dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
1871

cypherstream
MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
·PenTeleData
ARRIS SB8200

cypherstream

MVM

Music Choice

Do you guys like Music Choice? Wouldn't it be nice to have Sirius or XM in addition or instead of MC? Yeah I'd love to have Sirius.

Anyway what brings this up is I was at a cookout last weekend in Phoenixville, PA with a bunch of friends. They guy there works for a company that delivers coffee to a bunch of businesses in that area, Philly, Allentown, etc... One of his customers is Music Choice in Horsham, PA. He said it's a nice facility and they seem pretty cool there.

Music Choice is pretty cool with all of the music video's they have on demand. Do you guys use this service?
mjw703
join:2005-02-24
Arlington, VA

mjw703

Member

While I do think XM and Sirius are better, I do enjoy Music Choice, especially the Adult Alternative, Classic Rock and Jazz channels. I do wish that Comcast would offer local radio stations on digital cable. In my market, Washington DC, there are a lot of suburban radio stations that people listen to in their cars that they can't pick up at their homes or offices. It's especially hard to listen to most of the local AM stations. It would be especially cool if Comcast had the HD side channels of radio stations that are always being advertised, I'm sure the radio companies would love to have more than a few dozen listeners to those stations.

cypherstream
MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
·PenTeleData
ARRIS SB8200

cypherstream

MVM

mjw, you make a good point. It would be really cool if they had HDRadio receivers picking up popular local stations and then piping them through after the Music Choice lineup. They don't have to transmit video or any other information so it would take minimal bandwidth. Perhaps they could run it at 128kbps per channel if they are worried about space.

I remember back in the day they used to distribute an FM Channel Lineup Card, and you could plug your cable into an FM Receiver and get 30 clear stations. They did away with this to reclaim a few video channels for basic service and Motorola OOB Data.

I wonder if someday Comcast will ever come to an agreement with another music provider. I do enjoy music choice though, and it's pretty cool how they have that slideshow information on all their channels. I remember when Digital Cable first came out in our area Music Choice was nothing but a black screen. We used to have a bunch of DMX Spanish music channels right after the Music Choice lineup, but those were given the axe a few months ago.
gebe6
join:2004-12-09
Minersville, PA

gebe6

Member

it would be nice if the channel switching from music choice would be alittle faster, or they can make the music choice lineup a comcast central format..i am sure they can fit around 10 different choice or more on the screen since it is basically a jpeg put the music channels on the left and maybe 10 different little previews on the right one click preview, or scroll from the left menu..what does everyone think?

SeattleMatt
Streaming Tech Director
Premium Member
join:2001-12-28
Seattle, WA

1 edit

SeattleMatt to cypherstream

Premium Member

to cypherstream
Hey Cypher-
While DE and PA haven't gotten them yet (so i'm not sure what they're like), FIOS TV is rolling out new music channels this week - that are sponsored by MTV. Apparently they will compliment the Music Choice lineup.

Check out this thread:

»New audio-only channels?

When I had DISH, I really liked the Sirius stations.

cypherstream
MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
·PenTeleData
ARRIS SB8200

cypherstream

MVM

WOW I hope Comcast gets these!!!!

»www.mtv.com/mtvradio/

647 CRUNCH
648 MTV2
649 BLUES2
650 Nick Kids
651 CMT Radio
652 Diner
653 Wide Open Country
654 Voice Box
655 Vinyl
656 Dope
657 Hip-Nod-Ics
658 Celebration
659 Unforgettable
660 Manteca
661 TRL
662 Pegao
663 I Love the 80s
664 I Love the 90s
665 MTV Radio
666 Neon
667 Reunion
668 Rocks
669 Axis
670 Opera Babylon
672 Crescendo
673 Bluegrass
674 Plush
675 Zen
676 Discotech
677 Ultrasound
678 Praise
679 Smoke
680 Oasis
681 Swing
682 Radio Alterna
683 MTV2 Headbanger's Ball
684 Blast
685 Gold
686 VH1 Radio
687 NuGroove
688 Soul City
689 VH1 Soul
690 Cinema
691 Jazzup Broadway
692 Big World
693 Ragga
694 Comedy Radio

