HD Locals: Harrisburg, PA

Harrisburg/Lancaster, PA HD LILs - video issues lately -

Channels affected -

WHP 21
WHTM 27
WGAL 8
WPMT 43

I've been noticing much more artifacting and green blocky screens lately while watching our HD locals from D* lately. The past 2 few weeks, the condition has been much more frequent than normal and almost unwatchable at times. If need be, I can post screen shots to show the blocky green screens.

When I switch over to OTA, the signals are crystal clear. I go back to D* LIL, and the video still has problems. At one point last evening during the 6pm news on WGAL, it was unwatchable for 4 minutes with green and grey pixelation. The audio continues as normal. Saturday Night Live last week @ 11:30pm (WGAL) was unwatchable for the entire last half hour.

It doesn't seem to be related to anything related to my setup. No trees in the way, no rain/snow. Not quick enough to switch over and get a signal strength reading on 103s transponder 15. Possibly a tweak needed at the DT signal collection site (located at WHP-TV) for this area?

Others in this area running the HR2x (based upon feedback from our local "HarrisburgHDTV" Yahoo email group) are also having this problem. To date, I've received reports from quite a few other D* customers around here with the exact same problems on the various HD LILs provided by D*.

 

Count me in as another local user with problems. I have an HR20, no obstructions by my dish, only channel I am having problems with is WGAL. Watching Biggest Loser on Tuesday, had the same problem n3ntj is reporting -- audio fine, but green screen with extreme pixelization.

 

I'm having the same problems. I have the HR20-700. No obstructions for my dish. The only channel I'm having problems with is WGAL. I can switch to OTA and it is perfect. Many problems with the local news at 6:00 pm on 11/24.

 

Seeing same thing!

 

I have been having this problem with DTV for about a year. My local HD's constantly drop out and get so pixelated that I can't watch. I have had DTV at my house 4 times and 3 new receivers with no results. My dish is not obstructed and I'm ready to drop DTV, they just can't figure out the problem and fix it. One DTV tech actually told me that it was some software problem on DTVs end and that he couldn't fix it. Any input on why this happens or anyone who learns how to resolve it would be most appreciated. I like the DTV programming but I can't keep having my HD locals drop out at key moments (like now during the FLA St. FLA game) or last year during NHL playoffs...

Thanks

 

You problem is not related to the recent issues with HD locals. Create new thread asking for help in the DIRECTV forum.

 

I'm still having issues on WGAL. Watching Sunday Night Football is freezing.

 

I also noticed WGAL having some big issues last night during the football game. I also saw similar issues this morning on WHTM and WGAL. We now have many reports of recent issues with our D* provided HD Locals and we all seem to be reporting similar problems. I hope D* is working on what is going on and finding a possible fix for us. Paying for D* HD locals and then having to watch them OTA is not what I am paying for.

Please keep reporting issues you guys are having. The more reports we submit, the more D* may believe our issues are real and not something to simply be fixed with a reboot.

 

Out of no where I seem to have lost signal for Whp 21 digital on my over the air antenna. All the other locals on OTA are fine but not WHP. I get it on satellite but not on OTA. Makes me wonder if they dropped signal strength.
I live in Perry County and typically get good signal till just yesterday. Anybody else notice a problem?

 

No idea as I can't get WHP-DT OTA where I am located (near Hershey). I don't think WHP-DT's output power could have gone down any lower than it was...hi hi.

Incidentally, and don't take this the wrong way, but this thread is only for DirecTV provided HD Local Channels, not OTA channels. Hopefully the reports in this thread will somehow make it to D*'s eyes so they can fix the problem that many of us around here have been having lately with our D* provided HD Locals.

 

Actually, to me it is a Directv issue too. That is how I first noticed no signal. I use my Directv HR 20 to record locals and that is where 21.1 was first lost. I had begun recording on 21.1 because of pixelation issues that were occuring on the 21 Directv channel.
Anyway, it is something Directv needs to be aware too. Thanks.

 

We are still getting pixelated screens on our HD local channels as of last evening's newscasts. Sometimes the PQ is very good and other times, the local channels are unwatchable. I watch WGAL the most of any of our HD locals, so I don't know if the issue is as bad on the others (WHP, WHTM, WPMT) as WGAL.

 

Still getting pixelating screens at times on our HD local channels. Still unwatchable at times. My signal level on 103(s) transponder 15 is about 91. I believe that is where our HD locals come from. I don't have these problems on the national HD channels, just local channels. I hope D* is listening..

 

WHTM-27 is very bad tonight. It has all kinds of colors floating around in the picture. It is NOT pixelating and looks like either a station problem or a problem between the station and the point of reception by DirecTV.

 

The 11pm news on WGAL was unwatchable for 23 minutes. I recorded it to watch at 11:45pm, and only got through the 1st few minutes and then it was similar to how you describe WHTM. The fact that the similar problem was on more than one local channel would make me think of an issue either with how D* receives the local HD channels OTA or something else down the line.

D*, are you listening? These problems have been going on for over a month.

 

I actually think the problem with WHTM may have been WHTM's. This morning I saw WHTM on Lewistown Comcast. Although it was not an HD channel they had a picture that had "frozen" at some point prior to me seeing it and was still frozen at the time I saw it. I suspect they were usiing the HD version to feed their SD channel and completely lost signal.

 

The newscast was mostly unwatchable again last night on WGAL. I took some photos of the screen just to prove to D* our problems and have attached them for you all and hopefully D* to see. Why are we paying for our HD local channels if they look like this? I don't watch TV on local channels during the day, but often parts or the entire newscast looks like the attached photos on most days. Sometimes, it is only 3 or 4 minutes and sometimes it is 25 minutes. These problems started a little more than a month ago and are almost a daily occurance. My signal level on 103(s) transponder 15 is still approx. 90~93. I flipped around to some other non-local HD channels and all of those looked OK while our locals were all messed up.

Are these screen shots similar to what you others are seeing in the Harrisburg/Lancaster DMA regarding our local HD channels as provided by D*? The newscast is not HD but only 4:3 and you can see this garbage all over the screen (as shown in the photos).

D*, please fix this problem ASAP.

 

I contacted WGAL and emailed the screen shots and this is the response I got:

"DirecTV and Dish Net take our picture off the air and I can tell you that our off-air picture does not display the issues that you have describe.

Dish Net has been a problem for some time. DirecTV picks our HD signal up at WHP in Harrisburg (not a good location for our signal). We have offered to deliver the signal to them by fiber (as we do with our analog signal because they could not receive it well at that location) but so far they have not accepted.

DishNet picks us up in York from a site where you can clearly see our tower (it is less than five mile away from the tower). We have discussed these issues many times with them and it never get fixed.

We accept responsibility for the audio issue for the last few days but not the pixelation."

Looks like the ball is now in D*s court to investigate the problem and fix it.

Can anyone at D* please confirm that this problem is going to be fixed anytime soon?