Cedar Rapids, IA - HDTV - Page 158

Well, well, well, guess what. Last night, KWKB was back in 1080i HD on my Mediacom lineup, for the first time in at least 7 months!

Isn't it truly unbelievable that no one noticed this crap and bothered to fix it in 7 months?

For those picking up KWKB OTA, are you seeing PSIP info?

On my CECB, I'm not getting guide info or date and time. Other stations display all of this info.

Anyone else getting cracking audio on KCRG? I do both on Directv off satellite and OTA 9.1 through the Directv receiver.

It was fairly bad during the No Ordinary Family and V Tuesday night. Heard it again on the Mr. Sunshine show Wednesday.

I see the same thing. There does not appear to be any PSIP for 20.1 or 20.2.


I don't watch 9.1 very often though and did not watch the shows you mentioned. I just tuned to 9.1 for a few minutes though, yeah, the audio is screwed up. It warbles and pops. Appears to come and go. Some commercials were OK, some weren't and the show (Off the Map (?)) has the problem at the moment. So, it's not you.

Yes, indeed.

Audio on KCRG was pretty bad on Monday night on Castle, too.

It was bad OTA, via QAM, and on analog cable 9.

If I knew anyone in any other markets that watched the show, I would get a hold of them and find out if it's a network glitch, or local.

Might still be worth e-mailing the chief engineer at KCRG, though. I don't know that he hangs out here as regularly as he once did.

IIRC, Monday night recording Castle OTA on KCRG there were drop-outs which I was also having OTA for KWWL recordings, so I assumed it was all weather related. Wed night, the audio problem on KCRG was a different animal, at least from what I could tell.

I sent Kirk @KCRG an email last night. He responded saying he noticed it also and called station. They made changes towards end of Mr. Sunshine and it did appear to improve. Have to keep listening.

Kirk - If you see frequent the forums... Thanks for replying and confirming you were aware of the issue.

On QAM and analog cable, Castle had pops and cracks on a regular basis, almost one per second for the entire hour of programming; I didn't notice any complete dropouts, although some of the pops and cracks were at inopportune times in the dialogue. It didn't sound like clipping, it sounded more like the audio track was sped up to 105% speed, re-sampled, and then played back at normal speed, if that makes any sense. It was quite distracting, but I managed to enjoy the episode nonetheless. I don't watch ABC enough (pretty much only Castle and the News) to know if the audio problems the last few nights were the same, but I think we all seem to be describing the same issue in our own way.

I noticed it Sunday night too, but then forgot about it. I was going to email one of the engineers monday about it. Looks like they are aware.

Question: Has KWKB boosted its output power recently?

I ask because the QC CW (KGCW) is going to be broadcasting ILL girls HS bball tonight instead of SV & SPN, and I'm hoping I can get a steady reliable signal strength OTA for those 2 hours tonight.

I tuned the channel in on my receiver, and it came in fine both times with no breakups. My D* receiver doesn't allow signal level checking on OTA channels (which is a pain). Don't know if its a 'hiccup' or if I can rely on it tonight.

TIA.

I don't think KWKB has increased power, but they might have put new equipment in to support the subchannel they added.

Interesting, on Trip's site, it shows Oklahoma City:

http://www.rabbitears.info/screencap.../35096-0_0.htm

Don't read too much into that. First of all, it's outdated since my contact in the market can only receive the stations in the north end of the market, and cannot receive KIIN or KWKB. Second, it just means KWKB had an invalid TSID, and that's a lot more common than you might think it should be.

- Trip

Recieved this today about Mediacom's removal of analog channels from 23 & up. Analog 2-22 will remain. This is all supposed to happen B4 April 1st in 3 phases. The pdf also shows Iowa City's qam lineup.

 

MediacomIowaCityLineup.pdf 29.091796875k . file

I was just wondering when KCRG Ch 9 will be switching to high def local newscasts. I thought I had read somewhere that it was supposed to have been late last year. Does anyone have any recent info on this?

I've been wondering the same thing. I really thought they would be HD by now.

Bummer. They started the switch in North Liberty. It doesn't look like I'll be able to get 63-78 (analog) stations anymore. I've lost Food Network and TCM and can't pick them up on the new freq. Going to miss TBS, Syfy and BIG10. Sad day for me.

I think the plans for HD Local News are in a permanent holding pattern until SourceMedia figures out what they want to do with the Gazette building, and whether or not they want to move the KCRG Studios.




At least this time, they put up a banner on the "deleted" channels notifying people that they were converted to digital, and where to find them on QAM, or how to get a set-top box.

Why not just go get a set-top box? They're free, unless a person isn't actually a Family/Expanded Basic subscriber... (which is why I haven't gone and gotten one; also, because my primary TV has a QAM tuner. The bedroom TV doesn't, but I'm not terribly concerned about TV in there; it's mostly for local news and DVDs/BDs)

When they started (and subsequently aborted) the conversion in Cedar Rapids the first time back around March 1, they just shut channels off willy-nilly, completely blacking them out. The method they're using this time seems a bit more thought-out.

I do like the process they are using with the banner on the dead channel. Unfortunately, I am not a Family/Expanded Basic subscriber and my QAM tuner can't pull in the new channels (only unscrambled). If it frustrates the family enough I may have to pony up, but I doubt they'll be getting any more of my money.

The Family/Expanded Basic QAM channels aren't scrambled, actually.

However, if you have a filter in place that blocks channels 24-72, you won't be able to tune in to the "Family QAM", because they're in the 51-55 range.

Just wanted to put that out there in case other people thought that MediaCom was encrypting the Family/Expanded QAM channels. So far, they're not.

Flaky audio on KCRG again tonight (both OTA and through Mediacom).

Same audio problems through DirecTV. Just kind of annoying.

20 HD channels are being added to the Mediacom lineup on April 19th.

Family Cable
Versus
National Geographic
WE
MSNBC
CNBC
Bravo
Cartoon
Lifetime Movie
AMC
Travel
BET
ABC Family
Disney
Hallmark

Digital Plus
Bio
History International
Investigation Discovery
IFC
Golf
Science

http://www.mediacomtoday-lineup.com/..._bertram_.aspx

HD QAM channels are encrypted. You get 480i versions of these channels in QAM, but not HD versions (where they exist). Only HD channels that are not encrypted are locals.

The "Me-TV" classic TV network is coming to several more Upper Midwest markets under a set of deals announced Monday. The Chicago-based subchannel network, which went national a few months ago, is currently seen in only about a half-dozen markets but will reach 45 percent of households nationwide under deals with 14 ownership groups. No exact dates for launch were given in Me-TV's press release, but its website is listing the following new affiliates:

• Des Moines, IA: KCCI, subchannel number not listed
• Waterloo, IA: KWWL/7.3, currently carrying Retro TV
• Rochester, MN: KXLT/47.2, currently carrying Retro TV
• Omaha, NE: KETV, subchannel number not listed
• Madison, WI: WKOW/27.2, currently carrying Retro TV

From http://northpine.com/broadcast/index.html

Did anyone else have a choppy KCRG recording of 'Castle' from April 4?

Not sure, I have 0 signal stregnth for 7 and 9. Channel 2 has full srtregth.

0 signal quality in Fairfax for the two VHF's? What are you using for an antenna?

The Country Network now on 28.2