Chico, CA - HDTV - Page 84

Mike,

Does Reno, NV CW have HD programming?

Thanks

Don't know, but it's SD here.

Mike

Does anyone know why KHSL is not HD tonight?

Time to rescan your tuners! 24.2 is now Antenna TV (looks like another retro TV network). Acuweather is on 24.5. Maybe 24.3 & 24.4 are next? This thread needs some life again, it's been awful quiet.

24-3, 24-4, and 24-6 already exist on a translator for KNVN/KHSL in Oroville.

http://www.rabbitears.info/market.ph...callsign=k42hl

- Trip

I had to rescan all of of my receivers. Between Me TV and Antenna TV, there are some good old programs. Thanks for the post!

If they use too much bandwidth for the extra channels, watch and see what happens to the quality of the HD channel.

Preseason football starts today! Yeah!
I got NFL Sunday Ticket this year for $84.

Mike

I have DirecTV and use their off air tuner that connects via USB to the receiver. For a couple days I have been getting 100% signal on 24-1, and video and audio is fine, but the message saying Searching for Signal appears constantly.

Is it true I can get my locals through DirecTV now and don't need the antenna anymore? If not, any ideas on the issue I'm having? Thanks!

Wow, I feel dumb. I just turned to the DirecTV versions of the channels and they are all HD, but 24 is having issues, and 7 is showing ESPN. Not sure what's going on there.

I was hopping that when ABC 7 was comming off the sat that the broadcast problems would be over with. Not so. Yesterday, while watching a football game, the picture was jerkey. Switched to OTA and things cleared up for a whle. Then I started getting signal drop outs again.

Is KRCR lowering their broadcast power to save money? If so, how long before they go off the air?

Mike

Honestly, with all the problems our locals have, I'd just as soon get Sacramento locals in HD.

I am moving to the north end of Oroville and should be able to receive K08NH, K04QC, K15CX and K18AO. Does anyone know their channel lineups or know where to find them?

K18AO no longer exists, it is now K42HL-D and provides all the programming on 12 and 24 in SD.

12-3 CBS-SD
12-4 CW-SD
24-3 NBC-SD
24-4 Antenna TV
24-6 Weather

K15CX translates KRCR (ABC) and has a permit to go digital.

K08NH translates KCVU (FOX) and K04QC translates KZVU-LD (My). Neither of these signals have permits to go digital.

- Trip

Got home last night after being out of town for 3 weeks and was exited to watch the NASCAR Race that my wife recorded Saturday night on ABC. What a disappointment that was. The picture was soft and jerky and it almost looked sped up. Impossible to watch. WTF!! I was so glad when DirecTV started to carry the locals in HD but not so sure now. Good thing the antenna is still in place.

I had some problems receiving KHSL last night during "CSI:NY". First, feom D*, and also OTA. Anyone else?

Mike

I was watching college football on KNVN 24 and KHSL 12 on Directv hd locals feed this afternoon and they were almost unwatchable at times. Lots of pixelation and what seemed to be focusing problems. Switched over to OTA and broadcasts were clear like normal. Nothing wrong at all with these stations. Switch back to Directv and still unwatchable. Anyone else noticing these problems with Directv broadcast of our local hd?

It seems that D* is over compressing the signal. Both KNVN and KHSL use 1080i for OTA and have robbed bandwidth from the HD channel for sub-channels. If it looks good on OTA and bad on D*, then D* needs to up the bandwidth. I have E*. Their rebroadcast is the same as OTA all the time. I know both use the MPEG-4 technology. Hopefully you have a contact with D* for submitting problem issues with video quality. I suspect that the problem is worse with motion, panning or quick scene changes.

Yes, it is worse with motion etc... And now trying to watch game tonight on KRCR 7, I have noticed same thing, not as bad as other 2 channels, but still annoying. I guess I need to get the antenna back out. And as I was typing this response, KRCR just turned clear. Like they are using more bandwidth now. I don't get why D* is doing that.

I would think that D* uses a spot-beam for your locals. As far as bandwidth there is a set amount per spot-beam. Depending on how many channels they put on that spot beam will affect quality. Having HD channels for ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, and PBS, is pushing the envelope. If they put even more channels on the spot-beam, then poor quality is more frequently seen. Also using MPEG-4, they can get away with around 50% compression. When the TV stations are already pushing the envelope with narrow bandwidth, where the decompression can't recover all the data the receivers just can't replace it fast enough.

