Detroit, MI - HDTV - Page 281

MSNBC HD is not available in any Comcast system in Michigan.

Matters how the TV set is configured, what kind of tuner the set has, and how the cable or satellite service is configured.

If the cable is received through a set-top-box (satellite always is), and the TV has both a digital tuner and some form of A/V inputs, you're in luck. Use HDMI, S-video or Component connection for the pay TV (this will also provide better sound and picture than RF connection), and plug an antenna into the/an RF (AKA ANT, ANT/CABLE) jack. This way, you can use the input selector (by remote) to switch between OTA and pay. (Even this is too much "effort" for some people, I know of a family that has an HDTV with 2 RF jacks, and gets OTA HD, but never uses it - HD not worth the bother of using the remote to switch back to cable to surf all the

Another option (SD only systems) is to have pay (with or without STB) into RF and an OTA CECB into A/V inputs.

(feel free to PM me if you want to ask about other configurations).



Buy any indoor antenna from a store that will let you return it "no questions asked". Your dropouts are not necessarily the fault of your RS antenna nor its rotary switch.

When you use an indoor antenna, the antenna is merely the feedpoint of a far more complicated antenna system, your house and it's surroundings affect reception far more than the indoor antenna itself, and great DTV signals are often ruined in the "last 10 meters". You may find it impossible to get WTVS from the North face of your home, or WFUM from the South face. The only way to know if an indoor antenna will work in your home will be to try it yourself.

As to the type of indoor antenna? Ignore brand names, choose one with thick cable instead of thin, get a preamplified model if certain stations -never- come in, avoid a preamplified model if you have strong signals that "drop out" (strong signals dropping out can't be fixed by adding gain - its not the signal strength that is the problem, its the multipath! [something I've told so many people, I chose it as my screen name!]).

I'm missing a few channels on my Series3 but the majority have data.

If they're not all up to date in a few days, submit a request to TiVo to check with Tribune:
http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/...neup_tool.html

If enough of us do it, it'll get done pretty quickly.

ATT has been heavily pushing U-Verse again in my area.
Now that it has been in the Livonia area for a while now, does anyone have any experience/comments they would like to share regarding the quality of the HD broadcasts, and also comments about the speed/reliability of the internet access?

Thanks for any thoughts on your experiences.

For Dish Network, most all of their HD receivers have a built in ATSC tuner for over the air digital TV reception, and the unit integrates the channels with the channels coming from the satellites for surfing and for the on screen guide.

For DirecTV, the current generation of HD receivers do not have ATSC tuners, but if you get an HD DVR, there is an outboard tuner, the AM-21, which will do the same as the integrated Dish HD receivers.

In both cases, no button pushing is needed.

As far as picking between the two:

DirecTV
- The most HD Sports (NFL Sunday Ticket, NCAA Mega March Madness, ESPN Game Plan, MLB Extra Innings, MLS Direct Kick, NASCAR HotPass, etc.)
- Slightly better HD image quality.

Dish Network
- Best HD DVR
- HD Only Packages
- The most overall HD channels


http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1037779

In general, U-verse is considered to have the least HD image quality.

?

All of the "coming soon" channels have been added in Ann Arbor but not TCM

Sorry, Ken, I guess I can get a little wordy.

My best effort to answer the question posed by kjjones: "how many buttons ya gotta push to switch from Dish/DirecTV channels to the locals and back?"

likely a reference to the earlier days of D*, when the whole constellation consisted of two "birds" right next to each other, there were no local stations from D* (#), it was assumed you got the networks from the locals with a terrestrial antenna, and the D* box was an analog pass-through device. To watch OTA, you put the D* in pass-through and switched to your TV's own tuner. In some cases, many buttons had to be pressed.

I had the old type of system for several years before getting an ATSC set in 2005 (and later switching to cable to get on the internet).

(#) if you had no locals, you got non-local network stations off the D* bird.

Thanks for the info, learning as I go here...

Looks like Dish now has a $29.99 OTA adaptor for their receivers/DVRs. Plus is that it will map the OTA stuff as just more channels on the receiver. Also their receivers handle 2 TVs, the second via a wireless connection (only SD for that TV).

KJ

I've got the same problem on Win 7 Media Center here in Ann Arbor. ABC, NBC, and FOX are no longer available in ClearQAM HD.

Still no WJBK, WDIV,WTVS or WXYZ in HD here in Plymouth. Any Canton/Northville/Plymouth people have the same issue? Don't know if it's changed in the last few years but if I remember right that was a separate area from Westland.

