You should take a class on broadcast law. I did. It's been awhile, but what the CBS affiliate is doing is, if not illegal, not in keeping with the basis of their *borrowing* this spectrum. This is just one of the reasons I won't watch CBS. They've gotten fat and lazy and the FCC needs to start yanking licenses to get a little more compliance out of these morons.

When it comes to broadcasting, it's a socialist paradigm because nobody owns the airwaves, they're on loan *providing* that broadcasters look out for their audience. They no longer do this and the FCC has looked the other way. It's time for that to end.

You are talking apples and oranges. Yes, their OTA signal is on the public airwaves, but cable and satellite are a different matter.

Congress has SPECIFICALLY allowed local stations to charge for their HDTV signal rebroadcasts over cable and satellite. Lin just has too high an estimation of their own value.

LIN, imao, has found the value of their content. Cable One which many anti-LINners forget has signed an aggreement with LIN and does carry CBS-HD. As I always state, if Cable One can afford the carriage fee, D* E* and You-Know-Who should be able to. The Satellite carriers have the benefit of OTA tuners in their boxes which integrate local OTA with off satellite channels so theres less demand to sign deals. Cable boxes only have cable capabilities and at this point seems more a matter of a certain cable company refusing on principle.

Yeah is seems "unfair" to those who do not live in the ABQ metro area, and thus the legitimate viewing area that networks are concerned about, that they cant get the HD OTA. The broadcasters are covering the area that they are entitled to by their licenses based on broadcast power and locality for free. Anyone with a pair of rabbit ears or other antenna can view their FCC/Congressionally granted broadcasts provided there is a viable signal. If we could blame LIN for anything it should be for not using enough repeaters and transponders to blanket as much of the state with their digital signal as they do their analog. But then that could be said of any broadcaster.

Well not necessarily a DTV question. Why is it the morons behind the ABQ Journal put the TV section (HEY TV related afterall) in the Saturday edition and not the Sunday like 99.9999% of the papers in the nation? Then they dont offer just a Saturday and Sunday subscription offer? I don't read the paper during the week. I get it on saturday for the TV section, and sunday for the ads. But the journal only offers sunday only, or everyday. So I gotta get 5 worthless papers that will go right in the trash just to get the TV listings for the week.

Proves ABQ Media in general are pretty much worthless but for the rare exception (KRQE).

I wonder that to myself, why our local newspaper don't carry full sunday TV guide here in this market?! :rolleyes:

Anyway minor news update.......

KLUZ-DT has moved the sub channel of HSN "Home Shopping Network" from 41.4 to 41.2 thanks due to USDTV shutdown, but however the HSN's bandwith has not changed so the SDTV picture still looks crappy to say at least. :p

It would be nice to see Univision go HDTV to see some great soccer games and sexy latin babes games shows!! :D

Now back to TV Dxing!!

3-14-07

I like the Saturday Trib tv guide better than the Journal, but they also have the same problem.
JR

I heard that KOB has already gotten some expert in the field and they still can't seem to fix it. The problems is probably more than we know.

as long as they've paid a consultant or had the encoder manufacturer look at it, that's good enough for me. It shows they are trying to fix it other than just keeping on messing with settings hoping to find something that works.

Does Univision or telemundo have HD anywhere?

KOB is working in good faith in order to find the problem. Maybe if they charged a carriage fee they could afford a better consultant to fix their issues.

I still havent heard anyones feedback on the KASY-DT signal? I have all the digital channels but that one.

I've checked 4.1 the last couple of days and I didn't see any dropouts. I only kept it on this station for a minute or so and haven't watched a whole program on it lately. Anyone know if it's been corrected?

I see the dropouts on Comcast channel 211 but I don't see the received signal light go out on my OTA rcvr (tuned to 4.1) when the Comcast dropouts occur.

Does Univision or telemundo have HD anywhere?

I still havent heard anyones feedback on the KASY-DT signal? I have all the digital channels but that one.

AFAIK, Univision and Telemundo don't have HD transmissions. I don't see any HD distribution paths anyways (from the networks to their tv stations and cable companies). It's all SD bitrate distribution that I see on satellite for Univision and Telemundo.

and I'm still not getting any KASY-DT signal (I posted about this a week or so ago). My TS analyzer shows lots of continuity errors probably due to weak signal and on my spectrum analyzer, the signal looks quite a bit weaker than the rest of the other DT stations.

I've checked 4.1 the last couple of days and I didn't see any dropouts. I only kept it on this station for a minute or so and haven't watched a whole program on it lately. Anyone know if it's been corrected?

dropped out 3 times during the noon news for me (I watched between noon and about 12:40 PM). Watching off-air.

dropped out 3 times during the noon news for me (I watched between noon and about 12:40 PM). Watching off-air.

Not bad, only three times? ;) When it's not working for me, it drops out every few seconds.

Thanks. at least I know its not me. I think I will leave Stan Gill a voicemail over at KASY.

I don't know if KOB (NBC) realizes this, but they are losing ratings because of all their problems. For instance, last night I recorded the new NBC show "Raines" to watch later just to give it a shot. I started to watch it this morning and even though all of the guides that I use say that it's in HD, it was being broadcast here in Albuquerque in SD. I skipped over for a few minutes just to see if it went to HD and it didn't. I then deleted it. I will not be watching "Raines' anymore. No wonder NBC is the lowest rated network.

When Studio 60 premiered they did the same thing, I dvr'd then erased and didn't watch an episode... same thing with the Krqe / Lin / dbs providers deal... I watch Survivor, Ghost Whisperer and Ncis (from a better SD source) quit watching Cold Case, and the Csi's ...

I'm not sure what ch you recorded "Raines" on, but I saw it on cable in HD. I know KOB fails to air some show in HD because of Lotto and other "nonsense" but Raines was fine. Only a few dropouts too. I've watched Crossing Jordan for a long time now, however since the move to Wed, no more HD and it's beginning to tick me off. And the CW looked great in HD during Smallville!

I recorded it from the E* locals on satellite (6326). It was definetely SD but in widescreen where you see the black bars all around (top, bottom, right and left).

They forget to flip the switch on Leno sometimes also...

KRQE continues to be worse than worthless. They are not showing UK-KU, but because they are supposed to be showing it, it's blacked out on my alternative means of getting it. I wish KRQE did not exist. Anyone who works there should be ashamed.

I don't know if KOB (NBC) realizes this, but they are losing ratings because of all their problems. For instance, last night I recorded the new NBC show "Raines" to watch later just to give it a shot. I started to watch it this morning and even though all of the guides that I use say that it's in HD, it was being broadcast here in Albuquerque in SD. I skipped over for a few minutes just to see if it went to HD and it didn't. I then deleted it. I will not be watching "Raines' anymore. No wonder NBC is the lowest rated network.

I recorded "Raines" OTA. After reading your comment, I checked my recording. My recording is in HD. Maybe KOB messed up the feed to Dishnetwork.

I am unhappy with KOB not broadcasting "Crossing Jordon" in HD since it moved to Wednesday night. If they can't be bothered to broadcast HD programming in HD, then I'll probably stop watching it.

They forget to flip the switch on Leno sometimes also...

Sometimes? I would say a good 40% of the time they "forget". I end up switching over to Letterman when they do that.

I'm still unhappy about the KNME change too. When is 5.3 supposed to be live? They show it on their site but when I tune to the channel I get nothing.

I get 5.3 V-me now.

When the rest of the thread seems to praise KRQE's performance all the time I wonder what IM4UK is smokin. :-)

bigglare, KRQE is an impediment to content from CBS that I want to see. Even when I secure other means of getting that content, KRQE's rights to broadcast it cause blackouts, which prevent me from seeing the CBS content at all. It's not a matter of having a different opinion of KRQE's performance; it's a simple fact that they are far too often a barrier to the programming I want.

I'm still unhappy about the KNME change too. When is 5.3 supposed to be live? They show it on their site but when I tune to the channel I get nothing.

Oh they're up all right, and 5-1 is suffering because of it. First, they had to drop -1 to 720p, and then drop the bit rate even more. It looks about like dvd now, ugh. Jim Gale is quite upset over the policies he is forced to implement. I wrote the station programmer a letter stating my feelings about it all. I guess they want to be like comcast, more channels, more channels, get rid of hd! Bah.
JR

Multicast is the bane of anyone interested in quality HD signal.

They forget to flip the switch on Leno sometimes also... That only happens when they are running behind the network feed (usually on Fridays since the game is on before.) They don't have equipment to delay HD yet so they have to use the delayed SD. It's not an "asleep at the switch" situation. It's a "we don't have the equipment to do that" situation.

.....G

A few of us Albuquerque folks on a Tivo Series 3 forum have had problems with our Comcast cablecards recently which coincide with the local Comcast market's switchover to a new billing and provisioning system.

Specifically, all of us have lost some or all cable HDTV channels, e.g. Discovery HD, MTV-HD, Universal HD, etc. Unfortunately, I have also lost all my digital channels via my cablecards, although my Comcast digital set-top box in the bedroom is still working properly vis-a-vis the HDTV and digital channels.

So, is anyone else in this thread a Comcast cablecard customer? if so, have you lost any HD channels in and/or digital channels the past two weeks?

I found out the TVNewsday's website had a interview with CEO Vincent Sadusky of LIN-TV.

Interesitng to read......

http://www.tvnewsday.com/articles/2007/03/20/daily.1/

Let me know what you think of him? :eek:

3-20-07

Sounds like he's a smart businessman. Although I doubt he see's the full big picture for local HD news. I love Sportscenter, I even find myself watching HD news on DISH now. Get some more HD cameras for local coverage and you wont have to worry about blurry clips.

Always looking at the price per rating point and not looking for spending the cash now for the eventual point increase down the road. Which it seems like all the local broadcasters do.

Multicast is the bane of anyone interested in quality HD signal.

not responsible multicasting - it's not too bad for HD to multicast with a typical SD signal and add a very low bitrate-need SD signal (like traffic cam or weather radar or color bars where you don't have a lot of activity going on).

I was actually watching (recording) the new remastered version of Star Trek TOS and they (50-1) have been totally dead for about 2 weeks now.

Looks like the analog side is still running........

KASY HIGH DEFINITION. Maybe some equipment to show the full HD remastered trek on weekends.

Well I called Stan Gill over at KASY-DT. I left a voicemail asking when their transmitter will be fixed. I will let everyone know what he says when he calls back. He has always returned my calls as those who remember my raving about their customer service way back. Although it would be nice if they fixed their transmitters so we could have service.

Well I finally took the plunge and added Dtv to my DSL package. I ordered the HD DVR. I'm just hoping it will be as good as my Sony.

How many of you have the HD DVR from DTV?

This is exciting news from NBC who also led the way with the first episodic show in HD, Tonight Show. Let's hope the other networks will follow the lead.

Jim Gale
KNME-TV

TV Technology Email Newsletters :: HD Notebook

'NBC Evening News' Goes 1080i on March 26

March 21, 2007

Another HD milestone will be marked on Monday, March 26, when NBC News becomes the first network evening newscast to begin regular HD broadcasts. Reports earlier this month said that "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams" would take the HD plunge sometime in March. This week, NBC Universal confirmed it.

The NBC Nightly News will be adding new studio cameras, updated HD graphics and 5.1 surround sound to its HD-ready studio and set in New York. It will also be tapping into an infrastructure recently redesigned for the "Today" show, where the Nightly News will broadcast from the state-of-the-art control room.

While much of the field reporting on Williams' show will remain SD 4:3 for now, some of the most prolific remotes--such as White House stand ups--will be shot in 16:9 1080i, since NBC's Washington Bureau is already equipped with some HD cameras. NBC News said it expects to begin using HD gear in the field later this year.

