Greenville, SC - HDTV [Text View] - Page 31

Jediphish

02-22-10, 09:13 AM

Hello. I moved from Birmingham AL to Greenville last May. About to move out of the apartment I've been in downtown to a house and will put my antenna back into action. Can anyone give me an update on the status of local terrestrial broadcasts. Searching antennaweb.org shows me the signals and I'm surprised that following transition last year, several of the stations are still using alternative digital frequencies with re-mapping to their "named" frequency. I thought this was to end once the analog broadcasts were terminated?

Also, I've seen the scroll that ABC out of Asheville is still working on their antenna? Any idea when it will be done? Is this why ABC shows up as a sub-channel on the other station (can't remember if its MyNTV or CW).

Anyway, I love Greenville. You might see me post on this thread more often in the future.

Jediphish

02-22-10, 12:57 PM

More specific question - anyone who has AT&T U-Verse triple play (TV, phone, internet), can you tell me what the miscellaneous fees/taxes charged on your bill are?

jtbell

02-22-10, 05:15 PM

I'm surprised that following transition last year, several of the stations are still using alternative digital frequencies with re-mapping to their "named" frequency. I thought this was to end once the analog broadcasts were terminated?

No. I don't think you'll find a single city in the country where all stations have matching virtual and physical channel numbers. Stations that now have the same virtual and physical channel numbers usually had some specific reason for moving their digital signals back to their old analog channels last June. 7, 13 and 21 had their interim digital signals on 53, 56 and 57 which had to be vacated so wireless companies could take them over. (4 was using 59 for digital, but they didn't want to go back to 4 because low VHF channels are terrible for digital, so they ended up with 36.) In addition, 7 and 13 probably figured they'd save money by using VHF instead of UHF because of the lower power requirements, which in retrospect was probably a mistake because of the reception problems stations have been having all over with VHF digital channels. I don't know why 16 moved its digital signal from 35 back to 16. The other stations kept the same digital channels as before so as not to spend time, money and effort reconfiguring things.

LMckin

02-23-10, 08:21 PM

Is anybody else having any Picture problems with 62.2 with the picture looking like it been squeeze.

eacalhoun

02-23-10, 09:36 PM

Is anybody else having any Picture problems with 62.2 with the picture looking like it been squeeze.

Ditto, here. I tried to change it, but it won't.

Eric

LMckin

02-24-10, 03:03 PM

Ditto, here. I tried to change it, but it won't.

Eric

Thanks Eric,
I can`t change it either.

I just check it again just few mins ago and i was able to change it now as they put it back to the 16.9 size.

easymacfu

02-25-10, 09:48 AM

Sorry if this has been asked, I've searched the thread, but I did not see if mentioned.

Living in Simpsonville, every antenna I've tried (that my wife will let me buy and build) just can't pull in WLOS on 13.1. However, I can get it on 40.2. I only noticed it this morning, so I haven't had time to mess with it on my HTPC.

My question is, is WLOS on 40.2 in HD? The program guide in media center is telling me it is, but when I was watching GMA this morning, it looked to be in standard def. WMYA in 40.1 also looked to be in SD.

I compared WLOS 40.2 to the QAM TV in the room, and it was in HD on 77.1, but not on the OTA tuner.

I ask because I'm getting ready to use my HTPC to record OTA channels, and I want to know if I'm going to get ABC shows in HD (my wife will be pissed if there's no Grey's in HD). Previously, I've just been using ********** instead of messing with antennas, but I'm burning through a lot of bandwidth.

Also, can anyone in Simpsonville get FOX? I think its 21.1. I just can't seem to get it in no matter where I put an antenna. I'm also having trouble with WSPA (7.1 I think), but thankfully the CW comes in clear in the 60s on shows it on a subchannel in HD.

Channels (and sub-channels) that work for me:
4 - WYFF
16 - WGGS
29 - WNTV
33- WUNF
40 - WMYA/WLOS
62 - WYCW/WSPA

Don't work
7 - WSPA
13 - WLOS
21 - WHNS
38 - WNEH
49 - WRET

Trip in VA

02-25-10, 09:56 AM

Neither 40-2 nor 62-2 are in HD.

- Trip

Apps1

02-25-10, 10:00 AM

Jediphish

02-25-10, 10:03 AM

th8ter

02-25-10, 10:14 AM

Currently WLOS 13 does not have up their permanent DTV antenna and the reception levels are much lower than they should be.

easymacfu

02-25-10, 11:03 AM

rrainwater

02-25-10, 12:27 PM

ravichander

02-25-10, 03:27 PM

easymacfu

02-25-10, 03:54 PM

The MANT940 is a UHF antenna. WLOS and WSPA are both VHF afaik. You either need an antenna with both or 2 antennas w/ the signals combined.

I could definitely get WSPA, and there was one spot where it came in relatively block-free, but I lost WYFF. I did not know they were VHF, I could have sworn I saw it different on antennaweb.

Does anyone know if the sub-channels for WMYA and WYCW intend to offer their channels in HD?

Is your antenna outside the house?. I had one in the attic / 2nd floor and the picture quality was not good. I moved outside to the back porch and it is now just 15 feet or so above the ground and I can get all channels except UNC 33. Even with splitting the signals and not using preamp.

I use a cheap Antennacraft combo antenna and want to upgrade to Winegard but the model I want will not work since the rear elements will hit the house.

I am on Pelham Road in Greenville near I-85

The antenna is indoor. Its right at the front window in the office on the second floor, facing towards the signals. I'm thinking of putting it outside, but I may get murdered if I do.

I all else fails, I can wrap a long cable along the floorboards for QAM channels and get some covers.

jtbell

02-25-10, 04:05 PM

I could definitely get WSPA, and there was one spot where it came in relatively block-free, but I lost WYFF. I did not know they were VHF, I could have sworn I saw it different on antennaweb.

WSPA and WLOS are both VHF (channels 7 and 13 respectively). WYFF is UHF (channel 36) even though it shows up as 4.1 and 4.2 on an OTA tuner.

I don't know if you care about PBS, but the Greenville PBS station WNTV is also VHF (channel 9) even though it shows up as 29.1, 29.2 and 29.3.

Does anyone know if the sub-channels for WMYA and WYCW intend to offer their channels in HD?

I strongly hope they are not thinking of such a thing. A full channel contains only enough bandwidth for a decent picture on one HD subchannel plus at most two SD subchannels. Two HD subchannels would make for a very poor picture on both of them.

ckeegan

02-25-10, 10:45 PM

mjb2002

02-26-10, 12:47 AM

Actually, WLOS on 40.2 and WSPA on 62.2 are standard definition most of the time. They are only in HD when there is programming from the national feed in New York City.

And this PSIP thing sucks big time. I think that the channels should ID using their current channel numbers.

mjb2002

02-26-10, 01:05 AM

So WSPA is not in HD on the subchannel. Rats. I honestly couldn't tell on my computer, but I also didn't have it full screen at the time.

The antenna that I'm using that currently has the best reception is MANT940. There's no large buildings near my house (actually an open field for a few hundred feet in front), and my house faces almost all of the signals. Not sure why I can't pick up WSPA or WHNS.

I'd do QAM, but my wife would get pissed with the cables running all over the floor.

Also, I'm pretty sure the antenna won't pick up WLOS anyway, but I could be wrong.

I have a sister antenna of the Philips MANT940 called the SDV2940/27. I am able to pick up WRDW News 12 -- a VHF station -- with no trouble with an antenna that is supposedly designed for UHF-only when I point it towards North Augusta.

As for Fox Carolina, I don't know why the MANT940 isn't picking it up. WHNS is a UHF channel. WLOS, however, is on VHF although on the extreme high end of it (13). It may or mayn't pick WLOS's main signal up.

The best chance to get WLOS (and WSPA) is to get an antenna that is capable of picking up physical channels 2 to 13. One example is the SDV4401 created by the same company (Philips). Another, less expensive antenna for VHF is the Winegard HD-5030 (http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.asp?mc=03&p=HD-5030&d=Winegard-HD-5030-Prostar-1000-VHFFM-TV-Antenna-(HD5030)&c=TV%20Antennas&sku=615798398156).

WCES in my area is low VHF, and there are not many outdoor antennas left that is solely for that band -- and none of the local RadioShacks in my area sell the Antennacraft Y5-2-6.

rrainwater

02-26-10, 10:34 AM

Actually, WLOS on 40.2 and WSPA on 62.2 are standard definition most of the time. They are only in HD when there is programming from the national feed in New York City.

I don't think that is true. They may be showing content in widescreen SD, but it is doubtful they are showing in HD. Otherwise, it would look terrible because they don't allocate enough bandwidth to show HD content on those subchannels.

gbynum

02-26-10, 03:15 PM

And this PSIP thing sucks big time. I think that the channels should ID using their current channel numbers.There was an authoritative comment on this a month or so back, mine is just a commonly defective memory. I believe the FCC, at the request of broadcasters 10 years or so back, required the technique in use. We've several station employees here who will probably give the straight info clearly.

douglasd5

02-27-10, 10:16 PM

And this PSIP thing sucks big time. I think that the channels should ID using their current channel numbers.

If you remember back to the days when we had both analog and digital signals and tuners received both, the decision was made by the FCC to associate the digital signal with the analog (major channel) number. So if you were channel 4, your digital channel was 4.1 regardless of what actual RF channel it was on. This was deemed to be the easiest way for consumers to find the digital companion to the analog signal. Most everyone understood the digital signal wasn't the same RF channel as the analog signal and the digital channel number was virtual.

So the decision to use the analog number for the digital major channel number made sense in the early days. Now that we are in a post-transition world, it doesn't make as much sense but it does provide some level of consistancy and allows stations to maintain the brand they've spent 50+ years developing. Is it confusing for some off-air viewers? No doubt it is. But off-air viewing is about 12-15% in this market so the majority of viewers are unaffected. In the case of WYFF, how confusing would it be to promote channel 4, then channel 59, then channel 36? Unfortunately, we deal with legacy issues every day and can't just throw everything out and start over as much as we would sometimes like to.

Doug
WYFF CE

ckeegan

02-28-10, 12:15 PM

Just for the heck of it, I typed my address (near Woodruff Rd/Jonesville Rd out past Five Forks) in the U-Verse website. Came up available (after just checking 3 days ago), submitted my order, and checked the box for "earliest available install date".

They must be making invisible VRADs, because I don't see one anywhere near my house.

We'll see what happens.Update. They actually hid the VRAD behind a bush (approx 3540 Woodruff Road). AT&T guy just showed up to do my line test, and he said all my numbers were on the high side (1,100 feet from the VRAD).

21 hours 'til install.

chroma601

03-01-10, 08:46 AM

Jediphish

03-01-10, 09:11 AM

You might be able to "bundle" TV/Internet from AT&T with DirecTV. They offer this in many areas where they don't have U-Verse TV.

gbynum

03-01-10, 11:30 AM

At the end of April I will be heading into semiretirement in the town of Sylva, NC.I don't live there, but have driven through many times. It is beautiful and small, population under 3000 and its the county seat. Jackson County is under 40,000. Western Carolina is less than 10 miles away. I am curious as to which TV provider to look into. Cable there is handled by a firm called Morris Broadband, which is in the process of upgrading (they have no HD now, I hear) and should be in good shape by year's end. Then there's sat. I would like to bundle net access and possibly digital phone, but if I go with a satcaster I'll need another option. If anyone from the area is here, would you mind shedding some light on the situation here? Looks like the mountains rule out OTA.You will likely have little or no choice; TVFool does not suggest much OTA as you suspect.

It is mountainous, and a great location could have pretty good OTA. It looks like Verizon is the TELCO; they may offer FIOS. I see a local FTTP provider but it seems to be for businesses only.

What prompted going there?

chroma601

03-01-10, 01:17 PM

What prompted going there?

Up till November 11, 2009, I was a highly respected telecine colorist in Philadelphia. I have been laid off as a result of the state's film tax credits status having been in limbo last year (the facility lost hundreds of thousands of dollars while the legislature debated the tax credits). I was one of eight people jettisoned.

Fortunately I am old enough to get Social Security (although just three more years of work would have been a whole lot better!). I hope to find some part time work down there to supplement that income; unemployment insurance is quite finite. Our present home is going to a short sale, and our new home will be a trailer. My wife and I are both excited and saddened by these developments.

We have some family in the area. My brother in law is doing a great deal to help us. We are going down there this weekend to hopefully seal the deal, and the move should be in late April.

I fell in love with the area when we first visited three years ago. I look forward to this change in my life and will make the best of it. Obviously we can't afford a super premium cable or sat package, but we should do fine in a middle service tier. Auto insurance rates should drop a bit to help. The cost of living there seems to be less overall.

jc697

03-01-10, 01:41 PM

Hello everybody. At the end of April I will be heading into semiretirement in the town of Sylva, NC. I am curious as to which TV provider to look into. Cable there is handled by a firm called Morris Broadband, which is in the process of upgrading (they have no HD now, I hear) and should be in good shape by year's end. Then there's sat. I would like to bundle net access and possibly digital phone, but if I go with a satcaster I'll need another option. If anyone from the area is here, would you mind shedding some light on the situation here? Looks like the mountains rule out OTA.
Morris Broadband is new to the cable industry. They bought out Mediacom in Hendersonville, and had all kinds of problems with the change (folks lost cable, internet, and phone for days). I understand now they have "fixed" most of the problems. I dumped Mediacom for DirecTv several years ago because of crappy service and customer service, and have never regretted it. I have my DirecTv bundled through AT&T (phone and internet), so it saves a little money. I also understand from my neighbor that Morris has very limited HD channels, especially when compared to satellite. If you are looking for lots of HD, you might want to consider satellite.

Anyway, welcome to the area!

mjb2002

03-01-10, 01:55 PM

Morris Broadband??? I thought the Morris Communications Company filed for bankruptcy in January!

Oxb

03-01-10, 06:13 PM

Sylva is about 30 miles from my lake house in Almond. The area is peppered with translators that would be the source of OTA reception. The UNCTV (PBS) translators are digital. The remainder of them are analog, but it appears that the CBS and Fox affilates have plans to eventually convert their translators to digital.

