58-3 Wmlw2???

[Drummerboy]

I just did a scan this morning and found that 58 is broadcasting a second WMLW.  Now there is 58-1,58-2, and 58-3.  Anyone know what the story is with this?

[GBK]

I have no idea but seems completely useless.  taking more bandwidth away from the HD channel.

[Joseph S]

The football game barely hits 14Mbps today.

[Joseph S]

They've had Color Bars from NYC for about 10 minutes now.

[larsob]

I heard a year or so ago WYTU 63 Telemundo would be added.

[Joseph S]

Would be added? It wasn't until about a year ago that it was finally ditched.

This is the quality that bandwidth drain produced during football games:

[John L]

They used to air the Spanish station from ch. 63.  I'd rather see that back on as opposed to re-airing WMLW on 58-3 along with 58-2.  I mean one channel is enough, don't need 2.  

Notice the same thing with 55-1 and 55-2 are both the same.  Either knock on channel off to help increase bandwidth or air something else, but not 2 channels the same.  I guess since they don't do HD it doesn't matter.

-John L.

[Mark Strube]

The part that really bugs me... CBS's 19mbps stream is pretty much the only network HD feed that can be put in the "reference quality" category... and we're missing it. At least they finally added 5.1.

[Joseph S]

This happened Thursday apparently.

All my stuff from Wed and earlier uses 15-16Mbps, now nothing is hitting 14. This is ridiculous. 1080i needs that 19Mbps. Take a look at the complaints about the NBC football games in locales where they get just the weather channel. Dramatically different stories in terms of quality. Same is true comparing ND games on NBC to CBS games. Any action on CBS results in pixelation. I don't see that on NBC or HDNET.

[JimHall]

As far as 58.3 is concerned, our engineering department is in the process of testing a new encoder for our multicast stream comparing the SD quality between 58.2 & 58.3 with the same bit rate.

Thank you for the above comments we are always interested in the consumer's viewpoints.

[Joseph S]

How about a comparison with both using 0.1Mbps?

Honestly, I don't think anybody really cares how WMLW looks on 58.2. They just want 58.1 at the highest bit rate possible. Just use the new encoder and don't expect further complaints.

[waterhead]

I care how WMLW looks on 58.2!

The analog signal is so weak, I can't get a watchable signal out here in the 'burbs. They do have some programming that people want to watch. Badger football (when not on cable) and basketball, also I think they show Marquette basketball too.

Also, I enjoy Svengoolie on Saturday evenings. It's a bit cheesey, but thats the best part.

Ideally, they should have their own DTV frequency. That way true HDTV can be enjoyed in all it's glory.

[Mark Strube]

How about a comparison with both using 0.1Mbps?

Honestly, I don't think anybody really cares how WMLW looks on 58.2. They just want 58.1 at the highest bit rate possible. Just use the new encoder and don't expect further complaints.

Agreed. Except for the rare case where someone really wants to watch some niche programming on WMLW, and isn't close enough (like the case with Waterhead), I think most people who have gone thru the trouble of getting an OTA receiver want their HD in the best possible quality!! They didn't get it to watch something they can get in the same quality on analog anyways. One can always watch that channel on TWC, satellite, or analog ota. There's really no need, in my opinion, to strip off CBS's great quality for a channel that's bringing in such a small market.

[Joseph S]

Well, it's gone now. Boy, does that WMLW look great.  Thanks for playing the Pepsi Challenge quickly.