Macon, GA - HDTV - Page 4

A month early, that's a pleasant surprise.

Has anyone else noticed that WMAZ has had no PSIP information for the past few weeks?

Hi all, I hope someone still reads this. I live in Duluth, GA and was going to buy a Terk HDTVI antenna. Has anyone that lives in my general area have any luck. Thanks,

I wonder if this has anything to do with why my Dish 6000 is no longer locking in on this channel. I recently replaced the cable from my antenna (it had a splice in it, at which point it had corroded) and now I get about an 80% on the signal meter from WMAZ-DT, but no signal lock. I am also getting about a 65% from WPGA, also with no lock. The other possibility is multipath, I suppose. I'm trying to aim through/around pine trees, unfortunately. My analog signals have never been better, though.

As for WGXA, according to their FCC filings, they have no money (or that's the excuse they're using, at least).

Bob

The trees could be a part of the problem. New leaves and the sap is flowing. But if you can't get WPGA then I don't think WMAZ's lack of PSIP is causing it.

WGXA's excuse is pathetic.

Great news!

With my Dish Network 811,Winegard Sensor Antenna, from my home off Wesleyan Drive, I can now get CBS (WMAZ) 83-ish%, ABC (WPGA) 79-ish%, and NBC (WMGT) 65-ish%.

Now only Fox is lagging behind. Any word from WGXA?

Cox is now taking pre orders for HD TV If you have signed up in the past it would be wise to check to be sure that you are still on the list.

Even though I think Cox Cable is 'the very devil' based on my customer service issues with them in the past, I decided to register for the HDTV info to see what happens. I am an HDTV hound and would switch from Dish to Cox if the later had better offerings.

Then I decided to call the CS number and was told that HDTV "is not planned in Middle Georgia in the next two years. Maybe late 2006... ."

Yup, thats the well-named but spelled incorrectly-spelled 'Cox' I remember.

I think I'm going to put up a good outdoor antenna for the local stations and get the rest of my HD from DirecTV. I'm not going to subscribe to an overpriced Cox digital package as a prerequisite to get local HDTV over cable. And I won't rent their STB for $9.95 a month either.

I had a call from the Director of Customer operations for Cox and May 2nd is the target date. They will be using the Motorola 6200 cable box and not the SA 8000 as shown on the cox com page.. Currently the boxes are in limited supply. supposedly the people that sign up early will be given advanced notice as to when to pick them up.

I live in Warner Robins and am thrilled to hear that Cox will be rolling out their HD service soon. I recently bought a 56" Samsung DLP tv and am dying to watch some HD programming on it without buying a receiver for it! The only question I have is, May 2nd is a Sunday. They're rolling out this new service on a Sunday? I called several weeks ago and got put on the list. Called today to confirm and have no clue if the customer service rep put me on the list again, or confirmed that I'm already on the list. I'd like to do the self install rather than paying someone to come out and hook up the new box and leave me $30 less in my pocket for five minutes worth of work.

Bob

I hope that the 2nd is when they roll out the service. We are supposed to get some advance notice as to when to pick up the cable box from one of the Cox Expos. From what I was told they will be in short supply to start.

I walked in to the Expo down in Warner Robins today and asked the guy when the HD service was starting. He told me May 3rd. Told me to stop by with my old set top box and they'd swap it out for the HD box and set up the HD service on my account. I hope he knows what he's talkin about!

Bob

just for kicks looked at D16 and notice Fox WGXA-DT is on the air, all I've seen so far is Standard definition.

That's cool. I hope they start with the "Fox Widescreen" soon. Supposedly Fox has sent the appropriate reception hardware to all of their affiliates (or was that just their O&O stations?) so there hopefully shouldn't be too much delay.

I still can't get a lock on any stations (though I'm getting decent signal strength on 4 and 32). Looks like I will have to be moving my antenna AGAIN. Any Warner Robins folks want to pull out a compass and tell me what heading their antennas are pointed toward? These pine trees are killing me for digital. My analog signals have never looked better, though.

I'm interested to find out how Cox's service looks. I don't care for their television service at all (their analog channels have HORRIBLE picture quality). All you guys who are looking for more HD programming might want to look at Dish Network. As far as I can tell, you can order their HD Pack without any other programming (just a $5 service fee, unlike DirecTV who makes you order their mega package just to get HD).

Bob

Dang it, you beat me to it. For the same reason (just for kicks) I tried 16 and was shocked to find a signal there. I immediately came here to let everyone know. It's weak but it's on the air. I'm curious to know what power and antenna height they have.

I just made a modification to my Radio Shack double bowtie antenna, replacing the 3 feet of twinlead wire with a coax matching transformer. I also have a 6 dB inline preamp connected. I'm actually getting a signal on channel 40 for the first time.

I'm using a MyHD tuner card in my PC.
WGXA-DT 16: 21-25%
WPGA-DT 32: 53-58%
WMGT-DT 40: 44-49%
For a clear picture it needs only to be in the low 20's without dipping.
WMAZ-DT being VHF requires a different antenna, but on a good night I can get 44% with rabbit ears extended completely horizontal like a "T" and elevated.

