Louisville, KY - HDTV

NightowlKY · 05-09-02, 06:21 PM

Well, the WHAS-DT thread has lived its life, I think, and it's time for a general thread given the news now that Insight might be offering HD over cable by EOY.

I'll start off by saying I think my phone call to WHAS worked! Watching their 6pm newscast on the digital channel in 4:3! No more stretched image! This is a good step forward. Now we'll see how they handle Stuart Little tonight as I see TitanTV showing WCPO-DT (Cincinnati) with Stuart Little in HD. Oh, the audio seems improved, too. Not quite equal to the analog yet but better. Now if we can just get them to lose that huge-a$$ logo bug in the lower-right corner!

And, I'll end with a general query to Woowoo and Willam Smith. Is WKPC-DT going to be showing the scheduled HD programs in HD or continued multi-casting? I see a few shows coming up next week that, according to the DTV schedule at www.ket.org, show them to be in HD.

Things are starting to pick up here in the Derby city!

UPDATE: Per an actual thought I had, here's a list of technical contacts to report problems. (Thanks to all who contribute!):

WHAS 582-7840
WHAS NEWS (for nights and weekends)582-7223

WAVE 585-2201
WAVE NEWS (for nights and weekends)561-4150

WLKY 893-3671
WLKY NEWS (for nights and weekends)891-4932
Chief Engineer Jim Mercer [email]jmercer@hearst.com

NightowlKY · 05-09-02, 08:32 PM

I just spoke w/Neal re:the audio issue with Stuart Little tonight (just static on the national feed and commercials, local commercials sounded ok). They're all still recovering from the Derby production of Thunder and are fleshing things out.

He said, for one, they are reading this forum now so they can see our feedback. Also, they just pass the HD signal from ABC through and cannot do any processing on that signal. I mentioned if they are actually receiving a 16:9 signal tonight, it appears to be zoomed and cropped in all dimensions (esp. noticeable to the left and right edges of the frame compared to the analog version).

I did thank him for getting rid of the stretched 4:3 image.

Sooo...I will gladly give WHAS a bit more time before making any more judgments and just hope for the best.

I was also hoping that front moving through would provide some tropo enhancment to Cincinnati (I could catch WCPO-DT and compare) but that's not happening.

bruggles · 05-09-02, 09:38 PM

Hey all,

I have a Zenith DTV1080 being fed by a ChannelMaster 4221 4-bowtie antenna. I live in Prospect (just into Oldham County). Here's my problem - when I do an EZ-scan, the only digital channels I get are 15-(1-4) (KPC?). I can't get WHAS (55/11-1). This is even though the signal strength meter is in the "Good" range (I would estimate 80-90 out of 100 if there were numbers on the meter). Even 15-(1-4) has a choppy signal. I've got my antenna in one of my upstairs rooms (very near the location I will mount it on my house) facing SW. Any ideas on what my problem is?

Thanks.

NightowlKY · 05-09-02, 09:50 PM

Hey, bruggles.

Do you mean to mount that on the roof? That should definitely help reception.

But, pointing SW? I would think you'd want to point pretty much due West. I'm just in Jeff. County from PeWee Valley and the WHAS tower is about 12 degrees North of West for me. I've found significant dropoff to the SW but better to the NW of the tower.

And, what's the tree/building situation around you? And what type of cabling, the distance, splitters in use, etc.?

bruggles · 05-09-02, 10:00 PM

It will be mounted on the side of the house at roof level. It is actually pointing about due West (maybe just a little south of due west). There is about 70' of quad-shield RG6 in between, with no splitters. Do you think that the signal meter on the DTV1080 is misleading?

Thanks.

NightowlKY · 05-09-02, 10:15 PM

Well, it's more of a signal over noise measurement. I've had locks on Indy digitals or Cincy digitals during tropo enhancement and the signal % has shown 50-51% and had no dropouts as it was a rather clean signal, but weak.

