VOOM Installations

[Gr8Reb8]

Holding down the power button for 5 seconds and letting go.

Sean,

When I had one of my first daily reciever lockups, I attempted to reboot by holding down the power button for 5 seconds. Although the box rebooted, all channels still displayed "no signal". I had to unplug power for a few seconds to get it going.

 

[Sean Mota]

Sean,

When I had one of my first daily reciever lockups, I attempted to reboot by holding down the power button for 5 seconds. Although the box rebooted, all channels still displayed "no signal". I had to unplug power for a few seconds to get it going.

That works too...

 

[Gr8Reb8]

The last time I removed power to the reciever, I removed the OTA module. Will the box crash less frequently? I guess I will find out.....

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I don't have all my locals yet (and they are all listed on the VOOM listings) I wrote Wilt and he told me not to do the factory reset.

I did the above to check the Trip Counter and mine shows 51 is that ok?

I just wondering if Wilt sent a hit to my box and its stuck.

Suggestions? Ideas?

What is the number the Trip Counter is supposed to be at?

 

[Sean Mota]

I don't have all my locals yet (and they are all listed on the VOOM listings) I wrote Wilt and he told me not to do the factory reset.

I did the above to check the Trip Counter and mine shows 51 is that ok?

I just wondering if Wilt sent a hit to my box and its stuck.

Suggestions? Ideas?

Yeah that's good. Scott, you can call VOOM Tech and have them send a hit to the box and way to see if they show up. My trip count today started showing up my locals after 4, right now is at 66. You were installed yesterday and still don't have the locals. I do not know any other solution that might bring the locals back. When I spoke to Peter Rees, he suggested to do a factory reset if the local channels were not in the PG after the mapping was updated. Some people had success doing it.

 

[Vlad D]

I am now officially a Voomer and all I can say is "Holy Freakin' Sh*t!!!!!!!" The PQ is utterly amazing. I get all but 2 of my local channels. (actually one that I don't get, WFLX FOX 29-1, is a West Palm Beach channel but I used to get it with my old STB and a Rat Shack Bowtie.)

The installers did a great job. As I mentioned before, they didn't want to run the separate line for the OTA at first but eventually agreed. After that everything went pretty smoothly, they took about an hour and a half or so the install the dish, antenna and drill the holes and run the lines. After connecting the box they called to activate and BAM I was vooming. Overall installation took about 2 and a half hours, which 30 mins of that was them and I BS-ing. I must say I am very satisfied. I was a little worried hearing some of the nightmare installations that have happened, but fortunately my install was problem free.

Vlad

 

[Sean Mota]

Vlad D,

congrads. Check zap2it

http://tvlistings4.zap2it.com/cabdbs/grid.asp?partner_id=cabdbs

to see if they were mapped to your zipcode. If it's not Send me an email to Sean_Mota@satelliteguys.us with your address and zip code. Let me know.

 

[K4LK]

Another successful install!

I ordered VOOM on Friday 3/5 and was given an install date of Saturday 3/13 from 12 to 5 PM. The Installs email came on Monday 3/8. My assigned installer was Southern Satellite & Audio. I called on Wednesday 3/10 to confirm. I spoke to a lady who said everything was set. The dreaded (sorry, you're equipment didn't arrive) phone call never came.

At 2:15 PM on Saturday, Manny from Hi-Tech Satellite (out of Oakland Park, FL) called. He was in Sarasota (an hour south of here) and needed directions. At about 4:30 PM he called and told me he was stuck in traffic on Interstate 275. (He reported to me later that a truck had flipped on its side. Road conditions were bright, sunny and dry. Go figure). At about 5:45 PM I tried calling him a couple of times but got voice mail. He called me about 6:05 PM and was lost. He finally arrived at about 6:25 PM. He was so apologetic about being late. I assured him it was no problem.

I helped him unload and we went to work. After he saw my OTA antenna system, there was no need to bother with the Stealth, so it's still in the box. I have a multi-element all-channel at 30 feet above ground pointed at the antenna farm in Riverview and a UHF corner reflector aimed north. They are mixed together with a Channel Master Join-Tenna. A 10 dB preamp helps overcome the loss of 100 feet of RG-6. Since I already have a single-LNB dish, he offered to replace it with the dual-LNB VOOM dish and feed VOOM and my DiSH 6000. I took down the old dish and assembled the VOOM dish while Manny installed the receiver and ran the cable to the dish. I only need 15 feet of RG-6 between the receivers and the dishes. Manny then connected the dish and aligned it.

