Cable Seems The Option for Me

[ddlsmith]

I will stick with VOOM until the end, however long that may be. One more week, month, obviously no one knows at this point. But after looking at the 3 alternatives, for better or worse, I think TWC is my best option if I want an HDVR without shelling out a lot of cash up front and if I want to switch at a later date if a competitor comes up with more HD or whatever. At this point in time, it's a no-brainer to me. Why?

E* requires me to purchase their 921 for the "NEW LOW PRICE!" of $549.00. D* wants me to shell out $999.99 for their box with Tivo. Plus with either service I would have to have a commitment with a penalty for dropping the service early.

Now TWC in San Antonio has a 160GB HD DVR for $9.95 a month. HD programming includes 5 locals in HD, HBO HD, SHO HD, HD Net, HD Net Movies, INHD, INHD2, NBATV, Fox Sports, ESPN HD, Discover HD, and TNT HD. For some reason they don't have the local Fox HD but I plan to use my OTA antenna for the locals anyway. Their SD includes Pay-Per-View, video on demand, and movies on demand.

Now the kicker....no contract to sign and a 30-day money back guarantee if you aren't satisfied. In other words, if VOOM or something like it re-emerges, or E* or D* wakes up and decides to expand their HD offerings, it's bye-bye TWC and I haven't invest a dime in a door-stop receiver.

Am I crazy or is this the only way that makes sense?

(Are there any San Antonians out there that have tried or seen TWC's picture quality in HD?)

 

[CDH]

Sounds good to me. I don't like the idea of sinking $549 or $999 into a DVR either. I would have paid $500 for a Voom one if I thought they were going to stick around longer.

I think you'll end up happy with TWC. In other parts of the country I had TWC and was very happy with their service. Where I live now the cable provider is Charter (awful awful awful Picture Quality, buggy On Demand services, and unhelpful customer service!!!), meaning that I'll be looking at the no-contract Dish Network offers (can't stomach Murdoch and don't want to have buy an HD STB which is what DirecTV requires). I only have one TV but I'll probably lease an 811 HD box and a 510 SD DVR or see if I can get things running well with my existing TiVo (which I'd prefer as the Dish DVR is apparently buggy).

Who knows? If rumors pan out and TWC buys a lot of Cablevision's subscribers then maybe they'll even end up with some Voom programming too? Mere speculation, but why not?

In the meantime I'm sticking with Voom and am simply hoping that *something* turns up or that some of their exclusive programming becomes available elsewhere. I'm going to particularly miss some of the programming on the Gallery HD channel (classical music), which is unavailable anywhere else. Sigh.

CDH.

 

[Ilya]

I am thinking of cable too (that is if and when VOOM goes dark). This way, I will have a chance to try both HDNet and InHD - the only HD channels missing on VOOM.

 

[gross67]

I added cable HD

I added cable HD to my existing setup- it's mighty slim on HD content, but it looks good. - I stil have VaVaVoom as well. ILYA, the HDNet and HDNet Movies come in terrific. We don't get INHD here however. The nice thing is that I have a DVR with the new cable HD. Only 10 hours worth in HD, but that is fine - I can record the shows I would miss while away, watch them, and then ditch them. We have an interesting week ahead - I can't wait to find out "Who Shot JR". Such a mystery this VOOM, yes?

 

[Bruce]

If Comcast had the HDNets, I would have dropped E* by now, you might want to check to see if TWC has any kind of discounts like Comcast does for dropping a dish service.

 

[barth2k]

ddlsmith: you're lucky. I have adelphia. To get just (awful looking) basic cable and a 80g dvr to record locals will cost me $65+ a month. and that's w/o any premium or their hd pkg consisting of espnhd and, um, that's it! it's ludicrous.

 

[ddlsmith]

I added cable HD to my existing setup- it's mighty slim on HD content, but it looks good. - I stil have VaVaVoom as well. ILYA, the HDNet and HDNet Movies come in terrific. We don't get INHD here however. The nice thing is that I have a DVR with the new cable HD. Only 10 hours worth in HD, but that is fine - I can record the shows I would miss while away, watch them, and then ditch them. We have an interesting week ahead - I can't wait to find out "Who Shot JR". Such a mystery this VOOM, yes?

