Milwaukee HDTV User Group

Well, we're now 12 years into the DTV transition, thigs here have been very very quiet, except for a recent spam attack.   Is there anything missing here, new topics that could be added perhaps?   

I'm beginning to thing this forums time has past, but I'd like to keep things going.   I'm open to any ideas.

Hello All,

Sorry about the recent flood of spam.   The user has been banned, and their IP has been blocked, I'm going through now and deleting all the messages, there is a lot so it's taking awhile.

If you tried to access the site anytime in the past day, you likely encountered an error.  DreamHost, the company that hosts this site had a hardware failure on the machine that this site resides on.  It took them the better part of the last 24 hours to rebuild the machine ans restore it from backups.  The issue was resolved by around 4pm CT, but issues continued with my account.  When I realized there was still issues I alerted their support staff, who were finally able to get things back up and running. 

I do apologize for this, and will be better at making my own backups of my sites should issues like this happen again.

Once the re-pack is done on the 18th,  post any changes you've seen here.  Channels you used to have but lost, increases/decreases in signal strength etc

As I'm sure everyone has noticed, things have been very quiet here.  I suppose it's somewhat to be expected, since the DTV transition has come and gone.  Even though it is quiet, I have no intention of shutting things down. 

I do welcome any thoughts, ideas, suggestions, etc people may have however on how to liven things up though.  It would still be nice to see more activity here.

I'm debating removing the main website, the one you see by going to milwaukeehdtv.org, and having it just redirect to the forums.   My reasoning is two-fold.  For one, the look and feel of that page, versions the forum.  I don't know enough (well anything) about css to be able to modify that page to match the color scheme used by the forum software.   Secondly, the info on that page is way out of date.  While I haven't looked at the stats lately, I'd venture a guess now that the majority of actual uses (read traffic other than bots) goes straight to the forum, or at least goes to the front page and then clicks the forum link.   

I can archive stuff like the old chats somewhere here, or off the main forum page, and the actual content will still live on the server, I'll just put an redirect to go here.   

Thoughts? Comments?

Over the next day or two, the site will be transitioning to a new webhosting provider.  The actual change has already been made, however it may take up to 2 days for DNS changes to propagate.  If you notice anything odd, missing posts, etc after July 7th, let me know!

The forum software has been updated to the latest version of Simple Machines Forum which is 2.0.14.  Version 2.1 is coming soon which from the preview I've seen is very nice and clean.  That version is still in beta however.    If you notice any issues here since the update, let me know!

Looks like there will be some changes coming to the Milwaukee TV dial.  4 stations will be leaving the air, surrendering their license as part of the FCC spectrum repack.  Those leaving the air will be

• WMVT
• WCGV
• WMLW
• WVCY

Read more about it here: http://www.northpine.com/, or here:http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2017/db0413/DA-17-314A2.pdf

I decided it was time to do a little house cleaning.   I've removed accounts that have not logged in in the past 3 years.   This does not remove their posts, only the logins.    I think it's safe to say those who have not logged in for more than 3 years have probably moved on.    They of course are welcome to make new accounts if they wish.

Well, I decided to flip the switch to the new forum software.  We are now running on SMF (Simple Machines Forum) software.   It's a solid, and widely used open-source program.   I'll be adding and tweaking things over time.   All the posts have been moved over, as well as all accounts.   If you have any issues with using it, logging in, or anything else, let me know.   The old forum and database is still intact, so if we need to switch back, that can be easily done. 

Enjoy!

I've installed some possible new forum software, in a separate directory, I'm thinking of using that to replace the antiquated software that this is running on.   The new software is freeware, so there isn't a lot of bells and whistles, but it should suffice, and at it is maintained, and is more secure than this.   Before I make the switch, I'd like to get everyone's opinion.   The new forum has a copy of this sites database, so everything is there, however,  anything you post there will NOT be copied over here, it is mainly used for testing only.   Your login and password should work over there too.  

Check it out, it can be found here.

Oh, and Happy New Year!

Now that the move is complete, and things seem to be working, at least as well as they were before the move, I'll share my thoughts on what to do next.   For the short term, I'll be leaving things as is.   At some point in the not too distant future, I may try migrating from the current forum software to something else.   The current software is out-dated, and has it's quirks.  Updating to a newer version of vBulletin (the current forum software) is expensive, and it's success isn't guaranteed.   I'm also not a expert by any means in programming.   Don't worry, I will fully back everything up, and if the conversion doesn't go well, I can always roll things back to where we are now.

I welcome your thoughts, feel free to email me at bob@milwaukeehdtv.org

You know how it is when you move into a new place, a few things don't work, the hot water faucet comes out cold, the cold comes out hot, that one light switch that no one knows what it does, so is the same in server moves.  All the files got moved over smoothly, domain transfer went through OK, but due to an error on the web hosting end,  we were down for a little over a day.  

We are back up now, on a new server and staying around for a long time to come!

I'm pleased to announce that this site will continue to live on, soon in a new home.   I am working on migrating the site to a new host, and will be taking over running the site.   Things for now will go pretty much unchanged at least in the short term.  

Note the site may be inaccessible at times over the next few days as it's transferred from the old to the new server.

Time Warner Cable has reached a deal in their carriage dispute with CBS networks.

See story here.  Maybe now with that over, they can finally end their dispute with JBC?

While this isn't related to any Milwaukee tv station, I thought I'd share this since it relates to a Milwaukee based company:

Journal Broadcast Group entered into an agreement to buy Nashville's Newschannel 5 (WTVF) from Landmark Media

Full Stoy here

It'll be interesting (for me at least)  to see what, if any changes they make..

Going off the debate in the thread on Ch.12's new set, I started thinking...  Do local news shows in HD matter?  Do local stations NEED to broadcast news in HD, or is it just another buzz word like "SuperMega Doppler 5000xl w/PowerZoom!"?

Personally, if the station puts out a crappy product, it'll be just as crappy in HD or SD.  Being in HD itself, I don't think will add any real value to a newscast, and at least in my opinion, is more of just a gimmick>  So, what say you?

Just saw this on Timmy C's blog

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/entertainment/42154672.html

RIP Dick, my condolences to his family

According to tomorrows Tim Cuprisin Article WVTV, Ch. 18 intends to shut off its analog signal on 2/17