While the evening move by NBC News is expected to put pressure on CBS News and ABC News to quickly follow suit, neither of the other two networks had any announcements yet regarding their own shows. (ABC's "Good Morning, America" has already gone HD, using Disney-preferred 720p.)

No word back from KASY yet. But now Im not getting KWBQ-HD either. Anyone else having problems with KWBQ?

A few of us Albuquerque folks on a Tivo Series 3 forum have had problems with our Comcast cablecards recently which coincide with the local Comcast market's switchover to a new billing and provisioning system.

Specifically, all of us have lost some or all cable HDTV channels, e.g. Discovery HD, MTV-HD, Universal HD, etc. Unfortunately, I have also lost all my digital channels via my cablecards, although my Comcast digital set-top box in the bedroom is still working properly vis-a-vis the HDTV and digital channels.

You're not alone. I'm a D* customer; but, Comcast is my cable broadband provider. They managed to knock me off the Web for several hours, last week -- all in the name of this switchover.

Took two tries to find someone at their CS who knew what the hell was going on - finally got their "old" facility in Canada - and she pinged my modem using the Mac address + a couple other stunts to get the system to log me back on.

During the whole process they wouldn't recognize that mine was an active account.

Last time I tried them a few days ago they were breaking up all over the place but I had moments of a signal at least.

No word back from KASY yet. But now Im not getting KWBQ-HD either. Anyone else having problems with KWBQ?

:rolleyes:

I'm just hoping it will be as good as my Sony.

How many of you have the HD DVR from DTV?

Well I finally took the plunge and added Dtv to my DSL package. I ordered the HD DVR. I'm just hoping it will be as good as my Sony.

How many of you have the HD DVR from DTV?

I've had it since it came out the end of last summer. There were a lot of software hiccups when it first came out; but, it's pretty smooth, now. I gave away my old HR10-250 and frankly wouldn't go back.

There' s group of a few hundred maniacs who volunteer for beta testing new goodies if you'd like to drop by http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=82 - just click on DirecTV - Cutting Edge, the forum at the bottom of the list.

D* has turned on the e-sata port. There are folks running multiple terabyte RAID arrays for storage. The ethernet port is live, too, and some are experimenting with streaming photos and music from their pc's. Video streaming isn't turned on yet.

When it turns on for the first time it will automatically download the latest national release and you should be up to date. If you have problems, check with the HR20 forum at the same address above.

If you have software problems, nowadays, it's best to catch it early. You can always reformat the system and download a fresh version of the OS. But, some of the biggest complainers hate to do that once they've acquired a store of programs to watch. I did it once back in the Fall - and went through a binge of watching everything I had stored, first. :)

No word back from KASY yet. But now Im not getting KWBQ-HD either. Anyone else having problems with KWBQ?

yep, KWBQ is AWOL for me, too. KASY still is AWOL (signal there but very weak).

I know KWBQ was working a couple weeks ago when I updated the Albuquerque digital television page (and KASY's snapshot on the page wasn't updated since I was getting continuity errors due to weak signal lock).

I hope both come back up so we can see if the are USDTV-less by now. ;)

USDTV has removed their satellite distribution feed (I noticed that a few days ago) and I found out they are charging $30 to upgrade the firmware in their boxes to be able to receive off-air digital signals without needing a subscription to USDTV to make that work.

I've had it since it came out the end of last summer. There were a lot of software hiccups when it first came out; but, it's pretty smooth, now. I gave away my old HR10-250 and frankly wouldn't go back.

There' s group of a few hundred maniacs who volunteer for beta testing new goodies if you'd like to drop by http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=82 - just click on DirecTV - Cutting Edge, the forum at the bottom of the list.

D* has turned on the e-sata port. There are folks running multiple terabyte RAID arrays for storage. The ethernet port is live, too, and some are experimenting with streaming photos and music from their pc's. Video streaming isn't turned on yet.

When it turns on for the first time it will automatically download the latest national release and you should be up to date. If you have problems, check with the HR20 forum at the same address above.

If you have software problems, nowadays, it's best to catch it early. You can always reformat the system and download a fresh version of the OS. But, some of the biggest complainers hate to do that once they've acquired a store of programs to watch. I did it once back in the Fall - and went through a binge of watching everything I had stored, first. :)

Thanks Ed. Good to know I can hook it up on raid config.. I think they are supposed to be at my house on Tues. Got Extra Innings too so I can watch Dice-K.// :D

Looks like KWBQ and KASY doesnt want any more viewers. I skipped smallville last night. I couldnt watch the ntsc channel last night. Itunes now has the remastered Star Trek episodes available for $1.99 guess I should buy them there.

UPDATE:
Seems like they are having technical issues and the black screen is what they are transmitting to avoid fcc fines. lol.

http://www.wb19tv.com/ForumPage.aspx?cwForumPage=viewtopic&t=41

Well KASY-DT and KWBQ-DT are both gone from the Comcrap HD lineup again. Oh well neither channel was outputting a signal so I guess it doesn't matter.

Those Comcrap bast*rds came out and connected themselves to my house without my permission. I was on the side of my house today and theres this grey COMC ST box on the side of my garage. Im tempted to call them and tell them to come remove it.

Oh ya comcast says they controll the box on the side of your house...had an installer come to turn on internet when i moved into my house and I had already "gained access" to the box on side of the house where all my wires where to set up my directv. the guy asked me who had been messing with it and i told him me, why? he replied well this is comcasts and you shouldn't be messing with it. I bassically told him what i thought of that idea and where comcast could take it. I am so glad to be done with cable company and their bull****.

It may be their box. but its on my property attached to my house which they did not have permission to perform any activity.

It may be their box. but its on my property attached to my house which they did not have permission to perform any activity.

it'd be funny if you cut the cable, uninstalled the box from your house and put it up for auction on ebay just for good measure. :D

seriously, I bet your homebuilder probably has some agreement with commiecast to install an interface box on your house (and the homebuilder probably gets some cut of your monthly if you had gone on to activate anything from commiecast).

it'd be funny if you cut the cable, uninstalled the box from your house and put it up for auction on ebay just for good measure. :D

seriously, I bet your homebuilder probably has some agreement with commiecast to install an interface box on your house (and the homebuilder probably gets some cut of your monthly if you had gone on to activate anything from commiecast).

In general, only a public utility has the right to attach a box like this to your home.

I think you'll find that contractors/developers consider Comcast as much of a pain to deal with as do the rest of us. It's highly unlikely there's any franchising kickback from the wonderful world of cable TV. They're about as tight as the telcos.

The caveat being - who knows what laws govern something like this in NM?

talked with the builders sales office which is still accross the street from me. They do not have any arrangements. Usually comcast will come out before closing to make those connections but shouldnt after closing. Then I got my past due bill for march and april. I turned in equipment and canceled service on march 6th yet they want to charge me still.

Guess who I have been on hold with for the last half hour waiting to talk to someone?

Gee, they dont have record of my equipment being turn in, since the serials were hand written on the receipt, they were never entered into their comcraptastic computers. So now I have to wait for a local supervisor to look into it and call me back. Also they are sending someone to disconnect their box from my house.

I see KWBQ-DT is back up. But still no KASY-DT

I'm out of state until Thursday, so I was wondering if anyone will check if KOB is broadcasting the national news in HD at 5:30? I will be returning Thursday and will change from ABC to NBC for the national news if it is in HD.

Yes I will be tuning in to see if KOB-DT pass along the NBC's news in HD. :)

3-26-07

Watching to see if the switchman is alive ;)

It's was mostly 100% HD studio shot, but pretty soon they will have it outdoor HD shooting camcorder before you know it! :D

The picture was looks good, but not perfect though thanks to the KOB's weather channel sub channel taking some of the bandwith away from the HD feed itself.

Other news I have noted KWBQ-DT was back on the air today, and also still no luck for KASY-DT though.

3-26-07

Thanks for letting us know.

Nightly news looked good in HD but couldn't watch it on KOB 4-1, was breaking up on the 622 (again).... Switching to Sat delivery via 129 (again)..........

They still have the nightly news? WOW that's great and it's in HD?

Nightly news looked good in HD but couldn't watch it on KOB 4-1, was breaking up on the 622 (again).... Switching to Sat delivery via 129 (again)..........

Me too. Looked good on the TV tuner, but was breaking up bad on the 622. the signal from the 622 has been working for about a week or so, but not now. Not sure if the new 4.01 update to the 622 will help fix any of that or not. I'm still at the 3.66.

Me too. Looked good on the TV tuner, but was breaking up bad on the 622. the signal from the 622 has been working for about a week or so, but not now. Not sure if the new 4.01 update to the 622 will help fix any of that or not. I'm still at the 3.66.

I have the new 4.01 update but have not been home to test it. :(

4.01 came down last night on my 622.

First impression, I now have a 100% signal on KOB 4-1 and no signal break up. Lets hope it stays that way for more than a week but looks good now. I have never had 100% on KOB. After a quick scan of all OTA I get 100% on everybody except for KASA and KWBQ and I get 92-96% on them. This from White Rock no less. One side note, looks like KASY 50-1 is back online as well.

The new PIP function works great, lots of options including the new side by side, not sure if you can adjust them to be totally equal in size or not, right now its like 60/40.

Local channels as well as the rest of the Dish HD channels now had the little "HD" by them so you can easily identify them (if you had problems) before.

From what I understand 5.1 Audio is now being output via HDMI as well instead of only 2 channel.

Looks good so far!

KASY-DT IS BACK!!!

Now is it KASY-HD?
[crossfingers]

...

The new PIP function works great, lots of options including the new side by side, not sure if you can adjust them to be totally equal in size or not, right now its like 60/40.

...

I tested this before I left town. You have to make sure that both stations using PIP are HD broadcasting in 16x9 and then you will have 50/50, otherwise you will have something else depending on the broadcast transmission.

Yeah, I got L4.01 last week, crashed first day on the Martha show before the noon day news and had to do a power boot but otherwise been pretty good... they also converted A&E and UHD to True Mpeg4 (look softer to me now but have not really watched that much)
;

My other 622 in the house is still stuck on L3.66. I turned in on late last night and tuned to 4-1 and got only 92% signal and dropouts galor. Very vey much improved reception with L4.01. I hope this box gets a software update today.


On a side note, last night we had some fun with the new enhanced PIP. Had American Idol as well as Dancing with the Stars on at the same time side by side. Both were perfect 50/50 split. The coolest feature is the ability to switch back and forth between the two and rewind as each is buffering at the same time. You can go full screen to one show, switch back to the other if something happens, and rewind to catch it all. As long as you use the PIP swap button you don't loose the buffer on either channel.

Very handy feature indeed, especially for football etc.

On a side note, last night we had some fun with the new enhanced PIP. Had American Idol as well as Dancing with the Stars on at the same time side by side. Both were perfect 50/50 split.

So when you do that 50/50 split, what sound comes through?

Which ever signal is selected (has a box around it). Then you can hit swap if you want to switch to the other signal and hear sound from it instead. You can then hit the position button and go full screen if you want with one of the signals all the while still having the second signal in the background buffering as well. Hit swap again and you go to the other signal with the buffer and you can back things up if you need to.

<BORAT ON>Veeerrryyy Niiiiiccccee!</BORAT OFF>

So when you do that 50/50 split, what sound comes through?

