Comcast left a notice on my door saying that they're working on upgrading my "neighborhood". Does anyone know how local/quick this is? Should I expect to get new HD channels in a few days or several weeks?
Most likely upgrading the physical plant in the area. Once upgrades are made throughout the area changes might be seen, but do not except to see changes as soon as they are done in your area.

So I shouldn't hold my breath, then?

So I shouldn't hold my breath, then?

I would not suggest it.

The Detroit News reports Suzanne Wangler was found dead at her Royal Oak home yesterday. She had been arraigned on fraud and embezzlement charges Wednesday.

The Detroit News reports Suzanne Wangler was found dead at her Royal Oak home yesterday. She had been arraigned on fraud and embezzlement charges Wednesday.

Holy ****!

Didn't see that one coming

The updates are saying suspected suicide by asphyxiation (bet on hanging). I have a feeling there's a whole closet full of shoes waiting to drop in this case. That, and in the future: "Tonight on Lifetime...".

Update: Death by hanging confirmed. Probable suicide, manner of death pending complete investigation.

Thats awesome, the FSN Detroit HD 75 game schedule is due to be announced this afternoon

Just got word that this is delayed, something to do with MLB approvals

Your old outside antenna should work just fine for DTV, check the condition of the antenna AND the cable before you try to use it, look at the antenna connection with binoculars and make sure it's not just hanging. The number of people who can use rabbit ears is not all that great, most people will need to use a roof mount or tower mount antenna to get DTV reception. DO NOT listen to the salesman at the electronics place who is trying to sell you an "HD" antenna, there is no such thing, a regular old TV antenna is all you need. On the subject of pre-amps, I have found you need at least 8 feet of coax AFTER the power supply for the antenna, otherwise it overloads, Radio Shack has a "pizza" shaped antenna, I have no luck at all with it if I try to connect the power supply's 5 inch lead to the TV, however if I barrel it to about an 8 foot chunk of coax it works great.

I don't know how my last post got here, it was supposed to be somewhere else??? Oh well, stuff happens.

Hey guys, new to HD so I apologize if this is a stupid question. I have Dish and am running rabbit ears through the Dish box. Some of the HD locals I have occasionally pixel. I am in East Lansing, so I dont imagine I would be too far from the source. Any ideas? TIA

Hey guys, new to HD so I apologize if this is a stupid question. I have Dish and am running rabbit ears through the Dish box. Some of the HD locals I have occasionally pixel. I am in East Lansing, so I dont imagine I would be too far from the source. Any ideas? TIA

You'll see a lot more of it on the interlaced HD channels (CBS and NBC) than you will on the progressives (ABC and Fox), especially during quick camera moves and fast action shots. Depending on your antenna and location, your signal might also drop enough from time to time to cause some macroblocking.

Hey guys, new to HD so I apologize if this is a stupid question. I have Dish and am running rabbit ears through the Dish box. Some of the HD locals I have occasionally pixel. I am in East Lansing, so I dont imagine I would be too far from the source. Any ideas? TIA

do your rabbit ears have a UHF loop? Is it powered?

Forgive me if this has been answered before, but why does WKARHD go off at night, like after midnight or so?

Forgive me if this has been answered before, but why does WKARHD go off at night, like after midnight or so?

I'll defer to Gary on the official answer, but I believe that WKAR shuts down its transmitter because there isn't enough audience overnight to justify the expense given their sources of revenue.

Forgive me if this has been answered before, but why does WKARHD go off at night, like after midnight or so?

Yes.

Why does programming information show up in the guide though? Can't it just say SIGN OFF like other stations do, just to avoid the issue all together?

The WLNS upgrades continue...

The big empty room is starting to get built out...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=103415&stc=1&d=1204292928

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=103416&stc=1&d=1204292928

Why does programming information show up in the guide though? Can't it just say SIGN OFF like other stations do, just to avoid the issue all together?

Because we're trying to do different things at the same time with the same traffic system that generates the automation list and generates the PSIP list. Since 23.3 and 23.4 are overnight on Comcast cable, we make a full list for those services because the automation part needs to have that information.

23.1 Isn't overnight anywhere, so, there should not be program guide information for it. I'll go check.

23.2 does have a split for the data, but it's got a stupid in that the traffic system export assumes the start of the next program as the end of the previous program, so with a last program starting at 11:00 PM and the next program starting at 07:00 the export says that the show starts at 11:00 and ends at 07:00.

We're putting new software into the PSIP generators today to fix a bug in the daylight savings time advance descriptor and a bunch of other small issues.

FSN Detroit doesn't have the full HD schedule out yet, but the Tigers home opener is on the March HD calender

http://msn.foxsports.com/id/7793058

GR Thread has a few Comcast changes and 5 new HDs announced. Lansing typically gets the changes at the same time as GR, look for some new stuff end of March and early April.

Effective March 31, 2008, Local Origination on Ch 20 and Ch 900 is Leased Access and will remain on Ch 20. Ch 900 and Ch 901 will become Comcast Television Network.
Effective March 31, 2008, HD Direct Tune Ch currently available on Ch 210 will move to Ch 253.
Effective March 31, 2008, Cinemax HD will move from Ch 219 to Ch 217, Showtime HD will move from Ch 223 to Ch 218 & Starz HD will move from Ch 227 to Ch 219.
Effective March 31, 2008, Disney HD Ch 230, ABC Family HD Ch 229 will be added to the HD lineup.
Effective March 31, 2008, G4 will now only be available on Digital Starter Ch 162.
Effective March 31, 2008, MTV Jams, MTV 3 and MTV Hits will now be available in the Digital Classic Package.
Effective April 1, 2008, AMC HD Ch 222, Nick HD Ch 228, & Spike HD Ch 225 will be added to the HD lineup.
Effective April 9, 2008, REELZ Ch will be added to Digital Classic Ch 260.
Effective April 9, 2008, AZN Ch 186 will no longer be available.
Effective April 9, 2008, GOL TV will be added to the Sports & Entertainment Package Ch 268.
Effective April 9, 2008, LOGO will be added to the Digital Preferred Package Ch 163.
Effective April 9, 2008, Encore multi-plex Channels 152, 154, 156, 158 & 160 will change service level from Digital Preferred to Digital Classic.
Call 1-888-COMAST for more details.
To receive HD channels, an HD television (not provided) and HDTV equipment are required.

Looks like D* has finally added 18-1 to the HR2X series for OTA reception. Now if we could just get the cheap bastards to pass the MyNetwork TV HD feed and maybe even hop on the Fiber connections that WDIV/My20 use for HD coverage of all Pistons OTA games.

Jeff,
I noticed that too. Does WHTV use the same tower as WLNS? I have no problem getting them here, but I'm less than 10 miles from the tower.

Jeff,
I noticed that too. Does WHTV use the same tower as WLNS? I have no problem getting them here, but I'm less than 10 miles from the tower.

Yes, their digital signals are broadcast from the same tower.

WKAR has upgraded to a new software version for PSIP, tweaked the table repetition rates, and had to make even more room available in the multiplex for it (about 400kbs just for program guide for one day)

ATSC had made some changes to the audio identification (requiring the use of ISO labeling, for example) But more importantly, the prior software version did not understand that daylight savings time does NOT start tomorrow.

Oh, by the way, about a month ago we placed WKAR-FM on 23.3 audio #2 (German) and WKAR-AM on 23.3 audio #3 (Spanish)

I saw an ATSC STB in Radio Shack. $59.99, NTIA coupon-eligible.

Has anyone in EL/Meridian gotten any new channels yet?

Has anyone in EL/Meridian gotten any new channels yet?

In East Lansing, only Fox, nothing else yet.

I saw an ATSC STB in Radio Shack. $59.99, NTIA coupon-eligible.

I still haven't gotten my coupons in the mail yet. I'll be grabbing whatever is the lowest price boxes they offer to have on hand for family and friends that get screwed up by the switch.

Might be some good news for EL/Meridian: I just spoke to a Comcast rep who said that they're currently rebuilding the node and that we should get new channels in one or two days (at least in my zip code). I'm not sure that I believe them (though I certainly want to), but I thought I'd pass along the info.

Edit: Thought I'd point out that last week a rep said that we should be getting new channels late this week, so the stories do add up.

I still haven't gotten my coupons in the mail yet. I'll be grabbing whatever is the lowest price boxes they offer to have on hand for family and friends that get screwed up by the switch.

The one at RS was pretty basic. There isn't even a program timer on it. That would suck if you're away and want to record multiple events OTA.

The one at RS was pretty basic. There isn't even a program timer on it. That would suck if you're away and want to record multiple events OTA.

I don't think you will find a coupon-eligible converter with a timer. Specifically not eligible is if the converter: ... "more than simply converting a digital over- the-air television signal (ATSC) for display on an analog television receiver (NTSC)"

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/dtvcoupon/DTVmanufacturers.pdf

The full list of coupon eligible boxes is at:
https://www.ntiadtv.gov/cecb_list.cfm

I don't think you will find a coupon-eligible converter with a timer. Specifically not eligible is if the converter: ... "more than simply converting a digital over- the-air television signal (ATSC) for display on an analog television receiver (NTSC)"

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/dtvcoupon/DTVmanufacturers.pdf

The full list of coupon eligible boxes is at:
https://www.ntiadtv.gov/cecb_list.cfm

I seem to remember reading that the coupons are not eligible for DVRs

I seem to remember reading that the coupons are not eligible for DVRs

That's correct, the coupons are for tuners only. I just didn't think they would revert to such outmoded thinking as to not have timers on them.

I believe the Echostar/Sling TR-40 was announced with a timer. Unfortunately, the box is vapor for the moment and looks unlikely to be available early enough for the people who get the first batch of coupons.

Comcast and BTN getting close...

Big Ten Network, Comcast near carriage deal

John Ourand
SportsBusiness Journal

After a flurry of backroom deals, the Big Ten Network appears poised to land its most significant carriage deal to date, as top executives from Comcast and the network have agreed on the framework of an agreement, according to sources from both sides.

A signed deal could still be weeks, or even months, away, as lawyers from both sides hammer out the specifics. Snags still could develop, but sources are optimistic that a deal will get done.

Comcast has about 5.8 million subscribers in the Big Ten footprint, including in Chicago and Detroit. Comcast also has clusters of subscribers in Minnesota and Pennsylvania, key parts of Big Ten country.

BTN is now in about 30 million homes.

Comcast agreed to launch the conference network on expanded basic through most of the Big Ten Conference's eight-state region, as much as 94 percent of it, according to one source. Previously, Comcast was adamantly against launching on expanded basic to such a wide area.

Meanwhile, Big Ten Network relaxed its demand to launch the channel on expanded basic everywhere in the eight-state market. The channel will allow Comcast the flexibility to place it on digital basic in various markets within the footprint, including Philadelphia.

The BTN deal could have been sparked by Fox Sports Net's move to secure the rights to the Detroit Pistons for FSN Detroit, according to sources with direct knowledge of the talks.

Comcast supported FSN's move to pick up the Pistons rights because it meant that two of the cable operator's biggest competitors -- AT&T and EchoStar -- would not get them, according to sources with knowledge of the talks. AT&T and EchoStar were in the mix, trying to pick up those rights and launch a new regional sports network in the market, which Comcast would have had to carry at, probably, more than $1 per subscriber per month.

It's not known how much Comcast will pay for carriage. BTN had been charging a little less than $1 a subscriber a month.

While Comcast appears closer than ever to a deal with BTN, sources say Time Warner Cable, BTN's other big cable holdout, is not close to a deal with the channel.

Has anyone heard anything about D* offering the locals in HD via satellite? A new satellite is supposed to be launched on 3/17 - maybe after that? If they include PBS HD, it would solve my WKAR HD reception problems. Thanks.

JT01

Has anyone heard anything about D* offering the locals in HD via satellite? A new satellite is supposed to be launched on 3/17 - maybe after that? If they include PBS HD, it would solve my WKAR HD reception problems. Thanks.

JT01

No exact word, but speculation is that we will get them this year on the new bird.

Tigers complete HD schedule is available at foxsports.com/detroit

FSN Detroit HD on D* is now properly flagging HD programming, both Detroit pro teams and FSN College games.

FSN Detroit HD on D* is now properly flagging HD programming, both Detroit pro teams and FSN College games.

Not so fast, my friend. Today's Red Wings game is SD but marked as HD.

Sorry if this has already been asked, but does anyone else have any issues with WLNS OTA through their Dish HD STB (722)? It only seems to happen while I'm watching basketball, but when the camera is moving down the court, or when zoomed in on several people moving, the video sometimes gets really jumpy. If I put my antenna directly through the TV instead of the Dish box, it seems to be OK, but I could be wrong. Just wondering if anyone else has this problem, and if it's definitely been attributed to he STB or if it's WLNS's issue. Thanks!

