# XM Channel Art



## Starks8 (Jul 20, 2011)

Not cool if this is in place of the nice colorful art that the XM Channels on the 2013's currently have.


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## BOB_BEAR (Apr 23, 2013)

Starks8 said:


> Not cool if this is in place of the nice colorful art that the XM Channels on the 2013's currently have.


That's my dilemma. I just bought my 2013 cruze last month. I used to have those nice colorful splash screens but now they're gone. I even reset my radio to default settings and that didn't help. 


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## Clump (Oct 22, 2012)

Mine did the same thing. It looks like XM changed them. The only option that I know of is to turn it off, which gives an even plainer blue screen, unfortunately.


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## Starks8 (Jul 20, 2011)

WTH?! Someone should contact XM and see if they plan on changing it back.


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## BOB_BEAR (Apr 23, 2013)

Yeah looks like they're here to stay. It's part of an xm channel update that took place a few days ago. I really do miss the old backgrounds ! I found this out on the xmfan.com forum board. 


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## Starks8 (Jul 20, 2011)

Did each XM channel used to have it's own art or were some of the background images used on multiple screens?


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## Patman (May 7, 2011)

I know XM moved some channels around. Why I don't know. Since I don't have the screen you guys have I just see that the channel # changed. I know Stars channel 107 changed to 106, I don't know what else. Maybe you can find out more here: New Channel Numbers - SiriusXM Radio I think they put thing more in categories and added channels.
Hope this helps.


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## Clump (Oct 22, 2012)

Starks8 said:


> Did each XM channel used to have it's own art or were some of the background images used on multiple screens?


Some shared artwork. Howard 100 and 101 were the same. Classic Vinyl and Deep Tracks were the same. Those I know for sure.


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## Nerbles107 (Jun 4, 2013)

I been having the same issue with the blue xm background art. I have taken the vehicle back to the dealership and they reset the mylink to default. They stated that it is possible that the blackberry phone which was connected to mylink via Bluetooth may have cause the problem. At this time I am testing the theory and so far I still have the xm background that I have started with when I bought my car. While working with the techs at the chevy dealership we have determine that this blue xm background art is not an external problem but something to do with the software of the Mylink system. We still don't know if it is XM updates that are causing the problem or some bad code within the Mylink programming.


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## aharnak (Feb 25, 2013)

It's my understanding that the bandwidth of XM is quite limited (which is why the audio quality isn't the best). They frequently have to walk the line between having lots of stations with poor quality, or few stations with excellent quality. I'd assume that if these images are coming from the satellite along with the audio, they're doing it to save bandwidth, which either means slightly higher quality audio somewhere, or the capacity for more stations. IMHO, I'd take either of those over nicer background images.


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## MD5335 (Oct 16, 2012)

I went ahead and submitted a support question to siriusxm to get (I hope) a definitive answer from them. I also included a picture I happened to have of the mylink operating before they changed all the images to "shades of blue". I'll post here should I actually get a response.


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## MD5335 (Oct 16, 2012)

I'll update here that I got an email back from siriusxm asking me to call customer care at 1-800-869-5364. I did so. After explaining the issue, the employee sent my call to product support (1-855-260-5969). The support person had an understanding of the radio, said the images were sent from siriusxm but was not aware that they had changed their process or images. He said he had not heard any other comments from listeners. I did explain that there were similar comments here. He sent a reset signal to my radio (no impact). He asked me to call back in 2 days.


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## BOB_BEAR (Apr 23, 2013)

For a few brief moments today the original xm channel art screens came back on my screen only to disappear a few minutes later. Actually some stuck around hopefully the rest of the channels will come back to original form.

































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## Clump (Oct 22, 2012)

BOB_BEAR said:


> For a few brief moments today the original xm channel art screens came back on my screen only to disappear a few minutes later. Actually some stuck around hopefully the rest of the channels will come back to original form.
> Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App


Mine were back this morning, although Howard 100 was an odd image. They stayed for my 50 minute commute. We'll see this afternoon what happens.


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## MD5335 (Oct 16, 2012)

BOB_BEAR said:


> For a few brief moments today the original xm channel art screens came back on my screen only to disappear a few minutes later. Actually some stuck around hopefully the rest of the channels will come back to original form.
> View attachment 15051
> View attachment 15052
> View attachment 15053
> ...


