This is the way most of the stations around the country are doing HD News today. You would not believe all the things that have to happen behind the sceens to make this work. Aspect conversion is the bigest isuse with some 4:3 and 16:9 material mixed.
JStigler

Why when the content that you have to have to show is in 4:3 do you not put the nice graphics on the side vs. leaving it black? ESPN-HD does this when their content is only available in 4:3/

I like black better, it's less distracting IMO.

I vote for black bars too.

WFAA may not have helped the test anything with VHF but the were the first in Texas (March 1998) to have their DT station up and running. And because their DT station interfered with heart monitors in patients at a local hospital. But like I said even after February 19, 2009 WFAA will still be VHF, as will a few others here in Dallas.
http://www.transmitter.com/curr1998/curr9803.html

I sent an email to Channel 27 regarding the problems with their digital broadcast. Hopefully they can straighten things out.

I sent an email to Channel 27 regarding the problems with their digital broadcast. Hopefully they can straighten things out.

Ditto

Channel 27-1 appeared again today :) 36-1 still there too!!

As far as digital TV over the air the FCC was the one that assigned the channels. The stations did not pick. Now later on some stations did ask to move to another channel if the channel was available. Sometimes several stations had to move to get the original one move to work. We had this situation in Austin.

WFAA is on VHF and will stay there. The final channel will be digital on 8 and digital on 9 will be KFWD. I think CBS goes back to 11 if that got approved.

My "personal" opinion and not that of my employer is UHF has turned out to be the better spectrum for the consumers.

Now to the black panels on 4:3. I am not sure the aspect converters we have will insert on the sides. This is the most complicated part of our HD conversion. If you look close you will see some errors in aspect conversion at times. When done correct people are normal size but when wrong they are either heavy or skinny. This will get better as people get more experience.

Keep watching and remember we are striving for excellence.
JStigler

My "personal" opinion and not that of my employer is UHF has turned out to be the better spectrum for the consumers.
JStigler

Is the cost of operating a UHF vs. VHF signal a big factor? No one is going to use a channel below 7, correct?

Locally, there are some applicants to build low-powered digital TV stations on channels 3 and 6. Otherwise, it doesn't look like anyone will be on those channels in North Texas after the transition.

Channel 27 is back. Hurrah.

http://www.tvnewstalk.net/forum/index.php/topic,672.msg6090.html#msg6090

screenshots of WFAA's new grafix.....AWESOME TO TEH MAX!!!!!!!!!

I just moved my antenna to the attic. I am about 36 miles from the Cedar Hill towers in The Colony. The guide lists channels 12-1(CBS), 12-2(UPN) and 12-3(Fox) but no information. I have seen intermittent signals for 12-1. I have not checked 12-2 or 12-3. Is anyone receiving these signals? Is this the signal for Sherman? I am just trying to figure out if I should try to do something to pick them up. The 12-1 seemed to be a duplicate of the signal on 11-1 which leads me to believe it is the Sherman channels. If that is the case I don't think it is worth $60-75 for me to buy a rotator since I am picking up everything else.

anyone else getting no signal from CBS'S QAM feed????? SUPERBOWL I NEED YOU

The picture was really good for the big game. My signal is absolutely perfect

WFAA HD News

I find the out of studio pictures to be very good, but the studio shots are not as sharp. They even seem a little fussy. I have three HDTV's and see the same results on all. The old SD studio shots were much sharper from my view point.

Anyone else noticed this?

just want to correct myself, the signal came in a little better around mid-1st quarter, then by the second it was crystal clear.

Guys, I just got my sony HDTV. I just hooked my el-cheapo rabbit ears/circle antenna that I was using before to the TV. I have the circle pointed towards cedar hill as indicated on antenna web. I did an automatic search and the TV added 4,5,11,13,21,27,33 and others like telemundo and some church broadcasts. It did not get 8. I looked and most channels are from 70-80% strength. There is a knob on the antenna, I am guessing that is gain??? Turning that can change the strength from 40 up to 70-80. What can I adjust to get channel 8? Do I need another antenna? Will a better quality antenna do the trick? I am from 28, to 30 miles from cedar hill. I also live in an apartment so an antenna in the attic is no go. I would also like to not loose the other channels that I am getting now. Thanks for the help, and sorry for the multiple questions.

WFAA channel 8 is VHF and the others are UHF. Your antenna must be able to receive both to get channel 8.

WFAA channel 8 is VHF and the others are UHF. Your antenna must be able to receive both to get channel 8.

I was under the impression that it is since it has rabbit ears, and also a disk. It is an old model, but it looks just like this. Well I cant post the link yet, one more post...

Ok, this is the antenna I have. http://www.rca.com/product/viewdetail/0,2588,PI700447-CI209,00.html?
Or an older model of it. Thanks again for the help.

I have no more insight. I still think it has something to do with the VHS not working. Channel 8 has a good signal. I get 100% on it vs. 95% on Channel 11 and 5, and 75% on channel 4. but even at 75%, I get perfect results from channel 4.

I have no more insight. I still think it has something to do with the VHS not working. Channel 8 has a good signal. I get 100% on it vs. 95% on Channel 11 and 5, and 75% on channel 4. but even at 75%, I get perfect results from channel 4.
Alright, well Ill look into a good indoor VHF/UHF antenna. I am guessing a better one than the one I have now, wont hurt the channels I already recieve and might boost my reception on 8. Thanks for the help.

okay, so help me understand--I have a DirecTV Tivo HR10-250, with an OTA antenna connected to it, and I am getting channel 8 in SD, with great reception....I also have a DirecTV HR20-700, which is picking up locals, via the satellite dish....I am not, though getting channel 8's morning newscast in HD on either television.....although I am picking up other HD programming on both televisions....

okay, so help me understand--I have a DirecTV Tivo HR10-250, with an OTA antenna connected to it, and I am getting channel 8 in SD, with great reception....I also have a DirecTV HR20-700, which is picking up locals, via the satellite dish....I am not, though getting channel 8's morning newscast in HD on either television.....although I am picking up other HD programming on both televisions....

Check to see if you are in analogue or HD mode on your TV tuner. Your Direct is not coming in from coax (I'm guessing) but on a direct line input. Is the antenna connected to the Tivo tuning through the Tivo or the TV?

Check to see if you are in analogue or HD mode on your TV tuner. Your Direct is not coming in from coax (I'm guessing) but on a direct line input. Is the antenna connected to the Tivo tuning through the Tivo or the TV?

No, to my knowledge, my DirecTV HR10-250 doesn't have an "analogue mode"....I am picking up HD content, via my OTA, on channel 8...but this morning's news was SD...the OTA is connected to the satellite receiver...

Hi all. I am in an apartment complex in Denton, and I can currently recieve all the local hd channels excpept WFAA. I have tried the Phillips version of the Silver sensor, and the another digital silver sensor (also Phillips) that includes a VHF and a 10 decibel amp. The amped antenna actually pulls in more stations, but still no WFAA.
I think the problem is I am not aiming the VHF antenna correctly. You just simply point the UHF in the directionlisted on Antennaweb, but how do you aim the VHF? Should both ears point in the specific direction of the broadcast antenna? Can someone explain how to do this, or point me in the right direction to look?
Thanks alot.

No, to my knowledge, my DirecTV HR10-250 doesn't have an "analogue mode"....I am picking up HD content, via my OTA, on channel 8...but this morning's news was SD...the OTA is connected to the satellite receiver...

Try pluging OTA directly into the TV.

WFAA HD News receiption

Tonight the in studio pictures look a lot sharper to me. I think they must have done some adjusting. Has anyone else noticed this>

My father and I are in Stonebridge and get every channel including WFAA 8 and 12-1-2-3 in Sherman. Even get fuzzy 10 nbc in oklahoma. Went to Home Depot and got everything. I believe the antenna was RCA 16 foot and a preamp. I get nothing without the preamp. In order to get WFAA the small of the antenna has to be pointed right at the antenna in Cedar Hill. It can't ge off, not even a little from this far away. Hope this helps.

Hi all. I am in an apartment complex in Denton, and I can currently recieve all the local hd channels excpept WFAA. I have tried the Phillips version of the Silver sensor, and the another digital silver sensor (also Phillips) that includes a VHF and a 10 decibel amp. The amped antenna actually pulls in more stations, but still no WFAA.
I think the problem is I am not aiming the VHF antenna correctly. You just simply point the UHF in the directionlisted on Antennaweb, but how do you aim the VHF? Should both ears point in the specific direction of the broadcast antenna? Can someone explain how to do this, or point me in the right direction to look?
Thanks alot.


Just to clarify the Phillips in question are the PHDTV1 and PHDTV3.

I also seem to have lost the KDFW-DT feed late last nite. Is anyone else having the problem with KDFW?

I got an email back from Guy at KDFI 27 today. He said that a few days ago they had a problem which required them to remove their PISP information. That's why we all lost the channel.

Mine came back 2 days ago, so it looks like they've got it fixed. Way to go Guy! :)

Does anyone think that my problems not recieving WFAA could be a tuner problem? I am using the internal tuner on my Sony KDF-46e2000. I just bought a Terk HDTVa antenna (that was the only decent one at best buy) I can now recieve a ton of digital channels. The TV picked up 26. The TV does not even see channel 8.X It does see the analog 8. What is the best way to orient my dipoles to recieve 8? I am in 76132. THanks.

Does anyone think that my problems not recieving WFAA could be a tuner problem? I am using the internal tuner on my Sony KDF-46e2000. I just bought a Terk HDTVa antenna (that was the only decent one at best buy) I can now recieve a ton of digital channels. The TV picked up 26. The TV does not even see channel 8.X It does see the analog 8. What is the best way to orient my dipoles to recieve 8? I am in 76132. THanks.

Try this link for aiming the rabbit ears. http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html
Also, which Best Buy had the Terk antenna? From the reviews I have read, it works pretty well.

The best buy at Bryant irvin and 20 had a couple. I am guessing I just dont get VHF very well inside. I can get 8 analog ok, but the TV doesnt even recognize digital as existing. I guess Ill give the channel master a try now. I hope putting it outside works ok, the only problem is that since my patio is to the west, it is going to have to aim through the same obstructions as the indoor antenna. It is also not going to have a height advantage either. Thanks for the help so far.

Channel 8 is hard to get. I can either get every other channel with one antenna position, or just get 8 by folding the antenna in half.

Well what a surprise. I was just playing with the antenna, moving the rabbit ears around and I happend to pick up a little signal. So it turns out, one diepole pulled all the way up, one set in the middle does the trick. Just a small movement either way looses the signal. Well I am happy for now.

Anyone know whats up with 112-1,2,3 on Time warner in the McKinney area(may be a north dallas suburbs thing).

Everything always came in fine on those 3. I had HDNET INHD and Universal HD. Now all of a sudden I only get 112-1. It seems to just run movies, but there is no station identification in the bottom right, so I don't know what it is.

My signal strength is at max, i just am not getting a picture. So either those channels are now encrypted or they are gone. Anyone know?

Does anyone think that my problems not recieving WFAA could be a tuner problem? I am using the internal tuner on my Sony KDF-46e2000. I just bought a Terk HDTVa antenna (that was the only decent one at best buy) I can now recieve a ton of digital channels. The TV picked up 26. The TV does not even see channel 8.X It does see the analog 8. What is the best way to orient my dipoles to recieve 8? I am in 76132. THanks.

If you are getting a good picture on analog 8, try manually dialing in 9.1 and see if you get a lock since their DTV is physically on channel 9.

Anyone know whats up with 112-1,2,3 on Time warner in the McKinney area(may be a north dallas suburbs thing).

Everything always came in fine on those 3. I had HDNET INHD and Universal HD. Now all of a sudden I only get 112-1. It seems to just run movies, but there is no station identification in the bottom right, so I don't know what it is.

My signal strength is at max, i just am not getting a picture. So either those channels are now encrypted or they are gone. Anyone know?

Those channels are probably now encrypted, since TWC started their new HD Tier, wanting an additional $5/month for ESPN-HD, HDNet, UniversalHD and InHD. They left DiscoveryHD Theater and TNT-HD on the digital tier.

This begs a question...outside of forums such as this, did any TWC customers get any kind of notice that this was coming? I heard some rumblings about it on forums, but there it was stated that your service would more or less be grandfathered in until you made a change to your subscription. Well, as of yesterday morning, HDNet was gone for me...although I am still getting the other 3. Needless to say, I am not very happy right now...I am not thrilled with he price increase, but the main problem I have with it is being blindsided. Looks like it is time to check out AT&T's broadband and one of the satellite services...

Randy

Like others have said, WFAA is hard to get tunned in. I talked to someone at Belo and he told me you have to be pointed with the small end right at the WFAA antenna. I had my wife looking at the signal telling me when it was in and out. I mean an inch one way or the other and you loose the signal. He said VHF the signal doesn't travel as far as UHF. I am good 50 miles away.

Those channels are probably now encrypted, since TWC started their new HD Tier, wanting an additional $5/month for ESPN-HD, HDNet, UniversalHD and InHD. They left DiscoveryHD Theater and TNT-HD on the digital tier.

This begs a question...outside of forums such as this, did any TWC customers get any kind of notice that this was coming? I heard some rumblings about it on forums, but there it was stated that your service would more or less be grandfathered in until you made a change to your subscription. Well, as of yesterday morning, HDNet was gone for me...although I am still getting the other 3. Needless to say, I am not very happy right now...I am not thrilled with he price increase, but the main problem I have with it is being blindsided. Looks like it is time to check out AT&T's broadband and one of the satellite services...

Randy

This is beside the fact that TWC's service has been abysmal so far. I thought comcast was a bit irritating, but it was paradise compared to TWC.

Since they took over, not only have they pulled this stunt, but their internet speeds are a JOKE. I know that there has been some transitioning of the network, but I have had a lot of outages, especially with the internet.

And the speeds are still nowhere near what I was getting with comcast, but the bigger issue is the latency.

I used to have one of the best connections when playing on xbox live, but now I consistantly have one of the worst. Once 3:30 or 4:00 rolls around and all the kids get home and start jumping on the web, forget it.

I can easily live without INHD and HDNET, no big deal, I will not pay to get them back. All it means is I will jump on FIOS or another option as soon as it's available. They have lost themselves a customer, it's just a matter of when.

Thing is I have no DSL option at my house, just cable. So unless I want to have a dish, plus cable internet, I might as well just stay with TW. FIOS is finally sneaking it's way towards me. Two of my friends have it...what a nice setup.

This is beside the fact that TWC's service has been abysmal so far. I thought comcast was a bit irritating, but it was paradise compared to TWC.

Since they took over, not only have they pulled this stunt, but their internet speeds are a JOKE. I know that there has been some transitioning of the network, but I have had a lot of outages, especially with the internet.

And the speeds are still nowhere near what I was getting with comcast, but the bigger issue is the latency.

I used to have one of the best connections when playing on xbox live, but now I consistantly have one of the worst. Once 3:30 or 4:00 rolls around and all the kids get home and start jumping on the web, forget it.

I can easily live without INHD and HDNET, no big deal, I will not pay to get them back. All it means is I will jump on FIOS or another option as soon as it's available. They have lost themselves a customer, it's just a matter of when.

