Looking at the Best buy adds and I see one on sale for $80. I like the fact that it shows the name of the artist and song...so I can look it up on the internet and download it later. But other than that, should I expect a improvement over regular FM radio?
Anybody tried "HD radio"?
- Thread starter Badbeams3
- Start date
Help Support Candle Power Flashlight Forum
I've been researching the topic but haven't experienced it yet.I heard HD radio does not necessarily mean better sound. The bitrate is not guaranteed to be any better than FM.
Evidently it takes too much juice to receive and D>A the signal. Anything portable is not small...
This one is not small...component size. http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8910315&type=product&id=1217633559969 The reviews seem mixed.
jayb79
Newly Enlightened
The sound quality is noticable better, if you are close enough to the station to get the HD signal. I have a JVC HD radio in my car and the range of the HD signal is a lot less then you may think, about 1/2 of the range of a good fm signal. But i do like the sound quality enough so that i have upgraded to latest model in my car and put my old HD car radio in the garage.
If you are researching HD, it is worth reading this:
The Truth About HD Radio
Just a snippet....
:tinfoil:
The Truth About HD Radio
Just a snippet....
:tinfoil:
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StarHalo
Flashaholic
I predict that all the newer radio formats (HD and satellite) will be completely overrun and defunct within a couple of years as WiFi/internet radio grows swiftly in popularity. The stand-alone units aren't currently cheap (~$300, it would actually be more frugal and efficient to buy a similarly priced netbook/mini-notebook computer), but as hardware prices continue to drop, and more people become aware of what's possible with the format, it will inevitably be the radio of choice very soon.
Wattnot
Enlightened
I've played with it in cars I test drove but noticed no real difference. Then again, I was paying attention to a lot of different things and didn't really give HD radio too much attention.
PhotonWrangler
Flashaholic
Other than one one advertised at Best Buy, try and find an HD radio in a brick & mortar store.
Finally found one? Good. Now try to get it to actually work in HD mode in the store. Of the few stores where I've actually found one ont of the box, some of them don't have an external antenna connected, and those that do only have the crummy loop antenna that comes with the radio.
For every single HD radio that I've actually tried out in a store, I've had zero success picking up an HD signal.
In short, the retailers are blowing it big time. I've almost bought an HD radio several times but wound up walking away because I couldn't get the !$*# thing to work. :shakehead
Finally found one? Good. Now try to get it to actually work in HD mode in the store. Of the few stores where I've actually found one ont of the box, some of them don't have an external antenna connected, and those that do only have the crummy loop antenna that comes with the radio.
For every single HD radio that I've actually tried out in a store, I've had zero success picking up an HD signal.
In short, the retailers are blowing it big time. I've almost bought an HD radio several times but wound up walking away because I couldn't get the !$*# thing to work. :shakehead
Mike Painter
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2002
- Messages
- 1,863
Radio, we don't need no stinkin' radio. Slacker shows what radio can be and Hulu shows what TV will become.
Both are free for now and probably will remain so with low cost premium offereings. Hulu has 30 and 15 second commercials. I can hardly get a glass or water in that time so have watched more commercials in the last year then ever before.
Dish is still a better buy than cable but it's gone up about $20.00 a month in about a year for what I used to watch.
StarHalo
Flashaholic
My point exactly - with a netbook/mini-notebook, you have a radio that will play any source from any location in any format - if it's an audio stream and it's on the internet, it will play it. Many good dedicated webradios are pretty close to this functionality, but inevitably this is where it's all heading..
Flying Turtle
Flashaholic
I would be sorely disappointed if my collection of cheap and SW radios was obsoleted. Half the fun is spinning the dial and not knowing what you'll find. It's bad enough what's being done to TV far as I'm concerned. I'm thrilled HD radio is not catching on.
Geoff
Geoff
Steve K
Flashlight Enthusiast
My local NPR station broadcasts extra material on the "extra" channels that HD permits, so I bought a HD tuner for that purpose. It's a Sony XDR-F1, and it's an excellent tuner, both for HD and conventional broadcasts. The list price is $100.
As others have mentioned, the HD content requires more signal strength than a conventional FM broadcast. If you aren't getting a strong signal now, you may not get anything with HD (it's all or nothing, like digital TV).
The Sony tuner is really a digital radio, utilizing some fancy DSP chips. This does eat up more power than a simple analog radio, so I don't expect to see it showing up in small portable radios anytime soon.
regards,
Steve K.
RyanA
Flashlight Enthusiast
+1 on that. I completely agree.
StarHalo
Flashaholic
Agreed, and I think traditional analog radio will also outlive the HD and satellite fads. AM/FM will be around until there's a nationwide form of WiFi, and the cost of a car Wifi radio falls under ~$100.
