AVS › AVS Forum › HDTV › Local HDTV Info and Reception › Pittsburgh, PA - OTA
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Pittsburgh, PA - OTA - Page 142

post #4231 of 4506
12/26/09 at 9:31pm
Santa left a shiny new Sony KDL-26L5000 under the Christmas tree this year...and an Eagle Aspen DB2! I'm in Wexford and my room, where I put everything, is on the second story of a house on top of a hill.

I had a lot of trouble getting WQED and WPCW to show up, but being that they're VHF I couldn't really expect that much. UHF performance was just fine, though. I think the highlight of my DB2 testing was when I had picked up the antenna and was waving it around just to see what I could get. In one particular position, I was able to pick up WNEO. Pretty nifty!

I decided to pick up a Radio shack budget antenna to see if it would do a better job picking up WQED and WPCW. After a little bit of monkeying around, to my surprise, this little antenna actually does a better job overall than the DB2! I'm picking up all the local networks plus WFMJ and WBCB. Not a bad investment! I'm literally stunned at the picture quality I can pull in for free from a $12 antenna.

Of course, being a perfectionist, I may shop around to see if there are any other indoor antennas that would give me better reception. You can never have too many channels! :P
Reply
Reply

Gear mentioned in this thread:

post #4232 of 4506
12/27/09 at 5:16am
Still, WNEO and WFMJ from the Youngstown market? Not bad for an indoor antenna!
Reply
Reply
post #4233 of 4506
1/4/10 at 11:43pm
happy new year to everyone had 2 questions first i cant seem to get 22 anymore was wondering if they lowered their signal also on channel 40.2 its been saying they are doing testing has anyone by chance contacted them and see when it will return to normal picture and sound
Reply
Reply
post #4234 of 4506
1/9/10 at 6:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Citizen Zero View Post


I had a lot of trouble getting WQED and WPCW to show up, but being that they're VHF I couldn't really expect that much. UHF performance was just fine, though. I think the highlight of my DB2 testing was when I had picked up the antenna and was waving it around just to see what I could get. In one particular position, I was able to pick up WNEO. Pretty nifty!

I have yet to have ever seen WQED since they went digital on UHF or back to VHF. WPCW disappeared in late November and has been missing in action since then. KDKA gets a bit "iffy" at times but is now better than it was earlier last year. WPCW was actually my strongest Pittsburgh station before it vanished. My VHF antenna is working properly as I can get CH8 and have no problems with CH12 out of Clarksburg WV. Being that it's a VHF-HI I am sometimes amazed when I sometimes get CH5 out of Clarksburg and CH4 out of Pittsburgh using it.
Reply
Reply
post #4235 of 4506
1/9/10 at 10:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by KML-224 View Post

Still, WNEO and WFMJ from the Youngstown market? Not bad for an indoor antenna!

Quote:
Originally Posted by WB3LEQ View Post

I have yet to have ever seen WQED since they went digital on UHF or back to VHF. WPCW disappeared in late November and has been missing in action since then. KDKA gets a bit "iffy" at times but is now better than it was earlier last year. WPCW was actually my strongest Pittsburgh station before it vanished. My VHF antenna is working properly as I can get CH8 and have no problems with CH12 out of Clarksburg WV. Being that it's a VHF-HI I am sometimes amazed when I sometimes get CH5 out of Clarksburg and CH4 out of Pittsburgh using it.

Bob,

Post the URL for your exact address report from TVFool.com. Your address will not be posted publicly. The report will help determine which stations should be available to you. For example, click HERE to view the TV Fool report for my exact address.

It sounds like you need to upgrade your antenna system. For UHF high band, try an Antennas Direct 91XG (aka XG91). For VHF high band, try a Winegard YA-1713. Of course, the antennas will need to be mounted outdoors as high as possible. If you're not within 25 miles of a TV transmitter, use a Channel Master 7777 preamplifier, and make sure the FM trap is engaged. You'd also benefit from a rotator.

