DirecTV or Voom

SonicRob

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Oct 31, 2004
271
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I am new to the fourms i just wanted to say i really like these fourms and all the people that Post in here. I have bought a new Projector HDTV with a 106 inch drappery screen and coming Feburary i will decide between Directv or Voom what do you guys think of Voom i heard allot of good things about them. Will i have my Choice of the New Voom DVR Receiver or the old one. I have another Question When Voom gets there Second Sattelite up in Orbit will Voom need a Bigger Oval Dish and i heard Voom has been Charging Customers for 2 months has Voom got better has there Channel Surfing been Smooth.

I will be Happy to be a New Voom Customer i just hope i get there New DVR Receiver so i could Pause and Rewind Live TV. :)
 
Welcome to the forum SonicRob. I'll see if I can answer some of your questions. And congratulations on the new projector!

First off, let me say that it is a VERY good idea to begin your research now in order to make your Voom vs. Direct decision in February. Just keep in mind that a lot of things could change between now and February. So let's address 4 items here: Content, Equipment, Billing, and Future.

Content: No question about it, if HD is your thing, Voom has more than D*. The Voom exclusives get bashed a lot for repeating the programming, but there is some good content. Voom's movie channels play most older movies, but there are always a few good ones. Direct has HDNet and HDNet Movies (2 channels) that Voom does not have. Voom has Starz and Cinemax in HD, and Direct does not. Direct has a wider selection of SD channels, and they have sports packages like NFL Sunday Ticket. Direct has pay per view movies and Voom currently does not.

Equipment: You expressed interest in a DVR, and Voom is reported to be working on one, but details are limited. Two of those details are the price, and whether or not you have to buy it, or rent it. Direct has the HD Tivo, but it costs $1000 retail (you can get 10% off at Value Electronics if you mention that you are a member of this forum). The HD Tivo unit is reported to be a superior HD receiver, but there have been some problems reported with the HDMI port. Most posts on the HD Tivo have been very positive. Voom's current STB is made by Motorola. You will see a lot of negative comment about this box. Speaking from personal experience, my STB has been operating since January 2004 without any of the problems that some others have posted about. As Voom customers, a lot of us are waiting for the DVR, which is rumored to be 'close', but we have no details on when, or how much it will be.

Billing: Since Voom is my sole provider, I can't really comment about billing from DirecTV. Billing from Voom has had a lot of problems. If you read the threads in the forum related to billing, there are many stories of overcharging, people being billed after they terminate the service, and one guy even got cut off when he wanted to pay by check instead of credit card. Again--from personal experience, I haven't had a problem. Voom sends me a paper bill, and I send them a check. I would say truthfully that Voom really needs to get their accounting practices in order, but there are some of us who have not had the billing problems that others have encountered.

Future: DirecTV has promised to add 'a lot' more HD by May 2005. They have scheduled the launch of additional satellites in 2005 and again in 2007. Voom has made announcements about new equipment, to include the DVR and an elliptical dish to pull signals from it's current satellite and a new satellite that was reported to be leased as of 10/1/2004. We don't have any solid information about the new satellite or the implementation of the elliptical dish. There have also been rumors of Voom getting bought out or taken over, but again, no details. All DBS companies tend to make a lot of promises, so one important factor to consider is how well do they follow through on what they promise.

Good luck on your decision making process. You have found a great source of information in coming to satelliteguys.us. Just about any questions you have can be answered here. There are a lot of experienced people in here willing to help and to offer opinions.
 
Stone Man brings up good points in his post.....just to add to his because I have both Directv and VOOM. First is the content in HD. VOOM simply outdoes every other provider right now in HD content. I'm not saying the exclusives are great or anything. But the whole package of what VOOM offers you, with their Va VA Voom pack is like being in HD heaven. So much more HD then Direct it isn't funny. A DVR to me isn't important because the HD content on every ch is repeated soooo much that I wouldn't want to ever record it. But if its something that you need...right now VOOM doesn't have one. We are told it is coming. When ...who knows? I for one like the Voom receiver....I love the integration of local Ch's with VOOM Ch's. The VOOM receiver is much better at dealing with the low OTA Sig's than my Directv HD receiver is with the same OTA Sig's. Billing for DirecTV is on the money....they have never made a mistake on my bill and I don't expect them to. They send a paper bill to your house and thats that. As for the Future ...I fully expect DirecTV is going to add a good amount of HD when football season is over. The bandwidth that is being chewed up right now every Sunday with all the games that they have in HD is a great deal. Once football season ends they will have room for more HD. Right now DirecTV offers HDNET, HDNET Movies, ESPN HD, BravoHD, Disc HD as a part of their HD PACK...not much there. HBO HD and Shod are available through sub of those Ch's and CBSDT and NBCDT with FOX on the way are available free to local sub ...for areas that are O&O markets. If you want HD its hard to point in DirecTV's direction now. Vooms HD looks better right now also....but what does the new year bring?
 
The only thing that keeps me from switching back to DTV is SD quality, it sucks...only way to put it.

On the other hand, Voom's HD quality, OTA reception and other things are superior.

Their second box pricing does need alot of work too, 23 bux for another box is nuts.

If DTV ever fixes their PQ issues I'd switch back.
 
Thanks

Thank you for your Insights i truly believe Voom has the most HDTV Channels and they will get better in the future look for PayPerview and more Sports Channels and there new DVR,like most companies they have there ups and downs i had DirecTV and also Dishnetwork its time to try Voom and heck there informercial comes out on Pax every night i see Voom in my Dreams now we need to spread the word and tell people about Voom. :D
 
Don't spread the word too loud, they may come looking for you later :)


Voom should come with a monthly annoyance discount, its living on the edge of a technology they should have figuired out last year.
 
Love your enthusiasm SonicRob, I just want to put my 2 cents in before you jump in head first. I have both Voom and Dish. I keep Dish for 2 things: DVR, my wife needs Y&R and I need Lost and 24 when it comes back. That and Voom has no pay per view!! If your a Boxing fan this HURTS. :(

I have 5 TV's in my house, only 1 is HD. Voom will never be my only source of TV because their pricing for multiple TV's is absurd. When Voom gets a DVR I will cut Dish and just have cable run through the rest of the house.

On any big screen SD picture will look like crap. It does for Dish, and for Voom. I can't comment on DirecTV, but I heard it's the same. Since you have a big screen Voom is definitely the best option because you have more options of HD channels to watch. I've made myself watch 'Eye over Rio' 5 times rather than watch anything in SD.

Voom is the best if your main concern is Picture quality. If your a sports fanatic, get DirecTV for Pay Per View and Sunday Ticket.
But if you can afford it I would suggest getting Voom for your big screen and DirecTV for the rest of the house. Best of Both Worlds.

Bottom Line
If you don't care about Sports or a DVR, and you don't have more than 2 TV's. Voom is the one.
 

Here's a Strange One

Its been nearly a year since I've paid my Voom bill...

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