Orlando, FL - BHN - Page 5

Is anyone having problems with the PSIP data on WRBW (UPN 65) today? I just activated my HR10-250 (HDTV Tivo) and get the "searching for signal on antenna in" when I tune to 65-1. Program data is in the guide for 65-1. I get a picture on 41-1, but there is no guide data there.

I am so jealous! I am waiting to see what Brighthouse has to offer for an HD PVR before sinking the $$ into the HD DirecTivo.

How do you like it?

ebockelman - This is the way is has been for as long as I can remember. Apparently WRBW can't (or won't) change their PSIP data stream to end back up on 65, and DTV can't (or won't) change the guide. Just the way it is I'm afraid. Maybe someday when more folks have Digital they will be bothered to fix it

INHD blackout on BHN.
Greg - can you explain the blackout rules? Is it established by BHN or by FSN?

I am not that surprised that the inhd game tonight was blacked out, but considering that you don't carry FSN that carried the game I am wondering why it was blacked out - or is it because of proximity to arena and not because of other tv carriers??

Thanks!

Just thought I would share an anecdote. I was at a customer's house that has Adelphia digital cable. As I was flipping though the digital channels I notice a logo from the past on one of the channels, TechTV. The channel was right, but it still has the ZDTV logo, for those of you who don't know, was the name of the channel over three years ago!!! How sad is it that- Adelphia can't even keep the channel logos up to date!

Greg, it would have been great if you and Sunshine did some of the Tampa playoff games in HD. Seems you all missed a good chance to promote HD

Mike

Greg,

On April 2 Greg said
"The mandate says we have to provide a 1394-capable box to any customer who requests on. I posted in an earlier thread that we would be deploying a version of the S/A 3250 to meet this requirement."

Do you have an update on when this box will be available?

MHdiab,

Blackout rules are definitely not established by us. Unlike the rest of our business, I don't necessarily understand them either.

But I asked our guy in charge of that type of programming and here is the reponse I received:

"It all depends on various scenarios. The NBA, NHL, MLB, etc. decide what games get blacked out by regions. Here is an example, when the Tampa Bay Lighting plays at home, ESPN can not show the game because Sunshine has the rights to show it in the surrounding territory of the Tampa Bay Lighting. Same applies for the Orlando Magic.

As far as Baseball, Soccer etc. it depends on which channel (ESPN, Sunshine or others) have the rights to that particular team. "

I still not sure I understand. I would also add that the NFL imposes local blackouts when the game isn't sold out.


Mike,

This is really a question for Sunshine. But I would imagine it has something to do with availability of the equipment to do HD. At one point, there were only 3 HD production trucks criss-crossing the county covering various games. I'm sure there's more now, but without knowing which teams would be playing where, in which regional, it would be a nightmare to schedule. BHN can't distribute what Sunshine doesn't shoot...

waters,

I've still got you on my list. I'll send you a PM to discuss.

My audio is still out on my Samsung TS160 for 9-1.

Anyone else?

Audio is fine on my Panny Tu-HDS20. No HD though. I assume that ABC isn't broadcasting the NBA playoffs in HD yet?

Just checked on my Zenith SAT520 - sound both out of the analog audio and optical (DD 5.1 according to my pre-amp).

Thanks Greg - yeah I know everyone has different blackout rules, and to me really the NFL has the best and most understandable rules - no sell-out = blackout as stated but also soldout Friday prior - hey give it to the fans make more money etc

Annoying that a game that we can't get through the regular channel is blacked-out - guess that is how they want to push BHN to pick up their channel

Thanks for the reply

Thanks Greg, the games Sunshine did in the regular season were great in HD.

Mike

Thanks Greg, the games Sunshine did in the regular season were great in HD.

Mike

I just called BH and asked about the Pace HD box. They said it is not yet available. Is this true or am I just speaking with the wrong people? Thanks in advance.

The Pace box isn't available on-demand yet. Some BHN customers have them now but they fall into two groups:

1. People randomly selected to receive the box as part of field testing (my in-laws are in this category)

2. Customers who say their HDTV has a DVI input apparently stand a good chance of getting one if they are persistent and if they talk to a CSR who knows about this. If you call and ask for a Pace box they will likely ask you if your TV has a DVI input. If you say no they will tell you that as of now the boxes are reserved for those customers.

In my pursuit of knowledge on this issue I got several different and conflicting answers from different CSRs and was totally frustrated until Greg answered my post on this board and gave me the straight scoop.

BV

Greg - I know its a little off topic for this thread but I don't know where else to go at this point.

I recently purchased a pronto remote control so my wife and kids could watch TV and DVD's and such without having to figure out what inputs for the TV and for the reciever etc...

My problem is that I can't find the discrete on/off codes for our Pace 550 box. I contacted Pace and they said that it uses the Scientific Atlanta's code set... I can't find them for them either. These codes are treated like national secrets.... it shouldn't be this hard...

Thanks

The codes used on the Pace box are the same as all of BHN's boxes, and assumably the same as all boxes running Pioneer Passport. There may not be discrete codes, that would be a good question. My solution is very simple. Don't include the cable box in your power on or power off macros. Just leave it on all the time. That's what I do for all of my customers and it seems to work fine.

My Samsung TS160 picked up the 9-1 DD 5.1 audio again about 4 or 5 days ago. Also 27-1 came back. You might try a new scan for digital channels to see if helps.

There are no discrete "on/off" codes for the Pace, or any other Scientific Atlanta box. We've actually had this discussion with them based on requests from custom integrators like Peter. We're just not there yet.

