AM/FM and the Digital Switchover
Discussion
This news article just popped up on my homepage, now I had no idea that part of this Digital Switchover included the shutdown of AM/FM transmitters meaning that tens of millions of home stereos and apparently around 20million car radios will be rendered obsolete by 2015 unless these units are upgraded with ones that support DAB...
I know that Audi (and I'm sure many other manufactures) offer DAB as a cost option £345 on an anything up to an A8/R8 when I assume it is standard equipment, surely by now all manufacturers should be supplying their cars with DAB Receivers as standard?
What happens to those who own cars where the headunit can't be swapped for a stupid, tacky looking aftermarket item that'll pick up DAB signals?
What happens if, like me, you live in an area where the DAB signal is pretty much non-existent because you live on the side of a hill in a nice big valley?
I'm a very unhappy chappy.
I know that Audi (and I'm sure many other manufactures) offer DAB as a cost option £345 on an anything up to an A8/R8 when I assume it is standard equipment, surely by now all manufacturers should be supplying their cars with DAB Receivers as standard?
What happens to those who own cars where the headunit can't be swapped for a stupid, tacky looking aftermarket item that'll pick up DAB signals?
What happens if, like me, you live in an area where the DAB signal is pretty much non-existent because you live on the side of a hill in a nice big valley?
I'm a very unhappy chappy.
Waugh-terfall said:
This news article just popped up on my homepage, now I had no idea that part of this Digital Switchover included the shutdown of AM/FM transmitters meaning that tens of millions of home stereos and apparently around 20million car radios will be rendered obsolete by 2015 unless these units are upgraded with ones that support DAB...
I know that Audi (and I'm sure many other manufactures) offer DAB as a cost option £345 on an anything up to an A8/R8 when I assume it is standard equipment, surely by now all manufacturers should be supplying their cars with DAB Receivers as standard?
What happens to those who own cars where the headunit can't be swapped for a stupid, tacky looking aftermarket item that'll pick up DAB signals?
What happens if, like me, you live in an area where the DAB signal is pretty much non-existent because you live on the side of a hill in a nice big valley?
I'm a very unhappy chappy.
1. you have 5 years to think about it.I know that Audi (and I'm sure many other manufactures) offer DAB as a cost option £345 on an anything up to an A8/R8 when I assume it is standard equipment, surely by now all manufacturers should be supplying their cars with DAB Receivers as standard?
What happens to those who own cars where the headunit can't be swapped for a stupid, tacky looking aftermarket item that'll pick up DAB signals?
What happens if, like me, you live in an area where the DAB signal is pretty much non-existent because you live on the side of a hill in a nice big valley?
I'm a very unhappy chappy.
2. there are plenty of small/hideable DAB receivers which send FM to your stereo.
edo said:
Waugh-terfall said:
This news article just popped up on my homepage, now I had no idea that part of this Digital Switchover included the shutdown of AM/FM transmitters meaning that tens of millions of home stereos and apparently around 20million car radios will be rendered obsolete by 2015 unless these units are upgraded with ones that support DAB...
I know that Audi (and I'm sure many other manufactures) offer DAB as a cost option £345 on an anything up to an A8/R8 when I assume it is standard equipment, surely by now all manufacturers should be supplying their cars with DAB Receivers as standard?
What happens to those who own cars where the headunit can't be swapped for a stupid, tacky looking aftermarket item that'll pick up DAB signals?
What happens if, like me, you live in an area where the DAB signal is pretty much non-existent because you live on the side of a hill in a nice big valley?
I'm a very unhappy chappy.
1. you have 5 years to think about it.I know that Audi (and I'm sure many other manufactures) offer DAB as a cost option £345 on an anything up to an A8/R8 when I assume it is standard equipment, surely by now all manufacturers should be supplying their cars with DAB Receivers as standard?
What happens to those who own cars where the headunit can't be swapped for a stupid, tacky looking aftermarket item that'll pick up DAB signals?
What happens if, like me, you live in an area where the DAB signal is pretty much non-existent because you live on the side of a hill in a nice big valley?
I'm a very unhappy chappy.
2. there are plenty of small/hideable DAB receivers which send FM to your stereo.
Is the sound quality as good as they say? (Or does it use a low bit-rate and over compressed/limited signal)
Will the reception be better than FM in all cases?
ETA And will they ever get the power consumption down to FM radio levels?
Edited by Poledriver on Monday 29th March 22:30
Poledriver said:
edo said:
1. you have 5 years to think about it.
2. there are plenty of small/hideable DAB receivers which send FM to your stereo.
And can you select the stations you want from the existing unit?2. there are plenty of small/hideable DAB receivers which send FM to your stereo.
Is the sound quality as good as they say? (Or does it use a low bit-rate and over compressed/limited signal)
Will the reception be better than FM in all cases?
I'd imagine them to work like those FM iPod adapters, I bought one, used it once, it was s
t, not touched it since!markCSC said:
Not very environmental is it, having to scrap 20 million working radios.
its a total blubberment rip off. Its more like 50 - 100 million radios. The VAT income from new models will fill the coffers for years to come. I really cant see the need. Everyone is happy with the radio they have. Following the BBC decision to do away with BBC6 it would seem to be the thin end OF the wedge as far as radio stations are concerned.Plus the fact that we adopted DAB whereas, as far as I know , the rest of mainland Europe went for DAB+. Many areas still struggle to get poxy Freeview let alone a DAB signal....Pathetic
E31Shrew said:
markCSC said:
Not very environmental is it, having to scrap 20 million working radios.
its a total blubberment rip off. Its more like 50 - 100 million radios. The VAT income from new models will fill the coffers for years to come. I really cant see the need. Everyone is happy with the radio they have. Following the BBC decision to do away with BBC6 it would seem to be the thin end OF the wedge as far as radio stations are concerned.Plus the fact that we adopted DAB whereas, as far as I know , the rest of mainland Europe went for DAB+. Many areas still struggle to get poxy Freeview let alone a DAB signal....Pathetic
Many of the existing DAB radios will be useless before long anyway, when the encoding/compression changes. I don't envisage seeing any year soon a DAB radio that will cost £3, fit into something the size of a box of matches and run for a month on 2 cells. Even with the best ultra efficient processors and decoding hardware we are way off the mark. DAB, like ID cards, is something the government wants, but nobody else needs.
