I received an e-mail from Bob Williams, chief engineer at WATE-TV. They already have a high powered transmitter on site at their new antenna and plan to begin full powered transmissions in June or July. The new digital station will be WATE-DT 26. There was no word on whether they plan to pass through HDTV.

In a similar vein I received an e-mail from Mr. Lee, the general manager at WBIR-TV. They plan to be on the air and to start passing through some programming in May on WBIR-DT 31 from that new tower that can be seen going up on Sharp's Ridge. I assume that means they will be passing through HDTV. NBC has Jay Leno and a few other programs occasionally broadcast in HDTV, but there is a rumor that they are going to soon be broadcasting lots of HDTV.

It's time to start putting up antennas. I live in an old house which is going on 100 years old soon. I've no choice but to put an antenna in the attic in this old house which is in a very difficult multipath area. Running cables is a major hassle so I'm starting now. Updated 12-22-05
Larry

What are the locations of the Knoxville Towers? Im in Crossville some 65 miles away. Im hoping the towers will be West of Knoxville!

That's good news Larry. Unfortunately, even with an external,amplified,motorized antenna I can't get clear reception of the old analogue signals. What really pissed me off was how several of the stations would not give me a waiver for DirectTV local service because I am "supposed" to get their signals.

I'm toying with re-connecting my BUD for HDTV. If you can get OTA HDTV that will be great.

Dave

Eddiew
The Knoxville towers are all located on high ground atop Sharp's Ridge in Knoxville and they are very tall. The top of the towers are probably 2500 to 3000 feet above sea level. You should have no trouble picking them up from Crossville.
Larry

Larry, Thanks for the INFO. I cant wait. I using EVU right now for my Network HD.

I have been waiting for HDTV in Knoxvile for awhile now. I live off of Cedar Bluff exit. Let us know when anyone starts getting an HD signal (if ever) and post it here with the channels...

Post em when you see em....

Thanks

I'm having a hard time getting WVLT OTA - anyone else with this problem. While all the other channels are fine- I have to grab the antenna and stand on my head to get it to come in-

Another question- I have regualr comcast cable- could I add a HDTV service through them without having to get digital? In other words- for a few dollars more could I just pick up all the HDTV programs?

I'm having a hard time getting WVLT OTA - anyone else with this problem. While all the other channels are fine- I have to grab the antenna and stand on my head to get it to come in-

Another question- I have regualr comcast cable- could I add a HDTV service through them without having to get digital? In other words- for a few dollars more could I just pick up all the HDTV programs?

I imagine that is possible if your TV suppourts Cable-Card? You can try asking them, Crumcast, but they proably don't know either. :D

I have regualr comcast cable- could I add a HDTV service through them without having to get digital? In other words- for a few dollars more could I just pick up all the HDTV programs?

I don't know the answer but wonder this myself. If you find out, can you post the info here please?

Thanks!

I imagine that is possible if your TV supports Cable-Card? You can try asking them, Crumcast, but they proably don't know either. :D


It's not a TV but an Infocus 4805- Does anyone here know?

It's not a TV but an Infocus 4805- Does anyone here know?

Don't know about Comcast but for Knology the answer was that you must get digital cable and use their box (or presumably a cable card). They encrypt the HDTV signals so you can't just plug your regular cable into your receiver.

For me this would've increased my bill by $25 per month. Since I can get great OTA from here I opted to go that way instead. I use a VOOM receiver to feed the OTA to my 4805 and it looks terrific. The only HD channels I am missing that Knology carries are ESPN HD and Discovery Theater HD.

I just joined the HDTV game... FusionHDTV on an HTPC. Anyway, isn't Monday Night Football supposed to be 16:9?

The tuner says it is 720p, but it sure doesn't look as good as I expected it would.

Gerald

I just joined the HDTV game... FusionHDTV on an HTPC. Anyway, isn't Monday Night Football supposed to be 16:9?

The tuner says it is 720p, but it sure doesn't look as good as I expected it would.

Gerald

Hey ya'all, I fliped over to the game near the end and it was 4/3. Did they start out in 16/9 2-nite and flip out to local skinny mode too early? :rolleyes: ...or worse, just show all or most in SD? Gerald, when they're doing things right...their 720p has looked good to me. I didn't get none this night...

I just got the fusion card last night, and it was a long time before I ever even got WATE 6.2 tuned in. For the longest time all I could get was their silly 24x7 weather station. Now talk about annoyed! All I wanted was some foo-baw!

I was glad to finally see it , but somewhat disappointed it was not HD.

How often does this kind of thing happen?

Denise Richards sure looked good on Leno.

How often does this kind of thing happen?

As has been mentioned in this thread, not every program is HD yet... especially sports.

With that said, WATE and WVLT are notorious for not giving HD material on the digital signal the full importance that we wish they would.

The good news is it's getting better and will continue to improve with newer equipment and training, but it might take a year or five. :o

Understood. I noticed something tonight when I was messing around some more. On WATE, the show with Belushi came on and was in HD, but with no sound. After a few moments, I noticed the sound come on, but when I looked up the picture had gone to SD.

Now I am suffering through trying to watch baseball on Fox. It is very stuttery and keeps telling me "No Sigal" on the Fusion cards OSD.

Less than thrilled so far.

Gerald

If you are talking about the Yankees/Angels game then I received it perfectly. I watched the first 3 innings in perfect 720p without any dropouts.

Has something happened to the digital signals from WTNZ in Knoxville? Starting last night, my signal strength has only been around 20% on 43-1 and 43-2. :confused:

Please call them every time the signal is messed up.It is the only way we can have any effect.They WILL act like it's not their fault,but usually flip the switch in a couple of minutes.

WATE ABC CH6- 637-6666
WBIR NBC CH10- 637-1010
WVLT CBS CH8- 450-8888 (Doug Stallard)
WTNZ FOX CH43- 693-4343

Does anyone know if WVLT ever did any of their promised testing for their signal problems? Their signal is very poor in the Hamblen/Greene County area. All other Knoxville stations are great in this area. LCOSBY said that WVLT was sharing a common antenna with WKOP 15/17 and was probably tuned more to WKOP. If WVLT had an antenna the was tuned for Ch. 30, the problem would probably be solved. WVLT does not seem to be interested in these problems.

I have an inside antenna and most all the channels are coming in BUT every few minutes theres static and sometimes the signal goes out completely. Also, for some channels, I have to face the antenna South East and for others more south-southwest. This seems odd as I thought I was supposed to aim it southwest for everything - WVLT doesn't show up at all if I point it Southwest.

Anybody know if the WBXX-20 is broadcasting any HD OTA and if so on what UHF channel the digital signal is on? I have a directional antenna in my attic pointed toward the towers on Sharp's Ridge, and I receive a very strong signal from PBS, ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, and WMAX on 7-1 on my Directv HD Tivo, but nothing from WBXX.
Larry

GraceAdler.......are you in Knoxville?If you are trying to get Knoxville's OTA stations,they are all in one direction.That being said,a very small antenna movement can be vital.Have you checked signal strength?
My experience is that HDTV reception is,at best,quirky and requires experimentation(antenna movement,larger UHF antenna,etc).In general,higher is better and outdoors is better.I have a BIG antenna in the attic.It's trial and error.A compass and directional chart will help locate the broadcast antennas.You should be able to get good reception in most areas in Knoxville.

Anybody know if the WBXX-20 is broadcasting any HD OTA

Larry...

I hear your pain. WBXX's transmitter is way over in Crossville, I think I get between 5-10% here in Fountain City.

That one channel is the only reason I still have "local channels" on my DirecTV lineup. :(

Anybody know if the WBXX-20 is broadcasting any HD OTA and if so on what UHF channel the digital signal is on? I have a directional antenna in my attic pointed toward the towers on Sharp's Ridge, and I receive a very strong signal from PBS, ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, and WMAX on 7-1 on my Directv HD Tivo, but nothing from WBXX.
Larry

WBXX is on channel 50 but they aren't doing any HD yet. I don't think they even have a target date for it. The transmitter is near Oak Ridge.

Go to http://www.2150.com/broadcast/default.asp and put in your lat/lon coordinates for bearing to all the local towers.

Get your lat/lon at http://terraserver.microsoft.com/

Magnetic declination is around -4

Thanks for all the info-
I live in North Knoxville.
Seems like Directv is most recommended- after seeing my sister's directv, I was leaning towards Comcast. Could I buy an OTA antenna to go with comcast or is that just if you already have a satelite dish?

I live in 37918 zip and have not been able to get OTA with a tree line and ridge right behind my house. And was denied all waivers applied for by the local stations. I would like them to come to my house and explain to me how I could get channels OTA without putting up a 40 ft tower to mount them on. It's a racket I think and you should make sure you have some kind of agreement if possible that if you can't get OTA you could return all equpiment and have no repercussions.

:eek: NO!!! NO!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! :eek: :eek:

:o Sorry for the outburst, but I was with Comcast through the 90s and hated them. When I switched to DirecTV, things became so much better - fair prices, clear phone support, encouraging promotions and nada technical glitches.

Now I want high speed internet and the phone lines in this house suck... I stuck with Bellsouth DSL for years but I would get dropped/reconnected about every 10 minutes. This sucks when playing Battlefield 2! :(

So I want to deal with Comcast as little as possible, but my initial impressions have been, as Rachael points out, terrible. Suprise hidden charges, unfulfilled promotions, poor phone support... :mad: I don't know how customers put up with this company! :rolleyes:

I guess I'm stuck with them. In their defense, the high speed internet works like a charm. :cool: But I hope to deal with them as little as possible.

I have had some issues with the big C* but when I have bad phone support, I just hang up and call back, I usually get a more knowledgable person to help me. I am hooking up my Comcast HD receiver from them today to get locals on HD which I have never been able to get from the big D* and OTA. It looks to be and HD DVR but we shall see.

I have had some issues with the big C* but when I have bad phone support, I just hang up and call back, I usually get a more knowledgable person to help me. I am hooking up my Comcast HD receiver from them today to get locals on HD which I have never been able to get from the big D* and OTA. It looks to be and HD DVR but we shall see.

D* will likely provide HD locals in our market by '08. At least you have the option of getting them through Comcast. I have no other option here. Isn't there another cable provider in Knoxville as well?

It must be frustrating to not be able to get OTA. What have you tried so far? Sorry if you've posted this already.

Has something happened to the digital signals from WTNZ in Knoxville? Starting last night, my signal strength has only been around 20% on 43-1 and 43-2. :confused:

Im having the same problem here in Maryville, the signal is very low now. Anybody else having problems? I dont want to have to get back on the roof if it is a WTNZ problem. :confused:

I am in Maryville and not only do I get 43-1 and 43-2 I also get 39-1 and 39-2 WEMT! I am using a radio shack indoor set top amplified antenna.

I do have a Zenith Silver which is getting 40-50 percent on 43-1, but I like the other antenna because I can get Fox WEMT and Judge Judy comes on at 5:00.

Link to antenna http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=15-1880
http://www.radioshack.com/images/ProductCatalog/ProductImage/15/15-1880.jpg

Im having the same problem here in Maryville, the signal is very low now. Anybody else having problems? I dont want to have to get back on the roof if it is a WTNZ problem. :confused:

No problems here.

Last time I checked, mine was still hosed. But sounds like it is something on my end, since others are getting it fine. I may drag the PC over to a friend's house and see what I can get from there, just to compare.

