Frustrations abound with the conversion to digital TV

One of the most avid participants of the Maine HDTV community is a guy named Dave from north/central Maine. I was recently going through my email and discovered that since August of this year, Dave and I have emailed back and forth 63 times. I have tried to assist him in any way possible and have given him lots of advice and suggestions for avenues he could try.

Dave has been struggling with the loss of reception when he started using a digital converter box. Since all of the channels he should be receiving are broadcasting in digital, he should not have a problem. However, as we have found out, when it comes to digital TV and HDTV nothing is as simple as it might sound.

This all started quite some time ago. I don't even remember when. I do remember Dave contacting me through the forum with lots of questions and he was frustrated at how much wasn't working.

Maine television stations, the Maine Association of Broadcasters, and the FCC all say that there are not any reception issues to speak of. Their party line is that if you were able to receive the analog signals, you should be able to receive the digital signals.

As Dave and many others have found out this is simply not true. And I take it personally that I have not been able to help more. I have some decent contacts in the business but sometimes you just reach a dead end.

Dave contacted WVII - Channel 7 in Bangor, Maine when he realized he could not receive their digital signal. They said they couldn't help him except to say he was on the "fringe" of their coverage area and there was nothing they could do to help. Dave then tried to get ABC out of New York from his satellite provider. He had to apply for a waiver and was eventually turned down so now he will be left with no ABC channel after the February 17, 2009 conversion.

There is a small chance that Dave might be able to receive WMTW-Channel 8 out of Portland depending on WMTW's signal strength at the time of conversion.

So after many email and phone calls to television stations, the Maine Associate of Broadcasters, and a reporter doing a story on this forum as it related to the digital conversion, Dave is still frustrated that nobody in the TV industry seems to care how many viewers will actually lose signals after the conversion. Dave is not the only person with these problems. We have received emails for all over Maine, New Hampshire, and from around the country - even from other countries.

Unfortunately, and as usual, it is the less fortunate, the elderly, or anyone on a fixed income that will lose out on the deal. These are the people who can't afford expensive rooftop antennas, a new digital TV, and a monthly cable bill. And some don't have Internet access to even reach a site like this to get resource information.

I'm sure Dave and I will still communicate as we all go through this together. This site has received a lot of traffic lately. And I suspect it will only increase as we get closer to conversion time and as the economy weakens. In economic downturns, one thing that gets cut from family budgets is cable TV. Those that haven't been paying attention, because they didn't have to, will suddenly find themselves in a position where their older TV set won't receive a signal without cable and without a converter box. They will need information and resources to understand everything they have not been paying attention to. We at the Maine HDTV Forum are here to help. We have tons of articles about how things work and even a 6 part online tutorial for beginners.

As we near February 17, 2009, we need to keep in mind that this is not the end. In some cases it will only be the beginning as the fallout appears.

My recent conversation with Dave reminded me how precarious TV still is we aren't even aware of some of the problems people will encounter during the transition.

Take care and thanks for stopping by.

The Maine HDTV Forum needs your help - WMTW is not keeping up with HD

During the Democratic National Convention ABC decided to make the move on both its nightly evening news cast at 6:30 and on its late night new magazine "Nightline" to high definition.



I get WCVB, Boston's ABC channel, as well as WMTW, ABC in Portland, Maine so it is easy for me to compare the two.



First, WCVB does air the ABC World News Tonight show in high definition. WMTW does but only when it remembers to to do, essentially, remembering to flip the switch to go over to HD. It's not rocket science.



As for Nightline, WCVB broadcasts it in high definition; WMTW does not.



One more thing, Nightline is a live network feed. It is considered network programming, not programming that is or can be recorded by affilaites and played back later. Nightline is broadcast to you at the same time the network is uplinking it to the affiliates.



