anyone no how I can get a old primestar dish?

the last hr I havent seen any problems

I am on a list now to get DTV 72.5 dish installed.

Did see the green lines flicker a few minutes ago, but know where as bad as it once was.
You can go ahead to directv.com account management and add the locals, it will ask you if you can see chs 495 496, select yes, then add the locals and the WB from Miami will appear on channel 15. the rest will appear black or with other channels showing in its place until 72.5 is hooked up.

this is if you have a new reciever capable of getting 72.5
But even if not you should still beable to get WB 15, its coming off 101w.

Directv locals
72.5 101W**

7 WITN NBC
9 WNCT CBS
12 WCTI ABC
13 WCTI UPN
14 WYDO FOX
15 WBZL WB**(MIAMI FL)
25 WUNK UNC/PBS

I have a compatible receiver, because those stations are lit up on my guide, but was worried directv would penalize me for activating the stations before they hooked up 72.5

NOPE I hooked mine up by unhooking 110 119 and usung 4x4 to add 72.5, they came out the next day to hook up 6x8 and 110 119 back up.

NO PROBLEM

I ordered it and it lit up within a few seconds! WB 39

Weather Plus is up and running on 17.3 on WNCN. If you guys can pick it up, you might want to check it out! Looks like it's in semi-demo mode. Pretty neat though!

Yea I saw it here in Washington. last time I spoke to Mike Weeks at ch 7, he said NBC wanted alot of money for weather plus and they would not do it. We got live dop 7, they should air break in weather updates.

NASCAR / NBC release due out today.

NBC will air all its 13 NEXTEL CUP and 5 BUSCH races in 1080i and 5.1 SS HD in 2005

Agreed Jamielee. I'm surprised that WITN hasn't experimented with it a little more by doing weather break in's, etc. Didn't you say that Mike said they were going to try and launch a local news/weather channel on 7.2 around the first of the year? I wonder if this will be contingent upon pick up by the cable systems around here? A lot of stations, from what I read, aren't really interested in spinning off new channels unless viewers on cable are going to be able to see them. Although this hasn't exactly stopped upper tier markets from doing it. I suppose that's because the HDTV penetration is higher than here in eastern NC. Although, I can say that we've been selling a lot of HDTV's at Wal Mart. I think our local stations need to promote their HDTV offerings more on air to get viewers. After all, people aren't going to watch something that they don't know is there or don't know how to get.

easternncnewswat;
your right that most people don't have a clue how to get HDTV or what it is! I have talked to people about it and they actually thought they were getting it through a cable signal with just digital cable! They had no HDTV or HDTV converter. When I explained the process of abtaining a real HDTV signal, they said the cable company led them to believe that what they had was just like HD...
Also the cable company down here is running ads, making it sound as though having an antenna is a terrible thing. You may have seen them on our local channels. Also they are running an ad with a man taking a sledge hammer to his dish because he couldn't get HD from it. That is so LAME.

I wish our local stations would explain to people all they need is an antenna, and an HDTV integrated set or a box. NO monthly cost.

jspENC,

It's interesting that you mention this. I just recently visited a friend that has an HDTV. I asked him if he was receiving his signal ota or via cable. He is using Cox cable here in Gville. He had no idea he could receive signal via ota. Likewise, he had no idea about the various channels being broadcast along with the main HD signal. Cable companies don't want people to know that the average consumer can receive these signals because that would force them to add them if enough people complained about it. I switched to satellite long ago and have never looked back at cable. The few times I have lost satellite signal is during intensely, severe thunderstorms. When I lived on the OBX, I went through entire hurricanes without losing my satellite signal. It such a crock the stuff cable puts out. They lie, but the really sad thing is that most consumers have no clue that the info their being passed is bogus.

Ken12 any update on the psip?
Will 48.1 48.2 move to 12.1 12.2.

Does anyone know if Gary Dean is going to be doing Fox 8 news at ten? I just saw an ad with him on it for fox at ten news!

Looks like WCTI has it's psip equipment up and running. WCTI is now 12.1 and UPN 48 is 12.3. I'm not receiving any a/v signal on 12.3 as of now. I assume the guys are still working on this. I just woke up so I'm not sure how early this happened this morning... *LOL* Cool deal though, glad to see WCTI as it's normal call sign and letters!

UPN 48 is now up and running (broadcasting audio/video) on 12.3 (48.3). Thanx to WCTI's engineering staff for their hard work! Good job guys!

Originally posted by jspENC
Does anyone know if Gary Dean is going to be doing Fox 8 news at ten? I just saw an ad with him on it for fox at ten news!

Hmm... I haven't seen this commercial, but maybe this explains why Fox 8/14 can't shell out the money to get on the air digitally (even if not in hi def). Anybody heard anything new about them getting any kind of signal on the air? I saw on Titantv too that it said WYDO 12/05... So, so, so, sad! Maybe they should negotiate to get on somebody else's stick to save costs.

Just turned on PSIP this morning. Seems to be working fine I am not providing guide data through PSIP yet. ABC is 12-1 and UPN 12-3.

Ken

Ken,

It looks terrific! Congrats on the great install and for the hard work you guys have put in to doing this!

Why doesn't FOX just use the WYDO tower for HDTV? They could put it up about 1000ft higher and go with 500,000 watts. I would think this would be cheaper than using 2 short towers...

Ken,
Just one question, Why is UPN 12-3 and not 12-2?


Also any chance of WCTI adding ABC NEWS NOW?

Ken you should change 12-3 call sign to UPN48 instead of WCTI DT

Because when I set it up I set it for -3. The official Call Sign is WCTI DT I am not going to change it until I'm sure I could do so legally. We have talked about ABC news Now and a 24 hour weather channel. But until the technology is good enough that I don't degrade ABC or our UPN signal I am totally against adding another channel

Ken

Ken,

I have a question about that and hope you can give me insight that I don't have. For instance, WTVD has their primary HD channel and 2 subchannels. Do you suppose they allocate that certain amount of bandwith for HD and split the remaining between the 2 remaining channels? I'm asking because I wouldn't want to sacrifice the quality of UPN 48. I usually watch Star Trek Enterprise on UPN 48 instead of the 2 UPN's I have on satellite. On satellite, the compression is awful and the picture quality, while no pixelation is apparent, is not as crisp and clean as UPN 48. How much bandwith is required for an HD channel and SD channel. You only have like 15 megs to work with, right?

Originally posted by jspENC
Why doesn't FOX just use the WYDO tower for HDTV? They could put it up about 1000ft higher and go with 500,000 watts. I would think this would be cheaper than using 2 short towers...

I think this is because somewhere along the way, the signal would interfere with a neighboring market or they (WFXI/WYDO) wouldn't be able to cover the entire DMA. But if you look at their signal, it actually spreads out offshore. At least the fish in the ocean, could watch Fox, if they had tv's i mean... *LOL*

But seriously, I am kinda surprised since they are partnered with WNCT for news that they haven't talked about climbing on their tower. Up in NYC, WCBS is utilizing a combiner to allow the "big 6" to share their tower space on the Empire State Building. In fact, I think they are all testing their full power this week or by the end of the year. Seems to me, it would be cost effective for both WNCT and WFXI/WYDO. But what do I know? *LOL*

Originally posted by Ken12
Because when I set it up I set it for -3. The official Call Sign is WCTI DT I am not going to change it until I'm sure I could do so legally. We have talked about ABC news Now and a 24 hour weather channel. But until the technology is good enough that I don't degrade ABC or our UPN signal I am totally against adding another channel

Ken

About the call sign, WITN7.2 uses RADAR
WRAL 5.2 uses WRAL NC (news channel)
UNC KD (KIDS)
UNC HD
UNC ED (EDUCATION)
UNC NC (NORTH CAROLINA)


Channel 17.1 17.2 17.3 WNCN Raliegh Durham
There 17.2 NBCSD looks compressed but 17.3 the new weather plus from NBC is sharp.
I could live with ABCHD UPN and ABC NEWS NOW COMPRESSED.

I thought 4 SD were all you could air at once but on a site I saw they show 6 at once.

Originally posted by jamielee
Ken you should change 12-3 call sign to UPN48 instead of WCTI DT [/B]

I was wondering about this too. On Dish Network, UPN 48 is advertised as GCTI. What's up with that? GlobalCTI? Just weird. *LOL*

I am using 5 mbit for Upn and 14 for ABC 14 is good for a 720P signal you would need a little more for a 1080i signal. I've tried using 2.5 for UPN and there were to many digital artifacts for me. Although I do know that across the country there are a lot of stations using 2mbit. I'm not going to say we will not do it a some point in time but until the technology improves I'm against it. I believe Directv and Dish both use about 2mbit for locals and about 5mbit for premiums

Ken

I think dish uses GCTI for Greenville CTI, cause UPN48 WCTIDT may mix up with WCTITV12
Directv just uses UPN as its call sign.

heres a link
www.myfreehdtv.com/index.html

scan down to see multicasting

Originally posted by jamielee
About the call sign, WITN7.2 uses RADAR
WRAL 5.2 uses WRAL NC (news channel)
UNC KD (KIDS)
UNC HD
UNC ED (EDUCATION)
UNC NC (NORTH CAROLINA)


Channel 17.1 17.2 17.3 WNCN Raliegh Durham
There 17.2 NBCSD looks compressed but 17.3 the new weather plus from NBC is sharp.
I could live with ABCHD UPN and ABC NEWS NOW COMPRESSED.

I thought 4 SD were all you could air at once but on a site I saw they show 6 at once.

Jamielee,

You are right about NBC 17, it looks alright. I'm kinda not satisfied with their 17.2 channel. It looks kinda blocky with fast motion, etc. But it looks like their Weather Plus is bandwith intensive.

If you look at WRAZ Fox 50. Their primary HD and 2 subchannels look great imho. You can tell their Weather Center channel doesn't require as much bandwith as Weather Plus. That's why their 50.2 looks so good and HD channel looks fantastic. When they are running football, you will occassionally catch a glitch or two (jerkiness) in the Weather Center Channel.

I do agree about the WCTI branding. Maybe WCTI HD and WCTI DT would be more appropriate for 12.1 and 12.3. And one day on down the road, WCTI WX on 12.2. *LOL*

BTW, have you heard anything more about WITN's plans for a news/weather channel around the first of the year?

