Could some of you DirecTV/Dish Network users confirm something for me? Do you get an alternate feed (or multiples) for Fox Sports Southwest? And if so, do you get Astros games when they are on at the same time as the Rangers via that feed (or the regular one)? I seem to remember that at one time the game that came on first was on the primary feed, and the later game showed up on the alternate. Anyway, I am thinking about adding one of these, at least for the summer, and that is one of the things I'd be looking for. I know they used to have this, but want to make sure now...

Thanks!
Randy

I just went and did a browse of my dish network guide... it appears that any Astros game that shows up on an alternate channel is NOT blacked out and is available (Provided its the Fox Sports SW feed). There are about 6 games over the next 10 days. One of the nights (Astros vs. Cards) it had 2 different listings (on ALT3 and ALT4), meaning one of them was the local Cards broadcast and that one was blacked out as you would expect.

Doesn't mean that they won't update the blackout label... but I'm guessing that they will all be available in DFW when the Astros are being carried by FSSW.

Hope that helps.

I just went and did a browse of my dish network guide... it appears that any Astros game that shows up on an alternate channel is NOT blacked out and is available (Provided its the Fox Sports SW feed). There are about 6 games over the next 10 days. One of the nights (Astros vs. Cards) it had 2 different listings (on ALT3 and ALT4), meaning one of them was the local Cards broadcast and that one was blacked out as you would expect.

Doesn't mean that they won't update the blackout label... but I'm guessing that they will all be available in DFW when the Astros are being carried by FSSW.

Hope that helps.

It absolutely does...thanks! I'm pretty sure that they shouldn't be subject to blackout as long as FSSW is carrying the game in the Houston market. If it is on another regional network and is being carried by the local Houston affiliate I'd be hosed, but if I could just get the ones that are carried on Fox that would be great! Like I need something else to watch on TV.... ;)


Thanks again!

ppctx and dave327 -

Monday night at 7pm, most of my OTA HD signals went out. 4 was the only channel working. I reset everything last night. Now 4 and 5 work, but 8, and 11 do not. I also have a Mitz. I'm glad to know it's not just me, but I want everything back. Please let me know if you figure out what is wrong and how to solve it.

Thanks! :(

House came in pretty good last night their were a couple interuptions while watching. I had to reset all my stations about a month ago and play with my amplified Terk antenna to get channel 8 in HD, but I now have it. I get channel 11 all time. Maybe it has to do with where we live and how far we are from the towers.

I went to antennaweb.org and channel 4 & 5 are in blue and 8 & 11 are in red. Almost all of the towers in my area are 30 miles or more.

I also have a Terk amplified antenna. I have been getting all stations just fine since I got it last November. Suddenly, on Monday, I'm not getting all of them anymore. I can't seem to get them back and I don't know what happened. I was somewhat encouraged to hear of ppctx having the same problem at about the same time. I'd like to hope there is nothing wrong with the TV or antenna. The fact that I can get some stations, I hope means the TV is okay. However, I don't know why the antenna would suddenly cut out channels, while I was watching!

I've called 4, 8 and 11. Asked if they've fielded any calls of similar nature, not a single one. Spoke to an Engineer at 8 and relayed that at least 2-3 others are experiencing the same thing. Told him that we've tried resetting the set (which have the commonality of the same brand Mits, by the way mine is a WD-xx525 for reference, please post yours). He did say that some tuners do handle the channel remapping a little different and suggested that antenna be unplugged, do the reset (to verify all previous data is blown out), hook the antenna back up and rescan again. Will do when I get home. Also for reference, I don’t think this is a signal strength issue, I'm no more than 20 miles from the towers, get all reds on antenna.org (even when I check the box that says there are tall building around me) and on top of that I have a full size antenna pointed at the towers.

I'm having the same problems with Channel 4 - terribly break-ups during American Idol and House. This has been going on for a number or weeks now. I checked out the signal strength on my receiver - the directv hdtivo - and the signal for 4 is in the mid-80's as opposed mid-90's for most of the other broadcasters. I live in the Lake Highlands area and have had excellent reception for the last several years. Something has to be going on with Fox and I wish they would fix it soon because my wife has a fit every time a drop-out occurs during Idol or House.

dr

I didn't have much trouble last night with Prison Break and 24 but had severe problems with House tonight.

My recording pretty screwed up and there were tons of dropouts. My guide couldn't give me channel information. Normally it says 4-1. Tonight it just said "program 3."

What the hell has happened to KDFW over the last few weeks?

HD-62527 is my set. Interesting to hear if unplugging then reseting works.

Sorry WD-62527

Mine's a WS 55815.

Ok, whatever. It's some kind of mits thing (??? excepting that I don’t believe the WS series had and onboard OTA tuner, so???). Prescribed reset directions didn't cure the ill. Hooked up the standalone OTA receiver and ALL DT HD channels are coming in loud and HD clear, no issues what so ever. I bought the set Nov 25, 06 so will have them service it. Terribly frustrating seems to be somewhat isolate in that only a few are experiencing the exact symptoms.

Mine is a Diamond series and it does have a built-in tuner. I bought mine at Fry's at the end of November last year. I haven't tried all of the prescribed reset directions yet. (I'll try this weekend). If that fails, I will also be calling for service. I'm still baffled by the timing on this. The fact that some channels come in, but not others still makes me think that either I have an antenna problem, or something changed in the broadcast signal. Let me know how your servicing goes and what the tech says.

Indoor VHF/UHF/HDTV Antenna with RF Remote Control
Model: 15-1892
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?parentPage=search&pg=2&cp=&productId=2131034&origkw=antenna&kw=antenna&tab=custRatings

I live in Allen, and would like to know if anyone in the area has tried this antenna.
I am currently using the Phillips Mant150 purchased at Wal-Mart. It's done pretty well, but would like just a little more relaibility.
I realize some here would suggest a roof antenna, but I'm really trying to avoid this right now. Thanks for any input. Suggestions on any other quality indoor antennas would be great too.

Thanks,
KenV

Good to see (well..not really ;) ) that others are having issues with Fox4 and other HD feeds...I thought my 3510a was giving out on me. I get the same kind of droputs when I switch to QAM btw..

I had DirecTv for a few months a few years back, and the Alt channel was listed either one channel up or one channel down from the Fox Sports SW channel, I believe its labeled as RSN, or RSNA, or something like that.


Ahh, found it last night on DTV. And the timing was excellent because I'm a Cardinals fan and I got to see a Cardinals game....which unfortunately didn't go the way I had hoped it would.

Anyway, the channel is listed as FSH - Fox Sports Houston on my display.

-Redbird

Its not your equipment, my samsung sir351 and my hd tivo are doing the same thing. Sometimes, no 4.1, only 27.7-- othertimes, I get both, or none. The problem lies with their equipment I suspect.

BTW I am picking up the signal at around 80-85%-----IN PALESTINE!!(100mi. SE)

PS Could anyone tell me where ch.11 and ch.8 towers are located? I have a hard time picking up a strong signal from them when I have the antenna pointed toward Dallas. I get 27.1, 33, 4, 5, 68.1&2, and I can even pick up the 99.1, etc channels while the antenna is pointed it the same direction. But 8 and 11 drop in and out. Thanks!

Adrian

Its not your equipment, my samsung sir351 and my hd tivo are doing the same thing. Sometimes, no 4.1, only 27.7-- othertimes, I get both, or none. The problem lies with their equipment I suspect.

BTW I am picking up the signal at around 80-85%-----IN PALESTINE!!(100mi. SE)

PS Could anyone tell me where ch.11 and ch.8 towers are located? I have a hard time picking up a strong signal from them when I have the antenna pointed toward Dallas. I get 27.1, 33, 4, 5, 68.1&2, and I can even pick up the 99.1, etc channels while the antenna is pointed it the same direction. But 8 and 11 drop in and out. Thanks!

Adrian
I don't know about WFAA but I do know that channel 11 is actually in east Fort Worth on I-30 and I believe (could be wrong) that their tower is nearby. I do know that channel 11 by far gives me the best HD signal of all the locals.

I don't know about WFAA but I do know that channel 11 is actually in east Fort Worth on I-30 and I believe (could be wrong) that their tower is nearby. I do know that channel 11 by far gives me the best HD signal of all the locals.

Thanks joemama, I'll try to spin r' around to the west a little more and see if that helps. I'm be amazed if I can get it consistently as the tower would be about 120-130 miles from me.

:)

Thanks joemama, I'll try to spin r' around to the west a little more and see if that helps. I'm be amazed if I can get it consistently as the tower would be about 120-130 miles from me.

:)

Go to http://www.antennaweb.org and enter your address info. They'll provide distance and orientation to EVERY antenna in the area. It looks to me like the Channel 11 antenna is on Cedar Ridge, like all of the other major DFW stations.

Joe, my standalone receiver that I’m using instead of the onboard in the Mits is the 3510a. It's actually picking everything up for me? With the same issues coming from other tuners, the problem would seem to be with the broadcasters feed.

I could not get Channel 8 & Channel 11 last night. Not sure what the deal is. Got Fox 4 no problem as 27.7 & channel 5 comes in good. I also got channel 27 as 27.1.

I don't know about WFAA but I do know that channel 11 is actually in east Fort Worth on I-30 and I believe (could be wrong) that their tower is nearby. I do know that channel 11 by far gives me the best HD signal of all the locals.


??????

All the significant DFW analog and digital channels (2, 4, 5, 8, 11, 13, 21, 27, and others) are at Cedar Hill. Find a map, find the corner of Belt Line and West Belt Line in Cedar Hill. Point your antenna at it.

I will try and point toward Cedar Hill tonight and see what happens.

The problem with antennaweb.org is that it's too conservative. It will only show me the close channels <50mi. I am getting out 120 mi. Anyway, thanks for the info, I used antennaweb to pinpoint the location of the towers and your right, they are all in Cedar Hill. I then found the spot on Delorme Street Atlas and drew a straight line from my house to the towers to get the orientation. Worked like a champ. Ch. 11 is still alittle flakey. They must not be putting out much power.

Thanks
:)

The problem with antennaweb.org is that it's too conservative. It will only show me the close channels <50mi. I am getting out 120 mi. Anyway, thanks for the info, I used antennaweb to pinpoint the location of the towers and your right, they are all in Cedar Hill. I then found the spot on Delorme Street Atlas and drew a straight line from my house to the towers to get the orientation. Worked like a champ. Ch. 11 is still alittle flakey. They must not be putting out much power.

Thanks
:)

Ch 11-1 KTVT is broadcast on UHF channel 19 (500 - 506 MHz) at 695 kilowatts at an average height above terrain of 1500 feet. From 120 miles you might be on a fringe unless you have a 150" outdoor boom antenna (or similar) and a good preamp like a CM 7777.

??????

All the significant DFW analog and digital channels (2, 4, 5, 8, 11, 13, 21, 27, and others) are at Cedar Hill. Find a map, find the corner of Belt Line and West Belt Line in Cedar Hill. Point your antenna at it.
Yeah, that sounds about right...I do know that the office they do newscasts from is off I-30 in Ft Worth (Bridgestreet?) and there is some sort of tower there...probably not broadcast though.

I've got the CM 4228 and the 7777 preamp. The main thing I've got going for me is my location. I sit on a bluff on a hilltop, at 615ft. elevation. The bottom of my driveway is at 435ft. I have a 30ft telescopic mast thats only extended about 20 ft. (for stability).

The problem with antennaweb.org is that it's too conservative. It will only show me the close channels <50mi. I am getting out 120 mi. Anyway, thanks for the info, I used antennaweb to pinpoint the location of the towers and your right, they are all in Cedar Hill. I then found the spot on Delorme Street Atlas and drew a straight line from my house to the towers to get the orientation. Worked like a champ. Ch. 11 is still alittle flakey. They must not be putting out much power.

Thanks
:)Sorry for the mis-info :o That is strange that ch.11 is weak for you because it seems to have the cleanest signal for me in SW Fort Worth..

Joe, my standalone receiver that I’m using instead of the onboard in the Mits is the 3510a. It's actually picking everything up for me? With the same issues coming from other tuners, the problem would seem to be with the broadcasters feed.
I'm picking up the stations fine with the 3510a but I've been getting random signal breakups/dropouts lately. Ahh..well doesn't matter because I'll be moving to Abilene soon and dealing with the dark ages of broadcasting. :(

I have been reading where a lot of you have been having trouble getting HD Channels in Dallas/Ft Worth area. I live in Iowa Park 13 miles N. of Wichita Falls which is 137 miles frim Dallas/Ft Worth TV stations, I have a Dish network 411 receiver, channel master 4248 antennae on a rotor with a channel master pre amp. I receive from 8pm until 9 am almost everyday of the week, channel 2.01, 5.01, 5.02, 11.01, 13.01, 27.01, 33.01, 52.01 58.0 and 68.01. The signal strength is 70-85, in Wichita Falls we have 3 digital TV stations, NBC, CBS and ABC, the CBS station is the only one that broadcasts 1080I signal and for the last 6 weeks people are having problems picking it up in the area.

The head tech at the station has come to the conclusion that something is inteferring with the 1080I frequency also people have been having trouble in the Denver area with thier HD signals. This is a very strange situation, I just thought I would pass this on maybe the same thing is happening in the your area.


Bill

After reading to the post and seeing exatly what people are having issues with, talking with the Channel 8 engineers (knolegable and helpfull folks) it does seem that only myself and DisneyDavid are experiencing exacting issues (both with onboard Mits tuners). Others are experiencing drop outs (which I have too recently, but could easly be contributed to the recient lightning storms) and 4 being 27.7 (it still comes in thou), I think this is just a situation of weather effecting most and some oddity effecting me and Dave (if we could only be so lucky with the lottery!)

??????

All the significant DFW analog and digital channels (2, 4, 5, 8, 11, 13, 21, 27, and others) are at Cedar Hill. Find a map, find the corner of Belt Line and West Belt Line in Cedar Hill. Point your antenna at it.

Every digital broadcast channel in the area is transmitting from Cedar Hill, with the exception of KLDT-DT (channel 54). Even KTAQ-DT (channel 46, licensed to Greenville) and KMPX-DT (channel 30, licensed to Decatur) have moved to towers in Cedar Hill.

I haven't noticed any degradation of any of the channels out of Cedar Hill and I am about 70 miles to the SW and I still get CBS and ABC out of Waco also. This from a 40 ft tower with preamp to a Toshiba 42HP95.

Well, everything's back to normal now! I did a reset and rescan last night and everything came back just like it used to be. When I did it 2 nights ago, it didn't work. I don't know what happened, but I'm glad it's back! Thanks for the support! Even though I was helpless, it felt good to know there are friends out there willing to try and help!

ppctx - I hope yours is back now, too. If a tech does have to come out, I would still be interested in knowing what happens.

Thank You billt1111, I pointed my Terk toward Cedar Hill and reset all my stations and all of them come in great. Thanks agains for you help.

BELO has finally allowed D* to rebroadcast the signal.

Now the big4 are in MPEG 4 in Dallas/Ft. Worth

BELO has finally allowed D* to rebroadcast the signal.