Sorry if this has already been asked, but does anyone else have any issues with WLNS OTA through their Dish HD STB (722)? It only seems to happen while I'm watching basketball, but when the camera is moving down the court, or when zoomed in on several people moving, the video sometimes gets really jumpy. If I put my antenna directly through the TV instead of the Dish box, it seems to be OK, but I could be wrong. Just wondering if anyone else has this problem, and if it's definitely been attributed to he STB or if it's WLNS's issue. Thanks!

Well damn, I was just digging for this thread to bitch about WLNS. Its very nice to see CBS' feed of the SEC title game on ESPN2HD and in true 5.1. Too bad we can't get 5.1 from WLNS.

I just flipped over to WLNS HD feed OTA via an HR20 (D*) and I'm not seeing what you are describing

Anyone else experiencing random audio dropouts with Comcast Lansing over the last couple days? It seems to be mostly on the national HD feeds, but occasionally with the regular SD stuff too. Very annoying.

I was just at my parents last weekend and, wow, I forgot how much better DirecTV is than Comcast...

Yup same issues here on the west side.

Annoying as hell.

Same here in Meridian, too. I've been noticing a lot of audio dropouts as well as occasional video artifacts.

Same here, got a tech coming on Tue. to check out the signal strength. Downtown Lansing area.

D* added the Mega March Madness Channels today. I'll be working from home on Thursday and Friday :)

In a first for FSN Detroit the CCHA Final this Saturday will be broadcast in HD.

In a first for FSN Detroit the CCHA Final this Saturday will be broadcast in HD.

Holy ****, never thought i'd see the day. too bad MSU choked on Saturday and Sunday against a scrappy NMU team and a hot goaltender. Damn, if sparty could have just gotten to one of the freaking rebounds when the net was wide open...


Grr, now i'm pissy again

Holy ****, never thought i'd see the day.
Yea of little faith. :D


Grr, now i'm pissy again

Glad I could make your day.

Yea of little faith. :D

I'm going to expect all college hockey at the Joe in HD now, unless conflicting with a Pistons/Red Wings(Road obviously)/Tigers game that is in HD

Glad I could make your day.

appreciate it

I'm going to expect all college hockey at the Joe in HD now, unless conflicting with a Pistons/Red Wings(Road obviously)/Tigers game that is in HD

Don't your setting yourself up for disappointment.

It is only the Final in HD, the semis on Firday will be in SD, but you most likely will see HD highlights of the semis on Saturday.

Don't your setting yourself up for disappointment.

It is only the Final in HD, the semis on Firday will be in SD, but you most likely will see HD highlights of the semis on Saturday.

I was being sarcastic, i think i forgot the winking smiley ;)

FSN Detroit has locked up all local TV rights for the Wings, Tigers, & Pistons for the next decade.

This truly marks the end of an era for Pistons broadcasting as they move from having some games on OTA channels to a complete cable schedule. The Pistons were a leader in the NBA in producing their own games for the "Pistons Television Network" that first aired on WKBD and then most recently on WMYD and WDIV.


FSN hat trick: Network has deals in place with Tigers, Pistons, Wings for the next decade
Detroit Free Press, Mike Brudenell, March 19, 2008

Regional sports network FSN Detroit has signed agreements with the Tigers, Pistons and Red Wings to televise nearly all their games -- exhibition, regular season and playoff -- for at least the next decade.
Advertisement

The restructured rights agreements give FSN an unprecedented stranglehold on Detroit's sports scene. FSN will control the rights to all telecasts not picked up by a national network.

The deals begin this year, FSN officials told the Free Press.

FSN will televise up to 152 Tigers games -- an increase from 134 last year -- including 103 in high-definition. ESPN or Fox are scheduled to televise the season's other 10 games.

The Pistons' deal kicks in next season, when FSN for the first time will own rights to all local telecasts. This season, Pistons games have been on FSN and Channels 20 and 4 in Detroit.

The new Wings' agreement takes effect in 2012-13, when a contract signed in 1997 expires. FSN has had rights to all local Wings telecasts since 2003.

FSN will be in position to televise at least 70 Pistons and 70 Wings games. To help with overlapping schedules, FSN will use its FSN Plus outlet.

Industry insiders estimate the combined worth of the three deals to be at least $1 billion over at least the next decade. FSN declined to comment on the financial details.

All Lions games are broadcast nationally, mostly on Fox, FSN's parent company. FSN, though, airs postgame shows and major news conferences.

"This is not only an investment in the teams but an investment in the fans, city and the state, which has been suffering through tough times," FSN senior vice president and general manager Greg Hammaren said. "We're going to be in this for the long haul, in the good and bad times. ...

"We are stepping up our investments, and we are clearly committed to HD. I believe it is the right thing to do."

In addition, FSN -- launched in Detroit in 1997 -- recently signed a long-term agreement with the nation's largest cable provider, Comcast, ensuring Tigers, Pistons and Wings games will be delivered uninterrupted to its 1.1 million customers throughout Michigan.

Overall, FSN Detroit goes to 3.2 million cable and satellite homes throughout the state and parts of northwest Ohio and northeast Indiana.

FSN considers Detroit's pro teams to be good business. It said the teams' ratings -- 7.5 for the Tigers last season, 4.8 for the Wings and 4.5 for the Pistons this season -- rank second or third in their respective leagues for teams televised by regional networks.

Hammaren said the agreements would create job opportunities and provide stability for those working on the technical side of local telecasts. FSN's offices are in Southfield.

He also reinforced the network's satisfaction with its on-air talent: George Blaha and Greg Kelser with the Pistons, Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond with the Wings, and Mario Impemba and Rod Allen with the Tigers.

"George Blaha is a real legend," Hammaren said, "and who doesn't love Mickey Redmond? Mario Impemba and Rod Allen have developed a real cult following. Talent-wise, we're at the top of our game."

Pistons president Tom Wilson said his franchise looked at other options but decided to stay with FSN because of continuity and the reach it provided.

"There was no reason to destroy or disrupt that," Wilson said. "So many people who would normally not get a chance to watch the Pistons do on FSN."

Tigers vice president of communications Rob Matwick said his organization embraced the long-term agreement with FSN, as did Wings senior vice president of business affairs Steve Violetta.

"We're very excited about extending the agreement," Matwick said. "It provides us a strong presence in the marketplace and allows us to reach more fans with more games."

Violetta said: "FSN reaches fans all across the state."

The on-the-field prospects of all three teams has Hammaren smiling, too.

"I'm thrilled," he said. "There's a real possibility the city could have three championships this season. FSN has made a huge investment in the town I've come to love. Now the fan is coming out in me."

FSN Detroit has locked up all local TV rights for the Wings, Tigers, & Pistons for the next decade.

This truly marks the end of an era for Pistons broadcasting as they move from having some games on OTA channels to a complete cable schedule. The Pistons were a leader in the NBA in producing their own games for the "Pistons Television Network" that first aired on WKBD and then most recently on WMYD and WDIV.

I think that this is a good and a bad thing...

Good, all the games are in a single location and as long as you have FSN Detroit, you can find the games. With the Pistons, i have to check FSN and the local OTA station. Sometimes neither has the game.

I think its bad in that the model of the local sports teams on local channels, available to all is gone. I feel sorry for the old timers that don't get cable/dish so they won't be able to follow their local teams.

I hope that the FSN Primary/FSN Plus schedules are evenly split between the competing teams and that one team doesn't dominate the primary channel.

I also hope that FSN Detroit will make use of the additional HD slot that DirecTV has available for the FSN Plus channel. With Houston coming online, I hope to see multiple events from FSN in HD on the same night/at the same time.

I think its bad in that the model of the local sports teams on local channels, available to all is gone. I feel sorry for the old timers that don't get cable/dish so they won't be able to follow their local teams.
I would not be surprised if we see an OTA network of games that are produced by FSN or an OTA station showing the game in Detroit and FSN showing it outstate. I don't think it will happen in the next year, but I would not be surprised to see it happen down the road.


I hope that the FSN Primary/FSN Plus schedules are evenly split between the competing teams and that one team doesn't dominate the primary channel.

Between the Red Wings and the Pistons there were only 20 conflicting dates this past year. That is just dates, some of those games were on national tv or were played in different time zones. I think we will see a good number of 7 PM/10 PM Pistons/Wings doubleheaders on FSN. The real problem is playoff dates, with both the Wings and Pistons making a habit of going to the postseason each year the chances for a conflict are quite high. In the past FSN has only had the first Pistons playoff game so it really did not matter. I don't see playoff games getting moved to FSN Plus too many people would complain about not being able to find the channel especially those on cable systems in which FSN Plus is digital only. In a situation like this I could see FSN sub-licensing a game to an OTA station.

And who knows what happens if the stars align and the Piston and Red Wings have playoff games on the same day as a Tigers game.


I also hope that FSN Detroit will make use of the additional HD slot that DirecTV has available for the FSN Plus channel. With Houston coming online, I hope to see multiple events from FSN in HD on the same night/at the same time.
They will eventually, I don't except this anytime soon.

On Comcast I am having brief picture pixellation and voice dropouts. Called Comcast last night and they are sending someone out Thursday to check my equipment. This even after telling them that it is happening throughout Lansing. Just how do you reach these people????? They seem completely oblivious to anything you tell them. What a waste of their manpower to send someone out when undoubtedly it is their equipment that is malfunctioning. It appears only to happen on SD, however I haven't thoroughly checked all channels. It wasn't occurring last night on the PBS station WKAR.

Got an email from WLNS, they just got another shipment of broadcasting equipment in and are installing it.

Too bad that there is no surround for the MSU game. The 5.1 from the other CBS games via the MMM package is great

Is WLNS-DT OTA (6.1) off the air or did my media center PC config go screwy? All my other OTA HD channels are fine.

Is WLNS-DT OTA (6.1) off the air or did my media center PC config go screwy? All my other OTA HD channels are fine.

Looks ok on campus for the basketball game.

Is WLNS-DT OTA (6.1) off the air or did my media center PC config go screwy? All my other OTA HD channels are fine.

it dropped for about 30 seconds

Thanks.

As I suspected, Microsoft is again sending bad Media Center data. They did this for a while in 2006 but I hoped they wouldn't repeat the mistake.

WLNS (and maybe some other channels as well) have been given the post-2009 transition frequency assignment in the Media Center channel config file (atscchannels.xml).

For any other Media Center users, the fix is to edit that file in Notepad (do a search, it's in a hidden directory) and remove the line with WLNS (and any other channels with incorrect physical channel number). Then in Media Center go to Settings > Guide > Add missing channels. Add the channel back in with the correct physical number. You can get the correct frequency assignments from antennaweb.org. For WLNS, the correct physical is 59, not 36 as Microsoft is currently sending.

We will have to redo this fix periodically until Microsoft quits pushing bad data.

Does anyone know if FSN+ will be available over QAM? Seems like quite a few games will be shown on there, and I'd like to be able to just watch them over QAM(or record as I'll be at work) instead of the TV that has the box. I know that some Tiger games last year I was able to pick up, but they didn't have the specified 900/901 channels as they do now. Seems like it would make sense for them to put those channels in the clear for us who use QAM.

Got an email from WLNS, they just got another shipment of broadcasting equipment in and are installing it.

Too bad that there is no surround for the MSU game. The 5.1 from the other CBS games via the MMM package is great

Sounds like you have a good contact at WLNS. I've been trying to get an answer from them about TV Guide on Screen. Could you forward my info/questions to your contact at WLNS to see if they will answer?

There's the situation. I own two Sony HD/dvr's (model DHG-HDD500) and they use the TV Guide on Screen (TVGOS) to program recordings and also to accquire the date/time. The date/time cannot be set manually. Gemstar (parent company of TVGOS) annouced a while back that they will be using CBS stations to transmit the guide data on digital broadcasts and most likely will be dropping PBS stations (WKAR currently transmits guide data on analog).
My big question is... Will WLNS be getting the equipment to insert the TVGOS data into it's digital broadcast? If so, what is the timeframe? When the analog cutoff occurs in Feb 2009 my dvr's will be useless unless a local CBS affiliate is transmitting the TGVOS on the digital channel.

What happened to G4? It's not in my listings any more.

What happened to G4? It's not in my listings any more.

Provider, subscription level, STB?

I take it no Comcast digital subs tried to watch the Wings on Saturday night.

Note on the FSN Detroit page states: " Unforeseen technical issues prevented Comcast from distributing last Saturday's Red Wings game on Ch. 900 or 901, the designated channels for FSN PLUS. An attempt was made to resolve those issues during the telecast, without success. FSN regrets that many Red Wings fans were unable to see the game."

Hey all,
I am sure this has been discussed on this thread already so I apologize, but does anyone know when DirecTV is going to offer local channels in HD?

Hey all,
I am sure this has been discussed on this thread already so I apologize, but does anyone know when DirecTV is going to offer local channels in HD?

Hopefully this summer or fall, if everything goes ok with D11 getting into orbit and operational.

There has been no announced date from D* or any of the locals, but the bandwidth will be available once D11 is operational.

I take it no Comcast digital subs tried to watch the Wings on Saturday night.

