UPN? In HD in Albuquerque?

.....G

Maybe not, I don't watch UPN so I'm not sure.

There is no UPN HD on KASY-DT, not at least till end of this year when they dump USDTV cancer for good.

Nasty weather today!! :p

10-6-05

What? It's like a cheerful Scottish summer day.

yeah real live NBC HD. Watched E-wing last night. Thought it was a starwars show. when i first heard about it. Was ok.

but still no program data for easy recording. I have to figure out how to record Joey tonight. nothing comes between me and my HD smallville. Ive missed being able to watch Joey in HD since moving from San Diego.

No UPN HD but they have a digital signal that isnt carried. Digital SD 4:3 still looks better than analog 4:3 programming.

My set has a tuner built in so I use that now. I dream of a day I dont have to use rabbit ears again.

I watched Leno last night over cable and OTA. The cable signal was nice, but didn't have that crisp clarity that ota has. It would be interesting to know how much Comcast has cut the bitrate on their hd channels. JR

Minor Rant!

Why, oh why was Conan in SD last night??????? Since I am finally able to get solid reception for KOB, I have been Tivo'ing selected episodes of Leno and now Conan. Last night was special; U2 were the only guest for the whole hour. I sat down to watch it at lunch expecting to see U2 in all their HD glory, but noooooooo....an SD picture, pillar AND window boxed! Dang!

I know KOB is able to do a fine job with HD, so what's the problem? Does someone literally have to "throw a switch"?????

Rant mode off.

Brian

Yeah, Leno appeared to be sd last night too. Maybe Sean can update us on their problems?
JR

Anyone else having problems with KRQE? I called them this evening but as usual no one there seemed to know what's going on with their digital station. I'm getting a poor signal and so much pixilation that it's not watchable.

Anyone else having problems with KRQE? I called them this evening but as usual no one there seemed to know what's going on with their digital station. I'm getting a poor signal and so much pixilation that it's not watchable.

KRQE looks perfect tonight up here in Espanola. .....G

For the past couple of days, channel 35 subchannel 1 (PBS-HD) appears to be a 720 x 480 PBS variant. Do you suppose they are making modifications at KNME?

creakndale

For the past couple of days, channel 35 subchannel 1 (PBS-HD) appears to be a 720 x 480 PBS variant. Do you suppose they are making modifications at KNME?

creakndale

since i'm tired right now:

let me check the satellite tomorrow to make sure the PBS-HD channel is still there and in its proper HD glory. AFAIK, KNME passes through the satellite signal (so if that satellite channel changed to 480i, then KNME should pass it through like that).

i'm getting 480i for both 5-1 and 5-2 tonight, so PBS-HD appears to be no mas as far as terrestrial delivery goes.

i noticed some changes on 9 also (9-1 and 9-2 appear to be the same video programming everytime I tune by it lately with PBS kids being replaced by the pbs national skedx on 9-1). I have to figure that one out too as it appears to be another pass-through service (the configuration on satellite was exactly like the configuration on 9.x for the 4 digital channels -- PBS National SkedX - E, PBS Kids (e or w), pbs national skedx - W and pbs you (e or w)

.

Anyone else having problems with KRQE? I called them this evening but as usual no one there seemed to know what's going on with their digital station. I'm getting a poor signal and so much pixilation that it's not watchable.

KRQE is worthless. They provide HD as an afterthought, and resent it. I wish there were no KRQE, and I could subscribe via satellite to a distant CBS provider.

This is especially true when sporting events are on; particularly college basketball. CBS has the absolute best college basketball coverage, but KRQE often pre-empts the nationwide broadcast for infomercials or educational programs. (The latter is almost excusable, as it is a licensing requirement--KRQE just picks lousy times to fulfill their requirement.) My willingness to pay for a subscription to out-of-market college basketball coverage is also wasted: because I have a local CBS affiliate that is supposed to cover the events, they are blacked out from my satellite feed. We are required to rely solely on KRQE for such content, but they are not required to provide it. That's wrong.

Minor news update.......

I found out at the FCC's database showing that KCHF-DT channel 10 has finally upgraded the transmitter power to 30 KW ERP and cover the licence. "That's means its fully oprational at this time."

Now I try to pick up this signal here in Four Hills but no luck so far, has anyone is able to get this signal?

Is KCHF-DT's signal overloading KNMD-DT channel 9 today?

If so how much is the QRM? "QRM is a ham radio termology meaning man made interferences."

10-11-05

Anyone else having problems with KRQE? I called them this evening but as usual no one there seemed to know what's going on with their digital station. I'm getting a poor signal and so much pixilation that it's not watchable.

I've been having issues last night with KRQE. One antenna two tv's. One received CSI perfectly, the other TV got no signal! So not sure what's going on but I assume something

Minor news update.......

I found out at the FCC's database showing that KCHF-DT channel 10 has finally upgraded the transmitter power to 30 KW ERP and cover the licence. "That's means its fully oprational at this time."



i take it KCHF-DT's transmitter is in the jemez, just like the analog one they have on channel 11.

i am not seeing any signal on my spectrum analyzer on channel 10 (thus why I say it must be in the jemez). the northern edge of the sandias blocks the jemez from me [just like for you too] so I can't lock it either.

For the past couple of days, channel 35 subchannel 1 (PBS-HD) appears to be a 720 x 480 PBS variant. Do you suppose they are making modifications at KNME?

creakndale

ok, i took a look at KNME/KNMD's services this noonhour. KNME 5-1 is now showing PBS-HD again (and that matches what is up on satellite) so I don't know what the deal was last night about 5-1 and showing a 480i service instead of a 1080i service.
I can't blame KNME for that or satellite for that.

for KNMD (9), i am getting 9-1, 9-2, and 9-3 (9-4 says "no signal" on my tv). the satellite feed has four video services (with this missing terrestrial one being PBS-YOU on satellite). i don't know if my LG tuner is messed up right now or if KNMD has undergone encoder reconfiguration to intentionally not pass through PBS-YOU. i should drag out my sasem USB tuner box to do analysis of the KNMD signal.

KRQE is worthless. They provide HD as an afterthought, and resent it. I wish there were no KRQE, and I could subscribe via satellite to a distant CBS provider.

This is especially true when sporting events are on; particularly college basketball. CBS has the absolute best college basketball coverage, but KRQE often pre-empts the nationwide broadcast for infomercials or educational programs. (The latter is almost excusable, as it is a licensing requirement--KRQE just picks lousy times to fulfill their requirement.) My willingness to pay for a subscription to out-of-market college basketball coverage is also wasted: because I have a local CBS affiliate that is supposed to cover the events, they are blacked out from my satellite feed. We are required to rely solely on KRQE for such content, but they are not required to provide it. That's wrong.So when the Satellite providers get us lilHd... those of us with Cbshd are screwed then ...

So when the Satellite providers get us lilHd... those of us with Cbshd are screwed then ...

No more so than we already are, so long as KRQE remains the worthless piece of trash they are. If you get another CBS HD feed now, consider yourself lucky. Having KRQE available to you over the air should prevent you from getting any other CBS feed that is not provided by KRQE. That is, the only CBS signal a satellite provider would be able to send to you would be that from KRQE. Local afilliates won that battle in congress; we viewers lost.

Yeah I know about Shivera, should have phrased it better... I rarely watch my version of Krqe , Kbim SD OTA...I do watch Krqe on Satellite for the weather... I lost my D* cbs east as well as fox and nbc hds in September kept the west, but I still have Cbshd on E*... As for Koct... the local digital transmitter is down most of the time and does not pass thru HD so the only ABC I watch is MNF...

I called KOB a bit after nine last night to alert them that they were not sending ER out in HD.

Did not do any good. Even after being told, they continued to send it out in SD.

Anyone know why? Does KOB have a problem with the HD equipment?


John

I've sent e-mails to Sean Anker about closed captioning problems. Left a message on his voicemail. Left a message for another engineer. No answers. No return calls or e-mail. I guess they don't care about their viewing public. I don't understand. Sean used to be pretty good about responding. Maybe he's overwhelmed.

I called KOB a bit after nine last night to alert them that they were not sending ER out in HD.

Did not do any good. Even after being told, they continued to send it out in SD.

Anyone know why? Does KOB have a problem with the HD equipment?

Sean got back with me on this question (after only 30 minutes from when I sent the query to him!).

He says the New York HD uplink was faded out due to heavy rain. With an SD feed NBC switches to a backup in California, but they don't have the equipment in place to do that for HD, yet.

John

Anyone else having this problem with KOBTV. Last night during Surface, when there would be a commercial break and then a KOBTV-News commercial, the sounds would be out of sync. You would see the next commercial but the sound is from a commercial already played! Once the program came back on, the picture was correct but the sound would still be playing commercials. Then once the sound caught up, the sound and video would restart. So you don't miss anything, but it's annoying as hell. It only seems to happen when KOBTV has one of their own News commercials. If the commercial break doesn't have one, then all is fine. It's been doing this for a least 2 weeks it seems.

We are seeing the same thing, and it has been ongoing.

Totally bizare, really. Makes my wife nuts when it happens on Surface.

Brian

Same here...

Shows the picture in SD with commercial audio.

Finally goes to HD and all is well.

Ditto here. Maybe Sean can weigh in on what's going on? JR

My HDTV has the capability of receiving TV guide programming over the air so I can create recording timers and view upcoming programming. I was told by Mitsubishi that the TV Guide programming is broadcast by my local PBS station. Unfortunately, I'm not receiving any programming info. Does anyone know if PBS in ABQ has the capability of broadcasting this information?

I have an LG-4200 HD receiver and it does pickup the programming guide from PBS.

Mr Crackers

New Mexico DTV User Group - October Meeting

The New Mexico DTV User Group will hold its October meeting this Thursday (10/20) at 7:00 PM at the KNME-TV studios, located at 1130 University Blvd. KNME is located on University about 1 block north of intersection of Lomas and University Blvd.

The month's topic is "HDTV Production with Small Format HD Camcorders". After the break, there will also be a report from the Iowa DTV Symposium and an update on new directions at PBS.

There will also have a national and local markets update. In "Consumer Products Update" we will learn more about the $349 Digital Television to introduced before Christmas.

We appreciate all your support as viewers and HD enthusiasts. Hope to see you at the meeting Thursday night!

Jim Gale
KNME-TV
Director of Engineering

My HDTV has the capability of receiving TV guide programming over the air so I can create recording timers and view upcoming programming. I was told by Mitsubishi that the TV Guide programming is broadcast by my local PBS station. Unfortunately, I'm not receiving any programming info. Does anyone know if PBS in ABQ has the capability of broadcasting this information?

Let me quickly clarify my statement above...I do receive programming info in a very basic (and cumbersum) format. But when I switch to the TV Guide format, I get nothing.

We are seeing the same thing, and it has been ongoing.

Totally bizare, really. Makes my wife nuts when it happens on Surface.

Brian

Well glad to know it's not just me. Boy it's great having this forum to find this stuff out!

Thanks to all

Another Monday and another episode of Surface and the same thing still happening. One thing I did notice this time is that by changing to channel 4-2 I was able to get around the issue of the syncing. So what does that mean?

Spawnman

More KOB problems...