Ken you cant please us all, Keep up the good work!!!

WCTI has the best track record for getting HD up most of the time.
UPN seems to be better on Directv, still every so often we get a flicker but no wheres as bad as it was, the PQ is good.

Originally posted by jamielee
I think dish uses GCTI for Greenville CTI, cause UPN48 WCTIDT may mix up with WCTITV12
Directv just uses UPN as its call sign.

heres a link
www.myfreehdtv.com/index.html

scan down to see multicasting

Duh! Ok, that makes sense! I like it when we all talk. *lol*

I agree, it's very rare for WCTI to drop the ball when it comes to "flipping the switch" for HD programs. And Ken does his best to let us know what happened and why. There have been many, many problems here lately with the other locals, but it's new tech. I guess we have to give them a break once in a while. At least we don't trash them like some other threads I've read on here. Some of those other markets have some nasty mouthed people busting the engineers chops!

Just made some changes to the channel name for UPN that I can change I don't have a way to look at it right now to see how it works will check it out when I get home

Ken

Call signs and channel names are two different things

Ken

12.3 is branding as UPN48 now.

DirecTV is still working on UPN I believe they will get it fixed just might take them a little while I had my assistant go up there and check the signal on the sly and it was pretty poor we informed them of the problem and offered to help in any way that we can.

Ken

Ken,

Just a heads up on UPN 48... Just to let you know, the guide is no longer showing Default Event for the "listings." It's now showing No Data. Like I said, just a head's up for you.

What ever you did, when I go to 12.1 it now shuts off my reciever, I can go to 12.3, UPN 48 is showing. But still cant tune to 12.1, shutting me down.

Now working! must of had to get the updated PSIP.
Are titles coming soon?

Originally posted by jamielee
What ever you did, when I go to 12.1 it now shuts off my reciever, I can go to 12.3, UPN 48 is showing. But still cant tune to 12.1, shutting me down.

Jamilee,

Have you tried rescanning for your channels to see if that corrects the problem? Do you notice the scratchiness in the sound on UPN 48 or is just my system?

Originally posted by easternncnewswat
Ken,

Just a heads up on UPN 48... Just to let you know, the guide is no longer showing Default Event for the "listings." It's now showing No Data. Like I said, just a head's up for you.

Ken,

Back to default event as opposed to no data. Thanks for your efforts and bearing with us!

Titles have to be discussed yet we will either have to do it manually or subscribe to a data service which is kind of costly I'm not sure when they will do it. I will push for it and keep you updated on what is going on.

Ken

HIRE ME I key the titles in manually. HA HA!

As far as WITNs weather channel, Mike Riddle as 7 emailed me said they are evaluating WEATHER PLUS from NBC. Its only been tested in about 10 markets now, will expand in early 2005, may add then.

I like it, hope WITN adds it.

The scratchiness you hear is when my operators don't set there record levels properly when the record the shows and it is a lot more unforgiving on digital then analog. I'll get on there ass some more about watching levels

Ken

I'm headin home to watch my HDTV If I see any problems I will correct them from home

Ken

Here 10 miles NE of washington FOX 8 with a 100 mile ant and preamp NO SIGNAL.
14 fuzzy, better in the last few weeks, still snowy.
in side of washington with a small antenna its clear.

Ken,

Thanx for everything today. The default event at least works with my stb so that I can "tune" to your channel automatically. I wish the other stations would all do this so we could use the "reminder" function that is built in to our systems. Now, I at least have a CBS, ABC, UPN, PBS, and ABC News Now.

Ken while youre playing with your new toy, how about lable 12.1 WCTI HD.

Done

Ken

Ken,

Maybe you can take 1 meg and give us the "SkyCam 12" channel on 12.2! *ROTFLMAO* That would be a hoot!

Then I couldn't zoom in on the girls on the beach without getting in trouble

Ken

*ROTFLMAO* So, that's what you do in your down time!

See, with the SkyCam 12 Network channel, the station could partner with a radio station, overlay some music, and market it as a tour of eastern NC. Think of it, partner with top 40 and you got the Summer Scenes channel, partner with elevator music, and you got the Relaxation channel, etc. The possibilities are endless! *LOL*

Originally posted by jamielee
Ken while youre playing with your new toy, how about lable 12.1 WCTI HD.




Thanks Ken


Im all for the SKY CAM NETWORK!!!

Sky Cam net sounds like a great idea Ken!!

Had a problem at the transmitter for analog all fixed now.

Ken

I noticed it was out during news time.

Question for anyone who knows...
Does WNCT own the Tower in Grifton or is it WITN? I know there are FM radio stations on that tower - WNCT FM and WITN FM or is it WERO 93.3

From the FOX discussion earlier...
I would think WYDO could get a different frequncy allotment if interferenc is an issue and get on a taller tower and make it directional toward the Southeast. Then everyone would have a chance for a signal.

jspENC,

Afraid I don't know. You could probably find out by punching in the call letters on the FCC website. But the whole idea sounds great about them getting on one tower as opposed to two, but I've been wondering why they were on two since they first signed on years and years ago. Although I believe at that time, WYDO didn't even exist. It was just WFXI.

It would be cool if some of the other station engineers would look in and join in on the discussion. The Norfolk market has an awesome discussion thread where the engineers from all the stations participate in the thread. I think they feel it's very beneficial to hear what their viewers have to say. At least we're fortunate enough to have one who takes our comments, suggestions, etc. and participates with us.

It's awesome that we're now up to 16 pages on this thread. I remember a time when Jamielee was wondering if anyone would ever participate. And look where we are now!

easternncnewswat
I didn't know this place existed. It was just luck I found it. I saw Jamielee posting over at dbstalk and searched for discussion boards and ended up here. Maybe the other station engineers don't know about this place like Ken12 does?
You are right about 14 not coming on at the same time 8 did. 8 came on in 1989 and 14 came on in 1992. Both towers are barely over 500' high.

Oh I was going to mention also that I have heard the PAX 38 engineer on another board say that their tower is the shortest UHF tower he has ever seen, yet it comes in almost clear down here and 14 doesn't come in at all.

Interesting you mention this about Pax, because you are right. I get Pax 38 clear as a bell here in Gville. Fox 14 is not even watchable with an indoor amplified antenna. Yet Fox 50 from RDU comes in better at my house. Go figure.

Ken12,

Is there anyway to keep the "Default Event" in the program guide instead of "No Data?" I really want to be able to use the reminder function in my system and it doesn't work with "No Data." Or does this info have to be entered manually? If so, I can understand why you wouldn't want to plug that in every day. Thanx for the info in advance!

I am trying to do just that. I do have to do it manualy but it is not that big of a deal.

Ken

Ken12,
Can you help the folks over at FOX 14 or would that get you in trouble with 12? They seem to need some guidance on how to provide a decent signal...:)

I also have another question if you can answer it. Why was it so difficult to get the UPN signal up on cable down here in Jacksonville? I remember when 48 first went up that Cox cable got the signal up fast, but TW drug their feet. IT made me so angry that time the Carolina basketball game was blacked out. The company tried to blame your station for the problem. That is when I got rid of the cable and got Directv and a antenna. Then TW finally turned 48 on. They cancelled out the stereo signal, so when I saw it on a friends TV I decided I didn't want it anyway. Cox cable allows the Stereo sound to pass through. TW also cut the Stereo sound on Pax 35 and FOX 8.

I believe any engineer at a station in our market would help out the others if needed. And I would guarantee that all the engineers in this market do everything possible with the resources they are given to put out the best quality signal that they can. Even with fox I feel he is putting out the best possible signal with the equipment that he has.

As far as TW and UPN there were no technical issues delaying it just contract negotiations which I was not in the loop on and even if I was I couldn't talk about it.

Sorry about hitting late on Lost last night. (operator error) I have a lot of shift changes going on right now with people taking vacations for the holidays which is causing a few more errors than normal.

Ken

Thanks Ken, I figured the cable thing was something you would not be able to answer. I guess the public is never let in on these things, even though we are the ones who keep cable going...
You are probably right about FOX. I bet they are doing all they can to keep on the air. I heard after one of the Hurricanes went through a while back, that they had parts being held together by duck tape. I don't know that for a fact, just getting it off a message forum, but it would not surprise me, as that is when I lost channel 14 down here.

WNCT just keeps screwing up their HD broadcasts. Since they can't get the volume right they seem to now be working on the broadcasts. Jets/Pittsburgh game not being shown in HD. Thank goodness for WRAL.

We need to bombard WNCT with emails complaining about their lack of quality. I have emailed Ms. Jones twice today complaining about their volume or lack of and their HD switching problem.

If other engineers took an interest in the HD broadcasts like Ken12 I think we would see a more reliable HD signal. Thank you Ken12 for keeping us informed on what is going on and reading this forum so we can at least let you know of any problems we might have with you station:)

Amen brother,

Between Ken12, Lost, Desperate Housewives and ABC News Now, I'm all about ABC for the first time in a long time!

I still don't even have an HDTV yet. The picture quality from the ota stations is vastly superior to satellite even on an analog receiver with a stb. There's just more... depth to it or something. I've seen true HDTV at the big box stores, but even with a regular tv with a stb, the picture is so much cleaner and crisper.

All I want for Christmas is my very own HDTV!

Oh yeah, you're right about WNCT too. But tonight, I think it's a national problem, because WRAL isn't doing HDTV during Raymond. And that's unsual...

WCTI must be having problems with their new psip equipment. 12.1 and 12.3 keep reverting to 48.1 and 48.2 on my stb. There is no a/v on 12.3 also. When it reverts to 48.2, it has a/v. I think the guys must be working to correct the problem. Just an fyi to everybody.

I am having som problems with the PSIP I have had to disable 1t on 48-3 UPN. I am trying to work them out But it mite take a couple of days.

Ken

Ouch, Ken! I know that bites since you were so excited last week about your new equipment. Good Luck on working things out. I know we'll be keeping our fingers crossed for you!

cant get upn at all now, not on 12-3 or 48.2

Yeah, UPN went out completely shortly before Ken12 replied about their psip equipment.

You should be able to get UPN on 48-3 The equip manufacture is working on the prob.

Originally posted by Ken12
You should be able to get UPN on 48-3 The equip manufacture is working on the prob.

