HDTV in your area?

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foofighter06

Gawd
Joined
Dec 17, 2003
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The family got a Samsung 56" DLP HDTV for Christmas and we have it all hooked up. Our local cable company (Charter) offered a HDTV box that doubles as a DVR so we got that installed yesterday. The problem is that we only have 4 HD channels available. We get no local channels in HD. This means no NBC, ABC, CBS, or Fox in HD. This is a huge disappointment because most everything we wanted to watch comes on in HD on these channels.

There is no way we can get HD signals over the air through an antenna because we live in a mountainous region in the middle of no where. Does anyone else have a problem with not being able to get local HD programming? I've looked into satellite options, but it seems they don’t provide NBC, ABC, CBS, or Fox in HD either. Is this correct? :confused:

Sportscenter on ESPN HD just doesn’t seem to be cutting it. :(

And the HD Discovery Channel is a joke.

Voom and DirecTv seem to have more HD options.
 
espn in HD....*drool*..

seriously, I think you can get the networks on satalite. I know my friend does.

I don't know if the local news is in HD, but the major programs are.
 
As far as i've read DirecTV doesn't provide the HD local networks over the satellite.

You'd need an OTA for that.

It's the same story for Voom.

I know that Optimum Cable in my area provides the Local HD channels over-the-wire, but I'm not familiar with Charter's setup.
 
That's what I was afraid of. I wouldn't mind the NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox not being local if we could just get them period. However, it looks like only CBS provides an HD channel for satellite. ESPN HD is ok, but we just got the box installed yesterday so I still haven't seen any sports in HD. Sportscenter is in HD, but when they cut to a highlight it's in standard definition. The ticker bar at the bottom of the screen is much more legible with ESPN HD, but I would like to have NFL games on Fox, ABC, and CBS in HD and it looks like that won't be possible in my area.

No MLB, Nascar, NBA(except on ESPN), or March Madness either I guess.
:(
 
I heard a rumor that cable providers will be obligated to carry over the air signals through thier pipes. This means that we could get the cable companies HDTV tuner box and tune the free HDTV channels with no antenna. I have been trying to substantiate that rumor, but no luck so far. of course, I haven't tried real hard.
 
Hmmm.

That would be grand.

After reading some on http://www.dtv.gov/ it seems that HD in my area may be possible after the 2006 deadline when all cable transmissions are supposed to be broadcast in a digital signal. Right now only the upper channels on my cable box are broadcast in digital. The lower channels including ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC are all broadcast in analog. After about channel 30 the screen clears up and you don’t get the ghosting and fuzz you get from the lower channels.

2006 is a long time to wait for more HD channels though when you already have a HDTV. :eek:
 
Don't confuse digital broadcast and HDTV. They are not necessarily the same thing. Most local affiliates will carry the HD feed on the digital band, but will also sideband it with other channels (ABC in Dallas sidebands an all-news channel along with HD).

Also, from what I understand, the FCC mandate also has a provision that affiliates do not have to provide digital broadcasts until a percentage (something like 85%) of the viewing public in their area have digital/HD capable TVs. So that 2006 stuff is not really a deadline.
 
True. We have had digital cable for about 2 years now, but just got a HDTV and HD box this week.

I hope by 2006 our local channels will be HD, although we just got Cable internet about 2 years ago also; so we tend to lag behind larger cities when it comes to the arrival of technology.

I’ve come to believe it isn’t really the cable company’s fault in my situation as much as it’s the local TV stations fault. If their equipment isn’t able to send HD signals then there isn’t much the cable company can do about.
 
Depending on your location DirecTV may be able to provide some of the network feeds in HD. You have been in certain areas and then if there is a local affiliate that can claim you as a viewer you will need to get a waiver to get the feed. I know CBS and NBC have network HD feeds, supposedly fox is right around the corner. If you need the waiver your pretty much screwed cause they are hard to get.
 
Looks like there are a lot of obstacles to get the kinda HD service I'm looking for. Really and truly there looks to be no need for anyone in my area to even own a HDTV until we have more HD channels in the lineups that cable companies provide.

This is a reply I got from Charter regarding a message I sent to their support department.