Thing is I have no DSL option at my house, just cable. So unless I want to have a dish, plus cable internet, I might as well just stay with TW. FIOS is finally sneaking it's way towards me. Two of my friends have it...what a nice setup.

I hear ya...if I could get FIOS, I'd be all over it. I hear that it is a bit frustrating on the installation part, but once you get through that it is great. Unfortunately, that won't be an option in my part of the world. It appears that AT&T is offering the 6Mbps service where I live, cheaper than TWC, and you aren't sharing a node with anyone. And by ridding myself of cable internet, I can get DISH and an OTA antenna over the single cable feed that goes to my main entertainment area. This seems like a total no brainer, but it is still hard to pull the trigger...but I think I'll be making the changes very, very soon...

Randy

Those channels are probably now encrypted, since TWC started their new HD Tier, wanting an additional $5/month for ESPN-HD, HDNet, UniversalHD and InHD. They left DiscoveryHD Theater and TNT-HD on the digital tier.

This begs a question...outside of forums such as this, did any TWC customers get any kind of notice that this was coming? I heard some rumblings about it on forums, but there it was stated that your service would more or less be grandfathered in until you made a change to your subscription. Well, as of yesterday morning, HDNet was gone for me...although I am still getting the other 3. Needless to say, I am not very happy right now...I am not thrilled with he price increase, but the main problem I have with it is being blindsided. Looks like it is time to check out AT&T's broadband and one of the satellite services...

RandyI talked to TW this morning after checking my "lack" of HDNet. I was told it is part of HD package I have and has been reported to him as a temporary loss of feed. Supposed to be back on in the early a.m.Course.............check's in the mail too.......... :rolleyes:Afterhought....BTW,I still had INHD(possibly a different package than yours.)

I talked to TW this morning after checking my "lack" of HDNet. I was told it is part of HD package I have and has been reported to him as a temporary loss of feed. Supposed to be back on in the early a.m.Course.............check's in the mail too.......... :rolleyes:Afterhought....BTW,I still had INHD(possibly a different package than yours.)

I still have all three of the four stations that are now in the HD tier; all but HDNet. I'm just on the Digital Gold Package with DVR Service w/HD. I haven't turned on the TV since I got home today...it should be interesting....

Randy

edited for clarity... :)

looks like i've lost every channel (107-1,107-3, 108-1, 108-2, 108-3, 110-1, 110-2, 112-1, 2, and 3) but Discover HD........and lost starts tonight, so now what am i supposed to do? what could be the reason i'm the only person missing these QAM channels?

Those channels are probably now encrypted, since TWC started their new HD Tier, wanting an additional $5/month for ESPN-HD, HDNet, UniversalHD and InHD. They left DiscoveryHD Theater and TNT-HD on the digital tier.

This begs a question...outside of forums such as this, did any TWC customers get any kind of notice that this was coming? I heard some rumblings about it on forums, but there it was stated that your service would more or less be grandfathered in until you made a change to your subscription. Well, as of yesterday morning, HDNet was gone for me...although I am still getting the other 3. Needless to say, I am not very happy right now...I am not thrilled with he price increase, but the main problem I have with it is being blindsided. Looks like it is time to check out AT&T's broadband and one of the satellite services...

Randy
well that explains the loss of those channels, but does anyone know why i'm missing the locals in HD?

Does anybody watch KUVN-DT (23) 24-1 OTA? I would like to know the difference in quality compared to analog channel 23 OTA. I watched the USA vs Mexico game on OTA because I was recording Lost on satellite, and I definitely want better video. If the signal is a lot better then I might get a Hauppauge USB HDTV recorder. http://www.hauppauge.com/pages/products/data_hvr950.html

well that explains the loss of those channels, but does anyone know why i'm missing the locals in HD?

Are you talking about the local HD channels that were in the 800 area? TWC moved them to the 300 area. I guess they wanted to keep the local HD channels close to the local SD channels.

rudiger

Are you talking about the local HD channels that were in the 800 area? TWC moved them to the 300 area. I guess they wanted to keep the local HD channels close to the local SD channels.

rudiger

He is talking about getting the channels with his televisions QAM tuner. He is not using a cable box. 112-1 112-2 112-3 etc, represent the actual channel-subchannel the station is on. The cable companys simply remap these to what most people know as "the channel number". They are actually virtual channel numbers mapped to the real channel.

longhorns

I have never received discovery HD unencrypted, even in the comcast days. I still have 107 108 & 110 and all associated subchannels working. 112 is completely gone for me. My one television says no signal, but my other one says the channel is encrypted. So I am guessing nothing was moved, channels were just encrypted.

I would hope what is going on at your house is simply a mistake, and not a sign of things to come.

I still have all three of the four stations that are now in the HD tier; all but HDNet. I'm just on the Digital Gold Package with DVR Service w/HD. I haven't turned on the TV since I got home today...it should be interesting....

Randy

edited for clarity... :)I have it back.

I have it back.

I never checked last night...decided I wanted to not worry about it for the evening. I'll take a look tonight. I wonder if they changed their mind due to massive backlash, or if the rep I spoke with was mistaken. Either way, I'm getting pretty close to making a change, anyway...I think....

Randy

I never checked last night...decided I wanted to not worry about it for the evening. I'll take a look tonight. I wonder if they changed their mind due to massive backlash, or if the rep I spoke with was mistaken. Either way, I'm getting pretty close to making a change, anyway...I think....

Randy
I'm going to hold out until the end of the month and see if U-verse is up and going.If not,then it's D*or E*.But the problem with that is that I still have to get AT&T to come in and put a DSL line in.That means paying for a landline that we'll never use.

I got HDNET 112-2 and Universal HD 112-3 back. Still no 112-1

I am located in Grapevine, near Pool between Hall-Johnson and 26. I have a large outdoor-type antenna with many elements located in the SE corner of my attic. I bought it about 20 years ago, I think it was from RadioShack, in the $25-30 range. I have been using it for
normal OTA all this time, and get good pictures on the 4-13 channels, and fair ones on the UHF channels. Now I have got an HD (Panasonic) TV.
I can get excellent HD reception on 8-1 (98% signal) and good pictures on 4-1 and 5-1, although only at about 30-40% signal strength. But the problem is that I get zilch on 11-1 (it says unavailable, and is not detected with the channel scan) and on 13-1 I get the message "poor signal quality." The non-HD channels still come in very well. I have read through many of these posts, but have not seen anyone with a similar problem.
Many people seem to have trouble with 8-1, and get the others.
Mine is the opposite. I have tried tweaking the aim of the antenna, but it doesn't help, in fact
it usually results in lower signal on 4-1/5-1. Why can I get some of these HD
channels, but not the others. I have looked on AntennaWeb and it looks like all
the signals are coming from the same direction (151-154 °) and place (Cedar Hill?),
so it seems that if I can get one, I should be able to get the others?
I know I could try mounting the antenna outside, but I would like to try other
methods first. Anyone have any suggestions?
I also have a DirecTV dish roof mounted, and was considering putting a small
OTA antenna onto it. Is this worth while, and if so what are the suggestions regarding
which one of these types to get?

Thanks for any insight that can be offered.

TP

I live in The Colony and have a similar experience as you. I have an attic mounted antenna. I don't seem to be able to get 4,5,8, and 11 with similar signal strengths. No matter where I aim, one of them seems to be lower. Right now I am getting 11-1 at 100%, 8-1 at about 50%, 4-1 at 40% and barely get 5-1. In the short time I have been working with this I am beginning to believe I am experiencing multi-path or signals bouncing off of buildings, etc. I think the only way to completely resolve this is to get a rotator which will allow changing the direction of the antenna.

I am using a homemade version of a 8-bay bowtie antenna which is performing well. I even get the 12-1,2,and 3 channels at times even though their broadcast antenna is to the north.

Leroy

I'm going to hold out until the end of the month and see if U-verse is up and going.If not,then it's D*or E*.But the problem with that is that I still have to get AT&T to come in and put a DSL line in.That means paying for a landline that we'll never use.

As it turns out, my HDNet is back this evening...the first time I've checked in a couple of days. So I guess the rep was mistaken, or they just got a bigger backlash than anticipated. At least it is back...

As for DSL, when I spoke with them they said that you can get DSL without taking phone service, but it is considerably more expensive. Of course, you do have to have a phone line wired up, at least...something I don't currently have. But I believe installation of that was going to be free either way...I'm not absolutely positive, though, if that applies if I choose not to have regular phone service...

Randy

I am located in Grapevine, near Pool between Hall-Johnson and 26. I have a large outdoor-type antenna with many elements located in the SE corner of my attic. I bought it about 20 years ago, I think it was from RadioShack, in the $25-30 range. I have been using it for
normal OTA all this time, and get good pictures on the 4-13 channels, and fair ones on the UHF channels. Now I have got an HD (Panasonic) TV.
I can get excellent HD reception on 8-1 (98% signal) and good pictures on 4-1 and 5-1, although only at about 30-40% signal strength. But the problem is that I get zilch on 11-1 (it says unavailable, and is not detected with the channel scan) and on 13-1 I get the message "poor signal quality." The non-HD channels still come in very well. I have read through many of these posts, but have not seen anyone with a similar problem.
Many people seem to have trouble with 8-1, and get the others.
Mine is the opposite. I have tried tweaking the aim of the antenna, but it doesn't help, in fact
it usually results in lower signal on 4-1/5-1. Why can I get some of these HD
channels, but not the others. I have looked on AntennaWeb and it looks like all
the signals are coming from the same direction (151-154 °) and place (Cedar Hill?),
so it seems that if I can get one, I should be able to get the others?
I know I could try mounting the antenna outside, but I would like to try other
methods first. Anyone have any suggestions?
I also have a DirecTV dish roof mounted, and was considering putting a small
OTA antenna onto it. Is this worth while, and if so what are the suggestions regarding
which one of these types to get?

Thanks for any insight that can be offered.

TP
Texaspops,

I live off Hall Johnson between Pool and Parr. I had the exact same ordeal as you. Don't know if it is the area or airport or radio station at the corner of Pool and Hall Johnson.

When I had all my problems I had a very large antenna. I returned it for a much smaller Channel Master 3018 and also installed a Channel Master 7777 pre amp. I have not had any problems since.

I would suggest trying the pre amp along with your existing antenna. The pre amp is two pieces, one that goes in the attic and one that plugs into a power outlet or power strip near your TV. It requires two new small pieces of coax, one that runs from the antenna to the attic unit (approx. 2 feet of coax) and one that runs from the inside unit to your TV or Receiver (length depends on your AV setup). The Channel Master 7777 Titan 2 pre amp runs around $70.

You can also try a new antenna. A lot of people have had success with the Channel Master 4228, around $50. Fry's carries them but they are not always in stock. Even though it is only a UHF antenna it still picks up 8-1.

The cheapest and probably fastest option is to run down to Radio Shack and get an attenuator, $10-$15. This is cheap and fast but doesn't always work.

Hope this helps.

Like others have said, WFAA is hard to get tunned in. I talked to someone at Belo and he told me you have to be pointed with the small end right at the WFAA antenna. I had my wife looking at the signal telling me when it was in and out. I mean an inch one way or the other and you loose the signal. He said VHF the signal doesn't travel as far as UHF. I am good 50 miles away.

The Radio Shack Antenna Owners Manual says to point the "arrow" end away from the source and the "feather" end toward the towers (Cedar Hill). Has anyone else heard of this!?!?

The Radio Shack Antenna Owners Manual says to point the "arrow" end away from the source and the "feather" end toward the towers (Cedar Hill). Has anyone else heard of this!?!?

http://www.kyes.com/antenna/pointing/pointing.html

When I had all my problems I had a very large antenna. I returned it for a much smaller Channel Master 3018 and also installed a Channel Master 7777 pre amp. I have not had any problems since.

My antenna looks exactly like the picture of the CM 3018 I looked up
online. I think I will try to put it outside to see what happens, but it is too
big and ugly looking to leave it there.

I would suggest trying the pre amp along with your existing antenna. The pre amp is two pieces, one that goes in the attic and one that plugs into a power outlet or power strip near your TV. It requires two new small pieces of coax, one that runs from the antenna to the attic unit (approx. 2 feet of coax) and one that runs from the inside unit to your TV or Receiver (length depends on your AV setup). The Channel Master 7777 Titan 2 pre amp runs around $70.

I looked at several places online, but the all seem to be backordered!

You can also try a new antenna. A lot of people have had success with the Channel Master 4228, around $50. Fry's carries them but they are not always in stock. Even though it is only a UHF antenna it still picks up 8-1.

I'll do this if mine does not do much better outside. Or if outside is better, perhaps
I'll get a smaller UHF only for outside and combine it with the big one in the attic.

The cheapest and probably fastest option is to run down to Radio Shack and get an attenuator, $10-$15. This is cheap and fast but doesn't always work.

I am puzzled by this suggestion. I thought that an attenuator would reduce the signal strength. Did you mean amplifier?

Thanks for the input.

TP

My antenna looks exactly like the picture of the CM 3018 I looked up
online. I think I will try to put it outside to see what happens, but it is too
big and ugly looking to leave it there.
If your not going to like it outside then I wouldn't move it. I would go ahead and call the Irving Fry's and Arlington Fry's and ask if they have the Channel Master 4228.


I looked at several places online, but the all seem to be backordered!
That is unfortunate, but I bet it would solve your problem.....as it did mine. I ordered mine from www.solidsignal.com . It just might be worth the wait.

Yep, solid signal is backordered as well. Sorry.


I'll do this if mine does not do much better outside. Or if outside is better, perhaps I'll get a smaller UHF only for outside and combine it with the big one in the attic.
You wouldn't need two antennas. The Channel Master 4228 picks up all the local stations. I was just trying to warn you that the salesman might inform you that it is a UHF antenna. The 4228 picks up the 8-1 VHF channel.


I am puzzled by this suggestion. I thought that an attenuator would reduce the signal strength. Did you mean amplifier?
Just suggested it because sometimes a signal that is too strong (high gain) can cause the same issues as a signal that is too weak. I did not try this during my trials....that is why I posted it last.


Good Luck

Texaspops,

If you can, try to move the antenna to a different spot in the attic. I also have an attic installation and have found that certain spots in the attic provide much better signals than a spot that is 3 foot away. I tried to use a big VHF/UHF antenna without much luck here in MCKinney. I ended up using to antennas: a Radioshack U-75R for UHF, and a Winegard YA-1713 for VHF. I really like the U-75R since it is realatively small and easy to move around to get in the right spot. THe only drawback is it will not pick up 8-1.

An amp may not help much since you have a few stations at full power. I tried an amp at my place and it overpowered and lost more than it gained. I would make sure you can return it easily if you try it.

Good Luck.

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction for finding a list of QAM channels for Charter Communications in Dallas.

