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Chicago, IL - OTA - Page 363

post #10861 of 11583
12/18/11 at 6:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dave73 View Post

WOOD-TV 8.1 is VHF on RF 7, and next to impossible to get on most UHF only antennas. WXMI 17.1 & WGN-TV 9.1 are both on RF 19, & that alone makes it difficult to get either one interference free for your area. As for rescanning when you rotate the antenna shouldn 't totally be necessary. If your TV or converter box allows for you to enter the RF channel manually, 'm go that route, instead of rescanning the channels everytime the antennna gets rotated.

Well that explains why I have had such a hard time with 17.1 and 9.1. I was thinking that when I am pointed to Chicago 9.1, Grand Rapids 17.1 shouldn't interfere but I never considered "back of the beam" . They certainly don't sound like they are on the same frequency.

The 4 yr old Vizio doesn't allow for manual entry of new channels, Hence a rescan is required whenever the rotor moves more than about 90 degrees. Sometimes a rescan is necessary because the channel is deleted automatically by the tuner if the signal degrades due to weather.

I am not very pleased with vizio and have become very picky looking at replacing it with something more suitable for OTA.
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post #10862 of 11583
12/18/11 at 8:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by irishv View Post

Does anyone else have audio dropout issues with WMAQ? Pretty much the only live tv I watch is NFL and Notre Dame football games on the networks. I live in Bucktown and get great reception with a cheap indoor antenna. ABC, CBS, and Fox all come in perfectly. The picture quality on NBC is great, but 5.1 audio continually drops out. Some in this thread mentioned that WMAQ was having issues back in 2009. Has it really not been addressed?

Or is there something I can do on my end? Right now I have the antenna going straight to my tv and then use toslink to my Onkyo 605. TV audio (stereo) does not drop out, only the dobly digital mix through the receiver. Is the same issue there on Comcast?

So no one else has audio dropout issues with WMAQ? If that's the case does anyone have an idea why that would be the only channel to drop for me?
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post #10863 of 11583
12/19/11 at 2:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dattier View Post

'Tinski, yes, I've seen that myself when the reception was weak, and the physical channel number is used for the integer instead of the virtual channel number: but how did the .5 subchannel get there, and how did .2 and .4 have what the OP said, if it was WOCK-CD?

I get that on my CM-7000 with WTVO and WYIN, on 17 - there'll be 17's in my channel list with odd second integers, that don't match the virtual channel number's.
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post #10864 of 11583
12/19/11 at 3:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cgmv123 View Post

~105 million households subscribe to a pay TV service per http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/201...ly-2011/98508/ That's out of ~115 million TV households. Also note that not all TV households have OTA/broadcast nets. CBS's coverage is ~99%, NBC and ABC are ~98%, FOX is ~97%, and CW is ~95%.

I wonder if, in some cases, it could be satellite users who use an antenna for locals instead of paying extra to get them (badly compressed and only the popular channels from what I hear) via satellite.
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post #10865 of 11583
12/19/11 at 5:20pm
Also, for whatever reason, in some markets, the cable and satellite companies pick up one or more of the locals via OTA. In markets where that's true for at least one major affiliate, the market's satellite and cable users should probably be added to that total, for completeness sake.
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post #10866 of 11583
12/19/11 at 7:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by andyross63 View Post

I wonder if, in some cases, it could be satellite users who use an antenna for locals instead of paying extra to get them (badly compressed and only the popular channels from what I hear) via satellite.

It's not watching. It's reception ability. 99% of the country does not watch CBS. Even during the Super Bowl A viewer using the scenario described would count towards both the pay TV measure and the CBS/NBC/ABC/FOX measures. It's also a one and done scenario. You don't count twice if you have both cable and satellite.
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post #10867 of 11583
12/20/11 at 11:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cgmv123 View Post

~105 million households subscribe to a pay TV service per http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/201...ly-2011/98508/ That's out of ~115 million TV households. Also note that not all TV households have OTA/broadcast nets. CBS's coverage is ~99%, NBC and ABC are ~98%, FOX is ~97%, and CW is ~95%.

Those numbers are all estimates, as are the ones I mentioned. Unfortunately there aren't any estimates everyone agrees on as far as OTA viewership, whether they are OTA only or OTA & pay provider.

