I emailed this to WMTW on Sunday Night, December 30,2007, after expereiencing technical problems with their HD programming, yet again.
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On Sunday night, December 30,2007, I once again found myself in the position where I had to call the WMTW consumer telephone line (782-1800) to let whomever is running the control room that the current program on air (in this case "The Sound of Music") was not running in high definition.
What is most troubling about this if first of all, I am a regular consumer, not affiliated with the Television, Cable or Satellite, industries, and I'm not affiliated with any TV manufacturer or manufacturer of television components. I have no background in broadcasting or television whatsoever, other than that I watch TV.
But I do know when, over my regular antenna and an HD TV, when a show is supposed to be in high definition but is not. I know bout the tenuous formality called "flip the switch" that must be conducted in order for such programming, which is coming from the network feed in HD, to be allowed through from the local affiliate to my TV…in HD.
The reason I know this is because I have called WMTW and most of the other network affiliates in the Portland market for the past year or so each and ever time I find myself in this exact same predicament. It just so happens that this issue occurs more often on WMTW than any of the other Portland affiliates.
I would like to let you now that first of all I will be posting this as an open letter on my blog, which deals with high definition and media issues in the Portland market. The visitors to my blog have come to rely on me to deal with and come to a conclusion about these issues on their behalf.
If you could kindly explain why it is that your station in particular has such difficulty in broadcasting a high definition program that is being fed to you by the network (meaning no special recording equipment is required at your station for this process) and why a ordinary, educated consumer must call your station on a consistent basis to have somebody "flip the switch".
Thank you so much for your time.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
The best show you weren't watching: Jericho on CBS
I can't believe that I was not part of the groundswell of activity to bring this show back from the abyss because that is so my sort of thing.
I never missed an episode of Jericho and never even though for one minute that it was in trouble because it was too good. I'm not usually wrong about shows that are good and should be on the air. I'm usually wrong about the one I can't stand that stay on forever, like "Everybody Loves Raymond". Funny? Sometimes but mostly just annoying. Debra is a bitch, Ray is an idiot, they have absolutely no chemistry and no you can't "tell" their characters really love each other underneath it all. But I digress.
Jericho tells a science fiction account of a nuclear attach on the United States. they don't know who did it or for the most part, don't know how broad-reaching it is. They know some of the people in surrounding areas that are still alive but that's about it. The whole premise is a microcosmic look at society and deals with loss, leadership, tragedy, family ties, loyalty, and all of the things that you have to deal with in your lifetime, but under extreme duress. The acting is right on, the cast is fantastic, and while we know it is fiction, it is believable.
When the show returns on February 12, 2008, WATCH IT. This is a show that you should be watching with your older kids. It might be a bit scary for the younger ones. But what a great way to start discussions about what things in life are really important, what you should be afraid of, and how to rely on the people you love to get you through difficult times. The show does not concentrate on terrorism or death (although some people do die from time to time). It's sort of a cross between "24" and "Little House".
So give it a chance. I think if you watch it, you'll understand what I'm talking about and why I like it. Visit the CBS web site if you need more background or don't understand the plot. But trust me, it's not like "Lost" on ABC. You'll follow what's going on.
I never missed an episode of Jericho and never even though for one minute that it was in trouble because it was too good. I'm not usually wrong about shows that are good and should be on the air. I'm usually wrong about the one I can't stand that stay on forever, like "Everybody Loves Raymond". Funny? Sometimes but mostly just annoying. Debra is a bitch, Ray is an idiot, they have absolutely no chemistry and no you can't "tell" their characters really love each other underneath it all. But I digress.
Jericho tells a science fiction account of a nuclear attach on the United States. they don't know who did it or for the most part, don't know how broad-reaching it is. They know some of the people in surrounding areas that are still alive but that's about it. The whole premise is a microcosmic look at society and deals with loss, leadership, tragedy, family ties, loyalty, and all of the things that you have to deal with in your lifetime, but under extreme duress. The acting is right on, the cast is fantastic, and while we know it is fiction, it is believable.
When the show returns on February 12, 2008, WATCH IT. This is a show that you should be watching with your older kids. It might be a bit scary for the younger ones. But what a great way to start discussions about what things in life are really important, what you should be afraid of, and how to rely on the people you love to get you through difficult times. The show does not concentrate on terrorism or death (although some people do die from time to time). It's sort of a cross between "24" and "Little House".
So give it a chance. I think if you watch it, you'll understand what I'm talking about and why I like it. Visit the CBS web site if you need more background or don't understand the plot. But trust me, it's not like "Lost" on ABC. You'll follow what's going on.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Who is watching WCSH 6, WMTW 8, or WGME 13?
I know that my viewing habits have changed since I moved to Maine back in 2001. The station or stations I watched then are not necessarily the ones I watch now. And how I feel about the local news definitely affects what I watch in general on that particular station. In other words, which local station do I turn to first to see what’s on in Southern Maine and Southeastern New Hampshire?
I’d like to get some unscientific feedback on this. Tell me what local news you watch, what local station is your favorite and has this changed at all over the years. If so, what specific opinions do you have that have made you change your mind about what station is your favorite in Southern Maine/NH, or what has kept you loyal.
Just leave me a comment and I’ll compile the data.
I’d like to get some unscientific feedback on this. Tell me what local news you watch, what local station is your favorite and has this changed at all over the years. If so, what specific opinions do you have that have made you change your mind about what station is your favorite in Southern Maine/NH, or what has kept you loyal.
Just leave me a comment and I’ll compile the data.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Shame on American Television for the lack of HD programming
The United States of America is supposed to the shining star in the world of technology. The conventional thinking has been "There is nothing we can't do when it comes to technology if we just put our minds to it".
Well, something like High Definition television has been around now for about ten years. We already HAVE the technology. But for some reason, which probably has to do with money, HDTV is no where near where it should be. Instead of money, let's make it about pride and good old-fashioned ingenuity. There are plenty of us now with High Definition televisons and however we each have chosen to receive those programs, we deserve the most out of our investment. Especially since the FCC is pushing us toward digital TV (as of 2/17/09) and as a result, HDTV. For the purposes of this post I will address only broadcast TV, not cable or satellite because broadcast TV is free and always will be according to the FCC.
Starting from 7:00 AM we get two (count them, two) programs in High Definition. Good Morning America (ABC) and The Today Show (NBC). CBS has "The Early Show" but it is not in High Definition. Why not?
Does CBS not have the technology? Well, interestingly enough, CBS has the ONLY DAYTIME SOAP OPERA IN HIGH DEFINITION. That's right, The Young and the Restless" is in High Definition. So we know CBS can do HDTV. Also, their entire prime time lineup (you know, like CSI, CSI: New York, CSI: Topeka, CSI: Sewage Treatment Plant, etc, etc) of scripted television shows are in High Definition. Their sports programming, even non-prime-time shows on Saturday and Sunday like football, golf, etc. are all in HD.
Now let's talk about NBC. As I said, the Today Show is in HD. After that, there is literally nothing on in High Definition until the 6:30 pm news cast of "Nightly News with Brian Williams". Now, we all know that the news department of any network is NOT a money making operation, but they have spent the money to produce it in HD. The big money makers in prime time like "Deal or no Deal" are not in HD. Can you figure it out, I can't. Days of our Lives with has been on TV for what, 60 years, must be a cash cow but that show is not in HD.
ABC fares a bit better only because "The View" is in HD, and like CBS and NBC, most of their scripted prime time shows are in HD. Also like the others, reality shows are not.
I will give props to MAINE PBS and NEW HAMPSHIRE PBS. Now PBS historically, or should I say, in the public eye, is not a rich organization. They beg (sorry, have membership drives) for money a few times a year. The FCC mandated that more local programming originate from local television stations. They call it "localism" and our public television stations stepped up to the plate first. Right now I am watching "The Maine Experience" which this week deals with our naval shipyards and was produced in high definition. Now if they can do it, why can't the COMMERCIAL FOR PROFIT television stations at least do the same. In my opinion, the should be doing more.
The part that is difficult to figure out is the syndicated television shows like Oprah, Ellen, other daytime talk shows and game shows, re-runs of sitcoms, etc. Why first run syndicated shows are not in HD, I don't know. I do not believe that shows like Oprah and Ellen are even filmed in HD so obviously we're not going to get them in HD. Then there are shows like Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune which are produced in HD but my local affiliate does not broadcast them in HD because according to them, it is too expensive. Too expensive? What? These shows are huge money-makers.
Here's one more wrench. Most local network affiliates do not have the expensive equipment that can record a show in HD and play it back at a later time in HD. In other words, then can pass through an HD show from the Network feed as a pre-assigned time, but can't save it for later.
Local news, well again, another story. I know that in Boston, Channel 5 (WCVB) produces and broadcasts its local news and local magazine show in high definition. That is the only one in my area and it is actually too far away from me to receive it via my antenna. The affiliates I can reach in Portland, Maine do not broadcast any local news or locally produced programming in high definition.
So the bottom line is that I am getting tired of fighting this fight. I heard today that the networks aren't concerned about certain time frames being in HD because the majority watching, say during the day, are women and women aren't technical or concerned about high definition. If I was a woman, I would find that insulting but I'll let them fight their own battles.
Every advertisement, print or television, and even Internet, includes High Definition Televisions on sale. I own one. But now I think, why did I bother. There is certainly not enough HD programming, even if you spend money on cable or satellite, to justify buying a High Def television.
One more thing. Be careful of the fine print. There are "high definition" television and cable stations, for example TBS, that are now what is called "full time high definition". However, TBS makes its money on reruns of Friends, Seinfeld, Sex and the City, etc, etc, etc. NONE OF THESE SHOWS WERE EVER PRODUCED IN HIGH DEFINITION. So you are being sold a bill of goods if you buy into this. All you will get is a stretched out grainy picture that fills up your screen but is NOT, in ANY WAY high definition.
Come on broadcast folks, we're not stupid. It's time to put up and shut up. If you read through this blog you will see how many times I personally have to call my local affiliate to tell them that there is a problem with their HD broadcast and what to do to fix it. If I can do that, coming from knowing NOTHING about HD or broadcasting, and simply by doing research on the Internet, then you should be able to handle this. Don't you think?
Well, something like High Definition television has been around now for about ten years. We already HAVE the technology. But for some reason, which probably has to do with money, HDTV is no where near where it should be. Instead of money, let's make it about pride and good old-fashioned ingenuity. There are plenty of us now with High Definition televisons and however we each have chosen to receive those programs, we deserve the most out of our investment. Especially since the FCC is pushing us toward digital TV (as of 2/17/09) and as a result, HDTV. For the purposes of this post I will address only broadcast TV, not cable or satellite because broadcast TV is free and always will be according to the FCC.
Starting from 7:00 AM we get two (count them, two) programs in High Definition. Good Morning America (ABC) and The Today Show (NBC). CBS has "The Early Show" but it is not in High Definition. Why not?
Does CBS not have the technology? Well, interestingly enough, CBS has the ONLY DAYTIME SOAP OPERA IN HIGH DEFINITION. That's right, The Young and the Restless" is in High Definition. So we know CBS can do HDTV. Also, their entire prime time lineup (you know, like CSI, CSI: New York, CSI: Topeka, CSI: Sewage Treatment Plant, etc, etc) of scripted television shows are in High Definition. Their sports programming, even non-prime-time shows on Saturday and Sunday like football, golf, etc. are all in HD.
Now let's talk about NBC. As I said, the Today Show is in HD. After that, there is literally nothing on in High Definition until the 6:30 pm news cast of "Nightly News with Brian Williams". Now, we all know that the news department of any network is NOT a money making operation, but they have spent the money to produce it in HD. The big money makers in prime time like "Deal or no Deal" are not in HD. Can you figure it out, I can't. Days of our Lives with has been on TV for what, 60 years, must be a cash cow but that show is not in HD.
ABC fares a bit better only because "The View" is in HD, and like CBS and NBC, most of their scripted prime time shows are in HD. Also like the others, reality shows are not.
I will give props to MAINE PBS and NEW HAMPSHIRE PBS. Now PBS historically, or should I say, in the public eye, is not a rich organization. They beg (sorry, have membership drives) for money a few times a year. The FCC mandated that more local programming originate from local television stations. They call it "localism" and our public television stations stepped up to the plate first. Right now I am watching "The Maine Experience" which this week deals with our naval shipyards and was produced in high definition. Now if they can do it, why can't the COMMERCIAL FOR PROFIT television stations at least do the same. In my opinion, the should be doing more.
The part that is difficult to figure out is the syndicated television shows like Oprah, Ellen, other daytime talk shows and game shows, re-runs of sitcoms, etc. Why first run syndicated shows are not in HD, I don't know. I do not believe that shows like Oprah and Ellen are even filmed in HD so obviously we're not going to get them in HD. Then there are shows like Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune which are produced in HD but my local affiliate does not broadcast them in HD because according to them, it is too expensive. Too expensive? What? These shows are huge money-makers.
Here's one more wrench. Most local network affiliates do not have the expensive equipment that can record a show in HD and play it back at a later time in HD. In other words, then can pass through an HD show from the Network feed as a pre-assigned time, but can't save it for later.
Local news, well again, another story. I know that in Boston, Channel 5 (WCVB) produces and broadcasts its local news and local magazine show in high definition. That is the only one in my area and it is actually too far away from me to receive it via my antenna. The affiliates I can reach in Portland, Maine do not broadcast any local news or locally produced programming in high definition.
So the bottom line is that I am getting tired of fighting this fight. I heard today that the networks aren't concerned about certain time frames being in HD because the majority watching, say during the day, are women and women aren't technical or concerned about high definition. If I was a woman, I would find that insulting but I'll let them fight their own battles.
Every advertisement, print or television, and even Internet, includes High Definition Televisions on sale. I own one. But now I think, why did I bother. There is certainly not enough HD programming, even if you spend money on cable or satellite, to justify buying a High Def television.
One more thing. Be careful of the fine print. There are "high definition" television and cable stations, for example TBS, that are now what is called "full time high definition". However, TBS makes its money on reruns of Friends, Seinfeld, Sex and the City, etc, etc, etc. NONE OF THESE SHOWS WERE EVER PRODUCED IN HIGH DEFINITION. So you are being sold a bill of goods if you buy into this. All you will get is a stretched out grainy picture that fills up your screen but is NOT, in ANY WAY high definition.
Come on broadcast folks, we're not stupid. It's time to put up and shut up. If you read through this blog you will see how many times I personally have to call my local affiliate to tell them that there is a problem with their HD broadcast and what to do to fix it. If I can do that, coming from knowing NOTHING about HD or broadcasting, and simply by doing research on the Internet, then you should be able to handle this. Don't you think?
Ask the Forum about HDTV - Questions and Answers
Do you have questions about High Definition TV?
If you’ve looked through our site and can’t find your answer, or don’t feel like searching, simply send your question to mainehdtv@gmail.com. We’ll do our best to answer you question as quickly as possible. We’ll send you the answer directly if you provide your email address and post your answer on the blog to help others.
If you’ve looked through our site and can’t find your answer, or don’t feel like searching, simply send your question to mainehdtv@gmail.com. We’ll do our best to answer you question as quickly as possible. We’ll send you the answer directly if you provide your email address and post your answer on the blog to help others.
HD Antennas
If you have made the jump to buy an HDTV and want to try Over the Air (antenna) HD first before investing lots of money on cable or satellite, here are your options. That's what I did; I am getting all of my HD programming over the air for free and it works great.
