HD Radio options

Insignia NS-HD01 HD Radio Portable Player. Its $50 at Bestbuy.

 

According to the thread about the audio specs, the head unit is made by panasonic. I also read that the sat radio receiver, also made by panasonic, is under the driver's seat. I assume, because I don't have my car yet to verify, that there is some kind of bus cable connecting the two. Does anyone know if panasonic makes an HD receiver that can replace the sat radio receiver? I've looked but can't seem to find a clear answer. Do the earlier gen prii have a similar setup that they've found a way to add HD to?

 

Unless someone has a use for it outside their car and happens to buy one and test it in motion, I wouldn't gamble on it. Most portable electronics like this can tune in fine when you're moving slowly, as in walking or biking. But at highway or even street speeds they tend not to tune in. Maybe the hybrid digital signal will work differently but I'd rather have someone else test it first.

 

When you lose the digital signal, it falls back on the analog signal. Bad news about this unit is that I have been reading that the reception is poor and the unit uses the headphone cable as the antenna.

 

The worse news is that the signal falls back to an analog signal that is usually out of sync with the digital one. So you get chopped or missing words or even worse a dreadful echo effect that can happen several times a minute as you lose and regain the signal. I have HD now in my clunker, and it gets to the point I wish I could turn the HD part off but I can't on the Dual brand headunit. It keeps trying to catch it again.

 

A strong FM signal sounds great as it is anyway, no reason to get HD radio IMO unless you want it for the extra stations