# Sirius Launches Today



## J-Five (Nov 19, 2003)

This from AllAccess.com:

"Effective TUESDAY (5/18) by 5p (ET), DISH NETWORK will launch 61 additional channels of music provided by SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO. These music channels will be available in AMERICA's Top 120 and above packages at no extra charge. SIRIUS music channels will be launched at the 119 satellite location and can be found in the 6000 range. This adds a potential 6 million listeners to the SIRIUS listenership."


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

Woo-hoo !!! Some real music now, not that Musak crap. At 192Kbps they must sound really good.


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## Guest (May 18, 2004)

They are up right now! They sound AWESOME!! The rap and metal type channels are uncensored which I think it's great, I hated Muzak being censored. So much variety, Dish is the king of Music now for sure!


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

Woo hoo. The summer pool season at Chateau Murdoch (aka NorthSpoon) can now commence..... Gonna pipe that music outside tonight (No more cursing when someone turns on the microwave or cordless phone and kills my XM signal on the home kit)


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## angiecopus (May 18, 2004)

as of 4:00pm i am now listening to the siruis music. Awesome, Broadway music. my mother still enjoys the stuff on the other music channels on the 900 block. 
i am very happy its now on my dish.


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

and they did someting ahead of schedule


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## james39 (Dec 10, 2003)

sweet! It's on right now!  Thank you Charlie!! and special thanks to Sirius!


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## Guest (May 18, 2004)

wow this rules! i just came from digital cable and this blows music choice away!!!! good job charlie


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## J-Five (Nov 19, 2003)

Dish and Sirius rock!


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## Guest (May 18, 2004)

this is really the only thing i didn't like about dish since i have had them: their lame music selection, now they have the best i have heard. awesome!


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

richl said:


> wow this rules! i just came from digital cable and this blows music choice away!!!! good job charlie


Yuppers, I use Comcrap for high speed internet, that is about all they are good for in my area. Get 3Mbps out of them. Dish better for tv and music service, especially now.

Question: What is the screen doing on the channels, just a moving song title like the Musak channels?


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## homeskillet (Feb 3, 2004)

On my 301 it looks the exact same as the Muzak channels.


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

homeskillet said:


> On my 301 it looks the exact same as the Muzak channels.


Cool. The extra graphics would just waste bandwidth anyway.

Side note: I suspect we will see a deal soon between XM and either DirecTV or Comcrap.


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## Guest (May 18, 2004)

homeskillet said:


> On my 301 it looks the exact same as the Muzak channels.


The text is the same, except the sound is much better and the playlists are much better. Lots more choice as well. They could ditch the Muzak and no one would notice now.


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## I_Machine (Dec 2, 2003)

Hehe my 811 plays the stream with a fraction of a second's delay compared to my 301, so now between the two units, I have a nice concert hall effect going on


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## BFG (Jan 23, 2004)

wow cool what a nice early treat, for something that is actuallyon and true, still waiting on this TNT...


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## Guest (May 18, 2004)

This is great for jazz lovers such as myself, I counted numerous jazz channels. I have the Sirius Jazz Cafe channel blasting through my speakers now and it sounds beautiful. Dish definitely didn't cut any corners with the sound with these channels!


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

I_Machine said:


> Hehe my 811 plays the stream with a fraction of a second's delay compared to my 301, so now between the two units, I have a nice concert hall effect going on


Had the same effect when I had a 501/301. It went away with the 501/510 combo. 501/510 have the same delay due to the DVR.

On the Musak, I suspect when their contract is up they will be removed. But if they stay, all the more choice for us. If Musak is going to stay, Charlie should add them to the AT60 package. They would be perfect for that package level.


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## garypen (Feb 1, 2004)

What happens to the CD Audio channels? (I am assuming that they are not Muzak, that only the Mono Audio channels are Muzak. Am I wrong?)


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## stonecold (Feb 20, 2004)

Actually it sounds perfect in my office ( which is at home) with a 7200 with optical out heading to my Pioneer Surrond sound system. While it may not be true dolby digital or anything it still sounds amazing through the speakers. much better than that junk on the 900 channels... not so much the quality as it still aceptable but the actual content sucks. only time i have it tune to one of them is the holiday music channel at christmas.


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

garypen said:


> What happens to the CD Audio channels? (I am assuming that they are not Muzak, that only the Mono Audio channels are Muzak. Am I wrong?)


CD Audio are Musak, we will have them for AT120 and above. So now with AT120 you get something like 93 channels of music? Try and top that Comcrap or D*.


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## garypen (Feb 1, 2004)

ypsiguy said:


> CD Audio are Musak, we will have them for AT120 and above.


So, is Mono Audio not Muzak?


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## Guest (May 18, 2004)

Just a tip for everyone, visit sirius.com and find out the info for each channel. Some stations play special programs or concerts each day or every weekend. For example, the jam band channel plays a live Phish album every day at 6PM EST. The Top Hits Channel 1 plays the top 5 requested songs (e-mail your request) every night at 10EST. Very cool stuff!


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

garypen said:


> So, is Mono Audio not Muzak?


Both CD and Mono Audio are provided by Muzak.

A Sirius-ly good day. Nice to have the genre to choose from.

JL


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## rajeev28 (Oct 16, 2003)

6:50 PM EST, No Sound on Sirius, was working b4..anyone else experiencing this


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## angiecopus (May 18, 2004)

Where did the music go on sirus? It just quit


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

Chris Walker said:


> Just a tip for everyone, visit sirius.com and find out the info for each channel. Some stations play special programs or concerts each day or every weekend. For example, the jam band channel plays a live Phish album every day at 6PM EST. The Top Hits Channel 1 plays the top 5 requested songs (e-mail your request) every night at 10EST. Very cool stuff!


All good stuff, I plan to start DVR'ing and burning to CD fairly soon. Have an old DAT unit I can use to make 60-74 min segments, then digital copy to CD. All for home taping, of course.


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## rajeev28 (Oct 16, 2003)

angiecopus said:


> Where did the music go on sirus? It just quit


Mine too


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## angiecopus (May 18, 2004)

Its not working on mine either, Darn.


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## james39 (Dec 10, 2003)

Sirius went DOWN for a while !?!? :eek2: but, as soon as I go to write this (6:52pm ET) It's just come back on :lol:

Just to *clarify* Sirius actually went down for about 5-6 minutes, I stayed tuned in since about 6:45, and then went back on at 6:52, so I guess they're still working out feed issues.


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## rajeev28 (Oct 16, 2003)

OK it worked, browsed to a later time, canceled, it's back


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## Geronimo (Mar 23, 2002)

DISH has been vague on whether all ors ome of the Muzak channels might depart.


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## rajeev28 (Oct 16, 2003)

Whats the best way to record them on PC.

I have Dish connected to PC + TV. Any particular software to record the songs


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## Guest (May 18, 2004)

Geronimo said:


> DISH has been vague on whether all ors ome of the Muzak channels might depart.


They can get rid of all of the Muzaks for all I care, this new Sirius stuff is top-notch.


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

Geronimo said:


> DISH has been vague on whether all ors ome of the Muzak channels might depart.


Don't quote me, but I believe Dish is under contract to carry them until 2007 or something like that. Personally I hope they stay for the extra choice they bring.


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## Darkman (Apr 16, 2002)

Ya.. Hope they stay.. (those Muzak ones) - the more the better


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

Time to go home and take a listen....


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## snathanb (Feb 27, 2004)

So... are they going to rename the channel packages... AT120->180 At180->240


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## MikeW (May 16, 2002)

Darkman said:


> Ya.. Hope they stay.. (those Muzak ones) - the more the better


Quality vs. Quantity....Muzak Chans have been worthless since day 1.

Sirius is AWSOME!


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## ck33 (Jan 5, 2004)

Yes, yes, YES!!!!! 

I LIKE IT!!!!!

Flipped to channel 6031 to hear what new Country songs Sirius had to offer, and there was a song that I waited to hear on Muzak, but never did on either the mono or the stereo Country channel. Great sound, too. My dad (who also has Dish) will love the Bluegrass channel. I think I am going to really like this.

Thanks. Oh, sorry for the caps. I'm not shouting, just excited.


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## gulmer (Jan 22, 2003)

Listening to Planet Jazz on Denon AVR3803 in PLII
mode and it is coming through in surround,I love it.


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## BFG (Jan 23, 2004)

6040 has some nice family music.... Every other word is either N or F


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## Guest (May 19, 2004)

Is (hot)air america on?


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## Darkman (Apr 16, 2002)

MikeW said:


> Quality vs. Quantity....Muzak Chans have been worthless since day 1.
> 
> Sirius is AWSOME!


hehe - however - i hope Muzaks - let 'em stay ..fer some variety.. 
(they're just an alternative)


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## Darkman (Apr 16, 2002)

BFG said:


> 6040 has some nice family music.... Every other word is either N or F


hehe - i got 6042 currently.. mixes and remixes)))

Unedited is fine though.. (that's the way it should be anyhow.. alternative for people who want to hear it)))


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

rajeev28 said:


> Whats the best way to record them on PC.
> 
> I have Dish connected to PC + TV. Any particular software to record the songs


audacity


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

ck33 said:


> Yes, yes, YES!!!!!
> 
> I LIKE IT!!!!!
> 
> ...


by the way on muzak new country how did they figure what was new i mean most of it was very old


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## keng52 (Oct 18, 2003)

I am disapointed there are no oldie radio shows on the new Sirius channels .


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## bluesman63 (Apr 18, 2004)

978 (Blues) is pretty good but 6029 is excellant! Paul Butterfield, BB King, and Aerosmith in the first 10 minutes and the DJ don't sound obnoxious. I'm in blues heaven.


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## Crazee Carroll (Sep 9, 2003)

My wife is in hair band heaven right now... The Sirius channels sound awesome and the right audio compression makes my Bose come alive... Thanks Charlie... CC


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## garypen (Feb 1, 2004)

Buzzsaw baby! (The music's great. But, the friggin' DJ needs a duct tape facial.)

BTW, those Muzak channels are now locked and hidden. (on the 510, that is. That state-of-the-art HD 811 can't hide locked channels.)


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## narnia777 (Mar 28, 2003)

Can anyone confirm that these can be gotten alacart. I only ahve the superstations and sky angel.

Would like to check them out, prior for Muzak it was $5/month for all the cd and mono stations. I might just pay $5 if I can get sirious.

Jim


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

garypen said:


> Buzzsaw baby! (The music's great. But, the friggin' DJ needs a duct tape facial.)
> 
> BTW, those Muzak channels are now locked and hidden. (on the 510, that is. That state-of-the-art HD 811 can't hide locked channels.)


my muzak works 522


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## peallen (Oct 23, 2002)

kwajr said:


> my muzak works 522


I think he means, he hid them himself.


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## Guest (May 19, 2004)

MikeW said:


> Quality vs. Quantity....Muzak Chans have been worthless since day 1.
> 
> Sirius is AWSOME!


Yep! I have had the Mono Muzaks locked out of my guide since day 1 (as well as the shopping channels), and I just locked out the CD Muzak channels now that Sirius is here. Out of sight, out of mind! Dish may not be able to ditch them, but I can thankfully.


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## Darkman (Apr 16, 2002)

But some like to collect 'em channels as Stamps though (re: Muzak)..
Fer them - quantity matters )))


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## nicepants (Apr 12, 2002)

I just realized that the channel numbers align with the channels on the sirius site...so 6062 is the same as channel 62. Makes it easy to find what I want. Wow what a variety.

Maybe I'll splurge for a second receiver to put out in the living room when we have parties over here ;-)

Nice one, Charlie!!!!

Oh...and finally...TIvo for radio...so I can skip the songs I don't like


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## sirius_rich (Jan 3, 2004)

keng52 said:


> I am disapointed there are no oldie radio shows on the new Sirius channels .