If you get a lot of fluctuation in strength I believe that's a sign of a lot of multipath interference (trees/buildings/hills).

You may need to switch to a more directional-type antenna like the Channel Master 3022 instead of the bowtie. But, get it on the roof, if you can. Use an eave-mount and a small mast (Radio Shack has a 5' steel mast you could use for about $10) or a chimney mount and, say, a 10' mast. Height is your friend.

PCS · 05-09-02, 10:24 PM

Just caught the news on the Insight HD plan. I'm psyched! This would be so much easier and really help HD catch on more quickly. It seems like there is finally more movement all over the country on Hidef. I hope within 6 months we see CBS and NBC go HD here in Louisville.

William Smith · 05-09-02, 10:34 PM

We lost the sat receiver we use to pickup the HD feeds, I hope to have another receiver online for the weekend. Check the digital section of our web site to check for programming. or send email to the address on the digital page. Programming reads the emails.

William

woowoo · 05-10-02, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by William Smith
programming reads the emails.

William

So write them S L O W L Y

:-)
Woo

BTW
The plan to carry PBS on Insight is a National Level deal.
It was not something that happend localy.
Us bottom feeders are waiting to find out the Details

bruggles · 05-10-02, 07:45 AM

Jerry,

I'll give that a shot. Do I understand that you're getting Cincy and Indy HD feeds? That's great - I didn't realize that was a possibility (although right now I'll be happy to get the Louisville feeds).

I'll keep you updated, although I won't be able to do anything for a few days.

NightowlKY · 05-10-02, 08:21 AM

woowoo,

LOL!

bruggles,

Well, actually, this morning I was able to lock WKRC-DT out of Cincy at about 70-73% and WRTV-DT out of Indy at 53-54%. But, conditions were good this morning for signal propagation after that front moved through last evening.

The Hepburn Tropo Forecast is a pretty accurate indicator.

Understand about the time issue, too. There's much I'd like to do to mine but time/money is always a concern

MichaelZ · 05-13-02, 11:16 PM

I wish WHAS-DT would get their sh#t together. I checked the local newcast this evening and once again there were lipsync issues. Looked like about 1/2 second out of sync. Doesn't anyone at the station look at their own telecasts?

John Nelson · 05-14-02, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by NightowlKY
Insight might be offering HD over cable by EOY.

Must have missed the announcement, can you point me to further info??

Thanks

William Smith · 05-14-02, 07:32 PM

The replacement sat receiver is set for HD tonight.

Happy viewing.

William

NightowlKY · 05-14-02, 09:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by William Smith
The replacement sat receiver is set for HD tonight.

Happy viewing.

William

Hey, William.

Well, I can tell it's 16:9 and the other three channels show black but show signal strength but the show itself, Evolution, doesn't look HD. Nowhere near the shows of Smart Travels I've seen before. Maybe these interview segments weren't in HD? Or the drama part itself wasn't in HD? Or maybe I'm just not sure what I'm seeing

It looks quite soft and grainy to what I've seen on even CBS.

It looks good, though, just not the heart-stopping clarity I saw on that Smart Travels show one day several weeks ago.

NightowlKY · 05-14-02, 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by John Nelson

Must have missed the announcement, can you point me to further info??

Thanks

John,

Take a look at Keith's post near the end of this thread

William Smith · 05-14-02, 11:43 PM

Well, its listed as HD.....

woowoo · 05-15-02, 01:17 PM

Looks like we passed what was sent
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=140548
Later
Woot

NightowlKY · 05-15-02, 03:04 PM

Yeah...saw that, woo.

We'll see how Aleutians looks tonight at 10.

NightowlKY · 05-15-02, 08:26 PM

Well, although the ABC logo is in the far right (I thought that meant they were cropping the image), I was able to compare the digital channel to the analog and there is definitely more image to the left and the right.

Soo...looks like we're on the right track for ABC-HD. I'd say the image quality is on par with, say, Everybody Loves Raymond but minus the red push CBS has. Well, the audio is still way too low.

