BREAKING VOOM DVR News from CES!!!

[Scotty]

Let me get this straight, Ucentric has been working on the VOOM DVR for nearly a year and its buggy and not ready to be put on display for people to fiddle with, yet D* signs a contract with Ucentric in November and their DVR is running through Olympic trials at CES 2 months later??? So the voom booth has lots of monitors, empty boxes, and a DVR whose software isnt working right yet.

WTF??

I'm hoping that the reason this dvr is taking longer than the others is because the others pale in comparison to the feature set that we will get with the voom dvr. It's harder to make it work on a network and with a voom receiver that is relatively new compared to the other sat receivers. None of the other dvr's from the other sats work on a network to make a whole house solution, right?

 

[rudolpht]

I don't know what this nonsense is about not showing it to the public. They did show it to me and walked through the demo showing what was working or not. Mar was repeated repeatably The Ucentric guys were very proud of the state of the unit. The biggest issues now seem to be business issues, ie swapping, concurrent elliptical antenna upgrades etc. This was NOT like the 2 CES delayed kludged Dish 921.

The big feature was that stored video content, 50 hours HD, 300 SD or mix thereof, was added as a new "channel" making the user interface pretty slick. Having a Co commit to Mar is significant, even if there are delays it's comming.

Other HDVR news: There will be a mid-year new version of the DVR which has the MPEG-4 built-in. The current version, shipping in Mar, requires a card, like existing boxes.

Other CODEC news: MPEG-4 is working now, but the rollout is the issue. Several iterations have dramatically improved PQ, in a much more compressed timeframe than MPEG-2 improvements. They are committed NOT to reduce PQ

Other antenna news. Again being held up by business vs technical decisions.

Other programming news: It appears most of what's on the current sats will stay, at least for HD and premium content. There are 20 negotiations going on for new content, but "little new HD is available" excepting HDnet CEO bickering & InHD only on cable nonsense. ESPN2 looks like a lock but undecided if it will go on the new Sat.

Sorry I missed Scott,
Tim

 

[Lars]

You know, maybe, just maybe, Rainbow is smarter than we all tend to give them credit for. Perhaps they have held down some of the subscribers on purpose to get the Eliptical dish, DVR, etc. up and running before making a bigger push. At some point, they had to know that the number of subscribers having to be upgraded would be huge dollars.

I am not saying they didn't WANT subscribers, but maybe early on they realized that MPEG4 and all of the other issues would cause an issue and purposely held back on going for a boatload of subscribers (especially in the "no long-term committment days").

Maybe a stupid idea, but better to bleed $XXX per month now than $XXXX per month later. And, this is not like D* doing an upgrade that will affect a small percentage of their subscribers at a time. We're talking ALL.

 

[Sean Mota]

I think this needs to be added. This a quote from Scott's report fromt this thread: http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=41698

After the DirecTV press conference I shot down to the VOOM Booth and was given an impressive demo of VOOM's upcoming DVR product, what makes the VOOM DVR unique is you make your own TV channels. For example if you like Sinefield you can set the unit to record all the Sinefield episodes and all the shows can be seen on their own channel (IE the Sienfield Channel, Channel 901) to me this idea is better then just having all recorded items in one area, and it also is better then having folders. When you want to watch Seinfield you know you can tune to channel 901 for Seinfield. (And its also listed in the guide with all the other channels.)

 

[queefer]

Last year this board showed the same Ucentric box. They claimed it also 'worked' but then posted photos of the back. It wasn't even plugged in. The box was a front just for show and the actual process was a unix box hidden behind the scenes.

So 3 months from roll out, we get a empty chasis to look at and supposed to be impressed and a buggy 3/4 software done alleged working model. This is theathre done to salvage whatever future is left of voom.

When the software is done it will take a couple months of beta testing. No way it will out in March. Then at March they'll say June and so on.

If this box is only 3/4 done. They how did Voom announce this would be out last Sept?
Then announce it would be out before X-Mass?

Those were flat out lies from the company and this is yet another one. If the box isn't done, they knew damn well it wasn't going out the gates back then and simply issued rumors to string along customers and lower the churn rate. How do we know its even 3/4 done and thats not more lies from Voom/Ucentric to keep their stock from crashing?

 

[Sean Mota]

Last year this board showed the same Ucentric box. They claimed it also 'worked' but then posted photos of the back. It wasn't even plugged in. The box was a front just for show and the actual process was a unix box hidden behind the scenes.