CableTool
Poorly Representing MYSELF.
Premium Member
join:2004-11-12

CableTool to cypherstream

Premium Member

to cypherstream
I listen to Music Choice if Im upstairs cleaning or folding clothes or just working on th computer.
If Im downstairs its Sirius. I would love to have Sirius on the tv as well. Its an interesting idea.. I wonder how they would go about applying a subscription or if it would just be a vanilla Sirius.

Add to my wishlist as well.

Travelfan1
RIP Analog Go Digital
join:2005-08-23
Woodbridge, NJ

Travelfan1

Member

quote:
CableTool See Profile
I listen to Music Choice if Im upstairs cleaning or folding clothes

CableTool cleaning or folding clothes????? The world is really coming to an end soon...

CableTool
Poorly Representing MYSELF.
Premium Member
join:2004-11-12

CableTool

Premium Member

im very domestic on my days off.

CRP2
Comcast of Ocean County
join:2005-12-26
Brick, NJ

CRP2

Member

Music Choice is a pretty good service in my opinion, no real complaints from me. Some of the favorite channels in my household are Hit List, Soft Rock, Classic Rock, Showcase and 70s.

XM or Sirius would be sweet though.
wdsnls
join:2003-06-19
Palm City, FL

wdsnls to cypherstream

Member

to cypherstream
I've had Music Choice since 1992, when it was provided via a DCR (Digital Cable Radio) box, separate from your cable set top box. It was only analog at that time with thirty channels. It always sounded flat even when run through my old surround sound system. With the advent of digital cable, I now have it connected from my digital cable box through my Dolby 7.1 system, via the digital coax output. Even though it's only Dolby 2.0, it still sounds flat. I've never listened to Sirius or XM, but if it would sound better, I would love to see Comcast change to it.

cypherstream
MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
·PenTeleData
ARRIS SB8200

cypherstream

MVM

I really like Music Choice, and as cool as it would be to see XM or Sirius on Comcast, I think those companies would charge Comcast too much. Perhaps you would have to pay extra for it, and that's something I wouldn't do. I pay an extra $2.99 to sirius a month to be able to get the premium quality sirius online radio, so I wouldn't pay even more to comcast for it. But if they would just throw it in with Digital Plus or whatever its called now, I would welcome it.

I think we have a better chance of seeing the new MTV Radio channels as opposed to Sirius or XM. DirecTV and Dish Network have locked in Sirius and XM anyway, so I'm sure they would cry if a Cable provider would pick one of those up as well.

CableTool
Poorly Representing MYSELF.
Premium Member
join:2004-11-12

CableTool

Premium Member

yeah, I already pay for two radios on my subscription, I wouldnt pay to have them on the box.. but I wouldnt turn it down for free!

Steely
I rise when the sun goes down
Premium Member
join:2000-10-15
Princeton Junction, NJ

Steely to cypherstream

Premium Member

to cypherstream
Music Choice is fair at best. The channel choices are somewhat limited and the sound quality is just short of terrible. I have XM in my car and there's absolutely no comparison. Would love to see Comcast pick up Sirius or XM, not that they ever will.
mdfios7
join:2007-04-01
Waldorf, MD

1 edit

mdfios7 to cypherstream

Member

to cypherstream
music choice is ok but has awful sound transitions. their music selection seems very random with no continuity.

mtv urge is awesome!

as far as comcast carrying any local fm/am dont count on it. they digitized some local radio stations in the bay area after analog fm was dropped and customers complained.
dishrich
join:2006-05-12
Springfield, IL

2 edits

dishrich to wdsnls

Member

to wdsnls
said by wdsnls:

I've had Music Choice since 1992, when it was provided via a DCR (Digital Cable Radio) box, separate from your cable set top box. It was only analog at that time with thirty channels.
Sorry, but this is incorrect - even back then, it WAS totally digital. If you remember (I had it too) the box had the Dolby Digital symbol on it. It too, used DD 2.0, just like your digital box does today. It transmitted ALL the channels by using multiple digital streams scattered throughout unused portions of the CATV band, or at least what the system was capable of using. It was digital ALL the way from the DCR uplink, all the way to your DCR box.

