOME TO the Upstate of SC!

DSLReports, http://www.dslreports.com/forum/charter may be able to give you some help; there are 3 charter employees who help and who have company backing. To get them heavily involved, you must register (free) and post in a private forum and agree not to post private responses in the general forum; many have had great help, many complain about the lack of "transparency". They are far better than telephone support per those who have used them.

Aside, as with most on the forums, they keep true identities private. However, one is named Josh ... I have wondered if CharterJosh is the one of them.

You want the "separate" setting. The "combined" setting is for using a single VHF/UHF combination antenna connected to one of the antenna inputs. I've forgotten whether it's the VHF or the UHF input that also serves as the "combined" input, but they should be labeled pretty clearly. I can't look at mine easily to check because it's up on the roof. http://www.*****************/trafficreport/img/3721/k08t1221bbuq/gdsmile.gif

Hope you have an idea for separate setting.
My friend is using a combined setting.

WELCOME TO the Upstate of SC!

DSLReports, http://www.dslreports.com/forum/charter may be able to give you some help; there are 3 charter employees who help and who have company backing. To get them heavily involved, you must register (free) and post in a private forum and agree not to post private responses in the general forum; many have had great help, many complain about the lack of "transparency". They are far better than telephone support per those who have used them.

Aside, as with most on the forums, they keep true identities private. However, one is named Josh ... I have wondered if CharterJosh is the one of them.

Thanks for the pointer. I registered over there and am giving the process a try.

Harry

Aha, here's a page with a picture (http://www.crutchfield.com/S-H51hVxiGVp7/p_6597777/Channel-Master-7777.html) of the Channel Master 7777. Click on the picture to get an enlarged view.

The two antenna inputs are labeled "VHF SEPARATE INPUT" and "UHF or COMBINED INPUT."

Out of the factory, the switch inside the box is set to "combined" because most people use a single combination VHF/UHF antenna, connected to the second input. That's what I originally had. When I replaced my old antenna with separate VHF and UHF antennas last year, I had to open up the box and flip the switch.

This is two nights in a row no Braves in HD on Peachtree (772). Anyone know why?

It is listed on
-the Braves' official schedule
-Charter's on line listing for this area, and
-on my cable box's guide
Does anyone know what is going on with the Braves in HD? Doesn't seem like it's worked in forever?

Does anyone know what is going on with the Braves in HD? Doesn't seem like it's worked in forever?

They are showing it now. I think the problem tonight was the college baseball game ran over and they waited forever to enable the HD feed.

WELCOME TO the Upstate of SC!

DSLReports, http://www.dslreports.com/forum/charter may be able to give you some help; there are 3 charter employees who help and who have company backing. To get them heavily involved, you must register (free) and post in a private forum and agree not to post private responses in the general forum; many have had great help, many complain about the lack of "transparency". They are far better than telephone support per those who have used them.

Aside, as with most on the forums, they keep true identities private. However, one is named Josh ... I have wondered if CharterJosh is the one of them.
No, I'm not one of them :) All three are at the home office in St. Louis, but I have had contact with all of them at one point or another while at work. Contacting them would probably be the best thing to do, since technically I'm not supposed to give any support online anymore since that team was formed. (And even then I can't figure out what causes my own speed issues sometimes.) I would try contacting them through the Charter Direct Support forum on DSLReports.

While I'm in here, ETV World (I think it's channel 29.3 OTA in Greenville) was supposed to be added in the area yesterday on channel 191. I see it in the lineup on my Moxi but nothing comes up when I change to the channel. And I'll leave you guys with this... At least one of the channels requested in popweaverhdtv's signature will be added to the lineup later this year. :D

While I'm in here, ETV World (I think it's channel 29.3 OTA in Greenville) was supposed to be added in the area yesterday on channel 191. I see it in the lineup on my Moxi but nothing comes up when I change to the channel.

It is strange because they updated the cablecard mapping to include 191 and I get a good signal and channel lock on this channel. It seems they haven't actually added the actual channel though which is unusual (since I have never seen them add a cablecard mapping until the channel was live).

While I'm in here, ETV World (I think it's channel 29.3 OTA in Greenville) was supposed to be added in the area yesterday on channel 191.

So now you all will be able to join us OTA folks in watching news and magazine shows in German from Deutsche Welle from 9AM to 6PM on weekdays when the legislature isn't in session. :)

Seriously, though, my wife teaches German, so we've made DW's 5PM news a "regular" in our evening lineup with the help of our DVR. And they do have English-language programming, including an English version of the news. My favorite so far is the "Discover Germany" travel show at 2:30PM on Mondays.

No, I'm not one of them :) All three are at the home office in St. Louis, but I have had contact with all of them at one point or another while at work. Contacting them would probably be the best thing to do, since technically I'm not supposed to give any support online anymore since that team was formed. (And even then I can't figure out what causes my own speed issues sometimes.) I would try contacting them through the Charter Direct Support forum on DSLReports.

While I'm in here, ETV World (I think it's channel 29.3 OTA in Greenville) was supposed to be added in the area yesterday on channel 191. I see it in the lineup on my Moxi but nothing comes up when I change to the channel. And I'll leave you guys with this... At least one of the channels requested in popweaverhdtv's signature will be added to the lineup later this year. :D

If you have Twitter, they're also on Twitter at @Umatter2Charter, @Umatter2Chtr and @Umatter2Chtr2 . When I vented on Twitter and Facebook about my HD DVR not recording two shows at one time (has happened at least 3 times now over the past 4 months), one of them contacted me to see if they could help. I've inquired with them twice (two out of the three folks mentioned) and they've followed up on both accounts a couple of times since. It's much better Customer Service than the 888 Number where you're not sure if you'll get some that speaks plain English and isn't overseas. I also don't leave with the feeling that they're blowing smoke up somewhere, either.

So now you all will be able to join us OTA folks in watching news and magazine shows in German from Deutsche Welle from 9AM to 6PM on weekdays when the legislature isn't in session. :)

Seriously, though, my wife teaches German, so we've made DW's 5PM news a "regular" in our evening lineup with the help of our DVR. And they do have English-language programming, including an English version of the news. My favorite so far is the "Discover Germany" travel show at 2:30PM on Mondays.

I think it is interesting that it is called "ETV HD" in the mapping on my cablecard devices. I don't think they show any HD content on 29.3 do they? Luckily the Tribune guide data will fix that when it gets updated. :)

Nope, no HD on 29.3. There is a fair amount of 16:9 material that's been letterboxed into a 4:3 frame, which then has pillarbars added when you view it on a 16:9 display. The "widescreen postage stamp" effect. :p Most or all of the Deutsche Welle material is like this.

Watching Canes on analog 28. I have had enough of Charter.

Watching Canes on analog 28. I have had enough of Charter.

Add the Rockies/Braves MLB Game on Peachtree HD to the MIA List tonight (again).

1500 dollars a year and they have no clue what customers want.

Watching Canes on analog 28. I have had enough of Charter.

Versus is the only network allowed to show the conference finals and SCF.

My point is that they should have versus hd for one thousand five hundred dollars a year. Hence the comment following the one you replied to.

versus is the only network allowed to show the conference finals and scf.

nbc?

Add the Rockies/Braves MLB Game on Peachtree HD to the MIA List tonight (again).

MIA? I saw it in HD on Charter 772 on Monday night.

nbc?

NBC isn't showing eastern conference games in this round (only 2 western conference I think).

It seems Comcast reached a deal to continue to carry the NFL Network. What are the chances Charter will reach a deal? I wonder if Charter even cares about it's customers enough to even try to carry the network? I tend to think it isn't even on their radar.

ETV World is now live on 191.

MIA? I saw it in HD on Charter 772 on Monday night.

Nada....I flipped back and forth between other channels and 772 last night and it didn't appear (only black screen).

NBC isn't showing eastern conference games in this round (only 2 western conference I think).

I was responding to your assertion that only versus was showing conference finals. NBC is showing a couple.

The point you missed was that I was displeased that Charter does not have Versus HD, so I was watching in SD.

Sorry for the confusion.

The point you missed was that I was displeased that Charter does not have Versus HD, so I was watching in SD.

Sorry for the confusion.

Yeah, the problem is hardly anyone has Versus HD (not just Charter). Why the NHL went with them over ESPN still amazes me. My guess is they are as good as gone when the contract is up.

AppState, it sounds like you're where I was a few months back, when I finally just blew my top and decided waiting for Charter to DECIDE to give true customer service to its TV customers was like waiting for fish to volunteer to fillet themselves for you, or something, and jumped ship for DISH (well, actually, I spent a couple months flip-flopping between DISH and DirecTV before making my final decision).

Of course my decision had nothing to do with sports programming, since that's the one thing I care next to nothing about (I watch a little tennis and a few other sports most people couldn't care less about -- NOT GOLF -- but hockey, baseball, basketball, football... ACK... I get more than I can stand just trying to AVOID what I'm exposed to in regular newscasts and I STILL know enough of what's going on to usually know which teams and players are on top in all of those but hockey, lol). Don't get me wrong, I CAN watch them, and even enjoy them... I just enjoy movies and shows more.

Either way, Charter just ain't cuttin' it. I still have them for internet... No better choice at present... And Harrys, although I'm paying only for the 10 mbps service, I get the full speed after hours... but during peak hours, you're right, no matter WHAT you're paying for, you likely won't get it.

That SUCKS, and the only real solution to that is for the entire industry to build up a much bigger nationwide broadband infrastructure... but of course that requires longterm financing and thinking about more than NEXT QUARTER'S PROFITS, which is all Wall Street has been about since about 1980, and how we've gotten in the mess we're in today. From what I understand, ONE COMPANY did that -- VERIZON -- but they can't be everywhere -- YET.