UPDATE:

WKPC-DT showing Aleutians in HD. Oooo...this looks SWEET!!

PCS · 05-16-02, 09:36 AM

Good job KET on the Aleutians. Excellent PQ. Glad you are back up and delivering.

MichaelZ · 05-16-02, 01:51 PM

I see that WHAS forgot to flip the HD switch Tues. night for NYPD blue. I was checking my HiPix and saw it was broadcast in 4:3 - what a waste

Outside of WKPC, we still do not have any HD in this town. I also got a message from a friend of mine the WDRB is not planning on broadcasting anything digital until at least the first of next year

Louisville, a world class city, LOL!

NightowlKY · 05-16-02, 02:15 PM

Well, Drew and According to Jim (is that the name?) were in HD on WHAS.

I wonder how far WAVE and WLKY are coming? WDRB doesn't matter much to me since FOX will probably never do HD and stations in Cincy/Dayton aren't even doing the FOX Widescreen so I doubt WDRB will either.

I wish WAVE would get moving. I caught Leno in HD last night from WLWT-DT 35 in Cincy and it looked just incredible. It's sharper than anything from CBS or ABC.

wa4ryb · 05-16-02, 05:33 PM

After NYPD Blue wasn't shown in HD I called WHAS Master Control the following day. It appears that the Digital Transmitter has a separate Video Switcher and the master control personell either didn't know how to feed the transmitter or they forget. The gentleman I spoke with said that they were working on automating the process...Anyway congrats to the Master Controlers last night for 3 sit coms in hd.....

PCS · 05-16-02, 11:05 PM

I feel your pain Wa4ryb! It is frustrating that WHAS forgets to hit the switch. I too was disappointed with NYPD blue. I was glad to see the sitcoms back the next day in HD. Right now I'm trying to stay cool and focus on progress for my own sanity's sake. I have to say I am getting 100% more HD than I was 6 months ago. Still not enough to satisfy hidef lovin' me (ie. not really world class yet), but it's progress.

woowoo · 05-17-02, 07:08 AM

Life got better for us after william came up with a simple way to "Throw the switch"

If a station gets Lots of phone calls........
They will remember to do it.

MichaelZ · 05-17-02, 08:00 AM

I usually watch all my network HD stuff on ExpressVu but I have a HiPix for time-shifting. I usually don't know whether WHAS has flipped the switch until after it been aired. I hope they get it automated. Seems like other stations have a computer do the "switch flipping".

bairda · 05-17-02, 09:10 AM

Tried to catch a little of Con-Air last night on the ABC big picture show...was this supposed to be in HD? Didn't have time to take a look at HDTVgalaxy or watch much of it..but it looked to be SD and 4:3...

NightowlKY · 05-17-02, 12:11 PM

Don't believe Con Air was supposed to be in HD. But, isn't there a movie coming up on Sat. on ABC that is?

bairda · 05-17-02, 04:15 PM

Air Force 1 tomorrow night...hope WHAS does FTDS (flip the damn switch) and we don't have any weird audio...also Dinosaur will be on Sunday night. Should be a great weekend to test out your HDTV setup.

Now if only had my new NEC projector here to see it!

