First, KIM, DBS is different than cable, in that, any TV you want separate programming on, must have its own tuner.

If you want NFL (Sunday Ticket) and/or MLB EI, Direct is the only choice.
Otherwise, I don't believe there is anything Direct offers that Dish does not, and several things Dish does offer that Direct does not.
-presently, far more HD
-dual-tuner (dual TV) receivers
-superior HD DVR
-EHDD storage and online networking capability coming....very soon.

Yes, I'm partial, but I don't think I've stated anything, any D* sub would dispute.
Well, except perhaps the kinky one :D

Ahh yes - but we live to dispute!
- Presently = about 4-6 weeks. After (depending on what you call a channel) D* will have close to, equal, or more channels. Both will have darn near all available national channels. Both have HD locals. Dish has "variety" channels with their Voom stations - but D* has more sports HD. (Although Dish has FoxSports MW on HD, but D* doesn't yet for some reason).

- dual-tuner (dual TV) receivers. This (in my humble opinion) is to compensate for Dish Networks more 'nit-picky' fees. D* charges 1 DVR fee for a house regardless of how many DVRs you have. Dish charges a DVR fee ($5.99) for EACH DVR you have. So by making the dual TV receivers they limit the equipment, but the customer gets less fees. All depends on what you want.

- superior HD DVR. This is pure preference. There are features on my DirecTV HR20 that Dish doesn't have which I have come to love. There are 2 features Dish has that I don't (PiP and dual live buffers) - both of which mean little to nothing to me. I personally consider DirecTVs HR20 to be more polished and have more promise. DirecTV also has set the standard for working with the user community and improving the product.

- EHDD and online. External Hard Disk Drive support is already in the DirecTV product. Online capabilities - with respect to scheduling and programming the unit - are not in the DirecTV unit.

In the end - if you don't have a sports preference, either product will GREATLY outperform Charter. You will be very very happy you have made this choice. One other BIG item of note. The entry costs and first year costs of Dish Network are MUCH lower than DirecTVs.

Chris

What do you consider to be "quite some time?"

Scott


A while...(if I keep answering like this I should run for congress.)

I can't say for sure as it's not my department.

Everything that is in the itunes library is on the ipod. From everything I read I thought it was a one way street from itunes to ipod without special software. My concern about doing this is that it will wipe the ipod clean because there will be nothing in the itunes library after I initially install it on the new pc. I've got the library on my old pc and the external drive, so it wouldn't be a total disaster, but I'm just a bit paranoid about doing it and screwing something up. :)

Sorry, you are of course right. I thought that's what I did when I got my new computer, but now that I think about it, I used PodUtil (third party software) to do it. I think it is now called Music Rescue - works like a charm!

There's a good tutorial on this issue at iLounge: http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/copying-music-from-ipod-to-computer/

superior HD DVR. This is pure preference. There are features on my DirecTV HR20 that Dish doesn't have which I have come to love.
Chris
Chris,
I'm curious, and am asking, because I don't know. Would you expand on these features please? I like to "keep up" on the differences...thanks :)

Sure -

The #1 thing is the Media Share. Basically if you have a Viiv compatible PC (or with a couple extra steps, any PC with MediaPlayer11) you can access the Pictures and Audio on that PC. We've actually really enjoyed being able to access all the music on my wife's laptop and play it over the home theater without having to have a PC in the room or a CD or anything. Just go to the HR20, select Music & Pictures - and go from there. On the same hand, our HDTV now acts as our slideshow player for when people visit. When can slideshow all the pictures and show them on the big screen. Both items I never thought we'd use much but now that we have them they are fantastic!

2nd (and maybe the 622 has it but I haven't seen it) is the ability to play all items in a folder back to back. This works great for my daughter or if we are moving through a program set. Its not a big deal, but convenience is nice.

3rd is the FF autocorrect. While the 30 second slip is nice, the FF autocorrect was one of the major things I missed from Tivo that my HR20 now has and we use constantly.

Otherwise, there's some nit picky things that come down to interface familiarity (such as -- quick deletes, the # stacking of 30s slips, etc) that really aren't as much features as just different ways of interfacing with the system.

Chris

AHDTS - 800-969-4388. Usually talking to a LII in under a minute.

.....LMK how it turns out, please.

Evidently, I an experiencing an "LNB Drift issue". A service call is scheduled for Wednesday. Stay tuned. Unlike you, I'm getting multiple breakups on all four local HD channels even though my signal strength is about 70 on both transponders.

2nd (and maybe the 622 has it but I haven't seen it) is the ability to play all items in a folder back to back. This works great for my daughter or if we are moving through a program set. Its not a big deal, but convenience is nice.
Chris
Not yet. Dish has recently put their first phase of folders out in beta. I can see how this would be a nice feature....start playback of 47 episodes of Dora....and Poof...instant babysitter :)

I don't know if the feature is planned, but I'm going to suggest it.

Have Direct T.V. for about 5 years. Tivo boxes are going out (lost dolby digital in the HD DVR in the family room, but Direct TV and Tivo got divorced.
The new HD DVR box from Direct has some of the worst reviews of a product I have ever seen.
Any suggestions? I understand the Tivo series 3 does not work with Direct T.V. any longer. Also, having problem with getting a second signal in another room (though it has worked for last 5 years). Two techs from Direct T.V. (total wait time 8 hours) and no solution.
These guys can't even pack their equipment in their van so they can check lines. Any suggestions for some superior tech service in St. Louis? I would rather just pay someone that wait half days for someone that has had no training and never heard of the term dolby digital.

Thanks,

SMU -
Honestly - from my opinion and you might want to check dbstalk.com HR20 forums, but the HR20 reviews are either VERY OLD or from Tivo zealots. Most people now say its actually a very solid and nice receiver.

Chris

HOORAY!

July 23 DirecTV was granted operational approval to begin testing D10 a week early... So if all proceeds according to plan we could be looking at 1-2 weeks early on channel light up (and the testing window of 4 weeks has always been considered the most "buffered" part of the deployment.)

The original start-up date for programming was around Sept. 15th - but its widely been thought they would try for around Sept 1st and now they appear to be on track to accomplish this.

Chris

SMU -
Honestly - from my opinion and you might want to check dbstalk.com HR20 forums, but the HR20 reviews are either VERY OLD or from Tivo zealots. Most people now say its actually a very solid and nice receiver.

Chris

I agree. I just got my 2nd HR20 to replace the HR10 (HD Tivo). I have had the first one since December, and the first couple of months were rocky, but subsequent firmware updates have made it completely stable. I have had no more of the lost recording or lock-up issues that plagued the initial releases.

BTW - The HR10 is about to go on eBay since I own it. If any one is interested in it, PM me.

Mike

I spent 3 weeks in Texas with an HR20 and the only realy bad thing I can say about it is that its as slow as my 3416.

Walt

I spent 3 weeks in Texas with an HR20 and the only realy bad thing I can say about it is that its as slow as my 3416.

Walt

Interesting... when was that? The only 2 things I find slow on my HR20 (especially compared to an HR10 Tivo) were the guide scrolling and channel changing on Native - both of which are easily turned off.

The searches, guide, power on, and priority list changes are all much faster on my HR20 than the HR10 could ever dream to be.

Chris

HOORAY!

July 23 DirecTV was granted operational approval to begin testing D10 a week early... So if all proceeds according to plan we could be looking at 1-2 weeks early on channel light up (and the testing window of 4 weeks has always been considered the most "buffered" part of the deployment.)

The original start-up date for programming was around Sept. 15th - but its widely been thought they would try for around Sept 1st and now they appear to be on track to accomplish this.

Chris

Good news for HD competition...

Between Direct and Dish adding newer sats with greater capacity it will be good for all fans of HD that want a large slate of HD choices.

Cheers,

Amazon.com is offering a Samsung 56" DLP rear projector HDTV for $999. Don't know any details about this set. Maybe Doug will. That's a pretty amazing price, though.

Here's the link. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000N50RH8/105-3496462-2326837?ie=UTF8&tag=tvpredictions-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B000N50RH8)

I haven't been able to get ironclad confirmation, but this product appears to be an "online special." Manufacturers sometimes create these sort of products specially for a specific brick-and-mortar or online retailer so that the seller can make claims such as "lowest price anywhere." It appears that this is that sort of a deal.

I've also had hands-on experience with these oddball products and found that they perform to a lower standard than the regular products offered. So, while this might be fine for Joe Sixpack, it may not meet the expectations of someone more focused on picture quality.

Someone who knows these Samsung sets pointed me to the link below, indicating that for a few hundred dollars more, it's ultimately a much better buy:

Amazon Link (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000F2P2XI******pd_sl_aw_jset-1_hi-electronics_38498385_1)

Amazon.com is offering a Samsung 56" DLP rear projector HDTV for $999.
I have a Samsung 50" DLP and am quite pleased with it. My friend walks right up the screen and points his finger and says "But look, you can see the pixels." He's right! But I watch from a bit farther back, and do not notice them at all.

If I turn my head very fast I can see the infamous "rainbow effect," but only if I move so fast that I cannot comprehend the picture anyway, so who cares?

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000F2P2XI******pd_sl_aw_jset-1_hi-electronics_38498385_1
Busted link?

Amazon.com is offering a Samsung 56" DLP rear projector HDTV for $999. Don't know any details about this set. Maybe Doug will. That's a pretty amazing price, though.

Here's the link. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000N50RH8/105-3496462-2326837?ie=UTF8&tag=tvpredictions-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B000N50RH8)

Its actually their base level 56" 720P system. It doesn't have any "advanced" features like LED light source or 1080P - but it is the latest model slim fit (14" deep). Overall a nice model for the price. Circuit City is charging over $1600 for the same set right now.

Chris

Busted link?AVS is censoring the link. If you're interested in the link you can eMail me.

Or you can replace the asterisks in the link with the following: /-r-e-f (remove the hyphens).

WTF?

Since this has turned into the DSL forum thread, here's my .02 cents.

I just upgraded my Centurytel to 10 meg to get better connection to my Banks servers since I now work form home. As soon as I did, I kept getting cut off the servers. Yesterday they came out and did something to the line, and dropped my speed to 6 megs, and all is fine. Not sure why 10 megs is a problem, but the tech said 10 meg band was having issues. There, now I am happy to partake in the DSL thread.

Scott

Well, I just made the switch after reading about 10 meg service from Centurytel in this thread.

I called Charter to give them a shot at keeping my business (phone and 5Mbps HSI, $30 + $40/month), but they wanted $60/month for 10Mbps.

Centurytel is giving me $10 off/month for a year at $59.99 + taxes for unlimited phone (with all of the bundled features) and 10Mbps ADSL. No equipment or install charges. The CSR put in the notes that they will waive the early termination fees for me if 10Mbps service can not be received (although, I'd stick with them if it's a solid 6Mbps, since that's still $10 cheaper than Charter's 5Mbps). I'm not going to port my phone number over from Charter (or even cancel Charter) until I try out DSL for a day or two and make sure that it's a reliable and solid connection.

Installation is set for Thursday, any tips from current Centurytel customers?

Well, I just made the switch after reading about 10 meg service from Centurytel in this thread.

I called Charter to give them a shot at keeping my business (phone and 5Mbps HSI, $30 + $40/month), but they wanted $60/month for 10Mbps.

Centurytel is giving me $10 off/month for a year at $59.99 + taxes for unlimited phone (with all of the bundled features) and 10Mbps ADSL. No equipment or install charges. The CSR put in the notes that they will waive the early termination fees for me if 10Mbps service can not be received (although, I'd stick with them if it's a solid 6Mbps, since that's still $10 cheaper than Charter's 5Mbps). I'm not going to port my phone number over from Charter (or even cancel Charter) until I try out DSL for a day or two and make sure that it's a reliable and solid connection.

Installation is set for Thursday, any tips from current Centurytel customers?

John,

Don't let them set it at 10 Mbps. Just start it at 6Mbps and be done with it. 10 is way unstable at this time. I think you will like Centurytel.

Scott

Amazon.com is offering a Samsung 56" DLP rear projector HDTV for $999. Don't know any details about this set. Maybe Doug will. That's a pretty amazing price, though.

Here's the link. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000N50RH8/105-3496462-2326837?ie=UTF8&tag=tvpredictions-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B000N50RH8)


That is such a great deal I'm finding it hard not to order, and I don't need a TV. Hell, I paid $1250 for the 46" not too long ago. Anyone needing a great TV at 56" this is a steal.

Scott

AVS is censoring the link. If you're interested in the link you can eMail me.

Or you can replace the asterisks in the link with the following: /-r-e-f (remove the hyphens).

WTF?
Perhaps it's *you* they are censoring. :D

John,

Don't let them set it at 10 Mbps. Just start it at 6Mbps and be done with it. 10 is way unstable at this time. I think you will like Centurytel.

Scott

Ditto what he said....

I'm leaving Vonage for Charter telephone in a couple of weeks. My cousin told me about the family and friends promotion that ends at the end of the July. He tells me to expect better service from Charter telephone than Vonage. Easy to believe, since I've never thought Vonage was great. Too many reports from people trying to call me that they couldn't get through. I'll be able to report on how this works out later. The only difference is that I don't get free calls to 4 European countries anymore. Can't remember which ones they are, since I never called one in the last few years with Vonage.

I have a Samsung 50" DLP and am quite pleased with it. My friend walks right up the screen and points his finger and says "But look, you can see the pixels." He's right! But I watch from a bit farther back, and do not notice them at all.

If I turn my head very fast I can see the infamous "rainbow effect," but only if I move so fast that I cannot comprehend the picture anyway, so who cares?

My vision is not the greatest in the world, but it corrects to 20/20 with glasses. I couldn't see pixel structure on my 109" screen/Optoma H79 DLP front projector (720p) from 12 feet away. I doubt many people are going to be able to see pixel structure at a normal viewing distance with a 56" DLP, even at 720p. A 109" screen is almost 4x larger than that.

Way off topic post ahead.

Does anyone here own a Prius? I started looking this past weekend, after owning a 2002 Camry for the last 6 years. I'm really impressed with the technology in this little car. It's a gadget lover's dream. I test drove one and was really impressed. The ride is not Camry XLE-like, but it gets 2-3 times the gas mileage. Some simple math makes it a pretty compelling option, since I'm looking to buy new.

Anyone have anything they'd care to share?

UnRaid guys, I have a problem. I've put together two UnRaid systems and in each case when I've tried to add the last two drives (15 and 16), the last drive refuses to format. I switched the two last drives in both systems (by drive number in the software, not by changing cabling or mobo position), and in each case the last drive reported as unformatted after the format routine finished. Switching them back yielded exactly the same results. The drive that was formatted two minutes earlier reported back as unformatted. I have a report in with Tom at UnRaid, but wondered if anyone here had run into the same thing.

John,

Don't let them set it at 10 Mbps. Just start it at 6Mbps and be done with it. 10 is way unstable at this time. I think you will like Centurytel.

Scott

Will do. Since the modem is self-install though, is that something that will happen when I activate the account Thursday night? The tech just comes and plugs the line into the box outside of the house, nothing indoors from what the CSR was telling me.

If I can get 6Mbps and have it as stable as Charter's 5Mbps, I'll be more than happy (especially with it being $10/month cheaper to boot).