What's much worse is that our electric grids, most sewer systems, bridges, railways, highways -- you name it -- just about ALL the major public AND private infrastructure in this country is WOEFULLY behind in upgrades and expansion because either COMPANIES didn't want to hurt "next quarter's bottom line" to do the upgrades or politicians didn't want to admit they'd need to raise taxes to do it in the public sector.

The hens are coming home to roost in the financial sector. If all these "other pieces of the sky" were to happen to start falling at the same time, or even in close proximity, we wouldn't NEED to worry about al Qaeda or any other external threats -- America would IMPLODE!
Jeff

Nada....I flipped back and forth between other channels and 772 last night and it didn't appear (only black screen).
Monday night's game and Tuesday night's game aired perfectly for me on Peachtree HD.

Anyone know specifics about the scheduled upgrades tomorrow?

Nada....I flipped back and forth between other channels and 772 last night and it didn't appear (only black screen).

I saw it last night. Looks like you need to call Charter:eek:

Anyone know specifics about the scheduled upgrades tomorrow?

Upgrades of what?

Upgrades of what?
Message sent to my cable box a few weeks ago said they would be sending out updates to cable boxes tomorrow.

I saw it last night. Looks like you need to call Charter:eek:

It did come on last night, so who knows what was going on.

Message sent to my cable box a few weeks ago said they would be sending out updates to cable boxes tomorrow.

Yep, saw the same thing. I wonder if it's the A26 Guide Upgrade that's been around for 2 years now. I tried to search for specific info and didn't find much out there. The only major tidbit that I found was that the A26 would enable the boxes for Remote DVR Scheduling if Charter chose to offer it. I won't hold my breath on the that point, though.

Are my eyes deceiving me or is that the SEC Baseball Tourney (right now, LSU vs. Vandy) on CSS HD (on Ch. 772 here, PeachtreeTV HD's normal location)? It's macroblocking a little bit, but looking good.

Are my eyes deceiving me or is that the SEC Baseball Tourney (right now, LSU vs. Vandy) on CSS (on Ch. 772 here, Peachtree TV's normal location)? It's macroblocking a little bit, but looking good.

I'm not seeing anything on 772 (in Greenville). My guess if you are, this might explain why some people may be getting Braves games and others are not.

I'm not seeing anything on 772 (in Greenville). My guess if you are, this might explain why some people may be getting Braves games and others are not.

Braves are on 798 via SportSouth HD at the moment. Vandy leading LSU 4-0 at Top of 7th, 2-1 1 Out

Braves are on 798 via SportSouth HD at the moment. Vandy leading LSU 4-0 at Top of 7th, 2-1 1 Out

Yes, I was referring to peachtree games being seen by some and not others. I know tonight they aren't on Peachtree. But there is also no college baseball on Peachtree for me tonight. What I was trying to imply was perhaps different areas of Charter in the upstate aren't seeing the same thing on Peachtree at any given time for some reason.

Btw, I wish 798 would list the games for the Braves. They only list Sunday games in the guide.

I didnt even know that the games came on 798? I thought it was just peachtree. I too have been having problems with the peachtree channel. Im begining to wonder if I need to change my box. When the channle is not working for you guys does it kind of freeze your box a little bit? Sometimes I have to unplug it to get it to work again. I though it was just because the channel was messed up. I called charter already and they said it was the peachtree feed. Any ideas?

I didnt even know that the games came on 798? I thought it was just peachtree.

Many of the games on FSN and SportsSouth are also on 798 in HD. However, no one will ever know since the guide never lists these games.

Many of the games on FSN and SportsSouth are also on 798 in HD. However, no one will ever know since the guide never lists these games.
I'll see what I can do about that. As you definitely know, I've contacted Tribune and our marketing department a few times recently about guide issues on 772 and they've been good about getting them corrected. (But I'm not sure if they corrected them all around - if anyone is still having issues with 772 guide data after tomorrow, let me know.)

Also, don't have any details yet, but Switched Digital Video will likely be in the area before the end of the year. That's all I know right now but hopefully I'll be able to get more info in the near future.

(But I'm not sure if they corrected them all around - if anyone is still having issues with 772 guide data after tomorrow, let me know.)

They changed 772 to BRAVHD and so far it has the 3 games listed correctly in the next 2 weeks of guide data.

Gosh, I don't think anyone on this thread watches ANYTHING but sports, lol. Seems like that's the ONLY programming anybody talks about!

Gosh, I don't think anyone on this thread watches ANYTHING but sports, lol. Seems like that's the ONLY programming anybody talks about!

Like the popularity of television show genres (i.e. Comedy, Drama, Reality), the topics come and go in cycles. I'm sure you'll bring up Dish, DirecTV or Charter back up again, right? ;) Besides, Sports is the thing right now given that Summer is approaching and this television season's finales have mostly come and gone.

Maybe it's my turn to bring up Charter now...did the cable box upgrades go through? Me=out of town for the holiday weekend, so what's the first impression of upgrade?

OK, folks, just don't complain when/if I talk about Roland Garros, Wimbledon or the U.S. Open, since the Grand Slam tennis tournaments are about all I watch (and mostly just Wimbledon and U.S. Open -- especially the Open)... I can't explain it, I just got hooked when Billie Jean King beat the socks off Bobby Riggs back in the early 70s... I guess I thought it was neat there was a sport where a girl could play against a guy and beat him, lol.

Plus, I have to admit, I really enjoy looking at all those young ladies play -- there are a lot of real "hotties" on the women's circuit (I have to admit I tend to pull for female players by how good they look on the court, lol). But I also watch the guys, because, MAN, those folks are some REAL athletes!
Jeff

Unencrypted QAM Channel alert!

It looks like the Military Channel is unencrypted right now - at least on Charter Digital. 88-7 is the channel number. Probably just a Memorial Day Weekend event, but enjoy it while it lasts.

Also, don't have any details yet, but Switched Digital Video will likely be in the area before the end of the year. That's all I know right now but hopefully I'll be able to get more info in the near future.

I can't wait to deal with getting Tuning Adapters installed on my TiVos. I'm sure this is going to be a pleasant process. :) I just hope the TAs are available before SDV is implemented so they can be installed and tested.

Hopefully, SDV will bring us some more HD channels, but I'm not holding my breath. It looks like getting HD channels is becoming a very slow process. I suppose the main issue is working out the deals with the networks.

I can't wait to deal with getting Tuning Adapters installed on my TiVos. I'm sure this is going to be a pleasant process. :) I just hope the TAs are available before SDV is implemented so they can be installed and tested.

Hopefully, SDV will bring us some more HD channels, but I'm not holding my breath. It looks like getting HD channels is becoming a very slow process. I suppose the main issue is working out the deals with the networks.
Hopefully it won't be too bad :)

I'm hoping the same. Presumably, once the bandwidth is cleared up, it'll be a quicker process to get HD channels added.

Hopefully it won't be too bad :)

I'm hoping the same. Presumably, once the bandwidth is cleared up, it'll be a quicker process to get HD channels added.
Josh,
Are there implications of SDV for Moxi users?

A couple of months back I asked for a recommendation for a custom installer. I was/did move to Greer from Florida and needed to get a couple of TVs hung. One was going to be a surrond sound implementation and needed the speakers mounted on walls and ceilings so it was a bit of work.

I talked to about 3 or 4 different companies and finally selected Labus Electric since they were a bit cheaper and the guy who owns the company and does the work seemed to be real solid. They had also been on Angie's list which my wife follows.

He just finished up yesterday (a two day effort) and did a real nice job. He had to cut a hole in the one wall to get the wires up to the TV and the speakers and he patched and painted the wall and mounted everything and we tested it all. On top of that he installed a fan at the last minute for us and offered to do that for free. My wife is very pleased with the look which means that he really did a good job. I ordered all the mounts, amp, TV, HDMI cables and all myself with his recommendations which saved a bunch so basically I just paid for his labor and he was fine with that.

Anyway, I just wanted to pass my good experience along in case someone is looking to get that kind of work done. No benefit for me out of doing this, just know that there are a lot of strange guys out there offering to do this work. I had one guy show up who wanted three times the amount I paid to do the same thing. Ouch.

Harry

Maybe it's my turn to bring up Charter now...did the cable box upgrades go through? Me=out of town for the holiday weekend, so what's the first impression of upgrade?

Went out of town and returned a few moments ago. Looks like the Cable Box Upgrades didn't go through as expected on Thursday. Anyone else notice the same thing...or something different? LOL

Josh,
Are there implications of SDV for Moxi users?

It should only affect 1-way devices (aka CableCard users). Moxi boxes already support 2-way communication. AFAIK, the only cablecard users (besides cable company boxes that use cablecards) that have a solution is TiVo users who can use a Tuning Adapter.

Josh,
Are there implications of SDV for Moxi users?
As rrainwater mentioned, Moxi boxes will work fine. All Charter issued boxes should work with SDV with few issues. The only Moxi that would have issues is the new Moxi that you can purchase online from Digeo. (Charter has their own version of that one too, it's just not available here yet.)

Anyway, I just wanted to pass my good experience along in case someone is looking to get that kind of work done. No benefit for me out of doing this, just know that there are a lot of strange guys out there offering to do this work. I had one guy show up who wanted three times the amount I paid to do the same thing. Ouch.

Thanks for passing on your good experience! It's nice to have a name of a good installer in your back pocket for when we save up enough to upgrade!

-c

WYCW-HD has been added by Charter Cable on Ch. 789 (at least in Asheville-Buncombe County). How about the Upstate SC Charter Cable folks?

WYCW-HD has been added by Charter Cable on Ch. 789 (at least in Asheville-Buncombe County). How about the Upstate SC Charter Cable folks?

Finally! I just took my indoor antenna down as the CW was the only OTA HD channel it was needed for......

76.2 is now WYCW-HD on Charter here in Anderson (via QAM for me). Thanks for the heads up popweaver. ;)

Unencrypted QAM Channel alert!