Has anybody here had small audio dropouts on their 622s over optical? Mine started doing this, unless it's my surround receiver, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Ok so I'm about to jump to Dish from commiecrap, but I have a question for current Dish subscribers. My living room is on the opposite side of the house from my electric box. I understand that dish installers put the dish in that location for grounding. So my question is, do they hijack, so to speak, the cabtv wire going into the house there to send the sat signal over or do they run their own cable across the roof and down the side of the house where the living room is and drill through? I am worried because I am planning on keeping commiecast for internet and basic package and will need to keep those cable runs intact.

Also anyone have club dish and want to make some money from my sign up?

They should do what you tell them to do with reason.

You have the right for a complete "new" cable run on the outside of the house. Interiors and attics are your responsibility or you pay extra $$$$ to someone. Grounding can be done to an outside spigot. If possible I would mount the dish as close as possible to your living room and run the wire straight down and into the living room as close to the TV as possible. As long as you have a good south exposure you should be good to go just about anywhere for the new dish. You can run cable underneath eaves as well as under ground to hide new runs if need be.

Oh and excellent choice in your new provider IMHO. :)

They'll run a new wire most likely. We've seen this pretty often. It's faster to run a new wire than trace down your existing ones. They want to be in and out.

I had my builder, Raylee, prewire for a dish to the back corner of my house to avoid having this big ugly dish on the front of my house. The installer from Superior Satellite expertly ran cables under the eaves and right down along the corner of the house to practically make the cables invisible. They did an excellent job.

If youre keeping Commiecrap for internet and use a wireless network just put the cable modem and your wireless router right in the garage where their disgusting cable comes into your house.

Call qwest, depending on your location you may get better speeds for less. Im out in all new developement off 98th and ladera, I get the full 7mbs down from qwest for only 36.99 a month. Cheaper than commiecrap.

I really have to say how much happier I have been with Dish than cable this past month. It is so nice to have my OTA locals right there in the same guide as those from DISH. No more having to switch to the TV's tuner from the paid providers box to watch CBS or CW or MYnetwork anymore. I think the only two things that would attract me back to cable will be when they finally sign with CBS and offer it, and the ability that if I want 5 HD boxes (wife decided she didnt want the old Tube TVs in the house anymore and we replaced them all with lcd hdtvs) cable will give me 5. Dish will SELL me additional HD receivers though for a price.

I had my builder, Raylee, prewire for a dish to the back corner of my house to avoid having this big ugly dish on the front of my house. The installer from Superior Satellite expertly ran cables under the eaves and right down along the corner of the house to practically make the cables invisible. They did an excellent job.

...

Just a bit of bad news. I ran into Todd at the airport and Superior Satellite is no longer in business as of the end of February as an E* subcontractor. We'll have to find another company. Why do the good ones go out of business?

DIRECTV has launched four more HD local cities. SURPRISE! Albuquerque isn't among them.

They are Greenville, SC; Harrisburg, PA; Jacksonville; and Spokane

That makes 53 markets that DIRECTV offers HD locals.

Just a bit of bad news. I ran into Todd at the airport and Superior Satellite is no longer in business as of the end of February as an E* subcontractor. We'll have to find another company. Why do the good ones go out of business?

Probably because Echostar is starting to get more strict with their installers after being fed up with too many bad installation and Superior probably wants no part of that hassle to lose money from Echostar for installations that Echostar may claim are done improperly.

Maybe thats why he offered to put up my antenna for ota for 200bucks. I laughed and did it myself. Thats business for you today. Contractor companies get paid by the number of jobs not the quality of the job. So the company that will do the jobs faster and more of them push the companies dedicated to quality out. Not that Im against it per se but look at walmart and target. how many small time department stores like that are left? Kmart got bought by sears, the little barber shops got ran out by Fantastic Sams and Great Clips.

Albuquerque was listed with 8 others to be lit up in April. Perhaps they will be with the other 4 that are scheduled in April as well. Its still March......

DIRECTV has launched four more HD local cities. SURPRISE! Albuquerque isn't among them.

They are Greenville, SC; Harrisburg, PA; Jacksonville; and Spokane

That makes 53 markets that DIRECTV offers HD locals.

Albuquerque was listed with 8 others to be lit up in April. Perhaps they will be with the other 4 that are scheduled in April as well. Its still March......

I asked that question about Albuquerque on another forum and someone responded that Albuquerque was in the next batch of four which would be next month. Don't know how accurate that is or what his source was.

Also anyone have club dish for my sign up?

I have two free Club Dish $50 gift cards for new first-time Dish Network customers (expire May 31st); PM me if you or anyone else want one.

I did an April webpage update (due to the fact the "cancer" is now also gone from our terrestrial airwaves and not just the satellite distribution feed as I reported a week or two ago).

Too bad KASY/KWBQ haven't taken a lot of their null pids bandwidth to increase their HD bandwidth (or even transmit HD video - I saw KASY wasn't showing MNTV's HD feed and I forgot to check KWBQ tonight to see if their Thursday night lineup was in true HD).

http://www.nmia.com/~roberts/albuquerque-hdtv.html

KWBQ has been in HD already even when the cancer was around. sure some times they have problems but they broadcast HD on an otherwise full time basis. Its KASY that isnt in HD.

Well I did it, have Dish coming for install Wednesday. Hope everything goes well, I have no idea what local installer comp is coming.

Well I did it, have Dish coming for install Wednesday. Hope everything goes well, I have no idea what local installer comp is coming.

Since you used Club Dish through Dish Network directly you will get Dish Network Service Corporation (DNSC) or one of their sub-contractors as installers. DNSC has the white vans with the large Dish Logo on the sides. They lost a lot of their sub-contractors recently so chances are real good it will be DNSC.

Is DNSC bad? I tried to go through a local installer, well dishpronto to a local installer, but I won't go into details but it was a miserable experience I do not wish to repeat.

Is DNSC bad? I tried to go through a local installer, well dishpronto to a local installer, but I won't go into details but it was a miserable experience I do not wish to repeat.

DNSC is good. We sell both DIRECTV and Dish Network and IMHO DNSC and its subcontractors (Superior Satellite specifically; but no longer a subcontractor) have the best installers overall. In fact we only use DNSC and its subcontractors for our Dish customers. They seem to have the highest quality training and standards.

Is DNSC bad? I tried to go through a local installer, well dishpronto to a local installer, but I won't go into details but it was a miserable experience I do not wish to repeat.

Not too bad except for they were too cheap or lazy to finish the grounding of my DISH Network 500 DP Twin when they installed it last October. They put in the grounding block but didn't ground it. Everything else was satisfactory.

Not too bad except for they were too cheap or lazy to finish the grounding of my DISH Network 500 DP Twin when they installed it last October. They put in the grounding block but didn't ground it. Everything else was satisfactory.

No excuse for that. Make sure you call Dish if you haven't already. It's important to weed out any techs that show a pattern of mistakes. I know there's no perfection in any company but as I said above I believe DNSC is good overall. DNSC also has Field Service Managers that inspect installations to help weed out any techs that are not cut out for the job.

Just noting new hardware.

My Apple TV trundled in, yesterday. Had cables ready and figured out which switches would do what in my moderately complex world. Hooked up and running in < 5 minutes.

Discovered I really shouldn't stack anything on top [duh!] and it was getting uncomfortably warm till I took my Toslink switch off and set it behind the unit.

Moved a stack of video podcasts and a few movies easily and quickly using my existing 80211.g router. I'm waiting for an Airport Extreme 80211.n router; but, frankly see no need except possibly for direct streaming of HD content.

Have it running at 1080i - max res for the Apple TV and my Sammy - and the few bits and pieces I've downloaded at 1080p look just fine. SD content looks as good as 480p to my unaided eye.

Doing a post about it for a few blogs for Monday morning and I'll put a link over here just so folks can see the photos I haven't gotten round to taking, yet. :)

I just noted that KLUZ-DT has dropped or tech problem on Home Shopping channel on 42.2.

Any ideas what are they going to do with their bit streams since USDTV died of heart attack? :D

I am hoping for America One network since they carry some sports for the summertime sced, like CFL and LLC.

I heard that station in El Paso is carrying the America One on their sub channel and would be nice to have one here too, provided that is not on HD channels to mess with the HD's bit rates.

4-1-07

OHMIGOSH!!! CBS-HD on COMCAST!!!!




April Fools! HAH HAH HAH

OHMIGOSH!!! CBS-HD on COMCAST!!!!




April Fools! HAH HAH HAH


Obsess much?

That was a good one! :D

Lee

Some good news!! :)

KNME-DT has restored 1080i for the time being, but the Spanish PBS HAS to go to KNMD-DT channel 9 IMHO.

The other thing about KNMD-DT needs some improvements by get rid of the same programing dupications on each sub channels.

They should put......

PBS East 9.1, PBS Create, 9.2, MHZ WorldVeiw 9.3 and Spanish PBS 9.4 in order and the next step get KNMD-DT crank up the transmitter power from measly 200 watts ERP to at least 20 KW ERP. :(

4-1-07

Bad news again......

KNME-DT has just went back to 720p! :(

They must be playing the bandwith bit rate.......

I guess we just have to wait and see what's happen next.

4-1-07

I sent KNME an email complaining about HD lite and management didn't even answer directly. One of the engineering dudes responded - with the official line about management decisions and hopefully in another couple years, blah, blah.

Too bad. I used to be able to point out KNME as the leading source for good HD in NM. Not any more.

Just tell PBS you will be withholding your contributions from now on.

Obsess much?

Me? No not at all.

Does anyone know if this is correct? I ordered Dish, I have two tvs one HD on SD. I asked for a 622 on the HD and even though I know the 622 can connect an SD as well I wanted a separate receiver for the SD tv so I ordered the 311 standard receiver. Now when I got the confirmation this is what it says:

Equipment: Dish 1000.2 KIT
DISH 1000.2 KIT
DISH 500
Leased VIP622 System

No mention of the 311, does anyone know if this is correct or should I be calling to find out what is wrong?

I sent KNME an email complaining about HD lite and management didn't even answer directly. One of the engineering dudes responded - with the official line about management decisions and hopefully in another couple years, blah, blah.

Too bad. I used to be able to point out KNME as the leading source for good HD in NM. Not any more.

I feel the same way. Everyone needs to WRITE them since they are required by law to keep all correspondence for the FCC to inspect. I guess we should call them the Late Great KNME; how the mighty have fallen.
JR

Update on Apple TV - I have this posted at a couple of places; but, this is closest to home:

http://homepage.mac.com/edandhelen/iblog/C605282913/E20070402091638/index.html

Does anyone know if this is correct? I ordered Dish, I have two tvs one HD on SD. I asked for a 622 on the HD and even though I know the 622 can connect an SD as well I wanted a separate receiver for the SD tv so I ordered the 311 standard receiver. Now when I got the confirmation this is what it says:

Equipment: Dish 1000.2 KIT
DISH 1000.2 KIT
DISH 500
Leased VIP622 System

No mention of the 311, does anyone know if this is correct or should I be calling to find out what is wrong?

Sounds similar to what happened to me when I ordered having three HDTVs, I got a 625(standard HD receiver) for one, and a 622 for the living room which only fed an SD signal to the bedroom hd. Seems like DISH is stingy with their equipment but wont say anything until the installer shows up. Then you're left with the decision, just accept it or send them away with no satellite. Which is one of my biggest concerns having switched to Dish.

The cable guys would happily rent an hd box for every tv in the house if I wanted one. Come to think of it they are still trying to charge me for mine even after cancelling my service. but thats a different matter.

The View is HD today on Koat...

How long has it been since you saw "The View"? It's been in HD for a while now.

A long time ;)

would anyone admit otherwise?

Does anyone have the 4.01 update on their Dish ViP622 yet? If so how are abq HD locals faring now? Any stuttering, or other problems?

