Bangor, ME SD Locals issues

[sundude90]

I get my SD locals from the Bangor, Maine Market. They broadcast using MPEG- 4 on the 99(S) Sat.

I have been experiencing problems with these Local Channels since they we release in April 2008. On ABC WVII 7 and FOX 22, there is Lip Sync issues and problems with the picture freezing up continuously. Sometime the just go out completely and the screen is black (that has occurred several times tonight). On NBC WLBZ 2 there is white lines and dots that go a cross the screen. And on CBS 5 the screen sometimes freezes uo ever 2 seconds or so.

I an really getting tired of these problems. I have contacted Directv several times about this and said that it is being worked on it and they would send the information I provided them up to Engineering. A few times they said it was a problem with my equipment and send and tech guy out to my location. He called first saying this was a know problem and it was being worked on. That was 3 months ago!

I have also called up my Local Stations and complained to them and they said it was a Directv problem and it being fixed. That was a month ago or two ago. They said it was probably an equipment problem with equipment that picks up the signal from the broadcasters and sends it to Directv.

I am really getting tired of this and just want to watch my local channels with out all these interruptions that make them unwatchable.
Does anybody have any idea of what I should do or what I could do?? Is anybody else having these problems?

UPDATE: I called Directv again about these problems about an hour ago. They said again, that it was a "Know" problem and it is being worked on my the broadcaster.

Eveytime I call they the exact same thing! If they were working on it, then it should be getting better not worse and it shouldn't take 5 months to fix it. Same crap for the last 5 months and getting worse!

I am really getting tired of this and just want to watch my local channels with out all these interruptions that make them unwatchable.
I feel that I am running out of options here. Does anybody have any idea of what I should do?? Is anybody else having these problem also.

 

[sundude90]

Is anybody else having problems like what I am having? What do I do now? Please help me out, I am running out of options and want to be able to watch my Local Channels! I getting very annoyed with these problems and with these Problems.

 

[jcrandall]

I know we talked about this privately a bit back.

I think the problems are at the local receive facility, since it is a new market, D* could offer no solution, and there is nothing wrong hardware wise.

If the tech or support dept said it is a known problem, there isn't much they can do.

Check the digital transition thread for what date your receive facility is being switched to digital, that may be the first that someone is there to do anything.

Looking at that sheet (and I remember you saw it too) your market is switched over 1/19/09.

I hate to say it, but I would bet that is the first time anything significant will be done to fix the problem.

 

[sundude90]

I know we talked about this privately a bit back.

I think the problems are at the local receive facility, since it is a new market, D* could offer no solution, and there is nothing wrong hardware wise.

If the tech or support dept said it is a known problem, there isn't much they can do.

Check the digital transition thread for what date your receive facility is being switched to digital, that may be the first that someone is there to do anything.

Looking at that sheet (and I remember you saw it too) your market is switched over 1/19/09.

I hate to say it, but I would bet that is the first time anything significant will be done to fix the problem.

Why is there nothing that Directv can do until the transition?? I called up the local station and they said that it is not a problem with them. They also said it's being fixed.

I guess I don't understand what you mean when you say that maybe it won't be fix until the transition.

Why can't they fix it?

 

[jcrandall]

I'm not saying they can't fix it, I'm speculating that that may be the first time they plan to actaully be onsite at the receive facility.

Right now, they are busy converting all the facilities they use for analog to digital, with a strict timeline.

That could be prioritized over this fix, becuase the digital switch at that receive facility is probably what is needed to fix it.

Again, I'm just speculating on why it may not be fixed yet.

 

[sundude90]

I'm not saying they can't fix it, I'm speculating that that may be the first time they plan to actaully be onsite at the receive facility.

Right now, they are busy converting all the facilities they use for analog to digital, with a strict timeline.

That could be prioritized over this fix, becuase the digital switch at that receive facility is probably what is needed to fix it.