It looks like the Military Channel is unencrypted right now - at least on Charter Digital. 88-7 is the channel number. Probably just a Memorial Day Weekend event, but enjoy it while it lasts.

As of today, we are still seeing the Military Channel, HBO (non-HD), Showtime (non-HD), Tennis, ESPN U, MTV U, MavTV, Gospel, Fuse, WeatherHD, all MusicChoice ch's, all local HDs..... all still on Charter clear QAM.

WYCW-HD has been added by Charter Cable on Ch. 789

Don't forget to update your sig! ;)

Finally! I just took my indoor antenna down as the CW was the only OTA HD channel it was needed for......

76.2 is now WYCW-HD on Charter here in Anderson (via QAM for me). Thanks for the heads up popweaver. ;)

Not a problem, ClemsonKev. It's on 100-3 via QAM here in Asheville-Buncombe, as well.

Don't forget to update your sig! ;)

10-4! Trying to think of more channels I want in HD now to add to the sig. :eek:

When adding WMYA-HD and WYCW-HD I wonder why Charter assigned the channels "backwards"

All of the other OTA stations have 78X as their HD channel assignments where X is the SD channel. But WMYA is on 9 for SD and 785 for HD. WYCW is 5 and 789 respectively. Strange :confused:

WYCW-HD has been added by Charter Cable on Ch. 789 (at least in Asheville-Buncombe County). How about the Upstate SC Charter Cable folks?
WOW, I can't believe this has happened twice now. I didn't know a thing about this one either. Good to see it added though! :)

All of the other OTA stations have 78X as their HD channel assignments where X is the SD channel. But WMYA is on 9 for SD and 785 for HD. WYCW is 5 and 789 respectively. Strange :confused:
Are they assigned that way in Asheville? I know in Greenville, WYMA is 5 and WYCW is 9.

Are they assigned that way in Asheville? I know in Greenville, WYMA is 5 and WYCW is 9.


Yes they are.

Yes they are.

Someone at Charter is probably dyslexic. :)

Macrovision is "still working on restoring TVGOS in SC via PBS"...

I give up! My Sony is now for sale. 500gb of HD DVR via cable, cable card, QAM and OTA antenna.

If you want it, just email me at clemsonkev at yahoo dot com and make a fair offer. You can also search to find it listed under clemsonkev at ebay.

I'm sticking with MS Media Center and streaming to the xbox.;)

Charter is improving the clear QAM offerings, both SD and HD. I suspect that several of the SD are either temporary or accidents ... posting them here is likely a mistake on my part.

-------8 HD channels--------
76.2 WYCW HD
76.3 Weather HD
77.1 WMYA HD 40
77.2 WLOS HD ABC
103.1 WYFF HD NBC
103.2 WSPA HD CBS
103.3 PBS HD
104.1 WHNS HD FOX

------14 SD channels (+1 duplicate)----
77.5 Tennis
78.10 ESPU-U
79.1 HBO (see also 117.1)
82.1 Showtime
86.7 etv world
86.8 WNTV-2
88.7 Military Channel
90.xx music (.105 is INSPirational)
91.9 SoapNet
92.12 C-SPAN2
93.12 MTV U
104.7 Gospel
104.8 MAV TV
108.5 FUSE
117.1 HBO (see also 79.1)

---------2 useless channels---------
85.8 OD Preview
109.1 PPV Preview

Thank you Charter! If you take requests, first, add the rest of the digital tier. Second, publish the clear QAM assignments.

Macrovision is "still working on restoring TVGOS in SC via PBS"...

I give up! My Sony is now for sale. 500gb of HD DVR via cable, cable card, QAM and OTA antenna.

If you don't have a pressing need for the money right now, I'd suggest waiting another month or two to see how things shake out. At the beginning of May, SCETV and/or Macrovision was saying that TVGOS would be running within 60 days (i.e. end of June). Add a bit for those all-too-common Murphy factors. :p

As I've reported elsewhere (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16514692#post16514692), I can get TVGOS from WLTX-DT 19.1 in Columbia, but I need to use a Dish DTVPal+ converter box (CECB) to get a channel lineup. After that, the program listings get updated normally from 19.1 without help from the DTVPal+. I don't know whether SCETV's digital TVGOS will also require a DTVPal+ to get things started.

If you don't have a pressing need for the money right now, I'd suggest waiting another month or two to see how things shake out. At the beginning of May, SCETV and/or Macrovision was saying that TVGOS would be running within 60 days (i.e. end of June). Add a bit for those all-too-common Murphy factors. :p

As I've reported elsewhere (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16514692#post16514692), I can get TVGOS from WLTX-DT 19.1 in Columbia, but I need to use a Dish DTVPal+ converter box (CECB) to get a channel lineup. After that, the program listings get updated normally from 19.1 without help from the DTVPal+. I don't know whether SCETV's digital TVGOS will also require a DTVPal+ to get things started.

Yea, I do love the Sony DVR (when TVGOS is active), but:
A) I have really liked using this Windows Media Ctr streaming HD and
B) This Sony is still fetching around $600 on ebay, and like everyone else, money is tight this year in particular....:o

B) This Sony is still fetching around $600 on ebay, and like everyone else, money is tight this year in particular....:o

You could spend around $600-$650 to get a TiVo HD with lifetime. It would work great with OTA and/or OTA+cable. The only issue is you would have to be able to hook it up to the internet using wired or buy the usb wireless adapter. The good thing about a TiVo is you would be using Tribune's guide data which is usually pretty accurate and you get around 13 days of data.

You could spend around $600-$650 to get a TiVo HD with lifetime. It would work great with OTA and/or OTA+cable. The only issue is you would have to be able to hook it up to the internet using wired or buy the usb wireless adapter. The good thing about a TiVo is you would be using Tribune's guide data which is usually pretty accurate and you get around 13 days of data.

Well, the Sony has 500gb, so the more expensive Tivo HD XL would be more competitive (but it costs $600 plus monthly service or lifetime service for $300 I believe).

Also, I understand the Tivo's still can't re-map QAM channels which would really suck in my setup.

Well, the Sony has 500gb, so the more expensive Tivo HD XL would be more competitive (but it costs $600 plus monthly service or lifetime service for $300 I believe).

Also, I understand the Tivo's still can't re-map QAM channels which would really suck in my setup.

Well, you can upgrade to a 1TB drive for cheap. But yeah, there's no qam mapping. If you use cable with it, you pretty much have to use cablecards or just analog. However, for just a OTA or OTA+cablecard setup, it does work great.

If you don't have a pressing need for the money right now, I'd suggest waiting another month or two to see how things shake out. At the beginning of May, SCETV and/or Macrovision was saying that TVGOS would be running within 60 days (i.e. end of June). Add a bit for those all-too-common Murphy factors. :p

As I've reported elsewhere (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16514692#post16514692), I can get TVGOS from WLTX-DT 19.1 in Columbia, but I need to use a Dish DTVPal+ converter box (CECB) to get a channel lineup. After that, the program listings get updated normally from 19.1 without help from the DTVPal+. I don't know whether SCETV's digital TVGOS will also require a DTVPal+ to get things started.
I received an e-mail from an engineer at SCETV. He advised they were waiting on the equipment to come in from National Datacast and it would be installed promptly. So, hold on guys in South Carolina....TVGOS is coming!

Frances
Sandy Run, S.C.

I received an e-mail from an engineer at SCETV. He advised they were waiting on the equipment to come in from National Datacast and it would be installed promptly. So, hold on guys in South Carolina....TVGOS is coming!

Frances
Sandy Run, S.C.

Wait... National Datacast is not TVGOS, as far as I know. TVGOS comes from Macrovision. National Datacast I believe is responsible for UpdateTV.

My mistake.

- Trip

Wait... National Datacast is not TVGOS, as far as I know. TVGOS comes from Macrovision. National Datacast I believe is responsible for UpdateTV.

- Trip

A quick google search showed they do provide TVGOS data for Macrovision. However, perhaps I am reading the articles incorrectly?

A quick google search showed they do provide TVGOS data for Macrovision. However, perhaps I am reading the articles incorrectly?

Hm, it appears you are correct. I was unaware that TVGOS had done anything with National Datacast, given their affiliation with PBS.

- Trip

Looks like WSPA-HD is offline (at least in AVL on Charter Ch. 787) as the WSPA-SD is appearing in its place (as well as on its 24-7 Weather on Ch. 247). Is anyone else experiencing issues via OTA, Satellite or Charter in Upstate SC?

Looks like WSPA-HD is offline (at least in AVL on Charter Ch. 787) as the WSPA-SD is appearing in its place (as well as on its 24-7 Weather on Ch. 247). Is anyone else experiencing issues via OTA, Satellite or Charter in Upstate SC?

It is working for me although I didn't tune in when you made the post.

It is working for me although I didn't tune in when you made the post.

Still out on both HD and 24/7 Wx as of now. Thanks for checking on your end! Must just be the Asheville Head End...

Still out on both HD and 24/7 Wx as of now. Thanks for checking on your end! Must just be the Asheville Head End...
PopWeaver. Of course, I too am in Asheville, but yes, WSPA-HD is offline for me. Both 787 through the cable box & QAM 22.6 are in SD and have been all night. It sort of freaked me out at first, but I figured someone on here would have been experiencing it as well. I'm glad that you posted.

I guess it is just a Charter thing in Asheville?

The WSPA-HD outage must be a Charter thing. I was watching it OTA for the first half of the 11PM news.

Well, I was just in the middle of watching a show I recorded earlier, but I interrupted that to flip over to Channel 7, and it looks HD to me -- mostly commercials right now, but there were commercials for HD shows, like "NCIS" and "The Mentalist," plus some commercials that appeared to DEFINITELY be in HD.

I'm on DISH since March 20, so again, "it must be a Charter thing."

