WB 38 status- NOW IN HD!

[Bschneider]

Local WB (WTTA) has "actually received the HD encoder, however [snip]still need up convertor and satellite receiver for HD

Factory is behind on delivering orders I hear. I also hear we should be getting the other equipment soon."

[buckeyes]

That's some good news. I guess these things progress in small increments.

[bdraw]

Thanks for the update Brian.

[GlennS]

I actually gave them a call on the 23rd as well and was told that they did receive some info, but they should be broadcasting in HD in about 6 months! I have been contemplating just moving to Orlando just for the next 6 months!

[rgreenpc]

Glenn...

Have you moved to Orlando yet?

Got an extra room?

WB is going HD on most of their programming this fall... but as we all like to say here... I WANT IT NOW!!!! :lol:

Anyone talked to WB lateley on their status?

[GlennS]

It's funny that you ask, because I am moving to Orlando at the end of this month. And I'm bringing my HDTiVo with me!

[rgreenpc]

Ya know... I STILL don't have mine...

Sound Advice has some coming in Friday of next week.

But Value Electronics told me my pre-order won't be here until the end of June at the earliest.

Where did you get yours?

[GlennS]

I got mine through VE. I was number 68 on the preorder list. Your gonna love it when you get it!

[rgreenpc]

finally got my HD tivo... now if the WB would oblige me and up their power.

ALL would be right with the universe

[bdraw]

And how about actually transmit some HD?

[rgreenpc]

yeah... that too

[Bschneider]

WB 38 is NOW is HD!

I wanted to post this this past Friday but I was not able to give anybody a heads up on this.. as I was not in town.

[LonghornXP]

When will they up their power is my question now.

[FTBoomerIII]

My question is "When is BHN going to carry it?"

[Dknow]

Well, if they can spend bucket-loads of cash on the HD equipment, why can't they spend a small percentage more to power up? That's like buying a brand new Viper without putting gas in it!

[bdraw]

Wow this is great, just when I was telling my friend that I can't keep up with my HDTivo as it is, now we have Fox and WB in the same week.

Lets just hope they turn up the juice so we can enjoy it.

Thanks again Brian!

Ben

[Dknow]

Well, the signal is weak at about 35%, but for the first time at my household, I am picking up WB 38 and it is indeed in HD. Prior to tonight, I have never received even one pixel. Hopefully this isn't their idea of "powering up". I can still pick up Orlando's WB better.

[Dknow]

Just when I thought things were getting better Sinclair made sure they'd get worse! My newly improved WTTA-DT signal reception is now back down to what it used to be.....nearly non-existent. I guess the HD-Honeymoon is officially over. Keep saving those dollars Sinclair! I'll be watching UPN instead!

[teampozer]

My observations....
- I caught them the other night running the WB network feed without covering the local breaks on the DT channel. Hello! Master control!! Oops.
- I'm wondering if the power is up at times and down at others. Twice this week (during primetime) I had no problems holding the DT signal. My signal meter continues to show a much higher level then it's ever been, however it's still below the stations.

[Bschneider]

Quick Answers:

WTTA hasn't received all equipment for HD. So the transition from HD to SD is not smooth and could possible "lock up" some receivers. So that is the problem not master control. They expect to be fixing this problem within 30 days.

Also, as everybody know they have been operating at reduced power since April 2003. The are scheduled to go to full power in 4 months.

Personal note: Since they have been on the air in April 2003 I have not had that many problems with the signal even though I am in TnC. Up until 3 weeks ago I was getting a 100% signal from them, now I am get between 25-30%. They have informed me that nothing has changed.

[Dknow]

Thanks for the info. What I do know is that I am once again receiving a weak signal from WTTA-DT and had never before until a week or so ago. This channel has caused my receiver to lock up twice now. I am looking forward to February but am very dissappointed that they will not be at full power for Lord of the Rings in November. I wonder if they will have 5.1 by then?

[jaymer]

well, these guys are such suckers that i don't give a crap about the local WB guys anymore.

last week, i watched Everwood, Smallville & the Mountain in widescreen via a .avi file on my computer... WITH NO COMMERICIALS. I plan to watch these shows this way the entire rest of the season... no local commercials for me as they lost my support and viewership.

no, its not in HD, but its from a HD feed, converted to .avi file and it looks fantastic. for those of you who have a PC hooked up to your machine, or a DVD player than can play .avi files (its not mpeg, but may be able to be converted... dunno) then you're in luck.

last year i sat through crappy SD versions of Everwood & Smallville, but not anymore. If I could get Orlando i'd forever watch them.. .but i can't. I'll be glad to share this with anyone... maybe even make a new thread. 1hr show is about 350 meg. and it would be nice if we could get some bandwidth to distribute these files locally.

more later...
jaymer...

[bmw68]

I would be Very Intrested Thanks Jaymer!

[jaymer]

i'm going to have some DVDs at the Happy Hour to give out... contents will be

Smallville finale - Last season
1st two Smallville eps of this season
The Mountain premier (possibly ep 2)
3 Everwoods
Las Vegas... from when NBC was off the air

I know 1 person I'm bringing it for. If anyone else wants one there, I'll make another copy. After I get with BDraw on thursday about some technical issues, I'll make more info public on how to get the files yourself.

jaymer...

PS _ I didn't even worry about Everwood monday night, and am planning to not even turn the TV on tonight for Smallville/Mountain. I'll just watch them some other night without commercials.

[rgreenpc]

Question...

When is WB going to full power?

<< Saw the answer about 30 seconds after I posted >>

4 months is a LONG TIME

[Pipman]

What's the current status with WB-38 HD? The standard definition programming works fine, but when an HD program is going to show, it goes black and the signal goes away too.

Does anyone know what's going on over at that station?

[Dknow]

Basically, as Jaymer says "they rot". They are owned by Sinclair and that company doesn't believe in digital so they have the power down to almost nothing. If you check your signal meter you'll see that the difference between watchng WB and no signal is pretty slim. I think they power down at random. Check out "low blow" in the general discussions forum for more info.

[teampozer]

Let's get a couple things straight...
-The are MANAGED by Sinclair.... the station itself is owned by Bay Television.
-Sinclair DOES believe in digital TV. In fact, they have come around the last few months in getting all their stations up in power and broadcasting in a standard format. Yes, it's sucked for a long time but it's getting better.

[Pipman]

Well for some reason WB-38 is choosing not to run full HD feed of their little HD programming.

Last week during Smallville, the first 5 minutes were show in actual HD, but cropped to 4:3 for some reason, plus it had Dolby Digital sound. Then afterwards it went black and so did the signal.

So I can see that they are able to run HD programming, I just wonder why they are stopping the stream. They seem capable, so what's the deal?

[jaymer]

pipman - that sucks
i thought i was crazy when a few weeks back... something kept Las Vegas from being on, so i thought i would watch Everwood live in HD - all was fine until the commercial break... i flipped channels and when i came back in 3 minutes it was black and never got it back.
figured somehow it was me as i couldn't prove anything else was wrong.
jaymer...

[Dknow]

Well, when I say that Sinclair doesn't believe in digital it is not because I've had a sit down with them but because of what I've observed from their only MANAGED station in town. What else can you deduce from their performance as managers of a digital station? They are obviously trying to save a buck by powering down their digital station only which means that digital is low on the priority list. If it wasn't, then we would be watching WB at full power. Those management companies that do believe in it have it powered up so that it will catch on.