Cox didnt lie to me, my co-worker didnt get cable cards, he got the DVR box and the exact same programming I did two weeks ago. His service is $79 + tax he now has cable internet and a second DVR and its over $140

wierd.... my cable bill is 120 (actually for the next 6 months its 90)

And I have

Basic Cable
Digital Cable
Preferred Cable Internet (4.0/512)
2 HD-DVR's

Does anyone in Waco have an HR10-250? I can't get KCEN anymore except by manually tuning to 9-1 and that defeats the DVR capability because there is no schedule for manually scanned in channels. I'm king of thinking it's a PSIP problem with KCEN because when I scan local channels on my other two HD receivers it will detect the channels but the channel label is garbeled and there is no schedule downloaded from PSIP.

HA! I don't think there is anyone from Waco on this here WACO thread...

My cox bill is $125 as well and I have:
- basic cable
- digital cable (2 tiers)
- hd chans
- 1 hd/dvr box
- Preferred Cable Internet

Also, do you guys know the model number on the new 160gb boxes (with the hdmi out)? I went and exchanged mine this week and this box appears to be functioning a lot better.

Oh, and I bought a new tv this weekend.. parents bought my old one, so that sounded like a good excuse. Went with the KDF-E50A10 (50" Projection LCD).

What do I like the most? The VGA port on the back made for pc hookup. Perfect 1:1 @ 1280x720.. can't argue with that.

Marc

you can see how much space is on the box with the menu -> dn, b, up, b

and my panasonic ae700 is native 720p so everything i have is in 720p. keeping everything native is always the best idea.

this post needed a monday bump... btw dave i finally found a good video showing all the power of media center (they talk about the 360 but never show one which is a slight knock against it). plus they miss one little feature (they hint at it but never actually show it... basically the guide can sorta double as the tivo special guide or whatever its called where it shows all the shows on a channel.... if you watch closely when he goes to the channel number it shows a listing of the next 3 shows and if you hit enter it takes you to the full listing)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8731269208463077583&q=media+center&pl=true

and of course what we are all waiting for which will really take mce into the living room.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5543988485984588227&q=media+center+vista&pl=true

Cool. I'll take a look at those videos.

Does anyone in Waco have an HR10-250? I can't get KCEN anymore except by manually tuning to 9-1 and that defeats the DVR capability because there is no schedule for manually scanned in channels. I'm king of thinking it's a PSIP problem with KCEN because when I scan local channels on my other two HD receivers it will detect the channels but the channel label is garbeled and there is no schedule downloaded from PSIP.

Hey LG, the guide info for KCEN-DT is just fine on my HD-TiVo. It shows up as 6-1, and the channel tunes just fine there. Do you think something went wrong (power failure, etc.) and maybe your local market isn't set anymore.

No, I've got everything on a 2kW UPS. It 'fixed' itself Friday overnight. I'm not sure if the issue is KCEN or D*. I've kind of wondered if it might be KCEN. They had to reboot their PSIP generator earlier in the week due to some problem. Then friday when I rescanned the local channels on another receiver their channel labels were all gibberish.

It's happened twice in the last two weeks. Either D* (or Tribune Media Services) is sending out some bad info on where the 210 should look for the signal when on 6-1 or KCEN's stuff is messing up. I had a similar issue with KWKT. When their PSIP would go on the fritz I couldn't tune to 44-1 and get a signal, but tuning to 57-1 would work.

Sometimes I think these receivers are too smart for their own good and that the standards for the receiver makers leave too much for them to decide. I believe Dan at KCEN told me he has three HD receivers in their shop and each one reacts differently to the PSIP data.

Update on KYLE-DT status:

As of 12 Noon today (Saturday 03/18) KYLE-DT is broadcasting from the 300 foot level of our transmission tower on FM 2818 West of Bryan. At the time of the move, the antenna was re-oriented for optimum coverage of Bryan/College Station.

The transmitter was shut down at 8 AM while the antenna was moved from 142 feet up to 300 feet.

The transmitter was brought back up to 4 KW ERP at the completion of the antenna work.

We will be performing reception testing around the B/CS area this coming week.

Let me know if the signal is improved at your house. Thanks for the help guys!


Thanks for the update, I am at Holleman/glade and have a 35' tower with a CM 30crap (3016) antenna stacked over a CM3022 UHF antenna. The antennae are properly combined in to my rat shack pre amp. I would expect that setup to be ample for recieving signal that is transmitted 10 miles away. I can now get 28.1 and 28.2 in my guide. 28 analog comes in clear as a bell, however the digital channels are very noisy. Signal strength shows 65-75% but often drops to 49%. During the HD Nascar race on sunday i got random blurps of audio and poor quality video. I assume that before the transmitter was raised, the O&M building may have hindered my reception. . . .now i'm not real sure as to what the hold back is. I still recieve KBTX at 75% with antenna pointed away from its transmitter, KMAY analog looks nice, KCEN-DT 65%, KHRD looks decent, KXXV-DT 60-65% at night (depending on weather),and KAMU-DT 97%. Not sure how many other guys are able to get KYLE-DT OTA, or with what success. I wonder why the signal on KYLE is so jumpy, could there be an issue with the transmitter? Just curious? Hope this helps FOX44CE get us up and running.

Thanks for the update, I am at Holleman/glade and have a 35' tower with a CM 30crap (3016) antenna stacked over a CM3022 UHF antenna. The antennae are properly combined in to my rat shack pre amp. I would expect that setup to be ample for recieving signal that is transmitted 10 miles away. I can now get 28.1 and 28.2 in my guide. 28 analog comes in clear as a bell, however the digital channels are very noisy. Signal strength shows 65-75% but often drops to 49%. During the HD Nascar race on sunday i got random blurps of audio and poor quality video. I assume that before the transmitter was raised, the O&M building may have hindered my reception. . . .now i'm not real sure as to what the hold back is. I still recieve KBTX at 75% with antenna pointed away from its transmitter, KMAY analog looks nice, KCEN-DT 65%, KHRD looks decent, KXXV-DT 60-65% at night (depending on weather),and KAMU-DT 97%. Not sure how many other guys are able to get KYLE-DT OTA, or with what success. I wonder why the signal on KYLE is so jumpy, could there be an issue with the transmitter? Just curious? Hope this helps FOX44CE get us up and running.

Due to availability of parts, we had to make the splice on the transmission line with a connector that was not designed for the existing Andrew line.

The result was that we have about 15 watts of reflected power with 300 watts of forward power at 3 KW ERP. (I am holding down power a little until this is corrected)

The signal strength you are receiving verses the stability of the picture seem to indicate that this reflection is affecting the modulation linearity.

We received the correct Andrew 1 5/8" splice today and we will be installing it tomorrow. My consulting engineer is coming in to set up the final corrections in the 8VSB modulator in the transmitter to compensate for the changes Friday.

Could you check your reception tomorrow evening and Friday evening to see if there is any improvement? I appreciate any help you can give me until we can complete a coverage analysis with our analyzer and 8 bay panel antenna.

does this mean that I will never be able to get Fox here locally with just my indoor HD antenna? Do I need some big honking outdoor antenna? If that's the case I will just wait until we move to a bigger city where I can see all the channels using the indoor one. Too much work for the outdoor kind or even in the attic. I amnot as technologically proficient as some of you guys on the forum. :rolleyes:

does this mean that I will never be able to get Fox here locally with just my indoor HD antenna? Do I need some big honking outdoor antenna? If that's the case I will just wait until we move to a bigger city where I can see all the channels using the indoor one. Too much work for the outdoor kind or even in the attic. I amnot as technologically proficient as some of you guys on the forum. :rolleyes:

with an indoor antenna its always going to be a stretch to get fox imo (but it looks as if there are a few more upgrades to do but you still have an indoor antenna).... of course you should have orig gotten cox cable vs dish anyways (we have had all the locals since the superbowl) but im sure you are now tied to dish and their lovely 12 month contract.

not so much tied to the contract, as I just prefer Dish, while it would be nice to have all the HD, I guess I will be getting it all in a matter of time anyways. Besides, being a graduate student, I am in a lab all day long until7 or 8 at night sometimes, and the ONLY thing I have time to watch are all the Tivo'd shows on my 2 Tivos, before my new stuff doesn't get recorded. I will probably care more about HD during the summer, when I have to watch REAL tv. :eek:

since you have 2 tivos im guessing you dont have one of those 622 hd-dvrs then.... i dont think i could watch SD content only via dvr anymore.

Granted we have hd-dvrs as well on cox :)

well since I have never had an HD DVR I guess I don't know what I am missing :p

well since I have never had an HD DVR I guess I don't know what I am missing :p

you got that right... ;)

to me its just as big of a jump going to dvr from regular dish/cable.

i am just happy to have Tivo. How does anyone live without them????? I will have my wireless hooked up soon, so I can transfer shows between the Tivos and to my laptop too. Wahoo. Thn I can watch my shows WHILE I am in the lab with no windows. Don't you love being a tv addict?

Here is a picture of the new tv.. with my new mac mini.

Here is a picture of the new tv.. with my new mac mini.

nice now all you need to do is bootcamp that mini so you can run a real media center... ;)

Here is a picture of the new tv.. with my new mac mini.

Cool, are you doing any HD with the mini?

I guess I'll show my new display too. Living and bedroom setups:

nice now all you need to do is bootcamp that mini so you can run a real media center... ;)

It is bootcamped. I actually don't use frontrow, I use one called MediaCentral which is much more robust (closer to MCE).

By the way, MCE won't run on bootcamp without some finangeling....

Yup, doing some HD on it.. pretty decent with a 720p stream, not to mention that I was able to get 1:1 ratio on the res without any overscan/underscan.

I use XP for GameEX ... it's a front loader for all the emulators out there.. mame, snes, nes, etc.. completely controlled by my wireless gamepad.. it's definately the setup.

By the way, I'm having a difficult time finding a decent wireless keyboard/mouse with good range. I just got the gyraiton combo in and it royaly sucks. Thinking of going bluetooth, but would like to try before I buy.

the gyration has worked great for me (my dad has it now)... but it easily went 20 ft.

I get the range with it.. but the keyboard is very sporadic when typing.. even when I'm right next to the receiver. Do you know what model number you had?

"gyration ultra cordless optical suite" is what it says on the case.... the keyboard looks like a laptop keyboard.

I have no idea what you guys are saying.

Due to availability of parts, we had to make the splice on the transmission line with a connector that was not designed for the existing Andrew line.

The result was that we have about 15 watts of reflected power with 300 watts of forward power at 3 KW ERP. (I am holding down power a little until this is corrected)

The signal strength you are receiving verses the stability of the picture seem to indicate that this reflection is affecting the modulation linearity.

We received the correct Andrew 1 5/8" splice today and we will be installing it tomorrow. My consulting engineer is coming in to set up the final corrections in the 8VSB modulator in the transmitter to compensate for the changes Friday.

Could you check your reception tomorrow evening and Friday evening to see if there is any improvement? I appreciate any help you can give me until we can complete a coverage analysis with our analyzer and 8 bay panel antenna.

The line splice was installed yesterday and transmitter tuned up and brought up to 500 watts (5 KW ERP). We will be doing reception measurements in the area early next week. Let me know if the signal is improved at your house.

Hello All.

I've lurked around here for quite some time reading your posts. I am a graduate student here, having served my undegrad time here as well.

Folks seem to always make first posts when they have a problem. I am having one now and this is no different. This may be better placed in another forum . . but it seems that this is an issue that only you guys will know.


I have a MyHD-130 hdtv tuner. It sits in my server and records show. I then stream them to the htpc in the living room. The tuner is qam capable - so I get all the locals. I have had ZERO problems with this guy since getting it last fall. I immediately picked up FOX and then ABC as they were added.

Sometime around spring break the issue arose. I record several ABC shows for the woman of the house. These include: Desperate Housewives, Greys Anatomy, and Lost.

The Problem:
All of the sudden my server ( one with tuner ) crashes whenever a scheduled ABC recording comes around. It crashes if I tune in the channel manually, or if it tunes it for a scheduled recording. Either way, it crashes. It doesn't matter if it's true HD content, or SD on the hd channel. This is a windows BSOD that occurs with about 30 seconds of viewing/recording.

Prognosis:
I have tried several things. My current assumption is that this has something to do with the ABC stream itself.

Questions:

1. Does anyone have the fusion or myhd and do qam from cox? Any issues?

2. Does anyone know what the specific differences between the cox Fox stream and cox ABC stream are? In lieu of the above?

3. On a different note: I edit the commercials out of these recording and store them. I use Videoredo. This program nullstrips the files as well. Does it suprise anyone to know that the FOX shows are a true bitrate of 8mbps? Does anyone think this is pretty low? Does anyone know what kind of bitrates a nullstriped ATSC Fox show is?


Thanks guys!

P.S. You guys have a nice subforum going here. Looking forward to hanging around a bit more.

I use the same tuner (MyHD MDP-130) to get the HD locals on Cox here, and I haven't really had any issues (that I didn't later determine to most likely be the dorm's old cable wiring here).

I don't very often watch/record ABC, but I've not had any crashing of any kind when I do. What kind of BSOD is it (what error code), and does it specifically identify the MyHD driver?