AVS is censoring the link. If you're interested in the link you can eMail me.
No need, I already have the 50".
Or you can replace the asterisks in the link with the following: /-r-e-f (remove the hyphens).
There is always *******.com ... ... ... Gee! They even censor the name of that Web site that makes URLs tinier!

Anyone have anything they'd care to share?
Just this (http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20070404_Hidden_cost_of_driving_a_Prius.html).

UnRaid guys, I have a problem. I've put together two UnRaid systems and in each case when I've tried to add the last two drives (15 and 16), the last drive refuses to format. I switched the two last drives in both systems (by drive number in the software, not by changing cabling or mobo position), and in each case the last drive reported as unformatted after the format routine finished. Switching them back yielded exactly the same results. The drive that was formatted two minutes earlier reported back as unformatted. I have a report in with Tom at UnRaid, but wondered if anyone here had run into the same thing.

Are you on 4.1 or higher? 4.1 introduced the 16 drive support.

< 4.1 and it was 14 drives.

Cheers,

Way off topic post ahead.

Does anyone here own a Prius? I started looking this past weekend, after owning a 2002 Camry for the last 6 years. I'm really impressed with the technology in this little car. It's a gadget lover's dream. I test drove one and was really impressed. The ride is not Camry XLE-like, but it gets 2-3 times the gas mileage. Some simple math makes it a pretty compelling option, since I'm looking to buy new.

Anyone have anything they'd care to share?

Joe:

I recall seeing some recently published numbers that made it iffy on whether there were any actual savings with the hybrid vehicles. They were working on total cost of purchase plus fuel prices.

The bad part was I can't remember the assumption of mileage. I don't recall what it was; but if you are a very high mileage driver it would be in favor of the Prius.

Cheers,

John,

Don't let them set it at 10 Mbps. Just start it at 6Mbps and be done with it. 10 is way unstable at this time. I think you will like Centurytel.

Scott
We just up'd our Pipeline from 5 to 10. We're now using a web-based origination software, with considerably more uploading and downloading.
So far....so good...

http://www.speedtest.net/result/162831672.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

I'll say one thing....I went to a Charter CS chat page on Saturday night, and within 7 minutes the process was completed. No resets/restarts, the tech completed the order, and the speed increased.
Pricey, but necessary now.

Joe,
My next-door neighbor has a Prius, he says, it is, by far, the best car he's ever owned. Given, he commutes from Farmington to STL daily, though he still drives the Prius over his Lexus on the weekends.
Not a tech-head either...I've had to go over there, to reset his breakers....clueless.

Will do. Since the modem is self-install though, is that something that will happen when I activate the account Thursday night? The tech just comes and plugs the line into the box outside of the house, nothing indoors from what the CSR was telling me.

If I can get 6Mbps and have it as stable as Charter's 5Mbps, I'll be more than happy (especially with it being $10/month cheaper to boot).

I would think if you signed up for 10 that's what you'll get along with the disconnects. I would call them back and switch to 6 prior to the install.

Scott

Way off topic post ahead.

Does anyone here own a Prius? I started looking this past weekend, after owning a 2002 Camry for the last 6 years. I'm really impressed with the technology in this little car. It's a gadget lover's dream. I test drove one and was really impressed. The ride is not Camry XLE-like, but it gets 2-3 times the gas mileage. Some simple math makes it a pretty compelling option, since I'm looking to buy new.

Anyone have anything they'd care to share?

Here you go:

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/07/30/prius-price-drop-thanks-to-new-standard-model/

Scott

Thanks, guys, for the feedback on the Prius. I have a modest repair that needs to be made on the Camry, and it's 6 years old. I did the math when they gave me the rundown on what the Camry would cost to fix. With the respective gas mileage, plus a Prius' resale value, it seems as though, financially, it make sense to think about a trade. Hard as it sounds to believe, over the next 6 years, I'd probably save close to $15,000 on gas alone with a new Prius (averaging only about 10,000 miles per year), based on the MPG of the Camry vs Prius. That doesn't even factor in the claimed MPG for the Prius, just what seems to be typical from reports I've read.

Thanks for the link, Dan. That was an interesting read. Guess there are no easy answers when you want to be environmentally conscientious, are there? Still, I was a little puzzled when the article seemed to imply that Ma and Pa Kettle ought to think about a Hummer, rather than a Prius, because they're on a fixed income. Maybe it's like RAID5 - I just don't get that math.

I've read a ton of reviews about the car over the last few days, and most are overwhelmingly positive. I made a list of the negatives I read about, and most of those went out the window when I actually drove the car. It's fun, and it's a tech lover's treat. I know this might not make much sense, but driving the Prius made me feel like I did when I tried out my first front projector. It was the coolest thing - bluetooth, DVD navigation, MP3 jack, on screen monitoring of all car functions, backup camera, all controlled by an Enterprise-like touch screen and instrument panel.

OK, sorry about that tangent.

Here's a rumor that's been up on AVS for a while - Sharp's getting out of the front projector business (for consumers, anyway). Glad I got my 20k, and, if this is true, I'll miss the option in the market. Love the Sharp image and reliability.

Are you on 4.1 or higher? 4.1 introduced the 16 drive support.

< 4.1 and it was 14 drives.

Cheers,

I'm using 4.1. With version 4.0, it doesn't even see more than 14 drives. This is really puzzling. I have a bug report in with Limetech.

Even more puzzling, at one point, on one of the systems, I had only 12 drives installed, but I had drives in the last two positions. In each case, it's the drive in the disk 15 position (last position, since parity is the first position) that won't format, no matter how many times and ways I've tried.

UnRaid guys, I have a problem. I've put together two UnRaid systems and in each case when I've tried to add the last two drives (15 and 16), the last drive refuses to format. I switched the two last drives in both systems (by drive number in the software, not by changing cabling or mobo position), and in each case the last drive reported as unformatted after the format routine finished. Switching them back yielded exactly the same results. The drive that was formatted two minutes earlier reported back as unformatted. I have a report in with Tom at UnRaid, but wondered if anyone here had run into the same thing.

Sorry Joe, I won't be much help there.... I'm only at drive number 8 right now. Just sold a few things so I can grab another 750gigger to be number nine. Thanks for the tip on where to find that drive by the way......

Interesting post here....a chart showing the national HD's, by provider, both current and announced:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=11062325&&#post11062325

Will do. Since the modem is self-install though, is that something that will happen when I activate the account Thursday night? The tech just comes and plugs the line into the box outside of the house, nothing indoors from what the CSR was telling me.

If I can get 6Mbps and have it as stable as Charter's 5Mbps, I'll be more than happy (especially with it being $10/month cheaper to boot).

As recommended call and make sure your account is set at 6Mbps. If you leave it at 10, after a short time your connection will stop responding. Then it will take 1-2 days to get the line card reset to enable the connection again. As things usually works out this will happen on Friday, 1-2 business days may take you until Monday or Tuesday with just dialup. :eek: Other than that you will enjoy the service. :)

There's an article in the Post-Dispatch about Charter exposure to losing ground on "bundle sales" to AT&T, largely due to customer service issues.

_____________________________________________________

As competition builds to sell you phone, Internet and television service all in a bundle, Charter Communications' long-running customer service woes may come home to roost. To the benefit of AT&T.

Just ask Hazelwood retiree Don Buechler, who uses Charter for his high-speed Internet service. After tangling with Charter over a disputed bill, he says he'd switch to AT&T "in the blink of an eye" if the company offered the service in his neighborhood. He already gets his phone service from AT&T.

And it isn't just Buechler. In a survey being released today, a Michigan consulting group found consumers are more likely to turn to telephone companies than cable providers when they buy "bundled" packages of phone, Internet and TV.

Why? Cable's poor customer service reputation.
_____________________________________________________

To read the entire story, click here (http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/manufacturingtechnology/story/40603E2D6363B47386257329000F8D23?OpenDocument)

Thanks for the link, Dan. That was an interesting read. Guess there are no easy answers when you want to be environmentally conscientious, are there? Still, I was a little puzzled when the article seemed to imply that Ma and Pa Kettle ought to think about a Hummer, rather than a Prius, because they're on a fixed income. Maybe it's like RAID5 - I just don't get that math.
I imagine that the writer exaggerated a little to make his point, a not uncommon technique. I doubt that many Hummers will last 35 years! Still, one must wonder about the environmental impact of all the toxins in those batteries, and the costs of transporting their materials around the world. This may be in the same category as the debate over whether the use of ethanol as a gasoline supplement actually represents a net energy LOSS.

As recommended call and make sure your account is set at 6Mbps. If you leave it at 10, after a short time your connection will stop responding. Then it will take 1-2 days to get the line card reset to enable the connection again. As things usually works out this will happen on Friday, 1-2 business days may take you until Monday or Tuesday with just dialup. :eek: Other than that you will enjoy the service. :)

Thanks. I'm keeping my Charter connection for a few days, "just in case", so no way will I go back to dialup, even for a short period.

I'm using 4.1. With version 4.0, it doesn't even see more than 14 drives. This is really puzzling. I have a bug report in with Limetech.

Even more puzzling, at one point, on one of the systems, I had only 12 drives installed, but I had drives in the last two positions. In each case, it's the drive in the disk 15 position (last position, since parity is the first position) that won't format, no matter how many times and ways I've tried.

Joe:

Very puzzling... Since I just have 6 drives running right now; I'm not yet up against the wall.

Also off-topic -- any suggestions for PC Cases locally; or am I better off mail ordering what I want?

Cheers,

any suggestions for PC Cases locally; or am I better off mail ordering what I want?
If good fit and finish, ease of assembly, and quiet operation are important to you, consider the Antec Sonata III (http://shop.resellerratings.com/?keyword=antec%20sonata%20iii&linkin_id=3069385).

If good fit and finish, ease of assembly, and quiet operation are important to you, consider the Antec Sonata III (http://shop.resellerratings.com/?keyword=antec%20sonata%20iii&linkin_id=3069385).

Not enough airflow. I'm going with the Thermaltake Armor Jr. Massive airflow which is ideal for a quad-core machine :D And the TT fans are quiet ;)

Options for a side intake and a drive cage with an additional fan are important considerations too.

Cheers,

Not enough airflow. I'm going with the Thermaltake Armor Jr. Massive airflow which is ideal for a quad-core machine :D And the TT fans are quiet ;)

Options for a side intake and a drive cage with an additional fan are important considerations too.

Cheers,

Here's what I used for my UnRaid boxes:

CMStacker (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119042)

I also used AMS 5-in-3 SATA hard drive cages. With those, I'm able to put up to 17 hard drives in the UnRaid box. That box has 6 fans and the hard drives never get above about 43 degrees C, even though they're extremely close to each other. Of course, the case is in the basement, so I don't care how loud it is. The Stacker also has a 4-in-3 cage that has a 120mm fan in it. I used that for the second UnRaid box, where I'm reusing some older IDE hard drives.

Once the formatting problem gets resolved by Limetech, I'm all set for the fall TV season. I shouldn't have to worry about running out of space for a while.

Joe:

That's a nice case that I've looked at already; but I'm only installing 4 drives. The "big" storage is external to the machine.

Noise is a concern as it's going to be in the Data Center; aka my basement office :D

Cheers,

Here's what I used for my UnRaid boxes:

CMStacker (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119042)

I also used AMS 5-in-3 SATA hard drive cages. With those, I'm able to put up to 17 hard drives in the UnRaid box. That box has 6 fans and the hard drives never get above about 43 degrees C, even though they're extremely close to each other. Of course, the case is in the basement, so I don't care how loud it is. The Stacker also has a 4-in-3 cage that has a 120mm fan in it. I used that for the second UnRaid box, where I'm reusing some older IDE hard drives.

Once the formatting problem gets resolved by Limetech, I'm all set for the fall TV season. I shouldn't have to worry about running out of space for a while.


I'm using that case, too.... though since I'm using mainly IDE drives, my options are a bit more limited and I can store "only" 14 drives. That's okay, since I reencode my 1080i recordings to 720p x264 files. Gotta say for the most part this UnRaid system is a joy to use.

Hmmmm...looks like I'll need to resort to reading the Charter St. Louis thread if I want to know what's happening on the HDTV front. Apparently, that's where all the action is these days...

But no, I'm not THAT desperate... ;)

Hmmmm...looks like I'll need to resort to reading the Charter St. Louis thread if I want to know what's happening on the HDTV front. Apparently, that's where all the action is these days...

But no, I'm not THAT desperate... ;)

Careful, Doug, or you will rile up our fine moderator from Carolina as I did earlier. He can once again explain why the separate Charter thread is such a fine idea. Actually, maybe he can also explain why this thread is called "St. Louis, MO - OTA" while he's at it.

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I think all the offtopic posts lately are a symptom rather than the cause. I mean, I believe the only show running OTA in HD that's not repeats lately is Hell's Kitchen... something not really popular with our demographic IIRC. :D

Well, I like food...but I hate stupid reality shows.

I can tell you what the Mod told me when we started the other thread.

If you check the index, you'll see many cities with a City - DBS thread.

You should expect to see a St.Louis, MO - DBS thread in the future.

Dave, this is not directed at you, but adding a DBS thread would be stupidity in its purest form. Why not just fracture the conversation into a hundred different pieces and see how that works out?

The Brits have a saying that fits this perfectly -- "too clever by half."

Don't shoot the messenger :)

Actually, I appreciate the shorter threads. I often don't have time to keep up with this large one.

What I like most about this thread is that its a ST. LOUIS thread.

I know the mods probably do not like it, but this has become more than simply an OTA HDTV thread for me.

I hope we don't fracture into several threads also. Frankly, I miss the Charter discussion. That said, I'm probably not going to check out the Charter thread. I think I've done that once and will likely not do it again.

What I like most about this thread is that its a ST. LOUIS thread.

I know the mods probably do not like it, but this has become more than simply an OTA HDTV thread for me.

I hope we don't fracture into several threads also.

I totally agree.

It is very easy to keep up with this thread. Looks like July averaged about 13 posts a day - hardly overwhelming.

Limetech just provided a fix for the "last drive won't format" issue in UnRaid. The official fix is going to be included in 4.2, but there's a quick change to the "Go" file that will work for now. All I have to do is have them tell me how to edit the "Go" file.

Edit: I just dragged the file Tom from Limetech sent me into the "Config" folder and rebooted UnRaid on the two systems. The last drive is now there. Didn't even need a parity check. Must have done it last night when I thought it had unsuccessfully formatted the drive. (Checking on that just to be sure.)

I have to agree that this is a very quiet time for HD. Do you realize that we went for almost 48 hours over the weekend without a single St. Louis thread post? The lull in HD programming of all kinds is why I took the opportunity to completely overhaul my computers this summer. Come fall, I'll be set for some serious OTA and satellite capture. I've added the HDHomerun as a companion OTA capture device to MyHD. I've been so busy with computer operations that I haven't even had time to try it out yet. I'll still be using MyHD for OTA and satellite capture playback, but the beauty of HDHomerun is that it contains 2 OTA tuners and simply interfaces with my network through Ethernet, much as the UnRaid box does. It can be programmed by any computer on the network.

Thanks, guys, for the feedback on the Prius. I have a modest repair that needs to be made on the Camry, and it's 6 years old. I did the math when they gave me the rundown on what the Camry would cost to fix. With the respective gas mileage, plus a Prius' resale value, it seems as though, financially, it make sense to think about a trade. Hard as it sounds to believe, over the next 6 years, I'd probably save close to $15,000 on gas alone with a new Prius (averaging only about 10,000 miles per year), based on the MPG of the Camry vs Prius. That doesn't even factor in the claimed MPG for the Prius, just what seems to be typical from reports I've read.