Anyone note any issues with the last broadcast of Medium? Totally un-watchable. The picture would periodically go completely black, and do so for minutes at a time. The sound would usually follow.

In the interest of full disclosure, we did not watch it live, but via a HDTivo recording. As such, the issue could be with the Tivo, but I have my doubts.

I also note that the recent episode of Leno with Blue Man Group appears to be in SD. I will be soooo glad when the sort out whatever is ailing them.

Brian

It's almost like someone is asleep at the switch down there at KOB.
Has KRQE been sold yet? Still see Emmis on their logo. JR

More KOB problems...
I also note that the recent episode of Leno with Blue Man Group appears to be in SD. I will be soooo glad when the sort out whatever is ailing them.

Brian

Well, we can't fix NBC.

Most of the times that programs have been in SD or had blackouts in them have been due to rain in New York. NBC does not yet have a redundant HD uplink in Burbank like they do for the SD feeds. And when it rains early in the evening it whacks us for the whole night due to how we have to generate our MTZ feed. This issue can not be resolved by us.

Re: Surface, I have found an issue, but I don't think it correlates 100% with what you folks are talking about. Someone was kind enough to leave me a voice mail telling me to fix it, but then failed to identify himself or leave a call-back number so that I could get more information. I wouldn't mind getting an e-mail with a little more granular detail...

Also, regarding my participation in this forum, please understand two things:

1. this forum now represents a small portion of the DTV community. This is a Good Thing in general, but the amount of time that we dedicate to responding to all viewer issues has increased significantly. This means direct contact if you have a true issue is better.

And related to that...

2. the demands on my time -- both professionally and personally -- have increased dramatically in the last couple months. I used to read through this forum primarily in the evenings and respond when I had time. I will not have that kind of free time available any longer.

My e-mail address is sanker at kobtv dot com

Best to all,

Sean Anker

More KOB problems...

Anyone note any issues with the last broadcast of Medium? Totally un-watchable. The picture would periodically go completely black, and do so for minutes at a time. The sound would usually follow.

In the interest of full disclosure, we did not watch it live, but via a HDTivo recording. As such, the issue could be with the Tivo, but I have my doubts.

I also note that the recent episode of Leno with Blue Man Group appears to be in SD. I will be soooo glad when the sort out whatever is ailing them.

Brian

I noticed this same issue, but it is with all of the OTA DT stations and not just KOB. I noticed it with Medium but it was only for a second or two. I think it is more an issue of a problem with the E* 921 receiver more than an issue with the stations since it's happening with all of them.

Another Monday and another episode of Surface and the same thing still happening. One thing I did notice this time is that by changing to channel 4-2 I was able to get around the issue of the syncing. So what does that mean?

Spawnman

could it mean a problem with the NBC HD feed as sent to KOB? i assume surface was in HD at the time on 4-1 (1080i) while 4-2 is the 480i KOB feed.

of course the other possibility is that it's a KOB encoder issue (i.e. at the station and maybe up to the crest both 4-1 and 4-2 are fine, but something is going on at the encoder/transmitter to make 4-1 act up).

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=595511&page=1&pp=10

Looks like Sean's discription of the issue with Medium is spot on. We are ALL in the same boat.

Brian

I am in Lubbock Texas and we also experienced video freezing and audio dropouts during Medium, so it appears to be a problem from NY to affiliates.

Also, guys remember HDTV is beta. Even though it has been around for about 10 years, every install and every channel is a new challenge. Analog TV has been "perfected" :) over the last 80 years, so let's don't be too hard on the techs at stations who are flying by the seat of their pants. Nobody truly understands how all this stuff works.

Just be glad you have all four majors in HD from time to time, all we have is NBC and FOX plus PBS HD. ABC and CBS are dragging their feet. NASCAR is terriffic in HD as is the NFL on Sunday - Like being there!! Wishfully watching the Astros/White Sox now 7' picture on my wall - WOW!

I live 6 miles from the ABC tower and can't get their SD signal with an outdoor antenna on a pole 15' above my roofline.

My HDTV has the capability of receiving TV guide programming over the air so I can create recording timers and view upcoming programming. I was told by Mitsubishi that the TV Guide programming is broadcast by my local PBS station. Unfortunately, I'm not receiving any programming info. Does anyone know if PBS in ABQ has the capability of broadcasting this information?

The TV Guide data IS encoded within the analog signal. Similar to Closed Captioning. Not on the DTV channel, that is a separate service within the data stream and only contains that stations program listings, no other.

As far as the PBS station passing on TV Guide data, in most markets it is true. I don't know about KNME. But I do know that KRQE does pass on the TV Guide data on analog ch. 13. The guide can be broadcast on more then one station to improve delivery within a market. One way of testing guide data is to set a VCR's auto clock to a particular channel like the PBS. Then power it down, and wait about a minute. The clock should have the correct date and time if they are broadcasting guide data. Though you still need to set the daylight saving time and time zone, most VCR's with VCR-Plus will do this. I believe this is a service provided by GemStar TV, who owns TV Guide and does most of the listing services in North America. If you’re Mitsubishi has a way of choosing the channel it uses for TV Guide, that may work more reliably. I found the auto search for time and date on VCR-Plus VCR's never seemed to pick it up.

BTW, besides TV Guide data. There is yet another program description imbedded within the video. (Analog channels) On most network programs and more syndicated shows V-Chip data is included. It has show title, sometimes episode number, duration/time left in program, and v-chip rating.

Here's the latest news from the FCC channel select election. :)

KTFQ-TV channel 14 has chosen channel 22, and if for any reason does not work out they will go to channel 38 :eek:

If they go to channel 38 the 3ABN-TV "Used to be on channel 17 analog but will go digital on 38 by end of this year." they may have to go somewhere in the core channels. "2-51"

That's the news!!

11-1-05

More KOB problems...

Anyone note any issues with the last broadcast of Medium? Totally un-watchable. The picture would periodically go completely black, and do so for minutes at a time. The sound would usually follow.

In the interest of full disclosure, we did not watch it live, but via a HDTivo recording. As such, the issue could be with the Tivo, but I have my doubts.

I also note that the recent episode of Leno with Blue Man Group appears to be in SD. I will be soooo glad when the sort out whatever is ailing them.

Brian

Anyone watch Medium last night between 7 and 8? On two occassions, after the commercials were over the video of Medium would start but the audio commercials were still going on. I called KOB and they were unaware of the problem. Both of those times I had to swich over to the satellite feed rather than the digital feed. I'm glad I kept the local satellite feed because you never know when something like this is going to happen with the local digital feeds.

Looks like Medium now has the issue discussed previously with regard to Surface.

A few posts back, Sean said he had some ideas on that, and asked for additional details. I did send a private e-mail to him on that subject.

I get a SD feed of KOB from DirecTV, in addition to the HD digital channel via OTA. Although the SD feed looks like crap, I have given up on Tivo'ing the HD channel for the shows my wife watches. She does not really care about HD, and with the issues Sean noted with NBC's uplink, plus this, its not worth pissing off "she who must be obeyed".

Its a shame really, as the HD picture looks fabulous, but this is all still a work in progress.

Brian

Has anyone been having weirdness with 5-1 and 5-2 the last few days? it's run the course here from no signal to signal but very jerky/slow moving video (almost like on my PC when i am running a processing-intensive activity while trying to watch a video file).

I am trying to figure out if my LG tuner is going flakey with KNME-DT or if it's something probably on their end that they are working on.

Thanks.

I TiVo'd a few evening shows, Sunday & Monday w/no problems.

Yes, I am unable to get a good enough lock to even see a picture on 5-1 and 5-2 here in Los Alamos. The signal meter on my DirecTV tuner shows the signal level bouncing between 0% to 17%. All of the other channels are at least 70%, with the strongest being 7-1 at 90%. I thought maybe I had an antenna problem, but the strong signal on the other channels makes that possibility seem unlikely. I noticed the reception problems with 5-1 starting a few weeks ago, but possibly the situation has worsened for me in the last few days.

Brian

KOB-HD has problems as others have said. The sound was for some commercial following the start of half of the breaks on E-ring. The picture during this was letterboxed and closed cations showed but not in the show, some in Spanish? At least there was enough signal strength for my 921 at 48 mi LOS.

I want the HD picture and the correct sound and captions if I am going to watch. I don't want to hear about McRib during the program. The operator must be awake for the content switches.

-Ken

Since this is happening on several of their shows, I'm inclined to believe it's network related or possibly a local switcher not working properly. I think some of them work by monitoring the aspect ratio. After a commercial, the show starts in SD, but the audio is still for the commercial. After a minute or so, the hd signal is switched in and the audio is back in synch. Very aggravating to be sure, but not a deal breaker for me; still need to see Ering and Surface.
JR

I sent private e-mail to Sean regarding Surface/Medium, and also to ask why Conan is consistantly in SD.

This was his reply:

"There are other issues related to Conan. The goal is to get there -- the timeline is uncertain. I hope to begin to solve some of the issues within a month's time."

Brian

Minor news update....

I just noted that KNAT-DT has finaly upgraded the transmitter power from 600 watts ERP to 200 KW ERP.

They are on digital channel 24.1 or remapped to 23.1.


Other than that not much else going on around here! :)

11-13-05

I started off the morning by hollering at KOAT in my blog at the New Mexican. Luckily, I gave myself the out of noting I'd send them an email for clarification.

Big Deal news PR, this morning, that Good Morning America would start being telecast in HD. TitanTV comfirmed this. No one here will be surprised to learn that -- turning on the program -- I got SD.

Got a very nice email back, though, from Daniel Brown of KOAT's engineering dept -- explaining ABC hasn't found it in their heart or budget to provide an HD feed for the Rockies. They could try to grab the east coast feed on the fly and edit in and out, local news, commercials, etc -- and achieve little more than a heart attack or two.

ABC has promised the real deal for the Rockies, next spring, maybe.

Got a very nice email back, though, from Daniel Brown of KOAT's engineering dept -- explaining ABC hasn't found it in their heart or budget to proovide an HD feed for the Rockies. They could try to grab the east coast feed on the fly and edit in and out, local news, commercials, etc -- and achieve little more than a heart attack or two.



what am I missing? If KOAT can take the ABC HD East primetime feed and "tape delay" it one hour so it pretty well matches our primetime schedule, why can't they do the same for GMA? what's the deal about GMA that makes it more complicated than a prime time feed block?

it won't surprise me if ABC gets HD feeds for mountain time zone in the future - they are upgrading their satellite delivery to digital so there should be plenty enough bandwidth for a mountain time zone feed if ABC feels the need for it.

NMBW article (http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/stories/2005/11/14/daily13.html?from_rss=1)

New Mexico Business Weekly article says that USDTV is done with the "testing" stage and has converted the service to commercial mode now.

USDTV declines to name to NMBW the stations that have sold bandwidth to them for transmitting their service (and it says hearst argyle is one of the investment partners of USDTV but hearst argyle is declining to say if KOAT is selling some of their digital television spectrum to carry some USDTV channels).

i wish I knew how to contact the author of that article and tell him exactly what stations are selling bandwidth to USDTV and which channels are on each station's bandwidth and see if he'll do a followup article. I think the public needs to see that rather than USDTV being chicken-.....! by staying secret about that info!