Now the big4 are in MPEG 4 in Dallas/Ft. Worth

I saw that in the channel guide this morning. I did a double take. Couldn't believe my eyes. I would still like to know what the delay of 6 months was for. I have a feeling BELO's efforts to extort money from D* did not work.

That or ABC pressured them to agree.
IIRC it took 6 months to get 8 on SD LIL's back in '99.

BTW the PQ on the mavs/spurs game on MPEG4 is UNWATCHABLE.

You can't even make out the reflections in the court. I've never seen a dancing b-ball court before.

That or ABC pressured them to agree.
IIRC it took 6 months to get 8 on SD LIL's back in '99.

BTW the PQ on the mavs/spurs game on MPEG4 is UNWATCHABLE.

You can't even make out the reflections in the court. I've never seen a dancing b-ball court before.

Hmmm. I wish I could confirm that because I need a reason to continue my one person boycott. :rolleyes: However the two images look very similar on my setup and I can see the reflections equally well on both feeds, albeit 5 seconds delay.

Hmmm. I wish I could confirm that because I need a reason to continue my one person boycott. :rolleyes:

Just watch NEWS 8. 30 minutes of that this morning was enough for me.

Am I the only one disappointed that FOX is not broadcasting the Ranger game in HD? Of course the way things are going its probably better that fewer details are shown. :(

You need reasons to hate BELO? How about:

1. Converting ABC's 720p feed to 1080i, giving the worst of both worlds (<720 lines of resolution AND interlacing artifacts)
2. Stealing bandwidth for yet another weather channel
3. Stealing bandwidth for an SD feed of the SAME BROADCAST
4. Stealing bandwidth for a letterboxed SD feed of a CHRISTMAS PARADE.
(note, 2 might not be so bad, if they didn't do 1, since 720p can handle lower bitrates than 1080i)

4 subchannels? WTF!?

Xesdeeni

Now the big4 are in MPEG 4 in Dallas/Ft. Worth

What channels are you seeing them on? I don't seem to see HD MPEG 4... It was my understanding they wouldn't be live until Wed of this week. That's great if they're early!

Hi guys. Lots of posts in this thread and I have tried to see them all.

I must say, KDFW (Fox) in HD sucks major. Of course, I get the occasional artifacts and audio drop on any HD channel (maybe once/twice a week per channel for 1-3 secs), but Fox is horrible.

I am here in Arlington, with a clear shot to cedar hill with a Terk HDTVa directional. (amplifier off) No matter when I view the signal strength on 4.1, 5.1, 11.1, 8.1, it is always 90+ on my DirecTv HD-250, pumping into my LG DLP @ 720P.

Anyway, the Fox signal drops out a lot. Tons of artifacts and "pausing". Some nights it is great with only a few 1-3 second episodes, others it's almost unbearable.

Judging from the info on the FCC site for those stations on Tower Hill, the direction, power, and height are all the same (more or less). If it was something with my location or equipment, I would expect problems on all of those channels.

I ran across the Dallas/Ft. Worth HDTV Bitrate Monitor on the widemovies website, and I wonder.... is the drop outs and artifacts due to the lower bitrate of the programming they are broadcasting?

Anyone else having this problem with Fox HD here in DFW? I am about ready to go back to SD programming for Fox shows....and that is horrible

What channels are you seeing them on? I don't seem to see HD MPEG 4... It was my understanding they wouldn't be live until Wed of this week. That's great if they're early!

4,5,8 and 11 (soon 21 and 33)on DirecTV with an MPEG 4 capable IRD and AT9 dish.

E*= not yet

You need reasons to hate BELO? How about:

1. Converting ABC's 720p feed to 1080i, giving the worst of both worlds (<720 lines of resolution AND interlacing artifacts)
2. Stealing bandwidth for yet another weather channel
3. Stealing bandwidth for an SD feed of the SAME BROADCAST
4. Stealing bandwidth for a letterboxed SD feed of a CHRISTMAS PARADE.
(note, 2 might not be so bad, if they didn't do 1, since 720p can handle lower bitrates than 1080i)

4 subchannels? WTF!?

Xesdeeni

Thanks for the boost. I needed the reminder. :)

In a VERY weak defense of BELO regarding the multi-sub-channels :rolleyes: didn't someone post recently that they are stat muxed with priority to the digital channel? It would make things better, relatively speaking. However, as you stated, why bother with the stupid subchannels in the first place unless you are just clueless and don't care about quality or your viewers.

Ok I feel better now. I hate them again.

Ok I feel better now. I hate them again.

I knew you could, if you tried... :D

4,5,8 and 11 (soon 21 and 33)on DirecTV with an MPEG 4 capable IRD and AT9 dish.

E*= not yet

Thanks. I hadn't known D* did MPEG 4. I'm looking forward to HD LiL's from E* hopefully this coming week.

i'm not buying the whole stat-muxing thing. ABC looked horrible today during the mavs game.

Yeah, I saw a comment above that WFAA said they hadn't gotten any bad feedback on their "experiments." No S**T. They haven't listened to any previous feedback, so we gave up.

HEY WFAA! If you are reading this.

YOUR PICTURE QUALITY IS WORSE WITH THE EXTRA CHANNELS.

YOUR PICTURE QUALITY IS WORSE THAN OTHER CITIES THAT LEAVE ABC'S 720p ALONE.

WE DON'T NEED AN SD VERSION OF THE SAME HD.

The only possible reason I can think of for any station doubling up an SD feed is for 4:3 DTV owners. But if they really care about them, forget the SD feed and just make sure you DON'T LETTERBOX INSIDE OF PILLARBOX. A huge black frame is a serious turn-off, and I always switch the channel.

Xesdeeni

4,5,8 and 11 (soon 21 and 33)on DirecTV with an MPEG 4 capable IRD and AT9 dish.

E*= not yet

E* is not yet, but close... they uplinked the DFW big 4 late last week, with the rumor of launching them this week (possibly before the Dish Network Tech Chat this week). Maybe that is why WFAA is now up on DirecTv. They were trying to work out a deal with both D* and E*??

It seems we are not the only ones who share their dollars(or not) with BELO.
Below are the top 20 newspapers in the nation. Anyone see the Dallas Morning News?

Here it is. The paid weekday circulation of the nation's 20 largest newspapers for the six-month period ending March 31, 2006.

1. USA Today, 2,272,815, up 0.09 percent
2. The Wall Street Journal, 2,049,786, down 1 percent
3. The New York Times, 1,142,464, up 0.5 percent
4. Los Angeles Times, 851,832, down 5.4 percent
5. The Washington Post, 724,242, down 3.7 percent
6. New York Daily News, 708,477, down 3.7 percent
7. New York Post, 673,379, down 0.7 percent
8. Chicago Tribune, 579,079, up 0.9 percent
9. Houston Chronicle, 513,387, down 3.6 percent
10. The Arizona Republic, 438,722, down 2.1 percent
11. Newsday, Long Island, 427,771, down 2.7 percent
12. The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., 398,329, up 0.9 percent
13. San Francisco Chronicle, 398,246, down 15.6 percent
14. The Boston Globe, 397,288, down 8.5 percent
15. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 365,011, down 6.7 percent
16. Star Tribune of Minneapolis-St. Paul, 362,964, down 2.9 percent
17. The Philadelphia Inquirer, 350,457, down 5.1 percent
18. Detroit Free Press, 345,861, up 0.04 percent
19. The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, 343,163, down 1.6 percent
20. St. Petersburg Times, Florida, 323,031, down 4.4 percent

Courtesy: Drudge Report

LOL.

I bet even the Green Sheet out-circulates these bozos. What an embarrassment for themselves, and for DFW. We cannot even get a crappy top twenty newspaper for a top 5 market. But then again, when you have Drudge, who needs a newspaper?

You need reasons to hate BELO? How about:

4. Stealing bandwidth for a letterboxed SD feed of a CHRISTMAS PARADE.

Xesdeeni

Yeah, seriously, WTF is up with them showing that stupid parade over and over again? Of all random things to show on one of their sub-channels...an old Christmas parade??

It seems we are not the only ones who share their dollars(or not) with BELO.
Below are the top 20 newspapers in the nation. Anyone see the Dallas Morning News?

Here it is. The paid weekday circulation of the nation's 20 largest newspapers for the six-month period ending March 31, 2006.

1. USA Today, 2,272,815, up 0.09 percent
2. The Wall Street Journal, 2,049,786, down 1 percent
3. The New York Times, 1,142,464, up 0.5 percent
4. Los Angeles Times, 851,832, down 5.4 percent
5. The Washington Post, 724,242, down 3.7 percent
6. New York Daily News, 708,477, down 3.7 percent
7. New York Post, 673,379, down 0.7 percent
8. Chicago Tribune, 579,079, up 0.9 percent
9. Houston Chronicle, 513,387, down 3.6 percent
10. The Arizona Republic, 438,722, down 2.1 percent
11. Newsday, Long Island, 427,771, down 2.7 percent
12. The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., 398,329, up 0.9 percent
13. San Francisco Chronicle, 398,246, down 15.6 percent
14. The Boston Globe, 397,288, down 8.5 percent
15. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 365,011, down 6.7 percent
16. Star Tribune of Minneapolis-St. Paul, 362,964, down 2.9 percent
17. The Philadelphia Inquirer, 350,457, down 5.1 percent
18. Detroit Free Press, 345,861, up 0.04 percent
19. The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, 343,163, down 1.6 percent
20. St. Petersburg Times, Florida, 323,031, down 4.4 percent

Courtesy: Drudge ReportFrom Business Week (http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8HFJVG00.htm?campaign_id=apn_home_down&chan=db)Two major newspapers deferred filing for the period pending completion of their next six-month audit. The Dallas Morning News and the Chicago Sun-Times had previously been excluded from the report as a part of a penalty for misstating circulation figures. Newsday, which had also been censured for misstating circulation, began reporting again with this period.[emphasis mine]

Xesdeeni

From Business Week (http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8HFJVG00.htm?campaign_id=apn_home_down&chan=db)[emphasis mine]

Xesdeeni

Excellent. Another reason to hate BELO. Ethics, or the complete lack thereof. Its not like they actually have anyone to compete with in this town. Why lie about it? Unless it is sanctioned at the corporate level?

If it weren't for ABC programming(and Oprah), the viewership of WFAA would rank right up there with PAX-TV.

If it weren't for ABC programming(and Oprah), the viewership of WFAA would rank right up there with PAX-TV.

LOL.

Don't tell them that. They think everyone tunes in early to watch Dale Hansen for 5 minutes at 620pm and 1020 pm. Ooooh. Another reason to hate BELO.

Going with Dish, getting multiple boxes, and the need for an OTA seems like a major PITA, so I think i'll go with comcast for now.

However, the comcast website is so incredibly poor, that it's impossible to get a break down of which channels are included in which packages. After contacting there support they assured me the website would be updated "very soon" with this information... well gee thanks.

So my question is, does anyone have a break down of the various Comcast digital cable packages and which channels they cover?

Going with Dish, getting multiple boxes, and the need for an OTA seems like a major PITA, so I think i'll go with comcast for now.

However, the comcast website is so incredibly poor, that it's impossible to get a break down of which channels are included in which packages. After contacting there support they assured me the website would be updated "very soon" with this information... well gee thanks.

So my question is, does anyone have a break down of the various Comcast digital cable packages and which channels they cover?

I believe you can get this info at Titan TV.

I believe you can get this info at Titan TV.

Very useful site, one that I'll have to remember in the future, but it doesn't have a break down of the difference between Digital Class, Digital Plus, Digital Premium, etc.

E* is not yet, but close... they uplinked the DFW big 4 late last week, with the rumor of launching them this week (possibly before the Dish Network Tech Chat this week). Maybe that is why WFAA is now up on DirecTv. They were trying to work out a deal with both D* and E*??

What satellite does E* uplink them on......I thought they used fiber for the long haul from DFW?

What satellite does E* uplink them on......I thought they used fiber for the long haul from DFW?

Its currently on the 110 sat. I'm hanging onto the rumor that it will be Wed or Thurs of this week that they go live...

If history repeats itself with SD LiL's, E* subs will also wait for WFAA.

Its currently on the 110 sat. I'm hanging onto the rumor that it will be Wed or Thurs of this week that they go live...

Is E* using MPEG 4 on the 110 sat for the DFW HD local-into-locals? If so, maybe they won't compress it as bad as folks are saying DirecTV is.

BELO, channel 8 is doing mpeg 4 on channel 9.4 OTA, it is unwatchable and has no audio.

Does any of this BELO/Ch. 8 change mean that they might grant us a waiver for the DTV ABC east coast feed?

Unlikely. If you are D* subscriber living in the DFW market you will not be able to get the DNS MPEG2 HD feed out of NY. Since you now have access to MPEG4 Local into Local service you no longer qualify. This is by agreement/contract between D*, the networks, the FCC, and Congress. There is some debate as to whether the wording specifically applies to this instance but this is how D* interprets it.

Unlikely. If you are D* subscriber living in the DFW market you will not be able to get the DNS MPEG2 HD feed out of NY. Since you now have access to MPEG4 Local into Local service you no longer qualify. This is by agreement/contract between D*, the networks, the FCC, and Congress. There is some debate as to whether the wording specifically applies to this instance but this is how D* interprets it.

If I already get the NY feeds for FOX, NBC and CBS in MPEG2 while NOT getting the MPEG4 HD local feed, is D* still going to drop my east coast feeds?

BELO, channel 8 is doing mpeg 4 on channel 9.4 OTA, it is unwatchable and has no audio.When did this start? 8-4 was an SD feed of the ABC network as of the night before last.

Have you extracted this stream and decoded it?

Is this so that they can have control over the MPEG-4 encoding of their broadcast as it is re-transmitted via D*/E*?

Xesdeeni

When did this start? 8-4 was an SD feed of the ABC network as of the night before last.

Have you extracted this stream and decoded it?

Is this so that they can have control over the MPEG-4 encoding of their broadcast as it is re-transmitted via D*/E*?

Xesdeeni

It just started yesterday afternoon, and I have not tested the stream but it would seem that wfaa is testing their mpeg-4 encoding seeing how they are going that way for D*/E*.

If I already get the NY feeds for FOX, NBC and CBS in MPEG2 while NOT getting the MPEG4 HD local feed, is D* still going to drop my east coast feeds?

You would PROBABLY be ok, for now. Their efforts seem to be focused on those of us who are getting the MPEG4 local feeds and shutting off DNS. Of course, the goal is to remove all DNS from all subscribers nationwide, sooner or later. Not sure how long you can dodge the inevitable, particularly if you are in good coverage of Cedar Hill digitals, i.e. you are 'served' per the verbiage in the policy.

Is there some reason you prefer NY DNS MPEG2 HD to Local 4, 5, 8, and 11 MPEG4 HD via D*? The upgrade to MPEG4 is virtually free.

It just started yesterday afternoon, and I have not tested the stream but it would seem that wfaa is testing their mpeg-4 encoding seeing how they are going that way for D*/E*.

