Minneapolis, MN - OTA - Page 51

Great signal strength, though. (Just no programming on it!)

both my TV's removed it as soon as I was on 5-1. Channel got removed (45-5)

45-5 "KSTP Rewind" is gone for now. Don't know if it'll ever return. Likely not. The channel line-up that will begin this Thursday at about noon is:

5-1 KSTP/ABC - 720P
5-2 KSTC-IND - 720P
5-3 MeTv-MGM Classics - 480I
5-4 AntennaTv-Tribune Classics - 480I
5-5 reserved for now
5-6 ThisTv-MGM Movies - 480I

We are working on an agreement with LiveWell Tv and hope to also be able to launch that very soon. Not determined yet if it will be 5-7 or use the reserved 5-5. We are also currently broadcasting four channels of MDTV.

best,
dr

What will take Rewind's place on cable?

probably ThisTV as AntennaTV is taking its place

Thanks Dick! What will be the real channel numbers for the channels you listed? I'll really miss Rewind, but like almost everything else around here, I seem to be the only one viewing(or using that feature)

If they are moving 5-45 over to 5-2 I hope then that Tribune can get the guide info changed over then. Reason I say that is if you use a AM21 on Directv to get the OTA stations (I have one since Directv doesnt carry 45 in HD) and if the guide isnt right it shows "regular programming". Also if Directv doesnt change it over to 5-2 then most folks who use one wont be able to see 45. Directv loads the stations in a database and if its not in the database it wont show in the guide. Folks can't see 5-3 MeTV.

If you use a HR34 (the 5 tuner model) the AM21 can "scan" but it shows regular programming if the station isnt in the database. I can see 5-3 but it says "regular programming" all day.

from what I read
35 will have only KSTP ABC
45 will have the rest (Me, This, KSTC, Antenna)

That would be nice, although being 720p I'd be ok with one rather static sub on 5.1 too.
Not that it takes much bandwidth but I wonder where the MDTV resides.....maybe on 35?? would make sense.

Edit: actually according to Trip it looks like KSTP MDTV is on 35 and is allocated 1.83 Mbps, wonder if thats for all 4 channels that dr spoke of or each.....(I'd guess each since Trip only has KSTP down for one channel of MDTV while KOMO(Seattle) shows 3 MDTV channels with 4.59 Mbps allocated)....If this is the case I'd say 35 is full enough for me
Edited by jjeff - 6/12/12 at 11:36am

they could always put Live Well on the subchannel of KSTP (35) if they decide to carry it

Thanks for the official update drice91!

I do hope that the posts here by me, jjeff and others expressing our affection for "Rewind" along with the numerous posts from those here who noticed its disappearance so quickly make it clear that there were definitely people watching it who valued it and will miss it if it doesn't return.

but if they bring it back PLEASE remove that stupid scroll

+ 1
But it's my guess if they do a major channel reassignment, we'll be in for another full round of scrolls on all but 5.1
I can understand a couple weeks or even a month of occasional scrolls but months on end and constant is beyond common sense

I hear ya loud and clear and wish I made those programming decisions. I like rewind because I can't be in front of the TV when it thinks I should be in front of it. But, Rewind is going away for those die-hards that weren't driven away already by the continuous scroll.... that was letting you know you weren't in Kansas anymore.

Formalized today is that the future LiveWell launch (when the agreement is done) will be on 5-7. So, we will be launching 5-7 on Thursday with a channel line-up slate until programming is ready. It will be on RF-35 along with KSTP and the four mobile channels. We're using a new ATSC encode/stat mux product that is much better than the older generation stuff and the MDTV stuff is all encoded MPEG-4. We actually had started testing the new lower ATSC stat-mux bit rates on you during the playoffs and the HD channel is still fine. Everythings a trade-off though and we think offering more programmming choices is a good trade for what most people won't see and won't miss. You can try to beat me up for saying that, but don't be surprised if it's ignored. We're just trying to make the best use of the bandwidth for the largest number of OTA viewers that we can.

For those of you that are curious:
5-1 KSTP @ 720p on RF 35
5-2 KSTC @ 720p on RF 45
5-3 MeTv @ 480i on RF 45
5-4 AntennaTv @ 480i on RF 45
5-5 Reserved
5-6 ThisTv @ 480i on RF 45
5-7 LiveWell (future) @ 720P on RF 35 (much of the nature programming is 720p and we want to pass that along as 720p but will adjust as required when sports are on 5-1)
5-50, 52, 54, & 56 MDTV channels on RF 35 (at 400k video rate for mobile devices)

best,

use 5-5 for that. Have a 30 second low bitrate "how to" video like they did when "This" and 45 moved

I assume the 3 stations that are in 480i will be/continue to be 480i widescreen?
If so I dont understand why it is done that way as the original master stations are in 480i 4x3?

It's in a 16:9 frame because all of our production is 16:9 and we insert 16:9 promos. We don't like the jump that is seen when a TV goes between a 4:3 and 16:9 frame. We also want to preserve the ability to easily preempt with 16:9 during an emergency weather/news event. It's very easy to stretch or zoom the image with your TV if you don't want to see the 4:3 programming in it's OAR.

best,

I'm glad it wasn't you When I made that statement it was out of frustration about the scroll along with the fact that some devices just don't like the channel mapping that KSTP/KSTC and PBS uses in our market
Reading your post I do have a question.