If its any consolation, I was just in San Antonio, TX last weekend with my dad helping him with a new HDTV setup. ABC isn't providing an HD feed for GMA for the Central timezone either. Only the East coast and West coast feeds. That means there are quite a few of the largest cities in the US getting SD feeds still. 3 in Texas alone including Dallas/FW, Houston and San Antonio. It makes no sense to me either. Its not rocket science so it must be something to do with $$$$$.



ABC has promised the real deal for the Rockies, next spring, maybe.

As the Eastern and Central feeds are simultaneous there is little excuse for that. We (Mountain) are the odd ducks.

Do you remember several months ago when KOAT 7.1 HD was the Eastern feed but the Mountain SD feed went to 7.2 and 7.0? Sure messed with the Guide data but it gave you a choice.

-Ken

FWIW, I've got Richard Doherty from Microsoft (formerly of Panasonic's Blu-Ray group) lined up to give a talk on HD-DVD and BD at tomorrow's HD meeting at PBS.

Can't make the meeting but would love to see a short recap of what he had to say.

FWIW, I've got Richard Doherty from Microsoft (formerly of Panasonic's Blu-Ray group) lined up to give a talk on HD-DVD and BD at tomorrow's HD meeting at PBS.

They had a short segment last night about Blu-ray and HD-DVD on KASA's 9 pm news. They said Sony's Blu-ray was up against Microsoft's HD-DVD. :rolleyes: Uh, not exactly. Toshiba was the original manufacturer behind HD-DVD, along with other partners, and Microsoft only recently added their endorsement of it. Otherwise the segment wasn't bad, but hopefully the KNME meeting will have more inside information about the formats. I won't be able to attend, but I would also be interested in reading about the highlights of the meeting.

Brian

As the Eastern and Central feeds are simultaneous there is little excuse for that. We (Mountain) are the odd ducks.
-Ken

only the primetime/late night eastern/central feeds are simultaneous. the morning show feeds aren't simultaneous unless you want the show to air live at 7am ET and 6am CT in a central time zone city.

once ABC finishes their digital delivery upgrade, i'm sure they can also more easily accomodate a central time zone hd feed with all the new bandwidth they will have.

For those interested, I have Richard Doherty's presentation in WAV, MP3 or AAC with the Power Point as well. It's just that the WAV is 45MB.

Update - I just uplinked the files. Let me know if they don't download for any reason -

www.adnm.com/Doherty.mp3 and www.adnm.com/PBS.ppt


john@adnm.com

I don't know about you guys, but don't you think KOB-DT is getting too lazy what to with their digital sub channel 4.2 or 26.2?

All they been showing is the same stuff as on 4.1 and I thinks that's very wastfull of the digital video bandwith, so they could have shut the sub channel down for better HDTV picture quality, or make something usefull like 24/7 weather radar or 24/7 local news information.

I think we need to bug KOB-DT to make up their mind sooner the better!! :D

Think is the good idea to bug KOB-DT?


Now on the other subject, how the NMDT meeting at KNME-DT and any news on that?

Thanks!

11-21-05

Is anyone home? :)

11-22-05

Just walked in the door; but, that's of no use.

Though, I just noticed that -- if I go to my user cp, it has us in the correct time zone; but, when the post is put up, the system still appears to be on MDT!

So, WTF was the problem with audio on ABC last night?

KOAT's audio for both Charlie Brown and Nemo was FUBAR. I was so looking forward to Nemo in HD, but we got a beautiful picture, AWOL audio.

Tried to watch at a friends via Comcast, then switched to OTA, and found the same audio problems. Got back home, and my HDTivo recording via OTA was the same.

In KOAT's defense, looks like there were other stations nationwide with the same problem. What I don't get is that there were also cities that were OK. If its a national feed issue, why problems only in certain cities?

To cap it off, neither KRQE or KOB saw fit to send out an HD broadcast from the Macy's parade. I wonder if NBC again had issues with their NYC uplink?

Yet another opportunity lost to sell the public on HD/Digital broadcasting.

Brian

So, WTF was the problem with audio on ABC last night?

KOAT's audio for both Charlie Brown and Nemo was FUBAR. I was so looking forward to Nemo in HD, but we got a beautiful picture, AWOL audio.

Tried to watch at a friends via Comcast, then switched to OTA, and found the same audio problems. Got back home, and my HDTivo recording via OTA was the same.

In KOAT's defense, looks like there were other stations nationwide with the same problem. What I don't get is that there were also cities that were OK. If its a national feed issue, why problems only in certain cities?

To cap it off, neither KRQE or KOB saw fit to send out an HD broadcast from the Macy's parade. I wonder if NBC again had issues with their NYC uplink?

Yet another opportunity lost to sell the public on HD/Digital broadcasting.

Brian

Didn't notice any problems on the national feed out of LA.

Macy's parade was outstanding in HD, can't imagine why KOB didn't have it on unless there was problem down line.

I'm out of town on Holiday at my inlaws in KC, MO. We had intermittent signal and audio problems as well here. Great picture when it was working.

Update on Nemo:

Here is a link to the AVS thread on the subject:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=604488&page=3&pp=10

Reports out of Chicago and Ohio of audio issues. I sent an e-mail to KOAT asking about the problem.

Brian

I swear, every time I think about breaking down and getting HDTV, I see you guys complaining about it and say "screw it, I'll listen to music!" Is it really this bad?

I swear, every time I think about breaking down and getting HDTV, I see you guys complaining about it and say "screw it, I'll listen to music!" Is it really this bad?

Listen to music AND get HDTV. It's quite wonderful actually. Don't listen to all the complainers around here. Just watch some HDTV at someone's house where it is set up properly and calibrated professionally. HDTV in showrooms is horrible, but properly installed and calibrated it is wonderful.

.....G

Don't get me wrong, I know *exactly* how great HDTV looks in my showroom, but I don't watch much network TV and what little appears to exist seems to be buggy as hell. Now listening to Santana at high volumes.........

Network TV sucks as much as ever. The occasional sports event, murder mystery [well, a few] are good enough. Lots of brilliant docs on local PBS. If you're limited to OTA.

D* gets me a chunk of good movies from HBO and HDNM -- a few on Showtime. A few good docs on Discover HD [repeated over and over]. And it will expand now they got the second new bird up.

I second the motion...

HD is wonderful. If you do happen to like shows such as Alias, Lost, 24, etc, as I do, Albuquerque is actually one of the better markets in the country...depending on where your house is...some have reported reception difficulties, but overall we have more OTA HD than many much larger markets.

And then there's all that documentary stuff that Edward likes....:D

INHD 1 & 2 are included with Comcast's basic digital, as well as a couple of locals. Still no resolution to CBS boycotting them however. JR

When the networks and the local affiliates have their act together, HDTV is a wonderful thing, but it remains a work in progress.

I would not throw the baby out with the bath water, but you have to be willing to live with the occasional screw up, like Thanksgiving's Nemo broadcast.

The issues are at times local, others are with the network feeds, but the bottom line is that there are still some bugs that are being worked through.

Of course, that's cold comfort when you have a room full of holiday guests that are keen to see your high $$$$ HDTV and surround sound system, and there is no dialog on Nemo. Well, hey, the picture looked good. One out of two ain't bad :)

Brian

Minor news.........

KQDF-LP has filed to FCC, for moving to the Sandia Crest TV tower site and upgrade the TX power to 150 KW for some reason they plan to stay analog, but whos know what they might change their mind to going digital.

KQDT-LP is a Spanish station "ATZ, Network" on analog channel 25.

As for some of you miss the news on KNAT-DT's TX power upgrade they went up from 600 Watts ERP to 200 KW ERP, they also have 4 sub channels.

That's about it!! :)

11-28-05

Anyone have problems with KOAT digital?

Picture was breaking up badly this AM, and checked my recording of Grey's Anatomy from last night and same problem...

Might be the wind redirected my antenna, but don't want to climb up there in this weather if I don't need to.

Thanks

No problem here in Espanola, Moonhawk. KOAT locks just fine. Strong winds yesterday. My antenna is up on the apex of the roof on a 10' pole. The pole is clamped with two pipe clamps and stabilized with three guy wires.

.....G

Well, I'm here to tell you, it's brisk up there on my roof after dark...

No luck getting the antenna pointed right yet, despite 6 trips up there.

Normally, I leave the doors to the fireplace open so I can hear when I get a lock on a signal, but of course I had a fire going.

Will try again tomorrow during daylight hours.

No problems with KOAT but KOB was breaking up something terrible yesterday. Started in the early AM with NO signal at all. By the time I got home it was on but stuttering all over the place. They seem to have it fixed by the time Vegas was on.

I missed recording Surface last night due to No Signal. Drat. JR

Yeah, I backed up everything with a Sat recording..(SD)...when I realized my Antenna was screwy.

I could get 2 and 13, but not 7 or 4...or 5 for the most part, but didn't check any others.

Will climb up there after lunch and play with it some more.

Update...despite being called down off the roof to help put out a fire in Sandia Park, I seem to have everything back up and running.

Unfortunately, the guy's house was a total loss.

Should I be glad I don't live in Sandia Park, anymore?

Not if you lived there until yesterday afternoon.....:)

It's been 17 years! They always had a good VFD, though.

Yeah, Station 6 is full-time now, not volunteer.

We in La Madera are volunteer, and actually in Sandoval county. We sort of see Bernalillo as our "big brothers", with more training and better equipment, but we have a mutual aid agreement with them.

Yesterday we were just helping haul water for them...

And now, back to our regular programming.....:)

I second the motion...

HD is wonderful. If you do happen to like shows such as Alias, Lost, 24, etc, as I do, Albuquerque is actually one of the better markets in the country...depending on where your house is.......:D

Just be glad this is not the Denver market. They have it so bad off; you can only receive 3 stations reliably beyond downtown line of sight. Since all the major network affiliates (NBC, ABC, CBS) are caught in a NIBY fight on Lookout Mt. and relegated to a downtown building site. All you can get off Lookout Mt. is the FOX, WB and PBS with no HD PBS, just a 3 channel simulcast. Looks like it will be another year before they know anything on trying to build forward. If this continues they may never build out a new super tower site and just shut off their analog transmitters and use the existing sites they have for digital. Serves the NIBY's right, it won't reduce the tower clutter like a super site would, and will put just as much RF radiation on the area as the old analog broadcasts do now.

It's like cell towers, we want the service but don't want to the towers that go with them to make it possible.

I am having lig sync issues with KOB ( both OTA and on sat.) but only on my HD DVR. my reg DVR is fine...Wierd... anyone else?

mdamberger, does kobr dt pass HD thru? or is it like koct down here and just digital...

Sometimes they broadcast hd, when they get their act together. Leno has been sd lately.
JR

Is anyone else having trouble receiving KASA-DT 2-1 this morning? I get a "searching for signal" message on that channel with the HR10-250. All of the other digital channels are being received fine. Things don't look good for watching the Cowboys vs Giants in HD today. :(

Brian

I am also not getting the KASA-DT's signal at it all!! :(

It's looks like a transmitter problem of some kind and I am sure Chief Enginneer got their hands full on it.

