Fort Wayne, IN - HDTV - Page 14

Ryan,

Doug Swallow, who has numerous posts on AVS Forum, has a great program that will provide everything you are asking for. Just plug in your latitude and longitude. Here's the link... http://www.2150.com/broadcast

Also, you can see a similar list by going to this FCC website, and then scrolling down to the section, "Stations Within A Radius." Here's that link......
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/video/tvq.html

Steve

goldrich,

I would agree with you on this but I have lived here now for 10 years and it is the same broadcast all year long. I live 60 miles from South Bend and 25 miles to Fortwaye and I have all ways recieved a better signal and reception from the South Bend stations. Now with the digital signal it is more important since I don't get the pixalization from the Soth Bend stations.

oryan_dunn, what kind of an antenna are you using? I had to upgrade to a channel master double bow tie in order to get any good signal from Fort Wayne. I could use a single bow tie for South Bend stations. Also, are you using any pre-amp? The is a must for either South Bend or Fort Wayne. I'm supprised, you should at least get 16 and 22 from South Bend. My signal strength for both these stations is 80-90.

diehard_1955

I'm quite familiar with your reception comments. I grew up in Kokomo and even though Fort Wayne is closer, the South Bend stations almost always provided a better signal. Why? Well, let's take a look at the differences between the two NBC stations, WISE and WNDU........

WISE-33
589kW @ 770 feet

WNDU-16
5000kW @ 1069 feet
(Yes, that's 5,000,000 watts!!!!)

WISE-DT 19
9.9kW @ 770 feet

WNDU-DT 42
310kW @ 584 feet

Keeping in mind that your signal strength is primarily based upon a combination of the station's output power and the height of the station's antenna (line of sight reception), which of these stations do you think would be easier to receive? Of course, the equipment used at the receiving end is important, too. Some factors would include your antenna, the height of your antenna (does it clear the neighbor's house; any big trees in the way; this time of year, tree leaves can even reduce the signal strength of UHF frequencies) and the sensitivity of the tuner in your receiver.

Steve

I'm just using the indoor Silver Sensor. I don't have any kind preamp or amp on the line. For 80% of the time, WISE comes in fine. Its the early morning ours I have problems. If WISE is haveing problems, then there is a good chance if I turn my antenna, that I'll get WNDU.

Ryan

Does anyone know if WISE will pass along the HD feed for the Olympics, or will we get shafted on that as well?

Hopefully the Olympics will be broadcast live so we won't have to worry about WISE getting a delay server. But it wouldn't surprise me if we got shafted.

Not that WISE will follow suit, but when the decision was made to timeshift by the management types, that it was agreed that sports programming would be aired live.

I know we do that here at WANE and over at 21 that is the case, but seeing that the Olympics are on tape (I think) I wouldn't be surprised to see it time-shifted as well.

Forgot about the time difference, so most will probably be on tape. Could be some live stuff with daytime and weekend programming, but I would guess that the primetime stuff will all be on tape. I guess at best we can hope to see some HD coverage over the weekends.

Oh well. At least we'll have HD football soon. At least on WANE that is, doesn't appear that WFFT will turn up the power until their analog signal is shut off and they may never get HD equipment.

I don't get why if it is on tape already, and won't be lining up with whats on the SD channel anyways (which is why when I called WISE back the day after the time change as to why they couldn't show the HD feed) why can't they just pass the network feed straight through? For a channel that was supposed to be the leader in HD in Fort Wayne when all this started, they seem to be living in the past.

Ryan

I believe the answer on why WISE (or any other station, for that matter) cannot just pass the network HD feed live is that the newtworks won't allow it.

I understand in normal circumstances that they would want the digital and analog stations to match up, hence why they cannot pass the HD through an hour earlier; but since the programing during the olympics on the HD will not match the analog station anyways, why would it matter if they passed it an hour earlier in HD or delayed it an hour and played in sd? They wont match the analog station either way.

Why won't the SD and HD line up during the Olympics?

I'd assume that WISE is running the analog signal into an upconverter, hence there the programming should all air at the same time.

I don't know how 33 is set up, but that is how it works here.

Of course WISE could render this discussion pointless if they'd announce how they are going to handle it. I can't see them timeshifting the Olympics, or any sports programming, even though the Olympics (at least part of the time) will be on tape.

NBC announced that for their HD channel, they would have 8 unique hours of programming a day looped twice for a full 24 hours. They also said that they would be airing different material on the analog channel. I think that they will have some olympics on, but they will also have their reqular programs like news etc. So it wouldn't matter if wise timeshifted or not, it wont be the same thing that is on the analog channel. I sure hope this discussion is moot and wise passes along the HD feed untouched.