I do notice that if I move my indoor Radio Shack antenna close to a window, the signal picks up about 10% and if I move it to an upstairs window it goes up into the 90% (as reported by my fusion software).

Fox always reports 0%, but I do notice the skipping goes away slightly if my antenna is in the upstairs window. So I have to guess there is something physical in the way. I do not have direct LOS of the towers from where I am, but I am only about 8 miles away from them.

I am in an apt, and while I know it is within my rights to do so, I don't think I want to fool with installing an outdoor antenna.

Gerald

I am getting no signal on 43.1 now but I can still get 39.1

I've written off 43.1 and 43.2 for now; at least until I can carry the PC somewhere that has a decent (or at least different) LOS. Maybe I'll take it to church tonight.

Hey, at least WATE managed to keep MNF going in HD (at least up until the half, when I had to toddle off to bed)!

Gerald

No problems here in Morristown. All Knoxvilles coming steady and strong as usual. I don't have a rotor on my UHF. I point directly at Sharps ridge but still get enough signal from wbxx off the side for steady and reliable locks.

D* will likely provide HD locals in our market by '08. At least you have the option of getting them through Comcast. I have no other option here. Isn't there another cable provider in Knoxville as well?

It must be frustrating to not be able to get OTA. What have you tried so far? Sorry if you've posted this already.

D* basic cable
Winegard Square Shooter

No others because I don't have anywhere to put them and ETS dude said I would not be able to do any better in my attic which is truly my only other option. Heck, as much as you guys have trouble with these locals anyway what does it matter? Sounds like they all pretty much have more troubles than it's worth.

I got my C* box hooked up and it gets HD but the locals as well as ESPN are getting horizontal interrupts still which I attribute to my line being split twice. C* technician will be here Saturday to look at it and might run me another line or give me a booster for my signal. Mine is a DVR, Motorola DCT6208 which is a HD DVR it looks like:

http://broadband.motorola.com/dvr/dct6208.asp

D* basic cable
Winegard Square Shooter

No others because I don't have anywhere to put them and ETS dude said I would not be able to do any better in my attic which is truly my only other option. Heck, as much as you guys have trouble with these locals anyway what does it matter? Sounds like they all pretty much have more troubles than it's worth.

I got my C* box hooked up and it gets HD but the locals as well as ESPN are getting horizontal interrupts still which I attribute to my line being split twice. C* technician will be here Saturday to look at it and might run me another line or give me a booster for my signal. Mine is a DVR, Motorola DCT6208 which is a HD DVR it looks like:

http://broadband.motorola.com/dvr/dct6208.asp


You might consider the CM 4221 as an alternative to the square shooter. Should give you better performance for both uhf and high vhf which covers it for your area unless you need analog 6.

I have an indoor set-top RCA amplified antenna in West Knoxville and haven't had a problem in eight months. However, I now can't even sniff a signal on 43-1 or 43-2 even though all other signals are coming in great (the ones I usually get).

I have never been able to get 7-1 or 2-1,2-2.

Any word on whether this is a WTNZ issue???

I cant remember... doesn't WTNZ share the same "community" tower with another station?

I have not had a chance to watch any TV lately, let alone to take my PC anywhere else to check if it is simply a location issue.

Gerald

I have an indoor set-top RCA amplified antenna in West Knoxville and haven't had a problem in eight months. However, I now can't even sniff a signal on 43-1 or 43-2 even though all other signals are coming in great (the ones I usually get).

I have never been able to get 7-1 or 2-1,2-2.

Any word on whether this is a WTNZ issue???

Have you tried another channel scan?

WTNZ is fine here. It's actual uhf channel 34 and virtual 43 . If you don't get it with the scan try accessing it via 34.

Now im getting no signal on WTNZ. Went from 75 down to 40 down to 0 in the past 2 weeks or so. Somethings got to be up.


EDIT... Just checked signal and now im getting 60% stable.

Now im getting no signal on WTNZ. Went from 75 down to 40 down to 0 in the past 2 weeks or so. Somethings got to be up.


EDIT... Just checked signal and now im getting 60% stable.

I noticed the Dallas football game is not in HD, but when I turn to Fox 39.1 WEMT in the tri cities it is in HD with DD 5.1.

I noticed the Dallas football game is not in HD, but when I turn to Fox 39.1 WEMT in the tri cities it is in HD with DD 5.1.

Sure enough, WTNZ isn't showing the Dallas game in HD for some reason. :rolleyes:

Usually they are perfect with the HD switch... give them a call at 693-4343 and let us know what their explanation is!

Sure enough, WTNZ isn't showing the Dallas game in HD for some reason. :rolleyes:

Usually they are perfect with the HD switch... give them a call at 693-4343 and let us know what their explanation is!

Even better, I will just watch it on their competitors site.

I having to watch it on Directv TV Fox Channel 88

Has something happened to the digital signals from WTNZ in Knoxville? Starting last night, my signal strength has only been around 20% on 43-1 and 43-2. :confused:

My 43-1 and 43-2 signals are back up in the 70% range. Whatever the problem was appears to be fixed for now.

Anyone else having problems with WATE-DT tonight (Wed. Oct. 19th)? I tried recording Lost and it it cuts in and out... I fast fowarded and it looks like the middle section stayed SD after a commercial break but it was still cutting in and out.

The analog channel 6 looks fine, and surprisingly, 6.2 digital (the weather screen) is also fine! It's just 6.1 that seems to be having problems.

Is it just problems on my end?

Anyone else having problems with WATE-DT tonight (Wed. Oct. 19th)? ?

Yes, constant glitches like the signal is trying to drop. After Lost, it was off the air entirely (the subchannel was still on). I noticed this the night before, too, but assumed it was atmospheric. Guess not.

I have my OTA antenna hooked up to a receiver and then out to a projector. I love this BUT I can't watch cable or dvd's without unhooking the antenna/receiver. Does anyone know how I can hook up antenna, receiver, cable (not a box) and dvd to projector and at once? I want to use component.

I have my OTA antenna hooked up to a receiver and then out to a projector. I love this BUT I can't watch cable or dvd's without unhooking the antenna/receiver. Does anyone know how I can hook up antenna, receiver, cable (not a box) and dvd to projector and at once? I want to use component.

Which brand and model number receiver are you using?

Samsung SIR-T451

Google component switches. They are available in remote controlled devices (very expensive) to manual switching (moderately expensive). However, I used a $89 manual switch made specifically for composite game devices and it worked very well for use with a Panasonic projection system. It had at least six inputs, one out.

The component switch is what you need, but I'm not sure how that will work with your OTA tuner with cable TV. Can your Samsung tuner accept a Cable input and change between antenna and CATV?

Also, be sure that the Component switch is designed for HD - the more expensive ones are.

I use an extron switcher to switch back and forth between my different sources to feed the single input of my JVC G-15 D-ILA projector. It does an excellent job of passing HDTV. There are different models available both with manual switching and remote controlled. Mine assigns priorty to the different inputs and switches to the 1st in order of priorty that is powered on at the time. The remote controlled version is more expensive. You can download all the different models with specs and even instruction manuals at Extron.com. Unfortuately they are expensive.
Larry

Mine assigns priorty to the different inputs and switches to the 1st in order of priorty that is powered on at the time.

I have an SD switcher that does this... it's a great feature. :cool: I leave my Tivo on input one, and when I turn on the DVD player (input two) it automatically switches to that input. Then when I turn off the DVD player it switches back to the Tivo.

I highly recommend getting one that has automatic switching like this.

Colts/Houston NFL 1:00PM Sunday(today)....my guide says it's supposed to be in High Definition.It's on WVLT CH8-Knoxville in standard def.I called and they said they will check.This station is terrible!The worst in the Knoxville market and I have called a dozen times to get them to "flip the switch".Please call them and complain.

Colts/Houston NFL 1:00PM Sunday(today)....my guide says it's supposed to be in High Definition.It's on WVLT CH8-Knoxville in standard def.I called and they said they will check.This station is terrible!The worst in the Knoxville market and I have called a dozen times to get them to "flip the switch".Please call them and complain.

I know, it drives me crazy too. :mad:

...we just have to keep in mind we are somewhat on the front edge of this technology which still has a limited audience, which means limited attention from the stations. The good news is as the broadcast hardware improves and the audience expands, the stations' interest in digital and HDTV will increase.

Is WTNZ-FOX DT having problems? I have good signal strength and am getting all the other locals but no FOX. Anyone else having this problem?


They just fixed it!

Colts/Houston NFL 1:00PM Sunday(today)....my guide says it's supposed to be in High Definition.It's on WVLT CH8-Knoxville in standard def.I called and they said they will check.This station is terrible!The worst in the Knoxville market and I have called a dozen times to get them to "flip the switch".Please call them and complain.

This wasn't one of the HD games yesterday.
Steelers/Bengals and Chargers/Eagles were the HD early games on CBS.

Broncos/Giants was the HD late game.

Ken H always posts this info in the HDTV programming section at AVS on weekends.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=594710

I have been having problems when trying to watch the NBC (WBIR) HD shows lately. For instance, tonight I was trying to watch Medium, and there would be sections where the picture and audio would go off and on constantly for 30 to 40 seconds at a time or more. It made the show about unwatchable. I noticed the same thing happening about a week ago. After Medium was over, the news seemed to be solid without any of these problems, though. Did other people see this too?

Same black outs on Medium Sean.

OK, thanks for the info.

So I finally get a Channel Master 4228 sitting in attic space -- literally on top of various A/V gear shipping boxes until I have time to deal with it properly -- and had no trouble getting all the locals I care about (6,8,10,15,20,43) and some I don't (7 and 54 alternately depending on antenna position).

But 6.1 comes in with solid audio but no video whatsoever.

Using the DirecTV HD PVR (TiVo), signal strength hovers around 70 on all channels.

I'm just curious if anyone else is having issues with WATE this week before I start finding a permanent home for the antenna. I've pulled in the channel before using a simple set-top VHF/UHF/FM RadioShack antenna.

But 6.1 comes in with solid audio but no video whatsoever.


:confused: What's your signal strength for WATE-DT? With digital TV you should be getting both audio and video, or nothing. Are you getting the weather info on 6.2?

Thanks for the reply, DaverJ.

Currently, the signal strength is 60, but now I'm getting both audio and video. Where you getting video on 6.1 at the time you posted?

I just performed a rescan of all channels and am now picking up 6.2 and 10.2 as well as 54's subchannels.

And now it's gone again, at 11:00 just as the next week previews started leading into the local news. Seems like a station problem: Only the network video feed is getting through.

Jonathan...

You aren't crazy... I just turned on WATE-DT 6.1 at 11:05pm and indeed... sound but no picture.

Last week this channel was cutting in and out, so I think they are having problems with 6.1. The 6.2 weather channel is fine though... :-/ Give them a call and ask what's up.

Yea, I was really annoyed when in the middle of my favorite show, Lost, the picture and audio just died on ABC about a week ago. I had to go over to my parents house and watch a SD version they have Tivoed.

My 43-1 and 43-2 signals are back up in the 70% range. Whatever the problem was appears to be fixed for now.

After reading back through this thread and refreshing my memory, I see that NBC, ABC and FOX do indeed all share the same antenna. So, could it still be a multipath issue?

I found the FusionHDTV signal meter applet and have it running. It shows 0% signal as well, which seems quite hard to believe, since I do get a very stuttery picture and sound on Fox, which would suggest a) that I am getting some level of signal above 0% and b) that there is something going on with the Fusion card.

