I Be VOOMING!

DarrellP

I Think, therefore, I am.
Original poster
Supporting Founder
Nov 6, 2003
4,298
0
Salem, OR
:) I lucked out, the installer was here when he said he would be, he was an experienced sat installer, though this was his first VOOM install.

I had taken down my 24" dish that I had pointed at 61.5 because I wanted to move it to the other side of the house near my Dish 500 where all of my cable runs and antenna are located.

He arrived, took the Voom box out (they only brought one, I ordered 2, 2 receivers were on my order, they will bring the other one out tomorrow). We hooked up the DVI to my 2HD projector and could not get a picture so we tried component, could not get a picture so we tried composite and got a picture. I'd heard there were issues with the 2HD synching up via DVI with certain STB's so we powered down the PJ, left the VOOM box on, powered up the PJ and had a picture.

Then we went outside, ran all the new cabling, installed the dish where I wanted it, hooked up an old Dish 3900 I had laying around collecting dust and tuned in the dish. I verified the signal strength via what he had on his sat meter and we came out with a Dish strength of 106, best I've ever had from 61.5.

He had the Channel Master Stealth antenna but once he saw my big hurking Rat Shack antenna, decided I'd probably be better off using it. So we ran a line from the existing antenna, through a diplexer into the house, he called VOOM, activated the box and we had a picture instantly. BTW, I put the Stealth together, brought it in the house, hooked it up to my Analog TV holding it in the air and had a fabulous picture on all of my Analog channels. I live about 25 miles as the crow flies from the towers, so this antenna would have done a very good job for me outside for digital.

The guy was very knowledgeable, new his sat stuff and was blown away by my PJ picture at 110" diagonal, he had never seen HD so big! Cool. :yes .

Since they didn't send the other receiver, we ran the lines, tested them for a signal and he packed up and left, total time about 1 1/2 hours. I was quite impressed with this guy even though he had never done a VOOM install, he was well enough acquainted with general sat gear to work his way through the setup.

My initial impressions: Watching via DVI I am not impressed. On DiscHD, my picture looked better using my Dish 6000 going through the VGA into the DVI port on the PJ via an adapter cable. I get a lot of jaggies in the picture. I never got this on Dish. The PQ is still stellar, I am not complaining, I just don't think it is as good as the 6000 is. Haven't watched many channels, just checked out the HD real quick and all I can say is: I'm in Heaven!! :yes

I thought all HD channels were DD 5.1? I have not seen any yet and the only audio option I am running is the fiber optic output.

SD channels: I think they are much better than Dish. I have only tested a few of them but I have never seen Dish look this sharp on SD displayed on my PJ. Believe me, at 110" you can easily tell if there is a problem with the picture. At least I am able to watch the SD channels without rubbing my eyes and trying to focus all the time. I also have not yet seen the horrible overcompression artifacts that I always see on Dish.

Guide: It did not display guide info at first. I waited 1/2 hour and all channels showed "No Info" so I called Voom, the guy hit my receiver, had me reset it and I had the guide. I haven't checked recently, but it was only showing current and next show, I was told elsewhere in this forum that it went out 3 days, maybe it takes awhile, I will check it again later.

Time to go play, I love this stuff an after 2 hours of viewing, no lockups or audio glitches. :D
 
I used my old 24" Dish dish and Vooms LNB. Here in the NorthWest it rains a LOT and with an 18" dish I would lose 61.5 on Dish all the time. After installing the 24" dish I would only lose it with a heavy rain so I am hoping by using the 24" dish for Voom that I will have a signal most of the time. I still have the Dish HD Pack.
 
OK, I just did a direct comparison between Dish DiscHD via Component video from my 6000 VS the Voom box running through DVI:

I'm watching a show about Native American Indians and the first thing I noticed was the lettering. On Dish, it is solid and sharp. On Voom, it's jaggy but sharp.

Colors are more true on Voom, probably due to the DVI connection.

There are jaggies on Voom, none on Dish.

The picture is sharper on Dish, softer on Voom.

I think Voom must be compressing their signal more because I sure like the picture on Dish a lot better. Since these are the only 2 channels I can directly compare, I can't say anything about the rest of the HD channels except they all seem to exhibit the jaggies. Could this be a problem with my DVI input on the PJ?

Anyone else get jaggies on Voom via DVI? I haven't tried Component yet, maybe I should.
 
