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Waco / Bryan, TX - HDTV

443K views 7K replies 194 participants last post by  Bob Coxner 
#1 ·
Quality, not quantity, right?


Currently Available

KAMU-DT - PBS

12-1/15-1 (12) 1080i - national PBS feed

Tower - 3.2 kW, Hensel Park

Contact - Jon Bennett , Station Manager

Ph# 845-5611

KBTX-DT - CBS

3-1 (50) 1080i - mirroring analog 3

3-2 480i UPN

Tower - 25 kW, Carlos

Contact - David Cooper , Chief Engineer

Ph# 846-7777

KYLE-DT - FOX/WB

28-1 (29) 480i - mirroring analog 28

28-2 720p - mirroring KWKT-HD/Waco

Tower - 1 kW (soon to be 5 kW), N Bryan

KWKT-DT (720p) will soon be a subchannel for KYLE-DT, and the power increased to around 5 kW. KYLE splicer acquisition pending .

Contact - Lou Strowger , Chief Engineer, Duane Sartor , General Manager.

Ph# (254)776-3844

Temple/Waco - Central TX HDTV Status

Houston - Tower Power - This should give some idea of what it takes.

Cox Cable

700 KAMU - PBS-HD

705 KWKT - FOX/WB-HD

710 KBTX - CBS-HD

720 KRHD/KXXV - ABC-HD

730 KCEN/KMAY - NBC-HD

732 ESPN-HD

734 Discovery HD Theater

735 Universal HD - rebuild

736 INHD1

738 INHD2

740 HBO HD

742 Showtime HD

744 Starz HD - rebuild

Cox's HD-DVR is now available in the B/CS market.
Contact Form


The Not So Near Future

KRHD - ABC

Digital broadcasting from the local Bryan tower is under consideration.

25-1 720p - mirroring analog 25

25-2 480i - Telemundo

25-3 480i - Weather loop

Tower - 250 kW, Moody
Contact Form

Ph# (254)754-2525

KMAY-LP - NBC

This KCEN translator station will most likely be upgraded when the switch date is put into play.

Tower - N Bryan

Contact - Gerald Richmond , Engineering

Ph #(254)859-5481

Cox Cable

ABC(KXXV/KRHD) should be on Cox in time for the Super Bowl.

Verizon - FiOS TV

We're still not on their list.

Old pseudo-College Station thread


Please let me know about any new or bad info.

-Brian
 
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#5,283 ·
Well, I got a new HR20-100 today. Activated the receiver and low and behold, I'm now receiving both New York and Los Angeles HD DNS feeds for all four networks! On Sunday, I'll be able to see:


Cincinnati @ Kansas City

Houston @ Jacksonville

Oakland @ San Diego

New England @ Dallas

Washington @ Green Bay

Philadelphia @ New York Jets

Carolina @ Arizona


Who needs NFL Sunday Ticket?
 
#5,285 ·
I used a lot next to my inlaws that they own. I've heard of people using gas stations, etc. for a physical address. I don't know if I'd go that route though.


Jonnyb99, have you moved or still with CS locals. That's pretty cool to have all the DNS stations. I only have NY Fox and ABC due to O&O in Houston.
 
#5,287 ·

Quote:
Jonnyb99, have you moved or still with CS locals. That's pretty cool to have all the DNS stations. I only have NY Fox and ABC due to O&O in Houston.

I guess I spoke too soon. Got up Friday morning, turned it on and now I'm getting "channel not purchased". Oh well, I still have all four feeds from New York. My service address is in Houston, so I get those locals in HD as well.


Is anyone else having trouble tuning in FOX 28 OTA today? I haven't had good signal strength all weekend. Is it coming in fine for you Suddenlinkers?
 
#5,288 ·
FYI;


Last night during the thunderbumpers we lost the Programmable Logic Controller in the KWKT-DT transmitter.


A new one was ordered from Acrodyne but the earliest they could get it out was today for tomorrow AM delivery.


Once the new unit comes in tomorrow and we reprogram it we should be back on in HD.

In the meantime we will not be able to deliver HD to KYLE-DT for rebroadcast.


Sorry for the inconvenience guys. I hate it to be down during the playoffs as much as you do.
 
#5,290 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by mamaduce /forum/post/11920582


Did this also affect fox44 in the killeen.waco area last night?

Yes:


KWKT-DT FOX 44 HD was off the air both OTA and on Time Warner and Grande Cable systems from 11:30 PM on 10/14 until 11:45AM 10/16 when we replaced the Programmable Logic Controller in the High Power Amplifier cabinet.


The station is back on the air now and we will be broadcasting HD on KYLE-HD starting with FOX Prime tonight.
 
#5,291 ·
I purchased a Westinghouse L2410NM yesterday, should arrive tomorrow thanks to Newegg's incredible shipping. Obviously I'm going to have to dip into the HD possibilities with this, so I'm looking for a great HD Tuner. I was pretty set on the Hauppauge HVR-1600 until I saw the reviews for HDHomeRun. I've got a great machine, new build earlier this year, so running it shouldn't be a problem, but I've got a few questions about the homerun for anyone who knows, I'm still new to HTPC stuff mostly.