Thanks for the link, Dan. That was an interesting read. Guess there are no easy answers when you want to be environmentally conscientious, are there? Still, I was a little puzzled when the article seemed to imply that Ma and Pa Kettle ought to think about a Hummer, rather than a Prius, because they're on a fixed income. Maybe it's like RAID5 - I just don't get that math.

I've read a ton of reviews about the car over the last few days, and most are overwhelmingly positive. I made a list of the negatives I read about, and most of those went out the window when I actually drove the car. It's fun, and it's a tech lover's treat. I know this might not make much sense, but driving the Prius made me feel like I did when I tried out my first front projector. It was the coolest thing - bluetooth, DVD navigation, MP3 jack, on screen monitoring of all car functions, backup camera, all controlled by an Enterprise-like touch screen and instrument panel.

OK, sorry about that tangent.

Here's a rumor that's been up on AVS for a while - Sharp's getting out of the front projector business (for consumers, anyway). Glad I got my 20k, and, if this is true, I'll miss the option in the market. Love the Sharp image and reliability.

Since there's not much HD to talk about...

Careful with your cost estimate on the gasoline. If you get 25 mpg on your Camry (about what I used to get) 60000 miles takes 2400 gallons of gas or $7200 at $3/gallon. I would think you could probably cut that in half with the Prius, saving you about $3600 over the 6 years.

Now back to Tom and Ray...

The Prius issue is what you drive and how you drive.

Highway? Lucky to get 25-30% savings and mostly just because its a 4-cylinder.
City/Errands? Closer to 50%.

75 MPH average? Lucky to get 25-30% savings.
65MPH average? Over 30%.

0-35 MPH < 7-8 seconds? Lucky to get 25-30% savings.
0-35 MPH > 8 seconds? Closer to 50%.

The fact about the hybrids are they typically save very little over a comparably sized 4 cylinder vehicle driven in a conservative fashion. Those who drive a hybrid like they drive their 6 cylinder vehicle are typically very disappointed with the mileage and should NOT buy a hybrid for the fuel economy alone.

Chris

Screw the high gas prices. I'm going to enjoy the 5.2 seconds it takes me to go 0 to 60 in my new Inifiniti G37 Coupe. Of course, now that I work from home, I may only drive 2 or 3 thousand miles per year. :)

Scott

OK, I get it. Maybe I should give up on doing math in my head altogether. My Camry doesn't get close to 25 (about 18 with the XLE V6 and my foot), but the savings, even if I drive conservatively, would be a lot less than I calculated. I think I carried the 3 in the wrong place and factored the cotangent of pi incorrectly. (Someone's still going to have to do some serious 'splaining to get me to understand RAID5.)

Still, I'm considering the Prius anyway. It's such a fun car to drive and saving about a $1,000 a year (it *might* be possible) on gas is attractive.

Gotta go now. Thank God I have a PDA-phone with a calculator. I have a feeling I'd better start using it a lot more.

I bought prius in 2003 November and since then I put on 60,000 miles. I average about 47-48 miles/gallon in the summer months and winter months around 42-44 miles/gallon. No major problems. I have gotten mileage as high as 55 once or twice but. Most of the cars wont even give 30 mpg, so u do the math. I have already saved quite a bit on gas and hopefully I have helped reduce the green house gas emission too.

I thought we are supposed to talk about HDTV not prius and hummers in this forum :)

HDTV = Highly Desirable Transportation Vehicles. Are you in the wrong forum? :D

St. Louis, MO - OTA = St. Louis, MO - Off-Topic Audience. Again - I think you might be in the wrong forum... ;)

Chris

AHDTS - 800-969-4388. Usually talking to a LII in under a minute.

.....LMK how it turns out, please.


Although my signal strength seems fine & steady, the breakups on all 4 HD locals have been increasing steadily. The tech arrived today and rolled his eyes saying this is problem he sees all over town. He climbed up on the roof and swapped out the dual LNB anyway. Before he made it out the door, the breakups reccurred. I asked him what I should do now and he called in a 622 replacement, saying the issue must now be with my receiver.

It's supposed to arrive Friday. Why do I feel that this is going to be an exercise in futility? He says he has seen the issue go away with the "newer" receivers. Oh well......it won't cost me anything. But I can't help but feel that using the 118 FSS bird for the HD locals is a half-baked idea. I sure hope I'm wrong.

Absolutely no issues with any other channels.

I have the same problems with local HD and the breakups get worse in the night time, it is the problem with 118 satellite in the orbit apparently it moves in and out of the orbit and it is mostly affecting St louis area residents per my Digital one tech. I have seen the signal strength drop from 70s to 20s for satellite 118. So I stopped using the local HD transmitted via dish I just use the zenith silver sensor antenna and I get the local HD channels OTA without any problems

(Someone's still going to have to do some serious 'splaining to get me to understand RAID5.)

Ok, let me know when you're ready. :D

Cheers,

I have the same problems with local HD and the breakups get worse in the night time, it is the problem with 118 satellite in the orbit apparently it moves in and out of the orbit and it is mostly affecting St louis area residents per my Digital one tech. I have seen the signal strength drop from 70s to 20s for satellite 118. So I stopped using the local HD transmitted via dish I just use the zenith silver sensor antenna and I get the local HD channels OTA without any problems

I already have an external OTA that works great. I wanted the HD locals via Dish so that I could record 2 or more network shows in HD simultaneously. Leno & Letterman, for example. But it's almost unwatchable as the sound and video often get trashed throughout the hour. This is simply unacceptable for a digital medium. What were they thinking?

Now they expect me to pull apart my installation with the hope a receiver swap will resolve the issue. I'm pretty confident that will be a waste of time and postage. I must wonder if others cities (Detroit, Indy, etc.) served by that bird suffer the same ills. I see the problem on both transponders.

Ok, let me know when you're ready. :D

Cheers,

OK, I'll bring a bologna sandwich and a calculator. You may have to speak really slowly, though. Meanwhile, the Phi Beta Kappa people just repossessed my key and my mom scratched the 1 off the plaque that said my IQ was 138.

I'm still thinking about that Prius, though.

OK, I'll bring a bologna sandwich and a calculator. You may have to speak really slowly, though. Meanwhile, the Phi Beta Kappa people just repossessed my key and my mom scratched the 1 off the plaque that said my IQ was 138.

I'm still thinking about that Prius, though.

The concept for RAID-5 is fairly simple -- now writing code to create one; that's quite hard.

Linkage for you (http://www.cuddletech.com/veritas/raidtheory/x31.html).

Cheers,

I totally agree.

It is very easy to keep up with this thread. Looks like July averaged about 13 posts a day - hardly overwhelming.

When all the HD being broadcast is either reruns or cheesy reality shows, I'll welcome all the offtopic chatter we can get!

Although my signal strength seems fine & steady, the breakups on all 4 HD locals have been increasing steadily. The tech arrived today and rolled his eyes saying this is problem he sees all over town. He climbed up on the roof and swapped out the dual LNB anyway. Before he made it out the door, the breakups reccurred. I asked him what I should do now and he called in a 622 replacement, saying the issue must now be with my receiver.

It's supposed to arrive Friday. Why do I feel that this is going to be an exercise in futility? He says he has seen the issue go away with the "newer" receivers. Oh well......it won't cost me anything. But I can't help but feel that using the 118 FSS bird for the HD locals is a half-baked idea. I sure hope I'm wrong.

Absolutely no issues with any other channels.
Well, hopefully, a receiver swap will resolve the issue, though I'm inclined to think, "an exercise in futility," and a means for that tech to get on his way, is most likely more appropriate.

I communicate regularly with the highest level Dish Network engineers, and have discussed this particular issue for some time now. As it stands, regardless of what may be said by field techs, although DISH is very much aware of the issue, which, BTW, also extends into part of upstate NY, I've yet to hear anyone at DISH indicate they know the cause of the issue.

I also believe (my opinion) the fact the issue only effects 6 of the 91 channels on 118, and into only 2 DMA's, may be keeping it away from some other higher priority issues. DISH did move our 4 DT's to other Tp's for 48 hours, and had them field-tested, but the results were the same.

Fingers crossed, that the receiver swap resolves it for you, but not very optimistic.
For me, the issue is present on both my 622's, my 211, and on another receiver I'm testing. It certainly seems to be consistent with transmission, rather than with reception.

Looks like DirecTV's older DVR's with Tivo are gonna get a software upgrade:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2165242,00.asp

I'm still thinking about that Prius, though.
I can't wait to see that Prius, with 16 HDD's in the trunk, using Hybrid power to convert MPEG2 events to MPEG4.

If anyone can do it....Joe can! UNRAIDED, of course :)

I totally agree.

It is very easy to keep up with this thread. Looks like July averaged about 13 posts a day - hardly overwhelming.

When all the HD being broadcast is either reruns or cheesy reality shows, I'll welcome all the offtopic chatter we can get!

I've got no problem with the "off topic chatter". My comment was arguing against the need for a separate St. Louis thread for Charter.

I have the same problems with local HD and the breakups get worse in the night time, it is the problem with 118 satellite in the orbit apparently it moves in and out of the orbit and it is mostly affecting St louis area residents per my Digital one tech. I have seen the signal strength drop from 70s to 20s for satellite 118. So I stopped using the local HD transmitted via dish I just use the zenith silver sensor antenna and I get the local HD channels OTA without any problems

I'm seeing the exact same thing. What really bugs me is that I left Charter and got Dish just a few days ago because I was sick of Charter's substandard equipment (the Moxi box is crap...) and customer service. Then I see this issue and I wonder what I got myself into. I'll probably do what you did with the OTA though - and get more channels to boot. I just hope they get this fixed soon so I can have three tuners going!

So any speculation on what's up with the satellite? I think maybe the aliens are tacking their countdown onto the signal in preparation to blast us...

Or some stupid tech dropped a gum wrapper in it before launch.

The concept for RAID-5 is fairly simple -- now writing code to create one; that's quite hard.

Linkage for you (http://www.cuddletech.com/veritas/raidtheory/x31.html).

Cheers,

Thanks for the link. Just as I suspected, and I quote, "...a little magic number is written on each disk with the data. That magic number is called the parity." I knew magic was involved in the parity process somehow and this article confirms that. UnRaid must take parity magic to a whole other level, since all information is written to individual disks (and the magic parity disk) and not across multiple disks simultaneously, so that any disks that do not fail can be recovered. Dumbeldor!!!

Another thing I learned is that, apparently, RAID 0+1 is illegal in Missouri, because it involves "Stripping plus Mirroring (RAID-0+1)." I know that's allowed across the river in Illinois, but you'd get busted for doing that here in St. Louis. :D

Maybe it's not meant for me to understand RAID5 and UnRaid. All I really need to know is that such things allow me to keep my high definition OTA and satellite captures safe and sound without losing an inordinate amount of hard drive space. I should be happy with that. Fortunately, even though my math skills have deteriorated seriously, I have had almost no trouble getting the UnRaid systems up and running.

For anyone who's interested, I may have a MyHD system for sale soon, with the leftover parts from my UnRaid builds and computer overhauls. This would be a good way for someone to get into OTA capture. PM me if you want details. (See how I brought this back on topic, albeit in a self-serving way?)

Looks like DirecTV's older DVR's with Tivo are gonna get a software upgrade:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2165242,00.asp

I really believe this may be -- and perhaps its just wishful thinking on my part -- just the first part in a series of events that is going to lead to another TiVo-DirecTV partnership.

Now that NewsCorp doesn't own DirecTV there is really no more incentive to work with NDS over TiVo, unless its more efficient, which as an owner of both companies' flagship DirecTV DVRs, I do not believe it to be.

The HR20 is actually not NDS - its internally developed. I don't know all the specifics of who/what - Earl over on DBStalk has outlined it a couple times. But suffice it to say that its not NDS (the R15 is NDS).

While I suppose it is possible that Tivo would reestablish a relationship I find it unlikely. At this point DirecTV is showing signs of being very happy with the HR20 and the technology gap is shrinking rapidly.

But never say never - BUT - unless DirecTV (Liberty) buys Tivo I find it highly unlikely. I'm sure the number of 'lost' subscribers from not having Tivo does not even come close to the $$$ saved by not paying the Tivo fee.

Chris

I'm seeing the exact same thing. What really bugs me is that I left Charter and got Dish just a few days ago because I was sick of Charter's substandard equipment (the Moxi box is crap...) and customer service. Then I see this issue and I wonder what I got myself into. I'll probably do what you did with the OTA though - and get more channels to boot. I just hope they get this fixed soon so I can have three tuners going!

So any speculation on what's up with the satellite? I think maybe the aliens are tacking their countdown onto the signal in preparation to blast us...

Or some stupid tech dropped a gum wrapper in it before launch.

I made the switch to Dish about 3 months ago, the local breakup got worse and worse. Tech came out, tweaked the dish. Seemed fine almost all July, now the last week or so it has again come back, worse than before. :confused: If I could only get the rest of my family to use the OTA so they will stop complaining about it! ;)

I can't wait to see that Prius, with 16 HDD's in the trunk, using Hybrid power to convert MPEG2 events to MPEG4.

If anyone can do it....Joe can! UNRAIDED, of course :)

Yes, I'm going to get on that just as soon as I've completed my unified field theory. Should have that bad boy worked out by this weekend. :eek:

Scott,

Do you still have the HD-DVD add-on for the XBOX 360? How are you liking it now?

I see that the price has dropped to $179.99 and some retail stores are selling it for $150.

What really bugs me is that I left Charter and got Dish just a few days ago because I was sick of Charter's substandard equipment (the Moxi box is crap...)

I have the Moxi with the mate. It is the ONLY thing that is keeping me with Charter. That box is awesome. I have had no trouble with mine, and now that I put a 500GB HDD on it, it is even better.

Tim

I've got no problem with the "off topic chatter". My comment was arguing against the need for a separate St. Louis thread for Charter.

Yeah, we don't need a separate Charter thread. Charter is "off topic," so it fits nicely in this "off topic" thread. :)

Scott

Scott,

Do you still have the HD-DVD add-on for the XBOX 360? How are you liking it now?

I see that the price has dropped to $179.99 and some retail stores are selling it for $150.

Yes, I still have it, and yes it is working fine after the spring software download fixed the audio problem that kept the player in perpetual "nightmode" limiting its dynamic range.

I am, however, very upset still about the whole HD-DVD/Bluray fiasco. I wish both would die a painful death and a new, single, superior format would emerge. I got a $100 Bestbuy giftcard, so I went to Bestbuy the other night. I could not find one single HD-DVD to buy. The choices are pathetic, and if you do find one you like, hell, you'll pay sometimes $34.99. I really think whomever is/was in charge of the DVD world screwed up. I'm the guy who bought a DVD player BEFORE DVD's were even available in this state. Retail for my player was $700. I then continued to buy DVD's to the tune of 500+ titles before stopping in anticipation of the HD format discs. So, I sold almost my entire collection on Ebay, and stopped buying my usual 2 to 3 DVD's per week because I new I would re buy them all again in HD format.

Well, a couple years have passed, and now I really won't buy DVD's anymore. I won't buy the SD's because I quit doing that 2 years ago. I won't buy Bluray because I hate Sony and don't have a player. I won't buy HD-DVD becuase I refuse to pay $30+ for a title.

