Thread: PBS on AMC 1 C-Band

Has anybody found the PBS station on AMC 1 on 103? During the day it is PBS Kids and then changes to a regular PBS station in the evening. It is on transponder 4101 Vertical sr 14028 3/4. I do not see it in the list. I've been trying to find out which PBS it is, but they never say. Not listed on Lyngsat either.
The California channel has moved to this sat as well. Tr 4197 & sr 2893 3/4.

Yes, 2-3weeks ago I discovered that one. Don't know where its from, but is very handy to have.

the feed is very much like the AMC-4 analog service (descriptive video audio included) but has HD in addition to SD. I can't get anyone at PBS to return my inquiries as to whether the backyard dish service is going digital. I suppose at some point the text detail on the PBS site will change or we'll get a press release about it.

I don't see why it shouldn't convert. You have DVB SD for those who want the dirt cheap receivers and you have DVB HD for those who have a little nicer receiver, so the investment isn't much to end the AMC-4 feed.

Ahhhhh...
Another PBS channel?
Wonderful!!!!

I think it's going to replace PBS X analog.

There was a bit of a discussion about this transponder several weeks ago.... I thought it was here, but maybe it was at satforums... I can't remember.

But there is one BAD thing I noticed about this feed, and that is that the audio channels on some programs make it impossible for us to listen to the full audio.

It's not on all programs, although on most programs they seem to alternate which audio channels have the regular audio, and which have the enhanced audio with someone giving descriptions of the video for the visually impaired, meaning that if you record, you have to record ALL of the audio streams or risk missing the good one.

But the BAD programs, are programs that have dialog from different surround sound channels sent over different audio streams. I watched one program where there were characters (this was a cartoon) in the center of the screen, and characters to the left and right. There was NO audio PID that would allow you to hear both the center AND the right/left. With any PID, you'd see lips moving and no sound came out, then the other characters would talk, and you'd hear it. You could reverse whether you were hearing center or left/right by changing audio PIDs, but you couldn't hear both. Only way to do it would be to use two receivers. If you record all channels, I'm not sure if there is any program that can combine audio streams into one stream or not. I couldn't find one.

But anyway, I checked the AMC21 feed when this was happening on AMC1, and the audio was normal there. So this behavior does NOT make it seem like this channel is being aimed at us hobbiests, because the average hobbiest isn't able to hear the audio on some programs.

Originally Posted by B.J.

There was a bit of a discussion about this transponder several weeks ago.... I thought it was here, but maybe it was at satforums... I can't remember.

But there is one BAD thing I noticed about this feed, and that is that the audio channels on some programs make it impossible for us to listen to the full audio.

It's not on all programs, although on most programs they seem to alternate which audio channels have the regular audio, and which have the enhanced audio with someone giving descriptions of the video for the visually impaired, meaning that if you record, you have to record ALL of the audio streams or risk missing the good one.

But the BAD programs, are programs that have dialog from different surround sound channels sent over different audio streams. I watched one program where there were characters (this was a cartoon) in the center of the screen, and characters to the left and right. There was NO audio PID that would allow you to hear both the center AND the right/left. With any PID, you'd see lips moving and no sound came out, then the other characters would talk, and you'd hear it. You could reverse whether you were hearing center or left/right by changing audio PIDs, but you couldn't hear both. Only way to do it would be to use two receivers. If you record all channels, I'm not sure if there is any program that can combine audio streams into one stream or not. I couldn't find one.

But anyway, I checked the AMC21 feed when this was happening on AMC1, and the audio was normal there. So this behavior does NOT make it seem like this channel is being aimed at us hobbiests, because the average hobbiest isn't able to hear the audio on some programs.

I'm using a CS 5000 here with no problems with audio..Just wondering what ur using to receive??

Originally Posted by Lucky53

I'm using a CS 5000 here with no problems with audio..Just wondering what ur using to receive??

It doesn't matter what receiver you're using. Like I mentioned, the problem I mentioned is only on some programs. Most programs have OK audio, although it's annoying that the "good" audio channel isn't always on the same stream. Sometimes it's on stream 1, sometimes stream 3, etc.
But if you run into one of those programs with the center channel on a separate stream, then there is NOTHING that can be done with ANY of our FTA receivers. Only solution would be to use two receivers, one tuned to the center channel, and one tuned to the L/R channel.

So far, the only programs I've seen with center completely separated were kids cartoons, ie they have somewhat artificial audio. However I HAVE observed cases with normal programs where the levels are significantly altered for different types of audio.

I'm really afraid that this audio problem will become more and more common. NBC also has some strange audio where some segments (usually AC3 commercials I think) don't have any audio on some audio PIDs, but you can usually find one PID that has all the important programming. But if they start putting center channel on a separate PID like this new PBS does, then we're going to have problems.

OK...I watched the kids programs this morning..and still watching with no adverse audio problems..I have my audio going from the receiver with RCA jacks and an audio cable for AC3 and dolby stereo thru my home entertainment receiver..the cs 5k has 2 audio settings for this channel..the 1st setting is working great,however the 2nd setting seems to have split audio..I hope this helps a bit..Maybe someone with a similar setup can elaborate on this issue..