New Voomer

[geomark]

I am in the Las Vegas area. I just got voom installed yesterday with 2 receivers. My house was a new construction and was prewired for satellite tv with a "smart box" installed...this is where all the cabling is located in the house with the cat5 connections to each room. Does anyone have a similar installation, I am wondering if cabling from the outside of the house to the roof where the satellite is located was necessary.

Anyway the programming is working fine, great HD picture. I will verify that I am getting a 1080i or 720p picture with the red button tonight.

The one thing I noticed is that I may have a lack of local channels. I do not see any listings for monday night football or most of the local channels. He DID hook up a local ota antenna so i should be getting some local channels.

Any thoughts?

Also my TV has HDMI inputs. I have read some threads saying that composite vs hdmi/dvi you wont notice much difference. Is this true?

Thanks.

 

[Ilya]

Welcome aboard!

I have read some threads saying that composite vs hdmi/dvi you wont notice much difference. Is this true?

Composite is SD only. You are probably talking about Component, which is HD and looks good enough. Whether you will see much difference or not - depends on your TV set and other factors. Try both and decide for yourself.

Whichever channels you have listed below 100 - these are your OTA. It may take another day or two before you see program schedules for Monday.

Not sure about your wiring (I am guessing it's RG6, not CAT-5, though...)

Ilya.

 

[jhogue@hrtc.net]

Welcome, I am not much of an expert on ota so I will let someone else answer that one. There are several factors that affect ota reception. I have a hitachi tv with hdmi. I noticed a big difference when I changed from component to DVI/HDMI input.

 

[Tvlman]

Welcome aboard. I have had VOOM for 8 months and love it. Hope you get your local channels issue worked out.

 

[geomark]

Thanks for the replies.

My tv is a 50" Panasonic DLP. If I find a good cable for DVI to HDMI (you guys know where I can get a good deal on the net?) I will pick some up and try it out to see if there is a difference.

I actually meant component, always mixing those up. Anyway, I didn't get much time to view the channels but I think I remember not seeing any channels under 100. I will double check this and repost. Also what do the channels 13-1, 14-1 mean. The ones with the hyphen?

If there are no channels under 100, does that mean I am getting NO local channels? He is using a diplexor, will running a seperate coax help?

 

[Ilya]

13-1 - that's how your digital OTA channels are labeled. There might be several sub-channels, e.g. 13.2, 13.3, etc.

Go to System Settings (by pressing VOOM, green, green) and select Installation Wizard. Do a new scan for OTA channels. See if you can pick up some more.

Good luck!

 

[Walter L.]

IAlso my TV has HDMI inputs. I have read some threads saying that composite vs hdmi/dvi you wont notice much difference. Is this true?

Welcome!!! I've tried both and preferred HDMI/DVI with my Panny 42" plasma.
BTW, please vote on this poll: http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=37313

 

[FreddyvsJasonvsAsh]

I am in the Las Vegas area. I just got voom installed yesterday with 2 receivers. My house was a new construction and was prewired for satellite tv with a "smart box" installed...this is where all the cabling is located in the house with the cat5 connections to each room. Does anyone have a similar installation, I am wondering if cabling from the outside of the house to the roof where the satellite is located was necessary.

Anyway the programming is working fine, great HD picture. I will verify that I am getting a 1080i or 720p picture with the red button tonight.

The one thing I noticed is that I may have a lack of local channels. I do not see any listings for monday night football or most of the local channels. He DID hook up a local ota antenna so i should be getting some local channels.

Any thoughts?

Also my TV has HDMI inputs. I have read some threads saying that composite vs hdmi/dvi you wont notice much difference. Is this true?

Thanks.

I'm in Las Vegas too. AAA Media Masters is ok but I had to have them come out 4 times in one month. I have locals just fine (NBC, Fox, CBS, PBSHD, PBS, ABC, ABCNews, WB, Gold33 and the 2 spanish channels)

 

[geomark]

Well, on double checking last night, I saw that I DID have a bunch of local channels. The advanced settings said I had 130 satellite and 30 local. I will have to count, that seems a bit high.

The only problems I am having now is box freeze up and black screen. Audio but no video. This only has happened so far on the local channels. I do have the update. I think the version was 7.26. Anyone know what causes this? I have flipped the channels up and down but sometimes no video. I had to soft-reboot when the box froze up.

Other than that, most channels are coming in good. Will wait to see if Monday Night Football airs!

 

[VegasVoomer]

Hey Freddy, what problems did you have that you needed installer to come 4 times? Just curious. I'm getting hooked up next Friday. I dont know who the company is yet.

 

[seanb724]

Thanks for the replies.

My tv is a 50" Panasonic DLP. If I find a good cable for DVI to HDMI (you guys know where I can get a good deal on the net?) I will pick some up and try it out to see if there is a difference.

I just picked up a ram "high end" cable that seems very reasonable for the price:

http://www.ramelectronics.net/html/DVI-hdmi_cables.html

/Sean

 

[geomark]

Thanks Sean...That looks like a good deal. Let us know how that works with your system and if you see any improvement. I will probably get one of the same.

One question: It says HDMI to DVI...Does it make a difference if I am going DVI to HDMI, are they compatible both ways? Some cables are one way.

Any idea??

 

[seanb724]

That looks like a good deal. Let us know how that works with your system and if you see any improvement. I will probably get one of the same.

One question: It says HDMI to DVI...Does it make a difference if I am going DVI to HDMI, are they compatible both ways? Some cables are one way.

Well, I'm new to HDTV and Voom, so it's hard for me to say. I debated a while between an upconverting DVD player or the STB for my TV's one HDMI port, and decided that true HD has more info, so I might as well use HDMI for that. The upconverting DVD players don't work on the composite cables for copy protected CDs, but DVD at 480p still looks good.

I think a lot of it will come down to what components you have and what ports you have. HDMI looks great, but so did composite. Coming from SD, though, that's what I'd expect.

As far as the cable, I don't really know. I am using the DVI out on the STB to go to an HDMI in on a Sony KDF-55WF655, and it works fine.

/Sean

 

[Walter L.]

HDMI looks great, but so did composite.

I think you really mean Component (3 cables Green/Blue/Red labeled Y' Pb Pr) as oppose to composite (single cable, yellow connector typically used on VCR & old DVD players).

 

[seanb724]

I think you really mean Component (3 cables Green/Blue/Red labeled Y' Pb Pr) as oppose to composite (single cable, yellow connector typically used on VCR & old DVD players).

Yes, you are right.

/Sean