Somthing I was ask when I called voom today

[LOBO2999]

I called Voom today about my bill and I was ask if I get my locals OTA and I said yes why? He said that voom was going to be offering local channels next year via satellite , I said really and he say yes , I said why and he said that they were loosing customers because they couldn't get their locals . I don't think this is true but was wondering if anyone else was ask about it?

 

[eddiemc]

This could be good news for a lot of people.

 

[rtt2]

It looks like the bandwith gained by WM9 is just going to be gobbled up by locals. Just hope compression city doesn't degrade the primary focus of the service or they will be no different than E* or D*

 

[shaun-ohio]

i hope they do would be awesome to get them in hd

 

[rang1995]

GOOD OTA RECEPTION is better then HD from any SAT(voom,dish D*)

 

[DBENE]

It looks like the bandwith gained by WM9 is just going to be gobbled up by locals. Just hope compression city doesn't degrade the primary focus of the service or they will be no different than E* or D*

How could 4 or 5 local channels take up that much bandwidth?

 

[andrzej]

How could 4 or 5 local channels take up that much bandwidth?

Because you have to multiply this by the number of local markets (or whatever this is called).

 

[squicken]

That new SHIVRA or whatever proposal from McCain has a provision about people who can't get a good reception to get a distant digital feed. This will be more specific than the old way, because some people in the middle of cities just can't get a reception. It's all vague now, but hopefully . . .

 

[rgarbonzo]

Voom questionare

I got a call from Voom a few weeks back asking if I was satisfied with the service. I told them it was great just need to add USA (just for JAG before I go to work). They didn't ask about locals although that is another topic.

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

I don't know if this would be good news for me or not. We cannot get OTA channels, so broadcasting them via the Voom satellite would be great. But I really want Voom's bandwidth to go for HD!! Not SD!!

 

[DBENE]

my problem is that my OTA won't pick up too great and I live in an apartment. But if I lived in a house, it seems like it would be easy to just put a pole mounted kick arse digital antenna up. I don't see why more people don't do this.

 

[JimP]

DBENE

It gets kinda scary screwing with an antenna way up on a 30' extension ladder. Try it some time when a gust of wind starts up and you grab onto the antenna mast to keep from getting blown over. I decided I didn't really need PBS that bad. :shocked

 

[txdude]

I hope this is not true

I get all my local OTA channels just fine with a stealth antenna. But, even if I didn't get good local digital reception I wouldn't want vOom wasting perfectly good HD bandwidth because of it, much less just so that every little backward town from here to Houston can get digital locals.

I subscribe to vOom for HD Premium and Originals, NOT for locals.:

 

[FunkyBoss]

They better be HD locals then! I don't care much about SD anymore.

 

[txdude]

i hope they do would be awesome to get them in hd

Compressed HD over the satellite is going to look worse than OTA. OTA is the best possible signal that you can get cause it's full bandwidth. Are you not within range to receive your locals OTA?

 

[FunkyBoss]

Compressed HD over the satellite is going to look worse than OTA. OTA is the best possible signal that you can get cause it's full bandwidth. Are you not within range to receive your locals OTA?

CBS-DT in the Chicagoland area here is horrible. They broadcast on a VHF channel (3) and are at pretty low power. That is the one OTA channel I would want that I can't get reliably now.

 

[ChetK]

I hope this is not true

I get all my local OTA channels just fine with a stealth antenna. But, even if I didn't get good local digital reception I wouldn't want vOom wasting perfectly good HD bandwidth because of it, much less just so that every little backward town from here to Houston can get digital locals.

I subscribe to vOom for HD Premium and Originals, NOT for locals.:

AMEN TO THAT!!!

 

[ChetK]

Compressed HD over the satellite is going to look worse than OTA. OTA is the best possible signal that you can get cause it's full bandwidth. Are you not within range to receive your locals OTA?

Actually, that's not entirely correct. Many OTA local affiliates multi-cast and therefore, the main HD channel is definitely NOT full bandwidth. It's very sad to see it happen.

 

[1080iBeVuMin]

So, this is interesting. Voom found that people "out there" are not signing up for Voom because Voom doesn't carry their locals. But most people who try Voom for awhile find that they don't care about locals (especially SD locals) and have come to appreciate all the HD and the original programming.

In other words, non-customers want what Voom does not have. But once they are customers, they are glad Voom does not have it!

Hmmmm.... what's a company to do?

 

[GadgetRick]

HD locals via sat?

I thought they weren't allowed to do this? If it's the difference between sucking up bandwidth for SD locals or not sucking up bandwidth and keeping our HD locals I vote for HD locals.

If it were that easy to offer HD locals I'd think DTV/Dish would have been doing it for a while now. (I know, they can offer them if you're in an area where you can't receive them...)

The Rickster