All I am getting is the standard cable distribution of those channels--not the -DT versions, and no subchannels. Still getting WWJ-DT though. So no Michigan football in HD, and no 56.3 (Create) shows recording this weekend.

Is there even anyone at Comcast who would know what I am talking about if I called? I'm guessing the regular phone jockeys would just tell me digital cable without a box is impossible :P

Ah, I see we are both up early checking on this and posting! Discouraging to say the least. What about PBS? Do you get WTVS (channel 56 OTA) out there usually, or do they go with the A2 channel?

well I guess it's good to hear i'm not alone missing my hd channels from comcast basic, but this sucks. Has anyone contacted comcast to see what changed because watching UofM beat Ohio today in standard definition will not make me happy. haha ;o)

What's your location? Also, quite the optimist I see

I might plug the antenna in to the TV. Light overcast outside, should be good reception today anyways.
edit: haven't found enough patience underneath the couch cushions to be ready to handle a phone call to support yet.

Online chat was not helpful...probably need to contact the local offices, and probably during the week. I will be calling Monday if it's still going on and seeing if I can talk to someone who knows what's going on.

I wouldn't even mind if they took away all the clear-QAM expanded basic channels, but my locals in HD and sub-channels are what I want.

I'm just south of ann arbor in Milan. Still no hd channels for me with the basic comcast cable with the built in tuner. no 2-1 4-1 7-1 56-1

That is correct.



It may be difficult, but you can always try. The key is getting someone who knows what QAM is. Also, escalate to a supervisor.

A number of Comcast employees read this topic, so by now they are probably aware of the issue.

I thought I lost all these channels as of Thursday evening too . . . until I checked my DVR and saw that they were all still there . . . then I realized that they had changed the local channel frequency for the first time in years and after rescanning for them I found them all.

They used to be in the 81-84 range, now they're in the 40s. Not sure it this helps you . . .

Thanks for bringing that up, as in most cases a full rescan will once again find the missing channels.

If the rescan doesn't work, do a complete deletion of all channels, completely reboot the unit, a reset if available, and set up from scratch.

Will try that--rescanned (a lot!) and no fix, but will try a hard power reset on the hdhomerun.

If that doesn't work, then the ball is in Comcast's court.

Thanks you posted a great hint as to what might be going on with the new channel locations.

For those still having problems how many of you are limited basic subs that still have a trap on the line?

i'm a limited basic sub, how do i tell if there's a trap on the line and what does that do?

Before they cut the analog channels were you getting any channel between 25 and 70. If the answer is "no" then you have a trap.

A trap blocks a certain portion of bandwidth that used to be occupied by expanded basic analog channels.

Yes that *was* the problem, we are Limited Basic subscribers.

For anyone else in the situation, I recommend just getting a truck roll out, say your cable TV is out. No channels. When the tech shows up, run the quick explanation past him, tell they moved the clear digital locals into that range...show him the setup if you/he wants. Have some hot chocolate or something for him.

The analog traps will be outdated pretty soon once they go to the encrypted digital.


If it's an underground or MDU setup, you most likely won't be able to see, but if it's an aerial drop and you have keen eyes, you should see a silver tube either on the tap or on a jumper off the tap in your cable line. There may be several up there though and it can be hard to see which line it might be on. When is this area switching to the digital (haven't been paying attention)?

So did comcast change something when they rolled out those new channels on 11/19 people were talking about? I've been in my house almost three years what would make them come out and install a trap now? Did they get rid of our HD channels to clear bandwidth? I think i'll be cancelling my comcast soon if this is how it's going to stay and move to dish or direcTV.

I am in AA and I find that WJBK HD, WDIV HD + sub, WTVS HD + subs, and WXYZ HD + sub were moved to 43 and 44. Bonus: we are now getting WGN HD on 70.1 in clear.

Someone didn't think things through all the way on their end. They moved the channels we should be getting to a lower channel--that doesn't have a trap for their Expanded Basic customers. However it does affect us on Limited Basic using clear-QAM tuners, which is, admittedly, probably a very small subset of their customers.

I have the channels now, along with the entire Expanded Basic lineup, at least until the encryption comes along. And after that I will have my basic channels, with a reliable signal which I didn't have out here in the outskirts of the Detroit Metro area. Which is all I want, plus the Limited Basic actually lowers our monthly payment combined with the HSI versus just HSI alone.

OK, I'm interested in calibration options other than BestBuy's GeekSquad. Are there Any other superior calibration recommendations for the Southeast Michigan area? Looking for the best for $300. If not I'll stick with BB then.