Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD - HDTV - Page 21

Comcast is adding WUTB to its HD lineup (channel 215) on March 26. Maybe they will start showing true HD soon?

Not in a million years.


FYI... I now have FIOS-TV and killed Comcast like a bad boil on my butt. I have two HD DVRS and an HD reciever. The PQ is good (on most channels) and the HD looks phenom! I still have my OTA setup downstairs and use it for monitoring.

I cannot recommend FIOS more highly.

This is huge! To be able to infer that perhaps a multicasting station acquiesces that there may be such a thing as true HD! Who knows? Today: 14.5 Mbps, tomorrow: 19.39!

True as far as not upconverting SD at least. Otherwise it's a rather pointless addition to the lineup, even without considering the questionable entertainment value of their network programming. (They don't multicast, by the way.)

Give them time! A station that transmits at 500 watts (or at least did early on) is really concerned about costs. It'll probably find it hard to resist the siren call of multicasting and the additional revenue it generates. Plus never mind the 2 or 3 percent of its audience with HD of whom perhaps only 5 or 10 percent of that small sliver have 57" sets or above and who can clearly see the difference between 14 and 19.39 Mbps.

They can multicast all they want if they're not going to show any HD. If they're so concerned with cost they may never show any HD, in which case I have no interest in their channel anyway.

A slight clarification to avoid confusion: My post #603 was not referring to WUTB, as this thread could go we know not where!

Sorry if this has been posted here recently, but I did want to publicly thank NBC 4 for correcting their audio problems. I tuned into Las Vegas last night and heard the proper 5.1 audio. Beginning sometime last fall, they had only been transmitting 3.1 audio with nothing coming from the rear surrounds. I know NBC Universal has put some effort into 5.1 audio so it's nice to see one of their O&O's getting on board. Check out this link from Dolby Laboratories: http://www.dolbylabs.com/about/news_...6_vol7no5.html.

So, let's see if I have this straight. Your post #607 is about post #603 which in turn was a reply to the most excellent WJLA's director of engineering post in #602, correct? With multiple lines of conversation going through a long thread like this, it is always a good idea to quote at least a small piece of the post you are replying to.

As for WUTB-DT 24, why wouldn't they be going HD on their very low power signal? There was a post a while back that WUTB-DT was planning to finally put up a new antenna and go full power on their digital signal in the May timeframe. They may be upgrading the broadcast equipment for HD and providing that signal to the local cable systems. What I don't get is why the FCC granted WUTB-DT 24 such a long waiver on going full power? WUTB is owned by Fox, so they could not claim the financial hardship that a small market independent or one of the over-extended financially smaller broadcast companies such as Nexstar. Was there a regulatory and construction permit issue with putting up a new antenna?

WUTB is My Network so there is not much HD value on the network unless you want to watch their cheezy soaps. My Network has dropped the Saturday night rehash programming of their prime time soaps and is now showing a Saturday night movie at 8 PM. But the movie last Saturday was not in HD, so they are not taking advantage of their HD capability. With the dismal ratings for their prime time (HD) soaps, My Network is revamping their programming, cutting back their soaps to 1 night a week for each series with some new reality & game shows, IIRC. Which probably won't be in HD.

Is that true? If WJLA director of engineering does read any of the posts here, I just want to ask, WHY are we not getting Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune in HD?

Current HD channel line-up for Comcast/Adelphia Loudoun
What are the current HD channels on the Comcast/ex-Adelphia system in Loudoun? I have lost track of the changes that were posted here and Comcast still does not provide a line-up for Loudoun county on their website.I dropped Comcast/Adelphia for Verizon Fios in October, so I'm not on their system anymore. I'm asking both out of curiosity and because someone on the Verizon Programming thread elsewhere is upset about Verizon not yet offering Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic HD. But I think he is Loudoun and may not realize that Comcast did not add CSN MA HD right away.

Is Comcast still only providing 704, 705, 707, 709, 726 for the locals? No WDCW-DT 50 or WDCA-Dt 20 in HD, correct?

I know they dropped HDNet, HDNet Movies, and INHD2 went dark. What did they replace them with and what have they added so far? CSN MA HD or not?

Correct and sorry for the confusion! I thought it was apparent what my reference was to, but you're absolutely right, I should have quoted it.

