Hey all...short time lurker on this Knoxville thread..figured I'd introduce myself. I'm Brett, and my wife and I live in the Powell area. We currently have a Mits WD62725 in our home theater - still loving it, though I can't help but daydream about it's eventual replacement.

We've been longtime DirecTV customers. I used to feel some loyalty to DirecTV, but now I just consider it the lesser of several evils. We have the HR10-250 DVR, and love it. It has it's issues, but it is a HD TiVo and I'll hold on to it like grim death. DirecTV better have its hardware ducks in a row when they make me replace it, or they can go to....well, anyway.

For OTA, I'm using the Winegard HD7210P Ghost Killer, which was the third antenna solution - it's proved to be the most reliable, though it's still susceptible to high winds and such. And ice storms - it doesn't like ice storms.

Anyway, enough blathering...nice to have found this thread! :D

Brett

Anyone else had a sudden signal strength drop on Channel 8-1(CBS-WVLT) in Knoxville?

Yesterday, while watching the Titans, then the Chargers/Broncos, the signal was pretty low. And conditions at my place were fine, so something must have been up.

Also, did anyone notice that it took WVLT a LOOOOONG TIIIIME to swith on the HD feed for the Chargers/Broncos game. What's up with that? Is it really a situation where somebody at the local affiliate has to flip a switch? If so, WAKE UP! I tried calling down there, but they're conveniently unavailable on Sunday afternoons.

Also, did anyone notice that it took WVLT a LOOOOONG TIIIIME to swith on the HD feed for the Chargers/Broncos game. What's up with that? Is it really a situation where somebody at the local affiliate has to flip a switch? If so, WAKE UP! I tried calling down there, but they're conveniently unavailable on Sunday afternoons.

Welcome to the Forum Brett!

Yea, that's channel 8. :rolleyes: Next time try calling the news desk and ask to be transferred to master control.

Welcome,Brett....

What DaverJ said is correct.I'll elaborate in saying that there is always someone to answer the phone at ALL the stations(gotta get that breaking news!).Just get them to transfer you to master control(aka-engineering) and tell them to flip the HD switch.

What problems with your HR10-250?

Hi All,

Just ordered up a new Sony HDTV for Xmas. We are out in southwest Loudon County, about 35 miles from Sharps Ridge, and antennaweb says NO Knoxville digital stations for us. :( It does say we should be able to get WBXX, but I'm not sure there is anything on there worth watching.

But with no Knox HD locals from either sat vendor, I am going to give it a shot with a high gain OTA antenna anyway. I'm just wondering if anyone has succeeded in pulling in HD stations OTA when antennaweb said they couldn't?

If you want to have an idea about reception of Knoxville channels prior to purchasing a HD set, just look at the reception you get from the analog channels. For instance, channel 43 is transmitting from a common antenna that includes WATE-DT, WBIR-DT, and WTNZ-DT. If you can get channel 43 analog (NTSC) with a watchable and stable signal, the same antenna should get the DTV channels.

FYI, my Dad lives in Monroe county and can easily receive all of the Knoxville channels. He is in a good spot with an outside antenna. This distance is about 45 miles.

Hi Patrick,

Set's purchased. We are just awaiting its arrival. Right now we get the Knox locals via DirecTV, but they aren't carrying them in HD and neither is Dish, so an OTA is the only option, other than waiting.

I will probably try a high gain antenna as soon as the holidays are over and I have enough time to fool with it. I was kind of hoping some other folks buried back behind the ridges might post and say what kind of luck they had doing the same. Unlike your Dad, we are not in a good spot, unfortunately.

We also have to decide whether to stay with DirecTV or change to Dish before we order HD programming. Not knowing the status of HD on the locals for either sat provider doesn't make that any easier.

Also, did anyone notice that it took WVLT a LOOOOONG TIIIIME to swith on the HD feed for the Chargers/Broncos game. What's up with that? Is it really a situation where somebody at the local affiliate has to flip a switch? If so, WAKE UP! I tried calling down there, but they're conveniently unavailable on Sunday afternoons.

I noticed that. They are so used to having Titans games that are only in SD, I think they forget about the second game.

Hello all,

I just moved to the Knoxville area - in the northwest off of Pleasant Ridge (a road off of Western Avenue). The antennaweb site puts all of the major broadcasting antennas in yellow (I guess because Sharps Ridge is 3 miles away). There is a HUGE hill obstructing my view to the ridge though. Do you think a simple indoor HDTV antenna will get a clear signal from my home? I can't wait to get my Mitsubishi 65732 going strong.

Thanks in advance!

Did you the antennaweb map show your house (the star) in its correct location? If so, the hill should already be factored in. If not, I suggest redoing it and using the map controls to make sure your location is correct. The projections may change.

Did you the antennaweb map show your house (the star) in its correct location? If so, the hill should already be factored in. If not, I suggest redoing it and using the map controls to make sure your location is correct. The projections may change.

I am almost at the top of the hill and had problems getting a signal, had to move the antenna to the attic and find a sweet spot.

Hello all,

I just moved to the Knoxville area - in the northwest off of Pleasant Ridge (a road off of Western Avenue). The antennaweb site puts all of the major broadcasting antennas in yellow (I guess because Sharps Ridge is 3 miles away). There is a HUGE hill obstructing my view to the ridge though. Do you think a simple indoor HDTV antenna will get a clear signal from my home? I can't wait to get my Mitsubishi 65732 going strong.

Thanks in advance!

I live in Powell a couple of miles behind that hill. I have an indoor antenna and can get all the channels. WBIR is somewhat more unstable as far as signal strength compared to the others.

Unstable signal strength is probably due to multipath or ghosting. I'd plan on an attic or outside antenna. Putting an antenna inside with people moving around changing the received signal strength and causing random reflections is not good practice.

That being said, a lot of people get it to work okay and it doesn't take a lot of effort to try. There are too many variables to do any better than just a guess.

Just want to report my situation. I live at zip 37821 just on the Cocke/Jefferson county line near English mountain. My elevation is around 1600ft.
I have a medium to large but old VHF/UHF combo antenna and channel master preamp. Pointed straight at Knoxville. Antenna Web places my distance at 37 to 38 miles to the antenna farm on the ridge.

My H20 and HR20 pick up the following channels reliably:

2-1 WETPDT
2-2 WETPDT2
5-1 WCYBDT (not on HR-20 due to error in guide/channel map from DirectTV)
5-2 CW4 (not on HR-20 due to error in guide/channel map from DirectTV)
6-1 WATEDT
6-2 WATEDT2
7-1 WMAKDT
7-2 WMAKDT2
8-1 WVLTDT
8-2 WVLTDT2
10-1 WBIRD
10-2 WBIRWX (not on HR-20 due to error in guide/channel map from DirectTV)
15-1 WKOPDT
15-2 WKOPDT2
20-1 WBXXDT
43-1 WTNZDT
43-2 WTNZDT2
54-1 WPXXDT
54-2 WPXXDT2
54-3 WPXXDT3
54-4 WPXXDTWORSHIP (not on HR-20 due to error in guide/channel map from DirectTV)

Something weird going on on 2-1 WETP-DT. Sometimes I have 100% signal but the video and audio is blank. Sometimes it reports itself as 2-1 WETP-HD.

That's not a bad "situation". Bet you were happy to discover that your old yagi was HD ready!

That's not a bad "situation". Bet you were happy to discover that your old yagi was HD ready!

I am a EE by trade, so I never fell for the "Must have a HDTV antenna to get HD" pitch.

But I was concerned about how good it could be here until I got my H20 & HR20 last week. Last night I got the OTA enabled on the HR20 so life is good here...

The H20 seems to have a better tuner than the HR20. The later still has some OTA bugs to get worked out.

Who would have thought that in 2006 outdoor antennas would make a comeback?

Anyone else having a blank screen on 6-2 weather?

Yes I do. It must be off the air. I have had it for about 2-3 days

Here is a response I got from WATE on 6-2:

Brantel,

Thank you for contacting WATE. You are correct that 6.2 has been dark for about 3 days. We had to pull our feed off the air on New Year's Eve. As of January 1, 2007 the FCC requires all stations to carry 3 hours of original children's programming, even on secondary digital channels such as 6.2. We do not have this type of programming available. However, even if we did have the programming available we do not have the ability to switch or monitor it in the control room at this time. Therefore the decision was made to turn the channel dark until other arrangements can be made. We have heard that multiple stations around the country are facing the dilemma and have also chosen to pull their feeds. Please contact me if you have any additional questions.


Regards,


Programming Administrator and Executive Assistant
WATE-TV Knoxville, Tennessee

Here is a response I got from WATE on 6-2:

Brantel,

Thank you for contacting WATE. You are correct that 6.2 has been dark for about 3 days. We had to pull our feed off the air on New Year's Eve. As of January 1, 2007 the FCC requires all stations to carry 3 hours of original children's programming, even on secondary digital channels such as 6.2. We do not have this type of programming available. However, even if we did have the programming available we do not have the ability to switch or monitor it in the control room at this time. Therefore the decision was made to turn the channel dark until other arrangements can be made. We have heard that multiple stations around the country are facing the dilemma and have also chosen to pull their feeds. Please contact me if you have any additional questions.


Regards,

Melanie Maassen
Programming Administrator and Executive Assistant
WATE-TV Knoxville, Tennessee
(865) 633-6902 Phone
(865) 525-4091 FaxI guess it's time for me to get into creating 'Original Children's Programming!'

Brantel,

In answer to your previous questions...I do not know why 10.2 and some other secondary digital channels have remained on the air. The case may be that those stations either have the capability to monitor their secondary digital channels at this time and have therefore found the necessary children's programming to meet the new regulations, or they could be ignoring it all together in hopes that the FCC will revise their regulations soon. This is grey area because there are no direct examples to compare it to, but we have been advised by our legal counsel not to take that risk.

It was certainly not the goal of the FCC to force stations to pull their programming off the air, but unfortunately that is what has happened. The FCC was trying to make sure that there is plenty of children's programming options available in a day and age where television is aggressively becoming more "adult." Children's programming also makes little to no revenue for stations so without a mandate many stations would probably prefer not to air any at all. So then the issue becomes which channels have to carry children's programming and which are exempt? That is what many ownership groups are asking the FCC to examine now. So, yes, we are working to bring it back. We certainly did not want to take it off the air in the first place!

I hope this makes some kind of sense!

Programming Administrator and Executive Assistant
WATE-TV Knoxville, Tennessee

Gee, thanks to the FCC!

I asssume you had permission to reprint the email. :,)

Anyone looking for a 65" HDTV in perfect condition? Professionally calibrated Toshiba in the Lenoir City area. $800, your freight. PM me or reach me @ eileenandcarl@charter.net

Carl :)

I get the HD of ABC, CBS, FOX and PBS thru Charter using the built-in tuner in my Sony with Charter. PBS always looks the best. Leave it to public broadcasting to do HD correctly.

Can you or someone tell me what sation FOXHD is on comcast's QAM. I've had my tv for a couple of months now and thought that fox was not offered yet but now I think my QAM tuner can't pick it up. Also, what station is PBS QAM? I also don't pick it up.

Are there any channels that can be picked up by QAM through Comcast they normally don't offer to customers? I read in one of the other city's forum some systems did that. I was wondering if that went on in Knoxville.

Does anyone know why WPXK DT23 (I network) has such low licensed broadcast power (18,000 watts)? I only get it when atmospheric conditions are above average reception-wise. Their analog ch.54 is at 4.9 million watts. I know digital operates at lower power but you certainly can't replicate coverage with 18,000 watts.

Does anyone know why WPXK DT23 (I network) has such low licensed broadcast power (18,000 watts)? I only get it when atmospheric conditions are above average reception-wise. Their analog ch.54 is at 4.9 million watts. I know digital operates at lower power but you certainly can't replicate coverage with 18,000 watts.

I don't know if this is the reason or not, but my CW affiliate in Nashville, TN is broadcasting its digital channel on 23, and I don't know if WPXK is the reason my CW digital channel is only broadcasting at 350,000 watts instead of at full power of 1 million watts. I hope that helps.

NashDigie signing off.

For the last few days I have noticed that I am not receiving WBIR-DT 10-1 or 10-2. I have a large deep fringe yagi type UHF antenna mounted in the attic. I have been receiving WBIR-DT with a good signal ever since they first went on the air, but I can no longer get it.
I have a Directv HR-10 DVR and I can receive CBS, FOX, and PBS just fine. I thought maybe the receiver has lost the lock on in its digital memory so I just did a scan of all the OTA channels and it won't scan WBIR-DT.

Does anyone know if they are broadcasting at a low power or is there anything wrong with their transmitter or it something wrong on my end?

Larry Raulston

Larry, I have the same reciever and I've had no prolems getting the 10's. I would not discount the possibility that the MPEG4 transition might even be to blame. Our model is doing some strange things at times. I had to call Direc aout 3 weeks ago when all my OTA Season Passes ceased to function correctly and my To Do list read none scheduled for all those OTA programs.

