Rumored Start Date for WHUt-DT in DC

[Peter Parker]

I am a little skeptical of this but I am hearing that WHUT which currently only broadcasts in analog on Ch.32 will start digital broadcasts on Channel 33 (no word on whether in HD or SD or how many digital channel) on November 7, 2007.

Anyone else have any info, rumor or speculation to share?

 

[navychop]

Haven't heard a word. But I'll put this in my calendar, thanks!

 

[Jim5506]

I would think the best source would be to contact the station themselves. I have always had good luck being straight forward with station managers and chief engineers.

 

[Peter Parker]

I guess that our experiences are different. The engineer has not answered and i have made multiple attempts to contact the engineer at another local station----WDCW even using someone else at the station to make contact and heve never received a reply.

i guess we will see but I wondered if anyone else had heard anything.

 

[navychop]

The engineer at WHUT might be a student or employee with a thousand other school duties. They might not have the time for niceties such as replying to customer inquiries.

Some of their stuff interests me, so I'll be quite happy to see them go digital.

 

[Peter Parker]

There is apparently a post at AVS Forums saying that WHUT was given a six month extension in May . I am not sure if that means an extension till this November (six months from May) or to the February 2009 deadline.


http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=793124&page=66&pp=30

 

[navychop]

Oh well, can't say I'm surprised. Just disappointed again.

 

[Cyclone]

I don't see what the interest is in WHUT-DT. Since they are a college station, their HD efforts will likely only be passing through the national PBS-HD feed. So it would likely be a mirror of MPT-HD.

 

[navychop]

But I get WETA "best" and they aren't worth watching. I am quite happy with MPT but reception isn't always as good.

 

[riffjim4069]

But I get WETA "best" and they aren't worth watching. I am quite happy with MPT but reception isn't always as good.

I remember spending a great deal of time watching WETA-DT when I got my first HDTV back in 2002. Although there wasn't much HD on the airwaves, they had the most HD of any broadcaster and their PQ was awesome. Anyway, that was before their decision to multicast 4 SD channels. Even more surprising, they still haven't managed to raise the wattage or height of their DTV antenna - they are simply unwatchable to much of the viewing audience in the DC DMA. To me, this is both sad and confusing since PBS is headquartered in Arlington VA.

 

[navychop]

Yes. MPT certainly is way better than WETA. Of course, I haven't watched WETA in a very long time. Fake HD on a 61" screen teaches you it's better to skip that show, and maybe wait for somebody else to broadcast it in a watchable condition. So I don't even check to see what they'd pumping out.

 

[Peter Parker]

I don't see what the interest is in WHUT-DT. Since they are a college station, their HD efforts will likely only be passing through the national PBS-HD feed. So it would likely be a mirror of MPT-HD.

Well among other things it has a program schedule different from WETA and the the DISH version of the channel has poor PQ. We are basically hoping for a watchable signal from a channel we watch on a regular basis.

 

[navychop]

OTA forever!

 

[Peter Parker]

FWIW I finally received something from the station indicating that the November 2007 launch date looks good. We shall see.

 

[navychop]

Tks

 

[navychop]

The time is nigh. Any more word?

 

[Peter Parker]

Yes. there is another thread. It has been on the air fora few weeks now but it has no PSIP data so my 622 won't tune it but the rest of my digital tuners so.

 

[navychop]

Thanks. Time for me to rescan all my tuners.

 

[Peter Parker]

Because of the PSIP data situation you may have to manually add it. In my case everything but the 622 found it right away---but at 33.1 not 32.1.

FWIW I wrote the station about this but have not received a reply but they are notoriously slow abouty responding.