Yeah, that was terrible on Comcast's part. They should of had that all figured out seeing as how much they were advertising the channel and whatnot. The Red Wings message board I frequent was also less then happy with Comcast... which brings me to my original question though, are they going to have the channel on clear QAM? I didn't check seeing as I got home as the game was ending.

Anyone know why CBS/NCAA scheduled the MSU-Memphis game for ~10:00pm? A team from the Eastern time zone playing late enough to lose major market share, while a Pacific-Central match-up (Stanford-Texas) is the early game. Are they just trying to get the best national match-up in prime time? For that matter, why on earth are the games scheduled so late?

Provider, subscription level, STB?

Whoops, that message wasn't very clear. Comcast in Okemos with Digital Preferred on a 6416 III. G4 has always been there at channel 162 but now I can't find it anywhere.

ithaca: Just checked, and channel 162 is indeed missing here (the old 550 MHz system in Meridian). Oh, and there are no new HD stations, so it doesn't look like they ditched it to give something new to those of us still suffering with almost nothing.

Anyone know why CBS/NCAA scheduled the MSU-Memphis game for ~10:00pm? A team from the Eastern time zone playing late enough to lose major market share, while a Pacific-Central match-up (Stanford-Texas) is the early game. Are they just trying to get the best national match-up in prime time? For that matter, why on earth are the games scheduled so late?

It based on the location of the Regional event and prolly ratings guesstments made by the network.

In East Lansing, at least for me, G4TV is black at 10:00PM every weekday, which is suspiciously when they do their "after hours" nonsense on Attack of the Show. Makes me wonder if the local Comcast is censoring their own station, which would be odd.

G4TV still shows up in my program guide, and the station works most of the time except for what I mentioned above and a few random other times it is black for no apparent reason. I should mention I don't have Comcast STB, only cable cards with Tivo.

In East Lansing, at least for me, G4TV is black at 10:00PM every weekday, which is suspiciously when they do their "after hours" nonsense on Attack of the Show. Makes me wonder if the local Comcast is censoring their own station, which would be odd.

G4TV still shows up in my program guide, and the station works most of the time except for what I mentioned above and a few random other times it is black for no apparent reason. I should mention I don't have Comcast STB, only cable cards with Tivo.

Cable cards work the exact same as a STB. Actually the DCH series STBs have an M-card in them.

I would swing over to your local comcast office (may be the one on trowbridge) and check with them as the national call centers won't have a clue how to help out with this issue.

Any news on if/when we'll get ESPN News HD in Lansing?

Has anyone in EL/Meridian gotten any new channels yet?Same question, about a month later.

Does anyone know whether the rollout of additional HD in EL/Meridian depends on infrastructure buildout, lawsuit resolution or some combination of both?

Any news on if/when we'll get ESPN News HD in Lansing?

Speculation for D* is Wednesday, other providers have been very quite, but I believe Comcast has a carriage agreement for the channel.

I haven't heard anything from E*

Same question, about a month later.

Does anyone know whether the rollout of additional HD in EL/Meridian depends on infrastructure buildout, lawsuit resolution or some combination of both?

Best bet is to head over to the office on Trowbridge or Miller and ask there

Best bet is to head over to the office on Trowbridge or Miller and ask thereCSRs there (merged into new space in Frandor now, if I understand correctly) haven't been too helpful.

On a related note, I put myself on the list to get a call about digital voice as soon as it goes live. This is a big profit center for Comcast and it depends on the infrastructure buildout. Since I haven't heard anything since a "coming soon" flyer several months ago, I would guess that the buildout isn't that close to completion - at least in in my neighborhood.

Come to think of it: Has anyone in EL/Meridian heard anything about digital voice going live? For that matter, is it available in Lansing?

The following channel (Ch) changes will be made to the Comcast lineup in the following communities:
Ada, Alpine, Byron, Caledonia, Cannon, Cascade, Dorr, East Grand Rapids, Gaines, Georgetown, Grand Rapids, Grandville, Gratton, Jamestown, Kentwood, Lowell, Oakfield, Plainfield, Sparta, Tallmadge, Vergennes, Walker, Wright, Wyoming
Effective March 31, 2008, Local Origination on Ch 20 and Ch 900 is Leased Access and will remain on Ch 20. Ch 900 and Ch 901 will become Comcast Television Network.
Effective March 31, 2008, HD Direct Tune Ch currently available on Ch 210 will move to Ch 253.
Effective March 31, 2008, Cinemax HD will move from Ch 219 to Ch 217, Showtime HD will move from Ch 223 to Ch 218 & Starz HD will move from Ch 227 to Ch 219.
Effective March 31, 2008, Disney HD Ch 230, ABC Family HD Ch 229 will be added to the HD lineup.
Effective March 31, 2008, G4 will now only be available on Digital Starter Ch 162.
Effective March 31, 2008, MTV Jams, MTV 3 and MTV Hits will now be available in the Digital Classic Package.
Effective April 1, 2008, AMC HD Ch 222, Nick HD Ch 228, & Spike HD Ch 225 will be added to the HD lineup.
Effective April 9, 2008, REELZ Ch will be added to Digital Classic Ch 260.
Effective April 9, 2008, AZN Ch 186 will no longer be available.
Effective April 9, 2008, GOL TV will be added to the Sports & Entertainment Package Ch 268.
Effective April 9, 2008, LOGO will be added to the Digital Preferred Package Ch 163.
Effective April 9, 2008, Encore multi-plex Channels 152, 154, 156, 158 & 160 will change service level from Digital Preferred to Digital Classic.
Call 1-888-COMAST for more details.
To receive HD channels, an HD television (not provided) and HDTV equipment are required.

Any changes in the Lansing area today? This was from a GR Press article a few weeks back and typically Lansing gets the same changes as GR

D* has removed the MPEG2 HD West Coast DNS feeds. MPEG4 HD replacements have been available since January. This is one step towards MPEG2 HD disappearing this year :)

Up next are the East Coast MPEG2 HD DNS and the few CONUS MPEG2 HDs.

Anyone else experiencing random audio dropouts with Comcast Lansing over the last couple days? It seems to be mostly on the national HD feeds, but occasionally with the regular SD stuff too. Very annoying.

I was just at my parents last weekend and, wow, I forgot how much better DirecTV is than Comcast...

Same.

Also noticed that most of the new hd channels (sci-fi HD, national geo HD, etc) look like crap during fast motion.

Same.

Also noticed that most of the new hd channels (sci-fi HD, national geo HD, etc) look like crap during fast motion.

Read the thread in HDTV Programming about Comcast compressing 3 HD channels into a single QAM carrier

Does anyone know if the new ad at the bottom of the program guide (that takes up a line of the guide) is there for all Comcast areas or is it just here (Lansing, Motorola HD DVR)? Is there any chance to get them to remove it or at least move it to somewhere that isn't selected when you're simply trying to scroll through the guide?

Does anyone know if the new ad at the bottom of the program guide (that takes up a line of the guide) is there for all Comcast areas or is it just here (Lansing, Motorola HD DVR)? Is there any chance to get them to remove it or at least move it to somewhere that isn't selected when you're simply trying to scroll through the guide?

I have it in DeWitt -- (small ordinary cablebox).

Detroit got ABC Family HD (229), AMC HD (222), Disney HD (230), and Science HD (211) this morning, anything new in Lansing?

Comcast peeps, speak up

yup more 3:1 compression, hope they look ok.

Looking for ABC Family, Disney HD and ESPNews HD on D* tomorrow morning

Edit in: Grand Rapids is reporting the new channels as well, that is a pretty good indication that they should be on in Lansing as well. If somebody confirms, then I will update the first post. Please include the 5 letter channel guide abbreviation.

Detroit got ABC Family HD (229), AMC HD (222), Disney HD (230), and Science HD (211) this morning, anything new in Lansing?

Comcast peeps, speak up

yup more 3:1 compression, hope they look ok.

Looking for ABC Family, Disney HD and ESPNews HD on D* tomorrow morning

Edit in: Grand Rapids is reporting the new channels as well, that is a pretty good indication that they should be on in Lansing as well. If somebody confirms, then I will update the first post. Please include the 5 letter channel guide abbreviation.

nothing new here in EL

G4TV started working again with Comcast in East Lansing yesterday after being down all last week (I don't know about the weekend). I hope they fix the audio dropouts and major distortion and noise that seems to plague many of the digital channels these days.

G4TV started working again with Comcast in East Lansing yesterday after being down all last week (I don't know about the weekend). I hope they fix the audio dropouts and major distortion and noise that seems to plague many of the digital channels these days.

Too much compression

Good grief that new ad space on the Comcast program guide is annoying. I supposed I wouldn't mind it as much if it wasn't "clickable".

nothing new here in EL

Anytakes in Lansing get new HD?

Those ads are only showing up occasionally on mine, what's with that? It's there one time when i use the guide and not there the next time, strange.

On Monday night i recorded "Medium" and when i watched it later, there was no center channel audio, therefore no dialog through the entire show, what a waste that was. Anybody else notice this. I have Comcast in Lansing. Motorola DCH 3416.

I also had that problem with Medium. I have Comcast in East Lansing. It's good to know there's nothing wrong with my HDHomerun. :)

Anytakes in Lansing get new HD?

The new HD channels are live in Lansing, but my TiVoHD has no channel information yet.

I'll try to update you when the official channel codes come through.

--deathster

The new HD channels are live in Lansing, but my TiVoHD has no channel information yet.

I'll try to update you when the official channel codes come through.

--deathster

I made guesses when I updated the first post yesterday...

SCIHD
DISHD
ABCFD
AMCHD

let me know what needs correction

I receive most lansings stations quite well. I point my antenna to lansing because I cannot receive channel 3 out of Kalamazoo due to my antenna being a uhf and their station 3(2 digital) is on the lower band.


Lately I have had an erratic signal from channel 6- Have they made changes to their power level or transmitter directions. I sent an email but received no answer.


What are the power ratings for the lansing stations?

thanks

John

I receive most lansings stations quite well. I point my antenna to lansing because I cannot receive channel 3 out of Kalamazoo due to my antenna being a uhf and their station 3(2 digital) is on the lower band.


Lately I have had an erratic signal from channel 6- Have they made changes to their power level or transmitter directions. I sent an email but received no answer.


What are the power ratings for the lansing stations?

thanks

John

Check TVFool.com, they usually have the power ratings for stations listed. I'm in Lansing and haven't had any issues recently. Signal strength has been very solid for the past few weeks.

I am a long way from the lansing stations- but I do get great receiption from 10-47-53.....23 and 6 are sometimes iffffy

On Monday night i recorded "Medium" and when i watched it later, there was no center channel audio, therefore no dialog through the entire show, what a waste that was. Anybody else notice this. I have Comcast in Lansing. Motorola DCH 3416.

I think this is the program that my wife was watching the other night in stereo and all she could hear were the background audio. I changed the tuner to WOOD in GR and they were fine, so I think the problem was with WILX.

Mark

I live in a 2nd floor apartment and have a (cheap) powered indoor antenna in East Lansing, and I can get Fox, ABC, and WKAR with no dropouts except in bad weather. CBS has random signal quality, and NBC almost always fails to come in well.

I use http://antennaweb.org to get an idea of where to point the antenna and how far away stations are. Start on this page:

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

Just put in your address, city and zip code. Name, phone, State, and email aren't needed even though they ask for them.

Does anyone know whether the rollout of additional HD in EL/Meridian depends on infrastructure buildout, lawsuit resolution or some combination of both?

Nodes are still being upgraded from 550 Mhz, and it's going to take a while. My node, for example, isn't even on the schedule to be upgraded yet, though it should happen "by this summer". You're likely in the same boat I am, but you can call (888)801-9336 to ask about your node.

The lawsuit issue (PEG channel move) appears to be stalled, and I'm sure that would have been used as a temporary measure to increase the HD channel lineup until the nodes got upgraded. I think Comcast has dropped that idea, and we're going to have to wait for our infrastructure to catch up.

Hey all,
I am sure this has been discussed on this thread already so I apologize, but does anyone know when DirecTV is going to offer local channels in HD?

Hey johns560 I thought that you were in the Flint DMA. We already have local HD from D*..........

Am I missing something...?

Trying to find some information on post DTV-transition channel / frequency assignment
for WILX-DT.
Currently broadcasting on ch57, will they switch to a lower UHF or, as I've read
not utilize UHF as all other Lansing DMA stations are, and broadcast DTV on high-band VHF (remaining ch10) ?

[Asked whether WILX will really be on VHF channel 10 after the changeover.]Yep. WILX elected channel 10 a few years ago. To be fair, they were stuck. Their transitional frequency is outside the "DTV core." So WILX had to either keep their NTSC core frequency (channel 10) or gamble on getting a decent frequency assigned in the later election stages.

I'm a little outside my depth here, but I think there's also a non-trivial cost to climb up the tower in Onondaga and swap out the Illudium-57 Space Modulator for the new Illudium-32 (or whatever) Space Modulator after getting the new channel assignment. Plus, WILX wouldn't have known which model Space Modulator to order until getting the new frequency. I think Marvin has more or less cleared the order backlog by now, but there was also some fear that equipment both for the control room and for the tower was going to be in short supply as cutover approached.

