Why is it that when ABC sends a HD signal for a sporting event, the engineers at KATU aren't paying attention? The beginning of the ASU-USC game is being simulcast with the analog feed. Oops!!

ABC no longer offers an Analog feed. Only SD & HD. All is fed in zeros and ones. So at least is Digital Quality! and we all know that means something....*cough*

Well I know something is not right when the pre-game shows the announcers with mikes that have ESPNHD flags on them. And when they do a replay the screen runs a flash ESPNHD. So I assume this game is being broadcast in HD but KATU refuses to accept it.

They dont care about quality (digital or not).
HD is just a technobabble sales phrase.

Various tv stations also have trouble maintaining sync between the picture and the sound.

KATU uses the full bandwidth for the HD channel, unlike KGW, KRCW & KOIN who split up the bw for add'l channels.

It's a simple button that needs to be flipped in KATU MC. No flippy, No HD.

Well just to confirm. ESPN's Sportscenter showed highlights of the game in HD. So KATU messed up.

"Why is it that when ABC sends a HD signal for a sporting event, the engineers at KATU aren't paying attention?"

Because there are but a few people left in their engineering department. Eight years ago there were 12, last I checked they had 3 ...

To correct a few things.....
A good reliable source has told me that....

The Engineering department has nothing to do with it. FYI, there are 6 in the engineering department.

Just because they have ESPNHD on their microphones does not necessarily mean that the program is fed in HD.

The pregame shows are not in HD.

The ASU-USC game was not available to KATU in HD due to ABC equipment availability. They were unable to get that particular game in HD. They tried. There may be other games in the schedule that may have the same problem. It is called satellite receiving availability problems.

This is a new format and is still in a growing pains phase.

Forgot to mention that it is more involved than flipping a button in KATU MC as mentioned by Theedger. True that puts it on but the source has to be there first. Getting the input to the correct source involves several other steps. There is not a dedicated HD line from ABC. There are multiple lines and not all are available to KATU. That game, unfortunately, was on an unavailable line.

Please explain this in more detail if you can:

"There is not a dedicated HD line from ABC. There are multiple lines and not all are available to KATU. That game, unfortunately, was on an unavailable line."

What is a "line" in this case? (i.e. satellite channel? Twisted pair from phone company? Coax? microwave??)

and

"The ASU-USC game was not available to KATU in HD due to ABC equipment availability."

What equipment? Where wasn't the proper equipment?

Jimbo's explanation is a bit lacking. I don't work there anymore, but ABC in the past would send a lot of football games up into space back to Network Control(s) in NY and LA, but obviously only one can be on the main east coast feed and one on the main west coast feed. Those feeds I believe are now on Intelsat Americas 5 & 6. So, there are, like in news gathering, a multitude of backhauls up on the birds that with permission can be rebroadcast regionally. So California can watch a southwest regional game on the official west coast feed, but the northwest can rebroadcast something else. This can cause a muck when it comes to commercials originating only on the main feed, since Network control can only turnaround the number of feeds the equipment and available transponders can support and that the Network approves of. It's a combination of hardware support for HD (is every truck and crew HD capable, I don't know), transponder space for the backhaul, and transponder space for an auxiliary feed from Network or permission to rebroadcast the backhaul sans Net paid for spots. It gets ugly. There never were, are nor will be enough transponders for every network to have enough space to suit their whims. In any event, if a station can only get an SD feed of the game that they are carrying, it's probably because there isn't the transponder space for it to be HD. In master control, and I'm guessing based on past experience with the scenario, if the affiliate is not carrying the main feed but rather an alternate feed on the same bird, it's just a matter of switching the LNC (receiver) channel and a small router at the head end (dish farm) to bring said alternate feed into master control. Hardly brain surgery. I will say that historically, many auto switching changes supposedly to be done by the Network Control computer wouldn't happen, but an experienced operator would have been standing by to make any necessary switches manually. It was so unreliable when I was at KATU, that we disconnected Networks control of our network downlink package (against guidelines).

I believe the ASU USC game was the main ABC west coast regional game, not some game of regional interest that KATU chose to broadcast instead of the "main west coast feed"

I didn't go into detail because I didn't want to bore the majority of you.
Andy's explanation is kinda true but the details are not currently correct. It is true of the past, however.

HD is still in the growing pains stage, as I said. When I say lines, I mean satellite transponder channels. ABC changed out all the receiving equipment and distribution methods about a year ago. Normally, they control the switches to the receivers that feed the stations. The HD signals are on separate transponders, as are all the SD signals. All programming for ALL time zones originates in New York now. There is no LA delay center for the west coast anymore. Everything comes out of New York. If a program is live from LA (Oscars for example) that is fed to New York and is distributed from there. Network TOC is in New York. They "own" a pile of transponders on different satellites. The two main ones are in separated orbital slots. So that during the sun outage times twice a year, they can move programming from the main one to the other one without interruption.... that is coming up shortly or is about now.