I really wish they had come out with ONE format, ONE player, and sold them at $25 or less, and then I would be a happy invester.

Damn! Why did you ask me this! :mad:

Scott

Scott,

Tell me how you really feel.

Tim

Charter Reins in 2Q Loss But Misses Expectations

From the RTT Financial News website:
________________________________________________

Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) announced second quarter financial results, reporting net loss of $360 million or $0.98 per share, compared to a net loss of $382 million or $1.20 per share in the same quarter last year.

The company noted that the net loss decreased primarily due to telephone and HSI customer growth, improved operational efficiencies, and a decrease in income from discontinued operations.

Operating income from continuing operations for the quarter was $200.0 million, up from $146.0 million in the prior year quarter. Quarterly revenues rose 8.4% to $1.5 billion, from $1.38 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial expected the company to report loss of $0.82 per share.

For the six-month period, the company reported a net loss of $741 million or $2.02 per share, compared to a net loss of $841 million or $2.65 per share in the same period last year.

Operating income from continuing operations for the period was $356.0 million, up from $138.0 million in the prior year. Revenues for the period rose 8.2% to $2.92 billion, from $2.7 billion a year ago.
________________________________________________

We Interrupt Your Normal AVS Programming...

...for the following St. Louis housekeeping break:

In the past, we used to begin each month of the St. Louis discussion with an entirely new thread and usually that started with a cut/paste of basic resource information about HDTV and over-the-air reception. Although those messages were moved to the new thread here that was started in January, that information is still easily overlooked as the new thread is growing rapidly, approaching 75 pages in a relatively short period.

So, in order to make this introductory information more accessible, I will be periodically reposting this advisory/reminder note. The idea is to make the general resource information available here more visible and easier to find for more readers.

With HDTV sales increasing every month, we're getting more and more newcomers here, which is a great thing to see. But like most of us when we took home our first HDTV, there's a huge amount to learn beyond where to point the remote and which buttons to push.

Hopefully, you'll find this information of some use...

Tower Maps, Your Satellite/Antenna Rights & Local Station Feedback (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9713839&&#post9713839)

Resources for Receiving Digital/HD OTA Local Stations via an Antenna (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9713842&&#post9713842)

Frequently Asked Questions about HDTV (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=2995791&&#post2995791)

HD Programming Available in St. Louis (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10464913&&#post10464913)

Why Isn't KMOV-DT (CBS) Available via Charter? (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9341270&&#post9341270)

St. Louis Charter-Only AVS Thread Also Available (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=805958&goto=lastpost)

St. Louis Blues 2006-07 HD Broadcast Schedule (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8678636&&#post8678636)

New! St. Louis Cardinals 2007 HD Broadcast Schedule (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10174447#post10174447)

2006 Survey Results: HDTV in St. Louis

Part 1: Profile of Survey Respondents (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9713951&&#post9713951)

Part 2: Local Digital Stations (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9713954&&#post9713954)

Part 3: Digital Multicasting (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9713956&&#post9713956)

Part 4: Customer Ratings for Charter, DirecTV & DISH HD Services (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9713960&&#post9713960)

Part 5: Customer Ratings for Pay TV HD Channels (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9713963&&#post9713963)

Part 6: Best Picture/Sound Ratings & HD Wish Lists (http://http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9713965&&#post9713965)

Finally, I want to remind everyone that you can access the St. Louis HDTV discussion here at AVS directly by using the shortcut URL that has been arranged.

The short-form URL also makes it very easy to remember and give the address to anyone you know who's just getting into HDTV.

The shortcut URL is: www.stlhdtv.info

Yes, I'm going to get on that just as soon as I've completed my unified field theory. Should have that bad boy worked out by this weekend. :eek:

What's to work out on the unified field?

We have particles of force for:
Light (Photons)
Strong Nuclear Force (Mesons)
Weak Nucler Force (W and Z Bosons)
Gravity (Gravitons)

The fact that no one has actually shown that a graviton exists or further demonstrated them mathematically -- like that really matters for anything :D

You act like this is rocket science ;)

What's to work out on the unified field?

We have particles of force for:
Light (Photons)
Strong Nuclear Force (Mesons)
Weak Nucler Force (W and Z Bosons)
Gravity (Gravitons)

The fact that no one has actually shown that a graviton exists or further demonstrated them mathematically -- like that really matters for anything :D

You act like this is rocket science ;)

I've gone way beyond that, John. My unified field theory unites so much more:

Futons (strong back force)
Masons (weak social force)
Bisons (strong olfactory force)
Croutons (tasty)

No offense to the Masons. The math has been extremely challenging. Fortunately, I'm brilliant. Brilliant!

Guys,

Off topic is one thing. I don't mind off topic, I actually enjoy some of it. But over my head, now that P!$$3$ me off! ;) Just kidding.

I'm in the process of building custom racks for my gear. I got some 1" square aluminum extrusion and constructed the frame (I'll post pictures later)
I've got 6 smoke gray shelves on their way.

I would like to coat this frame in black, but not sure I want to use paint.
Any thoughts/suggestions?

Dave

I would like to coat this frame in black, but not sure I want to use paint.
Any thoughts/suggestions?

Dave

Crayons?

I'm in the process of building custom racks for my gear. I got some 1" square aluminum extrusion and constructed the frame (I'll post pictures later)
I've got 6 smoke gray shelves on their way.

I would like to coat this frame in black, but not sure I want to use paint.
Any thoughts/suggestions?

Dave

You might be able to find a local source which could powder coat the rack for you :)

Cheers,

I would like to coat this frame in black, but not sure I want to use paint.
Any thoughts/suggestions?
Dave

Send 'em to those Orange County Chopper dudes for a black powdercoating!

At work we use Titan for powder coating.
Dug

Guys,

Off topic is one thing. I don't mind off topic, I actually enjoy some of it. But over my head, now that P!$$3$ me off! ;) Just kidding.
*your* head??
Reading these posts, I feel like that caveman dude having that existential break-down.


Oh great....now all the cavemen at AVS are going to want their own thread too.

Scott,

Tell me how you really feel.

Tim

No. I was sugar coating how I really feel.

Scott

At work we use Titan for powder coating.
Dug


Powder coating is exactly what I had in mind, but couldn't remember the term.

Where is Titan? Any idea on cost. My first piece is 21"x20"x42"

Dave

Dave:

A friend of mine in Seattle had some items powder coated and he paid around $125 for them. I can't vouch for the size.

Cheers,

I'd love for you to post the pictures.

I really enjoy the building process on that stuff.

......Fingers crossed, that the receiver swap resolves it for you, but not very optimistic.
For me, the issue is present on both my 622's, my 211, and on another receiver I'm testing. It certainly seems to be consistent with transmission, rather than with reception.

I don't hold much hope a different receiver will get me anywhere. Sort of like painting the dish another color and crossing my fingers. On another note, I got a courtesy call today from the install company asking if I was satisfied with their service attempt. I told them the entire story and they too, say they hear about this from HD users all over town. I guess sooner or later E* will get tired of paying for all the senseless truck rolls.

I told them I was expecting a replacement receiver soon but felt this was a last-gasp effort. They still insisted on sending out their Ace installer on Aug 10 to check all connections, etc. They said to look out for him as he is very tall.

.....Perhaps he can just reach up and tweak the satellite. :D

I don't hold much hope a different receiver will get me anywhere. Sort of like painting the dish another color and crossing my fingers. On another note, I got a courtesy call today from the install company asking if I was satisfied with their service attempt. I told them the entire story and they too, say they hear about this from HD users all over town. I guess sooner or later E* will get tired of paying for all the senseless truck rolls.

I told them I was expecting a replacement receiver soon but felt this was a last-gasp effort. They still insisted on sending out their Ace installer on Aug 10 to check all connections, etc. They said to look out for him as he is very tall.

.....Perhaps he can just reach up and tweak the satellite. :D
On a good note, mine did improve after the aim was properly peaked. I only experience break-ups on KTVI, the other 3 are fine.

Did they install a DPP44 switch when they changed your dish? If so, they also should have replaced all the connection ends in your system. It is not a known relation to the 118 reception issue, but the Plus system is far more sophisticated than the old Legacy system, and known to be more susceptible to connection related issues, the Legacy system may not have been effected by.

Charter Reins in 2Q Loss But Misses Expectations

From the RTT Financial News website:
________________________________________________

Charter Communications Inc. (CHTR) announced second quarter financial results, reporting net loss of $360 million or $0.98 per share, compared to a net loss of $382 million or $1.20 per share in the same quarter last year.

The company noted that the net loss decreased primarily due to telephone and HSI customer growth, improved operational efficiencies, and a decrease in income from discontinued operations.

Operating income from continuing operations for the quarter was $200.0 million, up from $146.0 million in the prior year quarter. Quarterly revenues rose 8.4% to $1.5 billion, from $1.38 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Has Charter EVER made a profit in its history?

Has Charter EVER made a profit in its history?I don't have the historical data, but I'm sure that Charter made nice profits prior to when Paul "Touch of Lead" Allen bought the company and went on an all-out buying spree, saddling the company with massive debt.

While Charter's recent financial performance is definitely moving the needle in the right direction, it's not happening fast enough to think the company is a good bet for the long term. However, if they can continue to lower that debt, they could become attractive as an acquisition.

My main concern if I depended on Charter for my livelihood or the health of my stock portfolio is that the company is putting most of all of its focus on the non-video part of the business -- Internet access and telephone.

As someone who uses Charter Pipeline only because I can't get DSL access, I'm off in a heartbeat when my neighborhood is ready to roll with AT&T broadband. I'm sure I'm not alone.

As recommended call and make sure your account is set at 6Mbps. If you leave it at 10, after a short time your connection will stop responding. Then it will take 1-2 days to get the line card reset to enable the connection again. As things usually works out this will happen on Friday, 1-2 business days may take you until Monday or Tuesday with just dialup. :eek: Other than that you will enjoy the service. :)

Ugh. So far, not good on the DSL front.

The line was installed today, phone works, ADSL does not.

The modem setup page shows it getting a signal, but it times out when trying to authenticate with their servers. Customer support opened up an infamous "ticket", which the CSR said a tech would be there to check things out in 24-48hrs. To make matters worse, they don't know if it's an equipment issue, line issue, software problem where my username/password isn't correct on their end, yada yada yada.

I gotta say, there's something to be said about cable internet.... no logging in, no setting up accounts just to get online, just plug and play. It's too bad Charter isn't competitive with their 5 and 10Mbps packages anymore, otherwise I would have stayed in a heartbeat. I can't even remember an outage in the 18 months that I've had Pipeline.

Ugh. So far, not good on the DSL front.

The line was installed today, phone works, ADSL does not.

The modem setup page shows it getting a signal, but it times out when trying to authenticate with their servers. Customer support opened up an infamous "ticket", which the CSR said a tech would be there to check things out in 24-48hrs. To make matters worse, they don't know if it's an equipment issue, line issue, software problem where my username/password isn't correct on their end, yada yada yada.

I gotta say, there's something to be said about cable internet.... no logging in, no setting up accounts just to get online, just plug and play. It's too bad Charter isn't competitive with their 5 and 10Mbps packages anymore, otherwise I would have stayed in a heartbeat. I can't even remember an outage in the 18 months that I've had Pipeline.

Jon,

Sorry to hear your initial Centurytel experience isn't a good one, but you get what you pay for. :p Hah, sorry, couldn't resist. Look on the bright side. It will get fixed, plus, life can't be that bad as your typing posts somehow. :)

It will get fixed, plus, life can't be that bad as your typing posts somehow. :)

Yeah, I haven't disconnected Charter yet. My phone line switched over obviously, but the cable in the wall still works for broadband. I won't give Charter the boot (officially), until Centurytel can get me at least a solid 6 Mbps... I'm sure when I call their customer service tomorrow, they'll delay my billing start date as I don't really have service yet (other than phone).

On a good note, mine did improve after the aim was properly peaked. I only experience break-ups on KTVI, the other 3 are fine.

Did they install a DPP44 switch when they changed your dish? If so, they also should have replaced all the connection ends in your system. It is not a known relation to the 118 reception issue, but the Plus system is far more sophisticated than the old Legacy system, and known to be more susceptible to connection related issues, the Legacy system may not have been effected by.

Actually, the worse offender is Channel 30, which is strange considering that they have the cleanest OTA signal IMHO. I see occasional breakups on KTVI but must wonder how many are from them. Yes, a new DPP44 was installed along with all new wires into the home. They did a clean job.

Ugh. So far, not good on the DSL front.

The line was installed today, phone works, ADSL does not.

The modem setup page shows it getting a signal, but it times out when trying to authenticate with their servers. Customer support opened up an infamous "ticket", which the CSR said a tech would be there to check things out in 24-48hrs. To make matters worse, they don't know if it's an equipment issue, line issue, software problem where my username/password isn't correct on their end, yada yada yada.

I gotta say, there's something to be said about cable internet.... no logging in, no setting up accounts just to get online, just plug and play. It's too bad Charter isn't competitive with their 5 and 10Mbps packages anymore, otherwise I would have stayed in a heartbeat. I can't even remember an outage in the 18 months that I've had Pipeline.

Man, I pay $19.99 for the Charter 5 meg service. I can't remember ever having an outage. You dudes are a tough sell. I laugh at the posts about "when AT&T comes to town I am leaving in a heartbeat". Good god, how many years does it take for AT&T to roll out a service. I bet some people have DIED waiting for them!

Actually, the worse offender is Channel 30, which is strange considering that they have the cleanest OTA signal IMHO. I see occasional breakups on KTVI but must wonder how many are from them. Yes, a new DPP44 was installed along with all new wires into the home. They did a clean job.
Seems fairly clear it is not a receiver issue. My worst offender, and only actually, is Channel 2.
Channels 30, 4 and 5 are all squeaky clean on my receivers.

When 2 goes, it begins as a small blocking, then quickly spreads throughout the entire display, and remains for anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Audio is not effected, but the video looks like a pizza after swallowing a hand-grenade.

Man, I pay $19.99 for the Charter 5 meg service.
Gotham,
Is that a promotional price? How long is it good for?

Man, I pay $19.99 for the Charter 5 meg service. I can't remember ever having an outage. You dudes are a tough sell. I laugh at the posts about "when AT&T comes to town I am leaving in a heartbeat". Good god, how many years does it take for AT&T to roll out a service. I bet some people have DIED waiting for them!

When you work from home and you have no other high speed option reliability is a critical factor. I went through about 14 months of constant connection issues with Charter. About 3 months ago; they changed something locally and I've been stable ever since.

To get Charter that low on their price; you'd have to be bundling other services with it. So my question is how much is that $19.99/5 meg service really costing you?

Cheers,

Man, I pay $19.99 for the Charter 5 meg service.

How? I paid 29.99 for many months, then the "promo" ended (it actually ended a few months before they changed my price) and now its up to 49.99 a month.