The one thing everybody agrees on is that the estimates used are typically self serving.
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post #10868 of 11583
12/20/11 at 11:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cgmv123 View Post

It's not watching. It's reception ability.

I think he understands that.
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post #10869 of 11583
12/20/11 at 3:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dattier View Post

'Tinski, yes, I've seen that myself when the reception was weak, and the physical channel number is used for the integer instead of the virtual channel number: but how did the .5 subchannel get there, and how did .2 and .4 have what the OP said, if it was WOCK-CD?

PSIP and DTV tuners are a sore subject. They all act different. I've run into tuners that will only display the "winning" conflicting channel mappings while others will show both. Both my Samsung and the 2 Zenith tuners I have will show WLS on RF7 and RF44 both mapped to 7.1, 2, and 3.

As far as showing the actual RF channel in the mapping, Samsung is pretty sensitive to PSIP changes. Heck if I sneeze wrong, we show up at 27-3 instead of 26.1 while other tuners will just keep on chugging along until they are forced to re-aquire the data and channel maps.

It's a qwerky world!!
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post #10870 of 11583
12/20/11 at 5:20pm
Here's a question that I'm sure that has never been asked here: does anyone know of the chances of thecooltv ever being available here in Chicago since WTMJ idiotically dropped it? I would love to have a music video solution on OTA TV, that way I really wouldn't have to get cable or burn through my data cap by watching videos online with my phone or Xbox.
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post #10871 of 11583
12/20/11 at 7:54pm
Ever since The Tube failed, we haven't seen a full-time music video OTA channel that I can think of in the Chicago DMA.  That's what, over three years now?

So Eric, it's not likely.
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post #10872 of 11583
12/20/11 at 11:27pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by eric12341 View Post

Here's a question that I'm sure that has never been asked here: does anyone know of the chances of thecooltv ever being available here in Chicago since WTMJ idiotically dropped it? I would love to have a music video solution on OTA TV, that way I really wouldn't have to get cable or burn through my data cap by watching videos online with my phone or Xbox.

I don't see it coming to Chicago, since the top 4 networks O&O show no interest in affiliating with the network, & WGN-TV has no plans to add another subchannel (at least not now, but don't see them affiliating with The Cool TV either). For Weigel Broadcasting, other than affiliating with Bounce, I don't believe they're interested in affiliating with them either, & they're programming This TV & MeTV for a national audience & The U, U Too, & Me Too for the Chicago market. They have their hands full.

If you're not aware about why WTMJ-TV no longer carries The Cool TV, it has to do with Journal Broadcasting not being compensated for carrying the channel on their stations. They're suing The Cool TV for what they're owed. As a result, they dropped the network on all their stations. Since Weigel already affiliated with MeTV in Milwaukee, they picked up Livewell Network, & in Green Bay, MeTV replaced The Cool TV on WGBA 26.2. A number of stations have also dropped The Cool TV for other networks. LIN Broadcasting dropped the network in Fort Wayne & Terre Haute Indiana markets. In Fort Wayne, WANE-TV replaced it with Antenna TV & WTHI replaced it with Fox, since Nexstar has a duopoly in the market with WAWV & WTWO (WAWV via Mission Broadcasting), & dropped Fox off of then WFXW (now WAWV).
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post #10873 of 11583
12/21/11 at 6:45am
Mind you, LIN dropped it on WTHI to make room for Fox (after their affiliate switched to ABC), so it's not quite the same situation. With CBS being in 1080i, it was probably for the better, picture quality wise.
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post #10874 of 11583
12/21/11 at 11:05am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dattier View Post

Ever since The Tube failed, we haven't seen a full-time music video OTA channel that I can think of in the Chicago DMA.* That's what, over three years now?

So Eric, it's not likely.

yea I remember The Tube, the reason it failed is because they played stale music over 70% of the time. The Box was also a really good channel until Viacom bought it and screwed it over. LATV also showed music videos but since WGN-TV dropped them its going to be hard to get where I'm at since they're on RF4. TheCoolTV looks very promising from their program guide.

