Just wondered if any dealers or folks with inside knowledge have an idea when DAB radios will be available for the Octavia MK2.

I will probably change my car around next March, but with analogue radio being gradually phased out and the Octy having (to my mind) a nicely integrated system, I would not want to be left with just having to listen to CD's.

Trawling around various manufacturers sites, it seems very few of them are offering DAB sets as an option (BMW being the only one that sticks in my head).

Looks like there will be an almighty rush for aftermarket units anytime soon.

Neil

it makes me laugh with such little time how the manufactorers are doing sweet F.A. when is the analogue signal being switched off?

Urm - I didnt think there were any plans to turn off AM/FM for radio, for TV however, yes??

There are some fundamentally "wrong" things with DAB unfortunately, which is why it's slowly dieing, despite the government's efforts :(

TBH, I doubt there will be a Skoda add-on for the oem head unit. If you really want DAB, the only way I can think of getting it is with an aftermarket head unit.

Due to the different frequency and signal type, it's not just a case of adding a DAB box - you need a specially tuned DAB aerial for it to work. There are several types.

I have DAB in my car, but it's not as good as it could be. I have the full Blaupunkt beesting aerial and even with that, reception is not that brilliant as soon as you drive away from the major cities :(

I have the same issue with my JVC unit.

The signals is poor most place s I go and there are the other following issues;

I had DAB in my previous octy, but found although reception is was excellent where I live the low bitrate led to dodgy sound. FM sounded better, on the mainstream stations.

DAB is to be phased out in the UK and replaced by the standard that most of europe appears to be adopting. The new standard uses AAC+ instead of MP2 for the codec, which is more efficient and should yield better sound quality. The radios are due to go on sale next year, and DAB will be phased out over a number of years although the main broadcasters have said they will contunue for a time after that.

For info on DAB+ click this link http://worlddab.org/pdf/DAB+brochure.pdf . Current radios are unable to recieve this new standard because the required decoder is not present.