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Next-Gen Insignia Portable HD coming out
- Thread starter travisl5678
- Start date
Nice, but the article links to Best Buy's page for the old Insignia radio.
If they are reusing the same exterior design, how on earth will we know which radios are new and which aren't?
I would actually be willing to buy a new one if I thought I'd get one that wasn't defective. The one I have now overloads and intermods waaay to easily, and sometimes when I turn it on it's permanently muted and won't return sound unless I press the manual tune up/down keys. And sometimes I turn it on and all the presets reset to 87.5 and it won't tune anything. Hitting the reset button returns it to normal.
I ran out of return and warranty time to exchange it, but the radio's potential was high enough that I decided to just get another one. This time, I'd charge it in the car a few minutes while still in the parking lot of BB, to test it out better instead of driving the 100 miles home first.
Well, I tried the other two left in stock and both were as defective as my current unit, so I left empty handed. There's no reason any radio should be that defective three times in a row! The two new units had the exact same birdie problems as mine (93.9 and 105.5) and could pick up various Memphis stations well off their actual broadcast frequencies (like getting WMC-FM on 99.7, on 106.3 among other freqs.)
Mind you, I wasn't "standing under the broadcast tower" of any station. I was probably a good 15+ miles from all the sticks.
Maybe I'm just expecting too much?
Like I said, the radio has great potential and some folks on here have sung its praises, reception-wise. If I can get far enough away from broadcast transmitters, like 30+ miles out, the radio really comes alive and pulls in signals that just astound me. But life doesn't keep me that far out, it brings me into many cities and near many broadcast towers and what-not.
If they are reusing the same exterior design, how on earth will we know which radios are new and which aren't?
I would actually be willing to buy a new one if I thought I'd get one that wasn't defective. The one I have now overloads and intermods waaay to easily, and sometimes when I turn it on it's permanently muted and won't return sound unless I press the manual tune up/down keys. And sometimes I turn it on and all the presets reset to 87.5 and it won't tune anything. Hitting the reset button returns it to normal.
I ran out of return and warranty time to exchange it, but the radio's potential was high enough that I decided to just get another one. This time, I'd charge it in the car a few minutes while still in the parking lot of BB, to test it out better instead of driving the 100 miles home first.
Well, I tried the other two left in stock and both were as defective as my current unit, so I left empty handed. There's no reason any radio should be that defective three times in a row! The two new units had the exact same birdie problems as mine (93.9 and 105.5) and could pick up various Memphis stations well off their actual broadcast frequencies (like getting WMC-FM on 99.7, on 106.3 among other freqs.)
Mind you, I wasn't "standing under the broadcast tower" of any station. I was probably a good 15+ miles from all the sticks.
Maybe I'm just expecting too much?
Like I said, the radio has great potential and some folks on here have sung its praises, reception-wise. If I can get far enough away from broadcast transmitters, like 30+ miles out, the radio really comes alive and pulls in signals that just astound me. But life doesn't keep me that far out, it brings me into many cities and near many broadcast towers and what-not.
IF, and this is a big IF, Best Buy had any brains whatsoever, they would read all the reviews on their website and read about all the people missing the AM band on this unit, about the horrible signal strength meter action, about the short battery life, and how the preset button always takes you back to PS#1 instead of to the next preset.
Close, but no cigar, not even a cigarette.
The (already made) Sangean would have been nice, but looks like they threw in the towel before it even came out? What did they do, make one for CES and that's it? Bet they needed to put an AM antenna into the top of a headset, like XM radio to make AM work with all the internal noise generated by the HD electronics, they needed the AM ferrite bar 2 foot away from the freakin radio!
Sangean did make a really nice tiny AM portable, which I still use to pick up an AM stereo CQuam station in Canada (the SR-66 IIRC).
I know asking for AM, yet alone CQuam or AM-HD is too much to ask for in a portable, it would appear.
Close, but no cigar, not even a cigarette.
