Dallas, TX - HDTV - Page 220

Must be around the corner. We have a signal but the screen is dark. Hopefully next up is Create. Beyond that The Country Network may be the only thing left that's a good Dallas fit, but they keep inventing networks

This seems to be dependant on the receiver. I have one receiver (CM-7000) that behaves like yours. Something is there and there is even EPG data, but no picture or sound. On the other hand a DTVPal displays this channel just fine.

The PCR PID is defined differently in the PMT and the TVCT. I can imagine some tuners choking on that.

EDIT: Correction, not just the PCR PID. All the PIDs are wrong in the TVCT.

- Trip

My Vizio HDTV and my two Dish DTV Pals for my old analog sets all get Bounce (27.2) just fine.

I have an (original) CM-7000 and an Apex DT250, and both choke on 27.2.


Echostar products (both the DTVPal and, ironically, the CM-7000Pal DVR) work fine, as do the Funai-made (Philco & Magnavox brands) converter boxes and an LG HDTV I own. Guess I just got unlucky to own two different "bad" boxes, but the DTV spec is so complex glitches like this are bound to happen.

They are soliciting for an anchor/producer for a new entertainment news/talk show they're apparently creating - plus there's a Crook&Chase announcement - so I'd say things aren't set in stone just yet. Regardless, even this 60/40 "hybrid" format is a big improvement over the old format. I'm just greedy

OTOH, after a day of good PQ, 47.4 went back to 15 fps over the weekend. It's no big deal for us over-the-air viewers since we can always tune a converter box to 47.1, but KTXD still needs to fix this for good. I understand some cable providers (Fios?) are picking up the SD version of Me-TV from 47.4, and they won't enjoy that jerky picture.

other OTA news breaking!

KAZD is going HD finally! according to the TWC legal notice posted today as they are picking it up might have a deal with TWC to add the channel that might something to do with them adding KAZD to the TWC Greenville TX system late last year which is part of the Dallas metro systems but an off shoot of it with less bandwidth 750MHz instead of 860MHz like Dallas and surronding cities and they have a different channel lineup sort of.

wonder if KAZD will let other OTA channels pick up some of the subnets or are they going to be HD on cable only?

The legal notice can be found in the dallas morning news and at : http://shopping.dallasnews.com/ROP/A...&adid=12718828

They must have done something at 27.2 as I can now see Bounce (still couldn't see it this morning). For the record I have DISH Vip222k with the OTD card.

Interesting note, I scanned for bounce on the TV itself and during the scan I pulled in KVUE 24 Austin Saturday morning then lost it almost as soon as I had it.

Of KAZD's six current subchannels, three (55.3-55.5) are currently airing only infomercials. I'd expect those to disappear, leaving KAZD with a more typical lineup of one HD channel (Azteca) and two SD subchannels (VietFace and Biz TV).

OTOH, KAZD has had trouble shaking the infomercial habit before, so it wouldn't surprise me if one infomercial channel remains in the lineup

Anyone in the area with DirecTV have the AM21 addon ATSC tuner? It's my understanding that it does not scan for channels so I'm curious as to what the OTA line-up looks like. My folks live out in Lavon and have an older rear projection 16:9 TV without a built in ATSC tuner. My father misses access to 8.2 for WX. They recently switched from Dish and have an attic mounted antenna that worked great on the 722 they had. I'm thinking about picking an AM21 up for them. Thanks in advance.

Yes, new data this afternoon shows the TVCT and the PMT now agree.

- Trip

Didn't get a chance to check the CM-7000 last night, but the DT250 now receives Bounce on 27-2 just fine.

Edit: The CM-7000 is receiving Bounce too. Didn't even need to rescan!

KTXD has now shown up on Suddenstink cable up here in the Gainesville area. I didn't expect that, but maybe with enough of these carriage fees they can hopefully drop the bogus religious junk.

Tomorrow Me-TV starts a new classic animation block for Saturday mornings. But DFW viewers won't get to watch/DVR it, we get more phony religious crud, which they actually started proudly running promos for this week. Being a classic cartoon fan, that alone is reason enough for me to say, KTXD just plain sucks.

Actually it's not just that, it's that we were told Me-TV was coming, then find out that we get the "privilege" of receiving only about half of Me-TV's schedule. People don't tune into TV Land or Antenna TV expecting to put up with this kind of junk that clearly doesn't even belong on this station.

Got a backyard? Set up a FTA satellite dish and receiver. You can bypass KTXD and have it 24/7.

"MeTV is also available nationwide on free-to-air C-band satellite via AMC-1 in DVB-S format."

I did a rescan and got hit the 90 mark on the channel count. With 3 channels coming in from Sherman without tropo conditions. Before, I got 87 with KMPX's new additions. I guess KXII did something, or I did something to my antenna. Thought I give some insight on my current channel situation.

"Sucks" may be too strong but I share the disappointment. What's on KTXD now is better than what was on it before, and I didn't expect KTXD to be all Me-TV all the time (and there are hints of a few local & regional shows to come), but they badly violated viewers' expectations by giving us only about 60% of the Me-TV schedule. Maybe they were forced to keep the religious shows, but many are also on other channels, and I can't think of any good reason to air infomercials instead of Me-TV programming even late at night. Yes, I know infomercials are guaranteed revenue, but this is the DVR era, after all.