As far as Fox/ABC stream differences, I have no idea. And for the Fox bitrates, I record 24 and thought the bitrate (~8mbps) seemed kinda low too, but I just assumed it was because it was a 24fps film source (so frames are repeated in a 2-3-2-3 pattern). I would think that a true 60fps source (such as live sports) would have a higher bitrate (or at least I'd hope so!)

The line splice was installed yesterday and transmitter tuned up and brought up to 500 watts (5 KW ERP). We will be doing reception measurements in the area early next week. Let me know if the signal is improved at your house.

So I guess the proper question is: What is CBS wattage? If I can get their signal with an indoor antenna alone, is that the power that Fox will have to be before I can get it? I just tried a new scan, but no Fox. :( I would LOVE to be able to watch our Fox shows in HD. So sad. :( :( :(

I use the same tuner (MyHD MDP-130) to get the HD locals on Cox here, and I haven't really had any issues (that I didn't later determine to most likely be the dorm's old cable wiring here).

I don't very often watch/record ABC, but I've not had any crashing of any kind when I do. What kind of BSOD is it (what error code), and does it specifically identify the MyHD driver?

As far as Fox/ABC stream differences, I have no idea. And for the Fox bitrates, I record 24 and thought the bitrate (~8mbps) seemed kinda low too, but I just assumed it was because it was a 24fps film source (so frames are repeated in a 2-3-2-3 pattern). I would think that a true 60fps source (such as live sports) would have a higher bitrate (or at least I'd hope so!)


Howdy Synth.

The BSOD error codes change slightly, and they do not SPECIFICALLY point to the tuner. I have looked them up and they refer to the nt kernel usually. It seems pretty odd I agree. When I noticed that I could get multiple ones I stopped playing with it. It is DEFINITELY JUST ABC though. I can fire up the myhd and surf through the channels. . .. every time I hit abc it restarts within 5-10 seconds.

Would you try tuning in ABC and watching it for a while? Say 5 minutes or so?

24 Does look like a pretty low bitrate to me. I wasn't thinking about the 24fps jazz.. . you are right though. Still . . . it could look better. I have a 60" SXRD and it REALLY shows the difference in bitrates.

Let me know if you could check out ABC. Thanks!!!!

I am fixing to do some upgrades on that box. We'll see if I get any change.

FOX-HD sends their primetime programming at 13.5 mbit (sports/WB at 15.0). I have verified this more or less with the firewire capture on cox.

and your abc problem sounds like it started right when cox got that new feed to abc40 (even though it technically doenst exist anywhere). the bitrate is the highest from cox (and abc looks amazing these days) on their local channels these days (used to be cbs/nbc before their respective subchannels)

I dont use a myhd or fusion card so i am of little use on that front.... i will eventually get on the pc side of things but am waiting for vista and its cablecard support.

FOX44, I did some checking last night. I usually keep my antenna pointed towards the KXXV-ABC tower, which lets me pick-up them, KBTX, and KWTX-CBS. BTW, I live about 10 miles E/NE of Bryan, or 12.5 miles at 78deg from your tower. Without changing direction, 28-1 (and 28-2) would almost come in, but breaks up quite often. When I turned my antenna towards your tower for reception of 28-1, it would come in much better with only very infrequent brief breakups, which I might be able to diminish with more fine tuning of pointing. The downside, and I know this is just due to the logistics of my particular site, is when my antenna is pointed toward KYLE, it must be a null spot for KBTX because it doesn't come in at all then. Not a big deal, just a little inconvenient if at some point I wanted to have each one on the two tuners on the HD-Tivo.
BTW, I have noticed that 28-2 does not have the guide data like 28-1 does. Since 28-2 is the HD feed, it would be preferable (for us on this forum anyway ;) ) to have that situation reversed if for some reason it's not possible to have both with it. Just a thought. :)
Thanks again for all your effort and the updates.

I have a Terk antenna that looks like a v-wing that mounts just above my Directv antenna. I've been receiving PBS (KAMU) and CBS (KBTX) in HD through my HD Direct TV Tuner/HD Tivo. These come in flawlessly.

I noticed FOX on 28.2 last week. It comes in, but not reliably enough to watch.

I live right near Southwood Street at 2818 in south College Station. Do I live close enough that I should be able to redirect my antenna and pick up all three well?

Jeff

FOX44, I did some checking last night. I usually keep my antenna pointed towards the KXXV-ABC tower, which lets me pick-up them, KBTX, and KWTX-CBS. BTW, I live about 10 miles E/NE of Bryan, or 12.5 miles at 78deg from your tower. Without changing direction, 28-1 (and 28-2) would almost come in, but breaks up quite often. When I turned my antenna towards your tower for reception of 28-1, it would come in much better with only very infrequent brief breakups, which I might be able to diminish with more fine tuning of pointing. The downside, and I know this is just due to the logistics of my particular site, is when my antenna is pointed toward KYLE, it must be a null spot for KBTX because it doesn't come in at all then. Not a big deal, just a little inconvenient if at some point I wanted to have each one on the two tuners on the HD-Tivo.
BTW, I have noticed that 28-2 does not have the guide data like 28-1 does. Since 28-2 is the HD feed, it would be preferable (for us on this forum anyway ;) ) to have that situation reversed if for some reason it's not possible to have both with it. Just a thought. :)
Thanks again for all your effort and the updates.

Labmansid;

We do have full program schedule for both 28-1 (KYLE-SD) and 28-2 (KWKT-HD) in the PSIP data. What kind of tuner are you using and where does it acquire program schedules from? I have requested that decisionmark, Tribune and TVGuide add KWKT schedules for 28-2 to there services in the past and they appear on all of their web sites now.

If I can pin down the source, I'll try to get that corrected.

I have a Terk antenna that looks like a v-wing that mounts just above my Directv antenna. I've been receiving PBS (KAMU) and CBS (KBTX) in HD through my HD Direct TV Tuner/HD Tivo. These come in flawlessly.

I noticed FOX on 28.2 last week. It comes in, but not reliably enough to watch.

I live right near Southwood Street at 2818 in south College Station. Do I live close enough that I should be able to redirect my antenna and pick up all three well?

Jeff

There are no obstructions between you and the tower that would prevent receiving us. It will probably take a higher gain antenna though. We use a Channel Master 8 bay panel for our testing and will be down next week doing a reception study.

I'll make sure that we include the South C/S 2818 area.

If I can figure out how to post graphics I will put them up for you guys to compare to your locations. Maybe that will help you out.

FOX-HD sends their primetime programming at 13.5 mbit (sports/WB at 15.0). I have verified this more or less with the firewire capture on cox.

and your abc problem sounds like it started right when cox got that new feed to abc40 (even though it technically doenst exist anywhere). the bitrate is the highest from cox (and abc looks amazing these days) on their local channels these days (used to be cbs/nbc before their respective subchannels)

I dont use a myhd or fusion card so i am of little use on that front.... i will eventually get on the pc side of things but am waiting for vista and its cablecard support.

Jagouar;

One minor correction to your bitrates: Because we switch the output of the WB delay server before the FOX splicer, we are restricted in regards to bitrates and fomat.

The WB feed is recorded at the full 15MBits, 1080i, 59.97 Fps on our digital delay server but we have to cross-convert it to 720P, 59.97 Fps, 13.5 MBits during playback to be compatible with the FOX splicer that feeds our transmitters.
(The bandwidth requirement for 720p is less than 1080i by the amounts we use)

(I say "cross-convert" because I am of the school that believes that the picture quality of a 720p 59.97 Fps picture is better than a 1080i 29.97 Fps except on programming that has very little time offset motion artifacts - A situation that becomes obvious when comparing FOX or ABC sports to CBS sports)

Howdy Synth.

The BSOD error codes change slightly, and they do not SPECIFICALLY point to the tuner. I have looked them up and they refer to the nt kernel usually. It seems pretty odd I agree. When I noticed that I could get multiple ones I stopped playing with it. It is DEFINITELY JUST ABC though. I can fire up the myhd and surf through the channels. . .. every time I hit abc it restarts within 5-10 seconds.

Would you try tuning in ABC and watching it for a while? Say 5 minutes or so?

24 Does look like a pretty low bitrate to me. I wasn't thinking about the 24fps jazz.. . you are right though. Still . . . it could look better. I have a 60" SXRD and it REALLY shows the difference in bitrates.

Let me know if you could check out ABC. Thanks!!!!

I am fixing to do some upgrades on that box. We'll see if I get any change.

I've just been running the MyHD app with ABC on for the last 15 minutes or so (with timeshifting enabled), and there's been no crashing or anything. What version of the MyHD drivers are you using? I'm using the latest 1.66 version...if that's the same version you're using, then I really don't know what could be the problem. I would then assume some sort of software/hardware conflict with the card in your system, but then I really don't know why that would only show up with one channel. :confused:

Labmansid;

We do have full program schedule for both 28-1 (KYLE-SD) and 28-2 (KWKT-HD) in the PSIP data. What kind of tuner are you using and where does it acquire program schedules from? I have requested that decisionmark, Tribune and TVGuide add KWKT schedules for 28-2 to there services in the past and they appear on all of their web sites now.

If I can pin down the source, I'll try to get that corrected.
Myself and several others on here use DirecTV tuners (HD-Tivo, H20 here) which gets their data from zap2it, I believe, although I could be mistaken. I just checked their website, www.zap2it.com, and after a little hunting found listings for our locals. There is info for KYLEDT, but it is only one channel listed as 28. There is info for the two CBS sub-channels, KBTXDT/KBTXDT2, and PBS KAMUDT/KAMUDT2, even though at present there is actually only one PBS feed right now. Interestingly, I see no mention of KXXVDT (ABC-25), although I get guide data fine for them on my receivers.
Hope that helps, and thanks again for your efforts.

I have a Terk antenna that looks like a v-wing that mounts just above my Directv antenna. I've been receiving PBS (KAMU) and CBS (KBTX) in HD through my HD Direct TV Tuner/HD Tivo. These come in flawlessly.

I noticed FOX on 28.2 last week. It comes in, but not reliably enough to watch.

I live right near Southwood Street at 2818 in south College Station. Do I live close enough that I should be able to redirect my antenna and pick up all three well?

Jeff

you actually live VERY close to me.... I live on Rayburn (off Angelina which intersects southwood). I havent used my antenna in 6 months (no need once you have all the locals with cox) but when I had it there was no problems getting feeds (but this doesnt apply to fox since it didnt exist when i used my antenna)

BTW Ishman, why specifically did you choose media central? Just wondering because I have heard some posts about it but never seen any videos of it in action and judging from the screenshots on their website it doesnt look very powerful (but there arent very many screenshots out there).

There are no obstructions between you and the tower that would prevent receiving us. It will probably take a higher gain antenna though. We use a Channel Master 8 bay panel for our testing and will be down next week doing a reception study.

I'll make sure that we include the South C/S 2818 area.

If I can figure out how to post graphics I will put them up for you guys to compare to your locations. Maybe that will help you out.

FOX44CE, you may want head as far south as the Greens Prairie area. I haven't tried to pickup 28-2 yet on the HD-Tivo. I'll need to disable my jointenna for KAMU. I'm shooting for Houston, so my antenna (CM-3020) is in the opposite direction. I guess I can always stack another antenna for Fox. :)

BTW Ishman, why specifically did you choose media central? Just wondering because I have heard some posts about it but never seen any videos of it in action and judging from the screenshots on their website it doesnt look very powerful (but there arent very many screenshots out there).

It's still not as powerful as MCE, but it is certainly more robust than FrontRow.

I mainly chose it because it can play just about any video format available, including VOBs. I have no need for the TV feature, although it does contain live internet tv feeds in it.

MediaCentral is still not where it should be, but again, it's certainly better than FrontRow.

I hardly want to get into a Mac vs. PC flamewar, but I truely think that the Mac Mini makes for the perfect match in the living room. It's small form factor, ease of use, and quietness scores high on my meter.

Marc

so anybody here buy a hd-dvd player yet? im actually very suprised hd-dvd movies are streeting for $20-$25... very reasonable imo.

cant wait for the 360 addon.

I hardly want to get into a Mac vs. PC flamewar, but I truely think that the Mac Mini makes for the perfect match in the living room. It's small form factor, ease of use, and quietness scores high on my meter.

thats one of the biggest reasons I have a 360 running my media center extender.... its virtually silent when not playing games and works great streaming my content (its only flaw is not being able to stream dvd's)

I'm still thinking of waiting it out until one of the formats dies or a dual-player comes out.

Any idea what the 360 addon will run? I may go for that if there are enough HD titles I want.

i have no idea... something tells me it we will know at e3.

as far as titles there are already quite a few i want (serenity for sure and apollo 13 on the maybe side)

from the launch lineups i really think hd-dvd has a better lineup.

