HD PQ: Voom VS. D*

[davelei]

I just become a Voomer today and... I am a little disappointed. Forget about the installation troubles, I am not quite impress with the HD PQ.

I had D* HD package and OTA indoor for digital local channel. I wanted more HD channels so I switch to Voom. BUT, the Voom HD channel is not as good as the D* and OTA that I have been watching.

I am comparing the identical channels: Discovery HD, ESPN-HD, ABC, CBS, NBC...

I was watching NCAA final and I can see big pixels when there was big moving of camera or action. It was not like that with my D* and OTA HD.

I want to see if anyone have the same experience or there is something wrong with my STB/Voom.

 

[Vicki]

davelei, I'm way far away from being an expert, but it maybe your dish may not be peaked. What is your satellite signal strength? Hopefully someone who really knows something about these things will happen upon your question soon. Vicki

 

[mudpup2003]

What type of television are you using to watch VOOM??

 

[txdude]

DiscoveryHD has always looked great on my setup, ESPNHD has never looked very good to me(on Comcast as well). I once read that was because it was upconverted, but I don't watch ESPN very much so I'm probably not the best person to comment on its overall PQ.

Your ABC, CBS, NBC PQ have nothing to do with voOm. These are coming in over your terrestrial antenna. You should see no difference if that's how you were originally receiving them or they should look much better than they would if you were receiving them through D*... Aside from uplink problems AFAIK your OTA should have little or no compression and should be superior to ANY satellite signal you receive.

Are you are using the same antenna that you were using with D*?

How strong is your signal on those channels?

Have you switched to a different type of cable? (Component to DVI) I have not been able to use DVI with the voOm's STB because it causes pixelation. If you are using DVI try switching to component.

 

[cracka]

I am comparing the identical channels: Discovery HD, ESPN-HD, ABC, CBS, NBC...

I was watching NCAA final and I can see big pixels when there was big moving of camera or action. It was not like that with my D* and OTA HD.

I want to see if anyone have the same experience or there is something wrong with my STB/Voom.

Until recently, I had E*, Comcast, and Voom, and I would rate them all pretty close in terms of HD PQ. The new encoding that Voom is using does cause some artifacting during rapid transitions, but I don't see major problems with it during normal viewing. In fact, it's a little ironic that the weakness of the new encoding is most apparent while watching Voom's own promo for the Voom 21.

That said, the NCAA Final was on CBS, which you can only get off-the-air with a Voom setup. Any problems you saw with that particular broadcast can be blamed on the source, since it has nothing to do with Voom's satellite transmission or encoding.

 

[RPacion]

davelei, maybe the problem is that the receiver is not sending an HD signal to your HDTV. Check here on how to set/change the video resolution via the red button.

 

[davelei]

thanks for the replies...

I have a Sony GWIII TV with component connect (which I used for D* as well) with Voom STB. The output resolution of STB is nature (4 lights all on)

I think the singal strength from satellite is good. Not sure about the local channel thou.

The Discovery HD is good. But just not as good as it used to be with D* for sure.

For the local HD digital channels, I used Trek indoor antenna with D*. Now I used the one that Voom mounted on my roof and that antenna is hugh. The singal strenght is about 85-95. The tech rep from Voom told me that I can't use my indoor Trek b/c there is no input in the back of the STB.

The artifacting occurs during rapid transitions. Normal programs, text, scores tick/highlights look very good.

Thanks yall voomers...

dave

 

[DarrellP]

Quit making excuses for Voom, the PQ sucks since the new encoders went on line, PERIOD.

Dave, welcome to Voom. They fired up some new encoders about a month ago and have been having major PQ issues trying to get them fine tuned. I browsed through all the channels in the Basic package tonight and did not see a single SD channel that looked nearly as good as it did prior to the encoders. SD used to look pretty darn good on Voom.

The HD is also suffering. The PQ varies between channels and between shows, almost as if Voom is playing PQ roulette, trying to keep us guessing. I hope they get this sorted out soon because I am getting tired of waiting for a decent picture to pop up on my screen.

Before you guys flame me, every Monday night I watch HDNET's Guys Night In, and trust me, you don't have a clue what you are missing until you've watched Monday night on HDNET (via Dish), now that's the real meaning of VaVa Voom!!!

