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Cincinnati, OH - HDTV - Page 9

post #241 of 14222
12/29/03 at 10:10am
What's the emoticon for "fainting dead away?"

Doc
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post #242 of 14222
12/30/03 at 11:39am
Greetings, all. I've been lurking on this thread for a couple of months now as I've been anxiously awaiting my HD front projector to arrive. It arrived yesterday, and all I can say is WOW! I'm a TW customer and I'm just in time for the two new channels effective today.

Anyway, just wanted to let you all know that there's another HD junkie in the area.

Terry
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post #243 of 14222
12/30/03 at 1:32pm
Hi Terry !

We're almost neighbors - I live just south of Pisgah. Congrats on your FP. Glad you're enjoying HD.

I'm also a TWC HD customer. Did you sign up for the new HD Tier to get HDNet & HDNet Movies ? If so can you tell me what the monthly cost is ? TIA and welcome.

Rick
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post #244 of 14222
12/30/03 at 1:40pm
Terry..
Welcome. I guess I don't need to tell you what you'll find here if you've been lurking. But, if there's any information or help you need, let us know.

Doc
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post #245 of 14222
12/30/03 at 1:57pm
Thanks for the welcomes.

Rick, TW is charging $6.95 per month for the HD tier. Includes 4 stations:
- INHD (971)
- INHD2 (972)
- HD Net (973)
- HD Net Movies (974)

I'm surprised they didn't make DiscHD be part of this tier...

Terry
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post #246 of 14222
12/30/03 at 4:40pm
Terry,

Thanks for the info. I lost the INHD channels today with the new HD tier. I'm debating on subscribing. Although I really would like to see HDNet, with all of the repetition on INHD (and I've read the same about HDNet) I'm not sure it's worth 7 bucks on top of a $68 cable bill. Maybe I'll drop HBO and the channel guide and keep it under 70 bucks.

BTW TWC's policy has been to not charge extra for "duplicate content" channels. I think that's why DiscoveryHD wasn't moved into the HD Tier (even though the content isn't really the same as Discovery). I believe this is the stalemate between TWC & Disney over ESPN-HD.

Enjoy AVS and all of the great info and people here in the Cincy HD thread.

Rick
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post #247 of 14222
12/31/03 at 9:55am
Just wanted to drop in and say hi as well. Been lurking this site for about a month now and have read a lot of informational post. TW customer as well so thanks on the update on the price of the new HD Tier. Once my wife watches the last 8 episodes of Sex In The City on HBO I'll probably drop and get this new HD Tier.
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post #248 of 14222
12/31/03 at 11:24am
Reading that most of you are using TWC to receive Cincinnati and national HD. How good is the quality? How does it compare to D*? Also, have they started to carry WXIX yet?
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post #249 of 14222
12/31/03 at 12:16pm
Can't speak for TW, but D*'s PQ has improved markedly, in the past couple of weeks. And, no, I don't think TW nor Insight will carry WXIX-DT until they clear FOX-HD, next fall.

Not that it matters, because they're off the air more than on, these days. .

Doc
DirecTV for HD
OTA for Cincy/Dayton local HD
Insight for everything else
Viacom for a paycheck .
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post #250 of 14222
12/31/03 at 12:36pm
Well, while WXIX-HD(funny how its label says HD even though it isn't) isn't reliable as it should be, I am happy with Cincinnati HD offerings, my Eastern Iowa CBS station still hasn't gone HD and I moved over the summer, so as usual every DMA has a couple of stations that suck and won't spend the money. I hope WXIX will carry the FOX HD this coming Fall, and have most of the bugs worked out(Weirdscreen for example).
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post #251 of 14222
12/31/03 at 6:10pm
Speaking of the lack of WXIX-HD's reliability, anyone notice that it is off the air again. It was working again the other day (since being out since some time around Christmas), seems to be dead again. Unless its just me?
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post #252 of 14222
12/31/03 at 7:03pm
Not just you. But make sure you write and call them. We have until it's to the point they recognize our voices. www.fox19.com. Look under "contacts" or go to the beginning of this thread for the phone numbers.

