Detroit, MI - HDTV - Page 53

Do it! Please. I've dead-ended reaching Tim Redmond. Still kicking myself for having Murray Feldman on my show and failing to ask him for Redmond's particulars.

If she e-mails him, tell her to tell him I can see his PAT and PMT, but his PSIP tables have no data.

Thanks

Doc

Could be any number of things. My first thought is multipath either from the other towers on the Broadcast House property, reflections from the nearby Southfield buildings or bounces from downtown. Also, WXYZ-DT is at 41, same as an analog in Battle Creek and a low-power in Toledo. Either one of which can bounce in here during the winter and screw with reception. You could try attenuation, but I'd think a more directional antenna might help you. Hard to say.

Anyone know what happened to WB-HD on Comcast? It was on 235 but no longer there, so no HD for Pistons tonight.

Comcast here in Eastpointe and Moto 6412.

None of my digital or HD channels have D in the on-screen menu for Digital audio. As well, programs regularly broadcasted in 5.1 are not. My home theatre is giving me only PCM.

Anyone else having this same problem on Comcast tonight?

I remember this happening several weeks ago and a call to Comcast left me with a dumba** CSR trying to tell me that on that night every single digital broadcaster has just stopped broadcasting digital audio and quit broadcasting their 5.1 programs in 5.1.

I got 235 tonight with no problem PKWR. I live in Shelby Twp.

I'm not recieving any channel except the weather channel in my basic cable line-up (1-99).

The only thing that comes through are the Comcast inserted commercials other then that there is just a blank screen.

If I connect the TV directly to the cable line I get about half of the basic channels.

Comcast is not answering their phones. I wonder what time they start on Saturday.

Try calling 1-800-comcast. that number is 24/7.

I've tried 2 different antennas. Both are from Radio Shack. One is an indoor/outdoor omni directional preamped model 15-1634(about 79.00) and its mounted in my attic. Secondly I also used an indoor Radio Shack preamped rabbit ears model 15-1870(about 49.00). This one has a remote control and it turns. You can sync it with your tv channels so that when you change to a tv channel the antenna moves to the direction with the best signal. I just noticed at the radio shack site they have a new uhf/vhf/hdtv antenna model 15-1892(49.00). It may be a new version of the 15-870 because it does not have the rabbit ears on it. Either of these antenna's provided me with good reception with very little drop outs.

But your problem is not going to be your antenna its that TV that has problems. How long have you had it? I bought one on 12/27/05 from Circuit City. It had the bad problem on WXYZ CH 7 cracking noise and shutting off then back on. I took it back for an exchange. The new TV had the same problem!! I called Samsung and also had the local samsung repairman out here. He never seen anything like it. I got fed up and took the TV back to Circuit City and got my money back and purchased a different TV(an LG 26" LCD Widescreen HDTV).
Try this Tzee, any morning turn your TV to Good Morning America. Watch it and see if you get loud crack noise and sometimes shuts itself off then back on during that broadcast..It happens when they go to a commercial, when screen sizes change from 4:3 to 16:9 in either direction. GMA is most notorious for this. In the first 30 mins of the show mine did it 3 times. Also on any other WXYZ(ABC) broadcast it would do it but not as often. I think there is two reasons for this problem: 1)Something in the way WXYZ is sending their HDTV signal and 2)How the tv cannot handle it. On my new tv I still notice on WXZY when they go to commercials and return that sometimes there is a small gap where no audio is heard...this is what the problem is. I see this with my new tv but it don't shut off and turn back on. The samsung tech told me that the reason a TV would turn off and back on is because something went amiss and it tries to return itself to the condition it was prior to the problem happening. All other HDTV channels were fine, it was only WXYZ and I think their engineers should look into this.

Now further on antennas. The samsung tv, everytime you change channels it pauses while it searchs for a signal. Even if you want to go from ch 2 to ch 7you just can't press the channel up button quickly and go from 2 to 7. It wants to wait on ch 4 until it gets a signal and than at that time you can proceed up to ch 7. My new tv does not have this problem. I can channel up or down rapidly with no problems. In comparison my new LG tv pulls the signals in WAY better than the samsung did. I have only seen once or twice a very small beginning of a drop out on a channel.

If I was you, I'd do as I mentioned and tune to Good Morning America broadcast in the mornings and watch what your tv does. If it acts like the 2 I had, I'd consider returning it for refund. Exchanging it will probably only get you another tv with the same problems.

Good luck to you. And one closing note, Circuit City was totally devoted to helping me and no problems whatsoever with exchanging or trading up to a different TV. They were excellent!

Lastly, I just seen the zenith silver streak you mentioned. It looks to be a HDTV only antenna. I don't think it has a preamp either. If you want to watch VHF you might get very poor reception with it.

