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Television Media

Low Profile Satellite TV Antennas for Vehicles 320

Posted by chrisd from the useful-for-rvs dept.
Brian Mattis writes "CNN is reporting a new antenna system that allows SUV's, minivans and cars to receive DirecTV video and audio programming on the road. Future plans call for internet access as well. This could be a nail in the coffin of Sirius and XM radio."
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Low Profile Satellite TV Antennas for Vehicles More

Low Profile Satellite TV Antennas for Vehicles

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  • Good (Score:4, Insightful)

    by 56 ( 527333 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:09PM (#5044368)
    In-Car-Internet + 802.11b = mobile open wifi ap's
    • This doesn't have DirecPC capability. You won't be getting 'net access through it.

      • Re:Good (Score:2, Informative)

        by CableModemSniper ( 556285 )

        From the second paragraph in the article:

        In the future, the antenna system will provide high-speed Internet access.

        Also the net access potential is mentioned in the blurb.

    • Re:Good (Score:4, Insightful)

      by fjania ( 458145 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:48PM (#5044612)
      In-Car-Internet + 802.11b = soccer moms in minivans driving even worse than when they are on their cell phones

    • Re:Good (Score:5, Funny)

      by Peterus7 ( 607982 ) on Thursday January 09, 2003 @12:21AM (#5044989) Homepage Journal
      Two thoughts on this:

      If cell phones make people stupid while they're driving, what will this do?

      Also, if the RIAA ever wins over the government and makes P2P illegal, there could be mobile P2P... Wow, that would be fun... Car chases over 11 k/s...

  • Streaming audio (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Steev ( 5372 ) <steve&stevedinn,com> on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:09PM (#5044372) Homepage
    Think of all the (commercial free) streaming audio channels that you could listen to instead of the crappy radio stations that exist right now.
    • That is almost the only real aplication i see for this. TV is cars is stupid not to mention dangerous. It's about time though that we had a good replacement for radio.

      • Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:17PM (#5044418)
        Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Re:Streaming audio (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Steev ( 5372 )
          Just not in the front seat ;)
        • And yet most of us survived quite well without a TV in the car.

          Hell, I have many fond memories of driving around with my parents. Reading a book, playing with stuffed animals with my sister, looking out the window (Perfect for my INFP personality), pondering the world...

          12 hours spent sitting immobile in the back of a car while staring at some canned entertainment doesn't sound healthy at all, especially for kids.

          Perhaps you should break the 12 hour road trip into 2 six hour drives?
          • I grew up without TV in the car as a kid too, but wished I could have had it. Sure, I love reading a book, but every time I tried to do that in the car I got nauseous and threw up. Watching a TV screen probably isn't nearly so motion-sickness inducing.

            Break the trip into smaller parts? You haven't been out west, have you? Unless you want to hang out at some old gas station, or some town that has a population of 15, there's usually no place to stop in between.
            • On the contrary, I live out West (California). I've been to Utah a dozen times, and probably travelled 20,000 miles with my parents throughout the Western states when I was a kid. Hours in the car.

              My wife and I have done a dozen 12-hour journies through the West. Even done a big 20 hour road-trip from Boseman, Montana all the way to Reno, NV (Could have made it all the way to San Francisco, but it hurt too much). Next time, I'll stop in Winnemucca or some other town on 80.

              Sure, the west has big expanses of stuff that looks boring, but there are zillions of parks to visit, and some chain hotel (motel 6 quality or higher) within a few hours of eachother. Millions of people drive through the West, and there is a big hotel industry taking advantage of the opportunity.

              Of course, I don't have kids, but I have gone on several 5+ hour trips with a toddler in the last few years.

      • Re:Streaming audio (Score:5, Informative)

        by cameldrv ( 53081 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:44PM (#5044590)
        Relax, it's illegal for you to have a TV that is visible to the driver.

