Compare Voom with Dish

[smodak]

Hi Voomers,

I am tired of different problems (49%, stability, darkness etc.) with the dish 811 receiver and decided to try out voom. Here are my questions..
1. How is Voom SD PQ compared to dish (or dish 811, if anybody tried it)?
2. How is Voom HD PQ compared to dish (or dish 811, if anybody tried it)?
3. Does the Voom box has similar problems at 811 OTA? (does not lock, channel mapping lost etc.?)
4. Is intallation any better than it used to be (I am in Franklin, MA 02038)
5. Is the voom receiver stable or you need to re-start it time and again to get it working (same with dish 811)

Thanks a lot guys

 

[Walter L.]

I can only answer 3 & 5:

3. NO problem losing mapped channels. HOwever, manual mapping of channels is not currently supported. It will on the upcoming release (next few weeks).

5. The receiver is very stable NOW with the software 5.68. I haven't reboot my receiver in a long time (~2 mos).

 

[ChetK]

Voom picture quality is no good compared to Dish Network. Just wanted to let you know.

See this thread.

 

[vurbano]

I have heard that Voom SD channels blow dish away.

see this thread http://www.satelliteguys.us/showthread.php?t=19693

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Hmmm... I read that thread that ChetK posted and I'll stay away because if Voom can improve the PQ then great... I too think it could use some improvement.

Here is what I see: We have 3 Voom receivers and we have a Dish 6000u, 508, and 5000. Hands down the SD PQ with Voom is better than with Dish. Maybe I got a good box or maybe in Alabama the signal is better... I don't know... regardless of what it is I would rather tune to Voom than Dish. I maybe our Dish boxes are bad (not likely-lol). I'm not saying Voom is great or even very good with SD but it is better than Dish. Our Dish was horrible on SD (I've never seen motion artifacts on Voom like we've seen on Dish). Now... I've had Voom for less than a week and things may change but my wife and I both are happier with Voom SD PQ vs. Dish.

OTOH... HD with Dish is slightly better than Voom when comparing DiscoveryHD. Dishes HD is very good with the 6000u... I don't know about the 811 or 911. To my wife and I the difference is not alarming but there is a slight difference. On HBO-HD we can't tell any difference. HDNet is by far the best HD we've seen as far as movies and sports. Live HD such as college football on ESPN with Dish was awesome but we haven't seen any HD college football on ESPN with Voom. The HD exclusives with Voom look very very good but again not as good as HDNet.

Here's something else I noted in both of the threads posted above:

I've been recording a lot of stuff for my daughter off Disney with my new Panny E85 and the SD PQ is quite nice and the PQ beats Dish hands down, it's not fuzzy anymore and I can actually watch it on my pj and it looks good. I've been scanning though a few of the SD channels just checking out PQ and it does seem to be improving, though there are still some turkeys out there that need a LOT of work (less compression).

I record Disney daily for my daughter and I have seen a drastic drop in PQ over the last week. A week ago the picture was about as good as a SD channel can be, today it is way downhill with major compression artifacts.

In less than 24 hours his PQ degraded. Maybe I won't stay out of that thread because it appears Voom is doing something on their end and maybe it's not the STB's.

 

[briansanders007]

Hi Voomers,

I am tired of different problems (49%, stability, darkness etc.) with the dish 811 receiver and decided to try out voom. Here are my questions..
1. How is Voom SD PQ compared to dish (or dish 811, if anybody tried it)?
2. How is Voom HD PQ compared to dish (or dish 811, if anybody tried it)?
3. Does the Voom box has similar problems at 811 OTA? (does not lock, channel mapping lost etc.?)
4. Is intallation any better than it used to be (I am in Franklin, MA 02038)
5. Is the voom receiver stable or you need to re-start it time and again to get it working (same with dish 811)

Thanks a lot guys

My installation went flawless other than the fact that my 8vsb wasn't included. But I do have a dish 811 and that thing is so buggy. The other day we were in severe weather and I tried to get my local digitals to come in but since I lost satellite because of the rain faid it wouldn't switch to off air. I was like sweet. So far the box is 100% less buggy than my 811. Not being bug free of course but a lot better.

 

[Seawaves]

I will say that Chet (see above) pays Voom money each month, so how bad can Voom suck if he still has Voom?

As for me the HD and SD picture quality is excellent. Service, install, STB..good not great. I have Voom because of the overall picture quality. Much better than when I had Dish.

 

[Conjuror]

Hi Voomers,

I am tired of different problems (49%, stability, darkness etc.) with the dish 811 receiver and decided to try out voom. Here are my questions..
1. How is Voom SD PQ compared to dish (or dish 811, if anybody tried it)?
2. How is Voom HD PQ compared to dish (or dish 811, if anybody tried it)?
3. Does the Voom box has similar problems at 811 OTA? (does not lock, channel mapping lost etc.?)
4. Is intallation any better than it used to be (I am in Franklin, MA 02038)
5. Is the voom receiver stable or you need to re-start it time and again to get it working (same with dish 811)

Thanks a lot guys

I still keep Dish's 811 with Voom because of HDNet.
1) Voom SD is much better than SD on Dish 811. Dish overcompresses all SD channels.
2) HD on Dish 811 is slightly better, comparing the same channels. All Voom's exclusive HD channels are overcompressed for HD standards especially cinema10 movies and WorldSport. A lot of people will see no difference but many will say that there is no wow effect on Voom's HD channels. PQ on cinema 10 slightly improved recently after Voom started broadcasting them in 1080i (used to be 720p).
3) Voom's box is not trouble free but it'll give much less headaches than 811. Dish's box is very much like Windows . Voom's box does much better job with locals. You can see program preview on locals (not on 811) and you can press just one number to switch to a local channel. For example, pressing just #2 will take you to channel 2 whereas on 811 you have to press 002-1, which really sucks.
4) You never know. Mine was OK.
5) Voom is much more stable than 811. I rarely have to restart it.

