The NFL on FOX in HDTV for week 5 include the following games:

1PM
Detroit at Washington
Arizona at St. Louis
Seattle at Pittsburgh
Atlanta at Tennessee
Carolina at New Orleans

4:05PM
Tampa Bay at Indianapolis

All FOX HD games are produced in 720p and 5.1.

All times ET.

Please include your source (call letters and city) and provider (Cable, Sat, OTA, ST).

Sun outages may affect the reliability of the HD feed during the early games this week. The outages usually lasts about 20 or so minutes and will move from west to east across the country.

The outages move from west to east. Here's a calculator (http://www.satellite-calculations.com/SUNcalc/SUNcalc.htm).

The outages move from west to east.

Thanks, my post has been edited.

DET / WSH on WJBK in Detroit from Comcast. It looks good now, the first 8 minutes of the broadcast were in SD.

Falcons/Titans only in SD here in Atlanta, WAGA-TV. :(

Frequent audio dropouts in the Seahawks - Steelers game. Watching via Comcast on WPMT.

pittsburgh fox affiliate wpgh (via cable) just dropped to SD at the start of the 2nd quarter.

wtf. i thought only kdka screwed up like this

pittsburgh fox affiliate wpgh (via cable) just dropped to SD at the start of the 2nd quarter.

wtf. i thought only kdka screwed up like this

It may be related to a sun outage.

i'm in huntsville, al and i'm getting occasional HD-SD video changes. Probably sun related as mentioned above.

At least its not on CBS. Even the SD feed on my HD OTA channel on fox looks better than any junk CBS normally broadcasts for the titans broadcasts here lol.

I just saw a gamebreak from the ARZ / STL game. I wonder what problem caused FOX to use the FSN FOX Box look for that game.

I noticed that the CBS game went to SD on KCBS around the same time. Fox is SD on KTTV. There's a lot of artifacts, looks like a SD feed from a satellite service. I don't know if the game started here in HD.

EDIT: Just switched back to HD.

The Lions/Redskins game all of a sudden went to SD in the 2nd quarter... what's going on?

Read the thread, sun outages. It'll be back soon.

The Lions/Redskins game all of a sudden went to SD in the 2nd quarter... what's going on?

See the second post, that is the most likely problem.

It's the equinox sun outage blues. There's usually a backup of the SD network on another satellite. When the HD network disappears a station might have to upconvert from the available SD feed.

Only SD for New Orleans and Carolina here in Lexington, SC

OTA

So my quesiton is, why would SD be OK but HD not? Are they not both distributed the same way?

The game just went SD in the New Orleans area also.

So my quesiton is, why would SD be OK but HD not? Are they not both distributed the same way?

SD is the primary service so they have backup SD on another satellite, that way the sun outage happens at different times, so one feed is always good.

can someone explain what a "sun outage" is.. i'm here in pgh watching the game and like the above posted mentioned it went to SD about 15 min ago. It's still in SD.

How long will this last? i went to the web link to calculate it.. but i would need to know what sat. they are using for the game to calculate this.

Also i'd like to ask the question.. why would a major network put up with such a problem. I mean i know it's a technical problem. But why put up with it.. why can't they find a way around it? Does this just mean that for the rest of time we'll have to deal with lack of HD during certain times? I can't accept that.

I just saw a gamebreak from the ARZ / STL game. I wonder what problem caused FOX to use the FSN FOX Box look for that game.

It's possible that they had to use the truck from the Kansas/K-State game.

Sun outages may affect the reliability of the HD feed during the early games this week. The outages usually lasts about 20 or so minutes and will move from west to east across the country.

homcom - can you explain exactly what this "sun outages" is? Just curious. That calculator the guy after you posted is confusing as heck for a neophyte like me. Thanks.

Ok so HD is just on one sat and when that goes .. it goes.. that sucks. It feel like networks don't really consider HD that import just yet. When will it be considered mission critical to them? We all have our nice HD set and i'd say about 20% of the time crap like this happens.

