Colorado Springs, CO - HDTV - Page 218

Originally Posted by lsilvest

If anyone is interested, I just had the locals added to my Dish account and even though they don't include KBDI through Dish, the program information for 12.1, 12.2 and 12.3 do show up on my OTA connection on the Dish receiver.

For Scott - if you're still using BTV, I asked them to add KBDI to our locals list and they are looking into it - since they use Tribune like Dish they should be availble.

Originally Posted by scottlindner

I switched to Windows 7 Media Center. I bought Beyond Media just as they released the last version forever, and it appears I did the same with BeyondTV. So rather than trying to keep it running I decided to jump to something that is actively supported. 7MC has it's pros/cons. There are some things I miss about BTV, and there are some things in 7MC that are really nice.

Scott

Originally Posted by Satcom15

OK, I finally bit the bullet. I have an HD TV now. Got a Panny Plasma G25 42 inch. I'm getting the HD box from Comcast this morning. However, for grins I plugged it in directly to the cable (I have basic cable, not even digital starter) last night and it picked up a few HD channels. I was watching the late night news broadcasts. KOAA led off with "Breaking news" - 2 car crash near my Apt (If it bleeds it leads ). Of the three networks, it appears KOAA had the best PQ. BTW PBS was far and away the poorest quality - A major disappointment. Maybe if they'd use the entire bandwidth of their HD broadcast it would be better - Dump Create. All were in 1080i according to the TV. I still have a long way to go as far as PQ tuning is concerned (at the moment its in THX mode).

However, here is my question: Are there any channels, networks or specialty like Animal Planet or Sports channels, that transmit 1080p PQ? What about over satellite? It seems the only way to get true uncompressed 1080p PQ is from BluRay (got one of those too - an Oppo 83 modified to make it region free). Now I can watch all that great foreign programming that PBS butchers

Thanks in advance for any information.

Originally Posted by Satcom15

OK, I finally bit the bullet. I have an HD TV now. Got a Panny Plasma G25 42 inch. I'm getting the HD box from Comcast this morning. However, for grins I plugged it in directly to the cable (I have basic cable, not even digital starter) last night and it picked up a few HD channels. I was watching the late night news broadcasts. KOAA led off with "Breaking news" - 2 car crash near my Apt (If it bleeds it leads ). Of the three networks, it appears KOAA had the best PQ. BTW PBS was far and away the poorest quality - A major disappointment. Maybe if they'd use the entire bandwidth of their HD broadcast it would be better - Dump Create. All were in 1080i according to the TV. I still have a long way to go as far as PQ tuning is concerned (at the moment its in THX mode).

However, here is my question: Are there any channels, networks or specialty like Animal Planet or Sports channels, that transmit 1080p PQ? What about over satellite? It seems the only way to get true uncompressed 1080p PQ is from BluRay (got one of those too - an Oppo 83 modified to make it region free). Now I can watch all that great foreign programming that PBS butchers

Thanks in advance for any information.

Originally Posted by scottlindner

PBS broadcasts 3 channels over one channel. If that makes sense. They are highly compressed to do that.

You can pull in more if you do use rabbit ears rather than the cable.

Scott

Originally Posted by lsilvest

5. 1080p is as much hype as reality. I've seen BD that isn't as good as some OTA. Your expectations were raised possibly too high by the hype. You'll see arguments about this, but I like my 720p plasma better than my son's 1080p Sony LCD (so does he).

Originally Posted by Satcom15

Yeah. I hooked up an antenna this morning (rabbit ears) 7 Analog (all snowy) and 17 digital (quality of course varies - KOAA 5.1 and KKTV 11.1 look the best, at least this morning). All are 1080i. For the most part they looked similar to cable. I wonder, is there any tool or method to tell what the real bit rate is and how its partitioned into the various PIDs

Originally Posted by Satcom15

RMPBS is one of the worst - Like you said, 3 channels on one digital channel. Somewhere down the road, I think I'm going to get a satellite receiver for PBS (like Gatoviejo did). I was looking around, they aren't that expensive (<$500 should do it).

Originally Posted by scottlindner

I'm sure there is, but I don't have anything that can do it. One thing I have noticed is the quality jumps way up for prime time shows. Before you draw any conclusions, wait until this Fall line up starts. I think you'll be very pleased.

Originally Posted by scottlindner

I gotta ask.. just for PBS? I believe there are multiple reasons RMBPS stations suck. It's broadcast in Denver and there is a relay station on a mountain somewhere near the Palmer Divide and another broadcast on the top of Cheyenne Mountain. When we had troubles with that relay station I got a sense the relay station is clobbering the quality in addition to the compression to fit three digital stations onto one physical channel.

Originally Posted by Satcom15

Oh, no doubt. I have a feeling the stations/networks devote more bits (less compression and reduction in bits to other PIDs) to primetime programming.





I agree on the Microwave relay introducing noise. However, I had a note from a KTSC station engineer earlier in the year (because of my griping about all the digital error artifacts - frozen frames, blockiness, dropped audio) that they were going to get a fiber studio to cable head end link soon to cure some of those problems. Not sure if that happened yet or not. Still, cramming 3 channels into one HD channel for OTA is the pitts. Back to your question, yes. At least initially, there would be the satellite reciever for PBS only. I don't have the space for a motorized antenna (even a 3 ft Ku-Band) at my apt. Also, a fixed dish won't raise as much suspicion (it looks like a DTV or E-Star dish). Finally, I'm not terribly interested in other channels broadcast by satellite at the moment. That might change, but for now PBS HD is all I'm really want.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Satcom15

OK, I finally bit the bullet. I have an HD TV now. Got a Panny Plasma G25 42 inch. I'm getting the HD box from Comcast this morning. However, for grins I plugged it in directly to the cable (I have basic cable, not even digital starter) last night and it picked up a few HD channels. I was watching the late night news broadcasts. KOAA led off with "Breaking news" - 2 car crash near my Apt (If it bleeds it leads ). Of the three networks, it appears KOAA had the best PQ. BTW PBS was far and away the poorest quality - A major disappointment. Maybe if they'd use the entire bandwidth of their HD broadcast it would be better - Dump Create. All were in 1080i according to the TV. I still have a long way to go as far as PQ tuning is concerned (at the moment its in THX mode).

