Madison, WI - HDTV - Page 176

CBS is on my sh!t list. I don't watch them. But, I believe that neither has changed, where CBS is 4:2:2 and The CW is 4:2:0. I do watch CW programming. The only change is that the CW feed used to be VBR, now it is CBR.


I believe that it is fiber. It should not be over compressed. Mattymo can say how they get it and in what format.

We get it in analog from WKOW via fiber... I'm not sure how they get it to their transmitter site... I think it's still analog after they downconvert from HD to SD Analog. (the cameras in the fox studio are only SD anyway)

We had a plan for going HD when WKOW changed over, but that didn't work out... 1) it'd be SD 16x9, so not HD (except for graphics) 2) it would have cost a lot to kluge it together on this site with everything still being analog (when a full HD buildout looms in the near future)

PS: PSIP time is fixed. (should be fixed for good now)

So, WKOW uses their systems to get from Tokay to the candelabra and fiber goes from the candelabra to Big Sky? Any reason why the fiber can't be direct? I take it you rout it to air live. Or do you have to record it?


Couldn't you have just put a *simple* switch on the encoder input? One input from the upconverter (and by extension, your MC board) and one input the fiber from WKOW. You could even have it so the tally from the MC board automatically switches the input. No extra work!


Looks fixed here. I'm sure you'll know if it's not! (Although it is kind of nice to know what's coming up instead of what's on now when there are only 2 minutes left in the show, as my TV doesn't have the full guide. It just displays the current program.)

yeah, doesn't need to be direct, putting in a direct fiber could get pricey... we already had the existing stuff to do it... if we wanted HD on that side we'd just have to get new fiber encoders on each end (one big expense) plus, I think WKOW's only method to get to candelabra for HD would be a DS3 they have... so we'd have to get an ASI - DS3 encoder for that part too.



well that'd be part of it, the switch isn't that simple, as it has to be synchronous... have remote control and stuff. but that was just one part of it... oh, and we'd need a new HD newsticker too.... all those "little things" add up to a lot

Figures. You didn't answer my question about routing it live or recording.

Are your bosses happy that you actually get to carry a Badger Football game for once and/or overcharging for local slots? Are you engineering guys excited? I would ask you to make the video look good, but the splicer makes that kinda hard. I guess all you can do is not let the splicer crash on us! Anyway, have fun!

What do you mean? My part of the answer was for routing it live... and as for recording, that'd be another expense to buy something that could record in HD, and then be able to rout/air that in HD... and be controlled by automation.. it all adds up... i think we were near $100k in our plan to kluge HD in our analog plant. not worth it when the full upgrade is coming in the next year.

and yeah, I'm sure they are. I doubt anything was overcharged... if it was overcharged, it wouldn't have been sold out. :P I thought the video looked great... hardly even any macroblocking during all that confetti explosion. And "not letting the splicer crash" that's kind of out of my hands too.

If so, I'm going to make a WAG and say that the link is digital, using one of the available digital streams that is used to get their HD to the tower site.

Ya, you really do not want to constantly see what MPEG glitching can look like when it isn't in sync.

The Deluxe Media master control in Burbank (satellite feeds) doesn't have any sync between their HD character generator and the programming they feed. Looks very ugly at times.

I suspect that you roll the commercials at Fox47, or does WKOW insert those. If you do the inserts, then the constant glitching would drive your viewers nuts.

When WKOW aired a piece of that on their news Sunday night, it was horrible. The bit-starved video that WKOW has just made for macroblocking garbage.

The moment I saw the confetti, I immediately thought "Oh, no here comes the macroblocking". When I didn't see it, I thought it was my TV, which seems to make macroblocking less noticeable.


Overcharge as in charging extra than you would have if it wasn't the Badgers. Like how you guys (I assume) charge more than normal NFL games during Packers games.

Why wouldn't someone charge more for a Packers game? The ratings for them are ridiculous... just as any station would charge more for a local team being in it... more eyeballs... it's all about cost per point, right?

Exactly.

zip code is 53534,

Charter Janesville serves the area. Both Madison and Rockford locals have been offered for years in standard def. Only HD from Madison is offered. Charter uses the digital signals of the Rockford locals in standard def for channels 3,4,6 and 10 they sure as hell can offer them in HD!

Thank you,

We have submitted a channel request for you and will take it into consideration as we add additional HD programming. Did you have any other questions we could help with?

Thanks,

Dylan
http://www.charter.com/Umatter2Charter

OK, it is bad enough that things technically went south, but that was no reason to force all those commercials on the poor viewers and end up joining Nightline 3 minutes late.

Viewers did get to see what the ABC network feed looks like when not sending out programming.

I'll have to watch a later feed to see what I missed. I would have switched over and caught the start, but the computer was busy.

Sorry to see the trouble. Is there something I can do to help?

-Abby

Not really. The trouble was with WKOW, not cable.

Ok

If you ever need anything just let us know and we'll be happy to assist!

Thanks,

Dylan

Starting January 1st News 3 takes over Fox 47 News at 9. There's pictures posted on Fox 47's Facebook page with the new anchor and the new set. The new set looks very News 3 inspired, but much better then the set WKOW provided. No mention of the news being HD.

https://www.facebook.com/foxmadison

I heard a rumor a few months ago. I guess it was true. My guess is it won't be in HD. The plant upgrade is supposed to be coming soon, but not this soon.

Ya, it can't be in HD until the plant upgrade occurs. I'm surprised that mattymo didn't post anything here, after it was official.

Currently in Phoenix, where it is in the lower 70s. Unfortunately, flying back tonight. Was cooler when I got here 10 days ago. Warms up when I have to leave. Oh well.

well it just sorta went official to the general public yesterday... been busy trying to get WISC set up to take over web stuff and facebook/twitter stuff and whatnot.

Yeah, it's a bummer that it can't go HD right away, but thems the breaks.

it'll still look pretty nice, as WISC's studio cameras are HD... WKOW's were still SD, upconverted to HD to go through their switcher and stuff, then that whole feed was downconverted to SD to send to us.

Do you have a more specific timeline on the plant upgrade other than early (next if you read this within the next 6 hours, this if you don't) year?


Even if it were uncompressed 4K (~10Gbps, no less) throughout production, it would still look as good as your upconverter/encoder can make it. And, sad to say, your upconverter is not the best-looking by any mark. Sometimes it can look like Low Definition TV!

There is no way that the WKOW news studio cameras are not HD. I know SD anamorphic widescreen upconvert at the drop of a hat. Oh wait, the cameras used on the WMSN news set are their old ones.

Do you know what prompted the change, other than money

I know the contract with WKOW was up and Sinclair signed with WISC instead. What I don't know is if Sinclair shopped around or if WISC made them a better offer.

I figured that the contract was up. Maybe the fact that WMSN will be upgrading the plant to HD and WKOW still using the old SD cameras on the WMSN set, might have been an issue, especially if WKOW wasn't willing to buy new cameras.

I doubt that a minor issue like that would cause the negotiations to break down. HD cameras are a drop in the bucket compared to a full plant upgrade, and I doubt WKOW would give up the business just because of that.

Budgets are tight. Would it have been the only reason? Definitely not. We'll probably never know the reason(s) why.

Ding Ding

I take it you're not prepared to give us the fine details. Caught about 30 seconds of the new news format last night. Sunday Night Football was a good game. I had to watch it via CECB, but I could tell the picture quality improved somewhat. It's not as sharp as it could be, but that's on you, not WISC.