Sounds plausible. However why would WFAA be testing MPEG4 on 8-4 now? D* is already broadcasting WFAA MPEG4 into this market. It sounds like that horse has already left the barn. Also, does MPEG4 encoding take place at D* and E* or do the local stations send that format to them in the first place? I would think its the former, not the latter.

... Is there some reason you prefer NY DNS MPEG2 HD to Local 4, 5, 8, and 11 MPEG4 HD via D*? The upgrade to MPEG4 is virtually free.

My HD TIVO is able to record the MPEG2 East Coast stations. I primarily use the NY feed to record FOX in HD since my OTA feed has some dropouts and pixelation... especially during House or American Idol. I live in McKinney, about 46 miles from the towers and get a 70 signal level from FOX OTA. Otherwise I use my OTA signals to record HD CBS, NBC and ABC, which are in the 80 to 90 signal range.

Is there some reason you prefer NY DNS MPEG2 HD to Local 4, 5, 8, and 11 MPEG4 HD via D*? The upgrade to MPEG4 is virtually free.


1) T-I-V-O

2) Always nice to have an alternate HD source, especially when there are problems with our locals (i.e. Fox's problems lately via OTA).

3) College and Pro football. Usually different games carried on our locals and NY's locals.

1) T-I-V-O

2) Always nice to have an alternate HD source, especially when there are problems with our locals (i.e. Fox's problems lately via OTA).

3) College and Pro football. Usually different games carried on our locals and NY's locals.

TIVO. An excellent and valid point.

I am patiently (somewhat) waiting for the MPEG4 version. When I really wanted the current box it was $1000 and out of my wife's price range. When it dropped below $500 I decided to wait for the new box.

While I certainly understand your second and third point from a personal and selfish point of view, D* will not. They are obligated to limit/restrict out of market access of HD local content. It may take another 6 months, 1 year, or 2 years, but they will shut DNS off. Maybe you can get a free upgrade to the MPEG4 DVR as a swap after the bugs are out?

It may take another 6 months, 1 year, or 2 years, but they will shut DNS off. Maybe you can get a free upgrade to the MPEG4 DVR as a swap after the bugs are out?

Exactly the reason why I still say "Long live the HR10-250".... and at whatever cost we paid for it.

No need to switch over to MPEG4 in the DFW area if you already have the HD Tivo and are able to receive HD via OTA. I realize this is not a luxury all of us here in the forum get to enjoy, and I understand why some have made, and/or have had to make, the switch.

Personally, I will make the switch when they start moving the HD channels (70-78) over to the MPEG4 stream....whenever that may be. Otherwise there is no benefit to me.

It just started yesterday afternoon, and I have not tested the stream but it would seem that wfaa is testing their mpeg-4 encoding seeing how they are going that way for D*/E*.

I read that USDTV is transitioning to MPEG4....maybe they are converting the DFW market now.

Well, I bid a semi-fond farewell to UPN tonight with the season finale of Veronica Mars. Tonight, they did one thing right and one thing wrong: the right thing was not to drop down to SD in order to show the weather crawl. The wrong thing was not switching the audio feed, sticking with their crackly analog signal. (I tried calling the station, but got caught in a voice mail loop.) This was the last show that I'll end up watching on UPN until the CW merger, so aside from a few smaller issues, I'm still wishing that these guys were taking the HD channel responsibilities (instead of the folks at WB-33).

It just started yesterday afternoon, and I have not tested the stream but it would seem that wfaa is testing their mpeg-4 encoding seeing how they are going that way for D*/E*.I'm not sure this is really MPEG-4. My MyHD can decode 8-4, but the image is very poor. It looks like it's very overcompressed. Very blocky. Now and then a fair frame comes up (fair in that it still has lots of compression artifacts like halos, but isn't blocky), presumably an I-frame. But I'm pretty sure MPEG-4 is sufficiently different from MPEG-2 that the decoder in my MyHD couldn't even partially decode it. I don't have any idea what WFAA is doing.

Xesdeeni

Well, I bid a semi-fond farewell to UPN tonight with the season finale of Veronica Mars. Tonight, they did one thing right and one thing wrong: the right thing was not to drop down to SD in order to show the weather crawl. The wrong thing was not switching the audio feed, sticking with their crackly analog signal. (I tried calling the station, but got caught in a voice mail loop.) This was the last show that I'll end up watching on UPN until the CW merger, so aside from a few smaller issues, I'm still wishing that these guys were taking the HD channel responsibilities (instead of the folks at WB-33).

This crackling audio issue has been going on for months now. I wonder if anyone is aware of it.

I'm not sure this is really MPEG-4. My MyHD can decode 8-4, but the image is very poor. It looks like it's very overcompressed. Very blocky. Now and then a fair frame comes up (fair in that it still has lots of compression artifacts like halos, but isn't blocky), presumably an I-frame. But I'm pretty sure MPEG-4 is sufficiently different from MPEG-2 that the decoder in my MyHD couldn't even partially decode it. I don't have any idea what WFAA is doing.

Xesdeeni

You may be right, I sent another email to WFAA....it was very funny, I took several post from this thread and put them together with a link to the thread and told them to read it.

You may be right, I sent another email to WFAA....it was very funny, I took several post from this thread and put them together with a link to the thread and told them to read it.

Who did you send your email to? I would like to also.

You may be right, I sent another email to WFAA....it was very funny, I took several post from this thread and put them together with a link to the thread and told them to read it.

Have you ever gotten an intelligent response to any email to them?

Anyone else having this problem with Fox HD here in DFW? I am about ready to go back to SD programming for Fox shows....and that is horrible
Yes, pretty much the same problems you are experiencing. I'm trying a different antenna this week. Will let you know the results...

Who did you send your email to? I would like to also.

I went the WFAA website and sent to the programming dept.

Have you ever gotten an intelligent response to any email to them?

Never! :p

Well, E* has finally released HD LiL's as of tonight (the 4 major networks). I'm pretty happy with the PQ...not as good as OTA but equal to the Voom channels. There is less pixelation than when OTA (I don't get the best reception)...

Overall, I'm very happy.

Well, E* has finally released HD LiL's as of tonight (the 4 major networks). I'm pretty happy with the PQ...not as good as OTA but equal to the Voom channels. There is less pixelation than when OTA (I don't get the best reception)...

Overall, I'm very happy.


Yeah, I've noticed that the HD Lil's seem to be a little "laggy" in the frame rate dept. I don't know how else to describe it. It's not exactly "jittery", but it's not as smooth as OTA HD or E* SD. I suspect this is probably MPEG-4 related.

Yes, pretty much the same problems you are experiencing. I'm trying a different antenna this week. Will let you know the results...

I am seeing the same problems with Fox HD.

D* installed a winegard wing type OTA with my HD-TiVo and it worked alright for a few months. Then the signal strengths for Fox, CBS, & NBC started dropping. I tried repointing the antenna, but never could get all the stations with a strong signal. I noticed Fox was the worse signal with the most pixelation/dropouts. I bought a Terk TV-5 and combined it with my outdoor winegard. I now get 85-90 for ABC & CBS and 75-80 for Fox & NBC. But Fox still has some problems even though the signal strength is around 80.

I am seeing the same problems with Fox HD.

D* installed a winegard wing type OTA with my HD-TiVo and it worked alright for a few months. Then the signal strengths for Fox, CBS, & NBC started dropping. I tried repointing the antenna, but never could get all the stations with a strong signal. I noticed Fox was the worse signal with the most pixelation/dropouts. I bought a Terk TV-5 and combined it with my outdoor winegard. I now get 85-90 for ABC & CBS and 75-80 for Fox & NBC. But Fox still has some problems even though the signal strength is around 80.
Yep, my signal strength is both 85 on the old antenna and on the new antenna, and last night I still had some dropouts on Fox HD. I'm convinced it's not the antenna.

I am in the same boat with Fox, dropouts over the past two weeks or so. I sent an e-mail to the top e-mail address below. Don't know if it will even be read, but worth a shot. If you guys could also send e-mails to the addresses below then may be something will get through.

kdfw@kdfwfox4.com

fox4fortworth@kdfwfox4.com

metronorth@kdfwfox4.com

I am in the same boat with Fox, dropouts over the past two weeks or so. I sent an e-mail to the top e-mail address below. Don't know if it will even be read, but worth a shot. If you guys could also send e-mails to the addresses below then may be something will get through.

kdfw@kdfwfox4.com

fox4fortworth@kdfwfox4.com

metronorth@kdfwfox4.com

For what it is worth, I've been seeing dropouts in HD content, House, for example, etc., on Fox via Comcast cable....

-Randy

I'll get my wife to write to these email addys. She's pissed because she loves House and hates the dropouts! ;)

BAD dropouts via OTA. Recorded House and only got 50 minutes out of 60. Wifey was a BITCHIN'!!!

She says no more HD for House. She changed the season pass to record SD:(

OTOH, Idol was OK. A few dropouts, but not bad.

Am I the only one who gets dropouts when there is an overabundance of RED in the frame?

Especially during COPS. When the police are standing outside the car with the takedowns on.

Also hapens during the news when there is a night shot of a crime scene or accident and there are police cars with their lights on.

I called the engineers at KDFW but they thought I was crazy.

A bit OT, I apologize --

Does anyone know if Verizon's FIOS service is available at apartment complexes in the metroplex? If so, which ones?

I'm actually interested in the Plano and Garland areas.

Thanks.

http://www.dallasnews.com/cgi-bin/bi/gold_print.cgi:

The 2006-2007 Season
'Prison' inmates headed to Dallas

Fox series to film second season in Dallas
By Ed Bark The Dallas Morning News May 15, 2006

North Texas suddenly is a hotbed for network television production, with Fox set to announce today that the entire second season of its Prison Break series will be filmed in the Dallas area.

Prison Break producer Garry Brown confirms that the show soon will open a production office in downtown Dallas, with filming scheduled to begin on June 15.

The new season will have its inmates on the lam after they busted out of jail last Monday. Various area locations, as well as the city itself, initially will be cast as "Anywhere USA" as part of Prison Break's evolving "road show," he says.

"It's a big deal to land it, especially since it's already such a hot show," says Dallas Film Commission director Janis Burklund. "It's a huge surprise. All of a sudden we've got so much coming up, it's insane. Which is a good problem to have."

She estimates that the nine- to 10-month Prison Break shoot will be "as big or bigger" than Walker, Texas Ranger, which pumped an estimated $54 million into the area economy in its last season (2000-01) on CBS.

Mr. Brown, who worked for six seasons on Walker and has a home in Dallas, says Prison Break scouted locations in Arizona, New Mexico, Louisiana and Florida before choosing the Dallas area over Austin.

Prison Break, which had two Golden Globe nominations and won a People's Choice Award as favorite new drama series, essentially will become a latter-day version of The Fugitive when the second season kicks off in the fall or late summer.

Its featured inmates, led by brothers Michael Scofield (frequent magazine cover boy Wentworth Miller) and Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), escaped last week from the fictional Fox River State Penitentiary. Michael had himself incarcerated in the show's first episode as a means of springing Lincoln, who had been framed for murder.

"My experiences in the Dallas area really led us all to believe that what our story calls for next season could be obtained very efficiently here," Mr. Brown says. "It just made sense. You can pretty much, within a 30-mile radius, find a multitude of looks and about 10 to 12 towns, not to mention the city of Dallas."

The show's season one finale, slotted at 7 tonight on KDFW-TV (Channel 4) locally, will be delayed about 20 minutes by a presidential address on immigration reform that is scheduled for the same hour.

Prison Break's actors are accustomed to working on location. This season's 22 episodes were filmed in the Chicago area, with an abandoned prison in nearby Joliet anchoring the action. But finding suitable get-out-of-jail venues for a second season "just became too big a logistical challenge for us," Mr. Brown says.

"We found we had to go anywhere from an hour to two hours outside of Chicago to find locations that were rural enough," she says.

The Film Commission's Ms. Burklund, who's still trying to lure a planned Dallas feature film to the city, is happy to be juggling a wealth of new business that materialized in recent weeks.

The pilot for 12 Miles of Bad Road, a possible HBO comedy series about a wealthy Dallas matriarchy, will be filmed at least partly in the city this summer. A House Divided, a potential ABC series starring Dylan McDermott of The Practice, recently completed production on its first episode in Dallas. The show could return to the city full time if it makes the network's fall lineup, to be announced Tuesday.

Dallas also has landed Inspector Mom, a series of whodunits being made for cable's Lifetime Movie Network by local production company Fireside Entertainment.

Ms. Burklund says she also is increasingly confident that the announced big-screen version of Dallas, starring John Travolta as J.R. Ewing, will be a significant presence in the city later this year.

The film's recently named new director, Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham), likely will be visiting Dallas within the next few weeks, Ms. Burklund says.

"I'm pretty sure we're going to end up getting more of the movie than we initially thought we would," she says. "And that's without any help from the state, which is very disappointing."

Rival states such as Louisiana and Florida have been luring movie and TV productions with major taxpayer-funded incentives. But North Texas so far has managed to stay competitive without any financial aid from state or local government.

"We've had to scrape and claw to get these things," Ms. Burklund says of Prison Break and other recent breakthroughs. "If we had incentives, we'd probably be flooded."


Xesdeeni

Ummm guys are uall telling me that if i go out and buy a hdtv sat reciever i can get free channels or OTA reception.I live in arlington,texas and i just bought a HDTV a panasonic 51hx43,also can i hook this model up to a pc to play dvds on.I hope i havent asked a dum question :(

Ummm guys are uall telling me that if i go out and buy a hdtv sat reciever i can get free channels or OTA reception.I live in arlington,texas and i just bought a HDTV a panasonic 51hx43,also can i hook this model up to a pc to play dvds on.I hope i havent asked a dum question :(

I am not sure what you are asking. If your question is whether you can buy an HD satellite receiver with a built-in digital OTA tuner, then the answer is yes. Do you have to pay for satellite service on a monthly basis? Yes of course. Is the satellite receiver free? Probably, depending on what you choose. Can you connect your display to a PC to play DVDs? Probably, based on your connection options on your display and PC.

I've noticed that the HD feed for shows that are HD (ie not upconverted SD shows) on WB33 broadcast are not centered on the display. On my 42" Plasma there's about a 1 inch of black bar on the right side of the screen.

Anyone else seen this? I use the clear QAM tuner in my TV and get the HD feed from the standard Comcast.

Only happens on the WB. All other channels are fine. Is this an OTA problem also? Or is comcast screwing something up? Or is my QAM tuner having issues?

It's a problem from WB33/KDAF -- that offset exists regardless of how you're receiving their signal.

As i had mentioned before..i don't even think KDAF is transmitting PSIP properly. Isn't it a requirement for these digital stations? Pretty sad, considering they're O&O.

This crackling audio issue has been going on for months now. I wonder if anyone is aware of it.

It is back for the Mavericks game tonight and it is driving me nuts.

I'm only about 7 miles from the Fox transmitter in Dallas and I'm running a standard VHF/UHF antenna in the attic. I've been getting dropouts on Fox digital for several weeks if not longer. My wife is bitching too; heaven forbid you miss a second of Idol.

