Richmond, VA - HDTV - Page 288

AMC is an AMC issue. They compress the daylights out of what they send down the line. It's unwatchable, but that is not Verizon doing that. Here's the explanation why it looks that way


http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/r25699167-

Indoor.

I live in Chester in an older subdivision. Based on all the stuff I've read/heard, if a place doesn't have FIOS, it ain't gonna get it. I've more or less made my piece with that (well, not really... I hate Comcast winning anything by default...).

Anyway, last week, I and all of my neighbors had big orange tags hanging from our doorknobs when we came home from work. Big Verizon logo at the top.
Starts off saying that an authorized contractor for Verizon will

"begin installation of fiber optic cable in your community within the next few days... part of a nationwide project to advance... voice, data, internet and other services by extending the fiber directly to each home."

PLEASE tell me this means that, through some sort of intervention— divine or otherwise— I will soon be able to choose FIOS.

That's how I read it, bit it does run counter to FIOS expansion being the "done deal" I thought was.

People like you make me sick.



Congrats though.... while I still monitor Netflix bandwith due to COMCAST bandwith cap.

Sounds like you've been reading all the articles written by people who have no idea what Verizon is doing to expand service. Honestly, no one outside of Verizon knows their expansion plans. If you received the notice though, yes FiOS is coming to your area. They started hitting our neighborhood in Richmond when it was first available in early 2008. The way I interpreted the news articles, Verizon was not pursuing too many new video franchises with localities because they need to expand in the areas they are already in.

I think Fios non expansion motto is they are not moving to markets where they currently do not already have a presence, but since they are already in parts of Chesterfield (i currently have Fios and live off 360) they are looking at what areas within those current markets would be a good place to expand. They are not going to hit the whole county like Comcast does, they target very specific areas.

Yes do your happy dance. However, they will never answer you as to when it actually is available. All they will tell you is they are putting the fiber in. You just have to keep contacting them every few weeks or wait for them to come knocking door to door or start mailing things out.

I am a Comcast customer (Chesterfield) I had to exchange my SA8300 box that died and this time the new box was a Cisco RNG200. The SA boxes I have had in the past have been fairly reliable and "issue" free. This new box seems to drop out picture and sound for a few seconds randomly.

Has anyone else using this box and are you having issues? I am trying to see if exchanging again will help or if possible try to exchange for SA8300 if they still are available.

Thanks,
Barry

Go to the site below. Someone there might be able to help.

http://forums.comcast.com/t5/TV-Serv...bd-p/CTV_Equip

I exchange the box and so far the new Cisco box is doing fine.

barry

Does anyone want to offer an opinion for an indoor antenna?

My recommendation would be to purchase more than one from a place with an easy return policy and keep the best one.

I'm moving from Raleigh, and am reading both threads now. There are at least a few people raving about the "leaf" antenna in the Raleigh thread. See:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...6#post20600446

I've never tried it myself..

Drew

I have several you could try out and if they work I would sell them at a used price. They are both RS indoor amplified antennas. One a few years back and one I bought recently. I had too much multipath in my location so I settled on a Silver Sensor which I had stored from 2004 in my attic. At my old location it did not do well but in my new house it works great. Every location is different. I also have a compass you could borrow. Thanks Joseph

Random question here.

When Chesterfield Comcast turned on their HD WeatherChannel feed it does not get the local weather (Local on the 8s). Any idea why this is happening? On the SD channel it still works, but on the HD feed it just shows random US weather info.

Verizon FiOS is the same way.
I rarely watch it anymore.

Didn't it just get sold?
New owers not on the ball.

nw

Probably because the HD feed of the Weather Channel requires the newer IntelliStar HD system to do the inserted local weather graphics and the cable companies are probably just using the national feed of the Weather Channel HD without installing the new IntelliStar system to insert the local info over the national feed. You are still getting the local info on the SD channel because they still have their old WeatherStar/IntelliStar system running for the SD feed. The only way you will get the local info on the HD Weather Channel is if your local cable company also installs the new IntelliStar HD system.

Thanks Brent . . . Nothing I was losing any sleep over, but good to have an answer.

