Phoenix, AZ - HDTV - Page 9

No offense, but that's like when my kids ask "are we there yet?"

It'll happen when it happens. Please remember that we are the early adopters, the lunatic fringe. I know that sounds ludicrous since the first DT station in this market (KSAZ) went on line in October '99, but only recently has HD begun to reach critical mass. And now the actual station managers themselves are starting to watch their own DT channels for the first time, which is a terrific stimulus to resolving any outstanding issues.

It's still the wild wild west out there, and HD is still the new frontier. There will continue to be growing pains. Channel 15 doesn't have a "technical issue" with its sound as much as it is simply vetting the budget process for additional equipment needed to fix that issue. The wheels are turning, but slowly, sometimes. I sometimes find it difficult to be patient, but I respect all of the fine technical work going on in this industry and especially in our local stations, as I'm sure you do as well. Having HD that is still a bit buggy is what's known as a "good" problem. Not having it at all is much worse.

It was Confucious who said "May you live in interesting times".

I was hoping there was an easier answer, like some sort of FCC mandated deadline. Oh well. At least I am now ABLE to get HD. Cant wait until I can depend on it to let my HDTiVo record those shows when Im out of the house.

Thanks

Steven

I have seen this for a while now, and it only seems to happen on KSAZ-DT 31. I would like to see if anyone else is noticing this.

What happens is that occasionally my display experiences what appears to be a sync relock. The picture rolls either vertically or horizontally once, or twice very quickly. There is NO PIXELLATION during this, it is very different from a pixellation hit.

At first I saw it on my display, but now that I have the HD Tivo, I am seeing the exact same problem, so it is less likely an issue with my Sony display. If you play this back in slo-mo, you can see that the video jumps back a few frames, then forward a few frames, and then relocks to the correct frame. Audio is not interrupted, but it follows the video exactly so that a syllable or so is mixed up.

I saw it about 18 times in "The O.C." last night, and since I was watching the Tivo playback before the same broadcast from KTTV (DTV 89), I recorded that showing as well, and it did not have the reframes.

If you think you are seeing the same issue as me, please post a reply. This will at least take any reception or display issues out of the equation. Thanks in advance.

I've seen this happen the last couple of weeks while watching The O.C. I'm using and OTA antenna.

The part I used is 15-678 from radio shack. I belive it will attenuate the signal from 0 to 20db. It is bidirectional in case you need that. For $10 it gives you more flexibility than the standard 6db screw in type of attenuator. Worked like a charm for me (so far). I live about 20 miles as the crow flies from the towers, so I was surprised I had too much signal.

Got an update Friday 2/18 from KNXV engineering on DD upgrade:

"We found a demod that has a problem with the AC3 audio signal. We have swapped it with another and will have a replacement on Monday. But, tonight's and Sunday's prime programming will be in 5.1 "

No offense, but how much "testing" and upgrading there is to do and how limited the time might be to do it in sounds pretty much like nothing more than a lame excuse, IMHO. I know for a fact that these kinds of "reasons" usually are not actually the real "reasons". It's a poor workman that blames his tools, after all.

And, not all testing needs to happen on line and in prime time. Usually, off line testing is done first, which helps the folks who sunk 4 grand feel less like guinea pigs.

Also, most engineering departments don't put something new on line and then retire to the nearest sports bar at 5 PM hoping for the best between 7 and 10. Most engineering departments keep somebody close at hand who can reverse the process and forestall the problem until the next business day should this type of problem occur. Others are content to let it go on for days, not apparently caring what the viewers must endure. There are better ways to do it, and while the engineers are I'm sure very competent indeed, this reeks of poor management.

Respect is a two-way street, and it must be earned. This shows nothing but disrespect for the viewers, IMO. Still, I'd rather suffer the growing pains than have them not adding 5.1.

Sunday ABC will be broadcasting the Academy Awards in HD. It appears that ABC will have a little competition; CBS is showing "Collateral Damage" in HD, and Fox will be showing "Independence Day" in HD.

I don't know about everyone else, but I will be watching the Academy Awards. What about you?

Don

Oscars all the way, especially now that Chris Rock is hosting. Hopefully, KNXV will pass along the 5.1 audio. I will have to send Ryan an e-mail see what he has to say about it.

Well, at least now that I have the 8300 DVR, I can watch one and record one of the others. Hope ABC's 5.1 is working.

Hi All,

I recently ordered a Sony 34XBR960 to replace my older 36XBR450. The new set has a built-in HD receiver, so I would like to make use of it to pick up the locals.