However, here is my question: Are there any channels, networks or specialty like Animal Planet or Sports channels, that transmit 1080p PQ? What about over satellite? It seems the only way to get true uncompressed 1080p PQ is from BluRay (got one of those too - an Oppo 83 modified to make it region free). Now I can watch all that great foreign programming that PBS butchers

Thanks in advance for any information.

Originally Posted by RockyMountainD

I thought KRDO was broadcast in 720p.

Originally Posted by lsilvest

It is and so is Fox.

Originally Posted by Satcom15

But, but my TV says 1080i when I check it. It must be true, it must.

Originally Posted by scottlindner

If the set says it's 1080i, I would believe it's 1080i.

Originally Posted by lsilvest

It's only 1080i if it's upconverted by your provider or the source shows it as 1080. I have Dish and my DVR is set to 1080i output, so the TV shows it as 1080i. For OTA, it shows 720p which is what both ABC and Fox use. In either case, you couldn't tell the difference. The fact is it's almost irrelevant since most of us can't tell the difference between 720 and 1080 anyway (unless you have a very large screen).

Originally Posted by scottlindner

I gotcha. I guess the important point here is the signal to your TV is one thing, but that doesn't mean anything about all of the clobbering that goes on from original recording/broadcast until it hits the final device before your set.

I've seen 1080p that's worse than NTSC.

Scott

Originally Posted by Satcom15

Hi Scott,
Nothing went on in the park as far as I know. It would seem the scan rate and the data rate could be different to the point where a 1080p (or 1080i, or 720p), thus your comment. Incidentally, it seems the KOAA news broadcast (OTA and cable) is the best quality of the three networks here. And in general KTSC is just plain poor most of the time. I wish they would dump those secondary channels (at least one) as well as remove some of the bit filling during primetime. That PBS satellite feed keeps looking better all the time.

BTW does anyone have a Hauppage (or similar card) that can give us the latest bit vs PID information for the local major channels?

Originally Posted by scottlindner

I think things change once you hit prime time. They probably drop those other channels to crap. In general, I've noticed any of the important shows are excellent quality.

I have an HD HomeRun. If you know that it can provide the information I'll gladly dig it up. I plan on buying a Hauppauge but haven't done so yet.

Scott

Originally Posted by Satcom15

Could be that they do drop the bit rate on those ancillary channels, except RMPBS. Its the pitts here in CO. Nebraska (NETV) has seperate channels for all the PBS national feed programming - no cramming of three channels into one and using fillers. BTW, I did see that KRDO is 720p during their news broadcast - pathetic. And I noticed the difference between them and KOAA. The KOAA images were just a little sharper and richer in color. I guess that's the price we pay for living in a smaller market - TV stations too cheap to make major investments in system upgrades.

I don't think you can get the data from the HD Homerun, but maybe you can. I'm not sure. Yeah, I'm thinking of getting a hauppage card when I get some bones if nothing else but to monitor transmissions (its the electronics geek in me - LOL ). All in all I really like the panny plasma (P42G25). The blacks are deep and I don't see any digital artifacts even with lots of motion. I'm going to check things out during the football game on NBC this evening. All in all, I think it may be better than an LCD. Regardless, its a quantum leap from my 13 in analog CRT. Image quality is excellent. Even my GF was impressed - always a good thing.

Originally Posted by bnwrx

Does anyone have any inside info on KRDO/Directv conflict? Looks like it could be another long,drawn out contract deal. Can't understand why when it was just a year ago or so the agreement was signed to carry the HD signal.KRDO sure seems to have a conflict with DTV as there on-air message mentions DISH by name as being an alternative to Directv!?? If anyone knows more about this please post.
Thanks

Originally Posted by radckh

I'm gonna side with DirecTV here.

On the bright side with KRDO, I got an email from Tim Larson last week regarding Dolby Digital and this is what he had to say:

We are installing all new servers and audio equipment so that we can broadcast in Dolby 5.1. However, I don't have a completion date, probably a month or two.

Tim

Originally Posted by scottlindner

Plasma should be much better than LCD in practically every PQ measurement there is. People get scared of the plasma pitfalls that the industry has since figured out. So you're in good hands with that plasma. We're gonna get one this Xmas to replace our dying XBR4.

I'm waiting for the Hauppauge that I want to buy to come on sale. Long story why I'm holding out.

Scott

Originally Posted by lsilvest

What part of Springs are you in. My son is next to Monument and prefers plasma but got an LCD because of the altitude and didn't want to pay more for the few models made for altitude. Curious if regular plasmas work ok in that area.

Originally Posted by scottlindner

I don't own a plasma but I'm about to buy one and just did this research myself a couple of weeks ago. From the research I've been doing the "high altitude plasma" is a thing of the past. All plasmas are rated up to an elevation. Find a model you like and see what it's rated for. Based on my research, most models are good up to about 9,000ft MSL before you get the plasma buzz.

Scott

Originally Posted by lsilvest

Thanks for the info. I hadn't paid any attention since I bought mine over 4 yrs ago. Too bad my son didn't do his due diligence. Think he was going on the past information and he is up close to 7,000 ft.