Is there something about the way that Fox broadcasts their signal that differs from the other networks?

Really really really wanted to watch some baseball. Even if those backbiting Braves did it to me again...

Gerald

After reading back through this thread and refreshing my memory, I see that NBC, ABC and FOX do indeed all share the same antenna. So, could it still be a multipath issue?

I found the FusionHDTV signal meter applet and have it running. It shows 0% signal as well, which seems quite hard to believe, since I do get a very stuttery picture and sound on Fox, which would suggest a) that I am getting some level of signal above 0% and b) that there is something going on with the Fusion card.

Is there something about the way that Fox broadcasts their signal that differs from the other networks?

Really really really wanted to watch some baseball. Even if those backbiting Braves did it to me again...

Gerald

Could be. There's also a full power analog in Campbellsville, KY on 34 which knocks it out for me from time to time. Not sure if it would affect you down there, though.

The thing is that when you guys were having problems with it, I wasn't, so maybe not. The next time it happens, switch to analog 34 if you can. If you can see any picture at all, that means there's co-channel analog interference from somewhere.

Now WATE 6.1 shows ~80%, which is usually plenty, but there is no video and very very choppy sound.

I checked for the analog station 34 and didnt get anything but white noise.

May purchase an ATI HDWonder and see what it can do... not prepared for much, as folks seem to bitch mightily about its shortcomings as well.

Gerald

They have been having a problem or two all week. The sound was a tick behind the movement of people's mouths on all shows, very annoying. WATE has to be the worst with regards to quality and "flipping the switch".

Anyone know why Comcast added WB20 to the HD lineup when they aren't showing anything HD? Seems like a waste of a channel.

Larry...

I hear your pain. WBXX's transmitter is way over in Crossville, I think I get between 5-10% here in Fountain City.

That one channel is the only reason I still have "local channels" on my DirecTV lineup. :(Greetings all. DaverJ, I live in Fountain City also. Just received my Panny 37" HD plasma last week, & hooked up some older Radio Shack rabbit ears since I'm not into the Comcast thing (we primarliy watch DVD's, & the major networks). I checked antennaweb.org... I'm 1.9 mi. at 200 degrees & 2.7 mi. at 213 degrees for the 5 primary digital stations).

Reception so far is "hit & miss", but I haven't experimented much yet. Not sure if any others have a similar situation to mine (very close to Sharps Ridge, single level house), but I'm considering the Radio Shack 15-1880 (amplified) or the Zentith Silver Sensor. I know the digital channels ar predominantly UHF signals.

Any suggestions? Thanks fellow Knoxville AVSers.

Just received my Panny 37" HD plasma last week, & hooked up some older Radio Shack rabbit ears since I'm not into the Comcast thing (we primarliy watch DVD's, & the major networks).

Congrats on your purchase!

I have an outdoor antenna - in our unfinished basement lying on the floor! :D Our house at the end of the street is up a slight hill and I can see the towers on Sharp's Ridge out the first story window. I pull in WATE, WVLT, WBIR, WKOP and WTNZ all in the 80 to 90% range. I have problems getting WMAK and WBXX digitally.

I'm not sure why the rabbit ears didn't work, I would have guessed you would have no problem. :confused: Good luck with your experimenting - make sure you aren't plugging the antenna in the "cable" coax input on your TV.

rhcorolla
OTA HDTV reception "is" hit and miss.I'd sure try the Silver Sensor"(at least you can return it) and it's small and mobile.It may take some experimentation to hit the "hot spot".If the Zenith SS doesn't work,then you can go larger.Good luck!

Congrats on your purchase!Thanks, it's nice to be part of the digital revolution (even though it's baby steps getting 16:9 digital programming material) :D

I'm not sure why the rabbit ears didn't work, I would have guessed you would have no problem.Actually, quite a few of the channels come in great. I'm primarily having problems w/ WATE's signal coming in & out.

Greetings all. DaverJ, I live in Fountain City also. Just received my Panny 37" HD plasma last week, & hooked up some older Radio Shack rabbit ears since I'm not into the Comcast thing (we primarliy watch DVD's, & the major networks). I checked antennaweb.org... I'm 1.9 mi. at 200 degrees & 2.7 mi. at 213 degrees for the 5 primary digital stations).

Reception so far is "hit & miss", but I haven't experimented much yet. Not sure if any others have a similar situation to mine (very close to Sharps Ridge, single level house), but I'm considering the Radio Shack 15-1880 (amplified) or the Zentith Silver Sensor. I know the digital channels ar predominantly UHF signals.

Any suggestions? Thanks fellow Knoxville AVSers.


Rabbit ears are primarily designed for VHF. You can use them for UHF, though, but you have to know how to configure them. See http://www.kyes.com/antenna/rabbitear.html

I'd try the Silver Sensor unamplified first if that doesn't work. Stay away from anything amplified that close.

The Panny tuner seems pretty good at least for me at a distance. I have a 50PX50U.
Multipath will probably be your problem , though. You can look at your analogs for a clue to what's going on. Ghosting=multipath.

rhcorolla
OTA HDTV reception "is" hit and miss.I'd sure try the Silver Sensor"(at least you can return it) and it's small and mobile.It may take some experimentation to hit the "hot spot".If the Zenith SS doesn't work,then you can go larger.Good luck! That's kind of where I'm at aVOLanche. Being just 2 mi. away, it seems the Silver Sensor makes, well, sense. We just moved to this house 2 weeks ago, so I want to get the compass out to verify where the towers are (& what is between me & the towers. :rolleyes: )

Rabbit ears are primarily designed for VHF. You can use them for UHF, though, but you have to know how to configure them. See http://www.kyes.com/antenna/rabbitear.html

I'd try the Silver Sensor unamplified first if that doesn't work. Stay away from anything amplified that close.

The Panny tuner seems pretty good at least for me at a distance. I have a 50PX50U.
Multipath will probably be your problem , though. You can look at your analogs for a clue to what's going on. Ghosting=multipath.Thanks cpcat. I have seen that link & had already bookmarked it. The rabbit ears I have also has a UHF antenna (the kind that's rectangular & rotates slightly).

You are spot on about the multipath problems, as the analog channels are ghosting horribly.

You are spot on about the multipath problems, as the analog channels are ghosting horribly.


I'd go out and get the RS variable attenuator. It's cheap and it might work. Attenuation can knock down a reflection enough for the receiver to lock. Look at analog 15 and 43 as they should mirror what's going on with the uhf digitals more closely.

I'd try the RS attenuator first with your current antenna, then also with the Silver Sensor if necessary. If you can't even get close with the current antenna, the Silver Sensor is not likely to solve it for you. If you can get almost there, though, it'd be worth a try especially if you can return it.

Non-intuitive aiming can also be worth a try when mulitpath is bad. Sometimes you can tune a reflected signal better than the direct one. You might also try tilting up toward the top of the towers.

thanks for the great advice cpcat :cool:

I definitely wanted to play around w/ the existing indoor antenna, & had even thought of possible needing an in-line attenuator being so close, but a variable version is an excellent idea. Is this the RS one you were referring to?

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062022&cp=&kw=attenuator&parentPage=search

I will say that I am not overly concerned w/ the analog channels. I just mainly want to lock-in the digital ones as best I can. And WAF-wise, I would like to avoid a behemoth indoor antenna. If all else fails, I'll put something in the attic if necessary...

Is this the RS one you were referring to?

.

Yep, good luck.

Anyone have a contact email address for WATE's techs? Their sounds is a little behind the pictur, been that way for almost 2 weeks. Very annoying.

Anyone have a contact email address for WATE's techs? Their sounds is a little behind the pictur, been that way for almost 2 weeks. Very annoying.


bwilliams@wate.com

I think that's their CE.

It seemed to me that not only was the audio out of sync but the picture seemed very jerky/stuttery last night for Commander in Chief. This happened for MNF as well but fixed itself.

My D* DNS ABC feed was fine last night so I don't think it was a network issue.

Their picture was like that last night and tonight. When the camera pans or someone moves quickly, it looks like a streaming video clip with the jerkiness in the picture.

I am a novice to HDTV and found this site through Goggle. I have bought Panasonic HDTV and have had trouble getting some OTA stations. I live in Alcoa just South of the airport.

I cannot reliably receive WBIR-HD or WKOP-HD, but get the others including WBXX-HD without much trouble. I have tried a Phillips amplified loop antenna and could get WBIR-HD and WKOP-HD sometimes. The antenna had to be aimed away from the station direction to get these two stations. I have also tried a Terk HDTVi Antenna Pro and a borrowed AntennasDirect DB-2 indoors with and w/o a preamp without getting either WBIR-HD or WKOP-HD.

I would appreciate any suggestions you might have.

Also, I see where some of you list % or relative signal strengths. Is this from your tuner or a separate device.

Thanks,
tclee

I am a novice to HDTV and found this site through Goggle. I have bought Panasonic HDTV and have had trouble getting some OTA stations. I live in Alcoa just South of the airport.

I cannot reliably receive WBIR-HD or WKOP-HD, but get the others including WBXX-HD without much trouble. I have tried a Phillips amplified loop antenna and could get WBIR-HD and WKOP-HD sometimes. The antenna had to be aimed away from the station direction to get these two stations. I have also tried a Terk HDTVi Antenna Pro and a borrowed AntennasDirect DB-2 indoors with and w/o a preamp without getting either WBIR-HD or WKOP-HD.

I would appreciate any suggestions you might have.

Also, I see where some of you list % or relative signal strengths. Is this from your tuner or a separate device.

Thanks,
tclee

It sounds to me like you should try a CM 4221. You might do o.k. in your attic but dont' hesitate to put it outside if necessary. You shouldn't need a preamp. If you have multiple indoor splits/ tv sets use a distribution amp like the CM 3042 just before the split. Remember that amplification makes multipath worse, however.

Stable reception with an indoor antenna just isn't always possible for everyone. It sounds like multipath is the problem. Multipath=ghosting on analogs. You can check analog 15 and 43 to get an idea.

Sometimes the variable attenuator from RS can help with multipath. It's cheap and it's probaby worth a try.

The other thing you might try is moving those indoor antennas around in the house as well as on a second floor (if present) or in the attic. A CM 4221 isn't very expensive, though.

Get a channelmaster 4228. I have one in LaFollette and I get every station great except wb 20 which is in another location

I am a novice to HDTV and found this site through Goggle. I have bought Panasonic HDTV and have had trouble getting some OTA stations. I live in Alcoa just South of the airport.

I cannot reliably receive WBIR-HD or WKOP-HD, but get the others including WBXX-HD without much trouble. I have tried a Phillips amplified loop antenna and could get WBIR-HD and WKOP-HD sometimes. The antenna had to be aimed away from the station direction to get these two stations. I have also tried a Terk HDTVi Antenna Pro and a borrowed AntennasDirect DB-2 indoors with and w/o a preamp without getting either WBIR-HD or WKOP-HD.

I would appreciate any suggestions you might have.

Also, I see where some of you list % or relative signal strengths. Is this from your tuner or a separate device.

Thanks,
tcleetclee, if you haven't already, check out antennaweb: http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx
Input your address & see what is recommended antenna-wise. With a compass & this data in hand, you can pinpoint any & all signals you wish to receive.

Is your Panasonic a CRT or Plasma? Signal strength is accessed on my Panny plasma by remote: menu, setup, program channel, signal strength (then advance channels w/ right or left arrows & press enter to get results).

