Omaha / Lincoln, NE - HDTV - Page 6

Hi John,

On the watermark logo, that comes down from ABC, they insert it on their end, I unfortunately do not have control of it. I would hope it is at a transparency level which will not burn-in. I will contact ABC and see what they say about taking it in / out so it is not in all the time. Don't think I will have much luck though, but I will try.

Of some interest, if anyone wants to avoid burn-in, use either a LCD or DLP display, you cannot burn those. I know some people like to connect their game systems to the big screens, and that would burn-in. I would choose the DLP as its blacks will be better than the LCD display.

Question for you John, I have not connected my ATSC receiver to a surround sound system, how did Gladiator sound in DD 5.1? I can monitor the audio channels on my decoder at the station, but those are really small speakers.

--Warren

Forgot to mention, this weekend 11/2 & 11/3 operation times are:

Saturday programming noon - 11:30pm.

Sunday programming 1pm - 11pm.

--Warren

Warren,

The digital audio on Gladiator was excellent. The audio imaging and spatial separation were perfect.

I also thought the picture quality was very good, this is one of the cleaner looking films that I have seen in HD.

--Mike

Hi Everyone,

If you had problems receiving KETV last evening at the above time, we had a problem with our Encoder, it dropped out a couple of times.

We have replaced a board in the unit today, and hopefully this has fixed the problem.

Still working on the closed captioning...

Robert:
I talked to my vendor about my PSIP server Friday. The software is ready to go, but they are certifying the Dell Server it will run on first. So, this will be a while yet, maybe 30 or more days.

--Warren

Thank-You Mike!!!

It is nice to know the DD 5.1 is working OK, we spent the extra money to re-encode and broadcast this as part of the HD.

It is really great to have this forum, it lets us know as broadcasters if we have any issues with the different types of receive equipment on the market today. Thanks to everyone for the input.

--Warren

Warren,

Your audio was very good. I was playing the DVD after the show (DD 5.1 track) and dign't really hear much difference. The opening battle, the scene after he escapes the guards, and a couple of the coleseum scenes really show off the surround.

Does anybody know if the DD5.1 track is EX encoded to sound like the DTS 6.1 Discrete version? My rear centers were active during the broadcast, but without AB comparison between the DD5.1 and the DTS6.1 Discrete, I couldn't tell if there was a difference?

Doug

Howdy W,

I hope your PSIP software is not one of the few that creates goofy PSIP info. I've read a few horror stories about PSIP infomation being invalid and causing different 8VSB receivers to have fits...

Will KETV be going 24/7 soon or is that not until next year?

-- Robert

Watching Gladiator on KETV right now...

Reception: 15% signal

One MPEG "burp" which caused some stray artifacts for about 0.1 seconds.

No audio dropouts. Not listening to 5.1 here, however, as I am on a 2-channel tube system.

The picture is absolutely spectacular! I hear ABC's regular HDTV line-up is just as cool. I can't wait to see some of this tomorrow night!

-- Robert

Jay,

Big problems with WOWT lately! For the last few days, something in WOWT's datastream is causing my Samsung SIR-T150 receiver to reboot itself every 1-2 minutes!

I will either hear a burst of static with a black screen or a picture with repeating quarter-second of audio before it reboots.

I can tell is a reboot and not reception because if I happen to have the programming guide up, the small channel preview window displays the channel I am currently watching. It will freeze, the box will reboot (the video circuits of the receiver shut off and then power back on two to three seconds later), and then reports I am watching 6-1 -- just like when I power the receiver up.

Did you change your PSIP data or software at all? This is really unwatchable...

-- Robert

Daryl here at 156th and Harrison,

I am likely going to order a projector/screen(nec Lt158) combo tomorrow to replace my 40" mits Standard Def.

The projector is a 4:3 screen ratio, and the resolution when converting to 16:9 is less than if I bought a true 16:9 projector that is at least $1500 more.

My question is that are the hdtv signals in omaha coming in at 4:3 or 16:9 mostly? I can run both modes but if most are 16:9, I may sit out for the full resolution.

Also have a samsung sir-151 on order at mega mart, but am trying to source a sir-ts160 so I can run with my direct tv. I wonder how long till direct tv does nfl sunday ticket in HD, prob forever.

This is awesome having omaha guys here, thanks! I have spent hours upon hours researching this stuff since I found out ota hdtv was real in omaha, thanks to your posts. I did a report on hdtv in high school, 1988, reports said it would be in us in 90, I have been drueling since the report...

BTW I have two attic mount uhf antennas and one vhf attena, get great reception exept 42 has some very slight ghosting, can't wait to optimize the attennas, and get digital locals.


Daryl

Robert, we had to upgrade the software in our Tanberg HD Encoder to address the Closed-Captioning problem. We are also expierencing problems with our T150 receiver. It only shows a signal strength of about 10% and will not provide a signal lock. Our RCA and our Samsung TS-160 are rock solid at 80%. I have read on this AVS Forum that the T-150 has been expierencing problems with PSIP Data. We are not providing PSIP but I have a call into Tandberg for advice.

If I can turn off the closed-captioning to fix your problems I will!

Jay

Robert,

I ran several tests utilizing our Samsung T-150. The receiver was not impacted by the closed-captioning information. I could however impact the receiver with the PSIP data being turned off and on. I currently have the mode "off" so let me know how things look tonight.

Jay

Daryl,

I am helping my brother in law in Bellevue work on a project system as well. Right now, most of KETV and WOWT is upconverted 4x3. However, all the HD stuff is full 16x9. As time goes on, more 16x9 will come to exist, so I say, get the 16x9.