Some of my images came back yesterday afternoon as I was driving, like the jukebox for the pop stations. Others were weird, like the image of a sports referee with CNBC. My phone calls to SirusXM have yielded me no information. I shall try again with them.


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## Nosman (Apr 28, 2013)

I've had the plain blue images for the 3 weeks up until this morning when the fancy images appeared, we'll see if they stay the rest of the day.


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## MD5335 (Oct 16, 2012)

I did speak to a "customer advocate" today at SiriusXM who was less then helpful. She didn't believe SiriusXM sent any pictures and that it was Chevrolet's problem. My SiriusXM screen is back to the blue stuff. 

I think I'll move on to more important things--like how I'm going to get a cheap renewal from SiriusXM based on their lack of expertise.


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## SiriusXM (Jun 12, 2013)

Hi MD5335-

Would you please send us an email with your contact information to [email protected], so we can help. We can get on a call with one of our engineers to see why this might be happening and see what troubleshooting steps we can help with. 

Thanks, 
SiriusXM Digital Care Team


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## Clump (Oct 22, 2012)

Mine was back to the blue images last night and still this morning.


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## Starks8 (Jul 20, 2011)

Clump said:


> Mine was back to the blue images last night and still this morning.


Boooo!


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## Nosman (Apr 28, 2013)

Yup mine went back last night as well!


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## MD5335 (Oct 16, 2012)

I did speak with another SiriusXM rep on Wednesday. Here is the response I received from her this morning (I didn't use Twitter, it was email then a phone conversation...but alas that doesn't change the result):


Hi Mr. XXXXX,

We wanted to thank you for reaching out to us on Twitter. Concerning the channel images we spoke about, there were new Category Art images introduced along with the channel lineup change. The background pictures (various shades of blue) that you are seeing while tuned to the XM channels are the correct images.

If you have any additional questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards,

Anne Shaw
SIRIUS XM Digital Care Team
Monday- Friday 8 a.m.- 8 p.m. EST 
1-888-463-5435


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## Starks8 (Jul 20, 2011)

MD5335 said:


> I did speak with another SiriusXM rep on Wednesday. Here is the response I received from her this morning (I didn't use Twitter, it was email then a phone conversation...but alas that doesn't change the result):
> 
> 
> Hi Mr. XXXXX,
> ...


You should ask her if there is any chance of the images being changed back.


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## MD5335 (Oct 16, 2012)

Over the last few days, channel art images on XM on the Mylink have returned. Some are familiar and appropriate, others are weird. On my weather channels there is a picture of the inside of a theater, for example. On the sports channels, the image appears to be a stylistic duo of instruments players. Some are fine--like the classical stations, and the 40's-90's showing the jukebox. It is all entertaining, I guess, and certainly more interesting that various "shades of blue" that I've had for a month plus.


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## BOB_BEAR (Apr 23, 2013)

MD5335 said:


> Over the last few days, channel art images on XM on the Mylink have returned. Some are familiar and appropriate, others are weird. On my weather channels there is a picture of the inside of a theater, for example. On the sports channels, the image appears to be a stylistic duo of instruments players. Some are fine--like the classical stations, and the 40's-90's showing the jukebox. It is all entertaining, I guess, and certainly more interesting that various "shades of blue" that I've had for a month plus.


So did the images / splash screens come back for good or did the blue screens stay after all? 

My xm sub expired and now I'm just curious lol


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## MD5335 (Oct 16, 2012)

BOB_BEAR said:


> So did the images / splash screens come back for good or did the blue screens stay after all?
> 
> My xm sub expired and now I'm just curious lol
> 
> ...



Nope, they stayed about a day and are gone again. Back to various shades of blue...circles, smoke, raindrops. Boring.


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## BOB_BEAR (Apr 23, 2013)

I guess there's a free xm trial going on as my xm is currently active. And to my surprise the channel art is back. Is it back for good?