05-09-02, 06:21 PM	#1 \| Link	<a href='http://rev.avsforum.com/phpAdsNew/adclick.php?n=a4ac4393' target='_blank'><img src='http://rev.avsforum.com/phpAdsNew/adview.php?what=zone:30&n=a4ac4393' border='0' alt=''></a>
NightowlKY Hot Dang That View! Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Lake Mary, FL USA Posts: 653	Louisville, KY - HDTV talk Well, the WHAS-DT thread has lived its life, I think, and it's time for a general thread given the news now that Insight might be offering HD over cable by EOY. I'll start off by saying I think my phone call to WHAS worked! Watching their 6pm newscast on the digital channel in 4:3! No more stretched image! This is a good step forward. Now we'll see how they handle Stuart Little tonight as I see TitanTV showing WCPO-DT (Cincinnati) with Stuart Little in HD. Oh, the audio seems improved, too. Not quite equal to the analog yet but better. Now if we can just get them to lose that huge-a$$ logo bug in the lower-right corner! And, I'll end with a general query to Woowoo and Willam Smith. Is WKPC-DT going to be showing the scheduled HD programs in HD or continued multi-casting? I see a few shows coming up next week that, according to the DTV schedule at www.ket.org, show them to be in HD. Things are starting to pick up here in the Derby city! UPDATE: Per an actual thought I had, here's a list of technical contacts to report problems. (Thanks to all who contribute!): WHAS 582-7840 WHAS NEWS (for nights and weekends)582-7223 WAVE 585-2201 WAVE NEWS (for nights and weekends)561-4150 WLKY 893-3671 WLKY NEWS (for nights and weekends)891-4932 Chief Engineer Jim Mercer [email]jmercer@hearst.com Last edited by NightowlKY; 01-05-04 at 10:17 PM..

05-09-02, 08:32 PM	#2 \| Link
NightowlKY Hot Dang That View! Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Lake Mary, FL USA Posts: 653	Update! I spoke w/Neal I just spoke w/Neal re:the audio issue with Stuart Little tonight (just static on the national feed and commercials, local commercials sounded ok). They're all still recovering from the Derby production of Thunder and are fleshing things out. He said, for one, they are reading this forum now so they can see our feedback. Also, they just pass the HD signal from ABC through and cannot do any processing on that signal. I mentioned if they are actually receiving a 16:9 signal tonight, it appears to be zoomed and cropped in all dimensions (esp. noticeable to the left and right edges of the frame compared to the analog version). I did thank him for getting rid of the stretched 4:3 image. Sooo...I will gladly give WHAS a bit more time before making any more judgments and just hope for the best. I was also hoping that front moving through would provide some tropo enhancment to Cincinnati (I could catch WCPO-DT and compare) but that's not happening.

05-09-02, 09:38 PM	#3 \| Link
bruggles Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Prospect, KY Posts: 57	Signal Strength Hey all, I have a Zenith DTV1080 being fed by a ChannelMaster 4221 4-bowtie antenna. I live in Prospect (just into Oldham County). Here's my problem - when I do an EZ-scan, the only digital channels I get are 15-(1-4) (KPC?). I can't get WHAS (55/11-1). This is even though the signal strength meter is in the "Good" range (I would estimate 80-90 out of 100 if there were numbers on the meter). Even 15-(1-4) has a choppy signal. I've got my antenna in one of my upstairs rooms (very near the location I will mount it on my house) facing SW. Any ideas on what my problem is? Thanks.

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bruggles Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Prospect, KY Posts: 57	It will be mounted on the side of the house at roof level. It is actually pointing about due West (maybe just a little south of due west). There is about 70' of quad-shield RG6 in between, with no splitters. Do you think that the signal meter on the DTV1080 is misleading? Thanks.

05-10-02, 07:45 AM	#10 \| Link	<a href='http://rev.avsforum.com/phpAdsNew/adclick.php?n=a591f81a' target='_blank'><img src='http://rev.avsforum.com/phpAdsNew/adview.php?what=zone:36&n=a591f81a' border='0' alt=''></a>
bruggles Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Prospect, KY Posts: 57	Jerry, I'll give that a shot. Do I understand that you're getting Cincy and Indy HD feeds? That's great - I didn't realize that was a possibility (although right now I'll be happy to get the Louisville feeds). I'll keep you updated, although I won't be able to do anything for a few days.

05-09-02, 09:50 PM	#4 \| Link
NightowlKY Hot Dang That View! Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Lake Mary, FL USA Posts: 653	Hey, bruggles. Do you mean to mount that on the roof? That should definitely help reception. But, pointing SW? I would think you'd want to point pretty much due West. I'm just in Jeff. County from PeWee Valley and the WHAS tower is about 12 degrees North of West for me. I've found significant dropoff to the SW but better to the NW of the tower. And, what's the tree/building situation around you? And what type of cabling, the distance, splitters in use, etc.?