I really don't care why.. it just needs to work. And for people who don't understand all this. All they see is that HD isn't reliable, so they don't buy it, and thus HD doesn't get the market that is needs.

can someone explain what a "sun outage" is.. i'm here in pgh watching the game and like the above posted mentioned it went to SD about 15 min ago. It's still in SD.

How long will this last? i went to the web link to calculate it.. but i would need to know what sat. they are using for the game to calculate this.

Also i'd like to ask the question.. why would a major network put up with such a problem. I mean i know it's a technical problem. But why put up with it.. why can't they find a way around it? Does this just mean that for the rest of time we'll have to deal with lack of HD during certain times? I can't accept that.
Here is information on what a sun outage is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_outage

When HD becomes the primary service, there will be backups for HD as well. Currently there is only backups for SD.

Skins Lions game still in SD here on the east coast. It's been about 25 minutes so far. How much longer?

can someone explain what a "sun outage" is.. i'm here in pgh watching the game and like the above posted mentioned it went to SD about 15 min ago. It's still in SD.

How long will this last? i went to the web link to calculate it.. but i would need to know what sat. they are using for the game to calculate this.

Also i'd like to ask the question.. why would a major network put up with such a problem. I mean i know it's a technical problem. But why put up with it.. why can't they find a way around it? Does this just mean that for the rest of time we'll have to deal with lack of HD during certain times? I can't accept that.

Well, if what the other post said is true, and I have no reason to discredit them.

The network has chosen to backup only the SD feed on another satelite so if the satelite with the HD feed is interupted they do not have redudency for this feed like they do with the SD feed.

I agree this is stupid, almost as stupid as how NBC (I'm pretty sure it's NBC) has some super advanced uplink located in NEW YORK CITY, that doesn't work when it snows. That's what was causing all the issues with the HD feeds during the last olympics.

I mean really, like it NEVER snows in NY?

outage in Pittsburgh (sun related or not) entire 2nd quarter which is far more than 15-20 minutes

*just came back during the commercial as I was typing...

can someone explain what a "sun outage" is.. i'm here in pgh watching the game and like the above posted mentioned it went to SD about 15 min ago. It's still in SD.

How long will this last? i went to the web link to calculate it.. but i would need to know what sat. they are using for the game to calculate this.

Also i'd like to ask the question.. why would a major network put up with such a problem. I mean i know it's a technical problem. But why put up with it.. why can't they find a way around it? Does this just mean that for the rest of time we'll have to deal with lack of HD during certain times? I can't accept that.

Most satellites are located on line with the equator, during the months of April and October the sun also moves in line with the equator.
Depending on where you are located, the sun moves behind the satellite and overpowers the signal causing interference, in the digital realm a black screen.

It's too complex to move signals around to avoid the outages. They only last 10-15 minutes, and in most areas for a period within those months 7-10 days.

HD feeds take alot more bandwidth than SD and therefore are more costly to backup. This is really complicated by having multiple games on at the same time. The reality is that the money still comes from the SD feeds, and the outage is usually less than 10 min.

In digital the feed will usually start to stutter and then either freeze or goes to black. Even before then one can see the Eb/No start to decrease. In analog it gradually fades away to noise and then fades back.

The satellites used by CBS and Fox are close to the same orbital slot.

yep same here still out...only standard...usually this happends on the other AFC channel...I think its channel 9's hd channel here in the dc area.

Fox in DC back to HD

just came back on now in dc area

well its hard for HD to become the primary service when people see my HD go out like this. Makes them not want to buy HD.

Steelers-Seahawks game is still hosed up here (via D*) midway thru 3rd qtr... and has been bad since early 2nd qtr... even the SD feed is unwatchable, comes and goes and is never better than blocky... Hopefully the 'issue' gets resolved soon as we're way beyond 'typical' time for a sun related outage...

Interestinginly, CBS feed for the NYJ-NYG game never missed a beat... full HD the whole time so far... as was ABC for Nascar and NBC for golf... either those nets have backup HD feeds already, or have sats in an unaffected path...

well its hard for HD to become the primary service when people see my HD go out like this. Makes them not want to buy HD.