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## BOB_BEAR (Apr 23, 2013)

Holy ****! Lol


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## Starks8 (Jul 20, 2011)

BOB_BEAR said:


> I guess there's a free xm trial going on as my xm is currently active. And to my surprise the channel art is back. Is it back for good?
> View attachment 32778
> 
> 
> ...


I sure hope so!


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## MD5335 (Oct 16, 2012)

My XM channel art is not back. Makes a sporadic appearance but, while I've driven lots of hours over the last week, there has been no recent relief from the boring blue stuff. Sigh.


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## buickgn (Jul 21, 2013)

My channel art came back last night for about 3 hours, then it went bye bye lol


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## BlueCrush (Jan 5, 2014)

I recently bought at 2014 Cruze LT in November, and at first it had a 'brown guitar' channel art on the SiriusXM Octane channel; I think I recall seeing a jukebox theme on another channel as well. Now, all the channel arts are blue. I'm wondering now, too, how to get the cool channel art that I've apparently been missing out on.


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## Schnurd (Nov 2, 2013)

I remember seeing the colorful ones back on there a few days ago. Ill check to see what's on there now when I go to work 

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## earthgirl (Dec 26, 2013)

I've been missing out all along ! Just bought my 2014 LTZ and have always had the ugly blue images. I feel jilted. Glad I haven't purchased a subscription! Thank you for the posts so I don't make the mistake of buying one. 


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## MD5335 (Oct 16, 2012)

My XM images came back yesterday at 9 a.m. About 24 hours ago and are still working. They changed a couple times and, yesterday, there were some that didn't make sense (like an image of a theater for the traffic channel [San Francisco]). Today, the ones that didn't make sense have changed back to the boring blue stuff, but classical, jazz, rock, and blend channels all have appropriate and different images. I know it isn't a big deal but it sure makes the radio look more interesting! Hope they stay.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Made a post in the FB CT group. Mine are gone again.


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## Eddy Cruze (Jan 10, 2014)

This morning my XM background screen was Blue and now its Pumpkin Brown and Yellow, why?


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## BlueCrush (Jan 5, 2014)

My channel art came back for a whole 20 minutes Thursday (9/25/14) evening. Started my car at 7:02 pm, got some funky new colorful channel art, did some channel surfing, and then at about 7:20 pm it was back to the stupid blue screen again. Been that way since. WTH???


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## MD5335 (Oct 16, 2012)

Most of my cool images disappeared by the end of the day on the 27th EXCEPT the Spanish and French channels had inappropriate images...a cool picture of a baseball glove and ball, and an image of city traffic. Which would have been perfect for the baseball channels and the weather/traffic channels. Sigh.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Yeah I posted Thursday around lunch time and by the time I went out that night around 9 est it was gone.


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## 2014Malibu (Nov 6, 2014)

Hello all - I have found a solution! I have a 2014Malibu with the MyLink radio and had the exact same problem starting last Monday 10/27/2014. Follow these steps for the Malibu, but I bet the same will work for all similar radios:

Home > Config > Radio > Software Versions > Clear & Reset

Resetting the radio from the menu instantly brought all the awesome CHANNEL ART right out to the open. My car at the time was 3 stories down in a basement garage in a major city and had no access to XM during this reset, and yet all the art was right there instantly. So it was just hidden. I did not need to go to the dealer to do this. Even though Chevy MyLink customer service said that was needed.

I can't comment if it will stay as I left the car in the garage after getting this advice from Daniel at XM Customer Service (866-557-8553 x6708), but it worked for now! 

Enjoy the Channel Art everyone!


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Malibu is 2.0 MyLink.


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## Chevy Fan (Jul 12, 2014)

I own a 2014 LT and tried this suggested solution and it worked. Color graphics back and no issues through out the day. We'll see what tomorrow brings.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Haven't used XM recently but at times they just give us art and take it away. I'll be pessimistic about it and see if this will work. Dealership did reset my radio over a week ago.


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## Chevy Fan (Jul 12, 2014)

Second complete day and the color graphics still being displayed. Prior to conducting the suggested "clear and reset" I was receiving the boring blue graphics. Immediately after this reset the color graphics appeared. We'll see what tomorrow brings.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Keep forgetting to look at XM screen. I'll try again in a few mins to see what I get. May even reset signal same time.


