Your Home Depot salesperson obviously has no idea about antennas. Attic mounting reduces the signal strength by anything up to 60%, and can also create a multipath problem, particularly in Texas where the attic is full of a/c and other equipment, and often has metal foil-backed insulation in the roof.
Also the quoted radius on antenna boxes is meaningless...

....

It MIGHT be 60%, but that isn't always true. I got about a 7ft Radio Shack standard antenna hanging from the rafters of my 2 story house in flower mound, appx. 35 miles from cedar hill (and in a slight valley no doubt).

I have 100% signal on WFAA, 97% on CBS, 85% on FOX and 77% on NBC for the main local channels. I also have 2 AC units about 15 feet from my antenna and a good 60ft of run to my TV. It can be done...

I appreciate the info. Yeah, the Home Depot saleswoman glossed over a few things. When I told her that the attic would surely lower signal strength, she countered by saying that since the antenna wouldn't sway in the wind, that would be an added benefit. (Hopefully no one has wind in their attic, LOL.)

I live in northwest FW - Zip code 76179. When I checked AntennaWeb a while ago, it said I was ~35 mi. from the source (on avg.). The closest Fry's to me is in Arlington and the next time I go there, I'll check out the CM4228. I recall you or someone saying the antenna folds in half so that it should fit in most attic entrances. Thanks.

FYI, I live in 76179 also (Saginaw) and have the previously mentioned CM4228 in my attic. With some troubleshooting I am now getting all local HD channels. I had to add a Motorola amp to it to get it to where it's consistently good, but with more patience that may not be necessary (my patience runs very thin when dripping sweat in a Texas attic!).

FYI, I live in 76179 also (Saginaw) and have the previously mentioned CM4228 in my attic. With some troubleshooting I am now getting all local HD channels. I had to add a Motorola amp to it to get it to where it's consistently good, but with more patience that may not be necessary (my patience runs very thin when dripping sweat in a Texas attic!).
Thanks, glad to hear it's working well. I'm on the FW side of that Zip code. I'm surprised you still needed to use an amplifier; I would've thought the CM4228 would've been good enough on its own. I hear you that it can get pretty hot up there in the attic in the summer!

Thanks, glad to hear it's working well. I'm on the FW side of that Zip code. I'm surprised you still needed to use an amplifier; I would've thought the CM4228 would've been good enough on its own. I hear you that it can get pretty hot up there in the attic in the summer!


Well like I said, it wasn't really a necessity, but it made it much easier. Had I found the "sweet spot" and mounted the antenna up there it probably wouldn't need the amp. But, I just have it leaning against a rafter and pointed toward the southeast, with the amp hooked to it, and it was fine from that point. I figure the $40 was money well spent not having to screw around trying to find the perfect spot.

anybody know which hollywood video stores in dallas carry hd-dvd?

With all the recent rain in our area, I thought I'd look into what can be done to improve satellite reception when it rains.

One of the solutions was to go to a larger dish, which improves the signal reception strength and "attacks rain fade". One example is the Channel Master GainMaster Satellite Dish (http://www.solidsignal.com/gainmasterantenna.asp). This prodcuct makes since to me, but it means spending over $150 and installing a whole new dish.

Other solutions include chemically treating the dish so rain doesn't settle on the dish. Something like Rain-x for satellite dishes. My gut tells me this has a low probability of working and from my reading, the issue with satellite reception loss due to rain is more related to atmospheric phenomena between your dish and the satellite.

And then a came across the Rain Fadeaway satellite accessory (http://www.fadeaway.tv/product.htm). As it is quoted...

Essential Satellite Accessory
Long frustrated by interference to audio and video signals from the elements of Mother Nature, engineers have long sought a signal intensifier to combat "attenuation", (as Rain, Ice and Snow Fade are technically called). The seemingly endless search for the cure to this phenomenon has resulted in the developement of the FadeAway™

Rain Fade Protection & Prevention
Developed and patented in 2002 by RF engineers with decades of technical experience in the satellite industry, The Fadeaway™ is an example of simple ideas being the best. Made of chromium based proprietary composite materials, it resembles a plastic "cap" for your satellite dish. It installs in minutes and fits all dishes between 18" and 24". Because of the intensity of its composite make-up, it will last over 20 years in the extreme heat, or the most frigid of conditions. It carries a lifetime warrantee on all parts, and installs onto your dish via three simple clamps which are provided. It captures & intensifies the signal to your dish, (in effect giving your dish the same signal availability of a 90" dish). And it is generally proven that at the size of these larger 90" dishes, signal becomes impervious to Rain Fade, due to the satellite signal strenth they are able to accumulate.

Once you install the FadeAway™, you too will be impervious to the aggravation of pixelization, loss of signal, or intermittent reception interruptions to your favorite movie, sporting event or Pay Per View.

How does the FadeAway work?
Made of patented chromium based proprietary composite materials, it captures & intensifies the signal to your dish, (in effect giving your dish the same signal availability of a dish). And it is generally proven that at the size of these larger dishes, signal becomes impervious to RainFade, due to the signal strenth they are able to accumulate.

How do I know it will work?
A division of GE tested over 2000 units in Florida during the rainy season, and found substantial improvement or total elimination of Rain Fade in 92% of the survey reports from these 2000 users. The results are overwhelming and remarkable.

I'm intrigued by this and it's low cost. Has anyone used this, heard about it?

Well like I said, it wasn't really a necessity, but it made it much easier. Had I found the "sweet spot" and mounted the antenna up there it probably wouldn't need the amp. But, I just have it leaning against a rafter and pointed toward the southeast, with the amp hooked to it, and it was fine from that point. I figure the $40 was money well spent not having to screw around trying to find the perfect spot.
I see, so you just aimed it in the general SE direction w/o having to use the precise AntennaWeb angle. I can try it both ways - first w/o amp and then w/ it. I used to have a compass, but haven't located it since I moved into the house. :o

In any case, come this time next year, I might drop Dish Network (my contract will be up by then) and only use OTA. :)

I see, so you just aimed it in the general SE direction w/o having to use the precise AntennaWeb angle. I can try it both ways - first w/o amp and then w/ it. I used to have a compass, but haven't located it since I moved into the house. :o

In any case, come this time next year, I might drop Dish Network (my contract will be up by then) and only use OTA. :)

Yes, I didn't have a compass so just eyeballed the direction. I just know it's generally SE.

And yeah, I don't have cable or satellite TV, just OTA. I can't stand cable companies, so if I were to use something it would be satellite, but I just can't justify the price tag when I watched roughly 75% local channels anyway when I had cable.

Yes, I didn't have a compass so just eyeballed the direction. I just know it's generally SE.

And yeah, I don't have cable or satellite TV, just OTA. I can't stand cable companies, so if I were to use something it would be satellite, but I just can't justify the price tag when I watched roughly 75% local channels anyway when I had cable.
I hear you. Most of what I watch (at least Sept. - May) are the free channels, such as FOX and ABC. There are only a handful of cable channels I really watch. I've lived w/o cable before, but I did miss ESPN and a few other channels. : \

time warner cable qam listings 750 mhz plants
frequency physical channel#
549mhz (78-6) cspan3 simulcast
555mhz (79-1) vod preview
555mhz (79-9) shop nbc
561mhz (80-4) metro sports
561mhz (80-5)thru (80-51) music choice
573mhz (82-8) lrw
579mhz (83-1) thru 597mhz (86-16) vod
633mhz (92-1) nba preview
633mhz (92-7) team 6
657mhz (101-6) we
681mhz (105-4) vh1 soul
687mhz (106-3) discovery hd
693mhz (107-1) ktvt hd
693mhz (107-2) tnt hd
693mhz (107-3) ktxa hd
699mhz (108-1) kera hd
699mhz (108-2) wfaa hd
699mhz (108-3) kdaf hd
711mhz (110-1) kdfw hd
711mhz (110-20 kxas hd
711mhz (110-3) wfaa 8.2
711mhz (110-4) weather plus
711mhz (110-5) the tube
729mhz (113-1) kdfw simulcast
729mhz (113-2) kxas simulcast
729mhz (113-3) wfaa simulcast
729mhz (113-4) ktvt simulcast
729mhz (113-6) kera simulcast
729mhz (113-7) ktxa simulcast
729mhz (113-8)kdaf simulcast
735mhz (114-1) kdtx simulcast
735mhZ (114-2) kpxd simulcast
735mhZ (114-3) ewtn simulcast
735mhZ (114-4) txcn simulcast
735mhZ (114-5)kuvn simulcast
735mhZ (114-6) qvc simulcast
735mhZ (114-7) cspan simulcast
735mhZ (114-8) cspan2 simulcast
735mhZ (114-9) disney simulcast
735mhZ (114-10) hsn simulcast
741mhz (115-2) kdfi in hd

I have a quick question for DFW Time Warner folks. I'm new to the area (Plano), by way of NYC, where I had a SA8300HD DVR. It wasn't perfect, but it would record two shows and generally worked. I liked it. Here in DFW Time Warner installed the Motorola DCT6208 when I set up service. Is this really the most modern DVR they offer in this area? I spoke with a rep tonight who said this was not a dual-tuner area and that a single tuner DVR was the only one available. This Motorola just seems so outdated and clunky. Does anyone know if Time Warner in Plano has other DVR models or is this my only option? Thanks.

Justin

I have a quick question for DFW Time Warner folks. I'm new to the area (Plano), by way of NYC, where I had a SA8300HD DVR. It wasn't perfect, but it would record two shows and generally worked. I liked it. Here in DFW Time Warner installed the Motorola DCT6208 when I set up service. Is this really the most modern DVR they offer in this area? I spoke with a rep tonight who said this was not a dual-tuner area and that a single tuner DVR was the only one available. This Motorola just seems so outdated and clunky. Does anyone know if Time Warner in Plano has other DVR models or is this my only option? Thanks.

Justin

Hi Justin,
Unfortunately, if you are in a 'dual-line' area of Plano, the 6208 is your only option. TWC is in the process of updating all of their headends to go to single line service, but it is taking time. Once they update your area, you'll be able to get a Moto 6412 or 6416. I believe you'll find those more to your liking. I believe that they use a different OS that the 6208, but that might have changed since I moved to the 6412. I've been pretty happy with it, for the most part. It certainly isn't as good as my trusty ol' ReplayTVs, but they won't do HD, so there you have it.
I'm just curious....which software did your 8300 use?

Randy

Thanks for the info Randy. The rep I spoke with mentioned that my area was scheduled to be updated on July 30, but I don't know how accurate that is. I did lose some faith in TW after my installer set the box up with plain ol' coax (as my DVI cable sat dangling from the TV) and left the box set up for 4:3. It's tough to go from dual-tuner to single tuner, but it's not too big of a deal.

I believe my 8300 used the Passport software, but I can't recall what version. Is there any way I would be able to tell from recollection about the menu's, etc?

Thanks for the info Randy. The rep I spoke with mentioned that my area was scheduled to be updated on July 30, but I don't know how accurate that is. I did lose some faith in TW after my installer set the box up with plain ol' coax (as my DVI cable sat dangling from the TV) and left the box set up for 4:3. It's tough to go from dual-tuner to single tuner, but it's not too big of a deal.

I believe my 8300 used the Passport software, but I can't recall what version. Is there any way I would be able to tell from recollection about the menu's, etc?

I'm not sure...I had just heard horror stories about the 8300, but I believe those all involve the SARA software, so I was just wondering.

Hopefully the 7/30 date is accurate...I think you'll be much happier with the 6412 or 6416. I believe they use a different OS than the 6208, or at least it was that way when I had a 6208.

Anyway, welcome to the forum and best of luck!

Randy

WFAA-DT 8.1 audio:
I have been working on smoothing out our digital audio levels. I made a change last week and would like to know if those of you that listen in DD (5.1) mode are ok with ch8.1 audio.
How are the levels between commercials, news & network. One of my complaints was the HD commercials (DD) that are on ABC mixed with the SD stereo commercials. Also our news levels were not consistent.

I really think we sound good now but always depend on what you the viewers think. I am only asking about ch8.1 and not comparing levels with any other channel. That is another whole ballgame.
JStigler
WFAA-DT

WFAA-DT 8.1 audio:
I have been working on smoothing out our digital audio levels. I made a change last week and would like to know if those of you that listen in DD (5.1) mode are ok with ch8.1 audio.
How are the levels between commercials, news & network. One of my complaints was the HD commercials (DD) that are on ABC mixed with the SD stereo commercials. Also our news levels were not consistent.

I really think we sound good now but always depend on what you the viewers think. I am only asking about ch8.1 and not comparing levels with any other channel. That is another whole ballgame.
JStigler
WFAA-DT
Sound great...You guys rock!!!
I also appreciate the lack of popping (that your competitors have) switching from SD to HD for commercials.

Out of curiosity, I have a newbie antenna installation question. I'll get an HDTV sometime this summer and then try OTA shortly soon thereafter. I'd like to mount the antenna in my attic instead of on the roof. I know the direction I need to point it, according to AntennaWeb.org. What I'm curious about is where in the attic is the antenna best placed? Should it near a corner or in the middle where the sloped roof is highest? I assume the latter, but just want to make sure. Perhaps it doesn't even matter. TIA.

Out of curiosity, I have a newbie antenna installation question. I'll get an HDTV sometime this summer and then try OTA shortly soon thereafter. I'd like to mount the antenna in my attic instead of on the roof. I know the direction I need to point it, according to AntennaWeb.org. What I'm curious about is where in the attic is the antenna best placed? Should it near a corner or in the middle where the sloped roof is highest? I assume the latter, but just want to make sure. Perhaps it doesn't even matter. TIA.
The most important thing is to find a location where there's no equipment (a/c etc) within about 30 degrees of the direction to Cedar Hill. In any case, you may have to move the antenna around in the attic to get a location where there is not too much multipath.
I mounted mine on a tripod and this made it easier to find the correct location.

You can attach a mast to a rafter or stud. Hanging with string may cause interference.

The most important thing is to find a location where there's no equipment (a/c etc) within about 30 degrees of the direction to Cedar Hill. In any case, you may have to move the antenna around in the attic to get a location where there is not too much multipath.
I mounted mine on a tripod and this made it easier to find the correct location.
Thanks, that's a good idea. Unfortunately, my A/C in the attic is somewhat close to the southeast direction I have to point to. So if I go in the corner of the attic that's far away from the A/C, then that should hopefully avoid multipath interference.

I need some information about FiOS in DFW metro. I could be relocating to Dallas(Irving or Grapevine) and will be renting. Does anyone know of apartments near the DFW airport that have verizon FiOS TV available? Thanks!

well i happen to know that they are some apartments in irving that i do that are ready for fios setup. like the ones off of macarthur and some on walnut hill lane

Hey guys i just got off the phone with a tech who works at KTVT and I just found out that around the end of summer or early or mid fall, CBS 11 will be doing their newscasts IN HIGH DEFINITION!!! STAY TUNED!!!!

Thanks, that's a good idea. Unfortunately, my A/C in the attic is somewhat close to the southeast direction I have to point to. So if I go in the corner of the attic that's far away from the A/C, then that should hopefully avoid multipath interference.

You just need to give yourself a clean line of sight to the towers....

kdfi hd is now on time warner cable on channel 407 and on 115-2 qam

also they launched espn deportes on ch. 320

I live in the Dallas area, and have a set top box with HD-ready SONY TV for OTA reception via an attic antenna. For years, the HD reception has been coming in fine. Recently, one channel comes in very pixelated, and all other channels come in beautifully. The path of signal is: wall port -to- monster power strip -to- DVD/VHS unit -to- SetTop Box -to- the TV. I tried removing the DVD/VHS unit from the path to see if that was messing up the signal, and still get the same pixelation on that ONE channel. Is there any way to tell if the problem lies with the OTA Signal for this one channel? or with something in my setup or hardware?

I need some information about FiOS in DFW metro. I could be relocating to Dallas(Irving or Grapevine) and will be renting. Does anyone know of apartments near the DFW airport that have verizon FiOS TV available? Thanks!

Royal St. Moritz has FiOS available.

I live in the Dallas area, and have a set top box with HD-ready SONY TV for OTA reception via an attic antenna. For years, the HD reception has been coming in fine. Recently, one channel comes in very pixelated, and all other channels come in beautifully. The path of signal is: wall port -to- monster power strip -to- DVD/VHS unit -to- SetTop Box -to- the TV. I tried removing the DVD/VHS unit from the path to see if that was messing up the signal, and still get the same pixelation on that ONE channel. Is there any way to tell if the problem lies with the OTA Signal for this one channel? or with something in my setup or hardware?

Why to the monster strip? If your attic is hit by lightning, the strip won't help you anyway! Direct to the TV is always strongest. Check your input strength if you can. You may have picked up a new multipath interfering object between you and the towers. Regardless, if the problem still exists, you know its not a peice of your hardware causing the problem. You may need a small signal booster.

I live in the Dallas area, and have a set top box with HD-ready SONY TV for OTA reception via an attic antenna. For years, the HD reception has been coming in fine. Recently, one channel comes in very pixelated, and all other channels come in beautifully. The path of signal is: wall port -to- monster power strip -to- DVD/VHS unit -to- SetTop Box -to- the TV. I tried removing the DVD/VHS unit from the path to see if that was messing up the signal, and still get the same pixelation on that ONE channel. Is there any way to tell if the problem lies with the OTA Signal for this one channel? or with something in my setup or hardware?

Which channel is the problem?

Hey guys,

Need some help here. I live in Lake Highlands (dual line cable....ugh). I just have basic cable and bought a Sony SXRD. What is the best way to set it up? I also have a Denon 1705, a PS3, and a Tivo DT Series 2.

The way I have it setup so far is:
VIDEO:
wall-->splitter-->tivo(rf in)-->tv(s-video in)
|
-->tv(cable rf in)

ps3-->tv(hdmi in)


AUDIO:
Tivo-->denon(composite)
TV-->denon(composite)

I did the 2nd one because i want anything connected directly to the TV (PS3 and QAM) to output to the receiver, but that isn't working. Any ideas? Should I shell out hte bucks for the STB?

