Fort Smith, AR - HDTV - Page 12

KFSM-DT is working on their power upgrade, but I don't know if they've finished yet. They told me they would be full power "by June" and their low power STA permit expires in July.
( Contact: jimmyDOTpooleATkfsmDOTcom )

I'm still having problems with KFSM-DT here in Carroll County... :-(

I live in Fort Smith and I just purchased a new HDTV (Samsung 42" DLP). I found this thread and have been catching up. I have Cox digital cable and I read on here that I should be able to get the local digital channels over my coax (my TV has a built-in tuner). I have found the following stations:

125-1 AETN (PBS)
125-2 KFSM (CBS)
126-1 KHBS (ABC)
131-2 Biography Channel

I guess I have some learning to do, though. I thought an HD picture would be widescreen 16:9. All the ones I see look pretty much the same size as on a 4:3 TV. I do have my TV set to 16:9 mode.

I thought about getting a cable card from Cox but I don't know. I'd give up the converter box but I wouldn't be able to record any digital-only channels on my ReplayTV. I would get the Cox HD DVR but I think it's just too expensive (isn't it $9.95/month for HD and $14.95/month for the DVR?) My Replay costs me only $9.95 a month.

Anyway, I've been enjoying the thread.

Edit:
I just noticed on the cable DTV channels there is no information about resolution or program info.

ABC, CBS & PBS are HD mostly only during prime time, except for Good Morning America, Young & the Restless and a few other daytime programs. Most prime time series are in HD and are 16:9. The rest of the time, when a 4:3 program is shown on a 16:9 channel, black or gray vertical bars will be on each side of the screen to fill out the 16:9 frame.

PBS in Arkansas has only a few HD programs each month and always at night.

Go to: http://www.zap2it.com for local tv listings.
Look for the [HD] logo for programs in High Def.

Ok, thanks arxaw.

Another question about the Cox HD DVR: If I use it to record a show in HD would I be able to copy the show onto a regular old VCR? Sometimes family members don't get something taped and I will copy the show from my Replay to the VHS for them. Could I do this with the Cox HD DVR?

Well, I went ahead and picked up a Cox HD DVR today. I'll play with it tonight. I just wanted the ability to record HD programs.

Last night I saw there was an HD show on PBS about Alaska and I thought that would be nice to check out my new TV. For some reason, as soon as the show started, the picture went black and I only got audio. Anyone know why this happened? I had an optical cable running from the TV to my receiver also and the digital audio was cut off too. Other channels worked fine.

Looked fine Over the Air. Sounds like your cable box wigged out when AETN changed the resolution from 480i to 1080i for the HD program.

Call your cableco.

No, I wasn't using a cable box at the time. Just the out-of-the-wall coax cable.

Your TV's tuner may have gotten confused by the on-the-fly resolution change. If it does it again, try changing channels or turning the TV off/on again.

If that doesn't help, it may be a cableco problem.

I recorded "Boston Legal" on my DVR last night in HD. All I can say is WOW! The picture was just amazing! Although I swear I detected some slight "blurring" when Candice Bergen was on the screen

Anybody know when Cox will add HDTV in Harrison? My in-laws are there, trying to decide if/when to purchase and HDTV for them (so we can watch it when we are there) - they won't want to switch between OTA and Cable - so OTA isn't really an option.

Thanks!

I live about 3 miles from the end of the cable line, so I don't know for sure, but I believe they offer about 7 or so HD channels on Cox in Harrison now...

You should be able to check their line up on their web site........

I would sign up with them if they would run the line out this far. They offer both LR and Springfield networks, but I am stuck with only Springfield with satellite....

What's up with KHOG-DT tonight? Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy weren't in HD.

Evidently they can't have the weather warning box and be in HD at the same time. CBS wasn't in HD either tonight.

I did check the website - best I could tell they didn't offer any HD - but of course, I could have missed it.

Where are you at in Harrison?

