[rbaldwin]

Do they do the same as OTA and just use a really BIG antenna? Or do they pipe in directly to the feed?


It bothers me to hear there are dropouts with the 5100 and subscribers complaining..


I certainly know about dropouts with OTA and want to aleviate that frustation. A few is ok up front... but want a reasonable reliable source


The hope is Comcast can supply this.


Cable has always been extremely reliable with analog. Digital, and not to mention HD digital, I do not know as I have never subcribed to these services


What do you think?


rbaldwin

(Detroit area)

 

[Ken H]

Comcast gets the DTV signal via OTA.

 

[magic123]

At times, from some stations there are dropouts (blocking)..for what reason I do not know. The signal can be 100 percent and the station only 20 miles away. Just the way it is so far. We are all learning. Some stations I do not seem to have any dropouts..of course, I only watch it several hours at a time. I think we are all learning at this point. And it will get better in the future. Maybe VHF and digital will have a better mix.

 

[timmy1376]

Magic123,

Reading through these forums every day, I see alot of you around and you seem to be talking about VHF digitals. Do you really think the FCC will reassign all these stations to the VHF band?? I am just curious why you allude to that alot. I know that VHF will do better at longer ranges, but I think there would be too much interference if they decided to go with more VHF stations, wouldn't there??


tim

 

[jurassicjockey]

timmy


I believe the stations have the right to go back to their original frequency assignment if they choose to. One of the advantages of doing so is the reduced power required for the same coverage area.

 

[timmy1376]

So my local station that is analog 13 and digital 44 will be able to use 13 once the transition is over and all signals are digital?? Is that why they use the PSIP stuff to map virutal channels?? That makes sense, thanks!


What about the stations that have a lower digital than anglog, like my ABC that is 48 digital and 49 analog??

 

[jckessler]

My understanding is that stations will be given a choice whether to return to their original number, or to keep their new assignment, with the restriction that no channels will be assigned above 51 after the transition is complete.


There's been some mention of an FCC proposal to eliminate the low VHF band (2-6) as well, which would obviously affect many stations.

 

[balazer]

I'm in Ann Arbor, and I generally get 0-2 transmission error bursts per hour on all of the stations from Detroit. Comcast should be able to do as well or better.

 

[sangs]

Ken, if as you say Comcast gets the DTV signals OTA, then how are they giving us the New York City NBC and ABC feeds in our area? As everybody pretty much knows, those stations aren't available OTA since 9/11. I thought they used some sort of fiber optic connection. Or were you specifically talking about what Comcast does in Michigan?

 

[ndoggac]

i'm pretty sure they use a fiber connection to get WCAU, WPVI and WHYY here in Philly! there have been times in the past that stations have lost their ota broadcast, but i still get the broadcast through comcast!


i'm not positive of course, so i could be wrong!

 

[magic123]

As I understand the situation, the Federal Govt. wants the higher UHF channels back to reassign to other means of communication. I would think there will be still some digital stations 14 channel and above. It will be quite a problem to stop interference, I would think. Perhaps, someone here who has VHF transmitting digital now, can answer this..do you seem to have dropouts, blocking (from strong stations) as much on VHF as on UHF? On some UHF stations I get blocking/dropouts..maybe 1 an hour or so..for a second..maybe less. I am talking stations with strong reception at my antenna.

 

[scriabinop23]

another idea is perhaps they have line of site microwave uplinks from the local channel to the local cable distribution hub.


i know this is how things used to be done a few years ago at least in radio.

 

[Ken H]

Quote:

Originally posted by sangs Ken, if as you say Comcast gets the DTV signals OTA, then how are they giving us the New York City NBC and ABC feeds in our area? As everybody pretty much knows, those stations aren't available OTA since 9/11. I thought they used some sort of fiber optic connection. Or were you specifically talking about what Comcast does in Michigan?

Yes, I was talking about what i was told they do in Michigan, which is their SOP. In NYC they must have fiber, or microwave (or something) for the DTV stations that are off the air.

 

[tpatt]

Quote:

Originally posted by rbaldwin Do they do the same as OTA and just use a really BIG antenna? Or do they pipe in directly to the feed? It bothers me to hear there are dropouts with the 5100 and subscribers complaining.. I certainly know about dropouts with OTA and want to aleviate that frustation. A few is ok up front... but want a reasonable reliable source The hope is Comcast can supply this. Cable has always been extremely reliable with analog. Digital, and not to mention HD digital, I do not know as I have never subcribed to these services

rbaldwin,


Since you're from the Detroit area let me let you know what I've seen here in Detroit.


I had problems with WDIV and that was the ONLY breakups that I had seen with the Comcast HD box. Since the firmware upgrade last night I haven't seen any breakups at all including WDIV. I think that Comcast will be extremely reliable with Digital very quickly as I really can't complain at all about channels other than WDIV.

 

[rbaldwin]

Tpatt,


Thanks for the info. I scheduled for Dec 14th installation so hopefully things will go smooth. If you could, keep me posted if you begin to experience future dropouts.


One can only expect that a lot of bugs exist with the sytem now, but it seems the firmware update is somewhat of magic pill.. At least from what I have been reading.


very cool!


Thanks to the rest who replied as well!


rbaldwin

 

[JWhip]

Comcast gets the three PHilly DTV stations they carry via fiber, not OTA. Thet either have or are running fiber into KYW for KYW and WPSG, but for their analog stations. However, if and when a deal is struck for KYW-DT and WPSG-DT, the fiber will already be in place to spped up their addition to the DTV line-up, hopefully.