New Britain, CT, $13 RCA Indoor and QAM Tuner?

[KML0224]

I live outside of Hartford, CT and recently purchased a 26" Sanyo LCD HDTV model DP26746. I threw on a $13 RCA Indoor antenna with a 12-position tuning knob and a round UHF reflector. Depending on position, I get the following:

WFSB-DT (CBS) channel 33 Hartford
33-1 Analog channel 3 simulcast + network HD
33-2 "CBS 3" service sent to Springfield, MA with local advertising
33-3 Blank

WTNH-DT (ABC) channel 10 New Haven
10-1 Analog channel 8 simulcast + network HD
10-2 Storm Team 8 Doppler Radar with NOAA Weather Radio audio

WTXX-DT (WB/soon CW) channel 12 Waterbury
12-1 Analog channel 20 simulcast + network HD (local crappy widescreen)

WHPX-DT (I) channel 34 New London
34-1 Analog channel 26 simulcast
34-2 PAX Satellite feed in SD
34-3 Worship TV in SD
34-4 Faith TV in SD

WVIT-DT (NBC) channel 35 New Britain
35-1 Analog channel 30 simulcast + network HD

WCTX-DT (UPN/soon My) channel 39 New Haven
39-1 Analog channel 59 simulcast (not sure about network HD since I have yet to see it)

WTIC-DT (FOX) channel 31 Hartford
31-1 Analog channel 61 simulcast + network HD (local crappy widescreen)

As far as I know, WEDH-DT (PBS) channel 42 of Hartford isn't on the air yet. WUVN-DT (UNI) channel 46 of Hartford is on the air but I can't get it here. They have the analog channel 18 simulcast on 18-1 and Telefutura on 18-2.

I must note that this TV has a QAM Tuner built in. When I hook the cable to the "Digital Antenna In", place the TV into digital tuner mode ("3-1", "8-1", etc.) and do a scan, I come up with only a few services:

PBS-HD (which I think shares time with WEDH-TV of Hartford)
Simulcast of all available locals, including WRDM-LP (TEL) channel 50 Hartford
NECN (New England Cable News)
CT-N (CT version of C-Span maybe?)
The primary channel only of WFSB-DT, WTNH-DT, WTXX-DT and WTIC-DT, such as "X-1" with no subchannels of any local except NBC Weather Plus, which Comcast carries separately already (it's 35-2 or "30-2" with WVIT-DT).
On Demand pay-per-view preview channel
NBA League Pass Info channel which repeats every 5 minutes it seems

At this time, Comcast doesn't carry WCTX-DT (UPN) from New Haven, WHPX-DT (I) from New London or WUVN-DT (UNI) from Hartford.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Kevin sounds like a Nice setup and yes you are getting all you should get I would not care about missing WUVN Digital as nothing on it in HD anyways.

 

[KML0224]

I'm not sure if the TV receives a 1080i signal or not. I only saw the manual mention 720p (progressive). It has an HDMI output jack yet my Magnavox DVD recorder doesn't have that. I've only got progressive cables hooked right now. The TV offers "Pix 1" through "Pix 4" to change the screen shape. I usually leave it on "Pix 1". The pillar boxing (cut off on the sides) doesn't bother me and the stretched picture of an analog signal looks like crap anyway. (With an HD signal, the TV automatically fills in the sides.)

If anybody needs to know, the TV was a pre-discount price of $697 where I work. Wal-Mart simulcasts some service on 14-1, wherever they take their signal from. The ads are all in SD, but most of the rest looks to be an HD signal.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

It receives a 1080I signal however the resolution of the TV is not 1080i so it downcoverts it to a resulution the TV can display.

It still look a hell a lot better then standard def.

 

[KML0224]

Scott, as usual, you're right on the money. Now if only there was a way for it to get YES-HD or NESN-HD? (We still don't get the Mets channel here.) ABC-HD looked quite nice during the NBA Finals (GO DALLAS!!) on Thursday and Sunday! This thing also seems to leak an occasional piece of an On Demand movie through. There was even a porno one afternoon at 4 and it looked like somebody was zipping through it and playing it at certain points. (That's only happened once that I know of!)

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Those channels are on Comcast (Or are carried preempting InHD2) however those channels are scrambled and thus your TV cant see them.

Here in Newington, on cable I get all the HD locals (except for WTNH which they do not carry on COX) but my favorite part of having a QAM tuner is watching other peoples video on demand selections for free. I have not needed to subscribe to HowardTV yet because I see many of the episodes for free.

This is what you saw when you saw the Porno movie zipping by.