We're fortunate to have Gary Bliev of 'KAR as a frequent poster here. He might be imposed upon for more detail regarding the pain and expense of switching broadcast frequencies.

Nodes are still being upgraded from 550 Mhz, and it's going to take a while. My node, for example, isn't even on the schedule to be upgraded yet, though it should happen "by this summer". You're likely in the same boat I am, but you can call (888)801-9336 to ask about your node.

The lawsuit issue (PEG channel move) appears to be stalled, and I'm sure that would have been used as a temporary measure to increase the HD channel lineup until the nodes got upgraded. I think Comcast has dropped that idea, and we're going to have to wait for our infrastructure to catch up.Thanks for the update.

Only practical application of the knowledge for me: Don't wait for SciFi HD. Watch Battlestar Galactica in SD.

Comcast peeps, speak up

yup more 3:1 compression, hope they look ok.


Yea, I'm speaking up ... tired of paying top $ to have access to a few HD channels with decreasing quality. Antenna went up yesterday. Well done, Comcast!

FSN Detroit Red Wings playoff schedule and Tigers schedule changes.

http://msn.foxsports.com/id/7997414

Hey johns560 I thought that you were in the Flint DMA. We already have local HD from D*..........


Yeah...
I am in the Flint network but a buddy of mine just got D* in Lansing and was wondering about local HD availability. I am rather surprised that they are not available yet.

Also, I HATE the Flint locals for news and wish I could get Lansing locals. Anyone know anything about the new D* "neighboring local channels" offer?

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/packProg/svLocalChannels.jsp?assetId=1200076&_requestid=907465

Yep. WILX elected channel 10 a few years ago. To be fair, they were stuck. Their transitional frequency is outside the "DTV core." So WILX had to either keep their NTSC core frequency (channel 10) or gamble on getting a decent frequency assigned in the later election stages...

I guess I didn't follow all this close enough - my frustration is I'm making sure a few neighbors can watch TV after the switch-off - and they don't pay for cable.

I already have converter boxes for them, and was looking at antenae options for them.

Luckily, we live practically in sight of many of the new broadcast towers.

Thanks for the info.

Yeah...
I am in the Flint network but a buddy of mine just got D* in Lansing and was wondering about local HD availability. I am rather surprised that they are not available yet.

Also, I HATE the Flint locals for news and wish I could get Lansing locals. Anyone know anything about the new D* "neighboring local channels" offer?

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/packProg/svLocalChannels.jsp?assetId=1200076&_requestid=907465

Depending on where you live, the Lansing locals are very easily receivable OTA. From where I live, I can easily receive all of them with an antenna. (I'm only 10 miles from the 'LNS and 'KAR towers).

Yeah...
I am in the Flint network but a buddy of mine just got D* in Lansing and was wondering about local HD availability. I am rather surprised that they are not available yet.

Also, I HATE the Flint locals for news and wish I could get Lansing locals. Anyone know anything about the new D* "neighboring local channels" offer?

http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/packProg/svLocalChannels.jsp?assetId=1200076&_requestid=907465

Looks like it depends on the station and your zip code

Sad to read that about WILX. I'm in Flint also and will not watch any of the Flint stations. I watch mostly Lansing and Detroit, Lansing 90% of the time. I get great reception on WILX now, and while I do have a older high gain VHF antenna I don't know how well it will do in that situation. I'll have to wait and see. I would love an OTA CW outlet that ai could receiver on a consistent basis though.

To any of you not exposed to the Flint stations, the words inept and short sighted or meddling come to mind. The local NBC outlet has yet to successfully sync up audio on a consistent basis. The ABC outlet feels it MUST fill the screen even when SD content is shown, my option to stretch or not is taken away, plus they run 3 sub channels. The CBS outlet flags all their broadcasts as DD 5.1 when they don't even have the equipment to do DD, in the past the station manager or owner was very vocal about those of us who have HD calling us tech weenies or something because we kept asking when we would get HD. One bright spot is the PBS station, that does a great job and is on 24 hours unlike WKAR, plus they are very attentive to any problems when reported - A+ in my book.

I'm pretty vocal about these issues to any one that has any interest in digital/HD in the area, and doubt I'd ever watch any of these stations even if/when they resolve the issues since their attitude has been poor for so long. People need to know this is not the norm.

Matt L: The ABC affiliate in Lansing (WLAJ) stretches to 14:9, so you're not alone in that department.

Depending on where you live, the Lansing locals are very easily receivable OTA. From where I live, I can easily receive all of them with an antenna. (I'm only 10 miles from the 'LNS and 'KAR towers).

I'm in Owosso and I don't use an antenna. TV is in my basement so it is a futile effort. I am waiting until I can just get the Lansing locals from D* and hopefully by then they will be broadcast in HD.

Sad to read that about WILX. I'm in Flint also and will not watch any of the Flint stations. I watch mostly Lansing and Detroit, Lansing 90% of the time. I get great reception on WILX now, and while I do have a older high gain VHF antenna I don't know how well it will do in that situation. I'll have to wait and see. I would love an OTA CW outlet that ai could receiver on a consistent basis though.

To any of you not exposed to the Flint stations, the words inept and short sighted or meddling come to mind. The local NBC outlet has yet to successfully sync up audio on a consistent basis. The ABC outlet feels it MUST fill the screen even when SD content is shown, my option to stretch or not is taken away, plus they run 3 sub channels. The CBS outlet flags all their broadcasts as DD 5.1 when they don't even have the equipment to do DD, in the past the station manager or owner was very vocal about those of us who have HD calling us tech weenies or something because we kept asking when we would get HD. One bright spot is the PBS station, that does a great job and is on 24 hours unlike WKAR, plus they are very attentive to any problems when reported - A+ in my book.

I'm pretty vocal about these issues to any one that has any interest in digital/HD in the area, and doubt I'd ever watch any of these stations even if/when they resolve the issues since their attitude has been poor for so long. People need to know this is not the norm.

Well said.
Twaller and I went round and round with 25 and 5 trying to clear up a bizarre pixelation issue. FINALLY it got resolved.

Greetings all,

I switched from E* to D* when I got an HD tv in January 2007. When I cancelled the E* service they said I'd had the Dish 510 dvr long enough that I owned it. Since then I've been procrastinating on selling it, but would like to do so now. This is a standard definition dvr - manual is available here. (http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/our_products/user_guides_and_manuals/receivers/510/index.shtml)
Activation card is included - PM me if interested. Thanks.

JT01

Sad to read that about WILX. I'm in Flint also and will not watch any of the Flint stations. I watch mostly Lansing and Detroit, Lansing 90% of the time. I get great reception on WILX now, and while I do have a older high gain VHF antenna I don't know how well it will do in that situation. I'll have to wait and see. I would love an OTA CW outlet that ai could receiver on a consistent basis though.

For my needs, a multi - directional indoor/attic UHF anntena should sufice for everything but WILX ch -10 - I'm in Eaton Rapids and can practically see a few of the towers.

Anyone at mid to long range from Lansing locals might consider the Channel Master CM-4228 large "double-bowtie" directional UHF antenna because of its unusual high gain on VHF channels 9-13 (especially ch 10).

Some info here:

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/cm4228.html.

...Channel Master says this is their best UHF antenna. It is probably the best overall UHF antenna available...This antenna is advertised solely as a UHF antenna. But, as many people have discovered, it has strong gain for VHF-high, especially channel 9-13...

Matt L: The ABC affiliate in Lansing (WLAJ) stretches to 14:9, so you're not alone in that department.

Yup, I'm aware of that, but it's nothing like a 16x9 stretch. You would think the news anchors would object to being fat heads.

I had a discussion with 2 of my cousins the other day. One said he hated wide screen tvs and was very angry that he would be forced to buy one in the future. He said he hates how all the people are short and fat. His sister said the same thing, that the tv at work was like that and she hated it. They wondered why anyone would want one of these new HD tvs. Oh, well.

Anyone know if the FSN+ channel will be unencrypted on Comcast for tonights Tiger game? Seeing as the game would normally be available on the analog packages, would it really be that hard for Comcast to unencrypt the digital channel for the games so I can pick it up with my QAM tuner?

Actually, Matt, I think I prefer the 16:9, because it doesn't take a second thought for me to turn it off or switch to the SD feed. 14:9 always results in me debating whether I prefer a slightly distorted picture or lower PQ (switching to the SD channel).

Called FSN Detroit, issue with HD truck that is being swapped out, HD should begin by the 2nd period.

Announcement should be upcoming on the broadcast.

For Comcast users.... is there any way to remove the obnoxious advertisement they've placed over half of the channel guide? They are already getting close to $150 per month out of me, I'd like to at least enjoy turning the channel.

No, ithaca. Normal users have no real control over their boxes (as far as I know).

Looks like FSN Detroit has added HD coverage for tonight's away game against Nashville. I don't remember this being an HD game when the schedule was posted last week.

I'm guessing they'll add as many HD playoff games as possible.

Does anybody have, or know anybody who has, one of the coupon-eligible DTV boxes and how well/reliably they work?

I picked up one of the Zenith STBs from CC, to put on our old VCR and it seems to work fine. It seems to pick up stations better than the Data Stream HD tuner I have on the same outside antenna. I can pick up everthing in Lansing, 31 out of Ann Arbor, and most of the G.R. stations (8, 17, 41, 43, & 64)with the antenna pointed toward the southeast. I'm sure if I moved the antenna toward G.R. I could pick another one (channel 3) or two. It did miss a couple of channels when I did a auto tune on it, but I was able to enter in the channels that it missed.

I live near Potterville, and have a small VHF/UHF antenna on our roof.

Mark

It's great to hear that Dish has the Lansing DMA uplinked at 61.5(MPEG 4HD). Just uplinked but not available yet. But definitely a step in the right direction. Mike

It's great to hear that Dish has the Lansing DMA uplinked at 61.5(MPEG 4HD). Just uplinked but not available yet. But definitely a step in the right direction. Mike

I'll be damned, I never thought E* would beat D* to the HD local punch for our lowly DMA. Then again, uplinked is not available.

Hopefully this will push D* into action when D11 goes live later this month

It's great to hear that Dish has the Lansing DMA uplinked at 61.5(MPEG 4HD). Just uplinked but not available yet. But definitely a step in the right direction. Mike

Looks like two more MPEG4 uplinks for Lansing on E*, but they are SD

ADD 7515 WHTV{JACKSON, MI} MPEG4 SD Tp 15 Spot 14 Rainbow 1 61.5w UNAVAIL HIDE MAP 18

ADD 7516 WKAR{EAST LANSING, MI} MPEG4 SD Tp 15 Spot 14 Rainbow 1 61.5w UNAVAIL HIDE MAP 23

Interesting Programming Note on the FSN Detroit website...

APRIL 29 PROGRAM NOTE:
The Tuesday, April 29 Tigers-Yankees game (7:00 PM) will be simulcast on FSN Detroit and FSN PLUS.
If the Tigers game is still in progress at 10:00 PM, the conclusion can be seen on FSN PLUS, while FSN Detroit shifts to coverage of the Red Wings-Colorado playoff game.

I'm in Owosso and I don't use an antenna. TV is in my basement so it is a futile effort. I am waiting until I can just get the Lansing locals from D* and hopefully by then they will be broadcast in HD.

I thought Owosso (Shiawassee county) was in the Flint DMA, and would receive Flint stations not Lansing stations?

I was watching the AVP volleyball women's finals tonight on FSD. The show quality looked like it was filmed with a webcam or videophone like the NFL Network uses. Very choppy, poor PQ. To add insult to injury they kept featuring some idiot MC who would screech as soon as the ball hit the dirt.

I was watching the AVP volleyball women's finals tonight on FSD. The show quality looked like it was filmed with a webcam or videophone like the NFL Network uses. Very choppy, poor PQ. To add insult to injury they kept featuring some idiot MC who would screech as soon as the ball hit the dirt.

I think those are produced by the AVP and shown on TV via Time buys. The same crap has been on NBC in the past

TiVo pushed a lineup change to my TiVo HD this evening. They now list Comcast ELan/Meridian channel 240 as WKAR-DT2 (that is, the guide data is listing 23.2 on channel 240).

I also have a Moto 6412, and Comcast is still listing channel 240 as mapping to 23.1.

Can any other local TiVo HD/Series 3 owner reality check me?

Text below sent to TiVo lineup team.
TiVo just pushed a lineup change that appears to be incorrect.

The local PBS affiliate is WKAR.

WKAR runs the national PBS-HD feed as PSIP 23-1 (ATSC broadcast OTA on physical 47-1). My MSO, Comcast, rebroadcasts this feed on channel 240.

WKAR's "regular" program is broadcast on NTSC 23 and is simulcast in SD as PSIP 23-2 (ATSC broadcast OTA on physical 47-2).

This evening, TiVo pushed a lineup change and is mapping Comcast channel 240 to WKARDT2. That is the "regular" program, and the guide data will be incorrect whenever the regular program and the national PBS-HD feed differ.