        • Re:Streaming audio (Score:5, Insightful)

          by geek ( 5680 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @11:09PM (#5044713)
          It's illegal to drive without a seat belt also but that doesnt stop 10,000 people a year from doing it.

          • Re:Streaming audio (Score:3, Insightful)

            by Dun Malg ( 230075 )
            It's illegal to drive without a seat belt also but that doesnt stop 10,000 people a year from doing it.

            Spurious comparison. When you don't wear a seatbelt you don't drive any worse, and you suffer no consequences until you have an accident. If you have a TV in front, you drive badly, and the first time a cop pulls you over and sees that TV, you're in for a big, big fine. I guarantee that the first time someone gets ticketed for having a TV on the dash is the LAST time it'll happen. You can't say that about a ticket for no seatbelt.

  • Direct TV? (Score:3, Funny)

    by tinrobot ( 314936 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:12PM (#5044381)
    So, in addition to cell phones, people will also be watching 'Sex In the City' while driving? Yike.

    • This thing is gonna be a godsend for truckers.

  • Woohoo I can cut 100 Grand (Score:5, Funny)

    by pardasaniman ( 585320 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:12PM (#5044383) Journal
    Yes!! I can now live in my car!!

    Internet, TV, Sleep

  • Oh god (Score:5, Funny)

    by geek ( 5680 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:12PM (#5044384)
    Please no. Cell phones are bad enough. All we need is some blonde in an SUV causing a 200 car pile up on I5 because she was watching Martha Stewart Living and talking on her cell phone while doing her make up at 80mph.

    • Re:Oh god (Score:5, Funny)

      by kindbud ( 90044 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:39PM (#5044565) Homepage
      There's a 200 car pile up, but you want to blame the blonde, just because of the other 199 TV watchers and cell-phone talkers, she was the first to blow it? What about the slashdotter in the Gremlin next to her who didn't see her swerve because he was watching The Making of LOTR:ROTK while encoding and beaming a pirate video stream as a test of the 802.11 free metropolitan WAN set up by his LUG using autonomous Aibos equipped with access points which roamed the city according to directions from a distributed program that moved the robot dogs around to optimize coverage at any moment under the control of a clever algorithm? What about that?
    • It could be worse. It could involve internet access (like so many posters so far have mistakenly assumed). Imagine her driving around with a high-powered microwave transmitter on top of her soccer-mobile.

  • XM/Sirius killer? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    From the article: "KVH's system will be marketed to current DirecTV subscribers, and sold through consumer electronics retailers. The antenna system will cost roughly $2,000 to $2,500, and the satellite programming will be less than $10 a month."

    I can't see this as being an XM/Sirius Radio killer until the price for the gear lowers quite a bit. Folks in the market for digital radio aren't the same as digital TV+Radio+DirectTV subscription.
    • Approx. US$#500.00 will get you equipment, installed, and service, for one year [skylife.com]. Available now. I use Skylife at home now, and when they include Internet, I'm down w/the mobile receiver.

      As usual in the US, the [communications] consumer is being taken for a ride.

    • Re:XM/Sirius killer? (Score:3, Informative)

      by SpacePunk ( 17960 )
      Directv has been available for years to people that spend on motorized antenna mounts that home in on the satellite signal and keep it tracked. And that mount is cheaper.

      Move along people, ther's nothing more to see here.
    • The upfront cost is kind of high, but as part of a new $30,000+ vehicle which is already having a couple thousand dollar entertainment system installed it's not out of the question. I can say that this would be MUCH better than the same couple of DVD's or trying to get broadcast in long enough to watch something while driving cross country. Bring the cost down to about half that and I would probably go for it, especially if you don't need a new subscription, just take your smart card out of the home receiver and pop it into the vehicles.

  • Jetblue... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by MasterSLATE ( 638125 )
    This reminds me of Jetblue - the airliner that has inflight DirecTV in every seat. Anyone else see DirecTV having a monopoly?

