South Florida Voom Zone!!!

Thanks. I'll give them a call. I originally was going to wait until D* or E* had some kind of deal, but since I get basic cable from Aldephia/Telemedia through my HOA for free it shouldn't cost much to upgrade my service.

Man its hard to beleive that this time last year I was in HD bliss, having just had Voom installed one month prior.
 
Vlad D said:
Thanks. I'll give them a call. I originally was going to wait until D* or E* had some kind of deal, but since I get basic cable from Aldephia/Telemedia through my HOA for free it shouldn't cost much to upgrade my service.

Man its hard to beleive that this time last year I was in HD bliss, having just had Voom installed one month prior.

Hey Vlad..did you call Adelphia?
Have you made any definitive decision on your new provider?
Anyone else in SoFla made any choice yet?
 
truqui said:
Anyone else in SoFla made any choice yet?
I am going back to Comcast, in Plantation/Fort Lauderdale they have the best picture quality/quantity of HD channels for the money at this time.

I have researched the two DBS companies and I am not compelled to go with either one over cable at this time. If cable is not an option in your area, then it seems most people at AVS are going with Dish even though Direct seems to be in a better position to have more HD when the next satellite is launched on 4/26. It just seems like a decision of 'the lesser of two evils'.

I even considered 4DTV (BUD), but many threads are compliaining about the lack of HD channels and the uncertainty of a new Motorola box to decode the HD in the furture. :no
 
I decided on Adelphia...installation is set for 5/02. I THOUGHT of going back to *D....but there offer for JUST HBO, HD pack and the sports pack come to the same amout as the FULL package WITH HD DVR and digital boxes in 3 other rooms! The ONLY thing I will miss is the NFL Package...that is the ONLY thing *D has over ANYONE!
 
truqui said:
Hey Vlad..did you call Adelphia?
Have you made any definitive decision on your new provider?
Anyone else in SoFla made any choice yet?

No, I haven't called yet. I think I'm still in denial. I'll probably call sometime this week.
 
salsadancer7 said:
I decided on Adelphia...installation is set for 5/02. I THOUGHT of going back to *D....but there offer for JUST HBO, HD pack and the sports pack come to the same amout as the FULL package WITH HD DVR and digital boxes in 3 other rooms! The ONLY thing I will miss is the NFL Package...that is the ONLY thing *D has over ANYONE!
Salsa...where are you located?
When I called Adelphia CSR, I asked about DVR, HD or SD, and was told that none was available in my area...!!!
Did you get the Ultimate package? What were you quoted? Any install fee?
 
I live west of Metro Zoo...close to the County Walk area.
I got the Ultimate Pack, I think they call it the Platnium or something like that. It was something like $84 with tax...
it was either $102 when he comes to install or nothing upfront and commit to a one year contract...
 
Comcast appears to be offering a good deal to soon-to-be-x voomers. They're offering approx 45% discount for first year. Any thoughts. Also, do i need a separate box for each TV for which want premium channels or will 2 tv's work off 1 box if all the cable already exists.
 
I just called Adelphia who is my area cable company and also I have my basic non-digital cable which is paid by my HOA....The deal I am thinking about which is on top of my basic cable is....
Basic Digital-$13.45
HDTV Box- $7.95
HD Plus Tier-$5.00
Total-$26.40 +Taxes

I am pretty sure I will try it out but they are out of the HD boxes right now and expect them on May 13th.I know this is nothing like Voom but hopefully it should hold me till something better comes along...I just hope the HD looks good.
 
Well...NOW WHAT?
Time Warner/Comcast won the battle and are purchasing Adelphia...so to going from one failing company to another (Adelphia) is really not fun although with Adelphia which, hopefully will later be Comcast in my area, may be good...they have the deal with Tivo and the HD DVR...!!! Maybe...just maybe!
 
Just called Adelphia and setup install for 5/2/05
Everything...Ultimate Pack, HD and Spanish Tier all for $56.40+tax. (only 9.95 install fee)
Pretty much the same as my current Voom (1 room Voom Package plus HBO and STB rental) but I get all the premiums, not just HBO.
They also have HDnet, InHD and PPV's...I also get ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC local HD feeds.
Unfortunately they don't offer any DVR in my area yet...

