Cleveland OH DMA poll 61.5 or 129

[Stephen J]

Just curious, how many in Cleveland have their HD from 129 compared to 61.5. I am dissiapointed that STO is on 129 only. FSN Pitt is on both.

[Bill R]

Same problem in the Cincinnati area. FoxCn HD will be on 129 and most of us get our HD from 61.5.

Quite frankly I see very few installations with a dish for 129. The local installers perfer to put up a second dish (for 61.5) because of the after-install complaints that they have had about the signal problems with 129.

[intrac]

Cleveland -- 61.5 only.

[Mr-Rick]

Just curious, how many in Cleveland have their HD from 129 compared to 61.5. I am dissiapointed that STO is on 129 only. FSN Pitt is on both.

More often than not, we find ourselves installing a second dish at 61.5 for HD rather than using a DISH 1000/1000.2 for the 129. Probably on a 3-1 basis. As you already know, the look angle for the 129 is low. The problem is there are many trees in the local Cleveland area and the only option is 61.5. (Bay Village, Westpark, are the most difficult to just name a couple of locations) If it's too close we won't take the chance and put a DISH 1000 up. When we leave the home, we want to make sure the system works perfect that day and for years to come. Some installers "thread the needle" and in a year the foliage grows and out goes the signal.

As for locals in Cleveland. If you are in Cuyahoga County, you have a 95% chance of getting your locals with a SIMPLE off air antenna in your attic or on your roof. Getting them off satellite when they become available wont be as clear as an off-air antenna (no signal processing, compression, etc. by DISH) AND it's perfect for when a storm comes through. You will always have TV.

For those of you outside of Cuyahoga County, an off-air antenna becomes trickier and I would wait for the HD locals to come in from satellite.

Just my two cents worth from this side of the counter...


Rick
Freedom Satellite Systems
216-267-5076

[intrac]

You are right that it is pretty low for North and East Ohio. Aiming has to be good and would probably work better with a larger dish. 61.5 is just easier to work with in this area.

I don't know why DISH decided to only put STO-HD on 129 when there are many subs on 61.5 for just the reasons you describe.

My gut feeling is that the Cleveland HD subs may never appear as originally indicated on the DISH web site. They were to appear last year.

It looks like the DISH solution is to provide OTA antennas and the RSNs in HD. I thought that they might use 118.7 for LIL HD, but nothing has happened recently.

[salemtubes]

An E* technician was here today to move my dish from 61.5° to 129°. The Indians in HD tonight!

[salemtubes]

For those of you outside of Cuyahoga County, an off-air antenna becomes trickier and I would wait for the HD locals to come in from satellite.


Rick, a major advantage of receiving HD locals over the air is superior picture quality. It wouldn't suprise me if E* and D* are broadcasting "HD lite" locals at 1440 X 1080 resolution. They also use too much compression, resulting in degraded picture quality.

With the proper setup, digital stations are not that hard to receive for most people. I live 55 miles from the Parma antenna farm and receive all of the Cleveland stations except 25, 19 and 3. WKYC-DT will move out of rf hell on rf 2 to rf 17 when the analog shutoff occurs in 2009. WOIO-DT will remain on rf 10 at its current low power. I'll need to install a Yagi antenna cut for channels 7-13 to receive it. WVIZ-DT is broadcasting with about 1000 Watts ERP and a short tower from their old Brookpark Road studio. I doubt anyone outside of a 5 mile radius can receive it. I receive the rest of the Cleveland digital stations.

My setup consists of a Channel Master 4228 UHF antenna, Channel Master 7777 mast mounted amplifier and a rotator.

[SHS]

I have no problem with 129° and I have had it for 2 years

[Mr-Rick]

Rick, a major advantage of receiving HD locals over the air is superior picture quality. It wouldn't suprise me if E* and D* are broadcasting "HD lite" locals at 1440 X 1080 resolution. They also use too much compression, resulting in degraded picture quality.

With the proper setup, digital stations are not that hard to receive for most people. I live 55 miles from the Parma antenna farm and receive all of the Cleveland stations except 25, 19 and 3. WKYC-DT will move out of rf hell on rf 2 to rf 17 when the analog shutoff occurs in 2009. WOIO-DT will remain on rf 10 at its current low power. I'll need to install a Yagi antenna cut for channels 7-13 to receive it. WVIZ-DT is broadcasting with about 1000 Watts ERP and a short tower from their old Brookpark Road studio. I doubt anyone outside of a 5 mile radius can receive it. I receive the rest of the Cleveland digital stations.

My setup consists of a Channel Master 4228 UHF antenna, Channel Master 7777 mast mounted amplifier and a rotator.


Yes, that is what I said. Forget the HD LIL, go for an antenna. Anyone in Cuyahoga county can get local HD with a simple antenna. For those outside it gets trickier. You get all the stations BUT 3, 19, and 25. That is not an option for 90% of my customers/prospects. No 3 and 19, means No Browns and a bunch of good shows... 25 is popular too.