Two days last week, all my scheduled recording disapeared for two days in a row. I was gonna call again but on the 3rd day, it all came back.

I'm just sayin' it is possible that your Tivo is havin' a reaction to whatever it is exactly they're doing to knit MPEG4 in.....? Then again, maybe not?

If nothing happens in the next couple of days I supposse that I will have to go up into the attic and inspect the wires. Maybe I have a little unwelcome creature that is gnawing at the cables.

Last year my right front speaker in my home theatre went out. I found that the monster cable wire that was embedded in the ceililng was interrupted somewhere along its route.
Fortunately I had an extra wire that I could connect to and restore the right front speaker.
Now it has gone out again. I willl have to tear into the sheetrock and run new wires. Oh I dread that. I can only surmise that something similar has happened again.

Larry

Larry,

Let me save you some trouble.

Work is being done on the UHF transmission lines on Sharp's Ridge. WATE-DT, WBIR-DT WTNZ-TV/DT are all at reduced power to facilitate the work. The tower crew is about half way through and it is hoped that everyone will be at full power no later than Friday, weather permitting.

Additionally, it was discovered that DirecTV's receive antenna for WTNZ-TV (43) is misaligned creating the ghosting problem seen recently. There's always been a slight ghosting problem on DirecTV, but this problem appears to have been exacerbated due to the reduction of power. DirectTV has been contacted and a tech has been dispatched to realign the antenna.

Hope this helps!

Tom Theilmann
WTNZ-TV/DT

Mr. Theilmann...

Thanks so much for posting and welcome to the forum! Your input is appreciated, so please -- don't be a stranger.

Tom,
So while your in here, a quick WNTZ question. Why is the audio on WTNZ so much louder than the other local channels during ads?

Work is being done on the UHF transmission lines on Sharp's Ridge. WATE-DT, WBIR-DT WTNZ-TV/DT are all at reduced power to facilitate the work. The tower crew is about half way through and it is hoped that everyone will be at full power no later than Friday, weather permitting.



Ahh. Explains alot. I haven't been able to receive WTNZ-DT for several days now and had attributed it to unusually persistent co-channel interference from analog WB 34 in Campbellsville, KY. Mostly, the interference occurs whenever there is tropo enhancement from northwest of me, but lately it has been constant and I'd now assume this is due to the reduced power of WTNZ.

Additionally, WTNZ's analog signal hasn't been as snow-free as usual. I've been pulling my hair out trying to figure out what I'd done with my recent antenna rig changes to cause it.

Not to rub it in to our friends on the out-lying areas, but the last two nights of "24" have been surprisingly solid on WTNZ. 24 is notorious for high def because of the constant shot changes and handheld camera work, but I noticed very little compression artifacting that I remember from previous seasons on the same channel.

American Idol will be the real test. I don't know if the low-power actually helps clean up the signal ( :confused: ), but these last couple days have looked pretty good for Fox on my end.

As for the ending of tonight's (Monday 1-15) "24"... :eek: damn.

Is it just me or has WVLT-DT's picture quality just stunk the last couple of nights? While watching the Colts-Ravens game on Saturday, the picture was good. But during Sunday's Patriots-Chargers game and during last night's prime time programming, the quality stunk. Maybe our friendly engineer at WTNZ will consider changing stations.

I also noticed last night that WBXX had their HD feed going again and the picture quality was outstanding.

Is it just me or has WVLT-DT's picture quality just stunk the last couple of nights?

It's just you....they consistently look poor to me! They have consistent problems with macroblocking on HD. It always reveals itself to the fullest on sports. Actually, a couple of nights ago their pic did look a little darker than usual....or maybe I'm looney too? ;) ....which is a distinct possibility? Hey, on 8, even on a regular HD show you'll see the blocking occasionally.

We've harped about 8 on here for years and nothin' ever changes..... :)

It's just you....they consistently look poor to me! They have consistent problems with macroblocking on HD. It always reveals itself to the fullest on sports. Actually, a couple of nights ago their pic did look a little darker than usual....or maybe I'm looney too? ;) ....which is a distinct possibility? Hey, on 8, even on a regular HD show you'll see the blocking occasionally.

We've harped about 8 on here for years and nothin' ever changes..... :)Ditto, makes CSI look awful sometimes.

I know about that Rachel. It just seemed extra worse a few nights ago.

I know about that Rachel. It just seemed extra worse a few nights ago.

I thought everything looked too dark for a few days too. :)

I saw where WBXX has their HD going again. From what I saw of it the other night, it looks good. Maybe WVLT will give their people a call. :D

For the last few days I have noticed that I am not receiving WBIR-DT 10-1 or 10-2. I have a large deep fringe yagi type UHF antenna mounted in the attic. I have been receiving WBIR-DT with a good signal ever since they first went on the air, but I can no longer get it.
<snip>
Does anyone know if they are broadcasting at a low power or is there anything wrong with their transmitter or it something wrong on my end?

FYI...Transmission line work continues into next week so 6, 10 and 43 continue at 50% power.

Please don't adjust your set. ;)

Finally got the CM-4228 up in the attic. I'm getting all local channels out of Knoxville and also getting WBXX with no rotating. Signal strength from Knoxville is 84-88 with a CM-7778 preamp at 33 miles away. Looks like I may have to unhook the preamp if this is half power.thanks for all the info.

Hello all,

I just ventured into the HDTV by purchasing a Sylvania 6842THG. Granted, it's not the most expensive plasma, but the price was right at CC. Anyway, I seem to have pixelation on the screen and from what I've read this is more related to signal source than the TV. I have Comcast basic cable service (local analog channels and whatever Comcast transmits in the clear). I watched the colts/patriots game (CBSHD) and the pixelation was pretty bad. However, at CC I watched the saints/bears (FoxHD) and didn't notice the problem. Also, on espnHD, they've been showing tennis and the ball seems to blur a little.

Is this pixelation normal on the Comcast network HD signals and is there nothing I can do about (other than putting up an antennae)? I'm trying to decide whether to keep the HDTV.

As an added note, there are other digital channels that I get (e.g., SpeedTV, A&E) that I don't think I'm suppose to get. However, the picture looks great for these channels (no pixelation). It makes me think that maybe Comcast is compressing the signal quite abit for the network HD signals to save bandwidth, but not so for the other channels.

Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated. I live in the Hardin Valley area, so I haven't tried an antenna yet.

I saw where WBXX has their HD going again. From what I saw of it the other night, it looks good. Maybe WVLT will give their people a call. :D

Thanks for the heads-up... I checked and am getting around 65% - not bad.

However, I did record a prime-time episode of "Chris" and it was SD, even though the show said it's in HD "where available". :(

Do we know for a fact that WBXX is passing the HD feeds on their digital channel? :confused:

I still can't receive 10-1 or 43-1 with my directv HR10-250. Anybody know if they are still at reduced power due to work on the transmission lines or whatever was going on? This seems awfully strange because I have checked my antenna and the cabling (which is in the attic) and everything seems to be OK. I get all the other Knoxville stations (except 20-1) just fine, but on 10-1 and 43-1 my signal strengths are down in the 20s. I never had any reception problems even from the beginning when supposedly they were all transmitting with reduced power. I am in what was always a difficult area for analog OTA reception (severe ghosting) with a directional fringe UHF antenna in the attic, and I have a steeply pitched tile red tile roof.

I wonder if Rachel is right that directv may have screwed up our receivers with some of their downloads for the new MPEG4 HR20 receiver. I received a PM from someone else on the forum who is having the exact same problem. He can't receive 10-1 or 43-1 with his attic antenna but he can receive them with ?another receiver with rabbit ears.

Anybody have a clue?

Larry Raulston

Thanks for the heads-up... I checked and am getting around 65% - not bad.

However, I did record a prime-time episode of "Chris" and it was SD, even though the show said it's in HD "where available". :(

Do we know for a fact that WBXX is passing the HD feeds on their digital channel? :confused:

...to follow up, Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars prime time weren't in HD either.

I guess WBXX (The CW) is digital, but not High Definition yet. :(

...to follow up, Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars prime time weren't in HD either.

I guess WBXX (The CW) is digital, but not High Definition yet. :(

Does WBXX pass trough HD signal from the CW?

Does WBXX pass trough HD signal from the CW?

As far as I can tell WBXX is only transmitting standard def on their digital channel.

I still can't receive 10-1 or 43-1 with my directv HR10-250. Anybody know if they are still at reduced power due to work on the transmission lines or whatever was going on? Larry Raulston

Work is continuing on the transmission lines that serve WBIR-DT, WATE-DT, WTNZ-DT and NTSC. All are running 50% of normal full power. This power reduction by itself should not cause problems for any viewers except those at the extreme edge of the viewing area; however, the antenna pattern is also changed. The parameter in question is called beam tilt and is the directing of energy downward toward the viewing area from a high antenna location. Beam tilt is employed to help provide adequate signal for viewers near to (underneath) the main signal beam.

The shortened result is that viewers may lose more signal than a 50% power reduction would normally imply.

There has been no lack of effort from the tower crews to resolve these problems but the repair has been frustrating with new problems uncovered as the crew progresses. Program outages have all been (to date) in the early mornings before 5 AM. Climbing towers in the cold and dark is not for the timid.

I can't address the possibility of any misconfiguration from either of the DBS companies. I would suggest trying a known good receiver if available to eliminate that suspicion.

Pat

I live on the Jefferson/Cocke county line which is about 38 miles as the crow flies from the farm on the ridge and I tested my signals last night and WBIR-DT was 100% on my HR-20. WATE-DT was about 98%. WTNZ-DT was running about 78-80% and I was seeing audio dropouts and pixelation intermittently on there that I have never seen before.

As far as I can tell WBXX is only transmitting standard def on their digital channel.

I don't watch the CW much, but FYI "girlfriends" was in HD today when I checked.

I don't watch the CW much, but FYI "girlfriends" was in HD today when I checked.

Really? At 5:30pm on a Sunday WBXX had HD programming going? :confused:

Maybe I'm tuning into the wrong channel -- I'll have to check.

As far as I can tell WBXX is only transmitting standard def on their digital channel.

Well, how about that... tonight's "Chris" is in HD! It's kind of glitching a bit here in Fountain City, so I may have to adjust my antenna somewhat. But this bodes well for the CW here in Knoxville.

Way to go WBXX! :cool:

I stille don't get WBXX. Occasionally, I have it's picture but I've never had sound. I get all he other channels. My playroom TV's OTA tuner will get their analog, badly, and their digital about the same as the HD Tivo, hardly at all. I only live 20-25 feet above river level....I'm low.

WBXX has been back in HD for several weeks. They have a few syndicated weekend shows that are in HD and WBXX shows them that way. WBIR could learn something since Wheel of Fortune and a few others they carry are in HD.

FYI...transmission line work has ended for the time being and WBIR-DT (along with others) have returned to full power as of early this morning.

Pat

Climbing towers in the cold and dark is not for the timid.

Pat

Nor is it cheap. I read an article one time that said they charge by the foot on cell towers etc and there are a number of dangers in this line of work.

How hard would it be to pick up the locals via antenna from the Halls Crossroads area? Also, is that a good area to look at if a person is relocating to go to school in Harrogate, but has a wife who would be working possibly in DT Knoxville?

Thanks.

WBIR-DT and WNTZ-DT are now back with signal strengths in the 90's. I must be on the extreme edge of the viewing area as mentioned by PatrickT. We were always in sort of a viewing hole in the old days before cable came. ( Low down next to the river behind hills in all directions with a tall bluff behind us next to the river.)

Does anyone know any of the links to advice on combining antennas e.g. use of combiners, filters etc to avoid one of the antennas from interfering or cancelling the other? In my situation (attic mount, liminted space) a rotator is not going to be possible and I want to try to get WBBX.

Larry

Has any contacted Comcast lately their timetable on adding more HD channels? DirecTV is supposed to be adding around 150 HD channels by this summer. If Comcast doesn't start adding a bunch more by then, it might be time for me to switch back.

Has any contacted Comcast lately their timetable on adding more HD channels? DirecTV is supposed to be adding around 150 HD channels by this summer. If Comcast doesn't start adding a bunch more by then, it might be time for me to switch back.

I wouldn't get too excited about 150 HD channels just yet. What's gonna be on 'em? Direc has less than 10 channels in the HD package now and atleast one of 'em, TNT HD, totally sucks. Everything on it looks cropped, distorted squashed, well not everything but mostly...except the NBA in HD. They get that right. If there were 150 HD channels right now, there'd proably be 140 lousy ones...? ;) We'll see. I suspect we'll see lots of HD pay-per-view films and sports when their MPEG4 thing gets going...?

BTW, the new equipment sans Tivo interface is not to my liking, ergonomically.

Hey, Direc always talks big but everything always seems to take a long time to actually come to frutation.

Does anyone know any of the links to advice on combining antennas e.g. use of combiners, filters etc to avoid one of the antennas from interfering or cancelling the other? In my situation (attic mount, liminted space) a rotator is not going to be possible and I want to try to get WBBX.