WBXX is now 1080i. I noticed this a few days ago, but the programs that should be hd are not yet. How long do you think it will be before they can start showing the hd content in hd? My wife likes Reba, so we watched it last night in hope that it would be, nope. I now they are 1080i now, because that is the signal my tunner (built in, panasonic. But I just swithced to Dish friday and am now using their box) says it is picking up.

Sounds like a station issue not having something set right. Maybe they'll fix it.

WBXX is now 1080i. I noticed this a few days ago, but the programs that should be hd are not yet. How long do you think it will be before they can start showing the hd content in hd? My wife likes Reba, so we watched it last night in hope that it would be, nope. I now they are 1080i now, because that is the signal my tunner (built in, panasonic. But I just swithced to Dish friday and am now using their box) says it is picking up.

Hopefully, that means they'll offer HD soon. I recall it was a couple of mos for WTNZ after they went to 720p. I guess I'll have to turn the antenna towards Oak Ridge if that occurs. :)

They have started! Reba last week was in hd. They still have bugs to work out, the audio was out of sync. I am pretty sure they have done some other hd but I have been busy and not able to watch.

Anyone having trouble with WVLTDT channel 8-1 in Knoxville.I'm getting no signal.But if I go to 30-1,I get the broadcast.The problem then,is that the guide,season pass,anything set to record doesn't work......Thanks for any help!

Anyone having trouble with WVLTDT channel 8-1 in Knoxville.I'm getting no signal.But if I go to 30-1,I get the broadcast.The problem then,is that the guide,season pass,anything set to record doesn't work......Thanks for any help!

I take it you are using a HD DirecTivo?

Yes,an HR10-250.

I'll take a look at mine when I get home tonight. I don't record much WVLT so I haven't noticed anything - but from what you described it sounds like a guide-data error from DirecTV.

Would a call to Direct help?I looked to see when it updated and it was last night.So,I'm guessing you are right.Thanks!

Update:I called DirecTV and they said all OTA information is in the OTA signal.So they have no ability to affect the guide/signal of OTA channels(like through the nightly phone update).They had me "clear all OTA channels" and then do a new scan.....which accomplished nothing.The signal was still at 30-1 and nothing at 8-1.They then suggested that I call WVLT,which I tried to do.But Doug Stallard(their chief engineer was out).Then,miraculously,the signal came back on at 8-1 and the guide is working again.Very odd that it had been messed up since yesterday,then "corrected" itself about 5 minutes after I left a voice mail!

Hi guys I need help!
I hope this is the right place to ask. I am about 53 miles (according to antennaweb). from the knoxville TN stations (east of Morristown). I'm pretty high here where I live so I don't think line of sight is a big problem.
I just placed a CM 3020 in my attic. I am getting between 45 to 60 on my signal meter on my D* reciever. Will a preamp help me or am I just out of luck. I get the locals on satallite but I want the HD reception. They all seem to go in and out....Anything you would suggest?

A preamp will only "maintain" the strongest signal that you already receive.It's purpose is to keep losses to a minimum.The losses are usually from very long runs of cable.Generally that means WELL over 100 ft of RG6.You are using RG6,are you not?That's what you need.
Attic placement can be tricky because you will lose signal from going through the wall(s).And you may lose a lot or a little,depending on what the wall is made of AND whats in the wall(any metal,for example).A preamp will not get back that lost signal.
The CM 3020 is rated by Channel Master as a 9.5dB gain antenna.The 4228 is their highest gain UHF antenna at 12 dB.A switch might help.I realize that the CM 3020 is an expensive antenna,but it's not necessarily the best choice.See solidsignal.com for antennas.
Location is also a problem for many antennas.You can move it a few inches and get a huge change.It's pure trial and error.

Hello folks - saw a post from New Tazewell, Powell and Corbin, and curious your ability to pickup OTA-DT signals out of Knoxville? Heading down to Middlesboro, Ky for Thanksgiving w/ the family, and the little brother has a new Sony Wega HD TV, but has never seen an HD signal on it yet. Was going to take my HD tuner down to see if we can't get an OTA signal to watch one of the football games. Curious if it'll be a waste of time, or if anyone local to this area is able to get anything HD out of Knoxville.. I'm thinking Knoxville is where I'll have to pull from, but if there's HD being transmitted anywhere else in the area, I'll certainly look there as well... thanks all -

Put the Middlesboro address in this website to see if any stations come up.
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Welcome.aspx
(It will not be the final answer; only tests on the site will give you the final answer.)

Put the Middlesboro address in this website to see if any stations come up.
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/Welcome.aspx
(It will not be the final answer; only tests on the site will give you the final answer.)

I gave that a try a bit earlier this week and only pulled up about 5 channels, none of which were DT. A few of the folks posting in this Knoxville thread are "somewhat" close to Middlesboro, so going straight to the horses mouth, so to speak. I see someone posting from Corbin, which is 50miles further north of from Knoxville than where M'boro is located. Would be surprised if he's pulling in Knoxville OTA, but if so, there may be a chance.

Thanks for the info however - Best..

I am in LaFollette and I get all the HDTV channels. It is worth a shot.

I live in New Tazewell (did live in M'boro). I get ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, WBXX, PBS, PAX, The TUBE, UPN. All DT. I have a friend who has a larger ant that he can turn, he picks up WYMT out of KY. I only have a Square Shooter. In Middlesboro you should at least get WYMT out of Hazard. I get high 80's to high 90's in signal on my dish network 811. I see no reason for you not to get something HD in Middlesboro. I have also got PBS out of VA (Blue mtn.) when I was putting my ant up and turned it. Best of luck.

Hello folks - saw a post from New Tazewell, Powell and Corbin, and curious your ability to pickup OTA-DT signals out of Knoxville? Heading down to Middlesboro, Ky for Thanksgiving w/ the family, and the little brother has a new Sony Wega HD TV, but has never seen an HD signal on it yet. Was going to take my HD tuner down to see if we can't get an OTA signal to watch one of the football games. Curious if it'll be a waste of time, or if anyone local to this area is able to get anything HD out of Knoxville.. I'm thinking Knoxville is where I'll have to pull from, but if there's HD being transmitted anywhere else in the area, I'll certainly look there as well... thanks all -


It just depends on the local geography there. If you aren't obstructed you should have a shot at Hazard WYMT DT 12 to the northwest. The same with Knoxville to the SW and Bristol to the E. Cumberland Gap may block you to the south and east. I'm on a hill with a relatively unobstructed view in all directions so I have fair luck with them all. Most likely you'll need a large outdoor antenna covering the appropriate frequency with a preamp for any of them.

I don't know for sure. I've been to Middlesboro many times, and I would guess that it would be a very difficult area for OTA reception and would require pulling out all the stops with a tower, stacked deep fringe UHF Yagi type antennas, and a rotator. Does the local cable company offer any OTA digital HD signals? Could he also get a waiver for satellite reception of the network HDTV signals?
Larry

Does the local cable company offer any OTA digital HD signals? Could he also get a waiver for satellite reception of the network HDTV signals?
Larry

I doubt the cable co. offers anything. There's no mention of it here yet. I assume it's Charter down there.

D* may offer HD DNS in M'boro. I get all 4 networks here without need for waivers.

I was able to receive WATE-DT,WBIR-DT, and WYMT-DT with a CM 4228 and a Stealthtenna for vhf into a CM 7777 when I first started. This was mounted initially via an eave mount on my garage.

It all depends on local terrain issues, but the Gap may indeed block most locations in Middlesboro to the south and east.

well, I appreciate the feedback. I do belive the Gap may indeed prove to be difficult. On top of that, he lives in an area that's heavily wooded, at the base of a mountainous ridge.

No outside antenna mounted, and I was going to take my ANT200 RCA settop antenna. Doubt that's going to work. May give it a try just for grins. Charter is the cable co in the area, and they're not offering any HD content, and no ETA on when such service will be available. Doubt it'd be worth their time and cost on rebuild efforts.

Appreciate the input and hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving -

Does anybody live near Spring City and recieve any signal from the Knoxville area?
thanks

This question was posted before and I never saw an answer for it. So I'll post it again.

Is there a way to pull a recorded HD program saved on a Comcast DVR box to a laptop or some other method? I have one thing saved that I'd love to get to a laptop or even on a DVD.

best bet is to go into the HD recorders forum and look in the thread for your dvr

Anyone getting POOR signal strength on WVLT (ch 8-1) CBS Knoxville over the last few days?I've always had a decent signal on all the locals,but WVLT is down from a solid 71 to 45-50 and constantly breaking up.

Anyone getting POOR signal strength on WVLT (ch 8-1) CBS Knoxville over the last few days?I've always had a decent signal on all the locals,but WVLT is down from a solid 71 to 45-50 and constantly breaking up.I have had the same problem w/ 8-1.

rhcorolla,were you getting a good signal before the last week or so?I've had a good one for 2 years and now this. Thanks!
BTW,I called and have left 2 messages for Doug Stallard (WVLT's chief engineer),but he has ignored my requests for a return phone call.

I have had a weaker signal also. Notice more pixelation

aVOLanche,

I've only had my Panny plasma HDTV for a couple of months, but was getting 70- 80% signal strength for 8-1 (& all other HD channels) using RS rabbit ears & an adjustable in-line attenuator (thanks to cpcat). I've been having trouble lately w/ 6-1. And the tube 43-2 has terrible pixelation. I'm assuming that I'm getting some interference w/ wind & trees, etc.. My next step is to put a modest antenna in the attic, although I m playing around w/ the idea of trying out a cablecard thru Comcast for basic channels first....


VVV good to know Codeman, thanks. VVV

Pixelation of The Tube is probably not due to local interference - it looks that way on Comcast Digital.

For those folks in the Charter cable area, I just got word from the WATE.com Forum Admin that an agreement has been reached and WATE-DT will be on Charter soon. So now we'll only have to bug Charter for ... TNT, Universal HD, Starz HD,....

I've listed this plasma at AVS marketplace if anyone's interested.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=619905

The Knoxville thread was accidentally merged with the San Antonio thread yesterday. I pulled these first few posts so the OPs of both threads would remain the same. I'll update the thread Index to point to this thread, but for those of you that are subscribed, please update your subscribed threads to also point to this thread.

As I see which members are posting to this thread, I'll try to pull some of the more recent posts over from the San Antonio thread to keep the discussion going.

I should have most of the posts since the end of September (05) back over here now.

Anyone else having trouble with WB? My receiver says that 20-1 is coming in fine but there is no display on that channel nor is there a signal strenth error message.

Are they not broadcasting certain programs on that feed?

With a little luck most of the "regulars" will find their way back. After all, they found this thread the first time!

Thanks! Pat

Anyone else having trouble with WB? My receiver says that 20-1 is coming in fine but there is no display on that channel nor is there a signal strenth error message.

Are they not broadcasting certain programs on that feed?

I tried just now and can get 20-1 HD and 20-2 SD but at times 50-3? The RF channel is 50 but it is remapped to channel 20. They may have some problems with the channel information they are sending or my receiver may be less than wonderful.

You might try another complete channel scan to see if that helps.

This thread's now up on the Index, so hopefully people will end up back over here.

Thanks for the suggestions Patrick.

I re-scanned my locals but to no avail. I am still locked on on a steady 70+% signal strength on WBXX-HD (frequency 50) but am getting no display nor error messgae. I live in Farragut and can get all the other signals (other than WMAK) fine.

