Binghamton / Elmira, NY - HDTV

Lisa, the only way to get HD in this technologically lowscale area is with the satellites. I think echo star is going to be pretty good once the super dish is launched later this year. So far I have Discovery HD Theater and CBS HD through a waiver from WBNG, with Echo Star DISH. HDNET is coming and Dish has HBO AND SHOWTIME HD as well.

I too would like to know how klees4155 got a waiver for CBS. My zip code in Chenango Bridge only gave me waivers for ABC, NBC, Fox, and PBS with DirecTV.

But, back on topic a bit, which is OTA HD for Binghamton area. I just purchased a very large antenna from Radio Shack to see what OTA is available. My HD receiver, which is a Hughes HTL-HD (is also a DirecTV receiver), found three digital channels. WBNG (CBS), WIVT(ABC), and WSKG (PBS). The pictures came in clear but were obviously not Hi Def. Titan TV website lists some ABC shows as being HD, I'll find out in about 15 minutes to see if WIVT passes it on.

I have sent another email to WBNG asking if they will be passing the Superbowl through in HD 16:9. I hope so.

Reading through the Rochester HD thread I'm not very encouraged.

Looking at Titan TV web site again I noticed that our TWC only has two channels in HD; INHD and INHD2.

By the way, the analog channels come in very bad in my area. I may get them a bit better when I permanently install the antenna.

But, with waivers for ABC, NBC and Fox and now a good picture from WBNG I will probably drop TWC now.

From DirecTV I get, ESPN HD, Discovery HD, HD Net, HD Net Movies, HBO HD, and Showtime HD. There is also an HD PPV channel.

Update:
Played with antenna aiming and found a spot where I picked up 40-1 and 40-2. These are our Fox 40 channel and UPN.

Nice to see another Greater Binghamtonian on the forum. I've been away for a couple of weeks, so I noticed that you are receiving WSKG, digitally. I know they were under construction when I left, so they must be digitally live now. Are they transmitting HDTV?

I didn't want to invest in a HD receiver, so I am at the mercy of TWC.

Based on correspondence with WBNG, their engineer said that they were planning on being DTV for the foreseeable future and would transmit HDTV only when they were prepared to spendhe money to complete the conversion. What I can't figure out is do they start with analog and up-convert it to 480p or do they start with 1080i and down-convert to 480p. Either way, I doubt we will be seeing the Super Bowl in HD unless we can get it somewhere else.

For WIVT-DT, TWC and Clearchannels have been in negotiation for some time and neither company is forthcoming as to when they will solve whatever it is that is keeping them apart, but it usually has something to do with $$$$.

TWC should be adding HDNet shortly if it's not already providing it. There are comments in AVS Forum that TWC is providing HDNet in Syracuse and other cities around the country.

BTW, do you know what your altitude is? I'm around 1400 ft and with a good antenna and receiver, I might be able to get a shot at Syracuse & Scranton.

It doesn't look like WSKG is broadcasting any HD content. But, then I've only been looking for less than a day now. It does look like WIVT is at least passing through ABC programs in HD. The Fox 40 and UPN are just SD repeats of their analog signals. Still better than analog. The WBNG picture is pretty good, better than I can get using analog. I'm not up on what conversions are needed. Is there a reason why WBNG can't just pass on the CBS network feed since they do have a digital signal? Like, for the Super Bowl?

I'm actually in Chenango Bridge, so my altitude is about the same as downtown Binghamton. I have my antenna temporarily mounted on my deck railing. I'll be playing it with it to see if I can get anything from Scranton or Syracuse.

BTW, HDNet is awesome. I've seen a couple of Hockey and Basketball games in HD as well. It's like being there.

Update:
I was playing with different directions today to see if I could possibly pick up Syracuse or Scranton. Well no luck. The antenna, Radio Shack VU-190XR, is close to the ground and is not amplified.

My receiver, Hughes HTL-HD, doesn't have a signal strength meter, so I assume the best way for me the aim the antenna is to pick on an analog channel and tweak the best picture with it.

Have you tried this link: http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.asp

Best of luck

Yes, I used that site. Thanks.

I just want to tweak it for out of area stations, such as Syracuse or Scranton.

Don't bother trying to get Scranton, they are not passing HD either, as I have now found thru this thread WBNG isn't as well.