Thank you

Hello Everyone

I am new to OTA HDTV and was wondering where I could find CH 8 if i can find them at all. I live in Waco, and can currently get the following

5-1
5-2
11-1
13-1
21-1
23-1
27-1
29-1
33-1
33-1
39-1
49-1

Now considering I am in Waco, some 75 or so miles from the transmitter locations, I think i am doing fairly well getting what I do get, however there is no Ch 8 ; i mean i get a relatively weak analog version but no digital. I have read that they are found on 9-1 and then i'll see somewhere else that they are on 8.1, well i dont get em either place. If they are on 9-1 i wont get them because the local NBC affiliate here uses 9-1/9-2. So I was just wondering if anyone could give me a clue on what might be going on

thanks

chris
waco,tx

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction for finding a list of QAM channels for Charter Communications in Dallas.

Thank you

I get the standard def channels 1-99 and the high def channels in the 700-788 range. However, you won't see ABC on 788 right now.

I still have all three of the four stations that are now in the HD tier; all but HDNet. I'm just on the Digital Gold Package with DVR Service w/HD. I haven't turned on the TV since I got home today...it should be interesting....

Randy

edited for clarity... :)

As of last night, I lost INHD. I still have the others on my DVR. I got all but the ESPNHD on the QAM tuners before. I have not checked that yet. :mad:

Hello Everyone

I am new to OTA HDTV and was wondering where I could find CH 8 if i can find them at all. I live in Waco, and can currently get the following

5-1
5-2
11-1
13-1
21-1
23-1
27-1
29-1
33-1
33-1
39-1
49-1

Now considering I am in Waco, some 75 or so miles from the transmitter locations, I think i am doing fairly well getting what I do get, however there is no Ch 8 ; i mean i get a relatively weak analog version but no digital. I have read that they are found on 9-1 and then i'll see somewhere else that they are on 8.1, well i dont get em either place. If they are on 9-1 i wont get them because the local NBC affiliate here uses 9-1/9-2. So I was just wondering if anyone could give me a clue on what might be going on

thanks

chris
waco,tx

WFAA-DT is the only DFW digital station transmitting on a VHF channel. It is on"real" channel 9 which remaps onto channel 8-1 so 8-1 is what you will see. But since KCEN-DT is also transmitting on "real" channel 9 you will not get WFAA in Waco.
In 2009 WFAA-DT will move back to channel 8 so you may be able to receive it then with the right antenna.

As of last night, I lost INHD. I still have the others on my DVR. I got all but the ESPNHD on the QAM tuners before. I have not checked that yet. :mad:
i feel your pain man, i feel your pain. I'm now getting the locals with decent reception, but still no inhd hdnet or uhd. discovery and tnt i always get full signal, which is awesome. Saw signs and trapped in HD on TNT yesterday, and recorded sleepy hollow. lovin it

I am watching Star Trek tonight on OTA 51, and I can't believe my eyes, but I see ghosting and a rather lousy picture. I double checked my tuner to make I wasn't pulling in the analog channel by some chance, but the tuner was on HD. Does anybody else see this, or are my eyes going bad???

I am watching Star Trek tonight on OTA 51, and I can't believe my eyes, but I see ghosting and a rather lousy picture. I double checked my tuner to make I wasn't pulling in the analog channel by some chance, but the tuner was on HD. Does anybody else see this, or are my eyes going bad???

star trek is not shown in HD.

star trek is not shown in HD.

I know that, but you still shouldn't see ghosting on a digital channel. The ghosting is still there during the 10:00 episode, which was played last week at 9:00, and which I recorded. The one I recorded last week looks fine. I recorded the 9:00 episode tonight and just looked at the transport stream; the ghosting is present. Amazing...

The picture still looks terrible on 51. It's almost as if they are feeding the 51 transmitter by tuning in the 52 analog signal over a badly-aimed antenna...

I am watching Star Trek tonight on OTA 51, and I can't believe my eyes, but I see ghosting and a rather lousy picture. I double checked my tuner to make I wasn't pulling in the analog channel by some chance, but the tuner was on HD. Does anybody else see this, or are my eyes going bad???

It's not your eyes or even your equipment/reception. I'm seeing the same ghosting as well. Once the second hour episode began (which is a repeat of last weeks 1st hour pgm) I compared the same scene and this weeks broadcast if definitely substandard compared to what it was last week.

It's not your eyes or even your equipment/reception. I'm seeing the same ghosting as well. Once the second hour episode began (which is a repeat of last weeks 1st hour pgm) I compared the same scene and this weeks broadcast if definitely substandard compared to what it was last week.

The signal on KFWD-DT has never been real clear. It looks like (but I don't know for a fact) that the analog signal of KFWD is fed into their digital transmitter. It's a sign that the owners of the station simply don't care about their digital signal. It's there because it has to be there. My guess is that this won't change until the analog shut off day in 2009.

I get the standard def channels 1-99 and the high def channels in the 700-788 range. However, you won't see ABC on 788 right now.


I meant more like:

83.11 - CBS HD
100.1 - Discovery HD Theater
100.2 - FOX HD
106.5 - NBC HD

Maybe I was not clear in my original post. Will I still not be able to tune ABC? What about The CW? And PBS? My cable signal strength is not very good and when I perform a QAM (I think) scan, it does not recognize the same channels every time.

After reading a lot of material on antenna usage, I decided to
relocate my existing antenna in the attic. I had it in the far SE corner,
and it was close to the rafters, decking, shingles and joists. I put it there originally because I was told somehow that it should be as close to the transmitters as possible.

Anyway, I moved it high up near the ridge in the middle of the attic, away from the structural materials, but still pointed to the SE at 154°. It was a success! Now I get
strong signals on the channels I was missing before, 11-1, 13-1, and some
of the higher ones that were also weak previously. Thanks for all the suggestions.
I can also get weak signals on some channels not in the DFW area, ie 34.

It is amazing how much difference the small relocation of the antenna makes.


Out of curiousity, I have one other question: I know that 8-1 is really on 9, and 11-1 is really on a high UHF channel, but where are 8-2, and 8-3? They are not listed
on the antennaweb site.

Again, I appreciate the advice and responses from the readers of this site.

TP

8-1, 8-2 and 8-3 are all on "real" channel 9, they are subchannels and share the bandwidth.

It's a sign that the owners of the station simply don't care about their digital signal. It's there because it has to be there. My guess is that this won't change until the analog shut off day in 2009.

Unfortunately, it seems that 52 isn't the only one with that attitude. 21 can't seem to figure out how to produce quality sound on a regular basis, and 27 just disappears for days at a time (somtimes you can get it by accessing 36 directly).

yeah Irving was out, so i drove to arlington and they had 4 in stock. I bought one. kinda hard to find though, i hate that Fry's its really messy and unorganized. Just go to where the telephone section where they normally keep channel masters. The shelves will be empty but you'll see the tags on the shelf and large mounting poles on the side, now go further down the aisle on the other side of cash register and there will be 3 normal looking cardboard boxes (not the white box that other channel masters are in) leaning against the pole/aisle. Look on the sticker and it will say Channel Master 4228. I actually found them by mistake, one of the guys that works there said that it showed they had some in stock but they were actually out and on order. I started to walk out and noticed the box and there they were.
I just went to Fry's in Arlington for the first time. That store is huge! I've never been to a Fry's before. I thought it'd be the size of a Comp USA or maybe Best Buy. It's more like a Wal-Mart or Home Depot! I forgot to check out their Channel Master antennas. I was there to help a friend pick out her home theater components (receiver, DVD player, and speakers).

I am having a heck of a time deciding on a indoor antenna to use with my HR20. I tried a silver sensor and it is OK but not as good as it could be. I really don't want to put anything on the roof or in the attic. Looking on antenna web is suggests a medium omni-directional.

I live in Lakewood and would really like to hear what others are doing.


Thanks.

mwhip

I live in North Richland Hills and use the Jensen HDTV Indoor Amplified Antenna - TV931. Getting really great reception. First one I tried so don't know if anything else is better.

The signal on KFWD-DT has never been real clear. It looks like (but I don't know for a fact) that the analog signal of KFWD is fed into their digital transmitter. It's a sign that the owners of the station simply don't care about their digital signal. It's there because it has to be there. My guess is that this won't change until the analog shut off day in 2009.

It looked notably worse than usual last Sunday, so something has changed at KFWD. Since I can usually notice at least some cross-color artifacts on KFWD-DT, I know that they're always feeding their digital encoder from an analog source -- but usually that source is relatively noise and ghost free. This Sunday, it did look like there was multipath (ghosting) present.

My guess, and it is only a guess, is that some piece of equipment that is used to feed the input of the digital encoder went out over the weekend. To keep the digital channel on the air, they perhaps had to do some sort of kluged workaround that was causing the ghosting.

Hopefully, if this is the case they will repair it quickly.

Do mavs games come in HD on 21? Or just on abc/espn sometimes?

I am having a heck of a time deciding on a indoor antenna to use with my HR20. I tried a silver sensor and it is OK but not as good as it could be. I really don't want to put anything on the roof or in the attic. Looking on antenna web is suggests a medium omni-directional.

I live in Lakewood and would really like to hear what others are doing.


Thanks.

If the Silver Sensor does not work for you (I suspect you can't get a good signal on WFAA (transmitting on VHF channel 9) because the SS is a UHF antenna) then there's nothing much in the way of indoor antennas that will be any better. You can keep trying other indoor antennas and maybe you will find one that just works for you, there is very little science when it comes to indoor antennas.
Or you can bow to the inevitable and go for an attic or roof antenna. You didn't give your zip but I guessed it might be 75068, if I input 75068 into antennaweb it shows reception conditions slightly worse than where I am, just east of Allen. Of couse your reception could be better or worse than the antennaweb prediction. You could try putting the Silver Sensor in the attic and see if that improves things, but based on the antennaweb results it will still probably not be good enough.
I have a CM4228 in the attic and it is just good enough to get a consistent, solid signal on all the transmitters at Cedar Hill 40 miles away, including WFAA.

Do mavs games come in HD on 21? Or just on abc/espn sometimes?

A few of the channel 21 games are broadcast in HD on 21-1. About 10 of channel 21 games are done in HD by HDNet and available on systems that carry HDNet. You can also find them in HD on TNT (all TNT NBA games are in HD) or ESPN (most of their NBA games are in HD) or ABC (most of their Sunday NBA games are in HD).

Finally, FSN does a couple of their games in HD on systems that carry the FSN-SW HD channel.

Yikes, I guess that is why the mavericks have a 'broadcast alert' email distro list. Hard to keep up with all the different channels.

I was having some issues with WFAA. I did two things. I made sure I wasn't OVER amplifying things from the antenna to the TVs (I've got 12 drops in the house) and I replaced 3 different 50 foot runs of RG59 I found with RG6. Seems someone tried to cut some corners. I get all stations without fail. I'm near Coit and PGBT in far north Dallas.

effective march 1 st time warner cable is adding these channels to single line areas

fox reality on 263
metro sports on 185
ten 981

Has anyone notice a fine dark line extending from the left side of the WFAA News8 logo during their HD 10:00 PM newscast? The length of the line is about the length of the logo. I started seeing this Wednesday night and I thought it was my monitor but then when the commercials appeared the line was gone. The line was still there as of last nights newscast.

BTW ,I have am seeing this on TWC, through a TiVo Series3, outputting to a Panasonic TH42PH9UK plasma at 720p. I can't get OTA where I am at.

rudiger

Has anyone notice a fine dark line extending from the left side of the WFAA News8 logo during their HD 10:00 PM newscast? The length of the line is about the length of the logo. I started seeing this Wednesday night and I thought it was my monitor but then when the commercials appeared the line was gone. The line was still there as of last nights newscast.

BTW ,I have am seeing this on TWC, through a TiVo Series3, outputting to a Panasonic TH42PH9UK plasma at 720p. I can't get OTA where I am at.

rudiger

I'm seeing it too. TWC, 6412III, and JVC LT-46FN97

Looks like Time Warner encrypter 112-2, 112-3 again. Those channels are HDNet and universal HD. They were unencrpted for about a week after they had encrpted them for a day, now they are back to encrypted as of this morning. I had been watching both of them last night.

Looks like Time Warner encrypter 112-2, 112-3 again. Those channels are HDNet and universal HD. They were unencrpted for about a week after they had encrpted them for a day, now they are back to encrypted as of this morning. I had been watching both of them last night.

Not only did they encrypt them, what they did messed up my box with regard to HDNet again, as well. Ugh.

Randy

My father-in-law just got a new HD TV and Time Warner cable. I scanned the cable with the QAM tuner and found the channels listed above. But CW (33) on 108-3 is all screwed up. The OTA version I get on my HD TV seems fine. Is this a problem with his TV or Time Warner?We're still seeing this corruption on CW. Can anyone verify whether they are seeing this with a QAM tuner?

Xesdeeni

Not only did they encrypt them, what they did messed up my box with regard to HDNet again, as well. Ugh.

Randy

same thing in Dallas...I lost HDNet last night (not authorized message).

About a week and a half ago, I started noticing white dots that seem to scroll up the screen when watching HD programming on Channel 5.1 Before that, it was perfect. It seems to be the worst during prime time and late night shows. Has anyone else been having this problem? Channel 5 is the only one with that problem.

About a week and a half ago, I started noticing white dots that seem to scroll up the screen when watching HD programming on Channel 5.1 Before that, it was perfect. It seems to be the worst during prime time and late night shows. Has anyone else been having this problem? Channel 5 is the only one with that problem.

I saw those white dots on the show "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" tonight. I also noticed the HD quality was pretty poor and it looked more like upscaled SD. This was not OTA but the Charter Communications feed.

I have it OTA. Well, I guess it is probably something on their end since other people have this problem. As far as I can tell, it is only on HD shows. I just checked out Jay Leno and Conan and the white dots are still there. I have emailed them about it but have received no response.

Yep, I see the dots, too. It's the source. I see them on KXAS-NBC OTA, KXAS-NBC via Dish Network HD LiL, and KETK-NBC 56 OTA out of Jacksonville, TX. It is not as prominent from KETK, but still there.

Just came here to ask about the white dots in DFW OTA feed for NBC last night.
Looks like it wasn't just me. (Glad to hear that)

I noticed it during Hereos and it was making me nuts. Since a lot of the shots are DARK it looks like a sparkling shimmer in every scene. Never noticed it before but surely did last night.

Please if anyone gets a response or has a place to email to voice our concerns please post the email address/website in here. Thanks...

I did not have the white dot problem with Heroes last night I had issue with the video jumping and staggering.

Biggest issue I have in Dallas is with 33-1 and 33-2. Even though I get 90%-100% on my antenna strength the channels just don't come in sometimes.

I did not have the white dot problem with Heroes last night I had issue with the video jumping and staggering.

What source were you watching from? I saw the staggering via D* HR20 during playback and I thought it might be the recording.

I did not see any white dots as well...

Just came here to ask about the white dots in DFW OTA feed for NBC last night.
Looks like it wasn't just me. (Glad to hear that)

I noticed it during Hereos and it was making me nuts. Since a lot of the shots are DARK it looks like a sparkling shimmer in every scene. Never noticed it before but surely did last night.

Please if anyone gets a response or has a place to email to voice our concerns please post the email address/website in here. Thanks...

FWIW: I am using HR10-250 Directv-Tivo with OTA. My signals strength are in the 80's range. White dots were in Hereos and in Studio60 for sure.

I have the dots and my OTA signal strength is 95-98. It has been happening to me for over a week now.

