MeTV finally makes it so SE Texas!

[Mr Tony]

yes...sort of

Our ABC is channel 5 (KSTP) but they also own an Independent station which is/was on 45 (KSTC). When MeTV was added 2 months ago KSTP decided to merge the channels together so they are in one clump (easier to scan through)
5-1 is ABC (RF35)
5-3 is MeTV (RF45)
5-4 is ThisTV (RF45)
5-45 is KSTC45 (RF45)
45-5 is 24/7 replays of news (RF35)

Basically they copied what the PBS did here. We had 2 PBS in the old analog days (2 & 17...both owned by same folks) but they decided to combine them together so 2-1 is PBS and 2-3 is what was 17 (which is like Create...there is also 2-2 & 2-4)

sorry for the off topic post

 

[Dee_Ann]

KUIL, their MAIN channel is pseudo-HD, they air a signal in 1280x720 with a high bit rate but about the only thing you see in "HD" are commercials.

This is a screen grab from "People's Court". As you can see, they have the large black bars on the side, the picture is a 4:3 image and there is an extremely high probability that it's an upconverted 480i source.



I hit the info button and it displayed the technical info on the video.
KUIL's main feed is 1280x720, 59.94fps, 16:9 (sort of), 14.4mbps video and 231kpbs audio.. It's acceptable I suppose.


So then I go to MeTV's national feed on C-band, 87w during Mission Impossible. It was impossible for me to capture screen grabs of the same exact thing as I went back and forth because there is a several second delay when you change channels.

Anyway, here is a screen grab where I hit the info button to show the technical info on the MeTV feed from c-band.



It's running at 720x480 and it says the bit rate is 6.8mbps and the audio rate it 377kbps.
(Ignore the message on the bottom where it says MeTV - Local. That's a goof up I made trying to label the two channels, I got them backwards in the process. My bad..)

Mkay...

Now, I flip over to KUIL 12.4, catching a screen shot of the info screen, still on Mission Impossible but there is a 5-8 second difference as the tuners figure things out..



Oooopsy!! Video bit rate here is only 3.6mbps and audio bit rate is only 197kbps !! How dat?? Not so hot.. But wait! At least it's still 720x480 !!
And the added bonus is, blotchy, chunky video. High compression and it looks like animated facebook jpegs. Lego-vision.

Well, my dad and most other people will never notice this, most people don't care or know about resolution or compression anyway.
I'm very seriously into photography so I have a keen eye and low tolerance for video/image flaws and or image/video butchery..

Oh well, we at least have it locally now, it's free, my dad can pick it up with his antenna and if for some reason the C-band goes down, it will still be here.
I can always fall back on it if I have to but I'm going to continue enjoying MeTV on C-band. I will not be taking my big dish down anytime soon..

And here's a local news blurp about it, http://www.12newsnow.com/story/16487748/kbmt-launches-me-tv-classic-television-network

edit: Oh poo......... I just noticed that I typo'd the subject on the original post, it should read "MeTV finally makes it to SE Texas!"

 

[bobvick]

ditto. We have MeTV and This TV in Minneapolis so I dont need to watch it off satellite

MeTV on the NBC affiliate out of Birmingham looks horrible. If I ever watch MeTV, I usually just watch it off of SES-2. The quality is much better. The same with ThisTV, the local channel here that carries it is WVUA owned by the University of Alabama, it is their "main" affiliation, but they preempt the This schedule so bad that they might as well be considered an independent.
The MeTV affiliate WVTM-2 has to run "The Lucy Show" too, because the CW channel in the market has the rights to "I Love Lucy."

 

[Mr Tony]

Since MeTV on 87W is AC-3 audio I'd have to run it through the Manhattan (and have to have the dish out all the time)
The OTA version here isnt bad and I can record it directly to the 211k

 

[Dee_Ann]

Since MeTV on 87W is AC-3 audio I'd have to run it through the Manhattan (and have to have the dish out all the time)
The OTA version here isnt bad and I can record it directly to the 211k

Wait what?

That's a Dish network tuner right? It has an OTA ATSC tuner built in to it in addition to the satellite tuner?

 

[Mr Tony]

That's a Dish network tuner right?

yep

It has an OTA ATSC tuner built in to it in addition to the satellite tuner?

yep. And you can record one sat & 1 OTA program at same time (provided you have a HDD hooked up)

 

[Dee_Ann]

yep


yep. And you can record one sat & 1 OTA program at same time (provided you have a HDD hooked up)

Oooooooooh........ Interesting..


Me thinks this becomes ever more interesting....:nerd:

I think next month maybe I'll try to locate some used equipment to purchase and install the way I want it installed then get an HD subscription. Hmmmm....

