That is how I read it also. It also tells you which games will be on the HD feed, so if you can find out which games KMOV is going to broadcast, those in the HD column will most likely be in HD on KMOV, correct?

Here is KMOV schedule for games on Thurs and Fri.

http://www.kmov.com/sports/topstories/stories/060314_sports_nccatournschedule.246e368f.html

I have a Dish 508 PVR that's going to be replaced by a 622 this weekend. Anyone know of a good tutorial on ripping the contents of the 508 hard drive so I can keep the recorded shows and play them from the hard drive of my DVD server using Zoomplayer? (Basically, like playing a DVD from your hard drive.)

Art,
Joe hit the nail on the head!! I've been way behind on watching things for quite some time now. My 942's 250Gb hdd is almost completely full, and some of the events are from last fall. I also have filled up over 40 dvhs tapes of hd shows recorded from my Sammy T165 tuner, and both of the internal hdds in my pc(one 200 and one 500) are just about full as well with shows recorded with the MyHD card. Oh I forgot, I have atleast 300 unopened dvds of movies and tv shows to watch. I feel like I could stay inside for a year just watching stuff, and not have enough time to catch up. At this point I'm hopeful that the summer will bring some relief, when the hd shows all but stop any new programming.

I suspect that besides having a busy schedule, some of this may be due to an underlying need for me to have a large treasure of entertainment waiting for me to break into. I know, I need counseling...

Here is KMOV schedule for games on Thurs and Fri.

http://www.kmov.com/sports/topstories/stories/060314_sports_nccatournschedule.246e368f.htmlI saw that. It really sucks that KMOV feels the need to put the Iowa game on both channels. :mad: I know many Razorback fans in St. Louis that would like to see the Arkansas game.

I saw that. It really sucks that KMOV feels the need to put the Iowa game on both channels. :mad: I know many Razorback fans in St. Louis that would like to see the Arkansas game.

I'm guessing there are a couple Ohio State fans who might like to see that game also. Thank God for March Madness on Demand!

I'm guessing there are a couple Ohio State fans who might like to see that game also. Thank God for March Madness on Demand!I'm not holding my breath that MMOD won't be outragously over packed. Besides what if you have to work -- it's not like I can record MMOD games on a TiVo or VCR. :(

It would be a huge black eye if MMOD's performance is poor. They have been promoting the heck out of it and I assume they want to get people hooked this year to charge them in the future. They are also limiting the number of people who can sign up for the free accounts, so I'll hope for the best.

As far as work <cough cough>, there IS something goins around :)

Today, I noticed that my DigitalStream HD settop box was not displaying a signal on 30-1. I re-scanned the channels, and now it shows 31-1, and that plays KDNL DT. All of the other channel re-maps are correct, like 4-1, 5-1,2 etc. Is there something that the broadcaster has done to cause the re-map of 31-1?

I just saw the problem when I got back in town!!! They screwed up the PSIP data again while I was gone...I'll try to get it fixed tomrrow.
Jiim

Isn't it great to have someone like Jim on the job? Jim, all of us here appreciate your hard work. Thanks again for getting the 5.1 sound, and for correcting the audio sync issue. For what it's worth, I fired up my Sammy T165 OTA tuner tonight to program a recording of LOST and Invasion(I love the blond on that show), and got 31-1 at first. However, after changing the channel a couple of times as well as rebooting, the channel finally came up as 30-1.

I just heard last night that CBS-HD over Charter has been removed for the time being. If you call into their service line, they mention it on the recording. For the past three weeks, I have had almost no reception for CBS-HD. I call and emailed several times and they finally are looking at it. No ETA .......

??? Working here. Hasn't gone anywhere. Maybe its just the county?

I just heard last night that CBS-HD over Charter has been removed for the time being. If you call into their service line, they mention it on the recording. For the past three weeks, I have had almost no reception for CBS-HD. I call and emailed several times and they finally are looking at it. No ETA .......

I watched NCIS and The Unit with no problems on Tuesday.

Does anyone else have interference on their HD antenna when a cell phone rings? mainly a cingular phone and more so a sprextel (sprint/nextel)? my hd reception pretty much shuts down. and if I ever have a week signal on channel 4 then that continues to 5, and 9. Any ideas?

I just called the charter line again, 1888-get-charter, and in their technical services line, it still states ch 784 is removed. The recording is still from yesterday and I did not check it this morning before I left. The recording does not mention a specific area. Guess they can not even get that right.......

Isn't it great to have someone like Jim on the job? Jim, all of us here appreciate your hard work. Thanks again for getting the 5.1 sound, and for correcting the audio sync issue. For what it's worth, I fired up my Sammy T165 OTA tuner tonight to program a recording of LOST and Invasion(I love the blond on that show), and got 31-1 at first. However, after changing the channel a couple of times as well as rebooting, the channel finally came up as 30-1.


Thanks for your comments. Got it fixed today. FYI, the PSIP generator was sending out alternating correct and incorrect Virtual Channel Tables.

You all help me stay in touch when I'm out of town...which is every week! I use the forums in the other cities where we have stations, but this one is the best!!!
Jim

I just called the charter line again, 1888-get-charter, and in their technical services line, it still states ch 784 is removed. The recording is still from yesterday and I did not check it this morning before I left. The recording does not mention a specific area. Guess they can not even get that right.......


Waaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!




Just so everyone knows...I was just kidding.

Does anyone else have interference on their HD antenna when a cell phone rings? mainly a cingular phone and more so a sprextel (sprint/nextel)? my hd reception pretty much shuts down. and if I ever have a week signal on channel 4 then that continues to 5, and 9. Any ideas?

Mobile phones can be noisey, especially the Nextel phones, which operate in the 850 MHz range. Some Cingular phones operate in that frequency too. But you would have to be very close to your antenna or getting a very weak signal for it to interfere. Where is your Antenna? If up on the roof this should not be a problem. If you're using an indoor antenna that is sitting close by, just move it further away.

PCS vendors like Sprint, T-Mobile & US Cellular are on a different frequency and should not be an issue.

I apologize in advance for being somewhat lazy and not pouring through the DVR forum for answers, but with all the knowledgable people on this thread, I'm hopeful someone will be able to help my out with how the new TIVO Series 3 will work when released later this year. Right now, I have the Moxi with Charter and have very few issues, other than the lack of ABC-HD on Charter. My understanding is that with the Series 3, all I would have to do is get a cablecard from Charter (necessary to get HBO), and I would basically have the same functionality as the Moxi while adding the ability to receive/record ABC-HD, plus a bigger hard drive. Is this correct? I'm assuming I would still have to subscribe to the same packages with charter (i.e. HD pack, etc) but instead of paying $13-$16 per month for the Moxi, I would pay a lesser amount for a cable card. Does this sound about right?

Anyone watching MMOD and getting audio? I am trying to watch the Witcha State game
and I am getting some "music" but no actually game audio.

Mobile phones can be noisey, especially the Nextel phones, which operate in the 850 MHz range. Some Cingular phones operate in that frequency too. But you would have to be very close to your antenna or getting a very weak signal for it to interfere. Where is your Antenna? If up on the roof this should not be a problem. If you're using an indoor antenna that is sitting close by, just move it further away.

PCS vendors like Sprint, T-Mobile & US Cellular are on a different frequency and should not be an issue.

Whenever we're recording something, our entire staff shuts down their Nextel phones. They make a fluttering sound which will show up on our tape. If you're close to a speaker, you'll also hear this sound from time to time. I believe it has something to do with the type of phone you're using. CDMA, maybe it's called? I'm sure someone out there can chime in.

I've never seen it to anything to video though.

-Hanjke

I apologize in advance for being somewhat lazy and not pouring through the DVR forum for answers, but with all the knowledgable people on this thread, I'm hopeful someone will be able to help my out with how the new TIVO Series 3 will work when released later this year. Right now, I have the Moxi with Charter and have very few issues, other than the lack of ABC-HD on Charter. My understanding is that with the Series 3, all I would have to do is get a cablecard from Charter (necessary to get HBO), and I would basically have the same functionality as the Moxi while adding the ability to receive/record ABC-HD, plus a bigger hard drive. Is this correct? I'm assuming I would still have to subscribe to the same packages with charter (i.e. HD pack, etc) but instead of paying $13-$16 per month for the Moxi, I would pay a lesser amount for a cable card. Does this sound about right?


I am not sure why you would be able to get ABC-HD with the cable card instead of the MOXI. Charter does not offer ABC-HD. The cable card does not give you the access to the VOD or the guide.

While trying to watch the BC/Pacific game, I get a "We're sorry. your data indicates that you are prevented from accessing this game due to local blackout restrictions. This game is available on your local CBS-TV affiliate. Pick another game" I'm watching ch4 on D* and the UW-MIL / OK game is on. Anyone else having this problem?

I am not sure why you would be able to get ABC-HD with the cable card instead of the MOXI. Charter does not offer ABC-HD. The cable card does not give you the access to the VOD or the guide.

But he can get ABC OTA and record with the tivo, and as far as the guide is concerned, the guide for the Moxi stinks. One problem with the Tivo is you still have to pay a monthly fee, and I beleive they are going to raise it, so would you get the Moxi for no monthly fee except for the DVR, or pay for the Moxi and still pay a DVR fee?

The series 3 HD Tivo will have TWO cablecard slots and two OTA tuners as well. So you'll be able to record two channels at once, either from cable or OTA.

I'm not going to claim to be an expert on cablecards, but I believe if you get the new cablecard with the 2.0 spec, one card will tune two channels. If you get the older 1.0 cards, you'll need two cards to use that feature.

And you'll have to pay Tivo's monthly fee in addition to whatever you pay Charter each month.

Whenever we're recording something, our entire staff shuts down their Nextel phones. They make a fluttering sound which will show up on our tape. If you're close to a speaker, you'll also hear this sound from time to time. I believe it has something to do with the type of phone you're using. CDMA, maybe it's called? I'm sure someone out there can chime in.

I've never seen it to anything to video though.

-Hanjke

Like I said, the Nextel phones are noisey, but if you back off a few feet you should be fine. I own one. When it's close (2 or 3 feet) to my sub woofer, it creates a racket. FYI, Nextel phones use iDEN technology which is more like GSM than CDMA. In fact, I doubt you would hear such static from a CDMA phone.
Either increase your distance or move your receiving antenna farther away.

Asked this a while back, didn't see any responses - does anyone know where in STL area to get low voltage cable raceway that looks good? I mean some that looks like moulding, etc. I've seen some online but would like to see in person if possible.

Thanks,
Squirrel

you do pay for the Moxi and also the DVR service. 13.99 for the DVR service. Have them tell you all the prices for the different things in the bundle. I belive it is 6.99 for a digital box. The cable card is only 1.50. I agree the Moxi guide sucks. I now have the regular Moto HD box and it sucks even worse. Problem with the TIVO is the up front costs for the device. If it wasn't for that, I would have the cable card and Tivo any day over the Moxi.

Asked this a while back, didn't see any responses - does anyone know where in STL area to get low voltage cable raceway that looks good? I mean some that looks like moulding, etc. I've seen some online but would like to see in person if possible.

Thanks,
Squirrel


maybe ask in the dedicatd theater forums. They are way into the beautiful theater thing....

Anyone else noticing this? I've got OTA and Charter and both feeds are breaking up pretty bad. Of course it couldn't come at a worse time with March Madness upon us.
Hope they get this cleared up soon!!

Shaka, I had the same OTA problem about 3:30 today.

Oops!! Post removed. Whatever sound problems I was having was because I had some things set incorrectly on my sound system. Everything seems fine now.

The Quality of the HD during Basketball games was excellent, but did anyone notice that the HD broadcast, didn't cut away to show other games as much as the SD broadcast did? I had to watch the end of regulation between BC and Pacific on SD cause the HD feed stayed with their game, whicle the SD feed switched over.

The Quality of the HD during Basketball games was excellent, but did anyone notice that the HD broadcast, didn't cut away to show other games as much as the SD broadcast did? I had to watch the end of regulation between BC and Pacific on SD cause the HD feed stayed with their game, whicle the SD feed switched over.


I agree. CBS was bad about not cutting away for important updates on most of the channels I was able to receive (NY, LA, Atlanta, and of course StL). But they were particularly bad on the local HD feed. A few times even when they said they were "going to New York" or cutting away, the feed would stay live in San Diego or wherever else they were. At least once you could hear Dick Enberg talking when he didn't know an audience was still with him. I was very disappointed in their ability to let us see the ends of close games. I watched the clock count down on the top of the screen while Tennessee and Winthrop were tied. Then with 1 second left Tennessee went up 2. Why wouldn't they show us the end of this game? Also BC and Pacific as you mentioned, what a great game. Double overtime, I watch the end of regulation then the first overtime, but before the start of the second overtime they sent me to the start of another game. Granted BC walked away in the second overtime, but the audience had so much time and emotion invested in the BC vs Pacific game I think most would have enjoyed seeing the outcome or at least enough of overtime to see that BC had the game in hand. I know they cannot make everyone happy all the time. But some of these seemed like large blunders to me.

hey everybody, newbe here- for about 4 years now I've been having reception problems with CBS mainly, but others on occasion. I live in Maryland Heights, have a 10 ft pole on top of my roof with a 4 bay 'bow-tie' type antenna for reception. I have an antenna pre-amp as well. I get reception levels in the solid, high 90s (95+) on every digital channel except for CBS and I think its UPN (46.1), but I don't watch that one anyway. I have a Samsung SIRT160 and also a 30" Sony CRT with built-in HD tuner, but tuners experience the same problems. I'm assuming this is some sort of interference, and my question is would a yagi antenna help or be the answer? I have had at one point a huge (6ft) Winegard UHF only antenna, which seemed to work well for about 2 months and then I started getting signal drops on all the channels. The bow-tie type seems to work real well except for CBS, and sometimes it works just fine and sometimes it drops out every minute. Any suggestions?
thanks !

I also have hte most difficulty with CBS which is unfortunate when you thnk about all the good shows on that station -- or at least all the shows that I like.

But, I think you and I are in the same situation in that we both get very high signals on all the other stations. I'd guess its more of a directional issue than it is an antenna issue.

A question about amplifiers.

I have a pretty strong signal but I'm splitting it five ways currently. Three of those splits are analog-only, but two are for digital (I do'nt know that that matters.) Anyway, I think that all the splitting is deteriorating my signal, so I'd like to use an amp to do something.

Yesterday I was getting a few dropouts on CBS and I think it has to be due to all of the splitting. Any recommendations for this type of amp? I'd love to buy one at a retailer, maybe this weekend.

Any ideas what I should buy, or where, and perhaps where I should put it in terms of my antenna signal path? Thanks, as always.

The CBS issues have been acknowledged by charter and according to their recording, they have pulled it off the air. Now, I doubt they really know how to do that, but, they have admitted CBS-HD has a problem and they are "working on it".

Aren't some Charter customers reporting that they still have CBS-HD?

Aren't some Charter customers reporting that they still have CBS-HD?

Yes. I've had no issues with 784 (CBS-HD) in the Kirkwood/Glendale area. Looked gorgeous yesterday and last night.

Jedi35,

Hard drives are much cheaper han counceling and they actually work.

I have a Samsung 165/ HD recorder setup also. I just never got around to actually recording anything. I suppose a different sort of conceling is in order. Art

I've had a few issues with channel 4 OTA over the past few weeks. Watching an episode of NCIS I had on TIVO (I think it was from two weeks ago), the center channel sound was missing for about 35 minutes and the show was unwatchable until they switched back to the SD feed. The week before that, they broadcast all but the last 15 minutes or so in SD, before flipping the switch. I haven't noticed many problems before this, other than the "out of focus" glitch I notice watching NCAA basketball.

Mike

Well, I was scheduled to have Charter come out yesterday to check on my signal issues (lots of channels such as Discover, A&E, etc. severly pixelated you can't even watch them... like they are frozen). Anyway, they didn't show; when I called, I was told that it was scheduled for NEXT Thursday. That was news to me... they said they could reschedule, but it had always been set for then. I said no, I'll wait--on my birthday--for the cable guy. Whoohooo! Anyway, I think it's due to the splits (I've already reset the Moxi and the cablecard has no issues), so we shall see. Hopefully an amp will fix it... I'll keep you posted. And Happy Friday, everyone.

Yes, yes, Happy Friday!

Jedi35,

Hard drives are much cheaper han counceling and they actually work.

I have a Samsung 165/ HD recorder setup also. I just never got around to actually recording anything. I suppose a different sort of conceling is in order. Art


I have to say I am very ignorant on the subject of hard drives for archiving HD content. Can someone give a concise attempt at explaining the difficulty and cost involved? I have a 942 will someday have a 622, and obviously there are times i want to keep some things permanently.

Yes it is a Happy Friday, I got great seats for the WWE Supershow!!! :D

hey everybody, newbe here- for about 4 years now I've been having reception problems with CBS mainly, but others on occasion. I live in Maryland Heights, have a 10 ft pole on top of my roof with a 4 bay 'bow-tie' type antenna for reception. I have an antenna pre-amp as well. I get reception levels in the solid, high 90s (95+) on every digital channel except for CBS and I think its UPN (46.1), but I don't watch that one anyway. I have a Samsung SIRT160 and also a 30" Sony CRT with built-in HD tuner, but tuners experience the same problems. I'm assuming this is some sort of interference, and my question is would a yagi antenna help or be the answer? I have had at one point a huge (6ft) Winegard UHF only antenna, which seemed to work well for about 2 months and then I started getting signal drops on all the channels. The bow-tie type seems to work real well except for CBS, and sometimes it works just fine and sometimes it drops out every minute. Any suggestions?
thanks !

What type antenna is recommended at antennaweb.org? Since you are getting high signal strength on the other channels can you point it more toward CBS? If that doesn't work you may want to spend some time tweaking its placement. I found being on my cell phone with someone watching inside on the phone was easiest.

The hardware forum has many knowledgable people. Good resource. You may want to post there too.
http://heh.pl/&2Mb

Charter's telephone recording does not say that CBS-HD is down. Since I had to enter my phone number at the beginning, maybe it was a location thing. I am in St. Chuck off kisker and 94..

I have to say I am very ignorant on the subject of hard drives for archiving HD content. Can someone give a concise attempt at explaining the difficulty and cost involved? I have a 942 will someday have a 622, and obviously there are times i want to keep some things permanently.

