Anyone know what's going on with WBIN/WUTF?

[Kbirdusa]

As of this week, WBIN is channel sharing with WUTF. This means that WBIN actually has a signal which reaches into Boston now. WBIN no longer has its Antenna TV and GRIT subchannels. But what will happen to the main station? They carry some Antenna TV programming in the overnight hours, but Antenna said on their Facebook page that that will only continue for a few more weeks.

I know that WUTF purchased the entire WBIN license back in May. I wonder what they plan to do with it.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Yes, WBIN is now coming in strong here in Somerville, MA on virtual ch. 50 (with no subchannels), RF ch. 27.

WUTF is still coming in on virtual ch. 66, also RF ch. 27, and just added a 66.5 "Justice" to it's lineup.

50 must be coming from the same transmitter all on RF 27, just "mapped" to a different virtual.

 

[alg2468]

Here in East Providence, RI it is a peculiar situation. On my LG TV, I am now receiving WBIN and WUTF, but the signal strengths vary between subchannels (something that never happened on any channel). Reading my TV's signal meter, 66-1 WUTF main channel is average, 66-2 Bounce is average, 66-3 Get TV is below average, 66-4 Grit is average, and 66-5 Justice is above average. As far as WBIN (which I never received when it transmitted from Hudson, NH), the TV does pick up the frequency of RF 27, and it maps to 50-1 WBIN, but when tuning in the signal, the program guide says "Paid Program", but the screen is blank and says "No Signal". Never seen anything like this. And also, I receive two stations mapped to 50-1: WBIN and WRIW-CD, the low power Telemundo station on RF 36 transmitting from the WJAR/WLNE/WSBE tower in Rehoboth, MA.

 

[Uncle Kaimbridge]

Here in East Providence, RI it is a peculiar situation. On my LG TV, I am now receiving WBIN and WUTF, but the signal strengths vary between subchannels (something that never happened on any channel). Reading my TV's signal meter, 66-1 WUTF main channel is average, 66-2 Bounce is average, 66-3 Get TV is below average, 66-4 Grit is average, and 66-5 Justice is above average. As far as WBIN (which I never received when it transmitted from Hudson, NH), the TV does pick up the frequency of RF 27, and it maps to 50-1 WBIN, but when tuning in the signal, the program guide says "Paid Program", but the screen is blank and says "No Signal". Never seen anything like this.

YES! I have that very same, 66 vs 50, RF-27 experience: Both 66 and 50 will be in, at the same signal meter strength, but there wonʼt be any actual decoded signal for WBIN:50, just the “No Signal” tag bouncing around the screen, and the program guide info!
As for subchannel strength variation, I noticed that with WSBK:38, a couple of weeks ago: 38.1 came in somewhat iffy, but definitely decodable, while 38.2 wouldnʼt even half decode, with a lot of pixellation.

 

[tripinva]

Is there someone here who can send me a TSReader HTML Export for WUTF? I want to see if there's something wrong with the signal.

- Trip

 

[channel99]

Comcast has dropped the WBIN 50-1 HD feed, plus AntennaTV and Grit - and replaced them with this message:

"WBIN-TV is no longer broadcasting the programming previously seen on this channel. Please contact WBIN-TV should you have further questions."

WBIN remains on Comcast ch 18 in standard definition.


Over the air, I can receive 50-1 OK on 5 TV's - 2 Samsungs, a Sony, and 2 off-brand LED models - but a Zenith DTT901 set-top gives a blank screen.


Trip, I once tried to get TSreader to work with one of those cheap Realtek chip USB tuners, but had no luck...

 

[Uncle Kaimbridge]

Okay, something is definitely screwy here.
WUTF:66.2-66.5 all revert to their respective RF-27 sub-channels:

WUTF:66.2 = RF-27.2, ... WUTF:66.5 = RF-27.5

However, WUTF:66.1 and WBIN:50.1 BOTH revert to RF-27.1!!!
How the %@#& can that happen!?!
I played with the FM dipole antenna I use, so that they would lose their station/mapping data (i.e., the displays all show 27._), bounced back and forth between 27.1 (66.1) and 27.1 (50.1) a few times, then reset the antenna so everything came in and—RF-27.1 reset to WUTF:66.1 and RF-27.1 reset to WBIN:50.1!