Larry

A channel 50 jointenna should work. http://www.warrenelectronics.com/Antennas/joiners.htm

You could also use a group A/E combiner.

http://www.triax.co.uk/Products/MastheadCombinersFilters/Masthead%20Combiners.aspx?productId={0BBA1FE4-41E1-4659-9172-46C97D6045D4}&Tab=0

or

http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search2/browse.jsp?N=500009+401+411&Ntk=gensearch_003&Ntt=AP00083&Ntx=&_requestid=471317

TNT HD, totally sucks. Everything on it looks cropped, distorted squashed, well not everything but mostly...except the NBA in HD. They get that right.

That's TNT's doings. They stretch their picture for non-HD programming on their HD feed. It looks terrible, I won't watch anything like that.

Here are some of the channels they claim they will have later this year:

A&E
Bravo
Cartoon Network
CNN
Food Network
FX
HGTV
MTV National Geographic
NFL Network
SciFi Channel
Speed
TBS
The History Channel
The Weather Channel
USA Network

Could the Superbowl have looked any worse on WVLT? - It just freaking sucks....maybe on a 40" set you cant tell, but on a 100" screen, its a train wreck!

The macroblocking, the focus problems....its such a mess....

Do they not know how bad they suck compared to ALL the other stations that carry live HD sports?

The macroblocking, the focus problems....its such a mess....Do they not know how bad they suck compared to ALL the other stations that carry live HD sports?

I've let them know.....they don't seem to care. I can easily spot their blocking on my 36" HD tube, nearly as well as my big RP. They have no pride.....

Could the Superbowl have looked any worse on WVLT? - It just freaking sucks....maybe on a 40" set you cant tell, but on a 100" screen, its a train wreck!

The macroblocking, the focus problems....its such a mess....

Do they not know how bad they suck compared to ALL the other stations that carry live HD sports?

I had this problem when I was in Maryville using an OTA tuner, but when I moved I got a Motorola Moxi DVR and everything is much better now.

So in summary, I think the tuner can make a huge difference, but you also not realize that bigger is not always better because it will amplify problems.

Could the Superbowl have looked any worse on WVLT? - It just freaking sucks....maybe on a 40" set you cant tell, but on a 100" screen, its a train wreck!

The macroblocking, the focus problems....its such a mess....

Do they not know how bad they suck compared to ALL the other stations that carry live HD sports?

The Super Bowl looked good compared to the Patriots-Chargers game a few weeks ago.

Its not the tuner, when FOX, ABC, ESPN look awesome.....its VLT, they either don't have the bandwidth to send the right amount of data, or they are splitting up the bandwidth to show that crap ass CW or what ever it is now days.

A channel 50 jointenna should work. http://www.warrenelectronics.com/Antennas/joiners.htm



Thanks for the heads up on this cpcat. I just ordered a channel 50 jointenna from Warren.

Do you know how these work? It's my understanding that this box will pass or block one channel, but I'll need to combine this with another antenna that isn't passing or blocking that channel, right? Will I need a combiner to put both antennas on one coax line? :confused:

EDIT: Never mind, I found this helpful thread. (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=285263). I'll post my results when the jointenna comes in.

....or they are splitting up the bandwidth to show that crap ass CW or what ever it is now days.

It's got a new name, My East Tennessee, TV or somethin' approximating that. The only time I've had it on was a few bucketball games.

Gee, thanks to the FCC!

I asssume you had permission to reprint the email. :,)

Why do you think that you need permission to do this? You are WRONG.

Comcast in Knoxville shuffled their HD channels on 2/21/2007, as you've probably noticed if you're using a QAM tuner. ..they're no longer in the 102 -103 range. No difference on STB.

Have your tv do a re-scan for channels and you'll find the HD channels near the station identifier channel numbers, i.e. WTNZ Fox43 is now at 43.1 , Channel 8 is at 8.1, etc.

Comcast in Knoxville shuffled their HD channels on 2/21/2007, as you've probably noticed if you're using a QAM tuner. ..they're no longer in the 102 -103 range. No difference on STB.

Have your tv do a re-scan for channels and you'll find the HD channels near the station identifier channel numbers, i.e. WTNZ Fox43 is now at 43.1 , Channel 8 is at 8.1, etc.

Are you able to view program information from these QAM channels in the same way you can from the stations over-the-air?

Are you able to view program information from these QAM channels in the same way you can from the stations over-the-air?

I haven't seen any OTA broadcast lately, so i'm not sure what program info you are referring to, but i believe the answer is "No" because i see only the station call letters.

The local stations send program information that the OTA viewer can view from their TV or set top box. Typical information is current time, show title, show length, perhaps a short program synopsis. Usually this information is accessed by a "info" or "guide" button on the remote. Besides the channel ID showing up, this program information should also be available if your set supports it. I can't see this information myself because my set (unfortunately) has "TV Guide" build-in rather than PSIP. My other tuner (set top box) that does support OTA PSIP correctly is tied to an outside antenna and difficult to rewire so I had hoped to avoid rewiring.

Anyway, the channel reorganization was supposedly going to pass PSIP. Even if it doesn't pass all information correctly, it's an improvement to have the channels correctly identified.

Comcast in Knoxville shuffled their HD channels on 2/21/2007, as you've probably noticed if you're using a QAM tuner. ..they're no longer in the 102 -103 range. No difference on STB.

Have your tv do a re-scan for channels and you'll find the HD channels near the station identifier channel numbers, i.e. WTNZ Fox43 is now at 43.1 , Channel 8 is at 8.1, etc.

I never hooked mine up that way. The OTA is the only thing I have connected to my tuner. I figured I get all of that anyway through the STB. They are supposed to change a few of the HD channels on the STB, but they haven't done it yet (WTNZ will eventually be 235).

Does Comcast have any embedded channels that are viewable via QAM that are not on the STB, such as NFL Network HD as an example?

A question regarding local HD channels through Comcast in Knoxville: I've got a Mitsubishi WD-62725, which has an internal QAM tuner according to the manual. I'm not currently a cable subscriber. I'm thinking of subscribing to Comcast's broadband internet, and also the limited basic cable (subscribing to both is actually cheaper than just having the broadband). With that level of service, and paying for no digital tier or STB rentals or CableCards, might I still be able to run that cable signal from the wall to my TV's QAM internal tuner and receive the local Knoxville channels in HD?

Can any Comcast subscribers shed any light on this? When I asked a Comcast sales rep about this, they of course tell me that the lowest tier I can subscribe to to "get HD" is the digital basic tier, in addition to a STB (or CableCard). All I really need are the HD locals...will my internal QAM tuner do the job with just the limited basic tier signal? Thanks for any input.

I'm thinking of subscribing to Comcast's broadband internet, and also the limited basic cable (subscribing to both is actually cheaper than just having the broadband).

btravis... This is exactly what I do, but I don't even have the cable hooked up to my TV -- I use DirecTV.

I remember experimenting with hooking the cable up to my TV and doing a digital channel scan to see what I got. A lot of digital channels, but not all the networks.

PM me over the weekend and I can try it again for you.

You SHOULD be able to get the local HD channels with even the lowest level of service. I believe they must (FCC mandate, can anyone actually find this in writing?) provide the local HD channels unencrypted. That being said though, I had a friend try it a month ago with his new TV with a QAM tuner and he got didly. He might have screwed something up though. I'll try it myself tomorrow.

Thanks for the replies...and I would appreciate any tests on your end you could do to confirm that the local HD feeds are being sent unencrypted. I think we're gonna go ahead with getting the broadband and limited basic service from Comcast, cause our promotional rate for Frontier DSL (yeah, we're stuck with them for phone service) just expired, making Comcast's internet speed a more viable option. Thanks again - and I'll be sure to post my findings after I get the service.

At this time in Knox county I can get the local broadcast HD channels along with their SD second channels, if any, through my QAM tuner on the Comcast feed. I also have the HD DVR and a subscription to the digital tier but I don't think this is necessary for the locals when you provide the QAM tuner.

I also get all of the local HD channels perfectly over-the-air with my 30 year old outside antenna.

I should know the answer to this, but I don't.

Is a "QAM tuner" the same as a digital tuner, i.e. the one built into the DirecTV HR10-250?

I should know the answer to this, but I don't.

Is a "QAM tuner" the same as a digital tuner, i.e. the one built into the DirecTV HR10-250?
I have seen "QAM tuner" and "Digital Tuner" used interchangeably, so I assume the answer is yes they are the same. For example if you look at the specs online for our KDF-60XS955, you'll see it says Digital Tuner, which we both know is a QAM capable tuner.

I should know the answer to this, but I don't.

Is a "QAM tuner" the same as a digital tuner, i.e. the one built into the DirecTV HR10-250?


QAM is digital cable TV. ATSC is OTA digital TV.

The HR10-250 has an ATSC tuner, not a QAM tuner.

QAM is digital cable TV. ATSC is OTA digital TV.

The HR10-250 has an ATSC tuner, not a QAM tuner.

Excellent, thanks for the clarification!

Props should be given to WLVT and CBS for an excellent picture during last night's NCAA tournament coverage. WVLT seems to have gotten quite a bit better in recent weeks.

And for Comcast subscribers, there are 3 new HD channels now in the lineup. Universal HD, National Geographic HD, and A&E HD are now available.

Thanks for the heads up on the new HD channels, MRM4!

Last year, someone mentioned that WVLT had known digital antenna issues. Are there any plans to correct them any time soon? The signal is not very reliable at the current time.

Last year, someone mentioned that WVLT had known digital antenna issues. Are there any plans to correct them any time soon? The signal is not very reliable at the current time.

I've been watching them OTA for atleast 4 years and I find them reliable to the extent that they've had fewer problems that cause total outages or deem a show somewhat unwatchable. On the other hand, their macroblocking problem has gotten steadily worse. They seem to have no will to correct that. They've never bothered with 5.1 audio either....I quess that would cause "ultra muckroblocking" or somethin'....? Anybody who can't or won't fix a problem after 4 years has no pride in what they do!

WVLT (CBS-Knoxville-OTA-8.1) had,without a doubt,the worst HD sports signal I've yet seen.The NCAA Tournament games were so "macroblocky",it defies logic.
ALL the other local channels are better than WVLT............way better.You'd think they would give a damn...they don't.
Who can we contact?

I agree 100%.. WVLT HD picture on Charter Cable here in Maryville during all of the basketball games was unbelievable blocky. They must be compressing the hell out of the signal. It was almost unwatchable. I am so glad to have paid all that money for a 1080p 70" Sony SXRD so I could see the blocks better. NOT.

Isn't WUOT-FM transmitter on the same tower with WVLT-DT? Is it possible that the reason a lot of people have problem with WVLT signal could be FM interference? I don't seem to have a problem with all that macroblocking that a lot of people complain of with WVLT. I do wish the sound were better on WVLT. Also the sound on PBS 15-1 still has issues when they have a music program that I'd like to record.

Larry Raulston

Hey all, figured I'd post an update on an issue I asked about a couple of weeks ago. I was hoping to tune in the unscrambled HD local channels from Comcast's basic service tier, using the internal QAM tuner in my Mits WD-62725. Well, it actually works! The QAM tuner picked up the available analog signals, as well as the local HD feeds, and all I've subscribed to is the limited basic tier for a few bucks a month. It will provide a backup when the OTA signals gimp out on me. And speaking of OTA troubles...

...anybody else have issues with the OTA broadcast of the Florida/Oregon regional final this weekend. All of my other OTA locals were coming in fine, but the WVLT signal had NO sound, and the signal was cutting in and out pretty badly. And the weather was clear and calm. Anybody else have this issue?

I also get all of the local HD channels perfectly over-the-air with my 30 year old outside antenna.

Mind me asking what part of the county you are in? We are getting ready to move down there, and we will likely be in the Halls/Fountain City area and I'm wondering how much trouble I'll have picking up the locals in HD.

We are getting ready to move down there, and we will likely be in the Halls/Fountain City area and I'm wondering how much trouble I'll have picking up the locals in HD.

Fountain City should be no problem... Sharps Ridge should be in eyesight most places there.

But heading up Broadway toward Halls, you go up and over a ridge, which might start to cause problems depending on where you are.

EDIT: The WBXX (CW Network) transmitter isn't on Sharps Ridge, so that might be the only trouble in North Knoxville.

Anyone heard how long it's supposed to be before locals are available in HD via DirecTV?

Direct won't say how long before HD locals.OTA is probably OK in Halls.I'm in West Knoxville,about 10 miles from Sharp's Ridge and get good reception with a BIG antenna in the attic.

Can you give me an idea where "Sharps Ridge" is? I assume that's where all the towers are?

Hopefully all are in the same locale...makes it easier to pick them up.

I'm moving from the KC area where I'm able to pick up most of the stations via antenna from 50+ miles away...so I'm kinda hooked...

Also have locals via satellite in HD, which is nice because it's more reliable in my experience.

Thanks for the help.

Can you give me an idea where "Sharps Ridge" is? I assume that's where all the towers are?


