FYI: Free Sirius/XM
11-19-2011, 04:30 PM
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FYI: Free Sirius/XM
Just as an FYI, I got the email from Mercedes-Benz back on the 15th, letting me know that the Sirius Satellite radio in my car has been enabled until November 30th, it is their way of saying "thank you" for thanksgiving. Pretty cool, I didn't expect it. I would suspect that this is for everybody who has satellite radio in their car, but maybe it is just for the people who got the email?
Bottom line: try it out, you probably have it. It says "preview"for all the channels, but they all work (or at least most of them, or the ones I used to listen to when I had it). Enjoy!
Bottom line: try it out, you probably have it. It says "preview"for all the channels, but they all work (or at least most of them, or the ones I used to listen to when I had it). Enjoy!
11-19-2011, 04:58 PM
#3
I don't listen much radio, yet I like one feature about the Sirius/XM service -- Road condition warning on the GPS Navigation.
One evening when my wife and I were driving to dinner. On the dark freeway, the GPS voice on the car suddently announced, 'Warning. Rock falling ahead on freeway xxx near xxx-exit.' And the GPS Map displayed the section of rock falling freeway in red color.
It gave me a heads-up about the oncoming traffic situation, so I could be alerted and prepared. At the least, I would pay extra attention to the road surface, so no rocks would kickup from the wheels to damage my car or other cars behind.
I used to think the Sirius/XM was just an entertainment gadget, and I never thought that it could add safety benefit to my driving. Now it makes me rethink to subscribe it after the trial period.
Regards,
One evening when my wife and I were driving to dinner. On the dark freeway, the GPS voice on the car suddently announced, 'Warning. Rock falling ahead on freeway xxx near xxx-exit.' And the GPS Map displayed the section of rock falling freeway in red color.
It gave me a heads-up about the oncoming traffic situation, so I could be alerted and prepared. At the least, I would pay extra attention to the road surface, so no rocks would kickup from the wheels to damage my car or other cars behind.
I used to think the Sirius/XM was just an entertainment gadget, and I never thought that it could add safety benefit to my driving. Now it makes me rethink to subscribe it after the trial period.
Regards,
11-19-2011, 07:43 PM
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Here's a question maybe someone here could answer. I currently am an XM/Sirius subscriber. Does this mean that the 6 months free I am getting with the new car is null and void, or do I get that still?
Google is inconclusive on this
Google is inconclusive on this
11-19-2011, 09:57 PM
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Ofcourse not! We get our 6 months either way. I'm still trying to figure out if it's worth paying for after it's up... as much as I like it. I only need the traffic assistance rarely.
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11-19-2011, 10:02 PM
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I've been an XM subscriber since 2001, and was a stockholder up until the merger (in which I lost my ***... young and stupid). It's had its ups and downs, but I mainly keep it around because I listen to a lot of obscure electronic/dance and it is one of the better places to hear stuff before it is really hot. I think the traffic is what will keep me with it in the new car though.
11-19-2011, 10:24 PM
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FYI, if you like the traffic info through Sirius, but don't need the radio, you can subscribe to traffic only for $3.99 a month. My 6-month trial is running out soon and I do not intend to subscribe to the radio as it sounds like butt through my HK system. I do like the traffic information and would miss it if it went away.
11-19-2011, 11:25 PM
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FYI, if you like the traffic info through Sirius, but don't need the radio, you can subscribe to traffic only for $3.99 a month. My 6-month trial is running out soon and I do not intend to subscribe to the radio as it sounds like butt through my HK system. I do like the traffic information and would miss it if it went away.
11-19-2011, 11:30 PM
#11
FYI, if you like the traffic info through Sirius, but don't need the radio, you can subscribe to traffic only for $3.99 a month. My 6-month trial is running out soon and I do not intend to subscribe to the radio as it sounds like butt through my HK system. I do like the traffic information and would miss it if it went away.
You are correct, the NavTraffic Only scubscription is only $3.99 per month by itself. The price is minimum enough for the peace of mind, just for the Road Condition Alert.
