Charlotte, NC - OTA - Page 27

Thanks, Titan TV listings was saying that there was programming all day.

Last semi-official word (D* rep at CES) was June '06 for the MPEG4 HD-DVR. I'm certainly waiting for that plus:

1) User reports of the product and whether or not they have fixed the many issues with the non-Tivo software.

2) Introduction of the much smaller Slim Line 5 lnb dish.

newbie question on D* offering HD locals in Charlotte. Will the PQ be as good as you get with HD on an OTA antenna? i'm asking because i'm trying to decide on buying an HD receiver with OTA antenna, or going with Directv's lease program and getting the LNB5 upgrade in april.

any thoughts?

Nooo...

I doubt it never will be as good as OTA, just mater of fact due to the extra compression and recompression of the feed.

Early reports are that it is very close to OTA quality, but they'll never be able to convert to MPEG4 with "zero" loss.

It's a shame we can't get a full bandwidth feed of WCNC and WBTV delivered to the DBS companies - even OTA, their quality blows (I believe the technical term is "sucks" )

Check PM Matt..

It appears that the engineers forget to switch to HD at night. Trying to watch Stargate and it's an HD show being shown in SD again. If they want to keep viewers, they need to flip the switch! I moved on to a real HD channel.....

Great! I've completely lost WSOC 9-1. I'm even picking up Fox which is pretty rare for me here. But no 9-1 tonight. I should have stayed in Houston...

No problems with 9.1 here tonight. It's odd that you pick up 18 though, they are practically located right on top of each other, and running at the same power.

This morning 9.1 was back. I'm seriously wondering if WSOC is operating at less than full power. I wonder what alternatives there are to WSOC for ABC. Clearly I can't depend on them.

I've seen very few problems with WSOC-DT...they're quite reliable, IMHO..

If you've got another explanation I'd love to hear it. I didn't change a thing from the Super Bowl but this time I got nothing. I've been watching HDTV since January 2002. From that time until April 2005 it was in Houston on a silver sensor on top of the STB with a channel master pre-amp. Now I use a Channel Master 4 bay with the same pre-amp in the attic of a two story house.

Normally I only have drop outs on WSOC when it rains or it's windy. To have absolutely nothing on a clear calm night was crazy. I checked everything that night and even cycled the power on the STB - didn't change a thing.

I called the station during the Oscar broadcast and was told that they could see the broadcast in their newsroom. Well d'uh! In comparson, I once called KTRK in Houston when their OTA HD broadcast had no sound. I was transfered to an engineer who corrected the problem immediately. I was also given a direct line in the event of a future problem.

Yes I realize I sound angry. But if I'm not allowed to watch WSOC then I want a feasible alternative to watch ABC HDTV, not a nonsensical response about what they can see inside their own building.

Ditto!

Maybe you're picking up some interference?

Have you checked the Analog Ch 9? How does it look? Any Multipath issues? Check analog 18 as well.

Unfortunately D* has no plans to carry the local Public TV HD signals in North Carolina. I think this is their plan nationwide not to carry Local Public TV HD Signals so if you want to get any of the new UNC-TV HD productions like "Exploring North Carolina" you will not get it on D* UNC-TV is making a large investment in HD production capability.

I wanted to let OTA viewers know that UNC-TV has not been broadcasting OTA HD since 10:20 PM on Friday March 3, due to some serious technical problems. We had a failure of our large UPS and tripped a 1600 amp 3 phase 480V breaker at our headquarters network operations center and we were off the air statewide digital and analog for awhile Friday night. We hope to return our 8pm to 11pm OTA HD schedule as soon as we can get equipment up and running. We had numerous equipment and computer failures, servers, automation etc. related to the power outage. We regret this inconvenience to our viewers.

You should not need a preamp with that antenna, especially since you're only about 16 miles from the WCCB-WSOC transmitters.. There's a good possibility that
you're experienceing front end overload of the receiver at times..
But you may have to do some tweaking of the alignment to get all the charlotte stations, as you're approaching a 90 degree reception spread to get all.

As far as being allowed to watch WSOC.. huh? The newsroom isn't the engineering staff..all they know is if the picture is there..

I removed the pre-amp and lost 42-1 and UPN. The WB is unwatchable from all the drop outs. Perhaps the pre-amp helps overcome the 90 degree issue but last Sunday the pre-amp overwhelmed the receiver, but only for WSOC?
I guess I'll try to put the old silver sensor in the attic with the 4 bay antenna and connect them with a joiner. Worst case scenario I waste $10 and a few hours or it works and I have the silliest looking antenna attic setup.

This forum is great. I am thinking about getting an HD tv, I live in an apartment complex in south charlotte, near Rea Rd. I am on the second floor with my balcony facing mostly south and west. I currently have directv tivo and get a great picture on my small 24" sony. I would like to keep that for now and try to get OTA HD using a set top amplified antenna. Will it work and is it worth it to try? What are my options?

You can experiment, and OTA is the best possible picture (available) - but D* should be adding Charlotte HD local stations (Big 4 only) within the next couple months. Early (few) reports are that the HD locals supplied by D* are very close, if not indistinguishable, from the quality available OTA.

The wait may or may not be longer if you hold out for the new 5-lnb Slim Line dish, but I'd hold out for that if you decide to go with D*'s HD locals. It is much smaller than the beast being installed now, but like I said, I'm not sure exactly how long until that new dish becomes readily available.

If I just use OTA in my situation for now can I get anything? I am in an apartment. What are my options using OTA?

Trial and error.

As far as distance, you shouldn't have a problem. I got both towers from Fort Mill with a $15 Radio Shack double-bowtie antenna (all RS amplified antennas performed worse at my house) on top of my TV. There are other factors that you really can't anticipate without giving it a try. You may also have to turn the antenna to face the separate antennas depending on which channel you want to view. I was fortunate in that I am far enough away to decrease the angle separating the two towers, but still close enough for a strong signal. Moving further North to Pineville or South Park could increase the signal strength, but also increase the angle of spread enough that the antenna cannot "grab" both towers while remaining stationary.

Best HD we get in Charlotte comes from ABC and FOX, and they both come from the same tower near Concord. Even if it turns out that you can only pick up that tower, it would be well worth giving it a shot.

Thanks Matt, but actually two seperate towers.. located on diagonal corners at Harris Blvd & Rocky River Rd near UNCC..

Ooops...... from Fort Mill - that's the same thing.

Fort Where?

I am in Rock Hill, Is there any chance is receiving DTV from Spartanburg or Columbia. It would be nice to get an alternative CBS and ABC feeds when the locals interrupt the 'regular' programming or another sports option. There was very little SEC action available outside of D*.