Contact NBC email for Dallas is..... TVReception@nbc5i.com

Contact NBC email for Dallas is..... TVReception@nbc5i.com

But I'm seeing it out of Jacksonville (KETK) and Dallas (KXAS).

I have seen them too. Also wheel of fortune just went to SD on CBS. They were having issues, the video was blocky and the sound was echoing, then it switched to SD and it seems to be working now that way. I wonder if it will stay this way for long.

Hi guys....
I e-mailed channel 5 this weekend about the Stars game not being on the digital feed when the game started. I got an e-mail from a gentleman that said their operations folks messed up and he apologized. I have not yet seen the dots mentioned (but probably have them recorded), but I mentioned them to him and sent him a link to this thread (starting with markkuban's post) to get more info. I never could determine if he is local or network, but anyway hopefully he'll be looking into it. I was pretty impressed to get a reply, and even more so that he admitted it was their problem this weekend...hopefully that is in indicator he's interested in any problems that might be out there....

Randy

...I was pretty impressed to get a reply, and even more so that he admitted it was their problem this weekend...hopefully that is in indicator he's interested in any problems that might be out there....

I don't mind it when they make mistakes. This stuff is still in its infancy. What I hate is when the powers-that-be refuse to acknowledge there is a problem. When the engineers recognize that they have a multitude of beta testers (us) at their disposal, all they need to do is listen...make their emails easily accessible, give feedback, etc. I've had this kind of response with Dish Network engineers and have seen huge improvements (namely in the HD LiL quality). All because they listen to the users. I mean some of us are actually wacky enough to give them useful data such as when the problems arise and when they resolve or lessen and under which circumstances, etc.

It sounds like you got a hold of someone who is interested in doing his job well. If that's the case, I can be very patient while they sort it out.

Last night I watched two Law and Orders on OTA Channel 5 and there were no white dots at all. Maybe they have fixed the problem.

What is up with the digital feed for the CW (33-1 and 33-2)? :confused: I haven't gotten this signal for a few days now and am starting to wonder what is going on. I get a great analog signal but no digital.

Anyone else having this problem or should I look to my antenna? :confused:

Thanks.

33.1 and 33.2 have always worked fine for me. Never had any problems. I live about 20-25 miles from dallas.

33.1 and 33.2 have always worked fine for me. Never had any problems. I live about 20-25 miles from dallas.


Those channels are the best that I get. 90-95 at almost all times.

Hi,

this is my first post here.

My question doesn't seem to quite fit in with the current discussion, but I couldn't find anywhere that would have been more appropriate.

My question is concerning my Time Warner Motorola cable box and it's ability to output a digital signal. I'm at work so I can't look at the model number but I live in Allen and just got cable a few months ago, so I would think the box they lease out is standard for the area so if anyone else is a new customer or have gotten a digital box from them recently, you should know what box I have. It has a DVI out so before I buy a DVI to HDMI cable I was trying to find out if it worked as I have read that some have had issues with certain cable boxes not outputting to their TV correctly because it was actually intended for a PC connection or something. I'm not using any of my HDMI inputs right now so it would be nice to ditch the component connection and free it up for something else.

If anyone has any information concerning this, I would appreciate it. Thanks.

Just wanted to chime in and say that I too had white dots appear during Heroes and Studio 60, But they seemed to go away during Leno. Hope they get this fixed!

Hi,

this is my first post here.

My question doesn't seem to quite fit in with the current discussion, but I couldn't find anywhere that would have been more appropriate.

My question is concerning my Time Warner Motorola cable box and it's ability to output a digital signal. I'm at work so I can't look at the model number but I live in Allen and just got cable a few months ago, so I would think the box they lease out is standard for the area so if anyone else is a new customer or have gotten a digital box from them recently, you should know what box I have. It has a DVI out so before I buy a DVI to HDMI cable I was trying to find out if it worked as I have read that some have had issues with certain cable boxes not outputting to their TV correctly because it was actually intended for a PC connection or something. I'm not using any of my HDMI inputs right now so it would be nice to ditch the component connection and free it up for something else.

If anyone has any information concerning this, I would appreciate it. Thanks.

Hi and welcome aboard!

It sounds like you have a Moto 6412 Phase I. TW generally enables the digital output, so you should be okay. If I remember correctly, you can verify the output is enabled in one of the menus accessible by either powering off the box and hitting Menu, or power-off, OK. I'd check, but mine is currently recording and it doesn't like being turned off in that state. You might also want to be aware that there are newer boxes available...they should have 6412 Phase IIIs, and I've heard they have 6416s, too. Both of these boxes are more or less the same as the 6412, but with an HDMI output...and the 6416 has 40GB more storage. Many have said that the analog conversion is much better, but I can't really speak to that.

Hope that helps...

Randy

Thanks Randy.

I'm not sure where to look to see what the exact model mine is. There is nothing indicative on the fron except for the Motorola and TWC branding. I probably got the one I did because I didn't order it with DVR, just a normal digital box. Would have really liked an HDMI output. Can you just call and ask for an updgrade? I mean I'm paying to lease the damn thing after all . . . I don't see why not.

Anyways I actually outputted the cable box into my widescreen monitor via DVI and it displayed the video. I assume to get audio while outputting via DVI you have to use optical audio?

When I tried this experiment it set the box to 480p and letterbox 4:3. I didn't know what was going on at first because until I read your reply I was not at all aware of that menu. I've been trying to find aspect ratio and resolution settings since day one of having this box. I don't know why they make such things difficult to find. I don't find their menus pleasant to navigate as it is. Cable and Sattelite companies need to get actual designers to produce their front-end stuff. That's another nerdy rant in and of itself so I'm going to stop.

Thanks for the info. I would have never known it was there if not for you. What setting do you recommend for HD? 1080i or 720p? I don't notice a huge difference but I think 720p looks a bit better.

What's the default setting? Since it changed before I was aware of the menu I never saw what the default was. I assume 1080i.

Oh yeah, and just to try and be part of the crowd, I too noticed the dots during Heroes. I haven't noticed anything on NBC tonight. Seems it's been resolved.

Ah, I assumed you had a DVR. I am not at all familiar with the regular HD Moto boxes...sorry. Someone else on here can probably speak better to that. As for swapping boxes, I just always go to one of the offices if I need to swap equipment. I don't like waiting around for someone to (hopefully) show up at the house...

Regarding the setting, I would just go with what looks best to you. I wish they had a 'passthrough' that would just no scale the output and let my TV handle it, but they don't...at least not on the DVR. And yes, I use a digital audio connection (can't remember if I use optical or coax at the moment) since I'm using component cables. My TV only has one HDMI port and I don't have an HDMI-switching receiver, so I keep the HD-DVD player hooked up on it...

Good luck!
Randy

i was wondering what happen to ktvt's live radar feed on 18-2?

Do any of the local channels plan on broadcasting their news in HD besides WFAA? How soon will we see this?

Do any of the local channels plan on broadcasting their news in HD besides WFAA? How soon will we see this?

On May 28, 2006, I asked this of KXAS. This was before WFAA launched their HD newscasts. Here's the email I sent:
Sent: Sunday, May 28, 2006 8:15 AM
To: engineering@nbc5i.com
Subject: When HD?

Do you have any plans in the near future start broadcasting your
newscasts in HD?

Thank you.

Here's the reply:
Subject:
RE: When HD?
From:
"Borden, Jim (NBC Universal)" <Jim.Borden@nbcuni.com>
Date:
Tue, 30 May 2006 15:01:02 -0400
To:
"'Matt ----------------

We do not have definitive plans. NBC will likely react to whatever the competition does rather than take the lead on this issue.

Jim Borden
KXAS Engineering

After WFAA launched their HD newscasts, I recently followed-up with KXAS in the following email sent February 11, 2007:
Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2007 9:44 AM
To: engineering@nbc5i.com
Subject: When HD? (part deux)

Dear Mr. Borden, et. al:

This is a follow-up of an email conversation we shared on May 30, 2006. (I've pasted the correspondance in its entirety at the end of this email).

When I asked when NBC5 had plans to begin doing morning shows in HD, you replied that, "NBC will likely react to whatever the competition does rather than take the lead on this issue."

While I admire your candor and honesty, can you now address your plans to transmit morning (and evening) news casts in HD, now that WFAA has decided to "take the lead on the issue"?

Thank you.

Here's the reply:
Subject:
RE: When HD?(part deux)
From:
"Borden, Jim (NBC Universal)" <Jim.Borden@nbcuni.com>
Date:
Tue, 30 May 2006 15:01:02 -0400
Matt:

The best I can say is that we have not set a firm HD launch date, but will keep viewers posted on our progress.

Jim

Just an FYI...Mr. Borden was the person that replied to my e-mail candidly and showed interest in the 'white dots' problem, as well. While he might not always be able give the answer we are hoping for, it appears he gives us a straight answer...you have to appreciate that.

Randy

Just curious, by why is it that channel 8 is the only channel that's never wants to come in for me? I adjust my antenna as best as I can, but I usually get lucky. I only need it for Wednesday night for Lost, but still, I get home at 4 and spend about an hour trying to bring the station in.

I've got a UHF/VHF antenna and pick up 4, 5, 11, 27, 33, 51, etc just fine.

Question:

Over the weekend I was watching the NBA double header, the start of the second game was in SD and did not switch to HD until later on in the broadcast. Is this a problem with my setup or a problem at the local affiliate? (also noticed the problem with the Ohio St. basketball game on a different network)

I think it's the local affiliate. It's happened to me before. All the commercials were in HD and when the program started back, it was SD, only to switch to HD a minute later.

Just curious, by why is it that channel 8 is the only channel that's never wants to come in for me? I adjust my antenna as best as I can, but I usually get lucky. I only need it for Wednesday night for Lost, but still, I get home at 4 and spend about an hour trying to bring the station in.

I've got a UHF/VHF antenna and pick up 4, 5, 11, 27, 33, 51, etc just fine.

Channel 8 is vhf the rest are uhf

Just curious, by why is it that channel 8 is the only channel that's never wants to come in for me? I adjust my antenna as best as I can, but I usually get lucky. I only need it for Wednesday night for Lost, but still, I get home at 4 and spend about an hour trying to bring the station in.

I've got a UHF/VHF antenna and pick up 4, 5, 11, 27, 33, 51, etc just fine.

WFAA is the only DFW channel currently broadcasting on VHF, although channels 11 and 52 will be moving there in 2009. Many people have problems with reception. In most parts of DFW you need a decent VHF antenna (or the CM4228 which has good reception on VHF-hi) mounted outside, or at least in the attic.
Where are you located (zip) and what antenna are you using???

1) I also saw the white dots last week on "Heroes" and "Friday Night Lights". They were gone last night on "Heroes" as far as I could tell.
2) I don't know if this is the right forum for this question, but I thought I'd give it a shot. I saw that D* will start broadcasting Ranger games on FSN in HD. Can anyone confirm and do you need 5LNB antenna and H20/HR20 to receive in HD?

As for my OTA setup (if anyone is interested), Terk roof mounted antenna (I don't know the model and I'm not climbing back up there to see, but it's shaped like a hat box if that helps anyone), with it's own coax cable running to my D* HR20 receiver, HDMI to Pioneer receiver and finally HDMI to display.

Thanks in advance for any replies to #2 above.

1) 2) I don't know if this is the right forum for this question, but I thought I'd give it a shot. I saw that D* will start broadcasting Ranger games on FSN in HD. Can anyone confirm and do you need 5LNB antenna and H20/HR20 to receive in HD?
I can't confirm, but was told by someone who has a HR10-250 that they are able to recieve those channels 95 & 96 when FSSW HD is broadcasting on those channels. But in the future (no timetable) D* has said that they will go to all MPEG4 for HD, so that would make the HR10 obsolete. Hope that helps, and remember, I can't confirm any of what I just typed! :o

WFAA is the only DFW channel currently broadcasting on VHF, although channels 11 and 52 will be moving there in 2009. Many people have problems with reception. In most parts of DFW you need a decent VHF antenna (or the CM4228 which has good reception on VHF-hi) mounted outside, or at least in the attic.
Where are you located (zip) and what antenna are you using???

My zip is 75019 (Coppell). I bought some $10 VHF/UHF Philips antenna, not sure of the model #, from Wal-Mart. It works perfectly, except for channel 8. Sometimes, I can get 4, 5, 8, & 11 all at the same time, in the same antenna position, but that usually lasts only one night. On Wednesdays, I play with it until I get a signal to come in and then leave it there the rest of the night.

I'll adjust the position of the ears and move the actual position of the antenna as well. I find it that if I have the ears down half way, criss-crossed and facing NW, I can usually get the signal. Last week, it didn't come in. I missed Lost that night (due to other circumstances) so it didn't bother me much.

Any ideas? I live in an apt. complex, and this is the only channel I have trouble with. And, why the hell is 11 going to VHF too? Don't they know it's crap and hard to pick up? All UHF channels come in crystal clear and never mess up for me.

My zip is 75019 (Coppell). I bought some $10 VHF/UHF Philips antenna, not sure of the model #, from Wal-Mart. It works perfectly, except for channel 8. Sometimes, I can get 4, 5, 8, & 11 all at the same time, in the same antenna position, but that usually lasts only one night. On Wednesdays, I play with it until I get a signal to come in and then leave it there the rest of the night.

I'll adjust the position of the ears and move the actual position of the antenna as well. I find it that if I have the ears down half way, criss-crossed and facing NW, I can usually get the signal. Last week, it didn't come in. I missed Lost that night (due to other circumstances) so it didn't bother me much.

Any ideas? I live in an apt. complex, and this is the only channel I have trouble with. And, why the hell is 11 going to VHF too? Don't they know it's crap and hard to pick up? All UHF channels come in crystal clear and never mess up for me.

You could try a Terk HDTVi (not any of the other Terks). It's a clone of the silver sensor which is the best UHF antenna, with added rabbit ears for VHF. If that does not do better then your existing Philips antenna, then there is probably no indoor antenna that will work for you.
You could also try an outdoor antenna inside your apartment and see if that works without being too obtrusive. The CM4221 is a flat panel, it's really a UHF antenna but might be good enough for WFAA, you will only know by trying. The CM4228 would be a much better choice but it's a four foot square panel and you may not be able to find anywhere to put it, unless you have a balcony pointing towards the antenna farm at Cedar Hill.

You could try a Terk HDTVi (not any of the other Terks). It's a clone of the silver sensor which is the best UHF antenna, with added rabbit ears for VHF. If that does not do better then your existing Philips antenna, then there is probably no indoor antenna that will work for you.
You could also try an outdoor antenna inside your apartment and see if that works without being too obtrusive. The CM4221 is a flat panel, it's really a UHF antenna but might be good enough for WFAA, you will only know by trying. The CM4228 would be a much better choice but it's a four foot square panel and you may not be able to find anywhere to put it, unless you have a balcony pointing towards the antenna farm at Cedar Hill.

I'll look into the Terk HDTVi, though, I'm not really able to spend money right now. Baby comes in 1-2 months :P

I'll try and find Cedar Hill on a map so I can know the actual position for where to face my antenna. It does suck being in an apartment, though I'm just glad that I get NBC (Heroes) and Fox (baseball coming up on Saturdays).

Also, quick question regarding position.