Avail on 18th:
Serenity

Avail on 25th:
Apollo 13
Doom

Avail May 9th:
Cinderella Man
Jarhead
Assault on Precinct 13

Avail May 23:
The Chronicles of Riddick
U-571
The Bourne Supremecy
Van Helsing

Myself and several others on here use DirecTV tuners (HD-Tivo, H20 here) which gets their data from zap2it, I believe, although I could be mistaken. I just checked their website, www.zap2it.com, and after a little hunting found listings for our locals. There is info for KYLEDT, but it is only one channel listed as 28. There is info for the two CBS sub-channels, KBTXDT/KBTXDT2, and PBS KAMUDT/KAMUDT2, even though at present there is actually only one PBS feed right now. Interestingly, I see no mention of KXXVDT (ABC-25), although I get guide data fine for them on my receivers.
Hope that helps, and thanks again for your efforts.

I've got my programming manager looking into the DirectTV and EchoStar(Dish) guide services to see if we can get them both updated for both services 28.1 KYLE-SD and 28.2 KWKT-HD) on KYLE-DT.

I've got my programming manager looking into the DirectTV and EchoStar(Dish) guide services to see if we can get them both updated for both services 28.1 KYLE-SD and 28.2 KWKT-HD) on KYLE-DT.

My H10 went out last week so D* sent me an H20 to replace it. It is a Mexico manufactured H20-100, which is different from my H20-600. I wasn't ever able to get any guide info for KWKT-HD 28.2 on the H20-600, but the guide info came right up on the H20-100. And I like the pretty blue lights :)

I just got a reply back from Tom Way...

1. the 160 gig HD-DVR is ready and being distributed (for those that havent gone to get it yet)

2. the "cebridge" takeover officially happens May 1 but it wont be under the cebridge name (wouldnt tell me what the new name would be)

3. he hinted at losing/gaining some hd channels but wouldnt go into specifics... he called it a possible restructuring.

Interesting, yet cryptic response from Tom Way. Number 3 bothers me.... I really hope they don't axe the INHD's, I love the content.

Also, I'm holding out on the HD-DVD player as well.. but it sure is tempting.. especially since Best Buy has a few available.

Interesting, yet cryptic response from Tom Way. Number 3 bothers me.... I really hope they don't axe the INHD's, I love the content.

Also, I'm holding out on the HD-DVD player as well.. but it sure is tempting.. especially since Best Buy has a few available.


Im the sane way ish... i really like inhd, its much better than hdnets imo. i think there is a good chance we will keep them though since cox was a big partner of the inhd's there is a good chance part of the buyout cox will give cebridge access to the inhd's.

im more worried about channels like discovery, universal, etc. I think there will be a very small chace we will lose any of the locals.

This is Cebridges Lineup in Houston (kingwood)
120 HBO HD
121 Showtime HD
130 Discovery HD Theater
131 ESPN HD
132 HDNet
133 HDNet Movies

It is wierd though because they only have the CBS,FOX and NBC HD local feeds... must be some contractual issues with abc in houston.

Don't see StarzHD there.

or universal hd/inhd's.... granted i expect them to add more going from the 20th or whatever they are now to the 8th biggest cable company.

im not going to get too worried until i see some final plans from tom way as to what we would be gaining/losing.

fox44.... wanted to give you an update from my dads house in south cs.

he is indeed gettting 25-1/2 pretty reliably but its not perfect for him yet. he has a winegard antenna (the voom one) and my old voom receiver (which is one of the best ota tuners). Every 10-15 mins or so it will have a momentary breakup (its pretty rare but still happens). So probably a bit more power and it would be perfect for him. His signal strength shows 88-90 (the voom box needs 80 to lock onto the singal). He lives off deacon drive so hes pretty far south cs but not that far. Just wanted to give you a heads up though.

Just curious, how does one "Contact" Tom Way at cox? I have some compliments I want to send his way about a service tech that came to my house yesterday. Outstanding personality and a great help. There is no way to do so through their web site :(

I also wanted to update on the Sony DHG-HDD500 DVR. Once I got it set up and put in the zip code, it got the TVGOS information overnight from KUHT (PBS 8) and I had to select the Cox "Rebuild" the following morning. After that the guide was set. I had to do quite a bit of tweaking to correct the channel order and some of the channels were not "enabled" in the guide so I had to turn them on and configure them as well.

Now that it is all up and running I am quite happy with the set. Records HD flawlessly. I am using the HDMI out to my "Big" TV. It also has two sets of Composite audio with composite/S-Video Video outputs. I ran Cat 6 ethernet in my house during construction so I used that to pipe the composite audio/S-Video to my master bedroom. Combine that with a $40 Phillips remote that has IR-RF extension capabilities and I can use the DVR to watch digital cable and recorded shows on another TV.

All in all I am quite pleased with the unit.

sounds like a good setup.... and i will second cox techs. they are very good (well the one guy i had come over to help me out atleast)

DAMN!! How come every time it rains/storms KBTX-DT goes out? Their regular old analog 3 is still on, but no digital. :mad:

it was working just fine on cox... guess that fiberline is actually worth something(since it seems its not going to net us better PQ)

kwtx out of waco was offline though (showing a SD picture)

it was working just fine on cox... guess that fiberline is actually worth something(since it seems its not going to net us better PQ)

kwtx out of waco was offline though (showing a SD picture)
I didn't know cox has both KBTX and KWTX- why do they have two different CBS stations?

sorry meant kwkt (fox/wb)

Sorry havent posted in a while. I guess I have been "studying" to much. . .ha. Anyhow I am getting 70-85% signal stregnth on 28-1 and 28-2. 28-0 comes in great, however the digitals (though signal is strong) still drop out audio alot and have some digital blurring. Signal is better at night, and I am getting NBC6 out of wakko consistantly, KBTX is consistant and KAMU is good. KWTX and KXXV come in when the weather is right or at night. (BTW im aiming at KYLE tower from glade/leacrest)

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6327174.html?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP&nid=2226

looks like we have the new name: Suddenlink Communications

sounds lame to me but it is just a name.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=668631&page=1&pp=30

and damn some of those hd-dvd screenshots look great..... heres to hoping that 360 addon drive is somewhat cheap.

Everybody here please email TWC and share your thoughts on new HD channels.
We all have a couple minutes to spare to post here so please Email Corporate.

Fred.Dressler@twcable.com

Let's be civilized.

OK, so does no one know the answer to my earlier question? I had asked what is CBS broadcasting their signal at that I get it so well with my puny indoor HD antenna? And is that what FOX would have to be broadcasting at for me to get it with my indoor antenna?

I wish all the locals were putting out the awesome signal that KBTX uses. :D

cbs is broadcasting at a MUCH higher power than fox ever will be at. i dont knwo for sure but i think cbs is at 300 kw and fox is going to be 5 kw i think.

oh :eek:

and damn some of those hd-dvd screenshots look great..... heres to hoping that 360 addon drive is somewhat cheap.


I was in BB last week and they had the Toshiba HD-A1 playing Phantom of the Opera on the new Westinghouse LVM-42w2 (which will actually accept a 1080p signal) and I thought it looked good. I fiddled with the remote a little and the player does react a little slowly (like when skipping to the next chapter), but the picture looked good.

I was in BB last week and they had the Toshiba HD-A1 playing Phantom of the Opera on the new Westinghouse LVM-42w2 (which will actually accept a 1080p signal) and I thought it looked good. I fiddled with the remote a little and the player does react a little slowly (like when skipping to the next chapter), but the picture looked good.

another reason im waiting for the 360... the toshiba player basically is a computer (with 2.4 gig p4 and 1 gig ram). the 360 should have more processing power and hopefully better working player.

i just dropped by best buy here to check out their hd-dvd player.... looked very good (didnt see a remote so i couldnt play with the interactive layer)

saw the batman begins, and serenity trailers. both looked amazing.

also that westinghouse 42 lcd kicks major ass.... i think i found my next "want" tv.

I have recorded the batman begins and serenity trilaers off inhd's trailer show and it really shows you just how much better hd-dvd is vs cable (and sl cable is pretty damn good)

Hello everybody,

New to HD but been an Ag all my life. Great to see the active thread you guys have going here. I'm currently in Dallas for an internship and will be comming back to CS with my first HDTV. I've read most of this thread since Jan-06 and hope to be fairly active in the weeks to come. I'm currently in the Dallas-HDTV thread for obvious reasons but figured I should start trying to see what my HD options were once I return for summer school (Cox). Simply wanting to introduce myself.

well your easiest option will be cox.... (well as of may 1 its called suddenlink)

they have a decent selection of channels (and the only real way to get all the locals in the b/cs area). we still wont know if we are losing any channels due to the suddenlink takeover but we should know something as of may 1. tom way has been pretty much nonexistant lately (but really its to be expected right now seeing as hes trying to make sure the takeover goes as smoothly as possible)

we are due for another avs party... need to get mikey to grill up some more steaks and see that pool again ;)

Hey jag.. few questions for ya.

Do you know if Cox was still discussing some improvements to the dvr box? Or is that just scrapped alltogether due to the suddenlink takeover.

One thing I really want is the ability to hide channels that aren't currently in my subscription package. Also, I want these bad boys networked!

Peace,
Marc

Well just wait for vista and all your problems will go away :)

As for the DVR I know it was being worked on (in the 2.7 version of the OS) but I dont have any clue if we will be keeping the moto/pioneer DVR's (I would suspect we are).

Im still gonna ditch it regarldess of what the dvr can do once vista comes out. With its cablecard support and the best interface Ive ever used it will be an easy decision. (not to mention its networkable on upto 5 tv's in your house and its a true streaming client.... the 360 works wonderfully for me as an extender [ive been putting it through the paces to see just how good it is and im impressed]). When vista finally takes it to the next level with cablecard its all over with the moto boxes for me.

And media center can actually hide channels from the guide... (and has a great way to see how much space you have left). Its overall the best UI for a dvr type of device.

my only concern is vista might only support 1 cablecard 2.0 which would limit you to 2 tuners (which wont work for what i want to use media center for). I will want 4 tuners in mine. Since each client device streams live tv you will need a tuner for each tv that might be on (and still be able to record)

plus i can add as much hard drive space as i can buy... thats going to be a big thing for me with media center.... finally have a terabyte of space to actually be able to store more than 15 hrs of HD.

Any idea as to what cables are offered unencrypted via QAM in the B/CS area? My tv has a QAM tuner that served me well the first couple of weeks in Dallas (picked up local stations). But since I couldn't get enough HD (ESPN, INHD, DS-TH, ect) I upgraded my basic cable package to include these HD channels.

The apartment I plan to go back to during the summer already supplies us with basic expanded cable so I'm wanting to know if I might be able to pick up ESPN-HD via my QAM tuner or if it will just be the local channels (if any).

Any idea as to what cables are offered unencrypted via QAM in the B/CS area? My tv has a QAM tuner that served me well the first couple of weeks in Dallas (picked up local stations). But since I couldn't get enough HD (ESPN, INHD, DS-TH, ect) I upgraded my basic cable package to include these HD channels.

The apartment I plan to go back to during the summer already supplies us with basic expanded cable so I'm wanting to know if I might be able to pick up ESPN-HD via my QAM tuner or if it will just be the local channels (if any).

I can answer that one...only the locals are unencrypted here (I use a PC HDTV tuner that can only receive unencrypted QAM).

Specifically:

KBTX-DT (CBS)
KAMU-DT (PBS)
KCEN-HD (NBC)
KWKT-HD (FOX/WB)
KRHD-HD (ABC)

synth is right.... only locals are unencrypted. although as with everything else right now it could all change on may 1.

btw has anybody had problems tuning kcen and kwkt lately? wed night invasion was blocking up the whole time and last night for the last 5 mins kcen was blocking up (kept blocking though leno and was fixed by the time conan came on).

Did someone here say that Cox is using the cablecards now? I'm thinking about just dumping the DVR and going with that (if it cheap).

Marc

yeah cox has them (again dont know about suddnelink) but they are much cheaper than the dvr (i want to say somewhere in the range of $1.99 to rent) but you only get one tuner (they dont have 2.0 cablecards yet) and it wont record anything for you (without a 3rd party device).

So is suddenlink going to be a new cable company or is cox simply going to change thier name to suddenlink? To be honest I've never heard of that company the only ones I was aware of were Cox, Comcast, Time Warner.

Here's hoping things get better and we don't lose good quality HD channels like the INHD's.

BTW does anyone happen to have a uncompressed .ts of the INHD special about Kyle Field? I know someone posted a comptessed divx version on Texags, but I would really like the raw .ts. I would be more then willing to send someone back 3 blank DVD-Rs :o

the raw version came from me... i have it on my media pc (streams to the xbox 360). i know dave and others wanted a copy as well.

as for the takeover.... suddenlink is a new name for cebridge. cebridge bought most of the cox properties up for sale. they run some cableco's in kingwood and other places. we really dont know whats going to happen with them as far as gaining/losing channels (and probably wont until may 1). although im hating it already because we havent been given any mailers or information about the takeover.

Suddenlink will be the 9th largest cable provider in the nation after buying all the cox properties... it actually could work out being good for us as well (many of the smaller cable co's actually have the most hd channels) so we will just have to take a wait and see approach.

Here we go again!! It rained/stormed last night, so KBTX-DT is off the air again. :mad: I'm missing "Dora the Explorer"!! http://www.emotipad.com/newemoticons/Bellow.gif

how did you know its off? is it completly off (because there is no hd stuff on till later)

its still on with cox.

