According to a press release today, BA has discontinued the radio, saying it is "at the end of it's product life." http://www.radioworld.com/pages/s.0121/t.7140.html
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BA Receptor Discontinued
- Thread starter Chuck
- Start date
This isn't news. We have known this for 3+ months now.
Shows how much in the know you all really are.
Shows how much in the know you all really are.
MasterTheseus said:
Gee, and I just said some nice things about you. All I did was quote the press release and post a link with no personal editorial content. While YOU may have known about it for some time, I'll bet that most people who read these boards were unaware of it.
According to Radio World, it is news.
Chuck said:
"It could decide to make a replacement and updated HD-R unit, or not, which would be a troubling indicator for IBOC."
Great catch, Chuck ! Well, this has just confirmed what we have known all along - HD is DOA ! I'm jealous - wish that I had been the one to have the privilege posting this milestone !
Chuck said:
Makes one wonder why the pro-HD guys are not defending their cherished HD radio products they devoutly protected in the past.
Radiopilot
MasterTheseus said:
And, you represent Sangean ?
PocketRadio said:MasterTheseus said:
And, you represent Sangean ?
Probably because after the HDT-1X that might be it's last HD radio product.. who knows this HD Radio stuff surely isn't going anywhere... maybe they could launch an HD iphone similar product if they could just steal some Apple engineers! ;D
Radiopilot
radiopilot said:PocketRadio said:MasterTheseus said:
And, you represent Sangean ?
Probably because after the HDT-1X that might be it's last HD radio product.. who knows this HD Radio stuff surely isn't going anywhere... maybe they could launch an HD iphone similar product if they could just steal some Apple engineers! ;D
Radiopilot
Somehow I think they'll have a hard time making an iphone with a car battery attachment and a diapole antenna attachment. It would be pretty funny to see if they did! Oh yeah.. Let's not forget that it wouldn't work very well in buildings and other structures. Maybe we aught to wrap ourselves in aluminum foil and stand on top of our head so we can get those wonderful HD2 channels! iBiquity has a long ways to go before this stuff really moves out of the geekdom and vaperware stage.
D
dbdigital
Guest
Chuck said:
And this is something that continues to puzzle me, why there doesn't seem to be much of a committment from CE manufacturers for HD Radio. They float out one or two lackluster products and see if the public 'bites'. The public doesn't respond (or respond enough) and the manufacturers pull the products. It's as if they want HD-Radio to fail.
Plus HD-R itself seems to be a work-in-progress. Someone comes up with a new feature and suddenly that HD-Radio you just bought is obsolete. After all, didn't the very first HD-Radios not permit receiving "stations between stations?" The public deserves a more mature technology than this.
I'm trying hard not to put down HD-R and, who knows, with the new Samsung chips maybe some interesting products will finally emerge. Maybe BA is waiting for these chips.
But, hands down, this has got to be the worst managed roll out of a new technology I have ever seen. A supreme textbook example of what NOT to do.
db
E
EbolaMonkey
Guest
Ladies and Gents, I'm still sayin', get rid of the HD-2's on FM. Give us full bitrate FM HD and wideband C-Quam on the same radio.
If the FCC made that standard, we'd have a good think going.
Re: BA Receptor Discontinued-Hurray!
The story is dated 7/11/07 so it seems your criticism and wrath should be directed toward Radio World and not Chuck.
http://www.radioworld.com/pages/s.0121/t.7140.html
Since, as you say, the discontinuance of the HD Receptor is over three months old, stores still have large numbers of HD Receptors warehoused and on hand, then doesn't it seem logical that since BA HD radios aren't selling, there is little interest, and there will be no replacement Boston Acoustics HD radio?
MasterTheseus said:
The story is dated 7/11/07 so it seems your criticism and wrath should be directed toward Radio World and not Chuck.
http://www.radioworld.com/pages/s.0121/t.7140.html
Since, as you say, the discontinuance of the HD Receptor is over three months old, stores still have large numbers of HD Receptors warehoused and on hand, then doesn't it seem logical that since BA HD radios aren't selling, there is little interest, and there will be no replacement Boston Acoustics HD radio?