Sun Outages happen twice a year, if people are not getting into HD because of sun outages, I say their loss.

Steelers-Seahawks game is still hosed up here (via D*) midway thru 3rd qtr... and has been bad since early 2nd qtr... even the SD feed is unwatchable, comes and goes and is never better than blocky... Hopefully the 'issue' gets resolved soon as we're way beyond 'typical' time for a sun related outage...

Interestinginly, CBS feed for the NYJ-NYG game never missed a beat... full HD the whole time so far... as was ABC for Nascar and NBC for golf... either those nets have backup HD feeds already, or have sats in an unaffected path...
Same on Comcast (in San Francisco). Seahawks-Steelers game is unwatchable into the 3rd quarter -- on the HD and the SD channel (lots of pops on the latter). CBS (NYG-NYJ is fine), as are other HD channels.

Actually looks like D* has given up on Fox at least temporarily.. instead of trying to send the whacked SD signal, they're broadcasting a message that the station is having issues and that Fox (implied) is working to fix it, and the feed will hopefully be back soon.

Of course I'm missing the one game I wanted to watch today but oh well... at least I can watch some HD football on CBS...

Oh... meant to mention the message starts out by saying "No need to call us..." meaning D* is likely tired of taking calls about the issue already... the message is pretty much meant to tell everyone its not their problem, but Fox's...

How long will this last? i went to the web link to calculate it.. but i would need to know what sat. they are using for the game to calculate this.

Also i'd like to ask the question.. why would a major network put up with such a problem. I mean i know it's a technical problem. But why put up with it.. why can't they find a way around it? Does this just mean that for the rest of time we'll have to deal with lack of HD during certain times? I can't accept that.Fox is Galaxy 3 @ 95 degrees and CBS is Galaxy 26 @ 93 degrees and sometimes Galaxy 25 @ 97 degrees. The outages are only during a week or so. As HD becomes the norm there will probably be more backup.

Here is information on what a sun outage is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_outage

When HD becomes the primary service, there will be backups for HD as well. Currently there is only backups for SD.

Actually, there is backup for the HD. Unfortunately, it is to up-convert the SD.

Why did Arizona/St. Louis have the snowstorm (i.e. FSN) scoreboard?

Actually, there is backup for the HD. Unfortunately, it is to up-convert the SD.

That's not a backup, that's what you call a contengency.

Actually looks like D* has given up on Fox at least temporarily.. instead of trying to send the whacked SD signal, they're broadcasting a message that the station is having issues and that Fox (implied) is working to fix it, and the feed will hopefully be back soon.

Of course I'm missing the one game I wanted to watch today but oh well... at least I can watch some HD football on CBS...

D* is not immune to sun outages. They will lose entire satellites periodically throughout the week.

Cable companies get most of their feeds from satellites and will lose whole blocks of channels during those periods.

I'm in LA and Fox (HD and SD) are NOT showing the Colts vs Bucaneers game.

This is the second week I can't see the Colts play. Last week CBS didn't show the Colts vs Broncos game.

Is there any explanation why I can't find the games EVER? I need to watch this games and I'm going nuts about not being able to watch ANYTHING I Want.

Thanks guys!

No double header for Fox this week. Go here (http://www.the506.com/nflmaps/2007-05-FOX.html) for this week's map for Fox.

Why did Arizona/St. Louis have the snowstorm (i.e. FSN) scoreboard?
Snowstorm?

Snowstorm?

Week 17 last year FOX had to scramble to put together a scaled down broadcast from Denver after the ongoing blizzard did not allow a truck to travel in. They used resources from Turner (in Denver already for a TNT NBA game) and FSN Rocky Mountain. They used the FSN score bug for that game rather then the normal NFL Fox bug.

Week 17 last year FOX had to scramble to put together a scaled down broadcast from Denver after the ongoing blizzard did not allow a truck to travel in. They used resources from Turner (in Denver already for a TNT NBA game) and FSN Rocky Mountain. They used the FSN score bug for that game rather then the normal NFL Fox bug.
Thanks. I thought "snowstorm" was some kind of internal name for the graphics package or something.