2015 M4 - Sirius only going to Ch 219

[bopo21]

Has anyone else experienced SiriusXM topping out at channel 219? Ive tried to refresh, been online with Sirius, searched in these forums but can find any help.

Sirius began by saying you can only get channels up to 219 in your car. I told them my wife's 2017 XC90 goes into the 300's.

He then tried to tell me I only had a Sirius radio - not Sirius XM. Its a 2015, the merge happened in 2008......

Any help from the informed crowd???

Thx!!

[krotondo]

If i recall you need to change your plan to the "everything" plan which will unlock those extra channels

[bopo21]

Got the full "all access" package. I might have to call my service advisor...

Thx!!

[TBLM235X]

I had the same issue on my 2016 X6 - even though my prior 3 series had all the channels. You would think that a 6 series with all access would have all the channels but it did not - dealer was no help and I also contacted Sirius/XM and they really didn't seem to understand the issue either - very frustrating.

I just picked up my new 2018 440 and it does have all the channels - once again I am enjoying some of my favorite channels in the 300 level - "RockBar", "SXM Comes Alive", "Rock & Roll Hall of Fame", etc. What is really interesting is that these upper level channels seems to sound better as if they have less compression.

I can only assume that BMW must use different chips in the radio/head units in some models for Sirius/XM? I never found an answer for my X6.

[Almaretto]

Originally Posted by bopo21

Got the full "all access" package. I might have to call my service advisor...

Thx!!

My guess would be it is a SiriusXM issue, not BMW one. I would call satellite provider.

[williocom]

I believe the older cars did not have the new SiriusXm tuner and still had just the Sirius tuner so it wasn't getting the newer channels.

[GCinFLA]

Originally Posted by bopo21

Has anyone else experienced SiriusXM topping out at channel 219? Ive tried to refresh, been online with Sirius, searched in these forums but can find any help.

Sirius began by saying you can only get channels up to 219 in your car. I told them my wife's 2017 XC90 goes into the 300's.

He then tried to tell me I only had a Sirius radio - not Sirius XM. Its a 2015, the merge happened in 2008......

Any help from the informed crowd???

Thx!!

Originally Posted by williocom

I believe the older cars did not have the new SiriusXm tuner and still had just the Sirius tuner so it wasn't getting the newer channels.

Correct. Pre 2016 have the Srius Chipset.

2016+ should have the XM Chipset with expanded channel lineup.

The XM Chipset also used the XM Codec that sound MUCH better than the crappy early 90s (pre-internet) codec Sirius used, even though the XM Codec is still late 90s era Codec, but at least it had the advances made in early days of the Internet for audio codec.

Both used the same codec in the beginning, but XM pushed out an update around 2002/2003 when there were few subs so any bricked units could be easily handled.

With over 30 million subs, they don't dare send an update out now.

Just as connected drive stopped working on <2013 cars when AT&T dropped support for early Data schemes, eventually all the <2016 satellite radios will go dead as they repurpose the Sirius satellites for a different service.

[robwalling@gmail.com]

Is there any way to convert a "Sirius radio" ('15 M3) to an "XM radio" or "SiriusXM radio"?

Rob

[mrduder]

I'm gonna be that guy and say who cares? Satellite radio quality is so atrocious you couldn't pay me to listen to it. It's like listening to a 98kb cd rip from 1995 through a tin can. Get yourself a Spotify account and call it a day.

[robwalling@gmail.com]

Sound quality isn't a major concern. It's content.

[GCinFLA]

Originally Posted by mrduder

I'm gonna be that guy and say who cares? Satellite radio quality is so atrocious you couldn't pay me to listen to it. It's like listening to a 98kb cd rip from 1995 through a tin can. Get yourself a Spotify account and call it a day.

XM Chips have FAR SUPERIOR Audio Quality than the Sirius Chips due to a better Codec.

Originally Posted by robwalling@gmail.com

Is there any way to convert a "Sirius radio" ('15 M3) to an "XM radio" or "SiriusXM radio"?

Rob

New NBT EVO

Not cheap and you lose connected drive.