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## 2014Malibu (Nov 6, 2014)

I think the blue art is going to return. I talked again to SiriusXM Advanced Technical support and in talking to this new person, he said in May 2013 SiriusXM updated the Category Channel Art to this blue theme. The photos you see when a reset occurs are the original set, then a second set that came out will show up, and finally the blue them that is current will likely appear later. The MyLink manual says the art comes from SiriusXM via broadcast. 

From the Malibu 2014 MyLink manual "SiriusXM provides updated category background graphics and the radio will automatically update the screen. SiriusXM may send updated category graphics to the vehicle. When this happens, the background graphics may appear to be incorrect, but the radio will update once all of the graphics have been downloaded from SiriusXM."

Sorry folks to get your hopes up. SiriusXM tech support recommends everyone write a letter to Corporate at SiriusXM to ask for them to revert to the nicer photo based Channel Art to this address:

SiriusXM
Corporate Customer Relations
1221 Avenue of the Americas
NY, NY 10020


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Forgot to come back here, neither reset or sending a new signal worked. I only got lucky sometimes and the art would be there for a day and be gone the next.


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## Eddy Cruze (Jan 10, 2014)

If I had to look at a Pumpkin Brown and Yellow background on my trip to San Diego I would have gone out of my mind with the Directions and Connections! I did get tired of the first two reps on this trip telling me I don't have a Color Monitor so I would have to look at their DIC. Every call got better though and in the familiar Blue background Directions & Connections works great! Of course no one ever told me you can't hang up on the rep when you're done speaking with them or the Directions can't come. I mean who would know that?


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## Chevy Fan (Jul 12, 2014)

Sure enough after three days of color graphics, the blue graphics have returned. I reset it once more and after only a half day the blue graphics returned. Of course doing this reset always requires me to once again "pair" my phone. Although this is quite easy - its not worth having to do just to get the color graphics back for such a short period of time.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Eddy Cruze said:


> If I had to look at a Pumpkin Brown and Yellow background on my trip to San Diego I would have gone out of my mind with the Directions and Connections! I did get tired of the first two reps on this trip telling me I don't have a Color Monitor so I would have to look at their DIC. Every call got better though and in the familiar Blue background Directions & Connections works great! Of course no one ever told me you can't hang up on the rep when you're done speaking with them or the Directions can't come. I mean who would know that?


LOL I learned this the hard way. I usually use the app but lately I would call em. 



Chevy Fan said:


> Sure enough after three days of color graphics, the blue graphics have returned. I reset it once more and after only a half day the blue graphics returned. Of course doing this reset always requires me to once again "pair" my phone. Although this is quite easy - its not worth having to do just to get the color graphics back for such a short period of time.


If you go in for MyLink issues and you reset it, they tend to not like you very much as you cleared all the troubles you originally went in for. I only reset if Bluetooth stops working. If iPhone music stops working I just use XM till i get around to do it. My settings are no unlocked doors and every time I reset it defaults to unlocking doors on me. Also go into radio settings and check off normalization for the grace note.


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## grinch1989 (Dec 9, 2014)

Hey all, I joined this forum just so I can reply to this thread with my experience. I have a 2014 GMC Terrain and have the same exact issue as you guys. When I first picked up the car early this year life was good with channel art, then a week or two later it was gone. Fast forward to later this summer, I got rid of Sirius and tried Spotify for a while. In late November Sirius activated my radio for a free trial, during this entire two week period the channel art was back, so I had thought they fixed their issues. Last week the free trial ended and I decided to resubscribe to Sirius because I was not thrilled with spotify. Now for the good part, an hour or so after they activated my radio the channel art was gone and I was back to the dreaded blue background. Seeing this art is transmitted from Sirius, I do find their bait and switch tactic amusing as I highly doubt this was coincidental. Anyone else experience this? Thanks


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## LS6rally (Dec 2, 2014)

^ check your settings. the Cruze has an option for channel art or not


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## grinch1989 (Dec 9, 2014)

LS6rally said:


> ^ check your settings. the Cruze has an option for channel art or not


It's on...I've also tried toggling it on and off, etc... Thanks though


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## MD5335 (Oct 16, 2012)

Pretty cool XM channel images have been on for me the last 2 days. Nice baseball and football. Image of a NASCAR race on the NASCAR channel. Microphone for some the talk entertainment channels. World map for the finance and PBS channels. French horn for the classical station. I hope they stay...it really shows off the screen.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

MD5335 said:


> Pretty cool XM channel images have been on for me the last 2 days. Nice baseball and football. Image of a NASCAR race on the NASCAR channel. Microphone for some the talk entertainment channels. World map for the finance and PBS channels. French horn for the classical station. I hope they stay...it really shows off the screen.