While you will get far fewer channels (only the channels your antenna can pick up locally) it will give you time to figure out HD in terms of what programming is available and what is right for you going forward keeping in mind your budget and what you are willing to pay. You will pay a significant premium for HD through your cable or satellite provider.
If you are lucky enough to have certain types of even the older style rabbit ear antenna, you may have no additional investment investment beyond the TV. Hook up the antenna to your HDTV and see if you are able to receive HD programming with that antenna.
HD programming may be found, and usually is found, on a higher UHF channel than the original TV Channel. The FCC assigned each broadcaster a separate UHF channel for the digital broadcast while the transition to digital is going on. This is the part that needs to be completed by 2/17/09 after which time all broadcasts will be digital. Note: Digital and HD are two separate things. You need a digital broadcaster (all of your local affiliates are now, pretty much) in order for that broadcaster to also provide HD programming. Not all programming on a digital channel is in HD.
For example my local ABC affiliate is channel 8 but in my area the digital broadcast (and therefore the HD programming when available) will come over the 46.1 UHF channel.
If your current “old-style” antenna picks up the digital/HD broadcasts, you’re all set. Be sure you can pick up the digital sub-channels because each UHF digital channel has the capability to broadcast up to 4 shows simultaneously. For example Channel 8 could broadcast their digital/HD programming on 46.1, 46.2, 46.3 and 46.4. Most broadcasters really only use the “point one” and “point 2″ channels because the primary channel is used for HD and uses up most of the bandwidth available to them.
If your current antenna doesn’t work for you then you will need to buy an antenna that will pick up UHF and VHF. These are relatively inexpensive and it is a one time cost of about $40 -$60 depending on the brand and quality. If you have an older one you can give it a try first to see if you get all of the channels.
By the way, please feel free to search the Internet for any different opinions on this. This is not a dictatorship.
While you will get far fewer channels (only the channels your antenna can pick up locally) it will give you time to figure out HD in terms of what programming is available and what is right for you going forward keeping in mind your budget and what you are willing to pay. You will pay a significant premium for HD through your cable or satellite provider.
If you are lucky enough to have certain types of even the older style rabbit ear antenna, you may have no additional investment investment beyond the TV. Hook up the antenna to your HDTV and see if you are able to receive HD programming with that antenna.
HD programming may be found, and usually is found, on a higher UHF channel than the original TV Channel. The FCC assigned each broadcaster a separate UHF channel for the digital broadcast while the transition to digital is going on. This is the part that needs to be completed by 2/17/09 after which time all broadcasts will be digital. Note: Digital and HD are two separate things. You need a digital broadcaster (all of your local affiliates are now, pretty much) in order for that broadcaster to also provide HD programming. Not all programming on a digital channel is in HD.
For example my local ABC affiliate is channel 8 but in my area the digital broadcast (and therefore the HD programming when available) will come over the 46.1 UHF channel.
If your current “old-style” antenna picks up the digital/HD broadcasts, you’re all set. Be sure you can pick up the digital sub-channels because each UHF digital channel has the capability to broadcast up to 4 shows simultaneously. For example Channel 8 could broadcast their digital/HD programming on 46.1, 46.2, 46.3 and 46.4. Most broadcasters really only use the “point one” and “point 2″ channels because the primary channel is used for HD and uses up most of the bandwidth available to them.
If your current antenna doesn’t work for you then you will need to buy an antenna that will pick up UHF and VHF. These are relatively inexpensive and it is a one time cost of about $40 -$60 depending on the brand and quality. If you have an older one you can give it a try first to see if you get all of the channels.
By the way, please feel free to search the Internet for any different opinions on this. This is not a dictatorship.
Friday, December 21, 2007
What do I need to do to prepare for digital/HD in February 2009?
First, digital TV and High Definition (HD) Television are two different things. The FCC has mandated that all TV broadcasts be digital by 2/17/2009. That is step one.
Digital television must be in place in order for High Definition TV to be broadcast. So all HD broadcasts are digital. But not all digital broadcasts are HD. You need special equipment to receive HDTV.
If you have a cable box (or satellite box) you should be all set. You will only have a problem if you are receiving over the air TV signals (via an antenna), or your cable TV wire goes directly into the back of your TV set.
If you rely on over the air (antenna) television, you will need to invest in a new TV that is digital. If you invest in digital, you may as well invest in a High Definition TV. A full HD TV means that the television has an "HD Tuner" in the TV. Don't be fooled by what is called an "HD Ready" Television. HD Ready TVs are digital, but don't have HD Tunes in them. HD Ready TVs require more equipment to get High Definition signals.
Once you have bought your HDTV and want to rely on over the air (antenna) signals, you may still do that. You must purchase a relatively inexpensive UHF/VHF Antenna, which cost anywhere from $30 to $70 for the indoor type (they have outdoor antennas as well which cost more but I have yet to see the benefit if you get a good indoor model). This is a one-time purchase and you will receive the clearest HD/digital picture available. This is because it goes directly from your antenna to your TV; a very short distance with no degradation in the signal. Note: If you have an old antenna, give it a try, it may work just fine if it can pick up both UHF and VHF.
Your last alternative for this configuration is what is called an "up-converter". The FCC (yes the government) plans to send out coupons or vouchers to everyone so that you can buy this type of device that will convert the digital signal to analog so that your old TV can read the new type of signal.
If your cable TV goes right into your TV with no cable box, you will need to get a cable box from your cable company, or use your government voucher to get an "up-converter" that will do the same thing. So if you want keep your old analog TV, you can, as long as you add a cable box or "up-converter" to translate the signal.
Ultimately, it is up to you what makes sense in terms of cost for you and your family (and you budget) but you do have to make some decisions and make sure that you are covered and won't stop receiving TV all toghether.
After all is said and done, most HD Channels today are not broadcasting real HD programming 100% of the time. Right now, the major networks are only broadcasting in HD during the national morning programs and Prime Time TV. Even during those hours you can not count on all broadcast being in HD (they will simply be in digital format). So don't be disappointed. As time goes on, more and more broadcasts will be in High Definition.
Digital television must be in place in order for High Definition TV to be broadcast. So all HD broadcasts are digital. But not all digital broadcasts are HD. You need special equipment to receive HDTV.
If you have a cable box (or satellite box) you should be all set. You will only have a problem if you are receiving over the air TV signals (via an antenna), or your cable TV wire goes directly into the back of your TV set.
If you rely on over the air (antenna) television, you will need to invest in a new TV that is digital. If you invest in digital, you may as well invest in a High Definition TV. A full HD TV means that the television has an "HD Tuner" in the TV. Don't be fooled by what is called an "HD Ready" Television. HD Ready TVs are digital, but don't have HD Tunes in them. HD Ready TVs require more equipment to get High Definition signals.
Once you have bought your HDTV and want to rely on over the air (antenna) signals, you may still do that. You must purchase a relatively inexpensive UHF/VHF Antenna, which cost anywhere from $30 to $70 for the indoor type (they have outdoor antennas as well which cost more but I have yet to see the benefit if you get a good indoor model). This is a one-time purchase and you will receive the clearest HD/digital picture available. This is because it goes directly from your antenna to your TV; a very short distance with no degradation in the signal. Note: If you have an old antenna, give it a try, it may work just fine if it can pick up both UHF and VHF.
Your last alternative for this configuration is what is called an "up-converter". The FCC (yes the government) plans to send out coupons or vouchers to everyone so that you can buy this type of device that will convert the digital signal to analog so that your old TV can read the new type of signal.
If your cable TV goes right into your TV with no cable box, you will need to get a cable box from your cable company, or use your government voucher to get an "up-converter" that will do the same thing. So if you want keep your old analog TV, you can, as long as you add a cable box or "up-converter" to translate the signal.
Ultimately, it is up to you what makes sense in terms of cost for you and your family (and you budget) but you do have to make some decisions and make sure that you are covered and won't stop receiving TV all toghether.
After all is said and done, most HD Channels today are not broadcasting real HD programming 100% of the time. Right now, the major networks are only broadcasting in HD during the national morning programs and Prime Time TV. Even during those hours you can not count on all broadcast being in HD (they will simply be in digital format). So don't be disappointed. As time goes on, more and more broadcasts will be in High Definition.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Why are the shows that are supposed to be in HD, not in HD?
There are several reasons that are addressed across this blog. Many times, it is the local television station who is having technical problems or, more likely, the control room forgot to flip the HD switch. It is literally that simply, and that ridiculous of an answer.
This week, we had several snow storms and cancellations. Our local TV stations can not run the list of closings at the bottom of the screen in HD so if they must run this list, you will only see the show in standard definition.
Someday, maybe our local stations will just bit the bullet and buy the appropriate equipment so actually have high definition in a state that is reliable, and permanent.
The Maine HD Forum
This week, we had several snow storms and cancellations. Our local TV stations can not run the list of closings at the bottom of the screen in HD so if they must run this list, you will only see the show in standard definition.
Someday, maybe our local stations will just bit the bullet and buy the appropriate equipment so actually have high definition in a state that is reliable, and permanent.
The Maine HD Forum
WMTW - Channel 8 loses its HD broadcast again.
I have yet to get a definitive answer on why or how this happens but across the Portland, Maine television market it happens frequently. By this I mean a program that is supposed to be in high definition is not, or it was in high definition and loses it at some point.
Tonight, 12/20/07, at about 9:20 or so, there was a commercial break during "Grey's Anatomy". When they came back from commercial break, which ended in a studio segment regarding what was coming up at 11:00 on the news, HD was no longer in force and WMTW's HD broadcast was in Standard Definition.
I tried to call the station, as I do whenever this happens to any of the Portland TV stations, but nobody answered. I tried several times but nobody answered. I ended up writing a quick email asking for someone to "flip the switch". Within seconds, it was fixed. I doubt it was my email, it was probably someone on site who figured out what was going on. But I just can't believe that I, as a regular everyday consumer, have to call my local television stations and ask them to fix their HD problems on a regular basis.
Tonight, 12/20/07, at about 9:20 or so, there was a commercial break during "Grey's Anatomy". When they came back from commercial break, which ended in a studio segment regarding what was coming up at 11:00 on the news, HD was no longer in force and WMTW's HD broadcast was in Standard Definition.
I tried to call the station, as I do whenever this happens to any of the Portland TV stations, but nobody answered. I tried several times but nobody answered. I ended up writing a quick email asking for someone to "flip the switch". Within seconds, it was fixed. I doubt it was my email, it was probably someone on site who figured out what was going on. But I just can't believe that I, as a regular everyday consumer, have to call my local television stations and ask them to fix their HD problems on a regular basis.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
How do I get HDTV?
It is a simple question. But not such a simple answer. Many television viewers probably see a logo or an announcement that the program they are watching is available in High Definition. If you know nothing about high definition, you might do some research or most likely call your cable company. You might even call a satellite company like Direct TV or DISH Network. All of these entities claim to be the only source to tell you the truth.
Here’s the truth. Over the air broadcast TV (like ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, the CW, and MyNetwork) are by law required to broadcast television signals for FREE. Local affiliates are also required to broadcast in 100% digital format by 2/17/2009. Once your local TV station transfers to digital format, it can then continue to broadcast in regular definition or it can broadcast programming in High Definition.
To receive High Definition programming, you need a High Definition TV. Once you have that you can get all of the FREE programming broadcast by over the air TV stations with an antenna. You should be able to use any UHF/VHF antenna. They do have some new models marketed as HD Antenna which essentially do this. I have one of the new ones and it works great but your older one, if you still have one, may work fine. These antennas picks up the signals in HD and shows them on your HDTV just like in the old days when television was invented. That is all you need. The new antennas cost between 30 and 60 dollars depending on which one you buy (which is a whole different article).
Now, if you want national cable TV stations in high definition (for example, The Food Network, A&E, The History Channel, The Biography Channel, National Geographic, etc) then you need to get more equipment and higher monthly charges from your cable company or satellite company. Again, how to handle this is would take a whole new article.
So the bottom line is that with an HDTV and an Antenna, you can receive all of the free HDTV broadcast available in your area without additional charges. There are right now only a very small percentage of cable channels (even the HD ones) that are actually producing ALL of their programming in HD to be careful what you pay for. Here’s an example:
TBS is a national cable channel and is on most cable and satellite channel line-ups. Programs like Seinfeld and Friends are on every day of the week. Those programs were produced back in the 1990’s before HDTV was being used to film TV programs. They are not now and never will be in High Definition even though they are being shown on what is called a “High Definition” Channel. The picture may be slightly, and I mean slightly, clearer than the original one, or maybe not. It may be stretched out to fit the size of your HD screen (16:9 aspect ratio) or it may have the black bars on the side of you HD TV and it would be in standard old style 4:3 aspect ratio. 4:3 aspect ratio is the size of all televisions since they were invented. They are basically square boxes. I’m sure you’ve noticed that HDTV sets are wider than an old style TV. This is the 16:9 aspect ratio. It is ALMOST twice as wide as it is high. So those old TV programs can be stretched and prodded to fit but they will never look normal on an HDTV and will never have the picture or sound quality of a true HD program.
So that’s how you get HDTV. You can get it for free and receive whatever you local stations are broadcasting in HD. Or you can pay the cable or satellite company lots of money and get whatever programming the stations in their channel line-up have that are offering HD programming. But keep in mind that there are only a very, very small handful of channels that are broadcasting ALL of their programs in High Definition, in fact I believe right now there less than 10, and most of them you have probably never heard of yet.
So be careful what you pay for. And please read more on this blog to learn more about the whole HDTV picture (no pun intended). Please feel free to email me if you have questions to which you can not find the ansers and I’ll try my best to answer them.
Here’s the truth. Over the air broadcast TV (like ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, the CW, and MyNetwork) are by law required to broadcast television signals for FREE. Local affiliates are also required to broadcast in 100% digital format by 2/17/2009. Once your local TV station transfers to digital format, it can then continue to broadcast in regular definition or it can broadcast programming in High Definition.
To receive High Definition programming, you need a High Definition TV. Once you have that you can get all of the FREE programming broadcast by over the air TV stations with an antenna. You should be able to use any UHF/VHF antenna. They do have some new models marketed as HD Antenna which essentially do this. I have one of the new ones and it works great but your older one, if you still have one, may work fine. These antennas picks up the signals in HD and shows them on your HDTV just like in the old days when television was invented. That is all you need. The new antennas cost between 30 and 60 dollars depending on which one you buy (which is a whole different article).
Now, if you want national cable TV stations in high definition (for example, The Food Network, A&E, The History Channel, The Biography Channel, National Geographic, etc) then you need to get more equipment and higher monthly charges from your cable company or satellite company. Again, how to handle this is would take a whole new article.
So the bottom line is that with an HDTV and an Antenna, you can receive all of the free HDTV broadcast available in your area without additional charges. There are right now only a very small percentage of cable channels (even the HD ones) that are actually producing ALL of their programming in HD to be careful what you pay for. Here’s an example:
TBS is a national cable channel and is on most cable and satellite channel line-ups. Programs like Seinfeld and Friends are on every day of the week. Those programs were produced back in the 1990’s before HDTV was being used to film TV programs. They are not now and never will be in High Definition even though they are being shown on what is called a “High Definition” Channel. The picture may be slightly, and I mean slightly, clearer than the original one, or maybe not. It may be stretched out to fit the size of your HD screen (16:9 aspect ratio) or it may have the black bars on the side of you HD TV and it would be in standard old style 4:3 aspect ratio. 4:3 aspect ratio is the size of all televisions since they were invented. They are basically square boxes. I’m sure you’ve noticed that HDTV sets are wider than an old style TV. This is the 16:9 aspect ratio. It is ALMOST twice as wide as it is high. So those old TV programs can be stretched and prodded to fit but they will never look normal on an HDTV and will never have the picture or sound quality of a true HD program.
