I wondered why Voom Died, Now I know!

[joemama]

I've been following the Voom saga for quite some time now. I previously made a lot of negative comments without much basis behind them.

Now that I've been a Voom Customer for a few days now - on E* of course - I understand why Voom died as a DBS provider. I now also understand why there were only 46,000 subs after a year and a half. I now see why Charlie has continually said there is no compelling new HD content out there. The Voom channels are worthless.

The 10 Voom channels now on Dish Network are supposedly the best Voom had to offer. Sure the picture is good, but the content is lacking and repetative. These 10 channels could easily be condensed into 1 or 2 channels and be called HDNET2 and HDNET Movies 2. How many times can you watch Kayaking China or Eye Over Italy (which I saw on PBS almost 2 years ago.) 30 year old upconverted cheesy movies do not interest me at all.

I would gladly trade all the channels in for ESPN2HD or even ABCHD since ABC here in Denver won't broadcast with enough strength for anyone outside their parking lot to pick it up. What a waste of bandwidth.

One thing I do not understand is the rabid dedication that you die hard Voom customers have developed. If this is the future of HD, I don't want it. Give me sports. Give me new movies. Give me new network programming. I could care less about the same news clips shown every 15 minutes, an HD weather map, or a movie that bombed 20 years ago and was cheap enough to buy and upconvert.

I'm sure this will fire up a lot of you out there. At least now you can't call me a troll and ignore my opinion. Fire away.

 

[scottie_h]

The 10 Voom channels now on Dish Network are supposedly the best Voom had to offer.

Who said those were the best channels Voom had to offer?

One thing I do not understand is the rabid dedication that you die hard Voom customers have developed. If this is the future of HD, I don't want it. Give me sports. Give me new movies. Give me new network programming. I could care less about the same news clips shown every 15 minutes, an HD weather map, or a movie that bombed 20 years ago and was cheap enough to buy and upconvert.

Voom customers were missing certain channels that they wanted just like customers of D* and E*. But there were a LOT more than those 10 channels in HD. Between HBO, Showtime, Cinnemax, etc there were something like 8 HD channels (only had HBO myself, so I don't remember the exact number) - does that give you some movies? They had TNT-HD, which D* doesn't - NBA playoffs... They had UniversalHD which E* doesn't - more movies. They had PlayboyHD - 'nuff said.

Again, I don't think that any Voom customers ever said that Voom was the perfect provider. But I'd virtually guarantee that no Voom'ers would declare the 10 channels that are now on E* the 'best that Voom had to offer'...

 

[gutter]

Guy...with the exception of RAVE, Rush or Equator, you have not seen the best channels of VOOM and I am not speaking of just the 21 either. I will miss universal HD very much myself.

 

[FredOh]

Joemama. As a former voomer I can say that sure the programs on V were a little repetitive, but really no more than any premium movie channel. Watch Starz (only on V), Cinemax (only on V) or HBO for a week and see how many times they show the same stuff. Considering that I was paying about the same as any other satellite or cable service for the best of SD channels on any satellite, no shopping or religious channels, no sh!tty looking local channels, and 21 extra channels of HD (free), which while sometimes repetitive, I found something I liked almost every day. Heck, they had just purchased Miramax titles and we were seeing some great foreign movies like Amelie and Delicatessen. We saw Bubba Ho Tep prior to any other premium channel. Monster HD is a wonderful channel for people who like a wide variety of horror movies, cheesy and classic. Let's see. Some of the movies that in your words were bombs: George Romero's night and dawn of the dead movies, Silence of the Lambs, Texas Chainsaw, Amelie, The Vanishing, GInger Snaps, dozens of old musicals that may not be your taste, but were classics, The Good The Bad, and the Ugly, just to name a few. And on Universal HD we were starting to get the new Battlestar Galactica in HD every weekend. RIght now the channels are in disarray due to the takeover, and near end, but I think it will continue to get stronger. And remember, If you don't like the channels, don't pay the $5.00 per month. Go back to Hogan's Heroes or some old car race, in HD. Or some old movie being interrupted every 15 minutes for commericials. Or watch Goldmember again on Starz.

Repetition sucks. But a whole bunch of channels being repetitive is ceratinly better.

 

[joemama]

Everything I heard from this site said it was business as usual at the Voom channels, so I don't see the transition as an anomaly. Repetative on movie channels I can see like the same movie a few nights in a row, but not every 2 hours.

As to the comment on Universal HD, I would love to see it. But it's not a Voom original channel. I can't see how any Voom channel not carried by E* is any better.

Still not convinced. Anybody got anything else to say?

 

[fksammons]

Anybody got anything else to say?

As a former VOOMer as well I will agree with you.
Their repetative movies (every 2 hours) was at least more useful on VOOM since their HD DVR turned out to be vaporware. But since an affordable HD DVR now exists from E* the lack of programming on these channels is even more apparent isn't it.

 

[richard_rd]

The Voom 21 package had 10 of these movie channels that had two rotating movies each day. So each day you had 20 movies (10ch x 2) to choose from, not 4 (2ch x 2) like it is now on Dishnet with just 2 of the 10 movie channels. Alot of the movies were older classics or some cheesy B/C grade movies, but everyday you could find something that interested you in the Voom 21 pack, now add Starz, Max, TMC, UHD, Wealth, HBO, SHOW, ESPN, Discovery, TNT and any OTA locals you could get in HD and there was never any day or any time you could not find something decent to watch in HD!!!!!! That was the beauty of Voom, 40 HD channels to choose from, not just ten!!!!!

