USB radio tuners?

**agentloveless** · 10-20-2005, 07:34 PM

Do car antennas have a single wire leading to them typically? or is it two?

**Vchat20** · 10-21-2005, 03:35 AM

ok. lets try to clean up the clutter here. first off, EVERYONE please

first. most of what you have mentioned has already been posted elsewhere.

ok. now to explain some of this. first off, most of the currently available radio tuners designed for pc/mac use have really crap reception compared to a standard headunit. so if your headunit brings in your local station pretty well with some minor static here and there, expect to get constant static mixed with the music and mono audio. thats the best case scenario.

the Radio X-treme posted above: all i know is that David (developer of the frontend Centrafuse. check the frontend forum for more info) owns one and has had plans from the start to have it fully integrated in CF along side support for other tuners using the Radiator program. this of course doesn't answer for other frontends, just mentioning that there is another user here who may or may not have had good luck with it. i personally haven't been able to get any evidence as to its reception quality.

the D-Link usb radio has gotten some decent reviews from other users here. one good bit of news is that i have heard that hooking it up to your car's antenna is pretty painless sans some basic soldering and wiring and whatnot. it may or may not get good reception, but again: nowhere near as good as a standard headunit.

the radio shark really has nothing going for it. all I've heard is JUNK. crap reception. crap software which is proprietary. no radiator support (which most frontends rely on iirc). avoid it at all costs.

now that thats out of the way, i do want to point out that there is a homebrew tuner in the works right on this very forum which is being built specifically for the carpc community. with this in mind, its being built with parts that were designed for a car environment (mainly the tuner itself and other closely linked chips) so its going to have headunit quality reception. Also it has already been slated to have support for AM/FM/ and RDS (in-stream data such as song info, station call letters, weather, etc. broadcasted from the station to your radio which is then displayed on the headunit) functionality whereas past and current pc radio setups have just had FM capability and nothing else. needless to say, this IS the holy grail (that is unless Zip-Lock wants to get a few words in here on that

) for carpc radio. and before you post more questions about this, please read atleast the first page of this thread before posting aimlessly into the night.

g'night all

**tilma800** · 06-16-2007, 05:44 PM

What is the current status in the USB-radio world?
Last time I checked the HQCT was the best you could get, so I got it but never had it completely installed. I did not get a good noise free sound from it yet.

Are there better alternatives for it now?

**HIPPOhifi** · 06-16-2007, 08:08 PM

Originally Posted by Vchat20

the radio shark really has nothing going for it. all I've heard is JUNK. crap reception.

Agree reception is terrible, good interface with Road Runner, but that dosn't help if all your hear is static. Even with an external antenna...

**darag2358** · 06-25-2007, 11:53 PM

Well, since it seems this thread is being resurrected, what's the verdict on the RadioShark 2? Is the reception any better and how's the external antenna interface?

**lexdiamond20** · 06-26-2007, 04:28 PM

Originally Posted by darag2358

Well, since it seems this thread is being resurrected, what's the verdict on the RadioShark 2? Is the reception any better and how's the external antenna interface?

Reception is horrible on 2 also. Only reason im using it is because my Sirius radio is an FM transmitter and Radio Shark picks it up perfectly.

**darag2358** · 06-26-2007, 11:13 PM

Have you hooked the antenna lead through your car's antenna? I actually do want AM radio for the baseball broadcast but don't want to spend the money on hqct.

**Firebird** · 07-16-2007, 04:21 PM

Does XM Radio work in Europe?
Are there USB devices which have analog and XM radio, which is supported by CF? Or should I buy it seperate. Which one is good?

Greetings

**greekgod25** · 08-07-2007, 04:58 PM

The Shark 2 has am/fm support, it worked great in the house... but since putting in the car, it seems the metal frame of the car causes too much interference. I might open it up next weekend and see if theres an alternative option.

**Mechanic** · 08-08-2007, 12:32 AM

You should probably think about using something designed for in-vehicle use. Too bad the $40 rebate expired on this : Visteon HDZ300

The thing gets reception equivlent or better than my previous headunit on analog only channels, and it sounds about a 100 times better on the HD channels.