VOOM STB FAQ (Motorola DSR-550): Post-VOOM Edition

[Hoopnoop]

Thanks Snagger!

Its a Pioneer 533-H-S. I recall something on Tivo as well but I got the impression that it didn't work with the Voom OTA at least in terms of the channel guide. I can use the timer record on the Pioneer but I just have to be sure that the Voom unit is on the right channel. I was hoping to use the program planner on the Voom unit so that I can program multiple shows in advance. But thus far, I have not found a way to make the program planner work on the Voom unit. I looked for a manual timer setting on the Voom unit last night and couldn't find it.

 

[Hoopnoop]

Looks like no manual timer -- at least that I could find. If anyone finds a way to get into the channel guide and therefore use the planned program feature then please let me know.

 

[candoan]

Help please!!

Hi all,
I'm a newbie here. Please help me out.
I used to use dish 811 to catch digital local channels. Last month I got a message that I have to activate the box if I want to keep having those local channels. Some experts here suggested me to buy this Voom DRS 550 and I got it on Ebay and just set it up. Everything looks fine except when I tune to some channels the Voom receiver gets frozened or shut down power and reboot by itseft.
I do not know how to fix it. Please help me out.

 

[Ilya]

What's the firmware version in your box?
If it always happens on a particular channel(s), just remove (hide) that channel from the list.

 

[candoan]

What's the firmware version in your box?
If it always happens on a particular channel(s), just remove (hide) that channel from the list.

It's 733. I'm in Boston, Mass. channel 2-2 is almost 24Hrs HD BPS program and channel 7-1 is NBC one are the most stuck on that problem. Any suggestion, Please. Thank you for your reply.

 

[Ilya]

As I remember, there was a problem with the box specific to Boston. Must be something unusual about the PSIP data sent by your local stations. The only solution was to hide that specific channel(s).

 

[zhewie]

Trouble Recognizing Antenna Signal

I have been trying to get OTA on my recently acquired Voom box.

I get a clear picture for various local analog channels using an indoor bowtie.

When I select the Aim antenna feature, I get no antenna signal on any of the RF channels. Local scanning also does not pick up any channels.

I have the latest firmware.

Does this call for an outdoor antenna to get sufficient signal. I would expect a clear analog signal would enable me to pick up some digital signals.

The antenna is hooked up as per this faq, with the diplexer off. Would there be something wrong with the tuner module? How would I go about testing this? Thanks.

 

[snaggerbob]

You need to be able to have at least 80-85 signal strength to lock onto a channel. You may need to upgrade your antenna. How far from the tv towers are you? Check the Antenna web. I think it's www.antennaweb.org.

 

[riffjim4069]

Well, I finally retired my VOOM STB yesterday. Even though all three of my Dish Network receivers have an ATSC tuner (942 and two 811s) and all three of my TVs have integrated ATSC/QAM tuners, I kept a VOOM receiver on the rack for sentimental reasons and to help others. Well, Tweeters was liquidating their inventory of Sony DHG-HDD500 (500Mb ATSC/QAM HD DVR) so I picked up two of them for $249 each. Yes, 1 Terabyte of store for under $500...I can't tell you how many tens of thousands of dollars I paid for a terabye of storage in 1997...and how many millions we paid for a terabyte of storage back in the early 80s.

Anyway, I just don't have room on the shelf anymore. Sad, but true!

 

[Hoopnoop]

I can't believe you got the Sony for $250 -- wasn't that retailing for $1000 at one point? Is Tweeter liquidating them at all locations? I may have to pick one up. Also, how does the tuner compare to the Voom box tuner? I am currently using two Voom boxes and just getting ota.

 

[Hoopnoop]

Thanks for the heads up on the clearance at Tweeters Raffi! I happened to be going by a Tweeters in Manassas today and so I ran in and, walla, they had one left. And it works very well (though I haven't downloaded my TV Guide yet). So, now I have two Voom boxes and the Sony HD DVR. I am totally OT with one Voom box in my bedroom and the other one acting as a second tuner in the family room.

BTW, I didn't realize that the Sony also gets an analog signal in addition to the digital signal. So, now I get a few analog channels like UPN 20.

 

[Speedfan24]

Voom Dsr550

If my VOOM DSR550 displays a message that says the box is "Not Authorized", does that mean that this box is not activated??

 

[Ilya]

If my VOOM DSR550 displays a message that says the box is "Not Authorized", does that mean that this box is not activated??

Yep!

 

[Speedfan24]

Grrrrr!!!!

Looks like my next email will be to Paypal to dispute a transaction....

 

[Ilya]

Sorry to hear that! See if you can contact the seller and get a refund.
Welcome to the forum!