Are the Knoxville HD Channels UHF frequency or are they VHF? I have just installed a CM 4228 with a CM7777 pre amp and my reception seems worse than before. I can't seem to pick up any HD signal now.

Ok got it resolved. Got the antenna moved just a few degrees and now getting great reception.

All Knoxville DTV's are UHF with the exception of channel 7 which is (surprise!) on channel 7 RF. After the likely analog shutdown in 2009, channel 10, now RF 31, will return to RF channel 10. Chattanooga and the Bristol/Kingsport area will also have some VHF DTV stations.

Any news about new hd channels coming to Comcast here in Knoxville within the coming months?

I just moved from Maryville to Farragut. We live on a big ridge and we are almost at the top.

This house has two coax cables in the living room one goes to the attic so I took my Zenith antenna and Radio Shack up there for testing. After moving around a lot I finally was able to find a place to get in 6,7,8,10,43 etc.

Just wondering, since I have this attic coax and 110 power, would I be able to pull a lot of out of area channels with the proper equipment?

There's two other local or nearby stations you may be able to receive. PBS is available on RF channel 17 that should map to 15 and is in the same general direction as the other Knoxville stations. WBXX should map to channel 20 but is probably north of you while the Knoxville stations are probably ENE.

Anyone need an antenna? I have an extra Channel Master 4228(prefer greater Knoxville area).It is NEW CHANNEL MASTER 4228 8 BAY HDTV/UHF ANTENNA-CM's highest gain UHF antenna . Fred 865-693-4618 or email: gumpdoot "at"comcast.net
Will sell for $45 firm(pickup in Knoxville area only).

Any news about new hd channels coming to Comcast here in Knoxville within the coming months?

I emailed them about adding ESPN2 HD and got no response.

Anyone have an email address for the chief engineer at WATE? I'm tired of them cutting into a broadcast just to show the station's call letters at the top of the hour.

hello, just got an hdtv

and i wanted to get an OTA antenna

punched in my info over @ antennaweb and it came up w/ this (im near the i275/i75/i640 junction)

yellow - uhf WVLT-DT 8.1 CBS KNOXVILLE TN 4° 0.6 30
yellow - uhf WTNZ-DT 43.1 FOX KNOXVILLE TN 38° 1.4 34
yellow - uhf WKOP-DT 17.1 PBS KNOXVILLE TN 5° 0.6 17
yellow - uhf WATE-DT 6.1 ABC KNOXVILLE TN 38° 1.4 26
yellow - uhf WBIR-DT 10.1 NBC KNOXVILLE TN 38° 1.4 31

since im w/in 2mi and yellow - that means i need a "small multidirectional"
If you live within five miles of the main tower, the signal may be too strong. Attach an attenuator (10db or 20db) to reduce the signal.
If the tower is also broadcasting FM, it may interfere with HDTV reception. Attach an FM trap to filter out the unwanted frequencies.do i need to be worried about either of these?

can i get away w/ an indoor antenna, or are they all directional?

cant really go w/ an outdoor b/c i am renting a house and dont have outdoor option, though im also looking @ getting aVOLanche's extra Channel Master 4228 if the guy i rent from will allow me access to the attic and to run coax through the closet

is the Terk HDTVi UHF/VHF Indoor Antenna any good?

thanks for the information and help


***
edit - update
so i borrowed my roomates "POS" RCA/Thompson analog antenna - randomly positioned the traditional FM style rods and faced the entire device towards NE (relatively looking toward where i need it to be), its about 4' off the ground

the clarity of hdtv is AMAZING, obviously not all the content is 16:9 (and stuff shown on 720 feed thats not (blooper segments on conan for example) hdtv looks blurry - as its stretched from ntsc to 720p 16:9

but WOW, i can even get Greeneville's Fox channel (69.4mi away!!!)

WBXX audio out of sync. Anyone else having this issue? I am using a Dishnetwork 811. All other OTA stations are fine.

I have a Zenith SAT 520 and have got nothing but a black screen for several weeks. There is an adequate signal. I did get one email response from WBXX and they said they were having a few problems with certain receivers using 480i mode. They have not been very fast in addresing the problem. They seem to have these problems every few months.

I had been getting the black screen sometimes also. Dish did an update on the 811 and now I get 20-0 and 20-1. 20-0 is wbxx, the sync prob is all I have now. 20-1 is black screen. Not sure what it is going to be, besides a waste of bw.

isnt 20.0 analog tv?
b/c when i put in 20.0 in my tv it just puts it to 20 - analog tv

Yes it is. My bad, It is 20-1 and 20-2.

what direction is WBXX digital transmitter ?

i checked their website and they have their OTA digital on 50.1 - but i get nothing
cant get signal on 20.1 or 20.2 either, but ive got a cheap antenna pointed NE (the direction of all the other channels for me)

antennaweb doesnt listing wbxx, except for analog wbxx for crossville

anyone know?

[QUOTE=freonchill]what direction is WBXX digital transmitter ?

Use the same direction for WBXX-DT as WBXX analog. Both are in the same location.

so since antenna web only lists WBXX in crossville

blue - uhf WBXX 20 WB CROSSVILLE TN 296° 22.9 20

and since crossville is WEST, 2 counties (22.9 mi for me)
guess that means im going to have to get a better antenna or just turn the one i have due West to get a it...

Wbxx as of 5 pm today digital is off the air. There tower is located near Oak Ridge. They serve the crossville area but the transmitter from what I here is at an old radar station in Oak Ridge. Here in Morristown I get them pointing directly at Knoxville but the signal is a bit stronger if I go a smidget north of the Knoxville's stations.

freonchill,
If your in Church Hill you should be able to get all the tri cities digitals and Knoxville. You should also get Norton, Marion, and Grundy VA. You may also get WLOS, WUNF Ashville NC and possibly WSPA Spartanburg SC. You might also give a try for DT12 out of Hazard KY.

Here in Morristown my toughest stations are the Knoxville's for I'm against a hill to my west. I get the Tri cities WJHL, WEMT at 100% signal and WCYB ,WKPT in the high 80 to 90's. Norton, Grundy VA is pushing 90 and of course Sneedville 100%. The NC and SC stations come and go. Knoxville is in the 70 to 80's exception PBS and WVLT low 60's. Crossville when I point the antenna at it runs in the mid 70's.

Good Luck!

freonchill, If your in Church Hill

dont know where you got Church Hill, im in Knoxville, near the i275/i75/i640 interchange


jimc705 - thanks for telling me that its up in Oak Ridge, more of the a W,NW of me, but ill give it a look some time

Anyone else notice that WATE has added the lame grey pillarboxes during local commercial breaks? WBIR has always had them, my guess was because they got early equipment and mistakenly assumed everyone in Knoxville would buy Plasma. :rolleyes:

I don't know why WATE would switch to the ugly grey sides... anyone have a clue?

For what it's worth, rear projection crt's, direct view crt's, in addition to plasmas can show burn-in problems. CRT's can also have high voltage regulation problems that are lessened if the picture is not totally black at the sides.

For what it's worth, rear projection crt's, direct view crt's, in addition to plasmas can show burn-in problems. CRT's can also have high voltage regulation problems that are lessened if the picture is not totally black at the sides.

Duely noted Patrick, thanks.

But if the CRT or Plasma is set up properly, isn't both issues moot?

Comcast digital channels change March 1st.

If you subscribe to Comcast digital tier locally, there was an insert with last month's bill that outlines digital channel changes. Nothing is going away, that I noticed, but the local HD's and others will have new channel numbers in the 200's. WBIR-DT goes to channel 232 from 181. WBIR weather goes to 243.

I guess I get to unlearn/relearn the remote.

Life used to be simpler.

Duely noted Patrick, thanks.

But if the CRT or Plasma is set up properly, isn't both issues moot?

That's one of those "it depends" questions. It depends on who decides what proper set-up is and viewing habits. I routinely stretch 4:3 to fill the screen. (It makes me feel thinner!)

My guess is that the type of person that frequents these forums is not an average viewer at all. I would also guess that most sets don't get much if any knowledgeable set-up and run high brightness, high contrast, and super chroma all the time.

My direct view CRT does not show the gray bars from channel 10 very brightly and they are not that noticeable. I think my direct view CRT displays the gray scale correctly. My LCD is much brighter and I am not able to adjust it to track gray scale at the low end near black correctly. It may approach annoying but only because I know it should be darker. You would hope the program would be interesting enough to capture your attention so you wouldn't notice side bars of any color.

WATE has set the gray sides to a higher brightness than WBIR by on-air comparison.

BTW, I had to visit Google to see what the difference between gray and grey is. It turns out that the difference is only the spelling. Both are okay and mean the same.

I would also guess that most sets don't get much if any knowledgeable set-up and run high brightness, high contrast, and super chroma all the time.

This would be, under my definition, not properly set up.

I don't understand why people would spend thousands on a display and not want to achieve the best picture possible at the same time keeping it from ruining itself. It's like owning a Lexus but not bothering getting the oil changed. :rolleyes: I think for these people a microdisplay should be the only choice for TV and I hope salesmen at Best Buy/Circuit City realize this.

I'll bet in 10 years CRTs will be as rare as a turntable is now.

"I'll bet in 10 years CRTs will be as rare as a turntable is now."

I think you are correct. And any 4:3 content will by then look very dated.

Anyone else notice that WATE has added the lame grey pillarboxes during local commercial breaks?

its been back and forth between grey and black pillars on all the channels tonight
WBIR was in grey for the news and heartland series, but then black again for the commercials during leno

wonder if its a local vs national issue ?!

and are the WMAK (CH7) channels reversed tonight?
7.1 (1080i 16:9) is in 4:3
7.2 (1080i 4:3) is in 16:9

Well, Ive lost WTNZ again. Checked my signal strength and it peaks at about 15%. All my other locals have about 70-80%. I even got back up on the roof to adjust the ant, but it was no help. Anyone else getting a lower signal?

wonder if its a local vs national issue ?!



Yep, I think it's gray just for local commercial breaks and programming.

I'm in the same situation with WTNZ in Maryville. All other locals with signal strength in the 70s (though this is with the Radio Shack 15-1880, not an outdoor antenna), but WTNZ mysteriously dropped to 15-20 a couple of days ago, while the others remained unchanged.

Are the stations broadcasting at the same power all day? I put up an antenna this past week, and in the evening everything is great, but during the day I have problems with all stations.

FWIW, I emailed the chief engineer at WTNZ and just got a response -- their main power amplifier went down but apparently they have ordered a replacement and will be back to full power Wednesday night or Thursday at the latest.

FWIW, I emailed the chief engineer at WTNZ and just got a response -- their main power amplifier went down but apparently they have ordered a replacement and will be back to full power Wednesday night or Thursday at the latest.

THANKS so much for posting this Jim!!! Now I know to record 24 and American Idol on analog this week, just in case.

No problem Dave, those two shows are the main reason I took the initiative to e-mail him!

FWIW, I emailed the chief engineer at WTNZ and just got a response -- their main power amplifier went down but apparently they have ordered a replacement and will be back to full power Wednesday night or Thursday at the latest.


Thats good to know!

Comcast digital channels change March 1st.

If you subscribe to Comcast digital tier locally, there was an insert with last month's bill that outlines digital channel changes. Nothing is going away, that I noticed, but the local HD's and others will have new channel numbers in the 200's. WBIR-DT goes to channel 232 from 181. WBIR weather goes to 243.