 

[Mr Tony]

Here are some pics as proof
1st pic is the MeTV on our local station. Dish hasnt got guide info yet on it so I have to set manual timers if I need to (which is fine...I have to do it for another channel)
2nd pic shows 2 things recording....sat & OTA

 

[bobvick]

Oooooooooh........ Interesting..


Me thinks this becomes ever more interesting....:nerd:

I think next month maybe I'll try to locate some used equipment to purchase and install the way I want it installed then get an HD subscription. Hmmmm....

You should check out dishstore.net. They are a gold sponsor of the site, and have some great deals. Claude that owns Dish Store is a great guy to do business with. He has some good deals. You can get an owned 211K from them for $120.00. You could probably rig up some of the existing FTA ku dishes that you have, of course you would have to put circular LNB's on them and get a switch to hook them together. If you wanted three separate dishes for 110, 119, and 129, you could get a DPP-34 switch for about $35 to hook them together and run that to the receiver.

 

[Mr Tony]

on a side note this would be sweet to have this setup on one OTA channel. Yes its legit

26-1 RTV
26-2 Antenna TV
26-3 This TV
26-4 Me-TV

I know when RTV went to 83W the guy who runs the station posted here asking about getting a setup for RTV. Looks like they upgraded a little bit

 

[empiretc]

1st pic is the MeTV on our local station. Dish hasnt got guide info yet on it so I have to set manual timers if I need to (which is fine...I have to do it for another channel)

sure it will be there soon Ice. MeTV here in south TX has the guide info.

 

[Mr Tony]

Dish is the one who adds the guide info into their system. Its a well known issue with Dish that sometimes they dont get the EPG data for subchannels
Right now Minneapolis they do not have the channel in the system for guide info.
Your location in Brownsville/Harlingen they do. Same with Beaumont
(checking a list it looks like you dont get OTA guide info for your Fox affiliate since its licensed to Mexico)

 

[Dee_Ann]

on a side note this would be sweet to have this setup on one OTA channel. Yes its legit

26-1 RTV
26-2 Antenna TV
26-3 This TV
26-4 Me-TV

I know when RTV went to 83W the guy who runs the station posted here asking about getting a setup for RTV. Looks like they upgraded a little bit

So, can you get "Antenna TV" on Dish network? That would be really cool..

You should check out dishstore.net. They are a gold sponsor of the site, and have some great deals. Claude that owns Dish Store is a great guy to do business with. He has some good deals. You can get an owned 211K from them for $120.00. You could probably rig up some of the existing FTA ku dishes that you have, of course you would have to put circular LNB's on them and get a switch to hook them together. If you wanted three separate dishes for 110, 119, and 129, you could get a DPP-34 switch for about $35 to hook them together and run that to the receiver.

I will definitely look into his store. The $120 sounds very reasonable. As for a dish, I think I would opt for the simple/easy option and just purchase an authentic Dish network dish that is designed to get 3 or 4 satellites on one dish and one wire without switches and stuff. Maybe this would make a good early summer project for me. I can start buying the stuff a little here and there over time.

Oh, and a dumb question.. When you buy a used tuner, does it come with a smart card? I see that they use smart cards. Or will Dish send me one when I subscribe? Also, what is the deal about having it connected to a phone line all the time?
I have no intention of watching PPV movies, ever. I don't have a real phone, I have a vonage internet phone. Besides, I think they would just use the phone line to snoop on what you watch and sell the info to profiteers and parasites. Or even worse, they might use the phone line to erase your DVR files. I don't know, I'm just suspicious of greedy corporations.

Thanks!

 

[bobvick]

So, can you get "Antenna TV" on Dish network? That would be really cool..

I will definitely look into his store. The $120 sounds very reasonable. As for a dish, I think I would opt for the simple/easy option and just purchase an authentic Dish network dish that is designed to get 3 or 4 satellites on one dish and one wire without switches and stuff. Maybe this would make a good early summer project for me. I can start buying the stuff a little here and there over time.

Oh, and a dumb question.. When you buy a used tuner, does it come with a smart card? I see that they use smart cards. Or will Dish send me one when I subscribe? Also, what is the deal about having it connected to a phone line all the time?
I have no intention of watching PPV movies, ever. I don't have a real phone, I have a vonage internet phone. Besides, I think they would just use the phone line to snoop on what you watch and sell the info to profiteers and parasites. Or even worse, they might use the phone line to erase your DVR files. I don't know, I'm just suspicious of greedy corporations.

Thanks!

Antenna TV is not on Dish. I think that Iceburg is talking about a local TV station, I am not sure of which market. A used receiver would likely have a card in it, I am not sure if Dish will reauthorize one or not. I know DirecTv makes you pay $20 for a new one. Before you buy a used receiver you had better get the receiver ID and call Dish Network to make sure there was no balance left on the prior account.

