Madison, WI - HDTV - Page 4

From the Fox 47 website:

October 1, 2004:
We are currently installing the necessary equipment to provide you with and HD signal of 720 progressive. Barring any unforeseen complications, we should have this completed later this month.



WoHoo, Packers in OTA HD Finally

Is there an echo in here?

That's good enough news that it deserves to be posted twice!

Can anyone confirm that WBUW-DT in Madison is online? If so, what do we need to do to get it added our TiVo lineups?

I get it at 57.1 in DeForest clear as a bell

I usually get it on 57-1 also, but right this minute it seems to be down.

Either of you guys have HD-TiVo? I'm not sure how to add new channels as they come online. The "scan" seems irrelevant, as I have NBC listed when I can't get a signal at all... wonder if I have to wait for DirecTV to add it to the OTA lineup they distribute?

It appears down to me as well. First outage I have noticed since it went live a couple weeks ago...maybe they are installing the HD equipment. I have no idea if this is true or not, they have not yet responded to my email. The volume problem seems better (it is still pretty loud though).

FYI:

"Thanks for the inquiry Eli. We will be broadcasting in HD sometime in 2005. With the new tower, we increased our analog signal, installed a digital transmitter and antenna which puts us in compliance for standard digital at this time. HD is on the way hopefully sooner in 2005 rather than later.

Sincerely,

Tom Keeler
Station Manager - WB 57"

Um, did anyone else notice Fox is broadcasting in 720p tonight? My receiver is showing the dobly digital flag as well. For some reason the pic looks a bit scrunched, and it 'looks' like SD upconverted...I wonder if they have the splicer hooked up yet...I am going to post on the main fox troubleshooting thread, to wonder aloud if that is possible.

Color me excited...packers are on monday nite this week...this means they have almost 2 weeks to work out the bugs...Giddy up!

Apparently corporate is broadcasting the game in 'Fox Widescreen (480p upconverted to 720p)

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=454539

I am guessing that means that the splicer is indeed installed. YEAH Fox47!

Switching back and forth between 47 on DirecTV and 47-1, I really don't think this is the widescreen presentation we're seeing. We may be seeing a 720p upconvert, but it's not widescreen to my eyes.

Assuming they don't get shut of broadcasts for having a crappy season. So far, all their games have been in HD and I have only seen one.Monday Night Football

I agree, crappy season so far, but I wouldn't be too concerned about this. With Bye weeks, there aren't that many 6 game weeks (FOX has committed to 5 HD broadcasts/week I believe). Even so that 6th (SD) game is usually reserved the dregs of the league (arizona always seems to be one of the teams). The packers have enough of a national following that even if they stink, viewship is high enough to demand a HD truck roll to their game.

Strangely enough the Pack is only on CBS once this year (3 mondays & 1 sunday)

I sent an email to WMSN engineering on Tuesday night, and here is the response.

It looks like 720p HD from tonight on! Great job WMSN!

I thought I saw 720 on the STB. Bernie Mack sure looked great.
Congrats WMSN!!

Just got this email tonight.

It was still up-converted Standard Definition last night and probably part of tonight too. Tonight we're going to work on timing with the network (FOX), so possibly by the weekend, the Network's true HD feed will be passed through. It's set at 17 mb/s. I tried to put it up to 18 last night, and something in the chain didn't like it, so, 17 is where it will
stay. We were supposed to keep it at 15, but I figured 17 was a good
compromise for now.

Thanks,

Matt
WMSN-TV

From the Fox 47 Website:


October 7, 2004:
We are currently transmitting in 720P!
Right now, our standard definition programming is being upconverted to 720P. We are still making adjustments to get the FOX Network High Definition programming to pass-through our facility. Provided all goes as planned, FOX programming produced in HD will pass through our over the air Digital Television transmitter on VHF Channel 11 (47-1) tonight or before the weekend.

That's great news! I hooked up my OTA receiver again during the game last night to see if I could get 47-1 and it came through fine (as the SD upconvert). Guess I'll leave that in place until Charter HD picks them up.

Looking forward to true 720p MLB playoffs and Packers games!

Matt from WMSN here... here's our latest "news"
Great news, eh?

October 8, 2004:
WMSN TV is now broadcasting in HD!