 

[txdude]

Quit making excuses for Voom, the PQ sucks since the new encoders went on line, PERIOD.

Dave, welcome to Voom. They fired up some new encoders about a month ago and have been having major PQ issues trying to get them fine tuned. I browsed through all the channels in the Basic package tonight and did not see a single SD channel that looked nearly as good as it did prior to the encoders. SD used to look pretty darn good on Voom.

The HD is also suffering. The PQ varies between channels and between shows, almost as if Voom is playing PQ roulette, trying to keep us guessing. I hope they get this sorted out soon because I am getting tired of waiting for a decent picture to pop up on my screen.

Before you guys flame me, every Monday night I watch HDNET's Guys Night In, and trust me, you don't have a clue what you are missing until you've watched Monday night on HDNET (via Dish), now that's the real meaning of VaVa Voom!!!

I respect your opinions Darrell and your ability to see stuff that those of us with "small" TVs can't always see, but pointing out that OTA PQ has nothing to do with voOm or their encoders is hardly what I consider making excuses.

 

[Voomin@720p]

My PQ is baaaaad

My PQ is horrible today! I turned my TV off and I could NOT see a darn thing~!

If I turn the TV on it looks great but turning it off causes the problem~!

 

[smeagal]

I definately agree voom's sd pq needs some work,my son was watching cartoons the other day and it was horrible!!!! (65" jvc) hd looks good though.Hopefully it's something they are working on!

 

[richard_rd]

dave,

Most of the Voom installers from Installs inc are idiots, you can use your indoor OTA antenna.

Look where the cable from the dish is connected to the voom receiver, you will see a grey plug on module (which is a diplexor). Disconnect the dish coax from it and turn the latch on the module and pull it off. You will now see two coax connectors under it instead od one. Hook the dish coax to the sat connector and hook your Terk indoor antenna to the OTA connector. Now you can see if the OTA channels look any better, if they do my quess is the installer did not point your OTA roof atenna for max signal strength.

 

[richard_rd]

dave,

Most of the Voom installers from Installs inc are clueless reguarding the OTA antenna installation, you can use your indoor OTA antenna.

Look where the cable from the dish is connected to the voom receiver, you will see a grey plug on module (which is a diplexor). Disconnect the dish coax from it and turn the latch on the module and pull it off. You will now see two coax connectors under it instead of one. Hook the dish coax to the sat connector and hook your Terk indoor antenna to the OTA connector. Now you can see if the OTA channels look any better, if they do my guess is the installer did not point your OTA roof atenna for max signal strength, or you may need an amplified OTA antenna (the terk, has an amp i beleive).

 

[Walter L.]

I don't have any other provider to compare against VOOM, but the fact that I see so many diferent opinions tell me that the PQ differences shouldn't be BIG between VOOM, E* and even D*.

Here is a recent post at AVSForum of a VOOM vs. D* comparison:

Originally posted by enoree
Just got VOOM installed this morning, definitely better PQ than D*, as I still have D* and can switch between V* and D* easily because my TV has built in D*. The OTA SS is much better too with the newer gen OTA receiver in the V* box. Gonna keep my D* for now to play it safe, but I will do most of my program watching on V* due to the better PQ. Installer did great job with no problems.

And here is another of VOOM vs. E*:

Originally posted by JoeHT
I got both VOOM (full Voom VaVaVoom package) and E* (HD pack only) installed last week. I did some HD PQ comparison over the weekend and this is what I've found so far:


HDNet - best PQ, not available on VOOM to compare, but I would say that is comparable to VOOM's HDNews

HDNet Movies - excellent PQ, not available on VOOM to compare, but I would say that is comparable to VOOM's Monsters-HD

DiscoveryHD - same excellent level on both

TNT-HD - same level on both

ESPN-HD - VOOM has slightly better PQ than E*

 

[ChrisDuncan]

I got Voom installed in December and thought the PQ was excellent then. I also have the HD package on D*(I keep it around for NFL) and Voom's PQ was clearly better on a 65" RPTV and front projector with a 126" screen.

