Having spent a few days scouring this forum and the net for enlightenment on the subject of Skoda and DAB / DAB+ radio I found these links;

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/403286958/Car_Radio_for_2010_SKODA_Superb.html

http://winlink.en.alibaba.com/product/512138627-213155771/NEW_Special_8_2_Din_Digital_Screen_Car_DVD_GPS_For_VW_Skoda_SEAT.html

There's a fairly long inventory with different specs but in view of the fact that the L & K models include digital TV I thought that it might be of interest.

Not having seen the back of a Columbus or the like I have no idea what similarity there might be in the numerous leads.

In theory, access to digital TV should give access to the radio stations which transmit alongside that but as an uninformed layman I wonder what sort of TV signal you can expect without having someone on the roof re aiming the aerial after every bend in the road.

Jim

Edited 13 January, 201214 yr by Claymore

Having spent a few days scouring this forum and the net for enlightenment on the subject of Skoda and DAB / DAB+ radio I found these links;

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/403286958/Car_Radio_for_2010_SKODA_Superb.html

http://winlink.en.alibaba.com/product/512138627-213155771/NEW_Special_8_2_Din_Digital_Screen_Car_DVD_GPS_For_VW_Skoda_SEAT.html

There's a fairly long inventory with different specs but in view of the fact that the L & K models include digital TV I thought that it might be of interest.

Not having seen the back of a Columbus or the like I have no idea what similarity there might be in the numerous leads.

In theory, access to gigital TV should give access to the radio stations which transmit alongside that but as an uninformed layman I wonder what sort of TV signal you can expect without having someone on the roof re aiming the aerial after every bend in the road.

Jim

Do some research first. IMO best choice would be to get one from a rated HK or UK seller. That way you'd minimise communication problems etc. I've read of people well happy with their new cheaper chinese purchases but also, those who complain of buzz/humming (potentially fixable as an installation problem) and more seriously, missing or incompatible parts in the order.

HTH

J.

These cheap chinese headunits are cheap for a reason, poor sound quality, poor build quality and the software can be iffy at best. A few have tried them on here in the past and I dont think any members are using them anymore, some tried and failed to get refunds and a few have sold them on at a loss.

I would stick to a known brand name, like Pioneer or Kenwood but in car DAB is still in its early days and there are very few headunits out there, especially considering the 1980s UK DAB system is not compatible with the 21st century system being rolled out in the rest of europe.

Thanks for your responses.

Whilst a radio capable of only using the UK DAB system will be incompatible with the more advanced systems in use in other parts of Europe, any modern European DAB radio is likely to be backwards copatible with the UK system so I don't see what the problem is.

Seeing that quite a few models in the VAG range are supplied with DAB radios I sent Skoda UK a message via their web site and today received a call from them and I was advised that the Amundsen unit fitted to, amongst others, the Superb SE Plus, has DAB functionality as seen in the European spec(not mentioned in the brochure possibly as it would hack off potential buyers of specs with the Columbus unit).

Someone is clearly simply making a decisiion that they are not prepared to spend 50 pence putting the circuitry in and trying to figure out what rationale leads to that decision simply defeats me.

The real issue with DAB is nothing to do with the technology...it's to do with the far greater choice in stations on UK DAB compared to UK FM.

Jim

These cheap chinese headunits are cheap for a reason, poor sound quality, poor build quality and the software can be iffy at best. A few have tried them on here in the past and I dont think any members are using them anymore, some tried and failed to get refunds and a few have sold them on at a loss.

I would stick to a known brand name, like Pioneer or Kenwood but in car DAB is still in its early days and there are very few headunits out there, especially considering the 1980s UK DAB system is not compatible with the 21st century system being rolled out in the rest of europe.

The real issue with DAB is nothing to do with the technology...it's to do with the far greater choice in stations on UK DAB compared to UK FM.

Jim

Not everywhere!!

Our town (and many others in Wales) have been told that it is very unlikely we will ever get even a reasonable DAB signal, if any at all. At present we have nothing. Even FM is very limited,