I also got the incorrect lineup change regarding WKAR-HD, I also sent a note to TiVo to get it corrected. I'm still working with them on getting the guide data correct for WKAR-HD as well. I keep forgetting to call them back to check on it. It's correct except they don't list the Newshour at 6 p.m.

Rich

WKAR runs the national PBS-HD feed as PSIP 23-1 (ATSC broadcast OTA on physical 47-1). My MSO, Comcast, rebroadcasts this feed on channel 240.

WKAR's "regular" program is broadcast on NTSC 23 and is simulcast in SD as PSIP 23-2 (ATSC broadcast OTA on physical 47-2).


The RF channel for WKAR-DT currently is 55. Scheduled to be 40 on 2/19/08. About $1,500,000 from now.

I'll pass a note to the PI people here about the TIVO issue, I'm not sure from which vendor they get their data? TV Guide, Times-Mirror, Tribune Media Service? Any ideas?

The Newshour at 18:00 is the only split from the national PBS HD schedule at this time. In June we will split away on Saturday evenings.

I'll pass a note to the PI people here about the TIVO issue, I'm not sure from which vendor they get their data? TV Guide, Times-Mirror, Tribune Media Service? Any ideas?


The Wikipedia entry for TiVO thinks that TMS (Tribune) provides the data to TiVo. Turns out that we had told TMS that we were just carrying the PBS HD schedule and had not informed them of the deviation from the national schedule for Newshour. That change should show up shortly.

We've asked TMS to fix the 23.2 mapping into channel 240 on Comcast issue.

The Wikipedia entry for TiVO thinks that TMS (Tribune) provides the data to TiVo. Turns out that we had told TMS that we were just carrying the PBS HD schedule and had not informed them of the deviation from the national schedule for Newshour. That change should show up shortly.

We've asked TMS to fix the 23.2 mapping into channel 240 on Comcast issue.Ah, that makes sense. Comcast's guide data looks correct, but they get fed by Gemstar.

Gary, correct me if I'm wrong here. WKAR is running the national (DT2A) PBS HD feed as WKAR-DT (23.1/cable 240) except that you're grabbing the Newshour from the DT3A* feed M-F 6:00-7:00pm. (Hmm...what's on the national feed then? The BBC News & Nightly Business Report?)

I don't know where I got channel 47 from. That's, what, Fox NTSC in Lansing? Total brain plotz.

* Minor googling turns up a bunch of local PBS engineers that are happy - just ecstatic beyond words - that the Newshour was put in a separate feed rather than being incorporated into the nat'l PBS HD feed.

Ah, that makes sense. Comcast's guide data looks correct, but they get fed by Gemstar.

Gary, correct me if I'm wrong here. WKAR is running the national (DT2A) PBS HD feed as WKAR-DT (23.1/cable 240) except that you're grabbing the Newshour from the DT3A* feed M-F 6:00-7:00pm. (Hmm...what's on the national feed then? The BBC News & Nightly Business Report?)

I don't know where I got channel 47 from. That's, what, Fox NTSC in Lansing? Total brain plotz.

* Minor googling turns up a bunch of local PBS engineers that are happy - just ecstatic beyond words - that the Newshour was put in a separate feed rather than being incorporated into the nat'l PBS HD feed.

Ah, but starting May 5th the 1800 feed (the first feed) of NewsHour -will- be included in the national PBS HD schedule.

Yes, we are receiving the NewsHour from the bizarrely named DT3A. Today at 1800 the national schedule has "Desert Speaks" and 1830 has "Endless Feast"

is anyone else noticing a lot of Comcast and AT&T trucks out recently working on things. The other day i say an AT&T truck and a Comcast one right next to each other. I thought about taking a picture because it was pretty funny. Supposedly by the end of the year U-Verse will be built out in Haslett, according to the guys that installed our T-1 at work (AT&T).

any ideas as to why i receive 47,53 and 10 in hd with 8-10 bars of signal strength,
6 hd with 7-8 bars of signal strength , analog 23 with a fairly decent picture albeit not
perfect yet cannot even get a blip from 23 hd? i live in concord probably 50 miles to the southwest of lansing. i use a channel master 4228 and the tuner from a samsung 4254
hd tv. is the power emitted from the 6 tower significantly different from that of the 23
tower?

any ideas as to why i receive 47,53 and 10 in hd with 8-10 bars of signal strength,
6 hd with 7-8 bars of signal strength , analog 23 with a fairly decent picture albeit not
perfect yet cannot even get a blip from 23 hd? i live in concord probably 50 miles to the southwest of lansing. i use a channel master 4228 and the tuner from a samsung 4254
hd tv. is the power emitted from the 6 tower significantly different from that of the 23
tower?

Yup, go to TVfool.com and input your location information. It will give you a great idea of what you can receive.

Also, in the 1st post of this thread, I noted signal strengths (i can't remember the source) and it has WLNS at 1000kW, while WKAR was 54.6kW

is anyone else noticing a lot of Comcast and AT&T trucks out recently working on things. The other day i say an AT&T truck and a Comcast one right next to each other. I thought about taking a picture because it was pretty funny. Supposedly by the end of the year U-Verse will be built out in Haslett, according to the guys that installed our T-1 at work (AT&T).

I don't suppose he knows when it will be coming to DeWitt?? :rolleyes:

any ideas as to why i receive 47,53 and 10 in hd with 8-10 bars of signal strength,
6 hd with 7-8 bars of signal strength , analog 23 with a fairly decent picture albeit not
perfect yet cannot even get a blip from 23 hd? i live in concord probably 50 miles to the southwest of lansing. i use a channel master 4228 and the tuner from a samsung 4254
hd tv. is the power emitted from the 6 tower significantly different from that of the 23
tower?

Concord is just inside our 48dBu signal area. Reception of our signal there will be difficult, it will require a very large outdoor antenna, at 20 to 30 feet above ground, and possibly a preamp.

Where's our station like WRAL in Raleigh that gives away antennas for free? I know it's hopeless to ask Gary and PBS, but how about one of our stations that doesn't raise money off begathons?

Where's our station like WRAL in Raleigh that gives away antennas for free? I know it's hopeless to ask Gary and PBS, but how about one of our stations that doesn't raise money off begathons?

Well, WLAJ is a joke, WLNS' owners are in a serious budget crunch and I have no clue about WILX.

I did find out from the engineers at WILX that they will be the HD local receive facility for DirecTV LiL and the upgrade is in progress.

Well, WLAJ is a joke, WLNS' owners are in a serious budget crunch and I have no clue about WILX.

I did find out from the engineers at WILX that they will be the HD local receive facility for DirecTV LiL and the upgrade is in progress.

i totally agree with you. WLAJ is a joke...

WLNS isnt much better

WILX/WSYM are the best network tv stations in our area i would say

And WKAR is by far the best!

I got a flier from Comcast today trumpeting new channels effective 5/22 and Digital Voice. If that's true, then I guess the 550-860MHz upgrade is done or almost done in my neighborhood. (I'm right by East Lansing High.)

Anybody around here got an opinion on Digital Voice? Might save a few bucks.

The TiVo/Tribune data is closer to being correct. 240 is mapped correctly again to WKAR-HD and the listings have Newshour at 6 pm, but only for 1/2 hour instead of the whole hour.

Rich

The TiVo/Tribune data is closer to being correct. 240 is mapped correctly again to WKAR-HD and the listings have Newshour at 6 pm, but only for 1/2 hour instead of the whole hour.

Rich

Thank you. We'll let TMS know.

what is wrong with WLAJ tonight? HD just does not seem to be working all of a sudden (at least audio wise)

what is wrong with WLAJ tonight? HD just does not seem to be working all of a sudden (at least audio wise)

Yea, it's really bad. My wife's all pissed that Grey's Anatomy looks like shizz... :mad:

Yea, it's really bad. My wife's all pissed that Grey's Anatomy looks like shizz... :mad:

Did either of you try calling WLAJ Master Control and asking if they were working on anything or having national feed issues?

Phone numbers are in the 1st post of this thread

Did either of you try calling WLAJ Master Control and asking if they were working on anything or having national feed issues?

Phone numbers are in the 1st post of this thread

i didn't, they seemed to be working on it, because it had not center channel audio when in HD, so they kept switching it back and forth between HD and SD around the commercials.

Ah, but starting May 5th the 1800 feed (the first feed) of NewsHour -will- be included in the national PBS HD schedule.

"
Update: When NewsHour was added to the national PBS HD feed it also moved to 19:00ET

Channel Number updates.

Comcast East Lansing / Meridian Township (please let me know if you find us on other Comcast systems)

240 WKAR-HD (23.1)
242 WKAR-Create (23.3)
243 WKAR-World (23.4)

Broadstripe system:

462 WKAR-DT PBS HD (E. Lansing)
463 WKAR-DT2 PBS
466 WKAR Create
468 WKAR World

One viewer in Laingsburg found the WKAR signals on these QAM channel numbers (it seems that the numbers move around a bit depending on television sets)

We are now receiving all four of WKAR's digital channels (67-3, 67-4, 67-5 and 67-6

I must need new glasses. That FOX HD feed of the Yankers-Tigers game looks really fuzzy, almost like SD.

I must need new glasses. That FOX HD feed of the Yankers-Tigers game looks really fuzzy, almost like SD.Yeah, looks upconverted at best.

And the new-look Tiger$ $till can't hit.

Looking for reception reports at or near Vineyard Lake, near Brooklyn.

Sorry if this has been asked, but I thought I knew how OTA DT was going to work. I thought all VHF channels were going away and all DT was going to broadcast on 14-58. So, for example WILX 10 will only be broadcasting on UHF 57 come February. So I thought all I will need is specifically a UHF antenna.

I just read an article stating that DT will also use VHF frequencies. Is that correct?

Thanks,
Keith

Sorry if this has been asked, but I thought I knew how OTA DT was going to work. I thought all VHF channels were going away and all DT was going to broadcast on 14-58. So, for example WILX 10 will only be broadcasting on UHF 57 come February. So I thought all I will need is specifically a UHF antenna.

I just read an article stating that DT will also use VHF frequencies. Is that correct?

Thanks,
Keith

VHF will in fact be used after the transition. However, fewer stations will be using VHF then they are now. WILX will not be on 57 either because the upper portion of UHF is being auctioned off for other uses.

The following is the channel placement post transition for Lansing.
WILX - 10
WHTV - 34
WLNS - 36
WSYM - 38
WKAR - 40
WLAJ - 51

Looking for reception reports at or near Vineyard Lake, near Brooklyn.

What do you need exactly? I live at Wamplers Lake, which isn't far at all from Vineyard Lake.

What do you need exactly? I live at Wamplers Lake, which isn't far at all from Vineyard Lake.

What DTV stations do you get? What kind of antenna do you use?

completely off topic, but funny...

So i think my nerdiness may have hit an all time high...

Riding the Michigan Flyer down to Metro this morning to fly out west. The new buses have Wi-fi on board, so I pull out the laptop. I hook to the WAP, but no internet access, check IP settings and I'm not getting a default gateway.

I try an IP in firefox that should be the WAP and get prompted for a login, I try the standard netgear id/pw and i get a config page. check the box to allow internet access and volia, on the web.

nerds to the rescue :)

VHF will in fact be used after the transition. However, fewer stations will be using VHF then they are now. WILX will not be on 57 either because the upper portion of UHF is being auctioned off for other uses.

Thanks Homcom. OK, so some with UHF digital freq. now will go to their respective VHF freq. all digital in Feb? Some are only temporarily using the UHF freq. for their digital broadcast? Where I live in Howell I'm on the fringe for Lansing, Flint, and Detroit. So I thought I was correct telling my neighbors to get the 91XG Uni-Directional Antenna for UHF.

Does anyone have suggestions on what to buy? I see there are UHF/VHF combiners out there. Or go with a combined antenna? Any links to a good fringe antenna that works in this area will help.
Thanks.

Thanks Homcom. OK, so some with UHF digital freq. now will go to their respective VHF freq. all digital in Feb? Some are only temporarily using the UHF freq. for their digital broadcast? Where I live in Howell I'm on the fringe for Lansing, Flint, and Detroit. So I thought I was correct telling my neighbors to get the 91XG Uni-Directional Antenna for UHF.

Does anyone have suggestions on what to buy? I see there are UHF/VHF combiners out there. Or go with a combined antenna? Any links to a good fringe antenna that works in this area will help.
Thanks.

Depends. I'm not sure if any of the Detroit or Flint stations will be on VHF, but http://www.antennasdirect.com/DB8_HD_Antenna.html is a great choice for Bi-directional UHF, Lansing & Detroit locals being about 180 degrees apart - this would probably not help with Flint though.

Thanks for the advice. I'm not sure what VHF freq's I need to get yet. I haven't seen for example what WXYZ and WDIV out of Detroit are going to be post Feb '09. I do know WILX will be going to 10 post Feb '09. I was wondering if I'd be better off getting a combination antenna like the V21 High Gain UHF / VHF Antenna I saw at Antennasdirect or get another 91XG and mount it with a VHF using a combiner.