I was going to post about this but had a busy day at work. This is terrible legislation and an absolute disaster for listening to the radio in the car. An ex-colleague of mine had a DAB in his car and it was woeful - it kept dropping out of signal all the time. The difference with DAB losing signal is that it just cuts out, rather than hearing a bit of interference.
Poorly thought out, poorly executed disaster waiting to happen.
Poorly thought out, poorly executed disaster waiting to happen.
My Cowon MP3 has DAB built in but oddly it won't work when I'm in work on the 21st floor of a tall building - possibly due to all the transmitters on the roof though oddly it works during, for example, the Christmas holiday. Consequently, the reason I bought it is negated. Mind, it used to just cut out so you had to reset the unit, now it just transmits nothing. I can get Planet Rock though.
Waugh-terfall said:
shutdown of AM/FM transmitters meaning that tens of millions of home stereos and apparently around 20million car radios will be rendered obsolete by 2015 unless these units are upgraded with ones that support DAB...
Oh... I didn't know about this either. Seems a bit stupid to me really, what is the point of DAB, most DAB radios have the most pathetic speakers so you'll never notice the difference, even if they were good, I doubt many would notice the difference. It's not like digital tv where the difference is blatantly obvious for all to see.I rarely listen to the radio in the car, I've got my CDs but it's nice occasionally. But like you I don't fancy changing my radio for some stupid flashing lights, look at me rubbish which are the only ones you seem to be able to buy these days. I like my radio, it matches all the buttons on my dash and plays CDs, it even tells me the song titles. I don't want to change it, and why should I be forced too??
petrolveins said:
I like my radio, it matches all the buttons on my dash and plays CDs, it even tells me the song titles. I don't want to change it, and why should I be forced too??
The Government said:
Because you are a cash-cow, and we need to fill a big hole in our finances. We're all for saving the environment, but only when it suits us, and we can tax you because of it.
Bitter? Me?Fetchez la vache said:
petrolveins said:
I like my radio, it matches all the buttons on my dash and plays CDs, it even tells me the song titles. I don't want to change it, and why should I be forced too??
The Government said:
Because you are a cash-cow, and we need to fill a big hole in our finances. We're all for saving the environment, but only when it suits us, and we can tax you because of it.
Bitter? Me?I have just had a Pure Highway DAB hard fitted into my S4, it hides in the glovebox with no wires showing or exposed buttons.
It's wired into the Aux in socket and I just switch to CD changer mode to listen to the DAB.
As for accessing buttons.... as I can receieve Planet Rock on DAB I have never ever needed to press any buttons on the unit since I bought it.
It's wired into the Aux in socket and I just switch to CD changer mode to listen to the DAB.
As for accessing buttons.... as I can receieve Planet Rock on DAB I have never ever needed to press any buttons on the unit since I bought it.
There was a piece about this on Radio 4 last year and it caused quite a heated debate.
This is to give us more choice (ie 1000s of channels of crap) but mainly to sell off frequency bandwidth.
It appears that there will be several systems, so that if you travel abroad a lot your DAB may not be compatible with other countries.
'He' also mentioned that there will still be a limited analogue service and this will be used for local community broadcasts.
When the caller said if thats the case then why not use it for major stations like Radio 4, he was not amused.
Personally, I cannot really see the point. Plus a LOT of people are going to be more out of pocket. Not just cars but all the home radios and even some mobiles have an FM radio built in.
This is to give us more choice (ie 1000s of channels of crap) but mainly to sell off frequency bandwidth.
It appears that there will be several systems, so that if you travel abroad a lot your DAB may not be compatible with other countries.
'He' also mentioned that there will still be a limited analogue service and this will be used for local community broadcasts.
When the caller said if thats the case then why not use it for major stations like Radio 4, he was not amused.
Personally, I cannot really see the point. Plus a LOT of people are going to be more out of pocket. Not just cars but all the home radios and even some mobiles have an FM radio built in.
If it happens. DAB was implemented before it's time, there is better tech out now but the problem is whether we switch and relegate all the current DAB receivers to the dustbin. Another massive own goal from the government that keeps telling us to be more "green" then.
On a more practical note, you could record a CDR of your favourite commercial radio station and play it on a loop. I doubt it'd be much different.
On a even more practical note, I expect by 2015 you'll be streaming internet radio via your cellphone anyway.
On a more practical note, you could record a CDR of your favourite commercial radio station and play it on a loop. I doubt it'd be much different.
On a even more practical note, I expect by 2015 you'll be streaming internet radio via your cellphone anyway.
I suspect the vast amount of static (home, office etc) based radio is going to jump onto Internet streams. It will have higher bitrate audio than DAB and much easier to integrate additional functions. Pedestrian/cyclists may well move to 3G type streamed radio as 'free' packaged data becomes the norm. That leaves cars. The USA has the right idea, satellite radio. Massively more choice than DAB, with more consistent coverage.
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