Dallas ABC-HD offered from DISH

[Neutron]

Anyone else in the Dallas area notice the poor quality of the local ABC station in Dallas, in HD?

We noticed it the other night. It looked like the people's faces on the shows we watched were splotchy and blocked at times.

I know the local ABC station sucks trying to get OTA, so not sure if this is a DISH issue with overcompression or if it's with the local station.

 

[StevenD]

Yes, Dish is overcompressing WFAA-DT. Fortunately, I have a good ATSC in my HTPC that picks up WFAA-DT very well...with very little dropout.

 

[Neutron]

Do you have an outside antenna?

When we lived in Plano, we used an indoor antenna to pick up local HD. WFAA-DT was the only one I could not get.

 

[zman]

I have not noticed any issues with WFAA, but I almost always select the OTA channel on my Dish reciever (they show up in yellow on my 622's Guide). I would guess it is a Dish overcompression problem. Typically, WFAA over the air signal puts out a superb picture.
By the way, I live in Mckinney and pick up WFAA. I have an outside antenna, but have it mounted in my attic. It did take some serious tweaking in direction to pull in WFAA. You may be able to get it in princeton, but you may have to use some kind of antenna amplifier to do it, or if you can put the antenna external on your roof that would help. One thing is for sure, you will want someone watching signal strength as you adjust the antenna because WFAA is touchy. The good news is once you get it coming in, all the other locals should be fine. I even get the Sherman stations.

 

[StevenD]

Do you have an outside antenna.

Yes, I have a 10' VHF/UHF antenna 26' up in the air.

 

[Ddavis]

Unlike most HD, WFAA-DT use VHF, not UHF. If your antenna is UHF only, it will be extremely hard to pick up. You will need a VHF/UHF antenna to get it. I have a very big, very old, 20 years or so, Radio Shack outdoor VHF/UHF antenna in my attic. WFAA-DT is usually the strongest signal I receive.

 

[Neutron]

I don't think the wife would love me putting a nice sized antenna like that on our roof, or our neighbors for that matter. That sucks.

 

[Cyclone]

Isn't Dallas's ABC affiliate the only one in the country which is 1080i instead of 720p?

 

[HDTVFanAtic]

Isn't Dallas's ABC affiliate the only one in the country which is 1080i instead of 720p?

I don't know about the only one, but it is at 1080i and we all know the 1080i stations are having issues with MPEG4 (or those with a decent set and a good set of eyes).

 

[StormyQ]

By the way, I live in Mckinney and pick up WFAA. I have an outside antenna, but have it mounted in my attic. It did take some serious tweaking in direction to pull in WFAA. You may be able to get it in princeton, but you may have to use some kind of antenna amplifier to do it, or if you can put the antenna external on your roof that would help. One thing is for sure, you will want someone watching signal strength as you adjust the antenna because WFAA is touchy. The good news is once you get it coming in, all the other locals should be fine. I even get the Sherman stations.

That is encouraging to hear. I'm in McKinney also and just dumped TWC for Dish. I've been researching antennas and also want to put mine in the attic. I'm a little conerned about space though with the 10-12 ft. antennas I'm reading about.

Do you know what specific antenna you're using? No pre-amp? What area of McKinney are you in?

By the way, I observed the same thing as the original poster. My install was 2 Sundays ago and the first thing I watched was Grey's Anatomy. The video was absolutely horrible. It looked like their mouths were about 2 secs. behind the audio and lots of blur whenever there was movement in the scene. Not a great first impression but it's been a little better since then. HD quality is a bit softer than I got w/ Comcast but I expected that.

 

[snathanb]

I'm about 10 miles east of Wylie and I pick every Dallas OTA station just fine. I've got an unamplified 12 foot uhf/vhf antenna in my attic. In fact, I had to install an antennuator on it because KDFW-4 was getting overdriven to the point of locking up my OTA box. I wouldn't think Princeton would be much, if any, further as the crow files from the broadcast towers than I am.