XM ref tuner

danger boy

I can't for the life of me get video to show up on my tv from the XM XRt12 tuner. Really wish it had S-video at least. but the composite i can't seem to get it to display on the TV screen.

Any ideas on what i should try?

disneyjoe7

Press the display button, cycling between 4 displays one of them should be S-Video also.

Hope that helps.

steveinaz

There's no S-Video "out" on the Xrt12. +1 on cycling thru the "display" button as one setting is a blank screen (the large scroll).

danger boy

true steve. there is no S-video output.. not that big of a deal. but would be nice. I'll have to monkey around with the composite video and hook it straight up to the TV and see if I get something that way.. i'm sure it's just some thing like that. or bad video cable i'm using.

some channels of music sound really poor. very muddy.. i mean some you almost can't listen to they sound so bad. while other's are so close to CD or DD quality. it's scary. lol

I don't have a south facing window.. mine faces east.. so i'm having a bit of signal strength problem. it fades every now and then. i'll have to solve this problem too.

Steve, what's some of your fave XM channels? so far i like 50, 54, 47, 83, 8, 9

steveinaz

The ones I listen to most often:

20 - Top 20
22 - Pop
25 - Adult contemporary
46, 49 - Classic Rock
71 - Progressive Jazz
7 - 70's when I'm in the mood for some old stuff

SQ is all over the map. I actually get a very good signal shooting straight thru drywall of an exterior wall (no window either). I get a BER% of 0.0 (perfect reception). I just wish XM would increase the fidelity. I hate the rolled-off treble, sounds like a damn horse blanket over my speakers. I was actually looking for a graphic eq to run the damn thing thru, to see if I could enhance the treble a little---tweak the sound, but decided not to go that route.

I'm seriously considering going back to FM and getting an outdoor antenna to pull in Tuscon stations (about 80 miles away). Or possibly HD radio if its available out in the middle of nowhere.

Hey Sirius radio---here's an idea. Start over and offer a true audiophile satellite music solution. Be different, be daring---don't cut corners on SQ. There's enough audiophiles out there. You're never gonna beat out the mass-consumer oriented XM, so offer a different angle.

disneyjoe7

danger boy wrote:

I don't have a south facing window.. mine faces east.. so i'm having a bit of signal strength problem. it fades every now and then. i'll have to solve this problem too.

I don't have a south facing window either... mine faces east also. I have mine facing southwest working pass my ceiling pass my attic ok. You may try this who knows may work ok for ya.

steveinaz

To get a better idea of fine antenna aiming, do this:

1. XM radio off
2. On your remote press 2-0-7, then the "XM" button, you're radio will power up
3. Wait about 5-8 seconds and press "display" once
4. You'll see "BER%" and a value, lower is better
5. Now slowly aim your antenna and watch the Bit Error Rate (BER) percentage, try to get 0.0% if possible

disneyjoe7

I couldn't get that to work, but I did hit other buttons and the display button gave me this?

BER%
SAT1 0.0
SAT2 0.2
TERR 100.00

I don't think I'm getting XM by Terr....

disneyjoe7

Well tweaked a little and now this

BER%
SAT1 0.0
SAT2 0.3
TERR 1.6

Better?

steveinaz

Yep, my bad, it's the "display" button. Are you getting a low BER%?

Mine shows I'm receiving from Sat1 (the 2 checkmarks) w/a BER% of 0.0. Sat2 and Ter show 100% BER% because I'm not receiving anything from those sources.

disneyjoe7

I get both SAT1 SAT2 and now TERR maybe where I'm at? In Florida Electric high / Sat signal high

steveinaz

disneyjoe7 wrote:

I couldn't get that to work, but I did hit other buttons and the display button gave me this?

BER%
SAT1 0.0
SAT2 0.2
TERR 100.00

I don't think I'm getting XM by Terr....

Yep, if any of them are below 3% you'll get audio; lower being better.

steveinaz

disneyjoe7 wrote:

I get both SAT1 SAT2 and now TERR maybe where I'm at? In Florida Electric high / Sat signal high

Must be, I only get Sat1 exclusively.

steveinaz

NM, you answered this above..duh.

danger boy

oops. i had a bad video cable.. everything is ok. i got OSD now.

steveinaz

Cool.

disneyjoe7

So back to Danger Boy issue, doesn't this cycle with the "Display" button?

I had my hook up before but not now. Plasma thing and I did re-hook up the S-Video for my Onk AVR (it up convert the the video to S-Video)

danger boy

so Steve you no longer have the display on your plasma anymore? it won't display the song or channel number you are on if it's in the scroll display on the XM tuner.. i found that out last night.

steveinaz

I don't have a plasma, still running with a 36" CRT. Yes, the scrolling display doesn't show on the TV. Have you tried the other display features like channel# and current group playing, or channel # and current song playing?...pretty cool.

steveinaz

Opps....the other Steve my bad.

disneyjoe7

Sorry I know my screen name is a bit confusing.....

I listen to XM through the house so on screen stuff wasn't important to me.

danger boy

of those people with the XM tuner... how do you have yours hooked up?

1. coax
2 optical
3. RCA's

I'm thinking of changing from optical to RCA's. so far i haven't been very impressed with the quality of XM Sat radio

disneyjoe7

2. optical only for me.

steveinaz

I tried mine thru my Benchmark DAC (both optical/coax) and the DAC exploits the problems with XM too much---kinda like the microscope analogy. To me the Xrt12 sounds better thru its analog outputs, by way of masking the nasties.

danger boy

steveinaz, that's what i was hoping i'd hear from someone. I'll switch over to analog connections.. and see what my results are.

thanks

danger boy

well after two months of listening to XM radio.. i canceled my subscription to it today.

I just wasn't pleased with the sound quality. It's not the XRt12 tuner.. i took it over to my friends house and for some odd reason it sounds better on his system than mine.. and mine is 3 times better than his POS. LOL (he has my old tower speakers).

I guess maybe i expected to much from the sound quality of XM sat radio.

Yes a handfull of channels sounded excellent.. but more than 100 sounded horrible to me. way to compressed. I got muddy mids, nearly no highs and there just wasn't enough music I like on there. I liked the idea of Sat radio.. but for me at least the sq wasn't there.

I used both optical and good quality RCA's.

disneyjoe7

Just for the record I love the Blend 25, Heart 23 other then that the Best Right wing stuff out there.

danger boy

me too Steve.. i liked quite a bit of the music in the 20 to 25 numbered channels.

disneyjoe7

Then the talk on 166 - 165

sucks2beme

Mass market consumers don't really want good quality. Most xm/sirrius users
are either using it in the car,or sports guys. I think all the sports programming
runs the cost way up, too. We all would like to see a smaller number of hd channels with out all the talk/sports stuff.
Sadly enough, even HD radio will fall short. All we will get is the same
yak yak yak that dominates current fm programming. Just better fidelity.
There was a short time that fm was about the music. Even the ads were different. Remember the laid back feel? Then all the am crap started happening. Fast talk, less music, and all the advertising. Now we are treated to all those stupid WB tv ads on the radio on the drive home.
I can be in the car listening to "classic rock" for the 40 minute drive home and here one song. And 20 ads for tv programming. The song will be ZZ Top,
Led Zeppelin or AC/DC. And this is Dallas, a major market!
No, the xm will be in the truck. At home, it seldom sees any use.

Sorry, rant mode off.:(