Here is a link to the backround leading to HD Radio

[SUPERCASTER]

http://www.engberg.com/pdf/fm_extra/2260_fin.pdf
Codecs and quality of FMeXtra are equal to HD Radio.
CODEC LIST FOR DIGITAL RADIO TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS:
DAB MPEG 1 Layer 2
DMB MPEG 4 HE AAC (aacPlus)
DVB-H MPEG 4 HE AAC (aacPlus)
DRM MPEG 4 HE AAC (aacPlus)
HD Radio MPEG 4 HE AAC (aacPlus)
FM eXtra* MPEG 4 HE AAC (aacPlus)
Internett WMA, MP3, RA, MPEG 4 HE AAC (aacPlus)
3G MPEG 4 HE AAC (aacPlus)
World Space MPEG 1 Layer 3
XM Radio MPEG 4 HE AAC (aacPlus)
Sirius Satelite Radio PAC
Rely MPEG 4 HE AAC (aacPlus)

 

[Chuck]

What does it for me is this quote:

"We strongly believe that digital conversion is essential to long-term survival of the
radio industry. We see competitive pressure coming from alternatives such as SDARS,
3GPP, WiMax; you name it, the list goes on and on. It has nothing to do with CD-quality
audio, though; it’s all about the content choice. We believe our system accomplishes
the goal of digital conversion to increase content choice without making hundreds of
millions of radios obsolete. FM radio is one of the few true worldwide communication standards, and we’d like to see it stay that way. Our roadmap from the existing stereo subcarrier today to a wideband digital “superinjection” subcarrier,
while preserving analog mono indefinitely, with or without IBOC, is seamless."

The down side, as I see it is he also states that reliable coverage with FMeXtra could extend to the 60 dbu contour under current rules. That's not very far. A lot of car radio listening happens in the 45-50 dbu (or lower) areas. Circles being what they are, that is a tremendous amount of area that might not be covered.

 

[SUPERCASTER]

Coverage similar to iBiquity/HD Radio/IBOC (really Out of Band Adjacent Channnel) without the adjacent channel interference, equal fidelity, and simpler, lower cost radios, very low cost conversion (no new transmitters or antennas) for stations, and no license fees, all sounds like a real winning combination.
There is no need for iBiquity/HD Radio's defective, outdated, expensive, incompatible, inferior technology.

 

[Chuck]

Coverage similar to iBiquity/HD Radio/IBOC (really Out of Band Adjacent Channnel) without the adjacent channel interference, equal fidelity, and simpler, lower cost radios, very low cost conversion (no new transmitters or antennas) for stations, and no license fees, all sounds like a real winning combination.

The promised coverage seems to be about the same, but I’m not sure that the radios would be any simpler. I believe that both systems use AAC+ compression, so it is highly likely that radios could be designed to work compatibly with either system at very little difference in cost. You might not need to choose one standard over the other when you buy a radio. I'm reasonably sure that the big deal is in software, not hardware. DSP chips are fairly generic these days. I‘m told that the Texas Instruments HD Radio Chip is really a relabeled standard DSP product.

Since most people don't have much problem with the quality of their analog FM broadcasts, they'd probably just listen as usual. The additional digital channels could be used for alternative formats, just like HD. I can think of applications for that, especially in the non-commercial realm. I still haven't figured out why a commercial broadcaster wants to compete with himself with a noncommercial HD format. I realize that it is a long term plan, sowing seeds for the future, but at the moment it looks more like a plan to make HD radio stick, for whatever reason. That is most likely because the members of the HD Alliance have serious funds in Ibiquity, and want to protect their investments.

 

[autopaint-1]

"I still haven't figured out why a commercial broadcaster wants to compete with himself with a noncommercial HD format."

The non commercial aspect of current HD broadcasts will disappear when it become economically viable to sell the HD 2 and 3 channels. At this point it is still very mch experimental. In NY they've given a 2 year vlock of time before commercials appear on HD 2's

 

[autopaint-1]

"I still haven't figured out why a commercial broadcaster wants to compete with himself with a noncommercial HD format."

The non commercial aspect of current HD broadcasts will disappear when it become economically viable to sell the HD 2 and 3 channels. At this point it is still very mch experimental. In NY they've given a 2 year block of time before commercials appear on HD 2's

 

[Chuck]

The non commercial aspect of current HD broadcasts will disappear when it become economically viable to sell the HD 2 and 3 channels. At this point it is still very mch experimental. In NY they've given a 2 year block of time before commercials appear on HD 2's

Yeah, I know, but I think this is something that could easily backfire on traditional broadcasters. To be blunt, if people are listening to your noncommercial HD feed, they aren't listening to your primary commercial channel. That's the one that pays the bills. The only way that will work is if HD actually brings a lot of people back to radio who havent been listening recently. It would be nice if it did, but I'm not banking on it. It seems to me that technology is giving the listener a lot more choices. Some of those choices are not radio as we currently know it. HD is going to have to be really good if it can increase audience numbers. I just don't see that happening. There are too many other distractions. Technology alone will not save radio (and I run a radio station). But giving people something they want to listen to might just do it. Maybe you could do that on HD-2, but will they?

Okay,call me "The Voice of Doom."

 

[SUPERCASTER]

Dear Chuck (and others),
Here is your quote: "I believe that both systems use AAC+ compression, so it is highly likely that radios could be designed to work compatibly with either system at very little difference in cost."

Not true. The HD Radio system requires a new super wideband reciever to detect the adjacent channel digital buzz, the FMextra system just needs a regular FM radio front end with composite output to detect the digital subcarrier. Cheap, easily available, off the shelf soundcard chips can convert the AAC Plus to analog audio (or wave, MP3, CD Audio, standard digital outputs to most new stereo components, or almost anything else). There are NO expensive, proprietary, chips necessary. In fact, one of the new "software radios" or even a person with moderate electronic experiance could fashion a cheap digital subcarrier detector for FMextra that just plugs in to a standard FM radio composite output (remember those?) Not much harder then building a subcarrier detector. Just add a sound chip decoder to convert the AAC Plus. Frunhofer is offering a software AAC Plus decoder for free. I think that they do charge a small fee for their encoder.
Possible future decoder updates could be "flashed" to the FMeXtra decoder via the FMeXtra digital data channel!
Cheap, clean, interference free, fully compatible digital FM broadcasting. WOW!
You can download a free AAC Plus decoder for Winamp!
More info:
www.winamp.com
www.dreinc.com (FMeXtra)

 

[Chuck]

Dear Chuck (and others),
Here is your quote: "I believe that both systems use AAC+ compression, so it is highly likely that radios could be designed to work compatibly with either system at very little difference in cost."

Not true. The HD Radio system requires a new super wideband reciever to detect the adjacent channel digital buzz, the FMextra system just needs a regular FM radio front end with composite output to detect the digital subcarrier.

I guess I wasn't clear enough. I meant to say that I believe that FMeXtra could be added to an IBOC radio at little or no extra cost. Not the other way around.

Of course, FMeXtra could be added to existing (and cheap) radio designs with little problem. For those comfortable enough with a soldering iron to know which end to hold on to, and which to avoid, it would be a fairly simple task to add it to a radio you already own as well.