Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD - HDTV - Page 363

So I wonder how they did the Nielsen ratings before the digital switchover?

Too bad 45 didn't carry that game. Oh well. Turned out to be a horrible loss anyways. I don't see Zorn lasting the season.

People still channel surf?

I use my TiVos, rarely watching in realtime. A Redskins game is one of the few exceptions.

250 is still blank, had a few issues with 252, earlier but seems good now.

Do you have a QIP7xxx series STB? My son has a QIP7xxx series STB and has the same exact problem when changing channels. He also gets a full green screen on occasion due to the HDMI handshake issues he has between his Sony XBR TV and the FiOS Motorola STB. BTW, I have two QIP6xxx (6416) STBs and I have none of these problems with either STB.

The good news is that that the entire FiOS viewership will be getting a new interactive media guide/menu downloaded to their STB within the next two months region by region depending on where you live. It will be called IMG 1.7 and it will allegedly fix the video issues with the QIP7xxx series STBs. Hope this helps. The bad news is that every time FiOS gives us a new IMG update, it creates new and different problems at the same time that it fixes the old ones.

I do occasionally, when I'm really bored. The truth is, that there is so little on that I really want to watch, that it isn't worth it to even own a Tivo. The very few things I do insist on seeing, I end up buying on disc.
J

Thanks for checking/confirming. The games came back on not long after I posted but not 250.

It's not available yet, but RCN is rolling out TiVo boxes as their standard DVRs sometime in January, and they will be capable of transferring recorded programs from room to room: http://www.rcn.com/tivo

Thanks everyone for suggestions (my first post on page 357,http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...8#post17220828). Here is a bit more about my setup in Manassas: some kind of rooftop antenna is in the attic - don't know brand and don't know whether it is VHF/UHF or just UHF. Then RadioShack amplifier (I think it is 36 db, but maybe 24) and then 2 2-way splitters. My first digital to analog tuner is after the first splitter relatively close to amplifier. My HDTV sits after both splitters and relatively long cable run. Like I said, before the DTV switch I had a bit noisy, but watchable analog channels and after buying HDTV very watchable same digital channels.
Among analog VHF WUSA (9) was the best and 7 WJLA was close second. 5 was worse and ch. 4 was difficult to watch. So I deduct that my antenna has VHF capability.
Ch 14, 20, 26 were very good. When putting amplifier and orienting antenna I've spent quite a time to figure the best reception and amplifier is on max gain, reducing the gain slightly degraded weak channels. Before putting in amplifier I've tried just antenna - almost everything was very weak and noisy.

So, after the switch, 7 and 9 disappeared, being the most strong analog channles. Heck, I even found official very detailed map, which shows that in my location there should be no change whatsoever in reception after the switch. The only reason I could think of is that with the switch power of the transmitters was reduced thinking that digital signal is more protected against noise.
After increasing power on 7 I see 40% of strength on my digital to analog tuner and almost no dropouts. Whereas 9 shows also 40%, but then dropouts are frequent and during them slider jumps between 0 and 20%. I tried to experiment by Steve's suggestion with FM trap on amp. It has 2 positions "in" and "Off" and always been in "in" position. When I switch to "off" channel 7 goes from 40% to 0% right away.
All other channels are at 100% except a couple very close at 90-95%.
HDTV at the end of the line shows ch.7 at 20% and after long stable reception 10 - 120 minutes bad dropouts suddenly appear for 1 - 30 minutes. I considered that something interferes with a signal - my first thought was - refrigerator. But after observing for several days - I cannot pinpoint the problem in the house, maybe something outside. Air conditioning is completely off these days.
So if anything - I consider putting addtional 10 db amplifier for the HDTV line only, providing that increase in power on 7 is permanent.

Step #1. Take Radio Shack amplifier with FM trap and throw in the trash.

Those amps are rubbish. They generate more noise than amplify signal and they are not linear enough for reliable DTV use.

Replace the Radio Shack Amplifier with a Channel Master CM7777 pre-amplifier.

I checked my In-Laws fixed VHF antenna (see photos) reception tonight (they live outside Mercersburg, PA) and found the following:

Station	Strength	Quality
WJLA	60%	100%
WUSA	56%	61-99%
WBAL	59%	61-78%
WJZ	60%	100%
WWPX	66%	75%
WJAL	64%	100%

NOTE: They are also using a Channel Master 300 Ohm input/output (four TV) distribution amplifier.

Believe it or not, but I've been using one of those RatShack amps for 15 years, and it "works" for me, as I'm even pulling in WUSA reliably with an attic-mounted VU-120 antenna. In my engineering heart, I know that chucking that beast for the CM-7777 could improve things, but I hate to change something that works.

