Check CBC 5-1 on any Thursday between 11am and 2pm (when on DST, 10am to 1pm when on standard time) and the program info may suddenly appear.

I just checked and it did for me on my RCA DTA800 (my others tuners are fine 24x7). If it doesn't, I think it is still possible that there is a 2nd problem.

The technical explanation is that CBC uses PIDs 0x1000 to 0x1037 for event information tables in its PSIP. The firmware on some tuners expect EIT-0 to be in the lowest PID (0x1000 in our case) which happens each Thursday from 15:00 to 18:00 UTC. EIT-0 rotates through the PIDs every 3 hours.

You may also want to check WUTV Fox 29-1. It does something similar, but because it sends less guide data, it rotates back to the lowest PID much faster (a 36 hour cycle vs. CBC's 7 day cycle). WUTV 29-1 will next be in the "right" position Friday, April 6 8pm to 11pm, then Sunday, April 8, 8am to 11pm and so on every 36 hours.

From what I can tell, this is legal ATSC, just that very few stations implement it this way (I guess since some tuners choke on it).

Just hooked up the HBU55 with a cm7777 on a cm9621 that Bill recommended and right off the bat I watched the opening face off of Detroit and Nashville. CBC is around 25DB currently. I am getting more channels for sure. I will post more details as time goes by and I get used to the setup. Thank you all.

Update: "If it doesn't, I think it is still possible that there is a 2nd problem"

Yep, confirmed there's 2 "problems".

1) Tuner unable to handle to moving EIT-0 (described in post 3001)
2) Tuner unable to handle presence of CVCT. CVCT is an optional ATSC PSIP table. No one else other than CBC (and the French SRC) include it. The Zenith DTT901 digital converter is one that falls into this category. I also hear that a few HDTV tuners also fall into this category.

So if you don't get CBC 5.1 program data, check in the Thursday 11am to 2pm time period. If you still don't get it then, your tuner falls into problem category 2.

Unfortunately, both these problems appear to be legal ATSC so I'm going to guess it might be difficult to convince CBC to change it at their end.

Looks like Daniel has gotten around to updating the main chart. It looks good ;-)

el gran chico:

First time poster...

Wondering about your conversation regarding CBLT PSIP data. Would this be a possible reason that my reception from CBLT has become slightly messed up over the past few weeks?

I live in Downtown Toronto, have direct line of sight to the CN tower and have had no issues with CBLT since I went OTA.

Recently, the picture stutters quite frequently while the audio is fine. It's unwatchable when the picture stutters this way.

My TV is an LG 42LG50. I have little idea what model of ATSC tuner it has... But is it possible that the change in how CBLT is broadcasting programming info screws up some tuners' ability to actually show a picture, rather than only just the program info (which I can live with)

I also have a Silicon Dust HDHomeRun tuner, and I'm able to watch CBLT-OTA over my network on any PC. This leads me to believe the tuner in the LG can't handle the new signal...

A little more info on your antenna setup, possible cause is a new reflection or multipath from a new condo along the side of your rf path to the CN Tower, or slight overload from the ATSC tuner. Weather can play a role too.

How are the othe channels from the CN Tower? Any change on them or signal strength?

Nueatit:

Thanks for the reply. I have a chimney mounted CM-4228. This feeds a Channel Master 4 way Distribution Amplifier (PCT-MA2-4P).  One of the splits in the Amplifier is capped.  Of the 3 remaining, 2 feed the HDHomeRun and the last feeds my LG Tv in the living room.

Other channels from CN Tower are perfect and have been so (with minor glitches) since 2008.

The discussion about changes to the CBC signal prompted the question. Would these changes possibly screw up the picture on some tuners, as well as the programming data?

The HD HomeRun on the CBC signal has been perfect, while the hockey game on the LG was unwatchable yesterday...

Looks like a good setup for rf reception, I still do not think that the PID is the problem, otherwise a lot of LG TV sets in TO would be affected.