Quote:
Originally Posted by dave73 View Post

I don't see it coming to Chicago, since the top 4 networks O&O show no interest in affiliating with the network, & WGN-TV has no plans to add another subchannel (at least not now, but don't see them affiliating with The Cool TV either). For Weigel Broadcasting, other than affiliating with Bounce, I don't believe they're interested in affiliating with them either, & they're programming This TV & MeTV for a national audience & The U, U Too, & Me Too for the Chicago market. They have their hands full.

If you're not aware about why WTMJ-TV no longer carries The Cool TV, it has to do with Journal Broadcasting not being compensated for carrying the channel on their stations. They're suing The Cool TV for what they're owed. As a result, they dropped the network on all their stations. Since Weigel already affiliated with MeTV in Milwaukee, they picked up Livewell Network, & in Green Bay, MeTV replaced The Cool TV on WGBA 26.2. A number of stations have also dropped The Cool TV for other networks. LIN Broadcasting dropped the network in Fort Wayne & Terre Haute Indiana markets. In Fort Wayne, WANE-TV replaced it with Antenna TV & WTHI replaced it with Fox, since Nexstar has a duopoly in the market with WAWV & WTWO (WAWV via Mission Broadcasting), & dropped Fox off of then WFXW (now WAWV).

Affiliates sure have no problem affiliating with the country network. Plenty of country music solutions on cable, the cable music video networks are very stale at best when it comes to their music selections, I know mun2 was really good until Comcast began taking over NBCU. Country music is less than 10% of all the music I listen to so I def have no interest in tuning into24.2 which has no problem coming in where I'm at. if either TheCoolTV or HTV came to OTA I would be a very happy camper.
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post #10875 of 11583
12/21/11 at 12:46pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by irishv View Post

So no one else has audio dropout issues with WMAQ? If that's the case does anyone have an idea why that would be the only channel to drop for me?

Nope. It's either multipath, or weak reception. It *might* be your tuner, but if no one else is having an issue, that probably isn't it.
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post #10876 of 11583
12/21/11 at 6:41pm
For a while late this morning around 11:30, WLS was broadcasting only on RF7 while RF44 was dark.  Then RF44 came back.  I don't know when it started nor what caused it, only that the trouble ended a little before noon.
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post #10877 of 11583
12/22/11 at 8:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sebenste View Post

Nope. It's either multipath, or weak reception. It *might* be your tuner, but if no one else is having an issue, that probably isn't it.

Thanks! That's the answer I was hoping for. Since dropping cable I've just been using some cheap rabbit ears. For a while most channels even came in with just a coax cable connected to the tv. According to Antennaweb I'm 4.1 miles from the tower and a small multi-directional UHF should work. I've tried connecting directly to the tv (Panasonic TH-42px75u) and to an HDHomeRun. Using an Onkyo 605 receiver.

5.1 is the only station with audio issues. I ruled out the tuners, since the same issue occurs in both. I thought it was the receiver until realizing that it was only one channel. Signal strength has always been at least as high as most of stations, which all come in perfectly. I'm assuming that a directional antenna should correct potential multipath issues, correct? From what I've seen I shouldn't need an amplified antenna. Would something like the Terk HDTVi be worth trying out? I also saw that adding a variable attenuator could help with multipath.
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post #10878 of 11583
12/22/11 at 8:32am
The HDTVi would work. Just keep in mind that, since it's directional, you may have to adjust it different ways to tune in different stations. Perhaps getting a splitter and hooking both antennas up is a good idea.
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post #10879 of 11583
12/22/11 at 2:00pm
Just a notice: The HDTVi through Amazon is at least half of the exhorbitant price the B&M's sell it for.
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post #10880 of 11583
12/22/11 at 3:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rammitinski View Post

Just a notice: The HDTVi through Amazon is at least half of the exhorbitant price the B&M's sell it for.

The B&M's have to pay the overhead of a retail business (rent, utilities, labor, etc). Amazon (usually) has a distributor fulfill their orders at a very low margin for both of them.

Before complaining about B&M prices, you may consider that, once the B&Ms go out of business, where are you going to go to do your Amazon pre-purchase shopping when Best Buy and the like goes out of business?
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post #10881 of 11583
12/23/11 at 1:52am
It's pretty much common knowledge, at least by those who know better, that Terk products are insanely marked-up in the B&M's, just as Bose and Monster products are, relative to other brands of equal quality.

