Shaky Start...But Hoping

[ddlsmith]

New subscriber...San Antonio TX.

The GOOD :up : Amazing picture (New Hitachi 57"), very pleased with channel lineup (especially with the exclusive V* channels), even the wife (who normally reads while I watch ) was glued to the set for the Equator and Auction channels.

The BAD :down : Out of 3 STB's only 2 work, one has no picture at all (installer was Installs Inc. and had no backups on truck), getting absolutely NO local OTA's (even though my house is on one of the tallest points in the city), installer claimed this was his FIRST install in the city...he just moved in to town and asked ME which direction the antenna should be pointed for the OTA's , have had to reboot one STB numerous times due to lockup. Installer seemed preoccupied and in a hurry to leave...advised me to call in for a follow up service call to fix problems. CSR stated maybe some local channels were not able to be received in my city and I replied that when I ordered the service I was told I could receive ALL local channels. Not "maybe" or "might" but COULD.

The UGLY: Installer had to place antenna at the very front of the roof because of trees in back yard (waiting for neighbors to comment :yikes)

Waiting for follow up service call this Thursday, 12/2.

I want this company to succeed, love the concept, am an ex D*, E*, and TWC subscriber and this has me pumped...just hope I am not disappointed. If they fix my problems I will be a staunch supporter and am sure I can convince many friends to switch to V*. If not, I will be very disappointed. Fingers crossed.

 

[Whipster56]

Call VOOM back and request a more powerful OTA antenna. That's what I did and they installed a new one (no charge) and I get all my OTA channels. I had some glitches after the initial install but all is fine now and I'm in HD heaven.

 

[TheTimm]

Congratulations on gettin' Voom, and welcome to the forums. Sorry to hear about the install problems and box issue. Sometimes it takes a little patience at the outset to get everything up and runnin' right but it sure is worth it once everything is tight! Hope ya stick it out - you won't regret it.
By the way, if you haven't already, you should go to antennaweb.org to see what channels you should be able to get OTA. It's pretty much the Bible as far as Voom is concerned and if it says you can get all your locals you can probably get them to keep upgrading your antenna until you do. It'll also tell you which direction the channels are broadcasting from so you can let the installer know ( I'm surprised he hadn't checked this out before he got to your house!). Good luck.

 

[BigTVSteve]

Marginal installation/OTA reception web site info

Congrats on the VOOM decision, but sorry to hear about your problems. I lucked out and had an excellent installer in San Diego.

When they return (hopefully someone with more experience) to resolve your 3rd receiver and OTA problems, make sure they show you how to verify your receiver's software version number and quantitatively verify your OTA and satellite signal strengths.

The VOOM receivers have some pretty nice software that stores the received signal strength (on a 100% scale) for each received OTA station and for the satellite signal. My installer said to accept nothing less than 95 for the satellite signal and that 90 or so was needed on each OTA station for trouble free reception. I have 98-99 for the satellite signal strength on both receivers, with my 24 inch dish.

Based on some of the posts that I have read, it is evident that many installers are not correctly peaking the small dish antennas for azimuth and elevation. My experienced installer even started with a false peaking of the antenna. It looked good with his roof meter connected, but the receiver's signal strength only showed in the high 80s initially. Back to the roof and re-locate the antenna for a much stronger signal...

Before the installers return, if you are technically inclined and want to become smart on OTA reception issues (in general and in your specific area) and antenna selection try the following two sites. They both have good forum sections on OTA reception of digital signals:

www.avsforum.com

www.hometheaterspot.com

 

[Sean Mota]

A lot of the problems with OTA digital channels has to do with the setup. It will be useful if you could tell us:

1- What model antenna was installed?

2- Do you have a diplexor installed?

3 - Do you have a multiswitch?

Take a picture of the setup if possible at the multiswitch or diplexor or both. This will help greatly in troubleshooting the problem. Many times we have seen that the setup was incorrectly installed. Try to do this before your next service so that we can see how we can give you some advice where the trouble may lie. Also go to www.antennaweb.org (as previously suggested) and the get the list of digital channels in your area plus the distance and direction and see if your antenna is pointing in the correct direction. Pictures will greatly help as well.

