Sangean HDT-1 HD Radio Component Tuner
by Sangean
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: SangeanFormat: CD
Model: HDT-1
Color: Black
Product features:
- Backlit LCD display
- Program associated data services
- Auto preset system
- IR remote control
- External antenna input
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sangean HDT-1 HD Radio Component Tuner
Customer Review: Not all it's cracked up to be + user interface problems.
Summary: 1 Stars
Ok, after much research I got one. Got it because I wanted to get a local station that was a HD multicast station that I could not get without a digital receiver. I got this model because I did not wanted a stand alone table top system, or one to go in my car, but a unit to integrate into my existing sound system.
It works as a basic FM and HD receiver. Unlike the top reviewer here who is blown away by "over the blue display", I can safely say that for the price I was underwhelmed by the functions and fustrated by the functionality. I have $6 calculators from the drug store that are better designed.
Flaws: First, it as two 'station seek' buttons. The normal seek that will ignore all secondary HD2 stations (Multicast stations). The HD seek button that will ignore the standard FM (non HD) stations and also ignore secondary HD2 stations.....
So, if you have a station that mulitcasts, i.e. broadcasts two HD signals on say 91.3 FM, you must first do a regular seek to find the 91.3 HD1 satiation and then use the fine tune button to tune up to the HD2 signal because neither of the two seek buttons will get you there. THAT's JUST DUMB.
So to find a HD2 station (or any multicast station) you must first know it is there, because neither seek will find it, and then tune to it with a series of stealth moves.
It is quite possible that many of the reviewers are un-aware that on some channels there are more than one HD station, because getting to the multicast HD2 station is obscure and obtuse.
The whole point of HD is that stations can multicast, and you can have more than one signal on a channel. That this unit's default mode is to skip all HD2 channels is dumb, and it is not something that can be reprogrammed. I think this is a fundamental design flaw. It's like a car that can only make right hand turns. The whole left hand side of the universe is simply missing, unless you make three right hand turns, or in this case, seek to the HD1 station and then micro tune one step up from there.
At this price point I also expect a better antena than a 1.50 radio shack wire. The whole point of a radio tuner is to pull in stations. I get a better range of stations if I walk out to my 1992 (15 year old) ford and use it's stock radio and car antenna. No kidding, in my car I get 90.7 from West Palm Beach, this $200 radio fails to pull it in. Plan on a serious antenna upgrade.
Presets. Oh how dumb can it get. First, to program a preset takes one button, press one of the numbers for a second and it is stored. (The book says 3 seconds, wrong). To retrieve an FM preset..... wait for it.... first you must remember if you stored it in FM1 or FM2 modes, not to be confused with HD1 and HD2..... Then using the band selection button cycle through the band selections till you get the right one, then press the Preset button, (God knows why you press it to retrieve but not to store), then press the number of the preset you stored. Got that? It takes 3 buttons and possibly up to 6 button presses to recall a station.
Obtuse is not the word for this. Most radios store pre-sets by requiring a very long press (3 seconds or so) or pressing a "store this" type button before pressing the preset number. So on my other tuner I press the memory button then the preset number to store it. To recall a preset I just use the preset button. On this tuner the revers is true. Storage is a snap, recall my require the manual.
A second problem, since it only takes 1 a second touch on a preset button to reprogram it you often get inadvertent overwrites of your preset stations.
One of the serious benefits of HD radio is that you can have more channels in the FM spectrum. On this radio the preset stations are limited to 10 per group FM1, MF2, AM1 and AM2. Why is each band is split into two groups? Who knows, must be something left over from borrowing the code from their HD car radios. Either way, you only get 10 presets per band group, for a total of 20 per band. To access the second set you have to go else where to change bands. For $200 I expect more than 10 preset stations per FM group. Even my 15 year old car radio has that.
One good point is that this unit has a display mode where it shows a graphic equalizer type of level display. Very, very, completely useless because although you can see it, you can't modify any aspect of the signal, not even the volume, not even with the remote. So if you are using the remote to tune between channels, you had better have another remote in the other hand to adjust for volume differences between stations.
When dealing with a week signal, The HD signal quality has a bar graph of reception like a phone. (More bars the better). Unfortunately, every two seconds it wants to re-tune or re-calibrate a week signals processing. This does not cause a problem on strong signals but on week signals it first cuts out, thinks, brings it back in with full quality, only to repeat it's self two seconds later. This seems to be a software fault. Once the station is found and the user is happy with the selection, then keep the signal coming, even if you are thinking in the background.
