The Digital Switchover Thread

[nwtv2003]

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

You’ve got to remember not everyone, including a number of elderly people don’t have an internet connection coming into their home. My grandmother being one of them. I got her a DAB set several years ago which she does use almost every day. Although if she has a problem with it, I often get asked, ‘Can you put Classic FM back on the dab?’ (Pronouncing it as dab and not D-A-B)

[VMPhil]

Plus some people don't need or want a smart speaker.

[London Lite]

As much as I enjoy Techmoan's videos, he is an audiophile, so is going to be incredibly biased against low bitrates on DAB, regardless if the market values choice over audio quality. (See numerous DS radio threads where anoraks blow a gasket if a radio station dares to use the lowest bitrate possible)

If people are really desperate to listen to high fidelity radio, online offers that on a much broader scale where the BBC have 320kbps streams for all their stations, Boom has a 192k stream and tiny Radio Jackie even has a so called finesse stream at 320k.

[James Martin]

I wouldn't call Mat an audiophile - in my experience, he's only bothered whether or not it sounds good to his ears. He often actually pokes gentle fun at the really pretentious audiophiles on his videos.

[Steve in Pudsey]

For me the issue with DAB isn't the bitrate but the digital cliff edge. With analogue, a poor signal in a few spots as you drive around just means a bit of interference but you can still comprehend what is being said.

On DAB it's game over, you either get a period of silence or the burbling under water effect.

[Inspector Sands]

For me the issue with DAB isn't the bitrate but the digital cliff edge. With analogue, a poor signal in a few spots as you drive around just means a bit of interference but you can still comprehend what is being said.

On DAB it's game over, you either get a period of silence or the burbling under water effect.

That's just digital transmissions in general, it's not just DAB just more noticeable as you're normally moving around and unlike a mobile phone there's often not another transmitter to move onto

[Markymark]

For me the issue with DAB isn't the bitrate but the digital cliff edge. With analogue, a poor signal in a few spots as you drive around just means a bit of interference but you can still comprehend what is being said.

On DAB it's game over, you either get a period of silence or the burbling under water effect.

That's just digital transmissions in general, it's not just DAB just more noticeable as you're normally moving around and unlike a mobile phone there's often not another transmitter to move onto

Yes. Problems with DTT like co-channel interference are totally non intuitive . The received signal is fine, then goes to black and silence. At least with analogue the picture stated to display 'venitain blinds' and then started to break up.

Same applies to DAB, sometimes impossible to know whether it's a weak signal, or co-channel interference.

Folk will intuitively run a rescan, and that's where the chaos starts....

First World problems.

[Steve in Pudsey]

You're right that it is a problem with digital in general, but it's more of a problem for DAB because the receiver is often portable and moving whereas DTT tends to be a static set up with a fixed aerial.

[AndrewP]

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

My internet connection here in London Zone 6 is very temperamental and I often find it difficult to stream the World Service streams. I love my radio specifically for the fact that I do not need an internet connection to listen.

About the comments on audio fidelity - I usually listen to World Service English and the Burmese Service on my SW radio, a medium not known for its audio quality. But I find that as long as I can understand what they're saying, I don't really care how much noise there is on the signal. I presume this is the same approach people have with low-bitrate DAB. Although I will say that I prefer to listen to analogue radio - nothing beats watching the clock tick in time with the pips.

[thegeek]

S4C used to transmit on SDN/COM 4 didn’t it?

It did. I've got a feeling now that (rather than C5) was the reason for the SDN anomaly at Ferryside ?

At DSO it moved to PSB 2

not just that - they owned the mux. SDN originally stood for S4C Digital Networks

[HarveyB]

I always preferred Denny Digit. He got the message across loud and clear.

https://youtu.be/722BsBokxEE

what show was this from?

[Neil Jones]

what show was this from?

Clue is in the video description. Always read the video description

"Clip from Time Trumpet". Time Trumpet is (was?) a six episode satirical television comedy series which aired on BBC Two in August 2006.

[i.h]

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.

It's pretty shocking that you can still find DAB only radios on sale. Some manufacturers (Pure) provide an upgrade process, but many are simply never designed to do that. Possibly a hangover by cheapskate manufacturers who thought they could get away with it as the UK didn't have DAB+ broadcasts for a long time.

(bought a second hand Pure alarm clock that could be upgraded over the internet, aside from trying to find a mini USB cable it was pretty painless)