I have noticed several stations across the country going HD for their local news (I know, I know, in much larger markets for the most part). I wonder who will be the first to take the plunge here in Eastern Iowa. Friend of mine in DSM tells me KCCI is planning to be the first over there.

I saw in an earlier post someone commenting on KWWL's small, but significant improvements to their HD channel like the fill-in graphics for 4:3 and the weather map / mini-scroll. Very nice - their new engineer has gotten off to a good start. I would have guessed KCRG would have countered with something by now, and am not holding my breath for KGAN - they can't hardly get their SD stuff figured out.

Not HD info and reception related, but, speaking of KGAN - I posted a while back about Brian Allen flying the Channel 2 coup without much fanfare - turns out he is now the Associate Coordinator for the Archives Of Iowa Broadcasting in Waverly, Iowa. They just hired a new anchor, Tim Seymore from Louisville, KY that fled WHAS - a station down there going down the drain. They have been running promos during the Chiefs game tonight.

~HDA~


I'll bet money which station in Eastern IA WON'T be the first to go HD with their news.

I'll bet money which station in Eastern IA WON'T be the first to go HD with their news.I'm with you. :)

That's hardly a fair bet to take... Vegas would only give you 1.1:1 odds on getting it right, until people stopped betting on KGAN, at which point KGAN might jump to 1.2:1.

As far as KCRG not "keeping up with the Joneses" with KWWL's HD crawler, it's my understanding from an unnamed source that they are currently upgrading and renovating all of their internal technology, so they don't have the resources (time or money) to devote to either HD local news or crawler upgrades on their HD signal.

Even so, I wish I knew how long of a contract they signed with ServiceMaster 380. I'd much rather see an ad-free crawl on the bottom of the screen, regardless of the digital or analog signal.

Of course, I guess it's still marginally better than KGAN and KFXA selling their souls to CarSoup.com. Who in their right mind allows advertising on their main channel banner?

Hi - haven't been here for a while cuz all was well....but I'm back. :)

A question for all who are on CFU - and or have a Sony XBR960. I was just lucky enough to pick one up today - great set, if ridiculously heavy, but I can't get it to pick up the QAM signals off CFU cable. Was wondering if anyone here had had any luck doing so, (or if you have the set - are you getting any QAM on your cable co?) - I've done the auto setup twice now - second time, it picked up all of the digital music channels, but still nothing with pictures. :(

Naturally, Sony manual talks at great length about cable card, but have yet to discover any secrets to picking up the unencrypted qam.

I have an XBR960, in Cedar Rapids, with MediaCon.

Used Auto-program, and found all of the digital musics, all of the On-Demand channels (which have since been encrypted), and, I believe, also found all of the local clear-QAM programming.

Have you tried manually dialing in the channel assignments?

For whatever reason, the first time I did the auto-program, it not only found the local QAM's, but also re-mapped KWWL-DT and KRIN-DT to their "virtual" channels, so I only had to go to 7.1 or 32.1, instead of 115.1 or whatever their "real" channel was. The second time I attempted auto-programming (after they encrypted the VODs), it no longer re-mapped those channels to their virtual assignments. Might've been a PSIP thing or something.

In any case, try manually entering in the channels (CFUJoe should have them, I'd think, if they're not already posted in this thread), and go from there. If that doesn't work, might need to check your signal strength on your cable at the TV. I'm not sure how much signal the TV needs. I can check the diag screen on some of my QAM channels when I get home tonight to give you an idea of what I'm getting from MediaCon.

Thanks - directly entering them worked (which is very bizarre.) Did auto program twice, and there was nothing showing or tuning on 105.1, etc - luckily, I went to my LG stb, checked out the CFU numbers, and after directly entering them, not only did the channel come up viewable, but it was then in the list of available channels. (I don't have to directly enter it every time. - once I entered it, and tuned to it, it is now miraculously there.)

Wierd, but it worked. Thanks.

Greetings group! I have to admit I'm guilty of lurking here for the last several months and I finally have a reason to actually post something.
Hoping someone here can help shed some light on something for me. I recently purchased the Insignia NS-LCD32. I only have standard expanded Mediacom cable. When I hooked the TV up and scanned for channels I found that I was receiving KGAN-D on 21.4 and a slew of the digital music channels in the 81.* to 83.* range (a couple other oddball channels around 90.* or so too). Does anybody know how this is happening. The set is only supposed to receive NTSC/ATSC. Any input would be appreciated.

The set is only supposed to receive NTSC/ATSC. Any input would be appreciated.

Are you sure they gave you the right tv model? It sure sounds as if you are receiving QAM channels, which the Insignia web site says:

Built-In HDTV Tuner: Add HD-capable antenna to receive over-the-air high-definition broadcasts, where available. Optional set-top box required for high-definition cable or satellite programming.

You are obviously tuning in the unencrypted QAM channels Mediacom passes along to us. Last time I checked, here were the Mediacom (Waterloo) broadcast HD channel assignments:

21.4 KGAN-DT
114.1 KWWL-DT
114.2 NBC Weather Plus
114.3 The Tube Music Network
114.4 KRIN-DT
115.2 KCRG-DT
115.4 KXFA-DT
115.6 KCRG Weather

Thanks for the input. I have done some tweaking to the cable in the house (including removing a line amplifier that was cranking the gain way to high) and am now getting all the Mediacom unencrypted channels. So if anyones interested, apparently, the Insignia NS-LCD32 has built-in QAM, though this is not listed in specifications anywhere. Once again, thanks for the input.

I was over in Des Moines this weekend to visit my family and while working on their HD setup, I noticed a big problem. I posted in the DSM forum and thought I would run it by all of you, also.

I mounted an external antenna to the roof, aligned and tested using the HD tuner in their HDTV. All channels are 100% except KDSM which hovers around 80%. NO problems, no drops - perfect.

I then moved the antenna from the TV input to the Off-Air input on their DirecTV HR20-700 receiver. All channels come is as they did on the TV tuner except KCCI and KDSM. KCCI will bounce up and down constantly and not lock in. KDSM shows 0%.

Is there a known problem with those channels and the DirecTV HD20s? I havent had any problems with the channels here in CR using the same receiver.

Thanks!

HDA

Thanks for the input. I have done some tweaking to the cable in the house (including removing a line amplifier that was cranking the gain way to high) and am now getting all the Mediacom unencrypted channels. So if anyones interested, apparently, the Insignia NS-LCD32 has built-in QAM, though this is not listed in specifications anywhere. Once again, thanks for the input.

Just wanted to confirm that the Insignia NS-LCD32 does indeed have a QAM tuner. I had no trouble picking up the unencrypted cable channels on my Insignia. I've only been using for a couple of hours. Only two complaints so far. Audio is not so great. When the volume is above 50% there is a lot of vibration. Worked around this problem by running the audio directly from my HTPC directly to my stereo. The HTPC does not have a QAM tuner, so if I want to watch HD content I'll just have to keep the volume low. The other problem is a bit of text ghosting in VGA mode. This could just be a bad cable, or bad DVI-VGA adapter. I'll play with it more tomorrow...

FYI: Watching the Early Show this morning on KGAN-DT via Mediacom qam and the lip-sinc was horrible. Did not notice it on KCRG's GMA via Mediacom qam.

I then moved the antenna from the TV input to the Off-Air input on their DirecTV HR20-700 receiver. All channels come is as they did on the TV tuner except KCCI and KDSM. KCCI will bounce up and down constantly and not lock in. KDSM shows 0%.

Is there a known problem with those channels and the DirecTV HD20s? I havent had any problems with the channels here in CR using the same receiver.

Thanks!

HDA

This is just a FWIW - don't know about that setup; but....

With my Vizio lcd panel, built-in QAM tuner, I receive all of the unencrypted HD channels except local Fox affiliate. I receive it on my 3 other QAM tuners, its a known issue with the Vizio and Fox. (at least that's what was decided a year ago when I first found the problem, and dug into it as much as I could.) Solved it by simply using an antenna for OTA HD. So maybe (just maybe) your problem is the same. Mine was brought on by a newer firmware version on the replacement Vizio I received. The older one was fine.

Maybe they could flash to a different firmware version, see if it helped?

Just an open Thanks to Pat, over at CFU...:D CFU just added Big 10 network, both in SD and HD, but no one was on duty last weekend with the knowledge or skills required to actually get the HD feed working at our house. :( So tried tech last night again, and viola, HD Big Ten. Was told Pat did something to fix the problem. Don't know what, doesn't really matter - just glad someone knows what to do, to make things work.

Only downside - once it came up, I got to watch women's soccer in HD! Now if only he could do something about the programming. ;) But at least I'll be able to watch Michigan's next defeat in HD glory. Maybe I can make out the little tears running down Lloyd's cheeks.

Big Ten Network on Dish Network Channel 439....Also channels 440-443 to support additional carriage when there are multiple games at conflicting times...YAHOOO... Com On Mediacom:mad: P.S. Channel 9467 will have the HD telecast of the IA/Syracuse game..

I would be on Dish or Direct if I could get the locals in HD through them (or even National HD's of ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox).

I was over in Des Moines this weekend to visit my family and while working on their HD setup, I noticed a big problem. I posted in the DSM forum and thought I would run it by all of you, also.

I mounted an external antenna to the roof, aligned and tested using the HD tuner in their HDTV. All channels are 100% except KDSM which hovers around 80%. NO problems, no drops - perfect.

I then moved the antenna from the TV input to the Off-Air input on their DirecTV HR20-700 receiver. All channels come is as they did on the TV tuner except KCCI and KDSM. KCCI will bounce up and down constantly and not lock in. KDSM shows 0%.

Is there a known problem with those channels and the DirecTV HD20s? I havent had any problems with the channels here in CR using the same receiver.

Thanks!

HDA

A friend of mine in DM had the exact same issue...his TV tuned them in fine, but when he switched over to the H20, the same DM channels gave him the same issue. Only thing I can think of is throwing some kind of DC signal amp on the antenna and see if that helps, if you already haven't...they are invaluable IMHO. Either that, or if you don't have a rotor on the antenna, re-tune for the H20.

I've come to think every ATSC tuner and its software has its own individual issues - some are very forgiving and tune in everything, some are horrifically sensitive.

I have a Pinnacle ATSC PC tuner and just upgraded my DTV STB to the H20/5 lnb dish, and I'm stunned how insensitive they are here in CR. I can swing my CM4228 to tune in the QC locals at night (aiming at about 230-260 degrees), getting them all except PBS-QC, yet all the CR-Wloo locs also come in from the back side! I have 21 OTA digital channels locked in with both the tuners. My old RCA DTV HD-ATSC and Sylvania ATSC tuners had very narrow compass shots to receive both the CR and QC locs and never picked anything up on the back side of the antenna. Then, my PC...when I use Windows Media Center, it tunes everything in pretty much if I'm within 60 degrees of either CR or the QC towers, yet when I use Nero Media Center's ATSC tuner, I can only pull in KWWL and KFXA when aimed directly at the CR towers...go figure.

I have a Pinnacle ATSC PC tuner and just upgraded my DTV STB to the H20/5 lnb dish, and I'm stunned how insensitive they are here in CR.
Interesting.... I just upgraded to the HR20 and it will not pick up KWKB on the back side, yet 3 other tuners do.

Was anyone else disappointed in The Big Ten Network HD broadcast quality of the Iowa-Syracuse game Saturday night? I just got HD from ImOn the day before, so I'm new to this, but after watching several other games, it appeared that this broadcast had more problems than most.

For one, there were a lot of out of focus shots. This may have been because it was a night game and perhaps the cameras had a larger lens aperture opening, raising the probability of it being out of focus. It's a lot more apparent with HD when cameras aren't in perfect focus. Some of shots were great, however.

In a lot but not all of the camera angles, the uniforms looked purple. This was the case on the SD Big Ten Network channel as well. The Musco lighting must have been giving them fits.

Finally, the sound sucked. The announcers were clear but lacked much fidelity … not much better than AM radio. It sounded like they may have had two microphones to pick up sounds in Kinnick in stereo, but again that lacked fidelity, almost as though the mics were in socks (very muffled). On some of the Big Ten Network games I was watching, when they went in and out of replays, the sound effects they used were stunning in 5.1, but during this game it sounded as though it was barely in stereo, if at all. A lot of HD sports broadcasts utilize 5.1 to make it feel like you’re in the stadium.

In comparison, The US Open HD broadcast on CBS/KGAN-HD was great. The camera shots were almost always very clear and the sound was stunning.

At least the game was good!

Anyone in the Dubuque area ever installed a 177 inch antenna? I bought a WINEGARD HD8200P and this is all new to me, i got pizza and beer :D

I could use any tips and tricks that you guys might have...

Quick question, relatively new here. If I drop to the basic package with mediacom (ch 2-22), will i receive HDTV channels through the cable? My tv has an hd tuner, but I wouldn't be using the HD mediacom cable box anymore, just trying to get hd by straight up having the basic cable coming in. Let me know peoples, thanks.

Quick question, relatively new here. If I drop to the basic package with mediacom (ch 2-22), will i receive HDTV channels through the cable? My tv has an hd tuner, but I wouldn't be using the HD mediacom cable box anymore, just trying to get hd by straight up having the basic cable coming in. Let me know peoples, thanks.

That depends where your are located. I assume you will have HSI service as well or you will get nothing. In waterloo all locals except KGAN can be pulled in. KGAN is on 21.x and the basic cable trap blocks it out.