  • Two Way (Score:5, Funny)

    by nick_davison ( 217681 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:16PM (#5044412)
    Now if they just add in car black boxes and a two way feature, you can have the local news programs doing up to the moment reports on drives who crash while watching the local news programs on drivers who crash while watching the local news programs on drivers who.....

    Those ludites may have had a point.

  • Well this is an accident waiting to happen (Score:5, Funny)

    by Kalewa ( 561267 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:16PM (#5044413)
    I can just see the freeway pileup that would happen when the administrator of the first ever movile webserver gets slashdotted.

  • It's been done before. (Score:4, Informative)

    by sakusha ( 441986 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:18PM (#5044423)
    This is nothing new, tracking dishes are available at any RV dealer. They only work on the interstate, when the turns and the position change are gradual. Go around a 90 degree turn and the dish can't track fast enough. They suck.

    • Re:It's been done before. (Score:5, Informative)

      by Nefrayu ( 601593 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:36PM (#5044547) Homepage
      This is different. It's a phased-array non-directional antenna. It shouldn't suffer from the problems of previous low-level technologies that you might have used before.

    • It's done on many Navy ships. (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      It's not uncommon for U.S. Navy ships to use these. The crew chips in and buys the dish and subscription. They scrounge up a junked tracking system from some obsolete system that's been thrown away Put them together and they have T.V. at sea. A big moral builder. Particularly during the play-offs.

  • Got Sirius, Not Interested (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Beebos ( 564067 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:19PM (#5044434)
    Got Sirius, not interested.

    As far as what I want to listen to while I drive, Sirius has it all, except the Yankees.

    2 NPR stations, BBC, World Radio Network, Public Radio International, C-SPAN (which carries the network's sunday morning talk shows), CNBC, CNN, Bloomberg, and more.

    When I want to hear music there are 60 commercial free stations. Then there are about 20 entertainment channels. And TechTV is coming!!

    I couldn't be happier with it.
    • My friend will be pleased to hear that you're satisfied -- he designed some of the antenna-pointing algorithms for the Sirius satellites, and was tired of hearing how well XM was doing. He, of course, is on the fence about subscribing. :)
    • And TechTV is coming!!
      On the radio?
    • Actually... TechTV on Sirius is kinda aborted...

      What Sirius wanted TechTV for TechLive, it's 9-hour all day tech news and tech stock coverage program. Well, one market crash later that idea didn't look so smart, and TechLive is now the name of a 30-minute primetime magazine show.

      With the dramatic shift in programming diet, and the fact that TechTV doesn't own the radio rights to content it doesn't produce, I think all you can really expect is to find the audio half of Call for Help and The Screen Savers on a talk station eventually.

  • Competition with satellite radio... how? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jdreed1024 ( 443938 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:19PM (#5044436)
    This could be a nail in the coffin of Sirius and XM radio.

    Um, how? I was under the impression that satellite radio offered audio-only programming.

    First of all, most people who have TVs in vehicles have them for either a DVD player or a VCR. Sticking a movie in is going to keep the kids quiet for at least 90 minutes. Getting satellite TV only going to keep them quiet for 30 minutes at a time and encourage channel-surfing, which will drive the parents nuts.

    Satellite radio offers the same audio channels and programming coast-to-coast; fewer (or zero) commercials, and entertainment you can enjoy without having to take your eyes off the road.

    Don't get me wrong - I think satellite radio will crash and burn, but DirecTV for vehicles certainly won't be the death of it...

    • Perhaps because DirecTV offers streaming audio in addition to it's television broadcast offerings?
    • Ahem. This is DirecTV. They offer many digital audio only channels, as well as video: See Here. [directv.com] No commercials, no eye off road.

    • Re:Competition with satellite radio... how? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Zathrus ( 232140 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:33PM (#5044523) Homepage
      DirecTV has 36 channels [directv.com] of audio programming. It would be fairly trivial to extract only the audio stream from the broadcast once it's been decrypted and pipe it into your car's sound system.

