Sirius home options

Dave, I have been wondering about those same things and have done a little research. I know nothing about sat radio but when I heard the MET would have a dedicated channel going 24/7 I had to subscribe. Well, I have not subscribed yet but I hope to pick up the Stiletto protable receiver at CC today.

I have done a lot of reading the last few days and, being an opera lover yourself, you know that especially the old, archived broadcasts they will present really need to be saved by us opera buffs. I want the ability of the Stiletto to record the entire opera while I am away. This it can do (I think it has a 6 hour recording time). I then want to record the opera from the Stiletto to my mini-disc recorder where I can edit it so that I am left with only the highlights or excerpts I want to save. This is better for me than the H550 which is a player only. Now, if there is copyright encoding somewhere along the line to prevent this transfer from the Stiletto to another recoding device, I will have to take other steps to do what I want to do. One might be to hard wire a live broadcast (not a saved one) from the Stiletto to a DVD recorder that has a hard disk. From there, I can edit the performance on the hard drive and transfer the finished copy to my mini-disc recorder for storage. It appears that as long as I keep it in the analog domain I should have no problem as it is the digital transfer that gets the copyright laws all heated up. Also, I have to make sure the recorder I pick has the ability. I know the Lite-On (non-hard drive) model I have can record to CD audio only.

The Stiletto will soon come out with a docking station that will allow you to hook it up to your existing amp and play it through your home theater. Of course, the H550 is not portable like the Stiletto and needs no docking station as it is connected directly (via digital optical I believe) to your amp. So, it is a self contained tuner but like a dedeicated fm tuner, needs to be hooked up to your home theater stero amp. The Stiletto works off of batteries.

The Tivoli has only an analog headphone output as far as I know but don't quote me on that because they do sell the Tivoli bundled with speakers (even a subwoffer) made just for it. I do not know if it can be hooked up to other, non-Tivoli speakers. Through the headphone output however, I suppose you could use a pigtail Y connector and run it through your speakers that way but I don't know if it would have enough amps on its own to properly power a set of speakers not designed for it. Anyway, I have heard from others that the Tivoli is great sounding on its own. Hope this all helps (La Gioconda tonight!!!).

I think the only way your going to get recorded content off of the Stiletto (or any other portable satellite radio, thanks RIAA!) is via the headphone jack. I don't have a stiletto, I have the S50, so I can't speak from personal experience with this unit. For a ton of SIRIUS specific information head over to: Sirius Backstage

There is a specific STILETTO forum over there. Many people have already gotten their units and are posting reviews and feedback. Good luck and enjoy your new toys!

Yea Petteri, that Backstage site has a lot of very knowledgeable folks and that is where I got most of my information. I did pick up the Stiletto at CC last night and have charged the batteries. In the next day or two I will subscribe and see how this thing works. The Backstage people are saying (for the most part) that the unit is pretty good but reception is hit and miss. I hope I can find a spot indoors that will get me a signal. We shall see.

I run an audio line from my starmate into my mac mini, I use a program called Audio Grabber, which is basically like a Tivo for audio, and record Stern everyday. You could do the same for the Opera channel, record all day, everyday if you want.

Thanks flemingljr! That just might be the ticket. I'll look into it.

Dave, here is what I have concluded as the best option for recording MET operas from Sirius. First, let me say that I have heard all the bad stuff about the S50s as well. That and the fact that it is workable but "old" technology makes me shy away from it. Instead I bought the latest, the Stiletto and have been fairly pleased with it. But had I known what I know now I might have not bought it and saved a bunch of money on equipment and subscription. Here is what I mean. The Stiletto cost $350, docking station will cost around $80 after shipping, a year's subscription to Sirius is $150, two year warranty was $45 at Circuit City, plus we are not talking about extra antenna wire, leads, extra batteries, carry cases, car kit, etc., etc. Big bucks for what you get.

The Stiletto is great if you want or need a portable device for your person when you jog or to take from your car to your office, etc. It has a lot of memory and sounds pretty darn good. And yes, the only way to get it to play to any other equipment is the line out via the home docking station or the units own headphone jack. I recommend neither as the best way to hear the MET.

Here then is what I decided is the best way to go for recording and enjoying Met opera on Sirius. I simply subscribed to Dish Network. I live in the sticks where there is no broadband, cable, DSL or anything else that resembles technology. I am forced to use Sat tv and my provider has been Directv. They carry XM radio, not Sirius. Also, Directv does not allow you to record their radio programs to their directivos.

Dish Network is different. They do permit recording of their audio programs to their DVR. I am getting the vip622 which supports something like 30 hours of HD programming and 150 or more hours in standard definition. It also will hold many hours of opera. If you want a tivo like device that will record and save your operas and will play back through your home theater, this is the best way to go. Chances are you will have your set top box hooked up to your amp anyway to watch movies and tvs that are broadcast in 5.1 dolby, which the vip622 supports via a digital cable of some sort (optical I think but I could be wrong). Your sound should be far superior than using a "docking" set up such as the Stiletto uses or going through one of their boomboxes or Soloist devices or, heaven forbid, going through a headphone jack.

If you don't want Sat tv, you might look into a dedicated amp/receiver. I think Sirius has still makes one that plugs directly into your home amp, much like an FM receiver would do. But it won't record and save and you still need to run an antenna to it. With Dish network, they do all the installing for nothing.

Well, sorry for the long post but I hope you have something to think about before you start shelling out a lot of money for some of these pocket gagets that may not serve your purpose.

I'll jump in a say that both the 211 and 622 boxes must have pretty decent DACs, because Sirius sounds really great on my 2 channel systems, which are put together with fairly high end equipment (like your Vandersteens).