There is a Sirius Stream called Radio Classics. Stream #133 but it is not available on the DISH feed. You will have to buy a Sirius subscription. I think that is part of the marketing plan between Dish and Sirius.

Sirius has an unofficial forum covering everything you ever wanted to know about Sirius and the programming. http://www.siriusbackstage.com/forum/index.php . They have been talking about DISH for months and I can speak for them and say they are very glad you guys like the Sirius on DISH.

I hope it is ok to post that link to Backstage, if not please remove it or my post entirely.

I have had DISH for 4 years and love it. I have a 921 and I am able to record the Sirius music. I didn't think that was going to be possible. :grin:


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## toomuchtv (May 17, 2002)

An excellent feature! Thanks E* & Sirius!


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## Mike Richardson (Jun 12, 2003)

I'd like to see the 32 CD channels move to AT 60, or something. So with each package you get more music. Maybe move the mono channels to AT 60 and the CDs to 180?


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## mindwarp (May 19, 2003)

My 7200 have them whohooooo!!!! but the names un the playlists are a bit scrambled


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## Jacob S (Apr 14, 2002)

So are the DVR's going to be able to be recorded? Is there a schedule listed anywhere that would show what songs are going to play and when it is going to be played?


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## sirius_rich (Jan 3, 2004)

Jacob S said:


> So are the DVR's going to be able to be recorded? Is there a schedule listed anywhere that would show what songs are going to play and when it is going to be played?


I have recorded and played back a song or two on my 921 and it works fine.

No program guide for playlists yet that I am aware of. Here is a link of what is currently playing on each Sirius Stream:

http://www.itsonsirius.com/

And if you want to search for a song and see what Stream it played on:

http://www.itsonsirius.com/search/search.htm


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

E* 7 is a rockin satellite tonite man. This is REALLY good stuff. Nice rich sound. Listening to Smooth Jazz 71. Makes me realize how bad FM radio is nowadays.


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## Guest (May 19, 2004)

sirius_rich said:


> I have recorded and played back a song or two on my 921 and it works fine.
> 
> No program guide for playlists yet that I am aware of. Here is a link of what is currently playing on each Sirius Stream:
> 
> ...


Great site! Really good playlists it seems..


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## BFG (Jan 23, 2004)

This is so funny that everyone is listening to music on their TV, the DJs on Hits 1, just said that their audience has just increased by 6 million more with the addition to Dish Network


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## rajeev28 (Oct 16, 2003)

kwajr said:


> audacity


Thanx


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## zman977 (Nov 9, 2003)

Listening to the big 80's channel 6008. The sound is great. Going to turn on the hair band channel later. I can see me not getting much sleep tonight.


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## Jacob S (Apr 14, 2002)

I thought Dish Network had around 10 million subscribers, 20 million viewers is what they are advertising on their brochures.


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## Guest (May 19, 2004)

Anyone else really like the added touch of the DJs? It just adds a little personality, it's like having your own personal DJ performing for your party. This is first-class all the way, I am impressed!


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## rajeev28 (Oct 16, 2003)

The Non-Stop dance mix is as good as any NightClubs music


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## Guest (May 19, 2004)

rajeev28 said:


> The Non-Stop dance mix is as good as any NightClubs music


I agree, these Sirius channels are going to be required for any party I have from now on. I can't wait to have these great sounding channels blasting on my patio this summer!


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## BFG (Jan 23, 2004)

Jacob S said:


> I thought Dish Network had around 10 million subscribers, 20 million viewers is what they are advertising on their brochures.


They have about 6 million subs to 120 and up, so that's why they said 6 million


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

Jacob S said:


> I thought Dish Network had around 10 million subscribers, 20 million viewers is what they are advertising on their brochures.


You are right but only 6 million have AT120 and above. Bet that will change soon, Sirius makes AT120 (AT180?) well worth the money.

I love how the DJ's set their volume lower than the music. Gives it sexy appeal.


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## Guest (May 19, 2004)

ypsiguy said:


> I love how the DJ's set their volume lower than the music. Gives it sexy appeal.


Couldn't agree more, they don't try to overpower the music, they are just there to give it a little flavor. I can't tell you how much I love what I have seen from Sirius so far, the whole thing is fantastic. I haven't even watched anything on tv tonight, I have been glued to this music!


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Mike Richardson said:


> I'd like to see the 32 CD channels move to AT 60, or something. So with each package you get more music. Maybe move the mono channels to AT 60 and the CDs to 180?


My preference:
Blow D* out of the water by moving CDs to AT60 - 74 video plus 32 CD for $29.99 with locals. D* is running an introductory offer now for $29.99, but that is a limited time thing. E* adding 32 CDs to AT60 would also be an answer for the level of "garbage channels" in AT60 (the PIs and Shopping). D* counts their Music Choice. E* could be at 106 channels (plus locals) for $29.99 easily.

Leave SIRIUS at AT120 as the carrot (along with FSN) for moving to AT120 (with many more than 135 channels ... and if D* can count their music channels then E* can count all 196 'channels'  ).

And leave the oddball mono channels in AT180 ... the 251 channel package and AlmostEP ... the 283 channel package!

Yeah, I like the idea that E* has Sirius. :grin:



snathanb said:


> So... are they going to rename the channel packages... AT120->180 At180->240


That would be interesting - and confusing!



Jacob S said:


> I thought Dish Network had around 10 million subscribers, 20 million viewers is what they are advertising on their brochures.


Average two person household? 

JL


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

Chris Walker said:


> Couldn't agree more, they don't try to overpower the music, they are just there to give it a little flavor. I can't tell you how much I love what I have seen from Sirius so far, the whole thing is fantastic. I haven't even watched anything on tv tonight, I have been glued to this music!


Watched "28 Days After" on HBO here. Freaky, but good movie. Then immediately went to the music. :grin:

811 subs: How's the 811 handling the music channels? I'm thinking of getting one for HBO-HD and TNT-HD.


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## Guest (May 19, 2004)

I hope that some of you new Dish Sirius folk will pull the trigger on a sub for your car(s). I've had Sirius in my 3 cars for over a year, I would't drive a mile w/o it! Sirus imo has superiour sound quality and content compaired to Brand X.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Chris Walker said:


> I haven't even watched anything on tv tonight, I have been glued to this music!


I've watched my favorite shows tonight, but when I flipped back to my genre's Sirius channel tonight they were ALWAYS playing a song I recognized and liked. OK, I don't expect that to be always true - but on the CD channel I'd have to wait a song or two for something recognizable.

I believe it really helps that Sirius has DJs and an audience. Muzak formulates their audio feeds for a demographic ... that is their specialty, designed to make people who fit that demographic "feel at home" when they are in a retailer's store or other Musak location. Not really designed to entertain and hold the audience - but just to be background.

Sirius Music is cool. :grin:

JL


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## bytre (Sep 10, 2003)

As some have mentioned, on the Dishplayer, the titles have a few characters cut off the beginning of each line. Sounds fine though. The dishplayer doesn't support PVR functions on it though (no pause, rewind, record, etc).

For recording, take the digital output from the receiver into a toslink input on a sound card. I got a Hoontech daughtercard for my soundblaster a few years ago. I remember having a little difficulty with sampling rates when recording, but I think I sorted it out. That was a dish 7100 a few years back.


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

Looks like my 501 records it. Very cool. This stuff will make great CD's. I have a cheap $150 Sony stereo receiver and this sounds great. The big surround guys must be in heaven.


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## Darkman (Apr 16, 2002)

Chris Walker - hehe - i think it's time to register now..

all those posts .. and as "Guest"... hmmmmm


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## bolco (Jun 11, 2002)

Interesting happening tonight. While sitting at my office computer browsing the numerous discussion boards at 2:45AM ET to read what others were saying about "SiriusOnDish," I was watching (oops, listening) to The Beat on Channel 6066. 
Suddenly the SJ announced a few of the "NEW Sirius Subscribers" and mentioned my name and my hometown. 
This was way too cool, but the oddity is that I've been a Sirius Subscriber since July of 2002!

My July 2002 Sirius Review on XMFan

However, I just added a new JVC PnP unit to my subscription about 2 weeks ago. Maybe he meant that??

It was neat, however, that I could rewind my 508 and record the snip so that my wife can hear it. Plus, I was able to Protect it so I can savor the moment for ever! (or at least until my 508 crashes and loses all of the recordings!  )


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## rajeev28 (Oct 16, 2003)

Chris Walker said:


> I agree, these Sirius channels are going to be required for any party I have from now on. I can't wait to have these great sounding channels blasting on my patio this summer!


Check out their website, they have specials on Sat and Sun. Music Live from Webster Hall in NYC.

I got cool-edit pro to record stuff in timer mode, its simply awesome.


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## rajeev28 (Oct 16, 2003)

I have a JVC Unit and I tried to experiment with both the D-VHS and Standard tape, big difference in sound quality on the D-VHS tape.


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## snathanb (Feb 27, 2004)

ypsiguy said:


> 811 subs: How's the 811 handling the music channels? I'm thinking of getting one for HBO-HD and TNT-HD.


Not a problem... works great!


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

Jacob S said:


> I thought Dish Network had around 10 million subscribers, 20 million viewers is what they are advertising on their brochures.


thats no taccurate maybe 20 for the industry


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

seminole2001 said:


> I hope that some of you new Dish Sirius folk will pull the trigger on a sub for your car(s). I've had Sirius in my 3 cars for over a year, I would't drive a mile w/o it! Sirus imo has superiour sound quality and content compaired to Brand X.


but according to tehre fourum it sounds best on sat and is sub par in a car right?


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

bytre said:


> As some have mentioned, on the Dishplayer, the titles have a few characters cut off the beginning of each line. Sounds fine though. The dishplayer doesn't support PVR functions on it though (no pause, rewind, record, etc).
> 
> For recording, take the digital output from the receiver into a toslink input on a sound card. I got a Hoontech daughtercard for my soundblaster a few years ago. I remember having a little difficulty with sampling rates when recording, but I think I sorted it out. That was a dish 7100 a few years back.


audacity will record and allow you to edit any sound that come through your soundcard like this or reall player itunes streams etc


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## ibglowin (Sep 10, 2002)

I have to agree, the sound quality is excellent. The streams seem to all be playing great music on all the channels I am interested in. I seem to recall that Dish is delivering these at 200kps. Does anyone know what bit rate XM delivers its music in? I don't know if the difference is I am listening to Sirius via my fiber optic cable or what but it sounds loads better than my XM coming in via composite to the same receiver.

Many thanks to Dish for bringing these great channels in at no increase.


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## putts (Apr 23, 2004)

charlie is trying to get more out of his dish.
good going keep it up E.


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## canyoncomm (May 19, 2004)

From what I've heard, this is a direct fiber link from the Sirius Studios in NYC to Dish Network. 200 Kbps. It sounds better than coming from the Sirius Satellites because of the better bitrate (fiber). 

I've gotta get Dish. DirecTV has NOTHING on this!


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## Guest (May 19, 2004)

Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I wish Sirius had a bit more on the easy listening side. They have no "Beautiful Instrumentals" or New Age channel. They sure stretched the definition of "easy" for their easy channel. It seems at least 2/3 of Sirius is either rock, rap, or rabbit (hip hop); Most of these sound like the commercial FM dial, sans commercials. I welcome their 3 jazz, 3 classical, the folk, and the bluegrass channel; but the rest -- forget it. It's great to get these eight channels. I just wish I could stomach R-R-R to give me about 50 more. Maybe if the 3-R crowd shifts their listening from FM to Sirius and XM (wishful thinking) maybe FM could go back to what it stood for 50 years ago -- Fine Music -- and maybe (miracles could happen) local ownership and programming.

