Dallas, TX - HDTV - Page 17

Fox is really broadcasting 720p. The built in tuner in your TV converts that to 1080i, and your TV displays a 1080i image. The TV can not accept a 720p signal on its component inputs or sync at that scan rate. The internal tuner does the conversion.

Is anyone else having problems with WFAA DT today? Their signal today here is 30-40%. The others are fine 80-90%. Is this just me?

Mine is normally 93% solid and today it seems to be dropping into the 79-86% Range. I live in Argyle, TX.

It's up to 58 here. When the sun set here, the transmitters were between me and the sun. Kind of like satellite sunouts in the spring and fall. Don't know how much that would affect VHF but it's a thought. My DTC-100 OTA receiver is doing a SUPER job handling the low signal. The wife hijacked the big TV with the HR10-250 so I cannot comment on that receiver's reception....YET!!!

Ok, I'm watching the game and at times it's unwatchable. It's an intermittant problem. All is good 75-80 and then it drops to 20-30 and the picture goes out. Signal at time of this post is 21. All other DFW stations are as normal. I do understand that WFAA DT is the only station in Dallas that uses the VHF band. KERA is the closest at ch14. That signal is 75.

Mine is fine here in Southlake. I will advise that I have had to replace two Sony HD300s due to the OTA tuner going out. The latest model (HD300) is working fine on WFAA.

Do you have your OTA feed going to any other receiver that you can test the signal with? When I went through this issue, I had a Sony HD200 on a different set that never suffered signal loss so I knew something was wrong with the previous two HD300 receivers.

Just some food for thought.

I have the HDVR Tivo and have had 2 or 3 HD to SD drops myself. Seems to have been corrected in the last few minutes. Others have mentioned this is a national problem.

I hope this is the right forum.

I'm using Dish Network's 811 receiver for OTA. FOX's HD (from Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX) never really looks that good to me. Yesterday, however, it was really bad. My other OTA HD channels look fine. I don't think it has anything to do with FOX transmitting in 720p, because ABC and ESPN look great. I've found that leaving the 811 set to 1080i usually results in the best picture no matter what the source, even though my monitor (Samsung 61" DLP: HLN617W) is 720p native. I did a quick comparison just to be sure, and setting the 811 to 720p did not help matters. It wasn't much better than SD for some reason.

Does anyone else have problems with Dallas/Ft. Worth's transmission of FOX in HD?

FWIW I'm using components.

Don't know about 1/6 but It did seem like the game yesterday looked bad.

Doh! That's what I meant. I don't know why I'm off 3 days! Yes, I was referring to the game on 1/9.

Yeah I thought the game looked pretty bad as well yesterday. 24, although a good show, didn't look much better.

Generally speaking, no. I didn't watch much football yesterday, but I am usually pretty happy with the Fox broadcast HD. I'll watch with a little more critical eye tonight to see if maybe I just haven't been paying attention...

-Randy

The Super Bowl will be on FOX, right? So, I guess it'll look like crap.

If you are talking about the Packer/Viking game it looked spectacular, IMHO, at Lambeau Field. On my 50" panny plasma I could see the individual blades of grass (what little there was of it) mixed in with the muddy painted field. I could even see the mist droplets of rain. I was switching back and forth between channel 88 on D* HD east and 4-1. 4-1 was slightly better for obvious reasons. CBS HD is still the best of all sports IMO but the others are catching up.

By the way I have the national HD feeds for Fox east, NBC east, and CBS east. Has anyone successfully talked their way into getting the west feeds? I would prefer them so I can watch shows in Pacific time that I missed earlier in the evening. But apparently there is a policy of some sort not allowing viewers a preference.

The Packs/Vikes game looks fine to me.

What do you guys mean when you say it looks bad? Lots of artifacts? Fuzzy?

The colors in the game is not as vibrant as the other game, but you have to consider that this game was played during dusk so the stadium lighting needs to be adjusted as the game moved on. Also, the rain and mist contributed to the fadeness of the colors.

I thought the game looked excellent as well.

Looks like you are about 70 or so miles from the towers. If the other channels are coming in fine then I would recommend you "slightly" adjust your antenna. I recently had to do that to my antenna after I took the latest software update for my 811 (current software is now 284). I am finding as you get further the away from the towers, the signal is not quite as "forgiving" as the old analog. But he PQ is 1000% better. As an aside, FOX was brilliant (unlike GB!)

