[opendtv] Re: Ajit Pai comments at future radio and audio symposium
- From: Craig Birkmaier <brewmastercraig@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2017 07:04:13 -0500
On Feb 19, 2017, at 10:14 PM, Manfredi, Albert E
<albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Craig Birkmaier wrote:
The problem is primarily the need for an antenna long enough to
receive the broadcasts and the components needed to support that antenna.
Many Android phones use the earphone cables as the antenna;
Bingo! This is a non-problem, Craig. I bought a tiny little HD Radio receiver
at Best Buy years ago, about the size of a matchbox. Guess what? It works
fine.
Another bait and switch?
We we're talking about Next Radio and the FM chip in most smart phones Bert,
NOT HD Radio. Obviously it is possible to build HD radio into a smart phone...
If anyone wanted one.
If I'm using the earphone, like you said, the lead is the antenna. In the
car, I connect it via a mini-phone cable to the car's aux audio input. I
drape the cable over the rearview mirror, and again, it works fine. What if I
used Bluetooth to connect to the audio system? Well, yeah, there would be a
problem. If all else fails, they can provide for connecting an external
antenna. For smartphones, the CE vendors could easily let the users decide
whether to listen to radio or not. For strong stations, the internal antenna
could potentially be good enough.
Wow. You sure go to great lengths to use HD radio!
Nice job of illustrating why your HD Radio dreams are troublesome.
People buying smartphones CAN let users decide if they want to buy a phone that
let's them listen to radio. But they cannot enable the FM reception in an
iPhone. Obviously this is not a big deal.
Obviously most cell phones include a chip that supports FM reception.
But this chip requires additional support to be functional. Adding
HD radio support is an option available to any cell phone
manufacturer.
Thank you. So, it is possible. And in the future, or even now, analog FM
should not be essential, if you have HD Radio.
It is possible to do many things Bert. Just because something is possible does
not mean that it it a good idea or it would be a success in the marketplace.
FM works just fine. HD Radio has not provided a significant enhancement that
people WANT. Clearly you could replace analog radio with digital radio; or you
could use that spectrum something other than radio. The question you need to
ask is why we should obsolete hundreds of millions of existing radios that work
just fine and force people to buy new radios?
Of course. So, go ahead and add those few cents to the retail price. We went
through exactly this same conversation in early ATSC days. I said, back then,
that this high drama had no bearing on reality. The price of the receiver
would soon be so small, compared with the price of the TV set, that no one
would care.
You got that one right Bert!
Hardly anyone cares that there is an ATSC receiver in their TV.
Anyone with an HD Radio is most likely listening, even if they might not be
aware that they are. My Sangean HD Radio tuner used to default to HD Radio,
and if tuned to the .1 subchannel. It would revert to analog only if the
digital went south. I just don't get the objections. (Couldn't read Doug's
post, though. His text didn't show up in the archived version I use.)
Yes, there are many anecdotal stories about people listening to HD radio
without knowing; this is especially true in new cars with HD radio. This fact
alone should tell you something Bert: the improvement in quality is so small
that people don't even know they are using it.
Broadcasting does not exist in a vacuum Bert. Both TV and radio now compete in
a world filled with entertainment options. This is not an excuse to abandon
these broadcast services, but one must question whether it is in the public
interest to replace them with a comparable digital service and mandate
consumers to invest in a new receivers they do not want or need.
Regards
Craig
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