I recently bought the infamous Z1 and subscribed to Sirius Sat. radio. I'm
Satisfied with the programing but dissatisfied with the Z1 display. I would have least expected a display of the Categories to choose from. Anyway, reading the difference between XM and Sirius functionality on the Z1, It seems that pioneer favored XM and offered a better display and layout of the channels and category. Can anyone tell me the major difference.

not sure with the z1, but coming from a d1/d2 i can agree. i started out with sirius and absolutely hated it. I also noticed the sound quality wasn't even tape quality. then i went sold my sirius tuner and went xm, and everything seemed to get better. i'll have my z1 installed soon enough...i'll be posting my thoughts on the z1 with xm nav traffic asap.

the display of your sriuis aslo depends on which tuner you are using

SIRPNR1 or SIRPNR2?

tgrove said:

the display of your sriuis aslo depends on which tuner you are using

SIRPNR1 or SIRPNR2?

Is there a difference between the display options/features/sound quality? What are the significant differences? I was hoping the display would show the album art, Artist, Track, Channel... all together.

I switched back to Sirius, because I had more "dead zones" in my area with XM..With Sirius, I have next to none.

I started with XM 3 years ago and added Sirius also so I can speak to both. In fact I have both the XM Traffic and sirus recievers hooked up to my Z1. The difference in sound quality, less commercials, better signal strength, less cut outs, all go to Sirius. I never listen to music on XM, the bandwith on their channels SUCKS... I like both for Sports, traffic etc, but if I had to choose one it would be Sirius. It is widely known that XM has bandwith issues on many channels, thats why their talk channels sound like you are listening through a tin can an string.

Is some kind of traffic service available with Sirius. I thought it was only on xm but a guy at an audio shop said he thought Sirius was doing something with traffic.
Thanks

so what is the display on the sirius prn2 and prn 1 and the xm version?

Personally, I'm having more "cut-outs" with the SIR1 than I did with my old FM Sirius adapter... looks like I might have to upgrade to the SIR2. OR, start moving the warts around on the back of the Mustang.

I've also got both XM and Sirius installed although I tend only to listen to Sirius Channel 11 (Radio 1 from the UK)

Sirius! Hair Nation! All hair bands all the time... nothing on XM even comes close!

I love Sirius... and would choose Sirius over XM if I had to choose. Thankfully I have them both and NavTraffic. BUT, while Sirius blows XM out 98% of the time, ya cant beat Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour! What a programming home run for XM.

Sirius programming is more cutting edge. Very polarized programming. From Howard Stern to the Catholic Church to Hair Nation to Martha Stewart!
XM is more middle of the road. Designed to accomodate greater mass appeal. Less controversial.

There is no right or wrong as to which is better, but I certainly see where the 2 have differing strategies to go after market share.

~Sh

Will one of the posters with both xm/sirius describe the screen display/interface differences? Can you choose genres for station selection on both? Is the artist name/song title displayed on the z1 for both?

Also, where is the best place to install the antenna? I have a 06 4 runner and would rather not have to wire under the rubber weather stripping for fear of water leaking in. . . . .I would rather put it in the front grill, etc but have heard mounting location can drastically effect reception??

Thanks for all the help

Well I ordered XM last night. I got three months free radio and free activation. Then asked for three months of navtraffic. First off the people at XM are COMPLETE IDIOTs. Yes, if you're reading this and you work at the XM call center I just called you an utter moron. Call me and I'll be glad to call you plenty of other things.

1. I called from my home phone was hung up on 4 times in the middle of activation with the human activators, not the machine!
2. I asked for 3 months of navtraffic. Was told it was 3.99 a mth after the first people said 3.33 a mth and then 11.97 in activation. Well I looked online at my CC statement and I'm somehow charged 18.97. Who the heck knows how that happened? But I'm not calling again unless it goes out in three months.
3. On the way to work this morning 694E (a major highway just outside minneapolis) was crawling at 20 mph and NavTraffic thought everything was rosy green the entire way. I guess it'll get a better test on the way home though as I'll pay more attention to it.
4. I like country music and the local stations up here in MN are horrible so anything is better then what I have (minus the awesome collection on my new iPod, which I LOVE BY THE WAY, now I know why everyone owns these things). XM country stations have been ok so far.
5. The person on the phone said all I would have to do is call if I was activating another XM radio to use around the house and it would be free as all I need is the one service (XM Radio). That there would be no addional fees or activation. Well I'm looking on the internet and it looks to me like you have to pay for a family plan and activation on the radio. Is everyone at this company a dumbass or is it me for not reading the internet right? This is kind of a big deal because I'd like to put one in the back yard by the pool and don't feel like paying for a month for it.

Duke

My experience is that they are all dumbasses.

I was able to get a package w/ Audio and NavTraffic only after 4 calls to XM. In the end, while I did get a discount on the audio piece by going quarterly...a quarterly billing of NavTraffic gave me no discount. Just the monthly price times 3.

After many experiences adding, deleting and swapping radios on the Sirius website and thru their customer service, its staggering just how much more together Sirius is. Granted Im partial to the Sirius service, but looking objectively at both customer care operations, Sirius is substantially better.

As soon as the NavTraffic and Sirius thing take off...I MIGHT just end up dropping XM. However, it looks like the Z1 will not support a Sirius traffic system. Its all tightly coded to XM. Cross that bridge when we get there. Right now Id be happy with a 'PNR3' that offers something as simple as channel numbers in the preset buttons!!

tburns21 said:

Will one of the posters with both xm/sirius describe the screen display/interface differences? Can you choose genres for station selection on both? Is the artist name/song title displayed on the z1 for both?