I guess I get to unlearn/relearn the remote.

Life used to be simpler.

I also received a letter about this that listed the old/new channels. Although I'll believe it when I see it, they left a channel open after ESPN. At least one person at Comcast may be thinking we MIGHT get ESPN2HD....someday...maybe....or it could just be wishful thinking.

What I don't understand is why they bury the premium channels in the middle. If some dolt thinks the constant reminder of those channels as I scroll past them might lead me to subscribe, then they've underestimated how irritating it is to have them in the middle. Arggghhhhhhh................

Some changes have already happened with the channels in the 200's now cleared.

Creative channel placement. Someone probably got a bonus!

There is a "favorites" button you can program but I would prefer to program a scan list so a channel up/down only stops on the channels you want. Most TV are like this.

Then I could avoid ever seeing MTV! (Running and ducking!!!)

I noticed that TVOne showed up on 146. I wonder if that is temporary until they have the HD channels moved to the 200's. The insert shows it at 173 which is currently ESPNHD.

Does anyone know how Comcast HD local channels compare to OTA here in Knoxville? I've read Comcast's HD local channels PQ varies by market. I'm getting 80-90% signal strength via OTA (i'm 4 miles from the towers).

I currently have D* and am trying to decide whether to go with them for HD DVR or Comcast. My main priority is to be able to record HD locals. So I'm leaning toward the D* HD Tivo since I'm getting such good reception from OTA. I realize the D* HR10 is being phased out but I'm not really concerned with national hd channels yet. Also I'm used to Tivo so I'm hesitant to wait for D*'s HD DVR.

Bluedawg...

Those I know who have gone from Tivo to Comcast's HD-DVR say they really miss the Tivo.

I have the HR10-250 and it works pretty well. There are a few caveats: as you mentioned it's at the end of the life expectancy (I'm expecting DirecTV to replace it free of charge when it's necessary as they have done in the past), plus the software hasn't been updated in a while. Also, with the big hard drive the GUI can range for somewhat slow to sssllllloooooowwwwww. Also, note that the OTA tuners are ATSC "digital" only... you won't be able to record analog OTA. This doesn't really matter because almost every channel in Knoxville is available digitally except WB, and that channel will become CW at some point and I would bet that a digital transmitter is in the near future.

With all that said, with the dual tuner HD recording in the Tivo realm, I wouldn't trade my HR10 for anything else. If you get all the locals with no problem off antenna and understand all the minor problems associated with the DirecTivo, I still think it's a good choice.

Thanks DaverJ

I'll probably go with the HR10.

Also, how is your HR10 connected - HDMI or component? And can you tell a difference?

Thanks.

how is your HR10 connected - HDMI or component? And can you tell a difference?

I originally went through a Denon AV with component, but since a HDMI cable was included (a $100 cable, according to Circuit City! :rolleyes: ) I decided to try the HDMI port on my Sony. To be honest, I could not tell a difference - both looked excellent, so I kept it on HDMI.

Another minor note I forgot to mention - the Tivo menus and text are designed for Standard Definition, so they don't have the sharpness and pop that future PVRs will have. I'm curious what the upcoming series 3 Tivos (http://www.pvrblog.com/pvr/2006/01/hd_tivo_series_.html) will look like. If they are nice step up from the HR10, I might be tempted to switch over to Comcast.

It looks like we will be getting UHD soon on Comcast (in time for the Olympics!!). The channel shows up in the guide on channel 208, but they have not activated it yet.

FWIW, I emailed the chief engineer at WTNZ and just got a response -- their main power amplifier went down but apparently they have ordered a replacement and will be back to full power Wednesday night or Thursday at the latest.

Hello, all. It's my first post on this forum, but it looks like this is a great resource!

I was wondering if anyone had an update on WTNZ? I, like everyone else, lost the signal a few weeks ago, and haven't heard from it since. The funny thing is that it was my strongest HD signal via OTA, D* and a new service I am Beta-testing through our local utility company here in Morristown (cable). Channel 43, WTNZ, is nowhere to be found. It looks like they know what the problem is, but I still can't see this channel in HD?

Thanks in advance for any info!

Hey SupraDex... welcome to the forum! Please subscribe to this thread under "thread tools" - we need all the East Tenn HD enthusiasts we can get participating.

WTNZ-DT was down for me (via OTA in Fountain City) for only a couple days a week or so ago, and came back up full strength on Thursday as promised. This week I've watched 24 and American Idol in HD with no problems.

Maybe you need to have your tuner re-scan for Digital signals again? :confused:

If you aren't getting TNZ-DT I would call them and ask what's up.

Hey SupraDex... welcome to the forum! Please subscribe to this thread under "thread tools" - we need all the East Tenn HD enthusiasts we can get participating.

WTNZ-DT was down for me (via OTA in Fountain City) for only a couple days a week or so ago, and came back up full strength on Thursday as promised. This week I've watched 24 and American Idol in HD with no problems.

Maybe you need to have your tuner re-scan for Digital signals again? :confused:

If you aren't getting TNZ-DT I would call them and ask what's up.


Thanks, Dave. I haven't tried to re-scan in the last few days. I'll give that a try and then give 'em a ring if it's still out.

I'll def. subscribe to this thread and enter in all of my gear for future reference.

Thanks for the help!! :D

i dont know if anyone watched it (as im sure some of you are watching the olympics in HD!) but when "how i met your mother" came on tonight - CBS [8.1] @ 8:30pm, it said it was in HD & 5.1 dolby, so i jacked in my optical out from the TV (that i watched the superbowl in 5.1) to my receiver, but it didnt show that it was decoding a 5.1 signal, like it does for dvds, dolby 5.1, dts, etc (like it did in the superbowl)

has anyone else had problems w/ CBS [hdtv ota 8.1] showing that something is in 5.1 but locally them not transmitting that ?

*the picture was great, and no macroblocking (which occurs when i start to lose signal)
and im getting 89 signal tonight, also

has anyone else had problems w/ CBS [hdtv ota 8.1] showing that something is in 5.1 but locally them not transmitting that ?

WVLT-DT (CBS) does not have the Dolby Digital hardware here in Knoxville, so they can't transmit anything in 5.1 yet. Last time I checked I think WBIR-DT doesn't have it either, so really we only have ABC and Fox with the ability to transmit Dolby here in Knoxville so far.

I could be wrong on that last bit though - someone please correct me if we Knoxvillians have NBC in DD nowadays.

i guess the only thing i have seen in knoxville that did pop-up the DD on my receiver was the superbowl, but since then nothing on any of the channels, but i would assume that since the superbowl had it, that ABC does have some support for it here, whether they have it on all the time or not...

i had another question that anyon else who has a 720p native res HDTV might notice and be able to notice...

on channels that are natively 1080i (nbc, cbs too i think) when the camera is intially "zooming" into the scene, its pixelated for just a second, or perhaps less than a second, but noticeable. this seems ot happen when scenes change, not so much when they come back from commercial.

as this is my first HDTV, first projection, and first HDTV OTA, i didnt know if there was something (other than the noise control which iirc i have on low)

its not something that bothers me, im just curious

didnt realize i had "double posted"

sorry

i guess the only thing i have seen in knoxville that did pop-up the DD on my receiver was the superbowl,

I believe all primetime HD programming on ABC and FOX here in Knoxville should register as Dolby Digital. Check Lost and American Idol sometime and see if your receiver sees them as DD.

on channels that are natively 1080i (nbc, cbs too i think) when the camera is intially "zooming" into the scene, its pixelated for just a second, or perhaps less than a second, but noticeable. this seems ot happen when scenes change, not so much when they come back from commercial.

This sounds simply like digital compression.

The way I understand how ATSC (i.e. Digital TV) works is each scene is drawn and then as that scene stays on screen any pixels that are changed after the initial draw are updated. During a camera change the entire scene is re-drawn and then the pixels are updated after that. This method works well most of the time, but during scenes with rapid camera changes, quick cuts, zooming and panning, or dissolves/fades, the entire scene is changing so often that the signal compressor/decompresser can't keep up. This is when things turn blocky.

These flaws are more noticeable on sources that limit bandwidth. It could be that whatever channel (or cable or satallite) you see excessive blockiness on are aggressively compressing their signal to save on bandwidth.

Has anbody had any luck getting waivers for HD channels from the local staitons.....I typed in my address and zip on D* site and it says that im eligible for the West & East coast feeds ....I want to know if anybody has been granted these waivers....I was told Ineed to call the manager of each station and talk to them in order to get them to give me the waiver...Do i have a shot?

Has anbody had any luck getting waivers for HD channels from the local staitons.....I typed in my address and zip on D* site and it says that im eligible for the West & East coast feeds ....I want to know if anybody has been granted these waivers....I was told Ineed to call the manager of each station and talk to them in order to get them to give me the waiver...Do i have a shot?
No Shot unless reception is an issue.

Still have an extra antenna,if anyone needs a great UHF. I have an extra Channel Master 4228(prefer greater Knoxville area).It is NEW, CHANNEL MASTER 4228, 8 BAY HDTV/UHF ANTENNA-CM's highest gain UHF antenna . Fred 865-693-4618 or email: gumpdoot "at"comcast.net
Will sell for $40 firm(pickup in Knoxville area only).

OK, is WBIRD on Comcast not broadcasting in DD 5.1 today for the race?

aVOLanche - id love to get it, especially at that price

but i have a couple issues w/ such

1. im renting and the owner of the house i rent wont allow me to "drill holes" or access to the roof
2. my roommates would KILL me if i violated #1
3. i can get acceptable signal for all channels (as im 1-2mi from the ridge where they have their transmitters) and i get non-glitch signals on all but one (WBXX iirc, that is out to West rather than NE from where i am)

i dont know if im supposed to be able to - but i am using my roommates POS RCA branded antenna to get perfect signal for all local (except WBXX) HDTV channels

sorry...

AFAIK, there isn't any such thing as an HDTV antenna (or a digital antenna for that matter). It's just marketing hype.

I'm several miles NE of Sharp's Ridge, with a smaller, second ridge blocking light of sight. I bought a Radio Shack's 15-1880. A 10+ year old Radio Shack Archer Color Supreme III gets pretty much the same level of reception, it's just large and uglier.

Is anyone else getting annoyed with WATE switching their HD broadcasts temporarily just to show their call letters and the temperature, then switching back? They have to be the worst when it comes to their switching.

Is anyone else getting annoyed with WATE switching their HD broadcasts temporarily just to show their call letters and the temperature, then switching back? They have to be the worst when it comes to their switching.

YES! I agree on both parts of this post.

It's been pretty annoying with WBIR when they switch at 11:00 to give a message about their news being delayed. As if this is information we need everyday during the olympics!!

It would not be that bad if they did not switch to a 4:3 SD broadcast on their HD channel to do it.

About WATE, I was VERY annoyed during the superbowl when they switched to SD during the middle of a commercial to prepare for the local commercial that would show after it.

...so am I wrong in assuming that in 3 years when analog goes dark we won't have these ugly changes between HD and SD w/ local graphics?

...so am I wrong in assuming that in 3 years when analog goes dark we won't have these ugly changes between HD and SD w/ local graphics?

I hope not.

...so am I wrong in assuming that in 3 years when analog goes dark we won't have these ugly changes between HD and SD w/ local graphics?

Just because they will not be broadcasting in analog will not mean that they will be HD.

Just because they will not be broadcasting in analog will not mean that they will be HD.