Which channel is the problem?

The channel which is coming in pixelated is FOX Channel 4. All other channels are fine. The antenna in my attic (in Carrollton) is facing to the south where the sending towers are ... I believe it is somewhere in south Dallas. Since all the other channels are fine, and since the signals are coming from the same location, wouldn't that dampen the theory that something is "blocking" the signal?

Does anyone have a current list of QAM channels in Dallas? Mine don't go into the 100's like the lists I've seen on here. It looks like Fox/CBS/etc are in the 50's. 52.2 is TNT HD I think. My area has the dual-line cable (a/b side) so I scanned on the a-side and found most of them, but I can't seem to find NBC HD.

Any ideas?

You just need to give yourself a clean line of sight to the towers....
Thanks, luckily, I have a 2-story house and I don't have any tall trees or big houses blocking that southeast direction. :)

The channel which is coming in pixelated is FOX Channel 4. All other channels are fine. The antenna in my attic (in Carrollton) is facing to the south where the sending towers are ... I believe it is somewhere in south Dallas. Since all the other channels are fine, and since the signals are coming from the same location, wouldn't that dampen the theory that something is "blocking" the signal?


What signal strength are you getting on channel 4-1 and what signal strength on the other digital OTA stations? And what type of antenna do you have?

It looks like Dish Network redid the signal meter. I'm now registering 75 from a scale of 0 to 100 for Satellite 119. Before, I was in the low 100s but I don't know what the scale was. I have Dish 322 receiver.

Hey guys i just got off the phone with a tech who works at KTVT and I just found out that around the end of summer or early or mid fall, CBS 11 will be doing their newscasts IN HIGH DEFINITION!!! STAY TUNED!!!!

What's funny is I actually tend to watch the news on 8 (even though I don't like them) JUST because they are in HD :-)

The channel which is coming in pixelated is FOX Channel 4. All other channels are fine. The antenna in my attic (in Carrollton) is facing to the south where the sending towers are ... I believe it is somewhere in south Dallas. Since all the other channels are fine, and since the signals are coming from the same location, wouldn't that dampen the theory that something is "blocking" the signal?


the towers are in cedar hill

What's funny is I actually tend to watch the news on 8 (even though I don't like them) JUST because they are in HD :-)

why do you do not like ch. 8?

... I'm new to the area (Plano), by way of NYC, ...
Justin

Welcome to the area. I came here in '82 via Long Island by way of Brooklyn. Yesterday I smoked my own brisket and made beef jerky with the left overs. Still not a Texan just yet. I'm told it will take another 25 years before I can apply for naturalization. ;)

Welcome to the area. I came here in '82 via Long Island by way of Brooklyn. Yesterday I smoked my own brisket and made beef jerky with the left overs. Still not a Texan just yet. I'm told it will take another 25 years before I can apply for naturalization. ;)
LOL then I got a long way to go. I'm a recent Yankee myself. I moved from NJ to TX (FW) about a year ago. :cool:

I just moved to Frisco from a small town, so I am pretty new to the HD market. I live about two miles NW of 121 and the Tollway in an apartment complex. I just bought a LG (32LC7D). I am happy with it but I would like to pickup HD. What antenna would you suggest? Thank you for your help.

Jay

time warner cable qam listings 750 mhz plants
frequency physical channel#
549mhz (78-6) cspan3 simulcast
555mhz (79-1) vod preview
555mhz (79-9) shop nbc
561mhz (80-4) metro sports
561mhz (80-5)thru (80-51) music choice
573mhz (82-8) lrw
579mhz (83-1) thru 597mhz (86-16) vod
633mhz (92-1) nba preview
633mhz (92-7) team 6
657mhz (101-6) we
681mhz (105-4) vh1 soul
687mhz (106-3) discovery hd
693mhz (107-1) ktvt hd
693mhz (107-2) tnt hd
693mhz (107-3) ktxa hd
699mhz (108-1) kera hd
699mhz (108-2) wfaa hd
699mhz (108-3) kdaf hd
711mhz (110-1) kdfw hd
711mhz (110-20 kxas hd
711mhz (110-3) wfaa 8.2
711mhz (110-4) weather plus
711mhz (110-5) the tube
729mhz (113-1) kdfw simulcast
729mhz (113-2) kxas simulcast
729mhz (113-3) wfaa simulcast
729mhz (113-4) ktvt simulcast
729mhz (113-6) kera simulcast
729mhz (113-7) ktxa simulcast
729mhz (113-8)kdaf simulcast
735mhz (114-1) kdtx simulcast
735mhZ (114-2) kpxd simulcast
735mhZ (114-3) ewtn simulcast
735mhZ (114-4) txcn simulcast
735mhZ (114-5)kuvn simulcast
735mhZ (114-6) qvc simulcast
735mhZ (114-7) cspan simulcast
735mhZ (114-8) cspan2 simulcast
735mhZ (114-9) disney simulcast
735mhZ (114-10) hsn simulcast
741mhz (115-2) kdfi in hd

Thanks!!! That is exactly what I was looking for. Now off to search why I don't get sound for MOJO and boomerang...

I just moved to Frisco from a small town, so I am pretty new to the HD market. I live about two miles NW of 121 and the Tollway in an apartment complex. I just bought a LG (32LC7D). I am happy with it but I would like to pickup HD. What antenna would you suggest? Thank you for your help.

Jay


If you want to try it out, I would just hook up your TWC to the cable input on the TV and hit the HD channels via your QAM tuner built into the TV. You don't need an anntenna and you also get Discovery HD along with all the local HD channels. I have been playing with this for the last week or so and another poster posted the TWC QAM channel list in the last week so you can see what channels you are changing to.

I had an indoor anntenna and I was able to get all the locals pretty consistently without needed to retune with the exception of KDFI.

HTH

Does anyone have the QAM tuner listing for Dallas proper? Those aren't correct. For example, TNTHD is 52.2 (IIRC) for me.

I'm brand new to HD and am trying to get the OTA channels. I've searched and read and just don't seem to be smart enough to figure this out.

I'm looking for a good antenna and don't know what to get. I've tried quite a few from Radio Shack and Frys and can't get WFAA (which I understand is on a different frequency or something). If someone just told me what to do, I'd be happy. :D

I live in Plano, around 75 and Legacy. In an apartment so probably need an indoor antenna.

Thanks!

Does your apartment have cable? If so, even if you don't subscribe, attach your tuner to it and give it a scan. There's a good possibility that all the locals are on there. They'll have weird numbers, and your scan might give you a bunch of empty channels (that you can delete).

Xesdeeni

If you want to try it out, I would just hook up your TWC to the cable input on the TV and hit the HD channels via your QAM tuner built into the TV. You don't need an anntenna and you also get Discovery HD along with all the local HD channels. I have been playing with this for the last week or so and another poster posted the TWC QAM channel list in the last week so you can see what channels you are changing to.

I had an indoor anntenna and I was able to get all the locals pretty consistently without needed to retune with the exception of KDFI.

HTH

I just received word from Time Warner that they do not provide services to my area even though their website says they do. What are my options?

I just received word from Time Warner that they do not provide services to my area even though their website says they do. What are my options?

Have you checked with your apartment complex? They might have some exclusive deal with a cable provider...my best guess is it will be Grande Communications. I have friends in other areas of Texas that have them and they seem to like them...other than that I have no knowledge of 'em....

As far as an indoor antenna goes, that'll be hit or miss....I'm not too terribly far north of you and I haven't had much luck with them. Have you plugged your address into antennaweb to see what it says? it can't hurt, anyway....

Randy

I was thinking about getting a HDTV with qam tuner for my cable. Do you just plug in the cable from the wall and scan and get the listed channels or do you need a cable card.

I was thinking about getting a HDTV with qam tuner for my cable. Do you just plug in the cable from the wall and scan and get the listed channels or do you need a cable card.

You should be able to get unencrypted channels (those 'in the clear') without a cable card, but to get much of anything beyond locals you'll need a cable card.

Randy

Does your apartment have cable? If so, even if you don't subscribe, attach your tuner to it and give it a scan. There's a good possibility that all the locals are on there. They'll have weird numbers, and your scan might give you a bunch of empty channels (that you can delete).

Xesdeeni
No go on that.

I'm now thinking that I'll need to do an outdoor antenna, even though my balcony is on the wrong side.

Any suggestions on local places to get an outdoor antenna?

I'm brand new to HD and am trying to get the OTA channels. I've searched and read and just don't seem to be smart enough to figure this out.

I'm looking for a good antenna and don't know what to get. I've tried quite a few from Radio Shack and Frys and can't get WFAA (which I understand is on a different frequency or something). If someone just told me what to do, I'd be happy. :D

I live in Plano, around 75 and Legacy. In an apartment so probably need an indoor antenna.

Thanks!

What kind of set do you have? (I assume it's a new set that has a built in tuner)

What kind of set do you have? (I assume it's a new set that has a built in tuner)
No, I bought an older one from a friend. But I've got a Hughes HD reciever that takes an antenna input.

No, I bought an older one from a friend. But I've got a Hughes HD reciever that takes an antenna input.

That may not be a real sensitive tuner if it is an old Hughes box that you're using. The tuner ICs have improved quite a bit over the past few years.

That said, indoor reception of DTV signals is possible in Plano. A friend is getting reception (including WFAA-DT, although it is the touchiest signal for him to receive) with a simple pair of rabbit ears here in Plano (Alma & Parker). A couple of caveats: the television (and antenna) is on the second floor and he has a window that looks in the general direction of Cedar Hill.

If you're on the first floor and/or in an apartment that faces north or east, you may have a very difficult time achieving good indoor reception. If you're higher up and facing south/southwest, you might have pretty good luck with a simple pair of rabbit ears. If that doesn't work, try something fancier like the Zenith Silver Sensor (some folks claim to have gotten decent results with this UHF antenna, even for high-band VHF channels like WFAA-DT).

Good luck.

That may not be a real sensitive tuner if it is an old Hughes box that you're using. The tuner ICs have improved quite a bit over the past few years.

That said, indoor reception of DTV signals is possible in Plano. A friend is getting reception (including WFAA-DT, although it is the touchiest signal for him to receive) with a simple pair of rabbit ears here in Plano (Alma & Parker). A couple of caveats: the television (and antenna) is on the second floor and he has a window that looks in the general direction of Cedar Hill.

If you're on the first floor and/or in an apartment that faces north or east, you may have a very difficult time achieving good indoor reception. If you're higher up and facing south/southwest, you might have pretty good luck with a simple pair of rabbit ears. If that doesn't work, try something fancier like the Zenith Silver Sensor (some folks claim to have gotten decent results with this UHF antenna, even for high-band VHF channels like WFAA-DT).

Good luck.

The TERK HDTVi is a better bet than the Silver Sensor - it's basically a Silver Sensor with rabbit ears for VHF.

Speaking of apartments...I've come to the realization that if you're in an apartment, on the bottom floor, not facing towards the major towers, you're pretty much screwed.

I'm in that situation and I've tried at least five different antennas, ranging in price from $10 to $100, un-amped and amped. I'm not allowed to put my antenna outside, so the best I can do is face it out the window and point it as much as I can towards the towers. Even then there are big buildings blocking the path. I cannot get ANY station to come in 100% clear all of the time, not even half the time that I'm watching it. Constantly have little dropouts and digital tiling.

So if you can't get OTA signals clearly, the only other option is QAM over cable. Verizon carries the HD stations on their cable line, but they won't let you record FOX and NBC, even though you can record them using over the air signals. Very strange. I contacted the FCC about it but they want me to fill out a paper form and mail it to them. I haven't had the time to do that yet, and it's not deathly important to me right now, so it's been put on the backburner. Also, someone mentioned that they may not have to carry the HD version, only the SD version.

I hope I'm not too far off topic:

But does anyone hold hope that Time Warner (Dallas/Grand Prairie) will introduce the SA-8300HD box?

The reason I'm anxious, is because of the ability to plug in an external drive.

I'm constantly battling for space on my Motorola DCT6412 III.

Have you checked with your apartment complex? They might have some exclusive deal with a cable provider...my best guess is it will be Grande Communications. I have friends in other areas of Texas that have them and they seem to like them...other than that I have no knowledge of 'em....

As far as an indoor antenna goes, that'll be hit or miss....I'm not too terribly far north of you and I haven't had much luck with them. Have you plugged your address into antennaweb to see what it says? it can't hurt, anyway....

Randy

I found out we only get ATT Dish per the apartment building. I had Dish for 8 years before, but I was hoping for more options in a bigger metro area. Plus I hear the signal strength they receive is not very good, so I guess the slightest storm I will lose signal. :mad:

I hope I'm not too far off topic:

But does anyone hold hope that Time Warner (Dallas/Grand Prairie) will introduce the SA-8300HD box?

The reason I'm anxious, is because of the ability to plug in an external drive.

I'm constantly battling for space on my Motorola DCT6412 III.

Have you asked for a 6416 instead? That will give you 33% more space at no extra charge.

I'm not expecting a change to the SA box and I'm not hoping for it either. My relatives in Austin have the SA box. I like the physical appearance of the Motorola box better and since it is very visible in my home that is important to me; and I like the menus and operation of the Motorola box better too.

If and when there is a replacement for the current Motorola boxes I expect it to be related to new transmission technologies and the mandates for cablecard based devices for new equipment deployed after July 1 of this year. I also expect to see more boxes in the retail market now that the July 1 date has actually stick and not been deferred again.

Bernie

Speaking of apartments...

So if you can't get OTA signals clearly, the only other option is QAM over cable. Verizon carries the HD stations on their cable line, but they won't let you record FOX and NBC, even though you can record them using over the air signals.How exactly can they stop you from recording a QAM signal that's in the clear? Do you mean with their (Verizon's) box?

I know my MyHD, FusionHDTV, and HDHomeRun units wouldn't have a problem if you can see the channels with your TV's tuner.

Xesdeeni

Who's the best DirecTV installer in the north Dallas area? Any recommendations would be appreciated. I want my HR10 to HR20 conversion to go smoothly.

How exactly can they stop you from recording a QAM signal that's in the clear? Do you mean with their (Verizon's) box?

I know my MyHD, FusionHDTV, and HDHomeRun units wouldn't have a problem if you can see the channels with your TV's tuner.

Xesdeeni

That's the question I've been trying to answer for a long time too. When I unscrew the cable line from the box and screw it into a QAM tuner (on my computer), it says those channels are locked. I didn't know they could lock them; I thought they had to be clear. All other OTA stations are in the clear and can be recorded to a transport stream (.ts) file on my PC.

I'm currently experiencing low signals on my DTV feed and I called to for my first service call EVER. They wanted to charge me $75 for the service to which I basically answered "screw that, I'm getting cable." They then backed off and offered 1/2 off since this was my first call (more like since I threatened to cancel.) I told her I'll think about it and call back.

It looks like if I cancel DTV and AT&T for DSL and phone that I'd save quite a bit of money going to TWC (I'd drop the phone service). Am I insane for wanting to do this? It's been a real bummer lately always loosing signal w/ all this rain.

I'm currently experiencing low signals on my DTV feed and I called to for my first service call EVER. They wanted to charge me $75 for the service to which I basically answered "screw that, I'm getting cable." They then backed off and offered 1/2 off since this was my first call (more like since I threatened to cancel.) I told her I'll think about it and call back.

It looks like if I cancel DTV and AT&T for DSL and phone that I'd save quite a bit of money going to TWC (I'd drop the phone service). Am I insane for wanting to do this? It's been a real bummer lately always loosing signal w/ all this rain.

Nope, you're not insane. We've had good luck with Time Warner cable. Much better than when it was att@home, and customer service has been better than when it was Comcast. But you'll have to see if TW phone service is actually available at your location.

I don't care for the phone service, my roommate will just pay for AT&T phone service on his own....I don't need it or care to even have the bill in my name any longer.

Did you ever have DTV? How does the HD selection compare? Looks like since I'm not in the "updated" area yet (November) that I'll at the least loose TNTHD.

Edit: I just realized that being in an older area means that I'll have A & B channels which means no Dual-Tuner DVR!!! Grrrrrrr.... Gotta keep thinking about this.

I don't care for the phone service, my roommate will just pay for AT&T phone service on his own....I don't need it or care to even have the bill in my name any longer.

Did you ever have DTV? How does the HD selection compare? Looks like since I'm not in the "updated" area yet (November) that I'll at the least loose TNTHD.

No, we haven't had Direct or Dish. Looked at both but for our needs they are more expensive. And we have five TV's so that also makes things more expensive and complicated. With cable all four of our standard TV's work by just plugging the able into them, no box needed at all. For our HDTV we have a cable company supplied DVR. The Motorola DVR doesn't have as nice an onscreen interface as our Tivo, but is certainly adequate and does the job.

Two friends have satellite TV. One is always unhappy with whoever their provider is and they rotate among the satellite providers and cable company. The other had one satellite company (I can't keep track of which is which) and has switched to the other satellite company. They're happier with the current company but do talk about losing signal during rain storms.

Did you ever have DTV? How does the HD selection compare? Looks like since I'm not in the "updated" area yet (November) that I'll at the least loose TNTHD.
.

Dish has the best selection of HD by quite a bit. Their picture quality is excellent and their SD is far superior to cable. The key to "rain blackouts" is in the installation. If you install the dish on a solid surface (i.e. brick), the dish will not lose the signal unless there is a very intense thunderstorm. I lose mine about 1-2 times a month during the spring storm season, usually for 10-15 min. as the most intense part passes. I also have an OTA antenna to use during these times.
The 622 DVR is the best available. Records 3 programs (2 sat., 1 OTA) while playing back previously recorded material at the same time.
Compared to DTV (which I used to use), The picture quality is the same but the DVR is much better. :cool:

Hi all, do I have to subscribe to basic digital service to receive QAM channels or just analog basic service is enough? The analog basic cost only $15.99

Last time I checked, Dish would only provide one DVR for the house. We need 2 HD-DVRs.

