It's yours

[seandudley]

I just called Voom and was informed that they are ours to keep. So I pursued the question a liitle further and was informed that the ota would expire and not work anymore after the end of the month. So I argued with them stating that to dispose of these properly generally there is a fee involved and that why should I be resposible for the fee. She said that is not their problem. Just wanted to inform about what they had said to me.

I don't think the receiver knows when the end of the month is if you turn it off and back on (since the time/date get lost without the information coming from the satellite), so how could it stop working at the end of the month?

 

[lilyarbie]

Maybe it's something to do with the card....

Just speculation here, but maybe the card has to have a code sent to it every 30 days. Since the card was last accessed by the satellite on May 1st, then possibly it may shut off on June 1st? I know the receiver itself loses all information once it has been powered down, but I know that the smart cards themselves do have a microprocessor or some other chip imbedded into them. Could it possibly be that this chip keeps track of the total hours that it hasn't been sent a code, even though the software on the receiver does not? It was rumored that these cards need codes sent to them to stay active in order to function correctly. Then, there have been some reports of those who have had their receivers disconnected for months and have still been able to access their locals through the OTA tuner. We just have to wait and see what happens. I'm also wondering what will be stated in that final letter that is coming out to all the Voom customers as well and if it will address this issue. I know the return issue has been addressed already numerous times by CSR's at Voom. Now, we can only wait, watch, and enjoy our receivers.

 

[madpoet]

THat was not the case previously. I had my box unplugged 45 days and it worked fine. So it would have had to be a change in the program.

 

[smeagal]

OMG!!!!!!!!!! I been saying this for weeks recievers will be ours!!!!!!! Now we are going to go back to the time bomb theory?????? Ok even with only 40,000 units out there some of the high tech guys should be able to figure out how to reactivate recievers that got shut off and maybe even fix the prog guide! Anybody here have that kind of talent??????? Now that I think it's safe to say they are ours. I mean even a cheap ota hd reciever is over 150 bucks! normally the only thing that's protected well is the data stream not the memory of the reciever!

 

[lilyarbie]

I think software will come out.......

I believe that someone will come out with software, but it will have to be developed through hacking the receivers. Because of reverse engineering talk, it will have to take place outside of the satellite guys forum. So, any outsiders working on such a project will have to do so outside of this forum because satellite guys doesn't want any reverse engineering talk because the product is still copyrighted and possibly patented by Motorola. If motorola were to get word of such a product, then those with the information may possibly be held responsible for such. The only person I know of working on such a project is Ultratryon and he hasn't updated in a week about it. Is there anybody on the Voom forum that was a former software programmer for the receivers? I know that there are CSR's from Voom that attend these forums. I thought that maybe other former employees of Voom might stay in contact former Voom customers through this forum.

 

[nanaberry]

I would think that before you sold something, you would hook it up yourself to make sure it works?

Lob

i would but when the dish guy installed my new dish he cut the cable from the antenna and ran the dish cable through the same hole. (I told him I wasn't going to use my antenna.) Now I have no way to check it. But shouldn't it work if it was working when I unplugged it?

 

[mindstein]

I heard you must return them to Voom along with a $20.00 processing fee.

Please send your receivers to me plus $20.

 

[mindstein]

Just speculation here, but maybe the card has to have a code sent to it every 30 days. Since the card was last accessed by the satellite on May 1st, then possibly it may shut off on June 1st? I know the receiver itself loses all information once it has been powered down, but I know that the smart cards themselves do have a microprocessor or some other chip imbedded into them. Could it possibly be that this chip keeps track of the total hours that it hasn't been sent a code, even though the software on the receiver does not? It was rumored that these cards need codes sent to them to stay active in order to function correctly. Then, there have been some reports of those who have had their receivers disconnected for months and have still been able to access their locals through the OTA tuner. We just have to wait and see what happens. I'm also wondering what will be stated in that final letter that is coming out to all the Voom customers as well and if it will address this issue. I know the return issue has been addressed already numerous times by CSR's at Voom. Now, we can only wait, watch, and enjoy our receivers.

You should leave your card in the receiver. It contains E.M.F.

 

[lilyarbie]

E.m.f???

What is E.M.F.???

 

[seandudley]

Electro-magnetic field?

 

[lilyarbie]

That's what I thought, but.......

