Messages

1696

WeatherSTAR Tech Support / Re: Station ID Error

« on: April 30, 2010, 04:59:20 PM »

This is in RE to what Zach wrote about the STAR ID being replaced with a "." and no Cable Provider logo..........This has been happening for over 3 hours on DirecTV.........

I saw the same thing the other day (my Star information is in my profile), but that was the only IntelliStar error I saw.

1697

WeatherSTAR Tech Support / Re: TWC/IntelliStar feed frozen - 21873

« on: April 24, 2010, 06:57:47 PM »

Wow - that's amazing!! 

1698

Local Forecast / Re: New LDL

« on: April 23, 2010, 11:51:28 PM »

Just a quick question - signifying agreement without contributing something new isn't really allowed on this forum?

1699

WeatherSTAR Tech Support / Re: TWC/IntelliStar feed frozen - 21873

« on: April 23, 2010, 11:50:11 PM »

I've never seen it happen here. When my Intellistar is out, it's out. There's no nearby Intellistar to switch to.

I've only seen two examples of this happening.  In late 1999 the Boston/Lowell area WeatherSTAR XL wasn't working (actually, this unit never worked properly), so, for most of one day, we saw the Worcester WeatherSTAR XL instead.  Could that really have been the closest unit?  I doubt it, but that's what was chosen.

Then, in early February this year, the Daytona Beach Intellistar stopped working suddenly, and we were switched to the Orlando Intellistar for several hours.

1700

Local Forecast / Re: New LDL

« on: April 21, 2010, 04:07:01 PM »

Then again, I don't believe the national feed without an LDL ever had a clock in it before, anyway, so the way things are now really aren't any different than they've ever been where the clock is concerned.  The clcok was displayed nationally, as far as I know, to accomidate the Intellistar viewers for the brief period of time when the Intellistar didn't display a clock.

Yeah, this is completely true, however with Dish network and DirecTV, they both used a national LDL that had the time cycling through time zones, just like how the temporary national clock was.

Ah, but that national LDL wasn't exactly a part of the national feed.

1701

Local Forecast / Re: New LDL

« on: April 21, 2010, 11:55:40 AM »

It would be nice if the national LDL could get a clock somewhere.  I know it would look funny if they put it where it was, viewers with intellistars would see two clocks, but if they could shorten the tabs and put it there?  With the cities in alphabetical order, it's not too hard to know when the city you're looking for is coming.

Yes, if the national LDL were to have a clock, it would have to be on the tab instead of on the lower-left part of the screen.  As you said, no one wants two clocks. 

Then again, I don't believe the national feed without an LDL ever had a clock in it before, anyway, so the way things are now really aren't any different than they've ever been where the clock is concerned.  The clcok was displayed nationally, as far as I know, to accomidate the Intellistar viewers for the brief period of time when the Intellistar didn't display a clock.  As for viewers of the XL, 4000, and Jr., I think TWC is becoming less interested in supporting older systems.  And I don't disagree with that decision.  The 4000 is twenty years old this year, and, while it did its job very well at the time, TWC could hardly claim to be cutting-edge and up-to-date with technology if, for example, the majority of cable companies in the year 2010 happened to still be using this twenty-year-old technology.  The XL is already over 10 years old.  TWC is looking ahead to the HD STAR and furthering its HD programming, so attention has to be taken away from older systems.

1702

OCMs / Re: Charlie Welsh

« on: April 21, 2010, 01:39:57 AM »

I thought he died sometime between 1996 and 1998, but I don't think I've ever actually seen a date.  That's just the general time period when I learned he had "recently" died.

1703

Local Forecast / Re: WeatherSTAR I/II/III Unit?