The local phone co is currently Verizon, but it is planned to be sold off to Frontier in the near future. There is no FIOS anywhere in the area. Sat is popular, but due to the terrain it is not always an option. The lake house is in an east/west cove, so we have no LOS for either E* or D*

chroma601

03-01-10, 10:52 PM

I guess I'll be getting most of my HD from BluRay for a while!

jerry birdwell

03-02-10, 05:16 AM

For five or more years I had perfect digital reception from all the UHF digital transmissions in this area, including Rock Hill's PBS Ch 30 which is 90 miles away, using a 4 bay CM antenna. In the il-advised transition to a combination of UHF and VHF transmissions, I lost the VHF signals, and recovered only by building 5 and 7 element Yagis for Channels 7 and 13 with a CM 777 pre-amp/combiner. I strongly suggest co=channel reception of distant signals frequently cause signal degradation at my location and it is not unusual for me to re-scan for signals and find signals (non reliable) from distant cities. The stations had ample notice and time to prepare for the switch to digital, and it is not in the public interest to continue to offer second rate service to this area due to "construction delays."! I have worked hard to maintain off-air reception of regional stations, but find I must also rely on satellite delivery for reliable recording of broadcasts for delayed viewing. Now I must tolerate an unsightly "antenna farm" of two VHF Yagis pointed in two directions plus the 4-bay UHF antenna all on a rotor for occasional adjustment.. Fortunately, it is located on the back side of my house. Thank you, FCC!

gbynum

03-02-10, 08:57 AM

I guess I'll be getting most of my HD from BluRay for a while!That's the western NC mountains for you. You get majestic beauty and poor signals <g>. When you put in your exact address to TVFool, and an assumed antenna height of maybe 30 ft above the ground, you MIGHT be surprised.

Sorry about the job situation; it is all too common. You might find some opportunities at Western Carolina University with their theatre and video production programs.

Welcome!

jerry birdwell

03-02-10, 10:13 AM

<<quote from earlier post>>The best chance to get WLOS (and WSPA) is to get an antenna that is capable of picking up physical channels 2 to 13. One example is the SDV4401 created by the same company (Philips). Another, less expensive antenna for VHF is the Winegard HD-5030.
Why would you suggest an antenna for Channels for 2-6? There are newly designed antennas that are specifically cut for 7-13 and UHF that are proving to perform very well. I had one installed in Annandale, VA in an attic aimed through massive tree tops, aimed at the antenna farm and it performs very well even with 15" of snow on the roof. There is just too much real estate needed for the 2-6 elements.

chroma601

03-02-10, 11:40 AM

Sorry about the job situation; it is all too common. You might find some opportunities at Western Carolina University with their theatre and video production programs.

WCU is indeed on my job radar, is is Morris Broadband. All I need is a little part time income to supplement my SS. Even retail would work!

But I am encouraged to note many of my future neighbors in Sylva have sat dishes. And D*** is running a big special for new customers right now. So I have hope my 57" DLP won't be stuck in pillarbox all that much!

jc697

03-03-10, 09:32 AM

popweaverhdtv

03-03-10, 07:31 PM

Anyone experiencing signal going down for 5-10 seconds at a time over the past couple of days on WLOS via D*? Also, WSPA was having sound issues during the 2nd half of tonight's 7 p.m. News.

LMckin

03-05-10, 06:48 PM

Did a rescan the other night, and now I'm getting 7-1 and 7-2 for the first time since the tower collapse (couldn't pick them up on the new tower either). Bad news is I was getting 4-1 and 4-2, but haven't been able to pick them up in a couple of months.

JC697 7.2 is the Classic tv channel called RTV (Retro Televison) Just for information as i notice you was new here.

wyliecoyote

03-05-10, 07:27 PM

Anyone experiencing signal going down for 5-10 seconds at a time over the past couple of days on WLOS via D*? Also, WSPA was having sound issues during the 2nd half of tonight's 7 p.m. News.

Yes I have noticed the same on D* twice this week with Wheel of Fortune. I do not watch much on ABC so I can not say if it is a persistent issue. All other locals on D* seem to be unaffected.

dubber

03-07-10, 09:44 PM

jself1982

03-08-10, 02:17 PM

Someone else posted a week or two ago about seeing the production quality (lots of mistakes in switching cams, sources ect, ) on local News Channel 7 Newscasts...I too have noticed this as well definitely a difference in the past month or so. Aside from the fact that they may have hired a new director/producer or something I wonder if they are having the news production switched remotely from another location. I know that Doug mentioned that WSPA no longer is having MC done locally instead it is done at a central location that handles a number of Media General outlets...Doug is this possible?

WSPA and other Media General channels are produced out of Atlanta. Amy Wood has also posted about it on her facebook, and she has joked about the teleprompter issues too. Seems like they don't have much control over those mistakes.

I just wish that they would quit stretching mugshots of people!

mjb2002

03-09-10, 01:54 PM

rid29651

03-12-10, 05:00 AM

Am I the only one upset because RTV has been pre-empted by SEC basketball?

Apps1

03-12-10, 08:50 AM

Am I the only one upset because RTV has been pre-empted by SEC basketball?

Probably. :) They will do the same thing for the NCAA Tournament.

LMckin

03-12-10, 09:10 AM

Am I the only one upset because RTV has been pre-empted by SEC basketball?

You not the only one. i wish they had put it on the main channel or wycw

I kindle wish they could have some kind of agreement with fox 21 when they pre empted RTV where Fox 21 could show RTV on it 21.2 channel.

onslowtn

03-12-10, 10:34 AM

mjb2002

03-12-10, 11:58 AM

Well, WYCW would have been the logical choice for an SEC basketball game last night, since the shows (the Vampire Diaries and Supernatural) were in repeats.

Sadly, though, WYCW has the games today, meaning that Tyra will be pre-empted in your market.

It's a good thing that Media General does NOT have the rights to the basketball in the CSRA. WJBF-DT, RTV, WAGT-HD and the CW Augusta do not have to worry about such controversy (yes, WAGT and the CW Augusta are now owned by Media General b/c of a LMA with WJBF). WRDW-DT has the rights to SEC here and they are showing the games on My12.

Don F.

03-13-10, 07:49 AM

I cannot get WLOS with a VHF antenna. I do get great Ch 13 reception with the CM 4228. I would suggest that anyone having trouble with 13 give the 4228 a try, if you already have one. Ch 7 does not do as well on the 4228.

from my location ch 7 has a poor signal on a cm 4228, poor on a Wingard high vhf, and poor on the two combined. 13 is strong on either antenna or the two combined. I plan to add another 10ft soon in hopes of improving 7's signal. Even with a signal in the mid 90's 13 still drops out from time to time, just for a a second or two... must be the vhf thing...
Before 7 returned to real 7, their signal was strong and steady on the uhf freq. Too bad they chose vhf, if they had a choice.

jtbell

03-13-10, 10:32 AM

Before 7 returned to real 7, their signal was strong and steady on the uhf freq. Too bad they chose vhf, if they had a choice.

They were using channel 53 for digital before analog shutown, so they didn't have a choice about keeping it... they had to get off it. They could have tried for a different post-transition UHF channel like WYFF did (moving from 59 to 36 instead of returning to 4), but it would have been at least difficult for them to find a new channel. I think Doug at WYFF has commented here that 36 was their only possibility.

roxors

03-15-10, 09:28 AM

Looks like the NCAA in its infinite wisdom scheduled the Wofford and Clemson games at about the same time on Friday. Do you think they'll show one of them on 7-2 here locally?

LMckin

03-15-10, 02:28 PM

Looks like the NCAA in its infinite wisdom scheduled the Wofford and Clemson games at about the same time on Friday. Do you think they'll show one of them on 7-2 here locally?

WSPA TV 7 Posted this on thier website

One of the Games will be shown on WSPA and the other Game will be shown on Sister Station WYCW TV 62

http://www2.wspa.com/news/2010/mar/15/split-decision-upstate-viewers-see-wofford-clemson-ar-57188/

Don F.

03-16-10, 06:37 PM

douglasd5

03-16-10, 07:16 PM

What the hell is ch 4 doing.... they have a banner on the bottom of the screen of the NBC evening news..... "ask a lawyer 1-800 bla bla"... WXIA in Atlanta does not have the banner... 4 is apparently becoming a bottom sucker as the sponsors of this ad...

If you had watched our newscasts leading up to Nightly News, you would have known that "Ask A Lawyer" was a feature in those newscasts that gave viewers the opportunity to call the toll free number and receive free legal advice from attorneys in our studio who were taking the calls. The phone lines remained open until 7pm so we were promoting that fact. This was not a revenue generating venture and the lawyers were doing this pro bono.

I think this is at least the third time we have done "Ask A Lawyer".

douglasd5

03-16-10, 07:34 PM

Someone else posted a week or two ago about seeing the production quality (lots of mistakes in switching cams, sources ect, ) on local News Channel 7 Newscasts...I too have noticed this as well definitely a difference in the past month or so. Aside from the fact that they may have hired a new director/producer or something I wonder if they are having the news production switched remotely from another location. I know that Doug mentioned that WSPA no longer is having MC done locally instead it is done at a central location that handles a number of Media General outlets...Doug is this possible?

It's possible but not likely. Switching newscasts from a remote location is much more complicated than switching master control. When WSPA went HD, they also installed news production automation and robotic cameras. Everything is programmed into a computer and operated by one person. Works okay when everything goes as planned, but can be a disaster when something goes wrong. It's got to be pressure packed for the operator. The system is called Ignite. http://www.grassvalley.com/products/ignite_hd

WHNS uses the same system though not HD. WYFF still does it the conventional way and I'm not sure how WLOS is producing their newscasts.

Lord_slappy

03-18-10, 09:55 PM

Is anyone else hearing static in the audio on WSPA, 7.1? I'm picking it up off an antenna, running through my Dish DVR. I'm getting static on the game feed audio as well as the commercials. It's the only channel I'm getting it on.

Any ideas?

*Update*
The static in commercials seem to be in high-def commercials only. Just ran a Belk and some local commercials without static. Game came back on, and the static returned.

jtbell

03-18-10, 11:11 PM

WAEN-LP channel 64 has been off the air since at least last weekend, joining W65DS ch 65 which disappeared last fall. This leaves WSQY-LP ch 51 as the last analog station that I can get a watchable (although very "snowy") signal from.

WAEN had its construction permit for digital ch 48 extended from 1/12 to 7/12. W65DS had its CP for digital ch 28 extended from 11/6/09 to 6/6/10. WSQY has applied for an extension of its CP for digital ch 27 from 3/16 to 9/16.

I know there are still analog translators left in the mountains, but I can't get any of them.

Trip in VA

03-18-10, 11:17 PM

WAEN-LP and WSQY-LP are both owned by Daystar, who has been flash-cutting their low-powered stations across the US one by one in the last few months. Perhaps WAEN-LP is next on the list?

- Trip

jtbell

03-19-10, 08:07 AM

Perhaps WAEN-LP is next on the list?

Could be. Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to tell when WAEN-LD is up and running, because it's pretty far away (actually near Asheville), and I have a fairly strong signal on the same channel (48) from WACH in Columbia. WACH often comes in on the back side of my antenna when it's aimed in the opposite direction towards Greenville and Asheville.

On the other hand, when WSQY-LD comes on the air, I'll probably be able to see it because it's closer and has no competition on ch 28 except for occasional tropo-enhanced signals from WRJA in Sumter.

SpencerKarter85

03-19-10, 09:21 PM

Recently, I was watching WYFF 4 and after they show the Universal Orlando Harry Potter attraction from the NBC feed, they interupted the NBC feed to the local feed early. I have a couple of complaints with GSP TV, their local commercials are 90% standard def, and the local NBC affiliate does not show the fourth hour of Today (which is hosted by Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb) they said it's due to local program obligations.

I wished that they'll let us watch the New York/Los Angeles feeds on DirecTV in it's entirety without pre-emptions. I think the current FCC rules are screwed up :mad:

jtbell

03-19-10, 09:53 PM

Kudos to WSPA for showing the Wofford/Wisconsin game on WYCW in HD. The Terriers really gave the Badgers a scare! :)

LilGator

03-19-10, 11:35 PM

UVa Wahoo in WNC

03-20-10, 04:23 PM

roxors

03-20-10, 05:04 PM

Yes, I was getting it too on Charter, but it was only that evening, been fine since.

I heard it last night on WSPA's basketball coverage on DirecTV.

TheBigBadBull

03-22-10, 07:12 PM

Making room for additional HD channels:

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/article.jsp?assetId=P6720003

DoctorCAD

03-24-10, 08:26 AM

roxors

03-24-10, 08:56 AM

mdavej

03-24-10, 10:08 AM

popweaverhdtv

03-24-10, 08:16 PM

Jediphish

03-25-10, 08:37 AM

Anyone having issues with broken audio and choppy video on Direct TV's feed of Channel 13 from Asheville?

Made Lost almost unwatchable last night.

Seems to be happening a lot lately.

Wondering if it is a feed problem or a Direct TV problem. Can't pick up their OTA anymore, so I have no idea if their signal is good or not...

I just moved into a house on Jones Ave near Augusta Road with a Swimline 3 dish that has perfect signal strength readings. Lost had hiccups galore. But, since I also signed up for Uverse, which has built out in Alta Vista, I had a back-up plan. Turned on the Uverse DVR and watched a perfect recording of Lost from WLOS.

So, considering it was a perfectly clear evening, which means there shouldn't have been any LOS (line of sight) issues, then we can assume that D* was having problems with WLOS the station (AT&T sure did not).

Glad to be a part of the Greenville board, btw.

Jediphish

03-25-10, 08:39 AM

I wonder how D* gets their WLOS feed - via OTA antenna or via fiber.

Does anyone know the answer to this for all the GSP local stations?

LMckin

03-25-10, 05:18 PM

I wonder how D* gets their WLOS feed - via OTA antenna or via fiber.

Does anyone know the answer to this for all the GSP local stations?

They May get the WLOS Feed from Fiber that is way They get WSPA feed from Fiber as WSPA TV Eng said Previous on the AVS forum.

cruxer

04-01-10, 09:25 AM

I posted a question to DirecTV's support site about the occasional WLOS breakups/glitches. Hopefully that will prompt them to investigate it. I'll re-post with any response I get from them.

-c

douglasd5

04-01-10, 09:48 AM

They May get the WLOS Feed from Fiber that is way They get WSPA feed from Fiber as WSPA TV Eng said Previous on the AVS forum.

WLOS is received off-air in downtown Greenville. The Directv POP is not in a particularly good spot for off-air reception so the most likely scenario is intermittent reception at their receive site on Westfield street. They could have intermittent receiver problems too. We went through that with Dish about a year ago with their SD feed of WYFF. They had chronic receiver issues that only affected the SD feed. The HD was fine. Same antenna fed both receivers.