CSR knew alot about all this including Voom's demise and the new ownership of Adelphia by Comcast/TW.
 
GaryZ06 said:
I just called Adelphia who is my area cable company and also I have my basic non-digital cable which is paid by my HOA....The deal I am thinking about which is on top of my basic cable is....
Basic Digital-$13.45
HDTV Box- $7.95
HD Plus Tier-$5.00
Total-$26.40 +Taxes

I am pretty sure I will try it out but they are out of the HD boxes right now and expect them on May 13th.I know this is nothing like Voom but hopefully it should hold me till something better comes along...I just hope the HD looks good.
Gary, they offered me HD box with HD tier for just $12.95 and said I didn't need to add digital tier at all...!!!
Oh and they said they would install next week, so boxes are available right now...!!!
 
truqui said:
Gary, they offered me HD box with HD tier for just $12.95 and said I didn't need to add digital tier at all...!!!
Oh and they said they would install next week, so boxes are available right now...!!!
I just called and got a install date of 5/4...They told me they do not have the boxes yet.They are going off the date they are supposed to get them.If they don't have them by the install date they will call to reschedule.
 
Comcast HD DVR and Thoughts On What To Do Next. . .

I have been away from the forum a while since I have been traveling. I am upset to see Voom go, especially after buying a new 60" Sony. :( I just sold my Mitsu big screen last week and upgraded my set.

Just a few thoughts on some of the postings I have seen and comments about what I am planning to do next. The majority of my clients are in the consumer electronics industry and we have had several discussions in regards to where the HD technology is going and what to do next.

I currently still have Voom, (2) DirecTV Tivo SD's, and (2) Comcast HD dual tuner DVR's. I love the Comcast HD-DVR capability, but it is very limited on space. If you record a few movies, forget the space for your favorite TV shows. I have traveled a lot lately, and often miss shows due to the lack of hard drive space, thus the 2 DVR's. Anyone that has a Tivo knows how great it is to record something and watch it maybe a month later. It is always nice to have that option.

The Comcast Guide is no where near the quality of Tivo's. It is however getting better. The DVR is very basic and limited, but does allow name based recording and season passes. It often records the wrong type of episode (new vs. reruns) due to flags in the show information not accurately representing a new or old version of the show. Sometimes guide overlaps cause recording issues such as with Lost and Alias. I have to set Lost to record for two hours, and not record Alias, in order to avoid a 1 minute overlap. This has caused missed recordings of Alias on a few occasions. I often check the recording schedule a week to two weeks in advance for accuracy. Needless to say, Tivo and Comcast are now entering a joint partnership which will make things better. Legacy Tivo boxes are currently being retrofitted with Comcast cable cards.

The only reason I have kept the DirecTV Tivo's is because the analog channels, below 100 channels, SD picture quality is HORRIBLE. If you watch TNT, USA, or SciFi, you will be disgusted by the poor picture quality. I cannot watch Enterprise on UPN either because it is so grainy and noisy. The analog to digital conversion for cable is their biggest weakness. Comcast does plan to rebroadcast those channels in digital quality by the summer. In the meantime, I split the cable feed and went to the HD-DVR and directly to the TV to avoid the analog to digital conversion issue. If I cancel D*, I will probably get a Tivo to record those analog channels, and get better picture quality. I know it is still not great, but better than what I get now. By the way, this is the case for all cable companies using a digital box on analog channels. Please note that ABC, Fox, and CBS are already being rebroadcasted digitally in SD, and have great PQ in my area. Anything in digital format is comparable or better to that of DirecTV. By the way, even with cable you still get audio or picture dropouts on rare occasions. My other huge issue with Comcast is their billing. My advice is to watch your bill like a hawk. I have had their service since January, and thus far I have had to call them every month to complain. By the way you can get $100 of the bill if you sign up at Brandsmart, and I think Best Buy has the same deal. There is also a DishOut promotion which gives you $25 a month off of your cable bill with a copy of your Voom bill.