The towers for WMAZ, WPGA, WMGT, and WGXA are all in the same location. They are on Cochran Short Route (Hwy. 129/87) at the Bibb/Twiggs county line. WGNM's tower is located a few miles north of the others. The compass direction is almost exactly 45 degrees from the Dunbar/Vinson intersection, about 30 degrees from the Watson/Houston intersection, and about 20 degrees from the Russell/Davis intersection. I hope that's helpful.

If WMGT can get their HD act together, hopefully in time for the Olympics, and assuming WGXA will be doing HD because their network is in fact supplying the necessary gear to every affiliate, then that will be the big four networks in Macon on the air with HDTV. That's a milestone for sure. There are larger cities that have worse.

This is very close to me. Thanks for the help.

Bob

An update from the Statham's Landing area. I just installed a ChannelMaster Titan 7777 preamp with my Radio Shack VHF/UHF antenna (the cheapest they sell), and am now getting a solid lock on ABC, a good lock on NBC (only breaks up occasionally), and a signal but no good lock on Fox (continually broken up). Of course, CBS is solid as always. I have to go through many, many trees, so I was pleasantly surprised with the performance of the preamp. Before, I could not get a watchable picture on NBC, couldn't get Fox at all, and ABC broke up occasionally.

I'll wait until Fox has something to offer, and upgrade the antenna.

Regards
Walt Irvine

WGXA's 480i seems to look better than WMGT's. WGXA is transmitting 8 Mbps and WMGT is transmitting 6 Mbps, but WMGT looks far worse than 6 Mbps is capable of.

I have some tools that let me interpret the PSIP data transmitted by each station. There are currently two problems, one is that WMAZ doesn't seem to be transmitting any PSIP at all, the other is WGXA apparently hasn't set the clock on their new gear because their System Time Table says it's April 1997.

And I've been told that some Cox employees are currently "alpha" testing Cox HD in their homes.

The Cox employee who is my next door neighbor has been 'alpha testing' D* since he moved in two years ago.

I dunno where you ge the idea that D* makes you carry their mega package, which I assume you mean Total Choice Premier.. You can have the HD package on ANY of their programming packages.. including regular Total Choice..

As for COX HD.. while in Norther VA I had the COX HD stuff with all the progamming i have now (hbo showtime premiums) .. and it was MUCH more expensive.. not all the COX pricing is the same.. but you HAD to have digital service.. (or at least digitial gateway a 5$ charge) they let you rent the box from them.. although at one point they tried to chang eit where you had to buy one from Best buy.. after complaints or whatever they stopped that it seems.. You got the locals for free.. (which at the time was only ABC and NBC) you got the HBOHD and SHOWHD if you carried those packages.. then ESPN and DSCVRY were about 6.50$ a peice.

The box fee was 11.95$ or so a month.. and they charged a 100$ non-waivable fee for instalation.. at that time.

The quality was just as good as OTA and D* have ever been for me.

In the end.. I'm very happy buying my Hughes HD D* box.. and as soon as I get out of the house, move my antenna and run a line to my multiswitch from my antenna I'll be dropping the 13$ cox is charging me for just locals.

So you're saying that the minimal Cox Digital package required for the HD is the $5.95 Cox Gateway? If that's true then getting HD locals from Cox becomes more attractive than paying $53.24 for their cheapest digital tier package which has less channels than you can get for $36.99 from DirecTV, and all but 12 of them are in fact analog.

And I'd prefer to buy my own HD receiver. Brand-name Cablecard tuners can't get here quickly enough for me. If there's one thing I despise most about cable, it's those lameass cable boxes that you have no choice but to rent.

I'm still going to crunch the numbers and decide whether to go with Cox or with DirecTV + antenna.

I'm not EXACTLY sure what all was required.. it was over a year ago that I had cox.. and it was in a different location all together. In the end D* has been the cheapest for me by far.

From what I understand from Cox is that if you already have digital cable service you will only have to pay the higher cable box rental and you'll have their HD service. The digital cable box is something like $3.95 a month and the new HD box will be $9.95 a month. This will include NBC, CBS, ABC, ESPN HD and INHD1 and INHD2. Discovery Theater HD will be an additional $4.99 a month. Also, if you already pay for Showtime or HBO you will get Showtime HD or HBO HD at no additional cost. I'm getting pretty psyched about next Mondays rollout. Anyone hear from Cox yet offering them a box or installation??

Bob

Hmm.

I wonder if you do not subscribe to Cox currently and wish to only get the local stations that are HD (or even plain digital), will there be an option for that level of service? I doubt it, but if it were reasonable they probably could get quite a few DBS customers in the door.

That's what I'd like to know. Bottom line, what's the least I'd have to pay to get local HD on cable?

This is from the Cox site.
http://www.cox.com/middlega/digitalc...%5Fpricing.asp and for HD http://www.cox.com/middlega/digitalc...er_Pricing.asp

Just got an email that the new date for the launch of Cox's HD is now May 3rd.