So the FSM HD channel shows the Blues game is on so does that mean I get my heart broken in HD tonight?

Hey guys, what's the word on DirecTV getting local digitals in St. Louis? I know STL isn't in the top 12 markets, but is it close? Anytime timeline yet?

I'm moving back to the area in March and was looking forward to upgrading some of my DirecTV HD receivers (everything but the HD Tivo) since Houston is about to get the upgrade here to mpeg4 equipment... but the wife misses the family and wants to move back home (I really miss thin crust pizza with provel cheese too, yummy)

What's frustrating is that I moved to Tampa in April '04... and right when Verizon was laying down their fiber optic lines in my neighborhood for FIOS internet service (15Mbps) this past Spring, we moved over to Houston (couldn't resist the killing we made in only 1yr on the house and the hurricanes in FLA weren't the best welcoming party)... and now when DirecTV is about to upgrade Houston to mpeg4 and digital locals, I'm moving back to the land of Charter Cable, 3Mbps "broadband", and a Sinclair owned ABC local. Arg.

Oh well, at least I can listen to Cardinals baseball in the car again, and not over the internet. :D

Hey guys, what's the word on DirecTV getting local digitals in St. Louis? I know STL isn't in the top 12 markets, but is it close? Anytime timeline yet?...

I believe we're in the second tier of cities to get hD locals. I've heard late 06 or early 07. I don't know for sure, but since they still haven't yet rolled out all the first tier, I wouldn't expect it sooner offhand.

Thanks.

Guess I'll take down my yagi antenna from the attic and bring it with me then.

I thought we were the market size #21?

Just wondering...how do the rest of you feel about the genius at KSDK changing our widescreens to letterbox with their lovely snowflake borders?
I understand the need for winter closing information at the bottom, but the side borders?
I also see, they are able to switch in-and-out of commercials, cleanly fading it in and out.
Priorities?

Now KSDK is skipping the national feed of HD altogether and showing an infomercial :mad:

Tonight, for reasons beyond me, KSDK desided not to show 'Joey' and instead showed a Famous Barr (or someother retailer's) infomercial called 'Holiday Entertaining and Gift Guide' So, if anybody Tivo'd 'Joey', don't bother...

Uh, who would TIVO Joey?

:-)

Uh, who would TIVO Joey?

:-)
Yeah, I half-expected comments like that :rolleyes:

But it is in HD, when they remember to flip the switch. It just agrivates me that KSDK continually ruins my HD experience.

Great! Now KSDK is broadcasting ER in SD so they can show the school closings :mad: :mad: :mad:

All of this and D* didn't air FSMW-HD tonight. And even though the Blues lost, it was still a decent game.

Great! Now KSDK is broadcasting ER in SD so they can show the school closings :mad: :mad: :mad:

All of this and D* didn't air FSMW-HD tonight. And even though the Blues lost, it was still a decent game.

I haven't been keeping track but it seems to me that all the stations have to switch to SD anytime they scroll info across the screen. I hope they are planning to fix that soon. I agree, it's pretty damn annoying especially when it goes back an forth between SD and HD every 10-15 minutes.

What channel is FSMW-HD on DTV? I didn't know that existed.

What I hate is when they put their channel logos OUTSIDE the picture, in the area of the black bars, thereby making my tv not resize the picture. Annoying.

Oh well, at least I can listen to Cardinals baseball in the car again, and not over the internet. :D

Not bloody likely, unless you have XM.

I e-mailed ksdk last night blasting them for there hd or lack there of last night. They responded with we are experiencing technical difficulties beyond our control. I can't wait when they broadcast the news in hd and forget to flip the switch on there own programing

DirecTV Local HD Update: 10 Cities and Counting...

The following is from today TVPredictions.com newsletter.

Based on the fact that it's December and DirecTV has nearly completed its Phase 1 rollout of HD locals (top 12 markets), I would expect that they will tackle the next 12 or so in short order.

While there is probably going to be some eventual limitations in terms of tuner inventory and customer service bandwidth (competence?), I would expect that St. Louis locals would be available in the next few months. For the sake of a convenient date, I think it's likely that our HD locals -- as well as KsdK-DT -- will be available by the time the baseball season begins.

____________________________________________

DIRECTV yesterday added local High-Definition TV channels in Boston, Washington, D.C., Tampa, Dallas and Houston. The satcaster now has local HD in 10 markets. For the first time, satellite viewers can watch shows such as ABC's Lost in high-def.

But first I want to address a larger question:

What's wrong with DIRECTV's customer service? And, can it handle the ordering and installation of the new local HD service?

As reported here last week, DIRECTV's Customer Service department has offered conflicting answers on how much it will charge HDTV owners for the new dish and receiver that is necessary to display local channels in high-def. Some existing customers have reported getting the equipment for free while others say they have been charged $49 or $99. The confusion has caused considerable anger in the DIRECTV community.

In addition, I know from personal experience that Customer Service representatives often are unaware of new offers or provide wrong information. For instance:

One Washington, D.C. reader told me yesterday that Customer Service told him that local HD is not available in the DC area. However, when I called an hour later, they said it was. But when I called a few minutes after that, they said local HDTV wasn't available in DC.

This morning, I called posing as a new customer from Washington, D.C.. DIRECTV's Customer Service not only said local HDTV channels are available, they offered the HDTV system for free and said they would throw in a free portable DVD player.

By the way, when I was on hold, DIRECTV's Customer Service ran a recorded message alerting me to watch a Major League Baseball game tonight on ESPN.

In case DIRECTV doesn't know, the baseball season ended in October.

DIRECTV's Customer Service used to be one of the company's strongest assets and a chief reason why people deflected from cable in the 1990s. However, in recent years, consumer studies from companies such as J.D. Power suggest that cable is catching up. DIRECTV's customer satisfaction levels have been dropping.

The satcaster is investing heavily in new satellites and other technologies to attract new customers. However, it might want to spend a few more dollars on simply providing better customer service.
____________________________________________

More information on DirecTV HD locals, along with other television news, can be found by clicking here. (http://www.tvpredictions.com/)

Well, I have a good idea, however I can't take part due to other arrangements...

KSDK and personalities are supposted to be at the Kirkwood Wal-Mart on Saturday from 10a-6p. Those that are able could show up and ask those there (ie., Mike Bush since he did the story on HD) why KSDK is last in HD quality and working with the community on problems. Maybe even hand out little cards with www.stlhdtv.info on it. This way they can't ignore us.

Again, was just a thought.

Hey, I've got nothing personal against Wal-Mart, but it does occur to me that KsdK's association with the discount store is logical on a certain level:

Wal-Mart = Everyday Low Prices

KsdK = Everyday Low Quality

I'm moving back to the land of Charter Cable, 3Mbps "broadband", and a Sinclair owned ABC local. Arg.

Charter has a 5MBps package...

-Hanjke

However, in recent years, consumer studies from companies such as J.D. Power suggest that cable is catching up. DIRECTV's customer satisfaction levels have been dropping.

I wouldn't say that cable is catching up. Clearly D* CS is dropping back to the crummy level of CS that cable provides.

...Clearly D* CS is dropping back to the crummy level of CS that cable provides.

Oh come on...do you truely believe that's even possible???

does charter offer the 5mbps locally yet? if so how much is it

I e-mailed ksdk last night blasting them for there hd or lack there of last night. They responded with we are experiencing technical difficulties beyond our control. I can't wait when they broadcast the news in hd and forget to flip the switch on there own programing

I think I am going to try that one the next time we have a major network outage.
" I am sorry Mr. VP we are experiencing technical difficulties beyond our control." I just better make sure and have my desk packed ahead of time...

Winston,

I didn't get out on Thursday because of the weather, but this morning I bought the Sharp 32" Aquos. In my brightly lit room I really like it. The screen has very little glare compared to the old CRT tube. My wife really likes the form factor of the thin screen.

DVDs look pretty darn good (interlaced seems to look better than prog over component from a cheap pioneer player). SD is a mixed bag from my DirecTivo. Some channels better than others. Composite cable seems better than S-vid. I still have to set the settings with AVIA or DVE, but I think this set will be great for my needs. I'm sure HD will look great, but it will probably be a week or so before I get the time to run the antenna line.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask.

does charter offer the 5mbps locally yet? if so how much is it


I have had it since May.

$49

does charter offer the 5mbps locally yet? if so how much is it
5mb is currently available in very limited areas to in MO, mostly through Charter Business, which went live this past May. The 3mb-to-5mb state-wide upgrade is in process for Charter Residential, and should be available mostly everywhere in MO shortly. This, according to the Charter Internet techs I spoke with last week.
5mg is "out there" but you need to call Charter to see if it's available in your particular location.

I am a new Charter HD customer. On local channels I see white and black lines at the top of the screen in some sceens. During the Rams game they were never there. Pretty much always there on channel 11 HD. Is this something that Charter can fix, or does everyone just live with it?

This was posted back on Nov. 21, but I forgot to reply...

I think I know what you're talking about. I was always seeing a little bit of "static looking garbage" at the top of the OTA picture on 2 and 11, I think, on upconverted SD. (I STILL don't have my antenna going again yet, so can't check.) Since I watch in 4:3/480i, it's in the letterboxing, so it's not an overscan thing (which Doug mentioned) that I can fix. And the other channels were fine, it was just two like that. Of course, if I was going to watch upconverted SD like that, I'd use zoom mode, but it's still annoying to see (they need to move the image up a bit more on their end I guess :)). I can't remember if it was also happening during commercials of primetime HD...

This was posted back on Nov. 21, but I forgot to reply...

I think I know what you're talking about. I was always seeing a little bit of "static looking garbage" at the top of the OTA picture on 2 and 11, I think, on upconverted SD. (I STILL don't have my antenna going again yet, so can't check.) Since I watch in 4:3/480i, it's in the letterboxing, so it's not an overscan thing (which Doug mentioned) that I can fix. And the other channels were fine, it was just two like that. Of course, if I was going to watch upconverted SD like that, I'd use zoom mode, but it's still annoying to see (they need to move the image up a bit more on their end I guess :)). I can't remember if it was also happening during commercials of primetime HD...

It's SD vertical blanking and (I think) closed cpation info that you are seeing.

The problem with eliminating overscan is that you can see stuff like this :(

Cheers,

Hey guys, what's the word on DirecTV getting local digitals in St. Louis? I know STL isn't in the top 12 markets, but is it close? Anytime timeline yet?

I'm moving back to the area in March and was looking forward to upgrading some of my DirecTV HD receivers (everything but the HD Tivo) since Houston is about to get the upgrade here to mpeg4 equipment... but the wife misses the family and wants to move back home (I really miss thin crust pizza with provel cheese too, yummy)

What's frustrating is that I moved to Tampa in April '04... and right when Verizon was laying down their fiber optic lines in my neighborhood for FIOS internet service (15Mbps) this past Spring, we moved over to Houston (couldn't resist the killing we made in only 1yr on the house and the hurricanes in FLA weren't the best welcoming party)... and now when DirecTV is about to upgrade Houston to mpeg4 and digital locals, I'm moving back to the land of Charter Cable, 3Mbps "broadband", and a Sinclair owned ABC local. Arg.

Oh well, at least I can listen to Cardinals baseball in the car again, and not over the internet. :D

Welcome back, Jon! It will be great to have one of the local HD pioneers back with us. :D

I'm still here, but we moved from Ballwin to St. Charles last year (as have many of the participants on this forum). We love it out here! Keep us informed on your plans.

Mike

Don't know if this has been mentioned yet, or not. I found it here:

http://www.tvtechnology.com/dailynews/issue.php?w=2005-12-09

Charter Taps Tandberg for Expanded VOD Rollout
Charter Communications has expanded its deployment of the Tandberg Television OpenStream digital services platform to support a national rollout of on-demand services.


Charter has deployed OpenStream in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin with multiple server vendors, billing systems and set-top box manufacturers.


The OpenStream platform include the Enterprise Session Resource Manager (eSRM) that enables customers to centrally share network resources between multiple services and a 24/7 network operations center that ensures rapid resolution of systems and products issues and currently support more than 1,500 VOD systems.

For those who currently have 5mbps is it noticably faster than 3mbps? is it worth the upgrade?

So I noticed that games were added to my Moxi. I have no clue when it was updated. Also saw that i have kareoke in the on demand section.

For those who currently have 5mbps is it noticably faster than 3mbps? is it worth the upgrade?

It is a common misconception that higher bandwidth results in greater "speed". You have to think of it as a pipe, and bandwidth as the size of that pipe. If you aren't filling it to 80+% on a regular basis you generally will not notice any difference by increasing the size.

Unless you are doing a lot of file transfers of significant size you probably would be wasting your money. Many companies don't have that much bandwidth and if they do they have several users running across it.

So I think I may ditch this Moxi and just get a cablecard. I'm interested in anyone's long term use of Charters cards - any major problems?