 

[earthfarmer]

Voom DSR550 not activated

I also just purchased a used Voom Motorola DSR550 on ebay that was listed as activated, still in use and connected when Voom went out of business, Software 737, version 2.4C.
On power up the unit indicates " Voom not authorized". Upon pushing the green button, the menu comes up and the installation wizard allows scanning and comes up with the local OTA stations, however pushing the watch button results in the not authorized message again.
I had seen a thread where some individuals thought Voom had sent a deactivate signal to all the receivers connected when they went dark, others indicated that their units were connected and it didn't happen. Any further input on that ?

Is there any way to tell whether a unit was ever once activated ?

I have a Samsung TS360 receiver and to use it for OTA without a satellite connection, the unit must be set on a "no satellite dish" connection. Is such an option necessary for the DSR550 with the latest softare?

Does anyone know where a technical service manual and schematics for the DSR550 can be obtained?

Are there any other ways that the unit could become deactivated, other than being deactivated by Voom, factory reset and other receiver menu options?
Thanks,

 

[Ilya]

Welcome to the forum, earthfarmer!

I also just purchased a used Voom Motorola DSR550 on ebay that was listed as activated, still in use and connected when Voom went out of business, Software 737, version 2.4C.
On power up the unit indicates " Voom not authorized".

Contact the seller and request your money back. If he refuses, complain to EBay about false advertisement.

I had seen a thread where some individuals thought Voom had sent a deactivate signal to all the receivers connected when they went dark

This is a misinformation. If you can find a thread in our forum where this was stated, please let me know, so I could post a note there. No, VOOM has never sent the "kill" signal to those who stayed with the service till the end.

Is there any way to tell whether a unit was ever once activated ?

You mean is there any way to distinguish the box that was never activated from the one that was first activated and then deactivated? I don't know. But why would it matter? In both cases, the box would be useless.

I have a Samsung TS360 receiver and to use it for OTA without a satellite connection, the unit must be set on a "no satellite dish" connection. Is such an option necessary for the DSR550 with the latest softare?

No.

Does anyone know where a technical service manual and schematics for the DSR550 can be obtained?

I haven't seen any schematics ever posted.

Are there any other ways that the unit could become deactivated, other than being deactivated by Voom, factory reset and other receiver menu options?
Thanks,

Remote deactivation via satellite and manual deactivation through the service menu are the only ways I am aware of. In some very old versions (which probably don't exist any more) the box would lose OTA capability after being unplugged. But this is no longer the case.
Of course there are other ways to break the box. For example, if the parantal lock is set and the password is not known it will take a lot of patience to figure out the correct code. There is also a very rare case when the Installation Wizard becomes inaccessible preventing you from scanning new OTA channels.

 

[Hoopnoop]

Thanks to great advice from Ilya, I now have the following set-up which is entirely OTA -- one Winegard Sensar antenna (as originally installed by Voom) and three HD receivers (two Voom and one Sony HDD500). My antenna set up still uses a diplexer although the sat feed is dead. My two Voom receivers use the diplexer but I have a dc power block on one of them so as to not overload the antenna. I recently added the Sony HD receiver and it works great but I have noticed a slight degredation in signal quality. So, I have a few more questions: Should I use some type of amplifier for this set-up since I am now splitting the line 3 ways? If so, what kind of amplifier what you recommend and where should I put it? Finally, should I use a diplexer for the signal going into the Sony HD receiver so as to separate out the sat and ant signals? I am currently feeding a line straight into the receiver without a diplexer and haven't noticed a serious problem (but the signal quality is sometimes lower on the Sony compared to the Voom receiver). I assumed since the Sat signal is dead that I didn't need to use a diplexer for the Sony.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[lilyarbie]

The Sony might need diplexing...

I'm not for certain, but the Sony receiver might need a diplexor on it's incoming line as well. The reason for this is that you might be getting noise off your dish and running in on your line. Any kind of noise addition will reduce your signal-to-noise ratio and will result in a loss of signal quality. Whether or not your dish is aimed at the same satellite or on the ground, etc, then your satellite is still picking up satellite noise or earth noise and feeding that in on your satellite line. For instance, I have no signal quality coming off the satellite feed on my receiver, but the satellite meter indicates sometimes that I'm getting 67-77decibels on signal strength. Most of that I imagine is satellite noise coming off of Rainbow-1 since it hasn't been moved since the end of Voom.

 

[Ilya]

Should I use some type of amplifier for this set-up since I am now splitting the line 3 ways? If so, what kind of amplifier what you recommend and where should I put it? Finally, should I use a diplexer for the signal going into the Sony HD receiver so as to separate out the sat and ant signals?

The Winegard Sensar that was normally supplied by VOOM had a built-in amplifier. For that amplifier to work, you need to supply voltage to it. In a diplexed configuration the voltage is supplied by the satellite input of the box via the diplexers. If you remove the diplexer you need to get a standalone power supply to power that built-in pre-amp:


PS-9370