HD Locals: Atlanta, GA

[Doug Brott]

Please post broadcast issues with DIRECTV satellite delivered HD Local Channels only

DMA: Atlanta, GA
Established: 11/22/2005
Rank: 8

HD Locals available in this DMA

ABC - WSB (2)
CBS - WGCL (46)
NBC - WXIA (11)
FOX - WAGA (5)
PBS - WPBA (30)
CW - WUPA (69)
MNT - WATL (36)
IND - WPCH (17)


For instructions, please visit this thread (http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=137643)

[Stuart Sweet]

PBS - WPBA (30) has been added.

[Charles Munroe]

At least two weeks. I have had audio drop outs
on Network programs from WGCL-TV Atlanta 46
on DirecTv.

[cbeckner80]

I noticed it also, but on a recorded program last night, so wasn't sure where the issue was.

Havn't has any problems today, but I really havne't had any locals on. I'll pay more attention tonight when the network shows start.

[prushing]

I noticed it also, but on a recorded program last night, so wasn't sure where the issue was.

Havn't has any problems today, but I really havne't had any locals on. I'll pay more attention tonight when the network shows start.

Ok good, I thought something was screwed up with my SWM install I got yesterday. All the recordings from last night on CBS had audio drop outs. I didn't have any from earlier in the week, so I thought I had a problem.

[fluffybear]

At least two weeks. I have had audio drop outs
on Network programs from WGCL-TV Atlanta 46
on DirecTv.


I'm not alone then.

Watching Criminal Minds last night and CSI:NY and thought they were just awful. At times, they were losing an entire sentence.

[cbeckner80]

It's even worse tonight. I'm getting pixilation also and it’s pretty bad

[prushing]

No pixels, but audio is dropping out. I'm watching Eleventh hour, haven't watched CSI though.

[cbeckner80]

I had recorded CSI and that's where it was really bad. Let me know.

[prushing]

I thought I had switched CSI to my new DVR, but apparently I didn't setup the series link, so I didn't record it. I've noticed issues on all my recordings since wednesday on 46, nothing on other channels. NBC shows were fine.

[Moocher]

I've been having problems, too. Primarily audio dropouts.

Any theories yet?

Mooch

[jnelson.young]

Same here on 46.

[fluffybear]

46 has been awful the last few weeks. The drops of gone from a just blip to as much as full second or two. It is really frustrating to have dialogue just disappear. Don't notice it as much during CSI:Miami though. The crappy acting might also have something to do with it.

[LarryFlowers]

I have been following up on the situation with CH 46 CBS in Atlanta, As someone who has never experienced the pixelization and audio dropouts others have reported, it was particularly disturbing when I began experiencing it for the first time.

I contacted the station's head of engineering and received the surprisingly candid response:

Larry,

We are painfully aware of the problem.
It is not a DirecTV issue, however DirecTV makes the situation worse as they take our signal off the air, ship it back to LA (via fiber) then re-encode it to MPEG 4 for distribution.
It is not even our problem at WGCL.
The problem is in the new CBS network distribution system. That system is what CBS uses to get the signal to us.
Three weeks ago they changed all the receivers and switching equipment at our station, and upgraded the modulation stream they use.
There is a bug in the system that causes drop-outs (mostly audio) that occur randomly….about twice to three times an hour.

I was on the phone with them again this morning and as of yet they to not have a solution. They are meeting with the manufacturer again this week.

Sorry for the disruption.

Steve

Steve Flanagan

This may be the same cause of the CBS issues in other cities...

Larry

[Gweeto]

For 2 weeks now I have been experiencing bad pixilation during the American Idol broadcasts. As for the instructions:
Channel: 5 (FoxHD)
Date: 1/13, 1/14, 1/20, 1/21
Time: 8pm to 10 pm on 1/13 and 1/14 and 8pm to 9pm on 1/20 and 1/21
Description: Pixilation mainly during scene switching which happens a lot during American Idol like back and forth between the judges and contestants. It also appears in their shirts like they distort and then clear up. It almost semes like a bandwidth issue from an end user experience.

I have not noticed it on other Fox shows but the scene jumping happens more often during American Idol and the colors are more vivid. At least my theory.

[hdtvfan0001]

Thanks for sharing Larry...

Often the local station issues are over-looked by some as the source of issues in transmission quality, pixellation, sound problems, or other elements that impact the end viewer.

Since 46's HD is very new...I am not surprised they would still have some "tweaking" needed over the first 90 days or so...

[LarryFlowers]

Additional Information from the station..

CBS affiliates acroos the country are experiencing the same issue.

