Kansas City, MO - HDTV - Page 58

Kurt: Thanks for the input. I'll give that a try.

I find it amusing WDAF responds the same way some of the companies/individuals respond that they question or investigate.

It would be nice if they could at least give a statement on where they're at, where they hope to be, and how long it will take them to get there. I can respect a company that responds even thought I may not like the response.

To anyone's knowledge have they ever responded to questions about their HD future?

When I asked WDAF about there HD future this is what they said:

"At the present time, we have no plans to go beyond the 480p.

Sincerely,

Beth Sweatt, Engineering Manager "

Needless to say I was pretty disappointed when I got this reply back.

"At the present time, we have no plans to go beyond the 480p.

Sincerely,

Beth Sweatt, Engineering Manager "



"Oh no"... This is sad news for Kansas City Over the Air HDTV viewers. FOX is rolling out 720p HDTV along with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio across this great nation and it looks like we television viewers in Kansas City are going to be left out of this year FOX fall programming.

We have got to keep trying maybe something good will happen down at WDAF. HDTV is the future of broadcast television. Kansas City deserve a full-power, full-bandwidth FOX digital broadcasting station.

FOX SUCKS! If you're getting lapped by channel 50 you have serious problems... Granted I don't want to watch channel 50 but if I did there are four options to choose from.... Truly pathetic...


Working 4 You! as long as you don't want HDTV...

I live in Olathe and I am planning on getting my first HDTV in about 6 months to a year. I currently have DirecTV (UltimateTV reciever) and love it! When I convert to HD, I will get the HD DirecTivo as I cannot live without my DVR. What's the latest on the DirecTV offering local HD channels situation? Is there a good place on the Net to go that keeps close tabs on this? I am really hoping that this gets sorted out before I go HD, but it's unlikely it will.

I'm not a huge OTA fan, as antennas are ugly and seem to over-complicate things.. at least compared to straight-up DirecTV. If I could get the OTA signals via one of those cool looking Terk dish clip-ons, then I wouldn't worry about it. But, my guess is that I would have problems picking up all the stations that I want. My sat dish is pole mounted in my backyard so there is not immediate blockage towards the northeast (where antennaweb says I need to point the antenna). Are those clip-ons any good, or what about the indoor Terk HD antennas? I can post a pic of my dish setup if need be.

So if when I go HD and DirecTV doesn't have local HD channels.. can I still get the SD locals even if I am subscribed to the HD DirecTV package? Or do they make you get them via OTA if you go HD? I don't mind not having local channels (Don't really watch the news).. as long as I can get the east and west network channels. Is there any chance that DirecTV would offer HD east and west network channels in the future and offer those to anyone who would be ok getting HD networks even if they weren't local?

Greg

...and they are at 1000kw from 1112 feet high!! They are being more than just lapped. FOX4 is choking in their dust.

gregorykai,
I also am in Olathe and am a huge DirecTV fan. I subscribe to the DirecTV HD plan and get the Locals in HD with OTA ( antenna in the attic, Sony SAT-HD300 receiver ).
I have no answer for you on the dish mounted antenna but can tell you that you can still get the Locals in SD from DirecTV. I rarely view the locals on the D* feed but in the past when their have been HD signal problems I have been glad to have them as a backup as my SD analog reception is not that good on certain channels.
As far as DirectTV providing Locals in HD, I don't believe that will ever happen( see previous posts ), unless the local stations do not provide an HD signal.

I tried one of those clip ons and it didnt work worth a darn. When I asked somewhere on this forum I got "if it looks like a coat hanger, it probably works like a coat hanger"
So I went to Lowes and got a channel master and put in my attic.
Works fine for me

I just found this article today dated May 4th: http://www.w4cl.net

Has things changed since then with their plans to offer local HD channels?

Greg

Any Comcast subscribers have Discovery HD yet?

I hadn't noticed it yet. Haven't checked yet today.

Has anyone got a HD DVR from TW yet? I am curious how the software/usability is.

I was able to get one of the single tuner DVR's from Comcast, and have been playing around for a little over a week. The only good thing is that it records HD. I really hope that the dual tuner version will have improved software/features. After using Tivo for the past couple of years, it's a step back - just a digital VCR.

Got this statement from another thread: Originally posted by CPanther95
Here's are the most significant affiliates (not factoring in DMA size) not even in 720p yet. Fox O&O's and NFC cities are the priority for Fox, and AFC cities should be very self-motivated to get the upgrade done before the football season.

Austin - O&O
Kansas City - O&O - AFC
Ocala - O&O
New Orleans - NFC
Baltimore - AFC
Cincinnati - AFC
Nashville - AFC
Jacksonville - AFC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=409554

If WDAF doesn't go 720p & up the power this fall, I will be done with them until they do. There is plenty of HD on the other networks.