Bottom line: Get Voom. I'll wait a little bit more to see how Voom does but soon I'll probably drop Dish completely. Screw HDNet and Marc Cuban, he's a$$hole anyways.
Good Luck.

 

[smodak]

Bottom line: Get Voom. I'll wait a little bit more to see how Voom does but soon I'll probably drop Dish completely. Screw HDNet and Marc Cuban, he's a$$hole anyways.
Good Luck.

Good one Man! You made my day!

 

[vurbano]

Screw HDNet and Marc Cuban, he's a$$hole anyways.
Good Luck.

I am starting to think that way too. But Dolan may be the problem.

 

[vurbano]

In less than 24 hours his PQ degraded. Maybe I won't stay out of that thread because it appears Voom is doing something on their end and maybe it's not the STB's.

I really think it is all on Vooms end and the software. Im just wondering when they are gonna get it right? The PQ is like a tennis match back and forth.

 

[smodak]

The PQ is like a tennis match back and forth.

Now you guys are scaring me

 

[ChetK]

I will say that Chet (see above) pays Voom money each month, so how bad can Voom suck if he still has Voom?

I keep it because I prefer quantity over quality (right now). My priorities may change in the future. Poor picture quality is the one thing that bothers me the most about Voom. I've already explained this elsewhere so if anyone is interested, do a search for my posts.

 

[Conjuror]

Smodak,
You shouldn't worry too much about Voom's PQ. Yes, it bothers me too but I'm willing to wait few months because they suppose to implement the latest compression methods sometime this year. That way they should get more bandwidth and then use less compression for current HD channels which could dramatically improve their PQ.
Still, although Voom's HD PQ is not as good as on Dish, it is still much, much better then watching SD or DVD. You may not even notice the difference at all, especially if your screen is not larger than 50 inches. Many of us "HD maniacs" are very picky about PQ because we know how good it can be. Right now, Voom is still better choice than Dish or DirecTV but if they don't improve PQ and, at the same time, their competitors get considerably more HD channels, I would drop them. However, I do believe that they will improve it when they start using new compression techniques. And remember, there is no contract - you can drop Voom any time you want, if you don't like them.

 

[smodak]

Smodak,
You shouldn't worry too much about regarding Voom's PQ. Yes, it bothers me too but I'm willing to wait few months because they suppose to implement the latest compression methods sometime this year. That way they should get more bandwidth and then use less compression for current HD channels which could dramatically improve their PQ.
Still, although Voom's HD PQ is not as good as on Dish, it is still much, much better then watching SD or DVD. You may not even notice the difference at all, especially if your screen is not larger than 50 inches. Many of us "HD maniacs" are very picky about PQ because we know how good it can be. Right now, Voom is still better choice than Dish or DirecTV but if they don't improve PQ and, at the same time, their competitors get considerably more HD channels, I would drop them. However, I do believe that they will improve it when they start using new compression techniques. And remember, there is no contract - you can drop Voom any time you want, if you don't like them.

Thanks a lot. That was very helpful. I have ordered Voom and already got the email from Installs Inc. So far so good. I will keep you posted as to how it goes. My install date is 6/26/2004 Saturday.

My install is to be done by
Company: Integrisys Communications Group Inc
Phone Number: (603) 431-8155
E-mail Address: BDUBE@INTEGRISYSGROUP.COM
Anybody knows anything about this Company or the installers?

 

[Walter L.]

Thanks a lot. That was very helpful. I have ordered Voom and already got the email from Installs Inc. So far so good. I will keep you posted as to how it goes. My install date is 6/26/2004 Saturday.

My install is to be done by
Company: Integrisys Communications Group Inc
Phone Number: (603) 431-8155
E-mail Address: BDUBE@INTEGRISYSGROUP.COM
Anybody knows anything about this Company or the installers?

Make sure that you call the installer the day before the installation to confirm

 

[smodak]

In my dish 811, SD channels require a stretch mode to fill the screen in order to avoid the use of black side bars. Is it the same way with Voom STB?

for Voom STB, If I use the native mode, do I have to watch the SD material with black bars on the side?

What about 1080i mode?

 

[DarrellP]

Here's how my pj handles SD: If I am on Auto/Native, the Voom stb sends it to my pj in 480i and I control the stretch/squeeze, whatever with the pj. BTW, I leave it in 4:3 since I don't have to worry about burn-in, the image looks much better if unaltered. If I send my pj an SD pick in a HD frame (720p/1080i) then I have no control over the format, my pj just stretches it out to fill the screen so the image looks like the old ESPNHD Stretch-O-Vision, so I always use Auto or Native so I can control it.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

smodak... no you don't have to use black bars but it will be stretched. You can select what you desire in the setup menu of the Voom receiver (pillar box or stretch).

The stretching while in "Native" mode looks better than my Toshiba stretch mode did with E* on SD. To me it's not as bad as the ESPN-HD stretch was.... not as long as you have the Voom receiver set to "Native". If you choose 1080i on the Voom receiver the stretch does look like the old ESPN-HD stretch. In "Native" you will still get 1080i or 720p on the HD channels.

 

[smodak]

I am vooming now!!!

It was a super smooth install. No problems at all! The installer did use the diplexer. I am getting all SAT & OTA channels I am supposed to receive.
In almost all respect the Voom Box is superior to Dish 811 which I had before. Its much more stable. There are only two aspects of 811, which I will miss
1. The HD PQ of Voom is definitely inferior to dish 811.
2. For locals, which send out 1080i signal (but pillarboxed), there is no way to strech and fill the screen (Dish 811 * button on the remote) for my 16:9 sony 34XBR910 TV.