Suffering Cub Fan, Still Suffering

[IndianaMitch]

Okay... so I go for years and years without paying a penny for television... and I'm able to watch the Cubs (don't ask why, that's a whole different story).

Then... I do my best to adjust when I can longer see all the Cub games when (I don't remember when) WGN stops showing all the games.

Then... many years ago... I bite the bullet and get Cable so I can watch the Cubs (don't ask why, that's a whole different story).

I get a little fed up with certain issues surrounding Cable... and I get DirecTV. Okay... I'm fairly happy.

Then... I break down and buy a 50" Samsung HD television and call DirecTV to give them the good news... assuming they'll give me, a paid-in-full subscriber, a great deal on upgrading to HD.

DirecTV drops the ball big time and loses a customer because they don't want to offer me anything, while E* is promising the world and more (I think they offered to mow my lawn for the first 3 months) and so I make the switch.

Honestly... I'm MUCH more impressed with the E* install team than I ever was with anyone from DirecTV, so I think I'm all set... and even start telling friends and relatives to make the switch to E*.

So... baseball season finally comes around... and the Cub games look like crap on my fancy new TV... which the Mrs. never wanted in the family room in the first place!

The game looks best when I open up the channel guide, since it forces the broadcast into a screen one-fourth the size of my 50" screen!!

I call E* and none of them have a clue why I don't see a HD option for the Cub games. They spend HOURS with me... looking up junk on their computers... asking their coworkers why I'm not seeing the Cubs in HD... and having me reset my DVR a few times.

I get on the Internet... Google here... Google there... and discover you guys!

After all that... I discover that the reason I can't enjoy the Friendly Confines in beautiful 1080i is money. Like everything else in life... follow the money.

Makes me wish for my 24" Toshiba television and rabbit ears.

So... how easy would be for a guy 30 miles from Chicago to catch the HD signal with my old, and pretty big, antennae?

All I want is to watch the Cubs!

Please... don't ask why, that's a whole different story.

 

[akodoreign]

Okay... so I go for years and years without paying a penny for television... and I'm able to watch the Cubs (don't ask why, that's a whole different story).

Then... I do my best to adjust when I can longer see all the Cub games when (I don't remember when) WGN stops showing all the games.

Then... many years ago... I bite the bullet and get Cable so I can watch the Cubs (don't ask why, that's a whole different story).

I get a little fed up with certain issues surrounding Cable... and I get DirecTV. Okay... I'm fairly happy.

Then... I break down and buy a 50" Samsung HD television and call DirecTV to give them the good news... assuming they'll give me, a paid-in-full subscriber, a great deal on upgrading to HD.

DirecTV drops the ball big time and loses a customer because they don't want to offer me anything, while E* is promising the world and more (I think they offered to mow my lawn for the first 3 months) and so I make the switch.

Honestly... I'm MUCH more impressed with the E* install team than I ever was with anyone from DirecTV, so I think I'm all set... and even start telling friends and relatives to make the switch to E*.

So... baseball season finally comes around... and the Cub games look like crap on my fancy new TV... which the Mrs. never wanted in the family room in the first place!

The game looks best when I open up the channel guide, since it forces the broadcast into a screen one-fourth the size of my 50" screen!!

I call E* and none of them have a clue why I don't see a HD option for the Cub games. They spend HOURS with me... looking up junk on their computers... asking their coworkers why I'm not seeing the Cubs in HD... and having me reset my DVR a few times.

I get on the Internet... Google here... Google there... and discover you guys!

After all that... I discover that the reason I can't enjoy the Friendly Confines in beautiful 1080i is money. Like everything else in life... follow the money.

Makes me wish for my 24" Toshiba television and rabbit ears.

So... how easy would be for a guy 30 miles from Chicago to catch the HD signal with my old, and pretty big, antennae?

All I want is to watch the Cubs!

Please... don't ask why, that's a whole different story.

Some games are in HD others are not.

Was hoping to see the Cards in HD last night, but the only feed that was broadcasting it was FSMW.

 

[Sparkman]

I'd think you'd have no problem getting the WGN games & the WCIU games in HD with your antenna. I'm 35 miles north of Chicago, have my antenna pointed north, toward Milwaukee, & get all of the Chicago digital stations, except CH 2. You will have to get the OTA digital tuner, but our gov't is giving $40 coupons for those. BTW, last nights Cub game was on Comcast Sportsnet Plus. On Comcast, those games have always been on CLTV, E* puts them on ones of the alt channels in the 445-448 range I believe. But those are the SD feeds. Last night was the 1st time that Comcast carried the HD feed of a game on CSN+. It was on channel 174, MOJO, & was the absolute best HD picture I have seen for a baseball game. I'd bet that E* did not carry an HD feed of the game, but that's just an educated guess.