When WSPA's tower fell last year, their only option was to install a fiber feed to Directv since there was no off-air reception. That's not the general practice since there is no quality improvement with a fiber feed vs off-air as there was in the analog days.

IfixitBIG

04-02-10, 12:07 AM

Getting my tuning adapter Friday morning for my Moxi. Charter is scheduled to go switched digital sometime in April.

gbynum

04-02-10, 10:09 AM

Charter is scheduled to go switched digital sometime in April.Citation please ... and I A$$_U_ME you are talking Greenville/Spartanburg with a Simpsonville location?

chroma601

04-02-10, 01:30 PM

Anyone here in WNC using Morris Broadband? I'm planning on moving to Sylva in June and am torn between them and a Sat. They are supposedly in the process of upgrading to more HD, and was wondering how/if that was going.

rrainwater

04-04-10, 01:28 PM

Getting my tuning adapter Friday morning for my Moxi. Charter is scheduled to go switched digital sometime in April.

How are you getting it? I assume Charter is requiring a truck roll for installation. Where did you receive notice that the SDV was starting up in April?

fowlerbt

04-04-10, 07:34 PM

IfixitBIG

04-04-10, 11:49 PM

How are you getting it? I assume Charter is requiring a truck roll for installation. Where did you receive notice that the SDV was starting up in April?
I have a consumer Moxi. I got a letter in the mail. In the letter, it told me on or after 4/16, CableCards will lose some of their signals. While the tech was here installing the adapter, he said it would be 4/20. By the way, the adapter has a flashing orange light on the front, but the tech told me it would go solid green when the SDV is up and running

ckeegan

04-05-10, 08:50 AM

So - Peachtree TV (HD) axed from the lineup this year? (Charter)

Anyone know of plans to get both Sports South and FSN HD? (we might finally sort out our inaccurate lineup info if so)

My girlfriend recently got AT&T U-verse (she's near the mall in Greenville) and they have a lot more HD than we do (Charter), including some satellite perks (I believe they will be carrying Masters bonus coverage this week of Amen Corner, etc on several channels).Just for the record, I've been very happy with U-Verse, since I got it a month ago. Not only does it have more HD than Charter (by a mile), I also have more HD channels than I had with DirecTV. Total home DVR is awesome, and I do feel that it's a great combination of Sat and Cable. It's cheaper than DirecTV, but we still have a lot of the interactive features (like the upcoming Masters coverage).

I just seriously can't imagine Charter, or any other cable company will be able to survive with services like Fios and U-Verse.

PS - I had AT&T DSL about 6 months back, but had to go back to Charter, since my 6 meg DSL was really only 3. Now I have U-Verse internet, and 12 is consistently testing at 11.5. When I turned my cable modem into the Charter office, the lady tried to argue that Charter internet was better, until she buckled and said, "we know, we're just told to say that."

rrainwater

04-05-10, 11:12 AM

So - Peachtree TV (HD) axed from the lineup this year? (Charter)

Peachtree is called BravesHD in the Charter lineup (channel 810). The guide is showing a game on 4/7 on that channel. It is strange that currently the channel doesn't even exist (using a cablecard). I assume they will enable it when 4/7 comes around.

stoner99

04-05-10, 06:32 PM

fowlerbt

04-05-10, 06:58 PM

I hope we don't have the problems we had with peachtree like we did last year. it took them forever to get the hd signal straight. i guess sports south doesn't broadcast in hd? or does charter just not offer it?
I believe they are both 811 - sometimes they show FSN HD, sometimes Sports South HD. U-verse, for example, carries both and shows full/accurate guide data. The guide (cable box) for Charter often has incorrect information (it shows a ton of Charlotte Bobcats games as going to be on, yet none ever air) - it's a crap shoot about whether or not the games will air in HD even when listed. Sunday games are about the only sure bets.

jc697

04-06-10, 10:31 AM

IThe guide (cable box) for Charter often has incorrect information (it shows a ton of Charlotte Bobcats games as going to be on, yet none ever air) - it's a crap shoot about whether or not the games will air in HD even when listed.

Bobcats games on FSN will be blacked out if you live further than 75 miles from Charlotte. The Bobcats/NBA require cable/satellite providers to pay an additional fee to carry games outside of this radius, and most have refused to do so and pass this charge along to customers. In addtion, Bobcats games are blacked out in North and South Carolina even if you subscribe to the NBA package.

I've pointed out to the Bobcats that its amazing (to me) that I can get Carolina Hurricanes, Atlanta Braves, and Cincinnati Reds games, from hundreds of miles away, but I can't get the closest pro franchise. I also pointed out that they also shouldn't complain about an half empty arena when they black out games to a majority of their potential fan base in the carolinas. The Bobcats response...thats too bad, get your provider to give us the money and we will let you see the games.

rrainwater

04-06-10, 02:39 PM

I've pointed out to the Bobcats that its amazing (to me) that I can get Carolina Hurricanes, Atlanta Braves, and Cincinnati Reds games, from hundreds of miles away, but I can't get the closest pro franchise. I also pointed out that they also shouldn't complain about an half empty arena when they black out games to a majority of their potential fan base in the carolinas. The Bobcats response...thats too bad, get your provider to give us the money and we will let you see the games.

Technically, there's nothing the Bobcats can officially do. It's up to the cable companies to pay to carry the Bobcats on FSN (just like they do for the Hurricanes and Braves). Of course being stuck with Charter means it will probably be about 20 years before they come around and actually support a the local team.

stoner99

04-06-10, 09:57 PM

Well what do you know. The braves game was on peachtree tonight and i cant find it anywhere. any help? or do we just get screwed? whats going on umatter2charter? any info?

datajosh

04-06-10, 10:05 PM

Well what do you know. The braves game was on peachtree tonight and i cant find it anywhere. any help? or do we just get screwed? whats going on umatter2charter? any info?
The Braves actually didn't play today, the next game in the series is tomorrow night at 7pm. There's only a total of 7 MLB games today, not sure why the schedule was done that way.

moedog

04-06-10, 10:46 PM

Bobcats games on FSN will be blacked out if you live further than 75 miles from Charlotte. The Bobcats/NBA require cable/satellite providers to pay an additional fee to carry games outside of this radius, and most have refused to do so and pass this charge along to customers. In addtion, Bobcats games are blacked out in North and South Carolina even if you subscribe to the NBA package.

I've pointed out to the Bobcats that its amazing (to me) that I can get Carolina Hurricanes, Atlanta Braves, and Cincinnati Reds games, from hundreds of miles away, but I can't get the closest pro franchise. I also pointed out that they also shouldn't complain about an half empty arena when they black out games to a majority of their potential fan base in the carolinas. The Bobcats response...thats too bad, get your provider to give us the money and we will let you see the games.
I live 17 miles from Time Warner Arena and the Bobcats are 100% blacked out on my cable system (Comporium). Well, I have seen ONE game this season, on WGN America. I agree, it's pretty outrageous. Yes, it certainly doesn't help attendance/general support for the team. Maybe MJ will get something worked out for next season---I really do miss my Bobcats....

rrainwater

04-06-10, 11:04 PM

The Braves actually didn't play today, the next game in the series is tomorrow night at 7pm. There's only a total of 7 MLB games today, not sure why the schedule was done that way.

It was done in case weather cancelled opening day, they could still have opening day the next day instead of postponing the game to later in the year.

datajosh

04-07-10, 12:50 AM

It was done in case weather cancelled opening day, they could still have opening day the next day instead of postponing the game to later in the year.
Ah okay, that makes a lot of sense actually.

jc697

04-07-10, 08:20 AM

Technically, there's nothing the Bobcats can officially do. It's up to the cable companies to pay to carry the Bobcats on FSN (just like they do for the Hurricanes and Braves).

Not true. The Bobcats are members of the National Basketball Association, and they make the rules. The cable/satellite companies already pay a fee to broadcast the games. The Bobcats/NBA require an additional fee (on top of what the providers already pay) to broadcast the games outside a 75 mile radius (called an "outer market fee"). The NHL and Major League Baseball don't require this additional fee, so we get to see the Hurricanes, Braves, and Reds, while the Bobcats are blacked out in the carolinas outside of the 75 mile "inner market" radius (unless your provider pays the additional fee).

stoner99

04-07-10, 08:59 AM

Ouch I feel like a dope. Man I thought they played straight thru and I knew that the second games will be on peachtree so I "spoke" before I thought. (My dad used to tell me something about that) lol. Sorry guys but anyhow what channel will the hd broadcast be on tonight?

rrainwater

04-07-10, 12:26 PM

Not true. The Bobcats are members of the National Basketball Association, and they make the rules. The cable/satellite companies already pay a fee to broadcast the games.

Huh? Charter most certainly isn't paying a fee for the Bobcats already. They have to if they want to carry them. And no, the Bobcats can not change the NBA rules as much as we may want them too. AFAIK, Charter also has to pay to carry the Hurricanes on FSN as well.

jc697

04-07-10, 03:53 PM

Huh? Charter most certainly isn't paying a fee for the Bobcats already. They have to if they want to carry them. And no, the Bobcats can not change the NBA rules as much as we may want them too. AFAIK, Charter also has to pay to carry the Hurricanes on FSN as well.

Don't know about Charter, but I have DirecTV, and below is the explaination I got from Michael Thompson, Charlotte Bobcats Director of Corporate Communication.

"Neither DirecTV nor Dish Network will make Bobcats games available on FSCR or SPSO beyond the NBA 75-mile inner market radius because they both decided not to pay the fee necessary to cover the NBA's outer market fees."

Once again, the NBA/Bobcats have two fees...an inner market fee (which DirecTV and Dish pay), and the "outer market fee", which they refuse to pay. In addition, many cable providers in NC and SC also refuse to pay the additional fee (Charter may, don't know). Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League don't have inner and outer market fees...the fee for providers to carry their games is the same.

I pointed out to Mr. Thompson that I understand where he is coming from, but since they are playing most nights to a half full arena, and Bobcats merchandise sales are among the lowest in the NBA, perhaps it would be to their advantage to reach out to a more regional fan base and make Bobcats games available to everyone in NC and SC. But then rules are rules, and games will continue to be blacked out to everyone in NC and SC outside of the 75 mile radius whose provider doesn't pay this additional fee.

rrainwater

04-07-10, 04:34 PM

Once again, the NBA/Bobcats have two fees...an inner market fee (which DirecTV and Dish pay), and the "outer market fee", which they refuse to pay. In addition, many cable providers in NC and SC also refuse to pay the additional fee (Charter may, don't know). Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League don't have inner and outer market fees...the fee for providers to carry their games is the same.

For us in the upstate with Charter, it doesn't matter. Just like every other sport, Charter has to pay to carry local sports teams on FSN. It doesn't matter if it is in market or not, there is still a fee. Charter is refusing to pay it. Why they pay it for other sports and not the Bobcats we will never know. Complaining to the Bobcats isn't going to do much good since they can't re-negotiate the deal with FSN. Only Charter can decide to carry the Bobcats and pay the fees.

Umatter2Charter

04-07-10, 05:55 PM

rrainwater

04-07-10, 06:05 PM

Sorry about all the confusion with BravesHD, it is live and active again now. We had removed it from the lineup during the off-season. In other news, as of today we also added a dedicated Sports South HD channel on 812. Guide info should be updating but you should be able to tune to the channel.

I'm not seeing any thing on 812 as of yet. When is it suppose to be live? Also, BravesHD is still not available as of yet (shows as "not authorized") although perhaps it is only enabled during the games themselves (I can't remember).

Umatter2Charter

04-07-10, 06:44 PM

I'm not seeing any thing on 812 as of yet. When is it suppose to be live? Also, BravesHD is still not available as of yet (shows as "not authorized") although perhaps it is only enabled during the games themselves (I can't remember).

It is live right now.

rrainwater

04-07-10, 07:01 PM

It is live right now.

812 isn't showing anything. And BravesHD (810) isn't showing the game even though the guide says it is airing. Both channels still show as not authorized. Maybe you are referring to the Asheville market and not the Greenville market?

moedog

04-07-10, 09:40 PM

Not true. The Bobcats are members of the National Basketball Association, and they make the rules. The cable/satellite companies already pay a fee to broadcast the games. The Bobcats/NBA require an additional fee (on top of what the providers already pay) to broadcast the games outside a 75 mile radius (called an "outer market fee"). The NHL and Major League Baseball don't require this additional fee, so we get to see the Hurricanes, Braves, and Reds, while the Bobcats are blacked out in the carolinas outside of the 75 mile "inner market" radius (unless your provider pays the additional fee).
Again, I live 17 miles from uptown CLT and 2 miles from the CLT city limits and the Bobcats are blacked out on both FSN and SS, so you don't have to live 75 miles out to lose the games. Obviously, Comporium (much to their shame) has declined to pay the extra fee for these games. Does Charter in the CLT market offer Bobcat games? I bet not. I would bet TW and sat are the only providers offering the Bobcats, and I bet they have sweetheart deals with FSN/SS. In one sence, I don't blame Comporium fro standing up to FSN/SS, but on the other hand, I notice they just added MLB and MLB-HD, and Charlotte doesn't even have a Major League team. No NFL-TV, or NBA-TV in a market which has both, but they can put baseball on--there's something wrong there.....

fowlerbt

04-07-10, 10:11 PM

Here's my new guide as of today (I'm on Charter with HD tier and Showtime tier in Easley)

810 - CSSHD - which stands for...? Off air- was not authorized to view earlier
811 - FSNHD - our normal FSN - Bobcats game listed, and blacked out as usual
812 - FSNHD - different version? (either way, glad to see both in the guide) however- Showtime HD is currently coming in on this channel

897 - SHOHD - sits black and never loads - Ref code: S0900

Kinks aren't ironed out yet, but once the dust settles - both FSN and Sports South, plus the Braves (Peachtree) back in the lineup? I'm pleasantly surprised.

rrainwater

04-07-10, 10:44 PM

810 - CSSHD - which stands for...? Off air- was not authorized to view earlier
811 - FSNHD - our normal FSN - Bobcats game listed, and blacked out as usual
812 - FSNHD - different version? (either way, glad to see both in the guide) however- Showtime HD is currently coming in on this channel

Clearly, they didn't bother to check the channels they enabled since 810 and 812 still don't work. 810 is really "Peachtree Baseball Only". However, it has different names everywhere you look. CSSHD is because they show peachtree games on CSS2 in our area. On TiVos and Moxi boxes it is BravesHD. Hopefully they will fix it soon although every year this seems to happen for a while before they figure out what to do.

