DishNet has had Sirius for quite some time.

Surely you can't be sirius?

Yeah, I have Sirius in my car. Love it. Now I have XM at home too, so got best of both worlds.

Scott

Today I talked to Charter and the lady said that ABC is broadcast in HD through Charter. She told me that it will be in the 700's and if it isnt there already, it wil be in the next few days. Does anyone know anything about this?

I was serious. When I had Dish they had sirius feeds.

???

SLIGHTLY OFF TOPIC-

I'm in the market for a new MediaCenter PC and am closing in on my purchase. There has been some very good discussions on this subject on this thread. I realize there are HTPC sections of this site, but would love some offline thoughts on the Gateway 820GM computer that tigerdirect.com is offering for $599. [Pentium 4, 1 gb memory, 250gb hd, AverMedia M150-D tv tuner card, etc]

Anyone with any input, please email me at abcward@yahoo.com or AIM me at abcdspot..or of course a PM is fine too. Thanks!!!

bruce

Well, looks like my announcement of getting live TV to work in MediaPortal was premature. MP is now crashing within a minute or so of startup... every time I start it up. :(

Might be time to look at MCE after all. :(

What sucks is if I go the MCE route, I'll have to buy another tuner card. From what I read, MCE looks for analog tuner cards first. If MCE doesn't detect an analog card, it won't bother to look for an HD card, either.

Grrrr....

???

Sorry, my attempt at bad humor. If you remember the film Airplane, you may recall "I am SIRIUS, and stop calling me Shirley."

Scott

Today I talked to Charter and the lady said that ABC is broadcast in HD through Charter. She told me that it will be in the 700's and if it isnt there already, it wil be in the next few days. Does anyone know anything about this?

That would be news around here. That's one of the main reasons I dropped Charter was their lack of local ABC feed.

AT&T to Buy DISH?
----------------------

SBC has been on an acquision 'roll' of late [ATT just acquired] and is already teamed with Dish - so it would not be unusual to see them acquire Dish, especially with the recent FTC rulings in favor of the cable companies being able to limit acccess to their systems.

jim

Since we're talking quite a bit about HTPCs here and I already mentioned my current problems, I'm going to go ahead and post a link to the thread I created in the HTPC forum (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=625198) about my current issues.

If anyone can help, please give me your ideas. i'm at a total loss.

We Interrupt Your Normal AVS Programming...

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

A couple of years ago, we used to start off each month with a reposting of the local resource messages that are now buried on the first page of this discussion thread. I think there's some useful bits and pieces of information there -- and not JUST because I wrote most of it.

Unfortunately a lot of that information is overlooked because it's so far off the beaten path, especially now that the St. Louis discussion archive stretches back more than 2 years and 300+ pages.

To try to address this, I'm going to post an advisory/reminder note similar to this every couple of weeks. Ideally this will make this information more visible and accessible to more readers.

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

So, here's to filling in some of those information gaps...

Tower Maps, Your Satellite/Antenna Rights & Local Station Feedback (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=2995679&&#post2995679)

Using An Antenna to Receive Local HD Stations (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=2995718&&#post2995718)

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

HD Programming Available in St. Louis (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6704878&&#post6704878)

And finally, I want to remind everyone -- newcomers and old hands alike -- that you can access the St. Louis HDTV discussion here at AVS directly by using the shortcut URL that has been arranged.

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

The shortcut URL is: www.stlhdtv.info

Hey Doug, the readers who view AVS Forums with a white background cant read your white text. Please avoid funky font colors in the future, please. :)

Tom, thanks for pointing that out.

It's fixed now...

Does anyone here know of a home theater retailer that currently has the Sony VPL-VW100 on display? This projector is sometimes known as "Ruby."

Ruby has gotten a ton of great publicity, partly because of its performance, but also for it's barrier-crashing price of $10,000. While that's still a lot of dough, it's a relative bargain when compared with other 1080p 3-chip front projector solutions.

So anyway, anybody know where Ruby can be seen in the flesh? Anyone here own one?

Also, I'm interested to find out if there are any dealers in St. Louis who sell Paradigm or Atlantic Technology loudspeakers and have them on display and available for demo.

Thanks in advance for any feedback...

Since we're talking quite a bit about HTPCs here and I already mentioned my current problems, I'm going to go ahead and post a link to the thread I created in the HTPC forum (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=625198) about my current issues.

If anyone can help, please give me your ideas. i'm at a total loss.

Hey Winston,

While I won't be much direct help with your issues (MCE is one of the few front ends I haven't tried the last few weeks), I can steer you to a place that can:

http://www.thegreenbutton.com

Anybody else watching the Fiesta Bowl and see ABC screwing up the signal earlier?

First the picture froze and sound continued. Then the picture and sound went away entirely. Then they went to SD for a short time. Then had picture with no sound.

droptheremote
Also, I'm interested to find out if there are any dealers in St. Louis who sell Paradigm or Atlantic Technology loudspeakers and have them on display and available for demo.
Don't know about Atlantic but Hi Fi Fo Fum sells Paradigm. I have Studio 40's and they sound fantastic. Currently waiting on my 470 cc. 1155 Big Bend 314-647-3606. You can listen in store.

Hey Winston,

While I won't be much direct help with your issues (MCE is one of the few front ends I haven't tried the last few weeks), I can steer you to a place that can:

http://www.thegreenbutton.com

Thanks! I'm going to check it out.

Also, I updated the thread in the HTPC forum w/ pictures of my TV not properly displaying images from the HTPC. Here's the thread. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=625198)

I haven't seen Atlantic anywhere in St. Louis. Yes, Hi-FI-Fo-Fum carries the Studios. It was a shame to see there Manchester store close down shop (or let the lease go according to the manager). They usually carried a pretty full range of studios at their Manchester store when it was operational.

First the picture froze and sound continued. Then the picture and sound went away entirely. Then they went to SD for a short time. Then had picture with no sound.
KDNL is aware of this issue. Apparently they have not got their replacement encoder online yet, as this is the same that happened last week with the basketball games.
Here's what Jim posted regarding the issue:
The HD encoder failed at least twice during the BB games. It freezes the video but audio continues. Takes a cold reboot to fix...which tales about 6 minutes. The transmitter is still on so you get a good signal strength reading.

After several months of complaining to the manufactured, they confirmed a replacement unit was shipped on Friday!

FYI, working on 5.1, but may not finish this week.
Jim

Thanks again, duvy.

I thought you guys might enjoy this thread created about NBC red and green issues in Chicago. (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=625367)

Did anyone else see green pixels/squares over the dark areas of the screen during the HD broadcast of Surface tonight?

Did anyone else see green pixels/squares over the dark areas of the screen during the HD broadcast of Surface tonight?


I got the same thing as you tonight......it was horrific. It is enough to make me stop watching the channel. They need to get this thing fixed and sooner than later. They've got to realize that people with HD only watch HD. I refuse to watch anything in SD that is being broadcast in HD.

While we're on KMOV, has any one noticed deinterlacing artifacts, jagged edges on objects or in my case occasional instances of the picture having the appearance of being wide bars not properly lined up on OTA broadcast? It does not occur during the commercials. It's particularly apparent on NCIS, but I've noticed it on CSI and Numbers. I'm trying to figure out if it's KMOV or the software updates I made to my video card and Fusion HDTV tuner card. I do not see it on the other 1080i stations (although I don't watch them very much) or any 720p station. Thanks.
Bumping previous question due to no response. I watched NBC most of Sunday and saw all the green pixels you guys are seeing. Saw green pixels on blue scrubs and on an off white wall in the background of a scene. Must be NBC feed since they're seeing it in Chi town too. So, anybody see the deinterlacing artifacts on KMOV? It's been mentioned before, but it appears the solid HD broadcast standard is 720p.

New Year's Eve...

Thanks again, KSDK.
Not only was the pq horrible, it was SD!
And on top of that, they still time-shifted everything by five minutes.
So we got to watch (sort-of, from what we could actually see clearly) the ball drop in Times Square at 11:05.

Brilliant.

-Hanjke

Fewer Tears Shed as "Lifetime" Goes Dark on DISH

Usually when a channel gets pulled from a cable or satellite system due to contractual issues, it's the viewers who end up as the losers. But apparently the loss of the Lifetime networks on DISH is the exception that proves the rule (or however that cliche goes).

Seriously, I really don't get these channels or their appeal to women, because every time I've seen something on Lifetime it revolves around the female characters being stalked or otherwise victimized.

Is that really want women want to watch? I can't figure it out, so I've added it to the hundreds of other aspects of the female psyche that are (and probably will remain) a mystery to me.


The story below is from today's SkyREPORT newsletter:
_________________________________________________

EchoStar's side of the programming skirmish it's involved in with Lifetime was detailed in a letter CEO Charles Ergen sent to the programmer just hours after DISH Network took the Lifetime networks off its lineup.

In his letter, Ergen tackled claims made by Lifetime on its Web site suggesting DISH Network violated its contract with the programming by taking Lifetime Movie Network off the air. "As you are aware the agreement terminated Dec. 31, 2005, and Lifetime refused to offer any extension prior to DISH Network's loss of the network today," the CEO said. "We are confident we have not breached the agreement and welcome the disclosure to the public, any portion of the contract that demonstrates DISH Network is in violation of our agreement."

Ergen also said, "While DISH Network desires to make Lifetime programming available to its customers, we also must protect our customers from exorbitant rate increases. We have valued our relationship with Lifetime Television over the past 10 years and we are hopeful that we can work together to restore Lifetime programming to DISH Network customers."

Also, EchoStar launched a Web site, http://www.fairsatellite.com that further details its side of the programming skirmish.

In response, Betty Cohen, president and CEO of Lifetime Entertainment Services, said, "We are outraged and dismayed for our viewers that DISH has unilaterally chosen to pull Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network and deny millions of women their favorite channels. We value our viewers' loyalty and don't understand why DISH would take away the most popular women's networks, especially over a holiday weekend.

"We regret the disruption of service our viewers are experiencing, but appreciate all of the support they are already showing and we hope DISH network will listen to them and give them back their Lifetime," Cohen said.

More details on Lifetime's side of the spat are available at: http://www.lifetimetv.com/about/echo3.html.

Meanwhile, EchoStar said DISH Network is offering customers a free preview of Women's Entertainment Network (WE), a channel that provides similar content to that on Lifetime.
_________________________________________________

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

Doug or any of the other well-informed contributors:

I get excellent reception of all of the local digitals, including 46.1 , most of the time. Occasionally I get one of the staions losing signal every thirty or forty seconds, breaking up and then coming back with a very strong signal. Why does this happen? Is it common with the rest of you? What's to be done? I have also seen the artifacts you write about, that sort of posterization in dark areas, on more than one station in the past few days. I thought it was the particular display I was watching but checked others around the house and it was everywhere. Thanks, Art

Doug or any of the other well-informed contributors:

I get excellent reception of all of the local digitals, including 46.1 , most of the time. Occasionally I get one of the staions losing signal every thirty or forty seconds, breaking up and then coming back with a very strong signal. Why does this happen? Is it common with the rest of you? What's to be done? Thanks, Art

The signal is strong otherwise, but sometimes drops to low numbers and then back? Sounds like multipath issues to me, where the receiver is getting multiple copies of the same signal (reflected off of various sources). With analog OTA, you'd see this as "ghosting", and a 2nd image on the screen. With digital OTA, it's simply an error and the receiver gets mixed up. Newer generation digital OTA receivers do a better job at dealing with this and tossing out the weaker signals, but they can only handle so much.

Generally, a directional antenna (like a yagi attic/roof antenna) does a better job at decreasing multipath problems. Multi-direction antenna's are better at pulling in more stations without adjustments, but sometimes you get multipath if the signal is being deflected along the way (buildings, foilage, elevation changes, etc).

Art,

Jon's answer covers exactly what I would have written (though there's a good chance I would have consumed twice as many words to say the same thing).

In fact, if it's not a problem for you guys, I'd like to add your question and answer to the Common Questions (with minor edits), as I don't think this is covered there and it should be.

Let me know...

Sure :)

It was fresh in mind from explaining to my father in law while we watched the bowl game on ABC last night and saw his signal doing the same thing (until I went in the attic to adjust it, since it's the only channel he needs OTA for, thank you Charter/Sinclair!)

Thanks, Doug and Jon. I guess the part I still don't understand is the reason that this happens only from time to time. Certainly nothing in the signal path thas changed between now and two weeks ago when this was not taking place. When it is gone next week or whenever there will have been no change in mountains, buldings or foliage. It does seem to be worse in the evenings.....Art

Thanks, Doug and Jon. I guess the part I still don't understand is the reason that this happens only from time to time. Certainly nothing in the signal path thas changed between now and two weeks ago when this was not taking place. When it is gone next week or whenever there will have been no change in mountains, buldings or foliage. It does seem to be worse in the evenings.....Art
Art, I have been having exactly the same problem to the point where I broke my silver sensor (not in anger). Just pulled the wires out at ther end it. Last night Fox was going from 98 to 41 in a matter of seconds. I have a meter on my SXRD. Is there a indoor antenna that will help this. I live in a apartment and no way to use a outdoor antenna.

duvy,

I trust that you've thoroughly investigated the possibility of putting up an antenna outside your apartment, but if not, be sure to read to the section on your right to use an antenna or satellite dish that was highlighted in the advisory message I posted yesterday.

In some cases you can't put up an antenna in an apartment, but in other cases you can and if you meet the necessary conditions, no one can prevent you from doing so -- not even your landlord.

I just want to ensure that you've exhausted the possibility of an outdoor antenna...

Art,

Lots of things can cause multipath. Tree limbs or leaves moving around have been shown to have an intermittent effect. If there is an airport or flight path between you and the transmission towers, this can also add to the multipath potential.

I believe there are also issues related to varying signal strength and frequency. Interaction with other signals can also be an issue.

As it's been said before, receiving signals via an antenna is one part science and one part black art. When it works, it's fantastic, but it's not an always-perfect proposition.

What are these green pixels on my LCD TV lately with NBC only?

I noticed it a while back on Earl, then over the holidays on the tonight show, flipped to Letterman no green pixels, then on surface last night very bad.

Since I run MCE2005, Aver tuner card, on Sceptre LCD, I tend to blame my setup, but I think this is coming from the station.

jp,

This is an issue with kSDk/NBC.

For more background, scroll back through the last few pages of this discussion and you'll find lots of additional detail.

I went back to page 316, not a lot mentioned about it. The main question is does the station know and are they trying to fix it? Or should I send an e-mail to them as well (as I hope others have)? This pixelation has happened like I said at least two weeks back when Earl was on. Seems like a long time back for the problem to have not been fixed.

I went back to page 316, not a lot mentioned about it. The main question is does the station know and are they trying to fix it? Or should I send an e-mail to them as well (as I hope others have)? This pixelation has happened like I said at least two weeks back when Earl was on. Seems like a long time back for the problem to have not been fixed.


you didn't look hard enough :cool: Plenty of discussion about their problems, even emails we have sent to them.

Must be prior to page 316.

At the top of this page, Winston posted links to the Chicago discussion of the same issue.

Walt

Sorry, I have no idea. My DVD player costs about $2K brand new, so I really don't know what's out there at the entry level.
I'm sorry but $2,000 for a DVD player is soooo just plain wrong.

I am evaluating Charter Digital (with no HD because I have an OTA antenna) plus Internet compared to DirecTV with DSL. Is it possible to get DSL with no pre-existing landline service? My wife and I sue cell phones. My gut feeling is that the satellite/DSL packages assume you already have a landline for the DSL signal to ride in on.

What are some of the good packages / promotions I should ask for?

Thanks.

Today I talked to Charter and the lady said that ABC is broadcast in HD through Charter. She told me that it will be in the 700's and if it isnt there already, it wil be in the next few days. Does anyone know anything about this?

That would be big news, but I'm not holding my breath. After 5 days of HD now under my belt, it is brutal trying to watch the last 4 bowl games that are all on ABC. Also, the Super Bowl this year is on ABC.

Here's hoping that Sinclair & Charter strike a deal soon.

That would be big news, but I'm not holding my breath. After 5 days of HD now under my belt, it is brutal trying to watch the last 4 bowl games that are all on ABC. Also, the Super Bowl this year is on ABC.

Here's hoping that Sinclair & Charter strike a deal soon.

Yea, maybe we can hope for something similar to last year:


Super Bowl to be Carried in High Def on Comcast Cable System


BALTIMORE (February 4, 2005) - Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:
SBGI) is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement in principle
with Comcast to offer its high-definition signals, including coverage of
this weekend's Super Bowl XXXIX in six markets where Sinclair owns and/or
programs a FOX affiliate.

Carriage of the FOX digital signals should begin immediately in the
following Comcast markets: Baltimore (WBFF-TV), Pittsburgh (WPGH-TV),
Nashville (WZTV-TV), Richmond (WRLH-TV), Charleston, SC (WTAT-TV), and
Paducah, KY (KBSI-TV).

Under the agreement in principle, the FOX digital signals will be
available in time for viewers with Comcast's HD service to enjoy the
ultimate television viewing experience for what is traditionally the
highest rated television program of the year. Comcast customers can check
local listings for channel numbers.

The companies will continue discussions with the hope of reaching a
final definitive agreement for Sinclair's digital signals in the next
couple of weeks.

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc., one of the largest and most diversified
television broadcasting companies, currently owns and operates, programs or
provides sales services to 62 television stations in 39 markets.
Sinclair's television group reaches approximately 24% of U.S. television
households and includes ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, WB, and UPN affiliates.

Did they (Comcast and Sinclair) ever reach a "final definitive agreement? I seem to remember it all falling apart sometime after the superbowl.