:mad: i guess kbtx needs to ground their tower. . . . . apparently their link to cox is fiber so those guys arent affected, but i hate cox so no digital golf today

yeah cox has a fiber line running across the street.... but its not all good on cox as abc is offline for me today. but for the past 2 weekends its been off, dunno what the problem there is.

yeah cox has a fiber line running across the street.... but its not all good on cox as abc is offline for me today. but for the past 2 weekends its been off, dunno what the problem there is.

I've been getting a picture on ABC all day (at least, the few times I've checked) - but no sound. I've almost come to expect that from KRHD now :rolleyes:

well im completly dark here.... dont know what it is. and its been like this for a while now (seems to happen on the weekends mainly... almost like whoever was in charge of "flipping the switch" is off)

i thought the issue was fixed but guess tom way will be getting an email as soon as he responds to my other email (like i said he has been real busy lately... taking 2-3 weeks to respond to emails lately). its to be expected right now with all the takeover stuff and all the details that have to get worked out.

Y'all, I'm a bit new with the College Station HD, but is 3.1 and 3.2 chronically off-air when a storm goes through? I'm referring to OTA, not Cox. I'm in Huntsville and when they are on-air, their signal is very strong.

yeah kbtx doesnt have any sort of generator at their site yet (its supposedly coming) so whenever they have storms they shut it down vs leaving it up and possibly ruining the whole transmitter.

Durn... Well, I was hoping for storm coverage if we have another hurricane issue like last year. Cloud cover was too thick for the DBS, Cox was down in Huntsville. Soooo, I thought that purchasing a Squareshooter for storm coverage from Channel 3.1 would help. Durn it.

Well anybody notice anything on cox today? its still showing me all the old channels (and they still work). Anybody driven past the cox office today? (just wondering if the sign has been changed to suddenlink)

Any changes noticed as of 2:00pm?

Haven't noticed anything.

Well, except that I am having the worst luck with these Moto boxes. I'm on my 4th one now, and it's already starting to become problematic.

My main problem is that when I'm watching a recorded or time-shifted show, the fast-forward and rewind doesn't work at all.. and usually results in the show starting over from the beginning. This same thing happened on 2 of the other boxes. It seems to always happen after about 1 month of use.

I'm just going to take it back and save about $15 a month with just the cable card. I've been downloading/purchasing most of the shows I want to watch now anyway.

I'm worried about dropping the box off today though.. especially if they just switched over. I might not get what I'm expecting.

Marc

well let me know if anything is different there.... im actually going to stick with this 120 gig box i think until vista (and not upgrade to the 160 because of all the problems i hear about the dvr's). i have had pretty much 0 problems with it and has worked really well for me.

tom way did say it was going to be a "soft launch" on may 1 so maybe nothing will change until june (the article linked here about the sale said they are also purchasing some other cable properties from charter i think and then after that sale was complete there would be a "hard launch")

Well anybody notice anything on cox today? its still showing me all the old channels (and they still work). Anybody driven past the cox office today? (just wondering if the sign has been changed to suddenlink)

Looking at another board, this is what a cebridge tech had to say about the takeover in the Dallas area.

"Regional TOM's here in Dallas say we will take over the Cox properties around the end of may when all paperwork is finalized. I am sure the local techs should know more about the isp changes."

This quote was is response to a question about email addresses changing over from the XXX@cox.net to something else.
So maybe the end of May is when we'll see some real changes.

interesting.... tom way did mention this would be more of a "soft launch" with the "hard launch" coming in june/july (when the sale of the charter areas were done) but i figured if cebridge was really taking over they would have to remove/add channels to their lineups. maybe the sale isnt actually complete yet and its just a name change.

well i heard a first... on the radio on my way home i happened to catch that "abc roundup" commercial (lists all the abc shows on that night) and at the end they mentioned on cox channel 9 and now in high definition on 720. Good to see somebody is advertising HD even if abc-hd has been very unreliable lately.

For what it's worth.. I figured out the problem with the DVR.

It seemed to happen anytime after I've used my mini to pull shows off via firewire. After unplugging the unit and plugging it back in, all the issues were solved.

So that leads me to another question...

If I were to buy a DVD-writer (Set-top, not pc) and I hooked up the DVR to the DVD-writer via firewire, do you think it would work? I know the firewire port on the DVD-writers are primarily for the DV's, but I would think it should work.

Marc

Are any of you 'Houstonian' Directvers going to 'move' back to College Station in the hopes of keeping your HD DNS? I plan on it.

For what it's worth.. I figured out the problem with the DVR.

It seemed to happen anytime after I've used my mini to pull shows off via firewire. After unplugging the unit and plugging it back in, all the issues were solved.

So that leads me to another question...

If I were to buy a DVD-writer (Set-top, not pc) and I hooked up the DVR to the DVD-writer via firewire, do you think it would work? I know the firewire port on the DVD-writers are primarily for the DV's, but I would think it should work.

Marc

I personally would doubt a dvd writer would work (mainly because of driver issues) but you could always buy from bb/cc and if it doesnt work just take it back.

and do you do the soft reboot on the mini? i have to soft reboot mine every time after recording something off firewire. (hold the power button down for 5 secs)

Are any of you 'Houstonian' Directvers going to 'move' back to College Station in the hopes of keeping your HD DNS? I plan on it.

Probably not since I'll actually be moving to Houston before the end of the year.

i will be somewhat suprised if they do kill off the dns feeds for all subs in the areas that locals are available.

if they do its going to suck real hard for all those hdtivo users (i will be laughing inside at directv's stupidness if they do it). I wonder what all the D* voom bashers are thinking now since they lobbied so hard against it (and once it went down the downrezzing really began) if they do indeed do something as stupid as this.

i do think voom ultimately would have been in some trouble because of the locals but they were the fios of satellite companies. especially had they gotten that dvr to market (which makes me wonder if it was really that far behind schedule since nobody still has been able to stream hd content... well with the exception of 360/mce solution)

Are any of you 'Houstonian' Directvers going to 'move' back to College Station in the hopes of keeping your HD DNS? I plan on it.
If I were to move back to B/CS I would have to reapply for whatever waivers there might be left, and I'm not sure if any of the locals would allow them anyway. I haven't heard anything from D* yet about that situation. If I "stay" in Houston, I could at least watch their HD locals on one tuner. I was under the impression the HD-DNS feeds would not be cut off until everyone had the chance to upgrade fully to MPEG-4, I guess I could be wrong/behind the times. :o

we are due for another avs party... need to get mikey to grill up some more steaks and see that pool again ;)

That could probably be arranged :cool:

I've been working on getting the landscaping fixed from last winter's freeze. Also, my daughter is graduating from A&M on May 12, so I am planning to have things fixed back up by then anyway.

Jag, why don't you throw out some dates and organize this :D

I'm good except for May 12 and for June 16 thru June 25.

Are any of you 'Houstonian' Directvers going to 'move' back to College Station in the hopes of keeping your HD DNS? I plan on it.

Does this include the O&O situtation with FOX and ABC in Houston? I don't have any DNS waivers, so I'm curious to see how this will work.

That could probably be arranged :cool:

I've been working on getting the landscaping fixed from last winter's freeze. Also, my daughter is graduating from A&M on May 12, so I am planning to have things fixed back up by then anyway.

Jag, why don't you throw out some dates and organize this :D

I'm good except for May 12 and for June 16 thru June 25.

Well Im not the only one that would be coming.... but im good pretty much any weekend till the end of summer. So maybe others could put in their dates and go from there. We need to get somebody to go buy the hd-dvd player + movies at best buy and return it the next day. (I would but I would likely try to keep it and i cant afford 500 bucks right now... I almost tried to walk out one at best buy when I saw the demo)

Does this include the O&O situtation with FOX and ABC in Houston? I don't have any DNS waivers, so I'm curious to see how this will work.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=673371

there is the thread in question... i dont think anybody really knows whats going to happen.

I'm re-doing my pond on Memorial Weekend, otherwise I'm free.

anybody know what happened to abc? something pretty major must have happened over there because both abc (SD and HD) have been offline all weekend and even their website is offline. Good thing cox has that abc13 out of houston they can use (its online right now but not in hd which sucks)

I have been a long-time lurker, on and off, and very rarely posted. I would like to get more involved with this forum...

I did see on KBTX news that KWTX in Waco got wiped out by a tornado. It's quite possible the same thing happened to the ABC station/transmitter.

anybody know what happened to abc? something pretty major must have happened over there because both abc (SD and HD) have been offline all weekend and even their website is offline. Good thing cox has that abc13 out of houston they can use (its online right now but not in hd which sucks)

At approximately 12:15AM Saturday morning an F2 tornado touched down halfway between the KWKT and KWTX studios in Waco. The storm path continued on along New Road and struck the KXXV studios directly. KWKT has a backup power generator at the studio and was able to stay on the air all night.

Our microwave dish at the studio that feeds KYLE was knocked out of line by the 115 MPH winds and shortly after the tornado struck Waco, severe winds hit the transmitter sites at Moody and knocked off our digital transmitter.

The KYLE feed had switched from the microwave to the digital receiver and KYLE broadcast a freeze frame until we were able to restore operation of the KWKT digital transmitter at approximately 2:10 AM.

We had a tower crew in Sunday to re-align the microwave path and it was restored at 3:15PM Sunday afternoon. KWTX and KXXV did not get power restored at their studios until sometime late Saturday morning.

All in all an interesting weekend!

thats kinda what i assumed happened.... both abc websites are now back so hopefully the transmitters will be back tonight as well.

In an unrelated matter.. I found this:

http://www.betanews.com/article/Cox_Considers_Offering_TiVo_DVRs/1147116404

Although, I know it doesn't matter to us now.... still found it interesting enough to share.

For what it's worth, the Cebridge website mentions TiVo in 'Select areas'...

Also, the Cebridge website know about us... If you enter our zip code to 'Find Service in your Area', it comes back with this list:

BRYAN - CITY
COLLEGE STATION - CITY
COLLEGE STATION - OUT
TEXAS A & M
DORMS
COLLEGE STATION CITY REBU
COLLEGE STATION OUT REBUI

Each item is a link, but then returns that they are not the contracted cable provider in the area.

If you put in another non-Cebridge/non-Old Cox zip code, you just get the last message immediately.

thats kinda what i assumed happened.... both abc websites are now back so hopefully the transmitters will be back tonight as well.

The KXXV transmitters have been back up since Saturday afternoon. Maybe COX didn't switch back to them?

well abc is back on for us but its kxxv25 (out of waco) and not the abc40 feed.

For what it's worth, the Cebridge website mentions TiVo in 'Select areas'...

Also, the Cebridge website know about us... If you enter our zip code to 'Find Service in your Area', it comes back with this list:

BRYAN - CITY
COLLEGE STATION - CITY
COLLEGE STATION - OUT
TEXAS A & M
DORMS
COLLEGE STATION CITY REBU
COLLEGE STATION OUT REBUI

Each item is a link, but then returns that they are not the contracted cable provider in the area.

If you put in another non-Cebridge/non-Old Cox zip code, you just get the last message immediately.

Nice... and hey bud. :-)

Marc

i still wonder when suddnelink is going to be the official name... i checked the domain name registry and there is a suddenlink.com which was registered to cebridge.

well abc is back on for us but its kxxv25 (out of waco) and not the abc40 feed.

They probably had the same wind problems that we did and lost the digital microwave feed to their KRHD transmitter site that is relayed from there to Cox by fiber. (Only a guess though since I have no direct contact there anymore)

We got a software upgrade installed in our HD encoder today that has allowed us to increase the encoder bandwidth for local programming and Warner Brothers Network to 15 Mbits and "Sharp" resolution while maintaining minimum bandwidth 3 MBits and "Sharp" resolution on our KYLE-SD secondary channel. (KYLE Microwave Backup)

There should be no difference in either bit-rate or resolution between FOX and WB now. Could I get some feedback on whether the quality is improved?

(Still no HDTV at my house)

so basically wb should look better? i will be sure to schedule something to record off Wb (not sure when the next hd program is for them)

Has anyone on Cox/Suddenlink Cable notice a lot of snow on the local channels. I just want to check with you guys, before I think it is my connection only. During the daytime it is very bad, but also noticeable at night. Also, anyone having trouble with the guide for NBC-HD. It keeps coming up Weatherscan instead of the correct programming in the guide and I cannot record any shows because of it. The programming that is being aired is correct, but the guide is not. Please let me know if anyone else is having the same problems.

The guide is now fixed. :) :) :) :) :)

The website is up for Suddenlink/Cox customers.
http://www.suddenlink.com/

It is still a work in progress, it says that COX customers need to use the old website for billing. They will notify everyone when it is officially switched to Suddenlink. Hopefully the service stays the same or gets better.
Keeping my fingers crossed.

yeah i had the kcen-dt weather guide problem.... pissed me off but luckily i was at home those nights to schedule the programs i wanted manually (namely the office which was great). i never watch the local channels sd anymore but i havent noticed anything quality wise with them.

man that intro for the new website was lame.... hopefully that will go when the site officially launches.

i wish they would come out with some pricing information/channel lineups for us..... i hate not knowing.

