Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD - HDTV - Page 9

Two questions here:

1. Has anyone figured out how to view FiOS TV on their PC? I ask because with my ATI video card, I have been able to use the PVR function with cableTV to my satifaction. I'm not looking for anything too fancy, just watch and record FiOS TV on my PC in addition to in the livingroom (using VZ's DVR). While VZ's FiOS installation in my building (one of the first large MDUs in Arlington (Clarendon) to get it) stumbles toward completion, I'm wondering how I might get TV service in my bedroom without having to use yet another, space-wasting box.

I know that ATI also makes a standalone interface for digital cable: http://ati.amd.com/products/tvwonderdigital/index.html. My preference is for the video card to be able to do this...

2. Are their any others in large condo/apartment complexes who are getting FiOS installed? If so, how has the install gone? I'm going to be firing off a letter to VZ about how sloppily things have gone here. The main beef that many in this area seem to have is that ComCast offers poor service. From what I've seen with VZ in this FiOS fiasco, switching with the expectation of better service from them would be a huge mistake!

Thanks in advance for any input here!

Is the broadcast of Veronica Mars on 54-1 WNUV supposed to be in HD today? My Dish 622 PVR box appears to be showing it with Grey bars on the sides. Picture looks good, just not in widescreen format. Since the original broadcast was bumped for a basketball game, it re-scheduled the recording for today.

Is anyone else having problems with CBS's OTA HD? Normally I have a rock solid signal in the 90's, but today its all over the place with the picture cutting in and out.

Yes, I am actually, and it's frustrating as heck! I want my superbowl!

Question: does anyone know what channel WUSA-9 (HD) is on Comcast digital cable rebroadcast? I need an alternate for the OTA broadcast, and it's not coming through on physical channel 9-1.

Using the MyHD MDP-130. Help appreciated!

Thanks much,
Adam

Which CBS station? WUSA-DT 9 or WJZ-DT 13? I checked the OTA signal for WUSA 9 and oddly enough, the signal is a bit weaker than normal from Sterling, but steady. WJZ-DT 13 signal strength looks normal signal strength.

i think channel 212 might be what your looking for

I'm normally in the 90s but I can't watch the super bowl because it's so bad. I had the same problem last weekend with 9-1 too.

Apparently the way MCE2005 gets guide data won't let it show listings for local OTA ATSC subchannels. Things like WETA-2 through -4 don't have any guide listing data. Supposedly it's a throwback to the days when there wasn't ATSC data, regardless, it's not there now and I'd like to find a way to get it.

Anyone out there in the DC area have MCE setup for OTA digital channels and have a way to get WETA guide data loaded for it?

I wasn't able to get anything except channels 26 and 50 before with the Silver Sensor. I tried several times. Now tonight I tried, on the off chance that my luck changed, and it did. I'm watching the Superbowl on WJZ-DT 13 in perfect 1080i. Did they boost the signal strength for the game or something?

WUSA-DT 9. Whatever the problem was, it was fixed before the game, as it has been a rock solid signal the whole game. Thought my superbowl party was gonna be a bust there for a while.

Likewise. WUSA techs must have cleaned up / boosted the OTA signal immediately before the game, because things were perfect for the remainder of the broadcast for my superbowl party. I was one scared host for a while, but WUSA came through. Got some big "oohs and ahs" from the first-time HD, first-time front projection crowd I had over. Always satisfying for us AVSers to see our work appreciated, eh? :-)

Cheers,
Adam

Did anyone see the ad for the WUSA news? They were touting how it was in HD but the commercial was only SD on a very big HD broadcast. It made no sense to have it in SD when even most of the commercials were in HD. This is much better than 5 years ago. Although I guess in 2002 it was actually broadcast in 480P(Fox crappy widescreen 480P) while in 2001 it was 1080i.

Baltimore City, Downtown to be exact. I still get all the OTA HD channels, and some PPV and digital channels but ESPN, ESPN2 and CSN HD are all gone

Oh ok. That happened to me the other day, but I did a rescan and found them on a different channel. Doesn't hurt to try and do a rescan ever so often, maybe they will come back.

