Radio Road

RE: HD sound quality

72.70.227.200

In Reply to: RE: HD sound quality posted by White Fox on December 28, 2007 at 17:41:09

I work at an FM station that broadcasts in HD. Stations can decide on the sample rate for each stream up to a point. The maximum rate is 96 kbps. All bits can be used for one digital stream to copy the analog broadcast -- that was what was first intended. National Public Radio (NPR) researched and promoted the technology to divide the stream into sub-parts. The FCC requires that the first (HD-1) stream mimic the analog with good quality, but after that it's up to the station. Some carry two streams at 48 kbps each, some divide them 64/32, and some use other combinations (there is some use of additional subdivisions to create an HD-3, and an "extended" mode that adds some bits that I don't fully understand).

I think HD can achieve something like, to use the usual phrase, near-CD quality, with the emphasis on "near" -- it isn't ideal due to the extreme data compression even at 96 kbps. The compression scheme is not the same as iTunes and such.

Follow Ups:

Fully agree - Panelhead 08:27:09 01/12/08 (1)
- RE: Fully agree - White Fox 15:20:19 01/12/08 (0)

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