It's like with their cable modem service (I know DSL is like this too, so there's no sense complaining). I get my FULL 10 Mbps late at night, but if it's mid-to-late afternoon, sometimes I might as well be using a 56K dial-up modem. I made a DREADFUL MISTAKE today... I decided to do my Vista SP2 update just before 4 p.m. (a time I'm usually not online, not thinking about how slow downloads can be at that time of day). The 340 MB download that would take me less than 5 minutes this time of night took... I lost track -- maybe half an hour or more!

But YAY, the Vista SP2 INSTALLATION that Vista, itself, said might take more than an hour to complete and SEVERAL reboots took maybe 15 minutes and only a couple of reboots and everything worked right out of the gate, although I've yet to see where there are any real changes... Time will tell about stability and whatnot.
Jeff

Hm, it appears you are correct. I was unaware that TVGOS had done anything with National Datacast, given their affiliation with PBS.

- Trip
I give up. I'm not posting anything else here. I have in the past two months talked to an engineer at Macrovision, an engineer at WLTX Channel 19 (CBS affiliate) and an engineer at SCETV. WLTX engineer confirmed they are not providing TVGOS for our area but are sending out their own digital packets (which some here have picked up on their systems). The engineers at SCETV and Macrovision told me that SCETV will be providing digital TVGOS for South Carolina, not the CBS affiliate here in our state. I only posted the info I received from SCETV yesterday regarding the installation of their equipment. I'm not a techie but I believe SCETV will be providing TVGOS in the next few weeks for our state. Who they get their equipment from, I don't know, don't care. If anyone has any questions, e-mail SCETV directly or Macrovision. I'm through.

Frances
Sandy Run, S.C.

The WSPA-HD outage must be a Charter thing. I was watching it OTA for the first half of the 11PM news.

It must of been a Asheville specific issue with Charter as OTA and Charter showed it fine in the Greenville area.

And as of late morning it is now fixed on Charter - Asheville.

It must of been a Asheville specific issue with Charter as OTA and Charter showed it fine in the Greenville area.
There was a fiber cut yesterday that took out a few channels. I heard it had affected Upstate SC as well as Western NC, but maybe not. Either way, it has been fixed now and everything should be back up.

There was a fiber cut yesterday that took out a few channels. I heard it had affected Upstate SC as well as Western NC, but maybe not. Either way, it has been fixed now and everything should be back up.

Maybe it affected different channels in the upstate but I didn't see any issues yesterday or this morning. Of course I wasn't checking all the channels either.

Found out some good news today - another set of channel launches will be happening towards the end of next month. I'm not completely sure which channels they'll be, but there could be as many as 15, mostly HD. :)

If one of those winds up being TCM-HD, someone's getting a thank you card. :)

Hmmmmmmm, MAYBE by the time my 2-year contract with DISH runs out, Charter will actually have decent TV offerings, for a change... Then again, by then I anticipate AT&T will have U-Verse in place, so my guess is THEY BETTER! :eek:

Found out some good news today - another set of channel launches will be happening towards the end of next month. I'm not completely sure which channels they'll be, but there could be as many as 15, mostly HD. :)

How are they going to accomplish the channel additions? Are they moving more analogs to digital? I know most cable companies stopped doing this until the digital transition was over (which it will be next month) to avoid confusion.

How are they going to accomplish the channel additions? Are they moving more analogs to digital? I know most cable companies stopped doing this until the digital transition was over (which it will be next month) to avoid confusion.

Actually, isn't it in 6 days?

Actually, isn't it in 6 days?

rrainwater is saying that the DTV Transition will be said and done by next month (by the time the as many 15 channels might go live). The migration of analogs to digital could resume, if Charter chose to do so, since the DTV Transition would be behind them.

How are they going to accomplish the channel additions? Are they moving more analogs to digital? I know most cable companies stopped doing this until the digital transition was over (which it will be next month) to avoid confusion.

The purpose in moving analog channels to digital is to encrypt the signals so you will be required to have a set top box like the dish & direct tv at each tv set for those signals not available from over the air. They know the customers are paying for just one connection to a home feeding signal to several tv set where direct tv & dish are charging for each tv set. Then the set top box will down convert the hd signal to analog [for those analog tvs] at the home instead of at the head end [office] of the tv cable. That way the analogs are removed & freeing up more band for more channels & internet traffic. This way they crack down on the tv sets that are connected to the cable but they are not paying for them because the are piggy back on the one tv cable connection. It does make since thou. Sinice the OTA will stop broastcasting 2 signals, analog & digital; but letting the stb at the home down convert to analog; the tv cable can do the same.

How are they going to accomplish the channel additions? Are they moving more analogs to digital? I know most cable companies stopped doing this until the digital transition was over (which it will be next month) to avoid confusion.
Not sure, but it seems likely that's what will happen. There's also talk of moving some channels around so they're all in a more logical order than they are now. I don't know all the details yet, but I should find out more as we get closer.

The purpose in moving analog channels to digital is to encrypt the signals so you will be required to have a set top box like the dish & direct tv at each tv set for those signals not available from over the air. .

The analog channels on the basic tier Charter has moved in the upstate to digital have not been encrypted. They are freely available with any tv with a qam tuner (which is most tvs sold in the last several years).

Found out some good news today - another set of channel launches will be happening towards the end of next month. I'm not completely sure which channels they'll be, but there could be as many as 15, mostly HD. :)

Curiosity kills the cat...I Google and AVSForum searched for HD channels that are currently available on other Charter Systems around the country that aren't available in our area (yet). Here's the list of possible candidates for future adds:

FOX Business HD
SportSouth HD
Speed HD
CNN HD
Bravo HD
USA HD
SciFi HD (soon to be SyFy HD)
Versus HD
iFC HD
AMC HD
QVC HD (questionable whether it's full HD; seen added on ATL systems and mentioned to appear to be 480i widescreen)
We HD
Smithsonian HD
WealthTV HD (questionable about this one since the SD version isn't offered here)
Fuse HD
Science Channel HD
MTV HD
Showtime 2 HD
The Movie Channel HD
Starz Edge HD
Starz Comedy HD
Starz Kids & Family HD

We'll see how many of these and/or others not on the above list get added. We can dream, right?. Yes, I know that D* and DISH offers most, if not all, of these already (please don't pop another kid's balloon, again).

The analog channels on the basic tier Charter has moved in the upstate to digital have not been encrypted. They are freely available with any tv with a qam tuner (which is most tvs sold in the last several years).

Now what about those old folks who were told by the tv cable "do not worry we will keep the tv signal coming into your analog tv after the ota analog is shut down"? When the cable tv is shutting down their analog channel; Is the tv cable going to give the old folks the set top box free at no extra charge?

If the charge one cent more for the box, they have broken a promise & are guilty of filthy lucre.

Is the tv cable going to give the old folks the set top box free at no extra charge?


Yes, they will.

QVC HD is now actually 16x9 HD. They just went to full HD in the past month or so, it used to be a 16x9 screen with a advertising screen taking up the extra space on the screen.

QVC HD is now actually 16x9 HD. They just went to full HD in the past month or so, it used to be a 16x9 screen with a advertising screen taking up the extra space on the screen.

Thank you for the clarify, jself1982. There was doubt expressed on the "Atlanta, GA - Charter" Thread about whether Charter was streaming the channel in 480i or in full HD. Glad to know that it's legit HD.

Heck Pop, Charter might be streaming a 480i stream but on my big satellite in the yard, I am getting QVC HD through one of my receivers in pure HD, so at least we know the master feed is sent out in pure HD, but we still don't know how cable companies and such are delivering it to its customers, lol.

Heck Pop, Charter might be streaming a 480i stream but on my big satellite in the yard, I am getting QVC HD through one of my receivers in pure HD, so at least we know the master feed is sent out in pure HD, but we still don't know how cable companies and such are delivering it to its customers, lol.

If Charter wants to compress a channel so much that it doesn't look like HD anymore, then QVC HD would be the channel that would get my vote. :)

WSPA aired the NAB's "Countdown to DTV" program Sunday afternoon, with a local segment that gave the analog shutdown schedule for most of the local stations:

Wednesday 6/10, 5 AM: WSPA ends normal programming and starts to broadcast DTV information ("nightlight" service).

Friday 6/12, 7 AM: WYFF, WSPA, WLOS and WHNS shut down analog service.

Back in March, WYFF filed an "Analog Service Termination Notification" with the FCC, indicating that they would operate analog "nightlight" service with DTV information until 7/12, although WSPA's notice didn't mention this. This will probably be similar to what WYCW and WMYA did for a couple of weeks after their analog shutdown on 2/17.

WSPA's notice didn't mention WUNF (UNC-TV in Asheville), which notified the FCC in March that they would end normal analog programming between 6AM and 12PM on 6/12, followed by "nightlight" service until 6/26. They also didn't mention WGGS.

WYFF, WSPA, WLOS, WHNS and WGGS are all moving their real ("RF") digital channels after analog shutdown, although the virtual channel numbers (4.1 etc.) will stay the same:

WYFF: 59 --> 36
WSPA: 53 --> 7
WLOS: 56 --> 13
WHNS: 57 --> 21
WGGS: 35 --> 16

So don't forget to tell your TV or tuner to rescan channels if you're OTA!

In Charlotte, WCNC will be the first to shut down its analog signal on 6/12, at 2:05 AM, so channel 36 will be available for WYFF. I wonder if WYFF will move its digital channel before or after analog shutdown at 7 AM.

I sell at a local flea market on weekends and notice many vendors selling TV,s with a set of rabbit ears and some local station tuned in to display the set's picture, wonder what they will display this weekend, lol

Our living-room TV, on a roof antenna, has been ready for four years, but I finally put a converter box on the TV that my wife uses when she's eating breakfast and getting ready for work during the school year. It used to pick up just one channel with its single built-in rabbit ear: WSPA, just barely, with a lot of snow, at about 50 miles. With a converter box and an external UHF loop antenna, it can still pick up just one channel, but now it's WMYA at 26 miles with its two subchannels: MyNetworkTV on 40-1 and ABC (WLOS simulcast) on 40-2.