Now for some of the positives. . . I love having an HD-DVR. Once you use one you will be hooked. What is in HD looks great. It is very convenient and easy to use. There are more HD movie channels that D* or E*. In my area, I have HBOHD, STARZHD, MAXHD, and ShowtimeHD. I do miss having as many channels as Voom though. I also like having a 30 second commercial skip. This is a remote control hack that you have to do in order to enable this feature. If anybody needs it, please let me know. I also like that I am not buying any equipment, signing any contracts, or need to drill any more holes or install dishes. I was also informed that Comcast would be adding about four more HD channels by the summer. I heard that TNTHD will be one of those channels. "On Demand" should be available by the summer as well. It is unclear whether we will get any HD "On Demand" upon launch. As I understand it, the plan is that we will have that feature in HD.

I am still talking to Dish. I have not been convinced yet to do anything with them as of this time. My parents have Dish and are not very happy. I also do not want to install two satellites to get all of their offerings. The positive is they are not requiring any long term commitments, however you do need to make an investment if you want to have an HD-DVR. I am still not convinced in having to make investments in equipment, with such few HD channels being offered. I do know from experience, that their HD is superior to D* at this time. I would say Comcast's HD is better than that of Dish.

In regards to DirecTV, they may have some viable HD programming this summer. As of right now, their HD quality is a very poor. It is more like HD-lite. Their one true strength is the NFL Sunday Ticket in HD. This is the only real thing that appeals to me. They launch their new satellite this summer and it will be interesting to see what they will offer. Also if the will deliver HD they way it was meant to be delivered. They should also begin offering the Ucentric Home Solution, which Voom was planning to do. Ucentric focused more on DirecTV than Voom with this offering. We should also begin seeing some new DVR's from DirecTV this year with MPEG 4 encoding. The downside for D* right now is poor HD quality, a contract commitment, and out of pocket expense for equipment. Their new satellite may be the difference in HD, however, it seems that D* and E* are focusing more on offering HD locals than expanding the HD offering.

In regards to the HD Tivo, I wanted to make sure that everyone has heard of the MPEG4 conversions being done by D*. In order to save bandwidth and maintain PQ and AQ, this conversion will being over the summer. If you do spend $1,000 on the HD Tivo, it will eventually be obsolete. This box is not upgradeable to MPEG4, and no upgrade path has been offered as of this time. Tivo's agreement is also ending with DirecTV soon, and DirecTV will begin selling MPEG4, non-Tivo boxes. If you do buy the HD Tivo, it is not sure how much life the product will have. All new HD offerings will be in MPEG4. The HD Tivo users will be able to see the current HD line-up for 6 months to a year. Any new channels will not be visible on these boxes. I obtained this information through online research, and discussions with with both DirecTV and Tivo. This is why I held off on buying and HD Tivo myself, as well as the HD PQ issues.

I have decided to avoid any commitments until I see what HD offering and PQ these providers will have. As I obtain any new information, I will pass it along to the forum. In the meantime, make the most of your time with Voom and enjoy the experience while it lasts.
 
truqui said:
Just called Adelphia and setup install for 5/2/05
Everything...Ultimate Pack, HD and Spanish Tier all for $56.40+tax. (only 9.95 install fee)
Pretty much the same as my current Voom (1 room Voom Package plus HBO and STB rental) but I get all the premiums, not just HBO.
They also have HDnet, InHD and PPV's...I also get ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC local HD feeds.
Unfortunately they don't offer any DVR in my area yet...

CSR knew alot about all this including Voom's demise and the new ownership of Adelphia by Comcast/TW.

Gary, they offered me HD box with HD tier for just $12.95 and said I didn't need to add digital tier at all...!!!
Oh and they said they would install next week, so boxes are available right now...!!!

truqui,
Did you call Adelphia's 800 number or Telemedia's local number? Did you get a discount for already having basic cable? Any commitment? What's included in the Ultimate pack? And finally, :) , how much is your deal minus the spanish tier? I plan on calling them this week.
 
Thanks Skakusha!

