HD Locals: Johnstown-Altoona, PA

[Doug Brott]

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

DMA: Johnstown-Altoona, PA
Established: 8/27/2008
Rank: 99

HD Locals available in this DMA

CBS - WTAJ (10)
NBC - WJAC (6)


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

[ryno2292]

Channel Affected - CBS - WTAJ (10)
Date - 9/24/2008 Weds.
Time - 9:00 PM - ?
Description of Issue - Best way I can describe the issue is that the picture and audio are stuttering. In other words the audio cuts out and the picture gets jumpy simultaneously. This isn't the first time I've noticed this but this was the worst I remember it being, making Criminal Minds almost unwatchable.

This is completely different than the "lip sync" issue most of us were experiencing when our locals first went HD. With that problem a couple taps of the instant replay button on the remote seemed to get the audio and video back in sync for me. With the issue I described above nothing seems to help.

[jaypopsu]

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

DMA: Johnstown-Altoona, PA
Established: 8/27/2008
Rank: 99

HD Locals available in this DMA

CBS - WTAJ (10)
NBC - WJAC (6)




This can be updated now, as ABC and FOX came online yesterday. :D

[paragon]

* Channel Affected - WWCP/FOX (8) and WATM/ABC (23)
* Date - 10/20/2008
* Time - 7:25 Pm
* Description of Issue - The new HD feeds of WWCP and WATM are not showing up when the HD filter is applied to the guide. There is also no HD indicator for programming.

[paragon]

* Channel Affected - WWCP/FOX (8) and WATM/ABC (23)
* Date - 10/25/2008 and 10/26/2008
* Time - During Penn State Game (ABC) and During Steelers Game (FOX)
* Description of Issue - Major pixelation and feed drop out issues. Noticed by several people.

[dmac-psu1]

* Channel Affected - WWCP/FOX (8) and WATM/ABC (23)
* Date - 10/25/2008 and 10/26/2008
* Time - During Penn State Game (ABC) and During Steelers Game (FOX)
* Description of Issue - Major pixelation and feed drop out issues. Noticed by several people.

I am still under the 90 day warranty so I have tech coming out on Thursday to check my system. I kept telling them this is not a problem with my system, but they keep claiming that it is a signal strength issue.

So we'll see Thursday.

I'll post what I find out Friday.

[mattbooty]

* Channel Affected - NBC 6
* Date - 10/27/2008
* Time - During Heroes
* Description of Issue - Moments of pixelation, shuttering picture, audio drop-outs that last about a second and then gone for a bit before coming back again, happened 8-10 times during Heroes.

[dmac-psu1]

So we'll see Thursday.

I'll post what I find out Friday.

Tech was there over the weekend and could not find any problems with my system??

Since early last week the HD locals have seemed OK

Anyone else in Altoona Johnstown market see an improvement?

[mattbooty]

As of this weekend I am still getting audio dropouts on all of the local HD stations. Mostly only 1 or 2 dropouts per show lasting about 3 seconds each, but that is enough to make watching difficult when you miss a key piece of dialog during the show.

I had a few friends that were waiting for HD locals to switch to directv, I've told them to hold off on switching until these issues are resolved. Hopefully that is soon.

[raw121]

# Channel Affected - CBS - WTAJ (10)
# Date - 11/16/2008
# Time - 2:30-4:10PM
# Description of Issue - Some audio drop outs and stuttering/jerking video

[FHSPSU67]

# Channel Affected - ABC-WATM-CH 23 and FOX-WWCP-CH 8
# Date - 11/30/2008 - till now and still out
# Time - From Sunday noon
# Description of Issue - Splash screen has been up for CH 8 and CH 23 stating that Directv knows about the problem, etc. CH 23 is "back", but with constant unwatchable breakups.

[sobonefnet]

# Channel Affected - FOX-WWCP-CH 8
# Date - 12/7/08
# Time - 2:00PM
# Description of Issue - Eagles/Giants game. Although the picture is not pixelizing, it is very 'stuttered'. The DD5.1 audio does not seem effected by this issue.

[FHSPSU67]

Motion artifacts, jitter makes the Broncos-Chargers game unwatchable tonight on Ch 6 WJAC. I have it also OTA and it is fine. I also noted it at the start of the Steelers-Browns game, but it was corrected after a couple minutes.

[Scott in FL]

Does anyone know why over the air reception of channel 32 (WTAJ CBS-10) out of Altoona is so difficult? I've been trying to help my daughter in Warrior's Mark for months, and that is the one channel that gives me trouble. Ch 24 out of Altoona is fine. Is there a co-channel problem? Thanks.

[FHSPSU67]

Enter your street address at this site and you might get some idea:
www.antennaweb.org

[Jish]

I have noticed that since I received the new HD receiver software download WJAC has momentary picture freezing while the audio continues unaffected on everything from local to NBC programming - WJAC HD OTA and HD Cable are just fine - I have tried resetting the receiver and nothing helps - anyone else?

[FHSPSU67]

WJAC-6 is almost unwatchable today for the Army All-American Bowl. Extremely jittery. Lucky I have OTA 6-1.