They made my purchase of the car great in 2013 then they disappeared for a while and pop up for hours every 4 months. This is the longest I seen it work.


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## tdr37803 (Dec 7, 2014)

I got the new channel art a couple of days ago. When I started the car it was just there. I like the more colorful background.


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## Chevy Fan (Jul 12, 2014)

Sure enough, like others on Cruzetalk, my channel art reappeared about a week ago. Wonder how long we will have the art back?


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## rob1231 (Feb 2, 2015)

Gone this morning. Was nice to have it for about two weeks.


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## MD5335 (Oct 16, 2012)

rob1231 said:


> Gone this morning. Was nice to have it for about two weeks.


Same here. Very sad. I will, however, find some way to go on. I've learned life is full of disappointments. :uhh:


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## BlueCrush (Jan 5, 2014)

Had mine for about 3 weeks. Nice graphics. After a couple weeks, thought it was here to stay. 
Then one morning I started my car, the screen displayed the cool graphic, then about a few seconds later all of a sudden the boring old blue screen just popped up out of nowhere. WTF. Hate the boring blue screen; for what I'm paying to have satellite radio the least they could do is keep the cool graphics.


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## 2014Malibu (Nov 6, 2014)

Noticed nice images came back during Free SiriusXM trial end of Jan 2015 into Feb 2015, there might be a correlation, I recontacted SiriusXM and have them researching. Uploading the nice photos for reference and bad blue undesirable images.







































Latest Software from MyLink does not fix issue.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

2014Malibu said:


> Noticed nice images came back during Free SiriusXM trial end of Jan 2015 into Feb 2015, there might be a correlation, I recontacted SiriusXM and have them researching. Uploading the nice photos for reference and bad blue undesirable images.
> View attachment 136457
> View attachment 136465
> View attachment 136473
> ...


Yep its a XM satellite issue, they control when they have art or not. Resetting signal does nothing for the art. 

I miss it so and at times I get the XM watermark black preview background.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

The folks over in the Tesla forum forum seem to think it's not XM, but Gracenote doing the cover art. Which raises the question - how is gracenote "phoning home"?

At least be happy that even folks with very expensive cars are having the same problem. :grin:


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

I turned that on and off as well. Clear and reset radio whole 9 yards.


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## 2014Malibu (Nov 6, 2014)

I have a new theory for everyone to consider. I'm talking to the advanced tech support at SiriusXM trying to figure this out and I think they have convinced me it's not them sending the Blue Category Art. We ran a test tonight by reseting my radio to the factory settings while also reactivating it to a new dummy account, the blue images quickly reappeared in minutes, too fast for a satellite feed to send them.

So here is the new theory, what if all the radios in question have a software bug where they cannot keep up with Channel to Category assignments and if the radio fails to do so, how does it behave? Does the blue art happen then as a result? We know SiriusXM from time to time assigns each channel a Category and updates that periodically.

I noticed after a software reset, the nice art reappears, but at times the wrong art is assigned to channels. Like the comedy laughing faces appears on the Traffic channel when I do a reset, and when I reset again later, it might be an auditorium full of seats (like for an opera channel) assigned to the traffic channel 134. The radio does act inconsistently for a reset. 

Let me know what think, if you can try it yourself as well, please do so and report back. Try resetting your radio (*caution you'll lose all your bluetooth pairing, nav addresses and vehicle settings*), what happens to your art in the presence of an XM signal? and try it again when no XM signal is present? Is the behavior reverting to the blue art the same? Or does your radio not revert at all in the absence of an XM signal?

I'll share my results in a few days after playing with this theory.


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