So now instead of the CBS "Early Show", she'll watch ABC's "Good Morning America." And the picture and sound are a lot better!

WSPA aired the NAB's "Countdown to DTV" program Sunday afternoon, with a local segment that gave the analog shutdown schedule for most of the local stations:

Wednesday 6/10, 5 AM: WSPA ends normal programming and starts to broadcast DTV information ("nightlight" service).

Friday 6/12, 7 AM: WYFF, WSPA, WLOS and WHNS shut down analog service.

Back in March, WYFF filed an "Analog Service Termination Notification" with the FCC, indicating that they would operate analog "nightlight" service with DTV information until 7/12, although WSPA's notice didn't mention this. This will probably be similar to what WYCW and WMYA did for a couple of weeks after their analog shutdown on 2/17.

WSPA's notice didn't mention WUNF (UNC-TV in Asheville), which notified the FCC in March that they would end normal analog programming between 6AM and 12PM on 6/12, followed by "nightlight" service until 6/26. They also didn't mention WGGS.

WYFF, WSPA, WLOS, WHNS and WGGS are all moving their real ("RF") digital channels after analog shutdown, although the virtual channel numbers (4.1 etc.) will stay the same:

WYFF: 59 --> 36
WSPA: 53 --> 7
WLOS: 56 --> 13
WHNS: 57 --> 21
WGGS: 35 --> 16

So don't forget to tell your TV or tuner to rescan channels if you're OTA!

In Charlotte, WCNC will be the first to shut down its analog signal on 6/12, at 2:05 AM, so channel 36 will be available for WYFF. I wonder if WYFF will move its digital channel before or after analog shutdown at 7 AM.

Nightlight Service: Why are stations doing this...NOW? I knew this was going to be common for the original February transition, but after the delay to June I thought "nightlight" would be moot! I guess we have to give one last warning to those in the cemetaries?

Regarding Local DTV Facilities after this Friday: Once our local stations migrate to their permanent channels (WHNS back to 21, WLOS back to 13, etc) will this be it? Will all of the local channels be at their full operating power? Of course, WSPA is still replacing a damaged tower and WYFF had previously run a message in January and February that viewers will experience reduced coverage AFTER the transition until they upgrade their facilities. Unless I've missed it, I've not seen the same WYFF message for the June transition.

According to the information in the FCC's DTV coverage maps (http://www.fcc.gov/dtv/markets/), several stations will boost their power levels sometime after 6/12:


Station Channel ERP (kW)
virt real initial final
------- ---- ---- ------- -------
WYFF 4 36 1000 1000
WSPA 7 7 20 25.7
WLOS 13 13 29.8 50
WGGS 16 16 175 175
WHNS 21 21 160 160
WNTV 29 9 65 102
WNEG 32 24 240 240
WUNF 33 25 185 125
WNEH 38 18 49 107
WMYA 40 14 310 1000
WRET 49 43 50 106
WYCW 62 45 1000 1000


WYFF will raise its ch 36 antenna from 522 to 596 m so that will have the effect of a slight power boost. I've seen their announcements about temporary reduced coverage recently.

WUNF is actually decreasing its power, by changing the directionality of its antenna pattern so as to decrease the signal sent southward.

I can't believe the digital transition is finally here, I kept expecting someone to come up with another excuse to delay it. :)

We'll see how many of these and/or others not on the above list get added. We can dream, right?. Yes, I know that D* and DISH offers most, if not all, of these already (please don't pop another kid's balloon, again).
There are some there that were on the list of additions I got, but there are also a couple that you didn't mention. I'm going to check with our marketing department this week and find out when I can give you guys the full list.

I can't believe the digital transition is finally here, I kept expecting someone to come up with another excuse to delay it. :)

+1

I'm going to check with our marketing department this week and find out when I can give you guys the full list.

Cool! Thanks!

Thanks for the information, jtbell! It's interesting that WSPA is going to go DTV-only with their normal programming on Wednesday (6/10) rather than 6/12. Also, I'll be curious as to how everything turns out this week across the country with OTA Digital.

WSPA's notice didn't mention WUNF (UNC-TV in Asheville), which notified the FCC in March that they would end normal analog programming between 6AM and 12PM on 6/12, followed by "nightlight" service until 6/26. They also didn't mention WGGS.

According to http://www.unctv.org/unctvdtv/cut_off.html, WUNF analog is supposed to shut down in the evening on 6/12, probably at 11:59 like its sister WUNE in Linville as has been announced in Charlotte. I wonder if they're still going to "nightlight."

Also, I found an application in the FCC database from WGGS, for terminating analog service at or near 7:00 AM on 6/12, in the interest of consistency with other stations in the Greenville DMA. I can't tell whether the FCC approved it or not.

I have basic cable with HD's via QAM from Charter.

Before football season, I may sign up for the "bronze" Turbo HD package to get ESPN 1and2, etc in HD. With their HD DVR, only $35/mo after the $15/mo 6 mo teaser rate expires on the 2 year contract. I will probably wait until the VIP 922 with built in Sling is released this summer.

ANY OPINIONS OF DISH AND THIER 'TURBO' OFFERINGS?

I wonder if WYFF will move its digital channel before or after analog shutdown at 7 AM.

The plan is to bring up the channel 36 transmitter at 7:00am. At that time the analog transmitter will begin "nightlight" programming. There will be a slight overlap of 59 and 36 to ensure as seamless a transition as possible for satellite and cable companies as they change their receivers.

As has been mentioned, we are running the "reduced coverage" announcement which is required by the FCC since we will not be operating our "full post-transition facility" until we can replace the channel 4 antenna at the top of our tower with a channel 36 antenna. The ch 36 signal will be at the full authorized power, 1000Kw, but about 200 feet below maximum height. The side-mounted antenna is at the 600 foot level on our tower on Caesars Head which is about 3000 feet above sea level. The additional 200 feet in height (3800' vs 3600') will help with the signal in the deep fringe areas but 95% of the OTA viewers will never know the difference.

As for "nightlight" operation, the FCC "encourages" stations that are able to operate their analog transmitters after the transition to do so for 30 days. The folks at pay grades much higher than mine have decided that WYFF4 will be a nightlight station.

I can't believe the digital transition is finally here, I kept expecting someone to come up with another excuse to delay it. :)



In my opinion, it IS being partially delayed and there is an excuse: it's called "nightlight". (Can you tell I'm not a fan of this?)

The masses have had 4 extra months of "high pressure sodium - mercury vapor - halogen" nightlight. I'm surprised some special interest group has not gone door to door to visually inspect TVs to see if they're up to speed. Let's move along...we still have translators and LPTV to transition.

I have basic cable with HD's via QAM from Charter.

Before football season, I may sign up for the "bronze" Turbo HD package to get ESPN 1and2, etc in HD. With their HD DVR, only $35/mo after the $15/mo 6 mo teaser rate expires on the 2 year contract. I will probably wait until the VIP 922 with built in Sling is released this summer.

ANY OPINIONS OF DISH AND THIER 'TURBO' OFFERINGS?

I got the Ultra Turbo or whatever they call it version from Dish about a month ago. I like it, the DVRs seem to be pretty good and there is a reasonable selection of HD channels. I would like more and a little bit better picture quality but all in all, I am pretty pleased. My biggest hassles came from the install and my home owners association. I live in a townhouse and the way they wanted the install and the way the installer wanted the install did not match well. It took me a couple of tries but I eventually got everyone happy.

Harry

Okay, I can't give you guys the channel list yet, but the official date is now the first week of August. They'll also be doing the channel realignment at that time as well... hopefully this will eliminate having HD channels scattered around wherever they can put them. It may be another month or so before I can tell you guys what channels we're adding, but I'll post it as soon as I'm able to.

Wednesday 6/10, 5 AM: WSPA ends normal programming and starts to broadcast DTV information ("nightlight" service).

Looks like they actually did it at 7 AM. I set up my recorder to record their 5-7AM news on the analog channel, starting a few minutes early, and I got a complete show. No mention of DTV at all, as far as I can tell. But now instead of the CBS "Early Show" they're looping the same program from the NAB that WMYA ran during its nightlight in February.

They'll also be doing the channel realignment at that time as well... hopefully this will eliminate having HD channels scattered around wherever they can put them.CJ, the "scattered around" sounds like you are talking the QAM assignments; is there ANY chance that Charter will publicize the clear QAM channels?

I have basic cable with HD's via QAM from Charter.

Before football season, I may sign up for the "bronze" Turbo HD package to get ESPN 1and2, etc in HD. With their HD DVR, only $35/mo after the $15/mo 6 mo teaser rate expires on the 2 year contract. I will probably wait until the VIP 922 with built in Sling is released this summer.

ANY OPINIONS OF DISH AND THIER 'TURBO' OFFERINGS?

I love it. We signed up under the original AbsoluteHD package (all HD for $30/mo) when it first came out. Dish has since moved to the tiered TurbHD packages, but it is still the best bargain out there IMHO.

We didn't have cable or satellite prior to signing up for Dish. So we don't "miss" any channels that are not included in the TurboHD packages. We only had ATSC OTA and clear QAM (because we have cable internet). There is no way we would pay $75-100 per month for TV which is why we never subscribed prior to the AbsoluteHD package. We felt like it was worth $30 to get approx 40 HD channels.

I have the VIP211k STB hooked up to my SageTV software (www.sagetv.com) via a Hauppauge HD-PVR (http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html) so I also have a fully functional DVR without having to pay the extra $5 or $6 per month to Dish either. (I also have a HDHomeRun hooked up so I can record my clear QAM as well).

CJ, the "scattered around" sounds like you are talking the QAM assignments; is there ANY chance that Charter will publicize the clear QAM channels?

I don't know of any cable company that does this.