With best regards,
http://www.siriusxm.com/servlet/Sate...=SXM%2FWrapper
11-19-2011, 11:38 PM
#13
Just as an FYI, I got the email from Mercedes-Benz back on the 15th, letting me know that the Sirius Satellite radio in my car has been enabled until November 30th, it is their way of saying "thank you" for thanksgiving. Pretty cool, I didn't expect it. I would suspect that this is for everybody who has satellite radio in their car, but maybe it is just for the people who got the email?
Bottom line: try it out, you probably have it. It says "preview"for all the channels, but they all work (or at least most of them, or the ones I used to listen to when I had it). Enjoy!
Bottom line: try it out, you probably have it. It says "preview"for all the channels, but they all work (or at least most of them, or the ones I used to listen to when I had it). Enjoy!
11-20-2011, 02:41 AM
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haha this is not a mercedes thing. This free promotion is also enabled in our Lexus. I found out accidentally two days ago. Didnt get the email this time around. These promotions come once a while
11-20-2011, 03:20 AM
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Haha, how sneaky of mercedes to pass off a Sirius incentive as their own thing. OR maybe perhaps Lexus followed suit and did the same thing...? I'm going out to my Escalade to see if XM works. I'm pretty sure that XM/Sirius are the same company now as they play the same channels and merged?
On a side note: I usually just use my iPhone to shuffle my music, but its refreshing to be able to turn on BPM and listen non-stop not have to worry about "DJing". But I use Bluetooth A2DP streaming in my non MM/non comand car with the blackberry AUX device, so I value that higher.
Also, for anyone saying how valuable traffic updates are with Sirius. If you have an iPhone you have all you need to get what you need for free. There is a turn-by-turn GPS with street names that is for free called WAZE. Not only does it use user-generated information to report traffic, police, speed and red-light cameras. But it also updates the maps with the latest traffic reporting agencies (the same one Sirius uses, but charges for). And that information is actually pretty delayed and incorrect, the user generated content on waze is more accurate and up to date (at least in my area). And in case you forgot - its FREE! So I highly recommend it. Just like I called Apple buying out SIRI for integration into iOS, WAZE is going to be bought out and integrated into iOS's maps. Mark my words. lol
On a side note: I usually just use my iPhone to shuffle my music, but its refreshing to be able to turn on BPM and listen non-stop not have to worry about "DJing". But I use Bluetooth A2DP streaming in my non MM/non comand car with the blackberry AUX device, so I value that higher.
Also, for anyone saying how valuable traffic updates are with Sirius. If you have an iPhone you have all you need to get what you need for free. There is a turn-by-turn GPS with street names that is for free called WAZE. Not only does it use user-generated information to report traffic, police, speed and red-light cameras. But it also updates the maps with the latest traffic reporting agencies (the same one Sirius uses, but charges for). And that information is actually pretty delayed and incorrect, the user generated content on waze is more accurate and up to date (at least in my area). And in case you forgot - its FREE! So I highly recommend it. Just like I called Apple buying out SIRI for integration into iOS, WAZE is going to be bought out and integrated into iOS's maps. Mark my words. lol
11-20-2011, 08:06 AM
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haha!! I'm suprised that they don't play the same news over and over.....
sirrus sux!!!!!
sirrus sux!!!!!
11-20-2011, 08:38 AM
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Funny you should mention that. I don't have HK (Initial Launch unit so I have most of P1 without HK) and even without it, SIRIUS sounds like crap compared to my own high bit rate MP3's. You would think SIRIUS would be high quality sound for the price and since they built the whole system from scratch. Major disappointment there.
I suspect that Sirius keeps adding more channels and thinning up the bit rate on the existing ones to support them.
I pay the $3/month so I can listen on my computer at 128 kbs. Bluetooth streaming from my cell phone of regular radio works great in the Merc but I haven't tried Sirius yet so may be able to improve the sound with 128 kbs from the phone but not really wanting to hassle with it that way.
02-11-2012, 11:35 AM
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My Sirius started working again about a week ago (I don't have a subscription), maybe a Valentine's Day gift??
