Peoria, IL Local stations in HD... when?

[railroad-guy]

OK, so I just upgraded to HD, new PVR, new dish and new plasma TV. All set to go right? Well, none of the local networks are in HD. They seem to be on cable but not on dish. Since I am new to HD I called Dish and of course they had no idea.

Is this something that come on-line slowly or not at all. I am to far away for an antenna and don't want that anyway. I am also six blocks away from the Chicago locals. We had them until the Distant Networks crap. Go figure.

Dan

 

[jayn_j]

They are not announced yet for DISH. They are online on DTV, but I would bet that doesn't help you since it looks like you just signed up for a new commitment.

I'm in the same boat in Rockford, and the only real solution is to "move" into the Chicago DMA.

 

[jayn_j]

I probably should have explained "moving". You can have a service address different than your mailing address and DISH doesn't seem to care. Several members have found valid adddresses within a DMA and used those as service addresses. The only caveat is that you need to manage it carefully and "move" back when you need a service call.

Usually, the address of the local post office or movie theater will work if you append an apartment number on the end.

 

[terpsmandan]

If you check out the list, I think that spotbeam 14 on 61.5 is full. I am in the Rochester NY DMA and Dish is not giving any info because they seem to not have anymore spot capacity on 61.5. "moving" is very easy to do with the chat feature. Just tell them that it is up and running and you need to have your locals switched over.

 

[railroad-guy]

I probably should have explained "moving". You can have a service address different than your mailing address and DISH doesn't seem to care. Several members have found valid adddresses within a DMA and used those as service addresses. The only caveat is that you need to manage it carefully and "move" back when you need a service call.

Usually, the address of the local post office or movie theater will work if you append an apartment number on the end.

So I Email Dish giving them a new address and since I have direct billing I don't get any regular mail. Then they switch me? I would think they would want to know where their equipment really is.

Dan

 

[amcrebelfan]

I live in Loves Park, basically Rockford. I wish they would come on board, I am actually pointing OTA to Madison to get their HD channels as they come in stronger and look and sound better than the ones in Rockford. I would love to have wfld 32 out of chicago, how do you "move" and does it really work?

 

[jayn_j]

So I Email Dish giving them a new address and since I have direct billing I don't get any regular mail. Then they switch me? I would think they would want to know where their equipment really is.

Dan

Pretty much, except don't change your billing address. It needs to match the billing address of your credit card. Just change your SERVICE address. As terp said, tell them there was already a dish there and that everything is working.

They are all in on the scheme, but need to keep up the pretense to satisfy the court order, so they really won't give you any hassle. They just want denyability in case something comes up.

The chat is a painless way to do this. Here is the link: DISH Network - Customer Service - 1.888.825.2557

 

[cardinalrooter]

Direct TV has Chicago, Peoria, Rockford, Springfield-Decatur and Davenport Iowa local DMA'S in HD. Dish thus far has Chicago locals in HD and thats all. However Mr. Ergen of Dish said Davenport Iowa DMA HD locals will launch in early 2009. If you want local HD and sports packages Direct is the place to be.

 

[wetz73]

I live in the Peoria area as well and when I asked the CSR at E* about a timetable for getting HD locals, the guy told me there is no timetable because the local channels have no timetable to convert the local coverage to HD. So I emailed 19, 25, and 31 and each said they have no plans to go HD on local broadcasts until "well after the digital transition." They have been broadcasting digitally for several years now so I don't know what bearing this has on HD conversion, so I guess if you don't want to get them OTA, you'll have to dump E* for D* or for one of the local garbage cable companies.

 

[Laddyboy]

I live in the Peoria area as well and when I asked the CSR at E* about a timetable for getting HD locals, the guy told me there is no timetable because the local channels have no timetable to convert the local coverage to HD. So I emailed 19, 25, and 31 and each said they have no plans to go HD on local broadcasts until "well after the digital transition." They have been broadcasting digitally for several years now so I don't know what bearing this has on HD conversion, so I guess if you don't want to get them OTA, you'll have to dump E* for D* or for one of the local garbage cable companies.

Whatever the CSR said is bullpuckey. If D* has them in HD, they are also available to E* if E* agrees to carriage terms and actually has a satellite with an available spotbeam for the market. With Ciel 2 at 129W coming into action next month, expect to see quite a few western market HD LiLs added by E*. The Peoria DMA is fairly small which may mean it'll be further down the list with Rockford.

 

[Laddyboy]

Direct TV has Chicago, Peoria, Rockford, Springfield-Decatur and Davenport Iowa local DMA'S in HD. Dish thus far has Chicago locals in HD and thats all. However Mr. Ergen of Dish said Davenport Iowa DMA HD locals will launch in early 2009. If you want local HD and sports packages Direct is the place to be.