I will try to E-mail to see what is going on.

12-4-05

Yes same here, I'm not receiving Fox (2.1) either. I can only get a signal strength of 40. I'm also not receiving WB (19.1) which I believe is a Fox affiliate.

As for KWBQ-DT's signal I am getting it very strong amost 100% here in four Hills areas.

The rest of other digtial TV stations are coming in fine except for KASA-DT,KNMD-DT and KCHF-DT.

12-4-05

No signal from Fox this morning or last night.

Is anyone else having trouble receiving KASA-DT 2-1 this morning?

ditto. i feel very spoiled this morning. :D I was looking forward to a crisp, ghost-free HD telecast of the cowboys/giants and instead I have to watch analog KASA (ghosts from nearby mountain reflections, duller video and sound, all the reasons analog should die die die!).


/s/ a spoiled hd viewer

The ABQ locals on DirecTV serve as my backup, so all is not lost. :)

Brian

And I have the Comcast feed of Fox so I do have some sort of HD for the game.

Here's another confirmation of no signal on 2-1 or 2-2. Located in the Ventana Ranch area.

Okay, glad to hear that others are having this same problem with 2-1 and 2-2. I was refreshing my OTA channels on my receiver, hoping that I could fix the problem. Glad to know that I should stop beating my head against the wall. I agree that this is yet another reason why we need to put Analog to bed once and for all. I'm in the NE Heights of Albuquerque, btw.

Should have looked here before spending some VERY cold time back up on my roof.....

well, since you're a masochist, it's good for you! :) JR

The ABQ locals on DirecTV serve as my backup, so all is not lost. :)

Brian

SLAP! SLAP!!!!! I should have thought of that! (slap me in the head again!) Directv game me the ABQ locals free until jan 1, 2006 so I should have gone there instead of watching ghosty analog 2-0 KASA.

from NMBJ:

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/stories/2005/12/05/daily5.html?from_rss=1

from NMBJ:

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/stories/2005/12/05/daily5.html?from_rss=1

So what does everyone think about the likelyhood of them finally broadcasting in 5.1?

Spawnman

We may all have to hound them into it and flood their inbox with emails. JR

Anyone having problems with KOAT digital?

Or is it just my @$#%^$ antenna?

Was saying "searching for signal"...now says "can't find..."

I've been reading this forum for a few months now, but this is my first post. No problems with KOAT digital. At home I dont have OTA, only Comcast. At work I have OTA.

No problem with KOAT digital on my antenna. The HR10-250 shows a signal strength of 88%.

Brian

Just moving to ABQ in the Spain/Tramway area and shopping for HD. Had Comcast HD in Dallas with few problems, but your posts here are kind of nerve wracking.

Am I going to have reasonable service for local HDs if I go Sat and OTA? Or will I be throwing myself off my roof into the cold? :eek:

Welcome to the fray, John - We're quite the bunch of rather crabby perfectionists here, John, so don't be put off. Albuquerque is actually one of the better locations in the country for OTA Network HD. I live 60 miles north of ABQ and I get all the locals just fine. Between Dish and OTA I get 26 channels in HD. That's not bad. All the ABQ locals except UPN pass the HD network feeds (except for the rare glitch here and there) so I suggest you put up that antenna and sit back and relax and enjoy the view.

.....G

Can any of you guys tell me if a bigger antenna might solve my problem?

I've gotten all the locals fairly well for over a year now, but some how I've lost channel 7 and can't seem to get it back. I live in the East Mts with line of sight to most, but not all of the towers...there is a hill blocking some.

KOAT was always the most prone to occasional dropouts.

I have a modest size Radio Shack roof mount. Will one of the larger channel masters help make the aiming of my antenna less critical or marginal...I'm tired of freezing up on the roof trying to aim the darn thing, and if we get any snow, it would be suicide up there with my 5/12 pitched, 2nd story metal roof.

Just want to know if a larger antenna will get a slightly stronger signal that will be less susceptible to minor variations in aim?

Thanks, guys

I think the one I have is the Channel Master 3020 with the 7777 preamp. There is some aiming margin for me in Los Alamos and I have some trees and some homes in my line of sight. I can't actually see the top of the Crest standing on my roof, but the antenna is mounted a few feet taller than I am. The channels that drop out the most easily for me are PBS KNME and CBS KRQE. Have you considered using an antenna rotator?

Brian

I do have those Zenith roof top models that are designed to be very directional. They say good up to 40 miles, but obviously, that depends on many factors. Where I'm at, I can pick up HD with a piece of wire.

Just want to know if a larger antenna will get a slightly stronger signal that will be less susceptible to minor variations in aim?

Thanks, guys

I live only about 10 miles from the towers, so I don't know if it will help or not.

I personally have one of these:

http://antennasdirect.com/42XG_television_antenna.html

It is probably way over-kill for me, but it works very well.

That company has several different models to choose from:

http://antennasdirect.com/

John

Moonhawk - I second John's remarks. You have to determine if the problem is signal strength or multipath. A more directional antenna will help with multipath since all the transmitters are on the crest. Antennas Direct sells great antennas. I am using the 91XG, but the 42XG should work for you. You may not need a mast mounted preamp (I certainly do being 60 miles north of you) but the very best is the Channelmaster 7777. It's a two person job. One to aim and one to watch the TV. Good luck with the project.... and be careful!

.....G

Thanks for the replies, guys.

I only live about 5 miles below the towers, just can't quite see all of them due to Palomas Peak being in the way.

How do I determine if my problem is signal strength or multipath?

My current RS Yagi worked OK for a year or so, just since all the wind I can't get it re-aimed properly.

Instead of 2 men, I have to stand on the roof with KOAT tuned in and listen for the sound to come up through the chimney if I ever find the magic spot...It's a little wierd, because I know right about where to point, but I just can't seem to find my spot.

I still wonder if a bigger stronger antenna will pull in the station with a little more leeway in aiming.

Thanks for the replies, guys.

I only live about 5 miles below the towers, just can't quite see all of them due to Palomas Peak being in the way.
Some people claim it helps if you can point your antenna right at the transmitter, even in the vertical direction. Maybe you need a mount which lets you tilt up a bit?

My 42XG came with such a mount. It is notched, however, so you cannot set any degree of angle you want, but you do have several to choose from.

How do I determine if my problem is signal strength or multipath?

Can't answer that one.

My current RS Yagi worked OK for a year or so, just since all the wind I can't get it re-aimed properly.

Instead of 2 men, I have to stand on the roof with KOAT tuned in and listen for the sound to come up through the chimney if I ever find the magic spot...It's a little wierd, because I know right about where to point, but I just can't seem to find my spot.

I still wonder if a bigger stronger antenna will pull in the station with a little more leeway in aiming.

I use a Linux HTPC for all of my HD tuning. One day I went up with a wireless laptop connected to my HTPC, and adjusted my 42XG antenna left/right up/down while watching the signal strength.

I had to swing the antenna pretty far off track before I noticed much of a drop in signal strength. Considering the 42XG is suppose to be a VERY "directional" antenna, I was a little surprised.

John

Thanks John....

Update:

I picked up a single line amp at lowe's for a little under $40.00 with tax, hooked it up, went back up on the roof, and seem to have everything working again...when I unplug the amp, I lose KOAT, and of course I didn't need the amp before, but it's just too darn nasty up there in this weather to tweak the stupid thing forever.

Then, I called Antennas Direct, and ordered their mount (part of the problem with the wind was the crappy mount--the kind with straps around the chimney) and this should help give me a more stable mount, and one that can be tilted up at the towers as well.

The lady also recommended the SR15 antenna, which I ordered as well. She recommended it because I'm so close to the towers...also rated for high wind and severe weather, and directional...Incidentally, she said that means about a 20 degree range.

Hopefully, that will work well without the amplifier, so I can return it. If not, I'll keep the amp and current antenna, and return the SR15. Either way, that mount looks like a much stouter arrangement than what I have, and I'll keep it.

So, at least I'm up and running for now...Thanks again for all your suggestions...:)

Hi Guys,

I'm finally fed up with my comcast bill and not being able to get CBS in HD (where my favorite shows are).

I'm looking at all options and ideas. I don't see satellite as much of an improvement........

I'm at the very south end of juan tabo with a clean shot at the crest.....

Tnx - John

Why wouldn't satellite be an improvement? With Dish, you can get all the locals *plus* about 20 others and growing. Plus PVR capability. That's some cool stuff.

If you can get everything via OTA antenna, then I would vote for DirecTV with an HDTivo. I get ALL my digital locals via an attic antenna, and the rest of my HD content (HBO, Discovery, HDNet etc.) comes from DirecTV.

And with the two tuner HDTivo, I never miss anything.

I suppose you could also just get an OTA digital tuner and use that in conjunction with Comcast. A bud actually has my one of my castoff Samsung OTA boxes and does just that.

But having had a Tivo in my rig almost since they started selling them, I will say that once you have a Tivo (or any DVR) you will NEVER go back to live TV.

IMHO, of course.

Brian

Brian would part with his car before TIVO, I'd bet ;)

Brian would part with his car before TIVO, I'd bet ;)

You know, that choice would give me pause! Not my wife, mind you (she would take Tivo in a heartbeat), but I would have to think about it a bit.

Although, since DirecTV is no longer in bed with Tivo (thanks a pant load, Rupert), I will at some point be faced with the choice of staying with D* and saying goodbye to my beloved Tivo, or saying adios to D*, and hello Comcast, who is slated to get a Comcast version of Tivo at some point.

Tivo is so ingrained in my household (its the only piece of AV gear I ever bought that my wife considers indispensable), we may say bye-bye DirecTV and switch to the inferior offering from Comcast, assuming they do in fact get a Tivo.

Decisions, decisions.....

Brian

Well, there's my other dilema. I'm also a tivo addict. I have 2 in the house. I tried the comcast DVR but couldn't stand it and went back to tivo.

I've been waiting for the comcast/tivo box, but who knows when that will be available.

I was looking at dish but actually got frustrated when I couldn't figure out what they actually deliver in HD.

The OTA would probably give me most of what I need. But then no DVR. And I hate spending 60 minutes to watch a 40 minute show.

Tivo is so ingrained in my household (its the only piece of AV gear I ever bought that my wife considers indispensable), we may say bye-bye DirecTV and switch to the inferior offering from Comcast, assuming they do in fact get a Tivo.

Decisions, decisions.....

Brian

Somewhat off-topic, but...

For years I was a ReplayTV owner. My parents decided to go with a DirectTV HD Tivo and I was very interested to see how it compared to the ReplayTV.

The TIVO has one feature which the ReplayTV sorely lacks: The TODO list!

Other than that one feature, the ReplayTV is a much more "user friendly" device. It amazes me how many sub-menus you have to go though with the TIVO to accomplish anything. It also amazes me how incredibly slooooooowwwww the TIVO is.

That all being said, I am not surprised that the TIVO is as popular as it is. It is very well marketed, and it blows away any VCR ever made.

I am now a MythTV user, and cannot imagine settling for either a TIVO or ReplayTV anymore. My MythTV system cost me a lot more than a TIVO or Replay, but it is so completely superior to either, that I feel the money (and time setting it up) was well spent. Only problem with MythTV is there is no way to record HD from a satellite.

