991 commeth - and still no DAB Digital Radio..

[BigBen]

DavidAL said:

Manks said:

Yes, I am disappointed that the 991 doesn't have DAB. It's all I listen to in the Range Rover and when I get into a car without it I get bored senseless by Radio 1, 2 and Chavital.

Mind you, DAB signal is way patchy - like analogue was in the 60s and 70s.

Thinking about it, when I said that the Hyundai rentals in the states had digital, they did, but from a satellite, not a terrestrial DAB transmitter.. You could hold onto the stations however far you drove, with a pretty constant quality..

It is not DAB it is satellite radio which is a different and unrelated system to DAB. Unfortunately it does not really work for the UK as the area is far too small to justify the cost of launching a satellite (the two US systems (now merged) lost and continue to loose st loads of money despite having millions of subscribers)

The other digital system in the US which is more like DAB is called HD Radio which is broadcast alongside AM and FM signals but is not that widely used and the receivers are expensive.

Ben

[lonefurrow]

supermono said:

don't worry labour's 'bankrupting the country' plan was derailed last summer, i doubt money will continue to be hosepiped away on vanity projects like phasing out analogue any more.

SM

Repurposing the FM spectrum actually makes the government loads of money, as it will be sold off, so it will go ahead - question is just when. The body responsible is aiming for 2015 - I know this from listening to The Media Show on a BBC R4 podcast a week or so ago :-)

I agree that it is ridiculous that this may go ahead with a majority of cars on the road unable to pick up any radio. When the time comes, just get a government petition together...

[pistonheed]

Technically you can get the digital signal for the radio if you spec the TV option as it receives DAB stations. It costs 1044 but for eg BMW charge £315 for DAB and force TV when selected at £870 Totalling £1185.

They will likely offer DAB radio for second generation 2015-2016.

[Pesty]

Martian O said:

I don't listen to the radio anyway, too many DJ's trying to fill in a 12 second gap. And the sheite adverts..............

iPod/peace-and-quiet/exhaust sound any day!

But you may if you had dab. I have it uin my car and there are a lot of different stations to listen to without moyles being a on them.

[Manks]

pistonheed said:

Technically you can get the digital signal for the radio if you spec the TV option as it receives DAB stations. It costs 1044 but for eg BMW charge £315 for DAB and force TV when selected at £870 Totalling £1185.

They will likely offer DAB radio for second generation 2015-2016.

A bit of information on this. I looked into retro-fit TV for my 991 to get DAB and it IS possible. Problem being that it's DAB transmitted over TV wavelenghts and not ALL channels are available. The good news is that all but one of the channels I listen to are availabe. The bad news is that XFM, which is what I listen to most, is absent.

[DJFish]

The problem with DAB is that it lacks the feedback and depth of background information that you get from the radios in older cars......

[Manks]

DJFish said:

The problem with DAB is that it lacks the feedback and depth of background information that you get from the radios in older cars......

Do you think that DAB takes away the one thing that made radio great? Does DAB seem a bit numb in comparison?

[doozy]

[quote=DavidAL]How many folks will think twice about buying a car on the 2nd hand market in a few year's time that does not have a functional radio.. ?
quote]

yeah........if i sourced a Porsche with the right spec the radio could be a deal breaker.......NOT !

[Lowtimer]

I spend a lot of time on the motorways and A-roads, and have always listened to various BBC radio channels a lot, both on the road and around the house. I like my DAB at home. So, a couple of years ago, when I moved on my old BMW E39 5-series for a nearly-new E91, I was convinced I wanted, nay, needed DAB. But it turned out I was wrong. What I actually wanted instead is what I have; an MP3 player that jacks into the car, and a piece of software called Radio Downloader (it's an open-source thing). It pulls stuff off the iPlayer streams and saves them to your hard disk.

I have the laptop set to automatically record the regular programmes that I like, and once a week I have a skim through the schedules to pick up any one-offs that I want. Then it's a simple file copy from the lappie to the MP3 before a long journey, and Ican listen to all my week's favourite radio at a time that actually suits me, rather than when it's actually broadcast. And always better quality than real life reception - no DAB garble / dropouts and no FM hiss.

Best of all, I swapped out the ancient head unit on the old 944 Turbo for a Becker with an MP3 and USB input, and I use the same setup in the Porsche as in the BMW. Suits me down to the ground. Still have FM for the news, of course, but I am not at all sure that FM is realistically going to get switched off in favour of DAB as we currently know it. DAB is an outdated standard which is not used anywhere else as far as I know. I think we will lend up with some other digital broadcast audio standard in the UK, eventually.

Edited by Lowtimer on Friday 23 March 18:53

[Manks]

Lowtimer said:

I spend a lot of time on the motorways and A-roads, and have always listened to various BBC radio channels a lot, both on the road and around the house. I like my DAB at home. So, a couple of years ago, when I moved on my old BMW E39 5-series for a nearly-new E91, I was convinced I wanted, nay, needed DAB. But it turned out I was wrong. What I actually wanted instead is what I have; an MP3 player that jacks into the car, and a piece of software called Radio Downloader (it's an open-source thing). It pulls stuff off the iPlayer streams and saves them to your hard disk.

I have the laptop set to automatically record the regular programmes that I like, and once a week I have a skim through the schedules to pick up any one-offs that I want. Then it's a simple file copy from the lappie to the MP3 before a long journey, and Ican listen to all my week's favourite radio at a time that actually suits me, rather than when it's actually broadcast. And always better quality than real life reception - no DAB garble / dropouts and no FM hiss.

Best of all, I swapped out the ancient head unit on the old 944 Turbo for a Becker with an MP3 and USB input, and I use the same setup in the Porsche as in the BMW. Suits me down to the ground. Still have FM for the news, of course, but I am not at all sure that FM is realistically going to get switched off in favour of DAB as we currently know it. DAB is an outdated standard which is not used anywhere else as far as I know. I think we will lend up with some other digital broadcast audio standard in the UK, eventually.

Edited by Lowtimer on Friday 23 March 18:53

Thanks for the heads up. What I would add is that I like listening to radio as it happens, it's personal thing.

I presumed that the reason Porsche omitted DAB was because its future was unsure and that it doesn't work everywhere. But FM channels are crap; I find myself flicking from Radio 1 to Capital to Gem to Kemmet (local outfit) and its all terrible.

[Zyp]

I thought you would me more a R4/Woman's Hour type, Manks.

Kemmet..Crapital.... just appalling...

[Manks]

Zyp said:

I thought you would me more a R4/Woman's Hour type, Manks.

Kemmet..Crapital.... just appalling...

I do like R4, but little of the music they play is fast or uplifting enought to enjoy Launch Control.

[Adam B]

anniesdad said:

isuk said:

The latest PCM units do have Bluetooth Audio which allows wireless MP3 connection.

That's good. Is this standard?

good one