I'm sorry but $2,000 for a DVD player is soooo just plain wrong.
Really? Why is that? And what do you consider the limit, and why? How about speakers/sub, pre/pro/amp, display monitor, game console, cables? I'd like to know where right and wrong are for those too. Please explain your rational.

"Fewer Tears Shed as "Lifetime" Goes Dark on DISH

Usually when a channel gets pulled from a cable or satellite system due to contractual issues, it's the viewers who end up as the losers. But apparently the loss of the Lifetime networks on DISH is the exception that proves the rule (or however that cliche goes).

Seriously, I really don't get these channels or their appeal to women, because every time I've seen something on Lifetime it revolves around the female characters being stalked or otherwise victimized.

Is that really want women want to watch? I can't figure it out, so I've added it to the hundreds of other aspects of the female psyche that are (and probably will remain) a mystery to me."
____________________________________________________________ _____

Doug be careful were you go young man. Over at SatellieteGuys they have a sticky with 315 replies on this very topic. Most of them deal with how these guys wifes are spitting nails because these channels are no longer on DISH. You could be in danger with crazy talk like this :)

Doug, I think a certain segment of hte female population loves these movies because they reinforce their worldview: All men are rapists and stalkers and murderers and cheaters.

I haven't seen Atlantic anywhere in St. Louis. Yes, Hi-FI-Fo-Fum carries the Studios. It was a shame to see there Manchester store close down shop (or let the lease go according to the manager). They usually carried a pretty full range of studios at their Manchester store when it was operational.
I popped my head in there when I saw the sign and they didn't have any deals. Sooo disappointed.

Really? Why is that? And what do you consider the limit, and why? How about speakers/sub, pre/pro/amp, display monitor, game console, cables? I'd like to know where right and wrong are for those too. Please explain your rational.LOL.

Don't tell me, you spend hundreds of dollars on your cables and you've got Mark Levinson electronics, blah, blah, blah. Have you spent anything on room acoustics?

I don't want to get off-subject in the HDTV programming forum, especially when my post was tongue-in-cheek. But it appears you took offense. Perhaps you are a billionaire and your $2,000 is equivalent to my $2. In which case, I will withdraw my original tongue-in-cheek comment.

By the way, spell correctly.

OK, somebody stop me if I'm crazy, but I have a question. I have a Dish DVR 942 (2 satellite tuners and 1 OTA tuner), therefore I can record and/or watch 2 satellite HD channels at once, but only 1 OTA HD channel. I want to know if what I am thinking is possible, if it is crazy, or if it will reduce my picture quality. Could I split the HD signal from my OTA antenna and run one into the DVR 942, and the other into another input on my TV. So when, on a night like tonight I can still record NCIS and watch (on the feed straight into the TV) the bowl game between FSU and PSU? Call me crazy if you must, is it possible, will I lose any quality?

Thanks

I popped my head in there when I saw the sign and they didn't have any deals. Sooo disappointed.

Actually when I was looking at speakers a few years back, they quoted me out a very competitive price for a complete Studio setup. I was very tempted to pick up the package, but preferred the NHT Evolution system a tad more. I think it depended upon who you talked to in there. When I talked to the manager guy when they were closing that location (letting the lease expire), he seemed pretty pissed off at the world in general, especially at the UE right up the street.

Deuces, it's not a crazy question.

You may get a slight deterioriation in the signal by splitting it, but as long as you had a strong signal to begin with (and I recall that you did), it probably won't be an issue in terms of losing the ability to view all the stations you're currently receiving.

Try it and see -- the cost is minimal.

Did you get your 942 replacement? And did it address the issue with the tuner forgetting your local digital channels?

Thanks, Doug and Jon. I guess the part I still don't understand is the reason that this happens only from time to time. Certainly nothing in the signal path thas changed between now and two weeks ago when this was not taking place. When it is gone next week or whenever there will have been no change in mountains, buldings or foliage. It does seem to be worse in the evenings.....Art

Art -

I feel your pain man. I had the same frustrations with random multipath issues at my house in Ballwin, usually with Fox. It would be rock solid for months on end, then all of a sudden decide to start bouncing around. I chalked it up to trees and leaves blowing/changing, but could never really get a handle on it either. I have my fingers crossed that wherever we end up buying a house here in the next 2 weeks, I'll have a clear siteline to the towers and a good strong OTA signal, of course my wife is more concerned with the size of the kitchen. pfft :rolleyes:

Doug,

Yes got the new tuner and got it hooked up. So far no troubles (knock on wood). But after you were here we had not troubles with the previous one either. I don't know what was causing the issue before. My signals are all at 99-100 (for CBS, NBC, FOX, KPLR) and at 90 for ABC. I just want to be able to watch live OTA tv sometimes while I am recording through the DVR on another channel. Have often wished they had put 2 OTA tuners in there. This would be a way to get around that, without a DVR of course.

The signal is strong otherwise, but sometimes drops to low numbers and then back? Sounds like multipath issues to me, where the receiver is getting multiple copies of the same signal (reflected off of various sources). With analog OTA, you'd see this as "ghosting", and a 2nd image on the screen. With digital OTA, it's simply an error and the receiver gets mixed up. Newer generation digital OTA receivers do a better job at dealing with this and tossing out the weaker signals, but they can only handle so much.

FWIW, I occasionally have the same kind of reception problem with KSDK and KPLR, usually both having problems concurrently. One day it will be bad, then significant time goes by without a problem. I'm in St. Charles and if I'm reading the antenna location map right, the KDNL tower is very close to KSDK and KPLR and I never have had a problem with KDNL. Would it be correct to assume that any problem causing multipath would be closer to the antennas than to me. Since KDNLs frequency is between KPLR and KSDK seems to me it couldn't be something selectively reflecting a specific frequency. Not knowing a whole lot about broadcasting, I'm beginning to believe it's more of a 1080i thing. I can't remember having any issues with a 780p channel.

BTW, flipped on Law and Order SVU on KSDK. Green snow everywhere.

I just drafted my letter to kSDk. This PQ situation with them is a joke. If I wanted green snow, I would get some mushrooms & head to the Rockies.

I plan to call in the morning & get names for the station manager & chief engineer. I will send both a copy of my letter. I will post names for anyone who cares to pitch in with the campaign. We can only hope that their problems are not going on during the Olympics that start next month.

It's been a while since I've joined in the KSDK bashing around here, so let me make up for some lost time. :D

I was under the impression a few folks here said KSDK (sort of) got its audio act together and had been flagging shows correctly recently?

BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Last night's Leno was still 2.0 flagged as 5.1, so still nothing from the center, rears, or sub.

How much money do TV audio engineers make? I'm thinking maybe it's time for a career change. Once I learn the ropes, I gotta be better at it than these guys!

Last night's Leno was still 2.0 flagged as 5.1, so still nothing from the center, rears, or sub.

Ditto tonight. I would guess that KSDK is not getting a 5.1 feed. I checked TitanTV and TV Guide listings and nothing about DD 5.1. Green snow continues....particularly bad on parts of the set that appear to be medium gray.

Didn't notice this until tonight so if this has already been posted I need to pay more attention. I have two new HD channels through Dish. Film Festival on 9489 and Kung Fu Theater on 94379. It looks like they replaced GuyTV and Majectic

LOL.

Don't tell me, you spend hundreds of dollars on your cables and you've got Mark Levinson electronics, blah, blah, blah. Have you spent anything on room acoustics?

I don't want to get off-subject in the HDTV programming forum, especially when my post was tongue-in-cheek. But it appears you took offense. Perhaps you are a billionaire and your $2,000 is equivalent to my $2. In which case, I will withdraw my original tongue-in-cheek comment.

By the way, spell correctly. :rolleyes: somebody show this guy the door

:rolleyes: somebody show this guy the door

Hey, they both have their opinions. I say let them go.

It's fine to have a difference of opinion, but my own take is that the sort of tone that JD has taken is not likely to yield much in terms of a useful discussion. Specifically, calling someone out for spelling a word incorrectly is nothing other than an online taunt, and that sort of dialogue rarely produces anything of value.

Too bad -- this could have been an interesting exchange of opinion.

Best to move on...

I popped my head in there when I saw the sign and they didn't have any deals. Sooo disappointed.

I think you are expecting Hi-Fi to be more like Best Buy. The reason you found no deals is that Hi-Fi offers a more high end selection of products compared to the major retailers' consumer entry level products. A prime example is Best Buy sells Mitsubishi TVs. However they are slimmed down feature-less models. When one compares Best Buy's TV to the same size that Ultimate Electronics or another specialty retailer carries, you will notice a plethora of added features and enhancements. Paradigm is a higher end line of speakers found in specialty shops. Even if you went to a major chain and bought the most expensive products, you could walk into a specialty store and see that the low end of what they carry is better. (In some instances)

My example is as follows:

I started my venture into home theater with the high end Pioneer receiver that Best Buy sold at the time. I also started with some midlevel Sony speakers. After listening to my buddy's Infinity's I noticed that the entry level reference series Infinity sounded light years beyond my Sony's. I bought his off him since he needed some cash. I now have since replaced my Pioneer with an Elite model that is found at specialty stores. Yes I paid more for it but the difference is amazing and the amount of inputs was nice.

So you just have to open your mind up to the fact that these products may not fall in your budget but are of higher caliber. Don't just blindly throw out there that somewhere doesn't have good deals. If you are interested in a purchase then the price can be negotiated a bit. This goes the same with your comment on a $2,000 DVD player. You may not warrant spending that much, but others do. And you don't need to be a rich man to have nice things. I just save up for the HT gear I want.

Didn't notice this until tonight so if this has already been posted I need to pay more attention. I have two new HD channels through Dish. Film Festival on 9489 and Kung Fu Theater on 94379. It looks like they replaced GuyTV and Majectic
There still remains 10 Voom HD channels to be activated on Dish. There is a meeting tomorrow between E* and Voom, and it is expected Dish will announce how (MPEG2 or MPEG4) and when the additional channels will be rolled out.

For those who may be interested, Dish will be moving to an all MPEG4 HD content, which will make the current Dish HD receivers (811, 921, 942) obsolete. The only current Dish HD receiver capable of receiving MPEG4 is the new 411. (non DVR)
The 411 is presently being used for new installs, and is expected to begin a rolling upgrade for current 811 users in the coming few months.

Dish has yet to announce its plans to provide a solution for current 921 and 942 (DVR) users, but most likely will follow a similar upgrade solution prior to making the total switch from MPEG2 to MPEG4.

Rich,
I certainly agree with your comments. Additionally, I am amazed that Best Buy and Circuit City seem to have abandoned receivers and speakers. I guess that most of their customers are uninterested or there is just no money to be made in receivers and speakers. A hundred displays and half a dozen low end receivers.

I have always appreciated places like HIFI and a couple of others in the community as places for people who have no interest in involving themselves in their entertainment systems. No crime there and the stores that sell service as well as product have a real place.

For the hundreds so terribly interested in my signal I am now back in the very solid area for all stations. Go figure. Art

kSDk contacts for those who may wish to express their, uh, concerns:

Station Manager - Lynn Beall
Chief Engineer - Dave Hummert

My letters will be in the mail today. I encourage others to contact them as well.

saluki,

Do you have eMail addresses for the kSDk contacts?

It may be that a letter is better, but it's good to have both options...

saluki,

Do you have eMail addresses for the kSDk contacts?

It may be that a letter is better, but it's good to have both options...

See additions:


Chief Engineer - Dave Hummert - dhummert@ksdk.gannett.com

Station Manager - Lynn Beall - lbeall@ksdk.gannett.com

I sort of ignored the XM additions when they first were added back in November, but I recently reprogrammed a couple dozen of these stations into my Pronto to make them more accessible and I have to say I'm really enjoying them -- a lot! It's easy to see why terrestrial radio is sweating bullets and trying to get the FCC to make it harder for satellite radio to serve its customers.

Anyway, the XM stuff is definitely worth checking out. For me, it's been sort of like a Christmas present I gave myself...without pulling out my wallet. :)

It was a piece of coal for me. If I wanted XM I could have gotten it any time. DirecTV did not even bother to include a metal station (even though XM has a station that is only available online that would have worked--and DirecTV DID include other online-only stations in their offerings). So instead of being able to get Music Choice and/or XM, us in the boonies get stuck with a limited subset of XM.

I'm genuinely curious, did you ever listen to Music Choice? The only difference I see is that I can't get the genre of music I want any more, and I have to listen to them talk between songs a lot more than I did on Music Choice.

Its almost like people didn't know about Music Choice because they don't have the marketing machine that Sirius and XM have.

There still remains 10 Voom HD channels to be activated on Dish. There is a meeting tomorrow between E* and Voom, and it is expected Dish will announce how (MPEG2 or MPEG4) and when the additional channels will be rolled out.

For those who may be interested, Dish will be moving to an all MPEG4 HD content, which will make the current Dish HD receivers (811, 921, 942) obsolete. The only current Dish HD receiver capable of receiving MPEG4 is the new 411. (non DVR)
The 411 is presently being used for new installs, and is expected to begin a rolling upgrade for current 811 users in the coming few months.
Dish has yet to announce its plans to provide a solution for current 921 and 942 (DVR) users, but most likely will follow a similar upgrade solution prior to making the total switch from MPEG2 to MPEG4.

I've seen nothing "hard" about a Dish move to MPEG4. Can you provide some links?

It was a piece of coal for me. If I wanted XM I could have gotten it any time. DirecTV did not even bother to include a metal station (even though XM has a station that is only available online that would have worked--and DirecTV DID include other online-only stations in their offerings). So instead of being able to get Music Choice and/or XM, us in the boonies get stuck with a limited subset of XM.

I'm genuinely curious, did you ever listen to Music Choice? The only difference I see is that I can't get the genre of music I want any more, and I have to listen to them talk between songs a lot more than I did on Music Choice.

Its almost like people didn't know about Music Choice because they don't have the marketing machine that Sirius and XM have.

I'm with you. I actually miss Music Choice. Sure I like hearing some different stuff, but I could really do without the DJ's and the people that call in and "F this" or "F that" seem to be all that is said (I'm sure this is probably due to my choice of station, than all of the XM stations).

The bottom line for me is that Music Choice was a great talk-free option. Now I'll have to look for other options of talk-free music.

Art -

I feel your pain man. I had the same frustrations with random multipath issues at my house in Ballwin, usually with Fox. It would be rock solid for months on end, then all of a sudden decide to start bouncing around. I chalked it up to trees and leaves blowing/changing, but could never really get a handle on it either. I have my fingers crossed that wherever we end up buying a house here in the next 2 weeks, I'll have a clear siteline to the towers and a good strong OTA signal, of course my wife is more concerned with the size of the kitchen. pfft :rolleyes:
I don't know what the heck my problem is. When I finally got my OTA antenna working I had all of the HD locals and now I cannot get my tuner to even recognize the existence of Fox. Weird. Of course, I am too lazy to mess with it but I was annoyed at not getting the Fox-broadcasted football games in HD.

I'm genuinely curious, did you ever listen to Music Choice? The only difference I see is that I can't get the genre of music I want any more, and I have to listen to them talk between songs a lot more than I did on Music Choice.I did listen to TMC from time to time, but never as regularly as I have with XM in the past couple of weeks. It's certainly possible that my XM listening will tail off at some point as it's still sort of a novelty. It's also partly a matter for me of having better access to the XM stations via my Pronto -- and obviously that's not a knock on TMC.

I don't mind the amount of talking I've heard so far, and some of it has actually been informative, both about featured artists on a particular channel as well as other special programming that's happening on other channels. No doubt there's a tricky balance to be struck there, but so far the level of talk isn't a big issue for me. Commercials would be a deal-breaker, for sure, though.

The XM marketing muscle is undoubtedly a factor here, but I think there's also an element that XM with limited talk seems more like real radio, while TMC seemed more like Muzak (though obviously of a higher sound quality).

I'm sorry to hear that you've ended up short-changed on your music of choice. That does seem to be a glaring oversight and I can't understand how that happened, particularly since so many other, more obscure genres have been covered, some in multiple offerings.

Hey, they both have their opinions. I say let them go.THANK YOU! LOL.

I'm curently locked into a debate with a buddy of mine who bought the top-of-the-line washer/dryer a few years ago and now wants to spend $150 for a cheapie AV receiver. I told him 'no problem' and gave him advice. He thinks I'm nuts for spending over $1,000 for a pre-amp and a power amp. I pointed out that different people derive different utility from different purchases. That's why he'll spend thousands of dollars on guns and I won't spend a dollar on them. I put myself in the same position as dwette was with me.

My only reason for giving dwette a 'hard time' is that anytime someone talks about their $2,000 DVD player or Kimber Kables or Mark Levinson electronics I know I can get a rise out of them by questioning the purchase. For some reason people that can afford to drop that kind of change on their gear get very defensive about it. I just enjoy the entertainment value from needling them.

The only thing that matters is that you perceive value for your purchase and that you can afford to make it. :)

I've seen nothing "hard" about a Dish move to MPEG4. Can you provide some links?
Here is one of several articles, which is consistent with the recently released (Dec '05) 411 HD receiver, capable of MPEG4.

http://www.twice.com/article/CA479247.html

EchoStar Sees ’06 MPEG-4 Move

By Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 11/9/2004 12:05:00 PM

Englewood, Colo. — The start of EchoStar’s planned transition from MPEG-2 to the more efficient MPEG-4 digital compression standard for its DISH Network direct broadcast satellite digital television service is “about a year away,” the company’s CEO Charles Ergen told analysts on conference call Tuesday.