Also, on our DCR service, we also got digital simulcasts of MTV, VH1, HBO, Showtime & Cinemax.
dishrich

dishrich to mjw703

Member

to mjw703
said by mjw703:

I do wish that Comcast would offer local radio stations on digital cable.
Two problems as to why this will probably never happen:

1. All those OTA stations STILL would be eating up bandwidth, even being digital, so I'm sure most cable systems would rather use that bandwidth for more important things. (read HD, other video services, etc.)

2. When the cable act of 1992 (not 100% sure of the year) was enacted & brought "retransmission consent" to the forefront, this ALSO included OTA AM/FM stations as well. Since back then the majority of cable systems x-mitted the FM service in the FM band & most listeners were NOT paying for it, most operators decided it was NOT worth the effort to get the retrans for EVERY FM station, just to have people stealing it, so hence the majority dropped the service.
wdsnls
join:2003-06-19
Palm City, FL

2 edits

wdsnls to dishrich

Member

to dishrich
said by dishrich:

said by wdsnls:

I've had Music Choice since 1992, when it was provided via a DCR (Digital Cable Radio) box, separate from your cable set top box. It was only analog at that time with thirty channels.
Sorry, but this is incorrect - even back then, it WAS totally digital. If you remember (I had it too) the box had the Dolby Digital symbol on it. It too, used DD 2.0, just like your digital box does today. It transmitted ALL the channels by using multiple digital streams scattered throughout unused portions of the CATV band, or at least what the system was capable of using. It was digital ALL the way from the DCR uplink, all the way to your DCR box.

Also, on our DCR service, we also got digital simulcasts of MTV, VH1, HBO, Showtime & Cinemax.
I had a Jerrold box with only analog outputs. There was no digital output on the box, i.e. digital coax or optical. My stereo receiver had only analog inputs. I was also in an system with no fiber optics and usually poor video quality on the upper band channels (50-62). I was wrong with the number of channels. It was 19 not 30 and I had no audio simulcasts of any TV channels. I paid an extra $9.95 p/month for this service. I had recently moved from the New York City area where you had any type of music you wanted OTA. There was next to nothing where I moved and Music Choice was my only alternative.
mdfios7
join:2007-04-01
Waldorf, MD

mdfios7

Member

Jerrold Music Choice and Scientific Atlanta DMX services that debuted in the early 90's were digital but not in the digital that we know today. It was actually the first digital service deployed widely but I believe it was transmitted in QPSK modulation rather than the 64 or 256QAM modulation that is used today. With the higher data rates of QAM you can squeeze 45 channels into a single 6mhz slot where as the old Music Choice and DMX required 2-4 6mhz slots and a ton of headend gear. They were carried in lots of old non rebuilt systems either in the FM band or rolloff frequencies where an analog video channel would not work well.
tzs
join:2006-06-18
Silverdale, WA

tzs to cypherstream

Member

to cypherstream
said by cypherstream:

Wouldn't it be nice to have Sirius or XM in addition or instead of MC?
I had DirectTV before switching to Comcast (not because of any problem with DirectTV, but rather because my DSL+local phone company was having problems, so I wanted to switch internet and phone to Comcast, and the Triple Play made it worth switching TV, too). They switched from MusicChoice to XM, and it sucked.