[DeanPSUpa]

I've noticed "jitteryness" as described above more and more lately on both WWCP Fox 8 and WJAC NBC 6 on my DirecTV feed...

Anyone else noticing this in the last few days?

[ExitWound]

Yes. FOX has some stuttering every minute or so, hitching in the video, but the audio doesn't suffer. Same was happening for me on NBC during the Penguins game on Saturday.

[DeanPSUpa]

things seem to have been better with WJAC and WCCP's HD feeds over D* the last couple of days, anyone else agree?

[Philmo]

things seem to have been better with WJAC and WCCP's HD feeds over D* the last couple of days, anyone else agree?
I agree. I had emailed WJAC's engineer over the weekend and mentioned the problem; I told him that there would be a number of disgruntled Steelers fans if this wasn't corrected by Sunday. He replied that he was aware of the problem and would forward my email to DirecTV. Then last night I tuned in and noticed that the problem was gone. What fast turnaround! ;)

As for Fox8, I haven't watched it lately.

I wonder if D* has plans to give us the CW in HD now that it's available on Comcast in our area. And when is WPSU in HD coming?

[ExitWound]

The hitching is still there for me. It's not as pronounced as it was, but it's there. During House and 24 last night (mon 1-26), it was present. There's a commercial for "G", whatever that is, where there are people, including Muhammad Ali, scrolling slowly to the left. The video hitching is extremely noticeable in situations like this.

[Philmo]

WJAC was really bad during prime time last night. The video was stuttering so badly that at times the audio was a full second behind the video. But during SNL it was good again. This better not be the case tomorrow for the Super Bowl.

[ExitWound]

WWCP Fox is terrible. Every 30 seconds or so, the picture goes blocky, and every 20 minutes, the sound cuts out completely (resetting my receiver to Stereo) then comes back on in DD.

[FHSPSU67]

All HD and SD locals (Ch 3,6,8,10,23) fromTP 6 of Spaceway 1 sat at 103 are out at approx 1115 this morning.
14 and 47 from another sat are OK.
[edit] They're back by 12:30

[FHSPSU67]

A request for all Johnstown-Altoona DMA viewers:
Take a look at Ch 3 WPSU. I'm now showing it as 1080i on ALL my HR's. Sure looks like HD to me and my wife, but we're seeing only a 4x3 program with vertical bars on both sides. I'm going to try a few sites to find out when I might find a (for sure) HD program available.

[edit] It sure looks to be real! I just got off the phone with the station engineer's assistant. He was unaware of it, but said that as of last evening Directv thought they had found a solution to problems they were having.

[ExitWound]

WWCP Fox 8 is still losing audio on both SD and HD feeds every 20-30 minutes. I have contacted FOX8 twice but with no response. It has been ongoing for months.

[FHSPSU67]

I've noticed for some time now that my HR20-700 ATSC tuner is unable to receive WWCP-DT OTA. Yesterday I found on WWCP's website that the 8.1 channel has been changed from Ch 29 (560-566MHz) to Ch 23 (524-530 MHZ). Apparently (my guess) the guide data being sent to Directv is still expecting the station to be on Ch 29.

Today I called WWCP and left a message.

Anyone have any other ideas? I was receiving it perfectly prior to this change.

[edit] I found out yesterday that the website was wrong and has been updated to show Ch 8.1 being transmitted on Ch 8 VHF.
Ergo, I need an indoor VHF/UHF antenna if I really want a backup for WWCP-HD Ch 8.

[paragon]

* Channel Affected - WPSU/PBS (3), WWCP/FOX (8), WATM/ABC (23)
* Date - Ongoing
* Time - Ongoing
* Description of Issue - None of the above stations have HD indicators in the guide for HD programming (same problem exists with the online guide).

[jmf243]

Chanel 10, CBS, is currently down and showing just a black screen. (HD feed).

[jmf243]

Chanel 6, WJAC NBC HD, has audio sync issues.

[FHSPSU67]

Chanel 10, CBS, is currently down and showing just a black screen. (HD feed).

Just an additional comment: WTAJ's webpage shows no indication of any outage.
Also as Paragon mentioned, the lack of HD info on Chs 3, 8, and 23 has continued since the inception of those Chs in HD. It sure would be nice to see this fixed.

[FHSPSU67]

Ch 10 is back as of 1:30 PM.

[FHSPSU67]

This morning the "Today" show is experiencing a sports blackout???? on Ch 6 NBC-Johnstown.

[Cyberclaw77]

Ch 6 is still blacked out. Anyone know what's going on???

[danpeters]

I just spoke to DirecTV about it. From what the CSR said, it's all of our local channels doing it, and rebooting the receiver would actually cause the blackout message to occur on all of our locals instead of just WJAC. She said engineering is aware of the problem and working on it. About the only thing we can do is wait, unfortunately.

Dan

[Cyberclaw77]

WJAC is working for me now. Anyone else?

[FHSPSU67]

Working here since 6:45 PM. WJAC website had a notice up saying that it was DIRECTV's equipment problem. No other locals were affected AFAIK.
http://www.wjactv.com/news/28891240/detail.html