@Channel99: Do you get WUTF:66.1 on the TVs you get WBIN:50.1 and vice-versa (WBIN:50.1 on the TVs you get WUTF:66.1)?
In my case, WUTF:66.1 comes in with programming, but WBIN:50.1 just has the “No Signal” tag bouncing around, though both show identical signal strengths.

 

[channel99]

The only slightly unusual thing I noticed is that stepping up through the channels from 64-3 (WNAC) on the Sony, a couple of times it jumped to 50-1, not 66-1, but it was WBIN.

The Zenith DTT901 set top box is "confused". 66-1 through 66-5 are normal. It finds 50-1 OK on a rescan. In the setup menu, when on the blank 50-1, it correctly shows 50-1, RF channel 27, and the signal level is all the way to the right ("good"), but it also says "No Signal". So there must be something wrong in the stream, that various decoders are handling differently.

(These are all connected to the same roof antenna.)

 

[alg2468]

I have a feeling that the phone calls and emails to WBIN-TV and/or WUTF-TV this week will be busy regarding this situation. And it will be interesting to see where Antenna TV winds up in the Boston area.

 

[alg2468]

As of 7:00 PM EST tonight, I am now receiving the sound and video from WBIN-TV with a fair to good signal. Looks like the problem they had has been fixed.

 

[alg2468]

As of 7:00 PM EST tonight, I am now receiving the sound and video from WBIN-TV with a fair to good signal on my IView 3200-STB Converter Box. But my 32" LG TV, 1byone Converter Box, and Venturer Converter Box receive the station with a good signal on their signal meter, have program information listed, but no picture and sound. I have never seen anything like this, and hopefully WUTF/WBIN will correct this issue.

 

[channel99]

I just checked - the Zenith set-top box that wasn't working before is now OK, without a rescan. Could be one of the engineers has been reading the posts here or on the "AV" forum...

 

[channel99]

I just checked - the Zenith set-top box that wasn't working before is now OK, without a rescan. Could be one of the engineers has been reading the posts here or on the "AV" forum...

Tonight the Zenith set-top is back to not working on 50-1...

 

[alg2468]

Tonight the Zenith set-top is back to not working on 50-1...

The same with me, and only one of my multimedia boxes can receive the station. All other TV's and boxes still show 50-1 as WBIN-TV with the program guide reading "King Of The Hill" as of 10:24 PM EST, around 85% signal strenth, with the TV reading "No Signal" and no picture or sound. I also receive another channel mapped as 50-1, WRIW-CD, the Telemundo affiliate for Providence. However, my friend down the street using an outdoor antenna gets WBIN-TV How can the TV station correct this issue with some TV's and boxes receiving the actual programming and others not? Would this mean they have to map to a different channel? I have not seen anything like this. Can I contact WUTF about this? WBIN sent me an automated response to my email today saying they are still going throuth the shutdown process.

 

[channel99]

The same with me, and only one of my multimedia boxes can receive the station. All other TV's and boxes still show 50-1 as WBIN-TV with the program guide reading "King Of The Hill" as of 10:24 PM EST, around 85% signal strenth, with the TV reading "No Signal" and no picture or sound. I also receive another channel mapped as 50-1, WRIW-CD, the Telemundo affiliate for Providence. However, my friend down the street using an outdoor antenna gets WBIN-TV How can the TV station correct this issue with some TV's and boxes receiving the actual programming and others not? Would this mean they have to map to a different channel? I have not seen anything like this. Can I contact WUTF about this? WBIN sent me an automated response to my email today saying they are still going throuth the shutdown process.

