Ah shoot! You beat me to it!!!!!!
(but then my new scan lost CFTO-DT on uhf40)

Has any one noticed any change in CW23 in the last month and
a half?
It used to be rock solid, now a lot of pixelation,flares and the like
was out at movies, set one pci card to record (Smallville/Supernatural, got home, went to playback,CW started
fine on commercials, when Smallville started got a screen flare,
which according to the log lasted 'unknown' minutes but
the computer's system log recorded a reboot from a bugcheck
at 8:17:47, therefore lost act one, but the 2gigs of HDD space
don't account for the loss of 17 minutes of programme.
Usually when that damn gateway product needs to reboot (XP home) I only lose 30 seconds of programme(set for fastboot)
so I had 2gigs of no prog , it screwed up the s/w's time counter,as if info was missing from the broadcast,followed by
14.6gigs of clear material with the odd audio drop.
This never happens with my old reliable, all Intel PIII with an
identical HDTV card, the MyHD...MDP-130 I mentioned in an
earlier posting. The PIII has never needed to reboot itself even when I overtax the cpu. The PIII is running W2kPro,which I prefer to XP any day! Therefore going back to the beginning of this, I was able to test with two equal cards but with only the one attennae which physical condition hasn't seemed to change.
Both units demonstrated pixelation/breakups on CW23.
Would it help to contact their engineering dept?

Bruce, I think I still have my PIII-1GHz box down in my basement. It was working fine when I decommissioned it. No ISA slots I'm sure. I believe it's AGP graphics card slot, but I'd have to A.) find it and B.) check. Pretty sure it's an ABIT motherbaord. Probably at least 1GB of memory ... don't remember what graphics card is in it.

Any of this sound interesting? If so I'm in Sanborn and since it's not in use it would simply be freeing up some basement space to get rid of it. If it interests you, I'll go down there and make sure of exactly what everything is and get an inventory of parts on board.

look for a PM.|

I've also noticed pixellation problems with CW23 even when the signal is strong and stable. I think the problem is on their end. The audio still seems fine even during the video breakups.

I had no problems whatsoever with CW23 last night. I watched Smallville and it did not go out or pixelate once. I also had rock solid signal - same as always.

What's with the PQ and sound on 38-3? It's terrible!

Crap!! I wonder if its that multipath interference that the
guys at the AVS forum, MDP-130 thread talked about at one
time.

[Link: avsforum.com]

This morning there was a lot of that going on ..Pixelation, video
freezing during the Sat.morn 'tunes on CW23, I'll
check the test recordings I made of 'Legion...' & 'The Batman'
later tonight. DFI's profile says he's in Fort Erie.

Is it possible to be too close to Grand Island?
Ghost Whisperer and Numbers viewed live last night were rock
solid, again I'll check the test recordings later.
WIVB & WNLO are practically the same station now anyhow
aren't they?

Well, I don't get it......Unless its like Daniel says here and TPeterson at the the other board, what I'm experiencing is multipath or reflections.

Watching CW23 yesterday morn there was pixelation and stuttered
video, yet viewing the recordings, those effects were absent.
This morning watching the animal shows there was what I could call
mild pixelation. So setting for timeshift mode (by hitting pause on
the remote or the spacebar on the comp) producing a slight delay
of about ten seconds eliminated the problem resulting in my
former rock solid reception.

So my question for both boards this week will be; is it possible
for a tuner to be too sensitive and/or finicky about the incoming
signal? For when you play back a recorded file, it passes through
the cards' onboard hardware decoder, ditto for timeshift.
However, the signal still has to on direct viewing also.

Stiil, doesn't explain what happened on thursday.
Oh well, lets see what goes this afternoon with Trek and Stargate.
:-\

Hello everyone! I just want to say that I feel very fortunate that there is such a large forum specifically for the Toronto area. You guys are great!

I'm hoping that someone might have some suggestions for fixing my antenna situation.

My antenna is mounted on the roof of my 50 foot high building half way up a hill and there is a clear view to the south in all directions. Here is where I am in relation to the CN Tower..

[Link: maps.google.com]


I am running a DB8 with a PA-16 pre-amp (16 dB gain, 2.5 dB noise figure) and a 100' run of RG6 coax. This is boosted with an old 10db amp from radio shack. That signal is then connected to my Vista Ultimate Media Centre computer with a FusionHDTV 5 lite tuner card.

Here is my problem.. I can get

WGRZ 2-1 (with dropouts)
WIVB 4-1
WKBW 7-1
WNLO 23-1
WUTV 29-1 (some dropouts)
WNYO 49-1


I can't get WNED or ANY Canadian stations! I only live 5km from the CN tower, so I'm really surprised.

I have an extra DB8 that I can hook up in conjunction with the DB8 already up there, but is orientation my problem? Do I need a more powerful pre-amp?

I'm using Windows Media Centre settings with a Buffalo ZIP code to get the proper guide. When I go to check my signal strength all the Canadian stations are in the list, but I had to de-select them because they wouldn't tune in.

I'd love to hear any suggestions you guys might have.

Someone asked me what I want for Christmas.. I told them I'd like all the local OTA channels to come in properly. :)

Thanks!

That's what I gorram want too!

I live in central North York and have the opposite problem. I get all of the Toronto channels but can only get WNLO from Buffalo. I have a PC with an HD tuner card along with an indoor amplified Philips antenna. I can get more of the Buffalo stations if I move my "indoor" antenna out the window which is not practical. In my situation, the Buffalo stations are too weak and the Toronto just right for my indoor antenna.

I think your main problem is that your antenna system is overloading the tuner and you are picking up reflections from buildings near the CN tower. To diagnose the problem, try using a simple indoor antenna and see if you can get the Toronto stations. However, you will lose all of the Buffalo stations. Another option is to disconnect or turn off the amplifier if that is easy to do.


p.s. on another note, I found that Media Center was so cpu intensive that I could not use it reliably with the HD tuner card. I ended up using WatchHDTV... a free download that is amazing, very efficient and results in a less choppy picture.

If you have a premap and an amp, i think you might have overload. drop the amp first and test it.

I am no expert but I have a DB8 in Buffalo and ran into overload as i am pretty close to 2-4 and 7 towers.

How are you controlling the direction of your antenna? Have you tried tweaking it?

I suspect if you have as clear a view as you say you do, you may have TOO MUCH signal, not too little.

Get rid of the 10db amp from Radio Shack. Those things are HORRIBLE and will really mess up your signal, ESPECIALLY if it's in an overload situation. If it turns out you do need amplification, I would recommend a Channel Master preamp, or a Channel Plus amp; something with a lot more headroom. Note that the tuner's behavior is also critical for high signal level situations - can it actually handle a "hot" signal?

This is one place where a highly non-directional antenna like the DB8 may not work as well as a highly directional one.

Wow, thanks everyone! I'm going to try hooking up a standalone ATSC tuner box and by-pass the computer. Then I'll try eliminating the amp and the pre-amp, but I get the feeling I'm gonna need at least the pre-amp for my 100' cable run.

I really hope I can keep using media centre, because I use it through my XBox 360.

I'll keep you all posted.. thanks again! :)

I live in Mayville (Chautauqua County). All the Buffalo stations come in great, except for WGRZ. Sometimes WGRZ is simply gone, other times it's there but not watchable. I realize that it is one of the most difficult to receive, but am wondering if anyone knows whether WGRZ is planning any changes to correct this. Also, WKBW's audio sometimes stinks.

what is your set up? Do you get Erie and Toronto stations