Sirius/XM Satelite Radio in Media Center!

Hello all. I dont know much about how this Satelite radio stuff is goin. But if you could please tell me here, that would be great. I dont wanna buy one of those little recievers that you have to use with every car audio reciever out right now. I want everything to run through my computer!

Media Center is made to run with Dual TV Tuners and a FM Tuner. But its not hard to make an add in. The SDK is out and I would like to get Sirius or XM satelite radio into Media Center. Can someone please describe the hardware needs of it for me? What will I need to plug up to my computer to get Satelite Radio without having one of those recievers? I'm sure the add in part of it wont be a problem with a good programer and someone who has media center.

I believe you still the the tuner and sat antenna to receive the sat signal. I'm going to be trying to get the alpine tuner to interface with my carpc. :rolleyes:

I think you're going to need to get one of those "boxes". That is the hardware requirement. It is the tuner and you will need an antenna to plug into it as well. All of the data (station #, song name, artist...) can be displayed on your screen and all control is also done through your computer. The box can simply be hiden away. It is like having an amplifier to drive your speakers with, you don't have to have it out in the open, but it is a necessary part of the equation. Currently XM is all ready to go with the hardware and software end of it. I believe Sirius' data stream has already been hacked and should be close being implemented, I'm sure the coding end of it will be covered by our resident genius' soon after. Of course you'll have to see about getting someone to help you with it in Media Center.

So I have to have one of these?

I'm thinking, if I have to have one of those...I'm going to be making a Carbon Fiber Trunkliner (the part that covers the frame of the trunklid) for my car, I could probably have it flush mounted to that on the corner of it so when I open the trunk, its level and I can change the song or station from the trunk too. I'm having the trunk setup so that I can mount a 30" Widescreen Dell HDTV in the back of the trunk so when I go to hangouts (like sonic), I can have a movie or video playing to show off...lol. I allways park backwards in the stall of sonic. (quick getaway)

If you want to have computer controlled satellite radio you need a receiver like the XMDirect or XM Commander (both are the same thing basically, the XMDirect is cheaper!)

The XMDirect is a XM receiver in a small metal box. You connect it to your computer with a simple cable that is easily made (mini-din to standard 9-pin serial port, pinouts can be found here: http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/hardware-development/36040-xmdirect-cable.html) The control protocol is very simple and well documented. Connect the antenna and provide 12v power and you should be good to go. The XMDirect is a little different from other XM receivers in that it must be sent a special "wakeup" command first before it will accept any other command. Most CarPC software has been modified now to do this.

(FYI: The XM receiver module uses a standard control protocol, receiver manufactuers simply take a XM receiver module and build around it. Anyone with a little technical skill can turn practically any XM receiver into a computer controlled receiver since they all have the same basic module inside. The XM protocol was discovered because XM released a computer based receiver called the XMPCR. Someone just sinffed the data traffic going to and from it, the rest was history :))

As for Sirius satellite radio, no one has reversed the protocol on any of the Sirius units yet. They have figured out how to get title info on some of the portable and home receiver units, but thats about it.

Wow, I thank you for that description and Info. So all I need really is the XM Direct, the cable, a 12v power source, and someone with good programing skills to make an add-in for Media Center Similar to the Radio Interface, and I should be set? I like that!