Ok, so im going to upgrade to the Pioneer F700BT, and want will most likely add HD radio to it.
I havent had XM, Siruis, or HD, but heard that HD beats the others...is this true, or is it biased?

Whats the cost per year / month for HD? I know Xm and Sirius are about 140$a year.
Id like to know the pros and cons to using any of the above. Why do you have (XM/Sirius/HD), and why?

 

HD radio is free but you only get the locals.

XM/sirius gets cheaper if you buy a year or more at a time.

 

ah, didnt know that about HD..so its just clarified FM pretty much?

I guess it doesnt matter which one I choose, XM, or Sirius right?

 

Theres an interface for each on crutchfield, guess ill take the one that looks easier to install, lol

 

I agree.

In theroy HD radio was supposed to be superior to FM with extra channels like DTV, but not when the local HD broadcasters play compressed (128kbps) MP3's.

 

HD Radio
HD radio is just another type of terrestrial radio. You don’t pay for a subscription (the station receives its revenue from advertisers), but you must own or purchase equipment (often an add-on for your current HD-enabled receiver) to receive HD radio’s digital signal.

One significant obstacle for HD radio is the high cost a station pays for installing the proprietary equipment and paying the licensing fees. Obviously NPR can afford this, and probably Clear Channel, but smaller stations won’t see this as a viable solution based upon the revenue they receive from advertisers.

In my personal (and limited) experience HD radio does sound better than traditional analog terrestrial radio. But, you need high-quality speakers and a good amplifier (better than the “built-in” amplifiers in most garden-variety H/U’s) to notice this difference.

Satellite Radio
A satellite radio is also a digital radio signal that is broadcast by a communications satellite. Since it comes from a satellite, you receive the signal anywhere you are as long as there is no physical obstruction that blocks the signal. Since the satellite company (Sirius/XM)also has ground repeaters, you even receive the signal in areas that might otherwise block the satellite signal (e.g., urban locations with high buildings, tunnels, etc.).

HD Radio vs. Satellite Radio

• Satellite radio’s sound matches CD quality. HD radio is slightly better. The caveat is that you need high-end equipment (amplifier and speakers) to take advantage of this slight difference.
  
• HD radio is free, and Satellite radio requires paying a subscription fee.
  
• You have many stations with Satellite radio and just a few stations with HD radio.
  
• Broadcasting in HD is costly for a station since it requires expensive proprietary equipment and licensing fees. That means you are going to listen to a lot of advertisers “on air.”
  
• Satellite radio is a subscription service (you pay a monthly fee), but that means you have many stations that have no advertisements, and the others broadcast a minimal amount of advertising.
  
• HD stations are local while Satellite channels are broadcast to a huge geographical area (in my case, all of North America). In other words, when you do a road-trip, you lose your HD stations, but retain your Satellite channels.

I’m sure other people can offer additional comments.

--Spike