Grand Rapids, MI - HDTV - Page 256

I do not know what the problem is, I can still pickup their signal in Kazoo, but it is half the strength it was before the storms...

UMatter2Charter, I have a question,

My in-laws have Charter Cable in Holland, MI. I'm looking to buy them a used Tivo, as their current DVR's guide service (ReplayTV) will be going offline shortly.

Currently, unlike Comcast, Charter is still supporting analog cable, making it possible to easily use a Series 1 or Series 2 Tivo. However, I don't want to buy an analog-only unit if Charter is going to be switching to digital-only soon.

Can you let me know what Charter's plans are for supporting their current analog infrastructure, or if there is an intended timeline to switch to a digital infrastructure?

Thanks for your help.

Good afternoon.

Thank you for question. Currently we don't have an end of life time line for our analog support of video service. Holland is listed as a switched digital video market, so please keep that in mind when deciding which direction to proceed as the use of any cable card device will require a tuning adapter.

Do you have any other questions for us today?

Thank you,
Steve
http://www.charter.com/Umatter2Charter

That tells me exactly what I need to know. Thank you for your time and information.

Glad to hear it! If you ever need any help feel free to PM us anytime.

Thanks again,
Aby

Yesterday, the hot tropo was bringing your stations across Lake Michigan with gusto. Especially suprising were the WXMI and WXPS low-powers on 15 and 17; I'm about 150 miles from each, so it was quite a catch.
A question for Western Michigan OTAers: how strong are these two? Do they have enough steam to cover the whole Grand Rapids/Kalamazoo market area?

Yesterday’s afternoon and evening coverage of the mass murder and manhunt for the killer makes one appreciate a television with picture in picture. Kudos to the local GR news coverage departments, they all did a terrific job sorting out the chaos and reporting what was going on!

I thought they all went overboard. There wasn't any reason to stick with the events for 7+ hours, especially during prime time when nothing was really happening. Give periodic updates when something actually happens. I didn't need to know or care that the guy asked for Gatorade and matches. Just my opinion though.

On something that is undoubtedly the biggest news event that this area has ever covered, there wasn't any way that they were not going to report on this cover to cover.

I am of the generation that wishes to be informed when bellicose people are running loose killing and maiming indiscriminately.

Luckily this kind of thing is a rare event and won't happen again hopefully!

Is anybody else on Comcast noticed a new menu system? The menu button brings up selections like page up, page down, music... which I've never seen before. My "My DVR" button takes me directly to My Recordings and I cannot go back to see the upcoming recordings or DVR history.

Another night of Western Michigan TV for me here in Northern Illinois...WGVU, WZZM, WOTV, WTLJ, WXSP, WXMI, and even WWTV and WCMU from up north. They weren't just scanning in, they were 100& solid for quite a while. I can't believe those low-powers on 15 & 17 coming across the lake so strong- and I'm 30 miles inland.
Did any of you folks see Milwaukee or Chicago last night?

I've gotten some Indiana stations and some Wisconsin stations before but no Illinois stations.

I will have to monkey around with it, see what I get.

Nothing here.

When I had it a few months ago, the CW wasn't on there.

I just built a new system back in Feb. The old system (Win XP) is sitting in the basement. I would like to hook it up to my TV. My only question is, for those who do this, do you use a special mouse or pointer. It seems to me, using logic, that a regular cordless mouse would not work as your lap is probably not a good surface for it to roll on.

Thanks ahead for suggestions.

Dominic

IIRC, there's a Logitech app for the iPhone/iPod that allows you to control a computer's keyboard and mouse. There's an app called Gmote for Android for the mouse and (it appears) WiFi Keyboard for the keyboard (if you set up bookmarks and other things correctly, you rarely need a keyboard). Each of these require installing an application on your computer, but work pretty well if you have one of these devices.

Something playing havoc with channel 3's OTA signal this evening, can't even watch Ferguson...

Charter offering more HD channels:

On September 13, 2011 we will be launching 22 more HD channels! These channels are BET, Cartoon Network, EPIX, ESPNU, Oxygen, TCM, Disney XD, HLN, TruTV, E!, CNBC, MSNBC, Lifetime Movies, CMT, VH-1, Biography, Fox Business Network, FOX Sports Detroit-PLUS, OWN, Cooking, Style and Investigation Discovery.

That must be why the HD channels have all dropped in bitrates by about 25% or more.

Wow-- I didn't realize they dropped that much! I've noticed channels coming up with a "Lost Signal" on my MediaCenter/CableCARD tuner over the last couple days & just assumed it was me.

I am glad to see all the HD channels though. Charter has by-far the largest selection of HD channels in this area & I'm very happy with my MediaCenter CableCARD setup.

Now if they'll just get that fiber-feed to WWMT sending me the CW in HD, I'll be REALLY happy.

There is not enough room in an ATSC stream for two 1080i services. Charter presently gets an ATSC ASI stream via fiber now. The CW is unfortunately in SD.

Our market is stuck with forever a CW in SD I guess...

We have a station doing two 720p in one, and they both look like ass.

In Chicago, WLS-TV & WYIN are both doing dual 720p HD, & I agree with you on that one. WLS-TV 7.1 looks alright, but Livewell Network on 7.2 looks horrible. They also have an SD simulcast of Livewell on 7.3. WYIN currently simulcasts 56.1 on 56.2 & 56.4, & 56.1 & 56.2 are 720p HD, while 56.3 & 56.4 are 480i widescreen. All of 56.1 - 56.4 look like crap, due to low bitrates for the HD channels. It would look even worse if 56.2 were showing something else other than a simulcast. They experimented having the main PBS feed on 56.3 & 56.4, & the whole channel suffered. They want to add a third 720p HD channel once the ATSC standard improves enough to allow it. Just be glad one of the stations in the Grand Rapids market isn't trying dual HD like Granite Broadcasting is doing with WISE-TV in Fort Wayne. Since they're taking the Fox affiliate from WFFT, WISE-TV is placing Fox on 33.2, & it'll be 720p HD, along with 33.1 (NBC) being 1080i HD. Even with their CODEC's being upgraded, I can't see dual HD like that looking good (not doing WLS-TV & WYIN in the Chicago market any good with dual 720p HD). I wouldn't worry about CW being in HD. It's only 2 hours a day Monday - Friday. CW refused to let WXSP-CD affiliate with CW, because they would pre-empt CW programming too much with the sportscasts they have. Otherwise, you'd have CW in HD in your market, instead of your market being the only top 50 market having it on a subchannel in SD. Too bad they couldn't have at least made the channel widescreen, which is possible for 480i resolution.

Not enough room for two proper 720p streams either. What you usually see is a 720p with 2 or 3 low bitrate subs.