I have a few questions too:

1 - It does carry Dolby right? I can just use the digital out from the tv to my surround system?

2 - I know its not two way (I don't use VOD anyhow) - but I've read there is not a program guide. Is this true? No onscreen guide?

3 - Does HD programming work well on Charters card? Still look great?

Thanks in advance.

HDTV Magazine has added a new feature that allows you to select your local market and see the tower locations for available HD broadcasters.

Here's a link to the St. Louis map:

http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/programming/broadcast-market.php?dma_name[]=St.+Louis

Has anyone recently got a regular Charter HD receiver? I have a new HD set in my bedroom and was wondering how long the wait is.

Welcome back, Jon! It will be great to have one of the local HD pioneers back with us. :D

I'm still here, but we moved from Ballwin to St. Charles last year (as have many of the participants on this forum). We love it out here! Keep us informed on your plans.

Mike

Thanks Mike, it will be good to be back. Living in West County was nice in my 30yrs there, but I'm probably going to be headed to St. Charles County as well as it seems that there's alot of nice new construction going on out there (just based on researching on the internet). Not sure if we'll build or buy resale, but I'll be there next weekend (saying with the in-laws for a few weeks to house shop over the holidays) and St. Chuck looks appealing (other than the distance from the OTA broadcast towers, hehe).

Has anyone recently got a regular Charter HD receiver? I have a new HD set in my bedroom and was wondering how long the wait is.

My in-laws just got a new 26" Sammy LCD HDTV to hang in the kitchen and called Charter to get a HD DVR for it and were told "1 month wait". I'm sure it will get worse with all of the HDTV's flying off the shelves for the holidays too.

Good to hear Charter is finally upgrading to 5Mbps for residential, hopefully it will be widespread soon. Is the upload still ~384Kbps?

A month wait for a Moxi DVR is a crock. Plenty of the contract installers have them, Charter is just waiting for the new year to roll them out - something about finances. This is what my installer told me when he brought me mine. Charter told me they didn't have any, I could get on a waiting list. The contractor told me "I'll just bring you one when I come back out" and he did.

Man these locals putting their station logos outside the picture in the black bars is making me mad. If I wanted to watch Family Guy with black bars on the side, I would do it with my tv!

Punks.

Has anyone noticed less than (even for ch 5) normal quality tonight ? Law & Order CI and CJ bot had horrendous snowy macroblocking effects and is almost unwatchable. I've never seen it this bad...so I was hoping it wasn't any of my equipment. If I had a wild guess I would say their encoder was on the fritz. Anyone else exeperiencing this?

Has anyone noticed less than (even for ch 5) normal quality tonight ? Law & Order CI and CJ bot had horrendous snowy macroblocking effects and is almost unwatchable. I've never seen it this bad...so I was hoping it wasn't any of my equipment. If I had a wild guess I would say their encoder was on the fritz. Anyone else exeperiencing this?
I had one eye on both shows while I was working on a project. I noticed occasional glitches, but I see that on occasion on almost all channels. I didn't notice anything as bad as you indicate. I wish the FCC hadn't established such apparently loose standards and all those resolutions. If they made me king I would have mandated 720p. Seems there's much less problem on the 720p stations than the 1080i ones. While I'm on my soap box, what's up with some makers of mid size plasmas (30"-40") selling 480p resolution displays? That's hardly any better than analog TV for resolution.

cause most consumers don't know any better

cause most consumers don't know any better
The fools and their money will soon be parted.

Man these locals putting their station logos outside the picture in the black bars is making me mad. If I wanted to watch Family Guy with black bars on the side, I would do it with my tv!

Punks.

You could just watch the SD content on the SD channel.

Yes but then I'd have to re-edit my channel list :-)

My point is - WHY do they do this?

Not bloody likely, unless you have XM.

Does KTRS/550 not work on the AM band in the car radio anymore? :confused:

Does KTRS/550 not work on the AM band in the car radio anymore? :confused:
It works, but not very well in any of my cars. I do not at all believe that "anybody in St Louis will be able to tune in 550 without any problems", which is something that was preached when KTRS was announced to take over the Cardinals' broadcast.

In a followup to NBC not showing 'Joey' last week (not that most of you care), they ran it last night, although I didn't check if it was in HD. A simple reply to my email to the programming department would have been nice :rolleyes:

I live in the city and get 550 just fine. I listen to the Blues games when I have to be out driving.

Does KTRS/550 not work on the AM band in the car radio anymore? :confused:
I receive 550 fine in both of our cars, but we live in the Ballwin area, this may be different in other areas. By the way, welcome back
Dug

Okay, that's why I was confused, since I was always able to get 550 just fine in my house (Ballwin) and even driving around out in St. Charles. thx

A month wait for a Moxi DVR is a crock. Plenty of the contract installers have them, Charter is just waiting for the new year to roll them out - something about finances. This is what my installer told me when he brought me mine. Charter told me they didn't have any, I could get on a waiting list. The contractor told me "I'll just bring you one when I come back out" and he did.

Is there a way to do this? I just got off the phone with my third customer service rep at Charter and they all say no DVR until mid January.

Question for all you HDTV experts.
Presently I have Dish as my source but have been thinking about switching to Charter.
Does Charter offer the same HD channels as Dish? What are your opinions of the two services?

Jon,

Welcome back -- it'll be good to see you here again on a regular basis.

Hey guys. I don't post as much here as I should. I have a couple of questions:

1) Wracer, you mentioned that you'll be working on DD 5.1 on ABC locally. What are our prospects and timeframe for seeing it in the coming months?
2) I've been having some reception problems on the local NBC station. Its always been my weakest signal. I'm considering trying the Silver Sensor. Does any brick and mortar carry it locally? Otherwise, I'll go with buy.com or amazon.

Thanks,

Mike (Da Bears)

mmf,

Your note/question has prompted me to update the "Video Savant Guide" to HDTV Programming in St. Louis. This is current as of today, and includes the recent addition of Fox Sports Net Midwest on Charter.

If your browser has the Adobe Reader plug-in, you can click the link below to load the PDF file into your browser; if not, right click on the link below and save the file to your desktop and view via the standalone Adobe Reader.

If anyone sees any errors or omissions in the Guide, please drop me an eMail or private message via AVS.

Note: File updated to include correct resolution and HD content details for FSN.

Mike,

Jim posted here recently that he hopes to be able to do some work on the DD5.1 during the Christmas holiday season. He hasn't been able to give this attention sooner due to the fact that he's been traveling around the country getting other Sinclair digital stations up and running.

Hopefully we'll be hearing 5.1 on "Lost" and other ABC shows in the new year. Maybe Jim will be able to update us later this month.

On the Silver Sensor, I've tried to find it locally recently and haven't had much luck. I ended up borrowing a SS from (forum member) Joe Clark to see if it would work in my customer's location, because I didn't want to have to buy one online and then deal with the return hassles if it didn't work.

It's been a month or so since I was on the prowl for one of these, so maybe someone else has more current info on availability.

Note: Are you all set for your CES trip in January?

So I noticed that games were added to my Moxi. I have no clue when it was updated. Also saw that i have kareoke in the on demand section.

Karaoke is a something you don't need a MOXI box for. You can access that through the VOD menu on digital cable boxes as well. It's not free, but rather a monthly subscription of $6.99/mo.

I don't know about you, but I find that a little steep. I would like to see $1 for 24 hours. It might be fun to roll out at a party. If you like that sort of thing.

-Hanjke

Is there a way to do this? I just got off the phone with my third customer service rep at Charter and they all say no DVR until mid January.


I'm not sure, maybe luck? I had a couple of "bad" installers, so the guy who finally hooked me up really wanted me to be happy. I guess Charter looks favorably upon the contractors who make customers happy. He told me they had a "warehouse" full of Moxi's that Charter wouldn't let them officially roll out. If I could remember the name of the actual contractor I'd tell you, but it has slipped my mind, sorry.

Doug,

Thanks for the note. I saw Jim's note regarding working on it during Christmas. I'm curious if its a large project or something that can be wrapped up pretty easily. I remember when he was able to get the digial HD signal up and running on an apparent shoestring budget. I was hoping we'd be equivalently fortunate on 5.1 since I assume there's not much budget at Sinclair. I think the SuperBowl is on ABC this year. Hence my persistence.

I'll just go ahead and invest $20 on-line on the Silver Sensor. If it solves my problems, great. If not, I'll just chalk it up to my overall investment in home theater technology.

I was able to get a pass for the upcome CES in Vegas. A friend of my wife's was able to get it together. The whole process is still somewhat murky but I'm confident that she'll come thru. I've already got the airfare and hotel lined up so I'm going, regardless. I have no idea what to expect but a few days in Vegas should be great, whatever else happens.

Thanks again.

Mike (Da Bears)

Is there a way to do this? I just got off the phone with my third customer service rep at Charter and they all say no DVR until mid January.

I don't want to rehash the whole story for fear of my blood pressure spiking again, but after a typical Charter "ordeal" (install missed/supervisor runaround/unhelpful CSRs) to get a DVR, I finally got one when a CSR, who told me the same story about being out, set an appointment for an install. She said if they were unable to do it, they would cancel the appointment when it came around.

Much (very much) to my surprise, I got one. Not only that, but the first one installed was bad, and he went to get another one...so they're out there, somewhere.....

Good luck...

550 Reception
------------------
In recent driving in St Louis and St Charles counties, have had no problems with getting 550 in my car no matter the time.

jim

Silver Sensor
-----------------

BB has an amplified Terk Silver Sensor plus rabbit ears on the shelf MSRP about $60 - but there are frequently open boxes for 10-20% less.

jim

Has anyone noticed less than (even for ch 5) normal quality tonight ? Law & Order CI and CJ bot had horrendous snowy macroblocking effects and is almost unwatchable. I've never seen it this bad...so I was hoping it wasn't any of my equipment. If I had a wild guess I would say their encoder was on the fritz. Anyone else exeperiencing this?

The HD Elton John Special on Monday looked horrible. All reds were so saturated that his red Grand Piano looked like an animation of a real piano. Lots of pixelating whenever the cameras panned. Very noisey video. Hard to believe the network sent it out that way.

KSDK continues to implode. Perhaps they're planning to add a few more subs (I wouldn't be surprised).

Funny though, the audio sounded quite good.

I am starting to think this is a NBC problem and not the local affiliate. Looking at other forms other local NBC affiliates are having the same problems. I know that multicasting does not help. Listening to AVES radio I heard a e-mail from someone who stated there local affilate does not multicast and there signal looks great. The Elton John special looked like crap and so far so does Las Vegas. It is a shame to spend good money on a T.V. and get horrible content from a major network. I have sent numerous e-mails to ksdk and they just send back a generic e-mail saying we are having tech. difficulties. :mad:

I'm new & confused. I have DirecTV and just had an HD Receiver, Dish and Antenna for local HD feeds installed. I receive KSDK, KPLR and KTVI -- NO CBS or FOX. Was this a bad install job? Are others having similar issues? Is this a Chesterfield problem? Am I barking up the wrong (forum) tree?
Thanks in advance

I'm new & confused. I have DirecTV and just had an HD Receiver, Dish and Antenna for local HD feeds installed. I receive KSDK, KPLR and KTVI -- NO CBS or FOX. Was this a bad install job? Are others having similar issues? Is this a Chesterfield problem? Am I barking up the wrong (forum) tree?
Thanks in advance

Yep, sounds like a bad install job. I'm in O'Fallon, have D* with HDTivo (self-installed) and get all channels (except 46-1 occasionally). Never a single drop-out unless the station has a problem. I have a big radio shack antenna installed in the attic with an inline amplifier. I have to say, the aim on the antenna is pretty important. Also, the amp made a big difference. Given a proper install, you should be able to get all channels.

I continue to believe that the subchannel is the main problem with kSDk picture quality and I think this is borne out by the fact that other markets with the weather subchannel are having the same problems.

I also have at least a half dozen Tonight Show musical segments that were recorded before the arrival of the weather channel, and those are clearly superior to what I've seen since then.

There's an interesting thread over in the HDTV Programming Forum that suggests that the "glory days" of HDTV are behind us, with DirecTV and DISH overcompressing and local station subchannels growing in popularity (at least among TV station decision-makers).

One of the messages in that Programming Forum thread notes that CBS is going to be adding a subchannel to all its "owned and operated" digital stations (and any willing affilliates) in early 2006.

What's interesting -- and potentially promising -- about this is that CBS is supposedly instructing its local stations to shut down the subchannel whenever there is an HD sporting event so that picture quality doesn't suffer.

While this directive, if true, is commendable, I wonder why the subchannel shutdown would only be mandated for HD sports broadcasts. If CSI suffers, I'm going to be just as pissed off as if it were the AFC Championship game.

I'm also highly skeptical about how reliably subchannels will be shut off during HD sports events, based on the hit-and-miss "switch flipping" that's routinely reported in virtually every local market around the country.