I'm about 55 miles from Pittsburgh and receive all of the full power stations except WTAE. WTAE's transmitter is 70 miles from my location. The rest are 55 miles or less. I use the above listed setup with one exception. I'm using an older style Channel Master 4228 instead of a 91XG. The new style 4228 is not as sensitive as the older 4228.
Reply
Reply
post #4236 of 4506
1/10/10 at 2:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by salemtubes View Post

Bob,

Post the URL for your exact address report from TVFool.com. Your address will not be posted publicly. The report will help determine which stations should be available to you. For example, click HERE to view the TV Fool report for my exact address.

It sounds like you need to upgrade your antenna system. For UHF high band, try an Antennas Direct 91XG (aka XG91). For VHF high band, try a Winegard YA-1713. Of course, the antennas will need to be mounted outdoors as high as possible. If you're not within 25 miles of a TV transmitter, use a Channel Master 7777 preamplifier, and make sure the FM trap is engaged. You'd also benefit from a rotator.

I'm about 55 miles from Pittsburgh and receive all of the full power stations except WTAE. WTAE's transmitter is 70 miles from my location. The rest are 55 miles or less. I use the above listed setup with one exception. I'm using an older style Channel Master 4228 instead of a 91XG. The new style 4228 is not as sensitive as the older 4228.

Hi salemtubes,

I'm the exception for TV fool because I have a ridge 1,000 feet due north of me and 125 feet higher than my tower base that runs east to west. For some reason TV fool does not seem to consider this in the analysis especially looking northwest. My antenna system consists of Stacked CM4228's (early version) at 42 feet with CM0264DSB's CDE Ham III rotor. All 3GHZ coax. Pico CHC16U/860 UHF headend combiner/amplifier.
Before digital came along I was able to get CH's 2,4,5,6,7,8,9,11,12,13,and 24 with a maximum of 10-20% snow/sparkles. Now I need a dedicated receiver per channel fed into a combiner otherwise there is not enough signal to split between two TV sets. I then assign each receiver an analog UHF channel for distribution between the two TV's. The only signal that makes it through the combiner is CH33 which is 15 miles away.
My TV fool data: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...b32bb654d2e68a
Reply
Reply
post #4237 of 4506
1/11/10 at 1:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by WB3LEQ View Post

Hi salemtubes,

I'm the exception for TV fool because I have a ridge 1,000 feet due north of me and 125 feet higher than my tower base that runs east to west. For some reason TV fool does not seem to consider this in the analysis especially looking northwest. My antenna system consists of Stacked CM4228's (early version) at 42 feet with CM0264DSB's CDE Ham III rotor. All 3GHZ coax. Pico CHC16U/860 UHF headend combiner/amplifier.
Before digital came along I was able to get CH's 2,4,5,6,7,8,9,11,12,13,and 24 with a maximum of 10-20% snow/sparkles. Now I need a dedicated receiver per channel fed into a combiner otherwise there is not enough signal to split between two TV sets. I then assign each receiver an analog UHF channel for distribution between the two TV's. The only signal that makes it through the combiner is CH33 which is 15 miles away.
My TV fool data: http://www.tvfool.com/?option=com_wr...b32bb654d2e68a

Nice setup! You're in a tough spot.
Reply
Reply
post #4238 of 4506
1/12/10 at 9:13am
I live in Carnegie and just have a cheap antenna hooked up to my girlfriend's 32" Vizio in her bedroom. We have FIOS in the two other rooms, but there are no cable hook-ups in the bedroom, she gets KDKA, WPXI, WQED, MyTV, CW, WPGH and like 59.1-4

She doesn't get WTAE. She's on the second floor, near a window. Now I was reading directions to another antennna and it said you shouldn't fully extend the arms to get certain channels (ie UHF, I believe). How many channels should you be able to pick up?
Reply
Reply
post #4239 of 4506
1/12/10 at 5:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Louie View Post

I live in Carnegie and just have a cheap antenna hooked up to my girlfriend's 32" Vizio in her bedroom. We have FIOS in the two other rooms, but there are no cable hook-ups in the bedroom, she gets KDKA, WPXI, WQED, MyTV, CW, WPGH and like 59.1-4

She doesn't get WTAE. She's on the second floor, near a window. Now I was reading directions to another antennna and it said you shouldn't fully extend the arms to get certain channels (ie UHF, I believe). How many channels should you be able to pick up?

