Please Help Ota ??

[joeadt]

I am fortunate enough to receive my local channels OTA, however when I am watching sports, ie the US open right now, the announcer audio is not coming in. I have a signal stregnth in the 87 range. I hear all the statium announments and sounds but no commentary!! If I switch to SAT it is there.

Does anybody have any idea what is going on????

 

[korsjs]

One of my locals did that at one time. If I remember correctly, i had it on the wrong transmit channel or I deleted it and re added it.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Maybe language selection is wrong?

 

[joeadt]

its back on?

Check all that then about 10 minutes later I have all audio bcak again and did not drop off all day. Could this be a problem with the trasmitting station?

 

[rhasselbaum]

Strong possibility. Digital broadcasting is still a relatively new thing, and I've noticed my local stations don't seem to put as much effort into making sure they are transmitting correctly as they do for their analog signals. Common problems include commercials blacked out, missing sound tracks, or shows that are supposed to be HD widescreen show up in 4:3 until about three minutes into them. (My guess is someone forgets to flip a switch.)

It's gotten better in the last year or so. And some stations are better than others. My local NBC station frequently has problems, but CBS is pretty reliable.

 

[mattb]

A lot of stations automate their HD signal, so they are letting a computer control when its to tune to HD-aware programming and other times simulcast the SD Signal (when nothing is coming from the Net in HD).. This can lead to various problems that do not go noticed until the "op on hand" (if they actually have someone watching) to fix it, or someone calls up and "convinces" the op to actually take care of the problem. I have even heard of TV stations where no one in MC (master control) monitors what is actually being transmitted on the HD Channel so if a problem occurs they might be slow to actually catch it)

 

[DWS44]

shows that are supposed to be HD widescreen show up in 4:3 until about three minutes into them. (My guess is someone forgets to flip a switch.)

This can lead to various problems that do not go noticed until the "op on hand" (if they actually have someone watching) to fix it, or someone calls up and "convinces" the op to actually take care of the problem.... no one in MC (master control) monitors what is actually being transmitted on the HD Channel so if a problem occurs they might be slow to actually catch it)

Those scenarios have happened to me twice. Once was right after I got my HD setup going and involved the local UPN affiliate and the HD broadcasts of Enterprise. The first week is was great...the second week it switched from SD to HD about halfway thru the episode...the following week no HD at all. Fired off an email, and got a reply back from the Program director that stated part equipment problem, and partly trouble w/ procedures by their techs. Apparently I was the only one noticing!

The second has happened twice over the last few weeks, is how the local NBC affiliate seems to be handling the NASCAR races in widescreen...last race on NBC, they didn't switch to widescreen until a few laps after the start of the race...then last night they almost missed it completely...only switching to widescreen w/ about ~30 laps left. I tried calling the station this time to see if it was them or NBC. I got someone who didn't quite understand what I was asking. He said..."well, the picture is filling up the screen of my TV!"...when I tried to explain the whole widescreen thing, the phone went silent...at which point I gave that conversation up as pointless. Fired them off an email this morning.