Sirius XM Adds “TiVo” to Car Radios

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sirius xm adds "TiVo" to radios at CESFor the first time in years, Sirius XM is offering a new aftermarket tuner for car stereo head units. The SXV100 will slash the cost of adding satellite radio to a car radio and simplify the installation. It will also add a 24-minute TiVo-like buffer and iTunes tagging capability for the first time in this type of device.

Interestingly, the new $69.99 SXV100 is an XM tuner, although you can receive the Best of Sirius on it. Most of the new products from Sirius XM in recent years are on the XM platform which jibes with hints from company brass that Sirius XM will convert to the XM platform over the next decade.

The SXV100 does away with the need for a special cable for each brand of radio, which cuts out $40+ on the cost of adding satellite radio to a deck. Instead suppliers will include compatible firmware in their new radios. And retailers no longer have to stockpile about 20 different cables. Some of the first compatible radios should come from Alpine, Sony and possibly Audiovox.

Other features on the SVX100 tuner include game alert for when your favorite team is playing and alerts when your favorite song or artist is on the air. You can also pause, rewind and fast forward through up to 24 minutes of XM or Best of Sirius programming. The music is buffered in a “first-in, first-out” basis.

There’s no backwards compatibility with existing radios. Sirius XM will continue to supply the old XM tuners “for as long as the market needs them, but we suspect that the transition by our partners would be pretty quick,” said Sean Gibbons, VP product marketing for the aftermarket.

Alpine will offer the first 3 SXV100-compatible radios, one of which will ship bundled with the XM tuner in the box at a very aggressive price of $220.99 for the package. Called the CDE-124SXM, it ships in March.

Source: Sirius XM

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