In the past, I've taken issue with the "most excellent WJLA's director of engineering" often enough about multicasting; and it seemed like suddenly he may have been somewhat coming around regarding true HD. So I probably too hastily posted in a knee-jerk fashion!

704 - WRC-DT
705 - WTTG-DT
707 - WJLA-DT
709 - WUSA-DT
726 - WETA-DT

750 - HBO HD
751 - Showtime HD
752 - Starz HD (or maybe Cinemax HD, not 100% sure)

770 - Discovery HD Theater
771 - TNT HD
772 - ESPN HD
774 - iNHD
775 - ESPN2 HD (I've not seen a single program in HD since they added this, everything is in 4:3 with the "HD" grey bars on the side)
776 - Comcast Sports HD (Versus / Golf) (I got a postcard saying this would start 3/6, but it was already active as of several days ago)

So basically we lost HDNet/Movies (and iNHD2 was shut down) and got Discovery HD (decent, but a lot of content is repeated frequently), TNT HD (ok, some crime dramas and stuff, and crappy streched movies), ESPN2 HD (useless), and Comcast Sports (not exciting to me unless they show HD NFL games in the fall).

Still no NFL Network (SD or HD), or any of the other HD channels (A&E, National Geographic, Comcast Sportsnet, Food Network, etc) that other places get. And also no WDCW-DT or WDCA-DT.

We lack the equipment to record HD content and cannot find the business justification to purchase said equipment at a 6-figure cost.

I can tell you, since I developed the technology for WeatherNow and LocalPoint, that multicasting is here to stay. Even more so, now that I am making money on WeatherNow.

Relief is coming though, as we probably will sh!^can our 10 year old Flexicoder, to make room for a NetVX from Harris. Better encoders and more ability to dynamically adjust bandwidth on the fly (read: choke .2 & .3 to under 2mbs at night) to make more room for the HD stream from ABC.

I hope to have it online this summer.

They do look nice in HD!

We true HD fanatics with big sets showing gnats' eyelashes may never come to grips with this. But why oh why for example when the SB is on (if ABC ever gets it again) or PSU -- I can dream can't I -- is playing Notre Dame for the 2010 BCS championship, why oh why can't contracts be written to shut it down for a few hours? It would be a good PR gesture generating many kudos.

Doug Hill wouldn't mind and the 3 or 4 of us weather fanatics that frequently pull up WeatherNow also wouldn't mind.

How come? You mean to tell me your affiliate in Baltimore does have those equipments, and WJLA, the one in the heart of the action, in the nation's capital can't?

How come you show other programs and sports in HD? I believe you do have the equipment. Just dont' show some of those stupid shows, like Ugly Betty or Dancing with the Stars, in HD instead.

BUSINESS JUSTIFICATION? If you take a hard look at all the HD programing, you won't find justification to airing most of them in HD. I read in an article that businesses pay the same whether you air their commercials in HD or SD. My point being, that didn't stop any of the stations from showing prime time in HD. According to you, showing programing in B/W will cost less, what a brilliant business idea, why don't we do that?

Anyways, I know we can't change your mind about having Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune in HD. Ever since ABC lost MNF, it isn't worth watching, especially after the LOST hiatus. Now, they have just added to the list of negatives, at least for me, ABC is hanging on by a thread. I hope more and more people do the same I do. I watch WUSA9, where even the news are in HD.

But, I assume that you are working on that justification for the higher ups, right? Because it sounds like if you have two HD DVRs and an HD receiver via FiOS in your home that you'd definitely want to see Jeopardy and WOF in HD if it was available that way.

I have two HD sets in my home and I want everything in HD I can get!

But this is an interesting discussion. What would be the normal priority for a local station. Would it be upgrading to do the local news in HD or being able to support syndicated HD material?

You should do some reading on the subject. Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune are syndicated programs. When they offered a HD version last September, that was a big deal, because they were the first syndicated programs to go HD - and as far as I know are still the only syndicated programs in HD. To show a syndicated program in HD, the local station needs HD recorders, satellite equipment for the syndicated feed, and in the case of a 720p station, cross-converters. For the network programs, the local station passes on the network live feed so they don't need expensive HD tape/server machines.

