Fresno, CA - HDTV - Page 2

While there is a forum, I think George is hoping it has more people. There are apparently quite a few Fresno people here, but I cannot find all of them.

Here is the reply from George at KSEE-24 as to the status their HD content:

"Adam, we received the replacement board for our transmitter vendor to day and it is being installed as I write. You should be watching in HD tonight."

This guy is VERY responsive. Must-See-TV is back! :-)

Adam

KSEE-DT is back up right now, as of 5:30 pm. They have consistently been very good about fixing outages quickly, and I've never seen them miss a switchover. In addition, when they have encoder problems which often can mimic equipment problems at our end, they shut down until it's fixed rather than leave up a bad signal.

BTW, anything new regarding KGPE (47.1) getting HD-capable? I really wanna see CSI in HD!!

Steve, you and me both. CSI is one of the MAJOR shows I want to see in HD. I even bought a super big antenna for my house trying to get Bakersfield but no luck.

Fresno HD Fans,

Did KGPE CBS come up today in HD OTA? I started hearing local CBS HD ads on ClearChannel radio stations today.. I was listening to Smooth Jazz 96.7 at around 9:30AM this morning. It said something like "Check out CBS's all new high definition digital broadcast!" I didn't see any posts here, so I wonder if it was just my flu medicine and me dreaming half awake in the shower.

If I'm smoking crack - did anyone hear the radio spot on there way to the office this morning?

-Pat

Pat,

I heard the radio commercial also. I thought they only mentioned digital, not HD.

I know they are trying to have HD ready before the Superbowl.

Tonight's broadcast is still 720x480i, at least for Becker.

I've heard the radio ads for KGPE many times. They start out touting whatever network shows are on that night and then go on to state that KGPE has new broadcast facilities for a clearer picture, including a "state of the art" digital transmitter. They do not mention High Definition in the ads, only make the claim of having "state of the art digital transmitter".

Their transmitter may indeed be state of the art, but apparently they don't have the equipment necessary to receive and pass on the CBS High-Definition broadcasts yet. The previous owners let things slide for years, the analog transmitter needed lots of work along with getting digital up so I don't think they had the budget right away to pass HD. The additional expense to enable a station to receive the HD and pass it along is very substantial, which is why I don't expect to see WB or UPN programming in HD before hell freezes over, though both are up with SD digital signals.

It was just my flu medicine then. I've emailed Mike Synder a bunch of times this year to get an update.. He's always been really responsive. I'm aware that their CBS upstream passthough is still in SD and they are getting that gear online now. Sorry to get everyone rattled up.

How about the Comcast HD PVR? Anyone going to pick one up at launch on Dec 14th? Or are we just going to watch all the repeats of the grass channel, I mean INHD...?

Pat

Hey fellas, I'm the new guy here. I'm up in Merced and my wife bought me a HDTV for Christmas, and my goal is to watch the SuperBowl in HD. Is our CBS affiliate broadcasting (Superbowl is CBS yes?) in HD? Can I pick it up OTA in Merced? Tips? Hints? Suggestions..?

Thanks Fellas,

Brian

Brian,

Depends on which CBS affilliate you're watching and how you're receiving it.
KGPE-DT Fresno is not currently capable of passing the HD signal from CBS, and is not carried by Comcast cable.

According to the station engineer at KGPE, the HD equipment is on order so it may be online by the time the Superbowl comes around. If this occurs you should be able to receive it with a decent ota HD tuner if your new set does not have one built in. Merced is about 45 miles from the transmitter so a good roof antenna will probably be a must.

CBS owned and operated stations that are broadcasting HD are not carried by comcast in their areas due to contractual problems between CBS and Comcast. This is why CBS HD channels are not available on Comcast in many larger markets. This does not apply to CBS affilliates that are not owned by CBS. KGPE is owned by Clear Channel Communications, not CBS, so may show up on Comcast.

KSEE-DT, the Fresno NBC affilliate was broadcasting in HD for several months before it showed up on Comcast here in Fresno, so even though KGPE is not CBS owned it may be delayed on Comcast anyway.

