OTHER TECH

Sirius Revamps Its Codec Just before the scheduled nationwide rollout of Sirius Satellite Radio on July 1, but after Sound & Vision's "Satellite Radio A to Z" article went to press, the service announced that it would use a new audio codec, called PAC v4, claimed to achieve more accurate sound reproduction at lower bit rates. Sirius says the codec is "based on a deeper understanding of hearing physiology" and called it a "significant advance over the previous generation of perceptual codecs." No changes to existing Sirius receivers are required for compatibility. All changes, the company says, will take place at the encoding end.