I mean the picture was soft, fuzzy and just not very vibrant. There must have been a problem with their sideline camera because every shot was MUCH darker than their play-by-play main camera. Some of their cameras looked like they were fogged up or had been damaged by the rain. Compared to a ESPN HD or ABC Monday night game FOX doesn't come close in my opinion.

Okay here's a newbie question for DFW area OTA HDTV broadcasts...

When a channel such as NBC channel 5.1 or CBS 11.1, stops broadcasting HD and outputs SD, does the native picture size change? For example, if I'm using an ASPECT ratio setting on my LG tuner to be determined by the signal source, will my picture go from Wide Screen 16:9 (HD) to a native 4:3 screen with black bars when the broadcast changes from HD to SD?

_______
rkhobbit

Yep...thats the way it works. There could be variables involved such as what setting your tv is set to and how that works with your tuner,,,,,but the short answer is YES.

Whether the image is HD or SD, the transmitted resolution will stay the same. Instead, the SD signal will be scaled up, and bars will be placed on the sides. But the image format stays the same.

Of course, this is what the stations choose to do. They could actually change resolutions if they wanted. I've heard the biggest reason they don't do this is because most TVs would take from several to several 10s of seconds to change modes.

Xesdeeni

Mine does. If I am watching 11-1, etc., and the program is in HD it fills the screen with full detail. I have my Samsung STB 'locked' on 1080i output, regardless of the source resolution. If an SD commercial comes on my Samsung STB still outputs 1080i but the image drops back to 4:3 with black bars (or gray bars if I am watching channel 80, CBS east).

hey guys,

maybe you can help me. i'm in lewisville right off corporate and 121. i have the terk tv 55 ( the small curvy one ) mounted on my roof and i'm picking up every channel crystal clear except for ABC

i'm thinking about switching antennas. what ones do you recommend that are about the same price or lower that are better?

thanks in advance

anybody watching the mavs vs houston rockets game in HD tonite ?

my audio sync is off a bit via directv,,, i've turned the set top box off and back on but is still out of sync

thanks

karl

All DFW OTA HD channels are UHF except ABC which is VHF. You may want to keep your Terk TV 55 UHF antenna up and by a dedicated VHF antenna for ABC and combine the two with a UHF/VHF combiner.

I use a DB8 bow-tie antenna (from annetannasdirect.com) with a Channel Master pre-amp in my attic. I live in a low lying area of McKinney and get all UHF and able to pick-up ABC. Every once in a while on ABC I see some digital artifacts.

Note: I was only able to pick up ABC after adding the Channel Master pre-amp so another option is to pick up a pre-amp and see if that helps.
_______
rkhobbit

Karl:

I have that same problem every single time the Mavs are televised on HDNET or the Channel 96 or 97 on Directv. I wish you guys could get it fixed. I very rarely have the problem on any other channel or event.....

Couple of NEWBIE questions regarding DFW OTA channels:

- Does ABC 8.1 HD stop broadcasting sometime after 10 or 10:30 or do they reduce their transmission power after 10-ish?

- Is it typical to see some digital artifacts (once every 5-10 minutes) on ABC 8.1 HD? I'm thinking maybe I'm overdriving my tuner and may need to add a 10db antenuator. Manual says my LG LST-3510A tuner is a high gain receiver and I may need to add an antenuator.

- PBS 13.1 HD is very erratic. Sometimes I get a very good HD signal for 1 show, but on the very next show I'll get all kinds of pixelation and digital artifacts as if my signal is not all together there. Is this typical for PBS?

I live in McKinney and am using an antenna in my attic so I realize I may have soime limitations due to my set up.

_______
rkhobbit

I've been having problems on PBS recently also. If I watch the signal strength on my HD Tivo it is about 88 but drops down to 65 or 71 periodically like there is some kind of interference.

I stay in Las Colians, Irving in a south facing apartment on the third floor. I purchased a samsung SIR T451 hd reciever and the terk TV 55. They cant even smell the signal. Absolutely nothing. I tried to place the terk in the balcony to no avail. Need some help urgent, as I want to watch NFL this weekend. Any suggestions are welcome.


Thanks,

Bkuru.

What is the multicast status of the Big 4 networks in Dallas? We have a thread going in the Programming forum trying to pick the best market for OTA HD. The latest criteria we're using to narrow down the Top 10 is multicasting. For now, we're allowing a weather radar channel for 1080i networks (CBS, NBC) and we're allowing a weather radar and 1 SD channel for 720p networks (ABC, FOX). How does Dallas stack up?