Ken,

What package are you guys using?

TVLInx (Micronas) Its working fine for the the first virtual chanell but loses the stream info for the second chanell. They just tested it again with the same problem. They were going to talk to the programmer and call me back.

It is designed to work with the Harris Flexicoder but for some reason it only reads my primary stream automatically and the second stream I enter manually and it works until it updates and then wipes out my stream info and I have to reenter it

Last night around 10pm my STB converted back to 48.1 48.2 with no PSIP. 12.1 cut off.

Same here, but much earlier. More like 4 or 5 in the afternoon. As of today, only 12.1 is coming through on my stb. I'm sure Ken is working on resolving the issue.

Maybe the equipment needs another channel- 12.2! Maybe it can't distinguish 12.1 and 12.3. *lol* J/k, Ken12!

They are still working on it they have tried several different things but no luck yet they do believe they know what the problem is now and waiting for a programer to fix it. Sorry for the problems

They Sent me a new version of the software today just installed it and it seems OK We will see how it does over the weekend

Ken

Ken12,

Thanks for your hard work. Looks like it's broadcasting fine to my stb. Both 12.1 and 12.3 are coming through.

We are trying to start putting some program info in. We are doing it manually so it may take awhile.

Cool Ken,
Youll be the only station besides UNC here in the east to have titles.
WNCT did have titles at first but have since stopped.

According to an article I read today, per FCC guidelines, all stations have to begin broadcasting psip information as of February 1, 2005. I assume this would be program titles, etc. but you never know. A lot of times, unless it's specifically stated, there's room for wigglers. *LOL* I guess we shall see as of 2/1/2005.

How many want to bet that our fox will be the last on air in the US with dt? Our Pax 35 is even up and has been for a long time.

38 pax has not even got a assigment yet!

Originally posted by easternncnewswat
According to an article I read today, per FCC guidelines, all stations have to begin broadcasting psip information as of February 1, 2005. I assume this would be program titles, etc. but you never know. A lot of times, unless it's specifically stated, there's room for wigglers. *LOL* I guess we shall see as of 2/1/2005.

The rule states that stations have to have the complete ATSC PSIP including the EPG by Feb 1, 2005. No wiggle room there.

I figured 35 covered the whole area, and that is why they didn't apply for an allotment at 38? But when I checked the service map on tvradioworld http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT616327.html
http://www.tvradioworld.com/region1/nc/tv_information.asp?m=ggr

The signal cuts off between New Bern and Kinston. I guess Pax viewers to t
north are out of luck...

WEPX has applied with the FCC to go digital on 51. The application has yet to be approved...

- Trip

Pax 38 has at least finally applied. I thought I knew that already, but maybe I didn't. Have they been accepted or is that automatic? Nevermind, I just saw your answer! *LOL*

Glad all the stations have to integrate psip. Makes the "product" more user friendly. That's the biggest complaint in this "household." Well, that and their isn't an hdtv yet, but that's another story.

Our Fox won't be the last in the nation, but if it's not Pax 38, it'll definately be Fox.

Here are some thoughts I've had recently, not earth shattering, but this is it... What does everybody else think?

1. I'd watch Fox 8/14 News at 10 now that they've got Gary Dean. I remember him on 12 growing up and then when he returned to NC and to channel 7.

Right now, I've got the option of of News at 10 on Fox 50, WB 22, and UPN 48 (which I only check out for the live weather segments). I sometimes check out the WB 22 News just to see what the fuss is all about. It's just Fox News Lite in my opinion.

2. I'd like to see WITN do Weather Plus if it incorporated the local side. Right now, Weather Plus is easy access for current conditions for WNCN viewers but I'd like to see our areas. I think it's a nicer national version to rival The Weather Channel, but I think it's strong point will be to offer satellite viewers "local weather" 24/7. All of us that have satellite have the national feed of The Weather Channel and know what that's like.

3. Actually, my ideal situation would see Weather Plus on 7, a WRALesque weather channel on WCTI, and maybe weather radar on Fox, if they get on the air. Actually it would seem the logical choice would be WNCT but I just read recently that Media General partnered with some "US Digital" type service to lease their bandwith. So I suspect that's why we haven't seen any subchannels on WNCT. They're already partnered with Fox (for news)), so that's probably what will happen anyway.

4. Does anyone watch Pax? Or is it just nice to have it as an option? That's the only reason I'd like to have it. I've only watched it once on satellite.

I like the FBI show that comes on PAX Sunday nights, other than that all they have is re-runs of family feud. I had heard a rumor a while back that PAX might be closing down soon. IF that is the case the rumors are that the WB network would take over the two PAX towers. I guess we will have to wait and see...

What would the US digital service be like on WNCT?

That would be cool if the WB started broadcasting ota around here. Interesting... Guess we'll have to wait and see what happens.

I read about the Media General (US Digital like service) partnership over in the programming thread here on avs forum. Similar to US Digital. The company they are partnered with would use MG's unused bandwith to broadcast SD cable fare like Lifetime, Fox News, etc for something like 20 a month so people don't have to have cable or satellite. The whole thing is still in it's infancy so yet another thing we'll have to wait and see on.

I hope they do it! That would be really neat, but wouldn't it cause the picture quality to go down? And how can they do it since 7 and 9 share an analog transmitter?

Originally posted by jspENC
I hope they do it! That would be really neat, but wouldn't it cause the picture quality to go down?

Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it. And that would NOT be good.

USDTV is the biggest croc of crap since the middle ages. It's like 10 cable channels for $20 a month, and they look worse than they do on satellite while degrading the free-to-air signal of the host station.

Anyway, I think that Greenville is too small/doesn't have enough stations to support USDTV. It works in Los Angeles (with its 20+ stations) and Salt Lake City and those other places (I'm confused about how it works in Vegas though), but let's look at it this way.

7- HD + Weather feed. That's all the bandwidth they have.
9- HD. They might have room for one USDTV channel.
12- HD + UPN. And Ken12 has indicated that there's no plan to compress either one.
14- Who knows. If it's SD, then it could have 5 USDTV services. If HD, then two tops.
25- PBS can't have it.
38- 4 SD streams (if they ever get the digital on the air), so maybe one service.

That's 3 to 6 out of the needed 11 or 12. Not enough room for USDTV.

Thankfully.

Now let us all hope that USDTV dies a quick death.

- Trip

I have no problem with US Digital dying a quick death. I think they could be a viable option if - and only if - they existed on their own stick and bandwith.

The company that has partnered with Media General, WNCT's parent company, is not, to my limited knowledge, US Digital. It's a start up rival. I don't know how many channels they would offer, but they want to keep it around 20 bucks a month too. I'm sure they'll take a run at 7, 12, and 8/14's parent companies to see if they want to "make a deal." Hopefully, they'll all say, "Nope!"

I can understand Ken12's position about not adding another channel because of compromising ABC 12 and UPN 48's pq. In a perfect world ABC and UPN would exist on their own designations. I'm just glad WCTI could at least offer us UPN ota. I never thought this market would carry UPN or the WB because of it's rank, population, etc. At least we've got the option with regard to UPN.

I would like to see an independent channel move into our area, we just don't have enough to watch on antenna. :( And it is very difficult for some locations in this market to be able to get more than 4 channels.

I'll second that. Growing up in New Bern, there were about 4 channels until Fox came on in '89. My Dad was always of the notion, why pay for tv when you can get it for free. Now that I'm an adult and have been paying for cable and/or satellite for most of my life, the price just keeps going higher and higher. I'm glad I can get the networks for free now. One less thing I have to pay for. I won't get the locals on satellite when I can get them ota.

I don't think we'll get an independent station(s) any time soon. Independents are struggling to stay afloat these days with all the other programming options. It'd be nice though to get the WB ota around here though. I can get WLFL from RDU but it can be sketchy sometimes. I can say that I'm getting 9 out of 10 times now. Used to be that I could barely pick it up. And UPN from RDU is a definite no. Thanks again for UPN 48.

Originally posted by easternncnewswat
I can get WLFL from RDU but it can be sketchy sometimes. I can say that I'm getting 9 out of 10 times now. Used to be that I could barely pick it up. And UPN from RDU is a definite no. Thanks again for UPN 48.

When WLFL and WRDC power up, you might be able to receive them.

Do you guys around Greenville get SKY 4? I can get it every now and then down here but not for very long. They have some good shows on in the evenings. As a matter of fact they have the Charlotte basketball on now!

Originally posted by foxeng
When WLFL and WRDC power up, you might be able to receive them.

I sure hope so!

Sky 4 had just come on the air in the past year when I left the OBX last year. They weren't bad for a start up station. I think they have applied for digital assignment on channel 4. I doubt we would get even in Greenville. I can't get analog now. On the OBX, we couldn't get signals from here or Norfolk; that's why we had the East/West Coast affiliate feeds.

I just saw on WNCT your total snowfall in Washington was 7"! Mine down in Jacksonville was 1".

Yea seems like that small band of SNOW stayed on top of Washington and Beaufort County almost all night. Started snowing here at 10:30p snowed till around 6:30-7am. Pretty heavy.
In town I measured about 6.5" here north east of Washington about 8miles I got about 4.5/5"
Winds blowing 18-20mph blowing snow!!!
In Greenville about 1"

Woohoo! Snow Day! I was waiting all night last night. Finally, I flipped over to Witn's Radar Channel and saw where Jamie, I assume, had drawn in the freezing line and it was right on top of Greenville. I went out and looked out the window and sure enough it was snowing. About 2-3 inches this side of Greenville.

I definately wish WITN carried weather plus so we could see local inserts and temps around our area. It's cold everywhere in NC today! And it looks like there might be snow on the way for Christmas Day. Let it snow!

We got nothing here in Greensboro. Snow to the west and snow to the east and nothing here. Oh well. At least the high today is to be 20! OH BOY! :( It is 16 currently.

It's frigid all over today! Let's hope the model runs for this weekend's upcoming storm prove accurate and we can have a white christmas all across the state. :D

Originally posted by easternncnewswat
It's frigid all over today! Let's hope the model runs for this weekend's upcoming storm prove accurate and we can have a white christmas all across the state. :D

Let's hope NOT! That will be the ONLY thing on TV! (and NOT HD at that!)

*LOL*

True that...

