The Digital Switchover Thread

[Cassia Tuna]

A disaster?! DAB has been very successful particularly since the explosion of stations and the launch of a second multiplex in the past five years. Not to mention small scale DAB.

The vast majority of cars come with it as standard now.

Did you even watch the video? As Techmoan explains this "explosion of stations" is part of the problem, as more stations are being squeezed into the spectrum thus lowering the overall quality, instead of providing just a few but high quality sounding stations. I mean, who really wants to listen to Jazz FM at 32/kbps?

You said "DAB radio uptake has been a disaster" which I was disputing. Sound quality is another matter but it’s been successful despite that because most people don’t care, especially on mono kitchen sets.

I said "a bit of a disaster" not "DAB radio uptake has been a disaster". If you're going to quote me, then at least do so accurately.

[DJGM1974]

I mean, who really wants to listen to Jazz FM at 32/kbps?

To be fair, who really wants to listen to any music station at 32Kbps. Regardless of the music being played, It's going to sound ... shizzle.

[Rick]

I enjoyed Channel 4's switchover promos, featuring Max Headroom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0H_7aRbAC8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X18e113BRKE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRtjEfw-mSE

[VMPhil]

Did you even watch the video? As Techmoan explains this "explosion of stations" is part of the problem, as more stations are being squeezed into the spectrum thus lowering the overall quality, instead of providing just a few but high quality sounding stations. I mean, who really wants to listen to Jazz FM at 32/kbps?

You said "DAB radio uptake has been a disaster" which I was disputing. Sound quality is another matter but it’s been successful despite that because most people don’t care, especially on mono kitchen sets.

I said "a bit of a disaster" not "DAB radio uptake has been a disaster". If you're going to quote me, then at least do so accurately.

OK, I have changed my post to reflect your accurate quote. But my point still stands.

[Cassia Tuna]

I mean, who really wants to listen to Jazz FM at 32/kbps?

To be fair, who really wants to listen to any music station at 32Kbps. Regardless of the music being played, It's going to sound ... shizzle.

Right, so why even bother? Might as well have fewer stations but higher quality ones surely?

[Cassia Tuna]

A disaster?! DAB has been very successful particularly since the explosion of stations and the launch of a second multiplex in the past five years. Not to mention small scale DAB.

The vast majority of cars come with it as standard now.

Did you even watch the video? As Techmoan explains this "explosion of stations" is part of the problem, as more stations are being squeezed into the spectrum thus lowering the overall quality, instead of providing just a few but high quality sounding stations. I mean, who really wants to listen to Jazz FM at 32/kbps?

I do as I matter of fact. I'm too busy driving my car to worry about the less than perfect sound quality. It does the job

Your car must have some really terrible speakers, then.

[Steve Williams]

Adoption was quick, especially after the ITV Digital disaster.

It took 14 years to launch digital and turn analogue off. Compared to the fight radio has had to make DAB happen (not to mention the huge sums of money it sucked out of programming budgets) that's pretty impressive.

This is very true, actually, and I sometimes wonder if ITV Digital flopping actually helped it. I know when it went pop that the first non-subscription boxes were becoming available, like the PACE one, but for the first few years, I think for the vast majority of the audience, in their mind digital TV = pay TV, because the two most prominent platforms by miles had a subscription element, and if that had carried on, there would surely have been plenty of people who simply saw it as a pay platform giving them channels they didn't want, and didn't care about any of the other benefits regarding picture quality and the like, and they would have surely stuck with analogue for much longer. There presumably wouldn't have been as much promotion for the non-subscription element of digital TV, at least.

In a way you could argue that ON/ITV Digital was always doomed to failure, in that people who wanted loads of channels had already long signed up to Sky, and most other people were happy with what they had, so what you were left with was a system like Sky but not as good, only really of interest to a tiny minority of people who wanted more channels but couldn't get a Sky dish or cable.

Actually I stuck with analogue for an embarrassingly long time, I first got multichannel with Freeview when I was still living with my parents in 2002, and then got NTL, as was, when I moved into my own house in 2004 - but I didn't get a PVR until 2011, so up until then I was still recording stuff off digital TV via VHS, and if I was away and wanted to record a couple of things, I would still record off analogue. And I still had an analogue TV in the bedroom until a few months before switchoff.

[Cassia Tuna]

I said "a bit of a disaster" not "DAB radio uptake has been a disaster". If you're going to quote me, then at least do so accurately.

DAB radio uptake in the UK has been a bit of a disaster

It's neither been a disaster nor a bit of a disaster. Digital listening makes up the majority of radio listening, and 41% of all listening is on DAB. 94% of new cars are factory fitted with DAB radios and will be 100% after a change in the law.

I stand corrected. Clearly I'm not as interested in this subject as you are, and I was basing my information on Techmoan's video which is a couple of years old now. Nevertheless, my point about audio quality still stands.

[Markymark]

Did you even watch the video? As Techmoan explains this "explosion of stations" is part of the problem, as more stations are being squeezed into the spectrum thus lowering the overall quality, instead of providing just a few but high quality sounding stations. I mean, who really wants to listen to Jazz FM at 32/kbps?

I do as I matter of fact. I'm too busy driving my car to worry about the less than perfect sound quality. It does the job

Your car must have some really terrible speakers, then.

No, it doesn't. I can hear the short comings perfectly well thanks, and I'd like it to sound better, but my desire to listen to Jazz FM in the car, is stronger than 'making do' with other stations that have better quality, but are not my cup of tea (for either music, or quality of DJ drivel) . And that's the point, there is far more choice now. I remember the days when there were only five or six services (all at 256k) on a single mux. No one was interested in buying a DAB receiver for just that.

Don't get me wrong, in the 1970s I had an expensive FM Tuner, Amp, and speakers. The transmitted quality of FM radio was superb, that's taken a downturn anyway, even for Radio 3. Times change, and life gets short....

[James Martin]

My main issue with DAB is how expensive it is to be on the platform. It's taken huge amounts of money out of the system, especially with programming, which is why the major groups were desperate to make takeup happen. But the result is the co-location and networking because it's next to impossible to run a standalone local station profitably.

[Keith]

I wonder if a related issue is that some devices can only receive DAB and not 'DAB+'. From quick reading I get the impression it could be compared to DVB-T and DVB-T2 in terms of quality and older devices not supporting the newer format/signal.

[Markymark]

I wonder if a related issue is that some devices can only receive DAB and not 'DAB+'. From quick reading I get the impression it could be compared to DVB-T and DVB-T2 in terms of quality and older devices not supporting the newer format/signal.

DAB+ is a more efficient coding system, so that's why you see incredibly low bit rates used DAB+ stations. Without starting any arguments, you can broadly halve the bit rate for a vanilla DAB mono station, for its equivalent DAB+ quality station.

It's not quite the same as comparing DVB T2 with T, because you can mix up DAB and DAB+ stations within the same mux. The downside is most DAB only radios will still tune to and indicate DAB+ stations, but confusingly for the non technical they just output silence

[XIII]

I'm surprised people still buy DAB radios given how cheap smart speakers are although I suppose they're useful for places like the bathroom

[Markymark]

I'm surprised people still buy DAB radios given how cheap smart speakers are although I suppose they're useful for places like the bathroom

For 'Steam Radio' 8-)?

[wonkey_monkey]

Speaking of digital TV, does anyone remember this disturbing promotion for Freeview [floating heads] that was eventually banned?

It might have been taken off air a bit earlier than planned because of the negative reaction, but I don't think it was actually banned.