I have written to WMTW and asked why Nightline is not in high definition and have received no response. I am asking that the visitors/viewers/members of the Maine HDTV forum write to WMTW at the following addresses and ask why Nightline is not in HD. I would also request that you ask when Nightline will be in High Definition:



Bill Greep is the lead engineer, his address is BGreep@hearst.com.

The main email address for WMTW is wmtw@wmtw.com.

The main phone number is 207.782.1800.



I don't ask for help from the visitors of this site unless I feel there is a real need. I am hoping that we can pressure WMTW into meeting their obligations to the community by supplying High Definition programming whenever possible. And this one should be a no brainer for them, it is a simple network feed translation.

I'm not sure Channel 8 WMTW understands high definition AT ALL

Once again ABC's World News at 6:30 pm, which began high definition broadcasting on August 25, 2008, was not in high definition on Portland, Maine's Channel 8 - WMTW.

At lease it wasn't for the first several minutes. I don't know how long they went in standard definition because I switched channels to NBC's Nightly News.

At some point, around 6:45 or so, I checked again and this time it was in high definition.

So I ask myself, what does it take to broadcast in high definition?

Well, I'll tell you. I've written this in several posts over the last few years. Whoever is sitting in the control room needs to "flip the switch", literally. There is a little switch and when the network (in this case ABC) is sending the TV station a direct feed that the TV station is simply relaying back out to you, the viewer, that's all they have to do. But can WMTW handle that. Doesn't seem like it.

They are not the first, or last, in Portland to not meet High Definition expectations. They are just the latest. After a hundred emails or so from me at the Maine HDTV Forum, the NBC and CBS affiliates in Portland (WCSH and WGME) have finally figured it out. I guess they got sick of hearing from me every time an HD program wasn't in HD. I keep doing it because if I don't stay on top of these people, who will?

I wrote to Bill Greep, lead engineer at WMTW, last night about ABC World News not being in HD and never heard a thing back from him. This is common. They don't want to respond to my inquiries about their mistakes, the don't think the public is smart enough to understand the technical complexities of their job. How would someone like little old me understand "flip the switch".

WMTW - ABC Channel 8 Portland Maine still can't get HD done right

ABC's World News Tonight at 6:30 pm began broadcasting in HD on Monday, August 25, 2008.

I have not had a chance to check it out until today. It was NOT in HD on WMTW.

Just to make sure it wasn't the network's fault, I checked WCVB out of Boston and they were carrying the ABC World News Tonight in high definition.

I called the station, to no avail, so I wrote to the lead engineer Bill Greep. I am awaiting an explanation and a reply.

If any of you watched ABC News at 6:30 pm earlier this week, can you let me know if it was in HD then. I am now suspecting it hasn't been in HD all week.

Thanks folks,

ABC News finally rolls out High Definition

ABC already uses high definition for some prime time shows and in its morning lineup of Good Morning America and The View. But World News Tonight (the evening newscast) and Nightline (ABC's late night news magazine) have been left, until now, in the dirt when it comes to HD.

Now according to Glen Dickson on the "Broadcasting & Cable" web site, on Aug. 25 (that's today!), "World News with Charles Gibson and Nightline will start broadcasting in 720-line progressive (720p) HD, first from the Democratic National Convention in Denver, then from the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul the following week."

"Additionally, during the week of September 8, news magazines 20/20 and Primetime, as well as the weekend editions of World News, will also make their HD debuts."

To me, this is exciting news (no pun intended). It is great to see more HD programming come on board and I hope more and more networks, both broadcast and cable, will follow suit.

One more programming note: this is the first time that all of the big 3 networks will be broadcasting the Democratic and Republican Conventions in High Definition.

So it's good for the political junkies as well as the HD junkies out there.

Online Class - Digital Television - Part 4 - What am I watching?

OK, now that you know why digital TV exists and how it works, it's time to discuss the realities of everyday television watching. The truth is, there is relatively very little High Definition programming that reaches your home everyday, no matter how that TV signal gets to you and no matter what the cable or satellite company tells you, and no matter what you THINK is happening, there really is very little HD programming getting to you.