It's a shame they can add SportsSouth HD and FSN HD but they still will not show Bobcats games on FSN. That is the whole point of regional sports networks (to see your local teams). Unfortunately, I don't think Charter even knows who the Bobcats are. So there is no one to to complain too. Luckily U-verse is moving into the area. You would be hard pressed to find anyone in the upstate who wouldn't be happier with U-verse compared to what Charter is offering us.

Umatter2Charter

04-08-10, 07:53 AM

Clearly, they didn't bother to check the channels they enabled since 810 and 812 still don't work. 810 is really "Peachtree Baseball Only". However, it has different names everywhere you look. CSSHD is because they show peachtree games on CSS2 in our area. On TiVos and Moxi boxes it is BravesHD. Hopefully they will fix it soon although every year this seems to happen for a while before they figure out what to do.

Well we did check it before posting and at the time of the post it was working at the headend and on 2 other customers we checked with, however if it's not working I will reach out to the headend again to see what's going on. We may have to touch base with Tribune and Tivo too. We did let them know the channels were going online, but I'll double check with them for channel and guide updates.

rrainwater

04-08-10, 10:55 AM

Well we did check it before posting and at the time of the post it was working at the headend and on 2 other customers we checked with, however if it's not working I will reach out to the headend again to see what's going on. We may have to touch base with Tribune and Tivo too. We did let them know the channels were going online, but I'll double check with them for channel and guide updates.

812 was just enabled sometime today. We will not know about BravesHD until tonight's game but it was never working during yesterday's game. Tribune still doesn't have the listings (zap2it.com and charter.net do not have the new channel as of yet). But that doesn't affect the channel not showing.

fowlerbt

04-08-10, 03:39 PM

Update for Easley (Charter)

810 - CSSHD - no longer says not authorized - will check tonight
811 - Fox Sports South HD - working, showing what the guide says
812 - Sports South HD - working, showing what the guide says

897 - SHOHD - working, showing what the guide says

:)

rrainwater

04-08-10, 03:45 PM

Update for Easley (Charter)

810 - CSSHD - no longer says not authorized - will check tonight
811 - Sports South HD - working, showing what the guide says
812 - FSNHD - working, showing what the guide says

897 - SHOHD - working, showing what the guide says

:)

Tribune has also updated it's lineup for 812 (SPSTHHD). It should appear on TiVo's later today or tomorrow.

fowlerbt

04-08-10, 08:04 PM

Peachtree HD coming in. Very nice.

rrainwater

04-12-10, 09:44 PM

While the tech was here installing the adapter, he said it would be 4/20. By the way, the adapter has a flashing orange light on the front, but the tech told me it would go solid green when the SDV is up and running

I'm having 3 adapters installed later this week. The fact that the lights are flashing is not a good sign. I'm very worried that come 4/20, everyone's lights will still be flashing. In other markets when tuning adapters were installed before SDV was enabled, the adapters showed a solid green light when activated correctly. I really hope Charter knows what they are doing but I guess we will find out next week.

chroma601

04-13-10, 01:04 PM

Just wanted to hop in and ask if anyone on the western tier of Morris Broadband (Sylva area) is able to get any HD from them yet. I am moving down in June and have to choose between them and Sat. I know they (Morris) are in the process of upgrading to Fiber Optic, but no idea how far along they are.

Umatter2Charter

04-14-10, 10:08 AM

I'm having 3 adapters installed later this week. The fact that the lights are flashing is not a good sign. I'm very worried that come 4/20, everyone's lights will still be flashing. In other markets when tuning adapters were installed before SDV was enabled, the adapters showed a solid green light when activated correctly. I really hope Charter knows what they are doing but I guess we will find out next week.

Here in the St. Louis area the same thing happened. When we first installed the adapters the lights were flashing on it too. Basically its just because there are no SDV servers for the adapter to connect to yet. As soon as the servers are activated on the network the lights should go solid and activate. If for any reason that doesn't happen when SDV goes live in the area let me know so we can troubleshoot the issue with you.

rrainwater

04-14-10, 02:49 PM

Here in the St. Louis area the same thing happened. When we first installed the adapters the lights were flashing on it too. Basically its just because there are no SDV servers for the adapter to connect to yet. As soon as the servers are activated on the network the lights should go solid and activate. If for any reason that doesn't happen when SDV goes live in the area let me know so we can troubleshoot the issue with you.

That sounds good. Hopefully it works that well in this area when Charter switches. Do you know when SDV will be live? I've heard the 16th and the 20th.

gbynum

04-14-10, 03:10 PM

I don't know if it has to do with the SDV, but here in the Greenville eastside all of the video programming available in-the-clear seems to be on 2 different channels. This began, I think, about 4 or 5 weeks ago. The Music Choice is not duplicated that I've observed. I'm too lazy to type them all in, but rrainwater, WYFF is on 103.1 and 114.1 if you want to play with that TiVo. PM me and I'll send you my excel sheet.

Umatter2Charter

04-14-10, 03:26 PM

That sounds good. Hopefully it works that well in this area when Charter switches. Do you know when SDV will be live? I've heard the 16th and the 20th.

Honestly I'm not 100% sure on the date. Since you're unable to see any channels though, PM me with your Name/Phone# and I'll take a look at the service for you. Normally it's a pretty easy fix.

rrainwater

04-14-10, 05:51 PM

Umatter2Charter

04-15-10, 09:56 AM

Does this mean Charter is planning on making any changes to the lineup now the SDV is soon going to be implemented? I assume this is being done to make room for more channels. It seems many of the markets that have gotten SDV already haven't had very many changes to the lineup though.

Unfortunately the timing of when additional channels may be added has not been released. However SDV is not being deployed solely for additional channel availability. The use of SDV opens up used bandwidth for faster/better Internet service and the possibility of additional service offerings. And before anyone asks, no I really don't know what those service offerings may be. :)

Honestly as soon as I get more info about new offerings, upgraded speeds, or additional channels I'll be glad to get it out here for you though.

fowlerbt

04-15-10, 04:48 PM

(Charter/Easley) My cable and internet just went out and came back. Now the internet is back but cable is spotty. Picture freezes and audio drops, but you can change the channel, and when you go back it's working again.

-cable and internet just went out and came back again

Making some changes?

rrainwater

04-16-10, 04:23 PM

So it looks like Charter hasn't enabled SDV today as planned. Does anyone know when they will be enabling it?

Umatter2Charter

04-16-10, 04:50 PM

So it looks like Charter hasn't enabled SDV today as planned. Does anyone know when they will be enabling it?

I honestly do not know for sure exactly what day it will launch. It's currently scheduled to launch before the end of the month. However it will not launch until we are sure it will not cause problems. Any glitches during testing will cause a delay in the launch.

popweaverhdtv

04-18-10, 05:39 PM

I posted a question to DirecTV's support site about the occasional WLOS breakups/glitches. Hopefully that will prompt them to investigate it. I'll re-post with any response I get from them.

-c

C, have you had any further response from the D* Support Site re: WLOS' breakups/glitches?

foxeng

04-18-10, 07:33 PM

D* is having a lot of issues with breakup going on. I am in a back and forth with them now over breakup in my stations HD signal and they are saying it is in my data stream and not them. Funny how their SD and HD receive sites are 10 miles apart and the SD receive site has no breakup issues but the HD site does but they still say it is my fault.

rrainwater

04-19-10, 11:01 AM

I honestly do not know for sure exactly what day it will launch. It's currently scheduled to launch before the end of the month. However it will not launch until we are sure it will not cause problems. Any glitches during testing will cause a delay in the launch.

It would be nice to get some type of notification from Charter when SDV is enabled so us cablecard users can verify the tuning adapters are working.

loggerhead

04-21-10, 08:48 PM

Please pardon this slightly off topic post. I hope that some of you can help me. I had yahoo widgets intalled on my desk top PC. With this, I was able to display the local doppler weather map that WYFF shows on 4-2.

Unfortunatley, I installed Windows 7 and lost the link. I have not been able to locate it. I now have another map, but I prefer the one that WYFF has. Does anyone know the link to add the WYFF weather satellite map widget?

UVa Wahoo in WNC

04-21-10, 09:24 PM

I SURE hope that some serious testing/tweaking is going on related to SDV and that the end result will be worth it because I have had a BUNCH of internet dropouts, slow downs, and more "If you subscribe to this channel" black screen error messages on my MOXI in the last several weeks than I can ever remember in the past several years. I am really hoping it is related to SDV testing/adjustments.

It wasn't long ago that I was bragging how a service visit showed my signal was too strong and how I even thought the picture quality had improved after the visit, but now I have concerns that something has changed again and the signal quality is pretty poor. Again, I am hoping it is temporary and SDV related.

Anyone else seen extra issues lately?

Oxb

04-22-10, 09:56 AM

five

04-22-10, 11:30 AM

LMckin

04-22-10, 11:46 AM

If anybody haven`t notice this today on RTV on WSPA 7.2 they have drop the Weather L bar and showing Local Commericials and Star Trex next Gen in Full Screen. and add a Channel 7 logo that appears for few mins.

rrainwater

04-22-10, 03:30 PM

loggerhead

04-22-10, 07:59 PM

Thank you, but it is not the widget that I had. I do remember that the site was not a WYFF site.

AppState

04-23-10, 12:06 AM

Not a widget, but cool nonetheless:

http://web2.wright-weather.com/cgi-bin2/loopradar.cgi?type=mosaic%2FNC_mosaic-&type2=30

although it does look fairly atypical tonight.

Interspy24

04-23-10, 06:51 PM

I'm hoping someone can help me out - I just moved to Greenville, SC two days ago.

I'm trying to select a tv/internet provider. I believe the apartment complex has free cable, but I don't know if its hd or not. The welcome letter from the apartment suggested Shentel or AT&T for internet. Any experiences with either? I had AT&T in Dallas and it seemed ok, but somewhat slow. Thanks in advance!

Any advice on the area - restaurants, things to do, etc would be appreciated as well!

cruxer

04-24-10, 07:57 AM

C, have you had any further response from the D* Support Site re: WLOS' breakups/glitches?

I haven't heard anything yet, but I've been out of the country for a week. I will ask again! I'm assuming nothing has cleared up while I've been gone...

-c

rrainwater

04-24-10, 01:14 PM

I'm trying to select a tv/internet provider. I believe the apartment complex has free cable, but I don't know if its hd or not. The welcome letter from the apartment suggested Shentel or AT&T for internet. Any experiences with either? I had AT&T in Dallas and it seemed ok, but somewhat slow. Thanks in advance!

You may be limited in what options you have in the apartment complex. It sounds like you are limited to DSL. I think with AT&T you are limited to 6Mbps at it's fastest speed. Unfortunately doesn't compare to what cable companies can offer. If you have access to Charter television, you could certainly get much better internet speeds with them. I would try to find out if you can get some type of cable internet if you are concerned with speed.

jshrop6004

04-25-10, 01:01 AM

Anyone in the GSP service area have one of the new HD Moxi boxes that take a cable card? I had one of the old 9012's for 5 years and it finally gave up the ghost last week and had to get the Moto box.

It is going to be temporary because it is horrible. The UI is prehistoric and backwards(up goes down), no ext hard drive, no 30 sec skip, sometimes it takes 20-30 seconds for the pic to come up(black screen)

Trying to decide on a HTPC or one of the Moxi's with Mates. Does Charter issue the cable cards & what do they charge? Do they support the 3 tuner? If they do do you have to have 3 cards?

Lots of questions I know but trying to make an informed decision. Thanks for any input.:)

Joel S.

gbynum

04-25-10, 10:02 AM

On the broadcast channels which Charter-Greenville carries in the clear, PSIP data is now present and giving the channel with description. After a rescan (on one set) and add scan (on the other set), I have 4.1, 4.2, 7.1, 7.2, 13.1, 21.1, 21.2, 29.1, 29.2, 29.3, 40.1, 62.1, 131.1, and 200.1 with PSIP.

There are a few they don't mean to have still floating around.

These above still show on their RF channel as well; don't know how they can remove those, but we'll see.

rrainwater

04-25-10, 12:59 PM

Trying to decide on a HTPC or one of the Moxi's with Mates. Does Charter issue the cable cards & what do they charge? Do they support the 3 tuner? If they do do you have to have 3 cards?

Charter will install the CableCards. If you have one Moxi, you can get a M-card (that is the only type Moxi supports and pretty much the only type any Charter installer has these days). The M-card will allow the Moxi to use all 3 tuners at the same time. Charter will have to install a tuning adapter since they are switching to SDV. It is a small box that will hook to the Moxi via USB. I'm not sure of the price atm. At one point they were $1.50/card. I think it is now up to $5/card now but I am not quite sure. Either way, it should be less than how much you are paying for the rental of your cable dvr.

Goober96

04-25-10, 02:33 PM

I'm not sure of the price atm. At one point they were $1.50/card. I think it is now up to $5/card now but I am not quite sure. Either way, it should be less than how much you are paying for the rental of your cable dvr.

I have 1 M-Card and 2 S-Cards. One card is included in my package, no additional charge. I pay $2 each per month for the other 2.

jshrop6004

04-25-10, 06:31 PM

Charter will install the CableCards. If you have one Moxi, you can get a M-card (that is the only type Moxi supports and pretty much the only type any Charter installer has these days). The M-card will allow the Moxi to use all 3 tuners at the same time. Charter will have to install a tuning adapter since they are switching to SDV. It is a small box that will hook to the Moxi via USB. I'm not sure of the price atm. At one point they were $1.50/card. I think it is now up to $5/card now but I am not quite sure. Either way, it should be less than how much you are paying for the rental of your cable dvr.

Thanks for the info, I would really like to have a Moxi again, just have to find thousand dollars because I want 2 Moxi Mates. Speaking of the mates, do you have to have wired ethernet at each one for them to work?