I've done a little research on the topic recently as my 622 is due to be installed tomorrow. You'll need to join the Dishrip group on Yahoo (link below), but in reading about it a little yesterday, it appears that anything after the 921 will not allow the content to be ripped. (Someone else can verify, but that's the impression that I got.)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dishrip/

I solved my OTA for the most part but I still get occasional macroblocking. The windy weather is causing a problem with the trees moving. Leaves may be a problem later too.

I'm using the 2-bay double bowtie and am thinking of getting a 4-bay. Does anyone have one just sitting around they don't use? (I was able to buy a Silver Sensor from someone here before).

It looks like this: http://heh.pl/&2Mc

I have to say I am very ignorant on the subject of hard drives for archiving HD content. Can someone give a concise attempt at explaining the difficulty and cost involved? I have a 942 will someday have a 622, and obviously there are times i want to keep some things permanently.

Basically, it sounds like there are two types of recording you should consider for your situation:

OTA local recording (like you do with the 942, but archivable):

1. Computer - Intel or AMD, doesn't need to be latest model. A roomier case is best. Price is variable.
2. Separate hard drive, 200-250 GB or more, for video storage (at roughly 9GB per hour). Under $100.
3. MyHD or other HD capture card and a free PCI slot. (Other cards may require a more powerful computer to capture.) $200 for base card; about $275 for card with DVI output.
4. DVD burner for archiving HD to disk. $75.

Satellite recording (Dish Network):

1. Computer with USB2 port and newer processor (2 GHZ Intel or equivalent AMD is best).
2. Nextcom R5000HD modified Dish receiver (211 or 411 - current models). $550.
3. Separate hard drive for video storage, 200-250 GB. Under $100.
4, DVD burner for archiving to disk. $75.

One computer can do both types of recordings, but MyHD takes much less CPU horsepower than the R5000 to capture.

Bottom line, if you want to get into both types of recording, starting from scratch, you could probably do it for under $2,500 for everything - computer, HDD storage, DVD burner, monitor, Dish box, R5000 modification, MyHD card. Of course, you could do it a lot cheaper if you already have some of the components.

That should give you a rough idea, though obviously prices will vary somewhat depending on where you shop. There are some important details missing from this concise summary. Make sure you know all the details before you leap.

None of this, by the way, is illegal. I say that only because some people jump to that conclusion. It is, however, great fun and not at all difficult if you have even a small amount of familiarity with the computer. I helped a desperately computer illiterate friend set up such a system, and he has had only minor problems adjusting.

I know Dish has been installing the 1000 for new HD customers, but I've also read that there have been low readings from the 129 Sat on Dish 1000's. I assume STL HD Locals will go on 129 with the other local HD's. I think someone here already has a 622 and 1000. If so, what are your readings for 129?

I'm planning on ordering the 622 after Apr.1 and I'd like to know which will give me the best reception.

Option 1
Current Dish 500 -> 110/119
Second Dish -> 129

Option 2
Dish 1000 -> 110/119/129

Either way I want my current dish moved cause a tree is growing into it's line of site...

Dave

I know Dish has been installing the 1000 for new HD customers, but I've also read that there have been low readings from the 129 Sat on Dish 1000's. I assume STL HD Locals will go on 129 with the other local HD's. I think someone here already has a 622 and 1000. If so, what are your readings for 129?

I'm planning on ordering the 622 after Apr.1 and I'd like to know which will give me the best reception.

Option 1
Current Dish 500 -> 110/119
Second Dish -> 129

Option 2
Dish 1000 -> 110/119/129

Either way I want my current dish moved cause a tree is growing into it's line of site...

Dave

I now have option 1. Before I got my 622 I had a dish 300 pointing at 61.5 and a dish 500 pointing at 110 and 119. When they called to verify my appt on 3/11 I had them make sure I was set to get the new Dish 1000 and a new DPP44. They conferenced me in with E* and changed the work order to reflect the 1000 and DP44.

The next day when the installer showed up he told me no one has the DP44 in stock and could add a new DP34 to the existing 34 I currently have. He also gave me the option to get a new 1000 (that people have been complaining about) or keep the 2 dishes up and point the Dish 300 at 129 where all but channels 13,24 and 46 are being mirrored.
I took this option because it was the path of least resistance and I know that LIL will soon be coming to St. Louis. He would neither confirm nor deny the fact that we are supposed to be getting LIL in April. I can also get all the locals of interest with my indoor antenna. I later found out that the 622 has a MUCH better tuner than the 811 and my Toshiba 62HMX94.

Right now all I am missing is the 3 fringe networks which I rarely watched anyway.


I'm sure the installer will move the dish away from the tree if you grease his palm a lil :D

Asked this a while back, didn't see any responses - does anyone know where in STL area to get low voltage cable raceway that looks good? I mean some that looks like moulding, etc. I've seen some online but would like to see in person if possible.

Thanks,
Squirrel

I you are just looking for "raceway" try an electical supply company and look at wiremold. It is not just low voltage.

Been a long time since I have used this stuff but I think you could find something to work for you.

Walt

HD - DVD versus BluRay

In a move that will please consumers not wanting to back a doomed format, LG is creating a player that handles discs from both systems.

The company has told its dealers to expect delivery of the dual-format player in autumn.

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2152186/hd-dvd-blu-ray-launch-dates

jim

Nice move by LG.

Life's Good! =]

I've been on the road the past week, and yesterday and today I've been in Kansas City. I didn't catch much of the NCAA games yesterday, but had a chance to watch for an extended period this afternoon and this evening.

The KC CBS affilliate is multicasting an HD game along with an SD game and the picture quality of both is horrendous. Fast motion sequences looks like a pixel party, and sometimes graphics for the scores are actually missing pixels, so you see white letters with lots of black chunks missing. This happens whether the main channel is showing an HD game or a cutaway to an SD game.

I'm watching the local CBS broadcast via Time-Warner cable, so I had to check the local KC board here to see what's actually happening on the OTA broadcast. The picture quality is so bad, I thought they might be trying to do an HD channel and two or three SDs, but based on what others are reporting, the poor PQ is caused by just a single subchannel.

Although it might be nice to watch multiple games at a given time, the PQ tradeoff is a killer.

Be happy that KMOV has not adopted this approach...

HD - DVD versus BluRay

In a move that will please consumers not wanting to back a doomed format, LG is creating a player that handles discs from both systems.

The company has told its dealers to expect delivery of the dual-format player in autumn.

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2152186/hd-dvd-blu-ray-launch-dates

jim

nice Find.
Looks like I know what I'll be getting.
Sony has announced their plans for a BluRay burner (also burns DVD's and CD's)
Now I can Get the BR drive for my PC and the combo unit for my HT.

Dave

I know Dish has been installing the 1000 for new HD customers, but I've also read that there have been low readings from the 129 Sat on Dish 1000's. I assume STL HD Locals will go on 129 with the other local HD's. I think someone here already has a 622 and 1000. If so, what are your readings for 129?
I'm planning on ordering the 622 after Apr.1 and I'd like to know which will give me the best reception.
Option 1
Current Dish 500 -> 110/119
Second Dish -> 129
Option 2
Dish 1000 -> 110/119/129
Either way I want my current dish moved cause a tree is growing into it's line of site...
Dave
I have the same setup as BigDaddy, except I left my 300 is pointed at 61.5°, primarily because of CBSHD. Once the LiL DT locals go up, which now looks more like 3rd quarter-'06, I'll spin the 300 around to 129°, presuming that's where they end up.
Contrary to earlier reports, Dish has released the 2nd quarter planned cities, of which, STL is not included. "Planned" being the key, with the arrival of E*10 to its orbital position, and the recent beginning of channel shuffling, anything could change in the next couple of months.
There is definitely a reception issue with 129° and the Dish1000 system, whether it be because of the LNB's, the DPP44, or just the overall design of the system itself.
I've talked with 2 people who went from the 500 to 1000, and they also report slightly lower signal strength on orbitals 110° and 119° after converting to the Dish1000.

I have the same setup as BigDaddy, except I left my 300 is pointed at 61.5°, primarily because of CBSHD. Once the LiL DT locals go up, which now looks more like 3rd quarter-'06, I'll spin the 300 around to 129°, presuming that's where they end up.
Contrary to earlier reports, Dish has released the 2nd quarter planned cities, of which, STL is not included. "Planned" being the key, with the arrival of E*10 to its orbital position, and the recent beginning of channel shuffling, anything could change in the next couple of months.
There is definitely a reception issue with 129° and the Dish1000 system, whether it be because of the LNB's, the DPP44, or just the overall design of the system itself.
I've talked with 2 people who went from the 500 to 1000, and they also report slightly lower signal strength on orbitals 110° and 119° after converting to the Dish1000.



I have a really low signal strength of 75 on 129° with the dish 300. 110° and 119° come in with a signal strength of 115 or better. I think it is because of the angle of 129° that so many people are having issue with it. Due to this scenario it is probably best to have a dish that is solely for 129°. That way you are not trying to hit 3 satellites with one dish and they can precisely point the 300 directly at 129°.

deuces,
I think Joe gave you a really good breakdown of what's happening with hard drive archiving of hd. I know that he said that some details were left out, but you should also know that if you go with a Dish receiver R5000 mod, add in the price of the receiver. That would probably be around $400-$500, plus the mod fee of $550. It can get up there, but that's where I'd love to be one day. Here's another option to consider. If you happen to find a used Samsung T165 OTA set top tuner(I don't think they are made anymore), you could connect it via firewire to your pc running XP and record hd. I think I bought mine for around $350 or $400 used. They may be less now. And yes, Dish has made it just about impossible to pull hd programs off the recent dvr hard drives. I did read a thread where some users were switching out their 942 hard drives when they filled up, but the problem is finding the exact drive needed with the correct extension numbers. Even then, you'd have to put that drive back in a 942 to watch the programming. No archiving to pc.

Joe,
(In my best ghetto voice)..."Who you callin' desperately computer illiterate?!?!? Haha, I know, you weren't talking about me.......(were you?) LOL.

HD - DVD versus BluRay
In a move that will please consumers not wanting to back a doomed format, LG is creating a player that handles discs from both systems.
The company has told its dealers to expect delivery of the dual-format player in autumn.
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2152186/hd-dvd-blu-ray-launch-dates
jim
Another article with some additional details. Most important, saying LG's announcement may only be the first of other upcoming solutions to the HDDVD BluRay dilemma facing consumers.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/computing/20060314-1619-media-lg-bluray.html

I have a really low signal strength of 75 on 129° with the dish 300. 110° and 119° come in with a signal strength of 115 or better. I think it is because of the angle of 129° that so many people are having issue with it. Due to this scenario it is probably best to have a dish that is solely for 129°. That way you are not trying to hit 3 satellites with one dish and they can precisely point the 300 directly at 129°.
BigDaddy,
Do you ever notice any loss of signal at that strength...rain fade, etc?
I've read similar things regarding the angle of 129°, and the theory that perhaps there just isn't enough adjustment in the 3rd separated single LNB on the Dish1000 to gather as good a signal as can be locked on a 300.
Still, IMO, 75 is marginal...looks like OTA is going to be here for a while.

Joe,
(In my best ghetto voice)..."Who you callin' desperately computer illiterate?!?!? Haha, I know, you weren't talking about me.......(were you?) LOL.

Actually, Jedi, you know the person I'm talking about, but don't tell him I said that. Fortunately, he doesn't frequent the forum.

And I want to hear that ghetto voice some day.

BigDaddy,
Do you ever notice any loss of signal at that strength...rain fade, etc?
I've read similar things regarding the angle of 129°, and the theory that perhaps there just isn't enough adjustment in the 3rd separated single LNB on the Dish1000 to gather as good a signal as can be locked on a 300.
Still, IMO, 75 is marginal...looks like OTA is going to be here for a while.

This is all good information. When my 622 is installed, I'll request that my Voom dish be left up and pointed at 129. Right now, I have three dishes on the roof - two Dish and one old Voom. They left it when I had Voom removed just before it went belly up.

This is all good information. When my 622 is installed, I'll request that my Voom dish be left up and pointed at 129. Right now, I have three dishes on the roof - two Dish and one old Voom. They left it when I had Voom removed just before it went belly up.
Another setup you may want to consider Joe, is to have your old VOOM dish pointed to 61.5°. Everything (+ the 3 other STL SD locals & CBSHD) is mirrored from 129° on to 61.5°, and you should not have any reception issues with 61.5°.
It is widely anticipated the STL LiL DT locals will go up on 129°, which would mean an additional service call to have it spun over later. But with all the shuffling going on, and with E*10 settling into position, and the poor reception issue with 129°, it's difficult to pinpoint just where everything may end up.
For me, I decided to stay with what I know works now, and make any necessary adjustments once the dust settles.

In your case, having the 3 dish's, Dish is going to want to replace all of them, especially the old VOOM dish, with one Dish1000. You may have a few rounds of CSR roulette ahead.

BigDaddy,
Do you ever notice any loss of signal at that strength...rain fade, etc?
I've read similar things regarding the angle of 129°, and the theory that perhaps there just isn't enough adjustment in the 3rd separated single LNB on the Dish1000 to gather as good a signal as can be locked on a 300.
Still, IMO, 75 is marginal...looks like OTA is going to be here for a while.


I've only had the 622 for a week now and I don't believe it has rained in the last week. I can not give you a definitive answer on that but I will check it the next time we have inclimate weather.

I saw this article at cedmagazine about IPTV that is going to be offered by AT&T and such. I think that it is great that AT&T is going into the video business and do agree that francise laws do need to be modernized, however, this does raise a concern.

For the complete article: http://www.cedmagazine.com/article/CA6311273.html


Some quotes:

But it became clear to me that one big difference between traditional cable and IPTV is that the IPTV network operator—SBC/AT&T—knows what every customer is watching, and was watching, at every moment. A cable operator does not know which program the customer selects from the broadband multiplex of programming delivered on the coaxial cable. All of those programs are delivered to every home, and the customer uses the tuner in a set-top box or TV receiver to select one. But with IPTV, the customer asks the network to deliver one program at a time. The network records this information. And the network retains it forever.

You've heard the claim that Google retains a record of every online search you've ever made? I don't know if that's true or not. But I believe that SBC/AT&T will retain a record of every TV program you've ever requested.

The IPTV operator has the technical ability to analyze your personal viewing habits, and to sell that information to advertisers...or to give it to law enforcement officials.

Now, if the IPTV operator is classified as a cable operator, then Section 631 of the Communications Act protects your privacy. Section 631 prohibits cable operators from selling or commercially disclosing "personally identifiable information," but allows the selling of aggregated information. A law enforcement agency can obtain personally identifiable information, but only in response to a court order. But even then, a cable operator "shall not include records revealing cable subscriber selection of video programming." In other words, an individual customer's program selections are treated as sacrosanct, and may not be disclosed to anyone, not even to law enforcement agencies.

But Section 631 applies only to cable operators. SBC/AT&T is claiming that IPTV network technology is different from cable TV technology, and therefore it is not a cable operator. It is making that claim in California, in Connecticut, and at the FCC. If that claim is upheld, SBC/AT&T will not be subject to Section 631. Its customers will not be protected by the cable privacy laws.


Mark

I'd say more power to 'em if they keep track of what we watch.... maybe they won't cancel so many of my favorite shows anymore! :D

Just watch Fox News Channel when the republicans are in office and CNN when the democrats are in power....everything will be just fine.

We visited the Home Show at the Dome today. Dish had their HD Trailer on display there, so I popped in to have a look. There were several 15 LCD displays, each showcasing an individual DishHD or Voom channel, and two 32" LCD's in the center, showcasing their attached new MPEG4 receivers.

There were also 2 PR reps from Dish staffing the display. I listened to a few conversations, and then approached one, told him I was a current Dish sub, and asked if he knew when-abouts the local St Louis Digital channels will become available on Dish.

His reply was interesting. First, let me say, there are usually two types of PR personalities. One, whom when asked a question they do not know the answer to, either simply say, 'I don't know,' or I don't know, but I'll see if I can find out for you.'
The other, whom always feel they need to best represent their company's interest by always providing a knowledgeable reply, regardless of its content.

Safe to say, I drew the latter. His reply, as detailed as I remember:

"You probably heard we just launched another satellite this month...It was on CNN and in all the papers...it's called Echostar10, and it's our biggest, most powerful satellite yet....Well, it is going to be located up in space right near where our Echostar5 satellite is at 129°, but it is not fully in position yet....Our engineers didn't realize that the new E*10 satellite was so powerful, once it got close to E*5, which is already in service, it began to take some of the power away from E*5, which has caused problems with reception issues here on Earth." [ ::as opposed to reception issues on Mars and Venus, I surmised ::]
"So, our engineers had to immediately react, and they began moving the most effected channels off of E*5 and on to other satellites while they steer E*10 in to its final position in space, and then figure out if there is still going to be a problem....This has slowed down the process of adding some of the Local HD channels, [they're actually ahead of schedule] because many of them are scheduled to go on to E*5 at 129°....Of course, the engineers at Dish realized this could have been a possibility, this can always happen when two powerful satellites get too close together in space, but Dish felt it was better to spend all the extra money, and build a bigger, more powerful satellite which would be capable of better service to our customers in the long run....trust me, it will be well worth the wait."

So, no, we don't know any more now as to when our DT LiL's may be added, but at least we do know what is causing the receptions issues, here on Earth, with 129° :rolleyes:

At the Home Show, The Sound Room had a 72" Toshiba DLPP 1080p on display.
The source was playback of 1080p Toshiba promotional material via hard disk.
It was pretty impressive. I viewed it close up, and about 40' away at about a 45° angle, and it was still nice, crisp and clear.
Still, I left with the feeling, I'd need a 1000 sq' room to accommodate it.

One of the reps there told me the source of the upcoming HDDVD and BluRay will be 1080p, is that correct?
Reason I ask is, I also asked him about the recently announced LG dual format player. He said, LG had actually announced that a couple of months ago, ran into some licensing issues with the formats, and he felt it will never happen. :confused:

I'd be interested in any feedback if anyone here has had any experiences with the Sound Room in Creve Coeur.

I........I'm planning on ordering the 622 after Apr.1 and I'd like to know which will give me the best reception.

Option 1
Current Dish 500 -> 110/119
Second Dish -> 129

Option 2
Dish 1000 -> 110/119/129

Either way I want my current dish moved cause a tree is growing into it's line of site...

