Waco / Bryan, TX - HDTV - Page 207

I talked to a Suddenlink rep last night and he said they just received an email last week saying that Suddenlink plans to offer 50 Mbps service by May 2010 and 100 Mbps service by December 2010. He said the 20 meg service would probably drop in price to what the 8 meg is right now and basically the 50 meg would replace the 20 meg.

Now I know we've all experienced being told something by a rep that actually never happens, but I thought I'd share nonetheless.

We completed installation of the KYLE digital microwave STL link overnight Nov 27th-28th.

At 8:30AM Nov 28th KYLE returned to 720p full time operation and no longer relies on OTA reception of KWKT at the Bryan site.
(The only equipment at the transmitter site is the digital microwave receiver, the transmitter and monitoring equipment.

Is it possible to get Austin locals here in Bryan with directv? I want to see the Saints/Redskins game this weekend. I've "moved" to Houston before with success. Will I have success "moving" to Austin?

Just "move" the same way you moved to Houston. You can get the Austin locals without any problem. Just make sure it's an actual Austin address and then add an apartment number to it. Wait 24 hours before "moving" back to Houston. [Until the DirecTV database updates]

Would be a nice upgrade (and I'd assume has to be in the works to up the speed of the current 8mbit internet). We know their speeds can hit 38 mbit right now so 50 is not out of the question.


My memory is hazy but is this the upgrade that is supposed to finally make KYLE reliable in B/CS? So I know to let you know if its ever messed up in the future.

Yes this is the awaited upgrade. (Microwave system delivery was delayed several times by the manufacturer)

All programming originates at the Waco studio and is fed via digital microwave STL to the Bryan transmitter site.

Any comments as to how well the new installation is performing would be appreciated.

My signal strength went from around 45-50% all the way up to a steady 70%! I could probably get more if I turned my antenna, but I'm not even going to worry about it. Thanks FOX44CE!

I receive all of my locals via OTA antenna and I have written in several times over the last two years or so. I started having a problem with 10-1, 10-2, 9-1 and 9-2 completely dropping out during the Alabama/Florida game over a week ago. This happened twice more during this week, just with these channels. Now, during the Cowboys/Chargers game in the second half, the reception of the transmission keeps dropping out. I haven't moved anything and I live in the woodway area of Waco, between Chapel and Van American Drive. All other channels seem to be unaffected. Any advice? I'm getting a bit frustrated!

The Austin VHF station (7.1) has been having problems today, too. Weather maybe??

I flipped through the channels a few times and 10.1 was coming in okay for me in Round Rock...watched the game on CBS 42.

Well, no weather related problems, unless sunlight and a little breeze are doing it. Since it is only affecting 10-1, 10-2, 9-1 and 9-2, it must not be my equipment but the transmission sight here in Waco. I wonder if the signal is being relayed to Round Rock or if you are receiving the direct transmission from the tower/sight here. Literally, I sit less than 10 miles from the transmission sites, here. I haven't had a problem with any channels since sometime late last year and no problems with the digital transition. This all started during the SEC championship game and both 9 and 10 were down through monday and Tues morning. Beginning Tues, it would digitize in and out, and finally came back in on Tues afternoon. It stayed on until Thurs when it was out for several hours, but it came back. Now, it's off since the second half of the cowboys game today, and I am missing the game on ABC right now (9-1). Any insight anyone could give would be most appreciated.

At 10:30 PM I was watching the game on 9.1 with no break-ups. I'm using line of sight from Waco. Back in the analog days I could pick up the BCW when the weather was just right.

Kind of strange that the Austin and Waco VHF stations are acting up on the same day. Where the UHF stations are fine.

I didn't give it much thought, but I was having trouble with KPLC 7.1 out of Lake charles La. here in the Golden Triangle today also... Seems to affect the VHFs, doesn't it...?

I live in the neighborhood behind the middle school, right next to your neighborhood. I never could get all the channels to work at the same time, even though we're so close to the towers. I'm guessing it's cross transmission or whatever you call it. No matter what antenna I used (and I tried a LOT) it just didn't work. I now use QAM, and I suggest the same if you have TWC or Grande internet.

Anybody driven by suddenlinks office recently? I thought I saw the sign saying they were adding 10 HD channels (didn't catch a date). On texags/mybcs there was a thread with 5 channels given on louie bolinas show.

Disney, Nick, VH1, Commedy Central, and Spike (but I thought the sign said 10 which is more than given there). Nothing yet up on media center which typically gets the guide listings a few days before they go up.