I live in Iowa City and will have no HSI or anything else through Mediacom, just the 22 channel package. I guess what I'm asking is, does having the basic cable package make it any easier to get locals in HD, vs just trying to get them over the air (we don't get much here in Iowa City over the air).

You will get all the HD locals by subbing to the basic 2-22 package.

In waterloo all locals except KGAN can be pulled in. KGAN is on 21.x and the basic cable trap blocks it out.
Well, I won't 100% say for sure since I am not in Waterloo and can not check, but my understanding is that the frequencies for the QAM channels do NOT get block with the traps, nor would I think it would be necessary since all they would have to do is encrypt it.

A local being on 21.x, should not matter. In CR, all of the locals are on cable rf channels 89, 114, & 115. I have the basic 22 package and still receive all of them just fine.

Frankly, I would be rescanning and looking for KGAN elsewhere if I were you. Has others in Waterloo confirmed that that it the correct channel for KGAN?

I don't have any video service with Mediacom. I only have HSI. The trap that is installed to prevent me from getting basic 2-22 for fee is preventing me from getting KGAN-DT.

Edit: Look at post #1511

Ahhhh.... I understand now. Well that is good to know.

I've always wondered if they bothered trapping those channels out if you only had HSI. Speculation was that they were still sitting on the line, but I guess not.

The 114 and up channels are open though. I imagine they would have a hard time getting a trap on these without blocking HSI.

Was anyone else disappointed in The Big Ten Network HD broadcast quality of the Iowa-Syracuse game Saturday night? I just got HD from ImOn the day before, so I'm new to this, but after watching several other games, it appeared that this broadcast had more problems than most.



Boy - we sure watched different games -- admittedly, I was only watching the SD version, but I thought the picture quality was spectacular. Looked like the same high-bandwidth stream that ESPN-HD puts out. Pretty much jumped off the screen on my new Sony 960 (:D). Now if it didn't look any better in HD, I'd probably complain, but it looked as good to me as SD gets. Course, could just be the superior quality of CFU - no idea what it would look like via MC. :p

Now if you want to talk about poor picture quality, come back here after the ISU/Iowa game, broadcast on VS :eek: - can only imagine how good that is going to look. I'm predicting something just a little worse than KWWL's Tube.

I have a brand new WINEGARD HD8200P for sale in the box, i paid $335 with shipping to Dubuque Iowa if anyone is interested on a deal to get it off my hands, i was planing on mounting it but its to much of a project for me and i decided to just go with Dish SD Locals instead.

Anyone else try to watch ESPN on ABCHD today? I say "try" because the audio keeps dropping out on the HD channel, OTA and on cable. No audio issues on the analog cable side.

Happened during the Michigan/ND game, and is happening during the Nebraska/USC game right now. It's quite annoying.

Anyone else try to watch ESPN on ABCHD today? I say "try" because the audio keeps dropping out on the HD channel, OTA and on cable. No audio issues on the analog cable side.

Happened during the Michigan/ND game, and is happening during the Nebraska/USC game right now. It's quite annoying.

No kidding!! Thought it might be the HR-20, but probably not. Almost want to watch on analog . Just kidding

New here, in the Dubuque Area-N. Grandview. I am not sure if i am doing this right please clarify this for me.

I have a Samsung LN-T4053H HDTV LCD which has a built in tuner with QAM capabilites. I also have the regular(not digital) mediacom cable package 2-77.

So from what my understanding is, i can hook up my coax cable to the Cable Air input on my TV and i should be able to pickup the local HD broadcasts, atleast the KFXB channel. Am I correct in thinking this?

When I set my TV to the Air input and do what I explained above. I get 11 channels, 2-13. But I dont believe they are in HD. They dont receive the DTV designation on my TV when I view these 11 channels. Could someone please clarify for me what I am doing wrong here. Thank you for your help in advance

New here, in the Dubuque Area-N. Grandview. I am not sure if i am doing this right please clarify this for me.

I have a Samsung LN-T4053H HDTV LCD which has a built in tuner with QAM capabilites. I also have the regular(not digital) mediacom cable package 2-77.

So from what my understanding is, i can hook up my coax cable to the Cable Air input on my TV and i should be able to pickup the local HD broadcasts, atleast the KFXB channel. Am I correct in thinking this?

When I set my TV to the Air input and do what I explained above. I get 11 channels, 2-13. But I dont believe they are in HD. They dont receive the DTV designation on my TV when I view these 11 channels. Could someone please clarify for me what I am doing wrong here. Thank you for your help in advance

Since your model has a qam tuner built in you should get the digital channels. Couple suggestions. Make sure your connect to the correct coax connection on the back. Some tv's seperate the digital and analog connections. Another thing you might check is if your need to specify whether your scanning for analog or digital in your setup.

When I set my TV to the Air input and do what I explained above. I get 11 channels, 2-13. But I dont believe they are in HD. They dont receive the DTV designation on my TV when I view these 11 channels. Could someone please clarify for me what I am doing wrong here.
Even though you are looking for your "locals", you are looking for them using QAM which is thru cable. Do not select "Air" if you are looking for QAM channels. Select "Cable".

Ok I have set it back to Cable and switched the coax back to Cable-In. Now how do I set it so i know if it is picking up QAM channels? Should there be some kind of setting on the TV? I enter in channel 40-1 but I get nothing. Thanks for the help

Just to Clarify. I have 2 coax hookups on my TV: Cable-In and Air-In.

I also have 2 antenna settings in my TV menu: Air or Cable.

I do not see an option for digital or analog.

Just to Clarify. I have 2 coax hookups on my TV: Cable-In and Air-In.

I also have 2 antenna settings in my TV menu: Air or Cable.

I do not see an option for digital or analog.

You need "Cable-In" and set for "Cable". Looking at your manaul online, it then looks like you should have an auto program in that channel options screen. It also looks like you would need to then use the "Clear Scrambled Channels", but I would look around at the channels that got detected before I let it wipe any out. I didn't catch where yuo were located, but make sure you find out what cable RF channel the locals that you are looking for are located. Here in Cedar Rapids, they are on physical cable channels #'s 89, 114, & 115. Chances are that 40-1 is not really at 40.1 on your cable system. You need to let it do it's scan and just poke thru until you find your locals. They are usually on upper channels.

Also, just to verify, the coax must come straight from the wall to the tv. You don't have a decoder box in between do you?

Hi all! I am sure this has been discussed numerous times, but I was wondering if anybody had some antenna advice for me. I am out by Fairfax and will be switching to Directv and want to get OTA HD channels. Basically, we have a newer house and the attic is full of insulation and it would be difficult to get up there to install an antenna. I can put one on the roof but it has to be small and unobtrusive to get the wife's approval (i.e., no big pole). Has anyone used the Terk HD-TVS slim antenna or similiar? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Now if you want to talk about poor picture quality, come back here after the ISU/Iowa game, broadcast on VS :eek: - can only imagine how good that is going to look. I'm predicting something just a little worse than KWWL's Tube.

Picture quality of the game on Versus was horrible when watching it on 92". Where is Versus HD when you need it?

big clip: The channels you are look for in the Dubuque Area are 114-1 NBC
115-2 ABC, 115-4 Fox, 116-2 CBS 2, and 91-4 CBS Madison..

I currently have Mediacom Extended basic in Cedar Rapids. I've been thinking of switching to IMON , direct TV, or Dish. Does anyone have input on this subject.

Picture quality of the game on Versus was horrible when watching it on 92". Where is Versus HD when you need it?

PQ on versus would have looked bad on a 7" tv. Camera crew couldn't even follow the action.

I currently have Mediacom Extended basic in Cedar Rapids. I've been thinking of switching to IMON , direct TV, or Dish. Does anyone have input on this subject.

Just today (Mon) ImOn started carrying KFXA-HD and KCRG-HD. This completes them carrying all of the locals in HD. The only thing left that they still need to add that they promised by the end of the month is National Geographic HD.

ImOn's services have stayed pretty static the past few years (back when it was McLeod), but now that it's owned and managed by local investors, I think that they have the opportunity to provide service superior to the regional and nationwide providers. I'd rather support local over the big boys, but will keep all my options open if they aren't competitive.

Until recently, I subscribed to perferred service only, which was a good selection of analog channels that doesn't require a cable box. Their cable service is listed here:

http://www.imon.net/cabletv/index.php.

Sorry I can't compare them to Mediacom or satellite becuase I've had McLeod and ImOn for the past eight years.

I currently have Mediacom Extended basic in Cedar Rapids. I've been thinking of switching to IMON , direct TV, or Dish. Does anyone have input on this subject.

I was in your boat recently after my Mediacom triple play 12-month deal ran out and my bill was $150+. I did a lot of research into what my options were and what would work best for me. I really wanted as much HD as possible and it appears that Directv is starting to follow through with their promise to have 100 national HD channels by year's end and I should be able to get all local HD channels OTA. When I combined Directv with Qwest's phone, internet and cell, I saved a bundle.

A friend of mine just switched to ImOn and he complimented their customer service and install knowledge. He also saves by combining with thier phone and internet but without the worries about how much it will cost when the promotional deal runs out. I would have swithed to them but they aren't avialable in my area.

Over the last few years I have been signing up for Mediacom's amazing promotional packages and then just canceling when it is over. Waiting a week and then resign up under wife's name. Or keep calling and threaten to cancel and they give two months free phone and 6 months cheap interet or whatever the customer service rep can offer at the time. But I have gotten tired of dealing with them. It is ridiculous that they would rather keep doing this method of bussiness instead of just offering fair and honest prices to their customers like ImOn.

Did Mediacom turn on 5C encryption on the Locals too?

I have a HTPC setup and record and watch local HD channels over the firwire port. Everything has been working great for a year or two. Very recently, I have noticed that FOX channel 828 and the QC CBS channel will no longer record. If I flip to 807 or 809 or 802 (KWWL, KCRG, KGAN) they tune in fine and I can record and watch them. I notice now that the national feed from FOX is over, that channel is recording fine too.

I am not sure if this is an encoding change on those that my computer cannot decode or if encryption has been turned on on the broadcast channels now too (in addition to the premium channels).

Does anyone else in eastern iowa record HD from Mediacom over firewire to a PC?

Hi all! I am sure this has been discussed numerous times, but I was wondering if anybody had some antenna advice for me. I am out by Fairfax and will be switching to Directv and want to get OTA HD channels. Basically, we have a newer house and the attic is full of insulation and it would be difficult to get up there to install an antenna. I can put one on the roof but it has to be small and unobtrusive to get the wife's approval (i.e., no big pole). Has anyone used the Terk HD-TVS slim antenna or similiar? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!


I live in Stoney Point Heights out near Fairfax, and I'm able to get all of the HD channels with an indoor Radio Shack double bow tie antenna. I would recommend this or an Antennas Direct DB-2. I would also recommend a good pre-amp. I am using a Magnavox I got at Menards, and it works beautifully.


Mike

I have Imon with a qam tuner and cant get nbc. I get bigten and fox and abc all in hd but no nbc. I know people with the hd package and nbc is a channel they get. Any ideas my nbc would be encrypted?

I have Imon with a qam tuner and cant get nbc. I get bigten and fox and abc all in hd but no nbc. I know people with the hd package and nbc is a channel they get. Any ideas my nbc would be encrypted?

ImOn enabled BigTen the end of August, and then KFXA-HD (FOX) and KCRG-HD (ABC) the past week or so. KGAN-HD (CBS), KWWL-HD (NBC), and PBS-HD have been on their system for a while. All of ImOn's channel lineup lists recently have footnoted CBS-HD (KGAN-HD) and PBS-HD as being "available free to any subscriber with an HD set", whereas all the other locals don't show this (http://www.imon.net/cabletv/channels.php). Those two channels were the first locals on the system, in the McLeod days. I suspect a couple years ago they told customers that these would be free, and now they don't want to break that promise but are planning on encrypting everything else local going forward . I'm guessing that they are waiting for encryption equipment to arrive for BigTen-HD, KFAX-HD, and KCRG-HD and that they'll be gone for you soon unless you subscribe. Just a hunch.

ImOn has KGANS, KFXAS, KCRGS, and KRINS on channels 702, 708, 709, and 712 showing up on my rented HD box. I'm not sure what these are. They output from the box at 480p, so they don't appear as HD, and KCRGS is actually KCRG digital 9.2, the boring news and weather channel. I'm wondering if you see these on your QAM tuner.

By the way, just today I see that National Geographic HD is available on ImOn! I wonder if you see that unencrypted right now.

All of ImOn's channel lineup lists recently have footnoted CBS-HD (KGAN-HD) and PBS-HD as being "available free to any subscriber with an HD set", whereas all the other locals don't show this (http://www.imon.net/cabletv/channels.php). Those two channels were the first locals on the system, in the McLeod days. I suspect a couple years ago they told customers that these would be free, and now they don't want to break that promise but are planning on encrypting everything else local going forward .
Don't the local channels require the cable company to "pass through" their HD feed, and not encrypt it? All the locals on Mediacom are Qam compatible and are not scrambled.

Yeah mediacom doesnt encrypt any of their Local Channel HD. Imon is only encrypting NBC for some reason. The 70X numbers are 480p versions. OTA has 2.1 and 2.2 and 7.1 7.2 7.3 which is like 480p and 1080i of the same thing just different formats.

I have an OTA tuner so its not a problem i just wonder why they would encrypt a local channel and not the others. I read somewhere on here its a law to provide them or trying to become one.