Ergen said his company had planned to begin transitioning customers to MPEG-4 in 2005, in order to carry more channels on the satellite TV service. In particular, EchoStar is looking to add addition HDTV channels, which require significantly greater bandwidth than standard-definition channels.


He added it looks like the start date will be pushed back to 2006, in order to handle the massive upgrading effort.

Ergen said EchoStar has not added new channels to its HDTV programming lineup in recent months because it has not had the bandwidth capacity aboard its satellite fleet. It also has not been more aggressive about promoting its HDTV services lately because plans for the MPEG-4 transition were in the works, Ergen said.

The transition to MPEG-4 will require replacement of existing set-top boxes in subscribers’ homes. The change-out is expected to take four years to complete.

Ergen said process will be handled in phases, with DISH Network HDTV customers expected to be in the first wave of equipment upgrades. During the transition period, DISH Network programming will be transmitted in both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 formats.

New MPEG-4 decoder boxes will be backward compatible with MPEG-2 transmissions, but legacy MPEG-2 boxes will not be able to receive the new MPEG-4 signals, Ergen said.

Rival DirecTV is also expected to move to the MPEG-4 compression standard in the future, as it looks to offer HDTV channels in its local-TV station packages.

It's fine to have a difference of opinion, but my own take is that the sort of tone that JD has taken is not likely to yield much in terms of a useful discussion. Specifically, calling someone out for spelling a word incorrectly is nothing other than an online taunt, and that sort of dialogue rarely produces anything of value.

Too bad -- this could have been an interesting exchange of opinion.

Best to move on...
When I was in high school, I had a math teacher who would go into the teachers' lounge and while pouring himself a cup of coffee he would get some debate started that was sure to get people at each other's throats and then he would slip out the door laughing to himself for the havoc he created.

FOR THE RECORD, there is nothing at all wrong with dwette spending $2,000 on a DVD player if he's got the bucks to do it. I just saw an opportunity to needle someone and get a debate going. True, I should have used an emoticom to signal my teasing. As for the spelling correction, I am anal in the extreme about proofing one's writing before clicking 'send' or 'submit'. Accuracy is important.

My income has gone up 55% in the last two years and 90% in the last 4 years. I've gone out and purchased a new car for my wife and a used 'Vette for me and a 4,400sf house. A lot of people look at that and would roll their eyes. That's fine. To each his own. I save 30% of my money before I spend it. People that would think I'm a profligate spender don't see that. Dwette clearly has more disposable income than me if he can afford $2,000 DVD players. Excellent! The more rich people we have in this country the better because it's high income people who pay taxes. Capitalism is a very good thing. The more consumers of $2,000 DVD players the better!!!

I think you are expecting Hi-Fi to be more like Best Buy. The reason you found no deals is that Hi-Fi offers a more high end selection of products compared to the major retailers' consumer entry level products. A prime example is Best Buy sells Mitsubishi TVs. However they are slimmed down feature-less models. When one compares Best Buy's TV to the same size that Ultimate Electronics or another specialty retailer carries, you will notice a plethora of added features and enhancements. Paradigm is a higher end line of speakers found in specialty shops. Even if you went to a major chain and bought the most expensive products, you could walk into a specialty store and see that the low end of what they carry is better. (In some instances)

My example is as follows:

I started my venture into home theater with the high end Pioneer receiver that Best Buy sold at the time. I also started with some midlevel Sony speakers. After listening to my buddy's Infinity's I noticed that the entry level reference series Infinity sounded light years beyond my Sony's. I bought his off him since he needed some cash. I now have since replaced my Pioneer with an Elite model that is found at specialty stores. Yes I paid more for it but the difference is amazing and the amount of inputs was nice.

So you just have to open your mind up to the fact that these products may not fall in your budget but are of higher caliber. Don't just blindly throw out there that somewhere doesn't have good deals. If you are interested in a purchase then the price can be negotiated a bit. This goes the same with your comment on a $2,000 DVD player. You may not warrant spending that much, but others do. And you don't need to be a rich man to have nice things. I just save up for the HT gear I want.
I bought my first 'hifi' gear at a boutique place in Rochester, NY almost 20 years ago when I was in business school - KEF speakers and an NAD integrated amp. I have a Fosgate pre-amp and a Rotel power amp right now. I'm not opposed to high-end audio at high-end AV stores AT ALL.

My point regarding Hi-Fi-Fo-Fum is that I was stopped at a light and I saw their windows painted with signs that they were losing their lease or something to that effect and I went in thinking they would be selling their equipment at more than 10% off. I was disappointed because the outside of the building communicated "there might be a decent deal on some really high-quality equipment" but when I got inside I discovered that it was more like "we're going to give you pretty much the same deal as The Sound Room will give you any day of the week just for asking for it."

As for dwette's $2,000 DVD player, I would love to have a $2,000 DVD player if I can get it as a closeout for $300. Otherwise, I should stick with my $200 OPPO because any differences between them will be very, very slight. Investing a few hundred dollars in room acoustics would be a better investment of the difference in price.

*yawn* price wars are boring. Lets argue Mac vs PC too! Can we get back to crappy TV reception? Cause your high end gear only magnifies the glaring problems

:-)

Rich,
I certainly agree with your comments. Additionally, I am amazed that Best Buy and Circuit City seem to have abandoned receivers and speakers. I guess that most of their customers are uninterested or there is just no money to be made in receivers and speakers. A hundred displays and half a dozen low end receivers.

I have always appreciated places like HIFI and a couple of others in the community as places for people who have no interest in involving themselves in their entertainment systems. No crime there and the stores that sell service as well as product have a real place.

For the hundreds so terribly interested in my signal I am now back in the very solid area for all stations. Go figure. Art
I think one of the problems facing BB and CC is that it is too easy to buy that mass-market stuff on the Internet (or at WalMart). They have higher overhead than the Internet vendors (www.onecall.com for example as a legitimate vendor) so they can't make an adequate margin. Since big screens cost so much to ship, and because most people want to see the TV first before they buy it, BB and CC retain a comparative advantage in that market segment. (Imagine what happens to BB and CC when Walmart starts selling the full range of HDTVs instead of just a couple at the very bottom end of the market.)

I think BB's reason for buying Magnolia is that many high-end manufacturers do everything they can to stop Internet vendors and therefore BB sees an opportunity to actually make money at the high-end whereas they couldn't at the low-end of audio gear.

Jdurbin,

Thanks for all the feedback. I think I am in your position. I will buy the expensive stuff if I can find it on clearance. :) I see your point on HiFi now. Thanks again for your contribution and clearing up the confusion.

When I was in high school, I had a math teacher who would go into the teachers' lounge and while pouring himself a cup of coffee he would get some debate started that was sure to get people at each other's throats and then he would slip out the door laughing to himself for the havoc he created.

FOR THE RECORD, there is nothing at all wrong with dwette spending $2,000 on a DVD player if he's got the bucks to do it. I just saw an opportunity to needle someone and get a debate going. True, I should have used an emoticom to signal my teasing. As for the spelling correction, I am anal in the extreme about proofing one's writing before clicking 'send' or 'submit'. Accuracy is important.

My income has gone up 55% in the last two years and 90% in the last 4 years. I've gone out and purchased a new car for my wife and a used 'Vette for me and a 4,400sf house. A lot of people look at that and would roll their eyes. That's fine. To each his own. I save 30% of my money before I spend it. People that would think I'm a profligate spender don't see that. Dwette clearly has more disposable income than me if he can afford $2,000 DVD players. Excellent! The more rich people we have in this country the better because it's high income people who pay taxes. Capitalism is a very good thing. The more consumers of $2,000 DVD players the better!!!

I'm so glad you cleared all this up for us. We no longer have to be offended by your attacks on person rather than opinion and we can rest assured that nothing you say can be taken seriously.

Thanks.

:rolleyes: somebody show this guy the door
Thanks for the support all. My DVD player and I appreciate it. But now that my HT is complete, I have a new way to throw away my money. :rolleyes:

rthomp03 and kdg454 both of you say that you have seen the NFL Game of The Week in HD. You both have Dish? I have the top 120 package with the HD channels and a 821 receiver. How does this compare to what you guys have? kdg454 yes if you could take a pic that would be great. Thanks.
Sorry it took so long to reply. Been out of town over the holidays. I have AT180 and the HD package with the 811 receiver. Anxiously awaiting ESPN-2HD tomorrow. They'd better put it on 110 and not 129 where it is currently testing. :)

Sorry it took so long to reply. Been out of town over the holidays. I have AT180 and the HD package with the 811 receiver. Anxiously awaiting ESPN-2HD tomorrow. They'd better put it on 110 and not 129 where it is currently testing. :)

That is good news however will ESPN-2HD only be available on the AT180 package or will it be included in the HD package? By the way have not heard back from DISH about my problem. However kdg454 cleared up the problem for me. It appears that I can't tell the difference between central time and eastern time.

duvy,

I trust that you've thoroughly investigated the possibility of putting up an antenna outside your apartment, but if not, be sure to read to the section on your right to use an antenna or satellite dish that was highlighted in the advisory message I posted yesterday.

In some cases you can't put up an antenna in an apartment, but in other cases you can and if you meet the necessary conditions, no one can prevent you from doing so -- not even your landlord.

I just want to ensure that you've exhausted the possibility of an outdoor antenna...
Yes I am aware of the outdoor antenna option just never pursued it. I'm on the second floor and thought there would be no problem pulling in a good signal. If you like the "Blues" you should listen to a show on Bluesville on Saturday nights from 9 to 11 called "Stoned Blue". It's electric blues. On XM.

That is good news however will ESPN-2HD only be available on the AT180 package or will it be included in the HD package? By the way have not heard back from DISH about my problem. However kdg454 cleared up the problem for me. It appears that I can't tell the difference between central time and eastern time.
ESPN2 is already available in SD on Dish channel 144, which is part of the AT180.
When ESPN2HD is added to the lineup, it should become part of the Dish HD package.
It is necessary to have the Dish HD package and/or Voom to receive any Dish HD channels.
I believe, but am not certain, in order to receive the Voom channels, you must first have the regular Dish HD package...perhaps someone else knows for sure :confused:

rt, I've heard 20 different opinions on 110 or 129....guess we'll find out tomorrow :(

Does anyone know if you can purchase your own cable STB and have Charter activate it and no longer charge for the lease?

rthomp03,

You said you are anxiously awaiting ESPN2HD tomorrow. I have heard all the rumors about it, but are you implying the announcement will be tomorrow or that they will actually add the channel tomorrow too? Illinois plays on ESPN2HD tomorrow night. Sorry if it is a stupid question.

Off Topic: Is anyone else having problems with Charter Pipeline today (1/1) and yesterday? Its really, really slow and at times I can't even connect.

I've been having problems for the past two or three days. Doesn't really go dead (my VPN doesn't disconect), but is really slow. When it works, it works as it normally does.

i dunno where you are, but i called and got a "service problem" message for the city, which is where I am, and I was having problems.

Does anyone know if you can purchase your own cable STB and have Charter activate it and no longer charge for the lease?

Charter does list the cost of the various boxes so I think it is possible. The only concern I would have is if one bought a Moxi and it failed (like mine did). You would have to pay for a new one after shelling out the initial cost of buying the failed one. That is one thing I did not like about D*. I like paying the monthly fee and knowing if something new comes along or if it fails I just call Charter up and say get me a new one.

Here is the listing that was in my October bill.
Standard Digital Receiver - $195
HDTV - $313
DVR or DVR/HD - $473
Multi-room DVR - $592
Multi-room Moxi Mate - $79
CableCARD - $84
Analog Converter - $15

Does anyone have a guess as to whether Dish is just announcing ESPN2 HD tomorrow, or if it will be added immediatlely also?

I should have used an emoticom to signal my teasing. As for the spelling correction, I am anal in the extreme about proofing one's writing before clicking 'send' or 'submit'. Accuracy is important.

What exactly is an emoticom? I've heard of emoticons, but never emoticoms. Guess I need to really look into the accuracy of my brain if I want to follow your anally accurate posts.

If you are going to jump on other people, make sure you at least achieve the standard you hold others too - or better yet - just let it go and avoid commenting on spelling, grammar, etc on an informal message forum.

Chris

Is there a local engineer from ksdk on the forum that can explain why NBC HD looks so bad? I've looked around other areas of avs and not found more than theories about multi-casting. It didn't start right when 5-2 started. Apologies if this has been answered already. :confused:

What exactly is an emoticom? I've heard of emoticons, but never emoticoms. Guess I need to really look into the accuracy of my brain if I want to follow your anally accurate posts.

If you are going to jump on other people, make sure you at least achieve the standard you hold others too - or better yet - just let it go and avoid commenting on spelling, grammar, etc on an informal message forum.

Chris


Classic!

Does anyone have a guess as to whether Dish is just announcing ESPN2 HD tomorrow, or if it will be added immediatlely also?
I don't think anyone, well, other than Dish, know whether ESPN2HD will be announced and/or added tomorrow.
There is a joint press conference with Dish and Voom sometime tomorrow, at which time, it is widely expected that Dish will announce some additional HD content being added to their lineup. When and how, remains to be seen.
If you're interested in finding out as soon as, whatever information is announced, is released, you can follow it HERE (http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=101) and HERE ( http://www.dbstalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=11)

EDIT: Dueces, you may already know this, but if not, the Michigan State-Illinois game will still be on Dish 144 on ESPN2 in SD. It won't be HD, but at least you can see the game :)

What exactly is an emoticom? I've heard of emoticons, but never emoticoms. Guess I need to really look into the accuracy of my brain if I want to follow your anally accurate posts.
I think he painted himself into a corner on that one. Great catch. :D

I'm so glad you cleared all this up for us. We no longer have to be offended by your attacks on person rather than opinion and we can rest assured that nothing you say can be taken seriously.

Thanks.
LOL!!! You've pretty much nailed that down. When I was trying to be serious the other day, asking about relative differences between DirecTV and Charter, I got almost no reaction.

The Charter Pipeline for me has gone dead (router can't get an address, NO internet sites come up at all, lights on the cablemodem powercycle) several times during the last 6 days.... 5 of those days came AFTER the CSR told me everything's been fixed.

LOL!!! You've pretty much nailed that down. When I was trying to be serious the other day, asking about relative differences between DirecTV and Charter, I got almost no reaction.
I'm sorry but paying any amount of money for Charter is soooo just plain wrong. :D

Thanks for the support all. My DVD player and I appreciate it. But now that my HT is complete, I have a new way to throw away my money. :rolleyes:
Serious question. I took the time to link to your gear and it's a serious setup. Why haven't you spent a dime on room acoustics (or at least are not listing your investment in that area)? I spend more time in the Setup/Theory subforum than I do here and I have become amazed at the impact room treatment has on sound.

The guys there continually mock the people who spend $10k - $20k and more on their equipment and then just throw it into a loud room with no acoustic analysis or treatment.

What exactly is an emoticom? I've heard of emoticons, but never emoticoms. Guess I need to really look into the accuracy of my brain if I want to follow your anally accurate posts.

If you are going to jump on other people, make sure you at least achieve the standard you hold others too - or better yet - just let it go and avoid commenting on spelling, grammar, etc on an informal message forum.

ChrisPoint taken.

The Charter Pipeline for me has gone dead (router can't get an address, NO internet sites come up at all, lights on the cablemodem powercycle) several times during the last 6 days.... 5 of those days came AFTER the CSR told me everything's been fixed.

I've had numerous outages, too, and had to power off the modem to get anything. Since I have Vonage, it's a lucky thing I have my calls forwarded to my mobile phone or I would have missed some calls.

Serious question. I took the time to link to your gear and it's a serious setup. Why haven't you spent a dime on room acoustics (or at least are not listing your investment in that area)? I spend more time in the Setup/Theory subforum than I do here and I have become amazed at the impact room treatment has on sound.

The guys there continually mock the people who spend $10k - $20k and more on their equipment and then just throw it into a loud room with no acoustic analysis or treatment.
Fair question...
Because I don't have a dedicated room for the HT. It's in our living room. The setup has to have wife approval, so I can't do sound treatments, other than normal furnishings to deaden some of the more reflective surfaces (room is plaster on brick, plaster on lathe walls, and hardwood floors). I have done some calibration (ISF video and some SPL adjustments) and fine tuned some audio by ear. It has to be a compromise system.

Nevethless it looks and sounds awesome as it is & I end up never going to the theater anymore because I can't stand the awful, boomy audio cranked way up into clipping distortion until your head hurts.

If I had a room to dedicate to HT, I would change to a projection system and work on acoustic calibration. The truth is I'm done spending any major money on it (other than DVDs). I have to satisfy my (and wife's) other expensive pasttime (cars & motorsports). :)

Is there a local engineer from ksdk on the forum that can explain why NBC HD looks so bad? I've looked around other areas of avs and not found more than theories about multi-casting. It didn't start right when 5-2 started. Apologies if this has been answered already. :confused:

To my knowledge, there has been no communication from kSDk on the forum. Please contact them with your comments. I am mailing a letter to the station manager & chief engineer on my way home tonight. Others are e-mailing or calling.

Chief Engineer - Dave Hummert - dhummert@ksdk.gannett.com

Station Manager - Lynn Beall - lbeall@ksdk.gannett.com

kdg454,

Thanks, but yes I know it will be on 144, and I will still watch. But SD just isn't the same as HD, right? or we wouldn't even be here.