I still think its an rf overload or multipath issue, I can recall similar thread about a half year ago with different tv tuners. If you can, try to disconnect LG from antenna and run a short piece of RG cable with a 6 inch center conductor exposed as a local antenna and see what happens for chn 5-1. Or buy a cheap indoor antenna and try this result with it.

Good luck

Looked at your rf amp, 8 dB gain with splitting four ways and 17dBmv output, I have to say now, its either multipath OR lack of rf signal at the LG tuner. Have you checked the signal level indicator on the TV? Is it the same as before or similar to chn 19. If the same as rf chn 19 (since 5-1 is on rf chn 20) then the answer is there multipath change due to reflection from a building or weather?

I was using a direct 30' feed from a chimney antenna (no amp) with no problems. I tried a motorolla 4-way 8 db amp mounted on the roof and the signal was no good on the end of the 30' lead. It tended to kill the weaker (i.e. channel 5) signals.

The 8 dB splitters is adding too much loss in the split part, a 4 way splitter has about 12 dB loss, so I guess your overall signal dropped by 3 or more dB. Or a poor quality amp.

Suggest a mast mount type pre-amp with 18 or so gain and an external 4 way splitter, with the short 30 ft co-ax run, pre-amp could be mounted inside. You need the gain to over come the splitter

I'm seldom around at that time but I'll try this Thursday, also wondering
if I'm actually picking up from a repeater and if I need to attenuate UHF
20 because it is a constant 100%. Though you can't go higher than 100.
I'm getting the same breakup as that other fellow.

Nueatit:

Thanks for suggestions. If it is multipath (which I admittedly understand little about), it is:

a) a New occurrence, as the signal has been perfect until the last several weeks
b) Tuner specific: It does not affect my HDHomeRun. There's a few more feet of cabling from the amplified split to the TV than there is to the HDHR, but it doesn't seem material as no other channel is affected. As a workaround, I can watch CBC via XBMC on a PC next to my TV. It is able to tune the HDHR signals flawlessly

The signals are not really displayed accurately on the LG... 19-1 and 20-1 both report "good" signal and show a bar about 75-80% filled in. My HDHomeRun software shows 3 measurements:

Signal Strength
Signal Quality
Symbol Quality

Both 19 and 20 have 100% signal strength and symbol quality. TVO has a slightly lower signal quality (about 75-85% fluctuating, compared to about 90-93% for CBC). I have no idea what these measurements mean, but hoping someone does. It would be great if a small adjustment of the antenna position would fix the problem

Bruce H.Campbell:

What kind of TV do you have? Has the breakup started recently?

FWIW I actually display program information without issue on 20-1/5-1. So my tuner appears to handle that

There are various discussions on forums on different performance of different TV sets and tuners, the signal strength shown are relative and based on the formulae used by the manufacturer.

Search for "lg tv astc tuner problems" and see issues in gneral.

However, if you are right that a direct connection from antenna without amplifier to your LG displays chn 5-1 perfectly, then it is NOT a multipath. The problem could be in the amplifier ( got noiser or something else, but I think not), a connector on jumper from amp to LG (Not likely), more of a rf signal level slight drop to the LG TV from new leaves on trees or new condo somewhere along the rf sight line.

I would still try a pre-amp with passive splitter, 3 way passive splitter ( 5 to 2000Mhz) at dollar store and a $50 pre-amp.

Please ensure that the LG TV does work solidly directly connected to antenna, before you do anything else.

Good Luck

PS: Some days I still have a solid 50% on chn 29 and it breaks up or totally black, then comes back, could be gone for minutes or days. My TV only needs 20% signal showing to recieve a picture. Weather multipath and reflections off of condos south of me

Since the changeover which I explained earlier but the effect is seen on both capture cards, so it's nothing on my end. CBLT changed
something because it was fine at 1080i and 75-81%. Which is why I'm wondering
if the tuners are being overdriven.
G.G.
That info is right in my profile and hasn't changed until three weeks ago
when the eMachine mobo went bad, all cards and drives are fine but I found a replacement at Geeks.com but am still shopping around for cases.

For what its worth, a recent post over at DHC suggests that CHCH will flash-cut to RF 15 by the end of August.