I hope E* keeps all the Muzak channels for my instrumentals, new age, and other more mellow channels. Maybe D* could work out a deal to carry the 100 DMX channels -- would be great -- as long as they keep Music Choice as they have a great instrumental and a great standards channel.


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## RichW (Mar 29, 2002)

The Sirius channels seem to have a much "fuller" sound, which I believe comes, in part, from a better low end than the Muzak channels. I don't have a subwoofer connected but it seems to me that the base frequencies are awesome.


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## garypen (Feb 1, 2004)

spruceman - I saw "Easy Listening", "Love Songs", "Mellow Rock", and "Light Pop" channels. To me, they sounded pretty light. I beleive there is also a "Pop Standards" channel with the great crooners.
You are right about the lack of a New Age channel. But, the above channels have a lot of easy-on-the-ears programming.
Of course, I prefer Classic Hard Rock and 80's "Hair Bands", so I may not be the one to judge. But, I am also quite fond of Swing, Standards, New Age, Classical, and more, so I've got some balance there.
Heck. I'll listen to almost anything except Top 40, Opera, Rap, or Disco.


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## Jack White (Sep 17, 2002)

Chris Walker said:


> They are up right now! They sound AWESOME!! The rap and metal type channels are uncensored which I think it's great, I hated Muzak being censored. So much variety, Dish is the king of Music now for sure!


I agree, even the Limited Sirius channels we're getting is way better than that muzak garbage, and you can get almost exactly the type of music you want to listen to at any given time which was really not possible before.
This is a pretty nice free upgrade for Dish subs


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## SuperDave1000 (Mar 19, 2004)

Yeah! Sirius is here! BIG Bummer  though that they have announce the channel your listening to after every song, especially considering your looking at the information on the TV. I like jamming out :icon_bb: without interruptions at least Muzak offered that. Just shut up and play some tunes!


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## kstuart (Apr 25, 2002)

> I've watched my favorite shows tonight, but when I flipped back to my genre's Sirius channel tonight they were ALWAYS playing a song I recognized and liked. OK, I don't expect that to be always true - but on the CD channel I'd have to wait a song or two for something recognizable.


That's sad.

The Boy in the Bubble.

Nothing New can ever come in and widen your horizons.


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## Jack White (Sep 17, 2002)

RichW said:


> The Sirius channels seem to have a much "fuller" sound, which I believe comes, in part, from a better low end than the Muzak channels. I don't have a subwoofer connected but it seems to me that the base frequencies are awesome.


You're absolutely right, I was listening in my bedroom and I don't have a sub in my bedroom, and my speakers only go down to 50hz @-3db, and you can still tell a huge difference in sound quality and especially the presence of low frequency sound when listening to Sirius compared to Muzak.
This is one of those things that almost seems too good to be true, and I hope that this stays the way it is, and this is an exception to that too good to be true rule.
I can't wait to see what Sirius sounds like through my Sennheiser Studio Monitor Headphones which go much deeper than my bookshelf speakers .
Maybe I should hook up my brother's sub to my system to see what Sirius sounds like with a sub.


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## Guest (May 19, 2004)

You will have to accept the dj's. Remember, this is "radio" that your listening to. Most Sirius subs really prefer the dj's--as it sounds more like radio and there is a certain element of companionship with them. Although some, like yourself, prefer just music. I like the djs. I find them somewhat soothing (at least on the channels I listen to--Pure jazz, Standard Time, etc).


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## garypen (Feb 1, 2004)

SuperDave1000 said:


> Yeah! Sirius is here! BIG Bummer  though that they have announce the channel your listening to after every song, especially considering your looking at the information on the TV. I like jamming out :icon_bb: without interruptions at least Muzak offered that. Just shut up and play some tunes!


I could not agree more! The DJ's (or "SJ's", as they are stupidly called) are annoying with a capital NOY. They ruin what is otherwise an excellent music service. If I was paying $13/month, I might be more bothered. But, for what Dish is charging me extra for these channels (zero), the musical content itself is a big improvement over the CD Audio channels.


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

kstuart said:


> That's sad.
> 
> The Boy in the Bubble.
> 
> Nothing New can ever come in and widen your horizons.


we like new stuff the only problem is that muzak never offered stuff that was any good


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## kstuart (Apr 25, 2002)

RichW said:


> The Sirius channels seem to have a much "fuller" sound, which I believe comes, in part, from a better low end than the Muzak channels. I don't have a subwoofer connected but it seems to me that the base frequencies are awesome.


You clearly have never listened to "CD Music" channel 979 Reggae - I have used it for years to balance my subwoofer.

It's great to have the additional choice and variety of more music channels.

However, Sirius plays far less music than Muzak. There seems to be about one hour of music per channel. I've tuned to a particular Sirius channel three times in the past day, and each time they were playing the same song! Once they were playing the same song on two adjacent channels.

In other words, the same 10 songs over and over - just like FM radio.

On the "Muzak" channels, at least it takes them several days before you hear the same song again.

A more in-depth explanation of this problem with Sirius can be found at:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/satellite/page2.html


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## Slordak (Dec 17, 2003)

Seems to be a lot of "gift horse, mouth" going around here. Honestly, I think this is a very positive development for both Sirius and Dish Network, and customers of both benefit from it. Even if the channels do not match your exact criteria for perfect, and even if Dish doesn't carry the (admittedly interesting) talk radio feeds, it's still a pretty darn good deal, since we're getting it for free as part of our existing programming package!

Hence, let's stop looking for faults and instead focus on enjoying it, eh.


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

Dog Ass said:


> You will have to accept the dj's. Remember, this is "radio" that your listening to. Most Sirius subs really prefer the dj's--as it sounds more like radio and there is a certain element of companionship with them. Although some, like yourself, prefer just music. I like the djs. I find them somewhat soothing (at least on the channels I listen to--Pure jazz, Standard Time, etc).


I agree I like them and that their volume is set lower than the music, so they don't overpower it. Plus I like a stream ID every so often. NO commercials...YES.. just music. Good job E* and Sirius.

Man 192Kbps stereo is great, nice rich full sound. Sounds just like CD's or maybe a bit better.


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

Sirius Music Channels.....

Best.... E*.... Added.... Programming..... Ever.....


Wow, great music selection, AMAZING sound (sounds like even better than my CDs through my A/V system) and it cost me NADA extra!

OK, Charlie we give you grief when you fumble the ball, but you just completed a 60 yd. Hail Mary and you deserve to do your endzone celebration with this one.....

NOW that I worked that football analogy in, figure out a way to get approval to simulcast the Sirius NFL games in the Fall and we'll build a virtual statue in your honor (well, it NEVER hurts to ask!)

Good job on a great sounding addition with some REAL utility for us consumers. I was like a kid in a candy store surfing through the channels last night.....


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## zman977 (Nov 9, 2003)

ypsiguy said:


> I agree I like them and that their volume is set lower than the music, so they don't overpower it. Plus I like a stream ID every so often. NO commercials...YES.. just music. Good job E* and Sirius.
> 
> I also agree. I like the dj's and find them entertaining. Of course being a dj myself I may have a bias opinoin.
> The channles I listen to they seem to do a good job of getting in, saying what they have to say and not talking too long.


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## Chris Walker (May 19, 2004)

SuperDave1000 said:


> Yeah! Sirius is here! BIG Bummer  though that they have announce the channel your listening to after every song, especially considering your looking at the information on the TV. I like jamming out :icon_bb: without interruptions at least Muzak offered that. Just shut up and play some tunes!


Besides the amazing sound quality and content, the DJs are my favorite thing about Sirius so far. I find them to add a little personality, and like someone else said they are very soothing. It's not like they interrupt between every song. They just break in after every 4 or 5 songs or so, very discreetly, and give a station id and say "I like that last one, now here's a little ....... for you, enjoy". Very nice touch, it's like your own personal DJ.


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## Chris Walker (May 19, 2004)

Darkman said:


> Chris Walker - hehe - i think it's time to register now..
> 
> all those posts .. and as "Guest"... hmmmmm


 :righton:


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## Chris Walker (May 19, 2004)

It's so nice with the Muzak channels not in my guide anymore  I should have done that sooner!


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## Darkman (Apr 16, 2002)

hehe - Chris Walker - Welcome to DBSTalk!


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

BobMurdoch said:


> Sirius Music Channels.....
> 
> Best.... E*.... Added.... Programming..... Ever.....
> 
> ...


I thought I remember Charlie saying that Dish subs would get a special deal on Sirius if we wanted to 'take it with us". Correct? Hopefully that means a lower rate on their subscription cost. I think I'm hooked anyway. I'm in Jazz fusion heaven right now. 
:grin:


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

I've been a Satellite radio lister for 18 months (with XM) and agree that it blows regular radio away. Sirius's music selection is actually better than I was expecting as I had originally heard that they played a lot repeats like regular radio does. Other than Cinemagic and UPop clones which aren't there, they match up pretty well.

I was actually REALLY surprised by the sound quality. The fiber feed sounds better than anything I can pull off the satellite on XM right now (don't know about the sound quality vs. Sirius's home kits).

Once again, great job.... Gives us much maligned E* pom pom wavers something to crow about again........


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## Guest (May 19, 2004)

Oh man...I really don't want to see Charlie gyrating in the endzone and celebrating. Ok...do it quick while I'm not looking.


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

Hmm.... add a few more and Charlie can brag about his top of the line AT250 package. Gulp. Just wrap your brain around that one......


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## gulmer (Jan 22, 2003)

ypsiguy said:


> Looks like my 501 records it. Very cool. This stuff will make great CD's. I have a cheap $150 Sony stereo receiver and this sounds great. The big surround guys must be in heaven.


You got that right,the DJ's come through in 5 
channels,at times,"The Future Is Now,Planet Jazz"
out of 5 speakers,cool.


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

Man, I am just amazed by the quality of this sound. It's like being right in the studio. The D* people are starting to talk over in their thread about XM and D*. I was thinking of switching to VOOM or D* after my time was up, but not now. 

I think I can see where Sirius is headed here. With Dish you get a high quality stereo feed in your home. Their portables will then do the car, etc. They're going to try to beat XM with quality.

Hey FTA guys: Have they Nagravision'ed the Sirius feeds yet?


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## Jacob S (Apr 14, 2002)

I agree with you justalurker on having the 32 CD audio channels added to AT60, having the carrot for the 62 Sirius audio channels in AT120, and then having the additional audio mono channels in AT180 would be the way to go in that it offers the subscribers something extra each time they go up a package and gives them more to offer in their basic package to compete with DirecTv and cable.

I figured the 20 million viewers was an average household of at least 2. Perhaps the reason why they say only 6 million additional listeners is due to only 6 million Dish subscribers that purchase AT120 or AT180. I thought that more subscribers than that would have the AT120 or AT180 package.


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## garypen (Feb 1, 2004)

Why not throw the AT60 a bone with the lower quality/quantity _Mono_ channels. Then, add Sirius at AT120, and _CD Audio_ at AT180? That makes more sense to me.


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## music_beans (Mar 21, 2003)

What is going to happen to the Muzak channels?


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

Chris Walker said:


> They are up right now! They sound AWESOME!! The rap and metal type channels are uncensored which I think it's great, I hated Muzak being censored. So much variety, Dish is the king of Music now for sure!


You'll be tired of it next week.


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

ypsiguy said:


> Had the same effect when I had a 501/301. It went away with the 501/510 combo. 501/510 have the same delay due to the DVR.
> 
> On the Musak, I suspect when their contract is up they will be removed. But if they stay, all the more choice for us. If Musak is going to stay, Charlie should add them to the AT60 package. They would be perfect for that package level.


If I were Charlie I'd cancel Musak & get some talkers.


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## TNGTony (Mar 23, 2002)

After listening to Sirius for a while, I know that I would not subscribe to the service strictly because of the interruptions. I love the channels, but i can't stand the disc jockeys!

