Soon to drop VOOM...

[tattootearz]

Hey guys.... b4 I even go any further I am HUMBLY asking that you VOOM lovers out there do not try to bash me for my opinions....


I have had VOOM now for about 1.5 weeks. I have only watched about 5 hours of VOOM in that time frame. Cablevision is STILL my primary source of programming and me and the wife never hardly watch ANY VOOM.

I am trying hard to find purpose here. But I am hanging on by a strand of thread.... VOOM is very unfulfilling right now. I will say however, that I LOVE having my locals in HD... but im thinking I could just get me an OTA tuner and be done with that.

Some of the stuff on VOOM isnt even in HD... it just has a HD look. I've noticed that on some of the cartoons. Furthermore, my Cablevision cable looks better than VOOM does. The PQ is leaps and bounds beyond VOOM and thats just to a loser liek me who isnt even qualified to be a true Videophile.

if things dont shape up rather quickly.... VOOM is out.

 

[andrzej]

I am sensing that Voom is out for you. I also have Comcast cable and Directv, and I stopped watching them except for local sports on FOX New England. None of the channels on Comcast or D* look better than via Voom, some are comparable some are worse, so my opinion differs from yours. I guess your expectations were too high...

 

[Sean Mota]

tatootearz,

good luck... But, when you say some of the programming is not even HD, you need to be careful. There are different type of HD. HD shoot with an HD camera (this looks the best), HD transfer of recent films (these are excellent of what Starz, HBO, Showtime, etc... show), HD transfer of old films (Cinema 10, Animania, etc).

I haven't seen one program that is not True HD on the 21 exclusive channels. There is significant difference between an old master like "Where Eagles Dare" and "Imsonia". Even the classic cartoons suffer from the master film being old. Now if you look at their most recent cartoons the HD transfer looks much better. The same happens with Discovery HD. Not everything on Discovery HD looks tremendously good since it depends on the original master film if it was not shoot in HD.

Contrary to what you say about Cablevision HD programming, I have heard that the HD picture does not surppases the Satellite HD picture (E*, D* or V*). I do not have HD from cablevision but I have read a whole lot about at avsforum and even Ken Ross at Yahoo Forum and AVSforum has made A/B comparison of HD channels and same programs and his conclusions has been the same.

Again it all comes down to what makes you happy and if Cablevision HD makes you happy then you should stay with them. Good luck to you. You are always welcome back.

 

[wasch_24]

1.5 weeks isn't really that long to evaluate. You can cancel at 28 days with no cost to you. Give it a try for a couple more weekends atleast.

 

[HD Junkie]

Well then, goodbye ttz

 

[tattootearz]

1.5 weeks isn't really that long to evaluate. You can cancel at 28 days with no cost to you. Give it a try for a couple more weekends atleast.

yea thats the window of time Im going to test it for... but as it stands, VOOM is on its way out... because it sucks mostly.

 

[Ilya]

tattootearz,
What kind of TV set do you have? Which connections are you using: DVI, Component, S-video, composite? Which mode is your STB set to: 1080i, 720p, 480p, 480i?

 

[fayrich]

Just wondering why you went with Voom in the first place---

 

[wbuffetta]

I Am With VOOM Not For The 21 exclusive channels But For All The Other HD Channels.
VOOM Is The ONLY Place You Can Get All The HBO E&W HD, Starz E&W HD, HD Bravo Etc.. To Me If You Came To VOOM For The 21 exclusive channels & Maybe One Prem. Pkg.. Then VOOM Is NOT FOR YOU And You Have Wasted Your Time. There Will Never Be Enough Variety For You. VOOM Is Here For HD & A Lot OF HD And Not To Be Another D* Or E*

 

[Ken F]

I too am wondering why you got VOOM in the first place. VOOM is for people that are tired of SD, and want a good quantity and selection of HDTV. With 21 exclusive channels in HD, 10 premium movie channels in HD, plus BravoHD, Discovery HD, and ESPN-HD on the way, VOOM delivers.

VOOM will probably never offer the top quality and selection on SD channels, because that is not their focus. If you weren't interested in watching in HD or movies with your time in front of the tube, you should not have subscribed to VOOM.

 

[wbuffetta]

I Watch My D* For Locals, HDnet, HDMovies, Techtv & Fox News Otherwise All VOOM.

 

[fayrich]

I left D* because there was no HD that you didn't have to pay extra for. Maybe that is different now, but I doubt it. Was paying over $50 per month for 4(count them) channels. Their much ballyhood HD tier for $10 a month(HDNET, HDNET movies, Discovery HD Theatre & ESPN HD). And 99% of the time ESPN was only broadcasting SD with a terrible stretched out picture. I know that will get better in the future as they move along with their transition to HD. But certainly was not getting my moneys worth with D* for HD content.

 

[squicken]

I finally bit the bullet, and ordered basic cable to get Fox Sports SW. It's kind of annoying that I must pay and extra $44 for one channel. I think this type of thing is what's bothering ttz, and even has me thinking of switching to D*. Voom cannot survive without SD programming. Many people love certain SD channels, and won't even consider Voom b/c it doesn't have their favorite channel. I am keeping Voom because I love HD, and believe Voom will always be the first to add new HD programming. I imagine that by December, Voom will be all that we hope it can be. HD sets will be flying off the shelves during the holidays, and through its marketing push and product and content upgrades, Voom will be positioned to fill those sets with Voom's pretty channels.

