On another note, I talked to Lou at KWKT-FOX in Waco again today. We had a pretty good conversation, he was actually rather informative and understanding. However, it's not looking good for FOX-HD here in Aggieland. :( I was mainly interested in what constituted full power for their new transmitter, since, as I explained, we still could not receive KWKT-DT here and it appeared the FCC had them at 1000kw. He said the 1000kw is for channel 44 when they transition to analog cutoff, and for now the FCC only allows 300kw on the channel 57 DT antenna. The bad news, if it really matters for us, is he has learned that channel 57 is also used by a Houston area (Baytown?) station operating at 5000kw. Now, I'm not sure offhand just why that affects Waco, but he implied that because of this the FCC is considering making KWKT-DT drop their power even more, down to 200kw!!
I even had you Cox lovers in mind. :p I quizzed him about Cox picking up their signal, and he informed me that he had talked to Cox about putting something (a dish?) on Cox's tower to get it, but Cox didn't want to do it. We both agreed the HD situation here was frustrating, being sort of in a no-man's-land. He said it was for them too, since throughout their corporation they have spent several $million on HD and don't feel like they get any return on the expense.

that kind of sucks about cox not wanting to put whatever dish on their tower, did lou know what cox wanted to do as far as getting the signal down here? sounds like another round of emails to the cox reps is in order.

Well, I wasn't sure if I should mention it, but he said something about Cox maybe trying to get another FOX-HD feed (read out-of-market). You can imagine what a can of worms THAT would open up! :confused:
Oh, and just for grins, I called KXXV again, too. Yadda, yadda, yadda!! :mad:

hmm definately interesting.... the only other one i could see would be houston or possibly austin (but that would be doubtful). I bet it has to do with the fact that wako fox also does WB programming (atleast i remember them doing something like that). And maybe cox is looking for a full 24x7 fox-hd feed. Wouldnt that be sweet if cox gave a big middle finger to wako and added the rest of the stations from houston? ;) (I wouldnt shed a tear if that happened, but something tells me wako fox and abc would.... they can keep kcen, imo they are overall better with hd than kprc, in fact overall i would say kcen is the best local channel sans pbs, that actually switches to the right feed usually, especially with reruns.... kbtx is really really bad about switching to the hd feed sometimes)

Good info Sid! Did Lou mention if they will ever do anything with KYLE's digital signal; even at cutoff time? I can see them finally boosting the power and tower, but network Fox still saying no to the splicer. We need to start putting odds on the different Fox scenarios. Winner gets paid in feet of coax.

Fox OTA via KYLE - 1000:1
Waco/Bryan lil on D* - 100:1
KWKT on Cox - 50:1
Out of market Fox on Cox - 25:1
Fox via Verizon - 25:1
Houston lil on D* - 10:1

Fox OTA via KYLE (at a power we could actually have a hope to get) - 10000:1
Waco/Bryan lil on D* - 50:1
KWKT on Cox - 50:1
Out of market Fox on Cox - 25:1
Fox via Verizon - 25:1
Houston lil on D* - 20:1

I have no doubt D* will be the first to offer "locals" but the big question is can b/cs people get them (which is why its a higher odd IMO). Just look at trying to call D* now as a new sub and getting houston locals... its next to impossible. I could see them wiping out all "houtson" locals here when they have HD-LIL and then its back to OTA only until D* gets waco feeds.

And labman.... call abc again and ask about cox ;)

On the phase III DVR's I was reading in the HDTV Recorders forum and COX Orange County has the PIII boxes now so maybe there is hope.

And labman.... call abc again and ask about cox ;)
I'm saving the rest of my minutes to call my Mom this week. :D

well spank... i made it. Harmony 880 ships this friday at the latest from bluedo. $174 before shipping (8 bucks) so a heads up for anybody else waiting for the Harmony 880.

I just wanted to give a quick update on my signal reception for the Houston locals. I just finished watching the entire episode of Smallville WITHOUT A SINGLE signal break in HD and Dolby Digital 5.1. This is one of my favorite shows that I have been unable to watch because of a commitment I have on Wednesday nights. I'm so glad the WB has moved it Thursday night at 7! I am currently tuned into KRIV FOX 26 and the O.C. in HD and DD 5.1. I've never really seen the O.C. but hey, everything looks great in HD! I continue to have great reception in the evening hours (5 PM and later). I also get great reception in the morning. My wife is excited that Good Morning America will be shifting to HD this fall. Happy HDTV viewing!

OK, but can you get KNWS, 51-1!?!? :D JK, glad you are enjoying your gear. Hope your results stay with you. I haven't really gotten into "OC", but I hear there are parts of the show that "look good"! ;)

OK, but can you get KNWS, 51-1!?!? :D JK, glad you are enjoying your gear. Hope your results stay with you. I haven't really gotten into "OC", but I hear there are parts of the show that "look good"! ;)

Thats what we have las vegas for.. ;)

Now that Jonnyb99 has a "smaller" antenna pulling in houstons like he is wonder what the odds are that dave (who should live pretty close) will be "changing" his configuration. ;)

Unless D* kills my FOX & ABC feeds, I'm not moving that antenna. I don't watch WB or UPN, so it doesn't really matter to me.

I think antenna reception also has to do with the receiver. Maybe his receiver just picks the signal better than the HD-Tivo. Who knows.

update on cox... looks like the rebuild is somewhat done.

http://texags.com/main/forum.reply.asp?topic_id=464452&forum_id=35&page=&opt=post

trying to verify if unihd is online though.... those channels are the new "added" extended basic channels but I dont have them yet on my box but as i posted in the thread the trucks have been in my area alot the past 2 weeks working on the boxes (not adding line like they have been in the past). So hopefully its a matter of time.

Jonnyb, glad to see another Smallville junkie on here. I'm still a season behind with the HDNet repeats. Do you have a picture of your 4228 setup? I'm interested to see what it looks like up in the air. Maybe its a little more discrete than my old orange Televes.

BTW, I got a letter from D* today. Looks like they're cutting off my LA HD feeds, and only giving me the NY ones starting Aug 25. That means I'll lose NBC-HD West and ABC-HD West. No biggie, but it was nice to have both to avoid recording conflicts.

Brian

Jag....univ should be online now if they are done rebuilding your area. I have had it for a month or so.

Yeah, yeah....I dropped dish in favor of cox. I was able to get 2 hddvr's and my internet for about 20 buxs less than I was paying for dish and cox together, and that was with no hd dvrs. Sorry for everyone wanting to hop on my account at dish.

BTW, anyone want to make an offer on a dish 6000 and dish 501 (no pvr fee).

the 6000 sucks for a reason..... and its good to know i have a friend here again. :)

that sucks i dont have the upgraded network yet (mine hasnt updated yet)

Too bad my bulb in my X1 took a crap the other night. It only had about 550 hours on it. Its almost impossible to watch TV now on my 3500+ hour bulb.

Anyone want to buy an X1 with an old bulb. Need to start my plasma fund .... only $1800 more dollars to go.

plasma is for eeeeeediots.... front projector forever. :)

I have to at least partially agree with you, Jag, projection (front or rear) gives the most bang for the buck! ;)

On another note, I have a contact at Verizon, and I asked him recently about the plan for fios service in B/CS. He said it's been kicked around a lot, but no definite plans have been made for starting on it. He thinks they will start putting the system in within a year, and it may take up to a year after that to get actual sevice started. I know, it still is rather vague info, just passing along to those of you "chomping at the bit" for this service.

Elspankdog --
here are a few pics of my antenna setup. I have two ten foot masts bolted together so there's no need for guy wire. The tripod is bolted directly to the roof and the cable runs from the antenna, down and out the mast and into a roof vent leading into my attic. The total cable run is about 40 feet. It's not the most inconspicuous antenna around, but I love the results I am getting. Thursday night was my first time to watch Smallville in HD OTA and it was awesome!

Elspankdog --
here's one more pic of my setup.

yep that thing sticks out worse than sids tower... ;)

Now that is public art! Did Joe Smith do that piece? ;) How has it done in high wind?

Believe it or not, I installed it all by myself :) . I had a smaller Winegard antenna mounted for several months, so when I installed the CM 4228 I was a little concerned about its durability during inclement weather. The CM 4228 is heavier and bulkier, but I have not had a single problem during inclement weather. Are you thinking about setting one up?

Well, with the success you and AB2 from texags have mentioned of late, the idea of moving my setup back outside has crossed my mind. My tower is still up (need some help to take that monstrosity down) so I could use it again, or I could possibly just mount something on the roof on the back of the house. That way, it wouldn't be so noticeable from the front of the house. I'll lose some height going that route though. Just imagine a Televes or a CM 4228 stack on the roof (but below the crown) to the right of the tower. That's where I moved the dishes so it already looks like a communications center in the back center of the roof.
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/502/medium/39552Tower_004.jpg

now wheres that voom photoshop when you need it...

Rumor is ESPN2-HD will launch 9-8 on D*. :)
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=251536

if true would make sense with all the reduction in bw lately on D*. Guess they got tired of waiting for the mpeg4 stuff. (granted this is a D* rumor and we all know how accurate those have been)

I am actually suprised it took them this long (I expected when they added espnu that the 2HD would have been added at the same time)

And the guy who posted the rumor conviently ignored the pq reduction stuff when people posted the d/fw link.... that was pretty funny. He owned himself with his spouting off that there are no bw problems at D*.

If you have problems picking up KWKT-DT....
FOX (KTBC) in Austin did a signal upgrade today (56-1). Full power is/will be 1000kw.

Since today is the first day of the upgrade, engineers may still be testing at different ERP levels.

Might be strong enough so that Killeen, Temple, Belton, area can pick up with an outside antenna.

interesting.... shame almost nobody from the temple/waco/killeen/belton area posts here.

I wonder if maybe cox was waiting for this feed to go high power... time will tell I guess. I still would suspect they add houston stations over austin station (mainly because they have that quasi agreement with abc in houston)

Well, no luck here yet. :(

I've had some problems with my cox cable ever since I got it hooked up. Randomly, actually when it rains, my upper channels go out.

After three service calls, new cabling in the house, they finally sent a line tech out. We started looking at the line going between the poles, and discovered some sections full of shotgun shot pellets. Some idiot must have been shooting at a squirrel, etc. and filled the line full of shot. When it rains it starts to short out, and screw up my signal.

