Charlotte, NC - OTA - Page 30

We've made a few changes to the WCCB_DT audio configuration, please let us know what you think.

What does that mean exactly, what should we be looking for?

I noticed a couple small dropouts last night from AI, but couldn't tell any difference in sound.

On that note, how does Chris D get voted out over that terrible dark haired girl. Guess I should have voted.

Anyone else having trouble with Fox 18 tonight? I'm getting regular drops, but it looks like my signal, although there is no wind out tonight.

I too have experienced regular drop outs with Fox 18. I had them on Sunday night, then last night (24). It has been good to me in the past, but recently I started experiencing many drop outs. I haven't moved my antenna in two years. Perhaps I should check to see if my amp is plugged in.

We have several viewers watching OTA critically. Had lunch with one who said 24 was solid for him all the way through last night. Suggest checking your antenna, etc.

WCCB has been flawless for me (at least AI, House, Bones, 24, Malcolm) since the hiccup at the end of April.

Actually, 24 was solid for me, I didn't watch it until after I made my post.

However, Prision Break was unwatchable, that's the one I was posting about.

I havn't had any problems since though. House and AI were perfect last night as well.

HD DirecTiVo HR10-250

I don't think we can talk about Video Extraction here, but I can say that it's possible .

Good Morning BDFox,

Quick Question, is there anyway that Fox can turn down the sound on the commercials? It is absolutly the loudest of all the stations.

Thanks,
Chad

Chad, we have no control over the levels in FOX's Network programming. Network Audio and Video originate from LA, and since we "splice" the network signal into
ours, there is no way we can alter either. However, We have been having extended discussions with them on this issue. Please PM me your detailed complaint, I will pass it on to those in LA.

Anyone know when Charlotte locals will be on DirecTV? They were supposed to be on in April, than I heard June, but it looks like they took Charlotte off the list for june, I live out in Lake Wylie SC, and have a 10 foot mast on my roof, with a big antenna if it is a calm day I get the locals ok if it is windy I get a lot of pixelization and the channels become unwatchable. I applied for a network waiver but all the Charlotte stations denied me, DirecTV already upgraded my DISH with the 5 LNB dish, because every few weeks when I tune to 36-1 the NBC HD local it crashed ,y DirecTV tuner, and it takes at least anhour to reset everything to get me back up. I have hadthis problem since December when I got my recievers replaced with the H20, DirecTV said they are aware of the crashes when watching local OTA stations and are working on a software upgrade but until than I have pixelizxation. a tuner that crashed for some unknown reason, local stations that don't want to give me a waiver and so watching locals on my HDTV can be frustrating at best.

I am hoping DirecTV locals would be the anser to my problems but it doesn't look like that will happen now, any ideas?

I thought they allready rolled out? If I'm not mistaken, the June stations are NEW stations in ADDITION to the previously announced stations, so Charlotte should not be on that list anyhow.

Only SD versions are available. HD versions were planned for June. Where did you (David) see that they were taken "off the list" ?

Did anyone have drop outs last night? The first hour was fine but the second hour was so bad I had to switch to SD.

No problems last night.

No problems for me either.

Anyone notice about 9:10-9:20 time frame that AI in HD did not return after a commercial break? I did not wait unitl it returned so I switched to SD via D*. Even if D* does do HD-Lite, it would better than the intermittent transmission lapses and format switching that HD via OTA puts us through.

D* will supply the same feeds received OTA - HD-Lite will only degrade the exact same thing we get via antenna. If a local station forgets to "flip a switch" it will impact the D* feeds also.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, there's been no indication yet that "HD-Lite" will apply to D*'s HD-LILs (or any HD channels supplied vie MPEG4 on the new sats). So far, the vast majority of reports indicate that MPEG4 HD-LILs are virtually indistinguishable from their corresponding OTA feed.

As far as "intermittent transmission lapses and format switching" - the Charlotte stations have vastly improved. I used to have the local stations on speed dial so I could call when they forgot to switch over to HD. This year, it has been almost completely eliminated as a problem. The FOX glitch last night was a network (national) issue that impacted all affiliates. The only consistent problem is with WSOC cutting to SD about 5 to 10 seconds early on the shows ending at 11 pm, and WCNC having hard SD-HD switches coming back from commercial during many shows (potentially a Network issue). Other than that, we have no switching problems coming from the local affiliates.

Multicasting and other deterioration of the national feed is a separate issue (WCNC and WBTV) that results in very poor picture quality - but even that will be passed along to D* for their sat supplied channels.

CP, your are quite correct. Excellent explanation.

CP:
Thanks for the most excellent explanation. I have had HD for about 15 months now and only recently has the OTA HD been an enjoyable experience. I have been patiently waiting for enough HD content to justify upgrading my theater room. The D* HD LiL upgrade hopefully will be the catalyst.
I have learned much from you and bdfox10doe though your posts.

I posted above about 24 2nd hour problems and I just wanted to let everyone know during Lost last night I discovered a problem. When my microwave is turned on (in use) I started receiving breakups (picture freezing, audio dropouts, etc). The microwave is only a couple moths old and I don't have any unusual growths yet. Has anyone experienced a problem like this? (Not the growths just the drop outs from microwave oven use.)

Any tenderness or swelling in your glandular tissues?

Only when watching Skinamax.

d* says june 28 for charlotte HD locals. they've never given an exact date before, so i'm inclined to believe it's true.

Re Microwave...I'll relate two other instances of RFI surprises...so that all may be aware.

After construction of our house was complete, every time we popped corn in the Microwave, it would (1) ring the doorbell, and (2) turn on various lights. It took weeks to determine that the contractor had placed the driveway sensor too close to the underground power lines and the MW would trigger it. (This was pre-HDTV.)

Next problem, more related: a highvoltage pet fence (used to control wild bears) would cause major DT interference when certain weeds blew against the wire and caused arcing, especially when wet from rain. Again, it took weeks to relate DT pixelization with weeds.

Installing the pet fence is easy, the bitch is outfitting all the wild bears with those shock collars.

Especially when trying to put one on the wife..

Any troubles with FOX today for anyone?

Yep...OTA had some minor glitches throughout the race yesterday..

Did some work on Saturday with TWC, and discovered an issue, while fine for OTA, was causing their processor to have some major issues when regrooming and mixing streams. We and TWC will be sending recordings of the streams to FOX and Terayon to see what is causing the problem. Our HD system, as well as how TWC handles the signal, is somewhat advanced and on the cutting edge, so there are still bugs being worked out even today.

I'm also convinced that there is another problem that has developed on our end late Friday or early Saturday which led to TWC's discovery. Rather than risk killing the race altogther, I let it go as it wans't that bad. All of this gear, including the FOX splicer, is single thread with NO redundancy. Even if I wanted to buy an extra splicer, FOX doesn't make them available.