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Christmas time and where is the portable HD radios?

OK, awhile back Mike anf RFBurns and Clouseau and others all mentioned we'd have HD portables by Christmas of this year?

Well where are they? Where are all the electronics houses making these units and stocking these units in the electronics stores?

Guess what? There won't be any this year or next year or perhaps ever, so much for all the chip innovations in HD radio they discussed and professed that would happen and make HD radio fit into cellphones, Ipods, iPhones, etc.

I've been away from the area and back again and HD radio in Florida is a laugh at best!

Radiopilot
 
radiopilot said:
OK, awhile back Mike anf RFBurns and Clouseau and others all mentioned we'd have HD portables by Christmas of this year?

Well where are they? Where are all the electronics houses making these units and stocking these units in the electronics stores?

Guess what? There won't be any this year or next year or perhaps ever, so much for all the chip innovations in HD radio they discussed and professed that would happen and make HD radio fit into cellphones, Ipods, iPhones, etc.

I've been away from the area and back again and HD radio in Florida is a laugh at best!

Radiopilot

Have you been reading here or anywhere?

The new chips are due out 2Q next year (2008) this has been common knowledge around here for atleast 4 months.

Last year the cry was "where is Vista?" This year; "where is iboc?"

Lino
 
You've gotta hand it to the HD Cabal...oops, Alliance and iBiquity for their marketing savvy!

Perfect timing: those swell new portable HD device(s) will be clogging clearance tabl.....sorry, flying off retail shelves just in time for THAT "THIRD WEEK IN MAY" SHOPPING SEASON!

No question: porta-HD is at least as eagerly, hungrily anticipated as the Vista OS!
 
Savage said:
You've gotta hand it to the HD Cabal...oops, Alliance and iBiquity for their marketing savvy!

Perfect timing: those swell new portable HD device(s) will be clogging clearance tabl.....sorry, flying off retail shelves just in time for THAT "THIRD WEEK IN MAY" SHOPPING SEASON!

No question: porta-HD is at least as eagerly, hungrily anticipated as the Vista OS!

Probably not, oh sarcastic one but it will in-time work it's way into the mainstream, leaving some folk's station's perhaps sounding a little dated?

Lino
 
Not only did I not say it, I didn't HEART (that portables would be available by Christmas of this year). From the beginning, I'd heard that the chips would be available early next year, with actual products available by warm weather. Show me where I said that! Hell, I've forgotten a lot, but I'm pretty damn sure I didn't forget THAT!
 
BTW, Mike, nice coverage in the Winston-Salem paper. It was an interesting and pretty well-written piece that even-handledly laid out the IBOC case. Obviously you spent some time with that reporter making sure he understood the technical ramifications. It's a tough concept for many lay people to grasp. Good job!
 
radiopilot said:
OK, awhile back Mike anf RFBurns and Clouseau and others all mentioned we'd have HD portables by Christmas of this year?

Since the 9mm low power consumption chips (Samsung et. al.) have been announced for Q1 2008, there was no way, ever, to have a portable this year. If shipping starts in Q2, we will not see portables until well into 2008.
 
Savage said:
BTW, Mike, nice coverage in the Winston-Salem paper. It was an interesting and pretty well-written piece that even-handledly laid out the IBOC case. Obviously you spent some time with that reporter making sure he understood the technical ramifications. It's a tough concept for many lay people to grasp. Good job!

Agreed. Nice job, Mike. I wish they would have talked to someone like you for the other side, Bob.

Mike I have to agree. I be durn'd (is that a word) if I remember EVER saying OR hearing there would be portable HD for this Christmas. I seem to recall a "we hope to hear about a chipset by the end of the year" type thing, but radios? Not yet. I Am of the opinion we might very well see them next year, though.


Clouseau
 
Play Freebird said:
radiopilot said:
Well where are they? Where are all the electronics houses making these units and stocking these units in the electronics stores?

Believe it ot not, hdradio.com has a simple solution: just receive HD programming on-line! (with an Internet-capable mobile phone that decodes streaming audio):

http://www.hdradio.com/the_buzz.php?thebuzz=253

Why bother trying to make IBOC work on the AM band when it's this easy?

WHat does AM HD have to do with HD-2? Have I missed something?

Clouseau
 
"Just stream radio on a cell phone". Well, there are some problems with that. FIRST, high-quality audio is data-intensive, and requires an expensive data plan. Rather than 12.99 a month as with satellite radio, or FREE as with HD radio, you're talking prehaps 60 dollars per month(!)