Thanks Again,

Joel S.

jshrop6004

04-25-10, 06:37 PM

Charter will have to install a tuning adapter since they are switching to SDV.

rrainwater,

What is SDV? Switched Digital Video? What is the advantages and disadvantages of it. Just curious since looking at this thread it seems to be much anticipated;)

rrainwater

04-25-10, 08:21 PM

rrainwater,

What is SDV? Switched Digital Video? What is the advantages and disadvantages of it. Just curious since looking at this thread it seems to be much anticipated;)

SDV (Switched Digital Video) means they don't transmit all the channels. When you change channels it requests the channel from the headend and it starts transmitting it if it hasn't already (for someone else). It helps cable companies save bandwidth to use it for providing more channels and opens up more bandwidth for internet. It will go unnoticed by anyone who uses a cable company provided box. Only people with cablecard devices (like TiVo and Moxi) need the tuning adapter to do the two way communication.

cruxer

04-26-10, 10:57 AM

I haven't heard anything yet, but I've been out of the country for a week. I will ask again! I'm assuming nothing has cleared up while I've been gone...

OK, I checked back with DirecTV and got this:
"I do not see a current issue with this station and it appears to have been resolved. I do show that current weather conditions in your area may be affecting this station."

Is anyone still seeing issues with 13 and DirecTV? I watched a little NBA yesterday and didn't notice it, so maybe they've fixed it?

-c

rrainwater

04-27-10, 11:58 AM

It appears Charter's SDV is now active in the upstate area. My tuning adapters were activated sometime this morning and are showing a solid light (indicating they are working).

popweaverhdtv

04-28-10, 06:01 PM

OK, I checked back with DirecTV and got this:
"I do not see a current issue with this station and it appears to have been resolved. I do show that current weather conditions in your area may be affecting this station."

Is anyone still seeing issues with 13 and DirecTV? I watched a little NBA yesterday and didn't notice it, so maybe they've fixed it?

-c

I noticed a few dropouts during the news this morning. It doesn't appear as bad as it was when I saw it during Primetime a few weeks ago, though.

awp

04-28-10, 07:33 PM

SDV (Switched Digital Video) means they don't transmit all the channels. When you change channels it requests the channel from the headend and it starts transmitting it if it hasn't already (for someone else). It helps cable companies save bandwidth to use it for providing more channels and opens up more bandwidth for internet. It will go unnoticed by anyone who uses a cable company provided box. Only people with cablecard devices (like TiVo and Moxi) need the tuning adapter to do the two way communication.

OK. I guess I got my notion of Switched Digital Video incorrect. I thought all digital boxes, like my Motorola dual-tuner DVR from Charter, would automatically detect the digital signal and broadcast it instead of the analog-converted signal. So what you're saying is that we're still stuck with the analog signal on all the channels below 70 (or whatever it is). That sucks. I was hoping for a clearer picture on those that don't have HD versions.

rrainwater

04-28-10, 08:42 PM

OK. I guess I got my notion of Switched Digital Video incorrect. I thought all digital boxes, like my Motorola dual-tuner DVR from Charter, would automatically detect the digital signal and broadcast it instead of the analog-converted signal. So what you're saying is that we're still stuck with the analog signal on all the channels below 70 (or whatever it is). That sucks. I was hoping for a clearer picture on those that don't have HD versions.

I believe Charter would need to implement ADS for that to happen. AFAIK, that was part of the plan years ago but they seem to have dropped the idea. If they implemented it, anyone with a cablebox or cablecard would automatically get the digital equivalent when they tuned an analog channel.

mdavej

04-29-10, 02:37 PM

Anybody else having trouble with PBS OTA in Greenville (29.1, 2, 3)? I'm getting no signal with 2 different antennas since last night.

Don F.

04-29-10, 05:31 PM

Anybody else having trouble with PBS OTA in Greenville (29.1, 2, 3)? I'm getting no signal with 2 different antennas since last night.

No signal here.....

fowlerbt

04-29-10, 07:04 PM

Anybody else having trouble with PBS OTA in Greenville (29.1, 2, 3)? I'm getting no signal with 2 different antennas since last night.
All 3 coming in solid for me here. Maybe they sorted it out?

sbennett

04-29-10, 10:23 PM

Anybody else having trouble with PBS OTA in Greenville (29.1, 2, 3)? I'm getting no signal with 2 different antennas since last night.
We have had crews working on our tower at WNTV all week causing some issues with our FM and DTV signals. All tower work should be completed tommorrow.

-Shaun

Trip in VA

04-29-10, 11:03 PM

Is this that antenna rotation that was filed for a few months back?

- Trip

DepOrange

04-30-10, 08:49 AM

Anybody else having trouble with PBS OTA in Greenville (29.1, 2, 3)? I'm getting no signal with 2 different antennas since last night.Still no signal as of 4/30 Fri morning in downtown Grvll. Did anybody find any notice of this coming - I couldn't find anything so was surprised and concerned. Happy to see the info in this forum.

sbennett

04-30-10, 09:07 AM

Still no signal as of 4/30 Fri morning in downtown Grvll. Did anybody find any notice of this coming - I couldn't find anything so was surprised and concerned. Happy to see the info in this forum.

It is kinda hard to find, but we try to keep an updated status of our network on our web page: http://www.scetv.org/index.php/scetv/service_notice. There is also contact information available on the page. You can always PM me for any questions or concerns; the messages are forwarded to my phone.

Is this that antenna rotation that was filed for a few months back?

- Trip

Yes, as well as a new FM antenna. We decided to do the work at the same time while the crew was on the tower.

The latest update, as of this morning, is that we are still on schedule to resume normal operations at close of business today. If anything changes, I will post some information. I appoligize for the inconvenience.

-Shaun

Don F.

04-30-10, 06:24 PM

29 is back, hopefully all updates are complete....

jtbell

04-30-10, 08:12 PM

Whatever Shaun's crew did on WNTV has improved my signal noticeably, unless I'm just having unusually good reception in general tonight. Before, my signal meters always indicated poorer quality from WNTV (around 75% with a lot of fluctuation on my Zenith CECB, for example) than on WSPA (around 90%) and WLOS (around 85%).

This always puzzled me because WNTV puts out 102 kW ERP which is more than 3x WLOS and about 4x WSPA.

Now I'm getting about 90% on WNTV, with fluctuation comparable to the other two stations.

jmduncan

04-30-10, 10:45 PM

I'm also able to get WNTV tonight. Usually, it's a rare occasion that I can tune it in, but tonight I turned my antenna in that direction, and it came right in. Signal strength was only 30-40%, but at 108 miles, I don't expect much.

waxmo

05-01-10, 10:21 AM

I am getting channel 29 at 93% here in Salem SC

waxmo

05-01-10, 11:07 AM

After a year of fiddling around to setup the perfect OTA (TV Antenna) system I have decided to get rid of Directv. No, I am not poor or out of work, I just hate paying close to $1,000 a year for 10 good channels and 140 channels of over advertised crap.
I live in rural SC (Salem) and did alot of research on the best OTA antenna and equipment. This is the equipment I have:

Channel Master 4228 Antenna $70
Channel Master cm7777 antenna mount amplifier $60
Channel Master Distibution Amplifier $25
100's of feet of Quad Shield RG6 Cable $100
Dtvpal DVR Over the air DVR $225

This is the Channels I receive Crystal clear (most in HD1080i) for free:
4-1
4-2
7-1
7-2
13-1
13-2
13-3
16-1
16-2
16-3
21-1
21-2
29-1
29-2
29-3
33-1
33-2
33-3
62-1
62-2

Thats 20 channels for free. What sent me over the edge was my purchase of the DTVPAL-DVR. This is a Tivo DVR like device designed for Over the air viewing. It is onsale at Sears for $199. Here is the link:

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_05757709000P?vName=Gifts&cName=Electronics&sName=All&psid=FROOGLE01&sid=IDx20070921x00003a

The DTVPAL was unstable in the begining, but has been 99% fixed with a new firmware update. I do recommend if you decide to buy to get the extended warrenty

This biggest challenge with only 20 channels is scheduling what to watch. The DTVPAL DVR takes care of it. It has a onscreen guide just like Dish and DirectV. I can easily record and watch any program I want at anytime. I do miss Espn and the news channels. What I have found is that the best sporting events are usually on the Networks. For news ABC and CBS broadcast 2.5 hours of World news at the ridiculous time of 3am. No problem, I just DVR them and the are waiting for me when I get up.

I have spent close to $500 on this setup. But after 6 months I will have recovered my cost by not sending Directv a monthly check.
Goodbye @$%$ Directv

Don F.

05-01-10, 12:49 PM

Thats 20 channels for free. What sent me over the edge was my purchase of
This biggest challenge with only 20 channels is scheduling what to watch. The DTVPAL DVR takes care of it. It has a onscreen guide just like Dish and DirectV.

From what source does the dvr get the program guide?

I have gone with the "hrhomerun" with "windows based" hard-drive
I think... my son installed and set it up. With this set up I can only get the program guide for one zip code. I receive stations from the Carolinas and well as Atlanta. Using my zip I get the guide for Carolina... using a zip a little to closer Atlanta say Commerce, I get the Atlanta guide... seems like it could be based on the station's call letters and not your zip code... Maybe some day !!!!!

ETV has returned for me, but the guide for 29.1 says Off Air even though a program is being aired....?

sbennett

05-01-10, 01:07 PM

29 is back, hopefully all updates are complete....

We are going to have to do some more DTV antenna adjustments starting on Monday. We will try to keep downtime to a minimum and the work should be completely finished by the end of the week.

Whatever Shaun's crew did on WNTV has improved my signal noticeably, unless I'm just having unusually good reception in general tonight. Before, my signal meters always indicated poorer quality from WNTV (around 75% with a lot of fluctuation on my Zenith CECB, for example) than on WSPA (around 90%) and WLOS (around 85%).

When we first brought our DTV channel 29, RF channel 9, on air we had to notch out a section of our radiation pattern so that we would not interfere with an existing analog station. Since this is no longer an issue, it is my understanding that we have rotated that notch ~120 degrees so that it is in the direction of the mountains.

-Shaun

waxmo

05-01-10, 01:32 PM

Don F

The DTVpal gets its guide in two ways. By PSIP data sent buy each individual station (which is usually only 8hr ahead and undetailed) or TVGOS. TVGOS (TV Guide on Screen) is a great guide that is approx 2 weeks ahead. You need to have a station in your area that sends this data. The one I have is 29-1. Sounds like you get 29-1 in your area. The PBS station 33-1 does not have the guide. Yes, you must enter a zip code in the DTVpal to get proper data for your area. Check out this site for stations that carry TVGOS.

http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=tvgos

Since you are located in a split market area you may be able to assign a zip code for your most watched affliates and receive PSIP data for the outer fringe affliates. Not sure if the DTVpal will do this, but I am guessing it will. I would test it for you, but all my programming is out of the Greenville/Spartanburg area. I cannot get Atlanta or Charlotte to test.

Don F
I have a question for you. Do you get Channel 24 WNEG out of Toccoa? I heard it is called "THIS TV" and has reruns of MGM movies. Is it any good? I will need to raise my antenna to get it.

Tom

jtbell

05-01-10, 02:46 PM

When we first brought our DTV channel 29, RF channel 9, on air we had to notch out a section of our radiation pattern so that we would not interfere with an existing analog station. Since this is no longer an issue, it is my understanding that we have rotated that notch ~120 degrees so that it is in the direction of the mountains.

Ah, now I see, after looking at the FCC service area maps. It looks like you also raised the power from 65 to 102 kW. I thought you were at 102 already. The notch now faces almost exactly opposite my location, so I'm getting the maximum benefit of the increased power. :cool:

Before:

http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/fm_tv_service_areas/maps/DT1023067.jpg

After:

http://www.fcc.gov/ftp/Bureaus/MB/Databases/fm_tv_service_areas/maps/DT1353066.jpg

jcalfs

05-02-10, 01:33 AM

It looks like the Epix premium movie channel is available on Charter in Greenville SC at channel 590. There's also a new Epix on demand section that has some HD versions of some of their movies. However there's no Epix HD channel yet.

Any word on when or if we can expect an HD channel for Epix? Also is there any word on additional HD channels in the works for Charter's Greenville SC territory?

popweaverhdtv

05-02-10, 05:16 AM

I'm loving the widescreen weather graphics that I saw on WYFF saw this morning. It will tide this viewer over until the next step to HD happens with their newscasts. Kudos!

Don F.

05-02-10, 12:38 PM

Don F
]

Don F
I have a question for you. Do you get Channel 24 WNEG out of Toccoa? I heard it is called "THIS TV" and has reruns of MGM movies. Is it any good? I will need to raise my antenna to get it.

Tom

I am about 4 miles from the WNEG tower... They are owned by the U. of Ga. broadcasting school, and program mostly public service, using some of their students, and have a good NE Ga. newscast three times daily.
There is a WANN out Atlanta that broadcast on real ch 32, they have many sub channels and a large variety programs, that is probably the station you have heard about. I doubt you would be able pull them in..I receive them fairly well, but my receiver has a hard time deciding who is ch 32, WANN OR WNEG since Wann is real 32 WNEG is virt. 32 ???????????
Also the picture quality on WANN is very poor.....

dubber

05-02-10, 06:09 PM

I'm loving the widescreen weather graphics that I saw on WYFF saw this morning. It will tide this viewer over until the next step to HD happens with their newscasts. Kudos!

The "look" of the new super doppler HD graphic is nice BUT I noticed something while watching it on WeatherPLUS 4.2 for the past couple of days...It appears that the radar "sweep" isn't actually "real time" at least compared to the old graphic they used...So are we seeing a completely different radar page, or are we simply seeing the new graphics under the old super doppler HD radar operation??? I'm confused...It's pretty unfortunate if we have lost the "real time" aspect of the old super doppler HD...

Doug could you possibly return the OLD version with a "real time" sweep of the super doppler HD to at least WeatherPLUS?

Douglasd5 are you around, if so can you answer this question?

Also one other thing if possible could you ask the board op to make sure that the Tornado and T Storm "watch" boxes are enabled on the "severe weather" graphic pages of WeatherPLUS?

Thanks

Bill

rrainwater

05-02-10, 09:37 PM

Thats 20 channels for free. What sent me over the edge was my purchase of
This biggest challenge with only 20 channels is scheduling what to watch. The DTVPAL DVR takes care of it. It has a onscreen guide just like Dish and DirectV.