I dont think ill get the National Geo one since that will be encrypted. I do get flix and hdmovie though.

I get the 700s and 800s and the 9.2 weather channel, bigten in hd, flix, hdmovienet. Just no NBC of all channels and Heroes is starting monday!!

Quick antenna info too. Google diy hd antenna. I made one from a piece of wood, 14awg copper wire, washers, screws and a balm. Cost 4 bucks at lowes, cheaper at menards. Its ghetto but i get every HD channel in the basement from 35 miles according to antennaweb.org. Just build one for another guy that couldnt get any channels with his hd antenna and powered one. Its basicly a DB2 or you can make DB4. I ran cable to my attic and mounted it on the wall and its worked great for the last 4 months.

Does anyone have experience with ImOn and Vizio tvs? I am relatively new to hdtv and when I run the scan on my tv it shows 11 digital channels but its seems like I can only access 3 of them. I really just want to watch CBS and PBS in hd as those seem like the channels that will remain free if you have a hd tuner.

does your tv have QAM tuner? What 3 channels work?

does your tv have QAM tuner? What 3 channels work?

It does have a QAM tuner and right now I can find National Geographic, Fox HD and Fox Digital

what channel is NG?

what channel is NG?
891

Hi all. I'm new here so please bear with me...

We currently pay for the CFU HD package. We have one HD TV in another room (minus converter box). It is a Dynex with 64/256 QAM. For some reason, it will not recognize any of the KWWL 7.1-7.3 channels thru auto program or manual entry. It does pick up all other unscrambled HD channels including the music. A service call tech told me some tv's do this...

Anybody have a concrete answer? Can anyone provide me a list of the actual frequency channels that CFU broadcasts on?

Thanks!

Is the iowa game not being broadcast in HD???? only the commercials are popping up in hd. (mediacom, QAM, iowa city)

Must be network difficulties.... As you said, the commercials are HD, and the game was also HD at the start.

Must be network difficulties.... As you said, the commercials are HD, and the game was also HD at the start.

It IS network difficulties and not a local issue. So everyone else around the country seeing the Iowa Wisconsin game is seeing the same thing (unless they're stuck watching crummy analog of course).

Here's a link to another thread with some posts from viewers in WI, IL and other areas experiencing the same thing... http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=912269&highlight=Iowa+Wisconsin

I just spoke with the Master Control Operator at KCRG-TV9. Apparently ABC is having problems with the signal from Madison to New York which explains why the signal seems fine during network commercials.

Hopefully ABC can figure it out before the game is over...

Is anyone else noticing low audio on KCRGHD There are times I can't even hear the channel and then when I check channel 9 (SD) it's loud and so is every other channel. Mediacom QAM and HDDVR.
-rod

Don't the local channels require the cable company to "pass through" their HD feed, and not encrypt it? All the locals on Mediacom are Qam compatible and are not scrambled.

There is no requirement that HD channels be in the clear. The only requirement is that there be a 'digital' local channel in the clear. The cable company has the choice of this being HD or SD. The local station has NO say in this.

I'm running into this in Orlando with Brighthouse (considering a Cedar Rapids move).

Did Mediacom turn on 5C encryption on the Locals too?

I have a HTPC setup and record and watch local HD channels over the firwire port. Everything has been working great for a year or two. Very recently, I have noticed that FOX channel 828 and the QC CBS channel will no longer record. If I flip to 807 or 809 or 802 (KWWL, KCRG, KGAN) they tune in fine and I can record and watch them. I notice now that the national feed from FOX is over, that channel is recording fine too.

I am not sure if this is an encoding change on those that my computer cannot decode or if encryption has been turned on on the broadcast channels now too (in addition to the premium channels).

Does anyone else in eastern iowa record HD from Mediacom over firewire to a PC?

I used to record not just HD, but other channels over the Mediacom firewire port. However, I have since dropped back to basic cable without a cable box, so I can't help you with your problems with those 2 channels.

And just for the record, the reason I dropped HD, digital cable and a premium movie channel was due to them caving in to Sinclair. When the subsequent price increase occured I vowed to cut my cable bill, and did so. I found I was paying around $24 for a movie channel that never seemed to air a movie I hadn't already seen, digital channels I never watched, and HD content that I could get most of over the air. I regret losing ESPN HD, but not at that cost.

I'm sitting here poised to drop Mediacom entirely if they cave in to the Big 10 Network. And this is from a guy that defended Mediacom prior to the Sinclair deal. I thought they offered outstanding service. They just have let their costs get out of control where it no longer justifiable.

I'm sitting here poised to drop Mediacom entirely if they cave in to the Big 10 Network. And this is from a guy that defended Mediacom prior to the Sinclair deal. I thought they offered outstanding service. They just have let their costs get out of control where it no longer justifiable.

Is that because you're a fan of Big 12 sports rather than Big 10?

I'm confused as to what you mean by "cave in". Mediacon jacked their rates after they made their deal with $inclair (83% in some areas... $20 plus taxes and fees for 17 non-shopping channels), and I foresee them jacking rates again if they make a deal with BTN. Doesn't sound like "caving in" to me if they keep increasing everyone's rates. Especially since history shows that they would have likely increased rates regardless of any deals they may or may not have made with broadcasters.

You don't offer much perspective to gauge what exactly you mean by this statement.

Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters were unwatchable on Cedar Rapids Mediacom QAM Sunday night. Full dropouts on both audio and video.

I flipped over to the analog channel and there was the occasional blip of static here and there but for the most part was fine.

I know there were some storms in the area, but it's frustrating to spend that kind of money on HDTV and then have to watch analog.

Seems ridiculous to be having all these problems at this stage in the game. HDTV isn't exactly new anymore and analog is soon to go away.

I'll have to check out my OTA recording of Housewives to see how it looks.

BTW, for those who haven't tuned to 7.3 today, The Tube has ceased operations nationwide as of this morning.

Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters were unwatchable on Cedar Rapids Mediacom QAM Sunday night. Full dropouts on both audio and video...I didn't record Brothers and Sisters, but I recorded Desperate Housewives OTA via a TV Wonder card. It had an occasional freeze at about mid-show during the storm but was otherwise watchable.

I was getting the show directly OTA, though. The process of receiving the signal and retransmitting it to your home could have added something undesirable by the time your set got the cable feed of it.

Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters were unwatchable on Cedar Rapids Mediacom QAM Sunday night. Full dropouts on both audio and video.

I flipped over to the analog channel and there was the occasional blip of static here and there but for the most part was fine.

I know there were some storms in the area, but it's frustrating to spend that kind of money on HDTV and then have to watch analog.

Seems ridiculous to be having all these problems at this stage in the game. HDTV isn't exactly new anymore and analog is soon to go away.
I recorded B&S off my mediacom hd box to my rca dvr and only saw one hiccup in the program.

I think KCRG-DT has been funky for a while - hiccups, freezes, and for sure, audio dropouts. Have been getting them both OTA - which may be storm - and via CFU QAM. --so, just guessing that they are having some problems. And hoping that someone down there is on the ball enough to be at least considering chasing down the problems and fixing them.

I've seen the bottom few inches of KCRG flickering again lately as well. OTA.

Hi all. I'm new here so please bear with me...

We currently pay for the CFU HD package. We have one HD TV in another room (minus converter box). It is a Dynex with 64/256 QAM. For some reason, it will not recognize any of the KWWL 7.1-7.3 channels thru auto program or manual entry. It does pick up all other unscrambled HD channels including the music. A service call tech told me some tv's do this...

Anybody have a concrete answer? Can anyone provide me a list of the actual frequency channels that CFU broadcasts on?

Thanks!


We are having a problem with our feed from KWWL. I'm not sure when it started, but we aren't getting any PSIP or EPG data from them over the fiber feed. We've started to insert our own channel name and number information into the stream and it should resolve the problems that some sets have been having with KWWL.

I've got a list, but I don't have it in front of me right now. I'll get it for you tomorrow.

Do a channel scan and let me know if it resolves your problem.

Grr. The weather weeny on KGAN wiped out my recording of NCIS. Does anyone know if they will replay it?

Grr. The weather weeny on KGAN wiped out my recording of NCIS. Does anyone know if they will replay it?
CBS is ridiculously tight when it comes to stations reairing an episode. Only if they pre-empted the whole episode will they have a chance of airing it again later.

CBS is ridiculously tight when it comes to stations reairing an episode. Only if they pre-empted the whole episode will they have a chance of airing it again later.

ABC is the same... and the reairing can't preempt any other network programming.

FWIW - I do see that KCRG has rescheduled the season premieres of Cavemen and Carpoolers to air tonight (Tuesday) from 11:05p-12:05a (in SD). Both shows were preempted by severe weather coverage.

I think KCRG-DT has been funky for a while - hiccups, freezes, and for sure, audio dropouts. Have been getting them both OTA - which may be storm - and via CFU QAM. --so, just guessing that they are having some problems. And hoping that someone down there is on the ball enough to be at least considering chasing down the problems and fixing them.
GMA on KCRG-DT via mediacom qam was almost unwatchable this morning. Both audio&video breaks up/freezes.

Grr. The weather weeny on KGAN wiped out my recording of NCIS. Does anyone know if they will replay it?
I'll second the "weather weeny"...way to much overkill with his "new toys" We get WHBF on cable in IC, and they did it right :) just a drag at the bottom and only 2-3 short cutin's after confirmed on the ground.
It's now posted on their website. http://www.cbs.com/primetime/ncis/ CBS bailed me out of 2 "The Units" last season. Like to connect my laptop to the big screen, it looks better than I thought it would last spring, and the best part is the "runtime" is only about 46 min.....only about 3-4 30sec commericals. :)

I remember seeing the KWWL CE on this forum... Can you contact me offlist?

I'll second the "weather weeny"...way to much overkill with his "new toys" We get WHBF on cable in IC, and they did it right :) just a drag at the bottom and only 2-3 short cutin's after confirmed on the ground.
It's now posted on their website. http://www.cbs.com/primetime/ncis/ CBS bailed me out of 2 "The Units" last season. Like to connect my laptop to the big screen, it looks better than I thought it would last spring, and the best part is the "runtime" is only about 46 min.....only about 3-4 30sec commericals. :)



I just got done watching it on their website. Thanks for the tip.

Can anyone verify that KWWL is off air OTA? We are seeing a carrier, just no program streams.

Can anyone verify that KWWL is off air OTA? We are seeing a carrier, just no program streams.

I can check when I get home in an hour so if nobody has replied. It has been flaky for me lately.

Can anyone verify that KWWL is off air OTA? We are seeing a carrier, just no program streams.
We deleted the tube's (7.3) PSIP data today and will be reclaiming that bandwidth for the 7.1 stream, once I figure out how to reprogram this thing (still very new to me). I worked with Joe earlier and we found that there was a PSIP error on our fiber feed to them, which we remedied... but the off-air DTV signal issue was not solved. All I can note is that we used two separate receivers (and old Zenith and an integrated ATSC tuner on a set in the conference room) and had no issues. We even rescanned the channels to make certain it wasn't holding onto old data. I'll check at home later as well, but for now, it appears like an isolated receiver issue at CFU.

We deleted the tube's (7.3) PSIP data today and will be reclaiming that bandwidth for the 7.1 stream.

You're the man!! That's great!

Getting KWWL OTA just fine at 4:37PM in CR....

I'm getting 7.1 but it's breaking up on me again. Signal in the 70's and can't keep it locked.

Tower maintenance is being performed that will affect the signals for KCRG, KGAN, and KRIN digitals over the next couple of weeks. Most of the off-air time will be between midnight and 4am. It will not be every night, just random nights during this time. It will also affect KCRG and KRIN analog signals at times. The transmitters will have to be off when the tower personnel are working near the antennas.

Is it me or is KCRG-DT via Mediacom stb box and qam breaking up both video & audio during the Iowa/Penn St.game?

Is it me or is KCRG-DT via Mediacom stb box and qam breaking up both video & audio during the Iowa/Penn St.game?


I called KCRG right as half time hit. Master control checked it out and was seeing it too. Said he'd work on it and it and most of the half time has been fine now. They hadn't even noticed it until I called.:confused:

OTA was the same, but I guess cable gets it ota too.

KCRG-HD on ImOn 809 is 480p during the Iowa-Penn St game. The channel guide for ESPN2-HD (Imon 830) indicated that the regional game may be Iowa-Penn St or North Carolina State at Florida St. That channel is currently blank. Are cable operators required to black out a nationwide channel if a local station is carrying the same game, or is this just a glitch?

Hey folks - I live in WI, and my sister and her BF just bought a place in Marion, moving from near Madison, WI. So obviously I know very little about the area, but I've been "nominated" to figure out all their internet and TV stuff.

They'll have DirecTV and HD - I looked at DirecTV.com, and locals are NOT in HD via DTV, correct?

So how easy will it be to pick up the local HD channels? Antennaweb shows most everything should be able to be picked up with a small antenna? I see there are some locals in Cedar Rapids, others in Waterloo. What do you recommend? Indoor fine, or go with an outdoor antenna on the roof?

Not TV related, but figured I'd ask here...what are internet options? And what do you recommend? He's got an Xbox 360, so he'll want decent speeds and a reliable connection.

Thanks a lot for any help! (just forget I'm a Badger when replying :p)

Hey folks - I live in WI, and my sister and her BF just bought a place in Marion, moving from near Madison, WI. So obviously I know very little about the area, but I've been "nominated" to figure out all their internet and TV stuff.