....... I would like more and a little bit better picture quality but all in all, I am pretty pleased.......
Harry

DISH HD not as good as Charter HD via QAM Harry?
How about OTA HD vs DISH HD in your opinion?

I have the VIP211k STB hooked up to my SageTV software (www.sagetv.com) via a Hauppauge HD-PVR (http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html) so I also have a fully functional DVR without having to pay the extra $5 or $6 per month to Dish either. (I also have a HDHomeRun hooked up so I can record my clear QAM as well).

Sweet sounding setup!

I use Media Center (with TV pack 2008). I use a Hauppauge 950q for my analog and QAM cable. I just bought another 950q.

Do you think I could get Dish Turbo HD and plug it into the new 950q and confirgure it in Media Center?

FYI: I stream to an xbox360 in the living room and a Linksys DMA2200 in the bedroom with great results currently. I just want more HD.

oh, never mind..... from the product FAQ:

Can I use the HD PVR with Microsoft's Windows Media Center application?

HD PVR captures video streams in a compressed H.264 format. Current versions of Media Center do not support this video compression format so currently, the HD PVR will not function within the Media Center application.

DISH HD not as good as Charter HD via QAM Harry?
How about OTA HD vs DISH HD in your opinion?

I have never had Charter HD so I can't compare. I was comparing to what I used to get in Florida with FIOS that was absolutely terrific PQ. Very easy to tell the difference with any other source and FIOS.

Harry

CJ, the "scattered around" sounds like you are talking the QAM assignments; is there ANY chance that Charter will publicize the clear QAM channels?
I was referring to the channels received through a HD box or DVR. HGTV, Food, TWC, TBS, Discovery, Animal Planet, TLC and Nat Geo are all scattered in the lower 700s with the premium networks right now. I'd love to see a DirecTV style setup where the HD channels are the same channel number as long as you have a HD box.

I'm not sure if they will ever publicize the QAM channels. I just recently saw the first mention of it that I can recall in a Digital Transition reference document primarily intended for call center employees. However it didn't make any mention of permanent channel assignments or making the listings public in an "official" capacity.

Okay, I can't give you guys the channel list yet, but the official date is now the first week of August. They'll also be doing the channel realignment at that time as well... hopefully this will eliminate having HD channels scattered around wherever they can put them. It may be another month or so before I can tell you guys what channels we're adding, but I'll post it as soon as I'm able to.Thanks for the info and for pledging to keep us informed. Looking forward to some more HD and possibly some better organization.
Right now I have my harmony pre-programmed to hit menu, enter, enter to bring up the list of HD channels and then browse those so I'm getting by.

I'm not sure if they will ever publicize the QAM channels. I just recently saw the first mention of it that I can recall in a Digital Transition reference document primarily intended for call center employees. However it didn't make any mention of permanent channel assignments or making the listings public in an "official" capacity.As rrainwater said, it doesn't appear that any do, but we can dream.

Thanks! Facts are good news, even if we wish they were different.

Okay, I can't give you guys the channel list yet, but the official date is now the first week of August. They'll also be doing the channel realignment at that time as well... hopefully this will eliminate having HD channels scattered around wherever they can put them. It may be another month or so before I can tell you guys what channels we're adding, but I'll post it as soon as I'm able to.

I just hope it isn't the "or so" when you'd be able to tell us (like after it has occurred). That would be past "the first week of August". I'd assume that we'd get a mailer from Charter to alert its customers to the change, so we might find out before you're able to tell us? :eek:

WSPA's analog OTA signal dropped out of nightlight mode and back to regular programming sometime between about 12:15 and 6:30. Now it's showing the regular CBS evening lineup. Maybe they're doing nightlight mode only in the morning and afternoon?

It look like WSPA Analog signal is back in the Nighlight mode they might be using this mode to help people to get Prepare for the Switch Friday Morning.

Yeah, they've been going in and out of nightlight mode. They were back to normal programming this afternoon.

Only about fourteen hours to go now...

Well guys, it's been fun, but due to company policies, I won't be posting with this account anymore. Our online communications team now has an official presence on here and if you have any issues or questions you can contact them. The represnetative for AVS is George and he posts under the name Umatter2Charter (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/member.php?u=8101092). You can also reach the team by e-mail at umatter2charter_avs@chartercom.com. I'll still be around, I'll just be using my old account now. I'm glad I was able to help some people during this time and hopefully George and the rest of the team will be able to help you with any issues in the future. :)

I hate to see your updates leave the group Charterjosh. I wondered how long it would take before the company put a stop to the posts. I don't think the company I work for would be happy with updates posted from me... So I try to make any comments constructive but unrelated to the service we provide.

From Toccoa.....The signals for both WLOS & WSPA moved from the mid 70s to the upper 90s after the switch. WYFF remained the same at 100. No signal on 21.1

I went in to work late just to experience terrestial history!! I noticed that after I re-scanned that WYFF has incomplete PSIP data and is showing as channel 70-01 and 70-02. When I queried their RF channel, this is indeed coming from RF 36. RF 59 is still on but is black and says "no signal". Looks like WSPA and WHNS totally abandoned their old RF channels and are back at RF 7 and 21. When is WLOS going to revert to RF 13? They were still at 56 when I left the house at 7:15. As far as new channels, I'm getting WGGS with a very good digital signal for the first time. Except for the nightlight channels, it seems odd to now see all that snow when I flip through my analog channels -- and there will be more snow late tonight when the UNC-TV stations flip.

Eric

It's not WYFF's fault, you need to do a full rescan on your box. The DTVPal assigns duplicate channels to 70-1, 70-2, etc.

- Trip

Greenville's "big switch" took place at 7AM today, with five stations shutting down their analog signals: WYFF-4, WSPA-7, WLOS-13, WGGS-16 and WHNS-21. All of them also had to switch their digital signals to new channels.

WSPA and WHNS completed the transition very quickly, within a few minutes. WYFF had its new digital signal up quickly on ch 36, but left the old one running on ch 59 for at least another hour. The first time I re-scanned my Zenith converter box I got two sets of subchannels: 4-1, 4-1, 4-2, 4-2. WLOS didn't change digital channels until about 7:45. I didn't get around to checking WGGS for a while, maybe about 7:30, but they were finished by then.

All the new signals are coming in nicely here. This may not be an accurate long-term indicator because everything seems to be coming in very well this morning. When I did the re-scan I was surprised to find 39-1 and 39-2 for WEMT in Johnson City. This is the first time I've ever seen a station from the other side of the mountains!

I also recorded the coverage on WSPA and WLOS, but I haven't had a chance to review it yet.

I watched and recorded WYFF's coverage on their analog channel. At the end of the 5-7AM news show they cut away to the control room (hi Doug!) and then to the transmitter site where they showed an engineer poking around behind a panel and looking at his watch. Right on cue, the signal went to snow. I tuned away to check the other channels, and when I came back the nightlight loop was running.

7:45 tonight?

- Trip

No, WLOS changed its digltal channel around 7:45 this morning, finally. (I started my other post about 45 minutes ago, then got interrupted by a long phone call which let everyone else slip in before me. :p)

Here's the status of my after/before transition Signal Strength as of about 8:30 this morning...

WYFF - Stronger signal: 98 vs. 95
WSPA - Stronger signal: 95 vs. 93
WLOS - Weaker Signal: 85 vs. 91
WYCW - No change
WUNF - No change
WHNS - Yesterday, I was getting this station fine, 85% on Signal Strength and a solid 100% on Symbol Quality. This morning around 7:05 I had 75% Signal Strength and 100% Symbol Quality. This lasted until about 7:25 when the Symbol Quality started bouncing all over the place. I hope this is a temporary glitch that will be fixed soon.

What channel number did WBTV in Charlotte end up with? They are coming in the 90s, may not last, but I have never received them before...
4 is gone, must be adjustment time...

WBTV is on 22. You must be lucky like I was with WEMT. Signals have been coming in really strongly this morning.

I just took another look. Now I have WXII in Winston-Salem... (12-1 and 12-2 on RF 31)

Could be band conditions but it could also be that you were getting adjacent channel interference from an analog station and never knew it. That analog station could now be gone and the interference from it is now gone. When digital first came on, you could pick up weak digital stations that later when more stations came on the air, you couldn't pick up the original digitals even after they went to full power because of the adjacent channel interference. It has been postulated that stations that you couldn't pick up before you will now because half of the stations on the dial will be gone by midnight taking their interference with them.

It's not WYFF's fault, you need to do a full rescan on your box. The DTVPal assigns duplicate channels to 70-1, 70-2, etc.

- Trip

I did a full scan. I didn't do the "add channel" scan; I did the "start from sratch" scan (where the Pal's screen says this will wipe out your current channels) so that my box wouldn't hold the the newly-abandoned UHF channels higher than 50 or 51.

Maybe the 59 is still on the air? That would do it.

- Trip

Did rescan and locked onto total of 61 channels(including subs), farthest one being WFMY-DT in Greensboro at about 70-80% SS, got all of GSP market, Charlotte, WIS-DT and WOLO-DT from Columbia plus the Greensboro station. All in all a good selection.

What channel number did WBTV in Charlotte end up with? They are coming in the 90s, may not last, but I have never received them before...
4 is gone, must be adjustment time...

I did a rescan, and both 4 and 21 look good, could have been my receiver.
All signals improved at my location, with a big jump for 7 & 13.
Good Deal.....

From 7:00 to about 8:00, both 36 and 59 were carrying WYFF's digital signal.

Well guys, it's been fun, but due to company policies, I won't be posting with this account anymore. Our online communications team now has an official presence on here and if you have any issues or questions you can contact them. The represnetative for AVS is George and he posts under the name Umatter2Charter (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/member.php?u=8101092). You can also reach the team by e-mail at umatter2charter_avs@chartercom.com. I'll still be around, I'll just be using my old account now. I'm glad I was able to help some people during this time and hopefully George and the rest of the team will be able to help you with any issues in the future. http://www.*****************/trafficreport/img/3721/k08t1221bbuq/gdsmile.gif

Thanks for this information josh.