P.S. - Some of the best movies ever made were the Older black and white films from the 50's/60's, with voom you get to watch them in Widescreen and great PQ, take the time to watch some of these older clasics, you just may learn something and come to appreciate films from that era, but i know you would rather just watch a cheesy class B T&A film in color to get your daily boob fix, then take the time to watch an older classic in B&W!!!!!

 

[Bruce]

Watch Starz (only on V), Cinemax (only on V) or HBO for a week

Just for the record, StarzHD and Max-HD is not only on Voom.

 

[scottie_h]

As to the comment on Universal HD, I would love to see it. But it's not a Voom original channel. I can't see how any Voom channel not carried by E* is any better.

Still not convinced. Anybody got anything else to say?

Most people didn't rave (no pun intended) specifically about only the Voom originals. It was the combination of all the HD they offered, which obviously includes originals plus a lot of channels that other providers carry. But those same providers don't carry all of those channels.

D* carries UniversalHD but not E*
E* carries TNT-HD but not D*
I don't believe either carry StarzHD or CinemaxHD (don't have the channel list in front of me)
PlayboyHD is not offered by either
The list goes on...

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's the sum of the parts, not the individual parts that brought many of us to be loyal Voom'ers. Some other providers may offer a few of those same 'parts', but none of them offered as many 'parts'.

I have fully admitted that I didn't watch a number of the original HD channels. Of the ones that I did watch routinely, some are offered through E* and D*, while others are not. Each provider is different, and each provider is not going to be for everyone...

Obviously some cable providers have a somewhat longer list of HD offerings. In my case, HD cable is not available, so I happen to compare to my only two options - D* and E*...

(and they just called to push my D* install from the 8:00 - 12:00 time slot to this afternoon )

 

[rgaines]

You also have to remember that is takes time to film NEW content and edit for the public. It just doesn't happen overnight. Bam we ahve a years worth of new HD content. It just isn't going to happen. Watch any new channel, HD or SD for the first year or 2 and you'll see the samething.

 

[bookwalk]

I don't agree, either, that the VOOM 21 are the "best"--but it was the whole combination--the other channels VOOM put in the package--far better in terms of picks than Dish has--I hate their Top 60 and 120--Top 60 doesn't even have Fox News. As soon as my one year committment over, going back to C-band for the basic channels.

Also, the other HD channels VOOM had--virtually almost everything in HD that there was available--except the HD Net, etc, but who else had WEalth HD? Also, what other satellite provider had Starz HD, Cinemax HD, Encore HD?

Voom 21 is a very small part of the whole picture and the 10 on DISH are NOT the best of the 21, by any means--the FamilyNet was great, as was Lab, Gunslingers--definitely NOT HD News--I have no idea why they would have picked that channel--it is useless--except for their weather screens.

Why didn't they (Dish), if they could only put on 10 channels, at least rotate them every month--with a different set of the 21 available at different times????

You will tire of these 10 quickly, if they continue to repeat, but now that they have a subscriber (and if they pick up more, such as D*, cable, etc), perhaps their budget for new stuff will increase and the repeating loop will change???

I still hope SOMEBODY can come up with a 3rd Satellite Provider--such as VOOM was--and take the best of both Direct TV (their channel picks and pricing) and Dish (PQ from the new 942 for BOTH SD & HD) and create a "choice".

There are just as many potential HD Satellite users as Wideband Internet, Cell Phone and they certainly have more than 2 or 3 choices?

What happened with Satellite TV--was it the FCC?

 

[FIREBIRD81]

As a former VOOMer as well I will agree with you.
Their repetative movies (every 2 hours) was at least more useful on VOOM since their HD DVR turned out to be vaporware. But since an affordable HD DVR now exists from E* the lack of programming on these channels is even more apparent isn't it.

I've yet to see ANY HDchannel that isn't repetitive. What I liked about voom was the west coast feeds of HBO and SHowtime. I didn't have to be home at 6pm on a Sunday to watch Deadwood. HDNET movies is virtually the same as every voom movie channel. E* claims to have HD PPV, but anyone who's been a customer very long knows that channel spends most of it's time inactive and only shows a couple movies an entire month.

I HONESTLY do not understand everyone's anxiety over ESPN2HD. The main ESPN HD RARELY shows any HD content at all. Virtually 80-90% of their programming is SD. Kinda makes it hard ot sell providers on a second version of THAT, don't you think?

 

[Shawn95GT]

Like others have said, beyond the Voom21, there were 18 MORE HD channels. These are channels that any provider could carry but they choose not to. Voom was all about as much HD as possible.

I liked HDNews. Maybe it's my adult ADD or something but the 10 minute or so loop worked out good to keep my attention long enough to 'catch the news' before work.

I don't think the Voom21 (or Voom 10 as it stands) should be an add-on. It should be a part of the core HD package, as it was on Voom.

The other really nice thing with Voom is how the HD channels were integrated with the SD channels in the guide. All of the HBOs were together, all the Shotimes, all the Starz, etc. I hate how cable bunches the HD content together. I believe Dish does the same thing.

You attack the Voom21 and then say that's why they failed as a DBS? Marketing / policy is the reason they failed. The $1 install / leased receivers came too late to save them. As nice as Voom was, I wasn't going to drop $1000 for a three room setup. Voom had wierd rules (no self installs, no activating used equipment) that made buying the equipment a bad deal. The only positive part of owning the equipment is that the Voom recievers WERE MPG4 upgradable.

The fact is, there is nothing out there like what Voom DBS was. You also got a whole heck of a lot of programming for $79.99 (VaVaVoom). Dish's everything pack is less HD (even if you ignore the Voom21 Voom had better than twice the HD) and it costs more.