XM Channels now gone :(

Status
Please reply by conversation.
I'm not at all happy with the change to Sonic Tap. Sure, some of the DJ's on XM/Serrius were annoying, but at least there was "PROGRAMMING" worth listening to. Still, I could learn to live with nothing but music pretty easily EXCEPT for one problem: The quality of the sound I'm receiving is total garbage. :rant: Over-amplified & digitally compressed to the point that it sounds like it was broadcast through a set of old 2" TV speakers before being rebroadcast, the volume is NOT steady & overall sound quality on par with two soup cans & a string! :rant:Sound that was rich, full & had depth, is now tinny, muffled & muddy sounding. :down What is amplifying this, leading to my rant? 1072 Pioneer SX-1010
amp & JBL L-100 speakers.

A new XM receiver for home & car is on it's way, & a serious look at Dish Net.
 
I'm not at all happy with the change to Sonic Tap. Sure, some of the DJ's on XM/Serrius were annoying, but at least there was "PROGRAMMING" worth listening to. Still, I could learn to live with nothing but music pretty easily EXCEPT for one problem: The quality of the sound I'm receiving is total garbage. :rant: Over-amplified & digitally compressed to the point that it sounds like it was broadcast through a set of old 2" TV speakers before being rebroadcast, the volume is NOT steady & overall sound quality on par with two soup cans & a string! :rant:Sound that was rich, full & had depth, is now tinny, muffled & muddy sounding. :down What is amplifying this, leading to my rant? 1072 Pioneer SX-1010
amp & JBL L-100 speakers.

A new XM receiver for home & car is on it's way, & a serious look at Dish Net.

If you want to see the Sirius XM Guide for Dish, this is the hyperlink:
http://www.dishnetwork.com/downloads/Channel-Lineup/SiriusChannelGuide.pdf
When switching to E* from D*, I noticed that there were some channels that were the same on D* (when they had Sirius XM before Sonic Tap) along with some that were different. Therefore, you may want to look at the offerings if there is a certain channel that you want or liked. E* also has additional CD channels (I think Muzak if I am not mistaken).
On D*, I think that channels 816-818 are okay now, but I find myself flipping the channels more often now. I am not familiar or even like some of the songs that they play on them now.
 
I'm not at all happy with the change to Sonic Tap. Sure, some of the DJ's on XM/Serrius were annoying, but at least there was "PROGRAMMING" worth listening to. Still, I could learn to live with nothing but music pretty easily EXCEPT for one problem: The quality of the sound I'm receiving is total garbage. :rant: Over-amplified & digitally compressed to the point that it sounds like it was broadcast through a set of old 2" TV speakers before being rebroadcast, the volume is NOT steady & overall sound quality on par with two soup cans & a string! :rant:Sound that was rich, full & had depth, is now tinny, muffled & muddy sounding. :down What is amplifying this, leading to my rant? 1072 Pioneer SX-1010
amp & JBL L-100 speakers.

A new XM receiver for home & car is on it's way, & a serious look at Dish Net.



im amazed how Directv amps up the prices on packages but gets crappy quality services... such as sonic and minus the verus channel. im mean really?


its more pocket money for D* to go out on vacation and buy billion dollar planes.

#1 customer satisfaction my ass.
 
i cant believe i just heard viva la vida by coldplay on classic hits blend :confused: they need to seriously tweak some of these channels playlists:rant:
 
What is amplifying this, leading to my rant? 1072 Pioneer SX-1010
amp & JBL L-100 speakers.

A new XM receiver for home & car is on it's way, & a serious look at Dish Net.

Not to sound high and mighty, but the quality of XM on DirecTV was a LOT better than you will receive on any home unit. I think you'll be very disappointed.
 
I like the news audio stations. No talking . It's great.

1) Didn't know there was a "news" audio station :p
2) How do they do the audio news without talking? :p


The changeover is terrible. Between the poor execution of audio, and the playlists not coming close to what used to be, I am very unhappy. I just can't believe DirecTV put out a bulletin regarding this change in December and didn't bother to take the time to enusre the replacements would be similar to what they were replacing and that the audio quality would have been the same, if not better. A big thumbs down to all involved.
 
I have to agree with the sound quality complaints. I have both D* and E* (because only E* has my locals).
I think the sound is better on the few mono Muzak channels E* has than these so called stereo Sonic channels.
I think the sound has always sounded better on the Sirius channels on E* than they did on D*.
Unless they add a bunch of HD that E* doesn't have before my contract is up in Sept., I will probably go to E* only.
 
Well I was one of the folks that was looking forward to this change. I say this because I had had DMX for a time on cable here. (it changed to MC about 4 years ago) The sound quality was consistently good on ALL channels (as good as Music Choice) & the titles always worked properly. (they were even in clear QAM, so my HDTV could pick them up as well & they even sounded better than through the digital converter) However, I guess I didn't take into account just how badly D* could have totally botched this whole thing up!

