digital radio switchover, did you know, UK only.

R

RichardG

Senior member
 An Englishman Abroad.
Mods, feel free to move this if its in the wrong the place.

Just reading an article on this and wondered how many people realise their current car radio won't work in 5 years when the switch off AM & FM in the UK. makes you wonder when the manufacturors will start fitting Digital radios as standard.

I certainly did'nt and currently can't get digital radio where we live. That said we only managed to digital TV a couple of weeks before they turned off the analogue signal.
 
It's not decided yet though .. they're debating it at the moment.

I can't see them doing it though, doesn't make enough sense.
 
There's also the other problem of them wanting to switch to a new version of DAB which won't work with older DAB radios (unless they've got an upgrade system in place already), so if you were to get ahead of the curve you may find out you'll just have to spend again in 5 years time.

I've had DAB in my cars for about 6 years and quite like the choice, but I've had occasions where it's sounded like it's underwater, and had other times when it's completely dropped out due to signal degradation. With analogue (TV or radio) you'd still get a signal as it got weaker and weaker, but with digital you simply get gaps in the transmission.

I have looked around for DAB for the Z4, but I'd have to lose the multi-changer to use the aux input - unless I use a (ironically) DAB transmitter and tune my FM radio to the correct frequency.

A few years ago there seemed to by any number of options for DAB in cars, but the options have dropped off dramatically over the last couple of years with Britain not being able to decide on a format for the next 5 years, never mind the next 50.
 
Andy said:
It's not decided yet though .. they're debating it at the moment.

I can't see them doing it though, doesn't make enough sense.
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When ever did they do things that made sense ? :headbang:
 
they had years of forcing TV manufacturers to include digital tuners before they switched over. I can't see this working at all - people have too many FM radios and you can buy new ones without DAB now, so they can't even be considered obsolete
 
Wasn't the same going to be happening with TV's though I think. Like so many things I've no idea now where I read it, but there's a new version of HD to come along which won't be compatible with the current one's everyone is buying. Not surprising really given the onward march of technology.
 
Yep. Another change to wait for. Once its decided and operating there will be loads of options that will invariably get cheaper the longer they are available. As for flimper's comment about the stubby I can only assume you only listen to AM radio as I think that is all the stubby affects. :evil:
 
i remember thinking what rubbish windows operating system was, thought it would never take off

er, wrong again hehe
 
er, whats windows operating systems got to do with this thread, sorry think i've lost it
 
MikeS said:
As for flimper's comment about the stubby I can only assume you only listen to AM radio as I think that is all the stubby affects. :evil:
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Not strictly true, it can affect FM too. :thumbsdown:
 
Andy said:
MikeS said:
As for flimper's comment about the stubby I can only assume you only listen to AM radio as I think that is all the stubby affects. :evil:
Click to expand...
Not strictly true, it can affect FM too. :thumbsdown:
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+1

I've gone back to my long'n'thin one after testing them both out back to back over the same route.
 
My personal take on this is that terrestrial transmissions for Audio will die out over the next 15 years and probably even over the next 5 to 10 years.

My reasoning for this is that streaming of audio to mobile devices is going to become much cheaper and easier in a very short space of time. You can currently stream audio at a higher quality than DAB radio using any decent smart phone and software such as Spotify (there are lots of other possibilities device/software-wise too).

Personally, my reason for having built an AUX-IN cable was to be able to stream content to my iPhone via Spotify then feed that audio into the HiFi in the car. I suspect that we'll start to see car audio equipment which will stream audio in the future. For me this would be ideal as a value-added service which a car manufacturer can provide as part of the on board computer. The sort of hardware on-board in our cars is easily capable of streaming, decoding and playing audio alongside the various other functions it provides.

Similar situation for TV, services like tvcatchup.com already let you stream live TV to your iPhone (or other mobile!) via the 3G connection. It's perfectly watchable in the car and again it could easily be done by the on board computer rather than a phone.

I do quite often use my FM radio in the car, but the quality of it ruins my enjoyment of the music a little and I tend to find myself always going back to MP3's on longer journeys, it's starting to feel like FM has had it's day :thumbsdown:
 
Had DAB fitted in my wifes 3 series from new. Excellent quality in terms of reception but coverage appears limited.
 
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