According to Inside Radio, the HD Radio Alliance is going on the offensive and will start promoting new in-car converters that can transform any radio - including both XM and Sirius receivers - into an HD Radio.
A recent press release notes that the new automotive converters were recently showcased at SEMA. These plug-in and dockable units can turn any automotive radio – including satellite radio – into an HD radio.
These HD Radio Converters are now expected to be in stores by Christmas, and are being manufactured by Directed, Dice, Metra, AAMP/Peripheral and Visteon.
cant see this as a threat at this point--they are are least a few years away
Huh? If there is such a box, why not hook it directly into the radio in the car -- why would you need to convert an XM or Sirius PNP or installed unit? Sounds like more of a marketing thing to me. A bad one, but they are consistent.
Uh, are they actually going for a lawsuit here?
WF
thats the same device from january they claimed it would be on the market by the second quarter,then they said thanksgiving and missed that also, now its do for christmas....
Directed is participating in this? Real nice guys. Thanks for the support.
I can see this as a marketing scam. Any installed radios are xm and Sirius compatable not exclusive. (Thats a retail thing.) There is and always was FM and AM on these units and the new converter does just that. converts fm to hd/fm. No news here and anyone that wants real content doesnt care about AM,FM or HD/FM.
IMO the fact thet they are building in the ability to turn a sat rad to an HD says alot about future factory installations and the long rumored 100% standard instalation of Sat rad across all makes and models either XM or Sirius. Thanks HD radio for again verifying the validity of Sat Rad!
I will make a bold prediction:
A whole seven people will take advantage of this within the next 2 years.