PBS Digital Television delivery hits a snag

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Bigglez
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PBS Digital Television delivery hits a snag

Post by Bigglez »

To my surprise we couldn't view the recent PBS program
about President Lincoln in HDTV, or even get the image
to fill our 16:9 screen. I fiddled with everything that I
had access.

After some frustrating phone calls to Dish network,
who beam the signal to our home, and to KQED, the
local PBS affiliate that originates the over-the-air
signal to the San Francisco bay area, I had the story.

Dish network along with Comcast (cable) and competitor
DirecTv have a head-end in China Basin (San Francisco)
that picks up all local OTA channels for the local market.

The shared equipment that demodulates the OTA analog
feed for their basic service package of analog SDTV
local programming failed. After some months (?!!) Comcast and
DirecTv added the PBS DTV channel to their HDTV group,
where they already bundle access to HDTV for
the other locals (ABC, CBS, NBC). This left Dish Network
with a non-working analog feed for PBS, and no digital
feed at all.

So, to avoid the repair cost fo the non-working equipment
Dish Network put the OTA DTV signal from KQED through on
to an existing analog transponder!

We see the 'middle' two-thirds of the DTV signal in
glorious SDTV resolution, along with side bars to the
East and West of the screen. KQED calls this 'center-cut'
presentation.

Why KQED hasn't told it viewers, or answered these questions
on it web page is a mystery. Instead they are fielding
'about 100 - 200 calls per day' from frustrated viewers.

Note, only Dish Network customers in this market are affected.
According to KQED, Dish Network doesn't want the cost of
repairing or replacing the analog demodulator, which will not
be needed after the DTV switch-over (now set for June).

Dish Network does have to buy and install a DTV demodulator
for the future PBS feed, but is dragging it feet.

BTW, the folks at Dish Network told me with a straight face
that use the 'supplied OTA signal from KQED', and don't modify it.

Yeah, right!
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