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Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio

It looks like a recent letter from two members of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee to Attorney General Michael Mukasey won’t be enough to derail the seemingly inevitable XM / Sirius merger, at least according to one of those ever-present analysts. As OrbitCast reports, Representatives John Conyers and Steve Chabot had complained that Justice Department staff “may be trying to rush through the merger” before the Attorney General himself had time to fully participate, and that “Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust Thomas O. Barnett may intend to grant the merger over the objections of department staff.” According to the AP, however, Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. analyst Blair Levin says that while the final outcome is indeed a “close call,” he believes that “the department will give its blessing,” paving the way for the FCC to give its go-ahead.

[Via OrbitCast]

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Source: Donald Melanson

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video, Transportation, Wireless

Hey all you Sportster fans out there, don’t think we forgot about you in the midst of all the Stiletto 2 excitement. Sirius let us snap a few shots of this latest iteration in their popular line of dock-and-play radios, but frankly, you’ll probably get a better feel for its color screen in the professionally done press photos here than from the handful of shaky pics we managed to fire off. A little more exciting are the live shots we got of the upcoming SCV1 backseat tuner and kid-friendly remote, along with a sample of the video feed — none of which were in the press material sent out today. Also of interest to Sonos owners out there will be the screenshots of Sirius doing its streaming thing over the multi-zone system — and while the GUI is certainly tight, we weren’t paying enough attention to really attest to the quality of low bitrate audio they’re offering. Click below for all the hands-on goodness…

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Source: Evan Blass

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Wireless

Alright, so it’s really not all that much different than its predecessor in terms of functionality, but you gotta love the slightly sleeker design and bulked up WiFi of the new Sirius Stiletto 2 — and the ability to add more tunes via microSD doesn’t hurt, either. Not a lot to say about this one that we haven’t covered with the original — i.e. if you weren’t happy with issues like reception or content restriction, you probably won’t be into the sequel either — so instead of rehashing the specs for the zillionth time, we’ll let you get right to the gallery…

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Source: Evan Blass

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video, Transportation

Sirius is seriously on a roll today. Clearly not content with debuting its Stiletto 2 and Sportster 4 portable receivers, the satellite powerhouse has officially announced its SCV1, aka Backseat TV, aka The Child-Silencer (our name). If you’ve ever been on a road-trip with a couple of bundles of joy, you’ll understand how helpful this particular technology could be. The new receiver is able to grab both radio and TV signals, allowing it to pull down Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network on TV screens in the backseat (for the joy bundles) while it streams music or talk up front (for you). The system offers a “kid friendly” remote for controlling Backseat content, while the “adult” section is operated by a separate, wired remote. The radio can also be controlled via Sirius-compatible aftermarket headunits. The SCV1 will be available in the 4th quarter of 2007, and will run you $299.99 for the unit, plus an additional $6.99 for TV service each month — but hey — that’s a small price to pay for a quiet drive.

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio

Sirius is apparently busy today, since hot on the heels of its announcement concerning the Stiletto 2 comes word of the brand-spanking-new Sportster 5. Updating its year-old Sportster 4 model, the new desktop- or dashboard-seated satellite receiver boasts a 6-line, multicolor display, the ability to pause or rewind through 60 minutes of live radio, a real-time sports news ticker, storage for 30 preset stations, an FM transmitter or line out for connecting to audio sources, and comes with a full vehicle kit for mounting in your car, truck, or 50-foot yacht. Weighing in at 3.7-ounces, this is apparently the lightest Sportster ever, so you don’t have to feel bad about making the kids carry it from the car to the house. Now all you have to do is decide how many you’ll need to buy. Available this Fall for $169.99.

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: Portable Audio

While we’re a bit skeptical of the company’s claims to “redefine the listening experience,” XM’s new XpressRC radio does indeed look to be fairly impressive as far as satellite radios go, with it boasting a full-color split-screen display among other notable new features. That screen will let you view information for your current channel on the left side, while letting you browse up to three other channels on the right side. Apart from that, the radio will give you a 60-minute buffer to let you pause and replay programming, and you’ll be able to store up to ten of your favorite songs with the new “Songsaver” feature. As with other satellite radios, you’ll also be able to move it between vehicles, and make use of various docks and speaker systems for a little out-of-vehicle listening. Look for this one to set you back $170 when it rolls out this fall.

Read - XM Press Release
Read - XM Product Page

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Source: Donald Melanson

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Filed under: Portable Audio

Now that the fiasco that surrounded the first Stiletto has died down, it’s about time we focused on version two. During this week’s earnings call, Sirius‘ President of Operations and Sales, Jim Meyer, reportedly stated that the company was “preparing for the launch of some new aftermarket products, including a new wearable product, Stiletto 2, and a new Sportser SP5.” Furthermore, he added that “more details” would be doled out “next month,” and suggested that the Stiletto 2 in particular may hit shelves sometime “this fall.” Aside from that, no further details regarding size, capacity, or feature changes have been divulged, but according to Jim, the wait for more dirt shouldn’t be too awfully long.

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Source: Darren Murph

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