High Definition FM. What's the story with that?

[markw]

One of my favorite stations is adopting this and I just heard about this?

http://www.wbgo.org/ontheair/HD.asp

Was I asleep or what? I see where it's available in car stereos and some "table" radio sets but 'm surprised I don't see any home audio receivers/tuners offering this. I don't think I've even read where they plan to.

Is this another answer to a question that nobody asked, like AM stereo was?

Personally, I'm curious about this. In my area there's quit a bit of action on hte FM band and if they can get away from compression and start using decent sources t hen I see that as a good thing.

Of course, if they kill off the FM band it'll be a moot point.

[Woochifer]

HD Radio is relatively new, but a surprising number of radio stations have already begun their HD broadcasts. The Yamaha RX-V4600 I know has a HD radio tuner (which is somewhat odd because the newer RX-V1600/2600 only include XM satellite radio tuners), and I've already seen the Boston Acoustics HD Receptor table top radio as well.

HD radio has totally flown under the radar with all the publicity that satellite radio and HDTV have gotten. But, some OTA broadcasters see HD radio as their ace-in-the-hole because it's a step up in sound quality and signal reliability, and I think that the FCC is allowing radio station owners to simulcast multiple feeds on the HD radio channels. For example, if you have a favorite radio station, you could have several different streams to choose from when you tune into that station.

Obviously, the eventual goal with HD radio, as with HDTV, is to eventually free up the broadcast spectrum currently used by AM and FM. But, I doubt that will happen for a very long time. There are just too many radio tuners out there, and unlike with TV where the majority of them are already connected to satellite or cable, almost all radio listeners use over-the-air tuners. If anything, the net effect just might be to make broadcast radio more competitive with satellite by increasing the signal quality and allowing for more listening options.

[markw]

Of course, for that to happen the hardwarde mfgs will have to embrace this technology and start releasing products that will support it. They seem to be pushing (gasp!) satellite radio. I wonder if/when we'll see mass market HDFM components start appearing in the bigboxco stores of the world.

Being from NYC, I would invest in a popularly priced tuner just to seee how it is. WBGO, a local PBS station, does quite a credible job with their analog signal. It's gonna have to be quite an improvement to make me prick up my ears on this one.

I wonder if the BA recptor has line level outputs?

[Woochifer]

Of course, for that to happen the hardwarde mfgs will have to embrace this technology and start releasing products that will support it. They seem to be pushing (gasp!) satellite radio. I wonder if/when we'll see mass market HDFM components start appearing in the bigboxco stores of the world.

Being from NYC, I would invest in a popularly priced tuner just to seee how it is. WBGO, a local PBS station, does quite a credible job with their analog signal. It's gonna have to be quite an improvement to make me prick up my ears on this one.

I wonder if the BA recptor has line level outputs?

I think it will eventually become standard issue on the hardware side, especially if hardware costs and backwards compatibility aren't huge issues. This isn't like AM stereo where you had four competing standards, and even with stereo sound, none of the usual shortcomings of AM got fixed.

But, it also seems that satellite radio hardware is marketed more heavily (makes sense because XM and Sirius make more of their money on the subscription side). I think that if the major radio stations start simulcasting multiple channels, then they might try to create demand for HD radio, since local multicasting is one way that they can try to keep listeners from defecting to satellite.

The size of the radio audience has been in continuous decline since the 1996 telecommunications reorganization, but conversely the value and profits from radio have skyrocketed as ownership consolidates (and quality of programming tanks). At some point, the station owners have to increase or at least maintain the size of the audience to maintain the profitability of those operations, especially with competition from satellite radio heating up. If they start promoting their HD radio broadcasts, then we might see some traction in the market.

I have a feeling that eventually, you'll start seeing tuners that can handle HD radio, XM, and Sirius at the same time. That would give listeners the most choices (I can easily see people subscribing to both XM and Sirius, since both networks have a lot of exclusive programming).

My hope is that with HD radio allowing for station owners to do multicasting, the airwaves can finally break out of the restrictive and repetitive formats that have been developed over the last decade. Or at the very least, some forum can open up that will allow for more adventurous and non-mainstream music (or just plain new music, rather than the same jukebox playlist over and over) to get airplay.

