Minneapolis, MN - OTA - Page 54

So lets see
When they moved 45 to 5-45 they left that scroll on 45-5 for almost a year yet when they overhauled the whole 5-X they left it up for 3 weeks

I imagine LWN will be broadcast in 720p soon, as previously stated on this thread. Even with the static slide on channel 5-7, channel 5-1 has been running at around 8-9 Mbps for several weeks now, I assume in preparation of using 6-8 Mbps or so to have LWN in HD . Have you noticed the new (lower) bitrate on 5-1?

Truthfully I haven't been watching a lot of ABC this summer but I'm sure I'll notice it when fall shows come The only thing I occasionally watch on KSTP now is their local news which isn't HD anyway(watching lots of Antenna and Me SD channels though).
I've read in other markets where ABC has been throttled back ~10Mbps and apparently the results aren't pretty. What a waste making a channel like LWN HD, I mean I'd rather have it be a good Wide Screen 480i than a crappy macroblocking 720p, especially when it starts making the main ABC look like crap
How pathetic, as peoples TV screens get larger and sharper the stations pull stunts like this
IMO KSTP was only 4th place for HD in our market anyway, doing something like this will just move them further down the line

OK I just went to my Tivo HD and compared the file size for some old and newer KSTP programs, all I can say is WOW
Missing which is a 1hr ABC drama 4/12 took 5.15MB(older ones were very similar) and 4/19 and newer 3.44GB
Castle which is also 1hr HD, 4/16 5.41MB 4/30 and newer 3.3GB
These numbers are significantly smaller, compare these to CBS, NBC or even 720p FOX which average ~6GB for a 1hr HD program.....no wonder KSTPs HD looks so poor no matter how good their encoders may be you can't cut the file size in half(and not change compression techniques, to MPEG4 for example) without drastically effecting picture quality. For me the best test for picture quality will be when they air a live event type of show. With their low bit rate strobes will make the HD totally unwatchable, even watching a police drama with nighttime shots and flashing lights will turn into a macroblocking mess
Hey don't get me wrong, I like what Hubbard has done for our market with all the SD channel 45s(which I watch all the time) but they have done NOTHING to promote good quality HD! I mean they are the ONLY channel in our market to still be broadcasting SD local news

That's really interesting about the change in file size from KSTP HD broadcasts! I never would have thought to look at that. I haven't been watching much on 5-1 lately aside from the news either.

The one big flaw I've seen in the ABC HD picture quality lately was during the live Jimmy Kimmel Game Night specials during the NBA Finals. These were actually in HD because they were broadcast from the live network feed. At the end of each special, they had a celebrity attempt a 3-pointer to win prizes for the audience. The crowd was given those big inflatable noise sticks and whenever the camera got a look at the whole crowd waving them around there was lots of obvious artifacting. I was hoping it was just something present in the network feed, but given the change in bitrate and Tivo file size, it now seems clear that it was not.

On a semi-related note, one thing I continue to find odd about our local HD presentation is that every once in a while when I can receive 41-1 and I catch part of a show or movie in HD, I am instantly taken aback by how much more impressive the HD is compared to the other local 720p stations. I don't know if ION does some image processing before broadcast or if their network feed is just superior prior to being converted for broadcast, but whatever the cause I almost always find that the HD on 41-1 gives the appearance of more clarity and detail, and in some cases it even seems to have better color. Too bad the content leaves a lot to be desired and there are long stretches when I can't reliably pick it up.

I also don't record or really watch much Ion otherwise I could compare file sizes but I agree they do seem to have some pretty good HD, especially considering they have 2 SD subs, oh I get Ion just fine in Burnsville near I35W and Hwy 13.
What surprised me the most when comparing file sizes on my TIvo was that 720p FOX(with it's 1 SD sub) was almost as large as 1080i CBS with no subs. I would have figured CBS to average several more GBs/hour....

Duluth comes in for me as well sometimes and I'm in Minnetonka. I put up a TV antenna on a rotor a month ago and in the morings I frequently get KIMT from Iowa on 3-1, 13-1 from Eau Claire, 12-1 from Mankato, and a bunch of channels from the Rochester-Austin MN area. 6-1/RF36 KAAL from Austin comes in nearly every morning. It's fun to watch the local news delivered by anchors that are not much older than college students.

I get KEYC12 all the time....separate antenna for that

It was cool to see Duluth again as I use to live there
so true. I watch KCWY 13 NBC from Casper, WY on C-Band (big dish) and its like that too

Well I've been flipping on this Live Well Network and a few thoughts
-thank goodness its 480i (instead of 720p that was posted)
-seems like they do a loop of shows

I'm not telling the Hubbards how to run their TV stations but I'm sure there is better stuff out there to put as a subchannel than this (no not ThisTV which I like)

I agree! since it's only 480i I guess I just look at it as noise and not really hurting anything, bump it up to 720p and all I can say is What a Waste! Of course since KSTP has already throttled back 5.1 to little more than SD bitrates, it doesn't really matter what they do with LWN

OK I just went to my Tivo HD and compared the file size for some old and newer KSTP programs, all I can say is WOW

How did you do this? I've been looking through every menu I can find on my HD TiVo and I can't find a clue.

OK I just went to my Tivo HD and compared the file size for some old and newer KSTP programs, all I can say is WOW

How did you do this? I've looked through every menu on my TiVo HD and I haven't a clue.