I get all VHF stations when I have the rabbit ears standing straight up and criss crossed into a V shape.

For UHF, I usually have the same V shape position but facing parallel to the floor. Is this the position I should have it in to pick up UHF?

I use my 10 year old Antenna (for regular TV), and it picks up all the HD channels very clearly.

I'll look into the Terk HDTVi, though, I'm not really able to spend money right now. Baby comes in 1-2 months :P

I'll try and find Cedar Hill on a map so I can know the actual position for where to face my antenna. It does suck being in an apartment, though I'm just glad that I get NBC (Heroes) and Fox (baseball coming up on Saturdays).

Also, quick question regarding position.

I get all VHF stations when I have the rabbit ears standing straight up and criss crossed into a V shape.

For UHF, I usually have the same V shape position but facing parallel to the floor. Is this the position I should have it in to pick up UHF?

The rabbit ears are the VHF part of your antenna. The UHF part is usually some sort of adjustable loop or multiple elements on a directional bar. Because the two are so close to each other they do interact somewhat but you should try to get the UHF stations by adjusting the loop, see if you can leave the rabbit ears in the position where you get the best VHF reception.

Is anyone else hearing what seems to be out-of-phase audio on local programming and spots on KTVT? Network seems fine.

I'm watching off antenna thru an HDTivo, optical to the receiver.

Seeing the recent emails with NBC5 made me wonder... does anyone have a consolidated list of contact info for the local stations (email addresses and / or phone numbers)?

The rabbit ears are the VHF part of your antenna. The UHF part is usually some sort of adjustable loop or multiple elements on a directional bar. Because the two are so close to each other they do interact somewhat but you should try to get the UHF stations by adjusting the loop, see if you can leave the rabbit ears in the position where you get the best VHF reception.

I hear you. I usually have the loop in a horizontal position (it's in the back of the antenna). To be honest, I didn't even know what the loop was for. I just happened to get UHF when I pointed my antenna to the NW and I thought that was all good. I'll toy with it some more when I get home from work.

Seeing the recent emails with NBC5 made me wonder... does anyone have a consolidated list of contact info for the local stations (email addresses and / or phone numbers)?

Just pulled this off their respective websites:

KXAS 5 (NBC)
Engineering email: engineering@nbc5i.com


KDFW 4 (FOX)
Web form email link: http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/InsideFox/ContactUs?pageId=5.11


WFAA 8 (ABC)
606 Young St., Dallas, TX, 75202
Main phone number: 214-748-9631
Web form email link: http://www.wfaa.com/customerservice/HelpCenter.do


KTVT 11 (CBS)
Main Headquarters
5233 Bridge Street
Fort Worth, TX 76103

Dallas Office
10111 N. Central Expressway
Dallas, TX 75231
Main Switchboard: (817) 451-1111
Main Fax: (817) 457-1897
Web form email link: http://cbs11tv.com/contact

Is anyone else hearing what seems to be out-of-phase audio on local programming and spots on KTVT? Network seems fine.

I'm watching off antenna thru an HDTivo, optical to the receiver.

YES! The phase sometimes shifts, especially moving from commercials back to the program. That being said, their surround tracks are much more promonent than the other channels.

I am seriously getting fed up with Dish Network service I have in Fort Worth. It's good for watching live TV, but totally unreliable if you want to record something while not that. I previously complained here about the power saving mode its receiver gets into. I was able to turn that off so that it doesn't auto-update at 3 a.m. every morning. However, it still seems to get into the power save mode where you have to "Press SELECT To Continue". Another big gripe I have about them is that when they lose signal, you have to hit the channel up or down button to force it to re-attempt to grab a signal, which it usually does within 10-20 sec. However, if you're not home when that happens, your TV show(s) won't record. This is highly frustrating. :mad: I have 15 mos. to go on my Dish contract and then I'm going to go to cable (assuming it's available in my neighborhood) or just do OTA HD. :mad:

I am seriously getting fed up with Dish Network service I have in Fort Worth. It's good for watching live TV, but totally unreliable if you want to record something while not that. I previously complained here about the power saving mode its receiver gets into. I was able to turn that off so that it doesn't auto-update at 3 a.m. every morning. However, it still seems to get into the power save mode where you have to "Press SELECT To Continue". Another big gripe I have about them is that when they lose signal, you have to hit the channel up or down button to force it to re-attempt to grab a signal, which it usually does within 10-20 sec. However, if you're not home when that happens, your TV show(s) won't record. This is highly frustrating. :mad: I have 15 mos. to go on my Dish contract and then I'm going to go to cable (assuming it's available in my neighborhood) or just do OTA HD. :mad:

How much does it cost to bail out of the contract early? On Directv it was only about $100 or so.

I am seriously getting fed up with Dish Network service I have in Fort Worth. It's good for watching live TV, but totally unreliable if you want to record something while not that. I previously complained here about the power saving mode its receiver gets into. I was able to turn that off so that it doesn't auto-update at 3 a.m. every morning. However, it still seems to get into the power save mode where you have to "Press SELECT To Continue". Another big gripe I have about them is that when they lose signal, you have to hit the channel up or down button to force it to re-attempt to grab a signal, which it usually does within 10-20 sec. However, if you're not home when that happens, your TV show(s) won't record. This is highly frustrating. :mad: I have 15 mos. to go on my Dish contract and then I'm going to go to cable (assuming it's available in my neighborhood) or just do OTA HD. :mad:


if you are tired of Dish Network, don't go to cable to get your HD channels!! If it is possible try to get the Verizon Fios to your house. Let me tell you the picture and audio on the fios is excellent! the quality of audio and video on dish is really starting to go down hill. I used to be an inhouse Dish Network employee and now working for a contractor for Verizon and judgeing from the quality of the services, Fios has everybody beat!!!

I'm looking to update the list of stations which are showing Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune in HD. I'm doing this for just the major markets which are not shown on the list in the Jeopardy HD thread. If I have read this thread correctly, KTVT shows Jeopardy and Wheel Of Fortune in the Dallas market. Is it broadcasting those shows in HD? Thanks.

I'm looking to update the list of stations which are showing Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune in HD. I'm doing this for just the major markets which are not shown on the list in the Jeopardy HD thread. If I have read this thread correctly, KTVT shows Jeopardy and Wheel Of Fortune in the Dallas market. Is it broadcasting those shows in HD? Thanks.

Yes, KTVT airs both shows in HD.

Yes, KTVT airs both shows in HD.
Thank you for the quick reply. If my list is correct, we have stations in 16 of the top 20 DMAs showing Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune in HD. Pretty good numbers given that they only started providing Jeopardy in HD in September with not a lot of advance notice to the stations.

Is anyone else hearing what seems to be out-of-phase audio on local programming and spots on KTVT? Network seems fine.

I'm watching off antenna thru an HDTivo, optical to the receiver.

I too hear the LOUD audio in the rear channels. The actual Network PGM's seem to sound OK. The local audio is really loud in the rear and some of the DD commercials will just knock you off the couch. Even my wife is making comments.
JStigler

Is anyone else having a problem with the onscreen info for Channel 5. Every other channel has the show name and time left, with a short description. Channel 5 either says no info or it says it is a DTV program. This OTA.

AT&T announced their new U-verse service for D/FW today. Thought for sure I'd find some discussion on this thread but after a quick search did not locate any. Looks like availability is still very limited. I plugged in my McKinney phone number plus some random numbers for Frisco and a few other suburbs and none of them qualified according to their website (http://uverse1.att.com). Anyone find a qualifying address/number?

Channel lineup & pricing looks pretty competitive but I wonder about quality, specifically on the HD channels. Will they pass full bit rates & native resolutions or do they compress & downconvert like Dish & DirecTV? What about equipment? Looks like a Moto box and their literature says it will record up to 4 programs at the same time (wow!).

I currently have the top level package with Dish Network and AT&T for phone & DSL service but the potential savings w/ bundled phone & internet plus a better-than-cable HD lineup are intriguing.

AT&T's launch in bits

Cable, broadband deal to come out gradually, may push prices down


12:00 AM CST on Tuesday, March 6, 2007
By ANDREW D. SMITH /

Today marks the beginning of a battle for cable TV and broadband Internet customers around Dallas and Fort Worth – a battle that may mean sharply lower prices for all consumers.

AT&T Inc. has launched its long-touted, long-delayed U-verse service in small pockets scattered around the region. The pockets should expand until U-verse is available in all areas where the San Antonio-based company is the incumbent provider of local telephone service.

AT&T executives tout the launch as a boon for all consumers – who may see home entertainment prices plummet even if they don't buy U-verse – and a triumph for the company.

Competitors, and some analysts, view AT&T's vague deployment announcement as proof of ongoing glitches.

AT&T would not say when the first Dallas-area homes would get U-verse until the actual launch. It won't say how many homes can now receive U-verse. And it won't predict when the entire area will be wired.

Potential customers can check availability for individual homes at uverse.att.com.

The only U-verse projection from the company is that it will be available in 8 million homes by the end of this year.

"We're moving forward very aggressively with the rollout," said Deb Peoples, AT&T's general manager for the Dallas-Fort Worth market, "and the biggest beneficiaries are going to be consumers who want great services at a far better price than they've ever been able to get."

Customers will pay $59 for the entry-level U-verse bundle, which pairs 100 channels of cable television with Internet service download speeds of 1.5 megabits per second and upload speeds of 1 mbs. For $129 a month, AT&T provides a package of 400 channels – including 49 premium movie channels such as HBO and Cinemax – along with download speeds of 6 mbs and upload speeds of 1 mbs.

Slight differences in content packaging make it impossible to provide perfect comparisons between AT&T's offerings and those from Time Warner Cable Inc., the area's largest cable television provider, which has separate pricing schedules for every town it serves.

In Dallas, a basic package of 85 television channels and Time Warner's slowest Internet service, 1.5 mbs down and .384 mbs up, costs $74.50 a month. A complete cable television package with digital video recording (included in most U-verse bundles) costs $94 a month, plus $13 apiece for most premium movie channel groups, plus $54 a month for the company's fastest Internet, 10 mbs down, 1 mbs up.

AT&T currently offers no discounts on home telephone service or its Cingular wireless to U-verse customers. Time Warner, however, does package telephone service with its broadband Internet offerings.

Customers can pay $40 a month for unlimited calls to Texas and metered calls elsewhere or $50 a month for unlimited calls anywhere in the U.S. or Canada.

Bargain hunters with broadband can also use voice over Internet protocol telephone service from companies such as Vonage, which charges $25 a month for unlimited calls to the U.S., Canada, Ireland, Britain, France, Italy and Spain.

Another popular service comes from Skype, which charges about $70 a year for unlimited calls to the U.S. and Canada plus about 2 cents a minute for calls to many other countries.

AT&T may someday enter the market for VoIP phones through U-verse, which will roll out new features as it reaches new territories.

Currently, the service allows users to add a U-verse button to Yahoo accounts, a button that lets people program their digital video recorders via their desktop or laptop computers.

In the future, the service will go one step further, allowing customers to program their DVRs with PDAs and cellphones.

"That's going to be a nice feature for when people get stuck in traffic and realize they're going to miss the beginning of a show they love," said Luz Varela, an AT&T spokeswoman.

Another pending addition to U-verse DVR, which already lets customers record four programs simultaneously, is the ability to record a program on one television and view it on another television, elsewhere in the house.

Officials from AT&T told members of the state House of Representatives last month that the introduction of U-verse to a television market typically spurred incumbent cable television providers to cut rates by 25 percent or more.

Executives from Verizon Communications Inc. said the same about their Fios service, which is fully available to 340,000 homes in 26 North Texas towns.

"We've seen rate cuts of anywhere from 25 percent to, in some cases, 50 percent off the price of cable from Time Warner and other cable companies," said Verizon spokesman Bill Kula. "Some of those reductions were in lower basic prices. Others were 'special offers' that got extended for a year or more at a time. ... Competition is good for customers."

Time Warner has yet to decide how it will respond to U-verse in the Dallas area, or whether it will respond at all.

"I don't really know how a customer could feel good about buying a service that's being rolled out by stealth, particularly when it has reportedly suffered from big technical glitches in San Antonio," said Gary Underwood, a spokesman for Time Warner.

Time Warner believes its pricing advantage lies in bundles that include phone service.

"It's possible to find a triple-play bundle [TV, Internet and phone] from us for $98," Mr. Underwood said.

"And you can get phone service in a bundle that gives you unlimited calling to the U.S. and Canada for less than $40. You won't get that from any phone company I know of."

DMN article (free registraction required) (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-uverse_06bus.ART0.State.Edition1.389efd2.html)

A buddy of mine up near 720 (Main St.) and Teel here in Frisco shows to be qualified. I called and talked to them and I am not, unfortunately. One thing to keep in mind...apparently the Moto DVR they use is capable of recording 4 HD streams simultaneously. They have it limited to 1 currently, due to bandwidth considerations. They are supposed to open up a considerable amount of bandwidth later in the year, but for now one HD stream is it. It will do multiple SD streams, for what that is worth. Also, I found out about the HD restrictions from a forum, not from the CSR that I spoke with. He was great, by the way, but he didn't mention that part when I asked how many HD shows you could record. Here is a forum that has more info than you can get from AT&T's site, although it is still kind of sparse: http://www.uverseusers.com

Here's a link to some specific DFW info...most of the stuff post announcement is hear the end, of course. Also, you'll see a post that lists three AT&T/Cingular stores in the area where you are supposed to be able to see it in action.

http://www.uverseusers.com/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,2/topic,254.0/


When somebody does jump on board, I'm sure we'll all anxious to hear how it goes...


Randy

I just added a Channel Master 9537 (from Solid Signal) in the attic to my home made 4 bay bowtie antenna(similar to CM 4221 or a DB4 from Antennas Direct).

My HD receiver is a Samsung DTB-H260F. I am able to retrieve all of the local HD channels, including channel 8, listed on tvguide.com as well as 12-1, 12-2 and 12-3 from Sherman(transmitter is actually in OK about 60 miles away).

My house is a one story in the far NE corner of The Colony not too far from BB Owen Park.

Leroy

I hear ya...if I could get FIOS, I'd be all over it. I hear that it is a bit frustrating on the installation part, but once you get through that it is great. Unfortunately, that won't be an option in my part of the world. It appears that AT&T is offering the 6Mbps service where I live, cheaper than TWC, and you aren't sharing a node with anyone. And by ridding myself of cable internet, I can get DISH and an OTA antenna over the single cable feed that goes to my main entertainment area. This seems like a total no brainer, but it is still hard to pull the trigger...but I think I'll be making the changes very, very soon...

Randy


I had FIOS TV for 3 wks and told them to pick up their eqmt yesterday. The representatives are outstanding. The equipment is terrible. In speaking with others, I have found there is common issues. I left dish (not HD dish) which had more advanced features and the box was 2 years old. I am considering getting Dish HD or Direct TV. FWIW, I get fantastic OTA DTV. I have an antenna in my attic. These were my FIOS TV problems:

1) Signal lags on both sets (HD Flat Screen and SD CRT)
2) Remote has to be pointed directly at box to work
3) No ability to skip forward. Old Tech of FF
4) Picture not crisp, even in HD
5) No instruction manual provided
6) Difficult to switch output (7209, 1080i, etc.)
7) Menu guide has little or no descriptions
8) Not uncommon for the menu guide to display one show title, but the actual program is different
9) Audio recently became intermittant on the HD box
10) Can't view HD recorded material on SD TV.