Should be stringing a new line today, so we'll see if my instability goes away. I have had nothing but problems with my cable, and hopefully this will fix it.

They did try to splice it and just move the tap down the line past the shot, but after trying it once, they discovered more shots further down the line. damn rednecks.

hah.... stupid rednecks ;) (how far out do you live that people would actually be shooting off shotguns?)

and yeah Ive had 0 problems with my channels (actually been more reliable that dbs in rain) once I got my splitter issue fixed with KCEN. I havent noticed a single dropout for more than a second (it will flicker when lightnig strikes close to the house) but thats it so far.

BTW I mean to ask you if your on the extended basic + digital gateway package or did you go straight to digital cable?

I live out on Cain road just across the tracks from Koppe bridge (well within the city limits).

They had the line done when I got home for lunch and it fixed my problem.

I have extended basic + digital gateway. I was unaware that you could just get digital gateway. If you did that, what about all the lower channels? I don't think you can get just digital channels. If you could that would be great. The channels lower than 70 something look like piss compared to my old satellite.

no i have the same package.... but i was seriously contemplating going to full digital cable because its not that much more. But to add digital it would only be ~10 bucks more (digital cable is like 15 more but you can drop the "digital gateway" fee). Digital Cable gives you all the digital channels (70+) and the analog ones and the HDTV stuff.

I do hear you can get the basic package + digital gateway but thats just 2-20.

As far as the analog channel quality.... analog on my system is about the same PQ wise (cant compare it to digital cable). Some channels are better (FX, SCIFI). It does have more noise in the picture but overall on my projector its much sharper of an image (which i prefer over the blurry dbs signals from dish/direct Ive had in the past).

Im still going to stick with the analog + digital gateway for the moment though because Im under that deal but when it expires I am going to seriously consider going to full digital cable.

After three service calls, new cabling in the house, they finally sent a line tech out. We started looking at the line going between the poles, and discovered some sections full of shotgun shot pellets. Some idiot must have been shooting at a squirrel, etc. and filled the line full of shot. When it rains it starts to short out, and screw up my signal.....
.......They did try to splice it and just move the tap down the line past the shot, but after trying it once, they discovered more shots further down the line. damn rednecks.
Uhh, they didn't happen to get a description of the "perpatrayter's", did they? :D

Uhh, they didn't happen to get a description of the "perpatrayter's", did they? :D

they were probably disgruntled D* users... ;)

well billgates... looks like tonight will be a prime time to test that new line and see if they got all the redneck out.

Hey, jag, are you gonna' help that guy on texags with the projector question or not? :p

ill answer tomorrow.... im being occupied atm setting up my 880.

I guess I am still confused. I have all the digital channels, hd channels, except any premium channels. If you go "full digital" wont you loose the lower channels, and not replaced with digital equivilent ones.

The new line works great....now I just need to get a bulb. I can't do HD justice at 1/4th the brightness. You guys think if I get one of those gazillion candle power spotlights and somehow funnel the light through my color wheel, it would work?

I am however, getting some breakups on NBCHD. Is cox getting this signal OTA?

i am too right now.... its does that every so often.

As for your digital question, you have full digital cable (sans movie networks) if you have all the digital channels (and thus dont need the digital gateway anymore). There is a slightly cheaper way to get extended basic + digital gateway (which i currently have, gives you 1-70 and the digital gateway gives you the HD channels). Its a bit cheaper than full digital cable.

plasma is for eeeeeediots....

...and for people with bad@ss pools. :cool: Question is, who gets the old 50" from mikey once he gets that 60", the son or tha dog? Somebody already got the go-cart, so I think it's my turn.

Hey, jag, are you gonna' help that guy on texags with the projector question or not? :p


Happy Labman? ;)

...and for people with bad@ss pools. :cool: Question is, who gets the old 50" from mikey once he gets that 60", the son or tha dog? Somebody already got the go-cart, so I think it's my turn.


Hah... we all knew this was coming.

I havent heard that he was wanting the 60". If I only had 7G's lying around I could get it. I think that is the only size I could go to after a 110" FP. Maybe I should sell the Caddy from underhim to pay for a new TV. I still havent been able to pry the unused mitsu from his hands.

Uh-Huh...everybody wants a free lunch. :cool:

Did anybody get "the letter" from D*? It's the one about them taking away my West coast feeds and having to subscribe to the locals in order to continue getting the NY HD ABC and NBC feeds. If I remember correctly, once you go with "the locals" then you give up your waivers forever. I wonder if the new rule now allows me to get ABC/NBC NY feeds without the waivers IF I sign up for locals? Also, does the HR10-250 support the local sat dish? If anybody understands all this SHVERA BS and what this letter means to me, please speak up and educate me.

Currently I don't have locals, and I have ABC and NBC waivers, and I get both east and west coast. I get CBS OTA. I don't/can't get FOX.

Yeah, we got the letter. It basically just means there will be no more East and West feeds together, only one or the other. In our case, since we are in the Central Time Zone, we will get only the East feed if we qualify for any kind of national feed. I'm not sure about the signing up for locals part, since most of us are already signed up for Houston locals. I would assume the HD-Tivo supports the extra local dish.

I got the letter, but mine didn't say anything about having to subscribe to locals. I guess that is because I already have Houston locals. You might want to check out this thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=564289). I think somebody mentions the having to subscribe to locals thing somewhere in there. I thought you could pick one or the other, DNS or locals, but I'm not sure anymore. As for the HD-TiVo, it will work with the B/CS locals, but you'll need a second dish and a special multiswitch. D* should provide this free of charge.

I called D* today to get the good or bad news about "the letter". They told me that:

1. I HAD to subscribe to the locals to continue to get the ABC/NBC HD NY feeds.

2. That I would not loose my waivers (gold plated) if I subscribe to the locals.

3. That I had to have the waivers to continue to get ABC/NBC from NY.

4. That they would request FOX and NBC waivers as well, and that my chances were improved of getting them since I was going to subscribe to the locals also.

5. That they would install extra dish for free.

6. That they would replace my old Sony sat receiver with a new one that supports locals. I may not do this because my Sony has an RF remote that I DO use in other parts of the house and by the pool. Not sure what I am going to do with this problem yet since the replacement does not have an RF remote.

7. They PROMISED me that I would not loose my golden waivers by subscribing to the locals.

8. They said that I could send an email at a link shown at www.directv.com\shriva to ask why we are loosing the West coast feeds. According to my understanding of the law, no one is permitted to receive broadcast EARLER than what is available in their time zone, but is OK to receive it later. Looks like D* is mis-interpreting this to their own advantage somehow. West coast is not that big of a deal to me, but it comes in handy sometimes.

If anyone knows different from the above, please post.

Mikey

Well I believe that Harmony is going to unveil a remote similar to the 880 with RF capabilities later this year. Who knows when it will hit the streets though, and at what price. Sounds like you got a lot of good news there. Hope it all holds true.

I called D* today to get the good or bad news about "the letter". They told me that:

1. I HAD to subscribe to the locals to continue to get the ABC/NBC HD NY feeds.

2. That I would not loose my waivers (gold plated) if I subscribe to the locals.

3. That I had to have the waivers to continue to get ABC/NBC from NY.

4. That they would request FOX and NBC waivers as well, and that my chances were improved of getting them since I was going to subscribe to the locals also.

7. They PROMISED me that I would not loose my golden waivers by subscribing to the locals.


Mikey

Very interesting. I've never heard from anyone that you HAD to have the locals to get the distant nets. In fact, I would say the general opinion out there is that is the opposite of the truth. (Although, I do have ABC and NBC distants and local channels.)

IF you get lucky for some reason and pull off the Fox distant, please give a big shout out to all of us. I've been scared to request the process for a waiver from them in fear of losing the ones I already have (or locals).

Michael

Now might be a good time to call KWKT-FOX in Waco and ask Lou (chief engineer) about maybe getting a waiver for just HD. He may not think you can get one for just HD, but it is worth a shot. He seemed pretty sympathetic to our situation last time I talked to him, but I did not press him on any waivers at the time. If several of us call and whine about not getting Cowboy's games in HD maybe he will budge. :rolleyes:

Mikey -

I would wait about two weeks and then call to check on your waiver status. Sometimes if you don't call them, they'll never let you know or it will take forever.

Very interesting. I've never heard from anyone that you HAD to have the locals to get the distant nets. In fact, I would say the general opinion out there is that is the opposite of the truth. (Although, I do have ABC and NBC distants and local channels.)

Michael

YEP...that's what was bothering me. The letter says:

"Action you need to take in order to continue receiving your NY or LA feeds:
* Before August 25, you must switch to a DIRECTV package that includes local channels in order to continue receiving the digital (HD) network feeds authorized in your time zone."

Other B.S.....
"While this was not our decision, we feel it is our responsibility to keep our customers informed. Thank you so much for your patience. We invite you to keep an eye out this fall for some exciting leaps forward in our HDTV offerings.

F.U. Sincerely and Vigorously,
DIRECTV"

In a way though, I would see that as a positive. My worry has been all along that I would have to choose one over the other. They are essentially saying that you can have both at the same time. I think it sucks I can no longer have the west coast feed. During college football season, that generally gave me 3 out of the four ABC regional games on Saturdays (ABC E/W DNS and local ABC). I guess beggars can't be choosers though.

I imagine, if I didn't want local channels that this situation would piss me off. However, I have to have the local feeds to get Fox and PBS as I don't have an antenna that picks them up (my only ota is KBTX through a silver sensor in the attic).

If you get Fox...count me in on getting a receiver on your account.

Yes, it could turn out to be a positive if I can now get the FOX and (un-needed) CBS HD feeds. I am still skeptical about signing up for the locals and affecting my golden waivers.

I still don't buy the fact that SHEVRA laws are responsible for us not getting the West coast feeds. The law seems to only apply to the West coast not getting the earlier East coast feed. Getting too much information before they can handle it....

If you get Fox...count me in on getting a receiver on your account.


Flip-flopper..... :p

I'll start calling you JAG JR.

nobody can match me..... its umpossible.

Howdy all --
I've got a question that I believe y'all will be able to answer for me. I understand that D* will be using spot beam technology to deliver HD LIL's. I currently subscribe to the DFW locals using my parents address. Will I be unable to receive the DFW HD LIL's because I'm so far away from the Metroplex? Thanks in advance for the help!