 

[wbuffetta]

D*& E* Are Adding A Lot Of Spanish Lang. Channels To Meet The Needs of Growing Spanish Speaking Pop.. I Don't Think They Will Ever Match The Premiums That VOOM Has
In HD Now. They Both Say That They Will Be Adding More HD This Year. My Guess It Will Be Starz HD East & Encore HD East And Thats It.

 

[tattootearz]

I am using a CRT which I am VERY happy with... I am using Component Video Connections...

The Box is set to 1080i as my TV doesnt accept 720p...

Keep in mind that I already have Cablevision IO HD... and along with it I have my cable modem and my phone service.

Cable offers me ALL the HD premiums with the acception of Encore... which they are saying will be added soon. YES...it would be nice to have EncoreHD and West Coast feeds for Premiums but this is the most cost effective way that I can have all the channels I want and still keep my IN-Demand Service.

truthfully... I am just as much of an HD Junkie as ANYONE on this site... I love HDTV... I find myself watching the Fire Ants Of Madegasca.... something I would have NEVER watched in SD. I have a very Large DVD collection so most of the stuff on premiums I have on DVD and would prefer to watch it on DVD in an upscaled 1080i format with an engaging surround soundtrack....

I got VOOM for the same reasons that most of you got it... I was looking at the number 39... although it isnt 39... the fact that it was in the 30's sold me. I was initially a gonna be a charter member... I bought the Voucher from Sears way back for $50 and I was gonna have it installed but business and a relocation held me off on that....

I want VOOM to survive... I hope they do... and I am not speaking negatively about VOOM... but as per my own personal preferences at this moment... aside from the Local channels that I get.... those 21 Exclusives arent doing JACK SH*t for me right now....

Pardon the ramble.

 

[keno]

those 21 Exclusives arent doing JACK SH*t for me right now....

I really enjoy the "21 exclusive" channels. World Sports is great (I luv Soccer). Rave is fine to watch sometimes, as is Rush. I luv the old Monster movies...those Japanese really know how to make great films (Did you catch Rodan today...hilarious!). And those old movies from the 70's, 80's and 90's on the movies channels (including Epics) are fun to watch too. I would have never watched some of classic movies in SD if not for Voom's HD. I'm not really into the "main stream". You can keep The Bachelor, Survivor and all those other "reality" shows.

You mentioned that "Cable offers me ALL the HD premiums with the acception of Encore... which they are saying will be added soon." That's great!! And cable may be your ticket (but not everyones)!

You then go on to state, "I have a very Large DVD collection so most of the stuff on premiums I have on DVD and would prefer to watch it on DVD in an upscaled 1080i format with an engaging surround soundtrack." From your post, however, I'm not quite sure what your looking for or whether you will ever find it. However, I wish you the best of luck in finding it. Enjoy life.

 

[Digitude]

I won't bash you, I'm kinda having second thoughts too. I switched from Cox HD digital cable. My theory was that the satellite channel line up was comparable to Cox but their built-in ATSC receiver would bring in all my network feeds in HD. (Cox had only one, CBS). Since 70% of my veiwing is network TV this was crucial. Unfortunately my OTA stations are all marginal. Voom says they will get me another antenna but their field service ALSO seems comparable to Cox...with a high suckability factor . And now that I've lived with Voom a couple weeks it is more clear that the HD content is very weak with a lot of old movies, looping and general fluff. I suspect this is not all Voom's fault as there may just be limited HD content available in the world. Cox gave me a free Encore package that I feel has a little more variety than Voom's Cinema 10 (but without hi def). The BIG irritation to me is that there is no remote button to bring up the guide right where I am. One must hit two or three buttons and then scroll from the beginning. This is a MAJOR annoyance to me . Anyway, I'm going to hang in there for awhile....wait and see. If Cox had loaded up all the local HD channels or if that happens before I get Voom sorted out I may go back to cable too.

 

[Lobstah]

What type of antenna did VOOM install for your OTA locals? A quick trip to RatShack for a $22 UHF antenna might fix those problems.
If you go to antennaweb.org, plug in your street address, it will give you the distance/direction to the OTA digital towers in your area. Make sure you click the "Digital Only" box on the table, or you'll get everything.

Lob

 

[Digitude]

What type of antenna did VOOM install for your OTA locals? A quick trip to RatShack for a $22 UHF antenna might fix those problems.
If you go to antennaweb.org, plug in your street address, it will give you the distance/direction to the OTA digital towers in your area. Make sure you click the "Digital Only" box on the table, or you'll get everything.

Lob

Yeah I did that. Bought a 15-2160 from RS. Better than the stealth but still not good enough. Got four channels good, three flakey and one not at all. I couldn't find a gain spec on the Rat Shak antenna. Salesman couldn't find one, nothing at their web site and nothing in the box. That should have told me something (and the $23 price tag)! I went all over town trying to find a good quality UHF stick. No dice. I was amazed that even the big box stores only sell rabbit ears. Guess everyone has cable.