Doc
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post #253 of 14222
1/2/04 at 7:21am
JunkyardDogg, I've never seen HD on D* for comparison with TW, but I can tell you that I'm extremely pleased with the PQ on TW. This my first venture beyond 27" analog tv, so everything looks better to me in general.

Of the network stations, I would give CBS the nod for the best PQ when broadcasting in HD. And the digital version of FOX is not currently offered in the TW lineup.

Terry
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post #254 of 14222
1/2/04 at 11:13am
Speaking of CH 19...

Ever since they came back up from their extended downtime, my two rigs indicate they are transmitting with less power. My main setup with a CM4228/CM7777 on a 40' tower with rotor just barely gets enough signal to lock on my Samsung TS-160 receiver here in Huber Heights (just N of Dayton) and my unamplified RS U75 antenna (fixed at about 30' on my tower) attached to my Zenith HD520 shows a trace of signal, but not enough to lock, whereas it used to have plenty before their most recent problem.

Hope this isn't a permanant situation.

Greg
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post #255 of 14222
1/2/04 at 6:37pm
Hey guys,

I am hearing the audio on WCVN 54-4 cut out every 3 seconds or so.
All of the other channels sound fine.
Anybody else notice this?

Mike
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post #256 of 14222
1/2/04 at 8:24pm
Yes, I am experiencing the same thing on my new Zenith C34W37 HDTV so The trouble is not in your set, Please Standby
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post #257 of 14222
1/2/04 at 9:11pm
The Sat Receiver we use for KET4 is dying, (This makes two in three days) it will have to wait until Monday as we are on overtime restriction.. Sorry for the inconvenience.. but...not much I can do from here..

William
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post #258 of 14222
1/3/04 at 10:52am
Thread Starter 
Quote:


Originally posted by voyager6
Speaking of CH 19...

Ever since they came back up from their extended downtime, my two rigs indicate they are transmitting with less power.
Greg

Haven't noticed anything different from them here, hard to tell though .. From 32 miles North of their Tower(RS VU 210@ 38FT, Blonder Tongue Preamp) .. Normal "pegging the meter" readings on Both receivers here(Zenith HDV420, RCA DTC-100), and can still get them with antenna aimed as much as 90 degrees off target ... Of course, the meter tells me nothing about actual signal strength ...

Hard to say what's going on with them, I do know that WPTO-DT is going on Their Tower, last we heard they were planning on being on Air in Jan/Feb 04 (I've also heard a early spring 04 date mentioned) ...
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post #259 of 14222
1/3/04 at 11:14am
I can't really tell from here, either. My 2-yard-long yagi is aimed right at WXIX's tower. I was catching the exciter hiccups when they were off the air. Did find it interesting that, when the analog feed of the Cotton Bowl went black for a while, the digital was still going, although it looked terrible. First time, if only briefly, I can recall a picture and sound on a digital while the analog was silent. It's so often the other way around.

Doc
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post #260 of 14222
1/3/04 at 11:33am
My signal strenth meter shows it is in the normal range but its not as strong as WLWT-DT which at my location is the strongest which shows its in the good range.
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post #261 of 14222
1/3/04 at 8:13pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:


Originally posted by DrDon
My 2-yard-long yagi is aimed right at WXIX's tower.
Doc

Which reminds me .. another thing Greg might want to consider is that due to his location, 1st adjacent channel WRGT-DT 30 Dayton's Stick has to be very close to same heading as WXIX and the other Cincy Towers ... Any little thing that might have changed at either station might affect his reception of WXIX-
DT, given the selectivity that would be necessary for the receiver to pick out a weak signal right next to a strong one(our receiver's meters can show high readings even if a signal is fairly weak, and just a bit over threshold necessary for good reception(~16-20db of signal over noise)..