29-1 is pixelating this morning.... again.
Signal strength is a steady 100%.

I haven't had any issues this time around, are you still seeing pixelation? May have just missed it..

29-1 looks ok now (except for the usual washed out picture). Seems to pixelate a lot after bad weather.

[OT, since it's not HD, but....]
When did KWFT switch from WB to FOX? I thought KFTA was changing to FOX....

I have 34 now as fox, and 14 as WB. Just noticed this a couple of nights ago...

Where is 14 located? I can't get it here in Carroll co.

KHMF-CA out of Bentonville

LOL, no wonder I can't get 14. Their coverage area doesn't even go to Garfield.
Eureka would be a helluva stretch...


Doesn't matter though. I never watch analog on my HD set.

I have noticed that my receiver indicates that the KHBS HD audio is not 5.1, even though, according to ABC, it's supposed to be. KFSM's shows are in 5.1.
I am watching via my Cox DCT-6412 HD DVR.
Since you just re-broadcast the raw ABC HD feed, shouldn't the audio be 5.1 surround?

DD5.1 audio is not simply "passed on" from the network to the viewer, a conversion has to take place to convert the network satellite feed to an OTA and cable format. This requires extra decoding/encoding equipment that 40/29 does not have.

WABC-DT on DirecTV has DD5.1 audio, but 40/29 does not.

You can ask 40/29 about this on the "signal issues" page of their web site.

Anyone else having a problem with the KHBS HD channel? I can't get it on my cable box or by tuning directly to 126.1. So I have missed nearly the first half of Desperate Housewives since I only programmed my DVR to record the HD broadcast.

Ok, the KHBS HD problem is obviously a Cox issue. Can anyone in the Fort Smith area confirm that Cox digital cable channel 720 (or tuner channel 126.1) is dead? The KHBS engineer assured me they are sending the signal but I'm not getting it. Also my brother, who lives an another part of town, is not getting it on his built-in tuner.
I contacted Cox but their answer is to send a technician to my house. I tried to explain to them but they are not listening.

ARXAW is correct. All ABC is doing is providing the sound channels even though they say 5.1, it isn't. The program stream comes from ABC via satellite encrypted, in yet another compressed format not viewable by anything standard. The station must decode it into HD serial video and buy a special decoder to break out six discrete serial audio channels. At the DTV Encoder the HD serial video gets turned into MPEG2. The audio channels must pass through a dolby 5.1 encoder where it is recombined into a single audio data stream and sent to the DTV encoder where it is combined with the MPEG video, without loosing lip sync even though the audio and video are taking different paths and have different delays. It's a mess. We do not have the ABC decoder or the dolby 5.1 encoders, the equipment to delay the audio or the video, whichever is leading, to get them back in sync. I have entered a request for them in the 2007 budget. We will know if Hearst-Argyle management approves it sometime in August. If approved it would be sometime after April 2007 before it is purchased, installed and on the air.
A little more insight on ABC. Back in the good old days, the network saw it as their responsibility to get their signal to the affiliate. Now days, ABC has taken the attitude that it is only their job to provide us with the SD signal. Even then, we had to buy the SD equipment up front and allow ABC to reimburse us for it over 8 years. Anything besides SD is at our own expense. So we fully have to buy everything that has to do with HD, Surround sound, Spanish on SAP (which we have considered), or anything else we want to add on for our viewers.

Kind of unrelated, but I received my Cox bill yesterday and noticed that the increased their rates of several services. Both digital and analog services, DVR. etc.


It's under the the section "What's New at Cox?".

Like it is something real exciting, but it's only rate increases. Although, I did notice an interactive weather channel and a channel where you can play card games with the remote. They are on the two channels below channel 2.

4029engineering,

Just curious, why does it often take 10 minutes or more before KHOG-DT switches Good Morning America to HD? This is annoying, especially since all your SD network feeds looks so washed out.

I don't know. Perhaps you could come help them out.