SW is anybody's guess, there's already an HD/digital version of it (DRM) that isn't very popular/widespread (and causes interference with standard SW signals), but there are a lot of third world and dictatorial countries that hardly have computers let alone digital broadcasts.
flashy bazook
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2007
- Messages
- 1,139
The future of a lot of media, not just radio, seems to be up for grabs.
The idea that wi/fi plus internet ratio stations will outshine terrestrial (HD maybe) radio is not for sure.
The courts gave the right to music corporations to charge payments to internet radio stations that are very punitive, and there is speculation most of these will just shut down.
In a related matter, I was shocked to find that a Blu-Ray player I installed on my computer refused to play a purchased Blu-Ray DVD saying that my video card was not approved. Even if I shelled out the cash to change my (perfectly good and expensive) video card, I found info. on the internet that my computer monitor might also not be found sufficient and the Blu-Rae would still refuse to play.
I was in Best Buy the other day and overheard a conversation between a sales-man and a lady asking about DVD players. The sales-man told her to get the Blu-Rae since it was the latest and the others were being phased out. In other words, over time, all DVDs will become like the one in my computer, playing approved DVDs on approved video cards on approved monitors only.
So back to the HD radio, you might think you can escape to the internet radios via wi/fi, but if the average person pays little attention to DRM issues, which seems to be the case, we are all doomed over time.
Oh, and one more thing, satellite ratio is now one company, with Sirius having bought XM. The radio mini-TIVO's, as a result, haven't improved one bit over the past year - year and a half. You are still very limited in the amount of hours you can record. And why is this? A combination of a lack of competition now in the satellite "industry" (can you call an "industry" a single company?) and pressure from the big music corporations.
In summary, enjoy what freedom you have now with music (and TV shows and movies), as it will continue to diminish over time.
The idea that wi/fi plus internet ratio stations will outshine terrestrial (HD maybe) radio is not for sure.
The courts gave the right to music corporations to charge payments to internet radio stations that are very punitive, and there is speculation most of these will just shut down.
In a related matter, I was shocked to find that a Blu-Ray player I installed on my computer refused to play a purchased Blu-Ray DVD saying that my video card was not approved. Even if I shelled out the cash to change my (perfectly good and expensive) video card, I found info. on the internet that my computer monitor might also not be found sufficient and the Blu-Rae would still refuse to play.
I was in Best Buy the other day and overheard a conversation between a sales-man and a lady asking about DVD players. The sales-man told her to get the Blu-Rae since it was the latest and the others were being phased out. In other words, over time, all DVDs will become like the one in my computer, playing approved DVDs on approved video cards on approved monitors only.
So back to the HD radio, you might think you can escape to the internet radios via wi/fi, but if the average person pays little attention to DRM issues, which seems to be the case, we are all doomed over time.
Oh, and one more thing, satellite ratio is now one company, with Sirius having bought XM. The radio mini-TIVO's, as a result, haven't improved one bit over the past year - year and a half. You are still very limited in the amount of hours you can record. And why is this? A combination of a lack of competition now in the satellite "industry" (can you call an "industry" a single company?) and pressure from the big music corporations.
In summary, enjoy what freedom you have now with music (and TV shows and movies), as it will continue to diminish over time.
I have the Sony XDR-F1 in my shop and I had to put a big 8' dipole out on the deck to feed it (only a $10 item to make yourself). The pair work really good together and I get 30+ digital clear stations with it. The sound quality is very good, way past analog FM. In a good car system you may not hear the difference but on a high quality stereo the difference is like CD to FM. The secondary stations offer up a lot of diversity.
BTW, the Sony processor is slow slow slow. Takes about 5 seconds to lock into a station. :thinking:
Cheers
Dave
BTW, the Sony processor is slow slow slow. Takes about 5 seconds to lock into a station. :thinking:
Cheers
Dave
KC2IXE
Flashaholic*
When I spin the dial, I know what I'll find - more junk - every station the same 3-4 formats, all playing junk (NYC is a radio wasteland, as everyone fights for that .1 share because .1 in NYC is so large)
KC2IXE
Flashaholic*
SW changes BIG time sometime in the next couple of years, when the big European stations have to leave the 40m band. The othre HUGE threat to SW is BPL (Broadband over Powerline), which sounds great, until your realize that they are putting digital signals over miles long unbalanced electrical wires - aka antennas. They can wipe out whole chunks of the short and medium wave bands
Big_Ed
Flashlight Enthusiast
I've always enjoyed searching the AM dial in the car at night. It was always fun getting stations from Texas or Georgia up here in Northern Illinois.
Flying Turtle
Flashaholic
Love playing with the car radio, too. During baseball season I regularly sit in the car and listen to Pirate games on KDKA 1020. Sometimes I can catch Steeler games from a West Virginia station (1170, I think).
Geoff
Geoff