I've had numerous outages, too, and had to power off the modem to get anything. Since I have Vonage, it's a lucky thing I have my calls forwarded to my mobile phone or I would have missed some calls.
Luckily, Pipeline is continuing to operate normally here. I have read numerous other posts (other forums) in the past few days regarding outages in the STL metro area, primarily west.
In case you don't already have it, there is a way to get directly in contact with a Pipeline CSR at 888-871-4485, then select the "help with email" option.
Don't know if that's any help, but I know how frustrating it is when it goes down.
Good luck.

kdg454,
Thanks, but yes I know it will be on 144, and I will still watch. But SD just isn't the same as HD, right? or we wouldn't even be here.
Yes, of course, and I figured as much...just didn't want you to miss the game in case you didn't.

For any interested:
From the January eDish Newsletter:

Watch a Special HD EDITION of the Charlie Chat on DISH Network!

January 9, 2006 @ 9 PM ET
EDIT: airtime is 8pm Central Time
Channel 101
This event will be hosted by DISH Network’s CEO, Charlie Ergen, and co-founder, Jim DeFranco. The show will highlight everything you ever wanted to know about High Definition Television, plus Eric Sahl, Senior VP of Programming, will join us for all the latest news regarding HD programming. A very special guest, President and CEO of VOOM Josh Sabin, will be stopping by to talk to Charlie & Jim. As always, this is your chance to email or call in and talk live to the CEO himself.

As for dwette's $2,000 DVD player, I would love to have a $2,000 DVD player if I can get it as a closeout for $300. Otherwise, I should stick with my $200 OPPO because any differences between them will be very, very slight. Investing a few hundred dollars in room acoustics would be a better investment of the difference in price.
I just nticed this comment...
Actually I got my Arcam DVD player as a $1600 MSRP ex-demo for $1000. Then after I bought my Arcam AVR300 PLIIx receiver (had one of the first in the US), I worked with one of the U.K. project leads to teeth the processor control software (did a bunch of testing and gave recommendations on enhancements). As a reward Arcam gave me a $600 upgrade to the player (which added the excellent Silicon Image SiI504 deinterlacer). So MSRP on it is $2200. I paid $1000. I did not get so lucky on my other audio gear, where I typically got 10% off. But it's all worth it to me in any case.

Is there a local engineer from ksdk on the forum that can explain why NBC HD looks so bad? I've looked around other areas of avs and not found more than theories about multi-casting. It didn't start right when 5-2 started. Apologies if this has been answered already. :confused:

You are correct. It started a few weeks ago. It is my understanding that the current video issues are a direct result of KSDK attempting to remedy their Dolby 5.1 issues. A new encoder intended to resolve this issue has introduced the "distortion" or noise to the video.

Audio is still a mess, so why they don't revert to the previous encoder is anyone's guess. Their absolute lack of communication to the public regarding these issues only compounds the matter.

I'm pretty sure that no one from KSDK lurks around here.....Too bad.

Charter does list the cost of the various boxes so I think it is possible. The only concern I would have is if one bought a Moxi and it failed (like mine did). You would have to pay for a new one after shelling out the initial cost of buying the failed one. That is one thing I did not like about D*. I like paying the monthly fee and knowing if something new comes along or if it fails I just call Charter up and say get me a new one.

Here is the listing that was in my October bill.
Standard Digital Receiver - $195
HDTV - $313
DVR or DVR/HD - $473
Multi-room DVR - $592
Multi-room Moxi Mate - $79
CableCARD - $84
Analog Converter - $15

I was thinking about buying an old Motorola 5100 for a second HD receiver. That model has been around long enough and should not be as likely to break like the Moxi. If you could get one from a source besides Charter would they allow it to be activated and used? I'm sure it would pay itself off quickly.

I was thinking about buying an old Motorola 5100 for a second HD receiver. That model has been around long enough and should not be as likely to break like the Moxi. If you could get one from a source besides Charter would they allow it to be activated and used? I'm sure it would pay itself off quickly.


Redwine,

Currently you cannot purchase a digital cable box. Most likely anyones that you do purchase such as on eBay will be a stolen one and Charter will not activate it.

However, the Cable Industry and CES are trying to establish where consumers can purchase their own cable box, but the details are being hashed out concerning rights and so forth. The industry is looking towards a downloadable security rather than a card like the CableCard.

You may start seeing these boxes to come out in the next several years and maybe end of 2006. However, the cable card versions my come out sooner than that. Remember with a CableCard any interactivity like Video On Demand will not be available.


Mark

There still remains 10 Voom HD channels to be activated on Dish. There is a meeting tomorrow between E* and Voom, and it is expected Dish will announce how (MPEG2 or MPEG4) and when the additional channels will be rolled out.

For those who may be interested, Dish will be moving to an all MPEG4 HD content, which will make the current Dish HD receivers (811, 921, 942) obsolete. The only current Dish HD receiver capable of receiving MPEG4 is the new 411. (non DVR)
The 411 is presently being used for new installs, and is expected to begin a rolling upgrade for current 811 users in the coming few months.

Dish has yet to announce its plans to provide a solution for current 921 and 942 (DVR) users, but most likely will follow a similar upgrade solution prior to making the total switch from MPEG2 to MPEG4.

My understanding is *new* HD content will be broadcast in MPEG4 format. current channels will continue to be broadcast in MPEG2 format. I suppose we will find out more soon.

I'm probably one of the more guilty when it comes to complaining about something.
I just finished watching the Rose Bowl, great game, btw.
I thought the HD presentation by KDNL and ABC was flawless. The PQ was outstanding, and the broadcast smooth and very enjoyable to view.
I cannot speak for the sound. I have a 5.1 surround, but not the type which shows the individual channels, and I really do not have the ability to discern between 2, 3, or 5 channel on a live broadcast.
Hats off folks, good job!

HD-DVD - NYTimes

The fight for control of the market for new high-definition DVD players intensified yesterday when Toshiba, a leader of an industry group backing the HD-DVD format, said it would release a machine in March for less than $500.

The announcement, made at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, staked out Toshiba's position as the leader of the low-cost alternative to the Blu-ray format being promoted by a rival group dominated by Sony, Panasonic and others.

Three more Blu-ray supporters, Samsung, Pioneer and Sharp, said at the show that they planned to release machines this year costing $1,000 to $1,800.

Article can be seen in full at =

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/05/technology/05videos.html

jim

One other major thing on Toshiba's announcment regarding its initial HD-DVD players: The HD image resolution capabilities for these new players is going to be limited to 720p or 1080i.

Yes, 1080p is conspicuous by its absence.

I think this is highly regrettable and just another reason to hold off on buying an HD-DVD player, even if you are a card-carrying perennial early adopter.

While my biggest concerns with HD-format DVD are the fact that there will be competing/warring formats and that actual HD titles are going to be very limited for at least a few years, the lack of 1080p capability is icing on the cake.

I'll be the first to say that I love the high resolution of the 1080i HD format, but I also LOATHE the interlacing artifacts that result. So, the idea of unveiling an HD packaged media format, which is primarily designed for viewing films, and crippling its players' highest resolution with an interlaced format is a monumental step backward -- or at best, sideways.

Film, by its very nature, is a progressive medium and the idea that high-resolution interlaced DVD is a step forward for consumers is the sort of untruth that only a Hollywood studio executive could fully embrace.

I suspect there may be a couple of other factors here, beyond Hollywood's ever-present paranoia:

* First, limiting 1080-line resolution HD-DVD to an interlaced format means that TV makers won't be exposed to the fact that the initial 1080p televisions they're offering to consumers won't accept a 1080p signal.

I guess that I should have seen this coming -- why would the same companies that are cranking out hobbled, first-generation 1080p TVs produce an HD-format DVD player that dramatically exposes the input limitations of so-called 1080p displays? Duh.

* Second, coming out with 1080i-limited HD-DVD is effectively a matter of built-in obsolesence that will allow consumer electronics manufacturers the opportunity to do some double-dipping into the bank accounts of early adopters.

That's right, roll out 720p/1080i players now, and then in a few years, bring out the proverbial "new and improved" 1080p-capable players.

What remains to be seen is whether some company that doesn't manufacture TVs will produce a HD-DVD player that produces a true 1080p signal. But I suspect that the terms of HD-DVD licensing may not allow for this sort of near-term development.

As I see it, there are only two constituencies that should be happy about the lack of 1080p output from HD-DVD players: existing owners of 720p televisions who won't be tempted to prematurely upgrade to a 1080p set, and the manufacturers of scalers and video processors.

Faroudja, DVDO, Lumagen etc. should ultimately be well-positioned to realize some nice windfall sales for as long as HD-DVD remains limited to a maximum resolution of 1080i. Of course, even that's going to be contingent on greater availability of true 1080p projectors and displays.

BTW, flipped on Law and Order SVU on KSDK. Green snow everywhere.

Hello! I just last night finally got my new 37" lcd HDTV. I got a cheap antenna from target (hey I had a giftcard) and I hooked it up, and got a signal strength of about 70-90 for all the channels. NBC had the best signal strength, but where blacks were, there was green too!

I'm new to HDTV and OTA HDTV especially, I was worried I would have to take back my TV because it wasn't displaying blacks properly. was it just a bad feed from NBC perhaps then?

Ok, also, if anyone wants to help out a new guy, I read on the first page that the Zenith ZHDTV1 was a good antenna, anyone know where i can pick it up in town? I was going to stop by BB or Circuit City tonight and get a Terk Antenna, but if the Zenith does better I may just get that. I was going to put the indoor antenna up in my attic and hopefully boost the signals to 90+ on all the stations. I'm in SW City, so I'm pretty close to the majority of the towers.

Anyways, if anyone wants to help out a new guy, here's a couple questions:
1) The green snow I saw on NBC may not be my tv, but may instead be the broadcast?
2) for $3/month Charter offers their HD package, anyone know what's included?
3) I have an external replayTV, and I still want to be able to record shows, if I went with Charter, does their box have an HD output and a standard output?

Thanks, glad I found this thread, it's a great resource.

The green is an NBC issue, not your TV.
$3 will get you HDNET, HDMovies, ESPNHD, DiscoveryHD. You should get all the locals in HD as well as the HD movie channels for free if you subscribe to the channels.

buddy,

* The Silver Sensor used to be sold by both Best Buy and Sears, but neither of them carry it any longer. It might be worth double-checking with the store closest to you, as they may have some stock that hasn't been cleared yet.

Personally, I've experienced nothing but disappointment with all types of Terk antennas, but others here report good results. Worst case, you can pick up the Terk and hopefully it does the job for you; if not, you should be able to return it and order the Silver Sensor from Amazon or some other online outlet. Try Froogle or other web searches to find an online seller who carries the SS.

* As noted by Tim, the green sparkles and other image anomalies are a kSDk and/or NBC issue. There's been a lot of discussion about that here over the past few weeks, so when you have time you can scroll back and read some of the previous discussion, though I think the majority of it is complaints. However, there are links available for eMailing the station to complain.

* I think there's an additional Charter charge beyond the $3 programming fee noted. I believe that your digital STB will also have to be upgraded. But with the HD STB, you also automatically receive the digital locals that Charter currently has available (basically everything but KDNL/ABC), at no additional charge beyond the hardware rental.

IIRC, the additional rental fee is around $8 a month, but to honest, I have a hard time of keeping track of Charter pricing. Hopefully someone who is a customer can give you better guidance on that topic.

* I'm not sure if the SD and HD output works simultaneously on the Charter HD receiver or MOXI. Again, a Charter sub can probably help you on that score.

You should also be aware that Charter's MOXI may be of interest to you, as it would provide you an HD-capable DVR replacement for your ReplayTV. However, there is an additional monthly fee, over and above the normal HD hardware rental fee.

Finally, I suggest you have a look at the following message from earlier in the week, and also check out the links contained in that message. This information will speed you up the HD learning curve.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6830955&&#post6830955

I pay 6.99 total for the Charter HD package.

You could also get a cablecard if your tv accepts one.

Thank you guys for your prompt and very informational replies. The links provided are a great resource, I will also take some time and read through the more recent posts in this thread.

I really don't want to drop my ReplayTV for a different DVR, my ReplayTV is all paid for without a monthly fee. Now, when more channels are offered in HD, then it may be worth getting a whole new cable setup. I called Charter and the guy on the phone told me that it would be $14/month for the HD package & receiver rental. That seems like a whole lot. I see that black_macleod is paying $7, don't know why I got the $14 quote. Anyways, while I would probably pay $3 for HD through charter, I won't definitely won't pay $14 for 3 extra channels (Discovery, ESPN, HDNET)...

Thanks again, I will start visiting this thread as often as I can to keep up on the St. Louis HD news :)

droptheremote

can you say beta-vu? I say NOBODY buy any HD dvd's or machines until there is a standard and at least 1080p!

Thank you guys for your prompt and very informational replies. The links provided are a great resource, I will also take some time and read through the more recent posts in this thread.

I really don't want to drop my ReplayTV for a different DVR, my ReplayTV is all paid for without a monthly fee. Now, when more channels are offered in HD, then it may be worth getting a whole new cable setup. I called Charter and the guy on the phone told me that it would be $14/month for the HD package & receiver rental. That seems like a whole lot. I see that black_macleod is paying $7, don't know why I got the $14 quote. Anyways, while I would probably pay $3 for HD through charter, I won't definitely won't pay $14 for 3 extra channels (Discovery, ESPN, HDNET)...

Thanks again, I will start visiting this thread as often as I can to keep up on the St. Louis HD news :)


I wasnt' including my Moxi rental fee -- I mean, you have to pay a box rental whether you get HD or not, so yea, mine's probably 14.99 if you include that.

One other major thing on Toshiba's announcment regarding its initial HD-DVD players: The HD image resolution capabilities for these new players is going to be limited to 720p or 1080i.

Yes, 1080p is conspicuous by its absence.

I think this is highly regrettable and just another reason to hold off on buying an HD-DVD player, even if you are a card-carrying perennial early adopter.

While my biggest concerns with HD-format DVD are the fact that there will be competing/warring formats and that actual HD titles are going to be very limited for at least a few years, the lack of 1080p capability is icing on the cake.

I'll be the first to say that I love the high resolution of the 1080i HD format, but I also LOATHE the interlacing artifacts that result. So, the idea of unveiling an HD packaged media format, which is primarily designed for viewing films, and crippling its players' highest resolution with an interlaced format is a monumental step backward -- or at best, sideways.

Film, by its very nature, is a progressive medium and the idea that high-resolution interlaced DVD is a step forward for consumers is the sort of untruth that only a Hollywood studio executive could fully embrace.

I suspect there may be a couple of other factors here, beyond Hollywood's ever-present paranoia:

* First, limiting 1080-line resolution HD-DVD to an interlaced format means that TV makers won't be exposed to the fact that the initial 1080p televisions they're offering to consumers won't accept a 1080p signal.

I guess that I should have seen this coming -- why would the same companies that are cranking out hobbled, first-generation 1080p TVs produce an HD-format DVD player that dramatically exposes the input limitations of so-called 1080p displays? Duh.

* Second, coming out with 1080i-limited HD-DVD is effectively a matter of built-in obsolesence that will allow consumer electronics manufacturers the opportunity to do some double-dipping into the bank accounts of early adopters.

That's right, roll out 720p/1080i players now, and then in a few years, bring out the proverbial "new and improved" 1080p-capable players.

What remains to be seen is whether some company that doesn't manufacture TVs will produce a HD-DVD player that produces a true 1080p signal. But I suspect that the terms of HD-DVD licensing may not allow for this sort of near-term development.

As I see it, there are only two constituencies that should be happy about the lack of 1080p output from HD-DVD players: existing owners of 720p televisions who won't be tempted to prematurely upgrade to a 1080p set, and the manufacturers of scalers and video processors.

Faroudja, DVDO, Lumagen etc. should ultimately be well-positioned to realize some nice windfall sales for as long as HD-DVD remains limited to a maximum resolution of 1080i. Of course, even that's going to be contingent on greater availability of true 1080p projectors and displays.

Pioneer will have 1080P DVD players.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060104005022&newsLang=en

Scott

Pioneer will have 1080P DVD players.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060104005022&newsLang=en

Scott

That still doesn't help Format Wars.

Is there anywhere online to follow E* and D* press conferences today?

That still doesn't help Format Wars.

True. Personally, I could care less about 1080P as my eyes couldn't tell the difference anyway. 1080I, 720P and 480P look good enough to me. As far as the format war goes, it sucks. I will not be an early adopter this time.

Scott

I agree, why pay top dollar for a machine that will play a possible obsolete format within months or years. My personal opinion is that Toshiba will be on top of this one , especially if a sub $500 player can also play regular dvds.

I am needing 2ND HD STB (Charter). Moved Panny HD to bedroom. Considered cablecard for SXRD, but would lose connectivity from Motorola 5100 box, ie. optical out.

Anyone care to comment on current boxes offered by Charter? Not interested in Moxi/PVR as I'm running HTPC.

Buddy,
I'm running HD and s-video from this Charter box.

Really enjoy thr forum.

Dave

Is there anywhere online to follow E* and D* press conferences today?
http://www.cesweb.org/press/events/exhibitor_events.asp

Rose Bowl -

I too enjoyed the rose bowl immensly...I wasn't rooting for anyone, and I thought that Texas didn't stand a chance. I watched the game at the girlfriends house on their 55'" Mitsubishi CRT. Looked great...Sounded good to me, but they can only do PLII sound. (Maybe by next Xmas I can convince her dad that he needs a more recent receiver.)

FWIW - I Hooked up a Bose Lifestyle system the day after Christmas. (For a soon to be brother in law.) It's nice, but I wouldn't advise anyone to pick one up anymore. The DVD player is an S-video connection and the sound options can't compare with newer receivers.

I saw that kdg, but will they tell us what is said there?

ESPN2HD on Dish?

Where is this information coming from? I searched the net and found a bunch of posts about it from January 2005, but nothing from this year. Anything official, or just rumors?