Does anyone have the 4.01 update on their Dish ViP622 yet? If so how are abq HD locals faring now? Any stuttering, or other problems?

Have not gotten it yet. Did some looking on dbstalk and it looks like they have abandoned 4.01 for 4.02 and should be sent out soon.

Spawnman

See post #4559 & 4563

Does anyone have the 4.01 update on their Dish ViP622 yet? If so how are abq HD locals faring now? Any stuttering, or other problems?

Agreed about the fly-over shows in HD on PBS! My first exposure to HD was the documentary about praying mantises on DiscoveryHD. I sat up until 1AM watching it in utter amazement.

Sad to see some of that wow-factor being peeled away by greed.....

Lee That documentary was just rerun on DiscoveryHD on Sunday at 8 PM. Did you catch it?

That documentary was just rerun on DiscoveryHD on Sunday at 8 PM. Did you catch it?


Missed it..... Busy learning the ropes with my new HR20. Now, I'll be able to catch some of those programs that I can't stay up for.

Lee

KNME-DT has restored 1080i for the time being, but the Spanish PBS HAS to go to KNMD-DT channel 9 IMHO.
(...)
PBS East 9.1, PBS Create, 9.2, MHZ WorldVeiw 9.3 and Spanish PBS 9.4 in order and the next step get KNMD-DT crank up the transmitter power from measly 200 watts ERP to at least 20 KW ERP. :(

What's the deal with V-me on DT35? just because DT35 has more coverage area than DT9? It would definitely make the most sense to put V-me on DT9.

and on DT9, I agree Create should be there (drop the PBS DBS Sked feed since it's mostly a repeat of C-band/PBS National Sked East) but keep the C-band/PBS National Sked West feed since it's nice to have that 3 hour offset feed sometimes.

I just got a press note that said DIRECTV has launched Albuquerque local HD channels today.

I don't have a DIRECTV HD setup, so I can't verify, but what should be active is KASA, KOB and KOAT.

I would like to know what satellite the signal is coming down on (one of the Spaceway Ka birds or...?)

EDIT: Very interesting to note that out of the four cities DIRECTV added today, all four only had three out of the four big network HD locals added!

So far, I only see KASA & KOAT. Dealing with upgrading my WLAN; right now, and probably couldn't sort where the signals are from, anyway.

On a D* HD box, the menu used to show, for ex, 4, 4-1, 7, 7-1 - where the -1 is the OTA dig signal and the single digit was SD. Now, I see 2, 2, 2-1, 7,7,7-1, etc. KOB still shows 4,4-1 and the 4 is SD.

Can anyone tell me how to re-aim a Super Dish dish for my VIP-622? Apparently blown off track by recent winds, and I can't get any Sat signals.

OTA and all DVR functions are fine.

Trying to avoid a service call.

TIA

It should still be fairly close, unless it was really loose. The easiest way is with a portable signal strength meter you can take to the dish, but if you have two people, you can use the signal strength meter in the aim-dish menu on your 622. Two speakerphones help as well, so the person at the TV can talk to the person at the dish. Only move the dish in ONE direction at a time. Try compass direction first - i.e., rotate the dish and peak the signal on 110. Move in very small increments! There's a lag in the on screen meter, so wait after you make a small adjustment. Then, when heading is peaked, lock it down and move azimuth (look angle) to peak that. There is a third adjustment (skew or rotation around the disk center) but get the heading and azimuth peaked first. Check all three sats, and adjust one thing at a time to get them all peaked as best you can. It's a compromise.

.....G

Ok I figured this was the best place to post this question. This is for people here in Albuquerque who had Comcast HD service and switched to Dish and have the ViP622.

I just got Dish hooked up yesterday. I have the Panasonic TH-42PX60U plasma, which has a native resolution of 1024x768. The installer set the ViP622 to output in 1080i all the time.

Both my girlfriend and I were unimpressed with the HD picture quality on all HD channels. She even commented when we were watching HBO-HD and Leno on KOB-DT, "this is NOT HD".

I told her it was but I agree the picture quality doesn't seem to have that same bright punch that it did with Comcast, colors don't seem as vivid, and it doesn't seem as sharp. I don't get that "looking out a picture window" feeling like I did with the Comcast SA8300.

I am using the same HDMI cable that connected the comcast SA8300, and it is going into the same HDMI port on the TV, so the color settings have not changed, to my knowledge.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

I am hoping it something as simple as setting the 622 to output only 720p instead of 1080i, maybe its the way the 622 sends out interlaced images? I don't know, I know that with the SA8300 it would send out the native signal resolution. I am not home to try it out, but I will tonight.

Definitely set your 622 to output 720p. Are you sure about your TV's resolution? 1080i is 1080 vertical pixels and 1920 horizontal pixels and your monitor doesn't come near that. Heck 1024Hx768V isn't even 720p resolution (that requires 1280 horizontal pixels.)

.....G

hook up an OTA antenna and compare the digital antenna channel with the satellite feed. I havent seen any difference between the two.

Good morning, guys. I read elsewhere last night that some Fox Sports regionals are now in HD on Echostar. But last night, I couldn't find the channel (FSMT?). Can we get a Fox regional sports channel in HD here?

Its showing up in my guide on my 622 as an HD channel 364 FOXRM (Fox Rocky Mountain HD). Nothing on but elevator music and the Dish HDTV logo. Maybe this weekend something will be on.

Good morning, guys. I read elsewhere last night that some Fox Sports regionals are now in HD on Echostar. But last night, I couldn't find the channel (FSMT?). Can we get a Fox regional sports channel in HD here?

Good morning, guys. I read elsewhere last night that some Fox Sports regionals are now in HD on Echostar. But last night, I couldn't find the channel (FSMT?). Can we get a Fox regional sports channel in HD here?

I believe it's only active when there is HD content on FSN-RM.

Try during a Rockies home game for FSN-RM in HD on channel 364.

The Direct TV site says that it is now carrying 2, 4 and 7 as HD Locals. I see 2 and 7 but not 4--any of you have an idea when 4 will actually be there?

I even rescanned to see if it was my rig - but, it wasn't. I haven't a clue when KOB will have it together. The question is - do they?

On the other hand, the transition to mpg4 HD via sat seems to have happened pretty smoothly - as far as D* is concerned. The "big number" DMA's got to work through problems before us. Now, it's just a matter of whenever content finally arrives courtesy of our advanced local content providers.

I have my HR20set up with "native on" and switching speed with mpg4 is much faster than OTA switching. Certainly, that's a function of the hardware; but, I don't care. It's appreciated.

Thanks for responding. I figure if you don't have them then it isn't a problem with my system. I have the HR20 also and I am really hoping the MPEG-4 feed will not experience the pixelation I continue to see with the OTA broadcasts :)

I am also getting a MPEG-4 feeds on Directv here as well too......

But getting only KASA-DT and KOAT-DT and I think they are on 103*W "NET-14" transponder 10 at 58% on a KA band bird.

Is the right transponder or not?

Minor news......

I just noted KNME-DT has went back to 1080i but may switch back to 720p as still they are playing around with their's digital bandwith. :eek:

Other minor news.....

K43HW "Soon to be K28JT-LD digital channel 28 under CP at this time." is now showing America's Store Home shopping is off the air and telling the TV broadcaster to move their C-band dish to AMC-10.

America"s Store has merged with HSN. "Home Shopping Network"

However though K43HW can't broadcast HSN, due to a KFTA-LP channel 48 has the right to broadcast HSN.

I thought it would be nice if they carry America One Networkd since they carry some live sports. :)

K43HW is owned by Mr. Shaffer and is there anyway to contact the owner or just go to www.americaone.com and tell the americanone to ask K43HW-LP to carry their feed. :)

I think it's gonna to be interesting time this time of year..... :D

Now back to TV DXings....... :)

4-8-07

A little update:

I changed the ViP 622 output to 720p. It helped a little bit. I compared the pq between the HD locals on Dish and HD locals from the OTA antenna hooked up to the 622. I can see a significant difference, so this leads me to believe it is not an issue with the output setting on the 622 but rather the sat signal itself.

I still have the comcast sa 8300HD so I hooked it up last night to compare picture quality. I am really disappointed to say, that the pq between the HDs with Dish and HDs with Comcast is pretty significant. But even worse, the picture quality between digital SD on comcast and SD on Dish is night and day.

Bigglare, seeing as you have just switched to dish from comcast, when you look at the SD signal, can you say that it is the same or better than what you had with comcast?

I really wanted to love Dish, but if this picture quality issue continues I am seriously going to have to consider going back to ..... sigh ... comcast, with their crappy DVR, no KRQE HD, etc.

Does anyone know if this could be a satellite signal issue, or wiring issue? I don't think it is.

<snip...> I compared the pq between the HD locals on Dish and HD locals from the OTA antenna hooked up to the 622. I can see a significant difference, so this leads me to believe it is not an issue with the output setting on the 622 but rather the sat signal itself. I'm simply not seeing what you are seeing. The SD quality on my 622 varies from channel to channel (depending on compression, of course - pay channels PPV and movies are best.) As for local networks, the HD MPEG4 signals on sat are quite close to the OTA signals for the same station. Is that what you are comparing? e.g., Channel 6324 with channel 007-1?

.....G

Yes in that snip you quoted, that is what I was comparing, the OTA signal through the 622 from my antenna, with the MPEG-4 local HD channel 62xx. I figured this comparison would at least rule out the picture quality issue being caused by how my 622 is connected to my tv, since I would be viewing both pictures through the 622.

So the next question I have is, is there anything with my sat hookup, cable run, dish pointing, that would possibly cause me to have a worse picture than you or others here who don't seem to be bothered by the picture quality.

Check this out and see what you think of America One's program line ups http://www.americaone.com/schedule/April_MF_2.htm if so, do you want to see on analog or digital sub channel? :)

Their programings looks good and I think they should be on K43HW or they go digital on channel 28 K28JT-LD or some other local stations.

Now back TV DXings...... :D

4-9-07

I thought you guys might find this interesting to read....... :)

http://danielfaber.com/translators.pdf

Neat story to say at least! :cool:

4-9-07

The only, ONLY SD channel I watch is Sci Fi, and it is thousand thousands times better than when I had you-know-who.

Is anyone here capturing OTA HDTV on a PC and then trying to convert to MPEG4??
I have been attempting to do this for the past 3 months. I have been having audio/video sync issues in the MPEG4 files from the stuff I captured off KOB. I have converted 6 programs off other networks without any sync issues.

Since I have only converted a smalled number of programs, I wanted to find out if anyone else is having any problems?

Mr Crackers

Videoredo to remove commercials
x264 to create MPEG4 video file
NeroAAC to create MPEG4 compliant audio
MP4box to mux it together
(latest versions of everything)

They are just a touch softer IMHO but still good. They break up on occasion but not anything to write home about. Since I have never had Comcrap HD I can't compare. Perhaps the bitrate on Comcrap is higher than the Dish MPEG4 version and thats what your seeing or it could be MPEG2 vs MPEG4 compression differences. The defacto standard should be the OTA signal I suppose as this is the way it exist in nature.

Yes in that snip you quoted, that is what I was comparing, the OTA signal through the 622 from my antenna, with the MPEG-4 local HD channel 62xx. I figured this comparison would at least rule out the picture quality issue being caused by how my 622 is connected to my tv, since I would be viewing both pictures through the 622.

So the next question I have is, is there anything with my sat hookup, cable run, dish pointing, that would possibly cause me to have a worse picture than you or others here who don't seem to be bothered by the picture quality.