John

Get on the horn to D*, tell them you are interested in switching from Comcast, but you need to have HD and a DVR. They have been doing really sweet deals on HDTivo's. Check out the discussion here:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=36

Search for "customer retention". D* has a phone number for folks that are planning to jump ship, or potential conquest customers. For a while, you could get an HDTivo for $299 BEFORE the incentives and rebates. You may need to do some dickering, and it may take several calls (some CSR's are less than helpful), but you should be able to get a deal that will take care of all your needs.

Brian

Brian

I didn't know Replay was still around!

Is Myth a PC solution? Had not heard of it.

And I would have to cop to the complaint that Tivo can be slow. Its not an issue with channel surfing, but once you load up on season passes, adding or re-ordering the priority can be very slow. Its one of those things that I wish were better, but live with for the other huge benefits.

Brian

The OTA would probably give me most of what I need. But then no DVR. And I hate spending 60 minutes to watch a 40 minute show.

No idea how well this works, but Sony has a couple stand-alone OTA/Cable HD DVRs:

Sony DHG-HDD250 30-Hour High-Definition Digital Video Recorder (250 GB)
Sony DHG-HDD500 60-Hour High-Definition Digital Video Recorder (500 GB)

John

I didn't know Replay was still around!

My sister still uses a couple of ReplayTVs. As far as I know she is happy with them.

Is Myth a PC solution? Had not heard of it.

Linux based. All the software is free, you just need the hardware to run it on. Even the 14 day channel guide is free -- as long as you don't mind filling out a very short Tribune Media Services (zap2it.com) survey every 3 months.

I have a 3.0GHz Pentium 4 HT system with 5x400gb disks in a raid5 configuration. This system then has 4 HD tuner cards in it. And that is just the "backend"! It lives back in my office, where it does not matter how quiet it is.

My "frontend" is a 3GHz Pentium 4 HT, with an nVidia 5700LE video card which drives my Samsung DLP. Video is streamed from the backend to the frontend over standard cat5 cable.

Like I said, not cheap, but WOW what a system.

John

John Gannon was unable to calibrate my DLP the last time he went through town because he did not have the right equipment with him.

While John is obviously a fantastic CRT calibrator, he does not have as good equipment for Samsung DLP displays as Steve Martin (aka Cheezmo).

Steve is willing to fly up to Albuquerque in late January -- probably January 27/28.

There are already two of us that would like Steve to work on our sets. If two more people would like Steve to work on their TVs, it would only cost them $50/each towards Steves travel and boarding expenses.

Steve's website is here:
http://www.smartcalibration.com/
you can contact him here:
steve@smartcalibration.com

If anyone is interested in having John Gannon do their TVs, he has indicated to me that he will also be back in Albuquerque sometime in January.

Please let me or Steve know if you want to participate.

Thanks,

John

No idea how well this works, but Sony has a couple stand-alone OTA/Cable HD DVRs:

Sony DHG-HDD250 30-Hour High-Definition Digital Video Recorder (250 GB)
Sony DHG-HDD500 60-Hour High-Definition Digital Video Recorder (500 GB)


John

I'm using a tivo for cable sd and two dvrs for hd/sd. The comcast scientific atlanta 8300 is working great for cable channels, and a LG 3410 (half the price of the Sony) catches all the local hd ota stuff including CBS of course. JR

what do you all think? should the KASA chief engineer be fired?

for the second sunday in a row, KASA-DT seems to be off the air (I am not receiving it this morning to watch the bears game in HD).

it seems fine M-Sa, but when it comes to sunday, the transmitter seems to be off the air. I guess the encoder needs the sabbath off. :D

what do you all think? should the KASA chief engineer be fired?

for the second sunday in a row, KASA-DT seems to be off the air (I am not receiving it this morning to watch the bears game in HD).

it seems fine M-Sa, but when it comes to sunday, the transmitter seems to be off the air. I guess the encoder needs the sabbath off. :D

????

The Bears game came in just fine for me.

John

Yeah, no problem with the Steeler game on Fox either, on Comcast BTW.

I was getting KASA-DT just fine here no problems, and nice to see the Steeler win today!! :)

12-11-05

I was getting KASA-DT just fine here no problems, and nice to see the Steeler win today!! :)

12-11-05

hmmm, no wonder there has been no postings here. KASA-DT has been out for me all day today ("NO SIGNAL" on my LG HDTV monitor). guess i'll have to do some looking around (make sure my modulators haven't gotten off-frequency and are clobbering the KASA-DT channel, for instance).

i had to watch the game in analog once again this week, in it's ghosty, non-vivid analog "glory".

If your antenna system is up to snuff, you might try rescanning the channels to reaquire it. JR

If your antenna system is up to snuff, you might try rescanning the channels to reaquire it. JR


it wasn't my in-house modulators. on monday morning, i punched in KASA-DT and it popped right up (the exact same thing I did sunday, but sunday had a "no signal" result).

maybe my LG likes to take sunday off with regards to kasa-dt. :rolleyes:

Must be PSIP hicup's every sunday by KASA-DT, you might give them a call and talk to Chief Engineering of KASA-DT about this issue you are having with.

12-12-05

Whats the chance our local Comcrap will add UniversalHD soon enough to complement NBC's HD Olympic Coverage? Or for Battlestar Galactica?

Guess this answers my questions. If only Dish or Directv weren't so expensive to get into with HD and had a more affordable DVR.


Dear Mr. Kibler,

Thank you for your inquiry.

Comcast is committed to deploying HDTV service. We are working to provide as many high definition channel broadcasters as possible. Here are some of the factors involved with expanding our high definition lineup:

-the negotiation and contract process required to obtain the rights to carry a specific high definition broadcast, such as TNT-HD and HD-Net.

-the increased bandwidth resources which are required

-the relatively low number of subscribers (currently only a small minority of customers have high definition compatible television sets)

We will continue to explore additional HD programming opportunities as more content providers make plans to offer their programming in HD format.

We appreciate the fact that you took the time to let us know what is important to you. We hope to expand our high definition channel lineup as fast as we can. Unfortunately we are unable to provide specific details regarding the launch of new channels at this time, please keep an eye on your monthly billing statement as the announcement of any channel additions will appear on those statements.

If you need further assistance, please feel free to respond directly to this email. We appreciate you taking the time to contact us.

Thank you for choosing Comcast.

Sincerely,

Mike
Comcast Customer Care Specialist

Don't get cable here in my neck of the East Mountains...

But I second the motion for Universal HD....They don't carry it on Dish, and I don't want to go back to D*.

But I'd love to get Galactica in HD....

I use a Samsung SRT-351 set top box, a radioshack 5' stick amplified indoor antenna and live in the way-south valley. Lately (last week or so) KNME's digital channel 9 (w. 3 subchannels and digital sound) have been arriving about 90% of the time with receivable power and a whole different program schedule on each channel. I'm certainly not complaining, but I'm wondering what's going on and whether this is likely to last.

Anyone know anything about this? Are they going to keep it up? If they do, I might have to send them more money.

They have had ch9 up for several months now. It is very low power so you might need a roof top antenna aimed at the crest for reliable reception. We have a digital user group meeting every third Thursday at 7pm at KNME on University street. Try to make the next one in Jan. and meet Jim Gale, chief engineer down there. He sponsors the meeting. JR

The KNMD-DT digital channel 9 is right now running at 200 watts ERP they plan go high as 10 KW ERP sometime in the future when the next door tv station KCHF-DT digtial channel 10 moves to the Sandia Crest.

They can't boost the channel 9 power because it would wipe out KCHF-DT's channel 10 signal so they must be together at the same signal level strenth on both channels, and don't overlap each other at the sametime.

Anyway, now back to TV DXing! :D

12-17-05

What I want to know about KNMD-DT is why they are filtering out a channel. On satellite, there are 4 channels (PBS-You being the fourth one) yet on KNMD-DT 9 there are only the first 3 channels of that mux with PBS-You being filtered out.

Any word on when our local UPN digital station will start transmitting in full-bandwidth HD and get its bandwidth back from USDTV??? Their picture is pretty pathetic right now.

Any word on when our local UPN digital station will start transmitting in full-bandwidth HD and get its bandwidth back from USDTV??? Their picture is pretty pathetic right now.

how about never! KASY-DT's situation is why I feel like there should be federal law to guarantee appropriate bandwidth for HD (say 12 mb/sec) in each broadcaster's digital signal and then they can sell off the remainder if they want to.

Minor News updates.........

KNAT-DT has added 5th sub channel with a test card it's on 23.5 making this station has the most sub channels than any other digtial TV stations in this TV market.

I have no idea what kind of programing it will be, but most likely to be church type programings that I think.

KNMD-DT is in 2nd place for carrying the most sub channels. :)

Still no news on KOB-DT on what to do with their 2nd sub channel status at this time.

Same goes for KASY-DT on when they will dump USDTV and put on UPN HDTV programings on line.

That's the news!! :D

12-21-05

Hey Guys,

So I'm an HDTV newb. I've got a 32 Widescreen HD Ready and getting a receiver, crossing my fingers RatShack still has one in stock. By this: View full report (http://www.2150.com/broadcast/default.asp?latitude=35%2E107&longitude=%2D106%2E539&magnetic_north=%2D13%2E25&range=150&sort=channel&show_expired=False&show_construction=False&show_analog=False&show_low_power=False&action=Show+Stations)

It shows I'm less than 10 miles from the tower. I'm in Abq Eubank/ Snowheights area. That said, can I use the rabbit ears that I have currently have or do I need an HD antenna? I tried searching and there's just too much information to get a definitive answer. I'm dying to watch the bowl games in HD. I'm going to be running around today looking for equipment.

Thanks,
---Kevin

Kevin -- multipath can be a problem when you're as close as you are -- so cross your fingers.

I use a Zenith/LG Silver Sensor [got it for $25] and I'm line-of-sight 47 miles. It just sits on my receiver and rocks 90% of the time. The variable being the cheap buggers putting out the signal.

They may even have it at RS. DO NOT get one of the copies.

It can be a bit of a crap shoot. As long as you are not in an area with severe multipath problems, I would wager that you will be OK with rabbit ears, but it is almost impossible to know unless you try. Lots of variables that make a prediction tough to make.

I am at Academy/Lowell, and had no luck with rabbit ears. I went with an attic mounted CM 4221, and even then, was unable to get KOB until they recently upgraded their tower/transmitter. No I am in hog heaven (all local digitals are coming in 5x5), but again, you won't know until you try.

Brian

Good info. My wife is doing last minute shopping and wanted to get an OTA receiver. I'm having a difficult time finding one. Unless I want to spend $250 and go over to the westside :ugh Looks like eBay is calling my name.. What all are you guys using for receivers?

I am an HDTivo guy, so unless you are with DirecTV, that won't help.

But, I have had good luck with a previous Samsung HDTV receiver (model 160, I think). Out of production I would guess, but Samsung in general makes a decent product.

Brian

I agree with Brian about Samsung. I, too, am an HDTiVo user; but, I'm happy with the latest generation of Sammy products.