I saw that kdg, but will they tell us what is said there?
You will find all of the individual press releases on this page:
http://www.virtualpressoffice.com/CES/show/display.jsp?showId=1119531853568
(you need to register to view them)
Yesterday, Dish formally announced it will be adding the additional 5 Voom HD channels, and ESPN2HD, but nothing yet on when they will be added.

You will find all of the individual press releases on this page:
http://www.virtualpressoffice.com/CES/show/display.jsp?showId=1119531853568
(you need to register to view them)
Yesterday, Dish formally announced it will be adding the additional 5 Voom HD channels, and ESPN2HD, but nothing yet on when they will be added.

Here is the new VOOM lineup:

The VOOM channels carried by Dish will include the following:

HDNews: a 24/7 national news service in high definition, with national news, sports and weather.

Equator HD: a travel channel featuring sights and sounds from the environment and cultures of distant locations.

Rave HD: a music channel offering HD concerts in 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound.

Gameplay HD: a new entry devoted to video games, with live tournament coverage, news and tips.

Rush HD: a channel devoted to extreme adventure sports coverage, from B.A.S.E. jumping and kayaking to big-wave surfing.

Worldsport HD: a new entry devoted to top sporting events from around the globe.

Animania HD: a channel covering animation from groundbreaking new series and specials to cartoon classics remastered into HD.

Treasure HD: a new entry devoted to treasure hunting, featuring exclusive live coverage of sales from the world's preeminent auction houses.

Gallery HD: a channel dedicated to visual art and the artistic process.

Ultra HD: a channel devoted to fashion, beauty and style.

Family Room HD: a new entry featuring movies, series and specials suitable for all ages.

World Cinema HD: a new entry offering the best HD movie imports.

Film Fest HD: a new entry offering restored classics, sleeper hits, retro favorites and midnight cult movies, all remastered into high definition.

Kung Fu HD: a new entry devoted to movies and features involving the martial arts.

Monsters HD: a channel devoted to monster movies.

Gameplay looks interesting to me.

I am needing 2ND HD STB (Charter). Moved Panny HD to bedroom. Considered cablecard for SXRD, but would lose connectivity from Motorola 5100 box, ie. optical out.

Anyone care to comment on current boxes offered by Charter? Not interested in Moxi/PVR as I'm running HTPC.

Buddy,
I'm running HD and s-video from this Charter box.

Really enjoy thr forum.

Dave

This is also for iambuddylee. I don't think Charter has the stand alone non-dvr HD boxes anymore. The last call I had with them, I was told that they were going to stop offering the stand alone boxes and have new HD subs go with the Moxi.

This is also for iambuddylee. I don't think Charter has the stand alone non-dvr HD boxes anymore. The last call I had with them, I was told that they were going to stop offering the stand alone boxes and have new HD subs go with the Moxi.


LOL, mix that with the rumor that Charter has no Moxi's -- I guess nobody is gonna get HD programming :-)

If you like the "Blues" you should listen to a show on Bluesville on Saturday nights from 9 to 11 called "Stoned Blue". It's electric blues. On XM.

Speaking of that, my other major problem with both Music Choice and XM on DirecTV, which is magnified since there are more and more blocks/shows with specific content, is that you can't record them with an integrated DVR. Talk about an antiquated restriction . . . I know there are other ways to record but this restriction is sillier all the time (and it is quite interesting with the switchover to XM the restriction was kept, since according to DirecTV Music Choice forced that restriction initially).

I have a 5.1 surround, but not the type which shows the individual channels, and I really do not have the ability to discern between 2, 3, or 5 channel on a live broadcast.
Hats off folks, good job!

Depending on the production (HDNet Hockey and CBS NFL Football are good examples of good sound production) it is quite obvious on my setup to tell the difference between 2.0 and 5.1 sound on live sports. Maybe it is your setup?

Here is small sample about DISH and HD that is being reported on the http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=51388 website:

On Feb. 1, DISH Network will begin transmitting newly added HD channels in MPEG4, a signal compression standard developed by MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group). MPEG4 allows DISH Network to maximize the bandwidth available on its satellites and offer the most robust lineup of HD channels in the nation.

New DishHD channels available only in MPEG4 include:

VOOM Networks
ESPN2 HD ------------------
Universal HD Family Room HD
HD Locals Gameplay HD
Treasure HD
World Cinema HD
WorldSport HD

They are also reporting about new receivers and local channels in HD.

This looks to be good news. From the 1-5-06 online edition of the St. Louis Business Journal:

St. Louis Business Journal - 1:52 PM CST Thursday
Bill would help AT&T offer cable TV in Missouri
A Missouri state senator introduced a bill Thursday that would allow AT&T Inc. to swiftly provide a cable television service to compete with the likes of Charter Communications Inc., Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable.

AT&T Inc. is spending $4 billion to upgrade its network for video services. The company was formed Nov. 18 when SBC Communications Inc., St. Louis' incumbent local phone company, bought long-distance giant AT&T Corp. in a $16 billion deal.

Missouri's Fair Competition in Video Act would give AT&T and other new cable entrants the ability to negotiate one franchise deal with the state as opposed to negotiating with each city where it would offer service.

Cable companies currently negotiate franchise agreements with each city. The companies often pay the city 5 percent of revenue in exchange for right-of-way privileges to string wires and poles. The bill would allow those companies to negotiate for a state franchise after their city franchises expire.

Senate Bill 816, introduced by Sen. John Griesheimer (R-Washington) would require cable competitors, after gaining state approval, to pay a franchise fee that is the same percentage of revenue paid by the incumbent cable company in each city.

That would save AT&T the time of hashing out individual franchise deals and enable it to launch its service throughout the state uniformly.

The old SBC won a similar bill in Texas last year, where it said it would spend $800 million to upgrade the network.

Cable companies, however, fought the bill and have promised legal challenges.

AT&T wants to launch an Internet-based video service to stem the tide of phone customers it is losing to cable companies, which now sell an Internet-based phone service in bundles with cable TV service.

The Kansas City Business Journal contributed information for this report.

More competition is always good.

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out on the AT&T vs cable front.

As far as I'm concerned, it's still archaic that the phone company has to pay a fee to deliver a new service, such as subscription television, over an existing network.

What's next, state-by-state (or town-by-town) licensing of Google searches?

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat
If you get too cold, I'll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet

"Taxman," by George Harrison

"If?" How quaint is that?

Just about the only thing more gratifying than a side-by-side competitor for Charter, would be if NBC allowed a second affiliate in STL.

kdg,

Why do we need another affiliate?

We should have the option to receive the NBC feed (city) of our choice, regardless of physical location. The affiliate system is just another way of saying "monopoly."

tongue and cheek comment regarding the KSDK nightmares.
Your method would serve the same purpose, though I wouldn't be very excited about watching local programing (news) from another city :)

I would have to imagine that Charter is fighting that bill tooth and nail. They may be stupid, but not dumb enough to realize that if somebody else comes along, they would be d-u-n.

I wish everyone would just copy HDNet. Its consistently awesome! Watching the Bruins / Senators game right now, looks perfect. Man those Sens can skate. Too bad I'm a Blues fan.

Excerpted from today's Dish press release:

"...In addition, DISH Network will launch high-definition local channels through its satellite service in up to 50 markets in 2006, starting with Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York in February, and reaching more than 50 percent of U.S. TV households with local HD channels. The remainder of the country's local HD channels will be offered to DISH Network customers via an off-air antenna solution...."

St. Louis is included on the list of the first 48 planned markets, on display in the Dish Booth at CES.

First time since I've been back that I've had a chance to sit down and watch some HD shows on NBC, and WOW, KSDK-DT looks really really bad. Even my non-tech savvy in-law's are complaining about the green interference as I sit and type this while we watch ER tonight. How long has this garbage been going on?

Sent my e-mail to the addresses given, with (3) Earl 1920x1080 jpg of green fuzz, and (2) good ones from Dust to Glory trailer. Maybe they can see the difference. 3 week old problem now and it is getting old.

Who cares about Dolby 5.1, just run your systems in Pro Logic 2 mode, the picture is the real problem.

Anybody give me a list of their current advertisers and e-mail addresses? I'll forward the same pics to them.

They are attached in the zip file.

Ok, here we go again...

Last year, I was switching to D* and DSL after a very bad outing with Charter when I moved into my new house. After I called to cancel my Pipeline service and switched to DSL, I got a call from Charter asking why I left. I told them my issue, and they promised to resolve it ASAP. As a "please forgive us", they gave me an excellent deal on the Biggest Package with 3 tiers (movies, family and sports) and an HD receiver. Late last year, I got on the DVR train and got Moxi, and kept my HD receiver for a TV for which I needed a digital receiver. The CSR from Charter told me that the HD receivers were the same price as the digital receivers, and since there was a limited supply of the HD ones, that I should keep it if I ever wanted to upgrade my second TV to HD. At that same time, my deal with Charter was up, and my rate went from $65+/- to $90 approximately (and the HD receiver was the same price as the digital). That was in November. I just got my January bill, and the new price is $118! Not only have they jacked up the price of my Moxi (and gave me sh*tty games in return), but the Biggest Package went up, the tiers went up, and they are charging me for a remote and really jacked up the price for the second HD receiver. I had some previous hesitation to switch to D* due to the fact that I have a number of tv's in the house, but, at this price, it may be time.

Hurry with the MPEG 4 conversion D*, or let's go AT&T.

First time since I've been back that I've had a chance to sit down and watch some HD shows on NBC, and WOW, KSDK-DT looks really really bad. Even my non-tech savvy in-law's are complaining about the green interference as I sit and type this while we watch ER tonight. How long has this garbage been going on?

It's been bad for 3 or 4 weeks now. I first noticed it with the Elton John Special in December (not sure of the date). At that time the reds started to bloom real bad.

And these guys are going to produce local news in HD in February????? Should be most interesting!

.......blooming reds
.......green snow in dark areas
.......no center channel audio
.......failed switch-throwing
.......inability to broadcast school closings & other display overlays in HD

Anyone taking any bets?

I got my new Moxi installed this last Tuesday after the tech being around for 5 hours trying to get everything taken care of.

Everything works fine except for one problem: if I record one channel and watch another, the recorded programming is horribly pixelated/tiled. For exmaple late TUesday night we were watching "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" but were getting sleepy. So I hit the "record" button and turned the TV off. Watched it Wednesday and everything was fine.

However I recorded some programming Wednesday night while watching another channel. However everything recorded was breaking up badly.

Today I got home from work and turned the TV on at 4:30. I switched to ESPN and hit the record button so I could catch PTI. I never changed channels and watched it fine between 5:15 and 5:35.

Tonight I set the Moxi in advance to recorded "Four Kings" and "CSI" while watching the Blues game on KPLR. When we tried to watch the two recorded shows it was impossible. Horrible pixelization and tiling.

After loosing an entire day of work Tuesday I now have to take off Friday afternoon to have Charter come out because the next appointment available wasn't until the 15th.

Has anyone else had this happen with their Moxi DVR from Charter.

Excerpted from today's Dish press release:

"...In addition, DISH Network will launch high-definition local channels through its satellite service in up to 50 markets in 2006, starting with Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York in February, and reaching more than 50 percent of U.S. TV households with local HD channels. The remainder of the country's local HD channels will be offered to DISH Network customers via an off-air antenna solution...."

St. Louis is included on the list of the first 48 planned markets, on display in the Dish Booth at CES.

I would hope so since we are market #21 or 22.

kdg,

Why do we need another affiliate?

We should have the option to receive the NBC feed (city) of our choice, regardless of physical location. The affiliate system is just another way of saying "monopoly."

I remember living in Minnesota in the mid 70's when there were two CBS affiliates out Minneapolis/St. Paul and no NBC affiliate. That was weird.

I just wanted to add that I had my first experience with the green snow on KSDK while trying to watch ER last night. I did notice that the green snow wasn't as bad on Leno. I'll be sending a email later.

btw jpconard, great pics showing the green snow.

Just about the only thing more gratifying than a side-by-side competitor for Charter, would be if NBC allowed a second affiliate in STL.


Wouldn't this really change the dynamics for the consumer? Think this thorugh. Here in St. Louis we have a couple of obvious problems. First KSDK is almost unwatchable. What if there were multiple NBC affiliates - they would bust their butt to make sure they were doing everything possible to attract the viewer as there would be no monopoly. Second KDNL/Sinclair would have practically no standing in negotiations over their digital signal (to Charter, Dish or Direct). If they didn't want to provide that signal fine, another affiliate would. Again they would do whatever they could to get the viewer on their station.

As this will not happen the most logical step would be to allow the viewer to choose what affiliate they want to watch. Why because I live in St. Louis should I be forced to watch a "local" ABC? I should be able to say that another ABC station in another market may be what I want. It would really force the local affiliates to do their best instead of just getting by.

We will probably never see it. Even though monopolies are illegal in this country, we have provided for them in many cases through legislation.

I got my new Moxi installed this last Tuesday after the tech being around for 5 hours trying to get everything taken care of.

Everything works fine except for one problem: if I record one channel and watch another, the recorded programming is horribly pixelated/tiled. For exmaple late TUesday night we were watching "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" but were getting sleepy. So I hit the "record" button and turned the TV off. Watched it Wednesday and everything was fine.

However I recorded some programming Wednesday night while watching another channel. However everything recorded was breaking up badly.

Today I got home from work and turned the TV on at 4:30. I switched to ESPN and hit the record button so I could catch PTI. I never changed channels and watched it fine between 5:15 and 5:35.

Tonight I set the Moxi in advance to recorded "Four Kings" and "CSI" while watching the Blues game on KPLR. When we tried to watch the two recorded shows it was impossible. Horrible pixelization and tiling.

After loosing an entire day of work Tuesday I now have to take off Friday afternoon to have Charter come out because the next appointment available wasn't until the 15th.

Has anyone else had this happen with their Moxi DVR from Charter.

I will occasionally get some frame drops about 1/2 way through a 2 hour movie, especially if it HD, but nothing like you describe. In fact I was recording Family Guy last night while watching something else and it looked fine. Sounds like either a bad box or a weak signal coming to it.

2006 should be an exciting year...

AT&T IPTV is now available in San Antonio as of 1/4/2006. (Hopefully it will be in St. Louis soon...with all the bugs worked out.)

Dish is starting to broadcast HD locals and even more National HD Content in 1920X1080 using mpeg 4 compression. Perhaps we will have local HD SAT service by the end of the year?

Direct TV already has lots of mpeg-4 receivers in place across the country. THey have to have a plan to add content in a timely manner.

This has got to be good for competition...the race is on.

As this will not happen the most logical step would be to allow the viewer to choose what affiliate they want to watch. Why because I live in St. Louis should I be forced to watch a "local" ABC? I should be able to say that another ABC station in another market may be what I want. It would really force the local affiliates to do their best instead of just getting by.

I seem to remember reading once, there is something to do with the FCC, Local affiliates, DMA's, etc., with regard to the emergency television broadcast system, and also dangerous weather warnings....someone else know more about this?

Anyway, it was really just a comment bashing Charter and KSDK. I hadn't thought it through (as usual), and was just venting.
I cannot stand large consumer driven companies that are bullish, and believe they can do whatever they choose, without regard for accountability to the hand that feeds them.

Although this is veering further afield of the topic, the use of television as an emergency broadcast system is worthwhile/commendable, but shouldn't be considered mandatory/critical/indispensible. The emergency communications network aspect of it certainly shouldn't be presented as an obstacle to freer competition.

How useful was television to Katrina survivors? Not very, since most (if not all) the local stations were off the air in the immediate aftermath and were reduced to doing webcasts. I've read various reports that satellite television was more helpful on the ground in the Katrina aftermath than local broadcast TV.

Of course, Katrina was a unique sort of emergency situation. But considering how often an emergency situation also involves the loss of electricity, television is not the most accessible media in these sort of situations. For that reason, radio is several magnitudes more critical.

I got my new Moxi installed this last Tuesday after the tech being around for 5 hours trying to get everything taken care of.

Everything works fine except for one problem: if I record one channel and watch another, the recorded programming is horribly pixelated/tiled. For exmaple late TUesday night we were watching "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" but were getting sleepy. So I hit the "record" button and turned the TV off. Watched it Wednesday and everything was fine.

However I recorded some programming Wednesday night while watching another channel. However everything recorded was breaking up badly.

Today I got home from work and turned the TV on at 4:30. I switched to ESPN and hit the record button so I could catch PTI. I never changed channels and watched it fine between 5:15 and 5:35.

Tonight I set the Moxi in advance to recorded "Four Kings" and "CSI" while watching the Blues game on KPLR. When we tried to watch the two recorded shows it was impossible. Horrible pixelization and tiling.

After loosing an entire day of work Tuesday I now have to take off Friday afternoon to have Charter come out because the next appointment available wasn't until the 15th.

Has anyone else had this happen with their Moxi DVR from Charter.


Definitely check out the Moxi thread here at AVS. This sounds like a signal issue. There are links the in thread that show you how to get into the service menu and compare your signal level to what are considered acceptable levels. I had to change my wiring to ensure that Moxi was off the first split coming into my house so that it got the best signal possible. I also had to ensure that the two way splitter used to split the signal between the Moxi and the rest of the house was rated at 5 - 1000 MHz. Cheaper splitters don't go up to 1000 and can reduce the signal even more. I still run into problems with my Moxi every few weeks were every other standard definition channel will start to get extremely pixelated and become unwatchable. Restarting the box seems to clear that up for me.

Its 2006. Why do we have to choose one or the other (audio or video)? Besides, no changing of modes on my receiver is going to make up for missing channels. If they flag it as 3.0 or 5.1 (with missing channels) that is what my system is going to do, and I'm sure many others have the same issue.

