I must say, I'm terribly disappointed by Voom's PQ for a lot of SD channels. I've been an iO and Cablevision extended customer since 1978, and Voom just isn't matching up. Many channels, especially C-SPAN and Fox News (not endorsing FNC, but pointing out the poor PQ) look far WORSE than analog cable on my SDTV. The HBOs also look piss-poor outside of the HD feeds downcoded to 480i. What's up with the Motorola/Voom DSR-550 over-scanning images further on my SD? I have the Motorola boxes hooked up through a composite port on my 19", and component on my 27" Wega. Switching between analog cable and Voom, I noticed better colors, clear images, and FAR LESS over-scan with the former. Granted, I'm not using an HDTV, but why should that matter? If Voom can't get their SD channels to look as good as cable on analog TVs, they're shutting themselves off to potential customers. If not for that termination fee, I'd consider canceling. I'd further add, iO's Digital Channels beat the pants off Voom's SD channels. Having never viewed HD through iO, I won't compare the two.
Before anyone starts a "then why didn't you get DirecTV or E* subscription", I wanted to see how Voom would stack up. For a long time, I heard that Voom SD had almost a DVD quality PQ. I don't know if the new encoders are at fault, but that claim is way off.