Radio quality from Freeview TV

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muzzman

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Wannabe Geek

Topic # 108467 29-Aug-2012 20:18
What is the quality of the digital signal that is used for the radio that comes with Freeview? This all started because I am about to buy a new sound system and realized I don't understand the basics. If I listen to say, Concert FM from the tv into a sound system, how does that quality compare to the normal FM signal. Is the Concert FM signal in stereo on FM? Is the Concert TV signal in stereo? I assume the direct stream of concert radio is best from the tv? I gather there is not any other digital radio publicly available in Auckland? I have spent some hours trying to work out these answers on the net - but have not won. Perhaps they are TOO simple! Thanks for any assistance.

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Reply # 678934 29-Aug-2012 20:20
Its pretty bad on freeview TBH, Good FM will sound better, the problem is most people have shocking FM and equate quieting with a good signal, which it isnt. Multipathing makes a mess of FM. Richard rich.ms

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Ultimate Geek

Reply # 679385 30-Aug-2012 17:49
what he said ^ for best fm get a good tuner and hook it up to a good aerial, probably outdoor. depending on your location using your tv aerial should work well too. answers to your q's; 1. yes 2. yes 3. digital audio from tv or separate tuner to your amplifer or avr for best sound. 4. dunno, not in orks.

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Reply # 679399 30-Aug-2012 18:34
For what it's worth, I just recorded the Radio NZ Concert stream off Freeview HD/UHF, and here are the results. Taken from MediaInfo Lite: Stream length: 1min 30secs Average bitrate: 132kbps Codec: HE-AAC (LATM) Sampling rate: 48.0 KHz Playing it through VLC reports a bitrate of 96kbps, though. To me, it still sounds vastly inferior to even a good quality FM signal. It sounds dull and lifeless. The higher end instruments, such as the violin etc, sound very mulled. Even more so than what you would expect from a 96kbps mp3 file. It's sounds like I've just gone all pretentious and described a bad wine, but it really is what it sounds like. I can see why they chose to get rid of the "HD" part of the Freeview terrestrial branding. Especially when they continue to use the abomination that is HE-AAC. Thankfully, 1, 2, 3 now use Dolby Digital (AC3) full time.

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Reply # 679448 30-Aug-2012 20:25
Radio New Zealand National which broadcasts in Mono on the FM frequencies is stereo on freeview..got that badboy cranking through my stereo....more convenient than my PC and subjectively I think it sounds better than my tuner in mono.

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Wannabe Geek

Reply # 679594 31-Aug-2012 09:46
Thanks for the answers and comments. Seems like radio is still very much the poor cousin in terms or quality transmission. I bought a new system yesterday and think that in the meantime I will stick with FM, plus also use internet radio off the laptop into the system. Am also going to experiment with internet radio off my android smartphone. Can't get sound from the LCD TV anyway because it does not have any sound output. It's a nice Samsung 40" but the bottom of the line (read cheap) model, LA40D503. I assume when it is noted above to use the external aerial for FM that the connection should be made to the satellite dish, rather than the terrestrial HD aerial which I also have. Or would both work? Is it simply a matter or using a splitter?

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Ultimate Geek

Reply # 680498 2-Sep-2012 19:02
muzzman: I assume when it is noted above to use the external aerial for FM that the connection should be made to the satellite dish, rather than the terrestrial HD aerial which I also have. Or would both work? Is it simply a matter or using a splitter? That would work to a certain degree if you have a strong fm signal, but its not the proper method for receiving fm stations. ideally you want a multi-element FM antenna, preferably 4 sets of elements and each one the correct length for 4 freqs which are spaced out in the fm band. If anything else but a proper fm antenna would work, it would be a tv vhf antenna as the longer elements are a closer match for the wave length of the fm freqs.

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Reply # 680519 2-Sep-2012 19:34
I bought the biggest FM antenna that clayworth sold and put it up inorder to get a LPFM, and within a week some other prick started up 0.2MHz away much closer wiping it out :( But it really does make a difference to the clarity on the non overprocessed stations. The sound is absolutly fanbloodytastic, the edge and ZM still sound like utter swill. Richard rich.ms

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Ultimate Geek

Reply # 680522 2-Sep-2012 19:46
richms: I bought the biggest FM antenna that clayworth sold and put it up inorder to get a LPFM, and within a week some other prick started up 0.2MHz away much closer wiping it out :( But it really does make a difference to the clarity on the non overprocessed stations. The sound is absolutly fanbloodytastic, the edge and ZM still sound like utter swill. Yea ZM's audio quality is not the best, a lot of compression. Maifm is probably one of the best i've heard in terms of audio quality.

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Reply # 680523 2-Sep-2012 19:48
gareth41: Yea ZM's audio quality is not the best, a lot of compression. Maifm is probably one of the best i've heard in terms of audio quality. Shame about the content ;) Richard rich.ms