Possible San Diego Voomer

Has anyone tried Cox HDTV w/ the DVR ?

Just wondering what their quality was like? has anyone used them lately and is there any input on their DVR? What about local San Diego HD reception. Does the Cox reciever take a separate OTA signal??? Thanks in advance.
 
In addition to Voom I have COX HD DVR service. While it's no Tivo or ReplayTV it works. The picture is great. I have an SA8000HD box. The newer SA8300HD has some nice new features if you're lucky enough to get one.

No it does NOT to any OTA. So you will not get WB (available in HD via OTA only) or UPN (no HD in SD or LA).
 
newbie voomer

BigTVSteve said:
On their new $1 installation/6 months subscription deal, I just had two Voom receivers, a 24 inch sat. dish, and one of their OTA antennas installed yesterday in Del Mar/Solana Beach. The Voom installer arrived right on time and had all the necessary gear with him. He was very competent and had a portable RF Spectrometer with him to help with the OTA antenna placement and selection. More about this later.

For new Voom customers, I would strongly suggest that you require a 24 inch dish to be installed at your site. Request this PRIOR to your installation date. This will help with continuous reception during rainstorms. The bigger dish apparently also improves the overall signal strength by about about 2-4 percent. The indicated signal strength on both Voom receivers was 98/100. The installer said that he typically gets readings of 95-96 on the smaller 18 inch dishes. There is no extra charge for the 24 inch dish.

The Voom picture is very good quality on my 56 inch 4x3 Panasonic CRT set and on my 50 inch 16x9 Sony rear projection LCD set. I was concerned about typical signal compression artifacts on the big 4x3 set, as I had previously seen them with a short term Dish Network installation on the same set. I can't compare the pictures side by side, but from memory the Voom SD picture is better than the Dish Network SD picture (I had the Dish Network 811 receivers).

On OTA signals, the Voom receivers appear to be very sensitive and perform well with multipath rejection. This was a very pleasant surprise. Both receivers are significantly better than the Samsung T150 OTA receivers that they replaced. I think they are also a little more sensitive than a new LG-3510A receiver that I have also tried in this same location.

At any rate, the Voom receivers pick up a couple of additional channels that the LG and Samsung receivers did not, using the same roof top cables and antennas. I am using a Channel Master 4248 in one location and a no-name ten year old RS UHF/VHF smallish combo antenna in the other location. On both receivers, I receive every San Diego area digital station with no dropouts, except for XETV, which is located about 35 miles south of me in Tijuana.

Since the installer had his RF Spectrometer with him, we tried out the Voom-supplied Wineguard Square Shooter antenna in the same location of the old Radio Shack combo antenna. While the gain was not as good on most UHF stations as the bigger antenna, the Square Shooter got acceptable results from one location and its much wider beamwidth (approx 45 degrees in azimuth) allowed it to be pointed in one direction for all stations in my area (13-30 miles distance from me). The Square Shooter antenna is quite small (about 1 foot square) and would be ideal for OTA reception in apartments. The installer told me that it has worked well for digital television reception in many San Diego locations for him. Voom uses other, larger OTA antennas such as UHF bowtie antennas for more difficult locations. All of these antennas are included in the $1 installation deal, which I find hard to believe.

The Spectrometer is really the way to go for dicey UHF installations, it allows you to hold the antenna by hand and move it around on the roof, rotate it or move it up/down for best reception on any desired channel. It also allows direct quantitative signal strength comparisons between different antennas. It sure beats the old guy on the roof, wife on the walkie talkie, looking at the TV method of antenna placement.

Is Voom worth it? Well, that is too soon to tell for me, but my wife likes the content, the installation was very professional and the signal quality is better than I expected (I have had a 13 foot C band antenna with an 4DTV receiver for many years, so my video standards are high). BTW, both Voom receivers upgraded themselves last night from the 6.00 baseline software to the most current 7.26 software. This was requested by the installer earlier in the day, but occurred with no actions required on my part, since the update occurred sometime after midnight.

I guess the best commentary came from the installer himself. He has been installing DirectTV, DishNetwork and other TV systems in the area for several years. He currently has both DishNetwork and Voom at his house; but he likes Voom much better because of the HD content, picture quality, and the OTA performance of the Voom receivers. He said he became a Voom installer three days after he tried the system last July.

PM me if you would like installer/retailer info in the San Diego area or more details on my installation experience.

Hello, I'm a newbie voomer, for info on my installation experience please see Voom Installation Forum. But all in all I had a good experience, except for the OTA, I don't have CBS and FOX channel w/ the antenna the tech installed. I live in National City, zip code 91950. So no superbowl on HD but I have Cox limited basic cable so it's ok. So I called Voom and they are sending an upgraded antenna to install this coming Sat. 2/12/05. I'll let you know what happened. Anyway, I have a question on the satellite signal strenght, I got the 18" dish and my signal is about 95-96 on a clear weather. But yesterday during superbowl, as you all know the weather is not that clear, but it wasn't raining either, and the lowest satellite signal strength I got is 94 but the picture is still good. But today it's raining, I'm at work so I can't monitor the signal strength, so anybody's w/ 18" dish, did you have any problem w/ picture reception? If I get home tonight and it's still raining I'll let everybody know my satellite status. But do you guys think I should upgrade my dish to 24"? I called voom about that, but the csr said I have to wait for the tech when they come in to upgrade my antenna and ask for their opinion so they can tell install inc company to authorize an upgrade and see if I don't have to pay for the dish upgrade? Is that right? I thought if I want a dish upgrade I don't have to pay for it. What do you think? Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 
BigTVSteve said:
On their new $1 installation/6 months subscription deal, I just had two Voom receivers, a 24 inch sat. dish, and one of their OTA antennas installed yesterday in Del Mar/Solana Beach. The Voom installer arrived right on time and had all the necessary gear with him. He was very competent and had a portable RF Spectrometer with him to help with the OTA antenna placement and selection. More about this later.

