D* to Voom?

[nlk10010]

I've looked in the Help Desk & Install forums but haven't seen quite this question addressed, so here goes...

I currently have cable and D* (I'm in the NYC/LI area) and am toying with the idea of replacing D* with Voom, since D* seems to be dropping the ball, at least for now, with HD. I'm not worried about local channels with Voom since I will continue to keep cable (if only Basic). To get D* I now have a Phase III elliptical dish mounted on my chimney and four coax lines to service my receivers (one Samsung HD and one Sony SD, with two lines currently unused).

Here are my questions:

1. I've heard horror stories about Voom installs so I wanted to know how seamless it would be to switch to Voom; e.g. could the installer simply replace the Phase III dish with a Voom dish, use the same coax lines and just replace my two receivers with Voom STBs? Or would there be more involved?

2. If I wanted to have the installer mount the OTA antenna near the dish, could the one or two unused coaxes be employed to run the OTA signals to the receivers?

3. How difficult is it to hit the satellite and NYC locals from my location (I'm on the North Shore of Nassau County, in the Great Neck/Manhasset area)? As I say, I get good signals from the D* 101, 119 and 110 satellites.

Sorry for the length of this message but I am curious about Voom and don't see the point of missing out on a sh*tload of HD if I don't have to.

Thanks in advance for any info.

=NLK=

 

[VegasVoomer]

Actually, that dish you have will work with Voom. But only if you dont use the OTA antenna from Voom. I had that dish on my roof and the installer reaimed it to Voom and I had 95 signal strength. Then he realized it had a built in multiswitch and would not work with the OTA antenna without a diplexer and he said thats when things got screwy. So he stuck the Voom dish up there along with the antenna. The cables you have run will be used. I'm on the west coast and he got the dish aimed in less than 5 minutes. Everything went really well here.

 

[SeattleVoomer1]

Hey, =NLK=, I doubt you will have trouble with "seeing"...

the sat but depends on hills, trees, and buildings to your south. Although you say you don't care about your locals as you will get cable basic you did ask about hooking up for OTA. You can get a rough guide to your reception of OTA using antennaweb.org (I say "rough" as sometimes they don't have the latest info on all the local digital channels).

Good luck. Think you will find VOOM HD basically awesome.

Watching HDTV under clear and cold Seattle skies, Gill

 

[nlk10010]

Thanks to both...

SV and VV. I know, I did seem to let my other personality take over in the middle of that message. I guess my point was I would TRY the OTA solution but it wouldn't be a deal-breaker if I couldn't get the locals that way.

My dish is pretty high up now and, being in the 'burbs, no real tall buildings in my way. I just need to see where the Voom satellite is compared to the D* ones: I don't want to call an installer out and then have them charge me a LOS fee when they can't aim the dish.

I'll look in the Region Specific forum here and maybe try to ask on the Yahoo Cablevision group (since my cable company IS Cablevision).

You know, if CV were smart they'd offer a special package for their cable subscribers to hook up with Voom. While there is of course overlap if you have a high-end package, there is so much more HD on Voom that I wouldn't mind keeping both if they could make it reasonable and make installation easier.

=NLK=

 

[Ilya]

I just need to see where the Voom satellite is compared to the D* ones...

If you have a compass you can check the azimuth at http://www.lyngsat.com/tracker/rain1.html
Just click on your approximate location on the map.

 

[nlk10010]

Ilya:

I actually found (somewhere on the Net, don't remember what site) a photo someone took of his dish array with all three D* sats and I guess the Dish 61.5 (which IIRC would be the same as the Voom sat). Looks like the 61.5 points much more South than the others, and I've got a good shot in that direction.

So we'll see.

Thanks for taking the time to post you info.

=NLK=

 

[Ilya]

Looks like the 61.5 points much more South than the others, and I've got a good shot in that direction.

Yes, but hope you realize that the actual direction depends on your own location. So, if you want to make sure, you need to use one of the azimuth calculators and a compass.

 

[nlk10010]

Yup...

I realized that. I tried to infer from the placement of the dish array where the location was relative to mine. It sure LOOKED like the D* dishes were pointed in the same direction; i.e. southwest. The 61.5 was about 75 degrees counterclockwise from that; it's an interesting question as to whether it would have to be South pointing regardless of the location but, yes, you're right. To be safe I'll need to use a compass or find a neighbor with Voom (fat chance!).

Thanks.

=NLK=