Well guys, it's been fun, but due to company policies, I won't be posting with this account anymore. Our online communications team now has an official presence on here and if you have any issues or questions you can contact them. The represnetative for AVS is George and he posts under the name Umatter2Charter (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/member.php?u=8101092). You can also reach the team by e-mail at umatter2charter_avs@chartercom.com. I'll still be around, I'll just be using my old account now. I'm glad I was able to help some people during this time and hopefully George and the rest of the team will be able to help you with any issues in the future. :)

Thanks for the 411 and for your help over the past months. I'm glad that Umatter2Charter (also known as this on Twitter) and the rest of the Charter gang are utilizing the web to satisfy its customers, but it's bittersweet that you won't be helping us, as well. Best of luck! Don't think that you can't post on here on stuff other than Charter, though! It isn't a complete gag order, right? ;)

I'm glad that the sky didn't fall as a result of the DTV Transition. It sounds like that our area actually greatly benefited (at least from the previous posts here). Has any of the mountain folks in WNC or near the NC/SC Border tried to see what their reception looks like?

I noticed that WSPA is now airing all of CBS' programming without flipping back to SD (saw it when I was flipping through during the 3 p.m. hour); no blue sidebars except during local commercials and local programming.

I'm actually glad that we won't see anymore commercials about the DTV Transition (thought this day would never come and go).

Can anybody get WSPA OTA Digital Channel 7.1 i did get 7 on channel 53 and after the switch and after my rescan i lost 7. but i gain WGGS DT 16 i can couldn`t get WGGS DT 16 during the Pre Digital. i can get WSPA on WYCW DT 62.2 channel by using Philips MANT-410 Amplified Indoor Antenna


have anybody tryed the monoprice HDTV Indoor / Outdoor Antenna from monoprice dot com

Can anybody get WSPA OTA Digital Channel 7.1 i did get 7 on channel 53 and after the switch and after my rescan i lost 7. but i gain WGGS DT 16 i can couldn`t get WGGS DT 16 during the Pre Digital. i can get WSPA on WYCW DT 62.2 channel by using Philips MANT-410 Amplified Indoor Antenna


have anybody tryed the monoprice HDTV Indoor / Outdoor Antenna from monoprice dot com

Make sure you are doing a "clean" scan, where it deletes your channel list and then re-populates it -- don't do an "add channel" scan. I live in Morganton NC and while I can get WSPA on channel 7, the signal is several ticks lower than when it was on channel 53. The channel 7 antenna is likely in a different location on the tower versus the channel 53 one.

Now, can someone help me or verify my thought. Until this morning, I was receiving a decent reliable WHNS signal on channel 57. But now that it's back on channel 21, I get nothing -- 0% signal. Could I be getting adjacent channel interference from WCNC Charlotte? WCNC is on channel 22. I get a very good signal from WCNC, in fact it seems to be a little better today than it ever has been.

Make sure you are doing a "clean" scan, where it deletes your channel list and then re-populates it -- don't do an "add channel" scan. I live in Morganton NC and while I can get WSPA on channel 7, the signal is several ticks lower than when it was on channel 53. The channel 7 antenna is likely in a different location on the tower versus the channel 53 one.

Now, can someone help me or verify my thought. Until this morning, I was receiving a decent reliable WHNS signal on channel 57. But now that it's back on channel 21, I get nothing -- 0% signal. Could I be getting adjacent channel interference from WCNC Charlotte? WCNC is on channel 22. I get a very good signal from WCNC, in fact it seems to be a little better today than it ever has been.


I was also was having problem with WHNS signal when they switch back to 21 i kept moving my rabbit ears around and kept doing rescans then i pickup 21 signal again before the switch i was getting a good signal from WHNS and you might be right about the Channel 7 antenna it might not be available to everybody untill they get their new tower rebuilt.

[QUOTE=eacalhoun;
Now, can someone help me or verify my thought. Until this morning, I was receiving a decent reliable WHNS signal on channel 57. But now that it's back on channel 21, I get nothing -- 0% signal. Could I be getting adjacent channel interference from WCNC Charlotte? WCNC is on channel 22. I get a very good signal from WCNC, in fact it seems to be a little better today than it ever has been.[/QUOTE]

I had to scan several times before I could get 21.1 into my receiver. Signal strength is slightly higher. I have a uhf and a high vhf with amp and got improvement today across all channels.. However a friend with uhf only, lost channel 7... and 13 is iffy. Guess they will sell several high vhf antennas for winegard. Good luck.

Can anybody get WSPA OTA Digital Channel 7.1 i did get 7 on channel 53 and after the switch and after my rescan i lost 7. but i gain WGGS DT 16 i can couldn`t get WGGS DT 16 during the Pre Digital. i can get WSPA on WYCW DT 62.2 channel by using Philips MANT-410 Amplified Indoor Antenna

Compact indoor antennas aren't very good for VHF, in general. Low frequency means long wavelength, which in turn means you need long antenna elements for good reception. Try a pair of plain old rabbit ears, or one of those long floppy T-shaped twinlead antennas that are intended for FM radio.

I too an having a lot of trouble with WHNS (21). Before the switch, I received their signal with no problems. Now I have lots of drop-outs. Did they do anything other than change their RF?

I too an having a lot of trouble with WHNS (21). Before the switch, I received their signal with no problems. Now I have lots of drop-outs. Did they do anything other than change their RF?


I also get drop-outs with WHNS Signal also. i notice this morning on WGGS DT 16-3 the picture and sound was out of sync.

WHNS for me has a very constant signal strength but the signal quality fluxes back and forth from 100% to 0% which I think is some problem on their end that they are unaware of. Is there anyone that can actually watch WHNS post-transition and not see skips?

As far as I can tell from the FCC database, WHNS was running at 500 kW on channel 57 (until yesterday). Now they're at only 160 kW on ch 21, but they have an application pending to increase power to 400 kW.

The service contours seem to be almost identical for 400 kW on ch 21 versus 500 kW on ch 57. Lower frequencies don't need as much power.

For years I have had perfect digital reception in area where many analog signals had too many ghosts or too much noise for viewing. I quickly narrowed down equipment to a 4-bay CM antenna coupled with modified vhf high band antenna (into a 5 element Channel 9 Yagi.) The two antennas with a CM uhf/VHF amplifier received all Asheville-Greenville stations and the SCETV station from Rock Hill some 90 miles away. A single orientation of the antenna received all stations except Rock Hill, which required a slight rotation. Today after several scans I have lost many stations including WLOS and WSPA. I expected to lose WLOS in its switch from UHF to VHF, but was not prepared to lose WSPA which is relatively near and line of sight from the Xmitter to my antenna. (I receive Greeenville's Channel 9 ETV. It is too bad that new signals and frequences were not available for several weeks for testing prior to the one-day switch. At least that would have given me a better chance to recover from the changes. Now, I have lost much of my logic and problem solving capibility to a recent stroke. Now I have to rely only on DTV for many of my signal sources and that does not make me very happy.
I have enjoyed years of participating in this forum and hope to continue for a long time. So if my response is off topic or lacks logic, blame it on my stroke.
Thanks for the many problem solving suggestions over the years.

So your VHF high-band antenna has been modified so it works only for ch 9? For what it's worth, the Winegard 10-element high-band YA-1713 seems to work well for me, so far, with WSPA (53 miles) and WLOS (82 miles). WNTV on ch 9 (44 miles) has a poorer quality (albeit adequate) signal here, even though it no longer has co-channel interference from analog WSOC in Charlotte. For me, WRET in Spartanburg is a better source for SCETV.

Now that WLTX in Columbia has shut down its analog signal on ch 19, I can get a snowy but recognizable signal from W19CR in Tryon, one of WUNF's translators. It's showing the same "nightlight" programming as WUNF which isn't surprising. But it makes me wonder what's going happen to it (and WUNF's other translators) when the nightlight period ends. I expect it will be converted to digital eventually because UNC-TV has construction permits for digital translators; the question is the time frame. If they don't have a digital translator ready to go in a month, they'll have to equip it to convert WUNF's digital signal, or else let it go dark. The current state of the economy surely doesn't help.

Unfortunately I still don't have decent reception of WUNF's digital signal on ch 25 because WOLO is the analog nightlight station for Columbia, producing co-channel interference for another two weeks.

For years I have had perfect digital reception in area where many analog signals had too many ghosts or too much noise for viewing. I quickly narrowed down equipment to a 4-bay CM antenna coupled with modified vhf high band antenna (into a 5 element Channel 9 Yagi.) The two antennas with a CM uhf/VHF amplifier received all Asheville-Greenville stations and the SCETV station from Rock Hill some 90 miles away. A single orientation of the antenna received all stations except Rock Hill, which required a slight rotation. Today after several scans I have lost many stations including WLOS and WSPA. I expected to lose WLOS in its switch from UHF to VHF, but was not prepared to lose WSPA which is relatively near and line of sight from the Xmitter to my antenna. (I receive Greeenville's Channel 9 ETV. It is too bad that new signals and frequences were not available for several weeks for testing prior to the one-day switch. At least that would have given me a better chance to recover from the changes. Now, I have lost much of my logic and problem solving capibility to a recent stroke. Now I have to rely only on DTV for many of my signal sources and that does not make me very happy.
I have enjoyed years of participating in this forum and hope to continue for a long time. So if my response is off topic or lacks logic, blame it on my stroke.
Thanks for the many problem solving suggestions over the years.

God bless you, Mr. Birdwell. If you're still in a healing process, I pray for you the very best! Your post sounded just fine and I hope you are here on these forums for a long time, too.