As good as a $1000 CD player? Probably not, but certainly good enough so that you can play it loud and really get into the music, without noticing and blatant sonic defects.

You could put a DIsh box anywhere you want as long as you can get the cable to it. A dish DVR has analog audio out that would plug right in to your preamp/receiver etc. It probably has SP/DIF and Toslink out for digital connection to your equipment. As long as you can get it on the right channel with out having a display, then you are good to go. At worst you could just put a small television is the room just to see the display. Also, you could use a standard def non-dvr DISH box for this if recording wasn't important, or if you had a standalone Tivo series 2 you could record the audio channels.

I don't think XM has a home receiver with recording capabilities anymore than Sirius does. And I doubt we will ever see one. You can easily set up your own recording capabilities as mentioned above for either XM or Sirius to a PC.

I do not have a home docking station for the Stiletto yet (it has been ordered but they are behind with shipments). This is necessary as it contains an antenna that is positioned outdoors (unless you have a repeater near you then it could work well in a window for the terrestrial signal pick up). It also has the audio output to connect to your home stereo system. Right now the only output is a headphone jack. I play the Stiletto through my headphones, either my Shure E3 earbuds or my Sennheiser wireless (if I want freedom of movement). So, if I want to record and listen to a live broadcast, I have to sit outside on my deck and position either the internal antenna or the earphone antenna that comes with the Stiletto for best reception. I leave it there and do my chores with the wireless headphones on. When the home dock comes this will no longer be necessary as the Stiletto will be able to record while indoors.

The sound is great (to me) but I have near 60 year old ears - your hearing is no doubt much better and you might detect subtle things that escape me now. For quality of sound questions I would defer to younger listeners. I am sure they can tell you better than I about the true sound quality that comes out of the Stiletto through top end speakers.

As far as your question about problems with recording and saving, you do need to be aware of a couple things. First, if you "love" record, ie, you hit the record button as you are listening, you are limited to 10 hours of recordings (about three operas). Without a home dock, you must "love" record your opera because you can not use the schedule recording time block mode without an AC power input - the schedule recording mode will not work with the battery. Now, there does not appear to be a problem on the surface with this but they have positioned the antenna jack and the AC jack so close together on the device that there is no way you can hook both up at the same time. This necessitates the use of the home dock which separates all these connections (sneaky way of them to make you buy a home dock).

There is another recording problem with the Stiletto which is especially bothersome for operas. Again, what I am about to say will not be a factor at all IF you buy a docking station as that alone will solve most of these recording problems. Okay, lets say you want to record an opera. Right now, you have to sit outside and listen live (remember, you can not schedule the recording in advance). If you hit the "love" button at the start of act one, you MUST return at the start of act 2 and hit it again or you will not record the second act. The reason is that the Stiletto is song oriented and it allows 10 hours of love recordings of songs (scheduled recording block times have greater memory alloted by the device). Since it is "song" oriented, any time the screen display changes - even from act one to act two, the Stiletto shuts off the recording. The reason is that the Stiletto believes act one is a "song" and that act two is another, different "song". See what I am saying? You have to come back at the start of each act and hit the love button as the Stiletto does not understand that there are three or four acts to an entire opera. To it, each act is an entirely different "song" and it can only record one song per record command.

Some people believe the Stiletto's wifi capability of capturing the internet Sirius stream would help in this regard. It does not. It is great from what I understand (I don't use it because I do not have broadband and can't stream audio or video on my PC) to listen to when an antenna can not be used or when you are at an office or library or anywhere you can access wifi. The reason this does not help with the recording problems I have mentioned is that Sirius does not permit recording of their internet stream to the Stiletto. Maybe it has to do with government restrictions and/or agreements but you can not capture to the Stiletto's memory the broadcast if it is coming FROM the internet stream.

Well, I guess by now I've totally confused all who have read this and again, sorry to all for the long post. But I want to be complete as I wish someone had explained things to me when I started with all this sat radio stuff. Feel free, davetroy, to ask more questions as I will be happy to answer them if I can.

No. I was actually referring to the ViP211 or ViP622 DVR receivers. Both these units hare HD units and have both 2 channel analog and optical digital audio outputs.

The non HD recorders have both 2 channel analog and optical digital audio outputs as well. I believe the SD regular boxes only have 2 channel analog. I had one of those playing into my 2 channel audio system for many years, and sounded great. The only problem is you need some kind of monitor to see what channel you are set to.

Actually it's Audio Hijack by Rogue Amoeba, not grabber. It's a great little program.

Milacqua- thanks for the incredible info...I had some of the same questions as davetroy. Now i don't feel as silly...

Wow! You mean this thread has been resurrected? Well, you are welcome bwhaeln, as the information from 8 months ago is still valid. One thing though, the price for all this stuff is coming down!! Good luck.

I have the Stiletto S100 and can recommend it highly for its really good sound quality played through headphones or through the home dock via RCA phono stereo connection to your home stereo receiver or amp. And like the previous post mentions, the prices have dropped quite a bit since it was first released!

It is head and heels over the Sirius S550 tuner in both price and performance features. It sounds great, you won't be disappointed. I just bought it myself and am totally impressed with it and Sirius programming. (I am also an XM radio subscriber since 2003 and I only just jumped onboard to try out Sirius). Overall the XM sound quality may be a tad more dynamic sounding depending on the stations broadcast quality but Sirius sound is very good too. And the Stiletto will let you hear all its quality come through without messing it or adding any nastiness to the sound. It is smooth and pleasing.