Dave

I have a legacy Dish 500 & 300 aimed at 61.5, 110 & 119 and it works fine. I swung my 300 dish from 61.5 to 129 and did a CHECK SWITCH just to see what would happen. Although I got signal strength on all transponders of satellite 129 between 85 and 95, I could never pick up the 3 HD channels on Transponder 30. Live without RAVE? Not an option. So I swung it back.

Puzzled......

Anyone know why this occurred? No mater what I tried I could receive ALL channels except those on trans 30 of the 129 satellite.

Puzzled......

Anyone know why this occurred? No mater what I tried I could receive ALL channels except those on trans 30 of the 129 satellite.
That IS weird. Are the 3 channels also on the same Tp on 61.5°?
The signal strength is encouraging :)

Yeah, Joe. I thought that's who you were talking about. Don't worry, my mouth is closed...

A question about amplifiers.

I have a pretty strong signal but I'm splitting it five ways currently. Three of those splits are analog-only, but two are for digital (I do'nt know that that matters.) Anyway, I think that all the splitting is deteriorating my signal, so I'd like to use an amp to do something.

Yesterday I was getting a few dropouts on CBS and I think it has to be due to all of the splitting. Any recommendations for this type of amp? I'd love to buy one at a retailer, maybe this weekend.

Any ideas what I should buy, or where, and perhaps where I should put it in terms of my antenna signal path? Thanks, as always.

I hate to bump my post here, but I didn't see any answers and I'm still looking for an amp. I appreciate any help.

Had the 622 installed yesterday. Nice that HBO and Cinamax are having their free previews this weekend and I can give the recorder a workout. I love it so far, but I do have a sound issue coming from the home distribution coax port. (I've already spoken to Dish and they're sending me a new one, but I thought I'd post it anyway.)

I'm using my 622 predominantly in Single mode, so whatever's on the main TV will be on the others. The sound to all of the other TV's is at an incredibly low volume. You have to turn the other TV's up to the 50 range to get any discernible sound, but by that point, you also get considerable hiss. The guy at Dish that I spoke with asked around and no one there had ever heard of this issue and said there's no adjustment for the audio line out to the Home Distribution port. So, they're sending me another one that should be here in a couple of days.

Also, using Single mode, all of the other TV's show HD and SD content "squished". (Full screen squished for 16x9 content and black bars on the left and right for 4x3 content.) They said this is a known issue and they are working on a software update that will allow SD tv's to properly display 4:3 content and letterbox HD content. He had no idea when that would be fixed however. (In dual mode, the format on the other TV's is correct.)

Aside from that, the stuff on the main TV is great. I love the 3 hour guide and the multiple recording capabilities. It's great to be able to record, pause, rewind HD content as well as SD. PiP is pretty cool as well, although I'd like to have one more PiP format. A side by side would be nice to go along with the other 9 locations. As has been stated before, the OTA receiver is much better than the 811. (Faster scanning and able to pick up more signal.)

Also, I was supposed to get a Dish 1000. However, the installer worried that the trees in the neighbor's yard would cause issues since the 1000 has to be pointed lower than the one I have now. I agreed (also based on the issues posted here) so I still have my two dishes, but he did re-wire everything outside and clean up some of the previous installs.

I have the Dish 811 receiver. My favorite list does not not have the HDTV 30 listed even though I have scanned it in and added it to my favorite list. It does have the normal 30 listed. If I go to the all Sub. and the all channel list the HDTV is there as well as the normal channel listing. Any suggestion on how to correct this problem or does anyone know what is going on? Thanks.

I have a legacy Dish 500 & 300 aimed at 61.5, 110 & 119 and it works fine. I swung my 300 dish from 61.5 to 129 and did a CHECK SWITCH just to see what would happen. Although I got signal strength on all transponders of satellite 129 between 85 and 95, I could never pick up the 3 HD channels on Transponder 30. Live without RAVE? Not an option. So I swung it back.

Puzzled......

Anyone know why this occurred? No mater what I tried I could receive ALL channels except those on trans 30 of the 129 satellite.

It's probably the switches you have. I had the same setup as you and when I got my 622 I could not wait, so I connected it, but I could not get all transponders on the 61.5. You have to have Dishpro plus switches for the 622 to work correctly.

I have the Dish 811 receiver. My favorite list does not not have the HDTV 30 listed even though I have scanned it in and added it to my favorite list. It does have the normal 30 listed. If I go to the all Sub. and the all channel list the HDTV is there as well as the normal channel listing. Any suggestion on how to correct this problem or does anyone know what is going on? Thanks.
STLouG,
Are you referring to the OTA for KDNL-DT, 30-1, and it not showing up on a favorite list you created?

It's probably the switches you have. I had the same setup as you and when I got my 622 I could not wait, so I connected it, but I could not get all transponders on the 61.5. You have to have Dishpro plus switches for the 622 to work correctly.
My system has DP34's (not Dish Pro Plus switches) and receives all channels on all Tp's from 61.5°, on the 622. I don't use the splitter to provide the second SAT feed, I have two separate down-feeds. I believe the splitter will only work with DPP switches.

It's probably the switches you have. I had the same setup as you and when I got my 622 I could not wait, so I connected it, but I could not get all transponders on the 61.5. You have to have Dishpro plus switches for the 622 to work correctly.

Not sure this is true. I receive all channels just fine on 61.5. Only one transponder (30) does not work on 129. Hard to believe it's the switches, but I cannot confirm. My stuff is all legacy (no Dish Pro) but it works fine on 61.5.

That IS weird. Are the 3 channels also on the same Tp on 61.5°?
The signal strength is encouraging :)

The same three channels are on transponder 3 at 61.5. No idea why I cannot receive the same channels on transponder 30 at 129.

Transponder 30 at 61.5 contains local channelos in other markets, so I have no way of knowing whether I can receive anything from that transponder.

STLouG,
Are you referring to the OTA for KDNL-DT, 30-1, and it not showing up on a favorite list you created?

Yes that is correct. Not sure why that is happening.

Hey guys. I have an important question for some of you audio/video experts that are so helpful to everyone in here.

I am contemplating dropping the dough on a new Sharp Aquos 45" LCD HDTV (LC-45GD7U). Here is the dilemma that I am facing. My wife and I would really like to be able to mount this on the wall in our basement, but the only place it is practical is directly above our fireplace! The couple that we bought our house from finished the basement and had a gas fireplace put in as well down here. It is boxed in, like most are these days, and to the best of my knowledge it does not feed into the chimney that our upstairs fireplace uses. Do you guys see any danger in mounting the TV there? Do you think it will just get way too hot? We intend to have the wires run through the wall, and wondered if we would need a special kind of insulation for those as well, being their location.

So in an effort to make a long story shorter (sorry) do you think it's a risk, or am I just being paranoid? We currently have a 43" Hitachi HDTV down here at an angle away from the fireplace, so we could obviously put the new TV there, put we just love to hang it on the wall.

Thanks for all input guys!

The Sound Room

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

At the Home Show, The Sound Room had a 72" Toshiba DLPP 1080p on display.
The source was playback of 1080p Toshiba promotional material via hard disk.
It was pretty impressive. I viewed it close up, and about 40' away at about a 45° angle, and it was still nice, crisp and clear.
Still, I left with the feeling, I'd need a 1000 sq' room to accommodate it.

One of the reps there told me the source of the upcoming HDDVD and BluRay will be 1080p, is that correct?
Reason I ask is, I also asked him about the recently announced LG dual format player. He said, LG had actually announced that a couple of months ago, ran into some licensing issues with the formats, and he felt it will never happen.

I'd be interested in any feedback if anyone here has had any experiences with the Sound Room in Creve Coeur.

I work at the Chesterfield locations. Actually the tv you saw was a Mitsubishi 73" Diamond 1080p DLP. And you're right, it is HUGE!

The latest word to us from LG was that they were pulling their single format player that was due in the next couple of months to concentrate on manufacturing their dual format (Blu-Ray & HD-DVD) player. They are targeting a September release.

I'm not aware of any licensing issues, but they may very well exist. Barring a single unified format, dual format players are the next best thing. However, Sony and Toshiba would be likely to fight this approach since they both have the most at stake with their respective formats.

Time will tell.

Hey guys. I have an important question for some of you audio/video experts that are so helpful to everyone in here.

I am contemplating dropping the dough on a new Sharp Aquos 45" LCD HDTV (LC-45GD7U). Here is the dilemma that I am facing. My wife and I would really like to be able to mount this on the wall in our basement, but the only place it is practical is directly above our fireplace! The couple that we bought our house from finished the basement and had a gas fireplace put in as well down here. It is boxed in, like most are these days, and to the best of my knowledge it does not feed into the chimney that our upstairs fireplace uses. Do you guys see any danger in mounting the TV there? Do you think it will just get way too hot? We intend to have the wires run through the wall, and wondered if we would need a special kind of insulation for those as well, being their location.

So in an effort to make a long story shorter (sorry) do you think it's a risk, or am I just being paranoid? We currently have a 43" Hitachi HDTV down here at an angle away from the fireplace, so we could obviously put the new TV there, put we just love to hang it on the wall.

Thanks for all input guys!

Sounds like you would be fine putting the TV above the fireplace if it is boxed in with mantel and such. Can you put your hands on the wall where it will be mounted? How warm to the touch is the wall? May I ask why the 45" LCD?

Scott

If I'm not mistaken the D7U only accepts a 1080i input -- not a 1080p input.

This is a big beef of mine with most of the first gen 1080p displays, you're relying on the internal deinterlacer to do the 1080i --> 1080p work. This is often a cheap Bob implementation.

Cheers,

Hey guys. I have an important question for some of you audio/video experts that are so helpful to everyone in here.

I am contemplating dropping the dough on a new Sharp Aquos 45" LCD HDTV (LC-45GD7U). Here is the dilemma that I am facing. My wife and I would really like to be able to mount this on the wall in our basement, but the only place it is practical is directly above our fireplace! The couple that we bought our house from finished the basement and had a gas fireplace put in as well down here. It is boxed in, like most are these days, and to the best of my knowledge it does not feed into the chimney that our upstairs fireplace uses. Do you guys see any danger in mounting the TV there? Do you think it will just get way too hot? We intend to have the wires run through the wall, and wondered if we would need a special kind of insulation for those as well, being their location.

So in an effort to make a long story shorter (sorry) do you think it's a risk, or am I just being paranoid? We currently have a 43" Hitachi HDTV down here at an angle away from the fireplace, so we could obviously put the new TV there, put we just love to hang it on the wall.

Thanks for all input guys!Drizzt,

I think it is a bad idea to put your LCD panel above the fireplace, because of two viewing angle considerations.

First, unless you more than 15 feet away from the panel, you are going to find that the need to tilt your head upward for an extended period is going to lead to viewing fatigue.

Second, many LCD panels have a restricted viewing angle and once you go too far off-axis there can be a posterization effect that is extremely detrimental to color accuracy.

If you're seriously thinking about going ahead with a fireplace mount, I'd urge you to test for both of these possible effects before making any final decision. If you don't find it uncomfortable for a 2+-hour movie and you don't see color shift issues as a result of the off-axis viewing angle, then maybe it works in your situation.

FWIW, the New York Times recently ran an article noting that fireplace mounts of flat panel displays are fading in popularity for the reasons noted above. By and large this trend has been driven by designers and interior decorators, who may have the aesthetic thing going for them in spades, but they're generally clueless and disinterested in the practical considerations of proper video display and the long-term consequences of getting it wrong.

Hybrid HD-DVD and Blu-Ray DVD players is a positive development, but I doubt it's ultimately very helpful.

Even if there were only a single format, I think you'd find that retailers and rental shops would be very slow to climb on the new product bandwagon. With two competing formats, it makes inventory management a magnitude more difficult. I expect that the majority of retailers and renters will completely opt out until one or both formats reach something approaching critical mass.

Of course, one of the keys to developing critical mass is having readily accessible software for these new formats, so I think there's still a difficult chicken/egg issue to get past here.

But I'm probably biased to some degree. I'm on record predicting that both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are going to be a train wreck and that these competing companies are going to ultimately have to head back to the drawing board and board room and figure out a single, universal format.

Sounds like you would be fine putting the TV above the fireplace if it is boxed in with mantel and such. Can you put your hands on the wall where it will be mounted? How warm to the touch is the wall? May I ask why the 45" LCD?

Scott

Scott and Doug,
Thanks so much for the replies, as you guys have been as helpful as always.

With regards to the wall: If I touch the drywall where the TV would be mounted, I would say it's warm, but not uncomfortable. I could leave my hand there as long as I wanted to without the need to pull it off due to heat.

Why the 45" LCD. Well to be honest I wish I could have a better explanation than, "I was guided down that path." Hehe. Unfortunately I feel completely out of the loop on these plasma and LCD displays. I have been slipping quite a bit in keeping up with the technology (thanks to work and that God forsaken World of Warcraft!!!). A friend of mine purchased this TV recently, and turned me on to the idea. I did some light research on it and found that some of the selling points were the 1080p and the native resolution of 1920 X 1080. I didn't find any other TVs that boasted that, and my friend seemed to think there weren't any others yet.

Doug, the prime viewing seats in my basement sit about 18 feet away from the wall with the fireplace. There are three seats that are that distance away, and then 3 more that bring you closer. I hear what you are saying though, and I was a little concerned with the height the TV would sit as well. Thanks for the feedback!

I am not COMPLETELY sold on the Aquos 45" yet. Obviously if I am seriously contemplating dropping 5 grand on a television I am going to make **** sure that it's what I really want. So a new round of questions to you guys. Keeping the price under 5,000 dollars am I not making the right choice? What would you guys get? I would like to be as prepared as I possibly can for what is to come, so please keep that in mind. Thanks again, in advance!

Hybrid HD-DVD and Blu-Ray DVD players is a positive development, but I doubt it's ultimately very helpful.

Even if there were only a single format, I think you'd find that retailers and rental shops would be very slow to climb on the new product bandwagon. With two competing formats, it makes inventory management a magnitude more difficult. I expect that the majority of retailers and renters will completely opt out until one or both formats reach something approaching critical mass.

Of course, one of the keys to developing critical mass is having readily accessible software for these new formats, so I think there's still a difficult chicken/egg issue to get past here.

But I'm probably biased to some degree. I'm on record predicting that both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD are going to be a train wreck and that these competing companies are going to ultimately have to head back to the drawing board and board room and figure out a single, universal format.

We've heard about the issue of HDTVs being returned to stores because customers couldn't get them to look as good in their homes as they did on the showroom. Part of the confusion is that buyers often don't even have HD sources at home. Imagine retailers having to explain over and over to irate customers why their HD-DVD copy of the latest release won't play in their expensive BluRay player. What I hope happens is that both formats fail and a newer technology like holographic storage becomes the next unified standard. That would be a lesson they might actually learn something from. Oh, wait, they don't learn.

Scott and Doug,
Thanks so much for the replies, as you guys have been as helpful as always.

With regards to the wall: If I touch the drywall where the TV would be mounted, I would say it's warm, but not uncomfortable. I could leave my hand there as long as I wanted to without the need to pull it off due to heat.

Why the 45" LCD. Well to be honest I wish I could have a better explanation than, "I was guided down that path." Hehe. Unfortunately I feel completely out of the loop on these plasma and LCD displays. I have been slipping quite a bit in keeping up with the technology (thanks to work and that God forsaken World of Warcraft!!!). A friend of mine purchased this TV recently, and turned me on to the idea. I did some light research on it and found that some of the selling points were the 1080p and the native resolution of 1920 X 1080. I didn't find any other TVs that boasted that, and my friend seemed to think there weren't any others yet.

Doug, the prime viewing seats in my basement sit about 18 feet away from the wall with the fireplace. There are three seats that are that distance away, and then 3 more that bring you closer. I hear what you are saying though, and I was a little concerned with the height the TV would sit as well. Thanks for the feedback!

I am not COMPLETELY sold on the Aquos 45" yet. Obviously if I am seriously contemplating dropping 5 grand on a television I am going to make **** sure that it's what I really want. So a new round of questions to you guys. Keeping the price under 5,000 dollars am I not making the right choice? What would you guys get? I would like to be as prepared as I possibly can for what is to come, so please keep that in mind. Thanks again, in advance!

I'm biased on this one. I like front projection, so I'd say look at the latest projectors (with screen) at that price point. You can get a 720p projector and screen for something close to that amount. If light control is an issue, think about one of the larger (but still thin) DLP or SXRD Sony rear projector units. 18' puts you pretty far away from a 45" screen. At that distance, the higher 1080p resolution would get lost. Frankly, I doubt most people could tell the difference between 1080p and 480p at that distance. I typically view my 720p projector from a distance of about 12'. I notice no screen door effect.

If you are hung up on having your TV hanging on the wall like a picture, I can testify to the beauty of a 9' diagonal "picture." The projector is ceiling mounted, so it's a ZERO footprint solution. Think of it this way, too. With a front projector, you can make the screen size whatever you want (within reason).

Just my 2 cents.

We've heard about the issue of HDTVs being returned to stores because customers couldn't get them to look as good in their homes as they did on the showroom. Its quite the opposite. My customers display devices ALWAYS look MUCH better in there home than they do at the shop. Do you know how hard it is to distribute an HD signal to hundreds of TVs? Do you think we have time to calibrate any of these devices? Just imagine how it would look it you took your DirectTv receiver and hooked it up to 194 televisions. Thats what we are dealing with everyday. YUCK!

Good luck sitting on the fence waiting for your "holographic" solution. My customers and I will be enjoying HiRes content this spring. ;)

Drizzt,

Thanks for the follow-up info.

I agree with Joe about the 18-foot viewing distance -- at that point, you're losing most, if not all, of the resolution benefit of high definition. You'll still be able to appreciate the benefits of the higher color bandwidth and the better (HD) signal quality, but in terms of actual picture detail, you're making a big sacrifice at that seating distance. Even 15 feet is probably excessive for a 45-inch diagonal screen.

And even before reading Joe's response, I was also going to suggest that you at least consider front projection as an option. The problem there is probably going to be your budget. While you can get some truly great HD-resolution digital projectors for under $5,000, the cost of a fixed or retractable screen is going to take up $1,500 to $2,000 of that budget and that would probably leave you $1,000 or more short of funds.