Anyone?

My Z1 is going in soon and I was just thinking about this.

I don't have both myself, but from what I gather... the interface is pretty much the same. The XM is more integrated with the head unit, which means you get the channel icons on the screen. But the number of display lines and what you can see on the screen (artist, title, etc) are pretty much the same. They both let you navigate directly to a channel by number or scroll through each number or scroll though genres, etc.

I have the Sirius PNR1 installed in mine and I don't really find any huge negative with it, or even enough to warrant me going to the PNR2 either. I suppose it would be cool to have the PNR2 functions, but I would honestly never use them. It would be even cooler to have the icons show up for each channel on the screen, but not enough to give up the programming I have come to like on Sirius.

Best thing to do is look at both and look at the programming they offer. Personally I like Sirius (Hair Nation, Buzzsaw, Octane). My wife's Acura has XM and not sirius and after driving her car enough I don't think XM has anything close. Mostly they are the same stuff, but each has different programming that the other doesn't. I wouldn't pick one over the other based on the interface, I would pick it based on what you want to listen to. I have what is reguarded as "the worse" interface or integration with the Z1, the PNR1 and it's really not that bad. There are a couple things people said and showed me which are included with the PNR2 or the XM one and it's nothing I think I would miss. I would miss listening to Sirius more than I miss the extra "pretty" things XM can do.

The primary differences I've noticed are that XM is definitely more "tuned in"
ALSO, on XM, the channel number is displayed in the programmed buttons, whereas Sirius it doesn't seem to be.
I have pesonally only listened to radio1 in the car so I don't know whether id3 tags are displayed on Sirius, they definitely are on XM

OK, pictures of the differences are as follows...




AND

Ok so the XM is starting to feel like a complete waste of money.

1. The NavTraffic NEVER routed me around any traffic. It only told me what was going to be there in the list format. Which, DUH, I can figure that out on my own driving in the freaking traffic. Do I have to program it to tell me how to get around the crap? I mean I've read through everything and don't see where I have the option to do this.

2. Audio quality on XM radio some of the stations (I listen mostly to country) sound like you're playing a tape and not a CD or even the regular radio. I looked at the XM Status and it said the signal was very strong so I guess this is just an XM way it is type thing.

3. The wide variety of channels is cool, but honestly I don't think I'll ever listen to half that stuff.

4. I'm getting frustrated because half the idea of not looking at Eclipse units and focusing on Pioneer was because of the XM navtraffic and XM radio. I heard the radio thing was supposed to be a draw because of how similar they are, but when I look at the channel listings, the Sirius actually looks like better programming. Then the XM NavTraffic was supposed to be a savior around traffic but it hasn't done didly for me. I mean I was literally at a STANDSTILL on I694 with no hope of moving and the screen showed a green circle with a green line saying traffic was moving freely!

5. How the heck could you have both XM and Sirius installed at the same time? I thought there was only one plug-in for this Satellite radio on the headunit?

6. If this NavTraffic doesn't route me around bad traffic in the next week it's getting pulled and put on ebay when I install the BT.

Duke

XM and Sirius co-exist due to the IP BUS cabling system. Basically, it's a daisy-chain system where the signal gets forwarded thru

Andy

F150 Duke said:

5. How the heck could you have both XM and Sirius installed at the same time? I thought there was only one plug-in for this Satellite radio on the headunit?

It's the pioneer bus wires. You can hook a dozen things to it I believe. You get those bus connect wires and you get one cable to go from the head unit to the XM box, then another cable to go from xm box to the sirius box, then another to go from the sirius box to the ipod box, from the ipod box to the tv tuner box, from the tv tuner box... etc.... it's a daisy chain so to speak. They all talk to the head unit through each other.

Cool, thanks fellas! Anyone with NavTraffic XM have good experiences with this thing?

In terms of radio, it sounds like Sirius and XM are identical in price, Sirius has better programming (for me), but what about sound quality, are they the same? Some stations appear to be good on XM, which others struggle.

Also, I was amazed that once I pulled into my garage I couldn't get XM satellite coverage, but the Nav coverage on the Z1 was perfect.

Duke

Sorry Duke, Immediately after getting and installing the Z1 I was told I would be working 100% of the time from my home office... it's awfully difficult walking downstairs into my office rather than spending an hour or so each way in Atlanta traffic

I haven't had chance to try it out for myself yet!

Andy

BigFloppy said:

Sorry Duke, Immediately after getting and installing the Z1 I was told I would be working 100% of the time from my home office... it's awfully difficult walking downstairs into my office rather than spending an hour or so each way in Atlanta traffic

I haven't had chance to try it out for myself yet!

Andy

LOL, rough life huh? I can only pull that off during non-busy season, so like three weeks out of the year.

Duke

F150 Duke said:

LOL, rough life huh? I can only pull that off during non-busy season, so like three weeks out of the year.
Duke

Actually, the hardest thing is seeing my "baby" sat in the garage rather than being free on the highway

http://www.bigfloppydonkeyballs.com/mustang

Take a peek and you'll understand!

I think you mean:
http://www.bigfloppydonkeyballs.com/mustang/

And nice domain name by the way! :D

And really really nice mustang! Wanna race?
http://www.sminnick.com/zx12r/IMGP3443.html
:)

It's been a while since I have had a mustang: http://www.sminnick.com/mustang.jpg
A friend of mine took it and re-did it and it's still running down in FL.