When Voom started messing with new encoders or software or compression or whatever the PQ really started to suffer, especially around the middle of March. I think that now it's getting much better but still not quite up to par what it was when I first got it. I think most of the Voom originals are back to looking like they should, RushHD especially has been looking great in my opinion, but some of the premiums sometimes still look soft. And the SD channels still aren't as clean as they were earlier, but all this seems to be improving over time as they tweak them.

Just my opinion. When Voom is at its best, the PQ is clearly superior to DirecTV, in both HD and SD. You just came on at a bad time when they're making changes and adding more channels.

 

[ram1220]

I just become a Voomer today and... I am a little disappointed. Forget about the installation troubles, I am not quite impress with the HD PQ.

I had D* HD package and OTA indoor for digital local channel. I wanted more HD channels so I switch to Voom. BUT, the Voom HD channel is not as good as the D* and OTA that I have been watching.

I am comparing the identical channels: Discovery HD, ESPN-HD, ABC, CBS, NBC...

I was watching NCAA final and I can see big pixels when there was big moving of camera or action. It was not like that with my D* and OTA HD.

I want to see if anyone have the same experience or there is something wrong with my STB/Voom.

I'm not sure what's going on with your OTA, but the Voom PQ has been poor for the last month or so. Voom went to new encoders that were supposed to improve things but so far all it's done is to cause a degredation in PQ both Sd and HD. I walked into my local Fry's store the other night and they were playing a feed of Discovery HD from D. I forgot how good HD was supposed to look until I saw the picture at Fry's. Voom PQ just sucks right now. It has been well over a month since we have been told "Voom is working on it." BS! I'm sick of it. I'm giving them 1 more month to fix the PQ and if it's not fixed I'm gone. Recently I've had friends ask me if they should sign up with Voom. Right now I will not recommend Voom to them. I've told them I'd let them know if the Voom PQ ever improves. But for now they need to stay away from Voom. D and E don't have enough HD for me to switch to them. If I end up leaving Voom, I'll put my HD television in storage until HD grows up. In the meantime I'll reactivate D on my SD 32" and actually enjoy TV again without having to worry about the PQ all the time. I'm just getting so frustrated with Voom's PQ and I'm about ready to dump HD for now.
What you are seeing is what a lot of us are seeing. Is it going to improve? I seriously doubt it anytime soon.

 

[piperut]

Hi Folks,

I have been watching this PQ debate. I think I have a H:

The people with the bad PQ are using Sony TV's.

roland

 

[MichaelG]

Your ABC, CBS, NBC PQ have nothing to do with voOm. These are coming in over your terrestrial antenna. You should see no difference if that's how you were originally receiving them or they should look much better than they would if you were receiving them through D*... Aside from uplink problems AFAIK your OTA should have little or no compression and should be superior to ANY satellite signal you receive.

.

I have been wanting to ask about this from the start of my Voom service but have been reluctant. Even though I was Voom installed in Jan 05, I kept my D* system intact as it was just a week after the install that all this Voom end of service junk started.

Anyway I do notice that even my OTA PQ is different between D* and Voom.
I have a Samsung SIR-TS360 for my receiver and it is using the same Squareshooter antenna that the Voom box is using. Local HD channels are a tad softer and less bright when seen through the Voom box.

It is a little less on my Mits HD RPTV but very noticeable on my Samsung DLP.

As far as the DBS content goes, some channels are really different......like SCIFI. On the D* it is sharper with less aliasing......and of course the volume is correct.....not like Voom where you really have to turn it up.

But before I get hammered here.......I am only keeping D* until this whole shutdown thing settles down.....I love Voom and I am keeping up the fight at home...everytime my wife pays the D* bill.

 

[smeagal]

It's not the tv's i've got a jvc and have had all- dtv- dish and voom and as far as sd channels go voom is by far worse in my experience, Never had hd before now so I think they look great but some of the sd channels are horrible!

 

[vurbano]

................ I caught the entire hour and a half tonight and it was just about perfect. Even the strobe lights held tight, that was a major accomplishment for Voom. This show was pure eye candy at it's best.

Which is it Darrell? You called Gouls gone wild "pure eye candy at its best"on Voom. Im confused