Greensboro, NC - HDTV - Page 333

I get tired of those Toyota of North Charlotte commercials. And last year when I was in Orlando, there were those same 2 folks and that dog selling cars down there also. But the most annoying was that car salesman who always used to beg you to "pick up the phone and give us a call."

Yes, and let's not forget it's I 77 exit 23! They've beaten that into the heads of people who have seen the commercial for Toyota of North Charlotte.

There's always going to be annoying commericals. But here in the Triad market, I don't think there's any quite like that one.

I will not listen to 93.1 or 104.1 because of KRAAAAZZZZY KEVIN POWELL.

it's funny that you mention tom park (with angie stephens and the dog). i have always thought they were really good ads.

of course they're not the owner of the business doing the ads. park owns a production company in florida. tomparkproductions.com

but what i like about them is they're professionally done, in my opinion. yes, he "plays" the dealership owner (without actually saying it), so the viewer sees the ads just like they see the whole "owner does his own spots" ads, but WITHOUT the annoying amateurish look and feel.

in reality he does the same thing they do. he pitches the sponsor, and has something cute (dog, small child) to catch the viewer's eye. but he doesn't sound like a buffon doing it.

"pick up the phone, gimme a call" is in a different league.

Has WXII finally gone to HD, at least for the studio cameras?

Not sure about WXII, but the Hearst owned sister station WYFF-4 in Greenville, SC just upgraded to HD this weekend, and they built a nice new set.

I haven't watched a channel 12 newscast, even accidentally, in a couple of years, but I thought the switchover at WFMY made them the last of the big 3 to go to HD in studio??

And speaking of WXII, I noticed yesterday that THIS-TV was no longer viewable via my AM21 DirecTV tuner. I guess foxeng's contact was accurate in saying that D* would no longer carry subchannels. That's a real disappointment and makes the AM21 little better than a paperweight.

I am still getting 2-2,, 4-2, 4-3, 5-2, 11-2, 11-3, 16-2, 16-3, 17-2, 20-2, 20-3, 22-2, 28-2, 40-2, 43-2, 45-2, 48-2, and 50-2 with my AM21. WXII rarely gets signal at my house, but I watched the "Searching for signal" banner for a few minutes on 12-2 and i did get a few blips, and even enough of a picture to see the "THIS" logo for a second. Try 12-2 again and don't give up home!

No way I'll give up home, but I am almost out of hope.

Thanks for the update. I just sent another message to the DirecTV customer service folks, as a followup in our ongoing conversation about the issue. With foxeng hearing what he did from the kind of source he did, I'm expecting them to all go dark soon but I would love to be proved wrong. And, if they're indeed planning to do this all over, I can't imagine that there won't be a decently sized number of complaints from people with stand-alone tuners or receivers that have them built-in.

EDIT: I've spent the last 30 minutes searching for a comment I thought I remembered from foxeng. Didn't you say that one of your contacts mentioned the lack of bandwidth issue as a reason for subchannel carriage not going forward? I was looking for it to make sure I understood whether the issue was that D* was going to cease providing subchannel reception or if they were just not going to add any additional future stations that might crop up.

"Lack of Bandwidth" is a common explanation used by satellite and cable providers when they are requested to carry signals they have already decided are not worthy of carriage. Here, as everywhere, money talks, and a provider either providing service for free, or willing to pay in either advertising barter or outright cash can be accommodated regardless of such a bandwidth-short condition.

Aside from 26-2, Directv has never carried any of our local sub channels on their spot beam satellites. They've been available only via OTA.

Now for 12-2, I have an AM21 hooked up to the HR24 in my bedroom and I'm still getting 12-2 along with all of our other local sub-channels and some from Roanoke like 7-1, 7-2, 10-1, 10-2, 27-1 and 27-2. The only issue is 8-2 which oddly enough shows up in the guide correctly, but nothing shows up when I turn to it.

Now some good news for the future. Directv's newest HD DVR, the HR34, brings back channel scanning. I got one a couple of weeks ago and I got an AM21N with it. While you still put in the zip code in the local setup it scans for channels and I can get 8-2. Not just in the guide but it actually shows up and can be watched.

I've been pursuing this w/ DirecTV. A few weeks back, I got a phone call and e-mail from a rep who seemed very knowledgeable. He asked for some specific info that he could pass along to their National Engineering Team. I got sidetracked with some family issues but recently sent him the details from my end that he asked for along with some detailed technical info provided by foxeng.

As always, we'll see if it goes anywhere, but it was the most promising thing yet in my interaction with them over this issue.

I just realized in the last few days that I had likely misunderstood the bandwidth issue. Something that was said led me to believe that they would cease offering subchannels altogether. Now, I'm thinking that it likely meant they wouldn't be adding new channels, guide info, etc., rather than the currently viewable ones going dark on AM21s and receivers with tuners built-in.

Right as we were sitting down to supper, I got a call from the sharpest D* person I've corresponded with yet. He said that the original plan to escalate the problem to the National Engineering Team would have had them then forwarding the info to the appropriate place. Since we were having such trouble getting this resolved, he said he was cutting out the middleman and was sending the info that I sent directly to the broadcast group that could fix it.