I definitely believe that selective broadcasting of subchannels is the only logical way to go about this, but I have near-zero confidence that local station execution will be any better than it is for SD-to-HD switching.

In this era of automation I personally find it hard to believe that it can't be automated so that it isn't relying on a person to "flip a switch".

Cheers,

I have a big radio shack antenna installed in the attic with an inline amplifier. I have to say, the aim on the antenna is pretty important. Also, the amp made a big difference.

What kind of amplifier are you using? I'm out in O' Fallon and have a similar set-up with the antenna in the attic. I don't pick up 46 at all and 9 drops out often. I was wondering if an amplifier would help with this?

Toshiba Delays Japan Launch of HD-DVD

The following news story was featured in today's TVPredictions.com newsletter:
___________________________________________________

Toshiba released an unusual statement today, saying it must delay the Japanese launch of its new HD-DVD player. The company was hoping to introduce the set-top by year's end in Japan, but it says it must address some "copy protection" issues first.

The HD-DVD, which will play High-Definition TV movies, will compete with Sony's Blu-Ray HDTV DVD player, scheduled for release next spring.

Toshiba says the HD-DVD player will still be released in the U.S. in February or March, ahead of Sony. However, several studios have backed the Sony player, leaving one to wonder if Toshiba's "copy protection concerns" are coming from Hollywood rather than Japan.
___________________________________________________

To read the entire story, click here. (http://www.tvpredictions.com/)

John,

You're correct, of course, but this would require someone to either pre-program the switch at the station or reliably insert control data into the local and national program streams. I think the local streams (local-insert advertising) is where this would continue to fall over.

Somewhere along the line there's a requirement for intervention by a human being with some human-like intelligence. For whatever reason, there's seems to be a dearth of that commodity at many TV stations around the country.

I'm having a problem getting Fox HD. For some reason, when I do my channel search on my InFocus 61" DLP, it seems like it starts with channel 3 and it doesn't pick up 2-1. I only have the analog version of Fox. I really wanted to watch the football game this past weekened in HD but instead I had to wait until the KC-Dallas game.

Does anyone else have a problem received Fox HD? Is it a problem with the tuner or is Fox having a problem broadcasting. It's possible that it searches for a digital 2 but my display doesn't show the 2 because it advances to the next channel too quickly.

What kind of amplifier are you using? I'm out in O' Fallon and have a similar set-up with the antenna in the attic. I don't pick up 46 at all and 9 drops out often. I was wondering if an amplifier would help with this?

I tried using a couple, but the one that finally gave the best results was a Levitron I bought from Home Depot. It has an adjustable gain, which I need to keep at the lowest setting to get the highest signal strength. On all my locals including 9 but not 46, I get signal strength between 88 and 95. 46 is in the 70's but I haven't worried about it since 1. it isn't HD (I believe) and 2. I don't watch anything on that channel.

John,

You're correct, of course, but this would require someone to either pre-program the switch at the station or reliably insert control data into the local and national program streams. I think the local streams (local-insert advertising) is where this would continue to fall over.

Somewhere along the line there's a requirement for intervention by a human being with some human-like intelligence. For whatever reason, there's seems to be a dearth of that commodity at many TV stations around the country.

Since I work in Data Center Automation, I guess I just expect too much sometimes :D

Cheers,

I'm having a problem getting Fox HD. For some reason, when I do my channel search on my InFocus 61" DLP, it seems like it starts with channel 3 and it doesn't pick up 2-1. I only have the analog version of Fox. I really wanted to watch the football game this past weekened in HD but instead I had to wait until the KC-Dallas game.

Does anyone else have a problem received Fox HD? Is it a problem with the tuner or is Fox having a problem broadcasting. It's possible that it searches for a digital 2 but my display doesn't show the 2 because it advances to the next channel too quickly.
All our local digitals are in the uhf range, so it wouldn't show up until somewhere over 13(iirc). I don't remember what fox's real # is, but you may just need to re-aim your antenna.
Dug

1. Yes
2. Well not really, although for some reason Charter does put program info on some channels for some shows, but for the majority no. This is Charter
3. The only noticable quality issues are with stations that try to multicast a whole bunch of channels. So PBS HD isn't that great, but it's like that for everyone, nothing to do with the CableCard

So I think I may ditch this Moxi and just get a cablecard. I'm interested in anyone's long term use of Charters cards - any major problems?

I have a few questions too:

1 - It does carry Dolby right? I can just use the digital out from the tv to my surround system?

2 - I know its not two way (I don't use VOD anyhow) - but I've read there is not a program guide. Is this true? No onscreen guide?

3 - Does HD programming work well on Charters card? Still look great?

Thanks in advance.

Does KTRS/550 not work on the AM band in the car radio anymore? :confused:

Get it fine in O'fallon when I'm driving. Welcome back Jon.

Scott

All our local digitals are in the uhf range, so it wouldn't show up until somewhere over 13(iirc). I don't remember what fox's real # is, but you may just need to re-aim your antenna.
Dug

I believe that Fox 2-01 is at channel 43. If you're getting channel 4-01 (which is at channel 56) your tuner should have found it. Try re-scanning everything again.

For those of you waiting to get something from Charter there is a very easy way around this. I won't even bother calling the normal customer service numbers anymore. Just call up and ask for the corporate hq number. Then call during normal business hours and as for the Customer Service Escalation Department (I think that's what it is called). Anyway this department is there to make sure your problems get addressed a lot fast than some min wage making csr on the normal numbers. They even went so far as to have someone come out to my house after normal hours after I got off work when I told them I would be available. It's funny how almost every company has these departments yet you only get to them when you complain enough or ask the right questions. They have always taken care of me when i was about to lose it with the normal csr. My friends have actually suggested I start a business called Get Sh*t Done. I often will call places for them as I seem to have a knack for not taking no for an answer and talking to enough bosses that Sh*t Gets Done. If they want your business bad enough they will take care of you. But remember, you have to be ready and willing to walk not that I have ever had my bluff called.

I'd be willing to bet my accounts with Charter, Sprint and SBC are all marked with "Just take care of this guy because it's what you will end up doing anyway" :)

I believe that Fox 2-01 is at channel 43. If you're getting channel 4-01 (which is at channel 56) your tuner should have found it. Try re-scanning everything again.

That's what is weird. I have scanned it a couple times and it never comes up. I have a multi-directional antenna and I was getting it fine. Now I get nothing. I was worried it was not broadcasting for some reason but it seems like you guys are getting it.

Thanks for the feedback.

KTVI-DT FOX 2 is actually channel 43.3 if that helps.

For the first time in months KSDK is encoding 5.1 instead of 3.0.

Strange green snow across the entire video frame though.

Well just got home a bit ago and fliped on CH 5 for L&O SVU and all the dark areas are snowy, the "effect" is just what I described a couple of days ago. All other channels look fine.

Edit: yes, green snow as salaman described above, I'm glad someone else noticed it.

I have been noticing the crappy picture on KSDK lately too, i'm glad its them and not me!!

By the way i'm new here, ive been readign the forum a little from time to time but never took the time to register but fianlly did. This seems to be the only place i can get any info on all the local HDTV stuff.

I tried using a couple, but the one that finally gave the best results was a Levitron I bought from Home Depot. It has an adjustable gain, which I need to keep at the lowest setting to get the highest signal strength. On all my locals including 9 but not 46, I get signal strength between 88 and 95. 46 is in the 70's but I haven't worried about it since 1. it isn't HD (I believe) and 2. I don't watch anything on that channel.

I'm a little bit north of Troy MO and had some trouble picking up HD channels for everything but Fox. (CM 4228 roof mount, Motorola HDT100 tuner, which I don't like but it works). I'm using a RadioShack diplexer to combine my antenna and satellite feed onto the same coax then split it back out inside the house. I put an in-line satellite amplifier in the section of cable that's carrying both signals, and now I can reliably get all St. Louis HD channels except channel 9 (sometimes I can get it early in the morning). If anyone is using a diplexer set-up, I'd recommend trying one of these in-line amps for a cheap (~$15) boost.

edit -- I forgot to add, obviously the sat is providing the power to the amp; this amp wouldn't work with just an antenna signal.

I have been noticing the crappy picture on KSDK lately too, i'm glad its them and not me!!

By the way i'm new here, ive been readign the forum a little from time to time but never took the time to register but fianlly did. This seems to be the only place i can get any info on all the local HDTV stuff.

Time to start another wasted-effort letter writing campaign. They just can't seem to walk & chew gum at the same time.

The HD Elton John Special on Monday looked horrible. All reds were so saturated that his red Grand Piano looked like an animation of a real piano. Lots of pixelating whenever the cameras panned. Very noisey video. Hard to believe the network sent it out that way.

KSDK continues to implode. Perhaps they're planning to add a few more subs (I wouldn't be surprised).

Funny though, the audio sounded quite good.
Agree; now I know it wasn't my reception! And sound was good for the special.

Question for all--has anyone noticed that KSDK sound is 'softer' than any of the other digital channels over the last few weeks??? I have to turn the volume up on 5.1, but then when surfing need to lower it on other channels as the volume is noticeably louder. All the other channels seem to be similar, KSDK is the only one with lower volume.

Anyone around here using the Radio Shack DVI cables? I typically try to use Bluejeans or Outlaw Audio cables due to their high quality/high value, but for $12.50 per for a 12' cable, the price is certainly right. Typically, you get what you pay for though.

If they're crud, then I'll just bite the bullet and spend the extra dough.

Thanks

I have never had any problems with rat shack cables, and their return policy is excellent if they don't work out for you.

Anyone around here using the Radio Shack DVI cables? I typically try to use Bluejeans or Outlaw Audio cables due to their high quality/high value, but for $12.50 per for a 12' cable, the price is certainly right. Typically, you get what you pay for though.

If they're crud, then I'll just bite the bullet and spend the extra dough.

Thanks

I've used those Radio Shack DVI cables (on closeout at $12,50) and have had no issues. Can't testify to the long term, but the build quality looks and feels excellent. I wouldn't hesitate to buy again.

Agree; now I know it wasn't my reception! And sound was good for the special.

Question for all--has anyone noticed that KSDK sound is 'softer' than any of the other digital channels over the last few weeks??? I have to turn the volume up on 5.1, but then when surfing need to lower it on other channels as the volume is noticeably louder. All the other channels seem to be similar, KSDK is the only one with lower volume.

Agreed! The sound has recently dropped a bit in relation to the other channels. What's going on over there?????

Went to watch L&O in HD and what did I see......the freaking weather channel.....KSDK is really starting to piss me off

I saw the same thing on kSDk tonight when I went to watch Law and Order via TiVo.

Perhaps they're taking this kSDk thing completely to heart?

Or maybe kSDk engineering is using Charter install tech rejects as their hiring pool.

Anyway, I've come to expect the worst from kSDk -- and still they manage to surprise and disappoint... :rolleyes:

Has anyone else been watching SLEEPER CELL on SHO-HD?
Reminds me sorta of 24...

-Hanjke

I saw the same thing on kSDk tonight when I went to watch Law and Order via TiVo.

Perhaps they're taking this kSDk thing completely to heart?

Or maybe kSDk engineering is using Charter install tech rejects as their hiring pool.

Anyway, I've come to expect the worst from kSDk -- and still they manage to surprise and disappoint... :rolleyes:

Unfortunately, NBC is carrying the 2006 Winter Olympics. I just hope some HD station that actually has a clue about HDTV (like HDNet) carries some programming.

Maybe we should start a website: www.ksdk-is-clueless.com

Way off topic but since we all seem to be up on technology.........

I read somewhere that the FCC agreed to the SBC / ATT merger and one of the requirments
for that to be completed was that SBC could no longer mandate a local phone line for a
customer who wanted DSL.

Does anyone know where I can find this information?

Thanks

Well...it appears I answered my own question:

Stand-Alone DSL: We require the Applicants to make available stand-alone, or "naked" DSL. This
means consumers can buy DSL without being forced to also purchase voice service. This is good
news. If savvy consumers have cut the cord and use only a wireless phone, why should they have to
pay for wireline voice service they don't even want? Looking forward, this condition is important for
the development of VoIP. I also am pleased that the Commission has committed to enforce this
condition and issue an annual report addressing anti-competitive conduct in this market. And I hope
we will have the good sense to find it anti-competitive if the price for stand-alone DSL is not
significantly less than the price for bundled voice and DSL.

This can be found in http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-05-183A1.pdf

Now it is time to cal SBC! oops I meant at&t

Putting this to bed. I called, they don't offer it yet :confused:

Speakeasy has offered naked DSL for some time, but its a bit pricey. I imagine SBC/ATT will just adjust their DSL prices accordingly to make up for the lost revenue.

