Toledo, OH - HDTV - Page 13

Mark,
I have not noticed changing channels to be too slugish, but BCS has had Mot boxes for awhile. So I could be use to it being that way. Also, what out for the third generation 6412 boxes (HDMI outputs) as there are a few issues with audio. I know BCS is working with Mot to resolve them. It has been a couple weeks, so I should call up my contact to see how that stands. Until then I have stuck with the 2nd gen DVI box. Which is working fine, no need to swap'em out just for a connector type.
Also found the MUTE instructions:
Program an unused button on the remote, for instance, C
-Press and hold setup until LED blinks twice
-Enter 994. LED light will blink twice
-Press setup once and do not hold it
-Enter 141
-Press the C key on the remote.
LED light will blink twice.
-The C key will now act as a mute and un-mute for the DVR converters.

VidEditor

Well, I got my plasma hooked up finally and have tuned it in. I must admit, the picture quality of BEX's HD is pretty good. I'm suprised there's no more chatter on this thread than there is. A city the size of Toledo, I expected there to be a lot of videophiles talking about the various cable providers and OTA signals. I moved up here from South Carolina, and the Columbia SC HDTV thread is at least 10 times as busy as this thread. Come on guys, tell me what you think about your cable providers here, and any secrets about the Motorola DVR I should know. Thanks Videditor for your input.

Mark

I'll tell you what I think: I'm tired of fussing with my antenna to get WNWO-DT. I can get WTOL, WTVG, and WUPW with no problem, but I have crappy signal strength on WNWO, even after breaking down and buying an SS2000.

Oh, wait, that probably wasn't what you were asking for

Yeah it is pretty quiet here.
Good people, helpful and friendly, though this spot is pretty BEX centric(I have D* HD).

All my Toledo OTA's are fine +Detroit in HD.

Are all the antennas located in the same area up here? I haven't done any over the air yet, but after we get totally moved up here, I may try some with my Hitachi set since it has a built in HD Tuner.

Just about all the locals are localted in Oregon. WLMB and WBGU (PBS) are the only outsiders... WNWO seems to always be the worst ofender with MPEG crashes on the sub channels.

Hopefully a quiet thread means everyone is watching HDTV and not at the PC complaining about loss of signal, dropouts and other problems. Also, if anyone is interested in the NBA HD or NHL HD games, the newly aquired iNHD1 also carries the same programming for sports as OLN HD & NBA HD. The guide will actually list the events on the iNHD channel, but not for OLN or NHL. I'll have to give BCS a call and see if they can't fis that.
Anyone watch the Daytona 500? I noticed NBC opted to upconvert the pit cameras 16x9, instead of doing the side bars (like the in-cars). RF HD is not quite affordable yet. When I was at the NAB Convention (tv equipment suppliers-obviously I am in TV), one company had a chopper flying around Vegas with a RF HD camera- Amazing pictures with no LOS while I was there. They even flew over to the Red Rock Mountians and out 60 miles before losing the signal. SO hopfefully the price will drop for the smaller scale pit cams.

VidEditor

Good point VidEditor! I just like to talk and read about people's thoughts on the technology. Especially since I just moved up here. Is there anyone on this forum from BCS or any of the other local cable companies? In SC we had a rep from Time Warner that was on AVS talking to us all the time. She was a great contact and kept us up to date on what was coming, and used us as guinnea pigs for their interactive TV and other things. On that note, is BCS going to have any interactive TV coming soon, such as configurable information channels or having caller ID on the TV screen for digital phone? How about adelphia and TWC in the outlying areas? Are there any users of these other cable systems on this thread?

Thanks,
Mark

Hey, anyone here??? Anyways, I was just wondering if anyone watched CSI:Miami last night, or anything else in HD that had pixelation bad in fast moving scenes? There was a lot of blurry HD here last night... If we don't have a good forum and talk about it so that we can tell Buckeye Cable what the problems are, we can't make it better.

Watched it OTA HD, no problems.
If Tivo comes out with the series III OTA-cable HD/DVR I may consider going back to basic cable.

CBS is notoriously bad here in Toledo, and from what I can gleam, it is not just Buckeye's feed, but also OTA (I may be incorrect about this.) It has actually gotten a little better if you believe that! But I did not watch CSI yesterday. You might want to check signal strength, and replace/check splitters, I know that a lot of people have had to do this to get perfect signals.

Actually everything else looks great if you ask me. Although I am getting some weird happenings...

1. HD has been a little jumpy, perfect picture (no macro-blocking), but a small jump here or there.

2. My box locks up at 4:20 am and then again at 4:50 pm, twice a day. I have to pull the plug to reset it. I am sure I have a failing box, but I am waiting to hear back from Buckeye.

Buckeye does monitor this site, and they are around, but I doubt that they post much. Your best bet for service is to contact them by phone, if the CSR doesn't know, they will ask their supervisor...

Welcome to Toledo!

Thanks trabbic, I appreciate it. I was wondering about the quality of wiring here in my current residence (which is an apartment until our house in SC sells) so I won't be changing any wiring, and I'll have to live with it and it's not terrible, I'm just picky. We're planning on moving out in the country past BG after our house sells, so I think I'll have TWC after that, which I hope is as good as the TWC we had in South Carolina.