Depends. I'm not sure if any of the Detroit or Flint stations will be on VHF, but http://www.antennasdirect.com/DB8_HD_Antenna.html is a great choice for Bi-directional UHF, Lansing & Detroit locals being about 180 degrees apart - this would probably not help with Flint though.

I'm not sure what VHF freq's I need to get yet. I haven't seen for example what WXYZ and WDIV out of Detroit are going to be post Feb '09.WXYZ and WDIV will stick with their existing DT assignments at 41 and 45, respectively. Note that WJBK plans to land on VHF at ch 7 after spending a little time on 2 (if I read this correctly).

http://www.rabbitears.info/dtr.php

WXYZ and WDIV will stick with their existing DT assignments at 41 and 45, respectively. Note that WJBK plans to land on VHF at ch 7 after spending a little time on 2 (if I read this correctly).

http://www.rabbitears.info/dtr.php

That's good then because I can go with the 91XG and turn to Lansing for the others. It's just my wife who likes WXYZ in the morning and WDIV for evening news. Plus she has heard how WXYZ 7.2 is now showing oldies.
Thanks.

No, WJBK-DT will never be on channel 2. They plan to operate a low-powered signal on channel 7, until their final facilities are finished.

- Trip

That makes more sense, but if WXYZ is on Ch 7 until the deadline day, when will WJBK be able to run a proof on THEIR Ch 7 transmission facilities? You can't just stick those things up and turn 'em on, even at low power, without doing field measurements, etc.
Unless they plan to do a hot swap ON WXYT's tower temporarily. I really don't know.

Doc

WLNS will have the same problem with channel 36. WJRT is using it up to the transition.

I know WTVF in Nashville has silenced their analog late at night (like 2AM) in order to test their channel 5 digital signal before. I imagine WLNS and WJBK can do the same, they just have to coordinate it with the other broadcaster in question.

- Trip

I'm in the part of East Lansing that just got the expanded HD channels from Comcast.

My TiVo with CableCard isn't getting the new channels (they are in the guide but "Not Available") but is getting the previous offerings (HBOHD, ESPNHD, the locals, etc.) just fine.

I also have a Motorola 6412P3, which is getting the new channels. Lots of artifacting, but the channels are there.

Comcast hit the TiVo again today, but no joy. I don't know what to check next, but wanted to rule out SDV before trying anything drastic.

Is there any word as to if and/or when Comcast is going to give us WGN HD?

Where Is Wilxhd!!! Damn Wings Game Disappeared! Gone From Hd In 2ot!

EDIT: Seems the whole QAM channel that NBC was on, along with WKAR and it's channels, has up and vanished. Did a rescan, nothing. Went through each channel using the HDHR, nothing. It's just gone...

Where Is Wilxhd!!! Damn Wings Game Disappeared! Gone From Hd In 2ot!

EDIT: Seems the whole QAM channel that NBC was on, along with WKAR and it's channels, has up and vanished. Did a rescan, nothing. Went through each channel using the HDHR, nothing. It's just gone...

Our Comcast box is tuning in WILX and WKAR at the moment on the East Lansing system. 8:06 AM ET

Where Is Wilxhd!!! Damn Wings Game Disappeared! Gone From Hd In 2ot!

EDIT: Seems the whole QAM channel that NBC was on, along with WKAR and it's channels, has up and vanished. Did a rescan, nothing. Went through each channel using the HDHR, nothing. It's just gone...

That sucks, I watched it OTA and had some signal freezes, but I think that was national and not OTA related

Just checked now, and the channels are back. The new WKAR channels aren't there though. Talk about pissing me off. Cleary was breaking into the zone and then the screen just freezes, by the time I switch over to CBC he has a penalty. I wonder what the hell happened to make an entire QAM channel go offline.

Where Is Wilxhd!!! Damn Wings Game Disappeared! Gone From Hd In 2ot!

EDIT: Seems the whole QAM channel that NBC was on, along with WKAR and it's channels, has up and vanished. Did a rescan, nothing. Went through each channel using the HDHR, nothing. It's just gone...

Ah -- I wonder if that was related to this: My wife was trying to record it OTA on the home server (HVR-1600) and she told me it freaked out around that time. She wound up getting the rest of the game on std def analog cable. (I was at the game so I really didn't see what was going on)

Just checked now, and the channels are back. The new WKAR channels aren't there though. Talk about pissing me off. Cleary was breaking into the zone and then the screen just freezes, by the time I switch over to CBC he has a penalty. I wonder what the hell happened to make an entire QAM channel go offline.It's a known limitation of Comcast's equipment. If they pack three HD feeds into one QAM channel, the multiplexer freaks out whenever there's a really, really weak call.

And there is no way that was goalie interference.

Hi folks, short time lurker, first-time poster. Heh.

I'm new to the digital TV thing, having been latched onto Comcast's locals-only package for the last 4 years. But I got sick of paying for that and their frequent outages.

So, I got the government coupon and picked up the Zenith DTT900 digital converter. Hooked it up to a junk rabbit ears / UHF loop combo and I'm mostly pleased.

Generally, most channels are showing up with 75% signal in the good range on the box's indicator. I'm getting a little bit more macroblocking than I'd like on FOX 47 though, and the PBS station's signal is hovering around 50% and dropping out.

WZPX 43 and WHTV 18 aren't coming in at all, but I figure that's because their transmitters are directly south and the signal isn't penetrating the walls and other units on the other side of the complex.

I figure an amplified indoor antenna is just what I need to give FOX and PBS the boost they need, and shore up the already solid channels. But there are so many out there and the price range is NUTS. I'm confused and I can't afford the time/money to buy a bunch of antennas and jockey return policies.

I figured there are already loads of people in the Lansing area in this thread that have indoor antennas, so I thought I'd pick your brains. Help!

Any recommendations for an indoor amplified antenna that costs less than $40? (Southwest Lansing on Mt Hope near Frances Park, basement apartment with a north facing window, getting strong signals, just want to make them stronger).

Would love to hear from anyone also in the South Lansing / Mt Hope / Waverly Rd areas.

Thank you for any input, seriously. You'll be saving me so much time and money.

I lived on the southside (Cedar/Kaynorth/Penn) and had just a cheap $20 (prolly $30 now) amplified RCA VHF/UHF combo unit from Best Buy or Radio Shack. It worked great in the apartment, point directly south. When I moved to the Westside (Willow/Waverly/Saginaw) I was still using it to get WLAJ (and WOTV). If the weather got really nasty (think back to the MSU-Notre Dame football game that Sparty blew the 28ish pt lead) I would have to hang it out my front window, rather than sit it on the top of the TV. It dried out well and continued to work until I put up my Winegard with the D* installation.

http://rsk.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pRS1C-2266624w345.jpg

looks very close to this one

Generally, most channels are showing up with 75% signal in the good range on the box's indicator. I'm getting a little bit more macroblocking than I'd like on FOX 47 though, and the PBS station's signal is hovering around 50% and dropping out.

WZPX 43 and WHTV 18 aren't coming in at all, but I figure that's because their transmitters are directly south and the signal isn't penetrating the walls and other units on the other side of the complex.
.


Although WHTV analog is in Rives Junction, WHTV-digital is in Okemos, as is WLNS and WKAR. Like you suggested, you may have too many walls or trees between you and Okemos to receive WHTV or WKAR. WLNS won the lottery and has substantially more power than either WHTV or WKAR.

Although WHTV analog is in Rives Junction, WHTV-digital is in Okemos, as is WLNS and WKAR. Like you suggested, you may have too many walls or trees between you and Okemos to receive WHTV or WKAR. WLNS won the lottery and has substantially more power than either WHTV or WKAR.

No lottery involved; the FCC attempted to replicate stations' analog coverage as best they could. Since WLNS on channel 6 carries so much further than any other station, the FCC's computer program picked a wide open channel and allowed for power to be maxed out at 1000 kW.

- Trip

jefbal99: Thanks for the suggestion on that antenna. That's the 15-1878 from Radio Shack, right? Looking at the site, the user reviews on it are terrible. *shrug* I'll keep it in mind though, since Waverly/Saginaw isn't far from here.

garybliev: WHTV digital broadcasts out of Okemos? Hmm, now it bugs me that I'm not at least getting a "poor" signal from it. :)

No lottery involved; the FCC attempted to replicate stations' analog coverage as best they could. Since WLNS on channel 6 carries so much further than any other station, the FCC's computer program picked a wide open channel and allowed for power to be maxed out at 1000 kW.

- Trip

Yes I know, I'm just grumbling that VHF stations moved into UHF were defaulted at 1,000 kW and UHF stations assigned into UHF were defaulted a minimum of 50kW. 13dB less. This means that WLNS will power through walls while WKAR is absorbed by the wall...or the tree.

garybliev: WHTV digital broadcasts out of Okemos? Hmm, now it bugs me that I'm not at least getting a "poor" signal from it. :)

WHTV has a CP for 13.6 kW from a directional antenna aimed toward Jackson.
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT1169688.html

Guess I should stop grumbling about WKAR's 54.6 eh?

Just checked now, and the channels are back. The new WKAR channels aren't there though. Talk about pissing me off. Cleary was breaking into the zone and then the screen just freezes, by the time I switch over to CBC he has a penalty. I wonder what the hell happened to make an entire QAM channel go offline.

Looks like Comcast picked them up and moved them. Here is where I find them:

73.1 WLAJ
73.2 WSYM
74.1 WKAR-HD
74.2 WLNS-HD
74.3 WKAR-Create
74.4 WKAR-World
75.1 WILX-HD
75.2 WILX-Weather

Where are you guys finding them?

Friend of mine lent me an RCA ANT1251 to see if it'd help. Amplifier didn't boost my signals at all. In fact, our crummy rabbit ear / loop gets stronger singnals.

And now, two more questions for you helpful people...

1. Do the WKAR PBS stations go dark at midnight? I was watching them, flipped to NBC to catch Leno's monologue... switched back when Dana Carvey got boring and had absolutely no PBS signal.

2. Anyone locally have experience with the Terk HDTVa antenna? The Amazon reviews are absolutely raving about it.

fajitamosaaic,

WZPX-DT 44 is located west of town, out near Vermontville I think. You may do better trying to get channel 33 WPXD-DT from west of Ann Arbor for the ion network(s). For a small digital TV I use a "silver sensor" indoor UHF antenna. Not sure how well the silver sensor will work for WILX-DT when they go back to channel 10 next year, but it works well for the UHF channels.

Speaking of the ion network, earlier in the year it was announced they were going HD, but I have yet to see it. From time to time they do show some old movies that would be nice to see in HD.

WKAR-DT does signoff at midnight.

fajitamosaaic,

WKAR-DT does signoff at midnight.

Shhhs, in about a week, the WKAR digital signals will continue 24/7 on Comcast. We lit up the fiber today and we are letting it burn in for a week before cutting over.

We're looking at 24/7 operation of DT over-the-air AFTER the digital conversion, after we move to another channel, after we build a replacement tower, and after move our antenna from the old tower to the replacement Which is to say July, 2009.

Gary, the new WKAR channels came back up for me a day or two after they vanished. The whole QAM channel went down the one day, but then the next I had the two HD channels on it come up, then the next day or so the other WKAR channels popped back up.

...and are you saying that WKARDT will now be 24/7 for HD, or just the other stations?

jefbal99: Thanks for the suggestion on that antenna. That's the 15-1878 from Radio Shack, right? Looking at the site, the user reviews on it are terrible. *shrug* I'll keep it in mind though, since Waverly/Saginaw isn't far from here.

garybliev: WHTV digital broadcasts out of Okemos? Hmm, now it bugs me that I'm not at least getting a "poor" signal from it. :)

I have my old one sitting in my office downtown, you are more than welcome to pick it up and give it a try.

Mine is an RCA ANT525

...and are you saying that WKARDT will now be 24/7 for HD, or just the other stations?

All of the WKAR services will be 24/7.

WHTV has a CP for 13.6 kW from a directional antenna aimed toward Jackson.
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/FMTV-service-area?x=DT1169688.html

Guess I should stop grumbling about WKAR's 54.6 eh?

Gary, Is WKAR digital NOW broadcasting at full power or won't that happen until Feb 09 when you shut down the analog siginal?:confused:

******* WILX and their thunderstorm watch bug.

Run a crawl at the top and bottom of every hour and give us the US Open in HD.

Really, that got mod edited for language? I didn't even swear, what a f'n joke

They turn the damned thing off for commercials and they are in HD, but they have the bloody map and radar up during the golf.

What a joke...

They turn the damned thing off for commercials and they are in HD, but they have the bloody map and radar up during the golf.

What a joke...

It wouldn't help to call, would it?

Guess not. I just tried. She said there were FCC regulations that require them to display the watch thing. Bummer.

I've noticed that... channels drop to 4:3 when they run the weather bug... is it just a matter that local channels don't truly have HD equipment? Like, they can pass along a national feed, but if they have to insert a graphic we get shafted?