Dean,

If the last (summer) Olympics is anything to go by, NBC's HD coverage might be offered via Universal HD, which is currently only available through DirecTV. In fact, I suspect that carrying HD Olympic coverage on UHD will be repeated this time around to serve as a "carrot" to get more carriage for UHD from cable companies around the country and from DISH.

The only downside from a DirecTV perspective on UHD is that the picture sometimes suffers from overcompression, though I think it has improved over the past few months. But at least I won't have to worry about someone at UHD "flipping the switch."

I'm also not entirely sure whether local HD NBC stations and/or UHD will have "same day" HDTV coverage of Olympic events. NBC received a ton of criticism about the 24-hour delay on HD coverage for the last Summer Games, but whether that translates to "real time" HD coverage this time around, I'm not sure.

Might be a good question to pose over in the HDTV Programming forum...

Thanks Doug. I have D* so we'll see how it goes with the Olympics.

The earliest you would probably see Naked DSL is February. That is when the full transition of products is to be done and AT&T will be seen on current SBC customer's bills.

I've used those Radio Shack DVI cables (on closeout at $12.50) and have had no issues. Can't testify to the long term, but the build quality looks and feels excellent. I wouldn't hesitate to buy again.

They're still around to be had for $12.50 (for a 12' cable) even though they seem to have been on closeout for quite a while. Just picked 2 up at the RS at Olive and Mason in Creve Coeur.

Thanks for the advice.

Hey Hanjke,

I have every Sleeper Cell episode sitting on the Tivo but not had a chance to watch any of them yet. Gonna get around to it soon....

Between that and Masters of Horror, I haven't recorded Showtime this regularly since the Odyssey 5 days.

Boy do I feel stupid. I constantly complained to my wife about not being able to get UPN with my over the air indoor antenna. I was moving my TV yesterday to make room for the Christmas Tree and I noticed a discreet gain control on my Terk TV5 antenna. I turned the gain up and all my channels signal went way up including UPN 46. I can now get UPN 46 and it is coming in at over 70%! I did not think it was possible with an indoor antenna from the Florissant area. If you are looking for an antenna the Terk TV5 seems to work really good.

I'm having a problem getting Fox HD. For some reason, when I do my channel search on my InFocus 61" DLP, it seems like it starts with channel 3 and it doesn't pick up 2-1. I only have the analog version of Fox. I really wanted to watch the football game this past weekened in HD but instead I had to wait until the KC-Dallas game.

Does anyone else have a problem received Fox HD? Is it a problem with the tuner or is Fox having a problem broadcasting. It's possible that it searches for a digital 2 but my display doesn't show the 2 because it advances to the next channel too quickly.

I have a sony HDD 250 PVR. Before I installed an Antenna's Direct DB8 in the attic FOX was the only channel I could reliably receive using a set top antenna. Since installing the attic unit I get all the HD Channels including UPN, but fox has too much noise and the pixilation is constant. The signal strength varies from 94 to 5 and the SNR fluxuates from 10 to 0. All other channels have SNR above 30. It seems I now pick up additional interference with the attic setup and FOX.

If you are picking up the same interference, then your unit may not be able to scan in the channel. I live in the Wildwood area.

I watched Sleeper Cell for the first time a few days ago, and liked it. I didn't think that it had the fire of 24, but it was good. I've been a bit disappointed in the Masters of Horror series. I hope it gets better. I sure miss HBO's Rome.

Bob, you've got an email response from me.

I'm also throwing in my vote of disgust at KSDK's picture quality. The reds are unwatchable. I thought something was wrong with my pj. One of the scenes towards the end of this week's My Name is Earl(probably a repeat) featured a playset that was mostly red, and it was practically solarized. Not good...

If anyone is putting together an htpc, don't bother with the FusionHDTV5 Lite card. Many of us who went for it are getting broken video/audio while just trying to channel surf with live tv. Go for the Fusion 3 instead, or some other brand.

I can't remember if I already posted this or not, but I can't believe how big a difference there is between Charter's HD locals and the OTA. *VERY* noticable difference, I wonder how much Charter is compressing crap. I'm also hoping that D* MPeg4 stuff looks closer to the OTA stuff when my charter contract is up.

Jdurbin -

"I'm having a problem getting Fox HD. For some reason, when I do my channel search on my InFocus 61" DLP, it seems like it starts with channel 3 and it doesn't pick up 2-1. I only have the analog version of Fox. I really wanted to watch the football game this past weekened in HD but instead I had to wait until the KC-Dallas game."


When you scan for channels Over the Air, your HD set is searching the digital spectrum. Fox digital on 2-1 is actually broadcast over uhf 'channel' 43. The TV tuner/STB will pick up the uhf frequency and assign it to channel 2-1. The chart below from antenna web shows the uhf frequency assigned to each digital channel. (The last number is the frequency assignment.)

As far as only getting the analog version of FOX and trying to watch games in HD...The analog station will not be HD.

I'm sure this is posted in this forum in the early pages as well....

Station - Digital Channel - Network - Origin of broadcast - UHF frequency assgnment
WPXS-DT 21 IND MOUNT VERNON IL 21
KTVI-DT 2.1 FOX St. Louis MO 43
KMOV-DT 4.1 CBS ST. LOUIS MO 56
KDNL-DT 30.1 ABC ST. LOUIS MO 31
KSDK-DT 5.1 NBC ST. LOUIS MO 35
KPLR-DT 11.1 WB ST. LOUIS MO 26
KETC-DT 9.1 PBS ST. LOUIS MO 39
KNLC-DT 24.1 FMN ST. LOUIS MO 14
WRBU-DT 46.1 UPN E. ST. LOUIS IL 47

Good luck....

I just found your forum and I am desperate for help. I have a DishNetwork DVR 942. I have been through 4 different antennas. The first one worked decently for about a week. The most recent one worked GREAT for two weeks. I am only concerned about FOX, NBC, CBS, ABC, and KPLR. They all had signals of 100, except CBS was 98-100 for the first two weeks. Now they all show a signal of 0 and not locked. I have had some AV guys to the house to work on it. I am at the end of my rope though. Can anyone tell me what I should do or who I should talk to in the Ofallon, IL area about coming out and getting me fixed up. Thank you.

deuces,

This sounds more like a hardware (DISH 942) issue than an antenna problem.

To start, I'd suggest you clear all the OTA channels from your 942 receiver, unplug the 942 from the mains power and leave it without power for 10 minutes, and then repower it and try to re-scan for the OTA stations.

If that doesn't bring any results, I'd suggest that your 942 may be faulty and you may want to look into having it replaced.

BTW, I'm in the Fairview Heights/Swansea area, but repair work isn't really the focus of my business. But if all else fails and you'd like me to see if I can help you, feel free to give me a call on either of the numbers below.

Doug,

Thank you for the reply. My fear is if I drop the OTA stations out I will never be able to regain their locations if that doesn't fix the issue. Also will removing power for 10 minutes or more cause me to lose recorded programs. If you think you could fix my issue I would love to have you look at it. I would be willing to pay whatever it is worth to you, with the knowledge that it is not going to bankrupt me, lol. We are having family over for Christmas tomorrow and we were looking forward to watching NFL games on the first Saturday of the season. If you think we will not lose recorded programs or have issues getting the channels back I will unplug it. Thanks.

deuces,

I don't have intimate knowledge of the 942, but I seriously doubt that removing the power is going to make you any worse off than you are now. And it won't result in the erasure of any recorded programs, as they are safely stored on the hard disk.

When you restart the box, it may take a while to boot up, but in my experience this is normal for most of the DISH receivers I've seen. So, if that happens, no need for panic.

Anyway, give that a try and let me know how it works for you.

Doug,

We unplugged it and re-scanned and had no luck. Do you agree that if we had signals of 100 for two weeks and then lost everything that it probably isn't the antenna. Our antenna is in the attic so it wasn't turned by wind or something like that.

The only other possibility that immediately occurs to me is that there might be a connection problem at the antenna end.

It's interesting that your antenna stopped working (so to speak) and then the replacement was fine but then later failed. I'd start checking the cable from the antenna and work outward from there.

Sorry I can't be more helpful, but it's difficult to troubleshoot this sort of thing remotely. Still, the cable run is definitely worth checking.

I'm assuming your TV doesn't have a built in ATSC tuner that you could test the antenna with?

What about other VHF/UHF signals? I mean, channel 30 is still UHF. Test your analog channels with your antenna.

I'm a DirecTV guy so I have no intimate knowledge of the DISH stuff, so lets work to eliminate your antenna first.

A quick search shows that you may have to manually add your digital stations. Apparently a software release hit your box recently???

Sorry guys, i'm not real good at this stuff, so I appreciate your help, but I may be slow on the uptake sometimes. I don't think the TV has it's own tuner, because when we were having antenna problems before the guys working on it talked about sending the signal to the tv, then they tried to set up one of their DirectTV receivers, but could not get it to load at my house. I am not at home right now, but just asked the wife to scan for analog channels so I will find out the results of that. When the people helping me before were troubleshooting they tried checking cable and diplexers. They ran different cable directly from the an antenna to the receiver, while carrying the antenna to the roof. Then the antenna that finally worked, was mounted in attic. It worked perfect for two weeks, signals of 100 on all channels. Then we would start to miss parts of some recorded programs where signal was lost. Then all channels went out but 2 and 4. And now they have completely gone out. 0 signal, not locked is how the 942 terms it.

On the analog scan, it found 7 stations. I understand what you mean about adding them manually, but that update should not have made me lose channels that were already locked should it? If I add them manually, do I add them by the corresponding number, like 26 for 11?

I live in St. Charles but work at Scott. I didn't drive today so I can't stop by..Sorry.

My suggestion is to just disconnect the Antenna in on your 942 and connect it to your TV.
Your TV should have a built in NTSC tuner. If you are getting channels on that, it is not your
antenna but rather your lack of LOCK. So you will probably need to readd the channels
manually on your 942.

On the analog scan, it found 7 stations. I understand what you mean about adding them manually, but that update should not have made me lose channels that were already locked should it? If I add them manually, do I add them by the corresponding number, like 26 for 11?

I think you have to add them manually like 26-1, 43-1, 31-1 and so on.

Good troubleshooting by your installers to run a separate lead to the new antenna to check it. I still wouldn't entirely rule out a cable problem, but I think wm's suggestion on manually adding the channels probably holds more promise, particularly if there's a new, dodgy software update out there.

I'm not sure how the DISH boxes work on adding manually, but try it both ways -- for example, add 43 for KTVI, and if that doesn't take, try adding 2-1. If you get a good result, repeat whatever works for the remaining channels.

Our TV is a JVC DILA TV. I'm not sure if it has the tuner or not. What will the place we need to connect the antenna be labeled? then do we look for the HD channels on 26, 31.....

As I said my wife is at home doing this as I chat with you. Don't make assumptions, while she isn't a techno genius, she is better than me, lol. She said there is only room for 2 digits to add manually, she tried 26 and 56 and it found neither. Our receiver had a very small hinge broken on the front when we received it, I just glued it back on. Maybe it was mishandled during shipping, just seems odd that it would work some, then stop, then work again, and stop. In the past I have emailed a DishNetwork beta tester about my problems. He said he is giving my info to DishNetwork and they should be calling me to help troubleshoot. Will they be able to tell somehow if it is the tuner in the receiver?

If I'm looking at the correct TV, it should be on the back and look like a cable input..the screw on type.

So once we put the antenna feed on it, do we just find those stations on channel 26? 31? 56? and so on?

deuces,

I checked the features on the entry-level DILA set and it does include an ATSC tuner (as well as CableCard capability). Not sure which one you own, but if the low-end model has the tuner, I would assume all the others do, too.

The input should be a female coax connector and probably is labeled something like "ANT IN."

You should have to put in the 26-1. Just run it through the setup. Not to make fun or anything but I think you might want to have Doug come over and show you how to use your
equipment. Some sales people just don't take the time to show it to you.

Doug I would gladly pay you to come by. I know you probably would rather I have bought equipment from you, but I was new to the area and took a recommendation from someone. What do ya charge? What is worth your while?

I'm sure you and Doug are PMing now, but how goes the troubleshooting?

Haven't gotten to try anything else yet. Too much has to be moved for my wife to put antenna directly into the TV herself. I will have to be at home. Have not heard anything else from Doug, I'm sure he is busy

TV is on shelf above fireplace, antenna feed comes in behind component cabinet, you know how that goes.

Yep...Surprised she was working as hard as she was.

She isn't happy about the issues. She loves CSI, Without A TRACE, Cold Case. She likes them even better in HD. I can't tell you how many times I have heard we should have gotten cable. Everything I have read is that the quality on cable will not be as good and I grew up with DishNetwork (lived in rural area, cable was never an option). We actually had a C band at one time.

My 3 favorite shows. Well good luck. I'm sure Doug will contact you. If not, give me a holler and I can stop by on my way home one day, just give me notice so I can drive.

