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Norway to become first country to switch off FM radio

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Re: Norway to become first country to switch off FM radio

#221

Post by nommm-nommm »

donatj wrote: post #218
bmm6o wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the switch was made to digital I was really surprised at the picture quality and the number of channels available with just rabbit ears, for free. This was in LA so it could definitely be different in less populated areas.

I live five miles outside of downtown Minneapolis and have trouble picking up anything inside my stuccoed house. I've tried many many antennas and short of poking a hole in my wall and running an antenna outside nothing has worked. I was able to watch many many analog stations without issue.

Yeah the problem with digital vs analog is digital is "all or nothing." There's no fuzzy picture, there's either a picture or no picture. Which sucks!

Re: Norway to become first country to switch off FM radio

#222

Post by kuschku »

freehunter wrote: post #178
Nullabillity wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But what if you want built-in streaming in your car, which standard do you support? There are none. You have to have apps. Do you think your car will still get software updates for those in 10 years? None. You add a plain 3.5mm line-in plug.

Or better yet, a 3.5mm plug, USB, and Bluetooth. No matter what happens with the 3.5mm plug, USB and Bluetooth aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Might as well toss them all in to make sure it's actually future-proofed.

USB-A, USB-B or USB-C?

Re: Norway to become first country to switch off FM radio

#223

Post by semi-extrinsic »

mrbabbage wrote: post #213
semi-extrinsic wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> things that can't be easily electrified, like flying craft Funfact about airplanes: they can pretty easily be converted to run on liquid hydrogen. There was a big Airbus-led research project on this some years back. IIRC they found overall efficiency (when accounting for larger fuel volume etc. etc.) was ~4% lower than normal aircraft. Not to mention that Tupolev actually built and flew a full-scale proof of concep…

What about the fuel tanks that would be required for a hypothetical hydrogen aircraft? Unlike kerosene, hydrogen is very light, but the high-pressure tank to contain the hydrogen is quite heavy. Plus, given hydrogen's very low volumetric density, I imagine you'd have to sacrifice a lot of the cargo volume of the aircraft to fit the H2 fuel tank.

Liquid hydrogen is the key. It's frickin' cold, as in liquid nitrogen is positively tropical in comparison, but the density is high enough that you just need slightly larger wing volume for tanks. Vacuum based insulation, which is what they use, is pretty light.

As I said, Airbus did a large R&D project on this and they concluded it's technically and economically feasible for passenger jets. I'm taking their word for it, seeing as they build airplanes for a living.

Re: Norway to become first country to switch off FM radio

#224

Post by kuschku »

scholia wrote: post #200
jhasse wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

96 kbit/s AAC still isn't enough IMHO. 128 kbit/s OPUS would be awesome :)

DAB mandated the use of MP2, which pre-dated MP3. DAB+ uses MP4 aacPlus(HE-AAC v2). Unfortunately this doesn't improve sound quality because stations use the extra efficiency to switch to lower bit-rates. Some countries have stations at 48kbps. The UK is leading the drive to lower sound quality with DAB+ stations on the SDL multiplex at 32kbps. Note that DAB+ also hides a cost increase because stations have to pay Fr…

> because stations have to pay Fraunhofer for its patents. Fun, isn't it? ;-)

Fun it is, considering that money goes all back to Germany! insert evil German laugh here

Re: Norway to become first country to switch off FM radio

#225

Post by skrause »

scholia wrote: post #190
Angostura wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what respect? I have DAB at home and in the car in the UK and find it reliable and decent quality.

DAB sound quality can be as good as you like, but as implemented, it's generally very low. (Stations use low bit-rates to reduce costs.) On average, in fact, DAB sound quality is much lower than FM, assuming you're in a good signal area and/or have a decent FM aerial. You also need a lot more expensive masts to provide DAB coverage. In many places where you get poor FM reception, you get "bubbling mud" or no DAB rece…

You must be from the UK. The "bubbling mud" is a property of the old DAB which also uses MP2 for the audio (an 80s technology codec).

Here in Germany it's all DAB+ which has better error correction with a more robust signal (and no bubbling). Radio stations in Germany also tend to use 96-128 kbit AAC/HE-AAC which sounds way better than FM radio.

Re: Norway to become first country to switch off FM radio

#227

Post by freehunter »

kuschku wrote: post #222
freehunter wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or better yet, a 3.5mm plug, USB, and Bluetooth. No matter what happens with the 3.5mm plug, USB and Bluetooth aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Might as well toss them all in to make sure it's actually future-proofed.

USB-A, USB-B or USB-C?

It honestly does not matter, since they're compatible. You're trying to make it controversial, but it's really not. My phone uses Lightning, but that doesn't make a bit of difference when I plug it into my car.

Re: Norway to become first country to switch off FM radio

#228

Post by pklausler »

msh wrote: post #56

I know I am properly a outlier but how many people on HN actually listens to radio over FM/DAB/Other non IP systems? I dont remember when I last listened to radio. Even in the car the entertainment is one or more of the following from the connected phone: - Streaming or locally stored music - Podcasts (which may include shows produced by radio stations). - Audiobooks. At home its the same, either played directly on t…

I listen to FM radio while driving, about an hour total every day. I can do this because I live in a town with great public radio (Oregon Public Broadcasting, All Classical Portland, and KMHD for jazz).

I have found that there's a strong correlation in the US between livability and good public radio, at least for my tastes.

Re: Norway to become first country to switch off FM radio

#229

Post by kuschku »

freehunter wrote: post #227
kuschku wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USB-A, USB-B or USB-C?

It honestly does not matter, since they're compatible. You're trying to make it controversial, but it's really not. My phone uses Lightning, but that doesn't make a bit of difference when I plug it into my car.

Well, they’re not entirely. I recently bought a Nexus 5X, and realised I don’t have a single compatible cable – and had to buy some adapters.

Not everyone will have adapters easily available, nor will people want to deal with them.

Re: Norway to become first country to switch off FM radio

#230

Post by [deleted] »

freehunter wrote: post #227
kuschku wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USB-A, USB-B or USB-C?

It honestly does not matter, since they're compatible. You're trying to make it controversial, but it's really not. My phone uses Lightning, but that doesn't make a bit of difference when I plug it into my car.

[deleted]
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