Peoria, IL - HDTV - Page 8

That would be nice, but I don't expect it. Case in point is WEEK. You would think Insight would want to make it happen, but it's all about the money....

I agree. I've been holding off from buying an OTA tuner hoping Insight would get their act together and add at least all available locals. I'm tired of waiting so I think I'm going to go OTA.

I highly doubt that WYZZ will be on Insight any time soon. They are owned by Sinclair. The WYZZ website now has a link to Sinclair's position on providing HD broadcasts to cable companies. That same link is also on the HDTV Programming board. It wouldn't bother me to pick up WYZZ-HD OTA, but I don't think their transmitter is powerful enough to serve Peoria.

I sent an email to Kevin Harlan last night asking about WYZZ-HD. I politely asked him about the timing of the switch to HD (right before the biggest game of the year), and if the signal will be boosted to allow Peoria to see the Super Bowl in HD. I don't know if I'll get a response. I did mention to him the fact that I can get WRSP's analog channel almost as good as WYZZ with my Silver Sensor and the difference in distance between the two transmitters.

ggingrich,

On page 6 of this thread I provided a little chart (kind of hard to read) that I worked up for a friend who lives in North Peoria. WRSP is on there.

He gets WRSP rock solid with a 2 story chimney mounted DB8.

I see that they are DT, are they HD? As soon as my new tuner comes in, I'll point the antenna south and see what happens.

Thanks!

Very much HD. The engineers who post on the Champaign thread are also very attentive to viewers needs. That's not a crack on the WYZZ engineers who post here. You can only work with what your management provides. The WRSP mgt would appear to provide a lot more than WYZZ that's all.

Just to hit on a few points I've read...

Antenna Install:

Best Buy offers a $299.99 OTA antenna install which used all pretty high end windgard equipment along with a pretty high power amp. They assure you of 60 miles of HD recention and back that up with a money back gurantee which is nice.

Insight HD:

Insight currently has very little to offer in HD, especially for as much as $24 a month.

HBO HD, Showtime HD, Bravo HD+, ESPN HD, PBS HD (Peoria I think...), WHOI-DT (I say DT because it only shows maybe an hour of HD programming per day and frequently it cuts out or the video freezes, same thing happens with HBO HD on my Moto 6200 box), and newly Universal HD (which is pretty much just recycled crap)

According to a couple of the marketing girls who come into our store from time to time they claim within the next 3 months that line up will double and go full-time HD on everything. Of course they said the same thing about 3 motnhs ago. So we shall see. It looks like satellite will be the only way to get the big game in HD.

~Lance

lswaidz,

How do you plan on getting the 'big game' in HD via satellite? I thought the only chance that we, in the Peoria/Bloomington area, had of getting it in HD was if WYZZ got it's act together.....and then we could only get it OTA. Do you know something I don't?

That's interesting that WEEK is on Mediacom. I thought they were basically the same as Insight. Starz and TMC would be a nice addition, too.

As far as I knew Direc is now offering all locals (west and east) with their Total Choice package with locals. They show up on our guide at work, however dealers are not authorized to recieve them... that's kinda crappy but whatever. As far as I know they should be available now...

~Lance

Don't believe that's true. Would be nice if it were though.

Like C said.......

If you have directTV just "Move" to chicago and you will get all the major network HD east coast feeds.

I hate to sound like a newb, but how exactly do you "move" (wink, wink) to Chicago. Please, no wise guy, obvious answers. This just sounds like there's a way to circumvent the rule. If anybody knows, but doesn't want to post, please PM me.

Thanks!

Call D* (pulling off on-line may or may not work, I don't know). Tell them you need to change your service address to an area that gets Chicago locals but your billing addy needs to stay the same.

They aren't entitled to your life story, this is really all the info they should need. However, if they push you better have a story and some other things ready like: #1 make sure it's a real addy, perhaps a friend or relative that doesn't sub with D* #2 unplug all phone lines in your "downstate" house #3 say you won't have a land line in Chicago because you just use your cell. #4 Maybe the easiest thing to do would be to say that your wife left you but you agreed to still pay for her TV. Therefore you need the bills sent to Peoria but she and the pool boy will have the receivers in Evanston. If they ask what you are doing for TV say "rabbit ears".

I have no idea if any of the above would work and I'm pretty sure it's fraud so I'd ultimately recommend against it.

I can confirm that they no longer go for the 2 address thing. If you say, I have a house in Dunlap and an apartment in Chicago they will call BS and tell you you need two accounts. I know people who pulled this off years ago but D* is wise to that game now. Know 2 folks denied who tried that route.

I am not sure how "moving" will help.The locals are not broadcast ovr sat.in HD.I believe you still need an antenna to pick up the HD broadcast.Someone correct me if I am wrong.

Not sure of SHIVA's effect on this going forward but Chicago is an O&O market and O&O markets allow for HD channels on the sat. Channels 80, 82 88 (I think) etc.

This may have changed with Shiva.

...edit...

cgram23... are you on DishNetwork? I believe that if you want network HD feeds on Dish, you'll need a second dish.

I'd hate to have to switch to DirecTV to get this to work.

Congrats!!! cgram

...edit...

Just a side note. I recommend you not do what I mention in my post. I was only guessing how someone might go about doing such a thing.

Also, hope you aren't a Cardinal fan because if you are you'll have to get MLB extra innings to get their games. With a central Illinois addy you'd need only to sub to the Fox Sports package.

Hang in there fans....WYZZ is now on the air in high power, but right now with an SD signal. We are waiting for one critical piece to transcode the HD. I will move the equipment from another station, if we don't get it by Monday. The plan is to be testing HD by mid week. We fully expect to be on by the big game!
Jim

That is good news. Thanks for your efforts and the updates.

I'm picking up 28.1 right now with my silver sensor and the picture looks great. I'm not getting any sound though, but I'm sure that will be fixed. I'm glad that my worries about not being able to pick up the station OTA are over.

Just picked up WYZZ digital! For whatever reasons that I don't understand, their SD signal looks far superior than WHOI, and WEEK. Maybe I'm just glad its finally up.

Whooo! Whooo! got WYZZ OTA in digital!. Good work WRacer! Strong signal here in GH and looks like my antennaejoiner is going to work so I can eliminate my A/B switch. No sound but I'm assuming that's just a start up glitch. I might even watch the superbowl even though my Packers aren't playing. Sherman's is going to owe you guys lot's of commercial spend.

Now if we can just get WMBD to join the modern world.

I'm also getting it, but barely. I'm in the Peoria Heights area with a Silver Sensor, some 27 miles or something from the tower. I'm picking it up on 43-1. It holds steady for a while, but I'm getting break-up - I'm holding a signal around 50-60 on the meter.

Two questions. First, is this the same signal power we will be seeing all the time? Or will it be increased? Decreased? Just trying to see if my 50-60 can be expected to go up, down, or stay the same over time? Secondly, any recommendations on models/numbers for an amp to boost my Silver Sensor just a little? Something cheaper, Radio Shackish maybe?! Thanks in advance!

Bite your tongue! Cardinal fan. Phoooey!