05-09-02, 10:15 PM	#6 \| Link
NightowlKY Hot Dang That View! Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Lake Mary, FL USA Posts: 653	Well, it's more of a signal over noise measurement. I've had locks on Indy digitals or Cincy digitals during tropo enhancement and the signal % has shown 50-51% and had no dropouts as it was a rather clean signal, but weak. If you get a lot of fluctuation in strength I believe that's a sign of a lot of multipath interference (trees/buildings/hills). You may need to switch to a more directional-type antenna like the Channel Master 3022 instead of the bowtie. But, get it on the roof, if you can. Use an eave-mount and a small mast (Radio Shack has a 5' steel mast you could use for about $10) or a chimney mount and, say, a 10' mast. Height is your friend.

05-09-02, 10:24 PM	#7 \| Link
PCS Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Louisville,KY Posts: 401	Just caught the news on the Insight HD plan. I'm psyched! This would be so much easier and really help HD catch on more quickly. It seems like there is finally more movement all over the country on Hidef. I hope within 6 months we see CBS and NBC go HD here in Louisville.

05-09-02, 10:34 PM	#8 \| Link
William Smith AVS Special Member Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Lexington,Kentucky,USA Posts: 1,123	We lost the sat receiver we use to pickup the HD feeds, I hope to have another receiver online for the weekend. Check the digital section of our web site to check for programming. or send email to the address on the digital page. Programming reads the emails. William

05-10-02, 08:21 AM	#11 \| Link
NightowlKY Hot Dang That View! Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Lake Mary, FL USA Posts: 653	woowoo, LOL! bruggles, Well, actually, this morning I was able to lock WKRC-DT out of Cincy at about 70-73% and WRTV-DT out of Indy at 53-54%. But, conditions were good this morning for signal propagation after that front moved through last evening. The Hepburn Tropo Forecast is a pretty accurate indicator. Understand about the time issue, too. There's much I'd like to do to mine but time/money is always a concern

05-13-02, 11:16 PM	#12 \| Link
MichaelZ AVS Special Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Posts: 1,383	I wish WHAS-DT would get their sh#t together. I checked the local newcast this evening and once again there were lipsync issues. Looked like about 1/2 second out of sync. Doesn't anyone at the station look at their own telecasts?

05-14-02, 07:32 PM	#14 \| Link
William Smith AVS Special Member Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Lexington,Kentucky,USA Posts: 1,123	The replacement sat receiver is set for HD tonight. Happy viewing. William

05-14-02, 11:43 PM	#17 \| Link
William Smith AVS Special Member Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Lexington,Kentucky,USA Posts: 1,123	Well, its listed as HD.....

05-15-02, 01:17 PM	#18 \| Link
woowoo Advanced Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: jeffersonville, indiana Posts: 599	Looks like we passed what was sent http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=140548 Later Woot __________________ Studio Broadcast Engineer KET

05-15-02, 03:04 PM	#19 \| Link
NightowlKY Hot Dang That View! Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Lake Mary, FL USA Posts: 653	Yeah...saw that, woo. We'll see how Aleutians looks tonight at 10.

05-15-02, 08:26 PM	#20 \| Link
NightowlKY Hot Dang That View! Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Lake Mary, FL USA Posts: 653	WHAS-DT at 16:9 Well, although the ABC logo is in the far right (I thought that meant they were cropping the image), I was able to compare the digital channel to the analog and there is definitely more image to the left and the right. Soo...looks like we're on the right track for ABC-HD. I'd say the image quality is on par with, say, Everybody Loves Raymond but minus the red push CBS has. Well, the audio is still way too low. UPDATE: WKPC-DT showing Aleutians in HD. Oooo...this looks SWEET!! Last edited by NightowlKY; 05-15-02 at 10:00 PM..