For new Voom customers, I would strongly suggest that you require a 24 inch dish to be installed at your site. Request this PRIOR to your installation date. This will help with continuous reception during rainstorms. The bigger dish apparently also improves the overall signal strength by about about 2-4 percent. The indicated signal strength on both Voom receivers was 98/100. The installer said that he typically gets readings of 95-96 on the smaller 18 inch dishes. There is no extra charge for the 24 inch dish.

The Voom picture is very good quality on my 56 inch 4x3 Panasonic CRT set and on my 50 inch 16x9 Sony rear projection LCD set. I was concerned about typical signal compression artifacts on the big 4x3 set, as I had previously seen them with a short term Dish Network installation on the same set. I can't compare the pictures side by side, but from memory the Voom SD picture is better than the Dish Network SD picture (I had the Dish Network 811 receivers).

On OTA signals, the Voom receivers appear to be very sensitive and perform well with multipath rejection. This was a very pleasant surprise. Both receivers are significantly better than the Samsung T150 OTA receivers that they replaced. I think they are also a little more sensitive than a new LG-3510A receiver that I have also tried in this same location.

At any rate, the Voom receivers pick up a couple of additional channels that the LG and Samsung receivers did not, using the same roof top cables and antennas. I am using a Channel Master 4248 in one location and a no-name ten year old RS UHF/VHF smallish combo antenna in the other location. On both receivers, I receive every San Diego area digital station with no dropouts, except for XETV, which is located about 35 miles south of me in Tijuana.

Since the installer had his RF Spectrometer with him, we tried out the Voom-supplied Wineguard Square Shooter antenna in the same location of the old Radio Shack combo antenna. While the gain was not as good on most UHF stations as the bigger antenna, the Square Shooter got acceptable results from one location and its much wider beamwidth (approx 45 degrees in azimuth) allowed it to be pointed in one direction for all stations in my area (13-30 miles distance from me). The Square Shooter antenna is quite small (about 1 foot square) and would be ideal for OTA reception in apartments. The installer told me that it has worked well for digital television reception in many San Diego locations for him. Voom uses other, larger OTA antennas such as UHF bowtie antennas for more difficult locations. All of these antennas are included in the $1 installation deal, which I find hard to believe.

The Spectrometer is really the way to go for dicey UHF installations, it allows you to hold the antenna by hand and move it around on the roof, rotate it or move it up/down for best reception on any desired channel. It also allows direct quantitative signal strength comparisons between different antennas. It sure beats the old guy on the roof, wife on the walkie talkie, looking at the TV method of antenna placement.

Is Voom worth it? Well, that is too soon to tell for me, but my wife likes the content, the installation was very professional and the signal quality is better than I expected (I have had a 13 foot C band antenna with an 4DTV receiver for many years, so my video standards are high). BTW, both Voom receivers upgraded themselves last night from the 6.00 baseline software to the most current 7.26 software. This was requested by the installer earlier in the day, but occurred with no actions required on my part, since the update occurred sometime after midnight.

I guess the best commentary came from the installer himself. He has been installing DirectTV, DishNetwork and other TV systems in the area for several years. He currently has both DishNetwork and Voom at his house; but he likes Voom much better because of the HD content, picture quality, and the OTA performance of the Voom receivers. He said he became a Voom installer three days after he tried the system last July.

PM me if you would like installer/retailer info in the San Diego area or more details on my installation experience.

Hello from Oceanside

I need help!

I'm getting pixelization problems from my VOOM installation although my signal strength is at 95%. I don't get any local channels either. Can you give me the contact info of your installer? My installer said he has removed more Voom equipment than he has installed. With all the good feedback I see on this site I can't help but think he is doing something wrong.
 
SD VOOM Dealer

Jay,

Sorry to hear about your problems. 95% satellite signal strength is about what you should be seeing with an 18 inch dish in the San Diego area. Is your TV-sat receiver video connection via 3 component cables or with a DVI cable? When I tried the DVI cable on my 50 inch Sony LCD rear projection set the picture quality was inferior to the 3 component cables. I didn't bother to try other DVI cables, though.

A quality VOOM dealer in the Encinitas area is All Digital Satellite; they did my installation in November. They actually have a show room with several flat panels and a large front screen projector. They have live Dish Network and VOOM signals for video sources. They are located near the intersection of El Camino Real and Encinitas Blvd at 1532 Encinitas Blvd. Their phone is 760-436-1929.

I would suggest dropping by All Digital and see how their show room signals look to you on the same channel(s) with which you are having pixelization problems. What is your make and model of HDTV? You can also send me a private email with your phone number and I will give you a call to see if we can sort through your problems. You could also drop by my house in Del Mar and look at the pictures on my two HDTVs.
 
Steve,

Thanks for the response.

I am using component cables as my TV's do not have DVI inputs.

My primary video source is a Sony 10HT projector. I have other small TV's throughout the house two of which are High Def.

My email is jaycantu@cox.net. 760-505-1716.

Thanks for the info and invite.

I will be droping by All Digital as my eye doctor is in that area.

Thanks again!

Jay
 

Wichita, Kansas Voomers

VOOM in Oklahoma

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