On the other hand, if I had $5,000 to spend, I think I'd go with plasma before LCD (my first choice would be front projection). I'll admit that my hands-on experience with LCD is somewhat limited and while I think LCD is getting better all the time, I really do think the Panasonic plasmas are a better bet, both for picture quality and "bang for the buck."

One of the drawbacks there, though, is Panasonic plasmas seem to be hard to find in stock these days.

Scott and Doug,
Thanks so much for the replies, as you guys have been as helpful as always.

With regards to the wall: If I touch the drywall where the TV would be mounted, I would say it's warm, but not uncomfortable. I could leave my hand there as long as I wanted to without the need to pull it off due to heat.

Why the 45" LCD. Well to be honest I wish I could have a better explanation than, "I was guided down that path." Hehe. Unfortunately I feel completely out of the loop on these plasma and LCD displays. I have been slipping quite a bit in keeping up with the technology (thanks to work and that God forsaken World of Warcraft!!!). A friend of mine purchased this TV recently, and turned me on to the idea. I did some light research on it and found that some of the selling points were the 1080p and the native resolution of 1920 X 1080. I didn't find any other TVs that boasted that, and my friend seemed to think there weren't any others yet.

Doug, the prime viewing seats in my basement sit about 18 feet away from the wall with the fireplace. There are three seats that are that distance away, and then 3 more that bring you closer. I hear what you are saying though, and I was a little concerned with the height the TV would sit as well. Thanks for the feedback!

I am not COMPLETELY sold on the Aquos 45" yet. Obviously if I am seriously contemplating dropping 5 grand on a television I am going to make **** sure that it's what I really want. So a new round of questions to you guys. Keeping the price under 5,000 dollars am I not making the right choice? What would you guys get? I would like to be as prepared as I possibly can for what is to come, so please keep that in mind. Thanks again, in advance!

What will you be using the space for? Is this where you sit after work to watch CNN with a glass of wine? Is it going to be used strickly for gaming? Will it be your main TV for watching films? You get the idea. I agree with others about losing the benefit, if any, of 1080p at 18' away. Also, how much light is in the room? Can you control the light? Need more details.

Scott

I know it was mentioned here a few times, but what is causing the blurring during the tournament games on 4.1? Is it a local issue or is it CBS. If you haven't seen it, it is basically the picture looks fine and then it jumps to a blurred screen and gradually comes back into focus?

Also has anyone else noticed overall on CBS whether it be NCIS, the tourney or anything else, once in a while I am getting a green screen flicker or on very few occasions it is staying present for a few seconds.

Plasma > LCD

My 42" Philips was <$2000

What will you be using the space for? Is this where you sit after work to watch CNN with a glass of wine? Is it going to be used strickly for gaming? Will it be your main TV for watching films? You get the idea. I agree with others about losing the benefit, if any, of 1080p at 18' away. Also, how much light is in the room? Can you control the light? Need more details.

Scott

Again, thanks so much Scott, Doug, and now Joe. You guys are always so quick and helpful for this stuff!

First things first, my wife thinks I need some serious geometry classes! HA! I am way off on the distance to the wall. Our couch sits approximately 12 feet from the wall, and our current HDTV sits at an angle (away from the fireplace) probably 2 feet closer to the couch. So at most you are probably 10 feet from the TV in the furthest location, and anywhere from 5 to 10 in the other spots. So that being discovered, 12 feet might be a little too close to hang it from the wall. Like I said, not a huge deal, just something we wanted to do when we first discussed upgrading. It wouldn't kill us to buy a stand.

The projector route: A wanted a projector for the longest time, but unfortunately we are just not in a very good place to have one right now. Our basement is a little goofy shaped with all the pipes running through, so it would make it VERY difficult to get a decent-sized screen up. I also would want to get the best projector that I could (for my budget), and with the cost of the screens that would severely limit me. Lighting was the final factor in this. Our basement stairs empty right into the center of the wall leading into the basement (open stairwell, no door). At the top of the stairs is our sliding glass door with the dining room (lots of light) on the right and the kitchen on the left. It would take a tremendous amount of work to control the lighting. So, while a projector would be a dream for me, I have set that aside and limited my desire to either a plasma or LCD display.

That being said I am hearing a lot of ensorsements for plasma. That kind of surprises me, because I thought that LCDs were surpassing plasmas in quality. Maybe I am wrong about that, and need to rethink my stance. I have read the pros and cons of each, and realize that more money will get you more TV if you go plasma. Doug, you mentioned to me that you think plasma is the way to go in that respect, and that Panasonic put out some very good plasma TVs. Can you give me some sizes and model numbers to go off of? If we are not going to hang it on the wall (safe to say we won't be now), then size is not an issue, just price. We will need to buy a stand, and I plan on getting the extended warranty that is offered. So staying under 5,000 what do you recommend? Could you tell me why my friend is so sold on these Aquos LCD displays? I know he was harping on the 1080p and the high native resolution. Can you guys expand on that for me a bit? Should I make sure that rather I got plasma or LCD I get one capable of 1080 i or p?

Sorry so much for derailing your guys' topics and hogging all the attention. I promise to sneak back into the shadows once I feel less lost! :-D

Here's an Idea, How about a Panasonic 50" Plasma. They're streeting around $3100 (locally and authorized) and will be available the 1st week of April. "TH50PX60U"

I also know where you can get your hands on a 37PX50U, 42PX50U or a 42PX500U today. ;) No 50" Panasonics are available until the 60U and 600U hit the street.

Or, How about a 60" Super Sexy Sony SXRD? Under $5000 with stand, warranty (including bulb coverage) and delivery.

Again, thanks so much Scott, Doug, and now Joe. You guys are always so quick and helpful for this stuff!

First things first, my wife thinks I need some serious geometry classes! HA! I am way off on the distance to the wall. Our couch sits approximately 12 feet from the wall, and our current HDTV sits at an angle (away from the fireplace) probably 2 feet closer to the couch. So at most you are probably 10 feet from the TV in the furthest location, and anywhere from 5 to 10 in the other spots. So that being discovered, 12 feet might be a little too close to hang it from the wall. Like I said, not a huge deal, just something we wanted to do when we first discussed upgrading. It wouldn't kill us to buy a stand.

The projector route: A wanted a projector for the longest time, but unfortunately we are just not in a very good place to have one right now. Our basement is a little goofy shaped with all the pipes running through, so it would make it VERY difficult to get a decent-sized screen up. I also would want to get the best projector that I could (for my budget), and with the cost of the screens that would severely limit me. Lighting was the final factor in this. Our basement stairs empty right into the center of the wall leading into the basement (open stairwell, no door). At the top of the stairs is our sliding glass door with the dining room (lots of light) on the right and the kitchen on the left. It would take a tremendous amount of work to control the lighting. So, while a projector would be a dream for me, I have set that aside and limited my desire to either a plasma or LCD display.

That being said I am hearing a lot of ensorsements for plasma. That kind of surprises me, because I thought that LCDs were surpassing plasmas in quality. Maybe I am wrong about that, and need to rethink my stance. I have read the pros and cons of each, and realize that more money will get you more TV if you go plasma. Doug, you mentioned to me that you think plasma is the way to go in that respect, and that Panasonic put out some very good plasma TVs. Can you give me some sizes and model numbers to go off of? If we are not going to hang it on the wall (safe to say we won't be now), then size is not an issue, just price. We will need to buy a stand, and I plan on getting the extended warranty that is offered. So staying under 5,000 what do you recommend? Could you tell me why my friend is so sold on these Aquos LCD displays? I know he was harping on the 1080p and the high native resolution. Can you guys expand on that for me a bit? Should I make sure that rather I got plasma or LCD I get one capable of 1080 i or p?

Sorry so much for derailing your guys' topics and hogging all the attention. I promise to sneak back into the shadows once I feel less lost! :-D

For heaven's sake, don't sneak back into the shadows! If you don't know it by now, those of us who haunt this forum are eager to share. You just have to learn to filter through all OUR biases.

Sounds like front projection may be out for you right now - too bad. Keep it in mind for the future when your environment and budget might allow it. There's nothing like the immersive experience of a BIG screen.

From what you've just said, I'd recommend looking at the Sony SXRD 60" rear projectors. The 60" retails for $5,000, I think. It's bright enough for a room with ambient light, it's 1080p and it can look spectacular (from what I've seen in the local stores). The extra screen real estate, at your viewing distances, should give you much better bang for the buck (screen real estate for image size) than the 45" LCD and probably a better picture.

Hey, Tom, you don't know me if you think I spend much time sitting on the technology fence. :) It's just that I really don't like that the manufacturers were unable to agree on one standard. Also, I just invested in another 720p projector a few months ago, so I'm not ready to take the plunge into HD-DVD or BluRay right now. Maybe in two years of so, when I'm ready to upgrade, the dust will have settled on the HD-DVD/BluRay issue, although I doubt holographic will be a mature enough technology at that point to challenge either format. In principle, though, I'd be happy to see that happen. It would serve them right.

Drizzt_DoUrden,

You still haven't answered my questions about how you will use this space. No one can recommend a 60" anything if all you are going to do is watch Larry King Live occasionally, or mainly play xbox games. Tell us more about how the room will be used.

Scott

Mobile phones can be noisey, especially the Nextel phones, which operate in the 850 MHz range. Some Cingular phones operate in that frequency too. But you would have to be very close to your antenna or getting a very weak signal for it to interfere. Where is your Antenna? If up on the roof this should not be a problem. If you're using an indoor antenna that is sitting close by, just move it further away.

PCS vendors like Sprint, T-Mobile & US Cellular are on a different frequency and should not be an issue.

well i use the terk 44 antenna and it was just fine for awhile. even while i had my cingular phone. but for some reason now, cbs does not seem to want to come in all the time. sometimes it's good then it's in and out. my antenna is about 25ft away from my on my back deck. granted the cbs tower is 1.5 miles farther away from the next closest but still. i just wanted an antenna where i didn't have to run anymore wire through my house and this had the diplexer and everything worked there for awhile. any other suggestions as to where i can just use the same wire as my satellite and not a huge antenna? the furthest away from a tower i am is about 11.7 miles (cbs). thanks.

Drizzt,

I think Tom's plasma's suggestions are right on the mark. I recall reading that the 1080p models were going to be more expensive, but I hope Tom's right, because that would be good for business (mine and everyone else's) and for consumers.

I see LCD panels as a good solution where they are going to be used in moderate to high ambient light, or where they're a secondary display, such as in a bedroom where the focus is on convenience rather than picture quality. The big negative for LCD displays is lacking black levels (which also happen to be the strength of the Panasonic plasmas). I have also seen some LCD panels where the off-axis viewing was very limited (LG comes to mind) and this isn't a problem with any plasma I've seen.

Also, some LCD panels have a limited color gamut, meaning they cannot produce the full range of colors as specified in the SMPTE C and HDTV standards (though I don't believe that this is an issue with the Sharp panels).

It might be worth keeping an eye out for upcoming episodes of HDNet's "Industry Insiders" (DVR it, if you can). If you haven't seen one of these shows, they are usually panel discussions from an industry trade show such as CEDIA, CES, etc. There was one that ran probably 3 months ago where the marketing director for one of the leading LCD manufacturers gave a talk where he laid out the competitive position of LCD versus plasma, and he had very little good to say about his own technology.

I can't remember the name of the guy or the company he was representing, but I suspect that his next (and final) display industry activity was cleaning out his desk and attempting small talk with the security guard escorting him out the door.

I know its crazy but 50" Panasonic plasmas are only $3000 :D. Last year they were $8K. 1080p Plasma is coming from Pioneer Elite ($10K) but the 1366x768 (50") Panasonic will be right at $3K and the 1024x768 (42") will be at $2K.

Awesome! Thanks so much for your replies, guys! I really appreciate it! I did some research on the Pan that Tom suggested (TH50PX60U), and so far I really like what I see! I have read some reviews (few and far between as it's so new) and glanced over the specifications. This might be the way I go, and I might even save a thousand bucks or more in the process! Thank ya thank ya thank ya!

Scott, I apologize as I did not intend to ignore your question, I just missed it. This TV that we are going to be getting is going to be replacing the TV we use 90% of the time. All of our movies are watched on it, all of our HDTV, and all of our regular shows (non-HDTV). This is the set that our HDTV DVR will be hooked to. Most of my wife's time in this location is spent watching TV, and most of mine is spent watching DVDs. Hope that answers your question.

Awesome! Thanks so much for your replies, guys! I really appreciate it! I did some research on the Pan that Tom suggested (TH50PX60U), and so far I really like what I see! I have read some reviews (few and far between as it's so new) and glanced over the specifications. This might be the way I go, and I might even save a thousand bucks or more in the process! Thank ya thank ya thank ya!

Scott, I apologize as I did not intend to ignore your question, I just missed it. This TV that we are going to be getting is going to be replacing the TV we use 90% of the time. All of our movies are watched on it, all of our HDTV, and all of our regular shows (non-HDTV). This is the set that our HDTV DVR will be hooked to. Most of my wife's time in this location is spent watching TV, and most of mine is spent watching DVDs. Hope that answers your question.

If this is going to be your main TV, then I'd still look carefully at the Sony 60" SXRD rear projector. It's amazing what the extra 10" will feel like. Tom and Doug are probably a lot closer to the issue of burn in on plasmas, but as of the last time I saw plasma it was still susceptible. If you're going to watch a lot of 4x3 regular TV, then burn in could be a real problem. SXRD shouldn't suffer from burn in at all.

Do yourself a favor - go with your wife to look at as many of these sets as you can. All it may take is one simple demo to sway you one way or the other. I believe Tom's store handles both Panasonic and Sony, right Tom?

I hear ya Joe. If your not gonna hang it, I'd be looking @ the SXRD. It is (far and away) the best picture in the shop. ;)

Lotta choices out there and the prices just keep on falling....Interesting sales job.

Totally off topic -----

I have 2 tickets to tonights Blues game. Section 111 Row KK seats 1 & 2. Right up
against the concrete in the lower level.

If you want them, shoot me a PM with your email address and I will email them to you.

EDIT: These are my season tickets, no cost to anyone who wants them.

Totally off topic -----

I have 2 tickets to tonights Blues game. Section 111 Row KK seats 1 & 2. Right up
against the concrete in the lower level.

If you want them, shoot me a PM with your email address and I will email them to you.

EDIT: These are my season tickets, no cost to anyone who wants them.


GONE

wmschultz,

I just want to say thanks for offering the Blues tickets here, even though I'm not the one that snagged them.

However, I'd like to make just a minor procedural suggestion for the future; that is, when you decide to unload your Cardinal tickets in the coming months, save yourself some time and just send me a private message. ;)

wmschultz,
... when you decide to unload your Cardinal tickets in the coming months, save yourself some time and just send me a private message. ;)
Then you and I are gonna hafta share that mailbox. ;)

LOL

Thanks a ton for the tix, my GF is quite happy! Hey do you know if Jackman got his jaw broken in that first fight last night? The fight didn't look all that bad ......

LOL

Thanks a ton for the tix, my GF is quite happy! Hey do you know if Jackman got his jaw broken in that first fight last night? The fight didn't look all that bad ......

Yep, busted and gone for the season.

At least with that and Lalime playing, we'll have the first pick locked up.... :rolleyes:

wmschultz,

I just want to say thanks for offering the Blues tickets here, even though I'm not the one that snagged them.

However, I'd like to make just a minor procedural suggestion for the future; that is, when you decide to unload your Cardinal tickets in the coming months, save yourself some time and just send me a private message. ;)

This probably sounds "corny" but I offered them here because you all are at work
with me everyday, so I just figured I would include you all in my coworker offering.

As far as the Cardinals tickets go............Nice Idea.

Late last night While it was snowing I lost everything but local channels and Discovery HD. Today, with no snow on the dish I get very low signal strength on 110 and 101. Both in mid-60's. 119 I get usual 92.

Any ideas? Also, seems odd the HBO HD, CNN, etc were out completely while Discovery HD and locals off satellite worked. OTA was unaffected.

Edit: D* tech could not explain why I got the channels listed above and not the others. Sending a tech out Thursday to may sure the LNBs aren't cracked which would account for rain & snow fade so easily.

Last night on charter I lost HDNET and HDNET Movie channels. I don't know about any others.
How do the cable cos. get their signals for retransmission? I'm sure its some sat feed.
Do the cable cos and Dish and Direct ultimately get the source from the same place?
I'm not implying Mo and my problem were related, but where do they get the original feeds?

Dave
60" SXRD

On Dish Network last night I first started to lose the HD channels, then lost everything but OTA was fine. Luckily my dish is only about 5 ft off the ground, I just went out and wiped the snow off, everything was fine after that.

I know it was mentioned here a few times, but what is causing the blurring during the tournament games on 4.1? Is it a local issue or is it CBS. If you haven't seen it, it is basically the picture looks fine and then it jumps to a blurred screen and gradually comes back into focus?

Also has anyone else noticed overall on CBS whether it be NCIS, the tourney or anything else, once in a while I am getting a green screen flicker or on very few occasions it is staying present for a few seconds.


Does anyone have any input on either of these issues?

Awesome! Thanks so much for your replies, guys! I really appreciate it! I did some research on the Pan that Tom suggested (TH50PX60U), and so far I really like what I see! I have read some reviews (few and far between as it's so new) and glanced over the specifications. This might be the way I go, and I might even save a thousand bucks or more in the process! Thank ya thank ya thank ya!

Scott, I apologize as I did not intend to ignore your question, I just missed it. This TV that we are going to be getting is going to be replacing the TV we use 90% of the time. All of our movies are watched on it, all of our HDTV, and all of our regular shows (non-HDTV). This is the set that our HDTV DVR will be hooked to. Most of my wife's time in this location is spent watching TV, and most of mine is spent watching DVDs. Hope that answers your question.

Awesome. I would say go for a plasma and hang it above the fireplace with a tilt down mount possibly. Unless like Doug stated earlier that the looking up will drive you both nuts. May be a pain in the neck. As far as brand of plasma. Panasonic or Pioneer.

Scott

Does anyone have any input on either of these issues?


The green flicker you refer to would probably be a local station signal thing. The
blurriness that you are talking about is a CBS production original. That comes out
of the truck or from the dude up in the stands that isn't focusing fast enough.

It happens during most live events with CBS that I have watched.

These are just my $.02

I hate to bump my post here, but I didn't see any answers and I'm still looking for an amp. I appreciate any help.