Yes, Sharps Ridge is where all the HD towers are except WBXX. It's between "old North" and Fountain City, right along I-640. You can drive up there... there's a road and it's part of the park system.

Here's the view from Sharps Ridge underneath one of the transmitters, looking away from Fountain City/Halls toward Old North (St. Mary's hospital on the left) and downtown with the Smoky Mtns. in the background.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/50/152152149_3a843c6073_b.jpg

Welcome to Knoxville! Hope you like orange. :D

Thank you!

With any luck, my wife will soon have interviews at one or two of the local hospitals (RN). We're really looking forward to the move. I'll be attending the new medical school in Harrogate.

My first love is Kansas State purple, but with family living in Oak Ridge for a good part of my childhood, I've always had a special place in my heart for the Vols...and I simply MUST figure out a way of going to a game as part of the Volunteer Navy! I pretty much live for College Football and Basketball.

Can't wait. The area just strikes me as awesome.

I pretty much live for College Football and Basketball.


You're better equipped for this area than I am. ;) ...seriously, K-town is a nice place to live.

I don't live in the area, but I came across this while looking at the FCC website. I thought it might be some useful info for somebody. It requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/ . . . (http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=480420)

NashDigie signing off.

I don't live in the area, but I came across this while looking at the FCC website. I thought it might be some useful info for somebody. It requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/ . . . (http://svartifoss2.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getattachment_exh.cgi?exhibit_id=480420)

NashDigie signing off.

Thanks for the info. Correct me if I am wrong, but if you are getting the channel via cable HDTV, you are unaffected because they get the feed via fiber.

Thanks for the heads up on this cpcat. I just ordered a channel 50 jointenna from Warren.

Do you know how these work? It's my understanding that this box will pass or block one channel, but I'll need to combine this with another antenna that isn't passing or blocking that channel, right? Will I need a combiner to put both antennas on one coax line? :confused:

EDIT: Never mind, I found this helpful thread. (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=285263). I'll post my results when the jointenna comes in.

So my channel 50 jointenna finally arrived, after 9 weeks.

I just spent the last hour with 2 antennas trying to find optimal position for everything but WBXX (frequency 50), and then optimal position for a 2nd antenna aimed at WBXX. After swapping the antennas and replacing some cables, I can get The CW between 62-65%. I was hoping for a little stronger signal... i like everything to be at least in the 70% range, but I'll try it for a while. At least all other channels are 80-95%. :cool: This is in Fountain City.

Although all this is a little moot, because Veronica Mars is probably canceled :( , and Gilmore Girls has been so bad this season. :mad: We still enjoy Everybody Hates Chris from time to time, so maybe The CW will get some decent shows next season.

Here I go bragging about WVLT's improved picture quality in recent weeks, then they regress for the Final 4 and championship game. The pixelation during last night's game was some of the worst I have seen, just flat out terrible. WVLT needs to get their act together.

Here I go bragging about WVLT's improved picture quality in recent weeks, then they regress for the Final 4 and championship game. The pixelation during last night's game was some of the worst I have seen, just flat out terrible. WVLT needs to get their act together.Don't hold your breath, I believe their actions have proven they don't give a rats ass.

Don't hold your breath, I believe their actions have proven they don't give a rats ass.

You do mean their inactions, eh? ;) In the past year, it's gotten markedly worse. It's getting easy to spot on even little sets at this point.

Fountain City should be no problem... Sharps Ridge should be in eyesight most places there.

FYI... Just because you can see the tower is not an indication you will receive any signal, or so says a TV engineer. I worked in Television in the Tri-Cities for about 5 years (just a few years ago) and had a few technical discussions along this line... Apparently there are a large variety of broadcast antennas that can be used, and most are made so they do not flood the area directly below with RF, being very close the tower in some cases will result in no or little signal. Most are also directional, for example I have been told the WKPT's television tower on Holston Mountain is direction, it has about a 45% radiation pattern (or something like that), apparently this is dictated by the FCC so only the bro. When I live in Kingsport on Bays Mountain I could pick up Knoxville HD OTAs and could pick up no stable signal for Tri-City locals. When I moved to Knoxville (live on piney grove road now) I could not pick up the same channels with the same antenna! Being 100 miles away from Sharps ridge was better than being 5 miles away. I found an appropriate antenna and everything works now; I said all that to try and prove how the signal can really just shoot over you.

I said all that to try and prove how the signal can really just shoot over you.

No argument here... I used to work at WTVK, then WKXT, then WVLT (channel 26 became 8 during this period) when the station was up on Sharp's Ridge -- they since moved to Papermill. I used to live at the bottom of the ridge... when channel 10's beacons were on high it would light up my bedroom. And I only got a fair TV signal from a couple of the transmitters up there.

So your point it well taken, but general rule of thumb -- especially in the Fountain City area, if you can see the transmitters on Sharp's Ridge and point an antenna at them, you should get a good to excellent signal.

The biggest issue I have with the locals here in Knoxville is WATE! Who ever runs the board during weeknight primetime needs to get it together. I HATE having to watch half of my programs (Mostly Boston legal) in SD... Other stations here seems to have some issues switching back to the digital feed after a local insert but from my experience WATE is by far the worst. :mad:

What's said is WATE used to be worse than what it is now. The local stations are freaked out by out of the ordinary programming that's in HD. It's taken a while for WBIR to get used to having NBC Nightly News in HD. The funny part is right after that when Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy come on, both say they are now in HD. Yet, WBIR never shows them in HD. I'll have to talk to the buddy of mine that works there to see why they don't show it in HD.

The funny part is right after that when Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy come on, both say they are now in HD. Yet, WBIR never shows them in HD. I'll have to talk to the buddy of mine that works there to see why they don't show it in HD.

I don't think BIR has the infrastructure to transmit non-network programs in HD yet.

The biggest issue I have with the locals here in Knoxville is WATE! Who ever runs the board during weeknight primetime needs to get it together. I HATE having to watch half of my programs (Mostly Boston legal) in SD... Other stations here seems to have some issues switching back to the digital feed after a local insert but from my experience WATE is by far the worst. :mad:
So when Boston Legal was not in HD last night, I called them. I was told that "master control" informed them (the person on the phone) it was an ABC issue and not WATE.

So when Boston Legal was not in HD last night, I called them. I was told that "master control" informed them (the person on the phone) it was an ABC issue and not WATE.

I know it aired in from WKPT in Kingsport in HD last night, however they could have had an encryption issue that just affected WATE. It is funny however, when I watched the show last night I thought I might have ticked someone off and they were just doing it to get back at me ;).

The biggest issue I have with the locals here in Knoxville is WATE! Who ever runs the board during weeknight primetime needs to get it together. I HATE having to watch half of my programs (Mostly Boston legal) in SD...

Me too, that's my fav program. Last week they totally botched the show. I'm not sure I believe their it's a network issue for this week. I've seen them leave the ABC HD loop on for a half hour before. Asleep At The Wheel is one fine bluegrass group and a good discription of their control room. One time I called 'em and told 'em and they acted like I was crazy but 15 minutes later they finally switched back to the local news. However, with the loop going, I did get a surround sound check in..... :rolleyes: Shoot, I can watch the HD loop anytime I want, I have a D-VHS, 1080i tape of it courtesey of 6.

I'm totally sick of 6 knocking HD shows down to SD so they can inform us it's raining..... :mad:

Me too, that's my fav program. Last week they totally botched the show. I'm not sure I believe their it's a network issue for this week. I've seen them leave the ABC HD loop on for a half hour before. Asleep At The Wheel is one fine bluegrass group and a good discription of their control room. One time I called 'em and told 'em and they acted like I was crazy but 15 minutes later they finally switched back to the local news. However, with the loop going, I did get a surround sound check in..... :rolleyes: Shoot, I can watch the HD loop anytime I want, I have a D-VHS, 1080i tape of it courtesey of 6.

I'm totally sick of 6 knocking HD shows down to SD so they can inform us it's raining..... :mad:


They for sure need to get the equipment to do the weather warnings in HD (I think they are requied by law if they get sent out by EAS). I am gonna guess as was said earlier about WBIR, they don't have the equipment to do anything local in HD. HD in a TV station is much more complicated that at home, I bet right now they are using a video switcher (of some sort) to cut from SD directly to HD Network Feed. I have been in the WBIR and WATE master control room before and was not impressed, that was 5 years ago, looks like things have not prgressed much either. At the time WBIR had a very very nice production control room however, made to drool... I guess we can only hope it gets better, not like we have much of a choice other than complain. Maybe we need to start sending letters to the parrent copmanies of the local stations, might get noticed then...

I really hoped little ole channel 7 would embarass the big boys into rampin' up, but that doesn't even seem on the horizon. I'm glad I just have 2 show I watch on 6, the other is Ebert & Roper. It just burns me up how good of a job that ABC has done with Boston Legal and 6 just butchers the golden lamb.... :rolleyes: :)

People..Please!!.......when these channels don't do their job,call and complain....every,single time.Call,call,call...If they are closed,and the menu comes on the phone,go to the newsroom.They can get the message to the "engineers".

I just noticed that Charter in West Knoxville has added ESPN2 HD Finally!

I got a notice in the mail from Comcast saying they are changing channels around in anticipation of adding new channels, including new HD channels. Phase 1 will be in May and Phase 2 will be sometime this summer. Anyone heard which HD channels will be added this time? Sure would love to see HGTV HD, Speed TV HD, and NFL Network HD added.

I am not sure Comcast has any individual channels planned yet. they are just starting to clear up space to be able to add them in the future.

Channels they might add are the HGTV, food network ones that are produced in Knoxville or the NFL, FSN HD channels. The 3 channels moved in May will enable up to 6 HD channels to be added.

I hope they move about 20 more channels.

I went to a lot of trouble to be able to get the CW network (formerly WB) with a separate UHF antenna aimed toward the west with a preamp (the others are to the north) and combined them with a channel 50 jointenna. I was disappointed to find that Smallville and Supernatural on Thursday night were not in HD. There were black bars top and bottom and on the sides too and standard definition. Anyone else notice this or is it just me?

Larry

I went to a lot of trouble to be able to get the CW network (formerly WB) with a separate UHF antenna aimed toward the west with a preamp (the others are to the north) and combined them with a channel 50 jointenna.

Larry...

I feel you pain! I also went through exactly the same steps you did (the Jointenna) to watch the shows I like on the CW in HD. And, as you found, when I recored the shows, the CW were broadcasting SD version on their digital channel! :rolleyes:

To top this off, a neighbor cut down a tree that i think was helping my signal, so now it can fade below 60%, causing jumps and ticks. I was thinking about getting a preamp, but I decided to give up and go back to reliable DirecTV for channel 20 (frequency 50). :(

I hope you have better luck!

The local station must be having some problems with their HD feed. They had their HD feed going for a while. I was actually watching a few of their shows. But they were not in HD for the last few weeks. Not sure where the problem is. I did notice yesterday afternoon a couple of their programs that are in HD were in HD yesterday.

New guy to forum
Whats up with Channel 8 WVLT, My Dad purchased and new Sony 50", They live on a hill off Exit 12 past Morristown, Approx 50 miles from Sharp ridge, Purchased Channel Master 4228. With Antenna aimed toward Sharps ridge, able to pull in all the knoxville Stations except WVLT, Whats really cool with his location. He picks up every Bristol Station 60 miles the opposite way. He gets about 4 PBS channels and if we turn the antenna toward the east, can pick up a couple of Asheville Stations, All digital broadcasts. Does anybody know if WVLT are going to increase power, They show allot more UT sports then the Bristol CBS.

Other people have reported similar problems with pulling in the WVLT signal. I wonder if it could be because they broadcast from a tower that has other antennas on it including one for a local FM-radio station. I read somewhere that FM could interfere with the propagation of the digital TV signal, and I don't know if there is any truth in that or not.

Larry

Larry... I've lived in various places in Knoxville (West, Fountain City, even right next to Sharps Ridge) and channel 8 has been the trickiest signal to get in with an antenna. This was true both analog and digital, and even when they were WKXT and going back to the WTVK days (channel 26).

From my house I can see WVLT's tower, along with all the other stations lined up. Pointing an antenna directly at the towers I get 95+% digital from all stations except WVLT and WMAK, which are both in the low 80s.

And yes, I believe WVLT shares the tower -- I'm pretty sure that includes an FM station.

This might explain somethings, Here is the power rating for the local channels.

WMAK 7 KNOXVILLE 55. kW 693. meters above Sea level
WKOP-TV 17 KNOXVILLE 100.kW 857.7 meters
WATE-TV 26 KNOXVILLE 930.kW 840. meters
WVLT-TV 30 KNOXVILLE 398.kW 857.7 meters
WBIR-TV 31 KNOXVILLE 840.kW 840.2 meters
WTNZ 34 KNOXVILLE 460.kW 837.7 meters

Larry... I've lived in various places in Knoxville (West, Fountain City, even right next to Sharps Ridge) and channel 8 has been the trickiest signal to get in with an antenna. This was true both analog and digital, and even when they were WKXT and going back to the WTVK days (channel 26).