You probably should go to tvfool.com and put your address in. WTAE may however be a problem at your Carnegie location with an indoor antenna. WQEX 16.1 should be receivable since you already get WQED and WBGN (59.1-4) but you may not be interested in ShopNBC. WTOV 9.1-2 is also a possibility but except for newscasts is pretty much the same as WPXI. There is also the Christian station WPCB for local digital antenna TV. Another slight possibility is WWCP (Fox,ABC) out of Johnstown except you seem to have trouble getting stations coming from the East.
Reply
Reply
post #4240 of 4506
1/12/10 at 10:35pm
MAKE YOUR OWN OTA ANTENNA I DID AND IT WORKS GREAT

.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw I LIVE IN UNIONTOWN AND I GET ALL PITTSBURGH CHANNELS
Reply
Reply
post #4241 of 4506
1/12/10 at 10:39pm
Of course put the www in
Reply
Reply
post #4242 of 4506
1/12/10 at 10:39pm
Ok
Reply
Reply
post #4243 of 4506
1/12/10 at 10:39pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw
Reply
Reply
post #4244 of 4506
1/12/10 at 10:42pm
I built one of these and its alot better than the cheap wal mart things under 5 bucks you have your antenna let me know what ya all think now you must follow my instructions to a t
Reply
Reply
post #4245 of 4506
1/13/10 at 4:35am
There are a lot of too-small bowtie antennas out there thanks to that youtube video. PLEASE use the dimensions indicated here for best performance, including actual positive gain for ch. 13.
Reply
Reply
post #4246 of 4506
1/15/10 at 10:42am
Things look good for tropos on Sat. morning and into sunday morning.Good time for anyone wishing to do some re-scanning of their units.See what you may bring in on the western end of the state.These may only be good up to the noon hours on these two days.
Reply
Reply
post #4247 of 4506
2/6/10 at 3:08pm
Is anyone else having issues on 11-1/11-2? All my other signals are coming in just fine but 11-1 is out completely on my AM21 and coming in low on my built-in tuners. It was fine last night.
Reply
Reply
post #4248 of 4506
2/9/10 at 8:59am
Here's something interesting...

Up and until a the storm hit last week I had my ClearStream4 aimed just to the right (I'm to the northeast of the city) of WPXI's tower and with all tuners reporting 100% signal strength.

During the storm WPXI dropped out completely on my AM21's but also dropped in signal strength on my other tuners - to the point where I could barely tune it in.

Thinking it might be something else I took the antenna down and discovered that I had a loose connection from one of the bows. I tightened it up and put it back in place. Now I can get WPXI in but the signal is still not strong - and aiming directly at WPXI's tower is where I get my lowest reported signal strength for WPXI.

Is there any logical explanation for this?
Reply
Reply
post #4249 of 4506
2/14/10 at 5:41am
With the all the blizzard coverage last week, did anyone else notice how poorly screen space was used. It seems that production tools and/or philosophy haven't kept up with the times. I've attached an example screenshot of the madness that WPXI is engaging in. The screenshot doesn't represent a rare occurrence, it's pretty much what WPXI looked like for days on end.

There are so many colored borders, scrolling banners, text overlays, etc, that the actual broadcast video occupies only 10% of the screen. Complete madness!

Am I off my rocker or is this really absurd as it appears? (see attached screenshot)
LL
Reply
Reply
post #4250 of 4506
2/14/10 at 5:44am
lol, and the madness continues. Apparently this is how WPXI plans to broadcast its news on a regular basis. Attached is a screenshot from this morning. Once again, nearly the entire screen is wasted!
LL
Reply
Reply
post #4251 of 4506
2/14/10 at 8:12am
Get used to it. It all comes down to numbers. More viewers have 4:3 tv than have 16:9, the producers will continue to cater to these numbers for a long time. Would you rather have white space or advertisements in the "bonus" space? Eventually I'm hoping they do some sort of progressive stretching for the 4:3 broadcasts so the 16:9 broadcasts don't get wasted space.
Reply
Reply
post #4252 of 4506
2/14/10 at 10:12am
It isn't just 16:9 vs 4:3 though. It is a combination of the two that isn't optimal for either, nor an optimal compromise between them.

