Fargo, ND - HDTV - Page 60

Why?

- Trip

Any updates on KBRR yet?

Of course the Super Bowl is on Fox this year. Anyone think there is a chance of having an HD feed by then?



AT

I've heard nothing. It would be nice to get it for the playoffs, or at the very list the local Fox affiliate could allow Midco to carry the Fox station just for the Super Bowl. I can't imagine having to watch the big game on such a poor quality channel. It will be incredibly disappointing.

Just keep calling them at 701-277-1515 or 701-277-1595 or emailing jshaw@kvrr.com and remind them about the situation on kbrr...if they keep getting lots of complaints, they will have to at least publicly acknowledge the issue...

Dear KVLY

I appreciate that you're going to run updates on every single freaking church that has decided not to have services tomorrow. And I also am glad to know what highways have been re-opened or are still closed. I am glad even tho I do not go to church and I have no plans of leaving my house within the next 48 hours because it is a good information for everyone who does go to church and those who do choose to drive around in this mess. However, would you please wait until the intermission between periods to run the ticker because you are too cheap and/or technically incompetent to get the thing running in high def? It is very annoying watching a hockey game, which requires high def much more than any of the other three sports, and a whole bunch of church announcements causes it to go down to blocky, un-glorious, ugly as hell standard definition.

Sincerely,
Me.

P.S. Please do something to clear up the reception discrepancy between yourself and KXJB. The two of you broadcast from practically the same location, at exactly the same power, and very near the same height, however while I am pulling a good 85-90% on KXJB, I am pulling 55-60% on your channel.

Looking forward to watching the Super Bowl in stunning standard definition.




AT

Not even in full SD, it is a letterboxed image in a 480 4:3 picture placed inside a 720p "canvas" (adding sidebars)...so the actual image is less than 640x360, so if one zooms it to fill the whole wide screen, it looks horrible, like a low bandwidth internet stream...

It will also be interesting to see how the "enhanced" all-star (not using any of NFL's trademarks) game looks on KBRR....

Assuming the issue is with switchgear for inserting local commercials for the satellite stations, with all the (relatively) inexpensive HD video switching gear for amateur and "semi-pro" use from Analog Way, NewTek, and others - along with many software on commodity computer solutions - one would think Red River Broadcasting would be able to at least relay the same signal they are putting on KVRR to the satellite stations during the main programming.

If the issue is with getting the signal to the transmitters, they need to work with Prairie Public to get enough bandwidth, or else work with the local phone cos to get enough an appropriate sized circuit...

So there is no chance KBRR is ready by SuperBowl Sunday? Anyone heard for sure?

I like the new Valley News Live set and graphics, but introducing a newscast in HD at the same time would have been a much better idea.

After watching one of yesterday's newscasts online, I have to say they dropped the ball on not going HD. The new set does look quite nice, certainly nicer than the competition in the market, but all of the proclamations of how "high tech" everything now is seemed rather silly since the picture is still 4:3 SD.

They got a few comments on their Facebook page with regard to the lack of HD on the new set. Their response was as follows:

Why the hell was a set redesign a higher technical priority than getting local content in HD?

Is every damned TV station around here that technologically incompetent?

My guess is that a new set wasn't a technical priority at all. It was probably case of what was the most bang for the buck and if they started broadcasting the news in HD, you would have seen how bad the old set really was.

So it was a marketing priority.

That explains everything.

Of course. The conversion to HD would be more of a marketing priority too. There's no technical need for them to broadcast the news in HD - when they do it, you can be sure they'll be all over the "first local news in HD!" angle.

Anyone else in Moorhead get a flyer from Midco today, with the new HD channels coming March 1st?

WOOHOO !!!!!!!!!!

We now have an answer to which station in North (and South) Dakota will be the first with HD news. It won't be any of the Fargo stations. CBS affiliate KXMB in Bismarck and semi-satellite KXMA in Dickinson began HD newscasts on Monday. KXMC in Minot and its semi-satellite KXMD in Williston are expected to begin HD newscasts on Sunday, as stated in this video from KXMC.

Edited to add: This will put significant pressure the KX Network's sole competitor, Hoak's cluster of NBC stations, to also upgrade to HD news. To make that happen, I wonder if Hoak might shift resources away from KVLY and thereby delay whatever HD plans there are for Valley News Live.

Fox primetime still isn't in HD on KBRR, so I'll bet there will be no HD for the NFL Championship game...TO which all KBRR viewers should become very vocal to Red River Broadcasting and maybe also complain to Fox network also...

I'm hopeful that some day this week it'll pop up on Midcontinent and we can watch the Super Bowl in HD. At the very least I wish KVRR would allow their station to be broadcast via cable to Grand Forks for just that one day. Not holding my breath, though. I recall reading the posts on here a year ago and being hopeful that we'd have Fox in HD before the next Super Bowl. Well, here we are...

All I can say is holy crap! I just got a mailer from Midco about the new HD channels we'll be getting due to the bandwidth available after the all-digital conversion. I count about 55. Most, if not all, of them are just HD versions of existing SD channels, but still this is pretty great! The notable ones, at least for me, are Cartoon Network HD, Comedy Central HD, Bravo HD, NHL HD, ESPNU HD, IFC HD, HBO2 HD, and HBO Zone HD. But there are a bunch more. I didn't see this flyer on their website, but I'm not great at navigating their site.

Someone posted a picture of it online: http://twitpic.com/3v0kwg

Yep that's the one! I'm loving it. How anyone in Moorhead could stick with Cableone after this is beyond me.

Yep, that's the flyer I got as well. Looks like a wide variety of HD too. It is good to see both NFL Redzone HD and CBS College Sports HD on the list.

Well according to Midco maybe mid may for grand forks/Crookston once again left behind.

So why can't Midco just broadcast KVRR's signal in GF?


AT

KVRR has to allow that, and they are denying Midco the right to do it. I imagine they sell Grand Forks advertising on KBRR, and if the Fargo station is broadcast here in GF, they lose out on that advertising revenue.

I was hoping they'd be willing to make an exception for even one day, but it looks like it isn't the case. I would be willing to tolerate watching the Super Bowl in regular definition, but KBRR/Fox here is so far below just regular quality. On a larger TV it is tough to distinguish how much time is left on the clock or what the score is. I expected there would have been something in the news about the game not being in HD, but I suppose that the Herald is owned by Forum Communications, a direct competitor of the Fox affiliate, so they wouldn't want to give any attention to them at all.

Frustrating day!

What ad revenue isn't all don's car wash and stop and go commercials anyway?

Well KVRR is looking like crap right now, so you're not missing much.

I was wondering if it was just me. It keeps cutting out on me and my hdhomerun is showing 100% signal strength but 64-70% signal quality.

Overload their phone system (they don't have a website and only basic email) with complaint calls...701-277-1515 and 701-277-1595..

I have yet to get even an acknowledgement that there really is a problem when I've complained, but if they get enough complaints they will have to come up with a response..

Many of may "friends" on facebook are posting that KVRR isn't working Direct TV right now, maybe a problem with their Barnesville transmitter.....I watch OTA in the GF area, and KBRR is looking fine^h^h^h^h like kbrr