I realize that, but what I'm thinking/HOPING is this: once the stations finally upgrade to all digital equipment (master control switchers, station bug inserts, character generators for weather and news crawls, etc.) there won't be a big ugly switch when they have to drop something on top an HD show or prepare for a local cut-in, newscast or whatever.

Does this sound reasonable or will we be seeing the HD switch to SD for years and years? :confused:

Didn't the cable industry start off by claiming fewer commercials? I suspect the HD/SD switch will continue as long as SD broadcasts are allowed, at least as long as HD broadcast equipment costs more. I'd love to be proved wrong, though.

While I don't like the SD/HD switch for commercials, I can handle them. I really dislike them doing it in the middle of a broadcast for weather notices and such. I guess they'd have to spend more money for HD insert/scrolling. The thing that REALLY ticks me off, though, is when they forget to switch back to HD. Arrggggggggggggggggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How hard is it to flip a switch?

The thing that REALLY ticks me off, though, is when they forget to switch back to HD. Arrggggggggggggggggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How hard is it to flip a switch?

Exactly. And WATE is the worst at doing that. I never see anywhere near the number of times they do it on the other stations. They need to get their act together.

I will give WATE props for at being one of two stations in Knoxville that does Dolby Digital.

...but yea, I wish they wouldn't mess around with our HD feed.

Hi all!

We are moving to Knoxville in the next few weeks, and wanted to know what the current status of HD OTA in Knoxville was. Primarily using the network names, not the local call letters, can someone spell out what is/what is not working right now?

I have read through the thread, and there is a lot of talk about audio/video issues with various channels, but what is the latest status?

I have a 47" RPTV (16:9) (1080i) and a CM4228 antenna that has been working flawlessly for us here in Denver from 30 miles out @ 20 feet above ground level. Am I going to run into multipath issues from this strong of an antenna in Knoxville? We will likely be living in Halls, somewhere along Emory Rd. between I-75 and 441 (Broadway?)

Thanks for your help :)

Hi Junker... and welcome-in-advance to Knoxville.

First thing you'll need some ugly orange clothing and learn to love the song "Rocky Top". :eek: I kid, I kid.

In Halls you should be in good shape - you will be probably within 5 miles of Sharps Ridge, which has most of the transmitters here. If you know the zip code you will wind up at, head here to see the direction and miles from the local stations transmitter. (http://antennaweb.org/aw/Address.aspx) The only odd pointing you'll have to take note of is WBXX, which is the WB station. It might be hit or miss... I don't get it in Fountain City which is near Halls. UPN isn't digital yet... but once the UPN and WB merge into the CW Network (next year maybe?), this might change. Also, we have an independent HD station WMAK that I sometimes get and sometimes don't, but it doesn't have any programming I'm interested in (sorry Lewis!) and very little of it is in HD.

But you shouldn't have any problem with ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS and FOX.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to post here! :cool:

Isn't UPN being transmitted, at least part-time, on a secondary channel of one of the big 3? I can't remember if it's ABC, NBC, or CBS, but I sure thought I saw it recently.

I'm east of Halls, but still just off of Emory. Even with a secondary ridge between me and Sharp's Ridge, I get all the stations DaverJ mentioned at 85% or better. WBXX can be a bit flaky, but I can move my internal antenna and pick it up pretty well. Assuming you're using the CM4228 outdoors, you should receive everything pretty well - unless you are behind a close proximity hill. There's a lot of bedrock around Halls, so if you end up behind a hill, you may need some additional height.

You may also pick up some of the stations east/west of us, but they will mostly duplicate those broadcast from Sharp's Ridge.

hey thejunker, welcome

live SW of the 640/75 junction (2mi), west of 275

and using a POS directional analog tv antenna i can get most of the channels w/ it about 4ft off the ground. though i have a pretty much line-of-sight to the main transmitter towers other than powerlines.

6.1 - ABC
6.2 - ABC weather (24/7 weather channel)
7.1 - WMAK-HD (never watched the channel - mostly reruns of shows)
7.2 - 7.1 in 4:3
8.1 - CBS
8.2 - UPN
10.1 - NBC
10.2 - NBC weather (24/7 weather channel)
17.1 - PBS - HD
17.2 - PBS standard def
43.1 - FOX
43.2 - thetube (24/7 music videos in 4:3)

i know knoxville gets WB also, but its out towards Oakridge (NW of me) so i dont get it... and any others my receiver scanner doesnt pick-up.

most are in 720p, except NBC & CBS which are in 1080i
the only channel i have ever gotten 5.1 in was ABC

best of luck

the only channel i have ever gotten 5.1 in was ABC

Knoxville's FOX is also 5.1... American Idol and 24 sound GREAT. :cool:

Thanks for the info and welcome everyone. I will post back in a few weeks with an update, but now its time to pack pack pack :)

Anyone else having problems with WVLT-DT (CBS) Tuesday and Wednesday?

I tried recording the premier of Amazing Race last night from my antenna and my DirecTivo reported that it didn't record it because it could not find the channel from the antenna. :mad: I tried tuning in the Vols game tonight and couldn't tune in 8.1 or 8.2, yet all the other Digital channels show up fine. Analog channel 8 is fine over DirecTV. :(

Anyone have any info? :confused:

8.1 & 8.2 are off for me. Every other channel pops in great.

I also am not receiving 8.1 & 8.2 on Tues. or Wed.. I have run autoscan several times to try & correct the problem w/ no luck.

Edit: 8.1 & 8.2 working Thurs. 3/3

Last night (Wednesday) my Fox, CBS, and NBC were either completely out or were severely pixilated for most of the night. ABC was moderately pixilated during “Lost.” And those were coming from Charter cable! In fact, ALL of the HD channels from Charter were crapping out last night to the point of being unwatchable. I did flip over to the antenna to check OTA reception and got ABC and Fox just fine, but no CBS.
I wonder—has anyone else had problems with Charter’s reception over the last week or so? Surely Charter has some sort of swanky ultra fine antenna set-up (or something better) to receive their network signals in order to pass them along to the customers.

:)

killyoko - did you try calling charter and seeing if they know thats going on on their end?

i couldnt get CBS (8.1/8.2) OTA last night during the game either...
completely black, no signal

though my roommates wanted to watch lost in HD, and it was a good signal, even plugged the optical for 5.1

killyoko - did you try calling charter and seeing if they know thats going on on their end?

Yeah, last night NBC and Fox were both completely out, and all other HD channels were very very pixelated. And a friend who lives nearby, also on Charter, confirmed this morning that his NBC and Fox were kaput as well.

So last night I called Charter and the rep claimed that she sent out some sort of magical signal burst to my unit; but it had no effect. She then checked to see if there were reports of outtages in my area, and apparently there is some sort of "node" that is out--but the repair was supposed to have been completed yesterday!

I now have a service call scheduled for 8a to 12 on Wednesday to see if they can get to the bottom of this.

BTW, I didn't have a chance to check OTA signal last night. BUT we switched over to analog NBC (on cable, with the hope of watching The Office) and it looked absolutely horrible--like watching through gauze. :(

I didn't have a chance to check OTA signal last night....

Killyoko: I watched American Idol on Fox last night (Thursday) OTA and it looked fine, FWIW.

OT: I didn't think Sway should have gone... :(

Been lurking for awhile now. Did anyone else notice the channels # changing on comcast last since yesterday? why change them if you dont add anything. Now I have to reprogram my remote to change to 202 everytime it starts instead what ever TVone is

Been lurking for awhile now. Did anyone else notice the channels # changing on comcast last since yesterday? why change them if you dont add anything. Now I have to reprogram my remote to change to 202 everytime it starts instead what ever TVone is

In the January or Feburary bill, comcast included their new lineup. All the HD channels will be moving to the 200's. they moved all the PPV channels up to the 500's to clear up the space. It gives more room for expansion. They also left a space open for ESPN2HD, but who knows when they will get it. :rolleyes:

I have comcast and their service is aweful. My HD pixalates constantly and they have moved the channels to 200 range so its worse. Also digital channels are pixalating too. They are very arogant on the phone and lie to me. I cant speak to the wizard (engineer/supervisor)behind the curtain in the comcast emerald city. They lie and guarantee they will call me back...never!!!!They are out here in Karns 2-3 times a month. My blood pressure is up and I am sick and tired of their crap. Any opinions on satellite and which may be better. Folks....$175 per month for this shite (cable/internet). Saturday and I am missing my nephews game due to 8am-12pm service wait on saturday..sorry to rant fellas!!!!!!!

switched over to analog NBC (on cable, with the hope of watching The Office) and it looked absolutely horrible--like watching through gauze. :(

yes, watching analog tv on HDTV monitor/tv looks terrible

whats even worse if you record something on an old VCR and it looks like watching a 56k stream online zoomed to fullscreen.

i wish my tv had video-out from its HDTV turner rather than just the optical-out for sound so i could run that to a dvd-burner, or to a pc to record shows and watch it later.

@ dougvolfan
yea, id love to add to your rant, my cable (internet) has been dropping out about every 5-10 minutes today and its been driving me crazy. before we got comcast, we tried every company that does dsl / cable internet and even though they said they have "service in knoxville" they didnt want to cover me (guess thats what i get for being a poor college student whose renting in lawnsdale)

so they [government] says that they keep passing laws to keep companies from having monopolies, but thats exactly 180 degress of what is going on.

oh well /rant

sorry

8.1 & 8.2 are off for me. Every other channel pops in great.
For a few days, those were at 30.1 and 30.2. I found them in a rescan while trying to catch the UT basketball game. Now both the 8 and 30 sets are up with the same content.

For a few days, those were at 30.1 and 30.2. I found them in a rescan while trying to catch the UT basketball game. Now both the 8 and 30 sets are up with the same content.

Interesting... So WVLT-DT are now on both 30 and 8? Does anyone know the reason for this? :confused: It seems like maybe they are migrating away from the "8" allocation....

Did any of yall have problems on Comcast from 8 to 830 pm tonight with HD? I couldnt watch the first part of 24 or king of queens which really ticked me off more about 24 because now i have to wait to get it from other sources since you cant watch it if u missed any of it.

Did any of yall have problems on Comcast from 8 to 830 pm tonight with HD? I couldnt watch the first part of 24 or king of queens which really ticked me off more about 24 because now i have to wait to get it from other sources since you cant watch it if u missed any of it.


I recorded both of the Fox HD channels for 24. 175 and I think 236?? The recording that I watched was the 175 one and no problems noted.

What I have noticed is that Friday and Saturday, some of my scheduled recordings on the 200 section didn't start even thought they were marked with the Red dot and when I selected the Info on the menu, it said scheduled had the new channel number etc. I ended up editing all of my series recordings and so far they are recording, but no HD issues.

I finally emailed a complaint to WATE about their switching. I was over it last night. They interrupted a 30-minute show twice to switch to SD just to show the call letters and the temperature. I told them I was fed up with their constant switching for those reasons and forgetting to switch back to HD. I doubt I'll hear anything back, but I finally had to say something.

I finally emailed a complaint to WATE about their switching. I was over it last night.

THANK YOU. It was annoying during the Oscars when someone was asleep at the switch for 5 to 10 minutes. :rolleyes:

If you get a response, please post the address and who replied - I might shoot them a letter myself.

I just sent them an email.

http://knoxville.wate.com/contact/online.php

I just sent them an email.

http://knoxville.wate.com/contact/online.php

Thanks for the link... I just did as well. ;)

I got the following email from Bob Williams, Chief Engineer at WATE concerning late switching of HD from SD:

Thank you for your email.