Good luck with FIOS TV...Love the internet connection though.

if you are tired of Dish Network, don't go to cable to get your HD channels!! If it is possible try to get the Verizon Fios to your house. Let me tell you the picture and audio on the fios is excellent! the quality of audio and video on dish is really starting to go down hill. I used to be an inhouse Dish Network employee and now working for a contractor for Verizon and judgeing from the quality of the services, Fios has everybody beat!!!

Even though you are a FIOS contractor ee, I assume you are still providing an unbiased perspective. From a user perspective, the entire set up and signal is not ready for roll out. I will say that the representatives are very courteous and accomodating.

I posted all of my FIOS TV issues earlier today, which BTW do not seem to be uncommon in speaking with other FIOS TV users.

Even though you are a FIOS contractor ee, I assume you are still providing an unbiased perspective. From a user perspective, the entire set up and signal is not ready for roll out. I will say that the representatives are very courteous and accomodating.

I posted all of my FIOS TV issues earlier today, which BTW do not seem to be uncommon in speaking with other FIOS TV users.


well i know for a fact that i happen to have dish network and if verizon fios was avaliable in the area i am currently in, i would drop dish network in a heartbeat.

to each his own

How can I describe how much I hate Channel 8 and their god damn UHF OTA service. I took the time to set it up and made sure I could get OTA for Lost at 9pm. Worked flawlessly through all the stupid shows they show leading up to Lost. Lost comes on and the signal comes in great for the first 15 minutes with some occasional breakup. Then, it went to ****! Absolutely no signal is detected and I cannot, for the life of me, get it to come back on. So, I ran into my bedroom and watched 15 minutes on my other tv (cable, while South Park was recording on my tivo) and then finished the rest on my big screen. I mean, what the hell is the point of an HDTV that won't get the signal!!!

It worked for 3+ hrs and suddenly doesn't work? OTA is great, but it's starting to piss me off. Seeing that it's about to become federal law that they provide HD OTA instead of analog, they need to step up and spit out a signal that's better than UHF.

Why the hell do these jerk offs use UHF anyways? VHF seems to be far superior! I barely have to touch my antenna and I get ALL VHF channels flawlessly.

I had FIOS TV for 3 wks and told them to pick up their eqmt yesterday. The representatives are outstanding. The equipment is terrible. In speaking with others, I have found there is common issues. I left dish (not HD dish) which had more advanced features and the box was 2 years old. I am considering getting Dish HD or Direct TV. FWIW, I get fantastic OTA DTV. I have an antenna in my attic. These were my FIOS TV problems:

1) Signal lags on both sets (HD Flat Screen and SD CRT)
2) Remote has to be pointed directly at box to work
3) No ability to skip forward. Old Tech of FF
4) Picture not crisp, even in HD
5) No instruction manual provided
6) Difficult to switch output (7209, 1080i, etc.)
7) Menu guide has little or no descriptions
8) Not uncommon for the menu guide to display one show title, but the actual program is different
9) Audio recently became intermittant on the HD box
10) Can't view HD recorded material on SD TV.

Good luck with FIOS TV...Love the internet connection though.

I just moved out of my mom's house, where we recently had FIOS hooked up after a year of using DirecTV (we had FIOS internet for the whole time, but didn't want to cancel the DTV contract). Anyways, when FIOS got hooked up, the picture and browsing times were awesome, but the audio was jacked. We had to turn our tv's volume to 80+ to be able to hear anything. Verizon techs came out and didn't know what the deal was. They gave us new boxes, but it seemed that the problem never went away. We had absolutley no problems with DirecTV.

Just FYI.

well i know for a fact that i happen to have dish network and if verizon fios was avaliable in the area i am currently in, i would drop dish network in a heartbeat.

to each his own

You're right! To each his own.
I had Dish for many years, and last year tried FiOS for one month. Went back to Dish for its vastly superior HD DVR receivers. No skip fwd, and lag time changing channels with FiOS also sucked.

Tom in TX

How can I describe how much I hate Channel 8 and their god damn UHF OTA service. I took the time to set it up and made sure I could get OTA for Lost at 9pm. Worked flawlessly through all the stupid shows they show leading up to Lost. Lost comes on and the signal comes in great for the first 15 minutes with some occasional breakup. Then, it went to ****! Absolutely no signal is detected and I cannot, for the life of me, get it to come back on. So, I ran into my bedroom and watched 15 minutes on my other tv (cable, while South Park was recording on my tivo) and then finished the rest on my big screen. I mean, what the hell is the point of an HDTV that won't get the signal!!!

It worked for 3+ hrs and suddenly doesn't work? OTA is great, but it's starting to piss me off. Seeing that it's about to become federal law that they provide HD OTA instead of analog, they need to step up and spit out a signal that's better than UHF.

Why the hell do these jerk offs use UHF anyways? VHF seems to be far superior! I barely have to touch my antenna and I get ALL VHF channels flawlessly.

Sorry to have to tell you, but channel 8 is the ONLY OTA digital station using VHF - all the others are UHF. The ANALOG network stations, channel 4/5/8/11/13, are all VHF, but their digital stations are all UHF except WFAA.

But I get your point. VHF is difficult to receive well with any indoor antenna. It's basic physics, the lower the frequency the bigger the antenna you need to receive it well. You can get what looks like a decent picture on an analog station but if there is any ghosting, that can kill a digital signal.
All TV stations had to decide if they wanted to go VHF or UHF for their digital channels. The advantages of VHF are supposedly better coverage (if you have the right antenna) and better power utilization so less expensive to operate. You will have three VHF stations to contend with after analog goes away in 2009 - WFAA is moving back to channel 8 from channel 9, KTVT digital is moving from UHF back to channel 11, and KFWD is moving from 52 (which will no longer be available after 2009) to channel 9.

And just to be clear, the 2009 mandate is for analog OTA to go away and all OTA will be digital, not necessarily HD.

Randy

Sorry to have to tell you, but channel 8 is the ONLY OTA digital station using VHF - all the others are UHF. The ANALOG network stations, channel 4/5/8/11/13, are all VHF, but their digital stations are all UHF except WFAA.

But I get your point. VHF is difficult to receive well with any indoor antenna. It's basic physics, the lower the frequency the bigger the antenna you need to receive it well. You can get what looks like a decent picture on an analog station but if there is any ghosting, that can kill a digital signal.
All TV stations had to decide if they wanted to go VHF or UHF for their digital channels. The advantages of VHF are supposedly better coverage (if you have the right antenna) and better power utilization so less expensive to operate. You will have three VHF stations to contend with after analog goes away in 2009 - WFAA is moving back to channel 8 from channel 9, KTVT digital is moving from UHF back to channel 11, and KFWD is moving from 52 (which will no longer be available after 2009) to channel 9.

Sorry to tell you guys this but I don't think this had anything to do with UHF / VHF. I have an MDP-130 HD capture card that receives its signal from Time Warner Cable. Just as the eye patch guy was about to tell his name the capture went bad. I don't know if something happened at the local affiliate or it was a network error but it happened on cable TV as well. The capture is unwatchable.

Sorry to tell you guys this but I don't think this had anything to do with UHF / VHF. I have an MDP-130 HD capture card that receives its signal from Time Warner Cable. Just as the eye patch guy was about to tell his name the capture went bad. I don't know if something happened at the local affiliate or it was a network error but it happened on cable TV as well. The capture is unwatchable.
Sorry to tell you this but it came in just fine on FIOS and Dish, as I recorded the show on both.

Sorry to tell you this but it came in just fine on FIOS and Dish, as I recorded the show on both.

It was definitely a problem on TWC...I just watched it tonight and it started screwing up right at the point mentioned earlier. Strange....

Randy

It was definitely a problem on TWC...I just watched it tonight and it started screwing up right at the point mentioned earlier. Strange....

Randy
Was cable as bad under Comcast as it seems to be under TWC?

Was cable as bad under Comcast as it seems to be under TWC?

I sure don't think so...all-in-all, I had a pretty good experience with Comcast. I can't say the same for TW. I'm not going to duplicate my mini-rant I went on over at DSL Reports, but I just couldn't believe it when I called yesterday to talk to them about the whole new HD Tier that they implemented without any warning and was told that the channels had previously been provided as a 'free preview'. I could *possibly* buy that regarding HDNet and UniversalHD, if they had stated it at the outset...but to claim that for InHD and ESPN-HD is beyond ridiculous...

Randy

Sorry to tell you this but it came in just fine on FIOS and Dish, as I recorded the show on both.

And it was OK on DirecTV as well...

time warner was hosed for Lost...I thought it was my box acting flaky. I guess not. I wound up watching the screwed up 10 minutes on abc's website.

How much does it cost to bail out of the contract early? On Directv it was only about $100 or so.
I'm not sure. I haven't looked into it yet b/c my new development neighborhood doesn't offer cable TV service yet. So it's either get DirecTV/Dish (both are probably equally as annoying) or get free OTA and miss out on ESPN, Comedy, CNN, HGTV, etc. : \

if you are tired of Dish Network, don't go to cable to get your HD channels!! If it is possible try to get the Verizon Fios to your house. Let me tell you the picture and audio on the fios is excellent! the quality of audio and video on dish is really starting to go down hill. I used to be an inhouse Dish Network employee and now working for a contractor for Verizon and judgeing from the quality of the services, Fios has everybody beat!!!
I wish Verizon FiOS was available in my town! Fort Worth is like the forgotten city or a unwanted step-child of "D/FW". In terms of tech, all the cool stuff seems to be occurring between Dallas and Plano. :mad:

Speaking of FiOS, I just read a very interesting article on them in the Jan. 2007 issue of Home Theater Mag., starting around p. 44.

Another silly thing about Dish Network is if you want to downgrade (I had an HBO trial for 3 months and then wanted to cancel it), you can't cancel via dish.com. You have to call them up, be placed on hold, and talk to someone whom you can barely understand (all of which were true for me). But you can add channels from dish.com just fine. How asinine is that?! :mad:

I am seriously getting fed up with Dish Network service I have in Fort Worth. It's good for watching live TV, but totally unreliable if you want to record something while not that. I previously complained here about the power saving mode its receiver gets into. I was able to turn that off so that it doesn't auto-update at 3 a.m. every morning. However, it still seems to get into the power save mode where you have to "Press SELECT To Continue". Another big gripe I have about them is that when they lose signal, you have to hit the channel up or down button to force it to re-attempt to grab a signal, which it usually does within 10-20 sec. However, if you're not home when that happens, your TV show(s) won't record. This is highly frustrating. :mad: I have 15 mos. to go on my Dish contract and then I'm going to go to cable (assuming it's available in my neighborhood) or just do OTA HD. :mad:

You are not correctly installed. I cannot lose signal unless there is an F4 tornado outside ( OK, maybe a serious thunderstorm) it takes 30k feet of clouds if you are properly mounted and focused. As for the power save mode, it is selectable (read your book).

I meant more like:

83.11 - CBS HD
100.1 - Discovery HD Theater
100.2 - FOX HD
106.5 - NBC HD

Maybe I was not clear in my original post. Will I still not be able to tune ABC? What about The CW? And PBS? My cable signal strength is not very good and when I perform a QAM (I think) scan, it does not recognize the same channels every time.


I'm thinking about getting the HDhomerun because ABC is my Achilles heal. Can someone verify if ABC is or isn't Clear QAM

Thanks

I'm thinking about getting the HDhomerun because ABC is my Achilles heal. Can someone verify if ABC is or isn't Clear QAM

Thanks

I get it on 108-2 in Frisco...that is, if you are talking about TWC...

Randy

Yes I was,
any other clear QAM your getting.

Thanks,

Well it looks like KDFI's OTA HD signal (27-1) has gone missing again.... just sent off an email to them asking about it. Others may want to do the same: mymail@kdfi27.com

The last time this happened it was back fairly soon after several of us emailed them about it, don't know if it was just coincidence or not.....

BTW, the last time I did not ever see a response from them...

Mike

Well it looks like KDFI's OTA HD signal (27-1) has gone missing again....

... and now it's back.

You are not correctly installed. I cannot lose signal unless there is an F4 tornado outside ( OK, maybe a serious thunderstorm) it takes 30k feet of clouds if you are properly mounted and focused. As for the power save mode, it is selectable (read your book).
That's what I thought, but for some reason, my receiver seems to randomly lose the signal when I'm not using it (but rarely while I'm using it). I think my receiver's model # is 300 (it's got 2 tuners). The dish was professionally installed and the installer tweaked it in both dimensions to get the peak signal strength.

I called up Dish a couple months ago and they told me how to override the power save mode, but even after that, it still seems to go into power save mode, where I have to "Press Select To Continue". :mad:

I know I should probably call Dish again and insist them to have someone come out b/c it is annoying to record a show on timer and then it records that that stupid power save logo.

I'm in Frisco near Lebanon and FM423, and I have been having some signal issues with the higher HD channels 770 and up.
This seems to be signal strength related, and it is fluctuating. Sometimes all is well, and a few minuted later, the signal get week enough not to receive it.

I have the same problem with QAM in the clear on CBS etc.. (on 2 different sets) so it is not related to the Motorola PVR. I have a tech coming out to check things out on Monday. Has anyone else in the area noticed anything similar?

On a side note, while I was on the phone with the rep, I complained about losing HD Net, INHD and UHD. She re-authorized my box, and mentioned that a lot of people had the same issue. She said that I would not have to pay any additional fees.

Well it looks like KDFI's OTA HD signal (27-1) has gone missing again.... just sent off an email to them asking about it. Others may want to do the same: mymail@kdfi27.com

The last time this happened it was back fairly soon after several of us emailed them about it, don't know if it was just coincidence or not.....

BTW, the last time I did not ever see a response from them...

Mike

i've also noticed that as well on my brand new samsung hls4255w. kdfi will show up as 27-1 and sometimes it will show up as 36-3! weird!

You're right! To each his own.
I had Dish for many years, and last year tried FiOS for one month. Went back to Dish for its vastly superior HD DVR receivers. No skip fwd, and lag time changing channels with FiOS also sucked.

Tom in TX


it is true that the 622 is awesome but their audio quality is god awful!!!! i have the 522 model and i have it connected up to my pio 1015 receiver and i can here distortion while in DPL II mode or Dolby Digital mode. Even though i love Fios, if it was not here, i would still get the HD service with Dish Network.

I am also curious about the 150 supposedly hd channels Directv was going to launch.

I am also curious about the 150 supposedly hd channels Directv was going to launch.
DirecTV's two new satellites DirecTV 10 and 11 which were scheduled to launch this year will have CAPACITY for 75 national HD channels each (plus 500 HD locals each). I use the word CAPACITY because that's what the DirecTV press releases say. DirecTV 10 will launch in June or in August/September, depending on which satellite launch website you believe. DirecTV 11 launch date is still unknown, because it was scheduled to be launched from the Sea Launch platform and Sea Launch had an "anomaly" at the end of January - a great way to describe the explosion of the launch rocket carrying the NSS-8 satellite - so the scheduling of future launches is unknown.
Anyway it's reasonable to assume that sometime in the fall, DirecTV 10 will be available to transmit 75 channels of national HD. DirecTV said in their press release that they had agreements or were in negotiation with about 70 national HD channels - not network locals - to be broadcast on the new satellites. So 50-70 or so channels by the end of 2007 does not look unreasonable.