Ken12,

Btw, I noticed you have a lot of guide info updated for ABC 12; looks very good. It was a little off this weekend, but I remembered you saying you guys were just starting to key it in. It looks great and makes the product a lot more user friendly. Thanks for your efforts.

I took a look at WWAY and WCTI's digital pic. quality and sound yesterday (both abc stations) and they both look sharp, and not as red in the face as the analog signal. The sound on WWAY was not quite as full as WCTI's signal, at least on Cable. They still do not have WNCT dt on cable down here. WITN and their radar are up and look better than directv's satellite signal quality, probably because the bandwidth is not stretched with just 2 signals.
The only difference in WWAY and WCTI is WWAY went full screen while WCTI was cropped off on both sides.
Ken 12,
Was this the cable companies manipulating or was it your stations choice? Also WITN was cropped off on their 7.1 but not on the radar channel.
Also no PAX 35.1 or WECT 6.1 are on cable, but all of the PBS stations on 19 are on and look great.

jspENC,

I've seen that on WWAY before; i've gotten the signal a couple of times up here in Greenville. Are you talking about the fact that WCTI and WITN have the black bars on the side during non network programming. I thought all stations did that if they're upconverting their 4:3 to 16:9. I think WWAY does a widescreen upconvert.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong. I've seen this on WWAY too and wondered why other stations don't do this during news, local, etc. programs.

Yes, the black bars easternncnewswat,
I thought it was a good idea that WWAY eliminated them. THis was during ABC news at 6:30 and AFV at 7:00 on Sunday evening.
But the sound would drop off on WWAY occasionally, and it's probably because of a bad antenna at the cable plant.

Is WWAY switching back to 480i during local programming or are they stretching their 4x3 image to 16x9? I know people hate the black bars, but distorting the picture in the signal isn't the answer. If someone hates the bars, they should have the option of manipulating the display of it on their TV.

With our Fox signal problems in Greenville, what is the likelihood that we could get waivers from the local station so we could see the Fox HD feed now available on DirecTV?

Anyone run through the waiver process with Fox locally?

Well, I can't speak to the Fox HD feed, but I can tell you that my East/West feeds of Fox were cancelled by Dish Network because of complaints by our local Fox affiliate. That's what the letter from Dish said anyway. I doubt our local Fox affiliate would even allow the HD feed though. They want you to watch their station(s). Which is funny and pathetic when you think about it; they don't even have a digital signal broadcasting yet!

Given the choice to watch the OTA HD signal or the satellite HD signal, I would gladly support them. Since they've not made it an option, I cannot support them.

So true.

I will not ever support our Fox because you can hardly pick it up! I have to go with WSFX in Wilmington for fox if I watch it OTA. On satellite is the only way WYDO looks decent.

Ken12 any chance that youll add titles to UPN?

I'm in shock! Channel 8 and 14 are both coming in today. The color on 8 is MUCH better than 14. 8 is in Stereo and 14 isn't? They used to both broadcast Stereo. I bet they won't stay clear for long, the weather is probably responsible...

Actually, UPN48, as of Monday night, had programming information showing up in the guide. Didn't check it last night. As of today, it is shoing No Data. It looks like ABC 12 has it's programming info up and running for the entire day. Remember, Ken12 said that they were going to have to enter it manually. I'm sure this is why UPN 48 is not showing the information right now.

Fox 14, analog, is coming in worse than normal for me. Just goes to show that what works for one doesn't always work for another. Typical! *LOL*

We are still having some issues with the PSIP Generator for UPN It has lost the data that we had already put in for UPN. I'm going to wait to make sure the problem is fixed before I have someone reenter the data. Probably after the first of the year.

Ken

Thanx for letting us know what happened, Ken12. Now that you've updated your psip information it's gotten me to do something I've been wanting to do for a while. I did some screen captures and am building a page about dtv offerings here in Eastern NC. I hope to have it online in a few days.

I missed reply to the post about the black bars. I upconvert our SD to a letter box I could just as easely stretch it to fill the screen actually I've had quite a few calls wanting me to do just that. But I'm sure I would get twice as many calls if I did complaining about it. I personally do not like a stretched picture and most peoples sets have the capability to stretch if they want to.

Ken

I think WWAY has 3 channels going, one is stretched, one isn't and the other was used for ABC NEWS NOW.

I missed reply to the post about the black bars. I upconvert our SD to a letter box I could just as easely stretch it to fill the screen actually I've had quite a few calls wanting me to do just that. But I'm sure I would get twice as many calls if I did complaining about it. I personally do not like a stretched picture and most peoples sets have the capability to stretch if they want to.

I agree, Ken. I prefer to have the signal come in its original aspect ratio. The worst situation is getting a program that has been stretched, but was originally letterboxed. That leaves the viewer with no opportunity to get it back to its right state even though its original format would have looked great on a 16x9 screen.

Channel 9 is OFF for cable viewers in Jacksonville this AM. I wonder why?

Not sure why Channel 9 isn't on cable in Jacksonville. Weird. Maybe the weather caused a problem.

If anyone is interested, I've resurrected my old home page I did a while ago and added a dtv screen capture page. It's still under construction but I've got all the caps from the other day uploaded. Just go here:

home.earthlink.net/~gvillegeo/index2.HTM (http://home.earthlink.net/~gvillegeo/index2.HTM)

and then click GeoTv for my DTV screen capture page. All commentary/criticism is welcome. Btw, I'm using an analog tv and capture device so the quality isn't as good as what you guys see on your hdtv's. However, I think on the WCTI page, you can see the better quality of HDTV broadcasts even on analog tv.

Originally posted by easternncnewswat
If anyone is interested, I've resurrected my old home page I did a while ago and added a dtv screen capture page. It's still under construction but I've got all the caps from the other day uploaded.

Nice screen caps. Good picture of Jami Turner of WCTI. I know Jami and her husband real well. Both of them use to work with me here in Greensboro. I hear she is expecting with her second child.

Thanx, foxeng... Jami Turner is very pleasant to listen to while watching the news. Seems very level headed; at least that's what translates on screen. I was hoping to meet her at this year's Share Your Christmas food drive here in Greenville, but it was a mad house. *LOL*

Oh well, maybe next year!

Originally posted by easternncnewswat
Thanx, foxeng... Jami Turner is very pleasant to listen to while watching the news. Seems very level headed; at least that's what translates on screen. I was hoping to meet her at this year's Share Your Christmas food drive here in Greenville, but it was a mad house. *LOL*

Oh well, maybe next year!

Some of her work when she was here wound up on FOX News Channel. She did some hurricane coverage at Kitty Hawk back during Bertha I think it was and she was on FOX News Channel, CNN and MSNBC as well as a host of local stations (and ours of course!).

Jami is a good person, but don't get on her bad side! WHOO! ;)

I've been a tv news junkie since I was a kid! I lived on the outer banks for 7 years beginning in 1997. I loved hurricane season when all the news crews would come from everywhere and set up shop at the Holiday Inn where I worked or next door at the Ramada. And considering the pressure you guys work under in a situation like that, I was lucky enough that all the tv people who I got to meet were very warm and friendly even while we had water flowing through our lobby! *LOL*

foxeng,
Have you heard anything concerning wfxi/wydo digital/HD upgrades or if Fox is putting any pressure on the affiliates to get the upgrades done?

Our Fox affiliate seems to not be very concerned about getting it done or letting concerned viewers know what is going on.

Do you have an email addy at FOX hq's where we can send our concerns to someone who would be interested?

I wish I could get the Raleigh feed and they would never have to worry about me watching their station again.

Originally posted by 2Scoops
foxeng,
Have you heard anything concerning wfxi/wydo digital/HD upgrades or if Fox is putting any pressure on the affiliates to get the upgrades done?

I have heard that the network is putting pressure on stations that are on the air to get things up in HD before the Super Bowl, but when it comes to stations not on the air, I have no info.

Do you have an email addy at FOX hq's where we can send our concerns to someone who would be interested?

askfox@foxinc.com is the only one I know of. All of the others I have are the technical people who make things work and not the ones who deal with the stations in such matters.

Thanks for the reply foxeng. Unfortunately, they probably don't have the financial resources and will probably not do anything as long as they can get extensions from the FCC.

Hopefully, Fox in Raleigh or Norfolk will kick up their power before long and I can get their signal

Originally posted by 2Scoops
Hopefully, Fox in Raleigh or Norfolk will kick up their power before long and I can get their signal

Uhh... Norfolk's Fox is already at full power. 1000 kW DA on channel 29.

- Trip

I copied the following off of another site. Foxeng or Ken12 have you guys heard anything about this?

Per the new legislation passed in congress recently folks who's local stations do not broadcast OTA HD will be labelled a "digital white area". As a result D and E will be allowed to send these folks the national HD feeds for the broadcasters they cannot receive (CBS/NBC/Fox and hopefully ABC).

The question is when this will happen. I've seen 60 days to 1 year....
**********************************************************

This would certainly help us with the local fox circus....:)

WRAl's feed from CBS is way behind WNCT's feed today.

Originally posted by 2Scoops
I copied the following off of another site. Foxeng or Ken12 have you guys heard anything about this?

Per the new legislation passed in congress recently folks who's local stations do not broadcast OTA HD will be labelled a "digital white area". As a result D and E will be allowed to send these folks the national HD feeds for the broadcasters they cannot receive (CBS/NBC/Fox and hopefully ABC).

The question is when this will happen. I've seen 60 days to 1 year....
**********************************************************

This would certainly help us with the local fox circus....:)

I will admit I haven't had time to really read the law, with the holidays and I have been traveling for work, but I will try and explain what I know or rather, what I think I know. YMMV.

The digital white area thing is a work in progress. The law doesn't require it for 18 months, this is to give D* and E* time to get the info together from the stations so they can make a decision on who is eligible. Sad part about this is the people it is suppose to help with have full power DTV signals by the time D* and E* start to implement this. Obviously, those who are indeed too far from the transmitters will get relief and I guess that is the silver lining of this cloud.

Has anyone heard anymore information about the possibility of WITN picking up WeatherPlus when it rolls out to the rest of the affiliates after the testing phase? Or are they still going with the idea of creating a local news/weather channel. I see the radar is still up and running currently. They must have some sort of plans for 7.2.