I have nothing against the existence of B&M's like BB - however, I'd never pay the prices they're asking for Terk, Bose or Monster products, given the choice.

The HDTVi is now under $27 on Amazon, with no shipping. Last time I saw it in BB and Fry's, it was nearly $60. I don't know what any other store might be selling it for, as I haven't seen it in another one for years.
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post #10882 of 11583
12/23/11 at 4:46am
B&Ms such as Best Buy or Walmart typically demand a discount of 70% or more off accessory items from the manufacturers (or distributors). This often leads to much higher list prices of some items just so the B&M will put them on the shelf.

It's how retail works.
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post #10883 of 11583
12/24/11 at 3:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by eric12341 View Post

yea I remember The Tube, the reason it failed is because they played stale music over 70% of the time. The Box was also a really good channel until Viacom bought it and screwed it over. LATV also showed music videos but since WGN-TV dropped them its going to be hard to get where I'm at since they're on RF4. TheCoolTV looks very promising from their program guide.

The Tube failed, because they couldn't get any advertisers, other than a couple of infomercial type commercials, that were rather long, but not your typical infomercial. I watched The Tube on a computer TV tuner card, & remembered seeing almost no advertising on the network. It seemed that their online store didn't help keep the network afloat either. I tried to order something from them in June 2007, & I called to find out why my order wasn't shipped. I was told it was cancelled, because they claimed they were revamping the online store. A month or 2 later, the online store disappears from their website. Losing the Sinclair stations, after Sinclair refused to comply with the 3 hour minimum E/I programming on subchannels (until they affiliated with networks that provide their own E/I programming in 2009) in 2007, leaving just the Tribune stations to carry the network.

Had The tube started up around post-transitional digital, it's anyone's guess if they would have succeeded. Starting up before the analog sunset made it difficult for them (or any other digital subchannel network of the time) to get any advertising revenue. Most of the choices we have now in digital subchannels didn't start up until after June 2009.

The Cool TV is trying to fill the void that The Tube left behind, but not sure if it's working or not. Since Sinclair wasn't able to affiliate with The Cool TV in Milwaukee & Las Vegas early on, due to Journal Broadcasting already affiliating with them at the time, I wonder if they'll try to affiliate with them in those markets, or not bother. I would have liked to seen the network come to Chicago. However, with most stations being O&O by the networks, it won't happen. With Weigel Broadcasting being more interested in programming digital subchannels themselves (plus affiliating with Bounce), I don't see that happening. It's too bad Tribune didn't decide to affiliate with them. For Chicago, they could have added another subchanel, but chose not to, while in other Tribune markets, they're maxed out on adding subchannels (they affiliated with Weigel's This TV in markets where no one else affiliated with them). With most networks programmed for digital subchannels, I don't hold out much hope that many of them will come to Chicago. I always find that many smaller markets with network affiliates, that they're more likely to affiliate with the subchannel networks than the networks O&O themselves.
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post #10884 of 11583
12/24/11 at 12:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dave73 View Post

The Tube failed, because they couldn't get any advertisers, other than a couple of infomercial type commercials, that were rather long, but not your typical infomercial. I watched The Tube on a computer TV tuner card, & remembered seeing almost no advertising on the network. It seemed that their online store didn't help keep the network afloat either. I tried to order something from them in June 2007, & I called to find out why my order wasn't shipped. I was told it was cancelled, because they claimed they were revamping the online store. A month or 2 later, the online store disappears from their website. Losing the Sinclair stations, after Sinclair refused to comply with the 3 hour minimum E/I programming on subchannels (until they affiliated with networks that provide their own E/I programming in 2009) in 2007, leaving just the Tribune stations to carry the network.

Had The tube started up around post-transitional digital, it's anyone's guess if they would have succeeded. Starting up before the analog sunset made it difficult for them (or any other digital subchannel network of the time) to get any advertising revenue. Most of the choices we have now in digital subchannels didn't start up until after June 2009.

