Norfolk, VA - OTA - Page 214

An equipment issue with Fox network caused a problem that could only be seen on DirecTV (standard def) and Cox analog. All should be better for tonight.

It was definitely on the HD feeds as well...

WRONG!!! - It was both SD and HD. I shifted to SD in hopes of getting around the HD problem and found it just as bad. So, Fox is blowing smoke, if that is what they are selling.

It was in HD on both Cox and OTA, at least during 24. My wife almost agreed to turn it off so I could watch March Madness on the big screen instead of the portable.

Have any of you caught any of the movies WGNT CW-27 has been airing in HD on Saturday afternoons? This MGM package has some pretty classic titles that may not have made it to television in HD prior to this. This Saturday at 2:00 p.m. we present "Rocky."

You may also notice an increase in other locally originated HD content on CW-27, including more commercials in HD.... We have brought a fair amount of new equipment on line in the last month.

George Randell
Chief Engineer
WGNT

George,

Are local production houses doing HD commercials now? I've seen several widescreen SD commercials. I also remember seeing an HD FiOS commercial run on WAVY within one of their newscasts...

I believe so. I know one we produced will be on the air next week. The VA Lottery is, and we air those in HD.....

WSOC-TV Channel 9 antenna leaving Charlotte for South Mills and its new home at WSKY-TV

Attachment 174059

Attachment 174060

WSKY now broadcasting on channel 9 digital. Still known as channel 4 of course, but rescan your tuner if necessary.

Last night WGNT CW-27 made a major improvement in the quality of it's on-air signal. A key component of our transmitter, a first-generation DTV exciter, was replaced with a new third-generation exciter. This is the device that actually generates the over the air DTV signal prior to amplification into the transmitting antenna.

This move has resulted in a much higher quality over the air signal, with far fewer transmission errors in it. If your reception of WGNT was at all marginal prior to today, I ask you to please give it another look. I expect you will have less problem receiving it now.

Please let me know if you see any improvement.

Thanks,
George Randell
Chief Engineer
WGNT CW-27
Portsmouth-Norfolk VA
A CBS Owned & Operated station

What is the SNR now and what was it before?

- Trip

George it looks good. You always seem to be on top of the latest cutting edge equipment.

I just wish 10 and 13 would do something about their audio levels. They don't participate on these forums and ignore emails. Maybe they are just waiting for the Feds to mandate it. 27 is no were near as bad for different audio levels.

SNR is now 36.9 dB.
EVM is now 1.3

I won't tell you what it was before....

Very impressive! Sounds good to me! (My signal analyzer maxes out at 36 dB.)

I know those first-generation exciters can be a royal pain to run corrections on, having done it myself twice.

- Trip

George,

did you get a M2X? I have one in one of my translators...40.2 SNR, 0.8 EVM

Ted

- Trip

The Harris Maxuva. It has a 500 watt output. Its Broadband across all channels 14 to 51.

Local TV LLC is establishing a CBS-CW duopoly in Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Va. (DMA 43) by purchasing CW affiliate WGNT from CBS.

Local TV will operate the station in tandem with WTKR, the CBS affiliate it already owns.Until it closes on the deal, expected in the third quarter, Local TV will run WGNT under a local marketing agreement.

Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.

"WGNT is one of the strongest CW affiliates in the country and comes with heritage programming, call letters and channel position," said Jeff Hoffman, general manager of WTKR. "Everyone at WTKR is excited about adding the station to our operations."

This morning (6/28/2010) the WGNT signal origination was switched from the WGNT CW-27 Studios in Portsmouth where it has originated since October 1961 over to the WTKR facility in Norfolk.....

Will the viewers notice a difference?? Only that their favorite syndicated show that was in HD is now in SD and that their favorite syndicated that was in DD5.1 is now just stereo...

CW network programming is in HD but PCM for audio...

Things I have noticed recently about WGNT-DT since their production facilities moved to WTKR:

1. Dr. Phil being Broadcast in SD
2. The black bars on the side of the screen are actually gray, similar to WTKR
3. The video for all the promos for the station's programming are all shifted down and there is a black line with white bars flashing.
4. The program guide information always says WGNT-DT when not in network programming.
5. I have not seen the station's logo in the corner of the screen the way they had it before the changeover.

Just wanted to point these things out and wanting to find out if any of these things (Dr. Phil in HD, program guide info) will be fixed at some point.

Maybe Channel 3 should raid the old Channel 27 studios for the HD equipment...

I wish they would have kept a few more of the people that worked at Channel 27's studios...this evening I noticed that the commercials were pretty disorganized. One minute they were showing promos for their "Dr. Phil/Judge Judy/Judge Joe Brown" evening lineup and the next it was a commercial about a law firm. Not to mention the second episode of Judge Judy, as well as the first episode of Judge Joe Brown began a few minutes early. Maybe this was only today, but I hope someone takes control of these things, since it gives WTKR somewhat of a bad image.

I noticed this evening that WGNT has returned to broadcasting HD programming in HD, which is a good step forward. Now my only question is will they put their logo back in the corner of the scren again like they did in the past?

WVEC 13.2 is online now. Programming will begin Monday at 4AM.

I'll be interested watching a sporting event on 13 with LWN on 13-2. Guess I'll have to wait until next weekend...

^^^ There's college football and Breeders' Cup today.

This is disappointing. How much bandwidth are they taking away from the main channel? Also, what is LWN? Lastly, any word on whether WVEC will ever switch their 1080i signal to the native ABC 720p?

I didn't count this day only because the image is essentially static...