Good Morning!

The following HD Channels will be added to the BCS Market

December 17th

Disney HD 764
Nickelodeon HD 744
Spike TV HD 741
Comedy Central HD 742
MTV HD 746
VH-1 HD 747
CMT HD 748
Travel Channel HD 759

And, more will be added on or around January 20th

ABC Family HD 765
Lifetime HD 749
AMC HD 743
MGM HD 786
Fox News HD 738
Cartoon HD 739
Cinemax HD TBD
CNN HD TBD
MSNBC HD TBD

Happy Holidays!!!! Enjoy!

like the additions.... knocks a few more "must have" channels off my list.

Still need to work on NFL Network HD, VS-HD, and CBS College Sports HD.

If I'm wanting HD channels, what's the best bang for my buck in BCS?

DirecTV/Dish/Suddenlink?

DirecTV seems to be cheaper/have more channels, but seems like a hassle with the rebate program they have going on right now.

I have a Tivo and would like to keep using it, but I know that through DirecTV I'd have to use their DVR. I heard Tivo might finally release the DireTV Tivo they announced 2 years ago, so IDK.

But any general tips? I'm a college kid about to move out and I want to save as much as possible on cable/internet. Plan on getting the 8mb internet from Suddelink for $35 - no other option right?

Any tips are appreciated!

Is KMAY 23 now digital? My outdoor antenna stopped working 5 or 6 weeks ago, and I finally got around to fixing it today. I always got a pretty good analog picture for KMAY. As the crow flies, I am 8 miles from the transmitter (in Copperfield subdivision). Now I am getting nothing on analog 23, and I re-scanned the digital channels and didn't pick up KMAY. I am getting KCEN 9.1 with a 27 signal, so I would really like to have KMAY for when/if I can't get KCEN. Thanks.

Answered my own question...

When I had scanned for new digital channels, my Sony Bravia replied with 0. However, surfing through the channels just now, I have a 23.2 and 23.3 but no 23.1. 23.2 is 480i and 23.3 is 1080i.

However, 23.3 is showing the Vikings and Panthers in SD at 4:3. Why bother with a 1080i signal?!?

The game is 16:9 HD on 9.1.

OK, so my recption of 9-1, 9-2, 10-1 and 10-2 are out again and have been all day and since last night. Please if someone out there knows more about antennas, please comment. I have a TERK HDTVs that is supposed to have low band VHF 0-15 miles Digital, high band VHF 0-40 miles Digital and UHF 0-50 miles Digital. The antenna does show that it can have increased low band VHF reception by moving the antenna from the horizontal to the vertical plane. I live in the Woodway area, between Chapel and Van American Drive.

The signals started being lost on Dec 5th during the SEC chamionship game and have gone in and out for three weeks. They are currently off right now and have been all day and since last night. Prior to this, it's been over a year since a problem came up.

If anyone knows, would a different antenna work better? Did something happen with how the signals for these channels are being broadcast OTA on the VHF band just prior to Dec 5th? Did something change with the location of the signals being broadcast? Nothing on my end has changed, so I tend to think it's how the signal is being sent/received over the last three weeks? Any expert out there with some advice/wisdom? Is it time to call L&M Electronics?

I would think a different antenna would help. I'm in the Round Rock area and 9-1,2 and 10-1,2 have been rock solid for me except for Thursday when the wind was blowing like crazy. 9 has some slight signal breakup, but 10 was fine.

It is nice to have the choice of 3 NFL games on Sundays on occasion (Waco will show the Texans where Austin will choose another game).

I'm using a "traditional" antenna that is UHF/VHF and about 48" wide mounted in the attic.

Also as an FYI, I have a "boomerang" type antenna just sitting on the top shelf of the closet in the bedroom and can pick up both 9 and 10 on about 95% of the evenings before I go to bed (never have tried during the daytime) (Antenna Similar to this)

fizban, do you have time warner cable or grande internet? just get the channels via qam. However, if you don't or it's not feasible I do have a good antenna up in the attic you can try to see if that fixes your problem. It's a wingard metrostar 360hd.

KCEN-9 has always been the tricky one from the Waco area. It's roughly a 175 degree heading from your location. 10, 25 and 44 come from a roughly 200 degree heading. Nothing has changed with their locations.

I'm in the Lorena area and all are fine for me recently.

