Dumbed down consumer electronics: Adding DTV channels
in [Design]
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From: Joel Koltner on 3 Aug 2010 19:05 "Joerg" <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:8breqoFqgsU1(a)mid.individual.net... > $350? Yikes. That's more than 10 lunches for two at our favorite > Japanese restaurant. With two huge glasses of Hefeweisen from tap. Actually they were $150 when I bought it. It's $350 now because Sirius discontinued it yet it's still in pretty high demand. There was also a Stiletto SL10 which was the same thing minus the internal flash memory that allows it to double as an MP3 player; those were $99 back in the day. The engineering on them isn't actualy all that impressive: They suffer from the dreaded lack of a good power-on-reset circuit that you've often mentioned -- if you pull the power and plug it back in too quickly, it'll just sit there dead :-(. They also run pretty toasty warm -- the first one I had died in under a year (and was exchanged for a new one under warranty) due to literally cooking itself, becoming less and less reliable over time. The battery cases are made of glued together plastic pieces which tends to pop apart a bit over time once the (Lithium Ion) battery expands a few millimeters with age. But despite all those problems, as I say, they're still in demand since they were probably the 2nd best portable receiver Sirius made. The best one was the Stiletto 2 (the follow-up), and you'll notice that now that it's been discontinued as well, it goes for $500 new on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/SIRIUS-Stiletto-Portable-Satellite-Radio/dp/B000WOT6O0 -- ouch! ---Joel
From: krw on 3 Aug 2010 19:24 On Tue, 03 Aug 2010 13:06:04 -0700, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote: >Jim Thompson wrote: >> On Tue, 3 Aug 2010 11:37:36 -0700, "Joel Koltner" >> <zapwireDASHgroups(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >> >>> "Jim Thompson" <To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-Icon(a)On-My-Web-Site.com> wrote in >>> message news:mqmg56hgcrirnkd153u6vccfa4qrtplk96(a)4ax.com... >>>> I have Sirius in the Q45, but I do web radio in my office...Roku >>>> Soundbridge. >>> Did the Q45 come with the Sirius receiver built-in, or did you add an >>> aftermarket one to it? >> >> Came with. >> >> My #1 son gave me a Panasonic head (for my truck) and I have a >> matching Sirius plug-in. But with a 10-year-old truck with only >> ~30,000 miles I can't rationalize the ~$13/month. >> > >So if you change vehicles they make you pay again? Eeuw. Again? It's $13 (or $15, can't remember) per month. Additional radios are something like $6/mo up to six per account. Of course you buy the radio, too.
From: Joel Koltner on 3 Aug 2010 19:41 "Jim Thompson" <To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-Icon(a)On-My-Web-Site.com> wrote in message news:jo0h56pudo664p48ufhjbd4tt3695vajlo(a)4ax.com... > Panasonic CQ-C7103U... > > http://analog-innovations.com/SED/PanasonicHead+SiriusAdapter.jpg That looks pretty nice, although it's unforuntaely not the "style" I'm after: The SiriusConnect box there, literally is two separate "shells" and circuit boards that plug into each other -- the top (grey) half is a generic tuner module that all such SiriusConnect boxes use the same one of, and the bottom (silver) half contains the interface to go between the generic tuner module and the specific head unit you have. At some point Sirius decided to just split the box apart, letting you buy those two pieces individually, connecting them together with a mini-DIN cable -- this allows you to save the "investment" in the generic tuner module part... and that tuner can also be, e.g., one of the portable units like the Stiletto I have. Thanks for going to the effort to take a picture. From checking around on eBay it looks like you can still get some reasonably good money for the thing! ---Joel
From: Joerg on 3 Aug 2010 19:54 Joel Koltner wrote: > "Joerg" <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message > news:8breqoFqgsU1(a)mid.individual.net... >> $350? Yikes. That's more than 10 lunches for two at our favorite >> Japanese restaurant. With two huge glasses of Hefeweisen from tap. > > Actually they were $150 when I bought it. It's $350 now because Sirius > discontinued it yet it's still in pretty high demand. There was also a > Stiletto SL10 which was the same thing minus the internal flash memory > that allows it to double as an MP3 player; those were $99 back in the day. > > The engineering on them isn't actualy all that impressive: They suffer > from the dreaded lack of a good power-on-reset circuit that you've often > mentioned -- if you pull the power and plug it back in too quickly, > it'll just sit there dead :-(. They also run pretty toasty warm -- the > first one I had died in under a year (and was exchanged for a new one > under warranty) due to literally cooking itself, becoming less and less > reliable over time. The battery cases are made of glued together > plastic pieces which tends to pop apart a bit over time once the > (Lithium Ion) battery expands a few millimeters with age. > At least it doesn't squeal like our Rio stereo after a power outage. When we are home it's ok, you just power-cycle it. But when the dogs are home alone it can really annoy them. The stereo is actually pretty good and we bought it when that mfg when out of the business. I just don't understand why they don't test this stuff more thoroughly, and then get some guys in who can do it right. They don't have to hire them. > But despite all those problems, as I say, they're still in demand since > they were probably the 2nd best portable receiver Sirius made. The best > one was the Stiletto 2 (the follow-up), and you'll notice that now that > it's been discontinued as well, it goes for $500 new on Amazon: > http://www.amazon.com/SIRIUS-Stiletto-Portable-Satellite-Radio/dp/B000WOT6O0 > -- ouch! > Amazing. I never really understood the Sirius and XM market. Even back then the writing was on the wall that the web combined with 3G and 4G cell phone networks could eventually replace it. Ok, doesn't work out in the boonies but I think less and less people care about that. Nowadays everyone flies across those areas unless there is no other way. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
From: Jim Thompson on 3 Aug 2010 20:01
On Tue, 3 Aug 2010 16:41:24 -0700, "Joel Koltner" <zapwireDASHgroups(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >"Jim Thompson" <To-Email-Use-The-Envelope-Icon(a)On-My-Web-Site.com> wrote in >message news:jo0h56pudo664p48ufhjbd4tt3695vajlo(a)4ax.com... >> Panasonic CQ-C7103U... >> >> http://analog-innovations.com/SED/PanasonicHead+SiriusAdapter.jpg > >That looks pretty nice, although it's unforuntaely not the "style" I'm after: >The SiriusConnect box there, literally is two separate "shells" and circuit >boards that plug into each other -- the top (grey) half is a generic tuner >module that all such SiriusConnect boxes use the same one of, and the bottom >(silver) half contains the interface to go between the generic tuner module >and the specific head unit you have. At some point Sirius decided to just >split the box apart, letting you buy those two pieces individually, connecting >them together with a mini-DIN cable -- this allows you to save the >"investment" in the generic tuner module part... and that tuner can also be, >e.g., one of the portable units like the Stiletto I have. > >Thanks for going to the effort to take a picture. From checking around on >eBay it looks like you can still get some reasonably good money for the thing! > >---Joel Maybe I'll just put it in the truck as originally planned... can't miss the most-popular news show of all time... "The O'Reilly Factor" :-) KBAQ streams... Is there any performance differences between Media Player and MP3? I'll see if the Roku can get it... some pages work, some don't. ...Jim Thompson -- | James E.Thompson, CTO | mens | | Analog Innovations, Inc. | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | Spice is like a sports car... Performance only as good as the person behind the wheel. |