Macon, GA - HDTV - Page 5

Wow. Having to subscribe to the (partial) Digital plan to get the HD is a bummer.

Don't think I am interested when the Cox selection is not that impressive in terms of number of HD channels. Especially, when one could just Voom for $39.00 and get much more HD AND real digital channels with no commitment and nothing down.

I was hoping for a lifeline equivalent of just the local HD stuff. Sigh.

Call me if you get it MaconDog, er DAWG...

Now if only Cox's HD service was actually working!!! I picked up my box at 9:15am and hooked it up. It failed to load the menu or display any HD channels. They came up with "this is a subscription channel, call Cox to subscribe". I called them and they said they had to send a reset to my box to get it to work. Well it's 8pm and I'm STILL waiting for their reset to go thru. The guide has loaded but that's it. HD channels still say the same thing. I called about 2 hours ago and they said my reset was STILL in the "pending" stage. Said they had 1100...yes ELEVEN HUNDRED resets backing up their system. They have no clue how long it'll take for the reset to actually reach my box. *sigh* goold ole Cox!!!

Bob

Check the sticky thread in the HDTV hardware forum. Existing DirecTV customers who have had service for more than a year are being offered a $99 deal. It includes one HD receiver, a triple LNB dish, and installation. It requires one year commitment to the HD package which is $10.99 per month. Some people are also getting six months of free Showtime.

DirecTV Total Choice and the HD package are $47.98 per month.

The Cox deal sounds sweet, up until the end of the first year when they jack your rates back to normal. I can't stand to look at their pricing. It's like a f***ing IRS tax form. They don't show a straight-up price for all three digital tiers plus one premium, but as far as I can tell, the regular price of everything in the $50 offer adds up to $80 a month, including $10 for the receiver. And don't forget the local sales tax, local franchise fees, "FCC regulatory fees", and other surcharges that they take the time to itemize on your bill but conveniently don't take the time to disclose in any advertising.

I put the numbers in Excel, and the DirecTV HD receiver pays for itself in 15-24 months depending on your DirecTV subscription. Paying at least $70 per month for HD on Cox after the honeymoon is over is painful.

Just in case someone is interested......my reset came thru about 8:45pm last evening. I can tell you this.....the HD looks stunning. I watched "Everybody Loves Raymond" in HD last night and it looked great....nearly three dimensional. I also went in to the Expo store this morning with a flyer my wife had picked up last week that gave you six months of free Discovery HD. They were unaware of the promotion but the girl at the counter got it to go thru on my account. Hopefully today I'll have Discovery HD when I get home....

Bob

I live in Warner Robins, and have an OTA tuner. With an outdoor antenna, i have good digital reception of all four networks. But at this point I only get HD broadcasts ABC and CBS....FOX and NBC come in digital but no HD. I know FOX doesn't broadcast HD yet, but NBC does, just not out of WMGT.

Can anyone with the COX-HD service say for sure if they are receiving NBC in HD.

The techs at the expo swear that NBC is in the package with 50% of their programming in HD? I am sure that the figure is incorrect. But with the current promo, of Discovery HD free for six months, it might be worth the cost if you can actually add HD programming from NBC, ESPN, and Discovery.

Thanks

George P. Burdell

I just found all of you guys...........didn't realize there was so many local folks on here. I just got my Sony KP51WS510 and D* SD service in December. I have been thinking about the Cox HD and wondering what the true cost would be. I too was hoping for a HD "basic lifeline service"
In hindsight I wish that I had gotten the D* HD receiver but the TIVO won me over. Thanks for all the info.

Mark

I have Cox HD and do get programming from NBC in HD. It's not many programs I watch, but they do broadcast in HD. Tonight's ER will be in HD. You can see all their HD line up at the NBC web site. Hope this helps....

Bob

How does that work exactly with NBC? Is it WMGT? They told me they had no plans for broadcasting HD in the near future.

WMGT seems to be sending 480i OTA. Not even 480p like WMAZ the ABC station on SD stuff. Pathetic - when is the Olympics set to start? I think the Greek contractors must be building our NBC HD feed. bah.

WMAZ CBS and WPGA ABC both upconvert non-HD programming to 1080i and 720p respectively so that the signal is HD 24/7 to avoid mode-switching which freaks out receivers. Nobody is doing 480p here, I doubt WGXA will do it before they are equipped for Fox HD.

Some of the non-HD ABC programming is upconverted by the network and sent on the HD satellite feed, and WPGA uses that when available. You can tell who is doing the upconverting. If ABC does it, there are black bars on the sides. If WPGA does it, there are CRT-saver gray bars on the sides.

I've been told by someone who got the Cox HD package, if I understood him correctly, that the supposed-to-be HD channel 705 for WMGT is not only 480i but the channel was already available on the HD box before the HD service was activated, like the rest of the standard 480i digital cable channels.

I tried all the Cox HD channels before the HD boxes were available and none of them would work. You just got a blue screen with the standard "this is a subscription channel, call Cox to subscribe" announcement in white lettering. This was true for channels 704 thru about 711. Basically the three networks, espnhd, inhd1, inhd2, and the three premium channels.... Discovery HD, HBO HD, and Showtime HD.

Bob

From all this it appears to be conflicting reports on the NBC station.

Wayne, if I understand properly, channel 705 is the NBC station and it is in fact WMGT, still broadcast in 480i. If it is WMGT all the time, I'd be surprised if they have HD on cable broadcasts but not any OTA material. But then again, I'm not very well informed about how the cable infrastructure works.