I think the D/FW spotbeam is within our area. Now getting them to install the dish and new receiver in B/CS is another story. All of us "movers" will have to deal with that eventually.

The present spot beams cover a pretty large area. When they switch to the new technology, nobody is sure if they will be able to shrink them. I rather doubt they will be able to by much. If you are receiving the Dallas locals now, which are delivered via spotbeam, I would think you should be OK for MPEG4 HD locals, so long as you are able to overcome the same equipment installation obstacle facing us. ;)

Thanks guys for the info. I didn't realize that DFW LIL's were on spot beam right now. I had read somewhere that spot beam technology has a radius of 300 miles, so I figured I would be okay.

http://www.scottandmichelle.net/scott/spots1.png

Not sure how accurate this map is. Here's the site (http://www.scottandmichelle.net/scott/dtv.html) I got it from.

Brian

Yes!!! Check out the Harmony page. You can now reorder activities!

i was just about to post that elspank... but its not an issue for me (only have 4 activities on my whole system).

If only HK would listen and offer changes as fast as Harmony did this.

for those that never jumped on the harmony 880 bandwagon, now's the time. (this price wont last long so if you want in you better hurry)
http://www.onsale.com/onsale/
they have the harmony at $155 (plus ~9 shipping)

Sorry labman I couldnt make your party last night (right before I was about to leave my parents called me and said the family dog was very sick and they were putting him down (since I grew up here and still live here I went over to be with the dog for his last hours... we really need to get a cell phone listing going or somthing). Anyways hope you had a good 50th and I can now finally unveil your new handle.... "oldmansid"

Like any of our cell phones work out at Sid's. ;) Just so you know, oldmansid got a Maytag Skybox for his B-Day. I guess you can go ahead and take the one back you got him jag.

I saw that price on the 880 in the Club Member section. I wonder if my 30 day period is up at BB.

damn, guess its time to go get my money back.... seriously though i bet he gets alot of use from that (provided its for the theater). Personally Id rather have a real mini fridge but that skybox is cool in its own right.

Yep, it's right next to the SVS. The Skybox is just slightly larger. Sucks that they don't have A&M skins for it unless you get some custom made.

yeah that and they are too expensive over a real mini fridge.... thats my next purchase for my theater is going to be a mini fridge to put in my closet to store drinks for my theater.

BTW... (as if anybody cared). Overall I like the 880... does still have a few issues (when you press the media button you cant use any of the hard buttons and have to "exit" the media section before you can... really limits the value of the media button and not having the ability to add pictures to any lcd button... for example would be nice to make the "recorded program" listing with a nice icon so its easier to see than its current "PVR list" that I call it now.)

Hopefully they'll enable custom LCD buttons in the future like they enabled organizing activities. Does the click of the transport buttons annoy you still or have you been desensitized to that yet?

i never had a problem with the transport buttons.... i did every so ofter hit the skip and replay buttons instead of ff/rw but ive pretty much gotten used to them now. or you talking about the u/d/l/r buttons? if so havent had a problem with those either. Once in a while the left wont register right but it hasnt happened at all other than the first day.

BTW labman.... I had a thought next time you call fox. I was thinking about your comment that fox looks worse on cable than the local ota. I was wondering if its the source provided to cox (and maybe why they are pissed off) that they are looking to go elsewhere for fox-hd. Because fox is bad on cox and always has been.

Hey guys. I am kinda new to the forum and this is my first post to this thread. Looks like we really have a valuable resource for the local area. I have a couple of questions so I will try and tap into that resource.
1. I am building a new house, which we move into next week. After looking at all the options I think I am going to go with D*. The current offer directly from D* is 3 rooms with one HD receiver for $199.00. Should I go with their deal or do you recommend and of the local dealers?
2. Do these package deals usually include new equipment or do I need to watch out for older refurbs?

Thanks in advance and please if you have any other advice for a newbie let me know!!

local dealers suck here imo (go through directv directly).... and you should get new equipment. Be sure to invest as little as possible in D* right now as they are in a state of big changes in their hardware dept.

D* is eventually supposed to start offering free HD-DVR equipment after the mpeg4 conversions but thats a year or so off. If they add locals by then and have free equipment I will probably switch over (provided cox hasnt added fox and abc by then because theres no question in the HD dept cox blows away any dbs provider atm).

Is an HD-DVR not an issue for you? (HD just isnt the same w/o a dvr of some type) You might look at getting the HDtivo and try to talk them down with credits (should run ~450 after credits).... cox is much cheaper alternative, which is the main reason Im with cox currently because you get the dvr for what it costs for regular HD D* service. My plan is to wait until the D* stuff gets sorted out and then look at all the providers (although as it stands right now if (and thats a very big if) D* plays their cards right it will be hard to argue against them with the capacity they will be adding... but other stuff like price is going to come in)

peteo, does your new house have access to cable? If so, you might consider Cox until more HD options are available on sat. You might also call DirecTV and tell them you can get a HD-DVR from cable pretty cheaply, and see if they offer you a better deal. I highly recommend a DVR in some flavor, whether HD or not, also. Any equipment you get should be new, but there are no guarantees. Welcome to HD-Hell!! http://www.emotipad.com/newemoticons/Sorry.gif

yeah that and they are too expensive over a real mini fridge.... thats my next purchase for my theater is going to be a mini fridge to put in my closet to store drinks for my theater.
A mini fridge is soooo, well, mini!! Opening a door for a cold one is too much trouble now. Just push a button. http://www.emotipad.com/newemoticons/Cheers.gif
Oh, and my wife knows how to find a deal, too!! Besides, she knows I'm worth it! http://www.emotipad.com/newemoticons/Dance.gif

i was wondering why it took you this long to post again.... she musta really tired you out.

and the main reason i want a mini fridge is for the ability to store more than just drinks.

Guys --
Football season is here! Although I wasn't too excited about the matchup, MNF looked great in HD on KTRK ABC 13. I flipped back and forth between KTRK and ABCE on D* and could tell a slight difference in picture quality. KTRK was more crisp. The next HD game is Thursday night on ESPN!

Peteo, some Best Buys are offering the D* H10 HD receiver free after rebate right now, but I'm not sure if ours is one of those participating stores. Also, do you plan on "moving" in order to receive some HD network feeds if going the satellite route?

JonnyB, I didn't know you got ABC-E through D*. Are you in H-town or do you have a waiver?

Peteo --
where is your new house? The reason I ask is you may want to install an OTA antenna. I live in College Station about 1 mile south of Texas A&M and I recently installed a Channel Master 4228 antenna with a Channel Master 7778 preamp and I have had great results in receiving the Houston locals OTA. There is a lot of HDTV to be had for free! Some might disagree, but I recommend D*. I had E* in the past and I wasn't impressed. I also had Voom, and I really miss it, but I enjoy D*. I believe there will be some neat things happening in HD at D* within six months.

Elspankdog --
when I "moved" to DFW I requested HD DNS waivers. That was about two months ago. I never received anything in the mail, but I called D* last week and told them I had received a card saying I was eligible to receive HD DNS. After putting me on hold for a few seconds, the CSR came back on the line saying I was eligible to receive CBS, ABC, and FOX! I was fired up! She turned them on for me right over the phone! I honestly don't understand the whole DNS eligibility thing, but I'm not complaining. I only receive the east coast feeds, but I'll take it!

its very hit or miss in this town though... i live about 2 miles south of tamu and with my televes and 7778 amp I never got anything but CBS(houston), NBC reliably. WB was spotty and UPN/FOX/ABC were pretty much nonexistant.

Jonny, I'm confused too. I thought you would be getting the DFW O&O feeds; not true DNS. DFW is great, but ABC's not an O&O there. How the heck are you getting that? I thought NBC was O&O in DFW as well.

Houston O&O = ABC and Fox
DFW O&O = CBS, Fox, and NBC
Austin O&O = CBS, Fox

If I can't get MPEG4 gear after the switch (which I really think I'll be able to do), I'm "moving" to Austin for Fox at least.

Looks like dish is following in DirecTV's footsteps.... really a bad day for all dbs IMO (even if they are prepping new channels it shouldnt be at the cost of existing channels PQ). I dont think we have any more E* users except that one texags guy but its noteworthy information.

Animation HD: (Rez)1920x1080i (Average Video)16.79 mbps (Audio)5.1 384 kbps
Discovery HD Theater: (Rez)1920x1080i (Average Video)15.93 mbps (Audio)5.1 384 kbps
Equator HD: (Rez)1920x1080i (Average Video)16.89 mbps (Audio)5.1 384 kbps
ESPN HD: (Rez)1280x720p (Average Video)9.91 mbps (Audio)2.0 256 kbps
Gallery HD: (Rez)1280x1080i (Average Video)9.15 mbps (Audio)5.1 384 kbps
GuyTV HD: (Rez)1280x1080i (Average Video)9.06 mbps (Audio)5.1 384 kbps
HBO-HD(110): (Rez)1920x1080i (Average Video)9.50 mbps (Audio)5.1 384 kbps
Dish HD Demo: (Rez)1920x1080i (Average Video)16.40 mbps (Audio)2.0 384 kbps
HDNet: (Rez)1920x1080i (Average Video)16.87 mbps (Audio)5.1 384 kbps
HDNet Movies: (Rez)1920x1080i (Average Video)17.15 mbps (Audio)5.1 384 kbps
Majestic HD: (Rez)1280x1080i (Average Video)12.24 mbps (Audio)5.1 384 kbps
Monsters HD: (Rez)1920x1080i (Average Video)17.49 mbps (Audio)5.1 384 kbps
HDNews: (Rez)1280x1080i (Average Video)11.24 mbps (Audio)5.1 384 kbps
Rave HD: (Rez)1280x1080i (Average Video)14.18 mbps (Audio)5.1 384 kbps
Rush HD: (Rez)1280x1080i (Average Video)14.34 mbps (Audio)5.1 384 kbps
Showtime HD(110): (Rez)1920x1080i (Average Video)9.91 mbps (Audio)5.1 384 kbps
TNT HD: (Rez)1920x1080i (Average Video)14.63 mbps (Audio)5.1 448 kbps
Ultra HD: (Rez)1920x1080i (Average Video)17.02 mbps (Audio)5.1 384 kbps

source: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=568085

Thanks for all the info guys. I will go ahead and call Cox and see how they compare. We are moving to Castlegate and I just happen to have a TALL two story so I might get some luck with the antenna??