From my house I can see WVLT's tower, along with all the other stations lined up. Pointing an antenna directly at the towers I get 95+% digital from all stations except WVLT and WMAK, which are both in the low 80s.

And yes, I believe WVLT shares the tower -- I'm pretty sure that includes an FM station.

I remember pre-cable they were the hardest one to get. Back in those days, they were a UHF station, channel 26. Even switching to VHF, they were still hard. But with an OTA for high def, WBIR is the hardest one to lock in consistantly for me and I live in Powell about 5 miles from the towers.

Other people have reported similar problems with pulling in the WVLT signal. I wonder if it could be because they broadcast from a tower that has other antennas on it including one for a local FM-radio station. I read somewhere that FM could interfere with the propagation of the digital TV signal, and I don't know if there is any truth in that or not.

Larry

WVLT is supposed to have an issue with their antenna that shoots too little signal in certain directions and too much in others. I suppose they are reluctant to fix the problem due to cost. Members of the forum might want to contact WVLT GM Chris Baker and ask if they plan to resolve the problem. You might want to give WVLT's engineers your address near Exit 12 for them to do some testing.

New guy to forum
Whats up with Channel 8 WVLT, My Dad purchased and new Sony 50", They live on a hill off Exit 12 past Morristown, Approx 50 miles from Sharp ridge, Purchased Channel Master 4228. With Antenna aimed toward Sharps ridge, able to pull in all the knoxville Stations except WVLT, Whats really cool with his location. He picks up every Bristol Station 60 miles the opposite way. He gets about 4 PBS channels and if we turn the antenna toward the east, can pick up a couple of Asheville Stations, All digital broadcasts. Does anybody know if WVLT are going to increase power, They show allot more UT sports then the Bristol CBS.

Hey New Guy! I live in Greeneville(near the center of town). I get all of the Knoxville stations. Not sure of your problems getting channel 8. I agree about their programming. I put up a big Channel Master about 6 years ago, and before I had an HDTV. My reason was simply to get Jefferson-Pilot basketball on Wednesday nights. Channel 5 in Bristol kept to the NBC prime time programming.

I do have an occasional problem with channel 43. Once in a while, it will randomly switch from the FOX-HD broadcast to "THE TUBE" music channel. Then, when I manually key in channel 43 on the remote, it gets WVLT-HD. I'm gonna guess that the latter problem is with my tuner, and the former problem is possibly signal strength related.

I'd think that you are in a good location for WVLT.

On a side note, which Asheville stations do you get? I tried to watch the Red Sox-Yankees 3 weeks ago, but Knoxville and Tri-Cities Fox carried Cubs-Cards. I got a weak analog signal from Asheville Fox that had the Yankees-Sox. It wasn't strong enough for the digital signal to work.

Cannot remember what the Asheville stations where, The antenna must be pointed toward Asheville, Currently pointed toward Knoxville, picks up everything in Knoxville "Except WVLT" and behind it "Bristol". One of the Asheville Stations was Educational channel, Not sure if it was what they where showing or they transmit better, Was a beautiful picture. I want to say the other was a NBC channel. Dad does pickup the Fox station out of Greensville really good.
I live in Oak Ridge, will be getting new HD TV in a couple of months, In negotiations with the finance committee. Will be placing antenna up, Halfway up a ridge, Should get good reception to the Knoxville stations, Kinda wondering if I can pick up Greensville Fox station, From my location its a straight shot, behind sharp ridge, I know Fox Greenville pretty high on a mountain. Maybe someone can give us a distance that they can pick up any of the Tri City's stations.

Maybe someone can give us a distance that they can pick up any of the Tri City's stations.


This might help you out. (http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx)

I went to a moderate amount of effort to receive WBXX-DT via OTA reception from my attic mounted array since it is broadcast from a different direction from the other OTA signals in Knoxville.

I was earlier receiving an intermittent signal, but it was HDTV at least during prime time. When I finally got it fixed so that I could receive a signal that was consistently producing a pixel free picture it seems that they are no longer broadcasting an HDTV signal. The primetime HDTV programs are SD with grey or black bars at the top and sides. 16X9 but certainly not HDTV. Anyone else in E. Tn. have this experience or am I the only person in E. Tn. that wants to watch Smalllville, Supernatural, Gilmore Girsl, or Reba in HDTV? I would estimate that I am one of only a handful of people that are watching the digital signal OTA from this station. Maybe after the transition when analog goes away that will change.

I called the station today and spoke to someone on the phone, and she didn't have a clue as to what I was talking about. She transferred me to someone she called a master controller, and he didn't have a clue as to what I was talking about. He did at least take my number and said he would have an engineer call me. I feel like the HDTV police during this time of transition. The station is probably running on automatic with no one in the control room to pull the switch to pass through network HDTV. Larry

They keep changing from being in HD to not being in HD. I hardly watch anything there, so I have totally given up on them. Bu it's not just you, it's them.

I just noticed that Charter added MTV-HD and Starz-HD! It's on my Moxi.

This is probably laughable for the Comcast people.

Also noticed that 10News2 has a logo now in the channel guide and 7 says IND for the logo (that was updated a couple of weeks ago)

I have no sound on PBS HD. I receive it OTA via a radio shack antenna. All the other OTA channels are OK (HD and Standard) and my signal strength is high. Any advice?

I have no sound on PBS HD. I receive it OTA via a radio shack antenna. All the other OTA channels are OK (HD and Standard) and my signal strength is high. Any advice?

You should tell us where you're located and maybe your approximate altitude for anybody to offer any possibly helpful advice. Also, is this an indoor or outdoor antenna? Welcum tu da form....! :)

The station is probably running on automatic with no one in the control room to pull the switch to pass through network HDTV. Larry

That would make sense. It's amazing how cheaply our stations are run.

Word is Charter will release 4.1 to Moxi users beginning next week. It's about time! Also, I noticed that Charter dropped the MLB package this year. Other Charter systems agreed to carry it. Does anyone here know why they decided not to carry it this year?

Word is Charter will release 4.1 to Moxi users beginning next week. It's about time! Also, I noticed that Charter dropped the MLB package this year. Other Charter systems agreed to carry it. Does anyone here know why they decided not to carry it this year?

I just picked up a 500GB external WD Book for 99.99 AR at Office Depot just in case. Can always bring it back if Charter drops the ball.

I have another Moxi being delivered tommorrow morning. I hope they don't show up with the Motorola 160GB one. Nobody at the Farragut Charter office knew about the 4.1 software, I told the girls and they were like no way, everyone is returning the moxi's to get extra space on the new Moto 160GB one. LOL

has anyone else noticed that local commercials aired by Comcast on non-local channels have significantly raised volume? I first noticed it that past weekend. Using a sound pressure meter, shows and nationally-run ads at 64 dB@1ft, while local ads are registering 76 dB@1ft.

For example, today at 7:48 PM on FoxNews, a few national ads ran at the same dB level as the broadcast. Immediately after those ads, a local Cariten ad ran, followed by Perkins Resutaurant, and then an ad for Comcast Spotlight - all at +12 dB.

Several co-workers and family members have mention it this week, so I'm hoping that folks will call Comcast and complain about it.

BTW - I used to commercials on some channels being a bit louder, but this noticably more of a difference, and it doesn't seem to be limited to certain channels.

I just called Comcast about the local ad volume issue. This time, I was told that they are aware of the problem and are trying to find a way to fix it without bringing the entire network down. I have no clue if he meant the local or national network (or it may just be a problem with one of the digital packages), but that's the first call I've made about this where they've acknowledged the problem. That's a pleasant change!

For those with Charter in East TN... http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10683650&&#post10683650

Codeman, Crumcast's contract calls for them to maintain "broadcast standards". Uping the level of ads proably violates that...?

Does anyone know if/when WATE will do something with their 6-2 subchannel? Would be nice if they went back to using that channel for local weather. :confused:

Does anyone know if/when WATE will do something with their 6-2 subchannel? Would be nice if they went back to using that channel for local weather. :confused:

Somewhere back in this thread, they took it down because their legal department wasn't sure if a weather channel was a legal use of their sub. The original intent for sub's was for local programming unless the regulations have been changed...? Who knows with our politicos...? They said they were going to study what to do with it. I really don't care that it's gone. Channel 10's weather channel is and was much better.

Channel 6 can't produce much of anything in the way of digital content. They can't even put a weather logo on top of network HD content. They drop it down to SD and then go back to HD when they're done. They and the others, except for indie 7, don't look close to ready for the analog switch-off.

I wanted to watch the noon news yesterday and I get the locals OTA. Well, 6 forgot to switch from network.....black air and then a Good Morning America loop....I called them. 8 and 10 were both having annoying pixelization and video and audio dropouts. 6,8, and 10 are definitely the never-readies for the time being. I'm not so sure about 43? I finally can recieve 20 OTA but when I had it on one day last week, it was all windowboxed.... :rolleyes:

IMO, our locals all need a stout kick in the seat!

The last time I was in the tri-cities, I noticed they had a sub-channel that just showed the local radar. That would be perfect for channel 6-2, and us DirecTV users who can't get local radar on the Weather Channel. :) On another subject, wonder what the chances are for WVLT & WBIR having DD 5.1 audio anytime soon?? :rolleyes:

The last time I was in the tri-cities, I noticed they had a sub-channel that just showed the local radar. That would be perfect for channel 6-2, and us DirecTV users who can't get local radar on the Weather Channel. :) On another subject, wonder what the chances are for WVLT & WBIR having DD 5.1 audio anytime soon?? :rolleyes:

I'd say slim and none. I know a guy that works for WBIR and he said it will be some time before they offer it.

The problem with the second channel as radar only is that the second (or third or fourth) channel has the same legal requirements for children's programing , EAS, etc. as the main channel. WeatherPlus stations (WBIR 10-2 locally) have 3 hours of children's programing (weather related) provided by NBC to meet this requirement.

I get the local OTA. The last few days, 10 and their weather sub have been unwatchable the last few days any time I've tuned 'em in. Blackouts, freezing, pixelization......

I subscribe to the basic service that comcast offers. For several months I was able to receive the local channels in HD (plus a couple of other channels, theTube and ESPN2). These channels were in the 103 range. A couple of weeks ago, the signals moved and after a rescan the local channels in HD were between 6 and 10. A few days ago they went away and they don't seem to be available anymore. Has anyone experienced the same thing or does anyone know what happened to the local channels in HD? It seems like I read somewhere in this forum that comcast was required by law to provide local programming in HD for no charge. Is this true?

Anyway, I miss the HD. I purchased an indoor HD antenna and received a couple of channels pretty good. However, all were blocky at some time and I couldn't get FOX.

BTW, I called comast and they said I had to subscribe to HDTV ($6.95/month) to receive local channels in HD.

Thanks

BTW, I called comast and they said I had to subscribe to HDTV ($6.95/month) to receive local channels in HD.

Strange you can't get FOX from your antenna... their tower is right there with the others and one of the stronger signals.

...anyway, I would also like to second the question: What is a local cable company's commitment to a service area when it comes to local digital channels? :confused: I have a feeling that only the SD channels (at least for now) are must-carry and they are within their rights to charge extra for digital. :( Yet something inside me leads me to believe the $6.95 package mentioned above is for cablecard or a set-top box.... :rolleyes:

Has anyone experienced the same thing or does anyone know what happened to the local channels in HD?

For what it is worth, I experienced a similar problem. I subscribe to the most basic package and pay the extra for Local HD (OTA has not worked here and my set does not have the proper type of tuner). I had downgraded from one of their Digital packages so when the change was made they brought me a new tuner and put a (digital?) trap on the feed line on the outside.

Two Fridays ago, I noticed that they had changed the channel locations of the local HDs (went from 200's to 400's). However, none of the channels would work. In addition to that, no basic channels worked either (<100). So the technician came out, and all he did was remove the trap from the line and everything worked.

I don't understand all of the technical issues here, but I assume this may provide a clue to those who do as to what may have happened.

Thanks for posting jgager... and welcome to the Forum!

I checked at home a few hours ago and the HD broadcast locals are available on my Comcast feed without using a STB in Knox county. They map to 6-1, 8-1, 10-1, etc. just as before. Also the secondary channels such as 7-2, 8-2, 10-2 and 15-2 etc. are in the clear if you have a QAM tuner.

Friday 6/15/07 (I think), Comcast shuffled the channel line-up for their HD DVR's and set-top-box subscribers. They also shuffled the unscrambled channels that are receivable using a QAM tuner. So, I'd try to scan for channels one more time. After the scan I'd go through the channels one at a time by using the channel up button to see what is available. It is possible though, as someone mentioned, that an old RF trap could be blocking some channels.

IMHO...don't expect too much insight from the CSR's.

I checked at home a few hours ago and the HD broadcast locals are available on my Comcast feed without using a STB in Knox county. They map to 6-1, 8-1, 10-1, etc. just as before. Also the secondary channels such as 7-2, 8-2, 10-2 and 15-2 etc. are in the clear if you have a QAM tuner.