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize that NBC had made that announcement.

I agree with you. It would be wise (no pun intended!) for 33 to pass it straight through.

this is a quote from NBC'S web site:

For the first time by a U.S. broadcaster at a Summer Olympics, NBC will provide high definition coverage. NBC's separate, unique HDTV coverage on NBC's digital affiliates, presented by Sony Electronics Inc., will provide HDTV coverage on delay of six sports from the only main Olympic venues provided in high definition by the Olympic host broadcaster. Those sports include swimming, diving, gymnastics, track and field, medal rounds of basketball and the men's soccer gold medal final. The HDTV coverage will total 399 hours and is a completely different production from the standard definition broadcast on the network. NBC has 124 HDTV affiliates with the potential to cover 86 percent of the country.

It would be interesting to see if WISE will offer both coverages?

diehard

also, the following link has the daily schedule:

http://www.nbcolympics.com/tvlisting...59/detail.html

Looks like the HDTV is all day coverage

diehard

It would be nice if WISE picks up the digital coverage. Could be some great stuff to see in HD.

I was watching the PGA tournament on CBS this weekend. The on-screen guide said that it should be in HD, but none of the coverage was HD. Does anyone know if this was a network problem or a problem at the local end? I sure hope The PGA Championship coming up will be in HD. Whistling Straits is a beautiful course!

I don't believe it was a local problem. I watched a small portion of it on CBS HD from DirecTV and it was not in HD either.

Hey gang, I got this e-mail today. Sounds like PBS is really taking this HDTV thing serious.

PS, I know this is a Fort Wayne thread, but since I get reception from both I thought it would be nice for everyone to see what other cities are getting not too far away.

Dear Digital Viewers:

WNIT is proud to announce that effective today, August 6, we will begin running our digital operations 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For the moment, 35-2, our simulcast channel, will be going to test signals at our traditional analog sign-off at midnight, returning at 6 AM when our analog
signal returns to the air. 35-1, the high definition channel, will be continuing to feed the PBS high definition program service all around the clock.
We are happy to be able to offer this service extension to our digital viewers. We hope you continue to enjoy the wide variety of programming, both standard-def and high-def, on WNIT-DT!

Sincerely yours,

Brian L. Hoover
Chief Engineer/Director of Broadcast Operations
WNIT/WNIT-DT

By the way, the feed is allmost the same as Fort Waynes PBS feed, just offset an hour.

diehard_1955

The Fort Wayne feed different than the south bend by an hour? Thats odd as I thought the PBS station didn't time shift the HD. Last winter the smart travels I like to watch was on at 7:30 and is now on at 6:30. Is the southbend timeshifted or is the fort wayne feed shifted?

On another note, only a week until the Olymics.

Ryan

Just in case anyone around here might have a DirecTv waiver for NBC DirecTv will be carrying the HD feed for the Olympics on channel 84 starting on the 13th.

Ryan,

Your correct. The PBS programs are not shifted, but the regular broadcast is.

I have Driect TV but I don't subscribe for the locals. Never did see any need when I can get the OTA channels for free.

diehard_1955

It doesn't appear that WPTA is aware that the MNF game tonight is in HD. I was hoping the days of forgetting to pass along the HD feed would be a thing of the past. Let's hope they can get it right in 2 weeks for the next MNF game.

I know what you mean, I was all set in my theater room, beverages at the ready, Z2 fired up & ready to display its first football in HD. What a letdown... I can't stand these backward *ss country f**k local stations. When are they going to get their head out of their butt. (this is of course excepting of WANE)

Last night I contacted an engineer at WPTA and they were definitly aware of the problem. He said that the problem was that the switching equipment wasn't working properly and that since they had been working off of the delay server, they hadn't noticed the problem. He said that they were working on it, but I don't think they got it by the time the game was over.

Ryan

So why hasn't Comcast picked up WPTA in HD yet? I am really disappointed in Comcast. I've had Comcast HD since November, and they have added only ONE channel (WANE) during the entire nine months since then. PATHETIC!!!

Thats more channels than Directv has added since then.

Really? How many HD channels does DirectTV offer?

Discovery HD theater, ESPN HD, HDnet and HDnet movies in the HD pack for 10.99 a month extra. Plus they have the movie channels in HD if you sub to that pack. i.e. HBO, Showtime, etc. But it costs you 12 bucks a month to add a movie channel package.

I get all of my locals OTA so no need for them to be on Directv.

It would be nice if they would add TNT HD soon.