Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD - HDTV - Page 352

I was watching FOX 21 tonight on Verizon FiOS and was wondering what was up with the anamorphic look. I thought, since we get FOX-21 HD they were taking that feed for the SD channel (5) and doing something wierd with it.

Then I tuned OTA (Zenith DTT901) and found 21.2 was indeed 16x9 ratio. I checked again with my Sylvania STB and it showed it to be SD 16x9.

This seems like a good compromise as I couldn't believe you could get anywhere near an acceptable picture with both 1080i and 720p on one channel. I'm not sure if 21.2 is 480i or 480p as there's nothing on the net about this. I'm sure it just happened as I usually tune in FOX 21.

I just hope they don't flop back to 4x3 and make me look stupid.

So check it out! Believe me, it was 16x9 as I typed this.

Thanks. My observations:

1) It's in 1440x1080i. Someone got a setting wrong somewhere along the way.

2) The Mobile DTV has vanished but there's exactly 3.67 Mbps worth of null packets. I'm assuming they'll bring the MobileDTV back online in that space sooner rather than later.

3) UpdateTV is still there, though I'm having a hard time figuring where the 2 Mbps it occasionally uses will be coming from. I imagine it'll get sucked from the HD, already down at 11.2 Mbps.

- Trip

The OTA picture of FOX 21 looks very weird on my Samsung LCD. It has a peculiar squeezed look to it. (Looks like 4x2.5???) It was the same way last night. OTOH, the picture on CBS 16 is actually pretty darn good. It actually looks better than WUSA-9 with the Redskins game. The macroblocking is just terrible on WUSA with complex scenes.

Is there a kickback arrangement such that the cableco pays the broadcast station per user? I know the cableco pays such for cable program sources and there is a "must carry" rule. But I assumed it was to the local broadcaster's advantage to directly pipe their content to the head end; I didn't know they got directly paid for same.

WHUT-32.1 is broadcasting in widescreen 1080i tonight. There is also a 32.2 subchannel showing up, but no programming yet.

Is it actually doing anything, anywhere?

I've heard about Sony TVs (I think?) getting updated with it.

- Trip

WHUT-HD RF33.1 is broadcasting 1080i 16:9 HD to virtual 32.1. WHUT-SD RF33.2 is broadcasting 480i 4:3 SD to virtual 32.2. 32.2 is featuring a white WHUT logo on the lower right corner of the 4:3 black background.

WMDO-LD RF8.1 is broadcasting 480i 16:9 SD to virtual 47.1. WMDO-LD RF8.2 is broadcasting 480i 4:3 SD to virtual 47.2. WMDO-LD RF8.1 is broadcasting its own black sidebars or pillars onto the 16:9 picture in order to reduce the viewing area to 4:3. I am pointing this out in particular because they are NOT using ugly stretch-o-vision to achieve a full 16:9 picture. Hooray for WMDO-LD because they would rather keep their picture in true perspective rather than pull the same ugly crap that WBAL-HD did for the longest time with their ugly stretched picture for local WBAL original 4:3 source material for their non NBC network or local WBAL programming which they stretched to 16:9.

Yup. My Bravia self-updated via this service a few months ago. I'm of course against this service

seems like internet is $43 and tv is $57 here after 6-month promotions end. I'm pretty positive I'll be able to get local networks with my qam even without basic service...can anyone confirm that? The question I had was if I would be able to get these major networks in HD just hooked up to the wall with my qam tuner or will I have to get an antenna?

When I had Comcast for only INternet, they put a filter on my line that prevented me from getting those channels.
Although I live in Prince William County.

They really need to move that big WHUT logo over a bit. Nearly half of it is cut off on old tube TVs.

A friend in VA was so far away from the HCF node [2.5 miles...] they could never get his modem sync'ed unless they took all the filters out.....

Hmmm, I have an HR21-100 with AM-21 and am getting 7.3 OTA. Have you tried rebooting your HR20? If that doesn't help, try redoing OTA setup.

ugh... so what channels are people getting with antennas in the city?

32.1 has the same studder and audio sync problem as 54.1 on my Dynex (aka Samsung) TV. Oh well, atleast its HD now, and works fine on my other tuners.

Hello, I'm moving to Baltimore (Federal Hill) from Syracuse, NY where TimeWarner uses Switched Digital Video to send some channels. I use a Tivo and they supplied me with a Tuning Adapter via USB that allows me to access those channels with CableCards.

Does Comcast utilize SDV and make tuning adapters available? I've gotten two different answers from Comcast (Online and local office).

Interestingly, I just found that a friend's new Bravia has no Cablecard slot. Somehow, I thought that they were required on all new sets...

I've never had a set with a CableCard slot, and everything I have here is less than 2 years old. The Bravia is like 8 months old.

Well, given the choices seem to be:

1. Rent $$ cable box from cableco; have yet another remote to manage
2. Get cablecard installed in set.
3. ???

#2 has some attraction....

Comcast in Baltimore does not use SDV, so not digital adapter needed - at least as of now.

My Sony SXRD has a cable card slot. Comcast tried twice to install one for me, but couldn't get it to work properly. I told them to forget it. Cable companies HATE cable cards. I've got cable going straight to my set. Luckily, I never opted for premium channels, so I got could bypass a box.
J

My Sharp Aquos LCDs with cable card slots will only work with S-Cards, not M-Cards.

I was just looking at the Caps' schedule for this season, and roughly a dozen games are getting pushed to CSN+, mostly in November. I wonder if Comcast Sportsnet is any closer to lighting up an HD alternate channel anytime soon. If I'm not mistaken, some of the other CSNs have this already.

Anyone know anything about NFL RedZone? HD? Sports package needed? ETC.

And for the love of God WHEN WILL COMCAST GET SPIKE HD??? It already has HD for OnDemand.

Has anyone with Comcast in Montgomery County been able to get one of the new Motorola DCX 34xx STBs? I went to the Rockville location today and they didn't have any.

My 2005 Samsung HD 1080P DLP set had a cable card slot.
My 2008 Samsung DLP and 2008 Samsung LCD does not have a cable card slot.

I get the impression that they are or already have phased out cable cards. Most people never heard of them, and cable companies don't want to lose the revenue (No on demand).
J

Yes, most TV manufacturers have phased them out due to lack of demand and loads of customer complaints of them not working due to cable company ineptitude. The cable companies are much better now that they're trained (because of TiVo which have no current alternative except cablecards), but the TV manufacturers are still not going back to them in general.

The cable companies can't phase them out - they're legally required to fully support them.