If your new set has an atsc (digital tv standard) tuner built in, get a good antenna and hook it up. If it has no built in digital tuner, get a good OTA only or OTA+DirecTV or Dish HD box. Check the HDTV tuner synopsis in the HDTV Hardware Forum and Antennaweb.org for info on tuners and antennas. From Merced you should already be able to receive NBC on KSEE-DT and ABC on KFSN-DT in HD. Getting a box that's also satellite capable will get you an additional 7 or so HD channels on Dish or DirecTV, and there's a new system called Voom that promises 39HD channels by next February but is so far pretty flaky at getting local ota HD channels.

Rodney & Stickyfingers,

The equipment we need for HD is starting to dribble in. When I have a firm date for launch that I can share, I will. In the meantime, I am working on it.

Mike Snyder
Chief Engineer
KGPE-TV/DT

Welcome to AVS Mike, we're glad to have you!

BTW...if there's any Comcast employees in the Valley floating around here, I'd *love* to find out when Comcast will be offering HD in Merced.

Cheers All...

Brian

Welcome to AVS to our new Fresno HD viewers (and engineers). Lots of good updates this week - hopefully this means some good HD for all our local viewers getting HD sets for Christmas.

I'll save you all some bandwidth and keep this one short - I just wanted to say Happy Holidays to all the Fresno AVS readers.

Pat

I don't suppose any of you know what OTA reception might be in Yosemite Lakes Park? Recommended antenna? I've been to the antennaweb.org site and have their opinion. Any actual experience with reception?

I don't have an OTA antenna (yet) but most folks here in the locals section are recommending one level above whatever antennaweb says...

Brian

Hi Everyone,

I may be repeating myself since I'm still learning how the forum works. If you already know, forgive the rerun.

We're aiming to have the HDTV feed up by Jan. 1st. We're scrambling to get everything installed. Progress is good so far. We'll need to do part of it overnight next week. But I think we'll make it. I wanted to let everyone know. And also, thanks for your patience! Should there be a problem, I'll post that here. Things are looking good so far, though.

Comcast is going to add our HD signal to their digital tier. I don't know what channel number they're going to assign to it. If anybody on the forum is from Comcast and knows, you might share that with us.

Thanks,

Mike Snyder
Chief Engineer
KGPE-TV 47/KGPE-DT 34

If anyone from Comcast stumbles by here, I'd appreciate any information as to when HD will be available in Merced. We received a postcard in the mail this week indicating that both HD and HSI will be available "shortly." Most folks here are Fresnans - so I'll squeak the wheel for your pals up North.

Thanks again for contributing Mike!

Brian

Hi Everyone,

I'm fighting a last minute glitch with the HD equipment. Everything is in place, but I'm dealing with a configuration problem. If we can't get it going today, we're going to regroup on Monday.

Thanks for your patience and encouragement. Like I tell my staff, there are three things that make electronics easy; unfortunately nobody knows what they are.

Happy New Year in any case.


Mike

Mike,

Great news. Thanks for all of the hard work.

David

We talked with them last week, but haven't heard anything since. They'll be getting a feed straight out of my HD encoder so it should look great when it happens. I'm waiting for them at this point.

I'll send a note out when we're operational with the on-air portion.

I noticed KGPE-DT is in an HD scanrate right now (5pm, 12/31/13) with gray bars on the side of the upconverted 4/3, so part of the job is apparently working. I like the gray bars for the sides of upconverts for burn in protection, though everyone else is using black.

Mike, thanks so much for keeping us posted. If it takes till next week or even longer I'm okay with that now that I know it's definitely coming.

Hope you and your hard working staff have a safe and happy new year!!!

The feed switched from framed 4:3 SD to full 16:9 HD at 9:00pm for The King of Queens but the sound disappeared at that point.

The sound on KSEE-DT went off after Leno on New Year's eve. This morning KSEE-DT was off the air.

How was the PQ on KGPE in HD?