For instance, on the second attachment, the one from today, there is a 4:3 area inside the 16:9 broadcast. Inside that 4:3 area is a 16:9 area with a 4:3 embedded another level deeper, all with jumbled overlays.

Certainly not everyone can be appeased, but the current arrangement is bad for both aspect ratios. Four channel 11 logos on the screen simultaneously? Seriously, four? ;-)

Obviously they're using multiple layers of overlays which were never intended to be run simultaneously. What needs to happen is the software and production workflow to be updated to have a single level of embedding. It will likely take a couple more years before broadcasters finally get the hang of it. Then a number of more years after that, it won't matter anyway. We'll finally be able to assume a viewership with all the same aspect ratio.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to bash WPXI in particular. They just had the worst example airing when I went to take screenshots.
Reply
Reply
post #4253 of 4506
2/23/10 at 1:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dfiler View Post

For instance, on the second attachment, the one from today, there is a 4:3 area inside the 16:9 broadcast. Inside that 4:3 area is a 16:9 area with a 4:3 embedded another level deeper, all with jumbled overlays.

Certainly not everyone can be appeased, but the current arrangement is bad for both aspect ratios. Four channel 11 logos on the screen simultaneously? Seriously, four? ;-)

Obviously they're using multiple layers of overlays which were never intended to be run simultaneously. What needs to happen is the software and production workflow to be updated to have a single level of embedding. It will likely take a couple more years before broadcasters finally get the hang of it. Then a number of more years after that, it won't matter anyway. We'll finally be able to assume a viewership with all the same aspect ratio.

dfiler...here's what I know - and remember, don't kill the messenger.

The squeezeback with the closing information is a multipurpose squeezeback. It was redesigned to show a 16x9 aspect ratio and is used during both news programming and other programming. It was set up to include school closings/delays and a crawl with continuous traffic and weather information.

What you see inside the squeeze (in your two images) is what would normally come out of the news control room. Inside the window, it was a normal newscast and it looks just as it would even if there were no closings. Yes, there are lots of graphics, but I think in this particular instance you found what is perhaps the worst case scenerio as far as graphics are concerned. It would look awkward having four squeezebacks with no background under any circumstance.

In the second image, you talk about the difference in aspect ratios. What you're looking at here is a camera shot provided to us by Penn Dot. Again, this is an exception not a rule. We have a few options when dealing with native 4x3 - we can leave it 4x3 with no wings, we can create a 16x9 image by adding wings, or we can stretch it. We chose wings.

You talk about four logos. You've included the text seperator we use in the crawl and you've included the logo included in the banners.

Yes, while there is a lot going on in these two screenshots, you managed to capture what I would discribe as the worst case with respect to other images you might have captured and posted.

That being said, your points are well taken.

Dave Morrison
WPXI Engineering
Reply
Reply
post #4254 of 4506
2/26/10 at 5:48am
While we're on the topic of WPXI graphics, I'd like to suggest that they limit bottom banners on HD broadcasts to emergency issues only, and not to plug upcoming newscasts. During an afternoon Olympic event, up comes the banner "BREAKING NEWS: Tiger Woods to Speak!" Viewers were invited to stay tuned to the news which followed. I know that it's sweeps and all, but that is just wrong, in my opinion.
Reply
Reply
post #4255 of 4506
2/26/10 at 6:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dmorrison View Post

dfiler...here's what I know - and remember, don't kill the messenger.

The squeezeback with the closing information is a multipurpose squeezeback. It was redesigned to show a 16x9 aspect ratio and is used during both news programming and other programming. It was set up to include school closings/delays and a crawl with continuous traffic and weather information.

