XM Satellite Radio needs some serious help fast!

[Remoteness]

I just received this information from a friend of mine via email...

February 9, 2007 -- XM Satellite Radio needs an exterminator - pronto. Its Washington, D.C., headquarters are so infested with rats, they're disabling the equipment. In an internal memo obtained by allaccess.com, XM Senior VP Dan Turner tells staffers: "Those of you familiar with D.C. rodents know that we're looking at the size of small house cats. Currently, we have lost the functionality of Production Room 8 as the rodents have discovered that the cover on our fiber optics cables makes good nesting material. A couple of weeks ago it was one of the multifunction studios that was taken out of commission. Tomorrow it could be a cable to a satellite uplink. It is that serious."

Washington Post Article

Washington CityPaper article

More information from Orbitcast







.

[bongo]

Too bad it's not Clear Channel!



Sorry.

[AnAverageJoe]

Well Everyone I guess it's time to go to SIRUS!!

[grindx]

I have Sirius and the audio quality is garbage. It's OK for talk radio. I was curious about what sort of compression and data rate they use, so I asked one of their Tech support people. They never gave me a straight answer. To me it the audio sounds like an 160kbps encoded mp3.

[nlc201]

Originally Posted by grindx

I have Sirius and the audio quality is garbage. It's OK for talk radio. I was curious about what sort of compression and data rate they use, so I asked one of their Tech support people. They never gave me a straight answer. To me it the audio sounds like an 160kbps encoded mp3.

XM and Sirius both sound....ahem.....lacking. They just have to compress the ever loving bits out of everything in order to get all that programming onto that data stream. I believe the average bit rates for music are in the 50-60 kbps range while talk is down in the 20s. Pretty low. But considering how ridiculously low that is, it's a testament that any detail gets through at all. Both companies are acutally on the forefront of spectral encoding. Ironically, I had DISH network satellite TV for awhile which had sirius on its upper channels but they were encoded for DISH audio standards which I believe was 128 kbps mp2. It sounded a lot better than from an actual radio. I'm not sure what the internet streams are. They might be higher.

[bishopthomas]

I had XM for about 3 years. The first couple were great. I listened to a lot of great new bands, heard no DJ's or commercials, etc. Then it started sounding like FM top 40 on all the rock stations and they hired a bunch of DJ's. Why is some dude telling me what songs I just heard when I read it on the display? The audio quality was pretty bad. It was advertised as being "not as good as a CD but much better than radio." This was not true at all. The 50-60 kbps compression rate seems about right.

I only listened to Sirius for about 10 minutes in my friend's car, so I really can't compare the two. The Internet XM seemed a little higher quality, but I was listening on crappy computer speakers.

[grindx]

The audio doesn't seem to have the artifacts I typically get with 128kbps or less, so I assumed it was higher. I don't know much about the encoding process except what I hear. It is definitely harsh, especially cymbals and such.

[somedude74]

I did remote sound/audio for a Rat and Rodent Infestation and Control video for the National Park Service. Washington DC has one of the worst rat problems in the country, the worst being the White House. I was told this by the head of the National Park Service's rat and rodent professional. The White House would host huge dinners back in the day, and the excess food would be discarded not too far away. It started this way, then the rats expanded their territory.

Across the river in VA, go to the Iwo Jima Memorial on a freezing winter morning (before the park opens and workers get there). There will be close to 10 to 20 rats lying on their back dead and frozen.

And the underground parking at the Pentagon-- at night you constantly feel like you are going to get mugged- not by a person, but by a rat the size of a small cat.

At a trash truck storage facility across the bridge in VA, when the workers get there in the morning, they open the cab doors of their trucks. They stand back and whack the truck with a baseball bat. Oh, god.... 30 or 40 rats would run out of each truck's driver's seat area.

And rats hang out in the outside daylight in many areas. This equals a major rat problem.

Fun times..

[Remoteness]

Here kitty, kitty, kitty... Oh, snap -- it's a big fat rat!

This is a terrible tragedy for sure.
What do those professionals say can be done about this serious dilemma?
Is there any solution to this dangerous disturbance?

[Steve Smith]

I think it is time for more......drastic measures


Call in the Pied Piper!

[nlc201]

Originally Posted by Steve Smith

I think it is time for more......drastic measures


Call in the Pied Piper!

I'm dying, that's so awesome.......


Another awesome thing? Look at the tags for this thread at the bottom of this page.....