[demon]

I'm in the Rapid City, SD area, and attempting to pick up the local Fox affiliate on my Series3 HD, and am having no success. I called up the station, and they're saying that they can pick up their own HD feed OTA just fine. I get a signal strength ranging from 90-92%, which should be more than enough, but I get a solid black screen instead of a picture. I can get the other 3 HD locals (CBS, ABC, PBS) just fine, however.

I've tried looking at the Diagnostics screen, and when the channel is tuned, it shows some of the following information, in contrast to other local ATSC channels:

Program Lock: No
PCR PID: -
Audio PID: -
Video PID: -

The rest say "Yes" for "Program Lock", and have differing numbers for the PCR/Audio/Video PID fields. Is there any way to determine more about why the tuner isn't successfully getting a Program Lock? I still think it's something specific to the station, but without more information to take to them, I can't prove anything.

The ATSC channel number is 7-1, which is mapped to channel 18. If anyone else is from the area and has experience to compare, it'd be helpful.

 

[phox_mulder]

A lot of tuning problems can be linked to the stations PSIP encoder.

Call them back, ask to speak to someone from engineering and have them make sure their PSIP encoder is working correctly.

Speaking from experience, they need rebooting occasionally.

I've tried looking at the Diagnostics screen, and when the channel is tuned, it shows some of the following information, in contrast to other local ATSC channels:

Program Lock: No
PCR PID: -
Audio PID: -
Video PID: -

Just out of curiosity, do the stations you can receive have values in those PID locations?

phox

 

[demon]

A lot of tuning problems can be linked to the stations PSIP encoder.

Call them back, ask to speak to someone from engineering and have them make sure their PSIP encoder is working correctly.

Speaking from experience, they need rebooting occasionally.

I'll try that. I called them today, but they insist they have a consumer ATSC tuner, which (when I called) they'd just tested and were able to pull in their own HD feed over the air. I'll suggest the PSIP encoder reboot. Maybe that'll make a difference.

Just out of curiosity, do the stations you can receive have values in those PID locations?

Yes, they do; they also say "Yes" for the "Program Lock" field. I don't know what they mean, but they all have numbers there. Most of them (all the HD channels I actually get) have 49 for PCR, 52 for Audio, and 49 for Video. The PBS SD OTA feed has a PCR PID of 65, audio is 68, and video is 65. What do these mean?

 

[aus1ander]

According to my quick search, FOX in your area is KEVN broadcasting on UHF channel 18 (which maps to 7.1). Sometimes when the mapping information is messed up, the channel will show up on 18.x instead of its appropriate mapped channel.

Check to see if your TiVo is picking up an "unknown" OTA channel (marked "*" in the signal meter or channel list) 18.x (such as 18.3 or 18.4). If you find those channels and you get a picture, your local station is not properly mapping its channel information.

 

[demon]

According to my quick search, FOX in your area is KEVN broadcasting on UHF channel 18 (which maps to 7.1). Sometimes when the mapping information is messed up, the channel will show up on 18.x instead of its appropriate mapped channel.

Check to see if your TiVo is picking up an "unknown" OTA channel (marked "*" in the signal meter or channel list) 18.x (such as 18.3 or 18.4). If you find those channels and you get a picture, your local station is not properly mapping its channel information.

I'd tried running a channel scan sometime back, but it didn't find any unknown channels on the "real" broadcast channel (18, as you mentioned). I'll probably mess with it more over the weekend; however, this may soon become moot, as my cableco *finally* is coughing up with the CableCARDs. We'll see how that goes.

Thanks for your input - it's sad that I know so little, and yet anyone I've tried asking in the area knows less...

 

[phox_mulder]

Yes, they do; they also say "Yes" for the "Program Lock" field. I don't know what they mean, but they all have numbers there. Most of them (all the HD channels I actually get) have 49 for PCR, 52 for Audio, and 49 for Video. The PBS SD OTA feed has a PCR PID of 65, audio is 68, and video is 65. What do these mean?

I'm not sure what they mean, but without them, as you can see, you have no reception.
The information PSIP puts out tells an ATSC tuner how to display the channel.
It tells the tuner there is a Video stream and an Audio stream, and whatever that PCR is. (I knew what it was once, but it's slipped my mind)

Numerous times our old PSIP would get scrambled and put out either two video streams or two audio streams thus confusing the ATSC tuners which would display black.
Looking at the PSIP computer, you couldn't tell anything was wrong, you had to go looking for the problem, check all the settings.
We'd have to go in and delete one of the extra streams and add in the missing one, then reset everything.
Often that wouldn't fix it for some brands of tuners, and we'd have to tell the callers to reboot their receivers to fix the problem.

Let the Fox folks know that there are many brands of ATSC tuners out there, just because their particular brand likes the signal, doesn't mean they all do.
(chances are it's a Sencore, not consumer grade by any means)

In addition to our professional tuners (Sencores), we have 3 different consumer level ATSC receivers in the station for troubleshooting, add in our personal ones at home, and we've pretty much got them all covered.
Heck, I've got the one in the TV, my HR10 and my Series 3, 3 different brands and generations of ATSC tuners, each one handles different PSIP problems differntly.

phox

 

[esb1981]

I have this identical problem in Connecticut. I have an ABC-HD channel mapped to 40.1, but it is broadcast on frequency 55. The channel shows up on Tivo HD with strong signal strength of around 80, but I get no video and the program lock says "no" and the PCR, Audio and Video PID's are blank. Has anyone had luck solving this problem? Does it rest with the broadcasting station?

To make it more wierd, when I plug the antenna directly into my TV's tuner, the channel shows up, but on 55-3. But when I channel scan using the Tivo or try to tune directly to 55-3, nothing comes up on Tivo.

 

[demon]

The 9.x software updates actually fixed this problem for me; after that, I was magically able to receive my local FOX affiliate. I don't know what they changed, I just know that after the update, it just "worked". Wish I could be more helpful.

 

[esb1981]

Thanks, demon. I have the 9.x, so that can't be the issue for me. I actually think what happened is the ABC affiliate is changing their virtual mapping and no longer mapping to 40.1. But what's weird is that I can't tune to the channel when I do a channel scan or tune directly to 55. I know the signal is strong based on my TV's tuner.