The think that's got me leaning to TWC is the money savings now.

Still debating....

Dish has the best selection of HD by quite a bit.

Not really. Their extra stations are the old Voom ones, which are mostly worthless. DirecTV just launched a new satellite, and they'll be introducing quite a few national HD channels soon, probably September but maybe a little later. When that happens they'll blow Dish out of the water.

Haven't gotten an answer on my "best DirecTV installer" question. Anybody have the name of a good one?

Not really. Their extra stations are the old Voom ones, which are mostly worthless. DirecTV just launched a new satellite, and they'll be introducing quite a few national HD channels soon, probably September but maybe a little later. When that happens they'll blow Dish out of the water.

Haven't gotten an answer on my "best DirecTV installer" question. Anybody have the name of a good one?

So is DISH maxed out on capacity, or will they possibly add these new national HD channels, as well? Or does Direct have some kind of exclusive deal on them? I've been wondering that ever since DirecTV made the announcement. Even though I'm not a DISH customer, I've considered it and I prefer their DVR to Direct's.....plus, at this time, I could run the DISH signal and OTA down a single coax....

Thanks,
Randy

Not really. Their extra stations are the old Voom ones, which are mostly worthless. DirecTV just launched a new satellite, and they'll be introducing quite a few national HD channels soon, probably September but maybe a little later. When that happens they'll blow Dish out of the water.


Not to start a debate...only to add a little more insight regarding DISHnetwork's upcoming HD lineup: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=68854&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1024392&highlight=

Hi all, do I have to subscribe to basic digital service to receive QAM channels or just analog basic service is enough? The analog basic cost only $15.99

You can try it. Read about it at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAM_tuner

Time Warner does scramble most digital channels though except the ones that are available over the air which they are required to carry unscrambled.

Can OTA HDTV signal (coax) be combined with incoming cable feed from Time Warner on a single coax cable? Wanting to get local OTA HDTV and Cable TV onto 1 coax cable and then distribute to whole house using an 8-way splitter.

I know you can do it with satellite TV using diplexors... just not sure if it cab be done with Cable TV.

Can OTA HDTV signal (coax) be combined with incoming cable feed from Time Warner on a single coax cable? Wanting to get local OTA HDTV and Cable TV onto 1 coax cable and then distribute to whole house using an 8-way splitter.

I know you can do it with satellite TV using diplexors... just not sure if it cab be done with Cable TV.

I don't believe so...I'm all but positive, unfortunately. I would love to be able to do that, myself. You can do it with DISH (for the time being, anyway), but from what I understand, you can no longer do it with DirecTV...apparently there is some overlap. Someone else might be able to speak to more specifics, but that is my understanding at this point....

Randy

Not to start a debate...only to add a little more insight regarding DISHnetwork's upcoming HD lineup: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=68854&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1024392&highlight=

Good info...thanks!

Randy

So is DISH maxed out on capacity, or will they possibly add these new national HD channels, as well? Or does Direct have some kind of exclusive deal on them? I've been wondering that ever since DirecTV made the announcement. Even though I'm not a DISH customer, I've considered it and I prefer their DVR to Direct's.....plus, at this time, I could run the DISH signal and OTA down a single coax....

Thanks,
Randy

There are new HD channels coming to Dish in August, and more in Sept. They will have plenty of HD. They also have new sats to launch. I've had both, and Dish beats Direct any day!
There is a good source of info., on the new Dish HD, if you send me a private message, I'll point you in that direction!

Tom in TX

Can OTA HDTV signal (coax) be combined with incoming cable feed from Time Warner on a single coax cable? Wanting to get local OTA HDTV and Cable TV onto 1 coax cable and then distribute to whole house using an 8-way splitter.

I know you can do it with satellite TV using diplexors... just not sure if it cab be done with Cable TV.

....

I don't believe so...I'm all but positive, unfortunately. I would love to be able to do that, myself. You can do it with DISH (for the time being, anyway), but from what I understand, you can no longer do it with DirecTV...apparently there is some overlap. Someone else might be able to speak to more specifics, but that is my understanding at this point....

Randy

I know you can do it with Dish and DirecTV using diplexors or a combination of a multi-switch and diplexors... what I don't know is can it be done with Cable TV? I am a DirecTV user and use diplexors to combine and uncombine Sat and HDTV OTA signals. Have friends that are wanting to use Time Warner cable and also want OTA HDTV but only have 1 Coax outlet at their 2 HDTV locations.

I know you can do it with Dish and DirecTV using diplexors or a combination of a multi-switch and diplexors... what I don't know is can it be done with Cable TV? I am a DirecTV user and use diplexors to combine and uncombine Sat and HDTV OTA signals. Have friends that are wanting to use Time Warner cable and also want OTA HDTV but only have 1 Coax outlet at their 2 HDTV locations.

Well, according to Topp Robertson (who is pretty highly regarded around here, by all reports), who I had look at my setup, it (cable and OTA) can't be done. But then I also understood that it was no longer doable for DirecTV, either, and since you are doing it that doesn't appear to be the case. That is, unless he was talking about the frequency ranges that DirecTV is going to add in for the coming new channels being the problem...at any rate, I'm only repeating what I've heard from what I believe to be a pretty reliable source...

Randy

Well, according to Topp Robertson (who is pretty highly regarded around here, by all reports), who I had look at my setup, it (cable and OTA) can't be done. But then I also understood that it was no longer doable for DirecTV, either, and since you are doing it that doesn't appear to be the case. That is, unless he was talking about the frequency ranges that DirecTV is going to add in for the coming new channels being the problem...at any rate, I'm only repeating what I've heard from what I believe to be a pretty reliable source...

Randy

Thanks for the CATV info... I do know when you go to the 5 LNB DirecTV satellite dish for the MPEG-4 HDTV channels, you will have to get a new multi-switch for the added 2 LNB's. The new multi-switches still have an OTA input on them so the signals can still be combined and distributed. The DSS and OTA signals can then be separated at the TV input with a simple diplexor.

Not really.

Yes, they really do. In September, we'll see what happens... but for now direct is a distant second.

Heheheh...my wife sent off an email to KXAS NBC5 similar to one I'd sent several months ago. Her email politely pointed out that we're starting to switch over to WFAA for our morning news just because it's HD and nicer to look at. She also complained that KXAS prime time HD is not up to par with other networks.

Here's the response she received from them:


From: "Wissore, Eileen (NBC Universal)" <XXXX@nbcuni.com>
To: <XXXXXXXXXX>
Subject: FW: High Def
Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 15:41:58 -0400

Thank you for contacting NBC 5. We appreciate your interest in HD and
understand your current dilemma. Plans are currently underway at the
station to convert to HD at a local level. Although no official
announcement will be made until everything is finalized and the new
equipment is in place be watching for that announcement soon.
Regards,
NBC 5 Programming

Thanks for the CATV info... I do know when you go to the 5 LNB DirecTV satellite dish for the MPEG-4 HDTV channels, you will have to get a new multi-switch for the added 2 LNB's. The new multi-switches still have an OTA input on them so the signals can still be combined and distributed. The DSS and OTA signals can then be separated at the TV input with a simple diplexor.

Sorry, the multiswitches for the 5-lnb dishes do NOT have an OTA input so you can't diplex the OTA signals on to the satellite lines. The reason is that the new DirecTV10 and 11 satellites transmit signals in the Ka b-band and when that is output from the dish it is in the same frequency space as OTA.

There are three potential solutions to this:
1. Run a new cable to each location that needs OTA
2. Do something creative with the b-band converter. You need a bbc on every line into a receiver/DVR that can receive signals from the 99/103 satellite slots. The bbc converts the b-band signal into an a-band signal that can be received by the HR20 DVR and H20 receiver. It is designed to be placed at the receiver, but if you place it further away from the receiver (for example at the output from a multiswitch) you can insert a diplexer after the bbc and then another one at the receiver. You need to convert the gender of one of the connectors. DirecTV will NOT support an installation of the bbcs like this but it is probably going to work, unless the bbc is too far from the receiver (no-one knows what "too far" means). I have one line set up like this and it passes the DirecTV channel 499 "bbc test" so that's a good sign. Won't know for sure it works until DirecTV10 goes live in September.
3. If you need OTA diplexed onto a line to an HR20, you can wait for the new SWM (Single Wire Multiswitch) which will probably be available in the fall sometime. The SWM allows you to drive multiple tuners (either five or eight depending on the model) over a single cable, and diplex in OTA at the same time. Only the HR20, H20 and D12 are hardware-compatible with the SWM and only the HR20 currently has compatible software (although I think the D12 is in the process of a new download which enables SWM). None of the older receivers will work with the SWM.

Hello DFW people!

I live in Lakewood (East Dallas for those unfamiliar with Dallas neighborhoods). Currently have TWC, but have a Panasonic TH-50PZ750u (for the living room) and Panasonic TC-26LX70 (for the bedroom) en route. This means that I need HD service.

My problem is that I also require very fast and very stable Internet service. I am a network engineer, and most of my work is done over VPN into customers' networks. I have been very pleased with my cable modem service since I moved into my home two years ago, but TWC's HD offerings are anemic. That leaves me with three options:

1. DTV + AT&T-Yahoo! DSL
2. Dish + AT&T-Yahoo! DSL
3. AT&T U-verse (AT&T-Yahoo! DSL bundled)

I hate to give up my cable modem, but I've come to grips with that reality. The next question is which television service should I go with? DTV is supposedly launching a lot of new HD channels in September, but Dish is supposedly getting the same channels in about the same time frame. Mind you these are channels I actually watch (Discovery, History Channel) so I would like to have them in HD very much. Between DTV and Dish I hear Dish has better PQ and better STB's, but I don't know for sure if that's true. U-verse is appealing because I have very intimate understanding of their technology (I work in VoIP, IPTV and tele-presence) and the Internet service bundle offers financial incentives. I also really like their STB (the DVR-enabled one anyway, I think it's ridiculous that they don't yet offer the ability to play recorded shows from the DVR-enabled one to the non-DVR ones across the Ethernet LAN they install in your home for the service). My drawbacks for U-verse are that they currently only support 1 HD stream into the home at a time (if wife wants to watch something different in another room or either of us want to record 2 HD shows at the same time we are SOL) and I can't get a firm commitment out of anyone at AT&T that they will be offering the new HD channels (that DTV and Dish will be) any time soon (annoying because with their technology they don't even have to make space in the pipe for them, they just have to add new content servers to feed the streams).

If TWC offered a robust HD package instead of having over half my bandwidth dedicated to local access, Spanish-speaking, home shopping and televangelist stations, I would be going nowhere. Especially since, as far as I can tell, they're my only option for getting TXCN (as a REAL Texan I fully support us having our very own cable news network and it has become part of my routine to watch this when I wake up).

Anyway, something of a long-winded post, but I wanted to get some opinions from others in the area about these three (or really four since I could always stay with TWC) offerings. Ideally I would get the fastest and most reliable Internet service along with the best possible HD channel selection and PQ, but if I switch to Dish I don't think TWC will let me keep my cable modem. What would you all do?

Hello DFW people!

I live in Lakewood (East Dallas for those unfamiliar with Dallas neighborhoods). Currently have TWC, but have a Panasonic TH-50PZ750u (for the living room) and Panasonic TC-26LX70 (for the bedroom) en route. This means that I need HD service.

My problem is that I also require very fast and very stable Internet service. I am a network engineer, and most of my work is done over VPN into customers' networks. I have been very pleased with my cable modem service since I moved into my home two years ago, but TWC's HD offerings are anemic. That leaves me with three options:

1. DTV + AT&T-Yahoo! DSL
2. Dish + AT&T-Yahoo! DSL
3. AT&T U-verse (AT&T-Yahoo! DSL bundled)

I hate to give up my cable modem, but I've come to grips with that reality. The next question is which television service should I go with? DTV is supposedly launching a lot of new HD channels in September, but Dish is supposedly getting the same channels in about the same time frame. Mind you these are channels I actually watch (Discovery, History Channel) so I would like to have them in HD very much. Between DTV and Dish I hear Dish has better PQ and better STB's, but I don't know for sure if that's true. U-verse is appealing because I have very intimate understanding of their technology (I work in VoIP, IPTV and tele-presence) and the Internet service bundle offers financial incentives. I also really like their STB (the DVR-enabled one anyway, I think it's ridiculous that they don't yet offer the ability to play recorded shows from the DVR-enabled one to the non-DVR ones across the Ethernet LAN they install in your home for the service). My drawbacks for U-verse are that they currently only support 1 HD stream into the home at a time (if wife wants to watch something different in another room or either of us want to record 2 HD shows at the same time we are SOL) and I can't get a firm commitment out of anyone at AT&T that they will be offering the new HD channels (that DTV and Dish will be) any time soon (annoying because with their technology they don't even have to make space in the pipe for them, they just have to add new content servers to feed the streams).

If TWC offered a robust HD package instead of having over half my bandwidth dedicated to local access, Spanish-speaking, home shopping and televangelist stations, I would be going nowhere. Especially since, as far as I can tell, they're my only option for getting TXCN (as a REAL Texan I fully support us having our very own cable news network and it has become part of my routine to watch this when I wake up).

Anyway, something of a long-winded post, but I wanted to get some opinions from others in the area about these three (or really four since I could always stay with TWC) offerings. Ideally I would get the fastest and most reliable Internet service along with the best possible HD channel selection and PQ, but if I switch to Dish I don't think TWC will let me keep my cable modem. What would you all do?

Of course TWC will let you keep your cable modem and your internet service.

For me, I wouldn't switch, knowing that TWC will also add more HD stations. But that doesn't matter. What does matter is whether you've checked to see what DSL speeds are actually available at your location, and whether U-Verse is actually available now at your location.

Has any one subsribed to the new ATT U-Verse Fiber optics service much liket he famed Verizon Fios? I had not even herd of this until ATT called today to pitch the sale. Ofcourse I bit since it is Fiber optics straight to the house but the internet speeds are not necessarily faster just more consistant as customer service describes it. I am more interested in the HD picture quality and the HD receiver operations.

Please provide any feed back ASAP as the installer comes next week.

Check out their web site at Uverse.att.com

I hope this stuff is worth it :D

It's not fiber to the house, it's fiber to the node. You were told wrong.

Of course TWC will let you keep your cable modem and your internet service.

For me, I wouldn't switch, knowing that TWC will also add more HD stations. But that doesn't matter. What does matter is whether you've checked to see what DSL speeds are actually available at your location, and whether U-Verse is actually available now at your location.

U-verse is definitely available now in my location. AT&T hung solicitation tags on everyone's front door while I was on vacation, and my next door neighbor just got it installed. I've been over to play with his setup, but it was hard to judge PQ since they don't own an HDTV yet. Their download speed is comparable to my cable modem, but my issue is that I'm one of those rare users for whom upload speed actually matters, and the last time I had DSL I don't remember it being very fast on the upload (not to mention not being as reliable as the cable modem has been). I'd test his upload speed, but I don't think he'll appreciate me transplanting my home office setup into his home so that I can work from his house for about a week to see if I like it.

What evidence is there that TWC will significantly increase their HD offerings in the very near future? Last I heard they needed to get the fiber closer to the neighborhood and go back to single-line configurations to the end points. My house still as the double-line crap AT&T@Home installed back in the late 90's when companies were marketing, by omission of fact, digital cable as HD. I know Comcast has come out and said they will have 800 channels by such-and-such date, but we're not Comcast anymore.

U-verse is definitely available now in my location. AT&T hung solicitation tags on everyone's front door while I was on vacation, and my next door neighbor just got it installed. I've been over to play with his setup, but it was hard to judge PQ since they don't own an HDTV yet. Their download speed is comparable to my cable modem, but my issue is that I'm one of those rare users for whom upload speed actually matters, and the last time I had DSL I don't remember it being very fast on the upload (not to mention not being as reliable as the cable modem has been). I'd test his upload speed, but I don't think he'll appreciate me transplanting my home office setup into his home so that I can work from his house for about a week to see if I like it.

What evidence is there that TWC will significantly increase their HD offerings in the very near future? Last I heard they needed to get the fiber closer to the neighborhood and go back to single-line configurations to the end points. My house still as the double-line crap AT&T@Home installed back in the late 90's when companies were marketing, by omission of fact, digital cable as HD. I know Comcast has come out and said they will have 800 channels by such-and-such date, but we're not Comcast anymore.

If your area is still actually using the A and B sides of the cable I'd certainly explore U-Verse. I didn't know there were any areas that TWC hadn't already converted, The availability of U-Verse in your area ought to be a motivator to TWC. U-verse claims "up to" 1Mbps upstream.

U-verse user in california. It has its hicups ie no signal sometimes and/or missing channels. The service itself works good, but I would not at all call it "consistent."

I just realized the other day that I can't get Pay-Per-View. This was one reason that I signed up for cable service, so unfortunately I'll probabley be switching over to Comcast.

I'd recommend U-Verse, but be patient as they get the bugs out.

When I talked to the sales rep she talked about fiber to the node and fiber to the house (wall) and she did some checking and said that mine was to the house. Who knows if it is true but our neigborhood is two years old and they may have put lines all the way to the house? Don't know?

It comes with a 30 day guarantee and I won't be disconnecting my satellite until I put Uverse through it's tests.

Any other users out there?

PoolShark,

I am in DFW as well but I do not have U-Verse. This site should help you though:

http://www.uverseusers.com/

PoolShark,

I am in DFW as well but I do not have U-Verse. This site should help you though:

http://www.uverseusers.com/


Thanks for the link but No Thank You AT&T!

I got on that link and read a few of the threads and they are having multiple problems with viewing their guide, retrieving their recordings and the boxes playing.

It's not ready to my satisfaction.

BTW when I signed up they transferred me at the same DSL cost but gave me a slower speed. WTF??? Tried to correct it but ran into problems with customer service, we'll see.

30 day trial period here I come. :rolleyes:

I don't believe so...I'm all but positive, unfortunately. I would love to be able to do that, myself. You can do it with DISH (for the time being, anyway), but from what I understand, you can no longer do it with DirecTV...apparently there is some overlap. Someone else might be able to speak to more specifics, but that is my understanding at this point....