I haven't seen an answer so I would suggest Skywalker in O'Fallon, MO. I buy all of my equip there for my installs. I just got a nice amp for my security cameras at the house.

Has anyone tried spaying Pam or some type of lubricant on the dish to keep the snow and ice from collecting on the dish? I did not have a problem until I had the Dish 1000 installed.

Has anyone tried spaying Pam or some type of lubricant on the dish to keep the snow and ice from collecting on the dish? I did not have a problem until I had the Dish 1000 installed.

No, but I did spay all my dogs. :)

The green flicker you refer to would probably be a local station signal thing. The
blurriness that you are talking about is a CBS production original. That comes out
of the truck or from the dude up in the stands that isn't focusing fast enough.

It happens during most live events with CBS that I have watched.

These are just my $.02

I have no really noticed this too much, but then again I find myself (sadly) not watching a whole lot of HD coverage of the NCAAs. For the most part, I find myself watching the SD channel. For example, last Friday, I wanted to watch Michigan St. against George Mason rather than the UCONN game on the HD channel.

However, what I have seen has been pretty good. Its really nice to watch the game in HD with 5.1 surround. Really nice.

I haven't seen an answer so I would suggest Skywalker in O'Fallon, MO. I buy all of my equip there for my installs. I just got a nice amp for my security cameras at the house.

Thanks. I'm surprised there are so few people here actually using amps.

I've always noticed that occasional blur on CBS as well. My guess was that when they transfer from one game to another for a "live look-in", the SD signal has to overlay for a moment and you see it as a momentary blur.

As I said, that was just a guess.

Has anyone tried spaying Pam or some type of lubricant on the dish to keep the snow and ice from collecting on the dish? I did not have a problem until I had the Dish 1000 installed.

If you try it and it works, please post back. For stuff that's already accumulated a window de-icer if you can get to it.

No, but I did spay all my dogs. :)

LOL, Scott you are such a brat!

Has anyone tried spaying Pam or some type of lubricant on the dish to keep the snow and ice from collecting on the dish? I did not have a problem until I had the Dish 1000 installed.
Each Fall I treat the dish's with RainX. It began when we used to have Sat Internet and just could not afford a down day due to snow on the dish. Oh, and maybe because moron-me almost got killed trying to climb up a snow covered roof to clean the dish. Tried it, and it worked.
I bought a small bottle, like 5 years ago, and still have 1/2 bottle left. I'd never use that crap on my cars!

I see there are 2 new channels on my Dish 622: They are 9832 and 9835 which are labeled "XKDNL" and "XKTVI" respectively. They appear to be mirrors of the normal SD local channels 2 and 30.

What's this all about?????

I see there are 2 new channels on my Dish 622: They are 9832 and 9835 which are labeled "XKDNL" and "XKTVI" respectively. They appear to be mirrors of the normal SD local channels 2 and 30.

What's this all about?????
They are re-directs. They are not showing up on the individual Sat listings as yet, but all the other Xxxxx channels are those LiL SD locals getting ready to be moved to another Sat. They are the ones you may have read about that will eventually have the "Call Dish" message attached to them.

They are probably going to show up on 119°, and remain there as a mirror, while our 85xx channels, now on 119° are staged to be moved to another Sat.
110° or 129° would be my best guess.

My best understanding is, Dish uses the Xxxxx as a mirror for the channel during the moves, so as to not interrupt service to subs until the moves are all set up and completed, but I'm not all that clear on just how the process works.
It looks like the shuffle has made its way to STL.....oh joy!

EDIT: Just listed, KTVI and KDNL were moved from tp 5s11 at 119° to tp 18 at 110°. This may require a reset for your EPG to recognize the move, or it will probably update tonight during its 3AM nightly update sequence.

What in the world is going on with Fox 2-1? I was watching American Idol on my HD tivo. Almost the whole show was fine, but then the last 15 minutes were almost unwatchable due to pixelation and signal breakups. I have been setting most of my recordings to record from Directv channel 88 due to this problem. Maybe it's me but I can't believe I could go that long then suddenly start having problems. Any ideas what's going on?

Mike

kdg, thanks for posting that tip. Getting a CM 4221 and will use the RainX while I'm up on the roof (after the snow melts). :D Serioulsy though, I know the feeling. I was about to get on the roof last night but then how could I face my family if I got hurt? They already think I'm over the top. It's just me, so I was worried it if I hit my head and got conked out, I'd freeze to death with my cell phone sitting un-touchedl in my coat pocket. :eek: Can you imagine the eulogy?? I was able to confirm no snow on the dish from what I could see so I got my butt back in the house!

Hello all,

I know this is somewhat off topic, but everyone seems very knowledgeable about service providers in the saint louis area, so I might as well give it a go.

I have a screen burn in on my 50" Sony HDTV CRT projection television :eek: . Yes, I consider myself a knowledgable person when it comes to burn in issues, and I truly blame myself and a certain video game (to rename nameless) for my issues.

Does anyone know of a sony screen replacement service company in the greater saint louis area? Also would they actually have to take my tv into "the shop" or could they just plop in the new screen at my house....and yes, I do know that this could be expensive.

Thanks!

P.S. Cant wait for HDTV locals over Directv. I live in a valley and my antenna reception is meh.

mtm,

I saw probably a dozen break-ups during the 2-hour Idol last night, but the final 15 minutes were fine for me. There might have been one or two break-ups toward the end, but basically it was watchable.

I'm not sure if the break-ups I'm seeing are the same problem as reported here a few weeks back, as I was out of town most of last week.

We Interrupt Your Normal AVS Programming...

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

In the not-so-distant past, we used to begin each month of the St. Louis discussion with an entirely new thread and usually that started with a cut/paste of basic resource information that is now buried back on the very first page of this discussion thread.

Because of its location, a lot of that general, introductory information about HDTV and OTA reception is now easily overlooked, especially with the discussion here stretching back more than 2 years and nearly 400 pages.

In an attempt to make this information more accessible, I'm going to post an advisory/reminder note similar to this every couple of weeks. Ideally this will make this general resource information more visible and easier to find for more readers.

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

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=7176354&&#post7176354)

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

tpm,

The problem with burn-in isn't the screen, it's the CRTs -- and that's a far more expensive and difficult repair than replacing the screen.

While it's probably a longshot, I've heard of some burn-in victims doing a "reverse burn" where the inverse image that caused the burn-in is left on the screen for an extended period in an effort to even out the affected areas. The problem with this is that you need to create a reverse-image graphic that EXACTLY lines up with the burn-in area and then you need to have a computer feeding that image to your TV for an extended period.

Replacement of your CRTs is probably going to cost close (or maybe more than) what you'd pay for a new CRT RPTV. If you decide to go the CRT replacement route, let me know, as I have a client who recently had a CRT replaced and he might be able to hook you up with the guy who did that work.

Finding a servicer who can do this correctly can be a challenge, and I can pretty much guarantee you'd still need to pay to have your set calibrated afterward to get it looking good.

Doug,

Thanks for the quick replay on my burn-in question. I did not realize that replacing the crt would also be a factor in fixing my issue.

So now my last off topic post....what technology of HDTV has the least chance of burn-in?...I do realize that I made a mistkae with my CRT RPTV, but the video game I play has static images that do not move, and I can play this game for hours on end.

So would LCD be more suitable for my needs, or possibly DLP RPTV?

Doug,

Thanks for the quick replay on my burn-in question. I did not realize that replacing the crt would also be a factor in fixing my issue.Just to clarify/reiterate, the screen has NOTHING to do with the burn-in problem and no part of the screen pack would need to be replaced if you decided you wanted to go ahead with a repair to fix this problem.

....what technology of HDTV has the least chance of burn-in?...I do realize that I made a mistkae with my CRT RPTV, but the video game I play has static images that do not move, and I can play this game for hours on end.

So would LCD be more suitable for my needs, or possibly DLP RPTV?Both plasma and CRT are susceptible to burn-in, due to the fact that both emit light from phosphors that decay gracefully over time (with normal use). Any other technology -- DLP, LCD, or LCoS -- would be "burn-in" resistant.

Of course, no display technology is perfect (yet), and all of them have some other drawbacks...

Doug,

Thanks for the quick replay on my burn-in question. I did not realize that replacing the crt would also be a factor in fixing my issue.

So now my last off topic post....what technology of HDTV has the least chance of burn-in?...I do realize that I made a mistkae with my CRT RPTV, but the video game I play has static images that do not move, and I can play this game for hours on end.

So would LCD be more suitable for my needs, or possibly DLP RPTV?

I have never seen a DLP cause image retention or burn-in. I have seen it on LCD monitors.

Scott

Charter Sells Off More Cable Systems

Obviously, Charter is continuing to pare assets in return for the cash needed to reduce its crippling debt load.

I'd expect to see a lot more of this in the next year or two, as Charter still has a long way to go to get its balance sheet looking even halfway respectable...
_______________________________________________

ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 2006--Charter Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: CHTR) (the "Company" or "Charter") today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to sell certain cable television systems serving a total of approximately 69,400 revenue generating units, including 43,700 analog video customers, 12,300 digital video and 13,400 high-speed Internet customers in northern and southeastern Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah to subsidiaries of Orange Broadband Holding Company, LLC. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"As with our recently announced sale agreements to Cebridge and New Wave Communications, this transaction is consistent with our strategy to divest geographically non-strategic assets," said Charter President and CEO Neil Smit. "As we've said previously, we will continue to assess opportunities to optimize our portfolio to enhance overall operating efficiency."

Proceeds from this sale will also enhance liquidity and will be used to pay down, but not permanently reduce, amounts outstanding under Charter's revolver. The closing is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2006. Daniels & Associates and JPMorgan Securities Inc. are serving as advisors to Charter for this transaction.
_______________________________________________

I'm not sure if the break-ups I'm seeing are the same problem as reported here a few weeks back, as I was out of town most of last week.
I've found Idol to be consistently the same throughout the season. Other than that one episode, a few weeks back, and probably the one your remembering Doug, there have been brief, momentary pixelations throughout the shows.
Annoying, but watchable.
That one episode is when the DD was also off and the video was a mess.
Last nights episode just had the usual random brief pixelations.

I have never seen a DLP cause image retention or burn-in. I have seen it on LCD monitors.

Scott

DLP doesn't suffer from burn in, ever. I had one LCD monitor that would retain an image for a short period of time, but it would always return to normal after a period of inactivity. The vast majority of LCDs don't do even that.

I've found Idol to be consistently the same throughout the season. Other than that one episode, a few weeks back, and probably the one your remembering Doug, there have been brief, momentary pixelations throughout the shows.
Annoying, but watchable.
That one episode is when the DD was also off and the video was a mess.
Last nights episode just had the usual random brief pixelations.

24 also had a lot of pixelation/freezes as well on Monday night. There were rumors of equipment problems a month or so ago that KTVI was apparently supposed to be working on. However, it obviously appears those problems are still ongoing... :(

24 also had a lot of pixelation/freezes as well on Monday night. There were rumors of equipment problems a month or so ago that KTVI was apparently supposed to be working on. However, it obviously appears those problems are still ongoing... :(

Well, I think they did fix one of the problems, because the glitches aren't as frequent. But obviously, they still have some work to do. I actually tried calling them a couple of weeks ago as a followup and got their machine. Was going to email them, but haven't because I've been busy and I suspect the inbox is still full, as it was the last 3 times I tried emailing them.

The glitches during 24 were fairly minor, with the exception of one around 8:19....yes, I've been keeping track.

a quick search didn't show anything about the world cup (soccer) in june.

anyhow looks like all 64 games will be shown in HD on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC

I am going to assume the big games -- all the US games, semis/finals(hopefully US games as well)-- will be on ABC and no clue how they will break everything else up among ESPN and ESPN2

this is very cool... well it could be......

I know all the evilness going on with Charter about ABC HD but will they ever work out a deal? Would working out some sort of mass complaint about the lack of HD channels help anything? Any tips on who to write to in order to complain? Probably pointless seeing how they did nothing about the superbowl but ya....

as for ESPN2 HD, is there anything in the works there?

(sorry if there is info posted here already about this, tried looking but this thread is huge)

thanks

PS. yes OTA is an option but would need to buy an OTA receiver/antenna which I feel is an expensive option just to get ABC HD.

I do realize that I made a mistkae with my CRT RPTV, but the video game I play has static images that do not move, and I can play this game for hours on end.Since my initial reply to tpm, I've had the nagging feeling that I may have left the wrong impression by not directly addressing the point about buying a CRT being a mistake.

Yes, I think you can say that a CRT purchase was a mistake in this situation, particularly if a buyer KNOWS that video games with static images are going to make up a significant percentage of overall viewing.

But I should also make the point that I've found that in most cases where CRT burn-in occurs, a contributing -- if not deciding -- factor is that the user contrast setting is jacked to the max (that's typically the factory default). I've also seen dozens of CRT RPTVs where the owners or their kids were avid gamers and there wasn't a hint of burn-in detectable.

While the gap between new technologies and CRT continues to narrow, CRT remains the best bet if your overriding goal is picture quality, with the added bonus that it's still the bang-for-the-buck leader. But as I said earlier, all technologies are a mix of pluses and minuses -- and CRT definitely has its share of negatives, including size, weight, heat and need for conscientious maintenance and use.

In the end, I didn't want to leave the impression that a CRT purchase is always a mistake. Like anything, it depends on the buyer's priorities and how the display is going to be used.

FWIW, I suspect that the CRT option won't be a widely available much longer and by the end of the decade, CRT direct-views, RPTVs and front projectors will be a "boutique market" that commands premium prices, similar to the tube amplifier market today.

crackity,

If World Cup soccer follows the same pattern as other major events covered by ESPN/ABC, I'd expect to see ALL early round action confined to ESPN and ESPN2, with ABC taking over only for the finals (and maybe semi-finals).

Nobody knows for sure how the Charter-Sinclair stalemate will play out, but time is on Charter's side and eventually Sinclair will have to have cable carriage or suffer significant pain in viewership, and more importantly, ad rates.

But I doubt that tipping point will arrive before the conclusion of World Cup soccer.

Writing a letter certainly won't hurt the effort, but cursing in a very loud voice at both Charter and Sinclair will probably turn out to be just as effective. :)

Can anyone tell me if Charter's HD box is any more expensive than their regular digital cable box?

My parents (in their 60's) have had a nice 60" Sony LCD HDTV for the past 18 months (while I was in Florida and Texas) and haven't even watched HD on the thing yet. I've been back in town all of 3 weeks and they're already putting me to work in their new house to setup their TV's and wifi stuff. It didn't help that I had them over the other night and they watched some ESPN-HD and Discovery HD on my properly setup system. I told them that they had a HDTV that could produce similar images but weren't feeding it the right signals. :D

I'm planning on swinging by Skywalker today to pick up an antenna for them but needed to let my Dad know what he should ask for from Charter to upgrade his equipment. His TV (Sony KDF-60XS955) has a cablecard slot and built in HD tuner, so I told him to get the cablecard for the extra $2/month or whatever it is, and still keep his cable box for PPV and the guide (as long as the HD box isn't more to rent than the standard digital box).

They have the $99 triple pack deal too (Digital TV, HSI, Phone) so we don't want to screw that up (since Charter's billing dept can be a nightmare).

Jon,

The link below reflects information that is roughly 10 months old, but will at least give you a starting point for understanding how Charter digital and HD pricing has worked in the past. Let me know if you find any major deviations and I'll try to find some time to update this.

I believe there's at least one major change from this information, and that is that MOXI is considerably more expensive (by $7-10 IIRC) than it was back when this data was pulled together.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5757498&&#post5757498

Perfect. That answered everything. $3 more for the HD box (replacing a regular digital box) and $3.99 for the HD Tier.

-----Original Message-----
From: kdg454 [mailto:kdg454@earthlink.net]
Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 9:56 PM
To: CEO@Echostar.net
Subject: Fox Sports-MidWest

Hello,

Would you know if there are any plans for Dish to carry the HD feed of FOX Sports MidWest? The SD feed is currently the channel 418, FOXMW, on E*7, Tp 18 @ 119°.

----- Original Message -----
From: Laslo, David
To: kdg454@earthlink.net
Cc: CEO@echostar.net
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 1:49 PM
Subject: RE: Fox Sports

Mr. Green,

Thank you for your email. At this time there are no negotiations for the FOX Regional Sports Networks in HD. We have plans to offer this in the future, but there isn’t a scheduled date on when it will be launched.

Sincerely,
David Laslo
Executive Office of DISH Network
CEO Escalations

a quick search didn't show anything about the world cup (soccer) in june.

anyhow looks like all 64 games will be shown in HD on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC

I am going to assume the big games -- all the US games, semis/finals(hopefully US games as well)-- will be on ABC and no clue how they will break everything else up among ESPN and ESPN2

this is very cool... well it could be......

I know all the evilness going on with Charter about ABC HD but will they ever work out a deal? Would working out some sort of mass complaint about the lack of HD channels help anything? Any tips on who to write to in order to complain? Probably pointless seeing how they did nothing about the superbowl but ya....

as for ESPN2 HD, is there anything in the works there?

(sorry if there is info posted here already about this, tried looking but this thread is huge)

thanks

PS. yes OTA is an option but would need to buy an OTA receiver/antenna which I feel is an expensive option just to get ABC HD.

There's a dedicated thread on the World Cup over in the HD Programming forum: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6047789&&#post6047789

I haven't looked through that thread in a while, but I seem to remember it had some links to details on the broadcast schedule.

I'm planning on swinging by Skywalker today to pick up an antenna for them

I just got back from Skywalker. I picked up a CM 4221 for very little money. Their prices are great. I'm certain they sold it to me at wholesale cost as nothing else is close to what I paid.

I'll be giving away the 2-bay here if the new 4-bay works out. The Channel Master goes up tomorrow.

Ken,

Thanks for passing on the info about FOX Sports Midwest on DISH.

I'm not terribly surprised by the reply, though I thought there would be a bit more forward progress on this at this point.

With DirecTV and FOX Sports both being a part of parent company News Corp., I continue to cling to the hope that this is one HD offering where DirecTV will lead, rather than follow. I still expect to see DirecTV begin to add more HD national channels once they've introduced locals into the top 35 markets, which together cover 50% of all US households. Those top 35 markets are supposed to be completed by midsummer, according to the last dates I've seen from DirecTV.