Another thing that the satellite companies do is have each channel on a sliding scale for bandwidth. If one station is using less, another station using more will benefit the bandwidth. If all the TV stations are all running at max., well you should get the picture.

If you compare KRCR, KCVU, and KIXE against KHSL and KNVN for OTA quality when there is fast motion, panning, and fast scene changes; KRCR, KCVU, and KIXE have better quality because they use 720p which just works better. If you look at a static picture, then KHSL and KNVN look better because of the higher resolution. It is too bad that the OTA channels are stuck in MPEG-2.

It may be worth while to complain to the TV stations about the quality for satellite reception as they do have a line of communication with D*.

Watched college football on 7 and 12 yesterday and the picture was great. Does anyone know, for sure, what was wrong before.

Mike

Anyone know of a CableCard w/TVGOS TV around 50 for sale in the area?

KRCR has begun broadcasting using a more powerful transmitter as of Saturday morning 0300.
The change in transmitters has resulted in KRCR being able to finally broadcast at it's fully licensed broadcast level.
More importantly, the change to a more modern transmitter allowed the addition of an adaptive feedback exciter wheras the older transmitter had a fixed preset exciter.

I would like to hear from DirecTV viewers if there has been any improvement in the converted downlink SD and HD signals picked up from their Chico Headend.

Those off air viewers with indoor antennas closer to Redding may notice that they may need to re-adjust the pointing. Some close in viewers may find that an off axis antenna or laying the antenna on its side to null reflections is now an option.

Good to hear about the KRCR update. I checked my OTA levels for the D* tuner and saw no difference. I did, however, see a major improvment in the signal from D*. No jerkey football this Saturday. Thanks.

Mike

Since Sunday afternoon to present, there are severe signal problems seen on both OTA channels VHF07 and UHF34. Even the quality of channels on Dish Network for HD channel and SD channel are very, very bad. With the satellite channels there is major video freeze, macro blocking, garbled audio. With some of my OTA tuners, there is complete signal loss or the same observations are seen as with the satellite channels.

The broadcast signals are sick.

It is 4:15pm. The channel seems fixed. So far so good.

Started watching the Raider game on KHSL. Watched until the game reverted to an SD feed and then switched to the Sunday Ticket feed. I don't understand why these people don't seem to care about whether a broadcast is HD or SD.

Mike

Here in Oroville, I can only reliably watch KRCR. (and KCVU on analog 8) There are lots of signals that come and go, which are bouncing off Table Mountain I suppose. I wonder how high I would have to put an antenna to see K42HL all the time. It might be time for basic cable or satellite

I'm about to sign back up for cable television after a six month absence. Does anyone know how to ensure a newer box with HDMI (preferably the most recent model)?

Last year, Comcast tried to stick me with an old HD DVR that had no HDMI output, with the tech telling me there was no difference between HDMI and components, and that all cable channels broadcast in 720p, anyway (neither of which I believed). After a nightmarish few weeks and three cable box exchanges, I finally received a DCX-3400, which I found satisfactory.

I'd like to be able to skip the bullcrap and hit the ground running with the right cable box. Is this possible? Maybe now that the Oroville office is closed and has consolidated operations with Chico, this will be easier than it was a year ago.

You're best bet is to ask Comcast to ship your HD DVR directly to you and you can just set it up yourself. They charge $9.95 for the s/h and they pretty much always ship a DCX 3400 when a HD DVR order is placed. ( i know from personal experience). You can also take your chances at the service center but that's a crapshoot, you won't know what they have until you actually get there and ask. There is no direct # to the store and the people who answer the phone on the customer service side have no access to inventory levels of service centers.

Thank you, Curtis. If I request that a DCX 3400 be mailed to me, would it be at my home in time for the Comcast tech to do the install?

Just curious: how are KHSL and KNVN able to show some syndicated shows in HD (Dr. Phil, Anderson, Extra, The Ellen Degeneres Show; etc.) but not others (Live with Regis and Kelly, Rachael Ray, Inside Edition)?

On a semi-related note, I just got cable back over the weekend, and I've noticed that KRCR has shown Jimmy Kimmel Live in SD for at least two nights in a row. Any particular reason?