As far as DirecTV, Sunday ticket in HD is unforseeable. MNF announced that next season would be HD however. I have the Sony HD200 and love it. The Sunday tickets games expanded to 1080i and displayed looke much better on it than they did previously on my old RCA standard DirecTV box with the Mits line doubler. Not sure how the TS160 compares. I don't think it has some of the filtering, but has some other modes.

Doug

I have good and bad news on the failures of the Samsung T-150's. Samsung is aware they have a problem with the T-150 units. The manufacture of our HD encoder is also aware of the situation. Tanberg is working on a software fix for the Encoder even though it is a receiver problem and is only impacting the T-150's. (apparently, both companies have agreed it will be much easier to address several hundred HD Encoders than recall thousands of receivers) The software fix was completed last Thursday but Samsung asked Tanberg for a release delay while they verify it works.

I can make the problem go away but this fix creates a whole new set of issues. If I turn the PSIP data stream off in the encoder, the receivers will not continuosly reboot.....great! If I then autoprogram for new channels, WOWT 6.1 will not appear...not great.

I hope that Samsung will allow the release late this week or early next week.

Jay Nix
Chief Engineer
WOWT

Howdy Jay,

Thanks for being on top of the issue like this! It's great -- of course, back at KMTV you were the same when it came to trouble-shooting Cox's HD feeds. I am glad WOWT lets you take all of this seriously.

Glad you've got the contacts to trouble-shoot thing. I did see threads about the problem in this very forum, but I couldn't find the link to the URL. I wish everybody would get their PSIP straight!

Thanks again for all your hard work!

-- Robert

John,

I spoke to KPTM/KXVO a few weeks ago, they were hoping by end of November or early December. Their current FCC filing says Dec 7. (Check titantv.com)

Hope they make it.

Doug

Antenna 101 / Tower Locations
I show the following possible digital channels in the Omaha Area from AntennaWeb.org that should be available now or sometime in the future.

PBS OMAHA 194 Degrees
WB OMAHA 194 Degrees
PBS Lincoln 194 Degrees
Fox Omaha 194 Degrees

ABC OMAHA 35 Degrees (72nd and Military?)
NBC OMAHA 35 Degrees
CBS OMAHA 35 Degrees

PBS CTucky 68 Degrees
PBS RedOak 72 Degrees

Can someone tell me the locations of the 194 degree antenna? If there is no chance to ever recieve them in the foreseable future then I will take them off the list. Is it true that we should be able to recieve all these stations from omaha?

Antenna 101

I need to know what the do's and don'ts are for the digital attennas. When I run my single uhf antenna I get 63% on 35 degree stations.

When I reverse a splitter into two antennas it goes to zero, using a normal splitter. How can you combine the signals?

I think most would be happy with two antennas one at 35 and the other at 194?

Last thing. What are the hours of operation when a signal will come through on these abc,nbc, and cbs stations? Are the other stations live? Maybe we could keep a thread/reference going that summarizes the available channels, their status, projected radius for signal reciept, hours useable, best guess at future channel release dates?

Take it easy,
Thanks for your help.

Daryl

Warren at KETV,

Did you guys up your power in the last few days? I had record signal strength last night. Like 70% full scale. Seemed like a lot to have been atmospheric only.

Doug

I think the problem you are having with using the reversed splitter is creating a multi-path problem The receiver sees so many reflected patterns from the additinal antenna pointed in the reversed direction, that it is just ignoring the data. You need to install "Traps or filters" to eliminate the signal on the opposite antenna.

Jay Nix
WOWT

Hi Doug,

We have not increased the power as of yet. Still working on the filing.

--Warren

What trap or filter would I need, I assume I would be able to use three? I would want one for the uhf pointing to 35 degrees to only receive the correct signals, 1 for the 198 degrees to recieve those signals, and optionally 1 for my vhf to block all uhf.

Where can I get these and find out what ones I need to accomplish?

Thanks,

Daryl

I hook up my uhf only attenna and I get 63% without fiddling with it. I hook up my large uhf and vhf antenna and I get 20%. CBS is fine but abc is breaking up, sound dying etc... What is the minimum percent that is recommended for channel 7?

Daryl, SIR-TS160

I have, as I've said, and older Samsung SIR-T150. I receive KETV in Millard with only 15% signal and it works fine.

I am considering trying a pre-amp just to give myself a little more headroom.

-- Robert

I have learned that I can play with bandpass filters and antenna combiners or I can get an omnidirectional antenna to pick up the signals from both directions. Anyone else doing either of these in omaha with any success?
Anyone combining a uhf only and a vhf only? Omni directional seems longer term as it may pick up the "misc" stations as they are tuned in.

"TV Reception Technologies"
Garry Zager
402-464-6995

Garry in Lincoln has been working on solutions to these problems for several weeks. It might be worth a phone call do discuss your situation. I know he has been pulling in WOWT and KETV in west Lincoln reliably.

Jay

Jay, funny you should mention Zager.

http://www.angelfire.com/tn2/thefron...heYear2525.asf

In the year 2002, I bought a Yagi too

It is about 100" long, Do you think I can get signal? We will see.

I just brought home the MXU59 AntennaCraft from Zager. I just wish my tuner would get here!

The transmitter field engineer is here today and we have found some components that need replacing. We have ordered the parts to arrive early on the 14th. We do not feel comfortable running the system with questionable equipment. If all goes well and no more problems arise, we should be back at full power in less than 24hrs.

Jay

Hi Everyone,

The transmitter failed today.

I hope to have parts on-site by Friday.