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goMac · Jul 19, 2009, 04:59 PM

I activated my XM radio in my car a few months ago because Portland has really crappy radio... And recently I've been looking at getting a new audio receiver for my tv. I was looking at the Sony STR-DN100 ( http://www.amazon.com/Sony-STR-DN100.../dp/B001TP4RRC ), but it seems on the new models Sony has changed over to Sirius.

I didn't think this would be a problem in since, you know, they're the same company. But apparently I cannot use my XM account in any way, shape, or form with a Sirius receiver. I'd have to get an entirely separate Sirius account with all the redundant content.

Does anyone else find this as stupid as I do?

Big Mac · 11:48 PM

Yeah, it's lame. They've been consolidating things a bit, but the two companies were structured differently, had different contracts and operated at different satellite frequencies. As a result they can't just completely merge the two services easily. It was obviously a problem for the combined company going forward.

turtle777 · Jul 19, 2009, 05:35 PM

Don't forget, the final ok for the merger was approved only a year ago. To completely merge everything (like accounts) typically takes quite a while.

-t

mduell · Jul 19, 2009, 07:13 PM

Just send a guy to swap out the transmitters.

Oh, wait.

imitchellg5 · Jul 20, 2009, 07:58 PM

Wait. I've been looking at satellite radio for me Accord and saw that everything is branded Sirius+XM or something like that now. So you can't just subscribe to a package with both? It seems stupid to me that a headunit would have to have both Sirius and XM transmitters attached to work.

ghporter · Jul 20, 2009, 09:24 PM

They use different satellite frequencies. Specifically, they use adjacent allocations, with Sirius using 2320 to 2332.5 MHz, and XM using 2332.5 to 2345 MHz. Between the antenna and the receiver of satellite systems, there's a down-converter of some kind, and clearly it would take a MUCH more complex converter to handle twice the bandwidth. So it's no "conspiracy" or anything-it's simply a very major technical hurdle. You won't ever find $100 kits that handle both. You may find $100 adapters that will, but that would be a while down the road, and it assumes that Sirius-XM doesn't go belly up before then.

ort888 · Jul 21, 2009, 12:12 PM

Sirius/XM is in a race against themselves to see how quickly they can go under.

It's almost like they are trying to fail.

They put out the iPhone App without any of the premium channels and still had the balls to charge $13 a month to subscribe. Unbelievable. Maybe they don't realize that you can access a million different completely free stations with an iPhone.

My wife is a fan of Howard Stern (save it) and she is almost at her wits end. Sirius is such a pain. You have this stupid head unit, with wires all over the place in your car junking it up. And she has to drag it into her office where she can't seem to get a good signal ever so it is constantly cutting out. We also go through about a unit a year, since they are built so poorly.

I was planning on canceling the standard account, and just using the phone as the only source, thus bypassing the terrible connection problems... but then they announced that the Howard Stern channels wouldn't be available. Ugh.

zerostar · Jul 21, 2009, 12:42 PM

Totally agree with you ort...

stevesnj · Jul 21, 2009, 05:55 PM

Merger is not done yet (Sirius Channels with XM Channels), a new radio will be needed to receive both.

http://investor.sirius.com/releasede...leaseID=255847

goMac · Jul 22, 2009, 01:08 AM

Originally Posted by stevesnj

Merger is not done yet (Sirius Channels with XM Channels), a new radio will be needed to receive both.

http://investor.sirius.com/releasede...leaseID=255847

It looks like, however, reading through the marketing speak, they will eventually let XM users add Sirius radios.

"Today, if consumers want the best of both XM and SIRIUS, they need two satellite radios and two separate monthly subscriptions totaling $25.90. Following the merger of SIRIUS and XM, consumers will be able to obtain the best of both SIRIUS and XM, on any of today's satellite radio devices with one monthly subscription. XM customers would continue to receive their existing XM service, and be able to obtain certain SIRIUS programming. SIRIUS customers would continue to receive their existing SIRIUS service, and be able to obtain certain XM programming. This will be available through existing SIRIUS and XM radios at a monthly cost of $16.99, a savings of 34 percent, compared to what it would cost to receive both services today."

Big Mac · Jul 22, 2009, 04:16 AM

There just talking about the subset of Sirius you can get at a reduce price as an XM subscriber or the subset of XM you can get at a reduced price as a Sirius user. It's not anywhere near all the channels, and it's pretty lame. It makes more sense just to subscribe to the cheaper Internet stream if you're interested in having the other service.

ort, if your wife wants a nice installation of her Sirius system she should have it installed professionally in her car. As for the office, has she tried the Internet streaming option? So far the basic stream is still free with a regular account, although they've threatened to start charging even for that. The stream has all channels, including Howard. And if you go that route, check out the awesome third party stream client StarPlayr.