HD locals
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Yes. With that large of a market, the SD spotbeam will definately work. You may be on the outer edge of the HD one but I dont see why not. I get Boston HD spotbeams 90 miles from the city at full strength.
Steve, please post back if you try it. I'm in Peoria too. Now that all my friends with Comcast get tons of HD channels AND networks in HD, I'm beginning to regret my switch to DirecTV.
here is what happened to me, i have dtv, i live exactly 55 miles from columbus, i cant have an ota to pick up the locals in hd, so here is what they give me, i get nbc(whiz) zanesville, abc from columbus, cbs from columbus, and fox from columbus, but they are all sd channels only, and the pic quality is bad on these channels like analog channels, then they give me pbs national channel 384 (2) cw channels channel 14 and channel 385 in another state, the only 2 hd local channels i get is cbs and fox east from ny, they will give me the local channels from columbus except nbc, but they are sd, and no local hd channels at all, and a half hr west of me, they get the all the local channels in hd from columbus, i have filed a wavier, but that is a wast of time also, go figure 
I was referring to the fact that if I'd stayed with Comcast, I'd still be contract free and have locals in HD.
IF you have the HD DVR (HR20) and an OTA antenna you can record what ever you want, sat or OTA locals.
If you have a HR21, you would need the addl. AM21 digital tuner to do the same thing...
Please explain why you cannot record your locals with an OTA antenna ???
Jimbo
I don't know. I didn't count. But they do have the major networks like NBC that I happen to watch far more than some of the HD channels I have now.
I would rather not spend an extra 150$ or so on antenna and tuner to get my local channels. I already put out a lot of money for the box and stuff up front based on my salesman telling me that I would have HD locals with it by the end of January.
Steve, did you end up trying this? I've tried going a couple different routes to learn about this here, but so far I haven't figured out what to do. I may just have to try something myself. Steve, I'll be sure to let you know if I come up with something that works.
Anybody else have a solution for us that doesn't require spending a bunch more money for extra equipment? Maybe some tips about where to "move" (Chicago, STL, Indy, Springfield?) or information on when our area will finally get the channels we were promised?
Anybody else have a solution for us that doesn't require spending a bunch more money for extra equipment? Maybe some tips about where to "move" (Chicago, STL, Indy, Springfield?) or information on when our area will finally get the channels we were promised?
Peoria is WELL within the Chicago spotbeams (both SD & HD) - you will not have any problems getting them.
Chicago is the best market to move to - ALL the network affiliates are O&O, so you get VERY few network pre-emptions. You get 3 PBS stations, one of which shows pretty much all of the national PBS prog that many other PBS's will NOT show, 2 great true independent stations, plus 4 local Spanish channels. (if you are into that sort of thing )
Chicago is the best market to move to - ALL the network affiliates are O&O, so you get VERY few network pre-emptions. You get 3 PBS stations, one of which shows pretty much all of the national PBS prog that many other PBS's will NOT show, 2 great true independent stations, plus 4 local Spanish channels. (if you are into that sort of thing
)Hi, I too live in Peoria, actually ~10 miles north of it near Chillicothe. I have D* and really like all the new HD channels they have added over the past year. I use and indoor antannae I put at CC for like $30 to pick up locals and have had no problems. I am in a low area by the river, so I was pleasantly surprised they came in. I am not in an are that has access to Comcast, as Mediacom is the provider here, and their HD line-up is non-existent, (locals+ESPN-HD+ESPN2-HD). I think my antannae is a Terk 55 or something, it is a bow-tie shaped thing. Sort of flat and somewhat discreet on the TV.
Pitviper33, you should just try it yourself. It will probably work. Call D* up and give them an address in the Chicago DMA. Turn on your TV and Sat receiver and see what happens.
For those interested, I DVRed and watched "The Office" last night in HD. It was great. I didn't have to spend any more money on more equipment. That was even more great.
I still have a round dish that I used to use to get local channels. Is there any use to this dish at my new "location"? Right now my box thinks I only have the one dish connected, but I could go in and tell it that there are two. Is there any benefit to this? If not I'll just take it back down and make my roof less ugly.
I still have a round dish that I used to use to get local channels. Is there any use to this dish at my new "location"? Right now my box thinks I only have the one dish connected, but I could go in and tell it that there are two. Is there any benefit to this? If not I'll just take it back down and make my roof less ugly.
I know someone who signed up with DTV while in Orlando and lost HD locals by moving to Champaign. Despite spending over $150 to go about getting HD locals the "proper" way (OTA) they were still unable to get them and waivers were denied. By the time the NFL playoffs rolled around they had enough and just "moved" to Chicago. HAven't had a problem with HD since.
My personal take....in markets like Springfield/Peoria/Champaign, DTV should be obligated to provide HD locals from the nearest available market until they get the local HDs up. In Peoria/Champaign it should be Chicago, in Springfield it should be St. Louis. I'd be shocked if anyone could provide a non-sleezebusiness reason why DTV should not do this?
My personal take....in markets like Springfield/Peoria/Champaign, DTV should be obligated to provide HD locals from the nearest available market until they get the local HDs up. In Peoria/Champaign it should be Chicago, in Springfield it should be St. Louis. I'd be shocked if anyone could provide a non-sleezebusiness reason why DTV should not do this?
Because it's against federal law for ANY satellite provider to "knowingly" sell out of market locals. Local stations got this law passed, because they have the "exclusive" rights to broadcast ABC, etc in a given market & they do NOT like sharing ad time with stations coming from the outside of the market.
Understand I DON'T agree with this stupid law at all - just pointing out the reason why. And since both D* & E* probably secretly agree, that's why they don't go out of their way to keep tabs on "movers"; they're still getting the same amount of $$$ for networks from you, regardless of WHICH ones they are. (or in some cases, MORE $$$, since many people "move" from local markets where D* does NOT even carry locals - in this case, they're making MORE $$$ from you!)
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