Greensboro, NC - HDTV - Page 218

Whoopie. Another HD channel that's not ESPNU.

I know what you mean.

I don't mind Comedy Central in HD but ESPNU HD is at the top of my most requested channel list. Lots of good games on ESPNU.

I kinda want that channel, and I hear tell that South Park is being done in HD from this season on......but what else is shown in HD on there???

I have a few questions about cable that I'm sure some of you can answer.

Where does the cable company get the local station's feeds? Back in the day it was OTA, with antennas cut for each station on the CATV tower. But where do they get it now? Is it still over-the-air, or a direct feed, or from a satellite?

The reason I ask is I'm curious as to what the cable companies had to do to get ready for the analog shut-off.

I'm aware that cable customers won't have to do anything differently on Feb 19, but did the cable companies have to do anything?

Also, what about the screen ratio? Now when a program is available in HD (and 16x9) there's still a 4x3 program on the analog. What happens after Feb for that? Will cable customers using a 4x3 tv get that in letterbox?

And... another question... I read in a blog that in NYC, Time Warner had moved several basic tier stations up to a different frequency that requires a box (at an additional cost, of course). For people that have cable direct into their tv this could not have come at a worse time because they will think it is because of the analog shut off. Does anyone know if TW will be doing anything like that here?

thanks!
-amos

Time-Warner gets fiber feeds and digital OTA for the local stations. Other cableco's in the area get it OTA via digital. Dish and DirecTV both get the digital signals OTA. All cableco's that receive digital OTA downcoverts for the SD version and passes the HD version along for the HD version.

Just an update, we are half way complete in the conversion of our auxiliary transmitter (Boards and wires hanging out right now!! All the analog components have been removed and just about all the digital components have been installed and will be wired tomorrow.). We hope to have it making digital channel 8 into the dummy antenna late tomorrow afternoon if all goes as planned. If not, it will be Friday when we have it making channel 8 digital into the dummy antenna.

this may have already been answered, but will your coverage and power be the same from the aux on digital 8 be the same as when you get the main xmitter converted to digital 8? (and how does it compare with your channel 35 signal?)

-amos

According to all the data I have seen, the aux site it will be 99.9% of the main channel 8 and the main channel 8 will be a tad bit more than our current channel 35 coverage.

But even though there will be little to no coverage loss on the aux, the FCC is requiring us to run 4 times a day, once in prime time, a message that it is possible that some people will not be able to view us while we operate from the aux site while we convert the main transmitter at the main site. In my opinion, that will cause more confusion, but hey, they require it, so we run it. I think it is basically a CYA for the FCC, but who knows.

Anyway, I have some pictures of the transmitter in the process of being converted. I will try and get one or two posted tonight or tomorrow. Just didn't feel like pulling it from the camera once I got home last night.

The South Park episode that aired at 10pm and Midnight last night (a repeat of the High School Musical 3 episode) was in HD.

http://www.multichannel.com/article/...TV_Network.php

^ I'm pretty sure it was an upconvert, but no sidebars was nice.

I have a 4228HD (not that I buy into the HD thing, but it was what was available). I'm in Summerfield, and have it in my attic (about 30 ft, roughly) pointed due north. (yes, north.)

For whatever reason, I get the best reception pointed that way. I tried it on 30 degree intervals, moved it around, and this was by far the best/most stable orientation. I am using a 7778 CM preamp, into a 2 way splitter. One leg of the splitter goes to the TV room where there is a D* AM21 (the ATSC off air tuner, with 2 tuners so it's split again). The other leg of the first splitter feeds a 4-way house distribution amp.

Again, this setup was tweaked over and over again to find the best performance. (I don't have any diagnostic tools, so need to go by signal/error correction rates reported, and what I see.)

Based on this, I can pull in all the locals (plus PBS out of Durham), plus most of the Roanoke locals. No breakups on any channels noted yet, signal strengths all appear solid.

My only concern is fox, when it moves to VHF. But I still have D* so not that worried.

No it wasn't an upconvert. Season 12 of South Park was made in HD originally as season 12 is going to appear on Blu-Ray. Also remember that the press release stated that 30 past episodes of South Park will be shown in HD.

4228's old or new pick up VHF channels. The one I have at the transmitter, a 2002 model, picks up WTVD Durham channel 11 and WDBJ channel 7 Roanoke, not great, but watchable.