What you see inside the squeeze (in your two images) is what would normally come out of the news control room. Inside the window, it was a normal newscast and it looks just as it would even if there were no closings. Yes, there are lots of graphics, but I think in this particular instance you found what is perhaps the worst case scenerio as far as graphics are concerned. It would look awkward having four squeezebacks with no background under any circumstance.

In the second image, you talk about the difference in aspect ratios. What you're looking at here is a camera shot provided to us by Penn Dot. Again, this is an exception not a rule. We have a few options when dealing with native 4x3 - we can leave it 4x3 with no wings, we can create a 16x9 image by adding wings, or we can stretch it. We chose wings.

You talk about four logos. You've included the text seperator we use in the crawl and you've included the logo included in the banners.

Yes, while there is a lot going on in these two screenshots, you managed to capture what I would discribe as the worst case with respect to other images you might have captured and posted.

That being said, your points are well taken.

Dave Morrison
WPXI Engineering

Thanks for the reply! I always enjoy reading your posts.

I'm holding out hope that WPXI will eventually figure out a way to use overlays without reducing the video image to tiny postage stamp in the middle of the screen. While a perfect solution likely doesn't exist for both 16:9 and 4:3 simultaneously, there are still definitely better solutions. For instance, WTAE found a way to overlay storm info without reducing screen usage.

As for the particular examples posted, those weren't cherry picked to make a point. They just happened to be what was on the screen when the screenshot was taken. They seem like a fair depiction of what WPXI looks like when running multiple levels of overlays or "squeezbacks" as you say. (Thanks for helping with the lingo)

To prove that point, here are two screen shots taken at the exact time of writing this post...

Once again, WTAE is using screen space wisely while WPXI is broadcasting in micro-vision.
LL
LL
Reply
Reply
post #4256 of 4506
2/26/10 at 9:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dfiler View Post

Once again, WTAE is using screen space wisely while WPXI is broadcasting in micro-vision.

I looked at the time stamp on the two images you posted - one from WPXI and one from WTAE. Here's what I can tell you:

First on days where there are a lot of closings and delays, we air them throughout our local news as well as the Today Show. As a matter of fact, we were the first in the market to keep the closings and delays displayed during commercials. This seems to make sense. After the Today Show is over, we go to something similiar to the WTAE image that you posted. It is a lower profile version of the squeezeback with the school names scrolling across the bottom of the page.

So while nobody has a perfect system, we're trying to make it better...one of those was to enlarge the picture to help eliminate the "postage stamp" feel.

Dave
Reply
Reply
post #4257 of 4506
2/27/10 at 8:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by pghturbo88 View Post

While we're on the topic of WPXI graphics, I'd like to suggest that they limit bottom banners on HD broadcasts to emergency issues only, and not to plug upcoming newscasts.

Or plugging the "Just Pay Half" promotion.
Reply
Reply
post #4258 of 4506
2/28/10 at 5:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by JK77 View Post

Or plugging the "Just Pay Half" promotion.

But it's been nice catching some rays from their new radar that has "revolutionized" weather forecasting!
Reply
Reply
post #4259 of 4506
3/1/10 at 12:45pm
Hey Dave Morrison,

Any updates on when the WPXI repeater will be up and running in Uniontown? I know the weather conditions up in the mountains will be causing delays. It would be nice to see some programming from you folks again. I'm also hoping somebody will focus an antenna lobe towards eastern Greene County.

BobS
Reply
Reply
post #4260 of 4506
3/2/10 at 7:39am
... and now KDKA has jumped on the banner bandwagon, as Monday night they corrupted the HD broadcasts of the comedy shows repeatedly plugging their 11 pm news coverage of Sidney Crosby's arrival in Pittsburgh.

Newsworthy? Absolutely. Worthy of a banner during a network HD show? Absolutely not.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Local HDTV Info and Reception

Gear mentioned in this thread:

AVS › AVS Forum › HDTV › Local HDTV Info and Reception › Pittsburgh, PA - OTA