Radio via ADSL

[Ian 56]

I want to be able to get good radio reception throughout my house in France using ADSL and a LiveBox. Via Google I have found two devices which claim to be able to do this. They are the Roku Soundbridge Radio which costs about 380 € and the Phillips SLA 3520 which is about 114 €.

Has anybody experience of these? I want to get BBC programmes which I can get on my desktop computer with no problem. However I do not want to spend a lot of money and find the device will not get BBC for whatever reason.

I am aware of the more expensive solution which would be to buy an additional computer, a lap top.

ian

[Bob T]

Much better off just bringing a sky digibox with you as all the radio stations are on that. You don't need the dish as they are very cheap here.

[Ian 56]

Thanks Bob, but what we want is something more portable which can be used all over the house. We have satellite radio using a French digibox but that is unavailable if one of us is watching TV.

Today I found details of the AE Wifi Internet Radio which specifies that it receives BBC and it is favourably reviewed in PC Advisor. Costs about £170 in the uk and 300 € here. I would like to hear from someone who has hands-on experience of it.

ian

[BJSLIV]

This thing

http://www.telephonesonline.co.uk/details.asp?prodID=1367&title=Media+Players

works reasonably well, good transistor radio quality, not hifi. I'm not sure how it would cope with 10ft thick stone walls. At the newly reduced price its worth a punt, if you have someone who could take delivery in the UK. Im assuming that delivery to France might be expensive.

PS I paid more than that for mine!

[Deimos]

Sky do a think called a Knome - a sort of "portable" radio (not sure about its power - mains or battery ?) that somehow can get the radio from a Sky box (wirelessly). You cannot watch one channel on TV and listen to something different on the Knome radio as the knome effectively switches the satellite receiver to your chosen radio channel. Also not sure about the range. I believe you can change channels using the Knome - so you don't always have to go to the Sky box plus it is wireless and not infra-red/"line of sight". Almost certainly more about it on Sky's web site (incl prices).

May not be what you want due to the dish, receiver box, maybe Sky card (don't know if the radio stuff you want is free-to-air - so the total cost might be too high. A thought though.

Ian

[Deimos]

I notice the BT Voyager thing (from BJLSIV's link) says it uses the same frequency (and thus maybe power ?) as cordless headphones. I used to have an expensive pair of cordless Steinheiser headphones and the range was useless (plus there was a lot of interference). Tried all 3 channels on the headphones and they were all as bad - a sort of background hissing interference.

Ian

[Ian 56]

Thanks BJSLIV and Deimos for your suggestions. I like the price of the BT device but does it need the computer to be tuned to the BBC web site for it to work? If so it would not fit the bill. Similarly the Sky device needs the TV to be on for it to work. I think a WiFi device would suit us better.

ian

[BJSLIV]

The AE box looks very good and they do a cheaper mono version as well.

http://www.radio-now.co.uk/the_imp_wi-fi_radio.htm

 

[Simon]

Try a silm devices squeezebox3, I use a few around the house for playing my cd collection and streaming radio.  I think they are a better product than the Roku

http://www.slimdevices.com/

Simon

[ChezShells]

I use the laptop via wifi for listening to the radio while i'm renovating our place, trying to get the pda to work but struggling with 5 live at the mo, the pda is better, fitting into pocket and using headphones, PDAs are quite reasonable at around 200€ for a half decent one with wifi and bluetooth, plus I use it for tomtom, lots of uses.

 

[Deimos]

Sky Knome needs the Sky box to be on but not the TV. You don't even need a TV - just the Sky box.

Ian

[Ian 56]

Thanks to everyone who gave advice and I now have a system which works. I bought an AE WiFi Radio which is now working well, good quality and 4000 stations including BBC Radio 3 and 4. It was not easy to get it up and running because it seems to be incompatible to the France Telecom LiveBox. Eventually I changed the LiveBox for another modem/router and the problem was solved. I won't bore you with the detail but if anyone wants more information please send me a PM.

ian

[Cassis]

Can anyone clarify, does this way of listening to the radio (using a dedicated radio) have any substantial advantages over listening to the radio on broadband using your PC (e.g. via Realplayer) and wireless speakers like the Saitek A-250 with a range of 30m?

[Ian 56]

My wife can listen to the WiFi Radio and change stations in another room while I am using the PC. And the WiFi Radio is easily portable. I am not sure if these are features of the system you describe.

ian

[Cassis]

You're right - you can't change stations with the wireless speakers without going to the PC, so if you station hop then that is a downside.  Maybe the wifi radio is cheaper as well - the speakers cost us £70. 

On the plus side you can also use them to listen to cd's or downloaded music on your computer and it will allow you to change tracks. 

[img]http://www.thg.ru/video/20051002/images/saitek_a250_1.jpg[/img]

They are pretty portable at about 30cm wide and about 10cm high and 15cm deep.  It's just an alternative idea.

[Ian 56]

Yours is a cheaper solution as the AE WiFi radio costs 300 €. It does work independantly of the PC getting the signal even when the PC is off. It is possible to use the WiFi Radio to listen to music from the PC I believe but I have not investigated that feature.

ian