I'm not expecting the HD floodgates to suddenly swing wide open, but I think once there's 50% market coverage for locals via MPEG-4, there will be more regular national HD additions at that point (most likely also in MPEG-4).

Doug:

Thanks for the reply (Although it wasnt what I was hoping for but knew it would be). I guess it is time to start writing and looking at the other services.

There's a dedicated thread on the World Cup over in the HD Programming forum: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6047789&&#post6047789

I haven't looked through that thread in a while, but I seem to remember it had some links to details on the broadcast schedule.

Thanks for the link, I didnt realize that they already posted the line-up. It actually kinda makes me mad that they demoted a USA game to ESPN2 but anyhow.

PS. yes OTA is an option but would need to buy an OTA receiver/antenna which I feel is an expensive option just to get ABC HD.

I use a cheap OTA antenna that is also very good. OTA is not expensive at all since this antenna works like a champ.

Link to antenna (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006FXR9/sr=8-1/qid=1143092268/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-1587262-7235066?%5Fencoding=UTF8)

Review I wrote for Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/AEVWZX03A1K14/ref=cm_cr_auth/103-1587262-7235066?%5Fencoding=UTF8)

Charter Sells Off More Cable Systems

Obviously, Charter is continuing to pare assets in return for the cash needed to reduce its crippling debt load.

I'd expect to see a lot more of this in the next year or two, as Charter still has a long way to go to get its balance sheet looking even halfway respectable...
_______________________________________________

ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 2006--Charter Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: CHTR) (the "Company" or "Charter") today announced the signing of a definitive agreement to sell certain cable television systems serving a total of approximately 69,400 revenue generating units, including 43,700 analog video customers, 12,300 digital video and 13,400 high-speed Internet customers in northern and southeastern Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah to subsidiaries of Orange Broadband Holding Company, LLC. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"As with our recently announced sale agreements to Cebridge and New Wave Communications, this transaction is consistent with our strategy to divest geographically non-strategic assets," said Charter President and CEO Neil Smit. "As we've said previously, we will continue to assess opportunities to optimize our portfolio to enhance overall operating efficiency."

Proceeds from this sale will also enhance liquidity and will be used to pay down, but not permanently reduce, amounts outstanding under Charter's revolver. The closing is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2006. Daniels & Associates and JPMorgan Securities Inc. are serving as advisors to Charter for this transaction.
_______________________________________________


Yeah Hopefully, they would sell off the st. louis area to someone who is competent.

I use a cheap OTA antenna that is also very good. OTA is not expensive at all since this antenna works like a champ.

Link to antenna (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006FXR9/sr=8-1/qid=1143092268/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-1587262-7235066?%5Fencoding=UTF8)

Review I wrote for Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/AEVWZX03A1K14/ref=cm_cr_auth/103-1587262-7235066?%5Fencoding=UTF8)

hmm I guess used the wrong terminalogy. replace receiver with tuner. My pj doesnt have a tuner built in so would have to get a separate tuner which is where the expense comes from.

I agree that the antenna part of it is cheap.... and seeing that there are some for 18 bucks(and the fact I can get all the free coax I want from a friend) I may give it a go just for fooling around on my little lcd hdtv. But all in all I need to get it on my pj.

thanks for the links though.

crackity,

With a sustained effort over the next couple of months, you should be able to find an OTA HD tuner of some type for $100 or less.

In particular, you should check out sales of used DirecTV receivers on eBay. In the past, DirecTV has not required a satellite subscription for the OTA tuners to function, but you should independently verify that to be the case with any receiver you decide to bid on or buy.

I'd specifically recommend that you avoid the Hughes E-86 DirecTV receivers, as the over-the-air tuners tended to become unreliable over time due to heat build-up issues. I actually have an E-86 sitting idle with this problem (though still good for DirecTV reception), which is widely documented online.

Radio Shack (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104191&cp=&kw=hdtv+tuner&parentPage=search) has one with HDMI output for $69.97. One of my customers has one connected to a Square Shooter and nails them all from Wentzville.

Radio Shack (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104191&cp=&kw=hdtv+tuner&parentPage=search) has one with HDMI output for $69.97. One of my customers has one connected to a Square Shooter and nails them all from Wentzville.Nice find... :cool:

I just got back from Skywalker. I picked up a CM 4221 for very little money. Their prices are great. I'm certain they sold it to me at wholesale cost as nothing else is close to what I paid.

I'll be giving away the 2-bay here if the new 4-bay works out. The Channel Master goes up tomorrow.

Cool, thanks for the heads up. I didn't get a chance to go by yesterday to look at their antenna selection. My Dad lives in a 1 story out here, so he might have to go with something bigger anyway (although, I'm using a Radio Shack double-bowtie on my 1st floor for my H20 and it gets everything perfectly... since it was a temporary need for HD on my seconardy HDTV with D* having the big networks coming in on the dish soon, I didn't split off the antenna signal from my main attic yagi and weaken the feed for my HD Tivo).

There's a thread over in the HDTV Programming Forum that announces that the syndicated "Seinfeld" series will be available in HD beginning this coming Monday, March 27. This AVS discussion thread is roughly a month old, but I don't check the Programming Forum on a regular basis and I must have overlooked that topic when I've been there over the past few weeks.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=7191214&&#post7191214

The main forum speculation focuses on whether the "Seinfeld" HD episodes will be presented in some sort of modified widescreen version (such as "Hogan's Hero's" on HDNet), or whether it will be just a straightforward 4x3 HD presentation with black bars on the side. I'm hoping that these will be widescreen -- after all, the plans to introduce HDTV were known, at least during the last few years of the Seinfeld run, so they could have very well shot those later episodes in a way that the film frame could be opened up for a future widescreen version.

There's also a question about how many local stations can actually handle a syndicated HD program such as "Seinfeld." I think we'll probably strike it lucky here, because of KTVI being a FOX-owned/operated station. But if for some reason KTVI can't handle Seinfeld in HD, I'd guess that DirecTV subscribers would have a sure thing in the Seinfelds shown on the NYC FOX affilliate... :)

I think it's also interesting to consider the master plan for the studio that owns the Seinfeld syndication rights. First, they syndicate the series on local TV, then eventually they produce DVD box sets. Now, they ratchet up the syndication value by introducing HD, which no doubt in time will result in HD box sets of the series.

Yeah, piracy is absolutely gutting the entertainment business... ;)

Radio Shack (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104191&cp=&kw=hdtv+tuner&parentPage=search) has one with HDMI output for $69.97. One of my customers has one connected to a Square Shooter and nails them all from Wentzville.

holy batman..... why didnt I do this for the superbowl.........

I could have sworn the ones I always saw where always more around 200 anyhow. unfortunately this would also require me to look into a hdmi switcher.... I guess I could live with component for a bit though.... defnitely better than nothing.

this brings up one new question. Do people like the OTA HD feeds better then the corresponding Charter ones (I am olive & 270 if that matters)? IE less video scrambling/sound blips... I think that reason would be the deal sealer to buy one. Unfortunately would still need charter for espn and hdnet no matter what.

Thanks for the help.

Thanks for the reminder Doug, coincedence or not, Monday's episode happens to be the pilot, so hopefully the HD begins with the beginning of nothing :rolleyes:

OTA HD will have a "better" picture than Charter becuase of the compression that C*, D*, E* does on their lines. OTA is a direct feed. Until recent, I have been happy with the local HD feeds over Charter. Hate the company, but the locals are fine. Recently I have lost CBS-HD, but they are coming out next Tues to "fix" the issue. I do have a DB4 for OTA ABC only. I don't think I would buy the tuner for just ABC. Plus, I only use it to watch Grey's Anatomy on HD. One TV show is not worth the price of the antenna + the box. Now, if I could get rid of charter, I would get the box from RS. With kids, there is no way I could get rid of the disney channel.

There's also a question about how many local stations can actually handle a syndicated HD program such as "Seinfeld." I think we'll probably strike it lucky here, because of KTVI being a FOX-owned/operated station. But if for some reason KTVI can't handle Seinfeld in HD, I'd guess that DirecTV subscribers would have a sure thing in the Seinfelds shown on the NYC FOX affilliate... :)



Doug,

I saw that thread too. It stated very few stations have the capability to record HD for time shifting. I don't recall seeing any programing that KTVI has replayed in HD.
We may have to wait awhile on this one.

Dave

Radio Shack (http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2104191&cp=&kw=hdtv+tuner&parentPage=search) has one with HDMI output for $69.97. One of my customers has one connected to a Square Shooter and nails them all from Wentzville.

It would be great if they actually had it.

holy batman..... why didnt I do this for the superbowl.........

I could have sworn the ones I always saw where always more around 200 anyhow. unfortunately this would also require me to look into a hdmi switcher.... I guess I could live with component for a bit though.... defnitely better than nothing.

this brings up one new question. Do people like the OTA HD feeds better then the corresponding Charter ones (I am olive & 270 if that matters)? IE less video scrambling/sound blips... I think that reason would be the deal sealer to buy one. Unfortunately would still need charter for espn and hdnet no matter what.

Thanks for the help.

There is a Samsung SIR-T451 HDTV OTA Receiver - $150 over at Craig's List (http://stlouis.craigslist.org/ele/143299993.html). If they still have it, make an offer.

The antenna saga continues. Picked up a CM 4221 and 2 mounting clamps are 30" apart. My J mast (looks like an upside down J) is too short where it bends to mount both clamps.

Called Skywalker in the nick of time to get a straight 38" mast delivered via UPS tomorrow.

Oddly, moving my other one I got a stronger PBS signal.

So I have to wait another day. :(

wmschultz,

I read in an earlier post that you have installed a DB8 antenna. Did you install it in your attic or on the roof? I live near Kisker/94 and I am trying to decide which antenna would be best for my location. I live in a single story ranch. I was trying to decide between the DB2, DB4 and DB8. I would rather install it in the attic vs the roof. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.

This is completely OT, but thought it worth passing on that the Salt Lake Tribune is reporting that the Dave Checketts group has reached an agreemen to buy the Blues, Savvis Center and a minor league afflliate.

FWIW, I was checking the KMOV web site for new pics of the stadium and came across their story on this...

How soon until they move to Salt Lake?

I can see this happening when Dave Checketts meets with all the Blues employees personally on Friday. (do-do-do....do-do-do)

Hi Larry. Yeah, it's Dave. I'm ready to meet with you. Why don't you come on down to my office....Oh, and while you're at it, bring all of your stuff.

How soon until they move to Salt Lake?

They're not going anywhere. The stipulation is that they HAVE to stay at least until 2011, but there are local partners involved in this deal. They'll stay here.

Official anouncement tomorrow about the Blues sale.

Walt

wmschultz,

I read in an earlier post that you have installed a DB8 antenna. Did you install it in your attic or on the roof? I live near Kisker/94 and I am trying to decide which antenna would be best for my location. I live in a single story ranch. I was trying to decide between the DB2, DB4 and DB8. I would rather install it in the attic vs the roof. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.

Mine is on the roof. I have a 1 1/2 story and have it on a 10 ft pole so it gets
over the roof of the house. I have it attached on the roof of the garage.

I am also off of Kisker and so is scheerce. He is using a DB4 and his is outside
also, but because he is kind of in a valley, he has trouble getting all the channels.
I mounted mine outside because I have an old UHF/VHF combo in the attic that
wasn't working very well.

Also, we are in a hilly area around Kisker so the higher you can get it unobstructed
the better off you will be. I hope this helps you.

You aren't a neighbor, are you????

Anyone ever been to Watson's in St. Charles? I'm looking at bars and things for my ramily room -- which won't be finished for awhile -- and wonder if its worth the trip.

I'll be looking at bars and other bar and game room type things.

Oh, and still looking for a good amp =]

Thanks for the help!

Mine is on the roof. I have a 1 1/2 story and have it on a 10 ft pole so it gets
over the roof of the house. I have it attached on the roof of the garage.

I am also off of Kisker and so is scheerce. He is using a DB4 and his is outside
also, but because he is kind of in a valley, he has trouble getting all the channels.
I mounted mine outside because I have an old UHF/VHF combo in the attic that
wasn't working very well.

Also, we are in a hilly area around Kisker so the higher you can get it unobstructed
the better off you will be. I hope this helps you.

You aren't a neighbor, are you????


Thanks for the info. You are correct about it being hilly in our area. I am actually off of dingledine in between it and kisker. So you think the DB8 would be a better choice than the DB4? I tried a couple of indoor antenna with no luck.

I've been watching the BB games these past couple of weeks, and regularly switching between CBSHD and KMOV-DT.
IMO, there is a noticeable and appreciable difference in the PQ via the KMOV-DT OTA signal and the CBSHD SAT signal, the OTA being superior. I believe the SAT signal is in MPEG2.
I don't find it really noticeable when comparing say, CSI, between the two, but with the live broadcasts there's a big difference. Perhaps someone could explain why that is :confused:

Those here who have D* with the FOXHD SAT feed, and the KTVI-DT OTA feed, I'd be interested in your opinions on the difference.

Hey guys, I live over here in Maryland Heights. I am wanting to drop Cable America for satellite. I live in Woodhollow Apts right off of 270 at dorsett. I have been looking for retailers for Dish net AND Directv. I called Dish and they said that since I lived on the 3rd floor, they directly could not install it, but a retailer could. Well I have been looking for a retailer, and it's obvious that dish net has not updated their site since well when the Rams were in the super bowl on the local retailer area. I am looking for a retailer for BOTH. DO NOT GIVE ME ANY INFO ON a go dish that is supposed to be in Maryland Heights, I already checked there. they are just a warehouse for the actual company that CAN NOT set up apartment accounts, or so they say. you can PM me or just put it on the thread. I'll be checking over the weekend, as I would like to get it next week, so that I can have it in time for the cards opening day. Peace out.

The Post-Dispatch has an article today that discusses the competitive situation between Charter and AT&T (and cable vs. teleco generally), as AT&T prepares to enter the video market.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/0/712B577B2C8861188625713B0010F46E?OpenDocument

I've been watching the BB games these past couple of weeks, and regularly switching between CBSHD and KMOV-DT.
IMO, there is a noticeable and appreciable difference in the PQ via the KMOV-DT OTA signal and the CBSHD SAT signal, the OTA being superior. I believe the SAT signal is in MPEG2.
I don't find it really noticeable when comparing say, CSI, between the two, but with the live broadcasts there's a big difference. Perhaps someone could explain why that is :confused:

Those here who have D* with the FOXHD SAT feed, and the KTVI-DT OTA feed, I'd be interested in your opinions on the difference.Ken,

I think what you're seeing is a result of the fact that live events tend to have an inherently sharper look than dramas or comedies that originate on film -- the same is true generally for programs that originate on video, such "Higher Definition" or "Get Out" on HDNet.

As a result of this, when you're watching a live event or something originating as video (not film), you probably can more easily detect the impact of the lower bandwidth that the satellite version of the OTA channel is given. No doubt there could be other factors involved, but I suspect this is probably the primary issue.

I see the same effect on the FOX DirecTV feed from NYC. It's not a massive difference and I wouldn't suggest that the NY Local is "unwatchable," but where I have a choice (no annoying break-ups on KTVI), I'd always opt for the OTA local.

Also, it's possible (likely?) that the FOX NY station on DirecTV is working with less bandwidth than what the out-of-market locals are receiving on DISH, so it may be that what I'm seeing on DirecTV is more extreme than what you're experiencing.

The Post-Dispatch has an article today that discusses the competitive situation between Charter and AT&T (and cable vs. teleco generally), as AT&T prepares to enter the video market.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/0/712B577B2C8861188625713B0010F46E?OpenDocument

I have a friend whose company is all ready laying line in preparation for this to happen. They have been hired by AT&T and he says that this type of service is on it's way to St.Louis.

I've been watching the BB games these past couple of weeks, and regularly switching between CBSHD and KMOV-DT.
IMO, there is a noticeable and appreciable difference in the PQ via the KMOV-DT OTA signal and the CBSHD SAT signal, the OTA being superior. I believe the SAT signal is in MPEG2.
I don't find it really noticeable when comparing say, CSI, between the two, but with the live broadcasts there's a big difference. Perhaps someone could explain why that is :confused:

Those here who have D* with the FOXHD SAT feed, and the KTVI-DT OTA feed, I'd be interested in your opinions on the difference.

Other than the local Fox signal showing some minor pixelation lately, I see no visible difference between the that and the D* channel 88 signal.

Scott

Anyone ever been to Watson's in St. Charles? I'm looking at bars and things for my ramily room -- which won't be finished for awhile -- and wonder if its worth the trip.

I'll be looking at bars and other bar and game room type things.

Oh, and still looking for a good amp =]

Thanks for the help!

Yes, I bought my pool table at Watsons. Very dangerous store to frequent if you need stuff for the basement, game room, patio, Theater, bar area etc. They have a fairly good assortment of bars, stools, fireplaces, and a lot of fun stuff. Most of their stuff is imported and medium end. I was afraid being in their because I could have spent a fortune. Somewhat tricky to find if your not familiar with the area. If you find Home Depot, it is behind it.

Scott

Hey guys, I live over here in Maryland Heights. I am wanting to drop Cable America for satellite. I live in Woodhollow Apts right off of 270 at dorsett. I have been looking for retailers for Dish net AND Directv. I called Dish and they said that since I lived on the 3rd floor, they directly could not install it, but a retailer could. Well I have been looking for a retailer, and it's obvious that dish net has not updated their site since well when the Rams were in the super bowl on the local retailer area. I am looking for a retailer for BOTH. DO NOT GIVE ME ANY INFO ON a go dish that is supposed to be in Maryland Heights, I already checked there. they are just a warehouse for the actual company that CAN NOT set up apartment accounts, or so they say. you can PM me or just put it on the thread. I'll be checking over the weekend, as I would like to get it next week, so that I can have it in time for the cards opening day. Peace out.

Dish Network...American Furniture, TV and appliance.

Directv... Ultimate Electronics.

Scott

schultz is correct. I have the DB4. It is mounted on a pool house (shed), so it is not even above my roof line. The house behind me is a two story, with a walkout. So I am a good bit below him. I only use the DB4 for ABC because the rest come over Charter. I must say, that ABC comes in great via OTA. If I needed to, I could put it on my roof and get it much higher, but I don't need to. I think the 4 will work as good as the 8, plus not so big and ugly.

oh ya, they also have a new one that is square and in a plastic housing. Don't remember the name. That looks better than the 4, but not sure how good it is. You can call antennadirect to see if they have any in stock. Their store is down next to six flags. I picked mine up from there. Also, try Skywalker. It is out off 70. I think they might be a little cheaper on their brand.

