XM vs Sirius Satellite RadioWritten by bradley james
So you want to switch to satellite radio, but you aren't sure with which service to go with? Two of biggest names in satellite radio today, XM and Sirius, both offer a large variety of music stations that you would never hear on regular commercial radio. And most of music channels, for both services, are commercial free. Of course, nothing is truely free. Both Sirius and XM charge you a service fee to listen to their music channels - someone has to pay for those satellites!So what is difference between Sirius and XM? First of all, Sirius and XM both offer same commercial-free music service broadcasted via satellites. Sirius offers 120 channels, or feeds, of music, sports, and entertainment programming. For this service, Sirius charges a flat monthly subscription fee of $12.95 for residents of continental US. XM currently charges, on other hand, has 122 channels broadcasting similar content (68 of which are music channels), and charge a slightly smaller monthly fee: $9.95. XM currently has largest share in satellite marked with 2 million customers. So why does Sirius charge more? Sirius claims to have superior sound quality thanks to their statistical multiplexing technology, which provides additional bandwidth across all SIRIUS streams. This is supposed to increase overall sound quality and resolution. There has been little feedback however, to verify whether or not this system really enhances sound quality to a noticeable degree. In addition, Sirius is offering free audio feeds through internet to its paying customers, something XM charges a couple dollars a month extra for. So if you plan on listening to radio via net often, you can expect to pay about same no matter which company you go with. Sirius also claims to have 24 hour customer service - something XM radio has yet to fully achieve. Oh, and one more thing. Sirius has 2 NPR channels, for you NPR fans out there: NPR Now and NPR Talk. Pretty cool.
| | Compare LCD vs DLP TVsWritten by bradley james
What are differences between DLP and LCD TVs, and which is better choice for you?LCD vs. Plasma to LCD vs. DLP Two new technologies in world of TV, DLP and LCD, are now in a tight competition. Not long ago, everyone was talking about Plasma vs. LCD - which one would win? It became clear to most that Plasma, with its short lifespan of just 3-4 years, was simply not best choice. In fact, LCD screen has several benefits over plasma. For instance, LCD screens run much cooler than average plasma TV, and thus require less power to operate. Plasma TVs run so hot, in fact, that they require a fan to cool them down – which can be noisy. In addition, plasma screens have a tendency to degrade over time, slowly becoming dimmer. LCD screens, on other hand, run relatively cool, and do not degrade over time. Some Plasma owners, who have used their TVs for a few years now, have already witnessed dimming of their screens. Also, LCD screens tend to have overall better picture quality, and are typically 10 to 15 percent lighter than plasma. Now choice is mainly between LCD vs. DLP - two distinct technologies that offer slight differences in display, price, and performance. If you are looking to buy a new flatscreen TV this year, you are probably wondering which one is right for you. What are DLP, LCD TV Screens? DLP stands for Digital Light Processing, while LCD stands for Liquid Crystal Display. DLP technology, developed by Texas Instruments, uses a DMD, or Digital Micromirror Device, contructed of 1.3 million microscopic mirrors. Each of these mirrors is essentially a single pixel. When a digital signal enters DLP system, each mirror is either activated or not, resulting in tapestry of mirrors tilting either towards DLP light source or away. This process produces different levels of light and dark reflected by each individual mirror. The colors are produced when DLP light sources run through a red, green, and blue color filter on a moving wheel. Depending on lightness/ darkness of each mirror, colors come in an enormous amount of shades, producing vivid color images.
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