Cincinnati, OH - HDTV - Page 2

One of my co-workers is reporting that, as predicted, Insight Cable of Northern KY has added to their HD roster beginning this month. He can confirm KET, CET, WCPO-DT and BravoHD. He says some other channel positions have shown up on his STB and that he thinks that's where ESPN-HD is going to turn up, but it's not there, yet. Since I'm on D* for my HD and not Insight (right now, anyway), I can't give you any more than that.

Doc

That's good to hear. I have a friend who I inducted into home theater that has a nice 42" HD set and has never seen HD in his home!!!!!

It's all in the budget really, I've even considered taking my DTC-100 over his house but he doesn't have a VGA or RGBHV input and without those or the RCA or Audio Authority transcoder we're SOL.

So I told him about TWC here in Cincy and the HD offerings they have. I had him check with Insight and at the time he checked they didn't have HD to offer. I'll have to let him know.

I guess it should be time to upgrade antennas. I actually have the mounting already on my roof from the previous owner and the copper ground wire is already run from the mount. I really only use the DTC-100 for comparison. I actually watch all of my HD through TW, it's more convenient and with my rabbit ears I get frequent dropouts. I guess after my lil review, I should opt more for the DTC because it offers a better picture overall.

I think if I did upgrade to a roof mount, I'd get just about everything offered in the Cincy area. I'm in Springdale, near Tri-County mall and I have a nice clearing pretty much all around.

Anybody here doing 720p front projection?

Troy

Troy..
You might get Cincy AND Dayton. If I can do it from my attic in N. Ky, Springdale ought to be a piece of a cake.. if you're not in a valley.

Doc

Troy,

Since when is TWC using a Pioneer box ? What's the model number on the box ? I'm still using a Scientific Atlanta 3100HD. I was hoping that TWC would eventually upgrade to the Pace DC-550 because it is worlds ahead of the Scientific Atlanta piece of junk.

-MarcW

For a while now. It's a Pioneer Voyager 3510HD (TWC in LA says it's a Voyager 3500HD for some reason). Folks have been having problems hooking up the 3510's DVI port out to some HD sets, including Samsung DLP sets -- see this thread for more info: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=279674

Thanks Craig.

I picked up a Pioneer box over the weekend. The picture seems to be a tad on the dark side but so far this box has been much better than the 3100. No more audio breakups, ratio control and the ability to use the guide on HD channels. I'm happy for now =)

-MarcW

Insight cable update: WCPO-DT has disappeared from the lineup. My subscribing co-worker called and they told him there was a bugaboo with the carriage contract. So, still no MNF in HD for northern KY for the moment (except, of course, for those of us with ATSC receivers .

Doc

Tell me it ain't so! WLWT-DT has another sub with radar.

Paul

Oh, NO. There goes the only "pure" HDTV signal in town. On the plus side, they don't HAVE any HD sports for it to ruin.

Doc

Say, maybe this is just so there'll be a radar feed to Tall Stacks. I'll see what I can find out unless someone beats me to it.

INSIGHT LINE-UP ON THE HD CONVERTER BOX

012 - C-SPAN (why is this here?)
750 - HBO HD
751 - Showtime HD
760 - WKRC (CBS)
761 - WLWT (NBC)
762 - WCPO (ABC)
763 - *
764 - KET1
765 - KET2
766 - KET3
767 - KET4 (Annenburg)
768 - CET
769 - CET (HD) (only on occasionally)
770 - CET (PBS kids)
771 - CET (PBS you)
772 - CET Plus
774 - Bravo HD+
775 - ESPN HD
776 - Discovery HD Theater
777 - HD Net
778 - HD Net Movies

COST
Currrent subscribers can get all this (except HBO and Showtime) for an additional $17.90 per month [UPDATE]: digital box ($7.95), HD box ($2.00) and HD Pack (channels 774-778 for $7.95). To get the HBO HD and ShowtimeHD version you need to subscribe to the respective non-HD channel packs at ~$10 each (and pay for the digital box). Insight claims that you only get Bravo HD if you have the normal Bravo channel, but the HD channel comes through regardless.

If you are not a subscriber, basic service is 26 channels at $13.50 + taxes. I subscribe to their classic service (69 channels at $39/mo. + taxes). Taxes are ~$3.

Don't forget the one-time HD installation fee ~$40.

CONVERTER BOXES
They make you take the digital box ($7.95/mo.), but all it gives you is the channel guide, digital music channels 500-534 and their interactive services. The digital box has nothing to do with HD. The incoming cable signal gets split to each box (digital and HD), and each has its separate output to your TV. They refuse to let you have just the HD box ($2.00), citing that their plan is to go to a unified box that will cost $9.95, so you have to take and pay for both boxes [UPDATE].

CABLE AMP
If your signal is split too many times, you may need a cable amp. Insight uses the Electroline models because they can also send a return signal needed for HD. They charge $40 + installation fee. I bought an Electroline EDA 2400 (4 outputs) on ebay and installed it myself.

Jeff/Nightwatchman,

If you want a consolidated HD schedule, you should definitely check out Excite

It is customizable to your ZIP code and they have added many of the HD channels added to Insight. See the screenshot below. I have Excite as my home page, and I also get news, favorite sports teams, local weather, TV listings, and a list of my upcoming favorite TV shows (they are the ones colored red, and there is an episode synopsis at the top of my page). It's awesome!!!! By the way, I did not ask Excite to display all the available HD channels (too many public TV subs). I had to use a pretty small Internet Explorer window because the forum only allows a 600x600 image (if it shows up at all - I can't see it in preview).

I just blogged about this the other day.

http://www.gearbits.com/archives/000261.html

I've found HDTV Galaxy to be pretty accurate.

All..
For what it's worth, I've heard through the 'vine that the HD-One movies on WKRC-DT may be moving to Saturdays. With so much more HD programming on CBS on Friday nights this year than last, I can see that. If they follow the usual schedule, that would make November 8th the next HD One movie.

Doc

WXIX-DT is back up as of 5:10pm 10/15 (that's when I checked. They came up sometime within the last hour) ...although the sound went away during the 5:12 break.

I lost channel 19 (DT-29) over the weekend or early in the week I can't remember but I was wondering is the station NOT broadcasting as I pickup other Cincinnati stations with NO problems?

Thanks for you reply
John

I'm bumping this back on top so I can get an answer from my fellow Cincy HD users!

Is there a problem with channel 19 (DT)? I can no longer receive any signal whatsoever from this station. Are they off air or do I have a problem?

Thanks,
John

Jon..

Sorry, I didn't get the usual e-mail when someone tacks a message onto this thread. But I got your second one.

WXIX reports "problems" with the digital transmitter and they expect to have repairs made by sometime on Friday. It ran for a while, yesterday, and is up, again, right now (although stretched). It only came up a few minutes ago.

Doc

It's up, then down, then up.. and I'm seeing a lot of what I take to be "exciter only" operation or just really low power, too.

Doc

I would think if Jon were reading the rest of the thread, he'd see all the talk about WXIX-DT being down for several days. Even the post prior to his question addressed it.

Probably bought a rebuilt

Thanks for everyone's support!

Paul210....I did read the thread and I did notice DrDon's comment that WXIX was 'UP' but I do NOT see a signal on my rigg so that is why I asked again.

Thanks to the rest of the AVS members for their great support as usual!

John

Jeff..

Channel 5 is letting visitors to their booth "try out" doing the weather in front of a green screen. The video? The radar. Explains the subchannel. That's how they're getting it to the booth. Here's hoping it goes away when the boats do.

Doc