Leaving it on all the time works pretty well, except when the power goes out (never happens around here). I don't know a perfect solution.


a4bob,

You didn't say where you're located. That makes a big difference.

Greg

I saw on the front page of RogerSimmons.com this quote "At the NAB convention in Las Vegas, Euphonix announced it has sold two Euphonix Max Air digital audio consoles to WOFL-Fox 35. A 24 Fader Max Air will be installed in the station's new control room this month and a 16 Fader will be installed in WOFL's existing control room in June. (I really don't know what that means, but it sure sounds important, huh?) ... And we're told the WOFL folks are moving into their ritzy new newsroom this week."

These two consoles can handle Dolby Digital 5.1, this may be a sign that WOFL may be changing in the near future from 1080i to 720p.

This may also be why WRBW is not throwing the switch for UPN HD feeds as well at the present time because of the control room changeover.

Also I did a short comparison on what other Fox affiliates in Central Florida region do for DTV transmission:

WTVT-DT 12 recently changed it's broadcast output from 480p to 720p
WFLX-DT 28 in WPB broadcasts in 1080i like WOFL
WOGX-DT 31 in Ocala broadcasts in 480i (this is what WOFL started out
with when they first transmitted a digital signal back in 2000)


Also note that the subchannel of WRBW-DT now airs absolutely nothing instead of a simulcast of the main channel. And both the main channel and subchannel both read output as 1080i (even though the second one has nothing on it now).

Pete is correct. There are NO discrete codes for the Scientific Atlanta/Pioneer boxes. Just leave the box in the 'ON' state, and include a power button on the cable TV page in case it gets out of sequence.

If it's important, you can always get a voltage sensor but that's more money and not really worth it.

Regards,

Fred Forlano

Got the Pace Box yesterday -- I throw out a few questions --

A) I have a "cable" connection for Digital Audio out -- the pace box offers an optical output which my AMP will handle fine -- is there a difference in the quality of the connection??

B) Was there a problem last night with sound on NYPD Blue on the HDTV side -- ?? Just my luck -- I get a new box and am now wondering if it was the network, the feed and/or the new box. I got HBO SHO fine but some of the network HDTV channels were low and/or missing. Had a few "adult beverages" out last night so I did not trouble shoot it then -- but am fixing to do battle now if I was the only one with the problem.

To answer your questions:

A) The 'cable' connection you are looking at is called a COAX digital cable out or SPDI/F connection. Most Dolby Digital receivers have at least one of these connections on it. As for quality, the industry will argue this one until they are blue in the face, but technically, yes, the COAX connection is better, allowing more data IF YOU USE A HIGHER QUALITY CABLE to connect your box to your receiver. Will you HEAR a difference? Not likely unless you have a SERIOUS amount of money tied up in your system.

B) I can't speak for the sound loss during NYPD Blue, but most audio dropout problems are caused by bad data being sent to the box. Usually, changing the channel will fix the trick, and sometimes, the box requires a reset.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Fred Forlano

I don't know about "allowing more data IF YOU USE A HIGHER QUALITY CABLE" SPDI/F is digital, so either its there or its not. If you buy "high quality" digital audio cables expecting that you will "hear more" or it will "sound better" you are going to be disappointed. Either the data gets to the receiver and it is decoded, or it does not and you hear nothing. There is no in-between. Get the cheapest good quality RCA cables you can find and it will work great, don't spend your money on those pricey optical cables or fall for the marketing that digital coaxial (RCA) cables are better than the analog ones. Just don't tell my customers that.

Perhaps I should have clarified my "HIGHER QUALITY CABLE" quote. I was referring to using something other then the el-cheapo RCA cables you get in a box when you buy a VCR. Data transfer errors are what I'm referring to when it comes to lower quality cables. Yes, Digital is Digital, but you can suffer some loss of data if you use a cheap cable.

Pete is correct when it comes to pricy optical cables, et. al. for the most part. There is one thing to consider though, the cable head itself is usually of higher quality then the cheaper ones, so they hold up a bit better over time.

I won't tell Pete's customers if he doesn't tell mine

Regards,

Fred Forlano

I'm not going to jump into the coax versus optical fray as I pretty much agree with what has been said already. However when it comes to cable STBs I prefer optical. Why? I'm glad you asked. Cable often times introduces a ground loop which if you use an optical cable you will electrically isolate the STB from your Pre/Pro or receiver eliminating the ground loop from that path.

OK -- got the idea and stayed with the 'high-end' cable I already had -- Gosh knows I have more un-used cables than one can shake a stick at. But I thank all for the info - and honestly it is was in keeping with what I thought I understood from friends et al.

Now another question:

I do have a high end receiver -- Pioneer Elite VSX-45TX. Since getting the Pace box I have noticed that if I set the sound volume on (this is just a means of explaining) sound level 20 --

If I switch to Digital input, the sound is at a considerable lower volume than the regular Analog Audio -- lets say in my example I would have to raise the sound level to 15 to achieve close to the same volume level.

I never experienced this before with the previous box -- am I missing something?

Its an annoyance factor more than a problem - and besides still trying to learn all this 'stuff"

Checked all my connections and inputs - and can't see what could have changed. The 5.1 surround from the regular channels is just more 'muted' - for lack of better terminology.

Hello Forum...I will be moving from Fort Lauderdale to St. Cloud this summer. Just a quick question. In the Orlando area does the local cbs channel carry the Dolphin games and are they broadcast in HDTV?