Good points. On a regular FM station that broadcasts the same signal on the HD1 channel, it will switch to digital mode and it will be cleaner. This is what all digital units do, so I expect this. So I will keep it for this benefit.
Other good point, it is black, with a blue digital display. Therefor it will match your $20 casino watch you got from sears.
Sound..... Here I am still thinking about it.... The digital sound is crisper than the analog, but it is also more annoying to listen to voices like the news or NPR type programing. The digital compression has a lot to do with this. There also appears to be some signal processing along the route that is clipping or punching the higher frequency. I am not sure if this is a problem with the extreme audio compression, the transmitter or the circuits in this unit. In a quiet environment and plunged through a good quality sterrio, it quickly gets on your nerves. It's a bit like using ear buds and a low quality mp3 player.
With week FM stations of the standard type, this radio gets lots of static and seems to have no built in circuits static suppression. Maybe this more noticeable because it seems to be boosting the high end frequencies, is amplified more than my other two FM receivers. (See my comments on it's high frequency boosting.) It needs some squelch control of some sort. I think I am going to keep my standard tuner for listing to non-HD stations.
There seems to be a real problem with HD stations that have a weaker signal. Instead of working to bring them in and selecting one or other transmission, the system keeps switching from regular FM to HD and back. It does this re-calibration every second or so. It keeps blinking in and out. I want it to stay in one mode, either FM or HD but it won't. It's like a car that keeps changing gears, every second. This makes week stations un-listenable. Another reason to keep my old tuner.
Documentation: Scant. Good point, got a color picture of your black unit. My digital alarm clock and cd plyer came with better documentation.
Good point, it starts by telling you how to set the clock.
Yes, like a microwave overn this unit wants to tell you the time when it's in off mode. (Off does not meen off, it means now I want to be a very expensive digital clock.) You have to follow the manual to set the clock because like everything else, it's counter intuative.
Unlike my bed side digital clock that sets the time by it's self by using the nationally transmitted radio time information, this radio needs you to manually set the time for it's digital clock because it does not have the ability to receive or process radio time information.
The digital clock does not provide any functionality, like the ability to switch on at a particular time. The function of the digital clock seems to be to light up the big blue digital bit just to tell you the time, to show it's not really switched off. For 'Off' is a sate the power button will not do. It's only got two states radio, or clock.
This radio's clock can't keep time when the power goes out. I have my system, amp, CD players and stuff on an outlet strip that I can turn off if we are in a large lightning storm. If the power goes out, this unit is back to 9am every time. It's display is big, bright and always on. There is nothing more annoying than a big glowing clock thats almost always wrong. As I said, this radio is too dumb to use radio time signals to set it's own clock.
Last, my stereo stack is in my bedroom, and because the off button does not switch it off but puts it in clock mode, and the clock is reset any time the power goes out, my bedroom is now blessed with an annoyingly bright blue screen that is almost always telling the wrong time.
MORE: Been trying to use this radio but it keeps loosing lock on the stations. When it does it drops for several seconds, then may drop back in or may change channel and drop to the digital version of the HD1 on that frequency. Then it repeats the problem of dropping the new signal with long pauses of several seconds. Compared with the analog signals, which may have more noise but come in strong all the time. So I keep trying the digital signals but end up switching it off and reverting to my normal analog receiver.
Can I get my money back? I looked forward to getting a HD radio for a couple of years now. Terribly disappointed. This implementation, in this radio, is just very very bad. Save your money for something worthwhile. Even an ice cream would give you more joy.
Description of Sangean HDT-1 HD Radio Component Tuner
HDT-1 HD/AM/FM Radio component Tuner adds HD Radio Technology to your Home Theater System with graphic LCD display, Program Associated Data Services, Display indicates call sign, channel frequency, data rate, radio text, audio mode, service mode, signal quality, signal strength, IR Remote Control, Line-outHD radio is the next step in the evolution of sound. For some time, radio listeners have had to put up with static, hiss, and lost signals. HD radio eliminates this loss of signal by providing a digital signal that allows AM to sound like FM, and CD-quality sound out of FM stations. The HDT-1 is a full-featured, HD radio tuner, with hybrid and full digital radio reception, an auto preset system, an IR remote control, and much more.
Feature List
- PLL Synthesized Digital Tuning System
- Backlit LCD Display
- Hybrid and Full Digital Radio Reception
- Program Associated Data Services
- Auto Preset System
- Automatic Multiplex Re-configuration
- Automatic Simulcast Re-configuration
- IR Remote Control
- External Antenna Input
- Line-out (Stereo-RCA)
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