Boston, MA - OTA - Page 86

Did anyone else lose WSBK 38.1 last night at ~8:00? I was getting a strong signal until just before the start of Enterprise. Then the video started dropping out followed shortly after by the dreaded "No Signal". It came in and out a few times over the next few minutes with my Samsung T150 showing the signal bouncing between half scale (strong signal) and zero. Then it went out and never came back. I live about 13 miles from the antenna and I've never had a problem with 38 before.

We are not aware of any problems with WSBK-DT but are checking the stream to verify.

Benji, how is your signal strength in the Zenith. Anyone else have problems with WSBK-DT, 38.1, in Zenith receivers? We do not own a Zenith so I can't verify.

By the way, there were a few questions about the lack of a program guide on our stations. Frankly, we have been focusing on the HDTV infrastructure of our three stations and the program guide has not been on the front burner. I am hoping to have something up before the end of the year.

Bob

Kinda off thread but there's some great info about HD production and explaination of the 720P vs 1080i argument HERE

-JR

I agree regarding the rotor part. I regularly switch between a Zenith and Samsung tuners. There are many stations that will not come in on one when the antenna is aimed for the other, even though normally each works about as well as the other when the antenna is aimed for it.

Bob Hess,

No problems with my Zenith on 39, but it is a 420 model.

Thanks for the reply Bob. I look forward to the day when the program guide information is available. However, the HDTV aspect is infinitely more important to me.

Scott,

I was thinking of emailing SCC to request more HDTV channels....could you let me know their e-mail address please?
Thanks!

Jose

Thanks for checking Bob - BTW when 38 went out I continued to receive the other Boston stations (4, 5, 7, 25, - No 56, but I have never been able to receive 56) with no problems.

I live in Shrewsbury and recently got HDTV. I have a 53" Pioneer Elite rear projection TV with the 3000HD cable box video directly connected to it via component video, and the audio goes through my Rotel equipment.

Last night (Wednesday), and several nights for that matter, all my HD channels were either hiccuping (black screen or frozen picture) or breaking up both in the audio and video signals. My wife forced me to switch back to the analog channel so she could watch the Bachelorette show (I think on 285). Boy was she annoyed.

On some nights, I have no problem at all, so I doubt it's something on my end.

Maybe some of us should get on the phone and see if the glitches are occurring at exactly the same time. Send me a private message if you want my phone number.

Nick

Attn : Moderator

I thought this thread was to address Boston BROADCAST issues?
Nothing against you Shrewsbury Cable guys but this thread is long enough without your interesting but off-topic discussion !
Maybe a separate thread is in order for SCC stuff ?

Regards,
Steve Longo

Agreed, maybe use this thread for SCC specific posts:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...ght=shrewsbury

-D

I'm probably in the minority, but I like one stop shopping. I find the Shrewsbury comments interesting on this thread.

Bob

Absolutely..... It is becoming so frustrating trying to battle all of the uncertantities. The only channel that came in strong last night was ABC (5-1), everything else was sporadic and low strength.

Mitchman

Bob Hess: The Zenith 520 does not have a signal strength meter, only a bar at the bottom of each station going from weak to normal to good. I get good signals on 2, 4, 5, and 7, and weak+ signal on 25. But 39-1 refuses to lock in therefore no strength bar. Hopefully I'll figure it out before baseball season!

Pixelation complaints seem to be growing, and I don't think it is just coincidence we have snow.

I wonder how many of the cable companies are prepared to reaim their antennas once snow covers the ground! It cures most of my pixelization problems.

The Boston stations are pretty stable now, esp ones on air over a year. Sometimes something breaks or they get bad code upgrades, but this is usually obvious, since it will make only one station go bad, and not all.

Generally pixelization troubles are usually at the receiver end. Sometimes, due to very bad locations or distance in the far fringe you have to live with it.

I am in a worse location than most viewers, and get all 13 current area stations (12 on air these days). I have bothersome pixelization problems (say more than two glitches per evening not obviously caused by a plane overhead, which I can't fix) on only 2 of these, one is local, one in the fringe.

