Darth_vader said:
Really? If that's the case, this sub-board should have died out years ago. 163 pages of mostly the same tired old regurgitated anti-Ibiquity whining from the same dozen or so users later.....
The only ones who think that posts questioning the technical reliability of HD radio are whining those who have a financial stake in the system, or whose professional reputations are on the line when it ultimately fails due to those shortcomings. Results of independent real world, controlled, repeatable, and scientifically unbiased tests, and pointing out the lies propagated by the HD alliance - are not whining. Lest I be confused as a whiner - I personally use and enjoy HD radio, owning three - two at home and one in the car. That doesn't mean I think it is technically robust, couldn't be done much better, or is going to succeed in the marketplace.
I am afraid that due to bad engineering, cover ups to hide that bad engineering, and incompetent marketing - I will someday be the owner of three orphans that have digital capability, but no stations to decode. Just like I own 3 AM stereo radios today, long after the last C-Quam station anywhere near me has shut off its C-Quam. Thankfully, all the radios work for conventional radio. I miss the AM stereo quality. Some day, I will miss the HD-2 formats which are about the only over the air broadcasts in my area that are of interest to me.
HD radio could have succeeded, but engineering problems needed to be addressed and corrected before the first radios ever went to consumers, or as soon as problems were recognized by consumers, especially DX'ers who traditionally were the best ally station engineers ever had, because they notice problems first, before they are noticeable by the station's main audience. Instead, we were insulted and marginalized for daring to declare that the emperor had no clothes. Because we were ignored, problems went un-fixed a decade ago, and consumer word of mouth spread that the system is unreliable after people returned "defective" radios. The radios weren't defective. The whole system is, and now it is much too late to do anything about it.
As HD radio joins the cue cat, PC Junior, Microsoft Bob, new coke, and the other legendary consumer fiascos, I am puzzled. In most consumer electronics companies, engineers who produce defective, unsuccessful products are fired - not defended. Once this consumer flop does go under, who in their right mind is ever going to hire the engineers who produced it? It would have been in their best interest to fix the darn system when problems first arose - not cover them up. Now, they have sealed their own fate.