I hadn't heard of Doug's business before or we could have used him from the start. He said he doesn't typically do repair work, but I would think he wouldn't mind if the pay is the same.

deuces,

Call me when you have time to talk and we can discuss this further.

Since you're nearby, I could probably see you this evening, if that's convenient for you.

HDMI - DVI - Cables at Sam's
----------------------------------
See that Sam's has various types of gold plated cables in the under $25 price range [hopefully Costco will be doing the same]. Does anyone have any experience with any of them? Are they a good value?

Based on the following article seems that higher price does not always bring better performance'

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,121777,00.asp

"The Cable Game"

TIA - Jim

I'm also throwing in my vote of disgust at KSDK's picture quality. The reds are unwatchable. I thought something was wrong with my pj. One of the scenes towards the end of this week's My Name is Earl(probably a repeat) featured a playset that was mostly red, and it was practically solarized. Not good...



i dont watch channel 5 much, but happened to watch leno and conan tonight (OTA). wow, the pq is horrible! I've never seen it this bad. Between the pixelation and the problem with the reds, i just want to watch the SD feed. I thought maybe it was just me, til i read in here.

what's the deal? are they giving too much bandwidth to that waste of space 5.2?

I know, I know....I just bashed KSDK. But I have to give them kudos for finally giving us true 5.1 sound. I went back and checked that clip I recorded of My Name is Earl after reading a post here, and was surprised to find that it is true. Wonders never cease to amaze...

At work we have Dish Network in our break room, and a few cashiers had an NBC soap opera on yesterday afternoon the Dish SD feed of KSDK. The picture was covered in snow (and this was an indoor scene :D ). It looked like we were receiving the picture over the air from Cape Girardeau or something. Wonder if it's related?

Of course, if I'd gotten to the break room a few minutes earlier, we'd have been watching Star Trek on SpikeTV.....

Sure, Robert. Blame it all on the cashiers.

Scott

Sure, Robert. Blame it all on the cashiers.

Scott


Hey I'm just glad Ambush Makeover isn't on anymore! Every time I had to sit through THAT during lunch, my IQ dropped 30 points!

But it did come back a few days later.

Ambush Makeover was the best show my ex-girlfriend watched!


(note the EX part)

I know, I know....I just bashed KSDK. But I have to give them kudos for finally giving us true 5.1 sound. I went back and checked that clip I recorded of My Name is Earl after reading a post here, and was surprised to find that it is true. Wonders never cease to amaze...

i'd rather have 3.0 with good pq than 5.1 with bad pq :(

i'd rather have 3.0 with good pq than 5.1 with bad pq :(

Surely you don't expect KSDK to do somthing that makes sense?

HDMI - DVI - Cables at Sam's
----------------------------------
See that Sam's has various types of gold plated cables in the under $25 price range [hopefully Costco will be doing the same]. Does anyone have any experience with any of them? Are they a good value?


"The Cable Game"

TIA - Jim

I bought the combination pack with the various cable types. I had one set of composite cables that were defective and of course Sams exchanged them. Overall for the money they are hard to beat. The component cables are not as good as my custom mades, but for the money no complaints. I changed out some of my lesser cables going to my old equipment (VCR, cassette, etc)and I could see and hear an improvement.

SNL started in HD but with a missing center channel. kSDk eventually switched to SD, which fixed the sound.

But hey, it's great to know it's 37 degrees in Memphis with 86% humidity.

Ho hum.

I heard (or lack there of) the SNL center channel HD feed screw-up. Was that issue only local? If so, how long will it take KSDK to get a clue. It is going to be tough watching the news in February without any anchorman sound!

SNL started in HD but with a missing center channel.

the show is actually funnier that way :D

I seldom chime in but read the forum a couple of times a week. Please take this post as it is intended, and be kind.

Getting up on my soapbox now.

I've had HD for 4 years now. Started with the OTA and have moved to Charter HD for now and am pleased with what I get for the money.

The purpose of this post is to figure out why people continue to patronize a business they don't like.

The local NBC affiliate has no clue when it comes to HD. That is so clear (or rather not clear I suppose) that anyone with HD can hardly watch. The Elton John concert last week is a prime example. The PQ was so bad I couldn't stand it and I'm a huge EJ fan.

The question has to be why continue to patronize KSDK? They obviously don't care about the HD viewer or they would do something about their poor quality. If you don't like how they broadcast, quit watching. If the PQ is so bad, quit watching. KSDK makes money though advertising, plain and simple. If you quit watching their shows the ratings drop, thus advertising drops, thus they make less money. Bottom line is even if KSDK monitors this forum (which I doubt) they can see that many are still watching their broadcasts, even if people are unhappy with the PQ. Quit watching as it seems no letter writing campaign is having any effect and the FCC is so busy chasing their tails they wouldn't do anything about it even if they could.

The next topic is the Sinclair-Charter strife. If I owned Charter I wouldn't pay 50 cents per subscriber to carry ABC either! Nor as a subscriber would I pay an extra 50 cents to receive ABC in HD.

I would love to watch LOST and a couple of other ABC programs, but I don't. If it isn't in HD it doesn't get my business. I must confess that as an avid football fan I do watch MNF via my OTA connection, but that's it. Nothing else on ABC gets my business until it's carried in HD over Charter.

I know this sounds trite but for me the bottom line is if you don't like the service you're getting do business elsewhere. Many of you have disliked Charter's service and moved elsewhere. That's how you protest, you take your money elsewhere. Think about doing the same with your viewing time. If the local affiliate isn't doing the right thing, take your business elsewhere.

Getting off my soapbox now.

Well I've said my piece. Thankfully no one here knows my address so I won't get the house burned to the ground for my comments... :)

I agree with you all the way. I'm lucky though, except for sports (mostly hockey and football) and the FOX sunday simpsons/family guy lineup, I watch very little major network tv anyhow. So I don't really care if the HD feeds choke most of the time.

I'm also pretty happy with Charter so far.

...The purpose of this post is to figure out why people continue to patronize a business they don't like....

Once it became evident KSDK has no interest in correcting their HD problems or even responding to viewers, I stopped watching. There's plenty of other programming on TV that interests me. I don't think I've watched anything on KSDK in well over a month now. I also took L&O off my Tivo season pass list. I don't miss it.

The HD looks great, but that scoreboard bug is obnoxious. It's too big, too dark for plasma displays and is distracting. Besides that, I love it. Do we need it on all the time?

what bug? looks fine on my plasma.

edit: oh do you mean that its not all the way at the top of the screen? I dunno what you mean about it being too dark though.

dp,

I generally agree with you. I only bothered to check my TiVo recording of SNL last night because I'm a longtime Neil Young fan. On the other hand, I do nightly recordings of the musical segments for Conan and Leno, so it's a little harder for me to go cold turkey on kSDk than it would be ideally.

Unlike "voting with my wallet" against Charter, I don't really have an apples-to-apples replacement for kSDk. That's one of the problems with the archaic anti-competitive network-affiliate system. But that's a topic for a completely different soapbox.

Dean,
NBC received a ton of criticism about the 24-hour delay on HD coverage for the last Summer Games, but whether that translates to "real time" HD coverage this time around, I'm not sure.

Rightfully so.

I think they replayed the Opening Ceremonies about 15 times.

What scoreboard bug are you talking about? Can you describe it a little better? I don't see anything awfully bad here.

I heard (or lack there of) the SNL center channel HD feed screw-up. Was that issue only local? If so, how long will it take KSDK to get a clue. It is going to be tough watching the news in February without any anchorman sound!

How long???? It's been a problem for about a year now with no end in sight. My guess is this is another example of an NBC show that contains NO Dolby 5.1 audio, but KSDK turns on the DD5.1 flag which signals your receiver to send all center channel info (in this case .... NONE) to the center channel.

The simplest fix is to defeat the DD5.1 decoder of your audio system and set it to Dolby Pro Logic instead. Although a band-aid fix, It will sound much better.

On the subject of bashing KSDK. Their latest issue seems to be an inability to keep it up, their signal strength that is! After watching the disappointing Rams game on the typically perfect Fox, I started surfing to find KSDK and KPLR have poor signal strenth. Most of the time they show up at 95% or higher, but right now, KSDK is varying from the 30's to the mid 70's, where anything below 70% causes a freeze. KPLR basically is not there at the upper 30% range.

This was different than the usual KSDK DD 5.1 screw-up. Usually, you can hear all the audio, just not on the correct channels. This time, you couldn't hear the main dialogue. It did not come through on any channel. I tune into KSDK now just for the entertainment of see how they can screw up the HD signal. Last night was the first I had seen/heard of this problem.

This was different than the usual KSDK DD 5.1 screw-up. Usually, you can hear all the audio, just not on the correct channels. This time, you couldn't hear the main dialogue. It did not come through on any channel. I tune into KSDK now just for the entertainment of see how they can screw up the HD signal. Last night was the first I had seen/heard of this problem.

I've been having the missing center channel problem all along with my 7.1 DD PLIIx processor. I'd have to step down processing to DD EX or DD 5.1 to get the center channel sound back, and then it registers as DD 3.0.

Does anyone know the scoop on FSNHD on Charter is? This station along with HD pay per view has the color bars, and know one at charter will fill me in.

I dont think they have full time programming so its not on if they arent broadcasting a game in HD

Anybody else notice that KSDK and Ultimate Electronics are giving away a HDTV. Along with the promo for the contest they state that they are leading the charge to HDTV in the St Louis area! It's a shame there isn't a way to sue for false advertising. I mean, it's pretty obvious to the HDTV enthusiasts that KSDK is one of the worst HDTV providers in the area, but I guess since they recently produced the Thanksgiving Day parade in HD and they are planning on being the 1st with HD news makes them "leaders" in HD :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Sorry to add to the rants.

Do you think one of the other stations would run a story about the shortcomings of KSDK? :D :D

Kurt,

Sure, its semantics, but they are the LOCAL leader in HDTV.

Aren't they the first local station to produce something in HDTV? The parade?

They claim they're going to be hte first to do local news in HD.

I guess that really does make them the local leader. =[

KPLR was the first to produce a local broadcast. They did the Cardinals games several months ago.

Congress Passes Compromise on Digital TV Transition

The following story was featured in today TVPredictions.com newsletter, based on a Reuters news story.

__________________________________________________

The U.S. House of Representatives on Monday approved legislation to complete the country's transition to new, higher-quality digital television by Feb. 17, 2009.

Under a deal negotiated by Republicans in the Senate and House, a $1.5 billion fund would be created to help some consumers buy converter boxes so existing analog television signals do not go dark when the transition is finished.

The compromise is part of a larger bill aimed at cutting government spending over the next five years, which was narrowly approved by the House and still must be passed by the Senate.

The Senate previously had approved a $3 billion fund and set the date as April 7, 2009 for when television stations must end analog broadcasts and only air their digital signals.

The House originally backed a $990 million fund and Dec. 31, 2008 as the date.

Congress is eager for broadcasters to give up the analog airwaves, some of which will be auctioned for commercial wireless service, a sale that could bring in billions of dollars which could plug the government budget deficit.
__________________________________________________

Click here (http://yahoo.reuters.com/financeQuoteCompanyNewsArticle.jhtml?duid=mtfh56987_2005-12-19_11-58-34_n19217967_newsml) to read the full story.

kSDk is the Rosie Ruiz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_ruiz) of HD Leadership.

BTW, I don't know about other programs on kSDk, but on SNL this past weekend there was no way for my A/V receiver to produce a center channel and/or dialog.

Unfortunately my receiver (Yamaha DSP-A1) locks into Dolby Digital mode whenever it receives a signal encoded for DD -- there's no way to manually shift to Dolby Pro Logic. However, I am able to shift to 2-channel stereo (no effect mode), but even in that configuration there was no dialog coming through.

I could be wrong, but this seems to point to the fact that center channel/dialog was dropped by kSDk and never sent out.

I have DTV HD and Tivo receiver. Yesterday, and helped a friend with his SD Dish DVR. We were watching the Rams game, and the picture was terrible. The artifacts around the players whenever they moved, made it really hard to watch.

Is this typical for Dish SD Locals? Everyone else experience the same? Have I just been spoiled with OTA HD ?

Ed Tenholder

Doug,

Thank you again for the help on Friday. I hope the new 942 clears up the issues I have been having. I read earlier someone said that KPLR broadcast the Cardinals in HD last year. Was this true for all games? What are the plans for next year? Someone was also talking about FSN in HD. Does Fox Midwest broadcast Card games in HD or have plans to? I guess I am asking if anyone has info about future Cardinal broadcasts in HD.

Thanks

deuces,

No problem on the house call -- I'm very hopeful that the replacement 942 will solve your issues with losing the digital locals.

There's no HD schedule out yet for the Cards in 2006, but I would expect that we'll get something on the order of 35 to 40 games, though hopefully I'm underestimating.

To recap 2005, KPLR did 11 HD broadcasts. Apart from the home opener, most of these were weekend home games, though I believe there was one or two road games broadcast from Houston.