You are WRONG! The box was not the same. This year they are showing the 580 box. Last year there was a PC running the software. Big difference. There was no hardware last year. This year there is hardware.

So 3 months from roll out, we get a empty chasis to look at and supposed to be impressed and a buggy 3/4 software done alleged working model.

Empty what???? You are confusing the SD boxes... Please keep the information separate. That's why there are two threads.

This is theathre done to salvage whatever future is left of voom.

Of course, that is you own opinion...

If this box is only 3/4 done. They how did Voom announce this would be out last Sept?
Then announce it would be out before X-Mass?

Those were flat out lies from the company and this is yet another one.

There was a press release about being out by the summer last year. Everything else was speculation from a lot of us. Go back and pull out the december 2004 press release if you find one.

If the box isn't done, they knew damn well it wasn't going out the gates back then and simply issued rumors to string along customers and lower the churn rate.

No different than anyone does.

How do we know its even 3/4 done and thats not more lies from Voom/Ucentric to keep their stock from crashing?

and how do you know that it is not.

 

[Lars]

Actually, their stock price would do nothing if they announced today there would never be a DVR- a (possible) failure of Voom is already priced into their stock.

 

[Sean Mota]

thank you Lars, there are some people that have no clue but yet feel that they must post their opinion without even checking the facts about their statements.

 

[queefer]

No Sean, this board posted the DVR and you couldn't explain how it worked even though the wires weren't plugged in.

Wilt, Voom, and installers all said the DVR was supposed to be out 3rd 04. How was that possible for a box that might only be 1/4 done?

They need to hire real programmers and get this out the door. They are so slow by the time the box is realised it will be outdated or Voom gone. I'll bet D has it soon and has the ownage.

 

[queefer]

thank you Lars, there are some people that have no clue but yet feel that they must post their opinion without even checking the facts about their statements.

Sean that is what a BB is, a bunch of opinions not a scientific lab nor a mouth piece of a company exhanging propaganda for company trinkets.

Or Iam I wrong?

 

[vurbano]

Sean that is what a BB is, a bunch of opinions not a scientific lab nor a mouth piece of a company exhanging propaganda for company trinkets.

Or Iam I wrong?

Queefer the voom DVR works but has some software glitches. Greg has reported that. Its the SD boxes that are empty. Your ignorance and lack of research amaze me.

 

[Sean Mota]

No Sean, this board posted the DVR and you couldn't explain how it worked even though the wires weren't plugged in.

Wilt, Voom, and installers all said the DVR was supposed to be out 3rd 04. How was that possible for a box that might only be 1/4 done?

They need to hire real programmers and get this out the door. They are so slow by the time the box is realised it will be outdated or Voom gone. I'll bet D has it soon and has the ownage.

Check again... My friend... There was the CES 2004 were Rudolph and Don Landis reported. Then there was the Report I made at HE 2004. That's where I couldnt say for sure where the connections where coming from. Then there was the Report that both Ilya and Scott made from CEDIA 2004 and they've got the correct explanation about the Unix PC running the software. This how the events have folded. Now there is CES 2005 where there is no Unix PC but a real 580.

Wilt, VOOM, and Installers are all opinions. If you take them as Press Releases that is your doing. How many times did Wilt say that software was going to be released in two weeks. It even became a bad joke around here. All these voices can say a whole lot but things are always changing because the work that it is involved behind the scenes that many times takes longer than expected.

Maybe they do need to hire better programmer. I am not in their programming department and I do not know and cannot comment one way or the other. I can only comment on things that hear publicly and sometimes from insiders. Maybe D* will be out with a box first; maybe they won't; The D* box I have not seen the software working. I have seen the software working for the VOOM box and this is where the bulk of the work needs to be done.

 

[queefer]

You are WRONG! The box was not the same. This year they are showing the 580 box. Last year there was a PC running the software. Big difference. There was no hardware last year. This year there is hardware.



Empty what???? You are confusing the SD boxes... Please keep the information separate. That's why there are two threads.



Of course, that is you own opinion...



There was a press release about being out by the summer last year. Everything else was speculation from a lot of us. Go back and pull out the december 2004 press release if you find one.



No different than anyone does.



and how do you know that it is not.

So you admit Voom and probably this board strings customers along? I wonder what kick backs Sat guys gets from Voom?

Oh, like I'm going to believe the opinion of a Voom CSR or sales person at CES? Trust no one

Sorry to be skeptic but voom has being playing dodgeball with the PVR for a year now. They are long on rumors short on facts.