DarrellP said:
Anyone else get jaggies on Voom via DVI? I haven't tried Component yet, maybe I should.

With DVI with your PJ, which looks better. Sending the native 720p of your projector from the V* STB or 1080i and your PJ scaling it?

I would think 720p would be best. Is that what your seeing?


Bill
 
VOOM has definitely increased the compression on their channels in the past month or two. Back in December and early January, they were pristine, but that is no longer the case. Now varying compression / encoder issues--that weren't there before--can be seen on most of their HD channels, depending on content.

There is either a problem with VOOM's equipment, or they've simply added too many channels. Though I have a hunch some bandwidth (in the form of channels subscribers can't see) is currently reserved for use with several future channel launches.

According to Wilt H, they expect future encoder upgrades to address many of these issues, but there is currently no timetable for delivery or availability of this equipment upgrade.
 
OK, Major Brainfart!! Boy do I feel stupid. The installer left my STB on 480i that's why I was seeing all the jaggies, my PJ does not have a great scaler in it. Now that I figured out how to get the STB to output 1080i it looks fantastic. It beats the pants off Dish now. I am a happy camper.....
 
DarrellP said:
my PJ does not have a great scaler in it.

Then wouldn't 720p look better since your PJ is a native 1280*720 and no scaling would take place?


Bill
 
OK that sounds Great , I am to get installed on Tuesday after 3 delays from the installer.
So you what do you think of the SD PQ ??? My wife will kill me if it is worse then D*.
BTW she watches SD on a standard 27 inch Analog TV.
 
Hey I forgot to ask where can one pick up a 24 inch Dish cheap, sound like that would be the way to go based on your SAT signal!!
 
Hell Raiser said:
BTW she watches SD on a standard 27 inch Analog TV.

Even if there was a difference, she won't see it on a set that size. She'll probably complain more about the guide till it's updated from it's sluggishness.


Bill
 
Then wouldn't 720p look better since your PJ is a native 1280*720 and no scaling would take place?
Most of the channels are still 1080i, so the scaling has to be done either in the box or in the projector. Many folks have found the scalers in their televisions to do a better job than the scalers in their set-top boxes. I haven't been able to really test the 720p output of the VOOM box, mainly because its bugged -- it either locks up my Samsung DLP or won't sync at all.

The problem was acknowledged by Wilt last week. Using 1080i is the workaround. That's not ideal for 720p channels, but could be the choice for optimum picture quality on 1080i channels.
 
Ken F said:
Many folks have found the scalers in their televisions to do a better job than the scalers in their set-top boxes.

Thats pretty much all I was asking him to determine on his own. The point being whats good for one isn't always the best for another.

I'm still under the impression that if you have a native 720p set you don't want the signal scaled/processed twice.

Bill
 
Mr. Biggles said:
Then wouldn't 720p look better since your PJ is a native 1280*720 and no scaling would take place?

Bill
It doesn't seem to matter on the HD end, in fact 1080i does seem to be a bit better. When I said the scaler is not great, I meant scaling SD material, but the 1080i to 720p is good.

As far as my 24" dish, I picked it up on Ebay for about $45 3 years ago.

Regarding the SD channels, I do find them better than Dish. I am a PQ fanatic and even at 110" I can watch these channels where I couldn't with Dish. :yes

I figured out my DD 5.1 issue, the installer left the sound on PCM. :(

The Guide totally stinks after using the 6000. It always starts from channel 100 and it does not automatically go to Favorites, you have to hit Favorites every time. Also, the channels I am not subbed to are not in red so I hit a lot of them by mistake and get the "can't view this channel" message. I would really like to see a list like Dish has where you select what guide you want to see and it remembers.

This Guide looks just like the digital cabel box my buddy has. I really don't care for it. :no

Other than that, I am very happy with the overall PQ and only had one lockup so far. :D
 
Watching Cold Case tonight, I have never seen CBS look so good. It's almost 3-D like in it's depth. Colors are perfect, details are crisp, WOW. Must be the DVI.

On a down note, I met the installer in Portland to pick up the 2nd receiver they forgot to bring yesterday, I brought it home, unpacked it and there were no cables, no OTA module and no remote. I called the company that installed and they are shipping or dropping them to my door tomorrow.

I activated the 2nd receiver on my old 27" TV and it's working fine. Great Pic.
 
***

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)

Latest posts