WISN announces mid October HDTV

[ReesR]

Just heard it on the 5pm newscast on WISN. They will be on air, they said, in mid October.

Best news all day.



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Rees Roberts
Racine, WI
reesr@wi.net

HDTV Receiver: Sony KD-34XBR2
Bi-directional Yagi Antenna at 30 feet

[Gregg Lengling]

Here's the release on their website.

WISN-TV Launches HDTV In October

POSTED: 3:45 p.m. CDT September 4, 2002

MILWAUKEE -- WISN-TV (Channel 12) announced today that it will offer high definition programming by mid-October. The station will be transmitting a digital signal on WISN-DT34, which is actually Channel 34 on the UHF band.

"As a growing number of viewers in southeast Wisconsin are able to receive a digital signal, we are thrilled to begin offering high definition programming this fall," says Frank Biancuzzo, president and general manager at WISN-TV.

During the 2002-20003 season, ABC will offer more than 13 hours of high definition programming each week. That includes popular shows like "NYPD Blue," "The Wonderful World of Disney," and "The Practice," as well as new programs such as "8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter," "MDs," and "Push, Nevada."

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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net

[ReesR]

Here is the data:
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=WISN

Looks like they will be running 570kw under their Special Temporary Authority (STA). and their antenna height is listed at 267.7 meters Height Above Average Terrain (HAAT) which translates to 878.28 feet.



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Rees Roberts
Racine, WI
reesr@wi.net

HDTV Receiver: Sony KD-34XBR2
Bi-directional Yagi Antenna at 30 feet

[Gregg Lengling]

Well actually Rees that doesn't mean that is how the antenna is. They have to take radial measurements from the antenna site out so many miles and come up with the "Average Height Above Terrain". So this can mean the antenna is higher or lower, actually because there antenna site is on low ground (almost lake level) the actual antenna height is much higher. Remember the lake is around 580 feet AMSL (above mean sea level) and the ridge out in Brookfield is over 1000 feet.

If you look at the actual technical parameters on the total license you should find the structure height and antenna height also measured in meters AGL (above ground level).


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net

[ReesR]

Good point. I just peeked at the info again and it does not show anything for AGL data for the STA. It's blank. But the above ground level height level stated for the Full Service license is 365 meters or 1197.5 feet.

Thanks for noticing.

[Gregg Lengling]

I notice things like that because in my business every time I have to do a filing for a license with the FCC I'm required to submit the following:
Ground level of Structure
Height above ground level on structure
FCC Tower ID #
Tower Owner
Height Above Average Terrain
Actual Transmitter output power
Effective Radiated Power
Omni-directional or patterned with lobe definitions.
The actual filing is all done on the internet nowadays, but it's about 12 pages of information and this is just for a 2-way radio dispatch license.....broadcast is even greater. Before the online filing the forms with instructions were 28 pages and the Fed's had to have an impact statement about the amount of time it would take to do the form and it said 4.5 hours......
Gee isn't bureaucracy great.


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net

[Greg Oman]

"Gee isn't bureaucracy great"??

No, it sucks. What we need for HDTV here is a dictatorship. And a few beheadings...

Greg O.

[borghe]

Just in case no one else is doing this (yeah right), I still haven't seen anything on 34 yet.

[Tom Snyder]

I've been the head of two radio organuzations that applied for new FM broadcast Licenses (and one AM that applied for an increase in power)... You can't imagine the paperwork... or the engineering and legal fees.

Makes you wonder what it has cost WISN/Hearst already to apply for the extensions alone, much less the legal fees to fight their tower battle with the city. All to save the money it would have cost them had they just put their digital antenna on the existing digital tower.

I'd be curious to see the net financial outcome when it's all said and done.

[borghe]

Here's the thing. I can sort of sympathize with channel 12. Once I stepped back from my anger and looked at what they were saying. In the long run, even after their legal fees, it will almost always be cheaper to own than to lease. Furthermore, they are looking at the probability of the leased space not being as good as the owned space. Basically it is a bad investment. I can understand that. And it isn't just them saying this. I believe it was WMVS engineers that were agreeing with 12 that a spot on 58 (I think) or 10's tower wouldn't be as good as on their own.

I have posted this previously but I will reiterate. It doesn't seem to me (despite uninformed earlier posts) that WISN was ever against the DTV rollout. They just wanted it on their own tower at a height to reach the most possible viewers. Is there a chance that they were deliberately doing this to delay things? Maybe, but haven't they had everything ready to go for a while, just waiting for the approval of the exetnsion? This is what I had thought at least. It's not like WVTV and WCGV who are trying to delay things and don't even have the friggin' hardware yet.

[neomaxi]

Will this be in 720p or 1080i?????????

[Gregg Lengling]

ABC uses 720p so expect that when they actually start showing HD programs on WISN


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net

[neomaxi]

I just bought an HDTV and noticed it said it does not support 720p, and that it downgrades it to 480p. Does anyone else have this and is their a way to add support to a TV for 720p???? I have a Sony 57inch HDTV.

[Gregg Lengling]

Whoa Nelly when I went shopping last year I didn't run across any sets that didn't support 720i. What model number is your monitor???
Sony's KDP-57XBR2 57-inch High Definition PJTV. This one doesn't mention 720p.
Sony’s New KP-57WV600 57-inch Hi-Scan 1080i® 16:9 Projection TV This one says it has an input for 720p.
Either of these yours???


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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net

[This message has been edited by lummox (edited 09-13-2002).]

[tschinner]

I have a Mitsubishie 65869 with integrated tuner. It does not support 720p but I have watched WLS out of Chicago and WBAY out of Green Bay (both ABC)and the picture looks good to me. I don't know if it's converting to 420p or 1080i.

The only monitors I have seen that support 720p are the flat panel displays.

[neomaxi]

Mine is the Sony KP-57WS500.
It says right in the instruction booklet.
"This projection TV is not capable of displaying a native 720p format signal. When a 720p format signal is received, it is converted into a 480p format signal"

Do you guys think I should take it back. I bought it from Best buy on Tuesday. I just don't want channels to start broadcasting in 720p and me being able to see only 480p.
Any suggestions? Should I take this back???

Thanks!!

[Gregg Lengling]

I'd take it back, I wouldn't buy anything that can't support the approx. 15 different ATSC 8VSB standards. I was very vehement when I bought mine to make sure it would do whatever was possible. Think about it, if it was a 200 dollar tv fine but you spent a lot of money on it and then they should expect you to not be able to view a 720i, but instead shift it down to 480p. I can tell you there is a lot of difference. Just watch channel 58 or HDNET and they watch a DVD (which is 480p) and you'll notice a big diff.



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Gregg R. Lengling
RCA P61310 61" 16x9
glengling@ameritech.net

[borghe]

Mits integrated tuners will only convert 480i to 480p. Everything else will get converted to 1080i. This is actually how most tuners work. Most TVs won't accept anything besides 480i, 480p, 1080i, and if they do accept anything else, it will be 720p which is only available on a few sets. It's usually not up to the monitor to support all 18 ATSC standards. It's just a display device. It's the tuner that receives the ATSC signal that has to know what to do with all of the formats. 1080i seems to be the standard format to upconvert to.