I got an HD radio for Christmas
I got an HD radio for Xmas... the Sony XDR-F1HD. Here are some observations based on some substantial time spent using the radio and listening to HD radio:
- Not used to a radio taking 5-7 seconds to "boot" when you turn it on.
- HD2/HD3 channels take 5+ seconds to "Link" whenever you change channels. Doesn't really encourage channel surfing.
- The radio runs very hot; I've heard those Ibiquity chips suck power and that's why you're not seeing a walkman HD radio yet. (And that's also why you'll probably never see HD radio in a cell phone.)
- In Bernal Heights (where I live), I can only pick up 15 HD2 channels.
- Public radio, such as KQED, KCSM, KALW all have no HD2
- I'm not really impressed with any of the current HD2 formats here in San Francisco. There is a lot of hiphop, but don't you think most of the audience for that's going to just be downloading MP3 "mixtapes" to their iPods?
- I'm not impressed with the HD2 audio quality; and when more stations add a HD3 that means the main channel will sound the same as the HD2/3 channels - 32kb streams. They sound good for 32kb but there are some strange artifacts that crop up from time to time.
Bottom line: the user experience for me is the worse issue, largely the time it takes to switch channels. The whole tuning scheme is pretty wacky too, you can't just tune across the HD2 channels directly.
If you're only listening to the main channel programs, it's probably a good feature. And for stations like KQED which have terrible coverage (dropouts and multipath) in most of SF, I suspect it's a good solution in the car. But for home use, what's the point. Cable and Satellite TV both have a broader choice of music channels that come with most programming packages.
Not to mention that if you're at home, you have far more choices from Internet Radio!
Labels: hdradio
posted by Rusty Hodge [SomaFM] at
Sunday, December 28, 2008
6 Comments:
Very nice review - you were very honest about this farce!
Hi Rusty,
For my birthday this summer, I got a Roberts Stream 202 radio that does FM, DAB (the digital radio system over here in Europe) and Internet Radio (either wired or Wi-Fi). DAB here is pretty good, although there are not that many stations, and the coverage depends a lot on where you are in the UK. Suffice to say, I spend more time listening to Internet Radio on it, especially as it also support on-demand broadcasts and podcasts. And yes, I have SomaFM's Cliqhop and DroneZone on my presets. :D
I think that there are really three separate and distinct groups when it comes to Radio.
There are some twenty million satellite subscribers. I am not now nor will I ever be one of them. They listen pretty much in their cars. Some do bring the unit into the house. Satellite Radio being profit driven attempts to provide as many niches as possible, so they can really get what they want much more satisfactorily than with terrestrial radio. In the end, though, compared with internet streaming, the number of different satellite stations is pitifully small. To the greatest extent, these people consider being tethered to a computer to be unpleasant.
There are over 140 million internet streaming audio users. I am one of them. I have available to me practically every public and commercial terrestrial radio station in the country and many too many from other countries. But, I also have available to me all of Shoutcast, including Soma.FM, and all of Live365. So, the choices unlike satellite or terrestrial radio are almost limitless. Unlike satellite, with internet streaming I can participate, as I am here, in blogs, forums; I send email and receive email from providers. I do use my 120 gig Zune for music in my car. Or, I listen to one of the three PubRadio stations of which I am a member, if and when there is something to which I want to listen. I support financially in a small way most of the streamers to whom I listen.
Then, there are those who use neither. They are unaware of streaming audio and ignorant about satellite. They listen in their cars to the specific AM and/or FM stations which suite them. When I hear them talk, they seem to be not technically adept.
So, let everyone be happy with their choices.
Hey, Rusty, how are you? I still think that you should put something like your URL on the back of the T shirts.
>>RSM
I have same radio as you, only you have had much better luck with your's than I have had with mine. I live about 40 miles from Boston and can get about 6 FM HD's although usually not all at the same period of time and they don't sound any better than the same stations in analog. I get one AM HD (sometimes, and only during the day) which sounds really bad, it has many artifacts and drop outs. I believe the drop outs on FM would be even worse in a car. In your home you can painstakingly orient your antenna if you really want a certain station.Can you do this in the car? Nope and you are also at the mercy of the turns, buildings, valleys, varying distances, etc. Yes, waiting for it to (maybe) lock in is a real PITA and is one of it's worst problems. I bought mine about 2 months ago, it has been gathering dust since I too investigated it well when I first bought it. If people like me and you get sick of it, can you imagine the normal consumer trying to make it work? No? Me either.
Bob Young
Analog, MA
KB1OKL
Oh incidentally I have Satellite in my car, it's also free at home on the computer (it is to any subscriber) but I usually only listen in the car. There is a very good selection of music on it, many stations have live DJ's and best of all you can drive clear across the US and never experience a drop out or have to change the station if you don't want to. it's very convenient for a car. well worth the money to me, I also listen to analog Am and FM and Internet radio. All have their place, the only useless mode is HD which should be put to death as soon as possible.
Bob Young
Analog, MA
KB1OKL
Why will AM&FM be around a long time? Because they survived the HD Radio Farce. Radio lovers have endured HD promoters' relentless dissemblings about their jamming system. Radio lovers predicted that trucculent HD stooge radios, canned HD2 streams, and jamming would come to naught.
At last, the inane, costly, destructive 'HD experiment' is doing just that. They're turning off HD in Washington. More markets likely will follow.
Yeah, a few HD zealots claim it's to prevent interference to HD exciters, but hasn't been HD's Achille's Heel? Haven't radio lovers long said the jamming prized by BigRadio monopolists would be its undoing? Isn't that the way of every scheme?
HD and not AM&FM, is going the way of the buggy-whip, to use a term familiar to smug HD hawkers.
In southwest Florida, Tampa 820 kindly quit jamming. Who's next?
HD is an example of what happens when government and business 'partner' and foist a defective self-serving product upon citizens in order to artificially 'create' demand.
Paul Vincent Zecchino
Manasota Key, Florida
30 December, 2008
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