Well, I watch on DirecTV, and I gotta tell ya, even though the satellite signal is, in and of itself, clear per se, the quality of the picture which is being generated, I would assume, at the source, has sucked all year. I don't remember it being this bad last year. But you're right - the colors are flat, it looks dimly lit, and it even seems that the resolution is somehow lower than on other broadcasts, such as TNT's ... I definitely don't remember these problems with channel 20, or even with channel 39.. So I am wondering what is up with this situation? Who exactly provides the equipment for the actual on-site camera-work, and broadcast from the games? Since it looks the same to me, whether we are at home or on the road, I would assume the fault lies not with the cameras or the lighting within the arenas, but my guess would be that it has something to do with the equipment back at channel 51 which receives the signal and then passes it on over the air, or uplinks to the satellite systems.. Tim, any input on this issue?
I never have a problem with it on cable. Last night was a nightmare but that looked much more like a satellite feed issue than a problem with 51.
I have TW digital cable, and I have an HDTV box provided by them. Your cable signal has to be pretty much pristine in order for the HDTV to work properly. In fact, when TW replaced all of their converters recently due to a recall, they had to install an amplifier to get my HDTV to work again. In other words, I know I have a clean signal. 51 is EASILY the worst channel I see. There may be some public access channel on cable that I've never flipped to that is worse, but I doubt it. The picture quality on 51 is horrible, and my wife and I comment about it all the time. We get snow, lines, hum bars, poor color...you name it. I so look forward to games on TNT JUST because the picture on 51 is so bad.
Yeah, the reception I get totally SUCKS. And I imagine last night's weather problems didn't make it any better. It was very frustrating when we'd lose the entire freaking picture. GRR!
Little known fact: Digital Cable is not actually digital for channels available on regular cable. So having digital cable doesn't help. It would be nice if we could convince Time Warner to broadcast KNWS on a higher channel. Now, the main reason for the poor signal is that KPRC is broadcast over the air at the same frequency and this over the air signal interferes with the cable signal. The solution is better shielding to keep the over the air signal away from the cable signal. I'd suggest going to Radio Shack and asking for help, or calling Time Warner and asking for a suggested shielding solution.
A long time ago. I miss that format. Mostly because of Wendy Granato. How did a shmuck like John end up with her as a wife?
Damn, really? My version of 51 is absolutely crystal clear on TWC. I RARELY have any problems with it. I happened to catch a bit of the feed from satellite last night at another location before coming home and it looked awesome on there too.
DLev is speaking the truth though....I've read that same thing before. Perhaps channel 51's antenna is closer to my house (I do live in the sticks...where they erect those things). Wouldn't that be the irony to end all ironies? I get a crappy reception because I live close to the tower.
I Live in Spring and I rarely have a problem with the reception. The only time I have a problem is when there is bad weather around, but I still have a decent picture. I had a lot of problems last season with the picture until I found some rabbit ears in my attic and that fixed everything.
DirecTV in Austin. It is rare that we get the Houston feed, but when we do it does appear to have a diminished quality in comparison to other broadcasts. Plus, each Houston broadcast has come with technical difficulties: video breakup, problems with stat bar, or total loss of satellite feed. However, considering I only received about 3 or 4 Houston feeds all of last season, I have already got to see 3 Houston feeds this year. I can live with the feed. Not a big Calvin fan, but I missed hearing Bill and Calvin. I must admit, the negative feedback I read here regarding Cynthia Cooper has been confirmed each time I have seen her.
Watching the Rockets on 51 looks like your watching Bird vs. Magic, or the European Junior Nationals , live from Budapest. My guess is that it has something to do with the quality of the cameras at the source rather than the signal. I wonder if the local broadcast crew is using outdated equipment? It could be that the little affilliate station just doesn't have the money to go first class. (anybody from KNWS out there?) As to the interference, I've heard that is true. The over-the-air frequency of KPRC is the same as the on-cable frequency of KNWS. But if it is true why would TWC use channel 2 for anything other than the local NBC afilliate? If the idea is to group the network afilliates together then why is that hispanic channel on channel 10 in between Fox and the others? I'm sure The Home Shopping Network would look just fine on cable channel 2.....give me a real channel for my Rockets! (anybody from TimeWarner out there?)
51's reception blows... i have TWC and it's snowy and ghosty sometimes. I was totally bummed when the Rockets went with 51 instead of UPN 20...
The cameras and live feed equipment belong to the Rockets, so it wouldn't be that. My bet is that their transmission equipment is low rent. That would result in signal degredation and generally poor quality.
I emailed the KNWS tech dept and I got a reply telling me to call Time Warner and find out what they say... So I called Time Warner and the tech that I spoke with seemed to know exactly what I am talking about and confirmed the problem with the picture quality and said that everyone in the Houston area experiences it because the channel is broadcast on low frequency or low bandwidth (I dont remember exactly what she said...it was low something) and that nothing at all can be done about this. This sucks. I dont believe that nothing can be done about this. They just dont want to do it. I dont know who is in charge of resolving this, knws or TW but hopefully they can work something out...If not, I guess any picture is better than nothing at all and I am glad that broadcasting will change next year.
The Rockets own the equipment for the road game broadcast? The take it down out of The Showroom and fly it with the team? Did they buy new stuff for the new arena or are they hanging on till 07 to buy digital equipment?
That's why I don't believe the problem is with the camera/source equipment. I believe it lies with the actual pass-through equipment at the station itself. I could be wrong, of course, but I seriously doubt that each team travels with their own game cameras/equipment. Much more likely, I would think, would be that each arena is set up according to league rules, with standard equipment/picture available to both teams at each game. Anyone know about this for sure one way or the other?
When the games were on 55 The Tube, the reception sucked. Same thing w/51 UNTIL I installed a new antenna on the TV. Now it comes in as good as, say ch.13 ABC. Channel 2 has gotten better too. Pretty much the only channels that's don't come in now are pax 33 and 49.
