AfterDawn: News

Sony will offer HD Radio products in July

Sony Corp. has announced it will begin offering HD Radio products in July this year. According to the HD Digital Radio Alliance, more than 1200 radio stations in the U.S. have adopted the technology, which allows them to deliver extra music content on up to four side channels that piggyback on the frequency it already uses.

For the end-user, a special radio receiver is needed to tune in. HD Radio also boasts improved sound quality. About 50 models are available already, made for home audio equipment and car stereos. "Digital terrestrial radio is the last frontier in audio," said Andrew Sivori, a senior product marketing manager at Sony's personal audio division.



He added: "And it's coming to price points that are becoming more reasonable for consumers." Sony will offer XDR-S3HD, a $200 tabletop AM/FM/HD radio, and the XT-100HD, which is a $100 tuner module for vehicles that will work with most Sony car stereo units. The first products debuted more than two years ago with price tags around $800. With significantly lower prices, the HD Digital Radio Alliance expects more than 1.5 million HD Radio devices to be sold in 2007.

Source:
Yahoo (AP)

Written by: James Delahunty @ 29 May 2007 18:58

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• 9 comments

• borhan9

  Just imagine the HD quality of the ripps we will get off the radio then :) how will they know the difference between CD and HD its going to be close.

  30.5.2007 01:12 #1

• ChromeMud

  I'll purchase some HD ears when they become available.
  In the meantime I'll stick with good old analogue :)

  30.5.2007 06:17 #2

• georgeluv

  its a dman shame because the digital signal either "comes in or it doesnt". like hd tv signals over air. this preciseness of broadcast actually restricts the range. Instead of being able to get away with it “sorta” coming in, you need the station to come in perfectly or you wont hear anything. i live about an hour from new york, i get new york stations in my car, my friend with a brand new car with hd built in cannot find a single hd station in the same area.
  
  as of right now, even around new york, which i would guess has a lot of hd radio stations running at the moment, its hard to get one to come in unless you are no more than 30 min outside the source.
  
  i knew a home theater designer who got suckered into buying a whole bunch of hd radio tuners about a year ago. hasent sold one because no one gets a signal where he is located.
  
  if you are considering getting a hd radio, make sure you can return it in case you get home and cant find any hd stations.
  
  ...and hd radio is bullshit anyway. commercials? censorship? no thanks. im not going to buy a 200 dollar tuner just to hear blaring commercials in hd or my favorite rap song butchered into an unlistenable mess, in hd.

  30.5.2007 08:23 #3

• akaangus

  Considering that where I live there are 2 english music channels and both pretty much suck (and probably aren't in HD), I'd be much more likely to check out satellite radio then this :D

  30.5.2007 08:26 #4

• DarkJello

  I disagree with the NY guy comment. I live about an hour away from the city as well and get plenty of stations in HD, and when they aren't coming in in HD my HU seamlessly [except for audio quality difference] goes into analog mode. He probably set his HU up wrong, and to only receive HD stations.
  
  AM in HD is about the best thing I've ever heard as well, makes it much more tolerable. I can finally listen to sports on the radio without the crackling voices annoying me to the point of turning it off. Highly recommended from me :)

  30.5.2007 19:20 #5

• ChromeMud

  I think georgeluv was simply saying that HD signals drop off very
  quickly if your not in range or the reciever is slightly out.
  Bad weather causes more damage to a digital signal than
  analogue.
  Reflections of the digital signal from builings and tall structures can also crap out the signal compared to analogue.
  
  Fact is analogue is incredibly resilient compared to digital.
  
  All things being equal.A bad signal in analogue causes noise,
  a bad signal in digital equals stuttering or nothing at all.

  31.5.2007 03:43 #6

• Unfocused

  This still keeps broadcast radio free. I'm still opposed to paying for something that I've gotten free my entire life.
  
  Satellite radio may be nice as it is, but is would be even nicer if it was free.

  27.6.2007 22:19 #7

• HDRadioFarce

  [spam color=red]edited by ddp[/color]

  22.3.2010 11:25 #8

• DarkJello

  This article is from 2007 man, and nice spam. I still really like my HD radio, bought another HU with it in fact.
  

  
  
  
  

  22.3.2010 11:46 #9