For instance, for over a month and a half earlier this summer(see the some of the spring/summer 2003 posts in the Dayton Thread for more info), WRGT-DT was going out of channel and affecting reception for some in the Dayton area of both WKRC-DT 31, and WXIX-DT ....
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post #262 of 14222
1/4/04 at 5:46am
Found it amusing that WDTN beat WCPO to the HD switch with the start of the first Wildcard game. Wasn't until the "HDTV brought to you by Sears" banner came on that WCPO made the switch. On my system, CPO had better sound - center and rear speakers were active. WDTN just came through the front stereo speakers.

What I did find interesting was how little time the flood watch bug spent on the screen. That baby was up for a while, then GONE for the rest of the night. Must be getting more calls than they used to. "Hey, what happened to the HDTV???" At least I'm hoping that's the case. (phone numbers at the top of the thread if you need them )

Doc
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post #263 of 14222
1/4/04 at 9:05am
I have been seeing a lot of unusual Tropo interference in the last week, but the problems receiving WXIX-DT have been pretty consistant.

Yesterday during the downpour, I got Ch 11 and 13 analog from Toledo while pointed directly at Columbus, preventing me from watching WSYX-DT. Ch 11, without CCI, was crystal clear for almost two hours. Very unusual for the middle of the day.

Greg
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post #264 of 14222
1/4/04 at 9:14am
I can confirm that WXIX-DT is currently operating at 25% power.

Doc
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post #265 of 14222
1/4/04 at 3:29pm
I'm assuming that WXIX-DT usually operates at higher than 25% power? I can't receive them anymore, either. I've always had to turn the antenna off-target to get a lock but even that doesn't help now.
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post #266 of 14222
1/4/04 at 3:57pm
They have a transmitter problem that's causing it to shut down when they try to ramp it up to their usual operating power. I didn't ask for specifics, but one could figure it might be an antenna problem. VSWR too high for some reason. Again, I'm speculating, but that's usually what causes us to have to run at low power.

Doc
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post #267 of 14222
1/4/04 at 4:27pm
Not sure if this thread is just for discussion on OTA HD or if it includes local HD cable issues as well, but I'll go ahead and post and let you all yell at me if I'm wrong. :-)

As of 1/1/04, Time Warner has good news and bad news and bad news for Cincinnatians who fancy HDTV. The good news is that HDNet and HDNet Movies are now available. The bad news is that they are premium offerings (extra $$) along with InHD1 and InHD2, which used to be part of the standard digital tier package. So now, if you want HD-exclusive programming beyond Discovery HD, you have to pay extra. The other bad news is that rates in general have gone up compared to 2003 nearly across the board, and considerably more than inflation.

Anyway, that's news from the cable HD front. Not all bad, but definitely not overly good.
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post #268 of 14222
1/4/04 at 4:39pm
Craig..
From what I can tell, that's pretty much becoming the norm. Insight does the same. 4 channels, 8 bucks, plus the HD converter rental. I think HD locals are not part of the surcharge package. And HBO and Showtime are included with their respective premium packages. It's not much different than DirecTV, which is where I'm getting my HD cable channels. For them, HDNet was free until September. Can't exactly blame them. They had to buy new gear to bring the HD channels. Sort of figure they'll want to recoup that expense SOMEwhere. I know cable modem service certainly didn't come free with my subscription, either.

Doc
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post #269 of 14222
1/4/04 at 4:47pm
I think what bugs me, Don, was not so much the charging for new additions to the line-up (I almost expect that by now), but the removal of _existing_ HD content from a tier that had included them AND the simultaneous increase in the price of that tier. So, I'm getting less content for more $$, yet I hear time and again how all the competition between cable and satellite is keeping prices down and innovation up. You gotta be kidding me.
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post #270 of 14222
1/4/04 at 5:02pm
Craig..
Oh, I hear ya. Would be better if they called it a "free preview" or something. What really happens is you become a beta tester. Once they see the viability of a service, things change. I still remember when stuff like CNN, A&E and other channels were part of basic cable. Now, they're EXPANDED basic. And it costs more. DirecTV used to have a Select Choice package. Now, it's all Total Choice. Although, TC with HD still comes out less than fifty a month.

Doc
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