 

[Dee_Ann]

on a side note this would be sweet to have this setup on one OTA channel. Yes its legit

26-1 RTV
26-2 Antenna TV
26-3 This TV
26-4 Me-TV

I know when RTV went to 83W the guy who runs the station posted here asking about getting a setup for RTV. Looks like they upgraded a little bit

You should check out dishstore.net. They are a gold sponsor of the site, and have some great deals. Claude that owns Dish Store is a great guy to do business with. He has some good deals. You can get an owned 211K from them for $120.00. You could probably rig up some of the existing FTA ku dishes that you have, of course you would have to put circular LNB's on them and get a switch to hook them together. If you wanted three separate dishes for 110, 119, and 129, you could get a DPP-34 switch for about $35 to hook them together and run that to the receiver.

Antenna TV is not on Dish. I think that Iceburg is talking about a local TV station, I am not sure of which market. A used receiver would likely have a card in it, I am not sure if Dish will reauthorize one or not. I know DirecTv makes you pay $20 for a new one. Before you buy a used receiver you had better get the receiver ID and call Dish Network to make sure there was no balance left on the prior account.

Oh cool.. Sounds like good solid advice.. I would not have known to check these things..

Thanks!

 

[bobvick]

Oh cool.. Sounds like good solid advice.. I would not have known to check these things..

Thanks!

Glad to help. Please be sure and ask any questions you might have. I am sure you know everyone here is more than willing to help each other out. That is what makes this place so great.

 

[Mr Tony]

Oh, and a dumb question.. When you buy a used tuner, does it come with a smart card?

normally yes. Some are imbedded on the motherboard and some actually go in the receiver. Mine on the 211k is imbedded on the board

I see that they use smart cards. Or will Dish send me one when I subscribe?

As long as its a current card # in the receiver (it will start with S19) you'll be fine. Dish can reuse the smart card as long as there is no balance on the account. So if you go the previously owned route make sure you get the R&S # and verify with Dish BEFORE buying

Also, what is the deal about having it connected to a phone line all the time?

hasnt been needed in 3-4 years at minimum. Only reason is if you want PPV or caller ID on the screen.

Or even worse, they might use the phone line to erase your DVR files.[/quote[
the phone line only dials out so that couldnt happen

 

[Mr Tony]

Antenna TV is not on Dish. I think that Iceburg is talking about a local TV station, I am not sure of which market.

yeah thats a local market. Its a station in Northern Arkansas and the owner posted about getting RTV to rebroadcast back when Luken took over
edit: found the thread
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/166478-dish-good-enough-rtn.html

 

[Dee_Ann]

yeah thats a local market. Its a station in Northern Arkansas and the owner posted about getting RTV to rebroadcast back when Luken took over
edit: found the thread
http://www.satelliteguys.us/free-air-fta-discussion/166478-dish-good-enough-rtn.html

I sure wish they would get Antenna down this way on OTA, that would be awesome.. Getting the Luken 3 OTA here would be very nice too.
And to round it out in a nice happy package, a 24/7 weather channel. I was visiting a friend in Houston and they have one.
It's not TWC, I think it's purely a home grown station, shows a radar most of the time, 7 day forecast, road conditions on the major roads, etc..

I remember when I was little and even up into the 70's, we only had three OTA channels, ABC, NBC & CBS. No other options existed.
I think about the mid 70's they began to bring cable TV to the area. There were 10 channels and they useless. The picture quality was terrible and the service was horrible.
Still is come to think of it.. Just a whole lot more BAD channels.

But yeah, places like Houston, Chicago & pretty much everywhere in CA, they've got an insane number of OTA channels. Not fair!

 

[Mr Tony]

But yeah, places like Houston, Chicago & pretty much everywhere in CA, they've got an insane number of OTA channels. Not fair!

I hate to say it but just because you have an "insane" number of OTA doesnt mean its GOOD OTA
Minneapolis is a great example

PBS...3 subchannels. The MN Channel (shows reruns of older locally produced stuff)l, TPTLife (think Create but add in old PBS shows) and 24/7 weather
CBS..none (station is owned by CBS and they dont put any subchannels up)
ABC..has a 24/7 of rerun news (seriously.....now you can watch the 6Am news at noon)
Fox...SD version of My Network
NBC..crappy weather channel
CW...Country Network & CoolTV
My...SD version of Fox (issue is Fox is on VHF and folks complained so they put the SD counterpart on the other station)
Ion...the normal Ion mux
Independent...has This and Me (owned by ABC affiliate)

so 10 stations....4 REAL subchannels...5 if you count Qubo

oh and 5 different religious muxes
EWTN (x3), computer schedule and a station that shows some older EWTN stuf
TBN/Church/JCTV/SOAC/Spanish
3ABN/D2D/Spanish/3 radio
Cornerstone
Daystar

Some smaller markets have better variety than I do