Dish messing with Voom, All are now HD-Lite 1280x1080i: Discuss this issue HERE!

[BFG]

I just got this one in my mailbox, it seemed to be the same email other have got, but they changed it a little to mention "Talk forums"

I think they recognized you and gave you a different e-mail because that one looks unique to the others except for the opening and closing paragraphs.

i like the nod to the talk forums and that they'll be having a meeting, cool!

 

[Stargazer]

Meetings on how to compress it even more? j/k. Looks like it has got their attention enough to where they may want to reconsider quantity over quality.

 

[Spike]

I am about as encouraged by this as the 'we are going to work on the picture tonight. Tell us what you think about it in the morning.' But, who knows.....? As long as there is a chance something might be done, I believe the glass is still half full.

Still, I've begun to explore my other options. I'd rather be proactive just in case!

 

[mixman]

I decided to take the old fashioned route and call E* tech support. An HD CSR, after 45 minutes of troubleshooting, said he noticed a post on their intranet that stated (and I summarize): "We are aware of an 'issue' with the Voom channels. Both satellites (61.5 & 129) are affected. We are working on it."

For what that's worth...

 

[Dirtydan]

Reply from E*

I recieved the second reply from E*, it is same as Scott's

 

[glennh73]

I sent dish a email also and got the new same repley about (We have heard from you as well as many others off the talk forums the past few days as to everyone's recent dissatisfaction with the VOOM/HD channels)
here is my letter to them.
Dish Network,
Well if this is true,
"On November 16th 2005, satelliteguys reported that Dish Network had made changes to their System Table. This was reported in the Uplink Activity Report that goaliebob99 produces every Wednesday. We first reported on December 1s, 2005 that Voom 21 HD Originals will appear on Dish Network by or before CES. Satelliteguys also asked that all these channels be put at 1920x1080i in that report since the Voom HD Originals (Rainbow Media) were going to deliver them at 1920x1080i.
If was further reported by Gary Murrell that Dish Network was downresizing 9 out of 10 Voom HD channels to 1280x1080i . This has created a nightmare since it means that none of the VOOM channels will be sent to HD subscribers at 1920x1080i. We were all hoping that this was only tests done by Dish Network and that all channels will be put at the correct resolution. This has yet to happen.
Today Satelliteguys has learned from a reliable source that Dish Network is the one who is orchestrating the downresizing and not VOOM HD Originals. If it was up to Voom HD Originals all 21 VOOM Channels could be sent at 1920x1080i and at least 18mbps. But Dish Network has decided to become an HD Lite provider and cheat their customers by sending HD channels that are not True HD. This is an outrage. HD customers deserve an explanation and Dish Network should put all these channels at the correct resolution. The True HD era has come to an end and the HD Lite era will continue! "
Then i want to say this is Bullsh!t and not what i signed up for, i wanted Dish to be the leader of True HD and not this crap, so as of next month i will cancel my Dish account and eat the contract.
Go be the leader of HD Lite and watch everyone leave Dish.
- - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
And im serious i will drop Dish cause the only reason i got the darn thing is to watch HDTV and if im getting short changed then its not worth it as i watch very little tv except HD.
And Voom was very important in my pic over Directv whom i really wanted but since they are doing similar stuff i dont want them either.

 

[kdarcangelis870]

Are the regular HD channels (HD Net, TNT, Discovery) going to be HD lite also?

 

[pez419]

I have e-mailed Dish over the VOOM problem a few times they just sent me this:

"Thank you for expressing your concerns and interest in DISH Network.
Customer input is an important tool in our efforts to continuously
improve the quality of the DISH Network service.


We have heard from you as well as many others off the talk forums the
past few days as to everyone's recent dissatisfaction with the VOOM/HD
channels. DISH is most certainly aware of your concerns and have
meetings scheduled over the next few days to discuss this topic. This
will not happen overnight. We ask for your patience while we attack
this
issue.


At DISH Network we appreciate the time customers take to email their
audio/video quality concerns. Thank you for your patience and for being
a valued customer.



EchoStar Satellite LLC

Quality Assurance Department

dishquality@echostar.com"


What do you guys think?

 

[Gary Murrell]

Are the regular HD channels (HD Net, TNT, Discovery) going to be HD lite also?

