Memphis, TN - HDTV

One new HDTV watcher here but not through TWC. I recently purchased on open box Hughes E86 receiver from Best Buy, a Rat Shack double bow tie antenna and an HDTV from Dilday. I'm getting all of the digital locals except Fox with no problems. I really hope Fox gets their hardware fixed so I can see some widescreen NFL.

-Robert

I am having problems getting my OTA antenna up and tuned in........but I am hoping for some great HDTV from Memphis!!

Did any have problems with CSI last night? I couldn't pick up the first episode and the second looked like the SD feed since it had side bars.

-Robert

You will need a receiver with OTA capability. All of the DirecTV receivers or the Samsung T-150 (I think that's the model) will work. I'm using the Radio Shack Double Bow-Tie and the Hughes E-86 DirecTV receiver. I found the antenna in the Hickory Ridge mall for $4.85 (close-out) and the Hughes from Best Buy on Winchester for $419 (open-box).

I just left a voice mail with Jim Amhall (sp?) of WREG asking about the CSI problems I was having last night. I post his reply as soon as I get it.

-Robert

Got my antenna up yesterday and it is an Digital OTA success story!! I was worried due to my distance from Memphis but I get very high signal strength on all channels except Fox which I get nothing, are they still at low power??

Great news. How far away are you? I'm about four miles into MS.


As far as I know, they are at "no power". On the other Memphis thread, it was mentioned that the digital transmitter so some other piece of equipment was struck by lightning.

Jim Andholt or WREG returned my call late Friday afternoon. They had "technical" difficulties during the first CSI. When they fixed those, CBS was not transmitting the HD version of CSI. He thinks that was because of limited transponder space and CBS showing the US Open in HD in other time zones.

-Robert

I am about 60 miles as the crow flies........about 15 miles south of Jonesboro......... a quick question about WMC, it seems the are altering their digital picture some, the left and right are cut off slightly, but the top and bottom seem unaffected, is this the result of the 16:9 conversion??
I havent yet to watch anything but the news so far so I dont have much to compare to.........

60 miles! What type of antenna do you have?

I haven't really watched much WMC-DT except for about 10 minutes of Leno on Friday night. Since all of my favorite shows on that channel are SD, I usually watch in 480i stretch mode off of the DirecTivo. I'll look to see if they are cropping the picture.

-Robert

VU-190 radioshack on a 30' mast, no preamp.......I get signal strengths of 100 according to my E86...........saw a little bit of Drew Carey on ABC tonight, looks like to me that they are broadcasting not quite a 16:9 ratio.

I have seen comments on the forum of 14:9, any one have any info on this??

I am thinking of staying up to watch Leno tonight

I didn't notice anything strange with the aspect ratio on Drew but I only watched for a minute or so. I was watching the baseball game on HD-Net and I really HATE baseball. The picture was just too good. Even my wife commented on how it looked. I was disappointed at 9:00 when WREG didn't flip the switch for CSI.

-Robert

Dre,
Im not Robert but i can help you I think!! The E86 CAN be used for OTA, the only catch is if you buy it with an agreement to actvate D* programing for a reduced price on the reciver. There is also talk of a D* policy saying all recivers must be activiated with D* within so many days to prevent system theft using hacked access cards.

So if you buy it somewhere like Best Buy and it is a cash and carry tranaction, i.e. no credit card used or number given, and no contract signed you cant be charged back for the non-activation fee.

The only technology out there in regards to this box or most others right now is means of transmitting the video to the monitor by a secure digital link.....which can be any number of styles, DVI, IEEE 1394, Firewire, etc.
The point to this is to prevent or control taping of HD material. It is possible for premium channel providers to "down rez" content recived by the E86 to prevent full resoultion through the component outputs which is all the E86 has.

But as far as I know this will not affect OTA channels, I think must transmit in the clear, and unencumbered, so as you want this for OTA only anyway, I dont see the problem..........

I hope I have helped in some small way!!

I used the E86 for two days before subscribing. I just turned off the dish input in the setup. It worked just fine.