I'm going to skip over specialty HD network for now and talk about just broadcast TV. I'll touch on cable and satellite High Definition in another post.

I'll run through the day for you quickly. Starting a 7:00 AM "Good Morning America" and "The Today Show" are broadcast in high definition. The CBS Early Show is not. From there "The View" is in HD and "The Young and the Restless" is in HD and that's about it until the evening news. Both NBC and CBS (just recently) are broadcasting the evening news in high definition, ABC is not. It really makes no sense. Supposedly it's all about cost. Producing a TV program in high definition is more expensive. As to why ABC broadcast GMA in HD but not their evening news, I have no idea. Conversely, why CBS broadcast their evening news in HD but not "The Early Show", I have no idea. I thought is was about ratings, meaning a highly rated show with more viewers means more revenue. But to me, you'll get more viewers if you broadcast in high definition because those of us who have HD capability would rather watch a program in HD than one that is not. But that's just my opinion.

Next comes Prime Time (8:00 pm in the East, 7:00 PM Central). Most non-reality type programming, meaning your TV dramas and sit-coms are in high definition (with very few exceptions). Reality shows like "Extreme Home Makeover" or "Big Brother" are not broadcast in HD. Neither are most news magazine shows and game shows, although when "The Price is Right" did their Prime Time specials, they were in HD. So basically it's hit or miss. Almost all of FOX's prime time programming, and most of the CW's prime time programming is in HD.

As for late night here we go again. Conan (NBC), Jay Leno (NBC), and Letterman (CBS) are in High Definition. Nightline (ABC), Jimmy Kimmel (ABC) and Craig Ferguson (CBS) are not in HD. See I told you, there's no rhyme or reason to it.

Now a footnote about PBS. They run things a bit differently. PBS has its own HD channel where all of the programming is in HD. As for local PBS stations, it depends. Some have the ability to produce and/or broadcast HD programming apart from the network.

I have read, however, that all news programming produced by CBS will be in HD by year end. The same is supposedly true for ABC and I suspect the other network will follow suit but there's no way to tell, or be sure, until I see it for myself.

So as you can see, the picture I am drawing here is that local TV stations can only broadcast HD programming when the network is broadcasting HD programming. These local TV stations are basically operating as a pass-through, passing the programming fed to them from the big satellite in the sky from the network to you. They can not record it and play it back later, they can only broadcast it when the network broadcasts it. Getting the picture?

The moral of this story: There's not a lot of HD programs to watch especially if you're not paying your cable or satellite company lots of extra money.

Stay tuned for more information

ABC Sunday morning goes High Definition

I have not been watching "This Week with George Stephanopolis" for the last few months. I'm not sure why. I usually watch "Meet the Press" and check in on ABC if I get bored with the conversation.

But today, much to my surprise, and three weeks late, I realized that "This Week" is now in High Definition. It is, in fact, the first network Sunday morning talk show to be in High Definition and I suspect that the ratings will go up.

I have always maintained that whoever blazes the HD trail will win out in the ratings, and therefore, in revenue. You've got a country of people starving for REAL High Definition programming. ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, and FOX all have the money to produce all of their network programming in HD but they don't. It's nice to see that at least some producers are taking the leap and realizing the benefits of HD.

I would much rather watch a show that I "sort of like" that's in HD than a show I like just a bit more that's not in HD. That sounds almost shallow, but it's true.

It's about time. Cheers to ABC for blazing the trail.

Suzanne Goucher urges consumers to buy a High Definition TV, Why?

I saw Suzanne Goucher, President and CEO of the Maine Association of Broadcasters, on WCSH 6 during the 6:00pm newscast on Sunday, February 17.

She said the while there are ways that consumers can buy just a digital TV or get a converter box and keep their analog TV, the best choice really is to go out an buy an HDTV because the prices were so reasonable now, and the resolution was so good on a High Def TV, you can "see the little hairs on Tom Brady's adorable little chin".