DirecTV's two new satellites DirecTV 10 and 11 which were scheduled to launch this year will have CAPACITY for 75 national HD channels each (plus 500 HD locals each). I use the word CAPACITY because that's what the DirecTV press releases say. DirecTV 10 will launch in June or in August/September, depending on which satellite launch website you believe. DirecTV 11 launch date is still unknown, because it was scheduled to be launched from the Sea Launch platform and Sea Launch had an "anomaly" at the end of January - a great way to describe the explosion of the launch rocket carrying the NSS-8 satellite - so the scheduling of future launches is unknown.
Anyway it's reasonable to assume that sometime in the fall, DirecTV 10 will be available to transmit 75 channels of national HD. DirecTV said in their press release that they had agreements or were in negotiation with about 70 national HD channels - not network locals - to be broadcast on the new satellites. So 50-70 or so channels by the end of 2007 does not look unreasonable.

Do you know if the 75 channel bandwidth capacity is based on what most people term 'HD Lite'?

Randy

Anyone else have serious reception issues this past weekend with channel 5-1? I had serious breakups all weekend (first noticed Thursday 3/8).

Well it looks like KDFI's OTA HD signal (27-1) has gone missing again.... just sent off an email to them asking about it. Others may want to do the same: mymail@kdfi27.com

...

BTW, the last time I did not ever see a response from them...
Noticed is was out during the Stars game yesterday.
I also emailed them once asking about HDTV and received no reply. You'd think with as few viewers as they must have they'd try not to piss them off. :confused:

Do you know if the 75 channel bandwidth capacity is based on what most people term 'HD Lite'?

Randy

i wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.

Directv has been mum about the whole hd-lite issue, and just recently (see programming forum), we received confirmation that all the mpeg-4 stuff is also hd-lite. Everyone was hoping that the transition to mpeg-4 would allow for full HD, but that isn't the case.

HDTV, outside of OTA and HDDVD/Bluray, seems to be pretty much dead.

I wish Verizon FiOS was available in my town! Fort Worth is like the forgotten city or a unwanted step-child of "D/FW". In terms of tech, all the cool stuff seems to be occurring between Dallas and Plano. :mad:

Speaking of FiOS, I just read a very interesting article on them in the Jan. 2007 issue of Home Theater Mag., starting around p. 44.


We can't get FIOS in Dallas either. The northern edge of Dallas and the suburbs can get it, but not in the heart of Dallas. At least not the Greenville area. Uverse is supposed to be coming, but it doesn't sound to compelling. And TW supposedly plans to finally upgrade my area so I can get a dual tuner DVR around September. Good thing I have my HDHomeRun (for QAM on MCE) and Bittorent so I can keep up on all my shows.

We can't get FIOS in Dallas either. The northern edge of Dallas and the suburbs can get it, but not in the heart of Dallas. At least not the Greenville area. Uverse is supposed to be coming, but it doesn't sound to compelling. And TW supposedly plans to finally upgrade my area so I can get a dual tuner DVR around September. Good thing I have my HDHomeRun (for QAM on MCE) and Bittorent so I can keep up on all my shows.
I see. So I guess Verizon is starting off with the rich folks in the Plano area and then are making their way down. I hope they go southwest as well to hit Fort Worth.

I see. So I guess Verizon is starting off with the rich folks in the Plano area and then are making their way down. I hope they go southwest as well to hit Fort Worth.

I think they started in Keller. We got it in Coppell in the spring of 2006.

Tom in TX

I see. So I guess Verizon is starting off with the rich folks in the Plano area and then are making their way down. I hope they go southwest as well to hit Fort Worth.

Some territories are Verizon, some are AT&T. Plano is a Verizon territory, Dallas is (mostly) an AT&T territory.

Some territories are Verizon, some are AT&T. Plano is a Verizon territory, Dallas is (mostly) an AT&T territory.

I'm one block south of the road that separates Verizon and AT&T. On the AT&T side. No FIOS for me.

i'm at one of the boundaries of Dallas (coit/gwb) where verizon is the provider. No sign of FIOS though..then again it's an apartment.

At the DST changeover, Verizon FIOS in Carrollton moved the clock ahead two hours, so I'm an hour ahead. The schedule shows News 8 at 6 starts at 7pm. Can't find a time zone setting in the menu. I have two boxes, HD DVR and SD regular, and they both show the wrong time on the front diaplay. Any help?

...
Directv has been mum about the whole hd-lite issue, and just recently (see programming forum), we received confirmation that all the mpeg-4 stuff is also hd-lite. Everyone was hoping that the transition to mpeg-4 would allow for full HD, but that isn't the case.

HDTV, outside of OTA and HDDVD/Bluray, seems to be pretty much dead.


I'm afraid that all this mpeg-4 stuff will do is allow a numbers game between Directv and Dishnetwork. Dish started off with the "H" in HDTV but they are soon to be in a battle over who can claim the most "H"DTV channels and to hell with the high definition. Ever since I got my Dish mpeg-4 receiver I've noticed nothing but a constant degradation in HD quality on most channels.

More low quality HD is nothing but SD. It seems that OTA is the only way for me to enjoy my investment in TV sets.

I'm afraid that all this mpeg-4 stuff will do is allow a numbers game between Directv and Dishnetwork. Dish started off with the "H" in HDTV but they are soon to be in a battle over who can claim the most "H"DTV channels and to hell with the high definition. Ever since I got my Dish mpeg-4 receiver I've noticed nothing but a constant degradation in HD quality on most channels.

More low quality HD is nothing but SD. It seems that OTA is the only way for me to enjoy my investment in TV sets.

Ouch...so it seems that I either have to do business with TWC, who has continually aggravated me since taking over, or settle for 'less than HD' HDTV. And while OTA is an option for live viewing, I don't believe there is a multi-tuner HD DVR available for OTA, is there? I've gotten spoiled to having the capability of recording two HD shows at once...and was looking forward to being able to handle three (2 Sat, 1 OTA) if I jumped on the E* bandwagon. Now I'm just not sure what I'm going to do...ugh.

Randy

There are two for DirecTV:
The HR10-250 is a Tivo but can only be purchased at places like ebay. D* no longer deploys them.
The HR20 is the new box from D* and readily available. It is discussed at length here (http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=112).

Both are dual HD tuner (2 each ATSC and Sat tuners).

There is also the Series 3 Tivo which is OTA plus cable card. I assume it works with TWC but have not seen it for myself.

Hi Joe,
Yep, I'm familiar with all those guys. The TiVo S3 would be appealing, except for the fact that TWC looks like they will be deploying digital switched video sometime in the not-so-distant future, more or less making the S3 a doorstop (except for OTA). Well, that and the fact that I would still be giving TWC money. :D TiVo may have some plans for accomodating S3 owners in a trade-up program, or some double-secret plan for making the S3 compatible with 2-way capable cable cards (whenever they are actually available, of course), but I don't think I am willing to take the risk. Oh, and I'd still be dealing with TWC. ;)
It would be great if satellite providers would concentrate a little more on quality instead of quantity. But that isn't going to happen. What I would really like to see is a side-by-side comparison of D*, E*, cable, FIOS, Uverse and OTA...just to see if the downrezzing would really be an issue for me. I don't ask for much, do I? :rolleyes: :p :cool:

Randy

I certainly understand not wanting to deal with TWC. I swore off cable years ago (back then it was AT&T in Frisco). Unfortunaltely cable modem is my only reasonable broadband option (I moved a quarter mile and lost DSL availability). So I give TWC over 3x what DSL would cost for the pleasure of dealing with them :mad: :mad: :mad:

As for quality comparisons...the side by side would be nice. Personally I cannot tell a difference between OTA and the D* HD DNS feeds. But:
1) I am not even close to a videophile.
2) My TV is only 42". I'm sure it is much more apparent on larger sets.

I certainly understand not wanting to deal with TWC. I swore off cable years ago (back then it was AT&T in Frisco). Unfortunaltely cable modem is my only reasonable broadband option (I moved a quarter mile and lost DSL availability). So I give TWC over 3x what DSL would cost for the pleasure of dealing with them :mad: :mad: :mad:

As for quality comparisons...the side by side would be nice. Personally I cannot tell a difference between OTA and the D* HD DNS feeds. But:
1) I am not even close to a videophile.
2) My TV is only 42". I'm sure it is much more apparent on larger sets.

I'm somewhat likely to switch to DSL in the near future...letting a buddy guinea pig that for me right now. :D

It seems that most people don't see a major difference with Sat HD vs. cable, but there are some that swear it is very evident. And I'm watching a 62" DLP, so not only screen size but the fixed pixel display could aggravate things.

It is kind of nice when someone can state "My TV is only 42"" these days, isn't it? :)

Randy

It would be great if satellite providers would concentrate a little more on quality instead of quantity. But that isn't going to happen. What I would really like to see is a side-by-side comparison of D*, E*, cable, FIOS, Uverse and OTA...just to see if the downrezzing would really be an issue for me. I don't ask for much, do I? :rolleyes: :p :cool:

Randy

no you don't....i think i posted a link in this thread that has comparison shots of cable vs e* vs d*. That's about as good as it's going to get; afaik, there is no way to capture video from fios or u-verse.

Do you remember how long ago that was, Rakesh? I think I looked at the captures, but would like to take another peek. Honestly, though, I'd be more interested in seeing it live...the captures might be a little more unkind than seeing it in real time, if you know what I mean...

Thanks!
Randy

Anyone on time warner cable get their cable box/guides to updated to Daylight Savings Time correctly, or is everything still listed as an hour behind?

I haven't had any issues in Frisco with guide info or the DST switch...

Randy

I haven't had any issues in Frisco with guide info or the DST switch...

Randy

Strange, I'm in Frisco as well.... hrm maybe I need to give them a call.

Do you remember how long ago that was, Rakesh? I think I looked at the captures, but would like to take another peek. Honestly, though, I'd be more interested in seeing it live...the captures might be a little more unkind than seeing it in real time, if you know what I mean...

Thanks!
Randy

hey randy..i guess i posted it over at dslreports, but here it is

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=704350&page=10&pp=30

obviously the bigger your screen, the more pronounced these artifacts become.

From personal experience (55" widescreen HD CRT), when I switched from directv to cable, I saw a pretty big difference.

The picture on discovery hd was the big thing for me...on cable, it had that 3-d pop effect. Directv just looked flat and ordinary.

Some territories are Verizon, some are AT&T. Plano is a Verizon territory, Dallas is (mostly) an AT&T territory.
I have AT&T in FW, so it looks like that territory is taken then. So much for FiOS for me. :(

Anyone on time warner cable get their cable box/guides to updated to Daylight Savings Time correctly, or is everything still listed as an hour behind?
Busted here in Allen, TX. 1 hour behind. Nothing on their site. Gonna hafta call 'em... Seems like it just showed up today....

Update:935pm Called local TWC number and waited about 30 mins. Nice lady "sent the signal" and all is good. She said some of the boxes just didn't take to the change associated with Daylight Savings moving up. So if you have problems with your DVR sched being off 1 hour and/or device time 1hr behind, give 'em a ring and and let them work the magic.

You can also request a 'hit' on your box without waiting to speak to someone...just follow the prompts when you take the support branch of their menu... I am not sure how long it takes....I called from work and it had been done (for a completely different reason) when I got home that evening...

Randy

Thank you both. I didn't expect it to be that simple or quick. I had sent a note to Customer Care so that I wouldn't have to waste time on the phone. I'll probably get a reply sometime in the future. But I called and did the automated reset and it was done by the time I walked away from the computer and turned on the TV a minute or so later.

The automated phone message did say that if you had internet service everything would be reset, but it did not reset the modem, which is even better.

The automated phone system worked great for me, once I figured out what number they had on file for me.

The automated phone system worked great for me, once I figured out what number they had on file for me.

Anyone mind telling us what option you chose to request the automated hit? When I choose the "reset your converter box" option it puts me in queue to talk to a CSR.

Thanks in advance...

If you guys need customer service, just go to the rr online chat...that's a lot faster than waiting on hold.

try help.rr.com ..they may even have a box refresh option online, but i can't say for sure.

Does anyone know what is going to happen to all of the USDTV channels now that they have ceased operations?

Does anyone know what is going to happen to all of the USDTV channels now that they have ceased operations?

As far as I know they were all leased OTA subchannels so the bandwidth will just go back to the "owner"......

Anyone mind telling us what option you chose to request the automated hit? When I choose the "reset your converter box" option it puts me in queue to talk to a CSR.

Thanks in advance...

When I chose that option, in Richardson, TX, the recording said the box would be reset shortly - and it was.

Before I realized it would be that simple I sent a note to Customer Service (via their online form) so that I wouldn't waste time on the phone or in a chat. Received an e-mail reply that apologized for the problem, said it was due to a system failure, and that they had sent a reset to my DVR which should correct the problem.

SO it looks like there are multiple roads to getting the box reset. Now I think I'll send another note to Customer Service to see about getting the firmware upgraded. There are now three firmware releases that should correct the HDCP handshaking problem when connecting via an audio system.

Anyone know when channel 27.1 went away THIS time? On the road all week and poof, no 27 but lot's of extra 68.X stuff :)

I got the following response from CBS about the Memphis / North Texas game being in SD today:

During CBS Sports coverage of the Division I Men's Basketball
Tournament, the network of more than 200 affiliates is divided up into
as many as eight different audiences that are assigned to either move
from arena to arena, showcasing the entire festival of opening round
games; or to remaining fixed on a single game for audiences in a team's
home market (a considerably smaller audience).

We are in the home market for UNT. In order to keep this game on in our
local market for the entirety of the game, KTVT is protected and
receiving an analog signal from CBS. The growth in the HD audience has
simply outpaced the networking systems for this complicated event. Next
weekend and throughout the rest of the tournament, with fewer games, we
can assure you that every game will be available in HD.

Ken Foote
Director Of Programming
KTVT CBS 11 & KTXA 21
Dallas/Fort Worth

it is true that the 622 is awesome but their audio quality is god awful!!!! i have the 522 model and i have it connected up to my pio 1015 receiver and i can here distortion while in DPL II mode or Dolby Digital mode. Even though i love Fios, if it was not here, i would still get the HD service with Dish Network.

I am also curious about the 150 supposedly hd channels Directv was going to launch.

Don't know about the 522, but my old 508 and neww 622 have excellent optical outputs. May be your D/A converter or DSP has issues.

The DTV add says the "ability" for 150 HD channels. These would primarily be pay per view and regional sports networks but most likely would not have the capability to be used all at once (or even half at once).

As far as I know they were all leased OTA subchannels so the bandwidth will just go back to the "owner"......

I assumed that was to be the case, but has anyone heard of what the original owners are planning to with all of that bandwidth if anything when they get it back. Anything besides more Jesus channels would be welcome.

