Packers in Widescreen

[Tom Snyder]

Not that it matters to most of us, but tomorow's (11/10) Packer/Detroit game will be broadcast in Faux Enhanced Definiton Widescreen.
http://www.fox6milwaukee.com/ click on the contact 6 icon, then click on the e-mail COntact 6 icon, and you'll get a handy little form that sends your comments to several departments at 6, including programming, and even Tom Pippins.

I know they won't care if you send them your comments, but it will make you feel good...



[This message has been edited by Tom Snyder (edited 11-09-2002).]

[tschinner]

I emailed two days ago about this. No big surprise - No reply.

[Scott Sippel]

I doubt we will have any more luck with Fox 47 WMSN-DT. I have yet to see them broadcast widescreen and they still have not fixed the audio stream yet.

[Kevin Arnold]

I've sent 2 emails to engineering@fox47.com with no reply. On their website they announce their DTV stream is live but apparently are clueless about no audio. Tom, where is the widescreen info? Good to know for future lookup. I will see the game in true HD, i.e. in person. I need to know for future lookups though.

[Tom Snyder]

An engineer for Fox posted it at AVS.

[StarvingForHDTV]

I emailed to Programming:

"I heard through the grapevine (at www.milwaukeehdtv.org (http://www.milwaukeehdtv.org) ) that Sunday's Packer game is going to be in Fox Widescreen on Fox-DT (channel 6.1) That is wonderful news! Is there a reason why you stretch all of your other content to fill a 16:9 screen on your digital station? It makes it very difficult to tell if the show I'm watching is native Fox Widescreen or regular 4:3 programming. Also, the picture quality on your Fox-DT station seems to be low quality in comparison to other Milwaukee DTV stations. Are you positive you are sending the digital signal properly from the Fox network?

Thanks,

Jim"

I doubt if there will be a reply, but if there is, I will pass it along. I wonder if there will be better picture quality with Faux Widescreen vs. regular Faux on 6.1 for the game. So far I haven't noticed much if any difference with shows like 24 etc.

Thanks for the tip,

Starving

[Gregg Lengling]

I had sent an email 2 weeks ago to the Head Engineer at Fox 6 asking when the transmitter will be moved to the main tower so the rest of us can view 6. Now that 34 and 28 are on 24/7/365 I can no longer receive 33. He said he would forward my email to their transmitter chief for a reply. Well I'm still waiting, it would be nice to have a usable signal and maybe even their enhanced coverage for the Packers games, but then I guess this is all "Experimental".


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
HiDTV Pro 2 computer reciever card
glengling@ameritech.net

[StarvingForHDTV]

Yep, just as experimental as:

Microwave Ovens
Wireless Phones
The Internet
Personal Computers
DVD's
Airbags
etc. etc.

Starving

[StarvingForHDTV]

Actually I'm kind of thinking that this whole Internet thing, such an experimental fad, will blow over soon. I mean who can make money off of this anyway?

Right after the Internet fad ends, I'm sure HDTV will follow suit...

Starving

[Tom Snyder]

The game is 16:9 on WFLD in Chicago. Anyone getting it here in Milwaukee?

And Detroit, and Dallas, and Sacramento...

[This message has been edited by Tom Snyder (edited 11-10-2002).]

[ReesR]

yes, I am watching it on 32-1 WFLD-DT. It's certainly not as good as HD but noticeably better than regular analog due to a lack of ghosts etc.

Rees

[StarvingForHDTV]

I watched it on Faux 6.1 out of Milwaukee. I don't think it was Faux Widescreen. It's hard to tell since everything is stretched anyway. I did check analog Faux 6 and there were no black bars on the top or bottom of the screen there. Probably just Milwaukee Faux screwing up once again. I watched the beginning of the broadcast carefully for the "Faux Widescreen Enhanced Definition" graphic, but didn't see that either.

Same old flickering graphics. Is it possible that Faux 6.1 is somehow sending out the signal with a low refresh rate? Why else would their graphics vibrate vs. all of the other local DT station's graphics? What a disgrace...

Starving

Great game though!

[jeffbyk]

I watched it today from the Chicago broadcast and I would agree with Rees. I flipped back and forth from the digital broadcast to the cable feed and the difference in clarity was enormous.