EbolaMonkey said:
Amen.
I would really like to see Kahn's independent sideband stereo AM supported, as it is the most stable and compatible (most people have 2 radios).
While we are dreaming up standards, how about some DSP that recognizes powerline frequencies and harmonics,
to cancel/soft-mute such QRM and impulse reduction for QRN?
Tuned RF amp stages must become a standard for semiconductor designs.
Tube pentagrid converter radios did well with no RF amp ahead of the converter because the tube gave CONVERSION GAIN.
Semiconductors designs lack this advantage, and their lower input impedance lowers the Q of input circuit feeding it.
There is every good reason to give people a "treble" control that varies IF bandwidth for AM.
This would about double the choices for the listener who uses AM in the traditional sense, which ignores distances and markets but
tunes for content.
Of course these traditional users are unmeasured, as they have no purpose in the business and market end of radio.
However, the success of the GE Superadio and others like it shows that these people wanted to buy a better radio because they
used AM in that wide-area traditional sense.
Well, at least I can say I heard the BA Receptor picking up 3 AM HDs inside a Tweeter store with no problem at all.
But they were all 50kw at under 5 miles.
Re: BA Receptor Discontinued-AS PREDICTED!
HD supporters are here to sell you on today's new HD radio, and not the large numbers of yesterday's HD radios that remain in warehouses unsold.
Just a short while ago one of the HD supporters was here claiming Radio Shack was all sold out of HD radios. This proves that HD supporters are desperate and will say anything to peddle this problematic, unwanted, defective, HD radio technology.
radiopilot said:Chuck said:
Makes one wonder why the pro-HD guys are not defending their cherished HD radio products they devoutly protected in the past.
Radiopilot
HD supporters are here to sell you on today's new HD radio, and not the large numbers of yesterday's HD radios that remain in warehouses unsold.
Just a short while ago one of the HD supporters was here claiming Radio Shack was all sold out of HD radios. This proves that HD supporters are desperate and will say anything to peddle this problematic, unwanted, defective, HD radio technology.
dbdigital said:
It's not just the CE manufacturers who are to blame here. You can point lots of fingers, but the largest and last one you point has to be pointed at the radio industry.
Last weekend...in about two and a half days...Apple managed to sell half a million iPhones. Each one runs $400 or more, and comes with a commitment to cell-phone service via AT&T (otherwise known as a continuing cost). The buzz created by Apple over their latest gadget made the initial roll-out of the iPod look tame by comparison. Apple has the script down pat. No one HAD to have an iPhone. There's nothing in the iPhone that two or three separate gadgets together don't provide to the user. But Apple made the iPhone a must-have, in a matter of weeks. Stories in the press about long lines at Apple and AT&T stores occurred everywhere that AT&T does business.
Radio's greatest strength used to be how to promote itself. Apple laid it all out for them as to how to create a buzz about HD Radio, and so far radio is falling flat on its face. No matter how good, bad or indifferent the HD radios are, there's no buzz, no demand, no must-have attitude out there, and it's radio's fault. The on-air promos are a joke, there's no advertising to speak of in any other media, no talk on the street, the 'net or anywhere else. The few news stories you see about HD Radio parrot press releases which anyone who's actually heard HD Radio will tell you are a load of horse manure (otherwise known as "don't promise what you can't deliver" or "don't lie to me"). Yet the industry goes on its merry way, thinking that interference-prone AM-HD and economically-doomed FM-HD are going to be their salvation. (Note how the radio industry is deluding itself into believing that doubling or tripling the number of FM radio stations is going let the business remain economically viable. Where do they expect all these new listeners to come from, when young people stopped using radio a generation ago and don't have the habit?) They keep sinking millions of dollars into something for which they can't even create a demand. Radio has been around much longer than Apple Computer. They have this new product...they're letting it die...and they're letting this young upstart steal their thunder.