After the receiver was activated, he showed me around the menus. He left at about 7:30 PM. He still had 2 calls to go and a trip home to Sanford (near Orlando)! His next install was a 3-room D*. Whew! All I've got to say is why didn't I do this sooner? Very impressive. The HD channels look great and the SD channel quality is as expected. I didn't have time to compare with D* or C-band yet. All mapped OTA channels are working fine. There are a couple of other channels that are not mapped, namely 8.2, 8.3, 22.1. These are WFLA NBC's SD copy of the main channel and weather radar, and WCLF Christian TV. The VOOM remote and my 4DTV C-band receiver remote generate the same codes. I switched my 4DTV receiver to a different remote address to resolve the conflict. This will make it easy to add VOOM to my Pronto.

Satellite signal power is 61 and quality is 33. OTA signal power is 44 and quality is 88. I had one receiver lockup while browsing. No problem. I know a software update is coming soon. I have full confidence in Motorola's software engineers. It took a few updates to squash all the bugs in my 4DTV and they will take care of VOOM's bugs. Writing bug-free software is not easy and can take a while to fully test.

What can I say about Manny? Very professional, helpful, patient and polite. He is terrific at customer service. He is very impressed with VOOM and expects it to be very successful. He says that VOOM installs have picked up since they started the new promotion.

Dana in St. Petersburg, Florida
Happy VOOMer

My equipment: Pioneer Pro-510HD monitor, Denon AVR-5800U A/V receiver, General Instrument DSR-922 4DTV BUD receiver, Sony SAT-HD200 OTA/D* receiver, DiSH 6000U receiver, Motorola DSR-550 VOOM receiver, SatCruiser DSR-101 FTA MPEG2 receiver, Pioneer Elite DVL-91 LD/DVD player, Pioneer Elite DV-38A DVD player, Pioneer Elite DVR-7000 DVD recorder, B&W 7.1 system with Velodyne sub.

 

[Ilya]

K4LK, congratulations on your install! Welcome to the club!
Signal power of 61 is good, but signal quality of 33 seems to be rather low. Mine stays within 50-60 range unless I get ice on the dish. 33 is probably ok, but the picture will start breaking up and freezing once you get into 20-25 range. Are you sure you don't have any trees in the direction of the satellite?

 

[truqui]

Great to hear Vlad...congrats!

Tomorrow is my install...no call from anyone yet!

Man I can't believe it. I sent an email on Friday to Joe Harkins explaining that no one has called either from Installs or local or even Voom for that matter!

He actually called me back Friday night to let me know that everything should be OK for Monday. What a guy, that is service...(hopefully whoever he sends is as good or as good as you got Vlad!)

My install company is Pro Sat not the same as yours. Wonder why? We live in the same neighborhood?

Anyway I will post the install story tomorrow...

 

[Al O]

That is Great, I also had a successful install on 12/11/03. I live in central FL about 75 miles north of Tampa. My satellite signal power and signal quality was in the low 40's on 18" dish. When we had small rain showers,signal broke up or loss signal. Yes as Ilya said, signal quality of 33 is low. I had a 36" dish for E* 61.5 for CBSHD. I hook my Voom to it, and I now have signal power of 69 and signal quality in the middle 80's. If you can, try to adjust the dish just a little touch can made a big difference. And welcome to Voom.

 

[Vlad D]

truqui,

I wouldn't worry too much. I never heard from my installer either until I called them the day before.

Sean,

I checked zap2it and those 2 channels are listed. Actually, there are 5 other channels (West Palm Beach channels) listed that I don't get, but then I never got them before with my previous setup so I don't really care. The one I really miss is WFLX FOX 29-1, I find that it has a much better PQ than my local WSVN FOX 7-1. Should I do a factory reset to see if they'll show up? Also, my program guide is blank today. Is that a normal occurance? One last question, do I need to keep the phone line connected?

Thanks

Vlad

 

[Sean Mota]

truqui,

I wouldn't worry too much. I never heard from my installer either until I called them the day before.

Sean,

I checked zap2it and those 2 channels are listed. Actually, there are 5 other channels (West Palm Beach channels) listed that I don't get, but then I never got them before with my previous setup so I don't really care. The one I really miss is WFLX FOX 29-1, I find that it has a much better PQ than my local WSVN FOX 7-1. Should I do a factory reset to see if they'll show up? Also, my program guide is blank today. Is that a normal occurance? One last question, do I need to keep the phone line connected?