I think if you combined that with a Roku box, you would have almost all the content you could want (except sports) through the internet. Although the Roku box does do MLB streaming of games (you can watch live or delayed) for around $100/year. The Roku box also gives you VOD with Amazon and Netflix streaming. So you could have access to all the latest movies and even tv shows. For a box with no monthly fee, I think the Roku box is worth the money if you have high speed internet.

dubber

05-02-10, 10:00 PM

rrainwater

Exactly HOW fast does that internet speed need to be for the Roku box to work effectively and reliably?

waxmo

05-03-10, 12:38 AM

rrainwater

I would love to have a Roku box, but I do not have high speed internet in my area. No cable, no DSL. 3g with only 1 bar in my home. Have tried Hughes Net and found it way to expensive and not much faster than dial-up. Have begged Charter to run lines to my home and ATT to provide DSL. Both have refused because it is not profitable. I guess I need to move to the city.

jtbell

05-03-10, 11:17 AM

On WSPA last night, I saw a teaser for a story on tonight's 6pm news about how to reduce your TV bill, including a couple who gets their TV for free. I wonder how much play they'll give to the old-fashioned antenna? I suspect Internet streaming...

eacalhoun

05-03-10, 02:39 PM

As of Friday, April 30 - WHNS has increased power to 400kw. Last Wednesday, I saw on the FCC's Daily Digest where WHNS had "a minor modification to a construction permit had been granted". I did some investigating, and found out the power was turned up Friday. Not knowing this exactly until this morning, I thought my improved weekend reception of WHNS (near Morganton, NC) was due to atmospheric conditions. This will help me overcome the interference from adjacent channel WCNC ch 22 and WCCB translator ch 20.

Eric

popweaverhdtv

05-03-10, 07:29 PM

jtbell

05-03-10, 08:45 PM

Yeah, I also saw it when it aired. Out of nearly three minutes, internet and OTA got about 15 seconds each. Most of the report was about the competition between Charter, Dish, DirecTV and AT&T. They did mention the increased number of channels (including subchannels) that OTA now provides.

rrainwater

05-03-10, 10:53 PM

rrainwater

Exactly HOW fast does that internet speed need to be for the Roku box to work effectively and reliably?

Well, if you want to stream HD quality, you would probably have a problem using something like 1.5Mbps DSL. I have Charter and get 10Mbps down and it works great.

LMckin

05-04-10, 05:42 PM

I seen a crawl running at bottom of Fox 21 WHNS where FCC granted them increase in their Power.

mdavej

05-05-10, 12:23 AM

Well, if you want to stream HD quality, you would probably have a problem using something like 1.5Mbps DSL...Maybe not. I've used Netflix on 768Kbps with youtube quality results. 1.5Mbps should be watchable, but not great. 3Mbps is the minimum you need for full SD quality. For HD you need 6Mbps. My 6Mbps DSL works fine for HD.

five

05-05-10, 07:34 AM

Will the SDV they issue in this area support 2-tuner or 3-tuner dvrs? I am contemplating getting the 3 room moxi bundle and that is one of the 'disclaimers' they have about the 3 room bundle.

DoctorCAD

05-05-10, 09:23 AM

I seen a crawl running at bottom of Fox 21 WHNS where FCC granted them increase in their Power.

Now I cannot pick them up! I could before.

LMckin

05-05-10, 09:49 AM

Now I cannot pick them up! I could before.

You may have to rescan

here is the news release on their website

http://www.foxcarolina.com/station/23453101/detail.html

rrainwater

05-05-10, 01:32 PM

Will the SDV they issue in this area support 2-tuner or 3-tuner dvrs? I am contemplating getting the 3 room moxi bundle and that is one of the 'disclaimers' they have about the 3 room bundle.

Charter in SC uses Motorola CableCards and Tuning Adapters. Only the Cisco ones are limited to 2 tuners. So you should be fine with one tuning adapter.

rrainwater

05-05-10, 01:36 PM

Maybe not. I've used Netflix on 768Kbps with youtube quality results. 1.5Mbps should be watchable, but not great. 3Mbps is the minimum you need for full SD quality. For HD you need 6Mbps. My 6Mbps DSL works fine for HD.

Amazon peaks out at 5mbps for HD content. However, even if your getting 6Mbps internet, theorectically, it would be hard to get constant 5Mbps streaming given internet conditions and local issues (router, wireless interference, etc). However, even some of the lower quality streams from Amazon look quite good. I'm not sure about Netflix and MLB.tv. However, what these companies call "HD" is not necessarily true HD quality (and almost always are using MPEG-4 for compression).

jhstonejr

05-05-10, 02:28 PM

jtbell

05-05-10, 04:48 PM

I'm pretty sure WLOS is still on their temporary ch 13 digital antenna. The last time I watched Jeopardy on WLOS about a week ago (I usually use WCNC out of Charlotte), they were still running a crawl at the bottom of the screen, about the reduced power.

Just last week WLOS applied to the FCC for a modification of the construction permit for the new antenna. They want to use a different model antenna which is smaller and lighter than the one they were originally going to use, and puts less load on the tower.

They also want to modify the directional pattern so as to send more signal to the southeast, which is good for both of us. :D (We're almost along the same direction from Mt. Pisgah.) To enable this, they made an agreement with WBTW in Florence, which also uses ch 13, to accept the increased interference. WBTW will also apply to increase its power.

As I figure it, here's how the effective power in our direction works out:

Current antenna: (29.8 kW)(.484)^2 = 7.0 kW
Originally planned antenna: (50 kW)(.196)^2 = 1.9 kW
Proposed antenna: (50 kW)(.450)^2 = 10.1 kW

So we should see about a signal boost of about 44%. Not huge, but it might help. I actually get pretty good reception (with a roof antenna) most of the time, except when there are thunderstorms around, or when my wife runs the breadmaking machine, which wrecks all our VHF channels.

But they'll probably wait until the FCC approves their new antenna setup before actually starting work on it.

Apps1

05-05-10, 04:58 PM

I live in the Greenville area ( Laurens Rd/291) and reception of WLOS (13.1, 13.2, 13.3) is very intermittent at best. In the last few days I have lost reception entirely.

I'm assuming that WLOS is still running on the old antenna at reduced power?? Does anyone have any recent information regarding the status of the new digital antenna and when it might be up and running at full power.

I only live a few miles from you and I generally pick up WLOS very well via antenna. I also get the channel via DirecTV. They will be operating at a reduced signal until some time later this year. I have not seen an eta for completion of their new transmitter.

mjb2002

05-05-10, 08:07 PM

If WLOS wants the power increase, they may have to take their transmitter off Mount Pigsah (spelling?) and move it to a lower elevation. I believe I read something about Sinclair violating FCC rules when it came to installing antenna farms.

It was also reported that some broadcasters cut their power by as much as 90%, believing it would save them money AND retain their viewers. It would prove to be a big mistake, especially for the stations that now broadcast on UHF and low VHF.

And ALL VHF channels -- even high V -- have major problems with electrical noise. WRDW breaks up whenever I turn on my stereo to listen to music, plug up my laptop computer to charge it up or maintain charge, or whenever a car in my yard cranks up the engine.

jtbell

05-06-10, 01:38 AM

If WLOS wants the power increase, they may have to take their transmitter off Mount Pigsah (spelling?) and move it to a lower elevation.

There's been a long-running controversy over whether WLOS should be allowed to build a new transmitter tower on Mt. Pisgah for their digital transmitter. From what I've read, the Forest Service gave them permission in 2001, but the Blue Ridge Parkway and other groups have opposed it, and I suppose have taken legal action to try to stop it. Maybe the newly-proposed antenna will let WLOS continue to use their old tower. Does anybody know more details? I couldn't find much via Web searches.

I believe I read something about Sinclair violating FCC rules when it came to installing antenna farms.

I think that may refer to a different issue, relating to Sinclair's (owner of WLOS) control of WMYA-40. At one time it was against FCC rules for one company to own/control two stations in the same market. Those rules have been changed, but according to the Wikipedia article on WMYA, the connection between WLOS and WMYA might still be considered as "shady" with regards to FCC rules.

foxeng

05-06-10, 08:28 AM

It was also reported that some broadcasters cut their power by as much as 90%, believing it would save them money AND retain their viewers. It would prove to be a big mistake, especially for the stations that now broadcast on UHF and low VHF.

If you are referring to the power level difference for analog VHF high and digital VHF high stations, the VHF power levels are not apple and apple compatible. Analog derived power by peak sync power (the darker the picture, the more power generated) where digital derives via average power (power level never changes no matter what the payload is).

The FCC's OEM69 was the formula used to set digital power levels and according to this (which is in dispute in many circles where it pertains to VHF high power) stations digital power levels were to equal analog power levels. On paper it works, in reality it doesn't. Since the transition, that has proven to be incorrect by a whopping 10 db! What is being found is a VHF high station at 316 kw visual ERP analog really needed around 120 kw ERP digital to equal power density between the two, not something in the teen kW region. But the FCC has decided they are finished with the digital transition of TV and has moved on to broadband and whatever deal the stations can work out among themselves, the FCC will pretty much go along with so they don't have to deal with it anymore.

In my own stations case, at 12 kw on channel 8, we had 70 mile coverage if you had an outside antenna. But if you lived as close as 7 miles to the tower (documented) with an indoor antenna, you had nothing. We had the FCC in house on the 5th day after the transition with their own equipment and they confirmed what we were seeing.

We were in the unique situation of being able to turn our pre-transition UHF (channel 35) back on that replicated our analog coverage pretty well so we could do the measurements that proved the results viewers were having with the digital VHF. On a separate track unknown to us, FOX Television also did testing in LA with KTTV RF 11 (15 kw) and KCOP RF 13 (15 kw) and asked and received power bumps to 120 kw each. That equates to roughly 10 db of power increase, the same we observed here in Greensboro. There, they didn't have other stations to interfere with as we did here so it was relatively easy for KTTV and KCOP to get those huge power increases above the max allowed in the rules for VHF high digital full power stations. In our case, to get 20 kw was going to be a challenge without about 6 stations agreeing to allow us to increase and 120 kw was out of the question under the current rules of interference if we couldn't get to 20 kw. VHF digital TV is in a mess right now with the FCC's lack of attention and just not caring about the situation.

In the end, we turned off the channel 8 transmitter and remained on channel 35. We don't have that 70 mile coverage anymore, but we have all the indoor antennas in our market in the population centers and our ratings have reflected positively to that change.

SnakeDoctor

05-06-10, 10:48 AM

jtbell

05-06-10, 12:01 PM

Yes, scroll back a few days in this thread and you'll see some posts about SCETV doing some antenna work on WNTV-29 (RF 9). They increased the power, and rotated the directional pattern which further increased the signal strength in some directions.

The old directional pattern had a significant "notch" in the direction of Charlotte, to protect analog channel 9 there from interference. If you're in the Spartanburg area or to the east, that probably explains why you couldn't get WNTV before.

jtbell

05-06-10, 12:15 PM

I live in the Greenville area ( Laurens Rd/291) and reception of WLOS (13.1, 13.2, 13.3) is very intermittent at best.

I only live a few miles from you and I generally pick up WLOS very well via antenna.

Location makes a big difference. See the TV Fool coverage map for WLOS:

http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=80&q=call%3dwlos

Zoom in on Greenville and you'll see that Paris Mountain blocks WLOS's signal significantly, in most of the area bounded by Laurens Road, I-385 and I-85, and in the area around Pleasantburg Drive north of I-385.

Even all the way down here in Clinton, I get a stronger signal from WLOS than the folks near Pleasantburg Drive do!

SpencerKarter85

05-06-10, 08:19 PM

I was trying to watch "The Vampire Diaires" on Channel 62. After they showed the station ID the screen went dark. Then a few minutes later they're broadcasting the CW feed in crude SD :mad:

Is anybody having issues with the station?

BTW I've have another complaint, why is WSPA/WYCW NOT broadcasting promos in HD?

LMckin

05-06-10, 08:20 PM

I just noticed this morning that I am getting a very strong signal from VHF 9 (SC ETV - 29). I don't recall being able to get that channel at all in the past. I have not made any changes to my antenna setup. Did something change or did I just miss it before?

I just now found SCETV channel 29 when i did a rescan i couldn`t get that channel before and i also can get channel 40 WMYA and i get good signal from channel 36 in charlotte at times. in spartanburg. with a indoor antenna.

mjb2002

05-07-10, 06:38 AM

If you are referring to the power level difference for analog VHF high and digital VHF high stations, the VHF power levels are not apple and apple compatible. Analog derived power by peak sync power (the darker the picture, the more power generated) where digital derives via average power (power level never changes no matter what the payload is).

The FCC's OEM69 was the formula used to set digital power levels and according to this (which is in dispute in many circles where it pertains to VHF high power) stations digital power levels were to equal analog power levels. On paper it works, in reality it doesn't. Since the transition, that has proven to be incorrect by a whopping 10 db! What is being found is a VHF high station at 316 kw visual ERP analog really needed around 120 kw ERP digital to equal power density between the two, not something in the teen kW region. But the FCC has decided they are finished with the digital transition of TV and has moved on to broadband and whatever deal the stations can work out among themselves, the FCC will pretty much go along with so they don't have to deal with it anymore.

In my own stations case, at 12 kw on channel 8, we had 70 mile coverage if you had an outside antenna. But if you lived as close as 7 miles to the tower (documented) with an indoor antenna, you had nothing. We had the FCC in house on the 5th day after the transition with their own equipment and they confirmed what we were seeing.

We were in the unique situation of being able to turn our pre-transition UHF (channel 35) back on that replicated our analog coverage pretty well so we could do the measurements that proved the results viewers were having with the digital VHF. On a separate track unknown to us, FOX Television also did testing in LA with KTTV RF 11 (15 kw) and KCOP RF 13 (15 kw) and asked and received power bumps to 120 kw each. That equates to roughly 10 db of power increase, the same we observed here in Greensboro. There, they didn't have other stations to interfere with as we did here so it was relatively easy for KTTV and KCOP to get those huge power increases above the max allowed in the rules for VHF high digital full power stations. In our case, to get 20 kw was going to be a challenge without about 6 stations agreeing to allow us to increase and 120 kw was out of the question under the current rules of interference if we couldn't get to 20 kw. VHF digital TV is in a mess right now with the FCC's lack of attention and just not caring about the situation.

In the end, we turned off the channel 8 transmitter and remained on channel 35. We don't have that 70 mile coverage anymore, but we have all the indoor antennas in our market in the population centers and our ratings have reflected positively to that change.