See ya
Tony


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## Guest (May 19, 2004)

kwajr said:


> but according to tehre fourum it sounds best on sat and is sub par in a car right?


Sirius on Dish sounds AMAZING due to using the optical output on my 721 and fed through my Yamaha receiver. That being said the sound quality in my car is close to that, but I have spent the $$$ for my car stereo. Plug-in play units give good sound quality and are the most cost effective. A new Head unit, and speakers is the way to go imo. Car makers usually use the cheapest equipment that they can find, unless you have a Rolls! You can get a real nice Kenwood head unit w/ free sirius tuner for about $200 from crutchfield.com.


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## DoyleS (Oct 21, 2002)

Is there any talk about when we might find out about the Promo for adding Sirius to the car?

..Doyle


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

kstuart said:


> Nothing New can ever come in and widen your horizons.


Sure it can ... it just has to happen between something I already like!

Muzak is too muzak ... background music played for demographics.
Sirius is serious radio ... songs played for listeners.

JL


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

by the way air america says its negotiating with dish to carry its feed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_America_Radio also said in washington post


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

kwajr said:


> by the way air america says its negotiating with dish to carry its feed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_America_Radio also said in washington post


Air(head) America can say all it wants. It isn't going to happen without a lot of cash ...
They are LYING on their website. But then what do you expect of a network that features the "Lying Liars Who Tell Them" himself. A man who illustrated his book by placing a liar on the cover ...









BTW: They still have WNTD as an affiliate on their website banners ... :nono2:

JL


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## HTguy (May 7, 2002)

ypsiguy said:


> 811 subs: How's the 811 handling the music channels? I'm thinking of getting one for HBO-HD and TNT-HD.





snathanb said:


> Not a problem... works great!


Well, I have one nit to pick. On my 811 the SIRIUS Channel Info doesn't appear in the Info Banner (like on the EPG or the Info Banner of my 508). It just says, "Info Unavailable."

When the Info Banner goes away it shows the program information just fine.

Anybody else?


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## garypen (Feb 1, 2004)

justalurker said:


> They are LYING on their website.


Perhaps they are merely MISTAKEN.


> But then what do you expect of a network that features the "Lying Liars Who Tell Them" himself. A man who illustrated his book by placing a liar on the cover ...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I would expect them to be funny, as the book, and the author, are very funny.


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

well it would make sense why they would have a diff feal than sirus anc charlie did say maybe 1 2 other things


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## obrienaj (Apr 8, 2004)

Chris Walker said:


> The text is the same, except the sound is much better and the playlists are much better. Lots more choice as well. They could ditch the Muzak and no one would notice now.


In fact, I thought they would ditch Muzak, it it pointless now.


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## obrienaj (Apr 8, 2004)

Chris Walker said:


> Anyone else really like the added touch of the DJs? It just adds a little personality, it's like having your own personal DJ performing for your party. This is first-class all the way, I am impressed!


When I first subscribed to Sirius I thought I would dislike having DJ's, but it is anice personal touch.


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## obrienaj (Apr 8, 2004)

seminole2001 said:


> I hope that some of you new Dish Sirius folk will pull the trigger on a sub for your car(s). I've had Sirius in my 3 cars for over a year, I would't drive a mile w/o it! Sirus imo has superiour sound quality and content compaired to Brand X.


I fully agree, I am a happy Sirius subscriber. It would be nice for the Dish folks to subscribe for automobile entertainment.


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## RamblinWreck (Jan 7, 2004)

I haven't found any yet, but are any of you getting the channels in Dolby Digital or DTS? I don't think they would send them this way, but it would be great if they did!


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## obrienaj (Apr 8, 2004)

kstuart said:


> You clearly have never listened to "CD Music" channel 979 Reggae - I have used it for years to balance my subwoofer.
> 
> It's great to have the additional choice and variety of more music channels.
> 
> ...


Correct, although I am a happy Sirius subscriber...the biggest gripe on the Sirius forums is that their playlists are too narrow.


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## sirius_rich (Jan 3, 2004)

RamblinWreck said:


> I haven't found any yet, but are any of you getting the channels in Dolby Digital or DTS? I don't think they would send them this way, but it would be great if they did!


The signal is fiber optic from Sirius to DISH in full stereo and Sirius does have an expanding playlist of surround sound songs.


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## bolco (Jun 11, 2002)

TNGTony said:


> ...I love the channels, but i can't stand the disc jockeys!


Tony,
I have valued your opinion on all of the boards over the past several years, and will continue to do so. However, I can't imagine the SJ's steering you away from Sirius. Granted, when Sirius initially fired up, the SJ's were sub-par at best. But, Sirius talent has increased 10 fold over the last couple of years. I posted a Sirius review some time ago and compared the on-air "talent" to college interns. I honestly believe that this is no longer the case. GoodTime Marcus on "The Beat" is (in my opinon) outstanding. They still have a few lame-o's there, but the addition of most of the Mtv original lauch VJ's (Nina Blackwood, Alan Hunter, Mark Goodman, and _almost_ the late J.J. Jackson) to the 80's channel shows that the folks at Sirius are "Sirius" about proving to the subs that they are the Premier Choice for Satellite Radio Entertainment.

Just my opinion.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

garypen said:


> Perhaps they are merely MISTAKEN.


I cut them the same breaks that they cut the elected government.



garypen said:


> I would expect them to be funny, as the book, and the author, are very funny.


One of their lesser hosts was on _The Daily Show_ Wednesday night. She was funny-ish.



kwajr said:


> well it would make sense why they would have a diff feal than sirus anc charlie did say maybe 1 2 other things


Yep, Charlie said "maybe". 

JL


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## garypen (Feb 1, 2004)

bolco said:


> They still have a few lame-o's there, but the addition of most of the Mtv original lauch VJ's (Nina Blackwood, Alan Hunter, Mark Goodman, and _almost_ the late J.J. Jackson) ...
> Just my opinion.


They were lame back then. I can only imagine how lame they must seem now. Just _my_ opinion. (And a bazillion other 80's rockers.)


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## snathanb (Feb 27, 2004)

HTguy said:


> Well, I have one nit to pick. On my 811 the SIRIUS Channel Info doesn't appear in the Info Banner (like on the EPG or the Info Banner of my 508). It just says, "Info Unavailable."
> 
> When the Info Banner goes away it shows the program information just fine.
> 
> Anybody else?


Mine works fine.


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## narnia777 (Mar 28, 2003)

I can't get the Sirius channels I don't subscribe to AT120 and they are not available alcart 

Jim


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

narnia777 said:


> I can't get the Sirius channels I don't subscribe to AT120 and they are not available alcart
> 
> Jim


They are well worth the upgrade, do it!
:grin:

I'm going out at lunch to Best buy to check out their receivers. I'm hooked BIG TIME!!! 

This is an incredible addition to Dish. Thank you, E*!!!!!


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

ypsiguy said:


> They are well worth the upgrade, do it! :grin:


Agreed. It's not that much more than alacarte would be, and you get FSN and a bunch of other channels for the price.

BTW: Dish Latino customers are aparently NOT getting Sirius channels. While the DishNetwork website was updated Tuesday to include the Sirius channels in AT120/AT180/AlmostEP the DL packages still show no Sirius. 

JL


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## Guest (May 20, 2004)

obrienaj said:


> In fact, I thought they would ditch Muzak, it it pointless now.


It's not pointless, as the Muzaks (monos and CD1-32) have some formats not on Sirius -- e.g., Piano & Guitar, Italia, New Orleans, Moodscapes, New Age, Beautiful Instrumentals, etc., etc.. and vice versa.

Let's keep all the channels so everyone can enjoy his/her favorite formats. I could think of a couple hundred more formats I'd like to see them add, e.g., polka, Dixieland (only), Cajun (only), one with a mix of easy vocals and instrumentals like ExpressVu 937, classical guitar, Baroque, something like the CBS-FM "The Young Sound" format back in the late '60s, a couple French formats, German easy listening, movie music, etc, etc, ad. infinitum.

Initially, I thought I wouldn't like the DJs at all, but the ones on the classicals provide essentially useful info on the music and do not butcher the English language.

Maybe Charlie should offer an a la carte package of the Muzaks and the Sirius channels for $15-$20 a month to attract those who are not interested in watching TV.


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

FYI
For anyone wanting to listen to Sirius, you can get a 3-day trial on their website. It's www.sirius.com. All you have to give is your email for the password to be sent to you. They promise no spam or selling your email. The connection is via internet.


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

Paul Secic said:


> You'll be tired of it next week.


I LOVE it. The D* fans are getting jealous.......


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

RamblinWreck said:


> I haven't found any yet, but are any of you getting the channels in Dolby Digital or DTS? I don't think they would send them this way, but it would be great if they did!


They've announced that they will be sending the signals in Dolby Pro Logic II (if they haven't started yet).

I own some SIRI stock so I've been anxiously waiting for people to catch the buzz on this company. I figured the NFL addicts would be flocking to them en masse once they start running ads about carrying the audio feeds of all the NFL games in the fall......


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## Guest (May 20, 2004)

I'm sitting in the office and just discovered this thread. I can't wait to get home tonight and check this out. Can someone please tell me exactly which Sirius channels are being broadcast? Is it all the music channels and none of the News/Sports/Talk? Some other combination?

Thanks!

Jarrett


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

60 Music channels. No TALK channels or sports channels. If you haven't already, hook the receiver up to an A/V receiver. WOW, the sound quality blows away even CD recordings.....

they are located in the 6000 channel range and the last two digits match Sirius's channel numbers.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

wjarrettc said:


> I'm sitting in the office and just discovered this thread. I can't wait to get home tonight and check this out. Can someone please tell me exactly which Sirius channels are being broadcast? Is it all the music channels and none of the News/Sports/Talk? Some other combination?


Just the *61* music channels, 01-99, mapped on the E* system as 6001-6099.

CURRENTLY there are no talk or sports channels, although Charlie hinted at having a couple on the April Charlie Chat.

JL


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## garypen (Feb 1, 2004)

BobMurdoch said:


> WOW, the sound quality blows away even CD recordings.....


Hmm. I would imagine the majority of the music actually comes from CD recordings.


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

BobMurdoch said:


> They've announced that they will be sending the signals in Dolby Pro Logic II (if they haven't started yet).
> 
> I own some SIRI stock so I've been anxiously waiting for people to catch the buzz on this company. I figured the NFL addicts would be flocking to them en masse once they start running ads about carrying the audio feeds of all the NFL games in the fall......


Well, ur stock should go up. I am a Sirius sub now. I would expect they'll be gaining subs off this brilliant move.

Sounds like I'm going to need to find a Dolby Pro Logic II receiver.


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## HTguy (May 7, 2002)

RamblinWreck said:


> I haven't found any yet, but are any of you getting the channels in Dolby Digital or DTS? I don't think they would send them this way, but it would be great if they did!





sirius_rich said:


> The signal is fiber optic from Sirius to DISH in full stereo and Sirius does have an expanding playlist of surround sound songs.





BobMurdoch said:


> They've announced that they will be sending the signals in Dolby Pro Logic II (if they haven't started yet ).





garypen said:


> ...I would imagine the majority of the music actually comes from CD recordings.


 Certainly the overwhelming majority of the content comes off CDs altho I would suspect that it has been tranferred to digital servers.

There are a handful of DTS CDs around but you need a DVD Player to play them. There are also a handful of DVDs with music recorded in Dolby Digital and, of course, the music used on movie soundtracks is usually remastered in Dolby Digital.

But SIRIUS won't be broadcasting music in DD or DTS anytime soon because of bandwidth constraints. Dolby Labs recently announced a new recording codec for DD that has a higher compression rate so maybe someday...who knows? Of course, then there will likely be complaints of reduced audio quality to accomodate people who demand that format.

