WGN

[JohnRacine]

Hats off to WGN in Chicago which began HD broadcasting with their presentationi of the Cubs/White Sox game on Sunday, 6/16.  The picture/sound was magnificant.  The announcers made several references to the fact that the game was in HD throughout so a lot of viewers probably had their interest perked by that. And, WGN had a HD camera outside of the entrance to Wrigley Field focused on the Marquee which said, "Today's Game Transmitted in High Definition".  They cut to this camera several times during the first inning.  So, even the fans who were walking in got a dose of HD advertising.  I wonder if this will be a one time shot or if many future games will be also be HD.

Last night's presentation of "Toy Story" on ABC in HD was the best OTA program I've seen to date.  It's sure nice to see more and more HD programming coming our way.

[Matt Heebner]

Just makes me want it here in Milwaukee that much worse. Thats very cool you can receive OTA from Chicago. I wish our ABC affiliate would get their act together.

Matt

[uplinkguy]

Unfortunately, I'm guessing there won't be too many more HD games at Wrigley field for awhile.

Luckily the HDNet truck was available for the game coming from Milwaukee the night before.

Wrigley field has a few things going against it for more HD games.
-Small parking area for tv trucks.
-Little room for the extra cameras inside the ballpark.
-It has no fiber infrastructure to the camera positions.

Having done satellite uplinks there for ESPN liveshots, I can appreciate the extra work that must have been taken to accomplish the broadcast.

Comisky, on the other hand, was wired by NHK of Japan for their HD production truck.  Hopefully they will allow outside users to borrow their lines.

Unfortunately, I don't see any team around here in HD on a regular basis until full-size HD trucks become the norm. At 8 million+ each the transition will be slow.  There are only about 10 in the states right now.  Most are in NY, LA or in the Northwest.

Eventually it will come....
Andy

[gparris]

 

Originally posted by JohnRacine:
Hats off to WGN in Chicago which began HD broadcasting with their presentationi of the Cubs/White Sox game on Sunday, 6/16.  The picture/sound was magnificant.  The announcers made several references to the fact that the game was in HD throughout so a lot of viewers probably had their interest perked by that. And, WGN had a HD camera outside of the entrance to Wrigley Field focused on the Marquee which said, "Today's Game Transmitted in High Definition".  They cut to this camera several times during the first inning.  So, even the fans who were walking in got a dose of HD advertising.  I wonder if this will be a one time shot or if many future games will be also be HD.

Last night's presentation of "Toy Story" on ABC in HD was the best OTA program I've seen to date.  It's sure nice to see more and more HD programming coming our way.

You got ABC in HD from Chicago? I live in Kenosha and would appreciate your input on what antenna and OTA box you use to do it as TWC is terrible down here and I use DIRECTV for everything with my reception.

[torgo]

"TWC is terrible down here"

I second that emotion!

[JohnRacine]

Yes, I receive excellent HD programming here on the south side of Racine.  I'm using an old, inexpensive Radio Shack Yagi Style UHF antenna mounted about 5' above my roof on a rotor.  I have an old, cheap Radio Shack amp in the house that the coax is plugged into - don't know if I really need that amp or not.  I have a Toshiba DST3000 and I receive 5-1 (NBC), 7-1 (ABC), 9-1 (WGN), 11-1 (PBS), and 32-1 (FOX).  Only 32-1 breaks up at times, the rest are always registering around 95-100 on my meter.  I've learned that their transmitter must be on the far west side because if I turn my antenna due south, I can get 32-1 to come in about half the time.  The rest of the transmitters must be on the Sears or Hancock buildings.  On some evenings, I receive two digital channels from South Bend, Indiana and I have also received 2-1 WBAY from Green Bay a couple of times.  I'm sure that has something to do with the atmosphere.  The Chicago stations come in perfectly, all the time, so I have no need for Cable.  I do have 4dtv with the HDD200 which produces perfect HD on my Toshiba HD set.  Channels 58-1 and 4-1 come in just fine from Milwaukee when I swing my antenna around and point it north.  I've never seen 2-1 from Chicago nor 6-1 from Milwuakee but it doesn't matter.  The only problem with the Toshiba unit is this: Every time I swing the antenna around, I have to re-scan in the channels..there's no way to manually enter them, you must use the scan feature.  I called Toshiba for help and they said that's the way it is.  So, I suppose I'll dump my rotor and just put up a second UHF antenna - one pointed at Milwaukee and one at Chicago.  Then I'll have to find a signal combiner to feed both coax's into the STB.  I  hope this is the info you were looking for and I hope you can find a way to receive Chicago stations as there is a lot of HD programming and it looks excellent.

[Matt Heebner]

Hearing that I regret not putting up a good antenna when I was having my roof done. I should have done it, I'll bet I am able to get Chicago stations. Oh well, live and learn.

Matt