Larry

[retromzc]

For 2 weeks now I have been experiencing bad pixilation during the American Idol broadcasts. As for the instructions:
Channel: 5 (FoxHD)
Date: 1/13, 1/14, 1/20, 1/21
Time: 8pm to 10 pm on 1/13 and 1/14 and 8pm to 9pm on 1/20 and 1/21
Description: Pixilation mainly during scene switching which happens a lot during American Idol like back and forth between the judges and contestants. It also appears in their shirts like they distort and then clear up. It almost semes like a bandwidth issue from an end user experience.

I have not noticed it on other Fox shows but the scene jumping happens more often during American Idol and the colors are more vivid. At least my theory.

I see the same problems with FOX 32 in Chicago. Just as you describe, mostly during quick scene changes. Over the air it is fine so I have given up watching FOX via Directv. It also happens to lesser extents on WLS ABC 7 and WGN CW 9. Again, over the air is fine so it must be something that Directv's equipment doesn't like.

[prushing]

good to know we are not going crazy and its not DTV's problem

[coit]

Anyone have trouble with Channel 46 tonight?

Right at the end of Survivor it really deteriorated, and is still having problems an hour later.

[awdpaul]

Seems fine when I turn it on now, not sure about earlier.

[coit]

Weird, I am getting a searching for signal right now... None of the other channels appear to be affected though...

[coit]

I hate to go off topic here, but I am having a problem with my HD locals, and I don't know how to figure out if it is the dish alignment or something else...

I have had intermittent issues with just about all of them, at different times, in recent weeks.

Which satellite and transponders am I supposed to look at? What should the signal strengths be? Should I just call DirecTV and let them troubleshoot it?

Thanks for any help!

[coit]

As an additional bit of information, it is only happening on one tuner. Earlier, I had DH recording, and it was getting no signal. Any other HD local I tuned (on the other tuner) was fine. Now I have another show recording on the good tuner, and the other can't view any of the HD locals.

[Peapod]

Problems with audio dropouts on Big Bang Theory on CBS tonight. Lost about 90 seconds early on, and another 30 seconds or so towards the very end.

[LarryFlowers]

It was the station...not your equipment.

Larry


Problems with audio dropouts on Big Bang Theory on CBS tonight. Lost about 90 seconds early on, and another 30 seconds or so towards the very end.

[Peapod]

Here's the explanation I received (from another local group):

It is happening at several (but not all CBS affiliates). They have narrowed it down to the distribution satellite receivers. They send Dolby-E to us which we then decode to 5.1. It appears at times the bandwidth of the receiver’s audio channel is not wide enough for the Dolby-E signal. What has baffled them (and the manufacturer) is why it happens at only certain locations.

[hdtvfan0001]

It was the station...not your equipment.

Larry
...or the original network transmission....

In any case....you're right...it's not on the viewer end.

[fluffybear]

Anyone else having problems with the WSB sub-channels? Both 2-1 and 2-2 are both reporting no signal for the last day or so..

[fluffybear]

FYI, WXIA (NBC) has recently added Universal Sports as a Sub-channel on 11.3.

Picture Quality is awful but it does offer some interesting programming especially Beach Volleyball. Now, If DirecTV could only add this channel, I might even consider subscribing to the Sports Pak.

[Nick]

Is (almost) naked womens' volleyball actually classified as a sport? Shouldn't it be called "Purient Exhibitionism", commonly known to youse guys as 'pr0n'? :p

[fluffybear]

Is (almost) naked womens' volleyball actually classified as a sport? Shouldn't it be called "Purient Exhibitionism", commonly known to youse guys as 'pr0n'? :p

I prefer they keep it a 'Sport', this way Mrs. Fluffybear has no problems with my watching it. :D

[mgusler]

Watching the recording of Saturday Night Live on NBC channel 11 and noticed frequent audio beeps during the show. Seemed to happen every few minutes over the entire show. Video look OK. I had it recorded on 2 receivers and the trouble was on both. Anyone else notice this, and does anyone know the cause?

[coit]

Yep, our recording has that as well.

Also experiencing some audio dropouts on CBS 46 during the Masters broadcast as well.

[Peapod]

I had the beeps during SNL, but no audio dropouts during the Masters.

[mgusler]

I'm watching the evening news now and the beeps are still happening.

[Peapod]

It's happening OTA as well. It's either in the national feed or something at WXIA, but it's not D*.

[tkrandall]

Did I miss the memo?

When did DirecTV add Georgia Public Broadcasting (channel 8 in the Atlanta area) to the HD channels carried for the Atlanta market? I just noticed the other night it had an HD feed.

[tkrandall]

It's been a month or two now that channel 36-2 has been live with the weather broadcast that used to be on 11-2. But, my HR20-700 is still ignorant of its existence.

36-2 channel has been for some time in the Tribune database. Is Directv starting to drop the ball on keeping the OTA database current?

[fluffybear]

It's been a month or two now that channel 36-2 has been live with the weather broadcast that used to be on 11-2. But, my HR20-700 is still ignorant of its existence.