As a veteran of nearly 40 years in radio, I'm appalled at how utterly clueless these people are. At its present rate of speed, HD radio is going exactly nowhere. Someone needs to slap these people up-side the head and knock some sense into them. They have something to promote. Get with the program, morons. You spent millions of dollars to transmit digital signals...and at the moment, it's all going to waste.
As usual, "Dumber" has summed up the situation very succinctly.
I've go to admit that Master Theseus' rather curt response has dampened my enthusiasm a bit for his product. It was probably a poor PR move on his part, but we all have bad days. Still, it is one thing to state an opinion, but there is no need to belittle anyone, especially someone who has repeatedly stated that I think his company makes fine products, and so far Sangean's receivers seem to be the best HD radios available. Oh well...
Speaking of the HD cheerleaders, We haven't heard from either Mike or RF in the last couple of days. I don't really think they are the bad guys that some of you suppose. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. We probably all have more in common than we like to admit. I'm sure that everyone on this forum has a real love for radio, regardless of their point of view. In fact, I like to think we'd all have a pretty good time solving the problems of the world over a few beers.
Do you suppose they boycotting the site?
I've go to admit that Master Theseus' rather curt response has dampened my enthusiasm a bit for his product. It was probably a poor PR move on his part, but we all have bad days. Still, it is one thing to state an opinion, but there is no need to belittle anyone, especially someone who has repeatedly stated that I think his company makes fine products, and so far Sangean's receivers seem to be the best HD radios available. Oh well...
Speaking of the HD cheerleaders, We haven't heard from either Mike or RF in the last couple of days. I don't really think they are the bad guys that some of you suppose. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. We probably all have more in common than we like to admit. I'm sure that everyone on this forum has a real love for radio, regardless of their point of view. In fact, I like to think we'd all have a pretty good time solving the problems of the world over a few beers.
Do you suppose they boycotting the site?
vsa said:Chuck said:
The rumor is that Mike and R.F. have been off-line for several days while iBiquity installs a new software upgrade. They should be back up and running shortly. I kinda miss them.
Perhaps they are out on 'HD Radio patrol' wearing their orange jumpsuits promoting HD radio. ;D
Kidding aside, they did provide some balance if not good debate to counter ours, my only problem was when they felt they 'lost' on any debate they commanded the management to remove, censor, TIO, etc. on views they didn't want to hear because it put to much damper on HD goodness. Now that is not a good thing!
Radiopilot
dumber than a box of hair said:
I think the problem is that the business is now largely controlled by clueless investment bankers and other "money people", rather than entrepreneurs with a "hands-on" broadcast background.
Look back 45 years to the infancy of FM Stereo, a technology that has succeeded so well that it's now a worldwide standard. Although Zenith and GE developed the system, it was really the independent FM owner-operators that understood its potential to take listeners away from AM, for example Jim Gabbert at KPEN/KIOI, Dave Kurtz and Jerry Lee at WDVR, John B. Reynolds at WJBR, Xen Zapis, Saul Levine, etc. These individuals had true passion for the medium and took a personal role in promoting the benefits of stereo.
One problem today is that "the corporate decision-makers" don't want to increase their operating budgets to properly support the HD radio initiative. Purchasing the equipment is OK because Wall Street expects to see some "capital investment" each year, but when it comes to funding additional programming and promotions staff, or increasing engineering support to make sure the HD equipment is operating properly, they don't want anything to do with that.
Re: BA Receptor Discontinued-Hurray!
I appologise for what seems to have taken on a negative tone. Perhaps I am too new to the board to say things in jist. Sometimes I forget that I have not been posting for months on this board as I have others.
With that being said, the reason I have a hard time getting our HD Radios into retailers is because of the BA. I won't say it was a bad product, because it wasn't, it just suffered some deficiencies. I am also willing to admit that several of our products have in the past and that the BA suffers more from being the first and that has no, if any reflection on the overall product offering of BA. They are a great company with great products, this one just missed.