      About all it's missing is talk radio... but frankly you can tune into a cable news station and get pretty much the same thing. Yeah, you have commercials again, but I think that both Sirius and XM have commercials on their talk channels as well.

      This isn't a satellite radio killer yet though... way too expensive.
      • ClearChannel, Fox, Premier, and every other major radio distribution channel on speed dial. Heck maybe even Pacifica. If this goes down, I could see syndicated radio programs (I wont mention any by name because it will just turn into a dumn flame war, it always does) making their way onto DirecTV audio channels. Perhaps even in a way that they are only available to "mobile" subscribers who pay a premium for that service.

  • WTF? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Guppy06 ( 410832 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:27PM (#5044484)
    "This could be a nail in the coffin of Sirius and XM radio"

    Just like car-mounted UHF/VHF antennae drove the final nail in the coffin of FM radio?

    Apples and oranges.

    • Re:WTF? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by hendridm ( 302246 )
      > Just like car-mounted UHF/VHF antennae drove the final nail in the coffin of FM radio?

      Obviously the moderators of this post have never seen or used digital cable or satellite television. DirecTV comes with lots o' music stations. Plus, Internet access would allow for Internet radio as long as it lasts.
  • .. real time traffic reports.

  • Conflicting Trends (Score:5, Interesting)

    by CatWrangler ( 622292 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:29PM (#5044499) Journal
    On the one hand, we have those who telecommute and stay off the roadways, on the other, there are those who basically live in their cars. I know several people, personally, who commute 4 hours a day in bumper to bumper traffic.

    It sounds bad, in that it might cause accidents, but it may in effect encourage carpooling. If folks had a wide array of entertainment options on their trips, this may actually encourage more responsible commuting.

  • could be used in train (Score:4, Insightful)

    by stonebeat.org ( 562495 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:30PM (#5044503) Homepage
    In california, I commute via Light Rail (Train). Now if you put one of these on train, and make it data enabled, everyone will be able to connect to the internet.

    That could a good for the environment, as more people will like to travel on trains with internet connectivity.....
    • Japan is looking at placing 802.11b AP's every X meters along the path of the shin-con-sen (sp?). This would allow fast data rates and assuming the train is long enough great agregate bandwidth as people in different cars would be talking to different AP's.

  • ummm.....no. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by synchrostart ( 93516 )
    This could be a nail in the coffin of Sirius and XM radio.

    Except that XM Radio has a nice thing in their music that DirectTV lacks in theirs.....really good programming. The stations and variety on XM are amazing. Fred and Ethel RULE. Throw in a little jazz, blues, all the classical, comedy and the 80s channels and you have a stunning group of stations. I traveled cross country in my truck with it 2 months ago and didn't hear the same song twice nor did I listen to a single CD.

    BTW, Heidi Selexa, one of the DJs from the 80s channel is great!
    • Except that XM Radio has a nice thing in their music that DirectTV lacks in theirs.....really good programming.

      A couple of years ago when I got DirecTV, I tried using their audio channels to avoid listening to repetitive radio at work. I'd set my computer to record an 8-hour long MP3 of a DirecTV channel, then bring it in to work on a Jaz disk (just about the only use I ever found for a Jaz drive, BTW).

      The problem was, even thought the DirecTV channels I listened to played more obscure music than the radio, they were still very repetitive. Each one seemed to have its own rather limited playlist. I got tired of that and gave up after a few weeks.

      Moreover, the sound was muddy even before I recorded it. The spectral display on my MP3 software showed that they did a sharp cutoff at something like 16KHz or less, and I'm sure they made other shortcuts on compression quality to save bandwidth.

  • Available now in Korea (Score:5, Informative)

    by djupedal ( 584558 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:34PM (#5044531)
    I'm a Skylife satellite subscriber, here in South Korea, and the company has recently offered their service [skylife.com] [site not in English] for those that wish to receive TV and music programming in the cars/vans, etc. Costs/fees work out to approx. US$500.00 per year.