Castlegate is one of the higher areas in CS. That's why the water tower is at GP and Hwy 6.

You might have good luck getting Houston out there. Especially with your house being two-stories.

cox will depend on how much programming you want....

the cheapest option (what i currently have) is to get "extended basic" (~40) + "digital gateway" ($5) + HD-DVR ($15). This gets you the equivalent to total choice (they dont have as many "filler" channels like dbs does but its all analog but the same PQ as dish/directv). But Im probably going to upgrade to full digital cable (about $10 more) which is equivalent to total choice plus.... I am under a special deal atm (extended basic for $25) so it they probably are running a similar deal to give you less charges for a few months.

Here is COX channel lineups... http://www.cox.com/texas/includes/systems/sys-brya-reb.asp

LMK what you find out.... I still have a week or two before its time for my call.

The upgraded network should have been completed in your area so you will have access to UniversalHD.... still havent completed it in my area yet.


On the antenna side you should be able to get somewhat reliable signals out there... dave is pretty close to where you live (about a mile or two north of your area) so what he gets is about what you will see.

Elspankdog --
can you explain what Owned & Operated means for different affiliates? Are you saying that I should be able to get HD DNS feeds for CBS, FOX, and NBC, but not ABC?

O&O means that the station in that town is actually owned by the network and not some independent party. Since they own the station in that area, they'll give you a distant feed they also own because the advertising revenue from both stations all goes to the same pot. They don't care which one you watch. If your "address" is still in DFW, you shouldn't have to submit waivers for the 3 O&O networks I mentioned in that area. They should have blanket waivers on file for those stations and just give you the NY feeds. I guess D* submitted waivers to the local stations and based on the "address" you gave them, the "local" ABC deemed that you couldn't get their signal and were eligible for DNS. So I guess you get ABC-HD East and West? In B/CS, the local ABC doesn't seem to be granting waivers anymore. I have waivers from way back. I'm a long time D* humper.

Elspankdog --
when I "moved" to DFW I requested HD DNS waivers. That was about two months ago. I never received anything in the mail, but I called D* last week and told them I had received a card saying I was eligible to receive HD DNS. After putting me on hold for a few seconds, the CSR came back on the line saying I was eligible to receive CBS, ABC, and FOX! I was fired up! She turned them on for me right over the phone! I honestly don't understand the whole DNS eligibility thing, but I'm not complaining. I only receive the east coast feeds, but I'll take it!

Elspankdog is correct that in DFW, ABC is the only one that is not O&O for easy HD feeds.

Jonny, what part of town did you "move" to get ABC HD from D*? I just moved to Pebble Creek from Dallas and I am going to "move" to another place in Dallas as far as D* is concerned and would like to pick one that lets me get ABCE HD.

Thanks,

Bill

i dont think they let you "move" anymore to get DNS feeds...

i dont think they let you "move" anymore to get DNS feeds...

I basically have service via my Dallas address now and get the 3 O&O, but not ABC. If I change my address to my parents in Aubrey, TX (near Denton) I assume that might qualify for being too far for ABC HD OTA, so was wondering where johnnyb "lived" where they were giving him ABC HD from the East coast.

Bill

ahh... since your already in dallas that might work. I know people who try to "move" from here in CS to Houston arent getting locals anymore (atleast im pretty sure d* is denying them). Well unless you move your billing address too but thats a different story.

So is there any new info on FOX HD coming to B/CS? Possibly in time for football season?!

I hate it when my friends call from LA or Dallas and tell me how they're watching NFL in HD. I'm like "Great, well, I just learned the mating habits of an African honey bee in HD, so there."

Hey Bill....So did you end up getting a new job here in town?

So is there any new info on FOX HD coming to B/CS? Possibly in time for football season?!

Looks bleak unless Cox can pull off some kind of miracle (out of market Fox?). We need the texags-neighbor-of-high-up-Cox-guy to get the latest scoop for us.

ive got that guys direct email.... ill see if i can find it.

i also want to ask about the phase 3 dvr's... cox in omaha has the boxes now and usually ours is a month behind omaha (one of cox's test markets)

ahh... since your already in dallas that might work. I know people who try to "move" from here in CS to Houston arent getting locals anymore (atleast im pretty sure d* is denying them). Well unless you move your billing address too but thats a different story.
I don't know that anyone has tried that lately, too scared of losing "old-gold" waivers, and I don't blame them. Do you know of anyone that has tried "moving" to Houston recently, jag?

BTW, is KBTX down again for anyone else tonight? I haven't been able to get it all evening. Is it on Cox, jag?

yeah cox was down tonight (black screen), kcen, kamu was too so I was assuming they were finally getting ready to do my upgrade (all of the non encrypted channels were down for me tonight)

I don't know why "moving" to Houston still won't work for O&O feeds. They're still listed as an option on the D* site. It's the DNS stuff (http://www.directv.com/see/landing/dns.html) (applying for waivers) that is in question on the D* site. With the coming MPEG4 stuff however, Houston could be a risk. "Moving" to Austin should be no problem for O&O Fox since they're not in the top 12 DMAs.

btw on a different note (and i didnt want to go to texags for the constant breatement and not get any decent info) but does anybody have or know somebody who has cox's new faster speed cable modem?

I was looking at the verizon (sorry) bill the other day and their price for a landline is awfully high (and making the bill with dsl just over 60 bucks a month after taxes).... so Im thinking about getting cable modem (since it looks like its 39.95/month and drop landline completly). I know it wasnt the most reliable service in the past but their cable was bad in the past and now they are pretty damn good. So wondering how much better their service has gotten.

btw on a different note (and i didnt want to go to texags for the constant breatement and not get any decent info) but does anybody have or know somebody who has cox's new faster speed cable modem?

As you all know I just moved to Pebble Creek. Since Verizon won't order DSL on your line until your phone line is installed, I decided to call Cox and within 5 minutes they had me activated on my cable modem I brought from Dallas (no truck roll since previous owner had cox).

Nice Verizon story:
Phone line installed by Verizon on 7/26. Didn't work, called, no help and was guaranteed it would be fixed by 7/30!, called again the 27th, no help, called again the 28th, supervisor pushed some buttons and poof it worked. 12 hours later, poof, didn't work, called again, since my last ticket was closed-fixed, they now guaranteed to be fixed by Aug 2. Saw Verizon truck guy in my neighborhood on 7/30 and told him my sob story. He had it fixed 1 hour later (CO issue). DSL modem arrives 8/2. Install DSL, only getting 1MB down, 380k up. Call to ask why I am not getting 3/768 as I was told I qualified for and they tell me I don't qualify for that speed, 1.5/384 is best I can get. Before I ordered I gave address and phone number of previous owner to make sure 3/768 was good to go or I would have gone Cox in the first place.

Needless to say I am not impressed with Verizon, now have Cox HSI and will be porting local phone from Verizon to VOIP ASAP.

I am getting reliable HSI at 4M/512K even throughout yesterdays flooding rains over here in PC.

Bill

well what about the reliability (im more concerned with reliability than speed). thats one area cox hasnt always been very good at (and verizon was overall). As long as its not bad (reliability wise) I am probably going to upgrade. Also will be nice to have 4.0 speeds vs the 768 I have now with verizon (yes thats right, dont even have the 1.5 service in my area yet)

Txag93 --
I use my parents address in Haslet, which is about 35 miles northwest of Dallas. I called D* yesterday to try and add NBCE and they said I had been denied. I asked the CSR about the Dallas affiliate being O&O and she said she didn't have that info. She even put me on hold to ask her supervisor. She came back on the line to tell me that all she could do was submit another waiver request. Any suggestions on how I can get NBCE? I'd really like to complete the quad-fecta :)

I was also unable to get KBTX OTA yesterday or this morning. Signal meter was reading 100% but all I saw was a blank screen.

You could get on my account. :D You could supplement D* with Cox; they have NBC. That would make for a pricey bill though.

is cbs still down for ota people? still off on cox.

is cbs still down for ota people? still off on cox.
Yup. :mad: Been watching KWTX out of Waco.

Looks like the rumor is coming true! ;)
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=568709

yeah looks like all those pq reductions were to get ready for espn2... guess they got tired of waiting for the new sats to be up and decided to jam more on the existing ones.

This was what the 5th or 6th rumor date? guess they finally got it right. ;)

Something tells me dish (and hopefully will get more providers to act) wont be far behind since they are now pulling hdlite on espn now... they seem to be getting ready for something new. hopefully cox doesnt drag too far behind.

Just a note to the cox people (and their current pricing)

I called them today to see about the cable modem/digital cable

To keep extended basic (and $5 gateway pass thru + HD-DVR) and add 4mbit cable it would be:
$85.68 (with tax for the first 2 months) and then go to $96.51

To upgrade to full digital cable (plus HD-DVR) and 4mbit preferred cable modem it jumps to:
$92.49 (with tax for 2 months) and jump to $103.32 thereafter.

Considering Im dropping verizon completly ($60 bucks for phone and dsl... for now until they get fios going and in the process getting 3x as many channels and 4x faster internet). I am actually going to save a bit of money on top of things.

Considering Im dropping verizon completly ($60 bucks for phone and dsl... for now until they get fios going and in the process getting 3x as many channels and 4x faster internet). I am actually going to save a bit of money on top of things.

Are you porting to VOIP? If so, which providers let you port your BCS Verizon number? I have found that Lingo, Packet8, Viatalk and BBTelSys claim they would port my 979-690 number.

If anyone has experience with one of these, let me know!

Bill

i havent decided yet.... probably lingo right now but i am going to do the cell phone thing for a month and see if I can get by.


And on a different note... send me your questions for "the cox high up". I have his email and will be sending an email to him later today.

Already have phase III DVR (and when the software will support external sata)
and fox (with your info about waco fox sid)/abc.

As for the Fox thing, if they pick up an out of market Fox, I hope it is one that does WB programming as well. Does Austin do both? I know they're separate in Houston. How would you Cox suckers do without Smallville?

Any news on KBTX? Are they still down? I didn't check when I got home late last night.

