Weather channel "local on the 8s" for Dish Network customers?

[Joel Wright]

TWC's "local on the 8s" isn't available for those of us with satellite dishes. This has always been an upside to cable programming. Apparently Dish Network is working on trying to get at least a diluted form of the "8s" for it's customers. From what I've read it seems as though it will not have as many viewer friendly features compared to what cable customers get. Like the slideshow, along with a zoomed in look at the composite radar for that local area.

They're still in the testing phase, so the final product isn't 100% known yet. As a Dish Network customer, I am hopeful that it is at least somewhat like what's available on cable. Even though I rely on the internet for weather information these days, I still miss being able to flip on TWC and see the local forecast.

Has anyone else heard anything about this?

Here's a little more information about it... http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/100223-weather-8s-live.html

 

[Mark Manchester]

I dumped Dish for DirecTV about 3 years ago, but both of them show a national synopsis rather then a local forecast on the "8's". At least that's what Dish used to do. I would prefer something more local myself as well, but since cable isn't even available where I live you take what you can get.

 

[Mike Ridgeway]

I used to be a cable subscriber and remember Local on the 8's, which I did watch religiously during stormy weather. I've had Dish Network for several years, but have to admit, I really don't watch TWC like I used to. But it would be a nice addition for Dish Network. I might even watch TWC more...

Ridge

 

[Gerrit Gulden]

After 3 years without DirectTV or Dish Network I finally jumped back on the Satellite Tv scene in March this year. From having a cable package of 30 channels to moving up to a 500 channel package I cant complain really. As Much as I would like to see Local on the 8s I still dont find myself watching TWC unless there is a tropical storm or hurricane. I rely too much on the internet for my weather info these days, Im sure if Local on the 8s was programmed I would watch TWC more often. hopefully soon enough Dish will get local on the 8s going. For now Im not too worried.

-gerrit

 

[Nick Smith]

I sure do miss seeing this

 

[Josh Murfield]

Wow, that brings back memories. But seriously, I remember their forecasts always being directly from the NWS, but lately- at least in the last few years- the "local on the 8's" is often far different from what NWS is predicting- is TWC doing their own forecasting for all local areas now instead of just taking the NWS forecasts?

 

[Rob Lightbown]

Actually the local on the 8's, I believe, is pulled directly from the GFS model and doesn't use the National Weather Service Office Zone Forecast. This is probably why sometimes there is a big difference between the TWC local forecast and the NWS zone forecast.

 

[Damon Poole]

I use a three prong approach, I use Dish Network for TWC and local TV weather, with the internet, and NOAA Weather Radio as backups. The only problem that happens with Dish, and DirectTV is that the signal is interrupted during storms, but this can usually self correct in a few minutes, or by resetting the reciever. For those occasions when that doesn't work, I have rabbit ears standing by.

I am waiting for the day when they give us Dish people access to the local warnings across the bottom of the screen from TWC, and not the push button dial down mess. At least they do show a watch/warning map during the 8's. TWC should make the software they give the cable systems, available to DirectTV and Dish for inclusion in the recievers, so we can have their alerts. That would be worth more than anything. The next best thing would be to have the EAS alerts from local stations built into the reciever with a programmable chip, similar to NWR-SAME radios. That way only the viewer's local alerts would interrupt satellite programming.

 

[Nick Smith]

TWC has been using their own in-house forecasts on the local forecast (the 36-48 hour text part) since April of 2002. Previously, they only used their own forecast on the regional forecast map and extended forecast (the version with the icons). They also used their own on the travel cities forecast.

From what I've learned, they pull the raw forecast from one or more models, but can fine tune the details.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I sure do miss seeing this

You could always download this: http://www.taiganet.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=275
(from http://www.taiganet.com/)

 

[Terry Tyler]

i just had a similar idea just the other day...and i could make millions...

comcast has a channel that displays the local radar station and the warnings with noaa weather radio playing in the backround...infact...i believe there are two dedicated weather stations on comcast...i have directv, and they have this thing called the 'active' button...and it has some weather maps on there that are pretty cool...

i said, hell...if they got this on here...why not have the ability to choose from all the radar sites in the country and get warnings live on there, so that people who are fixin to get storms can tune into the radar and go to see if they got warnings...

comcast also has warnings scroll on the bottom of the screen...satellite networks do not...so, it could be a new automated channel...

comcast has one...so why not the satellite companys...hell, they could do one better!

 

[Jeff Snyder]

comcast has one...so why not the satellite companys...hell, they could do one better!

Cable companies can carry local coverage that is specific to a particular area (in other words, I, in OKC area, may not be able to get channels that are specific to, say, NYC since the NYC channels are not transmitted in the OKC area). Satellite TV transmissions, however, are broadcast nationwide (so, I CAN receive NYC-specific programming in the OKC area, but it's just blocked by the receiver). The only way to provide local coverage is to transmit it nationally. So, if you want site-specific radar, then the satellite companies would need to transmit each radar on a different channel, which would make for a lot more channels. As far as I know, bandwidth is limited, so in order to make room for radar channels, sat companies would need to reduce the throughput of other channels (which, in turns, means either increasing the compression or removing some channels altogether). Of course, sat companies could remove 1/2 of the channels provided, IMO, given how I don't think I've spent more than a second on them (shopping channels, etc), but ala-carte programming is not the topic of this thread.

Of course, the other option is to use dial-up capabilities that many receivers have to obtain "interactive" content. In such cases, the receiver's modem dials into some network to retrieve specific content (which is why I can get the OKC forecast on Dish Network interactive). However, downloading radar imagery on dial-up, as we know, is quite slow.

Again, this is all based on my knowledge of the satellite TV services, which is not entirely complete. This is how I understand evrything, however.

 

[RodgerHeckman]

Several months ago, I considered going back to cable and dropping Direct TV. I used to like the cable weather services (including the warnings broadcasted on the screen) and missed the easy access to the local wx conditions. However, after deciding to stay with satellite, I upgraded to the Direct TV HD receiver and 5 lnb dish. I was then able to receive "NBC weather plus" a 24 hr weather broadcast network with local and national radars and satellites. Also, the local fox station also broadcasts local it's local radar, radar/sat combo and other various local contitions 24 hrs on a digital subchannel. With these two options, I no longer miss what the cable have to offer regarding their local wx coverage options.

 

[Joel Wright]

You could always download this: http://www.taiganet.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=275
(from http://www.taiganet.com/)

Ahh, that's pretty sweet! I got it up and running now. Works very well. I'm very impressed.

I like how you can configure everything the way you want.

 

[Joel Wright]

You could always download this: http://www.taiganet.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=275
(from http://www.taiganet.com/)

For any of you longtime TWC fans, this is a must have for your computer. This is so cool. I can't believe how much I'm enjoying this.

For those of you who haven't checked it out yet, I'd recommend you do so. Even if you have access to the "local on the 8s" on your TV, it's still pretty cool to launch this whenever you want, and to have it on your computer. You can customize all the cities you want, and arrange them anyway you want. Hell, you can even change the music and the order of the slide shows. It's the format TWC used back in the 90s on their "local on the 8s". Which, in my opinion, was the best software program they used.

For those who were like me, and sort of missed the "old fashioned" local on the 8s, you guys should try this. It takes a little while to set it all up, but it's worth it in my opinion.

Try it out guys!