Santa Barbara, CA; Santa Maria, CA; San Luis Obispo, CA - HDTV

I am going to try a Silver Sensor later today from Montecito / Santa Barbara.

With no MNF in HD on DirecTV, I sure hope KEYT gets on the air soon!

Is there any other forum where people are discussing central coast HDTV reception? I was on a great yahoo groups mailing list in NYC. Maybe we could get a small quorum together and start one. Any takers?

-Burt

Sign me up from Paso Robles, CA. I'm hoping for Charter HD-Cable soon. I will probably continue to be disappointed. Is there any chance that I could receive any over the air HD signals in Paso Robles?

Thanks,

Marshall

PS. I thought I was alone in my HD quest on the Central Coast!

Marshall,

Have you tried http://www.antennaweb.org
It's a great site. Put in your address and it'll tell you what signals you might be able to pull in, and what type of antenna is needed to get them.

-Burt

I am in Downtown SLO and I recieve KSBY-DT in 480p only. I have been trying to get info from them about when they may ever go HD, but no one there seems to know anything.

I am on Vandenberg AFB as well and am getting the KCOY-DT signal and now that I have locked my antenna in I get good enough signal that I have stable picture and sound. Much of an improvement over my analog reception. I played around trying to get NBC but understood they were not offering any HD yet from their antenna so didn't worry about it too much since I get my D* feed of the nonHD signal. I really want CBS since it has SEC HD college football and want ABC too but have heard no word on when Santa Barbara will go live. I guess I need to make some friends in the engineering sections of ABC and CBS to get the scoop. Unless someone else has done this already. BTW I have Zenith SAT520 and some radio shack UHF/VHF antenna outside/but not on my roof. I really want some OTA HD.

Mike,

I had a nice conversation with an engineer over at KEYT - ABC in SB. There is good news and bad news. First the good:

Turns out they are getting their antenna ready as we speak. He expected it to be live sometime in October.

The bad news is that they won't have any HD content for about a year. The don't have a downlink for the national HD feed. Apparently ABC pays for the downlink, while KEYT pays for the antenna. So the timing of the downlink is outside their control. My guy didn't expect it before fall '04 though.

In the meantime there will be upconverted content on their digital station. I was really hoping for some HD MNF this season, but alas the only option is Canadian satellite.

-Burt

Thanks for the info Burt. At least I should be able to get the digital signal and that will be a dramatic improvement. Signal Area "A" yeah right. I can barely stand to watch it sometimes compared to the rest of my satellite and my Digital CBS. I will probably move in the military to some other small town that has crappy Hi Def options. Sure would be nice to live in a big metro area. My hometown of Ft Lauderdale sounds good. Thanks again for the update. Maybe we could start a campaign with national ABC to hurry up their downlink delivery. How do you like your canadian sat delivery. Is that Bev or something.

Mike

Got this email update from KEYT ABC (Santa Barbara) on status of their upgrade to digital. Lots of information but not pleasing to my ears that there are yet more delays. I was hoping for a digital signal by college football bowl games at least. Ugggghhh!

Mike:
KEYT was scheduled to begin construction of our digital broadcast facility
on December 2nd but we have encountered a couple of minor delays. All of
the digital equipment has been delivered to our transmitter site and we are
now scheduled to begin construction January 11th. Our broadcasting of a
digital signal should begin within 30 to 60 days of that date.

The signal will be carried over-the-air on Channel 27. It has not yet been
confirmed which of our primary cable carriers (Cox, Comcast, Charter &
Adelphia) will carry our digital signal and on what channel. The signal
will still be in the 3 x 4 aspect ratio vs. the high definition ratio of 9 x
16. The signal will be similar to our analog signal except it will be more
crisp and be on a 3-second delay. Actual broadcast of programming in the 9
x 16 aspect ratio will be subject to the installation of additional
converters, to actual schedules of HDTV programming and the local cable
carriers clearance of our HDTV signal. At the current time we are in
discussions with Cox regarding digital & HD carriage. We have yet to enter
discussions with our 3 other cable carriers, Comcast, Charter & Adelphia.

Regards,
Bob Grissom, VP/General Manager
KEYT

Good luck in El Paso. How is your Espanol? I couldn't believe how high the percentage of cars on the 10 freeway was that had Mexico license plates. Seemed like 10% or so.

KEYT's slowness is not surprising. I'm seriously considering getting a Canadian Satellite package. Bell has 2 HD choices from all 5 networks! If only the had a PVR receiver available.

The FCC has no real enforcment power. They are just policy making paper-pushers.

-Burt

OUTSTANDING!! and it would be the week before I move out to St Louis. I figured I had to move to get my OTA HD. I will obviously put my antenna back up---temporarily to watch myself. Wonder if I should invite people over to watch. Would suck if it didn't work out for HD. Has KCOY tested anything in HD yet. Guess I need to get my antenna back up and see what is on during prime time. Cool better late than never

Does anyone know when Cox will activate DVI in their SA3250 STB? Just got a plasma TV and HD service through Cox a few weeks ago and quite anxious to view HD in digital format.

Joe

Good news. The DVI is now active in Santa Barbara. Apparantly happened today. Had both component and DVI hooked up just in case the DVI became active. Can't tell much difference though!

I am new to this forum. Are you saying that Cox is providing DVI from the 3250 STB? Are they providing the cable for connection to my Mitsu 55813?

