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San Antonio, TX - HDTV

443887 Views 4402 Replies 375 Participants Last post by Trip in VA, 2 mo ago

sfmartin

Discussion Starter · May 1, 2002

KSAT(ABC 48-1) joined KENS(CBS 55-1&2) and KMOL(NBC 58-1) on the air this morning. In order of received signal strength at my house it's 48-58-55.

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JimboG

· #2 · May 1, 2002

I had the opportunity to speak with KSAT's chief engineer this morning. He said that KSAT will be full power, 24/7 for right now. Eventually they plan to go primetime unless they perceive a big demand for digital. KSAT would then comply with the 2003 50%, 2004 75% and 2005 100% simulcast rules.

I would encourage anyone in San Antonio or Austin who can receive KSAT to write a letter to the general manager or engineer. Yeah, Maury Povich and ABC soap operas don't benefit much from digital, but it would be nice to get the digital simulcast for sports events and such during the day on the weekends. Once again, a little praise typed out on dead trees could go a long way towards showing viewer interest in HDTV here in south Texas.

Jim

Chris Blount

· #3 · May 1, 2002

I haven't checked today yet but when KSAT was testing a few weeks back my signal strength was the highest of the three networks.

KENS = 78%

KMOL = 83%

KSAT = 94%

Chris Carollo

· #4 · May 1, 2002

Cool, I'll give it a shot tonight. Though given that I can't even get Austin's Fox station, my hopes aren't high.

Chris Blount

· #5 · May 2, 2002

Looks like I'm going to be sending an e-mail to KSAT. On their DT feed, they place a very bright and annoying logo at the bottom right hand side of the screen. If left there for extended periods of time, it could seriously burn in to the picture tubes.

JimboG

· #6 · May 2, 2002

Chris,

I was thinking just the same thing about that logo. Funny that they don't have such an intrusive logo on their NTSC channel. I guess it's ok to cause burn-in on a $3000+ HDTV but not on a $100 19" tv. Also, did their logo look at all pink/fuzzy to you? It sure did when downconverted to my 36" Toshiba.

Jim

P.S. On the plus side, KSAT is far and away my strongest digital station.

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sfmartin

Discussion Starter · #7 · May 2, 2002

KENS 55-1 was doing it last night, too. Both looked bright red (not pink) on my 56" Toshiba through a Zenith DTV1080

Chris Blount

· #8 · May 3, 2002

The logo looked fine on my setup.

I've noticed this evening that the logo is now at the lower left of the screen and is transparent. Maybe they actually read my e-mail or this forum!

Thanks KSAT!!!

JohnRichmond

· #9 · May 3, 2002

Anybody heard anything about when KMOL will be getting their DD5.1 going? I think it would be nice for watching Leno.

I also noticed the KSAT bug and was going to say something to them until I saw it was corrected this evening.

JohnR

Chris Blount

· #10 · May 3, 2002

Speaking of Leno, I finally got to see a show last Friday. WOW! That's probably the best Hi-Def picture I've seen yet.

JohnRichmond

· #11 · May 3, 2002

Quote:
Originally posted by Chris Blount
Speaking of Leno, I finally got to see a show last Friday. WOW! That's probably the best Hi-Def picture I've seen yet.

Too bad you don't get HDNet, Chris. Just about everything on there has picture quality equal to or better than Leno.

JohnR

Duaned

· #12 · May 4, 2002

Bump...

Any new news?

mbeebe

· #13 · May 6, 2002

Anyone else having problem with picture break-ups on KSAT??

The last half of Alias and all of Practice had tons of break-ups.. signal meter was bouncing around 70-58-37-45-29-65-40- (etc)...

I had that problem when KENS first went live, but get them pretty consistent in the 70-80's. Any thoughts?? I'm located in north central (alamo heights).

Thanks in advance!

-Matt

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JimboG

· #14 · May 6, 2002

Matt,

I'm on the west side of town, outside Loop 410 between Marbach and Potranco. I didn't have any trouble during the hi def part of Alias, but I got severe pixelation and picture freezing during some of the upconverted commercials. Must be something that KSAT was screwing around with last night; I haven't had trouble like that during other HD ABC broadcasts.

Jim

P.S. What receiver are you using? I've been using a Dish 6000.

egrady

· #15 · May 6, 2002

Excuse my ignorance on this subject, please educate me. I also live in Alamo Heights and, after reading the comments here,went to RS and got a double bow tie antenna. I plugged it directly into one of the antenna inputs of my Elite 510. Nothing but static. I assume this talk of "signal strength" has something to do with stallite as if you plug the antenna directly into the set you have no way to measure strength.

Can you, or is anyone, watching HD with a conventional OTA antenna? How are you doing it?

JimboG

· #16 · May 6, 2002

egrady,

I don't think your Pioneer has an HDTV tuner built in. I'm pretty sure you will need an over the air HDTV receiver. There are several excellent receivers for DirecTV. Furthermore, Dish Network has the Dish 6000 and Samsung makes the SIR-T150 over air only set top box. For $400-600 you can get the most out of your HDTV.

Jim

egrady

· #17 · May 6, 2002

JimboG,

Would I be correct in assuming the HDTV Receiver would have to be plugged into a component video input?

JimboG

· #18 · May 6, 2002

egrady,

I'm pretty sure you'd use the component video inputs. Some of the early Mitsubishis, RCAs (and possibly Pioneers) had 15 pin VGA inputs. The high def component inputs on your 510 should work just fine though.

If you're looking for the best price on an HDTV set top box, you'll probably find it online. If you're willing to pay a little bit more at a brick and mortar store, Bjorn's off 281 has some knowledgable employees and good support.

Either way, I'd really encourage you to get an HDTV receiver. CBS, NBC and ABC all have HDTV signals on air locally. Furthermore, with a satellite receiver you can get HD Showtime, HBO and (with DirecTV) Mark Cuban's HDnet. Discovery HD is coming on June 17th too.

Oh yeah, there may be a cheaper way to get HDTV on your Pioneer! Time Warner Cable has HD cable boxes at no extra cost. They currently have HBO and Showtime HD. Supposedly they will add ABC, NBC and CBS sometime soon. If you already have digital cable, there's no additional charge for the HD cable box. Pretty good deal really.

Jim

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mbeebe

· #19 · May 7, 2002

Quote:
Originally posted by JimboG

Oh yeah, there may be a cheaper way to get HDTV on your Pioneer! Time Warner Cable has HD cable boxes at no extra cost. They currently have HBO and Showtime HD. Supposedly they will add ABC, NBC and CBS sometime soon. If you already have digital cable, there's no additional charge for the HD cable box. Pretty good deal really.

Jim [/b]

WHOOAAA there... who do you have to talk with at Time Warner to get a customer service rep with a clue??? I would probably be interested in this... especially if they're gonna pickup the big three...

-Matt

PS: Oh, and by the way, I've got the RCA DTC-100 reciever.

egrady

· #20 · May 7, 2002

Mbeebe,

TWC Customer Service responded to my e-mail telling me they're "negociating" with the locals to add the HD transmissions. What I don't know is if the negociations are at the local or corporate level. In other words, does each market make their own deal or is it negociated at a national level?

Is there anyone out there who is already getting the big three in HD from TWC?

egrady

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