Little Rock, AR - HDTV - Page 6

[1.] Fox (16-1) is the only digital broadcasting at full power from Shinall Mtn.
UPN (38-1) is the only digital broadcasing at full power from Redfield area (different tower than ABC (7-1).

If you want to try to get any missing channels, or if you later discover audio/video dropouts on 7-1 or 11-1, especially during weather/season changes, the CM 7777 preamp may solve your problems.

[2.] Your STB and TV formatting for 7-1 & 11-1 are working as they should for a 16:9 TV.

7-1 upconverts all SD/HD programming to 720p.
11-1 upconverts all SD/HD programming to 1080i.
Both of these channels are always in 16:9 format.

Any 4:3 programming on these channels is sent as a 16:9 image, with either black or gray bars on the sides of the 4:3 image to fill the 16:9 frame. The bar color is set by either the network or local station.

If your TV's brightness & contrast are set correctly (per AVIA or similar setup DVD), the sidebars shouldn't damage your screen.

About the only thing the "out to TV" coax connection would do in your case is allow you to view analog OTA channels using your TV's NTSC tuner, when the STB is turned off, assuming the Zenith STB has antenna "loop though" when off. It might be helpful in using your TV's PIP function, but I'm not really sure. For Zenith specific questions not answered by the manual, try the hardware forum threads for the SAT520.

I'm not sure what you mean by "its permastuck in "wide" mode, no panorama, 4:3, etc.". Are you referring to the TV or the STB functions? And on which channels?

You might want to connect the S-video cable to the TV and switch the TV & STB to that input. That may allow you to use your picture formatting functions, but the picture quality would be worse.

Correct.

S-video is only 480i, but it's an alternate way to view the 4:3 material on 7-1 & 11-1 using your formatting options (stretched, zoomed, etc.). But I'm certainly not recommending you use s-video connection, though. S-vid 480i would turn on the stretch/zoom, etc., but you would lose a lot of resolution.

Formatting is supposed to be locked on 720p & 1080i channels. Assuming your TV has been properly setup (contrast & brightness turned down to non-screen-burning levels), I would just watch 4:3 on 7-1 & 11-1 the normal way - via DVI with sidebars to fill out the 16:9 frame.

WRT compnent vs DVI, there should be no difference at all in PQ if you have a CRT projection set, and very little difference for other types. I don't recall what type of set you said you have....

BTW, Azanon, how do you like the DirecTV HD channels so far?

Have you seen any true HD on ESPN-HD yet (most ESPN-HD stuff is 4:3 SD, upconverted to 720p & stretched to 16:9, instead of 4:3 + sidebars, like all the other HD networks do)? If not, there's a football game on toninght. California @ KS State. ~ 6:45pm

I've watched almost every episode of The District. Other good series on CBS are CSI & CSI Miami.

As for guides, I just use the DirecTV EPG, and the remote All the stuff on HDnet, HDnetMovies & DiscoveryHD are HD. The few HD events on ESPN are marked "HD" in the EPG.

Most ABC primetime non-news series and movies are HD, as are MNFootball.
CBS primetime non-news non-reality series are all HD.

Some primtime series look "softer" than stuff seen on DSCHD & HDnet. Some of this is intentional, especially on ABC.

CBS has only recently attempted any DD 5.1 audio. I don't think any of their series this year are in DD 5.1, but maybe they will do some this fall. ABC & FOX supposedly do a lot more DD 5.1 than CBS. It will be widespread.... eventually.

I don't have a DD 5.1 system, so I don't know what's DD5.1 and what's not. I only have DPL, which works ok for me right now. I feed the L+R audio from the STB to the TV, and then out to the DPL receiver. The TV has an auto-sound-level feature, which I really like for leveling the volume between stations and lowering commercials' noise!

The CBS Owned & Operated (O & O) stations are supposed to be first in line for DD 5.1 satellite equipment. KTHV is not an O & O, so they may not have the DD5.1 installed yet.

Have you heard any DD5.1 at all on CBS? You might call KTHV-DT 376-1111 and ask to speak to Allison or anyone in engineering. They like to get reception reports from OTA viewers and are usually very helpful.

Or email Bob Ross at rjross@cbs.com He is in charge of CBS East Coast Operations, and is a member of AVS Forum.

No.

It is AC3 digital audio, but can have anywhere from 1 to 5.1 channels.

--------------------------------------------

From Wikipedia.org:

" Alias names

* Dolby Digital (promotion name, not accepted by the ATSC), often combined with channel count (DD 5.1)
* DD
* Dolby SR-Digital (for more than 2 channels)
* SR-D
* Audio Codec 3
* AC-3
* ATSC A/52 (name of the standard, current version is A/52 Rev. A)

This is all the same under different names.