And on a different note... send me your questions for "the cox high up". I have his email and will be sending an email to him later today.
Yeah, ask him when Cox will be offering service in my area. :D

Yeah, ask him when Cox will be offering service in my area. :D

http://www.joe-ks.com/archives_jan2004/HellFreezesOver.jpg

As for the Fox thing, if they pick up an out of market Fox, I hope it is one that does WB programming as well. Does Austin do both? I know they're separate in Houston. How would you Cox suckers do without Smallville?

Any news on KBTX? Are they still down? I didn't check when I got home late last night.

KBTX was still down last night for me.

As for the WB stuff if anything they would add the houston feeds since we dont have a feed technically... but i dont know that cox would want to add a channel that has such a small amount of content (that and upn).

KBTX was still down last night for me.
So, are you saying your Cox was down!?!? :p

my cox is up alot more than it is down.... :)

Jag...how did you score a phase III dvr. The last 4 I have had have all been the old ones. Don't the P3's say it on the front and have a fan on the bottom?

I am about to go to see the Cox suckers and demand a "brand new" box. One of my current ones refuses to record. I'm tired of screwing with the cable crap. I never had one box/subscription problem with Dish. Oh well, I still haven't had to pay a bill yet for cable for the past 2+ months. The billing help desk says they are supposed to call me, but they never do.

I havent yet... i said they are out in the cox omaha market and we are usually a month behind them tech wise. So we should see them very soon.

BTW kbtx is back on with cox.

Hey Bill....So did you end up getting a new job here in town?

Sort of,

I am working for a test company with offices in Austin and Montreal, selling embedded ieee 1394b and production test services. Test services within TOLA (tx, ok, la, ark) and 1394 all over the US. 1394b is big in defense industry right now as it is communications bus for JSF, and most other new designs with sensor communication such as Mini Kill Vehicle, and intra-missile communication. I'll hit you up for any test opportunities soon. Mindready is the company name, a National Instruments alliance partner.

Bill

Hmmm... (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=569538)
:D

since were pumping providers.... cox might get tnt soon.... hopefully it wont take too long for b/cs cox to add it (provided omaha/lincoln get it on the 14th)

http://www.cox.com/omaha/Info/PDFs/Digital_Linuep_0805.pdf

NBA playoff time that would have been nice, but I'll take the deuce right now. Question is, who gets "The Ocho" first?

actually right now i would rather have tnt than espn2.... they dont have enough content (thats not already on espn1) yet. TNT is the one channel I wanted most after having voom go down. Of the avaliable channels out right now I want TNT the most.

I get a pretty good fill of sports between espn and inHD's. TNT has some pretty good sports (nascar and nba) nad a very good selection of movies, plus their specials like into the west, etc.

another note for us cox lovers.... now that i have full digital cable I can now see bitrates on the analog and digital stuff... according to my computer.

Analog is averaging 6.3 mbit signal
Digital is averaging 2.0 mbit signal

Post rebuild there will be 71 total analog channels totaling 447.3 mbit... and to replace the 71 channels with 2.0 mbit equivalents. (142 mbit). Leaves 305 mbit (or 16 full bw HD channels)

So when cox eventually moves their analog stuff to 100% digital that should free up alot of space. And with the upgrade going on now it looks like cox will have a ton of space to add stuff. Provided the streams on my DVR arent right (inHD's still dont register properly so its certainly possible). And this doesnt even count any added space from the "rebuild"

Uhh, someone have some time on their hands lately?? http://www.emotipad.com/newemoticons/Count%20Sheep.gif

took me about 5 mins to do that... ;)

it actually could be slightly more because when i captured a stream the recording program told me analog was at 7.5 and digital was at 2.0 but watching the real time streams it looked like analog was more in the 6.3 mbit range.

If the 7.5 figure it accurate it would leave room for 20.5 HD channels.... but I decided to go with the lower figure because most likely they will add some of the bw for added cable modem speeds.

But hopefully the rebuild adds capacity for 20-25 new HD channels plus these and thats alot of new channels that could be added.

got a reply back from Tom Way at cox... (some very interesting things in this one)

#1 One of our members had a discussion with Lou at KWTX (Fox in Waco)…. Here’s a quote of the part that Sid had with the KWTX guy about Fox. “I even had you Cox lovers in mind. [Stick Out Tongue] I quizzed him about Cox picking up their signal, and he informed me that he had talked to Cox about putting something (a dish?) on Cox's tower to get it, but Cox didn't want to do it. (Totally false) We both agreed the HD situation here was frustrating, being sort of in a no-man's-land. He said it was for them too, since throughout their corporation they have spent several $million on HD and don't feel like they get any return on the expense.” To clarify: I’m currently in communications with KWTX/KYLE. Ultimately we would like to pick this up from the local FOX since KWKT HD is 80 miles over the air and can be suspect to interference with #57 out of Houston. Just so you are aware FOX HD is high on the list for Bryan and I’m continuing to work with Fox to establish a deal.

Is this true first off and if so are you exploring adding an out of market fox or ABC? Basically what’s the status with FOX/ABC? There has been some speculation that Cox might be going after Houston ABC since you have the SD deal with them sort of (show it until primetime) (and possibly WB/UPN). No. We are not exploring another ABC outside of our DMA, KXXV maintains must carriage rights. Our current situation is waiting for KXXV to offer a true HD signal, instead of a DT package offering that consist of several channels which they have not done to this point. When that happens we will give it strong consideration.

#2 I saw Motorola recently released the phase III HD-DVR’s. Nothing too major except there is an external SATA on the back that will allow us to significantly increase storage capacity (adding an external sata hard drive). This is now being done on Scientific Atlanta’s boxes but I have read the current pioneer software doesn’t support extra drives yet. That is correct, this is a future function. IMO the biggest problem with the DVR (and it is overall a very good box) is the lack of storage capacity when recording HD content. Having an external sata drive would eliminate this problem and really take care of the biggest problem with the storage capacity. Besides the SATA they have gone to a HDMI connection instead of the DVI. If your TV has a DVI input there is an HDMI to DVI-converter cable adapter available, although I’m not sure who sells them.

If/when the new DVR’s come out is there some way we could get a heads up and will it be as simple as exchanging out our current box for one of the new ones? They are currently available. Please let the person at the front counter know that you spoke to me about the exchange.


#3 what’s the status on the digital rebuild (if you have that kind of info)…. I saw recently some of the users are already getting the new channels but I have not yet gotten them. I live between Southwest Pkwy and 2818. From what I’ve seen everybody south of 2818 has been upgraded. Is the upcoming sale slowing the upgrade process down? No, the sale has not slowed the process; your node area was one that needed extreme redesign to retro-fit our fiber deep build. You may be on the list for activation this week. All of College Station is expected to be complete by the end of September.

#4 this may be something you don’t have but when the rebuild is done how many channels will there be space for? (mostly interested in HD ones). There are quite a few new ones now on the rebuild channel lineup but I’m talking about long-term capacity. The simple answer is; as many as we can. Our goal will be to add as much HD content as possible.

#5 any new information on the sale of COX? Sorry…this information is confidential. I anticipate a press release sometime in September.

#6 Some Comcast cities have started the process of converting all the analog channels to digital…. Is that something coming from Cox in the near future? (would this free up a lot of space for more channels?) It would free up plenty of space, but at this point it’s not needed and I don’t see it on the horizon in the near future.

Jag, do the Cox DVRs allow you to record to tape? I'm not sure which model my friend has (got it in May), but he'd like to archive something.

So I guess KXXV wants them to carry the weather loop and Telemundo, but they do however offer a true HD signal (720p) for ABC. I guess Cox wants an all HD package or nothing. Wonder who bought Cox? :confused:

And I also guess the chance of Cox getting Fox are slim to none if they are only interested in KYLE; especially if they only want true HD. KYLE can't do HD period!

KXXV does offer HD-video, but they do not offer DD5.1 audio to go with it. :mad: For that reason I MUCH prefer the feed from D*. I don't know off-hand how much bandwidth they give to the HD channel, but the weather sub must not take much because you can see the PQ change on it while watching. They did at first have 4 total subs, but it appears they dropped the KRHD sub, which was pretty redundant, and wasteful I'm sure.

Jag, do the Cox DVRs allow you to record to tape? I'm not sure which model my friend has (got it in May), but he'd like to archive something.

dont know about recording to tape but I would assume you could by running the video outputs to a VCR. With the firewire he can record to a DVHS or computer (I do this now but they recently broke the enryption thing... you cant record off any encrypted program but its supposed to be resolved in the next update... hopefully along with the external sata). Its just he firewire though so the video outs shouldnt matter.

And I thought ABC did HD.... guess I will have to send that and see if the hangup is on the SD crap still.

got a reply back from Tom Way at cox... (some very interesting things in this one)....
#6 Some Comcast cities have started the process of converting all the analog channels to digital…. Is that something coming from Cox in the near future? (would this free up a lot of space for more channels?) It would free up plenty of space, but at this point it’s not needed and I don’t see it on the horizon in the near future.
What do you want, jag? Do you think Cox will pick up all the old VoOm channels or something? ;) I was thinking about all that extra bandwidth thing you have been playing with, but ATM there just isn't a lot of extra content to fill it up with, is there?

well d* is adding tons of space... something tells me they will find more stuff to jam up there. and there are plenty of channels cox doesnt have (tnt, espn2, wealth, tmc and the rest of the movie channels just to name a few). although I only care about TNT.

I know there isnt a whole lot now but its good to make sure they will have lots of capacity to all all the future channels. Thats what that question was geared towards.

Sid, you know Food Network is shooting shows in HD now, right? That will increase the WAF astronomically.

Hey, Y'all, can't wait for Paula Dean in HD!! :rolleyes:

Thats it...I'm taking my POS box in and swapping out to a new P3 box. Good to know that someone there awknowledges there being a new box. Still wont record anything, even if I setup for a manual recording. I guess we have to drop the guys name in order for the front counter personel to get us a new box.

Now I just need to order a new bulb for my X1!

Score!!!! I went and swapped out my box at lunch. I did indeed get a new Phase III box. Will hook it up tonight. It has SATA port and HDMI connections now. The lady didn't know about the new box, but went to find out and they had a bunch in stock . She said that they are just now getting around to putting them out there.

BTW, I got a revised pricing sheet for the "Rebuilt" area, and it says I can get StarzHD now. Too bad I don't have any premium channels.

yeah i dont either... good to know they actually have them now. Hopefully that new software isnt too far behind that actually supports external hard drives.

more or larger hard drives is another good reason to use the tivo and D*.

not nearly the pricing issues now that they are down to 299 or less (some are claiming 100 rebate too).