36-2 channel has been for some time in the Tribune database. Is Directv starting to drop the ball on keeping the OTA database current?

It has? It only started to appear in the Tribune database a few days ago (my last e-mail to Tribune regarding the missing channel was only this past Monday).
Lets be fair and give DirecTV a little time to get updated databases from Tribune before we start camping on them.

[tkrandall]

perhaps may bad then. I thought I remembered it being there when I checked a month ago.

[fluffybear]

Give it another week or so and it should show up.

[tkrandall]

It has not appeared yet. Does anyone know where this process of getting the OTA sub channels added to the HR20-70s guide is breaking down? Is it on DirecTVs end? There are plenty of reports of other markets that are also missing OTA channels in the guide, despite zap2it showing them.

Apparently, I am deducing, it is not an automatic thing for the DirecTV guide to be populated so long as Tribune/zap2it has it, otherwise we would have the channels by now and be able to tune them.

Who/what department at DirecTV handles this and can they be contacted?

[fluffybear]

It has not appeared yet. Does anyone know where this process of getting the OTA sub channels added to the HR20-70s guide is breaking down? Is it on DirecTVs end? There are plenty of reports of other markets that are also missing OTA channels in the guide, despite zap2it showing them.

Apparently, I am deducing, it is not an automatic thing for the DirecTV guide to be populated so long as Tribune/zap2it has it, otherwise we would have the channels by now and be able to tune them.

Who/what department at DirecTV handles this and can they be contacted?

I contacted DirecTV a week ago about and received the scripted answer of how to set-up in order to receive OTA signals.
After I received this, I replied and tried to explain the problem again and received a note from another CSR stating I needed to go in and rescan for new channels.
Finally, I contacted a friend who put me in touch with someone who said they would send this over to the correct department and would get back to me within a few days. I received an e-mail on Monday informing me that I had not been forgotten and that they were trying to get the issue fixed. This morning, I received another e-mail from someone in the supposed department who handles such issues informing me that they are awaiting for a return phone call from both WATL and Tribune regarding the issue and would get back with me as soon as they have heard something.

My suggestion right now is start flooding DirecTV with e-mail regarding the missing channel. If you receive an unsatisfactory answer when they reply, REPLY to the message and point out the errors in the message and continue to ask for the issue to be fixed.
This is the first time I personally have encountered an issue like this. When WSB 2.2 and Universal Sports 11.3 were added, they appeared within 2 to 3 of it being added to the Tribune Database.

[tkrandall]

I agree. This is a "new" phenomenon.

I just wish with the HRxx/AM21 receivers that sub channels going live (such as CBS has done some years with March madness) in the receivers' guides was not dependent on these middleman steps. ATSC protocols completely support an ATSC tuner being aware on the fly of the commissioning and de-commissioning of subchannells. All of this is part of the data stream in the parent ATSC signal. My TV tuners have no problem with this.

[fluffybear]

I agree!

[tkrandall]

My suggestion right now is start flooding DirecTV with e-mail regarding the missing channel. If you receive an unsatisfactory answer when they reply, REPLY to the message and point out the errors in the message and continue to ask for the issue to be fixed.


What is a good place (email address or web page) to start that?

[fluffybear]

What is a good place (email address or web page) to start that?

DIRECTV Customer Service <directvcustomercare@directv.com>

[fluffybear]

I received a new reply yesterday from DirecTV regarding 36-2. In short the answer was, "we are working on adding new OTA channels to the AM21 but do not have a time frame as to when exactly this will happen."

[tkrandall]

I sort of got the same story when I go a call by fromDirecTV customer advocacy. She told me engineering understood this issue, had received many simliar calls, but did not know when they would be able to add more OTA channels. I made sure knew I meant via the antenna, not locals delivered via satellite. I'm not sure I understand what the difficulty is, but it appears they are having some.

[fluffybear]

Anyone else seeing 56-56 appearing on their sets?
This appears to be a promo channel for DISH network

see note below: channel now appears as 56-1

[fluffybear]

I noticed the other morning that DISH 56-1 is now appearing on my set and in the channel guide. 'Regular Programming' is all the guide shows but this channel is clearly a customer information channel for DISH network

[fluffybear]

correct guide data seems to still be an issue here in the Atlanta area.

11-3 - is now dark. Universal Sports moved to 36.3 a few weeks back but the guide continues to show listing for 11-3.

36-2 - Bounce Network has been on the air for several months but all the program guide shows is 'Regular Programming' for the listing.

36 - 3 will be moving to Antenna TV as of Christmas Eve and hopefully they will update the program guide as 'Regular Programming' just won't cut it..


Edit: The issue above only effects the AM21N. With the AM21, 36-2 and 36-3 do not exist..