I listen to lots of internet radio (I even have an internet station at http://www.onetooneradio.com ) on my wi-fi equipped PDA (Dell Axim X51v), but wi-fi isn't available EVERYWHERE. The much heralded "wi-max" is practically unavailable, and when it is, it sure won't be free. So it's really not a comparison. How much better is HD (or any terrestrial) radio? I explained it to my wife this way. Imagine there had never been terrestrial radio, that to this point we had only received radio online wired to cable or dsl, or over short distances wi-fi. Then along comes (ta-da!) RADIO! Suddenly you can take music/talk/news/sports with you ANYWHERE...the car, while you jog, the country, on a train, even a ship at sea! Wouldn't THAT seem like an enormous technological leap forward? ;)
 
LinoNYC said:
Last year the cry was "where is Vista?" This year; "where is iboc?"

Awful!!! Hey - I'm no fan of IBOC, but give the IBOC advocates a break and don't compare it to VISTA!!!! That is cruel and unusal punishment for them --- considering Vista's track record of crashes, incompatibilities, shameful security holes, and now an upcoming service pack. A little TOO close to home for those IBOC folks.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Since the 9mm low power consumption chips (Samsung et. al.) have been announced for Q1 2008, there was no way, ever, to have a portable this year. If shipping starts in Q2, we will not see portables until well into 2008.

But - what will the portables cost? Practically nobody but shortwave enthusiasts will pay $200 for a portable radio. If they can get it in the $30 to $40 range, it might compete with existing models.

One break for portables - unless you are talking about walkmans, stereo is not a requirement. So just have decent sounding mono HD-1, HD-2 for FM and decent sounding AM mono in a $30 to $40 portable and people might buy it for the HD-2 channels.
 
rbrucecarter5 said:
But - what will the portables cost? Practically nobody but shortwave enthusiasts will pay $200 for a portable radio. If they can get it in the $30 to $40 range, it might compete with existing models.

We have no idea on cost. But when you have huge companies like Samsung coming in, the cost will start declining fast. Hey, it took portable CD players 7 or 8 years to reach the $100 point when $100 was worth quite a bit more. The important thing is whether the prices go down and that the chipset solve the problems of the early generations on sensitivity... my third generation gets AM and FM as far as the useful analog coverage area, so there is hope.
 
Mike Walker said:
"Just stream radio on a cell phone". Well, there are some problems with that. FIRST, high-quality audio is data-intensive, and requires an expensive data plan. Rather than 12.99 a month as with satellite radio, or FREE as with HD radio, you're talking prehaps 60 dollars per month(!)

Nokia, and at least one other cell phone manufacturer (can't remember who) are doing it. http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/UKM04203122007-1.htm

I don't know if anyone will buy it, but I'll bet they do.
 
rbrucecarter5 said:
But - what will the portables cost? Practically nobody but shortwave enthusiasts will pay $200 for a portable radio. If they can get it in the $30 to $40 range, it might compete with existing models.

One break for portables - unless you are talking about walkmans, stereo is not a requirement. So just have decent sounding mono HD-1, HD-2 for FM and decent sounding AM mono in a $30 to $40 portable and people might buy it for the HD-2 channels.

The real breakthroughs in portables will be when there's an HD equipped version of the RCA Superadio #7887, in the under $100 range, an HD/DRM equipped version of the CCRadio SW (variant of the Kaito KA-2100) in the under $200 range, and an HD equipped version of the Sangean DT200VX in the under $100 range. Just one person's humble opinion.
 
Dighton Rockhead said:
The real breakthroughs in portables will be when there's ... an HD/DRM equipped version of the CCRadio SW (variant of the Kaito KA-2100) in the under $200 range ... Just one person's humble opinion.
Now that's something I'd want for Christmas! ;D
 
Just think of it: Sometime in the not so distant future......
Pastor Peter J. Peters, Harold Camping, and Brother Stair......OOPS!......almost forgot Alex Jones......twice as frightening in crystal clear fade-free DRM SW... :D

Sleep tight, everyone.
 
The current KA2100 has an if output that can be connected to a DRM decoder. You can decode DRM in software on a PC. I may get a 2100 just so I can experiment with DRM (if I can find any stations!)

That Nokia announcement is interesting, but it ain't about convenience. It's about COST (of bandwidth on a mobile device). The new VIP mobile software from Live365 is convenient too. But every time I fired it up, I was greated with the warning "streaming music is data-intensive, and can be expensive, depending upon your plan. Consult your cell phone provider". I selected "don't show this message again", since I run the sofware on my PDA, not a "smartphone". Still, I've never been greeted with a comparable warning (that listening might be expensive) when listening to a radio!
 
Mike Walker said:
The current KA2100 has an if output that can be connected to a DRM decoder. You can decode DRM in software on a PC. I may get a 2100 just so I can experiment with DRM (if I can find any stations!)

Looks like an interesting product. In NC, you should be able to receive strong DRM signals on 9800 kHz from Sackville; a schedule is available at:
http://www.rcinet.ca/rci/PDF/drm.pdf

I've been able to decode these transmissions with the DReaM software, using a convention general coverage receiver and homebrew 455 to 12 kHz IF converter.

Have you seen the website with detailed pictures of the KA2100's innards? See:
http://hkradioer.googlepages.com/rp2100
 
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