For his in-laws summer house in woolwine, va my brother had me pick up a CM 4228 this summer. We haven't had a chance to install it yet. I got one of the last of the old models, as I didn't know yet about the 4228-HD.

According to HDTVprimer.com, "It has no discontinuity in the screen, eliminating the wind VHF problem. It has no vertical wires in the screen, which probably eliminates the dips in the VHF gain."

I read somewhere to connect the two parts of the screen together, maybe with zip ties, and that would help the wind problem on VHF. I figured we would do that.

There are only 2 VHF stations, anyway. WGHP and WBRA. Antennaweb doesn't think we'll get 8, and I don't see how we could get WBRA-3 with the 4228, so it may be a moot point. WGHP is a station they could get in analog, but we've never been able to get it in digital with the old antenna. Also WFMY comes in good with analog, but we can't get their digital signal either.

So, when we put the 4228 up, with a higher mast (not too much though, it gets awfully windy), and a rotor, we're hoping for better reception.

Foxeng you said the old 4228 picks up VHF, but have you noticed any of the wind problems that were mentioned? I was originally thinking we should sell the old 4228 and buy one of the new ones, but after your last post maybe what we have will be fine.

On a somewhat related note, my mom has a 55 year old CM 4221 on the roof in Wadesboro. We took the channel master yagi VHF antenna down, leaving the old and very rusty 4221. The rotor no longer works, so we just pointed it toward Charlotte, and ran a new coax. My mom now gets all the Charlotte stations, both Florence stations off the REAR of the antenna, and WFMY pretty much off the side. She hasn't used OTA in years, but now she's happy to cancel her cable since she usually watches the local stations anyway.

-amos

No I haven't really noticed that but I don't get to spend hours and hours just to watch TV on it when I am work. There have been studies run on the 4228 and it works OK on VHF high channels (7-13) and no real reception on VHF low channels (2-6).

Also for those with OTA out on the fringe, since we have a factory guy here and he has all the tricked out EXPENSIVE test gear we can only dream about, he went through the channel 35 transmitter this afternoon after we had to stop for the day on the channel 8 transmitter conversion with a FINE TOOTHED COMB and tweaked every ounce out of it! Let me know if you see any improvement on reception and less breakup and tiling. Of course you may not see any difference.

And speaking of the channel 8 transmitter, we almost are ready to push some 8VSB through it. One of the low level RF generators didn't work correctly when fired up so we are getting another one in tomorrow and then hopefully we can push some 8VSB through it. For tonight to test the rest of the RF path, we setup the old analog exciter and patched the aural output of it through the system to test the RF preamplifiers and amplifiers. It isn't quite the same as the 8VSB signal, but we could at least test the rest of the path out to be sure there wasn't something else bad and delay this even more since it is looking more and more likely the transition date will not move so we need to be sure we got this puppy ready to rock and roll!

Guess I'll have to put up a Ch-8 cut antenna here at home with a rotor..and try it pointed your way.. then turned south to try for WOLO...

If you guys moved WOLO back to 25, you wouldn't need a rotor!!

Sounds like foxeng is busy, but having fun.

Life is good when you enjoy your work.

Good to hear that the transition date seems to be holding.

Joe

Now Chas.. we already had that discussion! Of course, to get either one, I need that big ol' channel 9 down the road from me to go away first!

Here is a before and current picture of the aux transmitter. Can you spot the differences?

Analog:


Digital, sans upconverter:

T-minus 26 days and counting!!

Yea lots, where shall we begin?

Pick it and go !!

Let's see...
A lot less coppery looking stuff, a new table, and bottled water for all!

Somebody took out the trash...

Well, yes. That is true. The coppery looking stuff was the analog filters. The digital filter was installed in the rafters. The table moves from place to place where needed and the water? You HAVE to stay hydrated!!

The other rack to the left is the channel 35 back up transmitter. We aren't doing anything to that!

That goes without saying Joe!!

Looks like the transition may be delayed. The Senate Commerce Committee is poised to vote next week on a measure to push it back to perhaps June 12.

I can see the future. Some congressperson complaining next year at this time after another extension: "I have at least 10 constituents who are not ready, they need more time, we can not separate them from this vital source of information about all that we screw up around here".

Joe

It will also take a vote of the House as well.