I'm curious as to what comcast level you subscribe to. Do you subscribe to something more than the basic service? I have no signal on 6-1, 8-1, or 10-1.

Anyone having trouble with Fox HD on Charter tonight? Wasn't able to watch Hell's Kitchen tonight for a picture that seemed to be running at half speed. The audio clicked in and out constantly and rendered the channel completely unwatchable. It is still doing it now during local news.

The only other HD channel affected in my HD tier seems to be PBS HD. Everything else is fine.

Anyone else having this issue?

I get 43 OTA and it was fine just now....

I get 43 OTA and it was fine just now....

Yeah, I really think it is the typical Charter error. I'm sure OTA and comcast are fine. Kind of odd, though; haven't seen it quite like this.

I'm curious as to what comcast level you subscribe to. Do you subscribe to something more than the basic service? I have no signal on 6-1, 8-1, or 10-1.

I subscribe to the digital cable tier and have a HD DVR; however, none of this is necessary to receive the local HD broadcast channels using the cable feed rather than an outside antenna.

You must have a tuner that is capable of receiving the cable digital signal. The format of this signal is called QAM. Not all tuners that receive ATSC will receive QAM but many will. If your set has a place for a cablecard it's an even better bet that the set will decode QAM. You'll have to look over the literature that came with your set to see if receiving non-scrambled cable QAM is an option and which RF input has this capability. FYI, both QAM and ATSC look just like noise (snow) on an NTSC tuner. You'll never know anything is present looking at a digital signal with an NTSC tuner.

I've got two tuners that will tune cable QAM. Both are made by LG. The older tuner is a stand alone box that also includes a DVD player. The tuner section of this box can be set to tune either ATSC (for over-the-air signals) or to tune QAM for unscrambled cable digital signals. The second tuner is part of an LG LCD set that has two different RF inputs. One tuner input decodes over-the-air NTSC and ATSC. The second tuner decodes NTSC from cable and QAM (both SB and HD) from cable. Neither decodes the scrambled QAM channels.

I just now went to the Circuit City website to see how they are describing the current crop of tuners. Most of the sets listed now have tuners described as NTSC/ATSC/QAM but without any explanation what each might do for you.

If you have a QAM tuner and it is hooked up to the correct RF input, just inputing 10-1 (for instance) will not get you anything until after the set has been forced to scan for channels. The set will not know where to tune to receive 10-1 until after the channel scan. Even over-the-air tuners must scan for channels before you can directly input a channel because the OTA stations are scattered over several UHF/VHF RF channels that mostly are not the same as the displayed channel. For instance, channel 10 DTV is on RF channel 31. When the set scans past RF channel 31, data sent from the station says "please show me as 10-1 HD and my second program as 10-2". Likewise, as the set scans past RF channel 34, the set is told to display 43-1 HD and 43-2 SD. A similar process occurs with the QAM tuner scanning across the cable channels.

This stuff can be confusing!

You must have a tuner that is capable of receiving the cable digital signal.
This stuff can be confusing!

I have the Sony XBR970 and it has a QAM tuner. I guess what is confusing is that I was receiving the local channels in HD for several months. Comcast reshuffled their channel lineup and a rescan found the local HD channels again (in the 6, 8, 10 range). This worked for a few days and then all of the sudden the channels were gone. Bummer...........

I'm just having a hard time convincing myself to give comcast another 6.95 a month.

I have the Sony XBR970 and it has a QAM tuner. I guess what is confusing is that I was receiving the local channels in HD for several months. Comcast reshuffled their channel lineup and a rescan found the local HD channels again (in the 6, 8, 10 range). This worked for a few days and then all of the sudden the channels were gone. Bummer...........

I'm just having a hard time convincing myself to give comcast another 6.95 a month.
I'd rescan again. I rescan about every 2 months to see what has been turned on I didn't know about.

I'm just having a hard time convincing myself to give comcast another 6.95 a month.

Well, I debate cable's merits once a month when the bill comes in. It looks like real money when you figure it for a year.

Try scanning again or if you are able put up an antenna. FWIW...one thing I have noticed is that the digital cable signals are the first to go when there are signal strength issues. The last cable "outage" at home had the analog lower channels looking okay. The analog upper channels were just a little snowy. The digital channels and cable modem were all dead. Fortunately it got the whole neighborhood so it was fixed quickly.

What's wrong with channel 10's daytime signal these past few weeks? They come in fine for me at night. They're just unwatchable this afternoon and most other days lately. BTW, this is OTA. Their channels just freez and break-up, come and go.

Finally got a chance to try OTA reception from my house. I live on the back side of a hill facing away from Knoxville on the north side of Powell Valley. (Elevation @1376 feet) My address is Cumberland Gap but I actually live in Arthur.

According to antennaweb here is my information....
* yellow - uhf WVLT-DT 8.1 CBS KNOXVILLE TN 206° 41.3 30
* yellow - uhf WKOP-DT 17.1 PBS KNOXVILLE TN 206° 41.3 17
* yellow - uhf WETP-DT 41.1 PBS SNEEDVILLE TN 118° 30.4 41
* yellow - uhf WTNZ-DT 43.1 FOX KNOXVILLE TN 206° 40.5 34
* yellow - uhf WATE-DT 6.1 ABC KNOXVILLE TN 206° 40.5 26
* yellow - uhf WBIR-DT 10.1 NBC KNOXVILLE TN 206° 40.5 31
* yellow - uhf WEMT-DT 39.1 FOX GREENEVILLE TN 129° 65.1 38
* green - uhf WSBN-DT 15.1 PBS NORTON VA 72° 63.4 32
* green - vhf WMAK-DT 7.1 IND KNOXVILLE TN 205° 39.9 7
* lt green - uhf WBXX-DT 50.1 CW CROSSVILLE TN 235° 47.5 50
* lt green - uhf WPXK-DT 54.1 ION JELLICO TN 236° 39.0 23
* red - uhf WJHL-DT 11.1 CBS JOHNSON CITY TN 100° 86.2 58
* red - uhf WKPT-DT 19.1 ABC KINGSPORT TN 100° 86.2 27

I have a Radio Shack 15-2185 indoor-outdoor antenna (Don't ask, I got it new for almost nothing and I figured I could get the Knoxville stations with it anyway.) and am not able to have it properly installed until next week so I just too it out in the front yard and played around to see what I could get. Eventually I want to get a better antenna since the 15-2185 is (supposedly) only supposed to get "close" VHF stations and UHF up to 50 miles away.

Boy was I amazed.

I get the following....
WEPT 2.1 and 2.2
WATE 6.1
WVLT 8.1 and 8.2
WBIR 10.1 and 10.2
WKOP 15.1 and 15.2
WWBX 20.1
WEMT 39.1 and 39.2
WTNZ 43.1 and 43.2
WAGV 44.1
WSBN 47.1, 47.2 and 47.3
WPXK 54.1, 54.2, 54.3 and 54.4
WYMT 57.1 and 57.2 (57.2 is WKYT out of Lexington)

Even though antennaweb said I can get most of those stations from here, I never thought I could get WSBN or WYMT with this particular antenna. I didn't count on getting WMAK since the 2150 site shows the signal going more to the south of Knoxville. (One thing about that 2150 site.... where are WATE and WVLT??)

Getting WYMT is a real plus for me since I deal with them through my job and now can watch them OTA. They are on the local cable here but getting the Lexington station means I can watch an NFL team besides the $$@$% Titans every Sunday in HD.

The weird thing is, when I turn the antenna directly toward Knoxville on the bearing from antennaweb, I can't get either WATE or WTNZ depending on where I'm standing and can't get WKOP, WBXX and WPXK at all. but when I turn the antenna DUE WEST (270 degrees) I can get EVERY Knoxville station, WBXX, WPXK AND WEMT. I can't get WEMT when pointing the antenna any other direction except West, which is about 160 degrees opposite what it should be.

As far as the local cable, Communicomm cable here offers WEPT, WATE, WBIR, WVLT and WTNZ and all their subchannels in HD/DT (all at 720p when showing HD) but for some reason WBIR, 10 Waether Plus, WTNZ and the Tube have some major problems with the broadcasts. Most of the time there is nothing there but a "This channel will be available shortly message.) The thing is, they use the DT signals from all four for their "regular" cable as well and those stations NEVER have problems, except for WBIR, where they show the HD feed on their "regular" channel 10 (hope that made sense) so a large part of the screen gets cut off, like the clock and/or score on football games. They use the DT broadcasts for all of their "local" channels (except for LMU's TV station W18AN, which has a direct line to the station and isn't even OTA any more) but do not offer WMAK, WBXX or WYMT as part of their "HD" package.

Anyway, hopefully someday I can get a DB8 so that I can try for some of the tri-cities stations (and to get WYMT and WSBN without having to turn the antenna around, since it supposedly is multi-directional.

The weird thing is, when I turn the antenna directly toward Knoxville on the bearing from antennaweb, I can't get either WATE or WTNZ depending on where I'm standing and can't get WKOP, WBXX and WPXK at all. but when I turn the antenna DUE WEST (270 degrees) I can get EVERY Knoxville station, WBXX, WPXK AND WEMT. I can't get WEMT when pointing the antenna any other direction except West, which is about 160 degrees opposite what it should be.


I'd be willing to bet based on the sweptback dipole look of that antenna that it is mostly bi-directional (a figure eight pattern). That helps explain reception off of the "back" of the antenna.

I have the Sony XBR970 and it has a QAM tuner. I guess what is confusing is that I was receiving the local channels in HD for several months. Comcast reshuffled their channel lineup and a rescan found the local HD channels again (in the 6, 8, 10 range). This worked for a few days and then all of the sudden the channels were gone. Bummer...........

I'm just having a hard time convincing myself to give comcast another 6.95 a month.

This exact thing has happened to me. My Mitsubishi 62725 has an internal QAM tuner. I recently went with Comcast for broadband internet, and also got the limited basic tier cable package, knowing that the QAM tuner would get the unscrambled locals, which it did. Thing is, I'm only using Comcast as a digital local backup, since I get my local digital feeds OTA combined with our DirecTV service. Anyway, the Comcast feeds were working when I set them up initially, but when I checked them this weekend, they're gone. A fresh scan of digital signals tuned up nothing. Anybody got an idea on what the deal is? Also, when I call Comcast, who's the best department to speak with, and how can I convince them that I shouldn't have to pay extra to get those unscrambled digital feeds? It is mandated by the FCC that those are free, right?

For the last hour the ABC network satellite feed audio has been bleeding over in the background on WATE's OTA signal. Do they have ANYONE there working in Master Control?

it is doing it on my OTA too as well as Charter HD.

For the last hour the ABC network satellite feed audio has been bleeding over in the background on WATE's OTA signal. Do they have ANYONE there working in Master Control?

They're not very attentive. I phone them on a regular basis to inform them they're broadcasting black-air or the Good Morning America HD loop.... :rolleyes:

I called the news and the told master control a couple hours ago.

I called the news and the told master control a couple hours ago.

I used to work there and believe it or not that is the best way to reach MC. Especially if they are outside on a cigarette break (which was pretty often for the regular eveneng guy) since where the smoking area was when I worked there was right outside the newsroom.

If you turned to the local signal on Directv it wasn't there so I can see how they would miss it.

Anyone on Charter get the 4.1 update for Moxi today? Still waiting in Maryville....

Anyway, the Comcast feeds were working when I set them up initially, but when I checked them this weekend, they're gone. A fresh scan of digital signals tuned up nothing.

FYI... I checked again at home and all the local broadcast HD QAM feeds are still there and correctly identified as 6-1, 10-1, etc. That being said, my outside antenna always works.

Are you only subscribing to the analog channels 2 through 13? No other or few other channels are received? If Comcast has trapped out a wide chunk of channels they probably also got the frequencies for the HD QAM signals. Elsewhere I have heard that this trapping can reduce your internet throughput down to 3 megs.

You'll need to talk to someone in Comcast's engineering or technical department instead of the usual CSR. (Good luck with that!) We're sorry, today is bla bla bla and we are experiencing higher than normal call volume... :rolleyes:

Elsewhere I have heard that this trapping can reduce your internet throughput down to 3 megs.

hmmmm... I've been having problems with this ^^^! :rolleyes:

Thanks for posting this info! Would you mind PMing me where you heard/read this please?

FYI... I checked again at home and all the local broadcast HD QAM feeds are still there and correctly identified as 6-1, 10-1, etc. That being said, my outside antenna always works.

Are you only subscribing to the analog channels 2 through 13?

Thanks for the reply on this. Other than broadband internet, I only pay for the limited basic tier through Comcast. The HD QAM feeds were there, though, when I first subscribed three months ago. Like I said, I hadn't checked them since, because our main programming source is DirecTV/OTA. I had suspected a filter, though. Ever since we moved in, the Comcast box (actually a green cylinder) in our front yard had a broken base, and I'd been on Comcast to fix it. They finally did, about two weeks before I discovered that the QAM HD feeds had disappeared. So, I've been wondering whether that had something to do with it. Well, today I hear from my neighbor that he's just experienced the same thing with his QAM HD feeds on his Sony XBR1. His channels were there, now they're not.