I've got Suddenlink digital cable with my roommates, and I plan on using the QAM to get the HD channels, but will it be possible for me to watch basic non HD content (ESPN, TBS, whatever) on the homerun, or will I need a tuner with an ATSC input?


Is running a direct crossover cable the best approach for using the homerun? I read that jagouar did that and it seemed to work well. I've got two gigabit ports on my PC, so I've got at least one extra (I'm running wireless now)


Thanks for all the info already, there's a lot of back reading to do.
 
#5,292 ·
You will need a analog tuner card to get the regular channels (espn, tbs etc). I personally have the Hauppauge WinTV-MCS-500 (dual tuner SD) and the HDHomeRun (dual tuner HD). Basically all the HDHomeRun gets you is the qam channels. you will need a second tuner card to get the analog channel (2-70)


Its the best approach Ive found... setup the dhcp server on your computer and run a crossover cable to the hdhomerun. you cant natively hardcode the hdhomerun but its not terribly difficult to configure the dhcp server (its written for hdhomerun). And the gigabit wont matter since the hdhomerun is 100mbit. but even 100mbit is enough since you can only be tuning 2 hd streams at once and that is a max of 40mbit.
 
#5,294 ·
Just to reaffirm what has been mentioned concerning the HDHomerun.


1. The HDHomerun is my favorite pick for digital tv, bar none

2. It IS ONLY a digital tuner. That means you can get ONLY digital channels, and only unencrypted ones at that. For CrapLink that will be: PBS,NBC,CBS,FOX,ABC, and the music channels.


3. Is there a reason why you aren't connecting the HdHr to a switch or a router? I'm not sure what your setup is so I can't comment further.



The reason the HdHomerun is great is as follows:


* only thing capable of qam INSIDE mce/vmce

* Networked. . . share with any monitor/tv . . . less heat inside box

* Relatively cheap for a DUAL hd tuner

* Uprise company . . great and prompt support.



For Dual Analog duties the Hauppauge 500 and the Nvidia Dual tv are probably the best options. I think Avermedia has some stuff too, but I've never owned any of them.


Let me know about anything else you might have a question about. I've spent alot of time playing with my mce boxes and have built plenty for folks.
 
#5,295 ·
Looks like that settles it. After reading those posts and many others about the HdHr I'm gonna go ahead and pick that up, soon hopefully. I'm also eventually going to get the Hauppage 500 for analog, and then an added 500 gig sata drive for more storage. The next big questions I've got is regarding software. I'm running XP Pro, I could upgrade to Vista Ultimate, but I'm not sure if I want to do that yet. What do you guys recommend as far software routes? Upgrade, SageTV, something else? My monitor gets here today, I'm pretty excited about it.
 
#5,296 ·
Vista Ultimate is very very sweet in terms of UI (the best looking dvr ive ever used... tivo included. the sports and movie section are just flat out awesome). And being able to add extenders over time is a nice touch. If you want to come see what a vista setup looks like lmk (and see how the hdhomerun works).
 
#5,298 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by FOX44CE /forum/post/11922943


Yes:


KWKT-DT FOX 44 HD was off the air both OTA and on Time Warner and Grande Cable systems from 11:30 PM on 10/14 until 11:45AM 10/16 when we replaced the Programmable Logic Controller in the High Power Amplifier cabinet.


The station is back on the air now and we will be broadcasting HD on KYLE-HD starting with FOX Prime tonight.

Did this change in equipment change anything about the broadcast power? 44.1 has always been marginal for me OTA but I could at least get it. Since 10/14 I haven't been able to receive it at all.
 
#5,299 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Coxner /forum/post/11942568


Did this change in equipment change anything about the broadcast power? 44.1 has always been marginal for me OTA but I could at least get it. Since 10/14 I haven't been able to receive it at all.

In response to a similar post my assistant went to Bryan to verify that the transmitter was making full power.


I also checked with the Suddenlink head end to verify that they were not experiencing a drop in signal strength.


Transmitter power is stable at 500 Watts [5000 Watts ERP] and suddenlink reports +9 DB receive signal on the Scala antenna.


There has been no change in equipment. We could not deliver HD content because KWKT-DT was off the air.


During this period KYLE-HD broadcast in up-converted SD at full licenced power and was never off the air.


We replaced the KWKT-DT HPA controller that was blown [actually erased] by a lightning strike.


HD programming delivery resumed on KYLE-HD with the playoff game on Tuesday 10/16 at 7PM.
 
#5,300 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by andyacecandy /forum/post/11941017


what is this HD Homerun thing?


I can get HD channels using this? Or is it some kinda package through suddenlink?

allows you to get the locals via suddenlink for free as long as you have basic cable or high speed internet with them (some type of service so cable is connected in your home).


It costs $170 or so for the tuner and works in media center among other applications most of which dont cost money for guide info.
 
#5,302 ·
if your tv tuner has a qam tuner then yes you get them now... what the hdhomerun does is the same thing for your computer.... difference is a computer is vastly more powerful in what it can do with the signal. you can record the signal, do commercial detection/skipping etc. all kinds of stuff.... its a free dvr thats better than pretty much every dvr out there.


and in my case it routes to the xbox 360.
 
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