I assumed there was problem with my antenna system. Today I borrowed an RF spectrum analyser and measured -50 dBm on the Fox center channel, which seems like a lot of signal. I'm not sure what the minimum signal threshold is for my Dell 4201C (with integrated dig TV tuner), but I assume it's way less than -50 dBm.

Based on some of these other posts, should I assume that there is a problem with Fox and not my setup? Anyone have a clue what's going on?

That would explain the droupouts during the heavy RED content.

I'm only about 7 miles from the Fox transmitter in Dallas and I'm running a standard VHF/UHF antenna in the attic. I've been getting dropouts on Fox digital for several weeks if not longer. My wife is bitching too; heaven forbid you miss a second of Idol.

I assumed there was problem with my antenna system. Today I borrowed an RF spectrum analyser and measured -50 dBm on the Fox center channel, which seems like a lot of signal. I'm not sure what the minimum signal threshold is for my Dell 4201C (with integrated dig TV tuner), but I assume it's way less than -50 dBm.

Based on some of these other posts, should I assume that there is a problem with Fox and not my setup? Anyone have a clue what's going on?

Wow. -50dBm is WAY too hot. It should be in the -100 or -90 dBm range. Attenuate the signal by using only rabbit ears or putting a PAD in the way. At least then you can eliminate that as a possibility.

Is there any particular show or time this happens on 4? My wife complains of 3 to 5 second audio problems on FOX as well but I never see it on any show I watch.

Wow. -50dBm is WAY too hot. It should be in the -100 or -90 dBm range. Attenuate the signal by using only rabbit ears or putting a PAD in the way. At least then you can eliminate that as a possibility.

Is there any particular show or time this happens on 4? My wife complains of 3 to 5 second audio problems on FOX as well but I never see it on any show I watch.

To think I was on verge of looking for a new antenna with even more gain. FYI, Ron over on the HDTV Reception Hardware forum did some slick math showing that the ideal C/I is reached in a typical receiver at -86 dBm.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7690502#post7690502

As for the FOX dropouts, it started happening a month or 2 back on American Idol. Most recently it's showing up on House and occasionally during news broadcasts. However, with all of the signals hitting my receiver, at least some of it could isolated to my rig.

I have the same problems with FOX. Several other people I know have seen the same thing, and we all thought it was on our respective systems.

But obviously it's on FOX's end.

Xesdeeni

What STB OTA tuners are folks using with good results?

I live in Richardson, have a good antenna, currently using HD Wonder in HTPC, but am in the process of moving away from HTPC.

QAM/Recording not really important ... most important is reliable tuning with solid channel locking.

Just watch a select few shows, and watch them live :)

Thanks for any infos.

Don't judge your antenna system by the dropouts on KDFW. They have some issues.
JStigler

Hello!

I've noticed a strange issue that shows up only on the KXAS 5-1/NBC OTA broadcast.

When 5-1 switches to the NBC feed (i.e. coming out of a local commercial back to a program), many times, a vertical yellow line a few pixels wide shows up on the left edge of my display. Sometimes the line is bright, sometimes it is dim, sometimes it disappears for a couple of minutes but then comes back. This happens for both 16:9 and 4:3 programming. When 5-1 switches to the local feed (i.e. local commercials, local news), the yellow line always goes away. For example, the line is present for Leno and Conan (again, not for the local commercials), but often goes away completely as soon as Carson Daly comes on. The bar is present for most of the NBC prime time programming.

This only happens on 5-1, and only on the OTA receiver's DVI digital output. The line does not show up on the YPbPr output, but this could because the picture position is hiding it. My Akai 52" display doesn't allow adjusting the picture position for the digital DVI input. Again, it doesn't happen for 8-1/ABC, 11-1/CBS, or 4-1/FOX, or any other channels that I can see. I'd use YPbPr, but my display only has one set of YPbPr inputs, and I need those for DVD.

Any ideas on what might be causing this issue? I have a Samsung SIR-T351 OTA receiver set up to output 1080i. Could this be an issue with the Samsung converting the incoming feed to 1080i?

I sent an email to KXAS, but they say nothing on their end that should be causing this.

Thanks!

Am I the only one who gets dropouts when there is an overabundance of RED in the frame?
I think there is something to the RED theory. I've been paying really close attention over the past few days. Every time I get a dropout on FOX, it is immediately followed by very heavy red content. It's not just sometimes, it seems to be every time.

Hello!

I've noticed a strange issue that shows up only on the KXAS 5-1/NBC OTA broadcast.

When 5-1 switches to the NBC feed (i.e. coming out of a local commercial back to a program), many times, a vertical yellow line a few pixels wide shows up on the left edge of my display. Sometimes the line is bright, sometimes it is dim, sometimes it disappears for a couple of minutes but then comes back. This happens for both 16:9 and 4:3 programming. When 5-1 switches to the local feed (i.e. local commercials, local news), the yellow line always goes away. For example, the line is present for Leno and Conan (again, not for the local commercials), but often goes away completely as soon as Carson Daly comes on. The bar is present for most of the NBC prime time programming.

This only happens on 5-1, and only on the OTA receiver's DVI digital output. The line does not show up on the YPbPr output, but this could because the picture position is hiding it. My Akai 52" display doesn't allow adjusting the picture position for the digital DVI input. Again, it doesn't happen for 8-1/ABC, 11-1/CBS, or 4-1/FOX, or any other channels that I can see. I'd use YPbPr, but my display only has one set of YPbPr inputs, and I need those for DVD.

Any ideas on what might be causing this issue? I have a Samsung SIR-T351 OTA receiver set up to output 1080i. Could this be an issue with the Samsung converting the incoming feed to 1080i?

I sent an email to KXAS, but they say nothing on their end that should be causing this.

Thanks!

You can add that the audio does a lot of popping noises as it switches back and forth... only notice this on NBC OTA HD. However, I haven't noticed the line on either my Samsung LCD Flat Panel or Sony LCD RP TV. Of course, both are 720p native and I have my Dish Network 942 doing 720p output... if that really makes a difference or not.

Don't judge your antenna system by the dropouts on KDFW. They have some issues.
JStigler

Dang, This info would have saved me a bunch of tower climbing. I pulled my antenna down and cleaned all the contacts, replaced the balun, and replaced the coax with quad shield and all the connectors with DigiCon compression fittings.

I found this info out the hard way. However, P.M. is a good thing.

PS: I was having trouble with your ATSC signal as well. I(we) was in the S* house with the wife when Grey's Anatomy went SFS for 20+ minutes two weeks ago and she missed the ending. Last two weeks you have been good. Not one dropout during Boston Legal and that's a first in a VERY long time.

You can add that the audio does a lot of popping noises as it switches back and forth... only notice this on NBC OTA HD.

Yes, I definitely notice the popping noises as KXAS OTA switches to the NBC feed.

A day or so ago (5/27/06) I quit receiving KDFI 27.1. All of my other OTA channels work fine. Is anyone else seeing this or is it on my end.

Finally getting some guide data for WB.

A day or so ago (5/27/06) I quit receiving KDFI 27.1. All of my other OTA channels work fine. Is anyone else seeing this or is it on my end.

No. The Ranger games on 27-1 are coming in loud and clear and they are still transmitting at full power. Otherwise I would not be able to receive it in far north Ft. Worth.

No. The Ranger games on 27-1 are coming in loud and clear and they are still transmitting at full power. Otherwise I would not be able to receive it in far north Ft. Worth.
Thanks for the input. I rescanned for channels and it's back. I'm using the built in tuner in a Dell 42" plasma. I have a friend with the identical set and his 27-1 went dead at the same time. Strange....

No. The Ranger games on 27-1 are coming in loud and clear and they are still transmitting at full power. Otherwise I would not be able to receive it in far north Ft. Worth.

Are the Ranger games broadcasted in HD? Or are they standard 4:3?

Are the Ranger games broadcasted in HD? Or are they standard 4:3?

They are in SD only on 27-1, as well as when they are broadcast on Fox 4-1.

We had this discussion about three or 4 pages ago. I thought that the equipment at the Ballpark was already HD, including the cameras. Someone corrected me and said that none of the equipment at the Ballpark (cameras, truck, crew) are HD. All HD equipment has to be sent in special, like last Sunday night for ESPN, and are not there normally.

Anyone here receives QAM channels from comcast in West Plano? I have the lg-3510 receiver and can get all local channels and some premium ones like HBO(from time to time). I also get TNT HD which is great because of NBA but no sound (or i will get the sound from the neighbor channels). Is it my receiver or the signal?

Hi all,
I am moving into a house in Fort Worth this weekend and I want to mount an ATSC antenna on the roof. The house is in a residential neighborhood with a few trees and near a university, so I hope I can still get the signals nice and strong for recording on my HTPC. I am currently using the crappy little antenna that came with my ATI HDTV Wonder and am enjoying equally crappy results.

Although achieving perfect reception is obviously ideal, I'd like to keep the antenna as small and cheap as possible without sacrificing too much in terms of reception. I found this list of antennas (http://www.pcalchemy.com/index.php/cName/hdtv-antennas) on pcalchemy but I'm confused with my choices. Will a simple DB2 (http://www.pcalchemy.com/product_info.php/pName/terrestrial-digital-db2-multidirectional-hdtv-antenna/cName/hdtv-antennas) suffice? Or do I need to go with something bigger?

Also, there's currently a large (and old) antenna up there for tuning SDTV stations from yesteryear -- does this need to come down or could I maybe use it to tune ATSC channels?

Hi all,
I am moving into a house in Fort Worth this weekend and I want to mount an ATSC antenna on the roof. The house is in a residential neighborhood with a few trees and near a university, so I hope I can still get the signals nice and strong for recording on my HTPC. I am currently using the crappy little antenna that came with my ATI HDTV Wonder and am enjoying equally crappy results.

Although achieving perfect reception is obviously ideal, I'd like to keep the antenna as small and cheap as possible without sacrificing too much in terms of reception. I found this list of antennas (http://www.pcalchemy.com/index.php/cName/hdtv-antennas) on pcalchemy but I'm confused with my choices. Will a simple DB2 (http://www.pcalchemy.com/product_info.php/pName/terrestrial-digital-db2-multidirectional-hdtv-antenna/cName/hdtv-antennas) suffice? Or do I need to go with something bigger?

Also, there's currently a large (and old) antenna up there for tuning SDTV stations from yesteryear -- does this need to come down or could I maybe use it to tune ATSC channels?

Ok I will take a shot at answering your post.

1 - There is no such thing as an "ATSC" antenna. An antenna is just an antenna. It either receives radio energy at a particular frequency or not. ATSC is just a video format. What you are trying to receive are the digital television stations in the DFW area. One of them is in the VHF band. All the others are spread out in the UHF band. Most people get a combination UHF and VHF antenna.

2 - Most of the analog and digital transmit antennas are at Cedar Hill. The antenna would be pointed in that direction for optimum performance. What you need is enough gain from your antenna system to allow your television tuner to receive a consistent signal without pixelization or dropouts. Without knowing where you live it is impossible to venture a guess as to which one would be best. Rule of thumb - get the biggest combination UHF and VHF antenna you can fit into the area you have available. Without knowing anything about your installation constraints no one can tell you what to do.

I would try the antenna that's alreadt up. Run a new cable, and make sure the connections are clean, and give it a whirl! You could even run a temporary cable down the roof, and into a window to check. Have someone help you by rotating while you try to tune (cell phones help with this). Good luck!
Tom in TX

Glad to hear that I can likely use my existing antenna! Is Cedar Hill really where I'm going to be receiving my OTA signals from? The house is in zip code 76109, near TCU. I guess I will try pointing it ESE and see what happens.

Glad to hear that I can likely use my existing antenna! Is Cedar Hill really where I'm going to be receiving my OTA signals from? The house is in zip code 76109, near TCU. I guess I will try pointing it ESE and see what happens.

Any digital channel you would want to receive is at Cedar Hill. The TCU area is probably close enough for any antenna. I have a friend in the Watauga area, which I suppose is about the same distance (or further) from Cedar Hill. He uses rabbit ears and gets all of the digital channels flawlessly. Just point and hope.

Good deal. One more thing I had a question about: I plan to split the coax cable once it gets inside the attic so I can use the antenna for both of my HTPCs (bedroom and living room). I am assuming this would work as long as I used a cheap +6dB Radio Shack cable amplifier before the split, right?

Good deal. One more thing I had a question about: I plan to split the coax cable once it gets inside the attic so I can use the antenna for both of my HTPCs (bedroom and living room). I am assuming this would work as long as I used a cheap +6dB Radio Shack cable amplifier before the split, right?

Not the best idea. If you have a very strong signal, no problem. If not you are heading for trouble. Splitting the signal automatically attenuates the signal to each receiver by 3dB. A 3dB loss is half the signal. An RS amp will just amplify the noise floor with the signal when installed like you plan.

Before deciding what to do why don't you make sure it works from the attic with just one receiver? If that works, put in the splitter and the second receiver. If it works leave it alone. If it doesn't work I would put in a Channel Master 7777 preamp which is low noise and high gain.

I just checked my firmware on Comcast DCT6412 III-12.31....WooHoo,upgrade.Anyone else??

i live a complex where i can't get antenna reception AT ALL. i've used a cheap antenna and a really expensive one. our apt complex has a master satellite for dish network or something and they charge renters if they want to use the satellite to get dish network. this prevents the apartment renters to each individually get their own dishes.

anyway, i don't have their dish network service, but i tried to hook into the cable outlet in the house (that apparently runs to their master satellite) to see if i could pick up local stations better. turns out i can pick them up great, although they aren't in HD. i also only get channels 2-13, and channel 10 actually says (27 at the bottom), which makes me think that i'm getting channels 2-13 of dish network.

the reception isn't flawless on each channel, so i wouldn't think dish network would look this bad (not bad, but not so good), but i also don't understand why i only get 12 channels that are a lot better looking than what any antenna in my house can pick up.

ideas?

Hi, Just like many of you, I am unable to receive channel 8 (WFAA). I am using an indoor antenna and able to receive all the channels except channel 8. Most of the other channels come out good except when it is windy. What should I do to get good reception during windy situation and also to get reception from channel 8. I emailed them by going to their website today.

I am located near the crossing of Preston and Campbell. If one of the solution is to put a roof antenna, I will appreciate if you kindly post the model name and any vendor/service provider who can install the antenna and cables.

I will appreciate any help or suggestions.

Thank you,
Sincerely,
Neil

i have just moved back to Dallas and am using D* for my HD Local reception. Now, I am trying to update myself on if Dallas' locals are being transmitted in Mpeg2 or Mpeg4, but which ever it is the PQ is really, really dissapointing. Watching the NBA Finals Game One last night and I found myself thinking that something was wrong with my set, but flipping over to other HD channels not local and the PQ improved, but even those are stuck with standard medicore D* HD PQ, but the locals just looked particularly poor. Anyone else noticing this? Maybe I should switch to OTA, but the D* installer told me this receiver didn't handle the signal coupling very well.

