Odd issues I have seen with my HD broadcasts - NOTE NOT SAGETV ISSUE

[m1abrams]

Ok so this is not a SageTV or tuner issue but more of either cable company or broadcast company issue.

Past week I have seen two shows one on Fox and one on CBS. The show will start in widescreen HD format but then halfway through the show or so switch to 4:3 SD format for a god portion of the show and then switch again. Now the reason I can eliminate my tuner or sagetv is because when the show switches to 4:3 the stupid station logo stays in the side bars like it does when you watch a non-HD show on the HD station.

Has anyone else seen this type of issue before? I am on Comcast cable using an HDHomerun for my tuner. Not really looking for a solution since I am pretty sure it is on the feed end, just wondering if others have seen it.

P.S. For some odd reason Comcast is currently broadcasting in my area TLCHD in the clear, not that I use it but it has made the wife happy.

[GKusnick]

I see this quite often with OTA HD broadcasts. The local CBS affiliate is especially bad that way. When coming back from a 4x3 commercial, it sometimes takes a minute or two for the picture to return to widescreen format. It's almost like there's some technician nodding off at his console and failing to push the right button in time (although you'd think they could automate that).

[lovingHDTV]

I see this on some of my OTA broadcasts when there is a severe weather alert going out. I wonder if the local stations can do the weather alert thing in HD?

[BFisher]

I see this regularly as well. had something else interesting happen last week - they forgot to enable the center channel (not sure if that's what really happened... but that was the end result). We could hear everything going on in the surrounds - but no dialogue. After the first set of commercials - boom, started working.

[Polypro]

Yep. Keep the numbers to all the local control booths handy. In my area, ABC routinely forgets to turn on the center channel. Sometimes "The CW" has audio sync problems.

P

[matt91]

Originally Posted by Polypro

Yep. Keep the numbers to all the local control booths handy.

Does this actually work?

[lobosrul]

I've had the same issues, and I've read on avsforum that it indeed can simply be someone "asleep at the switch". Its particularly bad on weekends when they have some one filling in at the control room.

Recently it seems all my locals had this *finally* under control. KOAT (ABC) used to come back from commercials sometimes and the center channel audio would be gone, I haven't seen that in around a year. But now KOB (NBC) has taken to scrolling info about the Digital TV changeover... on the DTV channel. And they don't have the ability to do this in HDTV. So I get ugly analog with a scroll bar filling around 1/6th of the screen several times a week. And if theres a storm, or a bit of wind, or a frost warning *ANYWHERE* in the state of New Mexico, forget it. HD can be gone for the entire night. This is the same channel that plays Access Holywood before Conan O'brien for some bizare reason.