HD Radio?

Anybody have any experience with HD Radio? If you did hopefully it was a good experience because I just ordered a head unit from Crutchfield.

I checked it out thinking it was an interesting idea. From my brief research, it seemed like it wasn't even trying to be an open standard, and was completely owned by one company. It also seemed that instead of trying to use it for interesting purposes, it was going to be used for more of the same radio stations, instead of more interesting radio stations, or higher quality audio. Also, "the plan" involved comerciall free music on the extra stations for some time, but not once it started taking off.

If it could reuse the AM bandwidth more efficiently, it's be great, but the main value in that would be for the owners of AM bandwidth, not the radio listeners. If it was an extra twenty bucks and I was buying a head unit, sure, but as it is it seemed like I would be paying royally to enable extra profits for the radio stations.

Matthew

Are the naughty words in songs still bleeped out? Having to listen to the radio a lot I'm a bit fed up with not being able to hear the real lyrics.

Which one did you get? Is the Boston the only one currently available? How is the reception? Does it allow you to pick up weak stations better?

A lot of questions, I know, but I am very interested in your first hand experiences. I live in a somewhat remote area where my favorite radio station is difficult to pick up reliably in the bedroom or bathroom. They do offer a pair of HD channels though.

Thanks...

I ordered one of these....

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-pOH8scJaC2M/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?i=257KDHDR1&id=detailed_info

For $160 (after rebates) with a CD player I didn't think it was too bad a deal. The reviews seemed good. It’s currently on backorder. I’ll let you know what I think when it arrives. I live out in the sticks as well. I’m also hoping the HD is good quality. From what I read it seems like the bitrates from the stations can be different. I didn’t get satellite radio because of the poor bitrate, and the fees.

Now I just have to find some place to put it in my car.

I’m not so much on the politics or conspiracy theories. I just want more station and a better sound while not paying a monthly fee.

I've also had my eye on an HD unit. There is a lot of good info out on the AVS Forums which may prove helpful too.

Let us know how your works!
Tim

Quote:
A lot of questions, I know, but I am very interested in your first hand experiences.

I finally got my HD Radio/CD head unit installed (JVC KD-HDR1). After a couple rides in the car here's what I've noticed:

The Bad:

HD reception is no where near as good as FM. At least on the head unit I have and with my minimal understanding of HD Radio I don't think HD reception can surpass FM. Regular FM reception is about average. In my experience HD only kicks in when you're within 3/4 of the max. FM range. For the HD1 channel this is OK. The HD1 channel broadcasts the same signal as FM. So when HD kicks out the radio automatically switches you to FM. However if you are on one of the other HD channels that broadcasts a different signal (often a different format from the primary station), and are in a spotty reception area, instead of getting noise (like FM) the signal totally blanks out. This can be real annoying. With FM I can tolerate a little noise but with HD you'll be "rock'in out" and then silence. Then a few seconds, or minutes, it kicks back in.

The Good:

So far all the new HD channels (all channels above HD1) are commercial free. I know this will not last but it sure is nice so far. In my area there are about 10 or so new stations. The quality seems good with no noise and a flat audio frequency transmission. I haven't had time to sit in the car and really take notice of the quality but it sounds good so far. While most HD Radios are very pricey (IMO) I got the JVC KD-HDR1 head unit for $160 from Crutchfield. This also has a CD player that will play about all formats and a remote. Compared to the cost of a used empeg tuner that will not play CD's (duu), and does not get HD, I'm happy. I just wish I had a good place to mount it.