Actually, I was comparing digital low VHF & digital UHF vs digital high VHF. If you are within 50 miles of your local towers with relatively little to no obstructions, you don't need a whole lot of power to operate high VHF. However, if there is a big obstruction (like a plateau or mountain) in the path, then you will need a lot more power to operate high VHF. Low VHF and UHF both need as much power as legally possible in order to operate effectively. Even a big hill can severely weaken low VHF and UHF.

Case in point is the Augusta Road, West Rollingwood Road and East Rollingwood Road corridors in Aiken County. For example, people in Evans, Ga. get a much stronger signal from WEBA-DT than these three areas in Aiken County that is closer. WEBA's transmitters are located between Barnwell and Kline.

And yes, I agree. Digital VHF is a big mess. Thankfully, there is nothing to interfere with the channel 12 transmitter in our area.

douglasd5

05-09-10, 04:09 PM

The "look" of the new super doppler HD graphic is nice BUT I noticed something while watching it on WeatherPLUS 4.2 for the past couple of days...It appears that the radar "sweep" isn't actually "real time" at least compared to the old graphic they used...So are we seeing a completely different radar page, or are we simply seeing the new graphics under the old super doppler HD radar operation??? I'm confused...It's pretty unfortunate if we have lost the "real time" aspect of the old super doppler HD...

Doug could you possibly return the OLD version with a "real time" sweep of the super doppler HD to at least WeatherPLUS?

Douglasd5 are you around, if so can you answer this question?

Also one other thing if possible could you ask the board op to make sure that the Tornado and T Storm "watch" boxes are enabled on the "severe weather" graphic pages of WeatherPLUS?

Thanks

Bill

We are still in the process of transitioning to our new weather graphics system. Some functions remain on the old system and the radar display for weather plus is actually the Nexrad from GSP due to a data routing problem with LSD4HD. The sweep from GSP is slower on clear weather days. LSD4's sweep rarely changes but both are live. We hope to have the problem resolved this week. We have changed the base map on our radar display. The old brown map is gone.

The watch box function is included in the interactive radar feature on WYFF4.com. Just check the "Alerts" box on the right.

SnakeDoctor

05-11-10, 02:42 PM

LMckin

05-11-10, 02:52 PM

Well, today I can't get channel 9 at all. Is it out temporarily or was it temporary that I was able to get it?

I can't get it either in Spartanburg but i checked my signal strenght on my DTV converter box and it show zero signal so it maybe temporary off the air.

Apps1

05-11-10, 03:03 PM

I can't get it either in Spartanburg but i checked my signal strenght on my DTV converter box and it show zero signal so it maybe temporary off the air.

It is coming in fine here in Greenville.

LMckin

05-11-10, 03:04 PM

It is coming in fine here in Greenville.

it is back on here in Spartanburg also.

SnakeDoctor

05-11-10, 05:39 PM

OK, I got it now too. Guess it was a temporary outage.

sbennett

05-12-10, 05:48 AM

OK, I got it now too. Guess it was a temporary outage.
We are still doing some tower work that could cause some temporary outages though out the week. As long as the weather holds, the work should be compete at the end of this week.

-Shaun

Satmann

05-12-10, 10:14 AM

Always had a good signal on SCETV channel 9 here in Greeneville TN before the tower work and antenna rotation started. Not even a hint of a signal now. Looks like it might be gone for good.

Tim

sbennett

05-12-10, 08:07 PM

Always had a good signal on SCETV channel 9 here in Greeneville TN before the tower work and antenna rotation started. Not even a hint of a signal now. Looks like it might be gone for good.

Tim
Drove through your area on the way to Ohio earlier today. Unfortanitly, I believe you are no longer in our coverage area.

-Shaun

Satmann

05-13-10, 11:34 AM

Drove through your area on the way to Ohio earlier today. Unfortanitly, I believe you are no longer in our coverage area.

-Shaun

I was afraid of that. Fortunately, I can get PBS in three other markets but most of the time we watched SCETV.

Tim

dubber

05-16-10, 06:07 PM

We are still in the process of transitioning to our new weather graphics system. Some functions remain on the old system and the radar display for weather plus is actually the Nexrad from GSP due to a data routing problem with LSD4HD. The sweep from GSP is slower on clear weather days. LSD4's sweep rarely changes but both are live. We hope to have the problem resolved this week. We have changed the base map on our radar display. The old brown map is gone.

The watch box function is included in the interactive radar feature on WYFF4.com. Just check the "Alerts" box on the right.

Doug..

Thanks for your replies. I always like to make sure that I compliment you on your responsiveness here. We all appreciate you taking the time to address viewer concerns.

I am a bit of a weather-fanatic....I always was interested in everything and ANYTHING related so WeatherPLUS is the perfect source for me. I tend to flip back and forth between say News 4 and WxPLUS and last week I was able to see the engineers working on the radar issues (saw the two sweep hands on the graphic map at the same time!)

Perhaps there is a "smoothing function" on Nexrad because it doesn't look like a "real time" sweep like SD4 does.

Regarding WxPLUS...I was referring to the "Severe Weather" graphic maps on the WxPLUS service NOT those on the website...

unfortunately I don't have access to the web at home, only at work so I really count on WxPLUS service..

ALso I noticed that WxPLUS seems to have a lot of issues with "freeze ups" and data not refreshing...I'm assuming that the software runs on a PC? Perhaps that PC needs a defragmenting and clean up of old files...that might be a major reason why the issues..if this doesn't solve it perhaps just a daily reboot would be a solution?

As for now I noticed on WxPLUS that a number of the maps (looping doppler at :25 and :55 after the hour are not working "frozen" as are the severe weather graphic pages near that time...hopefully someone can get the "t storm" watch and "tornado watch" boxes working again.

I was really surprised when NBC pulled the plug on WxPLUS because it does such a good job of providing timely and detailed information on local and national weather... It is by far the best service anywhere including the NWS items. I won't tell you what I think of how NBC has "developed" The Weather Channel!

I know you guys have a lot on your plate and are always very busy with lots of engineering issues so I really appreciate it when you can take the time to address a viewers concerns, others will appreciate it as well.

Bill

douglasd5

05-17-10, 10:29 AM

Doug..

I am a bit of a weather-fanatic....I always was interested in everything and ANYTHING related so WeatherPLUS is the perfect source for me. I tend to flip back and forth between say News 4 and WxPLUS and last week I was able to see the engineers working on the radar issues (saw the two sweep hands on the graphic map at the same time!)

Perhaps there is a "smoothing function" on Nexrad because it doesn't look like a "real time" sweep like SD4 does.

Regarding WxPLUS...I was referring to the "Severe Weather" graphic maps on the WxPLUS service NOT those on the website...

unfortunately I don't have access to the web at home, only at work so I really count on WxPLUS service..

ALso I noticed that WxPLUS seems to have a lot of issues with "freeze ups" and data not refreshing...I'm assuming that the software runs on a PC? Perhaps that PC needs a defragmenting and clean up of old files...that might be a major reason why the issues..if this doesn't solve it perhaps just a daily reboot would be a solution?

As for now I noticed on WxPLUS that a number of the maps (looping doppler at :25 and :55 after the hour are not working "frozen" as are the severe weather graphic pages near that time...hopefully someone can get the "t storm" watch and "tornado watch" boxes working again.

I was really surprised when NBC pulled the plug on WxPLUS because it does such a good job of providing timely and detailed information on local and national weather... It is by far the best service anywhere including the NWS items. I won't tell you what I think of how NBC has "developed" The Weather Channel!

Bill

Bill,

We are using a different display system for radar on Weather Plus which can do both LSD4 and Nexrad sites and can be configured to display them simultaneously . It does interpolate the data so it will look a little smoother. The sweep does look different as it has a blurred trailing affect, but it's still live data.

I will pass on your observations to our Weather Department so they can look into these issues. The Weather Plus system runs on a Dell workstation class machine under Microsoft Windows. So it can get sluggish at times and the animations will stutter.

Doug

greerguy

05-18-10, 10:48 AM

D12 has now reached it's final location, and it's expected that the first 5 new national HD channels from D12 will be available in May, mostly likely at 6am ET on 5/19/2010:D:D:D:D:D

ckeegan

05-18-10, 12:12 PM

For any U-Verse users out there, I thought you'd like to know that Greenville (at least my area) was upgraded to the 32mb profile, which allows for 3HD/1SD feed, as opposed to the previous 2HD/2SD.

You have to call tech support to make the switch.

rrainwater

05-18-10, 04:59 PM

Is anyone on Charter having problems viewing the local HD channels (704, 707, 713, 721)? They have been out all day for me. Everything else is working fine.

sitedesign

05-18-10, 06:35 PM

Is anyone on Charter having problems viewing the local HD channels (704, 707, 713, 721)? They have been out all day for me. Everything else is working fine.

Having the same issue here, near furman-Paris Mountain Area.

Don F.

05-18-10, 08:47 PM

Goober96

05-18-10, 08:51 PM

Having the same issue here, near furman-Paris Mountain Area.

Same here in Anderson. Called Tech Support and they say there is no outage in the area and scheduled a technician for tomorrow.

rrainwater

05-18-10, 09:23 PM

Same here in Anderson. Called Tech Support and they say there is no outage in the area and scheduled a technician for tomorrow.

Do you have tuning adapters? I restarted my tuning adapters and it magically started working.

Trip in VA

05-18-10, 09:44 PM

Don F.

05-18-10, 10:05 PM

Yes, "signal quality", bet you already knew that... so what does it mean... ? thanks

Trip in VA

05-18-10, 10:17 PM

Signal strength is the amount of raw power of the signal coming in.

Signal quality is probably referring to the signal to noise ratio.

- Trip

gbynum

05-18-10, 11:12 PM

Is anyone on Charter having problems viewing the local HD channels (704, 707, 713, 721)? They have been out all day for me. Everything else is working fine.I watch via clear QAM. The 4.1 6:30 news was fine, 29.1 educational at 7:00 was fine, 7.1 CSI was fine at 8:00.

(Yes, I do enter them that way now ... Charter fixed the PSIP.)

SnakeDoctor

05-19-10, 09:01 AM

Recently installed an hdhomerun and I have noticed that the signal meter also measures picture quality. I may get 100% signal with a picture quality of 50%, each station is a little different, some 85% signal 90% picture quality.
I don't have the manual, so if someone could give me an idea of how picuture quality is determined, I will thank you....

Don,

The SiliconDust forum has a pretty good explination of the 3 indicators here (http://www.silicondust.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4474).

Are you using the HDHR for Cable or OTA? If OTA, do you get CW (physical channel 45)? If you do, watch the Symbol Quality % for a minute or two. Does it drop down from 100% to a very low number, for about 1 second, every 30 seconds?

Goober96

05-19-10, 12:00 PM

Do you have tuning adapters? I restarted my tuning adapters and it magically started working.

Ah, that did it. Thanks. I rebooted the Tivo last night, but didn't reset the adapter. It's great to have a forum like this to turn to since Charter phone support can't come up with these solutions. :) Thanks again!

Don F.

05-19-10, 06:00 PM

Don,

Are you using the HDHR for Cable or OTA? If OTA, do you get CW (physical channel 45)? If you do, watch the Symbol Quality % for a minute or two. Does it drop down from 100% to a very low number, for about 1 second, every 30 seconds?

Thanks for the link to the explanations... my HDHR is OTA, looking at both Atlanta, and Greenville/Spartanburg markets. the twin turners certainly beat using an A/B switch.

I get the same results as you on ch 45.... mine drops from 100% to as low as 25% about every 30 seconds but only lasts for a split second. Their signal strength is only 70% but the picture is holding steady.

SnakeDoctor

05-20-10, 07:29 AM

I get the same results as you on ch 45.... mine drops from 100% to as low as 25% about every 30 seconds but only lasts for a split second. Their signal strength is only 70% but the picture is holding steady.

Yeah, I talked to one of the engineers at CW about it and he told me it wasn't at their end and that it must be some kind of local interference near me. If you are getting Atlanta channels, you are nowhere near me yet seeing the same results. Guess that eliminates the "local interference" theory. It's not too big a deal for me although I do see glitches in the video for all CW recordings made by my HDHR. I wish I could get CW's attention and have them look into it.

eacalhoun

05-20-10, 01:38 PM

Yeah, I talked to one of the engineers at CW about it and he told me it wasn't at their end and that it must be some kind of local interference near me. If you are getting Atlanta channels, you are nowhere near me yet seeing the same results. Guess that eliminates the "local interference" theory. It's not too big a deal for me although I do see glitches in the video for all CW recordings made by my HDHR. I wish I could get CW's attention and have them look into it.

I get the same "interference" on WYCW here near Morganton, NC, and many months ago the engineer at WSPA/WYCW told me that the problem was not on his end. My normal WYCW signal strength averages 88% on my DTV Pal box, where 58% starts the cliff effect. And as other posters have stated, I get a brief split-second signal drop (down to around 16%) which causes brief pixelation and audio drop. I get this brief signal drop ONLY on WYCW. I get comparable 88% signal strength from WYFF, WSPA, and WNTV; 78% on WMYA; 70% on WGGS -- all of which are interference-free, even hi-VHF WSPA and WNTV. WLOS at 90% -- however -- has occasional interference, but their engineer said he feels it's likely due to interference around my house or neighborhood. True or not, I'm willing to buy that answer for a hi-VHF channel like WLOS - 13. However, I'm not that willing to buy the same argument on WYCW at channel 45 UHF.

Eric

Trip in VA

05-20-10, 03:41 PM

eacalhoun

05-20-10, 04:07 PM

How frequent are these drops? I remember hearing about another station with similar complaints and the problem turned out to be something in the transmitter or the exciter was being overdriven, but I can't remember what.

- Trip

Not precise -- but on average about every 30 secs. I guarantee that once you tune to WYCW, it won't be long before you see a drop or "blip". I suppose that if one is very close to the transmitter (getting a 100% signal), then the drop may go unnoticed. It would be nice to hear the experience of any posters close to the tower with 100% signal.

Eric

SnakeDoctor

05-20-10, 05:55 PM

Not precise -- but on average about every 30 secs. I guarantee that once you tune to WYCW, it won't be long before you see a drop or "blip". I suppose that if one is very close to the transmitter (getting a 100% signal), then the drop may go unnoticed. It would be nice to hear the experience of any posters close to the tower with 100% signal.