 

[IndianaMitch]

Some games are in HD others are not.

Was hoping to see the Cards in HD last night, but the only feed that was broadcasting it was FSMW.

Yep... but I've only seen one in HD so far. And when I do a search for "Cubs" even something as open as "Baseball" I've found that the guide misses televised Cub games, HD or not. That really surprised me, so now the entire Cub schedule has been downloaded to my PDA.

 

[IndianaMitch]

. . . BTW, last nights Cub game was on Comcast Sportsnet Plus. . . . Last night was the 1st time that Comcast carried the HD feed of a game on CSN+. It was on channel 174, MOJO, & was the absolute best HD picture I have seen for a baseball game.

You're killing me! I don't go to any ball games (or concerts) because it's just too much money and I don't want to stand... I want to sit because my joints are shot. Seeing a ball game in HD with 5.1 surround... or a perfectly recorded concert is one of the great joys in my life. I can't believe I'm going to have to go back to Cable or DirecTV to simply watch the Cubs.

 

[Sparkman]

Yep... but I've only seen one in HD so far. And when I do a search for "Cubs" even something as open as "Baseball" I've found that the guide misses televised Cub games, HD or not. That really surprised me, so now the entire Cub schedule has been downloaded to my PDA.

Every Cubs game is being broadcast in HD this year, as is every White Sox game. E* will not carry many of these because they do not carry either WGN-HD or WCIU-HD as part of the Chicago locals. They do carry Comcast Sportsnet HD, but I would bet not the Comcast Sportsnet HD+ games. The antenna solution will get you many of the games.

 

[dodge]

mitch
can you hook those rabbit ears to your 50" tv, you may be able to pullin wgn hd over the air.

 

[duckydan]

I'd think you'd have no problem getting the WGN games & the WCIU games in HD with your antenna. I'm 35 miles north of Chicago, have my antenna pointed north, toward Milwaukee, & get all of the Chicago digital stations, except CH 2. You will have to get the OTA digital tuner, but our gov't is giving $40 coupons for those. BTW, last nights Cub game was on Comcast Sportsnet Plus. On Comcast, those games have always been on CLTV, E* puts them on ones of the alt channels in the 445-448 range I believe. But those are the SD feeds. Last night was the 1st time that Comcast carried the HD feed of a game on CSN+. It was on channel 174, MOJO, & was the absolute best HD picture I have seen for a baseball game. I'd bet that E* did not carry an HD feed of the game, but that's just an educated guess.

The government one does not handle HD so no matter what he gets from them it won't solve his problem for the HD Cubs games. An OTA antenna would work piggybacked with dish or hooked directly into his tv assuming it has an HD Tuner built in.

 

[goaliebob99]

Sorry to say, but you should have stayed with directv. Many of the games will not be carried on E* as Sparkman stated. E* does carry comcast sports net hd but only on a part time basis and has been known to miss out on games.

If you would have stayed with D* you would only be missing on on wciu hd and that can easly be had with an ota antenna as D* carry's CCSNCH full time, allong with WGNHD. Comcast was the only person lastnight who had the game in HD as Directv did not carry it as comcast never provided the HD signal to D*. Some one over in comcasts programming deparment needs to be shot as they had the bulls game wich was not in HD on the hd channel, and the cubs game on an alt channel wich was in hd, but not in hd for everyone else.

They should have thrown the cubs game on the HD channel so everyone would have gotten it in hd and the bulls should have been on the alt channel. The bulls arnt even in the playoff hunt, so why doesnt someone over at comcast use their head and make the switch.

 

[abisdabis]

A little off topic and I apologize but I am a Cubs fan as well. I work in Pittsburgh and I just saw Coach Piniella walking out of the hotel probably on his way to the ball park.

 

[mike316]

Makes me wish for my 24" Toshiba television and rabbit ears.

So... how easy would be for a guy 30 miles from Chicago to catch the HD signal with my old, and pretty big, antennae?

All I want is to watch the Cubs!

Please... don't ask why, that's a whole different story.

Dude, your antenna will pick up plenty (And if it's THAT old, go pick up a different one for $30 at Radio Shack).

Case in point: Last night, just f*cking around, I decided to finally test the digital tuner in my Flat-screen HDTV. We live about 20 miles from most of the stations.