I'm not sure if Best Buy will let you do a cash and carry on a D* receiver. They did ask if I was a D* subscriber during checkout. I just said yes.

I just got tired of reading about DVI and firewire. I got a Mits WS-55411 (I had the 65411 for about 24 hours) with no special input and the E86 with no special output. Component video works great and I'll stick with it until the whole copy protection thing sorts itself out.

Dre, if you get any D* receiver I would recommend signing up for the service. I've been watching re-runs of the Olympics on HD-Net. I'm amazed at the picture quality and I haven't even calibrated the TV.

-Robert

the Samsung is ATSC only, it cant do NTSC, so you will have to switch sources to watch regular tv.....it also is no DVI, so no more flexabilty for future upgrades than the E86.

IMHO.....the E86 is a good choice unless you have some reason to not want to be involved with D*.

I wouldnt let the merger worry you, as having HD equipment for either service should put your foot in the door so to speak no matter what happens. Even in the unlikely event that all E86 owners are out in the cold after the merger, you will still have a top quality OTA tuner!!

Does anyone else see an across the board loss of signal at night??

All my channels nearly max out my strenght meter, until the sun goes down then i get bad dropouts on WMC-DT, some on WREG-DT, and a few on WPTY-DT. The signal strength meter will stay down about 60 then wildly go up and down the scale.

I dont have the problem with WLMT-DT.

I wonder if the stations my turn down their power at night??

Any other ideas??

No problems with dropouts. My signal strength stays between 90 and 100.

-Robert

Does anyone know what kind of resolutions the Memphis staions are broadcasting in when not HD?? I feel that WMC is 480i most of the time, WREG is 480i and 1080i, but I dont think I have seen anything over that on the other 3 staions..........UPN,ABC, or PAX.

The lower signal strength at night might not be caused by lower signal, but dropped bits probably caused by skip. When I lived in Blytheville, I regularly picked up stations from Mo, Ky, Ms, La, and Ar at night. Check the analog channels when you see the signal drop off, and see if you are picking up skip. I live on a hilltop in North Little Rock, but have a 200' higher ridge to my east, and still pick up Memphis 52-1 occasionally off the back of my antenna. Wish I could afford about a 120' tower, I would really love to get the antenna up there. At my old location, I could watch Memphis stations from about 5pm to about 11am the next morning.

Hey Davenir.........
I posted a question to you on another forum..........are you familiar with a combiner used with 2 antennas pointed in differnet directions.....the secondary antenna used for one channel only.....I think Winegaurd used to make them, but I have yet to find any info........

Thanks for the dropout info..........I hate to say Im not familiar with the term "skip". What would I look for on the analog stations.........BTW my analog reception is not what I think it should be.....

To add a single channel antenna pointed another direction from a main antenna, you need a channel master single channel block inserter, it blocks the single channel from the main feedline, and allows you to insert the channel from the second antenna. I believe stark electronics sells them.

Skip is where signals follow the curvature of the earth due to atmospheric conditions usually found in early AM and mid PM hours, instead of following the usual line of site direct lines. To check for it, watch channel 3 and 5, if you start hearing a whine, and the picture becomes wavy, there is skip. May come from different directions on different days. 3 and 5 there are usually the first ones affected. If you can get channel 6 or 9 from Mississippi, then its definantly a good night.

Thanks Man................

Hey Memphis HDTV'ers.....I have been doing some comparisons of the OTA NTSC and ATSC channels out of Memphis, and I have noticed the sound on the ATSC(hd) channels to be somewhat lacking, almost not even stero.

I dont have my E86 hooked to my A/V reciver, just straight to the TV, so I was wondering if that was the problem. Does anyone know what kind of audio is being transmitted out of Memphis??

Thanks

I had no NBC all day Sunday...........was there a problem at the station??

I hate Memphis TWC but I still use them for RoadRunner. If CenturyTel DSL was faster, I'd switch and cut all ties to TWC.

Why can't you switch to satellite?

-Robert

dre,
Before you decicde you cant go Sat. check to see how many times a day all 6 of your TVs are actually on a different channel and someone watching them.

With D* you would have only one dish on roof.........with E* you would need two for all HD channels........