Advice on DC Locals w/HD Tivo

[Steady34]

My dad just got a new HD television. He lives in the Washington, DC market. My question is, if he were to buy an HD Tivo would he get access to the East Coast HD channels on 80,82,86 & 88. I'm not sure if this still applies since this market is available in MPEG4. He doesn't want to go the H20 because he likes the tivo too much.

I know the new HD DVR is coming, but I'm not confident D* will have this when expected.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[cforrest]

Unless he gets waivers, which is highly unlikely. He won't get east coast HD channels, which are NY locals. You will get the DC locals and if you want them in HD, H20 & AT9 dish will be needed, since they are transmitted in MPEG-4. Better off getting an OTA antenna put up to get locals in HD, since the D* HD DVR may not be out til the fall.

 

[raymo721]

I live in MD and all but CBS denied my request. I have the HR10-250 HD D* Tivo. How far is your Dad from the towers? I get all the DC locals OTA and the HD kicks ass, especially the local CBS news which is in HD. With the right antenna he should be ok. Hope this helps.---Ray

 

[iceburg]

if he were to buy an HD Tivo would he get access to the East Coast HD channels on 80,82,86 & 88

He would get 82 (NBC) and 88 (FOX) because those DC stations are O&O. To get CBS and ABC in HD, he would need an OTA antenna.

 

[DCviewer]

He would get 82 (NBC) and 88 (FOX) because those DC stations are O&O.

It depends on how close to Baltimore's NBC affiliate he is. I'm in Northwest DC and unfortunately most (if not all) of DC is in Baltimore's grade-B area. After numerous phone calls and faxes, the affiliate denied my waiver request. A signal test probably would have proved them wrong, but it wasn't worth the hassle. To make matters worse, WRC (the DC affiliate) initially stated that they didn't take orders from NBC headquarters with respect to waivers and that they were going to deny it -- I think that there were some intra-corporate rivalry issues going on. Eventually WRC caved, but the Baltimore affiliate refused.

I did get Fox, though.

Oh, and hi -- new member here...

 

[Rick4464]

Sounds like most of you were lucky. I live in Frederick and was only able to get a waiver for FOX east. I have the new MPEG 4 unit but have had the techs out here 3 times since install because of lockups and low (35, 54, 0) signals off and on. I had a big antenna in the attic for a while trying to get my locals OTA but no luck. I had called the other major 3 but only WUSA (CBS) had me talk to their head engineer and he gave me some help but said they wouldn't be able to get a waiver approved.