On that same note, in another thread over in the programming section, someone in the biz mentioned the possibility of one of our local stations picking up and broadcasting ota the WB as a subchannel. Anyone willing to hedge any bets on which station it will be?

WCTI doesn't look like a candidate since Ken12 doesn't have the bandwith available. WITN wouldn't if they go with WeatherPlus. That leaves WNCT and WFXI/WYDO. Don't think it would be WFXI/WYDO for obvious reasons. Anyone heard from anyone at WNCT about them adding the WB as a subchannel?

Ken12, how goes the psip data project. I remember you guys were having some problems with that. Haven't seen any updates to the programming guide here.

Has anyone noticed that WITN has now programmed WITN DTV Program with WITN Digital Programming in the info section? Is this new? I don't recall having seen that before. They must be gearing up for Feb 1st when all stations must offer psip data.

Still haven't seen anything psip related to WNCT. Anybody heard anything about WFXI/WYDO testing at the very least down in Morehead City? Didn't they say at one point that they would be doing that in December?

WFXI must be doing something, yesterday the color on 8 was real good, and today it is bad again...
Also do you think it is PAX that will broadcast WB! They have plenty of bandwidth over at 35.1
I heard on EYEWITNESS news 9 one time that they were thinking of bringing another television station to the area, but that has been at least 6 mnths ago.

I don't think it's going to be PAX that brings the WB. I don't think the WB programming is in line with the PAX network's moral compass. It might give them leverage to get all of their channels on cable systems, but I really don't think it's going to be PAX. If anything, it's going to be WNCT or WFXI/WYDO. I'm hoping for WNCT since WFXI/WYDO isn't even on the air yet digitally. We'd be waiting forever. My best bet would be WNCT, unless WITN beats them to the punch. Hopefully, it won't turn out to be just speculation.

I'm doubtful that they'll be carrying it over the air. The only market over #99 (Savannah; Greenville is something like 102) with an OTA WB station is Reno/Carson City, NV if I recall correctly. Why would that start to change, especially if the network STILL would not be in HD?

Now I had heard at one point something about TW buying WEPX (38), but I'm doubtful of that too.

- Trip

Originally posted by jspENC
I heard on EYEWITNESS news 9 one time that they were thinking of bringing another television station to the area, but that has been at least 6 mnths ago.

What exactly did the report say? Was there anymore information given about it?

foxeng or Ken12,

Can you clear up a question I have regarding PSIP information in the EPG? I know stations must pass this along as of Feb 1, 2005. Do they have to offer specific programming information. Or do stations have the option of passing along something generic like "Station X DTV Programming"? Just curious because I've noticed over the past few days, stations here and in RDU have started filling their EPG with the generic PSIP information.

Originally posted by easternncnewswat
foxeng or Ken12,

Can you clear up a question I have regarding PSIP information in the EPG? I know stations must pass this along as of Feb 1, 2005. Do they have to offer specific programming information. Or do stations have the option of passing along something generic like "Station X DTV Programming"? Just curious because I've noticed over the past few days, stations here and in RDU have started filling their EPG with the generic PSIP information.

I suspect the reason you haven't seen any real data yet is because at the moment, the easiest way to get the data is through a subscription service and most stations haven't spent the money yet to turn that service on. Most traffic systems do not have the interface for EPG yet, even though most if not all should have something available by Feb 1. You should see more guides filling up as we closer to Feb 1.

Here is the actual wording from the FCC in the 2nd DTV Report and Order on PSIP tables. the EIT (Event Information Table) is the legal term for EPG:

"We expect broadcasters to populate the required tables and descriptors with the proper information to help receivers assemble functioning guides. All tables and descriptors that require one time setup should be set correctly, including TSID, Short Channel Name, Service Type, Modulation Mode, Source ID, and Service Location Descriptor. ATSC A/65B also requires that broadcasters send populated EITs covering at least a 12 hour period. These EITs should be populated with the correct information, so that the user knows what programs are on for this 12 hour period."

Most if not all stations would have more than 12 hours since 12 hours doesn't help DVRs and such.

foxeng,

Thanx for the quick response. I wasn't sure if I had missed the details you just gave over previous posts. But yeah, in the past two days, I've noticed this generic "Station X DTV Program" popping up on almost all the stations I receive. It's nice to know that very soon, I'll be able to use my episode guide and timer functions on my stb. I definately want this for ABC and Fox since they are no longer available on Dish Network. Well, I don't have my East/West feeds anymore is what I should say. I don't feel it nescessary to pay for my locals on satellite when I can get it ota.

Anyways, thanx for the information. Nice to know.

Originally posted by easternncnewswat
What exactly did the report say? Was there anymore information given about it?
:o [/SIZE] o If I remember correctly, they were talking about how the market is growing and that we did not have very many choices in viewing options. They said they were exploring the possiblilities of opening another station, but that whether or not it would be WNCT who made the first move or someone else was a big question mark.:o

I would like to see a LIVE VIPIR 9 channel. 4 live weather radars piercing through the atmosphere at over 4 million watts. :0

*LOL*

Just remember Live Vipir 9 is not live; it's all a hype thing. The only true live radar in this area is truly Witn's doppler. All the rest, WNCT and WCTI, is smoke and mirrors. It's the National Weather Service radar from Newport that you can get online with the same 6 minute delay.

I always chuckle when I see the promo for WTVD's 6 radar's keeping you covered. Just composite NWS radars. I hope the tv folks don't really think the average viewer is that stupid. I mean really, do they think that we think they've bought 6 radars? *lmao*

Originally posted by easternncnewswat
I mean really, do they think that we think they've bought 6 radars? *lmao*

WFMY here bought 2 dopplers. One at their studio and one out in the country west of Winston-Salem. It hasn't seemed to help their ratings much. We don't have a doppler radar and just use NWS and we have good ratings so Super-Duper-Put-Some-Cheese-On-My-Whopper-Doppler isn't all it is cracked up to be sometimes.

Well, I can see buying 2 dopplers, but 6? *LOL*

That's hillarious about the super duper put some cheese on my doppler whopper thing!

Actually, I tend to watch WCTI's weather more often than not without them having a live radar. I think weather comes down to who you trust to give you an accurate forecast. Either that or just look at the window! *lol*

Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing Live Vipir 9 as a subchannel on WNCT or a full fledged weather channel. I'll have to talk to someone I know over there and see what their plans are. Maybe I can find out if they're in talks to put the WB on ota as a sub.

I know everybody thinks any multicasting will destroy HDTV; at least that seems to be the overwhelming opinion from the thread I've been following over in the programming section. But seriously, I don't think a subchannel or 2 will kill hdtv. I'm constantly amazed at how good WRAZ's broadcast looks with a 2 SD channels. JMHO.

I definately don't want to get anybody riled up on here. Different strokes for different folks.

I thought with 4 radars going at the same time you would get updates about every minute?
Also the WITN doppler is slow. I would guess it takes a minute and a half for that thing to go all the way around. it does not even come close to giving the viewers detailed information that the radar maps at WNCT give. When David Sawyer was there he could work the radars better than anyone else at the station.

Nope; not to my understanding anyway. Unless a station owns it's on doppler and it's parked in the back yard, etc., they pull their images from the National Weather Service. That data tends to be between 6-10 minutes old by the time the viewer "sees" it. You can imagine what this means for a fast moving storm. This is not just stations in our area but everywhere.

I agree that I do like the Live Vipir information that shows the insides of the storm, etc and allows some nifty graphic manipulations by the met, the data still isn't current.

Here's my take on weather presentations here in eastern nc. All of this is my own opinion and like other things, everybody has one: *LOL*

WITN: Too generic. Both in presentation, maps, doppler, etc. Great internet presence with First Alert Weather! Thumbs up on that. My biggest beef with WITN's weather has been that it's very lacking on the detail. Usually, they give you a quick glimpse at the map and then it's on with the forecast. Although I do like it when they show that's visible image satellite pics of snowfall on the ground like our most recent snow/ice storm. That's pretty nifty!

WNCT: Too flashy, not enough substance. I like the new local graphics incorporating the terrain of eastern nc; clouds rolling by, rain and/or snow falling across the east. I like the pics of cities with the forecast; nice shot of ECU, the Camp Lejeune sign, Washington or New Bern waterfront. I wish somebody would lease a helicopter and get some cityscapes though. I mean, I know were not Raleigh or Charlotte, but it'd be nice to see some buildings. Explaining the weather has improved a bit, but still not enough detail for me. I want to know why it's going to ice here but snow in Raleigh. Great graphic manipulations with radar images as mentioned above. Absolutely hate their US satellite, model, etc; looks so 60's!

Although, as a side note, during hurricane season this year, Phillip William's scared the **** out of me telling me a tornado was heading toward my house! I can do without crapping in my pants! j/k!

WCTI: Good forecasting, but too southern tier focused much like their news. I love the forecasts on 12. Oftentimes, Skip, Bobby or Jonathan tell the viewer in layman's terms the exact weather discussion from the NWS. Love the use of maps: water vapor, satellite, radar composites. Nice to see someone has their own forecasting model around here; Precisioncast. Wish they had their own Doppler! *LOL* Would like to see some updated maps though; looking a little dated now. Wish they'd tie in with WeatherBug. I used to love WAVY's when I lived on the OBX!

Anyway that's my two cents on the weather. Enjoy! *LOL* j/k!

Originally posted by easternncnewswat
That's hillarious about the super duper put some cheese on my doppler whopper thing!

In my radio days one of the morning guys did this recurring weather man skit and that is what he called his "radar." It was good for a laugh on morning radio back in the late 80's, so I stole it!

Originally posted by easternncnewswat
Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing Live Vipir 9 as a subchannel on WNCT or a full fledged weather channel. I'll have to talk to someone I know over there and see what their plans are. Maybe I can find out if they're in talks to put the WB on ota as a sub.

I know everybody thinks any multicasting will destroy HDTV; at least that seems to be the overwhelming opinion from the thread I've been following over in the programming section. But seriously, I don't think a subchannel or 2 will kill hdtv. I'm constantly amazed at how good WRAZ's broadcast looks with a 2 SD channels. JMHO.