Does anyone know what TV Broadcaster in the Detroit area provides the TV GUIDE OTA broadcasts for TV's that have built in TV Guides? I'd like to know that channel and what times this information is broadcast.

If you follow the promts the call diverter dead ends by saying their call volume is too high and you should call back later. Good Bye. Hang up.

I have been getting this message since 6:45 AM. I don't think they are answering their phones.

If you're speaking of over-the-air digital television, the program guide information is transmitted by each broadcaster as part of the PSIP.

If you're talking about over-the-air analog sets with the built in Guide+ ...then I'm not sure who broadcasts that and can't seem to dig up an answer. My guess would be WJBK, but only because News Corp owns them and has an interest in Gemstar TV Guide.

In some markets, it's the PBS affiliate that transmits that stuff. I know my VCR looks at WTVS for its self-settting clock.

Doc

Thanks DrDon. Yes its the Guide+ I am talking about. Mine hasn't updated. Its been a couple days now and wondering why. I have it connected to an OTA and the tv is plugged in all the time. I'll drop PBS detroit an email and ask them about it.

That's comcastic!

Thanks Brow, Comcast was out and replaced the DVR and all is well. Funny thing, even the guide for 235 was out, it was like it did not even exist.

They are a "special" group.

I was hoping that they were adding some new HD channels and everything got screwed up. But I was wrong it was screwed up for no reason.

Maybe they should of raised everyone bill a little more then they could afford to answer the phones on the weekends.

I can confirm it is channel 56 (PBS). This topic came up in the LG LST3410A HD DVR thread, and someone showed the trick to display the "host channel" for the guide on that unit. I checked mine and it is 56. The trick probably differs by device.

Note that it is the analog channel, and the antenna is on a different tower than the digital channel. (it is on or near channel 7 tower). For me, that is a 40 degree bearing difference. I have improved my guide reception by orienting the antenna towards that after I turn it off at night.

The guide info seems to be transmitted 24/7, but your TV/DVR has its own rules for when it tries to listen. It does not transmit the full week. According to another thread, where today = day 1, it transmits days 1,2,3, and 8 each day. Starting from an empty guide, after receiving one day, days 4,5,6, and 7 will be empty, and starting from any day 1, it will be day 5 before the guide has no empty days. While someone else posted this, my experience suggests that it is correct. (how many days are transmitted may vary by market, depending on the amount of info).

I use Zenith Silver Sensor (bought at amazon.com). It is UHF-only by design, although it gets some reception (noisy) on the VHF-high band, channels 7-13. It gets plenty of signal on all the UHF, analog or digital, but I'm only 10-12 miles from all the local stations. On first floor of my house, multipath remains a problem and I have to fiddle with orientation for some channels. A second Silver Sensor on the 2nd floor does better. But indoor anteenas are strictly YMMV.

I'm forced to watch WJBK again today, because I want to see the football game. I usually try to avoid watching Fox, because there's a severe audio dropout problem over Direct TV mpeg 4 satellite. No other station shows this problem, and other Fox football broadcasts through The Super Fan package are fine. Others have mentioned this problem as well. Does WJBK have any plans to try to resolve it? Should I call Direct TV tech?

I should add that the audio from my satellite receiver is routed to a Pioneer Elite VSX-07TX surround sound receiver. Normally the only message that appears on the screen is the source: "LD/SAT." When I'm getting the dropout from the Fox WJBK, it flashes messages: "DIAL.NORM OFFSET -2db. I don't have any idea what this means, but it is obviously linked to the dropout problem.

Erik Nilsson,
I have the same problem and same message on my Pioneer VSX-59txi receiver. Thankfully I kept my antenna.

That stands for "dialog normalization." It means that the encoded audio is higher than normal by 2db. Your receiver is supposed to drop the levels by 2db. You may need to check your receiver's documentation, but how it handles that may have something to do with why you're getting dropouts.

Hi Water1,
Does WJBK have a plan to fix this? Since it's limited to their broadcasts, it must have something to do with their signal.
Erik

Dr. Don,
I've gone through the Pioneer manual. Nothing there about handling this situation. Why is it only from WJBK?
Erik

Water1's not having the issue OTA, if I read correctly. And we've seen no posts from any cable subs complaining. That puts the onus on D* not JBK. Though their PSIP tables are still fubar.

DrDon,
You are correct that OTA is fine. I can duplicate the issue on a different system with a H-20 and a Pioneer VSX-D509S. I don't get an error message on that receiver but the Dolby Digital indicater blinks on and off with the audio.

I'd definitely report it to D*, then.

Thanks JohnS-MI. Good information!

FWIW,

I've heard that the Alito hearings will be on WTVS-DT 56.2, this afternoon. Regular WTVS programming will air only on analog. PBS-HD remains on 56.1.

Doc