I guess I can just get a box and see for myself, but I'd like to know what I am getting. We just need someone to tune in leno and be sure it is 1080i and not the crummy stretch 480i.

Thanks for the info Wayne, your right ABC and CBS are 720p and 1080i respectively. Brain flatulence on my part. The point was simply that A.T.M. WMGT is plain ole 480i OTA from my (and your) experience.

Okay, I got a more detailed explanation for what I was told. His TV has two sets of component inputs but only one is HD, the other they eventually discovered is SD only. He already had his OTA box on the HD input and the cable installer connected the Cox HD box to the SD input, so only 705 could be seen. Until they figured it out and put the cable box on the HD input, they didn't think the HD service on the box was activated. Sorry about that.

Moved my antenna from outside the house where part of the roof negated any kind of signal from 16 & 40.. moved it inside to part of my atic and now have 100 on ABC, CBS & NBC and 72ish on FOX..

I'm severly disapointed by the local NBC affialiate's total abandon of HD thusfar ... hopefully FOX's rush to HD with EQ purchase for all fox affiliates will mean FOX broadcasting in HD this football season

What antenna are you using? I am in NW Macon and I would love to know your antenna type. I am using Winegard GS2000 (a.k.a Sensar) outside the house and I am gettiing about 75% on CBS-WMAZ and 50% on ABC. None on WMGT or FOX.

Last time I tried WMGT (last night), looked like they were upconverting the signal and using black bars for 4:3 content, ala, WMAZ. I haven't checked lately, been doing some wm9 conversions, and tying the computer up.

Tbone,
I noticed the same thing about WMGT tonight. I have an over the air receiver, and it indicates that the signal is being received as HD despite the black bars, so i figured they same as you that they are upconverting. it is definitely an improvement over the old stretch broadcasts they had, but I still wonder when they'll have Leno broadcast for me in true hd. if they pull it off for the olympics that'd be awesome. especially with fox not too far behind

Any one try to contact them about a time table?

Last I heard a few months ago it was "we'll be doing HD soon". But it was coming from a person who also said "our signal reaches out 35 miles, you need to re-do the channel scan".

Upconversion is a good sign. It means they now have an upconverter, and they have an MPEG encoder that can do more than 480i. But that's only about half the equipment they need. They also need NBC's high definition satellite feed and a device to switch between NBC-HD and upconverted content (non-HD shows and local commercial breaks).

Does anyone know if WMGT is broadcasting the digital signal at full power yet? God I hope not.

I receive my CBS and ABC at very good levels (Dish 811, 87ish and 82ish respectively) and yet almost never get a lock on WMGT. Heck, if the weather is right, I get 11 Alive in Atlanta to lock more often than WMGT.

I am off Wesleyan Drive in Macon, with a Sensar external ant.

WMGT is getting better and better. Law & Order is in widescreen right now. can't be sure yet if it is HD, but it is possible. It looks pretty good.

I live in WR and get WMGT pretty well. If you're not getting good reception way up in wesleyan maybe you should make sure your antenna is pointed properly for their tower. their signal is somewhat weaker than cbs and abc though.

Wow! I just checked Law & Order on WMGT and it idefinitely looks HD. Even the wife noticed the difference. Using an OTA antenna BTW.

**update**- Leno was NOT in HD, so who knows what is going on.

I don't think it was HD. I watched the second episode of Law and Order and there was no fly by indicating it was HD. My guess is that it was actually the widescreen presentation being upconverted. it did look good, but then I am comparing it with the past few months of stretch they've had.

It was also a lot grainier than the material I know was HD on CBS and ABC. I could be wrong though.

ER is 100% without a doubt in HD right now on NBC. I stand by what I said about Law & Order also.

I am also using the wingard sensar (the amplified one)

One thing to note as has been pointed out...

NBC is DEFINATELY doing HD broadcasts now (Not just DTV) ER tonight was without a doubt in HD BUT.. seems the signal is weaker??? this last weekend when i moved the Antenna i was getting 100% flat out on NBC but now it's jumping all over the place from 59 -> 79

I'll check my antenna alignment but with CBS and ABC still coming in 100% and fox coming in spot on 72 i doubt thats it..

Also is anyone else still getting a picture on fox? I still get the signal (72%) but now picture ... just black

UPDATE: Leno isn't in hd but hes in Vegas so maybe this series of shows (whilst in vegas) isnt' in hd... OR nbc is doing manual switching and don't want to have to have someone busy doing that at 12:30am.. which i can imagine considering they don't even do 11oclock news

Fox had a picture this afternoon when I checked. But either their signal is weak or my antenna isn't as well tuned for 16 as it is for 32 and 40. I receive 32 the best, then 40, then 4 (on a different antenna, since it's VHF), then 16.

I'm not receiving 40 any better than when I added an inline preamp to my antenna which enabled me to receive it for the first time, so I doubt they've increased power. As far as I know, it's still 3 kilowatts with an antenna placed only halfway up the tower.

Is Cox channel 705 now HD and not 480i?

Anyone have opinions on the quality of each station's upconversion?

Not sure about Cox, but the OTA signal is definitely HD, at least the last two nights for Law & Order and ER.

I have no problems with OTA signal strength on any of the channels here in WR. All the channels are coming in fine.

well looks like tommorow i'm in for a session of

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

For any doubters about NBC broadcasting in HD, Jay Leno is now HD also.