A Couple Of Questions Regarding Voom

[Robel]

Hi,

Long time DirecTV user here and am thinking of switching to Voom.

I have a couple of questions regarding Voom.

First off, I have a 60" Philips HD big screen tv and am very disappointed in Dtv's picture quality. Most standard definition channels are quite fuzzy and even the high definition channels leave a lot to be desired.

1. Is Voom's picture quality superior to Dtv's in both sd and hd programming on a big screen tv?

2. I can't get locals in my are so I subscribe to Dtv's national feed for the networks. My question is, does Voom carry a national network feed for people like me, and if so, are they the LA-NY station feeds?

3. Is Voom going to stay around long enough to make it worthwhile to hook up with them?

Thanks

 

[NiFi]

Hey Robel,

I insall all 3 sat systems on a daily basis, so:

1) absolutely, neither of the others compare picture wise

2) No national feeds for locals, so check antennaweb.org for yours, if they dont reach you, then no locals for you

3) No crystal ball to let us know, but hey Free is Free right? ( well $1 )

 

[piperut]

Hi,

Long time DirecTV user here and am thinking of switching to Voom.

I have a couple of questions regarding Voom.

First off, I have a 60" Philips HD big screen tv and am very disappointed in Dtv's picture quality. Most standard definition channels are quite fuzzy and even the high definition channels leave a lot to be desired.

1. Is Voom's picture quality superior to Dtv's in both sd and hd programming on a big screen tv?

2. I can't get locals in my are so I subscribe to Dtv's national feed for the networks. My question is, does Voom carry a national network feed for people like me, and if so, are they the LA-NY station feeds?

3. Is Voom going to stay around long enough to make it worthwhile to hook up with them?

Thanks

I have an Akai 55 inch rear projection TV. It has a built in ASTC tuner. I had Dish Network. I was not happy with the picture quality from Dish Network on the HDTV.

I did find a better picture on the HDTV using the coax input on channel 3 (you may have to use 4) instead of the composite input. It was also better if I ran the picture through the DVD player.

The video from the Dish Network and most likey the Direct TV receiver is set for the NTSC standard televisions, not the HDTV's.

I can make the Voom STB look like the Dish Network receiver did by setting it to 480i. It is not nice. It is ugly looking. I don't like it.

Voom PQ is superior to Dish Networks. It is on a newer bird. It is newer technology in the STB.

Some people have said something about Voom carrying a national network feed. I don't know. Where I live I had an antenna set up for the local digital stations. Voom will install an antenna for local digital stations. Local digital stations are on the UHF band. There is a link on www.fcc.gov that will show you if you can receive local digital stations.

Will Voom be around long enough? I spent a lot of time with this myself in Feb. I decided to take the plunge and have Voom installed for $1. If something happens I am not out a lot. Dish has a thing where you can put it in a sort of vacation status... you pay $5 a month and it sort of sleeps. I forget what they call it. They did not charge us for the first three months of this. So we figured we would try the 6 months of Voom and do this for 6 months. Then if something happens we could go back to Dish. Hedge your bets.

roland

 

[NiFi]

Hey Robel, I install all 3 sat systems on a daily basis, so my thoughts are:

1) Vooms picture quality is far superior

2) No national feeds yet, so check antennaweb.org for yours, if not available, then no locals for you

3) Free is Free right? ( well $1 ) so not alot to lose.

 

[Silas]

I can't compare voom to directv but I can tell you that voom sd is inferior to analog cable "quite bad". The hd channels lack detail which is being blame on new encoders that were recently added, but I'm begining to doubt that's the real reason for the poor pq that we now have.

 

[tonyeggleston]

Silas,

You must be kidding. I left cable because the PQ was unbearable! The PQ on Voom went down for about a week when they were changing over but my PQ is top notch now. I've had Cable, Dish and Direct and I can tell you hands down PQ isn't even a contest; Voom is better by leaps and bounds. Maybe time to get you setup looked at bro.

 

[VegasVoomer]

I agree on PQ subject. Just last night I was watching an SD channel and was thinking to myself how good it looked. I even did a res. check on the TV thinking it was 720p or something and it was indeed 480i. HD quality is outstanding. I'm sure the TV setting have alot to do with it. My only complaint about the locals is I cant get the one I watch the most, NBC, is north of my location and everything else is south. I'm thinking of reaiming the antenna somewhere in between and see what happens.

 

[dougmcbride]

I agree on PQ subject. Just last night I was watching an SD channel and was thinking to myself how good it looked. I even did a res. check on the TV thinking it was 720p or something and it was indeed 480i. HD quality is outstanding. I'm sure the TV setting have alot to do with it. My only complaint about the locals is I cant get the one I watch the most, NBC, is north of my location and everything else is south. I'm thinking of reaiming the antenna somewhere in between and see what happens.

Vegas - contemplate a rotator? Pretty easy to install. Channel Master 9521A (digital control unit with remote control) is going for about $70 street.

Doug

 

[Ronald_Jeremy]

Or Voom will get you one! And install it.

 

[VegasVoomer]

That is an option. I do have a rotor control box but left the rotor on the roof at my previous house in Maryland. I wish they were wireless. I would need like 100ft of cable to reach where it is now.
Is that an April fools about Voom supplying one? I've never heard of them supplying rotors.

 

[bratboy]

Or Voom will get you one! And install it.

Well, after doing some research on things I called voom about haveing someone come out and finish the job the 1st installer did and actually got an okay on a rotor, seperating the antenna lead from sat lead...then the ppl from the local installer called me to schedule the work, I explained everything again as well as what Voom said okay to and was told

1) Even tho Voom okayed running antenna as a seperate lead to improve reception (combining/uncombining made it so was only getting 2-3 locals intermittantly and when I hook 2nd units lead to ant in on the main unit without using the resplitter I got 7, most semi stable) I was told it didnt matter if Voom okayed it they would charge me 89 dollars. Seeing how, if I read things right each box is alloted the running of up to 120 ft of cable for installing and knowing that they only used approx 30 ft for each one when they did the install having to pay extra for the cabling now didnt seem right

2) As for the approved rotator, the install person said oh we wont do that...we cant get em to work <boggles the mind> Seems to me that since its basically a motorized rotation device and a 3 wired cable, how hard could it be to get one to work?

I tried to explain that part of fustraition was that my Tech had even given me a direct number to call him if I needed help or chose to do as he suggested and buy a Winegard HD7210P Platinum Series VHF-UHF Ghost Killer Antenna and he'd install it but that having called him 4 times since the 19th over issues he had not called me yet. That the person on phone was more concerned with the fact that the installer had given me the number and said would put up the ant for me than he was that they were refusing to do what Voom okayed, go figure.

Anyway in the end they said would send the job back to install inc so diffrent sub could do it. So I called main install inc explained everything to them, what Voom okayed and what the installer from the Sub said and was told no problem, they actually appologized for the subs behavior and promised they would send a diffrent Sub to do the work properly and fix what was done wrong via 1st installer Heck I went outside to look and the 1st installer didnt even seal the huge hole he drilled from outsid to bring the cable in, its just 2 leads running into a hole about the size of a quarter. Was even told by the very helpfull CSR at install Inc that if I had not heard from the new assigned ppl by monday to call them back and they would get ahold of them for me.

Seems some are more willing to help than others but also seems ya got to stick to your guns or get walked on.