In the meantime the music is streaming in PCM stereo at a high bit rate. Using the various matrix and DSP surround modes will work just fine. I like what Denon calls the "Matrix" mode for folk, jazz & classical. Dolby ProLogic II Music (PLII M) is fine for popular & rock. "5 Channel Stereo" is great for dance music.

Some of the music might actually be pre-encoded in some form of matrix-surround such as _Stereo Surround_, _Circle Surround_ or even, in a very few cases, _Dolby Surround_.

BTW, there's no such thing as a Dolby ProLogic encoder. Dolby ProLogic is a decoding format for Dolby Surround encoded material and it is compatible with other brands of matrix encoded material, too.

But Dolby ProLogic and Dolby Pro Logic II Cinema (PLII C) are certainly not the best way to listen to stereo music. Decoded that way there will be very little stereo seperation and sound-staging because too much will be erroniously steered to the center channel.


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

Speaking as a "layman", it just sounds damn good. If it continues in the present format, I will be very happy.  Sirius even sounds good in 32Kbps off from the internet. They must have some very good digital equipment doing the job.


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## Lyle_JP (Apr 22, 2002)

> In the meantime the music is streaming in PCM stereo at a high bit rate.


 Just to be a techweenie here, the music is streamed as a 192 kbps mp2 stream, and is converted to 16 bit 44.1 khz PCM audio by your Dish receiver to be sent out of the optical jack. A raw PCM track would take up *lots* of space (about 1.4 mbps) in the satellite stream.


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## alfbinet (May 19, 2002)

I am impressed. So far I have only listened to the 50's and 60's stations on my Denon 3300 with 5 Ch Stereo...don't have Pro logic II. I have had a Kenwood CD/FM player in my car for about a year that is Sirius upgradeable...I just may make a trip to CC this weekend and have the additional unit installed. Have to say that I do like the unobtrusive DJ's. Makes it seems less "cold".


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

narnia777 said:


> I can't get the Sirius channels I don't subscribe to AT120 and they are not available alcart
> 
> Jim


so you pay what 30 alacarte would be at least 5 so pitch in 5 more and get the 120 no brainer to me


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## tnsprin (Mar 16, 2003)

Jacob S said:


> I thought Dish Network had around 10 million subscribers, 20 million viewers is what they are advertising on their brochures.


They are assuming 2 people per subscription. Perhaps even valid.


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## Jacob S (Apr 14, 2002)

I assume when they said 6 million they were talking about those that subscriber to AT120 or higher. I would have thought that there would have been more than 6 million subscribers to the AT120 and higher.


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## Anthony Falcone (Dec 19, 2003)

Well, I whined early on in this thread because I learned that there are DJ's on this service. But, having listened for a little while, I'm not bothered by it as much as I thought I would be. I do like having the choice of listening to the existing music channels if I want ( I thought that Sirius was replacing those channels). There are also more channels of interest to my wife and kids too.


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## Guest (May 21, 2004)

does this mean if I have Dish and the 120 package that I also get Sirius in my car? Is it all-inclusive or do I still have to pay the add'l $10/month to get it?


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## Lyle_JP (Apr 22, 2002)

> does this mean if I have Dish and the 120 package that I also get Sirius in my car? Is it all-inclusive or do I still have to pay the add'l $10/month to get it?


No, it just means you get it on your Dish receivers. If you want it in the car, you have to have a subscription with Sirius, and the hardware.


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## Jaspear (May 16, 2004)

siriusincar said:


> does this mean if I have Dish and the 120 package that I also get Sirius in my car? Is it all-inclusive or do I still have to pay the add'l $10/month to get it?


Sirius is $12.95 per month. XM is the service at $10 ($9.99 actually).


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## Guest (May 21, 2004)

Jaspear said:


> Sirius is $12.95 per month. XM is the service at $10 ($9.99 actually).


Actully Sirius is only 9.99 now also. The deal was just released.

Also if it is still active(friends and family deal) you can get the Sirius equipment for only 50 bucks. Which is a really sweet deal


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

With no ads, its a bargain at 12.95. I luv the absence of annoying and often moronic adverts.


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## gulmer (Jan 22, 2003)

RamblinWreck said:


> I haven't found any yet, but are any of you getting the channels in Dolby Digital or DTS? I don't think they would send them this way, but it would be great if they did!


Report in Sound and Vision mag,April '04,"Sat.-
radio provider Sirius hosted performances that were encoded in real time with multichannel
"logic Steering"instructions using Dolby Pro Logic
II and then broadcast.Anyone whose Sirius-equipped
car or home receiver has DPLII could hear the performance in surround".


----------



## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

justalurker said:


> Air(head) America can say all it wants. It isn't going to happen without a lot of cash ...
> They are LYING on their website. But then what do you expect of a network that features the "Lying Liars Who Tell Them" himself. A man who illustrated his book by placing a liar on the cover ...
> 
> 
> ...


Air America just got 8 milliion from new investors.


----------



## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

Paul Secic said:


> Air America just got 8 milliion from new investors.


No they don't!


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Paul Secic said:


> Paul Secic said:
> 
> 
> > Air America just got 8 milliion from new investors.
> ...


Can you be schitzofrenic OFF-line? Thanks!

JL
BTW: Even getting 8 million doesn't mean they will invest it in carriage on E*.
I think that they saw that Sirius was coming to E* but didn't get the story right.
They'll blame it on Bush and the radical right.


----------



## bytre (Sep 10, 2003)

For what it is worth, an hour of audio takes around 7 minutes of SD recording time on a 921, or about 1 minute of HD recording.


----------



## HTguy (May 7, 2002)

Lyle_JP said:


> Just to be a techweenie here, the music is streamed as a 192 kbps mp2 stream, and is converted to 16 bit 44.1 khz PCM audio by your Dish receiver to be sent out of the optical jack. A raw PCM track would take up *lots* of space (about 1.4 mbps) in the satellite stream.


 :sure: Ooops...you are correct, Sir. I meant streaming in at a high bit rate and streaming _out_ PCM stereo.


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## HTguy (May 7, 2002)

> BTW, there's no such thing as a Dolby ProLogic encoder.


I stand corrected with this statement, also. Last year Dolby Laboratories introduced the Model DP563, designated as a DPLII encoder. They recently brought out the DP564.

So _Sound & Vision_ must be correct about the possibilty of encoding steering logic instructions.

Thank you, *gulmer*.


----------



## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Oberlyn said:


> Actully Sirius is only 9.99 now also. The deal was just released.


Sirius is $12.95 a month, but if you prepay for a year, or two years, you get a discount. A 1 year prepay averages out to $11.87 a month, 2 years is $11.33 a month. There was an about $10 promo they advertised, but I don't see that on their website anymore.

http://www.sirius.com/servlet/Conte...us/CachedPage&c=FlexContent&cid=1066068006627


----------



## obrienaj (Apr 8, 2004)

garypen said:


> Hmm. I would imagine the majority of the music actually comes from CD recordings.


FYI, a few weeks ago I heard a SJ on Sirius 22 explain that he found an old vinyl disk that he wanted to play on Sirius but he had to convert it to a digital format in order to air the song (The Bottom Line by Big Audio Dynamite). He said they that the studio had no capability to play something that was not digital.


----------



## garypen (Feb 1, 2004)

obrienaj said:


> FYI, a few weeks ago I heard a SJ on Sirius 22 explain that he found an old vinyl disk that he wanted to play on Sirius but he had to convert it to a digital format in order to air the song (The Bottom Line by Big Audio Dynamite). He said they that the studio had no capability to play something that was not digital.


No doubt. But, most of the music _begins_ its Sirius life as a CD, no doubt. As such, it cannot sound better than a CD. It can sound as good as the source, but not better. That was point to the member who said it sounds better than CD's.

And, BTW, CD's _are_ digital.


----------



## sirius_rich (Jan 3, 2004)

Steve Mehs said:


> Sirius is $12.95 a month, but if you prepay for a year, or two years, you get a discount. A 1 year prepay averages out to $11.87 a month, 2 years is $11.33 a month. There was an about $10 promo they advertised, but I don't see that on their website anymore.
> 
> http://www.sirius.com/servlet/Conte...us/CachedPage&c=FlexContent&cid=1066068006627





Steve Mehs said:


> Sirius is $12.95 a month, but if you prepay for a year, or two years, you get a discount. A 1 year prepay averages out to $11.87 a month, 2 years is $11.33 a month. There was an about $10 promo they advertised, but I don't see that on their website anymore.
> 
> http://www.sirius.com/servlet/Conte...us/CachedPage&c=FlexContent&cid=1066068006627












Look around for a friends and family deal or wait until DISH starts selling the DISH SR200 Sirius PlugnPlay.


----------



## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

garypen said:


> And, BTW, CD's _are_ digital.


Yep, PCM 44.1

The problem with CDs is the varience between producers. Radio stations often rip the CD digitally and process it to sound better in the limited spectrum of the radio broadcast. Live CDs can sound flat against a well processed digital copy. Not OVER processed, please!

JL


----------



## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

I doubt that any individual stations rip and process individual cd's or songs off of cd's. They just don't have the time to do such things. They do have a signal chain (equalizers, compressors, multiband processors, etc.) that all music goes through though, mostly crushing the dynamic range so they "get out further" and the signal sounds louder. Louder is better on FM, or so they think.


----------



## Winky (Jul 23, 2003)

Is there a New Age channel I'm overlooking? There is Chill 64, but it's not quite what I'm looking for. I gotta have something to fall asleep to...


----------



## Guest (May 22, 2004)

Bravo DISH!!! Carrying Sirius radio on Dish is a great idea. However, only some channels are carried. We need some talk radio channels too. I live in the Seattle area and AM talk radio is dominated by Clearchannel - all right wing. So much for living on the left coast!

I wish Dish would carry Air America Radio http://www.airamericaradio.com which is on Sirius 125.

kgrr


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

garypen said:


> No doubt. But, most of the music _begins_ its Sirius life as a CD, no doubt. As such, it cannot sound better than a CD. It can sound as good as the source, but not better. That was point to the member who said it sounds better than CD's.
> 
> And, BTW, CD's _are_ digital.


Let me rephrase.... It sounds better than My CDs on MY CD Player. Since I am using a 10 year old el cheapo Pioneer CD Changer, maybe my box doesn't do as good of a job playing back the content as it feeds the signal through two RCA jacks... I've been resisting the idea of upgrading my CD player until I found a combination SACD/DVD-Audio/DVD Recorder/Progressive Scan Player that I like. Since the Sirius feeds do not go through the analog conversion that mine are, they sound better played through the TOSLink connector on my Integra 9.1 A/V receiver....


----------



## garypen (Feb 1, 2004)

Winky said:


> I gotta have something to fall asleep to...


Try watching soccer.


----------



## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Richard King said:


> I doubt that any individual stations rip and process individual cd's or songs off of cd's. They just don't have the time to do such things.


If the station is only adding a handful of songs each week they do. To get the audio into their automation the stations must play or rip the audio. The ripping and processing doesn't take long (and at good stations can be simply "normalizing" so the peaks in the new song are recorded at the peaks in other ripped songs).

Good load processing can actually HELP the rest of the audio chain. Go from a song loaded too loud to one loaded too soft and the air chain processing kicks from softening one to pumping up the next. If the delay is too slow the "soft song" isn't heard until a few seconds after it starts. If it is too fast then the air chain processing ends up processing WITHIN the songs, taking out the dynamic range. Load processing allows the station to back off on the air chain stuff. And, believe it or not, many stations do process on load.

Stations loading their songs in analog by playing a digital CD through an analog board into a digital capture don't get a sound as good as you get at home on a good CD player. Even though it is all "good" equipment, the extra analog step damages the copy. That's why most stations rip ... or get their songs from a music service that rips for them. 