I sent an email to the WHNS engineer about by signal plight and my thinking it was due to adjacent channel WCNC in Charlotte. I am sure he has received many emails and calls, but he seem to have disregarded the part of my email where I stated that I had previously received WHNS just fine on channel 57. Anyway, I guess it is very likely that the channel 57 and channel 21 antenna are in different locations on the tower. That may be the issue -- and given the other posts here I'm kinda glad I'm not alone. Back when WSPA's tower fell in early spring/late winter, once they got their DT antenna back up -- which was not mounted as high as before the collapse -- I actually got a much better signal. All of these TV signals are "magic", and with the re-positioning of broadcast antennas, and the massive change to the RF landscape yesterday it's no wonder we're experiencing a variety of gains and losses. WHNS has been my only loss; all of my other channels saw some signal improvement and I even gained one -- WGGS -- I like their "retro" channel.

Eric

As far as I can tell from the FCC database, WHNS was running at 500 kW on channel 57 (until yesterday). Now they're at only 160 kW on ch 21, but they have an application pending to increase power to 400 kW.

The service contours seem to be almost identical for 400 kW on ch 21 versus 500 kW on ch 57. Lower frequencies don't need as much power.

That would explain a lot in addition to providing some hope for future improvements. Seems like they would have made some announcments (similar to what WYFF has been doing) about temporary reduced coverage.

Charter appears to be running a free movie channels promotion this weekend. For those with the very basic tier,
look from 79-1 to 81-44.

OH NO, I just got home from a business trip and rescanned (in Greenwood).

I lost EVERY digital channel (4, 7, 13, 40 and 62) and still get 38. All virtual channel numbers.

I hope that an early morning rescan tomorrow will get them back?????

OH NO, I just got home from a business trip and rescanned (in Greenwood).

I lost EVERY digital channel (4, 7, 13, 40 and 62) and still get 38. All virtual channel numbers.

I hope that an early morning rescan tomorrow will get them back?????

Is this a media center PC? I had this in my VMC. I read and followed the instruction from the following post and repaired mine.

http://thegreenbutton.com/blogs/pnear/archive/2006/09/12/202708.aspx

I'm having a really hard time believing just WHAT A MESS all the major TV stations in the area (and by extension, I can only imagine, throughout the country) have left their antenna-only viewers in as of June 12.

I felt CERTAIN everyone who had done "due-dilligence" by getting a converter box for older TVs and/or newer, better DTV antennas (which it appears everyone on this forum has done, and THEN SOME in most cases)... But most of the stations switched channels and wattages at the last minute, and it was like changing the rules in the middle of the game.

I REALLY don't get it! After all this time of "trying to prepare the public," the "preparation" really meant NOTHING because the stations, themselves, started out many of the pure DTV transmissions with greatly reduced power at different frequencies.

This is just RIDICULOUS!

I sure am glad I'm not antenna-dependent. I'd be EXASPERATED! I really feel for those of you who are!
Jeff

Is this a media center PC? I had this in my VMC. I read and followed the instruction from the following post and repaired mine.

http://thegreenbutton.com/blogs/pnear/archive/2006/09/12/202708.aspx

Nope, just a TV with an antenna.

I did rescan early this morning and got back some of the channels and gained a lot of channels from Charlotte and Augusta...go figure.

I still cannot pick up 7 or 13 or 62 from Greenville/Asheville. I will rescan when I get up for work in the morning, as I generally watch channel 13 in the morning. Not that they are the most accurate or give a better forcast, but I like the view!

Reception has varied wildly the last few days, because of the unsettled weather. I've seen some drops on the Greenville stations (not enough to lose them completely), and freakishly good reception from Charlotte. I even saw some stations from the Greensboro / Winston-Salem area last night.

I'm having a really hard time believing just WHAT A MESS all the major TV stations in the area (and by extension, I can only imagine, throughout the country) have left their antenna-only viewers in as of June 12.

I felt CERTAIN everyone who had done "due-dilligence" by getting a converter box for older TVs and/or newer, better DTV antennas (which it appears everyone on this forum has done, and THEN SOME in most cases)... But most of the stations switched channels and wattages at the last minute, and it was like changing the rules in the middle of the game.

I REALLY don't get it! After all this time of "trying to prepare the public," the "preparation" really meant NOTHING because the stations, themselves, started out many of the pure DTV transmissions with greatly reduced power at different frequencies.

This is just RIDICULOUS!

I sure am glad I'm not antenna-dependent. I'd be EXASPERATED! I really feel for those of you who are!
Jeff

Okay, how would you have done it? It's easy to sit back and Monday morning quarterback the transition to digital television. It's another thing to actually be out there doing it.

FYI, WYFF switched to channel 36 from 59 Friday morning. Ch 59 was at 1000Kw and ch 36 is 1000Kw. No drop in power only a 125 foot drop in antenna height which will be corrected by early August. WSPA, WLOS and WHNS whose pre-transition channels were 53, 56, and 57 were required to move since any channel above 51 had to be returned to the FCC for other communications purposes. So they went back to their analog channels for DTV. Not many other options and no way to test those channels for digital while they're being used for analog. I'm not sure what's going on with WLOS. Evidently they are having some technical difficulties, but the power levels of the new signals were calculated to replicate previous analog coverage as closely as possible. Is it perfect? Of course not, but how else do you do it? Channel 4 was determined to not be suitable for DTV due to noise and interference problems. That's why we didn't return to it for digital.

The biggest problem WYFF has is in the mountains. Channel 4, at 70Mhz, would bend around mountains, but the 600Mhz of channel 36 does not. So we are losing some viewers due to the channel change. Unfortunately we are bound by the laws of physics and limited channel options. The results from the south and east have been good. There are a few who have problems due to the slightly lower antenna height, but most report as good or better reception than before. I know for a fact that WYFF (ch 36) is being received in Rock Hill which is 90 miles from the transmitter.

As is common with change, there are some improvements, there are some drawbacks and there is a learning curve.

Doug

Thanks for the clarifications, NOTdumbTVguy.

One thing that bothers me a little (as I was really HOPING we wouldn't have to continue to look at screen scrolls about the DTV transition even AFTER June 12) is that we STILL ARE on some channels.

As for WLOS, they're running a periodic screen scroll saying that they don't have full power, yet, for their DTV transmitter, and they "apologize" for that... that it'll likely be AUGUST before they get it up to full power! Ahem, just HOW LONG did they have to make preparations?!? If WLOS was just one little struggling independent station it would be one thing, but it's part of a conglomerate (as are WYFF and WSPA), so I really see NO EXCUSE for that.

In the case of WYFF, the explanation you just gave for why some folks just can't get WYFF via antenna any more makes perfect sense. It's sad for those folks, but I agree, you just can't change the laws of physics. DTV, overall, is a better thing for television, but it IS going to cause headache and heartache for some folks no matter what they do, I guess. I wasn't aware until JUST NOW that the transition would mean LOST SIGNAL, PERIOD, for some folks due to things like different frequency signals refusing to bend and reflect around mountains at different frequencies. I'm betting those folks weren't, either.
Jeff

Thanks for the clarifications, NOTdumbTVguy.

One thing that bothers me a little (as I was really HOPING we wouldn't have to continue to look at screen scrolls about the DTV transition even AFTER June 12) is that we STILL ARE on some channels.

As for WLOS, they're running a periodic screen scroll saying that they don't have full power, yet, for their DTV transmitter, and they "apologize" for that... that it'll likely be AUGUST before they get it up to full power! Ahem, just HOW LONG did they have to make preparations?!? If WLOS was just one little struggling independent station it would be one thing, but it's part of a conglomerate (as are WYFF and WSPA), so I really see NO EXCUSE for that.

In the case of WYFF, the explanation you just gave for why some folks just can't get WYFF via antenna any more makes perfect sense. It's sad for those folks, but I agree, you just can't change the laws of physics. DTV, overall, is a better thing for television, but it IS going to cause headache and heartache for some folks no matter what they do, I guess. I wasn't aware until JUST NOW that the transition would mean LOST SIGNAL, PERIOD, for some folks due to things like different frequency signals refusing to bend and reflect around mountains at different frequencies. I'm betting those folks weren't, either.
Jeff

The situation with WLOS is a little puzzling but I doubt it's due to lack of preparation. It's more likely something unforeseen or equipment failure. I've taken a lot of heat for the lower antenna announcement and been accused of lack of preparation. The fact of the matter is that the top of the tower has a channel 4 antenna that I can't replace until the analog signal is turned off. And since we are a nightlight station, it won't be turned off for another 28 days. Nightlight operation was requested by the FCC and the continuing crawls and message are an FCC requirement. We have no choice. (Believe me, we wish we had a choice and if we did it would please you.)

We have for many weeks run (and will continue to run) "service loss" crawls notifying viewers in specific locations and counties of our situation with the channel change and the difficulties in the mountains. If anyone paid attention to them it wouldn't be a surprise. I can't help it if they don't read the information.

Doug

OK, blame it on the FCC, Douglas... Trust me, if there's anyone I despise more than big corporate America it's the FCC, lol (I'm serious).

So since the FCC is requiring these INANE ongoing screen crawls (which likely AREN'T being read by ANYONE they're being aimed at, since the people they're being addressed to are ALREADY without signal, DUH)! I'll just continue to do like I've been doing and quietly put up with them. Perhaps some day I'll be in a position of some influence over some of these former FCC commissioners and have a chance to, I don't know, stake them to fire ant hills??? :mad::eek::D

So since the FCC is requiring these INANE ongoing screen crawls (which likely AREN'T being read by ANYONE they're being aimed at, since the people they're being addressed to are ALREADY without signal, DUH)!

The crawls ran on the analog signal (all signals actually) for weeks before the switch. So the information was provided to those who were affected. All they had to do was read it.:eek: Shouldn't have been a surprise. We have articles about it on our web site too.

It does seem pointless now to run them, but we are required to do so until we get the new antenna installed.