I Can’t Hear You!

I had a call on my voice mail yesterday from a women who was very upset with CET. Of course she did not leave a call back number.  Her complaint was that she experiences loss of audio on some the programs she is watching on CET.  Naturally she thinks that this is CET’s problem.  Actually the problem is in her set. 

Many new TV sets have multiple audio channels.  One of these channels is called the SAP (Special Audio Program) channel and can be used for Spanish language or Descriptive Video for the blind.  Most people don’t know that they have this feature.  And normally this should be turned off on your TV.  If it is left on, there may be times when there is no audio recorded on that channel and the result is that you will hear no audio at all.  This is what is happening to the lady who called me.

How do you allocate bandwidth?

Mr. Dominic,I came across your CET Tech Info Blog and wanted to thank you for your efforts to educate the public on television’s conversion to digital. I have a question for you; hopefully it is not too advanced for the blog but if so maybe you can answer it for me anyway. When analyzing the signal that WCET-DT sends out, in additional to the video and audio streams for CET-HD and CET-World, I notice some other data streams that are not present in other local stations’ signals. I’ve noticed that these data streams can use up 2Mbps or more of the 19Mbps available in an 8VSB channel. Could you tell me what these additional data streams are?On a possibly related note, my television’s guide system (TV Guide on Screen) provides me with programming information for all of the channels I receive. I am OTA-only (why pay for TV when you can get great HD from CET and other local stations) so I am wondering where my TV gets the data from! I have heard rumors that some PBS stations send this data, encoded in their channels. Is this true?Thanks,Zak Lewis————————————

Zak,

     First let me apologize for the tardy response. Your comment ended up my “profile area” and I don’t go there often. Normally the questions and comments are appended to the blog itself. In any case thanks for the questions. I checked with our head of engineering so I was certain to give you the right info. He feels that you may be mistaken about 2 Mbps,. He noted that if your are looking at “World” being statmuxed on your analyzer but we can’t tell for sure without seeing the equipment you are using. Our current stream, before statmuxing, on air is: 14,500,000 for CET-HD 2,500,000 for World 300,000 for the Ohio EAS (audio only that you won’t be able to monitor),  128,000 for DEAS 1,640,000 unused In addition, with a stream analyer you will not see: 250,000 for Aux Data 200,000 for Carousel 

      The Gemstar/TV Guide On Screen is broadcast on 4 lines in the vertical interval of our analog. Most major cities also have a backup of the TV Guide being broadcast on one of the commercial stations. In October it was removed from the digital stream so is only being sent on analog at this time.

      Hope this helps, jack

You may want to wait to request a DTV Converter Coupon

There have been several news reports of late about the Federal Government’s DTV Converter Coupon program.  The program will provide US households up to 2 coupons worth $40 each toward the purchase of a set top converter.  The converter will allow your analog TV to receive digital signals.  These converters are to be available soon in stores. I have yet to see any available in local stores.  If you do, let me know.

     I would suggest that you hold off requesting a coupon until you actually see the converters on store shelves.  The Coupons have a 90-day expiration date. So if you get one now and the devices are not stocked until April or May you may need to apply again.