Randy
That's interesting. Out of curiosity, how could this be done with Dish? I currently have Dish service (SD - America's 60). Once I get an HDTV, I'm thinking of installing an attic antenna. I'm wondering how I could have OTA HD and Dish SD using the same coax cable. TIA.

When I talked to the sales rep she talked about fiber to the node and fiber to the house (wall) and she did some checking and said that mine was to the house. Who knows if it is true but our neigborhood is two years old and they may have put lines all the way to the house? Don't know?

It comes with a 30 day guarantee and I won't be disconnecting my satellite until I put Uverse through it's tests.

Any other users out there?


I am fiber to the home and have had Uverse for aobut 3 weeks. Just cancel Dish... While there are some hiccups right now, nothing I cant live with, other than only one HD stream at a time... Additional streams to come in the future...

HD quality was as good if not better than Dish and is much better than TWC Qam that i recieve... SD channels handsdown better on Uverse...

Signed up for the middle speed (3-1) and consistantly get (5-1).

It's not fiber to the house, it's fiber to the node. You were told wrong.

They also do FTTH for newer neighborhoods that have fiber laid... My neighborhood for instance...

Has any one subsribed to the new ATT U-Verse Fiber optics service much liket he famed Verizon Fios? I had not even herd of this until ATT called today to pitch the sale. Ofcourse I bit since it is Fiber optics straight to the house but the internet speeds are not necessarily faster just more consistant as customer service describes it. I am more interested in the HD picture quality and the HD receiver operations.

Please provide any feed back ASAP as the installer comes next week.

Check out their web site at Uverse.att.com

I hope this stuff is worth it :D

Speed are currently something like (1.5-.7, 3-1, and 6-1) They are supposed to be offering larger numbers compared to Fios in the next few months. It would be available via fiber right now, but they like to keep things consistent from a provisioning perspective. One the new VDSL2 cards are installed and FTTN can get the higher speeds we will to... Although they may roll out to us slightly before the new Cards are int he FTTN boxes...

There are new HD channels coming to Dish in August, and more in Sept. They will have plenty of HD. They also have new sats to launch. I've had both, and Dish beats Direct any day!
There is a good source of info., on the new Dish HD, if you send me a private message, I'll point you in that direction!

Tom in TX

Unfortunalty, many of the channels, like all of the providers, are not worth watching... they listed Discovery yet I already got that one with Dish...

That's interesting. Out of curiosity, how could this be done with Dish? I currently have Dish service (SD - America's 60). Once I get an HDTV, I'm thinking of installing an attic antenna. I'm wondering how I could have OTA HD and Dish SD using the same coax cable. TIA.

Hi beowulf,
I haven't actually done this, so someone else can surely give you a more detailed explanation, but my understanding is that you put a diplexer in the path from the antenna and dish to the cable run, then you split it back out on the other end run the feeds to the appropriate destinations. Here's a thread regarding putting DISH -or- DirecTV on the same wire with OTA -and- Sirius satellite radio:

link (http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/50125-dish-sirius-ota-one-wire.html)

Hope that helps...

Randy

...they listed Discovery yet I already got that one with Dish...

No, you don't...at least not in HD. You have Discovery HD Theater. Dish will be adding Discovery Channel in HD in August. This channel will mirror the SD version of the Discovery Channel only it will be in HD. Discover HD Theater is different content from Discovery Channel.

My comments are simply to prevent disinformation and are not a commentary regarding the actual quality or content of said channels.

I am fiber to the home and have had Uverse for aobut 3 weeks. Just cancel Dish... While there are some hiccups right now, nothing I cant live with, other than only one HD stream at a time... Additional streams to come in the future...

HD quality was as good if not better than Dish and is much better than TWC Qam that i recieve... SD channels handsdown better on Uverse...

Signed up for the middle speed (3-1) and consistantly get (5-1).

Thanks for the info!

Sales told me that I could record 4 HD channels at once...... :confused: but your comment of receiving one HD stream at once contradicts her statement. So we can only watch one HD channel at a time? I have 3 HD tv's, would they all have to watch the same channel?

Any advice on HD quality? I only watch OTA and know that any other delivery service compresses the HD signal to carry it. Is the Uverse HD signal close to OTA? The Uverse forum link above says the HD quality is bad, it worries me when the Uverse web sight says HD is twice as sharp as SD, we all know it should be more.

What about your connections inside your home? The same forum link above talks about guy's asking for the house connections being done with cat 5 cable instead of the existing satellite or cable wiring as it is thought it contributes to pixelation. Any thoughts?

Appreciate any info as the installer comes on Thursday and I am still very leary about this. One HD stream might just be the last straw! :mad:

It is only one HD stream to the home at a time, for now. If three televisions are watching the same channel, that is three different streams (since each STB is an IP address, and the IPTV service will send the same stream to all three of them). AFAIK, there is no device on the user side to determine that everyone is watching the same channel and just broadcast a single stream out to all the STB's in the home. So one HD stream to the house means only one television, or more correctly only one STB, can be watching an HD channel at a time. And, yes, that also means your DVR can only record one HD stream

The main reason for the single HD stream limitation has got to be bandwidth. I don't work for AT&T (and the AT&T employees I've spoken to have been less than forthcoming with technical information), but I am a network engineer so I will try to explain. With a single copper pair (< 3000', as advertised) and vDSL, I believe AT&T would be limited to about 25-30Mbps, guaranteed, into your home. I think your average HD stream is between 18 and 19 Mbps. Clearly there is not enough bandwidth left over for another HD stream.

In the future AT&T will do pair-bonding. This will allow for increased bandwidth and, hopefully, 2 or 3 HD streams into the home simultaneously. Users with fiber to the home instead of fiber to the neighborhood could be spoiled right now, but AT&T likes to keep things consistent. Training personnel is easier that, and customers bitch less. Also in the future the AT&T STB's will have a feature turned on that allows the non-DVR-equipped units to play streams recorded on the DVR-equipped units. This is not currently limited by bandwidth since it would use your home Ethernet network, but rather is currently not available in the Microsoft software that powers the boxes.

As far as PQ goes, I understand AT&T is using some type of MP4 encoding. I do not believe it is straight H.264, but rather some Microsoft proprietary thing. In my own estimation, the SD quality is very good. The HD quality is probably comparable to HD cable or REAL HD satellite (none of that HD Lite crap), but does not beat HD OTA. For that reason, and as a temporary semi-workaround for the only one HD stream at a time limitation, I have decided to give U-verse a shot in my home, but I will also be installing a quality OTA antenna in my attic.

The Panasonic 50" arrives tomorrow, so I actually need to call AT&T today. :D

Oh, and as for your question about the existing coax v the Cat5 cabling, my neighbor had U-verse installed and the tech was there for the entire day installing Cat5 cabling. I suppose they could use existing coax in place of the Cat5, but that would still just be Ethernet. The television "signal" is MP4 frame data contained in the payloads of IP packets being sent first across the vDSL link into your home and then across the Ethernet network to the STB's. I have no idea how using the Cat5 instead of coax for Ethernet would have any effect whatsoever on PQ. There are pros and cons for both, but both can support the speeds and reliability necessary to make sure the IP packet streams get where they're going in a small LAN.

Hi beowulf,
I haven't actually done this, so someone else can surely give you a more detailed explanation, but my understanding is that you put a diplexer in the path from the antenna and dish to the cable run, then you split it back out on the other end run the feeds to the appropriate destinations. Here's a thread regarding putting DISH -or- DirecTV on the same wire with OTA -and- Sirius satellite radio:

link (http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/50125-dish-sirius-ota-one-wire.html)

Hope that helps...

Randy
Thanks, Randy, I appreciate it. I'll check out that thread and hopefully learn a trick or 2. :)

Oh, and as for your question about the existing coax v the Cat5 cabling, my neighbor had U-verse installed and the tech was there for the entire day installing Cat5 cabling. I suppose they could use existing coax in place of the Cat5, but that would still just be Ethernet. The television "signal" is MP4 frame data contained in the payloads of IP packets being sent first across the vDSL link into your home and then across the Ethernet network to the STB's. I have no idea how using the Cat5 instead of coax for Ethernet would have any effect whatsoever on PQ. There are pros and cons for both, but both can support the speeds and reliability necessary to make sure the IP packet streams get where they're going in a small LAN.


Thanks for the Info!!! :D

My install is tomorrow, so I will try it out and see, but the one HD stream is a serious bummer. I will call customer service and see when they intend to do more in this area.

...

The main reason for the single HD stream limitation has got to be bandwidth. I don't work for AT&T (and the AT&T employees I've spoken to have been less than forthcoming with technical information), but I am a network engineer so I will try to explain. With a single copper pair (< 3000', as advertised) and vDSL, I believe AT&T would be limited to about 25-30Mbps, guaranteed, into your home. I think your average HD stream is between 18 and 19 Mbps. Clearly there is not enough bandwidth left over for another HD stream.

In the future AT&T will do pair-bonding. This will allow for increased bandwidth and, hopefully, 2 or 3 HD streams into the home simultaneously. Users with fiber to the home instead of fiber to the neighborhood could be spoiled right now, but AT&T likes to keep things consistent. Training personnel is easier that, and customers bitch less. Also in the future the AT&T STB's will have a feature turned on that allows the non-DVR-equipped units to play streams recorded on the DVR-equipped units. This is not currently limited by bandwidth since it would use your home Ethernet network, but rather is currently not available in the Microsoft software that powers the boxes.

As far as PQ goes, I understand AT&T is using some type of MP4 encoding. I do not believe it is straight H.264, but rather some Microsoft proprietary thing. In my own estimation, the SD quality is very good. The HD quality is probably comparable to HD cable or REAL HD satellite (none of that HD Lite crap), but does not beat HD OTA. For that reason, and as a temporary semi-workaround for the only one HD stream at a time limitation, I have decided to give U-verse a shot in my home, but I will also be installing a quality OTA antenna in my attic.

The Panasonic 50" arrives tomorrow, so I actually need to call AT&T today. :D

If AT&T is using some form of MPEG4 encoding, then I would guess that the bandwidth requirements for each channel would be a bit less. If I remember correctly, Satellite companies would send down 2 HD streams of MPEG2 video within a 30-36 Mbps channel. Then, they got creative on their compression and went to 3 MPEG2 channels (a bit more compression and eventually down-res from 1920x1080i to 1440x1080i (Dish/Voom) or 1280x1080i (Directv). Now, with MPEG4, Dish is able to put 6 channels of 1440x1080i in that same 36 Mbps pipe. If so, then AT&T should be able to do 3-4 channels of MPEG4 in their 25-30 Mbps pipe. Maybe they don't have the compression turned all the way up yet?

Then again, if you are able to watch these 3-4 HD channels, don't try and surf the internet too. There won't be anything left.

Good luck.

Is NBC (5.1, 5.2) off the air in Dallas? I'm not getting any image on any of my TVs but I am getting signal. On the two receivers with meters, I'm getting a signal strength on 90 or so which is among the strongest of all channels :)

Is NBC (5.1, 5.2) off the air in Dallas? I'm not getting any image on any of my TVs but I am getting signal. On the two receivers with meters, I'm getting a signal strength on 90 or so which is among the strongest of all channels :)
It's definitely there right now. I just tuned to it OTA.

A couple of us with the Direct TV H10-250's have nothing this evening from OTH on KXAS. Guess they have a PSIP issue.
My wife was on DL5 when I got home and she showe me 5.1 was off. Then later the audio on DL5 went away. I just put her on ch82 and problem solved.
JStigler

Still off on all my sets as 5.1/5.2. I've got multiple Vizios of differing vintages from the original 32 inch to the 47" 1080P and 2 Accurian tuners that all show black screen but good signal.

I agree on the PSIP. I went to one of my TVs that allows me to add single channels to the list and ch41 is there (but it periodically shifts to what appears to be queue ups and/or back and forth HD/SD).

Should have thought of that earlier after going through the 27.1/36 issues for almost a year here :)

Where did you get ch82 from?

A couple of us with the Direct TV H10-250's have nothing this evening from OTH on KXAS. Guess they have a PSIP issue.
My wife was on DL5 when I got home and she showe me 5.1 was off. Then later the audio on DL5 went away. I just put her on ch82 and problem solved.
JStigler
Been out for about a week for me. I have the HR10-250. Glad to know it's not an antenna problem...

I'm up in Carrollton and we currently have TWC. Since we also have AT&T DSL, I'm thinking of switcing to Dish since AT&T will package those 2 services together into one bill and it also seems a bit less than what TWC is charging us now.

For those of you w/ Dish, are you satisfied w/ it? Sorry if this has been discussed 1000x before.

Edit: I ran by the AT&T store in Northpark Mall and they showed me the HomeZone pkg they have. Looked pretty good. Really like the U-Verse too but it's not available in my area yet.

Any thoughts on the HomeZone?

I'm up in Carrollton and we currently have TWC. Since we also have AT&T DSL, I'm thinking of switcing to Dish since AT&T will package those 2 services together into one bill and it also seems a bit less than what TWC is charging us now.

For those of you w/ Dish, are you satisfied w/ it? Sorry if this has been discussed 1000x before.

Edit: I ran by the AT&T store in Northpark Mall and they showed me the HomeZone pkg they have. Looked pretty good. Really like the U-Verse too but it's not available in my area yet.

Any thoughts on the HomeZone?
I haven't been too happy with Dish. First of all, you need an extra box and it has a ton of coax cables coming into it. Second of all, while it seems to stay up even during bad weather (usually), every few days, I get the "Press SELECT to Continue" message, which makes it pretty unreliable for recording shows while not home. A positive is that picture quality is very good.

TO: rakstr
Where did you get ch82 from?
This is Direct TV National HD NBC. Still available if you are MPEG2 and have Local and HD.
JStigler

Response from KXAS

Our Satellite receiver for the HD feed was messing up. We're working on
it, sorry.

Jim Borden
KXAS Engineering

-----Original Message-----
From: XXXXXXXXX
Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 9:34 AM
To: engineering@nbc5i.com
Subject: 5.1 and 5.2 Off the air for at least 24 hours

Are you aware that your signal is not showing up on some HD tuners?

I've got multiple Vizios of differing vintages from the original 32"
inch to the 47" 1080P and 2 Accurian tuners that all show black screen
but good signal. It's also being reported that your station is not
showing on DirecTV tuners (OTA).

I went to one of my TVs that allows me to add single channels to the
display list and ch41.1 is there (but it periodically shifts to what
appears to be queue ups and/or back and forth HD/SD).

I saw this happen for more than a year with channel 27.1 while I could
receive it on channel 36.

Borden, Jim (NBC Universal) wrote:

Yes, you are correct. I just found out that our PSIP generator is
failing, too. Should be back in order shortly.

-----Original Message-----
From: XXXXXXXXX
Sent: Wednesday, August 01, 2007 2:18 PM
To: Borden, Jim (NBC Universal)
Subject: Re: 5.1 and 5.2 Off the air for at least 24 hours

What's that got to do with the signal not showing on 5.1 and 5.2 but it
does show on 41.1 on my tuners? Sounds like your PSIP is messed up????

Thanks for the info.

Are you emailing them thru their website? Or do you know of another email address that can be used for technical questions regarding the local OTA broadcast?

EDIT: Scratch that, I just noticed this in the first email:
engineering@nbc5i.com

For those of you w/ Dish, are you satisfied w/ it? Sorry if this has been discussed 1000x before.

I am very happy with my Dish setup. I have 2 622 HD DVR's, and get great results from them. I have unhooked my OTA antenna, because the Dish HD locals look great. I view on a 55", and a 37".

Tom in TX

It's good to hear that other people in the DFW area are experiencing problems with 5.1/5.2! We'll just have to suffer until nbc5i gets their act together

I've noticed TimeWarner doesn't seem to be broadcasting QAM in The Colony area anymore. Is this just happening today? Anyone else notice this?

I can't speak for The Colony, but things look okay in Frisco...

Randy

Directv HD system is being upgraded tomorrow. I am curious of what I need to know about Mastec Communications (DTV exclusive installer). I have had them at the house two times in the past only to have them refuse to install anything. I got Directv on the phone and we had a three way conference call to which the Mastec representative hung up on me and the Directv rep.

My past experiences have frustrated me in dealing with Mastec. Any suggestions?

Directv HD system is being upgraded tomorrow. I am curious of what I need to know about Mastec Communications (DTV exclusive installer). I have had them at the house two times in the past only to have them refuse to install anything. I got Directv on the phone and we had a three way conference call to which the Mastec representative hung up on me and the Directv rep.

My past experiences have frustrated me in dealing with Mastec. Any suggestions?

Why, oh why, would you even consider trying again, let alone proceeding?

I've noticed TimeWarner doesn't seem to be broadcasting QAM in The Colony area anymore. Is this just happening today? Anyone else notice this?I'm in Dallas, and until AT&T fixes their U-verse availability database snafu (I'm apparently the only house on my block listed as unavailable) I'm watching HD over what the QAM tuner in my plasma picks up on TWC basic. We lost Discovery HD Theater yesterday, but still have TNT and all the locals. Not sure what's going on. Sincerely hoping Discovery HD Theater is back online when I get home this afternoon. U-verse cannot come soon enough!

Discovery HD Theater came back online yesterday. Is this common for HD channels to drop in and out of service on TWC? Meanwhile my full-upgrade to HD relies on AT&T fixing their U-verse availability system (a technician said I can get it, but sales can't confirm the order until the availability system is updated), but that is scaring me because two neighbors who have U-verse told me yesterday that since a big storm in the middle of last week they've been down. I can live without television for a few days, but Internet access keeps me from having to drive to my office at 3:00am. Both neighbors were credited for a full month of U-verse service, so for their part AT&T is doing fairly good customer service. Why can't TWC just have better HD options for a lower price? Cable companies are stupid.

I just ordered TWC for my apartment in Garland, and I was wondering what should I expect to receive for my STB? I got the package with DVR and HD service. I am trying to plan out what cables I need to hook up my system. Thanks!