I'll try Comcast sometime this week...but you know that as soon as you say the words "HD local channels", the CSR goes into robot mode and starts the talk about digital cable tiers and set-top boxes, and blah blah blah... Any suggestions on the proper phrasing regarding my issue when I speak with them?

Again, I wanna ask if anybody else if having a hard time getting channel 10, OTA? They were fairly reliable until the last couple of months. I mean I do pick them up but there's so much freezing and lost info that it's very annoying and it's more prevalent, seemingly, in the daytime.

I've had the same little Squareshooter antenna for about 5 years. If I had a bigger antenna could I do better when stations like 10 are having fits? I doubt I'm more than 6-7 miles south of Sharp's Ridge. I even pick up 20 these days.

I just switched to 10 and they have so much freezing, right now it's 10:54 a.m. , that you'd never get the full gist of the news confrence..... :rolleyes:

I'll try Comcast sometime this week...but you know that as soon as you say the words "HD local channels", the CSR goes into robot mode and starts the talk about digital cable tiers and set-top boxes, and blah blah blah... Any suggestions on the proper phrasing regarding my issue when I speak with them?

I just spoke to a technical contact at Comcast. He tells me the local broadcast channels are available and not encrypted assuming you have the QAM tuner. They are not trapped out. He says he will try to circulate a memo to customer service so they will know.

Call for repair service and simply tell them that my local broadcast channels are tiling or breaking up or not receivable. Then you explain to the service technician the problem when he arrives.

FYI, if you have several devices attached to the cable using splitters (for instance), I'd try the cable directly to the HD set by itself before calling for service. And I'd be sure to scan for channels afterwards because the set only remembers the results of the last scan.

Call for repair service and simply tell them that my local broadcast channels are tiling or breaking up or not receivable. Then you explain to the service technician the problem when he arrives.

Thanks! I'll try one more round of troubleshooting on my end, then give them a call if I have the same issues.

1.7 miles from broadcast towers w/ 80' tall trees in-between: Fountain City/ North Knoxville area

As per antenna web.org... 152 & 180 degrees respectively for major network HD channels. No hills to impede signal, but tall clump of trees between towers & house (w/ no clear line of sight available). Antennaweb.org recommends small multi-directional antenna (yellow-UHF).

I’ve tried the Zenith Silver Sensor, bow tie, garden variety rabbit ears (indoors & attic), & a cheaper Yagi-style Radio Shack UHF/VHF antenna in the attic. Individual channel results vary from excellent to poor, but freezing & drop-outs are too frequent. Use of a Radio Shack attenuator provides no better results (Min setting same as w/o attenuator, Max setting loses signal).

I’m considering a Channel Master 4220 (or 4221 or 4228), or Terrestrial Digitial DB2 or DB4, or Winegard SquareShooter 1000 or 2000 [post above notes the SquareShooter]. AntennasDirect recommended an SR15 if attic mounted for my described application.

I definitely have major multi-path problems (analog channels show significant ghosting). I can mount the antenna outdoors to the house brick chimney to improve reception, but cannot clear 80’ tall trees to get a clear line of sight no matter where the antenna is spotted.

Any recommendations for this predicament are most welcome. :D

I looked at the CM 4220 and think it should be okay; however, plan on mounting it outdoors. Attic mount is always a crapshoot because there are too many variables. FYI...you'll want some gain on the upper VHF channels for channel 7 and later for channel 10 after 2/2009 but the 4220 has some response even on channel 7.

It's true that trees attenuate the signals but the real clue is the multipath you are seeing on the analog channels. At 1.7 miles distance, you might even want to angle the antenna upward facing the top of the towers. To a certain degree the signals are overshooting you that close in.

There are others on the forum that may want to comment on what has worked for them.

Thanks for the reply on this. Other than broadband internet, I only pay for the limited basic tier through Comcast. The HD QAM feeds were there, though, when I first subscribed three months ago. Like I said, I hadn't checked them since, because our main programming source is DirecTV/OTA. I had suspected a filter, though. Ever since we moved in, the Comcast box (actually a green cylinder) in our front yard had a broken base, and I'd been on Comcast to fix it. They finally did, about two weeks before I discovered that the QAM HD feeds had disappeared. So, I've been wondering whether that had something to do with it. Well, today I hear from my neighbor that he's just experienced the same thing with his QAM HD feeds on his Sony XBR1. His channels were there, now they're not.

I'll try Comcast sometime this week...but you know that as soon as you say the words "HD local channels", the CSR goes into robot mode and starts the talk about digital cable tiers and set-top boxes, and blah blah blah... Any suggestions on the proper phrasing regarding my issue when I speak with them?

I just did a scan with my SXRD's QAM tuner and found the following HD channels:

6.1 WATE
8.1 WVLT
10.1 WBIR
15.1 WKOP
20.1 WBXX
43.1 WTNZ

plus about 20 standard def digital channels (some stable, some transient, some duplicates).

Looks like Comcast finally got them un-scrambled after the channel shuffle scrambled them.

UT has announced that WVLT will be the new flagship station for the Vol Network. One of the factors in their favor was the availability of WVLT's "digital sister station", MyVLT2. VP of the Vol Network said this digital sub-channel "creates an unprecedented opportunity to increase exposure of UT Athletics. All of our signature shows will now enjoy multiple airings in the Knoxville market and we see that as exciting news for both our viewers and our sponsors".

In other words, crappy quality HD football games will continue unabated. It's so sad that Knoxville, Tennessee's home market, gets some of the worst quality HD for its team - and now the reason for it is seen as a plus by the school.

http://www.utsports.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=1&url_article_id=10070&change_well_id=2

I don't think that 8's use of their subchannel is even a legal use of it. I'm going to contact the F.C.C. and ask for an opine about 8 & 43 also.....

I just did a scan with my SXRD's QAM tuner and found the following HD channels:

6.1 WATE
8.1 WVLT
10.1 WBIR
15.1 WKOP
20.1 WBXX
43.1 WTNZ

plus about 20 standard def digital channels (some stable, some transient, some duplicates).

Looks like Comcast finally got them un-scrambled after the channel shuffle scrambled them.

No luck on this end. I just rescanned, no digital channels except the music channels. I do get the basic tier analog stuff, just no local digital feeds. It boggles my mind that I can't get straight answers on this issue from Comcast, and also that others in my area seem to be getting these QAM signals. I spoke with a first-line CSR at Comcast late last week and got nowhere - he didn't know what I was even talking about. I may try again today.

Here's a question: There are three traps on my cable box. Would one of them be trapping out my unencrypted digital feeds?

I wonder if it's possible that the local digital channels are un-scrambled on the feed for Digital Plus HDTV subscribers but scrambled nor simply not included for the basic tier?

OR....

Do you have the cable running through the box, or is it connected directly to the TV? I have mine split - one to the STB and one straight to the TV. The QAM tuner works from the straight connection - not through the STB. If you don't have a direct connection, give that a try.

BTW - my TV detected a total of close to 400 channels. Most of those are, of course, scrambled, so it took about 45 minutes for the scan to complete.

The roller coaster ride known as WBXX is now back broadcasting network shows in HD.

The roller coaster ride known as WBXX is now back broadcasting network shows in HD.

I'm back to not being able to recieve them, OTA, again. What's their problem now?

Anyone else getting lots of short audio/video blips(dropouts) on 10-1 (WBIR-NBC-Knoxville)?

It started last night during dateline.

Anyone else getting lots of short audio/video blips(dropouts) on 10-1 (WBIR-NBC-Knoxville)?

I have had that problem for the past two months. It's been far more prevelant during the day but occasionally at night. I wish they'd get past this....

Was finally able to see Smallville in 16X9 HD the other night on WBBX, but then it later went away.

I have been seeing a lot of pixelation on WBIR-DT on the comcast feed.

Larry

Larry,is the pixelization very brief with audio drops(like 1/2 sec)?Mine are VERY frequent.Probably one per minute or more.Lost the signal entirely around noon yesterday for a while.It's very annoying-to the point where I'm not watching NBC.
I'm betting that WBIR DT (10-1.............NBC) is at fault,as my other locals are great.I wonder if they even know(or care)?

10's problem has been going on for a couple of months now. The weather sub mirrors mama too. Are they even trying? ....to do anything about it? For me, their crap-outs are far more prevelant in daytime hours. I don't bother turning them on much anymore, daytime. I get very few glitches on my SNL recordings though....

Talk about a bad weekend for OTA....yesterday, saturday, 10 & 43 ceased to come in for me and haven't returned. 6 was out for a good part of this afternoon but has returned.... ;)

I guess it wasn't a good weekend for me to be hooking everything up and trying to gain signals from the locals in HD. :)

I had a LOT of trouble, and I can see Sharp's Ridge through my front windows.

RF transmission line work has resumed involving channels 6, 10, and 43 DTV. All of these channels are at 50% power for the next week or so. I don't see a problem with any of these channels; however, if your antenna (or location) is marginal, it might explain problems with these channels.

I should add that 50% power is not the problem. The problem is that the transmitting antennas pattern is not correct so that areas in close may not get the signal expected.

Thanks for the information. The only other channel I really had trouble with was 20-1. Couldn't get it to come in.

Also, can I assume that nothing is being broadcast on 2-1, 2-2, and 6-2, as well as some of the stations up in the 50's?

Thanks...

20-1 is located on Windrock mountain just above Oliver Springs (near the windmills) so it is in a different direction and maybe further away than Sharp's Ridge. There is no sub-channel on 6 at the present time. You should be able to get PBS as 15-1 and 15-2 (RF channel 17) from the tower just west of I-275. Channel 2's DTV counterpart is near Sneedville but the program on 15-1 and 15-2 is the same. Google for antennaweb.org for a map based on your zipcode that shows stations, distance and bearing. Good luck!

Hi All,

I just moved to Knoxville and got Direct Tv (H20). Antennaweb says there are 7 yellow zone stations but whenever I scan it comes up with nothing. Do I need to do something else? or is my walmart antenna that bad (philips MANT410)?

whenever I scan it comes up with nothing.

If your antenna can be pointed, make sure you have it facing Sharps Ridge and re-scan.

Unless you are in a problem area, you should be able to pick up something within the city limits.

20-1 is located on Windrock mountain just above Oliver Springs (near the windmills) so it is in a different direction and maybe further away than Sharp's Ridge. There is no sub-channel on 6 at the present time. You should be able to get PBS as 15-1 and 15-2 (RF channel 17) from the tower just west of I-275. Channel 2's DTV counterpart is near Sneedville but the program on 15-1 and 15-2 is the same. Google for antennaweb.org for a map based on your zipcode that shows stations, distance and bearing. Good luck!


Thanks a lot! I appreciate it. Last night, I was actually picking them all up for the most part..on a set of rabbit ears.

I'm guessing if I got a directional, it would help...

I have an attic antenna that is getting a 100% signal on 6-1, 10-1, 15-1, & 43-1, but only gets a 70% signal on 8-1. I have a small indoor antenna that can get a 82% signal on 8-1. Any ideas on what would cause this? :confused:

OTA, I'm stille not recieving 10 and 43 is unwatchable.....:rolleyes:

Channel 8-1 is a different beast, for some reason they do not send a good over the air signal, My father in Morristown is on a hill. he can pick up all the stations except for 8-1 & 8-2, driving him nuts because 8-2 is the Vol channel. He has Direct TV, the installer said that they are going to start transmitting local Knox station in HD. I just wonder if the would transmit the sub channels as well. Gave no dates, probably be when second satellite goes up.

Is WBXX having HD problems tonight or did the master control operator forget to flip the switch?

I hooked up a new HDTV this week. Today, I decided to patch it into my antenna system. When I scanned for channels I didn't even pick up 10 at all. I've yet to see them for the better part of 2 weeks. The curious thing that happened is that my scan did not detect 43.1 or 43.2. However, it did detect 43.3 and 43.4, although they had nothing but black air.

Last week I installed a Channel Master 4220 in my attic & also couldn't lock-in channel 43 HD stations w/ my 37" Panny plasma. Tried the next day, & got 'em.

As mentioned in other posts recently like PatrickT's, signal strength from Channel 10 & 43 have been poor of late for my 1.7 mi. distance from towers (typically 88- 97%, but recently has been 60- 75%).

Baby steps, baby steps ...:D

DTV channels 6, 10, 43 remain at 50% power. There is a chance that full power operation will temporarily resume later this week only to drop again after Labor Day when the tower crew returns in force. Paradoxically, people near the tower are impacted more than at a distance.

DTV channels 6, 10, 43 remain at 50% power. There is a chance that full power operation will temporarily resume later this week only to drop again after Labor Day when the tower crew returns in force. Paradoxically, people near the tower are impacted more than at a distance.

I live about 6-8 miles south of Sharp's Ridge and I cannot recieve 10 or 43 at all.