 

[KML0224]

74-1 Nutmeg Public Access ["74-1" is what the TV labeled the station as.]
74-2 Government Access
74-3 ARTS
76-1 NECN (New England Cable News)
77-1 TBS
79-1 HSN
79-2 QVC
79-3 C-Span
79-4 C-Span 2
80-1 WTXX (WB) Waterbury
80-2 WUVN (UNI) Hartford
80-3 WVIT (NBC) New Britain
80-4 WEDH (PBS) Hartford
80-5 WFSB (CBS) Hartford
80-6 WHPX (I) New London
80-7 WTIC (FOX) Hartford
80-8 WTNH (ABC) New Haven
80-9 WRDM (TEL) Hartford (Low Power station with no digital assignment)
80-10 WCTX (UPN) New Haven
81-1 CN8
81-2 WGBY (PBS) Springfield, MA
81-3 Shop At Home (for now?)
81-4 CT-N
81-5 ?
81-6 EWTN
81-7 BET
82-1 WTXX-DT 12-1 (WB/soon CW) Waterbury
82-2 WEDH-DT (cable only)/ PBS-HD at other times
84-1 ?
84-2 ?
85-1 ?
85-2 ?
85-3 ?
86-1 ?
87-1 ?
87-2 ?
87-3 ?
87-4 ?
87-5 ?
88-1 WVIT-DT 35-1 (NBC) New Britain
88-2 WTNH-DT 10-1 (ABC) New Haven
88-3 NBC Weather Plus
89-1 WFSB-DT 33-1 (CBS) Hartford
89-2 WTIC-DT 31-1 (FOX) Hartford
93-1 On Demand Pay-Per-View Ads
94-1 FUSE
102-1 On Demand Partial? =
110-1 NBA League Pass Info

= On this channel, there were two separate boxes with the same video going. One was larger than the other. It's the preview box you see from E! up top when you access Comcast's On Demand service.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The = Channel is one people see when to go to channel 1 for VOD, if you watch you can actually see them moving through the menus trying to find something to watch.

 

[KML0224]

Actually, I only get two little boxes on a black screen with one box slightly larger than the other. You see the woman from E! advertising what's On Demand. There's no menu screen under the box at all.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday afternoon, I did a local scan with the antenna hooked up. Nothing new locally came up on the channel scan (still no WUVN-DT from Avon Mountain). I noticed that when I had the antenna aimed towards Montville/New London for WHPX-DT channel 34 (analog 26), I just barely received a signal of WPXQ-DT (I) channel 17 (analog 69) from Block Island/Providence, RI. It looks as if they offered the same four services as WHPX-DT does (I/PAX/Worship/Faith TV). :tux:

 

[KML0224]

Just for fooling around, I had a UHF corner Yagi from a uninstalled roof antenna hooked up in my bedroom with a short twinlead going to my Sanyo TV. With it pointing towards the northwest (or the longer boom portion of it facing that way), I was getting:

WFSB-DT 3-1 (CBS) Hartford
WFSB-DT 3-2 "CBS 3" service aimed at Springfield, MA...retransmission of WSHM-LP channel 67 Springfield
WFSB-DT 3-3 [BLANK]

WTNH-DT 8-1 (ABC) New Haven
WTNH-DT 8-2 Storm Team 8 Doppler Radar with audio from NOAA Weather Radio

WUVN-DT 18-1 (UNI) Hartford [very weak and spotty with a 4 KW signal]
WUVN-DT 18-2 (FUT) Subchannel with feed of Telefutura [weak signal]

WTXX-DT 20-1 (WB) Waterbury
WTXX-DT 20-2 The Tube [ID'ed as "WTXX-DT 20.2 Waterbury/Hartford"]

WHPX-DT 26-1 (I) New London
WHPX-DT 26-2 PAX Satellite feed with "PAX" in one corner and "I" in another
WHPX-DT 26-3 Worship TV
WHPX-DT 26-4 Faith TV

WVIT-DT 30-1 (NBC) New Britain
WVIT-DT 30-2 NBC Weather Plus

WTIC-DT 61-1 (FOX) Hartford [although not on at 4 PM, I know it'll be there since it's off of Rattlesnake Mountain and all the rest from there is coming in]

WPXQ-DT 69-1 (I) Block Island/Providence, RI [quite weak, but in one position, it was nearly stable and watchable with a minor cut-out or two]
WPXQ-DT 69-2 PAX Satellite feed
WPXQ-DT 69-3 Worship TV
WPXQ-DT 69-4 Faith TV

Pointing this towards the south and southwest, I could get a little bit of WCTX-DT (UPN) channel 59/D 39 from New Haven. However, that'll hurt the other channels except maybe for WTNH-DT.