Is HD radio dead?

kenny911

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Nov 4, 2004
929
1
Michigan
There was a push to make it mainstream last year and even all the radio stations in my area would say that they were broadcasting in HD radio. Now I don't hear any of those promos anymore and little news has come out. It sounded like a neat idea at first (improving the sound of am stations) and I was seriously considering buying an HD radio for home use but now I'm not interested.
 
well there is still a big push for HD Radio, more and more radio stations are starting to broadcast in HD. Its also cheaper than satillite because there is no subscription fee and its commercial free. If you are looking to get a HD radio for your car you should check out Dice Electronics. They make kits for your factory radio so you dont have to buy another aftermarket radio. I have one for my Toyota and I love it, it works great and sounds wonderful.
 
I still hear the local ClearChannel stations pushing it HEAVILY. (I don't have it yet, and am not sure I want to, since I have XM).
 
Not Dead at ALL

There was a push to make it mainstream last year and even all the radio stations in my area would say that they were broadcasting in HD radio. Now I don't hear any of those promos anymore and little news has come out. It sounded like a neat idea at first (improving the sound of am stations) and I was seriously considering buying an HD radio for home use but now I'm not interested.

I listen to my HD Radio everyday here in the Detroit metro area. Still here the stations, FM and AM, promoting it heavily.
 
Here in Connecticut, it appears to be going down a bit, three stations which had subchannels were not broadcasting them the last time I checked. (All Clear Channel stations)

The subchannels were the main reason I purchased the radio.
 
I think they suffered a setback when it was published that the HD radios were second rate- not very sensitive, I think.

HD radio: Hybrid Digital. Not High Definition.
 
In our area a couple of stations have turned it off due to x-mitter issues. I have an component IBOC tuner someone got me for my b-day a few months back, but it has since been relegated to the garage. The analogue sound is still better. If you hook a IBOC/HD radio to a large system, you can really tell the compression on those streams.

Also IBOC capability are being added to a few home units like the new ones coming out from Onkyo.

I think they suffered a setback when it was published that the HD radios were second rate- not very sensitive, I think.

HD radio: Hybrid Digital. Not High Definition.
 
Ibiquity and CC is dumping all kinds of $$ into it to promote it. But it's dying. One station in our area have turned off their IBOC. Another it's been offline for about 3 weeks. I emailed one of them and the station's engineer said the new owners were not going to pay the high licensing fees to continue broadcasting "HD" and will return not it to the signal. Fry's in our area has also discontinued caring the Sangean HDT-1 and sold what was in stock for a little over $100. The technology is borked and should had more work on the drawing board before being put to market.

HD Radio is a farce !

How do they make it a free service that is commercial free? Where does their money come from?
 
It's not a farce, but it's not terribly useful either. The trouble with HD is that it requires such a good signal to noise ratio for the digital signal to "lock in" that the advantage disappears. I have a Radiosiphy receiver and even with full strength signals the HD rarely locks on. When it does, it sounds great, but it rarely does.

Another big problem is that they seem to turn off the HD signal at night. If it worked with a relatively weak signal after dark they'd have something. Unfortunately, I'm still stuck with fading and heterodyne whistles. Oh well....
 

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