I just ordered TWC for my apartment in Garland, and I was wondering what should I expect to receive for my STB? I got the package with DVR and HD service. I am trying to plan out what cables I need to hook up my system. Thanks!


Probably a Motorola 6416 unless they've started to deploy new boxes that use cablecards. The installer will supply a component cable that includes five wires, on for each of the three colors plus two wires for audio. All you need to supply is access to electricity for the box.

On the other hand, if you prefer to use an hdmi cable which is one cable for the video and sound you will need to supply it. Monoprice advertised at the top of this page has hdmi cables at a very good price, as do other places on the internet. They can be very expensive in stores.

If you get a different box that does use cablecards please let us all know.

Bernie

Probably a Motorola 6416 unless they've started to deploy new boxes that use cablecards. The installer will supply a component cable that includes five wires, on for each of the three colors plus two wires for audio. All you need to supply is access to electricity for the box.

On the other hand, if you prefer to use an hdmi cable which is one cable for the video and sound you will need to supply it. Monoprice advertised at the top of this page has hdmi cables at a very good price, as do other places on the internet. They can be very expensive in stores.

If you get a different box that does use cablecards please let us all know.

Bernie

HDMI? Thats a pleasant surprise. I was planning on being stuck with component. I have a shopping cart already started at Monoprice with other stuff I needed, I will go ahead and add another HDMI cable to the list. Thanks for the help, and I will definitely let you know if I get anything other than a Moto 6416 .

HDMI? Thats a pleasant surprise. I was planning on being stuck with component. I have a shopping cart already started at Monoprice with other stuff I needed, I will go ahead and add another HDMI cable to the list. Thanks for the help, and I will definitely let you know if I get anything other than a Moto 6416 .

Here is a link I think you'll want to save for future reference. http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR/Connections

This question has been answered I am sure...

I currently have Directv and cannot receive my locals in HD due to a line of sight issue. I can receive all the other HD channels. I would like to receive my locals in HD. Do I need an antenna? I have a new Panasonic 50PX77U. Is there anyway to receive local HD channels w/o antenna or subscribing to cable??

Thanks!!

Anyone?

Local OTA HD via an antenna is FREE. If you can't do this then with Direct TV you subscribe to the HD Local package. This requires the newer H20 series of receivers and a 5LNB dish.
JStigler

I am very happy with my Dish setup. I have 2 622 HD DVR's, and get great results from them. I have unhooked my OTA antenna, because the Dish HD locals look great. I view on a 55", and a 37".

Tom in TX

Keep that OTA and you can record 3 channels at once (2 sat. and 1 OTA) on each 622.

I visited my folks in NJ and checked out their Verizon FiOS service. The TV signal looks very good. However, I saw a few oddities that I don't know would occur here in the D/FW area as well. They have 2 HDTVs. On 1 HDTV that has HDMI, picture was clean. They don't have a sound system there, so they're using the LCD TV's speakers. There was one weird thing that happened where the sound disappeared. They had to unplug everything, wait a few minutes, and then reconnect the plugs, which restored sound.

But on their main TV (RP HDTV), which does not have HDMI, while the sound was great (they have a receiver and 6.1 speakers), the picture was kind of choppy, like a herky-jerky motion. Does anyone know why that's occurring? :confused: TIA.

Anyone have any suggestions on an antenna in Addison,TX? I live in an apartment and live right next to the Galleria mall. Thanks!

Live in Granbury which is SW of Ft.Worth and about 50 miles from Cedar Hill. Installed new Channel Master 3671 after wind damage to old Radio Shack antenna. Lost channel 8 in the spring and thought it was due to missing elements. Still unable to locate 8 analog or digital via compass headings. Rest of channels are fine including Waco. Am looking for a recommendation for the least cost OTA signal meter that works well. Appreciate the forum's assistance. Thank y'al in advance. Gary....

Gary something is not right here. This antenna should do a good job in your area. Put an analog TV on this antenna and look at ch4,5,8,11,13 and see if they are acceptable. WFAA is on ch9 for Digital. Lets make sure the VHF side of the antenna is OK.

If this is ok then remove the coax and do a scan. Nothing should be found. Install the coax and scan again. This is a way to clean out any bad data.
JStigler

Jstigler: Thank you, thank you! I just got my HDTV and was thoroughly puzzled by not getting WFAA and Channel 8, as 8 comes in very well analog.

Having re-scanned channels as above, I now have all the HDTV I need via my $2.99 rabbit ears. Here's hoping the signal holds up in all weather situations.

Live in Granbury which is SW of Ft.Worth and about 50 miles from Cedar Hill. Installed new Channel Master 3671 after wind damage to old Radio Shack antenna. Lost channel 8 in the spring and thought it was due to missing elements. Still unable to locate 8 analog or digital via compass headings. Rest of channels are fine including Waco. Am looking for a recommendation for the least cost OTA signal meter that works well. Appreciate the forum's assistance. Thank y'al in advance. Gary....

You pick up Waco TV stations from Granbury?! Isn't that a good 70 miles away? :eek:

Need help... I need help figure out my OTA HD setup.

first of all, i live in Savannah, TX (Aubrey, between Denton and Frisco on 380)

i purchased a RCA indoor antenna with 45db AMP and hope i can get some good OTA HD here. well, i got few channels.

4, 5, 11, 13, 21, 23

that's all.... can not find channel 8, 24 and 33. am I doing something wrong? is my antenna not good enough? anybody else out here have a recommendation on antenna?

Pleaseee help a newbie

In my opinion, you're probably a little far to get all the stations, reliably, with an indoor antenna.
And Channel 8 is VHF, so make sure your antenna is capable of that.
Tom

I just ordered a HDHomeRun tuner to use with BeyondTV, and I'd really like to get good HDTV locals, but this situation has been bugging me for awhile, and I'd like some clarifications. I am very familiar with OTA and cable HDTV setups in the past. I now live in an apartment complex that is stuck in a contract with Grande Communications (www.grandecom.com) for phone, internet, and tv (mistake #1).

I live on the north side of the building, and am not allowed to put a dish on the only eve that could view the southern sky, even though there was one before I moved in (mistake #2). I've asked, but haven't pushed very far with management. As I understand it from my reading they can't keep you from having a dish if it's entirely within your balcony and doesn't overhang causing a safety issue, but this isn't the case, so I think I'm just out of luck for satellite.

For the past year Grande has not offered any digital cable tv service, only basic/expanded analog cable. When I first moved in I called and was told it was coming, but no known timeline. I had since given up there. I assumed I couldn't fight the battle with Grande for HD if they didn't have digital, and I don't know if regulations really required them to carry digital signals. This doesn't seem much different than the past issues with satellite offering locals (what's the latest here?).

As a final option, I can receive OTA signals, although not as reliably as I'd like. The main problem is WFAA on VHF. I tried a variety of antennas, including full size outdoor ones. They too need to face south, and must be inside, obviously not ideal. For some reason my living room almost appears shielded. The only thing I can get to work is a terk hdtva in my bedroom with a 50ft cable running through the hallway. This is what I've been doing for some time now.

Recently, Grande had a big promotion introducing digital 'cable' at our complex. I noticed techs installing 3 large dishes on the side of the office building for the big roll-out. Obviously our digital 'cable' is just a shared dish (Dish Network I believe). I went in to talk to the reps on site for the day and was glad to hear about the HD package (still no DVR). I went on to ask if the locals would be provided "in the clear". He didn't have to understand the question, instead he actually answered that unfortunately they don't have to ability to offer any local channels in HD at the moment. (I also asked why can't they just put up a shared antenna and distribute that as well, but that went over his head.) The only good thing about Grande is the bundled price, but I can't justify paying an additional $30 for digital to include the HD tier if I can't even get locals. I've tried a couple times to check that it didn't magically appear with my tuner (LG-3510A tuner, capable of QAM). Since I haven't had digital installed maybe there is still something to hook up at my end that might enable it. I did notice the channel guide lists the locals, but haven't called back in the past month to see if anything has changed.

I'm trying to understand the FCC regulations. The most involved description I've found is that the basic cable tier must include domestic broadcast stations, and that this tier must be unencrypted, and that this is interpreted to mean both analog and digital (not necessarily in HD).

I've seen a couple discussions, but here is an example...
http://archive2.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/printthread.php?t=192957&p=2201139


Now, that I've detailed my situation I'd really just like to further understand the FCC regulations and any loopholes in the legal stuff before I call Grande again. I've read that the FCC is overloaded as it is, and doesn't much care if you contact them. I'm hoping though that if I knew my stuff I could talk it up. To them it probably sounds like I want something for nothing, but I'd consider upgrading to digital if I could get the locals in HD. But then again, that doesn't sound right, because if they can do that, I shouldn't have to upgrade, right?


I think there's several issues here...

If they can offer 2 HD packages and a long list of channels, shouldn't I be able to get locals?

I'm not sure about the latest on regulations for satellite in different markets, but I noticed you can get locals on Dish if you pay $5/month.

Now, if Grande is a cable company (which isn't supposed to encrypt locals), but they're actually getting programming from Dish (which can charge more), what rules apply?



I also welcome any other suggestions or explanations if anybody knows what Grande is up to here. Thanks!

Yes, locals are required on cable, but I don't believe they must be digital...analog will due (at least until there are no more analog signals).

Best advise...MOVE!:p

We will be closing on the sale of a new home and moving down to Rowlett the end of October. I have been an OTA DTV enthusiast here in the Washington DC area since 2002, and have two CM-4228 UHF antennas w/matching CM-7775 preamps mounted on my rooftop: DC/Batimore (north) and Richmond/Charlottesville VA (south). While I am very pround of my self installed antennas, I can already tell the neighbors, the HOA, and my wife (I can handle the neighbors and HOA) won't be pleased should I install an OTA antenna on the roof. The Dallas/Ft. Worth towers are only around 35 miles out (vice 55+ miles) and have an unobstructed view - I should be able to pull-in an adequate signal with an attic mounted antenna. Anyway, just a couple quick questions:

1. OTA reception in Rowlett...how is reception in the area? Anyone using an attic antenna?
2. Dallas/Ft. Worth DTV election...what channels will be VHF/UHF post 2009?

Thanks in advance.

Try here for your antenna Q's

http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

I'm in far north Dallas and use an attic antenna just fine.

riffjim4069 in DFW I would expect the attic antenna to do fine as long as the roof is not shielded. Today we have Ch9 VHF ABC and all others are UHF.
Welcome to Texas.
JStigler

...
2. Dallas/Ft. Worth DTV election...what channels will be VHF/UHF post 2009?...

Search in this thread and you'll find your details (or use the link below). In 2009, WFAA (ABC) will move from digital 9 back to 8 and 52 will move to 9. Also, KTVT (CBS) will move back to 11. Finally, KUVN (Univision) will move back to 23.

Source: http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf

Hi everyone, I just picked up 40" LCD with a built in QAM. I have TWC and is paying for only basic cable. I did a scan and it found about 7 HD channels. I noticed on channel MOJO and HDNET I don't get any sounds, all others I can hear sounds from TNTHD, and Discovery HD. Is this because I need TWC HD box? thanks

AT&T is coming out this Saturday to install the Homezone box/dish.

Does anyone else have this service? I'm switching to it from TWC. But I may not cxl TWC just yet until I know that Homezone offers a little something more. Luckily I don't have a contract w/ either so there won't really be a penalty either way.

Hi everyone, I just picked up 40" LCD with a built in QAM. I have TWC and is paying for only basic cable. I did a scan and it found about 7 HD channels. I noticed on channel MOJO and HDNET I don't get any sounds, all others I can hear sounds from TNTHD, and Discovery HD. Is this because I need TWC HD box? thanks

MOJO and HDNET are in the HD Tier so you need a set top box or DVR or cablecard and you have to pay for the HD Tier. Discovery HD and TNT HD are part of the Digital Classic level of service. See http://www.timewarnercable.com/dallas/programming/lineups/lineup2_northtexas.html

The following may be of interest to those who live within 10 mi. of Cedar Hill. In the Sept. 2007 issue of "Home Theater" mag., a reviewer reviewed several 5th gen. HDTV indoor antennas. To sum it up, the el cheapo Radio Shack antennas performed relatively well. In fact, of the 5, one of their antennas was the 2nd best in the roundup. If anyone is interested, I can hunt down the model #s from the mag.

The following may be of interest to those who live within 10 mi. of Cedar Hill. In the Sept. 2007 issue of "Home Theater" mag., a reviewer reviewed several 5th gen. HDTV indoor antennas. To sum it up, the el cheapo Radio Shack antennas performed relatively well. In fact, of the 5, one of their antennas was the 2nd best in the roundup. If anyone is interested, I can hunt down the model #s from the mag.

When I read that article, I thought it was about 5th generation ATSC chipsets and comparing a number of different, currently available indoor antennas to see how they worked with the latest tuners. In other words, the performance he was getting was dependent on the outboard chipset (in his case, a recent USB ATSC tuner for his PC). If I plugged in the same antenna into my older generation ATSC tuner in my older HDTV, I probably wouldn't get the same performance.

Well, I was supposed to get Homezone this Sat, but when the Dish guy showed up, he was telling me how faulty the Homezone receiver is and how many problems I'd have w/ it. He recommended their 722 receiver instead.

He actually didn't have a 722 w/ him but he hooked up a 622 and said the 722 would be mailed in the next 2 weeks to me.

I kinda have that "I might've gotten screwed" feeling but cannot find anyone else who has Homezone to see what their experience has been. It seems like the 722 has been pretty good to most ppl here. I'll need to get in touch w/ AT&T to see what the price difference will be since I don't have Homezone now (and hope they won't charge me now for the free 2Wire router they gave me when I signed up).

When I read that article, I thought it was about 5th generation ATSC chipsets and comparing a number of different, currently available indoor antennas to see how they worked with the latest tuners. In other words, the performance he was getting was dependent on the outboard chipset (in his case, a recent USB ATSC tuner for his PC). If I plugged in the same antenna into my older generation ATSC tuner in my older HDTV, I probably wouldn't get the same performance.

Oops, I think you're right. I should've said chipset (tuner) as opposed to the antenna. I skim read the article since indoor antennas are not practical for me (I'm almost 40 miles away from Cedar Hill).

Oops, I think you're right. I should've said chipset (tuner) as opposed to the antenna. I skim read the article since indoor antennas are not practical for me (I'm almost 40 miles away from Cedar Hill).

No problem - I skimmed it the first time myself, and only went back to see if there was any info on improved antennas (I'm also a loooong ways away from the tower farm). Speaking of which...

It's been a while since I've posted regarding my ongoing staring-match with Charter Communications here in Denton on when they will eventually join the 21st century and offer HDTV service over cable. If anyone is interested/masochistic, you can go back and see the trail of misinformation and occasional lies that led to this point.

The short summary: after two years of asking/pleading, we still don't have HDTV service here in Denton, and they don't have any timetable for when it will happen -- except to keep saying, "Sometime soon". Something new did come up last week, which is why I'm breaking radio silence on the matter.

Charter, like all cable & sat providers, does 'insert' advertising -- where they layer their own local advertising on top of the feed for the specific channel. They also usually use these inserts to advertise for themselves: why cable is leet and satellite is teh suxor, why you're a garbage-eating moron if you don't bundle your cable, phone & internet service with them, etc.

On occasion, they've run some marginally misleading insert ads (HBO HD, Showtime HD), but probably didn't even notice the 'HD' portion when they set them up. Last week, though, they started running actual ads that explictly advertise for Charter HDTV service. That is, there's no mistaking these for anything but HD promotions here in Denton.

So over the weekend I do a full QAM re-scan on my HDTV...and, of course, the lineup is exactly what it has been for the last two years that I've had the TV. I've been concerned that they might go Switched Digital (SDV) here, since it's going to be a completely new HD install for the plant (I'm concerned because I want to leave the door open for a TiVo Series 3 or a TiVoHD box). But even if they were set up as SDV, there would have to be some QAM mappings with proportional spacing allocated for HD (no more than 2-3 subchannels on the master channel).

I go today on my lunch hour to the local Denton office, and ask about the ads, to see when I can order the service. Their answer? "Oh, we don't have HDTV here in Denton. We don't know when it will be up - they're working on it, but it should be here...sometime soon."

Needless to day, I was stunned. I replied, "How can you not have any timeframe for introducing this service, when you're running local insert ads advertising its availability right now?" The reply I got was, unfortunately, exactly what I anticipated: "We don't know about that - we just know it isn't ready, but it should be here...sometime soon."

Charter Communications - demonstrating (yet again) how Not to run a cable company.

I know it's no consolation, but TWC advertises phone service but they don't offer that here yet (at least not in my area).

After a few false starts, I finally have my 5LNB dish installed. It doesn't seem any better than the 3LNB other than I can receive Locals in HD over DirecTv. It was a painful process but finally done. The latest installers were far superior to all the previous attempts combined. In two hours they installed and fixed problems that the previous installers created and most important they knew waht to do and did it.

rosenkavalier, that sux about Charter screwing you guys over in Denton. Why haven't you switched to Dish Network or DirecTV to get HDTV service?

By Feb. 2009, Charter will obviously have to carry hi-def, at least for the local stuff. But I know you and many others want it much sooner than that.

At least you have cable service. I live in a new dev. in FW where we only have sat. TV options.

rosenkavalier, that sux about Charter screwing you guys over in Denton. Why haven't you switched to Dish Network or DirecTV to get HDTV service?

By Feb. 2009, Charter will obviously have to carry hi-def, at least for the local stuff. But I know you and many others want it much sooner than that.

At least you have cable service. I live in a new dev. in FW where we only have sat. TV options.

I covered this in detail earlier in this (extremely long) thread, so here's the short version: I don't have any privately-controlled exterior space, and the owner won't grant the exemption for hanging/setting the dish in public space. I've considered moving, but for right now this is where I'll be for at least another 9-10 months.