They'll have DirecTV and HD - I looked at DirecTV.com, and locals are NOT in HD via DTV, correct?

So how easy will it be to pick up the local HD channels? Antennaweb shows most everything should be able to be picked up with a small antenna? I see there are some locals in Cedar Rapids, others in Waterloo. What do you recommend? Indoor fine, or go with an outdoor antenna on the roof?
I'll leave it to others to recommend antennas, but I can help with location. (I will say I use an indoor Silver Sensor in a third-floor, north-facing apartment near an east window and get fairly good reception.)

Most of the major network stations from both cities (the ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS and Ion affiliates) have their towers about halfway between Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, near the towns of Walker and Rowley. There are two exceptions: the Fox tower is nearly due west of us in central Benton County, and the CW station (KWKB) transmits from just north of West Branch, which is pretty much the opposite direction from the Walker/Rowley towers.

One other note: KWKB is a CW station before 9 pm and becomes a MyNetwork station after 9. Unfortunately, it doesn't broadcast either network in HD.

They'll have DirecTV and HD - I looked at DirecTV.com, and locals are NOT in HD via DTV, correct?
Correct....

So how easy will it be to pick up the local HD channels?
Like Dline said, I know many folks that get good results with a good set of rabbit ears unless they are in a low valley or lots of trees.

Not TV related, but figured I'd ask here...what are internet options?
The 2 local cable options provide high speed internet. Both pretty reliable I'm sure. Not sure about DSL options and such.

Thanks guys, sounds good. Unfortunate about the CW not being in HD, but I guess I can't complain since I'm not the one moving there. :p

On the internet topic...I see it's Imon (or is that "I'm On"?) or Mediacom for cable internet. Imon's site says it's $45, Mediacom $46 only WITH cable TV or phone service. Does anybody know what the actual bill would be (with fees and taxes) for both, for ONLY internet?

Thanks again, and sorry for raiding your thread. :o

They hadn't even noticed it until I called.:confused:

Amazing. Thanks for calling. What little I saw in the 2nd half was good.

well you said they are moving to marion right? You cant get Imon in marion. They do mostly NE and NW cedar rapids. They are only going to get qwest dsl or mediacom. I have lots of friends in marion using qwest and are happy with it.

i build my own hd antenna and get all the channels perfect other then the cw because i have a reflector on that blocks it. Now that i see they dont even do Hd as i was going to make a new one without the reflector.

well you said they are moving to marion right? You cant get Imon in marion. They do mostly NE and NW cedar rapids. They are only going to get qwest dsl or mediacom. I have lots of friends in marion using qwest and are happy with it.

i build my own hd antenna and get all the channels perfect other then the cw because i have a reflector on that blocks it. Now that i see they dont even do Hd as i was going to make a new one without the reflector.

Thanks. I see Qwest doesn't require you to have phone service with them, so that's nice (ATT & TDS up here both require it).

Is that because you're a fan of Big 12 sports rather than Big 10?

I'm confused as to what you mean by "cave in". Mediacon jacked their rates after they made their deal with $inclair (83% in some areas... $20 plus taxes and fees for 17 non-shopping channels), and I foresee them jacking rates again if they make a deal with BTN. Doesn't sound like "caving in" to me if they keep increasing everyone's rates. Especially since history shows that they would have likely increased rates regardless of any deals they may or may not have made with broadcasters.

You don't offer much perspective to gauge what exactly you mean by this statement.

Yes, I am a Big 12 sports fan and I don't want in any way to support the Big 10. I don't want them to get any of my money. And for that reason, I don't even want to be forced to take BTN with a digital tier or other sports package.

BTW, one positive effect of the BTN is that I get to see more Big 12 games because many Big 10 games are on BTN and not occupying the other networks. In fact, Big 12 schools benefited from the BTN, by getting a better financial deal from the networks so they wouldn't consider their own network.


By "caving", I mean Mediacom caved in to Sinclair. Then they followed that up by raising their rates, claiming that wasn't the reason, but come on - what fools do you think we are. That only added insult to injury.

It now appears likely that Mediacom will continue their holdout and not cave in to BTN demands. I may reward them for that by adding some services back.

By "caving", I mean Mediacom caved in to Sinclair. Then they followed that up by raising their rates, claiming that wasn't the reason, but come on - what fools do you think we are. That only added insult to injury.
Don't forget, it'll happen again when KWWL & KCRG & KFXA's contract comes up for renewal. Probably won't be as ugly as the Sinclair deal, but the other local networks will want the same amount of money, and rates will go up. :(

It's been waaaaaaay too long since Mediacom added any new HD channels. Any ideas or inside info. when they may add a few more?

It's been waaaaaaay too long since Mediacom added any new HD channels. Any ideas or inside info. when they may add a few more?
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=917569

Does anyone have some of their HD channels with IMON freeze occasionally. I have had this happen a lot recently with ESPN & ESPN2. It will freeze for 3 or 4 seconds and then pick back up live again. It happens every minute or so.

Maybe a dumb question, but why doesn't Mediacom carry WB in HD? Is KWKB even available in HD OTA?

Maybe a dumb question, but why doesn't Mediacom carry WB in HD? Is KWKB even available in HD OTA?

KWKB is available in DT OTA, but they do not pass along HD. Obviously, KWKB would have the say so for this area as far as medicom goes....

Iowahawkeye thanks for the link on the MediacomHD channels.

Anyone watch Life (NBC/KWWL-DT Wednesdays at 9pm) this week? During the first half of the program there was some odd white "sticker" jutting in from the middle, left edge of the screen that I think had a number or two written on it in black text? Um, hard to describe, but obviously not suppose to be there. Or am I just seeing things?

You're not seeing things..... It was there duing Bionic Woman also.

Oviously a goof up on KWWLs part. It was the local time and temperature.......

You're not seeing things..... It was there duing Bionic Woman also.

Oviously a goof up on KWWLs part. It was the local time and temperature.......

Not a goof up, just something else on the screen to distract you from the program. Mark my words, before long there will be commercials scrolling at the bottom of the screen along with the scrollers for the next program. I am so tired of this crap!!!

Not a goof up......
While I agree with you on the fact the it isn't going to be long before seeing all sorts of crap scrolling along, I certainly hope in this case that it was indeed a goof up, since the time & temp was located in the left hand pillar area about 1/4 of the way down the screen.

I have already noticed all the extra unecessary graphical crap, especially from NBC. They are starting to get baaaddddd.......

While I agree with you on the fact the it isn't going to be long before seeing all sorts of crap scrolling along, I certainly hope in this case that it was indeed a goof up, since the time & temp was located in the left hand pillar area about 1/4 of the way down the screen.

I have already noticed all the extra unecessary graphical crap, especially from NBC. They are starting to get baaaddddd.......

It was indeed a "goof up"... actually a failure of the HD Namedropper from NBC that locked up and simply displayed the time and temperature over on the middle, left hand side of the screen. Everytime we tried to reset it or drop it, it was triggered to reinsert by NBC. We finally gave up and disabled it around 9:45 PM. The next morning we rebuilt some of its settings and things have been happy ever since. We are only one of a handful of stations with the HD version (beta site), which obviously is still a bit of a wrok in progress.

What sort of unnecessary graphical "crap" are you referring to? :confused:

What sort of unnecessary graphical "crap" are you referring to? :confused:
The NBC network generated promo stuff that expands out from the peacock logo, takes up a 1/4 of the screen, and advertises an all new "ER" Thursday for example.

TNT and a few others were always the worst, but NBC is starting to get close to them..... :(

The NBC network generated promo stuff that expands out from the peacock logo, takes up a 1/4 of the screen, and advertises an all new "ER" Thursday for example.

TNT and a few others were always the worst, but NBC is starting to get close to them..... :(

Yeah... that stuff is getting annoying... I really hate the ones that animate and have live video integrated into them. Very distracting. Unfortunately, I can't do anything about those network driven snipes. We have no control over their operations... we just retransmit what they provide us.

We deleted the tube's (7.3) PSIP data today and will be reclaiming that bandwidth for the 7.1 stream, once I figure out how to reprogram this thing (still very new to me). I worked with Joe earlier and we found that there was a PSIP error on our fiber feed to them, which we remedied... but the off-air DTV signal issue was not solved. All I can note is that we used two separate receivers (and old Zenith and an integrated ATSC tuner on a set in the conference room) and had no issues. We even rescanned the channels to make certain it wasn't holding onto old data. I'll check at home later as well, but for now, it appears like an isolated receiver issue at CFU.

Have you reclaimed the bandwidth for the 7.1 stream yet? Hope to see some PQ improvement for sports after it happens.

Have you reclaimed the bandwidth for the 7.1 stream yet? Hope to see some PQ improvement for sports after it happens.

Yep... finally figured out the encoding gear we use here and had what little bandwidth 7.3 occupied (2.25 MBPS) dispersed to the other two subchannels. A couple more MBPS should help out the primary channel nicely, and the little bit that went to help stablize the WeatherPlus channel, which had quite a few artifacts, worked out well too. Things look pretty good right now... and I'm just waiting on something like a football game or something with fast moving video to see how much a of difference it actually made.

I just got this done earlier this week, so hopefully you'll see a difference from this point forward. :)

The Sunday Night Football games are great for checking out compression artifacts. The bottom of the screen has a graphic "mesh" screen overlaying the live video, and that is the first thing to macroblock when too much compression is applied.

BTW, I love that we have the channel 7 guy here. Can we get the channel 9 guy, too? I wanna ask him about the frequent pixelation we see all the time there.

Mike

Used to see Kirk in here every once and awhile from KCRG. It's been awhile though.

The NBC network generated promo stuff that expands out from the peacock logo, takes up a 1/4 of the screen, and advertises an all new "ER" Thursday for example.

TNT and a few others were always the worst, but NBC is starting to get close to them..... :(Last night (10/28) NBC was advertising "American Gangster"....during the movie....and taking up 15-20% of the botton of the screen. :mad:

Yeah... that stuff is getting annoying... I really hate the ones that animate and have live video integrated into them. Very distracting. Unfortunately, I can't do anything about those network driven snipes. We have no control over their operations... we just retransmit what they provide us.

Unfortunately, I think that stuff is here to stay. If you've watched NBC in SD for the last few years, you will have noticed it, but they didn't start doing it on their HD feed until this fall.

It was nice while it lasted, but it looks like the HD feed will now become polluted with unneccasry promotions.

I don't think CBS has caught up yet (and I don't really watch ABC, so I can't say).

Look here if your pissed at nbc's on screen crap prmos: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=930016

Look here if your pissed at nbc's on screen crap prmos: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=930016

Unfortunately, these graphic promotions appear to be the new wave. I don't think they're going anywhere. Networks will do anything they can to help promote and get eyes on other shows. And the biggest issue is that I think these work to some extent. Yes, it does tick some people off, but you certainly know about the other show now. Even if we decide to boycott the new "promoted" show in protest of these, I'm sure than are many more that will simply check out the new show. I suppose it's the network's answer to people speeding through commercials on DVR's.

Any if you think NBC (and TNT) are going to be the only culprits, think again. I worked at the ABC affiliate in La Crosse, and they were already having people do snipes on the analog broadcasts. It's only a matter of time before they hop on board and purchase similar HD graphic encoders (if they haven't already).
-Jarrett

I just wanted to let everyone watching KCRG-DT know that we had some problems with the digital transmitter early this morning. We had a module failure which we are not able to repair in the field. We are currently driving to the manufacturer to get the replacement parts and are very hopeful that we can be back on the air tonight, but it is a minimum 3 hour drive each way and will take most of the day to get the parts.

Thanks for your patience and thanks again for watching KCRG!!!

KirkTV

I just wanted to let everyone watching KCRG-DT know that we had some problems with the digital transmitter early this morning. We had a module failure which we are not able to repair in the field.

I find it odd that the manufacturer of that transmitter includes dual exciters, but they both go into the same driver module! The solid-state version of their UHF transmitter has both dual exciters and dual drivers. Both transmitters drivers, while different, use the same amplifier pallets (neither of which I would say are terribly robust).

By they way, Kirk, you might ask about the 220uF electrolytics on those pallets. I believe there was a mod to swap them out to 330uF, but that may only apply in the Diamond transmitter. I helped swap out 672 of those bad boys in a Diamond once. It was fun... for the first day. It took a couple of weeks. Also, the exciters have a service bulletin out for some problems that are especially important when a sharp-tuned filter is in use. Sometimes the exciter will go wide-band which leaves behind a path of mass-destruction. We've seen it in at least two transmitters now, one that was only a day old.

I apologize if this is too far off topic but I need some local (Cedar Rapids-Marion) assistance. My RCA HDTV returned from the repair facility yesterday and it appears I cured one problem and maybe gained another. All my components seem to work now except the DVR recorder, which worked prior to repair. What I am requesting is if someone in our area had a TV with the firewire (IEEE1394) interface that I can try the DVR on to make sure it is it rather than the TV. It is a handy little box that records QAM signals quite well and I want to make sure it is the DVR before I buy another or call the service center again. Angain I apologize if this topic is too far off. Thanks, Bear

And has the pictures to prove it:

http://www.fybush.com/featuredsite.html

Hey guys, quick question that I think I already know the answer to. What are my odds of pulling in KWWl, KCRG, KGAN, and Fox OTA using rabbit ears on top of my tv? I'm in Southeast Iowa City and it didn't look good according to Antennaweb. I'm thinking of switching to Satellite and my wife and watch a ton of HD programming on the locals and we'll lose that if we switch to Satellite, I want the Big Ten Network, so we have to figure out a way to get the locals in hd.
-Rod

dornitram - just get a small external antenna, point it north. Unless you are in one of the picturesque and quaint little valleys, you should be ok. I'm probably just as far to the NW from the towers as you are to the south; I'm in a river valley, but the good ole 4228 (?) is pulling in all of the channels like a champ, just stuck outside on the gable of my roof.