Richard King said:


> They do have a signal chain (equalizers, compressors, multiband processors, etc.) that all music goes through though, mostly crushing the dynamic range so they "get out further" and the signal sounds louder. Louder is better on FM, or so they think.


There are physical limits on FM radio. Stations MUST play within those limits. How well they play is up to the individual station. Bringing up the low end of the dynamic range, especially during long low passages, protects the listener from the loud dymanics that follow. Done right it HELPS the listener ... they don't have to ride their volume knob to listen. Done wrong and you get garbage.

Since most listeners are in cars or background listeners trying to get something else done, riding the volume is not an option. Neither is relaxing and getting the full dynamic range of the original. The question of "what are you doing while listening to the radio" is important. Practically gone are the days of "nothing else".

Hopefully your favorite station doing the processing right. NPR is practically the only network allowing the full dynamic anymore. Them (for artistic reasons) and stations that can't afford the gear. 

JL


----------



## garypen (Feb 1, 2004)

BobMurdoch said:


> I've been resisting the idea of upgrading my CD player until I found a combination SACD/DVD-Audio/DVD Recorder/Progressive Scan Player that I like.


You left out "toaster". 

BTW, most modern DVD/CD players have a digital audio out, so that will remove one layer of D2A.


----------



## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

sirius_rich said:


> Look around for a friends and family deal or wait until DISH starts selling the DISH SR200 Sirius PlugnPlay.


that one will be 150 though the dish branded unit that is


----------



## Bama Mac (May 12, 2004)

Dumb newbie to widescreen question. Will viewing the Sirus channels on my 51" WS for a prolonged period of time cause some screen burn in with the format of the video?

It seems that I can not get the video to fit the full screen, plus not much movement in the video at all.


Thanks for any replys.


----------



## BFG (Jan 23, 2004)

Bama Mac said:


> Dumb newbie to widescreen question. Will viewing the Sirus channels on my 51" WS for a prolonged period of time cause some screen burn in with the format of the video?


Maybe a dumb reply, but couldn't you just turn your TV Off?


----------



## Keith S (Apr 22, 2002)

sirius_rich said:


> Look around for a friends and family deal or wait until DISH starts selling the DISH SR200 Sirius PlugnPlay.


Under the 9.99 in small print it says Purchase any SIRIUS tuner between 5/28-7/7/04 and activate by 7/31/04 with a 12-month prepaid subscription


----------



## littleflurry (May 23, 2004)

rajeev28 said:


> Whats the best way to record them on PC.
> 
> I have Dish connected to PC + TV. Any particular software to record the songs


I have my laptop hooked up to my audio out on my VCR with an audio RCA cable and into my audio input on computer but it still doesn't come thru win media player or audacity or winamp


----------



## Bama Mac (May 12, 2004)

BFG said:


> Maybe a dumb reply, but couldn't you just turn your TV Off?


 Well not when my TV is currently my only audio source too. I don't think turning the TV is an option if I want to listen to them, but thanks for the suggestion. I am currently looking at purchasing a home theater soon.


----------



## BFG (Jan 23, 2004)

Best Buy sells some real nice Yamaha packages, I got a whole 5.1 system for $350


----------



## REK108 (May 23, 2004)

All Dish Network subscribers should take heed of KStuart's May 19th post. I predict that in about two weeks, reality will sink in once the "new toy" fascination wears off of having Sirius music on Dish. Sirius plays the same songs over and over and over and over again and again and again and again repeatedly and repeatedly and repeatedly. For instance, although Norah Jones is a very talented performer, you hear her almost every hour on multiple chanels. I like and respect her music, but yes, it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Sirius receivers even have a memory function that you can have the receiver beep when one of your twenty "favorite" songs is playing. How is that possible unless they play the same songs endlessly.

When my local independent public radio station started to drift a bit to far from my tastes in music, I purchased a Sirius shuttle receiver, a car kit, a home kit, a home outside antenna, a boom box and a subscription. I was lured in by the deal which makes the cost per month around $10. All of this gear goes on sale at E-bay as soon as my locked-in one year subscription runs out.

I listened to Sirius faithfully for the first two or three weeks and became increasingly disillusioned about their lack of variety. My local public radio station doesn't sound so bad any more. I rarely tune in Sirius now, only during public radio pledge drives and in moments of desperation. 500 songs per chanel sounds about right. Be sure to read the article on the Home Theater Forum that kstuart's link points to, it will open your eyes to the reality of Sirius.

Enjoy your new toy for the next week or so. Sure it sounds great. Sure it's a novelty. But just wait, soon you too will be bored and rarely tune in. I know that DBSTalk forum members have brains which are far more evolved than to be satisfied listening to the same songs ad infinitum.



kstuart said:


> You clearly have never listened to "CD Music" channel 979 Reggae - I have used it for years to balance my subwoofer.
> 
> It's great to have the additional choice and variety of more music channels.
> 
> ...


----------



## Darkman (Apr 16, 2002)

REK108,

Welcome to DBSTalk!


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## sirius_rich (Jan 3, 2004)

The Sirius play list is a balance of familiar and new music. Sirius paid big bucks for industry surveys on consumer listening tastes and they engineered their play lists accordingly.

I find the below links useful when searching a song or finding where a song is being played on Sirius.

http://www.itsonsirius.com/search/search.htm Song Seek

http://www.itsonsirius.com/ What's playing now on Sirius


----------



## Jacob S (Apr 14, 2002)

I tried those links and went to the Sirius channels on Dish Network and it did not match the current or next song that was playing.


----------



## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

littleflurry said:


> I have my laptop hooked up to my audio out on my VCR with an audio RCA cable and into my audio input on computer but it still doesn't come thru win media player or audacity or winamp


you need to to double click your speaker icon and make sure none of the inputs are muted also you caudacity will record but tell it through wave input


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

BFG said:


> Best Buy sells some real nice Yamaha packages, I got a whole 5.1 system for $350


Walmart has a 5.1 that decodes Dolby's Surround for $60.

Stop laughing.
Really, I mean it!

It can take the stereo output from the receiver and make it sound golden. And in many productions it can do the 5.1 placement of sounds in the presentation. It also allows you to have cash left over to put $2.19 gas in you car to get to work and to buy DVDs and more satellite equipment.

Sirius channels sound good through it too.

JL


----------



## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

:welcome_s 


REK108 said:


> I listened to Sirius faithfully for the first two or three weeks and became increasingly disillusioned about their lack of variety. My local public radio station doesn't sound so bad any more. I rarely tune in Sirius now, only during public radio pledge drives and in moments of desperation. 500 songs per chanel sounds about right.


Many FM stations don't go deeper than that. NPR usually does, but then they are more about the theatre than "playing your favorites".

BTW: Do you support your NPR station or do you listen then slip away when the pledge drive "bill" comes? I used to watch PBS occasionally but the pledge drives turned me off. I didn't like the idea of getting something I didn't pay for so they lost me year round. (I pay for other channels by watching their lame commercials. Not studying them and taking notes, but allowing them in my home.)

NPR has its place. So does Sirius. Since E* customers are not paying for Sirius at home at least we won't have buyers remorse. Besides, DBS is primarily TV ... the Music channels are a bonus.

JL


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## ups767300 (Mar 9, 2004)

justalurker said:


> Walmart has a 5.1 that decodes Dolby's Surround for $60.
> 
> Stop laughing.
> Really, I mean it!
> ...


How much sound quality will $60 buy you? Not much, you probably can't turn it up without the subwoofer in that system starting to distort or the other speakers distorting. If you want sound quality thats atleast decent please look at the yamaha HTIB systems. Buying cheap sound equipment buys you cheap sound.
Andrew


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## ck33 (Jan 5, 2004)

> Originally Posted by *littleflurry*:
> _I have my laptop hooked up to my audio out on my VCR with an audio RCA cable and into my audio input on computer but it still doesn't come thru win media player or audacity or winamp _


Hi, littleflurry. Welcome to the DBSTalk.com boards!

Out of curiousoty, what Operating System are you running on your laptop?


----------



## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

ups767300 said:


> ...
> Andrew


Thank you for your kind words. Hopefully your second post will be less abusive.

I know what I'm getting for $60 ... and if I turn it up past 20% I can hear it in the yard anyways. No worries mate.

JL


----------



## littleflurry (May 23, 2004)

ck33 said:


> Hi, littleflurry. Welcome to the DBSTalk.com boards!
> 
> Out of curiousoty, what Operating System are you running on your laptop?


Win xp home. Ionly have 2 inputs on my laptop but 5 on my desktp for the sound card. could this be the problem?


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## littleflurry (May 23, 2004)

littleflurry said:


> Win xp home. Ionly have 2 inputs on my laptop but 5 on my desktp for the sound card. could this be the problem?


After weighing all this, it's cheaper to get the receiver and pay the 9.99 a month. Anyone find any good sirius receiver prices?


----------



## littleflurry (May 23, 2004)

Oberlyn said:


> Actully Sirius is only 9.99 now also. The deal was just released.
> 
> Also if it is still active(friends and family deal) you can get the Sirius equipment for only 50 bucks. Which is a really sweet deal


Where can u get equipment for $50.00???? :jumpingja


----------



## sirius_rich (Jan 3, 2004)

Jacob S said:


> I tried those links and went to the Sirius channels on Dish Network and it did not match the current or next song that was playing.


They work for me. The link itsonsirius.com will only show you what is currently playing on Sirius and what stream (channel). The search link enables you to see what stream a specific song or artist is played on. The Sirius online player will tell you current information and the last 5 songs listened to. For a free 3 day listening expeerience of the DISH feeds try this link.

http://sirius.com/servlet/MediaPlayer?activity=expand&streamNumber=


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## BFG (Jan 23, 2004)

sirius_rich said:


> They work for me. The link itsonsirius.com will only show you what is currently playing on Sirius and what stream (channel). The search link enables you to see what stream a specific song or artist is played on. The Sirius online player will tell you current information and the last 5 songs listened to. For a free 3 day listening expeerience of the DISH feeds try this link.
> 
> http://sirius.com/servlet/MediaPlayer?activity=expand&streamNumber=


the itsonsirus.com works but it's always a song behind...


----------



## ck33 (Jan 5, 2004)

littleflurry said:


> Win xp home. Ionly have 2 inputs on my laptop but 5 on my desktp for the sound card. could this be the problem?


Could very well be. On my computer, I have 2 inputs for recording. One is for 'Microphone,' and one is for 'Line-In.' I use 'Line-In' for my recording.

When I first set my machine up, it always wanted to use the microphone input for recording. Here is what I did to set it to 'Line In:'

1. Double-Click on the volume icon (looks like a speaker) on the lower right-hand corner of the screen.

2. The 'Volume Control' window will appear. Click on the '*Options*' pull-down menu, then click '*Properties*'

3. Under the '*Adjust Volume For*' settings, click the '*Recording*' radio button. Then click '*OK*'

4. You should then see the volume indicators for the recording devices that you can record from. Here, you can adjust your recording volume, or select which input you want to use for recording.

Hope this helps.


----------



## sirius_rich (Jan 3, 2004)

BFG said:


> the itsonsirus.com works but it's always a song behind...


The DISH feed is about 10 seconds ahead of the Sirius satellite feed, I just tested with the online feed and DISH. The itsonsirius link should not be a song behind but it is possible. The link auto refreshes every 30 seconds. It was written by a member of siriusbackstage.com (not affiliated with Sirius). I have not got it all figured out yet, still to new to me.
:eek2:


----------



## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

garypen said:


> You left out "toaster".
> 
> BTW, most modern DVD/CD players have a digital audio out, so that will remove one layer of D2A.


Nah, my Dishplayer toasts my bread for me (have you SEEN how hot that puppy gets when you cover up the vents?)