They are just a touch softer IMHO but still good. They break up on occasion but not anything to write home about. Since I have never had Comcrap HD I can't compare. Perhaps the bitrate on Comcrap is higher than the Dish MPEG4 version and thats what your seeing or it could be MPEG2 vs MPEG4 compression differences. The defacto standard should be the OTA signal I suppose as this is the way it exist in nature.

Yeah I think you are right about the bitrates, I think that is the issue in all of this. I do have to say that I think I was making a comparison between OTA HD locals through 622 and dish HD locals on a bad night for the dish HD locals, because watching last night the dish HD locals seemed just -slightly- less vivid than the OTA, not nearly as much a difference as a few nights ago when I compared.

BUT the SD picture quality is still VERY disappointing. Even on my 20" tube tv the SD looks awful. This I am afraid is just the amount of compression that Dish is using to cram ever more channels onto their limited transponders.

I just can't believe that more people either don't notice, or don't seem to care. Watching USA the other night the pixelation was terrible, moire patterns (I think that is what you call it), artifacts galore, and it wasn't even stretched. Sigh...

Since SD is still a good percentage of my viewing, and a majority of my girlfriend's viewing, sadly, I don't know that I can say Dish is the right answer for us.

Just a quick note re KOB4 mpg4 HD locals not rec'g for some D* customers - including me.

Had nice emails forth and back w/Sean Anker at KOB and everything sounds together at his end. Reasonably vanilla conversation w/D* CSR, this afternoon and they're sending a tech out to check my rig, tomorrow morning.

If there's something wrong at this end it has to be minute. Everything has run sharp since the day of the install and I'm showing 97-100 for 3 transponders on the 103 sat - which is what it should be.

Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune now in HD over on wonderful pay for carriage KRQE-DT! Noticed it looked sharp tonight and in the corner is a little Jeopardy HD logo!

Spent some time on the phone with Dish Tech support trying to figure out what is up with my OTA locals. Now not only KOB is breaking up and losing signal, but now KOAT is also doing it. It only breaks up though through the 622. Of course Dish says there is nothing they can do it about it. Advised me to change my antenna and contact the reseller I got the dish from and see if they would swap out the 622 to see if it's that.

I guess I will try tweaking the antenna somewhat but doubt it's that since it works fine with my TV tuner. Also I'm getting 89-91% signal strength on KOB and 90's on KOAT so there is not much room for improvement I don't think.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Spawnman - I would not be surprised to find out that the tuner in the 622 and the ATSC tuner in your TV handle multipath differently. I also suggest going back to the antenna.


.....G

would not be surprised to find out that the tuner in the 622 and the ATSC tuner in your TV handle multipath differently

Yea one works and one doesn't! :) I will mess with the antenna and see what I can come up with.

thanks

So, as far as I could tell, all of KOATDT's primetime shows last night were broadcast in SD.

Does anyone know if there was a reason for this? Is it possible to contact someone when these mistakes occur?

Maybe we could all get copies of keys to the control room to "flip the HD switch" since the local stations often seem not to care wrt HD.

I just spoke with Dan Brown and he told me that some equipment at the network (ABC) broke and so the programming was sent to KOAT in SD.

My big complaint is closed captions (CC).
I have a Dish VIP622 and a Samsung HL-S5687.
CC for HD and SD HBO/SHO/HDNet... works. Dish recorded CC for Fox and CW usually work.
CC for ABC/NBC via Dish use to work sometimes and CBS OTA most of the time.
Now not even CBS works for HD with captions generated by the 622.
They all work on TV2 output SD of the same show with captions generated by the TV.
I don't look at much live so I can't really say much about direct to TV but I think most work.
Is it the 622, Albuquerque, or the networks?
We know the 622 has the caption data (seen in SD) but fails for some HD.
There were some reruns in the last several weeks where even SD did not have it, blame nets.
I don't know about elsewhere in the country.
Love the 622 otherwise.
-Ken

Is anyone else seeing breakups like KOB on KOAT lately?

Is anyone else seeing breakups like KOB on KOAT lately?

Mine has been pretty stable since the last update (4.01). I used to have them all the time with KOB. I hope I didn't just jinx myself.

Any Dish users missing KNME-DT guide data lately?

Mine has been pretty stable since the last update (4.01). I used to have them all the time with KOB. I hope I didn't just jinx myself.

Just read that 4.03 is going out now. I'm still at 3.66 so maybe that will fix it if I get it

Spent some time on the phone with Dish Tech support trying to figure out what is up with my OTA locals. Now not only KOB is breaking up and losing signal, but now KOAT is also doing it. It only breaks up though through the 622. Of course Dish says there is nothing they can do it about it. Advised me to change my antenna and contact the reseller I got the dish from and see if they would swap out the 622 to see if it's that.

I guess I will try tweaking the antenna somewhat but doubt it's that since it works fine with my TV tuner. Also I'm getting 89-91% signal strength on KOB and 90's on KOAT so there is not much room for improvement I don't think.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

I got a 942 as a replacement for a defective 921 Dish satellite receiver about a week ago. I'm having problems with digital KOB OTA also that I never had with the 921. Signal strength drops to 0 about every 5 seconds then goes back to 90--unwatchable. I just replaced my roof antenna which didn't help. I've got a Sony HD DVR that has no problem recording digital KOB OTA, so I do have a workaround for this problem. The 942 and 622 apparently share some flaw in the digital tuner section that causes these constant dropouts.

Just read that 4.03 is going out now. I'm still at 3.66 so maybe that will fix it if I get it

Yes, I just got 4.03. I'll let you know if I have any problems with the local OTA stations.

It should still be fairly close, unless it was really loose. The easiest way is with a portable signal strength meter you can take to the dish, but if you have two people, you can use the signal strength meter in the aim-dish menu on your 622. Two speakerphones help as well, so the person at the TV can talk to the person at the dish. Only move the dish in ONE direction at a time. Try compass direction first - i.e., rotate the dish and peak the signal on 110. Move in very small increments! There's a lag in the on screen meter, so wait after you make a small adjustment. Then, when heading is peaked, lock it down and move azimuth (look angle) to peak that. There is a third adjustment (skew or rotation around the disk center) but get the heading and azimuth peaked first. Check all three sats, and adjust one thing at a time to get them all peaked as best you can. It's a compromise.

.....G

G: Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner..thanks for your reply!

I did not have time to mess with my dish--which. it turns out, is a Dish 1000, not a Super dish--before the Dish tech came on Sunday. For future reference, he told me that with the 1000, just tune in 119, the rest will be OK.

Thanks again for the help.

Dave

I am now running software version 4.03 on my Dish 622 and the KOB OTA digital station is VERY STABLE. Obviously Dish fixed sometime in their OTA tuner software. Previously KOB broke up every minute for me so I ended up watching KOB digital from the Dish satellite channel which was very stable. And I thought the problem was at KOB's end. The look of the menu on the Dish 622 is a little different also (at least for the program guide). However, I am still not getting KNME program guide info which would be nice.

Well I hope I get the upgrade soon. I'm still at 3.66 and never got the 4.01 so hopefully. Plus since I've talked to Dish tech support, maybe I'm on the list to get it sooner now??? Who knows.

Thanks for the updates though

Regarding the KOB OTA digital signal, I received this email from Sean at KOB with a little info into the situation...

We did finally identify a major contributor to the dropouts on our end and addressed it about two weeks ago. I’d like to believe that we’re rock solid but I still see a few issues every now and then. Now that the biggie has been taken care of it will be much easier to stamp the smaller bugs. That said, though, it’s always going to be a work in progress!

The Dish update does seem to have cleared up the issue for several folks. Now if DirecTV can just get their programming right...

Is the KNME Digital User's Group still meeting? I haven't received an email from them in some time.

Any Dish users missing KNME-DT guide data lately?
The guide for 35.1 aka 5.1 was only there for a few days or weeks. Gone before, gone now. It sure would be nice to get guide data for KNMD 9.1 etc. Dish does not want to show the encoded guide data, which can be good or not there.

I watch Nightly Business Report (NBR) on 9.1 at 4:30 PM and it was a mess yesterday -- continuous breakup. I usually only have an occasional dropout. The alternative is to watch 5.2 the next AM but the news gets stale. BTW, there are 3 sub-channels there but with no guide I won't see much of anything and the same for 5.1, which has lots of good, but unknown to me, programs. Guess I'm too lazy to go to the guide sites like national PBS (http://www.pbs.org/tvschedules/).

-Ken

Direct TV web site is saying locals are now available in HD.... but danged if they show up on my setup.. do I need to reboot or anything? :confused:

Yehy won't magically appear without the right dish and or HD box. Do you have all the right equipment?

Direct TV web site is saying locals are now available in HD.... but danged if they show up on my setup.. do I need to reboot or anything? :confused:

Yehy won't magically appear without the right dish and or HD box. Do you have all the right equipment?

Think so... getting the local HD channels OTA with a antenna attached to my Direct TV reciver ( HR10-250).... and getting all the other HD programming.. :confused:

Am I missing something?

never mind....need a 5 LNB and a new HD20 reciver... order in process...

Uh, don't rush if you're watching CBS a lot. They're not on board, yet. And it doesn't include KNME.

And there's a hiccup in between KOB and D*. Both seem to have their respective ends working - but, it still ain't producing content.

On the other hand, with the new dish and box, you'll be set for about 70 new channels, this autumn + external storage up to mass RAID quantities is already enabled [just don't tell the installer] + a few other non-advertised features. May as well get up and rolling, now.

Is anyone else as annoyed with D* as I am?

When I ordered DirecTV HD in September, the salesperson at DirecTV very carefully explained that, while they had Albuquerque locals in HD, not all programming is in HD...duhh. When they installed, they said that they would have our locals by the end of December. In January, it the said February.

Now that they have "delivered", they only have 2 HD locals. When I called D* they wanted to charge me $70 to send a tech out. So even when the do "deliver" its not everything, and not even what they claim.

But they took my $$ like they had delivered.

You must have reached the wrong CSR. :)

1. Your receiver is under warranty as is your dish and install. No charge.

2. The absence of the other 2 network locals lies with 1 channel who still feels their product is worth more than the other 3 [!] and 1 channel with an interesting technical problem wherein their hardware/software seems right on - D*'s hardware/software seems right on [since it's already delivering the other 2]; but, they're still not working together appropriately.

Without knowing details, I can't see any reason to have a tech come by. But, when you feel you're not reaching a competent CSR - call back and hit the menu choice for "cancel service" and that will take you through to Retention. Those folks usually know what's on.

Uh, don't rush if you're watching CBS a lot. They're not on board, yet. And it doesn't include KNME.

And there's a hiccup in between KOB and D*. Both seem to have their respective ends working - but, it still ain't producing content.

On the other hand, with the new dish and box, you'll be set for about 70 new channels, this autumn + external storage up to mass RAID quantities is already enabled [just don't tell the installer] + a few other non-advertised features. May as well get up and rolling, now.

Can still do the upgrade and utilize OTA until they get thier "stuff" together....correct? :o

Yes.

Minor news update.......

KAZQ-DT has restored their 2nd sub channel, but with a new channel called GOD-TV Network.

Other than that not much going on around here, other than the satellitetv talk that we been talking about on this thread. :)

4-13-07

2. The absence of the other 2 network locals lies with 1 channel who still feels their product is worth more than the other 3 [!]

More like three stations not worth what the fourth is worth and thus do not feel their product is worth 2cents.

CBS-HD offers lots of great hd programming NFL, NCAA, PGA, Two and a Half Men, Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, Young and the Restless. They are definately worth more than the rest in my book as far as reliability and performance. They havent lost their HD channel for days, They dont forget to switch between SD and HD during primetime shows, and they seem to be able to offer the show in HD when the network has it.