If you have someone who knows what they are doing and they have the right dynamic mux equipment, like they do at Capital, you can do multicasting within reason. I am not a huge fan of multicasting with an HD channel, but there is a place for it on SD only stations or stations with good engineering departments and owners who don't mind spending what it takes to make a good signal, but some of those guys in the programming section really have no clue what they are talking about and since they saw some mutlicasting that didn't look right (and there is PLENTY of it out there) it must be bad all around. I have just started ignoring those few who are just insanely rabid about it since no matter what you say, you are a shill or idiot. Best let that sleeping dog lie.

Insanely rabid... I think I know one that you are talking about. I groan when I see that he's posted.

You're right about CBC; fantastic job with the multicasting. I only see the slightest glitch on Wral Weather Center channel when they are running football in HD. And still the SD simulcast looks awesome.

I asked today in the Raleigh thread if anyone knew anything about WNCN dropping their SD channel since they are running WeatherPlus and have their HD channel. Their SD channel is really suffering and seems almost pointless now. The only response I got, not from anyone affiliated with WNCN, was that the engineer had posted some upgrades were coming to the equipment. Maybe that will solve the problem. Time will tell.

I'd love to be able to get WB22 or UPN 28 from RDU. I get WB22 9 times out of 10, but it's been a bit sketchy lately. Plus, it's reverted to 57.1 with no PSIP or anything anymore. It's odd that the station personnel haven't taken notice or maybe they have and we as the viewer just don't know it. I assume maybe the station is upgrading equipment.

I'd still like to see an ota WB for the Greenville/New Bern/Washington market. I guess at this point it probably is pointless since most people have cable or satellite, but some of us still like ota broadcasts.

I'm all for having more programming options ota. It's still better picture quality, etc. than satellite or cable.

Maybe a station around here could offer me some alternative internet service. One thing's for sure, Sprint isn't getting off it's ass to offer me high speed internet even though it's available 3 or 4 miles down the road.

Or maybe I still don't understand that whole datacasting thing. I'll learn as I go with a little help from others in and outside the business. *LOL*

Sorry for that final rant. :D

easternncnewswat,
I agree with you a lot about the weather reports in our area! WITN is still using the same maps they had back in the 70's. They need a new nighttime meteorologist in my opinion. I can never really interpret what the guy is trying to tell me. Not near enough explanation in my opinion.
When I was a little younger I used to watch Skip all the time. But for the last ten years or so I find myself flipping around at 5pm to other stations. I also wish 12 had a real time radar. Maybe one in New Bern and another in Greenville. I like their weathermaps though a lot.
WNCT has been my favorite though around here for a while. They seem to be more accurate with their predictions than the others. But they need a little more explanation in the weather segment. And lately they have gotten better with more maps or current temperatures and frontal system maps. I would like to see jet stream maps more often though.

Also this morning on WITN they are bragging about their ratings with a commercial clip. They say more people are watching them in the morning than WNCT or WCTI combined. And that they are number one at Eleven PM.
I have a hard time beleiving that morning thing.
I wonder who wins at noon and 6. Here is my guess-WCTI at noon and WNCT at 6...?

Well, as of February last year, this was the way the ratings were trending. Keep in mind, this was what I was told by someone that works at one of the local stations.

Mornings: WITN by a considerable margin. Helps that the Today show is the number one rated morning show. WNCT is 2nd, WCTI is 3rd.

Noon: WNCT, thank you Bob Barker and The Price Is Right. WITN 2nd, WCTI is 3rd.

5 PM: WCTI, thank you Oprah. WITN is 2nd, WNCT is 3rd.

6 PM: WNCT, although it was neck and neck with WITN. WCTI brought up the rear.

11 PM: WNCT, neck and neck again with WITN. WCTI finishes the day on a losing note.

Keep in mind, some of this could have changed by now; ABC's prime is up, NBC's is down, CBS is holding pretty steady. I doubt it though. WITN is now winning probably most of the newscasts now that they've moved their 7 feet of Cash to almost all their newscasts. Never underestimate greed to keep a viewer watching! What happens when 7 feet of Cash isn't going on? I guess, we the viewer, will never know except what we're told.

Keep in mind, ratings around here are only tabulated for sweeps periods; February, May, the lesser know August, I believe, and November.

Hope that tells you what you want to know good or bad.

FYI for everyone:

WCTI is passing PSIP for ABC 12 and UPN 48 again!

For those of you who have a burning desire to learn about PSIP in an ATSC OTA world, here is a URL that has some interesting items and has info from the newbie to the experienced.

http://www.trivenidigital.com/PSIP/fccpsip.html

Thank you for the ratings scoop easternncnewswat,
I think it is mostly good news.
Phillip Williams must have read this board, because tonight he showed the jet stream on a map during the weather segment!

*LOL*

Someone you know might have mentioned this board to him just recently...

:D

Either that or maybe some station engineers are lurking here and just haven't said anything to us caused we've dissed them before. In which case, we probably deserve that. *LOL*

Well I hope they don't take our rantings personally, I feel as Ken 12 said before that the engineers are doing the best they can with what equipment they have to work with. I hope they all will join us so we can help them out with what reception questions they might have. One thing the station owners and managers should work on is covering the entire market with a signal and not leaving people out of the coverage area.

I saw tonight during Wheel of Fortune that they are looking for people responsible for stealing transmission line from WNCT/WITN. Who could use this except another television station?

Originally posted by jspENC
I saw tonight during Wheel of Fortune that they are looking for people responsible for stealing transmission line from WNCT/WITN. Who could use this except another television station?

Transmission line is made of copper and for high power TV stations, it comes in 6 to 9 inch diameters in 20 foot lengths. Nice recycling change.

Hmm...

I've been out of town for a few days so that's why I haven't been posting... What happened to everyone else that used to frequent our forum for Eastern NC?

Anybody seen, heard, or know anything new?

jspENC, interesting about the transmission line... Why would it be running between WNCT and WITN? I don't get it? Maybe this has to do with feeding the signal to DirecTV. Didn't jamielee say that WNCT is where the DirecTV host facility is?

Did anyone read in the Reflector recently that WITN wants to purchase the land where the Bucanneer theatre used to be on Arlington? From what I remember about the article, WITN wants to build a new studio on that location. No time table was given that I remember.

In the intersting or not so interesting, depending on how you look at it, while I was in the Tri-Cities of Tennessee, I noticed the CBS affiliate is a Media General holding. The set, graphics, music, etc. was identical to WNCT's. They also have a subchannel that they run full time alongside their HD channel. I felt like I was watching Eyewitness News although they are branded NewsChannel 11 and the weather pkg graphics were similar but a bit better than WNCT's.

I noticed tonight that WCTI had detailed information in the programming guide of some of it's shows. It looks like it runs out at 8 p.m. on 12.1. 12.3 goes well past 11 p.m. No detailed information on the programming guide for 12.3 though. :(

I was hoping something fantastic had happened in Eastern NC dtv since I've been away... Darn! :p

Hope everyone is doing well.

Welcome back easternncnewswat, I was getting bored!

About the Transmission line,

It was laying at the WNCT/WITN transmitter facility in Grifton on the ground. According to the crimestopper ad it was worth $70,000 I believe. the pictures of it showed long tubes as foxeng described. They are still running the ad on WITN. Maybe it was the old line before they redid the tower feed for HDTV?
Also by the way since you mention media generals stations, WBTW is owned by them, Channel 13 Florence SC and they also are simular to WNCT graphics.

Ok, now I understand about the transmission line. I didn't understand that someone had tried to steal it; after being on the road since 7 this morning, I obviously couldn't comprehend what you and foxeng were talking about.

I guess most big media corporations want their holdings to be similiar in nature. I was amazed though that WCBY was virtually identical; right down to the news desk. I believe the subchannel they are running is the WB. This was mentioned in the Tri-Cities thread. Additionally, they previously ran another subchannel with a weather radar. My understanding is that they dropped that though.

Maybe WNCT and Media General will bring a WB ota to Eastern NC. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!:D

If they bring it I won't need this 2nd 18" dish that I am still waiting on to be installed.:(
Oh wait, I need to see FOX, so I've still got to get it...

On the DTV locals you can go ahead to the website and add teh locals even if you dont have the 72.5 dish yet, the WB will come on because its on the 101 main sat.

I activated mine before the installers came.
When you get to the screen asking can you see channel 495 496 say yes.

WB is on ch 15

jamielee,

Glad to see you're still around and visiting the forum. You heard anything interesting about WITN DT since you always get the word way ahead of the rest of us?

no nothing new yet, Ill email Mike at WITN and ask if any new DT projects are in the works.

Thanks Jamielee, I already did that a while back because you told me to. Guess you forgot! I have been enjoing that station a lot. :)

I don't understand why D* has not come, they said it would be this week, and I have heard nothing. I called them 3 times since early December on this. Lots of homes around my area have the second dish up, so I guess I should have called a little sooner than I did.

I think you can go on line to the acct mgmt section and it shows your instalation schedule, I also think it has a reschedule option check it and see if a earlier date is open.

Just got message from Mike Weeks at WITN DT.


Lots of new items in the works for WITN... we will not be adding NBC Weather plus but looking at another 24/7 weather channel product that has advantages over thier model. The Weather plus looks good but lacks local content...that is where the station makes the difference.

Dont know about the WB sitiuation... we had the WB franchise at one time and could not make it work as well as we wanted so we dropped it. Currently all WB affiliates in 100+ size markets are only on satellite...that may be changing. They are a young network having difficulty getting a foothold but making progress with several shows.

Stay tuned.
Mike Weeks

Thanx for passing along the information, jamielee. At least we know that WITN has some plans in the works. Kinda disappointed that we won't have local WeatherPlus, but lots of times different is better! Can't wait to see what they've got up their sleeves!

At least he gave us some hope on the WB too. I didn't realize that they had the WB franchise at one time; must have been when I was living on the OBX. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

FYI for everyone, WCTI is back on 48.1. They must be working on their psip generator. Looks like they might be having some difficulty again. I noticed that WTVD up in RDU has lost all it's psip information as well. From what I've been reading, station engineers across the country as working as hard as they can to get this stuff up and running by the February 1st deadline.

Does Mike mean they had WB on the air at some point in the past? I am a little confused by that statement. I am glad to hear that WITN is going to expand it's programming!
Another thing on my mind is the significantly viewed markets on Satellite. I wonder how this will work for our area. I live in an area that shares signals from Wilmington and Greenville, and some areas like Duplin, Lenoir, Greene, Wayne,Nash for examples share Raleigh and Greenville channels.
Duplin and Sampson counties share all 3 markets... etc.