    I've seen the installs, and while I'd like to have one myself, the external receiver unit is rather large at this time, and I'll wait for something less bulky. With the amount of time spent sitting in traffic here, this would be a welcome break. It's about the size of a 12" tire/wheel, and looks a bit out of place sitting on the roof or trunk of the average car.

  • how will regular directv customers feel? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    for 10$ a month getting tv programming to thier cars, when it costs 100$+ a month for that same tv programming to thier house.

    i know the equipment for the car has to factor into that lower rate, but still... i would feel cheated if i was a customer paying for thier service to my house.
  • ...allows SUV's, minivans and cars to receive DirecTV...

    Am I the only one who found this enumeration a bit odd? I mean, why not just say "vehicle"?

    • Reasons (Score:3, Insightful)

      by yerricde ( 125198 )

      Am I the only one who found this enumeration a bit odd? I mean, why not just say "vehicle"?

      Vans: Vans are probably close enough to minivans that the submitter didn't think it necessary to bother mentioning them.

      Trucks: It may be harder to mount such an antenna on top of a pickup truck.

      Buses: Buses are commercial vehicles and need a "public performance" license for the copyrighted shows.

      Mopeds: Don't even think about it.

  • Has anyone listened to satellite radio? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Texodore ( 56174 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @10:41PM (#5044579)
    Has anyone posting about the death of satellite radio actually listened to it? As a subscriber of XM, and a very happy one at that, I thought I'd chime in.

    Advantages of satellite radio over DirecTV (and/or Dish Network) radio stations.

    - Satellite radio can afford more bandwidth just to the music than DirecTV, resulting in a better reception.
    - Satellite radio doesn't use a directional dish. I'm in an office building and pick up XM at work just fine.
    - XM has DJs. You can call in and request stuff. It's personalized, and they actually know music. It's not a playlist of 200 songs on random.
    - Audio stations on satellite TV are provided by a third party. They're generic, just a rotating plyalist.

    I'm not convinced those that knock satellite radio have ever heard the depth of the musical library that is available to the listeners. No way is satellite TV going to put in the time or effort to develop that kind of library or personalize it for those that are listening.

    DirecTV in the car isn't going to kill satellite radio. Anyone who has listened to stations on XM and the music stations on DirecTV or Dish Network will tell you that.

    For a good example of the musical depth on XM, go to fred.xmradio.com [xmradio.com] and checkout the 2002 Fred Essentials. Listeners voted on the 2002 top classic alternative songs of all-time. They're "playlist" is over 5000 thanks too all of the listener input.

    I've had XM since November of 2001.
    • - Satellite radio doesn't use a directional dish. I'm in an office building and pick up XM at work just fine

      Did you read the article? This is about a phased array antenna, basically a synthetic array of direction antennas packaged together in on flat package that with the help of some software becomes an onmidirectional antenna, you don't have to direct this antenna to the signal, it locks onto the signal and changes it receiving pattern to pick it out. As far as the concern about DJ's if this was a big enough market I'm sure Hughes could hire some on air talent.
  • So, depending on the size of this wonder, and any power requirements, I might actually be able to realize a unit that I can take with me in places other than my car.
    I like to have a handheld TV at sports events to watch replays and analysis as it's broadcast, especially since I often get stuck with crappy endzone seating (no, I won't pay for better). So once the price on this comes down a bit, it shouldn't be too hard to wire it up some of my existing gear and make a unit.
    All that's needed are my Sony Glasstrons, my DirecTV boards (repackaged in slim form), this antenna, and a power supply that can last 3 hours. I can't wait! Don't worry, once I build the thing I'll blog it up and submit it, and CmdrTaco won't post it. But you'll get to see it eventually.
    • --what you want(more or less) exists, check the freqs and specs out

      http://www.icomamerica.com/receivers/handheld/ic r3 main.html

      if you are rich and buy two, please send me one....

      right now all I got like this is an old b/w watchman I picked up for 8$ used. works OK, but this icom unit, well, you get what ya pay for
  • Where do I send the cheque??? It promises to "put an end to back-seat bickering among grumpy siblings during long family car trips". I don't care how it works or how much it costs I want it...

