The AVS Tampa Thread

[Bschneider]

Since the moderators over at AVS likes to censor and delete user posts without any comments from them as to why, I am going to going to bring part of that discussion over here to help clarify some of the false information that HDTVFanAtic posts as fact.

HDTVFanAtic at first claimed that WFTS had no way of HD Tape Delaying programming.

And despite what some people think they know, WFTS has no way to Tape Delay HD programming and has never done so,


He was proven wrong by me when I stated that WFTS has


From Jack at WFTS..
They have "two Panasonic AJ-HD2700 D5 video tape machines."


Then later on he went and finally stated that

They have a D5 unit that is not in line and can be installed in the Master Control if they had to.


WFTS has Tape Delayed HD programing in the past. The one time I do recall that it was done was after the Superbowl in 2002 when the Bucs won. If you were an Alias fan and had HD you would probably recall that Alias was show in HD around 2:00am. Why? Because of the Superbowl coverage.

Here I posted in 2003 where Alias and The Practice would be recorded in HD and shown in HD.

http://www.tampahdtv.com/tpahd-vb/showthread.php?t=251&highlight=Alias

Now why did I post that it was a LEGAL issue with this. Well I guess I didn't quite explain myself. The way it was explained to me was that WFTS has a contract with ABC network to show ABC programming. That contract states that WFTS can only broadcast a show just once. Well, if I am not mistaken a contract is a legal document.

Now this was explained to me a couple of years ago and things might have changed but it still does not take away from the fact that WFTS can and has Tape Delayed HD Programming.

Regarding the compression that BHN might or might not do with the local broadcasting station remains to be answered. HDTVFanAtic's screenshots shown in the AVS thread are from OVER THE AIR if I am not mistaken. Next month I will see if I can post both OTA and QAM cable screenshots.

Any questions?

[bdraw]

I can't believe they deleted your posts, but it doesn't surprise me that they didn't give an explaination. He probably reported your posts as flames and they deleted them without even reading them.

He has to know he is wrong or he would post the proof. He obviously knows if he really does record from both ota and bhn.

[Bschneider]

From Greg Mclaughlin at Bright House, the Assistant General Manager of Hillsborough County, regarding the compression of the HD signals that HDTVFanAtic claim is being re-compress at BHN.



We had this argument in Central Florida, and the answer is a complicated one. In general, we pass the same bitrate provided to us by the programmer. That said, we do generally strip some of the "error correction" bits from OTA 8vsb signals that really aren't necessary when the signal travels through the relatively protected signal path of the cable plant, vice over the air.

We are at the mercy of the programmers however, in that we can't "add back" bits we never received. Keep in mind that the MPEG encoding process at the programmer is technically a compression process.

Does BHN re-MPEG encode once we get the signal? No. Do we Variable Bit Rate encode like the DTH guys? No. We do "modulate" the signal (QAM - Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) to put the MPEG stream onto the proper RF carrier to transport it across the plant. But it's not a compression process, and (aside from the stripped OTA bits mentioned earlier), we deliver the bits we've received.

Without specifics I can't mention, I will state that the vast majority of our contracts with programmers prohibit us from reducing the bitrate they deliver.

Finally, if I wanted to screw with a bitrate, why would I do it with the flagship HD signals? I'd do it with CSPAN3, QVC, etc, where nobody would notice or care.


So for those that believe that HDTVFanAtic knows everything, I think I just proved him wrong twice.

For all your correct information regarding HDTV in Tampa, www.tampahdtv.com (http://www.tampahdtv.com) is your only place you should visit.

If you have any questions or concern please let me know.

[bdraw]

It is good to see Greg back up what he has said before in the past.

Did you post this on AVS? If so they will definitly delete it since they don't allow promotion of other sites on their posts. They how ever seem to tollerate a link in your signature like I have in mine.

[Bschneider]

I don't think I will be posting over at AVS anymore because of them deleting all my posts.

I'll just post the correct information here instead.

[Bschneider]

Oh.. I did forget to mention that when WFTS does do a HD Tape Delay that they don't have a way to insert local commericals when they broadcast the show to us viewers. Perhaps that is where HDTVFanAtic is confused.