The (already made) Sangean would have been nice, but looks like they threw in the towel before it even came out? What did they do, make one for CES and that's it? Bet they needed to put an AM antenna into the top of a headset, like XM radio to make AM work with all the internal noise generated by the HD electronics, they needed the AM ferrite bar 2 foot away from the freakin radio!
Sangean did make a really nice tiny AM portable, which I still use to pick up an AM stereo CQuam station in Canada (the SR-66 IIRC).
I know asking for AM, yet alone CQuam or AM-HD is too much to ask for in a portable, it would appear.
It says they are on sale now at Best Buy. I hope my local store will have them. Last time I checked a month ago, they had a few unsold portable HD radios. If those same radios are lying around unsold, would they want to get the next generation? I might just buy all the HD radios (inflating the HD radio sales figure), then go a day later and demand an Insignia portable HD radio, so they would back-order it. Then I would buy that, and return all the other HD radios I bought, within 14 days for a full refund.
Why must I jump through hoops to get the latest and greatest brand new next-gen portable HD radio? I wouldn't mind spending $50 for the new one, after letting Best Buy hold on to my $200 (assuming 4 old HD radios in stock) interest free for 2 weeks.
Why must I jump through hoops to get the latest and greatest brand new next-gen portable HD radio? I wouldn't mind spending $50 for the new one, after letting Best Buy hold on to my $200 (assuming 4 old HD radios in stock) interest free for 2 weeks.
Hope the radio comes with a switch to turn off HD.
M
Mike Walker
Guest
I don't get it. You say it's a "new version", but it has the same model number as the one I have, and looks exactly the same. Only I paid ten bucks less.
Am I missing something? I'd also like to be able to turn HD off. I live in a rural area, far from most HD stations. When the radio switches back and forth, it is maddening! It's actually pretty rare, but when it happens it drives me nuts! Every HD radio should have a switch for analog only. One of the best things about these radios is the superb, low-noise fringe reception of analog FM stereo, thanks to DSP.
Am I missing something? I'd also like to be able to turn HD off. I live in a rural area, far from most HD stations. When the radio switches back and forth, it is maddening! It's actually pretty rare, but when it happens it drives me nuts! Every HD radio should have a switch for analog only. One of the best things about these radios is the superb, low-noise fringe reception of analog FM stereo, thanks to DSP.
This is an excellent point. I have to poke a little fun here: much has been made, over and over by the pro-HD gaggle, of "how it took decades for FM to overtake AM" (proven repeatedly as a fallacious argument - sorry, "Baghdad Bob HD" Struble.)
Let's rewind to about...say, 1954. Did the owners of FM radios write to audio magazines complaining that the receivers didn't have switches to lock out FM? In 1963, were people writing asking for a way to turn off that annoying FM Stereo?
Were the owners of early color TVs routinely turning the chroma controls all the way down, so they could get back to monochrome?
And to paraphrase Mike - I don't recall anyone declaring that they bought a (relatively expensive) AM-FM portable back in the late 1960s because "the AM section sounds so great." I'm sure it happened but it certainly must have been a rare occurrence.
Let's rewind to about...say, 1954. Did the owners of FM radios write to audio magazines complaining that the receivers didn't have switches to lock out FM? In 1963, were people writing asking for a way to turn off that annoying FM Stereo?
Were the owners of early color TVs routinely turning the chroma controls all the way down, so they could get back to monochrome?
And to paraphrase Mike - I don't recall anyone declaring that they bought a (relatively expensive) AM-FM portable back in the late 1960s because "the AM section sounds so great." I'm sure it happened but it certainly must have been a rare occurrence.
I think you meant "blend to mono," AL, but I'll concede the point. Actually early FM MONO reception was problematic too, until the development of circular polarization. Most stations had separate vertical and horizontal arrays and many times there were power disparities or one transmitter was completely off for some reason.
But that's where the parallel to HD's problems diverges, lest the remaining HD-boosters leap on this meager example to suck out an erroneous conclusion that HD can fix its problems with something as simple as antenna polarization. HD reception problems are due to the unnecessary complexity of IBOC as an audio transmission system, its frailty, inefficiency and a whole host of interference-related faults.
