Portland, ME - HDTV - Page 19

That's correct. They petitioned to change their original OTA assignment from 4 to 7 and that apparently was being contested by WABC, NY, but while we're waiting, at least we can watch the Giants lose in HD on cable.

Started another post to see if this was the first such "arrangement" between a local not broadcasting digitally and a Cable Co, and it turns out FOX did the same thing in Albany, NY. BUT they had originally gotten a frequency allocated and wanted to change it, so I guess they were slightly first.
Also, flipped back to the OC for the second show (9-10) and it was definitely Zoomed. I realized that the tops of peoples heads were getting cut off. That would explain the bug too. That probably made the "grainy" look even worse. Not sure when the next HD broadcast will be, but it might not be until Sunday football. Have to see how it looks then.

Hmmm... looks like the Fox HD channel 507 lineup has been removed from the guide...

Threads Merged.

TW still hasn't added Guide info for Fox HD on channel 507. Since the DVR relies on the Guide data, is there any way to record, for example, "24" in HD tonight?

If you tune to 507 and hit Settings on the remote, you can do a manual recording where you can set the time/date.

I'm looking for folks who get 8-1 OTA. The channel has been blank for me (only guide info) for a week, but the engineer, Jack Conner, says he's unaware of a problem. Is anyone seeing anything on 8-1, and if you're not, would you email jconner@hearst.com?

Thanks

Maybe I'm missing something, but all that seems to produce is a "Start Recording Now" option -- without time/date inputs -- which suggests you still can't set up a scheduled recording.

Once I select Start Recording Now, I have the option of changing date/time. I'm sure of it, because I have it set to record 24 tonight :-) Maybe it depends on your box? I have the 8300HD.

Edit: Although I just realized from past posts that you have the 8300 too.

You're right. Thanks for the tip. I'm good to go with "24" tonight.

8-1 ok here in poland jim. you might try a rescan on the channels or reboot the receiver. sometimes helps. alan

8-1 ok in auburn also. It's my weakest channel somtimes i lose it and get nothing, but most of the time its fine. 6-1 and 13-1 are allways great.

Thanks for the input, guys, a rescan for digital channels restored 8-1 for me.


too bad it was too late for last week's Alias......

Anyone heard any info on CBS or NESN coming to Time Warner in Cumberland County lately?

I wouldn't hold my breath on CBS. It's all Sinclair Broadcasting. Reading in other forums, there are a bunch cable customers upset in other states because they can't get the Superbowl in HD. The FOX stations are owned by Sinclair. Sure sounds like last year for us.

I wrote to NESN today to ask what the status was with TWC of Maine and haven't heard anything back yet. We'll just have to wait and see. NESN not a priority for me until the World Champion Red Sox start their season.

BTW - I want to thank the folks at FOX23 and TWC for providing us an HD signal when they can't even broadcast OTA and won't be for a long time. It is great to finally get FOX HD.

Two questions:

1) Did anyone have a problem with HD for the Pats game yesterday? I have DirecTV and cannot get cable in Minot where I live. I watch the Pats in HD on CBS every week and yesterday I had some people over to watch the game and all I got OTA was analog - NOT HAPPY, LET ME TELL YOU!

2) Bad enough I (we) could not get the ACLS and World Series in HD (with the Red Sox finally winning!), now the Super Bowl is on FOX as well!!! FOX23 did not allow my waiver with DirecTV so I am SOL? It looks like some of the TW and Adelphia customers will have FOX HD, but what the satelite people doing??

TIA!

Mike

P.S. I finally have my dream theater and cannot get the BEST games in HD!!!!

Same problem here. I was receiving a strong digital signal, but no video/sound. I had company on Saturday for the Jets/Steelers game, so I emailed Craig Clarke at WGME about it. Haven't heard back from him yet. Sunday's Pats game was the same way.

Hi all, this is my first post in this thread. I've had an HDTV for about 2 years, but haven't actually had an HD capable receiver hooked to it for about 7 months, since I cancelled cable and went with DirecTV. I'm saving for the HD-Tivo, because I can't bring myself to go back to watching live TV, HD or not. I do miss the clarity of HDTV, but having a Tivo-powered DVR, with all of its features makes me not miss the Explorer 8000HD very much.

In the mean time, I'm going to be re-ordering time warner cable for the next month or so, so I can see the superbowl in HD.

I can't believe with the new legislation that there still isn't a "digital white area" that would allow us to get the national Fox HD feed since our local station doesn't broadcast digitally yet. I considered trying to get a waiver from Fox23 but it sounds like they don't like to give them out.

