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Toledo, OH - HDTV

241K views 2K replies 163 participants last post by  snowdog 88 
#1 ·
Edited by Moderator, 8/21/09


Toledo over-the-air HDTV channels, network affiliations , digital, (legacy) channel numbers, subchannels:


WTOL CBS 11 (11)

-1 CBS HD

-2 News Now (SD)


WTVG ABC 13 (13)

-1 ABC HD

-2 LiveWell HD (SD)

-3 Weather Now (SD)


WNWO NBC 49 (24)

-1 NBC HD

-2 RTN Retro TV (SD)

-3 America One TV (SD)


WGTE PBS 29 (30)

-1 PBS HD

-2 PBS Family (SD)

-3 PBS Create (SD)


WUPW FOX 46 (36)

-1 FOX HD



Toledo over-the-air Digital SD Channels:


WLMB Ind 5 (40)

-1 Independent programming (SD)



Toledo Cable and IPTV providers:


Buckeye Cablesystem local HD lineup:

605 WT05 The CW HD

611 WTOL CBS HD

613 WTVG ABC HD

624 WNWO NBC HD

630 WGTE PBS HD

636 WUPW FOX HD


TWC Waterville local HD lineup:

703 WGTE PBS HD

707 WUPW FOX HD

710 WNWO NBC HD

711 WTOL CBS HD

713 WTVG ABC HD


AT&T U-verse local HD lineup:

FOX HD WUPW

NBC HD WNWO

ABC HD WTVG

PBS HD WGTE

CBS HD WTOL



DBS Providers Local HD


DirecTV:

FOX HD WUPW

NBC HD WNWO

CBS HD WTOL

ABC HD WTVG

PBS HD WGTE


Dish Network:

No local channels.
 
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#2 ·
I believe paulr has. He's been a beta tester for Buckeye so he can give you his feedback.

Have they announced their pricing yet? I'm wondering if they're going to be selling the STB as they indicated earlier or if they came to their senses and are goingt o rent it at a reasonable price. So far what I've heard about their pricing isn't too encouraging. Don't take down that Dish yet.
 
#3 ·
I spoke with Buckeyecable rep on Saturday...what a disappointment.

I have been waiting since January for them to roll out the hdtv, I will be cancelling my cable service for tv and for my computer!

They are selling the boxes for $450, then if you want to receive the local channels and additional 6.95 per month, then an additional 10.95 per month for the rest of the hd channels. I already pay $135 per month, I refuse to go up to $155 per month.

I went to Bestbuy and purchased a 2 room Directv system for $550 which includes all installation, an antenna to receive locals, and a 4 year warranty. My total bill including DSL will now be $100 per month.

I think Buckeyecable needs to wake up!
 
#5 ·
Thanks for the update. I would have hoped they would have realized that their pricing will put them out of the market. I too pay 140 a month currently for thier Ultralink digital service and refuse to be forced to buy a box as well as pay the monthly prices their proposing. I've comapred also with other cable system prices in major cities in OH and they are by far the most expensive. For now I'll continue to recive HD via OTA for free I'm sure as most others will choose as well. Once I deal with a couple trees in the way I'll be going DirecTV as you did.
 
#6 ·
AFAIK they're still planning on selling the box for $450-- not an economical solution considering what I could pay for an OTA tuner. Anyway, they are currently broadcasting ESPN-HD, and WUPW shows a test pattern. The local NBC affiliate has been popping in and out of the channel guide; 630, which I assume is a placeholder for WGTE's service, was there but is now gone.
 
#9 ·

Quote:
It's been 2 months now that Buckeye Cable has been carrying High Def conteStill I haven't heard anything about when they plan to carry 24 WNWO and 13 WTVG. Anyone hear anything?

I think the better question is when will they drop their ridiculous prices. I would be content with keeping my Samsung OTA box around to pull in the missing locals for a couple months in order to get their other channels... anyone here actually use their service and can comment on the quality?
 
#10 ·
Well, I actually have both an OTA setup with an SIR-T150 and went for the Buckeye Motorola DCT-5100 box. As for quality they're comparable except that the cable reception is more reliable. Don't have the drop outs due to multipath as I sometimes do on the Samsung. A drawback of the cable is you don't get the multicasting that you do with OTA so with WTOL (CBS) you only get the 11-1 feed. Same is true for Fox except that most of the time on the 36-2 (widescreen) feed Fox only sends the logo when they aren't broadcasting widescreen so that's all you see with Buckeye. HDNET and Discovery HD on the cable on the other hand is great. HDNET knows how to do High Def right as does Discovery. Except you can only watch so many insects before going crazy.

While the cost of the box is steep once you pay it it's gone from memory and your monthly bill.
 
#11 ·
I just turned in my BuckeyeExpress box because of the cost. As I discuss in my blog , the cost of the box is too high relative to buying a D* or E* HD receiver, especially since that would give me DD on channels that pass it. As far as I could tell with the DCT5100, Buckeye only provides DD for the HD channels.


In another thread here , I said I'd ask Buckeye whether they thought they were in compliance with FCC rules. Their answer was "yes"; they don't encrypt their OTA HD rebroadcasts, but they also say that only the Moto box will work to decode them. I'd love to try a QAM256-capable box to see whether that's correct or not.


