Weather Bug causes drop to SD

[jacksonm30354]

Severe weather season is here. How many of you have stations that when they put up the little watch/warning map in the lower left (or whereever they put it where you live), does the program drop out of HD?

Even in Atlanta, DMA #8, only 1 station I have seen - WXIA-TV11 (NBC) stays in HD.

How much does this capability to display the little map and retain HD cost a station?

I am afraid for smaller markets, like my hometown Columbus, GA DMA#126, who might never make an investment in this.

[Supervolcano]

I haven't noted which channels, but at least some of the big networks in Chicago do this too.

[tcusta00]

We had a tornado watch last night during Jeopardy and it stayed in HD on the ABC affiliate out of Baltimore.

[Kansas Zephyr]

It's not just having a HD output "weather crawl" box.

It's how the TV station is "plumbed" for digital.

It ain't cheap. If a station can only pass network HD, by routing network HD to the transmitter directly, bypassing the analog master control switcher. It must drop to SD in order to insert, or "key", the weather alert map/crawl over the broadcast.

If the entire station is digital, or has a complete digital routing system/master control switcher, then keying a HD "weather bug" over a HD program is possible.

So, this will vary greatly from station to station, until they have all digital plants.

[Tower Guy]

How much does this capability to display the little map and retain HD cost a station?


Your fear is valid.

In most cases smaller stations have an SD infrastructure, one HD upconverter, and an HD bypass switcher for network. They could add an HD pushback box downstream for about $ 40,000. http://www.avid.com/products/dekoCast/whatsnew.asp

Yet for that same 40K a station can begin an HD conversion of the SD Master Control and infrastructure. Some master control equipment has squeezeback built in. Prices vary significantly. 40K is just a start. Bare bones is over 100K. Done right with router and upconversion interfaces it's 250K and up.
http://www.dps.com/brochures/IconSeries.pdf

With an HD MC switcher using built-in squeezeback the old SD CG could be upconverted to HD. An upconverter for video and key signal is still about 7K; plus the frame and power supplies. (You can think about the key signal as a video cookie-cutter for the actual text.)
http://www.miranda.com/product.php?i=249