Same weather problem too here. Also, anyone notice that ABCHD's volume is off the charts. It almost blows my $70 walmart surround sound stereo setup up!

i didnt notice any abc volume problems... the color was all whacked up for the few mins i watched it last night (when ever the picture movied it looked like the red/green/blue didnt keep up)

Just a heads up for our houston D* friends... might want to keep track of this thread. Only affects PST and MST (so not us yet) but you might want to move back to CS pretty quick unless you have a way to pickup the receivers in houston.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=66175

I'm not "Houston", but this makes no sense. If the distant feeds (NY networks) are moving to MPEG4, those new receivers will not work without the new dish, correct?

Meh. I only have a HD-Tivo and I doubt they're going to try to replace that with a non HD-DVR. Even if they do decide to ship one, I have someone there to pick it up for me.

Just a heads up for our houston D* friends... might want to keep track of this thread. Only affects PST and MST (so not us yet) but you might want to move back to CS pretty quick unless you have a way to pickup the receivers in houston.


I moved back when I read they were taking away HD DNS from those in markets receiving HD locals.

I'm not "Houston", but this makes no sense. If the distant feeds (NY networks) are moving to MPEG4, those new receivers will not work without the new dish, correct?

thats how i understand it... but maybe part of the package is a new dish or maybe they will automatically schedule a service call. Doesnt make much sense to me either but not much at directv does these days. (alot like cox/suddenlink) ;)

thats how i understand it... but maybe part of the package is a new dish or maybe they will automatically schedule a service call. Doesnt make much sense to me either but not much at directv does these days. (alot like cox/suddenlink) ;)

Jag;

Did you ever get a chance to check out the quality on Warner Brothers High Def?
You never posted anything.

On another note:

Our full power digital transmitter in Tyler is being installed next week and the 500 watt tranmitter there will be moved to Bryan to replace the rigged up power amp arrangement we put together here to increase power.

We will keep the existing equipment there for backup in case it is needed.

Seriously. Does that mean you guys will start broadcasting with that much power? That would be truly good news.

Jag;

Did you ever get a chance to check out the quality on Warner Brothers High Def?
You never posted anything.

On another note:

Our full power digital transmitter in Tyler is being installed next week and the 500 watt tranmitter there will be moved to Bryan to replace the rigged up power amp arrangement we put together here to increase power.

We will keep the existing equipment there for backup in case it is needed.

I tried to check but cant tell if its actually better or not... whens the next HD program. I see drumline is on tonight and final destination 2 was on last night (which wasnt HD). Was hoping to wait for smallville since its something i can actually compare but with the season being over I might not be able to.

Also on the suddenlink front: http://www.kbtx.com/news/headlines/2780561.html
Good to see the name change has already taken place... maybe we wont lose any channels.

And also: http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/060501/20060501006333.html?.v=1
Maybe we will see some real on demand stuff from them pretty quickly....

Jag;
On another note:

Our full power digital transmitter in Tyler is being installed next week and the 500 watt tranmitter there will be moved to Bryan to replace the rigged up power amp arrangement we put together here to increase power.

We will keep the existing equipment there for backup in case it is needed.
Excellent!! I can pickup the current DT signal pretty well, but I have to rotate the antenna some to get the best lock. When you boost the power to 500, I/we should be able to get it with a coat hanger. :p Thanks for the update.

Just a heads up for our houston D* friends... might want to keep track of this thread. Only affects PST and MST (so not us yet) but you might want to move back to CS pretty quick unless you have a way to pickup the receivers in houston.
I'll just have to ask my mom not to chase off the UPS guy! :D

BTW, a different heads-up for us D* users. I got an e-mail from D* stating that starting tomorrow they are having a Total Choice Premiere free preview weekend. So get the Tivo set to record all that fine programming on "Skinemax"! :)

Excellent!! I can pickup the current DT signal pretty well, but I have to rotate the antenna some to get the best lock. When you boost the power to 500, I/we should be able to get it with a coat hanger. :p Thanks for the update.


My dad can too.... and hes just on my old voom setup (the stealth antenna and voom receiver).

I'll just have to ask my mom not to chase off the UPS guy! :D

I was referring more to those that are living in a field in houston or madeup some address to get htown locals. Going to be real interesting to see the outlash at d* when they remove ny/la feeds for everybody not in la/ny (and this sounds like the first step).

Yeah, it's not a big deal, EXCEPT for the fact that there is no MPEG-4 HD-DVR to replace the HD-Tivo yet. That is what I do about 98% of my viewing off of, and without the DNS feeds it would still be a little difficult/inconvenient for me to get NBC and ABC HD on the main TV.

I agree... other than sports i never watch live tv anymore on the cox dvr. and it would suck to not have a dvr to be able to record with.

they must be having some serious problems with the boxes because they have been working on their dvr's forever.... they really need to completly trash the interface for the directv boxes though.... i hate using my dads when im at his house (hes got the SD basic receiver but they use the same ui on all their stuff now and the mpeg4 box you have looks pretty close to his but with a few additions). if they do a dvr like that people are going to be pissed going from the tivo ui to that.

Reason #49597806 We need fios...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=679897

I just got my new HDTV and a Motorola DVR from Cox. Why do we not get NBA games in HD in College Station? I am watching the Pistons-Cavs game and there are black bars on the sides like an SD broadcast. What is the deal?

because abc has been screwed up for a few weeks now.... nobody really knows why but we suspect its an issue in that we are getting the abc40 hd feed which does not exist anywhere else so most likely its an abc40 problem. If you notice there is an abc40 hd logo in the bottom right corner.

At exactly 8PM last night (05-24-2006) during the season finale of American Idol, FOX switched every Eastern Time Zone HD feed to Mountain Time Zone and the show started over from the beginning.

Our Master Control operator called me immediately and we corrected it by switching to up-converted SD until FOX corrected the problem.

It's wasn't us - it was THEM!

haha i noticed something similar (but i think this time it was your fault) at the beginning of house season finale. it swapped back and forth between the live hd wb feed (i would assume) and after about 2 or 3 mins of switching back and forth it was finally corrected.

BTW Fox44, hopefully tonight I will be able to give you some WB impressions since smallville looks to be on.

Also anybody here use one of those little silversensor antennas? Im thinking about getting a ati hdtv wonder for my media center and use its included antenna (i dont have an outdoor antenna anymore and my wiring closet doesnt have any wires run to it anyways so I was hoping I would be able to get cbs, pbs and eventually fox in HD) so I can move all my HDTV series on those channels to media center.

Also anybody here use one of those little silversensor antennas? Im thinking about getting a ati hdtv wonder for my media center and use its included antenna (i dont have an outdoor antenna anymore and my wiring closet doesnt have any wires run to it anyways so I was hoping I would be able to get cbs, pbs and eventually fox in HD) so I can move all my HDTV series on those channels to media center.

I'm sure it varies by location, but I never had any luck picking anything up with my Silver Sensor other than PBS. I think CBS might have been a problem since it was kinda in the opposite direction and would have to travel through several walls in the dorm rather than having more or less a direct line of sight out of my window like I did for PBS...

I wondered what in the world happend to Idol last night, I thought I hit jump on my DVR and started it over...

I've got the silver sensor (great little antenna - don't get the terk fake one) and pick up CBS from pebble creek at around 98-99. Major problem is that the damn thing is so directionally sensitive. Given that they are in almost opposite directions, no chance you get CBS and PBS/Fox using the same one unless you rotate it. I have seen people use two pointed in opposite directions - but can't tell you whether that works or not. I don't watch PBS so I don't sweat it - but once Fox goes to a power I can receive, I'll probably get more concerned about trying to pull off getting CBS and Fox together.

haha i noticed something similar (but i think this time it was your fault) at the beginning of house season finale. it swapped back and forth between the live hd wb feed (i would assume) and after about 2 or 3 mins of switching back and forth it was finally corrected.

BTW Fox44, hopefully tonight I will be able to give you some WB impressions since smallville looks to be on.

Also anybody here use one of those little silversensor antennas? Im thinking about getting a ati hdtv wonder for my media center and use its included antenna (i dont have an outdoor antenna anymore and my wiring closet doesnt have any wires run to it anyways so I was hoping I would be able to get cbs, pbs and eventually fox in HD) so I can move all my HDTV series on those channels to media center.

You are correct.

The Master Control Operator entered an incorrect time on a local commercial break while correcting the WB hit times because American Idol ran late.

Because the time he entered had already passed, the automation system jumped forward to the WB time period.

He tried to move the pointer back unsuccessfully before calling me and I walked him through correcting it.

He's new and now he knows to be more careful.

anybody on cox having sound issues again tonight? Im watching the opening of charlies angels and with loud volume its distorted. The PQ is awesome though just a shame the audio is screwed up.

It was fine on lost last night (which is all i really care about) but the video seems to be finally more or less fixed.

anybody on cox having sound issues again tonight? Im watching the opening of charlies angels and with loud volume its distorted. The PQ is awesome though just a shame the audio is screwed up.

It was fine on lost last night (which is all i really care about) but the video seems to be finally more or less fixed.

Don't know if it helps but I had the same problem watching Charlies Angles on TWC in Lorena (Waco system) and it was so annoying I finally gave it up after about 15 minutes. (Not a very good movie anyway)

BTW Fox44, I was able to watch a little bit of smallville last night. There wasnt a huge difference in quality but it was a bit better (and atleast its not worse which is always a good thing).

If you let me know before hand when you do any upgrades I can record a 1 min clip pre upgrade and post upgrade which would be alot easier to compare with (and could even post them here for you to view provided you have a fast computer)

Hello everybody, I just got back into B/CS from Dallas after completing my internship. I decided to go ahead and order the HD/DVR package offered by Cox and it is scheduled to be hooked up this weekend. I already have all the equipment setup and they are just supposed to hook me up from outside on Saturday.

Are there any issues that I should be looking out for when trying out my new DVR? The DVR will be running off my 37' (1080p) LCD [via component] that is also hooked up to my PC and doubles as my monitor for my HTPC setup [via HDMI->DVI]. I plan to dump alot of my preferred programming to my HDD and then back it up using DVD-Rs. Any help or suggestions from people about things to look out for would be greatly appreciated.

BTW in Dallas I had TNT-HD with my standard HD package, is TNT-HD offered by Cox in B/CS?

We dont have TNT-HD here.

PBS-HD
FOX-HD
CBS-HD
ABC-HD
NBC-HD
ESPN-HD
DiscoveryHD
UniversalHD
INHD
INHD2
HBO-HD
SHO-HD
Starz-HD

As far as backing content up to dvd imo that isnt going to work very well for you.... HD is far too big to dump to even dual layer dvdr's (although dual layer dvdr's are pretty close). If you already have the setup on your pc then you should be ok in terms of getting the content off (you can do firewire or analog capture with the cox dvr)

We dont have TNT-HD here.

PBS-HD
FOX-HD
CBS-HD
ABC-HD
NBC-HD
ESPN-HD
DiscoveryHD
UniversalHD
INHD
INHD2
HBO-HD
SHO-HD
Starz-HD

As far as backing content up to dvd imo that isnt going to work very well for you.... HD is far too big to dump to even dual layer dvdr's (although dual layer dvdr's are pretty close). If you already have the setup on your pc then you should be ok in terms of getting the content off (you can do firewire or analog capture with the cox dvr)

I just set up the Sharp Aquas 37" LCD that I won at the NAB convention in Vegas and got an Explorer 8300HD DVR from Time Warner Cable in Waco.

I was searching the web and found an artical that suggested connecting the Explorer SVHS (Output 2) signal to my Phillips DVD recorder and dubbing out to DVD-RW.

I recorded Discovery HD Sunrise Earth this way and then downloaded it to my computer and then converted the format to "Flagged 16/9".

I burned it to a DVD+R and it plays 480i letterbox on my analog DVD player and 480p 16/9 automatically on my progressive scan DVD player.

I can re-use the DVD-RW for more recordings . It would probably be easier with a direct connection from the Explorer to the computer and the Phillips DVD recorder ($149.00 Best Buy) doesn't record Surround but you can't have everything

When I switch back and forth between the original DVR recording and the DVD the quality difference is noticable but it's worth it to have movies archived on DVD.

FOX is reruning the entire season of 24 on the weekends this summer and I plan to archive the whole season on DVDs.

It ain't HD but it sure looks good!

We dont have TNT-HD here.

PBS-HD
FOX-HD
CBS-HD
ABC-HD
NBC-HD
ESPN-HD
DiscoveryHD
UniversalHD
INHD
INHD2
HBO-HD
SHO-HD
Starz-HD

As far as backing content up to dvd imo that isnt going to work very well for you.... HD is far too big to dump to even dual layer dvdr's (although dual layer dvdr's are pretty close). If you already have the setup on your pc then you should be ok in terms of getting the content off (you can do firewire or analog capture with the cox dvr)

We do have TNT-HD here in Waco but you aren't missing much. About half the programming (and most of the movies) are stretched 4/3 and I can't even switch back to 4/3 with sidebars (The way my wife likes it) on the Explorer DVR (HDMI).

To all who are interested:

KWKT/KYLE just concluded our affiliation agreement with MyNetwork TV.

