VOOM in Portland, Oregon Area

[DarrellP]

You'll have to watch the Olympics on 8-1 from Voom. If you still have an active Dish account, they turned on 2 HD feeds and several SD feeds even though I am not subbed to any SD packages. Telemundo, bravo, MSNBC, CNBC and one other, I think.

 

[Walter L.]

Darrell,
Thanks for your response. So it looks like we don't qualify for the NBCHD direct feed (321). Anyway, do you know what's the difference between what 321 is showing vs. our local affiliate (8-1)? I can't tell because 8-1 has "no info" in PG.

 

[DarrellP]

I don't know Walter, if it's the same thing that Dish is broadcasting, it's exactly the same as KGW.

 

[gjohn10125]

rain fade in portland

I received the service in July and have had no problems. Yesterday was the first day with very light weather. My signal strength is in the 40's to 60's and I am losing my signal completely, even with clouds and no rain. I am wondering if anyone else is experiencing problems now, or in the past and am looking for help.

Thanks,

Greg J.

 

[Walter L.]

I've lost signal signal a coupe of times during the last few days since the rain started. As I reported before I have an 18" dish, the signal travels through trees and I use a diplexer for sat/cable. Until now I've been lucky, but now it seems that the magic is over
Anybody else besides Greg and me? Darrel?

 

[DarrellP]

I've lost signal signal a coupe of times during the last few days since the rain started. As I reported before I have an 18" dish, the signal travels through trees and I use a diplexer for sat/cable. Until now I've been lucky, but now it seems that the magic is over
Anybody else besides Greg and me? Darrel?

Walter, that was one hell of a rain, I don't think any dish would have survived that one. I've been staying at a hotel in Portland visiting with some out of town Brothers until this Sunday so I won't even have my system on for a few days.

 

[gjohn10125]

I received a service call wen. at 7 p.m. after waiting all day. They re-aimed the dish and tried to get the ota on my upstairs box. The signal comes much better, but I still lose picture easily at 72 and below. I am convinced there is something wrong with the box or installation. I talked to a helpful person at voom finallly and I have another service call this friday. Does anybody use signal boosters on their line, if so how many. They also said they would install a larger dish, but I don't think this is the problem. I'm just going to keep bugging them till it's fixed. Thankfully I have a patient wife.

Greg J.

 

[Walter L.]

Greg:
A signal loss when the quality drops to 72 is normal. What's you signal quality under clear skies (like today)? If it is less than high 90's, I would go for the larger dish. It may help to keep the signal over 72 under severe wheather.

 

[wbuffetta]

High 90's? Walter L. What Have You Been Smoking?

 

[Walter L.]

High 90's? Walter L. What Have You Been Smoking?

My signal strength gets up to 95 under clear skies, but I've seen reports from others with 97-98 (Darrel?). So I wasn't smoking when I wrote "high 90's"

 

[DarrellP]

Walter, I tend to run around 94-97 on a clear day with my 24" dish. Maybe we're smoking the same stuff?

 

[wbuffetta]

Sorry Guys 90-93 is Low 90's, 94-97 Mid 90's, 98+ High 90's

 

[Walter L.]

Anybody watched "Hawaii" last night on NBC HD (channel 8-1). It was horrible. They show it 16:9 on 4:3. In other words it had black bars on top, bottom, right and left. People in other areas are reporting that it was shown in HD.

 

[DarrellP]

KGW sucks big time. They screwed up Father of the Pride Tuesday night as well. The first 30 seconds was 4:3 then about 10 minutes in the picture went blank and they kicked in the 4:3 feed for the rest of the show, then Scrubs was 4:3.

 

[wbuffetta]

8-2 Had It In 16:9 , 8-1 Had It If 4:3

 

[Walter L.]

8-2 Had It In 16:9 , 8-1 Had It If 4:3

8-2 sucks even more. It is broadcasted 480i @ 4:3. What you're seen is your STB streching it 16:9 and upconverting it to 1080i.

 

[wbuffetta]

I Watched It On D*. I Didn't Watch It On V*.

 

[Walter L.]

wbuffetta: I'm assuming that you're talking about the NBC-HD direct feed, right?

Darrel: you're right. KGW sucks big time!!!

 

[wbuffetta]

I Wish We Could Get The HD Feeds From NBC, ABC, CBS Etc. Not Katu, Koin, Kgw Etc.
Our Local OTAs Are Geared To Be On Cable Or Sat. (D* & E*). They Don't Seem To Support Their OTAs SD, HD & Analog Very Well.
90% Of The Time When I Watch NBC, ABC Etc. I Watch Them On D*. Unless The Show Is HD My D* Spot Beam Locals Have A Better Picture.

 

[DarrellP]

I watched the HD Olympic feed from Dish since KGW was such a pixelated mess. I wish they would have turned off the SD channel for the Olympics. Why the digital channels even broadcast SD is beyond me. Lee Wood, our CBS engineer at KOIN tried to explain it once, but it was just a bag of hot air. He claimed people without stretch capability for HD would suffer burnin (he happens to have such a set). I argued back that they could watch the downconverted signal via S-Video then his set could control the stretch/zoom but he just wouldn't buy that argument.