So that’s how you get HDTV. You can get it for free and receive whatever you local stations are broadcasting in HD. Or you can pay the cable or satellite company lots of money and get whatever programming the stations in their channel line-up have that are offering HD programming. But keep in mind that there are only a very, very small handful of channels that are broadcasting ALL of their programs in High Definition, in fact I believe right now there less than 10, and most of them you have probably never heard of yet.
So be careful what you pay for. And please read more on this blog to learn more about the whole HDTV picture (no pun intended). Please feel free to email me if you have questions to which you can not find the ansers and I’ll try my best to answer them.
Why do satellite and cable companies say they have 100 HD channels?
This, to me, is the big lie about High Definition TV. There are now, and have been for a while, some very specialized channels that are in HD all the time. There is a network called HDNET which is a good example of this and HDMovies (I believe owned by the same people). You get these channels when you subscribe to the upper end HD package from you cable or satellite provider. There are a few other channels specializing in HD like the National Geographic Channel, Discovery HD, and so forth but this number is very limited.
Other nationwide cable channels like A&E, TBS, the Food Network, etc, claim to be HD channels. However they are still airing lots and lots of programming that is not really in HD but rather reformatted in a stretched out version of the original. Let me state an example.
TBS claims that all it’s programming is in HD. However, all of the re-run, syndicated shows of the past like Seinfeld, Home Improvement, Friends, etc, etc. were never filmed in HD when they were created so they aren’t in HD now and never will be. They may fill up your entire screen if you have an HDTV (16:9 ratio) but the picture will never be in 1080i or 1080p quality. They will simply stretch the picture to fit your HD wide screen but it will still be just as grainy as it ever was when it was produced. Even if the original tapes or digital format still exist, can you imaging how much it would cost to go back and re-engineer 200 episodes for Seinfeld and then redistribute them to every local affiliate that bought the rights to air it?
My advice: WAIT. If you really want an HD TV, get one, but get a UHF/VHF Antenna and pick up as many local programs in HD as you can that way. That’s what I do. When HDTV really comes into its own, then spend the money paying the cable company to receive more programming. In my opinion, it’s not worth it now. I had it all and got rid of it all because all of this supposed HD programming available is, right now, a big Hoax.
Other nationwide cable channels like A&E, TBS, the Food Network, etc, claim to be HD channels. However they are still airing lots and lots of programming that is not really in HD but rather reformatted in a stretched out version of the original. Let me state an example.
TBS claims that all it’s programming is in HD. However, all of the re-run, syndicated shows of the past like Seinfeld, Home Improvement, Friends, etc, etc. were never filmed in HD when they were created so they aren’t in HD now and never will be. They may fill up your entire screen if you have an HDTV (16:9 ratio) but the picture will never be in 1080i or 1080p quality. They will simply stretch the picture to fit your HD wide screen but it will still be just as grainy as it ever was when it was produced. Even if the original tapes or digital format still exist, can you imaging how much it would cost to go back and re-engineer 200 episodes for Seinfeld and then redistribute them to every local affiliate that bought the rights to air it?
My advice: WAIT. If you really want an HD TV, get one, but get a UHF/VHF Antenna and pick up as many local programs in HD as you can that way. That’s what I do. When HDTV really comes into its own, then spend the money paying the cable company to receive more programming. In my opinion, it’s not worth it now. I had it all and got rid of it all because all of this supposed HD programming available is, right now, a big Hoax.
Why are shows that are supposed to be in HD, not in HD?
This can be a complicated question and answer but can also be very simple. I will take the simple approach on this one.
For the most part and for the forseeable future, most local broadcast network (over the air) affiliate stations (like your local NBC, ABC, CBS etc.) do not have the very expensive equipment that would allow them to RECORD and later PLAYBACK on their own time, a High Definition program. That means that unless the actual network is sending out that program in HD and your local station is in turn sending out to you at the same time in HD, it isn’t going to be in HD.
Let me restate using an example. Let’s say that you are sitting down to watch Ugly Betty on Thursday night and there is local breaking news in your area, or they decide to air some other special local programming. Your local ABC affiliate doesn’t air Ugly Betty at the time the network is uplinking it to them. They can’t record it HD because they don’t own that type of equipment. The can record it only in standard definition. So if they decide to replay it at a later date or time, it won’t be in HD, only standard definition.
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It will be quite some time before most of your local affiliates can afford this type of equipment that will allow them to RECORD shows uplinked to them from the network in HD.
For the most part and for the forseeable future, most local broadcast network (over the air) affiliate stations (like your local NBC, ABC, CBS etc.) do not have the very expensive equipment that would allow them to RECORD and later PLAYBACK on their own time, a High Definition program. That means that unless the actual network is sending out that program in HD and your local station is in turn sending out to you at the same time in HD, it isn’t going to be in HD.
Let me restate using an example. Let’s say that you are sitting down to watch Ugly Betty on Thursday night and there is local breaking news in your area, or they decide to air some other special local programming. Your local ABC affiliate doesn’t air Ugly Betty at the time the network is uplinking it to them. They can’t record it HD because they don’t own that type of equipment. The can record it only in standard definition. So if they decide to replay it at a later date or time, it won’t be in HD, only standard definition.
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It will be quite some time before most of your local affiliates can afford this type of equipment that will allow them to RECORD shows uplinked to them from the network in HD.
Will the FCC change the rules to force cable companies to provide free HDTV signals? Will HDTV ever be free?
Here is another question I posed: (response provided by Doug Finck from WPXT and WPME)
Here’s the part I am having trouble with, as time goes by, at some point, most channels will be in HD all of the time. So does that mean that the home user will continually have to “subscribe” to HD separately as the years go on? That sounds sort of ridiculous and just another way for cable companies to squeeze more money out of the consumer. I keep hearing advertisements for both cable, satellite, and now phone companies (like Verizon) saying they have or will have anywhere from 70 to 100 HD channels by years end or shortly there after. I just don’t see that. There aren’t 100 common nationwide cable channels broadcasting in HD. The ones I know about are the Food Channel, A&E, TBS, The History Channel, I think CNN and some others, but there are not anywhere near 100 of them. And if you use TBS as an example they are running re-runs of Seinfeld and Home Improvement that were never recorded in HD to begin with so there is so much false advertising going on. Is there any indication that the FCC may change the “rules” that would force cable or satellite companies to provide the HD signal just as they would the regular digital signal without HD?
Here is the response:
Don’t hold out a lot of hope for government intervention for the simple fact that cable doesn’t use any public resources. Cable sends their signals via wires/fibers that are hung on utility poles for which cable pays rent. Broadcasters use the airwaves which have been defined as belonging to the public. So cable can do, for the most part, whatever they want and if that includes charging extra to deliver an HD signal, then consumers have to decide; do they want to pay for the HD signal from their cable company or will they put up an antenna and watch the broadcast HD signals over the air. And if the answer is that cable has channels you like which are not available any other way, the government’s answer is “then pay the cable operator for what you want if it’s that important to you!” As far as the 70-100 channels, you are correct that some, like TBS, are running “faux” HD and pawning it off as the real thing. I suspect that there are probably 100 channels that offer some HD programming (including about 10 channels from The Discovery Networks, PBS, etc.). Some of the channels will probably be new, HD-only channels that are not currently offered anywhere, so in some ways, they may introduce channels you’ve never heard of. Finally, the cable companies will never send the HD signal they receive to the home user, simply because of the bandwidth requirements that would eat up cable’s ability to send lots of channels and services.
Here’s the part I am having trouble with, as time goes by, at some point, most channels will be in HD all of the time. So does that mean that the home user will continually have to “subscribe” to HD separately as the years go on? That sounds sort of ridiculous and just another way for cable companies to squeeze more money out of the consumer. I keep hearing advertisements for both cable, satellite, and now phone companies (like Verizon) saying they have or will have anywhere from 70 to 100 HD channels by years end or shortly there after. I just don’t see that. There aren’t 100 common nationwide cable channels broadcasting in HD. The ones I know about are the Food Channel, A&E, TBS, The History Channel, I think CNN and some others, but there are not anywhere near 100 of them. And if you use TBS as an example they are running re-runs of Seinfeld and Home Improvement that were never recorded in HD to begin with so there is so much false advertising going on. Is there any indication that the FCC may change the “rules” that would force cable or satellite companies to provide the HD signal just as they would the regular digital signal without HD?
Here is the response:
Don’t hold out a lot of hope for government intervention for the simple fact that cable doesn’t use any public resources. Cable sends their signals via wires/fibers that are hung on utility poles for which cable pays rent. Broadcasters use the airwaves which have been defined as belonging to the public. So cable can do, for the most part, whatever they want and if that includes charging extra to deliver an HD signal, then consumers have to decide; do they want to pay for the HD signal from their cable company or will they put up an antenna and watch the broadcast HD signals over the air. And if the answer is that cable has channels you like which are not available any other way, the government’s answer is “then pay the cable operator for what you want if it’s that important to you!” As far as the 70-100 channels, you are correct that some, like TBS, are running “faux” HD and pawning it off as the real thing. I suspect that there are probably 100 channels that offer some HD programming (including about 10 channels from The Discovery Networks, PBS, etc.). Some of the channels will probably be new, HD-only channels that are not currently offered anywhere, so in some ways, they may introduce channels you’ve never heard of. Finally, the cable companies will never send the HD signal they receive to the home user, simply because of the bandwidth requirements that would eat up cable’s ability to send lots of channels and services.
Why do I need special equipment to receive High Definition TV?
This is a question I recently posed to Doug Finck from WPME, WPXT.
I have a High Def television (tuner). I use a VHF/UHF antenna to receive over the air HD signals. I don’t have cable TV or satellite. A cable company essentially uses a big antenna to receive signals from satellites and send those signals down the wire to a cable subscriber. If that signal being picked up via the satellite is in HD, what stops it from being in HD when it gets to my house over the cable wire. In other words, if there was no cable box in between the signal and my TV, why would I not receive the signal in HD. Or better yet, does the cable box prevent me from receiving HD or is there something going on in that box that is doing the upconverstion. If the cable box is doing the upconversion, why does the signal need to be upconverted if it originated in HD to begin with. Is the cable company stopping the HD signal from showing up in HD format at your house over the wire so that they can charge you money to upconvert it?
Here is his response. (Warning: Contains some technical information but worth the read)
Good question! Our signal is modulated using an 8VSB modulation system. That is the only approved modulation system for digital TV broadcasting in the US. This modulation system is completely different than the old analog system of NTSC (regular old TV signals) which is why the two systems are completely incompatible. But cable does not send their signals to your house using the 8VSB (or NTSC) modulation system. Instead, cable receives an 8VSB digital signal and converts it to a QAM modulated signal. QAM compresses the 8 VSB signal and makes it smaller. Smaller signals use less bandwidth. The less bandwidth cable uses for each signal they send, the more signals they can send. Your set top box converts the QAM signal back to either an 8VSB for your digital TV or an NTSC signal for your analog TV.
This isn’t the only thing cable does to reduce the bandwidth. They also strip out the sub-channels from digital TV broadcasts. By stripping the digital broadcast signal of its sub-channels and then using QAM modulation to compress the remaining signal, cable is able to squeeze out additional bandwidth in the cable/fiber which can be used for more video channels, telephony, internet, etc. At this point the government has endorsed the practice of stripping and compressing signals as long as the primary signal is delivered and is not “materially degraded” in transit. Satellite uses some sort of compression algorithm as well as a different modulation system but I don’t know which ones. Again, they want to compress all signals and increase the number of signals they can offer. The result to the end user is that a pristine signal coming from a broadcaster is compressed or reduced in size to fit through the cable, then expanded to be recognizable by the TV. These two steps do not improve the quality of the signal and can degrade the quality. For the best picture, use an antenna and watch over-the-air HD. You’ll get the entire signal, uncompressed and just the way it was sent out!
I have a High Def television (tuner). I use a VHF/UHF antenna to receive over the air HD signals. I don’t have cable TV or satellite. A cable company essentially uses a big antenna to receive signals from satellites and send those signals down the wire to a cable subscriber. If that signal being picked up via the satellite is in HD, what stops it from being in HD when it gets to my house over the cable wire. In other words, if there was no cable box in between the signal and my TV, why would I not receive the signal in HD. Or better yet, does the cable box prevent me from receiving HD or is there something going on in that box that is doing the upconverstion. If the cable box is doing the upconversion, why does the signal need to be upconverted if it originated in HD to begin with. Is the cable company stopping the HD signal from showing up in HD format at your house over the wire so that they can charge you money to upconvert it?
Here is his response. (Warning: Contains some technical information but worth the read)
Good question! Our signal is modulated using an 8VSB modulation system. That is the only approved modulation system for digital TV broadcasting in the US. This modulation system is completely different than the old analog system of NTSC (regular old TV signals) which is why the two systems are completely incompatible. But cable does not send their signals to your house using the 8VSB (or NTSC) modulation system. Instead, cable receives an 8VSB digital signal and converts it to a QAM modulated signal. QAM compresses the 8 VSB signal and makes it smaller. Smaller signals use less bandwidth. The less bandwidth cable uses for each signal they send, the more signals they can send. Your set top box converts the QAM signal back to either an 8VSB for your digital TV or an NTSC signal for your analog TV.
This isn’t the only thing cable does to reduce the bandwidth. They also strip out the sub-channels from digital TV broadcasts. By stripping the digital broadcast signal of its sub-channels and then using QAM modulation to compress the remaining signal, cable is able to squeeze out additional bandwidth in the cable/fiber which can be used for more video channels, telephony, internet, etc. At this point the government has endorsed the practice of stripping and compressing signals as long as the primary signal is delivered and is not “materially degraded” in transit. Satellite uses some sort of compression algorithm as well as a different modulation system but I don’t know which ones. Again, they want to compress all signals and increase the number of signals they can offer. The result to the end user is that a pristine signal coming from a broadcaster is compressed or reduced in size to fit through the cable, then expanded to be recognizable by the TV. These two steps do not improve the quality of the signal and can degrade the quality. For the best picture, use an antenna and watch over-the-air HD. You’ll get the entire signal, uncompressed and just the way it was sent out!
What’s the difference between 1080i and 1080p? Should I buy 1080p or 1080i HD TV?
Some text is quoted from Doug Finck, General Manager of WPXT, Station Manager of WPME.
A more important question is what’s the difference between 1080i and 720p.
That’s because right now and in the foreseeable future, no television shows or movies will be recorded in 1080p. Broadcast, cable and satellite are not capable of delivering 1080p signals (and won’t be in the near future…if ever), the good shows are not going to be created in a format that can’t be appreciated via mass media distribution.
As for the broadcast networks, ABC, Fox, and My Network use 720p, while CBS, NBC, The CW and PBS use 1080i. You would be hard pressed to see a difference between the two.