Boy, am I annoyed with Mediacom. They pull some of the scummiest tricks....

OK - its late, and that isn't exactly breaking news, is it? But I just went to CFU's website, and found that MC will not allow them to broadcast the UNI road game tomorrow. Which, in itself, isn't surprising - after all, how often does MC have an exclusive on anything that anyone wants to watch?

BUT - if one reads the news release, CFU offered to trade their production of the next 2 UNI games to MC, just so CFU's 10000(?) subscribers could see this week's game. MC could broadcast the next two games anywhere they wanted - to tens of thousands of other interested Iowans.

But to use the words of the late John Belushi, "But noooooo."

If at some point I consider going with one of the seemingly infinite MC bundles and offers, I need only remind myself of this weekend. Way to be civicly (sp) responsible, guys.

Hey Dornitram-
I live on the southwest side of IC near highway 1 and 218. Last fall I used a powered set of rabbit ears to pick up all of those stations and it worked decently (had to be careful not to walk between the rabbit ears and the line of sight to the north while I was watching or recording something) until KWWL's transmitter started to fail. Then I spent the $30 to get a Channel Master 4228 and about $65 on a AP-8275 pre-amp, which sits in a north-facing window and I don't really worry about losing reception anymore. And the signal is split to four tuners with 100 feet of RG6 coax...

-Nate

D - in that case, if Nate is doing well, I'd sure say try the antenna first, and THEN get the preamp if you need it. I know I don't - and I'm running a hundred feet of coax, and a splitter. If you're not dividing the signal 4 ways, preamp is likely not required.

Thanks for the replies. Where can I purchase one and are there installers in Iowa city??? My other option is keeping Mediacom's basic and maybe purchasing TiVo HD to record those.

Sorry if this is posted somewhere, but I've done a few searches on the site and can't find it, like I can for Mediacom subscribers. What unencrypted QAM channels should someone with CFU cable be able to tune in and what are the channel numbers? In Waterloo, Mediacom has the local broadcast HD channels on 21.4, 114.x and 115.x.

Here we go again, just in time for the holidays. '08's first reason for a rate increase.
http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071101/BUSINESS/711010030/1004

from iptv.org:

"Iowa Public Television’s KRIN Channel 32 transmitter in Waterloo is scheduled to be replaced. Work will begin Monday, November 5, and continue for approximately five weeks. During this time, KRIN will utilize a backup mobile transmitter and operate at reduced power. It will be necessary to go completely off the air at times during this process and these outage times will also affect IPTV-Digital and IPTV-Plus on KRIN. We thank viewers for their patience during this work and apologize for any inconvenience."


The down-times will be during normal working hours, but thought I'd post this here anyway. For those wondering why the heck anyone would replace an analog transmitter at this point, the old one is 34 years old, the manufacturer went out of business in 1986, so spare parts are non-existent at this time. The new transmitter will be able to be converted to digital service in 2009, leaving the current digital transmitter as a standby unit.

This was posted the other day on another website.
http://www.lightreading.com/blog.asp?blog_sectionid=419&doc_id=138388&site=cdn&f_src=lightreading_section_419

I'll believe it when I turn on my cable box and I see them.

You know, I may have posted this before, but sheesh - HD really sucks. They get us hooked on the pic, on the sound, et al, we buy new sets, new vps, new projectors, and then what happens?

It dies. It goes black. And somehow, never when Oprah or an infomercial is on. No - it dies yesterday, right as I drag a bunch of friends into the theater to watch the penultimate Nascar race in all of its HD glory. And hmmmm - NO SIGNAL.

Yes, after some frantic switching, plus about 5 minutes of embarrassing SD viewing, I was able to switch my OTA KCRG HD feed over to the STB, switch inputs, and watch the rest of the race via OTA HD. Why did I have to do this? Because for some reason, CFU lost QAM HD channel 106. Help desk was pretty helpful - was told that it wasn't working (Thanks - had no idea - wasn't that why I called you?) - but hey, they helped me out, told me I could watch it via analog SD. Way cool.

You know, things are really going to start sucking when there is no analog to fall back on. Maybe the writer's strike is just a precursor, to get us used to not having network tv. Sure hope these "growing pains" can somehow be addressed while I'm still alive. Having seamless, painless HD for my grandchildren at the end of this century isn't going to do me a whole lot of good. ;)

Question RE: DirecTV in Marion...I helped by sister and her husband move to their new place in Marion yesterday, and noticed most of the houses that had a dish actually had 2 smaller ones. Here in Wisconsin, to get all the new HD channels as well as all our locals, we only need the one 5 LNB dish. Is it different in that area? Will they need 2?

Just curious, thanks.

Question RE: DirecTV in Marion...I helped by sister and her husband move to their new place in Marion yesterday, and noticed most of the houses that had a dish actually had 2 smaller ones. Here in Wisconsin, to get all the new HD channels as well as all our locals, we only need the one 5 LNB dish. Is it different in that area? Will they need 2?
To receive the Directv SD local channels in this area, you need a second dish. If you do not want a second dish (like me), no biggie, you just can't get local SD channels, which I never watch anyways since I have an HD tuner.

To receive the Directv SD local channels in this area, you need a second dish. If you do not want a second dish (like me), no biggie, you just can't get local SD channels, which I never watch anyways since I have an HD tuner.

Alright, thanks. But is the 5 LNB still used for everything else (needed to receive all the new HD channels)? I didn't notice one on any of the neighbor's homes, but they maybe just didn't have HD.

And what are you using to pull in the HD channels OTA? Trying to help them figure out what they'll need as far as an antenna is concerned.

Alright, thanks. But is the 5 LNB still used for everything else (needed to receive all the new HD channels)? I didn't notice one on any of the neighbor's homes, but they maybe just didn't have HD.

And what are you using to pull in the HD channels OTA? Trying to help them figure out what they'll need as far as an antenna is concerned.
The 5 lnb is needed for the new MPG4 channels, which is where almost all of the HD content is with the exception of the 5 or 6 channels that they've had for a while.

I have the Directv HR20 HD-DVR, which accepts OTA inputs. This is tied to my attic antenna and I have no problems with the locals.

Anybody in here have any experience with FMTCS/USA Communications? I currently have their digital cable service, and I see that they do have HD available in my area... I was wondering if:
A. Their HD service is any good?
B. Do they broadcast anything in HD over clear QAM?
C. This isn't specific to FMTCS, but is the Motorola DCH-64616 a "good" set-top box?

Thanks in advance!

The 5 lnb is needed for the new MPG4 channels, which is where almost all of the HD content is with the exception of the 5 or 6 channels that they've had for a while.

I have the Directv HR20 HD-DVR, which accepts OTA inputs. This is tied to my attic antenna and I have no problems with the locals.

Cool, thanks...what kind of antenna do you have in your attic? I'm thinking that'll be the best bet for my sister's place, as I think there's easy attic access. You can split that antenna signal a time or two without any noticeable quality loss, can't you?

You know, I may have posted this before, but sheesh - HD really sucks. They get us hooked on the pic, on the sound, et al, we buy new sets, new vps, new projectors, and then what happens?

Think your statement should really be "Satellite/Cable delivered local HD can really suck".

I'm perfectly happy to be getting my local HD (16 or so channels) for free via my attic mounted antenna for nearly 5 years now (the same way the cable company and satellite company pick up the signal to provide it via cable/dish). Getting local HD over-the-air avoids any rainfade (rare) and requirement for 2nd dish issues on satellite and issues with cable and (eventually) satellite "squashing" the signal down to fit their bandwidth requirements.

I was amazed at just how easy it is to pick up local over-the-air HD last night when helping a friend set up his new HDTV. With just a cheap pair of amplfied "rabbit ear" antennas placed behind the TV we were able to pull in all the over-the-air signals just the same as my attic mounted antenna (about 40 miles from the transmitter sites).

A little effort to get the locals over-the-air (for free) = less chance of embarrassment :)

Glad you had a backup and were able to switch your equipment around to catch the race.

Think your statement should really be "Satellite/Cable delivered local HD can really suck".

I'm perfectly happy to be getting my local HD (16 or so channels) for free via my attic mounted antenna for nearly 5 years now (the same way the cable company and satellite company pick up the signal to provide it via cable/dish). Getting local HD over-the-air avoids any rainfade (rare) and requirement for 2nd dish issues on satellite and issues with cable and (eventually) satellite "squashing" the signal down to fit their bandwidth requirements.



I'll agree, your title is better than mine. However, will for sure argue on the rainfade issue. Usually, QAM is far more reliable for me (at least for KWWL), since CFU gets a feed direct from KWWL studios. Last spring when the ice storm took out everything, seems like we still had NBC over qam. But for sure, when the heavy spring and summer storms hit, I lose the ota signal from the Walker towers...QAM is usually fine.

I had ota first - was able to find good ota receiver long before I ever owned any QAM-capable equipment. I'm just bitching that one needs both, if one expects to see a program in HD - there are still too many flaky episodes, either ota or via qam - once we lose our SD "backup," I still think there will be a lot more people complaining. (and surprised.)

Yes, after some frantic switching, plus about 5 minutes of embarrassing SD viewing, I was able to switch my OTA KCRG HD feed over to the STB, switch inputs, and watch the rest of the race via OTA HD. Why did I have to do this? Because for some reason, CFU lost QAM HD channel 106. Help desk was pretty helpful - was told that it wasn't working (Thanks - had no idea - wasn't that why I called you?) - but hey, they helped me out, told me I could watch it via analog SD. Way cool.


What are the unencrypted QAM channel numbers for CFU cable hookups?

depends on how your set reads and maps them - I've seen two sets that simply find them at 7-1,9-1, etc. my old school LGs and a Sony find them at 105.1, 106.1,2,3; 107.1,2,3,4.

but really - your set/box/whatever should find them on a scan, regardless.

I had ota first - was able to find good ota receiver long before I ever owned any QAM-capable equipment. I'm just bitching that one needs both, if one expects to see a program in HD - there are still too many flaky episodes, either ota or via qam - once we lose our SD "backup," I still think there will be a lot more people complaining. (and surprised.)The way the tuner handles the OTA signal can vary, too.

Between my 3 1/2-year-old Samsung T351 box and a newer PC tuner card -- both hooked up to the same Silver Sensor in my apartment -- the PC card picks up KFXA 28-1 almost flawlessly. The T351 can be a bit more flaky with the same signal, while hooking an analog TV has always given me an unwatchable, wavering, ghost-ridden mess on 28 no matter where I put the antenna.

Just checking one more time to see if anybody here has experience with FMTCS / USA Communications out of Shellsburg? I'm debating whether to take the plunge on their HD service, or to buy a standalone ATSC/QAM tuner and try to pull in OTA and 'clear' cable channels. Thanks!

Is there anyplace in Cedar Rapids/Marion where I can get a Channel Master antenna?

you can get one shipped from Davenport, shipping is pretty much equal to the tax you save. fwiw, that's how I got mine - there is a good dealer in CR, but they no longer will sell retail. They wouldn't even accept my tax permit, said since my mfg company wasn't an electronics retailer/= deal was off. there loss, my gain - Davenport was cheaper anyway.

Just google it, in Moline IL, very easy to find, and very inexpensive. They have a fine web site.

Is it me or has kcrg been showing gma in sdtv, and not in HD today and yesterday? Also of note: there were audio breakups this morning on gma on mediacom via qam.

No one seems to have listed CFU's unencrypted HD QAM channel assignments (for those of us with Sonys or LG sets that don't do PSIP):
105.1 - KFXA HD
105.2 - KFXA-SD
105.3 - KWKB HD (on a few times over the last weeks, evidently signal into CF is too
weak/intermittant, which Broadcast 20-cable 3 should prove! - I watch 34 out of DSM, much stronger OTA into CF)
106.1 - KWWL HD
106.2 - KCRG HD
106.3 - KCRG 9.2 (Weather/News/Program Info)
106.4 - KWWL Weather Plus
107.1 - KRIN HD
107.2 - KGAN SD
107.3 - KGAN HD
107.4 - KRIN IPTV Plus (32.2)

I bought mine at Mid-State Distributing, Hiawatha. They used to sell to the public but not sure anymore. They sell all kinds of off-air and small dish stuff.

I believe Mid State is who flyingvee was referring to a few posts ago when he mentioned that they absolutely will not sell to the public anymore.

Thanks guys...will probably just order from Warren Electronics, might even make a trip over that way if they're bored this weekend.

On a different topic...who does the DirecTV installations in the Marion area?

My sister just got her first HDTV, but she wanted to wait a few weeks to get HD service from DirecTV. So she just wanted the regular dish(es) for now. Well they sent them to her house before the installer showed up, apparently that's either how the mover's connection thing works or just how the local installer wants it done...so after two cancellations by the installer, he finally shows up on Tuesday and wouldn't put those dishes up because it's not what they needed for HD - even though she said she didn't want HD right now. So the guy leaves. Incredibly unprofessional, not that you expect the world of a DirecTV installer, but to refuse to put them up was ridiculous I thought.