----------



## littleflurry (May 23, 2004)

ck33 said:


> Could very well be. On my computer, I have 2 inputs for recording. One is for 'Microphone,' and one is for 'Line-In.' I use 'Line-In' for my recording.
> 
> When I first set my machine up, it always wanted to use the microphone input for recording. Here is what I did to set it to 'Line In:'
> 
> ...


I was hoping but I tried Mic, Line IN and wave mix. None worked. But thank you for the post as I did learn what they all do now. LOL.


----------



## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

its possible that the output on your vcr is not on for some reason then by the way you said rca connecter is that rca to like 3.5mm input


----------



## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

i just have a capture card in mine but audacity records anything that come through my soundcard so there is no reason should not work


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## Jacob S (Apr 14, 2002)

Doesn't that defeat the purpose for the site if it is always a song behind? Perhaps it is only to give a person an idea of what is on instead of knowing what is on at the current time.


----------



## sirius_rich (Jan 3, 2004)

Jacob S said:


> Doesn't that defeat the purpose for the site if it is always a song behind? Perhaps it is only to give a person an idea of what is on instead of knowing what is on at the current time.


Now there is a 20 second lag between Dish and Sirius. Dish being first. To make it worse the itsonsirius.com is not working for me now. Don't know what to say. I guess I will sit back and listen and not worry about it.


----------



## plumbstar (May 11, 2004)

What bitrate do the CD music channels play at compared to Sirius?


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## sirius_rich (Jan 3, 2004)

plumbstar said:


> What bitrate do the CD music channels play at compared to Sirius?


DISH plays the Sirius feed at 200 bps. All Sirius will say is near CD quality. And in the defense of Sirius their bitrate varies due to their S-Plex technology. The Sirius content is fed to DISH via fiber optic.


----------



## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

sirius_rich said:


> DISH plays the Sirius feed at 200 bps. All Sirius will say is near CD quality. And in the defense of Sirius their bitrate varies due to their S-Plex technology. The Sirius content is fed to DISH via fiber optic.


that was not the question he means the muzak bitrate


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## sirius_rich (Jan 3, 2004)

kwajr said:


> that was not the question he means the muzak bitrate


That would be a good question for the next Charlie Chat or Tech Forum. I'd like to know that as well.


----------



## ck33 (Jan 5, 2004)

littleflurry said:


> I was hoping but I tried Mic, Line IN and wave mix. None worked. But thank you for the post as I did learn what they all do now. LOL.


You are quite welcome. Glad I could be of some help.

Just one last question - I re-read your original post, and you said that you have your VCR's audio out connected to your laptop's audio in via RCA audio cable. How do you have your satellite receiver box connected to your VCR (receiver out --> vcr in)?


----------



## REK108 (May 23, 2004)

sirius_rich said:


> The Sirius play list is a balance of familiar and new music. Sirius paid big bucks for industry surveys on consumer listening tastes and they engineered their play lists accordingly.


Sirius is targeting the "average" listener or the "majority" of listeners, which makes good business sense (cents? Pun intended). I wonder if most DBSTalk forum members are "average" music listeners? I've had to deal with living "outside the box" of the usual tastes in music sophstication for years. I thought that Sirius might be, but found out that it wasn't my Holy Grail of commerical free music listening. The search continues.

I use my experience only as a warning. I'm reading dozens of posts where people are giddy with delight about the new Sirus channels and are running out to buy units for their cars and purchasing subscriptions. Please, before buying any Sirius hardware, take at least a few days or a week or two and listen to Sirius on Dish or through the free internet trial. Be sure you can deal with the limited variety and endless repetition. If that's your cup of tea, purchase away and enjoy. Yes, I have buyer's remorse, but if I can prevent someone else from spending their money fruitlessly, then my tirade will have been worthwhile.


----------



## REK108 (May 23, 2004)

justalurker said:


> BTW: Do you support your NPR station or do you listen then slip away when the pledge drive "bill" comes?


Yes, I wholeheartedly support both NPR and independent public radio stations in my town, and encourage anyone listening to public radio to do the same. I renew my memberships annually. When the spring pledge drives appear, it reminds me to renew my memberships, which I do, then tune out for the remainder of pledging. I also tune out during the other two or three pledge drives which occur later in the year, already having "paid my dues" in the spring.

I thought that my subscriptions to public radio would end when I subscribed to Sirius, but the opposite will be true. I'm dropping my Sirius subscription after my year is up and staying with public radio.


----------



## negril jam (Mar 14, 2004)

Really disapointed that the sirius music channels are not available to spanish speakers who subscribe to dish latino dos or max. Most ot the english channels on these packages are same as the top 120 which now has the sirius channels.On my dish latino max they are all in red.


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

REK108 said:


> Sirius is targeting the "average" listener or the "majority" of listeners, which makes good business sense (cents? Pun intended). I wonder if most DBSTalk forum members are "average" music listeners? I've had to deal with living "outside the box" of the usual tastes in music sophstication for years. I thought that Sirius might be, but found out that it wasn't my Holy Grail of commerical free music listening. The search continues.
> 
> I use my experience only as a warning. I'm reading dozens of posts where people are giddy with delight about the new Sirus channels and are running out to buy units for their cars and purchasing subscriptions. Please, before buying any Sirius hardware, take at least a few days or a week or two and listen to Sirius on Dish or through the free internet trial. Be sure you can deal with the limited variety and endless repetition. If that's your cup of tea, purchase away and enjoy. Yes, I have buyer's remorse, but if I can prevent someone else from spending their money fruitlessly, then my tirade will have been worthwhile.


One reason they probably repeat a bit more often is that they have no ads (Thank God!) . I would much rather hear a repeat play than an ad. When compared to FM radio, Sirius is a breath of fresh air. However, I understand what you are saying and some may not like the repetition. Those folks I'm sure will be happy to just get Sirius along with Dish.


----------



## FromPlanetBob (May 24, 2004)

BFG said:


> the itsonsirus.com works but it's always a song behind...


It should be behaving a little better now.

Also since DISH is broadcasting 20 seconds before SIRIUS is, my modified SIRIUS radios are recieving the stream title/artist information a full 20 seconds later. Then add 5 to 10 seconds to get the to the web (I have DirecWay - it's slow.). Also the website only updates once every 30 seconds.

The site's major ability is to search the stream information. It also provides historical data accessable to a select few and of course SIRIUS.

I am very open to ideas and suggestions, however my schedule keeps my free time thin at times.... My E-Mail: [email protected]

-The Disclaimer- ItsOnSirius.com is a not for profit site (it is paid for out of my pocket every month.) It is not in any way associated with SIRIUS Satellite Radio, Inc.


----------



## mds54 (Sep 9, 2003)

Dog Ass said:


> You will have to accept the dj's. Remember, this is "radio" that your listening to.


Yeah, but it's a little misleading for us West Coast types.....
One DJ stated the current time per East Coast, which can be
a little unnerving, and another DJ was hyping "tonight's" music lineup
when it was still the middle of the afternoon in CA.......


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## plumbstar (May 11, 2004)

I would love to know what the Dish Muzak bitrate is compared to Sirius?


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## littleflurry (May 23, 2004)

ck33 said:


> You are quite welcome. Glad I could be of some help.
> 
> Just one last question - I re-read your original post, and you said that you have your VCR's audio out connected to your laptop's audio in via RCA audio cable. How do you have your satellite receiver box connected to your VCR (receiver out --> vcr in)?


the vcr is hooked to my dolby pro-locis receiver vcr input. i have an older sony reciever.


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## littleflurry (May 23, 2004)

FYI
SIRIUS Mobile Radio from DISH Network located here http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/products/receivers/sirius/index.shtml
http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/sirius/index.shtml

also supposed to be at sears and radioshack


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## zman977 (Nov 9, 2003)

littleflurry said:


> FYI
> SIRIUS Mobile Radio from DISH Network located here http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/products/receivers/sirius/index.shtml
> http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/sirius/index.shtml
> 
> also supposed to be at sears and radioshack


When can we get the dish/sirius deal and when will we know how much it will cost to get a receiver through dish. The link talks about the receiver but I don't see any reference to price or when they will be made available.


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## kwajr (Apr 7, 2004)

zman977 said:


> When can we get the dish/sirius deal and when will we know how much it will cost to get a receiver through dish. The link talks about the receiver but I don't see any reference to price or when they will be made available.


150 i read somewhere whitch is about right but why wait for one that says dish on it


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## Jacob S (Apr 14, 2002)

What may be good enough for the average user today may not be good enough tomorrow and technology advances and users demand more out of the products as time goes by. What may be the premium today may be the norm and expected tomorrow.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

plumbstar said:


> I would love to know what the Dish Muzak bitrate is compared to Sirius?


On the bird the CD channels and Sirius are 192 kbps Joint Stereo. Which is pretty typical for a stereo MPEG2 encoded live satellite feed. That DOES NOT mean that the input recordings are 192 kbps or better ...

JL


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## obrienaj (Apr 8, 2004)

Richard King said:


> I doubt that any individual stations rip and process individual cd's or songs off of cd's. They just don't have the time to do such things. They do have a signal chain (equalizers, compressors, multiband processors, etc.) that all music goes through though, mostly crushing the dynamic range so they "get out further" and the signal sounds louder. Louder is better on FM, or so they think.


I checked with a friend currently in broadcasting. At his FM station they have CD players for emergency use only, in case the computers crash. All music is ripped from CD and placed on the PC into a software package. I suspect Sirius is exactly like this.


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## DoyleS (Oct 21, 2002)

I called 3 different dealers listed on the Dish website based on my zipcode. Not one of them currently handles Sirius. One handles XM and said he would be getting setup with Sirius in the near future. None were aware of any promotions from Dish although the last guy said that they were just starting to get info. With regard to XM, he indicated Car kits with the FM link were around $40 and there were a couple popular receivers that went for $99 and $79 respectively. Installation was $60 if you didn't want to do it yourself. Although this doesn't apply to Sirius, I was trying to get a ballpark number on what the hardware costs were. Direct wire kits were also available although I didn't feel like exercising him on those until he actually had some Sirius gear I could look at. 

..Doyle


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## sirius_rich (Jan 3, 2004)

DoyleS said:


> I called 3 different dealers listed on the Dish website based on my zipcode. Not one of them currently handles Sirius. One handles XM and said he would be getting setup with Sirius in the near future. None were aware of any promotions from Dish although the last guy said that they were just starting to get info. With regard to XM, he indicated Car kits with the FM link were around $40 and there were a couple popular receivers that went for $99 and $79 respectively. Installation was $60 if you didn't want to do it yourself. Although this doesn't apply to Sirius, I was trying to get a ballpark number on what the hardware costs were. Direct wire kits were also available although I didn't feel like exercising him on those until he actually had some Sirius gear I could look at.
> 
> ..Doyle


Per the Team Summit, DISH retailers were able to order the SR200 yesterday. I would suspect it will take a little while to get the stock for resale. The price for the SR200 which includes the Pro Kit Mount is $150 as disussed at the Team Summit. The units are the FM transmitted radios. I would look for retailer details in the very near future.


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## Lance Advance (May 25, 2003)

sirius_rich said:


> The units are the FM transmitted radios.


Well, there goes the CD-quality sound then...adds a lot of unnecessary stages to the chain.

LA


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## Darkman (Apr 16, 2002)

hmmmm - i am not too technical about the sound...
but maybe that is why i was wondering if D*'s Music Choice's sound quality is not any worse (or maybe even better) then those new Sirius channels at E*'s 6000 range...
Cuz from what i heard - D*'s Music Choice sounds pretty clear and sharp..

Does anyone who understand all this about Sound Quality.. and heard recently both - D*'s Music Choice .. and E*'s Sirius Music .. can maybe make a comparison.. and tell me which one they think sounds better.. or if maybe they think that the sound quality is the same between those 2 choices..