Actually it's very easy to find and not in any menu.
First go into the program you want to check out(the screen that has PLAY, RESUME PLAY, ERASE, etc.) Next push INFO. It will either be on that page on push page down(channel down) and the file size(along with other things like original air date, etc.) will be displayed
I'm going of memory so if I have a step wrong I apologize, let me know and I can verify the steps when I get home.

Actually it's very easy to find and not in any menu.
First go into the program you want to check out(the screen that has PLAY, RESUME PLAY, ERASE, etc.) Next push INFO. It will either be on that page on push page down(channel down) and the file size(along with other things like original air date, etc.) will be displayed
I'm going of memory so if I have a step wrong I apologize, let me know and I can verify the steps when I get home.[/quote]

Thanks. I don't know why I've never noticed a file size on that page, but I know which one it is and I'll find it.

Other markets that have LWN on a subchannel do not carry it 24/7, often substituting repeats of the news. Why not run a newcast repeat at 1pm or 7pm when local news isn't on elsewhere?

I would like that, repeat the local news right after it's aired on 5.1
Speaking of other markets, how many carry LWN in HD? I don't see much that justifies HD but maybe thats just me.

It's on in HD in markets where ABC owns the station. Everywhere else it is SD.

- Trip

Thx Trip
Thats good news for me since our affiliate is owned by Hubbard, although if thats the case then I have to wonder why KSTP has cut back the bitrate on ABC HD kind of wonder if LWN stays SD if they aren't planning other uses for the extra space....

They're running 7.34 Mbps of Mobile DTV.

- Trip

My Tivo (and zap2it.com) have just been updated with listings for 5-7, along with a mysterious new channel 3-3, with the call letters KTOODT3. The Tivo thinks that 3-3 is on VHF10. Is this another example of a cable or satellite channel being included in Tribune's OTA listings (like 17-2 currently is) or is there a new broadcaster starting up around here? I'm not getting anything when I try to tune the new 3-3 with the Tivo and my TV reports no signal on VHF10.

KTOO-TV (RF 10, Virtual 3) is a PBS station in Juneau, AK. Channel 3-3 is the Alaska-focused "360 North" subchannel. I'm not surprised it won't tune in for you.

I saw that on zap2it yesterday when checking something

side note...360North is pretty cool. I get that on Big dish (C-Band) and they have some real good programming (PBS type).....and has the Alaska government too on it

Thanks for the info agus0103 and unclehonkey. Someone at Tribune has really messed up! I wonder how something that dramatically out of place was added to our lineup...

Which brings up a problem for me......does anyone know if it's possible to rearrange the channel order in the Tivo guide display? I like to see all the channels I regularly watch on one screen. Currently I move down to have 4.1 on the top of my screen which puts 11.1 on the bottom. Adding another channel(5.7) in the middle will not allow me to see both 4.1 and 11.1 on the same screen. TVGOS has this feature(ability to order the guide screen anyway I want) but I've not seen how to do this on my Tivo HD. If this is not possible I'll probably just not display 5.7, I don't really plan on watching it anyway but I wouldn't mind it on the bottom of my list just in case I wanted to look at it.
Speaking of TVGOS, is any one getting listings for Antenna TV? I haven't seen it as being available and TVGOS is still showing the previous channel(MeTV) on channel 5.4, funny thing is I'm getting listings for 5.7 LWN

Maybe someone else here knows something I don't, but I'm pretty sure there's no way to change the channel order shown in the guide on a Tivo. I can understand your wish to do so ( I did it back when I had a set with functioning TVGOS) but most people would probably find it confusing to have the channel numbers out of order, so I doubt the feature will be added any time soon.

If you dont mind me asking what rotor/rotator do you have?
Want to get one

last night had some AWESOME DX'ing

On my YA1713 VHF only antenna aimed at Mankato when I scanned I grabbed 10 stations...hmmm...should only be 6 (9, 11 & 12...2 channels each)

Got KOLN 10 and KLKN 8 from Lincoln Nebraska (towers in Seward)...oh almost 400 miles away

I also found great DXing conditions last night. I got 4 stations from the Kansas City, MO area. I got KYTV channel 3-1 RF 44, Springfield, MO, KMCI38.1 RF41 Lawrence, Kansas, KTAJ 16.1 rf 21 St. Joseph, MO, and KCPT 19.1 RF 18 from Kansas City, MO. I also got the usual stations from Rochester, Iowa and Wisconsin. Duluth came in but only for a short time. I also got 2 stations from Madison WI. I've never seen such good conditions. I also fiund mornings from 6-8am to be decent, but nothing as good as last night.

http://www.amazon.com/Eagle-Aspen-500065-Antenna-Rotator/dp/B004B1V0BC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342909285&sr=8-1&keywords=eagle+aspen+rotor I got the Eagle Aspen single wire rotor. It can be used to send power and antenna signal through one coax cable but when I tested it that way I found about a 5db loss in the UHF frequency range. It sells for $67 at Amazon. I also have the YA1713 for VHF, but I also have the Antenna Direct91xg from Solid Signal for $52.99. It's a great antenna for pulling in UHF Signals. My tuner is a Digital Stream Converter Box which is very very sensitive. It also can receive more than one channel on the same number. For example, I can get RF 19 from Duluth and RF36 from Austin and both show up as channel 6.1. If I want to watch in HD then I connect the antenna to my HD Tivo series 3 which also has a decent tuner. This allows me to record in HD as well.

I have one coax cable running to the rotor and one going to a UHF/VHF combiner. I really like the results I get.

since I cant rotate the antenna right now I was happy with what I got

yeah last night was freaky with all the stations the tuners were grabbing