Report on new Insignia HD Tuner at BestBuy?

[JohnnyElectron]

Can somebody please report on the 'quality' of the new Insignia HD radio TUNER that I just saw at Best Buy last weekend? All were in the box, none were out for hands-on display, and they wouldn't let me 'play' with one. It closely resembles the Sangean family, and has digital outputs. BIG question is: does it have the bonus features of the updated "X" tuner with 'lock to analog', C-Quam stereo, 1/2HD - 1/2Analog, metering, etc?? Inquiring minds want to know (and BB employees don't - at least not at my store).

 

[Mike Walker]

It looks interesting. A couple o' things...18 isn't very many presets. Even in my rural area, I'd have very little trouble filling those up, especially with multicasting.

There is no frequency response spec listed (analog or digital), no noise figure, and of course no sensitivity and selectivity figures. Too bad, because as the Sony XDR-F1HD proves, inexpensive HD tuners can use their DSP power to provide stunningly good analog FM stereo reception. These can be SUPER-TUNERS at bargain basement prices (compared with analog tuners even approaching their prices). Is the Insignia also a "budget supertuner"? I have no idea! Someone who has one please report!

If you have a good d/a converter, or a cd player or receiver with one built-in, you may well prefer it to the d/a built into the unit. It's nice to have the option, and nice to be able to timeshift digitally! Bravo on that score.

This should answer anyone who still says HD is going away. Remember the people here who said "HD IS DYING, BEST BUY IS SELLING OUT OF SONYS AND BOSTON ACOUSTICS"??? Well they're introducing THEIR OWN Insignia brand tuners. Best Buy, having sold HD radios for a couple of years, has obviously found that a market exists. How large? I have no idea! I'd wager bigger than the "HD SUCKS" crowd would like to admit. That alone makes me smile!

 

[Chuck]

It looks interesting. A couple o' things...18 isn't very many presets. Even in my rural area, I'd have very little trouble filling those up, especially with multicasting.

There is no frequency response spec listed (analog or digital), no noise figure, and of course no sensitivity and selectivity figures. Too bad, because as the Sony XDR-F1HD proves, inexpensive HD tuners can use their DSP power to provide stunningly good analog FM stereo reception. These can be SUPER-TUNERS at bargain basement prices (compared with analog tuners even approaching their prices). Is the Insignia also a "budget supertuner"? I have no idea! Someone who has one please report!

If you have a good d/a converter, or a cd player or receiver with one built-in, you may well prefer it to the d/a built into the unit. It's nice to have the option, and nice to be able to timeshift digitally! Bravo on that score.

This should answer anyone who still says HD is going away. Remember the people here who said "HD IS DYING, BEST BUY IS SELLING OUT OF SONYS AND BOSTON ACOUSTICS"??? Well they're introducing THEIR OWN Insignia brand tuners. Best Buy, having sold HD radios for a couple of years, has obviously found that a market exists. How large? I have no idea! I'd wager bigger than the "HD SUCKS" crowd would like to admit. That alone makes me smile!

FWIW, I was in Target today. They are selling out the Sony HD table radio for $99, instead of the usual $199 price. That's not as good as the deal I got on one at Best Buy, but it is still a very good radio for the price.

I'm sure everyone will say they are blowing it out to make room for the next model. Probably so. I understand that the replacement has ipod docking. It seems that's a feature that the public actually wants to pay for.

 

[Mike Walker]

I understand the reasoning behind it, but it blows my mind that companies like Sony offer dockign for Ipod, but not for THEIR OWN MP3 PLAYERS!

Of course the HD-Tagging feature would be a great fit in an Ipod-dock'ed unit. If you're into that kind of thing. Personally, I just bought a Sansa View from Sandisk. LOVE IT!