A question for the Time Warner subscribers: Has the picture quality/zoom/overscan/guide data problems with Fox HD been resolved? I noticed that Time Warner offically announced carrying the channel, so I assumed things were working, but want to make sure before I order. Also, when I cancelled my cable service about a year ago, NBC was the only HD local they carried, and it seemed to have lip synch issues almost all the time. Has this been resolved? How are the ABC broadcasts?

Finally, are there any South Portland people receiving OTA broadcasts? My next step is to get a DirecTV HD receiver (hopefully the DVR, despite the $$), and would like to know what kind of antenna I'll need. I'm really hoping that an indoor antenna like the Zenith Silver Sensor will be sufficient. Any real-life experience you can share?

Thanks,
Eric

Fox HD national feed PQ and audio (DD 5.1) is very good. Zoom/overscan concerns, to me, are overrated and highly subjective; I don't see a problem. Fox HD Guide data is still MIA; TW says they're working on it; in the meantime, you can schedule a recording manually if you know the program's start and stop times (available from the SD Guide). I still notice occasional audio synch issues with NBC, which, BTW, still doesn't provide DD 5.1 audio. ABC HD is very good; PQ is excellent and audio is DD 5.1. You didn't ask, but CBS HD seems to be a lost cause, thanks to Sinclair.

Yeah, I didn't ask about CBS because they didn't get it for the super bowl last year (despite telling me they were "in negotiations"), so I figured if they still didn't have it, they probably wouldn't for quite some time.

The Fox HD guide data is accurate on Directv. You need a waiver to the channel though - I doubt it will happen in South Portland.

I am in the midcoast area. I use a Square Shooter antenna indoors behind my TV with a Winegard amp (http://www.winegard.com/offair/squareshooter.htm). Everything goes into my Directv HD Tivo. No issues, I get HD local of NBC, ABC, CBS.

The silver sensor was not strong enough for my location.

I called Craig Clarke today at WGME - 13 as I was having the same problem with not receiving WGME's digital signal OTA on Bailey Island in recent days. I too missed the last two Pats games in HD. Clarke said that WGME had to make some technical changes to the digital signal to conform to FCC requirements ten days or so ago and that if I rescanned for OTA digital signals, I should be able to receive the new digital signals. Sure enough. It worked! Go Pats!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

GO PATS!

Well, after what I've seen of the NFC championship game on 507 today, I don't think there's a zoom/overscan issue. The score bar at the top is compeletey visible. There's even a bit of picture above it. I think the problem just must be with the placement of the FOX bug during some of the shows (The Bernie Mac show Friday night, for example).

I agree, the football game looked fine (and did last week as well) so the problem is somehow limited to the prime-time shows. I sent the engineer at Fox an email (no reply) and I've also sent TWC an email about it. They said they'd "look into it"
Its not just the bug being off either. If you tune in about 5-10 minutes before the broadcasts you'll see the color bars and the "line-up" arrows for where the edge of the screen should be for 4:3 and 16:9. The arrows don't line up for 16:9. The "heads" on the arrows disappear of the edge of the screen on the right and top. The result is you get the tops of peoples heads getting chopped off.
Can someone else confirm this?

I have a SA8000HD DVR.

Every so often I will lose the Audio for JUST the spoken portions of the broadcast (so the music and effects will still play).

Generally ONLY on Channels 507 & 508 (for instance Alias last night when they are discovered by the Russians)

Anybody else run into this????

The same thing happened to me, OTA 8-1. It seems the center channel wasn't being transmitted for the last 5 or 10 minutes of Alias. So it affected over-the-air and cable, I wonder if anyone watching on DirecTV's ABC HD had the problem

I noted the same issue at the end of "Alias" last night. It's happened a few times in the past, too, but only on WMTW HD (TW 508). I've got the 8300HD DVR. Nice to know it's not the box.

How do you like your 8300 hd dvr? I have an 8000 and the recording quality has dropped way off, so I was going to swap it for a new one. I just wanted to see if I should try and get an older model or go with the newest one.

You should go with the 8300, especially if you have an HDMI- or DVI-capable TV. I'm very happy with it (I moved up from the 3250HD), although I use it simply for time-shifting and don't expect it to perform like a TiVo. There are several threads about the device in the HDTV Recorders forum, too, if you want to do further research. From what I've gleaned, it definitely outperforms the 8000.