Tivo has great software (little slow on the hd box) and adding ide hd is easy.

2 yr commitment (no matter how good the price) = very bad.

For me to even consider a 2yr agreement they better give me free equipment.

2 yr commitment (no matter how good the price) = very bad.

For me to even consider a 2yr agreement they better give me free equipment.


The two year agreement is cancellable with either a $175 fee or the sending in of the equipment that triggered the agreement, so in this case the HR10-250. So, the risk is the $299 or $199 after rebate, or $175 more to get out of it. I would think the box would bring $175 on ebay and you could get out of the committment for free. Plus, usually a pricing change is grounds for you getting out of the agreement should they try to raise rates.

it wont be worth anything once mpeg4 starts.... but you will most likely get some sort of a tradeout (for yet another commitment).

If you havent noticed I hate anything commitment.... My cell phone is commitment free (pay as you go). I dont have any commitments and will avoid at all costs.

C'mon now, voOm was commitment based, or at least when I got in, it was. We'll see what the future wife thinks about this lack of commitment.

C'mon now, voOm was commitment based, or at least when I got in, it was. We'll see what the future wife thinks about this lack of commitment.


so you treat your sat equipment like a woman huh? ;)

BTW I posted a few more back and forth emails between Tom Way. He was going to look into TNT (wasnt aware about it until I emailed him the photo).

He semi hinted that TW was the fronrunner ("As for a buyer... this is the #1 common, speculation" as he called it) atm..... but this is still a big rumor.

He said he would let me know a when they expected the software version that supported sata to be avaliable.

BTW dave got this from him when asking about recording... may be of interest to your neighbor.

"I understand, I was talking about a Progressive-Scan Multiformat
DVD-R/-RW/+R/+RW Player with HD Upconversion. Heck, you can buy them for
under $150 now days. I can't tell you how to setup the connections, but
I'm sure you can figure it out. Using this piece of equipment and the
right set up with your DVR will allow you to record whatever you want."

also sid (or anybody else). is there somewhere official that shows waco abc broadcasting HD? I want to ask Tom Way if the problem is over the extra channels (he made it sound like abc waco isnt even broadcasting HD) so I want something official that says they do.

Yes, they are doing HD. Their chief engineer has told me, and I've seen it with my own eyes at my house and my brother's house south of their tower. I watched tu beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl on KXXV in glorious HD. Surely, he is talking about the other digital subchannels.

I couldn't find anything on their website, but I know Time Warner (http://www.timewarnercable.com/CustomerService/CLU/TWCCLUs.ashx?menu=Programming) in Waco carries the KXXV HD feed. I hope he isn't talking about KHRD. They're about as likely to do HD as KYLE.

also sid (or anybody else). is there somewhere official that shows waco abc broadcasting HD? I want to ask Tom Way if the problem is over the extra channels (he made it sound like abc waco isnt even broadcasting HD) so I want something official that says they do.
If they aren't doing HD, they are doing a damn fine job of upconverting to widescreen!! http://www.emotipad.com/newemoticons/Soapbox.gif

Question for the COX lovers... does anybody record over firewire like me and has HBO?

Im thinking about adding HBO to my account for 12 weeks for the Rome series and would like to be able to record the series to my computer for permenant storage but is HBO one of the encrypted channels? (last software update killed recording off firewire of encrypted channels... something that is supposed to be fixed in the next os version)

I can record it for you on the HD-TiVo. ;)

I don't have HBO, but just like you said, you can't record encrypted channels at the moment. It even blocked me when I tried to record something from INHD. I would imagine that HBO is definately encrypted. Did you pick up a new box? I wonder if the one I have has newer firmware (prob not).

ESP, and then how do you plan on offloading it from the Tivo?

No I havent yet... mainly because there is no use atm for it since no hdmi or sata yet.

But I read one interesting thing that might convince me to go upgrade mine... I heard they have a faster processor in the new one so the already fast box might be even faster. Mine is by no means slow but if it is indeed faster that would be sweet. another reason Ive hesitated the upgrade is I have all my series recordings set.... and I have ~30 of them so it would take some time to write them all down and make them again.

I can record it for you on the HD-TiVo. ;)

And who would want to watch it in crapo hdlite vision?

And who would want to watch it in crapo hdlite vision?

lol, like clockwork! Better than nothing. Of course, I would have to hack the HD-TiVo to get it off of there or you would have to come over to watch it.

well i can record it and pray they fix the firewire issue so I could dump it off to my pc for permenant storage..... but since HBO on cox is most likely full bw/rez I would be able to save all of them and thats it as it would max out my drive.

It's been a while since I've checked into this thread (mainly because there seems to have been no new news so far), but I ran across something very interesting just a few hours ago. I was looking at programming listings for local DT stations (HD, specifically) - and to my surprise, I found HD listings for KYLE-DT! I don't know how accurate it is, but I see listings for all the regular FOX primetime stuff in HD starting next Monday. Screenshots here (http://www.synthdude.com/KYLE-HDTV.jpg) (CheckHD) and here (http://www.synthdude.com/KYLE-HDTV-2.jpg) (TitanTV).

Hopefully it's true, and hopefully they increase their power so we can actually get the signal. :p Or, failing that, maybe Cox could pick up the signal now (which would be the perfect situation for me in the dorms here).

its been "listed" in HD for some time now... but its wrong. I dont see kyle going HD for atleast another year....

That said another note for us "cox lovers", right now you can get HBO/Cinemax movie package for $5/month for 2 months. I got mine activated this afternoon and am getting the HBO-HD channel (in time for Rome). It is showing at 1980x1080 but the bw isnt displaying right (saying 38 mbit). But it looks excellent so Im assuming its 19mbit.

Ah, I see...well perhaps it's just wishful thinking. I hadn't seen any HD listings the last few times I'd looked, anyway.

And the wait continues...

yeah they have been listed on titantv in "HD" for about 6 months now....

well i can record it and pray they fix the firewire issue so I could dump it off to my pc for permenant storage..... but since HBO on cox is most likely full bw/rez I would be able to save all of them and thats it as it would max out my drive.
Yeah, too bad you can't just upgrade by adding another 250+Gig hard drive! ;)

Yeah, too bad you can't just upgrade by adding another 250+Gig hard drive! ;)

dont worry.... ill be able to add 400 gig sata HD before long. :)

Hey guys nice to someone here in the hood with the same ???s i am havin . Just found this forum tonite . I have the samsung 5085 dlp, cox 6412 and hp laptop xp2 havin probs capturing hd without stutters. Any help would be great...also since the cox rebuild 8/05 in my neighborhood (sw pkwy/dartmouth) I now get starzhd and i only sub to hbo.Cant wait till i can see fox in hd . Later

I dont know if this will help anyone but it has worked for me. Call D and tell them your kid is movin to houston/dallas and give a address there and phone # generic worked for me. You want to keep billing addy as here in c.s. no questions no calls or correspondence to the houston info I gave .was nice to get some real news and locals...

oh crap that post was supposed to go in another thread sorry . now I need to find it

well what about the reliability (im more concerned with reliability than speed). thats one area cox hasnt always been very good at (and verizon was overall). As long as its not bad (reliability wise) I am probably going to upgrade. Also will be nice to have 4.0 speeds vs the 768 I have now with verizon (yes thats right, dont even have the 1.5 service in my area yet)


I had getting my verizon dsl upgraded fron the the old frame relay .about 3 weeks then I moved to college station from bryan , almost a month and that was w/2 week notice and a buttload of calls . however now i am constantly in the upper 3meg rate . I only have basic line 18.00 plus dsl 29.95 wireless modem whole bill 45 to 50 ...

Hey guys nice to someone here in the hood with the same ???s i am havin . Just found this forum tonite . I have the samsung 5085 dlp, cox 6412 and hp laptop xp2 havin probs capturing hd without stutters. Any help would be great...also since the cox rebuild 8/05 in my neighborhood (sw pkwy/dartmouth) I now get starzhd and i only sub to hbo.Cant wait till i can see fox in hd . Later

yes the latest software update broke the recording on any encrypted channel.... supposedly the next one will fix the problem but we will see. You should be able to record off any of the local channels in HD (cbs, pbs, nbc), and the SD analog ones. I havent tried a SD digital channel yet.

does anybody have any thoughts on the texags news? ABC main website shows the sat night pitt/nd, clemson/tamu game in HD.

I still dont beleive it (mainly because they havent said a word about our game in HD and all of the sudden it appears on their website). But its certainly possible. Im actually a bit worried because if they take too long to announce it I wont have time to get my antenna back up. Maybe I will have to go "buy" a HD receiver from bestbuy for 2 days.

I'll believe it when I see it.

The only problem for D* is that we'll probably get the ND-Pitt game with ABC-East. Our only hope is to pickup ABC out of Houston.

true... guess it wont matter with D* anyways.

I assume you all lost your west coast feeds by now? LA just might carry our game.

That one guy is pretty funny over on texags.... so stupid hes funny.

I was wondering if ABC would broadcast the A&M game in HD. I listen to KZNE 1150 AM often and they have been advertising that someone will win a viewing party that includes a 9 foot widescreen HD showing of the game. You guys with towers might want to consider putting up an antenna. I'm still getting excellent reception of the Houston locals with my CM 4228. I checked KTRK's Saturday lineup online and using my D* guide but no details are given about HD or even which game will be shown. It just says "College Football". I will definitely post if the game is being broadcast in HD by KTRK.

We need a coverage map! As of last night, I'm still getting ABC-HD East and West. I got a feeling LA will show the ND game though. I'm guessing we would also be blacked out if by some miracle GamePlan picked up the HD game.

I was wondering if ABC would broadcast the A&M game in HD. I listen to KZNE 1150 AM often and they have been advertising that someone will win a viewing party that includes a 9 foot widescreen HD showing of the game. You guys with towers might want to consider putting up an antenna. I'm still getting excellent reception of the Houston locals with my CM 4228. I checked KTRK's Saturday lineup online and using my D* guide but no details are given about HD or even which game will be shown. It just says "College Football". I will definitely post if the game is being broadcast in HD by KTRK.

Jonny, you got an extra 4228 I could throw up on the tower? I planned on watching football and drinking from my freshly tapped keg on Saturday, but there's a slim chance I'll be climbing up that d@mn tower.

