Even without the addition of Howard Stern in January of 2006, Sirius Satellite Radio is still an amazing service and worth the money .
Over 60 commercial-free music station, it has converted me back to a radio listener again.
Unlike XM, which only provides a high quality digital signal to its more popular stations, Sirius has perfectly clear reception on all stations. It is an absolute pleasure.
Ask for a subscription for Xmas if you don’t have it, give subscriptions if you already have it.
Between Sirius radio, and my iPod, I have a steady flow of great music, and my life is much happier for it.
[quote]samdiesel wrote:
Unlike XM, which only provides a high quality digital signal to its more popular stations, Sirius has perfectly clear reception on all stations. It is an absolute pleasure.
[/quote]
I’m not sure what you mean by this - I’ve got XM, and all the stations are digital.
Plus XM has just come out with a walkman-type mobile reciever that will allow you to pause, or replay live radio. Kind of like TiVo for the radio.
S>Plex
Down another row of equipment is where SIRIUS’ much-touted (S>Plex) Statistical Multiplexing takes place in yet another bank of 132 Digital Signal Processors that constantly and instantaneously evaluate the bandwidth required by the digital content on each and every stream. If one stream is playing a large, complex music file, the S>Plex technology will “borrow” bandwidth from a stream carrying less content ? a talk show for example. By instantaneously managing bandwidth among all the channels, music files do not get clipped or compressed, so that sound quality remains high. Because this technology has never been used before, Kalman told us that they are always tweaking the system.
“The audio quality that was on the air six months ago, a year ago, is not even close to what’s on the air now. We’re constantly upgrading,” Kalman said.
Stern will be on Sirius only. I wish sirius would come out with the player that XM just came out with.Between that an my Mp3 player, I wouldnt have to hear or speak to anyone for the rest of my life.
[quote]cbeefyt wrote:
Stern will be on Sirius only. I wish sirius would come out with the player that XM just came out with.Between that an my Mp3 player, I wouldnt have to hear or speak to anyone for the rest of my life.[/quote]
It’s in the works. XM was the first on the market, but Sirius is gaining steam. And it all breaks down to quality. That, and Howard Stern fart jokes. All Uncensored! No FCC regulations.
The DJs speak freely on the air. They don’t say ‘Fuck’ every other word, but it comes out, and it makes the DJs sound like real people.
Woohoo!! I peeked in the closet and caught a glimpse of what I’m getting for Christmas. I’m getting hooked up with Sirius for my car. I’m also getting something called a “Pocket Rocket XL5000” don’t know what that is but I’m excited!!!
[quote]rainjack wrote:
samdiesel wrote:
Unlike XM, which only provides a high quality digital signal
I’m not sure what you mean by this - I’ve got XM, and all the stations are digital.
[/quote]
Rainjack: XM has lowered the bit-rate on many of its channels (giving them a lower quality, though yes, they are still digital). They simply don’t have enough bandwidth to make all of their channels crystal clear. Turn to any of the traffic channels to hear the most dramatic quality drop.
[quote]nephorm wrote:
Rainjack: XM has lowered the bit-rate on many of its channels (giving them a lower quality, though yes, they are still digital). They simply don’t have enough bandwidth to make all of their channels crystal clear. Turn to any of the traffic channels to hear the most dramatic quality drop.
[/quote]
Yeah - but it’s the traffic channels. They could probably do the same thing to the talk channels, and the comedy channels as well. I mean - how high does the sound quality need to be for what are essentially(sp?) AM stations?
[quote]samdiesel wrote:
Even without the addition of Howard Stern in January of 2006, Sirius Satellite Radio is still an amazing service and worth the money .
Over 60 commercial-free music station, it has converted me back to a radio listener again.
Unlike XM, which only provides a high quality digital signal to its more popular stations, Sirius has perfectly clear reception on all stations. It is an absolute pleasure.
Ask for a subscription for Xmas if you don’t have it, give subscriptions if you already have it.
Between Sirius radio, and my iPod, I have a steady flow of great music, and my life is much happier for it.
Can I get a witness from the congregation?[/quote]
Hmmmmmm… you wouldn’t happen to be a stockholder, would ya?
Just kidding. Even though the price of the stock is overpriced, I hope it goes way up, just because.
[quote]rainjack wrote:
Yeah - but it’s the traffic channels.
[/quote]
It isn’t just the talk radio… many of the music stations are at a lower quality. The traffic stations are just the most dramatic difference.
[quote]nephorm wrote:
It isn’t just the talk radio… many of the music stations are at a lower quality. The traffic stations are just the most dramatic difference.
[/quote]
I haven’t really noticed it. But then again, I grew up in the day of 8-tracks. All this stuff sounds like heaven compared to 8-tracks, and AM radio.
I think you’ll probably see sirius doing the same thing as XM once they get more stations added. You can only slice the bandwidth pie so thin.
You might even see XM drop some of the less popular channels, in order to get some quality back.
[quote]rainjack wrote:
You might even see XM drop some of the less popular channels, in order to get some quality back.
[/quote]
Hopefully they’ll just increase their bandwidth through adding satellites or upgrading their hardware. With increased revenues, I think that’s probably inevitable.
[quote]nephorm wrote:
Hopefully they’ll just increase their bandwidth through adding satellites or upgrading their hardware. With increased revenues, I think that’s probably inevitable.
[/quote]
I’m under the impression that the bandwidth is a finite pie. That their ability to get more is limited by those crowded around them on the bandwidth number line. The only way they can get more, is to figure out how to divide what they already have into to even smaller pieces.
But I could be wrong - and if I am, then you sir are exactly right.
Sirius has more reported pockets of lost service than XM. only place I have lost XM service is when i drive through tunnels. XM has satellites over Florida and California and they are stationary. where Sirius’ satellite move on their own.
sure Sirius has 3 satellite, but they must turn off 1 by the time it hits the US border of Canada. So they still have 2 active satellites. XM also covers 250 miles north and south of the border of the US and I talked to this one guy that got it even out in Canadian Rockies.
by the way, in major metropolitan areas where there building getting in the way of the sky there are terrestial ground repeaters. so all the people living in NYC, DC, LA etc can get XM even if they are right next to a building blocking the sky.
Every single comparison of professional journals, print and/or online, has made XM the better choice. why? because it’s better quality of sound. XM is cheaper and with no contracts.
are you getting Sirius or XM or is it another company?
either way Sirius and/or XM can only properly provide their service over the continental United States. so you might just be out of luck because you are in China.
also I forgot to mention, XM’s satellite technology is a lot more advance technology than Sirius. Sirius’ satellite technology was made 20 years before the company launched. XM’s was created only about 1 year before XM was launched.
