South Bend, IN - HDTV - Page 120

"although the current program is a letterboxed SD program upconverted ... "postage stamp"

34.1
Yes, the non-kid programs which are rebroadcast in the afternoon and late evening are this way, no more hi-def on the hi-def channel except prime time or kid time.

Does the PBS net pay for these, or perhaps there's a discount?

There's nothing more mine boggling than seeing a shrunk 16:9 picture with letter boxes on all 4 sides on a hi def channel.

I assume it is a money issue, but considering the new studio and thousands on a 30 foot TV display over the bldg entrance, I'd think they could afford to broadcast hi def.

I guess I should be glad they are on the air at all. It cannot be easy.

Too bad we can't install a relay on the hill in new carlise to get WTTW's ch47 signal here. It may come to that...

I thought WSBT donated the equipment that they left when they donated their old facility to WNIT. I'm sure there had to have been some high definition equipment available to even broadcast an HD channel. I just wonder how much bandwidth is actually being set aside for 34.1 & to have some remaining for 34.2. I know WYCC in Chicago likes to downconvert Americas Test Kitchen's HD program to have letterboxing on that program. WYIN in Merrillville (licensed to Gary) also does the same thing with promos (only the broadcast equipment is HD, while in studio equipment is not) as well as New Scandanavian Cooking (they do it to another show as well, but don't remember which one).

I don't know if anyone can get WTTW in the South Bend area. At least for those who can pickup their signal, can also get WTTW Prime, Create, & for the Spanish speakers, V-Me. WTTW's subchannels are 4:3 channels, & sometimes on WTTW Prime, they forget to letterbox HD programs, & the sides get chopped off. WTTW 11 & WTTW Prime are programmed in-house, while Create & V-Me are satellite fed. I agree that WTTW is a great PBS station, & if you'relucky to get them, then you have additional choices besides the HD PBS that comes from the network itself, & what WNIT programs locally. I personally like WTTW Prime & Create the most from WTTW.

I live on the South end of South Bend... (Around Ireland Rd. & Michigan St.)
Is it feasible to put up a deep fringe antenna to pick up Chicago digital stations over the air? I've been told they're too far. Is there an expert who can confirm this?
Thanks
Maxdout38

According to TV Fool for the intersection you mentioned, it is possible, but won't be easy to get. Do you have a tower to place this antenna on, or have a very high roof? If no to either, it not even be worth trying. Even for stations you could get, WCIU won't be possible since WCWW is also on RF 27. WYCC would be nearly impossible due to most of the signal being aimed SW of Chicago. Even WYIN can't easily be picked up, due to their signal being directional toward Chicago. They have their null toward South Bend to protect WNDU's former analog signal on RF 16, & WYIN never requested to remove that null, or their null toward Lafayette, which protected WLFI's former analog signal.

Just remember if you do decide to put up a deep fringe antenna, make sure no pre-amp is on if you decide to use that antenna for South Bend stations as well. You're way too close to the towers, & a pre-amp would overload them. I'd recommend a separate UHF antenna just for the South bend stations, & if you get a deep fringe antenna, make sure it has Hi-VHF on it (WBBM-TV on RF 12 will soon be the only full power VHF in Chicago), or if you wanna try & get WGVK Kalamazoo, then one that is also made for Lo-VHF, since WGVK is on RF 5.

I just watched this weeks Human Target on Fox 28 and I gotta say I was blown away (no pun intended) by the soundtrack and sound effects on this show. Human Target's soundtrack was always fantastic. (Bear McCreary is awesome!) However the sound effects really stood out in this episode. I'm not sure what changed. Granted this is the first episode I've seen of season 2 and maybe the other episodes sound as good. I can tell you if you want to show off your surround sound system, the latest episode would be a good one to show it off.

Ok, I stand corrected. What I watched was last weeks episode of Human Target. There's still an episode on tonight. I can't wait, I love this show!

I discovered something odd with 28's audio. When I watched Monday's Human Target the stereo audio is perfect. Of course that episode broadcast with Dolby digital in tact. However tonight's episode dropped down to stereo as 28 broadcast it's crawl. The problem is when I put my headphones on the stereo channels were reversed. I'm re-watching Monday's episode with my headphones and the stereo playback sounds correct.

Has anyone else noticed reversed stereo tracks on 28 when they aren't broadcasting 5.1?

Please see my email to DISH Tech Support:

I really don't think anyone understands this issue:

Here is My questions:

I have 2 issues.

