🚀 go-pugleaf

"Liron" <nomail@sick.of.getting.spam> wrote in message 
news:JUOgo.5584$FH2.4888@viwinnwfe02.internal.bigpond.com...
> So, what is supposed to be wrong with HD Radio that is allegedly spurring 
> this legal action?

The law firm will allege that iBiquity presented HD radio as a system that's 
essentially a higher-fidelity version of the standard AM/FM radio experience, 
and then proceed to demonstrate that in actuality that's not really the 
case -- probably the biggest problem reported in the real world is that HD 
"lock" tends to come and go as one is driving around, and the "blend to 
analog" functionality in cases doesn't always work very well, making the 
listen experience annoying enough that many people will just force the radio 
into analog-only mode or switch to a different station.

It seems very unlikely the law firm could prevail, but when it comes to things 
like, "does HD radio work the way it was advertised to consumers?," there's so 
much subjectivity involved that it's anyone's guess.  If the law firm can get 
enough people to sign on, going after iBiquity might just start to look worth 
the cost.

Personally, I'm betting the lawsuit will never proceed -- at best they'll be 
able to shakedown iBiquity a bit for an out-of-court settlement wherein the 
law firm makes millions and every HD radio owner gets a check for $5 or so.

I am disappointed that the FCC selected IBOC as the one and only AM/FM-band 
digital radio format all the entire U.S. without even requiring that iBiquity 
openly publish the complete on-air technical specification, much less trying 
to stimulate greater competition for the best possible technical standard in 
the first place.  (IBOC uses some -- apparently minor -- variant of the AAC 
CoDec, which is a good choice, but their their OFDM modulation scheme doesn't 
seem to be as effective against multi-path interference as it really should 
be.)  Effectively the FCC handed iBiquity a printing press for greenbacks, and 
even if that press can't run very fast, the FCC's actions still don't strike 
me as having been in the best interest of the populace.

---Joel