And jag, where's your voOm box? I still have mine if you need to use it for OTA.

I called KXXV, and they have no idea if it will be HD or not, but I'm pretty sure that they would have the A&M game. :D

Elspankdog --
I don't have an extra CM 4228. I do still have the Winegard antenna I had up before the CM. I think if you get it up high enough and positioned correctly you might have some luck. You're welcome to use it if you'd like to.

Alright, so I finally decided to post on this big boy

(AB2 from TexAgs)

Not that any of the Houston locals are "reliable," but KTRK is very much the least.

Would I need a miracle to get KXXV OTA if I pointed this thing at Waco?

Thanks jonny, but I'll probably just take the Televes out of the attic and put it back on the tower. However, I want some confirmation before I do all of this. I just have a feeling that if any game is in HD, it will be the ND game.

AB, it will take a miracle to get KXXV. I think Sid has had some luck, but he's more to the north than the rest of us. I had very little success with KXXV and my tower. KTRK was alway more reliable, especially in the evening.

yeah i still have the voom box... thats not the problem. The problem is I dont have an antenna on the house anymore. The pole is still up there but its a telescoping one and is all the way down. The real problem is I would have to go spend money to buy a new amp (since mine is fried, hence the reason i took it down). I also would probably try th CM jsut to see if its really better than the televes. Thats alot of $$$ and work for something that "might" be in HD.

I have an extra amp. It's a CM Spartan, but it works. You already have an antenna?

ive still got my televes.... just non amped. We will have to see if abc indeed does actually show the game or if all of this wont matter.

OK, so I called KTRK also, and they don't think the game will be HD. :(
Fingers still crossed, though.

Ok, here's the coverage map. If it was in HD, OTA would be the only way to get it here:
http://graphics.fansonly.com/confs/big12/graphics/clearance-maps/09-03-05-8pm-990x723.gif

yeah saw the map.... i would say .0001% chance of it baing HD now.

On ABC's official website it says they will broadcast Miami at Florida State (Sept. 5, 8 PM ET), TWO other regular season games and all five bowl games in HD. It was updated August 10. Check it out here (http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tvlistings/news/story?id=2116160). Scroll down to the "College Football in HD" heading. I don't foresee the game Saturday being in HD, but I'll definitely be watching it on KTRK ABC 13!

Well, the official ABC site (www.abc.com) also has a little HDTV logo next to Saturday night's games. Scroll to the bottom and look under "Week at a Glance". I think the press release is more accurate though.

On ABC's official website it says they will broadcast Miami at Florida State (Sept. 5, 8 PM ET), TWO other regular season games and all five bowl games in HD. It was updated August 10. Check it out here (http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tvlistings/news/story?id=2116160). Scroll down to the "College Football in HD" heading. I don't foresee the game Saturday being in HD, but I'll definitely be watching it on KTRK ABC 13!

Those two games apply for the whole college football season.

I don't think I made myself clear. I know those two games apply to the whole college football season. I also know there's a litte HDTV icon in the week at a glance listings. All I'm saying is that I'm confused. I'll still be hoping they show it in HD on KTRK and I will definitely be tuned in either way.

By the way, the St. Louis/Detroit game looks good on KTRK tonight. Prison Break on KRIV FOX 26 also looked good, although I missed the first hour and a half. Man I might need to get an HD Tivo. I'm trying to wait until D*'s new HD DVR is available next year though.

I don't think I made myself clear. I know those two games apply to the whole college football season. I also know there's a litte HDTV icon in the week at a glance listings. All I'm saying is that I'm confused. I'll still be hoping they show it in HD on KTRK and I will definitely be tuned in either way.

By the way, the St. Louis/Detroit game looks good on KTRK tonight. Prison Break on KRIV FOX 26 also looked good, although I missed the first hour and a half. Man I might need to get an HD Tivo. I'm trying to wait until D*'s new HD DVR is available next year though.

Yes we all know it was "marked" in HD.... and we are all confused. And if you are waiting for the next gen stuff you better go ahead and buy now.

FYI.... my dad tonight is getting kxxv outta waco and kcen out of waco (probably because of the hurricane) but he says kxxv is coming in strong. And this is with the winegard stealth antenna included with the voom setup. Since I moved to cox I didnt need OTA anymore so I lent him my voom ota setup for pbs/cbs. But he just called me asking what 25 was (says it was the abc football game)

Hell if it stays Im going to be stealing my antenna setup back. ;) For the size of the antenna that is damn impressive (mounted maybe 20ft up on the side of the chimney and no amp)

Jag, refresh my memory. Where does your dad live?

here in town.... off deacon.

That is pretty good. Has he picked it up before, or tried for it, or did he just notice it?

BTW, Letterman is now in HD. He is making some cracks about it, of course.

wow the cox dvr saved me again.... i forgot to watch it and luckilly the dvr buffers for an hour so i was able to watch it from teh beginning.

That is pretty good. Has he picked it up before, or tried for it, or did he just notice it?

Its just tonight.... I doubt it will last because as i said the winegard is a small antenna. I assume it has to do with the hurricane that is rolling through louisana.

Got an e-mail from the head of video operations at Clemson. He said ABC e-mailed him that the game was not going to be in HD. Oh well. :(

Good, I wasn't looking forward to moving the antenna this weekend. Plus, you know how we play in HD. I don't want to go through that again.

Considering the only way to get it was via KTRK, I'm kind of relieved too. Don't have to worry about dropouts now.

ok have a different question.... has anybody else noticed kbtx going dark over the past few weekends? Its happened randomly but the past 4 or 5 weekends there has been one time that it goes dark for a while. Trying to see if this is a kbtx issue or cox. I assume it has to do with somebody not "flipping the switch" but I dont know where the blame lies.

I've noticed that happening on occasion.

guess ill send an email to kbtx and ask about it.

I'm with Dave - I'm a bit relieved that it won't be in HD so I don't spend my next few days trying to jerry-rig something to get the game more consistently. KTRK is my most inconsistent of the Houston OTAs (KPRC is best, then KHOU)

Got an e-mail from the head of video operations at Clemson. He said ABC e-mailed him that the game was not going to be in HD. Oh well. :(
Well..that kinda sucks, but I believe that my Nikon binoculars are HD ready from armchair seats in the zone :D

I'm with Dave - I'm a bit relieved that it won't be in HD so I don't spend my next few days trying to jerry-rig something to get the game more consistently. KTRK is my most inconsistent of the Houston OTAs (KPRC is best, then KHOU)

Or in my case put an antenna back up....

Emailed KBTX and got a reply... if you want the semi bad details send me a pm (i was asked not to put it in the open yet).

Also learned some good news for cox lovers.... they are running a fiber line to cox vs the ota situation they have now (so hopefully "flipping the switch" wont be a problem. And they are in the process of fixing the SD audio problems.

Mike Wright asked about posting here so maybe we will see a new username before long that can announce stuff like this. :)

Considering the only way to get it was via KTRK, I'm kind of relieved too. Don't have to worry about dropouts now.
Hey, speak for yourself!! Poor little KXXV don't get no respect! I was ready. :p

Or in my case put an antenna back up....

Emailed KBTX and got a reply... if you want the semi bad details send me a pm (i was asked not to put it in the open yet).

Also learned some good news for cox lovers.... they are running a fiber line to cox vs the ota situation they have now (so hopefully "flipping the switch" wont be a problem. And they are in the process of fixing the SD audio problems.

Mike Wright asked about posting here so maybe we will see a new username before long that can announce stuff like this. :)
You should know you can go ahead and PM some of us with the details! :confused:

For any Astros fans with D*, the game is on in HD on channel 96. No comments from the "HD-Lite section" necessary! http://www.emotipad.com/newemoticons/LaLaLa.gif

HDLITE SUCKS!!!!!!

I think everybody should have the pm now.... if you dont let me know.

BTW labman have you turned the stack towards temple? My dad was getting abc again tonight after 8:30 and was just below it. The voom signal meter was at 45 (says it needs 80) but the signal was solid and not any dropouts. If abc stays reliable over the course of this week I will have to seriously look at getting a used one for me since this antenna/voom tuner have been very good for 2 night now. And add an amp to it and my 30ft pole (vs the 20ft its off now) abc should be very reliable and give me really the only channel Im missing (fox isnt a huge priority to me and even still it looks like cox will have it before too long)

Well..that kinda sucks, but I believe that my Nikon binoculars are HD ready from armchair seats in the zone :D

What's that mikey? You're going to the game? Didn't even ask to take of all your sons?

HDLITE SUCKS!!!!!!

I think everybody should have the pm now.... if you dont let me know.

BTW labman have you turned the stack towards temple? My dad was getting abc again tonight after 8:30 and was just below it. The voom signal meter was at 45 (says it needs 80) but the signal was solid and not any dropouts. If abc stays reliable over the course of this week I will have to seriously look at getting a used one for me since this antenna/voom tuner have been very good for 2 night now. And add an amp to it and my 30ft pole (vs the 20ft its off now) abc should be very reliable and give me really the only channel Im missing (fox isnt a huge priority to me and even still it looks like cox will have it before too long)
For the past few months I have just kept the Televes pointed towards Waco anyway, unless there is a compelling reason to turn towards Houston or if I'm farting around with it. The main reasons are for the Telemundo (J/K!) and weather subchannel on KXXV when storms are possible and for Waco CBS when KBTX is acting up. Also, once in a while I check for Waco FOX just for practice. As I've said before recently KXXV comes in pretty solid for the most part. I was switching between tuners last night during the MNF game, KXXV on one and D* ABC on the other. I really could see very little difference between the two, maybe we can have a PQ blind comparison test party sometime! Can YOU really tell when it's "HD-Lite"? ;)

BTW, since I posted above, I checked and KWKT-FOX is coming in now. Wish it was permanent. Maybe your dad could see if he gets it.
Looks like it has a breakup occasionally, but not bad.

For the past few months I have just kept the Televes pointed towards Waco anyway, unless there is a compelling reason to turn towards Houston or if I'm farting around with it. The main reasons are for the Telemundo (J/K!) and weather subchannel on KXXV when storms are possible and for Waco CBS when KBTX is acting up. Also, once in a while I check for Waco FOX just for practice. As I've said before recently KXXV comes in pretty solid for the most part. I was switching between tuners last night during the MNF game, KXXV on one and D* ABC on the other. I really could see very little difference between the two, maybe we can have a PQ blind comparison test party sometime! Can YOU really tell when it's "HD-Lite"? ;)

beleive me you dont want to do that.... once i saw the difference between voom and cox I dont knwo if Im ever going to be able to tolerate anthing less than full rez/bw. Granted my display needs the higher quality picture (well it shows it more).