As is mentioned on other boards, being the first can sometimes help, but it can sometimes hurt. Based on where HD Radio was when that first introduced that radio I am not too surprised. We at least had the binefit of waiting nearly a year to fine tune before release. I have no doubt that if they tried again they would succeed.
SUPERCASTER said:
I appologise for what seems to have taken on a negative tone. Perhaps I am too new to the board to say things in jist. Sometimes I forget that I have not been posting for months on this board as I have others.
With that being said, the reason I have a hard time getting our HD Radios into retailers is because of the BA. I won't say it was a bad product, because it wasn't, it just suffered some deficiencies. I am also willing to admit that several of our products have in the past and that the BA suffers more from being the first and that has no, if any reflection on the overall product offering of BA. They are a great company with great products, this one just missed.
As is mentioned on other boards, being the first can sometimes help, but it can sometimes hurt. Based on where HD Radio was when that first introduced that radio I am not too surprised. We at least had the binefit of waiting nearly a year to fine tune before release. I have no doubt that if they tried again they would succeed.
Re: BA Receptor Discontinued-NO SURPRISE!
They are testing portable AM HD pocket and handbag radios with triangular HD AM loop antenna, digital HD radio tummy text display, and fashionable new jumpsuits.
http://www.reason.com/UserFiles/Image/tinky%20winky.gif
radiopilot said:vsa said:Chuck said:
The rumor is that Mike and R.F. have been off-line for several days while iBiquity installs a new software upgrade. They should be back up and running shortly. I kinda miss them.
Perhaps they are out on 'HD Radio patrol' wearing their orange jumpsuits promoting HD radio. ;DKidding aside, they did provide some balance if not good debate to counter ours, my only problem was when they felt they 'lost' on any debate they commanded the management to remove, censor, TIO, etc. on views they didn't want to hear because it put to much damper on HD goodness. Now that is not a good thing!
Radiopilot
They are testing portable AM HD pocket and handbag radios with triangular HD AM loop antenna, digital HD radio tummy text display, and fashionable new jumpsuits.
http://www.reason.com/UserFiles/Image/tinky%20winky.gif
Re: BA Receptor Discontinued-Hurray!
Apology cheerfully accepted. I'm glad that you've dropped by this board and I hope you will be a frequent visitor.
I do have a lot of respect for Sangean’s products. I even have an analog version of the BA sitting next to my bed, so I tend to think both companies are good ones. The clock on my Analog BA keeps awful time (is this an industry wide problem?) but otherwise it is a very fine radio. Obviously, the HD version was not so wonderful. That is part of the price you sometimes pay for being first.
The reported "bugs" with the HDT-1 are nothing that would keep you from using it as a radio. At worst they might be mildly irritating to radio geeks, but to most of the buying public, they are more or less non-issues. I say that speaking as a "radio geek."
If there was only a way to keep the HDT-1 in the "always on" mode" I'd love to try them on some FM translator installations. I'm very impressed with its sensitivity and selectivity, and even more so with its ability to reject adjacent channel interference. If HD catches on, that will become an increasingly desirable feature.
MasterTheseus said:
Apology cheerfully accepted. I'm glad that you've dropped by this board and I hope you will be a frequent visitor.
I do have a lot of respect for Sangean’s products. I even have an analog version of the BA sitting next to my bed, so I tend to think both companies are good ones. The clock on my Analog BA keeps awful time (is this an industry wide problem?) but otherwise it is a very fine radio. Obviously, the HD version was not so wonderful. That is part of the price you sometimes pay for being first.
The reported "bugs" with the HDT-1 are nothing that would keep you from using it as a radio. At worst they might be mildly irritating to radio geeks, but to most of the buying public, they are more or less non-issues. I say that speaking as a "radio geek."
If there was only a way to keep the HDT-1 in the "always on" mode" I'd love to try them on some FM translator installations. I'm very impressed with its sensitivity and selectivity, and even more so with its ability to reject adjacent channel interference. If HD catches on, that will become an increasingly desirable feature.
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