First of all, it's as if D* didn't do ANY testing of converting over to this new service. If they had, they should have uncovered many of these problems before Tuesday, so that the conversion should have been almost seamless.
The pi$$-poor, VERY over-compressed audio quality is definitely on D*'s end, as well as all the song title problems they are having. Again, since DMX never had these kind of problems before, it can't be on DMX's end. Honestly, some of these channels are simply just too painful to listen too!

It's also bogus that D* decided to put some of these channels on 119 - considering how little bandwidth those few extra audio channels use, there really is no valid reason for them not all to be on 101. (I have a slimline 5, so it's not a problem for me, but it's still bogus you need it for mainstream music - I could maybe see putting the Spanish music on 119, but NOT something like H&H!) And the fact that channels such as Holidays & Happenings is NOT only on 119, but appears to be ONLY available to Premier subs, is another slap in the face!
At least I DO have Music Choice, which I got after loosing it on D*. It only costs me $1.50 for the digital box, so it's no big deal keeping it - it's cheap for having another music alternative.

Between NO more HD additions & the continued loss of VS, this music mess irritated me enough to actually call D* & express my displeasure with this crappy new service. (I very rarely call D*) I also removed HD Xtra, to also express my displeasure at the lack of ANY new HD. I also asked when my contract runs out from my last upgrade, which is not until this October - I went on record that after this music fiasco, that if there is not some marked improvement on the HD count, that I do have other options. (which I actually do) AT&T just dropped 2 V-RADs in my neighborhood, & Comcast just sent out World of More letters, which means they will probably have our HD considerably beefed up before the end of this year. The CSR said he had not had ANY other complaints about the music change, but would note it on my account. He also tried to offer me the outstanding BARGAIN of the year - FREE Cinemax for a few months if I bought HBO - even the both of them together still ain't worth $15 extra/month, & certainly NOT with only 2 HD feeds! (sorry, but a west feed of both channels is NOT cutting it for extra HD premiums!)
So for me, it's going to be the make or break year for D* - I've run out of patience...

BTW, I'm a TC+ sub, so here's the channels I am NOT authorized for:
815, 865, 873, 877, 881, 882, & 884.
I have some receivers on a slimline 5 & others on a 101 only dish, so I can also tell which are on 119 - my list lines up with what Jason posted on the previous page.

Funny thing is, did anyone else notice that D* IS broadcasting 9570 & 9571 from 101. (& not 119 like the rest in the 9500's) They could have moved them to 119 & used that bandwidth for 2 of the others to be on 101 instead. :rolleyes:
 
You can get all the Sonic DMX channels for free on C band DVB in AC3 audio. They sound fantastic. If any of you guys have the means to put up a big dish you could tell Direct Bye Bye. It's a cool hobby with many rewards. :)
 
Last edited:
Glad XM is Replaced With No DJ Chatter!

I enjoyed XM music but I was sick of DJ's booming voice coming in over my speakers between selections with banal chatter. Good riddence! Thank you DirecTV for making the change.
 
Oh Well... I've given up on getting the Irish station.

I have to say that after 2 years of being happy with D* they are starting to go quickly down the E*/cable company road of seemingly arbitrary annoyances that will eventually force me to switch to another service out of spite.
 
Oh Well... I've given up on getting the Irish station.

I have to say that after 2 years of being happy with D* they are starting to go quickly down the E*/cable company road of seemingly arbitrary annoyances that will eventually force me to switch to another service out of spite.
What exactly is the Irish station and what do they play?
 
What exactly is the Irish station and what do they play?

Since I haven't heard it I have no idea what they are playing. I assume it's a mix of Trad and the new age Celtic stuff (which I personally can't stand).

It would be great if they mixed trad, rebel and rock together butI'm sure once I finally get the station it will be Danny Boy on continuous loop
 
This is the reply that I got from Sonictap customer service in response to an email I had sent to them complaining about the sound quality of their music on Directv.

Thanks for your comments and understanding. Yes the sound quality and other things are DTV issues but most are blaming us...Our broadcast team is monitoring constantly and I am told that there will be some tweaks as we move forward.

I hope that there really will be some tweaks that will improve things.
 
Have never used these channels much, but when I did, I nearly always listed to the XM Coffeehouse channel. I've now listened to the Sonic Tap Coffeehouse Rock channel twice and definitely do not like it as well. The XM channel was mostly the simple arrangements that you find in a coffeehouse, a lot of acoustic music with simple vocals.

The Sonic Tap equivalent has a much stronger rock music flavor, last night in 45 minutes they played two U2 cuts. You'd never hear U2 in a coffeehouse environment.

So for me, this is working out as a very bad trade.
 
the latino content is much better with SonicTap... plus i find alot more variety overall with the English selection. Good trade for me.
 
Status
Please reply by conversation.

Can I cancel Directv without penalty

Tell Directv to add FOX SOCCER CHANNEL HD

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)