Direct tv install is not any better in Iowa City...even after waiting 3 weeks. :(
I got a look at it the other night, (it's a 2 dish HD install) all those cable connectors outside going to a box between the dishes were loose, could unscrew all of them by hand, including the cables on the back of the tuners inside the home. Also, should that outside box be grounded? I'm betting it should.

Direct Tv has contracted with Premier out of Omaha. They are a terrible company to work with. I requested an experienced installer. They sent one with two months experience. I knew more than hi. They miss appointments. They lie about it. They give bad advise. They know squat about HD. After 5 appointments and countless blow offs, I finally gave up and did the work myself.

Thanks for filling in my blanks, guys. hdtv - absolutely right - I tried every trick I knew, whipped out my Iowa Sales Tax permit, and no go from Mid-State.

So upon further investigation, went to Warren, got one for less, quick delivery, totally painless. I know - only one experience - but that one went splendidly. Hopefully aktik has his antenna by now, and is enjoying some HD. :)

I had good luck with the one order I've placed with Warren as well. Best price I could find on (or off) the net for the Winegard antenna I bought.

Has anyone else noticed the obscenely gross lipsynch problems on KWWL-DT? I've been trying to decide what the cause is - did they hire the techs away from KGAN, did they steal the amazing software used in the KGAN decoders, or are they just routing their signals THRU KGAN-DT?

Leno's interviews are now pretty much unwatchable, just like Letterman. Last night they had the episode with the 23-year old Julia Roberts. Believe me - when HER lips don't match up with the words, it ain't a pretty picture.

Also see it during primetime; so bad that wife is noticing, and she's fairly tolerant of such anomalies.

Seeing it both on my lcd panel and my Sony 960 crt. Haven't had anything on NBC worth firing up the projector and HD box, but would have to assume the problem is there also.

Has anyone else noticed the obscenely gross lipsynch problems on KWWL-DT? I've been trying to decide what the cause is - did they hire the techs away from KGAN, did they steal the amazing software used in the KGAN decoders, or are they just routing their signals THRU KGAN-DT?

Leno's interviews are now pretty much unwatchable, just like Letterman. Last night they had the episode with the 23-year old Julia Roberts. Believe me - when HER lips don't match up with the words, it ain't a pretty picture.

Also see it during primetime; so bad that wife is noticing, and she's fairly tolerant of such anomalies.

Seeing it both on my lcd panel and my Sony 960 crt. Haven't had anything on NBC worth firing up the projector and HD box, but would have to assume the problem is there also.

Well, at the KWWL studio, I'm not seeing any lip sync issues at this moment, and I didn't see any issues through Monday night's prime lineup... and no, I was never a tech at KGAN.

Are you watching KWWL-DT off-air or through a cable provider? Lip sync is a big issue and is a tough one to do much about as it isn't a static problem that you can adjust one direction or another to correct. The problem is variable and may only present itself at random times as there may be issues locally or even from the network itself. I'll keep my eyes (and ears) open to see if there are any more "obscenely gross" events!

Let me know if you have anymore specifics (programs or dayparts) to help track it down.

-Jarrett

I did not notice any problems with "Heroes" on Monday night. I will check a couple programs tonight, but I have not noticed any lip sync issues thru OTA viewing.

Jarret - both ways - seeing it on the Sony via CFU-QAM. Last night, on Leno, was OTA thru my 4228 into a Vizio 32" lcd. Obscenely gross - ok - depends on your definition.
But as I said, it was far enough off that the wife saw it. Was almost as comical as the Spanish dubbed movies I saw on HBOL this weekend.

Thanks for response. Will let you know on primetime events. Will be watching your Thursday lineup - let you know. (which jogs my memory - I also love Chuck and Journeyman - but can't tell you if they were good or bad. The Office was off last week. All I can tell you.)

I went down to the mediacom office in Iowa City this week and asked about exchanging my old cable box for a new one HD capable with a firewire port.
(Not the DVR, not interested.)

I was told there was a waiting list because the FCC made them buy new boxes. That didn't bother me really. Then I was told that the new box HAD to be installed by mediacom because it had to be "tuned" and that the charge for that was $41.99 (or thereabouts.)

I was so annoyed that I left the office immediately. Probably over-reacted a bit, but that just seemed like a scam.

Is this normal? Has anyone been able to talk Mediacom into letting them install their own HD-cable box? It sure seemed to me like mediacom is just trying to recoup the expense of buying new boxes.

My objective, btw, was to get a cable box I can tune via the firewire port, even if the only unencrypted channels I can get directly out of the firewire port are the ones I can already get either OTA, or via a QAM capable hd capture card.

Is this normal? Has anyone been able to talk Mediacom into letting them install their own HD-cable box? It sure seemed to me like mediacom is just trying to recoup the expense of buying new boxes.



yup - at least I think so; CFU insists on bringing out their HD boxes - and they're the good guys. (course, CFU doesn't charge 42 bucks either - ) So most likely, that's what you're stuck with. Hope you didn't leave your name. ;)

Has anyone else noticed the obscenely gross lipsynch problems on KWWL-DT?
Checked out Bionic Woman & briefly the very old SD rerun of Leno and saw no lip sync issues at all on both OTA and Mediascam......

Greetings all... just wanted to pass along that the ice storm has blanketed our DTV antenna and caused our transmitter to seriously foldback power and pretty much go off the air. The beam is still on, but the protection circuitry isn't allowing any power really to be transmitted since the ice is acting like a big mirror up there and reflecting it right back at the transmitter. The analog is fine, since the channel 7 antenna has a radome on it (thankfully we are moving to that in 2009)... but for now the DT is down and there isn't much we can do about it at the moment. When things get a little safer, we will try to get out to the tower to further investigate things. We still have the fiber feeds to Mediacom and CFU operational, so we at least have some penetration out there. I'll keep you posted.
-Jarrett

Just a little feedback for you Jarrett..... Your HD closings crawl was too low for my Sony KDFE50. I got about top half of it and could just barely tell there was a scroll going on.

KWWL-DT got back up around 9:00AM this morning. Enough ice had melted off (or fell) and we were able to reset everything. It was still folding back a little, but we are making between 80-90 percent power now. Thanks for your patience!
-Jarrett
P.S. - about that crawl being too low... I was watching last night, and it wasn't even close to the bottom of my DLP. Are you doing anything weird with the aspect ratio? Like a zoom so that you eliminate the black wings / sidebars when we are airing 4:3 programming?

Jarret (and hdtvincr) - would be willing to bet that hd's Sony has grossly obscene overscan. (love that phrase :D) I saw the same thing on my Sony 960 crt set - can't access overscan easily, but there is a vertical position option - I was able to raise the entire displayed picture enough that I could read the crawl. Course in the process I also sliced off the top of Bob Watters' head on the news --if you ever have both top and bottom crawls, I'm out of luck.

I REALLY have to fix the overscan - especially if that is where the crawl is going to stay. Guess it was most annoying because your normal SD crawl is fine - well off the bottom of my display - far enough up that I was able to change my position setting back and give your anchorman an entire head.

Are you doing anything weird with the aspect ratio? Like a zoom so that you eliminate the black wings / sidebars when we are airing 4:3 programming?
Nope.... And without digging into the service menu, there is no adjustment for overscan.

Nope.... And without digging into the service menu, there is no adjustment for overscan.

true - I had to access service menu to decrease horizontal overscan on my sony - now I'll have to go back, do the same for vertical. Look on the bright side - thanks to AVS, I can at least figure out how to access the service menu, and do something that simple.

(I can also totally trash my display - so duh, I have to be careful.) But it sure beats paying some tech at the local sony shop a hundred bucks to do the same thing.;)

and, one really can't hassle Jarret just because Sony figures 10% overscan is good. if your set's new enough, go back to the folks that took your money. :)

and, one really can't hassle Jarret just because Sony figures 10% overscan is good. if your set's new enough, go back to the folks that took your money. :)
Not trying to hassle anyone, just pointing out an observation. After Jarretts' and yours comments, I dove into the service menu and did some major tweaking on the overscan areas so I think that will take care of it.

Point is though, that MOST folks sitting at home with their brand new HD sets they got for Xmas don't know what a service menu is (thank goodness!). They are simply going to say "How come I can't see your closings!"

Has anyone else noticed the obscenely gross lipsynch problems on KWWL-DT?

While tweaking my overscan settings, I noticed late in the "Today" show airing this morning for the first time this REALLY bad lip sysnc issue. First time I've seen this, but like flyingvee said... it was pretty bad. :(

Point is though, that MOST folks sitting at home with their brand new HD sets they got for Xmas don't know what a service menu is (thank goodness!). They are simply going to say "How come I can't see your closings!"

True! otoh, most folks are going to panels; based on what Jarret said, I'd guess that the signal is fine on them there new-fangled flat tvs. ;) (that said, and after reading here, I'll make a point to check on mine next time there is an HD crawl.)

btw, thanks for letting us know whazzup, Jarret. Figured you had some kinda problem when I lost KWWL-HD Saturday - appreciate the heads up.

Are we ever going to see anymore HD channels by Mediacom? At this point, it's just getting laughable.

Are we ever going to see anymore HD channels by Mediacom? At this point, it's just getting laughable.

who cares? CFU is rolling out a bunch in February - can hardly wait. At that point, it'll be worth seeing if my cable card set is compatible with their system.

Or, are you stuck somewhere else? :rolleyes: If so, sorry, and best of luck. You do have the Cyclone bb games, which we don't -- otherwise, MC doesn't have much to offer compared to what I have.

I'm in Iowa City.

Are we ever going to see anymore HD channels by Mediacom? At this point, it's just getting laughable.Looks to be 15-30 Hd's to be added "soon". I don't know what soon means, but there getting the headend ready. I'm guessing everything above ch23 will be converted to digital to make room for the bandwidth needed. As for 2-23 which is basic in Iowa City, I have no idea what they would do with this (either leave it alone or convert it to digital and force the basic customers to get/rent a box.
http://www.icgov.org/boardminute/1609.pdf
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r19528519-MO-New-HD-Channels-Excited-for-nothin

http://www.tvpredictions.com/dlocal120507.htm
Washington, D.C. (December 5, 2007) -- DIRECTV said today that it will add local High-Definition channels in 11 markets by "mid-2008"
This will include Cedar Rapids/Waterloo/Iowa City

I hadn't seen that iowahawkeye but that makes me really happy. Maybe I'll be able to switch early next year. Woohoo, especially if the writer's strike continues and there is nothing to watch anyway.

The scroll on KWWL-DT is cut off on my JVC 52" as well.

I can see about the top half of the blu line where the cancelations are scrolling. To bad the black and blue lines aren't flipped. I'd be able to see the important info then.

I checked my 19" Sharp and my 61" Sammy (both are HD), and they both show the complete drag. In fact they both show blue under the blue "info" scroll.

yeah - evidently there is a lot more overscan than we know - I've read 10% is not uncommon, but it takes something like this to show you what 10% looks like. Sorry - forgot to check on my panel, but yeah, I still haven't fixed it on my Sony crt.

btw - I'll acknowledge right here and now that Jarret really is caught between the old rock and hard place - if he raises the crawl up to where we can see it with our overscanning displays, everybody with their new panel they got for Christmas will be complaining to him, wondering why the crawl is so high on the screen. :D

Thanks for the headsup on the KWWL Closing crawl. I've noticed the problem now too when we are in HD programming. When we have SD programming and it squeezes back, everything is great, but when we are in HD (like during the today show), we go to a two line display which overlays on the very bottom. It appears as though the second line, although fine up on the station monitors, is subject to overscan issues on other various monitors. I noticed this on a samsung LCD we have up here. So we are going to raise both lines a little (shift about a half line up). We are trying to balance between getting the crawl seen while interfering with the HD programming as LITTLE as possible. We'll try to get this fixed this morning! Thanks,
Jarrett

I'll have to recheck, since I only looked this am. (KWWL crawl on btm of screen.) Will look tonight with a HD program on.

What about swapping the 2 lines around?

We are trying to balance between getting the crawl seen while interfering with the HD programming as LITTLE as possible.

Thanks for that Jarrett!!! Now if all the other stations/networks would use the same concept! ;)

BTW.. After my service menu tweaks for overscan on my Sony, I STILL was missing about 1/2 of the bottom line of text. I tweaked it some more to display the entire line of text, but I think moving a 1/2 line up like you mentioned would be great. Reversing the lines as suggested would also be nice.

My Mediacom signals come from Waterloo. I have my Mediacom box hooked to my new Panasonic both with HDMI and via the Cable/Antenna input where I am getting some puzzling station numbers. For example, channel 92-10 is the Sportsman's Channel. Can anyone point me to a guide or list for these obscure channel IDs?

My Mediacom signals come from Waterloo.....
For the last five or six days, I have had a lot of either pixilation or total loss of the digital channels, esp. the HD channels.
Strangely enough, each night both 802 and, usually, 852 have been on and sharp with no pixillation problems.
My viewing is restricted to the evening only.
In the bedroom, I have splitter with one line going to the HDTV and the other to a VCR, but when I bypassed the splitter and ran the cable from the wall straight to the TV, there was no improvement in the pixillation or total loss of the HD channels.
Has anyone else in the Waterloo area had the same problem?
Of the last several, only on Thursday was the reception normal and trouble-free.
Could winter weather cause the loss or disruption of the signal?
Any other suggestions?

Sounds like a classic case of poor signal strength. Removing one splitter means nothing if the signal that feed that splitter was weak.

