Champaign, IL - HDTV - Page 157

Anyone else having problems getting guide info for the new Comcast channels? They're not up on the Comcast website, which I think may be the problem.

You should be getting a complete channel lineup in your next bill, complete with all the new HD (& other SD) channel adds. (I just got mine Monday)

I put together a list of all the new channels from the mailing we got a few weeks ago. I combined the channels that were available on December 1 with the ones available on December 15. Here is a pdf file of the channels I have. I only included the new HBO channels, because I don't have any other subscription packages. Including the new HBO channels, I have over 45 new HD channels.

 

New Comcast HD Channels.pdf 52.111328125k . file

Except the OP didn't tell us WHICH system he's on - the C/U & S/D headends have slightly different channel lineups.

I'm on the Champaignn-Urbana system, and I know all the channels we're supposed to get, but I'm not getting guide information for the majority of them on my TiVo. Until yesterday at 3:30pm-ish I wasn't getting guide info for *any* of the new channels, but was able to tune to them.

Yesterday they made available the second batch, and I got a service update saying that a mix of the 12/1 and 12/15 batches had been added, but not all of them.

Without guide info, I'm unable to record anything on these channels. I can check the SD version to see what's currently playing, but can't schedule recordings. Guide info *is* available on the Comcast cable box, but I only use that for VOD purposes.

Looks like it's going to happen: WAND-DT is heading back to 17!

http://www.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Da...-10-2426A1.pdf

Anyone know when or if WSEC's Springfield translator still on analog channel 8 will be going digital? Lately I have been lucky to get a signal in the 40s on WSEC's main signal here downtown (I'm in a second floor apartment).

WSEC's Springfield translator will not be going digital because they are in debt and can not afford to upgrade it.

Any idea on when (or if) our Sinclair-owned WICS and WICD will be adding Cool TV and/or Country Network? The Cool TV site has been saying that at least WICD 15.2 is supposed to be an affiliate of that network. Meanwhile, Peoria has had Cool on WYZZ-43.2 since about November, and I've noticed that even KDNL in St. Louis might already have both Cool and Country Network. Would any of you be surprised to see our local Sinclair affiliates decide to drop the ball on both of these fledging music networks, even though they are already being offered on their stations in Peoria and St. Louis?

Here's my thought on Network Knowledge's situation--and I'm not sure if it would be feasible at this point due to the state's budget situation as well. (Some of this may be more appropriate for the Quincy/Hannibal thread--and perhaps even Davenport--but hardly anyone ever reads or posts on the Q/H subject thread).

If WQEC Quincy, per the 41 dBu service contour maps through the FCC's page, is now able to get such a signal knocking on the door of Macomb, what would be the point of Network Knowledge continuing to own WMEC in Macomb?

If the state had a better budget situation, while considering that WIU now owns WQPT in the Quad Cities, what about this idea: Network Knowledge selling WMEC to WIU and make channel 22 (DT 21) a repeater of WQPT. To me that seems like it would make more sense if the state ever got out of its budget morass--not to mention a WIU-owned PBS station in WIU's home city--and be kind of like an "addition by subtraction" for part of the Quincy market since WQPT airs MHzW as their subchannel rather than repeating Create or World from WQEC (some of which is aired by KQIN in the Quad Cities). What do you think?

Here's the story:
We've had the CoolTv equipment at WICD for sometime, but the CoolTv people can't make the server work with the EAS box we have. (Having the same problem in some of our other markets).
At WICS, we just got the Country Network equipment last week and we're trying to solve a encoder input issue...maybe next week.
AT WYZZ, we have CoolTv on, Also, just got the Country server the other week and I'm waiting for them to get the EAS to work.

Hope to solve all these issues soon!

So wait, you're only going to air Cool TV on WICD and TCN on WICS? Or did I misunderstand your message?

- Trip

Thats correct: CoolTv on WICD and Country Network on WICS.

OK, so considering that each station serves separate parts of our DMA, & that VERY few parts of our DMA can get BOTH signals - WHY are you doing a different sub on each station???

That's a good question...decision made by someone else. However, it does give the bit rate headroom on each station. With the new encoders that hasn't been a problem though.

Is anyone else missing the PSIP for 49-2??? Running OTA just north of Springfield. All other channels have info. This is the only one saying "No Data". (I posted this in the Peoria, IL thread by mistake...arggggg)

Thanks

Just noticed this afternoon that The Country Network is now on the air in Springfield through WICS 20.2. Is Cool TV now on the air in C/U on WICD 15.2? But AFAIK, still not on Comcast's digital lineup yet.

We're still waiting for CoolTV to fix an Emergency Broadcast warning issue at WICD.

Evidently CC DID add TCN to the QAM signal here in Spfld, because it is now coming up on 20.2 on my clear QAM tuner. Doesn't appear to be mapped to their digital boxes yet.

The PSIP for 49-2 is now showing up again. It's magic.