How? I paid 29.99 for many months, then the "promo" ended (it actually ended a few months before they changed my price) and now its up to 49.99 a month.
Just like John pointed out....it's a bundle price.
Along with that $19.99, he gets superior phone service (unless there's a power outage), cable TV....all digital, mind you, a few HD channels, and that stellar second-to-none Customer Service. :rolleyes:

I will say, in all fairness, in the 5+ years I've had Pipeline, I haven't had any issues, and the few times I've used HSI CS for speed upgrades, it's been very nice and smooth. Most recently, when I up'd the speed from 5 to 10, I used their Chat Link, so at the end, when the CSR typed in..."all done, can we discuss your...." I clicked End Call. :D

Seems fairly clear it is not a receiver issue. My worst offender, and only actually, is Channel 2.
Channels 30, 4 and 5 are all squeaky clean on my receivers.

When 2 goes, it begins as a small blocking, then quickly spreads throughout the entire display, and remains for anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Audio is not effected, but the video looks like a pizza after swallowing a hand-grenade.

Exactly what I see on 30. Strange, huh?

None of my other three channels are even close to being squeaky clean.

Maybe the combination of the receiver swap and the "guru" will solve the problem.

Exactly what I see on 30. Strange, huh?

None of my other three channels are even close to being squeaky clean.

Maybe the combination of the receiver swap and the "guru" will solve the problem.
Ya never know....it's not like it's a proven science.

Sorry to report, but my Centurytel experience is getting worse by the minute.

I get home last night from the office, plug the modem back and, and presto we have an internet connection. I had called them to drop it down to 6Mbps, which they said they would do, but did a quick speed test and found it hitting 7Mbps with an upload around 750Kbps. Hmmmm...

I surfed for all of 15 minutes, and then poof. No DSL connection. Went to the modem setup page and it said DSL connection not found. Tech support was of no use of course and I tried to save them time and said, "have the tech reset the line card" and the CSR kid on the other end actually told me that he had no idea what I was talking about, but would write that phrase on the ticket. He started off asking me what operating system I had and wanted me to reboot, etc, etc.... Yikes.

Anyway, so here I sit with no DSL since Thursday and it's been up for all of 15 minutes. To make matters worse, we have a voicemail on the phone line without a clue on how to retrieve it. Unlike Charter, you don't just dial your own number to get in.... No user guides have come in the mail from Centurytel and their customer service is only open M-F during business hours. The website provides no support on this either, nor does their internet tech support people. Hopefully you guys can help? I'm assuming there's a phone number we have to dial into in order to get our voicemail, since dialing the home phone number does nada.

Thanks in advance.....

If this thing isn't up and running Monday morning without issue and rock solid connection, I'll be calling for a refund and a switch back to Charter. Fortunately, I never cancelled Charter or ported the phone number over yet. Centurytel is going to need to stepup there game a bit if they want to keep customers. I've never had one issue with Charter, other than their overpriced offerings.

Edit: Thanks Msloss for the Centurytel voicemail dial-in number.

Companies still shock me with lack of communication. They know they have an issue in this area and still are willing to setup a new customer for immediate failure. Centurytel has resolved this problem in the Wisconsin markets. Seems they are afraid of updating firmware/software in this area due to one bad upgrade with an extended DSL outage.

One thing with Centurytel, they usually have no problems with crediting your account for problems. Although it takes a separate call to billing after you get things straight with tech support.

Just like John pointed out....it's a bundle price.
Along with that $19.99, he gets superior phone service (unless there's a power outage), cable TV....all digital, mind you, a few HD channels, and that stellar second-to-none Customer Service. :rolleyes:

I just have to clarify something. Does the :rolleyes: refer to the entire statement or just the customer service part?

If you were refering to the entire statement, please allow me to reply in advance :confused: :rolleyes:

I just have to clarify something. Does the :rolleyes: refer to the entire statement or just the customer service part?

If you were refering to the entire statement, please allow me to reply in advance :confused: :rolleyes:
http://www.dbstalk.com/images/smiles2/new_Eyecrazy.gifhttp://www.dbstalk.com/images/smiles2/new_Eyecrazy.gif

Well, MSloss hooked me up with the local Centurytel tech (also named Mike). Thanks again for that.

I called the guy this afternoon and he was at my house within 15min, did a few things (not sure what) and now has me chugging along right at 6000/756 speeds for my ADSL.

Assuming it stays this way through the weekend, I can officially give Charter the boot on Monday. Yippie.

Actually in 3+ years with Charter we never had issues with the Internet. Great speed and no service issues. When SBC/AT&T came to town we dropped Charter in a second.

I will NOT subsidize the company because of ONE marginally better product. Their customer service has been horrific, their cable service is one of the worst on the market (even some local cable services are better), and their phone service was not as advertised and we had continuous problems with people not getting through to us. In addition, I found their underhanded pricing to be offensive.

With DSL I have had no issues and my billing has been straightforward. When my promotional period was up, we had several phone calls and emails telling us of this and offering new packages with only slightly higher prices - and no promotional end. In addition, they offered clear options to move up a speed and told us exactly what the price would be with no promotional period. That is a service worthy of my money. Charter could offer 10MB for $9.99 and they would NOT get my service until their management is overhauled and/or the company is sold.

Chris

When SBC/AT&T came to town we dropped Charter in a second.

What speeds are they offering in Edwardsville? Up/Down?

What speeds are they offering in Edwardsville? Up/Down?

768/128
1.5/256 <-- What I started with
3.0/512 <-- What we have now. $24.99/mo w/3 months upgrade free.

Chris

Edit: They also offer 6.0/768

Here are a couple of pictures. It will have 6 glass shelves (3 per side) when it's done. I'm working on a same style stand for my center channel. Then I'll have them powder coated.

This is a close up of the materials. It came in 8-10 foot lengths which I cut with a miter saw.


The others are front and side view


I'll post more pics when I'm done

Looks good.

I hope you'll post more pics along the way!

Well, MSloss hooked me up with the local Centurytel tech (also named Mike). Thanks again for that.

I called the guy this afternoon and he was at my house within 15min, did a few things (not sure what) and now has me chugging along right at 6000/756 speeds for my ADSL.

Assuming it stays this way through the weekend, I can officially give Charter the boot on Monday. Yippie.

Glad to help!

768/128
1.5/256 <-- What I started with
3.0/512 <-- What we have now. $24.99/mo w/3 months upgrade free.

Chris

Edit: They also offer 6.0/768

The 6.0/768 is $34.99 a month.

I wish they were offering naked DSL (requires no associated phone line) for the same prices.

Cheers,

Can someone please help me out? I had to switch dishes to a smaller one that could be mounted to my house. I had the Dish network "Superdish" but had to get it out of the ground for landscaping purposes. I can not put one on the roof and was told I had to go with the 1000+. Now I can not get local HD channels. I was told by the installer I could just get an OTA antena and it would work great. Wrong. I went through three and they do nothing. I live in St. Charles and do not know if this has any thing to do with it, but was told it would not. One guy at Dish said he thought my Dish should pick up locals in HD and another said i needed the 118.7 dish. I am confused and frustrated and just want my locals in HD back. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Can someone please help me out? I had to switch dishes to a smaller one that could be mounted to my house. I had the Dish network "Superdish" but had to get it out of the ground for landscaping purposes. I can not put one on the roof and was told I had to go with the 1000+. Now I can not get local HD channels. I was told by the installer I could just get an OTA antena and it would work great. Wrong. I went through three and they do nothing. I live in St. Charles and do not know if this has any thing to do with it, but was told it would not. One guy at Dish said he thought my Dish should pick up locals in HD and another said i needed the 118.7 dish. I am confused and frustrated and just want my locals in HD back. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I'll help you through this, Holderman....I need a bit more info...check your PM's :)

I need some feedback regarding this DISH reception issue of the HD Locals from 118.
I've put a couple of screen-shots here, and want to know if this is the same thing the rest of you are experiencing.
They are a SbS of 30.1 OTA and 30-01 SAT, at identical times.
tia

http://members.aol.com/kdg454/30_00a.jpg

http://members.aol.com/kdg454/30_00b.jpg

I need some feedback regarding this DISH reception issue of the HD Locals from 118.
I've put a couple of screen-shots here, and want to know if this is the same thing the rest of you are experiencing.
They are a SbS of 30.1 OTA and 30-01 SAT, at identical times.
tia

http://members.aol.com/kdg454/30_00a.jpg

http://members.aol.com/kdg454/30_00b.jpg

Ken,

Good capture. As you know, I experience the same exact issues. Perhaps we can somehow coordinate our efforts to see if we experience the same breakups at the same moments. We just might, and this might help prove that the issue is or isn't dependent upon individual receivers, installations or dish-pointing. Say we record a full evening on one channel (30?) and then compare notes.

The question is: Let's say three people experience the same breakups at 9:14. Do you know anyone at E* that might take that info and run with it?????

Hi guys...it's been a couple months since I stopped by here.

Speaking of Charter customer service--it took an hour to place an order for Digital Cable w/HD (and 4 cable cards) and internet service.

I think I'm really going to regret ordering Charter TV services. Internet service at our old house was solid. I'm afraid of cable card issues in our two TiVos at our new house.

I had promised pictures of our media room months ago. I'm not sure if I posted them. Here's one:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/211/500836174_56c0fbd541.jpg

We aren't going to have a room like this in our new house, which is much smaller but 15 miles closer to work. The TV in the picture (Mits 55" RP CRT) stayed with the house and we have a Mits WD-52631 52" 1080p DLP for the new place.

Ken,

Good capture. As you know, I experience the same exact issues. Perhaps we can somehow coordinate our efforts to see if we experience the same breakups at the same moments. We just might, and this might help prove that the issue is or isn't dependent upon individual receivers, installations or dish-pointing. Say we record a full evening on one channel (30?) and then compare notes.

The question is: Let's say three people experience the same breakups at 9:14. Do you know anyone at E* that might take that info and run with it?????
GMTA Sir....your exact idea is being done today....stay tuned :)

Toe,

Thanks for the photo. That is a very nice looking media room. Colors are great. I hope when you build the new one at your new house you post of the photos too.

GMTA Sir....your exact idea is being done today....stay tuned :)

FWIW, Channel 30 broke up completely as you illustrated on their 5PM ABC Sunday News show at approx. 5:10PM. It lasted perhaps 2 or 3 minutes until the commercial break, at which point it cleared up immediately. Video was an indistinguishable, flickering mosaic. Sound was fine. OTA was perfect too.

I hope this helps.

Gotham,
Is that a promotional price? How long is it good for?

It is good for 1 year....and I don't bundle anything. After 1 year, they will attempt to raise the price, and I will call as usual and threaten to cancel ...then they will lower the price.

I checked online and it does not look like AT&T is available in the O'Fallon, MO area yet. Has anyone heard when they might be coming to this area?

Thanks, Jeff

Toe,

Thanks for the photo. That is a very nice looking media room. Colors are great. I hope when you build the new one at your new house you post of the photos too.


Thanks. My wife picked out the colors. My input was that the front wall should be flat black and the ceiling and other walls had to be dark and flat. Getting her to let me paint the ceiling brown was actually easier than expected. :)

In that picture, the tri-corner bass traps are missing their black Guilford of Maine fabric.


I hope the new owners of the house appreciate the room. Maybe one day someone will post here saying "Hey, that's my house!". :)


In the new house, the 52" DLP is going in the family room with 3.1 surround fed by my Pioneer VSX1014. The basement is unfinished but for now will be the kids rec area and I'll have the 32" Vizio LCD and the new "TiVo HD" box.

FWIW, Channel 30 broke up completely as you illustrated on their 5PM ABC Sunday News show at approx. 5:10PM. It lasted perhaps 2 or 3 minutes until the commercial break, at which point it cleared up immediately. Video was an indistinguishable, flickering mosaic. Sound was fine. OTA was perfect too.

I hope this helps.
Indeed it does. Identical symptoms from 5 different receivers at 4 different locations. Not rocket science, eh?

The oddity is, it does not effect all subs, and some, have been able to have the issue resolved with re-points, and/or receiver swaps, mostly re-points. Strange as it seems, it almost sounds to be location-specific, whatever that means.

Perhaps it something in the water :confused:

I get that mosaic picture with perfect sound as well. It happened today during Fox 2 News in the evening (not sure what time) during their sports highlights showing Barry Bonds tie Hank Aaron. Perhaps it was for the best that I didn't see that d-bag hit #755...

I need some feedback regarding this DISH reception issue of the HD Locals from 118.


I'm also experiencing the same issue with sat-118. The breakup is most noticable on 30. It doesn't look like the type of breakup I typically see because of a weak signal (i.e. rain fade).
Earlier today I completely lost the lock on sat-119, then later it just came back on. I thinking this hot weather might be impacting the LNB, switch or something. My current signal strength is 96 on sat-119 and 62 on sat-118.

I'm also experiencing the same issue with sat-118. The breakup is most noticable on 30. It doesn't look like the type of breakup I typically see because of a weak signal (i.e. rain fade)
Yep, the signal strength doesn't drop on the meter when 118 does that breakup thing.

I checked online and it does not look like AT&T is available in the O'Fallon, MO area yet. Has anyone heard when they might be coming to this area?

Thanks, Jeff

Jeff,

It depends where you live in O'fallon, some areas are serviced by ATT, others are serviced by Centurytel. If you are in a Centurytel area the only way you will ever get ATT is for them to purchase the area from Centurytel.

tstolze, Well I am in the Centurytel area - I guess I am out of luck.

I know I have said this like four times in the past but I need to jump ship. I was just informed by Charter my bill is going up again next month. I was going to switch to Dish because of the NFLN and ESPN2 HD service - but then Charter came through with those before the Nascar season this year. But now with my bill going up again, this is a total mess.

Dish Net, here I come - I just started looking at the promotions a few minutes ago. I am going to need two 622's and one standard definition receiver - top 250 with hd, locals and showtime. I am trying to find the best deal for that package.

tstolze, Well I am in the Centurytel area - I guess I am out of luck.

I know I have said this like four times in the past but I need to jump ship. I was just informed by Charter my bill is going up again next month. I was going to switch to Dish because of the NFLN and ESPN2 HD service - but then Charter came through with those before the Nascar season this year. But now with my bill going up again, this is a total mess.

Dish Net, here I come - I just started looking at the promotions a few minutes ago. I am going to need two 622's and one standard definition receiver - top 250 with hd, locals and showtime. I am trying to find the best deal for that package.

Just curious why Dish? If NFL and sports is really inportant Directv is hard to beat. Let us know if Dish will let you have 2 622's as a new customer. IIRC, they wouldn't let me back when I looked into it.

Scott

Just curious why Dish? If NFL and sports is really inportant Directv is hard to beat. Let us know if Dish will let you have 2 622's as a new customer. IIRC, they wouldn't let me back when I looked into it.

Scott
A DISH sub can now have 2 622's on a lease, but DISH only allows 4 leased tuners per account, per calendar year. Each 622 is a dual tuner receiver, (1 HD-1 SD) so 2 will independently run 4 TV's. Any additional tuners could not be leased until a year passes, or they can be purchased, up to 12 per account.
The fee would be $6.00/month lease fee per receiver, and $5.00/month additional tuner fee per receiver....$11.00/ea/month.

Still, if it's sports you desire, Direct is the choice.

Jeff, I just made the switch from Charter (phone/HSI) to Centurytel last week.

You can read about my experiences the last few pages, but 4 days in and I'm happy with 6Mbps and an unlimited phone package for less than what Charter offered to lock me in for 12 months (phone + 5Mbps HSI for $70/month). I'm saving money and I'm 1Mbps faster to boot.

Hi All-

I just took the plunge and dumped Charter for Directv.