At the start of last season, FSN actually promoted, on air during a couple of early games, that they would be doing 22 HD broadcasts of Cardinal games during 2005. Unfortunately, FSN Midwest wasn't able to gain a carriage deal with Charter, DirecTV or DISH, so the plan was eventually scuttled and no HD games were shown on FSN. More recently, Charter and FSN have hooked up to do a couple of HD Blues broadcasts, so that would seem to kick the door open for Cards in HD on FSN this summer.

The 11+22 is where I'm basing my estimate of 35-40 Cards games in HD, but as I say hopefully this number will grow substantially each year. I would hope that in a couple more years all games would be in HD.

I have DTV HD and Tivo receiver. Yesterday, and helped a friend with his SD Dish DVR. We were watching the Rams game, and the picture was terrible. The artifacts around the players whenever they moved, made it really hard to watch.

Is this typical for Dish SD Locals? Everyone else experience the same? Have I just been spoiled with OTA HD ?

Ed Tenholder
Yes, I would say it's typical. However, it's not only for locals, but all SD dish programming. I have SD Direct TV hooked up via S-Video and also have a OTA antenna. Obviously, OTA HD looks terrific. OTA SD is also pretty decent. The satellite SD is by far the worst. I have heard that cable SD is a little better, but I have no experience with it. I understand the satellite signal is extremely compressed and that contributes to the bad quality.

tenholde,

The short answers to your questions are: yes, yes and yes.

To elaborate a bit, the local analog stations carried by DISH and DirecTV are subject to compression in the same way (possibly more so) as other channels on the system.

There's also sometimes an issue with the quality of the signal that is acquired locally. For example, the KPLR local signal on DirecTV looks godawful at the best of times. The problem here isn't compression, but rather it appears that DirecTV is acquiring the signal by an antenna, and there are indications of multipath inteference with that signal due to the ghosts and shadows that appear.

This is one of the reasons that I suggest that we shouldn't be so eager for DirecTV or DISH to provide digital locals -- once you depend on your satellite provider for digital locals, you have no control over the amount of compression that is applied to them. Receiving those channels over the air ensures you are getting the genuine article in the form it left the station.

Of course, locals that multi-cast are going to suffer from compression of a different type.

Right now in our market, KMOV, KPLR, KTVI and KDNL are providing HD in the best picture quality available. For now, it doesn't get any better than those OTA broadcasts.

Doug,

If the new ball park is wired from the start for HD, and I would hope it is, then this would be more a function of who's broadcasting than anything else, right?

Cheers,

John,

I think having the infrastructure built into the new ballpark is helpful, but I don't think it's the ultimate factor in determining the number of games.

I think the biggest cost of these broadcasts is the additional fees needed to secure the mobile HD units that are required over and above an SD broadcast. And, related to that is the number of HD households that would benefit from HD broadcasts.

I saw something recently that indicated there are around 70 available HD mobile units in the US, which if I recall correctly is around twice as many as just 2 years ago. As these units become more available, the cost of renting them will stabilize and that will probably be the key factor in moving us toward a 162-game HD menu...

Most importantly, how does that get us a corner outfielder that can drive in 100 runs Doug?

I think we're probably going to have to make due with Rolen 2006 effectively replacing the Sanders/Walker 2005 production. That probably means the Cards won't lead the league in runs scored in 2006, but if they finish in the top three or four and get something close to the sort of pitching they had last year, the Central should be very winnable.

Frankly, I don't think the Cubs or Astros are substantially better than a year ago. For my money, the Brewers may be the most serious competition, at least as things stand nearly 3 months before spring training and nearly 4 months from Opening Day.

I think the next major development to watch is the non-tender player pool. Of course, it's highly unlikely there's a 100-run producer among them, but there's likely to be some good pickings there. That's how we latched onto Eckstein last winter...

BTW, I don't know about other programs on kSDk, but on SNL this past weekend there was no way for my A/V receiver to produce a center channel and/or dialog.

Unfortunately my receiver (Yamaha DSP-A1) locks into Dolby Digital mode whenever it receives a signal encoded for DD -- there's no way to manually shift to Dolby Pro Logic. However, I am able to shift to 2-channel stereo (no effect mode), but even in that configuration there was no dialog coming through.

I could be wrong, but this seems to point to the fact that center channel/dialog was dropped by kSDk and never sent out.

Doug,

I watched SNL HD (ch 785) on my SD tv with no receiver, just normal tv speakers and it had no dialogue. Although the applause sounded good.

Tim

Doug,

Not trying to take over your AVS forum with sports chat, but I had no idea you were so knowledgeable about the birds. That is awesome. I agree the Central is still winnable. I think the Cubs are better, we will see how much. But I am looking for something that can help put us over the top. Who should we be writing to let it be known we want more Cardinal baseball in HD?

Yes, I would say it's typical. However, it's not only for locals, but all SD dish programming. I have SD Direct TV hooked up via S-Video and also have a OTA antenna. Obviously, OTA HD looks terrific. OTA SD is also pretty decent. The satellite SD is by far the worst. I have heard that cable SD is a little better, but I have no experience with it. I understand the satellite signal is extremely compressed and that contributes to the bad quality.


I had DishNet for the past 5 years. Recently moved and can't have a sat on the building, so I now have Charter. I can tell you, without a doubt, that cable SD is much better than sat (well DishNet anyhow) SD. Probably looks even that much better to me since I got used to the artifacts (especially in the blacks) over those 5 years.

deuces,

Just for the record, it's NOT "my" AVS forum.

I do try not to be overbearing here (and succeed about 50% of the time)... :D

So do you know of anywhere to write? Just FSN, KPLR, and the ballclub?

Yep, those three targets would be your best bet.

There is a link on the first page of this thread for KPLR correspondence. I'll check with my contact at FSN to see if he'd be OK with adding his contact address to this list, or whether he can provide an alternative.

Copying your eMail or letter to the person/department at MLB who handles national broadcast negotiations couldn't hurt either.

FWIW, both KPLR (engineering) and FSN Midwest (public relations) are known to occasionally monitor the discussions here. Same is true for KDNL, though there's no obvious Cardinals-in-HD connection there.

deuces,

Here's the address I've been given for correspondence with FSN Midwest about programming feedback:

midwest@foxsports.net

I'm told that this mailbox is regularly monitored by FSN staff. I will add this address and listing to the resource items on page 1.

Also, our contact at FSN tells me that there's no word yet on the number of HD Cardinal games that will be shown on FSN in 2006. He says that the total will depend on the availability of production trucks, the situation with Charter/DISH/DirecTV and other factors.

Also, FSN is doing its next Blues HD broadcast on Tuesday night. It will be available on Charter channel 792, but it's unlikely to appear on either DirecTV or DISH.

I agree. I don't believe that Dish has any FSN broadcasts in HD at this time. Guess we need to start yelling at them about it as well.

Is there some reason, other than cost, that the newer stadiums don't have the Production Facilities built in? I realize it's expensive, but when you're building a multimillion dollar stadium, would a couple hundred thousand(random guess at cost of production truck minus the truck itself) make that big of a difference?
Dug

I don't know but I can't wait to get every game in HD. So if I am understanding correctly, Fox Sports Midwest did carry some games in HD last year? And if so, was the only way to receive them through Charter?

And to add to Mr_Bester's comment, couldn't a team charge the visiting team's broadcaster a rental fee for using the facility, so they wouldn't have to rent a truck?

It is probably a combination of cost and flexibility.

I mean, think about it -- how many urinals would Mr. DeWitt have to auction to build HD production facilities into the new stadium? ;)

Seriously, like any technology, if you buy it, you're stuck with it until you invest more money to upgrade it. I don't know the specifics of HD production facilities, but I suspect that the mobile trucks are upgraded more routinely due to the companies that lease them having the ability to recover that additional investment fairly quickly.

In a baseball-only stadium, built-in facilities are only going to be used 80 or 90 days out of the calendar year. That means payback is probably on the order of three or four times longer than what the leasing companies realize.

When you look at that part of the equation, it's probably a no-brainer to lease.

deuces,

No, FSN never got off the ground with their plan to broadcast Cards games in HD, because they never were able to get carriage agreements.

On the dual-use, that might work for some of the cameras, but otherwise I think it would be impractical to have only one control center selecting the shots and feeding the broadcasts for two different teams.

I apologize you clearly already stated that Doug. I was looking for some type of precedent, so I think you said earlier that FSN does have some HD broadcasts of events. If they do then I believe it is clear Dish has not been carrying them, so even if we are lucky enough to get some HD games from Fox Midwest next year, I may be out of luck. Charter wouldn't offer Fox Midwest a la carte would they?

deuces,

No problem -- it's only in the past month that FSN has done a couple of Blues hockey games in HD. The first was back in late November, and the second was a week or so later.

DISH has definitely not carried any of the FSN HD broadcasts, and DirecTV did only one. DirecTV has a few channels reserved for HD games that are normally included in the NFL or MLB pay packages. I assume that this will be extended to college basketball once the Super Bowl is played.

No dice on getting FSN Midwest HD "a la carte" from Charter. Entry price for HD service is around $70 a month, though someone should correct me if I'm overshooting on this.

No correction needed if you are close. Seems I need to convince Dish to carry them if they are broadcast. Dish, Direct and Charter are the only 3 options to get Fox Midwest correct?

That's correct.

I think the problem you'll find with DISH is capacity. Reportedly DISH has recently downgraded the bandwidth given to the VOOM network channels. I can't verify this, but there's been a lot of discussion about this over in the HDTV Programming forum. DISH is supposed to be adding the other exclusive channels that were carried by VOOM in January, so things sound like they're going to be getting even tighter.

Found this on the Fox website. Note what it says in the"Notes" St. Louis Blues in HD Charter ch. 792 DirecTV ch 95
Story Tools:
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FOXSports.com
Posted: 11 days ago

FSN MIDWEST TO TELECAST SELECT ST. LOUIS BLUES GAMES IN HD

FSN Midwest is telecasting select St. Louis Blues hockey games in High-Definition this season.

Fans in St. Louis will be able to see FSN Midwest HD telecasts via Charter Communications. FSN Midwest programming, including Blues hockey, is presented in the Standard Definition format on Charter Communications channel 37. HD telecasts will be simulcast on a separate channel number, and may be viewed by those customers with an HDTV set and HD digital converter. Customers must also subscribe to Charter's HD service.

HD channel numbers, as well as availability on DirecTV, Dish Network and other cable providers, will be announced.

FSN Midwest St. Louis Blues HD Games Schedule
Date Time Opponent Notes
Thursday, Dec. 1 7 p.m. Columbus at Blues Charter ch. 792; DirecTV Ch. 95
Thursday, Dec. 8 6:30 p.m. Blues at Tampa Bay Charter ch. 792
Tuesday, Dec. 20 8 p.m. Blues at Phoenix
Thursday, Dec. 29 7:30 p.m. Blues at Dallas
Thursday, Jan. 12 6 p.m. Blues at Florida
Thursday, Jan. 26 7 p.m. Phoenix at Blues
Thursday, March 16 9:30 p.m. Blues at San Jose
Friday, March 31 7 p.m. Columbus at Blues

Schedule subject to change
Games subject to availability
All times central

TOP STORIES

HDNet has had a few blues home games in HD this year, but I couldn't watch because it was blacked out (at least on dish)

deuces,

No problem -- it's only in the past month that FSN has done a couple of Blues hockey games in HD. The first was back in late November, and the second was a week or so later.

DISH has definitely not carried any of the FSN HD broadcasts, and DirecTV did only one. DirecTV has a few channels reserved for HD games that are normally included in the NFL or MLB pay packages. I assume that this will be extended to college basketball once the Super Bowl is played.

No dice on getting FSN Midwest HD "a la carte" from Charter. Entry price for HD service is around $70 a month, though someone should correct me if I'm overshooting on this.


Well I have Digital TV, HD, and and HD DVR (Moxi) plus 3mps interent for $67

black,

Is that part of an introductory deal?

I was thinking that $70 might be on the high side, but your fee looks like an incredible bargain, particularly after seeing the big recent increase in the DVR charges.

TV Stand Question
--------------
Am interested in finding out how to calculate the optimum distance off the floor the display device needs to be in order to select a better/best size for a stand. [Most of the questions here concern fitting into a certain size stand/enclosure/armoire/etc.]. Have not had much luck with searches here at AVS or google.

TIA
Jim

Jim,

Maybe I'm not understanding your question, but I think your reference point needs to be your typical viewing position, so that the center of the screen lines up with your eyes.

Another factor to take into account is the type of display. A CRT RPTV loses brightness relatively quickly as you move off-axis, as do LCD panels. LCD, DLP and LCOS rear-projection are somewhat more tolerant, and then plasmas and CRT direct views are more tolerant still.