Kevin - Well for me, being able to time shift local off-air HD and satellite HD is important. I use a Dish 921 DVR for that purpose and it works very well. There's also the HD Tivo from DirectTV and the newer Dish model 942. All are available on eBay. If you just want real-time TV, then a set top box is fine. Samsung makes good ones.

.....G

Brian do you still have the old Sammie? :)

I'm on the fence about going with DTV or Dish because of the costs involved. I just don't really watch all the extra channels as I've gotten used to regular broadcast channels but ESPN would be nice. Hence the reason why I think I might just go with an OTA receiver and maybe a rooftop antenna.

Sorry Kevin, but the Sammy was sold a while back, and is currently in service with a buddy in Tanoan who has Comcast cable. Since Comcast does not offer KRQE, he uses it for anything HD on CBS.

If your rabbit ears don't get it done for you, I do have a Radio Shack Roof Top antenna that you can have cheap! Its a traditional style VHF/UHF model (if that means anything), and has only been used in my attic.

I went with the CM 4221 when I was trying to get lock on KOB, but even it was unable to do so back before they upgraded their facilities. But I saw no point in returning the 4221, so the RS unit has been sitting unused in my attic since then.

Brian

Good deal Thanks Brian. My friend sitting next to me in the cube over just informed she has a cousin that works for Baillios so I may be getting setup today. I called all the RatShacks in town and nobody in Abq has the $90 receiver so I'm hoping Baillios has a receiver and I can get it at cost. :)

Any good uhf antenna should work fine at your location, even the RS uhf. The only place I could find a silver sensor a while back was at Sears, for full retail. I have a Sammy 150 you can have for $150. JR

Jerry you have a PM.. :) and BTW I envy you.. Nice setup you got there. :eek:

This is pretty similiar to the antenna that I'll be using too..

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000063SNE.01-A2R0FX412W1BDT._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Product Description:
Receive all of your favorite television programming in clear, sharp images. The RCA Power Amplified Antenna has gold-plated connectors for improved signal conductivity. Amplifies up to 45dB. Receives off-air signals for local programming. Antenna features 3-stage amplifier low-noise circuit, multi-adjustable UHF loop, reflector-enhanced reception, integrated 3-way cable/antenna switch, bypass switch to turn off amplifier and separate VHF and UHF gain controls. Great for use as a backup for cable outages. Scuff pads protect cabinet surface. No. ANT1250. Imported. 9-1/2Hx8Wx4D"

Hope it works.

---Kevin

I had that RCA antenna. It was ok. I ended up trying about 5 different antennas including a square shooter outdoors before getting the silver sensor. If you don't have any luck I can't recommend the silver sensor enough.

Kevin,

Not to put a damper on things, but I have a bud close to Tramway/Montgomery that was using one, but his reception was iffy. He would have to fiddle with it to go from channel to channel.

He opted for an attic mount antenna (not sure what) and now has solid reception. A lot depends on your location, and how much house (and what its made of) that the signal will need tp pass through.

Best of luck with it, though. HD is a beautiful thing, once you get things sorted out.

Brian

Kevin,

Not to put a damper on things, but I have a bud close to Tramway/Montgomery that was using one, but his reception was iffy. He would have to fiddle with it to go from channel to channel.

He opted for an attic mount antenna (not sure what) and now has solid reception. A lot depends on your location, and how much house (and what its made of) that the signal will need tp pass through.

Best of luck with it, though. HD is a beautiful thing, once you get things sorted out.

Brian

No damper. I am picking up that Sammy from Jerry tonight. Go home and try it. I need to go to the mall tonight (yeah I need to pick up a few things for Christmas) too so if it doesn't work very well I will pick up an antenna. Then I will be welcoming myself to the digital revolution. :). I'm as giddy as a schoolgirl.. :D I'll let you all tonight.


Just wanted to give you all a big thanks too.. I was under the assumption the whole time that I had to get DTV or Dish to get HD. This is much more affordable solution for me ATM. Thanks again guys.

---Kevin

You will love it. Wait till you catch one of the very special documentaries on PBS.

You will love it. Wait till you catch one of the very special documentaries on PBS.

PBS

I think that's the one channel I am looking forward to the most.

Minor News updates.........

KNAT-DT has added 5th sub channel with a test card it's on 23.5 making this station has the most sub channels than any other digtial TV stations in this TV market.


that's "song for the children" or whatever that TBN service is called that Jan started. I'm surprised they didn't put it on 23.4 since 23.4 is still a black screen to me.

I recorded the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas special that was on PBS. It looks superb and the sound in 5.1 is super. Kudos to PBS. JR

Merry Christmas to everyones,

You may be not aware of local news Close Captionings, may be in for a change by Jan, the 1st due to a new FCC rules that top 4 local stations must provide realtime Close Captioning! :)

No more crappy scripted captionings anymore, which is good news for deaf and hard of hearing person.

Now the big question is our local stations are they ready for it?

Is KASA,KOB,KOAT and KRQE have the resource for the new equipment?

IMHO, KOB-DT and KOAT-DT might have the right equipment all set up and ready to go, but then again I might be wrong on all stations. :D

21-26-05

Merry Christmas to everyones,

You may be not aware of local news Close Captionings, may be in for a change by Jan, the 1st due to a new FCC rules that top 4 local stations must provide realtime Close Captioning! :)

No more crappy scripted captionings anymore, which is good news for deaf and hard of hearing person.

Now the big question is our local stations are they ready for it?

Is KASA,KOB,KOAT and KRQE have the resource for the new equipment?

IMHO, KOB-DT and KOAT-DT might have the right equipment all set up and ready to go, but then again I might be wrong on all stations. :D

21-26-05

The rule you are referring to only applies to top 25 market stations. The rest can use ENT, Electronic Newsroom Technique. Meaning any station 25+ that is not captioning now must do so on Jan 1st but can use ENT to comply with the rules. (Newsroom script) Spanish language stations have tell 2010 for 100%. Commercials longer then 5min's must be captioned, i.e. infomercials... In case of emergency information for the public, like evacuation routes, shelters etc.. The station must provide that in the captioning via real-time captioning, OR can provide the same information as full screen texts or crawls that is identical to what is being said. A station can be fined if they don’t do this properly, and some have been fined recently over just this. (some spring time tornados, no full screens or crawls of towns in the path, only verbally given, oops!)

Here's the fine print.

http://ftp.fcc.gov/cgb/dro/ccrules.html

Consumer FCC page on captioning http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/closedcaption.html

If you see a station captioning the newsroom script, then they are 90% ready. Most of the hardware is in place to do real-time captioning. Just some switches and connectivity is needed. But the last 10% is the hardest because you need a specially trained individual to be able to listen and regurgitate what is being said accurately to better then 95%. But it's preferred to have only about 2% errors on real-time captioning. Training someone to do this takes around 3 to 5 years, and most were court stenographers before becoming real time captioners.

And as anyone who's waiting for the swapout to MPG4 hardware [from DirecTV] can tell you, we're down around market #46.

I recorded the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas special that was on PBS. It looks superb and the sound in 5.1 is super. Kudos to PBS. JR

Well I picked up the receiver from Jerry on Fri night went home and hooked it up via the rabbit ears and voila. I know have HD. Been watching it all weekend too. Even the standard broadcasts are clearer. Thanks all.

Welcome to the club, Kevin. Once you have an HD set and HD programming, there's no going back. ;)

.....G

You know it makes me curious how many HDTV's there are in NM and how many people know that they can get HD for free. I know I will never watch TV the same now. Even the wife sees a difference and for her to see a difference it's has to be a big difference.

When I posed this question to Sean Anker (Chief Engineer at KOB) last summer, he replied that he thought there were only about 200 KOB-HD viewers in the ABQ area. I know that I started a trend in our community here, but among the four other HD TV owners I know here in Espanola (all of whom I helped pick out their sets after they saw mine) NONE of them watch OTA free HD... in fact none watch the networks in HD at all. Two have the HD pack from Dish and the other two only watch DVD's and SD TV on their shiny new HD sets... "How come the picture on my TV doesn't look like the one on yours?" Duh....

.....G

LOL.. I find that to be amazing. I've already had a few people over my house to see it. Put it on MNF and switched over to PBS last night and the next words out of there mouth was "Where can I get one?"..

Jerry BTW saw you at Costco on Sat. Was going to say but I was next in line. :)

When I posed this question to Sean Anker (Chief Engineer at KOB) last summer, he replied that he thought there were only about 200 KOB-HD viewers in the ABQ area. I know that I started a trend in our community here, but among the four other HD TV owners I know here in Espanola (all of whom I helped pick out their sets after they saw mine) NONE of them watch OTA free HD... in fact none watch the networks in HD at all. Two have the HD pack from Dish and the other two only watch DVD's and SD TV on their shiny new HD sets... "How come the picture on my TV doesn't look like the one on yours?" Duh....

.....G

In Ruidoso I know of twenty to thirty people who watch HD via satellite. To me it's almost like a fast moving freight train, it is moving rapidly and as it is becomes more affordable people are becoming more interested. Direct TV certainly feels this is going to be the future as evidenced by the new satellites they have and are going to put up in order to broadcast HD locals.

Jerry BTW saw you at Costco on Sat. Was going to say but I was next in line. :)

Sorry I missed you, maybe next time since we shop there a lot. Glad to hear you are enjoying the Sammy receiver and it found a good home. :) JR

Sorry I missed you, maybe next time since we shop there a lot. Glad to hear you are enjoying the Sammy receiver and it found a good home. :) JR


I'm a costcaholic too.. I'm always there.

Is there any guide to see what channels there are so I can see if I am missing anything? Seem to have all of them but just want to double check.

--Kevin

Check here, Kevin: Broadcast Station Television Search (http://www.2150.com/broadcast/default.asp)

also, Antennaweb (http://www.antennaweb.org/)

.....G

And http://ww1.titantv.com/

And http://ww1.titantv.com/

Thanks Guys..

Ed, that's exactly what I was looking for!

How can you establish whether you are going to be in a severe multipath area? I'll be at Spain and Tramway basically, and probably going D*.

Also, would anyone know when ABQ may join the other MPEG-4 cities for getting locals from the dish?

You never can tell about multipath till you're up and running. Start cheap with something like the Zenith/LG Silver Sensor -- from someone you can return to for a refund. Should work OK, though.

Officially, we have a long wait. Through the end of 2006, D* has "guaranteed" they'll have the 1st 36-37 markets up-and-running. Abq-SF is #46 as I recall. Saying that, I'm enough of an optimist to hope they'll run ahead of schedule. That's Murdoch's track record in the UK.

When Sky rolled out digital, they had a window of more than a few years -- and finished a year early.

DirecTV will definitely have the capacity for the ABQ HD locals in 2007 when they launch two new satellites. I would personally rather see new national HD channels added to their lineup, and I think that is likely to happen sooner than 2007.

Brian

In a LOL situation, the CSR I just spoke to went on a mad hunt for info on ABQ and MPEG-4, she comes back and says, "Wow, you guys aren't even on the list!"

Apparently I'd be receiving the standard HD DVR now offered, then at such time as the upgrade occured various fees would apply for install of the new dish etc.

How about Dishnetwork for HD locals?...And is there a link between that and Mpeg-4?