05-29-2012, 09:53 PM
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Anyone else have their Sirius on right now? Mine is, I found out by accidently clicking SatRadio. I didn't give them any money or any of my info since I bought the car, must be another free trial. They must really be struggling for subscribers if they're constantly trying to get everyone hooked. I still prefer the regular radio, I rarely find what I want to hear on Sirius.
05-29-2012, 10:07 PM
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I don't know about Sirius/XM. It always sounds too hollow... over compressed, can't really explain it... definitely not high fidelity.
05-29-2012, 10:31 PM
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05-29-2012, 10:40 PM
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Edit: After Googling a bit, it seems that Sirius does vary the bit rate - the more popular channels may be a higher bit rate. I was most often listening to Alt Nation (I let the subscription expire, not paying if they're going to compress my favorite station to hell).
Copied and pasted this from a post to another forum:
"Actually, the bit-rates used with Lucent PAC are much lower than you would think. I know first-hand from being in the NYC Sirius studios many times.
Sirius uses Statistical Multiplexing (StatMux for short) which is just variable bit-rates that change on-demand as is statistically calculated by the Lucent equipment.. It lets them optimize each stream within a designated range, depending upon the audio need many times per second. For example, a 1 sec sound clip that is very loud with lots of highs would require the most bandwidth.. While silence would put the bit-rate possibly down to near 0. This is a more efficient process (vs. static or set bit-rates) when you are broadcasting many channels within a narrow amount of overall bandwidth. DirecTV and DISH Network use the same StatMux technology with their broadcasts.
The average music channel averages 30-50 Kbps, some as high as 60 Kbps. The allowed averages per channel vary, and are assigned by Sirius's NOC personnel under the guidance of the program directors and types of genres. For instance, Classical music genre's get higher priority over 40's on 4. Talk averages around 25 Kbps, and traffic channels average around 12 Kbps.
These bit-rates are far lower, but they are not equal to the rates used with MP3. They are more equivalent to the bit-rates used with AAC/mp3PRO formats.
From a source audio feed (direct from the Sirius/XM music database) a 50 Kbps average VBR stream in PAC should be about average to a 128-160 Kbps MP3.
Technically, the XM AAC+SBR (Spectral Band Replication) audio codec is more superior. However, the audio quality can change as the broadcasters needs change. When you've got a ton of sports events to carry one week, you may need to pull more overall bandwidth out of the system to supplement, and other/all channels suffer because of it. So just because the XM codec maybe superior, it does not necessarily mean that XM is driving enough bit-rate for each channel to make an audio channel sound better than Sirius."
Sirius uses Statistical Multiplexing (StatMux for short) which is just variable bit-rates that change on-demand as is statistically calculated by the Lucent equipment.. It lets them optimize each stream within a designated range, depending upon the audio need many times per second. For example, a 1 sec sound clip that is very loud with lots of highs would require the most bandwidth.. While silence would put the bit-rate possibly down to near 0. This is a more efficient process (vs. static or set bit-rates) when you are broadcasting many channels within a narrow amount of overall bandwidth. DirecTV and DISH Network use the same StatMux technology with their broadcasts.
The average music channel averages 30-50 Kbps, some as high as 60 Kbps. The allowed averages per channel vary, and are assigned by Sirius's NOC personnel under the guidance of the program directors and types of genres. For instance, Classical music genre's get higher priority over 40's on 4. Talk averages around 25 Kbps, and traffic channels average around 12 Kbps.
These bit-rates are far lower, but they are not equal to the rates used with MP3. They are more equivalent to the bit-rates used with AAC/mp3PRO formats.
From a source audio feed (direct from the Sirius/XM music database) a 50 Kbps average VBR stream in PAC should be about average to a 128-160 Kbps MP3.
Technically, the XM AAC+SBR (Spectral Band Replication) audio codec is more superior. However, the audio quality can change as the broadcasters needs change. When you've got a ton of sports events to carry one week, you may need to pull more overall bandwidth out of the system to supplement, and other/all channels suffer because of it. So just because the XM codec maybe superior, it does not necessarily mean that XM is driving enough bit-rate for each channel to make an audio channel sound better than Sirius."
Last edited by acr2001; 05-29-2012 at 10:48 PM.
05-29-2012, 10:52 PM
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