Is KXXV really full bw with all their subchannels?

Is KXXV really full bw with all their subchannels?
Actually I had already thought of that, but we don't have a ABC station with no subs to compare to anyway. Also in theory 720p doesn't require as much b/w as 1080i, correct?

Actually I had already thought of that, but we don't have a ABC station with no subs to compare to anyway. Also in theory 720p doesn't require as much b/w as 1080i, correct?

yeah but there still is a difference... when i was able to compare voom and cox, espn was sharper than voom. It wasnt a huge deal but enough to make me never want to watch anything less than full bw/rez. And kxxv does have one or two subchannels which sucks. But if its the only reliable way to get abc for now theres not much you can do.

I've been meaning to ask this, but have the west feeds of NBC/ABC on D* gone off for you Spanky? I noticed the other day that my NBC/west is no longer working. At least it lasted slightly longer than 8/25.

I didn't check last night; too busy getting ready for my fantasy football draft. BTW, we ended up being two teams short for our league, so if anybody is interested, let me know. We're not too serious, so it's a fun league and an excuse to buy ST. I'll check for those channels at lunch.

AB, you still want to try out that voOm box?

Ok, I lost my HD West feeds for both ABC and NBC. I still have the West SD feeds though, and that's good for ABC regional college football. They don't do any of those games in HD anyway.

I installed my new $199 HD Tivo today. I'm having a little trouble with my Houston locals this evening. I currently have two RG6 lines running to the back of the unit: one connected directly to the unit and the other diplexed between the second sat input and the OTA antenna input. I had the RG6 diplexed into my H-10 unit and rarely had a problem with the Houston locals. Should I get rid of the diplexer and just run a separate RG6 from my OTA antenna into the unit? If I do this, will I still be able to record from the OTA channels? Thanks in advance for the help guys.

Running a direct line to the antenna input may help. The HD-Tivo's OTA reception is pretty picky on the signal though.

Dave --
thanks for the info. I think I'll give it a try. Will I still be able to record from the OTA channels?

Dave --
thanks for the info. I think I'll give it a try. Will I still be able to record from the OTA channels?
It doesn't matter whether the line is diplexed or straight from the antenna. If you can see the channel, you can record it. As Dave mentioned, the HD-Tivo's tuner is not one of the high points of that box. A direct line should help.
You say you installed the HD-tivo. Did you actually do the install, or did someone bring it and install it? I was under the impression the $199.00 deal required professional install.

labman --
I ran all the cable and got everything set up. An installer did deliver the box this afternoon, but he was only at my house for about 15 minutes, long enough to power up the box and have me sign the work order. I guess I'll try running a direct line tomorrow. Hopefully that will help. I'll update after I evaluate.

I was watching KBTX news this evening, and I noticed that the sound was much better, seemed to be balanced as far as L-R for a change. :cool: Anyone else notice?

labman --
I ran all the cable and got everything set up. An installer did deliver the box this afternoon, but he was only at my house for about 15 minutes, long enough to power up the box and have me sign the work order. I guess I'll try running a direct line tomorrow. Hopefully that will help. I'll update after I evaluate.
That's kinda what I figured on the install. Hope your Houston locals come in better after the cable run.

I was watching KBTX news this evening, and I noticed that the sound was much better, seemed to be balanced as far as L-R for a change. :cool: Anyone else notice?

I noticed it too. We'll see if it was a fluke or a permanent fix.

Well in my email mike wirght said they had some kind of audio consultant there.... I didnt watch kbtx last night but i will look tonight.

just a bit of bad news on the fios front.... saw this on hdtv programming.

http://www22.verizon.com/about/community/ma/files/08_26_2005.pdf

As of right now we arent even on the list to get fios.... granted this will probably change. But verizon may be a bit delayed.

Plus what did everybody think of our dismal performance at clemson?

I really don't understand us NOT going for two after our final touchdown. In my opinion that wasn't a wise decision. The defense did not play as well as I had hoped they would. We had several missed tackles, something I have noticed us struggle with in recent years. A very frustrating beginning to the season.

By the way, I ran another RG6 cable to my new HD Tivo and am having much better reception from the Houston locals. Everything came in loud and clear last night and I'm not having any problems this evening either. By the way, KHOU CBS 11 is broadcasting "Along Came A Spider" in HD and its OAR tonight. It looks pretty darn good. Much better than the Jerry Lewis Telethon (no offense, Jerry).

Plus what did everybody think of our dismal performance at clemson?

There were some positives, but there were way too many stupid mistakes. I'm ready for us to have that swagger and just annihilate people on offense. You see glimpses, and then we go into some kind of submissive mode. Better than Utah I guess.

Tough opponent, tough place. I was disappointed, but not surprised. Still a very young team all the way through. Sad it has to be Reggie's senior year.

Elspank - I sent you a PM on Friday.

I know, I know. I've been a little busy. You want to try and pick it up this week or this weekend? I'll email you the directions and my number.

Are there any of you gentlemen that could tell me why on my HD-Tivo, my Satellite Input 1 could fluctuate in strength (thus causing pixellation and stammering) while my Satellite Input 2 remains stable with no problems? I can literally watch the strength meter go up and down... generally it is moving from like 90's to quick dropouts in high 70's, but it's obviously enough to be causing the unit problems.

Are there any of you gentlemen that could tell me why on my HD-Tivo, my Satellite Input 1 could fluctuate in strength (thus causing pixellation and stammering) while my Satellite Input 2 remains stable with no problems? I can literally watch the strength meter go up and down... generally it is moving from like 90's to quick dropouts in high 70's, but it's obviously enough to be causing the unit problems.

With the dropouts, you are definitely experiencing a signal loss on the second line/input. If the strength meter on input 2 had stopped working completely, I would suggest a reset of the box. I had to do that when my signal strength meter on second OTA tuner stopped registering.

Sounds like a bad cable run or connector shorting trying to short out. That would explain the signal fluxuations.

You might find more info on the Tivo forum page. Here's a link (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=36)

I'm assuming you D*ers checked this morning, but in case you didn't, ESPN2HD is up and running on channel 72. PQ for Cold Pizza looked much better than on the SD channel 209. I'll be checking out the HD PQ tonight during the OSU/FAU CFB game (but only during the commercials of the New England/Oakland game).

elspank...that's totally fine. Just let me know when is convenient.

I'll be around all weekend watching HD on the deuce. Just give me a call.

Brian

I'll be around all weekend watching HD on the deuce. Just give me a call.

Brian

how did i know that shot was coming? ;)

I am much much more on the verizon camp now.... you see the pricing? When it comes they are going to bar none blow every provider out of the water (except for you sid... unless you want to move back to town like everybody else).

Basic 15–35 channels: $12.95
Digital Service, 160 channels (+basic package): $39.95
"La Connexion" Digital service, 115 channels (+basic package): $32.95

The company is also offering additional add-on packages:
Sports Package (15 channels): $5.95
Movie Package (26 channels): $11.95
Sports/Movie combo (41 channels): $14.95
Spanish language package (26 channels): $11.95
HD Package: $9.95

Those prices are flat out amazing. Basically $65 monthly gets you gets you all the channels (sans spanish crap). Plus whatever costs for the DVR's. The same package D*/E*/cox charge $90-$95 for. Also in the press releases verizon is saying thanks to our new telecom deal they are going to be pushing texas hard now (and it would make sense that they want to show the other states how it can work).

Its going to be very hard to push me to D* now (unless they take a drastic price drop and very quickly or add a must have HD channel which to me is only scifi-hd). Unless something major changes (with D*/E*) I will probably be sticking it out with cox until verizon comes to town. As by the time mpeg4 is done verizon will be in town and as it stands now D*/E*/cable just cant compete with what verizon is doing.

Its very rare to impress me (first time watching HD, the networked DVR [vooms and directs provided it has all the features] and now this)... only times ive really been impressed with this whole AV area.

Will you PM me your #?

Well our friends over at KBTX CBS 3 have really disappointed me today. No HD feed for the men's final at the US Open? Come on guys. Good thing KHOU CBS 11 is coming in loud and clear. I remember when this same thing happened during the AFC championship weekend last year. KBTX 'chooses' the most inopportune times to go dark.

It's on now (after I called 'em). I let it go the other night during the Agassi/Blake match, but not today. Enjoy!

I wasnt around today to see it in HD but this happens way too often..... Its time to send Mike Wright another email.

I wasnt around today to see it in HD but this happens way too often..... Its time to send Mike Wright another email.
Hey, take it easy on 'em, guys. If you had been checking their website for job listings you would have seen they have been looking for a master control operator for the weekends!! They probably have someone new or just filling in. :p
OK, that said, I have been trying to get caught up on things after being out of town all last week.

Guys I'm loving the versatility the HD Tivo provides. However, I'm still not pleased with my OTA reception. I am just not getting the results I was when I had the H10 up and running. It's very frustrating. Mpeg 4 and FIOS can't arrive soon enough for me!

Guys I'm loving the versatility the HD Tivo provides. However, I'm still not pleased with my OTA reception. I am just not getting the results I was when I had the H10 up and running. It's very frustrating. Mpeg 4 and FIOS can't arrive soon enough for me!
Yes, OTA is not as good as most boxes. I have to wonder if it has to do with the fact that the signal is split between two tuners internally. Even my old Zenith DTV1080 box, now in the bedroom, did better for fringe signals.
Glad you are enjoying it. Let us know when you are ready to upgrade/hack it!! ;)

just a bit of bad news on the fios front.... saw this on hdtv programming.

http://www22.verizon.com/about/community/ma/files/08_26_2005.pdf

As of right now we arent even on the list to get fios.... granted this will probably change. But verizon may be a bit delayed.
Maybe if I talk to my contact with Verizon again soon I will ask again, but that is consistent with what he told me before about no definite timeline for B/CS yet.

yeah but i can guarantee you verizon is going to push texas hard now... and im sure we will be pushed up since the texas house signed that telecom bill (first in the country i think)