1080p means 1080 pixels per inch in a “progressive” scan format. 1080i means the same pixels in “interlaced” format. Progressive scan broadcasting offers a higher quality picture so a 720p broadcast is similar to a 1080i broadcast. I’m not going to get into the technical aspect of this but I can tell you that unless you have better than 20/20 vision and you are sitting within 2 feet of your television screen, you don’t even have the chance of noticing the difference between 1080i versus 1080p, or 1080i versus 720p.
There are video snobs out there who call 1080p the only true HD, or Full HD. But does it matter if there is not any programming out there in 1080p and as I said won’t be in the foreseeable future. Broadcasters, cable, and satellite providers aren’t even up to speed on HD in general, let alone full 1080i programming which is the standard and what they are striving for.
Right now, 1080p is only being used for high-end web site video being downloaded (not streaming). The technology, and the need, just isn’t there. And 1080p uses up so much bandwidth over the wires and airwaves that it just isn’t viable in the near future for mass distribution.
Blu Ray and DVD-HD are viable for 1080p but Hollywood isn’t really willing yet to spend the money to get to 1080p.
If you really want to know some details, here’s a formula for determining the optimum screen size and pixel ratio:
The distance you sit from your TV screen determines whether or not you can
see the differences between 720p and 1080i. Specifically, beyond a certain
distance, the human eye and brain cannot see the differences. The formula
for determining that distance is surprising. Take the diagonal
measurement of your HD TV 16:9 screen (let’s use a 37 inch set for example
because that is very common) and multiply that number by 137% (in the case of
our example, that would give you the number 50.69, or just under 51
inches. So, if you are sitting more than 51 inches (or 4 feet, 4 inches)
away from your 37 inch diagonal HD TV, your eye and brain will not be able to
see any difference between the 720p and 1080i image. Most people sit more
than four feet from their TV screen. While a larger screen changes the number (a
50″ screen is “good” only up to 68.5 inches, 5.5 feet) you’re still talking
about distances that are far smaller than the typical living room set up.
A more important question is what’s the difference between 1080i and 720p.
That’s because right now and in the foreseeable future, no television shows or movies will be recorded in 1080p. Broadcast, cable and satellite are not capable of delivering 1080p signals (and won’t be in the near future…if ever), the good shows are not going to be created in a format that can’t be appreciated via mass media distribution.
As for the broadcast networks, ABC, Fox, and My Network use 720p, while CBS, NBC, The CW and PBS use 1080i. You would be hard pressed to see a difference between the two.
1080p means 1080 pixels per inch in a “progressive” scan format. 1080i means the same pixels in “interlaced” format. Progressive scan broadcasting offers a higher quality picture so a 720p broadcast is similar to a 1080i broadcast. I’m not going to get into the technical aspect of this but I can tell you that unless you have better than 20/20 vision and you are sitting within 2 feet of your television screen, you don’t even have the chance of noticing the difference between 1080i versus 1080p, or 1080i versus 720p.
There are video snobs out there who call 1080p the only true HD, or Full HD. But does it matter if there is not any programming out there in 1080p and as I said won’t be in the foreseeable future. Broadcasters, cable, and satellite providers aren’t even up to speed on HD in general, let alone full 1080i programming which is the standard and what they are striving for.
Right now, 1080p is only being used for high-end web site video being downloaded (not streaming). The technology, and the need, just isn’t there. And 1080p uses up so much bandwidth over the wires and airwaves that it just isn’t viable in the near future for mass distribution.
Blu Ray and DVD-HD are viable for 1080p but Hollywood isn’t really willing yet to spend the money to get to 1080p.
If you really want to know some details, here’s a formula for determining the optimum screen size and pixel ratio:
The distance you sit from your TV screen determines whether or not you can
see the differences between 720p and 1080i. Specifically, beyond a certain
distance, the human eye and brain cannot see the differences. The formula
for determining that distance is surprising. Take the diagonal
measurement of your HD TV 16:9 screen (let’s use a 37 inch set for example
because that is very common) and multiply that number by 137% (in the case of
our example, that would give you the number 50.69, or just under 51
inches. So, if you are sitting more than 51 inches (or 4 feet, 4 inches)
away from your 37 inch diagonal HD TV, your eye and brain will not be able to
see any difference between the 720p and 1080i image. Most people sit more
than four feet from their TV screen. While a larger screen changes the number (a
50″ screen is “good” only up to 68.5 inches, 5.5 feet) you’re still talking
about distances that are far smaller than the typical living room set up.
I’m getting black bars on my HD TV. What DPI is non-HD?
Even broadcast networks (i.e. NBC, CBS, ABC) that have HD capabilities are not always sending out an HD signal.
Also, most local programming or re-broadcasted programming that originates from your local affiliate (like reruns of ”Friends”) is most likely not in HD either. When not broadcasting in HD (1080i or 720p depending on what network you are watching) stations operate in what is referred to as Standard Definition (SD) mode. That is only 480i. This results in black bars on the side of the picture. The official term for the black bars on the sides of an SD image, is “pillars.”
An SD broadcast (4:3) on a 16:9 display in the “normal” mode will have pillars on the left and right sides. Otherwise the user, or the broadcaster, has the option to “stretch” the picture from 4:3 to 16:9 on their HD TV resulting in fat, wide people. If you see black bars on the sides, top, and bottom of a picture, that means you may be watching an HD program in non-HD mode. So if you have an HD TV, you need to make sure you have set up your TV properly if you know that you have the availability to watch that station in HD. There are situation where, for example Fox Movie Channel, program is shown in letterbox format but the channel is not in HD. This will cause the pillars on the side and on the top and bottom.
Also, most local programming or re-broadcasted programming that originates from your local affiliate (like reruns of ”Friends”) is most likely not in HD either. When not broadcasting in HD (1080i or 720p depending on what network you are watching) stations operate in what is referred to as Standard Definition (SD) mode. That is only 480i. This results in black bars on the side of the picture. The official term for the black bars on the sides of an SD image, is “pillars.”
An SD broadcast (4:3) on a 16:9 display in the “normal” mode will have pillars on the left and right sides. Otherwise the user, or the broadcaster, has the option to “stretch” the picture from 4:3 to 16:9 on their HD TV resulting in fat, wide people. If you see black bars on the sides, top, and bottom of a picture, that means you may be watching an HD program in non-HD mode. So if you have an HD TV, you need to make sure you have set up your TV properly if you know that you have the availability to watch that station in HD. There are situation where, for example Fox Movie Channel, program is shown in letterbox format but the channel is not in HD. This will cause the pillars on the side and on the top and bottom.
WCSH 6 High Definition out of commission AGAIN!
It is now Saturday, October 27, 2009. It is just after 8:00 pm. WCSH Channel 6 out of Portland Maine, has a High Definition broadcast that is again, not working. I called the station and they told me they were working on it and had no ETA on when it would be working. I”m glad the world series isn’t on NBC tonight.
The regular analog broadcast is available over the air or on cable. For some reason, I wonder what is going to happen after 2/17/09 when analog broadcasting ceases to exist.
Comments sponsored by Maine HDTV Forum.
The regular analog broadcast is available over the air or on cable. For some reason, I wonder what is going to happen after 2/17/09 when analog broadcasting ceases to exist.
Comments sponsored by Maine HDTV Forum.
Basics of what to know about the conversion to Digital/HDTV on 2/17/09
I wanted to put together a basic list of what you need to know and do to get ready or be ready for High Definition (or even basic digital TV)
Do you have an analog (old style) TV or digital TV
Do you have an analog (old style) TV or digital TV
- If Analog, you can buy a digital/HDTV, buy a converter box, or make sure that your cable or satellite provider has taken the necessary steps to ensure you will still receive a TV signal after 2/17/09.
- You don’t necessarily have to go to full HD, you just need to go digital instead of analog.
- Do you want plain digital or full HD?
- If you have a digital TV, is it an HD TV or HD Ready?
If it is an HD TV, meaning it has an HD Tuner, you are all set
If it is just HD ready, you need an HD receiver box - Do you subscribe to cable/satellite?
I don’t have cable, just my HDTV and UHF/VHF antenna. If this is what you are going for, then you need and HDTV and and UHF/VHF antenna.
Once you have this, you’ll need to consult the CEA website (see links on the main page) to see what digital broadcast towers are available in your area.
If you want to continue to subscribe to cable/satellite, your HDTV won’t receive HD signals unless you pay them a lot of extra money. Don’t be fooled by cable or satellite advertisements that say you will get 70 or 100 High Definition channels. There are not 70 HD channels out there yet. There will be some day but not now. - Keep in mind that even if you have an HDTV, and receive HD signals via an antenna or via cable/satellite, not all programming is produced in HD. In fact only a very small fraction of programming is in full HD. So what you will get most of the time is either black bars on the side of your picture, or a stretched out picture to fill the screen.
As we get closer to 2/17/09 and beyond, more programming will be available in HD. Before spending a lot of money, I might be best to take the “wait and see” approach to see how things fall out. - The 2/17/09 conversion date has already been extended to a yet unknown date because neither the FCC, the television industry, not consumers will be ready in what amounts to less than a year an a half to conversion time.
Please check this site for lots of additional information that might be helpful to you.
Why does my HDTV not receive all its programming in HD?
Courtesy of Doug Finck, WPME and WPXT
First we need to establish definitions:
Broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, My Network, ION, NBC. These are companies that rely on local TV stations as their primary (and usually, exclusive) means of distribution. In some cases the broadcast networks actually own the local TV stations. In most cases, however, the broadcast networks simply have an affiliation (contract) with the local TV stations to be the exclusive network program provider for that station.
Cable networks: ESPN, CNN, A&E, Disney, etc. These are companies that rely on cable and satellite as their primary (and usually, exclusive) means of distribution. Cable networks do not and cannot own local TV stations
Broadcast stations: Full-powered, local TV stations that broadcast to homes in an approximate 50 mile radius of their towers. These stations are usually also carried on local cable systems and on satellite systems. The satellites must limit the distribution of local TV stations to households that are within the local TV stations’ markets. Someone in Iowa cannot be allowed to receive a satellite feed of a local TV station from Florida. Broadcast stations qualify for “must carry” status with cable and satellite systems (unless the station elects to take their chance and negotiate a carriage agreement with the cable or satellite providers.
Low Powered stations: Low powered TV stations are often religious or niche-programmed stations. A few have affiliations with broadcast networks, but because low powered stations do not have “must carry” rights and are seldom according cable (and never satellite) carriage, they are far less attractive as TV stations.
So, Broadcast and cable networks have vast resources and have no problem affording the equipment to shoot, edit, record, playback, distribute in HD. Very few local TV stations have that capacity. A few large-city local TV stations have added HD cameras for their local newscasts and can broadcast the local news in HD (which is relatively easy because it is live and doesn’t need to be stored and played back).
I believe there are one or two stations in the country that have purchased HD cameras for all of their field reporting, but those are extreme exceptions and it will be years before the majority of stations have the ability to shoot, edit, record, playback, distribute their local news in HD.
Since most local TV stations create little local programming other than their newscasts, that will be the extent of local HD in most cases. We will be an exception when we start doing our local programs (Our Maine Magazine show, our new high school sports show, etc.) in HD.
The bottom line is that, for the most part, here in Maine and most part of the country, your local affiliate can not yet afford to record and playback HD at another time, they get it live or via taped feed from the network and simply re-transmit it in its original form. Syndicated programming, like re-runs of Seinfeld, or Friends, were never recorded in HD and therefore, will never be shown in HD.
First we need to establish definitions:
Broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, My Network, ION, NBC. These are companies that rely on local TV stations as their primary (and usually, exclusive) means of distribution. In some cases the broadcast networks actually own the local TV stations. In most cases, however, the broadcast networks simply have an affiliation (contract) with the local TV stations to be the exclusive network program provider for that station.
Cable networks: ESPN, CNN, A&E, Disney, etc. These are companies that rely on cable and satellite as their primary (and usually, exclusive) means of distribution. Cable networks do not and cannot own local TV stations
Broadcast stations: Full-powered, local TV stations that broadcast to homes in an approximate 50 mile radius of their towers. These stations are usually also carried on local cable systems and on satellite systems. The satellites must limit the distribution of local TV stations to households that are within the local TV stations’ markets. Someone in Iowa cannot be allowed to receive a satellite feed of a local TV station from Florida. Broadcast stations qualify for “must carry” status with cable and satellite systems (unless the station elects to take their chance and negotiate a carriage agreement with the cable or satellite providers.
Low Powered stations: Low powered TV stations are often religious or niche-programmed stations. A few have affiliations with broadcast networks, but because low powered stations do not have “must carry” rights and are seldom according cable (and never satellite) carriage, they are far less attractive as TV stations.
So, Broadcast and cable networks have vast resources and have no problem affording the equipment to shoot, edit, record, playback, distribute in HD. Very few local TV stations have that capacity. A few large-city local TV stations have added HD cameras for their local newscasts and can broadcast the local news in HD (which is relatively easy because it is live and doesn’t need to be stored and played back).
I believe there are one or two stations in the country that have purchased HD cameras for all of their field reporting, but those are extreme exceptions and it will be years before the majority of stations have the ability to shoot, edit, record, playback, distribute their local news in HD.
Since most local TV stations create little local programming other than their newscasts, that will be the extent of local HD in most cases. We will be an exception when we start doing our local programs (Our Maine Magazine show, our new high school sports show, etc.) in HD.
The bottom line is that, for the most part, here in Maine and most part of the country, your local affiliate can not yet afford to record and playback HD at another time, they get it live or via taped feed from the network and simply re-transmit it in its original form. Syndicated programming, like re-runs of Seinfeld, or Friends, were never recorded in HD and therefore, will never be shown in HD.
No audio, only video on an HDTV broadcast or HD Commercial
This happens quite a bit for commercials. The problem is that the High Definition broadcast is made up of more than one signal; audio and video is actually coming to you, or to your cable company, then you, via separate pathways. The audio actually can be transmitted in several different layers.
If the producer of these commercials doesn’t get the technology just write, you are going to see the picture in HD and no sound, or more often, a picture and only background noises (like birds chirping or something like that).
There is nothing wrong with your TV or your connections. This is a problem with the people who produced the commercial and the people who are transmitting it.
If the producer of these commercials doesn’t get the technology just write, you are going to see the picture in HD and no sound, or more often, a picture and only background noises (like birds chirping or something like that).
There is nothing wrong with your TV or your connections. This is a problem with the people who produced the commercial and the people who are transmitting it.
High Definition is taking off like a shot!
When I started this blog a few month’s ago, it was actually part of another blog I wrote that involved current events, pop culture, and my personal opinion on these issues as well as the media.
I soon realized that the need for a blog dedicated specifically to High Definition was evident. Since I live in Southern Maine, I started to write the HDTV Maine Forum from that perspective but since the principles discussed apply to anyone in the U.S., I have received quite a bit of traffic on my site. I do discuss topics that pertain to specific Maine over-the-air broadcast stations, but also include general information about High Definition, how it works, how you can make it work for you, etc.
I can’t be more thrilled and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the visitors who have gained knowledge and insight from this Blog. Most people don’t leave a comment and let me know they stopped by but I can see the stats that reflect the actual traffic and I am truly amazed.
I hope that all of my visitors learn something from my Blog. To those in Southern Maine, there is probably a lot more in here for you. But anyone who visits is encouraged to leave me a note that you stopped by, or, if you have specific questions that are not addressed, or topics you would like more detail on, please feel free to let me know. My best day ever so far was about 130 visitors which is quite a few for a small blogger like me.