The Cool TV is trying to fill the void that The Tube left behind, but not sure if it's working or not. Since Sinclair wasn't able to affiliate with The Cool TV in Milwaukee & Las Vegas early on, due to Journal Broadcasting already affiliating with them at the time, I wonder if they'll try to affiliate with them in those markets, or not bother. I would have liked to seen the network come to Chicago. However, with most stations being O&O by the networks, it won't happen. With Weigel Broadcasting being more interested in programming digital subchannels themselves (plus affiliating with Bounce), I don't see that happening. It's too bad Tribune didn't decide to affiliate with them. For Chicago, they could have added another subchanel, but chose not to, while in other Tribune markets, they're maxed out on adding subchannels (they affiliated with Weigel's This TV in markets where no one else affiliated with them). With most networks programmed for digital subchannels, I don't hold out much hope that many of them will come to Chicago. I always find that many smaller markets with network affiliates, that they're more likely to affiliate with the subchannel networks than the networks O&O themselves.

yea WCIU has 5 subchannels,WWME only has 2 but it's hard to get where I'm at. Would be very disappointed if TheCoolTV ended up on 23.3 I see plenty of room on the other strong stations for both TheCoolTV and HTV.
Here's my dream affiliation
32.2 or 50.2 (TheCoolTV since they have signed an affiliation agreement with FOX)
44.3/4 mun2 or HTV instead of SOI TV(since its junk)
66.2 or 60.3 HTV (more likely scenario since Comcast owns mun2 and telemundo and as such wouldn't allow a cable network on OTA) also more likely because univison does in fact show music videos in the early morning.
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post #10885 of 11583
12/24/11 at 12:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by eric12341 View Post

yea WCIU has 5 subchannels,WWME only has 2 but it's hard to get where I'm at. Would be very disappointed if TheCoolTV ended up on 23.3 I see plenty of room on the other strong stations for both TheCoolTV and HTV.
Here's my dream affiliation
32.2 or 50.2 (TheCoolTV since they have signed an affiliation agreement with FOX)
44.3/4 mun2 or HTV instead of SOI TV(since its junk)
66.2 or 60.3 HTV (more likely scenario since Comcast owns mun2 and telemundo and as such wouldn't allow a cable network on OTA) also more likely because univison does in fact show music videos in the early morning.

I'm disappointed that Bounce ended up on WWME-LD 23.2, because WWME-LD can be tricky to get where I live. I nearly lost the station completely, because my new UHF only antenna (Winegard HD9032) wasn't picking up the station initially. It must be pointed just right to get, & I have to remember that my 300ohm to 75 ohm balun must have the left wire on the left terminal, & the right terminal on the right terminal. I discussed this in this thread. With WWME-LD having a weaker signal toward Indiana (just like WCIU, since they changed their pattern), I can only get WWME-LD with a pre-amp (WCIU is the only full power station I have to have a pre-amp, since I no longer get them without one, but got them with the old directional pattern). I however can get WMEU-LD without a preamp, & my UHF antenna pointed in any direction.
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post #10886 of 11583
12/24/11 at 12:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dave73 View Post

I discussed this in this thread.

You actually discussed it in this thread.
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post #10887 of 11583
12/24/11 at 1:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by eric12341 View Post

(TheCoolTV since they have signed an affiliation agreement with FOX)

When was this?

- Trip
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post #10888 of 11583
12/24/11 at 1:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trip in VA View Post

When was this?

- Trip

oh that was bounce that affiliated with FOX
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheCoolTV
seems that Sinclair will be more likely to bring it back to Milwaukee on 18.2 which I will be able to get once I can get this winegard HD1080 I bought used to actually work. On the Chicago side we only have tribune and weigel as affiliate companies. I previously suggested that FOX should pick it up and for Univision to pick up and carry HTV.
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post #10889 of 11583
12/28/11 at 1:41am
Well, just a few more days, and we'll be losing Universal Sports.

So that'll make one for sure, and possibly two for me, total, with WPVN.

(I seriously doubt if I'll get WPVN, because I've even been having a lot of trouble with WCIU lately.)
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post #10890 of 11583
12/28/11 at 6:12am
Has WMAQ officially announced what, if anything, will happen? Being an O&O, will they still carry it, or replace it with something else, or just drop the subchannel?
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