Hi, Just like many of you, I am unable to receive channel 8 (WFAA). I am using an indoor antenna and able to receive all the channels except channel 8. Most of the other channels come out good except when it is windy. What should I do to get good reception during windy situation and also to get reception from channel 8. I emailed them by going to their website today.

I am located near the crossing of Preston and Campbell. If one of the solution is to put a roof antenna, I will appreciate if you kindly post the model name and any vendor/service provider who can install the antenna and cables.

I will appreciate any help or suggestions.

Thank you,
Sincerely,
Neil

Check out my post here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5883472#post5883472). I live in McKinney and simply bought a cheap yet dedicated VHF antenna for channel 8 and installed it in my attic and combined it with my other attc antenna using a Channel Master 777 pre-amp.

Sure wish we had ESPN2HD on Comcast.

Well, I just joined the HD world with my Samsung 5687 (love it). I'm in Plano, and can pick up everything on HD OTA except for frigging WFAA. GRRRR.

I even get 8 analog decently. I got a cheapo Walmart rabbit ears set, with amplification. It just really sucks that 8-1 refuses to pick up.

Is it worth it to even try one of the fancier/more expensive indoor antennas? In apartment, btw.

Is it worth it to even try one of the fancier/more expensive indoor antennas? In apartment, btw.

I live in a townhome in an apt complex in North Dallas and was having your same problem. The indoor antenna I had only picked up a couple of channels. I finally got sick of it and just plugged the coax back into the wall and rescanned the channels. I then saw that I picked up all the local stations in HD. Not real sure how this happened, if I was actually "using" the apartment complex's antenna to pick up the channels or what. But if you're in an apt, try this out, it may save you some $$ instead of going with another antenna.

I live in a townhome in an apt complex in North Dallas and was having your same problem. The indoor antenna I had only picked up a couple of channels. I finally got sick of it and just plugged the coax back into the wall and rescanned the channels. I then saw that I picked up all the local stations in HD. Not real sure how this happened, if I was actually "using" the apartment complex's antenna to pick up the channels or what. But if you're in an apt, try this out, it may save you some $$ instead of going with another antenna.

this is what i did, only i can only get sd. is there any reason why that is?

Hi, Just like many of you, I am unable to receive channel 8 (WFAA). I am using an indoor antenna and able to receive all the channels except channel 8. Most of the other channels come out good except when it is windy. What should I do to get good reception during windy situation and also to get reception from channel 8. I emailed them by going to their website today.

I am located near the crossing of Preston and Campbell. If one of the solution is to put a roof antenna, I will appreciate if you kindly post the model name and any vendor/service provider who can install the antenna and cables.

I will appreciate any help or suggestions.

Thank you,
Sincerely,
Neil

New poster;longtime lurker. My son lives at Coit/Campbell in 2nd floor apt with no SW window. A line from his place to Cedar Hill goes through several concrete walls. He couldn't reliably get WFAA DT initially with Silver Sensor, a primarily UHF ant,but all UHFs came in ok. He bought $15 Walmart VHF-UHF rabbit ears and extended dipoles and placed it perpendicular to a line to the towers. He also bought 10dB VHF-UHF in-line amplifier at Walmart and plugged antenna into amp and searched for best spot in apt for analog ch 8. Was able to get strong enough signal that way to get WFAA DT 9. Separately, he found best spot for UHF Silver Sensor. Then he used a splitter/combiner to merge the amplified rabbit ears and the non-amplified Silver Sensor. It works fine. Maybe it was beginners luck with the difficulties of combining separate antenna cables. It was fairly inexpensive and extra parts were easy to return. Also, I'm not sure of the topography differences between your locations.

I live in a townhome in an apt complex in North Dallas and was having your same problem. The indoor antenna I had only picked up a couple of channels. I finally got sick of it and just plugged the coax back into the wall and rescanned the channels. I then saw that I picked up all the local stations in HD. Not real sure how this happened, if I was actually "using" the apartment complex's antenna to pick up the channels or what. But if you're in an apt, try this out, it may save you some $$ instead of going with another antenna.

I did try, and my apartment now only has cable it seems, no OTA signal at all coming over. I'm moving in 4 months, closer to Irving or Keller area. I'm hoping that I can pick up WFAA digital there.

Did anyone lose WFAA last night during the basketball finals? I usually get a signal around 70 on my D* 250, but last night it dropped to around 10.

WFAA's quality sucked for the Mavericks games. It looked nice when no-one moved. But these were basketball games after all...you know, moving! What a mess.

Xesdeeni

Did anyone lose WFAA last night during the basketball finals? I usually get a signal around 70 on my D* 250, but last night it dropped to around 10.

I had some pixelation going on early in the 1st quarter, but after that, signal was strong and no further pixelation.

WFAA's quality sucked for the Mavericks games. It looked nice when no-one moved. But these were basketball games after all...you know, moving! What a mess.

Xesdeeni

I agree. It was atrocious.

Until the new tower for KLTV goes up, I'm stuck with BELO :eek: :eek: :eek:

Did anyone lose WFAA last night during the basketball finals? I usually get a signal around 70 on my D* 250, but last night it dropped to around 10.

I didn't have any issues.

I had some pixelation going on early in the 1st quarter, but after that, signal was strong and no further pixelation.


Same here.

I live just north of downtown in the Oaklawn area and lost my signal to NBC 5-1. Has anyone else lost this station? I'm picking up all of my other locals except this one.

Not one dropout here during CAR-EDM game 4.

i have just moved back to Dallas and am using D* for my HD Local reception. Now, I am trying to update myself on if Dallas' locals are being transmitted in Mpeg2 or Mpeg4, but which ever it is the PQ is really, really dissapointing. Watching the NBA Finals Game One last night and I found myself thinking that something was wrong with my set, but flipping over to other HD channels not local and the PQ improved, but even those are stuck with standard medicore D* HD PQ, but the locals just looked particularly poor. Anyone else noticing this? Maybe I should switch to OTA, but the D* installer told me this receiver didn't handle the signal coupling very well.

There is only one D* MPEG4 receiver so I am assuming you have an H20. I have the DFW MPEG4 locals and an OTA antenna working on this STB. They both look terrific. In fact, the H20-600 is rumored to have the best ATSC receiver (as far as sensitivity and PQ) available anywhere.

The game was bad on Sunday night. When will they learn????

I live just north of downtown in the Oaklawn area and lost my signal to NBC 5-1. Has anyone else lost this station? I'm picking up all of my other locals except this one.
I'm picking it up fine here in Carrollton on my indoor OTA antenna.

I'm still not receiving KXAS here at my condo, but all of my other locals come in fine. I've heard that the OTA tuners were not very good in the HR10-250, so I took the OTA cable from the HD Tivo and plugged it directly into my Samsung OTA Tuner. When I scanned for locals on the TV, it didn't pick up KXAS either. I know most of you are receiving it in the surrounding areas. Why was it working fine and then just dropped out of sight? Luckily, I have waivers with D*so I can get the NBC East Coast feed for programming, but I prefer OTA for picture quality. Do you think it will come back?

Must be your setup. Other than the poor PQ, 5-1 has been solid as a rock.

I live in the sticks. 90nm from Cedar Hill.

The complex has a master antenna and dish on the roof. I've lived here a month and was getting NBC until a few days ago. I haven't changed anything on my setup. I guess I will just wait a few days and rescan. Until then, I will watch the NBC East Coast feed that is overcompressed on D*.

The complex has a master antenna and dish on the roof. I've lived here a month and was getting NBC until a few days ago. I haven't changed anything on my setup. I guess I will just wait a few days and rescan. Until then, I will watch the NBC East Coast feed that is overcompressed on D*.

You may have already tried this, but sometimes it seems to work when you remove the signal source, scan, then reattach the signal source and rescan. I have no idea why that works, but sometimes it does seem to...

Good luck!
-Randy

Ok, things have changed for the better in Dallas OTA during Game 4 tonight.

WFAA has turned off all multicasting and is broadcasting the game only. WAY BETTER than the previous games on ABC. There is "some" motion artifacting, but you have to look really hard for it.

Now if they would STOP upconverting 720p to 1080i, We would have 2 HD specialists in Dallas.(CBS OTA being #1 by a COUNTRY MILE).

Finally BELO did something right.
Damn, that's one in a row.

Looks like that statmuxing project still needs work. Your quality was beyond poor for the first three games.

Jstigler, You are a damn fine engineer, you are one of this nation's HDTV pioneers, but I picture you at work as the guy in the commercial working with the office full of monkeys.:)

Randy,

Thanks a million for the advice on rescanning with the cable out. I've got my KXAS feed back. Much appreciated.

The picture of the Mavs game was improved, but the team played their worst game of the playoffs. CBS OTA is still head and shoulders above all. Look no further than the broadcast of "The Masters" this year as the gold reference standard.

Mavs in 6....

Out...

The complex has a master antenna and dish on the roof. I've lived here a month and was getting NBC until a few days ago. I haven't changed anything on my setup. I guess I will just wait a few days and rescan. Until then, I will watch the NBC East Coast feed that is overcompressed on D*.

I would also check your connectors.

If there are any "screw on" connectors inline, that would be the first probable.

Also check the connector behind the wall plate. I find a lot of crimp jobs that were crimped with a pair of wire cutters by one of the builders whose specialty is not CATV installation. :(

Look no further than the broadcast of "The Masters" this year as the gold reference standard.

CBS HDTV via KTVT-DT is the reference standard for all OTA HDTV...PERIOD!!

Why does the CBS affiliate do a better job than all of the other networks? Do the other networks here multicast? Is this a nationwide trend or just in the Dallas market? When I was watching NFL Football this past season, the CBS broadcasts were much better than what I saw over at FOX. I'm just glad I live in a area where I can receive true HD via OTA rather than what D* tries to pass off to the masses as HD.

The local CBS station here is DEDICATED to the finest quality HDTV. Yes the other stations multicast. Including that "any way to make a buck" BELO. KTVT does have a weather radar but it's on a different transmitter... 21-2.

Dosen't WFAA have a "sister" station here in town? ie..kdfw/kdfi, KXAS/Telemundo. IMHO, NBC Weather Plus belongs on 39-2.

IMO the big 4 in Dallas should have "operating agreements with one of the independents so they can do all their multicasting on their overabundance of bandwidth.

It boils down to either first rate quality for the folks, or sacrifice quality for the marketing department. ALL HAIL KTVT.

If this tells you anything,, WFAA(Belo) has teamed up with one of most popular adware/spyware programs on the internet. WEATHER BUG :eek: :eek: Go and download Weather Bug and check out all that OTHER neat stuff that gets installed with it.

Now all the PC repair shops in Plano, Allen, and Frisco will see an increase in business.

Hi all,
I am moving into a house in Fort Worth this weekend and I want to mount an ATSC antenna on the roof. The house is in a residential neighborhood with a few trees and near a university, so I hope I can still get the signals nice and strong for recording on my HTPC. I am currently using the crappy little antenna that came with my ATI HDTV Wonder and am enjoying equally crappy results.

Although achieving perfect reception is obviously ideal, I'd like to keep the antenna as small and cheap as possible without sacrificing too much in terms of reception. I found this list of antennas (http://www.pcalchemy.com/index.php/cName/hdtv-antennas) on pcalchemy but I'm confused with my choices. Will a simple DB2 (http://www.pcalchemy.com/product_info.php/pName/terrestrial-digital-db2-multidirectional-hdtv-antenna/cName/hdtv-antennas) suffice? Or do I need to go with something bigger?

Also, there's currently a large (and old) antenna up there for tuning SDTV stations from yesteryear -- does this need to come down or could I maybe use it to tune ATSC channels?

Probably a little too late, but those antennas are crap, and expensive crap at that. Your going to need both uhf and vhf antenna thanks to wfaa being the only station in the area broadcast digital on vhf (channel 9). Luckily if you aready have a cheap uhf/vhf combo or an vhf antenna all you will need is a decent uhf antenna. For it. I'd get the CM 4221. You can't go wrong with it and you can get it cheap here. http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/4221.htm

If you don't have a current vhf antenna, then you'll need one for wfaa. You could buy on elarge uhf/vhf combo like this http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/3018.htm or a smaller one and a seperate UHF and tie them together with a reversed splitter. That's what I did since I already had a small uhf/vhf combo and I didn't want one of those big suckers on top of the house. I didn't have any luck at all picking up channel 9 on the UHF alone, but I'm in Wylie about 45miles from the towers.

I noticed a lot of people claiming to have problems with wfaa. Well, if you don't have a vhf antenna, you will. picking up channel 9 on a uhf antenna is just not a good solution.

...

If this tells you anything,, WFAA has teamed up with one of most popular adware/spyware programs on the internet. WEATHER BUG :eek: :eek: Go and download Weather Bug and check out all that OTHER neat stuff that came with it.

Now all the PC repair shops in Plano, Allen, and Frisco will see an increase in business.

Didn't NBC 5 team up with weather bug in the past before WFAA started using that 'feature'?

Probably a little too late, but those antennas are crap, and expensive crap at that. Your going to need both uhf and vhf antenna thanks to wfaa being the only station in the area broadcast digital on vhf (channel 9). Luckily if you aready have a cheap uhf/vhf combo or an vhf antenna all you will need is a decent uhf antenna. For it. I'd get the CM 4221. You can't go wrong with it and you can get it cheap here. http://www.warrenelectronics.com/antennas/4221.htm


I would prefer the CM4221 as well. But my antenna is attic mounted and I had limited vertical clearance necessary for the upright bowtie antenna.

I am in Haslet (far north Fort Worth), behind a small hill, about 40 miles from Cedar Hill. I needed to mount my antenna at the crest of my 2nd story attic where I had a lot of horizontal space. I used the Model: VU-90 XR 80" boom antenna from Radio Shack along with a CM7777 preamp. The VU90 is also effective for UHF and VHF use. Any RS carries them and the larger 120" boom if you need even more gain.

Didn't NBC 5 team up with weather bug in the past before WFAA started using that 'feature'?

I believe so. See how that went?

BELO, please sell WFAA to the network(or anybody for that matter) Or change your business model. Remember Oak Cliff in the 50's? The same will happen to N.Dallas, Collin, and Denton County. Where will WFAA be then?? You will have to read the news again...DAMN!!!

Your days are numbered and you have only two choices. Go back to being the king of local news, or live at the bottom of the ratings. Nobody wants to see all those "fluff" pieces you do. Fire the "Why Guy"

I watched the postgame edition of NEWS 8 and did not hear ONE minute of the news of the day. Pretty piss poor if you ask me. GO MAVS!!! But....You are the NEWS!!!

I was raised of WFAA news. Tracy Rowlett, The late great Chip Moody, Troy Dungan, and Dale Hansen. Let's not forget the greatness of Ms. Iola Johnson and Verne Lundquist from the 70's.

That's what made WFAA the dominant #1 local newscast for years and years. BUT NOT ANYMORE!!

Start broadcasting to all the people, not just a select group.

I believe so. See how that went?

BELO, please sell WFAA to the network(or anybody for that matter) Or change your business model. Remember Oak Cliff in the 50's? The same will happen to N.Dallas, Collin, and Denton County. Where will WFAA be then?? You will have to read the news again...DAMN!!!

