Memphis, TN - HDTV - Page 197

I have noticed it, too. However, it looks to be fixed as of this week. Lets hope it stays that way.

Is anyone else having problems with DirecTV SD locals in Memphis?

None here on my "old" TiVO

I called D*. Service call was today I had a bad multi switch. Knocked out most of my SD channels.

My mother got a notice from Comcast saying that you will soon need a box to watch any of the cable channels, 2-19 included. Has anyone else received this?

I'm assuming she currently has basic and has the cable directly connected to her TV.

Comcast is changing everything to digital and a box will be required to receive any channels. There is a DTA (Digital Transport Adapter) box that they will supply free. The downside is that all channels in analog will be downrezed to SD.

Comcast DTA

More Info

Odds are if you're only getting basic you're not watching HD anyways.

Not true. Currently there are HD channels being sent in the clear using QAM if you have basic cable. With the change over to digital whatever channels become the basic package will be SD quality when the DTA is used.

And if one lives in Memphis and one can get locals with an antenna pretty easily.

I'm getting these notices. From what I've been able to figure out: When Comcast switches over, you'll still be able to get 2-19 ("limited basic") without a DTA or STB. Also, you should be able to use QAM tuner to get HD versions of those channels. If you install their free DTA, you'll lose the HD but be able to get the expanded basic channels (SD only), though the signal will be fed to your TV via Channel 3 analog, which sucks.

HOWEVER: I read a two-month old article this morning that really clouds the picture. Apparently, Comcast's buying spree didn't stop with NBC. They bought the FCC itself, which has given approval to allowing all cable companies to encrypt ALL channels -- even the local stations. Which of course means you'll HAVE to have a DTA (for SD) or STB (for HD). (OK, I'm kidding about Comcast buying the FCC, but the rest is true.)

Update: New member, so can't post the link. But you'll find the article on the Multichannel News web site, dated 11-28-2011, written by John Eggerton, headlined: "NCTA to FCC: Let All-Digital MSOs Encrypt Basic Tier" Supposedly the decision hadn't been finalized, but the article says the FCC has been convinced that it's a good thing to do.

Agreed. Although there are some areas in Memphis that have issues getting all of the local channels.

However, depending on the age/knowledge of the user it isn't necessarily easy to switch inputs and select the desired channels. i.e. switch to antenna input for OTA and change channels on the TV or switch to whatever input the DTA box is connected to (not currently sure how it connects), select TV channel 3 and use a different remote to change channels on the DTA box.

Of course a universal remote would make this easier but with macros and IR only it could be a nightmare for impatient users.

Then there is the issue that all cable channels may be encrypted.

The point is if one only wants basic and one doesn't want to deal with a DTA box and one wants the locals in HD then just use an antenna.

I wish we could find out the go live date for the change over. Repeated calls to Comcast yield nothing. No one knows a damned thing in the call center. Your lucky if you even get someone inside the US these days.

The only date I got so far was a maybe 1/5/12 which we know didn't happen.

I think the projected date is now around Feb 1.

In early December, someone called and talked us through ordering the DTAs. Then a paper notice came with a "do-by" date of 12/27. I went online and ordered (again). Now another paper notice has arrived with a do-by of 1/24. (Comcast must have misplaced my first and second orders.

they did that a few years ago in California. every few months they cut 20 channels
to the point they even cut QAM channels too it even got to where there was less than
1/2 basic SD channels left.


BCF one question, just how many stations do you get with Memphis OTA including
the sub channels?

out here in California I am fortunate to tune in 82 stations.
of those 13 of those are radio stations. that is on a fixed antenna.
we have one station that transmits 20 station KAXT1. they even broadcast a TV guide
on their channel 1.1 for all the other stations.
still get home shopping network. hahhhaha

20? Can you make out anything on any of those stations?

Load you address in Antennaweb.org

Will show you the stations, where they are referenced to your address and what type of antenna to use.

Considering I'm 115 miles away from the towers that would be zero 99.5% of the time. Though I did get them in about 3 nights ago pretty much all night after midnight until sunrise for whatever reason.

No use Tvfool.com. Antennaweb is not good at all.

they look as good as any old SD TV use to be. the audio channels are single channel only
I think. but when watching some of the old original dragnet shows before Harry Morgan
it was not the best but still viewable. almost like what I saw back when they originally aired. laugh

and, yes I have put in tvfool and the address but it does not show how many sub-channels
each station has. that is why I ask about how many some one might get....total.

I'll try to remember what I got before we moved.

CBS: 3-1, -2
NBC: 5-1, -2, -3
PBS: 10-1, -2, -3
FOX: 13-1
ABC: 24-1
CW: 30-1, -2
MyNetwork: 50-1, -2, -3, -4

And a new channel 14-1 which I think had religious programming on it.

Here in Memphis I have just installed and activated the Comcast/xfinity DTAs on three televisions (the fourth already had an HDTV set-top). Comments:

I get all the 80 or so expanded basic stations, although a handful of extra channels now appear on channels 1xx and 9xx.

I can no longer get the QAM channels (i.e. HDTV or true SDTV). The DTA doesn't pass those signals through. Therefore, you will need to rig an X-Y switch of some kind.*

The quality is decent. It looks like SDTV, but filtered through 2-3 more passes of noise reduction. (Wolf Blizter looks a little "puffy" in the face). Clearly the effect of the digital-analog-digital conversions.

It was no problem getting the little xfinity remote to control the power and volume on the Samsung 23-24" HDTVs in the bedrooms.