Thanks for the info. You are correct about it being hilly in our area. I am actually off of dingledine in between it and kisker. So you think the DB8 would be a better choice than the DB4? I tried a couple of indoor antenna with no luck.

I would go with the DB8. The DB4 might work for you, too. The DB8 is basically
2 DB4's that are combined via a splitter.

schultz is correct. I have the DB4. It is mounted on a pool house (shed), so it is not even above my roof line. The house behind me is a two story, with a walkout. So I am a good bit below him. I only use the DB4 for ABC because the rest come over Charter. I must say, that ABC comes in great via OTA. If I needed to, I could put it on my roof and get it much higher, but I don't need to. I think the 4 will work as good as the 8, plus not so big and ugly.

UGLY???? Mine isn't really that noticible. It is definately better looking than the
180" UHF/VHF combo I had...........

This is completely OT, but thought it worth passing on that the Salt Lake Tribune is reporting that the Dave Checketts group has reached an agreemen to buy the Blues, Savvis Center and a minor league afflliate.

FWIW, I was checking the KMOV web site for new pics of the stadium and came across their story on this...

Check out these pictures from inside the stadium:
http://brockfan20.50megs.com/photo.html

Amoung them are some good examples of how sharp the new jumbotron is:
http://brockfan20.50megs.com/images/stadium_11.jpg

http://brockfan20.50megs.com/images/stadium_1.jpg

UGLY???? Mine isn't really that noticible. It is definately better looking than the
180" UHF/VHF combo I had...........


Thanks for the ideas. I am a newbie to the HD world. I just bought my first HD TV. I have been with DirecTv for a long time but this whole leasing thing has made me think about going back to cable (which I said I would never do!). I wonder if they will let you try the DB4 and return if it doesn't work out? Either way I am going to run some coax this weekend. Thanks again.

Ya, they have a return policy. You just have to drive it back to six flags.

Schultz, they are ugly.....though not as bad as the old UHF/VHF....

oh ya, they also have a new one that is square and in a plastic housing. Don't remember the name. That looks better than the 4, but not sure how good it is. You can call antennadirect to see if they have any in stock. Their store is down next to six flags. I picked mine up from there. Also, try Skywalker. It is out off 70. I think they might be a little cheaper on their brand.


Skywalker would be alot closer. Do you know anyone that has bought one from them? I wonder if their antenna's are comparable.

dweebe,

The two pictures you included in your last post don't come through. Well, actually the first appeared shortly, but then then both of them were substituted with a notice saying "Remote Linking Forbidden."

???

Thanks for the link.

400 pages and counting... :cool:

Ya, they have a return policy. You just have to drive it back to six flags.

Schultz, they are ugly.....though not as bad as the old UHF/VHF....

Stop by and have about 6 beers, and then tell me if you can even see it :D

400 pages and counting... :cool:


240 for me. It all depends on what your setting is :)

Thanks for the ideas. I am a newbie to the HD world. I just bought my first HD TV. I have been with DirecTv for a long time but this whole leasing thing has made me think about going back to cable (which I said I would never do!). I wonder if they will let you try the DB4 and return if it doesn't work out? Either way I am going to run some coax this weekend. Thanks again.

You are closer to Skywalker. They sell Channel Master, Winegard and other name brand antennas very reasonably. You can buy all kinds of stuff there. I was able to return the Square Shooter with no question or problem. The Square Shooter has the plastic cover.

If you go to SW you need to call ahead and get a order written up by a salesperson to save some time. They have 3 buildings. Drive all the way back to the third building to pick it up. First time I was there I didn't know and had to be directed to the right bldg.

Have you been to antennaweb.org to see what antenna is recommended for your address?

oh ya, they also have a new one that is square and in a plastic housing. Don't remember the name. That looks better than the 4, but not sure how good it is. You can call antennadirect to see if they have any in stock. Their store is down next to six flags. I picked mine up from there. Also, try Skywalker. It is out off 70. I think they might be a little cheaper on their brand.

Their brand is Channel Master. They are quite a bit cheaper. It was $49 less than what Antennas Direct wants for their DB4.

The Square Shooter is the one the one you are referring to. I researched it quite a bit as it's supposed to be good for multipath. It did not work out for me. Others have had good results with it. I think one needs to have an unobstructed view or be closer to the towers for it to work well.

dweebe,
Nice Pix.....thanks!

I won an cheap MP3 player in a sales contest at work, and will likely return it to Bestbuy for a better one. I am clueless about downloading music and such. If I do get a player, I would want it to sound halfway decent. Is this possible? Anybody have a sugestions?

Scott

I won an cheap MP3 player in a sales contest at work, and will likely return it to Bestbuy for a better one. I am clueless about downloading music and such. If I do get a player, I would want it to sound halfway decent. Is this possible? Anybody have a sugestions?

Scott

As a back story: I got an iPod for Christmas as my only major gift. However I spent 20+ man hours messing with 3 busted ones and the fact that I could never get my laptop and any of the iPods to talk. It came down to the fact that Dell laptops (specifically 3 to 5 years old) and iPods don't play nice together. (Many other older Dell laptop users on the apple.com forums had the same problem.)

After it was established that neither company would roll out a fix I returned the iPod.

I'm getting the Zen Vision M delivered later today from newegg.com and will let you know how it goes after I play with it this weekend. Some have acused the Zen Vision M of being an iPod copycat even though it was announced just a few weeks after the current iPod rolled out. However all the reviews claim it to be as good or better than the iPod.

Good website: http://www.epizenter.net/news.php
Amazon.com store link: linky (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000CS7U1C/ref=pd_kar_gw_1/104-4595337-2163103?%5Fencoding=UTF8)

Best Buy carries the Zen Vision M: but they've been out of stock for a few weeks.

Dean, Sweet. Thanks! Please let me know how it works out for you.

Scott

I won an cheap MP3 player in a sales contest at work, and will likely return it to Bestbuy for a better one. I am clueless about downloading music and such. If I do get a player, I would want it to sound halfway decent. Is this possible? Anybody have a sugestions?

Scott
A strong consideration...A good quality set of isolation earbuds on an average player will sound far superior to a low-cost set of open-air earbuds on the best player money can buy.
Most MP3 players, including iPods, come with low-cost open-air earbuds. The reproduce sound poorly, and I find them intolerably uncomfortable to wear.
My buds cost more than my iPod, but the sound is studio quality.

I use my Sirius S50 as an MP3 player.

Scott, rip tunes in the highest bitrate possible, 320k is good and lossless is even better ;)

You are closer to Skywalker. They sell Channel Master, Winegard and other name brand antennas very reasonably. You can buy all kinds of stuff there. I was able to return the Square Shooter with no question or problem. The Square Shooter has the plastic cover.

If you go to SW you need to call ahead and get a order written up by a salesperson to save some time. They have 3 buildings. Drive all the way back to the third building to pick it up. First time I was there I didn't know and had to be directed to the right bldg.

Have you been to antennaweb to see what antenna is recommended for your address?



Thanks for the info about SW. antennaweb has most of my channels listed in the medium directional antenna type with PBS & CBS in the medium directional w/pre amp. I am about 18 - 20 miles from the towers.

Thanks to all re: MP3 players. I will most likely get some good comfortable headphones like the ones that cover the ear completely. My main concern is sound quality, so I'm not really concerned with size or portability. Any other ideas let me know.

Scott

I use my Sirius S50 as an MP3 player.

This is a consideration since I have a Sirius account. Does it increase your monthly bill?

Scott

This is a consideration since I have a Sirius account. Does it increase your monthly bill?

Scott


Only if you "activate" the receiver through Sirius. I bought it because I don't have
that big of a collection of CD's so I just listen to recorded Sirius channels. I'm a
lifetime sub with my vehicle, so this was just $7 a month for the S50. You can only
store 250 MB of MP3's but it also stores 50 hours of recorded Sirius music, too.

Don't let me persuade you either way, but I can answer your questions if you have
any.

Well thanks to Joe, I'm now the proud owner of a Dish 6000 receiver that has the Nextcom R5000 modification for satellite recording. I made some sweet recordings off HDNet to my pc last night. This is just too much fun!! Now I have 2 huge problems. 1) I have very little hard drive space left on the pc, since I've filled up both of them with MyHD recordings and other downloaded HD shows, and 2)I haven't had time to catch up on watching the hd shows I now have, so now things are bound to get even crazier when I add R5000 recordings. I'll just need to get busy watching, and archiving things off the pc to dvd or dvhs. Joe, you da man...

Thanks for the info about SW. antennaweb has most of my channels listed in the medium directional antenna type with PBS & CBS in the medium directional w/pre amp. I am about 18 - 20 miles from the towers.

Based on what I have read, need to get a larger antenna than recommended to help compensate for weather and in our case, trees. When it's windy, I get some macroblocking. You could try the DB4/CM 4221 and point it more towards CBS/PBS.
May want to get a compass ahead of time.

I have read about pre-amps but I'm not using one. There are other folks living in St. Charles so they shoud be able to help further if needed.

TV show "Get Out" on HDNET......WOW...

Well thanks to Joe, I'm now the proud owner of a Dish 6000 receiver that has the Nextcom R5000 for satellite recording. I made some sweet recordings off HDNet to my pc last night. This is just too much fun!! Now I have 2 huge problems. 1) I have very little hard drive space left on the pc, since I've filled up both of them with MyHD recordings and other downloaded HD shows, and 2)I haven't had time to catch up on watching the hd shows I now have, so now things are bound to get even crazier when I add R5000 recordings. I'll just need to get busy watching, and archiving things off the pc to dvd or dvhs. Joe, you da man...

Welcome to the wonderful world of satellite recording. It's the most fun I've had since I first got HD, but the hard drive space gets sucked up really fast.

Question for you, Bob Simandl. I'm posting in another thread about HD Getaways Bora Bora and it's turned a little nasty - some silly argument about whether all DirecTV is HDLite or not (especially Discovery HD Theater). Do you know the answer to that? (And did you get your DirecTV box modded yet for R5000 recording?) Or, maybe someone else knows the answer about DirecTV HDLite?

I have read about pre-amps but I'm not using one. There are other folks living in St. Charles so they shoud be able to help further if needed.


gdoublev - I live in a 2 story in O'Fallon, near Bryan/Feise Rds (Amber Meadows subdivision). In my attic, I have a ChannelMaster 3016 UHF/VHF/FM antenna, the RG6 run is over 100ft down to my basement, where it get diplexed for about 30ft before going to my HDTivo and the other diplexer. When I installed it, the signal was a little weak on CBS and ABC, so I added a powered amp that I bought at Lowe's (Leviton 48210-VA). It's 10-25db with a FM block/trap. That did the trick and everything comes in nice and strong.

However, last night, for whatever reason, I lost my signal (most channels were on 0, others were around 10-20%). I didn't know what was up, so on a hunch I dialed down the amp (it was at full blast, 25db) to around 50% and everything was back into the 90's on signal strength. Not sure why I was getting too much signal last night, but that screwed me up. That's one thing to watch out for with amps... too much signal is not a good thing and can actually give you more problems than not enough signal.

Anyway, I picked up a CM 4221 from Skywalker yesterday (for my Dad, who lives about 1.5 miles West of my location, off of Feise, in a 1 story). I haven't even mounted it in the attic for him yet, it's just propped up on the floor next to his HDTV and he's getting strong signals on everything, even UPN (which I can't get with my yagi style antenna) and he's not using an amp. I'm debating either replacing my current attic antenna with a UHF only 4221, or perhaps mounting it in the attic next to my existing one and getting a join-tenna thing to combine the signals. Either way, you shouldn't have any issues getting a strong signal out here, and Skywalker is nice and close for any supplies.

Jon,
Would you mind posting the phone number for Skywalker?

I'm getting another line run down from my dishes to feed the 6000 receiver coming up on Wed. morning next week. I've been quoted a price of $80 barring any unforseen equipment needs. If something else is needed, I've been told that I'll be quoted a price, and will not be held to paying the extra charges unless I want the work done. What do you guys think about this rate? I see a lot of ads where people are getting entire installs for $49, or even free. I know that I'm going to have to pay something, but what should a job like this cost? Can anyone do a good job for less that you would suggest? I currently have 2 dishes and a switch on the roof, as well as a 942 dvr. One line is coming in off the switch, and it's going into a seperator, producing 2 lines for each sat tuner of the 942.

scheerce,
Yep I made an HD recording of Get Out early this morning. There's a beautiful babe on there this week named Evelayn or something like that, and she's pretty wild (and hot).

Joe,

DirecTV's 1080i channels are downrezzed to 1280x1080i, with a correspondingly lower bitrate. HDnetMovies in particular looks soft. HDlite is definitely going strong here.

DirecTV's 720p channels are still 720p, though FoxHD East channel 88 doesn't look quite as sharp as local KTVI-DT channel 2-1. They're probably lowering the bitrate a bit but I don't know for sure on that one.

I have my new (for me) RCA DTC-100, but haven't sent it in for the mod yet. Just spent nearly $1000 on car repairs yesterday, so the R-5000 mod ain't gonna happen this month... probably not next month either. :(

Jedi,

Skywalker is about 5-10 minutes from my house. Come out during the day sometime and we can head out there together.

All you HTPC buffs,

MediaPortal has released version 0.2RC3. Much more stable than RC2, with a cool new skin optimized for 16x9 displays (the skin I was using before was a 4x3 skin stretched to 16x9). And it's freeware. Recommended.

Jon,
Would you mind posting the phone number for Skywalker?


Not Jon, but here you go:
Skywalker
9390 Veterans Memorial Pkwy
O'Fallon, MO 63366
(800) 844-9555
(314) 272-8025
Fax (314) 272-8214

gdoublev - I live in a 2 story in O'Fallon, near Bryan/Feise Rds (Amber Meadows subdivision). In my attic, I have a ChannelMaster 3016 UHF/VHF/FM antenna, the RG6 run is over 100ft down to my basement, where it get diplexed for about 30ft before going to my HDTivo and the other diplexer. When I installed it, the signal was a little weak on CBS and ABC, so I added a powered amp that I bought at Lowe's (Leviton 48210-VA). It's 10-25db with a FM block/trap. That did the trick and everything comes in nice and strong.

However, last night, for whatever reason, I lost my signal (most channels were on 0, others were around 10-20%). I didn't know what was up, so on a hunch I dialed down the amp (it was at full blast, 25db) to around 50% and everything was back into the 90's on signal strength. Not sure why I was getting too much signal last night, but that screwed me up. That's one thing to watch out for with amps... too much signal is not a good thing and can actually give you more problems than not enough signal.

Anyway, I picked up a CM 4221 from Skywalker yesterday (for my Dad, who lives about 1.5 miles West of my location, off of Feise, in a 1 story). I haven't even mounted it in the attic for him yet, it's just propped up on the floor next to his HDTV and he's getting strong signals on everything, even UPN (which I can't get with my yagi style antenna) and he's not using an amp. I'm debating either replacing my current attic antenna with a UHF only 4221, or perhaps mounting it in the attic next to my existing one and getting a join-tenna thing to combine the signals. Either way, you shouldn't have any issues getting a strong signal out here, and Skywalker is nice and close for any supplies.


I just went to Skywalker and picked up the UHF 4221. I am going to try and install it this weekend. Any pointers/gotchas on the install? The phone number for skywalker is (636) 272-8025. Website skywalker.com.

I just went to Skywalker and picked up the UHF 4221. I am going to try and install it this weekend. Any pointers/gotchas on the install? The phone number for skywalker is (636) 272-8025. Website skywalker.com.

Mine had install instructions. Look in the box. There are a few assembly instructions on the web too.
http://heh.pl/&2MO
http://heh.pl/&2MN

Make sure you don't forget to ground it. ;) Make it a direct run with no diplexors if you can.
Edit: Are you installing it inside or outside?

I see a lot of ads where people are getting entire installs for $49, or even free. I know that I'm going to have to pay something, but what should a job like this cost?.

D* offers the $49 deal or free like mine was. They bring out a mast and DB2 and mount it on the dish. Use a compass and point where anteannaweb says and leaves. They empahsize they cannot guarantee it works.

Joe,

DirecTV's 1080i channels are downrezzed to 1280x1080i, with a correspondingly lower bitrate. HDnetMovies in particular looks soft. HDlite is definitely going strong here.

DirecTV's 720p channels are still 720p, though FoxHD East channel 88 doesn't look quite as sharp as local KTVI-DT channel 2-1. They're probably lowering the bitrate a bit but I don't know for sure on that one.

I have my new (for me) RCA DTC-100, but haven't sent it in for the mod yet. Just spent nearly $1000 on car repairs yesterday, so the R-5000 mod ain't gonna happen this month... probably not next month either. :(

Jedi,

Skywalker is about 5-10 minutes from my house. Come out during the day sometime and we can head out there together.

All you HTPC buffs,

MediaPortal has released version 0.2RC3. Much more stable than RC2, with a cool new skin optimized for 16x9 displays (the skin I was using before was a 4x3 skin stretched to 16x9). And it's freeware. Recommended.

Bob,

Thanks for the info. I just didn't know for sure, although I thought I had read that all D* 1080i was HDLite. A guy in the Bora, Bora thread is about to have a stroke over this issue. I don't have access to anything from D*, so I couldn't provide any real proof, but it's a pretty simple thing to verify for someone who has a way of analyzing a D* signal.

Let us know when you get the R5000 mod. It's like the old days, when men (and women, Mo) were able to exercise their God given right to record.

I won an cheap MP3 player in a sales contest at work, and will likely return it to Bestbuy for a better one. I am clueless about downloading music and such. If I do get a player, I would want it to sound halfway decent. Is this possible? Anybody have a sugestions?

Scott
iPOD 30 gig+2647 songs downloaded from by CD library+Sennhauser headphones--I'm rockin' :)

Mine had install instructions. Look in the box. There are a few assembly instructions on the web too.
http://heh.pl/&2MO
http://heh.pl/&2MN

Make sure you don't forget to ground it. ;) Make it a direct run with no diplexors if you can.
Edit: Are you installing it inside or outside?


Thanks for the links. I think I am going to try the attic first. If that doesn't work I will install on roof.