Thank you for contacting Charter Communications. I have received your email
regarding HI Def. At this time many channels are broadcasting in HI Def
however there are a number of reasons why these channels cannot yet be added.
One reason is that as with any other channel in order for us to carry a High
Definition channel we must keep the regular analog channel and add this Hi Def
channel elsewhere in the lineup. This can create problems with bandwidth
space. Also the need to do this means we need to sign another contract with
these channels and negotiating these contracts to keep cost down can take
time. Also many channels although broadcasting in HD cannot be seen in HD
because the local affiliate that re-transmits the signal to us is not prepared
to send the programs in HD.
Click to expand...

They were prompt in their response, and looks like the answer they gave contains very little BS.
Too bad it wasn't the answer I was looking for.
I actually asked for a estimation of when I could expect more HD channels, but that wasn't even covered in the response. I'm guessing it will be a long wait if I stick with them. :(

If you check this part of their website,
http://www.charter.com/products/hdtv/hdtv.aspx ,
you'll notice they list
» Local ABC, CBS, NBC
» Local Fox in widescreen high resolution

I don't like how they list these channels on the HD info portion of their website if they can't get them to a large portion of their viewing audience
 
For DirecTV customers that cannot receive ANY local channels (NBC/ABC/PBS/CBS/FOX) can be given access to the 380's. The channels in the 380's are regional broadcast channels out of New York and Los Angeles.

Another poster mentioned the wavier you need to get, this is true, but if you truly live in a mountainous region with no HDTV you COULD try to play it off as you don't get the channel period. It's worth a shot!
 
Well then.

I guess I'll be giving DirecTV a call in the next couple of days. If they can give me at least a couple of those chanels in HD I would be more than happy.
 
kent said:
For DirecTV customers that cannot receive ANY local channels (NBC/ABC/PBS/CBS/FOX) can be given access to the 380's. The channels in the 380's are regional broadcast channels out of New York and Los Angeles.

Another poster mentioned the wavier you need to get, this is true, but if you truly live in a mountainous region with no HDTV you COULD try to play it off as you don't get the channel period. It's worth a shot!
Click to expand...


I don't think thats for HighDef, as last I've checked DirecTV doesn't have the satellites in place to put out such bandwidth.

I get local SD channels over DirecTV and I live in an area where i can DEFINITELY receive them, i just have to pay an extra $5 on my bill per month.

(maybe i'm confused, but the OP was asking about getting local HD, not SD)
 
I get HD local channels from Time-Warner where I am and I still got a OTA HD box. They do some serious clipping of the bandwidth on all the digital stations and they all look like shit for the most part. They also didn't put out digital signals for WB, UPN, and a couple ind. stations that I know can get. Most of them aren't in HD very often, but at least they are digital.

Have you tried antennaweb yet to see how far you are from broadcast towers? Unless your in a valley or far from a major city you should be able to receive most channels OTA.
 
Yeah, I checked.

There is a possibility that I could pick up a CBS station that is about an hour away from my house, but I doubt it. The Fox, ABC, and NBC stations are about two hours from my house and I live in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains so it would be pointless to buy an antenna when I have two 4 large mountains around my house.

I don't think they even have HD over the air either, so if I could get a signal it wouldn't be in HD.
 
hey foo as a friend I will just tell you to convince your parents to let you take the new samsung to school and you will just have to invite them over every week to watch football or whatever. Hell I'll get an apt with you and we can just play HL2 and crap all day long and we won't have to worry about HD channels :) I want more pics when you get your camera.
 
you have to remember that with digital you either get HDTV or you don't get any channel at all. There is no in between static images like there is with analoge.

I too live about an hour and a half away from all my local broadcasters (Los Angeles). They all have HDTV content, but my cable tv providers want us to use the stupid HDTV box too.

Right now I can get all of the channels in if I use the right antenna and put it high enough, although the channels will be blurry/ghosting. But with HDTV all that should go away.
 
Timmay!!! said:
hey foo as a friend I will just tell you to convince your parents to let you take the new samsung to school and you will just have to invite them over every week to watch football or whatever. Hell I'll get an apt with you and we can just play HL2 and crap all day long and we won't have to worry about HD channels :) I want more pics when you get your camera.
Click to expand...

Hehe.
I'll try to put some up today in the gallery. The wires are really messy right now though, and I dont feel liking messing with them until we get the right equipment in there.
 
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