It might have been OK if they had provided ALL the XM channels, but it was only a subset. About as many channels as they had of MusicChoice, in fact. When I switched to Comcast and found they had MusicChoice, I was quite pleased.
JamesDax
join:2001-02-24
Philadelphia, PA

JamesDax to cypherstream

Member

to cypherstream
My only issue with music choice is that I wish it was just a blank screen instead of the graphics and info. When I had directv i loved being able to sit in a dark room listening to my Jazz and sipping a cold one. The music choice channels leave the room to bright.
wdsnls
join:2003-06-19
Palm City, FL

wdsnls

Member

said by JamesDax:

My only issue with music choice is that I wish it was just a blank screen instead of the graphics and info. When I had directv i loved being able to sit in a dark room listening to my Jazz and sipping a cold one. The music choice channels leave the room to bright.
I don't know what your setup is but why don't you run the audio through a receiver? I never even turn on my TV when listening to Music Choice.
dishrich
join:2006-05-12
Springfield, IL

1 edit

dishrich to wdsnls

Member

to wdsnls
said by wdsnls:

I had a Jerrold box with only analog outputs. There was no digital output on the box, i.e. digital coax or optical. My stereo receiver had only analog inputs.
Well IMHO, I don't think you can say that the previous incarnation of MC was "analog", just because the box did NOT have a digital output to your stereo. That's like saying a DCR700 is analog, when in fact, it's is all digital all the way up to the set-top, just like the old DCR receiver was. It's really a question of semantics - just because the signal turns to analog IN THE BOX, as opposed to IN YOUR AUDIO RECEIVER, doesn't really make the "system" analog or digital either way.

As mdfios has already pointed out, MC & DMX were digital since day 1, just in a slightly different format than what goes through your digital cable box of today. The bottom line is, it was ALWAYS a digital signal then, just as it is today.
I was wrong with the number of channels. It was 19 not 30 and I had no audio simulcasts of any TV channels. I paid an extra $9.95 p/month for this service.
Ours started out with 19, but after they removed the OTA FM service from our system, they expanded the lineup to 30, & also gave us 4 "commercial" channels in the 60's (but they gave them to EVERY DCR sub) & the 5 simulcasts. We paid the same price.
gmwedding
join:2005-02-14
Elk Grove, CA

gmwedding

Member

It's iTunes-controlled music from any home/office computer all the way for us. Simple AV Receiver and computer connectivity, a great, modern interface and nice graphics, go anywhere custom music and playlists and distribution throughout the home or on portable devices. The compression level and sound quality is customizable if you digitize your own CDs and vastly superior to the over-compressed Music Choice songs. And the Music Choice folks shouldn't even bother with on screen graphics that are of such poor technical quality and also severely over compressed.

Geez, this isn't the 1980s any more... the overall multimedia experience is important now, because the technology allows it...Music Choice does not utilize the digital technology to its fullest, and so it is lame.

Many of us NEVER use some of this Comcrapstic programming and it is pointless to have to pay for it to subsidize those who do use it.

sansri88
digital is here
Premium Member
join:2005-12-17
New York, NY

1 edit

sansri88 to cypherstream

Premium Member

to cypherstream
yeahhh.....my music choice doesn't work so i dont have the pleasure of telling you if i like it or not...

any suggestions as to why it says subscription service? i used to be able to listen to it but then it stopped working along with ondemand

edit: i called comcast tonite, and the guy said for me to replace both boxes i had and said it had to do with some update/upgrade thing...forgot what he said. he also said that the meta 6 error bleeds through to other channels, hence the reason why music choice isnt working. anyone confirm that this is true?

mikedz4
join:2003-04-14
Weirton, WV

mikedz4 to cypherstream

Member

to cypherstream
Comcast will Never get rid of Music Choice because they OWN Music Choice, unfortunately. So we are stuck with it. I too was hoping it would be replaced with maybe one of the satellite radio services but since Comcast Owns it I doubt that will happen.