And yet, they can't get closed captioning on HD right. I've called numerous times when the CC isn't there and they assure me they're working on the problem but nothing happens. I'd love to watch their prime time shows like CSI in HD but I can't because I can't hear the actors very well.

Everyone watches what their taste and interest dictates. Most I've ever watched on CBS is 4 shows in a week. Ain't none of those showing up on this page, either. :)

Thanks for the tip Edward. I never thought about making them try to retain me. I was pretty sure that I still had some warranty left..

As for KOB, D* shouldn't advertise it until they have tested.

Big: I would definately like to see CBS come on line. They do have a lot of HD programming that I want. This I'm sure has been beaten to death, but what I don't understand is, from a local's prespective, isn't D* just increasing their market?

If I owned a bicyle shop and someone offered to do some offsite selling for me in return for using my bikes to bring people to his races, I'm not sure that I would be inclined to charge him a great deal of money. Especially if he spent big $$ building the track. I'm not convinced that having D* subscribers choose their competitors HD over KRQE's SD broadcasts is the best for KRQE.

Doesnt D* include OTA ATSC tuners into their HD boxes like E*? If so KRQE is already reaching out to directv customers in their audience.

Would you pay for a subscription to the newspaper if there was already a newspaper box on your front step and there was always a free paper sitting on your doorstep that didnt fit in the box? The satellite companies don't have much concern to step up and pay for KRQE since their boxes can receive it ota already. With Directv using Mpeg4 HD-lite why would you want to get your over-processed-over-priced hd locals from them when an antenna works fine? Oh yeah the satellite companies trap us with service contracts forcing us to keep them for a set ammount of time.

Yet we still blame KRQE that is giving us their signal for free provided we use antenna and can receive it.

Is the KNME Digital User's Group still meeting? I haven't received an email from them in some time.

Absolutely Fred. Check the board here a few days early; Jim usually posts an invite. See you there.
JR

Doesnt D* include OTA ATSC tuners into their HD boxes like E*? If so KRQE is already reaching out to directv customers in their audience.
Yes. Some folks, E* or D* prefer mpg4 > looking towards ending OTA dependence. Join one of the Dish online user groups. You'll meet folks who feel the same.

With Directv using Mpeg4 HD-lite why would you want to get your over-processed-over-priced hd locals from them when an antenna works fine? Oh yeah the satellite companies trap us with service contracts forcing us to keep them for a set amount of time.

Yet we still blame KRQE that is giving us their signal for free provided we use antenna and can receive it.
Since you don't have a D* receiver, your rhetoric ain't much more than cut-and-paste. My eyes see no difference between KASA and KOAT, mpg4 v. OTA. Most members of the dbstalk forums I belong to report the same in their DMA's. Do you see a significant difference between mpg4 and OTA with your Dish rec'r?

Having worked for a few local corporations and individual retailers who succumbed - for a while - to advertising at inflated rates via KRQE, I can say from experience the "value" received by the companies that foot the bill for your "free" service - just ain't worth it.

None of them advertise there anymore.

During the decade that I had only SD - and was able to receive the few programs I watch from the national networks via feeds from either coast - there was absolutely nothing I missed about not watching so-called local channels. I say "so-called" because they have little to do with local ownership or local content - excepting KNME.

The lobbying that moved political hacks to require "local" channels to be the source of network programming succeeded. Folks receiving network programs via satellite were forced to accommodate the demands of the national corporations owning the "locals" - or give up whatever amount of network content they watched.

My only choice, currently, is to watch CBS content via a "local" channel owned by a corporation in Rhode Island - or not at all. That gives me the same right as any consumer to complain or applaud the product. Fortunately, there will be more sources this year.

CBS is starting up a video-on-demand service via several internet providers. Sooner or later, it will be high def, as well. Since I'm already streaming content to my set from the Web, I'll be able to access that small amount of CBS content I enjoy - and won't have to rely solely on KRQE.

Big:
I live in a small rural town (Aztec) we do NOT get HD OTA. So there is no newspaper sitting at my step. And KRQE declined my request for the west coast CBS feed. I'm just plain hosed for CBS in HD.

Ed:
I couldn't agree with you more about the political hacks removing our rights. If KRQE gave me a compelling reason to watch their station, I would. Making a law compells me to watch the local affiliates or no network at all is an abomination.

By the way, KOB HD showed up on my guide tonight, but the tonight show listed as HD is actually in SD. I hope that it is progress. So assuming that KOB gets their tech issues ironed out, what so you suppose I'll watch, Leno in HD or Letterman in SD? hmmm

By the way, KOB HD showed up on my guide tonight, but the tonight show listed as HD is actually in SD. I hope that it is progress. So assuming that KOB gets their tech issues ironed out, what so you suppose I'll watch, Leno in HD or Letterman in SD? hmmm

I'm not a "stay-up" like y'all. I usually finish my 1st blog post for the following morning and hit the sack between 9 and 10 PM. Since pretty much all my TV watching is time-shifted/on demand, one of these days I'll have to record some of the late night shows and see who I like.

4HD showed up here, as well - of course. Their Saturday morning "Today" show is on a 1080i signal; but, coming in as 4:3 SD. Still, that's a matter of sorting out details and switches in Albuquerque. I'll send them an email in a minute.

And it probably is the station. The same is happening with KOB-OTA.

Have a mellow weekend.

I think Leno is sd on Friday nights here due to time shifting because of the sports show. Poor KOB can't afford a hd dvr I guess.
JR

Are there any stores in Albuquerque that carry home theater seating? I've been thinking about ordering the Coaster Studio series but would like to check out some furniture locally if I could.

For the folks who obviously stay up later than do I, just got an email back from KOB and they are working to sort out the Today/Leno/Conan timeshifting.

Update: Today Show was HD, this [Sunday] morning - on 4HD Sat

T. BTW, there are 3 sub-channels there but with no guide I won't see much of anything and the same for 5.1, which has lots of good, but unknown to me, programs. Guess I'm too lazy to go to the guide sites like national PBS (http://www.pbs.org/tvschedules/).-Ken

Here's the link to use for the 9.x channels:

PBS Sat Schedules (http://www.pbs.org/tvschedules/satellite.html)

Times should be in eastern time (subtract 2 hours for Mountain Time).

"PBS DIRECTV/DISH" is the 9.2 feed, "PBS C-band" is the 9.1 feed, and "PBS C-band" minus 3 hours makes the 9.3 feed schedule. There is also a search function that you can search for a known show to see when it airs on any of the 3 feeds (you'll have to time correct the 9.3 feed since it's a Pacific time zone feed and 9.1 is the Eastern Time zone feed).

For what it's worth. I got the 4.03 update last week for my VIP622 and it did seem to fix my OTA locals for Kob and Koat. I now can watch them and they are not breaking up and pixelating. KOB still drops everyonce and awhile but at least it does the same via my TV's tuner so I know it's not my setup but KOB. Also love the side-by-side PIP!! Very cool. Used it a lot this weekend.

Yeah, v.4.03 worked for me too. I can now get KNME which had big multipath problems here before, and when an OTA signal is lost, the Vip622 recovers gracefully instead of requiring a reboot. Big improvement to OTA reception, IMO. Side by side PIP and new HD logos in EPG and recordings is nice as well.

.....G

I cannot receive any OTA stations on my Dish 622 this morning. Anyone else seeing this?

Nope. OTA is working fine here on my 622 with the new L.4.03 software, Fred. There are other users reporting hosed OTA's. Check this thread (http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=94234) on SatelliteGuys.

.....G

guruka, thanks. There must have been something that happenned with the new Dish software load. I pushed in the power button and after it powered down and up the channels were there. I think I am OK now.

I found with 4.03 on the Dish VIP622 the closed captions scroll smoothly. Previously some stations would jerkily repaint each line as words were added. The signal strength of KOB DT OTA has improved a lot the last few days or is it 4.03?

However, the CC is still missing from all local 622 HD recordings both OTA and over the satellite. Sometimes there viewed in SD. The TV can see them with the same OTA signal. I have gone to satellite recordings of the SD (ugly) just to get the CC. Fox (House) and WB (Smallville) were the only local CC working via sat. The non-locals work fine. Getting too much backlog to record much in HD now, anyway. The need for CC depends on the actors and overwhelming background music.
-Ken

The need for CC depends on the actors and overwhelming background music.
-Ken[/QUOTE]

Hear! Hear!

And the locals paying attention. I sometimes wish we had some hearing-impaired people working in the engineering departments of the stations.

One of the items that progressed well in the HR20-700 - D* - has been CC. Though I rarely use it - relying on headphones when needed [see below] - I was up in the middle of the night coughing my self silly with this cold I'm battling. So, instead of using the headphones - didn't want to wake my honey when I turned the set on - I decided to try CC. Hadn't checked it in a while.

Worked very well - though I didn't try any locals. The typos are always worth a chuckle.

Speaking of terrible programs to try to listen to - try one of the current murder mysteries/cop shows on BBCA. Apparently, the "in" way to give the docudrama feel to a show in the UK is to bump up the background noise, traffic and street noise - to make it more realistic. And almost impossible to understand.

And the locals paying attention. I sometimes wish we had some hearing-impaired people working in the engineering departments of the stations.

Speaking of the engineering departments. Did anyone notice "Shark Tale" on Saturday night (KOAT-DT). One 15 minute segment was without the center speaker so we couldn't hear anything but background stuff. I recorded it so it was too late to call them when I watched it.

Yes the center channel audio was messed up on Shark Tale. I was watching it live and it glitched after the commercial leading back into the movie.

Anybody else have weird snapping/popping sounds during LOST last night?

Yes for a few minute or two but then returned to normal. At least it wasn't as bad as Shart Tale on Saturday (15 minutes of nothing)


Anybody else have weird snapping/popping sounds during LOST last night?

You're not supposed to smoke the seeds! :)

(sorry, it's this fey sense of humor)

Anybody else have weird snapping/popping sounds during LOST last night?

I thought those mushrooms at dinner looked weird........ :D

Lee

Anybody got a signal on 2.1? I don't have anything. OTA, Cable, or Analog.

Red Sox Yankees game is coming on!!!

Sorry to hear that, Kevin. Just walked in - and OTA sucks at the moment. Scrappy, in and out.

But, DirecTV's HD signal is loud and clear. I took analog off my Guide when they started carrying the HD transmission; so, I can't say anything about that.

It came on in about the middle of the 1st. Not in HD at first. But then about the 2nd it came on. It seems like they were getting a different feed though because they were not showing commercials and it said something about an L.A. station. Weird. Just glad it finally came back on and was able to watch the game. Great game it was.

And those sons of b's do not have a number you can contact them to see what's going on. Their number is the number for KRQE and we all know what trying to contact them is like.

It came on in about the middle of the 1st. Not in HD at first. But then about the 2nd it came on. It seems like they were getting a different feed though because they were not showing commercials and it said something about an L.A. station. Weird. Just glad it finally came back on and was able to watch the game. Great game it was.

And those sons of b's do not have a number you can contact them to see what's going on. Their number is the number for KRQE and we all know what trying to contact them is like.

There was a power failure, chances are you would never have been able to get through anyway with no power to the phones and all..

What's going on with KOAT? Picture is breaking up as bad as KOB used to. Is unwatchable via 622 Tuner and TV's tuner. Ended up watch crappy analog just to see what's going on. It does seem worse via 622 but it's also bad with the TV's tuner which wasn't the case with KOB. Anyone else seeing problems with them?

KOAT > HR20/D* coming in fine as digital OTA [720p] and via sat [720p] - though, broadcasting SD at the moment.