I would definitely give the attic a shot. When I bought my house there was an antenna already installed in the attic. I assumed it wouldn't work, but when I ran the RG6, that sucker pulled in far better signals than my Silver Sensor indoor antenna could do.

I would think that putting mine on the roof would be even better, but it doesn't seem to be needed.

Give it a shot; what's the worst that can happen? You blow a Saturday? =]

iPOD 30 gig+2647 songs downloaded from by CD library+Sennhauser headphones--I'm rockin' :)

I recently picked up the Sansa m260 at Circuit City on sale for $150. It's a 4GB flash drive with voice recording and an FM radio. 1 1/2 ounces with its single AA battery. Works great with Windows - it just sees it as a removable hard drive.

Joe,

Here's a link to an ISF calibrator in Dallas who monitors DirecTV's bitrates via a back door through his HD TiVo:

http://www.widemovies.com/dfwbitrate.html

The chart indicates that most DirecTV 1080i channels are sent as 1280x1080i and all 720p channels are 1280x720p. Also, don't be thrown off track by some cases where the bitrates are lower for 720p than reduced-quality 1080i, as progressive images can be compressed much more efficiently, resulting in lower bitrates without the same quality tradeoff. However, there are occasions where the 720p bitrate is too low, and this is indicated with a red highlight.

Note that this list isn't as current as I've seen it in the past. But still, it should graphically illustrate where DirecTV has been shaving bits in the past.

BTW, the bottom of the linked page includes a narrative that timelines the changes DirecTV has made to HD bandwith allocation over the past couple of years.

For most, this probably falls into the "ho hum" category, but the following report indicates that Charter is in discussion with ESPN about the addition of the ESPNU channel.

http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16373048&BRD=2289&PAG=461&dept_id=472541&rfi=6

Safe to say, ESPN2-HD is more likely a higher priority for Charter subscribers here...

Joe,

Here's a link to an ISF calibrator in Dallas who monitors DirecTV's bitrates via a back door through his HD TiVo:

http://www.widemovies.com/dfwbitrate.html

The chart indicates that most DirecTV 1080i channels are sent as 1280x1080i and all 720p channels are 1280x720p. Also, don't be thrown off track by some cases where the bitrates are lower for 720p than reduced-quality 1080i, as progressive images can be compressed much more efficiently, resulting in lower bitrates without the same quality tradeoff. However, there are occasions where the 720p bitrate is too low, and this is indicated with a red highlight.

Note that this list isn't as current as I've seen it in the past. But still, it should graphically illustrate where DirecTV has been shaving bits in the past.

BTW, the bottom of the linked page includes a narrative that timelines the changes DirecTV has made to HD bandwith allocation over the past couple of years.

Thanks, Doug, I'll pass that info along.

I'm a big fan of 720p, especially since I have a native 720p projector. Channels like ESPN gain the most from 720p, because of its frame rate. Most people don't realize that material that originates as video at 720p is close to the same number of pixels per second as video that originates at 1080i. 720p is 60 progressive frames per second, while 1080i is 60 interlaced fields per second.

Here's the math of it (forgive me - it's the teacher coming out):

For each 1/60th of a second on screen -

720p (1280x720 pixels per progressive frame) = 921,600 pixels
1080i (1920x540 pixels per interlaced field) = 1,036,800 pixels

So, 720p is a little under a million pixels for each 1/60th of a second and 1080i is a little over. Another way of looking at this is that 720p has more lines in 1/60th of a second, while 1080i has more pixels per line. The net result is that 720p handles motion better. Interlacing was a compromise to the original NTSC television system, that, IMO, should never have been included in the ATSC standards. It introduces artifacts and unnecessarily complicates the post production process, not to mention that it is harder to compress.

The real difference between 1080 and 720 is most apparent on material that originates as film. Film runs at 24 frames per second and by its nature is "progressive." (There's no such thing as a film field.) The new HD-DVD and BluRay formats will be able to provide all the increased resolution of film mastered as 1080p24 (24 1920x1080 progessive frames, one for each of the film frames). 1080p24 has 50% more horizontal and vertical resolution than 720p24.

Here's the math of that -

640 + 640 = 1280
1280 + 640 = 1920

360 + 360 = 720
720 + 360 = 1080

For film, then, going from 720p to 1080p is comparable to going from DVD (720x480 pixels) to 720p HDTV. The potential for increased resolution is tremendous. Of course, this is where factors such as screen size and viewing distance come into play. If you have a 40" screen and view it from 18', it's unlikely you will be able to see much difference between 1080p and 480p. It's a limitation of the human eye. That's why I'm going to be very happy with my 720p projector until the HD-DVD and BluRay issues get settled and the 1080p projectors get better and cheaper.

You guys are going to vote me off the island, aren't you?

Joe, I'm not going to lie: I didn't understand a damn thing you said other than "cheaper."

I'd fail your class. =]

Well guys I took your advice and have a brand new Panasonic 50" Plasma TV sitting in my basemet. :-D I could not be happier. The picture is just incredible, and the extra 7" we got upgrading from the Hitachi projection is very noticeable. I would have to say I am very happy you guys pushed me away from the Sharp LCD and onto this TV!

I have run into one problem, though. Something very bizarre is going on with my Moxi box with regards to the remote controls. The response time between the remote and the box has become extremely slow. I have to push buttons twice sometimes, and mash on them to get a response other times. The reason I have narrowed this to the remote is because if I physically hit menu and the up/down buttons on the box itself it flies through the menu and channels like it always has. This was never like this with the Hitachi so I am kind of at a loss. I talked to Charter and they weren't much help. They noticed I hadn't had an "update in 2 months" whatever that means, so they forced one down. I couldn't quite understand what that would fix considering without any update the Hitachi and the Moxi worked just fine together.

Any possible solutions you guys can think of? I have two different remotes that I can work the Moxi with: the one that came with the box and a Universal Remote that I normally use. Both have the same issues, and new batteries in both did nothing. There is nothing obstructing the sensor on the Moxi box, and I even took it off it's glass shelf and laid it on the floor, aiming the remote 4 inches from the sensor game me the same results.

Thanks for any help you guys can offer!

Well guys I took your advice and have a brand new Panasonic 50" Plasma TV sitting in my basemet. :-D I could not be happier. The picture is just incredible, and the extra 7" we got upgrading from the Hitachi projection is very noticeable. I would have to say I am very happy you guys pushed me away from the Sharp LCD and onto this TV!

I have run into one problem, though. Something very bizarre is going on with my Moxi box with regards to the remote controls. The response time between the remote and the box has become extremely slow. I have to push buttons twice sometimes, and mash on them to get a response other times. The reason I have narrowed this to the remote is because if I physically hit menu and the up/down buttons on the box itself it flies through the menu and channels like it always has. This was never like this with the Hitachi so I am kind of at a loss. I talked to Charter and they weren't much help. They noticed I hadn't had an "update in 2 months" whatever that means, so they forced one down. I couldn't quite understand what that would fix considering without any update the Hitachi and the Moxi worked just fine together.

Any possible solutions you guys can think of? I have two different remotes that I can work the Moxi with: the one that came with the box and a Universal Remote that I normally use. Both have the same issues, and new batteries in both did nothing. There is nothing obstructing the sensor on the Moxi box, and I even took it off it's glass shelf and laid it on the floor, aiming the remote 4 inches from the sensor game me the same results.

Thanks for any help you guys can offer!

The plasma is interferring with the IR commands. I had to put a piece of exposed film over the ir sensor of my touchpad and it fixed it for me. Good choice on the TV.

Scott

Scott,
Thanks for the reply! I hinted with that being the problem, and tried to cover up the sensor on the Plasma, but didn't get any difference upon doing that. I also worried that the glass cabinet we might have bought could be causing the problem as well. I unhooked the box and moved it off the cabinet, far away, and now it is working just fine. I guess I could try the exposed film idea, but I might just move it to my column cabinet with all my other A/V equipment and be done with it!

Thanks again!

Scott,
Thanks for the reply! I hinted with that being the problem, and tried to cover up the sensor on the Plasma, but didn't get any difference upon doing that. I also worried that the glass cabinet we might have bought could be causing the problem as well. I unhooked the box and moved it off the cabinet, far away, and now it is working just fine. I guess I could try the exposed film idea, but I might just move it to my column cabinet with all my other A/V equipment and be done with it!

Thanks again!

As long as the ir sensor on the box is not facing the plasma you should be fine I think. Covering the ir sensor on the plasma will not do anything. If you continue to have issures cover the IR sensor on the box with exposed film.

Scott

Thank you to those who posted the info for Skywalkers. Well, I'm going to go with the bid at $80 for my additional satellite line install unless someone else has a better suggestion. The job is coming up on Wed. morning.

Howdy guys! Back again for some more lines of questioning.

1) Is it worth it to get one of those DVI to HDMI cables to hook the Moxi box up to the plasma? What is the benefit of that, and will I have to switch back and forth between inputs based on the signal I am getting?

2) This is a quesiton that I should have asked MANY months ago, but just never bothered. I have a strange problem with the digital sound on my Moxi box. For the longest time I had my optical cable for the digital sound. When I would first turn on my receiver, the sound would either not be there at all, it would stutter horribly, or pop so loud I had to change it immediately. I called Charter and they seemed shocked that I could get ANY sound on that optical feed, because they said they were not even active yet. Uh...ok. Upon hearing that I figured I would try the S/PDIF input instead, and I still get the same problem. Now EVENTUALLY the sound problems would work themselves out and I could use the input fine. Sometimes it would take 5 minutes, and sometimes 15 or so. The digital sound is MUCH better, and I would love to to just be able to use that all the time. This obviously isn't a huge issue, but more of an annoyance. Any ideas? Faults Moxi box maybe?

As always thanks a ton, guys! You guys are great!!!!

Interlacing was a compromise to the original NTSC television system, that, IMO, should never have been included in the ATSC standards. It introduces artifacts and unnecessarily complicates the post production process, not to mention that it is harder to compress.I could not agree with you more. To me, this is the single biggest mistake in the transition to ATSC, made worse by the fact that the major networks, when given a choice between 720 progressive or 1080 interlaced native HD, most chose the stinky interlaced format.

The real difference between 1080 and 720 is most apparent on material that originates as film. Film runs at 24 frames per second and by its nature is "progressive." (There's no such thing as a film field.) The new HD-DVD and BluRay formats will be able to provide all the increased resolution of film mastered as 1080p24 (24 1920x1080 progessive frames, one for each of the film frames). 1080p24 has 50% more horizontal and vertical resolution than 720p24.FWIW, 1080p/24 wouldn't be viable as a broadcast format due to the flicker that occurs with video at only 24 frames per second. Presumably this is addressed in HD-DVD and Blu-Ray through a frame-repeating scheme, but it's a deal-killer for 1080p/24 broadcast.

You guys are going to vote me off the island, aren't you?No way I'm kicking you off any island I happen to be stranded on, so long as you bring your projector, screen and the multi-terrabytes of pre-recorded movies and TV shows you've compiled. ;)

I ended up with a couple of extra of the free tickets for the Open House at Busch next Saturday, the 8th.
If anyone here missed out getting them, and wants to go, drop me a note.

The leader in HD screwed up the SNL start. The audio started at 10:30 with the official network feed over the audio of the local news. Talk about confusing...trying to listen to the weather with Alec Baldwin dying in the background!

No way I'm kicking you off any island I happen to be stranded on, so long as you bring your projector, screen and the multi-terrabytes of pre-recorded movies and TV shows you've compiled. ;)

OK. But when I die I want a little cross over my grave. And throw some Milk Duds in there.

I ended up with a couple of extra of the free tickets for the Open House at Busch next Saturday, the 8th.
If anyone here missed out getting them, and wants to go, drop me a note.

Which session was it for, the noon to 3 or the 5-8 one?

As long as the ir sensor on the box is not facing the plasma you should be fine I think. Covering the ir sensor on the plasma will not do anything. If you continue to have issures cover the IR sensor on the box with exposed film.

Scott

UGH! I totally misunderstood what you said, Scott! Sorry about that. When you said to cover the IR sensor, I assumed you meant the TV, and that worried me, because then how in the heck would I be able to work the TV? :-P I see now that you meant the Moxi box (I think?). My question would be what does covering that IR sensor do for me? Is that going to ensure that the box doesn't reflect the signal or something? Are you assuming that I have a card in the plasma from Charter (I don't, figured that wouldn't help much since I can't ditch the DVR)?

Moving the DVR certainly helped, but it's still not ideal, and I would certainly be willing to try the exposed film idea. Can you pretend I am a total idiot and tell me where exactly I am going to stick the film? :-D

1) Is it worth it to get one of those DVI to HDMI cables to hook the Moxi box up to the plasma? What is the benefit of that, and will I have to switch back and forth between inputs based on the signal I am getting?The cost of a 3- or 6-foot DVI/HDMI cable is pretty marginal, so it's definitely worth taking a look-see.

The theoretical benefit of going DVI or HDMI with a non-CRT display is that you maintain an all-digital signal path, with no interim conversions between digital and analog. Note that I say "theoretical," because there are many other factors that will determine how much advantage, if any, is actually gained.

For example, DVI/HDMI is still a relatively new technology with several different flavors and options, and CE companies are still learning how to implement this into product design foundations that often predate digital inputs. And in many cases, manufacturers convert HDMI or DVI signals to analog component video as soon as the digital signal enters the display. This is done (presumably) to save money on design, parts and servicing, but having even a single digital-to-analog conversion means you're getting no meaningful picture quality benefit from a DVI or HDMI source.

I don't know if this is the case with your Panasonic plasma, as I've never seen a block diagram for these displays since they started carrying digital inputs.

One other point to bear in mind in comparing HDMI/DVI sources with analog sources. In virtually all cases, digital signals that aren't converted to component are going to be processed differently than the analog signals they're compared against, with different underlying digital signal service settings for contrast, brightness, color, tint, color decoding, grayscale, gamma, etc.

As a result, sometimes what consumers see as "better" pictures via DVI/HDMI will sometimes simply come down to the fact that they look "different" than the same source via an analog path. But because "digital" is now deemed supreme, "different" becomes de facto "better," when in fact there may be little or no actual difference once other key variables are normalized.

The only thing I feel I can say wth certainty about digital video connections, is that it's good that they only require a single connector (compared against multi-wire component or RGB connectors), and with HDMI the small connector size is a very nice benefit.

Edit: There would be no need to change between component or DVI/HDMI, based on the type of signal sent from different cable channels (NTSC, 720p HD, 1080i HD, etc).

2) This is a quesiton that I should have asked MANY months ago, but just never bothered. I have a strange problem with the digital sound on my Moxi box. For the longest time I had my optical cable for the digital sound. When I would first turn on my receiver, the sound would either not be there at all, it would stutter horribly, or pop so loud I had to change it immediately. I called Charter and they seemed shocked that I could get ANY sound on that optical feed, because they said they were not even active yet. Uh...ok. Upon hearing that I figured I would try the S/PDIF input instead, and I still get the same problem. Now EVENTUALLY the sound problems would work themselves out and I could use the input fine. Sometimes it would take 5 minutes, and sometimes 15 or so. The digital sound is MUCH better, and I would love to to just be able to use that all the time. This obviously isn't a huge issue, but more of an annoyance. Any ideas? Faults Moxi box maybe?This sounds like a hardware issue, or at least that seems the logical place to start tackling the problem. Looks like there's a Charter service call in your future...

I contacted DirecTV to inquire about the STL HD locals and when they would be available and I also asked about the HD DVR with MPEG4. Here is what the rep said for those of you that might be interested.




Thanks for asking about high-definition television (HDTV). I'm excited to hear that you're interested in our HD DVR, our most advanced receiver yet. The DIRECTV HD DVR combines the recording functions of the DIRECTV DVR with the ability to receive and record programming in high definition. The DIRECTV HD DVR features a 250 GB hard drive with over 200 hours of recording space and state of the art video and audio quality. Visit DIRECTV.com/HDDVR to learn more and to order one today.

Local HD programming launches in the St. Louis, MO area on or around May 2006. We can upgrade your DIRECTV system with the right equipment to receive the new HD local channels. To learn more please call us at 1-800-531-5000, a customer service representative will be happy to assist you.

We're committed to providing the best in HDTV programming and we're in constant discussions with various program providers to continue adding new channels and programming. Stay tuned to DIRECTV.com/HDTV for the latest news about our service.

Sincerely,

Michelle
DIRECTV Customer Service

UGH! I totally misunderstood what you said, Scott! Sorry about that. When you said to cover the IR sensor, I assumed you meant the TV, and that worried me, because then how in the heck would I be able to work the TV? :-P I see now that you meant the Moxi box (I think?). My question would be what does covering that IR sensor do for me? Is that going to ensure that the box doesn't reflect the signal or something? Are you assuming that I have a card in the plasma from Charter (I don't, figured that wouldn't help much since I can't ditch the DVR)?

Moving the DVR certainly helped, but it's still not ideal, and I would certainly be willing to try the exposed film idea. Can you pretend I am a total idiot and tell me where exactly I am going to stick the film? :-D

No problem. Just put it over the IR sensor on the DVR. I have a plasma in my bedroom that faces a in-wall touchpad with an IR sensor. As soon as I put the plasma in the room my remote started working slowly or intermittently. I covered the IR sensor of the touchpad and It's fixed. Plasmas will affect IR sensors for some reason. Was you new plasma facing the DVR? Or, maybe it doesn't have to face it I'm not really sure. But, your problems started to happen after adding the plasma, so I figured you were having the same problem as I did. The film is a cheap fix if it works for you. By the way, the first thing you should do is take the new plasma off of "torch mode" by turning the contrast/picture setting to much less than the 100% the plasma is shipped at. Good luck.

Scott

Scott

Howdy guys! Back again for some more lines of questioning.

1) Is it worth it to get one of those DVI to HDMI cables to hook the Moxi box up to the plasma? What is the benefit of that, and will I have to switch back and forth between inputs based on the signal I am getting?

Don't bother buying the cable because the DVI port on the Moxi boxes are disabled by Charter, so it will not work. For HD you only have component with all Charter HD boxes. I had a Moxi box up until 2 weeks ago when I got the 622 from Dish. My brother was thinking of getting a Moxi, so when they came for the charter box if the port was still closed and he said yes, and that they will not activate it because they are dropping the Motorola DVR's for something else.

[...] For HD you only have component with all Charter HD boxes. [...]

DVI works fine with my Charter Motorola 6200.