Adding to the points I've made about noise, I confirmed that a compact fluorescent lamp on the second floor, within 15 feet of the antenna, was killing my reception last night. Every channel was afflicted with drop-outs, WUSA went below threshhold, and WJLA and WETA were mostly pixellated messes. With the CFL off, everything was back to normal.

Same here. This RS amplifier works for 8 years and before the DTV switch analog channels were Ok and adding this amp improved all channels significantly. Signal strength on analog 7 and 9 was around 70%. Now after the switch the best I could sometimes get on 7 & 9 is 10% - that's before power increase. Nowadays 7 gives almost stable 20%. The only explanation I see - the power drop on transmitters was significant after the switch.
Yesterday I was in the house alone and 9 was watchable for about an hour and then suddenly became very bad. I suspected that there could be something in the house which interferes. So I went and checked that nothing worked (like a fridge) and switched off all lamps and disconnected computers. No luck. But 7 is Ok now - almost no dropouts.

Now that my attic is a bit more of a comfortable work environment, looking to revisit tweaking my antenna system to hopefully reacquire WBAL and WJZ and possibly even some of the Charlottesville/Richmond stations.
My antenna setup is as follows: CM4228 & CM4228HD stacked vertically in the attic about 25ft up, combined thru a splitter/combiner into the UHF input of a CM7777. A Y10-7-13 also in the attic going into the VHF input of the CM7777. FM trap on the 7777 is OUT as I wanted FM down to my basement. TV Fool report: http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?opti...pper&Itemid=90
All antennas are pointed directly at Baltimore, but I only get WBAL very intermittently and WJZ not at all. Used to get them when they were on UHF just fine. WMAR & WBFF come in just fine now. All DC stations are fine with the exception of 50 which will go away from time to time on some of my tuners, but not all.
My questions are:
1. If I turn on the FM trap on the CM7777, should I expect any noticable increase on reception on VHF or UHF? (especially concerning #2 below)
2. There is an LP analog transmitter 1.7 miles from my house that is on Ch 23, could this possibly be interfering with my reception of Baltimore stations or overloading my CM7777, and if so, how to rectify?
3. Looking at taking the CM4228HD off the "stacked" arrangement and moving it to the other end of my attic facing south to try and get Charlottesville and/or Richmond stations, but would still combine it with the CM4228 before the CM7777. Anyone else up my way (Warrenton, VA) pulling in anything from C'ville or Richmond? TV Fool report appears to tell me that I should get C'ville better than DC stations...

I just received an "Attention Comcast Customers" postcard in the mail. It says that Digital Starter currently "includes a standard digital converter and remote on the primary outlet. Effective November 16, 2009, Digital Starter and above levels of video service will include a standard digital converter or digital adapter on the primary outlet, digital adapters for up to 2 additional outlets, and up to 3 remotes." So, I am wondering whether this means that they are going to have no analog service at all soon. I'd guess they will be mailing out the extra digital adapters, but there isn't anything about that. Later this week I might attempt to ask someone at customer service, but I wouldn't bet on an informed answer. If they do get rid of the analog service, I could do with the 2 adapters as I still have one analog TV and one VCR connected to cable outlets in addition to the one that currently uses the digital converter box and 2 HD TVs. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

You know, those RS amps actually have a purpose They're exceptionally good at reducing multipath problems in the DTV world. Provided you have a good primary signal to work with that will stay well above the noise floor, the garbage the amp introduces won't confuse DTV tuners trying so hard to discern which signal is which.

When we had the big (again, now known to be waaaay too big) aerial, DTV wouldn't work at all at first. I added the RS amp (15dB noise, I think) and we got perfect Baltimore DTV, on the moderately powered stations anyway (this was 2005/06ish). Same antenna with a 7775 was horrible, absolutely horrible. And I thought I was upgrading!

Just wanted to point out that the 'best' equipment isn't always ideal. That said, the 'proper' equipment always is. I was using improper equipment and it happened to work out for us at the time.