Thanks

Vlad

Yes, do a factory reset if they do not show up on your PG (only). If they show up on your PG but you can't get a lock on them, that's a different problem.

PG with no information is not normal. See this thread for more information; you are not alone in this

http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?p=71348#post71348

Phone Line connection: not now. but later yes.

 

[dledeaux]

Well, after numerous factory resets and reboots I finally got my trip counter to show something other than 0, but I still have no OTA listings.

I'm not 100% sure of how everything works with OTA mappings on the receiver.

A) How long should they take to show up? Is this an overnight thing?
B) Does Voom need to send another hit after a factory reset?
C) Should my channels still be listed even though my OTA antenna is inadequate?
D) What is the trip counter exactly? Like a ping? (Or the indicator that you have received a ping)

*sigh* so many questions!

 

[Sean Mota]

dledeaux,

I would call voom and asked them to hit the box again if your locals are not showing up in the PG (and the mapping is correct per zap2it). Wait about 45 minutes and do another Factory reset if necessary. Some of us, including me, had to it 4-5 times.

Yes, your channel mapping should show up even your antenna cannot pick them up.

Trip count (I think) communicates with satellite somehow. I yet to determine what good is after installation but before installation it gives a sign as to when PG is downloaded and video is finally seeing on your receiver.

 

[K4LK]

K4LK, congratulations on your install! Welcome to the club!
Signal power of 61 is good, but signal quality of 33 seems to be rather low. Mine stays within 50-60 range unless I get ice on the dish. 33 is probably ok, but the picture will start breaking up and freezing once you get into 20-25 range. Are you sure you don't have any trees in the direction of the satellite?

Nope. No trees. Tried repeaking the dish. Not much of an increase.

 

[Vlad D]

Ok, I did two factory resets and WFLX FOX 29-1 still doesn't show. It's no biggie if I can't get it, it's just irksome that I could before with my little rinky-dink indoor bowtie antenna and that I can't with this outdoor antenna. Especially when zap2it has it listed as one I should be able to get. Anyone in the Miramar/Pembroke Pines Florida area able to get WFLX FOX 29-1 with Voom?

BTW, I checked my sat signal quality: 49, sat signal power: 61, off air signal quality: 84, and off air signal power: 46. Yesterday when the installers were here I remember them being impressed that my sat signal quality: 59, and them mentioning that the highest they seen so far was 61. Is it normal for sat signal quality to fluctuate?

Vlad

 

[Sean Mota]

Is it normal for sat signal quality to fluctuate?

Vlad

Yes, it is.

 

[bubblepoppunk]

Voom Install=bad

Ok so here is how my story beings:

I scheduale the appointment between 8 and 10 on tuesday march 10th. The installer first didn't want to come because it was snowing for about 15 minutes. After it stopped he said he was going to come and would be at the house shortly. An hour later he calls and says his car is overheated and that he will be there when he gets towed and fixed. So at 5 p.m he shows up to get the "job" done. He proceeds to put up the antenna and satellite. That took about an hour. We hook up 3 boxes and the 4th one is the only one that works. Well,it doesn't even work. He left with the signal being 34 and signal quality being 30. I don't know if thats right or not. Anyway heres the bad part.

I can only get 3 OTA stations. Even though they are all relatively close to each other in the same direction. 2nd, I lose signal on all channels after the box being on for about 20 minutes. It just dies and I have to restart it. So i figured thats not normal and called to get the box replaced on the 16th. I'm still waiting for the installer on that one. Funny thing is I can keep the box on one channel for hours at a time, but as soon as I turn the station it drops on all channels and needs and power cycle. I really like what I've seen on Voom, but this STB is rediculous. I'm anxious to see what happens on the new one.
Thats it! I guess i'll see what happens.

 

[Ken F]

Conditions were not optimal for installation, if it was snowing as you said. Bad weather can make it difficult to optimally tune a dish and antenna, even ignoring the fact that he was probably rushing to get in from the cold. Not surprising, the best installs are performed on those days when the weather is pleasant.

For whatever reason, the installer did not do a very good job of pointing the dish; 34 may not be sufficient for reliable television viewing. He should have made a better effort to get a signal in the 50-55 range. I would not be surprised if the low signal was responsible for some of the problems you are having. Your signal might be sufficient for channels on one transponder, but not for channels on another transponder.

As far as the off-air, their default antenna is nothing to write home about. You may want to request a larger / better antenna. Then again, the existing "Stealth" antenna may simply need repointing.