Who cares about Dolby 5.1, just run your systems in Pro Logic 2 mode, the picture is the real problem.

Its 2006. Why do we have to choose one or the other (audio or video)? Besides, no changing of modes on my receiver is going to make up for missing channels. If they flag it as 3.0 or 5.1 (with missing channels) that is what my system is going to do, and I'm sure many others have the same issue.

Not to mention, PL II might work, but PL IIx doesn't. I have the latter and I get dropped center channel unless I manually switch processor mode out of IIx.

Glad to hear that many are contacting kSDk to complain. Keep it up. If anyone gets a reply from them, please post.

What is the explanation for the NBC prime time shows looking so crappy, yet The Tonight Show seems fine?

This has just been posted on the other website by Scott G.

"Charlie told me some of the details of the MPEG4 upgrade path and I think you guys will be really happy with what Dish has planned. Charlie asked me not to post it as he wants to save it for the Charlie Chat on Monday night and I will honor that request. Again I will say most folks will be happy, the offer sounds fair to me."

I hope it is fair or I might start to look at Charter or *D.

What is the explanation for the NBC prime time shows looking so crappy, yet The Tonight Show seems fine?

The Tonight Show has it's problems as well. Next time you watch, look for anything that is red and you'll see some major problems.

Maybe Leno and Conan don't look quite as bad as NBC's prime time shows, but IMO they're both a long way from acceptable, never mind "fine."

I continue to have a hard time seeing either kSDk and NBC as anything but a bottom feeder. Here we have kSDk promoting the bejesus out of the upcoming local news in HD, and they and their network are dragging their fins when it comes to fixing problems that are stunningly obvious, even to casual viewers.

It also seriously rankles when I hear the on-air HD news promo refer to HD as "a channel 5 innovation." Somebody needs to find whoever is responsible for that bit of noxious PR and get them situated where the oncoming bus to Bangalore can't miss.

It's also very scary for me to think about the HDTV that kSDk is giving away to some lucky viewer, particularly if either the engineering or marketing staff had any role in selecting it.

Note: I have suggested that AVS should undertake an annual city-by-city poll of best and worst local broadcasters. I really think there needs to be a way to inject some accountability in the way stations are managing the transition to digital broadcasting, and it's certainly not coming from the government, advertisers, the NAB or the stations themselves.

I've been annoyed by KSDK for several weeks, and it has gotten so bad that even the wife is starting to say things about it - and she never complains about this sort of thing (that's usually my domain).

Charter's Interim CEO Earned $750,000 Bonus

This item, from Multichannel News, speaks for itself...
_______________________________________________________

Charter Communications Inc. said in a securities filing Friday that it paid former interim CEO Robert May a bonus of $750,000 Jan. 5 for his performance in 2005.

May stepped down as interim CEO after Charter hired former America Online Inc. Access Business president Neil Smit as its permanent CEO in August.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, May’s employment contract was terminated Dec. 31. In December, Charter said May would leave the company to assume the CEO role at San Jose, Calif.-based power company Calpine Corp.

According to the filing, May’s 2005 bonus is subject to an increase based on the bonuses other executives receive. According to his employment agreement, May was to receive a salary of $1.25 million in 2005.
_______________________________________________________

This has just been posted on the other website by Scott G.

"Charlie told me some of the details of the MPEG4 upgrade path and I think you guys will be really happy with what Dish has planned. Charlie asked me not to post it as he wants to save it for the Charlie Chat on Monday night and I will honor that request. Again I will say most folks will be happy, the offer sounds fair to me."

I hope it is fair or I might start to look at Charter or *D.

I hate popping in and giving my opinion since I haven't posted much for a couple years, but I think I know enough about this subject.

My advice - call D*. I did 2 years ago and have never been happier. E* never delivers. The 6000 was junk and they promised a new receiver and every HD channel imaginable. This went on for >18 months. Finally the 811 comes out and its worse than the 6000. They don't add much for channels either. So I go to Charter... what a joke, I won't even bother with them, just read back a few pages. Since that time (2 years ago) E* hasn't improved their receivers much and realistically only added V* channels because they got the sat space and the channels cheap, but they aren't worth much (in my opinion). Then E* promised more new channels and new receivers. But... now they are going to MPEG4 and nobody knows how good the new receivers are (gee... let me guess... they'll be flaky just like all the others) and they'll pull a standard E* delay and cost increase on all of it.

Soo.. why am I happy with D*? For almost 2 years I've had an HDTivo with NO (count them 0) issues with recordings and a couple more Tivos with no issues. I get ESPN and ESPN2 (important to me) and solid OTA reception. I know what and when my upgrade path will be (MPEG 4 locals if I want them by the end of May using an existing MPEG 4 HD receiver that appears to be relatively solid). If I don't want to deal with Mpeg 4, I can sit where I am and still get all national HD channels until sometime in '07. The only question is them leaving Tivo - but I'd have that if I went Charter or E* anyways.. so not a big deal. D* has delivered when they make statements, E* hasn't. Charter doesn't bother with a roadmap and their pricing/customer service stinks.

Its a long way to say look at the past 3-4 years and your answer is clear. E* is not cheaper especially if you have DVRs and something more than the basic package. Their equipment pales in comparison to D*. Charter plain stinks. And D* has made verbal, written, and financial commitments to HD - which they have met within reasonable periods of time. Of those 3 options, they are the only one run like a business that is worthy of my $ every month.

The above is obviously an opinion - but based on someone who has had all 3 services.

Chris

The concept of multilple affiliates seemed to bloom out of the talk about KSDK's bad HD lately. This makes NO sense whatsoever, even talking about it is nonsense. Why would any advertiser ever go for this, no ads, no money, no station.

The concept of multilple affiliates seemed to bloom out of the talk about KSDK's bad HD lately. This makes NO sense whatsoever, even talking about it is nonsense. Why would any advertiser ever go for this, no ads, no money, no station.

I'd have to think that it was more a wish for someone to actually force kSDk to address their issues and if there was competition, they'd be forced to do it. I don't think it was really a serious comment about trying to get multiple affiliates in STL.

Hate to beat a dead horse, especially a dead offtopic horse, but is anyone else in the O'Fallon/St. Peters area STILL having problems with Charter Pipeline?

It was dead as a doornail AGAIN (router couldn't get an address) when I got home from work today. Just came back up within the last ten minutes.

And these people wonder why I won't give up my dish.

I'm not an audio expert and all I have is the simple Logitech Z-5500, but I would take Surface and Earl with the good picture they used to have and the status quo audio anyday over what it is now, plus a little faster switching to HD.

I run in Pro Logic 2 Music mode as it works well for all sources including standard stereo from Media Center MP3 and D* SD box, without me having to switch it.

Just my opinion but at this point I think most would take what they had before in a heartbeat.

I sent my e-mail, no reply at all.

Big, big, big news for Tivo lovers at CES.

Tivo has announced a series 3 HD standalone DVR. Two cablecard slots and cable tuners. Two HD OTA tuners. And two analog OTA tuners. Two USB ports and an Ethernet port. And an external SATA port specifically designed for adding a second hard drive.

It records in MPEG-2 just like the HD DirecTivo, but supports MPEG-4 playback. Article doesn't say whether that means you can use this as a quasi-HTPC and stream those XviD's from your server in the other room.

ETA mid 2006, price not determined.

Even though I already have an HD DirecTivo, I *want* one of these!

Link to the article:

http://www.tivolovers.com/252572.html

And it looks like DirecTV ain't gonna just sit on its laurels, either....

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/jan06/01-05WMDIRECTVPR.mspx

A new box from *D that can do everything mentioned in this article just might make me give up my HD DirecTivo after all.... even without a 30-second skip on the new box!

jp,

What you're saying may be true on the face of it, but the indisputable fact is that sending out a quality HD video feed AND a quality Dolby Digital 5.1 feed is NOT even close to being rocket science. Hundreds of local stations around the country manage this.

So, the idea of that we should just shrug it off and settle for the lowest common denominator of incompetence as the "new standard" (or should that be "another Channel 5 innovation") is a slippery slope upon which things will only get worse, not better.

But I think your sentiments would definitely warm the hearts of bean counters and third-rate engineers everywhere.

And it looks like DirecTV ain't gonna just sit on its laurels, either....

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/jan06/01-05WMDIRECTVPR.mspx

A new box from *D that can do everything mentioned in this article just might make me give up my HD DirecTivo after all.... even without a 30-second skip on the new box!

I'm not sure everyone understands the significance of this... this is huge. 1 PVR in your master bedroom - and you can watch the content on your PC or the XBOX360 in your family room. This is huge... If/when this comes through anyone who understands this will have a Windows MCE PC, an XBOX 360, and a new Directv PVR+ ... and be loving life.

Chris

I like the sound of the Microsoft-DirecTV announcement, but my concern is that this is way too geeky for even the above average subscriber. The support is going to be difficult, and will probably come down to the customer needing to provide the bulk of the setup and troubleshooting.

Granted, I think that DirecTV has a much better chance of success in something like this than your typical cable company.

Ultimately my concern is that this is way too complicated to achieve a large enough subscriber base for it to continue to be offered for the long term.

But yeah, I'd like this sort of system...

Hey Doug,

I get the feeling that your average non-geek that can't figure out how to maintain this kind of system probably wouldn't understand what could be done with it in the first place, and thus wouldn't be interested. :D

On the other hand for someone like me, this would actually make my HTPC a lot EASIER to set up because I would no longer need a tuner card inside it.

In fact, if they allow the media files on other PC's to be streamed to the new *D DVR through the Ethernet port, I'm not sure I'd need an HTPC in my family room at all anymore.

Gotta keep telling myself they haven't officially announced that particular feature just yet....

Glad to hear that many are contacting kSDk to complain. Keep it up. If anyone gets a reply from them, please post.

What is the explanation for the NBC prime time shows looking so crappy, yet The Tonight Show seems fine?

Leno does look better than most. But the audio is still screwed up. The problem simply doesn't show up up as often on Video tape. The next time you see a dark scene on the show(e.g., in a film clip being played on behalf of a guest) notice the green snow in the shadows. It's really bad. Especially on a big screen in a dark room.

..... I can sit where I am and still get all national HD channels until sometime in '07.......Chris

And exactly how do you do that in Edwardsville??????

Droptheremote,

Well to finish.

Have you heard of any reason for the problem on KSDK? With all the pros here I would think somebody would have called or communicated with somebody and at least was told a reason for the problems, as happened sometime back when ABC went off the air (at least we were told a reason).

Also the DTV/MCE is just the natural progression of PCs. People will have to come to this or learn it.

Right now IPOD connect to PC for music, digital cameras for pictures, digital camcorders for video, and eventually DTV tuners (HD) for programs and more video.

I hate popping in and giving my opinion since I haven't posted much for a couple years, but I think I know enough about this subject.

My advice - call D*. I did 2 years ago and have never been happier. E* never delivers. The 6000 was junk and they promised a new receiver and every HD channel imaginable. This went on for >18 months. Finally the 811 comes out and its worse than the 6000. They don't add much for channels either. So I go to Charter... what a joke, I won't even bother with them, just read back a few pages. Since that time (2 years ago) E* hasn't improved their receivers much and realistically only added V* channels because they got the sat space and the channels cheap, but they aren't worth much (in my opinion). Then E* promised more new channels and new receivers. But... now they are going to MPEG4 and nobody knows how good the new receivers are (gee... let me guess... they'll be flaky just like all the others) and they'll pull a standard E* delay and cost increase on all of it.

Soo.. why am I happy with D*? For almost 2 years I've had an HDTivo with NO (count them 0) issues with recordings and a couple more Tivos with no issues. I get ESPN and ESPN2 (important to me) and solid OTA reception. I know what and when my upgrade path will be (MPEG 4 locals if I want them by the end of May using an existing MPEG 4 HD receiver that appears to be relatively solid). If I don't want to deal with Mpeg 4, I can sit where I am and still get all national HD channels until sometime in '07. The only question is them leaving Tivo - but I'd have that if I went Charter or E* anyways.. so not a big deal. D* has delivered when they make statements, E* hasn't. Charter doesn't bother with a roadmap and their pricing/customer service stinks.

Its a long way to say look at the past 3-4 years and your answer is clear. E* is not cheaper especially if you have DVRs and something more than the basic package. Their equipment pales in comparison to D*. Charter plain stinks. And D* has made verbal, written, and financial commitments to HD - which they have met within reasonable periods of time. Of those 3 options, they are the only one run like a business that is worthy of my $ every month.

The above is obviously an opinion - but based on someone who has had all 3 services.

Chris


Thank you for your observations on all three services. I can read all the specs and other information that is put out by these companies but it is people like you and others who really help me make my decisions. People who have the systems and deal with them on a daily bases. I have a very basic system but my wife and I enjoy it very much. Big movie and sports fans. However with the cost of all the services and equipment going up. I am afraid that the average man on the street will find these items out of their budget range. I will have to find the biggest bang for my buck so I will continue to read all these forums

Can someone direct me as to how to find out the native resolution of my TV's please?
I have two Sony's, KP-57HW40 Rproj. It has settings for 480p, 780p, 780i and 1080i.
I've looked in the manuals, on SonyStyle, and in 3 other forums, but cannot find the information.

kdg,

Native resolution primarily pertains to digital, fixed-pixel devices that are only capable of displaying a single resolution. For instance, a 720p DLP has a mirror array of 720x1280 pixels and all images have to be scaled to match that 720p native resolution.

Your TV is a rear-projection CRT. CRTs usually have the ability to synch to multiple scan rates/resolutions. Your set most likely can display 480i, 480p, 540p and 1080i images, but not 720p or 1080p.

More sophisticated CRT products, such as a quality front projector, could be configured to display many more variations in resolution.

Do you mind me asking why you need to know this? Knowing that might help me to better explain this.

Doug,

Not at all. During a conversation the other day with a Dish HD Tech, regarding another issue, she asked the question. At the time we were talking about the 921 having the ability to output either HD or SD.
The 921, if you're not familiar with it (which you probably are) can be have its output switched between HD/SD with the remote.
When in HD mode, the tech told me the 921 outputs in 1080i, and up converts SD content. This connection is completed by either a DVI or Component cabling.
When in the SD mode, the 921 outputs 480p, and down-converts higher content.
This connection is completed by either the S video, or standard yellow RCA cabling.

I leave the 921 in the HD mode, connected only with component cables. She said setup like that (which is OK) the HD content is output in 1080i, and everything else is up-converted.

The question came up, as there is apparently an issue with the 921 freezing while attempting to toggle the HD/SD on the remote, and she wanted to know if mine had that issue. I couldn't answer, because I have never used it until now. So, I really don't know why the tech wants to know.

I hate popping in and giving my opinion since I haven't posted much for a couple years, but I think I know enough about this subject.

My advice - call D*. I did 2 years ago and have never been happier. E* never delivers. The 6000 was junk and they promised a new receiver and every HD channel imaginable. This went on for >18 months. Finally the 811 comes out and its worse than the 6000. They don't add much for channels either. So I go to Charter... what a joke, I won't even bother with them, just read back a few pages. Since that time (2 years ago) E* hasn't improved their receivers much and realistically only added V* channels because they got the sat space and the channels cheap, but they aren't worth much (in my opinion). Then E* promised more new channels and new receivers. But... now they are going to MPEG4 and nobody knows how good the new receivers are (gee... let me guess... they'll be flaky just like all the others) and they'll pull a standard E* delay and cost increase on all of it.

Soo.. why am I happy with D*? For almost 2 years I've had an HDTivo with NO (count them 0) issues with recordings and a couple more Tivos with no issues. I get ESPN and ESPN2 (important to me) and solid OTA reception. I know what and when my upgrade path will be (MPEG 4 locals if I want them by the end of May using an existing MPEG 4 HD receiver that appears to be relatively solid). If I don't want to deal with Mpeg 4, I can sit where I am and still get all national HD channels until sometime in '07. The only question is them leaving Tivo - but I'd have that if I went Charter or E* anyways.. so not a big deal. D* has delivered when they make statements, E* hasn't. Charter doesn't bother with a roadmap and their pricing/customer service stinks.

Its a long way to say look at the past 3-4 years and your answer is clear. E* is not cheaper especially if you have DVRs and something more than the basic package. Their equipment pales in comparison to D*. Charter plain stinks. And D* has made verbal, written, and financial commitments to HD - which they have met within reasonable periods of time. Of those 3 options, they are the only one run like a business that is worthy of my $ every month.

The above is obviously an opinion - but based on someone who has had all 3 services.

Chris

As a Dish customer for the last few years, I'd agree that they have sometimes failed to deliver on promises. However, as an owner of two Dish 6000s, I'd hardly call them junk. Even the 921, which is still buggy, is basically reliable and has served me well.

Since I've never been a D* subscriber, I can only echo concerns of some who have left D* for E*, that D* seems committed to HDLite, converting its signal to a resolution of 1280x1080 for its HD content (instead of 1920x1080). Dish experimented with it for a few days recently and got a lot of negative e-mails. As far as I know, they plan to continue broadcasting in full 1920x1080. Since my projector is 1280x720, that's not a significant visual problem for me now, but for the future, I hope to enjoy my recordings at 1920x1080p.

One thing I agree with fully is that Charter is not a good option right now, if you are in a position to put up a dish and an OTA antenna. That combination is going to give you more HD possibilities. And as someone who joyfully left their bad service years ago, I never want to go back to it again. I have Charter Pipeline right now, because I can't get decent DSL. That's been pretty good (until the last few days, anyway), because they just recently upgraded their equipment in my area. I dread to think what it's going to be like after a few years of neglect.