All i am saying though - D*'s Music Choice - sounds pretty nice and clear and sharp to me...

Anyone .. any comments on this?


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## Lurker (May 14, 2002)

Why is it taking Tivo so long to add the Sirius channels to my Dish lineup? They just added TNT-HD. Which was added to Dish Network first?


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## Jaspear (May 16, 2004)

Lurker said:


> Why is it taking Tivo so long to add the Sirius channels to my Dish lineup? They just added TNT-HD. Which was added to Dish Network first?


They're not on mine either, but what difference does it make? You can tune Tivo to any Sirius channel. I recorded Vin Scelsa's Sunday Night Idiot's Delight on 6024 by setting up a manual record. It won't be any different after Tivo adds the Sirius channels since there won't be any programming info.


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## garypen (Feb 1, 2004)

Is Vin Scelsa still alive? I used to listen to him on WNEW-FM in NY when I was a kid. He must be like 147 years old now.


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## lee635 (Apr 17, 2002)

littleflurry said:


> I was hoping but I tried Mic, Line IN and wave mix. None worked. But thank you for the post as I did learn what they all do now. LOL.


I do some ripping of vinyl for the college station here. I use winamp and there is a "line in plugin" that you have to download as well as a plugin that outputs to an mp3 file (you set the bitrate). It's all free stuff, but I couldn't get my laptop to play the sounds coming in from the stereo to the laptop's line in until I had downloaded those plugins.

After downloading the line in plugin, I could hear music coming out of the laptop speakers - What's up with that?


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## DoyleS (Oct 21, 2002)

Darkman,
The comment about "there goes the CD quality sound" that Lance Advance made refers to the use of FM to get the sound into your car radio. With the Dish system, the signal goes directly into your Stereo or HiFi unit either with Left and Right RCA or through a the digital optical connection. With a car system there are a couple choices and some have better sound than others. If you have a Radio that has Sirius builtin then you have the best possible sound. Many people will choose to have a portable unit that can be moved from car to home or car to car. These connect in a couple different ways. They can use a custom harness in the car that allows you to direct connect to a Sirius ready radio. That is also an excellent connection. They could also use either an FM link or a Cassette link. With the FM link, the audio signal is put onto an FM signal and transmitted to a free FM radio channel on your radio. Depending on your radio and the transmitting unit this could be a good or fair connection since it requires both an extra modulation and demodulation of the signal. It is not likely to be an excellent connection and may be prone to added noise. The cassette connection is likely the worst because it has to have lots of equalization to make it look like a signal coming from a cassette and typically the cassette channel has been rolled off to reduce high frequency hiss that is present on most cassette tapes. (remember Dolby noise reduction, DNR and other noise reduction schemes used to reduce tape noise). I haven' t hear any of these systems in a vehicle so that is one of the things I plan to do before adding it. Clearly the portable units are very attractive but I need to make sure the sound is at least up to the standard of my vehicle system (which isn't anything spectacular).

..Doyle


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## Darkman (Apr 16, 2002)

OK .. Thanks

It still didn't answer me though - if Sirius on E* sounds any better then Music Choice on D* ... or other way around.. 
or maybe they sound the same.. sound / quality vice..

Anyone.. 
Thanks..


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## sirius_rich (Jan 3, 2004)

Lance Advance said:


> Well, there goes the CD-quality sound then...adds a lot of unnecessary stages to the chain.
> 
> LA


Hard wired FM mod is still an option. There is FM output and audio output.


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## Jaspear (May 16, 2004)

garypen said:


> Is Vin Scelsa still alive? I used to listen to him on WNEW-FM in NY when I was a kid. He must be like 147 years old now.


He sure sounds like he's still alive! :lol: I used to listen to him on WFMU in the late 60's; I may be even older!

Idiot's Delight is the best four (or so) hours on radio.


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## DoyleS (Oct 21, 2002)

The hard wired FM option still has the disadvantage of the extra modulation and demodulation. However, it does ensure that the FM signal present on your Car Radio is as good as it can be. There is an extra switch box required to go hard wired FM and it sits between the car radio antenna connector and the car radio antenna. The FM Modulator is in the Dock and there are dock models with and without FM modulators. The FM option is not a bad option as the install is really simple, I think I want to hear one before I go that way. So far I haven't seen any datasheets on the SR200 which is the $150 model Dish is making available to their dealers. Sirius has other models on their website as low as $99. Docks range from $29 for no FM to $49 with FM. 
..Doyle


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## Tornado25 (Mar 11, 2004)

Darkman said:


> OK .. Thanks
> 
> It still didn't answer me though - if Sirius on E* sounds any better then Music Choice on D* ... or other way around..
> or maybe they sound the same.. sound / quality vice..
> ...


Darkman, my mom has D* and I would say that Music Choice there is about the same as the "CD Music" channels on E*. What I mean is, when I first selected a Sirius channel on E*, I immediately noticed a "better" sound--I looked at my roommate and said "that sounds pretty damn good". When I listened to MC on D* it didn't grab me or anything, however. Just like what I had on E* before Sirius. Sirius sounds fuller, with a better range--particularly with better lows. But that's just IMO. I wouldn't call myself an audiophile or anything.


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

There is definitely better dynamic range to the Sirius feeds on Dish. Especially on the low-end. I had MC on Comcrap digital and they were rather flat sounding. Dish and Sirius did a good job on setting these channels up. I just hope they leave them as they are and not monkey around with them. Sirius's internet feeds are very good, but do not have the dynamic range of their Dish feeds either. All-in-all, the Sirius addtion has kept me as a Dish customer for the foreseeable future.


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## Darkman (Apr 16, 2002)

Tornado25 and ypsiguy - Thanks for your replies....


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

> They could also use either an FM link or a Cassette link.


I use the Audiovox system with the FM built in. This unit also has a line out that can be used with an optional cassette adaptor. I always use the cassette adaptor as the quality is much better (here). This may differ depending on the situation with adjacent FM stations in your area and location of your FM antenna on your car. By the way, if anyone wants Sirius I have in stock 3 Audiovox receivers and car FM docking stations ($149.00 + shipping). Feel free to PM me.


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## Agent0042 (Mar 1, 2004)

I just noticed them earlier this week! I thought maybe it was just some sort of free preview or something. But it's awesome to hear that they're around for good. They have some great music.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

I saw a commercial a couple of nights ago (on Comedy Central) for Sirius on Dish ... tune to the 6000's.

No mention of getting a separate receiver (portable/car) in the ad ... just a pointer to the channels available for those who have not noticed them yet.

The ad said the channels were only for AT120 and AT180 subscribers.

JL


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

I know I'm listening to the "radio" on Dish a lot more now. Sirius was a good addition. Nice to be able to listen to it when TV sucks (which nowadays is quite often).


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

kgrr said:


> Bravo DISH!!! Carrying Sirius radio on Dish is a great idea. However, only some channels are carried. We need some talk radio channels too. I live in the Seattle area and AM talk radio is dominated by Clearchannel - all right wing. So much for living on the left coast!
> 
> I wish Dish would carry Air America Radio http://www.airamericaradio.com which is on Sirius 125.
> 
> kgrr


I agree. Dish needs Air America. Try tuning to: KGO AM 810 at night. Its liberal. I hear lots of people from Seatle call all night.


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

REK108 said:


> Sirius is targeting the "average" listener or the "majority" of listeners, which makes good business sense (cents? Pun intended). I wonder if most DBSTalk forum members are "average" music listeners? I've had to deal with living "outside the box" of the usual tastes in music sophstication for years. I thought that Sirius might be, but found out that it wasn't my Holy Grail of commerical free music listening. The search continues.
> 
> I use my experience only as a warning. I'm reading dozens of posts where people are giddy with delight about the new Sirus channels and are running out to buy units for their cars and purchasing subscriptions. Please, before buying any Sirius hardware, take at least a few days or a week or two and listen to Sirius on Dish or through the free internet trial. Be sure you can deal with the limited variety and endless repetition. If that's your cup of tea, purchase away and enjoy. Yes, I have buyer's remorse, but if I can prevent someone else from spending their money fruitlessly, then my tirade will have been worthwhile.


Its just one more bill to pay each month. I must live on $883.24 from Social Security.


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## sirius_rich (Jan 3, 2004)

DoyleS said:


> So far I haven't seen any datasheets on the SR200 which is the $150 model Dish is making available to their dealers. Sirius has other models on their website as low as $99. Docks range from $29 for no FM to $49 with FM.
> ..Doyle


I scanned the available datasheets (sales brochures) from the Team Summit. Expand the pics and you are able to read the text. I personally have 2 FM transmited plug and plays and the top end Kenwood 7015 Sirius radio. There is a litle difference in SQ.

SR 200 Product Memos


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## Paul Secic (Dec 16, 2003)

ypsiguy said:


> I know I'm listening to the "radio" on Dish a lot more now. Sirius was a good addition. Nice to be able to listen to it when TV sucks (which nowadays is quite often).


Too much reality TV. Why buy a HDTV Set?


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## ypsiguy (Jan 28, 2004)

Paul Secic said:


> Too much reality TV. Why buy a HDTV Set?


Huh?


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## REK108 (May 23, 2004)

Paul Secic said:


> Its just one more bill to pay each month. I must live on $883.24 from Social Security.


Huh?


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## jgreco (Jun 10, 2004)

Paul Secic said:


> I agree. Dish needs Air America. Try tuning to: KGO AM 810 at night. Its liberal. I hear lots of people from Seatle call all night.


For those interested KGO is available on the Internet go to www.kgoam810.com.


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## Guest (Jun 14, 2004)

> Originally Posted by REK108
> Sirius is targeting the "average" listener or the "majority" of listeners, which makes good business sense (cents? Pun intended). I wonder if most DBSTalk forum members are "average" music listeners? I've had to deal with living "outside the box" of the usual tastes in music sophstication for years. I thought that Sirius might be, but found out that it wasn't my Holy Grail of commerical free music listening. The search continues.
> 
> I use my experience only as a warning. I'm reading dozens of posts where people are giddy with delight about the new Sirus channels and are running out to buy units for their cars and purchasing subscriptions. Please, before buying any Sirius hardware, take at least a few days or a week or two and listen to Sirius on Dish or through the free internet trial. Be sure you can deal with the limited variety and endless repetition. If that's your cup of tea, purchase away and enjoy. Yes, I have buyer's remorse, but if I can prevent someone else from spending their money fruitlessly, then my tirade will have been worthwhile.


I have to agree. I've been listening to Classic Rock and Metal stations frequant and they all have VERY limited playlists. 
Sure they play many underground and obscure artists that no Classic or Active Rock radio station on the FM will touch at the same time it's not much better in playing a good variety of songs. It's the same songs all the time. 
I don't just want to hear the popular singles all the time.

I just couldn't see myself spending the money for it in my car when I could easily pop in a cd.


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## Darkman (Apr 16, 2002)

Looks like 4 more New Sirius channels are "warming up" and are being tested currently on E* :

6013 - SIRIUS Elvis Radio - All-Elvis! (The Official Radio Station of Graceland.. from Elivis' early years to his comeback, It's all about The King of Rock 'n' Roll!) 
6025 - SIRIUS Undergrnd Garage Garage Rock (The collest rock 'n' roll records ever made. We don't care if they're 50-years old or 50-minutes old. Produced by Little Steven.) 
6061 - SIRIUS Boombox - Breakbeats/Old Skool (A mix of party breakbeats and old skool from artists such as Fatboy Slim, De la Soul, Chemical Brothers and A Tribe Called Quest.) 
6097 - SIRIUS Vacation - Vacation music (A mix of tropical, calypso, reggae, Hawaiian and other music you'd hear on an island Vacation)

Not available to "mere-mortal subscriber" yet.. however you can find some more further details about THEM in this thread:
http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=29071


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