• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Satellite Radio vs. HD Radio

M

Mack Daddy

I know ::)a lot of people are moving toward satellite radio, ie. XM or Serious. As much as that might appeal to someone who lives in an area where there are very few, if any, local radio stations I prefer to here something more localized. I know there is information online about HD radio, but I wanted to know from people in the general Seattle-Tacoma-Everett, and other nearby areas what your experiences are like with HD radio. Does the reception compare to standard FM reception? Are the playlists better on the HD stations. I've heard rumours that some of those stations go beyond the standard 2 or 3 songs that most stations play by any given artist.
 
Reception is MUCH worse than standard FM radio. The only plus is that the multipath issues sometimes are reduced, but if you're not within sight of the transmitter, you can forget about hearing the HD signals. HD 2 stations are pretty much automated jukeboxes, they sometimes go down for days, sound quality is actually worse, it's just not worth it. If you have mediocre to bad FM reception, you'll have no HD reception.
 
mimo said:
Reception is MUCH worse than standard FM radio. The only plus is that the multipath issues sometimes are reduced, but if you're not within sight of the transmitter, you can forget about hearing the HD signals. HD 2 stations are pretty much automated jukeboxes, they sometimes go down for days, sound quality is actually worse, it's just not worth it. If you have mediocre to bad FM reception, you'll have no HD reception.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I've been curious about HD myself. Speaking of automated jukeboxes. I found a great site in tropicalglen dot com. Hot 100 songs from each year from 1950 thru 1989. You can choose any year and it will play random selections from the Top 100 hit of that year. It is great.
 
Reception is MUCH worse than standard FM radio. The only plus is that the multipath issues sometimes are reduced, but if you're not within sight of the transmitter, you can forget about hearing the HD signals. HD 2 stations are pretty much automated jukeboxes, they sometimes go down for days, sound quality is actually worse, it's just not worth it. If you have mediocre to bad FM reception, you'll have no HD reception.

Mimo--what kind of HD radio do you have? What stations have you personally listened to on that HD radio? I've listened to a lot of HD radio in Seattle, with my own HD radio in my vehicle, and my experience (as far as reception goes) is completely different than yours. I have found reception is quite good--for example--stations broadcasting from Tiger can be heard down to Olympia and even farther. Line of sight is not a prerequisite. The sound quality of an HD2 (and HD3s where available) will of course depend upon how much data is allocated between the various HD streams.
 
Both HD and Satellite Radio are dead issues and wasted time. The kids, and most of the rest of us, are on to these new cool things called the internet and cell phones! Sometimes both at the SAME TIME. Weird. Plus, with everything else radio PD's have to do today, how much time do you think they spend on updating the content on their HD channels? And, BTW- auto sales are important for driving both trains. Hmmmm.
 
diva chick said:
Both HD and Satellite Radio are dead issues and wasted time. The kids, and most of the rest of us, are on to these new cool things called the internet and cell phones! Sometimes both at the SAME TIME. Weird. Plus, with everything else radio PD's have to do today, how much time do you think they spend on updating the content on their HD channels? And, BTW- auto sales are important for driving both trains. Hmmmm.
Click to expand...

The problem with all that is you have to pay monthly fees for it. I can handle paying for telephones and electricity monthly, but I still believe radio "broadcasting" should be available for free, well, by commercial spots paying for time. I also still believe in "local" radio stations. I don't want to hear some station piped in from New York or D.C.
 
I hear a lot of talk about how great satellite radio is, but never wanted to make the investment into it. Rarely do I turn on the radio to listen to music now, even in my car. Most of my radio listening is news or talk now. Music formats have become so limited in their playlists.
 
I have XM Satellite Radio and I have had it since January 2006, mostly I got XM for all their sports coverage(NFL/MLB/etc..), but I do like the music channels as well. Satellite Radio's music channels have no commercials(most of them, although I don't know if HD has commercials or not), plus satellite has music features that either are not on in the Seattle market or are not available on AM-FM radio anywhere, as for HD Radio the main problem I have with it is at most you would only get the HD channels in the market plus all of the other AM & FM stations which in Seattle adds up to about 30 or 35 or so, satellite even after the merger has in the neighborhood of 170 channels/stations, so there's much more variety in satellite then in HD.
 
Lonely Summer said:
I hear a lot of talk about how great satellite radio is, but never wanted to make the investment into it.
Click to expand...

Don't worry, with SIRI trading at 13 cents, the decision on whether it will be available in the first place will be made for you.
 
Ther is a third alternative to regular AM/FM ... and that's Internet Radio or Wi-Fi Radio.
I got an internet radio for Christmas ... and I'm delighted with it. The musical variety in terms of format is limitless ... and if you're a talk-show fan, you can find much more variety than is available at any one time locally. The time taken in switching between stations is minimal, much less than on your PC or laptop. And the sound is excellent. I think my wife found it on sale before Christmas for about $130, and I couldn't be more pleased.

And there are no reception issues .. or monthly fees.
 
Scoobyfan1 said:
I have XM Satellite Radio and I have had it since January 2006, mostly I got XM for all their sports coverage(NFL/MLB/etc..), but I do like the music channels as well. Satellite Radio's music channels have no commercials(most of them, although I don't know if HD has commercials or not), plus satellite has music features that either are not on in the Seattle market or are not available on AM-FM radio anywhere, as for HD Radio the main problem I have with it is at most you would only get the HD channels in the market plus all of the other AM & FM stations which in Seattle adds up to about 30 or 35 or so, satellite even after the merger has in the neighborhood of 170 channels/stations, so there's much more variety in satellite then in HD.
Click to expand...

It still comes down to you have to pay for satellite.
HD is free!
 
ronrob said:
Ther is a third alternative to regular AM/FM ... and that's Internet Radio or Wi-Fi Radio.
I got an internet radio for Christmas ... and I'm delighted with it. The musical variety in terms of format is limitless ... and if you're a talk-show fan, you can find much more variety than is available at any one time locally. The time taken in switching between stations is minimal, much less than on your PC or laptop. And the sound is excellent. I think my wife found it on sale before Christmas for about $130, and I couldn't be more pleased.

And there are no reception issues .. or monthly fees.
Click to expand...

What about the cost of the wi-fi internet? I want Hi-Fi, not wi-fi.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom