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Introduction
The RDS/RBDS encoder can be found in the 'Sound Out' function. RBDS is an North American derivative. The main difference that concerns this implementation is the 'Program Type' field. It is worth finding the RBDS standard in pdf format. Search for 'RBDS1998.pdf'.
General Setup
Make sure you are running Sonos 4 at 192kHz sample rate with a suitable sound card.
Select the 'Sound Out' tab.
Check the RDS encoder is switched on. This can be found under 'Controls>RDS>RDS On/Off'.
Select RDS or RBDS mode using menu item Sonos>Sound Out>RDS/RBDS Mode.
Select menu item Sonos>Sound Out>RDS Settings.
This guide will only describe the items that are enabled by default.
The 'PI Code' and 'Extended Country Code' can be found from the RBDS specification. For RBDS this defines the radio station call sign. For RDS part of the 'PI Code' is a local licensing authority issued number to uniquely identify your station.
The 'Program Type' is selected to identify the style of program.(RDS & RBDS differ in the types available).
At the bottom are four items 'Music', 'Traffic Program', 'Stereo' and 'Compressed'. These are set to help identify your station format.
Program Service Name Rotation Setup
This is for setting up what is displayed in the eight characters that make up the Program Service Name displayed on the receiver. Originally this was a static display for showing the radio station name. This has been extended to show a scrolling display of a rotation of strings for extended information.
The set up dialog for this is accessed via menu Sonos>Sound Out>Program Service Name Rotation Setup.
The upper part is for setting up the rotation of strings to be displayed.
The buttons 'Add' ,'Delete' and 'Move Up' control the rotation.
The button 'Strings' is for setting what each string value is. This can either be static text (Default) or taken from a text file (File). How the string is taken from the file is controlled by the search string. The text file is assumed to be lines of text separated by newline characters. If the search string is left blank then the entire first line of the file is taken as the string value. This is the way a simple text file can be used to display current artist and title information. If the search string is not empty then the text file is searched line by line to match the search string to the start of a line. If found then the string value is taken as the remainder of the line.
The button 'File' is for setting the file to be scanned. The scan happens once a second. For this to happen then the scanner needs to be started with the 'Start' button. Also set 'Auto Start' check box to make the scanner start automatically when Sonos 4 is started.
The lower part of the dialog contains settings that are fairly obvious. One thing to note is the flash option is applied only to rotation strings that are eight characters or less. If 'Flash' is not enabled these strings will be statically displayed and not scrolled.
It is worth noting that under the Sonos>Sound Out>RDS Settings two items are disabled to improve the performance of the PSN Rotation.
Also it is possible to select strings to be displayed in 'Radio Text' if enabled.
The RDS/RBDS encoder can be found in the 'Sound Out' function. RBDS is an North American derivative. The main difference that concerns this implementation is the 'Program Type' field. It is worth finding the RBDS standard in pdf format. Search for 'RBDS1998.pdf'.
General Setup
Make sure you are running Sonos 4 at 192kHz sample rate with a suitable sound card.
Select the 'Sound Out' tab.
Check the RDS encoder is switched on. This can be found under 'Controls>RDS>RDS On/Off'.
Select RDS or RBDS mode using menu item Sonos>Sound Out>RDS/RBDS Mode.
Select menu item Sonos>Sound Out>RDS Settings.
This guide will only describe the items that are enabled by default.
The 'PI Code' and 'Extended Country Code' can be found from the RBDS specification. For RBDS this defines the radio station call sign. For RDS part of the 'PI Code' is a local licensing authority issued number to uniquely identify your station.
The 'Program Type' is selected to identify the style of program.(RDS & RBDS differ in the types available).
At the bottom are four items 'Music', 'Traffic Program', 'Stereo' and 'Compressed'. These are set to help identify your station format.
Program Service Name Rotation Setup
This is for setting up what is displayed in the eight characters that make up the Program Service Name displayed on the receiver. Originally this was a static display for showing the radio station name. This has been extended to show a scrolling display of a rotation of strings for extended information.
The set up dialog for this is accessed via menu Sonos>Sound Out>Program Service Name Rotation Setup.
The upper part is for setting up the rotation of strings to be displayed.
The buttons 'Add' ,'Delete' and 'Move Up' control the rotation.
The button 'Strings' is for setting what each string value is. This can either be static text (Default) or taken from a text file (File). How the string is taken from the file is controlled by the search string. The text file is assumed to be lines of text separated by newline characters. If the search string is left blank then the entire first line of the file is taken as the string value. This is the way a simple text file can be used to display current artist and title information. If the search string is not empty then the text file is searched line by line to match the search string to the start of a line. If found then the string value is taken as the remainder of the line.
The button 'File' is for setting the file to be scanned. The scan happens once a second. For this to happen then the scanner needs to be started with the 'Start' button. Also set 'Auto Start' check box to make the scanner start automatically when Sonos 4 is started.
The lower part of the dialog contains settings that are fairly obvious. One thing to note is the flash option is applied only to rotation strings that are eight characters or less. If 'Flash' is not enabled these strings will be statically displayed and not scrolled.
It is worth noting that under the Sonos>Sound Out>RDS Settings two items are disabled to improve the performance of the PSN Rotation.
Also it is possible to select strings to be displayed in 'Radio Text' if enabled.