Dolby Digital is the trademark for Dolby Laboratories' AC-3 lossy audio compression system. It supports anywhere from 1.0 channels (mono) to 5.1 channels (full surround) and also dual channel (1+1). "5.1" surround sound consists of the 5 full-range (10 Hz...22 kHz) channels (3 screen channels and 2 surround channels) plus the limited range (10 Hz...120 Hz) low frequency effect channel LFE.

The last version is Dolby Digital EX. an extension of dolby digital that provides 6.1 and 7.1 channel configurations by matrixing the channels (Dolby 5.1 otherwise uses discrete channel encoding.) This configuration offers more rear channels, and is less frequently used in home systems than in theaters.

The codec

The term AC-3 applies to the encoding process that creates the Dolby Digital files. Dolby Digital relies on perceptual coding to remove audio information that is disguised by other, louder frequencies in the waveform. In this sense it is an example of lossy data compression as these frequencies are not restored on playback.

Applications of Dolby Digital

Dolby Digital SR-D cinema sound tracks are optically recorded on a 35mm release print using sequential data blocks placed between every perforation hole on the sound track side of the film. A CCD scanner in the projector picks up a scanned video image of this area, and a processor correlates the image area and extracts the digital data as an AC-3 bitstream. This data is finally decoded into a 5.1 channel audio source.

Dolby Digital audio is also used on DVD Video and other purely digital media, like home cinema. In this format, the AC-3 bitstream is interleaved with the video and control bitstreams.

The system is used in many bandwidth-limited applications other than DVD, such as digital TV.

Bitrates range is from 32 to 640 kbits. For DVD data rates up to 448 kbps are allowed. AAC outperforms AC-3 at any bitrate, but is much more complex. Advantages of AAC become clearly audible at <400 kbps for 5.1 channels, at <180 kbps for 2.0 channels.

External links "

If you're referring to 2 channel audio (no surround), it could be several things. Your equipment may not be configured correctly OR it could be a digital flag sent by the station that disables your surround. I don't know.

DPL does work for me on KTHV-DT (CBS). You might contact the station and ask them about your lack of surround, or post in the Zenith STB forums, or in the audio forums.

I do know that it has absolutely nothing to do with a limitation of an OTA antenna.

I don't think that should be necessary, either. I only suggested connecting the analog L+R (RCA-type) cables for DPL because I know for sure that would work.

The Zenith SAT520 threads or perhaps the Audio Setup threads would be more appropriate areas to ask these questions. Be sure and put your STB & AV receiver brand/model numbers in your posts or (better) your profile, under "HT Gear".

Good luck!

The reason I haven't bought a DD5.1 receiver yet is mainly because of the problems I've read about on the AVS Forum. The networks and stations don't have all the bugs worked out yet. DD problems have occured on both Satellite and OTA channels.

If the station is not sending the correct data flags, people have reported getting 2 channel sound, no sound, or no dialog on the digital connection. Another problem seems to be lip sync issues. I've never had those on my STB using DPL, but I have lost audio for weeks on KATV, mostly due to ignorance of how PSIP works and how it can affect audio.

Some local stations are really clueless about DTV. The cable company is even worse (scroll back and read some of the cable stories).

Here's part of an email I got regarding KATV PSIP problems that recently affected audio on my setup:
"As you've probably decided by now, DTV is a learning experience for everyone involved. There is only one person on our staff who has dealt with UHF transmitters before. No one is familiar with digital or PSIP. We strongly rely on Harris to guide us through the process and it appears Harris [equipt. mfg.] isn't as familiar as we had assumed.

In your problem one person at Harris told us to set the PSIP generator one way and another told us to set it up a different way to clear your problem. We can only try...."

____________________________________

Email the GM at KARK-DT and tell him you want NBC in HD.
pchester@kark.com

I would contact the stations and ask them if they have DD 5.1 capability. They may not, OR they may be incorrectly flagging the audio, causing your A/V receiver to default to 2 channel stereo.
KTHV-DT 501 376-1111 (ask for Allison or engineers)
KATV-DT 501 324-7790 (Master Control number)


Does your A/V receiver have DPL II ? If so, I would use that, at least until the stations get their act together. DPL II is supposed to sound remarkably close to DD.

____________________________________

Email the GM at KARK-DT and tell him you want NBC in HD.
pchester@kark.com

WRT to MNF on KATV-DT looking somewhat less-than-HD:

Part of the problem may be due to KATV's insistence on simulcasting in SD on 7-2 all the time. Subchannel 7-2 serves no purpose during a 16:9 HD broadcast, but it does take bandwidth away from the HD channel. This may explain some of the loss of resolution.

I doubt that they will stop using subchannels. I hear they have plans to air a 24/7 news loop on 7-2, as soon as they figure out how to do it (that may take a while...).
____________________________________

Email the GM at KARK-DT and tell him you want NBC in HD.
pchester@kark.com

Sony's "Digital Cinema Surround" is probably the same as or very similar to DPLII, which usually sounds very good.

___________________________________

Email the GM at KARK-DT and tell him you want NBC in HD.
pchester@kark.com