But that's where the parallel to HD's problems diverges, lest the remaining HD-boosters leap on this meager example to suck out an erroneous conclusion that HD can fix its problems with something as simple as antenna polarization. HD reception problems are due to the unnecessary complexity of IBOC as an audio transmission system, its frailty, inefficiency and a whole host of interference-related faults.
The best reasonably priced radio is the Sony HD radio. Many DXers who use that radio for DXing wired it so that the "HD Seek" button would force analog reception.
I sometimes wish my Insignia portable HD radio would have a switch to turn off HD reception (is that defeating the purpose of me buying an HD radio?). There are stations that have their HD signal out of sync with the analog. And 75% of the HD1 stations sound worse than the analog, or even their own Internet stream!
If it only had a "feature" to disable HD reception, I wouldn't be "annoying" the radio stations by telling them that their HD is out of sync.
The Insignia is a very sensitive analog FM receiver for its size and the battery lasts a decent amount of time, but it will completely die after not being used for 4 days even if it's fully charged. Where I am most of the time, the HD reception is just good enough to get the song title, it's not reliable for HD2 reception while moving.
I sometimes wish my Insignia portable HD radio would have a switch to turn off HD reception (is that defeating the purpose of me buying an HD radio?). There are stations that have their HD signal out of sync with the analog. And 75% of the HD1 stations sound worse than the analog, or even their own Internet stream!
If it only had a "feature" to disable HD reception, I wouldn't be "annoying" the radio stations by telling them that their HD is out of sync.
The Insignia is a very sensitive analog FM receiver for its size and the battery lasts a decent amount of time, but it will completely die after not being used for 4 days even if it's fully charged. Where I am most of the time, the HD reception is just good enough to get the song title, it's not reliable for HD2 reception while moving.
M
Mike Walker
Guest
Nick, if yours dies "after not having been used for four days", it's defective. I've left mine for weeks a couple of times. When I picked it back up, it still had a charge.
Apparently there are issues with the charging circuits in these radios. My first one would never stop displaying "charging"....even after having been plugged in for days. I swapped it, and the second unit worked perfectly.
Apparently there are issues with the charging circuits in these radios. My first one would never stop displaying "charging"....even after having been plugged in for days. I swapped it, and the second unit worked perfectly.
M
Mike Walker
Guest
"Why would you want a switch to disable the very reason for the radio's existence". For the same reason I would demand a stereo/mono switch on any FM stereo radio I bought. Sometimes the enhanced quality of digital, or even analog fm stereo, isn't worth the tradeoffs...hiss in the case of analog fm stereo, and the inability to lock onto the digital signal in the case of HD.
In my area I've never encountered an HD-1 signal that sounded worse than the analog FM stereo. Engineering standards are actually pretty good at HD stations around me. But I can certainly understand how that could happen. In fact I'm sure there are lots of examples.
If a radio is capable of receiving analog AND digital audio, of course the consumer should be able to choose which to default to, and change that choice on a station-by-station, and location-by-location basis!
My Revo Pico WI-FI radio can receive lots of different types of online streams. On one station (WFDD, Winston-Salem) there's a 192kbps RealAudio stream that sounds great on the PC. On my Revo, it'll play for about ten seconds with great fidelity, then the radio loses the WI-Fi connection, and tries to re-acquire it. So I've programmed it to default to the lower-fidelity but more reliable 56 kbps mp3 stream.
In my area I've never encountered an HD-1 signal that sounded worse than the analog FM stereo. Engineering standards are actually pretty good at HD stations around me. But I can certainly understand how that could happen. In fact I'm sure there are lots of examples.
If a radio is capable of receiving analog AND digital audio, of course the consumer should be able to choose which to default to, and change that choice on a station-by-station, and location-by-location basis!