As far as I hear, Dish has no immediate plans for switching to mpg4. The "best-informed" rumors tell me Q1 or 2 for the HD-DVR w/mpg4 capabilities -- which obviously don't mean a hill of beans in NM.

Though I haven't heard anything specific about whether or not the D* upgrade will include a freebie on the dish -- logic [I know, I know] presumes it to be part of the minimal shipping/handling figure quoted by those in the know -- since you will need the new [ugly, btw] dish for full capacity reception. That number usually is $14.95 to $19.95.

We'll all have a lot more info after CES in a couple of weeks.

My brother is moving to a house in Placitas, which antennaweb.org seems to indicate is a black hole for HD reception. Aside from Comcast HD, does he have any options? Geographically it wouldn't seem he can qualify for a waiver to get sat fed nationals.

Abq stations are as uncooperative as you might imagine about waivers. I have no experience w/Comcast HD; so, no opinion about their technology. Though, they are predicted to have a true TiVo cablecard DVR 1st Q of 2006.

Hopefully, other folks w/experience near Placitas will chime in. If not -- maybe there's a reason.

I'm sure a lot will depend on where in Placitas...some parts can see the towers, I'm pretty sure.

I think the only way he could see those towers from his house would be to launch his own satellite. He's fairly east in Placitas, great view, but that's a big mountain in his way!

Happy New Year to everyones!!!

Minor news......

For those of you have Directv local channels for Albuquerque tv market, Directv has dropped KENW-TV "PBS" channel 3 from Portales so that's means we are getting one local PBS channel.

It's a shame we will miss the student's run local news from Portales it was fun to watch how they test their broadcasting skills.

Directv is not carring a new PBS station KNMD-DT channel 9 here in Albuquerque at this time.

It may be matter of time if they agreed to carry all 4 sub channels.

If you want this channel back just bug Directv to bring KENW-TV back to local channels line ups. :(

1-1-05

Happy New Year to everyones!!!

Minor news......

For those of you have Directv local channels for Albuquerque tv market, Directv has dropped KENW-TV "PBS" channel 3 from Portales so that's means we are getting one local PBS channel.

It's a shame we will miss the student's run local news from Portales it was fun to watch how they test their broadcasting skills.

Directv is not carring a new PBS station KNMD-DT channel 9 here in Albuquerque at this time.

It may be matter of time if they agreed to carry all 4 sub channels.

If you want this channel back just bug Directv to bring KENW-TV back to local channels line ups. :(

1-1-05 No Thanks... I opted for Distants ;) and Happy New Years folks...

So today DirecTV had a press release pre-CES with the following:

"Including the 12 HD local markets launched last year, DIRECTV will offer HD local channels in 36 markets, representing more than 57 percent of U.S. television households in the first half of the year,"

Could ABQ be on the list?!?!?! (The early list, not that later one)

So today DirecTV had a press release pre-CES with the following:

Could ABQ be on the list?!?!?! (The early list, not that later one)

ABQ will only have a chance to be on the list if DirecTV picks 36 out of the top 50 markets. I wouldn't bet on that. They will probably do all 36 of the top markets first.

Brian

But you never know what Directv will do by cherry picking, or just market number 1 to 36.

Since we are in market 46 in the country so that's mean it's 50/50 ether we get on early or wait little later.

We shall see what happens next. :)

1-3-06

We're about #46.

Heck we can only get Comcrap cable to only carry 4 out of 7 Broadcast networks in HD. Whats the likely hood Directv or Dish will even consider us in 2006?

Heck we can only get Comcrap cable to only carry 4 out of 7 Broadcast networks in HD. Whats the likely hood Directv or Dish will even consider us in 2006?


Not sure but that's why I've got an OTA. :)

That said, I just ran an optical out to my receiver from my HD tuner. Problem is channel 13's sound seems to be off. Like there is an extreme echo coming from my rear channels. All the others are fine and sound great (NBC, PBS, and ABC). Was wondering if this was happening to anyone else?

---Kevin

I have noticed that KOB-DT's audio is not in sinc with the video. You can tell during the news for instance where the lips are slightly off with the audio. Has anyone else noticed this? This has been happening for a couple of days now. I've noticed this with my E* receiver but I haven't tried looking at KOB-DT with the TV's built-in digital tuner. I'll try that tonight if the problem is still happening. At least that will tell me whether it's the receiver or the station.

This is one of those technical problems still in search of a solution. It really doesn't matter what your receiving source is. Unless the telecaster repeatedly syncs, video and audio are probably going to drift.

Or so I've been told.

Sorry if I missed something, but has there been any info regarding the sale of CBS? Have the new owners taken over? Do the new owners provide the hd feed to cable companies or require a fee like Emmis wanted? News about 5.1?

I'd like to see CBS on comcast so that I can record it.

Yes, KRQE has been sold, don't remember the new owner's name. No they still don't do 5.1, dang it. Haven't noticed any lip synch problems on them or ch. 4-1. JR

Yes, KRQE has been sold, don't remember the new owner's name. No they still don't do 5.1, dang it. Haven't noticed any lip synch problems on them or ch. 4-1. JR

Nope, I haven't either. I only have that one problem KRQE and the sound of feeling like I am in a fishbowl.

That said, where do you guys usually buy your equipment? I've bought most of mine online but I think I am going to build a dedicated HT in my den with a projector. I'll be upgrading my receiver, dvd player, and speakers at the same time. Anybody go to Hudsons? I know someone that works at Baillios (SP) too so I may be able to get components at cost. I guess I need to run over there and see what they actually have. I am thinking that with this upgrade I'd rather be able to return the equipment to the source as it's going to be a rather large purchase.

And btw Jerry this is all your fault. If I didn't get that HD receiver I'd probably still be content with what I have!! :cool:

---Kevin

Jeff at Hudson's has been very fair to me...He sells Denon, Krell, some Bryston, B+W speakers, some Samsung TV's--though video is not really his thing--He's a good guy to work with, will do loaners, etc.

I knew they sold Denon and that's why I asked. I am leaning toward the 2910 DVD player and the 4306 or 3806 receiver. Do you know if they ask full MSRP or can you negotiate?

He'll usually give a little wiggle room...You may quote a price from local retailers....Just be polite....Jeff's a good guy.

Guys if you want some interesting info that may or may not affect NM HD Dishnet users check out this ... http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=51016&page=3 this is all from uplinked stuff not ava to dishnet users but it may be promising for those of us that are HD OTA deprived...

It's nice to know that Albuquerque, is becoming a like a real major U.S citys due to a city's size and of course the TV market size! :)

I would not's be suprised we may get high as top 35 TV market within next 5 years at this rate. :D

Look at Denver TV market's history, and even though it's took little faster than Albuquerque city's growing rate and beside denver is much younger than our which is 300 years old. :eek:

Who's know what next we might just get ourself a NFL team coming to our fine city!!! :eek: :D :D :D

Thanks to dfergie, for this fine posting reporting! ;)

1-4-06

Thanks to dfergie, for this fine posting reporting! ;)

1-4-06
NP :D I'm Staff there, and a member here and was born and have lived in NM all my life :) as I said in a post there, I liked the Denver news in the past, but after reflection I think Alb. would be a better fit for a MT feed for folks that do not get OTA and quailify for a distant... and being a D*hd sub too I could probably still get my LA Hd Distants...

And btw Jerry this is all your fault. If I didn't get that HD receiver I'd probably still be content with what I have!! :cool: ---Kevin


Just so you know, once you're hooked it never ends. If you can find one, I'd go with the Denon 2900 over the 2910. JR

USDTV - I cruised through this thread and saw some trashing on USDTV - I was actually considering the service seems how I'm only OTA and would like to get ESPN. Is anyone out there actually paying for USDTV? If so how is the ESPN feed?

Anyone having issues with audio on KOAT-HD during the Redskins game, particularly if you have a Comcast HD DVR or a Sammy OTA HD Receiver?

A friend called to ask if I was getting audio during the game (I have an HDTivo). I was fine, but he is not getting Dolby Digital audio during the NFL playoff game.

The odd part is that this behavior is effecting both his "Over The Air" Samsung Receiver, AND his Comcast HD box (he can tune to KOAT-HD on either). My first though was he was having a problem with his A/V receiver, but both TV receiver boxes are producing a DD signal and proper audio from other networks, which would seem to suggest that his Denon A/R receiver is OK. Its just a KOAT issue, but having it affect two different boxes is beyond bizarre.

To further confuse the issue, I am getting good sound from KOAT on my HDTivo! So it appears that whatever is not working fro my bud is specific to some digital TV receivers but not others.

One more item to confuse the matter; he was able to get sound via the Comcast's analog audio outs. Its just the DD signal seems to be affected.

This one is a real head scratcher. We spent quite a while on the phone trying to narrow this down, but unless I have overlooked something (not impossible) I am perplexed.

Brian

i've been having major problems with KOAT-DT 7-1 for the last several days. On Wednesday-Friday, I was having frequent audio dropouts (it was hard to find a 30 second period where the audio didn't drop out to silence while the video continued to display just fine, no tiling). today, i am back to the occasional "machine gun" sound about once every 30 minutes (so about 6-8 times per football game). Sometime in each 30 minute span, the audio drops from normal to sounding like a machine gun going off for about 2 seconds and then back to normal audio. I've had this machine gunning sound at that interval for about the last week or two.

the machien gunning sound doesn't happen on other station's services so it's specific to KOAT-DT.

I would rather have the machine gun occasional sound than dropouts every 30 seconds or less so at least KOAT-DT is tolerable again today.

I have a LG 5th generation tuner. my signal strength is full strength bar ("Excellent") so it's not like i'm having problems due to weak/low signal.

Thanks for the quick reply.

I too have noticed the occasional "machine gun", although I have not quantified it's frequency of occurence. I definetly heard it during the last quarter of the Rose Bowl.

Brian

Alright, I can tell ya that the Redskins game was only fed in stereo, not DD. The Jags/Pats game is DD.

The "machine gun noise" is something we are trying to locate and solve. This afternoon during the pregame is was terrible. We reset receivers, audio cards and decoders. It semed to fix it, somewhat, but not completely. It's driving me nuts too! And ABC said "I'll have the guys monitor the audio in HD" and "we were the first call about this". Meaning: it's not our (ABC) problem, it's yours (KOAT).

Now my opinion on the KOB out-of-sync audio: it appears that when they are in local break, somehow someway, they are feeding ther HD side the direct analog video, but the audio is coming thru the normal HD delay. But who cares, as long as the network HD show is on. What anyone does during the breaks means squat to me. I just wanna see the content.

BTW, seen all the national HD commercials lately? ANd the powers that be think there isn't a market for local HD commercials.

Hideftv

Thanks for chiming in...Glad to hear the machine gun is being worked on...Somebody could get hurt.....:)

Seriously. it's very loud and annoying, and I have been hearing it for over a week, at least. Sounds like interference from some other source.

i've been having major problems with KOAT-DT 7-1 for the last several days. On Wednesday-Friday, I was having frequent audio dropouts (it was hard to find a 30 second period where the audio didn't drop out to silence while the video continued to display just fine, no tiling). today, i am back to the occasional "machine gun" sound about once every 30 minutes (so about 6-8 times per football game). Sometime in each 30 minute span, the audio drops from normal to sounding like a machine gun going off for about 2 seconds and then back to normal audio. I've had this machine gunning sound at that interval for about the last week or two.