My install is scheduled for tomorrow and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions or tips on how to make sure the install goes smoothly.

I went for the Premiere Package/Sunday Ticket Deal they are currently running. I'm having 1 HD/DVR (HR20) installed and 1 other basic box.

I've never had satellite service before.

One issue I know of right now is that I don't have a phone jack close to where both of my tv's are. Is it common at the install for the installer to route a phone line to that spot?

Thanks for any help, suggestions, tips.

FWIW, Channel 30 broke up completely as you illustrated on their 5PM ABC Sunday News show at approx. 5:10PM. It lasted perhaps 2 or 3 minutes until the commercial break, at which point it cleared up immediately. Video was an indistinguishable, flickering mosaic. Sound was fine. OTA was perfect too.

I hope this helps.


FYI, We are having a problem with the Nielsen encoder that may cause a slight break up every once in a while. Waiting for a replacement unit. Also, we were at lower power yesterday afternoon and evening due to another problem at the transmitter.
Jim

Hi All-

I just took the plunge and dumped Charter for Directv.

My install is scheduled for tomorrow and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions or tips on how to make sure the install goes smoothly.

I went for the Premiere Package/Sunday Ticket Deal they are currently running. I'm having 1 HD/DVR (HR20) installed and 1 other basic box.

I've never had satellite service before.

One issue I know of right now is that I don't have a phone jack close to where both of my tv's are. Is it common at the install for the installer to route a phone line to that spot?

Thanks for any help, suggestions, tips.

A couple things,
Make sure they have a 6x8 and 5lnb dish on your work order. Call premeire to confirm this. They should be in the yellow pages. You may not need the 6x8 now, but if you plan on adding more tv's in the future, you will need it(until the swm is available for the general public).
You don't need a phone line afaik. I don't have any of my receivers hooked to a phone line.
You may want to network your hr20 to take advantage of the media share features, but I use my ps3 for that, so I can't give you any help, others(budshark maybe) can help with that.
Dug

Hi All-

I just took the plunge and dumped Charter for Directv.

My install is scheduled for tomorrow and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions or tips on how to make sure the install goes smoothly.

I went for the Premiere Package/Sunday Ticket Deal they are currently running. I'm having 1 HD/DVR (HR20) installed and 1 other basic box.

I've never had satellite service before.

One issue I know of right now is that I don't have a phone jack close to where both of my tv's are. Is it common at the install for the installer to route a phone line to that spot?

Thanks for any help, suggestions, tips.

I'm curious what kind of offer you received. I'm an existing customer and I'm thinking of adding Sunday Ticket and I new HR20.

I've already checked what people are getting at dbstalk, but I want to hear from someone over here.

Basically, I bought the Sunday Ticket Package for $69/mo. for 4 months.

During that time I get the Premiere Package, HD Access, Superfan for Sunday Ticket, and Nascar Hotpass for free.

They are also going to credit my account $10/mo. for 10 months to help ease the burden of $199 upfront for the HR20.

FYI, We are having a problem with the Nielsen encoder that may cause a slight break up every once in a while. Waiting for a replacement unit. Also, we were at lower power yesterday afternoon and evening due to another problem at the transmitter.
Jim

Jim,

You are the MAN! This is an ongoing issue many E* users are experiencing with the Dish 1000+ and the HD locals. I would assume your current issues are coincidental. You're not seeing the entire image break up into a Pizza, are you? There is no mistaking the problem. In fact, your OTA looked great while the Satellite image crumbled.

See post 4636 from Ken for pretty pictures.

Since it didn't seem likely that the local HD problem with Dish was going to be solved any time soon, I figured I'd try OTA. I got a cheapo $10 RCA VHF/UHF/FM at Target and hooked it up directly to the box, shoved it behind the entertainment center, and fired up the scan. Even out here half-way between Arnold and Fenton I got 14 channels! The 11s have a signal strength of 75 or so, but all the others are in the high 90s and everything looks great. What's even better is with the 622, it integrates perfectly with the guide.

I should mention that we're perched on a hillside where we can see the fireworks downtown on the 4th, but still, I'd recommend anyone going for an antenna to try the cheap ones first - you can always return it if it doesn't work. No sense paying all that money for the super-duper amplified model if you don't need it...

Jim,

You are the MAN! This is an ongoing issue many E* users are experiencing with the Dish 1000+ and the HD locals. I would assume your current issues are coincidental. You're not seeing the entire image break up into a Pizza, are you? There is no mistaking the problem. In fact, your OTA looked great while the Satellite image crumbled.

See post 4636 from Ken for pretty pictures.

That's way worse than what I'm seeing on any of our monitors, but we only monitor off air. I'll check my D* receiver when I'm back in town. If someone calls me during the day (314-852-8355) I can temporarily bypass the encoder to see if that what your seeing. The manufacturer has not given us a date for the replacement.
Jim

Scott/kdg,
I am more of a sports fan than a movie type fan if that makes sense. But in saying that I do not plan on purchasing any special sports type plans - like the NFL games or Baseball Extra innings, whatever they are called. I am happy with the ESPN, ESPN 2, Outdoor Channel, NFLN, TNT, Fox Sports Midwest HD channels.

I thought the Dish HD DVR was better than the Direct HD DVR, but I could be wrong. I have not kept up to speed with everything, although I did hear Dish is coming out with the 722 in a couple weeks.

Calling all HDTV, DVR and/or Moxi enthusiasts!

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We'd like to learn about your experiences with Moxi and show you all of the new features Moxi has. Join us for an evening of discussion and demos - all about making your TV experience the best it can be.

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The game is being broadcast on FSN-HD and ESPN. The ESPN HD picture looks far superior to the FSN-HD broadcast. The FSN broadcast must be compressed, because it doesn't look true HD.

SrockInv, I agree - the ESPN HD quality is much better than the FSMW HD picture.

I've had my Denon 2807 for a little over 6 mo. Bought it locally at UE. The video upconversion failed (I got no picture from componnet sources over HDMI), so I sent it in to Denon repair.

$50 for shipping and 3 weeks later, I just got my receiver back and the issue still exists. The packing slip says the reset the cpu and updated firmware.

I'll be calling tech ssupport in the am, but I'm wary of wasting another $50.

Any chance UE would help, even though I didn't get the extended warranty.
I might even be interested in trading up to an HDMI 1.3 model


Dave

That's way worse than what I'm seeing on any of our monitors, but we only monitor off air. I'll check my D* receiver when I'm back in town. If someone calls me during the day (314-852-8355) I can temporarily bypass the encoder to see if that what your seeing. The manufacturer has not given us a date for the replacement.
Jim
Jim,
This issue we are discussing here, myself...Mo, and other Dish Network HD subs, is *not* a KDNL issue. It's a Dish Network issue. The only way you would be able to see it occur, is viewing through a Dish Network MPEG4 receiver. It has to do with some recent changes to one of the E* satellites, and occurs on all 4 of the Dish Network SAT local DT's in STL. We just happened to use KDNL for examples. :o

The breakups you're seeing, as a result of the Nielsen encoder, is trite in comparison.

Thanks. My wife picked out the colors. My input was that the front wall should be flat black and the ceiling and other walls had to be dark and flat. Getting her to let me paint the ceiling brown was actually easier than expected. :)

In that picture, the tri-corner bass traps are missing their black Guilford of Maine fabric.


I hope the new owners of the house appreciate the room. Maybe one day someone will post here saying "Hey, that's my house!". :)


In the new house, the 52" DLP is going in the family room with 3.1 surround fed by my Pioneer VSX1014. The basement is unfinished but for now will be the kids rec area and I'll have the 32" Vizio LCD and the new "TiVo HD" box.


I really like that. I'm going to have to keep this picture for the future.

Scott/kdg,
I am more of a sports fan than a movie type fan if that makes sense. But in saying that I do not plan on purchasing any special sports type plans - like the NFL games or Baseball Extra innings, whatever they are called. I am happy with the ESPN, ESPN 2, Outdoor Channel, NFLN, TNT, Fox Sports Midwest HD channels.

I thought the Dish HD DVR was better than the Direct HD DVR, but I could be wrong. I have not kept up to speed with everything, although I did hear Dish is coming out with the 722 in a couple weeks.

You really can't go wrong with either system. I agree, that the Dish DVR is better. Look at the programming package from both and go with the one that meets your needs best. Good luck.

Scott

You really can't go wrong with either system. I agree, that the Dish DVR is better. Look at the programming package from both and go with the one that meets your needs best. Good luck.

Scott
Ditto.
The upcoming 722 is basically identical to the current 622. It is supposed to have the External Storage Drive and Broadband/Networking capabilities enabled, but that will probably be added to the 622 at the same time.

The 722 does have a larger internal HDD, but the extra space is dedicated to VOD.

Overall, if you don't do VOD/PPV....the 622 and 722 are the same machines.

The only significant advantage the DISH HD DVR has, is its ability to independently power 2 TV's, and again, if that feature applies to your needs. Other than that, the pros/cons of both is pretty much a wash.

Ditto.
The upcoming 722 is basically identical to the current 622. It is supposed to have the External Storage Drive and Broadband/Networking capabilities enabled, but that will probably be added to the 622 at the same time.

My understanding is the ethernet port will be enabled on the 622 on 8-8, with the external storage being available on 8-15. I believe they are charging around $40 to enable external storage on the 622, not sure if you will have to pay to enable it on the 722.. :confused:

(edit) Posted wrong date, 8-8 some should start to see updates pushed, hopefully all will be updated by 8-15.

My understanding is the ethernet port will be enabled on the 622 on 8-6, with the external storage being available on 8-15. I believe they are charging around $40 to enable external storage on the 622, not sure if you will have to pay to enable it on the 722.. :confused:
My 2 are still disabled, maybe they're sending the update tonight :confused:

Reminder....
Today began the 2nd week-long HD broadcast of Cards games....through Sunday's game, all HD :)

Full HD Schedule HERE (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10174447#post10174447)

kdg:

You do have to reboot the 622 as well.

Cheers,

kdg:

You do have to reboot the 622 as well.

Cheers,

John,

Thanks for the basetraps/absorbers.

Question I'll pose on this thread so that others may gain and understanding too.

The traps are too large to fit one on top of the other to go from floor to ceiling. Will only using one be ok in the 2 front and rear corners of the room, or should I cut a few to make them fit floor to ceiling? Thanks, I know nothing about room acoustics.

Scott

kdg:

You do have to reboot the 622 as well.

Cheers,
Yep, nada. Mine self boot after the nightly automatic updates, and after any s/w upgrade.....guess they just don't like me :(

Doesn't the 622 have dual buffers? Also, can't you record THREE different channels simultaneously?

I thought I had read/heard that somewhere. If true, both of those are MAJOR advantages over the HR20 (and I have DirecTV and the HR20.)

Yep, nada. Mine self boot after the nightly automatic updates, and after any s/w upgrade.....guess they just don't like me :(

The software isn't scheduled to roll out until the 9th (Thursday)... So I wouldn't panic at this time :D

Cheers,

John,

Thanks for the basetraps/absorbers.

Question I'll pose on this thread so that others may gain and understanding too.

The traps are too large to fit one on top of the other to go from floor to ceiling. Will only using one be ok in the 2 front and rear corners of the room, or should I cut a few to make them fit floor to ceiling? Thanks, I know nothing about room acoustics.

Scott

Scott:

My pleasure :) I am glad they are going to someone that can get good use from them :)

Install them in a T ; with one vertically at floor level and one horizontally at Ceiling level.

Cheers,

Doesn't the 622 have dual buffers? Also, can't you record THREE different channels simultaneously?

I thought I had read/heard that somewhere. If true, both of those are MAJOR advantages over the HR20 (and I have DirecTV and the HR20.)

You can record two Sat streams and one OTA stream simultaneously.

It is theoretically possible to also playback two streams on two attached TVs (one HDTV; one SDTV).

At some point you are pushing the limits of the drive; not necessarily the bandwidth (you'd probably be fine there); but rather with the essentially randomized I/O you're going to really hit the wall with constant seeks between the 5 active data streams.

Cheers,

Doesn't the 622 have dual buffers?
Yes, each tuner has its own 1hr buffer. In PiP SbS, you can pause one, or both, and toggle between, while retaining pause on both. If you pause one tuner, and then swap to the other, while not in PiP, the first paused buffer is released on the swap to the second tuner.

Still, it's a feature that not everyone would use. The PiP SbS is OK, but not exceptional, you end up with two SbS letterbox displays. It's OK for monitoring/checking another program, but for actually watching something, I'd prefer to REC it, and view it in full resolution HD.

Those are very, very nice features and if I were in the decision stage between DirecTV and Dish, that would be a huge factor for me.

Add in that Dish has FSMW-HD and I'd probably be sold.

Those are very, very nice features and if I were in the decision stage between DirecTV and Dish, that would be a huge factor for me.

Add in that Dish has FSMW-HD and I'd probably be sold.

Now, if they could only add NFL Sunday Ticket... :(

Go Chargers!

kdg:

You do have to reboot the 622 as well.

Cheers,

I just got the 622 about a month ago and I've never "rebooted." Is this something that it tells you to do after an update, or should you do this periodically? How does one reboot?

Thanks,

Mike

I just got the 622 about a month ago and I've never "rebooted." Is this something that it tells you to do after an update, or should you do this periodically? How does one reboot?

Thanks,

Mike

It will reboot automatically after a software upgrade...

You can force a "soft" reset by holding the power button down for about 10 seconds or a "hard reset" by unplugging it for 30 seconds or so and plugging it back in.


Cheers,

I just got the 622 about a month ago and I've never "rebooted." Is this something that it tells you to do after an update, or should you do this periodically? How does one reboot?

Thanks,

Mike
Mike,
You should be putting your 622 (and all DISH receivers) into stand-by, every night.
Powering the receiver off, using the remote, puts it in stand by. DISH receivers are updated every night, the default time is 3AM, which you can change, if you like.
After the nightly self-update, all receivers reboot.
The receiver knows to continue to complete all functions while in stand by, such as a scheduled recording. In the event a timer is set during the same time your automatic update time is set, the receiver will wait until the timer is complete, and then perform the nightly update.

My understanding is the ethernet port will be enabled on the 622 on 8-8, with the external storage being available on 8-15. I believe they are charging around $40 to enable external storage on the 622, not sure if you will have to pay to enable it on the 722.. :confused:

(edit) Posted wrong date, 8-8 some should start to see updates pushed, hopefully all will be updated by 8-15.

I think I understand how external storage will work (plug in an "approved" external HD and off you go) but what will the ethernet port be capable of?

Also, is there a forum dedicated to this box (622)? I like this St. Louis thread to get the poop on local issues, but feel like posting stuff specific to 622 might make people mad since it's not technically OTA.

I think I understand how external storage will work (plug in an "approved" external HD and off you go) but what will the ethernet port be capable of?

Also, is there a forum dedicated to this box (622)? I like this St. Louis thread to get the poop on local issues, but feel like posting stuff specific to 622 might make people mad since it's not technically OTA.
HERE (http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=107) is the forum you asked of, Giz.

Once the EHDD is enabled, the 622 will accept most any external drive.

The current phase of Ethernet capability will be that of replacing the dial-out capability of the phone line. Essentially, with the 622 connected to your HSI connection, items like ordering PPV, phoning home, etc, will be completed by the Ethernet port, and you will no longer need a phone line connected.