Your days are numbered and you have only two choices. Go back to being the king of local news, or live at the bottom of the ratings. Nobody wants to see all those "fluff" pieces you do. Fire the "Why Guy"

I watched the postgame edition of NEWS 8 and did not hear ONE minute of the news of the day. Pretty piss poor if you ask me. GO MAVS!!! But....You are the NEWS!!!

I was raised of WFAA news. Tracy Rowlett, The late great Chip Moody, Troy Dungan, and Dale Hansen. Let's not forget the greatness of Ms. Iola Johnson and Verne Lundquist from the 70's.

That's what made WFAA the dominant #1 local newscast for years and years. BUT NOT ANYMORE!!

Start broadcasting to all the people, not just a select group.

Why do you keep on watching them? Looks like your TV keeps stopping on their channel?

Why do you keep on watching them? Looks like your TV keeps stopping on their channel?

It's the only source for ABC. Can't get it on D* or E* in Dallas thanks to BELO.

If it wasn't for ABC network programming, I would lock that channel out.

But.........

Grey's Anatomy
Lost
DH
Boston Legal

Wifey gotta have it!!!!!!!!

Paitence is a virtue however. In September the reconstruction of the KLTV main tower will be complete. Then I will have NO use for WFAA.

KLTV actually has a newscast that tells the NEWS. News 8 has degraded themselves to the point to where their newscast is consists of stories like...How traffic is impacted on 121 due to the new IKEA store opening. Or the "Why Guy" covering the latest greatest attraction in Frisco.

Their news content is all fluff pieces.

A far cry from a ligitimate newscast.

It's the only source for ABC. Can't get it on D* in Dallas thanks to BELO.

If it wasn't for ABC network programming, I would lock that channel out.

But.........

Grey's Anatomy
Lost
DH
Boston Legal

Wifey gotta have it!!!!!!!!

Paitence is a virtue however. In September the reconstruction of the KLTV main tower will be complete. Then I will have NO use for WFAA.

KLTV actually has a newscast that tells the NEWS. News 8 has degraded themselves to the point to where their newscast is consists of stories like...How traffic is impacted on 121 due to the new IKEA store opening. Or the "Why Guy" covering the latest greatest attraction in Frisco.

Their news content is all fluff pieces.

A far cry from a ligitimate newscast.

FYI, Its been posted in this forum that WFAA HD is now on both DirecTV and Dish. Just you watch their news and not wifey? :-)

FYI, Its been posted in this forum that WFAA HD is now on both DirecTV and Dish. Just you watch their news and not wifey? :-)

Have you watched WFAA on D* MPEG4?

It's like watching a Kung Fu movie. Video and audio was so out of sync, that everybody that was over watching the game was amused.

One guy asked "Is this what HDTV is supposed to be like?"

I said "no" and explained to him the philosophy that computer programmers frequently use..."Trash in, Trash out"

Have you watched WFAA on D* MPEG4?

It's like watching a Kung Fu movie. Video and audio was so out of sync, that everybody that was over watching the game was amused.

One guy asked "Is this what HDTV is supposed to be like?"

I said "no" and explained to him the philosophy that computer programmers frequently use..."Trash in, Trash out"

No flame intended...WFAA-HD via E* (MPEG-4), looks almost as good as OTA to me. This is with a 720P Samsung DLP over HDMI.

Have you watched WFAA on D* MPEG4?

It's like watching a Kung Fu movie. Video and audio was so out of sync, that everybody that was over watching the game was amused.

One guy asked "Is this what HDTV is supposed to be like?"

I said "no" and explained to him the philosophy that computer programmers frequently use..."Trash in, Trash out"

I thougt you said "Can't get it on D* or E* in Dallas thanks to BELO" in message #1919. So you are receivng their HD signal? There was a time recently when they were the only Dallas HD station not on the small dish......but as of a few weeks ago their HD is now on both.

It's the only source for ABC. Can't get it on D* or E* in Dallas thanks to BELO.If it wasn't for ABC network programming, I would lock that channel out.

But.........

Grey's Anatomy
Lost
DH
Boston Legal

Wifey gotta have it!!!!!!!!

Paitence is a virtue however. In September the reconstruction of the KLTV main tower will be complete. Then I will have NO use for WFAA.

KLTV actually has a newscast that tells the NEWS. News 8 has degraded themselves to the point to where their newscast is consists of stories like...How traffic is impacted on 121 due to the new IKEA store opening. Or the "Why Guy" covering the latest greatest attraction in Frisco.

Their news content is all fluff pieces.

A far cry from a ligitimate newscast. Today, 01:32 AM... :)

Ok, things have changed for the better in Dallas OTA during Game 4 tonight.
WFAA has turned off all multicasting and is broadcasting the game only. WAY BETTER than the previous games on ABC. There is "some" motion artifacting, but you have to look really hard for it.

Now if they would STOP upconverting 720p to 1080i, We would have 2 HD specialists in Dallas.(CBS OTA being #1 by a COUNTRY MILE).

Finally BELO did something right.
Damn, that's one in a row.

Looks like that statmuxing project still needs work. Your quality was beyond poor for the first three games.

Jstigler, You are a damn fine engineer, you are one of this nation's HDTV pioneers, but I picture you at work as the guy in the commercial working with the office full of monkeys.:)06-15-06, 11:07 PM ..........I think you didnt check back far enough. :)

Question! I live in Frisco and cannot get channel 8 WFAA in HD over D* via east or west coast. I have a 8 way splitter with a way to hook up an extra antenna. However, when I went to Best -*** they told me that no antenna that will pull the channel strenght because the tower is south of Fort Worth. My question: Is this true? If not, can somebody let me know of an inside antenna where I can hook it up in my attic and ball park price. Thanks!

Heinekenusaman you can't get a good answer at these stores. All of the stations xmt from Cedar Hill. Hwy 67 & Beltline rd south of Dallas.

You just need a VHF/UHF antenna mounted in your attic. With an 8 way power divider you will need an amp to make up for the splitter loss.

Unless you have the metal stuff on your roof it should work. There are numerious posts about Winegard and Channelmaster antennas and amps.

http://dhtg.napurano.com/forum/default.asp
This is the Dallas Home Theater Group

JStigler

[QUOTE=mp3trojan]Have you watched WFAA on D* MPEG4?

It's like watching a Kung Fu movie. Video and audio was so out of sync, that everybody that was over watching the game was amused.

========================================================
I talked to D* about the lip sync issues. It has to do with their Tandberg MPEG-4 encoders. There appears to be a drift in the lip sync. We have had the same issue in MPEG-2 SD on some Tandberg equipment.

They are rebooting when it gets off. Guess I just have to ck it more often and call them. It is happening in all the markets with this equipment.
JStigler

Anyone have a Vizio LCD TV that can or can't pick up digital Channel 8? I can pick it up w/ no problem on my Mtis DLP and Dishnetwork receiver but not on my Vizio LCD in the bedroom.

is anyone getting jerky playback on the mavs game, over Comcast?

Heinekenusaman you can't get a good answer at these stores. All of the stations xmt from Cedar Hill. Hwy 67 & Beltline rd south of Dallas.

You just need a VHF/UHF antenna mounted in your attic. With an 8 way power divider you will need an amp to make up for the splitter loss.

Unless you have the metal stuff on your roof it should work. There are numerious posts about Winegard and Channelmaster antennas and amps.

http://dhtg.napurano.com/forum/default.asp
This is the Dallas Home Theater Group

JStigler

I have a question about this. I live in Little Elm and have a roof top antenna on top of my two story house. I get CBS, NBC, FOX and WB with no problem (along with some of the non-HD digital stations), however ABC, PBS and UPN do not come in. The average signal I get on the first ones is in the mid 80's, but with ABC and PBS it sits between 15 to 30'ish. I thought since the all come from the same area that if one comes in then the rest should or is it that ABC and PBS are just not transmitting a very strong signal? I have tried a booster, but this actually detoriated the signal (things that make you go "Hmmm"). Any advice here? I am using a HR10-250 to receive the signal with a Channel Master 3020 (100mi VHF and 60mi UHF).

Thanks,
Kemical

is anyone getting jerky playback on the mavs game, over Comcast?

I'm watching over straight cable (clear QAM, no box) and there have been a couple of glitches, including a short stretch where all clear QAM seemed to disappear, but overall it has been mostly stable...

-Randy

I'm watching over straight cable (clear QAM, no box) and there have been a couple of glitches, including a short stretch where all clear QAM seemed to disappear, but overall it has been mostly stable...

-Randy

Thanks.

I've got a 6412 Phase III box. I think it may have been a box glitch. I power cycled it and the halftime segment seems fine. Fingers crossed that it's okay for the 2nd half here.

Rakesh.S I saw what I call a catch in the video on a pan. I changed satellite receivers and rebooted the other one (4min left in 2nd period). I am not seeing this anymore. However I have a CRT Set int he office and the flash photography just drives it crazy. Not so on my DLP.

Oh something happend at the XMTR before halftime and knocked off everything for a second or two. Betting on a power glitch.
JStigler

jstigler,

THANK YOU 100X for the awesome PQ tonight in Dallas. You should convince your superiors to find a way to multicast elsewhere. You shutting down 8-2 and 8-3 was the magic bullet.

Yeah, I know.....superiors. Aren't they wonderful????

No flame intended...WFAA-HD via E* (MPEG-4), looks almost as good as OTA to me. This is with a 720P Samsung DLP over HDMI.

PQ is awesome. However, the lip sync issue makes it rough.

When D* and other associated parties get the bugs worked out, I believe, one day MPEG4 via satellite can surpass OTA. D* has the bandwidth when it comes to MPEG4 LiL.

Surely a permanent remedy to the lip sync issue is high on someone's to-do list:)

Thanks.

I've got a 6412 Phase III box. I think it may have been a box glitch. I power cycled it and the halftime segment seems fine. Fingers crossed that it's okay for the 2nd half here.

The same thing happened to me. It started when the Emergency Broadcast for the child abduction came up, It broke my recording, started to stutter, but it eventually worked itself out.

jstigler,

THANK YOU 100X for the awesome PQ tonight in Dallas. You should convince your superiors to find a way to multicast elsewhere. You shutting down 8-2 and 8-3 was the magic bullet.

Yeah, I know.....superiors. Aren't they wonderful????

I heard jstigler is a superior down there.

I am about to move to Mckinney, TX in a few days, and would like to see what I can get OTA.

Looking on antennaweb.org, it seems like to get all the locals I want, I would need a large directional, and all of the stations are between 195-198 degrees from what I can tell.

can anyone suggest an antenna for this area, and whether 1 antenna would be able to pick up channels in that degree range without having to be moved?

It looks like a few channels I could get with a small antenna, but to get all the locals I would need a large.

Thanks

I am about to move to Mckinney, TX in a few days, and would like to see what I can get OTA.

Looking on antennaweb.org, it seems like to get all the locals I want, I would need a large directional, and all of the stations are between 195-198 degrees from what I can tell.

can anyone suggest an antenna for this area, and whether 1 antenna would be able to pick up channels in that degree range without having to be moved?

It looks like a few channels I could get with a small antenna, but to get all the locals I would need a large.

Thanks

I live in McKinney (Virginia and Custer) and use 2 antennas in my attic (UHF bow-tie and dedicated VHF). I get all the locals depending on my HDTV tuner. My D* HR10-250 will not pick up PBS or KDFI 27.1, but my built-in Samsung TV Tuner gets everything.

I've posted my experiences at these 2 links:

Post5696666 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5696666&highlight=rkhobbit#post5696666) and Post5883472 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5883472#post5883472)

Thanks a ton rkhobbit, I will take a look at those links.

Hello all.

I recently got a HDTV and with the RCA Antenna.. I was able to get 16 channels and most of them spanish. I was wondering if there is a database on how many HD channels are broadcasting in our area (Free HD) I don't want to get cable because it's too expensive...

If I get a better antenna (which one do you recommend for indoor) will I be able to receive channels like Discover, HDNet...etc.

or I have to get cable to receive those channels?

Thanks

Im in North Texas, zip code 76227

This site will tell you what is available OTA in your area. I live in South Dallas and get all of the major networks plus some smaller channels and the Spanish channels.

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

hello.

i live north of frisco and it's NBA Game time, i can't get ABC HD on my RCA Antenna.
i have never been able to ge3t ABC... should I upgrade my antenna? Please help

Maybe it's been there for awhile, but it's new to me...33-2 dumped the weather radar and is broadcasting music videos. Quite a wide variety of music, and they've been doing a fair number of "oldies", so I'm happy. Finally, something unique and interesting on a secondary channel. For me anyway, it beats watching weather radar or planes landing and taking off...

hello.

i live north of frisco and it's NBA Game time, i can't get ABC HD on my RCA Antenna.
i have never been able to ge3t ABC... should I upgrade my antenna? Please help

My solution was to add a dedicated VHF antenna. See post5883472 (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5883472#post5883472).

I heard jstigler is a superior down there.

Other than the self employed and owners/CEO's, EVERYONE has a boss.

He is the chief engineer. He is the MAN who carries the big stick in his department, but he has a boss too.

Didn't NBC 5 team up with weather bug in the past before WFAA started using that 'feature'?

NBC 5 has "NBC5 Weather Net". KXAS installed simple consumer grade weather stations at area schools...etc and they are all linked over the net.

Next time I get to Greenville Texas, I will shoot a pic of one at Crockett Elementary and I will post it.

Had a DishNet user with a 942 receiver that had lost 8.1 only during the time we killed 8.2/8.3 I am curious if anyone else had trouble when we removed the two streams.
JStigler

Had a DishNet user with a 942 receiver that had lost 8.1 only during the time we killed 8.2/8.3 I am curious if anyone else had trouble when we removed the two streams.
JStigler

Can't speak for Dish but your OTA presentation was awesome AGAIN. You know Dish and their buggy hardware(and firmware) for that matter. Too bad D* is heading down the same road:(

Thanks a bunch!!

Had a DishNet user with a 942 receiver that had lost 8.1 only during the time we killed 8.2/8.3 I am curious if anyone else had trouble when we removed the two streams.
JStigler

I have a 942, but use the OTA (better quality), and didn't lose signal. Are you referring to Dish HD locals, or OTA?

Tom in TX

Other than the self employed and owners/CEO's, EVERYONE has a boss.

He is the chief engineer. He is the MAN who carries the big stick in his department, but he has a boss too.

I hope he doesn't hit us with that BIG stick :-( ......and turn on more sub-channels.

Had a DishNet user with a 942 receiver that had lost 8.1 only during the time we killed 8.2/8.3 I am curious if anyone else had trouble when we removed the two streams.
JStigler

I watched the game via the OTA tuner in my 942 on Tuesday night without incident.

Had a DishNet user with a 942 receiver that had lost 8.1 only during the time we killed 8.2/8.3 I am curious if anyone else had trouble when we removed the two streams.
JStigler

I have a 942 w/ OTA and did not notice any problems in Colleyville.

