Digital Radio Trial in Canberra - Who'll be able to listen?

Thanks guys, that is more or less what I understood, but it is nice to have it confirmed. I am interested to know what the likely hood of this product to become mainstream is? Digital TV has taken for ever, and they keep putting back the turn off of analogue. Might just take for ever for uptake of this. The way it is, might be cheaper for me to get a dedicated mobile broadband connection for my car and just stream JJJ from the net…

I was a little ambiguous: The digital radio in the USA isn’t different just in name, it’s a whole different standard.

Idiots

I can’t decide if you’re trolling or not…I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are.

I have been wondering about that for some time. If it isn’t digital radio, what is it? SBS just using some of their TV signal to broadcast some jazz?

Yeah, that’s pretty much it. It’s certainly digital radio in the sense of being digitally transmitted sound without pictures, but it’s broadcast as part of the digital TV signal, not as “radio” from a licensing sense (or in terms of the equipment required to receive it).

Once you get Digital Radio you’ll loose local content.

Care to back up that assertion? Or were you just throwing it out there in the hope that everyone would believe you and nobody would think to ask “huh?”.

What is it about ABC’s adherance to AM band here in Canberra (and other capital cities)?

What, you mean like ABC Classic FM? JJJ? News Radio? Hardly what I’d call “adherance(sic) to AM”. Besides, AM has a rather significant advantage over FM in terms of range (obviously at the expense of quality) which, if you’re servicing a large region can be quite desirable.

Something that I didn’t mention earlier in terms of benefits is that once you have a digital signal you can also do nice things that you can do with a PVR like pause, rewind, and lossless recording. That, plus the improved quality, were what encouraged me to go to digital TV before any additional channels were available.

p1 said :

I have been wondering about that for some time. If it isn’t digital radio, what is it? SBS just using some of their TV signal to broadcast some jazz?

Exactly. It’s DVB – that’s the name of the standard. The “SBS Radio” on your set top box is a TV signal with sound but no picture. There are no devices out there that can receive DVB and have audio out, but no video.

On the other hand “Digital Radio” is a direct replacement for FM Radio. The standard we use here is called DAB+ (as opposed to “HD Radio” in the USA.)

One problem is that while in theory it offers better quality than FM (as alluded to by Smarthouse and Spectra) the radio stations are transmitting at such low bit rates that analogue FM is noticably better. IE, they’re transmitting at 64kbit(using AAC+.) It’s roughly comparable to 96kbit MP3s, which you may already know don’t sound that great. FM radio isn’t audiophile stuff either, but I estimate it to be as good as 128kbit streams. It’s nowhere near the often used “CD Quality” term.

Also, DAB+ radios are hard to come by. My brand new, not very cheap AVR only does analog radio.. Another problem is that cheaper/older DAB radios don’t work with newer DAB+.

Finally, the radios don’t even have digital audio out (EG coax or optical.) So my shiny new AVR has to take an analogue signal from the digital radio. Kindof dumb. Probably an attempt at preventing digital copying.

p1 said :

I think you’ll find Conan that the radio on digital TV is not digital radio.

I have been wondering about that for some time. If it isn’t digital radio, what is it? SBS just using some of their TV signal to broadcast some jazz?

What we’re talking about here is a standard called DAB+, short for Digital Audio Broadcasting. Broadcasting audio over digital TV bands is a different matter. For reference the ABC radio stations you can get on digital TV are also broadcast on DAB+.

BTW is it angry newbie month here, did I miss a memo?

What is it about ABC’s adherance to AM band here in Canberra (and other capital cities)? On the Sunshine Coast, it been on FM for decades.

Once you get Digital Radio you’ll loose local content.

I think you’ll find Conan that the radio on digital TV is not digital radio.

I have been wondering about that for some time. If it isn’t digital radio, what is it? SBS just using some of their TV signal to broadcast some jazz?

I’d be totally interested in this if they ran with the ABC stations. I would buy a digital radio tomorrow. Triple J ran a second channel on Digital Radio as well at one stage. I have no time for commercial radio so I guess I’ll wait a bit longer.

Idiots.

Have you never tuned in a digital set top box?

It’s quite painfully obvious, right there on your menus.

DIGITAL RADIO.

You can watch (listen) to it like a TV channel, and like it says above, some avtually have images!

OMFGWTFBBQ?!?

If you haven’t, or cannot, make the jump to digital TV, then it’s probably not worth the strain on your brain to attempt digital radio.

I understand ABC were broadcasting digital radio already. They were heavily spruiking it throughout the cricket season, where you could listen to live coverage of Shield games and other sports on seperate channnels.

If Spectra is right, then my initial assessment – not enough benefit to justify the extra equipment – sounds like it’s unchanged.

Holden Caulfield said :

Aaargh, it appears that no ABC stations are included in the trial!

This was the first thing I checked. Very dissapointed. 🙁

Can you get news and weather on demand? Or mute the adds? That’s about all I’m interested in.

Unless it’s capable of making Lisa sound less contrived and Ross sound less cringe-worthy…

Aaargh, it appears that no ABC stations are included in the trial!

Basically, my understanding is that it boils down to much the same changes as digital TV provides: Better quality, the potential for more channels, extra data like programme guides and so on. And it has the same key drawback: need for new equipment for both the broadcasters and listeners. The cost is high at the moment, just like it was in the early days of digital TVs/set top boxes. Also just like TVs, that will come down over time as digital radio is available in more places and more manufacturers start making receivers.

Ahh, but Digital Radio should allow me to get past the Stalinesque wankers at AFL house that control internet coverage of pre and post match football broadcasts.

I expect there will also be similar benefits during the cricket season, too. A major one is having the ability to delay the radio coverage to sync with the TV broadcast so there is no need to listen to the buffoons on Channel Nine trying to flog some meaningless piece of crap memorabilia, in between promotions for rubbish TV shows.

But to listen to it we’ll need to buy new radios, to listen to the same mediocrity but with more flashing lights.

And dont they cost a bomb? I haven’t yet seen one that also includes docking for iPods/Phones – another range of appliances that are absurdly expensive still…

Anywhere I’ve read about digital radio, it’s always full of blurb about what’s in it for the radio stations, or speculation about spectrum management.
What I’ve never seen is “This is how a digital radio will differ from a normal radio”.
And this article is no different.
Does anyone know?