The latter phase of Ethernet on the 622, is planned to permit access to a online website, allowing control, programming, etc., of the 622.

HERE (http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=107) is the forum you asked of, Giz.

Once the EHDD is enabled, the 622 will accept most any external drive.

The current phase of Ethernet capability will be that of replacing the dial-out capability of the phone line. Essentially, with the 622 connected to your HSI connection, items like ordering PPV, phoning home, etc, will be completed by the Ethernet port, and you will no longer need a phone line connected.

The latter phase of Ethernet on the 622, is planned to permit access to a online website, allowing control, programming, etc., of the 622.

Damn, Ken, you're too fast! I actually knew the answer to a question and was going to direct him to the same forum.... I'm sure I'll know the answer to another question around late 2009 ;)

So does that mean that if I were to connect the Ethernet port in the 622 to my internet router, that I could unplug the phone line and continue to avoid the monthly $5 fee?

Damn, Ken, you're too fast! I actually knew the answer to a question and was going to direct him to the same forum.... I'm sure I'll know the answer to another question around late 2009 ;)

So does that mean that if I were to connect the Ethernet port in the 622 to my internet router, that I could unplug the phone line and continue to avoid the monthly $5 fee?
I suppose it would, when they roll it out. :) Hopefully, it will work better than the phone-line system, which is hit-and-miss, at best. I've seen many a time, when an incoming call displays on the 622 caller ID, followed by the phone-line not connected warning message.

Anyone that switched from Charter to the phone company....

How long does it take Charter to respond to and process a phone number porting request? After switching to Centurytel, I called them on Monday and asked to port my old Charter phone# (still active) and replace the new# that they gave me 6 days ago. I hate paying Charter $10/week while they wait to cancel it and move the number to the phone company. Any tips on how to speed them up? I can't call and cancel the phone line like I did Pipeline the other day, as that would throw my old phone number back into the pool.

What's funny is that when I called to cancel Pipeline, the CSR guy asked why, and I told him I was getting a 10Mbps line w/ unlimited long distance on the phone for $59.99/month + taxes, while Charter would only offer $89.99 for the same thing. He said "wow, that's awesome" and mentioned that Charter is going to have to get more competitive with their pricing now that the phone companies are hooking up with Dish/DirecTV to do 3-way packages like Charter can.

On a side note, it's amazing how quickly you get telemarketing calls on a new/fresh number. Our old number was on all of the do-no-call lists of course, but since getting this new one activated on Thursday, we get no less than 15 calls a day about sweepstakes, time shares, credit cards, etc.... Like moths to a flame, it's amazing how quickly they find the fresh meat that's not on the DNC list yet. I actually just turned off all of the ringers in the house, since we didn't give out this new temporary number to anyone we know (figuring we'd only have it for a day or two before porting over the old number). Anytime it would ring in the past 6 days, there was a 100% chance it was a telemarketer. Anyway, off my soap box now... who actually buys stuff over the phone like that?

Anyone that switched from Charter to the phone company....

How long does it take Charter to respond to and process a phone number porting request? After switching to Centurytel, I called them on Monday and asked to port my old Charter phone# (still active) and replace the new# that they gave me 6 days ago.

You should not contact Charter at all. When you place your order with Centurytel you tell them the number you want ported. They will take care of it all for you. They quoted me 7-14 days when I had mine changed over. Good luck! :)

I was in Costco today...they have the Western Digital MyBook 500gb drive on display for $159.
Not sure if that's a good price or not, but I recall some interest in it on here.

http://www.dbstalk.com/images/smiles2/new_sleeping.gif

Hello,

I live in the Chesterfield area and I am looking to stream media to a few locations in the house. Unfortunately, the house was not originally wired for ethernet and I'm finding wireless solutions and even the electrical outlet solutions not effective for reliable streaming. Does somebody know someone who offers creative wiring solutions without tearing up too many walls?

Thanks,

Mike (Da Bears)

You should not contact Charter at all. When you place your order with Centurytel you tell them the number you want ported. They will take care of it all for you. They quoted me 7-14 days when I had mine changed over. Good luck! :)

7 to 14 days???? Who do they think they are, a bank cashing a large check. It took Charter 1 day to transfer my number from AT&T. I don't think it should take longer than that.

Walt

Is tonight's Cards-Padres game (featuring Rick Ankiel batting 2nd and playing right field) being broadcast in HD tonight on DirecTV?

I just checked ch94 and 95 and ch94 says its broadcasting the game tonight. Anyone know anything about this?

http://www.dbstalk.com/images/smiles2/new_sleeping.gif

24 hours of silence. It must be summer.

7 to 14 days???? Who do they think they are, a bank cashing a large check. It took Charter 1 day to transfer my number from AT&T. I don't think it should take longer than that.

Walt

They can handle a Cell Phone transfer pretty rapidly too.

I wonder if the time quoted has to do with getting the CO switch programmed.

Cheers,

They can handle a Cell Phone transfer pretty rapidly too.

I wonder if the time quoted has to do with getting the CO switch programmed.

Cheers,

Day 4 for the phone# port from Charter and still no switch.

I hate paying for two phone lines when only one is in use.

To update my own question from before, the Cards game IS in HD on DirecTV, channel 94.

Looks good -- at least to me.

To update my own question from before, the Cards game IS in HD on DirecTV, channel 94.

Looks good -- at least to me.

Looks good, but sounds awful. I'm getting major stuttering/breakups on the audio.

The audio was bad.

My receiver was only picking it up as Pro Logic, so I don't know if they regularly broadcast in 5.1 or not, but my receiver wasn't picking it up.

I sure wish DirecTV had FSNMW-HD all the time.

I've experienced my first major issue with my new E* service. My HD locals have been flakey recently (aside from the occassional mosaic picture). Now, my receiver is stuck on the "Acquiring satellite signal" screen, and I am unable to change channels to get off of the HD local channel it's currently on. I've done hard/soft reboots, called the advanced customer support twice, and the best they can do is send a tech out on Monday. I really hope they can get this all ironed out for good. My wife is already reminding me that our cable never went out.

The frustrating part of this whole thing is that I think the only problem is on the local HD channels (Satellite 118). The fact that I can't tell the receiver to stop attempting to acquire the satellite signal so that I would then be able to change the channel seems like a design flaw.

So now I'm back to the old rabbit ears and no DVR :(

They are supposedly overnighting me a replacement 622 (in case that's the problem), so I'll probably try to set it up tomorrow to see if I can get things going. Although I would imagine that I might need to type in all kinds of information that I will have no clue about finding. Perhaps I'll chat once again with the friendly customer service folks (they really were friendly, just unable to help me).

Of course, any suggestions from you guys would be helpful if you've encountered something like this before.

Mike

Mike,
I'm guessing the tech had you try a power cord reboot, yes? If not, do that first.
If you have a DPP44 switch, locate the Power Inserter for it. It looks just like a power inserter for a laptop....A/C power cord/black box/cord to switch. Check to insure the green LED is lit on the power inserter box. It is usually (but not always) located behind your 622 or TV.

You can access the menu's while the Acquiring Signal is in progress.

Next, unplug the receiver, then disconnect BOTH SAT feeds going into the back of the 622, and your OTA feed. You must remove both SAT feeds individually, rather than removing the single feed going into the separator. Remember which was SAT 1 and SAT 2 for later.
Plug in the receiver. When the Acquiring Signal screen appears, press Menu >6 >1 >1. This will take you to the Point Dish screen. Select Check Switch, and then select Test. Wait until the test completes. It will fail, as it should, and may take several minutes to complete.

Then, unplug the receiver again, and reconnect both SAT feeds and the OTA feed in the same place they were disconnected from. Plug the receiver in, and then repeat this:
When the Acquiring Signal screen appears, press Menu >6 >1 >1. This will take you to the Point Dish screen. Select Check Switch, and then select Test. Wait until the test completes. Note if the test screen runs the test on both SAT feeds, checking 1 of 4.

It is very unlikely, though not impossible, it is a receiver issue, and the issue has nothing to do with not being able to lock on to 118. If the software could not lock on to 118, it would simply lock on to the other SAT's, and continue on to showing TV on the available SAT's.

DISH has began spooling s/w v. L4.41 to the 622's. Among some others, the main feature is the long awaited EHDD USB support.

The s/w will accept most any external USB drive. There is a one-time activation fee, I don't know how much it is. Presently, the external drive will only work with one receiver at a time. If you use it on one receiver, and then move it to another, the s/w will reformat it.

I've been using a Iomega 500gb drive, and it has been working perfectly with the receiver. Another often used drive is the WD MyBook.

Once your receiver downloads L4.41, you will find the USB Drive options in the DVR menu.

The audio was bad.

My receiver was only picking it up as Pro Logic, so I don't know if they regularly broadcast in 5.1 or not, but my receiver wasn't picking it up.

I sure wish DirecTV had FSNMW-HD all the time.

It's probably using the same audio feed as the SD station; which would mean a Dolby Surround broadcast. "Dolby Surround" is matrixed in a way that their PL and PLII decoders can pick up the surrounds and CC (CC is easy ;) ) and send them out while not affecting the stereo content.

Cheers,

DISH has began spooling s/w v. L4.41 to the 622's. Among some others, the main feature is the long awaited EHDD USB support.

The s/w will accept most any external USB drive. There is a one-time activation fee, I don't know how much it is. Presently, the external drive will only work with one receiver at a time. If you use it on one receiver, and then move it to another, the s/w will reformat it.

I've been using a Iomega 500gb drive, and it has been working perfectly with the receiver. Another often used drive is the WD MyBook.

Once your receiver downloads L4.41, you will find the USB Drive options in the DVR menu.

Unless you're a beta tester; how would you know how well it works? You can't activate external HD until the 15th :D

Oh, the cost is a one time $39.99 fee for all 622/722 DVRs on your account.

Cheers,

Looks like nobody wants to have to try to prove their HD picture is really better. DirecTV and Time Warner went behind closed doors to settle their dispute over "Mine is better than yours" claims.

"Does either one of us really want to have to prove we don't lie to our customers?" (http://www.tvpredictions.com/directvcourt080907.htm)

Shucks. I was looking forward to those expert witness transcripts. :rolleyes:

My Dish 622 got the USB support update last night, but as John says, I can't activate it until the 15th. I did confirm that it will accept a hard drive and format it, but of course it won't do anything with it until activation. Dish suppport hasn't been given training on it yet, but preliminary answers to my questions indicate:

1. Multiple hard drives will not be supported at the same time.
2. If a 622 fails, a new 622 can be tied to the old external HDD on your account (useful since I don't want to lose the Cardinals World Series video I didn't record last year).
3. Hard drives are tied to particular receivers - this to prevent people from loading material onto a drive and giving it to someone else.

External hard drive support also has a section for managing photos, too.

Ken, does this sound right from what you've been told, especially the part about moving the hard drive to a replacement receiver?

I've experienced my first major issue with my new E* service. My HD locals have been flakey recently (aside from the occassional mosaic picture). Now, my receiver is stuck on the "Acquiring satellite signal" screen, and I am unable to change channels to get off of the HD local channel it's currently on. I've done hard/soft reboots, called the advanced customer support twice, and the best they can do is send a tech out on Monday. I really hope they can get this all ironed out for good. My wife is already reminding me that our cable never went out.

The frustrating part of this whole thing is that I think the only problem is on the local HD channels (Satellite 118). The fact that I can't tell the receiver to stop attempting to acquire the satellite signal so that I would then be able to change the channel seems like a design flaw.

So now I'm back to the old rabbit ears and no DVR :(

They are supposedly overnighting me a replacement 622 (in case that's the problem), so I'll probably try to set it up tomorrow to see if I can get things going. Although I would imagine that I might need to type in all kinds of information that I will have no clue about finding. Perhaps I'll chat once again with the friendly customer service folks (they really were friendly, just unable to help me).

Of course, any suggestions from you guys would be helpful if you've encountered something like this before.

Mike

Mike,

Ken's steps are dead on. The only thing I have to add (do this first if I'm not too late) is to make absolutely sure the AC power cable is inserted 100% into the power supply (black brick). I briefly experienced something similar to what you describe and found the plug to be loose. One strong PUSH and all is well (other than the occasional 118 HD breakups).

Just a thought.................

My Dish 622 got the USB support update last night, but as John says, I can't activate it until the 15th. I did confirm that it will accept a hard drive and format it, but of course it won't do anything with it until activation. Dish suppport hasn't been given training on it yet, but preliminary answers to my questions indicate:

1. Multiple hard drives will not be supported at the same time.

Let's clarify this a little more. Multiple drives can't be accessed at the same time. It's one connected drive at a time. You can have multiple drives with content and switch between them at will.

2. If a 622 fails, a new 622 can be tied to the old external HDD on your account (useful since I don't want to lose the Cardinals World Series video I didn't record last year).

It works the other way around. The HDD is tied to the new receiver that replaced the failed 622/722.

3. Hard drives are tied to particular receivers - this to prevent people from loading material onto a drive and giving it to someone else.

The long term goal is to allow all eligible receivers on the account to access the drive. So if you had 2 622s you could move a drive between the 622s -- but you couldn't loan me a drive full of content to use on my 622s :)


External hard drive support also has a section for managing photos, too.

Yeah; but I think I'd rather manage them elsewhere :) "Big Honkin' Protected Storage" comes to mind.


Cheers,

I realize this is how the world works, but its disappointing to me that they're going to charge you $40 to use a feature on the drive.

I'm not sure if DirecTV is going to do this or not -- I didn't think they were, but who knows. Obviously, its $40, but still.....

Winston:

It's a free market and those that want the feature immediately will pay the $40. Those that don't can wait and see if the fee goes down.

It does cost money to develop the software (encryption and DRM) and they have to recoup it somehow.

Cheers,

Let's clarify this a little more. Multiple drives can't be accessed at the same time. It's one connected drive at a time. You can have multiple drives with content and switch between them at will.

It works the other way around. The HDD is tied to the new receiver that replaced the failed 622/722.

The long term goal is to allow all eligible receivers on the account to access the drive. So if you had 2 622s you could move a drive between the 622s -- but you couldn't loan me a drive full of content to use on my 622s :)

Yeah; but I think I'd rather manage them elsewhere :) "Big Honkin' Protected Storage" comes to mind.

Cheers,


Jeez, John, didn't you have enough nits in your basket this morning? You had to pick a few more for me? :) Exactly how is "the HDD is tied to the new receiver" different than "the new receiver is tied to the HDD"? "Tied" is not exactly a literal term in this context. I think the point is that both are tied to your account and that's why a USB drive that was connected originally to a different receiver can still be used with a replacement receiver.

The point I was trying to make about the photos was that it looks like you'll be able to put some favorite photos on the 622's (or 722"s) USB drive, to make it easier to bore your relatives with those vacation slides to Disney World. Just turn on your TV and there they are. I'm not sure my interpretation of how this works is accurate. Maybe Ken can clarify.

All my photos are now on UnRaid, which I think qualifies as "big honkin' storage." :)

A question I forgot to ask is whether the new 622 software supports drives larger than 750GB. I read that limitation somewhere, but I can't recall where. TigerDirect has a USB2 1TB drive for $349 (probably 2 500's internally), but if I can't use its full capacity, it's a waste.

I'm not sure if DirecTV is going to do this or not -- I didn't think they were, but who knows. Obviously, its $40, but still.....

No - there is no fee for putting an external drive on the HR20. It behaves a little differently though.

Chris

Speaking of the HR20, I finally broke down and brought one home from work with me today. Install and dish upgrade are scheduled for a week from Monday. HD Tivo will be moving to the master bedroom.

Already have an eSata enclosure, now I just need to get a 750 gig SATA drive to plug into it.

"We don' need no steeeeenking internal 300 gig hard drive!"

It's my understanding I won't be able to diplex the OTA with the satellite lines anymore. This will give me some time to figure out how to deal with that situation before the new fall TV season starts...........

You are correct about the diplexing - however - the Single Wire Multiswitch (SWM) is due in the next couple weeks. This will not only allow you to diplex, but it will consolidate your satellite signals onto 1 cable - probably eliminating the need to diplex anyways! (assuming you have 2 RG6s going to where the HR20 will be).

Chris

I'll still need OTA for the tuner cards sitting inside the PC. Ain't gonna give that up!

Jeez, John, didn't you have enough nits in your basket this morning? You had to pick a few more for me? :)
The point I was trying to make about the photos was that it looks like you'll be able to put some favorite photos on the 622's (or 722"s) USB drive, to make it easier to bore your relatives with those vacation slides to Disney World. Just turn on your TV and there they are. I'm not sure my interpretation of how this works is accurate. Maybe Ken can clarify.

This feature has been available since the 622's first release. It's in the MultiMedia option. I've been using a thumb-drive, connected to the front panel USB port for pictures. So, yes, you will be able to put them on your EHDD along with recorded events.

I know of one user, who is using a 1TB....want me to find out the brand? They will probably post something on their Website about which drives is supported, and which is not....look for it, in say, about 3 years :p

hope I don't get accused of basketing my picked nits :D

A question I forgot to ask is whether the new 622 software supports drives larger than 750GB. I read that limitation somewhere, but I can't recall where. TigerDirect has a USB2 1TB drive for $349 (probably 2 500's internally), but if I can't use its full capacity, it's a waste.

Not at this time, at least officially.

It might work; but you're in a place I call "unsupported land" :D

Cheers,

Jeez, John, didn't you have enough nits in your basket this morning? You had to pick a few more for me? :) Exactly how is "the HDD is tied to the new receiver" different than "the new receiver is tied to the HDD"? "Tied" is not exactly a literal term in this context. I think the point is that both are tied to your account and that's why a USB drive that was connected originally to a different receiver can still be used with a replacement receiver.

Because I'm paid to be a nitpicker ;)



All my photos are now on UnRaid, which I think qualifies as "big honkin' storage." :)

When are you upgrading to 1TB spindles so that you can have "stupid big honkin' storage" ?

Cheers,

This feature has been available since the 622's first release. It's in the MultiMedia option. I've been using a thumb-drive, connected to the front panel USB port for pictures. So, yes, you will be able to put them on your EHDD along with recorded events.

I know of one user, who is using a 1TB....want me to find out the brand? They will probably post something on their Website about which drives is supported, and which is not....look for it, in say, about 3 years :p

hope I don't get accused of basketing my picked nits :D

If the 622 recognizes USB hard drives of 1TB, I'll probably be OK. The comment I read may have come when there were no 1TB drives to be had. But, yes, I'd be interested in finding out which 1TB drives are being used successfully now.

I wouldn't want to tie up a thumb drive for photos, but being able to put them on a hard drive makes the process more attractive. If I could organize them into folders, that would be icing on the cake.

Last night, when I came in from moving the sprinkler, I had several nits stuck to my shoes. I hate it when that happens. :D

When are you upgrading to 1TB spindles so that you can have "stupid big honkin' storage" ?

Cheers,

Some would argue that my "more is better" philosophy already proves that I am "big stupid." :eek: My UnRaid storage stands at 15TB now, so I'm not going to risk having my friends do a technology intervention by pushing it any further at this point.

If the 622 recognizes USB hard drives of 1TB, I'll probably be OK. The comment I read may have come when there were no 1TB drives to be had. But, yes, I'd be interested in finding out which 1TB drives are being used successfully now.

I wouldn't want to tie up a thumb drive for photos, but being able to put them on a hard drive makes the process more attractive. If I could organize them into folders, that would be icing on the cake.

Last night, when I came in from moving the sprinkler, I had several nits stuck to my shoes. I hate it when that happens. :D
No go....the person ended up using a 750gb, because the 1TB didn't work....sorry.
The official statement from E* is any 2.0 USB drive up to 750gb is supported.

Why is it I think you'll figure some sort of work-around.

No - there is no fee for putting an external drive on the HR20. It behaves a little differently though.

Chris

What do you mean it behaves differently?

Cards in HD two nights in a row for me!

Tonight I have to watch the game on my HR20 with the SAT HD feed because KDSK's OTA digital feed is really giving me problems on the HD-TiVo. Anyone else having problems with KSDK OTA?

Cards in HD two nights in a row for me!

Tonight I have to watch the game on my HR20 with the SAT HD feed because KDSK's OTA digital feed is really giving me problems on the HD-TiVo. Anyone else having problems with KSDK OTA?
My OTA is fine.

Hey, all you D* users out there, I just read a rumor that said D* upped Discovery HD Theater's resolution from 1280x1088 to 1920x1088. Can anyone confirm this? If it's true, it could be a very good sign that we may start to see better HD sooner rather than later. Maybe the extra bandwidth of their new birds will be used in part to improve quality on their broadcasts.

Anybody?

My OTA is fine.

Mine was, too, except that the image looked about like the Fox HD broadcasts, rather than the image I have come to expect from KSDK. That is, previous KSDK games have had more depth and "pop" than those from Fox Midwest (although they still suffered from blocking artifacts). Not tonight. OTA reception was fine, though. The problem was just with their encoding.

What do you mean it behaves differently?

Rules for HR20 external storage:
1) No charge (since this was asked already)
2) It REPLACES not EXTENDS the internal storage
3) It has its own prioritizer list, etc. Basically its like transplanting a new brain into the HR20.
4) It cannot be shared between multiple HR20s - the disk is tied to the original HR20.
5) There is no known limit on drive size.

Note: The internal drive remains in its previous state. So you can setup the internal as your "default", a second drive as a movies, and a third as a sports, or whatever. But you'd have to manually swap them.

In addition, only the interface matters - so many people have built and setup eSATA enclosures that have built in RAID, etc. and have 2-5 TB solutions for their HR20s using various 1tb or 750GB drives on the market.

Future: They are discussing an option to extend the internal (although D* has asked if this is needed since a 300GB drive is small and cheap nowdays), an option to keep them separate but have both accessible at once, and the ability to transfer it between HR20s on the same account.

Chris

Hey, all you D* users out there, I just read a rumor that said D* upped Discovery HD Theater's resolution from 1280x1088 to 1920x1088. Can anyone confirm this? If it's true, it could be a very good sign that we may start to see better HD sooner rather than later. Maybe the extra bandwidth of their new birds will be used in part to improve quality on their broadcasts.

Anybody?

Yes - this is true (1920x1080).

Also, LiL channels are either 1920x1080 or 1440x1080. But according to some discussion on the main HD page here they talked about how in the cases DirecTV was using 1440x1080 it was irrelevant because the source was in this format (apparently a lot of "recorded HD" content is 1440). This should give us a good idea of what the new MPEG4 channels will be - 1920 or 1440 where the source is being sent at this resolution.

Chris

Yes - this is true (1920x1080).

Also, LiL channels are either 1920x1080 or 1440x1080. But according to some discussion on the main HD page here they talked about how in the cases DirecTV was using 1440x1080 it was irrelevant because the source was in this format (apparently a lot of "recorded HD" content is 1440). This should give us a good idea of what the new MPEG4 channels will be - 1920 or 1440 where the source is being sent at this resolution.

Chris

That's great, Chris. Thanks. I had read 1920x1088, but if they're using the more standard 1080 now, so much the better. 1440x1080 is a very common acquisition format in video. I imagine a lot of the shows some people complained about in the past (when Dish moved from 1920x1080 to 1440x1080 on some channels, for instance) were originally shot on Sony HDCams at 1440x1080. Multiple scaling passes for the signal would potentially create more problems than just passing the signal through at 1440x1080. My own HD camcorder shoots at 1440x1080 (the HDV standard).

Joe:

Do the 1440x1080 cams use rectangular pixels instead of square pixels? I'm curious what the process is for going from 1440 --> 1920 with minimal distortion. 1440x1080 is a 4:3 ratio for those that are wondering...

I'm guessing that it is anamorphically squeezing (at 1.33) and then it's unsqueezed at playback to get back to 1920.


Cheers,

Joe:

Do the 1440x1080 cams use rectangular pixels instead of square pixels? I'm curious what the process is for going from 1440 --> 1920 with minimal distortion. 1440x1080 is a 4:3 ratio for those that are wondering...

I'm guessing that it is anamorphically squeezing (at 1.33) and then it's unsqueezed at playback to get back to 1920.


Cheers,

HDCam camcorders typically use 1920x1080 imaging chips, then downsample to 1440x1080 before going to tape. Anamorphic stretch is applied on playback. My Sony HD camcorder has a 1920x1440 imaging chip but it uses 1920x1080 for imaging, which, like HDCam, is downsampled to 1440x1080 before it goes to tape. Devices exist to grab the full 1920x1080 image from some camcorders before downsampling, so that all the 1920 pixels of horizontal resolution are maintained. That is usually stored on some sort of hard drive capture device.

Joe:

Thanks :)

Cheers,

Just placed my order for a 750gig SATA drive (already have an eSATA enclosure for it) so I'll be ready to have 750 gigs of hard drive space when the HR20 gets installed nine days from now.

http://shop4.outpost.com/product/4924331

$189.

Hard drives are getting so cheap nowadays it's ridiculous!

Anyone else without power? I sure hope I have no power at work...

The thunderstorm was hellacious last night but my power never went out.... unusual considering last week it went out without a cloud in the sky.

Anyone else without power? I sure hope I have no power at work...


No power here in Fenton by Krispy and Macdonalds... Although in my office we actually have some random spots working ok so Im sitting in our cool server room although most of the servers do not have power... At least the AC here does.


-Phatty

We Interrupt Your Normal AVS Programming...

...for the following St. Louis housekeeping break:

In the past, we used to begin each month of the St. Louis discussion with an entirely new thread and usually that started with a cut/paste of basic resource information about HDTV and over-the-air reception. Although those messages were moved to the new thread here that was started in January, that information is still easily overlooked as the new thread is growing rapidly, approaching 75 pages in a relatively short period.

So, in order to make this introductory information more accessible, I will be periodically reposting this advisory/reminder note. The idea is to make the general resource information available here more visible and easier to find for more readers.

With HDTV sales increasing every month, we're getting more and more newcomers here, which is a great thing to see. But like most of us when we took home our first HDTV, there's a huge amount to learn beyond where to point the remote and which buttons to push.

Hopefully, you'll find this information of some use...

Tower Maps, Your Satellite/Antenna Rights & Local Station Feedback (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9713839&&#post9713839)

Resources for Receiving Digital/HD OTA Local Stations via an Antenna (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9713842&&#post9713842)

Frequently Asked Questions about HDTV (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=2995791&&#post2995791)

HD Programming Available in St. Louis (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=11440664&postcount=5007)

Why Isn't KMOV-DT (CBS) Available via Charter? (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9341270&&#post9341270)

St. Louis Charter-Only AVS Thread Also Available (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=805958&goto=lastpost)

St. Louis Blues 2006-07 HD Broadcast Schedule (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8678636&&#post8678636)

New! St. Louis Cardinals 2007 HD Broadcast Schedule (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10174447#post10174447)

2006 Survey Results: HDTV in St. Louis

Part 1: Profile of Survey Respondents (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9713951&&#post9713951)

Part 2: Local Digital Stations (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9713954&&#post9713954)

Part 3: Digital Multicasting (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9713956&&#post9713956)

Part 4: Customer Ratings for Charter, DirecTV & DISH HD Services (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9713960&&#post9713960)

Part 5: Customer Ratings for Pay TV HD Channels (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9713963&&#post9713963)

Part 6: Best Picture/Sound Ratings & HD Wish Lists (http://http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9713965&&#post9713965)

Finally, I want to remind everyone that you can access the St. Louis HDTV discussion here at AVS directly by using the shortcut URL that has been arranged.

The short-form URL also makes it very easy to remember and give the address to anyone you know who's just getting into HDTV.

The shortcut URL is: www.stlhdtv.info

No power here in Fenton by Krispy and Macdonalds... Although in my office we actually have some random spots working ok so Im sitting in our cool server room although most of the servers do not have power... At least the AC here does.


-Phatty


Power came back on a bit after 9am and so far all the servers appear to have survived ... WOOT A lot better than the 7pm UE was claiming when we called in... I don't get why they even offer a time table when I have never heard of them actually give a time frame that ended up being accurate.

The generator we had installed last fall has acted as a protective bubble against power outages - that is, we haven't had a power outage that's lasted more than about 5 seconds since the big storm that knocked us out for 3 days last summer. The generator has kicked in maybe 4-5 times, then gone right back off again. At least we know it works. :)

2 days 'til Dish activates USB support for the 622 and adds some new channels to its HD lineup!!!

Dish's Charlie Ergen had better stop. He's liable to spin himself into the ground with his latest comments about quality and quantity, Dish and DirecTV, satellite and cable.

Who did I come to this dance with? (http://www.tvpredictions.com/ergen081007.htm)

Although I think Dish has done a better job of delivering HD in the past, they aren't nearly as good as DirecTV at delivering the spin. The whole purpose of spin is to get the customer dizzy. Here, it seems to me that Ergen just comes off dizzy.

I thought I'd see tons of complaints about this but the fact there are none scares me a bit.
Ch. 5 was unwatchable all day Sunday --- video breakup and audio dropouts -- via Charter Moxi, though the Cardinals game and the football game last night.
The Today show this morning was OK.
Did anyone else have a problem?
barry
(also posted over at STL Charter thread)

I thought I'd see tons of complaints about this but the fact there are none scares me a bit.
Ch. 5 was unwatchable all day Sunday --- video breakup and audio dropouts -- via Charter Moxi, though the Cardinals game and the football game last night.
The Today show this morning was OK.
Did anyone else have a problem?
barry
(also posted over at STL Charter thread)

I didn't notice any problems with OTA KSDK via my D* receiver, but I was busy with other things too, so I might have missed an occasional problem.

I thought I'd see tons of complaints about this but the fact there are none scares me a bit.
Ch. 5 was unwatchable all day Sunday --- video breakup and audio dropouts -- via Charter Moxi, though the Cardinals game and the football game last night.
The Today show this morning was OK.
Did anyone else have a problem?
barry
(also posted over at STL Charter thread)

I missed the Cards game but saw a decent amount of the football game last night. I was watching via the Moxi & did not see a single issue.

I did catch some of the PGA tournament on CBS-HD OTA. It was absolutely stunning!

I thought I'd see tons of complaints about this but the fact there are none scares me a bit.
Ch. 5 was unwatchable all day Sunday --- video breakup and audio dropouts -- via Charter Moxi, though the Cardinals game and the football game last night.
The Today show this morning was OK.
Did anyone else have a problem?
barry
(also posted over at STL Charter thread)
It was a nightmare. Throughout the Cards game, I kept envisioning Doug's loving acronym, kSDk.