The reception has been OK up until the last few days, during the somewhat stormy weather in this part of Iowa.
The weather is the only variable I can think of.

The only channels I've experience problems with for the last month or 6 weeks are Ch. 11 and 811.
Sometimes the picture is partially disrupted and sometimes it totally disappears for a matter of seconds or minutes or hours.
This has happened on both an HD and on a CRT set.
Any anyone else in the Waterloo area experienced similar problem with IPTV?

Is anyone else getting no signal on 2-1? My ota signal has been weak since the ice storm, and today I have no signal.

KGAN OTA loud and clear in SW CR.

Heres a nice CFU link to see if the locals are up or down... : http://www.cfu.net/CyberNet/HD/

Ditto to above - KGAN-DT came in fine throughout the game on Sunday - no idea on anything else. (both OTA and via CFU)

redundant question again (if no one chimes in, I'll actually search and look again) - of CBS, FOX, and NBC, which are 1080i and which are 720p? I saw quite a bit of breakup on camera pans with the NBC game yesterday - are they the 1080i signal?

Ditto to above - KGAN-DT came in fine throughout the game on Sunday - no idea on anything else. (both OTA and via CFU)

redundant question again (if no one chimes in, I'll actually search and look again) - of CBS, FOX, and NBC, which are 1080i and which are 720p? I saw quite a bit of breakup on camera pans with the NBC game yesterday - are they the 1080i signal?

KFXA-DT 720p
KRIN-DT 1080i
KGAN-DT 1080i
KWWL-DT 1080i
KCRG-DT 720p

I have them ordered in terms of my perception of their quality, on my TV set, through my DVR (either OTA or through Mediacom cable). Football on KWWL-DT never looks as good to me as it does on KFXA-DT (the best looking HD signal on my TV consistently) or KGAN-DT. Along with KCRG-DT, KWWL-DT often has compression artifacts (or just a lot of lost data?) that I can pause my DVR on and stare at in disbelief that I'm actually watching HD - when watching in full motion, it looks like a shimmering of sorts. Anyway, off topic I know.

Sounds like a classic case of poor signal strength. Removing one splitter means nothing if the signal that feed that splitter was weak.

I assume you have a Motorola STB? If so, you should check the SNR of your channels:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR/Configuration

I used to have a lot of problems with my Mediacom digital cable signals. Some channels that would work in the afternoon would start to drop out periodically, or not come up at all, during the late evening. The one time, a few years ago now, they replaced the cable running from the post (whatever they call those things) out behind my property line running to my house. A couple years later it started happening again and they never did figure it out, because they did all the signal tests during the day and said it was all fine. They always tell you to call when you are having problems, but I always had problems when they were no longer working for the day. I could be completely wrong, but I finally assumed the reason for the digital cable signal drop at night was due to the increased use of cable model usage in the evening.

Anyway, I went from a 3-way split in my basement to just two (so I can't watch TV in my bedroom) and instead of a two-way splitter in my living room, I use a DC-6 tap now so that my DVR gets the best signal I can give it (without ditching my cable modem in my computer room) and the tap "leg" just runs directly to my TV for the times I am recording two things on my DVR but still want to watch ESPN or something else.

thanks for prompt reply; given your list, the CBS game should have looked as good/bad as NBC. Must be other factors involved. The 720p does go towards explaining why MNF used to look better on ABC than the SNF does on NBC. :(

will also agree that FOX (!) has the best looking HD for sports - at least in our market. Loved watching baseball playoffs there, once they finally got off TNT and ESPN.

Being that I've worked with both HD formats (720P in La Crosse and 1080i here), I'm still of the opinion that 720P is a better broadcast HD format. Keep in mind, that my favorite programming to watch is sports in HD, which certainly has something to do with it. 720P excels with fast motion as it you get a fresh 720 lines of progressive content each field (60 times a second). Whereas 1080i, you get the odd lines on one field and the even lines on the next to get your full 1080 lines of resolution. Combine that with the fact that progressive formatting is a little easier to compress in the encoders than interlace, and you can begin to see why 720P football games (like ESPN, FOX and ABC) tend to have a little better picture (in my humble opinion at least!), than the 1080i versions on NBC and CBS.

Also contributing to these artifacts is how much bandwidth of the 19.4Mb is actually alloted to the HD signal. At a minimum you really should have 12 Mb for that... ideally 13-14 for 1080i. If you try to run one any lower, the encoder can't keep up in busy parts and starts displaying noise. We run at about 14.5 Mb here and it looks pretty stable. There are some artifacts every now and again, but that couldn't be simply coming right from NBC that way (not going to get any better through us). Eventually, we'll be upgrading our encoder, some the compression schemes should get even better, which will help if we end up lighting back up 7.3 for anything.
-Jarrett

redundant question again (if no one chimes in, I'll actually search and look again) - of CBS, FOX, and NBC, which are 1080i and which are 720p?Here's a good favorite
http://www.hdsportsguide.com/

Is anyone else getting no signal on 2-1? My ota signal has been weak since the ice storm, and today I have no signal.

Our OTA 2-1 has been down since about 12/4 here in Center Point. All other channels receiving fine. Directv HR-20 receiver. Keep waiting for it to come back, but I think I'll reset the system tonight and see if it re-acquires.

I get OTA 2-1 on my Directv HR-20 jsut fine in SW CR. I suggest some antenna tweaking...

I realize this is way off topic for this thread but I don't know where to turn. I have ImOn (Mcleod) cable and internet and over the weekend I had to reinstall Linux Ubuntu on my backup computer. I cannot get my email set up. Is there someone that uses ImOn and Linux that can lead me through the set up on one of the email programs? Imon doesn't have anyone there familiar with anything other than windows. PM me and sorry for the intrusion on this thread, thanks, Bear

http://www.iand.uscourts.gov/iand/decisions.nsf/0/597F395D4D9E3CF9862573A3007213FB/$File/LRR-07-CV-124,+Cedar+Rapids+Television+Co.+dba+KCRG-TV9+v.+MCC+Iowa+LLC+&+MCC+Illinois+LLC,+Bench+Trial+-+declaratory+judgme.pdf

I get OTA 2-1 on my Directv HR-20 jsut fine in SW CR. I suggest some antenna tweaking...

Reset receiver last night, but still no 2-1. I wonder what would make it all the sudden go from the station with the best OTA reception to nothing? I guess a trip to the attic may be in order... I hate going up there!

Eventually, we'll be upgrading our encoder, some the compression schemes should get even better, which will help if we end up lighting back up 7.3 for anything.
-Jarrett


I vote for leaving the lights off on 7.3.

Checked on Law & Order tonight. I can't see ANY of the crawl/drag on both my Sharp 19" and my Samsung 61" Via mediacom & qam tuner. All I can see is the line that says "For a complete listing......

I vote for leaving the lights off on 7.3.

If we add anything, I would probably seriously cut into the weather plus (7.2)channel's bandwidth and try not to do much with 7.1.

We are still working on the HD closing crawl as well. We wanted to upgrade some of the hardware first to fix some other issues, which has delayed modifying that template.

I have Mediacomm coming out to install cable next week at our new house in North Liberty (Iowa City suburb). We're moving to the area, so this is my first experience with them.

One of the things I really enjoy is the NBA League pass. I was shocked to learn they don't offer it!

Am I missing something? Are these guys really that, well, podunk?

Any chance DirecTV will add the Cedar Rapids/Waterloo locals in HD anytime in the next few months?

I commented on DTV's terrible local installation company a couple weeks ago...well, they finally showed up last Saturday, and brought an HR21, not the HR20 specifically asked for. Of course my sister, who was the only one home, didn't know any better, and believed the story the installer told her that these are just black, everything else is the same. So now they can't get locals in HD via the DVR. She's going to try and call and see if they can simply swap out the the HR21 for an HR20.

Anyhow...sounds like quite the outfit. :rolleyes:

Gazette Online publishes story about upcoming Mediacom changes in Cedar Rapids

Rate increase, but at least some encouraging news on the HD front, such as the de-tiering of the ESPN HD channels:

http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071213/BUSINESS/712130037/1007/business

aktick, see this link it looks like Direct will be adding our local HD's middle of 2008.
http://www.tvpredictions.com/dlocal120507.htm

Gazette Online publishes story about upcoming Mediacom changes in Cedar Rapids

Rate increase, but at least some encouraging news on the HD front, such as the de-tiering of the ESPN HD channels:

http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071213/BUSINESS/712130037/1007/business

Family Cable is already $51.95 in Waterloo.

Checked on Law & Order tonight. I can't see ANY of the crawl/drag on both my Sharp 19" and my Samsung 61" Via mediacom & qam tuner. All I can see is the line that says "For a complete listing......

I'm seeing the same thing here on my 52" Hitachi watching OTA via a Dish Vip622.

I'm seeing the same thing here on my 52" Hitachi watching OTA via a Dish Vip622.

We got this fixed this morning... hopefully it will look good from here on out!
-Jarrett

We got this fixed this morning... hopefully it will look good from here on out!
-Jarrett

here's hoping that we don't get an opportunity to find out if it works or not for at least another month or two....:D

and if we do have to read it, thanks, Jarrett

Gazette Online publishes story about upcoming Mediacom changes in Cedar Rapids

Rate increase, but at least some encouraging news on the HD front, such as the de-tiering of the ESPN HD channels:

http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071213/BUSINESS/712130037/1007/business

Thats great for the Cedar Rapids market, but the rest of us in other markets don't get anything. Lucky for me I'm in a small market right on the Ia/Wis border and we don't get anything. Currently we have two HD channels via QAM. CBS and NBC. Nothing else coming anytime soon. Gotta love it..:rolleyes:

aktick, see this link it looks like Direct will be adding our local HD's middle of 2008.
http://www.tvpredictions.com/dlocal120507.htm

Thanks for the link.

I have to adjust a previous post of mine, where I said NFL football in HD on KGAN was better than on KWWL. I'm watching the Chiefs and Titans today on KGAN and while I'm not going to say I'm a MPEG-2 expert, I know enough about video encoding to know the extremely poor quality I'm seeing during fast camera pans is not a problem with my signal strength, an issue with my ATSC tuner, nor HD playback on my Sony WEGA CRT HD TV, but with the video stream itself. The Rams and Packers game today on KFXA looks great, as always, being 720p, but also just that everything I watch in HD on KFXA looks great. On the other hand, even though KCRG is also 720p, I just always see a lot of artifacts on any HD show I watch on that channel, so I'm glad they no longer have Monday night football on ABC. Personally, I'd prefer it if every local channel in eastern Iowa would just copy whatever KFXA is doing (and the equipment they use) for their HD feeds. I'm glad the Super Bowl is on Fox this year.

I have to adjust a previous post of mine, where I said NFL football in HD on KGAN was better than on KWWL. I'm watching the Chiefs and Titans today on KGAN and while I'm not going to say I'm a MPEG-2 expert, I know enough about video encoding to know the extremely poor quality I'm seeing during fast camera pans is not a problem with my signal strength, an issue with my ATSC tuner, nor HD playback on my Sony WEGA CRT HD TV, but with the video stream itself.

while I know less about this than pretty much anyone, I'll agree that most of the KC games I've seen on KGAN look pretty bad - I always figured it was a function of facilities and associated gear that was used in origination from KC. Either that, or a network decision on allocation of resources - CBS figured not enough people would notice or care, so didn't bother to use first team on their games.

Since I don't follow KC, other than dropping in while channel surfing, it hasn't bothered me/ so at least in one instance, that strategy has worked for CBS. ;)

Green Bay looked good - maybe a little edge enhancement, making it look almost surrealy sharp, but a good presentation. Giants looked ok on NBC - nothing "hideous." :D

I agree that FOX puts out some nice looking HD OTA compared to CBS. Being an AFC fan though, I'm just getting tired of watching the Chiefs every week! C'mon CBS, put someone... anyone else on!

No offense to any KC fans...

I agree that FOX puts out some nice looking HD OTA compared to CBS. Being an AFC fan though, I'm just getting tired of watching the Chiefs every week! C'mon CBS, put someone... anyone else on!

No offense to any KC fans...Interesting to note that kgan was the only market in eastern/central IA that carried the Cheifs yesterday, as it was a rare 3-way split. http://www.the506.com/nflmaps/2007-15-CBS.html

Let's not get too far off topic, but stations usually carry a regional team. The closest regional AFC team is Kansas City, like it or not.

We all could have cried the same tears over having to always watch the Bears-Vikings-Packers not so long ago.

Don't like it, get Directvs' NFL package..... :)

Don't like it, get Directvs' NFL package..... :)

If they put it on cable, I would.:D

back OT - anyone else trying to watch KWWL-DT morning news today? Snack kept breaking up, total data loss - pixelazation and smearing - during last weather break, around 6:50 am on Thurs. This is via cfu QAM, so could be their prob too -- why I'm asking.

went to analog 7 via cable, and it was fine. - just hope whatever it is, is fixed by evening. Hate to have it break over weekend, and have to wait for repairs over Christmas.

ESPN and ESPN2 are in HD in Coralville tonight. I get them through the Mediacom HD box, but have been unable to locate them through my QAM tuner. I don't have the HD tier, and they are still at 830 & 831.

ESPN and ESPN2 are in HD in Coralville tonight. I get them through the Mediacom HD box, but have been unable to locate them through my QAM tuner. I don't have the HD tier, and they are still at 830 & 831.You'll probably have to wait until after the first of the year B4 mediacom lets them pass through unscrambled. And when that happens, I'll discontinue my HD pak.