Fox 47 is happy to report we are now transmitting High Definition in 720P. Our FOX network programming produced in HD will pass through our over-the-air digital television transmitter on VHF Channel 11 (47-1). Any non HD programming is being up-converted to 720P. At this time our HD signal is available via FREE over-the-air only and is not available on any cable system, nor any of the various Satellite carriers (DirecTV, Dish Network, etc). We continue efforts to have our HD signal be included on cable and will advise you if and when we have updated information. We hope you enjoy the fantastic video you will now see on our HD channel.

now for my personal comments... hehe
And replying to a comment I read somewhere here about why Sinclair is taking so long to go digital, with 60 TV stations, at about $2mil a station to get ready for DTV/HDTV with no new income streams from these new "investments" I can see why the powers that be aren't falling all over themselves to throw money at this, especially when the Networks weren't fully onboard.

and...
Would viewers rather get the 4:3 programming stretched or with the grey bars on the side?

Looks like the pass through is working now--we'll know for sure on Sunday (I don't see any other HD programming offerings before then)!
The website is now its updated with:

October 8, 2004:
WMSN TV is now broadcasting in HD!

Fox 47 is happy to report we are now transmitting High Definition in 720P. Our FOX network programming produced in HD will pass through our over-the-air digital television transmitter on VHF Channel 11 (47-1). Any non HD programming is being up-converted to 720P. At this time our HD signal is available via FREE over-the-air only and is not available on any cable system, nor any of the various Satellite carriers (DirecTV, Dish Network, etc). We continue efforts to have our HD signal be included on cable and will advise you if and when we have updated information. We hope you enjoy the fantastic video you will now see on our HD channel.

Hi Matt, thanks for the update. Regarding your question, I'd definitely prefer 4:3 programming be pillarboxed with grey bars on the side (a la ESPN-HD).

John

I agree with John, pillarboxed.

Dave

Matt: Welcome to the board...It is great news...

As far as the negativity you occasionally hear...Sorry that it happens, but just remember to consider the source (as my dad always says).

As for pillar or stretched, i would DEFINITELY vote pillar-boxed. Most HDTVs have display options, so I would leave it in the original format and allow the end user to chose what to do with it. They can stretch it or zoom it depending upon the aspect ratio of their tv, for example my TV is a 4:3 CRT, so on SD broadcasts that are pillar-boxed, I will zoom it, trading a bit of resolution for a bigger pic. I am sure a lot of newbies would rather 'the picture fill the whole screen', but i think this way it gives more control and flexabuility.

Thanks again for contributing, and feel free to keep an eye on the thread. (This means we should keep any criticism constructive if possible ).

I'm just a peon here (webmaster too), but I did help a lot getting the 720p equip installed and did a lot of the configuring computerwise. Most of the stuff was just ordered and shipped to us by HQ, so we haven't had much say in what has gone on, nor do we have a lot of experience in this whole digital realm. But it sure has been a busy / fun week here!

Maybe we'll change the 4:3 stuff to pillarboxed, I had it set that way on Tuesday and part of Wed when we were setting it up.

-Matt

Hey Matt,

Peon or not, you're the bearer of great news! I think you guys surprised most of us (pleasantly) - didn't the last update say before months end? You sure got it done before months end.

Thanks for providing a voice from a different perspective. I think we on the user end tend to be a bit impatient. I know I have to keep justifying the $$ I spent on my new theater. You guys just helped a bit more!

If you are taking votes, I'm another in favor of the pillarboxes. As Sterno said, it gives the user the choice of zoom and stretch controls. To me the stretched image is really annoying and gives the appearance that something is wrong with the display. (Wife "why does everybody look short and fat?" Me "it's the television station, not our new equipment, dear." Wife "You don't know how to work this, do you?" etc, etc)

Thanks again for the update and effort,
Sail

Matt,
I definitely would prefer the 4:3 pillerboxed for all the reasons already mentioned. And, thanks for asking.

Ken

Hi Matt,

Thanks for the great news eh. We've all been waiting a long time for HD Fox out of Madison. I'm about 50 miles from the towers as the crow flies but the signal on the digital side has always come in strong.

I've been watching these threads for some time now and the big Fox news was enough for me to register. As for the pillar box or stretched, I have to vote for pillar. I'll stretch it on my set to watch it anyway. I find that "fat mode" makes most of the hollywood folks look normal.

Thanks again for the update .

Congrats Matt!! and thank for the great news!
I would say pillared box also.

ps...turn the bandwidth up to "extreme craziness" or as close as 19.4 as possible!!!!!

keep up the good work.

Chris

Fox 47 in HD? WOOOHOOOO!!!!