Again, I'm just speculating on why it may not be fixed yet.

I get you now, Jason. I really hope they can fix it before then, but I get what you mean. Thanks for your help.

 

[oldford]

I have the same issues out here on the eastern frontier. I wish that I had known about this substandard service prior to switching over from Dish. The poor quality of the SD channels and the recent reschedule of the HD carriage have given me a bit of a sour taste.

The white dots that you see on WLBZ are artifacts that are common to OTA reception of NTSC channel 2. (54 mHz or so?) I see them here on both my antenna and on DirecTV. Could the uplink facility be getting the SD feed OTA? Curiously, they do not appear on Dish.

The lip synch and jerky video issues (channels 5,7 and 22) are a mystery to me. They appear only on DirecTV. I can't see the digital OTA signals from anyone but WABI (ch. 5), but on Dish and on analog OTA, the signal from 5, 7, and 22 are clean and smooth. No issues except on DirecTV.

I can only assume that the market is small enough that it does not draw a lot of attention. I remain hopeful that Direct's treatment of the HD picture quality, once carried, will be more fufilling.

Waiting patiently, Eric

 

[jcrandall]

It is common for a local receive facility to get the stations via OTA

 

[sundude90]

It is common for a local receive facility to get the stations via OTA

Your kidding me! Wouldn't the quality be so much better if it was all hard wired in. How would I find out if they use OTA.

Should i contact the local stations again?

 

[jcrandall]

I doubt that anyone in the know will talk about if it is OTA or fiber.

A simple example is the market I'm in - Flint MI.

To get everything via fiber, they would have to run lines from Saginaw, Chesaning, Flint, and Delta College (thumb area). All in all, upwards of 50 miles radius of fiber runs.

With a receive facility in Chesaning (where the ABC station tower is) they can get all the signals via OTA with few issues.

That said, when a market is bigger (spread of the towers) it gets tougher to get them OTA as well. Add to that, you'll see more artifacts and disruptions if they receive them via analog NTSC versus the digital ATSC.

Hopefully come Feburary all this discussion is moot point.

But yes, it is common to use an OTA receive facility, just like the cable company. In many markets, it is a fiber conection as well. Just depends.

 

[sundude90]

I know that my Local Receive Facility is at WVII & and Fox 22 studios. Those at the stations were 90% of the problems are. Is very odd how most of the problems are from those stations which is where it is broadcasted out of. Wonder if it is fiber there and OTA to the other stations. I know that a couple weeks back I got a call from Direstv saying " Sorry about an outage of your local channels, we are still investigating what caused the outage, but we believe that it was a down fiber link". Does that mean anything?

 

[oldford]

I suspect that there is a financial reality here and that it is going to be after HD or DTV conversion before anything will improve remarkably. Until then, I expect that we'll get a rotation of the same old excuses and promises from DirecTV.

Incidently, all of the Bangor stations are on the air with digital signals. It's too bad that DirecTV couldn't get them OTA instead of the analog signal. It should be cleaner, I know that the WABI-DT signal here in Wesley is exceptional in its
clarity.

Regards, Eric

 

[jcrandall]

Incidently, all of the Bangor stations are on the air with digital signals. It's too bad that DirecTV couldn't get them OTA instead of the analog signal.

They can, and will.

Just not until Janurary. They are in the process of switching MANY markets over to digital receiving, prior the the 2/17/09 cutoff.

It is alot of work, and all over the country.


What is more disappointing, is that when your market launched in early 2008, (so figure they were doing hardware in late 2007), they didn't set it up with the digital receiving in the first place

 

[sundude90]

(Posted by Jason"What is more disappointing, is that when your market launched in early 2008, (so figure they were doing hardware in late 2007), they didn't set it up with the digital receiving in the first place ")

I know I was surprised about that also. That kinda makes me a bit angry that they didn't do that from the beginning. If they did I and many other people most likely would not be having these problems. Very stupid move on Directv's part.