I soon realized that the need for a blog dedicated specifically to High Definition was evident. Since I live in Southern Maine, I started to write the HDTV Maine Forum from that perspective but since the principles discussed apply to anyone in the U.S., I have received quite a bit of traffic on my site. I do discuss topics that pertain to specific Maine over-the-air broadcast stations, but also include general information about High Definition, how it works, how you can make it work for you, etc.
I can’t be more thrilled and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the visitors who have gained knowledge and insight from this Blog. Most people don’t leave a comment and let me know they stopped by but I can see the stats that reflect the actual traffic and I am truly amazed.
I hope that all of my visitors learn something from my Blog. To those in Southern Maine, there is probably a lot more in here for you. But anyone who visits is encouraged to leave me a note that you stopped by, or, if you have specific questions that are not addressed, or topics you would like more detail on, please feel free to let me know. My best day ever so far was about 130 visitors which is quite a few for a small blogger like me.
Need help setting your HD TV to receive over the air HD broadcasts?
I’ve got a lot of information on this site to help. But if you need some more individualized assistance, I’d be happy to help. Send me an email at mainehdtv@gmail.com .
WGME - Channel 13 - Unbelievably bad technical expertise
It happened again tonight, at 8:20 pm. I switched on the TV and channel surfed my HD channels (which I get for free over the air) and low and behold, the only television show available in HD was “The Ghost Whisperer” and low and behold, it wasn’t in High Definition.
As ususal; it’s quite routine by now; I called WGME and told them that their broadcast of “The Ghost Whisperer” was not coming through in high definition. I knew full well that they forgot to “flip the switch”. You see, I’ve done this before.
As I was placed on hold for a few minutes, I watched the picture and all of a sudden, it flickered for a millisecond and started coming out in high definition.
The gentleman I was speaking to came back and I immediately said “Well, you’re all set, it’s coming out in HD” and he said something like “oh good, it is”. And I said “yes, you must have “flipped the switch again” and he said “yes, we flipped the switch” and apologized.
I said “Oh, that’s OK, I’m just getting a little tired of calling to let you know there’s a problem”. He said “oh, has this happened before”. And I said “it happens all the time and not just to you, but to the other Portland stations as well, but thank you and have a good night”. He was very pleasant, this guy, but really would not have understood why I was upset. He’s not part of the problem.
It is simply unbelievabe to me that I, as a regular joe who has no experience in broadcast television, needs to call my local affiliate to tell them that their HD feed is not working and to ask them to flip the switch. It is ridiculous.
As ususal; it’s quite routine by now; I called WGME and told them that their broadcast of “The Ghost Whisperer” was not coming through in high definition. I knew full well that they forgot to “flip the switch”. You see, I’ve done this before.
As I was placed on hold for a few minutes, I watched the picture and all of a sudden, it flickered for a millisecond and started coming out in high definition.
The gentleman I was speaking to came back and I immediately said “Well, you’re all set, it’s coming out in HD” and he said something like “oh good, it is”. And I said “yes, you must have “flipped the switch again” and he said “yes, we flipped the switch” and apologized.
I said “Oh, that’s OK, I’m just getting a little tired of calling to let you know there’s a problem”. He said “oh, has this happened before”. And I said “it happens all the time and not just to you, but to the other Portland stations as well, but thank you and have a good night”. He was very pleasant, this guy, but really would not have understood why I was upset. He’s not part of the problem.
It is simply unbelievabe to me that I, as a regular joe who has no experience in broadcast television, needs to call my local affiliate to tell them that their HD feed is not working and to ask them to flip the switch. It is ridiculous.
Take back control of your TV and your wallet with High Definition
A small but committed group of people here in Maine are taking back control of their TVs and their wallets through High Definition Television received over the air.
Back in the day, when broadcast television was first invented and until the advent of cable TV and satellite, we relied on our TV antennas. They were either attached to the TV inside the house or attached to the rooftop outside the house. This was analog TV; the reception was sketchy, the picture often grainy and while it was a breakthrough invention in its day, Over the Air TV was almost non-existent as we reached the 1990’s.
Now, because the FCC had the foresight to ensure that network television broadcasters maintain free transmission over the air, High Definition television can be received in your home FOR FREE.
For those of you that don’t know, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, Fox, the CW, and MyNetwork are already broadcasting digital signals in addition to their analog signals. If your local affiliate is not yet doing that, it will be soon, and must by February 17, 2009. If you have a High Definition TV, a High Definition “Ready” TV (with a converter), or an old Analog TV with an even different converter, you can already receive these signals.
I stopped paying my cable company about 8 months ago. My monthly bill for just cable TV with all the add-ons you are required to to pay for to receive High Definition from them, cost me about $118 dollars a month. I already bought my HD TV, so I got rid of all my cable equipment, bought a UHF/VHF antenna (a one-time investment of about $65) and now I get all the HD programming I need FOR FREE, I HAVE NO CABLE BILL.
Now, with this commitment, I also committed to giving up some of the extras that I realized I don’t really need. Like the Food Network, and Comedy Central, and all of those channels I enjoyed, but were not paramount to my survival. There are so few non-broadcast networks (cable only) that are in HD that I realized I wasn’t missing much. I receive all of the big 7 networks (except Fox in my area but that’s another story and I will receive it soon) in digital format FOR FREE. Network TV only broadcasts certain shows in full HD format, usually primetime programming. The exeption to that is The Today Show, Good Morning America, The View, and The Young and the Restless.
I, and others, have decided not to pay our cable companies ridiculous fees to receive their services. If I can’t receive it with my HD TV and my UHF/VHF antenna, I don’t want it. Keep in mind that if you have an HD TV (or equivalent) your signal is actually better and clearer than if you get it from the cable company because there is nothing between you and the tower that is broadcasting the signal. We are hoping that others make this commitment and take back control of your TV and your wallet. It is a small sacrifice considering what we hope to get in the end. And that is more competitive, cable-provided HD pricing which is what we deserve. The industry is gouging us and is fooling the public because the public is uninformed about how this whole HD TV thing really works. Please take a few minutes to browse this site. There is a lot of information out there on how it works and how you can take back your TV, and your wallet.
Back in the day, when broadcast television was first invented and until the advent of cable TV and satellite, we relied on our TV antennas. They were either attached to the TV inside the house or attached to the rooftop outside the house. This was analog TV; the reception was sketchy, the picture often grainy and while it was a breakthrough invention in its day, Over the Air TV was almost non-existent as we reached the 1990’s.
Now, because the FCC had the foresight to ensure that network television broadcasters maintain free transmission over the air, High Definition television can be received in your home FOR FREE.
For those of you that don’t know, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, Fox, the CW, and MyNetwork are already broadcasting digital signals in addition to their analog signals. If your local affiliate is not yet doing that, it will be soon, and must by February 17, 2009. If you have a High Definition TV, a High Definition “Ready” TV (with a converter), or an old Analog TV with an even different converter, you can already receive these signals.
I stopped paying my cable company about 8 months ago. My monthly bill for just cable TV with all the add-ons you are required to to pay for to receive High Definition from them, cost me about $118 dollars a month. I already bought my HD TV, so I got rid of all my cable equipment, bought a UHF/VHF antenna (a one-time investment of about $65) and now I get all the HD programming I need FOR FREE, I HAVE NO CABLE BILL.
Now, with this commitment, I also committed to giving up some of the extras that I realized I don’t really need. Like the Food Network, and Comedy Central, and all of those channels I enjoyed, but were not paramount to my survival. There are so few non-broadcast networks (cable only) that are in HD that I realized I wasn’t missing much. I receive all of the big 7 networks (except Fox in my area but that’s another story and I will receive it soon) in digital format FOR FREE. Network TV only broadcasts certain shows in full HD format, usually primetime programming. The exeption to that is The Today Show, Good Morning America, The View, and The Young and the Restless.
I, and others, have decided not to pay our cable companies ridiculous fees to receive their services. If I can’t receive it with my HD TV and my UHF/VHF antenna, I don’t want it. Keep in mind that if you have an HD TV (or equivalent) your signal is actually better and clearer than if you get it from the cable company because there is nothing between you and the tower that is broadcasting the signal. We are hoping that others make this commitment and take back control of your TV and your wallet. It is a small sacrifice considering what we hope to get in the end. And that is more competitive, cable-provided HD pricing which is what we deserve. The industry is gouging us and is fooling the public because the public is uninformed about how this whole HD TV thing really works. Please take a few minutes to browse this site. There is a lot of information out there on how it works and how you can take back your TV, and your wallet.
How do I find what HD channels are available in my area over the air?
The Consumer Electronics Association has a great web site that assists the user in determining what channels (HD or otherwise) are available in your area and how far they are from your specific zip code. It also tells you what compass heading they are so you know how to point your antenna. The link is http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx. Click on the "Choose an Antenna" button and type in your basic info (only where there is an asterisk) and follow the instructions.
Cable companies and Over-the-Air (OTA) broadcasters are not keeping up.
I noticed over the last several months that more and more cable networks are broadcasting in High Definition, but the local cable companies are not providing that to their customers.
For example, TBS, A&E, USA, Discovery Channel (basic), are now available in HD but my cable company doesn’t offer them.
So GET WITH IT cable companies. The programming is out there so give it to us!!!!
Even your regular local TV stations aren’t doing all they can. There are shows like Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune are taped in HD format. But my local stations don’t send the HD signal out, they send the regular standard definition signal. Not to mention that there is no reason why the local news can’t be done in HD.
So, for regular broadcast channels in your neighborhood, IF A SHOW IS AVAILABLE IN HD, BROADCAST IT IN HD, WHAT’S THE PROBLEM.
For example, TBS, A&E, USA, Discovery Channel (basic), are now available in HD but my cable company doesn’t offer them.
So GET WITH IT cable companies. The programming is out there so give it to us!!!!
Even your regular local TV stations aren’t doing all they can. There are shows like Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune are taped in HD format. But my local stations don’t send the HD signal out, they send the regular standard definition signal. Not to mention that there is no reason why the local news can’t be done in HD.
So, for regular broadcast channels in your neighborhood, IF A SHOW IS AVAILABLE IN HD, BROADCAST IT IN HD, WHAT’S THE PROBLEM.
What is Channel 8.2 (WMTW) and Channel 6.2 (WCSH)
All digital TV broadcasters have the availability of up to 4 “sub-channels”. This means that channel 8 in Portland Maine can actually broadcast on digital TV channel 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, and 8.4. The more sub-channels used the less the quality, so most broadcasters limit themselves to just two.
For Channel 6, Portland WCSH, they use 6.1 for their regular digital/high defintion broadcasts and channel 6.2 for “Weather Plus” - all weather, all the time.
Channel 8, Portland WMTW, uses channel 8.2 for what is called “News Now” which includes regular updates on news, weather, and sports. The picture quality is not that great but you get a lot more information as compared to channel 6.2.
Keep in mind that these sub-channels are only available if you have an HDTV and us and UHF/VHF antenna over the air, or if your cable/satellite company has included them in their lineup.
For Channel 6, Portland WCSH, they use 6.1 for their regular digital/high defintion broadcasts and channel 6.2 for “Weather Plus” - all weather, all the time.
Channel 8, Portland WMTW, uses channel 8.2 for what is called “News Now” which includes regular updates on news, weather, and sports. The picture quality is not that great but you get a lot more information as compared to channel 6.2.
Keep in mind that these sub-channels are only available if you have an HDTV and us and UHF/VHF antenna over the air, or if your cable/satellite company has included them in their lineup.
Understanding UHF/VHF and High Definition
I received this response to an email I wrote to Doug Finck. Hopefully, this will help explain some of the technical stuff behind UHF/VHF and high definition: Some technical information included.
There’s one thing that you said that is wrong and you will want to grasp this concept, cuz it’s important.
Your wrote that “when channel 6 reverts to using their VHF signal”…that’s never going to happen. They (and channel 13) will be abandoning their VHF signals and will (after 2/18/09) only be available as UHF signals. Channel 6 will permanently use channel 44…but they will continue to market themselves as channel 6 and, most importantly…your digital TV will display them on and label them as, channel 6. What the digital conversion is doing is uncoupling the over-the-air frequency, from the channel number on the digital TV.
Just so you don’t think this is a new issue…there are no such things as channel 6, or 8, or 13, or 51, etc. Those numbers were created when TV started as a way to make it easy for consumers to find and remember stations. Those channel numbers are really “fronts” for frequencies measured in megahertz. For instance, channel 6 is actually using the spectrum of about 82-88 megahertz (just below the FM band). WGME is using the 210-216 megahertz. Our channel 51 is using the 560-566 megahertz spectrum, etc.
There’s one thing that you said that is wrong and you will want to grasp this concept, cuz it’s important.
Your wrote that “when channel 6 reverts to using their VHF signal”…that’s never going to happen. They (and channel 13) will be abandoning their VHF signals and will (after 2/18/09) only be available as UHF signals. Channel 6 will permanently use channel 44…but they will continue to market themselves as channel 6 and, most importantly…your digital TV will display them on and label them as, channel 6. What the digital conversion is doing is uncoupling the over-the-air frequency, from the channel number on the digital TV.
Just so you don’t think this is a new issue…there are no such things as channel 6, or 8, or 13, or 51, etc. Those numbers were created when TV started as a way to make it easy for consumers to find and remember stations. Those channel numbers are really “fronts” for frequencies measured in megahertz. For instance, channel 6 is actually using the spectrum of about 82-88 megahertz (just below the FM band). WGME is using the 210-216 megahertz. Our channel 51 is using the 560-566 megahertz spectrum, etc.
Audio and Video don’t match up (out of synch) in High Definition
Response courtesy of Doug Finck (WPXT, WPME) - explanation of "out of synch" voice issues I pointed out to them by writing to the station. Keep in mind that this is a technical explanation but the bottom line is that when the audio and video is out of synch, it is not your television, it is the broadcaster. So your best bet is to call the station to let them know.
We have a digital processor that feeds the encoder. In the
digital processor we have a number of cards that upconvert non-high definition
signals, or pass through legitimate high definition signals, depending upon what
we are feeding.Our engineers check out the system and we were off by 9 frames. In other words, our audio was 9 frames ahead of our video (the sound was coming before the mouths were moving). Given the fact that there are 30 frames per second, we were off by a about a third of a second. I appreciate you bringing it to our attention. We're a little baffled about how it could have gotten "out of sync."
We haven't added any new equipment or made any adjustments and it was perfectly sync-ed up the last time we tested. The one thing we wonder about is the PSIP data. That information is injected into our signal (as required by law) but we don't control it. We pay an outside company to create and deliver the data
stream to us, then we inject it into our system.If they added (or deleted) a large amount of data, that may have had an impact on the timing of the audio and video.My question to our engineers is, "why did we not observe what you observed…the fact that the sound and the lips were out of
sync?" The answer is interesting.We are currently broadcasting in both analog and digital. Each of our control rooms has a video monitor for the respective signals. The nature of analog is that whatever we do is seen immediately. In the digital world, however, everything is delayed by a few seconds. We fed our analog signal into the digital processor and it takes a second or two to convert the 525i, 4:3 analog image, into a 1080i, 16:9
digital image.That delay causes both audio and video digital signals to be "behind" our analog signal. When the Master Control operators watch our monitors, they see both signals, but they only listen to the analog. The digital audio is several seconds behind the analog. The solution seems simply, watch and listen in digital to see if the sound and mouth movement is in sync. The problem with that is the delay would cause a problem whenever we went to a commercial, had to superimpose some information, or tried to start a new program. Because we would be watching a delayed feed, we would start the next element based on what we were watching…but that would have ended a few seconds before we saw it…so by watching the delayed digital feed, we would always have 2-3 seconds of black silence between any ad, show or event. The long-term answer is to say goodbye to analog. Once we are in a pure digital realm, we will no longer be upconverting (which is where the delay occurs) and the digital feed will be in "real time" and we can monitor and switch off of that. In the meantime, we'll keep an eye on things and I would ask that you do the same…and keep us honest!One final request.