I think what Mike meant was that when the WB (WGWB?) first came on cable systems in Eastern NC, that WITN operated it. It has never been broadcast ota as far as I know.

Not sure what you mean regarding your last paragraph; shared markets, etc. Are you wondering how Direct or Dish know what to feed you? If this is what you mean, it all comes down to your address. The FCC laid out DMA's (designated market area, I believe) for service providers. If you are one street over from the Wilmington DMA, you cannot get those channels on satellite. You can only get the DMA that you reside in. At least that's the way it's supposed to work.

BTW, WCTI is back up and running on 12.1 and 12.3 with psip information.

A law is now in effect that will allow satellite to offer neighboring DMA's. They refer to this as significantly viewed channels from your next door neighbor markets, for you this would include channels 5,11,17,22,28,50. Not that they all would be carried, but some would... This should happen around the middle of this year.

Hmm... I did not know this. Haven't heard anything about it until you mentioned it.

Jamielee might be able to explain it better than I did. I don't quite understand exactly how this will work for me because if they offer your area those channels mentioned above will I be getting them too, or will I get just the Wilmington stations...

jspENC, you know about as much as me, its kinda sketchy. I hope we will get RDU channels as well.

Holy Smokes!

Check out WITN 7.2!!! They are doing their First Alert Weather Channel!

Looks very WRAL-esque in design and concept. Satellite, radar, current temps, forecast highs, etc. No audio; not sure if they're going to overlay that with it. Nice package!

I wonder if they're going to use the new package in their weathercasts... Hmmm...

Thumbs up!

I just checked 7.2 its the same old LIVE DOPPLER 7

Yeah, I found that out Friday evening when I got home from work. They took it down after experimenting with it all day. I'm sure it'll be back on fairly soon; sorry everyone else missed the preview.

This happened for 2 months before WNCN put on Weather Plus. I'd get all excited that WeatherPlus was up and then it would come down again.

Sorry for getting everyone's hopes up, including my own!

American Idol is going to be on tonight. No chance of seeing it clearly over the air around here...

Ken12,

Are we ever going to get a good signal on the Directv feed of UPN 48.
I try to watch Skip Waters weather and it freezes all the time.
I watch SmackDown! and it freezes every few minutes. Has Directv had contact with you on this.
Ive emailed Nicole martin again at Directv about the same issues and hopefully this will be resolved.

WITN DT is now showing PSIP info.

They probably need a higher gain antenna than what they are using. I know that with this Radio Shack UHF I am using I get a much weaker signal than I got when I had the rusty 25 year old Channel Master 4 bay on my mast! That antenna came off of a junk pile over in Sampson county and finally bit the dust in a heavy wind last year. I probably should order another one.
If Directv ever calls me like they are supposed to do I will also tell them about UPN. I will tell them to send someone to WNCT and try a different antenna, (like they will listen) *LMAO*
I called day before yesterday, and they promised they would call me once the billing system was restored, and I still have not heard a thing.

Woohoo! Good for WITN! I'm glad to see their psip information showing up and detailed descriptions too.

I thought something was different when I rolled by the RADAR channel and it was upper case. *LOL* Now, I'm ready to see their First Alert radar channel after seeing the sneak preview last week. Today would have been a great day to start it with the snow. *LOL*

Btw, I noticed a minute ago on UPN 48 that ACC Basketball had detailed info showing UNC at Clemson. Wonder if they are testing that out at WCTI? Haven't seen detailed PSIP information on WCTI yet...

its been up for a few weeks, occasionallt dropping off.

Also Thursday they've issued a winter wx advisory 8pm-8am, 1" average expected all eastern nc

Yeah, I notice 12.1 just switched to 48.1 again. Btw, ABC's HD of the inauguration looks terrific. I'm glad somebody stepped up to the plate and did this in HD.

Wonder when WNCT is going to load psip information? I guess they've only got till Feb 1st, 2005, so it should be anytime over the next week or two.

I've got a question that maybe we can get some input on...

I recently read that all dtv stations have to be at full power by July 1st, 2005 or they lose their interference protection. How does that affect WFXI/WYDO? Are they shooting themselves in the foot by not even being on the air yet? I don't know of any channels in neighboring dma's on the 24/21 frequency, so does that deadline not affect them?

What's up with them not even testing a signal yet? Is it financial hardship that's hurting them? I know they are owned by a group that owns several other stations; is it having financial difficulties or is this market just not a concern for them?

I dont know whats going on at 8/14. I wish they would get on the ball and get HD going.
WITN 7 seems to be the most solid along with WCTI 12, as far as picture and signal and PSIP and sub channels.


KEN 12,
Are you still with us, have not heard from you in a while.

Heck, I'd be satisfied if 8/14 just signed on at this point; HD or not.

I was wondering where Ken12 was too? He must be awfully busy these days!

Still here been pretty busy I have a DTC 100 set up in the shop that I'm monitoring the PSIP data on and so far in Jan it has been up every day with no problems. I dont check it on weekends and my HD receivers at home don't use the PSIP guide data so I can't check it there but since I installed the PSIP generator they do show me on 12-1 and 12-3 don't know why some others are dropping out will try to monitor it closer.

Ken12,

Is it unusual that 12.1 has switched back to 48.1? I've noticed this has been happening periodically or is it a glitch in my stb?

It is unusual like I say I've been using my old DTC 100 in the shop hooked up to a cheap antenna that I put up on the roof so I could see exactly what everyone else was seeing and its been fine at least during the day when I'm here. My main receiver at home is a HD Tivo and all my recordings for 12-1 have been fine since I turned on PSIP up until then my only option was to manually record 48-1

Ken

Ken12,

I'm sorry, what I mean to say was that during changing channels 12.1 reverted back to 48.1 and is stuck there. It's the channel branding I was speaking of.

I noticed this morning that WTVD 11.1 went back to 52.1 this morning. After working on some of their psip info, it went from 52.1 back to 11.1.

WCTI is running 48.1 and 48.2 on my stb. It's not branding to 12.1 and 12.3.

Sorry for any trouble; just wasn't sure why that's happening.

It is fine right now on my DTC 100 both branding and guide data

Ken

What box do you have I noticed on my Samsung dtv reciever tha they use a combo of static mapping in the box and my psip data

Ken

also if you see 48-2 I have absouletly nothing on 48-2 I am on -1 and -3

Ken

Ken
Any info on the Directv UPN signal problems, I cant watch it more than 5 minutes with out it freezing, its terrible.

my samsung stb is showing 12.1 12.3 and ABC HD is awesome looking!

All I hear is that they are going to be working on the problem. I have offered my assistance we will see if they take me up on it

I'm using a Samsung T-351. I have powered it off and back on to see if that corrects the problem.

When was it that you heard that, They told me that in November. I emailed Nicole Martin at directv yesterday, still waiting on a response.

As far as guide data I have one of my engineers updating it manually which is probably how we will do it for this year he is trying to enter as much data as he can and from me checking it it looks like he is doing a pretty good job. He is even trying to enter description when they are available

I'm still receiving ABC 12 on 48.1 and UPN 48 on 48.2; no psip on either channel. I'll try rescanning my channels and see if that corrects the problem.

Early this morning, I was receiving ABC 12 on 12.1 and UPN 48 on 12.3.

A couple of weeks ago

Thanks Ken.

Ken12,

Any chance your engineer is updating psip data right now? This usually happens and 48.1/48.2 revert backs to 12.1 and 12.3 with psip information.

No I'm the only on here this morning

Ok, thanks. I've shut off my stb for a while to see if that corrects the problem. I didn't have any problem with the WCTI branding until I flipped past WTVD. I know there is a thread that says users may need to rescan channels due to the psip upgrades before February 1st. Maybe that's part of the problem.

Only thing is, this happens most mornings when I pass by WCTI. Briefly, it goes back from 12.1, etc. to 48.1 and corrects itself before the noon news. I just attributed it to psip updating or something. I guess my stb is funky or something.

Fox 8/14 needs to move on their dtv. WSFX in Wilmington has their HDTV stuff in and is going to be installing the equipment. They are at low power out of the middle of Wilmington right now, until they can get it on the tall tower in Brunswick county. It should be at full power and in HD by the middle of the year!

What is everyone doing in this area to get the superbowl in HD being it is on FOX. Just curious because I'm trying to figure out a way to get it

Ken

Hmm... Wish I could pick up WSFX, but I think that would be a bit of a stretch except on a tropo night. A couple of weeks ago, I was able to get WAVY, WVEC and some other Norfolk stations due to a temperature inversion. That was very cool!

I have a waiver to get FOX east/west, and NBC east/west, however I havent got a Directv HD box yet.

If I had it Id be set.

Lets hope the DUCTING that night is high and WRAZ comes in good.

WRAZ Fox 50 here.

Ken 12,

I powered off my stb, rescanned for cable channels, then rescanned for ota and received WCTI 12.1 and 12.3. I guess it is just my stb. Any ideas what might be happening? Could it be that static mapping you mentioned? That's strange...

Fox 50 will not reach Jacksonville 95% of the time... WSFX will not be at Full power either before the Superbowl.

Not in Washington only at night on good nights.

Washington is about 85 miles away from 50's tower. Jacksonville is 90 and New Bern is 95 so I guess we can hang them up!

easternncnewswat
I was wrong, it is 12.1 and 12.3 listed on my STB. That is the only station I get that passes by the .2 slot...
Why Don't you use 12.2 Ken? I have never noticed this on other stations. I am still trying to get some of the pixelation to clear up on a couple of stations coming from the south. I used to get WRAL constantly before I got this digital box, now it freezes up. Stations coming from te north are great, but the sound on WNCT is low at times.

Ken12 has plans for 12.2, but he just won't tell us yet! J/K!!!

I am curious though... why did you go with 12.3 and not 12.2? Didn't that have something to do with you signing on first in Eastern NC and the equipment you had at the time, Ken12?

Yeah, WNCT's volume is very low/bad during local cuts... Maybe that will change with the psip equipment updates and such. I wish there was a WNCT engineer lurking in here that would talk to us.