You're kidding me, right? This is what the president of the Maine Association of Broadcasters uses as a reasonable argument for purchasing a high definition television. High Definition is a subset of digital television. HDTV is in a wide-screen (16:9 ratio as opposed to 4:3) format, and has much better sound quality.

The reality is that yes, HDTVs are cheaper than they were. But the investment to the consumer is still several hundred dollars. The "affordable" HDTVs that you can get at Wal-Mart are inferior in quality; for example at my local Wal-Mart I could not find ONE HDTV that could handle resolutions higher than 720p. Most broadcast networks are providing programming in 1080i.

Further, with the possible exception of PBS in Maine, not one local broadcaster can record HDTV programs from their respective networks and play them back in HDTV.

Let me state it more clearly. A network like ABC sends a feed of a high definition broadcast, live, up to a satellite, at which time, the local station (in our case WMTW) can send that same feed out to the public. They can't record it and play it back later, if they don't send it out in HD format them, they never will. That doesn't even mean that they have to, they have the option to.

Also, not one Maine television station has the ability to broadcast its own local news in High Definition. Now keep in mind that the "rule" is that as of 2/17/09, the FCC has mandated that all broadcast television must be in Digital format. Digital format is a clearer, crisper format than the old analog style TV but just because something is in Digital does not mean it is in High Definition. The rule does not apply to cable channels (or satellite channels if you have something like Dish network or Direct TV). Only broadcast television. That means ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, MyNetowk, and the CW.

While I agree that if you are going to buy a new TV you should buy an HDTV. But don't buy one thinking that now, or even as of 2/17/09, every TV broadcast will be in high definition. The TV broadcasting industry is simply changing from analog to digital. You TV will either be OK, or not, depending on how you get your signal; either via cable, satellite, or over the air.

High Definition is the next logical thing you need to think about. However, other than the national morning new shows (Today Show, GMA), one soap opera, SOME prime time network shows between 8pm and 11pm, The Tonight Show, Letterman, and Conan, that's it. The broadcast network and all other programming coming from your local TV stations is NOT in high definition. So if you like watching reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond, you're out of luck. The local TV station will stretch the picture out, or you can do it yourself with your shiny new HDTV, but Raymond was never produced in HD and will never be in HD.

There are several cable stations that are supposedly in HD. Many of them have the same problem I describe above in that most of the shows aren't produced in HD so they obviously can't show them in HD; they can just stretch out the picture to fit the 16:9 ration of your HDTV. Some of these same channels do have real High Definition programming.

So there is a lot of misinformation out there. You need to be careful and ask some questions before you buy anything else you will be very disappointed.

In my humble opinion Suzanne Goucher should be spending her time convincing the local Maine television stations to invest in high definition equipment so they can broadcast their local programming in HD, to invest in equipment that will allow them to play back network television shows that were originally in HD, in HD at a later time, and all of the other things they need to do in order to be considered up to date with current technology. This seems like a better use of time than convincing consumers to spend money to see Tom Brady's scruff, only to find out they may never see it.

Response from WMTW re: HD Programming - They still don't know how to deal with the public and don't care much about HD

February 6, 2008
UPDATED: According to an unnamed source, broadcast networks like ABC, NBC, CBS, etc. do not offer more than one type of feed to their affiliates so please keep this in mind when reading this article. It appears, although not 100% proven that WMTW lied in its response and I can only assume that they did not want to admit to cost cutting measures. I gave WMTW one last chance to change their response and they are sticking by their story that their response was accurate and factual

February 4-5 2008

As stated in the previous post, the Sunday night movie from WMTW (February 3, 2008) was not in HD. Other ABC affiliates I contacted that night were all broadcasting in HD.


I wrote an email to WMTW and the first answer I got from Bill Greep, Director of Engineering was, and I quote "The movie "Meet the Fockers" was broadcast by WMTW in standard definition last night".