FOX has said that all the O & O's will be in HD before September.

While FOX has said that the change will occur, apparently no one at WDAF was listening or they are just playing dumb to the HD community here in KC about when/if it will occur.

As late as this week, the station management and engineering group has said that "480P is fine for us and we have no intention of going beyond that level." While they may be waiting to surprise us in September, all they are doing is causing problems by not acknowledging what is apparently going to happen down the road.

I know that there are other issues involved regarding the tower and its ability to handle an HD transmitter without the removal of a backup analog one from another local station that is taking up space but you would think that they would just say that they are working on that issue and hope to be up and running at 720P in September. That is all that I'm looking for from them at this time.

BTW - Foxeng, have you heard anything about how DirecTV will handle NFL games that are broadcast on the national FOXHD feed, will they be blacked out or passed through?

This may help......

TheHypnoToad- you hit the nail on the head about WDAF-TV attitude toward digital television. The few times I have been able to talk to the engineer at WDAF-TV it seems I am talking to a female auto-response corporate robot (trying to say this without hurting anyone's feelings). It would be nice to know what is WDAF FOX4 future plans toward full-power, full-bandwidth FOX 720p HDTV. It would be really nice if foxeng worked at WDAF-TV then all of our questions would be answered.

No I haven't heard yet. I don't think a decision has been made from what I have been told by some people who are supposed to be in the know.

Foxeng,

Hypothetically speaking, could WDAF-DT 34 use KSHB's old analog antenna (channel 41) that is mounted on their (WDAF's) tower? I imagine the efficiency would suffer some, but is it POSSIBLE? Never mind the lease implications.

Brad

It will be interesting to see how this plays out considering the FCC's blackout rules for sporting events. My experience with DirecTV in these situations is that they're pretty good about adhering to the rules (as I recall they blocked out the ESPN signal for a Sunday Night Chiefs game last year when a local station was carrying it). So my fear is that WDAF will still not be broadcasting at full power 720P and a Chiefs game will be the HD feed for FOX but DirecTV will block the signal because of the FCC rules. Let us know if you hear anything.

Cheers,
Kurt

Agreed! Heck I'd even take someone from WDAF who seemed to understand the frustration that the HD community feels and tried to get answers for us or even posted on this board. I know that they've got to be tired of hearing from us about this but it's kind of strange that the only news that we get about FOXHD comes from an engineer at a FOX station in North Carolina (no offense Foxeng, we're glad that you've dropped in ).

Given the preponderance of Digital/HDTV choices in this community and goading from the local TV Critic, the lack of meaningful information and cavalier attitude from WDAF about FOXHD is almost embarrassing.

foxeng, hopefully this picture will help you answer Brad's question and give you some idea of what we are dealing with:

BTW, this was taken from my office where I have an HDTV and tuner and I cannot reliably receive their DT signal even from here!!!!

hdtimmy......thank you for the picture. This picture when viewed by the television viewers of Kansas City who visit this site is going to be an eye opener. This picture will explained why Kansas City is going to be missing out on the exciting new world of FOX 720p HDTV programming. Our Kansas City Chiefs along with all the other NFL HDTV and the Super Bowl presented by FOX Broadcasting this year deserve better than a hidden low-power antenna.

This picture will also explain alot to all the Kansas City metro viewers who have spent countless hours and hard earn money trying to receive WDAF DT-34 only to fail.

After viewing the WDAF tower picture, I can't help wondering if KSHB is blocking WDAF from putting their digital stick on the tower.

Also, could we organize a bake-sale to raise money for WDAF? A bake-sale might bring some attention to the digital TV issue.

I found that the best way to increase awareness of digital TV is to invite your neighbors to watch! Also demonstrate to them that your OTA box can improve the picture quality on their analog TV's.

Most people are not even aware of the transition to digital. When you tell them that the cheap analog big screen they just purchased could go blank in two years, they just think you are nuts.

Comcast is getting DiscoveryHD within a couple of months. It's not available yet.

Everything is always a couple of months for comcast.

Probably not. There is too much difference between channel 34 and 41. It would take a major rework of the channel 41 antenna and if you are going to spend that kind of money, you might as well put up a new antenna.

It has been a while since I spoke to anyone at WDAF, but I can say that they know and understand the frustration. Right now this is not being driven at the local level but at the corporate level. There are some legal issues before the FCC that they need to decide on before FOX will proceed and how the FCC comes out on these issues will effect not just how WDAF proceeds but about how 20 of the FOX stations proceed, mine included.