I wish somebody from WITN would talk to us too and tell us when First Alert Weather channel will start up. It was very cool the day I saw it!

I didnt see the 1st alert wx channel, but I email Mike Weeks at 7 and see if he;ll tell me when it will go live.

Let us know if you hear anything...

The guys looked like they were having fun playing with it last Friday. They kept trying to mix in current graphics with the new. I wish I had been able to capture it so you guys could have seen it.

Greenville temps, etc on the left, live doppler 7 in a window on the right, First Alert Weather branding at the top across the screen but flush to the right; clouds, weather, etc billowing behind what was in the forefront. Transitioned to looping sat/rad of southeast, to north carolina. Transitioned to weather map of southeast with fronts, etc. Transitioned to Eastern NC map with north inland forecast, coastal, south inland, etc.; similar to what they use now, but jazzed up. New Five day forecast with new animations....

Nice looking product; if that's the one they're going to use, it's very cool. Actually looked a bit better than the Wral Weather Center channel!

We wanted to save 12-2 for another wcti stream be it weather or news then UPN on 12-3 I am not pushing for anything on 12-2 yet I would like to see better compression technology first. We have had a couple of ball games on UPN lately and I think the picture looked great which it wouldn't if I had to reduce my bandwidth any at all for UPN. The way I understand a lot of the stations are doing it including DTV is to preprocess the video and to soften it up so it requires a lot lower bitrate but the end result is a softer picture. If you get directv and cable or off air just compare ignore the noise in cable and just look at the detail and you will see what I mean

Ken

Ken12,

I think I know what you are talking about. Last night while watching WRAL's weather coverage (talk about a driver's nightmare yesterday!), I saw a Warmth For Wake advertisement. This is the same commercial that runs on WRAL Weather Center Channel on WRAZ 50.3. The difference between the two on 5.1 and 50.3 is amazing. The 50.3 version is much softer, even murkier if that's a way to describe it. While there is no pixelation, etc., the picture is definately not as crisp and vibrant.

That is definitely true of the Inauguration coverage on ABC as opposed to the other networks. It is like night and day watching the HD coverage and SD coverage even on an analog set. ABC did a phenomenal job showcasing the nation's capital today! Thumbs way way up to ABC on HD today!!!

It does look great wish we new it was going to be in HD earlier the first we heard about it was when they announced it on the air at 8:00 I had to cal in and have Master Control switch to the HD feed

Ken

Really? I'm surprised the network didn't inform you ahead of time that it was going to be in HD. I remember seeing over in the programming section maybe as early as late last week that ABC was going to present the day's programming in HD. Just goes to show that a lot of times it is the network that drops the ball on HD and not the local station. I mean, how're you going to know if they don't inoform you to begin with? Glad you were up and on top of the situation, Ken12!

Got a email back from Mike at WITN about 7.2 He said he was not aware of what we are talking about. He said the only thing theyve changed is the equipment used to convert the HD signal.

I saw the new weather platform on WITN NEWS tonight looks better but WNCTs looks better.

Dang! I missed it... I'll have to watch the news at 11 and see the new weather pkg. Maybe they were testing that stuff out on 7.2 last Friday. I don't get why they would though. They could do that all in house without broadcasting what they were doing. Unless it was tied to the same system that broadcasts the live doppler 7 on 7.2. Or he's being cagey about it cause he doesn't want the word leaking out ahead of time. Which doesn't make sense since he's already told you they have new stuff in the works last week and previously that they wanted to do a news/weather channel.

Hmm... I guess time will tell the tale.

Maybe someone else will do a weather channel around here.

I saw the new maps too and they do look a lot better than what they were using. I just hated those old maps. Only thing that is the same that I thought for sure would change is the extended forcast, but it is still 5 days instead of 7. I didn't see as many maps as I thought they would have either but it was just the first night so maybe more to come. Overall it is a thunbs up from me.

Ok, I've been to Witn.com and seen the new 5 day forecast. This and the other maps were what the station was broadcasting on 7.2 last Friday. I guess they were just doing some in house testing of the new weather pkg and it was broadcasting on 7.2. The way it was looping last Friday, I would've and did swear that it was going to be their version of a local weather channel. Now, I'm bummed out! *LOL* J/K!

Glad to see WITN finally updated their weather package though! :D

Now what we need is a newscast produced in HD. *LOL* I also think WNCT has a bad camera on their set. I have noticed this for many years, long before they installed the new transmitter. What I have noticed is when your looking at the anchor's face look just to the right of their mouth and you see a blurry streak, almost like a ghosting effect. I wonder if a bad camera cable could be the cause? Have any of you guys seen this?

Yes, I've seen this! I just always thought this was my imagination though. Glad to know I'm not crazy about everything I post here! *LOL*

J/K!

Originally posted by Ken12
What box do you have I noticed on my Samsung dtv reciever tha they use a combo of static mapping in the box and my psip data

Ken

Ken12,

Can you give me a little more detail on this? I've been to the hardware forum here and some other sites including Samsung's to see if I can research this a little more; I'm coming up empty handed.

I'm stuck in a situation where my Samsung T-351 is shuffling, if that's the right term, WCTI 12.1 with PSIP to 48.1 with no PSIP and 12.3 with PSIP to 48.2 with no PSIP. I have tried doing a rescan of channels, unplugging my antenna and rescanning for channels, rescanning the three cable variations and then rescanning for ota. Still no luck.

I know yesterday, you said I shouldn't be seeing anything on 48.2 since you aren't broadcasting anything. I think this is a mapping issue with Samsung stb's. Way, way, way back in the beginning of the Greenville thread, jamielee mentioned that he was receiving UPN 48 on 48.2 with his Samsung box. So, I'm pretty sure this is Samsung related.

The thing I'm trying to figure out is how to correct the channel mapping if that is indeed the problem. Any kind of tech advice you can give would be appreciated. I've come across several threads that mention rescanning a stb because the new PSIP protocol/switchover can affect the "reception" of channels.

Any ideas from an expert in engineering? Thanx in advance for any input! :D

How do you get it to shuffle? Once it realizes there is nothing on 48 it should automatically stay with 12 I would think. Very interesting situation. Maybe call the company by phone and see if they have the right solution.

jsp,

I'll just be changing the channel and, boom, it goes back to 48.1 or 48.2 depending on the direction I'm changing the channel. The box is less than a year old and is properly ventilated. I woudn't think it would be failing this quickly. If so, I have some words for Samsung and they're not very nice!

The interesting thing is that I've been reading different threads on here where folks are experiencing problems like this due to the PSIP changeover/rollout. However, everyone in this forum is seeing 12.1 not 48.1 which seems to indicate it's my box. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone else with a Samsung T-351 so I can't isolate to my box or all boxes. Your responses, jamilee, and Ken12's seem to suggest it's not a PSIP issue with WCTI though.

I'm definitely not attributing the problem to them. I'm just trying to get some advice from anyone who can offer it.

Thanx for the head's up. Eventually, I'll call Samsung if the problem doesn't correct itself tomorrow. That's the thing. I'm pretty sure tomorrow that I'll flip to 48.1 and, presto, it'll be 12.1 again. The whole thing is bizarre!

Originally posted by Ken12
What is everyone doing in this area to get the superbowl in HD being it is on FOX. Just curious because I'm trying to figure out a way to get it

Ken

Just curious how to get Super Bowl in HD. I live in Greenville and currently use Cox HD service. Does WYDO not broadcast HD? Will an antenna help? Having a big party to watch the game, and would hate to watch the analog option that Cox provides. Someone please help.

Welcome shwalter! Nice to have a new member on with us. Your only option is to get an HD set top receiver and a antenna and tune to FOX 50 in Raleigh. You are in their viewing area. WYDO does NOT even have any HD equipment in and we have no idea when they will. Cox I guess is not going to have HD on Fox until WYDO gets it's act together. Here is the link to the 1 million watt coverage area.http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT985842.html
Just aim your antenna for the star.

I called directv today and they filled me in on why I hadn't gotten my 2nd dish yet, I guess they had lost my info, but they told me to call again tomorrow and they would come out quickly! I also commented on the UPN signal freezing up and told them it was due to an antenna problem at WNCT more than likely and they promised they would check into it. I will mention it again when I call tomorrow just to make sure.

Thanks for the welcome. Will I need an outdoor antenna, or will I be able to pick up the raleigh signal from greenville with an indoor antenna? The indoor antennas typically only have a range of about 35 miles, so they say. I may just have to watch it fuzzy this year.

I know what you mean with the fuzzy picture. I can't get 14 at all anymore and 8 does not come in clear either. I am watching the atlanta game on channel 26 from Wilmington right now and it is snowy.
I doubt seriously you can get 50 without an exterior antenna. Unless you are on the 2nd or 3rd floor of your home, if you have a multi story...

Welcome shwalter,

At least in southwest Greenville, Augusta Trails (back behind Lowes/Home Depot), I can receive WRAZ Fox 50 with an indoor RCA Amplified Antenna that I got from Wal Mart. Likewise, I can receive the other RDU channels with the exception of WRDC UPN 28 and some minor channels fromt that same market. You may have to play around with it to find that sweet spot in your house, but it's worth it if you can find it. Go to Wal Mart and get the RCA Amplified Indoor Antenna; you can return it later if your luck is bad. Trust me, I work there, you can return anything; with a receipt is better (cash back), but without one, you can still make a return for a gift cerficate at least. It costs between $15-30 (lower end).

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the info. Does this indoor RCA Amplified Antenna pick up the HD feed? Do I need to get an indoor antenna that specifies HD? Went to Circuit City today and was told it was impossible with an indoor antenna. Glad it might work...will definitely give it a try.

shwalter,

Before you run out and buy anything:

1. Do you have an hdtv monitor and/or tv?

2. Do you have a digital set top box for use with your hdtv monitor or analog tv?

If you don't have an hdtv with an integrated tuner or a set top box for use with a hdtv monitor and/or an analog tv, there is no use in you purchasing anything. The antenna will pick up the digital signal(s) provided you have something that will decode it. The decoder would be the stb for an hdtv monitor or an hdtv that has a built in tuner. Without either/or 1 of these components you're dead in the water.

And too, if you're using a stb with an analog tv, you're still not going to get hdtv resolution. But it will be super standard definiton! *LOL*