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*      RADIO-L :  a discussion of Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB)    *
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Date: 05 October 1998
From: richard@WIRELESS.DEMON.CO.UK
Subject:  Re: The Manufacturer's point of view

In message <3615af5a109f009@mhub0.tc.umn.edu> Skip Pizzi wrote:

> In a recent presentation, Tomlinson Holman (of THX, Ltd., USC, and
> previously, Lucasfilm) cited research claiming that for average
> (i.e., non-enthusiast) consumers to make the switch to a new
> technology, a perceived 10-fold improvement over their current
> system must be demonstrated. How this is measured is obviously
> quite subjective, but DAB may be hard pressed to hit this value
> without significant non-aural elements or other features included.

At least in the case of mobile and portable reception, DAB ought to
hit this 10-fold target reasonably confortably.

For many listeners, FM has never been satisfactory, in spite of the
extensive transmitter coverage we get in Europe: they complain about
difficulties in tuning, about the inconvenience of having to position
a telescopic antenna and about swishing and distortion when someone
walks about the room. We should remember that an element of skill is
needed to tune a radio, especially an FM radio, and non-technical
people continue to find this quite difficult. The extent of the
problem has been illustrated by the massive publicity campaigns
needed here when the BBC has switched programmes from AM to FM,
involving promotions on radio and TV, leafletting and telephone
support.

In the case of car radios, RDS has been a standard fitting in nearly
all new cars for quite some time; yet although it has automated the
tuning process to some extent, it has provided no cure for mobile
flutter in urban areas or hilly terrain.

The advance in performance offered by DAB will be most marked in
pocket personal radios, I believe -- when we get them. This week, I
made a 250-mile cross-country railway trip with my RDS-equipped
pocket radio; and it will surprise no-one that I was unable to listen
for more that a few minutes at a time without severe disturbances due
to fading or multi-path signals. While nobody would be so reckless as
to suggest that DAB coverage will be free of holes, the new
technology should bring about a very marked improvement in mobile
reception.

To judge by the wide range of personal cassette players, CD players
and Minidisc machines on sale, there's a now sizeable market for
portable audio entertainment, even among not-so-young listeners. If
DAB can provide stable listening quality to match that of other
portable products, it could reach a growing audience which finds FM
stereo reception too unreliable on the move -- and would like to be
amused and informed without having to bring its own discs and tapes.
The challenge for DAB is to meet the price expectations of those
consumers.

Richard
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