He said that foxeng's info was extremely helpful and that his technical suggestions were likely the exact problem on their end. He also said he wouldn't be surprised to see this fixed within a week. Re: the bandwidth issue he said 1) since we're already seeing the guide data, bandwidth isn't an issue and, 2) there was some talk of making some changes that would cause the bandwidth limitations to cease to be an issue for the future - but, even if that comes to pass, that still wouldn't guarantee any new channels would be added as they became available.

Take all this with a grain of salt, your mileage may vary, etc. I just wanted to give an update to those who were interested.

All this effort and all someone somewhere probably has to do is go into some computer file and change "8" to "35"...

Bandwidth issues for the AM21 could be partially resolved by not listing channels that don't exist from their database. Think of all the pointless non-existant channels in there you have to uncheck to make it work smoothly:
2-3,
2-4,
4-4,
5-3,
5-4,
8-1 WGHPSTA,
11-3 (no need for it, same as 11-2),
16-4,
17-3 (miss the free USN, although I have DTV sports pack),
26-4,
26-5 is listed and can't be tuned, but I like it because it's the UNCMX listings, which is available for free on TWC QAM ch 4-4),
50-3, etc...

Removing all those would allow for:
20-4 (as pointless as it is),
43-3 (the best of the TCT channels),
43-4,
real 47-1 (WRPX 47-1 will show WGSR when tuned via the AM21, but the guide data is for WRPX. WGSR subchannels don't work with WRPX subchanels).

While I'm whining about the AM21...
Fix 8-2,
Make WLFL 22-2 show correct guide data.
Put the "this tv" or "metv" or whatever logo in the corner.
Make the calls legible. No need to write WGHPDT2. Just do WGHP-2.

None of this can be hard. Of course the biggest and best fix for this would to allow the AM21 to scan and add OTA guide data... Also, let the thing do QAM, too!

ok, rant over.

I don't get the talk about bandwidth with the AM21. It's a OTA tuner, it picks signals out of the air. There is no bandwidth at work. These channels aren't coming from the Directv satellites in the sky.

Now as I mentioned before, the latest HDDVR, the HR34, does do channel scanning (if you have an AM21N) and ditches the old way. I get 8-2 with no problem with the the HR34/AM21N combo.

If I understand it correctly, they're talking about the bandwidth used by the guide downloads - the more channels in the guide, the larger the amount of data and, thus, the more time the download takes on a given bandwidth.

Oh ok. I thought you guys were talking about the channels themselves.

I sent a "little note" to the Director of Business Devlopment complaining of their TV ads, and how they were polluting all the stations in the Charlotte area. After a few computer generated spam e-mails that they generated, they wanted some "feed back." Needless to say, I let them know in no uncertain terms how I felt about their stupid ads, and that I'd never buy anything from them until they cleaned up their act. If a few more people would take the time to send a message to these people, maybe they would do something about it. In Charlotte, nearly every channel carries these ads, 100's of times a day. No, I don't sit in front of the TV all day long. But you can't have the TV on for more that 10 minutes without a Toyota of North Charlotte ad.

Since my conversation with the rep who seemed to grasp the DirecTV AM21/8.2 issue, I've been checking periodically to see if it has appeared. He hoped for resolution within a week but we're now at the end of week 2.

I just checked 8.2 again and, in the process, noticed that THIS-TV is visible again, so that glitch has been resolved. Oddly, I noticed that 26.2 is viewable but I just get an error message (searching for signal) for 26.4 & 26.5. I don't ever remember trying to watch them before, I just happened to think to test them today. The guide data was there. Are they generally viewable with a DirecTV tuner?

26.4 and 26.5 are not OTA. They are only available via TWC but are sent from the broadcast center at RTP. Their guide data is sent to TMS along with the other channels so it can display on the TWC system. D* just passes whatever they get on.

Now that I see that, I knew that about 26.5 but I had forgotten. I didn't realize 26.4 was the same though. Thanks.

26.5 is TWC QAM 4.4, and part the channels that everyone can see. So, if you have their Internet but Directv for TV, you can still see UNC MX if you really want to. Same for News 14 Carolina. And 8.2!

That "pollution" is what pays for your "free" Tv.. Don't like it? Then listen to the radio..or use the internet..if you think it is any better that is...
Not exactly the best usage of your first post here IMHO..

BTw.. You spelled "grammar" wrong...

Yep. but you know people aren't happy unless they are griping about something. Why they don't gripe to the cable companies about why we have to pay to watch those channels, AND watch commercials also on those is beyond my comprehension...? They get free tv in the highest quality and still moan.

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Why? Maybe because there isn't anything going on? Or vacation... lots of reason for silence.

You forgot the question mark. ..--..

Anyone know of an antenna installer in the Triad? I have taken a couple of calls the last few weeks from viewers wanted to it not cut the cord, reduce their cable bill by adding OTA. I knew of a guy about 7 years ago but he is out of the business.

I've about decided to have my antenna professionally installed rather than DIY - I'm not sure I trust my knowledge of weatherproofing and grounding. I asked the guy who installed our DirecTV system and he referred me to Bob Kassel on the west side of Winston. I've spoken with him about doing mine and just called to make sure he didn't mind if I posted his info publicly. Hope that helps.