Bob Hess,

My Zenith 420 has a meter. 39 reads good as any other channel. Doesn't necessarily mean much though since 41 reads fine too, but won't come in on that tuner currently. Have to switch to my Samsung 150 (rev 1.8 code) or 165 for that one.

So I guess the 520 is quite a different tuner from mine.

thurs channels?

anyone have 4.1 or 7.1 on a Samsung165?

4.1 went out today (had it last night and I'm getting 38.1 great)

7.1 has been out since tuesday

thanx

Yes -- I too lost signal on UPN 38 -- just before Enterprise. It was with the antenna pointed where it always is and I had never had any trouble before. I found rotating the antenna east about 20 degrees gave me enough signal to regain picture and watch the show without a glitch, but signal strength was down to the mid 50s where it has always been in the mid 80's.

I am suprised at how good 38 broadcast looks with essentially just a "zoomed in" standard def picture - a nice way to broadcast until true HD arrives

Seeing the same thing as jhe on the Zenith 420. Everything is fine except for 41, which won't come in at all.

Last night Fox was showing up as 31-2 instead of 25-1, so something must be going on with their PSIP data...

I was able to receive WSBK 38.1 again last night (after losing it the night before). There were, however, some problems again at just about 8:00PM. The voice was fine but I had the picture freeze for relatively long periods of time (5 - 10 seconds) several times over a 5 or 10 minute period around 8:00 PM. There was also several episodes of severe pixelation. I watched the signal strength and it seemed to drop slightly (one "line" on my Samsung T150) when there was a problem. In fact I could see the dropped line on my meter flashing quickly during the problem. I wonder if there was actually a much more significant, but short lived, drop of power and my meter could not keep up with it to show the full fluctuation. That is just speculation on my part. After 5-10 minutes everything cleared up and WSBK was solid for the rest of the evening. Once again, the other Boston stations (except for WLVI which I've never received) had no problems last night.

One final note: I received a reply from WLVI to the e-mail I sent complaining about the lack of signal. They said they are aware of the problem that certain receivers are having with their signal and are investigating.

No problems at WSBK last night.

- Bob

4.1 has been stable. No transmission problems.

- Bob

I have to disagree with you here, etcarey. I hate how UPN crops their digital broadcast by chopping off the bottom and top of the picture. I want OAR. I find it so distracting that I usually watch UPN via cable so that I can see the whole picture.

I have to disagree with you here, etcarey. I hate how UPN crops their digital broadcast by chopping off the bottom and top of the picture. I want OAR. I find it so distracting that I usually watch UPN via cable so that I can see the whole picture.
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I completely agree with Jakes on this one. I can not bring myself to watch UPN38 because of the silly zoom and crop. Please, just leave 4:3 programming 4:3 and let the user zoom/crop/stretch it if they want to. Standard def zoomed and cropped is a waste of bandwidth, IMHO. On the upside, UPN38 signal has been solid.

I would rather have a standard 4:3 on WSBK, but I tolerate thier 14:9, but since they changed thier morning schedule this past week, I have been watching it less and less.

Jim

Another vote for leaving 4:3 material 4:3.

UPN 38's setup is really annoying.

Interesting. I was unable to receive WBZ last night also, but I just assumed it was some problem at the source as this station has typically been my best received and most reliable signal. I'm in Bolton with an RCA-DTC100. Now I'm concerned. This morning, I'm barely picking it up (signal strength on the DTC-100 is around 30, which is marginal). If there's no transmission problems at the source, I wonder what could be up. Anyone else having trouble? If I miss the Steelers on Saturday in HD, I am going to be severely bummed...

thanx, I checked again this am and 4.1 is back viewable.
(?? no changes to the setup) and 7.1 is there as well...

Of course not willing to let working things work, I started messing
with the antenna(s) and was also able to pickup wfxt(31) here in
sNH for a brief time.

I am also a viewer besides working for WBZ. Last night I watched CSI and Without a Trace and the picture was stable. I also continue to use a DTC-100. After trying almost every other receiver on the market, I keep going back to the old trusty DTC-100.

Bob

I will take it one step forward- Not only do I want the picture OAR, but I want it native resolution as well, no upscaling. Leave it to the consumer to decide how to display the broadcast. I thought that was part of the advantages of digital?