My Revo Pico WI-FI radio can receive lots of different types of online streams. On one station (WFDD, Winston-Salem) there's a 192kbps RealAudio stream that sounds great on the PC. On my Revo, it'll play for about ten seconds with great fidelity, then the radio loses the WI-Fi connection, and tries to re-acquire it. So I've programmed it to default to the lower-fidelity but more reliable 56 kbps mp3 stream.
Mike Walker said:
I think part of the problem may be people only charging the radios via weaker USB ports on their computers. I got bad battery life initially out of my radio until I started charging it on a dedicated AC-to-USB converter. In theory the power spec should be the same, but there is obviously some difference somewhere that makes the latter a better charging option.
Mike, you'll be pleased to know that my Insignia HD portable gave me a rather pleasant surprise this evening. I gave it another "Factory Default" reset last night just for the heck of it, and when it came back on it acted a lot different. As in, no obvious signs of intermod or mixing of signals anywhere on the dial. And the two birdies at 93.1 and 105.5 MHz were gone!
I took it on a little trip this evening and it blew me away. I passed within eyesight of two 50 kW stations and drove practically right under a third. No hiccups, no overloaded mishmash of audio and only a little "cutting out" of tuned audio. It's like having a totally new radio. Strange!
Much to my surprise, underneath that 50 kW station by the highway, it maintained an HD lock of a 100 kW public radio station some 54 miles away. It's never done that before. And I had no problem pulling in another 100 kW classic rocker in analog from 87 miles out. All this inside a moving car? Now I see what you guys are on about with this little thing.
After sitting in the hot car for a while, though, one of the birdies came back and I did finally get some mixing (stations on 93.9 (6 kW) and 104.3 (50 kW) on 94.9 MHz) but that is a far far cry from how it's acted in the past.
Whether or not it goes back to its old ways or not remains to be seen, but in the mean time it's turned into quite the little DX'er. ;D
M
Mike Walker
Guest
Apparently there are some sample variations...the norm for today's high-tech products. We're the beta testers! But a good sample of that little Insignia is simply amazing. Fantastic, QUIET analog FM stereo reception at phenomenal distances, and HD at 80+ miles (at my house, anyway)...using just the wire antenna.
Mine's way past return time though, and I can't get the 7KW station in town even in analog stereo (mix to mono only), yet alone get the HD to flash. Very poor sensitivity to all but the 30KW-50KW stations; however, bad sensitifty is made-up for great selectivity. Battery is crap. So what do I do now?
Think there's anyway BB will trade it back for a decent one? I will try the 'factory default' reset though first before I toss it off the tower.
Maybe I should mail it back to Strubble and see what he can do for me - whaddayathink?
Think there's anyway BB will trade it back for a decent one? I will try the 'factory default' reset though first before I toss it off the tower.
Maybe I should mail it back to Strubble and see what he can do for me - whaddayathink?
Zach said:
Where can I get one of those dedicated AC/USB converters? The ones I have for my wireless phone have a larger USB port than does the Insignia. Also, I am about to do a factory reset on mine. It's performance has been relatively mediocre - does well in some settings and is underwhelming in others. In no case has it ever been close to being my best dxer. Never.
I'll try the reset and see if that causes any improvement. Thanks for the suggestion!
To Mike and Nick: my battery will die all by itself if left for a week to 10 days without use. The battery life seems to be pretty inconsistent, but with moderate use it needs a recharge at least once a week. The bad thing is that the battery charge indicator will sit at 2 bars for a long time (most of the battery life), then it basically dies quite soon after hitting 1 bar. Not impressive battery performance.
BRNout said:
I'm not sure, I've never really noticed any for sale. The one I got came with a Belkin Bluetooth GPS transceiver that I got for my now dead Pocket PC. It came with a USB to barrel plug cord, but obviously the wall wart works with other USB plugs, so I used the cable that came with my Sony minidisc portable. That cable does triple duty for me, for the MD unit, the Insignia HD radio and my mp3 player.
I think that GPS thing came with a 12v-to-5v USB cigarette lighter adapter, so I can charge the Insignia in the car, too.
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