I'm going to have to agree with Joe. I have the Dish 942 dvr, and although there have been a few bugs with the software upgrades, they all seem to get worked out. The unit has been pretty reliable for me, and I think that the picture quality is simply outstanding. I'm hoping to upgrade to an MPEG 4 unit later so that I can get the new HD content.

During a conversation the other day with a Dish HD Tech, regarding another issue, she asked the question. At the time we were talking about the 921 having the ability to output either HD or SD.

The 921, if you're not familiar with it (which you probably are) can be have its output switched between HD/SD with the remote.

When in HD mode, the tech told me the 921 outputs in 1080i, and up converts SD content. Actually, the 921 has the option of outputting HD in either 1080i or 720p. But with your TV, you would want the setting to be on 1080i.

When in the SD mode, the 921 outputs 480p, and down-converts higher content. This connection is completed by either the S video, or standard yellow RCA cabling.This is incorrect, and the DISH support rep should know better.

When in SD mode, the 921 outputs 480i, not 480p.

In addition, it's worth knowing that it is IMPOSSIBLE for any video device to output 480p via either S-Video or composite (yellow cable). There is insufficient bandwidth available with either of these connections for a 480p signal, and they are limited to 480i (NTSC) video.

FWIW, this was a common mistake in the early days of HDTVs, and when I first started calibrating I would say that 20% of the systems I worked on I found expensive progressive DVD players that were connected via S-Video, composite or even RF, with the customer thinking they were seeing 480p video.

It is correct that the DISH 921 can output in 480p mode, but when this setting is used, the only way it can deliver 480p is via the component video (YPrPb) or DVI outputs. FWIW, 480p is not considered to be an HD format.

I leave the 921 in the HD mode, connected only with component cables. She said setup like that (which is OK), the HD content is output in 1080i, and everything else is up-converted.In your case, this is correct, but if you were watching a fixed-pixel device, you would probably use the 720p setting, and in that case all non-HD content would be scaled from 480i to 720p.

The question came up, as there is apparently an issue with the 921 freezing while attempting to toggle the HD/SD on the remote, and she wanted to know if mine had that issue. I couldn't answer, because I have never used it until now. So, I really don't know why the tech wants to know.I can't help you there, but hopefully my notes here help clarify a few things about the 921.

Basically, my previous answer stands -- your TV can natively display 480i, 480p, 540p and 1080i.

FWIW, it's possible that your set won't actually display 480i -- there could be a line-doubler in your TV that automatically de-interlaces all incoming 480i signals to 480p, but if so, there's probably a way to defeat it so that true 480i could be displayed.

Last night's Leno was not shown in HD.

Whenever the show returned from a commercial break, there was the usual flash on the screen to indicate switching from the local SD insert back to the network HD feed., but after the switch the picture appeared to be an upconversion in 4x3 format.

If I saw that correctly, it may indicate that NBC is not transmitting the HD feed. Considering how poor the HD looked, this is an improvement (though not a solution). On the other hand, maybe someone at kSDk has finally recognized how bad the HD feed looks, and they're manually switching back to the upconverted local SD feed.

Either way, hopefully this is an indication that someone/somewhere is working on eliminating the HD issues.

Whoops -- when I checked last night's recordings of the Leno and Conan musical segments, they WERE in HD (or at least, what NBC/kSDk calls HD).

It appears that the earlier SD that I saw on the early part of Leno was just a switching mistake. Perversely, I was giving these guys a lot more credit than they deserve.

I won't be committing that lapse in judgment again anytime soon...

Does anybody have last night's 'NUMB3RS' recorded? I'm actually only looking for the opening scene and a small scene near the end of the show. PM me if there is anyway you can get me the footage. Thanks

As for Leno last night, I immediately assumed KSDK "forgot to flip the switch" and proceeded to watch Letterman, since it WAS in HD.

Since I've never been a D* subscriber, I can only echo concerns of some who have left D* for E*, that D* seems committed to HDLite, converting its signal to a resolution of 1280x1080 for its HD content (instead of 1920x1080). Dish experimented with it for a few days recently and got a lot of negative e-mails. As far as I know, they plan to continue broadcasting in full 1920x1080. Since my projector is 1280x720, that's not a significant visual problem for me now, but for the future, I hope to enjoy my recordings at 1920x1080p.



Joseph from everything I have been reading it looks like all the Voom channels and UHD will be HDLite. I believe that the two ESPN channels will be 720P. Not sure on this but I think the only true HD channels will be the HDNet channels.

And exactly how do you do that in Edwardsville??????

In the context of what I was saying - I get all National HD channels Directv offers until 2007. In other words, DirecTV has committed to keeping nationals on MPEG2 until the majority of their markets are MPEG4 HD local - which they are planning on the end of 2006. That means I won't have the E* fiasco where out of the blue I can't get a channel I've been waiting for (ESPN2, Voom, etc), because they dumped it on MPEG4 and I have to upgrade my receiver. With DirecTV, I can choose to go to HD locals and MPEG 4 when they convert St. Louis (by end of May 2006) or I can stay with my existing equipment until 2007, when they will start moving the nationals. I prefer the planned, organized, announced plans of DirecTV over the E* missed commitments and 30 day MPEG4 announcement.

Yes - I am biased against E*, but only because I got burned for 2+ years and have watched them do the same thing for the 2 years since. As far as the equipment being crap - I had an 811, 311, 322, 508, and 6000 during my time with E*. Every single one of those devices required a hard reboot at some point in time. In addition, in my limited use (and wife's limited use) we each had known bugs that we had to try to avoid. With the 811 and 6000 I had multipath and blocking issues OTA. With DirecTV I have had an HD Tivo, 2 SD Tivos, and a Samsung 360. I have not had a single instance of any of them requiring a hard reboot, nor do I have a bug that I know of or have to avoid (I have wish lists, but that is different). In addition, my multipath and signal strength issues are a thing of the past with the HDTivo (in fairness, I am in a new house, but using the same antenna.)

Chris

This new HD-capable Series 3 TiVo.... would that work if you had DirecTV HD? Could you feed htat into the Series3 HD TiVo?

I love my DirecTV SD TiVo and really love the TiVo interface and don't care to change.

This new HD-capable Series 3 TiVo.... would that work if you had DirecTV HD? Could you feed htat into the Series3 HD TiVo?No -- that won't be possible -- only accepts CableCard, coax cable and coax antenna input. It has both NTSC and ATSC tuners, so one good thing is that you could get around Charter's lack of KDNL-DT via an antenna.

The other really nice thing about this box is that it provides for video passthrough -- in other words, it will output 720p programming as 720p and 1080i as 1080i.

This feature is WAY overdue on all cable, satellite and OTA receivers...

I've yet to see a relatively new HD receiver (as in, newer than my old Sony HD100) that offered an option like the HD100 did with its "variable 2" option:

1080i output when the input is 480p, 1080i, or 720p..... and 480i output when the input is 480i.

This was ideal for my TV (probably not coincidentally also a Sony) which can't do 720p and has a bug which displays 16x9 480p as 4x3 unless I change the aspect ratio manually.

With the HD Tivo I have to manually change its output when I change from an HD channel to an SD, or vice versa.

Very disappointing that the Series3 TiVo won't allow a satelittle HD signal.

I absolutely love the TiVo product and feel as though I'm going to be very disappointed whenver DirecTV eventually markets their MPEG-4 HD DVR.

If nothing else, the DirecTV SD TiVo allows buffering of two signals at once, while it appears from reading everything else that the DirecTV R15 SD DVR does not. Thus, I doubt any future DirecTV HD DVR will either.

Sucks.

A great product and you can't team it with another great product anymore.

Joseph from everything I have been reading it looks like all the Voom channels and UHD will be HDLite. I believe that the two ESPN channels will be 720P. Not sure on this but I think the only true HD channels will be the HDNet channels.

You're right. I fell behind the curve on that one. What a discouraging development! HDLite from DirecTV and Dish, bad service and limited options from Charter. In a year when 1080p develpments should have us looking toward a brighter future, the providers all seem intent on destroying the HD signal.

I looked at the 4DTV options, which seem to offer the best HD picture quality, but there are no DVRs that I can find. The R5000 mod works with 4DTV sat receivers, but I'm not willing to give up the convenience offered by my 921 or the DirecTV or Charter alternatives - not to mention the rotor.

I've yet to see a relatively new HD receiver (as in, newer than my old Sony HD100) that offered an option like the HD100 did with its "variable 2" option:

1080i output when the input is 480p, 1080i, or 720p..... and 480i output when the input is 480i.

This was ideal for my TV (probably not coincidentally also a Sony) which can't do 720p and has a bug which displays 16x9 480p as 4x3 unless I change the aspect ratio manually.

With the HD Tivo I have to manually change its output when I change from an HD channel to an SD, or vice versa.
My Samsung SIR-TS360 (D*) had video passthrough. I didn't like it though. I have a DLP (720p) and everytime the video switched resolution there would be a noticable delay as the TV adjusted to scaling or not scaling, etc. So I just set video out to 720p. In my case it just came down to what did the scaling (STB or TV) and they both used the same scaler (Faroudja).

Now I use the HD10-250 HDTivo with 720p set as the output. I don't think it has video passthrough.

I absolutely love the TiVo product and feel as though I'm going to be very disappointed whenver DirecTV eventually markets their MPEG-4 HD DVR.

If nothing else, the DirecTV SD TiVo allows buffering of two signals at once, while it appears from reading everything else that the DirecTV R15 SD DVR does not. Thus, I doubt any future DirecTV HD DVR will either.
The biggest feature I'll miss is channel skip. That's a godsend.
I have heard the new MPEG4 HD DVR will record 2 selections simultaneously.

The biggest feature I'll miss is channel skip. That's a godsend.
I have heard the new MPEG4 HD DVR will record 2 selections simultaneously.

You're right, at least from what i've heard. But, will it have a live tv buffer for both tuners?

Here's what I do very often when watching Live TV: Let's say I have SportsCenter on on ESPN. Then, I'm also watching the ch2 6pm newscast. Both are are seperate tuners, so my SD R10 DirecTiVo is buffering them both. I may want to see what's on SportsCenter, but I don't want to msiss something on the news. So, I pause the ch2 news and hit the Live TV button, switching tuners to the one w/ SportsCenter. I'll watch a few mins of that, then hit PAUSE. Then, switch back to the ch2 tuner which is right where I left off before. I do that a lot.

From what I understand, the new R15 SD DirecTV DVR will not allow that. However, it will record two things at once.

You're right, at least from what i've heard. But, will it have a live tv buffer for both tuners?

Here's what I do very often when watching Live TV: Let's say I have SportsCenter on on ESPN. Then, I'm also watching the ch2 6pm newscast. Both are are seperate tuners, so my SD R10 DirecTiVo is buffering them both. I may want to see what's on SportsCenter, but I don't want to msiss something on the news. So, I pause the ch2 news and hit the Live TV button, switching tuners to the one w/ SportsCenter. I'll watch a few mins of that, then hit PAUSE. Then, switch back to the ch2 tuner which is right where I left off before. I do that a lot.

From what I understand, the new R15 SD DirecTV DVR will not allow that. However, it will record two things at once.
So you're talking about the SD DVR? I not even going to bother switching again before they have a HD DVR (HD20) for MPEG4, which I heard isn't until 2007. I won't switch to the MPEG4 locals this year if it means losing my HD DVR. Hell I spent long enough waiting patiently for it to come down to a reasonable cost. It not giving it up so easily. But without channel skip, I might have to be dragged kicking and screaming.

I'm not sure.

Here's what I know, and then I'm just espousing my theory.

The DirecTV SD DVR w/ TiVo could buffer two live tuners at the same time. The non-TiVo DirecTV SD DVR cannot (by all accounts I've read from users who have it.)

Currently, DirecTV has a TiVo-powered HD DVR. You can buffer two live shows at teh same time using that.

Now, my theory: When DirecTV comes up w/ their own HD DVR, it will be like their SD DVR, and it will not be able to buffer two live shows at the same time.

Did that make any more sense? I think even I'm confused, but dang it, I know what I want! =]

Did that make any more sense? I think even I'm confused, but dang it, I know what I want! =]
Yes, I understand, and agree it's a cool feature.
It's a shame that D* took over complete control of D* STBs marketing and distribution. Now there's no competition to drive features we want for D* STBS. Your only choice now is to consider alternates such as DISH, or...gasp, dare I say it...Charter.

So you're talking about the SD DVR? I not even going to bother switching again before they have a HD DVR (HD20) for MPEG4, which I heard isn't until 2007. I won't switch to the MPEG4 locals this year if it means losing my HD DVR. Hell I spent long enough waiting patiently for it to come down to a reasonable cost. It not giving it up so easily. But without channel skip, I might have to be dragged kicking and screaming.

Whether through down rezzing or elimination of wildly popular features like commercial skip, the content providers seem intent on NOT giving consumers what we want. I think that will change only when business models change, and it is going to be a constant fight between providers and consumers until then. All we can do now is complain - loudly and often and with our wallets.

Unfortunately, that's hard, too, with long committments or expensive equipment, and now the prospect of changes in the basic infrastructure for content delivery.

This is a dark time for HD. As an optimist, I believe it will get better, but who knows how long it will take. And as an early adopter, like a lot of people here, I don't like delays.

In the context of what I was saying - I get all National HD channels Directv offers until 2007. In other words, DirecTV has committed to keeping nationals on MPEG2 until the majority of their markets are MPEG4 HD local - which they are planning on the end of 2006. That means I won't have the E* fiasco where out of the blue I can't get a channel I've been waiting for (ESPN2, Voom, etc), because they dumped it on MPEG4 and I have to upgrade my receiver. With DirecTV, I can choose to go to HD locals and MPEG 4 when they convert St. Louis (by end of May 2006) or I can stay with my existing equipment until 2007, when they will start moving the nationals. I prefer the planned, organized, announced plans of DirecTV over the E* missed commitments and 30 day MPEG4 announcement.

Chris

Budshark:

I understand what you're saying. But what escapes me is how you are able to receive the HD Distant networks. I doubt the locals have all granted you waivers. The way I understand things, we cannot even get the SD Distants without the affiliates blessing it. And that's next to impossible when you're only 20 miles out of downtown.

Anyone else receive constant drops in the Fox digital OTA signal today during the NFL playoff games? My RCA DTC210 kept going from 90% to 0% so much during the game, that I had to switch over to the lowly old analog fox signal (ugh!). :rolleyes:

This looks to be good news. From the 1-5-06 online edition of the St. Louis Business Journal:



More competition is always good.

Hopefully, we can get At&t by the end of the year, heck by the 4th of July would be even greater, to get rid of Charcrap!!! Or in my apartment building in Maryland Heights, CableAmerica annoyance.

I'd like to see some timeframes to get this up here (I don't care how long it is if it don't have any bugs in it)

Doug,

Thank you for taking the time to reply, I appreciate it.
I spoke with Dish support again yesterday and provided them the additional information.
As for the original issue I was having, the tech told me a "write-up" has been sent to software engineering, and they may, or may not be back in contact.
When I tried to duplicate the issue today, I could not.
I believe the issue was related to the content downloaded to the 9 day EPG, so maybe it's fixed....who knows?
I consider myself fortunate, as I've had few issues with the 921, though there are a couple of bugs I'm aware of, and have learned to work around them. Aspect ratio being the main one.
Again, thanks much for your input.

Rod,

I watched the game today on Fox. Other than a brief loss of the HD feed (KTVI switched to SD) early in the game, which lasted under 5 minutes, the broadcast on OTA was fine here, signal 100+ the whole game.

Moman,

I'm 55 miles from the STL stations, and all of my waiver requests have been rubber-stamped DENIED

Budshark:

I understand what you're saying. But what escapes me is how you are able to receive the HD Distant networks. I doubt the locals have all granted you waivers. The way I understand things, we cannot even get the SD Distants without the affiliates blessing it. And that's next to impossible when you're only 20 miles out of downtown.

Never said or meant to imply HD Locals (Distant). By National HD channels, talking about Universal HD, Discovery, HDNet, Espn, etc... With DirecTV, you do receive FOXHD New York - but thats only because our St. Louis Fox is Owned & Operated.

Contrast that with Dish on Feb 1. You CAN'T and WON'T receive all of the HD channels they carry that you COULD receive, unless you immediately upgrade to MPEG4. Which... in Dish speak has meant a commitment and $$$... and getting in line behind new customers. I'd be surprised if 20% of Dish's HD customers receive ESPN2HD or the new Voom channels by the end of March... that would pi$$ me off...

Chris

P.S. in case there is any further questions... the HD local comments came from the fact that DirecTV will be launching HD locals for St. Louis by end of May (taken from the commitment to do top 36 markets by June, and St. Louis is in the top 20s...)

I'd be surprised if 20% of Dish's HD customers receive ESPN2HD or the new Voom channels by the end of March...
I'd have to agree, though I think it could very well be far less than 20%.
Guess we will all find out Monday night.

Just to let anyone know who might have problems with audio with LIVE TV on their HTPC.... I got mine fixed. It was a codec problem.

When I installed the K-Lite Mega Codec Pak, I installed every possible codec in the world that it would allow. Apparently one -- or more -- conflicted with the audio codecs that MCE was using to decode the audio.

After uninstalling the Codec Pak and then reinstalling it w/ only the basic codecs, I was able to still watch my xVid's and the like while getting audio from LIVE TV and Recorded TV using MCE.

Now, all I need now is to figure out a way to get the video from stuttering!

Not only does the picture on KSDK look terrible tonight I am now starting to get a large amount of audio dropouts. Have the E* 811 receiver. Also now starting to get the same audio dropouts on KMOV. Anyone else?