I don't think you're going to find a formula for this. I'd suggest that the best way to approach this is to experiment with your own display to determine how far up/down and right/left you can go before you start to see a decline in picture quality. This should give you a good idea about how far off-axis you can go, and from there you should be able to reach some conclusions about the maximum height of your stand.

Let me know if I'm missing the point of your question.

I had DishNet for the past 5 years. Recently moved and can't have a sat on the building, so I now have Charter. I can tell you, without a doubt, that cable SD is much better than sat (well DishNet anyhow) SD. Probably looks even that much better to me since I got used to the artifacts (especially in the blacks) over those 5 years.

In most cases you can have a satellite dish or antenna even on rental property.
http://ftp.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/consumerdish.html

In most cases you can have a satellite dish or antenna even on rental property.
http://ftp.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/consumerdish.htmlI'd put this in slightly less black/white terms: In MANY cases, you can have a satellite dish or antenna, even on rental property.

The key issue with rental property rights is that the area where you wish to locate the dish or antenna must be "exclusive use," meaning that it is an area that is primarily under your control during the term of the lease.

For example, you can mount a dish or antenna on a balcony that is accessible only to your own apartment. But if you live on the third floor of a 10-story building, and the antenna needs to be located on the roof, then you have no right, because the roof is not an "exclusive area." Likewise, you couldn't mount the antenna in a walkway adjoining your apartment, if that walkway was normally used by other tenants.

Also, the landlord may object to your dish/antenna, if there is a legitimate safety concern, such as the antenna dangling off a balcony or being situated close to electrical wiring.

But anything you read here is definitely going to be the shorthand version and less than definitive. If you're unclear about what is and isn't permissible, read this entire FCC Otard document:

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html

I think you have to add them manually like 26-1, 43-1, 31-1 and so on.
I don't know about the 942 but on my 811 you enter them with the UHF channel number only. The receiver then figures out the subchannels.

Doug,

I heard what you are saying about the new Voom channels too. But there is much rumor and conjecture also saying that they will not be shrinking the bandwidth more and in fact taking the current Vooms to true HD. Just what the guys on the HD forum here or one of the forums were saying.

In most cases you can have a satellite dish or antenna even on rental property.
http://ftp.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/consumerdish.html


Well in my case I am renting a unit in a condo association, so they say NO. Besides, I wasn't about the pay SBC money for a landline just for DSL when I didn't need a landline, so I wanted to wrap everything up together. And yes, I did get a "new customer" deal so that price is good for a year.

Well I have Digital TV, HD, and and HD DVR (Moxi) plus 3mps interent for $67

That's not their normal rate, that's gotta be some kind of promotion, no?

It's $40 for 3Mbps service alone.

Sorta off-topic, as it's not in HD...
But I got this press release today and wanted to pass it along to the group.

Today MavTV, a new television network targeting the male gender, has debuted on Charter Digital Cable Channel 405. The service, which replaced NFL Network, includes programming and topics such as sports, movies, health and fitness, women and relationships, finance and politics. For more information about MavTV, visit the network’s web site: www.mavtv.net/

black,

Understand that it's not a matter of a condo association or landlord telling you what you can or cannot do -- they CANNOT interfere with your right to erect a satellite dish and/or antenna, if that's what you want to do.

Even if you've signed a lease or other legal document that requires you to waive this right, the document/tactic is legally unenforceable.

Of course, I can appreciate that you may not wish to create bad will by unilaterally exercising your rights, but if you have "exclusive use" and there's no safety or historical zoning issue, you probably do have that option.

Well in my case I am renting a unit in a condo association, so they say NO...

As long as you install a dish in an exclusive use area, they cannot tell you no. Doesn't matter whether you rent, lease, own, have membership in an association, or whatever. They just plain legally cannot prevent you from having a dish. About the only way you can be restricted is when you live in a historic district and the a civil commission (i.e. local gov) imposes limits.

Of course you may not always find an exlusive use area to install a correctly aimed dish.

...DISH is supposed to be adding the other exclusive channels that were carried by VOOM in January, so things sound like they're going to be getting even tighter.

Any thoughts on if DISH will be including this on the standard HD package or if we will be able to receive with the DISH 500?

wallyj,

The existing VOOM channels are sold at an extra charge of $5, so I doubt that the other VOOM channels will be available as part of the standard DISH HD package. Also unclear on whether they will be included as part of the current $5, or if some additional fee would be required.

I'm not fully up to speed on DISH developments, so your best bet may be to do a search over in the HDTV Programming forum, or check out www.satelliteguys.us for more current info.

woah, WOAH! heheh, I didn't really want Dish again, so its all cool!

Thanks for the info though .....

btw, here's the Charter promotion:

http://www.charter.com/products/values/valuepackages.aspx

But I pay a bit more than that with the extra DVR fee. However, and it's good that Charter screws up sometimes, they have me down for the BIGGEST package (which includes one tier of my choice) for the same rate. They messed up my acct three times during the installs, so I ended up coming out ahead. Again, call their Retention ppl, NOT the customer service ppl.

Seems to me the KPLR signal has gotten worse. MPEG artifacting during fast moving shots has been really terrible lately, much worse than it used to be. It looks as bad now as it did when they started broadcasting. They cleaned it up and it was very respectable for a long time. Anyone aware of changes they've made that would account for the image deterioration?

wallyj,

The existing VOOM channels are sold at an extra charge of $5, so I doubt that the other VOOM channels will be available as part of the standard DISH HD package. Also unclear on whether they will be included as part of the current $5, or if some additional fee would be required.

I'm not fully up to speed on DISH developments, so your best bet may be to do a search over in the HDTV Programming forum, or check out www.satelliteguys.us for more current info.

I'm not up on this fully, either, but I was surfing recently because I noticed a serious drop in the picture quality on the Voom channels. Apparently, Dish was experimenting with lowering the resolution on many channels from 1920x1080 to 1280x1080. Lots of people were furious and e-mails made Dish reconsider. They should be back to 1920x1080 now. I believe the new Voom channels are going to be added to the existing ones in January without additional cost. I've also read they will consolidate the 21 channels into 15 - so the frequency of the reruns should go from infuriating to maddening.

TV Stand Answer
---------------------
Let me know if I'm missing the point of your question.

__________________
Doug
--------------------------
You have understood and answered my question - guess it should have been intuitive that the center of the screen would be at eye level. Appreciate your comments on the off axis viewing and just trying to find out what 'works for us'

BTW, THANK YOU for your participation in this and other AVS forums. From what I have been learning here from you and OTHERS, our viewing abilities are improved.

jim

No correction needed if you are close. Seems I need to convince Dish to carry them if they are broadcast. Dish, Direct and Charter are the only 3 options to get Fox Midwest correct?

Dueces... I've written to them and received the "we are commited to providing the best programming packages available" reply. Although, 2 voices are louder than 1.

- Side Note -

When the HD is not available, I'd much rather watch SD over S-video than SD stretched to fill 16X9 over component. (All while someone is trying to convince me that an HDTV shows everything in HD.) What this town needs is more educated consumers (aka voters) when it comes to the HD market.

Anyway.....

That's not their normal rate, that's gotta be some kind of promotion, no?

It's $40 for 3Mbps service alone.
3mb stand-alone is 49.95/mo + 2.96/mo modem lease, if applicable
3mb, when combined with a second or more Charter service, is 39.95/mo.
These are the standard fees, apart from any promo's, new customer's, etc.

I pay 49.95/mo because it is the only Charter service I have. I have complained to Charter on numerous occasions, because neither Charter HD or Charter Digital is available in my location.
Charter's response has always been I need to add an additional non-existent service to qualify for the discount.
If it wasn't for the 3mb, I'd dump them in a heartbeat. We're mortgage loan officers, work from home on 6 networked PC's, linked via VPN to the bank, and our business is completely electronic.
We used to have Starband (750k satellite) until Charter's high speed became available here. Satellite was dreadful...constant proxy configuration issues...slow....outages, etc.

During MNF last night did anyone notice the sound coming and going during the first half in HD?

Joe,

Thanks for the update on the VOOM channels situation on DISH, which is really good news.

I've long said that if one of the satellite companies -- or even Charter -- took a meaningful "quality pledge" and backed it up financially that I would make every effort to give them my business. No doubt I'm among a minority who think this way, but I know it's still a sizable minority and one that surely spends more money on average than the indifferent masses.

Maybe DISH reacting to customer complaints over HD Lite is the first step toward a "quality pledge."

One can hope, no?

3mb stand-alone is 49.95/mo + 2.96/mo modem lease, if applicable
3mb, when combined with a second or more Charter service, is 39.95/mo.
These are the standard fees, apart from any promo's, new customer's, etc.

I pay 49.95/mo because it is the only Charter service I have. I have complained to Charter on numerous occasions, because neither Charter HD or Charter Digital is available in my location.
Charter's response has always been I need to add an additional non-existent service to qualify for the discount.
If it wasn't for the 3mb, I'd dump them in a heartbeat. We're mortgage loan officers, work from home on 6 networked PC's, linked via VPN to the bank, and our business is completely electronic.
We used to have Starband (750k satellite) until Charter's high speed became available here. Satellite was dreadful...constant proxy configuration issues...slow....outages, etc.

Your pricing may be a little out of date or it could be since you are out of the metro area in Farmington, but since 5mb has been deployed to the metro STL area, the standalone 3mb price is 39.95 now. It is 29.95 if you have either phone or TV as an added service. 5mb is at the 49.95 price point now. (This is through consumer and not business like someone previously stated.) I just got off the phone with Charter and verified all this. 636-207-7011

You might try calling them back and speaking to a retention specialist and try and get your price down to $29.95.

From the 12/20 St. Louis Business Journal
St. Louis Business Journal - 1:49 PM CST Tuesday
Charter loses NFL Network
The NFL Network on Dec. 19 pulled its signal from Charter Communications, the cable company confirmed Tuesday.

The NFL Network is a cable channel dedicated to the National Football League and professional football. According to a report Tuesday by trade newsletter CableFAX Daily, the league believes that Charter should move the network "off the digital sports tier because the tier doesn't enjoy deep penetration."

Charter spokeswoman Anita Lamont confirmed that the signal went down the morning of Dec. 19. "We have a great many sports programming offerings that are live," instead of taped sporting events, she told the Business Journal.

Charter was the first multiple cable-system operator to carry the network, signing a deal in January 2004. Charter said it lacks a digital basic tier where it could move the NFL Network, according to CableFAX Daily. Charter's executive vice president of programming, Sue Hamilton, told the trade newsletter that Charter takes "the enforcement of favorable positions in its carriage agreements" very seriously, and the company couldn't agree to the terms demanded by the network.

St. Louis-based Charter Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: CHTR) is the nation's third-largest cable television provider, and also provides digital video programming and high-speed Internet access.



enjoy deep penetration

Somebody should have proof-read that sentence before it got released. :D

Somebody should have proof-read that sentence before it got released. :D

Brilliant!!!

A cable horror story made the post...

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/lifestyle/columnists.nsf/suburbanfringe/story/D33BA3FB57B78EC486257096007D2C46?OpenDocument

A cable horror story made the post...

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/lifestyle/columnists.nsf/suburbanfringe/story/D33BA3FB57B78EC486257096007D2C46?OpenDocument

Sounds like he got the cream of the crop with cable customer/tech service. Don't they typically just not show up at all the first 2 or 3 times?

Your pricing may be a little out of date or it could be since you are out of the metro area in Farmington, but since 5mb has been deployed to the metro STL area, the standalone 3mb price is 39.95 now. It is 29.95 if you have either phone or TV as an added service. 5mb is at the 49.95 price point now. (This is through consumer and not business like someone previously stated.) I just got off the phone with Charter and verified all this. 636-207-7011

You might try calling them back and speaking to a retention specialist and try and get your price down to $29.95.


I have the 3mb service with a $10 discount because I also have basic at $14.74/month. The 3mb service is $42.95 after discount. The price increased $3 in December. This is costly, but the service is highly reliable. I work out of my house much of the time and I appreciate the service being available. As for the TV signal, if I can receive it over antenna that is the signal I watch. CBS and UPN are terrible over cable. Basic does provide a few extra channels such as WGN and the analog filter quits at channel 75 so I also get FX and Fox Movie. Not a big deal, but occasionally an alternative.

The cable price includes the $2.95 modem rental. I rent because if anything goes wrong I want Charter to take ownership. An expensive luxuary, but worth it to me. The 5mb option would be an addtional $10.

Your pricing may be a little out of date or it could be since you are out of the metro area in Farmington, but since 5mb has been deployed to the metro STL area, the standalone 3mb price is 39.95 now. It is 29.95 if you have either phone or TV as an added service. 5mb is at the 49.95 price point now. (This is through consumer and not business like someone previously stated.) I just got off the phone with Charter and verified all this. 636-207-7011
You might try calling them back and speaking to a retention specialist and try and get your price down to $29.95.
Thanks Rich! I called them, and though it was a bit of a battle (they know it's either 56k, 720k, or their 3mg, available in Farmington), they DID agree to lower my price. I had tried this in the past, but your idea of speaking with a "retention specialist" got it done.
They told me pricing is different in what they consider extended service areas.
I was on the phone with the retention person about 20 minutes.
Thanks for the tip.