And to think I spent the whole day yesterday raising my antenna another 10 ft to try and get it!

Try searching for the NEPA thread if you would like to hear of our woes!

See ya!

Chezbrgr2:
Thanks for the info. I just read the last two pages of the NEPA thread. Very bad for you all down there. Not that good here either. I'm waiting for a response from WBNG on my latest email. I guess I won't be wasting my time with Scranton's CBS station.

I'll focus on Syracuse. Nope, they are having problems there too. Looks like I'll focus on our local yokels.

Edit: On PQ. The ABC affiliate WIVT 34-1 showed The Sound of Music last night. There was a bit of pixelation and breakup, I didn't watch the whole thing, just now and then to see how it was coming in. Tweaked the antenna a bit with no change. Then sometime during the end of the movie I noticed that the picture was now in SD. I suppose they had a timer on the transmission.

Anyone else see this happen?

And, let's get an email and letter writing campaign going so that WBNG will broadcast the Superbowl in HD.

For what it's worth, I watched SOM on WXYZ/Comcast-Detroit last night. Didn't notice any pixelation but around 9:00(?) the 5.1 audio started to break up and continued for 10 to 15 minutes then all was fine. Tried other HD stations and had no audio problems. If the same thing happened to you then it must have been a network problem.

Please let us know when you hear back from WBNG about their HD plans.

Other threads indicate that the the Syracuse CBS station's digital transmitter is currently under construction.

Sorry, but on the previous post, I was logged in on my son's account DAWGDAES.

I intend to add to this thread as much as I can.

I'd like to know how many Greater Binghamtonian members there are here.
And, I don't mean to the leave out the Endicott, Endwell, Johnson City, etc members.

All of you please email WBNG about the SuperBowl and how you want it in HD. And, anyone else close enough to receive their digital signal too!

Using the Native format mode of my HTL-HD receiver I have discovered the following:

These local channels WBNG (12-1 CBS), WICZ (40-1 Fox), WBPN (40-2 UPN), and WSKG (42-2 PBS) are broadcasting in 480i format. WIVT (34-1 ABC), is in 720p, but it's aspect ratio is 4:3. I have set the receiver to upconvert the 720p to 1080i, the native format of my Mits HDTV. Also, the Alamo Bowl tonight on ESPNHD is also in 720p with a 4:3 aspect ratio. Is it normal for some 720p broadcasts to be in 4:3 aspect ratio?

Your note really surprised me because I thought that digital stations do not transmit 480i, at a minimum, 480p is what I would have expected for for all the local OTA digital stations except WIVT which you stated was 720p.

Does your receiver have the ability to force the output mode? Can you set it to pass on whatever is transmitted and tell you what that is? Can your TV display what it is receiving?

My TV set tells me what type of signal it is receiving. For example it displays "480p" when I use my DVD player and "1080i" when I'm receiving an HD signal.

Is your television a 4:3 or 16:9?

I am watching the game on ESPNHD with a 4:3 SONY over COMCAST Cable. The game is not HD even though ESPNHD is HD. So the picture is in 16:9 format (black bars top and bottom) but the picture is compressed and stretched so the players are sort of short and fat. That is what we get on all ESPNHD programs unless it is and actual HD program. On HD programs, the picture is fantastically good and everything looks right sized.

On WIVT, I would think that HD programs would be in wide screen and non-hd programs would have left and right black bars in addition to bars on the top and bottom (on a 4:3 TV set.)

Have you had any luck with WBNG?

No, 480p is more expensive than 480i. 480i is basically analog TV without the snow. It's what most non-HD subchannels are, because they use a small amount of bandwidth compared to HD. A 480i broadcast can work with only 3 mbps (out of the 19.39 mbps in the digital signal itself) while 720p needs about 12-16 and 1080i needs 14-18. You can fit 6 SD subchannels in the same space as one 1080i HD feed!

If WSKG is showing up as 42-2, then it's likely not only in 480i, but there are probably some big time errors in their signal. Our PBS showed up on most tuners as 3-2 for almost 6 months, and during that time I was probably the only person who could get audio on it (until I stopped using my computer card and got the Zenith in September). I can't blame them; they were rushed into going on the air and didn't have the money to buy all the equipment they needed until September. They now have two streams: 15-1 is 480i rebroadcasting the main signal and 15-5 is 1080i direct off the satellite. Try and get WSKG to do that; that is so nice to have.