T

I have Comcast cable in Springfield with my HD and analog TV's. I have the digital starter package with the digital adapter for my analog and the digital receiver for my HD TV. About 6 weeks ago, about half of the channels from 24 to 72 are now shown in what I call super wide screen, whcih it appears to be in the 2.35/1 format instead of the 16/9 or 1.78/1 format. In other words I have black bars on top and bottom for both my HD and analopg tv's for some of the channels. It's not my TV setups obviously, it's Comcast because channels such as ESPN, AMC and CNN are in super widescreen but channels such as MSNBC, Big Ten Network and TNT are in the standard format that fills the screen on both the HD and Analog TV's. The major network channels are full screen both on the analog TV with channels such as 3, 12 and 17etc. and on the HD TV with the HD channels such as 3-1, 12-1, 17-1,etc.

Do any of you know what is going on with Comcast that makes some of these channels appear in super wide screen?

Is it going to stay like this or are all of the channels going to super wide screen or is this something that Comcast needs to fix?

I did not pay $2400 for a HD TV that I only get 75% of the screen filled.

Thanks ahead of time for any help.

It's not actually CC's fault; those cable networks themselves are doing this, & some have been doing this for almost a year. It's the same thing for ALL provider's SD channel feeds on these particular networks, including on SD only sat subs.

Simply put, these networks, such as Fox News, CNN, HLN, E!, etc. made a business decision, on the SD feeds to cable & sat providers, to send a letterbox version. The reason being - when they were previously sending a full-screen feed, they were obviously center-cutting their wide-screen picture, which means they could not put "important" information on the sides of the screen. (of course, the HD feed would be full screen on an HDTV) They really wanted to utilize ALL the screen real estate for all viewers - & also, wanted to stop having to mess with having to keep center-cutting their SD feed. So now, everyone gets the same feed - but SD subs have to look at top/bottom bars.

Now, the reason why you do not have this problem on the local channel SD feeds, is because CC is using either direct SD feeds from the TV stations, &/or is using OTA SD downconverters for the SD feeds, that utilize AFD (active format description) to automatically switch the SD feeds between center-cut & letterbox, depending on the program; it is set by the broadcaster &/or TV network:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Format_Description

So your "fixes" are:
- change your TV's aspect setting to "zoom" (center-cut) the picture yourself; of course, you'll have to change it manually on non-letterboxed channels.

- pay up for an HD box; at least Comcast DOES actually carry many of these feeds in HD - I'm still waiting on D* to add the HD feeds of many of these channels CC, DISH & U-verse ALL have! So in my case, I'm paying D* for HD service, & STILL getting these in SD letterbox on my HDTV's!

Bottom line - it's only going to get WORSE as more & more networks w/HD feeds, choose to also ONLY send a letterbox SD feed; it's cheaper & easier to manage.

I see that TheCoolTV is finally on-air on 41.2. I decided to rescan for stations (hoping this rain would be good for at least a band opening, I did get a partial decode out of Decatur, which I usually don't). RabbitEars apparently shows it as on air, too. How recently did they finally get it on air?

It started on Friday March 25.

I'm glad that channel 49's schedule is over for Chicago Bulls game. It was hard to to watch on that channel in sd, when the rest of their schedule is on Comcast Chicago, WGN, TNT & ABC in HD. My question to the engineers is, why is their SD so blurry? I first thought it was from the uplink to Directv, but when I tried off the air on 3.2, the picture was just as bad. Their other programs on that channel aren't that fuzzy, mostly Bulls games.

If you want your TV to fill the screen, then you need to "pony up" for the HD channels. BTW, those black bars are there so people with the old 1:33:1 aspect ratio TVs receive the same content as the 1:78:1 HDTVs.

As far as Bulls games on channel 49, they also look terrible on Comcast cable, as well.

This may be slightly offtopic but has anyone else in the rural Champaign county area noticed their Comcast Internet speeds suffering lately? I've been running tests and they are coming back 20-30% slower than usual....OFFPEAK.

I'm currently trying to tune in WILL and WBUI from Danville. Given that both are more than 50 miles away according to TV Fool, that Danville is on lower ground than most of the rest of the market, and that I'm using an indoor antenna, I'm not too optimistic about tuning them in, but I'd like to give it a try.

My current antenna is a Terk HDTVa, located at ground level. It handles WICD and W31BX just fine and even manages WCCU (which I've had problems with on my previous antenna) and WCIA. Sure, it only gets ~35% on WCIA, but that works well enough. I highly doubt that I'll be able to tune in WBUI, but I'd like to give it a try. As for WILL, that's the big question. I'm not too confident in the HDTVa's VHF elements. How good are the HDTVa's rabbit ears?

Also, I'd like to know if there is any talk of GOCOM starting a subchannel on 26.2 and 55.2. It just struck me that they're the last station in the market without a subchannel of some sort.

Edit: In addition to the above issues, I'm less than a mile from WDNL's FM transmitter, so I'd like to know a little about FM filters, too.

Anyone know what is happening at WAND with their HD signal? Since last night, Wednesday, 6/8, WAND is not broadcasting in HD on Comcast. Is this also the case for over the air signal, as well?

Equipment failure. Repairs in progress as we speak.