Sorta off-topic, as it's not in HD...
But I got this press release today and wanted to pass it along to the group.

Today MavTV, a new television network targeting the male gender, has debuted on Charter Digital Cable Channel 405. The service, which replaced NFL Network, includes programming and topics such as sports, movies, health and fitness, women and relationships, finance and politics. For more information about MavTV, visit the network’s web site: www.mavtv.net/

Speaking of channels that just show up on Charter..what up with the Logo channel? It is up there among the Showtime premium-no-commercial channels. Who owns this channel? How did it end up among the premium stuff since it has commercials.

Speaking of channels that just show up on Charter..what up with the Logo channel? It is up there among the Showtime premium-no-commercial channels. Who owns this channel? How did it end up among the premium stuff since it has commercials.

Is that the lesbian channel?

Green snow is back...Tuesday 9:00pm L&O

Is that the lesbian channel?

It seems to have mostly "alternative lifestyle" programming on it. My question is why is it located with the premium channels?

Green snow is back...Tuesday 9:00pm L&O
Seeing it also on my HTPC. Particularly maddening since I'm trying to compare ATI Catalyst Control Center with their control panel. Impossible to do if the source quality stinks.

I recently installed an OTA antenna. I live in Farmington, 3 miles S of town.
Here's the results:
W* HD9500P > CM AP4800 > 75' RG6 > D*921 > splitter > 35' RG6 > D*811.
Both TV's are S* KP-51HW-40 R/Proj
Antenna pointed to 43°, 25' from ground.
Signal strength:
KTVI/DT - 95-100
KMOV/DT - 110-115
KSDK/DT - 110-115
KPLR/DT - 90-95
KDNL/DT - 95-100
---------
KNLC/DT - 45-50 / no picture
KETC/DT - 45-50 / no picture

Thank you to everyone here for all your knowledge and information.

---------
kd


KDG,

I have been away from this forum for several months now and just read some of your posts. It is great to hear from someone else that lives in Farmington and loves HDTV. I have a large CM antenna with CM preamp with a rotor, Hitachi RPTV 53 inch bought from Hefners in 2001 and a Sony HD300 receiver. It looks like you have gotten a good antenna setup and a good signal for now. During the winter my STL stations come in with a strong signal and I can watch all the HD programming but in the summer when it gets hot and my neighbors trees bloom I lose the Fox 2-1 channel with a poor signal strength.

From reading your posts do you have Dish network? I have DirecTV and I subscribe to the HD package along with the NFL Sunday ticket.

Great to hear from a local. I have posted on here and other HDTV sites but have never until now found someone that has HDTV reception in or around the Farmington area. :)

Here's an update on the guide to the HD channels available in St. Louis through the various distribution methods (over the air, cable and satellite).

Based on recent feedback, this update adds the NFL Network to the DISH listing. Apparently the NFL Network has been available from DISH for quite a while now, but it slipped between the cracks in my previous versions of the Video Savant Guide.

Also, in the light of today's news on Charter and the NFL Network, I would have removed the NFL from the Charter column, but it seems I've also overlooked it from the start and no one pointed this out to me.

It seems that's consistent with the NFL's claim that Charter wasn't promoting the channel to make subscribers aware of it.

In any event, if you're thinking about switching from satellite to cable, or vice versa, here's all the information you need to know exactly what you'll sacrifice and/or gain if you actually jump ship.

As always, let me know if you spot any errors or omissions.

Here's an update on the guide to the HD channels available in St. Louis through the various distribution methods (over the air, cable and satellite).

Based on recent feedback, this update adds the NFL Network to the DISH listing. Apparently the NFL Network has been available from DISH for quite a while now, but it slipped between the cracks in my previous versions of the Video Savant Guide.

Also, in the light of today's news on Charter and the NFL Network, I would have removed the NFL from the Charter column, but it seems I've also overlooked it from the start and no one pointed this out to me.

It seems that's consistent with the NFL's claim that Charter wasn't promoting the channel to make subscribers aware of it.

In any event, if you're thinking about switching from satellite to cable, or vice versa, here's all the information you need to know exactly what you'll sacrifice and/or gain if you actually jump ship.

As always, let me know if you spot any errors or omissions.



The reason no one pointed it out was that, on Charter, the NFL Network was an SD-only channel.

The reason no one pointed it out was that, on Charter, the NFL Network was an SD-only channel.Doh!

I have to chalk up my foggy SD vision to the fact that I have nothing but HD channels in my DirecTV guide.

I guess I've ALREADY made the 2009 transition... ;)

Thanks for pointing this out, bailorg...

DirecTV on Track to Add 500,000 DVRs in 4Q 2005

Of course, not all of these are HD DVRs... ;)

Seriously, I thought this was interesting because of the fact that DirecTV is now giving away its homegrown DVR hardware, and Wall Street analysts are a showing some concern about the impact that will have on subscriber acquisition costs and the near-term bottom line.

The free hardware approach isn't limited to just DVRs, as DirecTV is taking a similar approach with the hardware required for the MPEG-4 rollout, and the expectation/hope among HD TiVo owners that they'll be offered a similar free hardware/extended commitment deal.

On the other hand, I don't understand the concern about retention marketing costs going up. It seems like the 2-year commitment required to get free hardware should help to moderate retention costs over the long haul rather than push them up.

The following story comes from the SkyREPORT newsletter.
______________________________________________

It could be a merry Christmas for the nation's biggest satellite TV service, at least in terms of DVR sales, stated one Wall Street analyst.

In a research note released Tuesday, Craig Moffett of Bernstein Research said fourth quarter sales of advanced set-top boxes for DirecTV appear to be strong. He projected the company could add between 500,000 and 600,000 new DVR subscribers during the three-month period, up from a prior estimate of 400,000.

TiVo's last quarterly results released in November suggest that DirecTV likely added 200,000 DVR subscribers in October alone, Moffett said. And that could add up to 600,000 for the fourth quarter.

If it all comes true, it would be significant acceleration from the 240,000 DVR users added in third quarter and 345,000 added in fourth quarter 2004, Moffett said.

However, faster DVR adoption also could lead to higher subscriber acquisition costs (SAC) and retention marketing expenses for DirecTV, the analyst said. Moffett revised his fourth quarter SAC (per subscriber) estimate to $665, up from $658, and retention marketing forecast to $8.18, from $7.71 per subscriber per month.

"Investors should note that these are not necessarily unattractive investments for DirecTV ... assuming a four year life of a DVR, we estimate that the marginal return on an upgrade of an existing subscriber is approximately 19 percent," Moffett said in his note. "But these increased expenditures come against a backdrop growing concerns about the long-term competitiveness of the DBS platform, and of potentially increased spending associated with a widely-rumored wireless broadband investment."

Moffett rates DirecTV shares at "underperform."
______________________________________________

For more satellite television industry news, go to www.skyreport.com.

I include here excerpts from the TVPredictions.com newsletter on a fairly regular basis. If you've ever wondered where TVPredictions gets its name, well, it's because Philip Swann, the editor, is in the business of regularly making predictions about the direction of various aspects of the TV business.

His predictions for 2006 are now available via his website and include: HD plasma prices will fall to less than $1500 by end of 2006, Yahoo will buy TiVo, RPTV prices will fall to under $500, and TV networks will more actively promote HDTV as a reason to watch their shows.

Hmmm...I'm not so sure that last one qualifies as a prediction. Seems more like a hallucinatory side effect... :eek:

There's also a number of other HD-related forecasts among the 2006 predictions, and the full story can be read here. (http://www.tvpredictions.com/2006predictions.com122005.htm)

kdg454,

Can you tell me how your conversation went with Charter. I currenty have Charter internet, because there is no DSL available in my neighborhood. I have Dish Network so I get no discount for adding another service. I'm not sure if I have 3 or 5, but my bill just went to $49.95.

Does anyone know why the Blues game was never shown on FSMW-HD last night? There schedule shows that it was supposed to be in HD and I saw numerous commercials about it too before the game. However when I tuned into 792 last night, all I saw was the 'color bar code' thing.

Irritating...

kdg454,Can you tell me how your conversation went with Charter. I currenty have Charter internet, because there is no DSL available in my neighborhood. I have Dish Network so I get no discount for adding another service. I'm not sure if I have 3 or 5, but my bill just went to $49.95.
I sent you the details in a PM.

KDG,I have been away from this forum for several months now and just read some of your posts. It is great to hear from someone else that lives in Farmington and loves HDTV. I have a large CM antenna with CM preamp with a rotor, Hitachi RPTV 53 inch bought from Hefners in 2001 and a Sony HD300 receiver. It looks like you have gotten a good antenna setup and a good signal for now. During the winter my STL stations come in with a strong signal and I can watch all the HD programming but in the summer when it gets hot and my neighbors trees bloom I lose the Fox 2-1 channel with a poor signal strength.
From reading your posts do you have Dish network? I have DirecTV and I subscribe to the HD package along with the NFL Sunday ticket.
Great to hear from a local. I have posted on here and other HDTV sites but have never until now found someone that has HDTV reception in or around the Farmington area. :)
Correct...Dish. I use their 921 and 811 for my OTA tuners. The 921 pulls about a 20% stronger signal than the 811, but both work well. There are a few small, more annoying than anything, issues with the 921, mostly related to recording OTA HD. Overall, I'm very happy with Dish.
I have noticed a slight increase in signal strength since the leaves have fallen, but very slight, maybe 2-3%.
My antenna is pointed directly at a neighbors large oak tree, I'd guess it's about 50' high and about 100' away.
When I first put up the antenna the tree was full and didn't seem to effect the signal. We'll see what summer brings if I'm still living here. We're selling this house, and building a new one in TDL.
Now we're located in the Winchester area, Hildebrecht & 67.

Does anyone know why the Blues game was never shown on FSMW-HD last night? There schedule shows that it was supposed to be in HD and I saw numerous commercials about it too before the game. However when I tuned into 792 last night, all I saw was the 'color bar code' thing.

Irritating...


Feed started about 1/2 way through the first period. Rest of the game was beautiful, in so many ways!

It seems to have mostly "alternative lifestyle" programming on it. My question is why is it located with the premium channels?

I thinks it's owned by Viacom, the parent company of Showtime.

Does anyone know why they duplicate KETC with channel 9 and channel 90 on Charter? It seems like channel 90 might still be analog.

I got the Blues game last night on 792. In fact, I moxied the last period to show people coming over for Christmas. It might be the only third period they have dominated all year.

Another Sincliar agreement that includes digital/multicast channels.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6293367.html?display=Breaking+News&referral=supp

This just shows that some progress is happening.

Mark

Even though DISH shows that they broadcast the NFL Game of The Week in HD. I have never been able to receive it. I called the CSR and she said that they do not offer that channel in HD even though it is listed on my channel guide. Has anyone ever been able to watch the NFL Game of the Week in HD?

Dueces... I've written to them and received the "we are commited to providing the best programming packages available" reply. Although, 2 voices are louder than 1.

We're at least 3. I e-mailed them after the first Blues HD broadcast and tried to make them feel bad about themselves because they were getting beat by CABLE. I don't think it worked though. :rolleyes:

Hey guys I have a question for all you and wanted to see if I could find some opinions on an video/audio switch device. I actually own a Pelican component switch that I like quite a bit but this device seems to be sold at fewer and fewer locations now and my friend is looking to get a device similiar to the Pelican device.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2166017

He is looking to hook uptp 4 or 5 extra devices, needs component video & optical sound as well. Anyone got any other suggestions that doesn't empty the wallet. I believe around 100 is all he is wanting to spend. I have read some reviews on the Pelican device that say it doesn't make the best HD switch and I have only used SD devices on it so haven't noticed any problems. Let me know if any of you guys have some suggestions...

Thanks,
-Phatty

Antenna suggestions for Ashland?

My Dad lives in Ashland and just this week I got him setup with a LCD monitor and a Dish 811. I thought I would pose the question to this thread in hopes that you guys might suggest a solution to the geographic challenge of being located in the middle of the transmission towers? NBC is about 8 miles north, CBS about 11 miles SSE, ABC, Fox (SD only BTW) is 15 miles due West and PBS is 32 miles WSW, but on a 600M tall tower. While it may be necessary to get a programmable rotor, I am going to first want to try simpler solutions. I live in O Fallon, MO and I have not been to his house yet to try anything. The LCD and the 811 are up and running, just no local DT yet. Before I complete his Christmas, I was hoping for some feedback.

For those of us w/ only OTA HD, is the Illinois-Missouri game on ESPN2-HD?