BTW, Chapel & Van American (Chapel Park area) is Waco, not Woodway. :-) Although it does share the 76712 zip code with Woodway. Waco has been steadily sneaking a finger of annexation between Woodway and Hewitt. http://www.texasmapstore.com/v/vspfi...s/waco8x11.pdf

http://www.kbtx.com/money/headlines/79682022.html

got a nice little confirmation on the internet speed upgrades (as well as hd expansion).... good to see they will not cost more.

Thanks Bob. Yeah, I'm in the Waco area, but most people don't realize that it's Waco here, seeing as Hewitt ends, Waco for 3 blocks, then Woodway starts up. So, I just say Woodway area...keeps it simple.

I got on the roof today and tried rotating the antenna 360 degrees, in 10 degree increments, no dice. I then tried the same thing with my antenna in the vertical plane, no dice. I just don't know what happened. I had rock solid signal up until Dec 5th (antenna is about 3 years old). Is it possible my antenna is going bad in the VHF range? Oh, and hodedefome, I have DirecTV. I can easily add the locals to my package, but why should I pay for what I am supposed to get for free? Especially since the OTA is SO MUCH better a signal! No compression, so better picture and better sound. AMEN! Sorry for the preaching, but hey, HD is almost a secular religion in my home.

I may be the only one, but I don't pay for HD locals. They are included at no extra charge with my package. I compare them to the OTA versions from time to time and I don't see any difference in picture quality.

I have the CHOICE XTRA + HD DVR No Locals which is cheaper than the 75.99 package offered with locals, albeit not much cheaper. However, and feel free anyone out there to correct, my understanding is that as more HD channels are added to line-ups for cable and DTV, compression is used to squeeze the signals into limited bandwidth. This causes both picture and sound quality to drop. An analogy would be a CAT 5e cable for networking versus CAT6 - it will get you there, but the bandwidth on the line is reduced. Also same goes for RG5 vs. RG6 coax cable, bandwidth drop-off.

Regardless, up until Dec 5th, I had signals for all local channels with minimal effort. My equipment hasn't changed and the location of my equipment hasn't changed. I am beginning to think the antenna itself has failed and or is failing. I did write to the Chief engineer over at KWKT (10-1, 10-2) tonight. I'll see what he says. I wanted to send to the chief engineer over at KCEN channel 6 (9-1, 9-2), but I could not find contact info on the website for anyone.

I intend to contact L&M electronics tomorrow and see about a different antenna, advice and such. I missed my Dallas Cowboys game tonight because of this and I am getting a bit frustrated.

The HDTVs is not a good antenna if you have VHFs. Perhaps your amp is going out. You would likely do better with a conventional (metal) antenna.

Do you have a grandfathered DirecTV package? I ask because there's currently no option regarding locals. If locals are offered then they're automatically added to your package - you can't decline them. Locals have been available here for many years so I'm surprised to see anyone with a package that doesn't include them.

It sounds like you may be going to a lot of trouble and extra expense to avoid a few dollars a month extra charge for locals.

As for compression, our locals are now broadcast on DirecTV using MPEG4 technology. I've done A/B comparisons with over the air and the DirecTV signal is as good or better to my eyes. It gets technical when you get into bit rates and such, but I'm very happy with the quality of the locals on DirecTV. There is one other factor to consider. DirecTV doesn't carry local sub-channels, such as 25.3. That's why I maintain an over the air antenna in addition to the locals from the satellite. I want to still be able to watch the KXXV weather channel. If that's important to you then you may still want a working antenna. I use simple rabbit ears and they work great at my location. I would try that before spending a fortune on an outdoor or attic antenna. You can get them for $8 or so at Radio Shack and return it if it doesn't work.

There's a new DirecTV satellite that will be launched later today that will give us more HD channels and perhaps less compression. You can watch it live on channel 577 at 6pm CST. You will have to switch your Favorites to "All Channels" to see that channel on the guide.

Your problem has to be with your antenna or the wiring. I'm just off Chapel Road a few miles south of you and all of them are fine for me. Again, channel 6 always requires the most fine tuning but even it is working well and that's with rabbit ears.

I would suspect corrosion in a connection with the coax. this has happened to me. If you are using an amp, check the short piece of coax that is attached from the balun to the amp. Look for discoloration. It sometimes appears as a white powdery looking substance on the connection. Moisture is a major culprit of loss of signal.

If you find corrosion anywhere in the coax line, remove the offending connection and put a new clean one in its place. Get some di-electric grease and fill the f connector with it, screw it on the receptical for it and seal the connection with silicone sealant or tape it very well with electrical tape. Keep the moisture out by any means necessary.

I would wager to guess that you will find corrosion. As a rule, antennas just don't go bad... Good luck.