 

[queefer]

Queefer the voom DVR works but has some software glitches. Greg has reported that. Its the SD boxes that are empty. Your ignorance and lack of research amaze me.

You must be bipolar.

One post you slam voom. The next you praise it, then slam it then praise. When somebody has a better point to bring out. You slam them because they thought of something quicker than you.

Jealous?

 

[Sean Mota]

Sean that is what a BB is, a bunch of opinions not a scientific lab nor a mouth piece of a company exhanging propaganda for company trinkets.

Or Iam I wrong?

CES 2005 is all about progranda my friend. If you know your history of CES, you know that there's a lot of products that never make it to the market for "x" reason. However, I am confident that the VOOM DVR will be out and it won't be one of these products that do not make it. Too many shows I have seen it or read reports of its progress. We are at the end of the tail. So stay put and continue reading.

 

[Sean Mota]

So you admit Voom and probably this board strings customers along? I wonder what kick backs Sat guys gets from Voom?

You are taking my words out of content. I say no different than any company has done in the past. Do you want this job and would like to know how much profit we get out of this? Maybe you should be like Scott who paid out of his own pocket to go to CES 2005 and bring this informatio to the board free of charge... You are mistaken and you are walking a fine line.

Oh, like I'm going to believe the opinion of a Voom CSR or sales person at CES? Trust no one

WRONG AGAIN!!!! You don't even know who was at the presentation. The guy that was doing the presentation is in charge of the entire DVR development, software engineering, and everything. No it was not Wilt. But I know him and I told Scott to look for him. Again think before you write.

Sorry to be skeptic but voom has being playing dodgeball with the PVR for a year now. They are long on rumors short on facts.

You have a right to be skeptic. You do not have right to print false information or at least check your facts first.

 

[Indy]

You must be bipolar.

One post you slam voom. The next you praise it, then slam it then praise. When somebody has a better point to bring out. You slam them because they thought of something quicker than you.

Jealous?

I don't think he is jealous or Bipolar . He exhibits behavior like Dori from Finding Nemo. Maybe they are related?

 

[adamneh]

I understand the people that want to criticize Voom and they way things have been handled. But in the end, what have we lost by not having a DVR yet? So we've lost the ability to digitally record in HD. From reading posts, it seems that many people subscribe to either E* or D* along with V*. I would also bet that those with dual providers have some sort of DVR with the other provider. Hell, just about everyone has a VCR. Granted, its not HD. But the technology exists to record.

I would rather be patient and get what appears to be a good product. From the demo at the Indy show the Ucentric product looks like it will be great. We may not have all the functionality right away, but so what. Patience people. In 5 years it will all be obselete anyway.

I'm pretty happy with Voom. I am able to watch better quality TV at a cheaper price than I was able to with E*. Thats the bottom line for me.

 

[queefer]

I agree Sean but isn't it a Ucentric PVR?

Then again isn't the same type of system on D* later in the year? (allegedly)

I understand why D* dumped Tivo. If your a programmer (like me) Tivo really isn't that difficult to clone. Ucentric did it. Why pay Tivo huge kickbacks when you can clone their system inhouse and get rid of them?

Does Scott have pics of the back of the PVR. I saw his video from a few months ago and it looked impressive. I don't see what is taking so long. I'm beginning to think only 1 or 2 programmers are working on a solution for 10 million people..

 

[Sean Mota]

I agree Sean but isn't it a Ucentric PVR?Then again isn't the same type of system on D* later in the year? (allegedly)

Even though Ucentric is the PVR it does not mean that it will have one solution for D*/V*. Who knows what's going to be on the D* side. I know what's going to be on the V* side of it.

I understand why D* dumped Tivo. If your a programmer (like me) Tivo really isn't that difficult to clone. Ucentric did it. Why pay Tivo huge kickbacks when you can clone their system inhouse and get rid of them?

no comments. I never had a Tivo and I said before the big winner is Ucentric and the big loser is Tivo who now has no leverage in their software.

Does Scott have pics of the back of the PVR. I saw his video from a few months ago and it looked impressive.

Do not know. You have to ask Scott. I am not there.

I don't see what is taking so long. I'm beginning to think only 1 or 2 programmers are working on a solution for 10 million people..

The DVR is not only Ucentric software. It has OpenTv, I wonder why??? NDS and Motorola firmware. All of this needs to be tested. Plus now with the new satellite it also needs to integrate that. There's a bigger picture here.