I don't have our converter hooked up to an HDTV, but I do like the widescreen aspect that an HD source provides....

That bugs me all the time with Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. Although they aren't in HD yet (because WILX doesn't have the equipment) when they do the weather bugs (it is really a bug anymore when it's that big?) the show gets blurry. The DTV scrolls are getting very old as well, but I know they have to do that because of the FCC. Although I didn't ever receive a response from them about it when I called them. That's why WKAR rocks - they actually listen to and respond to their viewers when they have questions. (Go Gary!)

Rich

An update on my antenna journey: I've been able to borrow a few antennas from friends, and even shelled out for an MANT410 at Wal-Mart, and have come to the conclusion that I might actually be "too close" to the towers in the Lansing area to use an amplified antenna.

The cheapie loop/dipole combos have worked the best. (Again, Southwest Lansing, Mt Hope near Waverly, right next to the Eaton county line) WLNS 6 and WILX 10 are very strong. Most of the rest are strong, but with dropouts more often than I'd like. WKAR comes in, but is too jittery to be watchable. That makes me sad, since I'm very intrigued by the WKAR World channel :(

The amplified antennas -- all of them -- had worse reception than the plain jane models. Even with the dials at minimum. The MANT410 came closest to matching the cheapies, but the signal strength was still 5-10% less. Again, even at minimum. Typically, with an amplified antenna, I found WLNS/WILX still came in, but the signal meter was all over the place, while the other channels fell to 30% or less signal (too low for the Zenith box we have).

So now I'm wondering, due to my basement apartment location and only a window sill to sit things on, if I have no choice but to live with jittery channels and become a fan of WILX/WLNS. *shrug*

Which comes to a crazy question I have: Anyone using the Winegard SS-3000 in the Lansing area indoors and have opinions? I've read good things in general, but I wonder if my basement apt rules it out even with a window to aim out of.

Gary, Is WKAR digital NOW broadcasting at full power or won't that happen until Feb 09 when you shut down the analog siginal?:confused:

Full power for WKAR-DT is 54.6kW and we are transmitting at full power.

Guess not. I just tried. She said there were FCC regulations that require them to display the watch thing. Bummer.

It is not an FCC requirement. They are providing the weather bug information as part of their commitment to operate in the public interest, convenience, and necessity.

The FCC does require that if you provide emergency information aurally you must provide it visually as well.

I've noticed that... channels drop to 4:3 when they run the weather bug... is it just a matter that local channels don't truly have HD equipment? Like, they can pass along a national feed, but if they have to insert a graphic we get shafted?
..

Yes, at this time.

HD graphics packages are very expensive. I'm sure that as the digital television becomes the only television and not just an add-on to the analog service that stations will be upgrading their graphics and switching capability.

A friend has the same problem. They've replaced the cable cards and sent multiple new hits to them and he still doesn't have the new channels. Comcast says they don't know why it's not working. It seems like they're not going to put much effort in to figuring it out what is wrong. I just wanted to comment so you didn't think it was just your cards/box.

I'm in the part of East Lansing that just got the expanded HD channels from Comcast.

My TiVo with CableCard isn't getting the new channels (they are in the guide but "Not Available") but is getting the previous offerings (HBOHD, ESPNHD, the locals, etc.) just fine.

I also have a Motorola 6412P3, which is getting the new channels. Lots of artifacting, but the channels are there.

Comcast hit the TiVo again today, but no joy. I don't know what to check next, but wanted to rule out SDV before trying anything drastic.

Does anyone have any information on ATT U-Verse coming to Lansing/East Lansing area? I have seen ATT trucks out at the apartment phone box every day for almost two weeks to the point where they have tents because they're working on the box so long. I see ATT trucks elsewhere in the neighborhood almost daily. Seems like they're doing a lot of work. I'm hoping we'll get an alternative to Comcast that is not satellite.

I'm in the part of East Lansing that just got the expanded HD channels from Comcast.

My TiVo with CableCard isn't getting the new channels (they are in the guide but "Not Available") but is getting the previous offerings (HBOHD, ESPNHD, the locals, etc.) just fine.

I also have a Motorola 6412P3, which is getting the new channels. Lots of artifacting, but the channels are there.

Comcast hit the TiVo again today, but no joy. I don't know what to check next, but wanted to rule out SDV before trying anything drastic.
A friend has the same problem. They've replaced the cable cards and sent multiple new hits to them and he still doesn't have the new channels. Comcast says they don't know why it's not working. It seems like they're not going to put much effort in to figuring it out what is wrong. I just wanted to comment so you didn't think it was just your cards/box.Digging at the TiVo forums indicates that this a fairly unusual problem caused by an improper channel map. TiVo won't help and Comcast won't do anything but roll a truck and uselessly swap the Cablecards. Frustrating.

garybliev: So, from the charts I've seen, WKAR is moving to digital channel 40 post-transition (with a slight signal strength downgrade?). I'm not terribly educated with regard to signal strength, but I recall that lower-numbered channels are usually tougher to pull in. What's the outlook for WKAR in terms of reception in the Lansing area: same, better, worse?

I'm kind of worried about how tough WILX-10 will be to get once they move from UHF57 to VHF10. Their digital signal is already shakier than I'd like. It seems insane to me that they actually applied to move back down.

garybliev: So, from the charts I've seen, WKAR is moving to digital channel 40 post-transition (with a slight signal strength downgrade?). I'm not terribly educated with regard to signal strength, but I recall that lower-numbered channels are usually tougher to pull in. What's the outlook for WKAR in terms of reception in the Lansing area: same, better, worse?

I'm kind of worried about how tough WILX-10 will be to get once they move from UHF57 to VHF10. Their digital signal is already shakier than I'd like. It seems insane to me that they actually applied to move back down.

Indeed ,the current allocation for WKAR-DT is 50kW on channel 40. However, the lower channels work better than the higher channels due to the "dipole effect" where the antennas actually receive the signals better. The coverage on 40 at 50kW will be pretty much equal to 54.6kW on 55. I'll have more information on our power level early next week.

As to WILX I think they will do fine on VHF channel 10 with a digital signal, the trick will have to be an education campaign to let people know that they will still need VHF antennas, not just UHF loops or silver sensors. Cable companies will know the frequency as will the local DBS receive facility.

There are still going to be other VHF stations as well. Just of the top o' the head:

WJBK will be on 7 in Detroit
WOOD will be on 7 in Grand Rapids
WWMT will be on channel 8 in Kalamazoo/Grand Rapids
WJRT will be on 12
WGVU is and will be on 11
WGVK is and will be on 5

Is there any chance that I will be able to pick up WILX once they switch to VHF with my Channel Master 4221?
http://www.channelmasterintl.com/4221.html

Thanks,
Adrian

Is there any chance that I will be able to pick up WILX once they switch to VHF with my Channel Master 4221?
http://www.channelmasterintl.com/4221.html

Thanks,
Adrian

If you live in Onondaga. That antenna is a UHF only and will have very little gain, on channel 10.

If you live in Onondaga. That antenna is a UHF only and will have very little gain, on channel 10.

Thanks Gary. Nope, I'm in Lansing near Pennsylvania and Cavanaugh.
It looks like I will have to be creative.

Well, I just got a TivoHD on ebay (there was a 35% off deal yesterday and the day before, so I ended up getting the TivoHD with a years free subscription, wifi adaptor, and some remote for only 250$) and I was wondering if anyone in the Brooklyn area has had any experience with it. It's supposed to get here on Saturday and I want to know if anyone has any tips for when I get Comcast out here to install the Cablecards on it. From the little reading that I've done, I think I want to get an M-Card from them but am unsure if they even have those. Anyways, just wondering if anyone around here has it and what they think of it.

Adrian,

Wait till next winter, I bet you will find the 4221 will pick up channel 10. I have used a antenna like that in the past and been able to see channel 7 out of G.R. from my place with it.

According to the Lansing State Journal, Comcast and the Big Ten Network have reached a deal (http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080619/SPORTS/806190381). August 15th is the date listed as the deal's start.

Update: Comcast's Press Release (http://www.comcast.com/About/PressRelease/PressReleaseDetail.ashx?PRID=767). Here in Michigan, we'll supposedly be getting it in HD immediately (I think that means August 15th).

Anyone else have the new HD channels in Okemos? I got something in the mail saying they would be available June 19th, which hopefully means the lawsuit by the township isn't holding them up anymore. I have a CableCard TV and am not yet receiving them.

Last time I talked to a rep, they said that Comcast was hoping to upgrade all the wiring by the end of June, and then they'll spend the next two months certifying the equipment and checking noise levels. If all goes well, everyone will be upgraded by the end of the summer. I don't think anything has changed regarding the PEG lawsuit (the move was just a stop-gap solution until the hardware upgrade, so it's not necessary for HD expansion to occur), and I haven't heard anything about a June 19th change in channels here in Haslett.

Comcast, Big Ten Network Reach Broad Multimedia Agreement for Big Ten Network Content
Comcast customers to receive Big Ten Network HD, Big Ten Network high-speed Internet content through Comcast.net, and condensed game replays and other programs through Comcast On Demand

Philadelphia, PA and Chicago, IL - June 19, 2008


Comcast Corporation and the Big Ten Network announced today that they have reached a long-term multimedia agreement for Comcast to carry Big Ten Network programming across television, broadband and video-on-demand in time for the 2008 college football season.

Under the terms of the agreement, Comcast will initially launch the network as part of its expanded basic level of service to promote it to the majority of its customers residing in states with Big Ten universities (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, with the exception of the Philadelphia region which will launch on a broadly distributed digital level of service) starting August 15th. (Comcast does not have systems in Iowa, the eighth Big Ten state.) In Spring 2009, Comcast may elect to move the network to a broadly distributed digital level of service in most of its systems in these states. Comcast’s digital customers in the Big Ten states will also have immediate access to live Big Ten games and events in high definition, Big Ten programming via Comcast’s video-on-demand platform, and a wide array of conference-related content through Comcast.net.

Outside of the Big Ten states that Comcast serves, Comcast has the option to provide Big Ten Network programming on any level of service, including its Sports Entertainment Package.

Officials from Comcast and Big Ten Network said they look forward to utilizing both traditional and emerging media to bring more Big Ten programming to fans than was ever available to them before.

“We are very pleased with the agreement we have reached with the Big Ten Network to carry hundreds of live Big Ten events,” said Madison Bond, Executive Vice President, Content Acquisition, Comcast Cable. “We will be providing our customers with Big Ten programming through our signature video-on-demand service, and will have lots of highlights, replays, scores and more through Comcast.net so fans can keep pace with Big Ten action whenever they want to.”

Big Ten Network President Mark Silverman said the network is thrilled to have Comcast as a distribution partner. “This agreement allows us to reach many more Big Ten fans
with our programming because of the high concentration of Comcast subscribers in Big Ten states. With the Comcast deal now in place, the Big Ten Network will be available to more than two-thirds of all homes in Big Ten Country.”

Big Ten Network already produces more high-definition television content than any new sports network in television history. Over the next year, more than 400 live Big Ten sporting events will be carried by the Big Ten Network in high definition, including football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, softball and soccer, as well as other NCAA-sponsored sports.

Comcast’s digital customers who receive the network will have On Demand access to programming such as weekly extended highlights and condensed game replays from around the conference, classic Big Ten sporting events, bowl game coverage and coaches’ shows, plus original campus programming and nightly studio shows from Big Ten Network, most of which is available in high definition.

Comcast also has the ability to deliver much of that same content to its Comcast High Speed Internet customers via the company’s Comcast.net portal. Additionally, Comcast has the rights to carry certain network content on Fancast.com.


"Comcast’s digital customers in the Big Ten states will also have immediate access to live Big Ten games and events in high definition"

I wonder what that means.....

Where are they going to squeeze in more HD channels while adding in another analog station?

fajitamosaic: I have the Radio Shack 15-1892. I live 35 miles south of Lansing on a ground floor apartment. WLNS can be shaky a bit, but I get WILX, WSYM and WLAJ with no problem. I don't get WKAR or channel 18 usually. Splurge and pay the extra ten bucks.

Has anyone else ever gotten the Comcast online live chat thing to work? Whenever I try I get this message:

"We apologize that chat for Michigan is temporarily unavailable as we undergo improvements to enhance and develop an improved chat experience for our Michigan Comcast customers.

During this period please call us at 888-COMCAST and a Michigan customer care representative will take care of your needs.

Thank you."



The only problem I have with that is that it has shown that every time I have tried to use it for months and months now. Anyone else have this problem?

fajitamosaic: I have the Radio Shack 15-1892. I live 35 miles south of Lansing on a ground floor apartment. WLNS can be shaky a bit, but I get WILX, WSYM and WLAJ with no problem. I don't get WKAR or channel 18 usually. Splurge and pay the extra ten bucks.

Ah, I was beginning to suspect that the earth was indeed round, you just proved it. Thanks. At 35 miles from Okemos you are right at the point where our signal smashes in to the earth.