What do you mean by " (much of the nature programming is 720p and we want to pass that along as 720p but will adjust as required when sports are on 5-1) ? Are you referring to adjusting the bit rate of LiveWell or actually dropping LiveWell to 480i during major sporting events? I don't know if the latter is really done on a large scale but I seem to remember when 45.1 went HD several years back, some days it was 720p while the next it could be 480i. Personally I would really like that because like you for more static nature type programming I'd really like it to be HD, I'm willing to put up with a little macroblocking if it means increased resolution, other times(when broadcasting something very bitrate intensive like live events with strobes) I'd really worry about bit starving your main ABC HD channel.

actually because its 480i most HDTV's wont stretch it properly. I know both of mine wont. If I say "zoom" it cuts the top and bottom off. Everything else still shows the black bars.

no biggie but just wondered...that was all

on my Directv AM21 the guide for 5-4 shows Antenna TV programming starting at 10AM Thursday

At least Tribune got it right......

I just caught my Tivo recording "sign-off" on 45-5, and like your DirectTV guide, my Tivo is showing the AntennaTV lineup starting Thursday on 5-4, so let's hope those are signs they'll actually have the whole line-up updated in a reasonable time frame. They've never done well in the past with complex mapping and channel additions, so remapping KSTC and adding the new virtual channels are likely to be delayed or fouled up in some way -- but here's hoping they get it right and get it done quickly!

Since 5-4 is just switching from This to Antenna the guide should have been easy

Thats what I'm worried about. I hope they (Tribune and Hubbard) get the info to Directv to make the changes too

Maybe some of the "Rewind" newscasts could be folded into the other channels' programming. It certainly isn't unheard of, especially for Live Well stations.

How are you getting the local OTA subchannels on DirecTV?

I thinks it's great that the 480i broadcast are 16:9 on KSTC. All my TVs are hd so when switching from 5.1 to 5.3 the tv doesn't have to change picture size. Assuming you have an HDTV, the picture is as it should be.

When you stretch a 4:3 picture to 16:9, the people start looking unnaturally short and plump, don't they?

The AM21

Its an add on option for the HD DVR units that allows you to get OTA stations. It hooks up via a USB connection. Now depending on the receiver this is how it works
-you plug in a zip and it loads the database that Directv has loaded for that area. This works on most DVRs. The drawback is not all the stations iare loaded. Its missing 5-3 (meTV) and 23-3 (Country Network) besides the LP religious stations
-the HR34 (the 5 tuner model) actually will "scan" for any station it can find. Any station that D* doesnt have in the database it shows "regular programming" in the guide. So for those 2 stations and all the relifious stations I can set manual timers since it shows regular programming

I also get 12-1 & 12-2 from Mankato as I am close enough to pick it up

A number of years ago I had a Philips DVDR3576 to record off our basic cable service. I sold it when we made the move to the digital tier and got one of Comcasts dual tuner HD DVR's. Now we dropped the Comcast TV (just costing too much) and are back to OTA. Last week I bought a Magnavox MDR515 DVR which is basically the same as the 3576 I used to own just a larger hard drive and the ability to add titles to the recordings. My new MDR515 has the same tuner issues as did my previous 3576, Virtual vs Physical channel selection requiring work-arounds to get it to record certain channels. For the $350 (Walmart +Tax) I was hoping the new version would have worked out these issues, and would be HD (it's not). Granted, most of my recorded shows are SD anyhow, but having HD abilities would still be nice.

Looking around I really don't see any other OTA DVR's being sold. The TiVo units would be great if you could just manually program in Time and Channel (it appears that the original S1's did but that was programmed out with the S2's) like I do with the 3576/515's and we all have done with the VCR's ("back in the day"). Are there any other DVR's out there for sale or is my 515 still the only game in town?

tnx
George

You can set up manual recordings with a Tivo, but you need to have Tivo service to do anything with the new Premiere units, and their OTA tuners aren't good if you live where there's lots of dynamic multipath. ( I know from experience )Picking up a used Series3 Tivo or TivoHD with lifetime service off Ebay is unfortunately the route I'd recommend for OTA Tivo use now. There are community sourced tools to replace and upgrade the hard drive in them as needed and they get excellent reception coupled with the nice features and performance that come with a Tivo.

Other current OTA DVR options I'm aware of are:

1. Channelmaster 7400. It's $400, can use broadcast PSIP data for guide and recording and also offers a paid guide for those who want more complete/reliable data. Early reviews have been mixed, but mostly unfavorable.

2.Epvision's PHD-VRX Don't know much about this one (it was just released,) but it looks like it should work with any USB hard drive and I've previously owned an HDTV tuner from epvision and was very happy with it.

3. Build a home theater PC, or add a TV tuner card to any Windows 7 PC. Windows Media Center has built-in DVR capability, but of course that comes with all the downsides of using a full-blown computer to watch and record TV.

I do wish there were more affordable options that would basically function as straight-forward modern VCRs, but unfortunately that just hasn't happened yet, and with the vast majority of people still paying for TV, it probably isn't about to happen any time soon..

Thanks for the reply, altho it was sorta what I was expecting. I looked around and really couldn't find much out there, but my 515 didn't show up in my searches either so I thought maybe I might have missed a real jewel somewhere. Looks like I'll be sticking with my 515.

tnx agn

George