We have adjusted the timing so everything is in sync right now. That's fine
because everything we're broadcasting is being upconverted. Our next
network high definition program will be on Sunday night. Do me a favor,
take a look and make sure that the network high definition is in sync. It
doesn't get converted and I hope that the adjustments we made to the processor
don't have any impact on the network high definition broadcasts! Thanks and have great weekend,
HD Antennas - receiving HD (UHF) over the air with an Antenna
Courtesy of Doug Finck (WPXT, and WPME): Note: Technical information included.
Channels 2-13 are currently referred to as VHF (very high frequency) and are lower in frequency than channels 14-69, which are the UHF (ultra high frequency). VHF channels go further on less power. For instance, channel 6 has a power output of about 360,000 watts. Our channel 51 puts out 3,000,000, almost 10 times the power. But channel 6's signal goes further and is easier to receive than our higher-powered signal.
In 2009, when all stations have to convert to digital, the government is also removing channels from the spectrum. From a regulatory perspective, they are taking all channels above 51. The remaining channels (2-51) will be licensed to broadcasters for digital transmission. To receive those channels, you would want an antenna designed to receive those frequencies (remember, receiving the frequency has nothing to do with the type of modulation being used…analog or digital). So, a VHF antenna will be fine for the lower frequencies, whereas a UHF antenna will be necessary for the higher frequencies.
Stations were given second frequencies to use during the conversion process. The overwhelming majority of stations received UHF frequencies. Because of the nature of digital signals, it turns out that VHF signals, and particularly VHF signals below channel 8, are particularly susceptible to interference (a computer operating near the TV can obliterate a signal), most TV broadcasters decided to stay with their new UHF frequencies and turn in their VHF signals. But because of the decades of branding that stations have had (WCSH will always be thought of as channel 6), the new digital system added a tricky element, the PSIP code which sends information to the digital TV. Each station has to send out a PSIP code to tell the new digital TV how to work, and, more importantly, how to label each station.
So our station, WPXT, analog channel 51, is broadcasting in digital on channel 43. But the PSIP code labels us as WPXT, channel 51. Your digital TV receives our signal at the frequency you used to call 43, but treats it as channel 51. For WCSH, who broadcasts digitally on channel 42 (I think), the PSIP displays it as channel 6. So to receive WCSH clearly, you need a UHF antenna, even though the label will tell you it is channel 6.
The "digital" antennas are nothing more than a combination UHF/VHF antenna, reduced in size to be less obtrusive. As I mentioned before, after the conversion, WMTW and WCBB will continue to operate as VHF stations (even though they will broadcast digitally) while the rest of the stations will be UHF (even though WCSH and WGME will still be displayed as channels 6 and 13….VHF channels…respectively).
Channels 2-13 are currently referred to as VHF (very high frequency) and are lower in frequency than channels 14-69, which are the UHF (ultra high frequency). VHF channels go further on less power. For instance, channel 6 has a power output of about 360,000 watts. Our channel 51 puts out 3,000,000, almost 10 times the power. But channel 6's signal goes further and is easier to receive than our higher-powered signal.
In 2009, when all stations have to convert to digital, the government is also removing channels from the spectrum. From a regulatory perspective, they are taking all channels above 51. The remaining channels (2-51) will be licensed to broadcasters for digital transmission. To receive those channels, you would want an antenna designed to receive those frequencies (remember, receiving the frequency has nothing to do with the type of modulation being used…analog or digital). So, a VHF antenna will be fine for the lower frequencies, whereas a UHF antenna will be necessary for the higher frequencies.
Stations were given second frequencies to use during the conversion process. The overwhelming majority of stations received UHF frequencies. Because of the nature of digital signals, it turns out that VHF signals, and particularly VHF signals below channel 8, are particularly susceptible to interference (a computer operating near the TV can obliterate a signal), most TV broadcasters decided to stay with their new UHF frequencies and turn in their VHF signals. But because of the decades of branding that stations have had (WCSH will always be thought of as channel 6), the new digital system added a tricky element, the PSIP code which sends information to the digital TV. Each station has to send out a PSIP code to tell the new digital TV how to work, and, more importantly, how to label each station.
So our station, WPXT, analog channel 51, is broadcasting in digital on channel 43. But the PSIP code labels us as WPXT, channel 51. Your digital TV receives our signal at the frequency you used to call 43, but treats it as channel 51. For WCSH, who broadcasts digitally on channel 42 (I think), the PSIP displays it as channel 6. So to receive WCSH clearly, you need a UHF antenna, even though the label will tell you it is channel 6.
The "digital" antennas are nothing more than a combination UHF/VHF antenna, reduced in size to be less obtrusive. As I mentioned before, after the conversion, WMTW and WCBB will continue to operate as VHF stations (even though they will broadcast digitally) while the rest of the stations will be UHF (even though WCSH and WGME will still be displayed as channels 6 and 13….VHF channels…respectively).
WGME News 13 web site compromised - staff is unprofessional
It all started when I decided I wanted to be a weather watcher. I went to the WGME web page and clicked on the Weather links. Since I did not find what I was looking for, I decided to use the "search" bar and typed in the words "Weather Watcher". The results of that search returned several options; the second option was a page called "Weather Editor". I clicked on that and to my surprise I was brought to a web page that controlled the content of their weather page. I was shocked.
Now just a quick note here, my background is in Information Technology, specifically, system security, and I also have some experience writing and publishing web pages.
I really couldn't believe my eyes. Just to be sure of what I was seeing I scrolled down to the UV Index section, and on the cool autumn day, changed it to "Severe". Low and behold, I reloaded the WGME weather page and there it was: Today's UV Index - SEVERE.
I really couldn't believe it and based on my background I thought about the catastrophic damage that someone could do to the WGME brand by taking control of this page. I mean, in Maine, weather is a big deal and I can only imagine how many hits this page must get in a day.
Because of my background I did what I would have wanted someone to do for me if I was in charge of their web site or IT department. I called them and explained to them what the problem was. I spoke to a man name "Jay" (I did not remember his name at this point) and at the time I could not remember specifically what the chain of events was that got me to that page. I did not remember using the search bar and thought I had clicked on a link to get there. This happens to me often because I operate at lightening speed.
In any case after I got off the phone with Jay, I realized that he did not take down my name or any contact information and I don't remember him even saying thank you. But I know what it's like to be in panic mode with your computer system so I dismissed it. I went back to the WGME web page and tried to retrace my steps because it was bothering me that I could not remember how I got to the Weather Editor. Then it hit me: the Search bar.
I immediately called the WGME telephone number back and another man answered the phone. I told him I had just talked to someone about their web page and had more information. He didn't cover the phone and I heard him say "Hey Jay, it's that guy about the web page". I then remembered Jay's name. I explained to Jay about the search bar being the culprit and he tried it exactly like I did and got the same results. I jokingly said something like "gee, don't you think I should get some sort of prize for finding this and telling you about it instead of hacking your web site". He said something like "Ha, yeah, probably, huh" and then said if I still wanted to find out about being a weather watcher, he would transfer me to the weather department, which he did. I realized again at that point that he STILL did not take down my name or contact information.
So, I did what anybody would do. I wrote an email to the general mailbox and since the individual mailboxes of the general manager, IT manager, News Director, etc. are not published I took a guess (being in IT) at the general manager's email address and happen to get it right. My email explained the whole situation, similar to this posting and at the end I said in a kidding manner "So do I get a mug, or a job interview" (since I am seeking employment). Since nobody asked yet, I provided my name, address, phone number and email contact information at the end of the email.
To my surprise I received the following from Terry Cole, the general manager of WGME and this is verbatim:
"Ron You can get a mug and a ball cap if you want. Call me Thursday or Friday and I will arrange.228-7700 thanks'
Terry Cole
I could not have been more insulted. I went out of my way, from one professional to another and saved them from what could have been something quite embarrassing. I remembered that one of the first things I said to "Jay" was that I had made a change tot he UV index number so that they could fix that change immediately. So Terry Cole sends me and email asking me to call him if I want a mug or cap.
I sent him an email back explaining that he obviously misunderstood the intent of my email and what I was looking for was a professional thank you. I explained that it was not my life's work to get a WGME Coffee Mug and that the professional thing to do would have been to contact ME to thank me, not ask me to contact HIM to arrange for a coffee mug delivery. Especially since he already had my contact information.
In conclusion, I believe that WGME had no bad intentions, but sometimes our actions, which are extentions of our intentions, can be misinterpreted. From a professional standpoint, I can understand that the I.T. department may have been overwhelmed with the discovery of a large hole in their security. However, I also believe that the circumstances called for a professional response to me as a fellow I.T. person, and as a regular viewer who went above and beyond the call of duty to do a favor for a company to whom I owe nothing.
Now just a quick note here, my background is in Information Technology, specifically, system security, and I also have some experience writing and publishing web pages.
I really couldn't believe my eyes. Just to be sure of what I was seeing I scrolled down to the UV Index section, and on the cool autumn day, changed it to "Severe". Low and behold, I reloaded the WGME weather page and there it was: Today's UV Index - SEVERE.
I really couldn't believe it and based on my background I thought about the catastrophic damage that someone could do to the WGME brand by taking control of this page. I mean, in Maine, weather is a big deal and I can only imagine how many hits this page must get in a day.
Because of my background I did what I would have wanted someone to do for me if I was in charge of their web site or IT department. I called them and explained to them what the problem was. I spoke to a man name "Jay" (I did not remember his name at this point) and at the time I could not remember specifically what the chain of events was that got me to that page. I did not remember using the search bar and thought I had clicked on a link to get there. This happens to me often because I operate at lightening speed.
In any case after I got off the phone with Jay, I realized that he did not take down my name or any contact information and I don't remember him even saying thank you. But I know what it's like to be in panic mode with your computer system so I dismissed it. I went back to the WGME web page and tried to retrace my steps because it was bothering me that I could not remember how I got to the Weather Editor. Then it hit me: the Search bar.
I immediately called the WGME telephone number back and another man answered the phone. I told him I had just talked to someone about their web page and had more information. He didn't cover the phone and I heard him say "Hey Jay, it's that guy about the web page". I then remembered Jay's name. I explained to Jay about the search bar being the culprit and he tried it exactly like I did and got the same results. I jokingly said something like "gee, don't you think I should get some sort of prize for finding this and telling you about it instead of hacking your web site". He said something like "Ha, yeah, probably, huh" and then said if I still wanted to find out about being a weather watcher, he would transfer me to the weather department, which he did. I realized again at that point that he STILL did not take down my name or contact information.
So, I did what anybody would do. I wrote an email to the general mailbox and since the individual mailboxes of the general manager, IT manager, News Director, etc. are not published I took a guess (being in IT) at the general manager's email address and happen to get it right. My email explained the whole situation, similar to this posting and at the end I said in a kidding manner "So do I get a mug, or a job interview" (since I am seeking employment). Since nobody asked yet, I provided my name, address, phone number and email contact information at the end of the email.
To my surprise I received the following from Terry Cole, the general manager of WGME and this is verbatim:
"Ron You can get a mug and a ball cap if you want. Call me Thursday or Friday and I will arrange.228-7700 thanks'
Terry Cole
I could not have been more insulted. I went out of my way, from one professional to another and saved them from what could have been something quite embarrassing. I remembered that one of the first things I said to "Jay" was that I had made a change tot he UV index number so that they could fix that change immediately. So Terry Cole sends me and email asking me to call him if I want a mug or cap.
I sent him an email back explaining that he obviously misunderstood the intent of my email and what I was looking for was a professional thank you. I explained that it was not my life's work to get a WGME Coffee Mug and that the professional thing to do would have been to contact ME to thank me, not ask me to contact HIM to arrange for a coffee mug delivery. Especially since he already had my contact information.
In conclusion, I believe that WGME had no bad intentions, but sometimes our actions, which are extentions of our intentions, can be misinterpreted. From a professional standpoint, I can understand that the I.T. department may have been overwhelmed with the discovery of a large hole in their security. However, I also believe that the circumstances called for a professional response to me as a fellow I.T. person, and as a regular viewer who went above and beyond the call of duty to do a favor for a company to whom I owe nothing.
High Definition (HD), Digital Channels in Portland Maine
This is really a repost of an earlier article I wrote but I have gotten so many inquiries about this I decided to repost the most important part of the original except with a new title and a few minor updates:
Here’s the full list of what I can receive in Springvale, Maine and the corresponding UHF (Digital/HD) equivalent. Keep in mind that each Digital Channel has the ability to broadcast up to 4 separate signals on one channel.
Channel 6 (6.1) - WCSH = UHF 44.1
Channel 6 (6.2) - WCSH = UHF 44.2 -This is a second broadcast signal which will deliver NBC 24 Hour Weather Plus in Standard Definition (SD)
Channel 8 (8.1) - MWTW = UHF 46.1
Channel 8 (8.2) - MWTW-DT = UHF 46.2 - In August 07, they began New Now, 24 hour news, weather, and sports.
Channel 13 (13.1) - WGME = UHF 38 (This is their HD channel feed)
Channel 13 (13.2) - WGME = UHF 38 (This an enhanced definition (ED) feed, not an HD feed)Channel 26 (26.1) - Maine Public Television Local Feed = UHF 45 (This is a standard definition (SD) feed)Channel 26 (26.2) - This used to be the PBS National HD Feed, as opposed to the local feed, but in July/August of 07 they transitioned to only local programming with some of the PBS national feed in prime time. A lot of the programming on this channel is not in HD yet but the stretch to picture ratio to try to fool us.
Channel 35 - WPME - My Network = UHF 28 - HD Feed - there is not a lot of HD programming from this network but thing are improving all the time.
Channel 51 - WPXT - The CW Network = UHF 43 - HD feed - most HD programming on this channel is in primetime only.
** Channels 35 and 51 are operated by the same media group. They are working very hard to be more on the cutting edge of HD technology.
As for FOX, the only you can get Fox 23 in HD is to subscribe to Time Warner cable, then pay for their HD package upgrade, in which case you will receive the HD signal. This Fox affiliate does not plan to go digital until it is forced to in February of 2009. I can receive the regular over-the-air signal (which is a bit fuzzy) on TV Channel 23.
** Due to branding issues, Channels 6 and 8 in Portland Maine will use their UHF channel (6 and 8 respectively) after the 02/09 conversion. This just means that instead of receiving them on UHF 44 and 46 as stated above, you will be able to receive them on VHF 6 and 8).
Here’s the full list of what I can receive in Springvale, Maine and the corresponding UHF (Digital/HD) equivalent. Keep in mind that each Digital Channel has the ability to broadcast up to 4 separate signals on one channel.
Channel 6 (6.1) - WCSH = UHF 44.1
Channel 6 (6.2) - WCSH = UHF 44.2 -This is a second broadcast signal which will deliver NBC 24 Hour Weather Plus in Standard Definition (SD)
Channel 8 (8.1) - MWTW = UHF 46.1
Channel 8 (8.2) - MWTW-DT = UHF 46.2 - In August 07, they began New Now, 24 hour news, weather, and sports.