TV will no longer do the trick of switching between stretch and zoom as appropriate (i.e. to fill the screen area). Have to do that manually with TV remote.

The DTA comes with an IR remote gizmo so you can hide the little box.

*Apparently the reason the DTAs can't pass a digital signal is that the Feds prohibit it.

I was passing through Memphis not too long ago. In the community of Germantown, a very short distance to the cluster of xmt antennas near the I-40 corridor, here's what I received on a modest Accurian portable using the small built-in unipole.

The numbers in parenthesis are the count of subchannels and the number after the virgule is the RF channel:

3/28 WREG [CBS] (3)
5/5 WMC-TV [NBC] (3)
10/29 WKNO-TV [PBS] (2)
13/13 WHBQ-TV [FOX] (1)
23/23 WTWV [REL] (2)
24/25 WPTY [ABC] (2)
30/31 WLMT [CW] (2)
40/41 WBUY [TBN] (5)
42/50 W50EA [REL] (3)
50/51 WPXX [ION] (3)

Even at that close proximity to all of the RF, the only LPTV that locked was W50EA. Being that nearby, neither of the VHFs (WMC-TV nor WHBQ-TV) presented any challenge whatsoever.

Thus I captured 26 different streams during my short spell on the east side of Memphis, still a far cry from the 84 I receive here in the Dallas area.

So what channels do you lose using the DTA vs directly wired for QAM? In other words, QAM has SD channels and HD equivalents of the locals. Do you still get the locals in HD using QAM? Do you get the non local HD channels using QAM? What actually changes and why would one need to use an X-Y switch?

The DTA would not give you the locals in HD. May be the "HD locals" but they will be in SD.

You get all the locals including sub channels EXCEPT they are in "SD" -- analog, actually, because the digital is translated to analog channel 3 to feed your TV. Some channels will appear 4.3 pillarboxed. Some will appear 16:9 within 4:3 (black bands all four sides). Essentially, the DTA is a QAM tuner and decrypter. The problem is that the digital channel is then converted into analog (channel 3/4) and fed to your TV as if your TV was analog.

Supposedly, Channels 2-19 are going to remain unencrypted so you can still tune them with your QAM HDTV (no DTA). But I've read that the cable companies want permission to encrypt those channels, too. Once that happens, you will no longer be able to get anything with a bare TV. The cable company will then be able to charge you a fee for each TV in the house.

In th meantime, here is what I'm going to do with one of the TVs. I have a recent vintage VCR with an analog tuner and with component and HDMI outputs, but you could still do this with older model with composite outputs. I'm going to split the Comcast cable, feed one wire directly to RF on my HDTV. The other wire will go to the DTA which will feed the VCR, which will then feed the HDMI or whatever input on my HDTV. Thus, to watch all the expanded basic channels I'll watch the HDMI input, via the VCR+DTA. If I want full HD, I'll switch to the the RF input and tune QAM.

Boiling it down: The reason for this split cable + VCR nonsense is that DTAs only have RF-out and HDTVs generally have only ONE RF input, and if the DTA occupies that input (and blocks the digital streams), you are sunk. The VCR is used as a device to translate the DTA's RF output to something else your TV can accept - HDMI, Composite - so that you can still plug the cable into the TV's RF input and tune QAM.

Some clarifications:

1. Broadcast channels (2-13) come through in 4:3. Cable channels like CNN - if they are available in HD - come through as 16:9 panels within the 4:3 frame.

2. I don't know for certain whether QAM will still work after they complete the digital changeover - shutting off the analog signals and doing whatever reorg with the digital streams. Comcast literature seems to say that channels 2-20 (what is termed, "limited basic") will still be available via open QAM. So that's what I'm assuming. But the industry trend is to go even further: Encrypt everything.

re_nelson and MX6Bfast, thanks for your replies. so you get 84 stations in frisco Tx too,
that's great. there are some people who think you do not get any stations over the air
as was the local cable scare advertisements that you are going to loose your TV stations.
some people just do not know it is as good as cable or better in some cases since it is digital too.
enjoy.......

And that's not atypical. The terrain here is very conducive to stellar OTA reception. Plus all of the stations are clustered within 4 miles of each other at an antenna farm locate on a rise, thus making virtually all of the market line of sight to the transmitters.

Houston and Oklahoma City are two nearby DMAs that share these traits for a near-ideal OTA experience.

I'm in Southaven on Comcast. My TiVo Premiere (cablecard) updated its program guide Saturday 1/28/12 and all the 8xx channels dropped their content from the guide. The content moved to 1xxx channels, e.g. 803 moved to 1003.

HOWEVER, when I tune to 1003 I get "Channel not available. Contact your cable provider for more information."

Comcast customer service is clueless. The only thing they could do is roll a technician on Wednesday 2/1/12.

I had them ping the cablecard to update it but that didn't help.

Any suggestions?

Same issue, Fastoy. I'm in North Memphis and woke up Sunday 1/29 with a Tivo message stating all the 800's were moved into the 1000's. Thought maybe Tivo might be wrong, but checked the Comcast lineup online (which they finally updated after 2 years) and the new numbers are what is being advertised. Called Comcast, they pinged the cablecard, and then set me up with an appointment today 1/30. Of course the technician no-showed so I can't tell you what the solution is. Interestingly enough, if you manually go to the 800's the channels are still being broadcast there but of course there is no program information. I'm almost wondering if they promulgated the lineup change before actually rolling it out. It wouldn't be the first time Comcast did this. Haven't decided if I'm going to finally ditch cable altogether or not, but this is definitely annoying.