Sir No HD has been touched on Dish except the 4 Voom's that were 1920x1080i before last Friday

-Gary

 

[SatinKzo]

It seems I may have pissed a few of them off. I have sent 3 emails now and 1 phone call, I think they are getting the message though that this crap signal they are sending is not acceptable

We have heard from you as well as many others off the talk forums the past few days as to everyone's recent dissatisfaction with the VOOM/HD channels. DISH is most certainly aware of your concerns and have meetings scheduled over the next few days to discuss this topic. This will not happen overnight. We ask for your patience while we attack this issue. The responses you received only have canned introductory lines and closing lines. All content in the middle of these emails are developed at a personal level. Being so many customers from the talk forums decided to email with the same complaint it wouldn't be prudent for us to develop a personalized response for each individual. Thank you.

 

[Gary Murrell]

I would go out on a limb and say it is much more than Talk Board members giving Dish the goods over this horrific HD treatment

How many people just READ the Internet forums ?? Lots

-Gary

 

[SatinKzo]

It does seem as if they are getting away from the canned responses though. I sent a pretty heated email about the BS form letters and the fact I pay for HD, I want what I pay for and got the response I posted a couple posts back. A little more personal.

Maybe they will fix things, but I won't let up until they fix it or I drop the voom/hd channels.

 

[MSG]

Well, I was thinking to add Voom sometimes next week. Now I will wait for the this quality issue to be resolved.

 

[dfergie]

3 boards (AVS, DBS and SatelliteGuys) totals about 10 minutes ago... 403 posts and 20,692 looks... I think this is getting some attention folks...

 

[JH1949]

I only started E* when Voom stopped, so I don't know how they handled changes in the past. If this is representative, then I am well pleased, because:

(1) immediately got caught by this group
(2) it was done soon enough to not be a surprise at the CES
(3) it was done before the 211 came out for sale, so I didn't buy one, turn in my leased 811, and later find out about the poor PQ of HDlite Voom
(4) gives me a chance to look at alternatives first

 

[BrettTRay]

They have talked about merging the regular hd channels (Disc.HD,TNT HD,ESPN HD, HD Net, HD Net Movies) and the Voom channels all on one package. I think they are doing this so that us pissed off people can't drop voom without droping the whole HD package think that we won't do that.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I would go out on a limb and say it is much more than Talk Board members giving Dish the goods over this horrific HD treatment

How many people just READ the Internet forums ?? Lots

-Gary

We ourselves serve over 4 million pages a month.

Just taking a look at the stats a few minutes ago here is the number of people who have read about this at the three major sites.

Over at Avs Forums They had 167 posts 4,466 Thread Views on this topic
Over at DBSTalk they have had 114 posts with 4145 views of the thread
Here at SatelliteGuys we have had 172 posts with 12,081 views of this thread.

Between all 3 sites there have been 403 posts about this topic and over 20,000 views about this topic.

Earlier this evening I was contacted by a national industry magazine about this and I may talk with them tommorow.

I am also waiting for a reply back from Dish Network, I have contacted Echostar Spokesperson Marc Lumpkin about this matter and got a note back that he was looking into it and thats the last I heard. I really want to give Dish Network the chance to state their case before going nuts about things.

My advice is to KEEP EMAILING THEM. Encourage others to do the same. Tell them we want our HDTV, not our ALMOST HDTV.

If we can work together we CAN make a difference. There is power in numbers.

 

[SatinKzo]

I emailed the following people yesterday and got a response from the CEO address this evening:
nlryan@rainbow-media.com; CEO@echostar.; Hurt, Andrew; Dugas, Stewart; stpontillo@rainbow-media.com

It was another general form letter response about having meetings scheduled on this issue with Voom. I have stopped calling and just emailing.

I think others who have not emailed yet need to do so. I have emailed 3 times now back and forth with dishquality and the feedback address I was given. Honestly, if this is at all important to you, send your complaint. A lot of emails from a few people will do little, but 1 email from everyone concerned can do more.

Scott, I think you should do the interview, let us all know how it goes.

Edit:

These are the email address I have sent messages to since I just realized it did not post the address originally (now in friendly copy/paste for emailing
nlryan@rainbow-media.com; ceo@echostar.com; andrew.hurt@echostar.com; stewart.dugas@echostar.com; stpontillo@rainbow-media.com

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Yes please keep sending emails, and if you have more then one email account send them from those ones as well.

Again together we CAN make a difference.

 

[Stargazer]

I decided to take the old fashioned route and call E* tech support. An HD CSR, after 45 minutes of troubleshooting, said he noticed a post on their intranet that stated (and I summarize): "We are aware of an 'issue' with the Voom channels. Both satellites (61.5 & 129) are affected. We are working on it."
For what that's worth...

With the way they say that I would think that it was something that they did not cause when we know they did.