mahoneyl

All,

Been doing some expanded research on the web trying to determine whether or not to add HD (hybrid digital) radio as an option to my new MY07 530i (w/SP). At first, sounded like an attractive option compared to Sirius satellite (pros: additional commercial free content; cons: somewhat poor sound - debatable to some; plagued by intermittent signal loss..i.e., tree-lined roads, underpasses, etc.; subscription based).

But, the more I looked into HD radio the more I realized that it actually may be a waste of $500 at this early juncture.

Anyone that has HD radio, please comment on its utility...i.e., does it really provide high fidelity FM / AM sound over what is currently available?; Also, not sure if the current MY07 BMW HD radio offers HD2 Multicast Channel functionality...sparse threads on this forum indicate probably no...can anyone confirm?

Further, I saw another thread on e60.net that stated that RTTI - Real Time Traffic Info (new on the 07' Nav system; but, supposedly only in conjunction w/the 2007.1 Navigation DVD...) is not available if the HD Radio option is selected...can anyone confirm this?

The article below provides a negative critique on the prospects of HD radio. What's interesting are the comments below the article....many from radio industry professionals. Their tone is quite cynical.

Critical Article on HD Radio...

The links below provide additional "manufacturer proponent" info on HD radio and allows you to listen to the difference in sound quality...little hard to do from laptop speakers...truthfully, I couldn't tell any difference.

HD Radio Marketing Site;
Ibiquity Digital - Guys who invented it...

IMHO, a lot of money has been invested in this new technology and retailers are signing on to market the hardware/modules, etc. (BMW included). But at this point, it is too early to tell whether consumers will get on board - many radio industry naysayers are saying it definitely won't happen and they don't see the profitability in it...nonetheless, if fm/am sound is dramatically improved (non-commercial free or not) and extra worthwhile content is added (currently remains to be seen) then it may be worth it in the long-term; or conversely, it may be worth it to you now...as long as $500 isn't going to set you back too far in the short term...

Bottom Line: We need feedback from current BMW HD Radio owners. Thx!

v/r

Leo

Current Drive: MY05 BMW 530i, silver grey/blk lthr; fully loaded minus SP.

ImolaRedM

Save your money. Fidelity is marginally better than FM. Fidelity aside; you're still dealing with much of the same content as FM radio. So your decision might depend on how much you like FM. And if you spend your time on FM talk radio I don't see much point in spending $500 for slightly better audio. HD2 is not supported and it's questionable if it will ever be supported with a software update. Here in the Metro Washington DC area we have plenty of radio stations that support HD but I find myself listening to my iPod 98% of the time. The other two percent is spent on Sirius.

I can't comment on RTTI since my '07 was built before the 9/06 introduction.

mahoneyl

Thanks for the input. Appreciate it.

merklebob

that right the worst acustic place in the world is a moving car[or close to it]. save the 500 and get the traffic as a default.