  • the nail in XM's coffin (Score:2, Informative)

    by vena ( 318873 )
    doesn't need to come from this. they have over 320k subscribers and continue to bleed cash. 12 months to live, i'm willing to bet.
  • that will decrease auto related fatalities. /sarcasm
  • ...this is really cool except for the price! 2500 clams?!? say WHUT? huh?

    I've had TV in my vehicles (all vans or RV's) since the early 80's, it's cool. Think I'll pass on phased array tv until it doesn't phase my wallet as much. I have a crank up and crank down swivel antenna now on our RV, works ok. If over the air don't work, pop in a tape. If that don't work, I got 4 other radios to choose from, 3 of them transceivers. If that don't work for "entertainments" I'll park and chase the ole lady around.

    heh

  • Kinda like this... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by bjtuna ( 70129 ) <brian AT intercarve DOT net> on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @11:06PM (#5044702) Homepage
    A company named Winegard [winegard.com] already makes products like this. Check out their mobile dish units [winegard.com].

    cheers

  • Oh Great.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by thumbtack ( 445103 ) <thumbtack@@@juno...com> on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @11:09PM (#5044714)
    First I have to deal with idiots dialing their cell phone, no someone watching the playboy channel?
  • Tracking sattelite dishes have been very popular on boats. The only problem is the expense -- lately, they're down to about $3000, but until the last couple of years they cost several times that. Maybe this will pave the way for cheap marine units, and cheap internet access for boats.

    There's nothing like programming from a quiet cove in British Columbia -- but I still have to go into a marina to pick up my email.

  • Mobile Radio Telescopy (Score:5, Funny)

    by handy_vandal ( 606174 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @11:10PM (#5044723) Homepage Journal
    What I want is a low-profile radio telescope for my car, so I can search for signs of intelligent life while commuting to work. (God knows it's tough to find intelligent life on the freeway ....)
  • ...those of us who don't have a back seat.

    Bloody discrimination!

  • Jet Blue has this and ... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by wytcld ( 179112 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @11:25PM (#5044787) Homepage
    aside from the channels randomly going in and out, the ones that come through are most all thoroughly boring, unless your thing is sports ... several channels of sports.

    Jet Blue is so TV-identified that they have a bunch of large flatscreens above the checkin counters in their JFK terminal ... showing a bunch of network TV with the aspect ratio wrong, since they've stretched it sideways to fill those screens. At least the sound's not on.

    At least when we run out of oil we can park our jets and SUVs and watch TV. In Germany after midnight there's a channel with nothing but the view from the front of a car driving; another channel with the same from a train. Somebody better sign up the American rights.
  • Maybe I'm missing something here, but from advertisements I've seen I was led to believe that Direct TV now requires the user to hook up every box to a land line telephone line. My guess was that they were doing this to thwart the .001% of people who might locate a second box at a second location (like a relative's house) on a different dish and share the connection. So if I have a nice flat K-band dish for my car and receiver, what the hell good does it do me if I have to have the receiver hooked up to a landline?
    • thats no required. I only have 1 of my 4
      receivers hooked up to a phone line. there
      is nothing stoping me from moving the others
      to a car/mobile home
    • Not true. A co-worker has had DirecTV for over a year. No landline hookup cause there ain't no phone in his apartment.

      Normally both Dish and DirecTV will only require a phone hookup in the event there are multiple receivers on the same account, and, of course, to upload the contents of the smartcard for PPV purchase and whatnot.

      Also, both providers are aware of the snowbird (i.e., them's older folk that travel the highways and byways). They'll let you do the mobile RV thang, you just need to provide a registration for said vehicle.

