Voom Reality Questions

[mkwillia]

I have noticed a lot of post from people leaving VOOM due to things associated with not being able to receive any or all of their local OTA HD channels. If this is the case, are we unfairly criticizing VOOM for an added function?

(Like someone else said in this forum) Has VOOM set themselves up for more criticism by providing an OTA ant (w/ installation)?

Should we only be comparing services, programming, and PQ specific to the DBS service between the VOOM and everyone else?

I hope I don't get flamed for these questions but I am just trying to understand expectations.

Mike

 

[Mr. Biggles]

I think for seasoned Sat subscribers were well aware of the 'issues' associated with getting OTA HD stations. Eg: multi-path, transmission tower multiple locations, low power stations etc.. and are more understanding. But, for the many first time Sat subscribers it's more an unknown and thus the quickness for criticism and venting of frustration. Add to that, most don't want to know...they just want it to work.

Sadly, we have to include the OTA antenna installation in the discussion equation for as long as it's part of the 'package'.

 

[astrossuperfan]

IMHO, I don't think people are angry about the OTA locals. I think they are mad with the way Voom provides the locals: by mapping them into the program guide. If the Voom box allowed for manual scanning, pretty much anyone that can get a digital local could get it in Voom's EPG. Currenty, if you live in an area where Voom hasn't mapped your locals, *you have no locals*. With manual scanning, those people could hit a button and the box would find locals they could receive.

 

[rtt2]

Voom advertises that locals come with Voom. In their commercial it is zoomed in on channel logos of ABC, CBS, NBC as well as the cable logos of HBO and CNN. I feel they are setting themselves up for this. They make it look like the channels will be received.
The targeted customer has to do the research to find out that they only can get the channels if the local antenna can pull them in.

With DirecTV and Dish Network offering locals in most of the country now via satellite, customers now think locals come in via satellite. People are used to cable or satellite locals and are not patient enough to put up with OTA headaches. This is the reason people migrated to cable in the first place remember.

 

[mike123abc]

A far better system would be for you to be able to manually tune in all your OTA digital stations, then have VOOM match up the call signs of the stations to the guide.

 

[vurbano]

Voom has set themselves up for a lot of criticism with antenna installs and OTA reception. There is just going to be more complaints it is inevitable. But I applaud them for not wasting their bandwidth. They are they ONLY provider interested in delivering the most HD that they can. And in their defense their is simply no higher quality signal than digital or HD OTA delivered at full bandwidth. Ive heard that now D* wants to supply antennas as well? Anyway I am sure that voom will have manual scanning soon.

 

[BlackHitachi]

A far better system would be for you to be able to manually tune in all your OTA digital stations, then have VOOM match up the call signs of the stations to the guide.

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[txdude]

I have never had any trouble with my locals

 

[Mike J]

Me too, locals come in fine!

 

[vurbano]

I love OTA. If it were not for full bandwidth OTA available from some affiliates, the whole HD world could slide into 720p HD light at reduced bandwidth. Long live 1080i OTA at 18-19 mbits/sec!!!!!!!!!!! Wanna see just how bad SD looks on D* V* or E*..??? take a look at digital on OTA.

 

[DarrellP]

It's been a month now and still no Fox 480p widescreen for me. When they "fixed" the channel guide info, all they did was swap NBCHD with NBCSD, the info moved from the SD channel to the HD channel and the "NO INFO" moved from the HD channel to the SD channel. One good thing, they did drop a channel I couldn't get.

Long live 1080i OTA at 18-19 mbits/sec!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, as long as the station is not multicasting. Death to multicasting, kill the beast.

 

[rang1995]

"But I applaud them for not wasting their bandwidth" it's not just the wasting it's their business model because they can skirt the "must--carry" rules that Plague D* and E*

 

[DarrellP]

We'll see what happens with this new wireless cable crap that is buying up unused bandwidth from local digital stations. I hope they fail miserably.

 

[Lobstah]

OR...someone wakes up and starts ADDING bandwidth...

Oh to live in a perfect world

Lob

 

[Mr. Biggles]

Yeah, as long as the station is not multicasting. Death to multicasting, kill the beast.

Yep. This is exactly what my local CBS affiliate has just begun to do. It sucks.

 

[DarrellP]

Our CBS normally has 1 HD, 1 SD and a weather cam, but thankfully, during an important HD event like the Masters, they turn off the other 2 channels and allocate the entire bandwidth to the HD channel. We have a really great Engineer at our CBS, he moderates several of the forums at AVSForum and is a true HD Geek like the rest of us.