PBS on 125

[JD1003]

Are the East and West PBS feeds on 125 actually PBS programming?. I am thinking of dedicating a dish for those services. Our PBS station thought it would be a great idea to drop Create from their mux, so getting 125 for at least that channel would be worth it since I used to watch it quite a bit. It's too bad it's an SD feed, but it did not look too bad when it was OTA. I had heard PBS uses that mux for basically live feeds to the mothership. There is nothing else that would be intresting enough to dedicate a dish for.

 

[Mr Tony]

yes it is. Its the national feed for affiliates to take and add their own programming if they do desire
As example on satellite there are markets with no PBS in the market (my market, Mankato Minnesota being one of them) so satellite gets the East feed of PBS. The prime time schedule is mostly like a local affiliate but there are times affiliates have their own programming

 

[Captain Midnight]

The 12180V transponder is programming. The horizontal transponders show colorbars most of the time, but PBS feeds things down too on a schedule of sorts.

 

[JD1003]

Excellent!. Will get my dish up and running before it snows!

 

[Cham]

Too late... it snowed here... (I'm just as tad NNW of Mr Tony).
I have had a dedicated 90cm dish for 125 for many years. You won't regret it.

 

[KE4EST]

Excellent!. Will get my dish up and running before it snows!

Yes, get it up! I also have had a dish dedicated to that bird for years! That is about all that is watched in this household.

 

[iBoston]

If i only had 2 KU dishes, they would be parked at 125 and 103.

Hey, on that same note, is Montana PBS still there? I haven't been able to lock it in well over a month or two. I heard the signal was lower, and im sure i just need to tweak/tighten that dish.. It is a little loose.

 

[Cham]

Yes Montana PBS is there but not up all the time. Not sure on their sked for that TP.

 

[VictoriaFTA]

Great place to catch PBS shows they don't put on their PBS Documentaries channel on Amazon, like Austin City Limits. The 125W feeds have no channel logos too so it's less like getting stuff from a TV channel with the usual garbage plastered in the bottom right corner and it's more like getting it from a clean web source.

PBS's "Passport" website through their official website is garbage, so it's a non-contender for anything but a last resort option, I.E. if they don't upload the piece of content you want to Amazon and they never air it on the 125W feed.

PBS Passport streaming service is stereo audio only with low bitrate AAC audio. It has poorly encoded 6 Mbps 1080p H.264 video, vs. the 12 Mbps 1080i H.264 video with up to 5.1 AC-3 audio @ 448 Kbps offered on the 125W feed. The 125W feed is always better quality than PBS Passport streams.

So to sum it up, the quality hierarchy for PBS from best to worst, in descending order:

1) Amazon (23.976 or 25 fps native content - - any dramas, scripted shows, a mixed amount of NOVA and Nature episodes depending on partnerships with the BBC for filming the episode, etc.)

2) 125W satellite feed (29.97 fps native content or content not available on Amazon, like Austin City Limits and most Frontline episodes)

3) PBS passport service.

The only caveat with getting PBS content from Amazon, is that for content which has a native 29.97 framerate, they are de-interlacing it very poorly resulting in frequent ugly combing lines. Curiously, they deinterlace their 23.976 or 25 fps framerate content properly for Amazon, resulting in a very clean 1080p picture free of de-interlacing artifacts. PBS does not have the most competent people working in their tech department. I attached a few pictures from all 3 sources (125, PBS Passport & PBS Documentaries Amazon channel) showing you an example. Look at the letters and the NOVA logo in the corner. The HDTV version from 125W is the only one that looks correct.

This is from the latest NOVA episode, "Nazca Desert Mystery," so PBS's de-interlacing incompetence continues to this day.

 

[Mr Tony]

Yes Montana PBS is there but not up all the time. Not sure on their sked for that TP.

wouldnt it be the normal feed for say the translators that carry Montana PBS?

 

[Keith Brannen]

Hey, on that same note, is Montana PBS still there? I haven't been able to lock it in well over a month or two. I heard the signal was lower, and im sure i just need to tweak/tighten that dish.. It is a little loose.

Same here, haven't seen it in a while. Haven't done a tweak on my 80cm dish to try and get it again, and it might screw up my reception of Reuters on 129w, causing further issues (and that LNB is flush against 125w). Probably will just wait until they boost the signal back to its old levels.

 

[Comptech]

I am lucky in my area. I get SC PBS, NC PBS and Georgia PBS over the air. Always something good to watch.

 

[N5XZS]

Hey guys!! Don't forget LPBS "Louisiana PBS" ON 87 W* Ku band bird!!

 

[clucas]

Montana PBS came back for me the beginning of October. Just returned from a two week vacation and I don’t have it now. Is it possible the satellite is drifting a bit? Or, maybe they are playing with the power levels.

 

[Cham]

Maybe the Montana signal is a spot beam and the satellite orintation changes just a little bit to bleed over to other areas once in a while? Not getting it here this am.
I think the TP on 87W is always there?

 

[FTA4PA]

I think the TP on 87W is always there?

Yes, that tp on 87w is always there. The only time it wasn't was when they had a local sports event and it would temporarily go away while they used that frequency to air it then it returned a bit later. Not sure if they still do that or not though.

 

[clucas]

Couldn't get a watchable lock on Montana PBS yesterday afternoon and no lock at all at night but today, Saturday afternoon, I have it back here in California.

 

[TheBUDGuy]

I've mainly kept my dish on 125W for PBS for years. Before July 2021, lots of PBS content was fed on their 3 feed channels: HD03 (in the 12180 V mux), HD04 (12145 H), and HD05 (12155 H). You could catch shows a few days or a few weeks before they aired on HD01 or elsewhere. I made sure to record as many of these feeds as I could. After July 2021, however, nearly all linear program feeds have moved to PBS's cloud-based interconnection system, sIX. The only programs that are still fed on these 3 channels are news programs, such as "PBS NewsHour," "BBC World News," and "NHK Newsline". However, I think "MotorWeek" is still fed on HD03 Fridays at 3:00pm ET.

For two years, I compiled schedules of each feed channel in Excel. It made recording a certain program much easier.

 

[MattFL]

125W is where I put my Directv to Ku conversion dish. Rock solid signal on 12180V 30000. No HD04, HD05 or Montana but I’m okay with that (V transponders only). I can put my 90cm on the sat if I really want to look around.
This is my go-to guide for what’s scheduled on HD01. You can also look up the mux channels as well.

TV Schedule for PBS - Network HD - Eastern

See the upcoming TV listings for PBS - Network HD - Eastern

www.tvpassport.com

 

[MattFL]

Can someone do a signal check on 125W 12180 V 30000