      Now try to teach your father-in-law how to point the bloody dish when at a camp hook-up is another thing!

  • How does this kill XM radio? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by signe ( 64498 ) on Wednesday January 08, 2003 @11:36PM (#5044822) Homepage
    OK, so let's see. DirecTV costs approximately $30 a month for a package that will get you the 36 (or so) audio channels that they have. Not counting any hardware costs. XM costs $10 a month for 101 audio channels, with a much better variety than DirecTV or Dish's package, as far as I've seen.

    XM has numerous pieces of hardware out on the market, both headunits and addon receivers. XM's hardware is already included in many vehicles from the factory. DirecTV has nothing in the way of dedicated audio hardware for vehicles, and very little in the way of selection or integration for their video hardware.

    XM has land based repeaters, so that you can get a signal when your LOS to the satellite is blocked (for instance, within most cities). DirecTV has nothing of the sort.

    And most importantly, GM owns Hughes, which owns DirecTV, and has a huge stake in XM. I really don't think DirecTV is going to go after XM's business.

    -Todd
    • If you already have DirecTV at home, after buying the phased array antenna and mobile receiver, couldn't you just add the receiver onto your current home DirecTV account as an additional receiver.

      My 2nd box only costs me $4.99 a month, how is this different?

  • On XM Radio (Score:2, Insightful)

    by ironfroggy ( 262096 )
    XM has had most of its nails in from the beginning. Many companies have been succesful in monopolizing on something they could easily be the only to give away. But, XM fails to realize two things.

    1) The majority of customers don't see enough worth in the difference between their product and regular AM/FM radio to be a good option.

    2) Building off a public network like radio doesn't work all that well when the current model has been carved into our brains.

    Once internet access is more common in vehicals, its only a matter of time before internet transmitted radio with location specific spliced advertisements is the norm. I welcome the change.

  • For those of us who have an ounce of common sense. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    A few thousand dollars vs a few hundred...who's going to win that battle?

    I just bought an XM radio system...the Delphi SKYFi system with the portable boombox dock. I must say, it is the best $129.99 + $99.99 I have ever spent. $9.99/month is not much to ask for all the channels you get...especially because I'm a techno/dance freak and the hick town I live in has barely seen a paved road since the days of Henry Ford, let alone music that can be made with something other than a jaw harp and a banjo.

    What kind of monthly charges are going to be incurred by someone with one of these new in-car dish systems? I spend enough money on my service at home, let alone pay more to have it in my car. Hell, an extra receiver in your home costs about $10.00 more a month.

    Furthermore, if you are in your vehicle so long that you need the entertainment of television over radio, you probably have no business being distracted that much in the first place while on the road...everyone knows lengthy driving is one of the most mentally exhausting things a person can do...you honestly want to make it worse by watching TV at the same time? And don't tell me that you will just be "listening" to it...that's a flat out lie. If that's all you really wanted to do, you'd stick with a radio.

    What happened to the days of practical inventions...these days we just seem to be getting off-the-wall, frivolous money-wasters that are worth less than the paper some talentless hack looking to make a dollar scrawls them out on.

    In conclusion, this idea seems about as constructive for the modern driver as the drive up liquor store...and will probably be just as dangerous.

    END OF RANT
  • A lot of people have mentioned that DVD-players come with a display-kill setup which will kill the video when driving (although it's easy to disable). Another thing that might be worth mentioning is that a lot of the screens I've seen for DVD, TV, etc in a vehicle are ceiling-mounted and tilted so that only the back and passenger seats can see it properly. There might still be a peripheral-vision distraction though, but it looked like the driver could not at least directly view the screen.

  • this is ancient (Score:2, Interesting)

    by XO ( 250276 )
    When I started working for the company I work for, 8 years ago, a person approached me, and mentioned "I work for a company that designed a DirecTV dish that automatically tracks the satellite while you're moving. You mount it on your RV or camper, and it just follows along."

    At that point, the price was $3k.

    Old News.

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