I am about to move to Mckinney, TX in a few days, and would like to see what I can get OTA.

Looking on antennaweb.org, it seems like to get all the locals I want, I would need a large directional, and all of the stations are between 195-198 degrees from what I can tell.

can anyone suggest an antenna for this area, and whether 1 antenna would be able to pick up channels in that degree range without having to be moved?

It looks like a few channels I could get with a small antenna, but to get all the locals I would need a large.

Thanks

I live in McKinney - I have a smallish (12 element) Rat-Shack roof mounted rake on top of a two story. I have been able to get everything in Dallas from day one with it unamplified. Got it pointed roughly between 190 and 210. At one time I was even able to get the Sherman CBS station in HD - I can still get it in analog but for some reason I can't get it in HD anymore. I don't understand that one.

Welcome & good luck

I have a 942 w/ OTA and did not notice any problems in Colleyville.

trade that thing in and get a vip622 for free....the deal just got better for existing subs with a 921 or 941. Check dbstalk.com's dishnetwork hdtv forum for more info.

I've been watching 33.2 OTA (The Tube) occasionally for a few days now. I've noticed continuous, brief, small, pixelation artifacts and frequent, brief audio disruption. The audio disruption can get rather annoying, especially for a music video channel.

I don't see these same pixelation and audio issues on 33.1. Just curious if anybody else has noticed this, and trying to figure out if it's them or me...

Just another update from west Plano using a TV55 Terk. Wow Numbers looks amazing. Stunning detail. Congrats CBS Dallas.

This might be a little OT, but I don't really think so. Tomorrow Fox is slated to show the Phillies and the Red Sox at noon. The other choice being carried in some markets is the Astros/White Sox game. If it were pure AL vs. NL, I could understand it...but given that they are both interleague games, I would think they would choose the team from Texas. Boston is playing tough and leading their division, but the Phillies are sub-.500, and the ChiSox (2nd in their division) and Astros have better records, respectively. Even without that, it just seems like the home state would be the tiebreaker, so to speak. And, to put it somewhat on topic, there aren't that many opportunities to catch 'Stros games in HD, and I hate that this one won't be available due to them carrying what seems to be a less desirable game....anyway, am I way off-base here?

-Randy

I posted a couple of weeks ago that I was having a low signal strength with KXAS on my HR10-250. When I viewed the signal meter, it's in the 20's and then drops out completely after a few seconds. I've heard the OTA tuners were weak in the HR10-250, so I put the cable into my Samsung DLP's OTA tuner. I scanned again and still couldn't pick up KXAS. I was getting this station fine until a few weeks ago. I'm not sure what type of antenna is installed at my condo complex, but it is rather large and picks up all of the other OTA stations fine. My location is the Oaklawn area just off of Cedar Springs Rd. Has anyone experienced anything like this with any other channels and got it working again?

trade that thing in and get a vip622 for free....the deal just got better for existing subs with a 921 or 941. Check dbstalk.com's dishnetwork hdtv forum for more info.
Actually, I've got a July 7th install scheduled for Verizon FiOS. I will get two HD DVR's, and a couple more channel than I get now, and save $5/month. Plus, I will get alot better picture quality on HD locals (I hope), than with Dish locals.
I am going to put Dish on "vacation" service for a month, to make sure I like the FiOS.

Tom in TX

Eber's boy??

Actually, I've got a July 7th install scheduled for Verizon FiOS. I will get two HD DVR's, and a couple more channel than I get now, and save $5/month. Plus, I will get alot better picture quality on HD locals (I hope), than with Dish locals.
I am going to put Dish on "vacation" service for a month, to make sure I like the FiOS.

Tom in TX

good deal. You will lose the voom channels, but you probably won't be missing much, seeing how they're hd-lite, along with dish's locals, as you mentioned.

I've been watching 33.2 OTA (The Tube) occasionally for a few days now. I've noticed continuous, brief, small, pixelation artifacts and frequent, brief audio disruption. The audio disruption can get rather annoying, especially for a music video channel.

It's been reported elsewhere that The Tube on 33.2 is still in testing stages, with the official launch on July 1. Hopefully, that means the problems will be cleared up soon since this looks like a pretty good music channel.

And, yeah, I'm also getting the video artifacts and audio problems.

Anyone else having any problems with WFAA? I first started to notice it last night when the HD feed wasn't coming in. I turned on the soccer game this morning and it says it is HD in the bottom logo but it has the black bars on the side.

Anyone else having any problems with WFAA? I first started to notice it last night when the HD feed wasn't coming in. I turned on the soccer game this morning and it says it is HD in the bottom logo but it has the black bars on the side.
I walked in during the end of the broadcast and didn't have any problems with my reception. I received it fine OTA, but it was during the last 10 minutes of the match.

I'm still having issues, even during non hd programming the shows looked squished together, the black bars on the side are larger than usual. I thought it might be the dish but I didn't have any problems with this until last night, came in great before that and every other channel comes in fine. Also, I am not getting a signal from my antenna for channel 8. I live in South Grand Prairie, not too far from the towers and i was getting great reception before that.

I'm still having issues, even during non hd programming the shows looked squished together, the black bars on the side are larger than usual. I thought it might be the dish but I didn't have any problems with this until last night, came in great before that and every other channel comes in fine. Also, I am not getting a signal from my antenna for channel 8. I live in South Grand Prairie, not too far from the towers and i was getting great reception before that.
I just went back and checked it again and everything is fine here. They're showing golf and I've been watching NASCAR on Fox.

How are you receiving the signal? OTA? Dish LIL or Direct LIL?

I have realized it is the Dish. I have been watching via the Dish Lil and ever since last night it has been acting up. I took out my indoor antenna this morning and did a scan and I am receiving it fine. If I play with the aspect ratio then it is fine. It is kind of funny that it worked fine until yesterday and now it is acting weird. I don't have any other problems except for this station.

It's been reported elsewhere that The Tube on 33.2 is still in testing stages, with the official launch on July 1. Hopefully, that means the problems will be cleared up soon since this looks like a pretty good music channel.

And, yeah, I'm also getting the video artifacts and audio problems.


So is this a new HD music channel or just another channel being broadcasted across the digital spectrum?

Kemical

So is this a new HD music channel or just another channel being broadcasted across the digital spectrum?

The Tube is a standard definition music video channel, not high definition. But it is of interest to at least some of us for several reasons:
1. It's a music channel available free and over the air -- which is nice for those of us who don't feel like sending a huge chunk of money to Comcast, DirecTV, or DISH every month.
2. Unlike MTV and VH1, the Tube actually plays music videos for more than about 15 minutes a day.
3. It's a subchannel that isn't just another weather map. For better or worse, they're actually attempting to do something a little different here.

The Tube is a standard definition music video channel, not high definition. But it is of interest to at least some of us for several reasons:
1. It's a music channel available free and over the air -- which is nice for those of us who don't feel like sending a huge chunk of money to Comcast, DirecTV, or DISH every month.
2. Unlike MTV and VH1, the Tube actually plays music videos for more than about 15 minutes a day.
3. It's a subchannel that isn't just another weather map. For better or worse, they're actually attempting to do something a little different here.

That's pretty cool. Wish it was in HD just so I could say that I had an additional HD channel, but hey, it's still way better than a weather map. :D

Kemical

New to the HD game. I am a D* customer who is thinking of buying an OTA antenna. I live on the border between Lewisville and The Colony. Any suggestions on the antenna and installation? I'd like to have it installed professionally but not have to pay an arm and a leg. I'm also assuming that I need to get a roof-mounted antenna? Am I correct in assuming this? Or could I get an indoor antenna? Thanks in advance. This site is great.

Welcome!

New to the HD game. I am a D* customer who is thinking of buying an OTA antenna. I live on the border between Lewisville and The Colony. Any suggestions on the antenna and installation? I'd like to have it installed professionally but not have to pay an arm and a leg. I'm also assuming that I need to get a roof-mounted antenna? Am I correct in assuming this? Or could I get an indoor antenna? Thanks in advance. This site is great.

This is a good place to start: AntennaWeb.org (http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx)

New to the HD game. I am a D* customer who is thinking of buying an OTA antenna. I live on the border between Lewisville and The Colony. Any suggestions on the antenna and installation? I'd like to have it installed professionally but not have to pay an arm and a leg. I'm also assuming that I need to get a roof-mounted antenna? Am I correct in assuming this? Or could I get an indoor antenna? Thanks in advance. This site is great.

I live in Coppell (not too far from you), and get OTA just fine with an antenna mounted (by me) in my attic. Outside would be best, however. I don't think you would have problems either way. Good luck!

Tom in TX

New to the HD game. I am a D* customer who is thinking of buying an OTA antenna. I live on the border between Lewisville and The Colony. Any suggestions on the antenna and installation? I'd like to have it installed professionally but not have to pay an arm and a leg. I'm also assuming that I need to get a roof-mounted antenna? Am I correct in assuming this? Or could I get an indoor antenna? Thanks in advance. This site is great.


I live up in Little Elm and can get OTA fairly well using a channel master antenna I got at Lowes for $80. I mounted it on the roof using a DTV dish mount and then attached an amplifier inside to get in ABC. You probablly would not need the amp where you live. If you have access to your coax lines in the attic I would try there first, if that doesn't work then move it to the roof and bring it in through one of your vents under the overhang. You will be pointing it to Cedar Hill which is pretty much South. Try not to use diplexers as they will cut the signal. If you do end up putting it on the roof use a tripod to mount it and try to put it about 3-6 ft above the roof. A tripod will run you about $30 from Radioshack. If you decide to have installed professionally then I would suggest to things. First, try to get D to install it for free as part of an upgrade in receivers. Second, I have heard that Circuit City will install one for around $150. Ideally, you can save a good amount by doing it yourself. If you do not have a ladder you can rent one from Home Depot for about $35 a day. It would be helpful, but not necessary to have a second person around to fine tune it, one being at the antenna while the second watches the signal strength. You will probably find that pointing it South with get you a pretty strong signal and will only need to fine tune it for ABC or PBS. Antennaweb.org will give you specific compass directions which will save you time in fine tuning. Hope this helps and good luck. This will be probably one of the best upgrades you will do for your system.

Kemical

It's been reported elsewhere that The Tube on 33.2 is still in testing stages, with the official launch on July 1. Hopefully, that means the problems will be cleared up soon since this looks like a pretty good music channel.

And, yeah, I'm also getting the video artifacts and audio problems.

I've been watching 33.2 The Tube this evening, and things seeem to be MUCH better regarding the video artifacts and audio problems.

I have realized it is the Dish. I have been watching via the Dish Lil and ever since last night it has been acting up. I took out my indoor antenna this morning and did a scan and I am receiving it fine. If I play with the aspect ratio then it is fine. It is kind of funny that it worked fine until yesterday and now it is acting weird. I don't have any other problems except for this station.
I came down with the same problem. The aspect ratio is way off. My OTA picture is fine, but the Dish receiver shows a picture that's been on Slimfast.

jrob529 I See kemical_head has given you some good points. DO NOT have Directv do an OTA install. You will not be happy. They only use a UHF antenna. I will send you a PM with some installers.
JStigler

We will be moving to the McKinney/Frisco area at the end of August. While looking at homes and reading this thread we noticed alot of people seem to be using satellites for their HD and basic tv needs. Here in San Antonio, more people seem to use Time Warner cable for these purposes. We were wondering what may be the differences between competitors in this area? Also, do the service providers offer HD, broadband internet, and broadband phone in this area or will i have to go with multiple providers?

All answers are appreciated....we are just trying to go with the most reliable service vs. mosty complete/reliable coverage and since we do not know the area...we thought some guidance from locals would be of great use.

k

We will be moving to the McKinney/Frisco area at the end of August. While looking at homes and reading this thread we noticed alot of people seem to be using satellites for their HD and basic tv needs. Here in San Antonio, more people seem to use Time Warner cable for these purposes. We were wondering what may be the differences between competitors in this area? Also, do the service providers offer HD, broadband internet, and broadband phone in this area or will i have to go with multiple providers?

All answers are appreciated....we are just trying to go with the most reliable service vs. mosty complete/reliable coverage and since we do not know the area...we thought some guidance from locals would be of great use.

k

Hi and welcome to the area!

I am a Comcast customer, and for the most part am very happy. I have recently seen somewhere in the neighborhood of $65/month in discounts expire (between TV and internet), so I am considering other alternatives. That said, I really have no major problem with Comcast...and I very well might remain with them. If they offer some good introductory offers, I don't think you can go too far wrong with them. The fact that there is no term commitment is very nice for 'wading in' to things. Their broadband is second to none, unless you have access to FIOS (from Verizon), and then I haven't heard that much regarding 'real world' experiences with them. I can tell you that I was downloading some HD video stuff from Microsoft the other day, and I hit 840Kb on download speed. It didn't linger there, but it hit it and never was below 765Kb or so...pretty good!

One very nice thing about Comcast is the selection of HD, if that applies to you. And they carry HD content unmolested...what they receive from the provider is what you get.

The Comcast PVR solution can be prone to bugs...they seem to have some pretty serious QC problems. However, I have a Phase I DCT-6412 box, and it has rarely, if ever, failed me. Although it could prove aggravating, you can just keep calling 'til they give you one that works!

I can't speak to Comcast's digital phone offering...I have no experience with that. I use Vonage. :-)

And one other thing worth noting...Comcast DFW is slated to be turned over to TimeWarner, though no timeline is available. This may or may not affect service offerings...


I hope you find this (limited) viewpoint somewhat helpful...

-Randy

I've moved into a new home in north Arlington (JUST south of I-30, between Davis and Cooper). I'm looking to start receiving HD via the OTA tuner on the DirecTV H10-250. Looking for antennae suggestions (would prefer indoor, but realize that might not be possible) from folks in a similiar situation.

I've moved into a new home in north Arlington (JUST south of I-30, between Davis and Cooper). I'm looking to start receiving HD via the OTA tuner on the DirecTV H10-250. Looking for antennae suggestions (would prefer indoor, but realize that might not be possible) from folks in a similiar situation.

You are about 12 miles from the transmitter sites in Cedar Hill. Rabbit ears should work.

I live in Grand Prairie and use a SilverSensor that I bought on ebay for $10 and it works great. I typically get signal strength in the high 80s

I've moved into a new home in north Arlington (JUST south of I-30, between Davis and Cooper). I'm looking to start receiving HD via the OTA tuner on the DirecTV H10-250. Looking for antennae suggestions (would prefer indoor, but realize that might not be possible) from folks in a similiar situation.

Try a channel master from Lowes or Home Depot for about $80. You should easily get everything. There are a couple of indoor solutions from Terk you could try, however an outdoor antenna even in your attic will get you a better signal and will probably cost the same as a good indoor. There are also a couple of small outdoor antenna's, one looks like a square that attaches outside that you could try inside. Also go to antennaweb.org to see the channels and compass orientaions to help when setting it up.