Channel 13 (13.1) - WGME = UHF 38 (This is their HD channel feed)
Channel 13 (13.2) - WGME = UHF 38 (This an enhanced definition (ED) feed, not an HD feed)Channel 26 (26.1) - Maine Public Television Local Feed = UHF 45 (This is a standard definition (SD) feed)Channel 26 (26.2) - This used to be the PBS National HD Feed, as opposed to the local feed, but in July/August of 07 they transitioned to only local programming with some of the PBS national feed in prime time. A lot of the programming on this channel is not in HD yet but the stretch to picture ratio to try to fool us.
Channel 35 - WPME - My Network = UHF 28 - HD Feed - there is not a lot of HD programming from this network but thing are improving all the time.
Channel 51 - WPXT - The CW Network = UHF 43 - HD feed - most HD programming on this channel is in primetime only.
** Channels 35 and 51 are operated by the same media group. They are working very hard to be more on the cutting edge of HD technology.
As for FOX, the only you can get Fox 23 in HD is to subscribe to Time Warner cable, then pay for their HD package upgrade, in which case you will receive the HD signal. This Fox affiliate does not plan to go digital until it is forced to in February of 2009. I can receive the regular over-the-air signal (which is a bit fuzzy) on TV Channel 23.
** Due to branding issues, Channels 6 and 8 in Portland Maine will use their UHF channel (6 and 8 respectively) after the 02/09 conversion. This just means that instead of receiving them on UHF 44 and 46 as stated above, you will be able to receive them on VHF 6 and 8).
Digital (HDTV) gets a stay of execution from the FCC - the current state of HDTV and digital TV
Below is a recent update I received from a local television station manager (Doug Finck) who has been kind enough to keep me informed on what's going on in the Maine Television market. But as Maine goes, so goes the rest.
In summary, viewers who watch over-the-air signals will lose the analog signals on February 18, 2009 and will have to purchase a converter box if they want to continue to use their analog TV's. The government will be offering vouchers that will substantially reduce the cost of converters boxes (I believe it will cost about $40 for a discounted box). Cable (and presumably satellite) subscribers have been given an additional three years of analog service (although it's not clear if cable can/will charge for offering the analog version of a DTV signal). With all sets now required to offer DTV tuners, time will eventually resolve the problem as old analog sets wear out and are replaced by digital sets. In the short term there'll be less disruption. Starting very soon you'll see TV promos from a variety of trade groups (including the National Association of Broadcasters) seeking to explain many of these issues and raise viewers' awareness to the conversion.
The FCC has been passing some new rules which will impact
DTV. In the last two weeks they have approved a rule that will require
most (read, "big") cable companies to offer both analog and digital signals for
a period of three years commencing on the DTV transition date of February 18,
2009. I assume that the cable companies will be responsible for converting
the digital signals to analog signals in order to offer both. This rule
comes out of the recognition that the confusion and fallout from a sudden
elimination of all analog signals would be too much for consumers and
politicians.
The majority of people with cable will be able to
continue to watch all of the local stations on analog TV's for until at least
2012. It could be extended further if all of the analog TV's haven't been
replaced by then. In addition, the FCC agreed to allow cable operators to
remove sub-channels from the digital signal in an effort to allow as much
compression of the signal as possible. Cable operators point out that
carrying both analog and digital channels eats up bandwidth so allowing them to
strip out non-essential content provides them with a "thinner" signal. of
must-carry local TV stations.
Here's the interesting thought regarding the carriage of
analog and digital signals post-transition. Our two stations will cease to
offer a 4:3 signal, instead up-converting everything to 16:9 to allow us to stay
in a HD mode at all times. That will result in pillar-boxing of our any SD
content on a 16:9 set. I believe that when cable (or anyone) then converts
our 16:9 HD signal to a 4:3 analog signal, the end result will be both pillar
and letterboxing on an analog set (since we will be broadcasting in HD, the
converter will simply shrink the image to fit on a 4:3 screen which will
introduce letterboxing, but we will still have SD product which appears up on an
HD signal with pillars…therefore our 4:3 analog signal will have both pillar and
letterboxing).
We are currently looking at various systems that will support
our introduction of local HD programming. We already have HD cameras and
HD editing computers. We need only a way to inject locally-produced HD
product (programs, commercials, promos, PSA's, etc.) into our bit
stream.
WMTW finally launches the all news channel - DTV 8.2 Portland Maine
For those of us who receive high definition over the air (no cable, no satellite), we have known that the WMTW (Porltand, Maine Channel 8) has been working on "something" for their digital subchannel 8.2 for some time. For many, many months now, they had been broadcasting, on channel 8.2, a live dopplar radar feed (zzzzzz, snore,zzzzz) and an audio feed to accompany this radical, edgy broadcasting with the latest available news broadcast. So it was possible to be watching channel 8.2 at say 4:30 pm, with the slow, sweeping radar spokes moving every so slowly around the screen (it was like watching grass grow), while listening to what could only be termed as "old news" in the background. And their motto is "where the news comes first".
Well a few weeks ago they finally launches their final version of the channel which includes weather, sports, and news updates. It's not bad. I wish it was broadcast in better quality because to be quite frank, the quality is like TV from the 1960's. This channel was launched to coincide with the ABC network's ABC News Now cable channel and their online ABC News Now on ABC affiliate channels and the ABC Network feed of the same ilk.
I give them kudos for putting their digitial subchannel to good use. WCSH has been doing it for a while but only with weather updates. The downside is that if you don't subscribe to a cable or satellite provider that offers these channels, you won't see it. Unless of course you receive digital/HDTV over the air like I do (for free) with an HDTV antenna and a High Definition TV (or separate HD receiver I guess) you won't receive it either.
Well a few weeks ago they finally launches their final version of the channel which includes weather, sports, and news updates. It's not bad. I wish it was broadcast in better quality because to be quite frank, the quality is like TV from the 1960's. This channel was launched to coincide with the ABC network's ABC News Now cable channel and their online ABC News Now on ABC affiliate channels and the ABC Network feed of the same ilk.
I give them kudos for putting their digitial subchannel to good use. WCSH has been doing it for a while but only with weather updates. The downside is that if you don't subscribe to a cable or satellite provider that offers these channels, you won't see it. Unless of course you receive digital/HDTV over the air like I do (for free) with an HDTV antenna and a High Definition TV (or separate HD receiver I guess) you won't receive it either.
Suzanne Goucher - Maine Assoc. of Broadcasters avoids the real issues
Below is a response to an "open" email I wrote to all TV stations in Maine as well as the Maine Association of Broadcasters. You can find that letter on the blog here.
In Ms. Goucher's response, she ignores the issue completely of "input from the consumer", you know, the ones who need the answers and are asking the real questions.
Dear xxxxxxxxxx: (name removed for privacy issues)
It is unfortunate that you felt I was "dismissive" in my response to your original email to me. That was certainly not my intent. The broadcast industry is well aware of the massive education campaign that must take place between now and the DTV transition date of February 17, 2009. It will need to be a coordinated campaign involving all 50 state broadcast associations as well as the cable and satellite TV industries, the consumer electronics industry, and numerous stakeholder groups. I pointed you to the National Association of Broadcasters' DTV website in order to show you the kinds of initiatives our industry will be undertaking. NAB is taking the lead on this campaign; they have hired a new department of five full-time people specifically and exclusively to work on the DTV transition and the awareness campaign. Just FYI, I am attaching a letter NAB President David Rehr sent to the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee last week, outlining the many directions that the awareness initiative will take. State associations such as MAB will piggyback on what NAB is planning. We must of necessity follow their lead, because many of the state associations, such as ours, are very small operations -- MAB, for instance, consists of myself plus a half-time business manager (ergo my delay in responding to you, due to the press of other business) -- and, by ourselves, we don't have the financial resources to conduct a campaign of this scale, or to hire someone to work on it. We do, however, plan to devote a good deal of time and energy to the DTV awareness campaign over the next year and a half, as do our member stations. Quite candidly, one of the holdups is that the converter boxes that analog TVs will need in order to receive and process a digital signal will not be on the market until early next year; we don't want to panic people into thinking they'll be forced to buy a new digital TV (a serious issue for seniors and low-income households), and by the same token we don't want to create demand for a product that doesn't exist yet -- it's a delicate balancing act. Please rest assured that we are aware of the issue and will be devoting the appropriate level of attention to it in coming months.
Suzanne Goucher
Maine Association of Broadcasters
In Ms. Goucher's response, she ignores the issue completely of "input from the consumer", you know, the ones who need the answers and are asking the real questions.
Dear xxxxxxxxxx: (name removed for privacy issues)
It is unfortunate that you felt I was "dismissive" in my response to your original email to me. That was certainly not my intent. The broadcast industry is well aware of the massive education campaign that must take place between now and the DTV transition date of February 17, 2009. It will need to be a coordinated campaign involving all 50 state broadcast associations as well as the cable and satellite TV industries, the consumer electronics industry, and numerous stakeholder groups. I pointed you to the National Association of Broadcasters' DTV website in order to show you the kinds of initiatives our industry will be undertaking. NAB is taking the lead on this campaign; they have hired a new department of five full-time people specifically and exclusively to work on the DTV transition and the awareness campaign. Just FYI, I am attaching a letter NAB President David Rehr sent to the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee last week, outlining the many directions that the awareness initiative will take. State associations such as MAB will piggyback on what NAB is planning. We must of necessity follow their lead, because many of the state associations, such as ours, are very small operations -- MAB, for instance, consists of myself plus a half-time business manager (ergo my delay in responding to you, due to the press of other business) -- and, by ourselves, we don't have the financial resources to conduct a campaign of this scale, or to hire someone to work on it. We do, however, plan to devote a good deal of time and energy to the DTV awareness campaign over the next year and a half, as do our member stations. Quite candidly, one of the holdups is that the converter boxes that analog TVs will need in order to receive and process a digital signal will not be on the market until early next year; we don't want to panic people into thinking they'll be forced to buy a new digital TV (a serious issue for seniors and low-income households), and by the same token we don't want to create demand for a product that doesn't exist yet -- it's a delicate balancing act. Please rest assured that we are aware of the issue and will be devoting the appropriate level of attention to it in coming months.
Suzanne Goucher
Maine Association of Broadcasters
Will TV's with no cable box survive the digital conversion?
I recently asked the General Manager of WPXT-TV in Portland, Maine (Doug Finck) if a consumer who did not have a cable box, meaning the cable wire goes directly into the TV, would need to make any changes before the February 17, 2009 digital conversion date. This was Doug's response:
"Funny that you would ask that specific question. I was at Time Warner last week discussing that exact subject with Melinda Poore, their VP of Government and Community Relations.
In theory, if there are no more analog signals, then cable will only be sending the new digital signals which will render an analog TV useless. If that is the case I don't believe the converter boxes will help...but I'm not sure, never having seen a converter box. What you're really asking is whether or not cable will be allowed to downconvert the digital signal and deliver an analog version. That would seem to defeat the goal of moving to digital television and to open the door for a cable company to charge for the conversion service, by adding a surcharge to the delivery of a local TV station's signal! Neither Melinda nor I are clear about the answer and I have asked the NAB for some guidance.
Here's the scenario. We currently provide our signal to Time Warner via a fiber optic cable. That fiber optic line carries both our analog and digital signals (including high def). Assuming we continue to offer both signals, TW could take our analog signals and sell it to their subscribers for a modest additional monthly payment. From a consumer perspective, that would be the easiest answer, especially if you have a house full of TVs and VCRs and don't want to have to downconvert all of them from digital to analog. Because of the political ramifications of this scenario, I think there will have to be an FCC ruling.
I'll check but I don't believe that the converter boxes the government is pushing, will work with a "raw" cable feed."
So as you can see the jury is still out but it would appear that right now, if you don't use a cable box, you may have serious issues when the whole television system changes to digital. I sincerely hope that this is not a reason for cable companies to charge yet even more money to the consumer but I suspect that's exactly what will happen. If you want more information on getting digital/High Definition TV without dealing with cable companies, search this blog. It does come with some sacrifice but if you are not a high-end user of all the cable stations you receive, there are alternatives.
"Funny that you would ask that specific question. I was at Time Warner last week discussing that exact subject with Melinda Poore, their VP of Government and Community Relations.
In theory, if there are no more analog signals, then cable will only be sending the new digital signals which will render an analog TV useless. If that is the case I don't believe the converter boxes will help...but I'm not sure, never having seen a converter box. What you're really asking is whether or not cable will be allowed to downconvert the digital signal and deliver an analog version. That would seem to defeat the goal of moving to digital television and to open the door for a cable company to charge for the conversion service, by adding a surcharge to the delivery of a local TV station's signal! Neither Melinda nor I are clear about the answer and I have asked the NAB for some guidance.
Here's the scenario. We currently provide our signal to Time Warner via a fiber optic cable. That fiber optic line carries both our analog and digital signals (including high def). Assuming we continue to offer both signals, TW could take our analog signals and sell it to their subscribers for a modest additional monthly payment. From a consumer perspective, that would be the easiest answer, especially if you have a house full of TVs and VCRs and don't want to have to downconvert all of them from digital to analog. Because of the political ramifications of this scenario, I think there will have to be an FCC ruling.
I'll check but I don't believe that the converter boxes the government is pushing, will work with a "raw" cable feed."
So as you can see the jury is still out but it would appear that right now, if you don't use a cable box, you may have serious issues when the whole television system changes to digital. I sincerely hope that this is not a reason for cable companies to charge yet even more money to the consumer but I suspect that's exactly what will happen. If you want more information on getting digital/High Definition TV without dealing with cable companies, search this blog. It does come with some sacrifice but if you are not a high-end user of all the cable stations you receive, there are alternatives.
MyPortland (Channel 35) and The CW Portland (Channel 51) offer studio visit/tour
Recently, WPME - 35 and WPXT -51 - both owned by the same company (see comments for a correction regarding station ownership by general manager/station manager Doug Finck), have offered me and the visitors to my blog the opportunity to visit and tour the studio. They have asked that I take on the responsiblity of seeking out interested parties and then I will work with them to make the arrangments. If anyone is interested in going, please let me know by responding to this posting or by emailing me thorugh the "Addtional Info" page. This is a direct quote from the station:
"We'd love to give you a tour and show you our set-up. In fact, if
you want to make that offer on your blog, we would be willing to host an
open-house" for anyone who is interested. I think a lot of us who are
part of the television generation have a curiousity about the "whys" as much
as the "hows" of television. I'd prefer to let you organize it but we
would certainly set aside a few hours to give tours and chat with interested
viewers…in fact, that would be a dream-come-true for us! Also, if you
and your bloggers would like to create an "advisory group" to make
viewer-centric recommendations to us about HD, we'd welcome that input as
well."
The current state of HDTV in Portland Maine - from Doug Finck of MyPortland and the CW Portland
After my open letter of all Portland, Maine TV stations, the Maine Association of Broadcasters, and the FCC I received only one extensive and well thought out reply. It was from Doug Finck, General Manager of WPXT and Station Manger of WPME (I hope I got that right, Doug). I asked his permission to post his response on my blog because he was so thoughtful and this is well worth the read, I promise.