 

[Ilya]

First of all, welcome aboard, ddlsmith and all others joining us in the VOOMLand these days!

...Out of 3 STB's only 2 work ... getting absolutely NO local OTA's ... installer claimed this was his FIRST install in the city... Installer seemed preoccupied and in a hurry to leave...advised me to call in for a follow up service call to fix problems...

I bet it wasn't bad STBs - it was bad installer!
My advice for everyone (perhaps too late for ddlsmith): DO NOT ACCEPT PARTIAL INSTALLATION! Do not sign the paperwork until everything is done to your satisfaction. I know, you are anxious to start VOOMing, but you don't want a car with 3 tires!) The installer is off the hook the moment you put your signature!

As for OTA, if www.antennaweb.org says you can receive some channels without a monster antenna, do not accept any excuses. Most likely the installer used a wrong type of multiswitch: the one that doesn't pass DC voltage to the pre-amp in the antenna, forgot to connect the diplexer to the back of the STB, or did some other installation mistake. Call VOOM and have them fix it ASAP.

Get over the installation problems as quickly as you can and enjoy VOOM after that!

 

[ddlsmith]

I bet it wasn't bad STBs - it was bad installer!
My advice for everyone (perhaps too late for ddlsmith): DO NOT ACCEPT PARTIAL INSTALLATION! Do not sign the paperwork until everything is done to your satisfaction. I know, you are anxious to start VOOMing, but you don't want a car with 3 tires!) The installer is off the hook the moment you put your signature!

Thanks for the advice! You can bet the follow up installer won't get my signature 'til I'm satisfied.

 

[ddlsmith]

Take a picture of the setup if possible at the multiswitch or diplexor or both. This will help greatly in troubleshooting the problem. Many times we have seen that the setup was incorrectly installed. Try to do this before your next service so that we can see how we can give you some advice where the trouble may lie. Also go to www.antennaweb.org (as previously suggested) and the get the list of digital channels in your area plus the distance and direction and see if your antenna is pointing in the correct direction. Pictures will greatly help as well.

Thanks Sean! I will do so. I am now down to 1 out of 3 STB's that work. The main one (for the HDTV) locked up so many times a day (and '"No V* CSR, the soft boot does not fix it.") that I finally gave up and swapped it with the other working one and at least so far seems to be working fine. As Ilya suggested, I will not let the follow up installer coming this Thursday leave until I am completely satisfied.

 

[ddlsmith]

UPDATE...Installs Inc. replaced the antenna and now I am getting all locals. Yea!!!
The bad news....all of my STB's have to be replaced, they all lock up after a couple of hours and you can't change channels. Of course a soft reboot fixes that but you lose all of your program information for a while, waiting for it to download again. If this were a "once in a while" thing, I could live with it but not several times a day. What are the odds that out of 3 STB's they are all bad? Installs Inc. stated that VOOM sent out a "bad batch" of STB's. Have another service call next week to replace them. Have been a VOOM customer for 12 days now and am on my 3rd service call. Still hoping though!!

 

[stevesmall]

UPDATE...Installs Inc. replaced the antenna and now I am getting all locals. Yea!!!
The bad news....all of my STB's have to be replaced, they all lock up after a couple of hours and you can't change channels. Of course a soft reboot fixes that but you lose all of your program information for a while, waiting for it to download again. If this were a "once in a while" thing, I could live with it but not several times a day. What are the odds that out of 3 STB's they are all bad? Installs Inc. stated that VOOM sent out a "bad batch" of STB's. Have another service call next week to replace them. Have been a VOOM customer for 12 days now and am on my 3rd service call. Still hoping though!!

WOW they must really like you i called for service and Voom cant get to me until next friday, oh by the way none of my boxes are working, and that was 4 days ago i called (tuesday).
Hopefully the rumors on this board are not true or maybe that would be a good thing <installs inc is out of business ? who knows but i am not happy about a 10 day wait