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Humax HDR & digital radio bit rate


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Old 14-04-2009, 11:18
deco-doctor
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Hi

Does anyone know what the sample frequency and word length is for radio stations broadcast on Freesat, for BBC Radio 3 for example?

Is it in MP3 format or something better, 44.1Khz/16 bit for instance?

I'm interested to know what standard is available on the S/PDIF optical digital out of the Humax HDR with Digital radio.

Thanks
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Old 14-04-2009, 11:37
Snoods
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Hi

Does anyone know what the sample frequency and word length is for radio stations broadcast on Freesat, for BBC Radio 3 for example?

Is it in MP3 format or something better, 44.1Khz/16 bit for instance?

I'm interested to know what standard is available on the S/PDIF optical digital out of the Humax HDR with Digital radio.

Thanks
BBC Radio 3 is 48 khz 192 kbps (Generally that's the highest bitrate for the radio channels, some are much less, but most of the BBC channels are 192 kbps)

They sound fine vis SPDIF, much better than the pile of poo that is DAB.
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Old 14-04-2009, 11:47
deco-doctor
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BBC Radio 3 is 48 khz 192 kbps (Generally that's the highest bitrate for the radio channels, some are much less, but most of the BBC channels are 192 kbps)

They sound fine vis SPDIF, much better than the pile of poo that is DAB.
Thanks, any idea what the word length is?
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Old 14-04-2009, 11:51
Snoods
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Thanks, any idea what the word length is?
Sorry, i'm not sure what you mean by word length deco-doctor, but the longest channel name i have in DVB Viewer is 22 characters long including spaces.

You probably mean something alltogether different.

I don't have an HDR so if you mean something along the lines of RDS text data, i have no idea i'm afraid.
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Old 14-04-2009, 12:24
deco-doctor
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[quote=Snoods;31913171

You probably mean something alltogether different.

[/QUOTE]

Yes, the digital audio format is normally given as a sample rate and digital word length. For example the red book CD standard is 44.1Khz sample rate and 16 bit word length.

There higher standards such as 96Khz sample rate and 24 bit word length, and even 192Khz / 24 bit.

I was wondering what would be coming out of the S/PDIF digital audio output when tuned to BBC Radio 3.

I have an external DAC which will convert any of the above formats which I want to use with my Foxsat HDR for listening to Radio 3.
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Old 14-04-2009, 12:56
Snoods
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Yes, the digital audio format is normally given as a sample rate and digital word length. For example the red book CD standard is 44.1Khz sample rate and 16 bit word length.

There higher standards such as 96Khz sample rate and 24 bit word length, and even 192Khz / 24 bit.

I was wondering what would be coming out of the S/PDIF digital audio output when tuned to BBC Radio 3.

I have an external DAC which will convert any of the above formats which I want to use with my Foxsat HDR for listening to Radio 3.
Ah i see, well you learn something new every day, word length is something i've never heard of, way above my head obviously.

I will leave it to someone who knows what you are talking about, clearly it's not me.
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Old 14-04-2009, 13:52
tv-Addict
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Digital radio is mp2 format.
Word length is only relevant for PCM audio.
Of course, the Freesat box does not output as mp2 - it outputs as PCM.
It will be 16 bit (as every other source is (I think), except DTS-HD/AC3-HD).
So output through SPDIF is 48kHz, 16-bit.

Main 4 BBC Radio channels are 192k.
Others are less... Radio 7 is 160k, Radio 5 is probably less.
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Old 14-04-2009, 13:55
deco-doctor
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Ah i see, well you learn something new every day, word length is something i've never heard of, way above my head obviously.

I will leave it to someone who knows what you are talking about, clearly it's not me.
Thanks for your help.
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Old 14-04-2009, 13:59
deco-doctor
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Digital radio is mp2 format.
Word length is only relevant for PCM audio.
Of course, the Freesat box does not output as mp2 - it outputs as PCM.
It will be 16 bit (as every other source is (I think), except DTS-HD/AC3-HD).
So output through SPDIF is 48kHz, 16-bit.

Main 4 BBC Radio channels are 192k.
Others are less... Radio 7 is 160k, Radio 5 is probably less.
Hi

Thank you, it should sound very good at 48Khz/16bit.
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Old 14-04-2009, 14:24
jzee
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Yes, the digital audio format is normally given as a sample rate and digital word length. For example the red book CD standard is 44.1Khz sample rate and 16 bit word length.

There higher standards such as 96Khz sample rate and 24 bit word length, and even 192Khz / 24 bit.
Unfortunately radio seems to play 2nd string in BBC's priorities- all their main TV channels have better audio quality- 256kbps compared to 192kbps for the main radio channels (most other than Radio 3 are worse on DAB). It's pretty telling that this is an audio quality the BBC only considers fit for BBC NEWS on sat...
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Old 14-04-2009, 15:06
deco-doctor
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Unfortunately radio seems to play 2nd string in BBC's priorities- all their main TV channels have better audio quality- 256kbps compared to 192kbps for the main radio channels (most other than Radio 3 are worse on DAB). It's pretty telling that this is an audio quality the BBC only considers fit for BBC NEWS on sat...
Yes, it's a shame, they have the bandwidth to deliver stunning sound quality broadcasts on satellite radio, but choose not to.

It seems to be going along with the general trend of 'dumbing down' the audio quality the majority of people are prepared to accept nowadays.
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Old 14-04-2009, 17:21
jzee
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Yes, it's a shame, they have the bandwidth to deliver stunning sound quality broadcasts on satellite radio, but choose not to.

It seems to be going along with the general trend of 'dumbing down' the audio quality the majority of people are prepared to accept nowadays.
I am not sure it is to do with 'dumbing down'- surely sound quality is equally if not more important on Radio than TV? The only conclusion is that they just don't consider Radio to be on an equal footing.
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Old 14-04-2009, 19:13
deco-doctor
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I am not sure it is to do with 'dumbing down'- surely sound quality is equally if not more important on Radio than TV? The only conclusion is that they just don't consider Radio to be on an equal footing.
Yes, I totally agree with you, sound quality for radio should be more important for sure, but it seems that there is a backwards movement with audio quality in music, witness the rise of MP3 over CD and the demise of SACD, perhaps music lovers are just not demanding enough.
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