05-16-02, 09:36 AM	#21 \| Link
PCS Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Louisville,KY Posts: 401	Good job KET on the Aleutians. Excellent PQ. Glad you are back up and delivering.

05-16-02, 01:51 PM	#22 \| Link
MichaelZ AVS Special Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Posts: 1,383	I see that WHAS forgot to flip the HD switch Tues. night for NYPD blue. I was checking my HiPix and saw it was broadcast in 4:3 - what a waste Outside of WKPC, we still do not have any HD in this town. I also got a message from a friend of mine the WDRB is not planning on broadcasting anything digital until at least the first of next year Louisville, a world class city, LOL!

05-16-02, 02:15 PM	#23 \| Link
NightowlKY Hot Dang That View! Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Lake Mary, FL USA Posts: 653	Well, Drew and According to Jim (is that the name?) were in HD on WHAS. I wonder how far WAVE and WLKY are coming? WDRB doesn't matter much to me since FOX will probably never do HD and stations in Cincy/Dayton aren't even doing the FOX Widescreen so I doubt WDRB will either. I wish WAVE would get moving. I caught Leno in HD last night from WLWT-DT 35 in Cincy and it looked just incredible. It's sharper than anything from CBS or ABC.

05-16-02, 05:33 PM	#24 \| Link
wa4ryb Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 70	After NYPD Blue wasn't shown in HD I called WHAS Master Control the following day. It appears that the Digital Transmitter has a separate Video Switcher and the master control personell either didn't know how to feed the transmitter or they forget. The gentleman I spoke with said that they were working on automating the process...Anyway congrats to the Master Controlers last night for 3 sit coms in hd.....

05-16-02, 11:05 PM	#25 \| Link
PCS Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Louisville,KY Posts: 401	I feel your pain Wa4ryb! It is frustrating that WHAS forgets to hit the switch. I too was disappointed with NYPD blue. I was glad to see the sitcoms back the next day in HD. Right now I'm trying to stay cool and focus on progress for my own sanity's sake. I have to say I am getting 100% more HD than I was 6 months ago. Still not enough to satisfy hidef lovin' me (ie. not really world class yet), but it's progress.

05-17-02, 07:08 AM	#26 \| Link
woowoo Advanced Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: jeffersonville, indiana Posts: 599	Life got better for us after william came up with a simple way to "Throw the switch" If a station gets Lots of phone calls........ They will remember to do it. __________________ Studio Broadcast Engineer KET

05-17-02, 08:00 AM	#27 \| Link
MichaelZ AVS Special Member Join Date: Sep 2000 Posts: 1,383	I usually watch all my network HD stuff on ExpressVu but I have a HiPix for time-shifting. I usually don't know whether WHAS has flipped the switch until after it been aired. I hope they get it automated. Seems like other stations have a computer do the "switch flipping". Last edited by MichaelZ; 05-17-02 at 11:53 AM..

05-17-02, 09:10 AM	#28 \| Link
bairda Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Louisville, KY USA Posts: 437	Tried to catch a little of Con-Air last night on the ABC big picture show...was this supposed to be in HD? Didn't have time to take a look at HDTVgalaxy or watch much of it..but it looked to be SD and 4:3...

05-17-02, 12:11 PM	#29 \| Link
NightowlKY Hot Dang That View! Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Lake Mary, FL USA Posts: 653	Don't believe Con Air was supposed to be in HD. But, isn't there a movie coming up on Sat. on ABC that is?

05-17-02, 04:15 PM	#30 \| Link	<a href='http://rev.avsforum.com/phpAdsNew/adclick.php?n=a591f81a' target='_blank'><img src='http://rev.avsforum.com/phpAdsNew/adview.php?what=zone:36&n=a591f81a' border='0' alt=''></a>
bairda Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Louisville, KY USA Posts: 437	Air Force 1 tomorrow night...hope WHAS does FTDS (flip the damn switch) and we don't have any weird audio...also Dinosaur will be on Sunday night. Should be a great weekend to test out your HDTV setup. Now if only had my new NEC projector here to see it!