Although I have lots of issues with how they changed the Weather channel since NBC/Universal bought it, the local on the 8s is not their problem.

Thankfully on Fios we have channel 49 which is very helpful for radar info etc

6-3 and 12-2 have local weather programming most of the time.

WUPV 65-1 has been blowing my doors off in Williamsburg for the past week, any changes to antenna or transmitter recently? Could be the weather, but it has been pretty consistent.

They have a strong signal. I am able to get 70% signal with a indoor antenna from 23 miles away. The other locals minus WWBT are only 3 miles from me and range from 70-90%. That with a silver sensor pointed directly at the towers with proper compass orientation. The only station that is 100% is PBS 23.1-3. That close they should all be 100%. WWBT is 70% but that is with a UHF antenna.

Bear in mind that signal strength is not the important measure here. Signal quality is the number you see on your meter. You can have all the signal in the world, but if it's distorted beyond recognition by multipath or other interference, then the quality will be lower.

This is a picture of a proper-looking signal: http://www.rabbitears.info/specan/re...K25FW-2011.gif

Here's one with multipath problems: http://www.rabbitears.info/specan/uva/whtj.gif

- Trip

Trip, what equipment are you using to diagnose the signals?

Since one of the captures is one that I took (K25FW, a 15 kW LPTV from 42 miles away), I'll jump in with an answer. Those are both from the spectrum screen of a Sencore signal measurement device.

In fact, it was thanks to Trip's watchful eye on ebay that I was able to get the instrument at a reasonable price. Mine is the SLM-1456 model. I'm not certain which one Trip is using.

In any case, it has been a great tool to help learn more about signal strength vs. signal quality. If you get a nice square wave with a flat surface on the tabletop, you're getting a clean signal. I've taken the Sencore along on roadtrips to see how reception is in various markets.

I have the Sencore SLM-1456CM, which is basically the same unit re_nelson has but with the ability to deal with DOCSIS as well. (I have never used the DOCSIS features.)

- Trip

Has anyone heard the radio ads about free tv?. Their website is:www.TheFutureofTV.org Anyone know if this is real?

If what is real? Over the air TV does exist, but I doubt that's what you're asking.

- Trip

The is from the same NAB that fought to keep their VHF channel assignments 20 years ago when the FCC was designing DTV. Now us OTA viewers are stuck with poor indoor reception and huge rooftop antennas. The Europeans got it right when they forced the broadcasters to go UHF when color (or should I say colour) TV was introduced. In the UK the VHF spectrum was given to the digital radio broadcasters, a much better system than HD Radio.

Below is text of a chat I had with Dish today in case anyone is wondering about the status of the outage.


Welcome to DISH Network Chat.
James (ID: 78X): Hi Chip!
James (ID: 78X): How may I help you today?
Chip Scavone: Richmond, VA locals have been out since last night.
Any idea when they will be back?
James (ID: 78X): I'm very sorry to hear that you are having an issue. I'd be happy to resolve that for you.
James (ID: 78X): In order to do proper troubleshooting we need you to have access to your equipment. Are you currently at home?
Chip Scavone: OK
James (ID: 78X): Are you currently at home?
Chip Scavone: This is a Dish issue-message on screen says Sorry for the interruption of service. We are aware that this TV station is temporarily unavailable..
James (ID: 78X): I will fix this for you.
James (ID: 78X): One moment please.
James (ID: 78X): Your patience is greatly appreciated.
James (ID: 78X): I apologize for the inconvenience.
James (ID: 78X): Our engineers are working hard on it you would get the locals in the next couple of hours.
James (ID: 78X): I have also informed them again on your behalf and you would get the local soon.
Chip Scavone: OK - thank you.
James (ID: 78X): You're welcome.
Chip Scavone: Thanks again..
James (ID: 78X): Do you have any other questions for me?
Chip Scavone: No - that will do it
James (ID: 78X): Thank you for chatting with DISH Network, have a wonderful day for you and your family!

The on screen notice already said they were aware and were working on correcting the problem. What else would you expect from Dish?

Directv sometimes loses the Hampton Roads locals but the cause is not always on their end. The stations interfaces have issues also.

BTW, I used your custom installer & he was great. Thank you so much for the recommendation!

Drew