Huntsville, AL Locals Question

[lowdown]

As of this morning (05/09/2008) I confirmed I am stil scheduled to get the 61.5 wing dish installed Sunday 05/11. We shall see.

I have a few questions for those few who already have the 61.5 wing dish.

How do the Huntsville locals look in HD?

Any major difference in OTA WAFF-HD NBC and WHNT-HD CBS and the satellite?

Did WAAY-HD ABC ever get added in yet?

Thanks!

lowdown

 

[hendrix04]

i flipped back and forth between fox OTA and fox 61.5 and i couldn't tell a difference. and no, no WAAY yet... I e-mailed their program director but got no response.

 

[256HDfan]

i flipped back and forth between fox OTA and fox 61.5 and i couldn't tell a difference. and no, no WAAY yet... I e-mailed their program director but got no response.

I can't get a response from anyone at WAAY or Dish about it either. Something legal and not technical it sounds like.

 

[lowdown]

i flipped back and forth between fox OTA and fox 61.5 and i couldn't tell a difference. and no, no WAAY yet... I e-mailed their program director but got no response.

Did you get a chance to look at WAFF-HD NBC or WHNT-HD CBS? Since these are broadcast in 1080i DISH is rebroadcasting at a lower bit rate than OTA. The 720p from WZDX-DT FOX and hopefully soon WAAY-DT ABC are rebroadcast with the same bit rate as OTA.

I am just curious what the effect of the lower bit rate is on the picture quality.

Thanks.

lowdown

 

[VBToad]

lowdown, Did you get your wing dish installed yet? I am waiting to see how the EA ends up, I am able to receive ota HD at a pretty decent PQ level.

 

[lowdown]

lowdown, Did you get your wing dish installed yet? I am waiting to see how the EA ends up, I am able to receive ota HD at a pretty decent PQ level.

Yes. I got the wing dish installed Sunday morning. It is a DISH 500 with a single LNB connected to my DISH 1000.2. I can now see 129, 119, 110, and 61.5.

The Huntsville locals (WAFF-DT NBC, WHNT-HD CBS, and WZDX-DT FOX) do look pretty good, although I have not had a chance to do a picture in picture comparison between OTA and the satellite. I will check that tonight.

I hope WAAY-DT ABC, WHDF-DT CW, and WHIQ-DT PBS get added soon.

I get all of the local HD OTA channels with a good signal too. I got the 61.5 dish because I wanted the ability to record 2 network HD channels at the same time and be ready for (hopefully) more new channels in the future.

lowdown

 

[hendrix04]

PBS and CW will not be added anytime soon. Neither one of them are on any HD local lists that I know of.

 

[VBToad]

Yes. I got the wing dish installed Sunday morning. It is a DISH 500 with a single LNB connected to my DISH 1000.2. I can now see 129, 119, 110, and 61.5.

The Huntsville locals (WAFF-DT NBC, WHNT-HD CBS, and WZDX-DT FOX) do look pretty good, although I have not had a chance to do a picture in picture comparison between OTA and the satellite. I will check that tonight.

I hope WAAY-DT ABC, WHDF-DT CW, and WHIQ-DT PBS get added soon.

I get all of the local HD OTA channels with a good signal too. I got the 61.5 dish because I wanted the ability to record 2 network HD channels at the same time and be ready for (hopefully) more new channels in the future.

lowdown

Thanks for the Info, I have a dish 1000 so I probably won't be able to keep 129 if I decide to go for it before the EA and new sat dish becomes available.

 

[lowdown]

Waff-dt & Whnt-dt Ota Vs. Dish

I did get a chance to do a quick side by side comparison of the WAFF-DT NBC and WHNT-DT CBS over the air versus from DISH.

For those who don't know DISH reduces the bitrate on NBC and CBS stations (1080i). FOX and ABC are retransmitted at the same bitrate (720p).

I compared the two signals in picture in picture mode with my VIP722 on a Sharp 52" 1080p TV looking at "Medium on NBC and "CSI:Miami" on CBS.

From my unscientific comparison both pictures looked good, but the DISH picture for both looked softer. It was not quite as vivid and slightly more washed out.

In the interest of full disclosure the wife didn't notice a real difference.

Note that these shows are not live action sports. Sports may show more differences (blocking and moving artifacts) between OTA and DISH.

Even with the picture differences I am glad I had the extra 61.5 added. It cost me no extra money for the dish (I did have to extend my commitment 6 extra months to 24 months total) or the HD locals (I aleady had the local channels).

So when will WAAY-DT ABC be added?

lowdown

 

[256HDfan]

So when will WAAY-DT ABC be added?

lowdown

That's the million dollar question...There has to be someone that knows what's going on, but I can't seem to figure out who to contact for info. Have you tried the station engineer at WAAY?

 

[lowdown]

That's the million dollar question...There has to be someone that knows what's going on, but I can't seem to figure out who to contact for info. Have you tried the station engineer at WAAY?

I did send an e-mail to what is listed as "programming" on the WAAY website. They didn't have an e-mail address for "engineering."

If I get a response I'll let everyone know.

lowdown

 

[tjiles]

Has anyone heard about WAAY-31 switching to HD on Dish yet?

 

[hendrix04]

WAAY was on an uplink report today...

 

[tjiles]

That's great, just saw it. However, I may be wrong but, according to an old uplink report, WAAY HD has been up on the sat. for a while, just hasn't been available. This is a good sign that we'll get it before football season.

 

[hendrix04]

which uplink report was that? I have never seen it on an uplink.

 

[pabeader]

just to throw in my 2 cents...

WAAY is HD OTA at least that's what my Pal tells me.

 

[tjiles]

I believe it was back in April when 19, 48, and 54 went up, WAAY was uplinked, just not available.

 

[256HDfan]

This is good news...maybe it will be soon.

 

[tjiles]

just to throw in my 2 cents...

WAAY is HD OTA at least that's what my Pal tells me.

For me, can't receive OTA. I have a mountain in my backyard.

 

[pabeader]

put antenna on top of mountain then get lots of channels.