I ran a long RG6 coax out the window, and put this cheap litttle "rabbit ear" type antenna on the front lawn. We bought this gem when we first moved and the cable wasn't hooked up yet. So I pointed both antennas in the general direction (North, in my case) and went back inside.

Keep in mind, we are surrounded by 40+ feet high trees

I plug it in to the TV to figure out how to get the digital signal, instead of CATV, or Vid1, or Composite...etc. As soon as I figured that out, the local CBS affiliate appears in brilliant High-Def! I was shocked. I checked the DTV signal strength, and it was about 70%.

I'm attaching a picture of the crappy antenna I used as proof-of-concept. Now that I know the trees/distance isn't a problem, I'm going to go to Radio Shack and get this $30 UHF antenna everyone raves about (traditional mast-mounted UHF type). If i can get 70% with the antenna I tested on, I can only imagine what I will pull in with a REAL UHF antenna

So I'm pretty certain that at only 35 miles, you should be able to do fine with either your old antenna, or the Radio Shack one that I'm getting (Range of 75 miles). It's listed as UHF but it pulled in the VHF digital as well!) Don't overbuy like they may try to sell you. If you were 100 miles away, maybe, but you should only need a mid-range antenna (probably won't even need an amp)

This digital transition is the best mandate the government has made in years

Crappy proof-of-concept antenna:

Radio Shack antenna:

RadioShack.com - Home Entertainment: Accessories: Antennas: Outdoor: 40" Boom Length, 17 Elements Outdoor Antenna for UHF-Only

Good luck!

 

[mike316]

The government one does not handle HD so no matter what he gets from them it won't solve his problem for the HD Cubs games. An OTA antenna would work piggybacked with dish or hooked directly into his tv assuming it has an HD Tuner built in.

A 50" Samsung flat-screen BETTER have one built in....

 

[tsduke]

30 miles should be no problem. Hook up OTA. If you have a 622 or 722 then you have an additional tuner for recording too.

 

[seminole2001]

I'd be more pissed about the 100 year anniversary of not willing the World Series if I were a Cub fan!

 

[IndianaMitch]

Okay... I'm no longer at the mercy of Dish... DirecTV... or Comcast. Ran a nice new cable from the old antenna to the Dish receiver... and found 31 channels. Channel 9 (WGN) is coming in at 100% signal strength and the PQ is superior to anything I've seen from Dish Network. Very cool.

 

[Illinifan]

Now that the drama is over, I can bust this one out...

One early autumn day, a Midwestern farmer dies. When he shows up at the Pearly Gates, St. Peter looks in the book and says, "Sorry. Your name is not in here. You've got to go." Poof, the farmer disappears.

When he comes to, he finds himself chained to a wall in a cell in Hell.

A few minutes later, the Devil looks in on the farmer and sees that the farmer has a smile on his face. So the Devil opens the cell door and says to the farmer, "You must not get it. This is Hell." The farmer says "Yeah, I know, but this is really good weather for growing crops."

The Devil shakes his head as he walks out the door. He thinks to himself, "I know what'll get him. So the Devil goes over to the thermostat and turns the temperature up.

A little while later, he then goes back to the farmer's cell and looks in on him again. To the Devil's surprise, the farmer is sweating up a storm, but he has this big grin on his face. The Devil yells, "What now?!?!" and the farmer says "This is great weather for crops." The Devil shakes his head and backs out of the cell. He thinks for a minutes and then runs over to the thermostat and turns it all the way up.

Half an hour later, he goes back to the farmer's cell. The farmer is drenched in sweat, but has the biggest, dumbest grin the Devil has ever seen. He rips open the door and screams "WHAT IS IT WITH YOU?!??!"

The farmer just looks at him and says "This is absolutely the best weather for growing crops."

The Devil sighs and lets the door slam behind him. He gazes off into the distance when suddenly an evil grin slowly inches across his face until he bursts into maniacal laughter. He strides over to the thermostat and cranks it all the way down.

Later, the Devil looks into the farmer's cell and there is snow flying around and ice covering the floor of the cell. Somehow, the farmer has managed to struggle to his feet and is whooping and hollering like mad. The Devil rushes into the cell and yells "WHAT NOW? AND DON'T GIVE ME ANY CRAP ABOUT THIS BEING GREAT WEATHER FOR CROPS!!!"

The farmer says "Nah, this weather sucks for crops, but it's October and Hell is freezing over! THE CUBS ARE WINNING THE WORLD SERIES!!!"