I watched "Dancing with the Stars" and "Boston Legal" on Comcast HD last night and saw no breakups.

No problems on either 622 last night on ABC. Didn't watch any KOAT this AM.

No problems on either 622 last night on ABC. Didn't watch any KOAT this AM.

Wow, maybe it's my antenna?? It's just wierd that it's doing the same thing that KOB was doing which seemed to get fixed with the 4.03 update for the 622. I guess I will have to tweak it or replace it.

Thanks all

I also watched BL last night on 7.1 OTA (using my 622) and had no problems at all.

I recorded Boston Legal OTA digital last night on my HTPC. Had bad breakups, and it was in SD. Realized it was a re-run anyways.

Boston Legal was not a re-run last night, it was new.

BL was a "repeat" of last week's episode which was pre-empted by the ABC special on the V Tech killings.

Since it was seen as a "rerun" by my 622 DVR and my brother's Tivo, both units were not going to record it, as they were set on "New episodes only."

I caught that in time, but then my DVR went berserk right as the Judge was reading the verdict....Oh well. My brother can tell me what happened.

But I guess the fault was not Dish's or KOAT's?..No one else had this problem?

Dave

I'm still lacking closed captions (CC) on KOAT HD even directly OTA.

KOB HD captions were back for Jordan and Medium night before last but in reviewing recordings of J over the last 2 months (unviewed) I found many times with no HD and/or no CC. Tonight the commercials lost sound for some of the programs--saves muting but still. This was direct TV viewing--the VIP622 was not getting CC on the MPEG4 sat copy but was on OTA, go figure.

Signal levels have been up recently but that might be the software, which is causing other problems for many with this receiver.
-Ken

Anyone else missing KWBQ-DT tonight? Its MIA for Smallville.

Also if anyone is interested Walmart at coors and the40 has the RCA hd-dvd player on their clearance racks for $375

Anyone else missing KWBQ-DT tonight? Its MIA for Smallville.

Yup, they are off the air, again.


John

I called the local WB station last night and they said it would be off the air until this morning. I responded to them, great the only night that I watch the WB and the digital broadcast is down.

Exactly.

I called the local WB station last night and they said it would be off the air until this morning. I responded to them, great the only night that I watch the WB and the digital broadcast is down.

Well, so much for it being off the air until this morning. It's still of the air at 6:25 on Friday evening. I have to admit that I don't know squat about all that is involved in getting a digital broadcast out. You would think that after all this time, they would have the necessary back-up parts to get it back up quickly. They only have about 21 months left before everything goes digital. Are they going to keep it off the air for this long if problems occur after 2/09?

They only have about 21 months left before everything goes digital. Are they going to keep it off the air for this long if problems occur after 2/09?

If the company wants to go out of business (at least here in Albuquerque), they will keep it off the air after 2/09.

The encoder/transmitter will be the moneymaker in Feb 2009, so if it's down, the station isn't making a dime and is losing money when you factor in payroll and other expenses that occur whether or not the transmitter is hot.

... just got an email back from KOB and they are working to sort out the Today/Leno/Conan timeshifting ... I see by searching that both edwardacampbell and fjerina have received back emails from KOB. I can not get them to respond to me.

Will one of you in this local ABQ group please comment on the technical issues I raise in my 3 emails to KOB copied below?

Thanks very much. Avio



Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 17:32:31 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Fwd: KOB-DT Digital Television: OTA Channel: 26-3 Yes / 4-1 No
To: sanker-kobtv.com
CC: mburgess-kobtv.com, dibrown-kobtv.com

Sean:

I spoke too soon. It was fixed, but it is broken again as of 6:15 p.m., Wednesday, 3/14/07.

At this time, OTA DTV 4-1 & 4-2 are dead again. Once again, I can get your signal on 26-3 & 26-4. It comes in perfectly at 1080i / 6:9 / Dolby Digital sound.

My last message, copied below, asked for an explanation. I received no email or phone response from Sean, Wayne, Mike or Diane. I would appreciate the courtesy of a simple, short response to my inquiry.

Thank you. [Avio]

=========
[Avio] wrote:

Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:52:30 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Fwd: KOB-DT Digital Television: OTA Channel: 26-3 Yes / 4-1 No
To: sanker-kobtv.com
CC: mburgess-kobtv.com, dibrown-kobtv.com

Sean:

It appears that KOB fixed the problem as of Monday evening, 3/12/2007.

I now receive 4-1 and 4-2 and do not receive 26-3 and 26-4.

Thank you. [Avio]

=========
[Avio] wrote:

Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2007 13:48:14 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: KOB-DT Digital Television: OTA Channel: 26-3 Yes / 4-1 No
To: sanker-kobtv.com
CC: mburgess-kobtv.com, dibrown-kobtv.com

Sean Anker, Engineering Dept, KOB TV:

It appears that KOB TV has an intermittent Over-The-Air (OTA) Digital Television (DTV) transmission problem with your Channel 4-1.

Is all of this a known problem to your Department? This is very inconvenient and confusing when navigating from DTV channel to DTV channel. Please provide an explanation for this problem and let me know when this will be fixed.

I previously received your OTA DTV signal perfectly on Channel 4-1. Within about the past 10 days Ch. 4-1 is dead Over-The-Air, but I can manually tune to Ch. 26-3 and receive your signal just fine. This is the second time this has occurred. The first time was about in early February, 2007. I called your night assistant engineer, we the discussed the problem, but he did not have a solution. The first problem spontaneously went away in a few days and Channel 4-1 reappeared in my Channel Manager. When the present problem appeared I called your night assistant engineer again, we the discussed the problem, and he suggested I called Wayne, your RF-Transmitter guy. I called Wayne at ext. 2449 a few days ago, and left a voice message for him, explaining the problem and asking for a call-back. I called in the early afternoon and his greeting message said he was in the office. It's been several days and Wayne has not returned my call.

At this time, when I try to manually tune "4-1" on my remote, I am returned to the previous channel. When I manually tune "26-3" on my remote, I see the digital TV signal of Ch. 4-1. I can receive your old-school analog "Air" Ch. 4 but I'm not interested in viewing your content in this mode.

My Samsung HDTV HL-S5679W (2006 model) has built-in TV GUIDE that downloads to my set every day. NBC Network and KOB listings appear at the 4-1 line item. In the on-screen TV GUIDE, when I'm tuned to 26-3, the line item appears as "Last Channel: RF-AIR."

Please let me know the situation.

Thank you,

[Avio]

By the way, here is my receiver set-up:
- Samsung HDTV HL-T5689S(2007 model) fomerly Samsung HDTV HL-S5679W (2006 model)
- Large roof mounted DTV antenna: VU-120XR VHF/UHF/FM
- Location: near Nob Hill, ABQ, 87106 (between UNM and airport)
- I currently receive the following DTV OTA Channels:
--- 2-1 (Fox)
--- 4-1 (presently dead), 4-2 (presently dead) (NBC)
--- 5-1, 5-2, 5-3, 9-1, 9-2, 9-3 (PBS)
--- 7-1 (ABC)
--- 13-1 (CBS)
--- 19-1
--- 26-3 (temporarily working), 26-4 (temporarily working) (NBC)
--- 41-1, 50-1

At least KWBQ-DT is back on the air. Now I have to wait until Thursday for it to go out again before Smallville.

At least KWBQ-DT is back on the air. Now I have to wait until Thursday for it to go out again before Smallville.

Exactly, I think there are a few of us that only watch the CW on Thursday nights.

I am one of the few, the brave.
JR

Anyone note any audio drop outs and pixelation last night during CSI?

How about during NASCAR this past Sunday on Fox?

I use a D* HD-250, which recently got a new SW downlaod (6.3d). I have my fingers crossed that this was a local issue, and that D* have not again screwed the pooch with a download that fixes some things for some users, but screws up OTA reception for others.

Brian

For sure last night on CSI Miami. Audio dropouts every minute or so. This was on a 622 so its was obviously a network thing.

Unusual for CBS as of late they have been pretty solid.

Anyone note any audio drop outs and pixelation last night during CSI?

How about during NASCAR this past Sunday on Fox?

I use a D* HD-250, which recently got a new SW downlaod (6.3d). I have my fingers crossed that this was a local issue, and that D* have not again screwed the pooch with a download that fixes some things for some users, but screws up OTA reception for others.

Brian

Well CBS closed captions were missing OTA HD on both the 622 and direct to the TV for the last week or more.
I think CW KWBQ was missing -- of course, only watch Smallville.
ABC KOAT HD CC continues to be missing.
NBC KOB HD CC works most of the time.
Having run out of space while awaiting my wife return from travel most of my recorded shows have been SD, which usually works but the picture looks ugly.
I've made use of the 3rd (OTA) tuner or the TV to sneak a peek at the shows.
-Ken

Ken - do the Dish HD receivers have an optional "Native On" mode?

I used to ignore the question; but, began experimenting with it a while back on my HR20 > and even though it slooows down channel switching : it does allow my TV to make SD look a heck of a lot better.

No native resolution on any Dish receiver that I know of and have not seen any talk of same.
Use the resolution of your set is the general rule.
Channel changes seem slower with the new 4.03 software--they may be checking more. But what is my memory worth?
-Ken

Hey Best Buy now selling 5" 4:3 and a 7" 16:9 handheld LCD tvs.

I have not been able to receive Over-the-Air KOB Digital TV Channel 4-1 since mid March 2007.

Instead I receive Digital Channel 4 on Channel 26-3. :(

Please see my prior post #4710 in this thread for details:

KOB-DT Digital Television: OTA Channel: 26-3 Yes / 4-1 No (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10418848&&#post10418848)

Do others in Albuquerque using OTA DTV reception with an antenna have this problem?

Thanks for your help.

Avio
Albuquerque, New Mexico

What you mean is its showing up as 26-3 and not mapping to 4-1 correct?

I just got a new 26" Samsung a few weeks ago that I am using for a computer monitor attached to my Dell. When I did an OTA channel scan KOB locked on @ 26-3 and 26-4 (Weather Plus). This looks like some type of anomoly with the specific HDTV tuner incorporated into the new Samsung TV's (which I believe you have as well) since no one else seems to be having this problem except for Samsung TV's.

So what do you mean you can't receive OTA KOB? You can (right?) its just not mapping to 4-1 properly? Beyond that I can watch the channel just fine with no problems other than mild annoyance over the correct mapping. It may be fixed by some slight modification to KOB's PSIP info but that would be up to KOB engineering to take a look at.

I have not been able to receive Over-the-Air KOB Digital TV Channel 4-1 since mid March 2007.

Instead I receive Digital Channel 4 on Channel 26-3. :(

KOB shows up on 4-1 & 4-2 for me on both my OTA HD boxes, LG4200a & VBOX150 PC controller. Last month it was on 26-3 & 26-4 for a couple of days, but then it went back to normal.

Mr Crackers

What you mean is its showing up as 26-3 and not mapping to 4-1 correct?Yes, this is correct.

... When I did an OTA channel scan KOB locked on @ 26-3 and 26-4 (Weather Plus). This looks like some type of anomoly with the specific HDTV tuner incorporated into the new Samsung TV's (which I believe you have as well) since no one else seems to be having this problem except for Samsung TV's.Very interesting... you're suggesting that it's hardware specific to the Samsung HDTV tuner. I have a Samsung HLT5689S (2007 model).

So what do you mean you can't receive OTA KOB? You can (right?) its just not mapping to 4-1 properly?I can receive OTA KOB, right. It's just not mapping to 4-1 properly, right.