Thanks for the excellent comparison of the pros and cons of Directv, Dish and Comcast HD quality, and their respective future plans and committments to HD. I dropped Directv and went to Voom in mid-March. I am so glad that I did not fall into D*'s "HD-lite" trap. The MPEG-4 issue was the clincher. I figured, hey if Voom does not make it, I will go back to D* after they launched their satellites and move to MPEG-4. I am so happy I went to Voom despite the shut down. For a month and a half I got to see the future of subscriber television. Also I got to meet to experience the friendliest customer service/support people that I have ever had the pleasure of working with. And on this forum, (for the most part) I got to read the thoughts and helpful comments of folks like you! Now I don't think I will ever go back to Directv unless they lose that "you owe us your first born child" mentality. I just hope that now that Voom is nearly gone, the "best HD" competition that they ignited won't fall victim to the smugness of the other providers who now might see this as an opportunity to slow down in the race to increase HD content. I will (to my surprise) go with Comcast because they actually have more HD-content (although still pathetic), don't make you buy a lot of equipment up-front and don't make you sign long-term commitments unlike Directv (and of course, the dish buy back program makes it affordable). I never had Dishnetworks, but if they increase the number of stations in HD and continue with their progressive (allowing equipment rental and shorter committments) policies, I can see myself with them in a year's time (when the Comcast promotion is over).
Bests,

Wayne
 
TNT-HD Added To Comcast Today!

I wanted to let those of you with Comcast know that TNT-HD was added on Channel 204 this weekend in Pembroke Pines. The Comcast Tech informed me that TNT-HD would be on one of the following channels depending on your service area:

Channel 771, 182, or 204

I was also told that 7 new HD channels are coming by the end of the year. I made a good contact at Comcast and he said that he would send me regular, updates which I will pass along to the group.

The tech also told me that he would forward an e-mail regarding Adelphia users switching over to Comcast. I will pass along any information as I get it.

It is good to see other providers starting to make progress on HD. Without a doubt, I think we owe Voom a lot in pushing its competitors. Thanks Voom!!!
 
BTW, I spent some time at Circuit City playing with the DirecTV HD Tivo, and I was very disappointed. The HD is very weak. Several artifacts and grainy. As long as there is little to no movement then the picture is decent, but far from desired. With any movement the pixelation is pretty bad. Reaffirms my decision to cancel D* and avoid any contract commitments.

I decided tonight to buy a Tivo DVD-Recordable with 80 hours. I am setting this up via my Comcast HD box in order to archive shows and make DVD's when desired. I thought that since this box has component outs and 480p playback of Tivo recordings, it should be a pretty nice addition to my AV rack. I had one before for Voom and sold it. I missed being able to burn shows on DVD for viewing later. I am also curious to see how these burnt DVD's will look when played in the HD upconvert DVD player a bought a month ago.

Just a thought, we need a new forum thread where we can discuss cable (Adelphia and Comcast), HD, and Tivo's. I would still like to keep in touch with this group and share knowledge of things to come. Any suggestions where we should move our Local Area Forum to?
 
Vlad D said:
truqui,
Did you call Adelphia's 800 number or Telemedia's local number? Did you get a discount for already having basic cable? Any commitment? What's included in the Ultimate pack? And finally, :) , how much is your deal minus the spanish tier? I plan on calling them this week.

I called the 800 number (1-888-683-1000)
Don't know if I got any specific discount by being a basic cable sub but they did have me as a customer even if it's through HOA.
I actuallly had Telemedia's Digital Box (Motorola) a few years back. No commitment.
The Ultimate Pack includes everything they offer except the Adult channels, so it's like the VaVaVoom Package.

Here's the breakdown I was quoted:
Ultimate Pack $43.45
HD Pack $ 12.95
Spanish Tier $ 9.99
Install $ 9.95
Additional Digital Box (Non HD) $6.50

HD CHANNELS I will be getting: (Plus whatever new channels added)
CBS WFOR
NBC WTVJ
FOX WSVN
PBS
HBO
SHOW
STARZ
ESPN
DISCOVERY
HDNET
HDNET Movies
InHD 1
InHD 2
 

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