OT - First DAB+-upgradeable radio

I thought some people might be interested to know that the first DAB+
upgradeable (clock) radio has been released:

http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/ar...able-radio.php

Should be the first of quite a few DAB+-upgradeable receivers we'll see this
year, so if you're thinking of buying a non-upgradeable DAB radio you might
want to postpone your purchase for a few months.

Receivers that support DAB+ without needing a software upgrade should be
available by the end of the year.


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

"DAB sounds worse than FM" [email protected] wrote in message
...
I thought some people might be interested to know that the first DAB+
upgradeable (clock) radio has been released:

http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/ar...able-radio.php

Should be the first of quite a few DAB+-upgradeable receivers we'll see
this year, so if you're thinking of buying a non-upgradeable DAB radio you
might want to postpone your purchase for a few months.

Receivers that support DAB+ without needing a software upgrade should be
available by the end of the year.

I was going to buy a new radio for the motorhome, but I think I'll wait a
while. BTW, what about the TRAFFIC channel? Hmm . .

Bill

"DAB sounds worse than FM" [email protected] wrote in message
...
I thought some people might be interested to know that the first DAB+
upgradeable (clock) radio has been released:

http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/ar...able-radio.php

....snip...

Interesting to see that they are expected to milk another 10-15quid from
consumers for the upgrade. This will probably be the same software
installed for free on all their newer releases. Not a good precedence.

Paul DS.

Bill Wright wrote:
"DAB sounds worse than FM" [email protected] wrote in message
...
I thought some people might be interested to know that the first DAB+
upgradeable (clock) radio has been released:

http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/ar...able-radio.php

Should be the first of quite a few DAB+-upgradeable receivers we'll
see this year, so if you're thinking of buying a non-upgradeable DAB
radio you might want to postpone your purchase for a few months.

Receivers that support DAB+ without needing a software upgrade
should be available by the end of the year.

I was going to buy a new radio for the motorhome, but I think I'll
wait a while. BTW, what about the TRAFFIC channel? Hmm . .


I've only had a very quick listen to the Traffic Channel, and it sounded
extremely shambolic, but overall I think it's a good idea that local traffic
information be provided on a dedicated radio station.


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

Paul D.Smith wrote:
"DAB sounds worse than FM" [email protected] wrote in message
...
I thought some people might be interested to know that the first DAB+
upgradeable (clock) radio has been released:

http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/ar...able-radio.php

...snip...

Interesting to see that they are expected to milk another 10-15quid
from consumers for the upgrade. This will probably be the same
software installed for free on all their newer releases. Not a good
precedence.


But I think receivers that have the upgrade already installed will probably
sell for a higher price, so there may not be much between buying an
upgradeable set or one that already has it pre-installed.

I agree though, it does seem to be being used as a way of milking people,
and one way of looking at the issue of them hiding information about DAB+ is
that it basically will make people buy more than one radio, because those
buying non-DAB+ radios will have to buy DAB+ radios in the end as well, so
that's also a way of making extra profits at the expense of unwitting
consumers...


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

Bill Wright wrote:

I was going to buy a new radio for the motorhome, but I think I'll wait a
while. BTW, what about the TRAFFIC channel? Hmm . .

It's thrilling stuff isn't it ? AIUI provided directly by the Highways
Agency, it's on just about all the local DAB muxes. Interesting to see
how it gets on, given the very low penetration of DAB receivers in vehicles.

Previous similar stations, such as Airport Information Radio at Heathrow
and Gatwick, and Channel Tunnel Radio failed dismally, and they were on
AM and FM respectively.

DAB sounds worse than FM wrote:
I thought some people might be interested to know that the first DAB+
upgradeable (clock) radio has been released:

http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/ar...able-radio.php

Should be the first of quite a few DAB+-upgradeable receivers we'll see this
year, so if you're thinking of buying a non-upgradeable DAB radio you might
want to postpone your purchase for a few months.

Receivers that support DAB+ without needing a software upgrade should be
available by the end of the year.


Pleased to see this:

http://www.pure.com/ecoplus/

Rob

Rob wrote:
DAB sounds worse than FM wrote:
I thought some people might be interested to know that the first DAB+
upgradeable (clock) radio has been released:

http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/ar...able-radio.php

Should be the first of quite a few DAB+-upgradeable receivers we'll
see this year, so if you're thinking of buying a non-upgradeable DAB
radio you might want to postpone your purchase for a few months.

Receivers that support DAB+ without needing a software upgrade
should be available by the end of the year.


Pleased to see this:

http://www.pure.com/ecoplus/


Receivers that are DAB+-upgradeable (or ones that will support it natively
once they've finished the software) are using a new DAB receiver chip which
reduces the power consumption relative to previous DAB receiver chips by a
factor of 7 - this is something that the chip manufacturer,
Frontier-Silicon, has managed to achieve, not Pure Digital. The reduction in
power is due to the new chip using smaller transistors so the chip voltages
are lower, and they've moved external memory onto the chip itself to
eliminate power consumption due to bus transfers to external memory.


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

On 20/07/2007 11:51, Rob wrote:

Pleased to see this:
http://www.pure.com/ecoplus/

So the saving (whether switched on, or turned off) is about 5W,
multiply that by 24x365 equals 43.8kWh,
at 9p/unit that'll save under £4 worth of planet per year,
better than nothing, but hardly worth "green" bragging rights.

Receivers that are DAB+-upgradeable (or ones that will support it natively
once they've finished the software) are using a new DAB receiver chip
which reduces the power consumption relative to previous DAB receiver
chips by a factor of 7 - this is something that the chip manufacturer,
Frontier-Silicon, has managed to achieve, not Pure Digital. The reduction
in power is due to the new chip using smaller transistors so the chip
voltages are lower, and they've moved external memory onto the chip itself
to eliminate power consumption due to bus transfers to external memory.

Good to hear but you can't blame Pure for touting the fact that they at
least are using this new chip ;-).

Paul DS