What's worst is that, for a time, they actually had it right, with the full schedule on 47.4 & a working EPG (not only on Me-TV but also on Mexicanal on 47.3). Then they jerked the full schedule off 47.4 and made it a clone of 47.1, screwed up the frame rate on 47.4 so it's unwatchable in any event, then fixed it for about a day, then broke it again and seemingly lost interest

Even the EPG hasn't been working for over a week! Edit: As of Monday evening the EPG is working again Still needs to go longer than 12 hours, though.


A big, expensive C-band satellite dish/rotor in the backyard isn't for everyone, but it could be a good alternative for those with the cash (and a nice backyard fence). I understand one can also get PBS subchannels that KERA doesn't carry, like Create. Of course there's no guarantee that Me-TV will always remain free, but there's enough variety to make FTA satellite worth considering.

Or...just move to Chicago! MeTV is seemingly everywhere OTA there. By the way, it was my very first experience with DTV and multicasting back in 2008.

Signs of progress: KTXD has fixed 47.4 so it's watchable again (let's hope it sticks this time) - and they're keeping the EPG up-to-date.

Edit: 47.4 still looks OK after a week, so maybe the fix is permanent this time. Did want to add that it seems a bit "grainy" compared to 47.1, even though Me-TV is standard def., almost as if it's been converted to analog and back to digital again. Still, it looks way better than it did a week ago.

Things get stranger and stranger in the world of DFW OTA TV. I was tuning around tonight, and found that my Vizio TV automatically added 4 new subchannels on 29 (a channel I normally have blocked out). They are Spanish RADIO stations!

29.10 KZZA-FM
29.11 KTCY-FM
29.12 KNOR-FM
29.13 KBOC-FM

All the channels say "audio program, no video" on the screen.

Liberman Broadcasting owns all of the above radio stations as well as KMPX/29. I think they just added them for convenience of channel-surfers, who might hear something they like on one of the radio stations even if nothing on TV appeals to them. Saves having to switch off the TV and switch on the radio (not to mention most radios are lousy for channel-surfing).

I think people across DFW can get those stations fairly easily and that's why I agree that Liberman just added them for the common channel surfer. It really adds up in the end for me, 90 channel barrier broken after this addition.

Seems KTXD is running Me-TV overnight on 47.4 again while the religion & infomercials play on 47.1. (47.4's EPG shows the 47.1 schedule, but you can get the correct schedule from Me-TV's website.)

I'm beginning to think they only have two SD video sources for 47.4. One is the Me-TV feed from their satellite receiver, which they're using now; the other is a converter box tuned to 47.1 and set to "zoom" to crop the pillarbox logos. When they use that, the D/A/D conversions produce the crappy video that looks like 15 fps.

If KTXD wants the religion & infomercials on 47.4, they probably need a timer to switch the video source at the appropriate times. But I'm hoping they just leave it as is, so I can DVR "Get Smart" and classic cartoon fans can watch He-Man and She-Ra on 47.4 this weekend.

Does anyone use Windows Media Center? If you do, when rescanning, does 27.2 show up, and does it have guide data?

I believe I am having a problem with my OTA card on my VIP222K so I thought I'd delete & rescan. In doing so my unit logged the following:
68-44 TeleFo
68-45 CineMe
68-46 Pasion
68-100 Airbox
68-101 Starz
68-200 Airbox
68-209 GolTV

Anyone else get the above? The channels are logged but the screen is black so does anyone know what these are?

As for the potential issue with my OTA card, even though I have a strong signal: 70's, 80's & 90's, the signal seems to drop way off for a brief second causing a Lost Signal screen message, but it quickly comes back. 47.1 is the ugly one. For some reason, while watching the channel, it shuts off my VIP222K. After a couple of minutes the unit turns on again starts the 5 min download process (this never happens on any other channel, not even 47.4). If I disconnect the cable and connect direct to the TV or my DigitalStream converter box, I have no issues.

Thoughts???

http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=airbox

Those are encrypted MPEG-4 Hispanic channels for the Airbox pay-tv service. There's a discussion of this service here.


I'm guessing this started, or at least got worse, about a month ago. Sounds like multipath, but I have no idea why it'd affect 47.1 but not 47.4.

DTV receivers have improved a great deal over the last several years. I'd guess that the OTA card for the VIP222K uses an older chipset that can't cancel multipath as effectively as the receivers in your TV and converter box. (This is particularly likely if the direct signal path from Cedar Hill to your antenna is blocked, so that the strongest signal you're receiving is actually a reflection.)

If I'm right, a more directional (higher gain) antenna would likely help when using the VIP222K, even though your signal strength is already good. Sounds like your current antenna is fine for the TV & converter box, though.

I sure hope the restored programming on 47.4 isn't just another temporary "issue", but I appreciate it while it's here. I even DVR'd Gumby, lol.

Just noticing the pillar boxes on 47.1 have turned black and white -- MUCH less distracting and annoying.

I bought one of these portable TVs....

... primarily to use as a troubleshooting tool when I get in the attic or on the roof. Much more convenient than the battery-operated converter box+old B&W TV I used to use. But since it receives not only ATSC but also the mobile/handheld TV signals, I figured I'd report the M/H broadcasts I found in DFW. There are three:
4.1: simulcast of ATSC 4.1 (Fox)
8.2: weather - but not a simulcast of Accuweather on ATSC 8.2! It's a plain-vanilla radar image with the local NWS radio (KEC56?) for audio
68.1: simulcast of ATSC 68.2 (Qubo)

I thought KXAS was also broadcasting M/H, but I didn't pick up any M/H signals from them.

KXAS is encrypted.

- Trip