|
HD Portable Radios Released in 2009
The developer of HD (high definition) digital radio, iBiquity, expects a handful of portable radio devices as well as personal navigation devices (PNDs) to be available and on the market later in 2009 this year with HD Radio reception and functionality.
According to iBiquity COO Jeffrey Jury, the portable radios available will include an MP3 player with embedded HD Radio and an antenna embedded in the headset. Another device that will be available will include a stand-alone AM/FM headset portable, and yet a third model will be an HD Radio accessory that attaches directly to MP3 players. All of these devices were on display along with PNDs without visible brand names in iBiquity's booth.
This is new technology, and it will increase the market for HD radio. With HD Radio receivers built into the unit, PNDs will receive high-speed, frequently updated, live traffic information, which is currently available through broadcaster Clear Channel on its HD Radio stations.
At International CES, Dual Electronics released the first PND that came equipped with HD Radio, which reproduces HD Radio audio programming and receives HD Radio traffic data. A review will be published later, but Dual's XNAV43HD includes maps of North America and also text-to-speech pronunciation of street names. The new Dual unit is expected to ship this spring at a suggested retail of $279.
A key advantage of traffic delivered over HD Radio is that the traffic information is refreshed more frequently and there is more information available than the standard RDS-based traffic reports, said Dual. As an example, the broader HD digital radio pipe can deliver 500 incident reports to the radio device per minute vs. RDS, which can deliver only about 50 incidents per minute, added HD Radio developer iBiquity.
Also on display and available for review at the show was a Dual prototype of an in-dash navigation/radio that was capable of receiving HD Radio traffic reports. It was also shown at the 2008 CES.
|
