I wish I could bring myself to VOOM!

[tbuddha]

I do not love D*TV, but I have come to love TIVO with my D*TV service these past several years.

Now I finally have a HDTV (a Pioneer Pro-910HD 43" plasma) and the few OTA HD programs I get have left me craving more. The logical solution would be to just get a HD10-250 and be done with it.

But as I said, I do not love D*TV. I don't like their paucity of HD programming, at least compared to VOOM. I do not like the idea of paying ~$1000 for the PVR, which then would marry me to D*TV for some time to come. I am very worried about the hardware reliability problems people seem to be having with the HD10-250, particularly the HDMI interface, which I would absolutely insist on using. Finally, I really do not like the way they seem to be compressing their SD programming almost to the point of NDTV (NO Definition TV).

But honestly, I don't think I could live without the TIVO features I have come to love and depend on. So I am waiting to see if the VOOM PVR makes its appearance. I'm usually a patient man, but in this case I have about $700 worth of Best Buy coupons burning a hole in my pocket which I could use toward a HD10-250, and they expire in February. Judging from the threads here, that won't be soon enough for VOOM.

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

Time for soul searching. Is it more important to have lots of HD and manage to live without a DVR for awhile? Or is it more important to keep that DVR convenience in your life and settle for a tiny bit of HD?

You still have time to wait and follow the posts. If February comes and there is still no communication from Voom about the DVR, well....

My family loves Voom and we are totally hooked on the HD. We changed our viewing habits a bit, but entirely for the better. We never had a DVR, so we have been willing to wait and enjoy Voom HD until the DVR comes out.

D*, E* and cable with far less HD are not even options for us any more. Voom is the only way.

Good luck!

 

[riffjim4069]

I understand what you're saying about TIVO, I still miss the convenience of the crappy lil' HD DVR that I had with Adelphia. However, if you you're into HD then you will have plenty of it with a VA VA VOOM subscription. There are plenty of people on this Forum who---while certainly not problem free---have had relatively few problems with their equipment and service once properly installed and their STBs downloaded with the latest firmware. Problem? Yes! But there is plenty of help here at the Forum and VOOM will do their best correct your service problems should they exist. There have been a number of installation problems, which are almost always traced back to groups of installers who dislike VOOM (have ulterior motives to sell you D* or E*) or don't have the professional competence or desire to professionally install the equipment. I would like to think these people are the exception and that most installers are doing a fine job...however, there have been quite a number of terrible installs. VOOM is now fielding their own installers and rolling their own vans down in Souther Florida from what I hear. And I can personally tell you they are identifying 'A' list installers and trying to fix problems related to poor installation.

Anyway, it's hard to wrong with the $1 promotion, but the offer will be around to March. You very well may wish to keep an eye at what VOOM brings to the table at CES 2005 - 11 days and counting...

 

[jagouar]

If you have a stand alone tivo it will work now with voom..... but im guessing you have a DirecTivo.

I presonally have a replaytv which allows me to archive shows until voom gets me their pvr.

 

[keno]

I understand what you're saying about TIVO, I still miss the convenience of the crappy lil' HD DVR that I had with Adelphia. However, if you you're into HD then you will have plenty of it with a VA VA VOOM subscription.

I have the new Adelphia HD DVR and love it. I really hope that Voom's DVR will be the same Motorola HD DVR that Adelphia uses. Two Firewire connections, DVI connection and Component connection. Just wish the hard drive was a little larger.

However, since Voom is on the auction block, I don't think the DVR from Voom will ever show up.

 

[riffjim4069]

I have the new Adelphia HD DVR and love it. I really hope that Voom's DVR will be the same Motorola HD DVR that Adelphia uses. Two Firewire connections, DVI connection and Component connection. Just wish the hard drive was a little larger.

However, since Voom is on the auction block, I don't think the DVR from Voom will ever show up.

Adelphia offers the SA8000HD box in my area. It has 2 firewire ports and DVI, but none of these ports were active. By law, firewire needed to be active on STBs in April and DVI in July. I could go on for hours with my less than favorable stories about the local company. Ugh!

Where did you hear that VOOM was on the auction block? They have an auction channel (Auction HD), but they certainly aren't on the auction blocks to the best of my knowledge. If you have some information, please post.

 

[fredfa]

Perhaps this story (and many, many more like it earlier this week)

Cablevision Halts Rainbow Media Spinoff
Tue Dec 21, 2004 08:27 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cablevision Systems Corp. is suspending its spinoff of Rainbow Media Enterprises and will pursue strategic alternatives instead, the company said on Tuesday.