Starting in Mid-September we will be airing MyNetwork on a two hour delay following FOX prime at 9PM. MyNetwork will be simulcast SD and HD. (720p wide screen)

Starting this week Warner Brothers will begin running CW Network Promos during their prime time programming. We have been directed by WB network operations to cover them with local spots but if we miss some please don't be missled.

As far as I know as of now, the CW network will be carried standard definition only on KWKX (10.2) and KBTX (3.2). I hear rumers of negotiations with Time Warner and Cox about HD carriage but judging from the fact that Time Warner buried UPN on channel 165 in Waco and pulled their CBS HD feed temporarily I don't hold much hope out for CW HD here.

ive actually spoken to tom way about the cw in hd and he said it would be possible with the fiberline they have but would be up to suddenlink and cbs (to provide the hd feed). It would require a 15k commitment from cox to get some equipment (but i told tom way that could be a big feather in sudenlinks cap to provide that channel exclusively)

To all who are interested:

KWKT/KYLE just concluded our affiliation agreement with MyNetwork TV.

Starting in Mid-September we will be airing MyNetwork on a two hour delay following FOX prime at 9PM. MyNetwork will be simulcast SD and HD. (720p wide screen)

Starting this week Warner Brothers will begin running CW Network Promos during their prime time programming. We have been directed by WB network operations to cover them with local spots but if we miss some please don't be missled.

As far as I know as of now, the CW network will be carried standard definition only on KWKX (10.2) and KBTX (3.2). I hear rumers of negotiations with Time Warner and Cox about HD carriage but judging from the fact that Time Warner buried UPN on channel 165 in Waco and pulled their CBS HD feed temporarily I don't hold much hope out for CW HD here.

BTW;

I have requested permission from our Consulting Engineer and Corporate office to reduce power of the KYLE-TV analog aural transmitter from 210 KW to 100KW.

This is the FCC minimum (5% of visual) and is recommended for N+1 digitals.

Since we monitor the station over the air in Waco, we can verify that this doesn't effect our analog coverage and it should greatly reduce the front end overload to digital receivers that reduces the coverage of the digital transmitter. (KYLE-DT-29)

Between this and the pending installation of the 500 watt transmitter that will get us up to full 5 KW ERP without the distortions we are experiencing now that keep me from going above 300W I have nothing else I can think of to improve coverage.

Bear with me fellas. I keep trying!

One interesting bit on the suddenlink front.... the media center guide now shows cox as "cox, suddenlink communications" so whoever does the guide info for media center has already updated it. I was hooking my dual tuner card up to it so I can get the vista beta 2 running on my extender (dave ;))

no hd changes yet but some of the sd stuff has moved (amc movies was listed under the digital side and a few other things were added)

We dont have TNT-HD here.

As far as backing content up to dvd imo that isnt going to work very well for you.... HD is far too big to dump to even dual layer dvdr's (although dual layer dvdr's are pretty close). If you already have the setup on your pc then you should be ok in terms of getting the content off (you can do firewire or analog capture with the cox dvr)

I realize the massive filesizes associated with capping HD from the DVR, I think I might be confused with a Tivo setup but isn't there some software that flags commercials and then deletes them automatically for you?

Again I believe I have this confused with pulling shows from a Tivo but I know I read somewhere online about this being possible. I would really hate to go thru the .ts files and cut out the commercials.


ive actually spoken to tom way about the cw in hd and he said it would be possible with the fiberline they have but would be up to suddenlink and cbs (to provide the hd feed). It would require a 15k commitment from cox to get some equipment (but i told tom way that could be a big feather in sudenlinks cap to provide that channel exclusively)

Any idea if Cox/Suddenlink will begin offering MHD or any new HD channels in our area anytime soon? Reading this article left me wanting more (http://www.hdbeat.com/2006/01/17/mtv-hd-is-on-the-air/) .

Honestly to me MHD would be as useful as pbshd.... The only channels I really want are TNT and ESPN2 (with tnt being a pretty big stretch). The other possibility I would like to see eventually is fsn-hd (but they dont do enough programming to warrant a full channel yet)

HDnet and Hdnet movies would be nice as well but inhd's more than make up for that (and i will be very pissed if we lose inhd's with the suddenlink takeover).


As far as recording off its a very big pita to get hd off it... SD is much easier but either way there is no tivo like package to get your shows off. (which is a big reason Im running media center for SD stuff and eventually HD with cablecard). If you want I can show you how capping HD works when you get in town (if you want a demo to decide if its worth it or not)

Will they ever get their act together on cox in B/CS? I have had my HDTV for about a month now and it seems like it is messed up with audio or picture problems about 90% of the time. What gives? Is there anyone to complain to about this that can change this?

abc is the only one i have issues with.... and thats not really cox's fault (and yes I have put in emails to the head guy at cox but hes quite busy right now working on the name changeover)

I do think eventually it will be worth the wait (because its a high quality [full bitrate] feed that doesnt exist anywhere else yet)

As far as recording off its a very big pita to get hd off it... SD is much easier but either way there is no tivo like package to get your shows off. (which is a big reason Im running media center for SD stuff and eventually HD with cablecard). If you want I can show you how capping HD works when you get in town (if you want a demo to decide if its worth it or not)


A demo would be awesome, I'm already in CS for summer school. I second your thoughts about having addtional HD channels over MHD. I was simply asking b/c I didn't know what other HD channels were available. ESPN2HD would be killer.


Quick question..... my cable finally got connected today and when I try to view HBO-HD or Showtime-HD it says that I need to subscribe to this service in order to be able to view it. It was my understanding that these channels came included with my HD package?

Don't have Cox but that would be against everything I've ever heard. You still have to subscribe to the movie channel itself (e.g. HBO) to get the HBO HD feed.

To get hbo/sho you need to have the SD hbo/sho package.... (just like how it works on every other provider)... and mwesson is right. Starz would be the same way but somebody at suddenlink doesnt know to disable the starz feed (we shouldnt be getting it w/o regular starz sub)

As for the demo just send me a pm and Ill we can work out a time.

I have my Sony KDF-E42A10 hooked up to my Motorola DVR from Cox using the component cables they supplied. The picture looks very good but was curious what others in the area are using. My DVR does not have a HDMI slot, but I have heard others whose did. I am currently using the HDMI input on my TV for my Sony upscaling dvd player. I would love to hear what setup other B/CS Cox folks are running.

I have my Sony KDF-E42A10 hooked up to my Motorola DVR from Cox using the component cables they supplied. The picture looks very good but was curious what others in the area are using. My DVR does not have a HDMI slot, but I have heard others whose did. I am currently using the HDMI input on my TV for my Sony upscaling dvd player. I would love to hear what setup other B/CS Cox folks are running.

I'm currently running my DVR using component cables also. My Sceptre X37SV-Naga only includes on HDMI connection and I'm using that to power my HTPC @ 1080p. I have compared the DVI output along with the component input before and have not seen such a big difference to sacrifice my HDMI connection to the DVR. Would also love to hear how others are running thier STB's.

Mine is in component still (motorola 6412 dvr). Im not in any rush to move to hdmi mainly because I want a hdmi switching receiver where i can replace all the cables to my projector with one and be set. And the hdmi capable receivers are still way too expensive. Plus it seems some of the longer hdmi cables dont work very well so Im really in a holding pattern with all of the hdmi stuff. It wont really be needed until 2010 anyways.

Im also running media center as a server for my sd programming and extending that to my xbox360 (server is in a closet). When vista cablecard comes out I am ditching the moto dvr and moving completly to media center.

I use a cable card on my 42A10 with Cox. I had a Moto DVR at first. I feel the picture quality is better on the Sony tuner than the Motorola DVR especially the SD IMO. I used to get some pixeliztion on the DVR. I do not get any on the TV's tuner. I have not had the DVR since last year so maybe they are better now. I did have the HDMI DVR box.

Does Cox offer any PPV channels in HD? I am a big boxing fan and was hoping to order some PPV fights in HD.

I'm watching George Lopez and it's in SD with two ABC40 logos on the screen. Does this happen often?

BTW;

I have requested permission from our Consulting Engineer and Corporate office to reduce power of the KYLE-TV analog aural transmitter from 210 KW to 100KW.

This is the FCC minimum (5% of visual) and is recommended for N+1 digitals.

Since we monitor the station over the air in Waco, we can verify that this doesn't effect our analog coverage and it should greatly reduce the front end overload to digital receivers that reduces the coverage of the digital transmitter. (KYLE-DT-29)

Between this and the pending installation of the 500 watt transmitter that will get us up to full 5 KW ERP without the distortions we are experiencing now that keep me from going above 300W I have nothing else I can think of to improve coverage.

Bear with me fellas. I keep trying!

Update:

We installed the new KYLE-DT transmitter yesterday. Output power is now 504 Watts (5 KW ERP). Frequency response and Envelope delay set up flat with less that 2 DB of error accross the channel. My consultant asked that we get approval from our Washington lawyers before reducing aural power on the KYLE analog transmitter so that they can prepare an STA request for the FCC.

(Interesting since the rules specify 5% aural for adjacent channel Anaolg/Digital station operations and we are running 15% now)

Let me know if you can receive KYLE-DT better today and I'll follow up tomorrow. This will give me a good idea if the power reduction on the analog aural helps.

Anyway, I will probably be down tomorrow to reset the Aural Power levels.

Update:

We installed the new KYLE-DT transmitter yesterday. Output power is now 504 Watts (5 KW ERP). Frequency response and Envelope delay set up flat with less that 2 DB of error accross the channel. My consultant asked that we get approval from our Washington lawyers before reducing aural power on the KYLE analog transmitter so that they can prepare an STA request for the FCC.

(Interesting since the rules specify 5% aural for adjacent channel Anaolg/Digital station operations and we are running 15% now)

Let me know if you can receive KYLE-DT better today and I'll follow up tomorrow. This will give me a good idea if the power reduction on the analog aural helps.

Anyway, I will probably be down tomorrow to reset the Aural Power levels.
On another note:

If you see two logo bugs on either FOX or ABC it means that Master Control didn't "Flip the switch" as you guys call it. At KWKT all switching for both FOX and WB HD are controlled by our automation system. It ain't foolproof but it beats pushing a button. If you see a plain FOX logo in addition to the "Blue Monster" it's us.

Update:

We installed the new KYLE-DT transmitter yesterday. Output power is now 504 Watts (5 KW ERP). Frequency response and Envelope delay set up flat with less that 2 DB of error accross the channel..........

.........Let me know if you can receive KYLE-DT better today and I'll follow up tomorrow. This will give me a good idea if the power reduction on the analog aural helps.
Thanks for the heads-up. I am checking now, and without even turning the antenna away from Waco, the signal appears to be pretty steady on the HD-Tivo at 62-67 with occasional dips into the upper 50's. Much improved as far as I'm concerned. And with football season just around the corner, you ROCK, FOX44CE!! :cool:

Thanks for the heads-up. I am checking now, and without even turning the antenna away from Waco, the signal appears to be pretty steady on the HD-Tivo at 62-67 with occasional dips into the upper 50's. Much improved as far as I'm concerned. And with football season just around the corner, you ROCK, FOX44CE!! :cool:

We went down to the KYLE site with a spectrum analyzer this morning to check out the aural power level on the KYLE analog transmitter.

I was suprised to find the the exciter was misadjusted and the aural output power was only 7 DB down from visual which put it at approximately 380KW.

This is well within the FCC specifications calling for 5% to 22% of visual power (100 to 440KW) but it couldn't have been helping the reception of KYLE-DT much because it is only .25 MHz below the low end of KYLE-DT (Channel 29).

I reset the A/V ratio in the exciter to produce a -13DB A/V ratio. (100KW aural).

With the frequency seperation and power ratio (100KW analog audio versas 5KW digital) the overload factor on your digital TV receivers should be greatly reduced .

Let me know if any of you notice a difference.

We went down to the KYLE site with a spectrum analyzer this morning to check out the aural power level on the KYLE analog transmitter.

I was suprised to find the the exciter was misadjusted and the aural output power was only 7 DB down from visual which put it at approximately 380KW.

This is well within the FCC specifications calling for 5% to 22% of visual power (100 to 440KW) but it couldn't have been helping the reception of KYLE-DT much because it is only .25 MHz below the low end of KYLE-DT (Channel 29).

I reset the A/V ratio in the exciter to produce a -13DB A/V ratio. (100KW aural).

With the frequency seperation and power ratio (100KW analog audio versas 5KW digital) the overload factor on your digital TV receivers should be greatly reduced .

Let me know if any of you notice a difference.

On another note:

Would any of you guys be interested in a tour of our KYLE Transmitter site?

If you are maybe several of you might get together and come up with a time and day and I could meet you down there to look it over and see whats involved in all this great HD digital TV.

well abchd is online for cox... good to see after all the problems they have been having lately. and man does it look good, hopefully most of the issues have been fixed becasue we still have the 17 mbit feed (which kicks the crap out of the 13.5 mbit feed out of waco)

ABCHD sure does look good tonight! Just in time for game 1 of the NBA Finals! Wow, nice shot Dirk!

Awesome! KYLE-DT is coming in at 70% with the antenna pointed at 160 degrees (KBTX) instead of KYLE ~310 degrees.