Kemical

We will be moving to the McKinney/Frisco area at the end of August. While looking at homes and reading this thread we noticed alot of people seem to be using satellites for their HD and basic tv needs. Here in San Antonio, more people seem to use Time Warner cable for these purposes. We were wondering what may be the differences between competitors in this area? Also, do the service providers offer HD, broadband internet, and broadband phone in this area or will i have to go with multiple providers?

All answers are appreciated....we are just trying to go with the most reliable service vs. mosty complete/reliable coverage and since we do not know the area...we thought some guidance from locals would be of great use.

k


I had both for about two months side-by side when I first moved here. It really is going to come down to what you already have. Here are some highlights and if I do not answer your question feel free to PM me or ask me here.

Comcast:
The Good:
1. Biggest advantage is that there are no upfront costs for a HD DVR. You can usually find some deal where they will install it for free or give you free programming or even both. The deal I got was a free install, free HBO and Starz, free HD package for a year. I also had high speed internet. My package total was $75 for everything for a year. So price is tempting.

2. Their customer service was good, never had a problem.

3. All local HD channels available, TNT, ESPN, Discovery and a couple more. Total was I believe 15.

4. The two tuner box only required one cable to be run to it which simplified the install.

5. Any other TV's in the house can be connected with no box and get basic cable (great for guest rooms).

6. HD DVR interface allows you to browse the menu, recorded shows and guide while the current channel is displayed in a smaller box, kind of like Picture-in-Picture.

7. One bill for cable and internet.

8. DVR has similar features to TIVO, SIMILIAR, NOT EXACT.

The bad:
1. The HD DVR box software was slow sometimes and if you hit a key more than once it would que the command until it executed it. Another words, if you hit the fast forward button and it doesn't respond immediately and you hit it again then the box would do it twice when it executed the command. More of an annoyance than anything.

2. Menu functionality had a clumsy feel to it. Here is the disclaimer, if you have never used TIVO then you probably wouldn't notice it.

3. Only about 15hrs of HD recording available before you either have to erase something or it does before you cane record something new. Not a big deal unless you record all the premiers and don't have time to watch it.

4. Channels below 100 are not digital, which means that channels 2 through 99 may or may not look great.

Verizon and Ceabridge cable are pretty similar to Comcast except Verizon has FIOS which is way faster internet and is fully digital via fiber. But the channel offerings are pretty much the same and they use the same box that Comcast uses.

DirecTV:
The good:
1. Their HD DVR box uses TIVO software. If you have used Tivo, then there is no need to explain how great this is. If you haven't then you do not know what you are missing, so don't worry about it.

2. They have Sunday Ticket - If you are a football fanatic then this is a must. All the football you could want. They also have various other sports packages that cable and Verizon do not have.

3. HD content is pretty good, however most DirecTV folks with a HD DVR use an OTA to get local HD, not a big deal. Nine HD channels plus whatever you can pick up OTA. Yes, they do have ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX HD, but only for their MPEG4 boxes which means you cannot record them yet. This will change soon, possibly this September.

4. They have various foreign channels.

5. 100% digital, all channels.

The bad:
1. Upfront costs can be enormous. Their HD DVR costs $400 unless you can get some sort of a deal and this is a lease.

2. Two year contract.

3. They do not offer any real internet packages. (DirectWay does not count do to the cost).

4. You have to use an OTA to get the local HD channels and be able to record them. Yes, the do offer the local ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox in HD over the satellite, however this is in MPEG4 and they do not have a MPEG4 DVR yet.

Dish is pretty much like DirecTV without the sports packages and TIVO, however they do have the most HD channels, something like 25 channels (Not that anyone watches Monster HD).

The reality is if you are a football or sports fan then more than likely you will want DirecTV. Also, if you are a TIVO user then DirecTV will be the way to go. If not then any of the others would be great with little upfront costs. Personally, I am on DirecTV because I like TIVO so much and the Comcast box just didn't do it for me. Of the other ones I would suggest Verizon first because they have the most potential to add more interactive services in the future since they are based on fiber. One last thing, a lot of people will discuss picture quality of the HD content, OTA being the best and DirecTV being the worst. Side-by side I cannot tell the difference between OTA and DirecTV HD, just my opinion. Hope this helps.

Kemical

Any info on any of the local Dallas stations going to HD for their news cast?

I read in January of Feburary that CBS is upgrading their O/O's for HD news. It's almost July now, so my money's on 11 really soon.

...Dish [has] the most HD channels, something like 25 channels (Not that anyone watches Monster HD).

Hehehe...I realize that statement was tongue-in-cheek, but I happen to love Monsters HD. GameplayHD is great, also, if not a little repetitive. The VoOm tier are basically niche channels.

Hehehe...I realize that statement was tongue-in-cheek, but I happen to love Monsters HD. GameplayHD is great, also, if not a little repetitive. The VoOm tier are basically niche channels.


Personally, I haven't seen any of the old VOOM channels, however everything I read back when VOOM was still here lead me to believe that the programming offered from those HD channels was older and not mainstream. If this is incorrect, I apologize. When most people start counting HD channels they usually consider ESPN, HD Discovery, HD National Geographic, HDNet, etc... not usually Family Room HD or Kung Fu HD. Look, I applaud the effort by Dish and I really wish DirecTV would get on the ball and add some more HD channels (and I do not mean adding more ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox LIL channels, seriously, how do they get away with saying they are adding 1500 HD channels when in reality it's 4 maybe 5 depending on where you live, but I degress). Anyway, my main point on the HD channel availability was that for the most part everyone is offering pretty much the same amount and no one is taking the lead on this. Again, this is just my opinion and I think everyone here can agree on two things, more HD is wanted and opinions are like ****oles, everyone has one. :D

Kemical

If anyone from KDAF reads this board, tell the people in charge I love TheTube. I can't believe we get it for free. Major kudos to KDAF for the addition.

...Personally, I haven't seen any of the old VOOM channels, however everything I read back when VOOM was still here lead me to believe that the programming offered from those HD channels was older and not mainstream....

I agree with your statement! That's why I said that the VoOm tier were "niche" channels (i.e. "not mainstream")

Most of the VoOm tier consist of channels that only interest a specific part of the population. One is either very interested in the content or not interested at all. It can even be said that one who likes the channel is a "rabid fan", while the one who dislikes the channel most likely abhores it.

I watched about 2 hours of "TheTube" yesterday and I loved it.

Reminded me when I was a teenager in the 80's and sit in front of MTV and watch VIDEOS all day.

I agree with your statement! That's why I said that the VoOm tier were "niche" channels (i.e. "not mainstream")

Most of the VoOm tier consist of channels that only interest a specific part of the population. One is either very interested in the content or not interested at all. It can even be said that one who likes the channel is a "rabid fan", while the one who dislikes the channel most likely abhores it.

120,
I apologize if that came off as if I were upset or jumping back at you, that was definetely not my intention. I really was just trying to elaborate on my previous statement and the lack of "Quality HD" channels and programming from the industry. While we have come a long way, I am just disappointed that after almost 8 years of the first HD TV being shipped we still only have on average 15 HD channels with quality programming (excluding the niche channels that Dish offers). This is out of what, 200 some odd channels. Even payper view is limited to one to two channels in HD. Am I the only one who thinks this is pure crud? We jump up and down everytime we either get a new HD channel or one more program is broadcast in HD. C'mon, give me a friggin break. And before anyone says that it is due to the lack of HD cameras and recording/brodcast equipment, the last time I checked the average commercial cost a cool million and manufactures were subsidizing the heck out of HD. This is just another example of how we really do not live in a free market society, because if we did there sure as heck would be more channel offerings out there than currently. It just blows my mind that consumers are satisfied with the amount of programming available and are not demanding more. And that we allow companies to spin cycle their products so much that you would think they discovered the cure for cancer.

Alright, I am getting back off the soapbox and headed back to the cave.

Kemical

KH, sounds like someone hit a nerve with you. Not trying to be argumentative but the lack of HD programming has everything to do with a free market society. There are three discussion points for the lack of HD programming.

1 - The mandated analog broadcast turn off date is not until 2009. This delays the inevitable awareness by the general public about digital TV, and subsequently, HD. Ask the common TV owner on the street about digital TV or how exactly to get HD and they are totally clueless. This group comprises more than 90% of the available marketplace.

2 - Lack of HD capable setups, whether they be cable, OTA, or satellite subscribers. See #1 above. The total number of viewers who have HD setups capable of viewing HD programming today is still less than 10%. There are a lot of HD capable displays out there but they are not being hooked up with HD. It is just too complicated for people who don't care one way or another, like my wife. :)

3 - With the situation described in reasons 1 and 2 above, what incentive would content originators and networks have to hurry to put the expensive and proverbial cart before the horse? It is most certainly a free market decision consisting of a lack of demand dictating a limited amount of supply. Just because you and I want more programming does not make it cost effective.

That having been said things get better for HD programming every year. An example is network golf on the weekends. In the last two weeks a senior event and an LPGA event has been in HD. Before this year the only HD event for golf was the Masters and the US Open. I can assure you I have NEVER watched an LPGA event more than 30 minutes before. But since it was in HD I stuck with it for hours on Saturday and Sunday.

It's only 3 years until February 2009 when everyone will have to be digital and awareness will skyrocket. Market penetration will accellerate at that point. We are getting there faster than you think.

People say that there are only 15-25 HD Channels available, but if you bought a new HD TV and receiver today there would be enough programming out there to last you for many months.

I do not look at how many channels there are, I look at how many programs and movies there are in HD, almost everything on CBS is HD now including the Soap Operas in the daytime, most Golf tournaments are in HD now. There are many baseball games and basketball games in HD. So add up the programs and you should be able to keep yourself occupied, many program on NBC and ABC are also HD. If all this does not keep you occupied, you are watching too much television.

JMHO


Bill

KH, sounds like someone hit a nerve with you. Not trying to be argumentative but the lack of HD programming has everything to do with a free market society. There are three discussion points for the lack of HD programming.

1 - The mandated analog broadcast turn off date is not until 2009. This delays the inevitable awareness by the general public about digital TV, and subsequently, HD. Ask the common TV owner on the street about digital TV or how exactly to get HD and they are totally clueless. This group comprises more than 90% of the available marketplace.

2 - Lack of HD capable setups, whether they be cable, OTA, or satellite subscribers. See #1 above. The total number of viewers who have HD setups capable of viewing HD programming today is still less than 10%. There are a lot of HD capable displays out there but they are not being hooked up with HD. It is just too complicated for people who don't care one way or another, like my wife. :)

3 - With the situation described in reasons 1 and 2 above, what incentive would content originators and networks have to hurry to put the expensive and proverbial cart before the horse? It is most certainly a free market decision consisting of a lack of demand dictating a limited amount of supply. Just because you and I want more programming does not make it cost effective.

That having been said things get better for HD programming every year. An example is network golf on the weekends. In the last two weeks a senior event and an LPGA event has been in HD. Before this year the only HD event for golf was the Masters and the US Open. I can assure you I have NEVER watched an LPGA event more than 30 minutes before. But since it was in HD I stuck with it for hours on Saturday and Sunday.

It's only 3 years until February 2009 when everyone will have to be digital and awareness will skyrocket. Market penetration will accellerate at that point. We are getting there faster than you think.

Ok, sometimes I get on a rant, so no, a nerve did not get hit. Now, I know you are not being argumenative and I do like a good debate. That being said, I disagree with you on a couple of points:

1. HD capable TV sales out sold analog TV's last year (feel free to look this up at twice.com), which means a lot more people have them than you think.

2. If you go to any of the providers of TV programming, ie Comcast, DirecTV, Dish, etc.. They all tout HD right on the front page of their programming, so to say that people are not exposed to it or that capable setups are not available I would have to disagree. This has been an easy add on for providers to push their revenue dollars per person up just like DVR's. And as far as complicated to hook up, one cable whether it is a coax cable or HDMI is not hard to hook up and even the DVI units only require audio to be hooked up seperately. People have been doing this for the last 15 years to their VCR's for recording purposes. I really think that people who are buying HD sets are 1. Are asking how to get HD and 2. Are asking how to hook them up.

3. Granted, it might be a free market in the very BS sense, however so is the oil market and we all know how free that is.

Final point, don't take anything I say as being argumenative, degrading or just mean. I like these forums because they allow people with different opinions to debate and discuss the latest in HT/TV, so I hope that you read my response that way and not as anything more. I really do like a good discussion/debate on anything related to CE.

Thank you,

Kemical

People say that there are only 15-25 HD Channels available, but if you bought a new HD TV and receiver today there would be enough programming out there to last you for many months.

I do not look at how many channels there are, I look at how many programs and movies there are in HD, almost everything on CBS is HD now including the Soap Operas in the daytime, most Golf tournaments are in HD now. There are many baseball games and basketball games in HD. So add up the programs and you should be able to keep yourself occupied, many program on NBC and ABC are also HD. If all this does not keep you occupied, you are watching too much television.

JMHO


Bill


Ok Bill, same as I stated above, this is not meant to be argumentative, degrading or just mean, so please do not take it that way.

In my original statement I said that just because something is broadcast in HD does not necessarily make it worth while TV. If the QVC channel was in HD, would you really watch it? Just because there is a decent amount of programming coming from the existing channels does not mean that there is variety. First, I was not stating that there was not enough programming, but that there was not enough channels providing programming. Personally, I would like to see the USA and Scifi channels in HD or how about the FX channel. All of these have very good programming that would be great in HD. As far as that goes, Battlestar Galatica is re-broadcast in HD on UHD, how ironic is that? HDNET re-broadcasts a lot of programming that started on USA. While I do know that some of these are simply upconverted programs, the ability is there and for the stations to not do it just because they do not feel that it would be worthwhile, that astounds me and you should be also. Imagine if only Ford had built cars because everyone else thought "well, the horse and buggy is just fine". We wouldn't have the cars today that we do. The demand is there, it's just not as vocal as it probably could be. And one other thing, many companies come up with a product and create demand for it through advertising and educating the consumer. Look at Viagra, was impotence that bad of an issue for our society or did the drug companies just make it seem like it was a friggin plague?

On your final point, I do not watch to much TV (not that you said I did), however when I do, I like variety and since I am used to having 200+ channels of variety, I do not think it's too much to ask for in having more than 15 channels to choose from for HD.

Again, I am not blasting you Bill, so do not take it that way.

Thank you,
Kemical

You are about 12 miles from the transmitter sites in Cedar Hill. Rabbit ears should work.

I second that. Try the rabbit ears first. I live in South Arlington. I switched the outdoor antenna that I was using for my analog tuner over to the HDTV box and had trouble. Per recommendations here, I hooked up some old rabbit ears instead and it works great! Occasionally I have to twist the UHF loop a little bit to get 5/8/13, but in general it works great.

I watched about 2 hours of "TheTube" yesterday and I loved it.

Reminded me when I was a teenager in the 80's and sit in front of MTV and watch VIDEOS all day.



Aaahhhh!!!! The good ole days. I too remember doing that and I have to admit that TubeTV brings back that feeling for me too.

Out of curiousity, has anyone noticed whether or not TubeTv is broadcasting in Dolby Digital or stereo? I believe it's stereo, but I wanted to double check with everyone.

Thank you,

Kemical