Cablevision, which has more than 3 million cable television customers in the New York area, disclosed the suspension in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It gave no details.

A spokesman for Cablevision said the company would not comment beyond the filing.

He declined to say if strategic alternatives could include anything other than a sale of Rainbow, whose assets include cable channels American Movie Classics and The Independent Film Channel, a variety of on-demand programming services, the Voom satellite television service, and motion picture production and distribution businesses.

Earlier this month, Cablevision said the spinoff of Rainbow, originally announced in October 2003, would not happen by the end of this year as previously planned.

 

[riffjim4069]

Perhaps this story (and many, many more like it earlier this week)

Cablevision Halts Rainbow Media Spinoff
Tue Dec 21, 2004 08:27 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cablevision Systems Corp. is suspending its spinoff of Rainbow Media Enterprises and will pursue strategic alternatives instead, the company said on Tuesday.

Cablevision, which has more than 3 million cable television customers in the New York area, disclosed the suspension in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It gave no details.

A spokesman for Cablevision said the company would not comment beyond the filing.

He declined to say if strategic alternatives could include anything other than a sale of Rainbow, whose assets include cable channels American Movie Classics and The Independent Film Channel, a variety of on-demand programming services, the Voom satellite television service, and motion picture production and distribution businesses.

Earlier this month, Cablevision said the spin-off of Rainbow, originally announced in October 2003, would not happen by the end of this year as previously planned.

I don't see anything in the text where CableVision has announced a planned sale or auction of Rainbow assets. Clearly, a number of reporting agencies are reiterating that CableVision will not spin-off its Rainbow/VOOM assets and will instead pursue strategic alternatives. The possibilities are numerous which include, among many other things, the sale of VOOM assets. I feel it is misleading for anyone to state VOOM is bankrupt or being sold at this point in time.

 

[SeattleVoomer1]

Hi, "riffjim",

"VOOM is not fielding their own installers and rolling their own vans down in Souther Florida from what I hear". Assume you meant "now".

Hope they are able to justify the cost of doing this in other parts of the US. I'm sure it could have saved them 10 or so service calls to our house.

Watching HDTV under clearing (hopefully) Seattle skies, Gill

 

[riffjim4069]

Hi, "riffjim",

"VOOM is not fielding their own installers and rolling their own vans down in Souther Florida from what I hear". Assume you meant "now".

Hope they are able to justify the cost of doing this in other parts of the US. I'm sure it could have saved them 10 or so service calls to our house.

Watching HDTV under clearing (hopefully) Seattle skies, Gill

Yep, now it is. I'm not sure if VOOM plans to use more home grown talent, but I can honestly say the caliber of people I have dealt with on the install side of the house has vastly improved since the 'free install' debacle over the Spring/Summer - great idea, poor execution. I'm sure it costs VOOM a pretty penny to keep rolling trucks to fix botches installs, but those costs are pale in comparison to the loss of business...especially those customers who quickly left because they were under no obligation - churn kills:

-Installation costs
-Equipment costs
-Service costs to upgrade/fix problems
-Deinstallation costs
-Costs to factory refurbish equipment

Just two quick items:

1. I hear VOOM is installing more systems than they were during the Spring/Summer when they topped 46k subscribers. Of course, many of these systems were de-installed due to botched installs, OTA issues, and no programming commitment.

2. There are relatively few (or far less) installation problems being reported on this Forum than were being reported during their big Spring/Summer promotion. Of course, I base this on the accuracy of item #1, but VOOM hasn't posted their subscriber numbers.

 

[keno]

Adelphia offers the SA8000HD box in my area. It has 2 firewire ports and DVI, but none of these ports were active. By law, firewire needed to be active on STBs in April and DVI in July. I could go on for hours with my less than favorable stories about the local company. Ugh!

Where did you hear that VOOM was on the auction block? They have an auction channel (Auction HD), but they certainly aren't on the auction blocks to the best of my knowledge. If you have some information, please post.

My ports are all active. I work in the area of Corporate Finance (Investment Banking -M/A) for a large NY firm. It's just my opinion that they will be sold (Smile).

 

[riffjim4069]

My ports are all active. I work in the area of Corporate Finance (Investment Banking -M/A) for a large NY firm. It's just my opinion that they will be sold (Smile).

That would certainly make the most cents (pun intended), but it would really suck none the less. Anyway, I was rereading your post and a) you're using the Motorola box and b) you're not dealing with MY cable co.