And, just to show how gloomy I can get, there's nothing I know of that says cable companies have to re-transmit HDTV signals in full HD...a really nasty cable operator could, in theory, when 2009 rolls around buy a few ATSC receivers, down-res the output to standard-def, then send that out over their existing non-upgraded SD cable plant.

The only light at the end of the tunnel is that we may -- may be getting FioS in our complex sometime in the next few months. The manager has met with a Verizon installer for a walk-through of a vacant unit to get a sense for how they might approach the wiring, and now she's waiting for the next meeting with the sales folks.

I covered this in detail earlier in this (extremely long) thread, so here's the short version: I don't have any privately-controlled exterior space, and the owner won't grant the exemption for hanging/setting the dish in public space. I've considered moving, but for right now this is where I'll be for at least another 9-10 months.

And, just to show how gloomy I can get, there's nothing I know of that says cable companies have to re-transmit HDTV signals in full HD...a really nasty cable operator could, in theory, when 2009 rolls around buy a few ATSC receivers, down-res the output to standard-def, then send that out over their existing non-upgraded SD cable plant.

The only light at the end of the tunnel is that we may -- may be getting FioS in our complex sometime in the next few months. The manager has met with a Verizon installer for a walk-through of a vacant unit to get a sense for how they might approach the wiring, and now she's waiting for the next meeting with the sales folks.

That stinks about your uncooperative landlord. Did you cite him that FCC law that allows customers to install an antenna/dish in a public space, such as balcony or roof? If your balcony doesn't face south, then I can understand. Even then, the FCC law might permit you to install the dish on public brick, although I'm not sure about that.

Good luck w/ VZW FiOS rolling their fiber out there. If not, have you looked into AT&T to see if they'll push U-Verse in Denton?

I live in North Dallas (Trinity Mills and Midway). I'm able to get the Locals in HD with a Terk indoor antenna, but I would like to get ESPN and other HD programming.

Unfortunately, my apartment complex is locked into ATT Home Entertainment which is basically one satellite dish offering DirecTV to the entire complex. Currently, the installed dish is not capable of receiving HD signals and thus I am limited to SD. No other cable companies are allowed to offer service to the complex due to a wiring installation agreement.

I've tried DirecTV and DISH network individual satellite installs, but I do not have a clear enough line of sight to receive HD programming through either provider.

Besides changing locations, does anyone on here know of any other means to obtain ESPN HD and other HD programming?

I have read about 15 pages back and didn't find any answers.

I have TWC Digital service and the DCT6412(I want the 16). Are the HD Channels pulled over the air the same as the ones I get under the HD servicesmenu on the guide.? Are those channels under HD services( all the locals plus TNT, ESPN &2 , Discovery, ETC) really HD because I am not paying for the HD service from TWC.

What exactly do I get for another $7/ month from TWC(for their HD service).

Thanks,
James

I have read about 15 pages back and didn't find any answers.

I have TWC Digital service and the DCT6412(I want the 16). Are the HD Channels pulled over the air the same as the ones I get under the HD servicesmenu on the guide.? Are those channels under HD services( all the locals plus TNT, ESPN &2 , Discovery, ETC) really HD because I am not paying for the HD service from TWC.

What exactly do I get for another $7/ month from TWC(for their HD service).

Thanks,
James

If you're getting digital service and have a settop box or cablecard and an HDTV then you are getting TWC's HD stations. The Digital Plus Tier costs an extra $7 so I'm guessing that is what you are asking about, If you go to the channel lineup at http://www.timewarnercable.com/dallas/programming/lineups.html you can see the channels that are included in the Plus Tier.

There is also an HD Tier that is an extra charge and currently only has three stations, although those stations do have some great pictures. If they don't add more to it soon we'll probably drop it though. It has been good for StarTrek rereuns (who knew they were filmed in HD or widescreen) but we've seen them all now, more than once.

Bernie

anyone getting ESPNHD or ESPN2HD over QAM? Or do I need to get the HD receiver?

Hi, I recently moved to Dallas and have some pretty simple questions regarding DirecTV. I've searched this thread along with other forums and still can't find a definitive anwser to my question.

I have an HR20 box and for some reason I do not receive Local HD channels. I do not want to go with an OTA antenna and I don't think I need to with the newer boxes provided by DirecTV. My questions are...

1. Should I be getting Local HD channels from DirecTV for free or do I have to sign up for a Local HD package?

2. If it comes for free, what channels should the local HD channels be on? Would they still be on the ".1" nomenclature or would they be somewhere in the 300 or 400 channel range?

Please note that I understand that HDTV is free via OTA. I do not want to go this route, would rather have it coming from my satellite.

Thanks.

1. Should I be getting Local HD channels from DirecTV for free or do I have to sign up for a Local HD package?

2. If it comes for free, what channels should the local HD channels be on? Would they still be on the ".1" nomenclature or would they be somewhere in the 300 or 400 channel range?

1) I recently upgraded to the HR20 as well. I do not have the HD package except during football season. But I do receive locals via the sat. Call them up and ask why you are not receiving locals in HD.

2) They will be 4, 5, 8, 11, ... You will see 2 of each channel number. One would be the HD version, the other would be the SD version.

1) I recently upgraded to the HR20 as well. I do not have the HD package except during football season. But I do receive locals via the sat. Call them up and ask why you are not receiving locals in HD.

2) They will be 4, 5, 8, 11, ... You will see 2 of each channel number. One would be the HD version, the other would be the SD version.

I have an HR20 with HD and agree with FriscoJoe that you should get the MPEG4 OTA HD locals. Call them and ask about it. You do have an AT9 dish, correct?

Currently I have at least three channels for each local on my H20 and HR20 receivers. For instance channel 11 appears 3 times in this order; 11 (KTVT HD MPEG4 from D*), 11 (DL-11 SD from D*), and 11-1 (OTA via the ATSC tuner in the HR20).

The next software release of the HR20 will allow you to hide the channels you do not want to see anymore. In my case I would hide the SD 11 and leave the other two visible.

On another note, I have another D* HR20 on order. Since they will not Fedex these boxes and require them to be 'installed' I got an install date yesterday of October 4th. That is 30 days from now if I count correctly. Has anyone gotten a better install response from a local install of an HR20 or AT9 dish?

Probably a Motorola 6416 unless they've started to deploy new boxes that use cablecards. The installer will supply a component cable that includes five wires, on for each of the three colors plus two wires for audio. All you need to supply is access to electricity for the box.

On the other hand, if you prefer to use an hdmi cable which is one cable for the video and sound you will need to supply it. Monoprice advertised at the top of this page has hdmi cables at a very good price, as do other places on the internet. They can be very expensive in stores.

If you get a different box that does use cablecards please let us all know.

Bernie

I got my cable installed yesterday. The box is a Moto 6416. The guy doing the install only walked in with a composite cable!! :eek: Its like he had no intention of hooking it up correctly. Good thing I had already set up my receiver with an HDMI cable for him to plug into. Took him a while to figure out what the cable was and where it went... I was getting worried there for a sec. I haven't had a chance to calibrate my new TV, but the HD quality was decent. I am coming from watching HD-Lite from D* so anything is an improvement over that, hehe.

Hi guys, does anyone know of a DFW area Winegard dealer where I could buy a PR-9032 (now renamed HD-9032) yagi? Maybe some of you who live far from the transmitters would know? Thanks!

can someone give me any reason whatsoever to get Time Warner Cable?

Directv is rolling out 70+ HD channels in the next two months and we still don't even have hdnet movies.

Is there anything in the works for TWC? I called and asked how they were going to compete with D* and the lady said "i don't know, we're trying to get the NFL channel"

http://www.weisd.com/store2/WINHD-9032.html
This is Wholesale Electronics. I don't see DFW anywhere on the site but they have been in DFW for years. I have bought many Winegard antennas from them. Most of the time they have to order them.

This is a UHF only antenna. Not good for ABC on VHF.
JStigler

Hi guys, does anyone know of a DFW area Winegard dealer where I could buy a PR-9032 (now renamed HD-9032) yagi? Maybe some of you who live far from the transmitters would know? Thanks!
Any particular reason why you want a 9032? There are better UHF-only antennas. And as has been posted, you probably won't get WFAA with a 9032 (or KTVT, after it moves back to channel 11 in 2009). What's your zip code?

I recently got a HDTV (woohoo) and will have DirecTV installed in a couple of days. Knowing satellite sometimes has troubles and in general things "can go wrong" I was interested in having a backup antenna. I tried a powered indoor antenna and the analog signals are all useless and the HD signals are intermittent. For WFAA non-existent. I am up in McKinney.

I was wondering if the DTV installer could/would put in an OTA antenna that attaches to the dish and whether that would work well as a backup? Also, if anyone knows, do they have the equipment for this and how much would it cost?

TIA!

I finally bought an HDTV! (The previous 2 HDTVs I bought were for my parents.) I called up Dish Network to ask about bumping up from SDTV satellite service to HDTV satellite service. They said that I'd have to pay an extra $20/mo., get a new receiver ($169), and rent that receiver at $6/mo. Also, I'd have to sign a new 18-mo. contract extension. WTF?! :eek: Talk about a rip off. After the sticker shock, I politely declined and hung up. (Note that currently, they're running a promo where they waive the $20/mo. extra charge for the 1st 6 mos. out of the 18).

I think I'm just going to wait out the remaining 9 mos. for my Dish contract and then hope by then, fiber optic (AT&T U-Verse) and/or a cable company is in my neighborhood (a new development in FW). Also, I plan to get an antenna and hope I can figure out how to get free local hi-def. What would suck is that w/o creating a switch to combine signals like someone here mentioned that some guy in Canada did w/ his DirecTV, I'd have to manually go in my attic and change the coax cable input from Dish to antenna or vice versa. :( Any suggestions? TIA.

Anybody else having trouble receiving Fox HD the past two days?

NBC 5 (KXAS) News is finally in HD! Woohoo!

If you like what you see, send Jim Borden (engineering) a kudos: Jim.Borden@nbcuni.com

They said that I'd have to pay an extra $20/mo., get a new receiver ($169), and rent that receiver at $6/mo. Also, I'd have to sign a new 18-mo. contract extension.

So, you want new services (HD), and need a new receiver, and don't want to "purchase" it, right? But you don't want to actually pay for these things?
If I was Dish, I wouldn't "give" them to anyone either. If you want something, maybe you need to pay for it! Just my opinion!

Tom in TX

After the sticker shock, I politely declined and hung up. (Note that currently, they're running a promo where they waive the $20/mo. extra charge for the 1st 6 mos. out of the 18).

Fact of the matter is that a 622 receiver runs $500 new and Dish has more HD than anyone else right now.

Fact of the matter is that a 622 receiver runs $500 new and Dish has more HD than anyone else right now.

dish is going to be left in the dust at the end of the year, when directv has 80HD channels and dish has 30

not a wise choice to pick dish if you're going with satellite...you're going to be locked in for 18 months with a provider that has no satellite space to add new channels.

Live in SW Ft. Worth and just picked up the 'new' SA4250HD STB[HDMI]. Charter give me a photocopy of what looks like the DVR version[DVI] SA8300, this might help: http://http://www.scientificatlanta.com/ (http://www.scientificatlanta.com/)Anybody experienced with the 4250HD performance

Just bought an new HDTV and in the process of setting it up. Any feedback/suggestions would be much welcomed including HD programming, SAT reception from Direct TV/Dish, ATT ect. Want to keep all options open. Feel free to PM me if needed. Thanks!

What would suck is that w/o creating a switch to combine signals like someone here mentioned that some guy in Canada did w/ his DirecTV, I'd have to manually go in my attic and change the coax cable input from Dish to antenna or vice versa. :( Any suggestions? TIA.


You can combine your Antenna signal with your Dish cable, and then separate it at the back of the receiver. The Dish 622 seamlessly integrates the signal into your receiver. If you need details, feel free to pm me.

Tom in TX

dish is going to be left in the dust at the end of the year, when directv has 80HD channels and dish has 30

not a wise choice to pick dish if you're going with satellite...you're going to be locked in for 18 months with a provider that has no satellite space to add new channels.

You may very well be right, but, not to sound like a fanboy, I believe Dish Network may have learned their lesson about making promises that essentially do not come to fruition. Dish has recently expanded their HD and continues to do so. Without hype, they turned on Big Ten Network last week and will turn on HD version(s) of the network next week. Yesterday, there were 2 games that Dish Network turned on in HD: Akron vs Ohio State & Syracuse vs Iowa.

Again, no flame intended, but one should not jump on board with any satellite company based on what it's intending to do. But rather one should study the channels they currently offer and the recent trends of adding channels. I think Dish Network and DirecTV will both be around for a while and that their competition will remain neck and neck. The customer will benefit from this no matter what company he or she sides with.

By the way, I've been a Dish Network customer for 10 years. I've had impeccable service. I currently love my ViP622 as it's performance is virtually flawless. I can record 2 HD programs and 1 OTA-HD program simultaneously while watching a 4th recorded HD program all while background archiving a program to my external 750GB hard drive without a hiccup.

Anybody else having trouble receiving Fox HD the past two days?
Fox is always good for me. Just an occasional problem with ABC.

NBC 5 (KXAS) News is finally in HD! Woohoo!

If you like what you see, send Jim Borden (engineering) a kudos: Jim.Borden@nbcuni.com
it took them a long time to do so! but it does look good but it can not beat the look of news 8 in hd. soon ktvt cbs 11 will be doing hd this fall and fox 4 needs to get off their a$$ and start doing their news in hd

it took them a long time to do so! but it does look good but it can not beat the look of news 8 in hd...

Agreed. At least it's progress. They're tweaking things as we go along. They've started adding graphical pillars to the native 4:3 content instead of black pillars. At least they're thinking about what they're doing.

I hate dish network so bad, if I wasn't stuck in my location where I can;t get Direct I would cancel them in a minute. No option for cable here. If you want to get sucked into a money pit, get Dish network. GAWD I hate them and no help in sight. The worst Sat company on the planet. The things they do should be illegal. They won;t do the right thing unless you scream to cancel. Even then they try an rape you. My bill goes up for no reason, they try and charge you for channel's you DON'T get. If your receiver breaks they try and charge you. I sent back a 311 per their RMA number, they said they never received it. In order to get my locals in HD I had to pay more to upgrade my receivers. I'm paying for hd locals, voom channels but unless I pay 200.00 more to upgrade I can;t get those channels on my other TV's. I pay 85.00 a mo. for one TV. not even one movie channel. I hate dish network, it's all about THEM and soaking the customer out of every single penny.

I am in Fort Worth, have an ota receiver and an hdmi switcher. I get the ota hd and then use the input switch to get dish channels, can I run my ota antenna directly onto the dish box somehow?

I am in Fort Worth, have an ota receiver and an hdmi switcher. I get the ota hd and then use the input switch to get dish channels, can I run my ota antenna directly onto the dish box somehow?

You can if you have a 622, or a 942 (maybe others).

Tom in TX

soon ktvt cbs 11 will be doing hd this fall and fox 4 needs to get off their a$$ and start doing their news in hd

Supposely, both KTVT and KTXA will be broadcasting news in HD on September 24.

rudiger

So, you want new services (HD), and need a new receiver, and don't want to "purchase" it, right? But you don't want to actually pay for these things?
If I was Dish, I wouldn't "give" them to anyone either. If you want something, maybe you need to pay for it! Just my opinion!

Tom in TX

I see what you're saying, but Dish is still going to make more money w/ the monthly costs. So they should subsidize the cost of the receiver, like phone companies subsidize cell phones, knowing they'll make out like bandits w/ the monthly cost.

It's not like providing hi-def signal costs Dish anymore money ... only the new receiver does.

IMO, Dish is just trying to rape their customers for the next 2 years before everything goes hi-def. Fine, that's their prerogative. But I'm not going to be another victim. (I know I'm probably feeling bitter about Dish given how I keep getting the "Press SELECT to Continue" messages half the time I record something in advance.)

So at this point, I'll let the rest of the 18-mo. contract run out and I'm going to strongly look at getting an antenna to at least get free local hi-def, which is what I mostly watch anyway between Sept. and May.

You can combine your Antenna signal with your Dish cable, and then separate it at the back of the receiver. The Dish 622 seamlessly integrates the signal into your receiver. If you need details, feel free to pm me.

Tom in TX

Thanks. I think the model of my receiver is 322. It has 2 tuners and is obviously just SD.

Right now, I'm researching antennas. (More on that in a future post.)

I spent an hour on the phone with dish and only to get cut off when I got to a supervisor. One would think for 85.00 a month I could rent two receivers and have HD locals. Rape me then cut me off the phone line. How about getting someone who speaks English on the line? Dish is toilet water to me.

I alluded to OTA HD in a prior post. I went to Ace Hardware store yesterday since someone had mentioned months ago that they sell Channel Master antennas. All they had in stock was model 3016 ($40). However, a CSR said model 3018 ($60) should be in stock in a week. I checked out the specs (http://www.pctinternational.com/channelmaster/0612/antennas_outdoor.html). While I doubt the 3016 will work for me if I do an attic mount, perhaps the 3018 might. However, I'm probably best off getting model 4228, which Ace doesn't sell, but Crutchfield (http://www.crutchfield.com/S-BL947hsn8CP/cgi-bin/Prodview.asp?readmore=true&g=15920&I=6594228#Tab) does ($80 + ship). Also, the 4228 would take up less room in the attic, so I might go w/ that. Just to jog people's memories, I live in NW FW and about 30-35 mi. away from Cedar Hill (the antenna would point at ~120 deg.).

Edit: Ace Hardware's price for the 3016 and 3018 is much cheaper than Crutchfield's.

I spent an hour on the phone with dish and only to get cut off when I got to a supervisor. One would think for 85.00 a month I could rent two receivers and have HD locals. Rape me then cut me off the phone line. How about getting someone who speaks English on the line? Dish is toilet water to me.