And if you're in the Toledo area and want to sell your OTA tuner... let me know
 
#12 ·

Quote:
Originally posted by fullwave2
It's been 2 months now that Buckeye Cable has been carrying High Def conteStill I haven't heard anything about when they plan to carry 24 WNWO and 13 WTVG. Anyone hear anything?

They're still negotiating. Apparently, the problem is that the local stations think must-carry should apply to all of their digital channels, not just their HD; Buckeye doesn't want to use capacity to carry the multiplexes if they can avoid it. Until they get this resolved, it's going to limit their adoption rate (especially since no WTVG means no Monday Night Football!)
 
#13 ·
Paul,

Just curious as to how you got Buckeye to take your box back considering they make you purchase it.

As for the OTA box I saw one at BestBuy on Reynolds yesterday that was "out of the box" being sold for what seemed like a good price. I believe it was a T151 but can't say for sure.
 
#15 ·
Looks like Buckeye-Express has loosened their policy around set top boxes requiring that you only use a box purchased from them. I just got this reply from them regarding purchasing a box 3rd party:


"You can purchase a HD converter from someone else besides Buckeye CableSystem. The converter needs to be a Motorola DCT5100 High-Definition Digital converter . The model number must start with DCT5100/1000. If you do purchase one from outside our company you would need to bring the converter into the office so we can have it entered into our data base to make it addressable for our services. You would still have the monthly charges for your HD services."


They appear to be moving in the right direction. As for Buckeye not yet carrying WTVG or WNWO this is what they had to say:


"I have checked with our Marketing manager and she said that we are still working on getting an agreement with the other channels and things are looking good for channel 13 (WTVG). It is not just the HD issue that is being negotiated. It has to do with all of the ABC packages. Hopefully this will all be worked out by the first of the year.

We will be letting our customers know as soon as a amiable solution has been made."


A little late for Monday Night Football. Oh well.
 
#16 ·
Buckeye Cablesystem can shove their HDTV up their HDRE. I spoke with the marketing manager today and told her that in so many words. She was supposed to email me with rates that they found to support their decision. I am still waiting. I will be talking to 3 other decision makers at buckeye in the next few days.


We need another cable company in Toledo so bad it isn't funny. 450 dollars just to be able to receive and convert the signal with a soon to be outdated DCT 5100 is outrageous. Fullwave2 is right on in his comparison of other cable companies offers. Most are renting for 5 to 10 dollars a month. I found one with no charge, no installation through the end of the year. Is there any question that at some point they will rent the boxes as HDTV becomes more available. What do they tell the customers who were just forced to purchase the box in the months prior?For the most part your Hdtv purchasers are your 100+ a month customers. Not exactly the customer I would want to tick off. If a customer wants to buy their own that's fine but everyone should have a choice.


If any of this makes sense, let Buckeye know about it. Maybe they will wake up.
 
#18 ·
Good news! Follow up to my earlier post - I have been in contact via several emails back and forth with the decision maker at Buckeye regarding their HDTV policy. Following is a brief summary of what was discussed. Yesterday they were meeting regarding their 2004 operating budget and strategy. He stated that many of my issues, some of which are stated in my earlier post, were very convincing and was going to introduce them in the meeting.


It is his intention to begin leasing the receivers sometime in the near future. His dilemma is.. what can the customer afford and how can Buckeye balance the need to get return on investment with this demand. For those of you wondering about hardware, I was specifically interested in the DCT6208 which he said was on order and will be tested for compatibility with Buckeye's system as soon as it arrives. I think I see light at the end of the tunnel! We will see.
 
#19 ·
UPDATE..... Finally!! Buckeye will now lease the HDTV boxes! Currently they are in and out of stock on the 6200. I picked mine up yesterday. On Saturday they had none. The 6200 has the DVI port enabled and the picture is awesome. They are leasing them for three dollars more than the digital link.


All the phone calls and e-mails finally paid off. Thanks to all
 
#21 ·
Nor do they carry WNWO but fortunately the playoffs and the Super Bowl are on WTOL.

I don't understand why it would take so long to negotiate the deal with WTVG and WNWO. If letters and emails to Buckeye worked around the STB lease issue maybe an email campaign would be in order to get them to come to an agreement with the 2 remaining networks.
 
#23 ·
Good news about the leasing of the boxes. Even better that it has DVI; theoretically I could keep my OTA receiver hooked up via component until they get everything worked out. I do have one question though: I have a Tivo and have it hooked up through my cable box so I can record the digial channels. While I know that I cannot record HD signals with it, will it send the video to both the analog and digital outputs at the same time? That would allow me to record my programs as usual, but still be able to turn to the HD channels and watch when I wanted to. If that is the case, I will be calling them very soon.
 
#24 ·
Nate, If I understand your question correctly, the answer is yes. Through the 6200 I have the same channel appear on three different TV inputs. I have a direct connection through coax, a second connection through my Tivo and the third through the DVI port for the HD. The HD will appear on all three inputs but looks like analog on the non HD inputs. Through the cable box you can only watch what you are recording because there is only one tuner.

Sometime later this year Motorola has a model 6408 coming out which has dual tuners which will allow you to record one while watching another. Depending on the number of your inputs you should be able to watch HD through your OTA while recording other channels through the 6200.
 
#25 ·
fullwave2, I just found from my source that... as usual it comes down to dollars and cents. ABC and NBC want to charge a fee to buckeye to carry their HD and buckeye does not think it is right to charge their customers for something they can get free OTA. The email campaign may be better directed to the local stations.
 
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