Ditto! Glad to see the problem's being worked; only noticed one audio dropout when I caught the last quarter of the game tonight.

The machine gun sound is not specific to KOAT. I just got back from visiting inlaws over new years in Las Vegas Nev and while watching the Notre Dame and Ohio st and penn st florida st we had the Machine gun noise just about once every 45 mins or so. So maybe not a local issue may be something with national feed.

The machine gun sound is not specific to KOAT. I just got back from visiting inlaws over new years in Las Vegas Nev and while watching the Notre Dame and Ohio st and penn st florida st we had the Machine gun noise just about once every 45 mins or so. So maybe not a local issue may be something with national feed.

it probably could be a national issue. IIRC, the ABC HDTV center in NY was being worked on or reconfigured a couple months ago (there was no ABC HD for the good part of a week during whatever that activity was). Maybe something in their new/updated config is producing that machine gun sound from time to time.

Alright, so I work at KOAT and can tell ya that the Redskins game was only fed in stereo, not DD. The Jags/Pats game is DD.

Thanks for that info. My friend called back to say that once the Pats game came on, he was good with audio from both of his sources. Clearly, there was something odd with the 2.0 encoding that messed up something at his end.

But I would like to clarify a point or two. Unless something has changed, ALL digital broadcasting is via Dolby Digital. The term "Dolby Digital" does not imply 5.1 sound, it simply means that it is a DD stream. It can be 1.0, 2.0, 5.1 or I suppose any other combination.

When I looked in on the Redskins game, I did not check to see what my AVR was doing. I was getting sound, so I did not look to see if my AVR was deciding into Pro Logic II or not. From where I was sitting, I would say it looked to me like the PL indicator was off, which would suggest that I was getting a true DD 5.1 signal, but I could be wrong.

Whenever I tune to station that is sending out a 2.0 Dolby Signal (KRQE for example), my AVR automatically engages Pro Logic II. I do not know if the 2.0 signal is somehow flagged as such, but my AVR does lock out Pro Logic as a possible choice when it gets a signal that is encoded as DD 5.1. Whether or not all channels are used does not matter.

So, I still think something funky was going on with audio feed from the Redskins game.

Brian

I was having the same issue last night with my Sammy OTA receiver. Mine was more like every 3-5 mins during the pregame and not as bad during the actual game. The Pats game was fine though.

USDTV - I cruised through this thread and saw some trashing on USDTV - I was actually considering the service seems how I'm only OTA and would like to get ESPN. Is anyone out there actually paying for USDTV? If so how is the ESPN feed?

So I think I'm one of the few in the area that is paying for this service. I know it's taken a lot of flack from people here but for me and the wife it works. As far as the ESPN and ESPN-2 feeds, they look fine. The are shown in 4:3 mode and in stereo. Since MNF is being moved to ESPN, I'm glad I do have it even though it won't be in HD anymore for me :(.

You can try it for 30 days and see what you think, and return it if you don't like it.

Spawnman

Not so Spawnman, ESPN-1 is giving up Sunday night football to NBC and I am sure they will broadcast in HDTV.

So is nothing is lost for free HDTV OTA, just a swapout between the pay channel and free channel.

As for the USDTV the picture quality is poor on KASY-DT due to the same bandwith to KNAT-DT's 5 sub channels as far I am concerned. :p

When the Star Trek Enterprise, comes back in HDTV reruns sindication I execpt KASY-DT to use the full bandwith for 1080i stream! :cool:

Still waiting for KOB-DT to makes up it's minds on what to do with their second sub channel and other than that not much else going here. :D

1-09-06

Not so Spawnman, ESPN-1 is giving up Sunday night football to NBC and I am sure they will broadcast in HDTV.

Right and ABC is giving up MNF to ESPN-1 and USDTV doesn't broadcast ESPN in HD. I'm a big fan of MNF so it just won't be the same watching "SNF" even though you're right, it should be in HD.

As far as Star Trek is concerned and KASY, I don't watch either.

Spawnman

Don't know who all this will affect; but, one of the reports from CES says D* will roll out the H20HD-DVR for the Mountain and Pacific time zones in general -- this year. Has to do with which satellites are doing what or something.

NOT -- that we'll be getting the MPG4 casts, yet -- but, the new boxes look trick including ethernet ports and networkable.

Well the machine guns were thankfully quiet last night for the 2 hours of LOST. I did have quite a few audio dropouts though. Around 3-4 in an hour episode short but silent. I was getting them all during the bowl games on multiple OTA receivers in our house.

You won't find many if any USDTV supporters around here, sorry. It is seen as a cancer that must be stopped before it spreads. You have you idea what it does to other receivers when you do an OTA channel scan I bet. :mad:

So I think I'm one of the few in the area that is paying for this service. I know it's taken a lot of flack from people here but for me and the wife it works. As far as the ESPN and ESPN-2 feeds, they look fine. The are shown in 4:3 mode and in stereo. Since MNF is being moved to ESPN, I'm glad I do have it even though it won't be in HD anymore for me :(.

You can try it for 30 days and see what you think, and return it if you don't like it.

Spawnman

You have you idea what it does to other receivers when you do an OTA channel scan I bet. :mad:

You're right! What does it do to other receivers?

All HD Tuners pick up the USDTV channels on a scan. Even if you try a manual channel add to try and avoid them they get added into your list becasue they are a substream of one of your other local stations (thus the cancer term).

You have to then go back into your set up and remove them one by one as you can't actually see them (they are scrambled) but they are now in your channel list. This is fairly easy on my Dish 921 receivers but I have a Viewsonic OTA HD receiver that doesn't have a manual channel delete from the list. I can block the channel but it still remains in my list making me go through 10 blocked channels just to get back around to the top of my list.

USDTV is a headache to the 99.99% of the rest of the OTA HD world. (sorry)

You're right! What does it do to other receivers?

Easy to remove from the D* HD box, as well.

KOB (NBC) is not broadcasting in HD tonight (Thursday), does anyone know why?

I was all set to watch Will & Grace Live last night as I had missed the last time they did this.

It seems like it was in HD for about 10 seconds and then POP, it switched back to SD. All night long it was like they were trying to get it to kick in but the old car just wouldn't start. Perhaps they have transmitter problems as this AM I was driving to work and tried KOB FM and it was like it was being broadcast from Panama. Very weak signal, lots of static.

KOB (NBC) is not broadcasting in HD tonight (Thursday), does anyone know why?

I was wondering the same thing last night. All the other channels were fine but Kob wasn't in HD. I figured it was something wrong with station and just watched something else.

So is everybody ready for some football? :)

I just sent Kob an email asking them about it. I also asked if it was fixed or if there was an ETR. If you all want to contact them the engineering email address is:

sanker@kobtv.com

Be sure to include your address when/ if you send them an email.

I'm wondering how long it'll take to get a response.

Here is my response from Sean:

NBC switched some things around yesterday on short notice and apparently we fouled up a setting. Gonna have to look at it this morning.


Sean

Does anyone have an opinion on this antenna - the LaCrosse model. A friend of mine is thinking of buying it. He lives south of the Costco off Eubank and he does not have line-of-sight to the crest. Thanks, Fred.

http://www.antennasdirect.com/MR_tv_antennas.html

I have the SR15 model..I live just below the Crest on the East side of the mountain with line of sight to some but not all the towers.

Antenna direct recommended a more directional antenna because of proximity to transmitters...your friend might try the same if the other one doesn't work out.

Has he tried others before?

Regarding the KOB problem last Thursday night, I go this email from Sean from KOB:

The receiver defaulted to the west coast feed after we reset it, which doesn't do us any good!

BTW, if you're interested in our Olympics coverage check out <http://broadcastengineering.com/newsletters/sports/20060113/?r=1&#>

Regards,

Sean Anker

New Mexico DTV Users Group
January Meeting
DEMONSTRATIO DEMONSTRATIO DEMONSTRATION
BRILLIAN 1080p 65 inch HD TV
By Rainer Kuhn, VP Sales & Marketing
Thursday, January 19th 2006
6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Hosted at the KNME-TV Studio
1130 University Blvd.
Albuquerque, NM 87102
This TV will read Native 1080p
HD-DVD Ready
Free parking available on site
For more information contact:
G. L. Dybwad, 296-9047 gldybwad@comcast.net
Or KNME Switchboard (505) 277-2121

You gotta love the support from comcast. When I asked about the addition of Universal HD to complement NBC's coverage of the Olympics in HD I got this response.

----------------------------------

Dear Mr. ,

Unfortunately, we do not have a date yet of when NBC will be offered in High Definition. Comcast is committed to deploying HDTV service. We are working to provide as many high definition channel broadcasters as possible. Here are some of the factors involved with expanding our high definition lineup:

-the negotiation and contract process required to obtain the rights to carry a specific high definition broadcast, such as TNT-HD and HD-Net.

-the increased bandwidth resources which are required

-the relatively low number of subscribers (currently only a small minority of customers have high definition compatible television sets)

We will continue to explore additional HD programming opportunities as more content providers make plans to offer their programming in HD format.

We appreciate the fact that you took the time to let us know what is important to you. We hope to expand our high definition channel lineup as fast as we can. Unfortunately we are unable to provide specific details regarding the launch of new channels at this time, please keep an eye on your monthly billing statement as the announcement of any channel additions will appear on those statements.


Thank you for choosing Comcast.

Sincerely,

Comcast Customer Care Specialist


----------------------------------


Anyone know a good Dish network dealer in town? How do people get the cables from dish outside to the TVs inside if living in an Apartment. I cant go drilling holes in the wall to get cables to all the sets.

You gotta love the support from comcast. When I asked about the addition of Universal HD to complement NBC's coverage of the Olympics in HD I got this response.


What email address did you use at comcast?

I bet there are a lot more people with HDTVs that they think. Most just don't know to use them to actually watch HD!

John

Bigglare -- does your apt. face South? All the cases are in hand for allowing sat, Dish or DirecTV into apartment complexes; but, there usually are regs specific to the property.

Ask your neighbors or check w/super 1st -- they may have jive rules or they may be easy; but, they have to cooperate.

Bigglare -- does your apt. face South? All the cases are in hand for allowing sat, Dish or DirecTV into apartment complexes; but, there usually are regs specific to the property.

Ask your neighbors or check w/super 1st -- they may have jive rules or they may be easy; but, they have to cooperate.

Your other option is to just put it on a pole on your patio (if you have one) and run the coax through the outdoor closet (again, if you have one) put the smallest hole you can in the wall and then when you move use some white toothpaste to cover the hole up. You'd be surprised how well toothpaste works. That's how I set mine up when I had D*Tv however; if you can't get the dish to point south there's little you can do.

In addition to the Brillian Demo, the sound will be provided by an $18,000 2800W NHT Xd digital active 5.2 system. www.nhtxd.com

I also have the Porcupine 5.1 mix of the year disc combined with the hot new DTS video/audio DVD sampler! It should be fun on multiple levels.