Anyone know when channel 27.1 went away THIS time? On the road all week and poof, no 27 but lot's of extra 68.X stuff :)
It was gone again within a couple of days after I'd last posted that they had returned. So some where around 11th or 12th is when they went away again :mad: ...

What is up with the Texas vs. New Mexico State game in SD?

Yeah man, I've noticed that too. I thought my tuner went out. I was going to call BestBuy and tell them to come check my 42HDS69 out. Read the previous posts. It seems CBS is having some issues. It still looks pretty good. It looks like the NFL channel :)

Yeah man, I've noticed that too. I thought my tuner went out. I was going to call BestBuy and tell them to come check my 42HDS69 out. Read the previous posts. It seems CBS is having some issues. It still looks pretty good. It looks like the NFL channel :)


That just doesn't make sense. They have switched several times to other games. Looks like the CBS HD feed from NYC on D* has the game in HD.

Yeah, but this makes plenty of sense

During CBS Sports coverage of the Division I Men's Basketball
Tournament, the network of more than 200 affiliates is divided up into
as many as eight different audiences that are assigned to either move
from arena to arena, showcasing the entire festival of opening round
games; or to remaining fixed on a single game for audiences in a team's
home market (a considerably smaller audience).

We are in the home market for UNT. In order to keep this game on in our
local market for the entirety of the game, KTVT is protected and
receiving an analog signal from CBS. The growth in the HD audience has
simply outpaced the networking systems for this complicated event. Next
weekend and throughout the rest of the tournament, with fewer games, we
can assure you that every game will be available in HD.

Ken Foote
Director Of Programming
KTVT CBS 11 & KTXA 21
Dallas/Fort Worth

It's switching back to true HD when they switch back to the CBS broadcast studio. I can see every pimple on Gumball's and Clark Kellogg's faces

Howdy folks,

I got a Panasonic plasma in Feb. I used QAM to get the local HD channels from TWC. I am in the Richardson/Plano area. When I did the first scan, I got all the local HD plus TNT and Disc. Around 3/1, I lost CBS and TNT. They were on 107-1 and 107-2 (Not sure about the -x part, but they were on 107-x). Now I can't get neither of those channels. I would think that CBS should still be available. I still got all of the other local HD and Disc.

Did anyone else experience this? if so, were you able to get CBS back? Did you have to do anything? I've done multiple rescan and still can't get CBS (ch 107-x).

thanks in advance.
Jake

Don't know about the 522, but my old 508 and neww 622 have excellent optical outputs. May be your D/A converter or DSP has issues.

The DTV add says the "ability" for 150 HD channels. These would primarily be pay per view and regional sports networks but most likely would not have the capability to be used all at once (or even half at once).

I know for a fact it is not the receiver. because it is doing it on all of the tv speakers in my house, and it is doing it at my friends house who also has Dish Net.

Howdy folks,

I got a Panasonic plasma in Feb. I used QAM to get the local HD channels from TWC. I am in the Richardson/Plano area. When I did the first scan, I got all the local HD plus TNT and Disc. Around 3/1, I lost CBS and TNT. They were on 107-1 and 107-2 (Not sure about the -x part, but they were on 107-x). Now I can't get neither of those channels. I would think that CBS should still be available. I still got all of the other local HD and Disc.

Did anyone else experience this? if so, were you able to get CBS back? Did you have to do anything? I've done multiple rescan and still can't get CBS (ch 107-x).

thanks in advance.
Jake

Hi Jake,
Sorry, I forgot to check on this sooner...I still have CBS HD on 107-1 and TNT HD on 107-2 here in Frisco....

Randy

Hi Jake,
Sorry, I forgot to check on this sooner...I still have CBS HD on 107-1 and TNT HD on 107-2 here in Frisco....

Randy

Randy, thanks for the info. Did you have to do anything special? or just a simple scan? I've done about 10 scans over the past 3 weeks and no 107-x.

Jake

Nothing special at all...I haven't rescanned in quite awhile. At least a couple of months, I'd say. I can't think of anything you should need to do...that's odd.

Randy

Randy, thanks for the info. Did you have to do anything special? or just a simple scan? I've done about 10 scans over the past 3 weeks and no 107-x.

Jake

Don't know if the same applies to QAM, but others with OTA have had success doing the following:




Disconnect antenna.
Scan (obviously there will be no locks).
Reconnect antenna.
Scan again.


I've had much success with this method on my E* ViP622. It's worth a shot.

Randy, thanks for the info. Did you have to do anything special? or just a simple scan? I've done about 10 scans over the past 3 weeks and no 107-x.

Jake

Another possibility is a loss of signal strength. I had a similar problem with several of the HD channels.

I called TWC, and they sent a tech out. He did something outside, and also changed out a splitter that seems to have solved my issues.

If you are having tiling on any of your channels this could be the culprit.

Another possibility is a loss of signal strength. I had a similar problem with several of the HD channels.

I called TWC, and they sent a tech out. He did something outside, and also changed out a splitter that seems to have solved my issues.

If you are having tiling on any of your channels this could be the culprit.


Videoguy, 120inna55,

thanks for your suggestions. Not sure what my problem is but I just lost all 108-x channels. Ironically, everything else is as clear as crystal. Looks like I am going to have to call TWC.

I've been reading through this thread some this morning, looking for some insight on a good indoor antenna to get OTA hd broadcasts.
Im in an apartment on the first floor, so i have limited options here (i have sd directv, and have to wait to upgrade to hd)
i purchased the phillips PHDTV1 and it does an ok job of picking up 5.1, 11.1 (sometimes) and 33.1, but i cannot get 4.1 at all and obviously can't get 8.1
I pointed the antenna to aprx. the area that antennaweb said too, but still not much better luck.
I also tried the 15-1892 from radio shack, which is amplified and does vhf, and little the same results.

Any suggestions on a good antenna to try? should i be looking at amplified antennas?

Thanks.

I've been reading through this thread some this morning, looking for some insight on a good indoor antenna to get OTA hd broadcasts.
Im in an apartment on the first floor, so i have limited options here (i have sd directv, and have to wait to upgrade to hd)
i purchased the phillips PHDTV1 and it does an ok job of picking up 5.1, 11.1 (sometimes) and 33.1, but i cannot get 4.1 at all and obviously can't get 8.1
I pointed the antenna to aprx. the area that antennaweb said too, but still not much better luck.
I also tried the 15-1892 from radio shack, which is amplified and does vhf, and little the same results.

Any suggestions on a good antenna to try? should i be looking at amplified antennas?

Thanks.

You might want to give your location, and even better, go to antennaweb.org and get the info for your address there and paste it in here,. too. I'm not sure how much help you're going to be able to get regarding an indoor antenna...it might just be a case of try a bunch until you find the one that works best...and unfortunately, there is a decent chance you just might not be able to get everything at your location. But it can't hurt to post the info to see if anyone can offer up some advice. Good luck!

Randy

You might want to give your location, and even better, go to antennaweb.org and get the info for your address there and paste it in here,. too. I'm not sure how much help you're going to be able to get regarding an indoor antenna...it might just be a case of try a bunch until you find the one that works best...and unfortunately, there is a decent chance you just might not be able to get everything at your location. But it can't hurt to post the info to see if anyone can offer up some advice. Good luck!

Randy

Completely slipped my mind to post location.
Im in extreme north dallas near 190/tollway aprx 30-33miles from the towers, most stations seem to be at 185-190deg. my old apartment had antenna's on the roof you could hook into but unfortunately this one does not.
mostly im just looking to get fox,nbc,cbs in hd (i know i wont be able to get wfaa, though i can actually get the analog in ok via the listed phillips antenna) until I can get d* to come out and install the hd dish. Also whats strange is antenna web does not list fox hd for me.

Help wanted,

I am using an OTA channel master 4228 I installed in my attic with a channel master pre amp 7777 but can not get signal. I can only get channel 4 and 5.

I also have D* connected with a dipxler.

Does anyone have an idea on what I might be doing wrong?

Completely slipped my mind to post location.
Im in extreme north dallas near 190/tollway aprx 30-33miles from the towers, most stations seem to be at 185-190deg. my old apartment had antenna's on the roof you could hook into but unfortunately this one does not.
mostly im just looking to get fox,nbc,cbs in hd (i know i wont be able to get wfaa, though i can actually get the analog in ok via the listed phillips antenna) until I can get d* to come out and install the hd dish. Also whats strange is antenna web does not list fox hd for me.

For an indoor antenna try the Terk HDTVi (not any of the other Terks). It's a clone of the Silver Sensor which is generally speaking the best UHF indoor antenna, but the Terk has added "rabbit ears" so you can try for WFAA digital.
All the DFW stations are in approximately the same direction for you - if you go to antennaweb.org and put in your exact address it will give you the direction you need to point your antenna.
Reception with an indoor antenna at your distance from the transmitters is very hit and miss - if you are in a "sweet spot" it might be OK, but 30 miles is a long way for an indoor antenna...

Help wanted,

I am using an OTA channel master 4228 I installed in my attic with a channel master pre amp 7777 but can not get signal. I can only get channel 4 and 5.

I also have D* connected with a dipxler.

Does anyone have an idea on what I might be doing wrong?

What's your zip code?

Do you mean you can only receive channels 4 and 5 analog or 4.1 and 5.1 digital? What tuner do you have and what sort of signal strength are you getting?

Things that could be wrong.

Your CM7777 might not be set to "combined" input, or you could have the antenna connected to the wrong input on the CM7777.

You might have a cable or connector problem.

You could be connected to the wrong input on your TV, or have it set to "cable" instead of "antenna" or OTA.

You could have a faulty diplexer - remove it and connect your tuner to the antenna directly using a temporary cable.

FYI you are going to have to get rid of the diplexer anyway if you want the new HD channels later this year; the frequency band used by the new DirecTV 10 and 11 satellites will overlap OTA and diplexing won't work.

Thanks Texasbrit.

My zip code is 76248.

I am able to get 4.1, 4.2, 5.1 and 5.2 now.

I used to have the antenna next to my tv (Samsung HTS 5086) and was able to get all the channels including 4.1, 5.1, 8.1 and 11.1. The main reason why I wanted it move to the attic was for the looks, I had the antenna in front of the fire place and didn't look good there to my wife.

Since I also have D*, I figured that I had to get a dipxler to combine the signal one in the attic and one where the dish line comes out of the wall. In addition to get more signal strength I tought that using the preamp 7777 would be sufficient.

I noticed that on the 7777 there are two different inputs, one for UHF and one for VHF, which one should I connect the antenna to?

Are you saying that I shouldn't be using the diplexers at all anyways?

I am also able to get the signal from the Dish for the two tv's we have. Now the problem is that I am only getting the local channels I mentioned before.

I am realy a newbie on this stuff, if you could may be tell me how I am supposed to connect the D* and antenna would be great!

Sorry for such a long reply and thanks again.

No HD for prison break tonight.

What the hell? I thought having the splicer was supposed to prevent the operator from manually flipping the switch

No HD for prison break tonight.

What the hell? I thought having the splicer was supposed to prevent the operator from manually flipping the switch

noticed that too (finally got 4.1 on my antenna) i'll be pissed if 24 isn't in hd

Reception with an indoor antenna at your distance from the transmitters is very hit and miss - if you are in a "sweet spot" it might be OK, but 30 miles is a long way for an indoor antenna...

Not necessarily so -- too many other factors come into play. A friend here in Plano is getting good OTA digital reception using a simple set of rabbit ears for VHF and a single bow-tie antenna for UHF.

Some of the factors (aside from distance) that might determine whether indoor reception will work for you:

Which direction does your apartment faces (if you're facing north, away from the transmitter sites, reception will be tough)
Which floor you're on (higher is better)
Building construction (some materials are more "transparent" to broadcast signals than others
The type of buildings surrounding you (if you're near tall office buildings, they may interfere with your reception)

noticed that too (finally got 4.1 on my antenna) i'll be pissed if 24 isn't in hd
Was "24" shown in HD? I don't have HDTV yet, so I watched it in SD like usual.

Was "24" shown in HD? I don't have HDTV yet, so I watched it in SD like usual.
It was in HD.

It was in HD.
That's good. So FOX only had the screwup with "PB".

For an indoor antenna try the Terk HDTVi (not any of the other Terks). It's a clone of the Silver Sensor which is generally speaking the best UHF indoor antenna, but the Terk has added "rabbit ears" so you can try for WFAA digital.
All the DFW stations are in approximately the same direction for you - if you go to antennaweb.org and put in your exact address it will give you the direction you need to point your antenna.
Reception with an indoor antenna at your distance from the transmitters is very hit and miss - if you are in a "sweet spot" it might be OK, but 30 miles is a long way for an indoor antenna...

I am at 27 - 29 miles from the towers and I can pick up everything with the HDTVi. Besides the Silver Sensor, it is the only indoor antenna worth a damn. I used to have problems with WFAA using it, but one night I got the bright idea to put it on top on a Xerox paper box on top of my TV and it comes in great now. All of the other channels are 80 - 90%

BTW, Congrats to News 8 for going HD. Looks great OTA

BTW, Congrats to News 8 for going HD. Looks great OTA

X2...how long have they been doing this? I don't watch local news all that much but caught it tonight...I checked the other stations and Channel 8 is the first with HD. No reason to watch the other stations anymore. ;)

X2...how long have they been doing this? I don't watch local news all that much but caught it tonight...I checked the other stations and Channel 8 is the first with HD. No reason to watch the other stations anymore. ;)
Do the newscasters look "scary" in hi-def? Or do the make-up folks do a good enough job with them?

On Mon., my Dish Network receiver crapped out again while I was not home and had my CompVo (computer TiVo-like functionality) set to record "Prison Break" and "24". Instead of recording those shows, I recorded 2 hours of the picture shown below. I've had enough of it. I'm going to call Dish and demand they give me a new receiver or somehow make sure that whenever it loses a signal, that it does not require manual intervention (i.e. pressing channel up or down) to regain that signal.

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/7559/dishnetworkerrorsb6.jpg

Does anyone know anything about "sudden link" and the services they offer, their web page is pretty awful explaining what they have..

Do the newscasters look "scary" in hi-def? Or do the make-up folks do a good enough job with them?

They looked great...the whole newscast did...they should watch HDN news for pointers though as their graphics and presentation in HD are much more polished.

X2...how long have they been doing this?

a couple months

They looked great...the whole newscast did...they should watch HDN news for pointers though as their graphics and presentation in HD are much more polished.
That's good. Sometimes too much detail is not a good thing since it reveals blemishes, etc. that much more.

Since ABC is the only D/FW news station to broadcast in hi-def (so far), wouldn't that be a significant competitive advantage for them over the other stations?

Does anyone else have the intermittent problem with KDFI 27-1? I notice yesterday after not watching them for a couple of months (i.e. Stars games) that they're now in HD. They were showing "The Negotiator" in HD and it looked good, but just like the last time I watched this channel I would get audio drop-outs and frozen picture/macro blocking, etc.

So great, they're in HD but yet I still don't get a constant signal from them. But when the signal is in, it comes in around 98 or so on my ViP622.

Also, now that they're in HD, does anyone know if they'll be broadcasting Stars games in HD?