Just about 2 weeks out of moving from Dallas back to College Station and making the move from Comcast-HD to Cox/Suddenlink-HD and this happens....
http://www.hdbeat.com/2006/06/08/comcast-is-adding-espn2-hd-in-time-for-the-world-cup/

I'm not sure if Dallas is part of the market set to get ESPN2-HD but I would guess they have a pretty good shot at it because they are a pretty big market. I doubt we can exect anything like this tomorrow :( .

Anyone notice on Cox Cable, the logos/icons they use for the guide is jumbled up? The logos for each station is not correct on the guide. I.E. KBTX = ABC logo? Is it just me?

I noticed the same thing! There are also some different channel icons on there for stations we don't get now. I am pretty sure I saw a HDNET logo! A sign of things to come with Suddenlink?

yeah suddenlink already has hdnet in the kingwood market.... i just HOPE we dont lose inHD's, i could live without uhd and starz. (granted it would be supersweet if we keep all of them and get the hdnets)

give me the hdnets, tnt and espn2 (and keep what we have) and we will have pretty much every hd channel out there (thats worth anything)

man i hope tom way responds to my last email.... sounds like they have a somewhat channel lineup.

I noticed the same thing! There are also some different channel icons on there for stations we don't get now. I am pretty sure I saw a HDNET logo! A sign of things to come with Suddenlink?


Noticed this as well, hopefully it works out the best for all of us in that we don't lose channels but gain some. [/crosses fingers]

well abchd is online for cox... good to see after all the problems they have been having lately. and man does it look good, hopefully most of the issues have been fixed becasue we still have the 17 mbit feed (which kicks the crap out of the 13.5 mbit feed out of waco)

My son lives in TAMU dorm and has Cox Cable, apparently basic+expanded. He has Samsung DLP which picks up the basic/expanded stations plus 3-1 CBS HD and 12-1 PBS HD mixed in numerical order with the others on the cable. The problem is no ABC HD, no NBC HD, and no Fox HD(though he can get KYLE 29 OTA much better now than two weeks ago when I was there--Thank You FOX44CE!!). I called customer service yesterday to inquire. The guy was in Tyler and really uninformed and no help.I knew more than he did and I'm in Dallas. Any ideas about what to do or who I can write to . I can't waste any additional time with customer svc. The Cox website for southeast Texas says that you get local HDs with basic cable. NBA and NHL Playoffs are both in HD, as is World Cup on ABC OTA.

if he only gets 3-1 and 12-1 then hes not getting the locals on cox (those are the only 2 channels easily avaliable ota). what he needs is a digital box from cox (and i dont think you can get one in the doems but im not sure) but i know there is one person in here that uses a computer tuner card thats is able to tune hd channels on cable and is able to get all the networks on cox.

and cox does have all the major networks in this area so he would get them all (pbs, abc, nbc, cbs, fox/wb)

if he only gets 3-1 and 12-1 then hes not getting the locals on cox (those are the only 2 channels easily avaliable ota). what he needs is a digital box from cox (and i dont think you can get one in the doems but im not sure) but i know there is one person in here that uses a computer tuner card thats is able to tune hd channels on cable and is able to get all the networks on cox.

and cox does have all the major networks in this area so he would get them all (pbs, abc, nbc, cbs, fox/wb)

That would be me...I'm not in College Station right now and so haven't checked in a month, but unless Cox has changed anything (started encrypting channels or moved them around), this is what I remember about getting the local networks:

FOX was on 66-1
NBC was on 66-2
CBS was on 65-1
PBS was on 65-2 (those two may be mixed up, I forget)
ABC was on 79-1

Of course, this is "real" channel numbers without the virtual channel number mappings. I don't know how you'd set those up on a "real" HDTV with QAM tuner, but those are the HD channels I received in the dorms with a PC HDTV tuner card. Though reading the post again, I'm not sure that the TV in question does actually have a QAM tuner, but if it has one, the locals should come in (assuming nothing has changed)...

That would be me...I'm not in College Station right now and so haven't checked in a month, but unless Cox has changed anything (started encrypting channels or moved them around), this is what I remember about getting the local networks:

FOX was on 66-1
NBC was on 66-2
CBS was on 65-1
PBS was on 65-2 (those two may be mixed up, I forget)
ABC was on 79-1

Of course, this is "real" channel numbers without the virtual channel number mappings. I don't know how you'd set those up on a "real" HDTV with QAM tuner, but those are the HD channels I received in the dorms with a PC HDTV tuner card. Though reading the post again, I'm not sure that the TV in question does actually have a QAM tuner, but if it has one, the locals should come in (assuming nothing has changed)...

Thanks Jag and Synth. Additional info:Samsung HLR4667W, no cable box, no digital subscription,two separate inputs(OTA ant & cable), Cablecard slot without Cablecard in use, cable channels re-auto-scanned using "STD" setting. Cable lineup on this TV matches Cox website "College Station"(not "Rebuld")
Using OTA Silver Sensor, TV auto scan gets 3-1,3-2,12-1,12-3,12-3,28-1,28-2 plus snowy analogs. Using Cable input auto scan on "STD" cable system gets ch. 2-59(exact match of Cox website) PLUS 3-1 between cable ch 3 and ch 4 and 12.1 between cable ch 12 and ch 13 (however, NO 3-2,12-2,12-3,28-1,28.2, all of which he gets on SS OTA). There is no HD ABC, NBC, FOX on his cable line-up anywhere, even trying 66-1, etc. direct input.
If Silver Sensor is Disconnected and TV is in Ant mode, he gets nothing. If SS is Disconnected and TV is Cable mode, he gets the Cox CS list exactly as above PLUS 3-1 between Ch 3 and Ch 4 on cable line-up and Ch 12-1 between Ch 12 and Ch 13 on the cable line-up(Remember the Silver Sensor is NOT connected = he is not getting any OTA reception). These two channels are coming widescreen HD via cable.
Any thoughts or ideas. My son is in summer school and I will have to deal with it. I'm thinking about a certified letter to the Cox B/CS General Manager to try to get through the customer service ineptitude of the other day("Glen in Tyler") and be able to talk to someone who knows what I am talking about.
I've got a RS Accurian I may take there to see what I get on it if I can't fix this otherwise. He also has an ATI HDTV Wonder in a PC that is not connected currently to cable or ant. I may have to connect and scan it and see what it shows.

There are no tuners which can tune clear qam signals.... he has to have a cable box, cablecard or a computer tuners (which are able to see the free qam channels). the digital upgrade does not matter for the locals as synth already had all the locals in the dorms. The tuner builtin to the TV will NOT be able to tune qam signals.

now i dont know much about the situation there but im not even sure if you can get a cablecard (which would be your best bet as they are only a couple bucks a month). but I have no idea how you would get something like that since you dont really have an account with cox.

well something is definately happening at cox this afternoon.... the cox image has been replaced by suddenlink and uhd, starz are both black screens now. (inhd's were on when i first got home but were blocking up severely and as i was leaving they both went black as well)

so either they are moving channels around (pretty likely) or we are going to get the big add/remove channels today. of course it also could have been my dvr screwing up but i kinda doubt it since the rest of the channels were fine.

well something is definately happening at cox this afternoon.... the cox image has been replaced by suddenlink and uhd, starz are both black screens now. (inhd's were on when i first got home but were blocking up severely and as i was leaving they both went black as well)

so either they are moving channels around (pretty likely) or we are going to get the big add/remove channels today. of course it also could have been my dvr screwing up but i kinda doubt it since the rest of the channels were fine.


I'm going home now, I'll check and post back.

guess it was either a screwup or they are getting ready to move stuff.... because all the channels seem to be back again.

The logo was still changed on the dvr from cox to suddenlink.

There are no tuners which can tune clear qam signals.... he has to have a cable box, cablecard or a computer tuners (which are able to see the free qam channels). the digital upgrade does not matter for the locals as synth already had all the locals in the dorms. The tuner builtin to the TV will NOT be able to tune qam signals.

now i dont know much about the situation there but im not even sure if you can get a cablecard (which would be your best bet as they are only a couple bucks a month). but I have no idea how you would get something like that since you dont really have an account with cox.

Why can't the Samsung tune qam channels? My Samsung 26" has a built-in qam tuner. Or are you saying that tuner can't decipher the Suddenlink signal? I'm no expert on cable signals.

well thats news to me if tv's are now coming with qam tuners.... i thought that was the reason for cablecard on the tv's (and for that it would need a qam tuner). but i havent looked at tv's in years (since projectors are better ;)) so they might be including qam tuners in them now. if so it should work.

well thats news to me if tv's are now coming with qam tuners.... i thought that was the reason for cablecard on the tv's (and for that it would need a qam tuner). but i havent looked at tv's in years (since projectors are better ;)) so they might be including qam tuners in them now. if so it should work.


The tv I recently purchased came with a QAM tuner, however it also has a seperate NTSC tuner. I was able to pick up unencrypted channels in Dallas with no problems but I haven't tried it here in B/CS since I've had my STB.

For now however I'm just hoping they switch ABC from SD to HD sometime during game 3 :( .

well dont count on it... usually if they do its from the start. wonder if calling krhd or the waco one would help.

well dont count on it... usually if they do its from the start. wonder if calling krhd or the waco one would help.

I tried calling but all I got was the machine. Ohh well I guess I shouldn't expect the nba finals to be brodcast in HD here in B/CS. I'll forgive them this time :cool: .

well im happy they actually remembered for the first 2 games.... thats better than normal for them.

well im happy they actually remembered for the first 2 games.... thats better than normal for them.

I assume judging by the deafening silence that nobody is interested in a tour of the KYLE tranmitter site. :confused:

I assume judging by the deafening silence that nobody is interested in a tour of the KYLE tranmitter site. :confused:

I assumed that this had already taken place. I would certainly be intrested if we can get a group together.

well we still need to have that meeting at mikeys insano pool too... i tried to coordinate something with kbtx/cox last time we had the meeting but timing didnt work out. I would definately be up for some tours.

I assume judging by the deafening silence that nobody is interested in a tour of the KYLE tranmitter site. :confused:
Sorry if you got that impression, I would be up for that tour as long as it includes air-conditioning!! :D

Sorry if you got that impression, I would be up for that tour as long as it includes air-conditioning!! :D

You really don't think we could operate a 60KW analog and 500 watt digital tranmitter without air conditioning do you?

I'll make myself available whenever you guys coordinate a time & date.

Name a date and I'm down with a tour. Well as long as it's not the weekend before July 4th.

Sid, how do you have KYLE showing up on your HD-Tivo? I had to rescan to get it to show up as 28-2. The only problem is no guide data. :(

It's the same for me Dave; no guide data. :(

Name a date for the tour, and I'll see if it fits into my schedule. Kinda hectic right now since we're selling our house and moving.

If anybody is interested in a 25 ft galvanized tower, let me know. I took it down a couple of weeks ago. It's ready for the taking.

It's the same for me Dave; no guide data. :(

Name a date for the tour, and I'll see if it fits into my schedule. Kinda hectic right now since we're selling our house and moving.

If anybody is interested in a 25 ft galvanized tower, let me know. I took it down a couple of weeks ago. It's ready for the taking.

Did you ever get guide data on your TIVO?

Anybody in the B/CS area take the jump and stop by BB to see if they had the Samsung Blu-Ray player? The $999 price tag sure makes it a bigger investment then the $499 Toshiba player but at least this one ships with 1080p output.

I promised myself I would buy whatever player came out with 1080p first, however I would like finish paying off my new TV first otherwise I will be digging my debt hole deeper :) .

Im waiting for the 360 hd-dvd player.... 999 is far too much and i almost dropped the 500 on the toshiba after seeing it in action at best buy but was able to hold off. But to me hd-dvd is the better buy right now (even w/o 1080p).

It's the same for me Dave; no guide data. :(

Name a date for the tour, and I'll see if it fits into my schedule. Kinda hectic right now since we're selling our house and moving.

If anybody is interested in a 25 ft galvanized tower, let me know. I took it down a couple of weeks ago. It's ready for the taking.

I'm not sure if this has any bearing or not, but I just went in and checked my encoder on KYLE and saw that the program guide input wasn't locked.

I tried restarting the Guide Builder computer but it still doesn't have an output.

My assistant is on the way to Bryan now to try a power down/restart on the Guide Builder computer to see if that will restore the PSIP output.

We had to do a software upgrade last week (to maintain our service contract) and I was on the phone with support for over three hours before I got it to work. (And maybe I didn't)

That is probably why you had to rescan to pick up 28.2 because the TVCT table is missing along with the program guide!

Did you ever get guide data on your TIVO?

Nope, still no guide data on the HD-TiVo.

People might say that the difference between 1080i and 1080p is not that big but since I went ahead and opted for a 1080p TV I would like to get my money's worth from it.

In my situation I think it's just going to be easier for me to wait for a HD-DVD or BR-DVD drive for my computer. As a current college student I don't have a permanent residence and most if not all my entertainment is centered around my TV & PC. Adding a drive to my computer would make more sense to me in my situation then having a standalone player.

just so you know hd-dvd also will be 1080p so its not like you are going to be screwed with either format... its just i like universal more than all the blueray exclusives.

and your reasoning is EXACTLY why Im waiting on the 360 hd-dvd addon. That or getting a computer drive for my media center server with vista and making managed copies to vista (microsoft says its going to be allowed, the only question is will the 360 be able to play them)

Did you ever get guide data on your TIVO?
I'm not sure just what everyone else is seeing, but I have guide data for 28-1, just not for 28-2. As of right now there is no picture on 28-1, but there is on 28-2.