Why would they place an electro-magnetic field on a card that contains a microchip imbedded on-board? It looks like that would cause more harm than good to the electronics and circuits that surround the card.

 

[d151b]

i've been using my box for ota here in dallas. is anyone else in the dfw using their's for ota? and if so are you having trouble picking up fox??? i went into the installer's menu and aimed the antenna to were i got a 99 signal and fox is still intermittently down 10 seconds up 10 seconds down, back and forth.

 

[DarrellP]

The stb has no internal clock, it gets it's info from the satellite, so it will not know when the end of month is. I am glad we get to keep them, I decommissioned the stb in the family room since my roommate doesn't watch locals so I'll hook this one up in my bedroom and use it on my PC monitor. Now I have to find a DVI to VGA conversion cable.

I already have a VGA to DVI conversion cable that I used from my 6000 to my pj, will it work in reverse if I use a gender bender?

 

[ram1220]

I'm in Plano. I don't have a problem with Fox but I do with channel 5. It comes and goes whenever it pleases. The signal strength is 94. I just toss it up to another Motorola problem.

 

[lilyarbie]

DVI to VGA cable will not work on the receivers......

In order for a converter cable to work with the DVI port on the set-top box, it must contain a cross-hair hook-up beside the pinned sections of the plug-in. This kind of plug is called DVI-I, which means it has both analog and digital sections for the purpose of either using it for RGBHV (signal going through VGA cable), or Digital signal only. The plug-in on the back of the receiver is known as DVI-D. This means that the signals coming out of the interface is only digital and not both simultaneous Digital and analog signals. Where the cross-hair should be on the plug, there is only a horizontal insert instead of both a horizontal and vertical insert. Video cards contain DVI-I so that they can be used through backwards compatibility with standard analog CRT display monitors. Most HDTV receivers use DVI-D because of the encryption coding that goes through that port in order to secure certain programming from being recorded at DVD to High Definition quality resolutions. There are converter boxes that are sold over the internet to convert DVI-D interfaces to analog for an analog CRT monitor, but they are very expensive (cheapest I've seen them being at is $199.99) and you have no guarantee that they will work because of the encryption technology running on the interface. I don't know if Voom ever authorized the encryption on the DVI port for all channels or just the satellite channels only. It could be tried, but I wouldn't go to the trouble of doing it for just a few OTA channels.

The first time I got my receivers, I was hoping to the interface would be DVI-I because my analog CRT projection television only has RGBHV as its best connection. So, I've had to resort to using component cables to get my high definition signals sent to my television.

 

[jackwfire]

Voom Box Activation

TYORK, I understand and agree (from prior posts) that spahoose is probably a VoOm CSR.

Having my brain engaged (not in neutral), I took the comment about "no news on purchased receivers" to mean...relative to any proration or rebates for purchasers...doesn't seem like rocket science to me to figure that out...Vicki

Speaking of rocket science, does anyone know how to activate a box. I had a "spare" which was never activated by Voom, so when you attempt to set it up for OTA reception, it will scan for channels, but proceed no further without calling for activation.

Thanks
Jack

 

[bratboy]

So far, there is no way I've read to do so. The box has/had to be activated for the OTA to keep going. At this point you could call voom and ask for a hit but chances are slim to none on it I think.

 

[jackwfire]

Recently released update: Voom is releasing all ownership of the receivers to the customers, ie: it's yours to keep. No word on purchased receivers yet.

Speaking of rocket science, does anyone know how to activate a box. I had a "spare" which was never activated by Voom, so when you attempt to set it up for OTA reception, it will scan for channels, but proceed no further without calling for activation.

Thanks
Jack

 

[lilyarbie]

A project someone is currently working on....

There's a member of this forum by the name of Ultratryon. He's currently working on this issue in one of his projects. Here's his website address:
http://www.ultatryon.com/
So far, he hasn't made a lot of progress due to having to wait for some parts to come in to analyze the receiver.

 

[d151b]

I'm in Plano. I don't have a problem with Fox but I do with channel 5. It comes and goes whenever it pleases. The signal strength is 94. I just toss it up to another Motorola problem.

that's odd. at one point i couldn't get any of my locals. i had unhooked the coax feed to my upstairs box and when i plugged it back in i could get all the locals except for fox and it's been that way ever since.