- Trip

I suspect that my stations are still in their testing stage. That's why most are in 480i.

I set my HD receiver, HTL-HD, to Native format where it just passes through whatever it receives. The front panel LED display shows the format, which is how I discovered what station is what. My TV is a Mitsubishi WS48311 16:9. With the receiver in native pass through the TV reports 480i, 480p or 1080i, 720p isn't supported. So I see 480i when I pass through the OTA channels, except WIVT (get blue screen on that one). For normal viewing I am forcing the HD receiver to display everything in 1080i.

Your description of the ESPN game indicates to me that the aspect ratio of the game was 4:3 since you said the players are short and fat. That's just the way they looked for me as well with the16:9 full screen. Everything looked normal when I put the receiver into Shrink mode.

Here's another interest factoid. When I view DirecTV 4:3 content on my TV the side bars are grey. When I view my OTA channels, the side bars are black. I assume that the HD rcvr is doing that. However, with WIVT, I get grey bars again. So the station is presenting those, indicating a 16:9 format.

I get confused with all of these aspect ratio/format combinations.

And, no response from WBNG to my email.

Jim

Thanks for the update on 480i. I've added it to my personal knowledge base. Since my TWC cable box up-converts everything to 1080i, the only thing I watch directly off the box is HD material only. Which is OK since I watch everything else off my TIVO through S-video.

I'm hoping that TWC will make the Pace box available someday. That box will at least pass everything through in its native format and should make watching cable a little easier. Won't do much for the TIVO, though.

I have been away for several weeks. Has anything new been added to the cable? When I left, they had just added INHD.

I only have basic/superstation cable. But, the Titan TV website only list INHD and INHD2 for HD content on TWC. I get my TV via DirecTV and have two DirecTV DVRs. I plan to keep TWC for at least thru the Superbowl, maybe sooner if WBNG comes through with their HD before that. With the digital versions of our locals I have no need for TWC anymore.

Just a quick update:
WIVT channel 34-1 (ABC) is looking pretty good right now with Dick Clark's Rocking Eve. Still waiting for response to email to WBNG. But, it's a Holiday, I'll give them to Monday.

Will other Binghamton area members please check in and report their PQ. I'm having occasional audio dropouts with WIVT (34-1).

Gee, I guess there aren't very many in this area with HD receivers. Must be because only one channel is actually broadcasting HD content, while the others are just broadcasting SD digitally. And, local sales droids don't know what stations are broadcasting a digital signal, even if in SD.

BTW, the ABC broadcast of the Sugar Bowl looked great!

Okay, I'll try this again just to get this thread on the first page for a little while.

Any other Binghamtonians out there?

How about some close neighbors that may be getting Binghamton digital stations?

Well, I just got back from being away for four weeks. Turned on my TW program guide to look for any changes to the HD channel list and surprise, surprise, no changes!!!!

No WIVT-DT, no HDNET, no WBNG-DT in HD, no ESPNHD.

I think we live in a place where there is a confluence of TV stations dragging their feet, a cable company that doesn't care, and retailers that don't have a clue.

Perhaps this will all be worked out by 2006. It's just a shame that many of us have made large personal investments in time and money with little to show for our effort.

Anyway, I called TW and the CSR told me that HDNET will be on the cable Jan 31, never heard about WIVT-DT ("Don't you mean WBNG-HD?) and the only HD cable box TWC provides is the SA-3100HD. There are better boxes out there and TWC could provide them, if only. . . . . . . .

Welcome back,
I don't have cable, except for 2-13 for locals which will go away next month. With the okay reception of the digital versions of our locals I don't need TWC anymore. Only keeping it until after the Super Bowl in case WBNG-DT doesn't come thru with the Super Bowl in HD. Which is in real doubt. And, WIVT (34-1) is passing through ABC feeds, at least OTA. If the weather warms a bit in the next week or so, I'm going to raise my antenna and see if I can get Syracuse's CBS station.

Have you emailed WBNG about when they plan to deliver HD?

Time to bring this thread to the first page again.

It's cold outside, so where are the Binghamton area members?
Especially, the original thread author?

I light of this thread, I ask all Binghamton area viewers with DirecTV to email WBNG@wbngtv.com and ask that for the good of public relations they grant a waiver so that we can get the CBS-HD feed, unless they get their HD feed going.