No problem,

I think that buckeye will come out for free and check the signal at your box, and put a booster on if they need it. They will do this for free, if you call and explain that you don't think your picture is very good. You will however have to give them a half a day when you will be there...

I can't say anything about TWC, they last time I had that in BG was when I was at school there in 99 and the quality was fine then, but who knows now!

Good luck either way!

Not sure if you all read the Blade, but BCS has HGTV-HD coming onboard. Also the new Indians Baseball network that is replacing Fox Ohio will have the HOME games in HD. BCS will have an additional HD channel for "Sportstime Ohio". I am thinking it may operate similar to the NBA & OLN HD channels- aka not full time(?).
Now I know I have said this before but, ESPN2 HD is coming. My sources say that working with Disney (ESPN) is rough. They always want to engulf a channel addition with other re-works, or "you must do this" or You'll have to add ESPN-U with it. SO hang in there, sounds like an May addition. They say April... but we know better.
Happy Viewing,
VidEditor

Anyone knowledgable on someone who would install a small antenna on my tower in the Toledo area?

It seems like most people are not doing this anymore and went to cable.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Kind of off topic, but...

I was looking at the Weekend Peach section in The Blade and saw that Jamieson's (sp?) is going to have a Blu-Ray Disc presentation from Noon till 5PM this Saturday (03/25/06). Just thought you might like to know.

Cool! Thanks for the info!

HGTV HD would be fantastic! I hear MTV HD is also excellent and would make a nice addition.

Right now Buckeye has an excellent HD lineup...it is what I expect for paying so much darn money!

There is something bizzare about CBS HD broadcasts...there is a blur that occurs on fast transitions. It can be seen on almost any CBS broadcast...I have seen it on OTA and Cable. It is a national phenomena...and has been discussed at length on AVS.

This may be what you saw on CSI.

Anyone hear anything about BCS carrying On-Demand Major League Extra Innings this year? Haven't seen any promotions on this yet. And just to keep this on topic, whouldn't it be nice if it was in HD?

There was a digital message on the DVR this morning about this. I wasn't that interested, so I didn't pay attention to the details, but it sounds like BCS will have it.

While I'm on this thread, I have a question about my DVR. Anyone have any problems with their DVR locking up? Mine has locked up at 4:20 AM and 4:50pm every day for about a week. I have to unplug the power, and reset, and then it works fine for until the next lockup time. I have the Motorola 6412 III HD DVR.

That's strange. I have 2 of them and neither has locked up like that. I have had one die on my and had to replace it. My wife wasn't happy losing all she had stored and hadn't watched yet. Wouldn't off line storage be nice? BCS? You listening?
Still though haven't had that issue. You may need to swap it out. Just download everything from the box to an external hard drive. Nope. Can't do that. Sorry.

Yeah I'm trying to get to a good point to return my box for a replacement...but I hate having to reprogram in all the shows I DVR. I usually miss something.

Well, right on time ... 4:50pm....DVR is locked up... It's still playing the movie that we are watching off the DVR though, so we'll just wait until the movie is over before we reset the box. As a side note though, we lose all control with the remote when it happens, but the channel / DVR'd program that we were watching before the lockup continues to play without a hitch.

I have a question for my fellow BCS DVR owners.

While watching non-HD material on an HD channel the audio is still in DD but there is no center channel sound. I'm assuming this is because the show was only recorded with a L&R channel. So every time this happens I have to manually switch the receiver (Pioneer 1014tx) to ProLogic. It drives me NUTS. Does anyone have a better solution to this?

Sorry I can't help RU Fastr. I haven't hooked up a 5.1 system up here in Toledo yet. I'm still living in Temporary Housing until we sell our house in South Carolina. I hope they fix that problem you describe though, because that would be annoying...maybe someone else here will comment that knows how to fix your problem.

Just read in a trade mag, that Comast (not in this area) was going to put in a new DVR system. This system would have a central server at their headend for your dvr recordings. Thus taking out all the in-home hard drives. This is a very limited test size and accomplishes savings to Comcast by not spending bigger bucks on dvr cable boxes and for us, hopefully we won't lose programming when a cable box dies. and needs replaced.

ALSO, went to the Blu-ray presentation. Looked like it should - great. Sony is saying that the competition (HD-DVD) won't now be delivered until Fall, they release Blu-ray in August. You can pre-purchase the Blu-ray though. Blu-ray players are about $1K, vs $500 and that PlayStation 3 will be a blu-ray technology. Also read that picture quality won't be the only factor on that vhs/betamax war. I'll do another post on that soon.

hello folks. I live down in Findlay. I just bought the Viewsonic N3760W as my first hdtv and love it so far. Im looking to try out the OTA thing for toledo locals in HD. The tv has the ATSC tuner so im set in that way, but im lookin at antennas. Right now I have my mind set on the DB8 from antennas direct. I emailed the tech guy from Fox36 toledo a while back and he said I shouldnt have a problem gettin signal down here. Im just wondering if you have any tips, tricks or whatnot before i dive in. Thanks for your time. GO RED WINGS! (yes im a diehard hockey nut)

Well, I went and got a new HD DVR today. When I plugged it in and got it going, I noticed a new channel on the system... 659 HGTV-HD. It's only been on a few hours today, and it's just a promotional loop, but it looked good. I hope they have regular programming so maybe I'll get my wife addicted to HD as much as I am.