All SD feeds are sent digitally now. ABC controls what each receiver at each station is fed on their main feed. KATU also monitors the east coast line all the time but when they would switch their second receiver to the east coast feed, ABC would sometime switch it back as a backup for the west coast feed. Eventually a while ago, KATU got a receiver that ABC has no control over so that they can keep it on the eastern feed.
The HD feeds is a separate issue. They are "supposed" to have the same setup for the HD feeds but it is not currently implemented. ABC is in the process of upgrading and implementing it. All switches have been made locally at KATU for the HD feeds as needed.

I am told by my reliable source, that there were problems and that the equipment was removed at the satellite receiving site (SD transmitter location) by ABC pending replacement of upgraded equipment. So currently, the receiver was brought down to the studio and they are using a "temporary" satellite dish on their roof with an LNA on one polarity. It works for the majority of the feeds.

Unfortunately, that regional game on Saturday was on a transponder on the opposite polarity. Hence, unable to receive that transponder. Evidently it is not a dual feed pickup. It is a dish that was used for something else and there was no need to flip polarities. It is only temporary at this time.

I know, I know, a cheap polorotor would work. We all have those on our own C-Band dishes. I probably have an extra one in my garage somewhere. But, we're talking about a commercial use, not a backyard satellite dish from the 80's. I think I even have a spare LNA out in the garage, also. Not an LNB, but a real LNA.

Oh, ABC is still using C-Band satellites for distribution. Using K-band for news feeds and some special events.

The engineer on duty for those games is a football fan and would like to see it in HD also. He is not sleeping at the switch.

Is this correct for regular TV (non HD):

If there is a football game or oscars, then there is a satellite truck transmitting all of the remote video/audio up into "satallite X".

The Network operations center (NY) receives from the Satellite X the raw video from the remote site.

NY add in the commercials and the James Brown people and adds in the logo in the lower right corner and the other info crawing at the top or bottom of the screen, and adds in the (Wardrobe Malfunction) delay. Then transmits it all up into "satelite Y".

All of the ABC stations across the country have their dish set to receive satelite Y, and all they need to do is add in the local commercials and station ID's. Is that done manually by a button pushing engineer at KATU?

That is basically how it all works. Sometimes the remote truck adds things, also. Depends on needs and what makes sense.

All ABC stations look at satellite Y but they all look at different feeds on that satellite, depending on time zone and special feeds.

It is probably the same type of thing for other networks.

Thanks Jimbo. It's been about a year since I spoke with Alan over there in engineering. What I find interesting is that what this really boils down to is, to borrow from Zappa, a case of "Cheepnis."

Specifically: "using a "temporary" satellite dish on their roof with an LNA on one polarity. It works for the majority of the feeds.

Unfortunately, that regional game on Saturday was on a transponder on the opposite polarity. Hence, unable to receive that transponder. Evidently it is not a dual feed pickup. It is a dish that was used for something else and there was no need to flip polarities."

That dish on the studio roof has had that lack of polarity switching problem (assuming it's the same one we put up there in the early 90's ... it sure looks like the same one when I drive by) and here we are 15 years later and they haven't retrofitted that thing with a new hub and LNB/C gear. They now have to rely on it for ABC? Wow. When I left in '94 the net package on the hill consisted of a fixed 4.5m dish with two rcvrs and a steerable programmable 7.3m dish with 4 rcvrs. Not to mention the two uplinks, 9.1m and the ancient SA10m. Even if the network receivers/decoders have been replaced, it's just a joke that they have to rely on the not really broadcast quality dish on their roof. What a joke!

Well Andy, The dishes are the same. However, from what I was told, the one being used temporarily is the one put up more like 20+ years ago just to receive weather info (3m). It worked fine for what it was intended. It is no longer needed for that usage. It works fine for receiving HD because it just needs to get 1's and 0's. Doesn't care about noise temperature and signal quality is not a function of the size of the dish. The beauty of digital is that as long as it gets a decent signal, it works.

The network dishes are the same two, however now there is one receiver on the 4.5m and three on the 7m. Two that ABC controls and one they don't. These are SD only. There was one for HD but it was removed to allow for an upgrade that hasn't happened yet. So, that receiver was taken down to the studio and "temporarily" hooked up to the dish on the roof. I am told that the cables to the controller from the receiver is running across the floor with a carpet covering them because it is only temporary until the new receivers and system are in place. Currently, the operators must manually switch the channels daily and throughout the day for the feed they need.

There is more to it than that, however that is basically how it works.

Jimbo said : "Forgot to mention that it is more involved than flipping a button in KATU MC as mentioned by Theedger. True that puts it on but the source has to be there first."

Sorry, just assumed that would be implied. But this is a radio board and the obvious isn't always in play.