I just got the Samsung DTB-H260F.

Well I got my Comcast Cable installed this weekend and connected it to my Samsung. I did the auto-discover of channels, and while it found some, it did not find any of my "basic cable" stations like SciFi and MTV and ESPN regular.

It only gives me a couple of the stations properly (NBC, CBS, ABC) and none of the guide functions.

Anyone know why this is, or what I need to do to get these channels? Or does the box just not find them?

I am not sure since most cable favorites are analog and should be picked up during scan. Has you Comcast recently migrated to an "all digital" system? If so, only your local broadcasters (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC) are typically in-the-clear. I sure wish our local Comcast (formly Adelphia) would migrate to ADS here in the Fredericksburg area.

You might think those are "basic cable" but Comcast doesn't share that view. It's unlikely you'll ever get those in clear QAM. You'll only get the locals in clear QAM.

If we have to time-shift a program out of prime-time, it won't be in HD. We currently have no way to record or play back an HD program.

Mark

Did anybody else have any problems with the Super Bowl OTA? I kept having the picture freeze for a few seconds at a time. The signal meter would go from 93% to below 49% when this occured. It would happen in cycles, and then disappear for 10 or 15 minutes. It almost seemed like a wind-related problem, but it was not blowing at our house when this happened.

Same problem on both Channel 9-1 and 13-1. And the problem occured on two TV's hooked to two separate tuners (albeit the same model tuner). Same antenna feed for both.

I am guessing it is a problem with the antenna and I will need to call Fairfax antenna back again. Of course it never happened while watching 9-1 in the days leading up to the game, or even during the pre-game show.

Any thoughts? I am located in Falls Church.

The Samsung DTB-H260F is a digital only ATSC receiver which can also receive unscrambled digital QAM cable channels. All of those basic channels are either analog or scrambled on the digital simulcast. The H260F has no analog tuning capability. The DTB-H260F is specifically sold as a ATSC OTA receiver which has a throw-in capability for QAM. It is not a cable box.

If you want to get all the basic cable channels, you need a cable ready TV or analog tuner or if you want the digital channels beyond the local broadcast stations, a cable STB or a TV / STB with cable card capability.

For about a week, the schedule on the WETA website for HD programming has shown only about 3 or 4 programs per day.

I would inquire by e-mail to them, but they have not responded to my e-mails.

The wind was gusting to 30+ mph at my place in Vienna during the Super Bowl, so I'm pretty sure it would have been similar conditions near your house. I had some occasional minor dropouts during the wind gusts, but they only lasted a second or two on 9-1 via OTA.

They just did a "Tonight at 11" promo in HD on their 7PM newscast, and I think it's the one that will air throughout the night, but we'll see.

I think they've been trying to get these in HD for a while, but something has been preventing them from doing so. (They tried squeezing a 16:9 image into the 4:3 frame for one of the promos last week)

WBAL seems to be broadcasting in stretched SD, or else its compressed real bad. Heroes looks like crap (Comcast Harford County)

What the heck is wrong with NBC HD out of Baltimore. Heroes is completely un-watchable in Howard County. Wind maybe?

Watching it OTA. Definetly stretched SD on WBAL

Edit- Fixed now!

Like previous posters, I am also having trouble with WUSA-DT. The SB was unwatchable last night, and I'm still having problems tonight.

The odd thing is that all other OTA channels are coming in rock solid, while WUSA fluctuates between 10-70%.

Did anybody else have any problems with the Super Bowl OTA? I kept having the picture freeze for a few seconds at a time. The signal meter would go from 93% to below 49% when this occured. It would happen in cycles, and then disappear for 10 or 15 minutes. It almost seemed like a wind-related problem, but it was not blowing at our house when this happened.



I had OTA problems with the Super Bowl all evening. Maddening! My house isfour blocks from the transmitter. It wasn't wind related since none of my other channels had a problem.

I'd say the wind (though I'm on D*). When I was on OTA, wind would wreck havoc with the signal.

-Mike