Eric

I am LOS to the tower which is 25 miles from my house. My HDHomerun shows Signal Strength, Signal Quality and Symbol Quality all at 100% all of the time except for every 30 to 31 seconds when this brief drop in Symbol Quality occurs. Based on the experience of others, I think it is fair to conclude that it is not "local interference". It happens 24/7 and FWIW, it was doing this prior to the digital transition.

Here's what happens to the picture...

176147

Don F.

05-20-10, 06:36 PM

WLOS at 90% -- however -- has occasional interference, but their engineer said he feels it's likely due to interference around my house or neighborhood. True or not, I'm willing to buy that answer for a hi-VHF channel like WLOS - 13. However, I'm not that willing to buy the same argument on WYCW at channel 45 UHF.

Eric

I must have the same interference in my neighborhood.. I get a very strong signal, upper 90's, from WLOS but still experience drop outs for no apparent reason.
On another subject, ch 7 is suppose to serve my area.. ne ga. because the "powers that be" ruled 60 years ago that we are in their dma and today must watch them on satellite and cable. I can place a phone call anywhere in the world from my car... but I can't watch tv stations from my own state via sat or cable... because I am in the Greenville dma.
I complained to the FCC about the ch 7 signal, or lack of it in n e ga. and actually got a call from the FCC this week. She was very nice and listened to my complaint. I did suggest a power increase for WSPA as they are not covering their market. Actually I don't
care about their signal, as the Atlanta CBS OTA is good (as is FOX, ABC & 17 Peach), even though I'm not in their dam dma.
Thought I would be beat this dead horse one more time....thanks

josrq

05-21-10, 03:19 PM

It seems that Charter has remapped the digital & HD channels for those not using a STB. I now get WYFF on 4.1 instead of 103.? I think they have all moved. I like it but seem to have lost FOX HD.

rrainwater

05-21-10, 07:20 PM

It seems that Charter has remapped the digital & HD channels for those not using a STB. I now get WYFF on 4.1 instead of 103.? I think they have all moved. I like it but seem to have lost FOX HD.

They didn't move them but they now include the psip data so it appears to be on 4.1 etc.

josrq

05-22-10, 08:22 AM

They didn't move them but they now include the psip data so it appears to be on 4.1 etc.

OK, I think I understand that. Thank you!

I don't use this TV that often and our main TV has a STB. Do you know when this change took place?

Are you still getting FOX-HD? If so is it on 12.1 or elsewhere ???

John

dubber

05-22-10, 04:37 PM

How frequent are these drops? I remember hearing about another station with similar complaints and the problem turned out to be something in the transmitter or the exciter was being overdriven, but I can't remember what.

- Trip

I actually was the person that brought this issue up about WLOS when they were on actually CH 53 (I think) before the migration back to VHF 13..

This issue with WYCW sounds EXACTLY like the scenario with WLOS. Although it is difficult to tell it is actually IS the same problem. Perhaps you should contact their engineering techs and inform them of the problem that WLOS had. It is possible that it is the same problem...It's certainly worth a try.

dubber

05-22-10, 05:10 PM

Bill,

We are using a different display system for radar on Weather Plus which can do both LSD4 and Nexrad sites and can be configured to display them simultaneously . It does interpolate the data so it will look a little smoother. The sweep does look different as it has a blurred trailing affect, but it's still live data.

I find this radar technology endless fascinating, I only wish I had the engineering skills to understand it all in more detail!

I know that we constantly hear about SD4HD on promos and by the weather crew but I wonder if the ordinary viewer realizes how much better your REAL TIME radar data is compared to the competitors in the GSP market?

Maybe John Cessarich could do a short newspackage about how the radar technology you have works in "laymans terms"?

I will pass on your observations to our Weather Department so they can look into these issues. The Weather Plus system runs on a Dell workstation class machine under Microsoft Windows. So it can get sluggish at times and the animations will stutter.

Doug

I would think that the Dell WC PC WXPLUS is loaded onto uses Windows XP professional ....One suggestion I would make is that often times huge amounts of old files, corrupt registry items, and the like will cause issues like you find with WXPLUS freezing up often. I would suggest that they try to download the FREE version of Mircosoft "Onecare live" . It has a mild registry cleaner that will never damage your machine, cleans up and compresses old old files and checks the COM ports as well...Its a great little utility that I have used on many Windows XP machines and has never let me down..

Also I would believe that WXPLUS uses Java for enabling of things like "looping radar" and auto updating of various various data.I have also found that old ,out of date, or corrupt Java programs will cause the freezing of things like WXPLUS...Often times Java will send you "automatic updates" for the original Java in your machine but many times it doesn't work correctly. I have found that the best thing to do is to manually delete all previous versions and updates of Java and do a manual install of the latest Java platform directly from Java.
Maybe you can pass this onto John Cessarich or the IT guys.

Bill

Trip in VA

05-22-10, 07:02 PM

I actually was the person that brought this issue up about WLOS when they were on actually CH 53 (I think) before the migration back to VHF 13..

This issue with WYCW sounds EXACTLY like the scenario with WLOS. Although it is difficult to tell it is actually IS the same problem. Perhaps you should contact their engineering techs and inform them of the problem that WLOS had. It is possible that it is the same problem...It's certainly worth a try.

I'm not familiar with the WLOS-56 problem. The problem I'd heard about was with a station in the northeast.

- Trip

dubber

05-22-10, 07:53 PM

I'm not familiar with the WLOS-56 problem. The problem I'd heard about was with a station in the northeast.

- Trip

Trip...

Somewhere in this thread probably a couple of years ago I mentioned that fact that you could see a very obvious signal strength pattern where it would seemingly fluctuate between about 10% and a full 90% in intervals that you could time very accurately..even on totally calm days with no obvious atmospheric issues, eg lightening. I also tried to move the reciver to a few different locations as well as using another DTV receiver, NOTHING changed the symptoms. I contacted WLOS and never received a clear answer to my observations and after a few months the problem was no longer occuring.

Bill

Don F.

05-22-10, 09:00 PM

I continue to have problems with WSPA covering their dma... then I noticed they operate with 25kw... isn't that a little low, I doubt they care, but wouldn't a power increase help...
I would like to have dependable singal this fall for football...

Trip in VA

05-22-10, 09:13 PM

25.7 kW is the maximum power WSPA is allowed according to FCC height/power rules. I can't find their original application, but the amendment they filed states that it was amended to reduce the power to comply with the aforementioned FCC rule.

I don't know what the interference situation is like for them or whether they'd be able to increase power with creative application of other FCC rules.

- Trip

gbynum

05-22-10, 10:16 PM

Are you still getting FOX-HD? If so is it on 12.1 or elsewhere ???

JohnElsewhere ... 21.1 where I think it is supposed to be.

josrq

05-22-10, 10:36 PM

Elsewhere ... 21.1 where I think it is supposed to be.

Thanks! I looked here yesterday and it wasn't there. It is now!

Thanks again!

douglasd5

05-23-10, 02:23 PM

I am LOS to the tower which is 25 miles from my house. My HDHomerun shows Signal Strength, Signal Quality and Symbol Quality all at 100% all of the time except for every 30 to 31 seconds when this brief drop in Symbol Quality occurs. Based on the experience of others, I think it is fair to conclude that it is not "local interference". It happens 24/7 and FWIW, it was doing this prior to the digital transition.

There are many other factors beyond signal strength to delivering a quality digital signal. Several month ago we put our backup transmitter on the air and began receiving complaints from two cable systems that said our signal was breaking up. We have at least a half dozen different receivers in addition to test equipment that did no show any problems. But since it was two different cable systems in very different geographical areas, we investigated further. Come to find out both systems were using the exact same receiver. We borrowed one of these receivers and sure enough, the output from this receiver would break up at regular intervals. We contacted our transmitter manufacturer and they had seen the problem before. It turns out there was too much sample signal going into the transmitter modulator which caused a small amount of instability in the modulator. This particular receiver could not tolerate this instability and as far as we can tell it was the only one affected. We corrected the sample signal level and the problem was fixed.

For anyone who is interested, this is a link to a good article on 8VSB. http://www.8vsb.com/WhatExactlyIs.htm The designers of the system tried to make the signal as reliable as possible given the state of technology in the early 1990's. The full payload of the 6mhz channel is 32mb and one third of that is dedicated to error correction and as we all know, that isn't always enough. You can have tons of signal strength but if the digital error rate is too high, the receiver will not decode the signal.

You can download a free version of a transport steam analyzer @ www.tsreader.com. It works with HDhomerun and other PC tuners. It doesn't tell you everything you need to know, but I think you will find it enlightening. You can see how each station is using their available bandwidth.

douglasd5

05-23-10, 02:40 PM

I would think that the Dell WC PC WXPLUS is loaded onto uses Windows XP professional ....One suggestion I would make is that often times huge amounts of old files, corrupt registry items, and the like will cause issues like you find with WXPLUS freezing up often. I would suggest that they try to download the FREE version of Mircosoft "Onecare live" . It has a mild registry cleaner that will never damage your machine, cleans up and compresses old old files and checks the COM ports as well...Its a great little utility that I have used on many Windows XP machines and has never let me down..

Also I would believe that WXPLUS uses Java for enabling of things like "looping radar" and auto updating of various various data.I have also found that old ,out of date, or corrupt Java programs will cause the freezing of things like WXPLUS...Often times Java will send you "automatic updates" for the original Java in your machine but many times it doesn't work correctly. I have found that the best thing to do is to manually delete all previous versions and updates of Java and do a manual install of the latest Java platform directly from Java.

Thanks for the tips. Finding time to defrag and perform system maintenance on the system is tough since it's in use 24/7. The system runs on XP pro but I don't think it uses Java.

dubber

05-23-10, 04:57 PM

Doug,

That article on 8VSB and ATSC was an excellent piece. I was able to comprehend quite a bit of it even though I have a limited knowledge of broadcast engineering.

So Doug ,is it true that compared to the old NTSC standard that ATSC has significantly WEAKER, (or less robust) sync and pilot signals? That is what I gathered from that read, and if so it would explain why so many consumers experience the appearance of a solid signal, yet at the same time have significant picture break up even though there is no detrimental atmospheric conditions to merit the issue?

If the above is true it would make me conclude that the DTV technology that was being developed at the time was not, and still is not really robust enough to cope with RF transmission OTA at longer distances compared to our old NTSC standard. It is too bad that the gov't hurried this transition along, it seems to me that broadcasters probably knew that the system wasn't ready for "prime time".

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Re: Use of "Defragment" and "One Care Live" utilities on the Dell WorkStation computer............

If you run each utility SEPERATELY (not at the same time) there is no reason that the PC would need to be "down" during this type of system maintenance. All programs should run as normal. Each utility will run in the background.

The One Care Live utility does need a response from the computer user as it does it work but only three or four times (prompts to load the tool and the "ok" to clean files, ect.)...but all in all it shouldn't take too long, maybe 20 minutes or so. Again all other programs running will operate as normal.

douglasd5

05-23-10, 06:32 PM

Doug,

That article on 8VSB and ATSC was an excellent piece. I was able to comprehend most of it even though I have a limited knowledge of broadcast engineering.

So Doug is it true that compared to the old NTSC standard that ATSC has significantly WEAKER, (or less robust) sync and pilot signals . That is what I gathered from that read, and if so it would explain why so many consumers experience the appearance of a solid signal, yet at the same time have significant picture break up even though there is no detrimental atmospheric conditions to merit the issue?

If the above is true it would make me conclude that the DTV technology that was being developed at the time was not, and still is not really robust enough to cope with RF transmission OTA at longer distances compared to our old NTSC standard. It is too bad that the gov't hurried this transition along, it seems to me that boradcasters probably knew that the system wasn't ready for "prime time".

It's a complex issue, but at the end of the day it is about viewer experience. DTV is different and when stations change channels as we did, viewers have problems and resent the change and want to blame it all on digital. I wouldn't categorically say it's weaker or less robust. There are obvious advantages to digital television too. The difference is viewers would tolerate signal fades and poor quality analog signals (noise, ghosts etc.) since you could still see and hear even if very marginal at times. No doubt, the cliff affect of digital is more annoying. A better antenna would have improved analog reception and eliminated or at least greatly reduced those analog problems, the same problems that push digital over the cliff. It's just that the cliff affect is more objectionable.

Digital television works. I know our signal has been received 90 miles from the transmitter site and that's pretty good for 600Mhz. If you research the history of the development of digital television, you will find that those involved (the Grand Alliance) used the best technology available at the time and it was the best system that could be developed considering the limitations they had to work with. They didn't have mpeg 4 then and if they were doing it now the transport stream would no doubt be mpeg 4 rather than mpeg 2. Does that mean it was rushed? No, it doesn't. You have to come to the point where you finalize a design and bring the product to market. The first digital receivers were horrible and if that technology hadn't improved, the transition to digital would have been a train wreck. The difference between first generation receivers and the receivers of today is dramatic.

Sending out a high quality digital signal is a very complex task for the broadcaster. There are many things that can impair the signal before it gets to you and we're still learning and purchasing test equipment to ensure the highest quality transmitted signal possible. Once it leaves the transmitting antenna, we lose control. Not all current receivers are created equal and some are not as good as others. So consumers who purchased inferior receivers will have more problems as will those with inferior antennas. And unfortunately no one has control over atmospheric conditions.

Digital television requires new skills for the broadcaster and the viewer. Change is hard to accept for some, but in my opinion the advantages of DTV outweigh the disadvantages. Who would want to go back to fuzzy 4x3 images?

dubber

05-23-10, 08:25 PM

Doug....

I certainly DON'T want to return to the "old fuzzy, low res NTSC"......and you are correct that if the change was going to happen specs and details on equipment had to be finalized at some point...My only arguement would be that because technology in this era evolves so quickly that perhaps it would have been advantageous to have delayed things a bit longer....perhaps the mpeg-4 generation would have more closely matched the robustness of NTSC as far as some of the critical aspects of creating a more stable signal platform are concerned...would this be a correct observation? Would that have matched NTSC signal stability? I'm curious.

Again since I am NOT...let me repeat, NOT an engineer of any kind I am just pondering the scenarios and making my own personal observations from my limited knowledge. Hope you don't mind.

Thanks again for all your insight and knowledge.

Bill

PS: all I need to do is look at my SD DirecTV 480i line res display and then compare it to my OTA signal at 1080i from WYFF4 and I definitely don't want to just look at the old stuff. (-;...

That is why I am so pro OTA local stations because essentially the viewer can get the highest quality broadcasts for FREE.
It's so important to patronize local advertisers that support local TV stations as well!