WMAR ABC 2 in Baltimore already had the HD recording equipment, but had to buy cross converters (for 1080i to 720p), satellite gear, and some audio equipment to show Jeopardy & WOF in HD. I emailed WMAR's station engineer back in September and, IIRC, they had to spend around $20K to be able to show Jeopardy & WOF in HD, which they started doing in late November. I have not kept up on the number of stations that are showing Jeopardy in HD, but I think it is still only around 40 or so stations in the US. Check the Jeopardy & WOF thread for some background: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=709567. It would be nice if WJLA-DT 7 were to provide these two shows in HD as we will see more syndicated programs go HD in the future. But the owners of the station have to spend money to do this - the station engineer can only ask for a budget and spend what they give him. The good news that Robert Forsyth posted is that WJLA will get a new encoder this summer which should improve picture quality and will probably offer some other benefits.

Thanks for the double-heads-up and the link.

My 5.1 receiver is in for servicing, so I can't personally confirm this. However, I trust this enough to have taken that notice down. I've also made a few other tweaks to the list.
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A bribe?

If I were a cable operator, I wouldn't be putting any version of Myxx-HD on the system with the ratings it has.
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If I were general manager at WJLA, I wouldn't clear the HD playback equipment right now, as there aren't many syndicated shows on WJLA that are available in HD. As afiggatt mentioned, it's just Wheel and J! right now, and, at least for a while from now, how many people will stop watching the shows, or catch on, because it's in HD? If Oprah goes HD, and WJLA's contract to show the program would be ending in that time frame, I might reconsider, considering its ability as a prime money-demo-based lead-in to local news (I might even push up the date of HD local news implementation). If WUSA matched any offer of WJLA, and added "We can broadcast the program in HD, and WJLA can't", that would be a dagger right there. But that's another day.

Barring an Oprah-check, I expect HD playback stuff at WJLA to be ready to go when WJLA starts HD news. When will that happen? Be happy if it's sometime before next year's general election! Think more 2010, or MAYBE early 2009 due to the analog shutoff, at least with me playing fantasy manager. Either way, in the meantime, I believe that if the quality of the journalism is better than the other stations, most people will look past the lower resolution, at least until 2009 or 2010 or 2011. That viability is up for each viewer to decide upon. Today, the only station with HD local news is WUSA, with anchors that are questionable in quality to some people. WRC and WTTG are rumored to be preparing for HD news, and so until those options come up, WJLA has nothing much to worry about, at least with HD news.

WJLA has recently emphasized paying for on-air talent before technical equipment. With the possible exception of the new encoder system, I suspect that trend will continue for the foreseeable future.
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Option 1: Harris NetVX with one ENC-H11 [pdf] HD and two ENC-S21 [pdf] SD modules
Option 2: Harmonic MV500 HD + two MV100 SD encoders + DiviTrackIP or DiviTrackXE stat-mux system
Option 3: ????

I'm not here to sound like a Harmonic PR guy, since I'm not, but see if the Harmonic system, or any other high-quality encoder manufacturer, if such a company exists, is cheaper than Harris, as I've read that Harmonic's just as good at making encoders as Harris is, if not better. Harmonic might take up less rack space than Harris, too. Harris uses five rack units, and Harmonic will take up at least four if properly configured, but possibly no more than that.

Part of me wants to start a company that would make way better encoders than anyone out there. I want an encoder that can actually make a 1080i channel look good with a single (low-motion?) subchannel, or 720p good on two subchannels, instead of just one. They would have iPod-like ease of use, take up two rack units for everything instead of four or five, and cost less than what's from Harris or Harmonic. I'm pretty sure that it's possible, just how do I get things started?

/end wishful thinking

Wow, she is still around...I remember talking to her 4-5 years ago when Alexandria was piloting the HD.

With Weather Now can you make it so the Ad's and the News are non existent? The Radar map is SO small and the news is more prominent than the actual weather forecast which is relegate to a scrolling banner across the bottom of the screen.
How about making Temperature of certain cities and towns ones that are in the Area? Do we need to know the temperatures of Farmville? Greensboro? Newport News? Ocean City?

As far as WJLA goes, apparently neither.



First, let me thank you for the thorough explanation. It made a lot more sense than "we don't have equipment" and "business decision".

I am not blaming Robert, or any employee at WJLA for that matter, for not having Jeopardy and WOF in HD. I am sorry if it came out that way, but I was merely expressing my frustration with the local channel and ABC itself. Like I said before, I stopped watching ABC for a while now, seriously, to me, their shows aren't anywhere as good as FOX's or NBC's.