This IS exciting. My wife wanted to know why I go back to check the computer every hour of the day. Better than some movies and WE are in the cast! Maybe there WILL be a Dolan vs. Dolan movie some day and they can cast us as extras...the downtrodden and abused subscribers. :river

 

[kelljc]

How many time's Have we Heard " I'm switching to Dish, or DTV, or Cable " with all 5 channels, " espn,tnt,Discv.INHD,hdnet", "Remember locals are free " and the Movies you can get C-band , with out all of the mpg4 bs.. Why even look at Voom when you already had it " ALL " , with out " skeeters,Pq,out of Business, ect,ect,ect. " Oh if forgot " for 49.90 a month", what Cable or Satellite has the same for the same cost or less. " yea go ahead and name them.??. " but put in the free HDTV REceiver with that there order??

 

[ddlsmith]

How many time's Have we Heard " I'm switching to Dish, or DTV, or Cable " with all 5 channels, " espn,tnt,Discv.INHD,hdnet", "Remember locals are free " and the Movies you can get C-band , with out all of the mpg4 bs.. Why even look at Voom when you already had it " ALL " , with out " skeeters,Pq,out of Business, ect,ect,ect. " Oh if forgot " for 49.90 a month", what Cable or Satellite has the same for the same cost or less. " yea go ahead and name them.??. " but put in the free HDTV REceiver with that there order??

What is your point? If Voom disappears I don't plan to use rabbit ears.

We unfortunately may have to make a choice and go somewhere and my local cable is the only option I see where I don't have to pay up to a thousand dollars to get an HD DVR that will someday inevitably become an obsolete doorstop or boat anchor.

If the picture and/or service sucks, I pick up my phone, tell TWC to come get there stuff and call E* or D* and pay for their box. What do I have to lose?

I have had TWC, E*, and D* and Voom is/was far superior to them all IMO, I am not ragging on them, I am sticking it out like many of us to see what happens.

But, once again, what is your point?? You got a better idea?

 

[Ilya]

OTA will stay with us whether we go with cable or satellite.
Personally, I am not a big fan of OTA. I hate commercial breaks!
I just can't watch movies with commercial breaks!!!

 

[ddlsmith]

Personally, I am not a big fan of OTA. I hate commercial breaks!
I just can't watch movies with commercial breaks!!!

Ohhh yeahhh. Movies on TNT, USA, etc. are unwatchable to me because of the every-10-minute commercials. That's why I miss a DVR which lets you zap through those puppies.

 

[lostcause]

ddlsmith: you're lucky. I have adelphia. To get just (awful looking) basic cable and a 80g dvr to record locals will cost me $65+ a month. and that's w/o any premium or their hd pkg consisting of espnhd and, um, that's it! it's ludicrous.

I hear ya....my cable option here is also adelphia, known as the worst cable company in the USA. Their all inclusive package isn't all that bad though..it's about 102.00 with all channels and an HD DVR.

It's almost the same as the vavavoom package but you get a DVR. The HD selections are pretty bad though.

 

[ddlsmith]

I hear ya....my cable option here is also adelphia, known as the worst cable company in the USA. The HD selections are pretty bad though.

As far as the HD on your cable system, not the selections but PQ, is it anywhere near as good as V*? If not is it 90% as good, 80%, etc. ??

I have never seen cable in HD so I don't know what to expect.

Still pulling for Voom though. Do NOT want to have to switch to anything else.

 

[deeann]

This might sound weird, but if/when Voom goes dark I'll probably be going analog OTA (don't watch much network HD) as it seems like it'll still be a while until the spectrum cutover or limited basic (some of the locals don't come in very well). I've already been with both of the cable companies (Comcast and SureWest) in my area. Comcast has limited HD offerings here (though they do have INHD), but is pretty pricey for what you get and the SD channels don't look nearly as good as Voom's. Maybe if they picked up the HDNet's that could change my mind. SureWest is SD only, has a fairly nice PQ clarity-wise, but no HD and a framerate problem they won't fix. I'm not really interested in E* or D*. I mostly got Voom for the Cinema 10 channels and other proprietary content.

 

[TheTimm]

I'm not really interested in E* or D*. I mostly got Voom for the Cinema 10 channels and other proprietary content.

Me, neither; and me, too. Dish and Direct just don't seem to have much to offer (HD wise, anyway) for the money. I'll probably just be sticking with OTA myself (albeit digital).

 

[Ronald_Jeremy]

Cox in my area is doing a major upgrade and they will start converting Feb 2.

4 meg download on the data side and adding DVR and HD on the TV side.

But only 9 HD channels. 1 is PBS and another is TNT. So really only 7 HD channels!