Sorry to hear about your frustrating Dish experience. While I'm not happy w/ how, when it loses the signal, it doesn't recover it w/o manual intervention, I haven't had rude CSR experience from them. I've only needed to contact them thrice so far. Once b/c my $10/mo. wasn't applied (now it is), another time to reprogram the Dish receiver when a neighbor and I were having remote wars (for the RF tuner), and then last week when I inquired about upgrading to HD. I've been too lazy to call their tech support on how to eliminate the need for manual intervention whenever the receiver loses signal.

On the phone with dish. They charge you to downgraded your package. When I asked them why I should pay 20.00 per month for HD channels and get 1/2 of the channels Direct charges they tell me because of their service.

However, I'm probably best off getting model 4228, which Ace doesn't sell,

They sell the 4228's at Fry's. I got mine at the one in Irving,on 635, just East of D/FW Airport. I think it was $49. Works great! If you want to get one there, send me a PM, and I can check if they have them in stock, as I go right by there everyday.

Tom in TX

Fry's in Plano had three in stock last week also....

Anyone know what the ATSC-QAM channel for ESPN HD on Time Warner in the Mckinney area is? I never thought I had it, as when I got setup, ESPN HD was on the HD tier. I recently read that TW moved it off the HD tier, so it should be able to be picked up by my tuner. I have found that I am now able to get discovery HD, when I couldn't before, but I cannot seem to find ESPN. Any ideas?

Anyone know what the ATSC-QAM channel for ESPN HD on Time Warner in the Mckinney area is? I never thought I had it, as when I got setup, ESPN HD was on the HD tier. I recently read that TW moved it off the HD tier, so it should be able to be picked up by my tuner. I have found that I am now able to get discovery HD, when I couldn't before, but I cannot seem to find ESPN. Any ideas?I suspect, as it is on my father-in-law's cable in Wylie, it's still encrypted.

I'd suggest writing ESPN a letter (yes, paper) asking them nicely to allow us to record their network (removing the encryption on cable) so we can archive our favorite teams' victories. I believe if enough of us keep asking, they'll at least think about it.

I think it would be an interesting marketing campaign. They don't sell the games, so they really have nothing to lose. But they could advertise "No Restrictions on digital ESPN!" Most people wouldn't know what that meant, but it would sound great. And those of us who did know, would appreciate it greatly.

Xesdeeni

It's not an ESPN issue, it's the cable company. They could give you ESPN free and in the clear if they wanted. But they have to pay ESPN based on number of subscribers, so they quite reasonably want to charge you for the channel.

It's not an ESPN issue, it's the cable company. They could give you ESPN free and in the clear if they wanted. But they have to pay ESPN based on number of subscribers, so they quite reasonably want to charge you for the channel.Unless you have some reason for singling out ESPN, the same can be said for any channel. The FCC only requires the local channels to be available in all tiers, which effectively means unencrypted. But from what I've read, most cable suppliers provide Discovery-HD, TNT-HD, InHD, HDNet, etc. in-the-clear as well. Why would they do that when they could charge for these channels as well?

Again, unless you have some specific information to the contrary, it certainly appears that ESPN is in full control over their content, and it's protected because that's what they want.

Xesdeeni

They sell the 4228's at Fry's. I got mine at the one in Irving,on 635, just East of D/FW Airport. I think it was $49. Works great! If you want to get one there, send me a PM, and I can check if they have them in stock, as I go right by there everyday.

Tom in TX

Thanks, Tom, I appreciate that. I've been to that Fry's once after I flew into DFW Airport and had some time to kill. I assume Fry's in Arlington sells it, too. So the CM 4228 would work better than the CM 3018? I'm also going to look into diplexing OTA HD w/ Dish SD that IFLY told me about.

Dish network provides the greatest number of HD channels and does so at a competitive price. I've never had a problem with their CSR or signal. I'm not sure what all the complaints are about. I've used both sat. services and found them to be basically the same. I wouldn't mind switching back to DTV but they don't offer a DVR w/ UHF remote.

I just want to caution you that the Channel Master antennas recently discussed are UHF ONLY. Note the Bow Tie look. These antennas will not get WFAA abc or in the future KTVT cbs. You really should get a UHF/VHF antenna. Channel Master and Winegard make some UHF/VHF as well as the UHF only. Don't be confused by the HD advertising. An antenna is an antenna. If you have an older antenna in the attic then hook it up and you may just get all the HD signals.

Also the discussion on the diplexing of the satellite and the OTA signal on one coax will work but there is LOSS in the OTA signal that you might not be able to overcome. Especially on the higher channels.

Just trying to get all of you a good HD signal from all stations.
JStigler

NBC 5 (KXAS) News is finally in HD! Woohoo!

If you like what you see, send Jim Borden (engineering) a kudos: Jim.Borden@nbcuni.com
woohoo is all you can say about Channel 5's debut of local HD. it's been amateurish at best, pitiful at worst. no HD camera's in the field. Green screens still in SD format. Still cutout noise when transferring back and forth between local and network hd. Sound is up and down like a yo-yo. Screen actually moves left to right during news broadcasts. it's obvious that 5's budget was minimal and that they plan on just "getting by" don't worry, turn to WFAA, they did it right from the start.
And your engineer of the day? we'll he still can't solve the cutout noise issues.

woohoo is all you can say about Channel 5's debut of local HD. it's been amateurish at best, pitiful at worst. no HD camera's in the field. Green screens still in SD format. Still cutout noise when transferring back and forth between local and network hd. Sound is up and down like a yo-yo. Screen actually moves left to right during news broadcasts. it's obvious that 5's budget was minimal and that they plan on just "getting by" don't worry, turn to WFAA, they did it right from the start.
And your engineer of the day? we'll he still can't solve the cutout noise issues.

Perhaps my post didn't accurately convey my actual feelings. I, personally, prefer NBC 5 for my news coverage. I prefer the anchors and meterologists over the other stations'. So, I'm gonna watch it anyway. Yes, WFAA absolutely spanks KXAS with regard to the HD aspect. Even on their debut, WFAA had their sh*t together. See my blog for more details about this: http://matthilton.net/ My "woohoo" was more in response to the fact that KXAS is finally starting to consider HD. I received an email from Jim Borden, un-prompted, mind you, acknowledging the feeble, fledgling HD beginnings. I got the impression, however, that there's more to come. Each day since their HD debut, I've seen additional HD splash screens and improved graphics. Granted, they have a very long way to go to even come close to the quality to WFAA's.

I just want to caution you that the Channel Master antennas recently discussed are UHF ONLY. Note the Bow Tie look. These antennas will not get WFAA abc or in the future KTVT cbs.
JStigler

Technically you are correct, the 4228 is a UHF antenna, but a big reason it's used by many in the area for OTA-HD is that it has very good high-VHF signal pickup as well, which covers WFAA-HD currently and KTVT-HD in the future.

I assume Fry's in Arlington sells it, too.
Yes, and last time I heard, the CM4228 at the Arlington location is not in the TV area but still near the hard drive & memory area. And when I bought mine, it was on the opposing end of the shelf that had the VHF/UHF antennas and very poorly marked. Had I not known exactly what model I was looking for I'd have not realized that the plain brown square cardboard box was it.:D

MC

Supposely, both KTVT and KTXA will be broadcasting news in HD on September 24.

Since KXAS just started broadcasting HD news, and WFAA has been for some time, that will leave KDFW as the sole major station broadcasting their news in SD-only. KDAF will also presumably continue running their news in SD-only, at least for however much longer their 9 PM newscast lasts.

Just out of curiosity: once KTV and KTXA launch HD news, will that make DFW the first market to have four HD newscasts?

I just want to caution you that the Channel Master antennas recently discussed are UHF ONLY. Note the Bow Tie look. These antennas will not get WFAA abc or in the future KTVT cbs.

It gets WFAA for me, with very good results! I know you are quite knowledgeable, but have you tried to get WFAA with the CM antennas? I live in Coppell, approx. 30 miles away from the towers, and get WFAA perfectly with an attic mount 4228.

Tom in TX

I would still be curious as to know what channel it is. Reason being that I should still be able to find it. Oddly enough, the tuner on my one TV is able to get the picture of encrypted channels, just not the sound, the other TV I just get a message that says "encrypted". I noticed this oddly enough when I was surfing the channels and came across something rather "explicit". It turned out to be playboy latin america..

Since KXAS just started broadcasting HD news, and WFAA has been for some time, that will leave KDFW as the sole major station broadcasting their news in SD-only. KDAF will also presumably continue running their news in SD-only, at least for however much longer their 9 PM newscast lasts.

Just out of curiosity: once KTV and KTXA launch HD news, will that make DFW the first market to have four HD newscasts?

It's kind of hard to count KTVT and KTXA separately since it's one news department producing newscasts for two stations. However, if you consider them separate - yes - I think this will be the first market with 4 HD newscasts.

It gets WFAA for me, with very good results! I know you are quite knowledgeable, but have you tried to get WFAA with the CM antennas? I live in Coppell, approx. 30 miles away from the towers, and get WFAA perfectly with an attic mount 4228.

Tom in TX

I use the CM4228 also, attic mount with the CM7777 preamp, in Parker (city, not county) which is just east of Allen, at about 40 miles from Cedar Hill. WFAA comes in great for me also. If I had a problem I could move it to the roof but don't need to.
The CM4228 is the only UHF antenna with decent VHF-hi performance. It's something to do with the design of the screen that gets the VHF gain. The DB-8, which is another bow-tie antenna and looks a lot like the CM4228, does not have the same VHF performance.
here's a link to some comparison performance information. http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html

Part way down the report is a chart showing performance on VHF-hi of some common UHF antennas. You will see the CM4228 is the only one of the antennas with any performance on VHF-hi. It's a simulation, the dips don't seem to be there on the real antenna, and in practice there is not the sharp drop-off at channel 8, so the antenna should be OK even when WFAA-DT moves from 9 back to 8 in 2009.

Referencing my post from just about two weeks ago (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11437499#post11437499), I outlined how Charter here in Denton had been running ads for HDTV service that wasn't actually available. One key item to note is that the staff at the Denton office on Aug. 27 said that nothing was scheduled in the foreseeable future.

Flash forward to today (Tuesday, Sept. 11): I get home from work, to find an automated message on my answering machine from Charter. It explains how Charter is upgrading the Denton cable system to 100% digital (all channels above 17, meaning only true 'locals' will still be available as a 'lifeline' option on analog). And guess what? The switchover is happening next Tuesday, September 18!

According to the message, they were calling to "follow-up on the letter you had recently received." As you can already guess, there was no letter, no notice in last month's cable bill -- and no mention or notice posted in the local office while I was there two weeks ago. The final twist of the knife, though, was when they threw this bit out: "And this change will also bring HD programming, coming soon!" Even now, they can't get away from that stinking line. Bastards.

What's really ticked me off is that by waiting until one week before to let us know, Charter has made it nearly impossible to make any sort of careful assessment of my options. I'm a TiVo user (very old standard-def Series 1 unit, upgraded hard drive), so telling me that seven days from now you're taking away 75% of my programming available for recording (without going through an external cable box, which introduces too many problems for me to really consider) is a slap in the face.

While I could go out tonight/tomorrow and buy a new TiVo HD or Series 3, I'd then have to set up an install appointment for the CableCards (Charter, like most cable companies, will not allow self-installs of CableCards under any circumstances). I checked with Charter's sales line, and they're already more than a week out on appointments -- so even presuming the first appointment was kept and the install worked the first time, it would still be after the system changeover. Given what I've read about CableCard install appointments and how the installers hate to have to stick around for one complete card setup, much less two, to then consider having to re-schedule if there are problems and drag this out over days or even weeks, with the Fall TV season about to begin, isn't a realistic option.

So: I've decided that I'm going to swallow hard, walk in, and rent the stupid Charter DVR for a few months. I should be able to get a discounted three month digital package since I've been analog-only for so long, which would off-set most of the cost of the DVR (I almost can't bear to type this: $21/month, with $7 of that possibly covered in the package deal), which will then be able to record the HD channels...whenever Charter actually begins offering them. I'm planning to keep my old TiVo operating, too, to record the analog local channel programming that I won't care about watching in HD, since I'd prefer to watch using the TiVo interface when I can. (This would also save room on the Charter DVR's hard drive for more potential HD programs.) But I am already cringing at the thought of trying to manage my really complex Season Pass lineup on one of these Charter boxes.

Sorry for the rant, but after two years of "we don't know anything", to then get "we're changing everything next week" without notice just set me off.

Referencing my post from just about two weeks ago (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11437499#post11437499), I outlined how Charter here in Denton had been running ads for HDTV service that wasn't actually available. One key item to note is that the staff at the Denton office on Aug. 27 said that nothing was scheduled in the foreseeable future.

Flash forward to today (Tuesday, Sept. 11): I get home from work, to find an automated message on my answering machine from Charter. It explains how Charter is upgrading the Denton cable system to 100% digital (all channels above 17, meaning only true 'locals' will still be available as a 'lifeline' option on analog). And guess what? The switchover is happening next Tuesday, September 18!

According to the message, they were calling to "follow-up on the letter you had recently received." As you can already guess, there was no letter, no notice in last month's cable bill -- and no mention or notice posted in the local office while I was there two weeks ago. The final twist of the knife, though, was when they threw this bit out: "And this change will also bring HD programming, coming soon!" Even now, they can't get away from that stinking line. Bastards.

What's really ticked me off is that by waiting until one week before to let us know, Charter has made it nearly impossible to make any sort of careful assessment of my options. I'm a TiVo user (very old standard-def Series 1 unit, upgraded hard drive), so telling me that seven days from now you're taking away 75% of my programming available for recording (without going through an external cable box, which introduces too many problems for me to really consider) is a slap in the face.

While I could go out tonight/tomorrow and buy a new TiVo HD or Series 3, I'd then have to set up an install appointment for the CableCards (Charter, like most cable companies, will not allow self-installs of CableCards under any circumstances). I checked with Charter's sales line, and they're already more than a week out on appointments -- so even presuming the first appointment was kept and the install worked the first time, it would still be after the system changeover. Given what I've read about CableCard install appointments and how the installers hate to have to stick around for one complete card setup, much less two, to then consider having to re-schedule if there are problems and drag this out over days or even weeks, with the Fall TV season about to begin, isn't a realistic option.

So: I've decided that I'm going to swallow hard, walk in, and rent the stupid Charter DVR for a few months. I should be able to get a discounted three month digital package since I've been analog-only for so long, which would off-set most of the cost of the DVR (I almost can't bear to type this: $21/month, with $7 of that possibly covered in the package deal), which will then be able to record the HD channels...whenever Charter actually begins offering them. I'm planning to keep my old TiVo operating, too, to record the analog local channel programming that I won't care about watching in HD, since I'd prefer to watch using the TiVo interface when I can. (This would also save room on the Charter DVR's hard drive for more potential HD programs.) But I am already cringing at the thought of trying to manage my really complex Season Pass lineup on one of these Charter boxes.

Sorry for the rant, but after two years of "we don't know anything", to then get "we're changing everything next week" without notice just set me off.There is the 4250HD box which comes with a card.

It's kind of hard to count KTVT and KTXA separately since it's one news department producing newscasts for two stations. However, if you consider them separate - yes - I think this will be the first market with 4 HD newscasts.
L.A. has 4 actual separate local HD newscasts - KDOC, KTLA, KABC and KCBS/KCAL

I use the CM4228 also, attic mount with the CM7777 preamp, in Parker (city, not county) which is just east of Allen, at about 40 miles from Cedar Hill. WFAA comes in great for me also. If I had a problem I could move it to the roof but don't need to.
The CM4228 is the only UHF antenna with decent VHF-hi performance. It's something to do with the design of the screen that gets the VHF gain. The DB-8, which is another bow-tie antenna and looks a lot like the CM4228, does not have the same VHF performance.
here's a link to some comparison performance information. http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html

Part way down the report is a chart showing performance on VHF-hi of some common UHF antennas. You will see the CM4228 is the only one of the antennas with any performance on VHF-hi. It's a simulation, the dips don't seem to be there on the real antenna, and in practice there is not the sharp drop-off at channel 8, so the antenna should be OK even when WFAA-DT moves from 9 back to 8 in 2009.

I have experience with the CM4228 and the DB8 antenna in McKinney about 36 miles from Cedar Hill. The CM4228 is superior in this location. It gets VHF Channel 8 whereas the DB8 dose not. Had to add a separate VHF antenna and combine signals with the DB8 to get CH. 8.

Where is a good place to buy new and used FTA receivers around Dallas?

Technically you are correct, the 4228 is a UHF antenna, but a big reason it's used by many in the area for OTA-HD is that it has very good high-VHF signal pickup as well, which covers WFAA-HD currently and KTVT-HD in the future.


Yes, and last time I heard, the CM4228 at the Arlington location is not in the TV area but still near the hard drive & memory area. And when I bought mine, it was on the opposing end of the shelf that had the VHF/UHF antennas and very poorly marked. Had I not known exactly what model I was looking for I'd have not realized that the plain brown square cardboard box was it.:D

MC
Thanks for the reassuring news that the CM 4228 will work w/ VHF, even though it's not designed for it. And thanks for cluing me in on the cryptic location of the 4228 in the Fry's Arlington store. Now I just need to make a trip over there one of these weekends. :cool:

There is the 4250HD box which comes with a card.

I may be misunderstanding this statement, but I'm taking this to mean that I could get one of the newer set-top-boxes (like the one you mentioned) which are based on CableCards, and then extract the card for use in a TiVo HD or Series 3.

However, from some threads I've read here on AVS and over on TiVoCommunity, I thought that most of these boxes have the CableCards physically secured to the box. Plus, I wasn't clear on moving a CableCard from one device to another - especially if the device wasn't actually "provisioned" through an actual install.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I finally got the letter referred to in the phone call from last night (the one that I supposedly had received days earlier...). It changes some of the details from the phone message and from the conversation I had with the sales rep - the conversion process will begin "on or after" September 18, not "on" Sept. 18. And, the complete conversion (apparently counting the HD additions) will take six weeks -- but they don't specify how this will be phased.