I live in Parkville (21234) and just installed a Winegard 7694p on my roof and thought I would share my experience. The azimuth for the Baltimore stations is 247 and 235 for DC. I am 8 miles from Baltimore and 43 miles from DC according to TV Fool. My main goal was to get DC so I pointed the antenna at 235 as best as I could. I thought that WUSA (9) would be the most difficult channel to receive that I really wanted so I optimized the signal strength using that channel with my DirecTV HR-200 set top box. I thought that if I pointed at DC that the Baltimore stations would come in without issue since I am so close to TV Hill. The results are pretty good but I do have 2 issues. WJZ (13) is at 100% but I get no lock, I think that I am getting too much signal. WNUV (54) suffers from multipath when I point to DC, the signal meter jumps from 20 to 80. I have a direct run to my TV that is not amplified or split of about 25 feet. I did try the ATSC tuner in my Sony TV and it would not lock 13 either. Overall I am very happy with the 7694p and here are my results:

2 100
4 75
5 65
7 90
9 55
11 100
13 100 (will not lock)
14 85
20 75
22 68
24 95
26 60
32 55
45 100
50 60
54 (20-80 jumping)
66 80
67 55

Nice to hear you are getting decent results.

You may want to try an FM trap to help with WJZ. If you are real close to any FM transmitters, it may actually improve you overall reception as well.

I just called and found out that the postcards were supposed to only go out to Montgomery County right now and aren't supposed go out to PG County residents until December or so with a January transition for us. What the person on the phone said was that people with analog sets will be able to receive the local network channels without a box after the transition date, but CNN, ESPN and so forth will be digital only and so require a digital converter or adapter.

[quote=Vila;17345892]Thanks everyone for suggestions (my first post on page 357,http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...8#post17220828). Here is a bit more about my setup in Manassas: some kind of rooftop antenna is in the attic - don't know brand and don't know whether it is VHF/UHF or just UHF. ]

Sounds like you may have an UHF only antenna. If the elements (Rods sticking out from the main central bar are in the range of 4 and 6 inches then it is a . If the elements are between UHF13 to 50 inches then it is a VHF antenna. The there are both sizes, then it could be a combination.

Channels 7 and 9 are in the upper VHF band so if you can't get them since the transition, you probably need to add a UHF antenna to the attic. Surf over to Antenns Direct or Solid Signal and explore.


While I'm up, has anyone noticed that WDCW 50 has dropped considerably in signal strength? The best signal strength reading I can get is 33 on my HD TiVo. Adjecent channel WRC comes in at 72.

[quote=msmckay;17362930]
No change noted here (93%). Could just be the weather. Rain can do funny things.

Anyone know when annapolis, md comcast will be getting the center ice hd channel? It didn't seem to come thru in the recent round of hd channel additions. Also have some unknown channels in the 900's, 914 and 956 anyone know what these are?

Anyone watching the Redskins game on WUSA HD? To me the colors on the Chiefs seem way overbright. Floursescent almost. I thought it was my TV, but I"m thinking it's the Network. Anyone can confirm?

Or it it the jerseys the Chiefs are wearing?

i watch OTA tv on my Windows MCE 2005 system.
i use the cyberlink decoder that comes with PowerDVD 7.3.

whenever there is an NFL game or pregame show on tv, the center audio channel doesn't work.
if i recall, it happens regardless of which station (WRC, WTTG, WJLA, WUSA), but at the moment, i can confirm definitely it is happening on WUSA and WTTG.

all other programming that i have come across works great, though. for example, Numb3rs, which i think is a good example of 5.1 audio on WUSA, does indeed sound great.

some people in this thread seem to have a very good understanding of broadcast encodings, especially specific to the local stations.

does anyone know what it is about the NFL broadcast audio that sets it apart from most other audio? perhaps if it knew how it was different, i would know what it is on my system that needs to be fixed.

thanks!

The color seems a bit over saturted. The macroblocking is very noticable at times also.

Yes, macro blocking has never been worse. Horrible reception.

lol did Synder pull the plug on the CBS broadcast of the Redskins. Oh wait, it just came back in SD.

This game hurt my eyes also. Nothing to do with the uniforms, though.

Anyone having problems receiving channel 4 in Washington tonight? Neither of my MCE machines or Samsung tv's are showing any signal strength? However a decoder box in the bedroom is working fine. I'm OTA with an antenna in the attic.

No problems here. 97% from 21075. I am seeing quite a bit more fluctuation on signal quality (SNR) than I typically do, though. (42XG attic-mount with a 7777).

My experience from this location is that as the weather gets cold on clear nights multipath becomes a lot worse around here. It could be as simple as that. Although I thought Samsung tuners were top-notch (don't have any myself - Sony snob). PC tuners are typically, again from my personal experience only, not good at all in multipath scenarios.

If the problem persists until Tuesday/Wednesday when we warm up again and then goes away, you might want to consider waiting for a truly cold and clear night and re-aiming/moving the antenna a bit. Again, just an off-the-cuff opinion, I could (and am likely) way off the mark on what the issue is, but it definately sounds like multipath. Where are you located geograhpically?