A poster at the "AV" forum found a misconfiguration in their PSIP. Some decoders deal with it better, I assume. "TVCT has incorrect PIDs listed in the Service Location descriptor for WBIN (0131 and 0134). The correct PIDs are listed in the PMT 0080 (0081 and 0084)."

 

[alg2468]

Thanks for the explanation, but as the castaways on Gilligan's Island said to the Professor when he explained in scientific language, "Oh, in plain language, please Professor?" So how can I fix this issue on my TV's so I can get the station? I called WBIN today and they were surprised to and suggested I call Univision Boston - WUNI TV 27. I called them and they were surprised too and suggested I call WUFT TV 66. I called them and they left a message for the chief technician to call me. And as of tonight, I the situation is still the same, and entering 27-6 on my TV's and converter boxes causes them to go to 50-1 and no signal.

 

[Uncle Kaimbridge]

The same with me, and only one of my multimedia boxes can receive the station. All other TV's and boxes still show 50-1 as WBIN-TV with the program guide reading "King Of The Hill" as of 10:24 PM EST, around 85% signal strenth, with the TV reading "No Signal" and no picture or sound.

As I asked Channel99, on the box that fully receives WBIN:50.1, does it also fully receive WUTF:66.1, or with that box does it show full signal strength and program guide, but then just passes off 66.1 with the “No Signal” tag bouncing around the screen?
If both 50.1 and 66.1 are fully decoding, are they both originating from RF-27.1?

And as of tonight, I the situation is still the same, and entering 27-6 on my TV's and converter boxes causes them to go to 50-1 and no signal.

Okay, here, it is not just 27.6: If it is like my Insignia converter box, if you try plugging in any unused RF sub-channel—RF-#.21, RF-#.73, RF-#.99—it will revert to RF-#.1 which, in this case is RF-27.1, or WBIN:50.1.

Thanks for the explanation, but as the castaways on Gilligan's Island said to the Professor when he explained in scientific language, "Oh, in plain language, please Professor?"

Here is what I think is going on: An RF channelʼs signal strength and all of its sub-channel program guide data originates somewhere in the main carrier, while the actual program streams occupy their respective sub-channel—thus, the signal strength property and all the sub-channelʼa program guide data is shared in common, but if two (or more) mapped sub-channels are assigned to a single RF-#.#, the tuner must pick one of that sub-channelʼa assigned streams to actually pass through and ignore the others...hence, the others are all "No Signal"(s).
All they need to do is reassign WBIN:50.1 to an unassigned RF-27.# (RF-27.6? Or how about RF-27.50? )
I make no pretense on knowing any of the actual technicalities, but I believe that is the gist of it.

 

[alg2468]

Thanks Uncle Kaimbridge. As you asked, 66.1 through 66.5 are bringing in a great signal with full picture and sound as always, but 50.1 is still the same. I just called WUTF and left them a message and if they could change their PSIP to 27.6 because of the signal issue. We'll see if they respond and what happens.

 

[Uncle Kaimbridge]

Thanks Uncle Kaimbridge. As you asked, 66.1 through 66.5 are bringing in a great signal with full picture and sound as always, but 50.1 is still the same.

Okay for that arrangement.
But what about the tuner that does get WBIN:50.1? What does it do with WUTF:66.1? Does it stream fine and, if it does, what is its RF-27.#? And if okay on that tuner, do the other 66.#s also stream fine, or does that tuner just move the conflict to one of the other sub-channels?

 

[MikeyBos]

Okay for that arrangement.
But what about the tuner that does get WBIN:50.1? What does it do with WUTF:66.1? Does it stream fine and, if it does, what is its RF-27.#? And if okay on that tuner, do the other 66.#s also stream fine, or does that tuner just move the conflict to one of the other sub-channels?

I'm experiencing the same problem as many others. On my newer Homeworx converter box, I get video and audio just fine on all 6 channels, including 50.1. On my older Insignia converter box, I have no problems with the 5 channels that map to 66.#. However, on 50.1, the signal meter shows a strong signal and there is programming info in the main programming guide, but there is no video or audio (just "no signal" jumping around the screen).