Digital Radio

[XMan101]

Ok, I'm a little old fashioned, but I have more radios than the average family!

Latest news is they're trying to push to get all national radio off FM and onto digital here in the UK by 2015 (I think it is). Might be even earlier.

What do you all think of this?

My view is a resounding Noooooooooooooooo!!

In the UK's case they probably just want to sell the FM band to somebody, as they will with TV.

 

[Thor]

hmmm, we went digital with TV this week in USA, are you on digital there in UK?

and I say Nooooooooooooooo too, to digital radio!!! and TV!! lol

 

[sweetuttsada]

what will happen if they change it to digital?

 

[garth33]

hey X...I don't know what digital radio is...in the US we have sattelite radio which is pretty cool (subscription payments like cable tv for ABOUT 100+ channels of commercial-free music, talk, comedy, you name it!) Ever hear of this?

 

[XMan101]

We don't have the same as the USA but we have satelite TV. I have a satelite box but I watch very little TV these days.

For music the best stations are on the internet for me, but otherwise I'm a big fan of talk radio, especially the BBC's Radio 4. A unique station that isn't just news, it's a complete blend of plays, quizz shows, comedy, doentaries, serious news programmes etc.

If we go all digital I won't be able to walk through the house with it on in every room.

Sweet - digital is a differrent form of broadcasting, some comes via satelite, some is land based but you need a clear line of sight to get it effectively. It means having a new radio to receive it. They cost more at the moment, and I have so many "proper" radios!

Digital isn't as much fun. You either receive the whole thing or you get nothing. With FM the weather conditions can make it interesting and the signal can travel further, even if it fades, so sometimes you can pick up stuff that you can't normally, even better on AM (medium wave). That used to be fun some years ago.

I'll bet the FM band gets flooded with pirates if they take the big stations off - yayy!! (As long as they don't play dance music or rap LOL )

 

[exim]

People feel short changed with Digital - although you'd expect the quality to be crisp and clear on DAB - it's not! low bitrates (even lower than the dvb-t or dvb-s equivilant), plus the compression stations add - it just isn't great in comparison to a good reception FM.

If they give more bandwith to the broadcast it may be a worthy contendor in my book, but at the moment it's just not good enough.

Some interesting info here:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/dab/digital_radio_bit_rates.htm

 

[slimjim]

Well you can forget digital radio if you want to take it outside or be mobile - the power consumption of most of the sets is frightening. The set I've got takes 6 of the chunky LR20/Type "D" batteries and it eat's them. I get typically between 5 to 6 hours of use from them so its a long extension cable if it's an afternoon of sport in the garden.