The letter does show the final channel assignments after everything is done.. This changeover will allow them to add some additional SD channels (ones that stood out to me: Fox Movie Channel, ESPN Classic, ESPN U, Fox Soccer Channel, CSTV), as well as the new HD lineup:
-- HD Locals: KXAS-NBC, KTVT-CBS, KDAF-CW, KDFW-FOX, KERA-PBS, KTXA-IND [note that WFAA-ABC is missing, like all Belo stations on Charter systems]
-- HD Tier: HDNet, HDNet Movies, ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD, Fox Sports Net SW HD, Discovery HD Theater, TNT HD, NBC U (Universal?) HD, Mojo, MHD, PayPerView HD
-- HD Premiums: Cinemax HD, HBO HD, Showtime HD, Starz HD, TMC HD

I did go ahead and pick up a DVR (Motorola DCT 6416 III), and spent the evening re-wiring my home theater setup. So I'm future-proofed for a while. Plus, when I stopped by my apartment office to discuss a bill, I asked and was informed that the Verizon installation walkthrough for the complex is scheduled for next week -- so we might be moving to FiOS sometime in the near future after all.

No to this first paragraph. This was a reference/option to those who are not interested in DVR and of not want to hassle with the card installation and service fee while still having pay-for view. Is there a thread for DFW non OTA?

I'm hoping this is the right topic...Does anyone know when we'll get CW-33 in HD on D*? Or who to ask? D* CSRs were clueless.

More on Dish.

I cut my plan to the min. family plan with locals. I get no locals on my 811. I called dish to find out why, they told me I needed $49.95 service call and if my 811 is bad, it's 99.00 to get another one. I am leasing all the receivers.

I have all my locals on the VIP 211. Tech support said it must be a problem with the LNB's. Huh? When I said, if there was an issue with the signal why would the 211 work, he then tried to sell me a service plan. Nothing was resolved.

I was stupid to sign up with dish and I continue to pay the price. If I ever get away from these thieving idiots I'll go to rabbit ears and tin foil before I go back. Buyer better BEWARE.

Thanks for the reassuring news that the CM 4228 will work w/ VHF, even though it's not designed for it. And thanks for cluing me in on the cryptic location of the 4228 in the Fry's Arlington store. Now I just need to make a trip over there one of these weekends. :cool:

beowulf7,

I have a CM 4228 still in the box. I bought it right before labor day at the Irving Fry's and have not had a chance to return it. I bought it to use at my parents house but they didn't need a new antenna after all. I will sell it to you for what I paid, not looking to make money off it. I still have the receipt if you want to check it. If not then I will just return it. I live in Grapevine, work in Lewisville, and could meet you somewhere if need be.

On a side note, I currently use the CM 3018 and have been for over 3 years. I have not had any problems with this antenna. Not only is it UHF and VHF, but you can get radio stations off it as well.

L.A. has 4 actual separate local HD newscasts - KDOC, KTLA, KABC and KCBS/KCAL

KDOC has local news in HD? That's pretty amazing, considering what a small station that is. It would be the equivalent of KFWD/52 producing a newscast in HD.

KDOC has local news in HD? That's pretty amazing, considering what a small station that is. It would be the equivalent of KFWD/52 producing a newscast in HD.

I took a quick look at their website and Joel must be referring to their new morning show that runs 6am - 8am that started Monday. It does state that it is in HD. They don't show a local newscast outside of that...

Randy

Think of it like this - if you're building a new newscast from scratch, why wouldnt you buy all HD equipment considering what's going on in the industry? The premiums over SD equipment conitnue to shrink.

beowulf7,

I have a CM 4228 still in the box. I bought it right before labor day at the Irving Fry's and have not had a chance to return it. I bought it to use at my parents house but they didn't need a new antenna after all. I will sell it to you for what I paid, not looking to make money off it. I still have the receipt if you want to check it. If not then I will just return it. I live in Grapevine, work in Lewisville, and could meet you somewhere if need be.

On a side note, I currently use the CM 3018 and have been for over 3 years. I have not had any problems with this antenna. Not only is it UHF and VHF, but you can get radio stations off it as well.

Thanks for the offer, I'll think about it and will let you know. I imagine the 3018 is much bigger than the 4228 since it's spread out over all 3 dimensions. What is the FM range of the 3018 as opposed to using the long, thin FM wire that A/V receivers come with?

ok im a noob but i searched and scanned this thread after picking up hd tv(first one)...have a few questions left...i have analog cable with time warner in grapevine, tx...did the ch. search/scan feature and it found the normal channels as well as
106-1 weak or no
106-2 weak or no
106-3 weak or no
85-11 weak or no signal
83-11
82-8
79-9
79-8
79-2 says weak or no signal or scramble channel
78-10
78-2

Am i supposed to be able to get local hd, abc, fox, nbc, etc this way or do i need one of these ota antennas people are talking about?

my setup is coax from wall to splitter, splitter to tivo2 and cable in on tv. is that the way things should be setup? does something need to be plugged into the air coax on the tv?

ok im a noob but i searched and scanned this thread after picking up hd tv(first one)...have a few questions left...i have analog cable with time warner in grapevine, tx...did the ch. search/scan feature and it found the normal channels as well as
106-1 weak or no
106-2 weak or no
106-3 weak or no
85-11 weak or no signal
83-11
82-8
79-9
79-8
79-2 says weak or no signal or scramble channel
78-10
78-2

Am i supposed to be able to get local hd, abc, fox, nbc, etc this way or do i need one of these ota antennas people are talking about?

my setup is coax from wall to splitter, splitter to tivo2 and cable in on tv. is that the way things should be setup? does something need to be plugged into the air coax on the tv?
In order to receive HD you either need an HD receiver through your provider or an antenna (OTA). Some use simple rabbit ears and others use larger pole mounted antennas. If your tivo2 is not a HD receiver then you will have to run the coax directly from the antenna to the TV.......which brings us to another point. If running the coax directly from the antenna to your TV, your TV must have a built in tuner.

Now as antennas go, you will need an antenna capable of receiving both UHF and VHF here in DFW. BTW, there is no such thing as a HD antenna....its just marketing. Start simple and work your way up.

Where in Grapevine are you located? I am off Hall Johnson, just east of Pool Rd.

I'm hoping this is the right topic...Does anyone know when we'll get CW-33 in HD on D*? Or who to ask? D* CSRs were clueless.

that would be nice..i'm not sure what the holdup is.

If you look at directv's new hdtv page, they only show the "big 4 networks" and there is no mention of CW

In order to receive HD you either need an HD receiver through your provider or an antenna (OTA). Some use simple rabbit ears and others use larger pole mounted antennas. If your tivo2 is not a HD receiver then you will have to run the coax directly from the antenna to the TV.......which brings us to another point. If running the coax directly from the antenna to your TV, your TV must have a built in tuner.

Now as antennas go, you will need an antenna capable of receiving both UHF and VHF here in DFW. BTW, there is no such thing as a HD antenna....its just marketing. Start simple and work your way up.

Where in Grapevine are you located? I am off Hall Johnson, just east of Pool Rd.

Im off of hall johnson between pool and parr rd.

I have a 46 sammy dlp with NTSC/ATSC/QAM tuners( http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDetail.do?oid=181403 ).

As for the antenna, will indoor work or does it have to be outdoor?
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Philips-Indoor-HDTV-Antenna-PHDTV3/sem/rpsm/oid/158313/catOid/-15607/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Philips-Indoor-Antenna-MANT510/sem/rpsm/oid/158312/catOid/-15607/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Philips-Indoor-Outdoor-HDTV-Antenna-MANT950/sem/rpsm/oid/158307/catOid/-15607/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

all those will work i take it?

The tivo is not hd so will run coax from antenna to tv...does it go into cable or air? I assume air since its OTA?


Do you have time warner? And if so, what HD channels will I get?

ok im a noob but i searched and scanned this thread after picking up hd tv(first one)...have a few questions left...i have analog cable with time warner in grapevine, tx...

<snip>

Am i supposed to be able to get local hd, abc, fox, nbc, etc this way or do i need one of these ota antennas people are talking about?

my setup is coax from wall to splitter, splitter to tivo2 and cable in on tv. is that the way things should be setup? does something need to be plugged into the air coax on the tv?

Since you're only getting analog from TWC you should be able to get channels between 1-99. That does not include the HD network stations which are digital stations. If your TV has a QAM tuner then you may be able to get the digital stations which TWC carries unencrypted, if any. See the channel lineup for more information: http://www.timewarnercable.com/MediaLibrary/4/89/Content%20Management/Programming/pdfs/2007Lineup_NorthTexas.pdf

Since you've invested in an HDTV I'd suggest that do two things to take advantage of it. 1) subscribe to TWC's digital service which will give you access to a lot more channels, and 2) rent a DVR from Time-Warner. Use your Tivo Series 2 on a different TV or just stop paying the subscription fee and abandon it. (We do have our Tivo connected to another TV now, but we rarely use it anymore.) The TWC DVR costs the same or less than the Tivo subscription. The screens you'll see on the DVR are different than on the Tivo, but it does almost everything the Tivo does and is actually quite easy to use. It will allow you to record two HD shows at the same time and watch a show that you've previously recorded. With your Tivo you can't record HD shows at all. And the difference is dramatic!

Have fun!

Hi,

Just got an HDTV (Samsung 4661) and have been unable to get the locals in HD through TWC (have a Moto 6416 box).

I can get ESPN HD, Discovery HD, HDNet, etc. just fine...but when I go to the local HD channels (660 through 663) I get an SD picture. Could not get ESPN 2 in HD either for that matter.

Any ideas? My only thought is that my neighborhood (Lakewood) has not yet been upgraded from the A/B cables to one cable (we are scheduled for Oct 3) - so I only have the A cable going into my box which has 90% of channels I watch. (Putting the B side in by itself doesn't solve the problem). Calling TWC resulted in a "we don't know why, maybe it's because your neighborhood hasn't been upgraded"

Has this happened to anyone? Should I expect the upgrade to solve this, or should I just buy an antenna or switch to DirecTV? :)

Will probably wait until Oct 3 to see what happens...but curious if there's a simple solution.

Thanks!

Hi,

Just got an HDTV (Samsung 4661) and have been unable to get the locals in HD through TWC (have a Moto 6416 box).

I can get ESPN HD, Discovery HD, HDNet, etc. just fine...but when I go to the local HD channels (660 through 663) I get an SD picture. Could not get ESPN 2 in HD either for that matter.

Any ideas? My only thought is that my neighborhood (Lakewood) has not yet been upgraded from the A/B cables to one cable (we are scheduled for Oct 3) - so I only have the A cable going into my box which has 90% of channels I watch. (Putting the B side in by itself doesn't solve the problem). Calling TWC resulted in a "we don't know why, maybe it's because your neighborhood hasn't been upgraded"

Has this happened to anyone? Should I expect the upgrade to solve this, or should I just buy an antenna or switch to DirecTV? :)

Will probably wait until Oct 3 to see what happens...but curious if there's a simple solution.

Thanks!

I actually don't remember where all the digital channels were before the upgrade, but I would guess the A side. But before the upgrade we had a set top box that had inputs for both the A and B sides and handled things properly. The 6416 only has one input.

The upgrade should, indeed, solve your problem but for now the local HD channels are 652-658 according to the channel lineup at http://www.timewarnercable.com/MediaLibrary/4/89/Content%20Management/Programming/pdfs/2007Lineup_Dallas.pdf

You also need to be subscribing to TWC's digital service.

Bernie

After Channel 11 goes HD local news on Sept 24, Channel 4 will be the only one left in SD. Does anyone have info on when Channel 4 will go HD local news?

Hi,

Just got an HDTV (Samsung 4661) and have been unable to get the locals in HD through TWC (have a Moto 6416 box).

I can get ESPN HD, Discovery HD, HDNet, etc. just fine...but when I go to the local HD channels (660 through 663) I get an SD picture. Could not get ESPN 2 in HD either for that matter.

Any ideas? My only thought is that my neighborhood (Lakewood) has not yet been upgraded from the A/B cables to one cable (we are scheduled for Oct 3) - so I only have the A cable going into my box which has 90% of channels I watch. (Putting the B side in by itself doesn't solve the problem). Calling TWC resulted in a "we don't know why, maybe it's because your neighborhood hasn't been upgraded"

Has this happened to anyone? Should I expect the upgrade to solve this, or should I just buy an antenna or switch to DirecTV? :)

Will probably wait until Oct 3 to see what happens...but curious if there's a simple solution.

Thanks!I'm in Lakewood, also.

All TWC HD channels, so far as I can tell, are on A-side. We haven't been "upgraded" back to single cable yet as you know, but that is supposed to happen in the first week of October (according to TWC). I'm surprised they gave you the single input 6416 box. They told me that until the upgrade I could only get the double input 6208 box. I don't want either of those dinosaurs in my new HT setup, so I'm likely switching to either DirecTV or Dish by month's end. Already tried switching to AT&T U-verse, but it turns out their engineering reports are at conflict with the reality of the signal degradation on my phone line (i.e. I'm not capable of receiving the service even though common sense says I should).

Currently I rely on my TV's QAM tuner for HD on TWC, and it looks like this...

51-1 PBS
51-2 ABC
51-3 CW
52-1 CBS
52-2 TBS
52-3 some crap local that hardly ever airs HD content on their HD station
55-3 Discovery HD Theater
59-1 FOX
59-2 NBC

Your TV should have a QAM tuner, too. Try hooking A-side directly into the TV and see if you can pick up these same stations. If not, something is definitely wrong and TWC definitely needs to do something about it. Upgrading the neighborhood back to single cable might fix it, but in the meantime you're not getting what you pay for.

I sometimes find channels in the 73 and 77 range during brief periods when encryption must be out. The lack of ESPN and ESPN2 are killing me. Why are these channels encrypted? I can understand encrypting premiums like HBO, but nothing that I would otherwise get if I didn't have an HDTV should ever be encrypted.

i did a scan and came up with all the channels except 8.1. antenna web list it as one of the channels so just wondering why it doesnt show up even when i punch it in. I have time warner and live in grapevine.

8.1 is VHF and that's why you may not be getting it with your antenna.

i did a scan and came up with all the channels except 8.1. antenna web list it as one of the channels so just wondering why it doesnt show up even when i punch it in. I have time warner and live in grapevine.

Are you doing this via antenna or with your cable? And if you are using the cable, are you using a cablecard?

Randy

8.1 is VHF and that's why you may not be getting it with your antenna.

Are you doing this via antenna or with your cable? And if you are using the cable, are you using a cablecard?

Randy

I am searching via antenna. As far as vhf, I get all the other vhf channels just fine.

I am searching via antenna. As far as vhf, I get all the other vhf channels just fine.

Ah, the TimeWarner reference in your earlier post threw me...sorry for the confusion...

Randy

I am searching via antenna. As far as vhf, I get all the other vhf channels just fine.

What antenna are you using? Which other Vhf channels are you refering to? I don't think there are any other digital Vhf channels.

What antenna are you using? Which other Vhf channels are you refering to? I don't think there are any other digital Vhf channels.

ok i was looking at analog thats why i said other vhf...yes ch. 8.1 is only digital vhf. but my question is how come the channel doesnt even show up when i search for channels? do i need to adjust antenna while searching? i have the philips mant410.

ok i was looking at analog thats why i said other vhf...yes ch. 8.1 is only digital vhf. but my question is how come the channel doesnt even show up when i search for channels? do i need to adjust antenna while searching? i have the philips mant410.
Check to see if your tv has a signal meter built into it. My Mits does. That could be one way to dial in 8.1 (would have to set to channel 9 though). Other than that you would just have to point the VHF portion toward Cedar Hill, which is southeast of us.

I tried two or three different indoor antennas and had no luck in our neighborhood. Ended up getting a Channel Master 3018 at Fry's (~$40). Haven't had any problems since.

CBS 11/TXA 21 Launch Local HD Programming Sept. 24
High Definition Look Includes New Set, Graphics

(CBS 11 News) Dallas/Fort Worth On Sept. 24, CBS 11 (KTVT-TV) and TXA 21 (KTXA-TV) will begin broadcasting local news in high definition.

Together, the stations air six hours of local news daily (Monday through Friday), all of which will be broadcast in HD, beginning with the CBS 11 News This Morning (5-7 a.m.) on Sept. 24. Other programming produced in the stations’ Fort Worth studios, such as The Score with Babe Laufenberg, will be broadcast in HD, as well.

“This is an exciting time for our television stations,” said CBS 11 and TXA 21 President and General Manager Steve Mauldin, “but more importantly, we think it’s an exciting time for our viewers. Now, in addition to watching their favorite primetime shows, sports and special events in high definition, they can see their favorite local newscasts in HD, too.”

The conversion to high definition will require a new set design for each station, as well as new graphics.

“It will mean whole new look and feel for the newscasts,” Mauldin said, “but with the same great on-air team North Texas knows and trusts. I think our viewers are going to be very pleased with what they see.”

(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Don't hold your breath for Fox. They just upgraded it's SD studio to a NEW SD studio. They were the last to give us MTS stereo. FOX NY is not HD so Dallas will be a few years.

I have a CM 4228 still in the box. I bought it right before labor day at the Irving Fry's and have not had a chance to return it. I bought it to use at my parents house but they didn't need a new antenna after all. I will sell it to you for what I paid, not looking to make money off it. I still have the receipt if you want to check it. If not then I will just return it. I live in Grapevine, work in Lewisville, and could meet you somewhere if need be.


Hi DubC, if you still have this and would like to sell, it I am very interested in taking it off your hands. I live in Corinth and work in Carrollton, so I'm in your general area, and would have no problem meeting somewhere convenient for you to buy it.

Don't hold your breath for Fox. They just upgraded it's SD studio to a NEW SD studio. They were the last to give us MTS stereo. FOX NY is not HD so Dallas will be a few years.

A few years? It can't be past 2009 when the FCC broadcast mandate takes effect.

A few years? It can't be past 2009 when the FCC broadcast mandate takes effect.

The FCC mandate is that all broadcasts will be digital....not necessarily HD....

Randy