1. We receive in South Bend 25.2 THIS Michiana (OTA). I was told the electronic programming guide was available for this channel. In my guide of the VIP622 it is showing 25.1 programming (Not the correct programming).

2. We recently received an SD version of channel 69 (WMYS) here is South Bend. I am receiving the guide on this channel, but on my 69.1 (OTA same Channel) I receive NO programming information.

I've inquired about these issues by phone, but seem to get nowhere.

Can we get these issues resolved?

Thank you from a loyal DISH customer.

Here is DISH's answer:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

The steps outlined below should resolve the issue.

1.) Check that the wiring between your DISH receiver and your over-the-air antenna is configured properly using tech.dishnetwork.com.

2.) Unplug the DISH receiver for 10 seconds and plug back in. It may take up to 5 minutes for the reset process to be completed.

3.) Rescan Over-the-Air Channels to Receiver Access "Local Channels" select "Scan Locals" then "Save".

4.) Contact your local broadcast station or check antennaweb.org. We are a satellite TV provider and have no control over availability/quality of over-the-air broadcasts.

Please visit dishnetwork.com/chat to start a live chat for additional assistance. If chat is unavailable due to high volume please call 1-800-894-9131.

Thank you for your email.

Sincerely,

Debbie 3KK

Where do I go from here? There was a technician as my house on Saturday who put up a new dish that points to the eastern arc. (I now only need (1) Dish).

Anyone have any suggestions?

Maxdout38

While we are talking about DISH-TV I have a question. Does the 722 receiver receive all locals if you have a UHF antenna hooked up to it and can you use the 722 to record those channels that are directly off the air?
Jim

What is the deal with the transmission on 57.1?

Equipment gone wild!!!

I thought I'd hit up Wikipedia to see what's going on with channel 18 here in Elkhart. Looks like it's going to raise from the dead and occupy ch 16's old home. :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WEID-LP

Hmmm I may have overlooked that. Oh well!

Titan TV’s listings and the PSIP guide info for 25.2 appear to be on Pacific Time.

25.2's Titan and PSIP EPG are back to Pacific Time again.

25.2’s Titan and PSIP EPGs are back to Pacific Time once again.

So much for watching the Oscars. WBND 57 just croaked on me.

I just did a signal scan on channel 57 from within Windows Media Center. the signal is definitely in the dumps. I see two red bars which is typical for just about dead.

It never skipped a beat here.

Are you watching over cable or broadcast?

It's working on both OTA & Directv.

Now I'm worried. I just hooked the outdoor directly to the tv and it's playing perfect. This is really odd since the red carpet show was near perfect. Then things started degrading during the first half hour of the Oscars for me.. I decided to reboot my computer and couldn't get channel 57 since.. I'll try re-running channel setup in Mediacenter and see what happens.

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Can coax cables go bad? All I did was replace the coax cable between the wall and the splitter and my signal strength returned to normal. It just seems odd that it just suddenly seemed to die just as the Oscars just got started. Weird! Just would like to add, yes the old coax cable was screwed on tight on both ends. I was starting to feel discouraged because I did find when I disconnected the outdoor antenna from my radio my signal would come back. I just thought it wouldn't hurt to try swapping out the cable between the wall and the splitter. Well anyway I'm happy. I would have been pretty upset if I couldn't record V on Tuesday, especially since someone somewhere in the network thought it was a great idea to not allow V to be watchable online.

Speaking of ABC57, Uverse has horrible problems with it. First off, the black levels (and possibly white levels as well) are way off, plus when listening through HDMI or optical out, the audio drops for a split second all the time, like several times per minute. I haven't really noticed the these problems on any other channel. I almost want to switch to OTA for ABC57 but I prefer to skip commercials.

This is probably coincidence but I discovered after replacing that coax cable that 95.3 WTRC FM MNC is now broadcasting the HD Radio format. I wonder if this just started, or if that cable was causing the signal to degrade enough to prevent HD Radio from working. This didn't prevent 88.1 WVPE's HD Radio broadcast from working, but I think that station is closer anyway. Before WAOR changed stations, WAOR was broadcasting HD Radio on 95.3. I wonder if this was working all along, or did they just throw the switch on this?

Being addressed.

69.1's PSIP EPG has reverted to a pre-October program schedule with generic program descriptions for programs that are no longer on. It had been perfect for weeks and seemed to be using the Titan schedule and descriptions.

25.2's Titan and PSIP EPGs are back to UTC -05:00 today.

69.1's PSIP EPG is back to the pre-October schedule again. 25.2/Titan have been OK since Sunday.