« on: April 21, 2010, 01:36:24 AM »

Here is a picture of Frank Batten posing with the WeatherStar I.. This came from an article published when he died lastyear. If you are interested in reading the article, it is a good read. Luckely I saved the link!! http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125262012515101121.html?mod=rss_US_News

Wow - time warp!  Look really closely and notice the old-fashioned modems you had to stick the telephone handset into... all because AT&T didn't want anything but AT&T telephones plugged directly into the network.  The modem bypassed that - technically, it was still the telephone that was directly connected to the network, and the modem was just the middleman between the AT&T phone-and-phone line hookup and the computer.  Then, a few years after this picture would have been taken, the government finally decided that any device can be plugged into the phone network so long as it doesn't actually harm the network.

I know... completely off topic.

1704

Local Forecast / Re: WeatherSTAR I/II/III Unit?

« on: April 21, 2010, 01:33:48 AM »

In addition to the usual input/output jacks, they also had a jack for the input of an external radar display.

Unless I'm mistaken, the radar input was actually a telephone jack - the unit just dialed up the local NWS office and downloaded their radar display.

I hope I'm right... it's been quite a while since I've read the technical stuff about it.

1705

Local Forecast / Re: New LDL

« on: April 21, 2010, 01:30:31 AM »

Speaking of clocks what happened to the clock on the satellite LDL

When the new LDL debuted, there was no clock, period.  Shortly thereafter, a clock that cycled through the four time zones was displayed on the lower-left of the screen as part of the national broadcast.  (The far left of the LDL actually isn't part of the LDL anymore, but rather is now part of the national broadcast.)  Just very recently did the Intellistar display the local time on the LDL, meaning the nationally-broadcast clock was removed.  The addition of the clock actually resulted in the shrinking and moving (slightly) of the temperature on the larger LDL.

1706

Local Forecast / Re: WeatherSTAR 3000 Videos Found! (From Memphis!)

« on: April 19, 2010, 01:26:03 AM »

One thing I didn't like about the old maps from way back in the day is when they shrunk the map a little and put it in front of what I referred to as a "carpet background" (simply because it looked like the carpet in the family room - hey, I was a kid!).  I don't know why they did that, and I just don't think it looked good.  Even worse is when they had to switch to animated maps, such as satellites or radars (I guess those would be the only animated maps they had back then), which had to be full-frame, and then they went back to static maps with the carpet background...

Why the heck did they do that?!

(If you need a better example of what I'm talking about - just look at the picture a couple of posts up.  The map isn't full-screen, but rather shrunk a little with a texture background behind it.)

1707

Local Forecast / Re: WeatherSTAR 3000 Videos Found! (From Memphis!)

« on: April 19, 2010, 01:23:50 AM »

I loved those old surface maps.  None of the replacements have been as good, in my opinion.

I did too. Not sure why they don't show them anymore. Guess they're too "complicated" for their current viewers.

You're probably right.  The whole world's trying to cater to the lowest common denominator.  When I just want to know what the weather is, all of the extra bells and whistles don't appeal to me.  After all, it's the weather that's supposed to be providing the "entertainment" value, not the latest capabilities of the newest graphics rendering software.

1708

Everything Else TWC / Re: General TWC Discussion

« on: April 19, 2010, 01:22:22 AM »

You'll survive.   

1709

Local Forecast / Re: WeatherSTAR 3000 Videos Found! (From Memphis!)

« on: April 18, 2010, 09:02:26 PM »

@Martin: You're welcome 
@Aaron:    

I also noticed that the reporting site was Memphis Int'l, now it is Downtown Memphis (see attatchment)

I loved those old surface maps.  None of the replacements have been as good, in my opinion.

1710

Local Forecast / Re: WeatherSTAR 3000 Videos Found! (From Memphis!)

« on: April 18, 2010, 09:01:20 PM »

Wow, that's a neat video. For some reason, I don't think I've seen videos of a real 3000. Still, it seems odd to me that the 3000 converted the temp into centigrade. Sure wish there were videos of a legacy STAR near here

I started watching The Weather Channel in the late 1980s, when there was only the WeatherStar III.  Wow... long time ago.