I am a DirecTV subscriber (I ditched COX a few years ago). I also just use Tivo receivers, but have not convinced the wife to go for the HDTivo yet.

I am hoping that once she sees the locals in HD she will be swayed. heheh.

My question is which antennae would be my best bet? I am at Union Hills and the 101. So I am about 35 miles or so from South Mountain. I assume it will need to be a Roof Top antennae, but I am not sure which one I should go for.

Any suggestions? I was looking at the Wineguard HD9095P. Will that do the job?

Thanks!

-Paul

Paul, try www.antennaweb.org. That website will tell you which antenna is best for your location and it will also tell you down to the degree which direction to point your antenna. Good luck!

wow thanks! That helps!

Does anyone in the north valley use indoor (set-top) antennas to pick up HD signals? Any reception issues with that?

Thanks!
-Paul

Paul, did that link work for you because I just tried it and it would not come up? If you going to use an indoor antenna go with the Silver Sensor. You can pick one up at Sears or you can find some good deal online. Be sure that you use the exact degree that anetennaweb.org gave you when pointing whatever antenna you get because I have found moving the Silver Sensor even a couple of degrees can make a difference. Good Luck!

P.S. Make sure of the return policy on the Silver Sensor in case it does not work at your location.

Yeah I was able to get to the site.

Thanks for the suggestion on the Silver Sensor. I will definately pick on of those up and try it out.

Are you happy with it? Any reception issues where you live?

Thanks!

Paul

Paul, the Silver Sensor is the gold standard for indoor antennas. I highly recommend it but just because it works for me does not mean it will work for you. That is the nature of terrestrial signals of any type. The only way to see it will work is to buy it and hook it up. That is why I added the last part about the return policy. I think it will work fine for you but make sure you get out your compass and point to the exact degree antennaweb.org gave you. You might have to tweak it a little (move the antenna a couple degrees) but not much. Good Luck!

I'm a Cox telephone, internet and cable (analog) subscriber, and just picked up a QAM tuner for my PC. After some futzing, I was able to locate all of the local channels for Phoenix over my cable feed, but the signal quality is unacceptable. Many, many transport continuity errors that result in very distracting macro block errors as well as occasional pops and fizzles on the AC3 audio. Reminds of using ATSC with an undersized antenna.

I've tried taking the main feed directly to the card, but the improvement is in the noise, although the statistics do show the error rate dropping for the connection.

Has anyone else had quality problems using the OpenCable QAM HD channels? Were you able to resolve without a service call?

Would an amplifier be helpful for this, or would it just amplify garbage?

At this point I'm ready to switch back to OTA for the quality (but instability).

Thanks,
Brad

hschen,

I am fairly close to your location. East of the Scottsdale Airpark by a few miles (92nd & Raintree). I am getting fantastic reception on the PHX digital stations using an Antenna's Direct DB4 and the built-in HD tuner on my Sony KDF-50WE655. I originally mounted this in the attic of my 2 story house, but experienced quite a few break ups and low signal strength on several channnels (15.1 in particular). I recently moved the DB4 to my patio roof just to see if mounting outside would make a big difference. Wow! Nearly every station gives me a 95+ signal. I originally planned to move the antenna up to my chimney where there is decent line of sight to S. Mtn (w/ Camelback partially in the way). However, I'm now going to leave it right where it is given the signal I'm getting. Prior to the DB4 I tried a traditional Channel Master UHF/VHF/FM antenna in the attic with fairly poor results. Since I didn't need the VHF or FM, I decided to try the UHF only DB4. Money well spent in my opinion. Hope that helps.

If you are where you can get OTA with a SS reliably, once everyone is at full power (everyone definitely will be by the time they go to one channel), I would not be surprised if the VHF comes in just fine. If not, it is simple to tape a twin-lead dipole to the window and use a vhf/uhf splitter as a combiner and connect that, which should not in most cases increase multipath.

Should I be receiving a signal in Queen Creek, AZ?

Specifically I live in Johnson Ranch and I am using a HTPC with the Fusion 3 Gold HD capture card with a multidirectional pre-amp'd antenna from Radio Shaft...

When scan for Digital signals my meter reads 0db the whole time. For what it's worth, I am receiving 11 Analog stations just fine.

Thanks...

If those analog channels appear to be multipath-free OTA, I can't see why DTV would not be fairly simple to receive at that same location. You need line-of-sight, obviously. Other than that I would suspect a problem in your capture rig.

Thanks for the reply. Antennaweb.org says to point to Tucson at 124 degrees. That is line of sight for me, but it's 70 miles away. Is this too far?