Thanks for the recent letter and thanks especially for the kind words about
our HD operation. We are very excited about HD, have built a first-class
HD RF system, and look forward to acquiring more HD product (including local
product) in the coming year.
As you know, we have no problem passing through
a network-delivered HD feed. Our two networks are among the most HD-rich
networks. As of 1/1/08, The CW will be programming 78% of their primetime
programming in HD. Even better, MyTV expects to have 100% of their
primetime programming in HD!
Beyond the network HD feeds that we are currently broadcasting there
are two issues; content provided in HD and our ability to move it through our
plant. Let's start with the content. Currently, none of the
syndicators is sending our programming in HD (Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond,
The Simpsons, etc.) In some cases they have HD product but don't send it,
in other cases, their programs were not shot in HD and will never truly be
HD. We expect that in the coming year as more stations get their HD
systems online, syndicators wil increase their HD offerings. For
example, Raycom Sports, which syndicates ACC football and basketball, is
targeting the fall of 2008 to provide us with HD feeds for their games.
Other syndicators have said that they are working on plans and timetables to let
us know when their reruns and first-run programs will be offered in HD. I
think it's safe to assume that the major syndicators (FOX, Sony, CBS, MGM, etc.)
will all continue to move in that direction. Hopefully they'll do it
sooner rather than later!
The second issue is our ability to work with HD content. We have
a capital expenditure plan that will give us increased local HD capacity in the
coming 14 months. Our plan is to be able to accept HD in one of several
formats, ingest it, and broadcast it (as opposed to being limited to the
pass-through of "live" network feeds) by the digital conversion date in
February, 2009. It is a multi-step plan that will first allow us to
manipulate an HD stream, then with the addition of servers dedicated to HD,
store and retrieve HD content.
As for local HD content, we have two HD field cameras which we are
using for some of our local shooting. Increasingly we are shooting some
footage in HD as well as the regular SD format which constitutes the bulk of our
shooting. Two of our edit suites are HD-capable already and we expect the
other two to be upgraded in the coming 14 months. That will put us in
position where we can shoot, edit, ingest and playback HD video! As you
may know, we create and broadcast an enormous amout of local entertainment
programming, ranging from the OurMaine Magazine series (with four different
programs) to our Destination shows, our Top Maine Model shows, our poker shows,
as well as a host of specials. We expect to be creating all of those shows
in HD by the conversion date in 2009.
Finally, you questioned the MAB's role in the conversion.
Ironically, we were in discussions about that recently and we are all waiting
for the NAB to share with us their plans and timetable. You are right that
a large promotional campaign is needed to inform and educate the public.
Whether it is done in cooperation with the NAB, the MAB, ad-hoc groups of
stations, or individual stations, it is a huge challenge and we need to focus on
it in 2008.
I hope you are correct about the increasing number of people watching
over-the-air TV! According to the most recent Nielsen survey, 86% of the
homes in the Portland-Auburn DMA (an 11-county area) receive their primary
television programming from cable or satellite providers, leaving just 14% of
the homes with TV's watching over-the-air. Both satellite services are
racing to add local HD signals to their offerings. We are working with all
of the cable companies to urge them to offer our HD broadcasts (Time Warner has
committed to adding both of our HD signals to 100% of their homes in the DMA and
are doing the technical work to make that happen). As you know, there is
no better HD signal than the one that arrives at your house, directly from our
transmitter, with no processing or handling by any third party and best of
all...it's free! When was the last time that the best product availabe was
free?
I was impressed with the depth of your comments and would love to hear
any thoughts you have in the future about what we can do to improve our digital
operation and make the digital conversion less painful for everyone.
Thanks,Doug
Open Letter to Over the Air Broadcasters in the Portland Maine Television Market, and the FCC, regarding Digital and High Definition Television in Por
In the interest of fairness and honesty this letter is being published on my blog and being sent to the subscribers of my blog as well. This letter is being send to the following:
- WCSH - Channel 6
- WMTW - Channel 8
- WGME - Channel 13
- WPXT - Channel 51
- WPME - Channel 35
- MPBN - Channel 26 (in my area)
- FOX 23
- Maine Associate of Broadcasters
- Kevin Martin, Chairman of the FCC
It seems the the Portland Maine market of broadcast television stations is having quite a difficult time communicating with the public on several levels. As some of you may already know, I write a blog for which I get the most hits when I write articles regarding HDTV, especially in the Portland viewing area. From time to time I have contacted each of the television stations listed above and some of you may remember me. If so, I hope it is a good memory :)
WCSH six broadcasts Weather Plus on channel 6-2 which is a good channel, I suppose, and it seems to be pretty stable. The weather station is what is says; it is nothing more, nothing less.
WMTW - broadcasts live Doppler Radar, 24 hours a day with a running narrative of older News Broadcasts from earlier that day or the previous day depending on when you watch. I don’t find this helpful at all. It is quite ridiculous to watch live Doppler radar that reminds me of the “yule log channel” at Christmas time where there is a close up of a fireplace, broadcast out to consumers to bring them that warm and fuzzy feeling during the holidays. Also, is there any real reason why shows like Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, which are recording in full HDTV, are not broadcast to us here in Maine in HDTV?
WGME - It seems like the Standard Definition broadcast, which is on channel 13-2 is sometimes available over the the air, and sometimes not. It used to be there all the time, then disappeared. It suddenly re-appeared today for a short time. According to my research 13-2 is supposed to be a music channel called The Tube, but I am not receiving The Tube on that channel and I am assuming it is not being broadcast, otherwise, I would be picking it up.
MBPN - which as I stated before, I receive on channel 26-1 and 26-2. However, today I suddenly started receiving these signals on channel 45-3 and 45-4. But only for a short time, then it went back to 26-1 an 26-2. This was quite confusing.
So here’s the bottom line:
I have a lot of contacts through my web log and many who rely on my site to get information about what’s going on with our local, Portland ME, high definition television market.
These consumers who receive over-the-air television broadcasts are somewhat confused and very angry. There is not enough information out there and this is having, or will soon have, an effect on brand loyalty and bad publicity. If a particular television station sends the wrong message to the consumer, meaning they don’t care so much what the “over the air” consumer thinks, this will be a costly mistake. They want to be heard, and they want to be informed.
I believe that the last thing that any television station wants is to loose viewers. Losing viewers translates into losing ratings, which translated into losing revenue.
All of the TV stations I have mentioned are in digital mode now, but even the ones trying to leverage to multi-channel capabilities are not doing a very good job with it.
I wrote to the Maine Association of Broadcasters identifying what I thought were some major gaps between what is going on in the industry and what the public is aware of. Other than visitors to my web site who have sought out HDTV information, I have yet to met ONE person among my fiends, family, the general public, or members of the local community organization to which I belong, who have any idea what I am talking about in terms of the changes that are happening in the industry, let alone what’s going on right here in Portland Maine and the state of its High Definition/digital programming.
When the transition to digital is final, which channels will retain their current number, which will retain the UHF (digital) channel assignment. The “over the air” public needs to know this information.
I wrote to the MAB and asked how I can get involved as a consumer and I was referred to the national FCC site, as if to say that they are not really concerned about what the local consumers think, nor what their needs are.
And what about digital converters, who needs them, how do they get them and is the FCC going to subsidize the cost of them?
When will locally produced programming like the news, or TV magazine shows be produced and broadcast in HD? Won’t doing so increase your ratings?
I realize that this transition is probably a very difficult one for all of you. You must be feeling the heat of the 100% digital deadline that is fast approaching on February 17, 2009. I can tell you that from my experiences, many, many consumers are tired of the high prices of cable and satellite providers and when they find out that I am receiving all of the local TV stations in full high definition format, for free, with an antenna that is not expensive, they are amazed. They want to know how to do it, how it works, what they need, etc. This is especially true of two major groups, the techie types, and the elderly or those on a more fixed income.
The FCC has a web site with a plethora of information about digital TV and has templates for television stations to use to disseminate information to the public. I have read these communication templates and feel that even with them, the public is still going to be quite confused. Further, the FCC website that deals with digital TV does not spend a lot of time on “over-the-air” broadcasting which in my opinion will be a growing segment for those who don’t need 900 channels just to receive a high definition broadcast of something like CSI: Miami.
My purpose in writing is to share with all of you the experiences that my blog friends, the public, and I have had and discussed amongst ourselves. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, they are frustrated, angry, and confused. I would like to get involved where I can as this has become a passion of mine. But when I asked this of the MAB, I was dismissed as if the information I have laid out here has no real value. I believe you all need a good marketing campaign and communication plan. I will leave you with a few of the “search terms” that the pubic used to find my site (and other sites I’m sure) just today and this is verbatim.
wcsh channel 6
WGME DIgital Channel uhf
cw hd maine
over the air signal maine
how do you get high def through cable
rabbit ears hd stations
convert TV signal to HDTV
Can HDTV’s receive analog signals
Favorite wmtw broadcasters
hdtv signal portland me
hdtv feb 19 2009
receiving high definition channels without paying
I don’t believe that you, the television broadcasters, are even close to communicating with the pubic on the level that is needed; and I mean needed now, not later. In my communications with various personnel from television stations in our marked and I have heard things like “things are happening” and “later this year” etc. I have heard a lot of terminology that, when you read between the lines, sounds like passing the buck, and finger pointing. I have been in contact with cable companies and people at the FCC, including Richard Wiley (who was heavily involved in writing the HDTV standards for the FCC) and, to be honest, most blame the lack of public knowledge on the broadcasters. Anything you folks do in your “testing” with sub channels and temporary signals, etc, etc. is 100% noticed by those of us receiving over-the-air broadcasts. The mistakes in HD broadcasting signals, the voice/picture sync problems, all of it, is noticed and consumers are beginning to gain strong opinions about one station or another. I believe this is why you need to take notice as to what is going on out there is the blog-o-sphere, so that none of it catches you by surprise. As I said this letter will be going on my blog and if I can be of any further assistance to any of you, please let me know.
Best regards,
Springvale, Maine
telephone number available upon request.
HD Basics - HD for Dummies - Old TV Sets and Digital HD TV
As of February 17 2009, all broadcasts will be digital. Digital channels have the ability to broadcast High Definition programming. However, if the program is not broadcast in High Def (it’s still digital, just not High Definition), you won’t receive it in High Def even if you have a High Def TV.
TO ME, IT IS ALL WORTH IT; YOU WILL BE AMAZED AT THE HIGH DEFINITION EXPERIENCE.
Viewers who currently get their signals “over the air,” using a rooftop antenna or rabbit ears, will have to make some adjustments. Either they will have to buy digital television sets, or they will have to obtain converter boxes to change the digital signals to analog.If you are a cable or satellite customer, you may need a set-top converter box to receive DTV signals and convert them into the format of your current analog television, even after the DTV transition is complete. A DTV set-top converter box may also receive multicast channels** and high definition programming and display them in analog picture quality. Check with your cable or satellite provider to determine if and when you will need a set-top converter box.
Ask what connectors you need to make sure your new DTV set works with your other electronic equipment (DVD player, digital video recorder (DVR), camcorder, VCR, computer, video games, and other equipment). The electronic equipment you have now should work with your new DTV, but you may need new connectors. Make a list of what you have now and ask your retailer what you need to connect the components.Why are we converting the U.S. television infrastructure? Digital technology delivers a much improved television picture and sound. Less obvious, but just as important, is that converting to DTV will free up parts (bands) of the scarce and valuable broadcast spectrum. The Analog spectrum will be returned to the government (FCC) by television stations. This spectrum will go to public safety services so our police, fire and first responders can communicate more efficiently; and to companies offering advanced wireless services.
The spectrum going to advanced wireless services will be auctioned, with the proceeds going to the U.S. Treasury.** Multicast channels - each digital TV channel is actually made up of four sub channels so you may see them referenced in a few different ways. For example if you receive channel 8, you may see it referred to a 8.1 or 8-1 meaning the first sub channel. The second would be 8.2 or 8-2. However, if a broadcast is in full High Definition (including wide-screen) there is less room left for other programming since HD uses up a lot of the available “room”. DTV comes in several levels of picture quality. The most common are:High Definition Television (HDTV) - this uses up the most amount of space on a 4-sub channel signalEnhanced Definition Television (EDTV) - This is bit lower quality than full HD and uses up less space on a 4-sub channel signalStandard Definition Television (SDTV). This is the basic display and will probably look like what you are watching right now on regular cable TV.If a broadcaster user SDTV they can probably broadcast 4 separate programs at the same time. With EDTV probably 3, and with HDTV probably 1 or 2 at most.Overall -Your current TV will work once the DTV transition is complete but you must have a digital set-top converter box to receive broadcast signals or be connected to a cable or satellite service. This converter box, much like your cable box, will allow you to receive a picture, but it won’t be able to show high-definition pictures or give you access to other digital services. To experience the full benefits of digital television, you will need a digital (preferably HDTV) television set.
TO ME, IT IS ALL WORTH IT; YOU WILL BE AMAZED AT THE HIGH DEFINITION EXPERIENCE.
Viewers who currently get their signals “over the air,” using a rooftop antenna or rabbit ears, will have to make some adjustments. Either they will have to buy digital television sets, or they will have to obtain converter boxes to change the digital signals to analog.If you are a cable or satellite customer, you may need a set-top converter box to receive DTV signals and convert them into the format of your current analog television, even after the DTV transition is complete. A DTV set-top converter box may also receive multicast channels** and high definition programming and display them in analog picture quality. Check with your cable or satellite provider to determine if and when you will need a set-top converter box.
Ask what connectors you need to make sure your new DTV set works with your other electronic equipment (DVD player, digital video recorder (DVR), camcorder, VCR, computer, video games, and other equipment). The electronic equipment you have now should work with your new DTV, but you may need new connectors. Make a list of what you have now and ask your retailer what you need to connect the components.Why are we converting the U.S. television infrastructure? Digital technology delivers a much improved television picture and sound. Less obvious, but just as important, is that converting to DTV will free up parts (bands) of the scarce and valuable broadcast spectrum. The Analog spectrum will be returned to the government (FCC) by television stations. This spectrum will go to public safety services so our police, fire and first responders can communicate more efficiently; and to companies offering advanced wireless services.
The spectrum going to advanced wireless services will be auctioned, with the proceeds going to the U.S. Treasury.** Multicast channels - each digital TV channel is actually made up of four sub channels so you may see them referenced in a few different ways. For example if you receive channel 8, you may see it referred to a 8.1 or 8-1 meaning the first sub channel. The second would be 8.2 or 8-2. However, if a broadcast is in full High Definition (including wide-screen) there is less room left for other programming since HD uses up a lot of the available “room”. DTV comes in several levels of picture quality. The most common are:High Definition Television (HDTV) - this uses up the most amount of space on a 4-sub channel signalEnhanced Definition Television (EDTV) - This is bit lower quality than full HD and uses up less space on a 4-sub channel signalStandard Definition Television (SDTV). This is the basic display and will probably look like what you are watching right now on regular cable TV.If a broadcaster user SDTV they can probably broadcast 4 separate programs at the same time. With EDTV probably 3, and with HDTV probably 1 or 2 at most.Overall -Your current TV will work once the DTV transition is complete but you must have a digital set-top converter box to receive broadcast signals or be connected to a cable or satellite service. This converter box, much like your cable box, will allow you to receive a picture, but it won’t be able to show high-definition pictures or give you access to other digital services. To experience the full benefits of digital television, you will need a digital (preferably HDTV) television set.
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