If anybody is interested in a 25 ft galvanized tower, let me know. I took it down a couple of weeks ago. It's ready for the taking.
NOOOOOOO!! Say it isn't so!! After all that trouble we went to. :eek: That might have been a big selling point for your house. :p

just so you know hd-dvd also will be 1080p so its not like you are going to be screwed with either format... its just i like universal more than all the blueray exclusives.

and your reasoning is EXACTLY why Im waiting on the 360 hd-dvd addon. That or getting a computer drive for my media center server with vista and making managed copies to vista (microsoft says its going to be allowed, the only question is will the 360 be able to play them)


Yeah, seeing 1080p on the back of HD-DVDs and having the current HD-DVD players do only 1080i was a bit of a let down. Now.... if they release the HD-DVD 360 add-on and Bunnie or some other person is able to get more "Productivity" out of the 360 much like what happened with the first Xbox I would certainly jump at that. I still remember the joy back in the day of being able to use my Xbox as a all-in-one home entertainment center (pre-HD).

Downloading episodes via torrent, having them streamed to our living room from the computer in my room. Playing our old school classics via emulators, and the best part was the looks on peoples faces when they would come over for a party and I would be managing all the music from my xbox. Good Times :o .

I'm not sure just what everyone else is seeing, but I have guide data for 28-1, just not for 28-2. As of right now there is no picture on 28-1, but there is on 28-2.

Same here. Blank on 28-1 and no guide on 28-2.

At first I thought 28-1 (KYLE-DT) was the HD channel, but everything was stretched. After a rescan I got 28-2 (KWKT-HD) and all was well. Now if we could get ABC locally in HD I wouldn't need the NY HD feeds.

Thanks for looking into it, FOX44CE!

NOOOOOOO!! Say it isn't so!! After all that trouble we went to. :eek: That might have been a big selling point for your house. :p

nah the person who buys it will be smarter and get cable vs having to deal with antennas and dishes. :)

btw i got vista up and running on both my main desktop and mce.... so far everything works well but i do have one issue that really pisses me off. on the 360 extender they dont have it properly enabled yet. It works fine but whats annoying is they are using remote desktop to render the interface which is making is slow for a few things but also its not doing all the good animations and all that stuff. Supposedly thats all they have enabled at this point and I never would have installed it had i known. Hopefully they update the beta soon with a proper extender.

But I do overall like the new interface and cablecard is going to rule.

I also got a toshiba gigabeat s portable media center.... im REALLY digging that device. Ill be sure to bring it to the next avs party.

Well ABCHD is atleast on tonight with suddenlink.... hopefully it will stay for the game.

btw i got vista up and running on both my main desktop and mce.... so far everything works well but i do have one issue that really pisses me off. on the 360 extender they dont have it properly enabled yet. It works fine but whats annoying is they are using remote desktop to render the interface which is making is slow for a few things but also its not doing all the good animations and all that stuff. Supposedly thats all they have enabled at this point and I never would have installed it had i known. Hopefully they update the beta soon with a proper extender.

But I do overall like the new interface and cablecard is going to rule.

I also got a toshiba gigabeat s portable media center.... im REALLY digging that device. Ill be sure to bring it to the next avs party.


I setup the Vista beta on a old HDD I had laying around and noticed a Media Center icon on my start menu. I played around with it a bit and got my basic directories set up, now is this what comes with Windows Xp Media Center Edition or does the MCE give you more besides the fancy interface?

The only thing that disappointed me about the MC in Vista is it's lack of support for outside files (i.e. .ts & .avi files) I'm pretty sure there are fixes for this but I haven't had enough time to look into this as summer school has had me very busy.

yeah there are fixes to get it to play most stuff (divx and ts are both fixed via the divx codec and the nvidia decoder)

and yes thats all mce basically is.... although the real power of mce is its dvr suite. its much better than any other dvr out there (including tivo and the cox dvr's)

I'm not sure just what everyone else is seeing, but I have guide data for 28-1, just not for 28-2. As of right now there is no picture on 28-1, but there is on 28-2.

We got the guide builder working for awahile yesterday but it went down again this morning. I locked the two stream in the multiplexer so you should be getting them now with no guide.

I am waiting for a call back from Treveni to find out what the heck is going on.

The one here in waco is working fine.

I'm looking to move to College Station soon. In Houston, I have Directv with a Winegard antenna for local reception and it's great for high definition! I would like to have Houston channels in College Station, but Directv says no. Cox (or now Suddenlink) seems to leave something to be desired. The Houston channels are not that important to me, but I do want all the high definition channels possible. Who could I get to build an antenna to get Houston channels as well as Temple-Waco high definition? Also, I need broadband internet, but Verizon is not available where I will live. Thanks for your input.

Well you may be forced into cox (if you cant get verizon)... there are various wireless providers in town but their coverage is pretty spotty as well.

And cox/suddenlink does have all the locals (but they are waco/bryan locals). Keeping your houston locals is a possibility but not if you "move" your account here and use the dish mover programs. Basically if you keep your physical address in houston and change the billing address to here you can keep your houston locals but this is likely to change eventually.

As far as antennas go to get all the channels you need a very big antenna (we are 80 miles from both waco and houston) so getting ota is very spotty. We do have pbs, cbs and fox which all come in pretty good.

If you cant manage the directv/wireless thing cox/suddenlink will be your best and only bet. They do have pbs,nbc,abc,cbs,fox/wb and a average selection of national channels. The internet here is actually very good in my area but alot of it depends on where you live in town but speeds are 4.0mbit/512 (for the medium grade which is the best value at 34.95 if you bundle it with cable). they offer a 9.0 mbit option but its like 60 bucks and no way im paying that much.

I'm looking to move to College Station soon...... Who could I get to build an antenna to get Houston channels as well as Temple-Waco high definition? ..... Thanks for your input.

Your answer may lie a few posts up! :)
If anybody is interested in a 25 ft galvanized tower, let me know. I took it down a couple of weeks ago. It's ready for the taking.

What area of town are you looking to move to, since you say Verizon is not an option for internet? Do you have a newer DirecTV receiver, namely the H20, that will pick up the HD Houston locals from D* ?
Welcome aboard.

Thanks. How high an antenna would I need and is there a company who does installation? I have considered using Cox for network high definition and internet, but adding directv for national and the antenna with a rotor for reception from Houston and other areas. I suppose I could have Directv do a complete installation, then "move."

I'll be moving to Southwood Valley, off Rio Grande.

I plan to leave my present Directv equipment for my son, who is buying my house in Houston. That includes a 10-250 DVR and antenna for local high definition.

you should have access to dsl there.... thats pretty much right in the middle of town. unless there is something wierd to that area.

as far as the antenna you will need atleast a 35ft pole and a big antenna with preamp to get semi stable signals. i never was terribly satisified with my antenna though so it ended up coming down and i moved to cable.

Just wondering buy why would you get cox for hd and directv for national? if you go cox i wouldnt bother with directv as their lineup is pretty good (not the best but if you want lots of national hd dish network is a far better option). Unless your not a ST fiend.

http://www.cox.com/Texas/ (go there find the channel lineup on the right and select college station rebuild)

......Just wondering why would you get cox for hd and directv for national?

Maybe because D* has way more choices for channels than Cox/Suddenstink?? :D

by my count directv has 164 actual national channels (not counting locals or music channels and only one fsn), cox/suddenlink has 182. and not only that but those 182 channels look better than d* (and not even you will dispute that after everbody saw the comparison on my 106 inch projector between d*/cox) ;)

Sounds like Cox is the best bet for now. I'm happy to hear you think Cox beats D*, which is super in Houston. It sure beats Time Warner, although I have their Roadrunner for internet. I have repeatedly checked Verizon for DSL availability and they keep telling me it is not available at my address there.

yeah if you are starting out and just want the channels cox/suddenlink is the easiest option, a good selection of analog/digital and hd channels and excellent internet. The DVR isnt the best Ive ever used but its not bad (only 160 gigs) but the ui is decent. There are lots of people with problems with the moto boxes but mine has been excellent.

and cox is offering a pretty good deal to get in with.... the "total home package". Gets you the analog,digital,hdtv stations plus the 4.0/512 internet for $85/month. Then you would want to add a HD-DVR for $15 extra so all told would be around 100 bucks a month for your first 6 months. After that if you arent satisified you can always drop it and get directv/dish (thats another reason to like cable is the no contract stuff) and not actually owning the dvr means you get free upgrades and if it breaks just bring it in for a new one.

We are still in somewhat of a holding pattern on the suddenlink takover. We will have to see what channels we will gain/lose. Ive heard speculation that we will lose starz and universal and gain hdnet/hdnet movies. On the sd side ive heard we might be getting cstv (which was the only channel i did miss compared to dish/directv)

Well, if you get to include the CS Rebuild, which isn't available all over town by the way ;) , I get to include all the RSNs. That brings the two virtually even, not counting the music, PPV, foreign, and locals. :p

Thanks for all the help. I am in the CS rebuild area. At present I just have basic and expanded along with internet at $104 per month. I wonder what they will charge to add the rest.

actually i think most of bryan is done now... only a few areas havent been completed.

and not that it really matters... both places you will get a good channel lineup. but cox has overall better pq than directv and when bundling internet with cable is really in a good position $ wise compared to dbs/dsl.

Thanks for all the help. I am in the CS rebuild area. At present I just have basic and expanded along with internet at $104 per month. I wonder what they will charge to add the rest.


so you already moved? i thought you havent moved yet. And that price seems high for basic+expanded and internet. (the hdtv service is free with digital cable)

I have:
basic + expanded cable
digital cable
hdtv channels
2 HD-DVR's
preferred internet (4.0/512)

all of that costs 120 a month (but i am on that $85/month deal for a few more months)

I still spend most of the time in Houston, but we bought the house in 1994 when my daughter started at A & M. We had planned to sell when she graduated, but we loved College Sation and decided to retire there instead. My wife died suddenly in 2001. I retired in 2003 and am just getting around to moving.

well welcome to the area... fyi we should be having a avs get together somewhat soon, just if your interested.

Thanks. You're very kind.

anybody know what the contact info is for abc? they are off for the world cup games this morning.

Call us:
(979) 691-5743

Found that number for the local station but havent gotten an answer yet and my only phone has limited mins (pay as you go plan) so im not going to keep calling if anybdy who has a land line wants to try.

anybody know what the contact info is for abc? they are off for the world cup games this morning.

Call us:
(979) 691-5743

Found that number for the local station but havent gotten an answer yet and my only phone has limited mins (pay as you go plan) so im not going to keep calling if anybdy who has a land line wants to try.


I tried this number when Game 3 of the NBA finals was not in HD. All I got was an answering machine. It's bad enough most of the world cup games are shown on ESPN2HD, and when they do show them on ABC-HD they brodcast it in SD. I called again anyways just to let them know more people have noticed this problem.

so do they actually respond or just more ansering machine? also did you try calling the waco station? i dunno if they can do anything but i would suspect they may be controlling the feed.

so do they actually respond or just more ansering machine? also did you try calling the waco station? i dunno if they can do anything but i would suspect they may be controlling the feed.


Machine every time :mad: .

man thats dissapointing... i really need to get in contact with tom way and see if he can provide us with a special phone number or something. something tells me abc doesnt have enough $ to hire a full time engineer to turn on the HD feed (and have it automated).

Also doesnt bode well for tonight with the hd feed not being on yet.

If anybody is interested in a 25 ft galvanized tower, let me know. I took it down a couple of weeks ago. It's ready for the taking.

Elspankdog...Is this tower still available? What do you mean by "ready for the taking."? Does that mean free, a small donation or do you have an asking price?

Not sure that I really need a tower, but I do have concerns :eek: with occasional high winds with my Televes stack on a weak RS telescoping mast.

Thanks, Mikey h

well did somebody get through? the hd just flipped on for abc.

We got the guide builder working for awahile yesterday but it went down again this morning. I locked the two stream in the multiplexer so you should be getting them now with no guide.

I am waiting for a call back from Treveni to find out what the heck is going on.

The one here in waco is working fine.

I finally got hold of Treveni this morning and logged their service guy into my Bryan Guide Builder computer remotely from here in Waco. They went through and updated some settings and got the unit up and running at 10:45AM.

I switched the encoder back over to the external guide input at 10:55AM and all outputs on my stream analyzer looked normal from here in Waco. (No errors)

Thanks for the update. Will have to check the Tivo this evening to see if the guide is working now.

Elspankdog...Is this tower still available? What do you mean by "ready for the taking."? Does that mean free, a small donation or do you have an asking price?

Not sure that I really need a tower, but I do have concerns :eek: with occasional high winds with my Televes stack on a weak RS telescoping mast.

Thanks, Mikey h

Free for you Mikey. It didn't cost me a thing, and I would love for somebody to take it off of my hands so I don't have to move it.