Do you have any idea why I scanned in 34.3 & 34.4 in a recent scan? What's 43 up to?

Currently the stations are running at 50% power. The bigger problem is that the transmitting antenna pattern is not correct. Signals from the tower should be angled downward to serve viewers close to the site but that is broken for the moment. Work is slated to resume after labor day.

The 34.3 and 34.4 refer the the RF channel and sub channel. At the time your receiver gave you these odd numbers you were evidently not receiving the PSIP information that would have identified the channel as 43-1 and 43-2. PSIP also gives you the program guide, etc.

I'm not having any trouble with 10 or 43 at home (about 6 miles east of Sharp's Ridge) but signal levels are dramatically reduced.

Currently the stations are running at 50% power. The bigger problem is that the transmitting antenna pattern is not correct. Signals from the tower should be angled downward to serve viewers close to the site but that is broken for the moment. Work is slated to resume after labor day.

The 34.3 and 34.4 refer the the RF channel and sub channel. At the time your receiver gave you these odd numbers you were evidently not receiving the PSIP information that would have identified the channel as 43-1 and 43-2. PSIP also gives you the program guide, etc.

I'm not having any trouble with 10 or 43 at home (about 6 miles east of Sharp's Ridge) but signal levels are dramatically reduced.

Thanks for the update PatrickT. :D

Has anyone here used the Comcast CableCARD for local channels? If tower reception doesn't become more consistent in the near term, I pretty close to throwing in the towel. :o

Thanks for the explanation Patrick! :) I have a Squareshooter antenna. It's worked well till this power drop.

Early this morning (so far as I know) all three stations returned to full power. Full power will last until Wednesday after Labor Day when antenna work (and 50% power) will resume for about one week. Hopefully this upcoming round of repairs will be the end of it.

Thanks for the updates Patrick!

Just curious... Why are all the stations working on their antennas at once? Do they get together and buy a package deal, or is it just one station but all have to be reduced because of the proximity of all the antennas?

...And can one company work on multiple towers at the same time, requiring all stations to be at low power at once?

Also, what difference does low power make for the workers?

I always thought they all used the same antenna except for 20. But I could be wrong.

I'm getting 43 fine this morn. I'm getting 10 but with so many glitches that it's doubtful I'd watch anything on it.

DTV's 6, 10 and 43 share an antenna and a pair of transmission lines. Ch 7 is on a separate antenna as are ch 8 and 15. It's fairly common to combine stations into the same antenna although this is the only one in Knoxville. There are two separate lines feeding the antenna so work is done on the line that is cold while the other line remains in service hence 50% power. Both lines are back in service today. If there had only been the one transmission line, the stations would have been off-air rather than 50% power because a line can't be worked hot. Work on this tower has no impact on adjacent stations.

FYI, I don't know of any problems with channel 10 so it might help to check receive antenna orientation.

I don't know of any problems with channel 10 so it might help to check receive antenna orientation.

I've been picking up 10 just fine for 3-4 years using a Squareshooter. It's just been the past month that they've gone to hell. Neither my T-165, My DirecTivo, or Sony TV's tuner can pull it in today without freezing, glitches, and lost time today. It's better than this morning but I'll continue to plan not to watch 10 till things get better...hopefully soon. SNL is gonna be back with new shows.

Actually, it's steadied since I flipped over just now. When I first tuned in about 5 minutes ago they went through a series of problems for the first minute. There gors 10.2 again...freezing....gone.

I think it's them!

Hey all. Are any of you in Comcastland who DON'T subscribe to anything more than the basic Comcast tier able to pull in local HD feeds with QAM tuner? I only pay for the basic tier and broadband internet. With my Mits 62725, the QAM tuner did pull in the local digital feeds through Comcast, then Comcast reshuffled and I've lost them. I have a neighbor reporting a similar situation. Anybody else?

Channel 10, OTA, finally became watchable over the holiday weekend. They're back to unwatchable this evening. I hope this work doesn't take long! Atleast, on a brief check, 43's channels are coming through OK.

Hey all. Are any of you in Comcastland who DON'T subscribe to anything more than the basic Comcast tier able to pull in local HD feeds with QAM tuner? I only pay for the basic tier and broadband internet. With my Mits 62725, the QAM tuner did pull in the local digital feeds through Comcast, then Comcast reshuffled and I've lost them. I have a neighbor reporting a similar situation. Anybody else?

I've retired from being a Crumcast customer....so, I don't listen to their chat too closely. However, I think some folks were on about what you want to know sometime in the last few pages. If you backtrack a bit you might just find your answer? Somebody else may chime in too? :)

10 is back for me but it stille has too many glitches. It seems like they pass network content better than their own stuff.

I subscribe to Comcast's most basic service, and the HD network channels disappeared for me too, maybe 3 months ago. I guess I could try calling them but I just hate dealing with them.

On another note, if 6, 10 and 43 OTA are all broadcasting using the same lines, does anybody know why I can get 10 and 43 just fine (albeit with a few skips - not the strongest signal) but I can't pick up 6 anymore? I was able to get it fine for the first half of Saturday (didn't try before that) but it cut off, ironically right before the UT game, and I can't pick it up anymore. I mean, I don't expect to get everything crystal clear, because although I live close to Sharp's Ridge - I'm on campus at UT - I live in a big apartment building, but it still irks me that I just can't get it at all.

On another note, if 6, 10 and 43 OTA are all broadcasting using the same lines, does anybody know why I can get 10 and 43 just fine (albeit with a few skips - not the strongest signal) but I can't pick up 6 anymore?

Unfortunately, receive antennas (and transmit) antennas are not perfect. Receive antennas in particular have varying responses on different channels and even the directivity can vary from channel to channel. The effects of ghosting also varies from channel to channel. OTA receivers don't usually give you anything to look at to judge signal quality but a signal strength meter but signal strength is only part of the equation. The received signal must be free of ghosting to some degree. The receivers will compensate for ghosting (multipath) but if severe enough even the best receivers will give up and give you a blue screen, pixellation or freezes.

While the NTSC signals are still present you can visually judge signal quality by viewing ch43 analog and adjust the antenna for minimum ghosting. The hope is that the other channels are then okay.

FYI...There is another round of antenna work probably starting Tuesday morning and lasting about a week but as I write this Monday morning 9/10, ch10 DTV and so far as I know both ch6 and 43 DTV are full power and operating normally.

6,10,43 digital were all blowing my doors off as usual here last night when I checked.

I've always found it interesting how WVLT and WKOP are so much weaker for me. WVLT is steady but less than half the signal strength of the others . Both 10 and 43 digital basically peg my signal meter at full power. WKOP I have never gotten consistently at all.

WVLT should be roughly half the power of WBIR digital (3db right?) yet the performance at distance seems disproportionate to the power difference. I guess I can understand WKOP at only 100kw but it also seems uhf 17 would bend a little better.

Additionally, even 6,10,43 digital at half-power provide a much stronger signal than WVLT at full power.

I would assume the explanation would have to be the difference in tower locations on Sharp's ridge. Or could it be other factors inherent to WVLT/WKOP's signal?

Hey all. Are any of you in Comcastland who DON'T subscribe to anything more than the basic Comcast tier able to pull in local HD feeds with QAM tuner? I only pay for the basic tier and broadband internet. With my Mits 62725, the QAM tuner did pull in the local digital feeds through Comcast, then Comcast reshuffled and I've lost them. I have a neighbor reporting a similar situation. Anybody else?

Same problem here. I only subscribe to the basic package + internet service. I had the local channels in HD (around 102 and 103) and then they switched to 6, 8, and 10. However, after a few days I lost them for good. Comcast advertises an HDTV package for 6.95/month. The way I read the fine print, it sounds like you would get the local channels in HD plus a few other channels (ESPNHD, DiscoveryHD....). However, when I call comcast they tell me I must subscribe to one of their digital packages (~65/month). This is on top of the 6.95 for HDTV plus another 12.95 for a decoder + DVR. So, for near $90/month I can get the local channels in HD. Great deal, huh.

Unless the FCC rules have been changed, Crumcast has to provide "antenna service" of the locals for a modest price that is regulated. If your TV has a Quam tuner, you shouldn't need their equipment. They don't have to provide ESPN HD at the low price, no. They're proably being evasive with you. Check your rights at the FCC website before talking with their drones again. A friend of mine had to remind them that antenna service service existed a few years back before they'd admit it and provide such.

The work on 43 and 10 must of gotten underway again this morn. 10 & 43 are off the air for me again.

I'm sure Comcast is well within the "Antenna Service" requirements with the lowest teer of analog channel selection. I don't think the FCC regulates that cables have to carry both the digital and analog channels of each OTA station in the area at low cost.

That's just a guess. When (if?) the analogs go dark, I'll bet we'll finally get cheap network HD on cable. Of course that's a few years off....

Cable carriage requirements for broadcasters were voted on yesterday by the FCC. Currently the commissioners statements are on the FCC's home page if you are interested.

Thanks for the heads up Patrick.

My reading of the vote: the FCC mandates that after Feb. 17, 2009 cable companies must make the local digital TV stations available to all their customers... regardless of what kind of TV the subscribers have. They may do it by transmitting DTV in analog form, or digital form if all subscribers have equipment (set-top box) to play on analog TVs.

It also says that "picture quality must be as good as any other programming on the system".

I didn't see anything about mandating a low-cost "antenna service" in this press release.

Anyone having trouble lately with signals from Channel 6 and 10?

I always have trouble with 43, but these others usually don't give me any trouble..

I can see the towers from my house.

I noticed 6-1 went away...but I was getting 6-2 fine...now I can't seem to pull it in either.

Thanks.

I wasn't getting 10 digital this morning.

I checked signal strength on all channels (including 6) and all were good, except 10 was bouncing in the low 20s.

6,10,43 digital appear to be back in the "maintenance" mode and broadcasting at half-power. Additionally, as PatrickT has explained, this also alters the transmission pattern and results in even less than half the usual signal for those close to the towers.

Thanks,

I just checked my signal strength on 6-2, and it was in the 90's, but nothing...

I wonder if they are even broadcasting.

I'd just REALY like to be able to watch USC/Nebraska in HD tonight.

Wow, problem is apparently my lovely HR20 from DirecTv, but still can't get 10 or 43.

At least I'm getting CBS and ABC!

6 was out all afternoon for me but it's back now. I have the DirecTvo. 6 has had alot of sizable glitches all week long.

Got 6 to work, but 10 appears to be completely dead on the digital side.

This has been wild lately...one minute, everything is fine...next minute, it seems nothing works.

I hate to get an antenna with too much gain considering how close I am to the towers.

A good Google Earth Hack, for seeing your signal strength from different HDTV towers, Just download the knoxville.KMZ file for Google earth, The Map will show the towers Location, Then on left select the individual Station and the map will color code for Signal strength, Takes into consideration the terrain,

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=11343280&postcount=212

Comcast advertises an HDTV package for 6.95/month. The way I read the fine print, it sounds like you would get the local channels in HD plus a few other channels (ESPNHD, DiscoveryHD....). However, when I call comcast they tell me I must subscribe to one of their digital packages (~65/month). This is on top of the 6.95 for HDTV plus another 12.95 for a decoder + DVR. So, for near $90/month I can get the local channels in HD. Great deal, huh.

That's right. They tell you that you can get HD channels, but then they say you must have digital cable to get all of those. It's a ripoff. But they have more HD channels than any other area cable company and they're pricing isn't much different than getting Dish's HD package (which has more channels) and DirecTV's packagae (which still has a lot less despite saying more are on the way).

Can WVLT get any worse with their signal quality? Pixelizations was awful this weekend. When I see highlights of a game on another channel they had, the difference is so obvious. Same with watching repeats of CSI: Miami on A&E HD.

I noticed that the volunteer tv logo was on over the HD feed during the UT-Fla game. Does that mean they can do weather crawls, radar, etc. over the HD as well and not have to go back to the SD feed?

Also, watched the game on both WVLT (HD on Communicomm cable) and WJHL out of Johnson City (OTA).... no comparison. WJHL's picture quality made WVLT's look like it was in SD. :(

I noticed the same, Watched the game at my dad "OTA" WJHL Johnson City, I recorded the game on my dvr on WVLT "comcast", On WVLT it really broke down when there is allot of movement, Fox and ESPN seems to be the best HDTV in sports, NBC is awful, I thought it was something with my TV,

I noticed the same, Watched the game at my dad "OTA" WJHL Johnson City, I recorded the game on my dvr on WVLT "comcast", On WVLT it really broke down when there is allot of movement, Fox and ESPN seems to be the best HDTV in sports, NBC is awful, I thought it was something with my TV,

When I visited my brother in Dallas last fall, their CBS, I'm sure that's who you meant, affiliate's PQ was up to par for football. Our's stinks and they don't care. It's been this poor for 4 years now....:mad: Actually, it seems like they've gradually gotten a bit worse.

!0 and 43 came back for me last night. Things seem to be back to normal.

I see WBXX is back to a stretched SD picture. I don't know what their problem is. I wish they'd get it together.