(OK, actually UHF waves can go a bit beyond the curvature-of-the earth, not much more)

If you could get some height, outdoors, maybe even 10 to 20 feet you should be able to get WKAR and WLNS.

Not sure about WHTV.

Is 34.95 normal for a service call from Comcast? That seems extremely high. All they are doing is exchanging the remote for the Comcast box and installing a cablecard on my TivoHD. They refused to let me go pick up the cablecard saying they HAD to be the ones to install it. I know gas is high, but paying half of what I pay for cable to have them come out for an hour seems a little insane.

Is 34.95 normal for a service call from Comcast? That seems extremely high. All they are doing is exchanging the remote for the Comcast box and installing a cablecard on my TivoHD. They refused to let me go pick up the cablecard saying they HAD to be the ones to install it. I know gas is high, but paying half of what I pay for cable to have them come out for an hour seems a little insane.

Way to high. I have never paid for a service call, you just have to negotiate with them. If they want your business they will come.

Indeed ,the current allocation for WKAR-DT is 50kW on channel 40. However, the lower channels work better than the higher channels due to the "dipole effect" where the antennas actually receive the signals better. The coverage on 40 at 50kW will be pretty much equal to 54.6kW on 55. I'll have more information on our power level early next week.

Here's the update...

Friday, June 20, 2008 WKAR-DT filed a maximization request with the FCC for digital television operations on channel 40. WKAR-DT currently operates with 54.6kW on channel 55, and is allocated 50.0 kW on channel 40.

The maximization request is for 425kW in a directional pattern, as we are required to protect a channel 39 in Detroit. There is also a channel 41 allocation in Detroit. Our secondary protection is toward a channel 40 in Fort Wayne.

The pattern would substantially increase coverage toward the North, West, and South, however it does pull in toward the East. The slight pull-in may also improve the acceptance of the coverage by Canadian authorities.

The pattern was developed based on a "standard" dielectric antenna pattern, we still need to know if our existing antenna can be modified to essentially match that coverage, or if we can subsequently apply to push the pattern out a bit toward the East.

The FCC will consider our request, along with all of the requests from other broadcasters and identify where the applications can be granted, or where "mutually exclusive" requests might exist that will have to be negotiated.

WKAR isn't the only one to file a maximization request, WHTV filed for 1000 kW ND.

- Trip

If you live in Onondaga. That antenna is a UHF only and will have very little gain, on channel 10.

Some UHF Antennas have better than average gain for part of the VHF band:


Using a UHF antenna for VHF
Some UHF antennas are advertised as working for VHF also. As the following net gain graph shows, there is not much truth in that. For channels 7-13, the MegaWave and the Winegard PR-8800 perform about as well as rabbit ears. The Square Shooter is terrible for all VHF channels. All of these antennas are useless for channels 2-6.

The surprise here is the Channel Master 4228, which has a lot of gain for VHF-high, especially channels 9-13. What makes it different is the screen that is continuous across all 8 dipoles. Other 8-bays, like the 8800 and the DB-8, have a reflector that is not continuous across the right and left halves, and thus they have no useful gain for VHF.

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html

Not exactly small urban antennas, though :(

Here's the update...

Friday, June 20, 2008 WKAR-DT filed a maximization request with the FCC for digital television operations on channel 40. WKAR-DT currently operates with 54.6kW on channel 55, and is allocated 50.0 kW on channel 40.

The maximization request is for 425kW in a directional pattern


Glad to hear about this - digital reception of WKAR here in Charlotte is so spotty I can't get consistent reception, even with a good directional rooftop antenna and rotor. Thanks, garybliev...............

JT01

Glad to hear about this - digital reception of WKAR here in Charlotte is so spotty I can't get consistent reception, even with a good directional rooftop antenna and rotor. Thanks, garybliev...............

JT01

We made some measurements in Charlotte about a month ago, there is plenty of signal at the top of the hill near I-69 (Dunham's parking lot) the problem seems to be reception at the bottom of the hill, which is where most of the city of Charlotte is.

Are you behind the hill, or do we have another issue?

Well, I got my cablecard installed today. Would have been very quick, but the dispatch lady wasn't exactly sure on how to send the hits to the card and in what order so that delayed the setup. Tech was really nice and now all is well. I'm loving having all this HD now, so much better then just the locals...even if the PQ on some channels and the greatest, it sure as hell beats the analog that I've been watching.

We made some measurements in Charlotte about a month ago, there is plenty of signal at the top of the hill near I-69 (Dunham's parking lot) the problem seems to be reception at the bottom of the hill, which is where most of the city of Charlotte is.

Are you behind the hill, or do we have another issue?

I'm behind the hill - I live near the high school at the southwest side of town.

JT01

If you are:

In East Lansing or Meridian;
A Comcast digital cable subscriber;
In an area that has the new HD channels (e.g., DisneyHD, SciFiHD) after the bump from 550MHz to 860MHz; and
Using a TiVo with Cablecards (TiVo S3 or TiVoHD with CCs)

...please let me know whether you have access to the new channels. Comcast appears completely clueless about why my Motorola DVR gets the new channels but my TiVoHD doesn't.

While I'm not in East Lansing or Meridian, I am a digital subscriber who got my TiVodHD installed yesterday with a cablecard. I get all the HD channels that show up, including both SciFiHD and DisneyHD. I'm south of Jackson, but that's where all the techs and Comcast building are at, so you might want to have your EL Comcast people talk to the Jackson people to see why I can get the channels and you can't. Maybe that will work.

If you are:

In East Lansing or Meridian;
A Comcast digital cable subscriber;
In an area that has the new HD channels (e.g., DisneyHD, SciFiHD) after the bump from 550MHz to 860MHz; and
Using a TiVo with Cablecards (TiVo S3 or TiVoHD with CCs)

...please let me know whether you have access to the new channels. Comcast appears completely clueless about why my Motorola DVR gets the new channels but my TiVoHD doesn't.

All these things apply to us. We can only get the new stations on the Comcast box and not on our HD Tivo. We even had a tech come out and put in a new multistream card. It is very frustrating.

If you are:

In East Lansing or Meridian;
A Comcast digital cable subscriber;
In an area that has the new HD channels (e.g., DisneyHD, SciFiHD) after the bump from 550MHz to 860MHz; and
Using a TiVo with Cablecards (TiVo S3 or TiVoHD with CCs)

...please let me know whether you have access to the new channels. Comcast appears completely clueless about why my Motorola DVR gets the new channels but my TiVoHD doesn't.

I may have found a solution to this problem on a "www.tivocommuntiy.com" blog. I printed it for future reference a couple months ago since I have the same Okemos Comcast/TivoHD problem as you. I have been to busy to call tech support to try this out, but hope you or others can try it out. The post I will quote was under the user name "nrnoble" Here is the abbreviated/pertinant section of that post:

""""""Problem Solved. Comcast paired my cards. Finally!

To pair my cards Comcast sent out a tech who called their cable card expert (that ONE guy), who paired my cable cards in less than two minutes.

I talked to their cable card expert and he explained how he solved the problem. To solve the problem he only sends the second hit (CCV), but not the first hit. The reason 1st & 2nd teer support at comcast failed was because they follow Comcast's "Tivo Cable card setup" script/procedures that has them send two hits to the Tivo. The problem is that hit #1 resets the Data ID in the Comcast system, thus invalidates the second hit (CCV). He said to properly (re)pair the cards, Comcast needs to verify that the data IDs match by manually entering the data ID if they don't match. Once the Data IDs match what is on the Tivo screen, then only send Hit #2.

Basically, the "Tivo Cable card setup" script/procedures works when adding a new Tivo into their system, but the script doesn't work when correcting cable card problems with existing Tivos.""""""

I hope this helps. Anyone, please post how this works for you. Also, please save the technicians name/ID if you have success. Thanks.

I may have found a solution to this problem on a "www.tivocommuntiy.com" blog. I printed it for future reference a couple months ago since I have the same Okemos Comcast/TivoHD problem as you. I have been to busy to call tech support to try this out, but hope you or others can try it out. The post I will quote was under the user name "nrnoble" Here is the abbreviated/pertinant section of that post:

""""""Problem Solved. Comcast paired my cards. Finally!

To pair my cards Comcast sent out a tech who called their cable card expert (that ONE guy), who paired my cable cards in less than two minutes.

I talked to their cable card expert and he explained how he solved the problem. To solve the problem he only sends the second hit (CCV), but not the first hit. The reason 1st & 2nd teer support at comcast failed was because they follow Comcast's "Tivo Cable card setup" script/procedures that has them send two hits to the Tivo. The problem is that hit #1 resets the Data ID in the Comcast system, thus invalidates the second hit (CCV). He said to properly (re)pair the cards, Comcast needs to verify that the data IDs match by manually entering the data ID if they don't match. Once the Data IDs match what is on the Tivo screen, then only send Hit #2.

Basically, the "Tivo Cable card setup" script/procedures works when adding a new Tivo into their system, but the script doesn't work when correcting cable card problems with existing Tivos.""""""

I hope this helps. Anyone, please post how this works for you. Also, please save the technicians name/ID if you have success. Thanks.


We called Comcast last night and asked them to send just the second hit and they did (after many, many transfers) but they did not know what a CCV hit was. The channels didn’t show up right away but this morning they were all working. We had scheduled a tech to come out this morning hoping he could follow the directions you provided but we ended up canceling it.

Lansing-related musings... we've got a Zenith DTT900 coupon-eligible box in the living room for OTA, we just picked up a Samsung DTB-H260F hidef box for the bedroom for OTA (the Samsung will also do QAM)... since we haven't yet cancelled Comcast, I've tried the Samsung with OTA and Comcast QAM both...

Using the same Silver Sensor antenna, the Zenith DTT900 can pull in WKAR and fringe stations. The Samsung DTB-H260F can't. However, it does experience fewer hiccups with WILX, WLNS, and WSYM. So, the tuner in the pricy Samsung box is less broadly sensitive, but it stays locked on the stations it DOES get.

With the Samsung, OTA picture quality is noticeably superior to that of the QAM that Comcast is sending. We're talking crisp (OTA) vs. fuzzy (QAM). I was switching back and forth between OTA and QAM last night during Leno. OTA was vibrant. QAM, the picture had "grain" and the colors seemed to bleed together. How much compression is Comcast using?!

So the strangest thing happened to me yesterday. I do a channel scan on my tv and low and behold ABC 12 is picked up, and is coming in GREAT. But of course today I get no signal. Must have been the storms yesterday. Strange hu?

So the strangest thing happened to me yesterday. I do a channel scan on my tv and low and behold ABC 12 is picked up, and is coming in GREAT. But of course today I get no signal. Must have been the storms yesterday. Strange hu?I had a similar experience around 1AM last night. For about an hour, I was pulling in WNEM based out of Flint (65 miles away). When the thunder and lightning left, so did the channel.

I had a similar experience around 1AM last night. For about an hour, I was pulling in WNEM based out of Flint (65 miles away). When the thunder and lightning left, so did the channel.

Isn't skip a wonderful thing? In the early 70's I was living in Mount Pleasant. One day I had the antenna (fringe area VHF on a 30 foot tower) turned to the northwest and flipped through the channels. I noticed a signal on channel 4, even though there was no channel 4 within range. It turned out to be Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan....

In 1979 I was living in a basement apartment in Mount Pleasant and had rabbit ears to get WCMU TV on channel 14. One day I was flipping through the channels and noticed a signal on channel 16 - it was WNDU TV in South Bend, IN. I grew up in the South Bend area, so it was great to be able to watch the local news there for a while before it faded out.

JT01

Gary,
why is it that Comcast in Jackson (Blackman Township) only carries 23.1, 23.3 and 23.4? Why not your local 23.2 channel as well? I've been an OTA viewer of 23.1 and 23.2 since you first started broadcasting in digital. I recently got a cablecard installed in my Sony DVR so I could get some HD cable channels (espn, TNT and the like) and was surprized that Comcast has all the local stations in their line-up but does NOT offer all the sub-channels that are available from an OTA signal. :confused:

Gary,
why is it that Comcast in Jackson (Blackman Township) only carries 23.1, 23.3 and 23.4? Why not your local 23.2 channel as well? I've been an OTA viewer of 23.1 and 23.2 since you first started broadcasting in digital. I recently got a cablecard installed in my Sony DVR so I could get some HD cable channels (espn, TNT and the like) and was surprized that Comcast has all the local stations in their line-up but does NOT offer all the sub-channels that are available from an OTA signal. :confused:

-------------

Comcast is doing the same thing in East Lansing. I don't know why. I guess it is because 23.2 is the same as the WKAR that is in the analog tier. But that's only a guess.

Does anyone know if Comcast is about to add SpikeHD and NikHD to the lineup? It's showed up in my guide on Tivo and it's on zap2it's listings, but I'm not sure if there is just a problem with where those two things get their listings from in having them show up in the guides.

Well CBS and FOX were just made available at 61.5 DISH Network, Mike.

If you enjoy pulling in distant networks, you may like this website. (http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tropo.html) It maps the atmospheric conditions and their effect on signals.