[Electronics-talk] [EXTERNAL] Re: New Accessible HD Radios

[Steve Jacobson]

Jerry,

The real issue here is that Ibiquity is not looking for a good project to help the blind, they are the backers of 
equipment for broadcasting an HD signal.  There issue is increasing the market for HD, so suggesting they make a TV 
receiver just wouldn't make any sense even if there are those of us who might like to have one.  

I must say, though, that my experience with an HD TV with an in-door antenna is as Andy describes.  It was just 
very difficult to get a signal and then to keep it.  I'm not saying that there would not be people who would 
benefit from such a radio, but I don't think we would find such a radio as useful as we found analog radios in the 
past.  Many locations would simply not work while old Analog radios would have worked.  A medium to poor analog TV 
signal could still have a clear audio component even if the picture was bad.  A medium to poor digital signal just 
won't decode.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson
  
On Wed, 25 Feb 2015 08:21:17 -0900, Poppa Bear via Electronics-talk wrote:

>It seems like you have some experience with these kind of setups, but not
>this particular product, so I may be careful about shooting down the
>technology across the board with any blanket statements. Some blind people
>do not care to be tied to their phone for every form of entertainment and
>something like this may be a viable solution for some. I'm not trying to be
>a thorn in the side on this, just attempting to make that one point. 
>Take care and I do think your experience is something to take into serious
>consideration. 

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Electronics-talk [mailto:electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of Baracco, Andrew W via Electronics-talk
>Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2015 8:05 AM
>To: Gerald Levy; Discussion of accessible electronics and appliances
>Subject: Re: [Electronics-talk] [EXTERNAL] Re: New Accessible HD Radios

>There have been attempts to produce portable devices that can receive
>digital TV. In fact, there was a blind guy that produced and marketed a
>tabletop digital TV receiver. The problem is the way that digital TV signals
>are transmitted, and the way that they prophigate. Digital TV signals are
>transmitted at a power level that is much lower than the old analog signals.
>This is one of the reasons why the switch occurred.
>Also, the wave length is much shorter, thus the signal has poor ability to
>penetrate any kind of structure. They may work well whemn you are outside,
>but you will likely lose signal when you come indoors. I have tried several
>units and they just do not work well at all when indoors, and when you use
>the provided indoor antenna. In order to receive these signals in a
>comfortable manner, you would need to erect an outdoor antenna that would be
>high enough so that the signal would not be blocked or altered by
>surrounding structures. Thus they would be a poor solution for an apartment
>dweller. Your best solution would be a smart phone, as there are several
>smart phone apps that make it possible to watch TV on your phone.

>Andy


>-----Original Message-----
>From: Electronics-talk [mailto:electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of Gerald Levy via Electronics-talk
>Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2015 5:38 AM
>To: Andrews, David B (DEED); Discussion of accessible electronics and
>appliances
>Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [Electronics-talk] New Accessible HD Radios


>Could you provide more details about this alleged Ibiquity HD radio?  HD
>radio has been a colossal flop on the marketplace, so it is hard to believe
>that anyone would be interested in producing one that is blind friendly. 
>The Narrator HD radio, originally marketed by Best Buy didn't even last on
>the market six months. Instead of wasting its time developing a blind
>-friendly HD radio, perhaps Ibiquity should try to develop a personal
>portable radio that can tune digital TV channels, which would be much more
>useful to blind consumers(and sighted users, also, for that matter) than HD
>radio. Such radios were promised five years ago when digital TV replaced
>analog TV broadcasting, but so far, no one has produced one.

>Gerald


>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Andrews, David B (DEED) via Electronics-talk" 
><electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
>To: <IAAISORG-ANNOUNCE at yahoogroups.com>
>Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2015 5:29 PM
>Subject: [Electronics-talk] New Accessible HD Radios


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