KMOV looked and sounded outstanding today during the NFL playoff game (unlike Fox). I noticed no audio dropouts. As stated above, I'm on D* using the RCA DTC210.

Winston,

Here's a CES wrap-up article from the HDTV Magazine web site that seems to address your question about buffering of dual tuners. If I'm reading this correctly, there shouldn't be any concern.

http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/articles/2006/01/ces_-_day_3.php

It's also worth noting that the article says that equipment upgrades will be free once DirecTV begins moving MPEG-2 channels to MPEG-4. If subscribers wish to upgrade prior to that happening, the cost will be around $100.

Ah, still no sign of 5.1 on 30-1... I guess I shouldn't be surprised? :( Wonder if that will have changed by Feb. 5th? New Lost episodes this week too. :mad:

Thought I'd pass along the link to the "CES winners and losers" profiled into today's TVPredictions.com newsletter.

In a capsule: Winners were DISH, Toshiba, and Panasonic; losers were DirecTV, TiVo and Sony.

Full article can be found here. (http://www.tvpredictions.com/ceswinners010806.htm)

I've been unable to pick up Channel 4-1 CBS since yesterday morning?? I live in the city (by Chippewa and Kingshighway) and get a strong signal on all channels with my rooftop antenna. Even Channel 4 analog is coming in great?
Anybody in the city having problems with 4-1? It says "channel not available" when I try to scan for it?
Disappointing as I wanted to watch the NFL game yesterday in High-def?
Thought maybe the massive wind we had yesterday might have played a part? Still got nothing this morning. Also had major dropouts on the PBS 9-1, 2, 3, 4 last night.
All my analog channels come in clearly.
Thoughts?

shaka,

I haven't seen any problems on 4-1.

It's impossible to troubleshoot your problem remotely, but your mention of the wind suggests that you may need to re-aim your antenna. But first, I'd try clearing out all of your channels, unplugging your receiver from the mains power and try a rescan once you power back up. In all likelihood that won't fix the problem, but it's worth checking before doing battle with the rooftop.

FWIW, 9-1 and the KETC subchannels, are effectively the same signal/bitstream. If you have trouble with one of them, you are going to see problems with all of them.

And it looks like DirecTV ain't gonna just sit on its laurels, either....

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/jan06/01-05WMDIRECTVPR.mspx

A new box from *D that can do everything mentioned in this article just might make me give up my HD DirecTivo after all.... even without a 30-second skip on the new box!

There was supposed to be a PC based DirecTV receiver 6-7 years ago. It never materialized. (I know this announcement doesn't directly relate to that but another CES announcement involving Intel did--this should be a related initiative) They better do something to give me cable card-type options--who am I kidding, I'm in the boonies and stuck with whatever garbage DirecTV makes me use.

I don't know if anyone has ever received a response from KSDK, but I got one this morning from Dave Hummert.

Thank you for your note. KSDK is aware of the technical issues with our
network feed and are working with NBC to
resolve them.
Dave Hummert

I don't know if this is his standard response or not, but they are aware. Hopefully by sending emails will help resolve the problem sooner.

Thought I'd pass along the link to the "CES winners and losers" profiled into today's TVPredictions.com newsletter.

In a capsule: Winners were DISH, Toshiba, and Panasonic; losers were DirecTV, TiVo and Sony.

Full article can be found here. (http://)


Interested in reading the article, but can't get the link to work?

I don't know if anyone has ever received a response from KSDK, but I got one this morning from Dave Hummert.

Thank you for your note. KSDK is aware of the technical issues with our
network feed and are working with NBC to
resolve them.
Dave Hummert

I don't know if this is his standard response or not, but they are aware. Hopefully by sending emails will help resolve the problem sooner.
Standard response. It's exactly what I got as a reponse.
Last night I checked in on 5-1 for L&O. I was actually able to hear the center channel without switching my processor from PLIIx to PL. But OMG, I see what all you are talking about with the green snow. Can they reach new lows in HDTV?

Thanks DropTR. It's strange. I just moved in to this house a couple weeks back. I found the line from an old antenna (which is very high up on the roof) and plugged it into my HD receiver. I watched KMOV 4-1 digital and it came in just fine. I will try unplugging the receiver and doing a reboot.
Here's something else I find bizarre. I tried rescanning for channels. It detected the analog and digital antenna and also it detected a cable signal. So after scanning I got all the local analogs which looked clear except for UPN. All the digitals except for 4-1 and then a few cable local channels (4, 5 etc..) Why would it detect cable from an antenna line? There's a possibility it could have been combined with a cable or satellite line - even though I have separate feeds for satellite runs. Maybe a diplexor would tell me more. That's just a curiousity though...
Mainly, I just want 4-1 back. And I will exhaust all options before tackling the roof..
Thanks for the input DTR.

I'm a little confused on this "green snow" from KSDK. Last nights L&O I Tivo on Directv and it look great. A few weeks back I was watching L&O SUV on OTA and there was a lot of the "green snow" but when I went to Charter the picture look great. Is this a uniform occurance of just spot.

I'm a little confused on this "green snow" from KSDK. Last nights L&O I Tivo on Directv and it look great. A few weeks back I was watching L&O SUV on OTA and there was a lot of the "green snow" but when I went to Charter the picture look great. Is this a uniform occurance of just spot.

It seems to be uniform for me (via Charter). Last night's West Wing was almost unwatchable. Let me put it this way - the wife commented how much better Desperate Housewives looked then West Wing (thanks to Sinclair/Charter we were of course watching ABC in glorious SD at the time). Anytime an SD show looks better than an HD show, you've got major problems.

Interested in reading the article, but can't get the link to work?Link has been corrected. Thanks for pointing this out, deuces.

Ah, still no sign of 5.1 on 30-1... I guess I shouldn't be surprised? :( Wonder if that will have changed by Feb. 5th? New Lost episodes this week too. :mad:

Easy now...the equipment is installed...but it doesn't work! Dolby says it should, but it doesn't. I'm waiting for another piece of equipment that may solve the problem. This new technology is not as easy as you may think...the manufactures are even at a loss sometimes. One good note....the replacement encoder and new software seems to have solved the encoder video lock up problem...but now the closed captioning won't work on HD pass thru...again manafacture has no solution yet! Thanks for your comments, but it's not "plug and play"!
Jim

Jim,

I want to thank you again for making the effort to keep us here informed on your 5.1 efforts.

We may not always like the fact that we don't get this stuff as quickly as we would like to have it, but keeping us in the loop goes a long way to keeping our emotions in check (occasionally).

By contrast, kSDk's engineers and management could use a little of bit of PR awareness...

I have heard that the new D* mpeg 4 dish will not allow the use of diplexers. Can anyone elaborate?

Scott

Two stupid HD TiVo questions from me (what with all this HD and TiVo talk from CES.)

One, at what point, like what year, do we expect the HD TiVos to quit being able to receive a signal from DirecTV? When will they be completley obsolete?

Secondly, can one of those work on their own? ie: Will it work w/o a DirecTV signal? Also, can you record two OTA at the same time now?

I have heard that the new D* mpeg 4 dish will not allow the use of diplexers. Can anyone elaborate?

Scott


Scott, that is correct from what I have read. The OTA frequencies apparently interfere with the MGEG4 sat signals if combined with a duplexer.


Winston,

The speculation is it will be 2007 before the HD-Tivo would be obsolete due to the MPEG4 implementation.

I believe the OTA would still work without D*, but there would be no program guide which would make it almost useless.

And yes, it can record two OTA at the same time.

Mike

The concept of multilple affiliates seemed to bloom out of the talk about KSDK's bad HD lately.

Think of it this way, though. If you recorded both affiliates' poor HD reception on your two-tuner HD recorder, you could switch back and forth between the two programs. When one got bad, go to the other affiliate.

This would only require twice the HDD space, and about 3 times as long to watch as just sitting there when it's originally scheduled.

Maybe that was their whole plan all along...

:rolleyes:

Winston,

I'd add to Mike's answer on the HD TiVo that if it's not authorizied by DirecTV it would no longer function as a recorder, even though it would work as an OTA receiver.

The entitlement from DirecTV enables recording, as well as the programming and guide data.

Two kSDk's Better Than One?

Reminds me of the old joke:

First prize was 1 hour of kSDk programming...and second prize was 2 hours of kSDk programming.

Ba da boom...

The next 2 weeks of NFL playoffs are on Fox & CBS :). Both games were AWESOME yesterday on the new 50" plasma! (Well, at least the PQ).

No more ABC until the Super Bowl. I am most hopeful that our fine friends @ Charter & Sinclair work out some sort of one-day amnesty agreement where that game is shown in HD. Someone mentioned that there is a precedent for this.

Saluki,

If I'm recalling this correctly, it wasn't so much an "amnesty" as it was a "good faith" gesture on the part of Sinclair in light of the negotiations that were ongoing with the cable company involved with them at the time of last year's Super Bowl.

And again if my memory isn't truly Swiss cheese-like, those negotiations broke down shortly after the Super Bowl and it took another 6 months or so for the parties to ultimately reach an agreement.

On the basis of that precedent, I'm doubtful that the same thing will happen here with Sinclair/Charter, short of having a signed and sealed deal in hand.

I hope I'm wrong for the sake of those who are depending on Charter.

And whatever happened to that CSR-originated report that KDNL was being added to a specific channel in short order?

Alright guys. I recently moved back to St. Louis. I noticed Charter has a good deal going. 39.99 for 6 months. Includes their total package with all the movie channels, HD etc...
I had been a Directv subscriber, but was unimpressed with their HD package, the standard def channels on a high def receiver and the commitment to re-activate my service. It's a two year commitment.
So the upside with Charter:
1. Price for the first 6 months - which includes high def receiver in living room and standard cable for bedroom.
2. I can cancel at anytime if I think the quality sucks.

Questions:
The HD receiver offered by Charter has an OTA internal tuner correct? I'm also curious how their standard def programming looks on an HDTV. Resolutions? Native or will it scale everything at 1080i? How are the stretch modes? My tv is 4:3. Although I watch all high def in normal widescreen with black bars.

As far as wiring goes with the HD receiver lead-ins. I have two rg-6 coaxial cables from a dish set up that work fine. Also have an rg-6 lead in in the bedroom. It should make it painless for the installer. How many leads does the HD receiver need - outside of the OTA line I have running in? Does the HD receiver have component video and S-Video outs? Optical or Coaxial audio outs?

Sorry so many questions, but the lady didn't know specifics over the phone.
Any input is appreciated. I do realize they charge an install fee of $29, but this seems like a good "starter" deal to decide if they are worth the money.

Thanks guys.

Ok, finally I have an "ok" outdoor radioshack antenna on my roof (it's about the size of a 4x6 picture) and I've got CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX all in wonderful HD. Using antennaweb.org as a guide All of the above channels are between 80-98% signal strength. Now, we don't watch a lot of WB & PBS, but there are occasions. WB I get a 42% signal strength and PBS I get either 0% or sometimes 40%. Is there a trick I need to know to getting those channels. I'm within 4 miles of the WB antenna and 11 of the PBS antenna. I didn't think it would be this tough to get channels that are within 12 miles of me. Also, my wife commented last night while we were watching fox that it was like watching when we had dish (the picture would rarely pixelate). So, does the HDTV picture go out during storms? That's why we dropped Dish and got Charter in the first place, and if the picture does in fact drop in bad weather, I may have to bite the bullet and get the Charter HD package. But Charter's HD package is terrible, so then I think, well, maybe back to Dish Network, but then again, we dropped dish network because of the signal during bad weather, and the evil loop continues....

Two stupid HD TiVo questions from me (what with all this HD and TiVo talk from CES.)

One, at what point, like what year, do we expect the HD TiVos to quit being able to receive a signal from DirecTV? When will they be completley obsolete?

Secondly, can one of those work on their own? ie: Will it work w/o a DirecTV signal? Also, can you record two OTA at the same time now?

UltimateTVs still work with DirecTV... that should answer the question. HDTivos will work with DirecTV as long as DirecTV is around... they just may not receive non-OTA HD channels. I wouldn't be concerned about HDTivos being able to record SD D* or OTA HD as long as DirecTV is in business...

Chris

Saluki,

And whatever happened to that CSR-originated report that KDNL was being added to a specific channel in short order?

Doug-

The key words there are "CSR-originated report". I miss our old forum bud, abcward, who was able to access info regarding Charter.

I am enthralled with HD, but like all of us, am just antsy for more HD networks.

Alright guys. I recently moved back to St. Louis. I noticed Charter has a good deal going. 39.99 for 6 months. Includes their total package with all the movie channels, HD etc...
I had been a Directv subscriber, but was unimpressed with their HD package, the standard def channels on a high def receiver and the commitment to re-activate my service. It's a two year commitment.
So the upside with Charter:
1. Price for the first 6 months - which includes high def receiver in living room and standard cable for bedroom.
2. I can cancel at anytime if I think the quality sucks.

Questions:
The HD receiver offered by Charter has an OTA internal tuner correct? I'm also curious how their standard def programming looks on an HDTV. Resolutions? Native or will it scale everything at 1080i? How are the stretch modes? My tv is 4:3. Although I watch all high def in normal widescreen with black bars.

As far as wiring goes with the HD receiver lead-ins. I have two rg-6 coaxial cables from a dish set up that work fine. Also have an rg-6 lead in in the bedroom. It should make it painless for the installer. How many leads does the HD receiver need - outside of the OTA line I have running in? Does the HD receiver have component video and S-Video outs? Optical or Coaxial audio outs?

Sorry so many questions, but the lady didn't know specifics over the phone.
Any input is appreciated. I do realize they charge an install fee of $29, but this seems like a good "starter" deal to decide if they are worth the money.

Thanks guys.

No OTA tuner the HD comes across the cable. SD looks like SD to me. The Moxi DVR will do native passthrough if you set it up.

One cable per receiver is all you need. S-Vid, Component, yes. Optical yes.

You should tell her you want the dsih mover promo. All channels (Biggest package) for $47.99 locked in for your choice of 1 or 2 years. I got that deal. They also gave me a $150 credit for giving them a dish and a receiver. I had an extra dish I got for $10 laying around with my free receivers. I gave them that stuff since I hadnt used it in a while and was able to leave the dish up. :)

If you can put up with the hit or miss customer service then Charter is the route for affordable HD and HD DVR.

Easy now...the equipment is installed...but it doesn't work! Dolby says it should, but it doesn't. I'm waiting for another piece of equipment that may solve the problem. This new technology is not as easy as you may think...the manufactures are even at a loss sometimes. One good note....the replacement encoder and new software seems to have solved the encoder video lock up problem...but now the closed captioning won't work on HD pass thru...again manafacture has no solution yet! Thanks for your comments, but it's not "plug and play"!
Jim

Figures that you had to bend over backwards to get the equipment at all and then it doesn't work for you like it should, hang in there Jim!

Questions:

As far as wiring goes with the HD receiver lead-ins. I have two rg-6 coaxial cables from a dish set up that work fine. Also have an rg-6 lead in in the bedroom. It should make it painless for the installer. How many leads does the HD receiver need - outside of the OTA line I have running in? Does the HD receiver have component video and S-Video outs? Optical or Coaxial audio outs?

Thanks guys.

Shaka,

The Motorola 5100 box does not have OTA tuning (unless you are referring to cable tuning.)
component=yes
s-video=yes (not for HD of course)
otical and coax audio=yes

Specs from
I n s t a l l a t i o n M a n u a l

Standard Features
The Motorola DCT5100 offers the following standard features:
�� Two tuners up to 860 MHz
�� ITU standard 64/256 QAM/FEC/enhanced adaptive equalizer
�� Clear analog channel processor with BTSC decoder
�� MPEG—2 main profile ® high level video processor
�� ATSC standard Dolby AC-3 audio processor
�� Triple-Tuner architecture supports simultaneous internet protocol (IP) connection while
processing video
�� DOCSIS compliant integrated cable modem
�� DES based encryption/DCII access control
�� Out-of-band data receiver (70-130 MHz) 2.048 Mbps
�� 80.3 M Byte total memory (field/factory upgradable)
�� A-V input ports
�� Component Output (Y – Pb – Pr)
�� S-Video output
�� S/PDIF-Dolby AC-3 output (electrical)
�� S/PDIF-Dolby AC-3 output (optical) — Dolby Digital audio interface
�� Universal Serial Bus (USB) port (dual connector interface) — 2 rear, 1 front
�� 10/100 Base-T Ethernet Port (RJ-45)
�� RF and baseband (video and L/R audio) output ports
�� On-board real-time RF return (DOCSIS compliant)
�� Renewable security connector
�� Smart card interface connector (E-Commerce)
�� Infra-Red (IR) blaster port
�� Switched accessory outlet
�� Messaging capabilities
�� Digital diagnostics
�� 32-bit graphics
�� Analog/digital video scaling (picture in graphics)
�� 2-D/3-D graphics support in hardware
�� Macrovision copy protection
�� 4 digit, 7 segment LED display
�� Full feature access from front panel

Optional Features
�� RF Bypass switch
�� Expansion DRAM
�� Expansion FLASH
�� 1394 “Firewire” digital interface (dual connector interface)
�� IR Blaster transmitter
�� HPNA 2.0 (RJ-11) Interface

Dave

The lady from Charter said it did come with a OTA Tuner. This is disappointing since I get all the locals (except CBS right now) via my rooftop antenna. How can an HD Receiver not have an OTA tuner?
I might cancel before they get here on Saturday. So there is no way to get a Charter HD receiver that has an OTA tuner?
Thanks for all the other specs Dave.