Thanks for the update. So Comcast in Loudoun is up to a total of 14 HD channels. As for the added HD channels, TNT-HD does show a fair amount of real HD programming. It is their use of stretch-o-vision on all SD material and no indication in advance of when the movies will really be in HD that drives people crazy. ESPN2-HD is in real HD tonight for the NASCAR event. I don't follow NASCAR, but ESPN2-HD does show major league baseball games during the season, so it will be nice to get those games in HD because MASN won't be showing any baseball games in HD.

Hopefully Comcast will add more HD channels soon for Loudoun and the other local ex-Adelphia systems. Of the HD channels they have not added, WDCW-DT 50, UniversalHD, CSN-MA HD, and National Geographic would be the most useful. Well, there are the 2 HDNet channels, but Comcast management apparently has this thing about HDNet.

The local decisions against HD news and HD syndicated shows weren't made by ABC itself, but the owner of WJLA, which is a company called Allbritton Communications. They relay ABC network programming to WJLA's viewers, but outside of that, they can air what they want, when they want to, and ABC can't do anything about it.

HD local news is still a relatively new phenomenon. Gannett stations WUSA in DC and KUSA in Denver now have HD news. Chicago's WLS, which just happens to be owned and operated by the ABC TV network, started HD news early this year. Belo has had a liking to HD news, and has started HD news in at least Dallas and Houston.

There's a thread dedicated just to HD local news. From what I've read so far, HD syndicated programming doesn't seem to be included in this thread, but still, it's probable that there's the ability for almost all HD news stations to air HD syndicated shows.

I can't help you with the quality of ABC network shows.

Once Billy Graham starts putting out his specials in HD, you can be sure that WJLA will get the needed equipment.

He's done at least one in HD already. I saw it on WMAR.

No, it won't. By adding HD rec/play equipment to my plant (today and foresable 12 months out), what would be the return on the 6-figure investment??? Ahhh...the key question again.

some points (let the flames begin) :
- National commercials sent to the local level are not in HD, and wont be soon due to storage limitations at the local level.

- Showing Jeopardy and WOF in HD will not increase viewership or ratings. For those of you who say 'I'll watch it in Baltimore', those numbers are too small to be measured, since we use local meters, and won't grow by leaps and bounds soon.

- Showing Jeopardy and WOF in HD will not increase the number of commercials we can play. After all guys, this is a business.

- Although Gannett has done well at KUSA (already #1 in the market before HD), doing news in HD has not helped WUSA in news ratings or news revenue (still 4th and 5th place most nights), especially enough to offset the 7-figure cost that transition incurred.

- Since we are going to have to redo our infrastructure at WJLA to do full HD (we are even thinking 1080i) in-house, it does not make since to add hardware now that may not work (or work well) early next year (wink wink).

- NETVX (with 2 HD cards and 1 SD card - wink wink) will allow us to better manage the whole 19mb more efficiantly, making really perty pictures during prime time.

- I love to watch HD content at home (Showtime, Discovery and HDNet are my favs). Besides Lost at 24P, my wife does not go out of her way to tune to the HD channels when here shows are on. She could care less.

as I conclude...

- I'm not a low hanging fruit at the station and I talk to the owner of the company 3-4 times a week. In my opinion, and my opinion has not wavered in 3 years (besides the Dolby thing when I took over), it does not make since to transition today. There is a HUGE investment with NO increase in revenue or ratings in the near future. Every day we wait, we save money, the cost to do HD today is half of what it cost 2 years ago.

As I step off my soapbox and appeal to the RATIONAL side of the HIGH level of intelligence of you, I yield the floor...

Sure, why bother giving viewers a reason to see your station as providing something a lot better than the others in the market. It's just plain easier/cheaper to rest on your laurels and wait for everyone else to make the first move, right? Meanwhile that viewers will jump ship to watch their programming off cable and satellite services instead. And once satisfied with that range of content the viewers won't bother coming back to OTA/locals.

And given the considerable sums of revenue that flow through the broadcast channels you can imagine why I'm less than sympathetic about the expense of equipment.

But hey, ignore the audience and they'll go away. Oh wait, that's what they've already done!