I have tried to get a satellite waiver for NBC but KSBY has refused so far. KCOY gave it to me and they are much closer. Any comments on this?

Anybody getting HD stuff OTA? If yes, what antenna are you using?

I am new to this forum. Are you saying that Cox is providing DVI from the 3250 STB?
Yes.

Are they providing the cable for connection to my Mitsu 55813?
Cox provided a component cable; I had to get my own DVI/HDMI cable to connect the 3250 to my TV which accepts only HDMI.

Can't comment on the satellite question. I gave up DirecTV for cable.

As far as OTA, in our area there's only KEYT (maybe KNBC from LA but that's a stretch) and KEYT doesn't broadcast in HD.

I received the KSBY (NBC) waiver so I can now watch NY and LA NBC channels on my DirecTV. All I am missing is ABC.

Is the local CBS giving a waiver for the CBS HD from LA via DirectTV?

How is the picture quality of the locals off DirecTV?

What transponder on Sat 119 are the locals on? It's simple to check, just tune to one of the local channels, and then goto check signal strength screen to see what transponder it is on. Doing this for each local channel would show what transponder it is on.

I believe WB5 is coming from transponder 31 because it's KFRE from Fresno, but I believe the rest are on a different transponder.

Hopefully someone can check this for me and post.
thanks.

I received the CBS waiver and getting the NY and LA CBS channels. I live in Montecito.

The KEYT (ABC) signal is awful (static) and I hear that it is because KEYT is having financial problems with the new owners.
The other KSBY (NBC6), KCOY (CBS12), KFRE (WB5) and KFKX(Fox24) are all good.

I have not checked nor do I care what transponders they use.

Former Santa barbara resident here, been away a year and moving back in a couple weeks to start a new job. The HD choices seem pretty slim down there, and since I have DirecTV I'll need to use an antenna to pick up any HD channels. Probably will be living in an apt, so that's going to be tough. But it sounds like I might have a chance to get waivers to receive the national feeds via DirecTV instead, which would be great. And now that DirecTV is adding NBC HD to their lineup, and Fox as well when they go HD, that might be a great situation. Maybe they'll also add ABC HD feeds sometime soon, and we can get waivers for all.

Was it very difficult to get approved for the waiver from KCOY? How is the OTA reception in the SB area? I've always had cable when I lived there so it never mattered. Doesn't seem like it would be very good with the terrain, but I may be wrong.

When is DTV adding NBC HD? Before the Olympics?

KCOY waiver is easy to get. Just call them up.

I don't use OTA but I don't think it is good here on the south coast blocked in by mountains. KEYT the local ABC channel is OK OTA but I don't expect HD from them and I hope I get a waiver once ABC HD is available on DTV.

Dracula, I'm hoping for the same thing. DTV is adding NBCHD for the olympics, then I believe it'll become a full-time channel soon after that. I know people at KEYT from when i used to live down there, so I'm hoping I can get a waiver so that when ABC-HD gets on DTV, I'll be able to receive it. Same with Fox. Actually Fox and CBS is really all I'd really care about, for NFL, since NBC doesn't really do any sports in HD (and doesn't have any sports coverage really worth watching to begin with), and ABC only has MNF in the fall, but hopefully DirecTV will get them signed in time for the NBA season. Plus, Fox is leaping over all the other networks in terms of amount of HD content, except maybe for CBS.

That's great about NBC HD. I am a new DTV subscriber. I have an HD Tivo and was hoping to record some Olympic events on DTV. I also have Cox cable HD but cannot record, only watch in real-time.

Agree on CBS and Fox for NFL. I have the NFL Sunday Ticket for the first time and look forward to watching my Patriots every week in HD if available.

Dracula, Cox should have an HD DVR in SB, I know that was one of the first markets, behind San Diego and a couple others, to get it implemented, so call them and see when it's available. The NBC HD feed for the Olympics will be 24 hours a day, on an 8-hour block that's repeated a total of 3 times... So whatever they are showing from, say, 6am - 2 pm, will be repeated from 2pm - 10pm and then 10pm - 6am the next day. But the HD stuff will be delayed a day after the regular stuff will be shown, and probably almost 2 days after it actually happens, which sucks.

Cox Cable has a DVR available in SB but it is not HD. After having a Tivo for almost two years on my cable and now on my DirecTV, I am spoiled and cannot use their DVR. It is lame compared to Tivo.

How is the OTA reception in Santa Barbara? I called up DirecTV to ask them about waivers, and they said you deal straight with them to get waivers from the local affiliates. But Dracula, you said KCOY gave you a waiver directly from them, which I hope to do. I assume when you call DirecTV and you say "i can't get any OTA reception, can I get a waiver" they'll maybe set up a signal test. Does that mean a test on the current OTA antenna you have installed? I'll most likely be renting a place and won't be able to have a big roof antenna, so will they determine based on my small clip-on antenna what my signal is, and then grant me the waiver? ALso, does the fact that they provide locals to SB/SLO area now affect my chances of receiving the waiver to get the national feeds and HD? I only want the waiver obviously so I can watch the HD broadcasts, so I don't know if they'll say "we already give you your locals, so you're stuck with the analog signal and you can't get HD" Any help is appreciated!

Also, what do you think would happen if, when I moved down and couldn't get any of the locals OTA, I called up D* to get the waiver, and if they denied me, if I threatened to cancel and switch to cable, would they maybe agree to give me the waiver in that case? Or is their rule on waivers strictly black and white, no room for bargaining?