On Fri, 24 Dec 2010 17:26:38 -0800, SMS wrote:

Unfortunately, you can add extra features to both low end and high end
products. Perhaps iBiquity should be more selective in who it grants
licenses to, but the reality is that this is the first HD Radio receiver
that really sucks.

I point out in another post that my Pioneer HD Radio car receiver also
has a number of problems. I've had 100% poor luck so far as a consumer.

It should not give HD Radio a black eye any more than
a crappy CD or DVD player, or an FM radio without HD would give those
technologies a black eye.

Yes, but there's a vibrant marketplace for CD/DVD players. Thousands of
them are available in the competitive marketplace. If there are only a
few HD Radio models available, and a significant percentage of them may
have problems in addition to high cost, then you've got a black eye
marketing scenario for radio in general.

The fact that around 2000 radio stations
have added HD and there has not been a single instance of interference
being proven says a lot about how well the technology works.

The basic technology seems to work OK based on my own car listening
experience, but in a larger context I now understand that the product is
a stiff, particularly since I found that I can plug my DroidX phone into
the car radio's audio jacks and listen to Internet streamed audio while
driving. It works surprisingly well.

In 2011, hopefully we'll see more radio stations increasing their power
levels for HD Radio, and perhaps some of the smaller radio stations will
decide to move forward with HD Radio.

I have to ask if by any chance you are an iBiquity shill? I'm glad I'm
no longer a broadcast engineer and only would have to deal with these
issues as a consumer.
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