You'll probably have to wait until after the first of the year B4 mediacom lets them pass through unscrambled. And when that happens, I'll discontinue my HD pak.

and let us know if that happens.;) - CFU is also detiering (?) ESPN-HD, but the powers that be have said that they still won't be unscrambled - and so, while the channels will be "free," we will have to rent a box or cable card in order to watch them. :( -better than paying extra, plus the hardware, but nowhere nearly as good as just letting us watch them.

Got to see your crawl for the first time in HD last night - Thank-you very much. Totally visible at the bottom, with network feed clearly visible below your two lines of info. This on my Sony 960 crt - an acknowledged overscan machine.

So I think that's one less thing you need to worry about. Appreciate the fix.:D

Got to see your crawl for the first time in HD last night - Thank-you very much. Totally visible at the bottom, with network feed clearly visible below your two lines of info. This on my Sony 960 crt - an acknowledged overscan machine.

So I think that's one less thing you need to worry about. Appreciate the fix.:D

Glad to here this problem is now off the board! I think it looks pretty good... doesn't really intrude on the HD programming too much either. Let me know if you notice anything else that needs attention.
-Jarrett

ESPN and ESPN2 are in HD in Coralville tonight. I get them through the Mediacom HD box, but have been unable to locate them through my QAM tuner. I don't have the HD tier, and they are still at 830 & 831.

I would think they will keep it encrypted, but in any case, if you tune to 830 with your Moto and then go into the diagnostics menu (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/How_to_use_a_Motorola_DVR/Configuration), one of the menus will tell you what frequency that channel is actually at, so you can narrow down what real channel number to try for on your ATSC tuner. For example, channel 114.1 is at 735 MHz, while 21.4 is at 165 MHz. Here is a chart I found on the web (http://www.soontai.com/uscatvtb1.html), to help figure it out.

Press release said 1st quarter of 2008 but low and behold this morning I had duplicates of KGAN CBS 2-1, 2-2, KWWL NBC 7-1, 7-2, KCRG ABC 9-1, 9-2, KWKB CW 20-1, KFXA FOX 28-1, 28-2, and KRIN PBS 32-1, 32-2,.
Guide currently only displays "Regular Schedule" but the programming is there.
Initial impression of picture quality on the mostly SD programming I've been able to catch is good. We'll see tonight when the HD is broadcasting.
Won't be sad to be done with the rotor tweaking to maintain reception, but don't plan on tearing the antenna out of the attic just quite yet.

Press release said 1st quarter of 2008 but low and behold this morning I had duplicates of KGAN CBS 2-1, 2-2, KWWL NBC 7-1, 7-2, KCRG ABC 9-1, 9-2, KWKB CW 20-1, KFXA FOX 28-1, 28-2, and KRIN PBS 32-1, 32-2,.
Guide currently only displays "Regular Schedule" but the programming is there.
Initial impression of picture quality on the mostly SD programming I've been able to catch is good. We'll see tonight when the HD is broadcasting.
Won't be sad to be done with the rotor tweaking to maintain reception, but don't plan on tearing the antenna out of the attic just quite yet.

How did you get stations? Just checked both my HR-10 and my HR-20. Nothing showing up. Anybody else seeing the HD locals on sat?

Press release said 1st quarter of 2008 but low and behold this morning I had duplicates of KGAN CBS 2-1, 2-2, KWWL NBC 7-1, 7-2, KCRG ABC 9-1, 9-2, KWKB CW 20-1, KFXA FOX 28-1, 28-2, and KRIN PBS 32-1, 32-2,...

Keep us updated on this. I'm still with Mediacom, but I'm looking for reasons to jump ship to DirecTV.

Very unusual, the H20 receiver is picking up the new locals but the HR20 DVR unit is not. A HR-10 isn't MPEG4 capable so there is quite a bit of the new HD programming you are not receiving with that or any other pre-H20/21, HR20/21 and the new 5 LNB dish.

I am not seeing anything either with a HR20-700. Are you sure it isn't some sort of glitch with your receiver? Maybe unplug the antenna lead and see if they are still there. As far as I have heard, DirecTV does not carry the subchannels anywhere yet, nor the PBS stations yet.

2-3 just showed up on my channel guide. There was just a searching for signal when I went to it, but the Patriot game was scheduled for Sat night in HD as well as 2-1. Anybody have a clue what it is?

I suppose Directv could have been doing some testing/transponder/channel mapping or something and it showed up in the guide briefly.

They do have some beta testers out there.

I'd say just be patient, we'll see those HD locals fairly soon.

Tried to watch the games yesterday in HD. Guess what - HD over CFU was once again horribly sporadic. OR, actually, it was consistently sporadic, which may be some kind of oxymoron. Impossible to watch for over a minute without getting the good old "weak or missing signal" logo over a black screen.

Was fine over sd, natch. So what are folks gonna do at switchover? Is CFU (and other cable cos) going to somehow send out a bogus, downrezzed signal that will at least be stable, or is tv watching simply going to go back to the '50s?

-- I know the stations were fine -- I ended up going and watching on my set that is connected to outdoor antenna. Guess I could hook up entire house that way, save a lot of money, but so far I don't get ESPN ota. ;)

But this HD situation really makes me wonder - I'm sure you've all read the cable notices, telling us all how the impending switchover from sd to hd only signals won't affect cable subscribers...If that is the case, I'd sure like to know how they are going to magically start having a stable signal; and if there is such a trick, why can't they do it now?

Tried to watch the games yesterday in HD. Guess what - HD over CFU was once again horribly sporadic. OR, actually, it was consistently sporadic, which may be some kind of oxymoron. Impossible to watch for over a minute without getting the good old "weak or missing signal" logo over a black screen.

Was fine over sd, natch. So what are folks gonna do at switchover? Is CFU (and other cable cos) going to somehow send out a bogus, downrezzed signal that will at least be stable, or is tv watching simply going to go back to the '50s?

But this HD situation really makes me wonder - I'm sure you've all read the cable notices, telling us all how the impending switchover from sd to hd only signals won't affect cable subscribers...If that is the case, I'd sure like to know how they are going to magically start having a stable signal; and if there is such a trick, why can't they do it now?

You say games, plural, not just the game on CBS? According to this chart (http://www.cfu.net/CyberNet/HD/index.php), looks like CFU did have a drop out Sunday of KGAN, KCRG, and KRIN, but if those graphs are to be believed, the drop out didn't happen on KXFA or KWWL?

The thing that gets me is how with the ever closer DTV transition that the state of TV set technology is nowhere near where it needs to be, like maybe 5 or 7 or 10 years behind where it should be. Where is the "perfect" >=32" HD set that is ~$500 (or even ~$2000) and that doesn't have ugly motion blur, pathetic black levels, poor contrast, less than perfect viewing angles, annoying screen glare unless you watch TV in a room with no windows or lamps, replaceable lamps to have to purchase every few years, or every other stupid thing that "the masses" that still have good old CRT displays (especially HD-capable sets like a Sony WEGA CRT) have no idea they get the privilege of experiencing for a cost of $1000 to $10,000 ? I agree, in some ways, we are moving backwards here. Sorry, this is off-topic for this particular thread, even if not for AVS forum itself.

You say games, plural, not just the game on CBS? According to this chart (http://www.cfu.net/CyberNet/HD/index.php), looks like CFU did have a drop out Sunday of KGAN, KCRG, and KRIN, but if those graphs are to be believed, the drop out didn't happen on KXFA or KWWL?

Hmmm... KGAN, KRG, & KRIN are all on the same tower. Sounds logical to me that this very well could have been the case. Hard to tell from those charts, but those down times also appeared to be in the morning hours.

I'm quite sure that flyingvee (BTW, I'm gonna have to find out where "Flyingvee" originates from) knows well enough about weak cable signals, but sure sounds like a possible cause to me. My first days of cable QAM tuners produced similar outcomes. Removed some splitters and problem solved.

Any other CFU customers encounter these problems????

I'm thinking of getting a Samsung LCD for the kitchen where I will have neither a cable box nor a cablecard--just the standard cable coax connected to the Samsung. From Mediacom, I get the "200" digital package, Showtime, HBO, and the HD tier.
I am wondering what channels the Samsung QAM tuner will pull in and how they will be labeled.
I have a Panasonic plasma that pulls in some of the digital channels but labels them with unrecognizable numbers, like 92-10 which is the Sportsman Channel.
My question is, Will the Samsung label the digital channels it pulls in with recognizable channel names or numbers that makes sense in the Mediacom scheme of things?

In a recent column in the Cedar Rapids Gazette
http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071213/BUSINESS/712130037/1007/business
David DeWitte said that, "ediacom is currently testing a digital simulcast in the Cedar Rapids metro market for all channels in the Family Cable package. The service will enable all Family Cable customers who have a digital converter and a digital-ready TV to receive the signal in digital when it is rolled out early next year."
David also reported that Mediacom spokeswoman Phyllis Peters said that the charges for the Family Package will go up $3 and for the HD Tier will go dow $3.
After reading his article on Mediacom's 2008 plans for increasing its HD channels and for simulcasting the analog channels as digital, I have several questions for any of you who are in CR and taking advantage of the simulcasting.......
1) If the CR simulcasting experiment works, when will Mediacom repeat the exercise in Waterloo?
2) If the Mediacom customer uses a TV with a cablecard, with the digital simulcasts of the analog channels be available for that TV?
3) If the Mediacom customer has an HDTV with a QAM tuner but no cablecard or cable box (ah, "digital converter" in the language of Mediacom), will that TV pull in the digitally simulcast signals and will they be labeled in a way that is recognizable to the customer? If not, will Mediacom interpret numbers like 92-10 which is the way my Panasonic refers to the Sportsman's Channel? Or will Mediacom refuse to support the channel numbers that each TV provides?
4) If the only way to get the digital simulcasts of the analog channels is to have a "digital converter," will Mediacom provide a certain number of these for free as do both of the satellite companies
or
will Mediacom require everyone to fork over $10 for each box for each TV?
5) Six months from now, at the point when Mediacom claims it will finally offer 48 HD channels, almost half of what DirecTV currently offers, will the price for the HD tier remain the same ($7)? (That question assumes that the new HD channels will be put into the current HD tier, and not into the Family Package, as has been done with both ESPN channels, according to your article.)
In general, I am interested in hearing how the Mediacom simulcasting experiment is working.....

I am wondering what channels the Samsung QAM tuner will pull in and how they will be labeled.

You should get exactly what you get on your Pany and Mediacom doesn't transmit any embedded PSIP data, so they should be labeled very much like your Panny. These channels are digitally sent on the rf channels that you see on your "label", i.e. "92-10" is cable rf channel 92. The local channels are on 89, 114, & 115 in CR.

I have a Panasonic plasma that pulls in some of the digital channels but labels them with unrecognizable numbers, like 92-10 which is the Sportsman Channel.
My question is, Will the Samsung label the digital channels it pulls in with recognizable channel names or numbers that makes sense in the Mediacom scheme of things?

No. See above.

Hmmm... KGAN, KRG, & KRIN are all on the same tower. Sounds logical to me that this very well could have been the case. Hard to tell from those charts, but those down times also appeared to be in the morning hours.

They were off for a couple hours around 2am so workers could do an inspection of the tower up near the antenna. Don't ask me how they properly inspect a tour in total darkness, seems to me it would be real easy to miss things in the darkness.

They were off for a couple hours around 2am so workers could do an inspection of the tower up near the antenna. Don't ask me how they properly inspect a tour in total darkness, seems to me it would be real easy to miss things in the darkness.

:D

I'd climb the tower anytime, day or night. But I think I'd rather do it in the summer, rather than yesterday, with the wind and snow...

As for shutting it down at 2:00am, that means there must be some horrendous time delay for it to affect a 5:00 pm football game.:p

That said, I think CFU has a line problem - I finally sprung (sprang?) for CFU's pay HD package. Spectacular. But I ended up with the same pixelaztion and macroblocking on HD Discovery and HD ESPN. -- So I guess those who only have sd service will not have a problem - only those paying the extra money for the extra quality service.

Ivorygate - there are half decent sets out there - I'm running a Vizio 32" as my 3rd set now - agreed, blacks aren't stupendous, but no real motion blur, color fidelity is decent, pretty flexible with inputs, etc. For under 500 bucks, I'd rate it a BUY - and I am fairly picky. -- I just checked out the new "Gold Star" projector of the month, by Evan's ratings - the new Panny 4900 - 1080p lcd pj. While it makes a big picture, it had a lot more noise and dot crawl (on sd dvds) than my Vizio. So you can get a half decent set cheap; - course I agree, my old Sony 960 crt set does indeed blow away anything you can buy today. But how many people were buying them when they were available?

My channel master 7777 amp got fried today, when we had some power problems. 28-1 is the only ot channel I get. I can order one, but that will take several days. Is there anyone in this area that would carry this item? I beleive there was a place in CR that had them, but now will not sell retail. Thanks for any help.

I'm a moron sorry for the false alarm.
G.D. P.O.S. @#$&@! rackin frackin h20-100 decided to spontainiously insert duplicates of all my off air HD channels.
Wanted them so bad.........

Anybody REALLY know what kwwl IS going to do tonight with NBC's new episode of "ER"? They don't say on their homepage, and who knows about their "link" to titantv listings, (currently it shows "ER" only on KWWL-DT :)) as the analog transmission shows "Decision 2008 Iowa Caucus"