E* has the Quincy DMA (1 station I think) in HD. Also the St. Louis DMA in HD covers a significant chunk of SW IL. IL is in 10 DMAs if I recall correctly: Chicago, Rockford, Quad Cities, Quincy, Peoria/Bloomington, Terre Haute, Champaign/Decatur/Springfield, Evansville, St. Louis, and Padukah.

 

[ryotgz]

E* has the Quincy DMA (1 station I think) in HD. Also the St. Louis DMA in HD covers a significant chunk of SW IL. IL is in 10 DMAs if I recall correctly: Chicago, Rockford, Quad Cities, Quincy, Peoria/Bloomington, Terre Haute, Champaign/Decatur/Springfield, Evansville, St. Louis, and Padukah.

Speaking of Evansville, it would be nice to get local HD here. Direct TV just got it here back in October.

 

[cyborg_monkey]

Hi,

I tried the "move" via the chat and they allowed me to do it. But when I check for Chicago local channels, I don't see them on the guide. Only the Peoria channels, though they took my double digit channels away. I have the 7250 7251 7252 channels for the locals, but they are Peoria's. Looked around the guide and tried to do a switch/installation check, but didn't work either. Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Laddyboy]

Chat back and tell them you don't have the locals. The Chicago HD locals are on 61.5W, T11 Spotbeam 4 and 129W, T12 CONUS. Thus you have to get either 129 or 61.5 for the Chicago HD locals. They obviously took you off the Peoria locals.

 

[cardinalrooter]

"It doesn't play in Peoria" = Dish HD Locals

 

[Delta5]

I agree, but why not OTA?

First of all, let me say that I totally feel your pain. I live just a bit south of you, 30 miles west of Springfield, in Jacksonville. No HD Locals via Dish here either, of course, even though they are available on D*. I wish E* would figure out a way to bring us our locals in HD, I really do - because I can't get CBS via OTA HD here.

But I have to ask, why are you against an over-the-air (OTA) antenna? Provided you're in the signal area, OTA-HD is higher quality than what you'll get via satellite or cable, since it's uncompressed. PQ is fantastic and you can get the same 5.1DD sound feed from it too. It's truly excellent. With the 622 or 722, you also get the added bonus of having the third tuner to record from, which is nice.

I don't know where you live in Peoria, but the area is pretty well covered by all five major networks. Using TVFool, WMBD-CBS, WEEK-NBC, WHOA-ABC, and WTVP-PBS are all broadcast from Peoria. Depending on where you live, the towers might be in your back yard. I'd think you ought to be able to pick those up with the bare minimum of antennas. WYZZ-Fox, is about 20 miles away. IMHO, 20 miles isn't that big of a deal. I'd bet that a standard Wally-world pair of rabbit ears might be good enough for that. Maybe a nice little powered Terk of some sort. FWIW, I pull in stations 25 and 32 miles away at near 100% signal strength with my AntennasDirect DB4 antenna (in a 2nd story attic window) + Channelmaster 777 amp. Before that gear, I could get those stations at around 70-75% strength with a cheap & slender little Terk antenna that sat behind my AV rack. Anything above about 60% is perfect.

Once it's set up, the OTA locals integrate perfectly with the program guide of the dish receiver. It is, from the perspective of watching TV, as if you're getting the channels from Dish. I'd be perfectly happy with OTA HD forever, E* be darned, if I just lived 20 miles closer to a CBS broadcast.

 

[wetz73]

I use OTA for Peoria locals and use amplified "rabbit ears" and they work great. The problem comes when you want to record two network shows at the same time. One in HD, the other SD. Plus the fact that they are available with cable and D* leaves us E* folks feeling hosed!!!!!

 

[Delta5]

The problem comes when you want to record two network shows at the same time. One in HD, the other SD.

That's a good point. I didn't think of that situation.

 

[jayn_j]

I use OTA for Peoria locals and use amplified "rabbit ears" and they work great. The problem comes when you want to record two network shows at the same time. One in HD, the other SD. Plus the fact that they are available with cable and D* leaves us E* folks feeling hosed!!!!!

Sounds like an ideal case for the new 722K. That one has the potential for 2 HD OTA tuners. Watch Scott's reports from CES as I think they are going to be announcing it there.

 

[Laddyboy]

Sounds like an ideal case for the new 722K. That one has the potential for 2 HD OTA tuners. Watch Scott's reports from CES as I think they are going to be announcing it there.

There's also the DTVPal DVR that records 2 OTA at the same time. I think it's $250 currently.

I'm sort of between Decatur and Lincoln and get both the Peoria-Bloomington and Champaign-Decatur-Springfield DMAs in HD OTA. Works great with a Vista Media Center computer with three HD tuners. It would work equally well with the DTVPal DVR. The picture quality is the best you're going to get anywhere.