Jump to content

Disappointed with HD radio


Recommended Posts

I was really excited about the prospect of getting HD radio. I love WRIF and WCSX and thought it would be so cool to have a 2nd channel from each of them. Boy, was I wrong. Yes, those channels are commercial free but the songs they tend to play on them are lame IMO. I find the regular FM stations sound just as good (in fact they sound awesome) so I don't hear an advantage there either. I am however, really enjoying the Sirius free 6 month subscription. I love the Lithium channel and several others. I have filled 2 of the 3 screens with channels I enjoy. So this is not what I expected. I am very pleased with the sound of the THX stereo too. I love playing the theme song for it for people too...it really shows off what the radio can do.

I know there are some folks on here from Michigan. What's your thoughts on HD radio??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was really excited about the prospect of getting HD radio. I love WRIF and WCSX and thought it would be so cool to have a 2nd channel from each of them. Boy, was I wrong. Yes, those channels are commercial free but the songs they tend to play on them are lame IMO. I find the regular FM stations sound just as good (in fact they sound awesome) so I don't hear an advantage there either. I am however, really enjoying the Sirius free 6 month subscription. I love the Lithium channel and several others. I have filled 2 of the 3 screens with channels I enjoy. So this is not what I expected. I am very pleased with the sound of the THX stereo too. I love playing the theme song for it for people too...it really shows off what the radio can do.

I know there are some folks on here from Michigan. What's your thoughts on HD radio??

 

Well, HD is a misnomer - it's really just digital radio and just like digital TV it doesn't guarantee great content. It will take years for broadcasters to figure out how to use HD radio optimally and to put more investment into the equipment. Remember right now HD Radio is an additional cost but probably doesn't add any revenue yet (just like HDTV originally).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am very pleased with the HD radio. HD radio quality REALLY depends on your location and population density. I am in South Florida (West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami) I actually get MORE HD channels than regular channels. Each HD channel get 3 total subchannels. I have a great diversity of music flavors and the quality is great. I usually listen to Sirius or my USB stick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the most part, FM stations are importing music from national services for the HD music channels, and that music is relatively low bit rate MP3. To add to that, if the station is broadcasting more than one HD channel, the broadcast digital bit rate is further reduced. Considering all of this, the music sounds better than perhaps it should.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the most part, FM stations are importing music from national services for the HD music channels, and that music is relatively low bit rate MP3. To add to that, if the station is broadcasting more than one HD channel, the broadcast digital bit rate is further reduced. Considering all of this, the music sounds better than perhaps it should.

 

Exactly like HDTV 10 years ago. Stations were broadcasting a HD signal but the content was older 4:3 standard definition upconverted to HD and it looked terrible. And the ones who were broadcasting true HD sources were also multicasting the SD channel taking bandwidth from the HD channel causing pixellation, etc. This happened with the NBC summer olympics but I can't remember which year.

 

HD Radio simply provides a digital transport mechanism - it doesn't guarantee the quality of the content broadcast over that transport mechanism. And just like DTV until the stations turn off their analog systems HD radio will probably not get the investment and attention to meet its full potential.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

So, how do you tune the HD2 HD3 etc? The manual say you can do it with the Seek button, but the seek button only jump from memory to memory, also say that one can use the command HD # but that doesn't work either... Any clues?

 

Thanks.

 

When you're on the first HD channel (like say WCSX in Detroit is 94.7), you wait until the HD light comes on. Then just simply push the + manual tune button and it'll take you to 94.72 Hope that helps. As another poster says, once you've locked onto that new station, you can save it just like any other station.

 

And, I do want to say that WCSX's programming is not bad. WRIF's blows like I can't imagine. Boy do they need to fix that.

Edited by richy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...