But, in comparison to the HD college games on Saturday, it definitely falls short of the mark. Fox will believe that they are offering a far superior product to us until CBS, ABC and ESPN show all of their games in HD. It will then be obvious to them that they took the wrong path.

[Kevin Arnold]

While at the Packer game today I got a chance to speak with one of the Fox cameramen. He told me they just got their cameras upgraded this week to do widescreen and that it was not complete yet. Next week the one widescreen game he knew of was the 3 pm San Diego/ 49ers game.

[jeffbyk]

Man! I would have bet my life that I was watching the Packers yesterday in widescreen format. One reason is that WFLD normally shows their NFL games in the normal aspect ratio with the black bars on the sides. For this game, it was in 16:9 format. The commercials reverted back to 4:3.

The other notable difference was that there was no obvious stretching like there is when I watch Monday Night Football from Chicago's ABC, which is stretched to 16:9. The thread at AVS also confirm that it was broadcast in widescreen. If the cameraman you talked to was implying that yesterday's game was not broadcast in widescreen, he was wrong.

Here is the thread at AVS: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=187825&perpage=20&pagenumber=1

[ReesR]

It sure looked widescreen to me when I was watching it out of Chi town.

[Mike Sheahan]

I finally got to see the Fox Widescreen today!

To be honest, it looked pretty damn good. Now Faux 6 just needs to boost the signal a bit. The best I could muster was 65%, and I was amazed at that.

They have been very hit and miss since WISN went online. I wasn't even going to bother checking to see if I could get them today, but I was boerd with the lackluster performance on the field.

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Mits 65819
Hughes E86
My HT Page (http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/mike_sheahan/Home_Theater.htm)

[Blitzman]

I live in West Allis on about 99th and National and I receive every local HD broadcast except 6-1. My signal strength for all others is 90-100%, but then I turn on 6-1 and I get 2% signal strength.

Tell me this, is it worth getting on my roof and trying to move my rooftop antenna a little bit to try to get 6-1? I know 6-1 is not true HD, but anything has got to be better than the terrible picture I get on OTA channel 6 for the Packers. Please Help, I want to see GB vs TB in some sort of digital quality!!

[Tom Snyder]

I feel your pain! Got some people coming over for the game this afternoon, and we'll have to watch crappy analog.

I get a 23% with my indoor radio shack bowtie antenna. I tried putting it on an outdoor mast the other day to see if I could boost it all,and it didn't help...

According to http://www.antennaweb.org, you would need a medium range directional anetnna to pick up the signal, but it does show potetnail reception. The map also shows a different angle for 6 digital from your location than the other channels.

Heck.. it's worth a try...

[ReesR]

Well hiss boo.

Because the Bears went into overtime they didn't switch to the Packers at Fox Chicago. Now I have to watch them on degenerate analog out of Milwaukee. They just don't have their priorties right in Chicagoland. http://www.milwaukeehdtv.org/ubb/smile.gif

Rees

[Mike Sheahan]

I couldn't pull in 6-1 this Sunday, it just kept freezing and sputtering.

I guess last week was a fluke.

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Mits 65819
Hughes E86
My HT Page (http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/mike_sheahan/Home_Theater.htm)

[Tom Sielicki]

I was receiving them fine Sunday during the Packer-Bucs game but they had many technical problems half way through the first quarter. You need a good directional antenna and you have to aim to perfection (I have a high gain yagi) and you will get a good picture. In fact I lose CBS digital when it is pointed at them. I have to use two antennas. (one for Fox 6 and one for the other channels) It is worth it for their widescreen material especially the last two packer games. I cannot watch the analog on a 65" HDTV. It looks bad. If you are more than 8 miles away then it is probably hopeless. Sounds like next summer before any improvement.

[This message has been edited by Tom Sielicki (edited 11-25-2002).]

[RRP]

Was watching my first DTV Fox NFL game this past Sunday (Bucs vs Falcons) and was disappointed in the PQ. Not much better, if at all, then Direct TV. Was FOX passing through their Enhanced Widescreen? I hope not because watching Packer games on a big screen would become unbearable otherwise.

Rich