[nightflier]

Some other respected players in the HD-radio camp:

- Arcam (Diva DT91)
- Cambridge Audio (Azur 640T)
- Rotel (RT-1084 HD)
- Day Sequerra (M2 & M4)

Of course, these aren't inexpensive, and if HD Radio is going to take off, they better start offering less expensive options, particularly for those who already have a complete sound system and just want to add HD radio. I just can't imagine anyone is going to spend $600+ just to add clearer FM reception. And to answer the other question, BA does not offer RCA in/out.

So either XM/Sirius are doing everything they can to keep manufacturers from adding HD Radio to their product lines (a good possibility), or Ibiquity, the company that's pushing HD Radio in N. America is sitting on its hands (they certainly haven't been working very hard the last two years). And I am a little skeptical of a single company like Ibiquity having sole control over what is still (and that could also change), a publicly owned medium.

What ever happened to competition in the market place? Have our politicians completely given up on fair market practices?

OK, I'll get off my soapbox now...

[Woochifer]

Some other respected players in the HD-radio camp:

- Arcam (Diva DT91)
- Cambridge Audio (Azur 640T)
- Rotel (RT-1084 HD)
- Day Sequerra (M2 & M4)

Of course, these aren't inexpensive, and if HD Radio is going to take off, they better start offering less expensive options, particularly for those who already have a complete sound system and just want to add HD radio. I just can't imagine anyone is going to spend $600+ just to add clearer FM reception. And to answer the other question, BA does not offer RCA in/out.

I still think it's very early in the game to start making assessments about HD radio. The hardware has only been available since late-summer, but from what I understand, there are already several stations that have launched HD radio broadcasts. Look at how long it's taken XM and Sirius to start making inroads into the market. The HD radio hardware will go down in price as production ramps up.

So either XM/Sirius are doing everything they can to keep manufacturers from adding HD Radio to their product lines (a good possibility), or Ibiquity, the company that's pushing HD Radio in N. America is sitting on its hands (they certainly haven't been working very hard the last two years). And I am a little skeptical of a single company like Ibiquity having sole control over what is still (and that could also change), a publicly owned medium.

What ever happened to competition in the market place? Have our politicians completely given up on fair market practices?

OK, I'll get off my soapbox now...

I don't know. Like I said, at some point in time, I can see receivers featuring HD radio, XM and Sirius in one unit. It just makes too much sense for someone not to attempt it sometime in the future.

As far as competition goes, the last thing you want on the airwaves is competing incompatible standards. The way that I'm reading it, Ibiquity developed the HD radio standard, it got approved, and they're now licensing the format to hardware manufacturers and broadcasters. This is no different than when dbx and Zenith won federal approval for developing the broadcast stereo TV standard. Their MTS system won out over other proposals because it offered up the best audio performance and included the SAP secondary audio channel. They had the best proposal, and they've reaped the licensing revenues for stereo TV. If more than one format got approved, then TV makers would have had to license all of them, or force consumers to choose one over the other, with the risk that whatever format they go with could eventually die in the market thus making their hardware investment obsolete. Even though Betamax and VHS competed in the market for years in the U.S., they both used the same NTSC video standard.

Or more recently, the HDTV standards were adopted in 1992. Even with one unified broadcast standard, it's still taken this long for HDTV to almost reach mass acceptance. With more than one competing broadcast standard, just think about how messy a situation we'd have if all of the major networks each went with their own proprietary HDTV standard, and none of the hardware was compatible (different pixel and screen ratios, and levels of resolution).

The situation of AM stereo allowed for competition, by approving four different formats. Ultimately, it just created a mess in the market because hardware manufacturers had to license all four formats in order to guarantee that listeners could hear all available stereo AM broadcasts. Not all of them did. I remember that the OEM radios on Toyotas only included two of the four AM stereo formats. Ultimately, AM stereo failed because none of the formats overcame the inherent sound and interference problems with AM.

[markw]

...to wait and sit this one out for a while. I don't see this as worthy of a major investment as of yet. I'm a firm believer in the trickle down theory in audio. I'll wait for the dust to settle and more hardware to become commonly available.

When the hardware becomes reasonably priced and available I'll look for a moderately priced tuner or radio (Tivoli?) that will allow me to sample this and jack it into my main systems.

In the meantime, I'm blessed with a few pretty good analog FM stations but, a LOT of dreck as well. I do welcome more choices but there's something in me that refuses to pay for OTA programming.