Radio Text Lag

[mel@zrimarketing.com]

I'm using the Magic RDS at the studio with the Pira 132 located at the Transmitter site, hardware VPN connected TCP/IP. The magic RDS shows the Dynamic PS and RadioText changing at the start of each song but the Radiotext does not change on the car radios until mid to late portions of the song, the Dynamic PS changes at the start of each song. I have the automation writing a text file that is set up as external text source 1, In external text sources Radiotext 1 is enable,send on change check marked and source 1 selected.

[Jan]

The RDS encoder processes the new RT almost immediately. However, this is still not the time when the new RT can be showed on the car radio because there's a delay in transmission over the RDS. The RDS bandwidth is restricted by RDS standard, and it's very low compared to all current technology. You can effectively carry only several tens of bytes per second.

While dynamic PS works faster, the RT is not showed by the radio until it is completely received and verified (i.e. received several times).

A good new is that the P132 supports group sequence so you may assign more bandwidth to the RT, at the expense of other services. The P132 is also first RDS encoder which supports dynamic group sequence for the RT, so the RT rate is temporarily higher when the RT changes, to achieve the shortest time possible while still keeping bandwidth for other services.

The difference can be well illustrated on following examples:

Code: [Select]

GRPSEQ=002
One RT group is sent after 2*4 PS groups. Typical RT delay is 30 seconds.

Code: [Select]

GRPSEQ=022
SETFEAT=+0001
Two RT groups are sent after 4 PS groups. The dynamic group sequence is enabled, so after the RT update, the RT rate is temporarily double. Typical RT delay is now 5 seconds.

To modify the Group sequence, click on RDS Encoder - Special - Group sequence.
A good result will be obtained if you keep the Default group sequence.

To enable the dynamic group sequence, click on Tools - Show command console and enter the command SETFEAT=+0001

[mel@zrimarketing.com]

Can you make sure I get this correct, SETFEAT=+0001 needs to be entered in the Command Console Window in the bar at the bottom. paste SETFEAT=+0001 and hit enter?

[Jan]

Yes, exactly. You may verify the setting by entering SETFEAT and <Enter>. The returned value must contain odd digit at the end.

The SETFEAT command is supported in firmware version 2.1f or later.

[mel@zrimarketing.com]

I show mine as 2.1b, so I need to update the P132 firmware.

[mel@zrimarketing.com]

I updated firm ware to the latest revision and made the change to SETFEAT=+0001, I checked it and it shows 0001, my Radiotext is still lagging, does notdisplay until the middle to end of the song.
Is there any doc's that show the basic setup for display of the artist and title for Ps1 and RT. I'm not doing anything fancy just want it to display them both with the start of the song. I must have a setting off. In the Text setup Radio Text is enabled Radio text type is set toggle automatically, in external text sources it is enable for external text source 1 (a file written by my automation with artist and title data) source 1 check marked as well as send on change check marked. DPS 1 enabled number of transmissions 3, delay between text loops 2.7 sec, dynamic Ps lable 3.5 sec, show new dynamic Ps immediately,scrolling ps speed low. Any help would be appreciated.

Mel

[Jan]

You can verify in the RDS Spy decoder that complete RT is now sent to the listeners in a few seconds after new song starts playing. The delay is caused by the car radio itself, for an unknown reason. Some models may not show next RT until the PS stabilizes, i.e. at the end of the Dynamic PS loop.

Read more about RDS Spy in the document 'P132 RDS Encoders - Communication Ports and Internet Functions', section 3.4 Remote RDS Output Monitoring. You may record your RDS output stream to a file and attach it to a post to this forum. It can tell us more as we would probably need more information.