Well I already knew that and that's why I wrote the email. This was an obvious attempt at dodging the question. I wrote back and asked "If the other ABC affiliates I contacted were all broadcasting the movie in HD why didn't WMTW broadcast it in HD?" to which I got the response: "ABC offered a short version and a long version of the movie, "Meet the Fockers". We aired the long version which was not available in HD."


Once again, I know that WMTW broadcasted the movie in standard definition, I still don't know why so I asked again: Once again, I understand what was aired. I guess I am not asking the question correctly. We are interested in why WMTW made the choice it did to air the non-HD version. If most other ABC affiliates (or at least the ones I contacted in New England) aired the HD version, why did WMTW not air it. Was it a question of money? What is WMTW's committment to offering HD programming to its viewers?


The next response I got from Greep was "Our decision to air the longer version of the movie was simply an internal programming decision...nothing more. "


This still does not answer the simple question of WHY?


So my next step was to write to the General Manager, Ken Bauder, explain all of the questions I asked and the poor answers I received. I am now waiting for a response.


I received a reply from Mr. Bauder stating that in his opinion, Mr. Greep's responses were "accurate and to the point". Further he stated that they do not discuss internal decisions "in the press".


So I wrote back one more time to confirm what I think he was saying. I wrote: "Just to clarify, WMTW did not show Sunday night's broadcast in high definition because you simply chose not to, is that correct." and I am now awaiting a reply.

Mr. Bauder wrote back and said the WMTW had the option of broadcasting a longer version of the movie in standard definition or a shorter version of the movie in High Definition. Obviously WMTW chose the longer version in standard definition.

I have yet to verify whether or not ABC indeed offered affiliates two different versions of the movie. It doesn't make too much sense to me since primetime programming is controlled at the network level, not the local level. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but I have never in all the work I've done on High Definition programming, ever heard of this. I can not find a place to look at prior TV listing so I can compare whether or not the movie had different movie lengths in different broadcast areas. I know who carried it in HD so if I did find such a source, I could just cross reference.

My suspicion is the WMTW knew it was up against the Super Bowl and decided on its own to downgrade the broadcast to standard definition to save a few buck. I believe they may have assumed that everybody was watching football and no one would notice that "Meet the Fockers" was in standard definition. Well, I noticed and I'm not done investigating yet.

What is going on with High Definition at WMTW?

Since I don't have cable or satellite, I look forward to sitting down and watching a high definition broadcast with my HDTV and my antenna. It's free, and it works (read other articles on this blog if you want to learn how to get HD for free).

On Sunday night, February 3, 2008, I was one of the few not watching the super bowl. So when the movie "Meet the Fokkers" came on on my local ABC affiliate, I thougth, what the heck.

So I turned it on and it wasn't in high definition. I'm used to this. I called the station to let them know to flip the switch (read other articles on this site about how many times I have to call my local affilates to let them know they forgot to flip the switch and allow the broadcast in high definition). The person who answered the phone, Adam, told me that the network "for some reason" did not give them this particular program in high definition.

Hmm. I thought, well, it could be true I guess. So I called an ABC station in New Hampshire and I called an ABC station in Connecticut. Both of them were broadcasting this same movie at the same time slot, from the same network, in High Definition. Now my alarms were going off; something was amiss.

I called back and spoke to "Adam". I told him that other ABC stations were broadcasting "Meet the Fokkers" in high definition. He told me that the network "did not offer this particular movie to WMTW in high definition". I told him that this did not make sense to me and asked how could they be the only station in the area not "allowed" or "offered" one particular program in High Definition????. That makes no sense at all.

I asked Adam who I could talk to to get move information. I identified myself as someone from the Maine HDTV Forum who wrote about HD issues in Maine. He told me there was no one on a Sunday night I could speak to. I told him that I meant in the morning or next week. He understood but wasn't sure who I could talk to. He referred me to someone in Programming or Engineering. I will certainly do that and let you know what happens.