Milwaukee HDTV User Group

After the holidays, we have decided to upgrade our whole living room, including a new TV.  I have been considering the Sharp Model: LC70LE732U LED LCD TV.  I'm interested in any opinions you may have regarding Sharp TV's, where to buy it, whether I should consider 3D, Service problems, tips, or anything else I ought to know.

I am not interested in a DLP, or plasma TV.

Nothing is wrong with my 60" Hitachi RP LCD, and it will be available after we upgrade.

With that, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

This is unbelievable.  Dick Golembiewski, who recently published the "Milwaukee TV, the Analog Years" book, had a heart attack and died shoveling snow on Sunday!  

Here's a Journal/Sentinel write up:

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

I'm glad I was able to purchase his book and will cherish his signature on the inside cover.

Dick's last post on here was just last Friday.

Nels....

Hi All,

I just received this from a distant SBE chapter:

01/15/09 Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WVA) has introduced the bill to delay
the DTV transition. The new date would be June 12, three months beyond the
current Feb. 17 date of transitioning full power TV stations from analog to
digital. Rockefeller has been working on the bill for several days , with a
June deadline in the 3-4 month time frame that had been expected.

After all the hoopla, and months and months of preparing us for the loooong awaited changeover, I think this is ridiculous!  The shutdown date has been bandied about for years.  What good will this silly delay cause?  Let's get on with it.

Perhaps it calls for a letter campaign to our Senators, and Congressmen.

Nels....

I'm very pleased with the August First upgrade in the number of HD channels from the Dish Network!  HBO has several offerings now in HD, instead of just one, and there are HD PPV movies, and Movies on Demand!

Picture quality seems quite good.  I guess their new satellite is working!

Nels....

Part of my *E* signals have gone away.  I troubleshot the system, and determined the LNB for the 119 degree satellite has quit.  Of course this wipes out any of the usual feeds that I normally watch.

This is an older system, with the old Superdish, and the CSR indicated there would be a fee for a service call, and a wait of up to two weeks.

I was offered a maintenance plan for $5.99 per month.

My questions are:
With the *D* competition, or (heaven forbid) TWC, has anyone been successful in negotiating with *E*?

Is the replacement of the old 811 HD receiver with an upgrade 4DTV worthwhile?  Does it receive local channels over the air?

I, long ago, canceled  satellite HD channels.  Is the *E* HD fee negotiable?

Do I need a different dish for *E* HD?  Are HD signals elsewhere than 121 degrees?

Nels....

For the last week, the Dish remote causes an error signal #908 if the remote is selected to control the TV, and I'm watching the Dish feed.

I have the Ch. 3 output routed throughout the house, and if switch the remote to control the TV I'm watching, every other set viewing the Dish feed shows this annoying box, floating around like a screen saver.

Does anyone else consider this a problem?  I've contacted Dish, and they claim nothing can be done.  This didn't happen for the first four years that I've had Dish.

Perhaps I need to go back to D*, and enjoy all those HD signals anyhow.

Nels....

I have a problem with my Dish 811 HD receiver and Ch. 58's digital feeds.  I have re-scanned for the CBS channel several times, and it doesn't show up on the list!  The native channel is showing up as 46-1 and 46-2.  Those channels do not show up on the normal list.

If I enter 046-2, I receive the CBS programming with good signals, but I receive the title for their other channel, Ch. 41.  If I enter 058-1, the receiver defaults to Ch. 58 analog.  The next channel up is Dish Ch. 100.

My question is, is this a Ch. 58 problem, or a problem with my 811 receiver?  My other STB still receives Ch. 58-1 where it ought to be, but I haven't re-scanned it recently.

Ch. 6 has plans to put their HD on with a million Watts ERP  according to a conversation I had today with one of the staff engineers.  There has been some re-inforcing done on their tower, and he thinks the antenna will be at about 900 ft.  It is projected for August, but he doubted it would all come together until Fall.

However, Fox will be sending only 720P programing, and Ch. 6 will continue to only switch network feeds through.  There are no plans now to do local HD.  I guess they don't take HD very seriously.

Nels....

Promos on TJ4 showed Vegas and Medium would be presented in HD.  Vegas was, but Medium was pilared and letterboxed, at least on my E* 811 receiver.  Does anyone care?

Nels....

I was skeptical that it would work well, but I watched the Super Bowl on Fox 6's feed (OTA) without ANY pixelation an it was very enjoyable.  I don't know if it was just good fortune, or if Fox 6 managed to do something.  I hope others were as fortunate.

Nels....

On DVR playback, the audio/video usually is sync'd when I start it.  After some shuttling to ace the commercials, the A/V gets out of sync.  

Does anyone have a suggestion on getting the sync back in?

I notice a large level difference when going between OTA on my Hitachi TV, and the E* 811, as well as from the DVR 522.  Do others notice this level difference, or is it the Hitachi TV?

Does anyone have a suggestion on how to easily boost the audio on the audio inputs?

Nels....

My DVR 522 seems to shut down after a period of unuse.  I then get the D* logo floating around like a screen saver.  Can anyone tell me why I need a screen saver on a receiver like that?  Is there a work around to keep this from happening?  The two channels seem to be separate in this function, but both do it.

Nels....

I have the D* 811 HD receiver, along with the 522 DVR.  The 811 seems to hang up frequently, and while I get the channel listings, I don't get a picture, even on local OTA channels.  My solution is to unplug the receiver, and wait a few minutes.  Then, of course it needs to acquire, get the guide, etc.

Are others having this problem, or should I be on D*'s back on this?

Nels....