... It may be fixed by some slight modification to KOB's PSIP info but that would be up to KOB engineering to take a look at.As you see from my original post #4710, I tried 3 phone calls and 3 emails to KOB Engineering. They seemed to fix it twice, but then each time it reverted back to 26-3 and 26-4. It's annoying and inconvenient. I can not receive their supplemental text programming, scheduling and call sign info when it's Channel 26-3.

KOB shows up on 4-1 & 4-2 for me on both my OTA HD boxes, LG4200a & VBOX150 PC controller. Last month it was on 26-3 & 26-4 for a couple of days, but then it went back to normal.So you have seen the problem too in the past... but it is not presently a problem for you. Very interesting. This is getting stranger and stranger. :confused:

Thanks ibglowin and MrCrackers for responding. Avio

ibglowin: I think you are right on when you say:

... It may be fixed by some slight modification to KOB's PSIP info but that would be up to KOB engineering to take a look at.I'm a newbie to HDTV, DTV, ATSC, etc.

I could tell by using these technologies that PSIP existed, I just did not know the name of it and the specs.

A quick research hunt produced the following:

The Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP)
is the protocol used in the ATSC digital television standard for carrying metadata about each channel in the broadcast transport stream of a TV station. ... PSIP defines virtual channels and content ratings, as well as program guides with titles and descriptions to be decoded and displayed by the ATSC tuner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSIP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_channel

Roadmap to the DTV Program and System Information Protocol
The Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) is the glue that holds the digital television (DTV) signal together. PSIP is an important standard of the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC), implementation of which is required by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for broadcasters in the U.S...
http://www.psip.org/

What is PSIP and why is it important to the DTV system?
The Program and System Information Protocol (PSIP) Standard, document A/65, is a collection of tables designed to operate within every transport stream for terrestrial broadcast of digital television...
http://www.atsc.org/faq/faq_psip.html

This was all very educational. Thanks for turning me on to PSIP. :cool:

Avio

For what its worth I deleted all my OTA on my Samsung yesterday and did a rescan just for the heck of it. Sure enough KOB locked on (again) for some reason at 26-3 and 26-4. :(

There is a USB port on my TV so if Samsung ever updates the TV software and it turns out to be a bug in the ATSC tuner perhaps it could be fixed as easily as that.

I suppose we need to be "squeaky wheels" here to have any chance of getting this resolved.

In earlier days, every time KRQE worked on thier PSIP stream, all the Samsung ota tuners in town would crash. I used to get the occasional call from Frank Lilley just to see if I could still see them. They appear to have it resolved now and I guess KOB needs to do the same.
JR

I’m having a problem with the time on my Comcast set-top boxes. I have two STBs both of whose times are about 28 seconds slow (I’ve checked the time against the NIST signal). This isn’t a really serious problem except that when I set the DVR on one of the boxes to start a recording on the hour, the program has already started which makes me miss the premise of some of the stories. I know I can change the start time manually to begin a couple of minutes early. But why should I have to?
I’ve asked Comcast to help me fix the problem but got no help. And the CSRs won’t let me talk to the technical people at Comcast.
Does anyone here have this problem?

Too many of the prime-time shows start 30 sec to a minute before the schedule. It would be easy to add a minute before except that there are other shows on the same and different channels. A dish HD and OTA user.

Another problem for me is that the movies often start exactly on time and in recording to DVD I like to get the opening with the guide overlaid and the credits at the end. TCM, while usually good has been running movies over the end--I guess to avoid most of 5 minutes of filler. That would not be a problem to eliminate from the recording but had I been trying for the other movie, I might have missed the ending. AMC is even worse but it is now only an exceptional movie that I would view there with all the ads and poorer picture quality. SD is mostly IFC and TMC with some Fox Movie and if I must FX. Hate the banner ads (except none for TMC).
-Ken

For what its worth I deleted all my OTA on my Samsung yesterday and did a rescan just for the heck of it. Sure enough KOB locked on (again) for some reason at 26-3 and 26-4. :(

There is a USB port on my TV so if Samsung ever updates the TV software and it turns out to be a bug in the ATSC tuner perhaps it could be fixed as easily as that.

I suppose we need to be "squeaky wheels" here to have any chance of getting this resolved.I spoke with Sean Anker, Engineering Dept, KOB TV today for about 20 minutes. He was well aware of the "Samsung Issue" that several here have referred to. He said that KOB has four Samsung ATSC receivers in-house and one of those four locks in on 26-3, 26-4.

Sean explained that KOB-DT uses the same industry standard PSIP hardware and software and that their diagnostics indicate that their PSIP settings are the same as everybody else. He said their Engineering Dept is confused too.

I mentioned that another forum member [ibglowin] had deleted and rescanned all his OTA settings. Sean was disappointed to hear that this did not fix the problem.

I mentioned that our newer Samsungs has USB firmware update capability. He thought that might be the answer. He promised to continue to watch for, and work towards, a solution to this known strange Samsung issue.

I felt that he was knowledgeable, cooperative and sincere in his approach to the problem.

Now what ?? :rolleyes: :confused: :rolleyes:

Avio

Avio,

Thanks for the update and for contacting Sean personally. I have called him a few times myself over the years with signal problems as well. Its good to know that they are aware of the problem but with that said it sounds like they are taking the stance that "everything is good on their end" so it must be something on the Samsung end. We need to contact Samsung support and make sure they are aware of the problem. Perhaps there is an update we can get.

I will contact them but we need to hit them with everyone who is having the problem as well so they know its not an isolated incident!

I have a Samsung SIR-T151 which I use strictly for OTA. It maps Channel 4 to 26.1. I also have a Sony SXRD which does not map channel 4. I key in 4.1 and the number 4.1 shows on the screen momentarily.

I just sent an email to Samsung. Here is the page for contacting them:

http://www.samsung.com/ContactUs/ContactUs.htm

Pick TV and then your model #. They didn't have mine up so I picked something close and then entered my model # in the subject field. Lots of room to add your comments.

I have a Samsung SIR-T451 that doesn't map 26's virtual channel. I can only watch KOB on 26. My EyeTV receiver maps it as well as my first generation RCA.

It would be interesting to see what Frank Lilley did to fix the Sammy problem at KRQE. Maybe he could advise Sean?
JR

It would be interesting to see what Frank Lilley did to fix the Sammy problem at KRQE. Maybe he could advise Sean?
JRjerrich: This is a great idea! :cool:

On behalf of the Central New Mexico Samsung DTV owners that have responded to this PSIP / Virtual Channel Mapping problem with KOB's digital signal not mapping from 26-3 to 4-1, would you be willing to contact Frank Lilley at KRQE and ask about how this problem was fixed?

All of us in this ABQ HDTV Reception Forum of AVS, especially yours truly, would be very appreciative. :)

It would seem that you being an advanced, long term AVS forum member would put you in a unique position to help us. We will understand if this request is asking too much because of personal, professional, time restraint, etiquette or other reason.

Thanks very much for considering this request.

Avio

Hi,

I'm using a computer with ATSC tuner card and microsoft vista media center software up in Los Alamos to record HDTV broadcasts. Everything work fine except for the program guide for some of the channels such as PBS. Is there anyone here in a similar situation, but figured a way to fix it for Albuquerque OTA channel line-up? There was a post on thegreenbutton.com on a registry hack to change your guide "provider id" but I don't think it'll work for NM.

I have a Samsung SIR-T151 which I use strictly for OTA. It maps Channel 4 to 26.1. I also have a Sony SXRD which does not map channel 4. I key in 4.1 and the number 4.1 shows on the screen momentarily.

Interesting. My Samsung HLS5086WX maps 4-1 and 4-2 correctly. It is a slightly older model.

Interesting. My Samsung HLS5086WX maps 4-1 and 4-2 correctly. It is a slightly older model.I previously owned a very similar model to yours, the 2006 LED light-source HLS5679W. It exhibited the mapping problem described in this thread. Sometimes it would map 26-3 to 4-1, sometimes it would stay on 26-3. My warranty replacement HLT5689S (2007 model) continues to fail to map 26-3 to 4-1... Weird :confused:

Avio

I recorded 6hrs of programming last week from KOB and received zero dropouts. Before last week i was getting 3-4 dropouts per hour of recording. Looks like the work they did may have fixed the dropout problem.

Mr Crackers

I had a few as I watched live but they were very short. Less than a second and the audio never went away. Progress.

Anyone else having problems with KASA? My recording of House last night is FUBAR.

Over the last few days I've had a low signal strength and frequent dropouts. All other networks report a signal strength of 95+.

Also I had no center channel audio (voice) for the first few minutes of Boston Legal, when is KOAT going to get it together?

I agree about KOAT and their audio people; they need to pay attention. KASA HD came in all right Monday with "24" on Comcast.

Hi,

I'm using a computer with ATSC tuner card and microsoft vista media center software up in Los Alamos to record HDTV broadcasts. Everything work fine except for the program guide for some of the channels such as PBS. Is there anyone here in a similar situation, but figured a way to fix it for Albuquerque OTA channel line-up? There was a post on thegreenbutton.com on a registry hack to change your guide "provider id" but I don't think it'll work for NM.

Just a follow-up to answer my own question: I figured to tell vista media center to use comcast Albuquerque listing instead of Los Alamos, which has full PBS DT line-up.

Anyone else having problems with KASA? My recording of House last night is FUBAR.

Over the last few days I've had a low signal strength and frequent dropouts. All other networks report a signal strength of 95+.

Also I had no center channel audio (voice) for the first few minutes of Boston Legal, when is KOAT going to get it together?

I recorded "House" but have not watched it yet. I'll let you know after I watch it (maybe tonight).

I havent posted much lately. I had a conversation at our local Walmart with some of their Stockers in the TV department. They have Analog tuner only lables on all their TVs including their SDTVs. They didnt know about the March 1st deadline for TVs to be digital and assumed if it was a tube it was analog.

One of them commented about comcast and CBS not letting them have their channel. I explained the situation commenting how all the other networks seem to be plagued with broadcast issues. While KRQE seems to reportedly have CC issues their HD broadcast, Picture and Sound are perfect every night.

Watching lost again amazed at the crappy gear KOAT has for going back and forth between SD commercials and the HD show and the often lag when the show gets back.

Anyways, I just want to say that if KRQE keeps up the good work I may fell compelled to send them 2 bucks a month as a tip.

Anyone else having problems with KASA? My recording of House last night is FUBAR.

Over the last few days I've had a low signal strength and frequent dropouts. All other networks report a signal strength of 95+.

Also I had no center channel audio (voice) for the first few minutes of Boston Legal, when is KOAT going to get it together?

I watch my "House" recording last night and didn't have any problems at all. I recorded from the OTA antenna. Did you watch it through the digital locals over satellite?

I recorded from OTA, with a powered indoor ant. I have an HTPC that (last I checked) was reporting a signal strength of rougly 80% on KASA and at least 95% on all other networks. I guess there might be some kind of interference on that spectrum where I am, weird. Was fine last week.

Last night I watched Ugly Betty on KOAT ch. 7-1 OTA via roof ant. The wide-screen HD signal was perfect until about 7:45. I got up for a break then at the commercial and when I returned to the room the program had reverted to Standard Def. When programming resumed at 8:00 with Grey's Anatomy the Hi Def wide-screen returned.

Avio

It would appear the local stations have cut personnel and costs well into the bone. Has anyone got the email contact info for the stations with these periodic glitches? Maybe if they got more email they'd give this whole mess a higher priority.

Set the DVR to record Leno, last night. Never watch any of the late shows; but, wanted to catch Richardson in HD.

Well, I think he looked presentable - for SD. The show may have started off in HD; but, by the time our governor appeared - it was SD.