At this time we do not have the necessary hardware to insert weather and other emergency information over a HD picture. We have instructed the master control operators not to cut out of HD programming unless there is a legal requirement, such as Amber Alert, or in their judgement there is a weather or other situation that would endanger life and/or property. We are attempting to be more diligent in switching in and out of station breaks.

We are working to improve.

Bob Williams
Chief Engineer

I got the following email from Bob Williams, Chief Engineer at WATE concerning late switching of HD from SD:

Thank you for your email.

At this time we do not have the necessary hardware to insert weather and other emergency information over a HD picture. We have instructed the master control operators not to cut out of HD programming unless there is a legal requirement, such as Amber Alert, or in their judgement there is a weather or other situation that would endanger life and/or property. We are attempting to be more diligent in switching in and out of station breaks.

We are working to improve.

Bob Williams
Chief Engineer


I got the same email too, so lets watch and see if there is any improvement.

I never got an email from him.

FYI and not OTA

I use the MOTO 6412 DVR from Comcast which relies on the time sent from Comcast for recording schedules. It was off almost a minute recently and I called the Comcast office and of course the CSR didn't have a clue what I was talking about and offered advice on how to extend the recording time like she does. I told her that kept me from recording 2 shows the next hour, so if the head end set their clock timer to the network time, then all would be well. She wrote up a request and sent it to the engineers. I didn't see a problem last evening.

You may want to call them from time to time until their equipment sets its time from the atomic clock which is what I believe the networks use.

Did anyone with Comcast notice during the NCAA tourney the picture to be "jumping"? It did that all weekend. I switched to the OTA to see if it was a station problem and it did not do it there, so it had to be a Comcast issue.

I live in Greeneville and receive ota from Knoxville, Tri-Cities(Johnson City, Bristol, Kingsport), and Asheville. I've emailed WVLT regarding their lack of Dolby Digital and can't get a response. Any idea as to when they will have they necessary equipment? Lucky for me, I have WJHL from Johnson City to watch all of the primetime programming.

Also, what is the deal with the sound problem from PBS-HD channel 17? The sound has a problem that I've noticed since I got my tv acouple of months ago. My friend has hd as well, and he verified the problem. Any ideas?

I have tuned to the same programming on Asheville PBS(ch 33) and verified that it wasn't the PBS feed to the affiliates.

Michael H.

Also, what is the deal with the sound problem from PBS-HD channel 17?

I dunno, :confused: but their bad digital audio has been the same for years.

I am on Kingston Pike near downtown and have had al kinds of trouble getting OTA with an indoor and outdoor antenna. I am constantly in the 60 - 70 range at best. I have a direct TV HD Tivo receiver. My latest antenna with the best results thus far is the Terk® HDTV Amplified Indoor Antenna. Any suggestions or does everyone have signal in the same range. Should I just switch to Comcast? Thanks in advance.

It's probably not signal strength that's the problem. The problem is probably multipath or ghosting. Use ch43 analog as a test and adjust your receiver for the best (least ghosty) signal. You should not need any amplification at your location. A small directional outside antenna should provide good and stable reception.

I am on Kingston Pike near downtown and have had al kinds of trouble getting OTA with an indoor and outdoor antenna. I am constantly in the 60 - 70 range at best. I have a direct TV HD Tivo receiver. My latest antenna with the best results thus far is the Terk® HDTV Amplified Indoor Antenna. Any suggestions or does everyone have signal in the same range. Should I just switch to Comcast? Thanks in advance.

I'm guessing you are in Sequoyah Hills? I don't think the Terk indoor antenna is worth it... you need to aim right at Sharps Ridge. It might be a problem if you have a hill between you and the Ridge.

If I were you, I would stick with the DirecTV HD Tivo and look into an attic mounted antenna or something simular.

But yes, Comcast would be the easier route... and maybe one day Tivo's partnership with Comcast will yield an HD Tivo. :cool:

The problem is probably multipath or ghosting. Use ch43 analog as a test and adjust your receiver for the best (least ghosty) signal.

His DirecTV HD Tivo doesn't do OTA analog.

He can get analog SD from DirecTV -- he wants the broadcast HD digital channels.

EDIT: my apologies if "JMAX" isn't a "he". :o

If analog isn't available on the Tivo he might just hook up an analog set long enough to adjust the antenna. What is needed is for receiver manufacturers to provide more than a simple signal strength meter. What is needed is a signal "quality" meter because the "best" signal quality (least errors) may not be at the highest signal strength when multipath is bad.

the "best" signal quality (least errors) may not be at the highest signal strength when multipath is bad.

Is multipath a problem with Digital TV? I thought that was one of the things DTV was supposed to eliminate. :confused:

Multipath doesn't show up as ghosting in the image but degrades the signal until at some point the receiver can no longer compensate and dropouts, pixelation, and blue (black?) screens occur. If the ghosting moves such as caused by trees moving in the wind or people moving around the room with an indoor antenna, dropouts can occur. Some of the better receivers handle multipath very well. The LG fifth generation chips have a good reputation.

What would be a poor quality ghosty NTSC signal might be received without errors because the receiver compensates for some ghosting and the there is some error correction.

But if you have good signal strength and still have reception trouble ghosting (multipath) could be the cause. FYI, I'm in a poor location for channel 20. Their analog signal is ghosty to the point of unwatchable. I have plenty of signal strength from their DTV but my antenna rotor must be precisely set to decode the signal. 6, 7, 8, 10 etc I can get using a wet string for an antenna. ;-)

Thanks for all the help. I used the ideas on the thread, still no luck on all channels.

I'm going to break down and call someone to come and set it up for me. Any suggestions on who to call? I recently had an awful experience with ETS communications, so please do not suggest them. That cost me a $100 for nothing!

Thanks for any ideas.

I,too,wasted $175 on an antenna from Sharp's Electronics(a Knoxville DirecTV installer).Their installation person had next to NO knowledge about installing the antenna,and had a bad attitude to boot.The only installer I'd trust at sharps is Herschel.
Frankly I'm not at all sure you'll be able to find an antenna installer that knows HDTV.There's almost surely a lot more knowledge on this forum.

I recently had an awful experience with ETS communications, so please do not suggest them. That cost me a $100 for nothing!


Sorry I can't help, but also had a real bad experience with ETS. :mad:

...anyone else have any ideas? :confused:

Did anybody else see 8's NCAA Men's Basketball game? Did it seta record for pixelization or what?-!!!!! They are getting steadily worse. I'm thinking of filing a complaint with the FCC over 'em. The basis is that they're not usin their subchannel for local programming as mandated. Their sub, or something, is ruining their broadcasts. They're the worst HD channel I get.

Anybody think it would accomplish anything? They seem to have no intrest in following the rules or doing a proper broadcast....

Thanks for all the help. I used the ideas on the thread, still no luck on all channels.


I don't have a suggestion for an installer either; however, you can't receive any of the local signals? Have any of the stations come in at all at any time even if unreliable?

What I'm driving at is if you have never received any OTA HD at all there may be a set-up problem with the Tivo. If you have reception from time to time but it breaks up or freezes its probably an antenna issue.

CBS(WVLT) just plain stinks.Same goes for ABC(WATE).They constantly fail to switch to HD,pixelate,and just don't care about the customer.When I call(incessantly) to ask them to switch to HD,they act like I'm a pain in the a$$.It's frustrating.For some reason,NBC(WBIR) seems to at least do the switching properly.

.Same goes for ABC(WATE).

I have to say that I think WATE has improved 100% in the last couple weeks. I don't think I've seen a late switch from them for a while.

For those complaining about pixelation... don't forget that the cable companies can reduce the bandwidth and try to shoot a thick milkshake through a thin straw. ;) Of course if you are watching OTA via antenna, this is not an excuse.

What I'm driving at is if you have never received any OTA HD at all there may be a set-up problem with the Tivo. If you have reception from time to time but it breaks up or freezes its probably an antenna issue.

No, I can get some of the local OTA channels, but never the big 3 all at the same time. My TiVo tuner may be touchy. I'm going to try my 6th antenna this weekend and see if I have any success.

I was under the impression that the masters would be in HD today on CBS HD and Universal HD. But its not on Comcast is it on any of the OTA HD's?

It is on Universal HD on Thursday and Friday. It is on CBS HD on Saturday and Sunday.

not according to an article on hdbeat which i cant link to because of the 5 post rule and of course Comcast took away Universal HD. I am really getting sick and tired of Comcast cant even play xbox 360 on live with out it jumping alround because of a slow connection and they wont add espn2HD really thinking about switching to a dish

not according to an article on hdbeat which i cant link to because of the 5 post rule and of course Comcast took away Universal HD. I am really getting sick and tired of Comcast cant even play xbox 360 on live with out it jumping alround because of a slow connection and they wont add espn2HD really thinking about switching to a dish


I think you are nutz.....

Comcast blows any internet connect away on the speed...I play xbox live all the time and as long as Im not trying to play someone who is on a crappy line in Denmark my games are lag free.....I have detailed Ping and Tracerouts on my buddies who use TDS/Charter/Bellsouth.....

Comcast smokes em....8mb down stream...blazin

I get a ton of great HD programming 3 HD boxes , 2 of them with DVR for a pretty fair deal....I just cant see how Sat can compete.....

I have not had the picture problems you guys mention other than with WVLT, but thats not comcast fault....

Im a happy Comcast customer, who does not work for Comcast

:)

I'm not a big Comcast fan... but I will say I switched to Comcast Cable for Internet and Xbox360 gaming -- I went from very problematic (Bellsouth DSL) to a fast, smooth connection and no drops with Comcast.

I hope Comcast increases the Upload speed from 384kbs to something higher soon -- 768 or beyond would be a nice improvement. The current download speed at 6mbs is fine.

not according to an article on hdbeat which i cant link to because of the 5 post rule and of course Comcast took away Universal HD. I am really getting sick and tired of Comcast cant even play xbox 360 on live with out it jumping alround because of a slow connection and they wont add espn2HD really thinking about switching to a dish

The TV is better with Direc but I don't see how you're gonna do better than Crumcast on the net, for now. I'm watching for Verizon and their FIOS bundled services to come to town, someday. Their phone/net/TV package is recieving praise where available, so far. My Direc contract runs out later this year. I doubt Verizon will be here by then but....

Mo' comp is just what this town needs, me thinks.

Picture problems and internet problems may all be related to poor or failing connectors/cables etc. near your home. I'd call Comcast and ask for a tech to check signal quality due to poor internet and HDTV performance. Keeping the lines working is part of your service fee.

If there is a splitter going to your set top box and to your cable modem, you might try (temporarily) connecting the modem directly without the splitter (your STB is disconnected) to see if internet improves. You could do the same with the STB to see if pixelation issues improve. If both are better with a direct connection minus splitter then you know there is a signal strength issue. Save this information for the tech.

I have to say that I think WATE has improved 100% in the last couple weeks. I don't think I've seen a late switch from them for a while.
I've called twice in the last 8 days for a late switch on ABC (WATE).They were less than happy(lazy,perhaps?) when I called and acted like they were doing me a big favor(not to mention acting "surprised" ,as is always the case,that it had not been switched).One call was on 3/31 at 9:00PM for "In Justice".The other call was more recent.I also emailed their engineer about my concerns about a week ago,and was ignored(bwilliams).