MPB FM HD2

[richllewis]

I just got a portable radio that does HD radio. I have been admiring the job MPB radio does with the classical music and Jazz they do at night on their HD2 subchannel. I want to say that this is what the big city stations should attempt more often is some quality music that has gone by the wayside. For instance, in Dallas, they have on one of their stations doing 50's and 60's music on one of the HD2 channels and light jazz on another station's HD2 channel. Instead of doing this on an HD2 channel resurrect one of the various channels in Jackson that goes dark or has grown staleon a format that has gone by the wayside. I am glad that I am streaming HD radio out of Meridian and can admire what MPB has been doing. But my radio can pick up everything that comes across the dial in my area. So if you buy something that is HD radio make sure you know how to pick up everything else.

 

[flytrap]

Mpb is now simulcasting their main audio over an MPB TV subchannel .4 I wish they would also put the HD feed over the TV for people who don't have HD radio. They should also dump the SD simulcast on .1 They should either put PBS World or some other feed on it or shut it down. Its completly useless and waste valuable bandwith.

I heard MPB HD radio once on a walmart car radio display which they no longer carry. Finding an HD radio in a store is like finding a needle in a haystack. Even harder to find than AM stereo back when they sold them.

 

[tomservo]

HD radios are definitely hard to come by and the only source around is probably Best Buy. They have a few HD ready or HD capable car stereo units and the little Insignia portable. Build quality on the Insignia is terrible, unfortunately, and finding one that's perfect may be difficult (I've got two, each with their own foibles.)

As far as HD goes, MPB is definitely things right. I bought my Insignia just to listen to them in HD back when I still lived in MS and it was nice being able to find at least one HD signal anywhere in the state.

The simulcast of PBS on the TV stations definitely is a waste of bandwidth but I suspect it's there to maintain compatibility with 4:3 screens. APT in Alabama does not have this duplicate channel style and a lot of content gets cut off at the edges for 4:3 viewers because the HD content wasn't shot to be center-cut friendly.

 

[flytrap]

the .1 channel is letterboxed SD so it doesn't really make any difference when viewed on a 4:3 set. To be honest, I wish they would hurry up and stop pandering to the people still watching TV with the sides cut off or in stretch-o-vision. When they pander to the SD viewers, HD viewers have to put up with screen clutter near the middle of the screen so it won't get cut off on old TV's and cable viewers. They also film everything in the center which makes everything look too far away from the camera. Especially on talk shows such as "The View" where they have a lot of group shots. The ladys are all in the center of the screen with lots of nothing on the sides. Even scripted shows are shot like that. People standing around in the center with nothing going on on the sides.

Another thing I hate is old film that is being cropped to make it appear to be widescreen. Unless the camera was far enough back on the original, all the cropping does is cut the top of peoples heads off. I've notice that WJTV has been slightly cropping Andy Griffith. It looks like 14x9 ratio instead of 4:3. The tops of heads are definitly getting cut off. But not as bad as cropping to 16x9

 

[tomservo]

That "compromise" cropping has a name that escapes me at the moment. ALL the Discovery networks do it, although it's not so aggressive as to cut heads off, just fine print during advertisements sometimes.

I really hate the screwing around with the picture. If it was shot 4:3, show it that way; if it was shot 16:9, show it that way.